《Beyond the Balance》 Prologue A/N: So this story came about when my therapist recommended I try to find myself a personal project. To date, I have written until chapter ten and recently my therapist recommended that it might help me to post it online as I mentioned it as a possibility around the time I started writing. (For those curious the problem I see my therapist for is Atelophobia, but that is neither here nor there at the moment, those wondering what it is can look it up if they wish to.) Anyways all this is a really roundabout way of saying that I have wanted to try posting up this story for a while now, but I could never get myself to do it. As for the story itself I am not sure how good it is or is going to be, but I am open to advice to help better my writing. So hopefully at least a few people enjoy this story and I will either post a chapter every day or every three days until it reaches the last of my already finished chapters. _____________________________________________________________________________________________ ¡°So today is the day I die, huh.¡± I am dying. No, I am not crossing over from something such as getting hit by a truck or bleeding out after being stabbed in a sad attempt at saving someone. No, I just happen to have finally been caught by the most insidious of killers. Now you are probably wondering who or what this so called killer could be and the answer to that question is simple ¡­ time. That''s right, after avoiding every other possible end I am dying of old age and I can feel my body telling me today is the day my journey through life ends. ¡°I always thought this would be a more apprehensive time, but I am strangely calm.¡± Thinking back on my life I can only say that it has been decent. At 120 years of age while I do feel that my path through life could have been different I do not regret most of my choices, but there are some things I do wish some things were done differently. My greatest regret is that while I have always been disgusted by the fact that I was born a male I never attempted to do anything to change the sex I have always been so discontented with. Then again these lingering regrets will soon be irrelevant because when I die, they will die with me. ¡°There really is no one left.¡± Having said that I release a sigh. Currently, I am laying in a hospital bed in a rather empty room. Some people may find themselves leaving this world in the presence of friends and or family, but for me there is only the silence of my own thoughts. I was never a very socially outgoing person and only ever had a few people I could count as friends. If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. Those people I called friends were there for me for most of my life. However, none of them are here now as they have all left this world ahead of me. As for family, I have always been distant with my family which is why it doesn''t surprise me that none of them are here with me now. ¡°Maybe when I close my eyes for the final time I will wake up in front of a god or goddess who will offer to reincarnate me in a new world.¡± I chuckle to myself while contemplating something like reincarnation. If I did get the chance for a do over, no the chance at a new life, well that would be quite nice and maybe next time I won''t receive a damnable male body. While entertaining such thoughts I close my eyes letting my consciousness drift off one last time as my breathing slows and this body''s life slowly leaves it. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Somehow the afterlife feels quite a bit different than I thought it would. It almost feels as if i am suspended in some kind of liquid. Maybe, could I actually have reincarnated and this is the inside of my mother''s womb. No that seems very unlikely I mean how would an unborn child be capable of conscious thoughts and I can also very faintly feel that I have a body. While I can feel my body I can¡¯t seem to move it. Was my body taken to a lab somewhere to experiment on? If so then how is my consciousness still active? Could it possibly be experiments in prolonging human life past its natural limits? No all that seems unlikely because if I focus on my body hard enough I can tell it doesn¡¯t feel quite like my old one. Well speculating wildly is not going to get me answers so I should slowly think this through. After making up my mind to do just that I hear a computerised female voice begin to speak, ¡°Heightened brain activity recognised in specimen 56. Commencing procedure to exit virtual sleep. Commencing procedure to induce temporary sleep while the specimen is relocated.¡± Specimen 56? Virtual sleep? What is is the virtual sleep the voice is talking about and what exactly is specimen 56? While trying in vain to come up with answers to these questions my consciousness is attacked by a sudden bout of drowsiness. As I fight a failing battle to stay awake I think back to the last line I heard from the voice.Temporary sleep for relocation? Wait¡­am I specimen 56? With that one last thought, my mind drifts into darkness. Chapter 1 A/N: The Prologue is rather short so here is the first chapter to go along with it. If anyone spots any glaring errors and wishes to let me know so I can fix them that would be greatly appreciated and any feedback positive or negative is nice so long as it is constructive. _______________________________________________________________________________________________________ As my consciousness begins to return and the grogginess in my head starts to clear I notice that I am able to control my body. So I decide to try opening my eyes and instantly regret that decision when I am met with blinding pain. Without wasting a second to think about it I quickly screw my eye shut again and as I do a woman''s voice calls out from my left, ¡°Considering your eyes have never been opened before they are currently hypersensitive to light I recommend slowly getting accustomed to it.¡± Doing as she says I open my eyes a little to and eventually they begin to adjust. As I am waiting for my eyes to completely adjust I hear a man''s voice this time. ¡°Well at least this one seems to possess some cognitive abilities, unlike the rest first generation specimens that awakened. Those were no more than monsters given a new casing, but I still wouldn¡¯t get my hopes up for this one if I were you. These first gens have been defective products since the day they were created.¡± The woman''s voice answered back sounding rather angry, ¡°I would like you to remember if you could that I was on the team that created the first generation and I would very much appreciate if you would simply let me do my work.¡± Finally my eyes finish adjusting to the light levels and I was able to open them completely. Gaining my sight I start to take in my surroundings. I am currently in a room that looks like what can only be called a medical lab and I am currently laying on what appears to be a hospital bed. While looking down at the bed I pull one of my arms and the hand attached to it into view. I was right in thinking this was not my old body because the arm in front of me looks like it belongs to a small child. After confirming that this was in fact not my old body I try to sit myself up to get a better view of the people that were talking just a moment ago. As I am trying to sit up I feel intense discomfort from my upper and lower backs. I must have visibly winced because the woman says, ¡°Slowly now there are probably quite a few things about your body you aren''t used to.¡± Things I¡¯m not used to? Well I can already tell my hair is longer and this body is much smaller but how many things can someone not be used to with their body? After struggling for a bit I finally manage to sit myself up with some aid from the woman. Turning my head to my left I begin to examine the group of people there. There are about eight of them in total seven men one woman and they are all wearing white lab coats. Some of the ones at the back are holding clipboards and seem to be writing things down. One of them starts shivering when I look over at him ¡­ it¡¯s not really cold in this room, is it? The most striking feature all of them share however is the fact that all of them have animal ears and tails. Could this be some kind of strange cosplay lab maybe? Perplexed I mutter, ¡°Cosplay?¡± The woman seems confused for a moment and says, ¡°What do you mean cosplay ¡­ Ah!¡± She seems to realize what I am confused about as she traces my line of sight and her hand shoots up to touch her cat ears. ¡°No this is not a cosplay we are all of the beastman race, see.¡± You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author. As the woman says this she moves her hair away from where her human ears should be and I notice there is nothing there. Seeing this I move my hands to my own ears and confirm that I do indeed have ears on the side of my head. My ears, however, are not the normal rounded ears I expected they are quite pointed at the ends instead. Reaching further up I find what I can only presume are horns. Now quite curious as to my appearance I start searching the room with my eyes looking for a mirror. After spotting one in the corner of the room I bring my legs over the side of the bed and attempt to hop down. The woman seeing this moves to try to stop me but before she can I get down from the bed. Now let me just say that experiencing such a drastic change in body size and musculature really does a number to one''s motor functions. Upon hitting the ground I grandly fall flat on my face. After letting the woman help me get back up and wiping the tears that are starting to form in the corners of my eyes I let her slowly help me to mirror. The entire journey to the mirror is quite difficult because I¡¯m having trouble moving my body how I want. When I finally reach the mirror what I see is quite surprising. Staring back at me is a small five year old girl that seems to be about 3.4 feet tall. She has a small build that would probably invoke protective feelings in most people. Her skin is smooth and pale like unmarred porcelain. She is wearing what can be described as a hospital gown and on her back are a pair of jet black wings scaled that span about twice her height. Coming out of her lower back just above her butt is a long thin black whip like tail that is spined all along the back not unlike what one would imagine a dragon having only much thinner. She has long silky black hair that falls to about mid thigh and on her head are two black horns. The horns start far back on the sides of her head curving completely forward at the base and curving slightly upwards at the tips just before reaching past her forehead. She sported an adorable doll like face including a small nose and mouth with thin lips that depressed at a slight downwards angle. Her eyes were wide set and large with lizard like slits for pupils. She must have heterochromia because while her left eye was a deep oceanic blue. Her right eye was like a glittering purple amethyst, but the most striking part about those eyes was that they seemed devoid of emotion. It takes me some time to collect myself and realize that the girl I have been examining in the mirror is actually me. That means that damn ¡°thing¡± I had to live with for 120 years is finally gone, but I could definitely have done without all the other extra add ons. Now I have a ton of questions such as what was my age? What could my race possibly be? Does having heterochromia mean I am going to be seen as some kind of cursed existence? But the most pressing question in my mind is, can I trust these people? My immediate answer to that was; No! Between this place looking like a lab and with what I heard after first gaining consciousness before being forced into unconsciousness makes me think that maybe I¡¯m specimen 56. If I really am specimen 56 then that means I am a lab rat to these people. A tool to further whatever it is they are researching. With that matter settled in my mind, I have decided to take as much as possible from them while giving them back the minimum about myself. After a brief struggle to turn towards the woman because I currently have the motor functions of a toddler, I point to myself and say, ¡°Age ¡­ Race ¡­ Eyes?¡± Chapter 2 The woman turns around after I ask my questions and starts whispering with her peers. I really hope using a broken speech pattern helps fool these people into believing that my level of intelligence is on the lower end. People are easier to manipulate if they think you are of lesser intelligence. I am pleasantly surprised when I hear my voice for the first time in this new body. I find myself actually liking it, unlike my old one, but I do find my voice is rather deprived of any emotion at all. I am rather calm for someone who died and woke up in the body of a five year old girl in a lab staffed by strange people with animal ears and tails. Honestly, I find it hard to feel anything it''s like my natural emotional responses are simply missing. The male voice I heard from before my eyes had adjusted mentioned other first generation specimens being monsters. If I am one of the first generation of this experiment of theirs; could their experiments have caused my emotional disconnect? I don¡¯t have very long to ponder these matters because the woman turns back to me and says, ¡°Alright I am sure you must have many questions, but first we have to check a few things,¡± as she helps me back to the bed. Sitting back down on the edge of the bed I notice that the man directly behind the woman seems rather displeased and when he speaks I realise he is the male voice I heard earlier when my eyes were closed. ¡°Come now must we waste our time with this? Even if it is capable of some cognitive thought that broken speech is proof enough that it is simply another first gen failure,¡± he says harshly. Sighing the woman answers while fishing something out of her pocket, ¡°I know the first gens displease you immensely, but even you must realise the fact that a first gen has even managed to talk is an incredibly important matter. Even if it is not the perfect sample depending on it¡¯s stats there is always the possibility of training this one into a weapon we can control.¡± As she finishes her sentence the woman pulls out a small stone from her pocket and reaches over to touch it against my forehead. I doubt my odds of success if I try to resist so sitting still becomes the best option. After touching the stone to my forehead she pulls it back and mumbles something under her breath. The stone responds by materializing what looks to be like a blue holographic window. The woman starts talking to herself while examining the window with the rest of her colleagues. ¡°These stats are actually rather terrifying but that is to be expected considering the materials used. The very last of the first gen might actually be useful to us,¡± she informs them. Deciding to chime in the displeased man says, ¡°Yes if its growth is within, follows, or exceeds the expected course this one could actually become quite an unstoppable weapon.¡± Okay, I really don¡¯t like all this talk about me being a weapon, but there is nothing that can be done about it right now. I will worry about that particular problem later. What I really need are answers and hopefully, they start providing me with some. I must look rather confused because looking up at me the woman decides to explain what the blue screen is, ¡°Since your intelligence is quite high you will probably understand if I explain this to you. What we are are looking at is your status. Basically, it is a tangible interpretation of your physical abilities and knowledge. Here, seeing it should also help answer some of your earlier questions.¡± Finishing her brief explanation the woman walks over and shows me my status. Surprisingly enough, this status is like a stat page one would find in most role playing games. I have no idea how a little stone could possibly figure out any tangible information about a person, but I have to grasp any information I possibly can. A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
Name:Race:Chimera
Age:2SexFemale
Level:1Job:N/A
Health:750Mana:2000
Str:150Int:200
Dex:5Wis:200
End:150Charm:150
Titles:Skills:
Chimeric BeingInformational SpongePhotographic Memory Blood Mana
Genius ProgrammerFollwer of LogicDraconic Scales Succubus''s Allure
Looking at these stats I really have no idea whether they are good or bad because I have nothing to base them on. There are some interesting things to note of. For one how the heck am I a two year old? After having seen my body it looks like I should be at least five. Could it have something to do with my race being a chimera and what the heck is a chimera in the first place? In games, I played in my past life Chimeras are lions with a goat head attached to their back and a snake for a tail. Which is definitely not what I saw in the mirror. Judging from the title ¡®Chimeric Being¡¯ however I can hazard a guess that my race is an amalgamate of several races, but I can never truly be sure unless these people decide to confirm that fact. Further, looking at my titles why would one of them be ¡®Genius Programmer¡¯? While I was a programmer for most of my past life no one would ever have referred to my programming as genius level. I can only guess at the title ¡®Informational Sponge¡¯ without any concrete information to go on, but ¡®Follower of Logic¡¯ seems rather self explanatory. Moving on to my skills the only one that makes sense to me is ''Photographic memory,'' which I had in my past life. Lastly, mana is mentioned there, right? Is it mana like in games with magic and stuff? Then again what else could it be? Does that mean there really is magic? Wait, if there is magic then is this not earth? Alright, staring at this status page is not going to give me any more answers. So I turn to face the woman and ask her, ¡°Age ¡­ is ¡­ two?¡± Looking lost in thought for a moment the woman answers, ¡°Yes ... Physically your body is two years old, but due to of the mix of races used in the culturing your body its growth cycle is incredibly rapid. If our calculations are correct your body should fully mature by the time you reach the physical age of ten.¡± Races used in culturing my body? What does that even mean? The more I dig the more questions I unearth, but I can¡¯t stop searching for answers when I barely have any at all. The woman seems to be waiting for more questions so I ask, ¡°Culturing? ¡­ Races ¡­ used?¡± _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ A/N: I have decided to release at least one chapter a day until I run out of the chapters I have already written. as a side note, I really dislike how the table in this chapter came out using the editor so I am going to learn to craft my own for next time. Chapter 3 After receiving my question the woman stares at me for some time before saying, ¡°These questions of yours are why I have a hard time believing the virtual sleep failed. You might speak in broken sentences, but your questions ask for knowledge not befitting a creature without intelligence.