《Qu Elasousor: The Digitized World Of Ne-Lon》 Chapter 1: Not Even The Decency For A Goddess To Explain Whats Going On The vibrant radiance of the sun loomed high in the sky, basking the colourful and vibrant land below in its saturating hue. Within a saturated forest of dark green leaves and crystal clear lakes/ponds, an unamused Zalroth stood before a lake and stared down at his reflection. (Zalroth is a tall teenaged male human: he has slight long pale blond hair with pale cyan hair tips, pale cyan eyes, toned muscles, and fair skin) (Zalroth is wearing his Japanese school uniform) "This is what I get for moving to Japan," Zalroth grumbled as he rose from the pond and watched a frog pop onto the bank, making light blue hexagonal particles burst out from the pond with it. Zalroth groaned as he rubbed the top of his head and complained that Chronia was probably having a field day right about now. A little while ago, Zalroth boredly walked through his high school''s halls with some students chatting amongst themselves while greeting Zalroth. Zalroth eventually arrived at the foot of his classroom''s door and remarked that the people of Japan were vastly friendlier compared to the ones of his home town. Zalroth opened the door before instinctively ducking downwards and allowing Chronia to come flying into the room as she tried to drop-kick him. Chronia somersaulted through the air before Zalroth caught her mid-air by her wrist. (Chronia is a super short teenaged female human: she has shoulder-low scruffy green and lime hair, white eyes, thick thighs, a large left fang, and tanned skin with obvious tan lines reveal her pale white skin(tans easily but also untans easily) "When will you knock it off, Gremlin?" Zalroth asked as he stared at the dangling and snickering Chronia. "That depends on when I''m able to catch you off guard again," Chronia cheerfully said. Zalroth unamusedly stared at her before walking over to Chronia''s desk and dropping her into her seat upside down. Chronia clambered to her feet, quickly brushing the shorts over her leggings, and smugly stood up straight while barely reaching Zalroth''s shoulders. "Hassaling the new guy again are you, Roni?" Saria said cockily as she cheekily wagged a finger at Chronia. Chronia pouted at Saria''s teasing before plopping herself down in her seat and sighed. Saria tilted her head with a puzzled look as she lowered her hand. (Saria is a super short teenaged female human: she has knee-low radiant blonde hair with curly hair drill-like horns on the sides of her head, a silver left eye, a gold right eye, wide hips, and fair skin) "Aren''t you going to... you know... get in my face and tell me you aren''t hassling Zalroth?" Saria asked puzzledly before she waddled over to Chronia and poked her face. Chronia apethetically shook her head and looked at Saria. "Nah... I gotta save the rest of my energy," Chronia mumbled. "I wish you started that before you tried kicking me," Zalroth remarked disapointedly. Chronia adamantly shook her head, stating it was a part of her routine she wouldn''t change which made Zalroth roll his eyes. "Save your energy for what?" Saria asked as she raised an eyebrow. Chronia shrugged as she sat up straight. "I dunno, I just sense like something big''s going to happen," Chronia stated before a maniacal cackle echoed through the classroom, making all the students in the room turn to look at Ardentus and his friends. (Ardentus is a super tall teenaged male human: he has hip-low dark grey spikey hair, sapphire blue, toned muscles, and dark skin) (Ardentus is wearing his blazer like a cloak) "Hah! Knowing your luck, I wouldn''t be surprised if the big thing''s going to be Zalroth finally getting fed up with your antics," Ardentus remarked with a snarky tone as he had he arms behind his head and his feet on his desk. A smirk formed on Ardentus'' face but as he didn''t get a response from Chronia he glanced in her direction. "Huh... guess she really is a back seat," Ardentus uttered, making Chronia snicker a little. "That would''ve been a pun if I was a single seat back," Chronia mumbled as the door to the classroom opened, making everyone look over to see Lurioku and Aoina enter the classroom. Lurioku scanned the room before spotting Zalroth. (Lurioku is a slightly short teenaged feminine-looking human: they have spikey dark purple hair, dark purple eyes, and dark tanned skin) (Aoina is a slightly tall teenaged female human: she has long curly dark red hair with black braided ends, white eyes, and radiant light skin) "Zalroth~," Lurioku cheerfully exclaimed before they fluttered and skipped through the classroom''s rows of desks until they reached Zalroth. Lurioku lept to Zalroth but was chopped in the head by an emotionless Aoina, making Lurioku flinch before deflatedly slumping to the floor. Chronia peered down at Lurioku and squinted at them. "I still can''t tell if you''re a guy or girl," Chronia muttered as Lurioku wobbled to their feet. "And... the only one who''ll know is Zal-gah!" Lurioku managed to say before being chopped in the head by Aoina again. Zalroth sighed and shook his head while the other students amusedly chuckled at the group''s antics; however, the ambient chuckles faded as the floor began to glow and before anyone could react the room was filled with a blinding light. Back in the present, Zalroth opened his eyes and stared at the clear sky as he watched a flying creature far in the sky, although it was too far away from Zalroth for him to determine what it was. Zalroth lowered his head and stared at his palm before clasping it. "I hate it when her gut feelings are right," Zalroth thought to himself before he glanced around at the saturated forest he found himself in, "Now... I hope I''m not in the situation where I got intentionally separated from the others... like in all those manga''s Chronia and Saria forced me to read.". Zalroth slightly widened his eyes as a thought entered his mind. Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere. "Status...," Zalroth uttered before he lightly snickered at thinking how dumb he must look. Zalroth rubbed the back of his head before a cyan floating RPG-esque screen appeared in front of him. Zalroth repeatedly blinked with his unamused expression before thanking Chronia and Saria under his breath. [Zalroth Akikou][Level: 1] [HP: 10][Hexa: 10] [Class: Creation Crest] [Vitality: 1][Stamina: 1] [Attack: 1][Hexa Attack: 1] [Defence: 1][intelligence: 1] [Agility: 1][Speed: 1] [Avalible Points: 5] Zalroth stared at the screen, placing a hand on it, and watched as his hand went through the screen. Zalroth sighed before making the screen go away. "Alright... guess I should find the others... map," Zalroth mentally said before a cyan screen appeared with a map on it displaying Zalroth''s immediate area. At a slow pace, he scowled at the map before it began zooming out until it showed the entirety of the forest. Zalroth stared at the blue circles on the map with chibified versions of his classmates'' faces. He scowered the forest, which the map called Medous Forest, before finding Chronia but Zalroth decided he''d go for Ardentus given he was the closest person to himself. Zalroth closed the map and placed his hands in his pocket before heading in Ardentus'' direction. Zalroth meandered his way through the forest the constant tweeting of birds and rustling of small critters echoing rhythmically through the forest. Zalroth strolled down the unaturally flat path cutting through the forest with the pattern of the tops of trees covering the path. He abruptly came to a stop as the sounds of the ambient wildlife seized. Zalroth peeked his eyes around before closing them as some rustling. Zalroth remained still as he tracked the approaching rustling and frantic girly sobbing. Zalroth tensed up his body and spun around as Kel-Ku bursted out onto the unnatural path. (Kel-Ku is a super short teenaged female human-looking goblin: she has long dark grey hair tied into two large pom-poms, a red left eye, a turquoise right eye, green skin, super pointy ears, and two small fangs) (Kel-Ku is wearing a beige cloth skirt and bra) Zalroth hurled his hand in at Kel-Ku, making her panic even more, before grabbing her, flinging her over himself and placing her on the ground. Kel-Ku''s demeanour swiftly shifted to a puzzled one, her ears wobbling as she looked up at Zalroth. Kel-Ku opened her mouth to speak before Zalroth raised a hand and gestured for her to hide. At hearing some nearby rustling coming from behind Zalroth, Kel-Ku immediately did and ducked behind a tree before peeking her head out from beside the tree. Zalroth turned away from Kel-Ku and watched the rustling bushes before a traditional-looking goblin bursted out of it with a stone knife in hand. "A friend of yours?" Zalroth asked unamusedly, to which Kel-Ku adamantly declined any friendship with the goblin. Zalroth nodded as he stared at the goblin before a small pop-up appeared in front of Zalroth''s face. [Goblin(Monster-Type)][Level: 4] [HP: 10][Hexa: 10] [Class: None] [Vitality: 1][Stamina: 1] [Attack: 16(+20)][Hexa Attack: 1] [Defence: 1][intelligence: 1] [Agility: 1][Speed: 1] "How unbalanced," Zalroth stated as he donned a defensive combat stance. The goblin stared down Zalroth, its knife readied for its attack before it lunged at Zalroth. Zalroth braced himself for the goblin before a small pebble flew past him and struck the goblin in the eye, making the goblin release its stone knife. A digital red 0.1 made of hexagons appeared by the goblin''s head, along with small grey and green particles appearing where the goblin was struck. Zalroth raised an eyebrow before standing up normally and catching the stone knife as it dropped from above. He stared at the goblin making it flinch at him before the goblin booked it for the forest. Zalroth scoffed at the goblin for its cowardice without its weapon. He flipped the knife, caught it by its blade, and hurled it at the goblin. The knife twirled through the air, spinning like an acrobat before plunging straight into the back of the goblin''s neck. Red digital hexagons spewed out the back of the goblin''s neck and bold digital red a 9.9 as the goblin fell limply forwards and crashed into a tree before it bursted into green digital particles. "Even the monsters die like those in video games," Zalroth uttered as he strolled over to where the goblin previously was and picked up the stone knife. A victorious jingle played, startling Zalroth, as a pop-up appeared in front of his face. [Zalroth''s Level Increased] [1 -> 4] Zalroth stared at the pop-up before sighing with a mix of annoyance and ticked-off amusement on his face. Zalroth waved his hand to make the pop-up disappear and make his status appear as he rose to his feet. [Zalroth Akikou][Level: 4] [HP: 10][Hexa: 10] [Class: Creation Crest] [Vitality: 1][Stamina: 1] [Attack: 1(+20)][Hexa Attack: 1] [Defence: 1][intelligence: 1] [Agility: 1][Speed: 1] [Avalible Points: 15] "... best to figure out what my class is before I invest my points... don''t need a repeat of the combat healer," Zalroth uttered as he recalled Saria asking him why he was using his healer to attack and his swordsman to heal whilst Zalroth was playing a videogame during class break. Zalroth dismissed his status before turning around to see Kel-Ku bowing to him. "Hank you for saving, Kel-Ku," Kel-Ku stated before repeatedly bowing. "Yeah... sure...," Zalroth muttered before an RPG-esque inventory screen appeared in his face and diverted his attention from Kel-Ku. Within his inventory sat an item called Goblin Ear with a times two by it and a Hexa Core(Low Grade) item. Zalroth stared at the items before his attention slowly returned to Kel-Ku as she began nervously muttering and glancing around. Zalroth took a glance at his surroundings and groaned in frustration at seeing the pack of monster-type goblins surrounding the duo. Chapter 2: The Good Natured Delinquent A burst of green hexa particles(the digital hexagonal particles) surged past Zalroth(without his school blazer) as he walked along the unnaturally flat path adorned with flattened tree tops. As Zalroth continued to walk, the triumphant tune signalling a level-up played in Zalroth''s mind. [Zalroth''s Level Increased] [14 -> 15] Zalroth stared at the pop-up before waving it away and stopped in his tracks as he heard a meek exhausted huff. He turned and watched the exhausted Kel-Ku(wearing Zalroth''s school blazer) staggered up to him. "How''re you not tired, when you haven''t spent any of your stat points yet?" Kel-Ku whined as she limply held her arms by her side. "Stats aren''t everything," Zalroth stated unamusedly. Kel-Ku gave Zalroth a puzzled stare while slowly tilting her head to the side. "But they are though...," Kel-Ku mumbled. "If our physical states are anything to go by, I assume the stamina from the screen doesn''t refer to how long someone can run for right?" Zalroth asked. Kel-Ku shrugged while saying she wouldn''t know given she''s a goblin living in the forest. "That''s fair, I suppose," Zalroth stated before he noticed Kel-Ku twiddling her thumbs with her head held low, "Something wrong?". Kel-Ku shook her head before raising it. "No... it''s just, are you really ok with me tagging along with you?" Kel-Ku mumbled meekly. "I wouldn''t have asked if I wasn''t," Zalroth stated before he turned away from Kel-Ku, "Her level hasn''t changed even though we''re in a party," Zalroth thought as he looked at Kel-Ku''s status in front of his face. [Kel-Ku][Level: 1] [HP: 10][Hexa: 10] [Class: ] [Vitality: 1][Stamina: 1] [Attack: 1][Hexa Attack: 1] [Defence: 1][intelligence: 1] [Agility: 1][Speed: 1] [Avalible Points: 5] "Oh...," Kel-Ku uttered before rubbing the back of her head, "I guess it was a dumb question.". Zalroth opened up his map before looking at his icon with a black border and Kel-Ku''s icon with a green border. "So... mine has a black border, people classified as party members are green, and my classmates are blue," Zalroth uttered mentally as he followed the map. After a little walking, the duo arrived at a clearing in the forest before a large chunk of earth appeared in the air and crushed a monster-type goblin as it plummeted to the ground. The impact shook the ground, making Kel-Ku stumble and almost trip over her feet. "Alright, level eightteen!" Ardentus exclaimed cockily from the other side of the mound of earth. Ardentus opened his status and quickly applied his points. "I shouldn''t be surprised you''d be doing something like this instead of looking for the others, but at least it kept you in one spot," Zalroth remarked unamusedly as he and an apprehensive Kel-Ku approached while holding Zalroth''s hand. Ardentus maniacally laughed at Zalroth''s verbal jap before turning to face the duo. [Ardentus Koihouza][Level: 18] [HP: 100][Hexa: 10] [Class: Condense] [Vitality: 10][Stamina: 1] [Attack: 22][Hexa Attack: 35] [Defence: 22][intelligence: 1] [Agility: 1][Speed: 1] [Avalible Points: 5] "Well, it''s not like I had a choice, a whole horde of goblins was in a camp here but one of them spotted me," Ardentus remarked before he noticed Kel-Ku, making her flinch, "Are you a short girl magnet or some-". Zalroth bonked Ardentus on the head with his bare hand but Ardentus didn''t even flinch as a floating digital 0 made of hexagons appeared by his head. "Hah, you''re gonna have to get strong-gah!" Ardentus managed to say before Zalroth bonked him on the forehead with the pummel of his stone knife, making a bold 20 appear by his head. Ardentus cursed under his breath, clasping his forehead as red hexa particles spewed from his head. If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. "So, weapon boosts only apply when using the weapon itself, and the particle blood splurts must be a critical hit indicator-" Zalroth managed to say himself before Ardentus grabbed Zalroth by the collar of his shirt. "Don''t think I won''t beat your ass, just because we''re not enemies anymore," Ardentus barked moodily. "I''d prefer if you didn''t, you could probably one-hit me with your current stats," Zalroth remarked, making Ardentus raise an eyebrow and ask Zalroth to show him his stats. Zalroth obliged and Ardentus amusedly gasped at seeing Zalroth''s unmodified stats. "Waiting till you figure out what your class means aye?" Ardentus asked, "Shame I don''t.". "You''re was Condense, correct?" Zalroth asked. Ardentus smugly smirked before he placed a hand on the earth mound. Ardentus encased the mound in ocean blue hexa particles before the mound was compressed into the size of a marble. He picked up the earth marble before tossing it to Zalroth, who caught and lifted it with no problem. "Conservation of mass be damned, right? But, it makes throwing them easier at least," Ardentus said cheekily as Zalroth passed the earth marble back. "I believe it would be for the best if we got everyone together in one place" Zalroth suggested. Ardentus nodded before agitatedly rubbing the back of his head. "I know but how are we going to find them?" Ardentus remarked, eliciting an unamusedly dumbfounded look from Zalroth, "What?". "With the map?" Zalroth uttered unamusedly. "We have one of those?" Ardentus asked, before his own ocean blue boardered map appeared, "Oh...". Ardentus checked the map before getting an idea. "Do you think we also have a messaging or chat thing-ado?" Ardentus asked. "Given there''s a party system I wouldn''t doubt it," Zalroth stated before he felt a tug on his arm. He glanced down at Kel-Ku and asked what''s up. "Are you talking about the party communication or the clan communications?" Kel-Ku said. "Is there a difference?" Ardentus asked. Kel-Ku swiftly shook her head. "Other than a few extra things for the clan one, they function the same way," Kel-Ku explained. The duo nodded before Zalroth and Ardentus opened their respective clan menus. The duo stared at their screens before Ardentus snarkily glanced at Zalroth. "It says here you''re the Clan Leader," Ardentus remarked. "I can see that," Zalroth replied before he noticed Kel-Ku flapping her ears as she listened to the duo. "If you''re the leader or vice-leader then you''re able to send telepathical thoughts, or messages to all members of the clan without needing to form a connection with the person," Kel-Ku stated. "At all, the most terrifying power anyone can have," Zalroth uttered defeatedly. With some help from Kel-Ku, Zalroth managed to send a simultaneous message to his classmates telling them to head towards himself and Ardentus since they were the closest to the edge of the forest. "Did you get the message?" Zalroth asked, to which Ardentus nodded. "And now all we have to do is wait...," Ardentus remarked before a loud thud reverberated from the nearby bushes. "You just had to jinx it didn''t you," Zalroth uttered as he got into a defensive combat stance with his stone knife(uncommon) and a stone knife(common). "Hey... I wouldn''t count this as a jinx since I never finished my sentence.". "....here and relax," Zalroth said while mimicking Ardentus'' voice. "Shoot...," Ardentus uttered as he heard Zalroth finish his previous thought. The rustling bushes continued as a low growl accompanied the rustling. The growling seized for a second, making Kel-Ku relax a little before a large dark red-furred wolf bursted out into the clearing. The wolf monster slammed its feet onto the ground, unleashing a deafening howl. Zalroth sighed before Ardentus waved his hand at him and directed his attention to the small square in the corner of his eye. Zalroth glanced at it before two RPG screens appeared. [Zalroth''s Status effect] [Weakening] -Minus defense by 50%- [Direwolf][Level: 34] [HP: 300][Hexa: 10] [Vitality: 30][Stamina: 1] [Attack: 20][Hexa Attack: 25] [Defence: 40][intelligence: 1] [Agility: 25][Speed: 31] "This monster might be a problem," Ardentus remarked smugly. "You don''t say," Zalroth uttered before he opened his own status and reluctantly began distributing his stats. [Zalroth Akikou][Level: 15] [HP: 10][Hexa: 10] [Class: Creation Crest] [Vitality: 1][Stamina: 1] [Attack: 30(+20)(+7)][Hexa Attack: 1] [Defence: 1(-0.5)][intelligence: 1] [Agility: 18][Speed: 25] [Avalible Points: 5] "That debuff sure is petty," Ardentus remarked, making Zalroth glare at him. Zalroth told Ardentus to protect Kel-Ku and find a way to limit the direwolf''s movement before he took off towards the direwolf. Ardentus amusedly sighed and jokingly said Chronia seemed to have rubbed off on Zalroth, given how he was running straight towards the direwolf. Chapter 3: Skillful Dispatch With the wind blowing past him, Zalroth booked it across the clearing, the direwolf tracking him with its eyes before it readied itself to attack. Zalroth darted to the right, making the direwolf lunge in the same direction before Zalroth abruptly pivoted and dashed to the left. Zalroth pulled his common stone knife back before slashing it against one of the direwolf''s front legs as he evaded the direwolf''s attack. The collision halted Zalroth''s knife swing before Zalroth swung back in the opposite direction and spun around through the air to avoid the direwolf''s counterattack. Zalroth landed on the ground and stared at the direwolf''s leg as digital red 0 appeared by it. "Well, it seems normal attacks with this knife will be null unless I hit the direwolf''s crit spots," Zalroth uttered mentally. A faint red light in his peripheral vision caught Zalroth''s attention, and he turned his head to see the flames seeping out the direwolf''s mouth, "Uh-oh.". The direwolf''s hurled its head in Zalroth''s direction, making the far-off Kel-Ku scream in shock; however, the direwolf abruptly swung downwards and crashed head-first into the ground before a red digital 25 appeared by its head. "Mind your step," Ardentus remarked smugly whilst Zalroth covered his face in annoyance. Holding back a strained whimper, the direwolf staggered to its feet and repeatedly struggled to pull its trapped leg out of the narrow hole in the ground. Zalroth raised a hand to the direwolf and placed a hand on its head. Ardentus facepalmed as he crouched on the ground and placed a hand on it. Zalroth, getting an odd feeling, jumped back from the direwolf right as an even larger hole formed below it before the direwolf plummeted into the slightly deep hole. Zalroth lowered his head and stared down at the direwolf squirming around as it struggled to roll onto its feet. "No need to thank me for saving you," Ardentus exclaimed smugly from across the clearing, to which Zalroth proceeded to do as Ardentus said and indeed didn''t thank Ardentus. For a brief moment, Ardentus stood on the spot before amusedly glaring at Zalroth, "That wasn''t an invitation to not be courteous, Zalroth.". Kel-Ku glanced up at the glaring Ardentus before poking him to get his attention. "Does Zalroth have any skills he can use?" Kel-Ku asked. Ardentus peered down at her before over at Zalroth. "Oi, you got any skills over there, Mr Uncourtieous!" Ardentus exclaimed, making his annoyance at Zalroth be known. Rolling his eyes at Ardentus'' nickname choice, Zalroth gazed forward before yet another new RPG-esque screen appeared before him. Ardentus scoffed, glancing to his side before a smirk formed on his face. [Unique Skills] [Hidden By User] [Skills] [Accel Drive] -Increases the User''s speed and attack for a short burst- [Level: 1][Cost: 25 Hexa] -Increases speed by 30% and attack by 35%- [Detect(Materials)] - the user''s map displays all nearby materials on their map when the skill is active or gets a sense of nearby materials when the map isn''t open. [Level: 1] - 5 meters- [Apprasial] [Level: 1] -shows the status of anyone weaker than the user, or shows info about objects- [Level: 2] -shows the status of anyone weaker or around the user''s level- Zalroth inspected the skill called Accel Drive before he opened his status and sighed in frustration. [Zalroth Akikou][Level: 15] [HP: 10][Hexa: 10(+8)] [Class: Creation Crest] [Vitality: 1][Stamina: 1] [Attack: 30(+20)(+7)][Hexa Attack: 1] [Defence: 1(-0.5)][intelligence: 1] [Agility: 18][Speed: 25] [Avalible Points: 5] "... seems in my rush to apply my stats... wait," Zalroth mumbled before spotting the +8 beside his Hexa, "Why is...?". Zalroth quickly opened his status effect and neutrally stared at it. [Zalroth''s Status effect] [Weakening] Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.-Minus defense by 50%- [Overcreep] -the affected person will have their hexa continue to regen even over the wielder''s usual limit- [Level: 1] -30s max increase is 100% of wielder''s hexa limit- -24s remaining- "... looks like I''ll get one hit with Accel Drive," Zalroth stated before a wave of flames erupted from the hole, accompanied by a raging howl. Zalroth and Ardentus watched the rising pillar of flames, its embers trickling down and fizzling out as they reached the ground. "Do you think burying it will kill the direwolf?" Ardentus asked. "Why are you over here and not by Kel-Ku?" "You don''t need to sweat over her, I got Aoina to look after her.". Zalroth huffed as he and Ardentus readied themselves. "That explains things," Zalroth stated before lunging forwards as the direwolf leapt out of the hole while Ardentus dashed in the opposite direction. He dashed past the direwolf and hurled a duel knife slash at the ankles of the direwolf''s hind legs. The knives sliced through the ankles, eliciting a growl from the direwolf as spurts of red hexa particles shot out from its ankles with a bold digital red 34 and a 60 appearing by each of its legs respectively. The direwolf staggered as it landed on its feet before it spun around towards Zalroth. Zalroth ducked and rolled as he landed on the other side of the sinkhole. Rising to his feet, Zalroth glanced at the direwolf as he checked its status effects. [Direwolf''s Status Effect] [Hindering] -Minus speed by 50%- "Now that I have the speed advantage, this fight is over. Ardentus!" Zalroth proclaimed. The direwolf braced itself at Zalroth raising his voice before it noticed the area around it being covered by a shadow. The direwolf dashed to the side before a large sphere of earth smashed into the ground where the direwolf previously was. A relentless barrage of small boulder-sized earth spheres descended from above like rain as Ardentus thought it was a good thing he made a bunch of those spheres beforehand. The direwolf dodged and weaved around the descending earth spheres before charging at Ardentus after he tossed his last sphere. Ardentus cockily glared at the direwolf as it gunned it for him. "You''ve got ya back to the wrong battle maniac," Ardentus quipped condescendingly. The direwolf continued to charge but froze in its tracks as the sound of a wolven howl echoed through the air. The direwolf swung its head in the direction of the howl before a flurry of knife slashes ravaged over its body as Zalroth attacked the direwolf with his uncommon stone knife. Zalroth landed behind the direwolf as a barrage of digital red 30s appeared around the direwolf. The direwolf gritted its teeth, flames spurting between them before it unleashed a torrent of flames from its mouth and scorched the ground as it swung its flame-spewing head at Zalroth. As the flames washed towards him, Zalroth flexed his legs and lept over the wave of flames. Zalroth flipped through the air and crossed his arms once he landed on the direwolf''s back. [Accel Drive(Level: 1) Activated] Zalroth sliced both his stone knives through the direwolf''s nape as if it were butter. The direwolf seized its flame attack and froze before a geyser of red hexa particles exploded out from the direwolf''s nape as a bold digital red 75 and a 58.1 appeared by the direwolf''s nape. Zalroth hopped off the direwolf before he returned his stone knives to his inventory. He raised a hand to the direwolf and patted its head before the direwolf bursted into dark red hexa particles. "Woah... they took down a level thirty-four monster," Aoina stated emotionlessly as she and Kel-Ku watched from the bushes. "Well, if you do the maths their combined levels are roughly around the same level as the direwolf... ... ... I think," Kel-Ku stated as she placed her fingers on the sides of her head and repeatedly did the calculations in her mind. [Zalroth''s Level Increased] [15 -> 30] [Ardentus'' Level Increased] [18 -> 22] As Ardentus swiftly allocated his stat points, Zalroth stretched his arms and legs, all making clicking noises as he pushed them. He rose to his feet and, following in Ardentus'' footsteps, began allocating his stat points despite regretting his failure to figure out the nature of his Class. [Zalroth Akikou][Level: 30] [HP: 250][Hexa: 150] [Class: Creation Crest] [Vitality: 25][Stamina: 5] [Attack: 30][Hexa Attack: 2)] [Defence: 30][intelligence: 15)] [Agility: 20][Speed: 26] [Avalible Points: 5] [Ardentus Koihouza][Level: 22] [HP: 100][Hexa: 100] [Class: Condense] [Vitality: 10][Stamina: 5] [Attack: 22][Hexa Attack: 40] [Defence: 22][intelligence: 10] [Agility: 2][Speed: 2] [Avalible Points: 5] Chapter 4: From The New Guy To The Leader Part 1 The gathering of students stood around the clearing in Medous Forest; some of them constructed a makeshift stove, using a campfire under a thin flat wide rock, and others brought out dry wood from their inventory and placed them before Neil. Neil brandished a common stone axe and made quick work of the wood as he chopped them into thin sticks or planks. (Neil is an average-height and fair-skinned teenaged human male; he has dark blond hair with faint orange tips and orange eyes) From a slight distance, Zalroth walked around the perimeter of the clearing while staring at Neil. [Activated Appraisal(Level: 2)] [Neil Artozu][Level: 1] [HP: 10][Hexa: 10] [Class: Deluxe Carpenter] [Vitality: 1][Stamina: 1] [Attack: 1][Hexa Attack: 1] [Defence: 1][intelligence: 1] [Agility: 1][Speed: 1] [Avalible Points: 5] "No difference between the first and second levels it seems," Zalroth stated before he dismissed Neil''s status menu. As he continued circling the clearing''s perimeter, Zalroth heard a beep before he pulled out his uncommon stone knife from his inventory. As multiple low snarls rang near him, Zalroth jumped away from the perimeter as a trio of red-furred direwolves bursted out from the forest. [Activated Sub-Skill: Quick Appraisal] [Direwolf][Level: 17] [HP: 210][Hexa: 70] [Direwolf][Level: 15] [HP: 200][Hexa: 20] [Direwolf][Level: 14] [HP: 190][Hexa: 80] "At least that level thirty-four was an outlier... it must''ve been a pack... leader," Zalroth thought aloud before putting himself into a sprinting-ready stance. [Activated Ability: Weakening Howl] A faint compression of air shot out from Zalroth, racing through the air with a loud wolven-like whistle, catching the attention of the other students. The skill startled the direwolves and made them briefly halt their attack as Zalroth raised a hand to the direwolves. "Let''s try using skills this time," Zalroth remarked. [Activated Flame Blast(Level: 1) x2] Embers seeped from Zalroth''s hand and gathered into two dense swirling balls of flames. The direwolves dug their paws into the dirt and lunged at Zalroth. Zalroth flexed his arm and the fireballs flickered before erupting into two small waves of flames. The flames slammed into the wolves and exploded into crackling explosions. The explosions sent the battered direwolves flying as two separate red digital numbers appeared by each of them, totalling around two-thirds of their healths. As the direwolves spiralled through the air, Zalroth flexed his legs before dashing at the direwolves. [Activated Accel Drive(Level: 1) x3] In a flash, three sheening knife slashes sliced through the direwolves'' napes as Zalroth dashed past them and the last of the direwolves'' HP was depleted. The direwolves collapsed onto the ground and bursted into red hexa particles as Zalroth landed on his feet. [Zal''roth''s Level Increased] [49 -> 50] [Zalroth''s Skill(s)''s Level Increased] [Acell Drive] [1 -> 2] [Flame Blast] [1 -> 2] [Detect(creature)] [1 -> 2] The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. "... so skills only increase in level if used during a fight...," Zalroth uttered before opening his Stat Menu and Skill Menu. [Zalroth Akikou][Level: 50] [HP: 250][Hexa: 150] [Class: Creation Crest] [Vitality: 25][Stamina: 25] [Attack: 30][Hexa Attack: 2] [Defence: 30][intelligence: 55] [Agility: 20][Speed: 60] [Avalible Points: 11] [Unique Skills] [Hidden By User] [Skills] [Flame Blast] [Level: 1][Cost: 15 Hexa] -User fires a small wave of flames at their target that does 130% of the user''s attack and 150% of intelligence- [Level: 2][Cost: 45 Hexa] -User fires a wave of flames at their target that does 220% of the user''s attack and 250% of intelligence- [Accel Drive] -Increases the User''s speed and attack for a short burst- [Level: 1][Cost: 25 Hexa] -Increases speed by 30% and attack by 35%- [Level: 2][cost: 45 Hexa] -Increases speed by 30% and attack by 35%- [Detect(Materials)] -The user''s map displays all nearby creatures on their map when the skill is active or gets a sense of nearby materials when the map isn''t open- [Level: 1] -5 meters- [Apprasial] [Level: 1] -Shows the status of anyone weaker than the user, or shows info about objects- [Level: 2] -Shows the status of anyone weaker or around the user''s level- (Sub-Skill: Quick Appraisal) -Only shows target''s Name, HP, and Hexa- [Detect(Creature)] -The user''s map displays all nearby creatures on their map when the skill is active or gets a sense of nearby creatures when the map isn''t open- [Level: 1] -5 meters - [Level: 2] -10 meters- [Abilities] [Weakening Howl][Active] -Applies the weakening effect to all targets who hear the howl created from activating the skill, it has a 6-minute cooldown- [Atmospheric Hexa Absorbsion][Passive] -Increases Hexa regen by 200%- "... I wonder if the detect skill increased because I used it in a battle or because I used it multiple times... will have to test it later," Zalroth thought before glancing to his side. As he dispelled his RPG menus, Zalroth turned around to the approaching Chronia and Saria. "Still grinding levels are you?" Saria asked cheekily, making Zalroth silently cross his arms at her. "I''m checking the perimeter," Zalroth stated coldly. "But do you need to be so near the forest to check?" Chronia asked poutfully as she placed her hands on her hips. "The skill''s range was only five meters," Zalroth stated. "Was?" Saria asked while Chronia''s eyes lit up at realising what Zalroth was implying. "So it levelled up?" Chronia asked. Zalroth nodded his head and showed the duo his Skill List. The duo stared in perplexed amazement before Zalroth swiftly closed his Skill List. "It''s impressive how you''ve already gotten so many skills, Hubby," Chronia remarked happily. Zalroth unamusedly sighed, lowering his arms and returning his uncommon stone knife to his inventory. "... other than, Ardentus, I''m the only person who''s gained any levels so making comments on my amount of skills has no point of reference, also... don''t call me that," Zalroth said unamusedly. Chronia huffed angrily while lightly squeezing her fists. "Fine... Leader," Chronia grumbled. Zalroth flinched at Chronia''s remark. "... I retract my previous demand," Zalroth uttered defeatedly before Chronia victoriously raised her hands. "Why am I even the leader, wouldn''t Lurioku or Aoina make more sense?" Zalroth grumbled as he rubbed the space between his eyes. "It''s because Unit said so," a pouty girly voice with a digital effect stated, making the trio jump in shock. Chronia and Saria frantically darted their heads around in an attempt to locate the owner of the voice while Zalroth resumed rubbing his eyes for a brief moment. "... Ignore that?" Zalroth uttered defeatedly. "Ignore that," the short duo said in sync, eliciting the disembodied voice to huff in frustration. Chronia and Saria nodded at each other as they affirmed to themselves the decision to ignore the disembodied voice; Chronia even mentioning the last game she played had a disembodied voice as a guide who turned out to be the final boss. "I still don''t know why I''m the Leader though," Zalroth mumbled defeatedly. Zalroth raised a hand towards the forest before firing a level: 2 Flame Blast off into the forest. The larger wave of flames raced through the forest wading through the trees before exploding in unison with a mirriade of monster-type goblins screeching for a brief moment. Chapter 5: From The New Guy To The Leader Part 2 With the sun slowly creeping towards the distant horizon, all the other students were gathered before Zalroth, Chronia and Lurioku. Chronia raised her hand in the air and waved it to get everyone''s attention. "All in favour of Zalroth staying as the clan leader," Chronia said to her classmates. "Aye!" the classmates unanimously announced, leaving Zalroth to frown in annoyance. "Don''t I get a say?" Zalroth grumbled to Chronia. "Yeah of course you do, but it''s a majority vote, so you know," Lurioku remarked cheekily. Zalroth groaned in frustration before he raised his head. "All in favour of making these two the vice-clan leaders," Zalroth proclaimed sternly, making the short duo freeze in shock. The crowd of classmates muttered among themselves before raising their fists. "Aye!". The short duo defeatedly slumped their heads while mumbling that they had that retaliation coming. "Now... are you having me be the clan leader for convenience or some other reason?" Zalroth asked. "It''s probably both, you are already being assigned as the clan leader and from those rumours about you," Ardentus stated in a snarky way. Zalroth silently groaned before clicking his neck. "Fine; but I''ll want to check all of your statuses; so, I can organise everyone accordingly," Zalroth stated. The gathering of classmates muttered among themselves before the Nitoka twins turned to Zalroth. "Is that necessary?" Nagami and Haruko asked in tandem. (Nagami is a slightly short teenaged female; she has spikey elbow-low white-to-black gradient hair, grey eyes, and tanned skin) (Haruko is a slightly short teenaged male; he has spikey shoulder-low black-to-white gradient hair, grey eyes, and tanned skin) "Well, we wouldn''t want people with no combat classes fighting monsters now do we," Zalroth stated rhetorically. "We guess not," the twins said in tandem once again. The others eventually agreed Zalroth was right and gave him the go-ahead to check their status menus. Zalroth nodded and thanked them all for their cooperation. [Activated Skill: Appraisal(Level: 2)x19]
