《Re:<Insert Title> ;Living/Surviving (Barely) in this new world as a Cactus》 Prologue: The End ¡°Today was a great day. The convention was fun, met many new creators, got to meet myfavorite author, and I¡¯ve finally gotten the final part of his work. Today just couldn¡¯t get any better.¡± Just as I was saying this, the sound of some footsteps drew near. Paying no attention to it, I continued to venture towards the direction of the nearest subway, minding my own business thinking it was nothing. But as time passed and the footsteps grew eerily closer, my mind started to grow wary of it.Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author. The sounds became clearer as I took a more deserted path. The construction area was rather solitary during that time of the hour. With no one around, the steps slowly crept closer and closer, faster with each pace. Feeling a piercing gaze, paranoia struck as I stopped my tracks. Whether it was stupidity or bravery, I turned back to apprehend the stalker. With a quick turn right round corner, I crashed headfirst right into them, falling behind on the pavement as a result from the backlash. The next thing I knew, everything went black. Chapter 1- Of seeds and Cactuses.
[Surrounded by complete silence and darkness, the person slowly regains their consciousness, completely oblivious to their current situation.]
¡°Uggghhhh... why is it so dark? Agghh... What exactly happened...? what is this numb feeling in my head?¡± such thoughts rippled out, as I could barely even think. Taking a moment to rest myself, I tried to recollect the events which occurred. It was difficult but not impossible. ¡°As far as I remember, I was clearly walking from an event and a ...Aaaa....?!¡± A sudden realization occurred to me as memories came flooding into my mind. ¡°Ohhh nooooo!! I won''t be able to read the final part of my favorite novel!¡± my mind cried out. Trying to calm myself down I decided that it wasn¡¯t the time for such things. I needed to focus on my current situation, remembering the events was of the utmost priority right now. I tried remembering the events which unfolded. ¡°Let¡¯s try and think for a second. If I remember correctly along the way to the subway I felt a gaze, not like those which people usually receive from strangers, it was more, what were the words??.. ahh... intense¡± ¡°But, other than the intense gaze something else was also weird. Hearing footsteps is a regular thing and nothing to be paranoid about, but those specific footsteps continued to trail behind me even when I was near a less populated area. I was sure that I was being stalked by someone, and in the heat of the moment, whether it was the excitement or pure recklessness, I rushed back to apprehend the stalker. Next thing I knew I blacked out¡±. Frustrated I tried to scream but my voice wouldn¡¯t come out, only a thought. ¡°Anyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!¡± Being in such a situation I thought of blaming myself for my weaknesses, but with each passing moment even thinking about it was troublesome. So I decided to think about what was going on with me. I was able to sum up the situation, but the bigger question was, what was happening to me right now? ¡°Why was I conscious at the moment? Was I lucid dreaming? or have I fallen into a comatose? or worse dead¡±. Such thoughts lingered in my mind as I was speculating over my situation. I was thinking hard trying to imagine, but nothing came to fruition, so lucid dreaming was not the case. Being in this state, I thought my family was worried about my situation, if I even had one. My memories were very deranged and only a few vivid things could be remembered. Frustrated I wailed, ¡°Anyaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!¡± Taking a moment to rest myself I decided to take it one step at a time. ¡°Ok now if I remember correctly There was nothing more I could do except for wait.
[3 hours passes by.]
I was glad that I was able to think but the situation was really boring and I couldn¡¯t sleep to hasten the time. ¡°WHY CAN¡¯T I SLEEP!!! WHY CAN¡¯T I *CRACK* SLE-...¡± My thoughts were interrupted by a sound in this deafening silence. ¡°Wait what was that sound, it sounded like a *crack* there it is again...hmm?? Why does it sound like that? Wait are the doctors operating on my skull!?! God Bless!! I¡¯m not dead!!! Well, modern medicine sure has come a long way to think that they would be able to, wait it isn¡¯t the time to think about that!!... *crack*... I¡¯m scared now... there wasn¡¯t supposed to be that many cracking sounds were there...*crack* I guess they are really going at it huh?!¡±The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there. ¡°No, I need to be more positive I guess it is part of the trea-*crack*-tment so I shouldn¡¯t be so scared... what could go wrong I mean I still have my consciousness *crack* and as long as I can think I¡¯m ok so I guess it¡¯s *crack* it¡¯s okay for me to *crack*..........*crack* STOP MESSING WITH MY SKULL!!!!!......*crack* F*ck!!¡± I had nothing better to do, so I decided to count to see the time difference between each sound. ¡°10798, 10799, 10800!! Ok, approximately 3 hours since the operation and the last crack... my counting isn¡¯t really paced properly. Well, I¡¯m not dead yet so...Good job!! I guess.¡± Though the darkness and silence started to creep up to me, and with the only source of recreation gone, I was getting a bit scared. But the only thing I could think of was that the operation was successful and I only had to wait until I regained consciousness. Until suddenly, *crack* That sound crept back! Thoughts began to rush my mind, ¡°Noooooo!!!! Why?!! No more skull cracking, please!!!! I promise I won¡¯t do anything wrong, I won¡¯t ask for anything so please don¡¯t jinx me!! ......Phew... *crack*...Anyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!¡± [Many many hours passed] I was feeling mentally tired, the deafening silence, the consuming darkness, the solitude, no feeling of any sense. I felt sick. I also couldn¡¯t feel most of my body. Until a few moments later I felt a warm ray on my chest. There was no light. Only a warm feeling.¡°It feels nice ... I feel slee...¡± I finally dozed off. *Bzzzttzz ztttzt tzzztt* *crackle*
<$y$?3m Downgrade complete>
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<$y$?3m D0wnloaD>
<¡±English¡± Language added to databank>
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[Days pass as the person was stuck in darkness and silence. They were only able to feel the warmth and cold when the days passed. Such isolation could be dangerous to someone''s mental health, so in order to amuse them self, they decided to make stories when they were awake, in order to hold on to their last shred of sanity.]
¡°I-I... I can¡¯t Fredrick!!!! Lady Josephine would never agree to this relation¡±, wailed Gerald as he looked away in utter sadness. ¡°Lady Josephine doesn¡¯t need to know. You¡¯re the only one apart from my friend William who knows about this secret. You know I can¡¯t tell Josephine, for I would lose-¡°, answered Fredrick before he was stopped by Josephine who suddenly appeared, ¡°Lose what Fredrick, your engagement to me? Your WEALTH?, Your LAND? Or perhaps, your STATUS!!!¡± Suddenly a white-bordered square with a transparent greyish pattern appeared. It had some words written in front of it. ¡°AHHHHHHH !", I shrieked surprised by its sudden appearance. Just then a bright light streamed into my eyes, the sound of running water and birds chirping in the distant grew. It took a few moments for my eyes to grow accustomed to the light, the snow surrounding me glistened a pure white and the waterfall in the distant roared with pride. The trees growing in the distant, danced with the wind and the clouds floated lazily in the ever-expanding sky. I wanted to cry but tears wouldn¡¯t come. I was alive. The only words I could think of at the moment were- ¡°I''m aliv... Wait am I a cactus!!!???¡± Chapter 2- Early game sucks. Reincarnation, the romance that many dreams of, Adventures in an entire new world, Powers and cheats beyond your wildest dreams, fame and wealth beyond recognition, Beautiful and handsome love interest that would make others look pale in comparison, Friendship and love blooming in the midst of epic battles, Coordinating with friends and even enemies during dire situations and surviving, Learning under a renowned master, strategizing epic raids and fighting mythical and legendary class beasts, Getting your first legendary class weapon, feeling of strength and hope during your darkest hours, and becoming that overpowered badass that makes everyone shits their pants. ............. ........ .... Well, f*ck that stuff. Hours had passed since I had awakened, and I was surprised that I had reincarnated. I wanted to clap for myself for reincarnating, then came to the realization that I didn¡¯t have hands. Rather than hands I couldn¡¯t even move. The reason was obvious to me after thoroughly investigating my self again, just to make sure. It was indeed true that I had been reborn as a cactus which was apparently growing in the <Information updated> Snow..?? The same screen popped up interrupting me in between, with the race updated from unknown to cactus. I understood that the which I am using doesn¡¯t have much information of this world and relies on my own knowledge. I stood there lazily when all of a sudden- <Enemy detected in the immediate vicinity> the messages popped up, I stood there motionless in utter confusion. The stream of messages continued to pop up without any break. <Biting resistance increased> <Biting resistance leveled up to 1> <(Biting resistance):- resistance to biting and incisions by making cells more adhesive to each other causing it harder for parts to be cut or torn off Lvl 1:- 0.001% resistance to all damage /0.1% resistance to specific damage (biting or similar type) Current level:- 1 Next level: 10/100 (Exp)> The things were appearing too fast and were too sudden. I made two and two of the situation and looked at the biting resistance and wondered if it was any good. Suffice to say- ...*munch*... -It wasn¡¯t. I was panicking. I was wondering what was biting me. I assumed it must have been a small insect or a worm. My fears grew worse as I started to wonder in what ways was it trying to consume me. I didn¡¯t have leaves for the worm to eat, only thorns and the round body. I came to the sudden realization that it was trying to bore inside of me. ¡° .... no...no.....no nonononononnonononononno!!!!¡°, that was all that was running across my mind. *munch*... Whatever the worm was doing I couldn¡¯t feel anything other than a weird tickle. I wondered if it had anything to do with being a plant. Some time passed and I wondered if it was really important for me to survive, I could just let nature take its course. If I had reincarnated once maybe I could reincarnate again into something that could move at least. The seemingly endless possibilities interested me. But then i thought, ¡°But, wait a minute, there is no guarantee that I will be reborn again.... wait. There is no guarantee that I will not be reborn as a plant again. Well, I guess being a plant won¡¯t be that bad, no worries just laying basking in the sun. It¡¯ll be great to become any plant, except for broccoli. Broccolis are nasty.*munch* But then again, insects and herbivores are still a problem. Well, I guess better to see the status screen again. I don¡¯t have any other option right now.¡± I looked at the status and my HP had gone down by 1 point. I read it and of all the things Skill points seem to be the only one that seemed useful in that current situation, though I had already seen it but didn¡¯t know how to use them. <Skill points: these points are basic experience points gained which are used to increase capabilities such as strength, intelligence, etc or unlock special evolution branches> The word''s evolution greatly interested me and I asked it if I could evolve into something that could move? <Checking evolution line information> <no information available yet> I was once again let down, but I didn¡¯t give up hope. <skill acquired> <pierce resistance: lvl 1> <skill aquired><regeneration: lvl 1> The bug seemed to have pierced the outer wall and stopped. I looked up the Regen hoping that it would be able to recover me before the bug wakes up. <Regeneration (Passive): -the Natural ability of the Plant kingdom to regenerate lost health, organ and even all parts by absorbing nutrients, water and sunlight.>If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. Lvl 1:-Regeneration speed 1/day > The regen seemed absolutely weak. My life was going to depend on how I was going to use my skill points. The Status section appeared. <Status section> I had the basic idea of what they all meant but I had to make sure, so I asked if there was any information on the stats. <Descriptive status of attributes:->
Strength:- The factor which decides the amount of force the creature can apply to the things around it
Extra effects
Current points 1
Dexterity ?
Effects ?
Current points: ?
Intelligence The factor which decides the level of knowledge and sophistication one holds and decides the amount of experience and skill points one can gain.
Effects Sentience, Memory pool, Imagination, Thinking, Emotions.
Current points: 800
Perception The factor which decides the user¡¯s ability to perceive things around it ... the higher the level the greater the amount of surrounding information can be processed
Effects Sight, smell, hearing, taste, and sense
Current points: 100
Constitution The factor which decides the overall regenerative and defensive abilities of the user
Effects Regeneration (Minor)
Current points: 10
Agility ?
Effects ?
Current points: ?