¡± After stopping for a moment to let what she just said sink in the women then continues, ¡°As for your question, the answer is that you are a chimera , but clearly you saw that from your status. More precisely you are a creature that we grew using samples taken from three other races. Yes, I did say that we grew you. So, in a way it is safer to say that rather than being born you were created and the samples that were used in your creation were all high quality beings. Two of these beings belonged to the demon race, one very ancient vampire and the other a very powerful succubus. The sample our lab went through the most hardship to attain however was also used in your creation but some hardship is to be expected when one is trying to obtain usable material from a dragon. Honestly, had the virtual sleep failed to take root the entire first gen project would have been labeled as a failure, but now we have you. The final specimen created before the first gen was discontinued and the only one to awaken from virtual sleep with any kind of human intelligence.¡± Finishing her explanation the woman has worked herself into somewhat of a fervor. That gives me some time to sort out my thoughts while she calms down but I have been given a lot to think about. My understanding about my race now is that I am a hybrid between a vampire, succubus and a dragon created by these people as some kind of biological weapon. I really want to ask for more information about the races of this world. First, I should figure out what she meant by virtual sleep and she mentioned humans. Having been one myself that statement also peaks my interest. Now that the woman seems to have calmed down, I ask, ¡°Virtual ¡­ sleep? ¡­ Humans?¡± After hearing my question the woman''s eyes seem more amused than before and even the man behind her seems less displeased. Is my question that appealing to them? I think it is a normal thing to ask questions related to things those around you have said. Cutting off my line of thought the woman answers my question, ¡°The virtual sleep I was referring to is a system we found once we got this facility up and running after discovering it. While we fail to completely understand the virtual sleep system from what we have discovered it inserts the mind into a virtual body. This virtual body is then placed in a recreation of the world before humans were wiped out by the gods. By itself, this system is only useful to study how the humans of this world lived before they were wiped out. However since this system seems to simulate time in the virtual world at a speed sixty times faster than what is experienced outside, then the possibilities broaden. The first gen were created as an experiment in creating powerful living weapons by mixing strong races and having them live another lifetime in the virtual sleep system. The project, however, had to be discontinued as it was found that the minds of the first specimens to awaken were completely broken from the informational overload they received upon leaving virtual sleep. But unlike the others, your mind appears to have survived and seems, mostly, quite intact. The others would not have even been able to understand anything let alone even attempt to ask questions.¡± By now the woman is almost smiling and I guess that is understandable. One of her creations finally turned out to be more than a broken waste of resources. I do find it somewhat disconcerting that she has outright told me that they want to use me as a weapon, but at least that means they will not be disposing of me right away. Then again, even if they did decide to get rid of me there is nothing I can do about it right now. So it¡¯s probably better not to worry about it. What I can worry about now though is that if what this woman just said is true then the entire one hundred twenty years of my last life has just been one big virtual simulation. I guess some might argue that none of it was real at all. The way I see it though, as the person that lived those one hundred twenty years, is that each and every one of those years was real. While I may have lived them in a virtual body it was still my mind so for me each and every one of those years was real, but putting aside the questions about my supposed virtual life being an actual life or not. What did she mean by the system simulating a world before humans were wiped out by the Gods? This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there. I have my next question in mind and I decide to ask, ¡°Humans ¡­ wiped ¡­ out?¡± The woman has much more than just a hint of a smile now as she says, ¡°Yes I was right about you. These aren¡¯t the questions of a two year old who understands nothing and though I can¡¯t be sure how much of your experience in the virtual sleep you remember you definitely remember enough of it. As for your question, the history lesson will have to be drawn out over the next few days. You will also need some intense physical therapy over these next few day to get you accustomed to moving your body. Not to mention that we need some time to process our findings and you need time to carefully think over everything you have learned today.¡± With those final words, the woman turns around and ushers everyone out of the room. Being left alone I take the time to sort my thoughts and figure out what questions to ask next time I get the chance. Now that all that initial excitement has passed it helps me realize how tired I actually am. After trying for a while I finally find a comfortable position to sleep in with these darn wings. Another question added to the list of things to ask I guess. Can these darn things be retracted somehow because they are very much in the way. Questions for later however as the darkness of sleep starts to take over. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- So it has now been a few days since I first woke up in this body. I still don¡¯t know the name of the woman who was there when I first woke up and currently appears to be assigned the task of caring for me. However, the woman has stayed true to her word. Along with a full course of rather intense exercises to help me acclimate to my body she has taught me quite a bit about the history of this world and its people. First, I have learned that the planet we are on indeed is still Earth. Only, it is Earth at least ten thousand years after the life I experienced in virtual sleep simulation. There are a few major differences between earth this current Earth and the virtual earth I lived in. One of the first differences would be that at some point in time all the continents coalesced into one mega continent. The extinction of the human race is also another major difference and following that the birth of new humanoid races, dragons, and monsters. Finally, the biggest difference between this Earth and the virtual Earth I lived on is the presence of mana. briefly reviewing the history I have learned thus far. Eight thousand years ago humans angered the Gods to such a point that the Gods decided to wipe out the entirety of humanity. This god born cataclysm used a colossal amount of mana which in turn commenced the world''s own mana production. Now that the planet had its own ambient mana supply this mana slowly started to permeate into the plants, animals, and stones. After another thousand years, or so humanoids started to appear due to the overwhelming amount of excess mana collecting in the plants, animals, and stones. The beastmen race born from the animals, the elvish race born from the plants, the dwarvish race born from the stones and the demon race born from the mana itself. Humanoids, however, were not the only ones given form by the mana. Monsters also came about from all the rampant energies and unlike their humanoid counterparts they only seek to kill and destroy. Though from monsters, a form of intelligent life was also born, dragons. Dragons seem to be pretty much classified as natural disasters on an international level. Normally, the dragons do not meddle in the affairs of the humanoid races, but when provoked they have been known to wreak havoc on entire nations to sate their anger. Honestly, to think that all this actually happened is quite interesting, but the best thing I learned about is the existence of magic. Not only does magic exist, but today is the day I get to learn how to use it. ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ A/N: I had forgotten how short these earlier chapters were since later ones slowly ended up doubling in size. Anyways tomorrow will be two chapters, possibly three if you count a .5 as a chapter in itself... so maybe more of a 2 and a half. Chapter 4 However, I am currently waiting alone on the bed that I woke up in on the first day. So far I have not been allowed to leave this room and my only attempt to explore saw me getting no further than just outside the door. At least the researchers let me change out of the hospital gown I was in before. The white one-piece sun dress they put me in is much more comfortable though my tail did end up ruining the first one. As it turns out the spines lining my tail are incredibly sharp and when they tried to pass my tail through the hole for tails in the dress it sliced up through the back. When it happened it greatly disappointed me because I thought they would shove me back in that hospital gown. To my relief, they saw it as another piece of interesting data and got me a new dress. Getting used to wearing a dress is little strange considering I have never worn anything of the like in my previous life. However, it is rather nice to be able to wear things like this now. My biggest problem so far with my first five days in this new life is my lack of a name. The closest thing I have to a name is my specimen number. Basically, my caretaker refers to me as 56. Otherwise, all the other researchers use words experiment, creature or thing and on the odd occasion monster. Another truly bothersome fact is that being stuck in this room I have no sense of time. The only things I can base myself on are when I sleep, wake up and when my assigned caretaker shows up. Over the past four days, I feel she seems to always come by at roughly the same time after I wake up. My last big problem with my few days of life here is the food. The researchers do not bring solid food instead my caretaker brings a liquid nutrient blend that lasts me until she shows up the next day. My assumption is that this blend is meant to have only what my body needs to properly develop and nothing more. I mean they do not want their precious test subject getting sick because I ate something my stomach could not handle. Suddenly I hear the sound of the door opening and I look up to see my caretaker walk in with a larger following than normal. Looking at her hand I see that she is holding a stone like the one used to check my status on the day I first woke up. After following my line of sight down to the stone my caretaker smiles and says, ¡°Since I said you would be learning how magic works today I figured I should explain what all the stats mean.¡± As my caretaker finished talking she pressed the stone to my forehead and sat down beside me on the bed so we could both see the status page.
Name:Race:Chimera
Age:2Sex:Female
Level:1Job:N/A
Health:1325Mana:2250
Str:235Int:300
Dex:310Wis:225
End:265Charm:150
Titles:Skills:
Chimeric BeingInformational SpongePhotographic Memory Blood Mana
Genius ProgrammerFollwer of LogicDraconic Scales Succubus''s Allure
Huh, my stats have gone up since the last time I saw them haven¡¯t they? Could stats be really easy to raise? I mean over the last five days the I mostly on learned a bit about the history of the world and while my physical therapy has been kinda intense these numbers have gone up a lot. Looking up at the woman sitting beside me I notice her brow is deeply furrowed and she is staring intently at my status. Since staring at my status myself is not going to get me anywhere I ask, ¡°Status ¡­ explanation?¡± This seems to snap the woman out of her stupor and she looks at me while saying, ¡°Ah sorry I was just taken aback for a moment at how much your stats went up over such a short time. Right, I should explain these to you shouldn¡¯t I. Well starting from the top health and mana are fairly simple. Consider it giving a number to how much your body can take before you die in the case of health. As for mana it is the amount energy the body can absorb and store to use magic with. Moving along str is in simple terms a numerical representation of your physical strength. Int is slightly more complex because it does not only represent one''s overall intelligence. It also represents the amount of power your spells can exhibit though no one really understands the correlation between the two.¡± The woman stops talking for a moment to see if I understood everything she has said so far. So I nod to show confirmation and she continues, ¡°Dex is yet again a fairly simple stat to explain as it is the numerical value given to your flexibility and speed. Wis is the counterpart to int because it represents how well you process information you receive. Having high int would not necessarily mean someone is smart because if their wis is low their capability to make smart decisions is hampered. Wis also lets the body store more mana. Though no one really knows why but for every point of wis the body can store 10 more mana. However, mana is not completely tied to wis and can be raised independently a small amount every time you empty your mana, though it¡¯s not a very popular method. A word of caution about this method is that if your mana gets extremely low you will faint. Once you do learn magic we will be expecting you to empty your mana until you faint when you are ready to sleep every day understood?¡± The woman once again stops to look at me and waits for me to nod before continuing, ¡°End is the numerical value given as a representation of your body''s physical stamina and overall toughness. For every point of end it is also worth noting that you gain 5 health, yet again the correlation is unknown. Charm I am not personally familiar with because I am of the beastman race. As it''s a stat owned by succubi and to my understanding, they gain the stat thanks to a passive exclusive to their race.¡± The woman stops and looks like she is thinking quite deeply about something for a short time before she continues talking, ¡°Speaking honestly your status is quite incredible. A normal child at the age of two would have around 10 health and mana along with 1-5 in all the others. However you...your status is on par with an average adult or more importantly a newborn dragon. Not to mention that the speed at which your stats are rising confirms the draconic part of you has taken root deeper than we could have ever hoped for. This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work. As for titles and skills, well those are slightly harder to explain. While this entire system was granted by the gods, but we have never been blessed with knowledge on how or why they are received. Most of the time they are given to represent an outstanding talent or when one does something significant and though some titles grant special benefits to the holder they seem to be few and far between. Finally, skills are a representation of your abilities. Skills labeled passive are always active and usually grant some kind of beneficial effect to the user. While they are not viewed as such in the status some passives have come to be known as racial passive because they are passives only observed in specific races. While it is possible to gain more passives with effort and training it is exceedingly rare for someone gain more racial passives after birth. There are also skills you have to activate to utilise their effects and they are labeled as actives. It is also important to note that most actives also use your body''s mana to activate. A good example of an active would be magic. There are racial actives and the most common one would be the succubus races ¡®Charm¡¯. Other racial actives, however, are exceedingly rare. It¡¯s also worth noting that when they are used enough it is possible skills to change or evolve, but there still isn¡¯t anyone that has found a method of figuring out how much is enough.¡± After she is finished the woman gets up and walks over to the other researchers presumably to show them my stat growths. Which gives me time to reflect on everything I just learned. Though I guess reflection is slightly unnecessary because this whole status system closely resembles role-playing games I played in my previous life. I can only guess that the gods who created this status system are RPG fans. An odd thought but a passable one. The woman seemed to have skipped over talking about what level and job represented so I ask, ¡°Level ¡­ job?¡± The woman turns around after hearing me and after looking thoughtful for a moment says, ¡°Ah I did skip over those didn¡¯t I. They are not really relevant at the moment so we should instead be getting on to teaching you how magic works.¡± The woman then proceeds to walk back over to me before continuing, ¡°Right then, most children have to wait until their older to try using magic because at a young age the body simply does not have enough mana. This shouldn''t be a problem for you and theoretically, with some explaining you should be able to use magic.¡± ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- After listening to the woman''s explanation about this world''s magic I begin to grasp the basic premise on how it works. The four humanoid races call the magic they use ¡°Physics magic¡±. Simply put it is magic that uses the laws of physics and a person''s mana to achieve results. Honestly, this entire magic system is really complicated and very difficult to use. For example, you can make a fire using your mana as a fuel and oxygen in the air as an oxidizer. However, it would simply be a static fire floating above your hand and to launch this fire you would need to study and understand motion. Not even mentioning everything you would need to know to even make this fire take the form of a simple ball. She did say that it is possible to use a concept with a lesser understanding, but apparently doing so consumes more mana based on how much information is omitted. The one saving grace this system has is there is no such thing as elemental affinities. So long as you understand something deeply enough and have enough mana to achieve the result nearly anything is possible, but that means concepts that cannot be completely explained like time and space manipulation are impossible to achieve. Moreover, even though affinities are not a thing most people limit themselves to one concept since the deeper you understand an element the stronger and more efficient it is when you use it. Since the woman is still waiting for my reaction to her explanation I guess a good start would be trying to feel my mana. Closing my eyes I start to concentrate on the blood flowing through my body because she said that for vampires mana is intimately linked to the blood. Concentrating I can feel something else flowing in the same way as my blood and so I open my eyes and say, ¡°Feel ¡­ flowing ¡­ mana ¡­ probably.¡± The woman then proceeds with her instructions, ¡°Good you found your mana quickly the next step is simple. Imagine directing the flow of the mana in your body and pooling it in your hand. Once you do that simply imagine the process for a fire as I explained it using your mana as the fuel and you should get a flame.