[Aoina Nezakaia][Level: 5] [HP: 10][Hexa: 10] [Class: Miko] [Vitality: 1][Stamina: 1] [Attack: 1][Hexa Attack: 1] [Defence: 1][intelligence: 1] [Agility: 1][Speed: 1] [Avalible Points: 25] [Ardentus Koihouza][Level: 22] [HP: 100][Hexa: 100] [Class: Condense] [Vitality: 10][Stamina: 5] [Attack: 22][Hexa Attack: 40] [Defence: 22][intelligence: 10] [Agility: 2][Speed: 2] [Avalible Points: 5] [Chronia Hatsuno][Level: 1] [HP: 10][Hexa: 10] [Class: Invert] [Vitality: 1][Stamina: 1] [Attack: 1][Hexa Attack: 1] [Defence: 1][intelligence: 1] [Agility: 1][Speed: 1] [Avalible Points: 5] [Lurioku Zulioka][Level: 1] [HP: 10][Hexa: 10] [Class: Energy Control] [Vitality: 1][Stamina: 1] [Attack: 1][Hexa Attack: 1] [Defence: 1][intelligence: 1] [Agility: 1][Speed: 1] [Avalible Points: 5] [Saria Quotelvia][Level: 1] [HP: 10][Hexa: 10] [Class: Reverse] [Vitality: 1][Stamina: 1] [Attack: 1][Hexa Attack: 1] [Defence: 1][intelligence: 1] [Agility: 1][Speed: 1] [Avalible Points: 5]
[Haruko Nitoka][Level: 1] [HP: 10][Hexa: 10] [Class: Lucullan Chef] [Vitality: 1][Stamina: 1] [Attack: 1][Hexa Attack: 1] [Defence: 1][intelligence: 1] [Agility: 1][Speed: 1] [Avalible Points: 5] [Nagami Nitoka][Level: 1] [HP: 10][Hexa: 10] [Class: Magnificent Blacksmith] [Vitality: 1][Stamina: 1] [Attack: 1][Hexa Attack: 1] [Defence: 1][intelligence: 1] [Agility: 1][Speed: 1] [Avalible Points: 5] [Kaigorou Yuzora][Level: 1] [HP: 10][Hexa: 10] [Class: Warper] [Vitality: 1][Stamina: 1] [Attack: 1][Hexa Attack: 1] [Defence: 1][intelligence: 1] [Agility: 1][Speed: 1] [Avalible Points: 5] [Kaiy¨­hara ''''Reyu'''' Mayonaka][Level: 1] [HP: 10][Hexa: 10] [Class: Monsoon Monarch] [Vitality: 1][Stamina: 1] [Attack: 1][Hexa Attack: 1] [Defence: 1][intelligence: 1] [Agility: 1][Speed: 1] [Avalible Points: 5] [Kaze Ultokaza][Level: 1] [HP: 10][Hexa: 10] [Class: Tempest Overlord] [Vitality: 1][Stamina: 1] [Attack: 1][Hexa Attack: 1] [Defence: 1][intelligence: 1] [Agility: 1][Speed: 1] [Avalible Points: 5]
[Luna Soukodawn][Level: 1] [HP: 10][Hexa: 10] [Class: Spirit Enchanter] [Vitality: 1][Stamina: 1] [Attack: 1][Hexa Attack: 1] [Defence: 1][intelligence: 1] [Agility: 1][Speed: 1] [Avalible Points: 5] [Metsu Sakamoto][Level: 1] [HP: 10][Hexa: 10] [Class: Lord of Radiance and Shadows] [Vitality: 1][Stamina: 1] [Attack: 1][Hexa Attack: 1] [Defence: 1][intelligence: 1] [Agility: 1][Speed: 1] [Avalible Points: 5] [Nakamai Sakamoto][Level: 1] [HP: 10][Hexa: 10] [Class: Abyssal Devourer] [Vitality: 1][Stamina: 1] [Attack: 1][Hexa Attack: 1] [Defence: 1][intelligence: 1] [Agility: 1][Speed: 1] [Avalible Points: 5] [Neil Artozu][Level: 1] Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.[HP: 10][Hexa: 10] [Class: Deluxe Carpenter] [Vitality: 1][Stamina: 1] [Attack: 1][Hexa Attack: 1] [Defence: 1][intelligence: 1] [Agility: 1][Speed: 1] [Avalible Points: 5] [Nowa Ikozala][Level: 1] [HP: 10][Hexa: 10] [Class: Magma Sage] [Vitality: 1][Stamina: 1] [Attack: 1][Hexa Attack: 1] [Defence: 1][intelligence: 1] [Agility: 1][Speed: 1] [Avalible Points: 5]
[Philip Algouse][Level: 1] [HP: 10][Hexa: 10] [Class: Potion Mixologist] [Vitality: 1][Stamina: 1] [Attack: 1][Hexa Attack: 1] [Defence: 1][intelligence: 1] [Agility: 1][Speed: 1] [Avalible Points: 5] [Phimona Nekoura][Level: 1] [HP: 10][Hexa: 10] [Class: Ornate Sewist] [Vitality: 1][Stamina: 1] [Attack: 1][Hexa Attack: 1] [Defence: 1][intelligence: 1] [Agility: 1][Speed: 1] [Avalible Points: 5] [Yai Kiaria][Level: 1] [HP: 10][Hexa: 10] [Class: Monster Sovereign] [Vitality: 1][Stamina: 1] [Attack: 1][Hexa Attack: 1] [Defence: 1][intelligence: 1] [Agility: 1][Speed: 1] [Avalible Points: 5]
[Yumi Yuna Kazokato][Level: 1] [HP: 10][Hexa: 10] [Class: Atomic Synergist] [Vitality: 1][Stamina: 1] [Attack: 1][Hexa Attack: 1] [Defence: 1][intelligence: 1] [Agility: 1][Speed: 1] [Avalible Points: 5]
Zalroth placed a hand on his chin and hummed as he pondered over what to do. He nodded before diverting his attention back to the others. "Yumi, I take it you''re able to turn plant fibres into threads using your skills?" Zalroth asked. "I... maybe?" Yumi muttered. (Yumi is a young-looking teen human female with the height and appearance mistakable for a kid; she has bold super curly light pink hair with knee-low twin tails, maroon red eyes with faintly pale pink scleras, and pale tanned skin) "And, Phimona, I take it you''d be able to make tents, pillows, and other similar necessities with the threads Yumi will make?" Zalroth asked. "I''m sure I''ll be able to with a little practice," Phimona stated with a respectful tone. (Phimona is a rather tall human female teen; she has braided dark blue hair styled into hoops, dark purple eyes, and dark skin) "Alright, for now, everyone with none production-type classes go collect materials for the others, and as for the others I would like you to create basic necessities for the group based on your class," Zalroth instructed, the others agreed before dispersing to do as Zalroth requested. "What should I do?" Kel-Ku asked as she poked Zalroth''s leg. Zalroth placed his hands on his hips before nodding as he thought over Kel-Ku''s words. "Do you know of any nearby caves?" Zalroth asked. Kel-Ku nodded excitedly before her expression soured as she remembered something important about the cave. "There is this cave full of grey and shiny grey metal... but there are a lot of strong monsters there," Kel-Ku explained. "I see.". "Woah!" someone exclaimed before a loud bang echoed through the air as a tree crashed on the ground. Zalroth and Kel-Ku glanced over to see a bewildered Neil frantically glancing between his common stone axe and the felled tree. Zalroth placed his hand on his chin before he looked around for Nagami. "Nagami!" Zalroth called out, making Nagami glance over at him. Zalroth gestured for her to approach, and she quickly handed all her plant fibres to Aoina before sprinting over to Zalroth. "Yeah?" Nagami said with a faint ticked-off tone in her voice. "I''d like you to accompany me and Kel-Ku to a nearby cave," Zalroth explained. Nagami arched her head to the side and made a huh noise. "Why...?" "So, you''d know where to find it when we may need iron or silver in the future," Zalroth explained. "Oh, that makes sense, a blacksmith should know where to acquire metal after all," Nagami remarked. A few minutes later, Nagami followed behind Kel-Ku through the forest while Zalroth dashed next to the duo, briefly startling Nagami. "Careful you almost gave me a-," Nagami said poutfully before noticing the stone pickaxe in Zalroth''s hand, "Why do you have that?". "You won''t be able to mine anything without one," Zalroth said, only for Nagami to gasp from shock. "You''re going to make a delicate flower like me do it?" Nagami muttered before recalling Neil unintentionally felling a tree in one slash, "Oh.. never mind.". Zalroth shrugged at Nagami''s flip-flopping demeanour before he handed the common stone pickaxe to her as the group arrived at the cave''s entrance. Zalroth inspected the cave before he opened his map and tapped it. Nagami flinched from a sudden ding in her head before she opened her own map to see two waypoints on the map, one labelled Iron/Silver Cave and one called Camp. "Alright, let''s head in," Zalroth instructed. Kel-Ku and Nagami nodded before they followed Zalroth into the cave. As their eyes adjusted to the light levels, the group entered the entrance area of the cave and looked around at the iron and silver ore adorning every inch of the cave''s walls. Nagami hurried over to a cluster of iron ore before lining up the tip of the pickaxe against the ore. She tapped the pickaxe against the iron ore, followed by the ore bursting into grey Hexa particles as a smaller chunk of iron ore plonked itself on the ground. Nagami crouched down and picked up the iron or chunk. [Activated Skill: Inspect(Material)] [Iron Ore(Mid-Quality)] [Activated Skill: Detect(Material)] "Wonder if this is good or not," Nagami pondered aloud. She stored the mid-quality iron ore in her inventory before resuming her mining. For a brief moment, Zalroth watched Nagami before turning his vision further into the cave as a ding rang in his head. Raising his hand and donning his uncommon stone knife, Zalroth informed the others to return to the Camp once Nagami collected fifty of each ore. "Why''s tha...," Nagami managed to say before turning her head to see the horde of hobgoblins(basically goblins but with adult human proportions and darker green skin) and her along with Kel-Ku''s expressions turned rigid at seeing the monster''s levels. [Hobgoblin Warrior][Level: 47] [HP: 450][Hexa: 10] [Vitality: 45][Stamina: 19] [Attack: 80][Hexa Attack: 1] [Defence: 90][intelligence: 1] [Agility: 1][Speed: 1] [Hobgoblin Mage][Level: 49] [HP: 100][Hexa: 450] [Vitality: 10][Stamina: 30] [Attack: 140][Hexa Attack: 1] [Defence: 1][intelligence: 45] [Agility: 20][Speed: 1] Zalroth glared at the three hobgoblin mages and twenty hobgoblins soldiers, watching each of their movements and the hobgoblins doing the same in turn. He pulled his empty hand back, making the hobgoblins brace themselves, before swinging it upwards and hurling a bundle of common stone knives straight into the air. The hobgoblins instinctually followed the knife bundle with their eyes and the hobgoblin mages aimed their trinket-adorned wooden staffs at the knife bundle. [Activated Ability: Weakening Howl] [Activated Skill: Accel Drive(Level: 2) x3] [Activated Ability: [Hidden By User] x3] Will the hobgoblins were preoccupied with the knife bundle, Zalroth dashed behind the hobgoblin mages at blinding speed before delivering three decisive slashes to each of the hobgoblins'' napes. As their HPs dropped to zero, the hobgoblin mages slammed to the ground before bursting into hexa particles corresponding to their robe colour. The warrior hobgoblins swung around before angrily charging at Zalroth. [Activated Unique Ability: [Hidden By User] x3] [Gale Blade(Level: 1)] [Thunder Wave(Level: 1)] [Frostbite Armament(Level: 1)] A sinisterly smug grin formed on Zalroth''s face as he saw his three new skills. A stone battle axe-wielding hobgoblin warrior raised its axe to Zalroth and swung it at him. [Activated Skill: Frostbite Armament(Level: 1)] The axe''s blade slammed into Zalroth''s arm as he raised it and a crystalline cracking noise chimed through the cave. A digital red 0 appeared beside Zalroth''s arm as the transparent condensed ice coating his arm cracked slightly. "Heh, looks like I''m the impervious one here," Zalroth remarked condescendingly before his grin returned to his neutral frown. Zalroth backhanded the battle axe away before vaulting over the hobgoblin warrior and slashing its nape with two level-two Accel Drive and Frostbite Armament-enhanced knife slashes. The struck hobgoblin warrior went limp and bursted into dark green hexa particles as two bold red numbers with bold cyan borders. The other hobgoblins jumped back from Zalroth as everyone watched the dark green hexa particles float up from the ground. The hobgoblins glared down at Zalroth and manically screamed at him before simultaneously swarming him. He smirked before he turned on his heel. [Activated Skill: Accel Drive] Zalroth blasted off further into the cave and the hobgoblins rushed after him, leaving Nagami and Kel-Ku perplexedly watching the hobgoblins disappear further into the cave. Nagami blinked in utter shock a few times before returning to the ore. "I''m going to... go get Chronia," Nagami muttered worriedly. She stored the common stone pickaxe in her inventory before she and Kel-Ku hurried out of the cave. Chapter 6: Cavern Splatunker Part 1 Zalroth briskly rushed through the ore-abundant cave''s tunnels with the roars of the hobgoblins bellowing from behind him as they charged after him. As he continued to run, he noticed a light at the end of the tunnel. Before he knew it he found himself in a ginormous cavern, littered with massive spikes and many naturally formed interconnected stone bridges suspended by sparse stone pillars. "Seems the terrain is on my side," Zalroth remarked mentally as he ran across a stone bridge until reaching an intersection atop a stone pillar. He briefly stopped and glanced back at the approaching horde of hobgoblin warriors. Seeing the decent distance between himself and the hobgoblins, Zalroth took a breather and inspected his surroundings. He looked at his two available paths and the already crumbled one. To his right was the undamaged path which stretched out far into the distance and eventually curved around a towering stone spire. He turned his gaze to the other path, one covered head to toe in cracks and fissures, leaving Zalroth to ponder on which path to choose. He placed a hand on his chin, concocting a plan in his mind as he crouched down to the ground and placed his hand on it. [Activated Skill: Frostbite Armament(Level: 1)] The tips of his fingers became encased in opaque ice before spreading out across the ground in a small circular area. For a moment, Zalroth was deep in thought before a wicked grin adorned his face as he placed his hand on the ground. He flexed his arms, digging his ice-covered fingers into the ground, and swung himself upwards into a handstand before a stone war axe swung down from behind him and slammed into the spot he dodged from. "As Chronia would say, talk about a slowpoke," Zalroth remarked, mimicking Chronia''s tone of voice as he cartwheeled to avoid another one of the hobgoblin''s attacks. Zalroth landed on his feet, throwing up various hand signs to provoke the hobgoblins, and booked it down the damaged stone path. As he ran across it, the stone bridge shook under Zalroth''s steps, a faint rubble accompanying them with small rubble breaking off, and the shaking exponentially worsened as more and more hobgoblins rushed onto the bridge. The hobgoblins gave chase, unleashing illegible disgruntled shouts and a volley of small stone weapons at Zalroth, as Zalroth counted how many of them walked atop the bridge. After all the hobgoblins were on the crack-growing bridge, Zalroth flexed his legs and braced himself to run faster. [Activated Skill: Accel Drive(Level: 2) x2] With the activation of a level two Accel Drive, Zalroth rocketed down the bridge, leaving the hobgoblins in the dust as he made significant distance between them and himself until he reached the end of the cracked section. He swiftly slammed his foot into the ground, sliding across the bridge as he crawled to a stop, before turning on the spot to face the hobgoblins. "Let''s see what happens when I use a skill without any Hexa," Zalroth thought as he swung his fists down and slammed them against the bridge. [Activated [Hidden Skill]: Ranged x5] As they continued to charge, purple magic crests with the appearance of a purple crown made of spikes and viney thorns became etched onto the hobgoblins. [Activated Skill: Frostbite Armament(Level: 2) x10] Opaque ice erupted from beneath his hands, rushing across the stone bridge through the many exposed cracks and crevasses, and made the hobgoblins freeze their approach as the ice filled the cracks under them. With everyone remaining still, rapid creaks and cracks rattled from the stone bridges as more cracks shot out from the ice-filled ones. Zalroth, face covered in sweat, raised a Forstbite Armament-covered fist lethargically before pounding it into the ground, sending a chilling shattering sound through the cavern. The section of the stone bridge below the hobgoblins shook, making the hobgoblins stagger and lose their footing as the bridge began to split and crumble apart. The hobgoblins tried to turn back the way they came, in a futile attempt to get away, but their hasty movement only went to hasten the degradation of the bridge before it gave out under them. The bridge shattered apart with its pieces and the hobgoblin horde plummeted into the dark below, their screams getting fainter and fainter. A sweat-covered Zalroth smirked and swiped his forehead as he opened his Status. [Zalroth Akikou][Level: 50] [HP: 18/250][Hexa: 0/150] "... better increase my Hexa," Zalroth uttered between heavy breaths as he pushed himself to his feet. A piercing sensation tore through Zalroth, causing his entire body to freeze up as he went numb and rag-dolled off the bridge. As he fell, Zalroth''s vision gradually darkened and darkened to the point he could only see a slit of his original vision. Try as he might, Zalroth could feel himself grow weaker, his being slipping further and further from him, and eventually closed his eyes. [Zalroth''s Level Increased] [50 -> 73] [Skill Aquired] [Ability(s) Aquired] Zalroth shot his eyes open, his vigour and vitality returning, and darted his head around. He swung his arms to the side and summoned two stone knives from his Inventory before coating them in Frostbite Armament. He swung the knives at the stone spire beside him, digging them into it, and sliding down the spire as his falling slowed. His falling eventually subsided, leaving him to dangle above a floor covered in spikes as red hexa particles floated from them. Zalroth sighed in relief, mentally thanking the spikes for finishing off the hobgoblins, and glanced up to see how far he had fallen. Although he could still see where he fell from, Zalroth mentally grumbled at how much of a chore scaling the spire was going to be. "Maybe one of your skills or abilities can make this task easier?" a small chirpy girl''s voice said into Zalroth''s ear. Zalroth glanced to his left and stared at the fae sitting on his shoulder. (The fae is a figurine-sized cream-skinned humanoid female kid; she has shoulder-low extremely curly white hair with cherry red highlights, cherry red eyes, and is wearing a cherry red rabbit fur mini skirt and bra) "And you are?" Zalroth asked. "Ah, that''s for you to decide, Ma-". Zalroth placed his pinky finger on the fae''s mouth to stop her from talking. "You will not be referring to me by that, got it?" Zalroth stated sternly. The fae frantically nodded, rubbing her face against Zalroth''s finger, before Zalroth removed his hand and re-grabbed his walled knife. "Ok, Mr Zalroth," the fae uttered as she fluttered off Zalroth''s shoulder. She cleared her throat, expelling most of the nervousness from her body, before directing her attention back to Zalroth. "As I mentioned before, I am a Fae of Fortune; a being created from the Hexa ability of the same name," the fae explained. Zalroth nodded as he opened his Skill Menu [Skills] [Fire Manipulation] [Flame Blast] [Level: 1][Cost: 15 Hexa] -User fires a small wave of flames at their target that does 130% of the user''s attack and 150% of intelligence- The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation. [Level: 2][Cost: 45 Hexa] -User fires a wave of flames at their target that does 220% of the user''s attack and 250% of intelligence- [Wind Manipulation] [Gale Blade] [Level: 1][Cost: 15 Hexa] The user fires a small barrage of condensed wind blades at their target that does 130% of the user''s attack and 150% of intelligence- [Level: 2][Cost: 45 Hexa] -User fires a barrage of condensed wind blades at their target that does 220% of the user''s attack and 250% of intelligence- [Electric Manipulation] [Thunder Wave] [Level: 1][Cost: 15 Hexa] The user fires a small sphere of lightning at their target that explodes into a 5-meter AoE which does 130% of the user''s attack and 150% of intelligence- [Level: 2][Cost: 45 Hexa] The user fires a small sphere of lightning at their target that explodes into a-10 meter AoE which does 220% of the user''s attack and 250% of intelligence- [Water Manipulation] [None] [Ice Manipulation] [Frostbite Armament] [Level: 1][Cost: 85 Hexa] -The user can coat parts of their body/weapons in condensed transparent ice that increases the user''s physical attack by 60% of user''s attack and 50% of intelligence when using ice magic, and increases the user''s defence by 80% along with making all the user''s physical attacks of the ice element- -Armor coating has 15% of the User''s Max Hexa, and 80% of the user base defence- [Level: 2][Cost: 145 Hexa] -The user can coat parts of their body/weapons in condensed translucent ice that increases the user''s physical attack by 120% of user''s attack and 250% of intelligence when using ice magic, and increases the user''s defence by 80% along with making all the user''s physical attacks of the ice element- -Armor coating has 30% of the user''s Max Hexa, and 80% of the user base defence- [Earth Manipulation] [Gaiaful Thorn] [Level: 1][Cost: 125 Hexa] -The user creates a dark green spear with the tip of a spear 70% of the user''s attack and 20% of speed, and increases the user''s agility by 35% along with making all the user''s physical attacks of the earth element- [Non Elemental Magic] [Accel Drive] -increases the user''s speed for a short burst and attack scales off the user''s speed at attack- [Level: 1][Cost: 25 Hexa] -Increases speed by 20% and attack by 30%- [Level: 2][cost: 45 Hexa] -Increases speed by 30% and attack by 35% [Detect(Materials)] -the user''s map displays all nearby materials on their map when the skill is active or gets a sense of nearby materials when the map isn''t open- [Level: 1] -5 meters- [Appraisal] [Level: 1] - Shows the status of anyone weaker than the user, or shows info about objects [Level: 2] -Shows the status of anyone weaker or around the user''s level - chapter 1- Sub-Skill: Quick Appraisal-only shows the target''s Name, HP, and Hexa- [Level: 3] -Shows the status of anyone. [Detect(Creature)] -The user''s map displays all nearby creatures on their map when the skill is active or gets a sense of nearby creatures when the map isn''t open. [Level: 1] -5 meters - [Level: 2] -10 meters- [Abilities] [Modify Status] -The user can hide and change the appearance stats, level, and class of their/others'' status''- [Weakening Howl] -Applies the weakening effect to all targets who hear the howl created from activating the skill, it has a 6-minute cooldown- [Atmospheric Hexa Absorbsion][Passive] -Increases Hexa regen by 200%- [Seraph Step] -The user creates a transparent-colourless platform beneath the user''s feet and will move to stay below the user- [Fae of Fortune][Passive] -The user creates a small female creature that can lead the user to nearby treasure, but the cost is either a part of the treasure to eat or something of the fae''s choice- "I see," Zalroth uttered before he glanced to his feet. [Activated Ability: Seraph Step] A transparent colourless platform formed below Zalroth and he returned his knives to his Inventory. He dropped down onto the Seraph Step platform, staring at it in amazement as he checked his mini status, seeing his Hexa remaining unchanged. "So...?" the fae uttered, a sheepish and wobbly grin on her face as she fiddled with her hands. "Aren''t fae normally the ones to ask for names?" Chronia asked from above, a faint hint of jealousy lacing her voice. Zalroth opened his mouth to retort to Chronia''s remark before he stopped himself as he processed Chronia''s presence. Zalroth covered his eyes, shaking his head in defeat with a small amused grin on his face, before looking at the fae through his fingers. "How does Zalina sound?" Zalroth asked as he saw the fae''s expression brighten, her enthusiasm practically oozing from her as she struggled to contain it. Zalina excitedly bounced in the air, twirling around like a tornado, while saying it was an honour to share a similar name to Zalroth. Zalina''s gleeful reaction made Zalroth briefly crack a smirk before he wiped it off his face and glanced to his right hand. Zalroth glanced upward, mentally mapping out his course to the Chronia before parkouring between the stone spire and the constantly moving Seraph Step platform. He diactivated the ability as he landed on the stone spire with Chronia. Chronia smugly smirked and pressed her fists against her thighs. "Seems my help wasn''t needed," Chronia remarked, a happy demeanour in her step. Zalroth rolled his eyes and lightly placed his hand on her forehead in a chopping motion. "What are you doing here?". "Did you honestly think I''d let you go on an adventure without me?" Chronia asked smugly while wagging a finger and fake pouting at him. Zalroth sighed as he grabbed her by the collar, lifted her off the ground and placed her on his back. "Yeah-yeah, I''ll head back to camp," Zalroth stated before being stopped by Zalina. "But what about the hobgoblin''s treasure stash?!" Zalina asked worriedly, flailing her arms around to keep Zalroth''s attention on her. Zalroth glanced at Chronia, a defeated sigh leaving his lips as he saw the blinding sparkles in her eyes at the mention of treasure. "Lead the way...," Zalroth requested. Zalina nodded before fluttering back the way Zalroth came from with Zalroth following behind her using his Seraph Step ability. Chapter 7: Cavern Splatunkers Part 2 [Zalroth Akikou][Level: 73] [HP: 500][Hexa: 850] [Class: Creation Crest] [Vitality: 50][Stamina: 25] [Attack: 60][Hexa Attack: 2] [Defence: 60][intelligence: 85] [Agility: 20][Speed: 66] [Avalible Points: 5] "Seems my Hexa number is displaying correctly now... unless I was under the influence of a debuff earlier...," Zalroth muttered aloud, a thought crossing his mind as he recalled the skill/abilities he recently acquired. He glanced around, scanning the area for any signs of monsters, but didn''t see anything of note. "It''s right in here!" Zalina stated excitedly. She smugly pointed down a cave tunnel before flying into the room. Inside the room, Chronia''s eyes sparkled, her gaze locked onto the towering piles of bronze/silver/gold coins and completely overlooking any of the equipment in the coin piles. She sprung on the coins, swiftly opening her Inventory and hauling the coins en masse into it. Zalroth lightly rocked his head from side to side as he waited for Chronia to get her fill of treasure collecting. Zalroth felt a small hand touch his face before Zalina grabbed his cheek and pulled at him to get his attention. Zalroth glanced at her and she immediately let go before fluttering over to the handles of the two swords. "These are the best ones," Zalina stated, smugly swaying her hips from side to side, while standing on the sword handle with a dark purple leather handle grip. Zalroth rolled his eyes as he walked over to the swords. Zalina whisked herself away from the swords, landing on a pile of coins beside them and sat down. Zalroth grabbed the handles of the swords and tried pulling them out of the treasure pile, briefly falling forward as the swords barely budged. He mentally sighed, lightly rubbing his wrists, as he stifled a pained expression before Chronia shrieked in terror as she watched Zalina munch through a gold coin. As Chronia rushed over and struggled to pry the gold coin from Zalina''s vice-like jaw, Zalroth rolled his eyes dismissively while grabbing the two sword handles again. Using the two girl''s bickering as an incentive, Zalroth channelled all his strength into his hands and legs before activating Frostbite Armament (Level 2) and stacking all the Accel Drives (Level 2) he could in a single moment. The swords mildly jostled as Zalroth continued to pull on them before there was a double pop. The pop gave Zalroth a mild sense of dread as he fell backwards and crashed on the ground, flinging coins into the air, with the tips of the swords pointing to the ceiling. (One sword is a greatsword; it has a dark purple blade covered in large glowing jagged claw mark-like engravings, a jagged black semi-circle-shaped hand guard, five hexagon-shaped aventurines organised to look like a V, a dark purple leather-covered handle, and a large black metal ring-shaped pummel with a large and long dark grey marble chain attached to it which is coiled around the entire sword) (The other is a longsword; it has a golden blade covered in glowing white runes, a frilly white semi-circle-shaped hand guard, a large hexagon-shaped ruby in the middle of the hand guard, a golden leather-covered handle, and a white pummel with a hexagon-shaped ruby. There is also a dark grey pedestal with a glowing white engraving of a V with two dashes through each line) Zalroth staggered to his feet, keeping his grip on the sword handle ferm, and stared at it as he used his Quick Appraisal skill on the swords. He silently stared at the two Mini Status panels, mentally juggling whether to say anything or keep what he saw to himself. Zalroth aggressively shook his head, wondering to himself why that question even entered his mind. "Woah!" Chronia announced excitedly. Zalroth peered over, sighing in relief at seeing Chronia''s excited remark was from finding a mini solid gold cat statue. Zalroth waved away the Mini Status panels and rose to his feet as Chronia and Zalina raced each other to gather as much loot for themselves: Chronia using her Inventory and Zalina eating them. After only a few minutes, the cave loot room had been completely ransacked of any valuables with the only remaining loot being the two swords floating by Zalroth''s back in a cross formation. Zalroth and Chronia stared at his hand, watching Zalina lying on it like a lethargic seal while groaning in both parts fatigue and exhaustion. The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. "Urrg... even for a Fae of Fortune, I think I ate too much," Zalina said weakly, with enough vigour in her eyes to show she didn''t regret it. She faintly raised her hand to Zalroth, her thirty-minute life flashing before her eyes, before she dropped her arm and dramatically acted out her death. "What a drama queen," Chronia remarked playfully, lightly nudging Zalroth as he was silently staring at Zalina. "If you say so," Zalroth replied apathetically as he placed Zalina into his blazer''s chest pocket. He added, "Are you satisfied now?". Chronia smugly grinned, the thought of messing with Zalroth too strong to resist but Zalroth''s serious demeanour made her think twice. "Yeah... I guess so," Chronia mumbled with a small smirk. However, her smirk slowly faded as a thought occurred to her, "You remember the way back, right?". Zalroth''s serious demeanour shattered, Chronia''s question sending a wave of unease through him, as he realised he hadn''t paid attention to the path Zalina took to get them to the loot cave. Eventually after many dead ends, low-level monster encounters, and an hour of walking, the duo emerged from the iron and silver cave before letting out a defeated sigh together. "How''d we end up at the same dead end five times?" Chronia grumbled, her exhausted eyes drifting to Zalroth and noticing the magic swords still floating behind him. "Yes?" Zalroth asked, making Chronia flinch at being caught staring. "What''s with the swords being out of your inventory?" Chronia asked puzzledly, waggling her hands in the swords'' vague direction. Zalroth shrugged his shoulders. "Living things can''t be put in our Inventories," Zalroth stated calmly as he walked past Chronia. Chronia nodded contently but as she thought over Zalroth''s explanation her nodding slowed. "Wait... a minute," Chronia grumbled as she shuffled after Zalroth, constantly trying to ask him to explain himself. He dismisses her by saying the answer is so obvious her questions must be rhetorical. Chronia huffed in frustration, crossing her arms, and said she wouldn''t talk to him for the rest of the