《Transmigrated Dragon》 (not a chapter) Schedule, FAQ and Suggestions Schedule is: -Saturday 7A.M. EST -Sunday 7 A.M EST So yes, This will be a Place where you can ask away anything (regarding the book, please). The weekly rating chart, in case anyone is interested in seeing it (I''m an engineering student, don''t mind my enjoymentout of looking at random charts of data) Click to see how the rating has evolved through the weeks!: Questions that contain spoilers will not be answered, for obvious reasons.The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. FAQ SECTION: -Why is Doraig so Weak at the start? Answer: Because he was recognized as a new race, and thus had to start from the beginning. He wasn''t that weak before jumping, but he wasn''t the ''world''s strongest'' either -The scales, why are they so useless? Answer: Same reason as above. Also, Something that nobody has told Doraig yet is the fact that there are skills that make use of the scales, but Doraig didn''t think of them. Think of Pokemon''s ''Harden'' skill. Metapod has a hard skin, yet he still receives high damage unless he uses the ''Harden'' skill That''s all for today, Love you, Bye bye~ An anecdote that was in a deleted note: For chapter 13, in an attempt to have the action scenes make sense, I went outside the house with a wooden spoon at ~3 A.M in the morning and began to swing the spoon around while trying to create a plausible move set to be used inside the story¡ª and well, after going at it for 30 or so minutes I realized my neighbour had been watching intently at me since the start. yes, it was awkward. Yes, I felt my insides churning out of embarrassment. Yes, my neighbor was a female of around my age... Chapter 1: The Slime is a lie! Chapter 1: The Slime is a lie! Prologue. Sunny day outside, the perfect moment to take a nice cold bath, I wonder if I can find a cave with a lake outside, I really can''t be bothered to make a cave, makes me feel drowsy every time I use ''Destruction breath''. let''s venture for a while and see if I can find a cool basin for this hot body. Hmm, that lake looks so cool, did someone dump a bunch of slimes in there? it''s purple... oh god I can just imagine, it must feel amazing taking a bath and those things massaging me while squirming around! no one to the left, no one to right... into the pool with a sploosh and- "What the FU-" okay, that was not a lake filled with slimes, where the hell am I? about now I''ll just assume that was a portal, in my defense, though, who would put a portal in the middle of nowhere, now I know it''s just as weird to think someone would fill a lake with slimes but-
New player detected, please state your name
Who!?
Confirm name ''Who''? (Yes/No)
No!
Please choose a name
...Doraig. ... Alright, I think I get the gist of what is going on, so it''s like this, I jumped into a portal, got sent into another dimension and in here there''s this thing called System. Okay, Good job me, now calm down... Calm down... Like hell I can calm down! it''s not like I was THAT attached to my world but c''mon, couldn''t you at least ask for my opinion before flinging me across? I will sue you man, girl or whatever gender you are! Ugh, fine... for now, let''s confirm the status thingy Mr system told me about in the ''tutorial''. ''Personal Status''
Name Doraig Stat Base Bonus (%) Total Skill Name Current level Max Level Evolution
Race Dragon (Otherworldly) STR 12 0 12 Minor Destruction Breath 6 99 Intermediate Destruction Breath
Level 1 VIT 15 0 15 Intimidating Gaze (Racial bonus) 1 99 +Intimidating Voice (Racial bonus)
HP (+Bonus) 40/40 (+0) DEX 10 0 10 Glide 80 99 Fly
HP Regen +1/minute
MP (+Bonus) 30/30 (+0) INT 8 0 8
MP Regen +0.5/minute
Skill Points Available 0
Stat Points Available 0
Experience Points 0/50
The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. Didn''t Mr system say the average for a human was 10 across the stats? am I not like... really weak for a Mighty dragon!? it has to be because of the dimensional travel, not because I was weak before, yes, that is it and I won''t let you say otherwise! you ask why I can only glide? uh... dimensional travel of course! So looking at the minimap I should be at the [Starting village ''Lizer''] but am I not in the middle of a big crater? oh, there''s a red dot on the minimap now, senior System said that was a hostile entity, those things give experience points I heard. Hmm. isn''t that just a rabbit? no way that''s the ''hostile entity'' right!? Chomp ME ALMIGHTY WHAT THE HELL THAT HURT!
HP received damage, HP 40 -> 28
Destruction Breath! huh? Chomp
HP received damage, HP 28 -> 16
Crap, fine... Minor Destruction Breath
Experience Received
Ugh, what the hell did they feed these rabbits with man, isn''t -ahem- wasn''t this zone next to the starting village? Ah well, I guess that''s a glass cannon for you, I''ll eat this rabbit for now while I check my Status.
Name Doraig Stat Base Bonus (%) Total Skill Name Current level Max Level Evolution
Race Dragon (Otherworldly) STR 12 0 12 Minor Destruction Breath 6 99 Intermediate Destruction Breath
Level 1 VIT 15 0 15 Intimidating Gaze (Racial bonus) 1 99 +Intimidating Voice (Racial bonus)
HP (+Bonus) 17/40 (+0) DEX 10 0 10 Glide 80 99 Fly
HP Regen +1/minute
MP (+Bonus) 17/30 (+0) INT 8 0 8
MP Regen +0.5/minute
Skill Points Available 0
Stat Points Available 0
Experience Points 3/50
Hmm, I guess this rabbit was an actual trash mob huh. fine, I''m weak.
So I''ve been at this rabbit hunting for a while now, silly as it looks for a 3-meter tall dragon to murder critters I don''t feel confident enough to move too far away from the starting zone lest I get killed by a deer or a baby vixen, now THAT would be damn silly. Leveling up gives me 5 stat points and 3 skill points I see. Int improves my mana points, its recovery and to some extent, my learning speed so it seems pretty useful... when you think about how I can cast only 2 Breath attacks before running out of steam it might be good to get that now in case I need to fight something more durable that a random rabbit.
INT stat increased: 8 -> 12
for skill points I think I should max out [Glide] so it can evolve into [Fly], a dragon that can''t fly is just silly, right? Shutupman.
Glide skill point increased: 80/99 -> 83/99
I won''t raise the breathing attack because it raises automatically as I use it, and I use it way more often that I glide as well. After killing enough snowy-deaths to get to level 2 it is now at 16/99, pretty fast if you ask me, those snowy-deaths couldn''t stand a chance against my mighty roar. Yes, I will send all those snowy-deaths on their way to the underworld, Mua-ha-ha-ha. Fine, let''s see if I can find something else to shoot at... Tutorial Tutorial (Chapter 1.5) ¡­
Welcome, Doraig. I am the system. As part of the beginner zone, the tutorial will now commence
Wait wait hold on, system? tutorial?
First. Familiarize yourself with the controls
Controls? What?
Please move to the right, left, front and back
What the¡­ is wrong with this guy. well, it¡¯s just moving, I guess.
Congratulations! moving is the first step in succeeding in this world, now please jump to jump
...Mr. system, are you perhaps retarded? hello?
Please jump to jump
...
Congratulations! Jumping can allow you to reach greater heights in life, now please say ¡®System Status¡¯ to bring forth a window to look at your stats. As a part of the beginner package, your stats have been randomized in accordance to level 1 stats
Wait, randomized? what do you mean!? ¡®System status¡¯
Name Doraig Stat Base Bonus (%) Total Skill Name Current level Max Level Evolution
Race Dragon (Otherworldly) STR 12 0 12 Minor Destruction Breath 6 99 Intermediate Destruction Breath
Level 1 VIT 15 0 15 Intimidating Gaze (Racial bonus) 1 99 +Intimidating Voice (Racial bonus)
HP (+Bonus) 40/40 (+0) DEX 10 0 10 Glide 80 99 Fly
HP Regen +1/minute
MP (+Bonus) 30/30 (+0) INT 8 0 8
MP Regen +0.5/minute
Skill Points Available 0
Stat Points Available 0
Experience Points 0/50
Huh, so these are my stats.
Congratulations, know thyself and know thy enemy, and victory will be guaranteed. Now please say ¡®minimap¡¯ to bring forth a minimap which showcases enemies, neutral creatures and other things that you will learn with experience.
I''m getting the hang of this, Mr. System. ¡®minimap¡¯ heh¡­ not bad huh, this circle on my top right shows enemies and neutral things? that¡¯s pretty useful, probably could have been a great help back then.
Congratulations. now that the basic movement and UI is complete let¡¯s begin with the basic learning course
Point 1.a. All creatures who can learn other languages, how to write or similar feats signifying intelligence are called ¡®Intelligent species¡¯ and thus have obtained the ability to grow with the blood of their enemies
Point 1.b All creatures that attain the quality of ¡®intelligent species¡¯ get reset by the system to level 1. in exchange, they obtain growth potential and can level up, obtaining 5 stat points and 3 skill points at the moment of doing so
Point 1.c for fairness purposes all creatures with growth potential begin with similar stats, this includes mental and physical defenses
Point 1.d to display uniqueness, all races possess different racial bonuses
If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.Hmm? racial bonuses? Intimidating gaze had that in parentheses
Point 2.a if a skill exists it can be obtained
so I can breathe underwater or learn how to use fireballs and things like that I guess?
Point 2.b if a skill exists but isn¡¯t suitable for a certain race it will cost more to obtain
but how do you obtain skills?
Point 2.c to obtain skills there are 3 methods
Point 2.c.i Learning by spending the required amount of skill points, which vary depending on the race you belong to plus the skill you wish to obtain
Point 2.c.ii Learning by copying another member of your race, this method requires the consent of the Creature teaching and will cost him or her a few skill points to teach
Point 2.c.iii Learning by gaining proficiency with trial and error. This method does not require the use of skill points but can take a long time to achieve
Point 3.a as a perk for achieving the status reset by obtaining intelligence, you possess an inventory invisible to other creatures which can store suitable items indefinitely
Point 3.b Suitable items are as follows
Point 3.b.i items obtained by killing enemy creatures
Point 3.b.ii items obtained by a being created by a suitable craftsman
Hmm¡­ so if Joe makes a great dagger it can be stored? not bad.
Point 3.b.iii as such, items are divided into different levels of rarity, common being the minimum required for a craftsman to make for it to be able to be stored
Point 4.a As stat points are granted after every level up, you can place them in the desired Stat you wish to raise
Point 4.b The average starting point of a human being is 10 across his stats. All Stats have an use, and they¡¯re as follows
Point 4.b.i. HP or ¡®Health Points¡¯ mean the amount of damage you can suffer before dying. taking 2 same values of damage from different sources has the same effect on your Status, and when your life points reach 0 you die and enter the cycle of reincarnation
Point 4.b.ii MP or ¡®Mana Points¡¯ are required to cast many of the different Skill existing in this world. if you have an insufficient amount of mana points you won''t be able to cast the desired skill, independent on how hard you desire to do so
Point 4.b.iii STR or ¡®Strength¡¯ defines how much damage you deal with non-automatic weapons melee weapons, it also affects the weight you may carry on yourself. Note: some items require a sufficient amount of STR to be usable
Point 4.b.iiii VIT or ¡®Vitality¡¯ defines the amount of damage you may take before dying, by granting you with 5 hp per level, as well as how fast you recover from injuries granting you 0.1 points of recovery per minute per level and also improves how well recovery skills affect you
Point 4.b.iiiii DEX or ¡®Dexterity¡¯ affects your eye-hand coordination, how fast and nimble you can move
Point 4.b.iiiiii INT or ¡®Intelligence¡® affects how many times in quick succession you may cast a skill, granting you with 5 mana points per level, as well as how quickly you recover mana points, at a rate of 0.1 mana points per minute per level. As an added perk to all intelligent species, INT also affects how well skills are strengthened, as well as making it easier for you to learn skill by the trial and error method
Point 5.a To cast an active skill say the name of the skill you wish to cast inside of your mind
Point 5.b Movement skills are exempt from this rule due to their quick use rate. you may cast them in your mind to let the System aid you in their use if you wish to do so
Quick use rate? I wonder I can spam skills to make them exempt from this rule as well.
Point 5.c Using skills improves their level, and ultimately, allows them to evolve into stronger versions or stronger skills of a similar category
it really looks like spamming a single skill instead of having many low-level ones is the better option.
This concludes the learning part of the tutorial, thank you for time and good luck
For the rest of the system rules which will be available to you once you level up enough please explore the world and experiment to discover the marvelous mysteries present
This tutorial is only visible to the first creature to have his race get reset, who is responsible for distributing the tutorial contents to the rest of its race. Congratulations on helping your race become a more integral part of this world.
Alright... Chapter 2: Humans meet the mighty Dragon Chapter 2: Humans meet the ''mighty'' Dragon Okay, day 4 of my new life and leaving aside the copious amount of critter blood staining my claws, this is pretty similar to what I was used to before jumping like a mongrel, I''m smarter now, can I go back? I won¡¯t jump around anymore I swear! the existential crisis over I''ll show ¡®myself¡¯ my status as of now:
Name Doraig Stat Base Bonus (%) Total Skill Name Current level Max Level Evolution
Race Dragon (Otherworldly) STR 12 0 12 Minor Destruction Breath 40 99 Intermediate Destruction Breath
Level 5 VIT 15 0 15 Intimidating Gaze (Racial bonus) 1 99 +Intimidating Voice (Racial bonus)
HP (+Bonus) 40/40 (+0) DEX 15 0 15 Glide 92 99 Fly
HP Regen +1/minute
MP (+Bonus) 75/75 (+0) INT 23 0 23
MP Regen +2/minute
Skill Points Available 0
Stat Points Available 0
Experience Points 31/255
After I reached level 5 rabbits started giving me only 1 experience point, and there¡¯s no way I will hunt 200 more of those things for a measly level, it has nothing to do with the fact that they¡¯re basically extinct in the area and that I basically destroyed the ecosystem, I swear. A-anyways, I will now proceed to move further from the starter zone, I will pit myself against the mighty beasts that will appear! Hmm, there¡¯s 3 yellow dots on my minimap, that should be an intelligent species, I wonder if they can tell me where I can kill monsters to level up a bit or maybe another village so I can try that ¡®trading¡¯ thing Mr. System mentioned, although I have nothing on myself to trade for now. ¡°I¡¯m telling you, Mikey, we shouldn¡¯t have taken that quest to investigate the sudden disappearance of the starter village and the surrounding species of Wabbits, something that completely annihilated everything in its surroundings isn¡¯t something on the level we can deal with!¡± ¡°Oh don¡¯t be a chicken Larry, what kind of amazing existence would bother with a crappy village and a bunch of critters worth nothing.¡± ¡°Yeah Larry, grow up a pair man, I''m the one supposed to be the girl of the group you wuss!¡± ¡°Uh, g-guys? you reckon that yellow dot on the minimap is the thing that caused all this¡± ¡°well if it¡¯s yellow it shouldn¡¯t be hostile, maybe it¡¯s another person investigating¡± ¡°what not hostile Mike that¡¯s a fucking dragon!¡± ¡°what are you smoking Brie, no way there¡¯s a fu-WHAT THE HELL!¡± ¡°RUN! ¡®Windstep¡¯¡± ¡°RUN! ¡®Reduce Weight¡¯¡± ¡°Why is a dragon here? it¡¯s heading this way slowly, it hasn¡¯t noticed us yet it seems, get away now!¡± Some minutes before The yellow dots look like the human race from my world, they were some cool fellas, their booze tasted pretty good, although I never got what they called ¡®drunk¡¯. they are walking leisurely while approaching the area, I hope they didn¡¯t come to this place to visit their family, that would be pretty sad, with the village being no more and all that. they are looking this way, oh gosh I''ll look down for now lest I scare them with my mighty appearance. I¡¯ll just slowly approach them and smile when I''m close enough, don¡¯t ask how a dragon smiles, I just have to look to the side a little bit and- where¡¯d they go? they were here just a second ago¡­ man did that portal have something weird mixed in it? ah well, let¡¯s move in the direction they were coming from, that¡¯s probably the way to get near a human settlement. Walking walking dragon La-la-la, I''m the great dragon La-la-la, fear me cuz¡¯ I''m mighty La-la-la. hmm? that looks like the camp the humans came from, looks pretty rustic to me, there¡¯s just a bunch of huts and a campfire in the middle, are they nomads or just hobos? Jump now! ¡®Glide¡¯! ¡°Hey! nice to meet you guys, are you humans?¡± Some time before ¡°You morons! why did you not use ¡®Clairvoyance¡¯ to inspect the area before getting near! if what you saw was truly a dragon there¡¯s no way in hell it didn¡¯t see you! if it¡¯s aggressive we¡¯re all dead!¡± ¡°We are sorry chief, we didn¡¯t think something like a dragon would show in the starter village¡± (Mikey)If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. ¡°Please don¡¯t get mad grandpa, I''m sure everything will be okay!¡± (Brie) ¡°Like I will believe in your guys¡¯ judgment, we¡¯re moving the village somewhere else tomorrow, one thing is for sure, dragons are all lazy and like to sleep, it probably will take a few days to get near this area¡± (Chief). BOOM! ¡°What the hell is that!?¡± ¡°Hey! nice to meet you guys, are you humans?¡± Present ¡°it¡¯s a dragon!¡± ¡°Run for your lives!¡± ¡°Ahh!¡± huh, this isn¡¯t how I imagined it would play out. let¡¯s try calming them down for now¡­ ¡°SHUT UP AND LISTEN TO ME, YOU MORONS!¡± (Doraig) ¡°AHHHHH!¡± (Random villager) Well, there¡¯s that I guess, let¡¯s try this now. ¡®Intimidating Gaze¡¯ oh wow I didn¡¯t think a racial skill would be this good, 4 people passed out, 3 are leaking a yellow liquid and 1 is foaming off the mouth while unconscious, but the other 8 are standing still out of fear, I guess that works? Ahem. ¡°Listen, guys, I''m not hostile!¡± (Doraig) ¡°Please spare us!¡± (Random villager) ¡°Shush!¡± (Doraig) Ah. why did my breath cast itself just now? some consistency Mr. System! ¡°Ahh, Larry!¡± (Random villager #2) ¡°Sorry, didn¡¯t mean to do that, whoops¡± (Doraig) ¡°P-please Sir, we¡¯re not tasty at all, we don¡¯t have many valuable things here, we can be your servants as long as you-¡± (Chief) ¡°Hmm? no no I just wanted to ask for directions, I out leveled the rabbits in the starter area and me gotta farm something else to level up now, I really wanna get Fly- I mean, I really want to chase after the peak of the world!¡± (Doraig) ¡°I-is that really so?" "Hah..." "I-I''m really glad to hear that Sir dragon, you can ask us anything as long as we can answer we¡¯ll do so, you being happy is us being alive¡± (Chief) they don¡¯t seem to care about that guy I just disintegrated that much I think, works for me I guess. Later that day I''m currently in a foul mood, the reason you ask? well, first of all, they told me dragons are not permitted in villages! I''m so going to start a strike when I find some fellow brethren, that¡¯s xenophobic! that¡¯s racist! then to make matters worse I found out that if I want to find some of my fellow brethren I have to go across the ocean! how will I bring forth that strike on my own! dang, it! Oh, about the next place to farm? yeah, i¡¯ve formulated a route thanks to those villagers, at least for the moment I won''t get instantly killed by going somewhere too hard. while I''m speaking to you I''m approaching a place called ¡®Undead plains¡¯. They told me there are ¡®zombies¡¯ ¡®skeletal minions¡¯ and ¡®Specters¡¯ in that place. Although Specters are pretty dangerous for current old me it shouldn¡¯t be too bad since they are slow just like all the undead guys, so I should be alright. speaking of which, turn left! there¡¯s 1 specter in front and 2 to the right, I got here while lost in thought. for now, I''m going to farm ¡®zombies¡¯ and those ¡®skeletons¡¯, ah there¡¯s a zombie over there! ¡®Minor Destruction Breath!¡¯ hmm? it seems like it¡¯s a bit charred but still not dead, the bar above his head seems like ? red? it¡¯s coming my way now, cheeky bastard, fear my might! ¡®Minor Destruction Breath!¡¯
Experience Received
Received item: Rotten zombie meat (Trash)
Ohh! item get, I''m filthy rich now! Okay no not really, but why would I want rotten zombie meat? oh fine, I''ll just keep it in my inventory for now, it¡¯s not like I put the meat inside an actual bag along with everything else, that would be just gross. yes, I do have an inventory, but for some reason the snowy-deaths (rabbits) didn¡¯t drop their meat inside my inventory, you¡¯d think that actual food is more useful but that¡¯s a trash mob for you huh. the human I accidentally killed gave me 100 experience points, which seems like a lot, and it might seem like it was worth murdering everyone there, but the reason I didn¡¯t do some wanton slaughter is strictly in case there is some retarded skill that allows one to observe the past, you know? being as low key as possible while you¡¯re weak is survival 101, you know? or so said the villagers, and to be honest, it sounded pretty convincing. back on the topic of experience points, that zombie gave me 15 points so now I''m at 146/255 before I level up. Now, I know I said I wanted to fly as soon as possible but the villagers gave me a neat idea, which was to save 5 skill points and buy the skill ¡®Basic Red Inspect¡¯ which can give me some information on hostile life forms that exist in this world. after it levels up it can evolve into ¡®Medium Red Inspect¡¯ and then into ¡®Advanced Red Inspect¡¯. it never gets that strong, it just gives some basic information like the name of the lifeforms and maybe some of the more obvious looking weaknesses, those that are easily identifiable, but for poor old me that can¡¯t go to settlements of intelligent species it¡¯s pretty good, since I can¡¯t fit into a library, or read. Yes, I can read the system messages but I never bothered to learn the different written languages in my previous world, not interested in that kind of stuff, and I don''t think the written language is the same for both worlds so it wouldn''t have mattered anyways. and while I was speaking to myself a new challenger has arrived! dun dun dun! oh, that looks like a skeleton, hm? looks pretty bulky, I wonder if it was a big warrior while it was alive or just very fat. Ora! ¡®Minor Destruction Breath!¡¯ huh? that just took around 10% of its hp? crap crap crap crap! how is it so sturdy if it¡¯s just a skeleton, oh damn it¡¯s coming here! kite! ¡®Minor Destruction Breath!¡¯ kite! ¡®Minor Destruction Breath!¡¯ ¡­
Experience Received
Received Item: Horned Helmet (Enchanted Common)
Hmm? my first real drop! I feel like crying out of joy! let¡¯s see my new toy~
Horned Helmet (Enchanted Common) The helmet used by a [Lord] type ¡®Skeleton wrestler¡¯ Properties: Vitality+ 5 % Physical Defense + 5 Level Requirement: 1
nice! but can I even wear this?
Horned Helmet has been equipped
Ohh, looks neat!
Name Doraig Stat Base Bonus (%) Total Skill Name Current level Max Level Evolution
Race Dragon (Otherworldly) STR 12 0 12 Minor Destruction Breath 41 99 Intermediate Destruction Breath
Level 5 VIT 15 5 15.075 Intimidating Gaze (Racial bonus) 2 99 +Intimidating Voice (Racial bonus)
HP (+Bonus) 44/44 (+4) DEX 15 0 15 Glide 92 99 Fly
HP Regen +1.075/min
MP (+Bonus) 75/75 (+0) INT 23 0 23
MP Regen +2/minute
Skill Points Available 0
Stat Points Available 0
Experience Points 182/255
man, in moments like these I wish I had lips so I could whistle, but ah well, let¡¯s keep hunting! Chapter 3: Turning the corpses upside down! Chapter 3: Turning the corpses upside down! My style of fighting, for now, is extremely simple, I use my 15 points of dexterity to kite the monsters around, I shoot them with ¡®Minor Destruction Breath¡¯, which is currently my only ranged attack, for now at least. The plan, for now, is to keep fighting until I get ¡®Basic Red Inspect¡¯ and after that Evolve ¡®Glide¡¯ into ¡®Fly¡¯, that way the fact that monsters hit like a truck is a bit more forgiving, I''ve neglected VIT for now because the monsters at this area will completely one or two shot me, so, in the meanwhile, my best bet is ¡®if they can¡¯t hit you they can¡¯t kill you¡¯. This is another reason why for now it¡¯s best to keep a low profile. if an intelligent race finds me to be a problem or nuisance they can send an assassin, and my low vitality won¡¯t save me from an advanced skill until a get a hell of a lot more HP. When I''m done getting ¡®Fly¡¯ i plan to get myself an Area of effect skill so I can pull stronger mobs and kill them all together, but that won''t work until I can make sure it¡¯s possible to get away in case shit hits the fan. According to the information I managed to gather thanks to the villagers, the monsters in this zone are all at a point I should be able to deal with, the order of strength being Zombies > Skeletons > Specters. I use a breath attack on the Skeleton that has just shown up, this one looks like your regular one, having just a short saber and a worn down buckler. ¡®Minor Destruction Breath¡¯ into ¡®Minor Destruction Breath¡¯ and Boom!-
Experience Received
Not all monsters drop items when they die, but the quality of the items dropped depends on their level and the type they belong to, of which the villagers knew 4 of: Normal, Leader, Lord and finally King. Leaders usually have with them a small team of Normal type monsters, while Lords are for the most part on their own while having strength equal to a leader plus his team. King types are seen rarely, and they¡¯re always together with their own army, they give great items and a lot of experience but are hard to kill and to make things worse, they can buff their army and give them a raise to their stats. After spending the next 3 hours killing enemies so I could hit level 7, I''ve finally managed to get ¡®Basic Red Inspect¡¯, so let¡¯s take a look at this Zombie.
Human Zombie, an undead of the lowest class, weak to Light and started by Fire attacks. Normal type
hmm, pretty weak, I''d say that info is not all that useful since it¡¯s pretty obvious. ¡®Minor Destruction Breath¡¯
Experience Received
Received Item: Rotten zombie meat (Trash)
now let¡¯s take a look at this Skeleton 50 meters in front of me.
Humanoid Skeleton, and undead of the lowest class, weak to Light. Normal type
Oh? this one isn¡¯t startled by fire, I wonder if the zombie had something of a consciousness while this one doesn¡¯t. as you may have noticed, attacks have different types, like Fire, poison etc. my Breath attack is of the destruction type, which is especially strong against enemies with a physical body, while the arcane is strong against enemies that don¡¯t possess one of their own. ¡®Minor Destruction Breath¡¯
Experience Received
Received Item: Jade pendant (Common)
Hmm? Item get! let¡¯s take a look!
Jade Pendant (Common) A Worn out Jade Pendant Properties: Magic Defense +5 Level Requirement: 1
Oh Sweet! it¡¯s a bit worse than my helmet but this one can help me if I must fight against specters, thanks, Mr. Skeltal! this is how my status looks as of now:
Name Doraig Stat Base Bonus (%) Total Skill Name Current level Max Level Evolution
Race Dragon (Otherworldly) STR 12 0 12 Minor Destruction Breath 51 99 Intermediate Destruction Breath
Level 7 VIT 15 0 15 Intimidating Gaze (Racial bonus) 2 99 +Intimidating Voice (Racial bonus)
HP (+Bonus) 44/44 (+4) DEX 10 0 10 Glide 93 99 Fly
HP Regen +1/minute
MP (+Bonus) 101/125 (+0) INT 33 0 33 Basic Red Inspect 3 999 Medium Red Inspect
MP Regen +3/minute
Skill Points Available 0
Stat Points Available 0
Experience Points 36/575
If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. After killing 25 or so enemies while getting to level 7 I''ve gotten 2 sabers, a buckler and a lot of rotten meat and bones. both sabers are exactly the same but I can¡¯t use them nor can I use a buckler so they¡¯re pretty damn useless for me, maybe I can find a traveler to sell or exchange them?
Saber (Common) A Worn out Saber Properties: Physical Attack: 15-21 Level Requirement: 3
Buckler (Common) A Worn out Buckler Properties: Block Chance +28% Physical Defense: 5-8 Level Requirement: 3
Weapons have an attack stat which can be boosted by different skills, which boost the basic attack of the weapon by a set percentage, for example a cleave attack skill can be used to hit an enemy with 50% increased attack, doing between 22.5 and 31.5 points of damage, this damage is reduced by a flat amount depending on the Defensive items the counterpart possesses. For example, if I get attacked by a weapon for what would be 40 points of damage I would only receive 35 points thanks to my helmet, but if I were to use the buckler I would receive 27-30 points while having a 28% chance to block all of the damage. Of course, since I can¡¯t use shields I lose a huge advantage and thus my best option is to evade the attacks coming my way. Oh, there¡¯s a yellow dot on my minimap, let¡¯s take a look! Hmm? green guy? looks like an elf ¡°OOOOOOOI!¡± (Doraig) He¡¯s looking this way! Ah, he disappeared¡­ is that some form of stealth? ¡°What do you want¡± (Elf) ¡°ASHDAHSD¡± (Doraig) ¡°What. do. you. want¡± (Elf) ¡°Uh¡­ would you like to party?¡± (Doraig) Why is he looking at me like he¡¯s watching a mentally ill person? ¡°Um¡­ that way we can kill faster and get levels and items faster?¡± (Doraig) ¡°...¡± (Elf) Don¡¯t look at me like that! you¡¯ll make me blush!
Rize has sent you a party invite
Yay! ¡°So your name is Rize? are you an elf?¡± ¡°Yes¡± (Rize) So I guess he¡¯s not a chatterbox huh¡­ ¡°Why is a dragon in the L¡¯arc Continent? and in the Undead plains of all places, you¡¯re pretty damn weak, too¡± (Rize) Do you need to be that harsh¡­ ¡°Umm, I found a portal near my cave and wanted to explore, it sent me to this continent of all places¡± (Doraig) ¡°A portal connecting 2 continents? those things are pretty hard to make and you probably used up all of the energy it took to set up, you probably pissed someone off on the other side (LOL)¡± (Rize) ¡°Probably, yeah, but I mean that thing didn¡¯t have any signs hung so I just assumed it was a sli- I mean, I didn¡¯t think it was connecting 2 continents and just assumed it was a natural occurrence¡± (Doraig) ¡°...¡± (Rize) Oh, he doesn¡¯t seem to want to keep talking. We continued to walk further inside the area, Rize has the skill ¡®Stealth¡¯ which seems to be the racial bonus of the elven race, granting them the potential to be excellent assassins and rogues, by the way, Humans¡¯ racial skill is an interesting one, it¡¯s called ¡®Unity¡¯ which grants them strength when fighting with their kin against other races, but is ineffective when fighting their own, it¡¯s pretty neat and seems to promote them sticking together. in this way we¡¯ve managed to kill enough monsters for me to hit level 10, so now I can finally fly! I take off to scout ahead and notice a collapsed shrine in the middle of the plains, and there¡¯s a bit of red mist in the area surrounding it, let¡¯s see what Rize thinks of it. ¡°you probably saw the ¡®death shrine¡¯, there¡¯s a monolith inside which converts corpses around it into different undead and stores the souls of the¡­¡± he¡¯s surprisingly eager to teach, huh. Many hours later.. so in short, whenever a humanoid species dies near this area, their soul gets sucked into the monolith, gets transformed and goes back to turn the corpse into a zombie. When the zombie dies it gets sent to the monolith again to be transformed into a skeleton soldier. when it gets killed again it becomes a Specter and when it dies for a third (fourth) time, the soul becomes free and enters the cycle of reincarnation once more. it seems the only reason the L¡¯arc continent doesn¡¯t deal with the death shrines is because they make for great leveling places. that¡¯s pretty neat, but I wonder who put the death shrines in the continent in the first place? "hey, Rize? and why is the mist forming a vortex and there''s black clouds gathering?" (Doraig) "Well, that''s because- WHAT?" (Rize) "Huh?" (Doraig) Okay, maybe we should worry a little bit. Chapter 4: 2 men vs an army Chapter 4: 2 men vs an army ¡°Rize?¡± (Doraig) why do you seem so excited? doesn''t this seem like the apocalypse is descending upon us or something? your eyes are sparkling, dude! ¡°It¡¯s a king type! a king is going to appear! this is our chance to strike it rich, but you have to fly us up while I shoot with my bow¡± (Rize) holy crap, my first confrontation against a king! wait, don''t those pop out with a big ass army next to them? ¡°umm okay!¡± (Doraig) I grab Rize who sits on my back and take off, in the distance I see a whole lot of skeletons popping out of the shrine, the whole area looks white with the amount coming out of there! Rize takes aim and uses a skill called ¡®rain of arrows¡¯ followed by ¡®volley¡¯
Experience Received
Experience Received
Experience Received
Experience Received
Experience Received
Experience Received
...
Holy shit! that was how many? one more of those and I will level up! ¡°Dodge!¡± (Rize) Hey, don¡¯t pull my neck! ¡°Pay attention you derp or you¡¯ll get us both killed!¡± (Rize) by the way what was that? it looked like a green moon! Is it that thing? holy cow it¡¯s a grim reaper, it¡¯s a literal grim reaper wearing a robe and using a massive 2 handed sickle! ¡°one more combo! Stabilize yourself!¡± (Rize)
Experience Received
Experience Received
Experience Received
Experience Received
Experience Received
Level up: 10 -> 11
¡°Archers!¡± (Rize) what? Ouch!
HP received damage, HP 44 -> 10
¡°MOOOOOOROOOOOOON!¡± (Rize) Crap crap crap crap, fly away! into that cave! ¡°Haaa- that hurts like hell¡± (Doraig) ¡°Stay still¡± (Rize) Rize casts basic heal on me but UGH! the moment he took off the arrow it hurt like a motherf- ¡°Why¡¯d you kick me, man!¡± (Doraig) ¡°you moron almost got both of us killed! now pay more attention to the ground¡± (Rize) ¡°yessir!¡± (Doraig) is this guy a drill sergeant? we check the outside of the cave, and after quickly disposing of the 2 nearby skeletons we take off once more! this time I pay proper attention to what¡¯s going on on the ground and thus manage to dodge the archers and sickle attacks without too many problems, I''m really glad I took the skill points necessary to evolve glide! After 2 more of Rize¡¯s combos I level up once more, and finally, take a look at my status:
Name Doraig Stat Base Bonus (%) Total Skill Name Current level Max Level Evolution
Race Dragon (Otherworldly) STR 12 0 12 Minor Destruction Breath 76 99 Intermediate Destruction Breath
Level 12 VIT 15 5 15.75 Intimidating Gaze (Racial bonus) 2 99 +Intimidating Voice (Racial bonus)
HP (+Bonus) 38/44 (+4) DEX 20 0 20 Fly 5 99 +Aerial Mastery
HP Regen +1.075/minute
MP (+Bonus) 175/175 (+0) INT 43 0 43 Basic Red Inspect 3 999 Medium Red Inspect
MP Regen +4/minute
Skill Points Available 6
Stat Points Available 10
Experience Points 40/4375
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon. I put all my stat points into vitality and raise my hp from 44 to 96.5, so now I can take a bit of damage albeit not too much. ¡°what level are you right now Rize?¡± (Doraig) ¡°I hit level 12 two combos ago, and you?¡± (Rize) ¡°I hit level 12 just now¡± (Doraig) ¡°then it¡¯s time for the big boss, skeletons give reduced EXP once you get to level 12¡± (Rize) ¡°Hai Sir!¡± (Doraig)
¡°okay here¡¯s the plan, you get close to the boss, take a quick descent into the zone, I jump off your back and shoot a volley of arrows on the skeletons around the king, opening the way for you to cast a bunch of Destruction breaths¡± (Rize) ¡°that¡­ sounds dangerous!¡± (Doraig) ¡°Let¡¯s go!¡± (Rize) ¡°Ugh¡± (Doraig) let¡¯s see, there are 20 or so archers in the immediate vicinity of the boss, not too bad, but I have to really make an effort if I want to evade the sickle attack at that distance! I close in while raising my height, and when I reach 150 meters from the floor and I''m right above the reaper I begin my descent! at the 4 meter mark off the floor, I turn my body and use all my might and dexterity to halt my descent, stopping just a foot from stamping my face on the ground! Rize jumps off my back and casts a volley followed by another volley, instantly obliterating all the skellies around the boss, I then proceed to cast my own burst of damage! ¡®Minor Destruction Breath!¡¯ ¡®Minor Destruction Breath!¡¯ ¡®Minor Destruction Breath!¡¯ ¡®Minor Destruction Breath!¡¯ ¡®Minor Destruction Breath!¡¯ ¡®Minor Destruction Breath!¡¯ ¡®Minor Destruction Breath!¡¯ ¡®Minor Destruction Breath!¡¯ ¡®Minor Breastruction- I mean, Minor Destruction Breath!¡¯ that¡¯s it! I¡¯m completely dry out of mana, is it deader than it was yet? I can¡¯t see anything with this amount of fog and dirt! ¡°Not yet!¡± (Rize) Rize takes aim and shoots a final arrow, and like that, the king dies before being able to bring destruction to the area, and all the surrounding skeletons seem to have broken down as well!
Experience Received
Level up: 12 -> 13
Received Item: The Undying (Unique)
Nice! I got the robe, and it looks like Rize got the sickle, that thing was freaking strong!
The Undying (Unique) The Robe used by the Ceremonial Reaper. Allows the user to cast the skill ¡®Aura of death¡¯ once a week Properties: Physical Defense +20 Aura of Death (Cooldown: 0d 0h 0s) Level Requirement: 12
¡°Rize, do you know what the skill ¡®Aura of death¡¯ does?¡± ¡°Ah? no clue.¡± (Rize) you¡¯re so into your new weapon man¡­ what do I do? it sounds awesome but extremely dangerous and I can only use it once a week¡­ Ah, whatever let¡¯s give it a shot! Ei! ¡®Aura of death¡¯ Rumble Ohh shit, something is happening! HOLY SHIT! all the skeletons are raising back up! is this a farming tool? wait, no¡­ I feel some kind of connection to the skeletons? Oh nice, I can control them!
Aura of death has been activated, time left: 30 minutes
After Rize gave me a weird look of fear, followed by a low kick and me giving an apologetic smile because I startled him, I proceed to play with the skeletons, and when the time finally ran out all of them turned into dust that flew off in the distance.