Wisdom The factor which determines the common sense, Problem-solving and overall experience of the user
<Dexterity and agility cannot be viewed until points have been expended on it.> The information provided was incomplete and there was no stat which showed any info on movement. So, for now, my goal was clear. 1st I needed movement. 2nd I needed to know where the insect was. 3rd I needed something to dig it out if it was inside. First I needed information on the stats. Both of the stats were related to movement and I needed answers. I placed one point in both agility and dexterity. <Order confirmed ... Points allotted ...new Descriptive addition:
Agility The factor which decides the speed with which the body or limbs of the creature is moved
Effects Motion (microscopic level)
Current points: 1
Dexterity The factor which decides the amount of control the person has over their body
Effects
Current points: 1
Looking at the stats, both of them were necessary for movement I decided to take a gamble. I placed 4 points in both Agility and dexterity. [Learned] [Agility Effects:- Motion (small). Current Points:- 5] [Dexterity Effects:- Spike movement Current Points:- 5] I felt a weird sensation rushing through my small body. A few moments passed and I was able to move my thorns and my body only a little bit. I began searching for the insect everywhere by feeling with my skin with my spikes and found it lying on top of one of the spikes. I had to be careful, I moved multiple spikes slowly underneath it. [The caterpillar toppled down, slides and rolls over frozen rocks falling into the river] ¡°Well, the situation turned out to be rather favorable for me,¡± I thought, but suddenly a strong sensation took over me leaving me terribly exhausted. <Gained 3 skill points> <Caution Energy below 1%> ¡°Why do I-I f-eel so sleeeepy...¡± The after effects of moving was too exhausting and with that, I fell into a deep slumber. zZZzzzz... .... .... ... .... ... .. [The Sound of a carriage comes from a distance and comes to a pause near the sleeping cactus. The door opens and 2 figures come out of the carriage. The girl looks at the cactus and points at it. ¡°H-Hey l-look isn¡¯t that what we were l-looking for?¡±, Her voice was trembling due to the cold as she spoke to the guy. The lad jumped over to the cactus and kneeled near it, looking at it, he spoke, ¡°Seems to be the correct plant, let''s dig it out for Master Elijah.¡± to which the girl hastily replied, ¡°S-seito c-c-could you hurry. I-I-It''s fa-freezing here and I-I don''t have earth or snow affinity¡±. The guy sighed,¡± Yes, Lady Aria¡±. The lad pushed the snow away and proceeded to dig out the cactus. As he does that, his hands were covered in a faint yellowish glow. *scrrr gurgurgurrarara* The sounds went calm a little while later as he spoke, ¡°I¡¯m done¡±. The girl was shivering inside the carriage, and as he entered she proceeds to rant,¡± Finally, let''s go. H-hurry up and also close the door. Of all the p-places it had to be near a river and a waterfall. Well, at least elder brother will have some good material for research.¡± the lad unenthusiastically replied, ¡°Yes, Lady Aria.¡± as he proceeded to shut the door behind him.] Chapter 3- A ride from 0 to a 180. I lied in deep slumber unaware of the current situation I was in. The sounds of the horses running and the wheels of the carriage continued to move across the desolate tundra. Suddenly one of the wheels hit a pebble making the carriage jump a little. ¡°WAAA wait, who? what?!?¡± my thoughts ran bizarre for a second after suddenly waking up. I was confused a bit as to why the ground was shaking and whether it was night time. I wondered if I was growing near a road to hear the sounds of carriages. But sounds didn¡¯t cease so I was confused. I just assumed it was night time and continued to think about how I was going to train. I couldn¡¯t really move that much and if I did I would go to sleep due to the exhaustion. That thing before with the caterpillar had earned me some skill points, but my Stamina ran out really fast. To top it off my spikes moved slower than a turtle. But, It seemed like I had gotten some good defenses against bugs. I began to wonder how I lived my life in the other world. And with that, I thought, ¡°All right!! Tomorrow I''m gonna train hard and-¡° Suddenly I was interrupted by a voice. ¡°Mistress, I don¡¯t think boxing up the cactus was a good idea. We¡¯ve got at least two days of journey ahead of us¡±, the sound was that of a guy, it had a worried tone to it, to which a female voice replied, ¡°well, I don¡¯t want the soil to dirty the inside of the carriage¡±. The guy replied, ¡°It may die if it doesn¡¯t get sunlight¡±. Thoughts started running wild inside my mind, ¡°Wait, I¡¯m boxed up? (O_O '') Am I hearing people talking? Just when I thought I could gather my bearings, this happens. Oh, God. Why art thou so cruel?¡± The girl unwillingly replied, ¡°All right then, I think I could open the lid for now.¡± The lid opened revealing 2 people. A young girl who seemed to be in her early teens, she had light blue colored hair with a darker shade of blue for eyes. The person looked cheerful but was pouting at the moment. The other person was a guy in mid-teens. He had silver colored hair and purple eyes. He had a weird blank look on his face and spoke with no enthusiasm like he had no care in the world. The cactus was placed in a small white bowl with blue marks inside a small wooden box. The guy replied in a Sarcastic manner, ¡°Mistress is intelligent, Master Yukiyo doesn¡¯t give mistress enough credit *bam* ow...¡± The girl punched the guy on the elbow, thought the guy seemed to be acting to be hurt. The girl angrily replied, ¡±Shut up, I¡¯ve had it with your snarky remarks. I can only see that idiot brother of mine took you in just to irritate me.¡± The guy had a sharp gaze directed at the girl for a split second though the girl didn¡¯t seem to notice. ¡°Well, Mistress Aria is very scary. So I think I am to be used as a means to keep your anger in check.¡± He said. ¡°Listen here, if you don¡¯t want me to slug you stop being an asshole.¡± She explained. ¡°Mistress, please do not use vulgar words, master Yukiyo will get angry at me.¡±, he replied in a worried tone. ¡°Geez, why did brother Elijah even send me with you here.¡±, she sighed. ¡°Mistress, if I may, I think you insisted on coming.¡± He said ¡°Well that was because... i... thought...¡± the girl was stammering a bit as she directed her gaze outside, her cheeks were flushed, and she seemed embarrassed,¡± Mmmmm... just shut up!!¡± She shouted, to which he replied, ¡°But I wasn¡¯t even speaki-¡° but was interrupted by her, as she said, ¡°Shut up Seito! Still, I don¡¯t see why Brother Elijah wanted this cactus¡± trying to change the subject. Seito replied,¡± Haven¡¯t you read the description in the books mistress Aria, we have been traveling for a few days¡±. She answered, ¡±Ummm... I don¡¯t really like reading books and the scenery always takes my attention so it¡¯s hard for me to study¡¯ while looking away from his gaze. Seito snarkily replied, ¡°well you should at least see what it is. Also, I don¡¯t know about the scenery, you have been complaining about the cold for a few days now and have often insulted the scenery. So I guess it takes your attention in some way.¡±Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation. As he said that, Seito took out a large book from a bag. The book was substantially thick, with a leather cover. It had brown colored pages with an assortment of different plant drawings with a lot of writing. He opened the book changing the pages and stops at a page and hands out the book to Aria. For me, it was an interesting turn of events as I could finally gain some more knowledge on my species. ¡°Hmm... Snow Dracaena Hylocerus undatus commonly referred to as snow dragon cactus.... they dwell at the base of snowy ranges of Regalia, and are native to the region. They are really hard to come by as they get eaten by caterpillars and other bugs due to the sweetness of their body... though they depend on these bugs for delivering their seeds during the season of spring,¡± She said. I was rather shocked by the sudden discovery. She continued, ¡°They usually live short lives and get hunted down by many other creatures looking to eat it... fewer than 1000 out of 100,000,000 survive to adulthood in 3 years whose seeds are than spread by other creatures the thorns of the cactus which are found on the caterpillar pupas is actually used as a spice by the locals. Out of the 100 billions of seeds only a 1% reach proper growing locations...... they produce fruits which look like it¡¯s covered with scales resembling a dragon¡¯s skin the reason due to who the name its fruit is called the dragon fruit.... hmm there is the description... so we got a fruit plant... the rarity seems to be .... costs around 50 silvers... so I guess around 16 gold coins should be the base price for a fresh cactus¡± The shock became greater when she finished, It wasn¡¯t a good shock. Even though I was rare and a valuable commodity, after hearing that I was a sweet round fruit like stuff and my spikes were a sort of spice, the only thing I could picture myself as a spicy watermelon. I wanted to cry so bad. Even the A.I. was unintentionally mocking me. I was caught by these two so I began to think that I was going to be a slave. Rather than a slave, I was just a material. Even Slaves have some sort of rights, I was just an object. Being a plant is Hard. ¡±Hmm, even though brother Elijah is so rich, he could have bought this cactus at home. I can¡¯t understand the whims of the prince sometimes. But he is still way kinder than Yukiyo.¡± She said. The guy replied, ¡±I think Master Yukiyo is also kind.¡± Aria shocked at that statement replied, ¡±HUUH?! Kind!! How? I can¡¯t imagine that bloodthirsty demon to be kind to anyone. Everyone at the castle hates him, except for a few people including Brother Elijah, his maid, you and a few people.¡± With that, he came closer to Aria and spoke in a softer voice, ¡±You see, Mistress. Make sure not to tell anyone I told you about this, Master Yukiyo will have my head for this.¡± The girl gleefully replied, ¡±Ohhhh, a secret about that demonic Being, seems interesting.¡± Seito continued, ¡±You see, a few weeks back when I came back after an errand I heard someone. I crept slowly towards the door and I saw Master Playing with some puppies with the maid.¡± Aria shocked at this replied, ¡±Are you sure he wasn¡¯t ripping them to pieces and drinking their blood¡±. Seito a little taken aback replied, ¡°Mistress you sure had a vivid imagination. ¡°Hmmm, so he also has a soft spot, that monst-¡°She murmured but was interrupted as the carriage suddenly stopped. ¡°Woah¡± The girl, with the sudden shift in the movement of the carriage moved towards the guy, he also came forward trying to get a hold of the girl, then suddenly they head butt each other. Seems like sudden romantic kissing scenes only happen in fiction. The girl rubbing her forehead shouted, ¡±Hey Driver what happened? Why did we-¡° A loud rugged voice suddenly interrupts her, ¡±Get outta da carriage!¡± Through the frost covered glass, it was hard to make out who was there. They sounded like thugs and I could only make out about 10 people from where I was. Suffice to say there were many more. They were wearing some cloth to cover their face. They were equipped with swords, spears, axes, and bows. Though the jet black clothes seemed quite overboard, and with the number of belts on their clothing they could be easily mistaken for an edgy teen going overboard with cosplay. The thug shouted in an angry tone, ¡±Now Dear missus an¡¯ mate care to come out here or do we ¡®ave to drag ya out here.¡± The situation seemed really bad for these two. Chapter 4- A ride from 180 to a 360. The number of bandits outside was definitely nothing to scoff at. Even so, Aria wasn¡¯t phased in the slightest bit, rather she had an angry expression on her face. She shouted,¡± What did you just say?¡± as she went to grab the door handle. Seito grabbed her hand stopping her as he retorted, ¡°Mistress, what are you doing?¡± She pulled her hand back removing Seito¡¯s hand in the process. She replied, ¡°Oh I just thought that we need to teach these ill-mannered people some manners.¡± and Seito sarcastically replied,¡± Mistress, as much as I can smell the Hypocrisy in that statement I think you shouldn¡¯t.¡± She shouted, ¡±Shut up Seito, Be a coward and sit tight. As a high ranking noble, I have a duty to perform.¡± Seito shouted,¡± Mistress, it¡¯s not-¡° Suddenly she rushed at the door with her leg, slammed it open with her palm facing the thugs and the other hand holding her wrist. She had a serious look on her face. Her hands were covered with a faint glow, and suddenly a sort of glow seemed to rush towards her dancing in circles around her elbow with all of it concentrating at the end of her palm. The girl shouted, ¡°¡± I couldn¡¯t believe what was happening in front of my eyes. Even though I had lost a part of my memories, I knew that magic didn¡¯t exist. But here it was in front of me. The concentrated gust of wind directed towards the group was shot at a tremendous speed that the distortion in the air could be seen with the naked eyes. It pushed forward like a sharp drill but it was all for naught as suddenly a large man stopped the attack with one hand completely negating the attack. He shouted, ¡°Oi Oi the missus ¡®as quite the temper eh, Not to mention normal folks normally don¡¯t even ¡®ave that level of magic. Perhaps you lot belong to the nobility or sumthin?¡± The other thug replied, ¡°Now what do we do. I don wanna beat up some kids. Wanna ask the boss?¡± ¡°Damn it, I thought they were normal thugs,¡± Aria mumbled. Seito was behind Aria began fiddling with his bag. He whispered, ¡°Mistress, don¡¯t move... I am gonna use this pointer crystal to tell the Masters that we are in trouble.¡± She replied, ¡±What? No don¡¯t call brother Elijah, I don¡¯t want to trouble him.¡± Looking at our direction the thug shouted,¡± what are ya two younguns whispering about.¡± Seito took out a red crystal which began glowing and whispered, ¡±With a situation like this I also hope master Elijah comes, if master Yukiyo ever heard about this, I¡¯m gonna get in trouble for letting you unseal the protection he placed on the carriage.¡± Aria replied, ¡°You mean this is my fault!?!¡± Seito whispered, ¡°Mistress now is not the time¡± I felt sad for the guy to take care of such an arrogant prick. Personally, I wanted the girl to get a shock or something to make her come to her senses about her situation but still, it¡¯s not like I could do anything about this scenario. Then a man dressed in a similar fashion to the other thugs came out into the open from the shadows of the dark woods. He was wearing a red scarf to distinguish himself from others. He shouted, ¡°All right, let''s get the little shit nuggets outta the carriage! Bob! Hudson! Drag em out!¡± He had an air of authority around him, suffice to say he was the leader of the group. 