¡± Closing my eyes again once more, I concentrate on the other feeling flowing in my body and try to direct it my hand. Surprisingly enough it complies immediately. Okay, now she said I just have to use my understanding of fire to imagine getting a flame. I open my eyes and in my outstretched palm is a small flame about the size of one from a lighter. I am actually using real magic. It might just be a tiny lighter flame, but it really is magic. Looking up at the woman she also seems pleased enough with the result. Ah, the flame suddenly went out, but that should not happen unless I stop feeding it mana. Eh? Why is everything suddenly tilting sideways? Why is it getting dark all of a sudden? _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ A/N: First chapter for today and the next one I will post later today. Table hasn''t been fiddle with in this chapter because story wise a table remodelling fits in much better next chapter thanks to story reasons. The next chapter may drop slightly later in the day as I figure out how to table by myself, but I will do my best to get it out in a timely fashion while not sacrificing possible quality. Chapter 5 A/N: Late late late late, but technically where I live it''s still the same day so. Anyways I completely underestimated tables and I am still not as ok with the table that was created as I want to be. It is, however, an ok table... I think. The .5 chapter will also be released within an hour or so, no fancy tables needed there thankfully. ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ¡°I just don¡¯t understand, how can have stats this high and yet consume such an inane amount of mana to only achieve such a pitiful result. It can only be the casting process used, but even that¡¯s not the case. You do everything right and honestly, it feels like your ¡®Mana Manipulation¡¯ is even better than mine. Which is why this all the more confusing. Why is it that your magic is like a bucket with no bottom? It takes in mana and never stops yet only uses a tiny amount of what it demands to achieve results. With your level of ¡®Mana Manipulation¡¯ you should have no problems only giving the spell only the requisite mana. But in your case keeping any mana is like trying to stop a ship from going under after it is already halfway into a whirlpool. Should we just give up on magic with you? But it¡¯s such a waste when we consider your magical potential. I just don¡¯t know what to do anymore,¡± my caretaker is currently ranting in a rather exasperated tone. It is hard to believe that over the past five days my caretaker has been completely devoted to figuring out why I can¡¯t efficiently cast physics magic. Then again, maybe not being able to cast efficiently is the wrong way to look at it. The day after learning how to feel and move the mana in my body and then passing out after casting my first bit of magic, my caretaker had me test if it was possible for me to retract my wings like succubi do. Apparently, my wings are much bigger and higher on my back than a regular succubus and greatly resemble that of a dragon instead. Thankfully, the regular succubus method of retracting all the mana in your wings into your body works for me and I managed to get them to retract. How quickly I got the hang of it also surprised the researchers and served as proof that my mana control was truly excellent. So rather than lack of efficiency when casting it is more like something feels instinctively wrong about invoking physics magic. It¡¯s like some larger part of myself just knows that casting like I have been shown is the wrong way of doing it. I really wish this part of myself would just show me the ¡°right¡± way if physics magic is so wrong. Every day my caretaker seems to get more desperate and I do not want to reach the day where she disposes of me as another failed experiment. Letting her know about the feeling of wrongness when casting might help her figure something out so I say, ¡°Physics ¡­ magic ¡­ feels ¡­ wrong.¡± Whipping around to face me my caretaker grips my shoulders and yells, ¡°Feels wrong!? What do you mean by feels wrong!? Wait!¡± Letting me go she turns around and starts talking to herself out loud, ¡°Maybe we have been looking at it the wrong way. This whole time we have been assuming it is more demon than dragon but what if that was wrong? What if it was more dragon than demon? Then to be unable to use physics magic would mean ¡­ Yes, that would mean it would have to be at least three fourths dragon but that makes no sense. Less than a fifth of the material used was of draconic origin. So how could its nature possibly be more draconic? Then again, assuming its nature is more draconic does that mean it uses a unique magic system like they do. If it does, then how are we even supposed to figure out how this magic system works? ¡­ But if we do the possibilities for it as a weapon go beyond anything we have created yet ¡­ ¡± Does she even notice that she is rambling out loud and that I can very clearly hear her? Judging by the contents of what she is saying probably not. I can only guess that she has been severely overworked these past five days and her deteriorating state of mind is the result. Her mistake, however, is beneficial to me. So the reason physics magic feels wrong is because my existence is closer to that of a dragon and from what she is saying dragons use magic that is unique to themselves. Then does that mean I have a unique way of casting magic and if so how do I even figure out how to use it? Why does this whole magic system have to be so hard to understand. In most of the stories I read in my old life a character that was reborn in a world with magic would just be able to use it once they learned about it. Then again none of those characters were grown in a lab somewhere in the hopes of creating a humanoid super weapon. Reality can be so very cruel. If this magic casting system was more like programming this would be so much simpler. I could just stretch my arm out in front of me close my eyes and mentally write a short program to create a fireball using my mana as fuel. It would be located above my palm, have the shape of a sphere with a 10cm diameter and have a temperature of 600C. Actually, I will try because something about the idea of magic being written like a program seems more ¡°right¡± to me than anything else so far. I decide to mentally write what I think a magic program for ¡®Fireball¡¯ would be. It has not taken me very long but the program I thought up would probably work if magic was executed this way. Actually, I do not hear my caretaker talking to herself anymore. Did she get curious about what I was doing? I have been sitting here with my eyes closed holding my palm open in front of me. You know her reaction would probably be amusing if I tried to activate this program and it really did work. While still on that train of thought I decide to mumble, ¡°{Fireball}.¡± Suddenly from beside me my caretaker shouts, ¡°How did you do that!? The way your mana was used to cast that is completely different from anything you were taught! Furthermore what language was that?!¡± The sudden shout surprises me and I quickly open my eyes. What I see in front of me just above my palm is a perfectly spherical fireball and while I cannot be sure it completely matches the specifications in my program it is probably safe to assume it does. Then does that mean that my unique magic system is based on programming? First, before thinking further into this I should get rid of this fireball, but how do I make it disappear? At the moment it is not using any of my mana to sustain itself so cutting off its mana supply is not a possibility. Then could I just write a new program to terminate an existing program? Then again would this even be a program anymore? I guess it would be easier to just call them spells. I quickly mentally write up a spell to terminate the existing spell and say, ¡°{Terminate}.¡± The fireball that was just in front of my suddenly disappears like it was never there to begin with. Looking to my side my caretaker is staring at me intently, but she has not asked anything else so it is probably safe to keep ignoring her in favor of figuring this out. Honestly, it would be easier to figure this out if I could see my status. Actually ¡­ rather than asking my caretaker to use the status stone could I not create a spell to see my status instead? Then again, I am not really sure how the status stone even works so can I even make a suitable spell? I should still give it a try as it might also help me better understand how my magic works. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- After taking the time to create my status spell I find the parameters are way to vague. I have almost no faith in this one working, but since I do not know how the status stone actually works doing any better is kinda impossible. Completely expecting this spell to fizzle out I say, ¡°{Status}.¡±
Name: Race: Chimera Sub-races: Vampire, Succubus, Dragon
Age: 2 Sex: Female
Level: 1 Job: N/A
Health: 1350/1350 Mana: 24494/26500
Str: 250 Int: 400
Dex: 330 Wis: 400
End: 280 Charm: 150
Titles: Skills:
Chimeric Being Informational Sponge Passives: Racial Passives: Actives: Racial Actives:
Genius Programmer Follower of Logic Photograhpic Memory LvL - Draconic Language LvL- Mana Manipulation LvL 6 Charm LvL 1
Message from a GoddessThe narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation. (think ''open message'' to read) --- Mana Perception LvL 9 Blood Mana LvL - Programming Magic LvL - Spells + ---
--- --- --- Draconic Scales LvL - --- ---
--- --- --- Succubus''s Allure LvL - --- ---
Suddenly in front of me appears the same tall tale blue screen as from the status stone. To think that my status spell actually worked ¡­ and this status looks different from the one the status stone gives. More importantly, what is this ¡®Message from a Goddess¡¯ title? It says that to read it I should think, Open Message. The moment I think ''Open Message'' my status closes and a new screen appears in front of me.
To: My favorite After deciding to check what had gotten to some of my more ¡­ interesting ... no, truthfully they are the most insane bunch out of all the groups that pray to me and I really do wish they would stop using my name in their insa-. Ah, I am getting off track now where was I. Yes, after deciding to check what had gotten this group into such a fervor (I mean, they were really laying on the praises to my name over the past few days) I found you. Truly, such an interesting success on their part. They themselves do not even know the gravity of what they have created, but I am about to start rambling again so moving on. As you have figured out, your magic is a unique system and after a bit of tampering, I have made it evenmore fun. More fun how you might be asking yourself? The answer to that is ¡­ not telling. Also about the status, since your spell was not going to work I decided to touch it up and while I was at it made some changes to it. Honestly, I have no clue what that God of Growth and Recession was thinking when he made the original status page it¡¯s so terrible. Ah, I am going off track again. Well, I should end this before it derails anymore than it has already. My parting words to you are struggle and survive, things are going to be hard. These hardships will lead to change and one day those changes will lead to balance or hopefully a lack thereof. Also if you try hard enough I might reward you. Love: A Certain Goddess PS: I also tinkered you three other spells along with ¡®Status¡¯. They are ¡®Status Other¡¯, ¡®Status Examine¡¯ and ¡®Status Share¡¯. PSS: The title used to tell you about this message will also be changed to something new.
After reading through the message I am not even sure what to think at this point. Is this goddess really so free that she can just spend time watching my life and even if she is just what is interesting about my current life? Not to mention, this particular goddess seems more than slightly crazy. Then again, I could spend ages thinking over the machinations of the gods and get nowhere so I should put those thoughts aside. Speaking of putting things aside, my caretaker is still quietly watching me. Actually, one of the spells the goddess told me about in her message sounds like it should be used on others ¡­ I think. Honestly, what is up with these names? They are really terrible. Since there is nothing I can do about the spell names other than merely complaining about them I turn to my caretaker and mumble, ¡°{Status other}.¡± ---
Name: Rebbeca Race: Beastkin Sub-races: Lynx Beastmen, Water Spirit
Age: 25 Sex: Female
Level: 3 Job: Reseracher
Health: 975/975 Mana: 13720/13720
Str: 250 Int: 1896
Dex: 451 Wis: 1372
End: 196 Charm: N/A
Titles: Skills:
Fallen Noble Worshipper of Karia Passives: Racial Passives: Actives: Racial Actives:
Victim of Circumstance --- Mana Perception LvL 6 Cats Soft Steps LvL - Mana Manipulation LvL 5 ---
--- --- --- --- Physics Magic LvL - ---
While staring at the status I inadvertently mutter, ¡°Rebecca?¡± Realizing what I just said I hazard a look at Rebecca''s face and her eyes are positively shining as she says, ¡°Well I am not sure how managed to find out my name, but it really does not matter. What really matters right now is that you own a unique magic system. Not even mentioning the fact that you¡¯ve already figured out how to use it, but we can take the time to slowly figure out the specifics later. For now, it is good enough that we know you are not simply magically crippled and we can start properly educating you. Well, that''s all for today I have to get some things in order before tomorrow.¡± With that Rebecca walks out of the room leaving me to the silence of my own thoughts and I eventually drift to sleep while sorting through everything that I learned today. ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ A/N: quickly thinking about since it is not very clear, very sorry, but any text in { } brackets signifies things being spoken in draconic language. Chapter 5.5 A/N: Ok promised chapters delivered. On another note this is the first .5 so a brief explenation is an order. .5 chapters will usually be plot relevant and will always be from the PoV of someone other than our little MC. They probably wont show up super often but will pop up here and there. Anyways possibly another double release tommorow...depends. ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ A certain goddess''s PoV ¡°I think I delivered that last line rather well if I do say so myself,¡± I say expressing my satisfaction. Now all I have to do is wait, she may be my chosen, but if I meddle too much she won''t grow. For now, I need her to experience the depravity the four races will fall to in their need for change. Though I guess if she can''t escape, then a bit of meddling may be in order. It would not be a very balanced choice if she only ever gets to see the darkness in the four races. ¡°Well, we were all starting to wonder when the ever so powerful Goddess of Balance and Change would ever select her first chosen,¡± an irritatingly familiar female voice interrupts my thoughts. Turning to greet my guest I try to speak in as bored a tone as I can possibly muster, ¡°Naofa everyone''s favorite Goddess of Life and Death.¡± ¡°Come now, contain your enthusiasm and let''s get to the matter at hand,¡± Naofa calmly states not caring that I am clearly displeased at her presence. Knowing Naofa she isn¡¯t one to give up on this with just me saying don`t wanna. I guess just telling Naofa about her is a possibility, but that would be so embarrasing. The other gods and goddesses might not think much about assigning a new chosen. Each of them have hundreds or even thousands of chosen. Then again, most of them only give their chosen a special magic, skill, or change their body in some way. To me however my chosen is special because she is-. ¡°Just exactly how long are you going to quietly fidget there completely beet red? I mean it¡¯s just choosing a chosen. Which is exactly why I want to know why you went to Fate and forced him to show you your chosens appearance at every stage of their life. Now why would you go through so much effort for a simple chosen?¡± with a sudden barrage of questions Naofa disturbs my thoughts. Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. Ah, if Naofa knows Fate is involved she really isn¡¯t going to give up before I tell her something. Why does Naofa need to know anything about her anyways? No matter how I look at it who I pick as a chosen has nothing to do with any of the other gods and goddesses. Well ok, in this case maybe it does, but they do not need to know that yet. Since I have been ignoring her Naofa has been steadily losing patience before finally stating, ¡°You know if you are not going to tell me I will just have to go down and observe the mortal directly.¡± Panicking a little at Naofa¡¯s statement I shout, ¡°No! You can¡¯t do that!¡± Ah, I screwed up, while Naofa¡¯s outward expression may not have changed it''s easy to tell she is rather pleased with herself when she asks, ¡°Oh and why can¡¯t I? I mean wouldn¡¯t it be easy for me to infiltrate your follower''s organization to get closer to your chosen? I am like you, a goddess, after all. While none of us are as powerful as you I do not think that even the weakest among us would have any trouble changing a few memories to get our way. Or is there maybe another reason why I can¡¯t?¡± I can see that there is no choice, but to talk about this at least a little, spitting out a sigh I start to explain, ¡°No it is not that you physically can''t. I am asking you not to. She will have an important choice to make in the future and meeting any of us too early could very easily upset the balance. You can watch if you want, but no contacting her unless I say it is alright to. Also if you would be so kind as to pass that statement on to the others? It would be very much appreciated.¡± After eyeing me for a while Naofa finally turns to leave while saying, ¡°Fine, fine, I will drop the subject for now and I will even pass your message on the others. From now on though your chosen is going to have a lot of eyes on her and not all of them are going to be as understanding as I am.¡± After confirming Naofa is gone I set myself to work once again while mumbling under my breath, ¡°So much to do but in the end it is well worth it. Will the end result be unity or destruction? Maybe it will end with something I didn¡¯t predict at all. In the end little Kitten, only you can determine your own fate.¡± Chapter 6 A/N: First I would like to say. WARNING: the subject matter in this chapter does get decidedly darker than it has been so far in the second half. While it can still be very much fine for most, some people may be put off and I completely understand. Now that that has been dealt with we have finally reached the last 2000 word and under chapters. All the chapters I have already written after this one are 3000 words or more, other than .5 chapters, and I hope to keep it that way. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Sitting alone on the side of my bed makes me realize that this is the first time in, according to Rebbeca, three years that I have had any time alone. For the past three years starting after the day I learned to utilize my magic someone has been with me from the time I wake up to the when I pass out from mana exhaustion. The reasons for that being the education they required of me to receive, observing my magic practice, and when my fangs grew out the researchers started their experiments on me. The compulsory education was not terrible all things considered. First, the researchers had to teach me ¡®Common¡¯ which is the spoken and written language shared between the four humanoid races. I was a little surprised when Rebecca walked in the next day and announced I had to learn to speak, read and write. The reason for my surprise being that I had been able to understand Rebecca and the male researcher that was present when I first woke up. Rebecca then followed up her statement by explaining that the male researcher was a chosen of the God of Communication and Silence. Being a chosen of this god he had been granted magic that when cast on oneself or someone else the recipient would then be able to understand and be understood by anyone. Apparently, the god had also given him other magics, but since it was irrelevent to the matter at hand I was not told what they were. After being taught ¡®Common¡¯ my education then proceeded into learning everything currently known about science in this world. So just like that an inordinate amount of time was spent teaching me math, physics, chemistry, biology, geology and more. Heck, they even went so far as to go into quantum mechanics because while such a theory is unsuitable for physics magic with my unique system it was decided that I may be able to make something of it. Once the researchers got through with teaching me more about science than I could ever wish to know. My education then moved on to basic geography, lessons on how each of the races handle their seats of power and the worst of my lessons, etiquette. My geography lessons consisted of learning how the four humanoid races were spread across the continent. During my geography lessons I really only ended up learning that the elves and beastmen races shared an enormous forest on the western side of the continent as their territory. The dwarves territory consisted of an enormous mountain range that was situated on the eastern side of the continent. The southern portion of the continent belonged to the demons. Meanwhile the northern lands was left mostly uncharted because of the fact that the dragons had decided to take residence there. With all that being said the center of the continent is considered a neutral zone by the four humanoid races and thanks to that no race holds more power there. I also learned that while there are four humanoid races each of them has a multitude of sub races. For example the elves have wood elves, sun elves, moon elves, dark elves, and more. While the beastmen are subcategorized depending on the type of animal they pull characteristics from. Dwarves and demons can also be subsequently categorized into sub races. After learning how the races were spread I was taught how they handled the seats of power in their lands. Dwarves have a system based on hereditary nobility that elects a king from one of these noble houses after the current king dies or steps down. The elves have a council of elders that elect a ruler. Thanks to this system aside from their current ruler and their elder council nobles do not exist among the elves. Beastmen are rather prone to battles between themselves. Due to that their ruler and nobility are chosen by physical prowess. Simply put they decide who rules using their fists. If you can defeat the current ruler in a one on one unarmed battle then you rise to rule instead. Thier nobility is decided similarly as they only allow a set amount of houses to rise to nobility and you must defeat the current head of a noble house to claim their name as your own. Finally, demon society is similar to the beastmen in choosing their ruler however instead of unarmed combat based solely on physical power and technique demons use everything at their disposal to battle until one of the battling parties dies. That means in a battle to decide who rules between the current demon ruler and a challenger anything goes. Whether it be magic, weapons, deceit, and deception or even a clashing of armies. Demon nobility is however much less turbulent and is decided by their ruler based on the achievements of the person being raised to nobility. That, in turn, means that the nobility of a house is only kept for one generation and unless the next generation from that house can gain satisfactory achievements to retain the nobility of their house it is then revoked when the first generation dies. Finally, the last subject they had me learn was etiquette. Now everything went quite well, for the most part. That is until the time came to correct my speech. Honestly, if things had gone how they should I would have slowly dropped the broken speech and eventually moved into using full sentences. The problem with that plan quickly became obvious after I stopped using the broken manner of speaking. My problem was that I found myself completely incapable of speaking more than four words in a sentence. It''s not like I did not want to speak more than four words either. No matter how hard I tried it was just physically impossible for me to audibly form a sentence consisting of more than four words. Now this infuriated my etiquette teacher and turned the remainder of my lessons with her into sessions of getting physically beaten for not doing something that was impossible for me accomplish. This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version. Yesterday was the last day of those lessons and it was also the last day of experiments performed by the researchers, thankfully enough. Today I¡¯m waiting for Rebecca to take me to where I am to receive physical training before I am deemed usable. Thinking on it I have never really left this room other than when my fangs grew out and they started taking me to another room for their most recent experiments. These experiments consisted of testing whether or not I inherited any of the vampiric ability to heal after imbibing blood and boy did I ever. Their first test was to see if a small cut would heal after taking a blood capsule. After taking the capsule the cut closed immediately which greatly surprised all the researchers, but since I had nothing to compare it with, it was impossible for me to understand why. This lack of understanding was quickly rectified when a pure blooded vampire researcher present for the sake of the experiment replicated it on himself. His result was that after taking the blood capsule his cut took five minutes to heal. The fact that my healing was that strong further spurred on the bloody research too. First, they tried larger cuts which healed instantly then more cuts which again healed without any problems. Eventually, they found that I did not have to take in the blood orally and it could be absorbed through my skin. It was also discovered that my body could sustain itself better on blood alone than with their nutrient blends and so my meals eventually shifted over to purely blood. That, however, is the best result from those damned experiments. I am not sure if it is my vampire or dragon instincts, possibly both, but blood tastes delicious to my current palette. So my meals went from something that, while I was used to it, was horrible to something quite delectable. The rest of the blood healing experiments, on the other hand, were just horrible. Once the researchers tired of confirming that no matter how, where or how much they cut me I would heal they decided to start cutting things off. At first, it was just fingers and once it was found that they would regrow after I received blood they decided to try an entire hand. Confirming a hand had no trouble growing back they tried an arm. After one arm grew back they tried two and when that provided positive results they cut off a leg. All of this continued and escalated. The worst part about these experiments was that I was mentally present for all of it. Unless of course, I had passed out from the pain. The pain got more tolerable as time went on, but it never stopped being horrible. My eyes were gouged out, my eardrums were pierced, my tongue was cut out and it all was healed by blood. Eventually, they decided to try removing organs and the results showed that no matter what they removed it could be healed with blood. The sick bastards even went so far as to remove my heart. Needless to say, after confirming that it actually regrew and I had survived the experiments stopped there. The one who pushed the idea of the heart removal was executed and of course, they had me be the executioner while calling it a learning experience. As for the end result of their insane experiments? It seems that no matter the wound I can heal it using any blood other than my own. Though, depending on the wound more or less blood is needed. For cuts no matter how many or how deep and for a day''s worth of nourishment one small capsules worth of blood is enough. The loss of a limb or sensory organ needs a test tubes worth of blood to heal. Anything else is a variable amount of blood depending on how important to sustaining life the lost part was. To regrow something of utmost importance like my heart the researchers said it took about 5L of blood. I can¡¯t really say whether or not they are telling me the truth because by their accounts I actually died after they took my heart out. So I guess that means that no matter what happens to me if someone were to soak my remains in enough blood then I would come back? Ah enough! There is no need to think about it because I have no intention of testing that theory any time soon. Putting those thoughts to rest I am left with nothing to do except gaze around my room absentmindedly because Rebecca still hasn¡¯t come to fetch me yet. Eventually, my line of sight focuses on the mirror in the corner of the room. Thinking about it, I haven''t gotten a chance to really see how much my body has grown these past three years. Rebecca did say once that my body is supposed to mature faster right? Now decidedly curious I jump off the bed and make my way over to the mirror. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ A/N: I feel that maybe this one was a little too informational, but learning how the races operate will be important for later. As for the time skip, personally I am not a fan of them, but in this case, it was necessary otherwise our little MC would be stuck in said labs for much too long. I always intended the first 10 or so chapters to be somewhat introductory to our character and the world, then I found out my writing is really long winded. I just can''t make things go super fast, but I am trying really hard to keep them from slowing to a slice of life. Chapter 7 A/N: Some people might see what happened in the last chapter as me setting up the scientists as evil for the sake of having them be evil, but evil is quite subjective. Was it scientifically primitive? Very much so, I probably didn''t make it clear enough in previous chapters, but these people are working with technology and concepts they''ve found, not something they created themselves. Yes, they have managed to figure out howto use it, but they are otherwise still very primitive scientifically. Anyways I have already probably gone too far into this already, but as for the subject of evil. Is it really evil? Quickly elaborating my thoughts back at the time I was writing this, the people staffing and running this lab are mostly all from beastmen or demon upbringing. In both societies where power is dominant, these people would grow up learning that to control power and fear are paramount. Lastly spoiling one of the little hints in chapter 5 about the state of this world Rebecca being labeled a Beastkin in her status is not a typo and the reason has to do with why they call themselves Beastmen. Ah that felt bad to write anyways hopefully those that still enjoy the story will continue to and there might be one more post today, it won''t be a chapter though. __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Looking myself over in the mirror I find that overall my looks did not change much. One thing that did change is that I have definitely gotten taller. If I had to guess at my current height I¡¯m about at 4.2 feet and if someone was to ask me what my age was basing my answer on my appearance I would say ten. Though, I guess my height is a bit on the short side for a ten year old. Unlike my height, however, my face and overall body shape have not changed all that much. But if the best way to describe how I looked three years ago was delicate now the proper term would be fragile. I would almost even say that it''s like there''s an aura exuding from my body that stimulates the need to protect me. Actually, thinking back about it there have been a few researchers that have expressed some level of distaste with treating me as a living weapon. Though, they are probably removed when they do express their concerns. Once a researcher does decide to try to argue against my treatment I never see them again afterward, but thinking about this does not do me any good. The ones that get themselves removed have made their choices and from a purely logical point of view, their choices make no sense. It¡¯s not like whoever started all of this is going to stop because a couple of researchers argue that it¡¯s wrong to treat a little girl like this and I really can¡¯t hate whoever started this project for what''s happening anyways. Maybe it¡¯s due to my complete lack of emotion, but the way I see my situation is that without all these crazy researchers neither of my lives would have happened. If anything, I would rather thank the people who created this body for making it female. Being male in my other life was horrible and never was there a day where I was comfortable in my own skin. Then again that wrongness may have been because that while my virtual body was male the connected mind was female? Well at this point it¡¯s not like that matters. What matters now is that I feel right in my own skin and even all the extra add ons are starting to feel natural enough now. The fact that this place is a rather safe place to grow up, crazy experiments aside, with proper education included also helps with how I see the researchers. Sure they only see me as a tool to fulfill their crazy ambitions, but who knows how I would be treated in the world outside this lab. I see a lot of people day to day and even after three years time I have never seen someone who has black hair like me. Nor have I seen anyone else with heterochromia and I learned by asking the researchers that there are no known reptilian beastmen. No matter how someone looks at me I am different and being different is dangerous. I once heard the saying ¡°The nail that sticks out gets hammered down¡± in my other life and if the world works in any way like it did in my other life I cannot confirm my safety in the outside world with my current strength. Anyways, even if I wanted to attempt an escape it would be impossible with this collar on. Reaching up to touch the collar locked around my neck I think back to how Rebecca explained its purpose when she put it on me a few days after I learned to use my magic, ¡°From now on we are going to have you wear this around your neck. The reason we are making you wear this is simple. You are the weapon we invested so much to create and you will be getting stronger by the day so consider this is a precaution. It would not bode well for us if our weapon gained enough strength and escaped. So this collar is going to be a safety measure to keep that escape from happening. The collarwill in no way inhibit your growth. I had it made by one of my colleagues who is a chosen of the Goddess of Punishment. It is used as a means to limit the power you can exert, but if needed it can be used to force your body to obey commands. A weapon that can think has many more uses than a tool simply used for destruction, but that same cognitive ability that makes you useful also makes you dangerous, unpredictable. Now, we have talked about this long enough and the time that was allocated for your lesson is being wasted so let us move on.¡± Though even with the explanation Rebecca gave me there is no way to claim that I know how this collar is supposed to be limiting me. I mean, how can three years pass by with this thing around my neck and I can¡¯t figure out anything about what it really does? It would be nice if I had a way of figuring out how it is affecting my body ¡­ ah! How could I even forget about that! The researchers may have been keeping my constantly occupied from the time I wake up to when I pass out from mana depletion every day, but it¡¯s hard to believe that I forgot to check my status at all these last three years. Well, there is no use chastising myself about it now so, {Status}.
Name: Race: Chimera Sub-races: Vampire, Succubus, Dragon
Age: 5 Sex: Female
Level: 1 Job: N/A
Health: 36500/365000 Mana: 500/1000 (sealed) (559684Max)
Str: 50 (sealed) (7300Max) Int: 50 (sealed) (24556Max)
Dex: 50 (sealed) (7250Max) Wis: 50 (sealed) (19873Max)
End: 7300 Charm: 500
Titles: Skills:
Chimeric Being Informational Sponge Passives: Racial Passives: Actives: Racial Actives:
Genius Programmer Follower of Logic Photograhpic Memory LvL - Draconic Language LvL- Precise Mana Control LvL3 (evolved) Charm LvL 1 (sealed)
Chosen of Change and Balance Organic Clock Mana Sight LvL 1 (evolved) (sealed) Blood Mana LvL - Programming Magic LvL - Spells + Flight LvL 1
Scientific Genius Modified Instinctual Clock lvl - (sealed) Draconic Scales LvL - (sealed) Chantless Invocation LvL - (sealing failed) Partial dragonification LvL - (sealed)
--- --- Pain Resistance LvL4 Succubus''s Allure LvL- --- ---
--- --- --- Enhanced Dynamic Vision LvL - (sealed) --- ---
--- --- --- Charm Aura LvL - (sealing failed) --- ---
--- --- --- Prehensile Tail LvL - (sealed) --- ---
--- --- --- Bloody Regeneration LvL - --- ---
--- --- --- Draconic Aura LvL - (sealed) --- ---
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon. It is quite nice that I eventually figured out how to cast spells without having to announce it to the world every single time. Thinking back on it now I was just suddenly able to cast without chanting one day, it makes me thinks a certain divine entity had a hand in this. Well, in the end, it¡¯s convenient for me if she gifts me things and if she ever decides to ask me for something in return later I can only try my best to grant her request. I guess another possibility could be to outright refuse her, but staying on a goddess¡¯s good side would be favorable given that I have no clue what dangers exist in the world. Not to mention a goddess would make for a powerful ally. Actually, didn¡¯t the goddess gift me three spells the time she sent me a message? Hmmm, I tried out ¡®Status Other¡¯ right away, but I haven¡¯t even thought about the other two since then. I believe they were called ¡®Status Explain¡¯ and ¡®Status Share¡¯. It makes me feel kinda dumb when I ask a question that will never receive an answer, but what the heck is up with these names!? ¡®Status Share¡¯ is kinda self explanatory at least but what the heck is ¡®Status Explain¡¯ supposed to do? Okay, time to think about this if I was a meddlesome eccentric goddess what effect would I give to a spell called ¡®Status Explain¡¯? Could it be a spell that explains something in my status? Alright then let me give that line of thought a try. So I should try picking something in my status to try this spell on right? I could probably start by trying it on something precise first. I am curious about the title ¡®Follower of Logic¡¯ since it is one of the titles that has been there since I first woke up in this life and I still have no idea what I did to earn it so let''s try focusing on that when I cast. While focusing on my target title I cast {Status Explain}. Since nothing happens at first I start to think that I have the wrong idea about what the spell is supposed to do and as I am about to start thinking up another possible use for the spell a blue screen appears over my already existing status page.