Aura of death has run out of time, Cooldown time: 7d 0hr 0min
man, this thing is sick, a shame I can only use it once a week, though. ¡°So what does your sickle do?¡± (Doraig) ¡°it does exactly what the grim reaper did, it shoots crescent moon shaped projectiles which deal destruction damage¡± (Rize) wow, that¡¯s sick, this guy just won the lottery! ¡°so what now? we can¡¯t really keep farming here now that we hit the cap level of this area¡± (Doraig) ¡°me? I''m going back to my village to make sure everyone is alright and to show them I''m okay, the clouds and vortex should have been visible from there, they are probably shitting their pants as we speak¡± (Rize) ¡°C-can I go with you?¡± (Doraig) ¡°Of course you can¡¯t come, you want them to have a heart attack on top of it all?¡± (Rize) after giving him the puppy eyes to no avail I proceed to stealthily follow Rize back to his village.
after following him for a while and almost losing sight of him a few times, a small citadel shows itself in front of me, it¡¯s surrounded by massive 10-meter tall walls and there¡¯s a castle in the middle of it all, this is completely not the image I had of an elven village! this is NOT a village Rize! I''ve gotta think of a way to inconspicuously get inside, man do I wish I had stealth like Rize¡­
Meanwhile inside the citadel ¡°Father, I''m back¡± (Rize) ¡°Rizzy boy, you¡¯re fine! I was about to mobilize the whole militia to get you back safe¡± (??) ¡°you¡¯re such a worry brother, you almost got a quarter of the population killed with that little act of yours¡± (???) ¡°How¡¯s mother?¡± (Rize) ¡°Same as before you left, she still hasn¡¯t awoken¡± (???) ¡°Did you at least manage to get it?¡± (??) ¡°I failed, the wrong guy popped out of the monolith, I don¡¯t think this one is high enough¡± (Rize) ¡°I see¡± (??) ¡°Haa¡­¡± (???) ¡°by the way, how did you manage to kill that thing so quickly?¡± (??) ¡°I found an interesting guy who helped me out¡± (Rize) ¡°an interesting guy? where is he?¡± (??) ¡°He¡¯s outside, I wanted to tell you of him before bringing him here but he followed me anyways, he should be near¡± (Rize) ¡°is he a Murloc or something?¡± (???) ¡°A dragon¡± (Rize) ¡°oh, it¡¯s just a- a dragon!?¡± (??) ¡°how the hell did you manage to party up with a dragon, no, how the hell did you FIND a dragon in the middle of the Undead plains!¡± (???) ¡°well¡­ he¡¯s interesting¡± (Rize) ¡°go fetch him, I want to take a look at the weirdo¡± (???) ¡°I¡¯ll Bring him here now¡± (Rize)
Back to our guy So I probably shouldn¡¯t try the surprise surprise strategy that almost got the villagers killed last time, but what should I do? I''m not sure I can just go and knock the door¡­ damn it, if I could use Aura of death I could just summon an army of skellies and make it seem like I save the day and boom, everyone loves the dragon hero! Ugh! ¡°Oi¡± (Rize) ¡°AH!¡± (Doraig) ¡°Calm down, come with me¡± (Rize) ¡°Hmph, I thought you didn''t want your people to see my ugly face, not going, mate!¡± (Doraig) ¡°Are you coming or not?¡± (Rize) Yeesh, you''re not a woman, you don''t have play hard to get bro, could have just told me to tag along from the start. ¡°Coming!¡± (Doraig) ¡°...maybe this wasn¡¯t the best idea¡± (Rize) I feel like I just heard something unpleasant, oh well, first time I''m going into a city while in this new world! Chapter 5: What we put our life on the line for Chapter 5: What we put our life on the line for A marvelous City opens up in front of, to my left a marketplace where all the commoners buy goods, to my right the housing area, a water well and a statue resembling a person I don¡¯t know but who looks somewhat similar to Rize. in front of me a big-ass castle with 4 watchtowers, one at each corner of the castle. this is the first city I''ve entered since coming to this world! ¡°So this is the weirdo?¡± (???) what¡¯s with this little snot taking me away from my appreciation of the beauty that is life! ¡°what¡¯s with this little snot taking me away from my appreciation of the beauty that is life!¡± (Doraig) ¡°don¡¯t call other people¡¯s little sisters ¡®little snot¡¯¡± (Rize) hey, don¡¯t glare at me little girl, you called me weirdo didn¡¯t you? ¡°Ahem, my name is Doraig, how are you called little twerp?¡± (Doraig) ¡°I''m called Clara, you big ass 4 legged lizardman¡± (Clara) ¡°Hah¡­¡± (Rize) ¡°It¡¯s a pleasure to meet you, Mythic Dragon Doraig¡± (??) Woah, old man, don¡¯t pop out of nowhere! ¡°And you are?¡± (Doraig) ¡°I am Rize¡¯s father, Yaksha¡± (Yaksha) Yaksha? weird name. ¡°nice to meet you, Senior¡± (Doraig) ¡°The pleasure is mine, Doraig¡± (Yaksha) and so here¡¯s the question. ¡°Are we dating or something, Rize? why¡¯d you bring me to meet your family¡± (Doraig) ¡°...Follow me to the castle¡± (Rize) Uh... sure why not. I follow Rize and his family to the castle, and then proceed to fly around to a window Rize points to me, because of course, I''m big, not fat, and don''t fit into the castle¡¯s door, and I stay put in place waiting for Rize to come and open the window. On the other side of the window, there¡¯s a big bedroom with a massive bed in which lays an emaciated old lady. Rize is here, he opens the window and I get inside the castle. ¡°So why are we in your grandma¡¯s chambers?¡± (Doraig) ¡°This is my mother, Lara¡± (Rize) ¡°Your mother? for an elf to look like that she must be around 600 years, but you don¡¯t look older than 200 yourself, and there¡¯s no way the snot is older than 50¡± (Doraig) ¡°She¡¯s 511 years old, and there¡¯s a reason why she looks like this¡± (Rize) I tilt my head to express my confusion, and the timely answer arrives. ¡°She fell in love with my father, one of the 9 generals of hell¡± (Rize)Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation. wait did he just say the 3 words ¡®General of hell¡¯? that sounds like an extremely big secret right there dude! after gasping for breath due to my surprise, Rize proceeds with his tale. ¡°When they met, my father was in an infiltration mission to plot the assassination of the human Emperor of this continent, for which 500 years ago he put his soul in the body of a newborn elf, specifically, the son of their previous king¡± ¡°When he was 20 years old he attended a nobles¡¯ party and met my mother, he then instantly fell in love with her but he was extremely devoted to the demon king and did not want to falter on his mission, which would have brought ruin to this continent and become the base of operations for the demon king to conquer this world and only after being in pain for another 20 years old did he finally succumb to love and begin to court her.¡± ¡°He succeeded in his attempt and 60 years later I was born. that same year my father turned his back on the demon king, taking the lead on a massive war which brought ruin to countless lives and created the Undead plains in the process¡± ¡°When he was 200 years old the demon king again attempted to strike the continent, this war again resulted in massive amounts of lives being thrown into oblivion, forever being neglected from entering the cycle of reincarnation. at that time my grandpa, the previous king, perished.¡± ¡°My father succeeded the throne, became the king and lead a final clash against the demons, resulting in our victory against them once more.¡± ¡°Unknowingly, the king-type that descended at that time put a curse on my mother, which triggered the moment my little sister was born.¡± ¡°Since then she has been weakening and is now on the verge of death, she will probably hold out for another 6 or 7 years at most¡± ¡°And the only way to save her is to kill one of the demon king¡¯s general, the queen of specters, Rangda, in this way obtaining her mask which has the effect of protecting against all curses under the world¡± ¡°This is why I was at the Undead plains on that day, and why I was so happy to see a king make its appearance¡± ¡°So Doraig, I beg of you, please help me save my mother¡± ¡°...¡± what should I say when you tell me all this, isn¡¯t this an extremely big weight on your shoulders you want to share with me, man? ¡°I refuse¡± (Doraig) ¡°what?¡± (Rize) don¡¯t put that face man, this is a burden you should deal with on your own, but that said¡­ ¡°but I won¡¯t refuse if you want to tag along while I level up¡± (Doraig) ¡°I will! of course I will!¡± (Rize) yes, this is how it should be, your problems are your own to solve, but a helping hand does not invalidate the efforts you¡¯ve put into it so far. ¡°Now that we¡¯re clear on that, let me ask you a few questions Rize¡± (Doraig) ¡°Yes, go ahead man¡± (Rize) ¡°Why do you and your sister look so young? you mentioned you¡¯re around 400 hundred years old and your sister is much older than just 50 years, right?¡± (Doraig) ¡°Yes, that is because my father originally has the soul of a demonic general, which merged with his elven body and thus he, as well as we who are his kin, receive larger lifespans. all said and done you and me should have about equal lifespans¡± (Rize) ¡°And my other question is, why did you wait so long to hit the Undead plains area? there¡¯s no way you should be only at the level you¡¯re at¡± (Doraig) ¡°That¡¯s because there are 2 restrictions put in place for a king to appear at a specific Area: the level restriction of the species attempting the zone, and the cooldown and revival time¡± ¡°This Undead plains is restricted to level 15 and if anyone above that level enters the king won''t appear¡± ¡°Similarly, the king has an internal cooldown, that is to say, the king takes a set time to revive in hell so he can come and strike the zone he has been assigned¡± ¡°Before, I didn''t level up because I was assigned the task of being the one to block the Undead plains from breaking its constraints when the king appears, but when the curse befell my mother I had no other choice but to give it a go, and while I was preparing to have the King show up, you showed up first¡± (Rize) ¡°I see, so that¡¯s why you seemed weird when you were holding the sickle¡± (Doraig) Hmm, that¡¯s about all I want to know I think. ¡°Hmm? wait, why do you have the elven racial skill if your father granted you with part of his demon soul heritage?¡± (Doraig) ¡°Ahh, my sister got the demon¡¯s one, I got the elven one, I think it was random¡± (Rize) Hmm I see, I don¡¯t really care what snot¡¯s racial skill is, though, she¡¯s not coming with us anyways. ¡°Well then, when are we setting off?¡± (Doraig) ¡°Let¡¯s see, we have 2 months before the next demon zone can spawn a king, which should be doable at around level 15, so we can have a week of rest and then set off to the next zone ¡®Hellhound lava zone¡¯¡± (Rize) ¡°Hm, sounds good. then let the town¡¯s people know I''m here so they don''t freak out and stain the ground with weird matter¡± (Doraig) ¡°...Can¡¯t you just rest quietly in the castle?¡± (Rize) ¡°No way in hell I will miss out on THIS much fun man!¡± (Doraig) ¡°...¡± (Rize) And hopefully, I can find some booze to quench my thirst! ¡°I¡¯ll see what I can do¡­¡± (Rize) Woohoo! Doraigs past (Extra chapter #1) Doraig''s past (Extra chapter #1) I was alone the moment I was born, no siblings or parents anywhere to be found. at first, I ate the egg I was born from as my instincts told me; once it was gone I tried a variety of things growing on trees; sometimes they would taste sweet, other times they''d be sour, maybe one day I would be sick but the next day I would be okay. I knew I had to eat to be alive, as I knew I had to drink liquids. instincts are an amazing thing, they allow a newborn to survive without previous knowledge, but at the same time, they provide a life form with the worst part of the survival instinct, the will to kill to live. I was 10 weeks old at that time, it was a sunny day and I was happily gnawing on some fruit I found an hour before, at that moment, 2 adventurers found me. I did not know what they said, nor did I know what they were. the only life forms I had met before that point were the occasional squirrel or bird, which didn¡¯t approach me, I believe their instincts told them I was different compared to them, my race is like that. I was curious, and here¡¯s the pitfall of instincts, if you¡¯re a race that isn¡¯t normally preyed upon by ants, you won''t fear the ants at a subconscious level. but at that moment, I knew what fear was. they attacked me, and I evaded but got hurt in the process. then came the first time I used my breath skill. I obliterated the first adventurer, the second one yelled at me and with his eyes red he rushed at me with his sword, wishing to stab me to avenge his comrade, maybe they were family, maybe they were just trying to feed their family. But I couldn¡¯t allow myself to die, so I cast the second one. that was the first time I killed something. I then became cautious of my surroundings, I would pay attention to what was around me, it¡¯s not that I was afraid of being hurt, but my instincts told me it was beneath my status to kill the ants. the same day I became 4 years old I met her, a human child was lost on the forest crying. I approached her because if you told me she was dangerous I would not believe you, she was completely different when compared to the 2 bulky guys I had met years and months before. the moment she saw my figure she yelped in surprise, before laughing giving me the most radiant smile I had ever seen in my life. we looked for fruits and I purposefully chose the ones that tasted the sweetest to give her, after all, she was the first thing that didn¡¯t either run from me or try to attack me. while we were happily gnawing on fruit ¡®teacher¡¯ found us, he was a middle-aged man with a few gray hairs growing. I did not want to leave her side, the side of my first friend. she extended my hand, and I''m really glad teacher did not object. I followed them to a little house distanced from everything else, it was on the other side of the mountain I was living in.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. I started living with them and slowly grew up. I bit by bit started recognizing words, and one day teacher brought back a picture book, that was when I finally knew what I was, that I was a dragon. the day I said my first word was the day teacher started to have me learn how to speak and then started to teach me about the world I lived in. Honestly, I did not like that world, I only enjoyed the company of little girl and teacher. The Little girl was the little girl, the teacher was the teacher. The teacher called the little girl ¡®Child¡¯, while little girl called teacher ¡®Mister¡¯. of course, those weren¡¯t their real names, but that didn¡¯t matter, they just supported each other and names became trivial. in that way, I called her little girl and him teacher. in that way 20 years happened, the little girl became a woman, and teacher became an old man. 10 more years went by and I was still a child dragon by that point because although dragons live for an extremely long time, we age proportionally to our lifetime. Teacher had aged, and finally, he died. Humans don¡¯t live for long, after all. we put teacher on the bed he gave his last breath at, and cremated him using the house we spent the last 20 years as fuel. that day I decided to forgive the rest of the human race because I finally understood, not all humans are bad. I left the little house with the now adult woman, and we traveled east. since I never met my parents I couldn¡¯t learn how to fly, birds and dragons do not fly in the same way and drawings could only give me the hints necessary for me to be able to glide. we reached one of the many towns of that world, and I must say, humans, are very adaptable. They freaked out for a bit, but didn¡¯t outright attack us, because I thankfully was still small at that time. we stayed at that village for a year, and I met many humans who had never seen a dragon before, the human curiosity can overcome the fear of the unknown and I am very glad that is like so. Little girl had become a beautiful woman, so she was bound to meet a man. humans live for a very short time, so they spend half of their life searching for a person to share the other half with. She was like so as well. I didn¡¯t blame her for deciding to settle, how could I? I can easily live for two thousand years, after all. thankfully they let me stay with them in that village. and so like that, another 50 years happened. Little girl couldn¡¯t have kids, she was infertile because of the accident that lead to her distancing from the world along with Teacher. she had no descendants, and just like that, her bloodline disappeared. that was the day I was alone once more, but I didn¡¯t fear the world anymore. at that time I became an adolescent dragon. I left the village to travel around the kingdom, and it¡¯s funny how things work out because weak humans are greedy, and strong humans had no reason to hunt us and provoke a full-fledged war against the dragon race, I didn¡¯t have a hard time living. I never went to look for my kin, because I was alright on my own, and they would probably scorn me for being different than them. I traveled around that kingdom and became famous. I was an ally to the human race and could have fun and enjoy life with them. that lasted for a full 100 years. when dragons go from adolescence into adulthood, they must hibernate to transform into the adult dragon form. I wish they would have told me it would last for so long. when I felt like I was going to begin my transformation, I found a small cave and set up camp. I did not know that I would sleep for 200 years. the moment I woke up everything had changed. the kingdom I was fond of had disappeared, everyone I knew had died, I had no connection to anyone, and thus I decided to live alone from that moment on, cherishing the memories until I had the guts to face my kin. and just like that, another 200 years went by in a flash. on that day, I wanted to take a refreshing bath, and my new life began. Chapter 6: Getting the whole citadel drunk Chapter 6: Getting the whole citadel drunk It took 2 days for Rize and his father to let the locals know of my presence and reassure them it¡¯s alright to have me here, but finally... ¡°Alright Rize, lead the way Brother!¡± (Doraig) ¡°Fine¡­¡± (Rize) We walk for a little bit and this seems to be the first stop. ¡°A food stall, Aha!¡± (Doraig) ¡°Hmm? you know of these? (Rize) ¡°Welcome back Rize, is this the dragon your father talked to us about at the conference?¡± (???) ¡°This is my new companion, Doraig. we¡¯re going to level up together from now on¡± (Rize) ¡°Yo uncle, nice to meet you!¡± (Doraig) ¡°What a funny guy with a scary face!¡± (??) ¡°Who you calling scary, I''m the cutest dragon in the continent¡± (Doraig) ¡°I don¡¯t know anymore what¡¯s going on in this guy¡¯s head¡­¡± (Rize) "Uncle! give me one of those things and a beer!¡± (Doraig) "One Brisket and beer coming out!" (???) ¡°You drink?¡± (Rize) ¡°Why wouldn¡¯t I, I am an adult!¡± (Doraig) Hmm¡­ I think I prefer the one humans make ¡°you got something stronger uncle? you¡¯re 3 steps behind the one the humans gave me!¡± (Doraig) ¡°now you¡¯ve said it!, prepare to not be able to wake up for 5 days!¡± (???) ¡°Bring it on!¡± (Doraig) Ha-ah¡­ these guys really can¡¯t handle their alcohol, I wonder if I will ever find a proper drinking partner¡­ ¡°By the way, you don¡¯t drink booze Rize?¡± (Doraig) ¡°I don¡¯t really enjoy the taste of beer¡± (Rize) ¡°well then, once you release the curse on your momma we¡¯ll head to the humans, we¡¯ll see if they have the good stuff!¡± (Doraig) ¡°Umm¡­ I''d rather not to be honest¡± (Rize) ¡°oh come you wuss! you¡¯re missing on your other half! but you have to talk to the humans so they let me into their kingdom!¡± (Doraig) ¡°so that was your objective¡­¡±(Rize) ¡°I have absolutely no clue what yer talking about!¡± (Doraig) Change the topic! ¡°Alright then, let¡¯s go! now take me to one of those open baths I hear the elves are famous for!¡± (Doraig)This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. ¡°you¡¯re squeezing me dry now¡­¡± ¡°Ah come on don¡¯t be such a miser, we¡¯ll have enough money once we sell all the items we received while we were in the Undead Plains¡± (Doraig) ¡°You have half of that¡­ can¡¯t you pay it yourself¡± (Rize) ¡°Wow dude, I didn¡¯t know you were this greedy!¡± (Doraig) ¡°...¡± (Rize) ¡°let¡¯s go!¡± (Doraig) Oh my me! now, THIS is what I was talking about! this is ON PAR with the slime baths! booyah! ¡°... you barely fit inside the bath¡± (Rize) ¡°Don¡¯t sweat the small stuff man¡± (Doraig) ¡°So Doraig, why are you so familiar with the human and elven culture? you don¡¯t seem surprised at any of this stuff¡± (Rize) that¡¯s¡­ ¡°I... used to live with 2 great people, they teach me a lot of things and introduced me to human society¡± (Doraig) ¡°I see, no wonder¡± (Rize) ¡°Hmm?¡± (Doraig) ¡°it¡¯s nothing¡± (Rize) I know what you¡¯re worried about ¡°it¡¯s okay, I''m used to it by now¡± (Doraig) ¡°that¡¯s good then¡± (Rize) ¡°Doraig?¡± (Rize) ¡°Yeah?¡± (Doraig) ¡°Thank you.¡± (Rize)
After the open bath, we head to weapon market! The weapon market is a fundamental part of this city¡¯s economy, and because of that, it spans a total of 1 acre of area, in which there are many people doing different smithing jobs, among these, there are Weaponsmiths, Leatherworkers, Armorsmiths, Bowyers and so on. to make things easier for ourselves we grab the best of each field and dump everything on a big table inside the castle. here¡¯s the list of items we¡¯re selling: Iron Bow (Common) x15 Buckler (Common) x9 Saber (Common) x22 Iron Helmet (Common) x11 Iron Shoulder Pads (Common) x9 Iron Dagger (Common) x10 Iron Greaves (Common) x5 and the ones that are more valuable but are still unusable by either of us are the following: Bone Shield (Enchanted Common) x2 Bone Bow (Enchanted Common) x1 Copper Dagger (Uncommon) x1 Well, Rize¡¯s Bow is a Rare, and for melee combat, he has an Uncommon Kukri which he feels more comfortable with compared to the copper dagger. i can¡¯t use most items save for helmet, shoulder pads and a necklace, that is, until I reach a level where I can find wyverns and skeletal dragons and they start dropping armor usable by my race, but anyways, since I''m only missing the shoulder pads Rize¡¯s father is going to lend me a pair of Rare ones which I obviously have to treasure. with everything sold Yaksha can have some more leeway on the weaponry of his army and we receive our expected pay, so everyone wins and we move onto our final stop! ¡°To the Banquet! party¡± (Doraig) yes! to celebrate our win over the Ceremonial Reaper and to wish us luck on our travel, Yaksha has decided to give us the parting gift of a big-ass banquet in which every Citizen participates. The ceremony begins with Yaksha¡¯s opening speech: ¡°Everyone! today is a very special day!¡± ¡°Today is the day my son will begin his march to reach the pinnacle, the day in which he and the Dragon Doraig will begin their quest to save my wife and also to defeat however many kings it takes to do so! they¡¯re brave men and so I want everyone to share this moment with us, because every member of this citadel is part of the resistance against the demons! every single one of you forms part of our effort to have our race, the continent''s inhabitants, and to have our legacy stay afloat!¡¯¡± ¡°And so this is why I thank all of you, and at the same time, wish the best to my son and our friend, Doraig!¡± ¡°Now please, enjoy the food and the music. Let¡¯s have the demon king hear us and have him roar in anger at our joy!¡± (Yaksha) ¡°Oou!¡± And this is how my first party began. I thank you for this opportunity, whoever let me come into this world! people danced, laughed and talked of their dreams. they drank until the bloated, ate until the could not move anymore and then drank a little more! the little snot was dancing and partying and it looks like she was having a great time, at some point she started chatting with some noble¡¯s son and then disappeared to who knows where. Yaksha is going to become a demon really soon I think. The party lasted for 2 days and 2 nights, and on the morning of the 3rd day, when it seemed as if a storm had come and gone, the party finally ended. I have no clue at which point Rize started to drink up, but I can see his body dropped on the floor 5 meters away from me. even Yaksha is sleeping with a massive grin on his face while his stomach is as big as the guy next to him. I pick up Rize and I overhear him saying this ¡°I''m sorry¡± This kid¡­ Well, it doesn¡¯t matter what happens, I¡¯ll be there to either help you or stop you, Brother! As for now, it¡¯s about time we get going. And so I pick up some booze to put in my inventory before setting off with Rize sleeping on my back, Destination: Parlor Town! I float above the Citadel to give it a last view, in this place, there are people who¡¯ve come to accept my existence as something which can coexist with them, so if I have to power to do so, I do want to help out Rize against the Demon army. But I will not tell this to the guy sleeping on my back, because I still don¡¯t know his true intentions or the meaning of his words. I''ll keep watching and see what happens but for now, I''ll choose to believe in him and help him be strong enough to save his parents. Sometimes I wonder, why did my kin leave me behind on that day? Well, no use in thinking about that, I''m not in that world anymore and there¡¯s no way to tell if I will ever go back. With that thought put on the back of my head I turn around and fly west, to Parlor town. Chapter 7: A dramatic entrance Chapter 7: A dramatic entrance The world known to the people in this place is formed by the L¡¯arc continent, where are at right now, and a continent filled with dragons and its variations- the Darki continent, a continent filled with massive mountains, the shortest mountain being as tall as the 10 tallest mountains in the L¡¯arc continent put together. the dragons in that continent mostly live in small 2 to 3 dragon families and each family have control over a mountain. there are no kingdoms unlike in the L¡¯arc continent. Until the previous war against the demons, there were 6 kingdoms in this place, each belonging to a different race: The Elven kingdom, managed by Yaksha which suffered the biggest losses stopped being called ¡®Kingdom¡¯ after being reduced to a citadel¡¯s worth of population. The Human kingdom, managed by the self-called Emperor Markson VI is by far the biggest kingdom in this continent, having under its wing ? of the territory suitable for life, around 1 part out 9 of the land in the continent. The Murloc kingdom, which has its inhabitants living in the seashore areas in both the L¡¯arc and Darki continents, along with the sea in between these two. they have by far the biggest population, but the Murlocs, having no enemies and no need to fight for land don¡¯t have any major conflicts with other races. The Beastmen have no land to call their own anymore, their whole race is now acting as a company specialized in trading wares all over the continent. The Naga and Lizardmen are fairly new evolved races with a very short history and as a result, a very small territory, yet they share grief and joy and live and die for each other. that said, though, their territory is still bigger than the elves¡¯ even if their culture is not as advanced. Many other races exist in the continent but most stay hidden, for example, the vampires, who hide inside of the human kingdom, or the Karfi, white quadrupedal beasts covered in fur who live in the snow lands at the south, which are inhabitable by any other evolved race. While speaking to myself this guy wakes up. ¡°Ugh¡­ How long was I gone for? Hmm? aAH!¡± (Rize) ¡°Chill son, you were passed out for a good 3 hours or so, glad you didn¡¯t puke on my back, or fall to your death by rolling around¡± (Doraig) ¡°...¡± (Rize) ¡°...¡± (Doraig) ¡°So¡­ to Parlor town. Remember, wait for me to get you a pass and notify the city guard because I''d gladly avoid running all over the place while trying to fix up the misunderstanding¡± (Rize) ¡°...fine.¡± (Doraig) Man, aren¡¯t there any skills to transform into a bipedal species? this is getting annoying.
Skill Points Insufficient: Transmogrification - 150 skill points necessary
Wow fuck that, not even going to bother. ¡°Oh yeah Rize, I still have some skill points available, any suggestions?¡± (Doraig) ¡°Well, you¡¯re pretty much going to be the dedicated ranged DPS mage, maybe a barrier?¡± Hmm let''s see, Mr. System how much for a Magic Barrier?
Skill Points Insufficient: Magic Barrier - 35 skill points necessary
¡°No can¡¯t do, need 35 but got 9. Can¡¯t get it anytime soon¡± (Doraig) ¡°...Damn glass cannon dragon, how does that even make sense¡± (Rize) ¡°Hey! watch the words bro, you think I was used to fighting all over the place before we met?¡± (Doraig) ¡°Well, I don¡¯t really know all that much about you but whatever¡­ How about an Area of effect skill? Meteor shower or something similar¡± Hmm, that sounds freaking awesome, I might hit Rize or someone else though with something like that¡­ how about a 45-degree volley breath?
Skill Points sufficient: Minor Destruction Ray - 5 Skill points. Confirm?
that¡¯s the one man! Confirm!
Skill Learned: Minor Destruction Ray
¡°Alright, I got a laser beam, look at this!¡± ¡®Minor Destruction Ray¡¯ ¡°Pfft¡± (Rize) ¡°...¡± (Doraig) Ookay, calm down me¡­ ¡°i-I¡¯m sure it¡¯s because it¡¯s level 1¡± (Doraig) ¡°Fucking hope so, don¡¯t think you can do much with the equivalent of the Mage¡¯s Flashlight¡± (Rize) ¡°Shut up man, by the way, we¡¯re getting there¡± (Doraig) Off in the distance an extremely big city, yes, city and not a town as Rize had told me. This guy has no clue what the difference between a village, a city, a citadel and a kingdom is¡­ next thing you know the Darki continent is as big as his elven citadel. An extremely big building in the middle, which I assume is either the adventurers association or the city hall, on the outskirts of the city is farmland, and there are 4 roads connecting north, south, east and west with who knows what other places in the continent. For now, we lower our altitude and Rize gets off my back. we are currently on the south side of the city ¡°Alright, wait here for an hour or so¡± (Rize) ¡°Roger that Sir!¡± (Doraig) I say while giving a military salute with my front paw. ¡°Pfft, idiot¡± (Rize) Hmm, I¡¯m not sure of what I can do while I wait. 15 minutes later Mmm? I hear yelling and sword clanking, wonder what¡¯s up. ¡®Fly¡¯ Oh wow, these things happen in real life? a band of 6 bandits assaulting a carriage, the butler or something goes out to try and defend the master? this is straight out of a novel. Oh wow, I need some popcorn, that butler is taking on 3 at a time in close quarters. Huh, not bad.
5 Minutes Before, Butler¡¯s Perspective. ¡°It¡¯s okay Madam, we are 10 minutes away from the city, you will be able to meet Sir Harliq by noon¡± (Butler) ¡°I know that Rob, it¡¯s just¡­ is this fine? shouldn¡¯t this by just a story for a novel? a commoner marrying a prince? I''m sure he can find someone much better¡± (Madam) ¡°Don¡¯t be like that, even if not seen all the time, this does happen. the kingdom is inherited by blood and more importantly, what is the point in doing a political marriage? a noble¡¯s wealth is a drop inside of a bucket to the king¡¯s lineage¡± (Rob) ¡°...still, what does he see in me? I just¡­¡± (Madam) The carriage stopped? ¡°Wait here Madam, I''ll go take a look¡± (Rob) ¡°What is happening Rob?¡± (Madam) ¡°Just stay quiet for a moment Madam¡± (Rob) I open the door and what greets me is 6 people, thieves, most likely.This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there. ¡°You people, don¡¯t you have anything better to do?¡± (Rob) ¡°Shut up, you trifling butler. Get the lady out and we may just let you out alive, to get executed by the prince, that is¡± (Thief #1) ¡°Hahahaha!¡± (Thieves #2-#6) ¡°You- who are you people?¡± (Rob) ¡°Take a guess, pal¡± (Thief #1) ¡°Did a noble send you?which one was it!? the kingdom will reward you greatly for speaking out¡± (Rob) ¡°You think we¡¯d take on this much risk for just gold? Dream on!¡± (Thief #2) ¡°What kind of moron would forsake life for just money!¡± (Thief #4) ¡°Then, what did they promise you!? (Rob) ¡°Not much, just a certain orb and a certain Necklace. we know for a fact the kingdom doesn¡¯t have it, so you can¡¯t expect to buy us¡± (Thief #1) A certain orb¡­ a certain necklace? ¡°Enough, come fight me here!¡± (Rob) I take my sword out and hold it with my left, I close the distance enough so I just have to fight 3 at a time. the first and second close in and aim at my chest and groin respectively. I parry the hit going for my groin with my sword while deviating the one going for my chest with my right hand. Tch- hurts a lot. I turn around and meet the third one head on in a short clash, followed by his dagger parrying my follow up attack and I prepare for the next 3-man clash. My hand - still good. Energy - still good. the next clash is here. all 3 are closing in together, I ¡®Windstep¡¯ and drop on my knees to dodge all 3 attacks, push forward in between the daggers and arms, and ¡®Slash¡¯ ¡°Agh¡± (Thief #2) that¡¯s one. ¡°Son of a-¡± (Thieves #1 and #4) ¡°You fu-¡± (Thief #5) #6 takes #2¡¯s place, closes the gap but I won¡¯t let you do as you wish, asshole. I ¡°Windstep¡± into him, dealing an attack coming to him from the 10 pm direction and- ¡°You parried that!?¡± (Rob) ¡°Of course I did, bastard¡± (Thief #6) why are you grinning you piece- ¡°Gah¡± (Rob) #1 got my right shoulder from the back. ¡°Ahh you bunch of bitches can¡¯t play fair can you!?¡± (Rob) ¡°no. Sorry but we need the reward desperately¡± (Thief #5) Damn it, my balance is fucked now that my right arm is unusable. What to do? ¡°Stop it! the one you¡¯re aiming for is me right?¡± (Madam) ¡°You can¡¯t, lady Seras! (Rob) ¡°You are very kind hearted, lady. But I''m sorry, what we need is more important than any life, including our own¡± (Thief #1) ¡°Stop it! we¡¯re still fighting!!¡± (Rob) ¡°Drop it, man, you can¡¯t even fight 1 on 3, let alone 1 against 5 now that you¡¯re hurt¡± (Thief #4) I watch as #2 approaches Lady Seras. Then he stabs her, starting from the neck upwards into the brain. Grief overcomes me. and I lose my consciousness.
Present, back to Doraig Daaaaamn, that was a really cool fight. no knight in white shining armor, though. Oh, they¡¯re leaving after putting the body of the lady and of the dead guy inside the carriage. they left the butler¡¯s and the driver''s bodies on the road tho. Mmm? The Butler seems to be still alive, let¡¯s take a look! Oh boy, he seems pretty badly hurt huh. it seems the dagger the guys were using had some sort of Paralyzing poison? Should I leave this guy here? he seemed pretty good with the sword, though, maybe we can fill one of the spots right now, I gotta take him to Rize for him to be healed, though. I do believe he is in dire need of a Kite shield to be useful, though, but overall he seems to have good potential. For now, I put Mr. Buts on my back using my paws, so I can carry him around safely. In case you didn¡¯t notice, I refer to people depending on the feel they give me, which usually is in accordance to how old they are in proportion to how old they can get. so Rize is still a kid, Yaksha should be middle aged but since I thought he was an elf I''ll still refer to him as a senior. This guy seems middle aged with a few wrinkles on his forehead, so Mr. it is for now. speaking of which, isn¡¯t this guy getting whiter than he was already? oh boy, don¡¯t die on me yet Mr. let¡¯s see¡­ Yo! System! Any type of heal I can get with a measly 4 skill points?
Skill Points sufficient: Paralysis Heal - 4 Skill points. Confirm?
I¡­ guess that will have to do for now. Confirm!
Skill Learned: Paralysis Heal
Okay, let¡¯s go! ¡®Paralysis Heal¡¯ Some time later ¡°Ugh¡­¡± (Rob) ¡°Yo!¡± (Doraig) ¡°Huh? HUH? i¡­ I must be dreaming or I just slept the first half of my reincarnated life¡± (Rob) ¡°That doesn¡¯t even make any sense, Mr.¡± (Doraig) ¡°...Where am I?¡± (Rob) ¡°Just about next to where those guys left you on the ground cooking sunny side up¡± (Doraig) ¡°You saw all that? why didn¡¯t you help!?¡± (Rob) ¡°Do I look like a knight in shining armor to you? (Doraig) Tche, I¡¯m not the nanny of the human race, fuckers won¡¯t even let me into their cities without a check and you want me to play hero for them. ¡°But-¡± (Rob) ¡°But what? don¡¯t blame me for your weakness. if I wasn¡¯t there who would you have blamed then? the world? no, of course not. then what¡¯s the point in blaming a passerby who has no connection to you?¡± (Doraig) ¡°...¡± (Rob) ¡°I¡­ I''m sorry, you¡¯re right. you¡¯re not of my kin, neither are you a friend. did you cure my Paralysis? I lost my head, I didn¡¯t even thank you. at least now my vitality regeneration is kicking in¡± (Rob) ¡°well, yeah. I saw your potential, human. I am called Doraig, currently looking for a meat shield to farm some dangerous zones with. What level are you right now?¡± ¡°you wha-? eh? wait, hold on. slower¡± ¡°...¡± (Doraig) ¡°my name is Robin Caster. I¡¯m only level 9 right now, as I spent most of my life training on the way of the sword in the academy. but now that I''ve let my Master down I have two options¡± (Rob) ¡°You die on the guillotine or you run, I imagine?¡± (Doraig) ¡°Yes, that is why I must go to the city and let the prince know I''ve failed to protect his fiance¡± (Rob) ¡°You¡­ why would you choose to die? you had no chance against 6 experts!¡± (Doraig) ¡°Even still, I failed. and now the prince will grief for who know how long¡± (Rob) ¡°You¡­ Moron!¡± (Doraig) ¡°What am I supposed to do then! have no morals? just run away from my responsibilities!? be a runaway for the rest of my life!?¡± (Rob) ¡°No, you idiot! you treasure the life that was spared! you get stronger, so that you may never fail to protect anyone again, both yourself and whoever you wish to protect!¡± (Doraig) ¡°But¡­¡± (Rob) ¡°Get stronger! get to the truth, understand what lead those 6 people to risk their everything! if you have some balls in between those legs have them producing some testosterone! don¡¯t take the easy way out!¡± (Doraig) ¡°How is deciding to forfeit my life to atone for my sins taking the easy way out!?¡± (Rob) ¡°Stupid! you only want to die so you can get away from the grief, don¡¯t you!?¡± (Doraig) ¡°...¡± (Rob) I like that look. now we¡¯re talking! ¡°Good!¡± (Doraig) ¡°...Why are you guys yelling?¡± (Rize) ¡°Oh hey Rize, did you get permission? I found us the tank¡± (Doraig) Praise me, kid! Hohoho! ¡°I¡­ did yeah¡­ so¡­ do you mind giving me a proper explanation?¡± (Rize) ¡°Well, grab some popcorn cuz this is straight out of a novel¡­¡± (Doraig) 25 Minutes later ¡°...¡± (Rob) ¡°I understand now. it¡¯s a pleasure to meet you, Robin¡± (Rize) ¡°The pleasure is mine, your name is Rize? or just a nickname?¡± (Rob) ¡°My name is Rize, yeah. so Robin, did those guys have any clues regarding what they were looking for?¡± (Rize) ¡°Hmm¡­ well, not much honestly. the only hints I have are that they considered their rewards worth more than any amount of gold and even their lives¡± (Rob) ¡°Did they mention what the reward was?¡± (Rize) ¡°Well¡­ they only said it was a necklace and an orb, nothing else I think¡­ oh yeah, they said the kingdom had 0 chance of possessing similar items.¡± (Rob) ¡°Hmm¡­ that sounds like at least a pair of Uniques items, but there are countless Uniques and higher tiered items¡± (Doraig) ¡°Would you give up your life and that of your 5 brothers for a pair of Uniques?¡± (Rize) ¡°No¡­ I don¡¯t think so at least¡± (Doraig) ¡°Exactly. so we can assume it¡¯s at least higher than that. how much, though? depending on that we can lower the results by a big margin¡± (Rize) ¡°You guys¡­ who are you?¡± (Rob) ¡°Son of the Elven King¡± (Rize) ¡°Just a random traveler Dragon¡± (Doraig) ¡°...what did I get myself into...¡± (Rob) ¡°Anyways. Let¡¯s get moving, I''m kind of hungry right now¡± (Doraig) ¡°Alright¡± (Rize) ¡°Should I hide my face?¡± (Rob) ¡°Hmm¡­ Here, put this on!¡± (Doraig) I gave him the robe to wear for the moment. ¡°U-Unique!?¡± (Rob) ¡°I¡¯m just lending you that, your build isn¡¯t really made for it anyways, and we will get a lot more Uniques while we level up¡± (Doraig) ¡°Where the hell are we jumping into¡­¡± (Rob) ¡°Yes.¡± (Doraig) ¡°What?¡± (Rob) ¡°What?¡± (Doraig) ¡°I swear Doraig is a contagious disease¡­¡± (Rize) ¡°Did you say something Rize?¡± (Doraig) ¡°Just your imagination¡± (Rize) let¡¯s talk some plans with the guys while nearing the city. ¡°So... looking at the robe I imagine Doraig is some kind of mage, while you are an elf, so¡­ assassin I assume?¡± (Rob) ¡°Well, that¡¯s racist but yeah, that¡¯s pretty much what we have for now. Rize is more of a rogue, though, as his weapon is a ranged single target weapon¡± (Doraig) ¡°Hmm¡­¡± (Rob) ¡°What do you think, Robin?¡± (Rize) ¡°Well, I heard Doraig saying he expected me to be the meat shield, so we are lacking a dedicated healer and a support, I guess? an off-tank might be good too¡± ¡°Rize can kind of heal but I guess someone specialized in healing will be good¡± (Doraig) ¡°Kind of? you would have died had I not been there¡­¡± (Rize) ¡°A-anyways, I think we will get you a big ass shield instead of getting an off tank. remember we are going to get Uniques and we may be better off without the infighting over loot¡± (Doraig) ¡°True. I assume you won¡¯t expect me to go without a proper healer, at least? even if I desired to die before it doesn¡¯t mean I''ll gift my life to the wilderness¡± (Rob) ¡°We will obviously get one, lest we get completely destroyed in hell¡± (Rize) ¡°Wait, hold on, that was for real?¡± (Rob) ¡°Of course¡± (Doraig) ¡°...Can I just go to the prince and get beheaded?¡± (Rob) ¡°Nope!¡± (Doraig & Rize) And look at that, we¡¯re at the City. Chapter 8: The day Gluttony won the lottery. Chapter 8: The day Gluttony won the lottery. There are not many people waiting in line in front of the entrance door, there is a different door especially prepared to let cargo in, which must be verified to protect the safety of everyone inside the city. Everyone is watching at the three of us with awe and their eyes are darting between me and these two guys, is that respect in their look when their eyes land on pals #1 and #2? maybe they think I''m a mount or something? Well... I''ve carried Rize twice already but¡­ I¡¯m not a flying horse, okay!? Rize goes a little past us towards the guard who is looking this way somewhat menacingly, although I think I may just barely be able to one shot the guy if I wish to. ¡°Hello, we spoke some time ago, this is my companion, the dragon Doraig¡± (Rize) ¡°I trust you understand the consequences if anything untoward occurs inside the city?¡± (Guard) ¡°Yes, I''ve explained to your captain both my identity and presented my credentials, so I wish for you to let us through¡± (Rize) ¡°Hey, Rize! remember to mention this guy!¡± (Doraig) I say while pointing with my nose at Rob. ¡°Ah, yes, this is an old friend I met on the road¡± (Rize) ¡°...he can¡¯t be any more dangerous than a dragon walking around unescorted¡± (Guard) ¡°Yay!¡± (Doraig) ¡°...Just go inside and don¡¯t provoke panic on the masses please¡± (Guard) ¡°Let¡¯s go¡± (Rize) We get inside and the first thing that greets us is the smell. Oh lord almighty this smell is so GOOD! I smell so much food all around, Oh boy this is going to be a feast! ¡°Hey Rize buy me one of those, 2 of those and 5 of the ones over there please¡± (Doraig) ¡°...Do I look like a servant to you?¡± (Rize) ¡°Yeah, I mean, no! but you know, they will jump their shit if I go and talk to them out of the blue¡­¡± (Doraig) ¡°Just do it! Rob, go with him so they don¡¯t begin screaming please¡± (Rize) ¡°I think I look very shady as is with the robe covering my face, though¡­¡± (Rob) ¡°...¡± (Rize) ¡°Let¡¯s go, Doraig¡± (Rob) ¡°Fine...¡± (Doraig) Okay, just talk as humbly as possible, I''d rather them not put something weird on the food, and I think if they were to release some bodily fluids would spoil my mood as well¡­ ¡°Uh, hello there. c-can I get one of those please?¡± (Doraig) ¡°Hello, dear cust- Hii! Oh, ooh...¡± (Vendor) ¡°Ah, yes. I¡¯m a dragon, don¡¯t mind me¡± (Doraig) ¡°You shouldn¡¯t move around the city with your mount, sir. You will scare everyone around senseless!¡± (Vendor) ¡°who are you calling a mount you dumb bastard!¡± (Doraig) What the hell man, maybe I should put on my helmet, or something... ¡°So-sorry¡­¡± (Vendor) ¡°One of those, now! And at discount for being racist!¡± (Doraig) ¡°B-but!¡± (Vendor) ¡°You said something!?¡± (Doraig) ¡°n-nothing!¡± (Vendor) Ohh the juicy goodness! so tender! so much flavor! it melts in the mouth! This is it. I¡¯ve now found the will to live! no mountains will stop me, no fires will make me falter on my way to the best meals in this world! I will leave no rock unturned in order to taste the best dishes this world has to offer! Ahem. Well, at least after our little exchange the word is starting to spread, so I think we shouldn¡¯t have too much trouble to buy our stuff. ¡°Hello, dear customers!¡± (Vendor #2) ¡°Hey there! give me 2 of those and a beer, please!¡± (Doraig) ¡°One of the ones over there and a beer for me, please¡± (Rob) ¡°Here you go, Sir. Cold beer and a Charpe¡± (Vendor #2) this looked pretty interesting. looks like a deep fried patty in the shape of a rectangle. Let¡¯s see! Oh. My. God. This is it. I¡¯ve now found the will to live! I will topple all obstacles, cross the seas and disrupt volcano eruptions if I must. I will pull tectonic plates together with my bare hands, stop storms with my shouts and fight all beasts under this world, and do everything I have to do if must in order to taste the best dishes in this world! ¡°Holy shit! Oi Rize!¡± (Doraig)If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. ¡°...¡± (Rob) ¡°Where did Rize go?¡± (Doraig) ¡°he went straight to the Adventurer¡¯s guild, the big building in the middle of the city, in order to start looking for the healer¡± (Rob) ¡°Oh... well, let¡¯s go, that thing turning above the fire looks amazing as well!¡± (Doraig) ¡°Are you Mr. Moneybags?¡± (Rob) ¡°Well, kinda?¡± (Doraig) ¡°Oh, okay then¡± (Rob)
Rize¡¯s Perspective So this is the Adventurer''s guild? a massive building, the owner an extremely big capital, it seems. This big and it is still somewhat packed, we will probably find a proper person with ease. I approach the leftmost counter out of the 15 there are available and the person in charge of attending me is a human girl, should be around twenty years old? ¡°Welcome to the Adventurer¡¯s guild, what are you looking for, esteemed guest?¡± (Attendant) ¡°Hello, I''d like to put up an invitation to join a three-man party¡± (Rize) ¡°Okay, we will need you to specify the positions you¡¯ve got filled, the levels of your companions and what type of person you¡¯re looking for. Additional information like for example, where do you plan to go, or what quest do you plan to complete in case there is one is not required but it may make it easier for someone to join your party¡± (Attendant) She hands me a document and a pen¡­ Let¡¯s see¡­ Rize, Level 13, Hunter/Rogue¡­ Elf¡­ Doraig, Level 13, Damage Dealer Mage¡­ Dragon¡­ Robin, Level 9, Full-Tank¡­ Human¡­ I put a bunch more stuff in there and finally¡­ Place to farm: Hellhound Lava zone. ¡°Here you go¡± (Rize) ¡°Thank you. Hmm? Dra-gon? Sir, did you mistype?¡± (Attendant) ¡°no, I did not mistype that¡­¡± (Rize) ¡°U-uh, Okay¡± (Attendant) ¡°?¡± (Rize) ¡°Ah, yes, sorry. So Mr. Rize, which positions do you wish to fill? please also state if you have any special requirements you may have¡± (Attendant) ¡°We need a healer, preferably someone with good stamina and¡­ Oh yeah, they must be able to cook. ah, also. please state that the item roll will be according to usability, and when there¡¯s an item nobody in the party can use the method to distribute will be by buying it from the rest of the party, or sold in the city and the money split between all¡± (Rize) ¡°Alright, one second please¡± (Attendant) She¡¯s writing everything down I said so far down before continuing, I guess. she seems pretty new on the job, maybe 5 or 6 years of experience under her belt? ¡°Okay, anything else you wish to add?¡± (Attendant) ¡°Hmm¡­ ah yes, If anything bound at drop comes out it¡¯ll go to whoever the system assigned it to¡± (Rize) it shouldn¡¯t happen since we don¡¯t have overlap but still, it is best to make sure right off the bat. ¡°That should be all, it will take around 20 minutes to get your request approved so please stay around¡± (Attendant) ¡°Sure¡± (Rize) Hmm, should be good for now. I can only do so much to get us a proper teammate today, and I should probably let that guy enjoy the city for a bit, he probably flew around slowly so I didn¡¯t fall off his back while coming from the village. Let¡¯s see, 20 minutes? might as well take a quick look a the quest board:
Quest: Get rid of the slimes infesting the cave next to the river of Sorsiel.