way back. Chronia''s statement left Zalroth in utter confusion, managing to make his brain shortcircuit, and she couldn''t hold back her smirk at seeing her desired reaction from Zalroth. As the sun was practically past setting and only a small amount of red filled the sky, the duo returned to the clearing campsite filled with tent-like wooden huts covered in linked leaves covers. "Seems the gang made the camp faster than expected," Zalroth remarked with a mild hint of surprise in his voice. "Well, it''s bound to be faster than our time on that class camping trip with our new magical buffs," a cheerful kid voice stated. Chronia nodded, turning her head in the direction of the voice before seeing the glowing purple eyes within a pitch-black void staring straight into her soul. Chronia went pale, her soul leaving her body, and slumped to the ground like a wet noodle as Zalroth and Yai Kiaria stared down at her. (Yai Kiaria is an older teenaged female ex-human with the appearance of a nine-year-old human; she has elbow-low bleach-white fuzzy hair with a slightly slime-looking appearance which splits into seven parts, bright bioluminescent purple eyes with pitch-black scleras, and super pale skin) (Yai Kiaria is wearing an oversized white short-sleeved shirt) "...". Zalroth stared at Yai, watching her eyes grow wider and wider with glee, before sighing in resignation. "Fine, I''ll ask; what happened?" Zalroth asked rhetorically. Full of glee, Yai happily threw her slime/gelatin hands up, with her body wobbling like jello, as she showed off her new form. "I''m glad you asked; while me, Metsu, and Kaze were gathering food and hunting, we ran into a white slime," Yai said with a chirp in her voice. "And?". "It ate me, leading to me needing to steal Neil''s shirt which came with an unexpected bonus if you ask me, hehe," Yai remarked cheekily as she snuck a glance at the shirtless Neil, who had become slightly buffer from his constant wood chopping. "Right...? So, I take it your Class has something to do with your new appearance?" Zalroth asked, to which Yai nodded smugly. "You bet. While you were gone, Haruko cooked up the direwolf meat you gave him. So when I ate it I became all furry and got some skills from it.". "Then?". "Then I got the idea if I ate the core then it kill the slime or at least make me immune to being dissolved and whatnot," Yai added, finishing by stating the slime exploded and ruined her uniform beyond even threads. Zalroth rubbed his head and asked Yai if she intentionally got eaten, making Yai gasp in shock. "How-?". "The direwolf gave you the skill to detect creatures didn''t it?" Zalroth stated sternly, leaving Yai to sulk in uttered embarrassment at being exposed as she melted into the shape of a puddle and covered the dazed Chronia. Chapter 8: Quest From The [Redacted] Swords In the dead of night, while everyone else seemingly slept, Zalroth sat on top of his silver fur futon in his tent as a gentle breeze rustled the leaf covers; he rested his chin on his clasp fist, a single thought running through his mind, as he listened to the pair of voices swirling above him. "What are you sitting around for? You should be out slaying monsters to increase your level," the snarky female kid voice voiced. "Even if levelling up would remove his fatigue it would still be a chore to the point of boredom," the more relaxed, but still snarky, female kid voice stated. Zalroth groaned as the voices continued their discussion, finding himself the subject of the discussion annoying, and glanced up at the two magic swords circling the roof of the central support beam of the tent. "You Imperiou sure talk a lot despite not having mouths," Zalroth remarked with a frown. The dark purple greatsword poutfully huffed and angrily thrusted through the air until the tip of her blade reached Zalroth. "That''s only because we''re stuck in our weapon forms until you''re strong enough to handle making a soul link with us," the longsword complained as they bounced through the air. Zalroth pressed his chin into his fists, a sigh escaping his mouth, as he swatted at the greatsword. [Activated Skill: Apprisal(Level: 3)] [Gnawraul: The Ravanger Blade][Level: 550] [HP: 5000][Hexa: 5200(-5148)/52] [Class: Ravanger Destroyer] [Vitality: 500(-400)/100][Stamina: 500(-400)/100] [Attack: 20(-16)/4][Hexa Attack: 550(-440)/110] [Defence: 666(-532.8)/133.2][Intelligence: 520(-416)/104] [Agility: 1(-0.8)/0.2][Speed: 1(-0.8)/0.2] [Gnawraul''s Status Effects] [Restriction] -All of the user''s stats are reduced by 80%- -User''s Hexa is decreased to 1%- -User cannot use any skills or abilities using Hexa- -User loses levels whenever they use skills or abilities- [Peuonie: The Eternal Blade][Level: 550] [HP: 10][Hexa: 6000(-5940)/60] [Class: Eternal Beacon] [Vitality: 1][Stamina: 355(-284)/71] [Attack: 1000(-800)/200][Hexa Attack: 1] [Defence: 1(-0.8)/0.2][Intelligence: 300(-240)/60] [Agility: 500(-400)/100][Speed: 600(-480)/120] [Peuonie''s Status Effects] [Restriction] -All of the user''s stats are reduced by 80%- -User''s Hexa is decreased to 1%- -User cannot use any skills or abilities using Hexa- -User loses levels whenever they use skills or abilities- "Although I can understand why you''d be impatient to get such a status effect removed, don''t you think your approach is a bit gnawing, Gnawraul?" Zalroth asked as he used a finger to push the dark purple greatsword away from his face. Gnawraul the greatsword angrily huffed as she fluttered back up to Peuonie. "Be that way, don''t come crying to us when the nearby dragon lord decides to attack!" Gnawraul exclaimed in a fit. Zalroth went silent, gazing at the ground as he closed his eyes. He briefly pondered to himself before he rose to his feet and stared down the Imperiou duo. "Very well, and I take it you two have a plan in mind, to rapidly increase my level?" Zalroth asked, a mild hint of annoyance in his voice. A faint snicker emanated from Gnawraul as she and Peuonie descended to Zalroth''s eye level. "It''s nice to see we''re all on the same page, and even your... friends... can do the same thing in the future to level up," Gnawraul uttered, her very core shuttering as she said the word friends, while Peuonie snickered and teased Gnawraul for still getting hung up on such words. In the tent next to Zalroth''s, Ardentus stared up at the tent''s roof, passively listening to the nearby conversation, as he led in his sleeping back. He closed his eyes before contently smirking and mulling over an idea brewing in his mind. The following morning, Zalroth placed the Imperiou duo behind his back. He repeatedly tapped and pressed his face to psych himself up before the sound of metal clashing outside caught his attention. "Why does silver have to be so difficult? Zalroth could head out at any second!" Nagami whined as the metalic banging became even more ferrous and intense. Zalroth sighed disheartenedly, lowering his head slightly as he realised his conversation from the previous night was overheard. "It seems your companions are more eager than you are," Peuonie''s voice remarked inside Zalroth''s mind. He clicked his neck, thinking it was for the best if he didn''t respond to Peuonie''s remark, before rising to his feet and exiting his tent. Zalroth glanced at the area around his tent, searching for the source of the clanging metal, before spotting Nagami and Yai by a slightly hollowed-out bolder. The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there. "Perhaps, you''re being too aggressive. Silver is a soft metal after all," Yai remarked as she fired a constant stream of small flames from her hands into the hollowed rock filled with molten silver. Nagami huffed in frustration, raising the crooked silver sword to Nagami before sighing and dropping it into the molten silver. "I guess that''s why silver isn''t used to make swords," Nagami whined, kicking her shoe against the tufts of grass, as she grabbed a stone ladle. She dipped the ladle into the molten silver, scooping a clump of it, and poured it into a stone mould of a hunting knife. The duo watched as the molten silver rapidly cooled, its brightness fading as it turned from orange to silver. "These energy-absorbing stones sure are convenient," Zalroth remarked as he stood behind the girls. Nagami mildly nodded, disappointment etched on her face, as she lifted the mould and shook it until the cooled silver combat knife popped out. Nagami hurried over to the stone protrusion on the side of the hollowed bolder and placed the silver knife on it before raising her iron hammer and repeatedly striking the knife. Making sure to not put too much force into her strikes, Nagami managed to squeeze nine strikes out of the knife before her face winced in disappointment on the tenth strike as a pessimistic ding rang in her ears. She hopped away from her workstation and waved at it for Zalroth to grab the knife for her. Zalroth picked up the silver combat knife and brought it to his face as he used his Appraisal Skill on it. [Silver Combat Knife(Rare)][Level: 9] [Intelligence: 75] [Hexa Attack: 60] [Silver Blessing] -Elemental attacks do 50% more DMG- "This is certainly a step up from the stone knives I''ve been using," Zalroth stated. His remark made Nagami blush slightly and she swayed from side to side before stopping mid-swing as she recalled something. "Oh yeah, Phimona was making some armour for the guys heading on the power levelling endeavour with you," Nagami mentioned. Zalroth rubbed his forehead as he sent the Silver Combat Knife to his Inventory. "And how does everyone know about it?" Zalroth asked, making Nagami sway her head to the side in confusion. "Ardi?". Zalroth sighed, an exacerbated frown on his face as he pushed his mouth shut. "You don''t say...," Zalroth remarked in agitation before something fluffy struck his back and flopped over his head. "If anyone should be annoyed it should be us, Mr solo Leveler," Saria whined. Zalroth slumped his shoulders at Saria''s remark, as he pulled the dark red object off his head to see it was a dark red direwolf pelt cloak, long enough to reach from his shoulders to his hips. Zalroth rolled his eyes with a smirk on his face as he put the cloak on. [Direwolf Pelt Cloak(Rare)][Level: 12] [Defence: 122] [Vitality: 70] [Wolvern Pride] -DMG received from physical attacks are reduced by 25% and DMG from elemental attacks by 15%- "I suppose there''s nothing I can say to sway you from coming with me," Zalroth remarked amusedly. He turned to the group consisting of Ardentus, Lurioku, and Saria before sighing as he saw the smug look on all of their faces. "Naturally," Ardentus stated as he readjusted the dark red direwolf fur gauntlets around his forearms. Zalroth turned away before abruptly walking off without a word, leading the others to scramble for their equipment and rush after him. Later in the forest, before the group stood a towering archway cobbled together from bones of various creatures and purple marble, decorated with a collection of glowing gems save for a single empty socket. "It''s one of these things again, though this one is purple instead of blue like the other ones," Saria remarked as she poked the archway, jumping back as it made a crinkle noise from her touch. "Ah! So, you''ve seen other dungeon arches have you?" Peuonie asked with glee. Saria and Chronia jumped from Peuonie''s voice suddenly appearing in their minds. "I still can''t get over hearing voices in my head," Chronia grumbled in indignation. "That would explain your thoughtlessness, Nai," Ardentus remarked bashfully. Chronia briefly nodded her head before she processed the insult directed at her. She puffed up her cheeks, turning red with rage, and swung a punch at Ardentus. Her fist collided with Ardentus, a shiver coursing through her body before she collapsed to the ground and clasped her bright red hand as a sharp pain overcame her. "Ow-ow-ow, these stats really aren''t superficial," Chronia grumbled as she rolled on the ground. Zalroth crouched down to Chronia and encased his hand in Frostbite Armament before offering his hand to her. Chronia desperately clung to Zalroth''s hand, content and a relieved feeling washing over her as her pained expression turned to one of relief. "Are you lot done messing around?" Gnawraul asked aggressively as she rattled behind Zalroth. With Chronia continuing to hold Zalroth''s arm while dangling from him, Zalroth rose to his feet and glanced at the dungeon arch. "How do we activate it then?" Zalroth asked seriously. Gnawraul happily chirped before she floated around and stopped in front of Zalroth. "It''s rather simple you only need to present it with a monster core matching its rarity," Gnawraul explained. The group stared at Gnawraul before slowly drifting their vision to the dungeon arch. "Just like your equipment, monsters are divided into different rarities; common is green, uncommon is teal, rare is blue, very rare is deep blue, super is orange, legendary is red, unique is purple, and stella is gold," Peuonie explained excitedly, zipping around the group to keep their attention on her before flying straight into a bolder and shattering it as she pierced right through it. From the bolder''s pieces, a baseball-sized opaque blue crystal rolled across the ground and bumped into Ardentus'' foot. "So... we need a purple monster core?" Lurioku asked, with Gnawraul bouncing up and down in confirmation. "Indeed, and luckily for you lot you don''t even need to worry about fighting a unique rarity monster since unique monster cores can drop as loot from completing very rare, super, and legendary rarity dungeons....". As she finished her explanation, Gnawraul noticed Zalroth and Ardentus sinisterly glaring at each other while both held a rare monster core. Before anyone could react, Ardentus snatched Saria off her feet and sat her on his shoulders before he and Zalroth blasted off for the rare dungeon arches. "Loser has to give their share of Haruko''s cooking to Nakamai!" Saria exclaimed cheerfully as she pointed in the direction the two should go. Lurioku exhaled pure pessimism and crossed his arms while Chronia cheekily giggled and Gnawraul''s blade bent slightly. "But... I didn''t even tell them how to open the dungeon arches...," Gnawraul whimpered while Aoina and Kaigorou patted her on her guard to console her. (Kaigorou Yuzora is a super short tanned male human teenager with obvious tank top tanlines; he has elbow-low red hair tied into three braided ponytails, and the physic of a twelve-year-old) (Kaigorou is wearing the school uniform apart from being topless, has his school blazer wrapped around his waist like a skirt, and an oversized red fur ushanka with a white inside which covers the upper half of his head) Chapter 9: Dungeon Of Devastation Two blurs zipped through the forest, blasting past many weak monsters at such speeds they could barely register the blurs. The blurs shot off in different directions, sending a small air burst from them moving in opposite directions. The smaller blur bounced from tree to tree before its speed slowly decreased until the blur could be seen to be Zalroth. Zalroth landed on a tree branch, which wobbled slightly under his weight and his momentum, as he spotted a door-sized version of a dungeon arch. He hopped down from the tree and landed before the dungeon arch. He took a better look at the arch, seeing it was made of iron insect shells and blue marble covered in opaque blue gems. "The map labelled this one as an Iron Swarmer Dungeon of Devastation, with a rare rarity attached to it," Zalroth stated as he mused over how to activate it. He decided to take a closer look at the gems, noticing their similarity to rare monster cores and took his own one out of his Inventory before comparing it against the gems. Zalroth drifted the rare monster core between the many gems, comparing them against the core, before stopping it in front of the circular groove. "So, that''s how it works," Zalroth uttered as he felt the rare monster core gently rocking in his hand. He released his grip and the core bounced out his hand while being drawn to the socket like iron to a magnet. The rare monster core nestled into the empty socket, locking in place as it began to shine. A faint rumble emanated from the dungeon arch as a viscous blue liquid began to seep from its cracks before swirling into the space under the arch. The liquid mixed in on itself, giving it an otherworldly appearance, before it simmered and dissolved to reveal a ruined stone brick hallway. Gazing into the hallway, Zalroth briefly walked around the arch to check something and was surprised to see the other side of the arch showed the spot where he was previously standing. He walked through the arch and nothing seemed to happen; he glanced back to see the stone hallway once again. "...". Zalroth turned around, summoning his Silver Combat Knife(Rare) from his Inventory, and walked right into the dungeon. After stepping in, he glanced back and sighed as he saw the gate was gone. "Seems there''s no backing out," Zalroth muttered before walking down the hall, avoiding the dangling spiked vines and insect nests. After many minutes of constant walking, Zalroth arrived at a three-way divide in his path. He sighed as he looked at the first hallway with an engraving of his crest ability etched into the wall next to it. He strolled over to the middle hallway before striking the wall with his Frostbite armourmet-covered silver combat knife and etching his crest engraving into the wall. He stepped away from the wall and reapplied Frostbite Armament to his knife before heading down the third hallway. "How odd, I haven''t seen a single monster... either this is a trap-based dungeon or...," Zalroth thought aloud. He shook his head, deeming it impossible for someone else to be here since the dungeon arch was closed when Saria said she found it. Whilst deep in thought, a faint buzz up ahead caught Zalroth''s attention and he stopped as a concerned thought occurred to him. "Given the name and lack of any monsters so far, this dungeon probably was made for you two right?" Zalroth asked, causing two nervous eeps to echo from behind before Yai and Nakamai meekly shuffled up to him. (Nakamai Sakamoto is a teenaged human girl with the appearance and height of a nine-year-old; she has super long sparkly golden hair with a glowing silver star pattern all over her hair and tied behind her head using a black cloth, golden silver eyes with slit-shaped pupil and six spikes on her pupils, and pale white skin) (Nakamai is wearing an almost completely opaque white slime hooded onesie) [Activated Skill: Appraisal(Level: 3)] [Nakamai Sakamoto][Level: 1] [HP: 340][Hexa: 90] [Class: Abyssal Devourer] [Vitality: 34][Stamina: 1] [Attack: 1][Hexa Attack: 1] [Defence: 15][intelligence: 9] [Agility: 21][Speed: 14] [Onsie of The Speedful Slime(Very Rare)][30] [HP: 440] [Hexa: 160] [Slime Medic] -The User, and anyone in contact with the item, regenerates HP at a rate of 1% every second, and when HP is lower than 25% the user is fully healed but causes other healing to stop cooldown is over which five minutes- Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site. [Yai Kiaria][Level: 1] [HP: 10][Hexa: 10] [Class: Monster Sovereign] [Vitality: 1][Stamina: 1] [Attack: 1][Hexa Attack: 1] [Defence: 1][intelligence: 1] [Agility: 1][Speed: 1] Zalroth raised an eyebrow as he saw Nakamai''s faint silhouette inside the onesie before aggressively exhaling and turning away. "Where is your school uniform?" Zalroth asked with a disgruntled tone while crossing his arms. "They served no purpose so I got rid of them," Nakamai stated boldly with a monotone demeanour. Zalroth sighed, disappointment and disapproval oozing from him, as he grabbed the hood of her onesie and lifted her off the floor. "It just sounds like you''re looking for an excuse to be an exhibitionist," Zalroth stated unamusedly as he shook Nakamai in his hand. Nakamai pouted, placing her hands on her hips, and shook her head, although since Zalroth was holding her it made her body rotate instead of her head. "I''m not no exhibitionist!" Nakamai stated mutely. Zalroth silently stared at her before lightly exhaling as he placed her back on the floor. "Seeing as you two are here anyway, I want to test something," Zalroth stated before two pop-ups appeared in front of the duo displaying the text Item Transfered and a long list of common stone knives. "Oh, are you trying that RPG method where the weaker character attacks first then you''d swap out with the stronger one before you defeat the monster so both characters get EXP?" Yai asked to which Nakamai mentioned even if that method works it won''t work for her. Yai scratched her head while Zalroth itched his forehead in frustration. [Activated Skill: Appraisal(Level: 3)] [Nakamai''s Abilities] [Hunger From The Abyss][Passive][Unique] -The user can endlessly eat things and never gets hungry or full- [Abyss Power][Passive][Unique] -Eating monsters increases the user''s stats depending on the rarity of the monster- -The user''s stat(s) won''t increase if the corresponding stat is equal to or less than the user''s, and the stat increase can not exceed the stat of the monster being eaten- -Only one stat(s) increase can happen per monster- -Common gives 5% of highest stat- -Uncommon gives 15% of the two highest stats- -Rare gives 35% of highest stat- -Very Rare gives 45% of the two highest stats- -Super gives 45% of the highest stat, and 25% of the second and third-highest stats- -Legendary gives 50% of the highest stat, 35% of the second and third-highest stats, and 20% of all other stats- -Unique gives 80% the highest stat and 45% of all other stats- [Abyssal Dependence][Passive][Unique] -The user doesn''t get stat points from levelling up nor can they level up- "Oh...," Yai uttered as she read Nakamai''s Abilities. The panels eventually disappeared, snapping the two girls'' focus off of it before noticing Zalroth was already heading in the direction of the growing chorus of buzzing. The duo scampered after Zalroth while shouting at him to wait for them. The duo continued to whine as they struggled to catch up to Zalroth. He abruptly stopped at the end of the hallway causing the duo to bump into him and collapse on each other with a squishy thud. Yai pushed herself to her feet, mindlessly pressing an unfazed Nakamai into the floor, and puffed up her cheeks. "Wasn''t that a bit of an abrupt sto-," Yai complained before being cut off by Zalroth placing a finger over her mouth. Zalroth shushed her before peeking his head through into the adjoining room and inspecting the room. "What do you see?" Nakamai asked emotionlessly, her words slightly slurred from Yai still squishing her face. Zalroth cautiously hummed, drawing the attention of the duo and filling them with concern as they noticed Zalroth''s break in confidence. "Is it bad?" the duo asked with shaky voices. "Depends, is entomophobia a problem for either of you?". The duo glanced at each other, confusion stricken all over their faces. "Are ya really asking the ozzy bumpkins if they''re afraid of something small like bugs?" Yai asked amusedly while putting on an Australian accent. Zalroth swung his head to the ceiling, clasping his forehead in frustration as he let out a defeated groan. "I wouldn''t use the term small in this situation," Zalroth stated as he lowered his head, coated his silver combat knife and direwolf pelt cloak in Frostbite Armament, and marched into the room where the storm of buzzing originated from. "Wah-what''s that supposed to mean?" Yai murmured as she picked up Nakamai, like a weightless plushy, and rushed after Zalroth before immediately tripping over a vine. Yai faceplanted straight into the ground, making her let go of Nakamai. Yai clung to her forehead, her face riddled with pain, and slowly lifted her head. As she refocused her vision, Yai became distressed, distilling within her rising dread, as she watched the white slime ball barrelling for Zalroth. Yai mentally shrieked, dreading Zalroth''s fury more than the monsters, and leapt to her feet; she bolted after the barrelling Nakamai, although her runs were brief as she repeatedly tripped over vines and debris. Chapter 10: Swarms And Notifications A myriad of screams, one mortified and the other monotone, reverberated through the sprawling and expansive ruined stone brick room, drowning out the swarming buzzing encroaching from every direction. As the buzzing and screaming drew nearer, the ground shook with tremendous tremors before Zalroth, carrying the screaming Yai and Nakamai, vaulted over a slightly crumbled stone brick wall. He ducked behind the wall, pushing the other two''s heads below the wall before a torrent of cat-sized insects surged past the trio. The wall shook from the force of the passing insects, knocking small chunks and chips off the wall, as Yai and Nakamai covered their heads from the falling debris. "Their speed is certainly an issue," Zalroth remarked as the last of the flying insects passed overhead. He coated his hand in Frostbite Armament and threw his hand up to catch one of the insect monsters. He brought it to his face, its legs and wings flailing sporadically as it screeched, while he got a better look at it: the monster was the size of a house cat-sized insect monster; its shell made of iron while it had a resemblance between a rhinoceros beetle, a ladybug with blue spots, and a locus mixed together. [Activated Skill: Appraisal(Level: 3)] [Swarmer(Rare)][Level: 80] [HP: 350][Hexa: 10] [Vitality: 35][Stamina: 50] [Attack: 120][Hexa Attack: 1] [Defence: 100][intelligence: 1] [Agility: 1][Speed: 100] [Activated Skill: Monster Control] "Dang... they still outspeed you even with your speed-boosting skill!" Yai mentioned while Nakamai nibbled on one of the swarmer''s legs. Zalroth nodded before he heard a cracking sound below him. He glanced down to the noise, a tinge of discomfort on his face, as he saw the swarmer had seemingly calmed down and nibbled the Frostbite Armament off Zalroth''s arm. Zalroth raised an eyebrow and released the swarmer and it slowly fluttered itself to the floor before scuttling over to Yai. "It worked," Yai said excitedly while lifting the swarmer off the floor. Nakamai tilted her head and stared blankly at Yai. "What did?" Nakamai asked neutrally. Yai lightly pressed her fist against the side of her head, realising it would be easier to simply show them than try to explain, before opening some RPG panels. [Regal: Swarmer(Rare)][Level: 80] [HP: 350][Hexa: 10] [Vitality: 35][Stamina: 50] [Attack: 120][Hexa Attack: 1] [Defence: 100][intelligence: 1] [Agility: 1][Speed: 100] [Yai''s Skills] [Unique] [Monter Control] -The user can control and modify the mind of monsters weaker or lower level than the user, or is restrained- "To think me holding it would count as restrained," Zalroth stated as the buzzing swarm began to descend. Zalroth hopped to his feet, staring down the swirling storm of descending swarmers as a plan occurred to him. [Activated Skill: Gaiaful Thorn(Level: 1)] [Activated Skill: Frostbite Armament(Level: 2)] Dark green Hexa particles swirled around Zalroth''s hand as vines began to form from the Hexa. The vines jetted away from his hand, morphing and twirling together as they became overcome with petrification before turning to dark green stone, and forming into a spear. Along with the spear and knife, Zalroth also coated his hands and forearms in Frostbite Armament. "Stay put until I''ve grounded these swarmers," Zalroth stated with his back to Yai and Nakamai. The two girls nodded as they watched Zalroth pull his silver combat knife back. [Activated Skill: Flame Blast(Level: 2)] Zalroth steadied his knife as a Flame Burst core gathered at the tip of the knife tip, spurting out small orange Hexa particles, before slashing it through the air and hurling the FLame Burst core into the air. The Flame Burst core rocketed straight for the Swarmer swarm, with some of them turning pure white and blasting off to avoid the attack while a few coated their bodies in extra layers of iron coating. Noticing the outliers from the swarm, Zalroth narrowed his glare, focusing his vision on the select few, and failed to stifle a smug smirk. [Activated Skill: Creation Crest(Ranged) x6] [Activated Ability: Weakening Howl] Multiple Creation Crest marks(the purple crown made of spikes and thorny vines) formed on the six stand-out Swarmers, shortly followed by Zalroth snapping his fingers. The Flame Burst core cracked, splintering into many pieces, before violently exploding with a deafening bang. The swarm of swarmers scattered, flying in arches, managing to avoid each other as they formed smaller swarms before zeroing in on Zalroth. "Woah... your skill''s name showed up," Nakamai stated, in a monotone way, while standing next to Zalroth. Zalroth flinched at hearing Nakamai''s remark, and he slumped his head as he realised he had forgotten to activate his status-hiding skill. The screeching swarmers zipped through the air, descending straight for Zalroth. Returning his focus to the swarmers, Zalroth lept into the air before leaping between multiple Seraph Step platforms as he ascended away from the floor. Nakamai mindlessly watched Zalroth as he continued ascending, completely ignoring the swarmers flying inches past her face before being yanked to the ground by Yai. The swarmers surged after Zalroth, swirling and twistering around each other as their chorus of screeching drew nearer and louder. Zalroth spun around mid-air, landing on the bottom side of his Seraph Step platform, and dangled from it as if his feet were magnetised to it. He threw up his weapons, crossing them together with an icy chink, as small sparks of lightning emerged from him. [Activated Skill: Thunder Wave(Level: 2) x10] Sparks shot from all over Zalroth''s body, culminating into ten blue energy spheres within the midst of the swarmers. "Say a one-liner!" Yai exclaimed cheekily, leading Zalroth to swing his head back and glare at Yai with extreme disappointment. Yai shivered from the overwhelming chill running down her spine from Zalroth''s glaring. Zalroth sighed as he dropped his Gaiaful Thorn spear before spinning on the spot and punting it at the swarmers. The spear pierceded through the air, a chirpy whistle whirling through the air, and catching the attention of the swarmers. The head of the swarm doubled back on themselves to follow the whistling, a faint chatter coming from them, before slamming headfirst into the swarmers coming from the other direction and causing cracks to form on their shells from the impact. [Swarmer''s Status Effects] [Cracked Shell] -The User''s DEF is decreased by 50% and the user receives triple the DMG from piercing-type attacks- -The User loses 1% every second when HP is below 30%- "So some creatures can have creature-specific debuffs," Zalroth uttered as he recalled a goblin with the Cracked Armour debuff: it''s the same as Cracked Shell minus the HP drain. Zalroth nodded, a small smirk forming on his head, and aimed his silver combat knife at the Swarmers while commenting on the extra DEF decrease being a blessing. As he readied himself to attack, Yai''s request rang through his mind, his expression souring slightly as he felt his restraint crumble. "Prepared to be thunderstruck!" Zalroth murmured reluctantly, with Yai giggling despite not hearing him say it. Zalroth slumped his head, allowing his body to dangle limply, and half-heartedly waved his knife in the direction of the scrambling swarmers. A faint buzz emitted from the Thunder Wave spheres, a crackle shortly joining its increase in shine, before the spheres popped and erupted into torrents of electrical waves which shredded through the cracks in the swarmers'' shells, creating a tsunami of bold teal digital numbers which exploded around the swarmers. The waves of lightning crackled and sparked through the upper section of the room before slowly fizzling out as the swarmer became mostly charred with roughly around ten percent of their HP. With their wings left ragged, the swarmers could only wildly flail as they plummeted to the ground, slamming into the floor far below like rain. One of in swarmers crashed in front of Yai and Nakamai, making them briefly jump from shock; the two stared at the swarmer before abruptly dashing next to it and repeatedly stabbing it through its cracks using stone knives. "That''s what you get for scaring us," Nakamai said monotonously while wearing a forced pout. Bold red digital numbers appeared around the swarmer as the duo continued to stab it until it eventually died. [Yai''s Level Increased] [1 -> 23] Yai squinted her eyes at the pop-up and contorted her face in confusion as she tried to wrap her head around the amount of levels she received. "Huh? But wasn''t this guy like level eighty?" Yai uttered. She scratched her head as she stared at the level-up pop-up, her eyes glued to it like a hawk, blocking out all over things of interest. "Clearly, you haven''t played an RPG before," Zalroth remarked as he dropped onto a Seraph Step platform above the cluster of charred swarmers. Yai passed a judgmental glance in Zalroth''s direction, mentally denouncing the absurdity of a level eighty monster not making her level eighty being ok, and huffed in frustration. "That''s so dumb!" Yai whined defeatedly while Regal simply shook their head at their master''s demeanour. Zalroth sighed and rubbed his face, not wanting to hear any more complaining from Yai. Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author. "Just think of it as you getting a fraction of their level when they are defeated and the rest is converted into their loot," Zalroth stated exhaustedly. Yai considered responding but after thinking about it, and seeing Zalroth''s gradual anger-growing expression, decided the explanation was satisfactory. "You should get to stabbing," Nakamai remarked before she bit through the torso of the defeated swarmer. Yai realised what Nakamai meant, quickly springing to her feet, and hurrying around to stab as many of the swarmer before they lost all their HP. A little bit later, an exhausted slumped to the floor and rested her back against Nakamai''s back whilst she was still eating. [Zalroth''s Level Increased] [73 -> 93] [Gaiaful Thorn''s Level Increased] [1 -> 2] [Accel Drive''s Level Increased] [2 -> 3] [Detect(Creature)''s Level Increased] [2 -> 3] [Yai''s Level Increased] [23 -> 86] [Nakamai''s Level Plateaued] [1 -> 1] "Yippee," Yai said lathargically, lightly clapping her hands together, before slumping against the crumbled wall while pressing her fingers against her sore wrist. As she continued massaging her wrist, she noticed Zalroth methodically walking through the cluster of swarmers, checking for the ones with his Creation Crest crests before picking them up and just as quickly dropping the last one with a crest on them. [Aquired Ability] [Error] [Zalroth Already Possess Current Ability] [Swapping To Randomized Mode] [Aquired Ability] [Aquired Skill] [Notice] [Combining duplicate Skills] [Skill Leveled up] "So abilities don''t stack but copying the same skill will convert it into EXP for the other," Zalroth uttered as he opened his Skills/Abilities lists to check out his new ones. [Zalroth''s Skills] (New) [Inferno Blaze] [Level: 1][Cost: 85 Hexa] -The user coats their equipment in opaque flames that increases the user''s physical attack by 60% of user''s attack and 50% of intelligence when using fire magic, and increases the user''s agility by 180% along with making all the user''s physical attacks of the fire element- -The user can also fire off a ranged fire slash, doing double the DMG a melee slash would before using up the flames- [Level: 2][Cost: 145 Hexa] -The user coats their equipment in opaque flames that increases the user''s physical attack by 120% of user''s attack and 250% of intelligence when using fire magic, and increases the user''s agility by 180% along with making all the user''s physical attacks of the fire element- -The user can also fire off a ranged fire slash, doing double the DMG a melee slash would before using up the flames- [Level: 3][Cost: 465 Hexa] -The user coats their equipment in opaque flames that increases the user''s physical attack by 330% of user''s attack and 280% of intelligence when using fire magic, and increases the user''s agility by 220% along with making all the user''s physical attacks of the fire element- -The user can also fire off a ranged fire slash, doing double the DMG a melee slash would before using up the flames- [Gaiaful Thorn] [Level: 2][Cost: 245 Hexa] -The user creates a dark green petrified vine spear with the tip of a spear 130% of the user''s attack and 50% of speed, and increases the user''s agility by 45% along with making all the user''s physical attacks of the earth element- [Accel Drive] -increases the user''s speed for a short burst and attack scales off the user''s speed at attack- [Level: 3][cost: 75 Hexa] -Increases speed by 40% and attack by 35%- [Detect(Creature)] -The user''s map displays all nearby creatures on their map when the skill is active or gets a sense of nearby creatures when the Map isn''t open. [Level: 3] -20 meters- [Zalroth''s Abilities] (New) [Particle Warp] -The user turns completely white and can warp to any location within their vision- -Cooldown of 5 seconds per meter- [Material Coating] -The user coats their outer layer/clothing in any material they know the composition of or has in their possession/Inventory- -Resistance and DEF increase is based on used material- Nakamai noticed the panels floating around Zalroth, a realization hitting her like a train despite her expression remaining as poker-faced as ever. Zalroth continued to inspect his new skills and abilities with laser focus; but as he did, droning words began to creep up behind him, a strange sense of denial gnawing at him as the words became clearer. "One of us, one of us, one of us," Yai and Nakamai chanted in unison. Zalroth pessimistically sighed and used a hand to cover his eyes as the duo continued to chant while Regal made buzzing noises with a similar tempo to the girls. "Knock it off, would you?" Zalroth stated calmly while the Yai coyly pestered him with pokes and prods as Nakamai wandered off to eat more swarmer legs. Zalroth sighed, pushing Yai away with his free hand, and held up the swarmer iron shell fragment in his hand. [Activated Ability: Material Coating] The direwolf cloak rustled slightly, its weight increasing as a wave of cyan Hexa washed over its fur and encased it in iron. Yai raised a fist to the cloak and lightly knocked her knuckle against it with a ching. Zalroth stared at the shell, noting his ability not consuming/altering the shell, before flicking it into the air and sending it into his Inventory. "Alright you two, help me collect all these swarmers before any more of the boss show up," Zalroth requested sternly. The other two begrudgingly did as Zalroth instructed, despite not wanting to do any tedious work. [Notice From Ne-Lon Operatior Devi] [System Update] [Change Log] [Name Of Stat: Hexa Attack Has Been Changed to Hexa Proficiency For More Clearity] [Stat Summery Button Has Been Add To Status Menu] The trio stared at the sudden notice, their focus on collecting briefly diverted, and swiftly opened their status to check. Zalroth lightly threw a hand over his eyes, a low simmer of rage bubbling to the surface as he read that Hexa Proficiency increases the accuracy of debuff-type skills/abilities, and the strength/accuracy of Unique Hexa Skills/Abilities along with unlocking new Sub/Extra Skills/abilities related to their class. [Zalroth Akikou][Level: 73] [HP: 500][Hexa: 850] [Class: Creation Crest] [Vitality: 50][Stamina: 25] [Attack: 60][Hexa Proficiency: 2] [Defence: 60][intelligence: 85] [Agility: 20][Speed: 66] [Avalible Points: 105] [Yai Kiaria][Level: 86] [HP: 10][Hexa: 10] [Class: Monster Sovereign] [Vitality: 1][Stamina: 1] [Attack: 1][Hexa Proficiency: 1] [Defence: 1][intelligence: 1] [Agility: 1][Speed: 1] [Avalible Points: 470] [Nakamai Sakamoto][Level: 1] [HP: 340][Hexa: 850] [Class: Abyssal Devourer] [Vitality: 34][Stamina: 1] [Attack: 120][Hexa Proffiency: 1] [Defence: 95][intelligence: 85] [Agility: 21][Speed: 99] "So this system thing isn''t automatic?" Nakamai mumbled between biting swarmer legs. Zalroth placed a hand on his chin, lightly humming, as he thought it over. "I believe the word you''re looking for is autonomous, although your verbal mishap might be more accurate," Zalroth remarked, tapping his chin in rhythm with the abient buzzing-like tune. "Are... you saying the RPG system is being controlled by someone?" Yai asked with mild concern. Zalroth closed his eyes, silently mulling over multiple possibilities, before sighing and opening his eyes. "Hard to say, but someone or something is certainly overseeing it," Zalroth mentioned. The two girls'' whined, the thought of their efforts being undone at someone else''s whim being too much to bear, before Yai began angrily assigning her stat points in spiteful defiance while Zalroth was more reserved in his approach. [Zalroth Akikou][Level: 93] [HP: 500][Hexa: 850] [Class: Creation Crest] [Vitality: 50][Stamina: 25] [Attack: 100][Hexa Proficiency: 5] [Defence: 80][intelligence: 85] [Agility: 40][Speed: 88] [Avalible Points: 0] [Yai Kiaria][Level: 86] [HP: 1000][Hexa: 1000] [Class: Monster Sovereign] [Vitality: 100][Stamina: 35] [Attack: 150][Hexa Proficiency: 50] [Defence: 1][intelligence: 100] [Agility: 1][Speed: 1] [Avalible Points: 0] Chapter 11: Proficiency Milestone And Unfair Match-up With the faint dings of clashing iron echoing through the stone brick-walled chambers, Yai sent the last of the swarmer loot into her Inventory. She raised a hand to her head, lightly caressing her forehead as she swiped the non-existent sweat off her body, and exhaustedly exhaled. "What are you doing?" Zalroth asked with an unamused and slightly confused tone. Yai flinched, a faint grumble escaping her lips, and pouted defeatedly. "All that effort and we didn''t get any cool loot," Nakamai whimpered with a slight tinge of emotion in her otherwise usually neutral one. The two girls held their heads low, swaying defeatedly like grass in the wind, and sighed in extreme disappointment. Zalroth rolled his eyes in response to the girls'' complaining as he looked at his clasped fist. "I wouldn''t say we got nothing," Zalroth remarked. Like the winds of a violent hurricane, the two girls rushed over to Zalroth and gathered before him to see what he had in hand. The two stared in awe at the sparkling item in Zalroth''s hand; it was a ribbon woven from golden threads and sparkled under the ever-present light of the dungeon. [Return Ribbion(Stella)] -A golden ribbon which when used allows the user and anyone nearby to instantly return to the area around the dungeon arch they are in- -Doesn''t function if dungeon arch has been cleared- "Seems this is an unlimited get-out-of-trouble ticket?" Yai asked while Regal clung to her back like a backpack. "Seems like it," Nakamai remarked, her face displaying a mild hint of disappointment at seeing the item wasn''t cooler. As she stared at the Return Ribbon, a thought occurred to Yai before she smugly smirked. "Didn''t claymore lady say stella was the highest rarity, so this has gotta be uber rare given we...," Yai said. As she was mid-word, Zalroth placed his hand over Yai''s face, grabbing her head as gently as possible, and lightly shook her head to shut her up. "If you want one, you''ll quit your complaining and I''ll give you the one Yai''s getting, got it?" Zalroth asked with a mild vexation accompanying his voice. A sweat drop formed on Yai''s head, an odd sense of impending doom filling her as she felt she should choose her next words very carefully. "Ok...," Yai uttered with a slightly strained voice. Zalroth nodded in contentment, releasing Yai''s face, before he turned away from the duo. [Yai Gain A New Skill] [Monster Leigon] -The user can form their monsters into groups and can communicate with their monsters mentally at any range- "A new skill?" Nakamai asked while the two girls looked at the pop-up while Zalroth gazed up to the ceiling with a serious glare. "Your Hexa Proficiency was fifty right?" Zalroth asked, keeping his focus glued to his target. Yai raised an eyebrow at Zalroth''s question. "Yeah?" Yai mumbled while waving her pop-up away while Nakamai stared blankly into space, wondering when she could get more food. "Good. Now if you don''t want to fight, I suggest you take cover," Zalroth instructed sternly. The duo wondered what Zalroth meant, confusion littering their faces as they thought he was threatening. "What are you sa-". Yai paused mid-sentence before swinging her head up as her Detect(Creatures) skill went off, sending a shocking sensation through her spine. As the two girls spotted the large creature looming above. The monster rocketed down from above before coming to an instant stop in front of the trio and unleashing a violet torrent of wind. The raging wind of the monster surged through the air, almost knocking the trio off balance. Zalroth stared down the monster and braced himself as he got a better look at the monster; the creature bore a striking appearance to the rare swarmers aside from it being the size of a hippo, being bulkier, and its exoskeleton being covered in more plated shells. [Activated Skill: Appraisal(Level: 3)] [BOSS-Armoured Swarmer(Rare)][Level: 255] [HP: 5000][Hexa: 250] [Vitality: 250(250)][Stamina: 50] [Attack: 120][Hexa Attack: 82] [Defence: 250][intelligence: 250] [Agility: 181][Speed: 100] "Is that above our pay grade?" Nakamai asked emotionless while clinging to Zalroth''s legs and flapping like a flag from the surging winds of the Armoured Swarmer; on the other leg, Yai was strapped to Zalroth''s leg, clinging to it for dear life like a koala, to keep herself from being blown away. Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more. "Even with my ability to lower its defence, that health pool certainly will give us some trouble," Zalroth mentioned as he grabbed the two girls before leaping away from the Armoured Swarmer, and landing on a Seraph Step platform far off the ground. "Do you think we should use the ribbon thing?" Yai asked as Zalroth placed her and Nakamai on the platform. Zalorth stared at the Armoured Swarmer, each of its wings changing colours as an elemental effect coated them; ice on the left wing and wind on its right wing. "I take it you don''t want to fight then?" Zalroth asked. Yai glanced to her feet before clasping her fists and raising her head, a determined sparkle in her eyes as she steadied her conviction. "No. I want to help this time!" Yai exclaimed with vigour as she clasped her fists and punched them together while Nakamai gave a half-hearted thumbs up. [Activated Ability: Material Coating] Zalroth watched as the oversized short-sleeved shirt on Yai turned from white to iron. He smirked, twirling his silver combat knife in his hand, as the Armoured Swarmer rocketed above the trio before unleashing a torrent of ice and wind projectiles. The torrent of elemental projectiles descended straight for the trio with the deafening whistles of the wind projectiles ringing in their ears. [Activated Ability: Weakening Howl] [Activated Ability: Weakening Howl] [Activated Skill: Inferno Blaze] As two howling shockwaves collided with the Armoured Swarmer, opaque flames erupted out and encased Zalroth''s silver combat knife, trailing behind him and splitting into embers at the end of the flame. Zalroth readied his stance to unleash a counter-attack but, before he could, Nakamai dived in front of him as if she were planning to tank the attack. She flopped on the platform in front of the other two, bouncing slightly on the spot, before scrambling to her feet and dropping her head. After expelling all the air in her lungs, Nakamai swung her head back and inhaled with incredible force, managing to suck in the very air and make it spiral towards her like a whirlpool. The whirling air drew in the elemental projectiles locking them into Nakamai''s jet stream. Nakamai effortlessly engulfed all the elemental projectiles as if they were air, leading the Armoured Swarmer to unleash even more projectiles, only for them to easily be eaten by Nakamai. After a solid minute of non-stop attacks, the attacks abruptly stopped as the Armoured Swarmer''s wings reverted to their base mode. A slightly dazed Zalroth scratched the back of his head, checking the Armoured Swarmer''s status to see Nakamai had managed to induce enough fatigue in the Boss it went over their stamina, and sighed in utter disbelief. "I feel this thing''s gimmick was to overwhelm us with a bombardment of attack and force us to take cover behind all the debris," Zalroth mentioned slightly disappointedly. "But Nakamai not only was a perfect counter but was also able to use its gimmick against it," Yai added while holding onto the perfectly spherical Nakamai to keep her from falling off the Seraph Step platform. "Indeed," Zalroth stated before he activated Particle Warp, teleporting within a veil of white energy above the swarmer. Zalroth realed his flame-covered silver knife back and Yai swung her hands up before the duo unleashed a flurry of their highest level Flame Blasts on the Armoured Swarmer, shredding through its HP due to its vastly reduced DEF. Being on its last leg and receiving enough damage to induce the Cracked Shell status effect on the Boss, Zalroth jumped on its head before leaping to his Seraph Step platform. Using his right hand, Zalroth raised his silver knife to the air, its trailing flames focusing around the edge of the blade and giving the blade edge an orangy glow. Deciding to add some flair, Zalroth tossed a sparkling knife into the air with his left hand and made the Armoured Swarmer, along with Yai and Nakamai, follow its rise believing it was the silver knife. However, as the knife reached its apex a donning revelation stuck the swarmer as it watched the knife''s opaque ice coating flake off, revealing it to be nothing but a stone knife and not the silver knife. Even in its fatigued state, the Armoured Swarmer unleashed an unruly screech, its warcry blasting through the trio and inducing nausea in the two girls from the drumming ringing in their ears. "Don''t think your second phase will save you now!" Yai exclaimed as she folded her ears to muffle the screeching while Nakamai held her head over the edge of the Seraph Step platform and barfed up an elemental slurry of ice crystals and Hexa particles. Zalroth scoffed as he passed his silver combat knife to Yai, eliciting a confused yet smug huff from her. She swung her arm up, pointing the knife to the ceiling, and even twirling it between her fingers like the knife were a butterfly knife. "If you take any longer the boss will die from its bleeding effect," Zalroth remarked snarkily. Flinching and blushing from embarrassment at his remark, Yai angrily swung her arm down, unleashing a concentrated Inferno Blaze slash through the air, and knocking herself over from the force of the attack. The fiery blade sliced through the air, moving fast enough to create wavey mirages in the air, and struck the Armoured Swarmer head-on. After a brief struggle, the fire blade continued on its path as if it hadn''t hit the Armoured Swarmer. Yai raised an eyebrow, a sensation of shame rising in her, and sighed deflated in defeat. "How''d I mess that up?" Yai grumbled as she handed the silver combat knife back to Zalroth. "And here I thought, you were a fanatic for dramatic timing," Zalroth remarked. Yai made an audible huhed, passing a puzzled stare to Zalroth before she widened her eyes as she realised what he meant. She turned to the Armoured Swarmer, watching as a bright orange line formed on the Armoured Swarmer. A sloppy pop and crackles emanated from beneath the Armoured Swarmer''s shell as the melting line on its body split apart like melted cheese before exploding into a tsunami of red Hexa particles with an ear-piercing bang. [Zalroth''s Level Increased] [93 -> 143] [Yai''s Level Increased] [86 -> 98] [Nakamai''s Level Plateaued] [1 -> 1] "Guess I don''t get much of a boost since I only hit it once," Yai muttered meekly before Nakamai rushed past her. With determination fulled hunger, Nakamai lept off the Seraph Step platform and swan-dived after the Armoured Swarmer''s sliced body parts. Zalroth covered his face, dragging his fingers over his face as he noticed Nakamai''s increase in recklessness in her pursuit of food and mentioned she wasn''t this bad back on Earth. Chapter 12: Loot and Rewards With Yai clinging to his back, Zalroth dropped from his Seraph Step platform, landing beside Nakamai as she chewed through one of the boss armoured swarmer''s legs with audible metalic crunches. Nakamai reeled her head back with her teeth primed for tearing into the boss-type armoured swarmer''s leg before swinging her jaw shut in anticipation; however, instead of the expected iron flavour, she was met with the bitter taste and sensation of her teeth colliding into each other as grey Hexa particles spewed away from her hands. "I think you''ve eaten enough of it," Zalroth stated, lowering his raised hand as the grey Hexa particles popped around him. Nakamai narrowed her brow, her teeth rattling against each other, as she pouted at the disappearing bug leg. At seeing the rest of the boss disappear in the same manner as its leg, Nakamai pounded a fist against the floor in spite and slightly cracked it, shortly followed by the superficial damage fixing itself. "Nuh-Uh!" Nakamai said spitefully as her onesie made bloops and blops from her flailing her arms. Zalroth raised his head slowly, blankly staring off into space as a monsoon of a feminine voice saying nuh uh plagued his mind, and he violently shivered involuntarily. "What''s wrong?" Yai asked, poking Zalroth in hopes of bringing him back to reality. He snapped back, briefly rubbed his faintly dried eyes, and sighed as another ripple of cringe washed through him. "Just got twenty-twenty-two flashbacks," Zalroth stated with a sharp glint in his eyes. Yai joined in on the shivering, the mention of the year sturring up an equal amount of displeasure within her. "Yeah... the twenty-twenties just sucked for everyone... except those lot on that one island," Yai retorted matter-of-factly while wagging her finger rhythmically. Zalroth rolled his eye dismissively as Zalina perched herself on his shoulder, Stella-ranked Return Ribbon in hand. "What are the odds of finding a treasure tile in a rare dungeon arch," Zalina remarked smugly while stowing the Return Ribbon she found into Yai''s gelatin hair. As Yai snagged the Return Ribbon from her hair and stored it in her Inventory, a thunderous bang erupted through the chamber, startling everyone aside from Zalroth, from a silver pirate-looking chest dropping from above and shattering the ground by the group. "Seems a bit excessive for loot chest...," Zalina grumbled angrily, pouting while sticking her head out from Zalroth''s chest pocket. The other two were concerned with Zalina''s statement, but didn''t allow their shock to diswade them from rushing to the dungeon boss loot chest. The duo grasped the chest, their grips strong enough to crack its frame before they pried it open. The head of the chest snapped off its hinges before the entire thing shattered into pieces from the girls'' unrestrained strength, leaving the two blankly staring at the silver shards. "I suggest you refrain from touching the loot," Zalroth suggested, making the duo pout at him. "It wasn''t intentional...," Nakamai whimpered as she went to lean into the chest, shortly followed by Yai grabbing her. "You don''t say," Yai uttered, stepping away from the chest while dragging Nakamai away to stop further damage. With Yai gesturing to it, Zalroth walked up to the silver loot chest and gazed into it with a critical eye. [Activated Skill: Appraisal(Level: 3)] Zalroth stared at the pop-up before him, a small smirk forming on his face at the info being divulged to him. He reached a hand into the silver loot chest, practically barren save for the seemingly lone item within. [Thrudite(High-Quality)] -A special dark crimson metal with Hexa absorbing/compounding properties- "That certainly makes up for that lack of any other loot," Zalina remarked cheerfully while Yai pondered on what the metal could even be used for and Nakamai wondered when they could go back to camp to get food. In the Iron Golem Dungeon of Preservation, a disappointed Ardentus punted the head of a massive iron golem across the boss chamber like a football, its multiple collisions dinging and reverberating through the room but nothing came to investigate the noise. This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. "Good grief, how can I even count this as a win even if I beat Zalroth''s time?" Ardentus said, complaining his class made dealing with the golems boringly easy as he recalled turning a bunch of golems into chunks of iron. "I don''t see why you''re complaining, I didn''t level up even once," Saria grumbled, dragging her feet across the floor with a solemn expression as she collected all the mid-quality iron ore chunks into her Inventory. Ardentus donned a crooked grin, finding some form of enjoyment from hearing Saria''s complaints. "Yeah, well, perhaps Zalroth figured out a way for people to level up without needing to fight," Ardentus mentioned as multiple pop-ups blocked his view of the deep blue monster core in his hand, and Saria sprinting after a rolling chunk of iron. [Ardentus Koihouza][Level: 133] [HP: 180][Hexa: 900] [Class: Condense] [Vitality: 18][Stamina: 55] [Attack: 77][Hexa Proficiency: 150] [Defence: 66][intelligence: 90] [Agility: 96][Speed: 122] [Avalible Points: 0] [Aquired Skills x3] [Aquired Skill Tokens x30] [Compress Liquid Materials] -The user can compress liquid objects into a gelatin-like state- [Compress Gas Materials] -The user can compress gases to act like solid materials- [Temperature Compress] -The user can compress objects to the point it superheats them- "The stat''s name really was changed," Ardentus remarked amusedly. Fully taking in his new skills, Ardentus closed the pop-up, turning his attention to the arch-shaped portal. He called for Saria, telling her she didn''t need to collect all the loot, and asked her to hurry up otherwise he''d leave her behind. A little later, a hearty bellow of laughter roared through the forest as Saria''s complexion matched one of a tomato. Ardentus, overcome by his laughter, collapsed onto the ground before rolling around in a laughing fit as Saria barked at him to stop laughing, deeming it his fault for killing the golems so quickly. "Was telling them how we increased our levels a bad idea?" Yai asked while glancing up at Zalroth. Zalroth shook his head and told them it wasn''t, deeming Saria''s anger seemed from the laughing itself rather than learning of an easier leveling method. Chronia, Kai, Aoina, and Yai turned to look at Ardentus, still laughing with the same amount of energy without losing any steam and making Saria even angrier. "His laughing is getting, a little, annoying," Peuonie mentioned as she and Gnawraul floated behind Zalroth. Zalroth began to feel a slightly sinister glare strike the back of his head, leading him to turn his head but all he saw was Gnawraul''s guard. "I''ll only say this once, now that you''ve found a very rare-grade monster core, you''ll need to leave the forest as none matching that rarity exists in Medous Forest," Gnawraul mumbled almost incoherently with her voice laced with embarrassed anger, leading Peuonie to give a shortened translation of Gnawraul''s message to the group. The humans lowered their heads, a brief moment of silence filling the air as they all mulled over their upcoming course of action. "I believe that should wait until our camp is safer and everyone is at least level a hundred before doing that," Chronia suggested seriously. "Indeed, but which won''t take too long if Zalroth takes everyone through these dungeons at least once," Aoina added, making Ardentus sit up at her remark puzzledly. "Huh? What about me?" Ardentus asked confusedly, knowing he could just as easily do it. Aoina cast a contentious side eye to Ardentus, making the guy flinch despite Aoina showing no signs of attacking. "Saria," Aoina stated coldly. Aoina''s single word caused Ardentus to slump his shoulders in resignation of his solo approach to things. Hearing her name being said, Saria flinched at thinking Aoina was mad at her and felt like passing out from how lightheaded the dread of Aoina''s anger instilled in her. Feeling her knees give out, Saria''s legs folded like paper and she swung downward, falling at the perfect angle to clonk Ardentus in the side of the head but only ended up knocking herself out from the impact. Ardentus remained unaffected by Saria''s collision, at least until the unconscious Saria began drooling all over his head and making him scream like a baby. Chapter 13: Gearing Up A week later after the first dive into the dungeon arches, a final bang echoed through the air as a suspended Neil hammered an iron nail into one of the many two-storey ironwood houses. He slumped back on his makeshift suspended chair, sweat dripping from his pores, and pulled at his dark green plant fibre tank top, flapping it back and forth to push away the hot air under his tank top. "Good grief... even with my new abilities this is still a chore...," Neil grumbled as a faint buzzing sound rattled beside his ear. Using her four new swarmer wings, Yai fluttered past Neil as she circled the house and checked between the house and the blueprint of said house. "Seems about right," Yai remarked as she noticed the muntin glass window was slightly off from its intended location. Neil groaned at also noticing the window''s misalignment to the blueprint, muttering he should''ve known he put another wall on backwards, and sighed as he flipped his iron hammer around so its claw side faced the house. "Does it really matter? As long as it''s in one piece, it should be fine, right?" Yai asked as she stopped beside Neil with the scrunched-up blueprint in her grip. Neil signed, tossing his hammer and the blueprint into his Inventory, before Yai and Regal grabbed the support ropes of Neil''s suspended chair and carefully descended it to ground level. Inside one of the four bedrooms of the recently constructed house, Zalroth sat on his bed, its wooden framed and wool bedding bouncing slightly from his weight. "Phimona''s handy work sure is something," Zalroth remarked as he peered over to the smaller beds in the corner of his room, where the two living swords lay in slumber and recalled the night they less than subtly took residence. Contemplating the reasoning behind the two swords claiming his room as theirs too, Zalroth closed his eyes. But he didn''t mull over it for long, deeming recency bias the answer. "I suppose that''s an explanation...," Zalroth mentally uttered as he picked himself off his bed at the sound of frantic metalic clanging flooded in through the window, "Seems Nagami''s finished with her project.". Zalroth raised a hand, a cyan grid-like pop-up appearing before his hand as he open his Inventory. Drifting his finger over the square-encased icons, Zalroth sifted through his Inventory with a keen eye for his clothing inside the sea of ore, monster loot, and miscellaneous items. He double-tapped a few icons, a bundle of cyan Hexa encased his plain black fur shirt and dark red fur trousers, completely obscuring them as the Hexa particles altered their arrangement before bursting off him revealing his new gear. (Zalroth is wearing a hip-low dark red direwolf pelt cloak, black cotton-looking plant fibre tunic, plain trousers made of a silver sting and a plant fibre compound, dark red fur winter boots) Zalroth gazed at his new attire, noticing the small dove insignia woven into each of them, raising the end of his cloak to his face before letting it drop and wave around. [Activated Ability: Material Coating] The fur of his cloak and boots rustled, both drooping slightly before both became coated in a coating of iron. Zalroth mildly adjusted his armour and took a few steps around his room, checking the added weight didn''t affect his or his clothing''s mobility. "Seems stable enough," Zalroth mentioned, briefly heading to leave the room before Gnawraul''s mumbling caught his attention. "Hurry up... and get to level five.. zundrend already," Gnawraul bumbled in her sleep with agitation. Staring at the sleeping swords, Zalroth shook his head, deeming a retort worthless as the swords wouldn''t even hear it while in their hibernating state. [Activated Talent: Status] [Zalroth Akikou][Level: 536] [HP: 4500][Hexa: 4850] [Class: Creation Crest] [Vitality: 450][Stamina: 225] [Attack: 250][Hexa Proficiency: 350] [Defence: 280][intelligence: 485] [Agility: 360][Speed: 288] [Avaliable Points: 0] "Perhaps, if you hadn''t gone into hibernation three days ago you''ve got what you wanted," Zalroth uttered as he closed his status and opened his Skill panel. [Activated Talent: Skill/Abilities] [Zalroth''s New Skills] [Unique Skills] [Crest Share] -The user can apply an inverted Creation Crest on a person or object and allow them to use any skills the user has acquired using Crest Copy- [Crest Gamble] -The user can spend 10 crest credits to randomly improve one of the crest series of skills- [Crest Copy: Credit Conversion] -The user can instead of gaining a new skill/ability can instead gain crest credit(s)- [Crest Creation] -The user can spend 5000 crest credits to create a unique skill/ability- [Skills] [Flame Blast] [Level: 3][Cost: 130 Hexa] -User fires a large wave of flames at their target that does 330% of the user''s attack and 280% of intelligence- [Gale Blade] [Level: 3][Cost: 130 Hexa] -User fires a large barrage of condensed wind blades at their target that does 330% of the user''s attack and 280% of intelligence- [Thunder Wave] [Level: 3][Cost: 130 Hexa] -The user fires a small sphere of lightning at their target that explodes into a 15-meter AoE which does 330% of the user''s attack and 280% of intelligence- [Frostbite Armament] [Level: 3][Cost: 465 Hexa] -The user can coat parts of their body/weapons in condensed opaque ice that increases the user''s physical attack by 330% of user''s attack and 280% of intelligence when using ice magic, and increases the user''s defence by 220% along with making all the user''s physical attacks of the ice element- -Armor coating has 55% of the user''s Max Hexa, and 80% of the user''s base defence- [Detect(Creature)] -The user''s map displays all nearby creatures on their map when the skill is active or gets a sense of nearby creatures when the map isn''t open. [Level: 4] -100 meters- [Zalroth''s New Abilities] This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work.