2 of the thugs started walking towards us, and with each step, Aria¡¯s haughty composure was beginning to crumble. The situation was getting a little too dark for my taste. As the thugs crept closer Seito suddenly shouted, ¡°Hey! Stay back we¡¯ll come out.¡± To which the thugs casually replied, ¡°okay .. less work for us.¡± Aria had a concerned look on her face.¡±Seito why?¡± she questioned. Seito dropped out of the carriage and answered, ¡°Mistress I¡¯ve finished calling Master and with the situation as is now it¡¯s better to not show resistance, for now, Help should be coming soon.¡± While explaining he gave his hand to her helping her to get out, he continued, ¡°In this situation, we can''t afford to get them near us and have you separated from me. We have to stall for time, even a few seconds can be precious and in case things go south I can try and escape with you, or let you escape if we get a chance. If you understand then nod.¡± Aria gave a small nod. The situation seemed a little too much for her and now she was much timider than I had anticipated. The girl was still holding the box with me in her hands. I think that was a bad move on her part, considering I was an important object for them and also a rare object.You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version. The boss noticed the box and pointed at us asking, ¡°Hey... what¡¯s in dat box?!?¡± Surprised by the sudden inquiry she started stammering, ¡°H-H-Huh? W-What?¡± The Boss gazed at the box and suddenly appeared right in front of the Aria seizing the box, the same moment Seito grabbed her jumping a few meters back. It happened too fast for me to process what happened. It seemed to be the same for Aria who was looking at her hands. And when she looked at my direction she wailed, ¡°NOOOO!!!! THATS FOR ONII-CHAAAN!!¡± ¡°Onii?? Chan? Wait... What?¡± Confused thoughts rambled in my mind. The boss lifted me out of the box, ¡°Oh? a snow dragon cactus... interesting... sells for quite a lot of coin on the black market. But, I swear I¡¯ve seen one of these growing somewhere¡± he said. ¡°Sir, we don¡¯t want any trouble can you please just let us go? You can have all the valuables we have, they are inside the carriage.¡± Seito asked. Aria, still fidgeting against Seito who was holding her back, shouted, ¡°No!! He has the item!!¡± The boss¡¯ face was masked so it wasn¡¯t easy to see his expression but the tone of his voice seemed a bit happy, ¡°You see, I am not a very generous man... but I feel rather generous today... how about I keep this cactus and keep the girl ... you can go and get the ransom for the girl, say about 1000 gold... we come out rich with this bargain and you two keep your lives¡± The seemingly jolly voice spitting out such vile words terrified Aria, she said, ¡°S-seito, no p-please don¡¯t leave me.¡± Tears started rolling down from her eyes as she hid behind Seito. Seito continuing to face towards the thugs, replied, ¡°Don¡¯t worry I¡¯m not going to leave you alone.¡± The Boss laughed as he said, ¡°Oh boo hoo. The widdle girly is scared. Ok so looks like we got to Knock you both out and sell you... the girl may sell for 10 gold since she is wind attribute... and for the right customer maybe 20 gold. The boy.. around 5 gold or more depending on the affinity of magic I guess. Men now!!¡± While the boss was giving his command, Seito was muttering something. He spread out his arms while shouting The ground rose and covered both the girl and boy in a round shell and the same time a large number of fireballs and arrows came hitting the shell with full force but it stood hard with no scratches. I didn¡¯t expect that guy to be such a dark horse. The boss smiled as he said, ¡°Oh ho? I already knew something about the boy was off and look at that, he might even sell for 30 gold. Earth affinity, and 3rd stage at that.¡± I didn¡¯t really understand the terms which the boss said but he seemed impressed. The boss then pointed his hand towards the direction of the sphere. ¡°Well, time to Fire it up. Spirit of flames, with this right hand, burn down those who oppose me and turn them to ashes. ¡± A fireball of the same size as the previous ones shot, flew straight towards the sphere but this time it tore down the earth wall like a man hammering an egg, the boy suffered the major part of the attack but was still standing, He was holding his elbows in a cross which were burned while blocking the majority of the damage. The girl was a little singed but was okay. It was clear that the man was on a whole another level. The boss smiled while looking at them, ¡°Well, look at that, you two survived, and that''s a good thing. Can¡¯t have my precious slaves turned to ashes¡± Seito fell down on one knee as tears started rolling from the girl''s eyes. ¡°Sorry Mistress, looks like I won''t make it, I''ve used up most of my mana for blocking that attack.¡± The girl sobbing replied, ¡°N-no se- se-to, it''s a-all m-y fault. If only I didn''t o-open the door¡± Seito smiled as he said, ¡°Aria, make sure to run when I give you the signal.¡± Aria continued to cry as she gave a small nod. The boss enthralled by them shouted, ¡°THAT BRILLIANT. ENTERTAIN ME MORE. DON''T WORRY I WON''T KILL YOU. AFTER ALL, YOU ARE GONNA EARN ME A LOT OF GOLD!!! DON''T FEEL SAD IT''S JUST BUSINESS.¡± ¡°Oi, what kind of sadist are you?¡± I thought. As the boss was laughing he was interrupted by a voice, ¡°Well, I''d let you continue but those little shits belong to me. Too bad, you¡¯re not gonna gain a single coin. But how about helping me with my business, plant food gets pretty expensive you know.¡± Surprised by the sudden reply, he shouted, ¡°Wait? Who said that? Show yourself!!¡± I also looked around trying to find the person. As I looked up I saw a person dressed in a black suit, on top of the carriage. He was wearing white gloves and had crimson coloured long hair. One of his hands was in his pocket while the other pointing towards the bandits. He was on top of the carriage standing and looking down on everyone. He had a calm and composed face but it showed hints of silent anger. ¡°Oh, Mai Gawd Is he the main character?¡± thoughts ran across my mind. The boss shouted, ¡°Could you kindly introduce yourself?¡± Suddenly some roots shot up from the ground below and dragged a few people below the earth. Scared the rest started shooting him with fire and ice magic. But he didn¡¯t even bother blocking any of them. The size of the spells grew larger as it seemed they were using more powerful spells but to no avail. None of them worked. The boy slowly stood up being supported by the girl on his shoulders. She slowly carried him behind the carriage. The man said, ¡±I don¡¯t really do this a lot but since you are dying anyway let¡¯s call it a service.¡± The boss had a serious look in his eyes. The man continued ¡°I¡¯m the slayer of a thousand demons, Conqueror of countries, Possessor of the titles Paladin, Grand Red Mage, Druid, Dragon Slayer and the 2nd prince, known and feared throughout the lands as The Crimson Phantom, Yukiyo Valeria. It¡¯s a pleasure to meet you.¡± The level cap seemed to have been raised once more. Chapter 5- A fight to behold (part 1) The man dressed in black stood atop the carriage as he gazed in our direction. Faced with a grim situation, the leader of the bandits stood his ground chanting some words with a serious look in his eyes. I was in awe of the sudden development. Even with such a situation, the leader kept his cool while fighting such a monstrous opponent. The leader spoke While the leader started was chanting the men around the leader were getting swiped left and right while trying to protect him. Some of the men started to rush towards his direction while dodging all the roots in between, most of them though got caught by the roots. The leader continued to chant unfazed by the scene. <..Become a shield that may even defend against heaven¡¯s fury..> Of the possible 20, only 6 of the men were around the leader of which 2 came by avoiding the roots. All of them stood their ground forming a circle around the leader, protecting him from the roots using various magic spell and skillful usage of weapons. The leader raised his hands as magic seals started to emerge below him. The 6 men nodded in agreement as they took out a piece of parchment which summoned a platform below them. <...Grant Protection to me and my allies from certain death...> ¡°Leader! Watch out!!¡± a man shouted when one of the roots slipped past him. The root shot fast and pierced the leader''s chest just as the man cut it in between. The leader was able to stop it in between by grasping it but it injured him a bit. He pulled out the root and burned it using a fire spell. Reassured the men continued to fend off the onslaught from the roots. Even though I thought that the old man was an edgy sadistic scum or something, the level of calmness and concentration he kept while fighting was someone way above his level, that, I could respect. <...Let it not be our last breath I beseech you...* Just then, Yukiyo started chanting some words as he slowly drew his hands upwards pointing his index finger towards the sky. The tip of the finger started to glow a deep red, his expression, a faint smile. The leader had a serious look on his face and even an inexperienced person like me could sense the danger that was ahead of us even with the 6 people guarding us. The leader quickly placing his palm on the ground and a huge magic circle appeared. But Yukiyo was already pointing his spell towards our direction. A serious look in his eyes, a faint smile on his lips, and like a hunter, he was patiently waiting for his spell to finish up as he looked down on the thugs before him. The leader then raised his hand as he shouted. <7th rank Guardian class spell...> *cough* The leader spurted out some blood. The previous injuries seemed to have caused a backlash at the most critical moment. The others looked worried but the leader stood tall as he gave them the signal and together they shouted. <<> A huge spell circle was formed on all sides of the thugs, but Yukiyo just waited while the crimson light grew brighter. Until suddenly a small spell circle appears in front of his fingers. I was in awe of the giant spell circle before me but my thoughts were cut short by a sudden voice. The voice was faint and sudden but it had an astoundingly strong presence. Statues started to emerge from below the ground, they looked like knights clad in armour carrying a shield, but it was of no concern to the prince as he fired his shots. It happened too fast, the leader and 3 of the men were shot, I couldn¡¯t even see how it happened, only the aftereffects. The statues continued to rise up quickly and covered the people on all sides, even top, and bottom. The area was dark but one of the uninjured men took out a crystal which gave off a blue colored light. The bandits seem to be in a dire situation, the leader was severely injured and 3 of them were shot. And with the number of spells and fighting they had to do to protect the leader, they were in a really bad spot. *boom!! baam!! boom!!*Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author. The Sounds of explosions continued on the wall, as Yukiyo shouted, ¡°Hey!! What happened don¡¯t tell me that¡¯s all you got!!¡± And I thought the situation before was a bad spot. The others were looking at the leader with a grave look, it seemed they were feeling hopeless, the leader coughed and spurted out some blood, he spoke in grim but proud tone, ¡±Boys, it¡¯s been a pleasure working with you... *cough*...but today doesn''t seem to be the best of days... *cough*¡± The large thug said in a worried tone, ¡°Boss dun talk... yer hurt.¡± The explosion sounds were growing and some cracks appeared on the statues. I didn¡¯t know why, but even though they were so evil, I don''t think I wanted to see them dying. I kinda felt like rooting for these guys. The boss continued, ¡°Well... *cough* looks like its time up for me boys. It¡¯s just sad that I couldn¡¯t save all of you, and I don¡¯t know what happened to the rest of them. But it seems that even saving one of you will be near impossible now.¡± The others started to act less agitated or scared, just to make their leader feel even a little bit reassured. Another man said, ¡°boss!! dun worry.. we were glad ta be of service of da 5th leader of the Grey Edge!!¡± ¡°Wait, hold on, How does that name make any sense?? I get the Edge part but Grey ??? They are all dressed in Black!¡± weird thoughts ran across my mind. The boss started to smile. He spoke in a jovial tone, ¡°I am very lucky *cough* to have you idiots as my comrades. Too bad Bob''s not here to make fun of this situation¡± The others started to laugh. ¡°Leader, I know that you were a bad guy and all but I feel a little respect for you. To be able to have these group of men to follow you. You must have done something right. Fight on!!¡± I thought as I cheered for him. ¡°Well, boys... I¡¯m out of mana and you guys seem to be the same... hah *cough cough*¡± The boss spoke while laughing as the explosions got louder and the statues behind him cracked a bit. He continued, ¡±well I didn¡¯t want to harm our precious commodity but *cough* seems like we need to do this. As far as I know, a small amount of the flesh of a snow dragon cactus can provide mana replenishment to the 500% and increase your abilities by 10 times for 5 minutes if consumed raw.¡± Such words worried me and I didn¡¯t like the idea. ¡°But Boss, the backlash is incredibly risky and if you consume too much you will die, and you may still die after eating it and we don¡¯t know how much to consume.¡± ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s a bad idea don¡¯t eat me.¡± I thought as I understood that I¡¯m an extremely powerful poisonous medicinal plant, more worried for myself rather than them now. ¡°Yes, and that¡¯s why I¡¯m gonna eat it *cough* alone. I''m the only one here who can stall his for even a few seconds and maybe I could even take him down. Just take the others and run away¡± and as he said that the leader took out a knife and cut off the top of my head revealing a transparent fleshy inside. Always at the wrong timings. Anyway, 25% of my hp was gone just like that. Then the man proceeded to eat a tiny part of the cap he cut off. He then placed the cap on the ground. As much as I hated it, I understood the situation. And surprisingly it didn¡¯t hurt as much as I had expected. Rather it felt like I had a hair cut or something. The boss stood up as the wound on his chest started closing up, ¡°All right men I wish you luc-¡° Suddenly the rest of the men took the cap from the floor and each of them ate a little bit of the flesh. ¡°I''m gonna remember the day, 7 men dressed in black ate me.¡± And then and there I immediately regretted that joke. The thug said in a jovial voice, ¡°boss you really thought we would leave you alone. We still haven¡¯t gotten a good punch on that guy for our comrades and for commander Hudson¡± The boss started to shake and grew some tears at the corner of his eyes. Somehow I felt a familiar feeling when the boss cried, was it the joy of someone having your back? ¡°You idiots!!!¡± The boss shouted, ¡°I¡¯ve never been happier to have you shitheads as my comrades!! Now Listen we have got 1 minute before the effects begin!!