Follower of Logic This title was granted to you by the God of Logic and Emotion. I am not sure why he only graced you with his stuffy side though. Anyways this most stifling of titles comes with the effect of effectively removing all emotional responses. Then again removing everything is impossible so especially powerful emotions will manage to make their way to the surface. Like, say if you''re really really really really mad then you will feel that emotion, but at that point, you are really really really really mad so everyone else should stay away. Hanging out with an extremely angry dragon is bad for personal health. This explanation brought to you by the one and only Goddess of Change and Balance
After reading the titles description it makes sense to me now why I lack many emotional responses, but it still fails to explain why the title was given to me in the first place. Then again, I should probably see this title as a blessing in disguise because without it I probably have gotten myself into a lot of trouble by now. The last thing that I needed upon first waking up was my two year old brain helping run the show. That aside though at least I confirmed what the spell does and I should probably inspect as much of my status as possible before Rebecca comes to get me. I have a feeling that once my physical training starts I am not going to have many chances to check my status again. Well since I have decided it''stime to get working. Centering my focus on the title ¡®Chosen of Balance and Change¡¯ I cast {Status Explain}. After a short wait, the description for the first title disappears and a new one appears to replace it.
Chosen of Change and Balance So you finally decided to use one of the more useful spells I gave you. Honestly, what took you so long? I was starting to worry that you did not like some of my gifts. I mean really now how could anyone not like something from a goddess. Anyways, rather than reading my complaints you are probably more interested in what being my chosen means. Well since you are my chosen I have granted you a few skills. I have also made sure to change the descriptions for everything in your status into easier to understand more fun to read formats. There might also be one or two other things I have slipped in here and there but they do not matter much at the moment. Except maybe the fact that I limited you to four words a sentence because I thought your short curt sentences were cute. I guess that one might matter just a bit. Anyways I am not asking anything of you as my chosen. No goat sacrifices at midnight on the night of a full moon while naked or anything like that, but well I don¡¯t think any of the gods would demand that kind of thing (well maybe Naofa might she always has been a strange one). So reiterating all I want is for you to live your life. So go little chosen live how you choose to live because you are the only one who lives outside of the balance. My little harbinger of change. Also since you seem to questionmy spell naming (I think they are just fine) you can rename the three spells I granted you. Just concentrate on the one you wish to rename and think of the new name you want to give it. This explanation brought to you by the one and only Goddess of Change and Balance
My patron goddess is as strange as ever, but at least now I know she does not want anything from me. Well, that is if I believe what she says and she has never given me anyreason not to believe her. However, I am not sure what my thoughts should be on the goddess being the reason my etiquette teacher beat me. As for renaming the spells I could think of new names now, but I can¡¯t exactly be sure of all their functions yet. Well, rather than mulling over this I should properly examine everything on my status page before Rebecca gets here. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Reading through all these has certainly taken a while. Well, it¡¯s not like I can actually tell how long it really has taken. It did really help out when I figured out that I could examine up to three things at once. Anyways only three things left so I focus on them and {Status Explain}.
Charm Aura So this one is pretty easy to wrap your head around. It¡¯s pretty much just the normal succubus skill ¡®Charm¡¯ but this one comes with a twist. ¡®Charm¡¯ is something you choose to activate and for ''Charm'' to work you need to make eye contact. This skill, on the other hand, is like constantly firing off charm about ten or so meters in all directions around you. No targeting or eye contact needed. So long as someone comes within ten meters of you and their Wis is lower than your charm then they get charmed. Nice and simple, isn''t it? Fun fact the only other mortal who has ever had this skill was the only succubus ever to rule as queen of the demons and boy did she ever make good use of this skill when she ruled over the demons. Not exactly sure how your creators got any of her to make into you but hey they did and that''s that. This explanation brought to you by the one and only Goddess of Change and Balance
Bloody Regeneration So a normal vampire might have the skill ¡®Blood Healing¡¯ if they are lucky. At most ¡®Blood healing¡¯ might regrow a finger given enough blood and that is if they are very lucky. This skill is a whole different animal because it seems that when you mix a vampire who heals off blood and a succubus who heals off of um *cough* less savory fluids well you get something pretty amazing. An interesting fact is that this combination of demon bloodlines is impossible naturally. As the child of a succubus will always be a pure blooded succubus without fail. Now onto explaining the skill. So ¡®Bloody Regeneration¡¯ will heal just about anything with enough blood. Even death it seems because, oh boy, when they started removing your heart I was already making an emergency call to Naofa. Well, it turns out with this skill you just add enough blood and everything will get better. Ok maybe not everything I think Naofa¡¯s headache over this is just going to get worse, but let''s just keep that between us. This explanation brought to you by the one and only Goddess of Change and Balance
Modified Right, so this title is kinda my fault. I¡¯ll admit I may have tampered with your body a little here and there. Honestly other than the chantless casting (which was not easy to set up you know. There is a reason dragons need to chant and that reason is that their magic is ridiculously powerful. You are basiclly a dragon with a little demon mixed in. So it took a ton of effort to get the whole chantless thing working) I have not made too many other changes. So I will be asking that you forgive me for the other teeny tiny modifications I made. You know like the whole only being able to speak four words every fifteen seconds things. Totally had no idea your teacher would get so mad over something so cute, at least I think it¡¯s really cute. This explanation brought to you by the one and only Goddess of Change and Balance
Well, that is finally all of them and while I am slightly wary about what was left unsaid in that last title there really is nothing that can be done if the goddess decided to do something extreme. At least I am now informed about everything in my status and just checking my status out gave me a pretty good idea how this collar is limiting me. Though I do wish there was some explanation as to why some skills failed to seal, but with how long it took me to read through everything I think Rebecca will probably show up sooner rather than later. I guess while waiting for her it would be more productive for me to try and think of ways to eventually get this collar off. When I do decide to escape it¡¯s only going to hinder me. As I start trying to think up possible ways to cancel out the effects of the collar currently in place around my neck the sound of the door opening pulls me from my thoughts. Turning around I see Rebecca walk into the room. When she sees me in front of the mirror a smile forms on her face for the briefest of moments before she says, ¡°Oh? Curious about our appearance are we? Well, since you seem to have put your training clothes on properly let''s not waste any time. We are going to meet the person who will be your instructor for the next five years.¡± Without another word Rebecca turns around and leaves the room forcing me to hurry after her. When I finally catch up I take the opportunity to look around as we walk. Since it is a rare occasion where I can observe the facility that is currently housing me I try to pay extra attention. However, there is nothing for me to really see as all the corridors we are walking down are more or less the same. Endless white halls lined with doors. After walking in silence for a while we finally reach a corridor with a single door at the end. Stopping Rebecca opens the door ushers me in and walks in behind me. Looking around the room I have just entered it should leave me amazed by the fact that it is almost football field sized, but something else in the room has my complete attention. In the center of the room, I see a man standing at 9.7 feet tall with a body that looks to be made more of muscle than anything else. I can¡¯t see what his face looks like because of the amount of distance between us, but judging by his body he probably has one of those battle hardened looks. He has the kind of body that cannot helpbut make me think he has been in and survived countless life or death struggles. As we make our way towards the man I hear him shout something,probably to Rebecca, ¡°So this is the little freak you guys want me to train, huh?¡± Skill Descriptions (Ch.7) (Not a Chapter) *Unedited* A/N: So about this monstrosity, this thing came about when I decided that I wanted some kind of page where people could find what the MC''s skills do. It was a terrible plan and writing it up so very painful. The only thing I can recommend to maintain sanity is read what catches your interest and ctrl+f is very much your friend here. If nothing interests you just skip over this one. Also only skills the MC has looked at using {Status Examine} will show up in here. a short list of ones I think hold good relevant information for those that want to try to get something out of this, but don''t want the entire thing. - Race - Charm (Stat) - Job - Succubus¡¯s Allure - Chantless Invocation - Programming Magic There''s more but I think keeping this list shorter is probably better. One last thing to note is that right now it is unedited and I will be slowly cleaning it up over the next few days. just the thought of editing this thing in one sitting is, to be quite frank, horrible. ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Name Are you really examining this? This box is where your name is shown silly. Then again I guess you don¡¯t have a name yet. Well anyways on to the explanation. Most children will receive their name at the age of one. The parent will decide what they want to call the child take them to a temple of the gods. (Just a fancy place mortals made to worship us. Honestly you could just kneel and offer prayer anywhere really. Whatever god you are praying to will hear it. Really it doesn¡¯t matter if you go to a fancy temple or not.) Petition to their god or goddess of choice for approval. Said god or goddess puts a stamp on it and voila name shows up in the status page. Well ok there is no literal stamp. It''s more of an automated process because otherwise how would we have time for anything else if we are just okaying names all the time. Just between you and me, the whole thing is mostly a formality. A big show to prove that we are running things here but in truth none of us really care what mortals want to name their children. This explanation brought to you by the one and only Goddess of Change and Balance
Race You really are just going to be examining everything aren''t you? Then again I am writing these up so maybe I approve of this? Anyways how about this I will tell you a bit more about how racial bloodlines work instead. So while there only exists four races each race has multiple sub racial bloodlines (Like the demons have vampires, succubus, oni, ogres and more. Good selection of bloodlines those demons.) and with if you add halves into the mix there is an enormous variety of racial bloodlines. So while each race has sub racial bloodlines, they can be even further divided up if you factor in half bloods. You know half bloods, like if a vampire and a oni had a child, that kind of thing. Anyways the resulting child would receive aspects from both bloodlines. Of course the aspects received by the child will be weaker as a result of mixing bloodlines. Halfs can not only be born of two sub races different of the same race, but also by mixing two completely different races. It¡¯s the same idea though, child receives aspects from both bloodlines, but said aspects are weakened by the mixing. Each race and sub racial bloodline also has its own quirks when it comes to producing halfs and heck, some of them can¡¯t even produce halfs. Dragons for instance cannot produce halfs at all. No matter how much you try to make a child between a monster and a humanoid you get nothing and in a dragon''s case, children only happen between two dragons. Then again when you get crazy researchers involved, then you get a very interesting bloodline. Seriously it should be completely impossible to mix more than two bloodlines into one creature. Not that I am referring to you as a creature in a demeaning way. Just using a broad term to explain with that''s all. Monster humanoids or anything in between normally you can only mix and match two bloodlines. Whether a half has a child with a pure blood or another half the child will, at most, only receive from two of the bloodlines. Heck somehow it¡¯s possible, it is however very rare, for a pure blooded child to be born from two halfs. Cases like yours just do not and have never existed. Neither will it ever happen again ¡­ probably. Ok if it''s happened once it might happen again but it¡¯s really really, really, unlikely. Ultimately a child as mixed as you should have gone insane and died already. All in all what I am trying to get at here is bloodlines are complex and normally you cannot mix more than two at once. Also there was a lot of talk about children being made but don¡¯t you dare ask about it. It¡¯s still too early for you to be asking about that. This explanation brought to you by the one and only Goddess of Change and Balance
Age The number represent how old you are. Every year the number goes up by one and when it goes up enough people consider you old. Eventually if the number gets way to high, people might even call you ancient. By the way if you don¡¯t know what a year is get someone to teach you about time. On a more serious note the longest lived humanoid race is ¡­.. Demons. Some demon sub racial bloodlines can live until upto 200 years of age, but the absolute longest lived race are dragons. Dragons simply cannot die of old age and the oldest living dragon is also the first of it¡¯s kind. This explanation brought to you by the one and only Goddess of Change and Balance
Sex Were you born a boy or a girl? I guess you could also be born anything in between. Heck some demon sub racial bloodlines are born sexless and have to choose a sex later in life. There are even some monsters can even change their sex at will. Nature¡¯s so very fascinating. This explanation brought to you by the one and only Goddess of Change and Balance
Level Levels are fun and simple. At least that¡¯s the answer you¡¯d get if you asked the God of Growth and Recession about levels. Well it is his system so the old coot might be slightly biased on the matter. Levels are quite simple, but maybe fun is the wrong term for how their gained. Basically whenever you um ¡­ kill a monster or humanoid you get ... uh, now what did the Growth call it? Ummm ¡­ oh right you get something called experience and when you get enough experience you level up. But really a system based on killing to gain strength really is somewhat barbaric. I will concede to the old codger on one point however, leveling up is handy. Every level you gain ¡­ ah, I really should have listened better when Growth was explaining this to me. I think it was something like you gain a one percent increase in every stat for every level. Well it doesn¡¯t matter how much it. What matters is that, while it might be barbaric method, leveling up is indeed helpful. Also if I can remember to do it later I might be able to create a spell that will allow you check your experiance. Or Maybe you might even make one yourself. This explanation brought to you by the one and only Goddess of Change and Balance
Job Jobs huh? Yea these are kinda strange. So you know how we leave accepting names to an automated system right? Well jobs are also handled on autopilot by the whole status system the God of Growth and Recession created. Problem is this system kinda went rogue shortly after it¡¯s creation. Now normally that wouldn¡¯t be a problem. Growth just has to take the system down and fix the darn thing, but no damned old coot is too proud of his work. Can¡¯t just admit he made a mistake and then go fix it. Nope just has to leave the system there in all it¡¯s mistaken glory. Anyways what I am trying to say here is long story short, I have no clue how Growths system handles assigning jobs. It just kinda does what it does and that''s all I know on the matter. This explanation brought to you by the one and only Goddess of Change and Balance
Health Health is something nice and easy to explain. Basically it is a numerical value given to how alive you are. The lower the number the less alive you are getting and if it hits zero then you stop being alive. In other words, you die. So make sure to keep your health nice and high. Oh right, your maximum health also goes up when your endurance does. I think it was something like five health for every one point of endurance or something. Anyways more endurance means more health and more health means you can take more damage before being rendered not alive. This explanation brought to you by the one and only Goddess of Change and Balance