Description: there has been a rise in the population of slimes as of late, and new reports state that the cave next to Sorsiel¡¯s river is a very active breeding spot. Adventurers taking this quest are required to exterminate at least 50 slimesof any type and bring back their cores as proof of quest completion.
Difficulty: [3-man] Level 1 - A / Level 5 - C / Level 10 or more - F
Reward: 2 Silver plus 10 copper per Slime core.
not a bad quest for a beginner group looking for an easy income, I guess. you can get a full set of armor, shoulder pads, helmet and one weapon for one person with that reward¡­ for about 4 days of work if you¡¯re level 1? pretty interesting if paired with another quest near the area.
Quest: Locate and exterminate the wolf pack roaming the forest at the southwest of the city.
Description: A pack of Worg wolves has caused restless nights for farmers and people inhabiting the outskirts areas. the wolves hunt for fun and are destroying the habitat of many other creatures living in the forest, also making it impossible for hunters to look for food. Head of the leader of the pack and 3 other wolves must be brought back as proof of completion.
Difficulty: [5-man] Level 5 - A / Level 7 - C / Level 9 - F
Reward: 20 Silver
I feel like the city guard simply doesn¡¯t want to do their job, but I guess the pay for this quest is good enough.
Quest: Investigate the disappearance of the children from the Garden orphanage.
Description: All of the children disappeared 3 days ago at night. the matron in charge was found dead and no further evidence was collected. People living near the area detected no sounds, screams, or any particular sign of the occurrence and the fact was brought to light with the rise of the sun. the culprit must be found and there has to be ample evidence for the quest to be completed.
Difficulty [?] no level requirement, recommended Level 5 or more for self-defence purposes
Reward: 2 gold.
There is something weird going on, no witnesses either? and the reward is massive as well, I don¡¯t believe the city hall cares that much about a bunch of orphans.
Quest: Raid the Jird encampment at the northern and kill the Jird lord.
Description: Travelers coming from the city of Heisker have reported the appearance of a Jird encampment in the Plateau along the road connecting both cities. Adventurers must exterminate all the Jird living in the Plateau and bring back the lord¡¯s head for proof of completion. Any Jird eggs found in the area will grant further gold rewards.
Difficulty: [20-man] Level 5: S / Level 7: A / Level 12: F
Reward: 5 gold plus 20 silvers per Jird egg.
A Jird lord? it could have a made for a good mount if Doraig wasn¡¯t around to carry the party, and it¡¯s too much work to tame one anyways, they are an unruly bunch, all of them. ¡°Mr. Rize?¡± (Attendant) ¡°Yes? is it done?¡± (Rize) ¡°It is, you may come here in 2 days to check the people who have applied for your party and hopefully choose someone¡± (Attendant) ¡°I see, thanks a lot for your help, miss¡­¡± (Rize) ¡°Alka, it¡¯s my pleasure to help, Mr. Rize¡± (Alka) ¡°See you soon, then¡± (Rize) ¡°Goodbye!¡± (Alka) Alright, let¡¯s see how are these 2 guys doing, meal time should be over for them already, I''ll grab something while I walk¡­ ...and maybe a beer. Back to Doraig Ugh¡­ ate too much¡­ ¡°I told you to take it easy Doraig, you can¡¯t even move anymore!¡± (Rob) ¡°but dude, this is heaven served on a plate!¡± (Doraig) ¡°Hah¡­¡± (Rob) ¡°Yo¡± (Rize) ¡°Hey Rize, are you done with the request for a healer? no problems?¡± (Rob) ¡°Yes, Nope, all good! even the lady was cute¡± (Rize) ¡°...Rize?¡± (Rob) ¡°Yeah?¡± (Rize) ¡°No, sorry, I thought it was someone else¡± (Rob) ¡°Don¡¯t mind him, Rob, he is a party guy. Probably got a drink on the way. can you believe this guy hadn¡¯t tasted alcohol from the moment he was born up until a day ago?¡± (Doraig) ¡°What do you mean party guy!?¡± (Rize) ¡°An alcoholic and Gluttony incarnate¡­¡± (Rob) ¡°What was that?¡± (Rize & Doraig) ¡°I only hope the healer isn¡¯t a nutjob as well¡­¡± (Rob) ¡°Oi Dragon, let¡¯s go find somewhere to drink¡± (Rize) ¡°Just¡­ let my stomach rest for a bit okay?¡± (Doraig) ¡°Let¡¯s just go find a place to stay for the next few days okay!? (Rob) ¡°Tch, fine¡­¡± (Doraig & Rize) Is there even an inn I can stay at? Chapter 9: Rize will woo her... sooner or later. Chapter 9: Rize will woo her... sooner or later. We walk around the city in the direction Rob leads us to, of course, slowly so I don¡¯t throw up¡­ ¡°So where are you leading us to?¡± (Doraig) ¡°An old friend of mine owns an inn in this city, it¡¯s a fairly famous one but he and I have known each other for a very long time, and we went through many hardships together, so I''m sure he will help us out¡± (Rob) ¡°I guess we¡¯ll leave it in your hands, then¡­ Rize?¡± (Doraig) ¡°Dude, get the hell over here¡± (Rob) This guy wanted to covertly leave¡­ ¡°Sorry, sorry¡± (Rize) ¡°Can¡¯t you heal yourself or something? it seems like half your brain turns on pause when you¡¯re drunk¡± (Rob) ¡°Let me try¡­¡± (Rize) Can¡¯t believe it worked¡­ ¡°Ah, now I don¡¯t feel that happy anymore¡­¡± (Rize) ¡°Anyways, tell me about the things you found in the Adventurer¡¯s guild, I will have to go there with you when we check people applying with us¡± (Rob) ¡°Hmm, I''m not sure how many people are normally in there, but it felt quite spacious, aside from that there seemed to be quite a lot of quests that should have been part of the city guard¡¯s job?¡± (Rize) ¡°What do you mean with that?¡± (Doraig) ¡°Well, some kidnaps and a lot of hunting around the area to make the outer zone safe for commoners¡± (Rize) ¡°That¡¯s pretty common here, especially since this is a place where a lot of other races gather¡± (Rob) ¡°?¡± (Rize & Doraig) ¡°Think about it, how many people guarding the city do you think are necessary just so there isn¡¯t any fight inside, hell, in any other big city we¡¯d have to move around with a whole patrol guarding our every action¡± (Rob) ¡°Well¡­ that was somewhat weird indeed¡± (Rize) ¡°What do you mean, I''m the most friendly guy you will meet in your life¡± (Doraig) They just kind of ignored me, I think¡­ Well, whatever. And soon enough we arrive at the inn¡­ 10 minutes later ¡°I¡¯m telling you Robin, dragon or whatnot he¡¯s too much big for this inn! I don¡¯t even think he¡¯d fit if we were to destroy the walls connecting 3 rooms!¡± (Tenant) ¡°Can¡¯t you do me this one favor, Alan? we¡¯ve known each other since the academy!¡± (Alan) ¡°What kind of friend throws a dragon at you and tells you to keep it inside his home! even if we somehow fit him inside he¡¯d completely destroy my business!¡± (Alan) ¡°Just this once man, I''m leaving the city afterward, probably won¡¯t be back until my hair¡¯s all white and my sword is all rusted up¡± (Alan) ¡°You¡¯re leaving? ...I''ll tell you this, now is not a good time to go on an adventure Rob!¡± (Alan) ¡°Why? are things outside that bad?¡± (Rob) ¡°Didn¡¯t you hear? weird things are happening lately, disappearances, massacres, even a village disappeared out of the map some time ago!¡± (Alan) Oh hey, the thing about that village reached around here already. ¡°About the disappearances, you mean the children? I saw a quest about it in the adventurers building¡± (Rize) ¡°Not just that one, many more people have disappeared as of late, even old Bang disappeared a few days ago!¡± (Alan) ¡°even old Bang disappeared?¡± (Rob) ¡°exactly, and nobody knows what the hell is going on anymore!¡± (Alan) ¡°but then isn¡¯t it safer to just skip town and go somewhere else?¡± (Rize) ¡°That would be great but the outside seems even worse! some travelers that arrived from the south told me there were Karfi roaming outside their area¡± (Alan) ¡°Holy crap, those guys that live secluded in the snow area?¡± (Doraig) ¡°Yes, they said the towns in the south were completely terrified at the chance of the Karfi desiring to expand and invade towards the north¡± (Alan) ¡°Holy crap!¡± (Doraig, Rob & Rize) ¡°Anyways, it¡¯s safer for you guys to stay around until things settle down. Tell you what, go to the outside part east of the city, and stay at my farm there, Doraig can stay in the barn with the cows¡± (Alan) ¡°Thanks, Alan, we will stay there for a few days, but we must leave the city, there¡¯s an urgent reason why I must get strong as quickly as possible¡± (Rob) ¡°What did you do now Rob?¡± (Alan) ¡°...You will probably find out what I''m talking about in a few days... probably¡± (Rob) ¡°?¡± (Alan) ¡°Anyways, we will get going now, there are some things we have to do in the following days. See you later Alan, thanks again!¡± (Rob) ¡°...if you say so. Here¡¯s the key to the farm and the barn¡± (Alan) ¡°Thanks, Alan¡± (Doraig) ¡°Just make sure this guy doesn¡¯t kill himself okay? I heard you guys were very strong¡± (Alan) ¡°Of course, although he¡¯s the meat shield and I am the mage that stays at the back¡± (Doraig) ¡°...¡± (Alan) We walk away after that, Robin with an ashamed face, me with an embarrassed one¡­ Rize seems to want to go off and start drinking again¡­ ¡°Okay, let¡¯s go to the farm, drop our stuff, go out, drink something and call it a day¡± (Rize) ¡°Alright!¡± (Doraig) ¡°...Okay¡± (Rob) After Dropping our stuff (not that we had much) at the farm, we head to a bar close to the farm with Alan but before we can enjoy a nice evening drink we find out something extremely important¡­ ¡°You can¡¯t go inside, wait for us to buy the stuff¡± (Alan) ¡°NO!¡¯ (Doraig) FUCK! WHY! WONT! THEY! LET! ME! ¡°Just calm down, we¡¯ll be out with the drink in just a few minutes, we can drink at the farm or something¡± (Rob) ¡°I swear if you fuckers leave me waiting outside I will blow this shit up¡­¡± (Doraig) and I''m not kidding! ¡°Ahem, okay¡± (Rob) ¡°I''m not joking¡± (Doraig) I''m glad they listened to me, and so we take the drinks to the farm and have a nice get together with Rize, Rob, and Alan. ¡°So Doraig, tell me, why are you on this continent? I didn¡¯t think dragons would easily leave their home, let alone their continent¡± (Alan) ¡°Well¡­ you know, stuff happened and now I''m here. will probably stay for a few years before I go and take a look at that place¡± (Doraig) ¡°I see. well, I hope you have good luck with whatever you¡¯re trying to achieve in this place¡± (Alan) I don¡¯t really have any master plan of what I will do outside of helping Rize, though. ¡°Thanks, I guess¡± (Doraig) ¡°Oi Dragon, fill my cup¡± (Rize) ¡°Drunken asshole¡­¡± (Doraig)If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. ¡°...¡± (Rob) ¡°Will you finally tell me what happened to you? from your unusual party to you wanting to leave under these circumstances, I don¡¯t understand anything¡± (Alan) ¡°Hah¡­¡± (Rob) ¡°Do you remember Lady Seras?¡± (Rob) ¡°The girl the Prince had his eyes on? she¡¯s been his target for a while now¡± (Alan) ¡°She died¡± (Rob) ¡°What!?¡± (Alan) ¡°She died. I was tasked with bringing her to the Prince covertly, to avoid possible drama. while on the road here we got assaulted, 6 guys¡± (Rob) ¡°And what happened?¡± (Alan) ¡°I killed one, but in a moment of distraction, i got hit very hard. Lady Seras sacrificed herself for me to live¡± (Rob) ¡°But¡­ why wouldn¡¯t you report this immediately? you are one of, if not the most loyal person towards the Prince!¡± (Alan) ¡°The ¡®thieves¡¯ seemed to be more than just that. they weren¡¯t there just for the sake of money, apparently, they were looking for some sort of sacred artifact which they were to receive in exchange for killing Seras¡± (Rob) ¡°What item were they looking for? did they tell you anything about it?¡± (Alan) ¡°Not exactly¡­ they mentioned it was two separate items, an orb, and a necklace. But anything more than that? nothing.¡± (Rob) ¡°Why won¡¯t you let the Prince know?¡± (Alan) ¡°I¡¯ll send him a letter, but I will destroy his psyche if I just go like this, along with getting myself killed for basically no reason whatsoever. I plan to find the people responsible for what happened and also, to redeem me for failing Sir Harliq¡± (Rob) ¡°An orb and a necklace¡­¡± (Alan) ¡°Did you think of something?¡± (Rob) ¡°A couple days ago some travelers were talking at the bar in my inn. if I remember correctly one of their topics revolved around something they called Kafuja and another thing called Lankus. Apparently, those were objects they were planning to obtain ¡®soon enough¡¯. they were 4 people only, though¡± (Alan) ¡°Kafuja and Lankus¡­¡± (Rob) ¡°After that, they stood up and left for their room, so I couldn¡¯t hear anything else¡± (Alan) ¡°Do you know who those people were?¡± (Rob) ¡°They said they were adventurers coming from the west, but honestly, I don¡¯t believe that anymore after hearing what happened to you. I think it would be too much of a coincidence for there to appear two pairs of very important objects in such a short period of time¡± (Alan) ¡°I¡¯ll keep those names on the back of my head and hopefully, it brings something better for me, so thanks for the information, Alan¡± (Rob) ¡°You¡¯re welcome, man¡± (Alan) ¡°So, in the end, you didn¡¯t explain to me, how did you end next to these two guys? they don¡¯t seem like bad people but they¡¯re¡­ strange¡± (Alan) ¡°Well¡­ Doraig kind of brought me back from the pits of desperation I was inside of after the Lady was murdered. at that time we didn¡¯t have anything to do with each other so I don¡¯t blame him anymore for not intervening. Rize seems to be together with him but I don¡¯t know how they met together¡± (Rob) ¡°I see, that¡¯s good, then. Hopefully, they will help make you strong enough to tackle whatever giant is behind all the shit that¡¯s been going on lately¡± (Alan) ¡°I hope that¡¯s the case, too¡­¡± (Rob) ¡°You talkin¡¯ about me?¡± (Doraig) ... ¡°Bottoms up!¡± (Everyone) The next day we come to the adventurers guild to see how many people have applied so far, to have a small idea of how tomorrow will look like. ¡°Holy crap!¡± (Doraig) ¡°9 people applied since yesterday!?¡± (Rob) ¡°Yes, among them there are some people from other races as well, it seems word of a dragon looking for a last man spread out, I think someone heard me freak out yesterday while you were processing your order, and after that people just came here in waves to see if they fit the criteria you set up, Mr. Rize. Sorry about that¡± (Alka) ¡°It¡¯s fine Ms. Alka, I think it¡¯s better this way. it will improve our chances of getting someone competent and who fits into this¡­ group¡± (Rize) ¡°Well, that¡¯s good for this guy over here. maybe we can find him a cute chick for him to stop lamenting over the spilled milk¡± (Doraig) ¡°Who is lamenting! you can¡¯t really expect me to be jumping around happily after a day, right?¡± (Rob) ¡°Meh¡± (Doraig) ¡°Well, Ms. Alka, see you tomorrow again, then¡± (Rize) ¡°See you tomorrow, Mr. Rize¡± (Alka) We walk away and soon enough I ask Rize ¡°Do you like that girl?¡± (Doraig) ¡°What are you talking about?¡± (Rize) ¡°Don¡¯t give me that ¡®What-are-you-talking-about¡¯ crap, you know perfectly how polite and well mannered you¡¯re behaving with that chick¡± (Doraig) ¡°What? I''m always a gentleman¡± (Rize) ¡°Yeah sure, and I''m the son of god¡± (Doraig) ¡°Do you really think I like little children? I''m like twenty times her age¡± (Rize) ¡°Wait, hold on. repeat that?¡± (Rob) ¡°What?¡± (Rize) ¡°You¡¯re¡­ how old?¡± (Rob) ¡°Well, I stopped really counting a while back, but I should be about 320 years old or so¡± (Rize) What a funny face, this guy. ¡°A-and you? how old are you, Doraig?¡± (Rob) Hmm, how old am i¡­ ¡°I think i should be 600 in a few years?¡± (Doraig) ¡°Holy fuck!¡± (Rob) I like how his face lost all color, how amusing. ¡°I-I¡¯m sorry for being disrespectful to you two, s-seniors¡± (Rob) ¡°Drop that¡± (Rize & Doraig) ¡°Seriously, our age doesn¡¯t matter. we¡¯ve taken you for an equal, so just call us by name¡± (Doraig) ¡°Humans don¡¯t live for long, and it would be annoying, tedious, and fairly dumb if all races that lived long referred to humans near their expiry date as children¡± (Rize) ¡°I¡­ I see. Sorry about that¡± (Rob) ¡°It¡¯s okay¡± (Rize) ¡°So¡­ then why won''t you go for the chick? if you take things proportionally, you and she have around the same age, no? (Doraig) ¡°you perfectly know why, Doraig¡± (Rize) Ah, that¡¯s right. This guy will live for way longer. ¡°But what does it matter? it¡¯s not like you will find a girl who will live for another two thousand years that easily, anyway¡± (Doraig) ¡°Two thousand years? don¡¯t elves live for like half a millennia?¡± (Rob) ¡°well¡­ he¡¯s a special one¡± (Doraig) ¡°¡­I guess it doesn¡¯t really matter¡± (Rob) ¡°Anyways, no¡­ just no¡± (Rize) ¡°Heh¡­¡± (Doraig) ¡°Anyways, what¡¯s on the menu for today?¡± (Rob) ¡°Hmm I don¡¯t know, how about we share a whole pork?¡± (Doraig) ¡°I was talking about our plans for today you blockhead¡± (Rob) ¡°Ah¡­¡± (Doraig) ¡°Let¡¯s see¡­ it¡¯s still early. let me go grab an easy quest in the Adventurer¡¯s Guild for us to clear quickly¡± (Rize) ¡°Take your time, heh heh¡± (Doraig) ¡°...¡± (Rize) In a flash, he goes and comes back. ¡°Slime!?¡± (Doraig) ¡°What is it? are you scared?¡± (Rob) ¡°No! it¡¯s I can¡¯t bear to destroy those little guys! they¡¯re the best friends to share a bath with!¡± (Doraig) ¡°What¡­?¡± (Rize) ¡°As I said, no!¡± (Doraig) ¡°I have no clue what you are talking about¡­ is it really something so important to get all fuzzy about?¡± (Rob) ¡°You¡­ you ignorant fools!¡± (Doraig) ¡°...¡± (Rize & Rob) ¡°Let¡¯s go!¡± (Doraig) ¡°Go where? you don¡¯t want to do the quest¡± (Rize) ¡°We have to save them!¡± (Doraig) ¡°...Did you have something rotten to eat yesterday or did all the alcohol you¡¯ve had in your life finally get to you?¡± (Rize) ¡°Get up. now¡± (Doraig) ¡°Ugh¡­¡± (Rob & Rize) they get on my back and I get off the ground ¡°Wait, where to?¡± (Doraig) ¡°...That way¡± (Rize) ¡°I¡¯m coming for you little fellas, hang on for me!¡± (Doraig) 15 minutes later¡­ ¡°What the¡­ why is a dragon protecting the Slimes!?¡± (?? #1) ¡°Should we go back and report to the city guard?¡± (?? #2) ¡°Hey¡± (Rize) ¡°Ah!¡± (?? #1-#2-#3) ¡°Calm down¡­ this guy is our... friend. he likes slimes and¡­ he will protect them¡­¡± (Rize) ¡°Just¡­ go back to the city or do some other quest¡­ the slime slaying quest will be removed shortly as we will remove the quest from the bulletin¡­¡± (Rob) ¡°what!? that¡¯s so unfair! you just want to hog the quest don¡¯t you!?¡± (??#3) ¡°...here, have 10 silvers and just leave without making a fuss... okay?¡± (Rize) ¡°Well, I won''t say no to free money, thanks, strange guy!¡± (??#1) ¡°...Whatever¡± (Rize) ¡°You guys are done?¡± (Doraig) ¡°Hah¡­ I guess so¡± (Rize) ¡°Okay, thanks, guys!¡± (Doraig) ¡°So¡­ what do you plan to do with these guys? I don¡¯t believe you will stay here and protect them forever, right?¡± (Rob) ¡°Oh, about that? I''ll make a cave somewhere further away and bring them over there¡± (Doraig) ¡°...¡¯bring them away¡¯? how do you plan to do so? there¡¯s easily two hundred inside that cave¡± (Rob) ¡°Ah, that¡¯s the easy part, actually. All you have to do is grab two guys, take their cores out of their body, then you put those two cores inside the queen. the queen will change color and exude a pheromone. after that, all slimes in the vicinity will come running over, so I just grab the queen and bring her away to the newly made cave, leaving a trail of slime behind for the rest of them to follow¡± (Doraig) ¡°...That¡¯s it?¡± (Rob & Rize) ¡°That¡¯s it¡± (Doraig) ¡°Holy shit!¡± (Rob & Rize) ¡°Well then, stay here while I go and find a place to make a cave. I¡¯ll be right back¡± (Doraig) ¡°Okay¡­¡± (Rob & Rize) Hohoho, my plan will finally take shape! I take off and fly¡­ somewhere, this direction is north I believe? This place should be good enough. ¡®Minor Destruction Breath¡¯ Mmm, looks good! ¡°Okay little guys, get inside the lady for a second, this won¡¯t hurt you!¡± (Doraig) ¡°You disgust me, for some reason, you really disgust me right now, Doraig¡± (Rize) ¡°Just give me a shout when you¡¯re done, I can¡¯t look at this¡± (Rob) ¡°Pair of wusses¡± (Doraig) Okay, grab the cores¡­ Now put them inside of the queen¡¯s body¡­ and¡­ ta-dah! ¡°Oh wow, the queen really changed color¡± (Rize) ¡°Heh heh, do you envy me now, Rize?¡± (Doraig) ¡°no¡­¡± (Rize) ¡°oh don¡¯t be shy, I got more tricks up my sleeve!¡± (Doraig) ¡°how in the world did you even learn this stuff, Doraig?¡± (Rize) ¡°Teacher taught me¡± (Doraig) ¡°¡®Teacher¡¯?¡± (Rize) ¡°Yup, the guy who brought me up¡± (Doraig) ¡°your parents didn¡¯t?¡± (Rize) ¡°That¡­¡± (Doraig) ¡°Sorry, nevermind I said that¡± (Rize) ¡°no, that was my bad. maybe some other day I will tell you that story¡± (Doraig) ¡°Alright¡± (Rize) ¡°Okay, I''ll take the queen away, I''ll see you in a while!¡± (Doraig) ¡°See you soon, then¡± (Rize) I take the queen away, while I¡¯m flying she¡¯s at my belly level, I have her grabbed by my four limbs. She¡¯s¡­ Drooling, I guess? ¡°Thank you¡­ I heard your name is Doraig?¡± (Slime) ¡°Wat¡± (Doraig) Huh!? She disappeared!? what the¡­ ¡°Doraig!¡± (Rize) ¡°Did you see what happened!? She just¡­ disappeared?¡± (Doraig) ¡°Yeah, the slimes that were around disappeared as well!¡± (Rize) What the fuck is going on¡­ ¡°Wait. she talked to me! she said ¡®Thank you¡¯ and seemed to understand my name!¡± (Doraig) ¡°No fucking way¡­¡± (Rize) Oh¡­ Ohhh. well shit¡­ ¡°She evolved, she got her race to be reset by the System¡± (Rize) ¡°Well, I consider that¡­ to be a good¡­ thing¡­ I think?¡± (Doraig) ¡°...¡± (Rize) ¡°So what will happen to the slimes now?¡± (Doraig) ¡°If I remember correctly¡­ the system will reset them all to level 1 status and put them in a territory, somewhere in the world. no clue about the time, or where¡± (Rize) ¡°NO! MY PLAN!¡± (Doraig) ¡°...What?¡± (Rize) ¡°No-nothing¡± (Doraig) ¡°What happened guys? I heard you screaming¡± (Rob) Damn it... Chapter 10: Should we just… sweep what just happened under the rug? Chapter 10: Should we just¡­ sweep what just happened under the rug? ¡°So¡­ you just¡­ somehow gave the slime queen enough intelligence to the point where she learned a few words¡­ and the system picked that up¡­ and reset all of the slimes?¡± (Rob) Well¡­ I always wondered something, why the slime queen would release goo whenever mixed with other slimes? ¡°I think I have an idea of what happened¡± (Rize) ¡°Speak out your mind¡± (Rob) ¡°What if¡­ mixing the slimes together as you did, added their intelligence together?¡± (Rize) ¡°As if they were linking their mental faculties when their cores are inside the same goo?¡± (Rob) ¡°Yeah, something like that¡± (Rize) ¡°...but if it were that easy, wouldn¡¯t slimes have been reset a long time ago?¡± (Doraig) Besides, whenever slimes were moved around using that method in my world, they never started talking¡­ ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s true I guess¡± (Rize) ¡°But what if that queen was special?¡± (Rob) ¡°Like if normal slimes had their intelligence multiplied by the number of cores inside their goo, but most of them had 0 intelligence¡­ but the queen just so happened to have 1 intelligence?¡± (Rize) ¡°Well¡­ I''m not sure that¡¯s how it works but¡­ is there really a point in making wild guesses?¡± (Doraig) ¡°So¡­ what are we supposed to do now, anyways?¡± (Rob) ¡°Maybe we can just let the snowball roll around for a bit? who knows, the queen might show up again and explain it herself. she mentioned having learned my name, anyhow¡± (Doraig) ¡°You know¡­ I¡¯ve never felt such relief at simply ignoring the problems my actions have caused before¡± (Rize) ¡°What are you saying, I blame Doraig for all the events that have occurred today¡± (Rob) ¡°Hey, that¡¯s not nice!¡± (Doraig) ¡°You¡¯re right Robin, Silly me¡± (Rize) ¡°...¡± (Doraig) ¡°Let¡¯s just go to the Adventurer¡¯s guild for now¡­ I don¡¯t think they will have to deal with slimes for a while¡± (Rize) ¡°See? maybe getting them to become intelligent was a good thing!¡± (Doraig) ¡°...Dream on¡± (Rob) I just hope this doesn¡¯t blow out of proportions, though.
Rize¡¯s perspective, 20 minutes later, at the guild. ¡°Miss Alka?¡± (Rize) ¡°Hello Mr. Rize, good to see you again so soon, what brings you here now? did you come to exchange the slime cores?¡± (Alka) ¡°Well¡­ this will be a bit of a long story, do you mind if we¡­ move somewhere else?¡± (Rize) Why do I have to do these things, that damn Doraig¡­ if I knew he had such a hard-on for Slimes¡­ God damn it. ¡°Umm¡­ sure?¡± (Alka) Oh yeah, no. ¡°Alright, take a seat Mr. Rize¡± (Alka) ¡°Thank you¡± (Rize) ¡°So what happened?¡± (Alka) ¡°Well¡­ so I''ll begin with my companion, I guess¡± (Rize) Let¡¯s see¡­ Doraig. ¡°Doraig, he¡­ is a bit special, and sometimes I wonder if he has any notion of what common sense is¡± (Rize) ¡°What do you mean?¡± (Alka) ¡°You see, he seems to like Slimes, and their company, it looks like¡± (Rize) ¡°Does he want the quest removed?¡± (Alka) ¡°Not exactly¡­ but I guess you should probably still remove it¡± (Rize) ¡°?¡± (Alka) ¡°He wanted to drive the slimes away with a method he said to have been taught by someone else¡­ it consisted of mixing, or¡­ inserting, I guess, two cores of regular slimes into the Queen¡± (Rize) ¡°I¡¯ve never heard of that before! did it work?¡± (Alka) ¡°I¡­ guess?¡± (Rize) ¡°Did something unpredicted happen?¡± (Alka) ¡°Yeah¡­ the slime Queen seemed to have gained sentience around a minute later¡± (Rize) ¡°Oh! so the slime queen gained sentience¡­ wait, what!?¡± (Alka) I know¡­ it sounds unbelievable, right? She seems to have somewhat calmed down, now? ¡°And¡­ what happened after that?¡± (Alka) ¡°She vanished¡± (Rize) ¡°Vanished?¡± (Alka) ¡°Yes, along with all the slimes in the area. Poof! gone¡± (Rize) ¡°You don¡¯t mean¡­¡± (Alka) ¡°The slimes got themselves reset by the Queen¡± (Rize) ¡°Holy¡­ shit!¡± (Alka) Did she just. ¡°Miss Alka?¡± (Rize) ¡°You guys¡­ do you even know what you¡¯ve done!?¡± (Alka) ¡°It¡­ it shouldn¡¯t be so terrible, the slime Queen, she¡­ she shouldn¡¯t be a harm to the rest of us¡± (Rize) ¡°Hah¡­¡± (Alka) ¡°Do you even know how many Slimes there are in this world?¡± (Alka) Shit¡­ she¡¯s right. ¡°Now, imagine ALL of them put together in one place¡± (Alka) my face turns pale. We¡­ might have just fucked up bigger than we thought at first. ¡°I¡­ I¡¯m sure it can¡¯t be so bad, the slime queen thanked Doraig, maybe we can talk her into being peaceful to the rest of the races?¡± (Rize) ¡°You do realize that your companion is a Dragon?¡± (Alka) ¡°...So?¡± (Rize) ¡°The Dragons are not even from this continent, why would he even care about us that much? even if he, for some reason, did care for the rest of this continent¡­ why would the queen be so thankful as to listen to him? many people become drunken with power after obtaining it easily. and her striking it rich like you¡¯ve told me certainly counts as ¡®obtaining power easily¡¯¡± (Alka) ¡°Well¡­ what do you think we should do? I accept it, this was our fault¡± (Rize) ¡°Rize¡± (Alka) no formalities now? ¡°Yes!?¡± (Rize) ¡°Go and find the Queen, your dragon friend should know in what environment the slimes like to live. it is said, races that are reset get sent to whichever territory will aid their growth until they¡¯ve taken their first footsteps after being reborn. there would be no point if they went extinct right after restarting. Imagine if the Karfi got sent to a lava zone by the system after their reset¡± (Alka) ¡°I¡¯ll¡­ see what I can do¡± (Rize) I stand up and begin to walk towards the door ¡°By the way, Miss Alka, I''m 20 or so times your age¡± (Rize) ¡°So?¡± (Alka) ...Damn. ¡°no¡­ nothing¡± (Rize) ¡°...Rize¡± (Alka)This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. ¡°...Yeah?¡± (Rize) ¡°Good luck¡± (Alka)
Doraig''s perspective. ¡°How did it go?¡± (Rob) ¡°She¡­ yelled at me¡± (Rize) ¡°Pfft¡± (Doraig) ¡°I have never been yelled at by a woman younger than my little sister before¡± (Rize) ¡°Pfft¡± (Rob) ¡°Fuck you¡± (Rize) 10 minutes later¡­ after we stopped laughing, we finally listen to Rize¡¯s instructions, given by Alka. ¡°So¡­ if it is like she said, I think I do actually have an idea of what kind of place they should have been moved to¡± (Doraig) ¡°What kind of place do slimes like to live in?¡° (Rize) ¡°Hmm, well¡­ for starters, they enjoy places where the temperature is mildly warm, with not many variations between stations. the ideal place would have a cave and a source of running water next to it as well¡­ the cave should be proportional to the number of slimes. the one thing that makes the difference is that there should be a settlement in the 4 cardinal directions surrounding it. I have no idea why, but they always seem to prefer placing themselves in between settlements of any race that can think for themselves, independent of how far away the settlement is, as long as they put themselves at the intersection of the four of them they will be happy¡± (Doraig) ¡°¡®Happy¡¯?¡±(Rob) ¡°Yeah, when slimes get happy they get themselves to release some extra goo on the floor, no clue why, though¡± (Doraig) ¡°Hmm¡­ there¡¯s a few places like that, actually. do they like to have their own space for themselves? what do you mean by ¡®proportional to their numbers¡¯?¡± (Rize) ¡°Let me think¡­ usually, a slime likes to have a personal space of¡­ around a small house¡¯s worth?¡± (Doraig) ¡°Hmm¡­ something like that one?¡± (Rize) ¡°I would say half that one, actually¡± (Doraig) ¡°Okay¡­ so there should be this many slimes¡­ with this amount of space¡­¡± (Rize) 5 minutes later ¡°I think I got the place¡± (Rize) ¡°That was quick!¡± (Doraig) ¡°Where is it?¡± (Rob) ¡°East of us, there¡¯s an area near where the Lizardmen and Naga live that should be just about right in size and conditions¡± (Rize) ¡°Alright, so we¡¯re leaving now?¡± (Rob) ¡°I guess so, Pick us up Doraig, we¡¯re going there now, should take about 3 days or so to get there¡± (Rize) ¡°...Ugh¡± (Doraig) I have been reduced to a mount, why won¡¯t you two just learn how to fly, god damn it. In the other hand, the PLAN LIVES ON! 2 days later We¡¯ve been traveling the past 2 days towards the east, well, not exactly ¡®east¡¯ but it¡¯s close. On this day in particular day we are going to be entering the territory of the Lizardmen and Naga, so we want to go in an inconspicuous way, because the longer time we take, the more people will realize something is amiss, and they could possibly find the slimes before we do, which could provoke some irreparable damage. it¡¯d suck if the slimes were attacked by people who think they¡¯re still mindless, resulting in a full-scale war between multiple races, throwing everything inside this continent to chaos. ¡°Let¡¯s see¡­ let¡¯s traverse this forest at earth level, that should help us move around without causing too much of a ruckus¡± (Rize) ¡°Sounds good, how about you move ahead and scout using invisibility?¡± (Rob) ¡°Okay¡± (Rize) Rize leaves after disappearing into the woods, while we walk slowly in the direction we¡¯re supposed to go into.