¡± ¡°Hey, Boss are you crying,¡± one of the men said as he poked fun at him to which the boss sharply replied, ¡°You got a problem with that¡± while wiping his tears. He was smiling. I stood at the floor while the others were devising a plan, I couldn¡¯t hear one word of it. The boss then shouted, ¡°Let''s meet again in Hell!!... Now let''s go kick some Royal ass!!!¡± They clapped each other¡¯s hands as they started walking, the boss picked me up. The statues fell down and the Prince on top of the carriage looked a little surprise, But the same expression quickly changed to a smile, the Girl was crying holding the injured boy behind the carriage. The boss and the others were covered with blue colored energy with their veins popping out. Their faces were completely covered so one couldn¡¯t make out who was what, But they seemed to be in their best form right now. Their injuries vanished and victory seemed to be in reach. The prince on the other hand just clapped his hands as he spoke, ¡°Oh great, I thought you Bandits only cared about yourself and would run away. Looks like I was a little bit wrong.¡± The large thug shouted, ¡°shut yer¡¯ trap.. we dun want yer pity.¡± ¡°Antonio!¡± The boss shouted in between stopping him and he continued, ¡°Well, I can¡¯t blame ya... Ok, Crimson whatever. We fight for real this time¡± The boss took out two small daggers the size of eating knives and the rest also took out their weapons...all of them were small daggers, roughly the same size. ¡°Seriously-¡° I thought but I was interrupted by a sound. *swosh* The daggers grew longer with different colors. They resembled fire, water, wind.. basically, they looked like elemental blades. The Fire one was glowing yellow hot, I didn''t seem to have any flames but it was really bright and hot. The water blade was moving rapidly along the edge like a chainsaw. and various element''s showed different characteristics. ¡°Okay if I survive and when I grow up and am able to move. I¡¯m getting one of those elemental blades.¡± The Prince, on the other hand, just stood there waiting. Then suddenly the boss put me in his pocket readying himself for the battle , ¡±...eyyy I have every right to see what¡¯s happening... this is not fair!!.. I can only hear things now... ¡° ( ¨s¡ã¡õ¡ã)¨s ©ß©¥©¥©ß Chapter 6- A fight to behold (part 2) I just wanted to go on a trip to the outside world with Brother Elijah and to get away from the castle for a bit, why was this happening. If only I wasn''t such an idiot and listened Seito, we wouldn''t have to had to deal with such a situation. The more time passed the more he seemed to be getting worse. I was getting agitated, I thought ¡°I don''t care if I get scolded or punished for this, please. Get us out of this Nightmare.¡± But, what is wrong with those bandits, it¡¯s completely different from the stories father used to tell me. I thought bandits were weak and stupid and only a few of them knew magic and even among those only few had the capability of reaching 2nd tier, compared to the nobles who learn 2nd tier by the age of 7 they are only worth fodder. The large bandit was able to block my 2nd tier spell easily and even destroy Seito¡¯s 3rd tier earth barrier, which survived the barrage of fireballs of 2nd tier was easily destroyed by their leader who used the same 2nd tier spell. And now even against brother Yukiyo, who had killed off armies in seconds from the stories I¡¯ve heard, they actually casted a 7th tier spell blocking his original spell, . "Father, Bandits are scary." And, as one Statue broke another statue kept emerging one after another. I knew brother Yukiyo was strong but he had already broken through 30 statues and it didn''t seem to be stopping. As I glanced at him, his face had a serious look and his gaze cut deep. He was scary... But he was the only one we could depend on right now. As I looked down, Seito regained his consciousness. He was a bit weak but he seemed fine. In a soft voice he said, ¡° Mistress, H-how long was I out for.¡± At that moment I was just happy that he was all right and I just broke into a cry apologizing to him. ¡°I- Immm Sowwwyyy Seh-Seeitohhh!!!!¡± I wailed, but my apology was cut short. ¡°Shhhh, Not now Aria, Mommy is doing important work right now.¡± ¡°h- *sniff* -Huh?¡± Mixed feelings emerged as Brother Yukiyo spoke in a weird manner. Seito unaffected by it, he spoke, ¡±I''m sorry Master Yukiyo. It¡¯s my fault, I should have explained things better. If anyone shoul-¡° Brother Swung his left hand sideways as a gesture abruptly stopping Seito, there was a brief moment of silence with only the sound of explosions coming from him shooting at the bandits. ¡°Seito it¡¯s not your fault... this dumb sister of mine is really a handful. She is irritating, speaks in a vulgar way, doesn''t even study and always causes trouble for others. But I''m surprised she was unharmed by the time I arrived, all I can say is. Thank you for your service Seito Ewinder. We can discuss details later, rest easy now I''m here for you two.¡± His usual demeanor returned as he spoke again. The battle was still on but his words calmed me down as tears flowed, I apologized to him saying, ¡°I-I''m Sorryy Nii-san. I-I will b-be *hic* a g-guud-¡° ¡°Be on your guard. Those bastards seem to be coming. This is gonna be tricky¡± The wall of Stone knights crumbled as 7 figures emerged from the cloud of snow and dust. With the leader holding a half cut cactus. It seemed that those thugs had eaten the cactus. Lady Aria seemed to be clearly not taking it well. She had tear¡¯s in her eyes while repeating the words "onii-chan¡¯s cactus". What''s Onii-chan though? She seems to be in quite a shock to be speaking in a different language. The leader and the other thugs seemed to be uninjured. I didn''t know what happened while I was out, but they seem to be dangerous enough to be uninjured from Master. I glanced at Master who had a weird expression on his face. He seems to be happy about something. They exchanged a few words, but it was short. I''m not one to judge. But master seems rather not himself, or maybe this is his true self. The thugs looked determined. This was not going to be as easy as I thought. I hope my feelings are wrong. One of the thugs jump towards Master recklessly, but he was shot down by a crimson arrow in an instant but not before he threw both the swords at him, which he dodged easily, the thug fell down making a hole in a pile of snow and didn¡¯t move. Suddenly, using the first thug as a distraction the two thugs jumped him from behind. They were grabbed by the roots which burst from the ground, but they also threw their swords at master, which he dodged easily. It was weird how they did the same attack twice, but it didn''t work. Were they desperate? The thugs were dragged underground by the roots and only ones left were the boss and his 3 henchmen. The 3 henchmen were running around Master in circles while dodging the roots. As I was looking at the ones running around, I suddenly noticed that man who was shot first was becoming mud. ¡°Was that a clone? Wait, where is the leader?¡± I thought, they clearly weren¡¯t your average bandits. They had a plan and I didn¡¯t like it one bit. Master¡¯s expression was also serious. He also seemed to have noticed. Suddenly the man came out of Master¡¯s shadow and grabbed him from behind. The 6 swords that were thrown were starting to glow and a magic circle and seals started to appear forming a 2 triangle star. He was trying to move but the man turned into a golden coloured stone and he couldn¡¯t get out. All 6 of the thugs came and jumped at Master but they were pierced by the roots. All of them seemed real and with their last bit of strength, they threw their swords around his feet in a circle. I had a really bad feeling about that, Aria was still in shock from these events, and my body is not listening to me. ¡°MISTRESS!!¡± I shouted. She suddenly snapped out of confusion. ¡°Shoot at one of the swords!¡± I said. She was scared and reluctant but we didn¡¯t have time for it. I had to short precise and clear to reach her, ¡±SHOOT AT THE GODDAMN SWORD!!!¡± Aria hastily got up and stretched both hands in front of her and shouted The final man was standing outside the spell circle. Luckily, me and Aria were standing behind the carriage even though the others noticed us, we were still out of his site and he was more concerned with Master. He spoke in a grim tone, ¡±Finally, it¡¯s complete, High 7th tier destruction spell, ¡± Suddenly the clouds covering the sky became darker. 12 black shades appeared from the shadows holding a sword each. Master stood there held down by the golden statue, he wasn¡¯t moving, rather he didn¡¯t seem to even try to move. Aria finally finished charging up and shot quick and fast, the man couldn¡¯t react fast enough to prevent it and by the time he knew, the drill already reached one of the blades breaking the spell. The shades vanished before they could begin attacking. Even though she was scared the Mistress certainly progressed a lot. The girl burst into tears when the man glared at her. He looked furious. He then looked at Master, but then he looked surprised, he shot Master with a spell which pierced through. The man was surprised, both of us. He ran to the golden statue to see what had happened. Then suddenly Master appeared from the ground below piercing the man with his spear. He got stuck at the jagged ends of the spear so the shaft of the spear didn¡¯t pierce through. He lifted him, swung him around and threw into a nearby tree. Before he could fall down Master rushed him again piercing him in the chest.Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation. He said, ¡°You¡¯re surprisingly good at planning, Mr. Leader. You even forced me to move and use a weapon. If you hadn¡¯t been a bandit you could have had a high position in the military.¡± The man was in a bad state as he was bleeding profusely from his chest. He spoke while coughing, ¡°dammit.. *cough*¡± As the golden stone statue crumbled in the distant, he continued, ¡±All of my men are dead and I couldn¡¯t even land a hit.¡± Something started to move on the ground behind Master. ¡°Do not worry, after all, it was impossible for you lot from the [Master look out!!] beginni-¡° He was suddenly pierced by another man who burst from the ground below. One of the six men Master had pierced changed into mud. The man who was thought to be the leader was laughing. Aria couldn''t handle looking at his invincible monstrous brother being stabbed. She dropped to her knees as tears started to stream from her eyes but her voice wouldn''t come out. Whether it was out of fear or shock, she couldn''t move. I couldn¡¯t move but I knew such small attacks couldn¡¯t kill him. The man mocking master laughed, as he said, ¡°Haaaah....*cough* you were saying something.¡± Then he fainted. The other man who was piercing Master said, ¡±Good job... now you can rest.¡± Master jumped forward throwing away the man while turning towards the man while holding the dagger. He was visibly furious and he shouted, ¡°YOU ASSHOLE!! DO YOU KNOW HOW LONG SCARS TAK-¡° Realizing that he lost his composure he calmed himself down, and spoke, ¡°*Ahem* Sorry about that. You have earned my respect. Being able to strategize like that. Even if it was a fluke, kindly introduce yourself!!!¡± He said it while pulling the dagger out. The leader looked a little surprised. ¡°Benjamin Skitzor, Leader of these men. It¡¯s a pleasure to have such worthy opponent¡± Master smiled as he said, ¡°Benjamin... you are the first man to pierce me in 3 years. I didn''t think I would be seen in a sorry state until I was old and was stabbed in the back by one of my kids but here we are.¡± Benjamin looked irritated, he spoke, ¡±What the hell is wrong with you? Stop speaking in those weird ways. I am here for a fight to the death, I¡¯m having a moment right now. Don¡¯t ruin it.¡± ¡°I don''t get it?¡±, spoke master in a puzzled manner. Yukiyo started spinning around his spear extremely fast, so fast that lightning was being generated striking nearby rocks. The air blew at high speeds around Master, he then stopped his spear while slamming the base to the ground. the tip was glowing with a Crimson glow with red lightning being emitted from it. The ground was scorched black. He then smiled as he said, ¡±But you''re totally getting off this right?¡± The leader chuckled a bit, as he said, ¡±Let''s just do it¡± Surprised, Master said, ¡°Let¡¯s Quite in a hurry eh? Well, for you I am gifting you death with my 7th strongest attack¡± ¡°I couldn¡¯t be happier...¡± the man took out his blades which powered up with magic, as he stood in a fighting position ¡° *cough* lets do this!!¡± The tension was really high, I couldn''t hear a sound except for some sparks flying from master''s spear and the howling wind in the distant. Their eyes were focused on one another looking for even a brief moment of opening. Suddenly they both dashed at each other and the match was decided in an instant. A large explosion of black fire and red lightning scorched the earth. A large cloud of dust erupted as they clashed. A wall of roots emerged all round them to block the shock wave of their clash. But the roots flew in all directions getting destroyed by the shockwave. A few of them flew into the carriage destroying it but we were saved by it. Now, only a pile of torn up roots and a cloud of dust stood before us. The dust cloud slowly cleared up with the silhouette of my master standing tall with his shoulders pierced by the daggers. He was looking down. And when the dust finally settled, I could see the leader lying on the ground with his left chest and arm, completely destroyed. His mask was gone and his hood had slipped down. Master had a surprised look on his face. While the man on the floor was smiling. ¡°Benjamin, even though I was a little careless at first, to harm me 3 times in a row. You have proved that it wasn¡¯t a fluke, I''m sorry that I couldn''t use a stronger skill to give more respect to you¡± The leader laughed as he said,¡±*cough* Say Crimson Phantom, you are a human right?¡± Master surprised by the question, questioned, ¡°Yes, What''s your point?¡± To which, he replied, ¡°Nothing much *cough* Just that I know your secret.¡± Master looked like he was surprised. The leader continued ¡°Don¡¯t worry I''m not gonna tell anyone your secret, it''s a promise from one slayer to another¡± The man breathed his last breath. Master spoke in a sad tone, ¡°Idiot, what''s the point of promises when you''re already dead¡± The hole opened up beside him as the roots pushed the body into the hole. I was able to make out what was happening through the sound but I was unable to see everything. I slipped out of the leader¡¯s pocket when he pierced Yukiyo with both his sword and his clothes got torn off by the spear. I didn¡¯t expected the leader to be this strong, Leader Benjamin... I''ll never forget about you... The girl slowly walked towards Yukiyo looking worried. She was supporting Seito on her shoulders. She was a still crying and could hardly speak. ¡°Ni-Nii-san *hic* aa- a-re *sniff* you o-okay?