[Unique Abilities] [Power Infuser] -The user can infuse the properties of a skill/ability into another skill/ability- [Blessed Crest][Unique] -User has a 0.1% chance to receive a tailored skill/ability when fighting a boss-type monster- [Crest Select: Bounce][Passive] -When a target with a Creation Crest is defeated, there is a 35% chance for nearby opponents without a crest to gain one- "These sure would''ve been handy if I had these before helping everyone level up, especially the bounce ability," Zalroth grumbled exhaustedly, a half-baked frown on his face as he tried to make himself mad but gave up on it, figuring he wouldn''t get any more worthwhile skills/abilities from the swarmer dungeon arch anyway. "YES! I got it to at least five hundred!" Nagami exclaimed in pure glee before a loud thud, with two fainter ones, shortly followed outside Zalroth''s house. After swiping all his RPG panels away, Zalroth failed to stifle a small smirk and sauntered out of his bedroom, leaving the magical sword duo to slumber in peace. Zalroth walked through his house, taking quick strides across the second-floor walkway. As he walked in front of the bedroom door next to his room, he dramatically increased his speed, intentionally stomping his feet to make as much noise as possible. Despite his efforts, Chronia continued overpowering his stomping with her snoring alone. "Good grief," Zalroth uttered, stopping beside the door of Chronia''s bedroom and raising a hand to the door. He pulled his fist back, mildly winding it up to knock on the door, before moving it towards the door. He halted his hand mere inches from the door, the sound of Chronia''s snoring abruptly halting catching Zalroth''s attention. "Hampter...," a sleepy Chronia mumbled from inside the bedroom. Zalroth blankly stared at the door before slumping his shoulders in resignation, deciding he''d let Chronia sleep in so she wouldn''t be able to tail him on his excursion out of the forest. Zalroth stepped out of his house, the breeze of the early morning blowing past him while struggling to make his cloak budge. He peered around, casting his gaze across everyone going about their morning, before noticing Nagamai sprawled out on the ground in a sweat: wearing pale brown full-body blacksmith overalls, solidified pink slime framed blacksmith googles, and solidified pink slime boots. He sauntered over. Nagami stared blankly at the sky, her gaze only shifting as Zalroth entered her field of view. "Mind telling me why you keep making a racket outside my house every day instead of your forge?" Zalroth asked unamusedly, casting his gaze at the silver leather scabbard containing a long sword. Using the little energy she had recovered, Nagami weakly pulled her noodle arms off the ground, causing them to wobble like jelly before they flopped back to the ground. She tried to kick up her feet but despite how much she tried, she only managed to wiggle her feet. Nagami angrily huffed, cursing herself for her self-destructive work ethic. "Enhancing got boring, decided to walk around while doing it," Nagami said between sparse breaths, her voice slightly hoarse from her exhaustion. Zalroth stared down at the lethargic Nagami, watching her squirm around like a worm before he sighed. He reached down to her, grabbing both her and the scabbarded sword; hoisting her off the ground, Nagami involuntarily groaned in pain and relief as her back curved into the shape of a banana and her spine repeatedly popped. "You aren''t getting some twisted satisfaction from making me carry you every day?" Zalroth questioned, inquiring as to Nagami''s motives as he saw the satisfaction oozing from Nagami''s face. Completely ignoring Zalroth''s question, Nagami basked in the overwhelming pleasure of the tension in her spine being stretched out of her. "Just... think of this as reimbursement for... making Kotatzugami for you," Nagami mumbled, wiggling her finger in the direction of the scabbard-cladded longsword. Zalroth rolled his eyes in frustration and hoisted her even higher off the ground, leading her overall straps to tighten against her shoulders. Nagami''s relaxed expression froze, slowly morphing into a strained one as she turned a pale blue from her shoulder straps constricting her neck. "Gonna knock it off?" Zalroth asked sternly, casting an unamused glare at Nagami. Pulling at the shoulder straps to lessen their grasp on her neck, Nagami desperately flailed her head in a vaguely nodding motion as her blue hue gradually increased. Zalroth defeatedly sighed before releasing Nagami, allowing her to drop to the ground and make a huffing noise as she landed on her butt. Nagami faintly coughed and rubbed the sides of her neck, mildly giggling as she staggered to her feet. "Heh...guess you''re not much of a pushover, ey?" Nagami remarked, cheekily grinning while adjusting her blacksmith overalls. Nagami added, "Then for Kotatzugami, I''d like you to collect lots of interesting materials for me; oh, and also give me massages whenever I have to make gear on short notice like you did.". Zalroth adverted his eyes, scoffing at her request, before thrusting a thumb into her shoulder. A sharp jolt shot through her causing Nagami to tense up before going limp like a noodle. "That isn''t what I had in mind by a massage...," Nagami grumbled defeatedly, despite the content smile on her face. Sighing in mild disappointment, Zalroth picked Nagami back off the ground and placed her on her feet. "It''s like all the blacksmithing, made your common sense go out the window," Zalroth grumbled as he turned his focus to the very sword which caused the situation. [Activated Skill: Appraisal(Level:3)] [Kokatzugami(Super)][Level: 500] -A dark rouge metal longsword; it has a silver stretched four-pointed star-shaped cross-guard with a triangle-shaped ruby socketed in its centre, a black leather-covered handle, and a cone-shaped mythril pummel- [Attack: 10000] [Defence: 2000] [Intellegence: 8000] [Compounding Pressure] -The user can stack the same skill through the longsword, compounding their effects until the user unleashes them- -Using a different skill causes the original skill(s) to be removed and the user is refunded 20% of the Hexa used- [Mythril Defence] -When Hexa is channelled into the sword the user''s defence increases by 8 times- [Kokatzugami''s Scabbard(Very Rare)][Level: 341] -A silver leather longsword scabbard- [Intellegence: 4550] [Stamina: 1929] [Compounding Storage] -The user can store the skills being compounded by Compounding Pressure into it, removing it from the original and then can be reapplied later- [Silver Combat Knife(Rare)][Level: 67] [Intelligence: 575] [Attack: 430] [Silver Blessing] -Elemental attacks do 50% more DMG- [Direwolf Pelt cloak(Rare)][Level: 85] [Defence: 900] [Vitality: 460] [Wolvern Pride] -DMG received from physical attacks are reduced by 25% and DMG from elemental attacks by 15%- [Silver Plant Fibred Compound Trousers(Rare)][Level: 76] [Agility: 588] [Stamina: 552] [Silver Veil] -Elemental RES increased by 40%- [Direwolf Fur Boots(Rare)][Level: 67] [Speed: 383] [Stamina: 555] [Wolvern Pride] -DMG received from physical attacks are reduced by 25% and DMG from elemental attacks by 15%- Feeling like a truck crashed head-on into him, Zalroth slightly jumped at seeing the stats of his equipment almost making his soul leave his body. He exhaled through his nose, a tinge of guilt crawling under his skin as a shiver before he attached the scabbard to his side. "I''ll ask Neil and the others to make their next project a hot spring," Zalroth stated as he turned around, checking his surroundings until spotting the group waiting for him. "And the mas-.". "Don''t push your luck," Zalroth uttered coldly. Nagami sinisterly grinned, contemplating with glee at how far she could potentially stretch Zalroth''s patience; Zalroth grabbed her by the back of her overalls, brought her to his eye level, and gave her an unamused death stare. Left with no choice, Nagami could only hang there and giggle nervously as Zalroth carried her towards the others. Chapter 14: Heading Off In Search of The Next Ranking Dungeon Arch The air was filled with a mouth-watering aroma, a delectable smell of simmering meat escaping from the Victorian-style ring-shaped marble gazebo and wafting through the rest of Haruko''s Victorian-themed marble wall-encased, open-air cafe. A lone set table sat in the otherwise unoccupied cafe, hosting four of Zalroth and Nagami''s classmates. "Geez... I''m going to stare if I have to smell such good-smelling food any longer," Philip complained, feeling his stomach constrict and fold into knots as his hunger grew. Feeling his hunger reaching its limit, he began seeing the vapours from the simmering meat, Philip groaned in frustration and slammed his head into his thick ironwood suitcase, hitting the large potion bottle engraving dead on. (Philip Algouse is a kid-sized, teenaged male human with the appearance of an eleven-year-old; he has light blue knee-low curly hair with pink tips, pink eyes, and tanned skin) (Philip is wearing a comedically large white witch hat with a black and blue striped ribbon around the hatband, a blue short-sleeved shirt tucked into black fur trousers, a short black and blue striped cape with a white trim, and white solidified slime boots) "I feel yah, but we''ll be waiting for even longer if we eat our travel supplies before Zalroth even gets here," Nowa said snarkily, flicking the scrunched-up section of her scarf on her shoulder and knocking it behind her back with sass. (Nowa is a tall, teenaged female human; she has neck-low spikey red hair with orange and yellow gradient ends, red to orange to yellow gradient eyes, a fairly busty chest, a slightly muscular frame, and brown skin) (Nowa is wearing a black fur tanktop, a knee-low gold-looking plant fibre scarf covered in purple stitched runes, black plant fibre leggings, and black fur boots) "So no food?" Metsu mumbled meekly. She lowered her head and tightly hugged a miniature swarmer constructed completely of shadows between her four limbs as the shadow''s form began falling apart. (Metsu Sakamoto is a super short, teenaged female human; she has super long dark silver hair with a glowing golden moon pattern all over her hair with the sides styled like horns in the shape of an upwards pointing crescent moon, dark silver eyes, and pale white skin) (Metsu is wearing a plain dark silver tunic with no sleeves, an open oversized black fur jacket with long sleeves, a black fur skirt, and dark silver plant fibre leggings) [Activated Ability: Copy Compression] The shadow''s body rapidly shook, vibrating like bars on a music synthesizer, before exploding into a small cloud of Hexa particles and swiftly flowing into Metsu. [Metsu Acquired: Copy Points] [Metsu gained: 3 Shadow Points] Unlike the other free, Kaze managed to devise a solution, and keep himself from falling victim to the temptation of Haruko''s cooking, by employing his most trusted trick of spontaneously induced sleeping. (Kaze Ultokaza is a tall, teenaged human male; he has slicked-back dark green hair, dark green eyes with dark grey pupils, a slightly slender frame, and ghost-white skin) (Kaze is wearing pitch-black solidified slime sunglasses, a pale green fedora with a black hatband, a pale green suit, a plain black shirt, pale green suit trousers, and pitch-black solidified slime tap dancing shoes) At hearing the sudden snoring, the three conscious classmates turn to Kaze before collectively sighing in a shared sense of envy, wishing they could fall asleep on demand. "Hi, guys!" Nagami said with a mix of shyness and slyness in her voice as Zalroth carried her by the back of her overalls, leaving her to dangle above the ground. Nowa cast a mentally exhausted side eye to Zalroth, whilst the other two were to focus on keeping their desire for food in check, before discarding her glare and smirking in amusement as she rested her chin on her fist. The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. "Bout time, Guild Boss," Nowa said cheekily, kicking back in her chair and resting a foot on the table, waking Kaze in the process. Zalroth visibly cringed at the name Nowa called him, shivering like he had been dunked in frozen water, and inadvertently dropped Nagami on the floor. Nowa mildly giggled, struggling to stifle her growing ear-to-ear grin brought on by Zalroth''s discomfort. "Sorry-sorry couldn''t help myself, Boss," Nowa added, feeling satisfied at getting back at Zalroth for making them wait even if she was doing it out of pettiness. Zalroth groaned, slightly shivering again as he picked the dazed Nagami off the floor. As he stood up straight, he felt a light tug on his arm and looked down to see Metsu pulling on Nagami''s face in a feeble attempt to wake her up. "Why Nagami?" Metsu asked, continuing to pinch Nagami''s face and slowly stirring her awake. "I decided she''ll be coming along," Zalroth replied. "If yah say so," Philip grumbled as he placed his forehead against the table, clasping his head whilst trying to take his mind off Haruko''s cooking. An abrupt ding cut through the aroma, catching the group''s attention as they looked over to Haruko''s kitchen hut. "Do you need to use the bell when I''m right here?" Yuzora asked meekly as he sat on the outer side of Haruko''s kitchen counter. Haruko gave his counter-sitting pal a deadpanned stare before lightly waving his fingers upwards dismissively, carrying a dread-inducing fear to Yuzora with each wave. Yuzora nervously giggled, the compounding dread making him sweat like a fountain, and hopped off the counter. (Kaigorou Yuzora is a super short, young teenaged human male with the appearance of a twelve-year-old; he has elbow-low pale red hair tied into three braided ponytails, vibrant and seemingly glowing cyan eyes, tanned skin with obvious tanktop-shaped tanlines, and has an androgynous appearance) (Yuzora is wearing no shirt over their chest but has a black plant fibre shirt wrapped around their hips like a skirt, a pale red neck scarf, black plant fibre fishnet armbands, baggy red fur trousers, red solidified slime boots, and oversized red fur ushanka with a white inside which covered the upper half of his head) "Ok-ok, I''m off... see," Yuzora mumbled while waving his hands defensively at Haruko. Haruko mildly huffed, raising his hand to the counter before multiple wrapped-up rectangular food bags appeared on the counter from his Inventory. (Haruko Nitoka is a slightly short, teenaged human male; he has spikey shoulder-low black-to-white gradient hair tied into a high ponytail, grey eyes, and tanned skin) (Haruko is wearing a dark grey leather cooking apron, a black plant fibre shirt with long sleeves, dark grey plant fibre shorts, and black leather boots) [Activated Skill: Perpetual Preservation x5(x5)] A plentiful wave of dark pink Hexa particles emerged from Haruko before swirling around the rectangular food bags and coating each of them in multiple layers of Hexa particles. Haruko grabbed an opaque colourless solidified slime jar and placed it by the food, making Yuzora''s eyes light up at the sight. Swiftly planting his hands together, Yuzora bowed with his hands over his head and profusely thanked Haruko for humouring his personal request. Haruko rolled his eyes apathetically before heading back into his kitchen without having uttered a word. After placing the jar in his Inventory, Yuzora carefully stacked the food bags on top of each other before scooping them off the counter and swiftly teleporting away. A split second later, he reappeared sitting on the empty seat at the occupied table, startling Metsu so stupidly it made her violently squeeze Nagami''s face and snap Nagami mostly back to reality. "Did you really teleport instead of walking a few steps, Kaira?" Philip grumbled as he raised his head off the table. Kaira(Yuzora) leaned forward, a serious glint in his eyes as he crossed his arms. "Look I ain''t going to risk dropping it and incur Haruko''s wrath, Al" Kaira quipped, reminding Al of the time in cooking class when Ardentus dropped his and Haruko''s cooking project. With the memory of an enraged Haruto chasing a shocked Ardentus through the food tech room with a ruined pumpkin pie playing in her mind, Nowa couldn''t help but snicker as she placed her feet back on the floor cheerfully. "Food last till we get to a town?" Metsu mumbled as she poked her finger against the table near the food bag. Zalroth raised a hand to the food bags and sent one into his Inventory, goading the others, aside from Kaira, to do the same. "If none of you has any more preparations to do, then let''s head off," Zalroth stated boldly as he picked up the drowsy Nagami, placed her on his back, and walked off. Nowa and co nodded, jumping to their feet with renewed vigour as the prospect of new scenery was upon them. The group quickly tucked their chairs in and bidded Haruko a good day before hurrying after Zalroth. As she felt her head spin, Nagami''s head swayed from side to side before resting her head on Zalroth''s shoulder and closing her eyes to stave off her growing nausea. "How can being hungry make a good aroma nausea-inducing?" Nagami whimpered, refusing to open her eyes in fear of vomiting which induced further fear in her from potentially vomiting on Zalroth. Chapter 15: Metsu Detour The distant rays of the midday sun beamed down on the forest and pierced through the gaps of the forest roof, leaving faint streams of light to trickle to the crumpled-leaf-covered ground. Showing them some grace, the streams of light lit up the way, inadvertently making a clear path for Zalroth and co to follow. At their leisure, the group traversed the path illuminated for them with Zalroth and Kaze using low-level Gale Blades to cut down any vines too tangled together to be moved aside. Trailing a little behind the others, Metsu shuffled through the forest constantly averting her eyes to the side at every rustling bush or snapping twig she heard. At the sound of a slightly louder and closer deeper snap, Metsu swung her head in the sound''s direction and blankly stared at the wobbling shrub. "You didn''t strike me as the easily scared type, Metsu," Al remarked as he and Metsu stopped by the wobbling shrub and its adjacent bushes. The duo stared in silence as the others continued walking, only doubling back to the short duo after realising they had fallen behind. "Not scaredy cat," Metsu pouted, pushing Al slightly to knock him off balance and making him toss his suitcase into the bush by accident. "Butterfingers!" Al grumbled before noticing the rustling bush had stopped moving and Metsu ducked down. Al''s ironwood suitcase blasted out of the bush, rocketing straight for AL''s face and he narrowly ducked to avoid it; however, he raised his head too quickly, getting the blue shoulder strap of the suitcase snagged on his face and getting dragged with it to the ground before a cloud of dirt shot into the air. "No wonder you suck at rhythm games," Kaira remarked as he lifted Al by his shoulders while a faint red line plastered on his forehead. Al angerly muttered incoherent nonsense as he aggressively picked up Potions Galore(his suitcase) and put its shoulder strap on him properly, with some stuggles. Metsu lightly rubbed the slap mark on Al''s forehead, making his sigh as she called the mark a headband. Zalroth fired a Gale Blade at the shrub, cleaving it and the hiding monster-type goblin cleanly in half. Zalroth exhaustedly sighed, gently itching his forehead as the sleeping Nagami pressed her body against him while mumbling about making the best weapon. "Can you not have us stop every five feet to fight a monster you spot?" Zalroth asked, his voice expressing how exhausted and fed up he was. Metsu flinched, lowered her head, and tapped the tips of her fingers meekly. "But enough points close, for fast and big swarmer," Metsu mumbled shyly, locking her fingers in a weak grip as she raised her head and struck Zalroth with her puppy dog eyes. Deeply exhaling, Zalroth silently waved his hand in acknowledgement, and Metsu happily nodded before skipping over to the dead goblin. She crouched by the corpse and raised a hand over it. [Activated Skill: Radiance Requipment] [Activated Ability: Copy Compression] Metsu sat there for a few seconds, waiting for something to happen before the goblin''s body became swept and encased in a layer of light. The light split off from the goblin, briefly taking on its shape, before dissipating into Metsu. [Metsu Acquired: Copy Points] [Metsu gained: 5 light Points] "Only three hundred now," Metsu mentioned quietly. Zalroth tapped his chin and pondered something while Nowa stared at him. "That would be a total of a hundred and twenty total monster levels, Boss," Nowa stated smugly, from both getting the number first and calling Zalroth boss again. Only mildly flinching, Zalroth lowered his hand as he tried to ignore the boss part. "Indeed but that''s only for creating a very rare monster with ones in all stats, that''s not including the extra points needed to increase those stats or a very rare monster core she''d need to even create the light copy monster in the first place," Zalroth stated calmly, leaving the others in silence. "Forgot about that...," Metsu whined as she noogied the ground. Zalroth slightly shook his head, wondering if it would be worth letting Metsu use the very rare monster core Ardentus found to create a copy monster for faster transport. While he pondered, Kaira walked over to Al to check out his forehead damage, and Nowa slowly arched her way in front of Zalroth until he noticed them. If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. "Yeah?" Zalroth asked unamusedly. Nowa placed a hand on her hip and cast a contemptive stare at Zalroth, her stern face betraying her true thought as she glanced at the other to ensure they weren''t listening. "Some things aren''t adding up for me, so I hope you can enlighten me," Nowa whispered. Zalroth closed his eyes, lightly exhaling from his nose as he looked away. "My answer will depend, so I want to be sure by getting to the town I spotted on the map, as I''d prefer not to give everyone half-baked info," Zalroth explained with an amount of sincerity that slightly weirded out Nowa and made her faintly blush. She took a step back, clearing her throat as she looked away. "Well, at least you aren''t denying... whatever you know," Nowa mumbled as she scratched the back of her head, eventually tightly squeezing her head from her rising awkwardness clawing at her brain. [Acitvated Skill: Detect(Creatures)(Level: 4)] [Activated Skill: Appraisal(Level: 3) x2] "I''ll take the one on the left, you lot deal with the right one, and Kaze focus on keeping the others out of danger," Zalroth stated as he dropped Nagami on Kaira''s back, almost making him stumble and eat the dirt. Nowa smirked, knowing exactly what Zalroth was implying and relishing the chance to distract herself from the embarrassing situation she caused herself. [Activated Skill: Magma Fist(Level: 2)] Nowa slammed her fists together, shooting small spurts of magma between her fingers before more came gushing out and wrapped around her fists like gloves. "About time something worth fighting showed up," Nowa barked as her blush faded. As a nearby tree shook and just as quickly toppled over, Kaze donned a defensive stance, equipping his steel rapier with a flower-shaped and cup-hilt handguard, and holding it in a reverse grip. "I''ll see to it," Kaze stated coldly, priming his blade as Kiara and Al ducked behind him. Excluding Zalroth, everyone braced themselves at the pair of looming and burly shadows marching out past the felled trees. A black fur-covered paw slammed into the ground ahead of the party as the larger shadow swung its head to the sky. Zalroth narrowed his eyes, recalling the rare direwolf doing a similar action, and dashed straight for the larger monster while employing Accel Drive to close the distance. [Activated Ability: Weakening Howl] Banking on his timing, a howling shockwave erupted from Zalroth right as an equally intense howl exploded from the larger monster. The deafening shockwaves careened into each other, unleashing a screeching clash of violent bangs which quickly cancelled each other out and left the air oddly silent. The taller monster gradually lowered its head, the subtle change in the sway of its body betraying its confusion which Zalroth picked up on and smugly smirked to. "What''s wrong? Didn''t expect your opening move to be countered?" Zalroth said energetically; following up his remark, Zalroth socked the monster in the snout with a Frostbite Armament-infused punch before the two disappeared from a flash of Zalroth''s Particle Warp. The remaining monster and the other humans turned their heads to the spot Zalroth and the other monster previously were, leaving both parties equally surprised at their disappearance. "I didn''t think he seriously meant he''d fight that thing on his own," Al remarked bewilderedly while rummaging through Potions Galore for any potions he was willing to part with. Nagami couldn''t help herself from smugly grinning in her sleep, her grin growing large enough to snap her awake. "You don''t need to worry about Zalroth, he has Kotatzugami if he finds himself in a pickle," Nagami proclaimed, boasting it could easily one-shot the monster without Zalroth even using a skill. "But would he use it?" Metsu asked weakly. Nagami proudly raised a hand before she flinched and became dishevelled after thinking about it and realising he wouldn''t, being the battle maniac he was. In a stoop, Nagami crumpled to the ground, curling up into a ball as she complained at the realisation that Zalroth would never use the sword she made him anytime soon. [Shadow Grizzly(Rare)][Level: 185] [HP: 400][Hexa: 10] [Vitality: 40][Stamina: 400] [Attack: 280][Hexa Attack: 1] [Defence: 250][intelligence: 1] [Agility: 150][Speed: 181] [Nightmare Grizzly(Very Rare)][Level: 480] [HP: 8880][Hexa: 5000] [Vitality: 888][Stamina: 2500] [Attack: 1000][Hexa Attack: 50] [Defence: 850][intelligence: 1500] [Agility: 955][Speed: 905] Chapter 16: Detour Terminated Within the sea of trees, stood a clearing, the sound of crashing, crunching and shattering trees boomed through the forest, startling various birds into flying away. With pale yellow and teal swirl-shaped particles popping out of her, Nowa booked it through the forest, running circles around the shadow grizzly while ducking between the trees lining the clearing to avoid the monster''s onslaught attacks. The shadow grizzly hurled a claw, and Nowa narrowly avoided the attack as the claw swiped over her, slamming straight into a tree and cleaving it in two. "Heh, that dojo instructor wasn''t kidding when he said speed is irrelevant against an easy-to-read opponent," Nowa remarked as she pulled back her fist and thrust a light, Magma Fists-covered, jab into the shadow grizzly''s arm, sending a ripple of orange crack-like marks through the monster''s body. [Shadow Grizzly''s Status Effect] [Scorched] -Drains target''s HP by 15% of user''s Hexa Proffecency, and if the target is hit by a water/ice attack the incoming DMG is increased by 3 times along with the effect being removed- The shadow grizzly threw its arm high into the air, flinging the small splinters of wood in its fur away as it wound up to attack. She formed a smug grin, her face contorting with glee and adrenaline at watching the shadow grizzly''s HP drop by fifteen points every other second. While Nowa continued to duck behind the trees and stall the monster, Al pulled out a yellow potion and a dark grey potion from Potions Galore, darting his eyes between the two potions before groaning as the many potion bottles rattled from the shadow grizzly striking the ground. "Do I really need to use one of these? Wasn''t the speed and focus potions enough?" Al grumbled, pouting about having to use more of his potions when Nowa and Kaze could easily defeat the shadow grizzly. "But isn''t it a good idea to test some to make sure they work?" Kaira asked puzzledly, placing a finger on his chin as Al angrily glared downwards. Al huffed indignantly, holding up the yellow paralysis potion for Kaira to take. Metsu poked her head over Kaze''s shoulder as she clung to his back, watching Nowa effortlessly evade the shadow grizzly''s attacks with mild admiration. "Why no attacking?" Metsu mumbled while tightening her grip as she slipped slightly, inadvertently choking Kaze for a short time. "Unlike the Battle Maniac, the Combat Yakuza or the Gyaru Delinquent, some of us aren''t as gung ho about or used to fighting," Kaze stated calmly while Nagami gave him a contentious side-eye. "But aren''t you a fencer?". "Fencing is a regulated sport with harmless weapons," Kaze stated sternly, his voice firm and gruff with a hint of annoyance. "Heads up, Mr Kaze~," Kaira said in an intentionally sultry and cutesy way before teleporting away, making Kaze shiver with disdain. "I can''t stand guys like him," Kaze grumbled. Metsu glanced at Al, her brain rattled by Kaze''s remark, and pondered something deeply with her blank expression. "Hate femboys?" Metsu asked. Flinching at the out-of-the-blue question, Kaze slumped his shoulders in not-so-abstract nihilism, utterly baffled by Metsu''s line of logic, and groaned despondently. "I wasn''t referring to that..., Metsu" Kaze grumbled. Despite his reservations, Al placed a dark grey sleep potion in Metsu''s hand and a dark green poison potion in Kaze''s, reluctantly relinquishing them as he swiftly pulled his empty hand away. "Just throw the potions," Al said poutfully as he slammed Potions Galore shut, startling Metsu into falling off Kaze, followed by a glassy ding. The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. "Ow...," Metsu uttered, rubbing her forehead as she held the chinked sleep potion bottle in one hand. Nowa gracefully flipped into the air, leaping over the sweeping strike of the shadow grizzly and landing on its arm. She sat herself on the bear''s raised arm, a condescending grin beaming from her which rapidly grew into a wicked one as the bear''s breaths became heavy from it passing its stamina limit. "Is that it?" Nowa asked rhetorically. She raised a hand to the shadow grizzly and booped its nose, a girly giggle escaping her as she made booping noses every time she poked its nose. Nowa sighed contently and hopped off the bear before the three potions struck it, shattering them on impact and covering the bear in a mist of swirling particles matching the evaporating potions. The shadow grizzly''s eyes went blank, its body stiffening to resemble a taxidermied animal before it rocked back. The shadow grizzly crashed into the grassy ground, its posture retained momentarily by the effects of the paralysis potion before all the effects wore off. [Nowa''s Level Increased] [129 -> 141] [Kaze''s Level Increased] [156 -> 162] [Kaigorou''s Level Increased] [101 -> 124] [Metsu''s Level Increased] [213 -> 215] [Philip''s Level Increased] [99 -> 127] [Nagami''s Level Increased] [111 -> 119] "Alright! We beat it without Zalroth''s help," Kaira exclaimed as he landed on top of the shadow grizzly corpse, bouncing off it like a trampoline and landing on the ground with a twirl. Metsu lept off Kaze, launching the guy straight into Nowa and Kaira, knocking the two over like bowling pins as she landed next to the shadow grizzly. As she reached out to the grizzly and the knocked-over trio staggered to their feet, Metsu stopped her hand inches from the grizzly at the sound of a light thud beside her. "By all means, don''t stop on my account," Zalroth remarked as he dispelled the Frostbite Armament over his arms. Metsu turned to Zalroth, confusion etched on his face as she slowly turned her gaze to the sky. "Where come from?" Metsu mumbled, lost as to where Zalroth came from. "The Sky?" Zalroth retorted with equal amounts of confusion, given how obvious the answer was. The other stared at him, their expressions ranging from confusion to bewilderment, but none could find the right words to say. However, nagami didn''t share the other''s confusion as she strolled up to Zalroth and nudged him in the leg. "So~," Nagami said giddily, eyeing the cross-guard of Kotatzugami with glee as she saw its blade wasn''t fully in its sheath anymore. Zalroth sighed disappointedly, causing Nagami to gasp in offence, as Zalroth tapped Kotatzugami''s pummel to fully sheath it. "Don''t get the wrong idea, I''m just frustrated for not putting a crest on the nightmare grizzly," Zalroth stated. Nagami''s annoyance melted away, replaced by a proud sense of satisfaction that Zalroth ended up using her creation so soon. "It can''t be that bad can it?" Kaira remarked while rubbing the back of his head, wincing slightly as he touched certain spots. Zalroth huffed aggressively as he snapped his fingers and summoned the two halves of the Nightmare Grizzly from his Inventory before Metsu excitedly collected her Light Copy Points from the monsters. "When I missed out on an ability to increase my none-Proficceny stats by three times because I absent-mindedly changed weapons after the boss used said skill, I feel like being annoyed is justified," Zalroth explained, leaving the others speechless. Feeling like she''s being punished, Nagami collapsed to her knees, cursing her selfishness for wanting Zalroth to use Kotatzugami. Zalroth rubbed, mildly sighing at Nagami''s reaction but, strangely, understood her feeling of being responsible. "Stop being pedantic, it''s not like you forced me to use it," Zalroth stated boldly, swiftly sending the two bear corpses into his Inventory and marching off before Nagami could raise her head. While still a little lost from the interaction, the other rose to their feet and walked after the briskly jogging Zalroth; however, Nagami couldn''t help but smile, knowing it was only a matter of time before her current wish came true as she pushed herself to her feet and hurried after the others. Chapter 17: Is This Going To Come Back To Bite Them? On the move again, the party traversed Medous Forest with its reserved-tempered members trailing slightly behind Zalroth. As he walked, his animosity oozed from him like a potent poison, sending shivers of dread through Nagami''s psyche due to her proximity to Zalroth; the sensation was entirely suffocating, giving the others the feeling of multiple elephants being stacked on their shoulders. Unlike the others, Metsu whimpered, drudging her feet through the ground in a strop, her mind utterly preoccupied with not getting the very rare-grade monster core and sinking her spirits into the gutter. "But... very rare copy...," Metsu uttered meekly, her voice filled with sorrow at the prospect of her giant fly beetle mount still being beyond her grasp. Fueled by Metsu''s sulking, the more outspoken members of the party cast their eyes filled with annoyance at the back of Zalroth''s skull, and not so subtlety letting him know he should say something. Despite the piercing glares of his companions, Zalroth paid the others no mind, keeping the majority of his focus on checking, but reluctantly decided to address the others so their annoyance wouldn''t come back to bite him. "Look, we don''t know how rare these things are so we can''t go wasting- using them on anything other than Dungeon Arches until we can get a steady supply," Zalroth stated calmly while Nagami piggybacked on him. Despite trying to subdue it, his annoyance at not acquiring the power-boosting ability crept through his calm facade, manifesting as a fixed unmoving glare. Metsu lowered her head, meekly accepting what she knew to be true as the group needed the monster core for when they found a very rare dungeon arch. "I know...," Metsu whimpered in resignation. Her pitful sigh slashed right through the other, the strength of her sadness being too much for them to bear. It brought them to their metaphorical knees with an overwhelming pang of guilt in their hearts from not finding any retort for Zalroth, knowing he was most probably correct. A small pebble hit the back of Zalroth''s head in time followed by a spiteful huff. Zalroth glanced behind himself, catching Nowa staring daggers at him with enough venom in them to kill someone many times over. "You have such a way with words don''t you, Leader," Nowa remarked teasingly, extenuating her use of the word leader to antagonize Zalroth. Involuntarily twitching, Zalroth could feel his fingers curl with minor irritation, in both a mental and physical sense. "look as soon as we find another monster with one Metsu can have it-". Right as he finished his sentence, a recently made monster corpse crashed right in front of Zalroth and he could only frown, not from the corpse appearing itself but from it deciding to show up after he''d already incurred his allies'' wrath. "How do you do it?" Nagami uttered in bewilderment, left to ponder on how Zalroth can have such practical bad luck. Zalroth scoffed at the question, whipping out his silver combat knife from his inventory before slashing it through the bear-like monster and cleaving it in half. Returning his knife to his inventory with a minor flash, Zalroth aggressively swiped his hand between the monster''s two halves and tossed a reflective object behind himself in one swift movement. "There you go," Zalroth uttered exhaustedly as the very rare monster core landed on top of Metsu''s head, landing with a light thud and remaining perfectly balanced in place. Nagami lightly giggled at Metsu''s shocked expression while Kaiea inquisitively gazed up to the sky through the hole in the forest roof left by the monster. You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story. "Say, where do you think that thing even came from? I mean, Zalroth''s unexplainable bad luck is one thing but it can''t just poof things into existence," Kaira murmured cheekily, speaking with a sultry tone as he playfully