Rize¡¯s POV Let¡¯s see, at 3 p.m. in front of me there¡¯s what it seems like¡­ a pair of naga and 3 lizardmen? they seem to be doing some adventuring in the forest¡­ they are moving towards the... 10 pm direction? oh, they found a beast to fight. that¡¯s a¡­ Horse? it¡¯s so massive¡­ Did he throw a green blob? acid? This forest should be called Virus¡¯ Greenery. if I remember correctly, it should have level 20 or so monsters? so that¡¯s a level 20 Toxic Horse? Hmmm, they should be around level 18 or so then, if they¡¯re leveling here. let¡¯s go back and tell Robin and Doraig to make a detour so they don¡¯t run into each other. ¡°Hey, 5 people in that direction. Let¡¯s take a detour that way¡± (Rize) ¡°Hmm? Okay, we¡¯ll do that¡± (Rob) ¡°Yes, Sir!¡± (Doraig) ¡°I¡¯ll go back to scouting¡± (Rize) ¡°Alright, be careful¡± (Rob) Hmm, this way is clear¡­ Hm? explosives? what¡¯s that sound? let¡¯s go and take a look. it¡¯s coming from my direction at 11 p.m. A mage Lizardmen? He¡¯s a fire mage, it seems. he¡­ is fighting a¡­ what is that? single horn, human head and torso, and a goat¡¯s lower body? should be an intelligent species, why are they fighting? I''ll get a bit closer to see if I can find out what is happening¡­ ¡°Back off Keerus, the map is mine!¡± (??) ¡°Shut up, Jeris. it leads to the Sorcerer¡¯s hidden castle, the items contained within are of no use to you! just quietly hand the map and I will spare your life¡± (Keerus) ¡°Dream on! even if I can¡¯t use anything in there I can still sell it all! you have no say in what I do with the things that are mine¡± (Jeris) ¡°Hah, then I guess I will have to take it over your charred corpse!¡± (Keerus) Map to a place called Sorcerer¡¯s hidden castle? that sounds interesting¡­ let¡¯s quietly wait for the conclusion to this... ¡°Take this!¡± (Jeris) Sparks? the five bolts of lightning are dancing on the ground in zig-zagging patterns¡­ ¡°You think I''m so easily bullied? at least use something decent against me. Jeris¡± (Keerus) Woah, he can jump so high? that¡¯s at least 5 meters, isn¡¯t it? what!? he kicked the air to go towards the lizardman called Jeris? Gone!? Oh, he¡¯s over there¡­ teleportation? no¡­ there¡¯s a trail of lightning left behind ¡°Give up, you can¡¯t defeat a battle mage with your set of skills, Jeris¡± (Keerus) ¡°Hah! I may not be able to kill you, but I can at least escape without you being able to do anything¡± (Jeris) Hey! that direction¡­
Doraig¡¯s POV What is Rize doing¡­ after we heard the explosion he never came back to tell us what is going on ¡°Do you think something happened to Rize?¡± (Rob) ¡°Nah, he should be fine, but it¡¯s annoying not being able to go invisible like him¡­ I bet whatever the cause of that explosion was, it was more interesting than just waiting around for Rize to come¡± (Doraig) Shouts? ¡°Stop running! just give up the map, you know I have two resources available for me to chase you around, unlike you, who can only depend on your stamina!¡± (Keerus) ¡°A chase is not only defined by one¡¯s stamina! do you think some of the animals in this world would still be around if that were the case?¡± (Jeris) Lizard and¡­ human? no¡­ demon? what the hell is that guy? ¡°Hey! why are you guys chasing each other?¡± (Doraig) ¡°Dragon?¡± (Jeris & Keerus) ¡°Yeah¡­ so what¡¯s up?¡± (Doraig) ¡°Help me fend this guy off, I will reward you plenty!¡± (Jeris) They stopped running and are now eyeing me and themselves in a three-way triangle? by the way, where did Rob go? ¡°They have a map to a place that could be helpful to you. the one to your left is the one that has it¡± (Rize) Rize? he is still invisible but is now next to me it seems ¡°What will you give me if I help you? that guy does not seem weak at all¡± (Doraig) ¡°He¡¯s chasing me because I have a map leading to a certain place, if you help me against him we can share the split¡± (Jeris) ¡°...Why didn¡¯t you guys split the rewards between yourselves?¡± (Doraig) ¡°Ask that guy, as soon as he found out I had it he went mad with greed and threatened me, there¡¯s no way I will trust him!¡± (Jeris) ¡°Don¡¯t listen to his lies! I was looking for the place on the map, but this guy stole it from me in a moment of carelessness¡± (Keerus) ¡°Let me think for a bit¡­¡± (Doraig) ¡°Watch out Keerus!¡± (Doraig) ¡°What!?¡± (Keerus) He¡¯s looking the other way! ¡®Minor Destruction Breath¡¯ ¡®Minor Destruction Breath¡¯ ¡®Minor Destruction Breath¡¯ ¡®Minor Destruction Breath¡¯ ¡°Why¡­¡± (Keerus) Why? that¡¯s fairly simple, actually. ¡°I hate liars with a passion¡± (Doraig)
Experience Received
Level up: 13 -> 15
¡°Thanks for choosing to help me, but why do you say he was a liar?¡± (Jeris) ¡°That? just my intuition. besides, I could hear the threats going your way¡± (Doraig) ¡°I see¡­ here, look at this map¡± (Jeris) He¡¯s coming this way while taking a paper out of thin air¡­ his inventory, I assume¡­ ¡°Heh¡­ so this is the map? it seems it is not that far away¡± (Doraig) ¡°No, it¡¯s just around the corner¡­ but it¡¯s a shame you will not see its contents!¡± (Jeris) Heh, dumbass ¡°What!?¡± (Jeris) Yep, that is Rize alright. ¡°Die.¡± (Rize) I watch as Rize kills the guy that was awfully close to me. I maybe have died if he took a single strong hit on me¡­ ¡°How¡­¡± (Jeris) ¡°I told you, I hate liars¡± (Doraig) ¡°Thanks, Rize, I owe you one¡± (Doraig) ¡°Come out, Robin!¡± (Rize) ¡°God damn, Rize. I almost shit my pants while hiding, why did you tell me to do so?¡± (Rob) ¡°If they saw the 2 of you together they could have banded together against both of you, it was safer for Doraig to be on his own. that way, they lowered their guards and instead wanted to gobble all up¡± (Doraig) ¡°I see¡­ how did you know they would try to fool Doraig?¡± (Rob) ¡°I just had that idea due to the things they spoke about, both of them looked greedy enough to try and do so¡± (Rize) Ah, that¡¯s why he told me to be careful when approaching that guy¡­ ¡°That said, though¡­ I''m surprised they didn¡¯t realize how you fucked up back there. I wanted to smack you really hard right there and then.¡± (Rize) ¡°Fuck up? what do you mean?¡± (Doraig) ¡°¡®Watch out, Keerus¡¯? how the hell were you going to explain knowing that guys¡¯ name?¡± (Rize) ¡°Oh¡­ I didn¡¯t even realize that when you told me about which one was who, I just blurted it out without giving it much thought¡± (Doraig) ¡°...I¡¯m glad both of those guys were retarded, then¡± (Rob) ¡°Anyways, move with me quickly, before the group that was behind us comes looking for the source of the explosions. This way!¡± (Rize) In any case... ¡°So this map leads us to where?¡± (Rob) ¡°To a place, they called the ¡®Sorcerer¡¯s Hidden Castle¡¯, that place should have many things to aid you, Doraig¡± (Rize) ¡°Sounds like a place that has magic... things in it¡± (Doraig) ¡°It doesn¡¯t seem to be far. How do we go about with this?¡± (Rob) ¡°From the fact they wanted to go on a solo mission¡­ it is probably safe enough. Let¡¯s do this¡± (Rize) ¡°?¡± (Doraig & Rob) ¡°Robin will head to the place marked on the map, while I will bring Doraig to the place where we think the Slime queen and her race is at¡± (Rize) ¡°I will split off from you two?¡± (Rob) ¡°Will he be fine?¡± (Doraig) ¡°Yeah, probably¡± (Rize) ¡°...let me think about it¡± (Rob) ¡°Let¡¯s move in the meanwhile, either way, we would have to split after exiting the forest¡± (Rize) ¡°Alright¡± (Rize & Doraig) 30 minutes later ¡°I¡¯ve decided. I¡¯ll go and explore the castle¡± (Rob) ¡°What made you decide to go?¡± (Rize) ¡°If I go¡­ I will be able to avoid the disgusting things Doraig will probably do once we get to the slime queen, this pervert¡­¡± (Rob) ¡°Oi¡± (Doraig) ¡°Okay then, here¡¯s the map¡± (Rize) Rob nods silently and this look, he seems¡­ preoccupied for us? ¡°Just be careful, okay?¡± (Doraig) ¡°Of course I will be, you guys don¡¯t get made into Slime food either, okay? I still need you two to help me with the plot against the Prince¡± (Rob) ¡°let¡¯s meet at the Lizardmen-Naga capital, Weierstrass, then. It should be a bit more ¡®accepting¡¯ of other races compared to the rest of their towns in the vicinity¡± (Rize) ¡°Alright, see you soon, then¡± (Rob) ¡°See you soon, man¡± (Doraig) And like that Rob makes his way to where the castle is¡­ I put the points I''ve obtained after killing that guy into an assorted mix of vitality, agility, and intelligence, and I will save the skill points for that damn barrier¡­ since I will need one either way, even if it costs me 10 levels worth of skill points to get it¡­ goddamnit Mr. System, do you wish that hard for me to be the biggest glass-cannon-dragon in history? In the meanwhile of my grumbling, we are now going into a more rocky and mountainous area, which I''m going to fly into with Rize, using the mountain range around us as cover. ¡°Onwards, my steed¡± (Rize) ¡°What the fuck¡± (Doraig) Chapter 11: (title name withheld) Chapter 11: withheld From now on, your name is Kelsi. ¡°This Area should be called ¡®Metatron¡¯s Rockzone¡¯. It is filled with Golems, Razor Eagles, and Metal Elementals. Golems are automatons with no intellect whatsoever who disguise themselves as boulders, becoming a rock-made-giant whenever any intruder approaches them¡± (Rize) ¡°Those shouldn¡¯t be any problems to us, then¡± (Doraig) ¡°Razor Eagles should be harder to deal with. they are level 28 Flying beast with a sharp metal beak and retractable claws made of metal. They have no ranged attack but could be tricky to fight as they are about as fast as you are, but are a lot more durable¡± (Rize) ¡°Do you think Intimidating gaze will affect them?¡± (Doraig) ¡°You could try right now, to your left!¡± (Rize) Oh shit. I quickly move to my right, and after successfully dodging what was coming my way I watch back to see there¡¯s a Bird about 1/4 of my size looking my way menacingly. Massive wings, red feathers, silver beak and claws and a look that if it could kill I would have showered the lands with my blood. Let¡¯s try, ¡®Intimidating Gaze¡¯ As expected, nothing happens. He''s heading this way beak-first, so I follow Rize''s instruction (the pulling of my head in a certain direction) and move to the Eagle¡¯s Right, thus avoiding a frontal confrontation. Rize takes out his bow from his inventory, and proceeds to take aim¡ª ¡°Stay steady for a second¡± (Rize) ¡°Roger!¡± (Doraig) Rize takes the shot which¡­ Gets deflected easily by the Eagle''s skin. ¡°Go up!¡± (Rize) I move upwards and So does the eagle, but before he can get closer I turn around and¡ª ¡®Minor Destruction Breath¡¯ My shot proves to be useful and the Eagle gets enraged, issuing a shrilling scream as it rushes madly towards us! ¡°He¡¯s right below us¡± (Doraig) ¡°Stay still¡± (Rize) ¡°What!? why?¡± (Doraig) And my answer quickly arrives. Rize jumps off my back, grabbing the eagle by the neck. I watch intently as Rize takes out his scythe from his backpack and JAMS it into the eagle''s own back. repeatedly¡­ the Eagle begins to fly erratically, trying to have Rize fall, flying left and right in a quick manner to have him lose his balance and thus lead this guy to his untimely death¡­ The bastard tries to ram himself into the rocky side of a mountain, so as to turn Rize into meat paste, but right before Rize becomes half slime due to the attack, Rize moves around to the Eagle¡¯s left side. The Eagle, not having responded in time to his actions, strikes himself against the rock, inflicting damage upon himself. Holy shit. In this manner, their conflict continues. Rize hits the Eagle whenever he can, while the Eagle can do nothing but try to catch him off guard and have him strike against the wall, to no avail. After being hit for the twentieth time with the scythe, the Eagle finally can no longer sustain its injuries and begins to fall down. I quickly approach it flying as it freefalls towards the ground, and Rize uses its corpse as a foothold to jump towards me once I''m close enough, landing majestically on my back. ¡°Dude¡± (Doraig) ¡°What?¡± (Rize) ¡°What the fuck was that¡± (Doraig) ¡°?¡± I¡­ didn¡¯t get any experience, Oh yeah¡ª we''re not in a party. ¡°By the way¡­ can we party up? I didn¡¯t get a scrap of experience¡­¡± (Doraig) ¡°Oh¡­ okay¡± (Rize) I think he had forgotten as well. [Rize has sent you a party invite] For now, I¡¯ll take a look at my Status, it¡¯s been a long time since the last time... ¡®System status¡¯
Name Doraig Stat Base Bonus (%) Total Skill Name Current level Max Level Evolution
Race Dragon (Otherworldly) STR 12 0 12 Minor Destruction Breath 91 99 Intermediate Destruction Breath
Level 15 VIT 25 5 26.25 Intimidating Gaze (Racial bonus) 2 99 +Intimidating Voice (Racial bonus)
HP (+Bonus) 96.5/96.5 (+0) DEX 25 0 25 Fly 45 99 Fly
HP Regen +2.125/minute Minor Destruction Ray 2 99 Intermediate Destruction Ray
MP (+Bonus) 200/200 (+0) INT 48 0 48
MP Regen +5/minute Basic Red Inspect 3 999 Medium Red Inspect
Skill Points Available 10
Stat Points Available 0 [1] more skill Hidden from view.
Experience Points 352/22140
Hmm¡­ Fly is leveling up quite fast, but then again, I''ve been flying quite a lot lately. ''Minor Red Inspect'' seems to be a bit of a waste of skill points, but how would I have known Rize would be a walking dictionary¡­ I guess if you¡¯ve lived for about a third of a millennium in one place you have a lot of time to learn your stuff.Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. ¡°Hey Rize, do you think it¡¯s a good idea to evolve Destruction Breath? it¡¯s 8 levels away from doing so¡± (Doraig) ¡°Don¡¯t do it¡± (Rize) ¡°Why?¡± (Doraig) ¡°You¡¯re damn squishy, just focus on getting the barrier¡± (Rize) ¡°Fine¡­¡± (Doraig) 25 skill points to go¡­ I guess. ¡°Anyways, so that¡¯s one way to deal with Eagles, I guess¡­ what about Elementals?¡± (Doraig) ¡°They are silver colored misty beings, which condense their energy to shoot projectiles made of metal. as long as you spot them you should be able to avoid their attacks without much trouble¡± (Rize) ...without much trouble, he says ¡°Let¡¯s get going, then¡± (Doraig)
Meanwhile, Robin¡¯s Perspective. I¡¯m currently following the secret map given to me by Rize¡¯s and Doraig¡¯s effort. After separating from the pair and walking around for a few minutes I entered a desert zone. The only Landmarks leading my way are some obelisks with numbers written on them¡ª ¡®0256 - 2145 - 1425¡¯ This way, then. I walk in a certain direction, guiding my footsteps towards the next landmark. the map denotes the usage of the Landmarks; they lead you towards the hidden castle in this way: the first number represents the X coordinate, the second number being the Y coordinate, and the last number, the Z coordinate. the last number is not as important for now since the third number¡¯s usage is for me to know the altitude. I can only hope the castle is not floating in the sky¡­ This place is a good source of experience, the only monsters I''ve found so far are bipedal beasts that look similar to lizardmen, but which have long fins that follow their spine, ¡®Attack Drakes¡¯. Slow and stupid, all I have to do to fight them is move around them and attack their back, easy stuff. Here¡¯s my third prey. ¡°GROOOWL¡± (Beast) The beast launches a head-on attack against me. I sidestep and use my foot to have the beast lose his footing. the Drake stumbles and eats a mouthful of sand after falling down. I use the moment he takes to stand back up and attack thrice. Because of the level difference, this will take a long time, but this guy on his own will have me level up once or twice. ¡°GROOOWL¡± (Beast#2) A second one? crap. Both beasts standing one at each side, this is going to be hard fight huh¡­ one hit and I will be dead. Bring it on! Making use of their low judgment, I place myself so that if they ram me a full speed they hit each other, I attack once after evading, ¡®Hiya!¡¯. Whenever the beasts aim for my chest, I roll to evade, kick the ground and land two quick hits¡ª ¡®Tink Tink¡¯. The first beast¡¯s eyes turn red, it appears like he¡¯s enraged now. He uses his claws to try and land a hit on me, but while doing so he blocks his partner, so I use the force of his attack to deflect his claws into the second Drake. The first one in front of me, the second one to his left. I make use of the time delay to draw a circle with my sword parallel to the ground, moving to the first Drake¡¯s right flank. ¡®Clank¡¯ I land a direct hit to the back of his head. he seems stunned, for which reason I decide to land a second hit. The second drake, let¡¯s call it #2, has circled around #1 and charges me head on. we dance around #1 while it¡¯s stunned, and I make use of the range a sword grants me to land direct hits to #2¡¯s chest. ¡®Tink Tink Tink¡¯, after the third hit #1 regains his consciousness and with it, his footing. it looks like after opening his eyes once again, he is no longer enraged. He slowly stands up, watches both sides and locks his eyes on me¡­ In this manner, the dance continues, and 30 hits later, #1 falls. 50 hits later, #2 follows suit.
Experience Received
Level up: 13 -> 14
As usual, I place 3 in strength, 3 in dexterity, and 4 in vitality. One hour and 5 drakes later I reach my destination. There¡¯s a statuette depicting a person wearing a robe, which doesn¡¯t allow one to know the gender of the person. on the left hand an open book, and on the right, a sword. I examine the statuette for a moment, before turning it. Sounds of something opening, following by an opening revealing itself on the ground, which reveals a trapdoor behind. I open the trapdoor and the first thing that greets me is the massive amounts of dust coming towards my face¡ª ¡°Cough Cough¡± After waving my hands to disperse the dust, I enter the opening on the floor, and once I''m inside, I close back the trapdoor. As if Following the lock of the trapdoor, orbs of light light up, showcasing what in front of me. a long corridor, easily 1 km long in front me. in the distance, I can only see something brown. ¡°A door?¡± I walk towards the end of the corridor. in front of me a massive stone door, as big as the city walls of Parlor town. ¡°There¡¯s something written on this wall¡­¡± ¡®I¡¯ve died, of that I''m sure. I leave my treasures and teachings for the one that is worthy of being called my successor. If you only desire riches, turn around and leave from whence you came, for only death awaits you otherwise¡¯ Shit¡­ now what. Hold on, there¡¯s something written below? ¡®- Martha¡¯ Martha? if I remember correctly the Sorcerer¡¯s name was Sinfred¡­ what is going on? I examine the space around me¡­ but can¡¯t find any other clue as to what is going on. I will see if I missed anything behind¡­ Aha! Nearing the middle section in between the trapdoor and the stone door I find an interesting looking crevice, about the size of my hand. It has the shape of a drop of something... this is probably ¡®that¡¯, right? Using the tip of my sword I draw a bit of blood from my finger, which I place inside the crevice¡­ ¡®CREEAK¡¯ I hear the rumbling and turn towards the direction the sound is coming from¡ª the stone door. ¡°The door is opening¡± I walk towards the stone door, and after stepping through the gate closes behind me. I start to wonder, why the hell did I cross the stone door?
Doraig¡¯s perspective. After cruising through the Mountain range, fighting against two lone Eagles, and avoiding shots from the Elementals, we finally make it into a beautiful zone. A crystal clear lake, which surrounds a prairie... filled with a copious amount of green, pink and yellow blobs. ¡°I guess they really were sent here, huh¡± (Doraig) ¡°Of course they were here¡± (Rize) Smartass¡­ ¡°Let¡¯s move¡± (Rize) ¡°Are you sure you want to come with me?¡± (Doraig) ¡°Well, I''m going in while invisible, so there¡¯s no problem¡± (Rize) ¡°...¡± (Doraig) We walk towards the slimes who, after gaining a proper intellect, look towards us (well, me) with confused expressions. Yes, they now have expressions, with the mouth being just a separation in the upper part of the blob, and the eyes being the color of the goo emitted as a mellow light. ¡°StRanGer?¡± (Blob #1) ¡°Ah, I''m here to look for your Queen¡± (Doraig) ¡°QuEen?¡± (Blobs #1, #2, ¡­ , #n) After managing to have my eardrums not explode from all the slimes repeating that one word¡­ ¡°Yes, your queen. tell her Doraig is looking for her¡± (Doraig) ¡°I heard the little ones calling me, I didn¡¯t expect to see you so soon, though¡± (Slime Queen) she says while beaming a smile at me. ¡°Ah, Hello there missy¡± (Doraig) ¡°Hello, Doraig. Did you miss me that much?¡± (Slime Queen) ¡°Well, yeah¡± (Doraig) She¡¯s¡­ blushing? I can see the hue changing at the place where the cheeks should be. ¡°I missed you too! after telling the little ones how you helped us all, they all think of you as sort of their father, as well¡± (Slime Queen) ¡°FaThEr¡±(Blobs #1, #2, ¡­ , #n) Ouch! ¡°Can we move someone a bit more... private?¡± (Doraig) ¡°Oh! o-of course, it would be my pleasure!¡± (Slime Queen) ...Blushing again? The Queen leads the way, and after moving past the blobbiness that surrounded us, we enter a cave, which I assume is the Queen¡¯s home. ¡°So¡­ can you explain to me how you gained intelligence?¡± (Doraig) ¡°What do you mean? you are the one who granted it to me¡± (Queen) ¡°Wait, hold on. What did I do?¡± (Doraig) Don¡¯t¡­ give me a puppy¡¯s confused look. ¡°You¡­ don¡¯t know?¡± (Queen) ¡°Um¡­ I don¡¯t? all I did was mix into you two cores of other slimes¡± (Doraig) ¡°But¡­ I clearly felt your love for our race when you did so. you gave me part of your mana and taught me the ¡°Learning¡± Skill¡± (Slime Queen) ¡°Wait. isn¡¯t it impossible for me to teach you skills if we¡¯re of different races? you should have had the tutorial already, Mr. System says so there... and I didn''t lose any skill points either¡± (Doraig) ¡°That¡­ you¡¯re right. then how¡­?¡± (Slime Queen) I¡¯m about as clueless as you are. I shrug my shoulders and throw the matter to the back of my head¡ª ¡°You¡¯re right, though, I do love your race, well, I guess it does count as ¡®love¡¯, at least¡± (Doraig) ¡°I know, that emotion couldn¡¯t be hidden even if you wanted to do so¡± (Slime Queen) ¡°Well¡­ I¡¯m glad I could help you all. I only really came here to ask you not to engage in conflict with other people unless you reaaaaally need to do so¡± (Doraig) ¡°Umm¡­ Doraig?¡± (Slime Queen) ¡°Yes?¡± (Doraig) ¡°That¡¯s up to you, you¡¯re our King¡± (Slime Queen) ¡°Your what sorry?¡± (Doraig) ¡°We owe you so much we¡¯ve decided to have you as our King¡± (Slime Queen) ¡°...for real?¡± (Doraig) She puts puppy-eyes-mode on as if saying ¡®you don¡¯t want to?¡¯ ¡°I guess you¡¯re not joking¡­ what do you want me to do?¡± (Doraig) ¡°Well¡­ we owe you enough for you to be our King while your life lasts, it¡¯s not like you¡¯re immortal, nobody is¡± (Slime Queen) ¡°And so, as long as you don¡¯t lead our race to extinction, the slimes will follow your command if you have one¡± (Slime Queen) ¡°Of course, I''m sure, with the amount of love I sensed coming from you towards us you wouldn¡¯t do so¡± (Slime Queen) ¡­ ¡°I¡­ guess that okay, then?¡± (Doraig) Hey! you sure like to blush¡ª Oh. ¡°Was that a trap?¡± (Doraig) ¡°?¡± (Slime Queen) ¡°Nothing¡± (Doraig) Hmm.. while we¡¯re talking, I might as well ask. we had to rush here and lost the chance to get a healer. ¡°So¡­ have you leveled up yet?¡± (Doraig) ¡°Uh¡­ not yet. I¡¯ve spent the last few days organizing everyone to make sure they can make it alive on their own¡­ we¡¯re a bit too many to be all in one place¡± (Slime Queen) ¡°That¡¯s good, then¡± (Doraig) ¡°Why?¡± (Slime Queen) ¡°Come adventuring with me, then. be my companion¡± (Doraig) ¡°With pleasure!¡± (Slime Queen) ¡°Great!¡± (Doraig) ¡°But¡­¡± (Slime Queen) ¡°Yes?¡± (Doraig) ¡°Can you give me a few days for me to teach the rest of things from the tutorial to the little ones?¡± (Slime Queen) ¡°Ah, of course¡± (Doraig) ¡°If I may ask, what do you want me to do for you?¡± (Slime Queen) ¡°I¡¯d like for you to be a healer, can you do that for me?¡± (Doraig) ¡°I think I can do it¡± (Slime Queen) ¡°Great! thanks, love¡± (Doraig) How¡¯d you like that direct hit! Hit ¡ª Success. ¡°T-then¡­ I will see you later, you may stay in this cave if you wish to¡± (Slime Queen) ¡°Sure. by the way, what¡¯s your name? I¡¯d rather call you that instead of Queen¡± (Doraig) ¡°I¡­ don¡¯t have a name¡± (Slime Queen) ¡°You don¡¯t?¡± (Doraig) ¡°Slimes don¡¯t have names, but I guess we will, now. thanks to you¡± (Slime Queen) ¡­ ¡°Kelsi¡± (Doraig) ¡°?¡± ¡°That¡¯s your new name¡± (Doraig) ¡°Kelsi¡­¡± ¡°I like it!¡± Chapter 11 title:From now on, your name is Kelsi. Chapter 12: Robins struggle after crossing the door Chapter 12: Robin¡¯sstruggle after crossing the door
Rob¡¯s point of view What is this place!? In front of me is what looks like an arena. A massive open area with 4 obelisks forming a square in the center, 30 meters from each other. how big is the thing I''m going to fight!? As I spend my time visualizing and trying to make sense of my surroundings, a mechanical voice brings me out of my dreams¡­ ¡°Ahem¡± (??) What the hell is that!? ¡°What are you? a statuette? No¡­ you¡¯re made of metal?¡± (Rob) ¡°I am called Gemril, you must be the test taker? this way¡± (Gemril) ¡°Test taker? I just¡ª¡± (Rob) ¡°Then, are you an intruder?¡± (Gemril) !? its eyes turn a deep color of red and look threateningly my way ¡°Yes! I am a test taker!¡± (Rob) ¡°Good! Follow me¡± (Gemril) I follow Gemril towards the center of the square arena¡­ ¡°This is where you will take the test¡± (Gemril) ¡°So what is this test all about?¡± (Rob) ¡°Here you will fight Automatons to test your strength. the automatons are split into 10 different levels, representing the difficulty to beat them. But before that, allow me to scan your strength¡± (Gemril) Scan my st¡ª Ouch!? ¡°Hey, what was that needle for!¡± (Rob) ¡°We have to test your strength¡± (Gemril) ¡°...¡± (Rob) ¡°and¡­ done!¡± (Gemril) ¡°Hmm.. you¡¯re pretty terrible, about a twenty?¡± (Gemril) ¡°A twenty?¡± (Rob) ¡°That¡¯s your fighting ability as of now, that is to say, your body''s capacity to inflict damage before taking into account your experience and training, So that¡¯s where we will begin your test. let me calibrate the Automatons¡± (Gemril) ¡°Beep¡ªBoop¡ªBeep¡ªBoop¡± (Gemril) I don¡¯t think that¡¯s how sound effects work, though¡­ ¡°All set¡± (Gemril) so what does ¡®about a 20¡¯ even mean? ¡°Okay. you will fight in ascending order from one to ten. you will have 5 minutes of rest in between fights. to win the round you must either incapacitate your opponent or throw him out of the arena¡± (Gemril) ¡°Do I have to beat all ten of them?¡± (Rob) ¡°Are you an idiot? that¡¯d be just suicide. this is a test¡± (Gemril) ... ¡°You have to beat 5 to pass, and every Automaton you beat above that level will grant you with better rewards from my Master¡± (Gemril) ¡°Oh yeah, can I ask you something? I came to this place thinking your master was called Sinfried, this being his castle¡± (Rob) ¡°Ha, that twerp being the master of the castle? what a joke¡± (Gemril) ¡°Sinfried was nothing but a servant to my master, one she sent outside from time to time to buy stuff and get some pets for her to play with¡± (Gemril) ¡°...who is your master, then?¡± (Rob) ¡°Ah, didn¡¯t you see the letter of introduction she left outside this place?¡± (Gemril) ¡°...no¡± (Rob) Letter of introduction!? where the hell did I get myself into... ¡°Ahem. Let me introduce to you, my master! Martha the Righteous! Lived and fought for 10,000 years, master of the sword and scion of the light. She knew a myriad of different spells, allowing her to bring havoc to this world with the flip of a hand!¡± (Gemril) ¡°She lived for ten thousand years? but that¡¯s¡­ impossible¡± (Rob) ¡°Ha-ah¡­ I can see you¡¯re nothing but a little and puny human. you guys just live for too short of a time¡± (Gemril) ¡°My master was the last Lightbearer in this world, before her race went extinct a thousand years ago¡± (Gemril) ¡°Wait¡­ for how long have you been in this place?¡± (Rob) ¡°Of course, I¡¯ve been trapped in this place for the last thousand years as well¡± (Gemril) ¡°Are you immortal? how¡­¡± (Rob) ¡°Are YOU an idiot? nobody can attain immortality in this world. I have a core of energy inside me, that is connected to this space and feeds me with life force¡± (Gemril) ¡°Uh¡­ I see¡± (Rob) ¡°Anyways. I got derailed off topic, I will begin the countdown for you to begin the test¡± (Gemril) ¡°Alright, bring it on!¡± (Rob) I say as I quickly equip my gear: armor, sword, helmet and everything else at my disposal. ¡°Prepare! 5! 4! 321-GO!¡± (Gemril) BOOM! one of the obelisks explodes, its fragments floating in the air while emitting blue light, and right after, clicky reforming to form what should be an automaton. standing on two massive feet, 2-and-a-half-meter tall, bulky frame and what looks a like a T-shaped helmet in place of its head. ¡°Let¡¯s go!¡± (Rob) ¡°AWOOOOOO!¡± (Automaton) The big-ass guy runs straight toward me, lifts both his hand and prepares to slam me into the ground, but before he¡¯s able to I move backward and easily avo- BOOM! I fly away along with the rubble formed after the Automaton¡¯s hit against the floor. I stand back up as quickly as I can. the Level 1 shakes his shoulders as if saying ¡®what a disgrace you are¡¯. ¡°What is it with this stupid strength! I¡¯ll die in one hit!¡± (Rob) leaving me no time to cry, he changes position into a ¡®prepare for sprinting¡¯ one.The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. He¡¯s coming again. BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! Again and again, he comes straight at me, after which I will hurriedly step back to avoid being blasted away. I have to go on the offensive if I want to get through this; if this keeps going I will get exhausted and finished, I have at the very least 4 fights to go after this! I Raise my sword and run straight towards the Level-1, and when I see him raising his arms to strike at me again I decide to sidestep this time. I circle around his body and land a hit against the neck. Hard! Crap, that didn¡¯t do much damage. WHOOSH! I Dodge backward as the Level-1 begins spinning around, becoming a cyclone¡­ shit. After moving around the Metal Boy''s body for about 10 seconds, he stops spinning around and drops his arms. He overheated? I use the time that was given to me and run towards him, starting a barrage of attacks, this time focusing on the joints. after I hit him behind the place where the knee is located, he kneels before me, after which, I hit him again on the head except this time, I attack with the hilt of my sword. CLANG! Crack! After having his head crack, his other leg gives up and so the Automaton is now in a sitting position. I walk away from the Automaton before facing Gemril and asking him ¡°Is it done?¡± (Rob) ¡°Grrr¡± (Automaton) It seems he¡¯s still not done for. I Cautiously approach him with my sword in hand, but when I¡¯m 5 meters away, he looks up towards me and raises his right hand¡­ ¡°Why is he pointing the palm of his hand at me!?¡± (Rob) Light begins to gather on the palm of his hand, and before I have the chance to discover what¡¯s wrong with him, I turn around and walk towards the obelisk closest to me. Once I am an arm''s length away from the obelisk I hear whatever he is charging being done, so with no other choice at hand, I decide to jump and run up the obelisk. BANG! the obelisk receives the brunt of the attack, while I¡¯m thankful that wasn¡¯t me. I kick off the obelisk and do a flip on the air. once the Automaton is on my line of sight I can see him pointing at me once more, this time with his left hand. Fuck me! I use the skill I learned by watching the weird Oni (Human-Demon-Goat thing), and double jump in the air, right before the second beam of light is fired! BAM! the hit hits the roof of the Arena and dust begins to fall everywhere. I land behind the Automaton and begin another barrage of attacks before he has the chance to recover once again. BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! The Automaton finally falls to the ground¡ª BAM! The whole arena shakes after he drops into the ground. It seems like he is finally finished. ¡°Hah¡­¡± (Rob) I follow him soon after, falling to the ground completely exhausted mentally. ¡°Congratulations on beating the first level. the 5 minutes begin now!¡± (Gemril) The fallen Automaton splits into countless pieces, which float up to form the missing obelisk once again... ¡°God¡­ Damn it¡± (Rob) I say as I fight to stand back up. This will be a long day...
Doraig¡¯s POV. ¡°She¡¯s gone off to do her thing, thanks for not interrupting, Rize¡± (Doraig) ¡°Sure, no problem. I guess ¡®Kelsi¡¯ will be our healer now? It should be alright, we have around a month and a half to get her to level 17 or so from her current Level 1¡± (Rize) ¡°Yup. and I like her, she seems to be trustworthy!¡± (Doraig) ¡°You sure are straightforward, aren¡¯t you?¡± (Rize) ¡°Yeah¡­ by the way, how are we going to deal with Rob¡¯s side of things?¡± (Doraig) ¡°Hmm¡­ I¡¯ll go fetch him at the city. Hopefully, he¡¯ll be back before the three days are up, at which point I¡¯ll bring him here with me, and you can stay here with Kelsi and the Slimes. We¡¯ll leave once we¡¯re all together¡± (Rize) ¡°Sounds good, but I meant about the things happening in Parlor town¡± (Doraig) ¡°Ah¡± (Rize) ... ¡°Honestly, I don¡¯t think that¡¯s on the level of things we can deal with yet, there were many sketchy things happening when we met him¡± (Rize) ¡°Like for example?¡± (Doraig) ¡°Just think about it, even if the Prince wanted to have the Princess covertly enter the town, he would have sent a single expert, instead of a level 9 fighter with no actual experience outside of duels inside his academy against a single enemy¡± (Rize) ¡°...you¡¯re right¡± (Doraig) ¡°So, what I think happened is that the Prince wanted the princess to die, maybe to start a ¡®revenge¡¯ crusade, or who knows, there could be something bigger going on¡± (Rize) ¡°I.. see. In any case, Robin is now a teammate for the two of us, so that means we have to help him get stronger. that¡¯s in favor of what we want to do, anyways¡± (Doraig) ¡°Of course. if anything, that guy was the only one who didn¡¯t have anything to do with what¡¯s happening inside of that city. Hell, I was somewhat apprehensive of getting a healer in that place too, in case we were swept up in some weird drama¡± (Rize) ¡°Well, you can thank Kelsi and Me for that, then!¡± (Doraig) ¡°Oh screw you man, you just got really lucky Kelsi wasn¡¯t a warmonger¡± (Rize) ¡°...¡± (Doraig) After talking for a bit longer, I can hear ¡®Blub Blub¡¯. Kelsi is back. ¡°Hey Kelsi, how were the Blobbies?¡± (Doraig) I say, to which in response she jumps and lands on my back, before quickly reforming into a Blob once again and moving from my back, to my neck, to standing atop my head. ¡°I¡¯m back! they were doing well, they should be ready to fight against the environment in a few days at the most. is this your friend? I could hear your voice from outside the cave, it gave me a fright at first!¡± (Kelsi) ¡°Yes, I am his friend and teammate, nice to meet you. My name is Rize¡± (Rize) ¡°Oh! it¡¯s my pleasure to meet you, I am Kelsi!¡± (Kelsi) Hmm? my head is getting warmer. ¡°What are you, by the way? I don¡¯t have much knowledge of this world, hehe¡± (Kelsi) ¡°I am an Elf, I¡¯m not sure if you know, but Doraig is a dragon¡± (Rize) ¡°Dra-goon? Doragoon? Doraig!¡± (Kelsi) ¡°We also have another friend, whose name is Robin Caster. you will meet him later. at that time, just call him Rob¡± (Doraig) ¡°Is he also a Dra-gon? or is he an Elf?¡± (Kelsi) ¡°He¡¯s a human. He looks kind of like Rize, but his skin is a lot more white, and his ears aren¡¯t pointy¡± (Doraig) We just have a small Q & A session with Kelsi, where Rize explain to her a bit of this world, which races there are (the most common ones), and some other common knowledge. It seems like Kelsi knows a few things, like colors, shapes and basic things of that style. I think Mr. System gave her a ¡®Language pack vol.1¡¯ or something, but the more technical knowledge needs to be learned by her, on her own. ¡°Thank you a lot, Rize!¡± (Kelsi) ¡°You are welcome. Anyways, as I was telling Doraig a while ago, I will be leaving for the Lizardman-Naga capital ahead of time, so I can fetch Robin once he gets back from the Hidden caste. once he gets back we¡¯ll rush here so we can all leave together¡± (Rize) ¡°That¡­ Ba-is-trass¡ª thingy? Okay!¡± (Kelsi) ¡°Then, I¡¯ll see you in a few days, Doraig¡± (Rize) ¡°See you later man, have fun in Weierstrass, don¡¯t get murdered!¡± (Doraig) ¡°...I hope you didn¡¯t just jinx me¡± (Rize) ¡°Jinx?¡± (Kelsi) ¡°Ah, nothing. don¡¯t teach her weird stuff, Rize!¡± (Doraig) ¡°You¡¯re one to talk¡­¡± (Rize) And so, we split up for a few days. Oh yeah, neither Rize nor I remembered to ask her... "Hey, Kelsi?" (Doraig) "Hmm?" (Kelsi) Yes, she''s still sitting on my head "What racial skill did you get, in the end?" (Doraig) "The slimes? we received ''Shapeshifting''. here, let me show you" (Kelsi) Kelsi begins to glow, and when she stops glowing she becomes a pool of liquid, before quickly reforming, first into a more ''human'' shape, then she goes back to liquid, before becoming a dragon shape. of course, they''re all made of slime, but this is so cool! "Kelsi, you are amazing my love!" (Doraig) "T¡ªthank you, I''m glad you like it!" (Kelsi)