Mana Mana is just about everywhere and in just about everything. Humanoids and monsters however, can use the mana in their bodies to activate magic. Thats basicly it for mana. There is not much else to say other than the number shows how much mana you have left and if it hits zero then you pass out. Though if you get your mana low enough without hitting zero is cans still lead to exhaustion. One last thing to note. Every Time your mana refills your mana total goes up a little and the amount it goes up depends on how much mana was refilled. Oh and I guess the wisdom to mana ratio might be important to. You get ten points of mana for every one point of wisdom. This explanation brought to you by the one and only Goddess of Change and Balance
Strength (Str) Strength is a number put on how strong your body is and when most people think of strength the mental image of big muscles shows up. Now normally if someone got their strength stat high enough gain huge muscles is very possible because strength signifies your body''s physical power. However not everyone with a huge strength stat is a walking wall of muscle. Anyways the higher the number the stronger you are, but like I just said a higher number does not mean higher muscle mass. You can have a lean body and still have the strength to turn someone into a > with a light tap. I also personally made sure to fix up your body so that no matter how high your strength gets, you will never gain even an ounce of muscle. You can thank me as much as you want later. This explanation brought to you by the one and only Goddess of Change and Balance
Intelligence (Int) Intelligence is quantifying how much information you have gathered. In other words Think of having high intelligence as a ¡°look at how much stuff I know¡± kind of thing. Meaning a person with high intelligence just knows a lot of things, but just knowing a lot is not necessarily useful. Raising your intelligence is just the act of storing information in the brain, but what can you do with all that information once you have it? Answer, nothing at all! Well, ok that information can be used, but you need to know how to use it which is where wisdom comes into play. So examine wisdom and gain a use for the newfound intelligence I just gave you. Oh right I forgot to mention that intelligence also affects magic power. In other words how much bang you get for your magical buck. This explanation brought to you by the one and only Goddess of Change and Balance
Dexterity (Dex) Dexterity is labeling your precise motor controls and flexibility with a nice easy to understand number. Thus if you stretch every day and practice fine precision work regularly, then your dex will go up. Dexterity is mostly useful for craftsman and fighting styles that require a lot of flexibility or use both hands at once. Fun fact, succubi are a sub race that is well known for having high dexterity because Dex is also useful for fighting battles of the *cough* nightly variety. Actually you know what, forget I ever mentioned that fun fact. This explanation brought to you by the one and only Goddess of Change and Balance
Wisdom (Wis) If intelligence is how much you know then wisdom is how well you use that knowledge. Without any wisdom your big number in intelligence in useless. Unless, you only use that big intelligence number for mindlessly casting huge magics. Then it has a use, I guess. But most people gain wisdom naturally as they raise their intelligence anyways. Well ok, some people, gain wisdom naturally as they raise their intelligence. The best way to raise your wisdom is to learn why things are,were and will be. You could also learn how things could have been and how they could turn out. Wow all these wise sayings and stuff are really unlike me ¡­ just learn how to use the information you know to raise your wisdom. Wisdom also raises your mana by ten for every one point you gain in wisdom. Now this explanation is over, I¡®m starting to sound too wise. This explanation brought to you by the one and only Goddess of Change and Balance
Endurance (End) This is a number that shows how much you can endure. Explained in a more defined way endurance is mostly your body''s toughness. So the same attack used on two people with differing levels of endurance will do two different amounts of damage. Ummm if I were to put that in a simple to understand way then, a person with higher endurance will get hurt less than a person with lower endurance. Endurance also affects one''s stamina and health is governed by your endurance. The endurance to health ratio is five health for every one point of endurance. Oh, the way to raise endurance by the way is to make your body endure things. This explanation brought to you by the one and only Goddess of Change and Balance
Charm (Stat) Charm is a stat only owned by succubi and it¡¯s use is to denote numerically how um, appealing they are to others. Yes appealing that''s the word to use here and don¡¯t let others tell you otherwise until you¡¯re older. Now normally a succubus only gains the charm stat after they reach sixteen years of age and develop a need for, a new type of food. Yea that''s it a new type of food. Anyways when a succubus reaches an age when they develop the need for their new food, they gain the skill ¡®Succubus¡¯s Allure¡¯ and this newly gained skill grants them the charm stat. Since your body is currently too young to need said new food, I went ahead and changed your charm stats function a little. What your charm stat does now is instead of um ¡­ more appealing ¡­ to others it instigates a need to protect you in them instead. Oh, before I forget the charm stat is only useful when the skill ¡®Charm¡¯ is used. This explanation brought to you by the one and only Goddess of Change and Balance
Chimeric Being Making a chimera is like making soup. Just throw stuff in and hope for a good end product. At least I think that''s how soups work, everyone always tells me my cooking is pretty bad. Maybe I have been making soup wrong this whole time? Anyways now where was I? Oh right, chimeras are like soup. Yea I got a little sidetracked there, but I think if you were a soup then you would be an amazing one. Or something like that, it sounds kinda weird now that I¡¯ve written it ¡­ well it¡¯s a little too late to be worrying about it now. Anyways this title was granted because you are a chimera that succeeded in existing. This is slightly morbid, but your fifty nine siblings the researchers tried to make ¡­ not a single one lived longer than a few days upon gaining consciousness. Well you are still alive and well so, everything worked itself out in the end right? This explanation brought to you by the one and only Goddess of Change and Balance
Informational Sponge Sponges so soft, squishy and absorbent. Until they get old that is. I find the mind and sponges to be quite alike. When young and fresh they are quite absorbent, but as both get older they find it harder to absorb. What if however your mind was spongy and absorbent forever? That is where this title comes into play, as this title is granted to individuals that will forever have rather absorbent minds. Like a squishy squashy forever sponge ¡­ forget you ever read that. This explanation brought to you by the one and only Goddess of Change and Balance
Genius Programmer So the God of Growth and Recessions status system has some auto titles built in. These auto titles mostly apply to the topic of being genius in any given subject. How they work in a nutshell is that once a mortal learns enough about a topic the system recognizes that fact and rewards them with a title pertaining to their topic of study. Other than being a good way to display that you know way too much about a given topic, this title also has a little perk. A person with a ¡®Genius ¡¯ title will find it easier to work with the subject they earned the title with. Explained simply? You know more about how to use the subject which you have a title for. No extra learning needed. I think it was supposed to be passed off as a reward for working hard on a subject or whatever. One last thing ¡­ how do you, a five year old girl who was unconscious for the first two years of her life, know anything about programming? You know a subject that existed before humans went extinct (ask someone to explain what a human is to you later or something). A subject that researchers, the very same ones who are running the lab you are currently isolated in, cannot even comprehend and yet those very same researchers are the only people to ever even get one of these old human labs running again. In other words currently there is no one in the world, other than you, that knows anything about programing. How very interesting. Anyways we can talk about the details to this very interesting story later. This explanation brought to you by the one and only Goddess of Change and Balance
Follower of Logic This title was granted to you by the God of Logic and Emotion. I am not sure why he only graced you with his stuffy side though. Anyways this most stifling of titles comes with the effect of effectively removing all of your emotional responses. Then again removing everything is impossible so especially powerful emotions will manage to make their way to the surface. Like say if you''re really really really really mad then you will actually feel that emotion, but at that point you are really really really really mad so everyone else should stay away. Hanging out with a extremely angry dragon is bad for one¡¯s personal health. This explanation brought to you by the one and only Goddess of Change and Balance
Chosen of Balance and Change So you finally decided to use one of the more useful spells I gave you. Honestly, what took you so long? I was starting to worry that you did not like some of my gifts. I mean really now how could anyone not like something from a goddess. Anyways, rather than reading my complaints you are probably more interested in what being my chosen means. Well since you are my chosen I have granted you a few skills. I have also made sure to change the descriptions for everything in your status into easier to understand funner to read formats. There might also be one or two other things I have slipped in here and there but they do not matter much at the moment. Except maybe the fact that I limited you to four words a sentence because I thought your short curt sentences were cute. I guess that one might matter just a bit. Anyways I am not asking anything of you as my chosen. No goat sacrifices at midnight on the night of a full moon while naked or anything like that, but well I don¡¯t think any of the gods demand that kind of thing though (well maybe Naofa might she always has been a strange one). So reiterating all I want is for you to live your life. So go little chosen live how you choose to live because you are the only one who lives outside of the balance. My little harbinger of change. Also since you seem to find question in my spell naming (I think they are just fine) you can rename the three spells I granted you. Just concentrate on the one you wish to rename and think of the new name you want to give it. This explanation brought to you by the one and only Goddess of Change and Balance
Organic Clock I find it kinda funny how your body grasped the concept of time. You have been stuck in this tiny room for three years so without ever seeing the sun rise and fall, so how exactly this title happen? Well the answer is something I am not very happy with. Even though I specifically told them not to do anything. Well I guess she didn¡¯t put her name on it, but if she thinks I am not going to chew her out lat-. Um right the title let''s just say a certain someone gave you this and with it a skill that lets your body tell time innately. No fancy clocks or anything like that, your body just knows the time. This explanation brought to you by the one and only Goddess of Change and Balance
The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.Scientific Genius Another auto given genius title. Since you have seen my other description I don¡¯t need to explain how you got it, but boy did those crazy researchers really pack a lot of science into ya. A lot of science indeed, too bad it''s purpose in your magic is minimal. But who knows maybe you got some good ideas for new spells you could make. This explanation brought to you by the one and only Goddess of Change and Balance
Modified Right, so this title is kinda my fault. I¡¯ll admit I may have tampered with your body a little here and there. Honestly other than the chantless casting (which was not easy to set up you know. There is a reason dragons need to chant and that reason is that their magic is ridiculously powerful. You yourself are basicly a dragon with a little demon mixed in. So it took a ton of effort to get the whole chantless thing working) I have not made too many other changes. So I will be asking that you forgive me for the other teeny tiny modifications I made. You know like the whole only being able to speak four words every fifteen seconds things. Totally had no idea your teacher would get so mad over something so cute. This explanation brought to you by the one and only Goddess of Change and Balance
Pain Resistance So the saying ¡°no pain, no gain¡± is super accurate here. This skill makes it so that things hurt less. Well okay maybe this skill''s name is somewhat misleading. If I had to be precise this skill makes almost everything hurt less. There is one special kind of hurt that won¡¯t hurt less no matter how high you get this skill. Yea ok maybe I am not making much sense, but there is a certain kind of pain this skill will not dampen. Anyways to raise this skill you just need to get hurt, a lot. Getting this skill to level up requires immense amounts of pain, no simple toe stubbing is going to max this one and seeing as being in immense pain is not the greatest pastime which is why this skill is, understandably, rather unpopular. This explanation brought to you by the one and only Goddess of Change and Balance
Instinctual Clock So this skill here goes with your organic clock title. What this little skill you were given does is perfectly calculate time based on when the sun comes up, goes down and comes back up. Now what does that mean for you? Well if you''re not sure what time is, a lot of nothing. Seriously just what was she thinking giving someone who has never even seen the sun a way to tell time. Well it¡¯s not a bad thing mind you. Once you¡¯re let out of here or get out yourself then this skill can be very handy. Say you''re exploring the depths of a dark cave and you have to get home before dark. Well with this skill you know how long is left until dark, very handy no? This explanation brought to you by the one and only Goddess of Change and Balance
Photographic memory Well there was a saying once that went something like ¡°take a picture it¡¯ll last longer¡± or something like that. I was never very good at old human sayings. Anyways this skill is like taking a picture with your eyes and saving it into your brain forever. But I guess before saying that I should explain what a picture is. Ah, this is difficult let''s just say that once you see something you should be able to recall it forever. Well probably, a good deal of cranial blunt force trauma might shake it out, but then again maybe not? Whatever you just remember what you see forever alright? This explanation brought to you by the one and only Goddess of Change and Balance
Mana Sight The prerequisite skill you needed to max to have it to evolve into this one let you kinda feel mana in your body. This evolved version on the other hand lets you see mana in the world around you. You can¡¯t see mana in things with this skill though, that''s a whole different matter. Oh right since this is the first time seeing it I should probably explain the whole prerequisite thing. Okay read carefully because he we go. So for some skills, not all of them mind you, when the skill reaches max level otherwise known as level ten. Then if it can the skill will evolve. leveling an evolving skill through to ten is usually really hard by the way. To level an evolving skill past nine usually has a specific requirement. It can be anything from just knowing something, to something crazy like godly intervention. Though, it¡¯s worth noting that if a skill doesn¡¯t evolve it levels past nine just fine. Oh thats right, there are also some evolved skills that can evolve again, but figuring out how to evolve them again is ... well let''s just say they are pretty good skills if they do evolve a second time. This explanation brought to you by the one and only Goddess of Change and Balance
Mana Perception Everyone has mana in them and this skill is the first step to using it. You know for magic and stuff. Pretty simple skill really, it lets you feel the mana in your body. That''s it, nothing fancy with this one, but it is a crucial first step to using magic. This explanation brought to you by the one and only Goddess of Change and Balance
Charm Aura So this one is pretty easy to wrap your head around. It¡¯s pretty much just the normal succubus skill ¡®Charm¡¯ but this one comes with a twist. ¡®Charm¡¯ is something you choose to activate and for charm to work you need to make eye contact. This skill on the other hand is like constantly firing off charm about ten or so meters in all directions around you. No targeting or eye contact needed. So long as someone comes within ten meters of you and their Wis is lower than your charm then they get charmed. Nice and simple isn''t it? Fun fact the only other mortal who has ever had this skill was the only succubus ever to rule as queen of the demons and boy did she ever make good use of this skill when she ruled over the demons. Not exactly sure how your creators got any of her to make into you but hey they did and that''s that. This explanation brought to you by the one and only Goddess of Change and Balance
Bloody Regeneration So a normal vampire might have the skill ¡®Blood Healing¡¯ if they are lucky. At most ¡®Blood healing¡¯ might regrow a finger given enough blood and that is if they are very lucky. This skill on the other hand is a whole different animal because it seems that when you mix a vampire who heals off blood and a succubus who heals off of um *cough* less savory fluids well you get something pretty amazing. Interesting fact is that this combination of demon bloodlines is impossible naturally. As the child of a succubus will always be a pure blooded succubus without fail. Now onto explaining the skill. So ¡®Bloody Regeneration¡¯ will heal just about anything with enough blood. Even death it seems because, oh boy, when they started removing your heart I was already making an emergency call to Naofa. Well it turns out with this skill you just add enough blood and everything will get better. Ok maybe not everything I think Naofa¡¯s headache over this is just going to get worse, but let''s just keep that between us. This explanation brought to you by the one and only Goddess of Change and Balance