nudged an unamused Kaze in the arm. "It most likely got flung here by the Level fifty-thousand dragon over there," Zalroth stated calmly while the others turned a sickly white from the sudden news. The others were too stunned to speak, the effortlessness and calmness at their assigned leader''s delivery only making their stunned states even more prevalent. "YOU CAN''T JUST DROP THAT ON US SO CALMLY!!" Nagami exclaimed in terror as she grabbed Zalroth''s head and frantically shook him. "You''re overreacti-". "How can you say I''m overreacting!" Nagami yelled, cutting Zalroth off as she shook his head once again. Nowa placed a hand to her chin, rubbing it like a wise man with a beard. Watching his cohort''s bizarre thinking method, Kaze rolled his eyes dismissively. "You know that doesn''t make you think better, right? I''ve tried" Kaze remarked casually, causing Nowa to turn slightly rosy-cheeked from embarrassment. "Talking from experience, eh?" Nowa mumbled before lowering her hand and adding, "I was just wondering, did the dragon intentionally send that monster here because of Metsu''s sulking?". Aside from Zalroth, everyone turned their heads at Nowa, the colouration in their faces returning as the implication of her question hit them. "As in... it''s got a detection skill like... Zalroth?" Metsu muttered, left in a state of mortification as she clasped the very rare monster core resting on her head with staggered movements. "A passive ability that extends over a distance that''s within their domain, a skill to convert plant life into a synthetic floral metal...," Zalroth whispered as he stared at the floating RPG screen before him, the monstrously long list getting a shiver of excitement from Zalroth. "You better not think of fighting it, dummy," Nagami murmured sternly, pouting and puffing up her cheeks as she rubbed her finger in circles against Zalroth''s cheek. With the flick of his finger, Zalroth unsummoned the skill screen before standing up straight and punching himself in the back to free the tension in his spine. "Of course not, I''m not about to attack someone who saved my back," Zalroth stated firmly. As the girl continued to poke his face, Zalroth raised a hand before he flicked Nagami''s finger off his face and got her to eep with shock. The blacksmith meekly rubbed her redden finger, her face wincing from pain. The stinging from Zalroth''s strike permeated her hand, ushering her to act before she shoved her finger in her mouth and instantly felt relief as her expression softened. "So, we''re skipping an interaction with the dragon, Zalroth?" Nowa asked amusedly. "If you have time to ask rhetorical questions, you can help Metsu budget her copies points or whatever it''s called," Kaze remarked under his breath. At hearing Kaze''s remark, Nowa glanced down at Metsu before flinching in offended terror as she watched Metsu spamming all the shadow points into SPD. Metsu peered up from her RPG screens and puzzledly looked around. "Wha?" Metsu muttered quietly before slowly and shamefully resending all her assigned shadow points. Chapter 18: New Transport Unlocked High above the droves of trees, a large, shadow-made object blitzed through the sky, slicing through the sky like a hot knife through butter. The rapid wind whipped around the shadowy being, coiling around the buzzing form of the creature as the rapids in a river do around a solid boulder. "Yay! Rare Shadow Copy," Metsu uttered happily as she sat upon the very spot right behind the shadow''s head, bouncing on the spot and bopping from left to right. Metsu cheered once again with a beaming smile plastered to her face while gleefully throwing her hands upwards to feel the chillingly refreshing breeze flow between her fingers. Standing firm against the thashing wind, Zalroth stood perfectly still on the centre of the shadowy creature''s back, splaying the opposing wind with his body alone as he mindlessly watched the mountain-tall forest of metalic pale cyan mushrooms far off in the distance. Unlike the standing Zalroth right behind her, Metsu was more interested in the sprawling clouds overhead as she took in various shapes. Metsu''s shadow swarmer easily pierced through the sky, the torrents of wind slamming against its raised wing covers that sheltered the other team members from the wind''s violent attempt to remove them from the sky. Attempting to poke his head to see ahead, Kaira was greeted by a face-full of wind, striking him with the force of a flustered girl''s slap and sending him back behind the wing cover. "Is it really much of a copy if you made it from scratch?" Kaira asked cheekily, his mood not dampened by the event that happened to his face moments prior. "Hey, if the skill says they''re called something, then that''s what they are called," Nagami remarked swiftly, matching Kaira''s amount of cheekiness as she twiddled away her mini-smelting forge set-up thing. "Is it safe to be doing that right now?" Kaze asked with mild concern as he gestured to the small furnace, anvil, and mould at Nagami''s disposal. "Shouldn''t I practice smelting and stuff during turbulent situations so I''m prepared to do it in serious situations?" Nagami asked rhetorically, wagging her steel hammer[Rare] in the wind wielder''s direction to tease him. Nagamai''s retort got a somewhat amused rise out of Nowa, and the Gyaru Delinquent exhaustedly sighed to the side to keep herself. "You''re almost as bad as Zalroth and Chronia with how recklessly dumb you can be," Nowa muttered semi-jokingly as she held the molten metal-filled mould in her hands. As the orange glow of the setting sun swept over the land, Metsu''s shadow swarmer cleared the boundary of Medous Forest, eliciting excited cheers from Metsu. Influenced by Metsu''s excitement, the shadowy swarmer slowed to a more conservative speed. The speed reduction allowed the others to peek their heads out and be greeted by the sprawling, vibrant plains filled with the occasional oak forest ahead of them. With his RPG-esque map beside his head and revealing the plains to be called Fruchilo Plains, Zalroth intently watched the map fill in with a large splodge of green and smaller sections of darker greens inside it. Zalroth absent-mindedly let out a low huff, ushering Metsu and Nero to flinch before the shadow copy picked up the pace again. "We''ve really made some distance thanks to... Nero?" Kaira said as he turned his head towards Metsu. Stopping himself just short of the wing cover''s edge, he recalled the last time he poked his face in front of the wind currents around him and sheepishly returned his butt to where he was sitting. "Indeed, we''ll shave off a whole day from our journey at this pace," Zalroth said with genuine praise. Metsu put on a proud face, feeling a wave of delight at being recognised for her little Nero''s greatness. "However.". Metsu mentally paused, her once proud expression souring into concern at the guy''s sudden shift in tone. "Howver?" Metsu mumbled timidly. The small teen nervously poked her index fingers together, fearing she had overlooked something and somehow done something wrong. The guy''s prolonged silence dug into Metsu''s mind like cheese against a cheese grater, her nerves growing increasingly ragged as she wiggled and wobbled in place. "We should make the last leg of the trip on foot, for obvious reasons," Zalroth mentioned nonchalantly, causing the nerve-racked teen to sigh in relief while emotionally deflating like a balloon as she covered her blushing face. Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. "Oh, I didn''t even think of that," Metsu murmured as the faint sound of clanging metals broke through the roaring winds. The clanging persisted, its ringing hitting just the right frequency of speed and intensity to get under Zalroth''s skin and shake his focus from the map. Clenching his fist, Zalroth passed a look back to Nero''s left wing cover, where the loud Nagami and Nowa resided behind. "Seriously. What are you two doing back there?" Zalroth grumbled as he raised an eyebrow with minor contempt for the metallic noises. "Making merch for money, a fantasy city''s bound to have an entry fee for people without any form of identification," Nagami explained smugly from behind the wing cover, not bothering to reveal her face, not wishing to lose any more focus from her work that her talking already caused for her. Zalroth mentally sighed, knowing how fruitless talking to the newly found blacksmith would be when she gets into her groove. As he returned his attention forward, Zalroth noticed Metsu checking out Nero''s status out of the corner of his eye. [Nero(M): Shadow Copy Armoured Swarmer(Very Rare)][Level: 150] [HP: 6450][Hexa: 1665] [Vitality: 645][Stamina: 333] [Attack: 125][Hexa Proficiency: 1] [Defence: 448][intelligence: 1] [Agility: 305][Speed: 850(+3400)] [Abilities] [Aerial Swiftness][Passive] [The user''s Speed is increased by 5 times when flying] "I propose we make this spot our stop," Zalroth stated, plucking his map from the air and lowering it in front of Metsu before pointing at it with his other hand. Following his finger, Metsu spotted the "But, couldn''t we go a little further and stay at the town up ahead?" Metsu asked, pointing out the village beside a mountain a few grids away. "And how do you propose we pay for an inn?" Zalroth asked with a deadpan voice. Metsu placed a hand on his chin, genuinely considering ways to solve the problem given the tone of voice Zalroth used. Zalroth lightly sighed, ensuring his disbelief didn''t reach Metsu''s ears, as a single thought crossed his mind. "That was supposed to be rhetorical, Metsu.". As Metsu pondered, a second thought crossed Zalroth''s mind, leaving him to wonder why Metsu was rubbing his chin instead of her own. Under the fall of night, the quaint mining town previously pointed out slowly emerged into view, embraced within the looming mountain''s shadow. Acting as a backdrop, the mountain sheltered the town from the prying observation of the rising moon. The town''s architecture bore a striking resemblance to that of classical Victorian-era design, applying an oddly nostalgic air to the place''s marble buildings for Kaze. Aside from the mountain, the town''s second form of defence appeared to be the two tall marble walls that protruded from the mountain. These two walls curved around the town, gracefully encompassing it in its entirety, save for the passage between the two walls. The passage served as a bottleneck for all land transport, making it the sole means of entry and exit for the town for non-flying traversal. "So, this is Gronoville?" Kaira asked lazily, his eyes half-open and dangerously close to the surrounding wind current. As he felt his drowsiness reach its apex, Kaira smushed his fingers against his face, softly rubbing his increasingly heavy eyes before falling backwards and slumping against Kaze''s arm, much to the green-haired fencer''s disdain. "Get off, would you?" Kaze asked as politely as he could without letting his frustration show. Despite his demand, Kaze made no real attempt to resist, more concerned that the sleepy guy might tumble off Nero and incur minor injuries if Kaze pushed him away. With a reserved, angered groan, Kaze allowed Kaira to cling to him while ignoring every fibre of being ordering him to beat the breaks out of the sleeping Kaira. "And I thought my little sis had a low battery," Kaze grumbled frustratedly. But, even with his frustration, one part of his own sentence stayed prevalent in Kaze''s mind, dousing the flames of his annoyance for the sleeping guy into a meek ember. "I''ll get us back, you have my word," Zalroth stated calmly and out of the blue for everyone other than Kaze. Kaze remained silent, a faint hum being his only show of acknowledgement. "Speaking of that, does your plan on doing that have anything to do with wanting to level up so badly?" Nagami asked as she clung to the assortment of steel pickaxe heads before dumping them into her inventory. Zalroth flinched, surprised and slightly ashamed that in all this time, he''d failed to inform anyone of his plan. Catching the look in the guy''s eye and recognising it to be the one she had earlier, Metsu felt a sense of reassurance in herself that even someone as reliable as Zalroth can also be as forgetful as her at times. "Naturally. Those Imperiou duo mentioned, in their bragging of how strong they used to be, that their combined power can cut through dimensions," Zalroth explained swiftly, crossing his arms as he spoke. "And you need to be at least level five thousand to make that link thing with them?" Metsu asked happily while locking eyes at Zalroth with her big ol'' eyes. Zalroth lightly huffed, telling the others that Metsu''s question was spot on, as Nero began decelerating. Chapter 19: Even Low Level Golems Can Be A Problem The faint aroma of iron and coal hung in abundance throughout Gronoville, permeating the town with the undeniable sense of backbreaking labor to all those unaccustomed to such a heavy-aired environment. Although it was prevalent, the average person wouldn''t notice anything out of the ordinary other than the air feeling slightly heavier, leaving the presence of the small particles in the air to elude people''s conscious attention. Being especially unaccustomed to stuffy air, Metsu relentlessly gagged, almost breaking into a hacking fit. As the town''s air hit the bottom of her lungs, Metsu collapsed to her knees in the middle of the entry passage. Detecting his master''s sudden shock, Nero attempted to emerge from Metsu''s shadow but stopped as Metsu raised a hand to block the shadow''s emergence. "I''m alright, Nero," Metsu whispered while patting the buzzing shadow copy''s head. Peering around to confirm no threats, Nero slowly receded back into the depths of Metsu''s faint shadow with his buzzing fading away as his presence faded. "We''ve barely entered and one of us is already coughing, imagine if Reyu was here right now," Nowa remarked amusedly. With a choked-up chuckle, Nowa recalled the time Kaiy¨­hara collapsed in a perfume aisle of a supermarket, figuratively dying from the overstimulation of smells. And, his sudden collapse left the shopping Nowa he was accompanying at a loss for words. "What are you lot on about? The air''s not-," Nagami stated before being cut off when Zalroth placed a finger over her mouth to shush her. Nagami wasn''t sure how to feel about the sudden physical contact, glaring up at the guy with neither anger nor annoyance, but decided to hold off on reacting until Zalroth made his intentions known. "Even without your part-time work at your parents'' smithy, your bedroom would give an asthmatic an instant heart attack. So, you''re in no position to comment on air quality," Zalroth remarked semi-jokingly, his voice completely unaffected by the air, while he smushed Nagami''s lips from side to side. Removing his finger from her face, Nagami pouted at Zalroth, puffing up her cheeks at the accusation that her room was still in such a state from all those years ago. "That isn''t how asthma works... I don''t think," Nagami retorted, her cheeks blushing faintly from holding back a subconscious grin at getting prime fuel to tease Chronia with later. "I don''t know what''s more surprising... Zalroth having been in Nagami''s room before or that he survived it," Metsu muttered between mild gasps for air. "I know there''s no traffic, but can we hurry things up?" Kaze asked impatiently, agitated at having to be the one to carry Kaira on his back. Had it been anyone else, Kaze wouldn''t mind carrying them. However, the slumbering Kaira''s constant refusal to remain still drove Kaze up the wall, making what should be a simple task exponentially more challenging. "You heard him, Zalroth. He doesn''t want you wasting time pushing my mouth," Nagami jested while skipping past the guy and into Gronoville with Metsu. Zalroth was left utterly baffled by Nagami''s twisting of Kaze''s words. Hitting his brain like a critical hit, he was stunned so severely that he elected not to respond and silently follow after Nagami and Metsu. Seeing the effect Nagami''s jestful remark had on the guy, Nowa was even more lost than she was when Zalroth shushed Nagami, but was mildly content knowing there were people other than Chronia that could keep Zalroth on his toes. In the town, to none of the taller members of the group''s surprise, hardly any of the stores were open, leaving Metsu worried she''d wasted the others'' time that could''ve been used setting up a camp. She turned a worried gaze to Zalroth before being distracted by the intensity within Zalroth''s eyes. If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. [Activated Skill: Detect(Creatures)(Level: 4)] "Is something wrong, Zalroth?" Metsu asked sheepishly, her question catching the other''s attention and bringing the whole group to a stop in the middle of the tiled road. Peering at his map, Zalroth crossed his arms as he thought over how to tell the others what he noticed. "I''m detecting quite a few common golems in the thirty to fifty level range below us," Zalroth explained calmly. Hearing him, Nagami placed her hands on her sides and tilted her head with confusion. "Is that all? It doesn''t sound like much of a problem," Nagami questioned perplexedly, pointing out that the golems would likely damage themselves if they took a swing at Zalroth. "Their levels aren''t my concern, it''s the amount of them that is," Zalroth stated, elaborating on his point by pointing out there were over sixty-three of them all throughout the upper most level of the mines, directly below them. "Well, given that no one in the town is panicking, maybe that''s a normal occurrence?" Nowa suggested. Zalroth nodded, finding the reasoning sound but still feeling something off, even with the townspeople''s lack of response and the golems'' avoidance of the mine''s exit. "Indeed, but...," Zalroth murmured aloud, causing Nagami to side-eye him with a smirk on her face. "What''s with you and wanting to talk with all that suspense?" Nagami teased as she nudged Zalroth in the side. "Unlike some of us, I''d prefer to think about what I want to say before speaking," Zalroth retorted swiftly. Nagami giggled playfully while finding great glee at Zalroth''s verbal jab at her. Zalroth could only sigh in defeat that his jab had the opposite intended effect on Nagami. He added, "As I was saying, I agree that it could just be normal for that many to be there; but, I find that hard to believe when every other level my monster detection skill can see shows there only being five golems on them." "Fair," Nowa and Nagami remarked in unison, speaking with hushed voices and delight. Knowing they were trying to annoy him further, Zalroth elected to ignore them and turn his sights to Metsu, noticing she''d been staring at him for a prolonged time. "Yeah?" Metsu flinched, her shadow faintly buzzing, but regained her composure just as quickly as she lost it. With a shaky voice from the heavy air, Metsu mumbled out, "Umm... I noticed some people in that blacksmithy over there." She pointed to the blacksmith a few buildings down the street, where a faint warming light could be seen escaping through its open doorway and glass panel windows. In contrast to the other building, the smithy appeared to be made out of cobblestone bricks, leaving it to stand out among the other marble buildings. "What''s the word, leader?" Nowa asked teasingly, oblivious to the grave mistake she had made by calling him by that word once again. "Kaze, hand her kaigorou," Zalroth ordered bluntly. Kaze didn''t even wait for Nowa to register her punishment before he yanked the limp Kaira off his back and slapped him on Nowa''s back unceremoniously, causing the girl to eep. The sleeping Kaira re-adjusted himself to his new carrier''s back, making himself comfortable as he murmured about a lavender smell. "At least someone appreciates my perfume preferences," Nowa muttered, trying to find some solace in having Kaira on her back. As the group made their way to the smithy that was still open so late at night, the faint smoldering embers of a hardworked furnace finished for the day caught Nagami''s ear. The sound brought a small smile to her face, catching herself getting a little nostalgic as it reminded her of how she felt coming home from school. Chapter 20: A Smithys Shortage of Material Issue "...but, Grandfather. At this rate, we''re going to run out of materials to make new tools for miners, even if the adventurers show up and deal with all those golems," Fio said towards the backroom with a whimper as she rested her head on a store counter of her grandfather''s smithy. The young girl let out a pitiful exhale as she rested a hand under her cheek, upset that the overcrowding of golems caused all mining to stop and caused her gramps to halt her training to save on materials. (Fio Smith is a short, seven-year-old human girl; she has neck-low spikey blonde hair, orange eyes, and tanned skin) (Fio is wearing a heat-resistant short dress, a fireproof blacksmithing apron, and anti-fogging goggles) As the young Smith continued to wallow in her on-hold smithing training, Fio huffed and puffed, glancing at the many lumin-gem-filled lanterns mounted on the walls that faintly illuminated the room. Left in her stupor, Fio didn''t even notice Zalroth and the others entering the store, leaving them to peruse the store''s various weapons, tools, and other trinkets at their leisure. [Activated Skill: Inspect(Blacksmith)] [Lumin-gem Lantern] -A man-made lantern that uses Lumin-gems as a light source- [Lumin-gem] -A gem-like artifact crafted by an artifacter/synergist that glows when Hexa is passed through it, and the intensity of the glow is dependent on the speed of the Hexa flowing through it- "Heh, gotta figure out how those are made so I can have Yumi make some of them for lights in our houses," Nagami mused as her eyes roamed over the Lumin-gems inside the lantern which shapes ranged from sphereoids to spikey balls and various other golfball-sized objects. "Wait up... would you...guys?" Al murmured disorientedly as he stumbled into the doorframe, his head spinning from the combo attack from the heavy air and his motion sickness. "Couldn''t you just use a potion?" Kaze asked as Al stumbled into him and grabbed onto his arm for support, not caring how pitiful it made him look. "I think I''d be sick even if my Status Recovery removed my motion sickness," Al grumbled, the mere thought of getting back on Nero heightening his existing nausea stirring inside him. His body shivered before his body gave out, and he collapsed on the floor like a wet noodle. Al''s sudden meeting with the floor sent a loud bang through the store, snapping Fio out of her pouty state just in time to see Kaze shaking his head as he picked Al off the floor. Stammering under her breath, Fio quickly straightened out her uniform and put on a brave face. "W-welcome customers to Golemight Smithy; if there is anything I can help you with, please let me know," Fio conveyed to the best of her professional abilities, despite the initial stuttering. Being one of the only two who heard the girl''s quiet greetings, Zalroth approached the counter, and the girl felt her breath leap out of her mouth. Fio was left utterly mesmerised, completely entranced by the way her eyes were captivated by the marvellous craftsmanship of Kokatzugami''s scabbard. The brilliance of the scabbard in her gaze left her to imagine what the sword itself must look like. A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. "I see you''ve got an eye for greatness, my fellow peer," Nagami remarked boastfully, with Metsu unamusedly glancing at the back of the boastful girl''s head. "Boasting bad," Metsu muttered as she karate-chopped Nagami in the back of her dome, making Nagami giggle as a red digital 0.5 appeared beside her head. With Nowa jesting about that being the first bit of damage Metsu''s done with her own hands, Zalroth rubbed his forehead with mild mirth that it would actually be Metsu''s first instance of damaging something period. While resting an arm on the counter, Nagami professionally inquired, "Would it be much of a chore to ask if you have any coal you''d be willing to part with some coal?" "I um... have to apologise, my gramp''s stocks of materials have been running low recently due to issues in the mines," Fio explained apologetically whilst bowing her head to the group, feeling extremely guilty for having to deny them such a common commodity. "So, you usually buy ores from the miners... from this town''s mine?" Metsu asked as only the points of her crescent moon parts of her hair were visible from Fio''s point of view. "I mean it''s more they sell it to us, but that''s just me nitpicking," Fio replied with her gaze flickering between the two points of Metsu''s hair, captivating her attention like a laser pointer for all cats. After a few seconds of staring, Fio snapped out of her captivated trance before figuring out what the two barely taller girls were implying. Placing her hands together, Fio timidly asked, "Are you saying you have materials you''d wish to sell?" Fio quickly bounced from side to side like a ping-pong ball, searching for any signs of the mentioned materials despite none being present. "You look like you''re travelling pretty light though... does that mean you have an Item Box Ability? Wait, does that mean you''re an adventurer?" Fio asked excitedly, her excitement growing apparent on her face as it seemed likely Zalroth was a high-level adventurer, especially given his sword and supposed Item Box. "Something like that," Nagami chirped, chipping in because she knew Zalroth would inadvertently reveal something he shouldn''t if she allowed him to do the lying. "Oh, ok, I''m not really good with all the commerce stuff, but if you tell me what you have, I can ask my gramps how much it is," Fio explained, getting slightly giddy to see what kinds of monster materials Zalroth have that aren''t from golems. Opening his inventory screen, Zalroth scrolled through the droves of swarmer corpses flooding his inventory, but eventually found a few armoured swarmers after a few seconds of scrolling. "How about an armoured swarmer sound?" Zalroth proposed with Nagami mentally face-palming at Zalroth choosing the larger creature while physically smiling to keep up appearances. Fio placed a finger on her chin as she thought it over before raising her hand, asking for a moment to ask her grandfather. She hopped down from her stool and swiftly skidaddled through the draped-covered entrance into the smithy''s forge to find her grandfather. "Gramps? What''s an armoured swarmer?" There was a momentary pause from the constant clanging of metal from the forge that had been happening since the group''s arrival. Following the silence, Fio let out a startled eep, followed by an enamored awe, and finally a surprised oh of comprehension. Shortly after her swarmer lesson, Fio popped her head through the drapes before waving for them to enter. "I take it you lot would rather wait out here?" Zalroth asked, referring to everyone who wasn''t named Nagami. "I like to breathe," Metsu muttered adamantly as she hurried away from the counter, absolutely adamant on remaining out of such a hot place. The others shared the moon head''s sentiment, nodding in a united camaraderie. Especially steadfast on not going in, Nowa even rushed over to the duo. She grabbed them before she pushed them around the counter and past the drapes, not letting them get a word in. With the threat averted, Nowa mentally sighed in relief, slumping her shoulders as she marched away from the forge''s entrance. "But aren''t you highly heat resistant?" Metsu asked, only for Nowa to silently shush her. Seeing the confusion in Metsu''s eyes, Nowa threatened to make Metsu carry Kaira if any more blacksmiths learned she could hold super-hot objects. Chapter 21: What Even Is A Hexuno? With Fio hurrying out of the door frame''s view to avoid being trampled, Zalroth and Nagami came tumbling down the two-stepped stairs into the forge. Narrowly missing the fleeing Fio, Zalroth caught himself from falling, employing the use of his Particle Warp Ability to do so, before reaching out a leg to block Nagami from falling on her face. "Phew, almost had an embarrassing introduction," Nagami jokingly remarked as Zalroth pushed her up straight. Peering back at the drape dividing the storefront from the forge, Zalroth murmured under his breath, "Well, she sure was forceful there." "Can''t really blame her. If I were forced to do something I found boring, I wouldn''t want to go to a place known for it neither," Nagami mentioned without a hint of guilt in her cheeky voice. Fio straightened out her dress, restoring it to a professional standard as she approached the short staircase. Placing the last of his smithing tools on their racks, the old man snuffed out the embers of his furnace with a simple flick of his wrist. "They''re getting younger every year," Fio''s grandfather remarked, noting the youthfulness of Zalroth and Nagami''s voices. The old man''s height easily eclipsed Zalroth''s, reaching over eight feet in height, catching Nagami by surprise. (Reino Smith is a really tall, seventy-four-year-old human male; he has spikey, slightly greyed blond hair, hazel eyes, a muscular frame, and tanned skin) (Reino is wearing heat-resistant clothing, a fireproof blacksmithing apron, and anti-fogging goggles) "Woah, I didn''t think anyone other than Ardentus could be taller than you, Zalroth," Nagami said teasingly, scooting closer to the guy to emphasise her statement. Zalroth rolled his eyes with disinterest, placing a finger against the teaser''s forehead before gently pushing her away from himself and sliding her across the floor. "So, my gram-baby says you have an armoured swarmer you wish to sell," Reino asked cheerfully through his gruffy voice, while Fio blushed embarrassingly at her grandfather''s nickname for her. But, when the man turned his focus to the new arrivals, his eyes lit up with intrigue not too dissimilar to how Fio''s had moments prior. But unlike his granddaughter, the guy was more than capable of holding back his excitement for such a fine piece of craftsmanship. Raising a fist to his mouth, He lightly coughed to dispel his excitement. "You going to show the creature''s body now?" Fio asked impatiently, getting increasingly agitated with every passing second that the sight of the monster corpse was withheld from her. "In here?" Nagami and Zalroth asked together, whilst Zalroth peered around the moderately large forge. He figured the blacksmith had some idea in mind, but Zalroth knew how impractical even the smallest of the armoured swarmer''s bodies would be to bring out in the room. The duo''s response appeased the tall blacksmith before he crossed his arms, followed by Fio mimicking him. "The fact you''re worried about it fitting in my workshop proves you''ve actually seen one in person and not just from a textbook," Reino stated boldly, raising a hand to pat Zalroth on the shoulder. Turning his gaze to the forge''s back door, the seasoned Smith added, "So why don''t we head out back so I can give you a price estimation." Out behind Golemight Smithy, the four walked out into Reino''s backyard, well what could be considered one given the state it was in. The concrete that covered the ground was dented and scratched to oblivion for countless years of weapon testing that''s attacks missed the many target dummies, targets, and standing walls. Sauntering to the most open and empty section of the testing grounds, Reino gestured to the spot he''d like the monster to be put, and Zalroth nodded as he opened his inventory screen. With a single tap of a filled inventory slot, the corpse of an armoured swarmer spontaneously appeared, filling the once-empty spot before the two Smiths could even realize it was there. "Woah, that was fast, there wasn''t even a swoosh, flash, or a portal thingy!" Fio exclaimed excitedly, springing from her spot and circling the monster corpse to see it from all angles. Crouching down to inspect the armoured swarmer, Reino employed his Item Inspect Skill to begin his inspection. His eyes widened momentarily with respect-filled shock, but he cleared his throat to reset his demeanor before mentioning, "You must be a high-ranking adventurer to have taken down one of these and have it in such pristine condition." This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. "Actually, this is our first time leaving our... well, I suppose you could call it a village, though it wouldn''t show up on any maps," Nagami remarked casually, only realising the mistake she had made too late as she noticed the perplexed look in Fio''s eyes. "Wait, so you''re not adventurers?" Fio asked disappointedly; however, her disappointment quickly turned into excitement upon realizing that it made Zalroth more of a Hero since he didn''t fight for money or fame. Noticing her blunder, Nagami raced to think of a cover-up before something came to mind. "We''re... actually on our way to get our... fightery people can get registered at a city? You know, given this is our first time out of our village," Nagami explained, lying on a technicality since that was her reason for tagging along in the first place. "So you like, fight strong monsters for fun?" Reino asked, with his tone being surprisingly unsurprised. "I certainly don''t, but I can think of a few who''d fit that description, right, Zalroth?" Nagami teased as Zalroth rubbed his eyes at recognising how bizarre he would appear to a normal person. Seeing the male teen''s response to that particular tease, Reino felt a wave of relief wash over him. The seasoned blacksmith felt respect and pride for Zalroth that he was self-aware and even embarrassed at such a title, unlike some people the old blacksmith had seen recently. "That description fits perfectly for a couple of people from the Xelphis Empire that visited my store a few days back," Reino grumbled under his breath as he rose to his feet. "Is that so?" Zalroth asked awkwardly, still thinking about how he''d present himself in the future to avoid such a description from becoming widespread. "Yeah, they were a bunch of pretentious pr...," Rieno said before catching himself mid-sentence, before he spoke improperly in front of Fio. Scoffing in disappointment and pointing to the armoured swarmer, he continued, "They were a bunch of brats, throwing their weight around like they could beat one of these guys." "But they couldn''t even hold a sword correctly, let alone be qualified to wield any super-grade weapon. Like Madam Nagami''s Kotatsugami here," Rieno mentioned. Zalroth requested that Nagami not be referred to by any honourable title, otherwise it would go to her head, and Zalroth wouldn''t hear the end of her bragging. "You can tell it''s rarity from a glance... oh wait, you''re also a blacksmith, and hey!" Nagami muttered