Robin¡¯s POV ¡°Second Round, Begin!¡± (Gemril) Fuck me... As multiple ways to disassemble and murder Gemril run through my head, the second Obelisk breaks up, and just like the first one, emits light and floats in mid-air before reforming itself into another Automaton... This time it¡¯s a¡­ what is that!? It has a wheel in place of legs, and¡­ swords in place of arms? I can see this one is geared towards speed, I at least understand that much, but it¡¯s... wobbling? ¡°Yihaaaw!¡± (Automaton) The Automaton cries as it leans forward before rushing towards me, to which I walk backward to no use, it will soon catch me. Right before it¡¯s about to get me, I sidestep and turn around to kick him in the back, sending him flying off of the fighting platform. The Automaton Falls off the platform, and stops moving¡ª it turned off. ¡°Ah¡± (Rob) ¡°Ah¡± (Gemril) ¡°This¡­ I¡ª guess you won the second round, Con.gra.tu.la.tions¡± (Gemril) Gulp¡­ I hope he isn¡¯t mad at me and throws me something impossible to deal with, right!? ¡°5 minutes of rest, right! and¡­ progressive difficulty, right!?¡± (Rob) ¡°Yes¡­ 5 minutes of rest¡± (Gemril) Hello? don¡¯t ignore that second part¡ª please! ¡°Hah¡­ it was my fault for modifying him and replacing his legs for a wheel¡­ yeah, don¡¯t worry, I will have the difficulty-level climb in a progressive manner¡± (Gemril) Did he modify them? hold on¡­ ¡°Did you make these guys?¡± (Rob) ¡°Me? of course not. they were made by Master¡¯s right hand, as I was. I just enjoyed looking at my maker doing his job, so I learned a trick or two. just now I wanted to try an Automaton I modified, but as you could see¡­¡± (Gemril) I just zoned out as he spent the next few minutes explaining the intricacies of dissecting an automaton to implant him with a massive wheel... ¡°...And that¡¯s all I did¡ª or should have done, but it seems like I missed a bolt. Anyways, You have 15 seconds left of your resting time¡± (Gemril) ¡°Great!¡± (Rob) His eyes open up slightly, expressing his surprise, and after that, he nods his head approvingly towards me ¡°That¡¯s the spirit boy!¡± (Gemril) BOOM! BOOM! Wait¡­ why did two Obelisks blow up this time!? Oh no¡­ Why is it so big!? WHAT.THE.FUCK, THIS IS A FUCKING RAID BOSS! ¡°PROGRESSIVE MY ASS!¡± (Rob) "Hey, I said progressive, not incremental" (Gemril) Chapter 13: (title name withheld) Chapter 13:withheld Robin''s talent for battle "Hey, I said progressive, not incremental" (Gemril) ¡°ROAR!¡± (Automaton) After roaring and making the whole place tremble, my eardrums cry for help, and Gemril looking at me with shining eyes, I put myself in position for the fight. The Automaton begins with a punch that has as much strength contained as Pangu cleaving open heaven and earth. I¡¯m probably going to be squashed even if only the wind of this attack hits me, so I instantly double-jump; first up and and manage to dodge the attack from the 6-meter tall Behemoth that is in front me, and then kick the air to propel myself forward, landing on the giant¡¯s right shoulder. Boom! I attack his head twice while the automaton steadies himself, but soon after I jump up, dodging the palm that was heading for my chest. While propelling in the air I catch a glimpse of the giant holding his right shoulder with his left hand, and as I stop going up, the giant retracts his hand, preparing to catch me while I''m falling down. Not if I can avoid it! I double jump in the direction of his head, landing right on the scalp and just as his right hand is about to catch me, I jump down and grab him by the neck with one hand, hanging there with sword in hand. I begin my barrage of attacks, which without the proper footing and wind up don¡¯t do much, so I drop that idea and propel myself towards the Automaton¡¯s right side, going in between his hand and shoulder. I land in front of the giant just as he steadies himself, he looks completely enraged at the ¡®fly¡¯ that was dancing around his head. I decide to for another round, for which I run towards him as he now uses both hands to try and catch me. I dodge his left palm with a sidestep, and right before his right hand is going to squash me, I jump up once to dodge, and twice to land on his face. ¡°I got you now¡± (Rob) I say as I smirk, before lunging the sword inside his right eye¡ª ¡°AWOOOOO!¡± (Automaton) Critical-hit! the Automaton leans back as he brings his hands to himself, while I jump to land on his scalp. The Automaton begins to move from side to side so with no other option I jump down and wait until he calms down. After half a minute the Automaton brings down his hands, at which moment I notice his eye is done for. It is now closed, hopefully, permanently so this makes the fight easier for me. With his right eye destroyed I decide to do the smart thing, I aim for that side! I run straight towards the Giant Automaton, Closing in as quick as the wind and I jump! The Level 3 changes strategy, this time he opens his mouth to try and bite me¡ª this guy sure is desperate! Using the fact that he can¡¯t see things on his right side, I effortlessly double-jump to stop my movement, which makes his head move past my body. Having dodged his jaw, my body is now at his eye-level, opportunity which I make use of by poking his left eye! ¡°ROOOOOOOAR!¡± (Automaton) Is it me, or is this fight getting easier as time goes on? ¡°How¡ª you¡¯re improving faster than the difficulty is rising, who are you!?¡± (Gemril) The Automaton, having lost his sense of sight squirms in pain while I safely land on the ground¡ª and here¡¯s the problem, I don¡¯t actually have the means to completely destroy this guy. Oh, I know! I run towards him, and jump, and jump once more! ¡°Over here, you idiot!¡± (Rob) ¡°ROOOAR!¡± (Automaton) Haha, you fell for it! he tries to punch in my direction, but with no sight of me, there¡¯s no way you¡¯ll hit me! The Giant misses his attack, and his extended arm is right below me. I land on his limb and propel myself using it as a base. ¡°This way, moron!¡± (Rob) ¡°GROWL!¡± (Automaton) Ah, there we go. ¡°!?¡± (Automaton) As the Raid boss tries to hit me in the face while being completely blinded by the rage and pain, he steps outside the arena. Thanks to the rules set by Gemril previously, as soon as his foot lands outside, the Level-3 turns off and so he begins to fall. Boom! ¡°...You won the third round¡± (Gemril) ¡°Oss!¡± (Rob) ¡°Who are you!?¡± (Gemril) Gemril? Why is he screaming at me? ¡°Are you okay?¡± (Rob) ¡°How did you hide your strength!? it shouldn¡¯t be possible for you to be so nimble!¡± (Gemril) ¡°I¡ª I have no clue what you¡¯re talking about¡± (Rob) Gemril stares intently at me as if trying to discern whether I¡¯m lying on not, before sighing and shaking his head. ¡°Ha-ah, Forget it, Forget it. After a thousand years of wait, you¡¯re the best seed I¡¯ve seen. Master is already gone so who cares about who you are¡± (Gemril) ¡°As long as you pass the five levels I¡¯ll be free, and I will finally get to rest¡± (Gemril) ¡°Rest? what will happen when I pass five levels or more?¡± (Rob) ¡°You will find out when you do so, just focus on the test. you have 4 minutes left to rest¡± (Gemril) 4 minutes later ¡°Ready? Begin!¡± (Gemril) Boom! Boom! Boom! this time three Obelisks blow up, and as per usual the fragments float mid-air before emitting light and reforming. Hmm? this time the fragments do not reform into a massive beast¡ª rather, it¡¯s a humanoid figure about my height, that looks like a mannequin with no discerning facial features, with a scarf made of stone on his neck fluttering to the wind that comes from somewhere unknown. after he finishes materializing he holds his fist towards me, and after half a second, more and more pulverized pieces of the obelisks begin to converge, before forming a¡ª ¡°Fighting glove?¡± (Rob) ¡°You should be careful of this one, It was specially made to battle against medium range melee fighters, category in which you and your sword falls into¡± (Gemril) Gemril is helping me? ¡°Thanks!¡± (Rob) After saying that the Level 4 enters a fighting pose, before skipping left and right to begin his tempo. I for my part hold my sword in the way I was taught in the academy when against these types of enemies¡ª left foot and fist in front, right foot and the hand holding the sword at a 45-degree angle. Boom! Fast! The level 4 instantly closes the distance and¡ª Boom! I Fly backward, surprised my chest isn¡¯t caved in, and after a short period of time, my body strikes against the only obelisk left in the arena. After rebounding against the obelisk I quickly stand back up and look in the direction of the Automaton, he¡¯s¡ª he¡¯s surprised? his fists are down and his upper body is leaning towards my body as if examining the state I am in.Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. ¡°I was right about you¡± (Gemril) What? what does he mean? ¡°You did not even realize, did you? right as his fist was going to destroy your heart you subconsciously decided to jump backward, dodging the brunt of the attack¡± (Gemril) I did that!? no wonder I didn¡¯t receive much damage. ¡°Let¡¯s go!¡± (Robin) I say, and the Level 4¡¯s response is to get back into his fighting stance. He rushes towards me once more, but this time I am prepared, so as the fist is coming towards my chest, I quickly use my left hand divert his fist outwards, before plunging my sword toward him. Clang! The attack was too shallow¡­ The Level-4 backs away once more, astonished once more. on my side of things, I am a bit disappointed, as, without the proper foothold from having to divert the attack, my sword failed to make considerable physical damage, but I can see it did have an effect on my adversary¡¯s psyche. By the way¡­ ¡°Does this Automaton have some sort of intelligence? He seems more¡­ aware of everything?¡± (Rob) ¡°Uh? Ah, yeah¡ª Along with the raise in difficulty they also have more ¡®intellect¡¯, although since they are not actual ¡®living¡¯ beings, the system doesn¡¯t pick them up¡± (Gemril) ¡°I see. Well then, let¡¯s have a good fight!¡± (Rob) in response to my words, the Level-4 nods and puts himself into his usual pose or so I thought¡ª after skipping left and right twice, he stops and after a short period of time, ¡®pondering¡¯, I assume, he raises his left hand into the usual fighter¡¯s pose, while his right hand is arced down, making a 90-degree angle. he begins to move his right arm left and right like a pendulum¡ª what is this fighting style¡­ is it to make it easier for me to fall for a feint? Here he comes. As he closes in, I decide to go on the offensive as I feel a creeping sense of danger coming from the Automaton. His left fist gets into motion but is quickly retracted, Luckily, I already read through his strategy, so I know his right hand will¡ª Ugh! Bang! He lands an attack on my left shoulder which makes me take 3 steps back, This guy is smart! He skips up and down, I¡¯m not sure if he¡¯s joyful at having landed a successful hit or he¡¯s going to change strategies again, but it¡¯s better for me if I don¡¯t underestimate him. Hiya! I take 4 steps towards him and slash diagonally from bottom right to upper left, which he dodges by taking a step back, and once my attack is past him, he goes in to land the counter attack on me¡ª you fell for it! I continue to rotate my arm, having my sword act as a rapier, having it continue to arc, moving it past my left shoulder and hitting him right in the neck! Clang! having made use of both my force and his, and the attack landing on a critical part of his body, the Automaton seems to be badly hurt, as he¡¯s stepping back holding his neck. his legs are bent, I assume from the pain, and it doesn¡¯t look like he¡¯ll recover soon. Sorry pal, but I still need to win once more after this! I rush towards him, and the Automaton moves his head, level with the ground straight at my face as if looking pleadingly at me. ¡°Sorry!¡± (Rob) I say as I put all of my weight on my right shoulder and tackle the level-4, resulting in his body flying across the arena and landing outside. ¡°It¡¯s my win!¡± (Rob) ¡°Yes, nicely done¡± (Gemril) As the Level-4 splits up and reform the 4 obelisks, I sit down to wait for my next opponent. ¡°So why do you want me to succeed all of a sudden?¡± (Rob) ¡°Well¡­ I¡¯m tired¡ª Of this place, doing nothing but fiddling around with these guys, day after day after day and nothing else. I can¡¯t go outside and let¡¯s be honest, you¡¯d probably kill yourself after being trapped in here after a measly hundred years but alas, I can¡¯t even do that¡± (Gemril) ¡°That¡¯s¡­ is there any way for you to come with me?¡± (Rob) Gemril looks questioningly my way and says ¡°Why? I can¡¯t be of help to you, and the price you¡¯d have to pay to take me out would be enormous to the current you¡± (Gemril) ¡°I can actually take you out with me? what do I need to do?¡± (Rob) ¡°Uh¡­ you have to get an energy generator like the one which powers this place up, but more compact. you may be able to buy one somewhere in this world, but I have no clue where¡± (Gemril) ¡°I see. then, why don¡¯t you wait for me? I¡¯ll take you out on an adventure in the future¡± (Rob) ¡°But¡­ why would you do that?¡± (Gemril) ¡°Eh, I feel like you¡¯re a cool little guy. After all, you stayed loyal to your master for a thousand years after her death¡± (Rob) ¡°That¡¯s¡­ not it. the only way for me to be ¡®alive¡¯ was listening to her. Even now, if I want to rest I have to find a proper successor. I¡¯m not loyal at all¡ª¡± (Gemril) ¡°Then, how about this: I will let you out if you teach me how to make Automatons, even if they¡¯re not as good as the ones in here¡± (Rob) Gemril lowers his head and appears to think for a while before raising his head to look at me, and eyes shining he says¡ª ¡°Alright! we have a deal, then. But first you must win against at least the Level-5¡± (Gemril) ¡°Bring it on!¡± (Rob) 2 minutes later Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! This time the four Obelisks explode all together, and along with the explosion, the whole arena trembles in excitement for the fight that will come next! The first half of rubble cyclone together to form another humanoid figure. This time my adversary is two heads taller than me, quite literally too, since he has two heads and four arms¡ª ¡°Woo!¡± (Automaton) The rest of the rubble comes together above the level-5¡¯s head, before splitting into four equal parts which converge to form¡ª ¡°It¡¯s falchions this time, Huh¡± (Rob) Huff¡­ I exhale to bring myself to calmness, and this time I go for a swordsman¡¯s 2-handed sword stance, with my knees slightly bent and the tip of the sword pointing at an angle towards the ceiling. ¡°Let¡¯s go!¡± (Rob) The Level-5 answers by running towards me with his four arms pointing back, his upper body leaned forward, and when he reaches a distance of five meters, he jumps up and brings the 4 swords towards me. I raise my sword to block and¡ª heavy! his attack is so heavy I have to kneel so I don¡¯t lose my sword. ¡°Hiss!¡± (Automaton) I Push up with all my might and successfully drive the Automaton away, after which I stand up, while the Level 5 takes four steps back. we stare at each other before I go first this time. I run towards him and raise my sword, Hacking with it while aiming for the guy¡¯s head. He employs two swords to block and after our sword make contact, he brings the other two to try and impale my ribs. I use the force of our impact to jump back, avoiding both swords which miss me by a hair¡¯s length. After having jumped back I go for broke before the Automaton can recover: I jump up and somersault in mid-air, and kick-off the air with the tip of my sword pointing towards the guy¡¯s chest. He blocks it! The Automaton employs his four swords to block my hit and cancel its force, while also pushing me back, bringing us both back to square one. Alright, let¡¯s try this! I Jump once more, but this time instead of going towards him diagonally, I jump so that I stop ascending right above the Automaton, after which I kick the air and attack once more! This time the Automaton can only try and block with his two upper arms. they¡¯re obviously not as strong as four, and he seems to have a hard time canceling the force from my hit. he kneels on the ground but before he can attack me with his two free arms I release the force of my hit and land behind the kneeling Automaton, after which I land a kick to his back which makes it fly away towards the edge of the arena. Got it! But as if to make me eat my words, the Automaton uses the two lower Falchions to stop himself, by sticking them into the ground. ¡°Hah¡­ you having four arms makes this so bullshit¡± (Rob) In response to my words, the Automaton Stands up and shakes his shoulder, ¡®That¡¯s for you to deal with¡¯ he seems to say¡ª Cheeky cunt. Not wishing to extend this fight any longer, I rush him and Cleave him horizontally, which the Level-5 blocks using both swords on his left side. Hah, you fell for it! I sneer in my mind as drive the remaining force in my hit upwards, leaving his left side¡¯s guard open. As quickly as I can, I kick the ground with my left foot, propelling myself 20 centimeters off the ground, before using my right foot to kick against the air directly behind me, and then using my shoulder to tackle him on the left side of his chest. ¡°!?¡± (Automaton) My last attack pushes him just enough for him to step into the air and fall to the ground right outside the arena. I¡¯ve won! ¡°You¡­ you win!¡± (Gemril) ¡°Yup, thanks for the test, It has made me learn many new things!¡± (Rob) ¡°Heh, you¡¯re a good seedling yourself, I¡¯m surprised you could think of that last move¡± (Gemril) ¡°Where did you learn to double jump?¡± (Gemril) Hmm¡­ I first saw it when the Oni employed it, but I guess I ¡®learned¡¯ it a bit later, in the desert? ¡°Right outside this place, in the desert¡± (Rob) ¡°The desert outside? is that where you live?¡± (Gemril) ¡°Uh, no? I got there just earlier today, just some hours before we met¡± (Rob) ¡°...What the hell are you!? you¡¯re using it like an expert already!¡± (Gemril) Is it that amazing? I just have to imagine the battlefield as a three-dimensional space, not that hard. ¡°Uh¡­ I''m just a puny human, nothing else¡± (Rob) ¡°Hmph, whatever¡ª Congratulations¡± (Gemril) ¡°I am! Bring it on!¡± (Rob) Wait, what? ¡°Congratulations?¡± (Rob) ¡°Yeah, you¡¯re all done. I use my authority as the administrator of this place to approve of you as the successor of the Lightbearer. stages 6 through 10 are a repeat of the other 5, but being controlled by me and having the stats of them multiplied by a factor of 4. But since I approve of you, that won¡¯t be necessary anymore¡± (Gemril) Really? that¡¯s great, then. ¡°Ugh¡­¡± (Rob) I say as I drop to the ground. with the fighting over, my body starts to cry for help while tearing itself apart. I feel like I will pass out any minute now. ¡°Hold on a second, I¡¯ll patch you right back up¡± (Gemril) He says, as blue light begins to gather around him, which forms into a ball of light which he then throws towards me¡ª ¡°Warm¡­¡± (Rob) My strength is coming back to me, and after I¡¯m back to my peak I stand up and following that, I jump up and down to check the state of my body. ¡°Thanks for that, you saved me a lot of trouble by doing that¡± (Rob) ¡­ ¡°Gemril?¡± (Rob) He doesn¡¯t look that well¡­ ¡°I¡¯m¡ª fine, just a little bit tired. Come with me, I¡¯ll bring you to the treasure room¡± (Gemril) ¡°Well, okay then¡± (Rob) Treasure room! Woohoo! I follow Gemril towards the wall opposite of the entrance, and once we¡¯re right in front of it, he pushes his hand forward against the wall, after which light begins to gather into the palm of his hand. Creak¡­ The wall splits up, revealing an opening on the wall, behind which there¡¯s a dark corridor. After the wall stops opening up, the corridor lights up thanks to torches on both sides which emit a blue light. Apparently, it doesn¡¯t use fire but something else¡ª ¡°Let¡¯s go¡± (Gemril) After following Gemril into the now lit corridor we stop in front of what seems like an average door. Gemril pushes on it and as soon as a small opening reveals itself, a golden dazzle is emitted¡ª ¡°holy shit!¡± (Rob) Gemril finishes opening the door and when I look inside all I can see is¡ª ¡°So many things!¡± (Rob) ¡°Of course, what do you think my master is!¡± (Gemril) Gemril says as he puffs his chest up and points his nose towards the sky. ¡°Come in¡± (Gemril) Gulp! ¡°Alright, let¡¯s see¡­ This, this and this. Oh and this one too¡± (Gemril) In front me, there are four items: A sword, a shield, a set of armor and a helmet. ¡°These ones should be good for you¡± (Gemril) ¡°What about the rest of the stuff in here?¡± (Rob) ¡°Hah? you¡¯re the successor, not the master of this place. you can have the rest of this stuff once you become a full-fledged honorary Lightbearer, and the master of this place¡± (Gemril) ¡°Honorary Lightbearer?¡± (Rob) ¡°Yeah, because the Lightbearer is a race on its own you obviously can¡¯t become that, which leaves us with only the honorary title, once you¡¯ve mastered some of the more important techniques of the light bearer, and I mean ¡®mastered¡¯ not just ¡®learned¡¯¡± (Gemril) ¡°That¡ª how long is that going to take me!?¡± (Rob) ¡°Uh¡­ I forgot for a second you don¡¯t live for that long. Oh well, with your talent it shouldn¡¯t take that long, 50 years or so?¡± (Gemril) ¡°50 years!? there¡¯s no way I can wait for that long!¡± (Rob) ¡°Well, it¡¯s your choice if you don¡¯t want the treasures, but these four objects is all you¡¯ll get. hell, I even included you the Armor and helmet, which you shouldn¡¯t be able to get unless properly beating the 9th and 10th levels¡± (Gemril) I sneer as I say ¡°You say it like I wouldn¡¯t be able to beat them, I was doing extremely well, wasn¡¯t I?¡± (Rob) His eyes become small slits and finally, he sighs ¡°Fine! take this, too¡± (Gemril) He says as he hands me a necklace¡­ ¡°Thanks!¡± (Rob) After that, I and Gemril leave the treasure room and go back to the arena. ¡°Come with me for a second¡± (Gemril) ¡°?¡± (Rob) I follow Gemril to the left side of the arena, and again this time, Gemril places his palm against the wall, after which the wall opens up, but instead of darkness this time what comes out of the small opening is blinding red light. After that, I can feel an immense pressure assaulting me, one which makes me feel as if it were to disintegrate me if I were to get any closer. I back away, before asking Gemril ¡°This is?¡± (Rob) ¡°This is the Nucleus, the thing that powers everything in this place¡± (Gemril) ¡°Remember the pressure you feel right now. If you ever find anything like this in the outside world, and also, if you¡¯re strong enough to attain it, bring it here and I¡¯ll leave along with you¡± (Gemril) ¡°Got it!¡± (Rob) Just how strong will I need to be before I can handle something like this? ¡°Well then, off you go¡± (Gemril) ¡°Right. Then, I¡¯ll see you later¡± (Rob) ¡°Sure¡­ I will wait for you here for 150 years, after that, I will just assume you either died or forgot about me¡± (Gemril) ¡°That¡ª don¡¯t! if I fail, I will leave it to a teammate of mine, he¡¯s a dragon and thus lives for a lot longer¡± (Rob) ¡°I refuse. if you fail to come by that time I will rest for all eternity, it¡¯s been long overdue, anyway¡± (Gemril) ¡°Gemril, you¡­¡± (Rob) ¡°Forget it, forget it. I¡¯ve lived for long enough, even if it wasn¡¯t the most exciting life, it was still a life. even if I¡¯m not a real living being, I was lucky enough to be able to have a consciousness¡± (Gemril) ¡°...¡± (Rob) ¡°Just go, I hope you won¡¯t forget about your promise! and even if you do, you still have to come back and get the rest of the treasure room, don¡¯t you?¡± (Gemril) ¡°Right, I will certainly come back, and I will take you on an adventure!¡± (Rob) ¡°Goodbye...¡± (Gemril) ¡°Robin, that¡¯s my name¡± (Rob) ¡°Goodbye, Robin!¡± (Gemril) ¡°See you later, Gemril!¡± (Gemril) Chapter 13: Robin''s talent for battle Chapter 14: (title name withheld) Title name: Spoiler Chapter 14: Reunited, Leveled up, stronger and faster. Robin¡¯s POV Before we move onto the capital, let¡¯s examine the ¡®spoils of war¡¯ This is the sword, huh? now that I look at this closely, it¡¯s so pretty¡­ A gray hilt ornamented with a white pair of wings at the guard. the blade is similar to the one I¡¯ve been using so far in length, about 75cm and with a dazzling azure color covering its double edge. Let¡¯s look at the stats¡ª
Skycutter (Unique) A saber constructed by the convergence of pure celestial light. Allows the user to cast ¡®Ricochet of light¡¯ at the cost of the user¡¯s 10% mana pool Properties: Physical Attack: 285-331 Ricochet of Light (10% of Max mana) Level Requirement: 25
...Fuck. I can¡¯t use it! Ugh, it¡¯s so good, though. So this is a unique weapon? I wonder how strong ¡®Ricochet of light¡¯ is. I bet I¡¯d be unstoppable against enemies of a similar level¡­ Whatever, there has to be at least something I can use among these items, right!? Ahh, the armor, I bet people would think I come from the heavens just by looking at me wearing this¡ª In my hands, there¡¯s a pearly white scaled armor, which feels as smooth as a piece of jade or a piece of silk, while at the same time giving off the impression of being untainted by the secular world. It exudes a soothing aura which makes my heart rate go down just by looking at it and holding it in my hands Hmm? When I turn the armor around I notice that on the place where the shoulder blades are, there are two vertical openings, I wonder if Lightbringers had wings like that of a bird? I examine its properties while at the same time I figuratively cross my fingers in my mind¡ª
Uriel''s Embrace (Unique) An armor blessed by the strongest Lightbringer from the first generation. Allows the user to cast ¡®Light barrier¡¯ at the cost of the user¡¯s 15% mana pool Properties: Physical Defense +84 Magical Defense +47 Light Barrier (15% of Max mana) Level Requirement: 25
After screaming internally for a few minutes I create a mantra for myself¡ª ¡°Calm down, Robin; you will be able to use it, eventually¡± Yes, let¡¯s think positively¡ª A set of unique equipment of such a level will surely last me for a longer time than something I can use right from level 1, right? Yes, let¡¯s continue¡ª maybe there is something I can utilize right now to carry me upwards without too much hassle. Ah, the shield. an amber colored piece of artwork in the shape of a typical kite shield. It has lines beginning from top to bottom and left to right which intersects in the middle so that the lines form a cross.
Hallowed Protection (Unique) A shield made by purifying and pushing dark energy from all fronts until it is condensed, and then casting purification over and over. makes the user impervious to the darkness attribute below level 50 Properties: Block Chance: 53% Physical Defense: 76-92 Impervious to Darkness (Lv50 or less) Level Requirement: 20
FFF¡ª ¡°Calm down, Robin; you will be able to use it, eventually¡± The helmet is one that covers all of the head and has a T shape to allow the eyes to see, the nose to breath and the mouth to speak. Shiny silver in color and as decoration has the streaks of black lines vertically aligned on the sides, parallel to each other, starting at the cheekbone and ending where the helmet itself ends. Inside it seems to be padded with something¡ª Oh, fluffy!
Celestial Visage (Unique) A helmet created by the first Lightbringer, the Lightbringer who allowed its race to reset. Allows the user cast ¡®Wings of light¡¯ at the cost of the user¡¯s 1% mana pool per minute Properties: Physical Defense +34 Wings of Light (1% of Max mana per second) Level Requirement: 15
¡°Calm down, Robin; you will be able t¡ª YES! OH FUCK! YES! ALMIGHTY CUNT! SHIT! YEEEEEEES!¡±
Celestial Visagehas been equipped
I hurriedly put the helmet on and cast inside of my mind¡ª ¡®Wings of light¡¯ My back, it feels so warm¡ª Uh? Uh!? Ah! Ugh! I feel like I''ve grown a pair of legs on my back, let¡¯s see Wow¡ª on my back, there are now two white wings, with many small feathers as fluffy as I imagine a cloud to be. each wing is as long as I am tall. This¡ª this is amazing! I¡¯ll try moving them¡ª ¡°Mfff¡± After standing up and spitting out all the sand that had filled my mouth after trying to fly into the ground, I try moving the wings again¡ª This time, I¡¯ll try imitating birds¡­ Let¡¯s see, if I remember correctly, at the academy they taught us that birds require airflow to create lift¡ª Okay, I¡¯ll jump up as I spread open my wings, then for the double jump part, a kick to the air behind me so I make myself dash forward as I quickly bend the wings downwards to utilize the airflow. Let¡¯s try it¡ª One¡ª Two¡ª ¡°I¡¯m flying!¡± After having done the take off, the whole process becomes a lot easier, since now I only have to focus on moving the wings up and down fast enough, making sure to move them quickly in the direction opposite of where I want to go when it¡¯s the turn to move them ¡®down¡¯ (Towards my body) I then proceed to spend the next 50 minutes flying around the zone, enjoying the amazing view that surrounds me: an uncountable amount of beautiful dunes which look vivid in color, while at the same time they look lifeless, being in such a dry state. In the distance, I can spot the forest in which I, Doraig, and Rize split up, and further off I can spot a mountain range. To the north, I can see a small village, with 14 houses of about equal size, as well as a well at the entrance. In the middle of it all is a bigger house with a chimney that has smoke coming off of it. This feels so different compared to what it is like when I am sitting on Doraig¡¯s back¡ªThis story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it Flying is so amazing. Forget double jumping making things feel tri-dimensional, this is what it feels like to truly break free of the shackles that are called ¡®gravity¡¯. Finally, I land back on the ground safely, with a massive grin on my face. I wonder if Rize can find himself a way to fly, too? who knows, just thinking about an aerial skirmish against powerful enemies sends shivers down my spine. Well then, let¡¯s take a look at the necklace Gemril gave me after I conned him out of it. I don¡¯t expect it to be something other than trash, but let¡¯s look at it anyways¡­ Visually unimpressive, it depicts a dull and boring silver cross with a halo on top of it, not very interesting. Oh well, let¡¯s look at the stats it has.
Holy Conflagration (Legendary) A necklace created by condensing the energy from two hundred Lightbringers who willingly sacrificed a quarter of their lifeforce. Allows the user to cast ¡®Holy fire¡¯ once every 24 hours Properties: Hit Points +750 Mana Points +750 Physical Defense +99 Magical Defense +99 Holy Fire (Cooldown: 1d 0h 0m 0s) Level Requirement: 30
What. Hands shaking, I examine the necklace in my hands once more ... ¡°What!?¡± No¡­ my eyes must have something wrong with them, right?
Holy Conflagration (Legendary) A necklace created by condensing the energy from two hundred Lightbringers who willingly sacrificed a quarter of their lifeforce. Allows the user to cast ¡®Holy Fire¡¯ once every 24 hours Properties: Hit Points +750 Mana Points +750 Physical Defense +99 Magical Defense +99 Holy Fire (Cooldown: 1d 0h 0m 0s) Level Requirement: 30
NO.FUCKING. WAY. ¡°HOLY SHITBALLS!¡±
Meanwhile, Doraig¡¯s POV Glug Glug Glug ¡°Ah¡ª what a nice bath, don¡¯t you agree, Kelsi?¡± (Doraig) ¡°You were right about this! This is very relaxing¡± (Kelsi) ¡°FaThEr¡± (Blob #1) ¡°Yes, my child?¡± (Doraig) ¡°dO yOu LiKe tHiS, fAtHeR?¡± (Blob #1) ¡°I do! move a bit to the left, Blobby¡± (Doraig) ¡°OkAy FaThEr¡± (Blobby) Ah~ this is heaven. You guessed it right, me and Kelsi are currently having an amazing bath time surrounded by all the little ones. Ah~ this truly is heaven. I somewhat hope Rize and Rob take a few more weeks to get here¡­ 4 hours later. ¡°That¡¯s right, now apply a bit of pressure to the left of that wing¡ª Ah~ that¡¯s the spot Kelsi¡± (Doraig) ¡°Do you like it?¡± (Kelsi) ¡°Yes, you¡¯re amazing my sweetie¡± (Doraig) This is my newfound Slime-hobby, the Slime-massage. it turns out, slimes can apply strong pressure evenly on the spots that truly matter. I swear, trying to get the Slimes to safety on that day was really a great idea. 30 minutes later I am currently laying belly down outside the cave, enjoying the sun that hits my body with all of its grace. Kelsi is sitting on top of my head with me. This is what I call a good life. ¡°Sweetheart?¡± (Kelsi) ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°Can you help me level up a bit? I remember you mentioned I had to be level 15 or so to help you¡± (Kelsi) ¡°Hmm, Okay!¡± (Doraig) ¡°Children, I¡¯ll leave with your mother for a bit of time. we will be back in a few hours to a day at the most. If any stranger comes and knocks on the door, remember not to open, Okay? don¡¯t believe them if they say they are mine or your mother¡¯s friends¡± (Doraig) ¡°oKaY FaThEr. EnJoY YoUr dAtE WiTh MoThEr¡± (Blobs #1, #2, ¡­, #n) ¡°We¡¯ll try to come back quickly, don¡¯t stay up until too late into the night, okay?¡± (Kelsi) ¡°oKaY, hAvE a SaFe TrIp¡± (Blobs #1, #2, ¡­, #n) An hour later Let¡¯s see¡ª Ah, there we go! ¡°Those guys should be fine, I think¡± (Doraig) ¡°Okies, Do you need me to do anything?¡± (Kelsi) ¡°Nope, just let me quickly kill them so you can absorb experience¡± (Doraig) ¡°Thanks, sweetheart¡± (Kelsi) Hmm, that should be a trash monster, let¡¯s confirm it beforehand, though¡ª ¡®Basic Red Inspect¡¯
Adult Gray Deer, a beast which uses its antlers as a method of self-preservation. weak to all magic and Armor piercing shots
Sounds good, let¡¯s go! ¡®Minor Destruction Breath¡¯
Cannot Receive Experience, Maximum Level Difference
Ah, figures. ¡°Did you receive any experience?¡± (Doraig) ¡°Yes, I am level 3 now¡± (Kelsi) ¡°Okay, let¡¯s keep going in this manner¡± (Doraig) ¡°Okay!¡± (Kelsi) 17 hours later ¡°Okay, I finally hit level 15. Thanks a lot for your help, sweetheart¡± (Kelsi) ¡°Of course, no problem sweetie¡± (Doraig) ¡°What do you want me to get? A heal, buffs¡­ what else?¡± (Kelsi) ¡°Hmm¡­ let¡¯s see¡± (Doraig) ¡°First for your stat points: put them into vitality, intelligence, and dexterity in a 4:4:2 proportion¡± (Doraig) ¡°Okay¡ª done¡± (Kelsi) ¡°And now for your skill points¡ª You have 42 skill points, Hmm¡­¡± (Doraig) ¡°How much does it cost you to get a ¡®Basic heal¡¯?¡± (Doraig) ¡°Eh¡ª 4 points¡± (Kelsi) ¡°What about a ¡®Minor Close wound¡¯?¡± (Kelsi) ¡°Uh¡ª 10 skill points¡± (Kelsi) ¡°Can you see if you have something that can regrow a limb that doesn¡¯t cost too much?¡± (Doraig) ¡°Umm, One second¡± (Kelsi) ¡°Uhn¡ª Okay~ I found these¡­¡± (Kelsi) Let¡¯s see, so these are the options we have in case someone gets a leg or an arm bit off: - Slime Limb (10 points) - Time rewind (150 points) - Grant life, Mechanical (300 points) - Reconstruction (30 points) - Miracle (100 points) - Slime Branch (20 points) + Grant slime control (60 points) ¡°Okay, I think we should just go for Slime Limb. Although Reconstruct is affordable I think Slime Limb will suffice. I personally wouldn¡¯t mind having a part of me being made out of Slime, I¡¯m sure the others will think the same¡± (Doraig) ¡°Okie, I¡¯ll get that, then¡± (Kelsi) 20 minutes later. In the end, the skills that I chose for Kelsi are the following: -Basic Heal (6 points) -Slime Limb (10 points) -Aura of calmness (12 points) -Slime Barrier (10 points) -Minor Cauterize (4 points) Basic Heal is the one Rize used on me when we were fighting Against the skellies, I think it¡¯s a good idea to have two people that can heal, in case one gets incapacitated. Slime limb, as explained earlier, can get us out of a pinch in case Rob loses an arm or a leg. Let¡¯s just hope he doesn¡¯t lose something ¡®more¡¯ important, anytime soon. Aura of calmness, as its name implies, can buff the members of the party so they have a steadier heart and a more focused mind, which could be critical in a future engage. Slime barrier can help protect me and Kelsi together, since she stays on top of my head when we fight, in any case. Finally, ¡®Minor Cauterize¡¯ is the cheaper version of ''Minor close wound'' since it takes a lot longer to evolve, as its roof is [999] instead of [99], and it makes the wound hurt more for the patient while it¡¯s being used to close a wound. This list of skills should be enough for the healer, with it having a dash of supportive skills to make things even better. I can¡¯t wait for those two to praise me for my amazing foresight, Muahaha. ¡°Are you okay sweetheart? you have been kind of¡­ staring at empty space for a while now¡± (Kelsi) ¡°Uh? Ah, yeah I¡¯m okay. Let¡¯s go back to the blobbies¡± (Doraig) ¡°Okies¡± (Kelsi)
Robin¡¯s POV - 23 hours and 35 minutes ago. Okay, okay. I¡¯ve calmed down. It is still a Legendary, it is still in my inventory. Good? good. God, a legendary item just like that, and it¡¯s so good! This is an item two steps above a Unique? Goodness gracious. with this thing and the sword, I could just run around naked running amok. I bet I wouldn¡¯t have lost so miserably if I had had this back then, even if there were 500 people instead of 5¡ª Okay, maybe I¡¯d still have lost to 500 but still, It¡¯s so good! Level 30 though¡­ damn it! I can¡¯t wait to test all this stuff out¡­ Well, I guess it¡¯s time for me to go and wait for Rize and Doraig in Weierstrass, hopefully, they didn¡¯t get eaten by the slime queen¡­ ¡®Wings of light¡¯ God, I love you so much, Celestial Visage. One¡ª Two¡ª ¡°I can¡¯t wait to see their expression once they see all of this stuff¡±
Rize¡¯s POV, present time. ¡°How did you hear about this?¡± (Rize) ¡°A human male came two days ago. It was pretty hard not to notice his presence, Mostly because of his race. But that aside, his attire and attitude were¡­ extravagant, to say the least¡± (Bartender) ¡°He looked like a beggar, but at the same time, he looked like he came straight from one of those novels that depict the royalty members as the best-looking princes in existence. He had red hair and purple eyes, and although his ¡®clothes¡¯ looked more like a bunch of rags sewn together, he himself looked really tidy. very clean face and hair, and no signs of having starved. But the thing that most surprised me, was his sword. Mind you, the guy itself had a body composition similar to yours, athletic body but in no way one of those bulky knights you see in the human¡¯s royal army. But that sword¡ª It was a bastard sword, one of those big ones that are close to two meters long. I honestly would have thought it was nothing but a replica, If not¡ª If not for the fact that the moment he put his sword next to him, the whole bar trembled at its weight. See there? that¡¯s where he put the sword down; I had to swap three of the planks are they had broken with nothing but that sword¡¯s weight¡± (Bartender) ¡°Once he asked for a drink, I didn¡¯t even have the mental strength to dare resist, but once he began to drink, his demeanor ¡®changed¡¯. you see, when he first came I thought the human kingdom had been rampaged and he had run away with nothing but a replica to sell. When he put his sword down all I felt was fear, but¡ª But the moment he began to drink, He spoke. I went from feeling frightened to no end, to feeling the most reverence I¡¯ve felt for a human before. He made me want to be his follower, his retainer, even being a slave would have been fine. I¡ª I can¡¯t explain properly ¡®why¡¯ I wanted that to be the case, but it just¡­ happened. I Began to serve him the best drinks I could find, and I spoke to him in the most respectful tone I could muster. Eventually, He was done drinking. and that¡¯s when he told me this¡ª ¡®You, you are not bad. I¡¯ll tell you this much, as a means of thanking you for these drinks. Go, become strong. This place will soon become a living hell, and if you don¡¯t want to see those close to you wither like the grass after the wind passes over it, start the fight early. So that you won¡¯t regret it. So that the blood in your hands won¡¯t be that of your family and friends¡¯. Those were his exact words, which seem to be now stuck inside my head¡± (Bartender) ¡°I see. If I may ask, why did you decide to continue working here, instead of leaving to ¡®prepare yourself¡¯?¡± (Rize) ¡°I¡ª I¡¯m very old already, Even if I were outside to try and gain even a little strength, to what end? My life is almost over, and I¡¯ll be honest with you, If the world is going to become hell soon, I¡¯d much rather spend the time before it all begins enjoying what I do, and then leave with together with my family. I don¡¯t desire to start a hell for myself before it¡¯s due, just to fall into the pits of damnation right after nightmare truly starts¡± (Bartender) So that¡¯s his choice. ¡°I see. Thanks for telling me this, I really appreciate it¡± (Rize) ¡°Of course. Elves are not common in this place, but you guys are a lot more amiable than most other races. Now have a drink, I won¡¯t let you go with just the mere Orange juice you¡¯ve had so far¡± (Bartender) ¡°Alright, let me try some regional Lizardman Liquor¡± (Rize) ¡°One ¡®Breathless¡¯ Coming out!¡± (Bartender) I wonder how long Robin is going to take to get here, we might have to go grind a little sooner and at a harder pace than expected. Just as I am thinking about that, the door to the bar opens up. ¡°God damn it, I knew you¡¯d be here¡± ¡°Oh¡± (Rize) ¡°You really have drinking problems, you know that right, Rize?¡± (Rob) ¡°Shut up, I haven¡¯t had a drink today, yet¡± (Rize) ¡°¡®Yet¡¯. Anyways, look, do you notice anything different?¡± (Rob) ¡°Well, yes. It has come to my attention the fact that you¡¯re wearing a full face helmet when outside it¡¯s about as sunny as it will ever be around here, to the point where you can fry an egg out there. Seriously, what is that?¡± (Rize) ¡°Hehehe¡ª here, look at this¡± (Rob) He says while at the same time he hands me the helmet for me to look at. ¡­ Woah, nice. ¡°That¡¯s a cool helmet, congratulations. Did you find anything the moron can use?¡± (Rize) ¡°Uh¡­ shit, I knew I had forgotten about that. I should have asked Gemril to give me some of his stuff too¡± (Rob) Gemril? ¡°...Fine, whatever. you¡¯ll tell me the story when we meet up with Doraig. Let¡¯s drink for today¡± (Rize) ¡°Wait, there¡¯s more, though¡± (Rob) ¡°More?¡± (Rize) ¡°Here, take a look¡± (Rob) He hands me a sword, a shield, and an armor. isn¡¯t this basically tailored equipment for him? let¡¯s see what they do¡­ ... Oh wow¡ª These are some fine items. I bet many people would get greedy over this stuff, even I would be tempted if it had some items I enjoy using. ¡°Dude, what did you do to get all this? what the hell was that Sorcerer doing before he died¡± (Rize) ¡°Hehehe, I¡¯ll tell you guys about my hardships when we¡¯re all together. Come, let¡¯s have a few drinks. Also, tell me all about what happened on your side of things¡ª before you pass out¡± (Rob) ¡°Here¡¯s your ¡®Breathless¡¯, what will you fine sir drink?¡± (Bartender) ¡°Give me one of those, too¡± (Rob) ¡°Alright, one more ¡®Breathless¡¯ Coming out!¡± (Bartender) Chapter 14: Reunited, Leveled up, stronger and faster. Chapter 15: Meeting, Departing. Chapter 15: Meeting, Departing. Somewhere in the continent, Unknown timeframe. I am inside a dark room, and I am sitting at a circular table. Why would that matter? Because the person to my left is my master. Why did I become the retainer to such a weird master? He doesn¡¯t like to be called master. He doesn¡¯t want to rule over others, but he also will kill you the moment you go against his word. Thus, whenever we speak, I feel like I could burrow my head into the ground. I have to call him by name, I can¡¯t use honorifics or a respectful tone. When master gets angry he¡¯s scary. ¡°What¡¯s wrong, Zara?¡± His voice, it exerts so much pressure on me whenever he speaks I unconsciously want to call him master. But I can¡¯t. ¡°Nothing, Selfarion¡± Master is weird. Today, too. Whenever we have to sit on a table, it has to be circular shaped. He will not allow the table to not be circular. Because that would mean someone would end up in a position above the rest, so it is not allowed. I met master two years ago. I didn¡¯t think much of him at first, but the moment he spoke, I was mesmerized. It wasn¡¯t like love at first sight, but the feeling you have when you meet an extremely important person, a King who rules over the world. I couldn¡¯t resist, so I had to beg for him to take me in as a retainer. I don¡¯t regret it, but I still have that sentiment, ¡®this is not what I expected¡¯ kind of thing. Master is extremely strong. I came to understand how strong only a year and a half ago, though. Yes, I decided to follow him without knowing just how strong he really was. The pressure he exuded that time was that strong. The door opens while issuing a creak due to how slow it was opened, and another person enters the room. ¡°Welcome back, Tauro¡± Tauro. Another weird guy. He is the biological son of Selfarion. They don¡¯t give that impression to the others, though. The only thing they have in common is their weirdness. He dresses like a beggar. Once I asked him why he enjoyed doing so. His answer was ¡®because I come from the dust, and to the dust, I will go¡¯. Don¡¯t ask me what does that mean, I don¡¯t understand it either. ¡°I¡¯m back, Selfarion¡± ¡°Hello, Tauro¡± ¡°How did ¡®that¡¯ go?¡± Tauro had left the base some days ago. It was a sudden thing, none of the other 5 were informed. I wonder what happened that made him leave in such a hurry. ¡°It went better than expected. I found the perfect scapegoat, there should be no hints leading their King to us¡± ¡°Good work. Then we will begin 2 months from now, Zara¡± ¡°Yes, Selfarion¡± Is it finally my turn? ¡°Go meet the Murloc lord, and give him this along with this letter¡± ¡°Yes, Selfarion¡± ¡°Also¡± ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°Bring Falnir with you¡± Falnir. A very secretive person, the only one among us who is an Elf. Being an Elf, Selfarion likes to use him as a means of espionage. ¡°Yes¡± And so I stand up, and instead of bowing in a show of respect, I bid my farewell with a wave of a hand. And then I exit the dark room.