¡± she stuttered. He approached them and sighed, ¡°Yeah, I still don¡¯t get it. Except for these two blades in me... I¡¯m pretty good! Seito is probably in a worse state than me¡± The man came walking towards me and picked me up. He looked a little worried. ¡°hmmm... so you people were here for this. Too bad they did quite a number on this. And why did you come here for this little cactus.¡± He continued. The girl had calmed down a little, she mumbled, ¡°Im sorry... I promise not to do anything like that again...*sniff* ... Brother Elijah was sending out Seito so I decided to go with him.¡± ¡°Hmm... I''m gonna have to have a good chat with Eliz on this one. Aria and Seito''s innocence was on the line this time.¡± he teased. Aria and Seito didn¡¯t get it but I sure as hell got it. And like that he threw me into a hole. ¡°Ah, don''t worry about the cactus he was already on the verge of death. He''ll become food for the insects¡± He reassured the others. As I fall underground those words. The last words I heard from him. ¡°Me already on the verge of death... that man he threw me into this pit... like trash. It¡¯s so deep.¡± Thoughts were running in my mind. *crash* <25% hp left> ¡°You always appeared at bad timings... huh.¡± I didn¡¯t knew where I was. I reached the bottom and seems like a dead body cushioned my fall. It was rather dark around but I could only see two lights. One from above, and one emitted from the pocket of the dead body. *slosh slosh* I heard something, but I couldn¡¯t see in the darkness clearly. *squish slosh* The sounds are getting more louder and more disgusting... I saw a larva moving on top of the man... then came another ... and another... and another.. and another... and 10 of them gathered near the pocket towards the light. They started chewing on the cloth tugging on it. The crystal became visible and fell down the floor. There I watched from the top of a corpse, thousands of eggs, hundreds of larva, many giant insects and many huge queens laying eggs. ¡°I-I-I am inside an insect ...hill? society?..farm??... I don''t know what kind of species are here...¡± I thought I knew fear. ¡°I shouldn''t have put my skill point. I should have just waited for the caterpillar to eat me so that I wouldn¡¯t be appealing to those kids.¡± There I stood in a vast sea of mindless enemies before me, who could eat me anytime. I was completely at their mercy. Maybe this world is too hard for me. To top it off I didn¡¯t have any reason to live in the first place. I don¡¯t have any relations, no family members. I wasn¡¯t tied to this world by anything, nothing. ¡°No.¡± I had lost my memories but I shall not lose myself. I didn¡¯t have a goal. I just accepted life the moment I was reborn and took it for granted. If I wanted I could have just ended it before but why. Why did I tried to survive. ¡°Cause I could¡± But I don¡¯t even know if I can survive this. ¡°I can¡¯t give up that easily.¡± But, then what, I don¡¯t even have a reason to live. ¡°I¡¯ll come to it when it happens.¡± I don¡¯t even have a goal. ¡°I¡¯ll make one¡± I don¡¯t have memories to even think of one. ¡°Then I¡¯ll make it my goal¡± What then. ¡°I¡¯ll find another¡± Like what. ¡°That man who threw me away like garbage, into a pit full of ants, to die. Like, I had no worth. Like, I was an eyesore.¡± I can remember his face. ¡°I will get my revenge on him.¡± I will grow stronger. ¡°I will become greater than him.¡± I will kill him. ¡°I will murder him¡± I will survive > ¡°BRING IT ON.¡± Chapter 7- Despair and a new light When someone is truly alone in this world, no family, no relations, no friends, no enemies, they know nothing can save them except for themselves. Various emotions can be felt coursing through their lonesome self. Anger, despair, sadness, hopelessness, etc. When such things happen the path the person chooses is integral to their future. They could give up fighting, or force the situation to turn into their favor. You could go with the flow or rage against the tides. But, that is for them to decide... After all, you¡¯ve decided the difficulty in every game, but how would you fare in a game with a set difficulty. As far as I could see, the hole seemed to have dug into an underground cave, and broken into an insect nest. The place seemed to be crawling with larvae with only the lifeless body of the leader between them and me. I couldn''t move, but I had gained a drastic number of skill points from the death of the others who had eaten a part of me. The confusion was that it only showed that I had gained stats from killing 6 of the 7 people. Judging by that I came to the conclusion that skill points seemed to only be gained when someone gives the final blow, in this case, my skill did the trick. I didn¡¯t know how to feel about this sort of development. I mean Yukiyo injured them, a lot, but I was the one who dealt the final blow. Except for the leader who was killed by Yukiyo. ... I decided to focus on the current situation and ignore it, ¡°Ai, Show me my stats.¡± "Well, 6003 skill points huh.¡± I needed to increase my stats. As I looked at my stat screen, I gazed at my intelligence stat. 800 points seemed to be my average intelligence points I received or gained when I was a human. ¡°So, by that logic, maybe If I could gain a higher than average intelligence then I should be able to become smarter increasing my chances for surviving¡± I thought. ¡°First of all, let''s get all my stats beyond 1000.¡± With high enough stats it would have been easy enough to crush those bugs with ease. ¡°Ai place 1000 skill points on each stat.¡± ¡°Hmmm, let''s see...¡± As I looked at the status screen I was bewildered by the results. Confused I let out an internal scream, ¡°Anyaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!! Where did all my stat point''s go!! Give me an explanation Ai!!!¡± After 100 points 10 stat point''s are required to boost stat point''s by 1 After 1000 points 100 stat point''s are required to boost stat points by 1> The stat point system was totally unfair. ¡°Isn''t this suppose to be a reincarnation type stuff. Where are my cheats!!¡± I thought in confusion. ¡°If it''s like that, the Wisdom equation doesn''t make any sense, a person with 10000 skill point''s would have a higher wisdom stat than a person who has placed the skill points into his base stat.¡± ¡°Ai, give me an answer.¡±
The wisdom stat - appealing. Amount of change the wisdom stat brought, trivial. Change brought about by the other stats, tremendous. Wisdom important, not as important as other stats. Immediate stat allocation suggested.
I had no clue but Ai¡¯s pop-up had weird broken words. ¡°Anyways I get it now. But-¡° before I finished a huge number of pop-ups flooded me.
Constitution stat increased by 10 times.
Hp has been restored
status has been removed
Constitution stat broke 100 points
Energy is being used more efficiently.
An extension has been created.
Strength stat broke 100 points.
The body can move easier now and won''t drain energy faster.
Dexterity stat broke 100 points.
Extensions can be used as limbs and have much better control.
Thorns can be moved and extended much better
Agility stat broke 100 points.
The body can move freely with the use of limbs.
Acceleration has been granted.
Perception stat broke 100 points.
<180-degree vision> has been granted access.
has been granted.
Intelligence stat broke 800 points.This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.
Mp stat has been granted. (+10 base Mp)
1st spell circle has been granted.
Basic magic creation has been granted.
¡°-wha Anyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!!!!!¡± Suprised by the sudden large pop-ups in a grim scenario I thought, ¡°Seriously, you have really bad timing.¡±
Do not understand. Seek answers.
¡°Whatever we can do this later. Wait do I have 2 small hands? Wait am I able to move now? These spikes feel weird.¡±I thought. After moving my small fleshy round hands a bit I proceeded to read the pop-ups. The situation was bad, but all was not lost. I focused on one of my hands and a spike extended poking the dead guy in the nose, and like a reflex I quickly retracted it. It somehow felt natural and easy to do. I thought of it like an instinct every creature has in this world, after all, all living things learn how to breathe, eat, walk naturally. The moment somehow felt like a Deja-vu. Deciding to think about surviving I wondered, ¡°Let''s try it on the small worm now.¡± I raised one of my small extensions and pointed it towards the larva. The spikes poke the Larva which topples down, falling on the ground while rolling into a ball. It seemed like I had a rather long reach but with my current size I had difficulty gauging how long it was. I pointed my extensions towards one of the larva and poked it with full force. The spikes went right through the bug piercing it in many areas. A transparent liquid oozed out of the punctured areas. ¡°ewwwwwwww...¡± Thoughts naturally came in my head. The spikes retracted and the larva stopped moving. ¡°Ok seemed like these larvas are not much of a threat-¡± my thoughts were cut short as suddenly the larger adult bugs started coming towards the dead body. They looked like beetles and were small compared to the me but were really large in number. Each one was 1/4th the size of me. Their sheer numbers moving in the cold blue light emitted by the crystal made the me tremble in fear. I needed a plan and fast. The smell of blood was attracting more and more of them. If I attacked them, I was gonna get swarmed by all of them. But if I did nothing the bugs would eventually get to me. I was in a pickle. No I was beyond that, I was in a pickle thrown in a frying pan being cooked in flamb¨¦ style which was gonna be thrown in the trash. I could try and escape through the hole using my spikes but I run the risk of dropping into the swarm. So in the brief moment I could only think of 3 ways of surviving. -Fight till I kill all the bugs. Sadly I still didn¡¯t know how strong the adult bugs are. -Pretend I¡¯m a plant and hope that the insects wouldn¡¯t eat me. But I don¡¯t think insects are pure carnivores in this cold area where the food is scarce. Even Yukiyo dropped me into the hold for feeding purposes. -Reach for the hole at the top running the risk of dropping into the swarm. But once I drop it¡¯s over. [The Bugs start to climb the body.] ¡°Screw it. If I am I gonna die, I might as well die trying.¡± I thought as I directed both of my hands towards the opening and extended all the spikes, but they were not even close to reaching the rock wall. ¡°Extend goddammit!!!!¡± Trying to push myself I tried to reach the exit but it was not possible. Forcing the spikes into the nearest outer wall I could reach I dug my spikes into the hard wall. ¡°Not enough!!!¡± I desperately tried to push all the spikes into the wall. Meanwhile, the insects were getting closer. ¡°Not Enough!! It¡¯s not gonna work¡± I retracted all the spikes on his body and directed it towards the wall, I couldn¡¯t take any chances I had to make sure and reach it in one go. While on the other hand the insects were getting too close. Concentrating on my entire body I directed the spikes towards the insects. ¡°I haven¡¯t used this skill yet but right now I can only bet on it. !!!¡± The spikes shot hard into the wall jamming themselves into the wall and pushed the insects away from me off the corpse. ¡°Now!!!¡± I retracted the spikes pulling me toward the wall. My hands were stuck in the wall but I had gained a few more minutes. Suddenly the insects started shaking frantically down below. They started to move the back of their carapace giving rise to yellowish transparent wings. A few of them started fluttering their wings and jumped about. Then they started to fly towards me. They seemed to be trying to fly but were not really good at it, but with each passing moment they were getting closer and closer with every flight. ¡°Shit shit shit shit! Do I free my spikes from the wall to counter-attack or do I just try to run? Shit my hands are stuck in the wall. Shit shit shit shit!!!!!!¡± I forcefully pulled out the spikes of one of my hands from the wall while digging the wall with the spikes of my back with which I was able to fix myself on the wall. And when I finally pulled out my other hand, I pointed both of them towards the insects. ¡°Come and GET ME!!!!¡± The spikes start to extend rapidly towards the insects as I used to boost them. A few got hit in the eyes, but it didn''t pierce through most of them due to their thick carapace. Instead, they just lost their balance a little. ¡°Shit!!!!!¡± I knew It was near impossible for me to pierce the insects with my current strength. I focused the spikes up towards a higher wall trying to dig into it. Frantic from all the insects swarming below I forgot to retract my back spikes before pulling. As soon as I did, the wall began to topple down towards the ground. A huge amount of soil and snow fell over me and onto the bugs down below. The wall fell burying the entire nest. My spikes broke loose from the wall and I fell onto a pile of soil and snow. The exit was totally blocked out. Not even a tiny ray of light entered the cave. There was only one source of light which came from the buried soil with a few larvae squirming around. A sudden sound was heard which put the ones above on guard. ¡°Master what do you think?¡± Seito asked to which Yukiyo replied, ¡±Hmmm, looks like the ground must have gotten a little loose after the fight.¡± ¡°Huh? What just-?¡± Confused as to what had happened I recollected my thoughts and to move towards the bluish source of light. I wasn''t any good at it but I was fine for now. I flicked off all the nearby larvae and tried to dig out the crystal using my spikes, which was a futile effort. I looked around for a long time and finally found a flat rock, which was hard to find in a dark area. Using that it was easier to dig out the crystal. I needed to get out of there but didn¡¯t knew how. If I had been a bit bigger or had better digging capability I could have dug out but the spikes were useless for that. After the blue crystal was dug out it exposed the area with a bright blue light. The area had a number of small holes and large holes. It seemed like the insects used the holes to move around the area. ¡°Ok, at least I have a proper vision of this area. The night vision isn''t that good but it''s all I have.¡± I decided to looked around and found a small pouch covered in blood. Instead of complaining, I decided I didn¡¯t have time to waste and proceeded to rummage through it, ¡°At least it''s something. Let''s see if it has any useful stuff.¡± While looking through it, I found a few items. A knife, a small vial containing a sort of liquid and a journal soaked in blood. The vial seems to be ok, the knife was a little bloody but rubbing some snow would get the blood off quite easily. But the journal was of no use, I couldn''t get it to open. I could have gotten some information out of it. I threw the journal and when it landed hard on the ground, it opened, revealing a page which was still untouched by blood. ¡°Oh... All according to plan!!! Please let it be some useful information and not some stupid story.¡±
An Unorthodox procedure, but good results. Noted
¡°I don''t need Sass from you of all people.¡±
Do not understand. Seek answers.