Prehensile Tail Some animals can use their tail to grab stuff. Well with this skill you can too! But you should probably be careful with it. You know because your tail is crazy sharp and stuff. Well other than grabbing since you have such fine control attacking with your tail is also an option. Oh and incase you were curious you got this skill is from the succubus part of you. They put their tails to interesting use during ¡­ *cough* let''s just leave it at that. This explanation brought to you by the one and only Goddess of Change and Balance
Draconic Aura On the food chain in general one creature stands at the top, dragons. Being at the top grants them a few perks. Like simply their overwhelming presence is enough to make any other creature around run or kneel. Now in full dragon form they can¡¯t exactly curb this effect, but when they take human form they can choose to tell the world exactly what they are. Or they can choose to snuff their presence. In your case this skill is that same overwhelming draconic presence on full blast all the time with no off switch. Anyways I will try to find a way to turn it off, but I wouldn¡¯t get my hopes up if i were you. This explanation brought to you by the one and only Goddess of Change and Balance
Enhanced Dynamic Vision Dynamic vision helps you see moving objects. This skill is a simple boost to that. Not much to explain here other than the eyes you inherited from your draconic blood, are really good. This explanation brought to you by the one and only Goddess of Change and Balance
Draconic Language No one teaches a dragon how to talk dragon they just know dragon, mostly because for a dragon to use its unique magic system it needs to chant in draconic. You also need that by the way, the whole chanting in draconic to cast thing. Well atleast you did, before I, you know, tampered around with your body a bit. Eh, let''s just end this explanation by saying that if you ever meet a dragon you can have a nice conversation, maybe. I am not so sure about how they would feel about you. I wouldn¡¯t recommend finding out any time soon either. This explanation brought to you by the one and only Goddess of Change and Balance
Blood Mana You know when humans were around they had all these weird cheesy ideas about vampires. Like they need to drink blood to live or they sparkled under sunlight. Oh, not that I think the fact that you are currently surviving on blood is cheesy or anything. Anyways, the current vampire bloodline very rarely ingests any blood. Honestly it¡¯s taboo in some vampire families, but your everyday vampire does have one thing that links back to blood, their mana. Basicly in almost every other existing bloodline the mana just kinda goes where it wants in the body. Now that¡¯s fine normally, but it does slow down the use of magic. Why? Well because the mana has no efficient way of going where the caster directs it. Vampires on the other hand have mana solely in their blood and so when they direct their mana it uses predetermined paths to go where it needs to. This fact makes vampires slightly better casters. It¡¯s not like crazy better, just a little better. This skill is also one of the reasons I could actually make chantless casting work for you, but let''s not go into that ¡­ it''s complicated. This explanation brought to you by the one and only Goddess of Change and Balance
Draconic Scales A dragon''s scales are sometimes called the perfect defense, but whether that is true or not is another matter entirely. So about this skill, it¡¯s a pretty simple concept, your skin is made of dragons scales. Possible hardest material you can find in the world. I mean to accidently cut yourself you would probably have to use your own scales. I guess after reading that explanation you''re probably wondering why you don¡¯t look like a giant two legged lizard. Well, just examine the next skill on the list and you should be able to figure it out. This explanation brought to you by the one and only Goddess of Change and Balance
Succubus¡¯s Allure This little skill is the reason only succubi have the charm stat. To gain charm you need this skill and to get this skill you need to be a succubus. So considering that you can¡¯t have a half blooded succubus, you not included, only succubi get the charm stat. Anyways the skill usually shows up when the succubus hits around age sixteen and their body starts to need ¡­ um new food was it? I think that was how I put it before ¡­ ugh whatever, look their body just starts to need something that needs charm to get so this skill is gained. Now this skill slowly grants more and more of the charm stat as a succubus ages until they are about age twenty one or so. Meaning that the earlier a succubus gains this skill the more charm they get. Right, I promised to tell you why you aren''t a walking talking iguana didn¡¯t I? Well that is because of this lovely succubus skill. Honestly if a succubus has their skin blemished by anything then attaining the new food they need becomes that much harder. So this skill has the added effect of maintaining perfect skin. No scars, pimples, moles, nothing of the sort. Honestly since you seem to have had this skill since birth it seem to have fused your scales into your skin somehow? So your skin is now tantamount to a dragon''s scales, or something like that? Honestly it¡¯s confusing you have perfect silky smooth skin, that somehow has the durability of dragon scales. It¡¯s probably better if we just leave it at that. This explanation brought to you by the one and only Goddess of Change and Balance
Chantless Invocation So most humanoids do not need to chant to cast their magic. Simply because their mana reserves are too small. Hmmm how to put this, it¡¯s kinda like they are moving a glass of water when they want to cast. No prep needed just pick it up and go. Now this continues to be the case for most monsters that can use magic, but there is one exception, dragons. The amount of mana they move to cast their unique magics are just too enormous to move without any kind of help, thus the chanting. Now you should be really grateful for this skill because I had to try real hard to make this happen. But that doesn¡¯t mean you can cast everything chantless. The bigger the spell the more likely you are to have to call out its name. That doesn¡¯t mean however that I left you out in the cold with having made it so you can only say four words every fifteen seconds and all. The way I changed your whole unique magic is pretty ingenious if I do say so myself, but you can find out about it if you examine that. This explanation brought to you by the one and only Goddess of Change and Balance
Precise Mana Control Another wonderful evolved skill and since you¡¯ve read my previous explanation on evolved skills, I don¡¯t have to give it again. So mana manipulation let you roughly steer your mana. Precise mana control however lets you tell your mana where to go and how much has to go there. A definite improvement over a simple go there command. Most of the uses for this skill take the form of precision mana work. A good example of a use for this skill would be any form of crafting that involves the use of mana. This explanation brought to you by the one and only Goddess of Change and Balance
Mana Manipulation The most basic way of controlling your mana. It''s not very good because all you can do with it is tell your mana where to go. As you level it up eventually eventually you will be able to control how much goes, but you will only a little control with this skill. Needless to say that this skill is mostly used for casting magic. Magic is already a rough concept for humanoids so lacking a little finesse doesn¡¯t do much harm. This explanation brought to you by the one and only Goddess of Change and Balance
Programming Magic Your unique magic, unique even among dragon magics because I, yours truly, have had a hand in upgrading it. You could almost call this a divine magic at this point, but once you can control your own mana better ¡­ well at that point you might be able to find this system''s true potential. So because it seemed fun I used an idea you had to fix up you magic. You know the idea you had to write magic like a program. Anyways using my godly know how I rigged up your unique magic into something like a programming software. The best part about this magic is that your programs don¡¯t even have to be very precise. Honestly if the rules were to rigid then it wouldn¡¯t be very user friendly. So I made it possible for the system itself to ¡°fix¡± a spell that would otherwise fail. Of course that does come with a downside. The more the system has to ¡°fix¡± in your spell, the higher the mana cost for the spell will be. Now if you did account for every single variable and set your spell up just right then the cost will lower tremendously. Not an easy prospect mind you and of course having flexible variables that you can assign as you cast will raise the mana cost for sure. But when you think of the possibilities, well they sure are vast. Now I did promise to tell you about how the chantless casting fits into all this didn¡¯t I? Well if I was to put this in a way that''s simple to understand. The more powerful a spell is supposed to be, the more words you need to chant. Eh, maybe let me phrase that another way. So a simple low cost spell can easily be rendered without chanting to a certain limit. Once a spell gets too powerful trying to cast it chantless will fail. Following me so far? Okay good it''s not much more complex after this. So once a spell fails to activate chantless its name must then be called outloud to cast it. However since the spell is still not incredibly powerful it''s name only needs to be one word long, but once again eventually a spell will get too powerful for a one word chant. At that point that spell will need a name that consists of two words and the system carries until a spell needs a total of four words in its name. Oh, don''t worry by the way any spell you actually vocalise four words for will go off guaranteed. I at least managed that much. Well ok it will go off as long as you have enough mana for the spell. Also don¡¯t forget you can change a spell''s name as often as you want. So make sure to test out your spells thoroughly if chantless isn¡¯t an option. Probably should also be mentioning that I am not entirely sure how to differentiate how powerful a spell is without using it first. Depending on the effect you are giving them, maybe you should test away from others. This explanation brought to you by the one and only Goddess of Change and Balance
Partial Dragonification You inherited something fun here. So when a dragon gets old enough and can take on a humanoid form, it is not limited to simply full dragon or completely humanoid. No it has the choice to hybridize parts of its body at will. Say the dragon wants to make something ¡­ less alive, but their soft squishy human hands just aren''t cutting it? Then said dragon just has to turn said hands into a mixture of something between human and dragon. A mixing of dexterity and power. A dragon in humanoid form can perform this hybridization with any part of its body and if the dragon wished to it could fully assume the form of a draconian humanoid hybrid. I have never personally seen one do so, but I assume it would look similar to what a bipedal komodo dragon for something. Ah right, you wouldn¡¯t know what a komodo dragon is. This explanation brought to you by the one and only Goddess of Change and Balance
Flight Well this one seems pretty self explanatory. I¡¯m not even sure why the system even gives this damn skill out, But I will explain it if I must. You have wings and if you use them the right way you can fly. This skill provides you with the right way. That¡¯s seriously it, nothing more than that. Do try to practice in safety though. Well at least avoid the dragon method of learning. Dropped off a cliff, fly or die. This explanation brought to you by the one and only Goddess of Change and Balance
Charm (skill) A use for the charm stat owned by succubi. Without this skill the charm stat is a completely useless number, but with this skill it becomes a budding succubi¡¯s hunting tool. What does a budding succubi hunt? Eh, well, ummm, let''s just move on with the explanation shall we? So when a succubus makes eye contact with someone and activates this skill if the target''s wisdom stat is lower than the succubus charm stat, the target will then be compelled to ¡­ help, yea that¡¯s right they will help, the succubus in obtaining her ¡­ food. Anyways nowadays most succubi do not use charm to obtain their ¡­ food and instead opt to use establishments created for that very purpose. The use is charm is even considered a public offense in some places. Since I played around with your charm stat your charm is a little different by the way. Instead of wanting to ummm ¡­ help you find food ¡­ if you¡¯re successful in charming your target they will simply want to protect you. This explanation brought to you by the one and only Goddess of Change and Balance
Chapter 8 A/N: A new Day, a new chapter. This one is another chapter, like chapter 6, that the people I asked to read what existed of my story through, before making a decision on to post or not to post, said they were not a fan of because of the subject matter. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ So this man will be my instructor for the next five years. But did he actually just call me a freak? From time to time the researchers use the word monster when they talk about me, but I don¡¯t think anyone has ever called me a freak. I can accept being called a monster, but it¡¯s rather displeasing to the ear to have someone call me a freak. Though, this man seems like the type that tries to degrade others every step of the way. At least, that¡¯s my impression of him from the first words out of his mouth. Pulling myself away from my thoughts I notice we have come to a stop in front of the man who will soon be my instructor and Rebecca is currently addressing him, ¡°Why is it that your kind are always so unreasonable, the little freak? Did that truly have to be the first phrase that came out of your mouth? This is why calling in an ogre like you is a mistake. Even if you used to be an SS ranked slayer there is a limit to how belligerent you can be. No matter what glory''s you achieved in the past, right now you are currently no different from the rest of us. Trash thrown away by the rest of the worldleft to rot for the sake of maintaining their fragile balance.¡± Curious to see how my new instructor will react to Rebecca I crane my neck to look up at him. While looking up at my new instructor I also take notice of how he looks since this is the first time I have met an ogre. My new instructor is bare chested allowing me to better examine him, but his body is pretty much what I saw from afar. All muscle not one scrap of fat anywhere in sight. What I could not see previously though is that scars cover his entire body. As for his face, he pretty much looks how I imagined, but his right eye seems to be missing along with his right ear. As I examine my new instructor it¡¯s easy to tell that he seems wholly unamused by Rebecca¡¯s previous statement as he flatly states, ¡°If I see a freak, then I call it a freak and what I see in front of me right now is a weak little whelp who has given up her pride. A weak little prideless whelp and the tiny freak she created. Now if the noisy little whelp would like to stop barking and leave, then I can begin the work I was paid for. Training. The. Little. Freak.¡± Turning to look at Rebecca I can see her whole body trembling in anger and before things really get out of hand I decide to interject, ¡°A monster, not freak.¡± Upon hearing my statement my new instructor gives me an incredulous look before asking, ¡°Now what the hell are you saying?¡± I decide to be specific this time since he didn¡¯t understand me the first time, ¡°Being called monster preferred.¡± Honestly, I would rather if neither the term monster nor the term freak is used to address me, but if I have to choose between the two then being called a monster is the lesser of two evils. Rebecca is shaking her head at my response and my new instructor is just staring at me. I¡¯m starting to second guess my decision slightly. My goal was to break the current atmosphere, but I wonder if my method was wrong. After some time spent in tense silence, my instructor begins to laugh loudly as he says, ¡°You know what never mind training this one might actually be worth my time. This little monster may not have any fire in its eyes, but after that little statement, I can tell that it also has no fear. Slowly teaching monsters the meaning of fear before ripping them limb from limb when they try to run. Now those were better days. Actually one of the prideless whelps you call an associate told me something interesting. No matter how much I break this little monster it can be fixed with some blood right? Ah, what a good toy you whelps have made and here I was thinking this job would be a boring waste of time. I am starting to understand why he told me to take this job.¡± Well, forget about referring to this ogre as my instructor from now on. This ogre doesn¡¯t seem like an instructor at all anymore. He is starting to sound more and more like a madman every time he opens his mouth. Hopefully, the researchers set some ground rules for him or this is going to be a horrible five years. I look up at Rebecca hoping she has something to say about this, but instead she just looks dejected as she says, ¡°Yes if you feed it blood or allow it to absorb blood through its skin it should heal just about any damage sustained, but do try to not break it mentally. We can¡¯t have our weapon suffering from a mental breakdown. Once you complete it¡¯s training our weapon will finally be ready for its first test run and we would like to have it functioning properly at that time.¡± Having said her part I watch as Rebecca turns and walks away. When she is halfway to the door I hear the ogre yell out from behind me, ¡°Don¡¯t you worry by the time I¡¯m done, your cute little weapon will be unbreakable. Well, that or completely broken. Depends on how tough you made the little monster.¡± I watch Rebecca until she exits the door once more shaking her head and once she is completely out of sight I turn back to the ogre and cast {Status Other}.