¡°Hey Falnir¡± ¡°Hey Zara, what¡¯s up¡± ¡°Master said you have to accompany me to the coast while I meet the Murloc lord¡± ¡°Oh? did Master tell you so? well then, let¡¯s go¡± ¡°Alright. will you do as you always do?¡± ¡°Yep, I¡¯ll come back to tell you if anything untoward happens. Otherwise, we will meet right before you get to the coast¡± ¡°Alright, let¡¯s hope we don¡¯t screw up Master¡¯s plan¡± ¡°Right. do you want to invite Varus to come as well?¡± ¡°He came back?¡± ¡°Yeah, he should be in the machine''s room. I heard his experiment was a success¡± ¡°A success? just who did varus find that was good enough. Didn¡¯t the last five explode right after being injected?¡± ¡°It seems like he found himself a vampire¡± ¡°Really? just where did he manage to find himself one¡­¡± ¡°Anyways, if you want to bring him with us, you should go now¡± ¡°Right. wait for me at the entrance while I go and ask him¡± ¡°Okay, see you later, then¡± ¡°Later¡±
I enter Varus¡¯ room, which doubles as the ¡®machinery room¡¯. Originally, this was just the machinery room, but since whenever Varus is in the base he eats and sleeps inside of it, we decided to have it double as his room. It looks as untidy as ever, there are machine parts everywhere I go. Nails, Engines, Mechanical arms and legs and many other metal-made parts litter the ground, along with many things made of a thing Varus calls ¡®plastic¡¯. If Varus hadn¡¯t lived for two thousand years already, I wouldn¡¯t believe everything in this place was made by Varus. from the theory to the experimentation to achieving success, it was all started and finished by Varus alone. A so-called ¡®Genius¡¯. ¡°Varus?¡± ... ¡°Varus where are you? ¡°Over here¡± When I turn my head towards the origin of the sound, I can see what I thought a first was a 3-meter tall automaton, waving his hand towards me. ¡°This is?¡± ¡°Do you like my new invention? I call it the ¡®power suit¡¯¡± ¡°Are you inside of it right now, or are you controlling it ¡®remotely¡¯?¡± ¡°I¡¯m inside of it, it is basically a full body armor, Look¡± As he says that, the top half of the Automaton opens up, revealing inside a person. A male that looks similar to the humans, except it¡¯s not a human, but the form this person attained after using a skill. Varus enjoys making himself look like a neat, blonde haired and blue eyed person, although right now, he¡¯s wearing goggles. ¡°Do you control the, Umm, ¡®power suit¡¯ using those handles? ¡°Yes! By infusing the power suit with electricity with my hands, I can utilize the handles to control the arms and legs of the robot. You can¡¯t see it right now, but when the cockpit closes down a helmet comes along with it which cover my head and grants me a superior sense of sight. This is currently my masterpiece!¡± ¡°I see. by the way, I was told by Falnir that your experiment was a success?¡± ¡°Indeed. I finally could use the strengthening serum on a living being without destroying it thanks to the vampire¡¯s high regeneration. now all I need to do is work on improving it by further experimenting on him, trying to spot where are the most conflicting areas of the body, the ones more, huh, prone to violently exploding¡±Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere. ¡°Congratulations¡± ¡°Thanks. Anyways, why did you come looking for me?¡± ¡°Yes, I came over to invite you with me to the Murlocs, I have to meet the king and hand him something from Master¡± ¡°The Murlocs eh. Sure, I¡¯ll bring the power suit with me. It will be a great opportunity to test it out. is Falnir coming too, this time?¡± ¡°He is. Falnir is waiting for us at the entrance¡± ¡°Alright. let¡¯s go and meet the Murlocs, then¡±
Doraig¡¯s POV Ah, sunny day. this is what happiness is all about. ¡°Good morning, Kelsi¡± (Doraig) ¡°Good morning, Doraig¡± (Kelsi) Today is the fourth day since Rize left to the capital. that means today is the day he will come back with Robin if nothing bad happened there, and the day we travel to the hellhound lava zone to begin our Journey of filling the kill quota. ¡°Good morning children¡± (Doraig) ¡°Good morning father¡± (Blobs #1, #2, ¡­ , #n) The blobs are ready, they can now speak fluently and they¡¯ve also learned many things, like fishing, hunting, and how to gather fruit. ¡°Father, will you really leave with Mother today?¡± (Blobby) This is Blobby, he¡¯s the slime that learns the fastest, the one who managed to speak fluently first and also the one who acts as the ¡®big brother¡¯ among the slimes. ¡°Yes, we will leave. But don¡¯t worry, we will come back from time to time to say hello¡± (Doraig) ¡°Father, you really can¡¯t take us with you?¡± (Blobby) ¡°Father¡ª¡± (All blobs) ¡°Impossible. Children, you need to be independent now that you¡¯re all ¡®Adults¡¯. I and your mother can¡¯t forever take care of you, and also, you need to settle down the slime race. you can¡¯t forever live like hobos, right? I expect all of you to build the slime empire!¡± (Doraig) ¡°Slime empire?¡± (All blobs) ¡°Yes, like the human empire, the elven kingdom or like many other races with sovereignty over a territory, I want you to make a civilized place, a place with a leader chosen amongst you, rules and a growing economy. If you guys do that and forever settle the slime race, you will make me the proudest dragon and father in existence. will you do that for your father, my children?¡± (Doraig) ¡°Yes, Father!¡± (All Slimes) ¡°Good. now, come with me so I can teach you how to build a house. I learned how to do it when I lived among humans, a long time ago¡± (Doraig) ¡°House? that¡¯s a place where some races live, right? (Blobby) ¡°Yes, you¡¯ve got it right, son. A house is a lot better than a cave, it can keep you warm, it¡¯s not as dirty as the inside of a cave and sometimes you don¡¯t even need a fire when it¡¯s cold outside. you can put a bed and you can also have a kitchen in which you can prepare meals. It is also a place where you can form a family and spend some time enjoying the company of people you love¡± (Doraig) ¡°So that¡¯s a house¡­ Dad, teach us how to make a house!¡± (Blobby) ¡°House!¡± (All blobs) ¡°Alright, follow me to the forest, because we will need a lot of wood!¡± (Doraig) And so we walk towards the nearest forest, The starter area with level 1 critters, ¡®Gamrur¡¯s Forest¡¯. It is a fairly small zone that was ruled over by a 2-meter tall and 4 meters long Wolf called Gamrur. a shame Gamrur was killed by me when I was helping Kelsi level up, so now the forest has no ruler, and is filled with nothing but low-level critters which pose no threat. ¡°Okay, begin with those trees over there. make sure you cut near the base; you can cut the trees by using your racial ability and turning your arms into an ax. this is an ax, make sure this end is a bit sharp, so it cuts into the tree easier¡± ¡°Good, Blobby has it. look at Blobby kids, and try to imitate him¡± ¡°Okay, Blobby come here for a second¡± ¡°Yes, Father¡± ¡°Alright, so to cut down a tree you need to hit it like this¡­ make sure to move out the way so you don¡¯t get squashed¡± Bang! the first tree falls down ¡°Good, now all of you begin to cut down the tree. make sure you all cut down facing the same direction, so you don¡¯t have the tree fall into someone else¡¯s tree, or squash them down¡± I say as I make three examples of my words to bring the point home ¡°See, if you were to begin cutting the tree in this place, then the tree would fall onto your brother, you could injure or even kill him, so make sure you listen¡± ¡°Yes, father¡± (Blob #2973) ¡°Alright, now begin to cut! I¡¯ll go and clear a space to put the houses down¡± (Doraig) ¡°You can stay here and make sure no accidents occur Kelsi. I¡¯ll come and get you all once the place is ready¡± ¡°Alright, see you later sweetheart¡± ¡°Yep, later¡± I fly away and stay floating above the zone. I look around at the lush ground filled with grass and take aim. ¡®Minor Destruction Ray¡¯. I use the ray to remove the grass and leave just the earth below it. This should do, now let¡¯s see¡­ How can I level the ground? Damn, this might be harder than I thought. Hmm¡­ Ah, I know! Let¡¯s just put wood Planks in the ground to level the place, and then we can construct the house over it as you normally do. Okay, then this part should be done. I¡¯ll go and see how are the children doing. ¡®Fly¡¯ 10 minutes later I¡¯m flying above the area, I can see it is now devoid of trees, so It looks like the job is done. I have to compliment these kids, they even knew to remove the branches and pile the logs together without me saying it out loud. the trees are around 40 meters tall and with a diameter of 1.5 meters... if I remember correctly¡­ that old guy said that with a tree like that you need one tree to make four houses, and we should use 1,000 or so trees worth to level the ground. we have around 13,000 trees here, so it should be enough for 48,000 houses¡­ ¡°Good work kids, now carry the logs with you. 50 of you should be able to carry one tree, so let¡¯s go, with the amount of you there are we shouldn¡¯t take more than 4 trips, after the third trip some of you will stay behind to begin work while the rest continue to bring back the rest of the logs¡± (Doraig) ¡°Yes!¡± (All Blobs) I know this way there will be 4 or 5 slimes per house, as there are close to two hundred thousand slimes, but later on, they can just make more homes so they can live separately, or for when the slime population grows more. It¡¯s surprising the number of slimes isn¡¯t in the millions... until you think about how each dungeon cave had not more than a thousand Slimes each. So we begin the operation to move the logs towards the construction zone. 8 hours later, the 3rd trip is over. ¡°Good, now this group will bring back the rest of the logs¡± (Doraig) ¡°Yes!¡± (Blobs) ¡°The rest of you, follow me. I¡¯ll teach you how to build a house now¡± (Doraig) ¡°Alright, Listen here¡± ¡°First, we need to convert all these logs into planks. to do so first transform part of your body to make a saw. you need to cut the logs like so¡­¡± ¡°When the logs become planks, there should be around 120,000 square planks for these logs, and for each house, you need around 30,000 square planks. that means we can make 4 houses for each of these logs¡± ¡°Alright. now let¡¯s level the ground for each house, otherwise, it will be either crap-looking in the inside, or not very stable if we decide to make some planks ¡®float¡¯¡± ¡°To level the ground, you first find a place where the soil seems sunken, then you put a plank in that place, then you use soil to have the plank stay in place. once that¡¯s done, you can begin the work¡± ¡°we don¡¯t have nails, so instead what we have to do is something called ¡®timber frame¡¯. what you do is you take a plank, and you cut a joint, which will be used to make it stay in place and form the structure. like so¡ª¡± I say while I use my claw to remove a piece of wood from a plank. ¡°Then when the joint is made of two planks, you can put one in the middle and two¡­¡± 3 hours later ¡°...and then you put the structure up. and that¡¯s done¡± ¡°Okay, now it¡¯s your turn. work in groups of 20 to make each house, it should take you around 2 hours that way¡± Man, every other race has such overpowered racial skills. Rize¡¯s invisibility, and now the slimes shapeshifting skill which makes them the perfect workers¡­ maybe we could begin a construction company? The next day, the previous valley is no more. what used to be a prairie with nothing but lush green grass, is now a village, filled with houses which look the same, giving off the impression that it was made by a professional company. this is now like any other newly-built village in the continent, minus the fact that its inhabitants are slimes instead of your usual bipedal group of people. ¡°Okay guys, that should be it for now. if you want, you can go to the forest and get more wood to make more houses, in case you decide 4 of you living in one house is too much. I¡¯m not sure why my friends didn¡¯t come last day to come and get us, but today is probably the day we will say goodbye, at least for a while. Before they come, I¡¯ll teach you, kids, how to make some furniture, so your houses don¡¯t look like a closed cave and begin to look like actual houses!¡± (Doraig) ¡°Thanks, father!¡± (All blobs) ¡°Okay, first, let¡¯s teach you how to make a basic piece of furniture, a table¡­¡± 5 Hours later ¡°What the hell happened in the last 4 days¡­¡± (Rize) ¡°What do you mean? this looks like a village. where are the slimes?¡± (Rob) ¡°They should have been here¡­ I don¡¯t believe I got lost¡­ I¡ª¡± (Rize) ¡°Hey guys, you finally came back!¡± (Doraig) ¡°Doraig? what happened here, where are the slimes? why is there a village now? what the fuck did you do!?¡± (Rize) ¡°Woah, calm down. one question at a time. I and the slimes made a village, you don¡¯t think I¡¯d leave my children living in some caves, do you?¡± (Doraig) ¡°You made a¡­ village? how the¡ª¡± (Rize) ¡°Well, you see, at one point of my life, I spent a hundred years among humans. During that period of time, I managed to learn some crafts. And I mean learn, because doing some stuff like sewing or fishing with a rod is hard when you have hands as big as these. but at least the knowledge is up there¡ª¡± I say as I point a finger towards my head. ¡°Fuck me, for real?¡± (Rob) ¡°So what¡¯s up with the helmet, Rob?¡± (Doraig) ¡°Look at this¡± (Rob) Says Rob, as he proceed to extend wings¡ª ¡°Wait, hold on, wings?¡± (Doraig) ¡°Yeah, do you like my new helmet? I can now fly instead of being stuck on your back¡± (Rob) ¡°Really!? Fuck yeah Rob, now all we need is for Rize to find something similar, and I will finally stop being a mount¡± (Doraig) A few minutes after we begin speaking, Kelsi joins us. ¡°Hello again Rize¡± (Kelsi) ¡°Hello, Kelsi¡± (Rize) ¡°You must be Robin, right? I¡¯m Kelsi, it¡¯s a pleasure¡± (Kelsi) ¡°The pleasure is mine. Umm, I heard from Rize that you would be our healer, is that true?¡± (Rob) ¡°Yup, she will be the Healer. or maybe we should say, she already is our healer¡± (Doraig) ¡°?¡± (Rob & Rize) ¡°While you guys were wasting your time, I took Kelsi leveling, so she is now level 15 and ready to fight. She also learned a bunch of skill to make her job as a healer a reality¡± (Doraig) ¡°Really? what did you make her learn?¡± (Rize) ¡°I learned these skills. Basic Heal, Slime Limb, Aura of calmness, Slime Barrier, and Minor Cauterize. I think those should be good enough¡ª at least to begin with, right?¡± (Kelsi) ¡°Hmm¡­ sounds good. But it seems like Rob will suffer quite a bit if he ever loses a limb or needs to have a wound closed up¡± (Rize) ¡°It¡¯s okay, as long as I can hit level 20 and then 25 all enemies will have a hard time trying to hurt me whatsoever¡± (Rob) ¡°Why?¡± (Doraig & Kelsi) ¡°Here, look at these items¡± (Rob) He hands me a set of armor, while he hands Kelsi a shield and a sword for us to look at. Holy shit, what is this. Unique armor? high level, too. Damn, even I feel jealous. ¡°It¡¯s a really good armor, are the shield and sword unique as well?¡± (Doraig) ¡°Yep, I struck it rich inside the dungeon¡± (Rob) ¡°Amazing! did you find any skill books for me?¡± (Doraig) ¡°Uh¡­ I didn¡¯t. I guess it¡¯s time to tell you guys what happened there¡± (Rob) ¡°Here, these items look really good. Congratulations Robin¡± (Kelsi) ¡°Thanks¡± (Rob) ¡°Okay, so what happened once we met, is that I first entered a desert¡­¡± 30 minutes later ¡°Wow, and once you defeat just 5 ¡®Gemril¡¯ let you approve with full marks? that¡¯s amazing. And what happened then?¡± (Doraig) ¡°Once the test was over, he made me walk with him to the treasury. you wouldn¡¯t believe the number of things that were inside. I bet if I had looked at it directly for a little longer, I¡¯d be blind by now!¡± (Robin) ¡°And then?¡± (Rize) ¡°And then¡­ he let me take only the items you just saw. Gemril said that I could only get the rest of the things once I mastered all of the skills¡± (Rob) ¡°The skills¡­ as in the skills in these items?¡± (Rize) ¡°Yeah, I think he wants me to use the third method of learning so that I don¡¯t require the items to use the skills¡± (Rob) ¡°That¡­ sounds quite hard to do, in all honesty¡± (Kelsi) ¡°I know, right? when I pointed out that, he went all ¡®oops¡¯ because he forgot I¡¯m human¡­¡± (Rob) ¡°Hahaha¡ª¡± (Doraig) ¡°Well, then you will just have to spend a long time trying to do it. with so many things in that treasury it¡¯s worth the time, at least I think so¡± (Rize) ¡°Yeah¡­¡± (Rob) ¡°Well then, Let¡¯s get started now that we are together. Let me and Kelsi gather the slimes so that we can say goodbye¡± (Doraig) Once I say that Kelsi hops on my back and moves to my head, sitting there, waiting for me to move. I Fly up and once every house is in my view, I yell. ¡°Everyone, please come outside your house for a moment!¡± (Doraig) Once I say that every door of every house opens up, and all the slimes that were inside their new homes come out. Once I see no more slimes moving, and all the blobs are looking up to me, I say. ¡°It is my biggest joy to have become the father of all of you. I¡¯m really glad to have such great kids, and I really hope that one day I will have some of your own kids calling me grandpa. Right now, you have just begun your journey in this new life, and I hope that you make the best out of it. Make use of your newly found intellect, and learn, my children. Because by learning you will be able to advance the slime race, and because by learning you will make a better world for you and the ones that will come after you. at the same time, I hope that you will use part of your time living with each other, because this is too, a part of learning. You will face hardships at some point in life, but if you stick together as a family, I trust that you will never succumb. Don¡¯t forget to be clean, and also, be kind to everyone else around you. treat others like you would like to be treated, and if someone does something in your favor, say thank you. it¡¯s okay to make mistakes, but when you make them, you need to make up to them one way or another. never be afraid to say ¡®sorry¡¯, ¡®thank you¡¯ and ¡®please¡¯. I won''t say something like ¡®never take more than you need¡¯, but if you have a little more, maybe take a look at the person next to you to make sure they have ¡®enough¡¯. this is all I can say to you, my children. I hope that you will find joy for yourselves in this life¡± (Doraig) ¡°Father!¡± ¡°We love you father¡± ¡°We will be respectful to others!¡± ¡°Look at the person next to us to make sure they have enough!¡± ¡°Be greedy, but never at the cost of the well-being of others!¡± ¡°Find the joy in life¡± ¡°...¡± ¡°My children¡± (Kelsi) ¡°Mother!¡± ¡°Today, I and your father are leaving. we will meet again, but since today, you are all grown up slimes. we didn¡¯t spend much time together, but I want you all to believe me when I say, you are all my children. I care for every single one of you, and forever will. As your father said, try to find happiness in this life¡± ¡°And please, Until we meet next time, be well. I Also want to meet little ones who will call me ''Grandma''¡± (Kelsi) ¡°Mother!!¡± (Kelsi) ¡°Goodbye, my children¡± (Kelsi) ¡°See you, kids¡± (Doraig) After that, I descend towards Rize and Rob. My eyes¡ª I¡¯m¡­ crying? ¡°Let¡¯s¡­ Let¡¯s go¡± (Doraig) Rize and Rob nod to me. Rize gets on my back while Rob conjures his wings, and so we fly away, towards the next place, Grendel. Chapter 16: The Beastmens trading company Chapter 16: The Beastmen''s trading company ¡°Are you two okay?¡± (Robin) ¡°Yes, don¡¯t worry about us, we will be fine¡­ we just have to believe in them¡± (Doraig) ¡°They are good and hardworking. I don¡¯t believe any other race could build a village in a day. they will find success for all of us¡± (Kelsi) Some time later We¡¯ve calmed down. Right now we are moving towards our first stop, Grendel. The Beastmen, as I previously pointed out, have no place to call ¡®home¡¯. Instead, they formed a trading company which they decided to call ¡®Boros¡¯ trade company¡¯ in honor of its founder and the Beastmen that reset their race. When Boros had his race reset, he saw how the two ancient hegemons: the humans and the elves, treated the newly advanced races. When they were in the position of absolute power yet weren¡¯t scientifically advanced enough to cope with the scarcity of food, living with an unstable political system, and at the same time living with the risk of having their position as ¡®stronger races¡¯ usurped, they tended to be extremely aggressive towards new races. When he saw this, he wanted to avoid the Beastmen to be trampled over and destroyed, and thus he decided to head towards the human capital of olden, Gralace, along with all of the Beastmen. This act was called ¡®Boros¡¯ pledge¡¯, because the moment they arrived, startling everyone who lived in the city, he and all of the Beastmen knelt down towards the king of Gralace. The Gralace King, needless to say, was completely flabbergasted at that moment. He couldn¡¯t understand ¡®why¡¯ the newcomer had decided to kneel at his doorstep, but the King, being in an unstable position of power, in the need to appease the human population, decided to have a show of kindness. He took an enormous risk, allowing Boros to enter the castle and speak man to beast. Boros, having knelt towards the king, obviously did not have the position of power. But he was smart, and his plan¡¯s first step had succeeded. He proposed to the king losing the right for his race to have a ¡®Kingdom¡¯ for themselves, thus appeasing the masses which were nervous and frightened of the future due to all of the newcomer races which were sprouting left and right at the time. In exchange for promising to not enter the race for territory, he and the Beastmen would be allowed to settle themselves in the human territory, and plant their headquarters in Grendel. The Beastmen would begin a merchant company ¡®Boros¡¯ trade company¡¯ and give the Humans a part of the earnings in exchange for the right to have free trade in all of the human territories. Obviously, the king would not allow for a possible enemy to be right next to them, and thus made a change to the ¡®contract¡¯. He would not allow Boros¡¯ race to carry weapons, and in exchange for this, he would help Boros by providing the merchants with protection. Boros¡¯ merchants would be the ones making the trade without a political tone added to them, and the Humans would make sure thieves would not destroy caravans in their travels. The humans and the Beastmen thus began their cooperation, which proved itself to be extremely successful. The Beastmen only had to focus on trading tendencies, where the food was needed the most, where weapons were required to deal with monsters, etc. Without having to worry about spending resources on forming an army, training soldiers, or carrying weapons, they quickly formed a rich company which also helped the human society advance. The newly formed company was so successful, that when the King of Gralace fell in favor of new blood, the new King decided not to abolish the established policies, which further cemented the Beastmen¡¯s position. Some years later, the Beastmen expanded towards other kingdoms: those of races which did decide to join the fray, helping the continent¡¯s economy to bloom. Today, Boros¡¯ trade company has an extremely stable foundation which does not shake with the political changes which occur frequently in the continent. And Grendel, which served as the starting point of Boro¡¯s dream, is in this day and age, the place where all of the most important trade in the continent occurs. ¡°Why are we going to ¡®Grendel¡¯? I thought we were going straight to the lava zone¡± (Kelsi) ¡°We need to buy some things before we do that, like food, heat resistance potions and breathing masks. the place we are heading to has some fumes which are toxic to all living things, which is why before we enter, we must go to Grendel and buy special breathing masks to filter out the toxic fumes. The hellhound lava zone is at the same time scorching hot, and thus we need to buy some potions that will help offset the damage we¡¯d receive by just standing inside of that place. If you don¡¯t get those two items in Grendel, the only other way to get them is by crafting¡± (Rize) ¡°I see¡± (Kelsi) ¡°And I think we should buy things for you to wear. I don¡¯t really mind as you are a blob of slime but¡­ I don¡¯t think it is a good idea to have you stark naked¡± (Rize) ¡°Oh¡± (Kelsi) ¡­ We continue to fly without any problems, stopping whenever we have to eat and sleep, hunting some game and roasting it in the wilds, flying to have a vantage point to look for a water source, and sleeping while looking at the stars. Rize is in charge of the food because it turns out that having spent so much time without leveling up allowed him to learn how to make some amazing dishes. And like that, a week passes by. ¡°That¡¯s the Trader¡¯s Headquarters?¡± (Kelsi) ¡°Woah! It¡¯s massive!¡± (Doraig) That¡¯s the largest city I¡¯ve ever seen. walls as that span a distance as long as the mountain range we had to traverse right before meeting Kelsi, and which are as tall as the trees we used to build the homes for the slimes. a myriad of different houses which make for an extremely colorful city, with colors that range from orange to white to green and even purple, giving the city a feeling of being alive. this is all contrasted by the tower in the middle of the city, a tower so big that even us, who are flying well above the 200m mark, can¡¯t see the end of above the skies. ¡°What¡¯s that?¡± (Kelsi) says Kelsi, as she points towards the structure that had my mouth agape, the tower. ¡°That¡¯s the trade center. it¡¯s¡­ more impressive that I was told it¡¯d be¡± (Rize) ¡°How did they even manage to erect that tower¡­¡± (Rob) ¡°My father told me that there was once a famous female human mage who fell in love with Boros¡¯ son, Claude. When Boros¡¯ son corresponded her feelings, she spent the bigger half of her life constructing the tower while Claude worked for the company, stationed in the city. I have no clue how Boros¡¯ kid manage to get her so maddened with love, though¡± (Rize) ¡°It¡¯s beautiful¡­¡± (Kelsi) ¡°Let¡¯s go down¡± (Rize) We descend to ground level and join the line to enter the city. The line to enter the city is as expected, massively long. caravans and people alike conform the biggest part of the line to enter the city, while there are also some people who most likely make a living by selling exotic animals. ¡°Will there really be no problems with us entering the city without asking for permission first, like in Parlor town?¡± (Doraig) ¡°It will be fine. even if we wanted to do anything we¡¯d be instantly killed. I heard my father mention to me how the city guards in that place are all level 180¡± (Rize) ¡°180!? but they¡¯re humans, right?¡± (Doraig) ¡°What the hell¡­ 180? Where do they even grind to get their level that high¡± (Rob) ¡°That¡¯s one of their best-kept secrets, actually. all my father knew is that when anyone is recruited into the city guard, they disappear for 20 years, before reappearing and having attained that level¡± (Rize) ¡°Of course, the elves have the means to get our best guards to that level as well, but in the place we do so we¡¯ve never found any human, so we can safely assume the place is different¡± (Rize) ¡°Dude¡­ after we patch your mother up, can you take me there?¡± (Doraig) ¡°...What do you think?¡± (Rize) Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings. Party pooper ¡°Sorry, I didn¡¯t lose anything by asking¡± (Doraig) ¡°The line is moving forward, advance¡± (Rob) Kelsi seems to be enjoying a nap on top of my head while we are waiting in line, I don¡¯t really mind, though. ¡°That reminds me, Robin?¡± (Doraig) ¡°Hmm?¡± (Rob) ¡°When we leave the lava zone we should be around level 30, are you staying with us after that?¡± (Doraig) ¡°Uh¡­ I¡¯m not sure actually. I¡¯ll have to think about it¡± (Rob) ¡°Well, it should still take around a month for us to be done with it, so you still have time to think about what you want to do¡± (Doraig) ¡°Yeah, I¡¯ll tell you at that time¡± (Rob) Later on The line slowly but surely moves forward, and then we finally are almost at the front of the line. The caravan in front of us is talking with two guards, who check the carriage and its contents and then write something down on a book. then they ask things to the people before writing more stuff down. finally one of the guards says something to which the group nod their heads and then walk towards the entrance of the city, before entering and disappearing inside. The two guards follow with their vision the group until they go inside, and then look towards us and begin walking. ¡°Hello, and welcome to Grendel. who is your party leader?¡± (Guard #1) Umm¡­ good question, who is the party leader? ¡°Ah, he¡¯s the party leader¡± (Doraig) I say while pointing at Rize, since he¡¯s the one that knows most of this of this city, and besides (or more importantly), it¡¯s annoying to speak with the guards. ¡°Okay, I want to confirm with you the members of your party. I will need their names, their races, and optionally you can state any special identities if they have one, with appropriate proof of course. if there is anyone particularly important among your group you will be permitted direct entry to the higher levels of the trading tower¡± (Guard #1) ¡°What do we need to do to enter the higher levels if we don¡¯t want to state our identities?¡± (Rize) ¡°Again, it¡¯s optional to do so, but if you don¡¯t and later on decide to buy some especially rare objects, you will have to first make a special deposit before entering¡± (Guard #1) ¡°Deposit?¡± (Rize) ¡°Yes, this means that if you decide to enter the higher floors of the tower you will have to pay a set amount of gold by person, which will stay in the company regardless of whether you use that money to buy something or not¡± (Guard #1) Wow, that¡¯s such a bullshit policy! ¡°I see. well, do you think being the son of the Elven King is good enough?¡± (Rize) ¡°Son of the elven king? yeah. Do you have proof?¡± (Guard #1) Wow, completely unfazed. I guess these are level 180 guards, huh. ¡°Here¡± (Rize) Says Rize as he hands a medallion to the Guard. the guards inspect it closely and one of them seems to silently pronounce something, a skill, I assume. ¡°Okay, it seems you are telling the truth. we welcome you to Grendel, Son of Yaksha, Rize¡± (Guard #1) Once he says that the Guard #2 writes down on the notebook. ¡°And these people are? A human and a Dragon with a Slime top hat as companions¡ª that¡¯s quite an uncommon party you have there, Prince¡± (Guard #1) ¡°Yeah, I guess. The human is Robin Caster, no special identity¡± (Rize) The Guard #1 nods, while Guard #2 writes everything down ¡°The dragon is Doraig, no special identity¡± (Rize) ¡°You are pretty far away from the Darki continent, aren¡¯t you?¡± (Guard #1) ¡°Yeah¡ª does it matter?¡± (Doraig) "No, not really¡± (Guard #1) ¡°And the Slime is called Kelsi, she is the Slime queen¡± (Rize) Kelsi wakes up and looks curiously towards the guards from the top of my head ¡°Umm, hi?¡± (Kelsi) They take a few second to process, before speaking simultaneously. ¡°The slime spoke?¡± (Guard #1) ¡°What the¡ª¡± (Guard #2) They seem to be more surprised at Kelsi than they were at Rize, how amusing¡­ ¡°Uh¡­ I¡¯m Kelsi¡± (Kelsi) ¡°I¡¯ll have to excuse myself here, I need to report this to my superior. Bermion will continue with the usual procedures. please enjoy your stay in Grendel¡± (Guard #2) ¡°Woah¡­ a Slime that can talk. Did you have your race reset? Amazing¡± (Bermion) ¡°Yeah, I had my race reset thanks to my sweetheart!¡± (Kelsi) ¡°Sweetheart?¡± (Bermion) ¡°Him¡± (Kelsi) She¡¯s pointing down towards me, and Bermion looks confusedly towards me ¡°Damn, nicely done! so what can Slimes do now that they reset?¡± (Bermion) It seems like the humans that guard this city are a lot more accepting of the new races, I assume because it means more potential customers. ¡°They are pretty good at construction, I guess¡± (Doraig) ¡°Construction?¡± (Bermion) ¡°Yup, they can transform their bodies, so that includes shape-shifting their limbs into proper tools for work¡± (Doraig) ¡°Wow, that¡¯s cool!¡± (Bermion) ¡°Ah, I see you¡¯re a man of culture as well¡± (Doraig) ¡°Does she need proof of her being the Slime queen?¡± (Rize) ¡°In all honesty, being a person from a newly advanced race is good enough to let you up the higher floors of the tower. In any case, Prince, with your identity it is enough to grant your party with permission to enter without making the deposit¡± (Bermion) ¡°Oh, okay¡± (Rize) ¡°Well then, I''ll write this down on the book¡± (Bermion) He writes down on the small notebook¡ª ¡°Alright. you guys are done, feel free to enter the city now. Oh and here, receive this piece of paper with my direction. Bring me with you to the Slimes when you can, I want to see them too¡± (Bermion) He hands Kelsi the small paper with information, and then we proceed towards the entrance of the town. ¡°Right, I forgot!¡± (Bermion) He comes running towards us Before handing a golden-colored coin to Rize. ¡°You will need that to enter the top floors directly¡± (Bermion) ¡°Thanks¡± (Rize) ¡°Well then, See you some other time. enjoy Grendel!¡± (Bermion) ¡°Thanks!¡± (Kelsi) ¡°Bye~¡± (Doraig)
The city from the inside looks extremely lively. people shouting to sell food, drinks and there seems to be a fleas market selling some common goods. We move past all that and walk towards the center, the trading tower. On the entrance to the tower, a sign reads ¡®Boros¡¯ Trading Center¡¯. We move ahead and enter the tower. Inside, a massive space opens up. in front, around a hundred counters with lines of people in front, who are waiting for their turn. The people are of every race, including Lizardmen, Humans, Onis, Dwarfs and we can even see some people who look like white beasts and are about my size, are those the Karfi that Rize mentioned to me when we left to porter town? ¡°That is?¡± (Kelsi) Kelsi points towards our right, where there are two circles with scribbles inside, one of which has a line of people behind. The circle seems to produce light from time to time, and when it does, a person comes out of it. when a person in line steps into the circle, it lights up and the person disappears. ¡°That should be the elevator, it brings people to a floor above¡± (Rize) ¡°What about that one?¡± (Rob) To our left, there¡¯s another circle, but this one has a guard in front and nobody in line. ¡°No clue, maybe that¡¯s for the higher floors?¡± (Rize) ¡°Let¡¯s go and ask him¡± (Doraig) We move towards the guard and ask him¡ª ¡°Hello, we have a golden coin here, how do we enter the higher floors?¡± (Rize) ¡°Let me examine the golden coin¡± (Guard) ¡°Here¡± (Rize) Rize hands the coin to the guard, who then silently casts a skill, to check its authenticity. ¡°Please come this way, and step into the circle¡± (Guard) We do as he says, and when all 4 of us are inside the circle, my vision distorts, and when it¡¯s well again, my surroundings have changed. In front of us, there¡¯s an endless prairie, and in the middle, there¡¯s some comfortable looking furniture for us to sit on. ¡°Woah¡­¡± (Doraig, Robin & Kelsi) ¡°Not bad¡± (Rize) While we are mesmerized by the view, the circle lights up and a Beastman female comes out. The female is standing on her two feet, has feline ears and fur covering her body. I know she¡¯s female thanks to her curves and her bust, the outline of which is visible even if she¡¯s wearing an adorned robe. ¡°Hello, dear customers. please have a seat¡± (Merchant) ¡°Thanks¡± (Rize) Says Rize, after which he takes a seat. She looks at me, before saying¡ª ¡°You are a bigger person so these seats might not be ample enough for you, so please wait a moment, dear customer¡± (Merchant) After which she walks towards the left of Rize¡¯s seat, and takes a massive pillow out of her inventory, big enough for me to comfortably lay on. ¡°Wow, thanks!¡± (Doraig) ¡°You are welcome¡± (Merchant) While that was happening, Rob took a seat to Rize¡¯s right. Kelsi walks down from my head and lays on the pillow, next to me. The merchant sits down on a couch directly in front of all of us. ¡°This should be the Slime queen? It¡¯s a pleasure to meet you, your highness¡± (Merchant) ¡°Oh, thank you. Just call me Kelsi¡± (Kelsi) ¡°Then, with your permission, Mistress Kelsi¡± (Merchant) ¡°First, let me invite you to a cup of tea¡± (Merchant) Clap Once she claps, four cups appear in mid air, along with four kettles. the cups are proportional to our sizes, mine being big enough so I can grab it with my claws comfortably. The floating kettles pour tea, and the cups then move mid-air towards each one of us, staying there, floating and waiting for us to take them. Sip Woah, this is tea? then what the hell did I drink before! this is¡ª ¡°This is so good!¡± (Kelsi) ¡°I¡¯m glad you like it, Mistress Kelsi¡± (Merchant) ¡°Can I have another cup?¡± (Kelsi) ¡°Of course¡± (Merchant) ¡°Me too!¡± (Doraig) ¡°And me¡± (Rob) ¡°Please serve me another cup as well¡± (Rize) ¡­ After each of us drinks about 5 kettles¡¯ worth of tea, we stop drinking and finally get down to business. ¡°What will you buy or sell, dear customers?¡± (Merchant) ¡°We are looking for some things. First, we will need some potions that grant fire resistance¡± (Rize) ¡°How strong do you need them to be? Our potions can replace the ¡®fire resistance¡¯ buff at its basic, intermediate and advanced levels, our recipes have been tested to respectively replace levels 78, 81, and 68 of the skill. they all last for 2 hours when used¡± (Merchant) ¡°We need 20 basic and 4 intermediate ones. We also need some breathing masks that filter out toxic fumes, level 15 or less. they don¡¯t need to offer any additional skill or protection, though.¡± (Rize) ¡°Is there anything else you need?¡± (Merchant) ¡°Yes, we need some clothes for Kelsi to wear¡± (Rize) She turns towards Kelsi and asks her ¡°What kind of clothes are you looking for, Mistress Kelsi?¡± (Merchant) ¡°Umm¡­ What do you think, sweetheart?¡± (Kelsi) Something for Kelsi to wear? Hmm, what should a pink blob even wear? ¡°Uh¡­ I¡¯m not actually sure, honestly¡± (Doraig) It should probably be something that¡¯s comfortable, right? ¡°Oh¡­ What if I do this?¡± (Kelsi) She liquefies, and reforms into a slime girl, one that is about 1,80 meter tall, slender waist and a C cup. she forms long wavy slime hair that goes to waist length and her face looks very feminine. I¡¯d say most people would find her extremely beautiful. although to be honest, I like her regardless or what form she takes. ¡°that makes it easier. how about a white T-shirt and a skirt? you look very athletic in that form sweetie¡± (Doraig) ¡°Okay!¡± (Kelsi) ¡°I think some underwear for you to wear is in place, too. please bring three white shirts, four skirts of the colors blue, red, orange, and green. and four pairs of underwear, please, you choose the colors and style for those¡± (Doraig) ¡°I¡¯ve written it down, I¡¯ll bring the clothes first, but for the masks and potions, you will need to wait a few more minutes. I will go grab the clothes and tell someone to go look for the rest of items while I bring the clothes back¡± (Merchant) ¡°Alright, Thanks!¡± (Doraig) while the Merchant walks toward the elevator circle, I turn towards Rize and Rob and notice they are looking at Kelsi with their eyes almost popping out of their sockets. ¡°The fuck are you guys looking at her for¡± (Doraig) ¡°Sorry, I didn¡¯t mean to¡± (Rob) ¡°Uh, nothing¡± (Rize) ¡°Are you going to stay in that form when sitting on my, sweetie?¡± (Doraig) ¡°Umm¡­ do you not want me to?¡± (Kelsi) ¡°Uh¡­ Let¡¯s try and see if you can still sit on my head like that¡± (Doraig) ¡°Alright!¡± (Kelsi) Kelsi moves towards me, and jumps, landing with a pose on my back. She then proceeds to walk up my spine towards my head and sits down. In case you were wondering how she ever fit with my supposed horned helmet being there, it¡¯s because the helmet is very small compared to my head, so I just had it rest on the horn to the left of my head. My head has three horns protruding, one to the left and right which curve to the front, and one smaller in the very front pointing a bit upwards. ¡°It feels comfortable! I can grab this horn as a handle, too¡± (Kelsi) ¡°Oh, that¡¯s okay, then. you can sit there in your¡ª let¡¯s call it ¡®human¡¯ form¡ª while wearing your clothes¡± (Doraig) ¡°Yay!¡± (Kelsi)
¡°Okay, I¡¯ve brought your clothes, Umm, Miss Kelsi¡± (Merchant) ¡°Thank you!¡± (Kelsi) The clothes are floating mid-air, waiting to be picked up by Kelsi. She picks up a t-shirt and a pink skirt, while she makes her skin turn a mellow tone of yellow. at the same time, she picks white underwear to use. ¡°Wait!¡± (Doraig) ¡°?¡± (Kelsi) ¡°Lady, can you bring her to a changing room? I don¡¯t trust in these two fuckers who¡¯ve been silent this whole time¡± (Doraig) ¡°Of course, please follow me Miss Kelsi¡± (Merchant) ¡°I¡¯ll be right back¡± (Kelsi) Kelsi leaves, and 10 minutes later comes back changed into her new clothes. ¡°Do you like it?¡± (Kelsi) ¡°Yes, you look lovely my sweetie¡± (Doraig) I say as my heart fills with warmth. While we are chatting about random things, the circle of light lights up, and then out comes a Beastman, who looks to be middle aged, with brown fur covering his body and rounded glasses; He¡¯s wearing a suit and seems like an intelligent man. ¡°Ah, hello! I have brought you the stuff you required¡± (Glasses guy) ¡°Thank you. that is all we need to buy¡± (Rize) ¡°I see. then your bill will come at 39 gold, 15 silver, and 44 copper¡± (Merchant) Rize fiddles with his hands, before taking out money out of empty space. ¡°Here¡± (Rize) "Thank you for your patronage, we hope to see you buy with us again!¡± (Merchant) ¡°Yes, we will come again to buy¡ª and get more tea¡± (Rize) We exit the room via the magic circle, which takes out by the one that was next to the line, instead of the original one that had the guard. I wonder if it¡¯s to make us look more inconspicuous? We then proceed to the exit of the tower and leave. ¡°Well then, now let¡¯s go to the Hellhound lava zone!¡± (Doraig) Chapter 17: Pest Control strategies while burning your hats off Chapter 17: Pest Control strategies while burning your hats off After we leave the trading city, we fly northwest for another 5 days without any mishaps. Along the way we eat, drink, sleep and talk to each other¡ª but nothing more than that happens. Finally, on the sixth day of traveling the temperature around us rises. We¡¯ve finally reached the lava zone. Floating 150 meters above air has a lot of advantages to it, and in this case, it allows me to see with a crystal clear view the complete lava zone. The Hellhound lava zone is named such because well, for one it is made 50% out of molten lava, the other half being¡ª igneous rock, or cooled down lava. It is also called Hellhound because the most prominent lifeform in this place is the Hellhound, which looks like a black greyhound dog without any skin on the head, that is to say, the head is just the skull of the dog. its paws are eternally covered by a blue fire which it uses to attack people, by scratching and applying the burning flame on the skin of its enemies. About sixty percent of all mobs in this place are Hellhounds, but there are other two types of enemies which we will find here: Lava Larvae and its adult form, Lava Butterfly. Lava Larvae are 5 meters long and one meter tall worm-like creatures which swim deep into the lava before digging into the igneous rock surrounding it, to then assault any enemy that is on the ground. It will quickly jump out of the ground to try and bite whichever intelligent lifeform is standing aboveground. When a Lava Larvae lives for long enough, they will begin a period of hibernation deep into the lava. When enough time goes by, the larvae will transform into a Lava Butterfly¡ª enormous 3 meters long by 3-meter tall flying butterflies which have control over the surrounding lava, which it enjoys using against its enemies. To get the King type to show up, we have to fulfill 3 conditions: Once the king shows up, it¡¯s a gamble. we can only hope the one that shows up is the one Rize needs¡ª the Queen of specters, Rangda. I wonder what kind of face Rize has at this moment? If she doesn¡¯t appear here, the next chance won¡¯t be until half a year later. ¡°Put on your masks and drink a minor potion, we¡¯ll go down now¡± (Rize)
Rize has sent you a party invite
Everyone equips on their masks, and then we drink the Basic heat resistance potions.