¡°Never mind.¡± I then proceeded to read the journal. Chapter 8-Benjamins Journal "ok, Let''s read... Wait... I didn''t know the fantasy world used the same language as my old world." I thought as somehow, I was able to understand the writing like it was English.
Correction. The translation has been completed but the user was inactive during the time. Hence unable to inform. As such, the local language can be read, written, understood as well as spoken with fluency.
"... You are pretty convenient, aren''t you?" I took the crystal near the journal and read it over the blue colored light.
Journal entry 42 Autumn, Year 1233, Well, this is Benji here again. Uncle keeps telling me that I should go and learn from the leader so I did with my friends. I think he was getting a little stressed about the baby. So today we went and the leader seems to be really happy, he taught us that there are these particles called magiscules in this world. The particles are basically used to do magic. Normally you could use any magic based on your bloodline and experiences. Like if your father can use fire and your mother can use water, you can learn to use all the elements but your highest affinity would be for the main elements of your parents. Everyone in this world can use some amount of magic based on the amount of magicscules inside them and around them. It is easier to use magic inside you rather than around you, but it depends on your race. Eg, Humans can use magic within themselves, fairies can use magic around them, whiles elves can use magic inside them and around them. The 4th leader said that larger the body, larger the amount of magiscules one can store. So Monstrous creatures like Dragons and Large demons can use magic. Though, the ability to use magic in the air can be easier with the assistance with the use of a contract with a spirit like fairies. But in order to combat powerful creatures, spells were developed. Though the origins remain unknown, Spells increases the efficiency of the usage of magiscules, like if a person can make one fireball using raw magiscules, he can create that same level of fireball two times or more depending on the efficiency level. It¡¯s like you could use an arrow to fight someone but using a bow would increase its damaging output by a lot. But the more amount of magiscules you have the harder it is to use spells due to harder control of the flow of magiscules. It could take a smaller creature 1 month to learn a 1st tier spell while a year for a human to learn and so on. They can be activated by themselves by using chants. Chants are basically the same as trying to focus your mind to create an image and with enough training, you could work without a chant. Higher tier spells above 3rd grade use Magic circles. There is an indefinite number of tiers of spells that can be achieved but, the 4th leader said that currently there are only 12 tiers that have been achieved with each having a higher efficiency than the other. Due to this stronger spells can be cast even if you have a lower magiscule count in your body. Eg, A raw weak fireball which vanishes after a meter, with the help of a 1st tier spell can change it into a mediocre fireball and depending on the type of adjustment the spell did. It can increase the range drastically with a slightly higher power level or a bigger fireball with a slight increase in range. With a 2nd tier spell, it increased the range and damage further. Another thing the leader said is that you could do the same things as magic does by using a spell, while you can''t do the same things spells do with just magic without a large amount of magiscules. Like, a human casting a fireball and, an ogre casting a fireball would be drastically different. A normal human without any blood related special abilities could potentially burn a shrub to ashes. But an equally normal ogre could burn a tree to ashes, which could only be achieved if a human could use a 2nd tier spell. Another thing the leader says is that depending on the emotions that you currently have it is easier to learn a certain type of spells. Like if you really hate someone it is easier to learn an attack based spell instead of a defense based, and if you want to protect someone from harm vice versa. Though if you feel ambitious you could learn both attack and defense based spells but since you are concentrating on yourself the defense spell you learn would be like a self-boost rather than to protect someone depending on what you are learning. Spells cannot be made up on the fly and it takes time and dedication to master them, but if you have mastered the basics perfectly you could try and change the properties of your spell midbattle like decreasing the range to increase the damage, But that is extremely hard to change as rewriting spells will be difficult midbattle. For example, your 1st tier spell has a higher range but you want to increase damage, it can be done but during the time you take to alter the property, you could be defeated by someone. Oh and master also mentioned that you can have 1 spell circle for each element and each tier above 3rd tier that you can use but the properties remain the same based on the most recent spell you have learned. Like if you know 3 tier 4 spells based on one element, you can only use the most recently used spell until you change the properties of the spell by rewriting it. You can use magiscules to rewrite it using your finger as a guide, those who have mastered it can rewrite it using their head, and some genius level people like the 1st leader could rewrite it as a natural instinct. Also, you cannot use a lower tier or higher tier spell circle for another tier spell. You could increase the number of magic circles you can have for a tier. But it is extremely difficult as increasing the circle by even a single count would require 10 pure magiscule crystals, around the size of a pebble, with the cost increased by 10 times for each circle. Also, they increase your magiscule count. These crystals could be found in caves with a high magiscule count. These crystals are often used in the creation of magical items and people would generally just not increase their spell circle count above 3 as it would seem really inefficient for themselves. Instead, selling them or using them to create an item would seem much better for them. The crystal is a with each one costing 16 silvers each. So definitely people would want to sell them as they are valuable commodity used in creating magical weapons, item, armor, etc. They seem to replenish whenever there is an extremely large amount of magiscule released in an area, like 2 monsters battle in an area like a dragon fighting a phoenix. The particles gather underground and form small to large scale crystals depending on the amount used.This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience. I can¡¯t wait to learn more from the leader tomorrow. I wanna hear more about the legend of the first leader of the Grey edge, some say he is still living. I don¡¯t think so cause, 4th leader said his 10th tier spell was passed down from leader to leader of the Grey Edge and said that after killing a 100,000 people alone in a war, the 1st received this skill, and 4th leader looks like a middle-aged man and 3rd leader looks so old even I could kick him down, not that I would. I wonder if I could become a leader someday though. Yeah right. I¡¯m not even that strong, the only strong suit I have is that I like reading, maybe I¡¯ll become an accountant for the clan someday, I mean reading books and sleeping doesn''t sound all that bad. Well, I better stop writing now uncle is calling me saying that the baby was being born today. Apparently, they are calling the baby Antoniette? Antonowa? Something like that. They are naming him after his grandmother. I wonder if it is a boy or a girl? Fin. P.S. It''s a boy.
I stopped reading halfway through the pages, I mean It had a lot of good info on magic but, I didn''t exactly feel happy about reading a dead man''s journal. Also, I couldn''t read properly in the light. "Ai, Could you summarise the important details explained?"
Converting into a summary...
-Magic Basics 101
Magiscules-
>There is magiscule in the world which allows magic and spells.
>Every living creature has some amount of magiscule.
>Larger creatures have more. Smaller creatures have less.
>Your blood and race determine the affinity towards elements, though all elements can be used.
>Though some races can use magiscules around them.
Spells-
>Can be activated using chants or spell circles. Experienced one''s do not need to chant.
>They act as a mechanics to increase the efficiency of use of magiscules.
>The lower the magiscule count the easier it is to use spells. The reason being higher magiscule count is harder to control.
>The spells consist of 12 tiers. With a drastic increase in efficiency with each level.
>Larger creatures need not learn spells due to their raw strength but can learn them.
>Based on your emotions it is easier to learn different types of spells-
Feeling of Anger Attack based magic.
Feeling of Protecting Defense based magic
Ambition Self-buff magic
Love/ Friendship Support magic
Patience Negation magic
Envy Curse magic
Prideful Skill up magic
Hatred Destruction type magic
Kindness Healing magic
Sorrow Degradation magic
Creative Origin magic
etc.
>You can learn different types of magic easily using the same emotion along the same line. Like you can easily learn Ambition type of magic if you are feeling anger or any type of similar emotion.
Spell circles:-
>These are used for Spells above 4th grade.
>Depending on how you adjust your spell circle you can change the properties of your spell.
>You can change it the way you want by pouring magiscules into the spell circle.
>You can have one spell circle for each element.
>You can have one spell circle for each tier.
>You cannot use a spell circle of a different tier or element.
>Multiple spells of the same tier can be learned but only the most recently used spell can be used, unless the spell circle is adjusted, otherwise, it will fail.
>Quick change can be done mid battle but it requires a lot of practice and dedication.
>The number of spell circles of a tier can be increased using 10 pure magiscule crystals.
>The cost increases by 10 times for each circle.
>The magiscule crystal also increases your magiscule count of the body so it is not preferred to have a lot of if you are an avid spell user as it would become harder to control your magiscule limit.
>The crystals can be found after 2 monsters battle.
>Extremely high tier spells could be passed down from individual to individual. Not enough info on the matter.
Processing the coin values of rarities using past references.
-16 gold /\ /\ /\ /\ -50 silver - 16 silver
Rarity... translated. -1600 silvers -800 silvers -400 silvers -200 silvers -100 silvers -50 silvers 100 silvers= 1 gold Same formula applied to DA rarity hence .....100,000,000 = 1,000,000 = 10,000 silvers = 100 gold = 1 .....