before exploding into an embarrassed shout, briefly forgetting she was in a world that functioned like a videogame. Getting back on topic, Reino examined the armoured swarmer one final time to get a price evaluation. "Given the amount of raw iron that can be turned into fair quality, thanks to the lack of damage, I would price this at eight thousand Hexuno," Reino stated pragmatically while pointing out the clean since on the armoured swarmer''s neck. [changed mid to fair since it fit better] "Ah," Zalroth and Fio said emotionlessly, both equally unsure how much that was even worth, with Zalroth more focused on converting the value into an Earth currency. "You lot really must live in the middle of nowhere to have that kind of reaction," Reino remarked amusedly. "Gramps, how many bread loaves is that?" Fio asked puzzledly as she tried to visualize the amount. Mentally, Nagami was screaming like a football fan after their favourite team won a game, extremely grateful for the young Fio''s question and saving her from the embarrassment of having to ask a similar question herself. "Huh... let me think, at least more than two," Reino replied, struggling to keep a straight face as he saw the growing frowns on the two girls'' faces. Nagami huffed disapprovingly, finding the notion that dad jokes exist even in a fantasy world disheartening. But, as she turned to ask Zalroth something, Nagami''s frown turned into an offended upside-down U of disgust. "Oh, come on. Of all the jokes, that''s the one to make you laugh?" Nagami whined at having the displeasure of seeing such a bad joke put a crooked grin on Zalroth''s face when she''d tried so many others over the years. "Say, do you got any more of those stormers?" Fio asked cheerfully as she grabbed Zalroth''s arm, tugging at it to bring the guy back to his senses. "Huh? Yeah, like six armoured and... at least... two-," Zalroth managed to say seriously before getting clocked on the dome by Nagami, which ticked him off even if it didn''t hurt, as a digital red zero appeared by his head. "-hundred." Glancing down at the ground, the three others watched Nagami roll around on the ground like a rolling pin getting caught in a thunderstorm, clenching her wrist while constantly mouthing out silent, "Ow."s. Chapter 22: Funds Finally Funded The jingle of coins rang through Nagami''s ears, grinning like a madman as she jostled the coin pouch in her hands. Even when the gang left the Golemight Smithy and waved goodbye to Fio, Nagami continued to shake the pouch like a salt shaker, finding it intoxicatingly delightful how the pouch''s sense of weight and musical jingle itched all the right parts of her brain. As she continued to shake the coin pouch, a tuft of the fluffy collar on Zalroth''s direwolf pelt cloak[that''s coated that''s under the effect of Material Coating to make it Iron] rustled to life. "From my slumber, I haz returned," Zalina muttered tiredly as she slowly poked her head out of the fur, emerging like a crocodile from below the murky swamps of a swamp. The little Fae of Fortune repeatedly blinked, her groggy mind struggling to register her new location, doubly so with the constant clang of coins clouding her thoughts. "Finally decided to wake up, have you?" Zalroth remarked jestfully with the Fae of Fortune garbling incoherently with hunger. As he removed one of the loot room silver coins from his Inventory, Zalina''s eyes lit up with glee when the silver treasure coin crept into her sight. Grabbing the coin with her mouth, Zalina slinked back beneath the droves of the cloak''s fluffy collar. "So she really does eat treasure," Kaze remarked, carrying a more stable but still uneasy Al on his back. "Isn''t that one of those coins Chronia was bragging about finding the other day. But if you have those, couldn''t we have used them for buying stuff?" Metsu asked confusedly, wondering why Zalroth would be so concerned with money if he had those coins. "Yeah, but that was before Zalroth used his Appraisal Skill on them and figured out they weren''t money-money but like an enchanter''s money equivalent material for enchanting," Nagami explained matter-of-factly as she and Metsu tailed behind Zalroth. "Oh... no wonder she was stuffing her face with candy at Haruko''s food stand after giving all the coins to Yumi the day after she got them," Nowa said nonchalantly as she equally nonchalantly carried the sleeping Kaira on her shoulder like he were a log of wood. Skipping around to Zalroth''s side, Nagami glanced up at Zalroth with a cheeky tone before asking, "So, which inn are we staying at anyway?" "Which ever has rooms with multiple beds," Zalroth stated blankly, getting excited snickers from Nagami, who teasingly mentioned how much she enjoys a good sleepover with her friends. Metsu joined in, not intending to tease Zalroth but genuinely liking the idea of a sleepover during a road trip. Whilst she imagined what sleepover games the group could play, a sign in front of a building caught her attention. "That one?" Metsu mentioned as she physically pointed it out. The others turned their gazes to Metsu, following her outstretched hand until reaching the sign sporting a language they had never seen before. "You''re able to read this world''s language?" Nagami asked in surprise as she inspected the sign herself before instantly giving up trying to understand it. Metsu shook her head dismissively, denying any claim of knowing what the words said by herself. "No... Nero just told me what it says," Metsu mumbled meekly. Once again, the others found themselves having to praise Nero for being such a reliable companion, especially with his less than a day-long life. Metsu couldn''t contain her gratitude for the praise her Nero was receiving. This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience. "Now sporting rooms for groups of up to ten people," Zalroth read aloud, only adding to the others'' confusion as they all focused on him like he''d murdered someone. "Ok, now how do you know what it says?" Nagami quipped, wagging her finger in a pseudo-condescending way as Zalroth unamusedly glowered down at her. "You''d be surprised how useful being forced to learn every language can be," Zalroth uttered coldly, almost speaking with utter disdain and disgrace at having to mention such a fact. "Oh, so that''s why you''d sometimes only speak in a random language in primary school," Nagami remarked, mildly annoyed at her younger self for believing Zalroth was just speaking jibberish all this time. "Huh? So what, you learned the language of another world when you were a kid on Earth?" Nowa retorted with befuddled snark. Thinking over Nowa''s comment, Zalroth recalled the particular book in question, mulling over how odd even his no-nonsense father found the Hexagon-covered book. He thought over what parts to exclude from his explanation before simply explaining that he learned the language from a strange grammar book. "So, travel from this world to ours is possible," Kaze muttered with a reserved comfort in his voice. "Well, that''s reassuring... for our stuff anyway," Nowa joked, with Nagami booing the delingent for stealing the joke she was going to make. Nowa feigned ignorance of any sort of stealing, sassily mentioning it was such an obvious thing to say that Kaze could''ve done it. The two girls continued to bicker as they made their way towards the inn with Kaze following them to ensure they didn''t cause trouble, leaving Zalroth standing with the disheartened Metsu. "Is something wrong, Metsu?" Zalroth asked as he scooped Metsu off the ground, who didn''t bother responding to being picked up other than with a weak exhale. But, after a few seconds of thinking, Metsu raised her head along with her small, balled-up fist. "No... just you stole thunder back there," Metsu murmured, disapproval evident in her timid tone as she lightly bonked Zalroth on the head without any digital numbers appearing. "Look on the bright side. The others will be more likely to ask you for help with translating stuff over me," Zalroth said calmly, bringing up how impractical it would be for him to do it given his role in the group as a whole. "Yeah... suppose so," Metsu mumbled, timidly poking her finger tips together while appriciating Zalroth''s attempt to console her. Taking a single step forward, Zalroth halted just as quickly, catching Metsu off guard and mildly worrying her with the serious look in his scowling eyes. "Something wrong?" Metsu asked sheepishly. Noticing her concern, Zalroth shook his head as a smirk formed on his face, which surprised Metsu even more than the seriousness his eyes had shown moments prior. With a playful air coming to his demeanor, Zalroth began advancing after the others. "Nah, just remembered something dumb I did as a kid," Zalroth remarked smugly, with Metsu nodding as she knew how it felt to be randomly attacked by such a thing. Even later in the night, Zalroth stood beside the window of the group''s rented inn room, still donning his equipment and armour while the others had swapped into bed attire and long since fallen into slumber. "To think I''d still get those signals after all this time," Zalroth uttered in his mind, gazing out the window in an ingrained trance. Watching the rooftops, he sat in perfect silence, the only sound in the room coming from the occasional quiet snore from his friends. But, as he waited, he spotted a few cloaked figures jumping from the rooftops, and turned his eyes into murderous glares as he determined their destination was Golemight Smithy. [Activated Ability: Particle Warp] Chapter 23: Zalroths Least Favorite Kind of Person The cloaked assailants parkoured from rooftop to rooftop, moving with practiced precision and in tandem with each other as they travelled towards Golemight Smithy. Lacking any wasted effort, the assassins'' movements were swift and discreet as they leapt over the smithy''s marble fence, and the seven of them landed in Reino''s testing garden. "To think such a high-profile person would hire us for such a low... priority job," a moon-emblem masked assassin grumbled dispointedly, believing their talents were wasted on such a person. "I know we''ve been hired by the empire and all, but isn''t killing a kid too far even for" the shortest moon-emblem masked assassin asked before catching a murderous glare from their leader, the assassin with the sun-emblem. "It''s a surprise how you''re even an assassin with that kind of moral code," one of the other moon-emblem assassins barked as he pushed past the short assassin. Hearing her fellow assassin''s comment, the tallest female assassin let out a pouty huff as she rested her arms on the shorter guy''s head. "More like he has one," the taller female moon-emblem assasin remarked, teasing the short assassin by lightly poking him in the side. The assassin''s leader side-eyed the duo, glaring at them like a disappointed parent after catching their child eating ice cream straight from the container with their hands. "You''re one to talk," the leader uttered coldly, "But you at least know when to keep it to yourself." [Activate Skill: Appraisal(Level 3) x7] [*******][Level: 117] [HP: 550][Hexa: 10] [Class: Elite Assassin] [Vitality: 55][Stamina: 145] [Attack: 90][Hexa Profficiency: 50] [Defence: 32][Intelligence: 1] [Agility: 100][Speed: 120] [******][Level: 81] [HP: 450][Hexa: 550] [Class: Poison Assassin] [Vitality: 45][Stamina: 105] [Attack: 28][Hexa Proficiency: 50] [Defence: 18][Intelligence: 55] [Agility: 77][Speed: 35] [**********][Level: 90] [HP: 12(+730)][Hexa: 10] [Class: Combat Assassin] [Vitality: 12][Stamina: 32] [Attack: 146][Hexa Proficiency: 1] [Defence: 77][Intelligence: 1] [Agility: 90][Speed: 99] [*******][Level: 73] [HP: 360][Hexa: 1650] [Class: Support Assassin] [Vitality: 36][Stamina: 32] [Attack: 1][Hexa Proficiency: 80] [Defence: 33][Intelligence: 165] [Agility: 25][Speed: 1] [Atella][Level: 67] [HP: 10][Hexa: 900] [Class: Sniping Assassin] [Vitality: 1][Stamina: 48] [Attack: 1][Hexa Proficiency: 50] [Defence: 1][Intelligence: 90] [Agility: 151][Speed: 1] [Kelao][Level: 62] [HP: 700][Hexa: 10] [Class: Tool Master Assassin] [Vitality: 70][Stamina: 35] [Attack: 70][Hexa Proficiency: 25] [Defence: 32][Intelligence: 1] [Agility: 55][Speed: 30] [*****][Level: 99] [HP: 360][Hexa: 1880] [Class: Magic Assassin] [Vitality: 36][Stamina: 55] [Attack: 1][Hexa Proficiency: 50] [Defence: 15][Intelligence: 188] [Agility: 88][Speed: 70] [Skills, Abilities, and stats from equipment are hidden due to the effect of Target(s) Equipment, Skill, or Ability] Zalroth mentally hummed, finding it odd that only two of the assassins'' names were observable, which led him to wonder if they weren''t actually part of the assassins'' group. "To think I''d find scum like you in this world as well," Zalroth stated sternly, crouched on the roof of Golemight Smithy like a delinguent while overlooking the seven assassins. The unexpected voice shot the assassins onto the defences before they jumped away from the building and brandished their weapons. "Impossible, our cloaks should''ve made us undetectable," one of the moon-emblem assassins yelled under their breath as they wielded their steel shortsword. With contempt for five of them and mild distaste for the other two, Zalroth hopped down from the roof before stating, "Unlike you, I have ways of detecting people without magic." "Like an old school assassin," Fio muttered from behind her slightly ajared roof bedroom window. Zalroth mentally groaned, explicitly recalling he''d told the girl not to watch and go wake up her grandfather. [Activated Skill: Gaiaful Thorn(Level: 2)] Twirling it in his hand as it formed, dark green vines formed around his palm, wrapping and coiling around themselves, tightening into the shape of a long spear before petrifying while retaining its colouration. Deeming that waiting any longer could risk the target getting away, the elite assassin(the leader) ordered the combat assassin to deal with Zalroth while they searched for the target. Not needing to be told twice, the combat assassin sprinted into action and booked it at Zalroth using an Accel Drive(Level 2) to close the distance, brandishing his steel shortsword in hand. "Don''t get over yourself just because you spotted us, and have a magical weapon," the combat assassin shouted as he raised his shortsword over his head and lunged at Zalroth. The other assassins turned their attention to the smithy, prepared to break in to get Fio. But before they could commit, their attention was ripped back to Zalroth as their colleague was sent flying in front of them and slamming into one of the backyard''s marble walls. The guy bounced off the wall, slouching against it like a stuffed toy as a red digital 730 and a red digital 10 appeared beside his head, and a Creation Crest on the cheek of his mask. The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation. Raising an eyebrow, Zalroth was mildly surprised, noticing the pop-up that appeared above the combat assassin. [Crest Copy: Selective Acquire is available on target] Strolling up to the knocked-out combat assassin, Zalroth blocked the other assassins'' path so they couldn''t ignore him. Crouching down and planting a firm hand on the knocked out guy''s shoulder, Zalroth quietly murmured, "Hmm, so when a non-monster reaches zero HP, they''re knocked out, that makes using the Selective Aquire more convenient." [Activated Unique Skill: Selective Aquire] [Combative Armour] -The user creates a magical protection that absorbs DMG- -1 point of magical protection is equal to 2 of the user''s Attack stat- -1 point of magical protection gives the user 10 Armour HP- -Cooldown of 30 minutes- "Oh, no wonder he willingly had such a low HP stat," Zalroth remarked amusedly, "Shame I don''t need it for this battle." The elite assassin narrowed his purple-glinted eyes, brandishing his silver-cored steel knives, and ordered his team members to cover him before charging at Zalroth. With their orders, the support assassin swiped their silver bracelet-clad arm to the side, its moon features shining a bright blue, green, and red, signifying its different buffs as they were applied to the elite assassin. Bracing himself, Zalroth traced the elite assassin''s enhanced movements, his fingers twitching with slight excitement. As he approached, Zalroth got the feeling the elite might be strong enough to harm him now with all those buffs along with his equipment seeming higher grade than the others. Despite his initial excitement, Zalroth soon gained a strange sense of concern as he found himself easily combating the elite assassin, even with his teammate''s support, whether it was buffs or attacks. Whilst countering their attacks, Zalroth was left wondering why the assassins'' attacks almost felt off, like their capabilities were significantly more than what they were showing, but their bodies were being hindered. The poison assassin noticed the contemplations in Zalroth''s eyes and mistakenly thought the teen was losing focus. Taking their chance, the poison assassins leapt onto one of the backyard walls before hurrying to Golemight Smithy''s roof. Noticing his teammate''s break for the target''s location, the elite assassin shouted, "Don''t break formation, you hothead." Luckily for the poison assassin, the warning came just in time, and they dived off the wall as a magic bolt shot out from one of the smithy''s windows and narrowly missed the dodging assassin. Mid-fall and spotting Zalroth and their leader in a blade lock, the poison assassin took their chance for a surprise attack as they pulled poison potion-infused gold-tipped iron knives from their cloak and hurled them. "Hmm, those would be an issue if they hit me," Zalroth thought, recalling that Al mentioned poison does percentage DMG. In the short time he had to think, the Chronia part of his brain whispered in Zalroth''s mind to do a needlessly cool trick to catch the knives by activating Frostbite Armament when the knives were almost about to hit him. "Watch out, Zalroth!" Fio exclaimed in a panic as she screamed out the open window. Hearing the girl''s warning and that she was still watching, Zalroth decided to ditch his idea of using Frostbite Armament to catch the knives on the off chance he ended up poisoning himself by mistiming it and needlessly scaring Fio. So, he just used Particle Warp to avoid the knives and appeared beside Fio''s open window, making the girl cheer happily. Catching everyone off guard, especially the Elite Assassin, the knives of his teammate plunged into his chest. Feeling the effect of the poison taking effect, the elite assassin leapt away from Zalroth before landing next to Kelao, almost knocking the small assassin over in the process. After a few seconds, a glassy dark green digital eighty-two-point-five appeared besides the elite assassin''s head as dark green swirly particles popped off his body. Kelao quickly regained his balance, huffing under his breath, before rummaging through his small item bag and pulling out a needle-like artefact. With the knowledge of his leader''s high pain tolerance, Kelao stabbed the needle into the guy''s chest and carelessly pulled the knives out of his chest. The needle artefact sprang to life, siphoning all the poison out of the poisoned assassin''s blood. "For some reason, the ones with redacted names seem weakened by something while the two with names seem to be actively holding back. Why is that?" Zalroth pondered as he decided to restrain the two named ones with a less aggressive method while just knocking out the others. Noticing the shift in temperament in Zalroth, the elite assassin acknowledged the tricky predicament he and his team were in, and reasoned Zalroth must have been holding back against them this entire time for the change in demeanor to have such an effect on him. "We should fall ba-." Before the elite assassin could finish his statement, a commanding and aggressively controlling voice exploded into his mind like a thunderstorm, ordering him to kill the Master Blacksmith''s granddaughter no matter the cost. Recognising the voice, the elite assassin''s heart sank and he tried to warn his teammates, but no words could leave his mouth as he found himself in a spirally mass of corrupted Hexa particles. Trying to make sense of what happened, his thoughts began to cloud, distorting into a searing torrent of melting thought as he felt his very sense of self being cursed and warped. In reality, a torrent of corrupted/distorted Hexa particles, appearing like corrupted image files, spun around the five cursed assassins. The corrupted Hexa particles funnelling out from the four lower-level assassins in a wild frenzy, thrashing around the testing ground before funneling straight into the body of the lifeless elite assassin. [Activated Unique Skill: Random Aquire] [Ability Acquired: Prosperous Health(Passive)] -The user cannot be afflicted by any debuff/negative status effect that decreases the user''s stats or HP/Hexa- [Skill Acquired: Hellflames of Apocalypse] -The user fires a concentrated beam of dark blue flames that decimates its target- -DMG is proportional to the amount of Hexa spent to charge it- -Every 100 Hexa is equal to 1% of the User''s Intelligence- [Skill Acquired: Flash Freeze Perma Frost][Cost: 3045 Hexa] -The user conjures a giant AOE cluster of solid ice that inflicts the Frozen Status Effect- -When a target is freed or escapes, they are then inflicted with the Slow Status Effect for five minutes- [Skill Aquired: Accel Drive(Level: 4)] [Accel Drive] -Increases the user''s speed for a short burst, and attack scales off the user''s speed at attack- [Level: 4][cost: 145 Hexa] -Increases speed by 50% and attack by 40%- [Ability Acquired: Hide Presence] -The user becomes undetectable to detection-based skills from anyone lower level than them- "To think I''d be forced into using this ability," the humanoid creature said boldly, its voice eerily similar to that of the elite assassin with minor distortions to it. The Corrupted Hexa mist disappeared, revealing the creature to be a more muscular and purple-skinned version of the elite assassin as it stared down Zalroth with its black scleraed eyes. "Hmph," Zalroth mumbled coldly as he plopped Kelao and Atella beside before marching toward the cursed creature, his grip on his Gaiaful Thorn spear increasing with each step. "Even if I''ll lose these pawns, as long as we get back at that blacksmith, it''ll all be worth it," the mutated elite assassin stated coldly and indifferently, his original voice overpowered by the distorted feminine voice of someone else talking through him. "To think it didn''t matter if I wanted to spare them or not," Zalroth uttered under his breath, his rage bubbling to the surface as he shattered his Gaiaful Thorn spear between his fingers and summoned his Silver Combat Knife(rare) from his Inventory into his other hand. [Activated Ability: Weakening Howl] [Activated Skill: Inferno Blaze(Level 3)] Like many times before, a booming howl erupted from Zalroth''s body at the ability''s activation, the suddenness and unexpectedness of it catching the assassins and the being behind the puppeteering of the elite assassin''s mutated body by surprise. His knife spewed opaque flames, coating its blade in a burning rage that simmered like Zalroth''s own. "Using this knife on its own is overkill for you, but you won''t get the courtesy of me playing nice anymore," Zalroth stated as he assumed his usual knife combat stance. With his statement and stance, Fio could be heard quietly geeking out at getting to see Zalroth fighting more seriously while Reino dragged her back inside, much to the girl''s annoyance. "Then by all means, show me a good time before I get bored with you," the voice puppeting the elite assassin said in a joking manner as she forced the elite assassin to levitate off the ground and hover into the sky. Chapter 24: This Is Why Gamers Hate This Type of Enemy Zalroth followed the rising puppetered being with his eyes, watching it ascend high above the city as he twirled his opaque flame-coved silver combat knife(rare) in his hand. He could feel a contentious and condescending demeanour oozing from the puppeteer behind the cursed elite assassin, filling Zalroth with the bottomless need to find the puppeteer and sock her in the face. Despite the obvious threat above him, Zalroth peered over his shoulder as he heard the distinct sound of buzzing and sizzling coming from the Golemight Smithy. With a relieved smirk, Zalroth returned his focus to the threat at hand and activated his appraisal skill. [Activated Skill: Appraisal(Level: 3)] [Cursed Human Puppet(Object)][Level: 460] [HP: 1840(+870)][Hexa: 4100] [Class: Elite, Magic, Warrior, Poison, and Support Assassin] [Vitality: 184][Stamina: 369] [Attack: 266][Hexa Profficiency: 231] [Defence: 175][Intelligence: 410] [Agility: 380][Speed: 325] "Hmm. So, having multiple classes is possible... at least in certain circumstances," Zalroth pondered, leaving him to speculate on how he''d replicate it without the whole curse thing. Seeing the contemplative glint in Zalroth''s eyes, the puppeteer couldn''t contain her excitement at finding someone who was vastly more interesting than the usual people her "puppets" had faced, given how he hadn''t turned tail and run after she created a combined cursed puppet. "Seems you really are more interesting, not like all those other Hexa worlders," the puppeteer remarked, her snark beating out the grating power of a cheese grater in Zalroth''s opinion. However, the last part of her statement caught Zalroth''s attention, not that he''d allow it to show on his face as he took on a more aggressive stance. "And, it seems every time you talk makes me want to punch you more," Zalroth retorted, getting a delighted snobish cackle from the puppeteer. "Then allow me to make the first move since you kindly allowed me to charge this," the puppeteer uttered condescendingly as they controlled the cursed human puppet to raise its arm and point an open palm at Golemight Smithy. [Activated Skill: Hellflames of Apocalypse(100%)] Although the pop-up was far away, Zalroth barely recognised the name of the skill as one of the ones he had gotten from his Random Aquire Skill. "I suppose it isn''t a non-zero chance I''d randomly get the skill they have," Zalroth mentally remarked before activating Particle Warp. [Activated Ability: Particle Warp] [Activated Skill: Accel Drive(Level: 4) x5] In a flash, Zalroth appeared right in front of the grinning cursed puppet, not even fazed by the guy''s sudden shift in location, and if anything, had an unnervingly happy expression on their face. With his Accel Drive empowered leg, Zalroth swung a decisive upwards round-house kick to the cursed puppet''s hand, forcing it to be flung and aimed upwards. Right as its aim moved beyond the scope of Gronoville, a torrent of concentrated dark blue flames erupted from the cursed puppet''s palm, narrowly missing the ground as the beam of flames pierced through the clouds and exposed the full moon from behind them. Zalroth felt his breath catch in his throat as he kicked off the cursed puppet to make some distance before landing on a Seraph Step platform. "It seems Skills without levels to them are vastly stronger," Zalroth mentally uttered, a drop of sweat running down his face as he knew without a shadow of a doubt that that attack would''ve obliterated him along with the city. "Hah, I knew you''d be able to stop that, but I guess someone of your capabilities would still feel uneasy after seeing that move," the puppeteer boasted, throwing up her cursed puppet''s arms as its body began to contort, taking on a more feminine physique. "Heh, guess I took too much control and ended up altering this thing''s shape." Zalroth remained silent, locked in a staredown with the cursed puppet. He and the puppeteer were locked in a standoff, waiting for the other to make the next move. Meanwhile, an explosively booming bang blasted through the city, snapping Nagami and the others out of their slumbers, whilst Metsu was especially startled upon noticing Nero was gone. "What was that? Are the golems attacking!?" Nagami blurted out as she nearly tumbled out of the bed she and Metsu were sharing. However, her question was swiftly answered as she spotted Zalroth dropkicking the cursed puppet high above the town and sending it flying over the town wall. "Guys, get dressed, Zalroth''s fighting against a monster!" Nagami shouted, catching all the others'' attention and fully waking them up. On the outskirts of Gronoville, the cursed puppet hurtled over the tall town wall like a ragdoll with the puppeteer''s cackling all the while as Zalroth whizzed after them. Closing the distance, Zalroth reeled back his opaque flame-covered knife as his Hexa points rapidly depleted. [Activated Skill: Accel Drive(Level: 4) x50] In the blink of an eye, Zalroth unleashed a storm of Accel Drive boosted knife slashes, moving with such speed that the lagging flames struggled to keep up and swirled into a raging tornado to envelop the cursed puppet. But as the opaque flames around it subsided, the cursed puppet sported a crooked smile, seemingly unfazed by the attack. Recognising that expression, Zalroth wasted no time delivering an Accel Drive-powered roundhouse kick to the cursed puppet''s face, sending it flying before the two aimed a hand at each other. [Activated Skill: Flame Blast(Level: 3) x30] [Activated Skill: Hellflames of Apocalypse(100%)] Torrents of red and dark blue flames slammed into each other with tremendous force, unleashing an equally intense torrent of searing heat through the air that washed over the unsuspecting town. As the flames scattered, Zalroth landed on a Seraph Step platform while the cursed puppet floated close by. Despite his best efforts, no matter the method or how hard Zalroth''s attacks hit the cursed puppet, it always received the same amount of DMG, a consistent zero across the board. With a jestful tone, the puppeteer remarked, "Man, you''re one tough cookie. That equipment you''ve got has gotta be pretty special. I bet a certain one of my companions will be thrilled to have that sword of yours once I''m done with you." Clutching the handle of Kotatzugami and grabbing it tightly with all his strength, Zalroth glared daggers at the cursed puppet before stating, "As if I''d allow you to get your grubby mits on this." Despite not being there in person, the puppeteer felt the sudden influx of murderous intent for her from Zalroth, her cursed puppet involuntarily flinched as she instinctively wanted to do so herself. Trying to save face, the puppeteer forced her puppet to equip the elite assassin''s knives and quipped, "Be as mad as you want, unless you have a holy weapon, you''re as good as dead against my cursed puppet." "You said it yourself, your puppet wouldn''t last this mission, so all I have to do is outlast it until dawn," Zalroth retorted with a defiant scoff, getting an unplesant frown and a distasteful click of the tongue from the puppet, confirming his suspision that the sun would destroy the puppet. "You say that... but those last two attacks of yours probably took most of your Hexa to fire, so will you really be able to hold out for that long?" the puppeteer barked back as her brevado returned. Zalroth awkwardly averted his eyes, instilling a false sense of security in the girl that she was correct. However, in reality, Zalroth''s expression was born from him making the same judgmental mistake; having forgotten Kotatzugami''s scabbard increased his Hexa by over ten times. "Urg. Chronia, Saria, and Nagami would die of laughter if they knew I forgot the scabbard counted towards my stats," Zalroth grumbled under his breath as he released his grip on Kotatzugami''s handle. "Aww, I hope you aren''t getting cold feet now, this was just getting inte-." The puppeteer was cut off as its cursed puppet swung its knives to the side to block Zalroth''s sudden knife slash, sending embers of opaque flames from the clashing blades. Using his angular superiority and that he was slightly higher up than the puppet, Zalroth vaulted over the cursed puppet before axe-kicking it in the head and sending it hurtling towards the ground. Having had enough of her talking, Zalroth landed on another Seraph Step platform before pointing his silver combat knife(Rare) at the cursed puppet and stating, "Would you shut up." The cursed crashed into the ground, sustaining zero damage as always, as the sound of the puppeteer''s grumbling murmur echoed from it. A while later, atop the city wall of Gronoville, the city guard watched the unfolding battle in the sky, the blurring trails of light that were the combating duo almost moving too fast for them to keep track of. The captain of the town guard, the highest leveled person from the town, was easily able to keep track of the duo, even if all he saw were barely humanoid blurs shooting and clashing across the sky. "Captain, our ranged attackers are ready," a guardsman yelled as he rushed over to the Guard Captain. The captain nodded his head sternly, keeping his eyes locked on the fight while keeping a keen focus on Zalroth as the captain recognised him from the group of people who had arrived around midnight. "I''ll give the signal when that guy isn''t close to the monster," the guard captain stated calmly as he uncrossed his arms. The guardsman nodded before hurrying off to his position among the ranged guardsmen, awaiting the signal. "Thanks for not telling you guys to relentlessly attack," Nagami said with relief as she, Reino and Fio were at work at Nagami''s mini-forge set-up nearby the captain, all fully kitted up in blacksmithing gear. "There''s no need for thanks, what kind of people would we be if we attacked a guy defending us," the captain retorted calmly, followed by asking how long the thing they''re constructing will take to make. "At least five more minutes," Reino stated as he slammed his smithing hammer at full force on the glowing metal dagger. Clashing blades again, a piercing screech of metal rung through the night sky, the swirling winds born of the rapidly heating and cooling of the air picking up into a mini whirlwind that flung to two combatants away from each other. Covered in cuts and trickles of blood, Zalroth landed on yet another one of his Seraph Step platforms, falling to one side as he clutched his free hand around the reddened and soaked spot on the side of his torso. [Activated Sub-Skill: Quick Appraisal x2] [Zalroth Akikou][Level: 544] [1436/9100][49,753/50,350] [Cursed Human Puppet(Object)][Level: 460] Stolen novel; please report. [HP: 1840(+6870)/1840][Hexa: 4562/4100] "This isn''t looking good. I haven''t left a scratch on it, and whatever''s obscuring its equipment''s stats isn''t helping me gauge how much power to counter with," Zalroth uttered in his mind as his heavy breaths tumbled out of his mouth. "Hah! Looks like you''re on your last leg there, buddy; So, I''ll