Basic Heat Resistance Potion has taken effect: Reduced fire damage taken by 70.41%
Now, Let''s go down! Rize on my back, Kelsi on my head, and Rob on my side. Everyone goes down before landing on the ground. "Ouch, Ouch. Hot Hot Hot!" (Rob) Sizzle Sizzle I look to my left, towards Rize who has already gotten off my back, and I can see¡ª "Huh... Rize? your boots are melting" (Doraig) "Uh? Oh" (Rize) I¡ª Ah well. "Stop crying Rob, it''s not that hot" (Doraig) "But it''s hot! I can''t even take a shower with hot water, nor can I drink any hot beverage!" (Rob) I swear this guy is a cat... "Anyways, let''s stop making a fool out of ourselves, and let''s begin!" (Doraig) "Yay!" (Kelsi) As we planned out, Kelsi will just remain seated on top of my head, making sure everyone''s health is topped off and no limbs are lost (for too long) "Alright, there''s a Larvae 20 meters north-east" (Rize) "You pull, I will stay next to these two in case one pops out of the ground" (Rob) Following that, Rize takes out his scythe, which he flails left and right to use its ranged weapon properties. Fwoosh Fwoosh Two green crescents of scythe light shoot out, aiming straight towards a Larvae which was munching on a rock. Tak Tak A perfect hit! The Larvae wriggles around for a few seconds before looking our way "GRUOOOO!" "It''s Coming towards us!" (Rize) Puk Puk "Two more came out of the ground!" (Rob) If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. I Take off and leave the ground below me "Go for that one, I''ll keep this one at bay using ranged attacks!" (Doraig) "Gotcha, Don''t let me die!" (Rob) ''Minor Destruction Breath'' "UWOOO!" (Larvae) "Hiya!" (Rob) After hearing Rob''s warcry, I look his way to visualize him jumping up, before moving his wings while kicking the air above, his sword pointed at the Larvae. "DIE!!!!" (Rob) "SHKRIIIII" (Larvae)
Experience points received
Experience points received
What the hell were these two doing these past days! "Holy shit Rob!" (Doraig) "Umm... Doraig? Shoot that guy" (Kelsi) "Oh? Oh" (Doraig) ''Minor Destruction Breath'' ''Minor Destruction Breath'' ''Minot Destruction Breath''
Experience points received
"That should be it, good job everyone" (Rize) I couldn''t see Rize fight, but I remember seeing the blue box show up in my vision, at around the same time Rob finished his Larvae. "We''re doing good, let''s keep up with this pace" (Rize) "Noone is hurt?" (Kelsi) "Umm, I should be fine, but I sprained my ankle when I landed after trying that new combo" (Rob) "Let me heal you" (Kelsi) Hop Kelsi jumps off my Head then walks towards Rob, before her hands light up and she heals his foot. "What was that just now, Rob? I''ve never seen you fight like that" (Doraig) "I''ve been trying different attacks using the double jump skill, I tried merging it with my wings just now but alas, the strain on my legs is too much, when I have to land I barely have any strength to halt my descent" "Still, that looked really powerful" (Rize) "I know, right? I call it ''Meteor'', cool right?" (Rob) "..." (Rize & Doraig) "It should be okay now" (Kelsi) "Thank you" (Rob) She walks towards me and jump onto my head once more "Let''s go, I can see a pack of hellhounds over there" (Rize) He points his index finger towards a place 100 meters away from us... 1, 2, ... "I counted 14, can we go against that many at once?" (Doraig) "15, and I think it will be fine, we can just attack from the sky" (Rize) Oh, right. we can fly¡ª Rize gets on my back, I look towards Rob and we both nod towards each other at the same time. "Go!" (Rob) I Fly upwards, then in the direction of the pack. I turn sideways so that Rize can attack at the same time as I do "Okay, Ready! Set! Go!" (Rize) ''Minor Destruction Breath'' ''Minor Destruction Breath'' ''Minor Destruction Breath'' ''Minor Destruction Breath'' ''Minor Destruction Breath'' ''...''
Experience points received
We completely obliterated every single Hellhound, resulting in them dying without being able to put up a fight at all. "That was Easy!" (Doraig) "Of course, but pay attention because the Butterflies are here!" (Rize) BZzzzzz Because of the noise we made with all the explosions and scythe attacks, an extremely big amount of Butterflies have popped out of nowhere. 10... 20... "What the hell, there are more than 40!" (Rob) "Rise! don''t let them fight us in an Area where they have more access to the surrounding lava!" (Rize) I and Rob listen to Rize and thus fly upwards. The Butterflies follow us, without being able to close the distance at all. Once we go past the first row of clouds, we stop. "Okay, we''ll fight here!" (Rize) "Okay!" (Rob, Doraig & Kelsi) As soon as we say so, the sky fills up with butterflies, which surround us completely. "Rob, Cover our flank! Doraig, Use your Ray: Aim to their wings!" (Rize) "Roger!" (Rob) "Gotcha!" (Doraig) ''Minor Destruction Ray'' Zoom! "SHRIIIII" (Butterflies) The ray seems to be somewhat effective, taking 5 seconds or so to destroy the wings of 3 different Butterflies which were in a line. "Go left!" (Rize) I fly left, while at the same I can feel how Rize is attacking the Butterflies with his ranged attacks. Uh? I feel my back is lighter¡ª "Rize!" (Kelsi) "What happened!?" (Doraig) "Rize Jumped towards a Butterfly!" (Kelsi) "Oh¡ª He''ll be fine" (Doraig) "But¡ª" (Kelsi) "Just let him do thing, don''t worry about that guy" (Doraig) ''Minor Destruction Breath''
Experience point received
Experience point received
Experience point received
It looks like the 3 Butterflies of which I destroyed their wings have fallen to their deaths. I''ll finish the one I''ve just shot¡ª ''Minor Destruction Breath''
Experience points received
With that Butterfly off my butt, I look at Rize, who is jumping from Butterfly to Butterfly. He maims them with his Scythe and then proceeds to jump off of them towards the next one, before repeating his actions. In this way, he quickly takes out more than 9 of them, who soon fall and disappear below the sea of clouds.
Experience points received
Exp? I look to my side and in the distance, I can see the carcass of a butterfly disappearing into the clouds. When I raise my head, I spot Rob maneuvering to fight against three different butterflies at the same time. ''Minor Destruction Ray'' I lock the ray on two of the butterflies¡ª Sizzle Sizzle Their wings burn, and they proceed to fall as well.
Experience points received
Experience points received
The Butterflies Rize took care of,begin to hit the ground at this time, so I will continue to help Rob, seeing as Rize is fine on his own. ''Minor Destruction Ray'' "Thanks!" (Rob) Says Rob, before he flies into the next group of approaching Butterflies. "Dodge!" (Kelsi) I feel a tug on my head, to which I promptly move right and evade a Butterfly that was trying to ram itself against me. "Thanks" (Doraig) ''Minor Destruction Breath'' ''Minor Destruction Breath''
Experience points received
I continue flying the same way as more and more butterflies begin to tail me. "Sweetie, try this..." (Kelsi) I continue to fly, and when I have 10 of them stuck to my back, I fly down and into the clouds. I turn around and traverse the way I had taken before descending, before going up and reappearing¡ª right behind the Butterflies! ''Minor Destruction Ray'' 3 down! ''Minor Destruction Ray'' 2 More down! "Go up!" (Kelsi) I evade upwards, after which a butterfly goes past the place I had been floating in. I somersault mid-air, before locking onto said Butterfly ''Minor Destruction Breath'' The Butterfly receives the attack, which adds to his previous force, forcing his body into other 2 butterflies. Making use of the fact the 3 of them are now jumbled together, I attack again¡ª ''Minor Destruction Breath''
Experience points received
''Minor Destruction Breath''
Experience points received
I can see there''s 2 more left, who are standing there¡ª probably frightened by the amount of dead brothers and sisters surrounding them. That''s too bad. Sorry! ''Minor Destruction Breath'' ''Minor Destruction Breath''
Experience points received
And the last one ''Minor Dest¡ª'' "Rize!" (Kelsi) Luckily I stop casting the skill just in time because when it was about to leave my mouth Rize had jumped towards the last Butterfly to take care of it himself. "Dude, I almost shot your head off!" (Doraig) "Oh. Sorry" (Rize) "Why are you so bloodthirsty lately, man" (Doraig) "Sorry" (Rize) "Hiya!" (Rob) After the shout, both of us turn towards the source and spot Rob fighting alone against the last 3 butterflies. ''Minor Destruction Breath'' ''Minor Destruction Breath''
Experience points received
Experience points received
Experience points received
When the last three die, I finally look at Rob, only to realize he is covered in blood. "Are you okay? you look like crap" (Doraig) "I''ll be fine" (Rob) As he says that, he approaches me, before getting on my back and sitting there. "I''ll patch you right back" (Kelsi) "Thanks" (Rob) "How about you?" (Doraig) I say to Rize, who responds by just giving me a thumbs up. "By the way, I''ve just now realized this but¡ª why aren''t these monsters dropping any items?" (Doraig) "Oh, but they have been dropping stuff. It''s just that you get distracted so easily I figured I might as well set the loot table to the ''Leader'' setting. I''d rather not die because a shiny item dropped in the middle of a fight and you stopped to admire its beauty" (Rize) "..." (Doraig) "Thanks, I feel much better now" (Rob) "You''re welcome. try not to get hit so much though, you might die before I''m able to heal you up if we fight a stronger enemy" (Kelsi) "I know, it''s just that I''m not used to fighting against so many enemies at once" (Rob) "Let''s exit the Lava zone, It''s about time we have lunch" (Rize) "Food!" (Rest of party)
Somewhere else in the continent, at the same time "Master, we are ready to begin the attack on Parlor" (??) "Good. I expect nothing less from you, Bargo" (???) "You flatter me, master. We''ll make sure the Prince dies without his corpse intact. See if anyone dares to plot against the Guild again" (??) "Yes. no one should expect to plot against the thieves guild and go unscathed. It would have been one thing to plot against us to try and get a bit more gold out of citizens and whatnot, but this bastard tried to throw us to the gallows by making us the enemy of all the species" (???) "Go now. I will wait for your good news!" (???) "Yes, Master" (Bergo)
In Parlor, at the same time. "Sir, our rats in the thieves guild have reported us that their leader is aiming for your head" (????) "Hah, vicious junk rats. raise crows and see how they will bite off your eyes" (Prince) "What are your orders, Sir?" (????) "Take Gladius and his men with you. I want you to annihilate that trash and destroy any proof they may have of their innocence just in case. We can''t let our plans be foiled by that bunch of human waste" (Prince) "Yes, My prince!" (????)
Back to Doraig''s party "Ahh, I swear to everything that is right and good: Rize knows how to make anything good! I didn''t believe it at first, but you''ve made this disgusting bug taste like pure heaven" (Doraig) "I know, this tastes amazing¡ª a bit like chicken, I''d say" (Rob) "This tastes good! It reminds me of that bird we had 2 days ago" (Kelsi) "I want some mayo and bread to go with this¡ª can''t believe we forgot the mayo" (Doraig) "Well, we couldn''t have brought that with us, it''d have gone bad. bread goes stale easily when not stored, too" (Rob) ... Chapter 18: Robin vs Rize Chapter 18: Robin versus Rize. Thieves¡¯ Guild Leader POV, Some days ago. I am currently in my office, in front of a massive pile of papers. If I only I had known it would be like this fifteen years ago, I¡¯d have never started this stupid business. In fact, the problem didn¡¯t arise as soon as I formed the Thieves¡¯ Guild. Oh no. It began when I and the now deceased Vice-leader decided to transform this into a business, taking requests, doing the dirty work for many officials who wanted to find proof of their wives¡¯ cheating, guards who wanted to give a certain someone a hard time, and such. Me and my best friend¡ª who is now dead, didn¡¯t take long to rise to prominence, after all, nobody had made a business out of dealing with the underground before us. but with that, came the office work. Having chosen to make a business out of the mess that was the underground, we first had to take all the lowly idiots who had nothing better to do. It didn¡¯t take long to reform them, mostly because they, being nothing but a bunch of ruffians, and us, being somewhat strong, only had to show our might, promise them gold for their work and, more importantly, strength in Unity. Still, it took a little over a year to do so. I¡¯d say, that¡¯s a great time frame when you take into account that most of them had shit for brains¡ª not even muscles for brains, as most of them were a scrawny bunch that didn¡¯t know any better than bullying the weak and poor. We weren¡¯t some sorts of heroes, no, we even accepted the fact that what we started up was wrong, immoral and wicked. We basically took any scum we could find, gave them a show of might and some, at the time, empty promises, and when they had dug right into our fairytale¡­ half the job was done. Training them in how to lockpick. Training them in how to fight many versus one. Training them in how to do surprise attacks. Training them in how to lie undetected, and how to ¡®lie¡¯. Have you noticed a pattern? Yes. We fucking forgot to train someone to deal with the paperwork. A¡ª ¡°Leader, Leader!¡± (Sergio) Sergio comes in screaming his lungs out, while almost tearing the door out of its socket... Ahem, anyways. Sergio, one of the first few we took in, he was a fairly small, 1.65-meter tall teenager with a scruffy and unkempt beard. He had never received any form of education, and he dedicated his every waking moment to rob food posts so both he and his little sister could have something to eat. 15 years later, he is now a bulky man of 1.80 meters. His sister is no more, died to a disease ten years ago, but he still managed to hold on. ¡°What¡¯s the matter, Sergio? you look so distressed¡± (Barque) ¡°Something bad happened! The girl the prince seemed fond of, Seras, was murdered!¡± (Sergio) Seras, a child of common origin. She and the Prince had a relationship which the Prince ¡®tried¡¯ to keep secret, although everyone in this city and I¡¯d say even kingdom, knew of. ¡°Uhm, So? did one of our guys mistakenly attack her?¡± (Barque) ¡°That¡¯s the thing, Leader! We didn¡¯t, but the blame is on us!¡± (Sergio) What!? but that¡¯s impossible¡ª I don''t do all this fucking paperwork for nothing! ¡°The blame? who put the blame on us?¡± (Barque) Sergio scratches the back of his head before an answer I saw from a mile away¡ª ¡°Uh¡­ I¡¯m not sure¡± (Sergio) I massage my temple¡ª I knew I should have given them a proper education. ¡°What do you mean ¡®I¡¯m not sure¡¯? Where did you hear the blame was put on us?¡± (Barque) ¡°I was doing my round around the city when I heard some guards talking amongst themselves. one of them mentioned the incident and about how her carriage was spotted by another guard right outside the city. Its door was smashed in and he saw two corpses inside, one of them being the girl¡¯s. Later on, they found the driver dead on the floor, not far away¡± (Sergio) ...That¡¯s less than half a proper explanation, but¡ª Ah, forget it. ¡°How did you gather from all that the blame was put on us?¡± (Barque) ¡°Uh¡­ Weren¡¯t they describing the way we usually do business?¡± (Sergio) ¡­ Am I over exhausted? Did the coffee have something mixed in? Did¡ª did this guy just make an informed assumption!? ¡°Beg your pardon?¡± (Barque) ¡°Uhm, don¡¯t we always send people to ambush carriages, making sure to get rid of the driver or the horses before actually attacking the target? And¡­ then leaving with the carriage to avoid leaving any unwanted proof of identity?¡± (Sergio) ¡­ I Approach Sergio and put my on his forehead¡ª No, he doesn¡¯t seem to be sick. ¡°L-leader?¡± (Barque) ¡°Uh? Ah, sorry about that. so you were saying the will soon make the connection and throw the blame onto us? Hmm¡­ we will have to spend some resources to investigate this matter. We don¡¯t want the Prince to try and wipe us out over a misunderstanding, now do we?¡± (Sergio) I walk back to my chair and sit down, after which I write down:
Group A: Parlor City Scarecrow,Pilgrim, Jack, Ace Group B: Salom City Klein, Carrows, B, Navel Group C: Burst Town J, Tyke, Barba, Nube Mission: Find who set the thieves guild up. more information from Sergio. Allocate to each group: 12 gold, 4x concealing capes (common), 10x serum of truth. Password first half:Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings. Dead peacock. ```Baroque M.```
I grab the paper, and tell the guy standing awkwardly in the room, probably trying to guess what I wrote up¡ª but too socially anxious to actually ask. "Sergio" (Baroque) "Leader?" (Sergio) How should I explain this to Sergio, I''d rather not have to deal with it if he were to wake up tomorrow and not be able to differ left from right once more... "Hold on a second" (Baroque) "Oh" (Sergio) I go back to my seat to write a second paper.
Other half: A thief''s worst enemy. Mission brief: Lady Seras, the Prince''s ''secret'' fiancee, has been murdered. the modus operandi of her murder was eerily similar to that of the thieve''s guild. find who was responsible for her death and inform Baroque. Rewards for the success of this mission will, as always, be ample. A personal note from Baroque: This contents of this mission are not to be spread out, and it is very important to find the culprits, as this matter affects the livelihood of every member of the guild. ```Baroque M.```
"Okay, I first need you to post this paper on the Mission Bulletin, while you gather the people on this list" I Say while showing the first paper I wrote to Sergio. None of those guys should have anything to do these few days¡ª and then, while showing the second paper on my hand I speak "And this one you have to keep on you and show it to whoever on the first list asks for it. Remember, don''t throw this paper away, as you may forget its contents and I don''t want to see the people on the list coming to me one by one to ask this and that, I''m already extremely busy as is" (Baroque) ... He''s processing the information... I think. "G-got it, Leader!" (Sergio) "Alright, now go. I still need to deal with that pile of paperwork¡ª Good job Sergio" (Baroque) "Thank you leader" (Sergio)
Present, Doraig''s POV. I said this before and I will say it again, Rize really knows how to cook a good meal! Meat that melts in your mouth, a chicken soup which warms you up and somehow won''t bloat you no matter how much of you have, and to accompany the meat, the best mashed potatoes I''ve ever tasted. creamy potatoey goodness rich with flavor that gets even further enhanced by absorbing the meat''s juices. Ahh, this is so good. After we spend a bit over half an hour more to finish eating the meal, we wash the dishes in the river (don''t ask me the specifics of how I can wash dishes with these big ass claws, I have a lot of experience) "Well then, let''s keep going. If we can kill 50 monsters more I think it will be enough for today" (Rize) "Yeah, I really want to get five more levels so I can use this!" (Rob) I look at Rob and spot him pressing in mid-air. This guy keeps taking out his new shield and hugging it like a crazy person¡ª "Wait for me baby!" (Rob) ... Unknowingly, all of us look at Robin with a certain disgust while he kisses his new shield¡ª "Hey, don''t look at me like that! I''ve never had any items like these before!" (Rob) ... "Ahem¡ª Anyways... Rize, spar with me for a bit, I might die if I continue to get hit this much" (Rob) "Alright, let''s go" (Rize) Kelsi takes her blob form again and sits on my head, and we follow Rize and Rob to watch their pre-hunt spar. I don''t think I''ve ever watched Rob fight one on one with something other than a power struggle, so this could be interesting. "Let''s put down some restrictions beforehand, let''s not make Kelsi work more than she needs to" (Rob) Rize nods and waits for Rob to put forth some suggestions. "Uh, give me one of those crappy swords we got from killing the butterflies. why don''t you use a low-level dagger?" (Rob) Rize fiddles with his fingers and looks up left and right before taking out a completely unadorned sword. by the color of the blade that should be basic steel. He grabs the sword and throws it at Rob who catches it nonchalantly. "I''ll fight you using a bow, I haven''t seen you fight against a ranged plus speed enemy yet" (Rize) "Oh, alright" (Rob) After saying so he takes out a dark brown wooden bow that is adorned where the wood meets the string. He tests the string which is understandable as he hasn''t used a bow in more than a month, since he got that scythe, to be more exact. when he is done testing the bow he takes out of his inventory a completely unadorned quiver made out of something that looks akin to the roots a tree that were cleaned using water to wash out the dirt, filled with basic wooden arrows which seem to be of a pretty bad quality so he doesn''t end up one-shotting Rob. Rize and Rob stand fifty meters apart from each other, and I stand on the sidelines in the middle of both, as it is decided that I will act as the judge for the spar. While this seems to be a simple spar on the surface, both Rize and Rob eye each other and I can see they both tense. We''ve never fought each other before, so they might be nervous without knowing it, thinking about which one of them is stronger. "Cast Slime barrier so we don''t get hit by random arrows shot by Rize at Rob" (Doraig) "Okie Dokie" (Kelsi) "Well then, Begin!" (Doraig) BOOM! Rize takes the initiative, Jumping backward to further the distance between them. While he''s flying in the air he aims the bow upwards and casts Rain of arrows. Tak Tak Tak Tak! Rob is¡ª Rob? I look upwards and I can see he took out his wings, he''s now flying rapidly while he evades some arrows, and at the same time blocking or deflecting the rest with his sword. Rob tries to close the distance but, while moving fast, he fails to catch up to Rize, who doesn''t have to mind countless projectiles falling from the sky. Rize is running around Rob, maintaining a distance offifty to seventy meters, while he continues to cast rain of arrow. "It seems like Rize is getting rusty with his bow" (Doraig) "What do you mean? Robin can''t even get close to him, isn''t he being completely dominated" (Kelsi) I shake my head slowly, which make Kelsi move side to side. "Not exactly. Rain of arrows is a great skill at controlling fast moving targets and in one versus many situations, but there is no way the mana expenditure will allow Rize to keep this on infinitely" (Doraig) "What about Robin? doesn''t it take a good amount of his mana to keep the wings on?" (Kelsi) "The wings cost a lot less when compared to the arrows, and I think Rob''s wings can be maintained all the time, as his own mana regeneration offsets the expenditure" (Doraig) As I told Kelsi, the arrows stop falling down and Rize seems visually exhausted, he''s still at a good distance from Rob but he''s pantingand trying to catch his breath. Meanwhile, Robin floats mid-air and I can see he''s scrutinizing Rize up in case he has a trick up his sleeve. After locking eyes with him for a few seconds he convinces himself that Rize is truly out of mana. Robin takes the chance to close the distance, flying in a straight line towards Rize. Rize turns to the left side of the arena and runs backward while facing Rob, and begins shooting single arrows Robin takes the chance to close the distance, flying in a straight line towards Rize. Rize turns to the left side of the arena and runs backward while facing Rob, and begins shooting single arrows in hopes of slowing him down to maintain some distance, I think so he gets some mana back? Rob sidesteps the arrows, dodging them easily, and continues to close the distance. Slowly, the distance between them shortens and not before long, they are standing only 10 meters apart from each other. "Isn''t this too one sided now? Rize will surely lose now that he can''t keep his distance" (Kelsi) "No, this is where his mastery over the dagger will play out, remember his bow is to him just his secondary weapon and he''s mainly a melee rogue" (Doraig) Robin kicks the ground twice to boost himself towards Rize, but when he''s at a distance of 2 meters, Rize kicks with his left foot and evades Robin''s charge. Rize turns to face Robin just as he passes by and aims with his bow towards the stopping figure of Robin. Tuk! A single arrow hits Robin on the back andits momentum forces Robin forwards, making him fly for 15 meters before stopping by the action of his friction with theground. "Ah!" (Kelsi) Rize doesn''t continue to shoot and waits for Robin to regain his footing. When Robin stands back up, he uses his arm to take out the arrow that is stuck on his armor and takes it out. He holds the arrow in his hand for some seconds before throwing it on the floor. "I lost. one more time!" (Robin) "Let''s spar tomorrow, we have stuff to do right now and besides, you and I will be too exhausted to fight in the lava zone if we fight again like this" (Rize) "...fine" (Rob) With the spar finished, we walk towards each other and Rize jumps on my back, while Rob prepares to take flight. I cast ''Fly'' so the system makes it a bit easier on my part and along with me taking off, so does Rob. Kelsi takes on her human form and is now wearing her clothes, although I couldn''t see her put them on. Being now in mid-air, we all fly towards the lava zone to fight again. Once we hit the boundary between our resting zone and the hunting area, we put on our masks and drink the potions to resist the heat and some damage from the beasts. All of us are scanning the ground for clusters of enemies, so we can ''split the bill'' and get this over with faster. We are not really fighting as a team yet because these enemies are not really hard. we will probably gather up when a higher enemy shows up, like a lord or something. It looks like this time the first person to find enemies is Kelsi, as she nudges my head weakly "There are... 10? 12 enemies down there" "There are... 10? 12 enemies down there" (Kelsi) She leans forward so I can see where her arm is pointing to¡ª to our northwest, there''s a small group of Hellhounds... but why do they look different? These dogs look red instead of black, are bigger and bulkier and at the same time, the skull covering their faces have tusks protruding out of them... "Why are all those leader class Hellhounds together? usually, there''s only one of those in a pack of 20 normals..." (Rize) "All of those are leaders? do you think we can fight them?" (Robin) "Let''s examine the situation for a bit, it''s not usual for them to meet like this" (Rize) Using our height, we can get closer without them noticing, and when we near the distance we can see them looking around, all of them are scanning for something, although saying what would be nothing but a random guess from my part. The dogs all jolt at the same time and look towards the distance, what did they find? Rumbling the ground seems to be shaking, as we can hear the soil creaking and can see how there are crevices forming. BOOM! the ground splits apart 15 meters away from the group and out comes a massive, 40 meters tall towering and imposingworm, no, it''s a larva! Screech! "Bark Bark Bark!" (Hellhounds) The dogs all seem terrified of the larva, but at the same time, they are not retreating. it seems like they will fight against it whether they want to or not. "Woof Woof Woof!" (Hellhound #1) the one standing at the foremost, the only one that doesn''t look ready to shit a bunch of bricks, says something in hellhound language. once he stops barking, all the others seem to calm down a considerable amount and then just begin to growl at the larva. "Should we intervene in their fight once they are worn down?" (Rob) "well, do you want to go through that? I mean, we only need enemies to die in the zone for the king to spawn, and we don''t really need things below unique quality, especially you, in particular" (Doraig) Rob smileswryly before letting out a faint chuckle, everyone else is not really paying attention to our small interchange and instead have their eyes stuck to the fight that will start sooner or later. "Bark Bark, Woof Woof Grrr Grrr" (Hellhound #1) "Bark Bark Grrr Grrr" (Hellhounds) Once they say that, they all move out with a lightning fast dash. the 12 of them split into two groups that circle left and right around the worm-like beast, and completely surround it. In an extremely coordinated manner, all of them jump towards the beast and stick their claws into its body, after which they begin to climb towards its head, leaving traces of burning fire dealing continuous damage to its innards. Screech! The larva seems to be more annoyed than actually suffering any form of damage, but as it lacks any form of limbs it can just wriggle around to try and throw off the ants that are biting into its body. Halfway into the chaotic climb, the larva seems to remember its ability to control the lava, which it now uses to form hands made out of fire which continuously circle its body. One of the hands aims at two of the dogs which are particularly close, but right before the dogs get splattered against its body, they jump off. The dogs that jumped down, run towards the body once more and begin the climb again, which is now harder due to the existence of the fire hands. The beasts which didn''t get thrown off, have by now reached the head of the larvaand are starting to attack it without qualms, which now seems to be actually damaging to it. it wriggles faster than before and summons extra hands which now move more erratically, it appears to be harder to control them now that the quantity has increased. One of the dogs that was climbing again gets hit by one of the hands covered in fire which makes it fall down to the ground. once it hits the hard soil it lets out a whimper before it stops moving. the fire of the hand burning on its body slowly consumes it as it turns into ash that drifts away. The rest of the dogs get incensed after hearing this cry, which makes their blue flames to gain an extra hint of fervor. the flames grow biggers and the blue becomes a deeper color, hinting at its increased heat property. The Larva receives more damage with each hit, and thus becomes even more frantic, this time striking itself against the ground to get rid of the pest that is on top of him. The Larva hits the ground and this act makes 4 of the Hellhounds fall down with a speed that makes it noticeable that they receive some form of damage, albeit little when compared to receiving a direct hit from the hands. The hands in the meanwhile continue to fly all over the pace while the other 7 continue to evade while clawing and gnawing at the body of its enemy. The struggle continues on, but finally, the Hellhounds manage to win. In the end, seven out of the twelve perish along with the larva. One of the Hellhounds, the one that seemed to be their leader figure, walks toward the corpse of the larva, more specifically, its mouth. It goes inside of its dead body and after a few minutes, it goes out of it again, holding with its mouth what looks like a blue gem about the size of a fist. "What is that thing?" (Robin) "I¡ª No clue..." (Rize) "It''s so pretty..." (Kelsi) The Hellhound drops the gem on the ground and looks at its mates, who have by now walked and stand next to it. "Woof Woof, Bark Bark" (Hellhound #2) the one closest to it, says something to which #1 lets out a low growl, before looking at the ones next to it. "Bark Bark Bark" (Hellhounds #3 and 4) "Woof" (Hellhound #1) the other hellhound doesn''t participate in this interaction and just stands there posturing. number one looks at the 4 other Hellhounds, and lets out a small Bark! before throwing the gem back into its mouth and swallowing it in one piece. Rumble there''s anearthquake, no, it''s not the earth! "The hellhound is making the earth quake with its own body!" (Rob) the ground cracks around number one, while all of the flames disappear leaving just a trail of smoke, while the body that was previously red in color begins to change, from red to pink, from pink to purple, and from purple to blue, before stopping its transformation when its body hits a dark hue of blue. When the body finishes transforming, the skull that previously had tusks coming out of it, begins to change as well. the tusks go back into its mouth and right after it disappears inside, a horn pointing down comes out of its forehead. when the horn, which is so large that it goes to nose level stops growing, dark black flames protrude out of the dog''s shoulders, back, belly and limbs. It seems that its transformation is finished. I look at Rob and Rize and all I can see is them staring with their wide open eyes and gaping mouth, shoulders drooped trying to process what the hell just happened. Isn''t this just a rank-up of sorts? "Why are you guys so startled, isn''t he just ranking up or something?" (Doraig) "W-wha? are you from this world, even? how could you ask something like that?" (Rob) "How uninformed of worldly matters are you, Doraig?" (Rize) ...Uh, was it so bad what I just said? "Don''t be mean to Doraig, guys. what is so wrong with the doggy ranking up?" (Kelsi) "...you don''t understand. There has never been a recorded case of a monster ranking up before! all the records that show us how a creature different than ''Normal'' type appears, explains the conditions for them to come into this world. this is, after all, why we are engaging in a massacre here to have a king get out, after all" (Rob) Well... I''ll be... damned? Chapter 19: Genocide Chapter 19: Genocide "Let''s go!" (Rize) "Go where?" (Doraig) "Down there, we need to hunt that beast and retrieve that gem!" (Rize) "...Are you for real?" (Doraig) I look at Rob, hoping to see him against the idea¡ª I don''t really want to be the fisherman that reaps the rewards when the oyster and the snipe fight. "I think we should get it too. I''m sorry for them but this discovery will have great effects on everyone in the continent" (Robin) "...Fine, let''s go" (Doraig) Ha-ah... We fly, maintaining our height until we are directly above the Hellhounds, at which point we stop and look bellow. The Hellhounds are still standing there with four of them admiring their leader while at the same time theirnow Lord is testing his flames, by aiming at a rock, lowering his head after which the flames on his shoulders snake out and hit the rock, engulfing it in dark flames which disintegrate the boulder after just a few seconds. The Lord then proceeds to test out his speed, by running in zigzag in between the Leaders at a speed that is almost blurry to the naked eye. The other dogs are yelping and jumping whenever the Lord moves in between them, and at the same time, they try to follow their Lord with their gaze. the Lord stops, and then stands still for a few seconds looking at a distant boulder, before yelping in excitement, it seems like he had a new idea. He jumps and makes a parabola in mid-air, and when he reaches the apex of his jump, he strikes out with his claws which are covered in fire. the fire on his claws form fireballs which shoot out in the general direction of the boulder, but both of them miss the rock as the control over them doesn''t seem to be as great as the control over the fire ''snake''. the Beast looks at where his fireballs struck and gives a low growl, before jumping and trying once again. This time, instead of striking out twice, he arcs himself inward when he''s at the apex of his jump, putting both of his claws together and shooting a single bigger fireball, which hits the ground directly in front of the boulder. When the Hellhound lands he stomps on the ground angrily, with so much strength that it leaves a crack on the ground. The other Hellhounds approach him and begin to yelp and growl to him, apparently trying to communicate with him, to which the Lord responds by also yelping and growling. After interacting for a few minutes he nods to them before turning around to face the boulder again. He once again jumps, and like the last time, he curves his body inwards, but this time releases the flames much sooner while arcing his body much more slowly. this makes the fireball move slower than before, so much so that instead of shooting it feels like throwing. the fireballs make an arc in the air before landing accurately on top of the boulder. the boulder cannot handle the brunt of the hit and explodes, throwing debris all around the place. "Are we really going to do this? this... doesn''t feel right" (Kelsi) "..." (Rob & Rize) It''s not that I like dogs or something, but... we saw how they staked everything to get that single Hellhound to become a Lord. "I''m sorry for not looking at the bigger picture... but I can''t bring myself to do this, sorry" (Doraig) Robin looks at me and Kelsi... he probably is thinking about a lot of things as well. "The human race is not in a bad spot right now, is it? can''t you... let them be?" (Doraig) After staring at us for what looks like an eternity, he sighs before saying "Forget it. Let''s drop the matter here and leave them be Rize" (Rob) "...Fine, I''ll still inform my father when we go back, but I won''t pursue these Hellhounds. I won''t talk about any other Lord we find, though" (Rize) "I''m okay with that, I''ll support you if we find another one" (Doraig) Both of them stay silent and the atmosphere turns a bit awkward, so I say "Let''s look for something else, just because we don''t get these it doesn''t mean we''ve become activists for the monster''s rights" (Doraig) "Okay" (Rize) "Let''s go" (Rob) We fly awayand ignore the Hellhounds who are still testing out the new skills their Lord has invented. The Lava zone is an extremely big area, comprised of many ponds of molten rock, dark, lifeless looking zones which somehow sprouted life. all of the creatures here extract energy from the heat exuded by the lava, and this serves to both quench their thirst and to satiate their hunger. As proven by the previous fight, the monsters in this Area are not a very united group, instead, they fight over territory for who knows what reason, and overall are very minding of their own races. Hellhounds are apparently similar to a pack of wolves, having an alpha dog who is the strongest member and also their leader. the only difference would be that the Alpha, while being an acting leader, doesn''t trample on his partners to make them serve him, instead choosing to cooperate as a unit with him being the head and the rest of the hounds the limbs. we haven''t really examined how the larva and their evolution, the butterflies work but as demonstrated by the amount of them we found together, it is safe to assume that they also have a sense of cohesion, banding together against a common enemy. It shouldn''t be soon for any of these races to reset, but who knows, nobody expected the slimes to reset either... Hmm? Rob has stopped flying, what is he looking at? "Let''s hit that group over there and call it a day" (Rob) Rob signals toward a distant ocean of lava that on a closer look, is filled with larvae. A rough estimate would be 80 of them, is this a nest? "That''s quite a lot of them, how do you want to go about this?" (Doraig) "Can''t you carpet bomb them? they don''t seem to have their guard up" (Rob)This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon. "Let''s do that, Rob and I will clean up whatever is left alive after" (Rize) "Uh, okay. let''s do it at the count of 3" (Doraig) "3" "2" "1" ''Minor Breath of Destruction'' - Rize begins to cast Rain of arrows ''Minor Breath of Destruction'' - ''Rain of arrows'' ''Minor Breath of Destruction'' - ''Rain of arrows'' ''Minor Breath of Destruction'' - ''Rain of arrows'' ''Minor Breath of Destruction'' - ''Rain of arrows'' ''Minor Breath of Destruction'' - ''Rain of arrows'' ''...''
You have run out of mana, you can''t cast this skill
"I can''t cast anymore" (Doraig) I look at Rize who continues to cast Rain of arrows 5 more times before stopping, he has now ran out of mana as well. I didn''t pay much attention to the windows that kept popping on my screen to tell me about the experience points I received, but I managed to level up twice with that, so now I am level 17. The ground below is amess, with debris visible on every part that isn''t covered by the sand and smoke that flew up in response to our indiscriminateattacks. We wait... and then wait some more. Until finally, the area begins to clear up. The area down below is filled with corpses of dead larva, and there are only about 15 of them left alive, who are not in great shape either, with missing chunks of flesh or looking like porcupines with arrow shafts instead of spikes. My gaze grows a bit colder, but I soon throw the thought to the back of my head. Rob looks behind me, probably at Rize, before nodding and going below. I descend as well and when I''m 10 meters from the ground, my back feels lighter, as Rize jumps down. they begin to finish off the larvae that are left alive. Rize hits them on the back of their head with the scythe to end them, while Rob instead raises his sword before cleaving them to get their suffering over with. While they''re doing that, neither I or Kelsi say anything, we just float 10 meters above-air while both of them finish doing their job. What changed? I didn''t feel like this when we fought against the flock of butterflies. no, I didn''t feel like this even earlier on, when I fought against the Bunnies. Whatever¡ª now is not the time to think about this. At the same time as I push the thought back again, Rob and Rize finish the last of them, so I descend with Kelsi and we form a triangle of people. "So, we''ll call it a day now? we shouldn''t over exert ourselves since we are going to do this every day for the next few weeks" (Doraig) Rize seems unfazed of everything, while Rob is frowning the tiniest bit, almost to the point where it is unperceivable. "Yeah, let''s go. It''s about dinner time now, so we should go and eat something" (Rize) He jumps on my back and Robin takes off, I follow behind him and we move towards the resting zone, right outside this area.