"Holy hell is that a lot..." As much as I wanted to read about all the magic details I needed to find a way out of this place first. Cause I just understood my main problem wasn''t insects or enemies. ... ... ... ... It was the lack of sunlight. I stared into the distant holes on the walls, with vision only from the small crystal. The situation didn''t seem to be getting any better, "It''s either that way or digging out of here and I''m all out of options." Chapter 9- Unexpected Allies? As I stood there holding the crystal which glowed a faint blue, illuminating the darkness around me, I was contemplating over the choices I had left and what I could do to survive this hellish situation. Trapped on one side, and an enigma in front, with only death as a third option. But death was never an option, so without wasting further time and energy, I proceeded to think about what I could do. ¡°Well for starters I could possibly try digging the soil using the dagger, worth a shot I guess.¡± I thought as I extended my spikes and tried lifting the dagger. ¡°Heavy...¡± The Dagger looked small but was too heavy for my current strength so I couldn''t lift it using my thorns. I wrapped my thorns by extending them and weaving them around the hilt. By doing so I was able to drag it. It was bloody and I couldn¡¯t lift it. Using it as a shovel with my current energy was a futile effort. ¡°Interesting, Very interesting¡± a sudden sound surprised me as I retracted my spikes, letting the dagger go. I looked around the darkness while moving the crystal to spot if there was anyone. The voice was sudden and was rather familiar. I looked at the vial with the purple liquid, while stepping over the dagger. ¡°Are you the one who spoke to me?¡± I thought while looking at the vial which illuminated a purplish sapphire under the light. I pulled it out while dragging it using a spike. ¡°No, I¡¯m the one who spoke to you. Now get off of me¡± the voice said in an un-amused fashion. I looked at the dagger below me. The jewel on the center glowed a pure white, as some seals appeared around it. Surprised, I replied with the only natural thing I could think of at the moment, ¡°Wait!? You¡¯re a talking dagger?¡± to which he sarcastically replied, ¡°and you¡¯re a sentient plant¡± ¡°Fair point¡± I replied as I moved from him. There was a moment of awkward silence between us. ¡°So, um... are you gonna talk??¡± I said as I poke him with a spike. ¡°Finally, it seems that I can¡¯t speak with you unless we are in contact with one another.¡± He said with a serious tone. He turned on a lighter note as he spoke, ¡°Ok, let¡¯s just start by introducing ourselves. The name¡¯s Benjamin. And as you can see I''m a dagger right now¡± ¡°Sorry, I don¡¯t have a name right now. Cause, I''m a cactus.¡± I replied a little embarrassed over my current self. ¡°Hmmm, but wouldn¡¯t using your name from your past life would be better?¡± Benjamin asked. ¡°Well, you see- Wait... How-?¡± I fumbled, completely confused over the statement. The tone of his voice changed to a calculative tone, ¡°You see, at first I was confused whether you were a sentient cactus sent by that guy. The reason was that your species don¡¯t have sentience or movement as far as I know. And without the influence of a druid, sage or a nature-based Elementalist, it wouldn''t be possible. With the only druid around I didn¡¯t sense a magic level comparable to that guy. The only other option would be that you are a reincarnator, and with your statement, before my calculations were on point¡± He seriously deduced I was a reincarnator in a few words and I didn¡¯t even realize I¡¯ve fallen into his trap. This guy wasn¡¯t a joke. The level of this world was really crazy high. ¡°Oh, well sorry about that. You may know about the events before, so I had to be cautious. Well continue, why don¡¯t you use your name from a past life?¡± he said changing the subject. ¡°Well, I can¡¯t seem to remember some things from my past life. I think I suffer from partial memory loss.¡± I replied while making sure not to leak out my surprise and other thoughts. It seemed that we could only hear what the other person wanted us to hear. It was really difficult but I was able to handle it somehow. He laughed a bit and then cheerfully replied, ¡°Well aren¡¯t you in a pickle. Well no choice, I¡¯ll just call you cactus for now I guess¡± ¡°Okay? Is reincarnation that common??¡± I asked him as I also needed some valuable information I could use. He replied, ¡°No, they are really rare like one in a hundred million.¡± It was some good info and since we were on the topic of reincarnation, I jumped the gun and asked ¡°Are you a reincarnator?? ¡°No, but our 3rd leader was a reincarnator. That''s why I know about them. It''s a fairly rare knowledge, so only people with money, noble status or some sort of acquaintance would know. Since you are a reincarnated person you should have some info, think of it as, courtesy from the 3rd leader. So, here is all the info I know from the 3rd leader.¡± He cheerfully replied but I could sense some dangerous undertones. He must have read my thoughts. I could only reply with, ¡°Okay.¡± ¡°So, reincarnation is the only natural way a person from another world can cross over. The 3rd leader said that they will get an ability called to check their stat flow but it isn''t really great. Apart from that, the only other edge a reincarnated person has over the average folk is their common sense, knowledge and other things they learned in their world. There are many other forms of crossing over. Like when one of the great countries does a to call heroes to fight the demons. Or an accidental drift in the world summons another person. Those things are rarer than reincarnation. Sometimes Gods, summon the other world''ers into this world. We call that . The leader said there are many more but he didn''t know all of them. If I had to sort them all by their abilities then, The strongest would be divinely summoned, then heroic summoned, then reincarnators and finally, the accidentals cause apart from their knowledge they have no abilities naturally granted to them. Not even the skill. So they would be on par with the average folk here, but they¡¯ll need to learn magic if they want to be on par with the fighters.¡±Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. ¡°Thanks for the info. By the way, how did you become a dagger? Didn¡¯t you just die before?¡± I asked ¡°Well, technically I''m already dead. I¡¯m just trapped in this dagger because of the drawback of my skill¡± He replied with a proud tone. Feeling a chink in the armor hearing the proud tone, being careful about my thoughts I seized the chance as I egged him on, ¡°Sounds like a shit skill.¡± ¡°NOW LISTEN HERE- *Ahem* I can¡¯t tell this skill to anyone but since it¡¯s just you, I don¡¯t think it will do much harm. Remember to not tell anyone about this skill¡± He angrily replied. I laughed as I replied, ¡°Okay, I don¡¯t think I can speak through.¡± ¡°Exactly, but you have to swear to secrecy. There are many other ways to tell a secret to a person.¡± He said. ¡°Fine¡± I replied not thinking much about it. Then he began his long speech, ¡°The skill is a 10th-grade Legendary class last resort skill. It is a skill and I know of only 2 ways it can be obtained. There may be more, but I don¡¯t have any idea about it. The first being, when the global population of the world of a species is decreased by 0.1% in 1 hour by a person of no more than 10 times the strength or if it is passed down by someone else. The 1st leader obtained this skill when he killed 100,000 men in war. It¡¯s a last resort trump card because as long as you are fighting that species no matter even if you die, the other person will also get killed as long as you land a blow. The skill only activates when you are about to die but won¡¯t work if the other person is unscathed, on the other hand even if you manage to even scratch that person, they will die if you are about to die.¡± There was something really wrong with the skill. Confused I replied, ¡°But that red-haired person didn¡¯t die.¡± ¡°That was because it didn¡¯t fulfill the requirements of the skill, so prince Yukiyo was safe to the effects of the skill.¡± He answered in a weird tone while laughing Confused to why he was laughing I asked, ¡°What did it not fulfill?¡± He replied ¡°I can¡¯t tell you that, I¡¯ve been sworn to secrecy¡± ¡°Huh?¡± I couldn¡¯t even utter words completely baffled at the secrecy stuff. ¡°Well there is a drawback for every slayer skill, and mine is that when I die my soul gets trapped in my nearest belonging until I find a successor for this skill. It¡¯s like a tradition for our Grey edge clan, now. So I need to appoint the next successor. It¡¯s my last duty as the 5th leader.¡± He said in a sad tone. I felt sad for the guy but I continued, ¡°Weren¡¯t you guys like bandits or something? Won¡¯t your clan get- like hunted or something?¡± He laughed at the reply and said, ¡°Well, you would get confused from out act before, our clan is actually not a bandit clan. We have our reasons¡± ¡°I mean for kidnapping and theft. Those reasons are a little weird to me.¡± Confused I asked. ¡°Well you see, a massive undead horde is coming to attack our clan in 3 days, And we had to gather funds to recruit mercenary and adventurers¡± I felt some hypocrisy so I said, ¡°So to gather funds you had to resort to that.¡± but since I didn¡¯t know the complete story I continued, ¡°But I think there is a deeper story to this.¡± He cheerfully said, ¡°You are quite ruthless aren¡¯t you. Ok here is the full story.¡± ¡°We had already amassed a large amount of gold for the job. But a few days ago we found that half of the gold was stolen. The guards were injured badly and knocked out. They said it was a young male who had a physique of 16-17 years, had white hair and purple eyes. We tried to track the thief but we couldn¡¯t find him, Antonio and some men are still tracking him. The day of the invasion was getting nearer and we didn¡¯t have enough people. So to collect the funds we had to wear a mask and resort to stealing, we just stole half and ran, no killing, it was a quick job. But, in our last steal, I didn¡¯t expect that the source of all our problems would appear right before our eyes, the kid with the purple eyes and white hair, all my frustration and anger swelled up and was focused on revenge. But we lingered too long and as you know we were killed by the prince. Laughable isn¡¯t it, we became the same object of hate we so desired. But even though the image matched the kid, he wasn¡¯t like how the guards explained to us. He was more focused on protecting the girl than himself. I didn¡¯t know if it was my inner self screaming, but I couldn''t fire that attack at full force when I saw him still protecting the girl when the shield crumbled, so I stopped the attack midway. Well, we have enough funds to barely defend against the impending undead invasion.¡± Somehow, I felt like compared to my hate towards Yukiyo was unjustified. To be fair he threw me into a hole because he thought I was dead. Compared to Ben I was being petty, still doesn¡¯t change the fact that I¡¯m in a shitty situation. ¡°So, do you hate the Yukiyo?¡± I asked. ¡°A bit, but it was a fight and he fought fair against 28 of us. To him, we were just bandits to be exterminated. We even hurt one of his allies badly. There was no room to talk. It was either escape or death and the door to escape was already closed. The fight was hard fought and I didn¡¯t kill him and that was all there was to it.¡± I decided not to force more out of him. He then said, ¡°There is one problem. My clan back at home don¡¯t know that me and my men are dead. They may feel like I¡¯ve gone to get back-up or I¡¯m doing something important. Someone needs to get them the information. The clansmen may think that without a leader they will be killed by the undead, and there will be no one to handle the mercenaries and adventurers. Who knows, they may even run away.¡± Ben seemed to be in a very bad situation but I had to get out of this godforsaken place, I couldn¡¯t drag him to his clan because that would be impossible with my current stats. ¡°Well, That¡¯s a doozy,¡± I replied as I was about Just as I said that Suddenly the ground starts shaking. ¡°Why is the ground trembling?¡± Then Ben said in a sinister cheerful tone, ¡±So, Mr. Cactus, I know the situation you¡¯re in. No sunlight, trapped situation and only the place forward to run. How about a deal, in exchange for getting me to my village, I¡¯ll provide you with all the information, help and plans you¡¯ll need to get out of this godforsaken place and who knows I may even reward you when we get to the village.¡± A large snake-like head pops out one of the holes, flicking its tongue and moving its head around. The head itself was 4 times my size. I stood there frozen with fear, with this massive enemy in front of me. The head spots me, but retracts into the hole, fading into the darkness in front of me. If I could sweat I would be sweating cold sweat right then. I wasn¡¯t trembling but my in my mind the fear had engraved deep. Even the path before me was certain death. Even though I was a plant I could be considered food for the majority of the creatures in the darkness. The worst part, I didn¡¯t have any knowledge of them. Ben was far more calculative than I realized. He was, no he had planned everything from the beginning. If the previous chat was a chess game, I lost to him in a terribly one-sided match with the illusion of victory in front of me. I laughed as I replied, ¡°Well, you are quite the devil, aren¡¯t you. I can''t really say no now can I.¡± ¡°Oh, I wouldn''t mind. It''s your choice after all.¡± He replied in a snarky tone. Chapter 9.5- After effects, realization and a secret -Above the ground-
[Yukiyo¡¯s POV]
The fight was over as the howls of the winds echoed in the distant. All seemed fine but it didn¡¯t fit right with me. Those bandits were too strong to have gone unnoticed. Even if they did hide every trace of their work, some rumors should have gone about. But now, some investigation had to be done about the matter at hand. While I was stuck in my thoughts Sei snapped me out as he said, ¡°Master?¡± A little surprised, I apologized for my lack of attention on the matter at hand, ¡°Oh! sorry. I was thinking about something. So, what is it?¡± ¡°The Carriage is partially destroyed and Mistress Aria is getting cold, so we need to find a place to stay before it gets dark.¡± I glanced at Ari as she was shivering a bit but trying not to complain about it, which was odd as she was more spoiled than a rotten apple. I asked, ¡°I don¡¯t know why but, Aria didn¡¯t you pack something like I don¡¯t know clothes?¡± and then I noticed something, ¡°And is that my old coat?¡± The words came out more condescending then I wanted so Ari became more timid as she stuttered to answer, ¡°I- I I don-¡° Luckily Sei intervened as he said, ¡°Master if I may, It is not Miss Aria¡¯s fault we were in a hurry and since it was only a few days of journey we only packed some food, water, and gold in case the food didn¡¯t suit miss aria¡¯s tas-¡° He was going to blabber a lot and it wasn¡¯t like I was angry at him so I stopped him midway, ¡°Sei, just-*Ahem* Seito stop. I¡¯m not angry or anything. I¡¯m just glad both of you are safe. Also, Aria¡± and just as I said her name she flinched a bit. It seemed today was a bit too hard for her. She was used to seeing the world through a rose-coloured glass. I just relaxed my expression and smiled. ¡°Go to the carriage and bear with the cold for a little while longer. It¡¯ll take some time for me to use spells again.¡± The girl calmed down a bit and replied, ¡°Yes, elder brother¡± She calmed down a bit and walked towards the carriage. It was heavily damaged during the fight but sitting inside it was still better than standing out in the cold. ¡°Master if I may, I would like to ask you something,¡± Sei asked me, a little confused as to what it could be, I replied, ¡±Go ahead¡± ¡°Is there a reason as to why you were talking to the bandit in such a weird fashion?¡± he asked, ¡°Forgive me for being rude but, those vulgar remarks and bad jokes didn¡¯t seem like you at all Master. Did something happen?¡± Blood rushed to my cheeks as I instinctively turned my face away from Sei. I realized that I had become the victim of another one of my brother¡¯s pranks. I should have known it was a bad idea! ¡°Master? What¡¯s wrong?¡± Sei questioned confused by my behavior, ¡°Nothing, I got dirt in my eye.