be taking that sw-.". Mid-sentence, the cursed puppet was clocked in the face by a speeding fireball that exploded on impact and knocked it off balance. And, before it could recover, volleys upon volleys of magical attacks careened into the cursed puppet, not allowing it even a second to capitalise on Zalroth''s weakened state. Zalroth rapidly blinked, momentarily stunned by the sudden support, but figured it wasn''t a surprise that the protectors of a town would fight against a threat. But, even with the moment to breathe, Zalroth still didn''t have any way to get around his inability to harm the cursed puppet other than stalling until the sun comes up. Eventually, the assault of magical attacks from the guardsmen, Zalroth''s friends, and the two other assassins came to an end. And, at the centre of the dispersing smoke, an unfazed and scowling cursed puppet hovered in the sky as its controller''s focus shifted to the town. Realizing the puppeteer''s intention, Zalroth snapped his gaze to Gronoville before Particle Warping over in an instant. Sliding across the Seraph Step platform he created, Zalroth spun on the spot as he frantically swung up his free arm to match the cursed puppet''s raised one. [Activated Skill: Hellflames of Apocalypse(300%)] [Activated Skill: Hellflames of Apocalypse(100%) x5] For a moment, there was nothing but the building silence of suspense in the atmosphere, only broken by a deafening boom as the night sky was lit up by the intense and overwhelming collision of the two tsunamis of dark blue beams of flames. Droves of heat washed over Gronoville''s town wall, forcing everyone on it to duck behind the wallway wall while Nagami took her chance to use the rushing heatwave to superheat the in-work weapon. "What!?" the puppeteer yelled through her puppet in complete bewilderment as she watched Zalroth''s Hellflames of Apocalypse overpower her puppet''s. She was blindsided, flabbergasted and no short of awestruck that Zalroth had such a high mastery of the skill that he could already multi-cast it let alone use it in the first place. Zalroth''s flames continued to creep closer and closer to the cursed puppet, managing to push back its flames as its puppeteer gradually lost focus until Zalroth''s flames were mere inches from the puppet. Needlessly panicking, the puppeteer forced the cursed puppet to put up a magic barrier around itself right before it was engulfed in a wave of searing flames. Flinging themselves out of Zalroth''s flames, the cursed puppet soared higher into the sky, covered in soot but sustaining no tangible damage other than its magic barrier shattering. "How does he have one of my puppet''s skills? Can he mimic his opponent''s powers? It must be the case, otherwise he would have used it earlier if he already possessed it," the puppeteer exclaimed in dread-filled shock. Her puppet staggered back in the air, emulating the girl''s terror as she mulled over her options. Heavily panting, Zalroth slumped his shoulders, allowing his arms to dangle like limp noodles as he felt his brain being crushed by an invisible weight. Clasping his forehead loosely with his fingers, he closed one of his eyes in pain as he mumbled, "So, this is what happens when you expend so much Hexa at once and have too much fatigue." "Zalroth, catch!" Nagami yelled seriously, catching Zalroth''s attention and snapping him out of his pained state instantly. Peeking back, Zalroth spotted Atella pulling back the elastic strap of a weapon-loaded sing-shot. With perfected practice, Atella launched the weapon toward Zalroth, slightly off-setting her aim to not accidentally hit him. The gleaming golden object shimmered in the moonlight, hurtled towards Zalroth, sminning through the air at frickish speeds as it resembled a full moon in its yellow period. "You owe me big time for forcing me to make yet another weapon for you, Zalroth!" Nagami shouted boldly as Zalroth raised his knife wielding hand, returning the knife to his Inventory, before catching the golden object. With an amused chuckle, Zalroth faintly muttered, "Ain''t that the truth?" In his hand was a golden dagger, both sides of its blade engraved with a bismuth engraving of a crescent moon, and a thick ring-shaped pearl pummel. [Activated Skill: Apprasial(Level: 3)] [Golden Moon Dagger(Rare)][Level: 99] [Attack:900] [Agility: 288] [Holy Infusion] -All attacks used through the tool/weapon gain the Holy Attribute- [Serious Bismuth] -Decreases cooldown of Abilities by 50%- [Golden Enforcement] -Increases chance of Status Effect Skills/Abilities by 5% every time the effect isn''t applied- [Weapon Skill: Purifying Light] -Fires a concentrated beam of light that does double DMG against Shadow-type or Cursed-Type targets- -Cooldown: 1 minute- Seeing the weapon''s Abilities and Skill, Zalroth couldn''t help but feel a growing respect for Nagami''s craftsmanship, left to ponder if he should say that to her face or not as Metsu''s head slowly rose up into view. "Get on," Metsu stated confidently as she tugged on the guy''s shoulder to snap him back to reality. Sitting atop Nero''s back, the confidence behind Metsu''s eyes made it hard for Zalroth to decline, and he hopped onto Nero''s back with her as the small girl handed him two potion bottles, a Status Recovery(Medium) Potion and a Strength(High) Potion. [Status Recovery potions are pale yellow filled teal swirls] [Strength Potions are red] Watching as Zalroth drank the two potions before the bottles seemingly disappeared without a trace, the puppeteer grumbled under her breath, cursing her luck that her guaranteed win was stolen from her and being so mad she didn''t register the potion bottles'' disappearance. "Damned be these Hexa Worlders, I was so close to a-.". The puppeteer cut her complaining short, realizing the shadowy creature Nero that Zalroth was now standing on. Under her restrained breath, she uttered, "Okay... having a shadow monster as a subordinate is cool." However, the puppeteer''s astonishment was swiftly replaced with concern as Nero and his passengers blasted out of her view within the blink of an eye. Ordering her cursed puppets to move, the puppeteer darted her focus across her surroundings, desperately trying to relocate Zalroth. [Activated Skill: Accel Drive(Level: 4)] The cursed puppet''s eyes widened in fear, its movements becoming even more frantic to locate its targets. Focusing on the buzzing, the cursed puppet heard Nero racing from behind it and threw up an arm to fire a Hellflames of Apocalypse. But, a golden sheen of light slashed past the cursed puppet, leaving the puppeteer in a stunned silence as she saw the cursed puppet''s severed hand fly in front of it through its eyes. "Uh oh," the puppeteer uttered, watching as the stump of the cursed puppet''s arm and the entirety of its severed hand greyed out before crumbling into inert dust. Blasting through the air, Metsu raised her hands into the arm in victory, the power of the wind rushing through her crescent moon-shaped hair filling her unadulterated glee. "Nero! Plus Accel equal OP!" Metsu exclaimed excitedly as Nero doubled back in a loop and barrelled straight for the cursed puppet. At hearing the girl''s chant of victory, a small smirk formed on Zalroth''s face as he spun the Golden Moon Dagger in his palm. "It''s not over yet, but I can''t argue with that reasoning," Zalroth retorted as he braced for another attack. [Activated Skill: Accel Drive(Level: 4) x4] Dreading what was to come, the cursed puppet tried to turn around to counterattack, but just like before, the speed of Nero''s flight easily outpaced the puppet as four more devastating Holy Attribute-infused slashes tore through its body. The puppeteer reeled in terror as she watched the HP of her cursed puppet drain like a fish tank gushing out water from having a hole in the bottom of it. "Was he really this strong the whole time, even against something over level four-hundred?!" the puppeteer exclaimed, screeching like a raging gamer after losing a sing;e ranked match. With four glowing golden, greyed-out-coloured skin surrounded slash wounds covering the cursed puppet''s body, the puppeteer tracked the flight patterns before swinging a preemptive punch that Metsu''s face was heading straight for. However, instead of the moon-haired girl, Zalroth Particle Warped in the way of the punch, getting sucker punch in the chin by the cursed puppet in the process which dealt fifty point four two points of DMG to him. The cursed puppet smirked confidently, mimicking its controller''s expression of satisfaction, but that smirk quickly melted away as Zalroth pushed his raised head back downward. Overpowering the cursed puppet, Zalroth stared down the puppeteer through the cursed puppet, sending shivers of regret through her. "Hmph, finally managed to punch me properly, huh? Glad you did, otherwise I might''ve felt bad about stabbing someone not from this world in the head," Zalroth remarked coldly before he disappeared from using Particle Warp, catching the puppeteer off guard after having gotten used to Zalroth''s Particle Warp''s usual cooldown. "Wait! He mentioned this world, does that mean he''s also an oth-." But the puppeteer couldn''t finish her revelation in time as Zalroth, appearing behind the puppet, plunged the blade of the Golden Moon Dagger into the side of the cursed puppet''s skull. [Activated Weapon Skill: Purifying Light] The blade of the dagger shone brightly like the yellow sun, beams and golden strands of light erupted from it like rave lights at a disco that scorched the body of the cursed puppet into dust. Raising an eyebrow, a thought crossed Zalroth''s perplexed mind as he thought, "I was expecting a bigger boom... crud." The moment Zalroth finished his thought, he realized his grave error of testing his jinxing luck as the entirety of his surrounding area was bathed in the Golden Moon Dagger''s light. Unleashing its full might, the cursed puppet was reduced to atoms in mere seconds, leaving Zalroth to bear the brunt of the dagger''s might alone. Nagami held her breath, clenching the handle of her steel hammer(Rare) so tightly with unrivaled nerves that her knuckles turned as white as her dreading face. The light of the Purifying Light skill swiftly faded away, disappearing just as quickly as it appeared. It left a rapidly blinking Zalroth barely standing on a Seraph Step platform, much to Nagami''s relief-filled mind. Panting heavily, Zalroth plummeted from the air, his strength giving out from the compounding strain of expending so much Hexa in one big burst, followed by being hit at point-blank range and spamming Frostbite Armourment. Luckily for him, his collision with the ground was cut short as Kaira teleported underneath him, grabbing hold of his shoulder before teleporting the duo safely onto the city wall walkway. [Zalroth Akikou][Level: 544] [HP: 21.54/9100][Hexa: 153/50,350] "And after all that, I didn''t get a single level... although it did say it was an object... does that mean golems aren''t objects?" Zalroth muttered aloud as his friends surrounded him. "Geez, why''d you have to be so reckless? You should''ve said something instead of running off on your own, stupid. What if you''d been killed by that thing or the dagger we made?" Nagami cried as she raised a fist to hit him. Bringing down her sorrow-fuelled wrath, she lightly punched the guy on the head, causing green digital numbers to appear beside the guy as his HP points recovered at an accelerated rate. "Yeah, well, how was I supposed to know a bunch of assassins were cursed to turn into a monster that could rival my level and that was also immune to all of my attacks?" Zalroth retorted with a heavy strain in his voice but with no less snark than usual. "Fair," Nagami murmured before stuffing an HP potion in the guy''s mouth to stop him from talking any further. "How punches healing him?" Metsu murmured, her confusion distracting her from the worry she once felt for Zalroth''s condition. Nagami raised her left hand, revealing the iron chain bracelet with a four-pointed-star-shaped emerald on her left wrist that jingled under her abrupt movement. "This bracelet converts all my punches into healing instead of damage," Nagami explained before resuming her relentless punches to heal Zalroth along with the potion. Meanwhile, in a dimly lit, grand and regal bedroom, a girl could be heard whining and pouting like a child, flailing her limbs around as she wallowed in the darkness of the room. "Nooo, I was so close to beating him, but noooo, he had to go and get a weapon that negated my advantage! And, that last attack on my cursed puppet was so much that it made me pass out from the recoil," the girl whinnied, bawling her eyes out with fake tears. "So you''ve said for the past thirty minutes," a significantly more reserved-sounding female retorted as she sat on the other king-sized bed on the opposite side of the room. The other girl tilted her head to the side with contempt for the curse-maker girl''s act, uttering under her breath, "Also, stop acting like you''re actually upset, it''s even more annoying than when you''re actually upset." The curse maker raised her head, her eyes as dry as a desert, completely negating any effect her prior crocodile tears might''ve had on a normal person with a heart. "Still, though, wonder where the bottle for the potions he drank went," the curse maker girl pondered aloud, finally getting the attention of the other girl in a positive light instead of just annoyance. "You mean like when we put stuff in our Inventories?" the other girl asked with mild interest in the conversation topic now. The curse-maker girl nodded her head as she saw the similarities. "Yeah, just like when we... ... ... OH MY GOD, that''s why he said from this world, because he''s also from Earth! I almost realized that earlier before he stuck that dagger in my head," the curse maker girl exclaimed as she flopped back into her bed with a proud grin on her face, while her friend had a more stern and serious look on her shadow-obscured face. "Eh, I''ll tell that dumb Pope tomorrow, not like that idiot Sukinia will," the other girl grumbled as she led back into her bed. Chapter 25: One Day of No Fighting, You Hear? After everything had settled down and the group had relocated back to their inn room, Nagami eventually relented on her cursade of healing punches against Zalroth, finally appeased the guy could stand on his own two feet now, even though the guy would have long passed three times the value of his max HP if he had the HP version of Overcreep active on him. "Don''t you think you''ve healed him enough?" Kaira asked, with a spring in his step as faint, pale orange swirls popped out of his body. Nagami swivelled her head towards the strangely energetic guy, who had been out cold as a dead body the second he reached Gronoville a few hours ago. "I don''t need comments from a guy who''s moments away from having an energy crash," Nagami uttered jestfully, pointing out the fading amount of particles coming from the guy that signified the potion effect on him was moments from fading away. "Oh come on, are you seriously suggesting I''m only awake because of Al''s Invigor...," Kaira mumbled, his voice becoming increasingly slurred and his eyes heavy before he slumped forward and passed out on the floor. With a satisfied huff, Nagami crossed her arms at seeing that her timing was just right. But, as she basked in her satisfaction, Nagami noticed the two surviving assassins approaching, based on their footsteps and the tempo of the following door knocking. She rushed to the door, aggressively swinging it open and locking onto the assassin duo to confirm it was them. Turning slightly defensive, Nagami jumped in the way to fully block the door despite her small stature while throwing her arms up possessively. "Let it be known that he allowed you to live; don''t waste it, if you catch my drift," Nagami announced sternly to the assassin pair before immediately receiving a slap to the back of the head from Zalroth, which dealt a single point of DMG. "Knock it off with paraphrasing the shows you''ve watched, you dork," Zalroth complained as he lowered a hand to his hip. "Hey, that one was from a fan animation on Newreels," Nagami murmured meekly, left to rub the back of her head as the single point of DMG stung. Not phased by the scene before them or Nagami''s strangely ominous comment, Atella and Kelao bowed down, catching the three conscious people off guard. "We humbly give our greatest gratitude to you for sparing our lives, Sir Zalroth," Atella and Kelao announced in unison, their tones extremely professional and devoid of hesitation, leaving Zalroth mildly unsure if he actually deserved such gratitude. "Eh... isn''t that a bit of an overexagitation? All I did was move you two away from the curse thing so it didn''t pull you in," Zalroth muttered as he awkwardly rubbed the back of his head, dismissing any notion he deserved such praise from his prior opponents. "Even if that is the case, you saved our lives, so we have no room to be stingy," Kelao said as he reached into his pocket before offering a small artefact to Zalroth. With Nagami watching the artefact like a frenzied cat, Zalroth took the artefact and held it up to his eyes before doing what he always does when finding something new. The artefact is a pale blue stone-like earring connected to a golden metal sun by a silver chain to form an earring. [Activated Skill: Appraisal(Level: 3)] [Crescent Moon Company Earring][Artefact] -An artefact used by the employees of the Crescent Moon Company and those considered "Special Exceptions"- [Ranged Private Transmission] -Can only communicate with people that share the same Hexa frequency and Code from any range- "With this, you''ll be able to enlist the help of the Crescent Moon Company''s many services should you ever feel the need for it," Kelao explained, whilst Atella listed off some of them; ranging from their service of locating particular items/monsters/people for free, discounts at their stores, and obvious the assassination thing. "At least, it didn''t go the slave route," Zalroth murmured, grateful that he wasn''t put in a position to have to accept people as his slaves. Atella smirked under her mask, finding it amusing that Zalroth''s first concern was that she and Kelao were going to pledge themselves as his slaves. "Glad we can agree on that, nothing worse than being like that Shoenoda Empire," Atella remarked smugly, before lightly jabbing Kelao in the shoulder and remarking, "Look at that, you''re thought was dead on, Kelao. This guy definitely isn''t from that empire." "Anyway, if you have any questions you''d like to ask, we''ll answer them to the best of our knowledge," Kelao stated, trying to avoid any further derailing from the duo''s intended conversation with Zalroth. But, before any of the others could ask a question, Atella added to Kelao''s statement by saying, "And, before you ask, sir, we can''t divulge any personal info on who hired us; the same also applies to you and your allies if others ask about you." "But we can tell you what the request was, given you saved us," Kelao stated, before divulging the non-classified info. Kelao went on to explain how the Crescent Moon Company was hired to either capture or kill Reino''s granddaughter to send the guy a message for refusing to make them high-grade weapons, adding the client paid up front from what their captain said. This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. "And, as you witnessed, our companions were more than eager to do the latter of the two options for some reason," Kelao said with remorseful concern in his tone as he lowered his head. "You''re making it sound like that wasn''t always the case," Nowa remarked half-heartedly, more focused on placing her strangely-shaped hair-curlers to restrain her spikey hair. Kelao nodded apologetically before continuing, "Indeed, before we took on this particular mission, they all shared the same morals as the Company, being to only kill those who are a threat to society or the world as a whole. That was, until we went to meet our last client. The captain had a strange feeling about the client. So, he told the two of us to stay behind before he and the rest went to meet the client. After that, nothing seemed out of the ordinary until tonight when he revealed what our mission was." "Although their shift in demeanor should''ve made it obvious something was up. But, to think they''d been turned into cursed puppets without us catching on," Atella added shamefully. "Now I feel kind of bad for killing them," Zalroth uttered defeatedly, wondering if he hadn''t messed around and restrained the assassins, that Aoina might''ve been able to dispel the curses on them. "Don''t be, it comes with this kind of work, so we''re always ready to meet our end," Kelao stated calmly before following it up with, "And given how that kind of curse works, they''d probably be grateful you did." Having listened to the conversation, Nowa added, "So, that means you never saw what the client sent you after Reino and Fio looked like?" The two assassins regretfully nodded, mentioning the client had left before their companions had even left the meeting spot. After talking for a little longer, the assassin duo bidded the group a goodnight; before leaving, the duo got a request from Nagami to do the invisibility thing, which they did, much to the girl''s glee. The next day, Nagami pushed Zalroth in the chest with all her might. Although the push didn''t move him an inch, Zalroth pretended to be pushed back and fell onto the bed behind him, wearing more casual clothing he had received from Nekoura the other night. [a purple silk short-sleeved shirt with a black trim around its sleeves, light grey silk trousers with with three golden ring engravings around the bottom of its legs, black combat boots with metal rings around the cuffs[the rings are made of two halves; a steel piece and a silver piece that have been melded together], and a golden and copper bead bracelet that''s threaded with a copper string woven from twenty smaller ones that are tied together by a heart-shaped ruby] "No... fighting, you say?" Zalroth said, faintly surprised it took Nagami half a night to get around to saying something along those lines. "That''s right. We''re staying an extra day here, so either you have to spend it without fighting something or you have to participate in my hundred-layer attraction idea to recover," Nagami stated sternly, holding onto Zalroth''s shoulders as she tried to shake them but only ended up shaking herself. "I think he''d unironically have withdralls if he went a day without fighting something," Nowa remarked jokingly as she pulled her strangely shaped hair-curlers out of her head, causing each section of her hair to snap back to its original spikey state. "Why do you think she made it one of the options?" Zalroth asked rhetorically, leading the others to realise it was basically a trap to force Zalroth to do the actual thing she wants him to do. "Now, just hand over your combat equipment so me and the Craft-Squad can repair them," Nagami ordered with a reserved snicker behind her words, demandingly swiping her fingers up and down as she waited for Zalroth to hand them over. "Now try not to go and die by losing all your HP," Nagami added as she stored the clothing in her Inventory. Zalroth let out a loud, obnoxious scoff of amusement at the notion. "For the record, when non-monsters or tamed monsters reach zero HP from a non-deadly attack, they''re just knocked out," Zalroth uttered swiftly. Hopping to his feet, Zalroth wasted no time peering at the open glass window and Particle Warping outside. "Good to know," Nagami uttered with a tinge of sinister glee in her voice, likening it to that of a cat after their owner leaves the treat bag out on the kitchen counter. With Metsu vaulting out the window after Zalroth, Nowa defeatedly sighed as she asked, "Can you not be strangely sinister for one day, Nagami?" Outside, Zalroth and Metsu couldn''t go five steps without being bombarded and inundated with gratitude and pleasantries from the residents of Gronoville for saving them. Being the less verbally sound of the duo, Metsu left the duty of reciprocating the passersby''s words. "I take it Nagami asked you to follow me before I woke up today?" "Make sure Zalroth isn''t reckless, what Nagami told me," Metsu stated with determination, determined to ensure Zalroth has a somewhat uneventful day at all costs. But, behind her mask of responsibility, Metsu was secretly gunning for Zalroth to go after the golems he mentioned last night. "I don''t think dealing with a few golems would count as reckless, don''t you think?" Zalroth asked cheekily, to which Metsu nodded, mainly considering all the shadow and light points she''d get by tagging along with Zalroth into the mines. "I see you''ve learn nothing from yesterday, have you, Zalroth?" Kaze remarked as he crossed paths with the talking duo, "And you''re no better for silently encouraging him for your own means, Metsu." Metsu lightly blushed, embarrassed at being called out for her attempt to get more shadow/light points, and timidly whistled as she rocked back and forth on the spot. "And, I see you''ve changed your equipment," Zalroth remarked, diverting Kaze''s attention away from Metsu and onto himself. [Kaze is now wearing: pitch-black solidified slime sunglasses, an open green fur hoodie, a plain black shirt, faintly beige and white striped trousers, and black shoes] "Trust me, the only part of that last outfit I liked where the glasses," Kaze grumbled as he shifted said solidified slime glasses on his forehead with his hand. "And you didn''t have the heart to tell Nekoura that to her face?" Zalroth retorted, causing Kaze to shiver slightly as his blush matched that of Metsu. "She scary when her fashion sense doesn''t match the person''s taste," Metsu muttered, recalling the three-day straight bickering match between Nekoura and Nagami when they were designing the costumes for the school play. Averting his eyes and knocking down his sunglasses to cover them, Kaze begrudingly murmured, "I can''t deny that." Chapter 26: A Fair About Crafting "So, she wasn''t kidding about the attraction thing?" Zalroth stated to himself in surprise. Finding himself in the town''s largest plaza, the echoes of distinct clanging metal were heard throughout the area from the tall mine''s entrance, which was situated behind the plaza. No matter where he looked, the entire plaza was filled with the hustle and bustle of people setting up various booths; each containing all sorts of carnival attractions or custom constructions for people to test. "It does seem like the kind of thing the Craft-Squad would participate in," Kaze mentioned as he flicked his sunglasses back onto his forehead. Metsu quietly and mindlessly nodded her head, barely paying attention to the current conversation as she nibbled on some of her travel supply meat cubes. "Like you wouldn''t believe, the second Nagami mentioned it on those walkie-talkie devices the craft team was basically demanding Kaigorou set up a portal so they could participate," yai announced flamboyantly, stylishly sliding across the tiled road with her bare, gelatin feet before striking a pose to show off her new outfit. [Yai is wearing only a puffy, knee-low, dark purple, silk, hooded robe-like coat with a black fluffy inside; it also has five silver hoops around the hem of the coat, each socketed with a ruby] [Her entire body was now entirely made of dark grey gelatin-like slime] At the mention of Nagami''s long-range communication artefact, Zalroth lightly scoffed as something donned on him and remarked, "Did she really reverse engineer the mechanism behind that earring in half a night? Although that would explain why she took until morning to get on me about almost dying." "Hey! Less thinking and more admiring my clothing," Yai demanded, bouncing on the spot with great vigor and elasticity. Seeing the slime-turned girl''s enthusiasm, Zalroth reluctantly scratched his cheek with mental exhaustion and decided to check out the status of her coat. [Activated Skill: Appraisal(Level: 3)] [Robe of The Soveriegn(Very Rare)][Level: 385] [Intelligence: 4,855] [Defence: 2,075] [Hexa Restoration] -When Hexa is applied to the material, it and everything it''s a part of are restored- [Hexa Abundance] x5 -Increases the user''s Max Hexa by 300%- [Silver Veil] -Elemental RES increased by 40%- "You chose slime so you''d be allowed to wear little clothes," Metsu pointed out, causing Yai to lightly snicker. "It seems Nakamai has rubbed off on you," Zalroth grumbled, too disinterested in the conversation to attempt to argue with her, while Kaze whispered that Zalroth should be more careful with his wording. "Whatever are you saying? Are you implying I''m something?" Yai said teasingly while wiggling her gooey fingers at the unamused Metsu and Kaze. "A stripp-" Flinging herself at and tackling Metsu to the ground to silence her, Yai''s slime body shifted to a pink hue, her embarrassment palpable as she shouted in a whisper, "That word doesn''t mean what you think it means! I''d have preferred the thing Zalroth called Nakamai over that." As her brain raced, Yai jumped off of Metsu before dashing in front of Zalroth and asking, "I totally forgot to ask, you doing okay? Nagami was basically talking about your condition every other second over the walkie-talkie thing. But, you seem alright now." "I think she exaggerated my condition. I mean, she over-healed me by over three times before I even went to sleep," Zalroth explained, speaking with a hint of glee as he reminisced on not getting any sleep the night prior because a sleeping Nagami kept pressing her fist in his face. If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it. "I figured, but you never know, she''s usually pragmatic about that stuff," Yai remarked playfully while Metsu slowly rose upward from the ground like a PNG in a video, having summoned Nero underneath herself to carry her. "Yeah, well, you''d be like that too if you saw someone get hurt by something you''ve made," Zalroth remarked amusedly whilst peering around, slightly concerned Nero''s emergence would startle people. But, in opposition to Zalroth''s expectations, the residents of Gronoville paid the shadow copies'' existence no mind, some even commenting on how interesting he was and how they''d never seen an elemental creature in person before. "I suppose monsters being domesticated would be a common occurrence in this world, wouldn''t it?" Zalroth muttered in his mind as he watched Yai join Metsu on Nero''s back, marvelling at how cool the shadow copy was in person. "I see the Crafting Fair really has caught all of our saviours'' attention," the captain of the town guard remarked as he approached the congregation of otherworlders, no longer sporting his steel helmet he''d been wearing the night of the attack. [Naz, the Captain of the Town Guard, is a very tall, muscular human male in his early twenties; he has deep blond hair, blond eyes, and tanned skin] [Naz is wearing steel-plated armour] "Woah, your voice made me think you were at least fifty or something," Metsu said, the surprise of Naz''s youthful appearance slapping the weird speech habit out of her. Naz couldn''t help letting out a deep chuckle, amused that everyone says the same thing when they hadn''t seen his face before. "So I''m told." "You said this is the Crafting Fair?" Yai asked as she lounged atop Nero like the shadow copy was a giant stuffed toy, hugging him tightly to not let him escape. "Ah, yes, as I was saying. Once a month, the craftsmen of Gronoville set up a festival to show off their creations alongside the many more traditional festival games," Naz explained to the group before adding, "If you''re interested in partaking, it''ll be occuring a day later than usual, given the monster attack yesterday interupted last nights preparations." "Perhaps, she left me off easy, if all she asked me to do was break through a wall," Zalroth thought to himself with some gratitude that Nagami didn''t make him help the Craft-Squad. "It seems there''s one extra from yesterday," Zalroth muttered aloud, with Yai asking if all those golems in the mine weren''t supposed to be there. Mildly surprised at Zalroth''s statement, Naz found himself asking, "I suppose, Reino must have mentioned it while you were at his shop then?" "No, Zalroth can detect monsters," Metsu revealed. "I see, but you don''t need to worry about dealing with the issue of the random increase in golems on the first floor of the mine," Naz stated reassuringly, adding the town had already sent a quest to the adventurer''s guild branch in Kroutella yesterday. "Why''d you have to go and say that?" Yai grumbled disapointedly, as a strong woosh of wind washed past her and Metsu. "What ever might you mean, young lady?" Naz asked politely, wondering what he could''ve said that upset her. Yai silently gestured behind her to the mine entrance, where Zalroth was on his knees, distressed and despairing over the fact that he couldn''t enter the mines without an entry pass. In Reino''s testing ground backyard, Nagami had her arms crossed, an expression of annoyed expectations and reluctant excitement on her face as Zalroth and co stood before her. Knowing more than likely what Zalroth was here for, Nagami let out a sigh of resignation as she spoke, "Mine?" "Mine," Zalroth said without reservations. "Don''t you need a pass or something?" "Naz gave me a multi-pass." "Who?" "Captain of the town guard." "Ah, should have figured...," Nagami mouthed quietly, shaking her head as she disappointedly contemplated what to do. Thinking it over, but mostly about the lack of certain materials for the Crafting-Squad''s Crafting Fair project, Nagami reluctantly caved, reasoning that if Zalroth was going into the cave anyway, she could at least have him get materials for the group. "Fine... I''ll make you a pickaxe but only if you agree to avoid any fighting unless that monster has a material we need, deal?" Nagami offered, showing no signs of budging on her demands by even an inch. "Can I get it in pink?" Zalroth requested, making Nagami roll her eyes teasingly. "Duh," Nagami retorted, turning on her heel before trotting her way over to the newly constructed wooden shed in the corner of the Reino''s backyard. "Where''d that shed come from?" Zalroth asked as he watched Nagami enter it, followed by the sound of clanging metal from within banging through the air. "Mr Smith allowed Kaigorou to set up his portal in his backyard so the Craft-Squad could participate in the Crafting Fair," Yai explained proudly as she planted her fists on her hips, her body wobbling like jello from the weak impact. "And the shed?" "Neil made it, duh," Metsu uttered, mildly amused that Zalroth didn''t put together that the out-of-place wooden structure was Neil''s handywork.