"What do you guys want to eat?" (Rize) "How about some fish with rice?" (Rob) "Alright, I''ll cook that. bring me to the river to catch some fish Doraig" (Rize) ... "Doraig?" (Rize) "Uh? the river? Oh, okay" (Doraig) Kelsi gets off of my head to begin preparing things for Rize to cook along with Rob, while I take off, I start to ascend while the air on my feet gets pushed out by the action of my wings, and once I am 15 meters above the ground I stop ascending. "Let''s go to that river, over there" (Rize) I listen to Rize, and we begin flying in the general direction he tells me to. we spend the next 5 minutes in silence before we hear the sound of running water, and we can see the river nearing. I descend and land on the ground, after which Rize gets off my back and fiddles with his fingers, after which he takes out a rod and throws the bait into the water, before sitting down to fish while resting. I walk closer to him and lay down next to him while watching the river and the water move. "Will you tell me what happened to you now? you didn''t mind hunting like this before" (Doraig) If only I knew why I can''t find any joy in what we''re doing... "I don''t really know¡ª when we are fighting like this, in particular when the fights are so easy I just have this sour feeling, and it''s like I have something stuck in my throat. It wasn''t like this when we fought the Flock of butterflies, though" (Doraig) Plop, Rize pulls the rod and out comes the first fish. He takes out an adorned bucket that looks expensive out of his inventory and puts the fish inside. "When you leveled up the first time, did you feel like this? I''m asking before we met" (Rize) "I didn''t, when I first started leveling up I felt somewhat excited, fighting for my life, winning fights and getting stronger. When I got my first drops I felt like I was in heaven, and was rewarded for my efforts" (Doraig) Plop, another fish goes into the bucket, before Rize puts the rod back inside once more. He doesn''t immediately say something, and instead, we stay in silence for a few minutes. "I think you just don''t like engaging in genocide, but isn''t that okay? I mean, I''d rather not be with a madman next to me either way. I think once Kelsi evolved you stopped seeing the beasts as just ''beasts'' and instead started to see them as potential equals" (Rize) Potential equals? I wonder what Kelsi thought of when she saw us stepping on them like wilted grass... "Do you think we can give them at least a chance to fight back? at least that way I won''t feel like shit when we kill them¡ª I know this is a stupid suggestion and it puts us in some more danger but... they''re not really responsible for what the demons did to the elves, nor are they really bothering anyone in here, no race would want to live in this place and they aren''t going to leave, either" (Doraig) Plop, the third Fish is in the bucket, and Rize throws the rod into the water¡ª he doesn''t wait too long to answer, this time. he shrugs his shoulder before saying¡ª "In all honesty, it doesn''t really matter to me. as long as you promise me to not hold anything back when the King appears, I will agree with your desire. the process of this is not that important to me, but I don''t want to risk anything when and if that person shows up. I think you understand that my mother''s health is more important than a bunch of insects, dogs, and a demon" (Rize) I feel like a stone has been removed from my chest, so my mood brightens up almost immediately. "Thank you, bro! I will do my best when it comes to the king, I can''t forgive the demons for trying to turn this continent upside down either way" (Doraig) Plop, a fourth Fish goes out of the water and into the bucket. Rize stands up and stores the rod, before walking to me with the bucket in hand. "Good, now let''s go and eat. I still have to prepare the fish and the rice, as none of you seem to be able to even boil a pot of water" (Rize) "Hehehe. let''s go, bro. I can''t wait to taste your new dish!" (Doraig) Rize gets on my back and we take off, flying in the direction of the camping area. After a short period of time we get there and see Robin and Kelsi have already finished setting up the tents, have made a big bonfire along with a smaller one to cook the fish in, and also have gathered a lot more wood to have as a reserve. I obviously don''t fit inside the tent, so I and Kelsi stay outside next to the lit bonfire. In any case, now that the fire is ready, Rize first takes the fishes out of the bucket and begins prepping them, removing the scaled, removing the innards, fileting the fish, removing the bones with some pincers and then using some seasonings for the fish to taste better. before starting to cook the fish he grabs the rice and prepares a pot to cook it in. he fills it with water, he starts to boil it and when it is boiling he puts rice on a fry-pan, fries the rice for a few seconds with olive oil before transferring into a pot, after which he transfers the water into the pot that has the rice. then he moves the pot further away from the heat source so the water doesn''t boil too hard for a few minutes until all the water is consumed... etc. When the rice is finished he uses the pan, wipes it with a cloth and then adds new oil, before beginning to cook the fish, making sure to have the optimal temperature. he does some stuff then flips the fish and lets it cook for a little longer until it is perfectly cooked. When the fish is cooked he leaves it to rest while he preps a salad, sing lettuce, some tomatoes and a bit of raw onion. he adds a touch of lemon juice and oil and the salad is done. When the dishes are done Kelsi, Rob and I help move them to the table and then we sit down to enjoy our dinner. "Thanks for the food!" (Kelsi, Doraig & Rob) I didn''t stop to see before, but it looks like Kelsi is also feeling a lot better now. I think she just noticed my mood was foul and in turn so did hers. I really like this girl, I hope we''ll stay together for a longer time! Kelsi, Robin, and Rize are sitting on small stools, while I''m sitting on the floor as my body is way too big for this. We continue to eat and so in the end, the three of them finish a fish and a half, while I eat the other two and a half fishes. It makes sense, Because I have a massive body and need more energy, right? it''s not because I''m a fatass dragon! "Ahem, It has gotten a little late now. what do you guys want to do?" (Doraig) I look at the three of them waiting to hear their plans for tonight. We don''t always stick together as one, as both Rize and Rob have their own hobbies and things they enjoy doing. Kelsi though usually stays with me and lazes around not doing much, or we just play around, she likes to use her racial skill to become a slime-dragon and we can just snuggle next to a fire. "I was thinking of taking a bath and then reading a book before the sky goes dark and then jumping to bed" (Rize) "I was going to practice with my sword for a while before taking a bath and then into bed to sleep" (Rob) "Do you want to sit by the bonfire to rest, chat for a bit, and then take a bath before going to sleep?" (Kelsi) "Sure, we''ll do as you say" (Doraig) And so Rize and Robin go do their things, while I stay next to the fire sitting cozily next to Kelsi. Little girl (Extra chapter #2) Little girl (Extra chapter #2) Inside of a worn down house, where you could hear the sound of metal rattling against itself by the effect of the wind, in a room where the only things inside worth of mentioning were the mold growing on the walls, a window letting the sunshine in, an old chair that might as well be considered trash by the poorest of commoners, and a famished little girl of about 4 years sleeping on it, with her head dropped to one side, drooling. Outside the room, muffled grunts and Tak Taksounds of two people fighting could be heard. this place is the houses'' kitchen, living room, guest room, and much more¡ª the house had three rooms: the one with the sleeping girl, the place where the couple was fighting, and the room where the couple slept in. the house had no bathroom, and whenever the people in the house wanted to relieve themselves they had to go to the latrine outside. The couple fought day and night, mostly because of their of funds: the two people met years ago, decided to start a relationship, then the child came to be. The man, not wanting to have a child, decides to raise her to such an age that would allow her to be sold to some pervert. The woman, instead, wants her to be rented to some pervert. If only they were smarter. And so they fought over meaningless things like these to avoid facing the reality of their situation¡ª That the guy hasn''t had a proper job since the moment the woman became pregnant, or that the woman, having had a complicated delivery, making her unable to work either. They probablyfought over meaningless stuff to avoid facing their reality, really. "No, no, no! I''m telling you, all you have to do is go and get a job! we groom her and then we can live off of her earnings!" "Easy for you to say, woman! It is easier if we just spend the minimum. I tell you, she only needs two more years until some Viscount will want to buy her, and then we can have some easy years!" "And then what!? Don''t kid yourself, you barely work as is and you think after having some easy years you will want to work again!?" "Yes, of course I will! after having it easy for those years I will be completely recharged!" "Ha! nice joke you bastard" "What did you just call me!?" "I called you a bastard, what will you do about it!? you scrawny bastard can''t even beat a woman!" "If I don''t show you your just medicine tonight I will cut my balls off myself!" Tak Tak While the people outside begin their fifth fight of the day, the little girl slowly, just ever so slightly, opens her eyes. She can hear the fight coming from outside, as the doors are not made out of the best wood, and thus can''t block much of the sound, even if the fighting couple don''t scream at each other when fighting, and are more of the ''silent'' type of fighting couple. She gathers her being and slowly, very slowly, straightens her back while opening her small eyes, bit by bit. her child body hasn''t had the best bed out there, and as such, her butt and back are hurting. even so, she doesn''t complain, as if all this didn''t have a thing to do with her. defense mechanism? Perhaps. Her stomach begins to growl, and so the little girl stands up and walks towards a small corner of the room, where she takes off a small piece of the wooden wall, revealing a little plate that has some rye bread, also called black bread. she gathers her strength and grabs the bread, then takes small bites off of it, making sure to eat slowly to appease her stomach as well as she can. The couple outside continues to fight, and today, they reach higher grounds. The male, having completely lost himself to the rage of having is virility defied, grabs the small lamp which was sitting on a small table that was used to hold the lamp, to eat, and to sit in if necessary, and throws it at the woman while cursing. "Eat this, bitch!" "What the hell are you doing!"Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere. The woman dodges as best as she can, but not being in a condition good enough to do, the lamp hits her on the leg, making her fall down. She screams in pains, while the man grumbles like a little child, refusing to plead guilty over his actions. When she calms the pain down, the first thing she does is curse at the man "Bastard, look what you''ve done! you''ve spilled all the oil in the lamp, now we can''t even see at night!" "It''s your damn fault for beinga pain in the ass" The woman slowly stands up, after which, she begins to walk towards the counter,inside of which are the few utensils in the house. the man, not knowing what she will do, just stands there with a puzzled expression. She slowly opens the counter, before taking out the single cooking knife. a knife with almost no edge, filled with rust, but enough to stab the man to death. "What are you doing, what are you doing!" "Out! you either leave with your legs, or I leave you inside a ditch instead!" "Calm down, p-put the knife down, woman!" "I said OUT" "w-where do you expect me to go!?" "I don''t care, I''ll count to 3 and if you don''t leave using those wimpy feet of yours, I''ll feed you the little girl" "Fuck! fine, it was about time I left you two pieces of garbage" "3" Along with the words leaving the woman''s mouth, she begins to walk towards the man. The man, terrified at the thought of dying, decides to quickly leave the house, but not before screaming a few more curses in the general direction of the woman while closing the door with all his might. The moment the woman is left alone inside the room, she drops to the ground and begins to cry. ''What did I do to deserve this'' she thinks. The woman who is now alone in the roomstands there with a blank expression on her face, the knife still pointing in the direction of the door. She stays like that for a few minutes, before slowly, ever so slowly, lowering the knife. her arm goes down, and when her arm can extend no more, the knife drops, issuing a dry sound when it impacts the moldy wooden floor. when the sound of the metal stops, she begins crying, before she drops on her knees to the ground and continues to cry like that. the clock ticks away and the woman stops crying. she walks towards the counter and takes out a small cigarette, one of the few vices the couple spent their money in. She lights the cigarette with a matchstick and takes a puff. the cigarette is slowly being consumed, and when it is at the halfway point, the woman coughs. her cough gets stronger and stronger, probably due to the woman''s poor health, and soon comes a point where she is out breath. she drops the cigarette to the ground and pats herself with both hands to try and bring air back into her lungs. in the meanwhile, the cigarette that was still burning drops on the floor and slowly begins to approach the spilled oil. and then, with a hiss, the oil catches on fire. the woman, who has by this point already started to scratch her throat with her fingers out of sheer desperation, has her face red, eyes out of focus and her lips are beginning to turn purple. soon after, she loses herconsciousness. The fire that had started just some seconds before, begins to spread slowly, due to the high humidity in the air due to the poor ventilation, and the moldy floor. nevertheless, smoke begins to gather, and soon after the smoke enters the room with the little girl inside. Whenever the couple used to fight, the little girl would completely turn a deaf ear to it all and instead look outside the window, completely zoning herself out of everything happening ever so closely to her. the smoke creeps towards her, and she manages to catch the scent of the smoke. The little girl turns around to see the smoke creeping in between the door crevices. she has by now started to pay attention to whether there is any sound coming from the other side, and after confirming that no sound comes from outside the room, she decides to walk towards the door. she approaches the door step by step, not wanting to be heard by a possibly sleeping couple in the room next door, and when she is in front of it, she opens the door. As soon as she opens the door, smoke begins to stride in, making her cough. she bends her small legs to avoid the smoke which by this point is at the height of the little girl. The little girl catches back her breath and looks outside of her room. the worlds divided, one side her room, the other side a blazing inferno, the little girl doesn''t panic. she quickly realizes the impending danger and so turns around, towards the window. she hastily runs towards the window and tries to open it, at first to no avail, as the window is just as old and unkempt as the rest of the house, in turn making it be stuck. she walks towards the chair, intending to lift it up to break the window, but alas, her small and frail body lacks the strength to lift a chair, no matter how crappy it is. With no more options, the little girl stands there, intending to face her impending demise and accept her fate. she probably would think ''how unlucky'' if she were a little older, and had had a better education which had allowed her to form such complicated phrase for a small child. "Child!" She hears a cry coming from the direction of the window, to which she slowly turns around. Outside the window, a man in his thirties wearing a jacket signals her to move, while crying the same intention with his mouth "Move, I will break the window open!" The girl grasps the message the man wants to convey, and moves towards the wall on the side, at the same time standing as far away from the fire as possibly can. Bang Bang Bang the savior outside hits the window thrice with a rock the size of a fist, breaking the window in multiple sections. he then uses the same rock to remove most of the left-over window, enough to allow the little girl through. he then removes the jacket he was wearing and throws it in front of the little girl''s feet "Cover yourself in that jacket, and come to me so you don''t cut with the glass" The girl grabs the jacket with her little hands and covers her body as best as she can, before walking towards the man on the other side of the window. when she is close enough, the man grabs her and pulls her through the window, bringing her to the world outside, but not content with this, he carries the little girl away from the fire that has at this point started to consume the little girl''s room as well. Chapter 20: No Surprise attacks Chapter 20: No Surprise attacks Having had a night of rest and feeling completely refreshed, I wake up along with Kelsi, who was sleeping next to me in front of the bonfire. The first thing we do every day is washing up before having breakfast, which as you may have guessed, is cooked by Rize. Walk to the river, jump into the water, clean ourselves. We go out, dry like dogs do, and walk back to the camp. Kelsi takes on her more human form and puts on some clothes. "You really seem to be enjoying that form" (Doraig) "Do you not like it, in the end?" (Kelsi) "That''s not it, I like however way you look. I just didn''t expect you to want to look different compared to the rest of the slimes" (Doraig) "Oh no, that''s not it. I just really want to use the clothes you gifted to me" (Kelsi) What is it with this cute creature
"Today we''re having porridge with some bread for breakfast, sit down and eat while it''s hot" (Rize) Says Rize, as he serves a plate to Kelsi, Rob, and himself. When he''s done, I grab the pot and eat from there¡ª I obviously have to eat more than them. "You''re going to get fat" (Rob) ... I''m bigger, It''s not that I''m a pig that knows only how to eat! I don''t say that out loud and instead, make it seem as if I''ve ignored Rob''s hurtful words. I''ll get you someday, Mister Robin Caster... About the Half-way point in our meal, Rize speaks up of the two important matters for today¡ª "I''m sure you guys already know, but let me say this again, we are here mainly to fill the quota for the king of this zone to appear, and secondly to level up. that said, with Robin having gained so many items, to the point where he can solo a big group of enemies, Kelsi having joined our group with a specially tailored set of skills which allow us to take on more risks, and Doraig and I having enough damage, we will stop doing any form of surprise attacks" (Rize) He looks at Rob and Kelsi and waits for a few moments before continuing. "The reason being that while it is an extremely useful tactic to quickly take out a group of monsters and avoid much risk of damage getting returned to us, I can see both Kelsi and Doraig are extremely uncomfortable when we''re doing the surprise attacks. My guess is that in their minds, killing the monsters without allowing them to put any resistance makes it so they stop thinking of it as a fight between two sides, who have their own motives and reasons to fight, and instead it has them feeling as if they disregard the importance of life, becoming instead just kids who step on ants for fun" "I will say that I don''t intend for any of you to risk your lives fighting a meaningless fight, taking more risks just for the sake of it. I instead want us to use this chance to put ourselves on ''what if...'' situations, to temper ourselves as a team and work on our combinations. Right now we''re having an easy time, as we''re at a point where most enemies as squishy and easily killable, but in the future, it won''t be like this. Rob, you probably know as you''ve been in the knight''s academy, but Doraig and Kelsi might not know this" "By the time you hit level 100, the focus of most people stop being on evading damage and dealing quick hits to end the battle soon after it begins. Instead, by having better gear and more stat points to spend, along with skills that improve defense and perception, battles become long and tedious exchanges of wit and experience. Yes, it is still a long way to that point, possibly a few years or maybe even a decade if we don''t go to a more specialized place, but I imagine none of you will stop grinding anytime soon. Rob has no longer a place to go back, and nobody knows how high things will escalate in the future. Kelsi will follow Doraig on his adventures, and Doraig will need to be strong enough to explore the world without dying to a random monster in a more dangerous area" "Anyways, I think this is good zone to begin working on such things, we''re in better shape compared to most other parties that would come to this place, both gear-wise and skill wise and also, Robin could use a bit of tempering on his fighting skills when against multiple foes, as you get crapped on in pretty much every fight that involves you against more than 3 foes" (Rize) Everyone finishes listening to Rize''s thoughts. I obviously agree. I am the reason why Rize is saying what he said, and doing this in the first place. Kelsi doesn''t seem to mind, and in fact, seems pretty eager to do more for the rest of us, as she hasn''t been able to have much presence so far. Robin thinks about it for a few moments, before finally sighing and saying¡ª "Hah... fine, It''s true that if this had continued, at some point it would have been too late to start gathering real fighting experience, and I would have died without even knowing how" (Rob) And like that, it got settled that we would no longer do surprise attacks to take out a large number of enemies at once. The porridge inside the pot is no longer very hot, warm at best, and I think the food in the other plates has gotten cold already. Whatever, food is food. We wolf down the rest of our food and put down our plates (and pot) at the same time. "Don''t forget we have to spar today too" (Rob) "Of course, hopefully, you will do better this time" (Rize) "I''ll wipe the floor with your ass this time mate, just watch me" (Rob) "I''ll bet money the floor will be wiped with your face again, just like last time" (Rize) While Rize and Rob walk away, still bickering with each other, I and Kelsi gather the plates and pots used for breakfast and take them to the river to wash them. we don''t go and spectate the spar today because we both know they''re going to use what are basically non-lethal weapons to fight. At best, Robin''s face will need some band-aids after kissing the floor one too many times. We spend the next few minutes washing the dishes while talking. "So when I was younger, I was traveling around this kingdom that was filled to the brim with humans. There were no other dragons in that place so I was something of a national figure for them. The King and I were good pals, and I remember this one time we were drinking and he got drunk, like really really drunk. he must have been seeing double, because I remember his wife entered the room we were in and she told him ''I can''t believe you''re still drinking, it has been 8 hours now!'' and don''t ask me how, but the king panicked and jumped in front of a tall plant that was used to decorate the room" "He began flailing his hands trying to block the plant from his wife while yelling to her ''this is not what it looks like love, she''s just a friend, just a friend!''. I was in stitches while the wife also lost her cool. Apparently, the wife thought the King was confessing his wrongdoings while drunk and so she started slapping the King''s head while yelling to him ''I can''t believe you! we''ve been together for 50 years, and you dared to cheat on me!''. the guards heard the mess inside and thought there was an assassin trying to pull out a funny move, so they ran inside to watch the King trying to protect a plant while his wife was hitting him while bawling her eyes out. Once the mess was cleared it turned out the King had cheated on his wife, but not like you might think"This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. "He cheated'' because this one other time we were drinking until he was reaaally drunk, and after I left to do my own thing, the King left his room and approached a maid. while being drunk he thought the maid was his wife so he took advantage of her. the maid panicked and ran away, and that was where it all finished. the drunk King panicked at her ''wife'' running away from him and it seems that memory had resurfaced when the wife entered theroom while he was drinking with me. Anyways, that poor plant was used to feed the pigs" (Doraig) Kelsi giggles and we soon finish washing the dishes, so we head back to see if the spar between Rize and Rob is over. We approach the area used for the spar and the first thing I can see is the last raining arrow falling down before Rize runs out of mana. It looks like today''s start of the round is a repeat of yesterday''s match. Today, too, Rob makes use of that to begin closing the distance, but this time, he doesn''t try to headbutt himself into Rize. Robin is running while Rize escapes. from time to time, Rize turns around and shoots two to three arrows, before turning around to continue running. Rob zigzags and evades the arrows, before quickly trying to catch back up. slowly, the distance closes up and they hit the same point as yesterday, where Rob has the option of making a final sprint to try and hit Rize. they both stop and Rize turns around to face Rob while pointing with his bow at him. Rob raises his guard in preparation of a random hit from Rize''s bow, and they begin walking, mirroring each other''s movement. Rize moves to his right, Rob moves to his left. Rize moves to his right, Rob moves to his left. Rize back away, Rob follows up by the same amount. Rize stop, moves to his left, Rob moves to his right to follow him. They hit an impasse, but it doesn''t last for long. Rob, kneels down to maximize his grip on the floor, and sprints. today, he doesn''t use his second jump instantly and instead runs with his sword up. his grip is at his left shoulder level and the sword is parallel to the ground. Rize shoots one, two, and a third arrow at different parts of Robin''s body, then turns around to continue running away. the first arrow, aimed at Rob''s right shoulder is easily evaded by him, which makes the arrow continue to fly coincidentally in the direction I and Kelsi are in.
HP received damage, HP 96.5 -> 74
The second arrow, which was shot by Rize who seemed to have perfectly predicted the way in which Rob would dodge, is now about to hit Rob''s left leg, but right before it makes contact, Rob utilizes his second jump to quick the floor twice and dodge the arrow. the third arrow misses Rob by this unexpected action as well. Rob, with no more arrows coming his way continues to chase after Rize, who has extended their distance by a few more meters. "Doraig?" (Kelsi) Kelsi speaks while we''re watching the spar, does she want to go to the bathroom? "Hmm?" (Doraig) "Um, your... shoulder has an arrow sticking out of it" (Kelsi) "My shoulder?" (Doraig) I lower my gaze and indeed, I have a new spike poking off my shoulder ... "AHHH!" (Doraig) "Calm down, I''ll take it out now" (Kelsi) Oh, it doesn''t really hurt a lot, now that you mention it. Anyways, how is the fight going? Rize is still running after Robin. wait. Why is Rize now chasing Robin? Where is his bow? Rize is holding a dagger in his hand and is running after Rob, who after a few moments stops running away, turns around and blocks Rize''s dagger with his sword. Rob tries to kick Rize''s stomach but Rize dodges to the side, making Rob''s foot to continue moving past. Rize goes in for the ''kill'', but when Robin''s foot that had missed the attack moves a bit more, he kicks the air using his double jump skill, making his body jolt backwards, thus evading the dagger that would have hit him in the face. He lands on the ground and stands his ground against Rize, who is by now staring daggers at him. They begin an altercation, Rize aims for a hit from above, and Rob promptly blocks his hit. Rize goes for a stab in the chest, and in response, Robin blocks with the flat of his sword. Rize begins dancing with Robin but having the lighter weapon, quickly begins to push Rob back. Rize strikes forward and Rob blocks with his sword, but not having had enough time to completely parry his sword by placing it perfectly perpendicular to RIze''s attack, the dagger slips past and hits Robin in the shoulder. Rob backs away and drops his sword, thus admitting defeat. We walk towards them and Kelsi walks towards Robin, who is kneeling in the ground holding his bleeding shoulder. she kneels down to his level and heals his shoulder. the first thing I do is ask¡ª "So why did you stop using your bow?" (Doraig) "I ran out of arrows" (Rize) "And so you continued by using your dagger?" (Doraig) "Yeah, that''s what happened" (Rize) "Ah, I see" (Doraig) "Can''t believe this guy is so strong with his dagger, I couldn''t even begin my offensive" (Robin) "It''s fine, at least you beat him" (Doraig) Both of them look at me as if I just said the most stupid thing they''ve ever heard before "Of course you won man, what is an archer that runs out of arrows if not dead meat? you were sparring with Rize''s Archery, not Rize the bastard that has had centuries of time to train in every damn weapon there is" (Doraig) "...Fine, you win this round then" (Rize) "Yay! Ouch..." (Rob) "Sit still, I''m still not done with your shoulder" (Kelsi) "Thanks for the hard work" (Rob) "No problem, anytime!" (Kelsi) "Well then, let''s go have lunch before heading out to continue grinding for today" (Doraig) "Can we have meat today? I want to eat meat" (Kelsi) "Sure, help me go look for something that we can grill Doraig" (Rize) "Meat? Alright, Let''s go search for a deer or something in the forest" (Doraig) "Good, in the meanwhile Robin and Kelsi will go get things ready, but since we will take about an hour and a half to get the meat you guys can take your time" (Rize) "Ok!" (Robin & Kelsi) I look at Kelsi and pat her on the head while smiling "I''ll be right back sweetie" (Doraig) She smiles back and nods "Find a big one, so we have plenty of energy today" (Kelsi) She says while lifting her arms and making a pose of showing off some muscle. "Haha, Silly girl" (Doraig) "Let''s go" (Rize) I wait for Rize to get on my back before jumping and flying towards the nearest forest. Kelsi looks at us before walking away with Rob towards the camp to begin setting things up.
Meanwhile, Parlor town. Prince Harliq, the person who Robin served was second to the throne, instead of its heir. As such, he was just ever so close to becoming the King of the humans, if not for his Older brother, Marcus. Harliq, not wanting to be forever the second started many plans to gather the commoner''s love. building orphanages, raising the security levels, building schools, leaving the castle to buy from the posts commoner''s put up to have more presence between them, etc. As such, he slowly garnered the love of his people. One of the first plans he put up, was to get rid of the Thieve''s guild in Parlor town, which possesses one of the central quarters of the Adventurer''s guild. His plan had to take into account the people who tended to ask for their services, like for example, nobles. The plan he came up started when he met Seras. he made it seem as if he had fallen in love at first sight and made that fact known to the people. then the rest was easy, just make it look like the Thieves'' Guild was requested to murder her fiance, and then take revenge. this action, which would seem to be fueled by rage would then appear justified to the other nobles and thus avoid garnering their hate and opposition. Too bad his plan was unveiled by them. The thieve''s guild found proof of the deal made between the king and some random hooligans that had lost their parents and promised them an item that could bring back the dead. such item obviously couldn''t exist, and so you can probably guess the level the hooligans were at. to avoid failing, Prince Harliq had set up one of the knights that had just come out of the academy, but to avoid drawing suspicion he made it seem as if he was hiding the tree in a forest, telling the academy recruit that he planned to secretly bring out his fiance. The rest is history. "Troops, ready!" (Captain Gladius) And with this shout, 50 men who were set up in a square formation, enter attack position, while at the same time shouting "Ready for attack!" "At my mark" The soldiers are all ears, waiting for the final confirmation before running head-first in the direction of the enemies'' nest. "Attack!"(Gladius) And with the final shout, the Soldier begin their raid. Somewhere inside the nest, Barque is grumbling at the incompetence of his subordinates, who took a bit too damn long to find out the truth. ''These f... idiots. I can''t believe it took less time for the information to get out than for that group to find out what was happening. in the end, it was Sergio who once again heard the conversation of some of the men in Gladius'' group to find out what was happening'' Amidst the grumbling, Sergio comes into the room to let him know of the happenings in the outside. "Leader, the men are ready to defend, but I''m not sure if trenching ourselves is the best option, they could continue throwing in reinforcements while we fight, in the end wiping us all out" "How many guys did Gladius bring with him?" (Barque) "About 50, is what the scout said" (Sergio) "We should be able to hold this one perfectly. I want half the men to hold their ground and the other half to begin moving things towards the secondary hidden exit" (Barque) "Leader?" (Sergio) "We can''t just run away empty handed, can we? we are so many we''d just die by starving to death, and since we can''t really enter the city by normal means either, lest we want the personal feud the prince has with us be spread to every other noble family in the country" (Barque) "Then..." (Sergio) "We''ll leave, hide the men and then send a select group of people to spread the truth between our sponsors. we will not die off, and we will pay back our debt to Harliq" (Barque) "Yes, Sir!" (Sergio) "Drop it, you''re not a soldier" (Barque) "...Yes, Leader" (Sergio) Teacher (Extra chapter #3) Teacher (Extra Chapter #3) The owner of an unnamed orphanage in the city,Tisha, who was called Teacher by everyone who knew him, took care of the children whose parents died or abandoned them. When Tisha was only fourteen, he became a member of the country''s army, quickly learning, improving and getting stronger, and in a certain war a year ago, he gained massive achievements. His achievements were so important that the King estimated the victory to be 25% due to him. He unraveled important information on the enemy side,fought many battles, and ultimately was responsible for taking down the enemy King''s right-hand man, thus making the enemy King fall under the one on Teacher''s side. Having had his hand impaired due to the last fight before having achieved victory, Tisha was no longer allowed to be part of the military. The King, Having to reward such man, asked Tisha to demand whatever he wished for. And that is how Tisha opened the orphanage. the funds for it would be given by the Kingdom, and the food and whatever other needs the children had would be paid by with part of the taxes given by the people to the Kingdom. And so, after taking a year to be built, Tisha became Director of the orphanage in the capital of that Kingdom. he taught the children about many different topics, like math, history, how to write and read, how to cook, among many other things. In the beginning, it was all perfect. Teacher would take care of children that would otherwise be begging on the streets, wandering aimlessly, maybe stealing from some fruits post, getting grabbed by some pervert to be sold off, or just being kidnapped to have their organs extracted. The news of the orphanage being built spread out among that city quickly and so, on the day it opened, around 70 kids were standing at the doorstep to be taken in. Teacher took them all in, giving them a comfortable bed, three meals a day, a place where they could play and exercisein, and many more things that they wouldn''t even dream of having otherwise. The King employed people to help Teacher, two men and two women who worked at a school before. the meals would be settled by those four, and when the meal time was over, they''d wash the dishes and help with various matters around the orphanage, like teaching a subject in case Teacher was sick or if he had an especially important matter to attend to. The orphanage continued to flourish, and the kids began to grow up, as more children were taken in. the kids who had now become men and women would join the rest of society, taking works that ranged from construction to the ones that retained more knowledge continuing their studies and taking jobs like becoming teachers, accountants or some other jobs that required more learning compared to what would be possible with just the education given by the orphanage. the fees needed for the higher learning institutes would be granted by the Kingdom after passing a preliminary test that would make it worthwhile to spend the money on them. Time moved forward, and in the blink of an eye, 10 years went by. many kids had left the orphanage to look for a better life, and the Kingdom flourished. but on a particular day, the King died and his son became the new one. The new King wasn''t as kind as the last one, and felt that spending money from his pocket to maintain what he felt like were the ''waste'' of society, was not worth the effort. He stopped sending money to the orphanage and dismissed the 4 employees, leaving Tisha alone to take care of everything. The Kids who had ''graduated'' from the orphanage tried their best to help out, giving part of their salaries to try and cover for the orphanage''s expenses, coming to help out on the weekends, and even going as far as saving up to have money to survive a few months and then going to work to the orphanage as voluntaries. But as it turns out, running an orphanage privately is insanely expensive. And just a short year later, the orphanage had to close down. Teacher lost the orphanage, but the orphans that had lost their home didn''t stay put. They had to resort to stealing to have a way of feeding themselves, and so the criminal rate in the city grew.Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation. The new King, looking at his capital suffering from a higher criminal rate which in turn generated more social unrest, decided to put a capture order on Tisha, blaming him of starting a Thieves'' association with the Orphan children, and with Teacher having no say in the matter, he could only become a runaway. On this day, Teacher was moving around the suburbs of the city when he saw an unusual amount of smoke coming off of a house. At this time of the day, people who lived in the suburbs would be in the inner parts of the city, working in construction, or doing some other jobs in the fleas-market next to the city''s entrance. ''What''s wrong, there''s so much smoke coming out of there, is that a fire?'' Teacher walked towards the source of the smoke, and when he was close enough to see what it was, he could see that an extremely poor-looking house was being consumed by the flames. The front side of the house was emitting the most amount of smoke, so Teacher assumed that''s where the fire had started, and thus he went to the back of the house to try and see inside of it, as the fire couldn''t have randomly started and there could be someone in there that needed his help. Tisha Approached the back of the house and when he was about to turn around the corner, he heard a very soft sound ofPut Put which he didn''t quite understand what represented, but which still made him hurry his steps. When he turned around the corner he could see there was a window, and when he approached the window and looked into the house, he could see a little girl with her hands on the door handle of the door connecting to the middle of the house. The little girl opened the door and massive amounts of smoke came inside the room she was in, making her cough a little bit. Tisha tried to open the window, but he realized it was blocked and couldn''t be opened. "Child!" Cried Tisha, and when the girl turned to face him, he realized the kid was not panicking but looked somewhat surprised at the fact that there was a person who could find her at this moment. Teacher quickly began pondering of a way to get the little kid out of the burning house, and soon his gaze rested on a rock the size of a fist laying on the ground. He signals the girl to move to the side, but after receiving no response he cries to her instead "Move, I will break the window open!" Which is properly heard by the Little girl, who then moves toward the wall in the room. Tisha kneels down and grabs the rock, which then he uses to smash the glass window down.Crash the window has a hole in it, but the hole is only slightly bigger than the hole, so Teacher has to hit the glass window once more. The second hit breaks the window down by about half, and so Teacher hits it a third time, making the hole big enough for a person to go through, but before calling the girl over he uses the same rock to clean some of the glass in the sill of the window, so the girl doesn''t cut herself with one of the big chunks of glass that are still stuck on it. ''She still might cut herself, I don''t have the means to treat her if it happens with me and I can''t take her to a hospital in the inner city like this'' is what went right after through Tisha''s mind, but in just a few seconds of quick thinking he solves the problem, so he takes off his jacket and throws it to the girl. "Cover yourself in that jacket, and come to me so you don''t cut with the glass" The little girl grabs the jacket and covers herself, and maybe because most of the danger has been dealt with, astray thought goes through Tisha''s mind. ''She looks like a burrito'' The little girl walks toward Tisha, who grabs her and then safely removes her from the inside of the house, which continues to burn down. He continues to carry the Little girl and begins walking away from the burning house, and after walking non-stop for 10 minutes, he finally stops and puts the girl down. ''I could see how bad were the conditions in which she lived in. I don''t even want her parents to see me lest they somehow recognize me and try to give me to the authorities. I''ll check her state and then send her back'' He tries to remove the jacket from the frail little body, but the little girl is holding tight onto it, not wanting to release. In the end, he lets it go and instead helps the little girl put on the jacket properly. The jacket is obviously too big and so her hands disappear into the sleeves and the thing looks like a full body dress. ''Heh, this little thing'' "Youdon''t seem to be hurt, are your parents working?" In response to Teacher''s words, the little girl shakes her head signaling two things to him: she can understand what he is saying, and that her parents were not working. "Then... where are your parents?" The Little girl raises her arm and with the too-big jacket on, and signals towards the direction the burning home is in. ''...'' "Your parents... they were inside the house?" The Little girl nods her head somewhat weakly. ''Shit'' After Teacher''s eyes dart everywhere while he thinks of what to do now, slowly, very slowly, the light in his eyes begins to grow and with that, a look of resolve surfaces on his face. "What''s your name?" The Little girl shakes her head, and somehow with just that, conveys to Teacher the fact that she doesn''t have one. "We''ll be on our own from now own, so I''ll just call you Little girl" She nods and smiles somewhat weakly to him. "I''m Tisha, it''s my pleasure to be with you, Little girl" "Teacher?" (Little girl) While making aPui sound, Teacher quickly calms himself down from minding what a girl no more than 4 years old thinks. ''...It''s fine, that''s what everyone called me, and I''m calling her by something that isn''t a name either'' "Yes, you can call me Teacher" (Teacher) ''Well then, I will go and get my stuff, then go to Romero and buy some more things to take with us. I can no longer stay in here and It''s possible the King will make the capture order country-wide, as I have no means of stopping all the children, nor I can bring myself to do it, as that would be akin to killing them myself. I will go outside and build us a house, as I wasn''t one of the best in the army for nothing'' "Let''s go, Little girl" (Teacher) "Un!" Chapter 21: King. Chapter 21: King. After eating our fill, we set out once more into the grind. The first enemy we face is a pack of Hellhounds, twenty of them, to be exact. And then... ¡°Shoot the three to your left!¡± (Rize) ¡®Minor Destruction Breath¡¯ ¡®Minor Destruction Breath¡¯ With the first two immersed in the explosion, the last one nears me. ¡°Shield!¡± (Doraig) ¡°Gotchu¡± (Kelsi) Kelsi casts her barrier made of slime, green in color and seemingly springy to the touch, and so the Hellhound promptly collides with it, bouncing back and landing in a place 10 meters away from us. It stares and growls at us. ¡°Sorry, the day you grow an intellect is the day you stop being cattle. Until then, please resist as hard as you can¡± (Doraig) ¡®Minor Destruction Breath¡¯ ¡®Minor Destruction Breath¡¯
Experience points received
How are those two doing? Rize is dancing between two of them with ease while looking at Robin. Robin is¡­ He¡¯s engaging against 5 of them at the same time with more nearing him, not good! ¡°Move closer to me Rob!¡± (Doraig) ¡°Coming!¡± (Rob) Robin turns tail and moves past the hellhound in between both of us, then runs my way. With the barrier still in place, Kelsi forms a small opening through which Robin goes in, separating himself from the fight. One of the Hellhound tries to ram himself against the barrier, but instead of destroying it, he bounces back and lands with his butt scraping against the ground. Two more try their luck to no effect, landing next to the fallen one. ¡°I¡¯ll heal you¡± This barrier that Kelsi cast is extremely overpowered. It let¡¯s attacks out by the will of its caster, reflecting whatever is thrown at it, including enemies. Its only disadvantage? once it¡¯s put down in a certain place with a certain size, it cannot be moved unless it is removed, after which a small cooldown will occur. it also has a limit of damage it can take, after which point it will disappear, or ¡®pop¡¯, in this case. Thankfully, if it is destroyed by hitting the limit amount of damage, the cooldown doesn¡¯t activate, requiring only the amount of mana necessary to be spent. The Hellhounds are not very smart outside of their comfort zone, that is, fighting against enemies common in this area. It probably has to do with the fact that not many adventurers set foot in this zone, granting the Hellhounds unable to have proper training against a wider variety of skills. Thus, after their attack not having any ¡®obvious¡¯ effect, they¡¯ve now stopped ramming themselves against the barrier and are instead staring angrily at us while growling, they seem to be calling us chickens, in whatever language they speak, going by their tone. More and more Hellhounds gather around us, apparently ignoring the small skirmish Rize is part of. ¡°Hmmm, I¡¯ll begin attacking, then¡± (Doraig) ¡®Minor Destruction Breath¡¯ ¡®Minor Destruction Breath¡¯ Being so tightly packed together not all of them manage to evade the attacks, but still, this isn¡¯t very effective¡­ ¡°Robin, how are your wounds doing?¡± (Doraig) ¡°They¡¯re fine, what do you need?¡± (Robin) ¡°Do me a favor¡­¡± (Doraig) I quickly explain my plan to Robin and then we put it in effect. Let¡¯s start, operation ¡®Herding¡¯. Robin prepares himself and then walks to the border of the barrier. He stops for a second so all the Hellhounds stare at him, wondering what he¡¯s going to do, and then, Robin walks outside. All the hellhounds become stunned at this seemingly idiotic action, but then rejoice in their fortune of the human suddenly turning stupid. They begin running all towards Robin, closing in on him and baring their fangs, ready to split him into a thousand pieces as soon as they reach him. And then, Robin jumps as we planned. Robin Jumps, and all the hellhounds, seemingly having expected this action from the human follow suit. now in course for collision, they open their mouths ready to devour Robin, but right before being able to do so, Robin uses his signature skill ¡®Double jump¡¯, to kick above, returning to the ground in an instant. All of the hellhounds that have now missed him go above his body, and then¡ª ¡®Minor Destruction Breath¡¯ ¡®Minor Destruction Breath¡¯ A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. ¡®Minor Destruction Breath¡¯ ¡®Minor Destruction Breath¡¯ ¡®Minor Destruction Breath¡¯ Being so packed together, the massive explosion that is provoked by the usage of the skill, around 10 of them become engulfed in a black hole of destruction and fire, perishing almost instantly and without being able to so much as utter a last growl.
Minor Destruction Breath Has Achieved Max level, Evolving.
Minor Destruction Breath -> Intermediate Destruction Breath
The Hellhounds on this side now taken care of, I look towards Rize, just in time to watch him finish off the last one of them. In this manner, we continue to have small skirmishes against groups of enemies, slowly honing our teamwork and combinations. 10 enemies, 20 enemies, 30 enemies, we take each and every group we find without a care in the world. Robin¡¯s gear allows him to take on multiple foes alone, while my overpowered combination with Kelsi and her barrier allows me to decimate whatever enemy is Clueless or looking somewhere else. Rize, of course, needs no explanation, as this guy is so nimble I¡¯d bet a meal he can take on a whole 30-strong group on his own, even if it¡¯d take a very long time to finish. Going back to the resting area, eating, chatting, watching the spars between Robin and Rize, then back to the lava zone. Time moves forward, and our levels rise.
Level up: 24 -> 25
¡°Good work, everyone. now let¡¯s move further In and¡ª¡± (Rize) ¡°Wo HOOOOO¡± (Robin) We all look at Robin who is now jumping up and down with a stupid grin on his face while giggling like he just heard the funniest joke in this world from his crush or something. ¡°Dude, what¡¯s wrong? are you being attacked with a mental condition?¡± (Doraig) ¡°Oh, sorry, sorry¡­ But, I just hit level 25!¡± (Robin) ¡°Uh¡­ and what¡¯s with that?¡± (Doraig) ¡°Here, Just watch¡± (Robin) He begins to fiddle around, before taking out a beautiful looking armor and sword. the sword¡¯s blade is gray in color, while the guard is a pair of white wings. The Armor is made of white scales and looks completely spotless. Ah, Right. this guy won the damn lottery some weeks ago. ¡°Fuck, you are so damn lucky¡± (Doraig) ¡°I know, right? Woohoo!¡± (Rob) Back when we all hit level 20 he made this same stupid dance. Back then, he unlocked a kite shield silver in color with a cross in the middle. Ugh, I¡¯m happy he will finally stop pulling random shit out of his hat because if you remember correctly I¡¯m basically wearing nothing but basic scrap outside of my robe. ¡°So what did those things do, again?¡± (Doraig) ¡°Come, Let me show you its features!¡± (Robin) ¡°...¡± (Doraig, Rize & Kelsi) We walk towards the nearest pack of enemies, and soon enough we find ourselves a pack of ten Hellhounds lazing around. ¡°Fly with the other two, I¡¯ll test my new gear out¡± (Robin) We all sigh at the same time before Rize gets on my back and I fly up with the other two, as Kelsi is already sitting on my head, just the same as always. From our point of view, Robin walks nonchalantly towards the group of enemies, and when he is 10 meters away from them, he stops. ¡°COME YOU BASTARDS!¡± (Robin) ¡­ What the fuck is he doing? Robin begins to taunt the Hellhounds, which seems to have a proper effect, as they all quickly stand up and look angrily at the person who bothered their sleep. then, as if someone blew a whistle for them to be so coordinated, they all run at Robin. Robin smiles before making a pose as if ready to cleave, and does so when the enemies are still 5 meters away from him. When the Blade reaches out, a blade of light comes out of the sword, which flies out and strikes the first hellhound, stopping is charge in an instant. the blade of light then.. bounces? Tink Tink Tink Tink, the blade bounces time and time again and hits in total seven different targets, before disappearing in a haze of light. the seven of them stop in place, seemingly stunned by the impact of this blade, while the last three enemies continue their charge against Robin. ¡°Barrier of light¡± (Robin) A ball of light expands outwards, its nucleus being the armor, and then it stops after having reached a radius of 2 and a half meters. the first Hellhound collides and falls down, white smoke coming out of the places that were in contact with the barrier. Robin grins at his new items before quickly swinging his sword two times in quick succession, which releases two new blades of light that hit the three hellhounds before continuing to ricochet to 4 more enemies each. three of them have by now received three attacks each and stop moving altogether, they¡¯re now dead. Two swings more, and all the enemies are done for. We all fly down and have to bear Robin¡¯s grin, but Kelsi speaks first to ¡®break the ice¡¯. ¡°Wooow, those items are so cool!¡± (Kelsi) ¡°I know, right? now I can take on many more on my own, compared to before!¡± (Robin) ¡°Very nice, indeed. Just don¡¯t let it get to your head, that¡¯s a quick way to die, you know?¡± (Rize) ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I know¡± (Robin) ¡°Good, you¡¯ve become a lot stronger just in time, as tomorrow will be the day you-know-who will show up¡± (Rize) ¡°Tomorrow already? Damn, time flies¡± (Doraig) ¡°It will be fine, don¡¯t worry¡± (Kelsi) ¡°Yup, don¡¯t worry, I will carry us all, Ha Ha Ha!¡± (Rob) ...Will it really be fine? I just hope the correct one shows up. Going back to the camp, eating a hearty meal, fishing for a bit, then chatting, before falling asleep next to the fire. The following day, we wake up earlier than ever to begin our preparations. the sun is still nowhere to be seen but it will soon make its appearance. Rize polishes his weapon, takes out his quiver of arrows and a bottle containing some unknown black liquid, and then, takes out all of the arrows from the quiver. He grabs them one by one and puts the pointy end of it into the bottle, then back into the quiver. he does this to every single one of them, and when it is all done, he puts the quiver back into his inventory. I and Kelsi don¡¯t have much preparation to do, so we just laze around near the fire, waiting for the sunrise. Soon after, the sky begins to light up, and the Sun comes up from the east. It¡¯s time to head out. We fly and enter the fighting area, and quickly, an hour and then two go by. ¡®Minor Destruction Breath¡¯ ¡®Minor Destruction Breath¡¯ ¡®Minor Destruction Breath¡¯ The 12th Hellhound from this 20 pack dies, and then¡ª GRUMBLE! The earth quakes and the Hellhounds left alive Howl to the sky. The quake continues, and two minutes later, it stops. The hounds stop howling, look at each other, and then run together away, leaving us behind. ¡°It¡¯s here, huh¡± (Rize) Boom! at a distance away, an explosion occurs in the ground making it split up and throw debris and molten lava everywhere. The temperature instantly goes down by a notch, and the sky darkens. From the place where the ground has opened up, one after the other beings made of mist pop out, flying everywhere at random. ¡°Let¡¯s go up and then close in¡± (Rize) ¡°Got you¡± (Doraig) Flying up, Robin next to us, we near the origin of the mist beings. In the center of it all, a being stands tall. with a mask that has fangs protruding upwards, big eyes which are black as the interior of a cave, Hair that is long enough to hit the ground and covers the body from view, leaving only the feet showing. ¡°So I¡¯m lucky enough to see you again, Rangda¡± (Rize) Rize calls her, and the being looks up. its hair moves about a bit more erratically, before calming down. then it speaks. ¡°Rize, huh? You¡¯ve grown, kid. Are you ready to give me your soul?¡±