¡± I replied. Sei seemed a little perplexed with the situation, though I tried my hardest to hide my embarrassment. I calmed myself down and answered, ¡°Ok, to answer your question. I had been cursed for a while. But Its effects are gone now.¡± ¡°The person must have been strong to be able to place a curse on Master,¡± He said, his eyes full of amazement. I couldn¡¯t meet his honest gaze and just muttered, ¡°I believe so.¡±Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. Suddenly Sei had a worried look in his eyes. He questioned, ¡°But master weren¡¯t you at one of the greater countries for your engagement with the first daughter of the emperor?¡± Somehow I had completely forgotten about it. ¡±Ah well I¡¯ll sort that thing when the time comes, they shouldn¡¯t get too angry over this,¡± I reassured him. ¡°But Master! Wasn¡¯t that a matter of great importance. I''m afraid that the king won''t let this one go.¡± He said worried about me. ¡°Ah, don¡¯t worry about it, the place was really boring, and it was a political marriage, I wasn¡¯t interested in. By the way Seito why did you and Aria come here to find that plant?¡± I asked. ¡°Master Elijah was actually sending me to find the plant for his research. He said that it was really important. Lady Aria must have heard that and wanted to join us. The master thought that it was a good idea and sent us on our way. The mistress didn¡¯t seem to be pleased during the journey, though. Also, I noticed that she spoke some foreign words like Oh knee sun and knee sun? Was she also cursed?¡± Sei asked. I just replied, ¡°Ah no, that was due to Elijah¡¯s influence. Even, I have no clue why he makes her speak that way. He says it¡¯s just a nickname of sorts so I don¡¯t pay attention, reincarnators are weird. For now, you should go rest in the carriage, even though I healed you, you shouldn¡¯t be moving a lot.¡± ¡°But aren¡¯t you gonna heal yourself, Master,¡± He asked. ¡°Oh, right I haven¡¯t told you. I think you know that the slayer based abilities have some sort of drawback right. Well, my wounds can¡¯t be healed by using magic. But don¡¯t worry about it much. My natural healing is really fast so these wounds should be healed by 8 or 9 hours. But I¡¯m worried about the scars a bit. They don¡¯t really fade.¡± I replied. ¡°If you would like master I could bandage your wounds, it¡¯s the least I could do for saving us. After all, it was because we were in the way that you couldn¡¯t fight with all your power.¡± Sei requested. I was really surprised by that offer, but I didn¡¯t want him to bandage me for reasons. But he had a really adamant look on his face. I tried to reply quickly to the sudden request, ¡°I-I *ahem* thank you for your consideration but you shouldn¡¯t really-¡° I was cut short as he replied, ¡°I insist!!¡± while holding a roll and a scissor. I was flustered with the situation and didn¡¯t know how to reply, words just blurted out of my lips, ¡°N-no, I mean it isn¡¯t something you should do- I mean¡° Sei suddenly had the look of sudden realization. He bowed his head as he said, ¡°I¡¯m sorry, Master. I thought that my lowly self was good enough to look upon your magnificent bare body. Please punish this idiot for not realizing sooner.¡± Even though the problem at hand was gone, the way he said it didn¡¯t help with the situation, not one bit. I just stood there trying to say something, ¡°aa... No that¡¯s not-¡° ¡°I¡¯m sorry Master when we get back you may punish me in whatever way you desire¡± I calmed myself down and let out a sigh, ¡°*sigh* I¡¯m not in the mood for this right now. Just go into the carriage.¡± ¡°Yes, master¡± Sei replied before he ran into the carriage. ¡°Well, I guess I haven¡¯t really told him also. I¡¯ll tell him when the time comes. Come on, you are 20 years old. Get your act together; you are already an adult and the 2nd prince of this country. You can¡¯t get flustered every time this thing happens.¡± I mumbled to myself. Then I began trying to break down what had occurred and if there was any sinister thing going on, ¡°Ok, now think why Elijah sent the princess along with Seito. Even though she¡¯s the 4th princess I think there should have been at least 5 guards with them, even if they were going for a small trip. Did he plan something? He couldn¡¯t have he? But the bandits were really dangerous. Was this an assassination planned by someone? Come to think of it why did they not know where they were traveling and where is the driver? Seito did say the plant was special, and that was the first time a plant didn¡¯t heal itself after being pulsed with Magiscule.¡± ¡°I''m just over thinking things I guess.¡± I sighed. ¡°Good thing I arrived on time though. That idiot also gave me some weird suggestions ¡°Talk in a vulgar manner, kids love it¡±. I shouldn¡¯t have listened to him. I really can''t understand his mind sometimes. I''ll need to have a good talk with him.¡± I thought while laughing at myself. As I stood there in the cold surrounded by clouds of mist from the battle, with only a distant sound of the winds blowing which broke the silence, I sighed as I thought, ¡°This political stuff is really difficult and confusing. Sometimes, I wish I could just live my life as a normal girl.¡± Chapter 10- High risk- High reward Not much could be done or said about the given scenario. Even after the snake, left my body refused to move due to fear, so I took the only choice I had and accepted his proposal. ¡°Fine, I¡¯ll take all the help I can find,¡± my thoughts trembled, ¡°So, do you have the necessary knowledge for me to survive, as you clearly won¡¯t be eaten.¡± ¡°Sure, I¡¯ll help you but you need to swear on it.¡± Ben replied snarkily, ¡°But don¡¯t count on it. There¡¯re things here which would even eat metal.¡± After calming myself down, I swore and asked if he was able to move or do anything. I needed all the help I could get in order to get out. ¡°As you can see I¡¯m unable to move but you should be able to drag me out somehow,¡± he said. ¡°All I can do is provide you with information and strategies in this form.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know if I can drag you out. My status says I don¡¯t have much energy left, I feel that if it reaches 0, It¡¯s game over for me.¡± I replied. My body felt weak and heavy and dragging a sword in my current state would be impossible for me. Ben started laughing. He was really weird, he laughed as he said, ¡±well, isn¡¯t that just great. How much time do we have?¡± I also wanted to know about it so I asked Ai about it. <48 hours if not moving> <4 hours of movement> <30 minutes of combat> <> Even though I got some skill points the results shocked me quite a bit. On knowing the impending horrors which awaited me if I didn¡¯t reach the sunlight in time, made my entire self tremble. ¡°The-, ¡°Ben cut me short as he replied, ¡°Yeah, I saw.¡± With less than 4 hours of movement, and venturing out alone into the ever expanding darkness. It didn¡¯t seem like the best of option I had. But that was all I could think of. ¡°Well, aren¡¯t we in quite a pickle, eh,¡± Ben said sarcastically. ¡°Well don¡¯t worry bub. We can get ourselves out of here.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t quite follow and why did you change your tone?¡± I asked confused by his sudden insight. ¡°Okay, first let me explain some things to you,¡± he said as I listened to another of his long explanations, ¡°This place is a very desolate region with only a few things which can live here naturally. All the animals here are omnivores, meaning both meat and plants are on the plate for them. The snake you saw before is called the dwarf black serpent. It has bad eyesight but makes up for it with a good sense of hearing and tasting. The 3rd leader also said it also has heat sense. It must have been attracted by the large sound and the high magiscule count which got released during the battle. The snake eats everything, not eat exactly but swallow. The 3rd leader taught me that it has very strong acidic digestive juices. I don¡¯t know exactly what acidic and heat sense means but you may know. We use that acid in flasks to burn and blind people in combat. So being eaten by the snake is definitely a ¡°game over¡±. Even if you are trapped inside, I¡¯d doubt your spikes could pierce through its tough inner flesh. After all, you¡¯re one of its favorite food.¡± Shocked by his response, I asked, ¡°Wait for a second! I can¡¯t understand? If I¡¯m his favorite food, why did it not eat me?¡±Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel. To which Ben replied, ¡±It must have been due to the number of dead insects releasing foul scent around the area which masked your scent, the snake couldn¡¯t find your scent among the dead insects'' corpses.¡± ¡°So, couldn¡¯t we carry a dead insect to mask my scent to repel the snake?¡± I asked. ¡°Not possible, it would attract some other predators along with the snake, thinking that a creature is dragging an insect with it. Well, it¡¯s not surprising that you are the favorite food of almost every species here. And even I can say you had a mellow sweet taste, like nectar. But I decided to stop cause it has a very bad reaction with some species.¡± I was losing hope, Ben was giving me almost all the bad news there was, ¡°Is there really no way out?¡± I asked. ¡°Well, I do have a very risky plan¡± the word risky was an understatement, he continued, ¡°We need 3 things for this plan to work. -1st the snake. -2nd the items we have here. -3rd you as the bait.¡± ¡°What do you mean me as the bait?!¡± I exclaimed. ¡°Hey, if you¡¯ve got any better ideas? I¡¯m all ears.¡± He replied. I had no answers to it so I kept shut, he continued, ¡°I thought so, now let me finish. As I was saying you¡¯ll need to be the bait. The plan is high-risk high-reward, either we are out of this place or you¡¯re dead and I¡¯m buried somewhere forever. Now listen here, this is the important bit. First of all, you¡¯ll need to place me, the book, the vial and the crystal inside the bag, then proceed to cut yourself with the edge of my blade. This will attract the snake. Keeping the crystal inside the bag is important, as it uses up the magiscule around the area by attracting it, so the snake won¡¯t be able to sense your presence properly if you have it. Now after everything is placed inside and you¡¯re out in the open with an exposed wound, make sure to not fail. The amplified scent from you will attract the snake immediately. After you spot it and it¡¯s about to eat you, make sure dodge it. It won¡¯t expect it¡¯s favorite food to suddenly start moving. Dodge it and force it to rush you. Dodging it once or twice will do. Once it has locked itself on you rush inside the bag, it should force him to swallow the entire bag. Once we are inside, we have to play the waiting game. Once we see some plants inside we can be sure that it has reached a place with vegetation. And even if it goes inside a hole we would be much nearer to the exit.¡± ¡°Do you have any plans to get out once we get inside the snake?¡± ¡°The vial here is a type of poison. It¡¯s not strong but gives a very powerful stomach ache if ingested. And, considering the snake¡¯s habit, it should seek out some medicinal plants, which mostly grow on the surface. If the snake manages to poop or vomit us out, we¡¯re golden. If not I have another backup plan.¡± ¡°You¡¯re crazy!¡± I exclaimed. It was a ridiculous plan, one that I would have refused outright if the situation wasn¡¯t so time-based. But I had to be thankful for even the tiniest shred of hope I could find, I continued to relay my thoughts to him, ¡±But, if this is the best plan you could come up with and considering my current situation, I can hardly refuse.¡± Ben seemed a bit happy. ¡°Do you think you can dodge the snake¡¯s attacks? It¡¯s incredibly fast compared to you.¡± He teased. ¡°And considering how you fared against an army of insects, I don¡¯t know if you are ready for dodging it.¡± ¡°It isn¡¯t whether I can or can¡¯t. I¡¯ll have to. There is no other choice¡± I said as I steeled myself for the plan. It wasn¡¯t a half baked emotion. I was desperate for survival and I was preparing my mind for it. Ben understood my conviction. ¡°Hmmm, I half expected you to get angry but seems like I misjudged you,¡± he said, ¡°Let¡¯s set the plan in motion.¡± Using my spikes to drag myself, I proceeded to pick up the vial and drag the book into the bag they were light objects compared to the Dagger. I gathered some snow from the surroundings, as I reached Ben, he said, ¡°Good work, But with that speed, it¡¯s impossible to dodge the snake. If I were you I¡¯d extend and twist together some of those spikes. Using them as limbs to drag your body would be much easier than extending and retracting. Try to see if it¡¯s possible.¡± Using the snow I managed to clean the dagger quite a bit. It was still a bit bloody but the edge was usable now. And after listening to Ben for some time I did seem like retracting and extending the spikes took a lot of time for simple movements. So I extended some spikes and twisted them together at the end of my two extensions. Using them as limbs to drag my body was a bit difficult, but it was faster than extending and retracting the spikes again and again. I practiced moving about a bit until I got used to it. Then suddenly a good idea struck upon me. Using the two extended spike forearms, I launch myself in a straight direction like a slingshot. I flew fast. But I forgot to think about the landing. As I was about to crash into the rocks I extended all of my spikes. Maybe it was an instinct, but I was left unharmed by the crash. <2 hours of energy left> I was only moving about for an hour or so but it seemed like moving like that wasn¡¯t the best use of the energy I had. I reached for the dagger and dragged it into the bag. Ben saw the whole thing as he remarked, ¡°I saw how you jumped. With that much speed, you should be fine somehow. But it must have cost a lot of energy. Don¡¯t jump like that straight away. Also-¡± We discussed strategies for a while on how to get the snake to eat the bag. As I finally dragged myself into the bag with the sword, I walked out after injuring myself on the blade. It was a bit vexing but it had to be done. With no light, I was unable to see what was happening around me, even with my night vision skill. All I could see was dark shadows on top of shadows. I felt the earth tremble once again as darkness approached me, and I couldn¡¯t back out anymore. Maybe it was a good thing that I couldn¡¯t see, being paralyzed by fear wouldn¡¯t have been the best of situations right now. The operation was a go. Au revoir will be going on a haitus for a few months. For a few reasons. 1> Need to focus on some important stuff right now. 2> I''m lagging behind in some work. 3> I''m pretty sure many of you don''t really find my english, on par with some of the works on trending (??¦Ø??) 4> Drawing and writing takes a shit ton of time. 5> I want to focus on my issues right now and clear them up. After that, I''ll- 1)get a ton of chapters ready atleast 20-30. 2)fix the grammatical errors, with a better pacing, and a smooth flow having a minimum of 3k words per chapter 3)have a minimum of 1 drawing per chapter. ( Even though it''s not necessary I wanted to show you all how envisioned it)You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author. I''ll be gone a while and I want to thank all of you who read the story of this little cacti. And when I''m back, I promise you the best that I have to offer. I feel like my story was starting to get forced and it wasn''t gonna meet your expectations. So for now before I say Au revior Here are a few rough images I wanted to show you before I go (well all the images before were rough sketches too so it doesn''t really make much of a difference XD) Yukiyo''s arrival Benjamin and group getting serious (and no! Don''t say they look like power rangers ok! XD I need to add more on it) I started this novel as a joke novel on 2017. People liked it and so I went for it. Gathering materials for it for an year or so. And I was back thinking 1 chapter a week would be easy. Too bad life kiks ya right in ya ass. Pumpin out 2-3k words on a single day, phew. Now I''m gonna get my shit sorted out and when I''m back I''ll be sure to inform you. Just follow this novel or be on royalroad discord. And now (as I''ve finally learned how to add gifs) Here is an image of how the cactus would have tried to get out of the ground if he wasn''t dug out by Seito~ Thank ya peeps for bein with me~ And since I don''t have to check for grammatical errors on this imma bid ya a quick farewell. See ya soon