This status is protected by the God of Privacy and Peeping
What? I can¡¯t see this ogre¡¯s status? So I have to survive five years with this maniacal ogre and I can¡¯t find out anything about him. Well, this certainly makes my future look bleak. At this point, I can only resign myself to fate. There isn¡¯t exactly anything I can do to get out of this situation with my own power and my only way out just threw me to the wolves. Well in my case I was thrown to a crazy ogre. ¡°What''s the matter little monster? You look like your thinking real hard. Then again if you have time for thinking, then we can start with the training. Turn around and walk twenty steps forward. Now!¡± the ogre''s condescending voice drags me from my thoughts. Not wanting to get on the ogre''s bad side already I turn around and hurry to walk to the instructed location. After ten steps I suddenly feel a sharp pain in my back and before I can assess what''s happening my vision starts distorting. Not only that, but I also start feeling sick. Then the colors in the room brighten to an almost unbearable degree. Finally, my muscles give out and I collapse. A pair of legs enters my field of vision while I am laying on the ground unable to move anything at all. I feel a hand grab my hair and yank my head up forcing my sight onto the ogre¡¯s face. At the fringes of my vision, I can barely see a sword in his hand. The ogre lets go of my hair dropping me back to the floor. As the pair of legs in my field of vision start to walk away I can hear the ogre start talking to himself, ¡°Those damn whelps couldn¡¯t have done any of this themselves? Well, it''s not like I ain¡¯t getting paid well for this job, but to think I have to raise this damn little monster¡¯s resistances myself. Well then again if this little monster is as durable as they say, then I might be able to get this done faster than usual. Might even throw in a few extras maybe even try to add something new to the mix. Definitely going to have to ask for extra, payment, though.¡± After the ogre stops talking the room falls into complete silence for a bit and then I hear his voice again right beside my ear, ¡°So if you''re still coherent enough to understand anything I am saying right now, congratulations. What''s currently happening here is what I like to call a resistance training crash course. Not a widely popular method mind you mostly because most people that decide to try it die. But considering that you seem damn hard to kill this seems like a fun choice. Now what has been done here is that I injected you with three extremely potent substances. A hallucinogenic, a rather potent poison, and a wonderful paralyzing toxin. The best part, all three were made by yours truly, me. Now this mix would normally be enough to kill an S ranked monster, but since they said your healing is excellent this should suffice to get the resistance training over with quite rapidly. Now by the end of this training you should be immune to all three of these lovely poisons, but why stop there? I say while we are at it, we can have a bit more fun.¡± When the ogre finishes his sentence I can feel him pick up my arm. I can only try to mentally brace myself since I¡¯m unsure what he plans to do. Suddenly I feel pain like never before along with what feels my arm being severed. Since I can¡¯t scream and I can¡¯t pass out no matter how much it hurts all that''s left is for me to silently endure as the ogre cuts off my other arm. Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. ¡°Do you know what the beautiful part about this cocktail of poisons is? It¡¯s not just the fact that this cocktail makes it impossible for the victim to lose consciousness. No this beautiful mix of mine also effectively amplifies the pain it¡¯s victim feels about five times over. However, because of this wonderful mix, my privileges as a slayer were wrongly taken from me. Ah, they just don¡¯t understand it¡¯s beauty. Just think of the applications for it, but here I am prattling on while you slowly bleed away. Now when most people train their resistances they only work on their poison, paralysis, and mental resistances. Now, that¡¯s fine in battles against exotic monsters, but what about the battle against nature. I am talking about heat and cold resistances. While these are difficult to train rapidly there are indeed ways to do so. What do you think seals a bleeding wound better? Cauterizing or freezing?¡± Through the maddening amounts of pain, I can barely make out the ogre prattling on to himself. Without any warning, I suddenly experience a new type of pain and I can smell the odor of burning flesh, as what remains of my left arm is cauterized. At the same time, I can feel the remains of my right arm being frozen solid. At this point, I can hardly register anything other than pain as the ogre replicates to my legs what has happened to my arms. I barely feel the ogre place his hand on my back. The ogre starts talking again, but the pain addles my brain so I only catch bits of what he is saying, ¡°Did you know ¡­ there are ¡­ in the labyrinths ¡­ extreme mana ¡­ poisonous even to demons ¡­ people ¡­ possible to ¡­ resistance ¡­¡± Those are the last words I hear before a new feeling hits me. If what I felt before was pain then this is on an entirely different level. It is like having all the blood in my body suddenly turn into liquid fire. This liquid fire not only burns, but it also freezes, shifts from liquid to solid, flows forwards then backwards constantly in a state of utter chaos. Finally, my vision starts to fade to black, but before I pass out one last coherent thought forms in the chaos of my mind. I have never managed to hate anyone in this life, but right now I hate this man. I want to kill this man. I will kill this man. I. Will. Slaughter. This. Ogre. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ¡°I think we can now consider your resistance training completed. Hm, to think it only took six months for you to completely resist my beautiful cocktail. But when that whelp told me you could be fixed with blood I really didn¡¯t think it would ever work that well. That side effect was really something else, though, I even had to try a little that day. Alright ten minute break as usual, but afterwardwe are changing the curriculum!¡± I hear the demon ogre shout from across the room signaling me to stop running and take a break. This damned ogre, who makes a person do strength training while poisoned? But at least I am immune to his poisons now. Every day for the first three months, well three months according to the ogre, was terrible. It was that damn mix of poisons, burning, freezing and worst of all mana poisoning at all times. When my body couldn¡¯t take it anymore that damn ogre would just force feed me blood and then merrily continue his torture disguised as training. As if building my resistances to various negative statuses along with heat and cold wasn¡¯t enough. That damn crazy ogre had to add in mana resistance training. From what information I could gather from his insane ramblings mana poisoning is a big problem for adventures and he decided to use me to test whether training to resist it was feasible or not. Mana poisoning is in essence when the body absorbs too much foreign mana, but I don¡¯t really understand what it does to the body. Other than induce otherworldly amounts of pain of course. Under normal circumstances contracting mana poisoning seems impossible because the mana in the air is way too thin. But from what the ogre was saying there are places where it is a big problem. There is also the possibility of someone forcefully inserting their own mana into you, but the dangers seem equally high for the one inserting their mana if the receiver struggles at all. The forced mana poisoning completely stopped having any effect on me rather quickly. Not that I wasn¡¯t still at the mercy of the five other methods of torture he had and after three months, once I could barely stand under the effects of his poisons, that demon ogre even made me start strength training, while poisoned! Being the psychopathic ogre that he is my cold and heat torture were not neglected during that time. Even if it was a method that I think would make even a serial killer cringe at least it waseffective. Now no matter what poison that bastard uses I am now completely immune to it and I can no longer feel hot nor cold. Not being able to feel hot or cold leaves me slightly conflicted because comfortable things like a hot shower or feeling a cool breeze on a hot day are no longer possible. On the other hand, it does mean I am now unaffected by things like fire, but I guess if someone did something like freezing me solid it would still suffocate me. Looking up I see the ogre walking towards me. Remembering what he said about changing my training makes my body tense up involuntarily and I start trying to think of what possible ¡®training'' methods this sadistic psychopath could possibly come up with. When he arrives in front of me the ogre crouches down grabs my chin and forces me to look him in the eye before he says, ¡°This next part is something I have always wanted to try. I did try it once with a two headed garm. The thing tried its best, but in the end, it simply broke. This time, however, I have you and since you set a new record time on completing my resistance training. Well, let''s just say I have high hopes.¡± As he lets me go the ogre stands back up and that is the last thing I see before the world goes completely dark. I notice that I¡¯m still conscious, but that I can¡¯t see. I decide the ogre must have done something to limit my sight. Suddenly I feel something wet running down my cheeks and so I reach up to touch it. I can tell the substance on my cheeks is a liquid, but it¡¯s unknown to me what it is. I bring the fingers that touched the unknown liquid up to my nose, hoping I can figure out what it is by smell. The sharp smell of iron hits me and I realize that it¡¯s ¡­ Blood. Did that damn demonic ogre really just destroy my eyes? What the hell could he possibly have planned? This situation is also making me realize just how much of a problem it is for me not to feel pain anymore. It¡¯s taken me way too long just to figure out that my eyes have been destroyed and this is a major wound. Just how many minor wounds could I pile up from now on without realizing it? Another side effect from this demon ogres resistance torture was that eventually, I stopped feeling any pain when he cuts limbs off. At the time I had considered it a blessing, but I am now starting to realize just how much of a problem it actually is. ¡°Man what a boring reaction. You find out your eyes are missing and you just stop to think about something? Couldn¡¯t you freak out a little and let me have some fun with this? Then again, there is plenty of fun to come with the upcoming training. As you probably have figured out, you are currently blind. I can almost hear you wondering, why exactly did I need to blind you so violently. Well, there are two reasons, the first one is you are going to learn to detect and dodge me without your sight. As for the second reason, I ripped your eyes out because I hoped you would give me a good reaction. Gotta have some fun with this job right? Oh by the way, I¡¯m not only asking you to find and dodge me without sight. Your hearing has to go as well,¡± as he finishes his sentence I feel the demon ogres hands clap me on both ears and his condescendingly gleeful tone is the last thing I hear before the world falls silent. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ A/N: When asked the people I had read my story said that the idea for this character hit prettymuch spot on. My thought process when creating thiswonderful ogre was psychopath. Some people may not agree with a character like this, but the way I see it is, strife creates a need for strength and this guy is a perfect source of strife. Chapter 9 A/N: Tommorow marks the last day of daily releases since all my pre written chapters will be released with tommorows chapter. But more on that tommorow. I also want to quickly say that the story will not be all dark all the time. The reasoning behind that mostly because if I made it only dark then it really would lose its effect. So there will be fluffy from time to time, but never forget that in the presence of light hidden darkness only deepens. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ How long has it been since I was thrust into this silent darkness? A month or a year or maybe it has been even longer? I can¡¯t even tell anymore. I¡¯m stupid for even thinking that counting the days using my meals as a point of reference would be easy, not with that damn demon ogre around. The demon ogre makes sure to keep my meals as inconsistent as possible. I can get fed when I¡¯m slightly hungry, starved half to death, or not hungry at all. It¡¯s all a big game to that damned demon ogre. He never planned on me ever successfully dodging any attack he throws. That damn demon ogre expects me to just give up and go mad in this silent darkness. Not that I haven¡¯t tried to escape the darkness. At first, I thought of maybe saving the blood capsules I got. Eventually, I would have enough to heal my eyes and ears, but somehow every time I''ve tried to save up my meals that damned demon ogre found out. He¡¯s somehow known every time I didn¡¯t eat and wouldn¡¯t feed me again until I was so starved that I had no choice. No choice, but to eat the very blood I was trying to save up. Then there is the demon ogres so called ¡®training¡¯. All he ever does to ¡®train¡¯ me is show up and punches or kicks me once, then leaves. I¡¯ve been forced to learn to sleep while being constantly wary of attacks from the darkness because that damn demon ogre could show up anytime. But even if I was being as wary as possible, trying to dodge an existence I can¡¯t even perceive is useless. Somehow that damned demon ogre has a way of hiding his scent and not only that he can also remove any wind disturbances his attacks would make, probably with magic. In the end dodging him is like trying to dodge a ghost. You know an attack is coming, but it''s impossible to know exactly when or where. How exactly am I supposed to complete this training of his? I guess that I¡¯m not, this ¡®training¡¯ was probably set up by that damn demon ogre to break me. To form me into an empty puppet, a perfect receptacle, for being taught combat techniques. Well, the demon ogre¡¯s plan almost succeeded, but at some point, something changed. A completely unexpected flaw in his otherwise perfect plan. There was something else in this completely dark silent world. Something else that everyone in the world takes for granted, but for me, it was a way out. Mana. Everyone in this world can perceive mana if they try and some might even be able to see it with enough effort. But understanding mana remains an elusive dream, just out of reach. The people of this world know how to use the mana within their own bodies for magic, but what about the mana in the air around them? What about the mana in the bodies of others? Some people can go from ¡®Mana Perception¡¯ to ¡®Mana Sight¡¯, but even if they can see the mana present around them what can they do with it? I was the same, I knew the mana was there, but I couldn¡¯t interact with it. I couldn¡¯t make use of it, but I decided to try something since I was completely entrapped by this darkness. I wanted something, anything, to help me escape this isolation. So I decided to try using the mana around me. I wanted to try using it to fill the void formed by the loss of my senses, but that plan was ultimately futile. With that failure came a realization. I couldn¡¯t turn the mana into a part of me because I was a part of it. I let my senses be taken by the mana around me. Instead of forcing the mana to become my lost senses I let my senses become mana. In the end, I¡¯m not sure how everything worked out the way it did, but now I simply feel with the mana inside me, around me, and in others. Mana has become an essential part of my being, it¡¯s no longer just a medium with which I use to cast magic. At first, it was quite a foreign feeling, trying to sense the world around me through the mana in it, but now I could probably live quite normally even if someone shut out all my other senses. Becoming so intimate with mana has also had another effect. Controlling mana has become completely natural, something akin to breathing. I can only control the mana inside myself and in the air around me. I cannot directly influence the mana in someone else. Using my newfound control over mana I manage to disable the collar around my neck, but even with the collar disabled its effects are still present. With the magic in it completely dismantled, somehow the collar¡¯s limiting effects still remain intact. Ever since I''ve gotten used to my new sense I''ve also been able to begin trying to clear this portion of the damn demon ogres training. At first, it was completely useless, even if I could tell where he was and what he was doing, dodging him at all was another matter entirely. So far everything I have tried to do to try avoiding any of that damned demon ogres attackshas led to me getting to know the ground much more intimately. No matter what I try he counters without fail, but lately, I have been getting better. I almost managed to avoid the demon ogre completely the last time he came around. The next time he shows up, I have a feeling that it could be possible to finally clear this damned ¡®training¡¯ of his. As I try to plot out the possible ways the demon ogre might attack me next time, I feel something disturb the mana around the room''s only door. As usual, the only thing alerting me to the demon ogres presenceis the mana in his body as he gets in range of my mana sense. Since he is leisurely walking towards me I tense my body in preparation and hopefully, I¡¯m ready for anything. Once the demon ogre is standing right behind where I¡¯m sitting, he proceeds to do nothing. He just stands there and waits. I have to be ready for anything, I just have to not get hit and my life living in this darkness can come to an end. Living in silent darkness constantly wary of assault from the unknown. Constantly wary of attacks that remain undodgeable even when they are seen. I could change this life by just not getting hit, I can change it. I will change it. Almost like he was simply waiting for me to make my convictions, I feel the mana in the demon ogre¡¯s arm condense. Then like someone letting go of a compressed spring his arm shoots out towards my head. Dodging the arm speeding towards me I then vault my body into the air to avoid the leg I can feel flying towards my torso. When I feel the mana in his other arm condensing and there is only one way for me to dodge while stranded in the air. I feed mana into my wings to release them and as fast as possible I unfurl my wings to full span. Once my wings are three fourths open I flap them once as hard as I can to try and outdistance the arm currently hurtling towards me. I assume my tactic worked since there isn¡¯t any impact like there would be if I was hit. Landing on the ground I start trying to find that damned demon ogres current position to properly ready myself for his next attack. Where is he? There is no blind spot in my mana sense for him to hide in. The only way he could evade my mana sense would be if ... but how could he possibly suppress all the mana in his body? If he could do this from the start, then, this whole thing has been a farce. If he can avoid my only possible method left of detecting him then I can¡¯t ever complete this ¡®training¡¯. All of a sudden I feel something get shoved into my mouth and I¡¯m made to forcibly to swallow something. After a brief moment of panic, I realize what I am currently being forced to swallow, blood. I obediently finish drinking the blood and once I finish drinking my eyes and ears start to repair themselves. By the time my ears stop ringing, my new eyes have adjusted themselves to the light and I can see the demon ogre waving his hand in my face. I nod to him to confirm that my sight has returned and he stops waving. ¡°Good, good, man that dodging of yours really surprised me this time. Almost brings a tear to my eye that our little game of cat and mouse has to end, but I did say all you had to do to win was dodge me once. Man, I so was sure that last punch was gonna hit too. Really was a surprise to me that you have wings. So how well do these work anyways?¡± as the demon ogre asks his question he grabs one of my wings. I quickly retract my wings because I don¡¯t want him getting any funny ideas. Looking a little dejected the demon ogre pulls his hand back from where my wing was and goes back to examining me. After examining me for a bit the demon ogre finally starts talking again, ¡°Really can¡¯t figure out how you managed to find me, but since you couldn¡¯t dodge the blood vial. Then there is the possibility that you were probably tracking my mana. Though, I can¡¯t say I know how you would ever manage that. Oh, by the way, nice parlor trick with the whole disappearing wings thing. Enough of that, from here on we can start the real training. The whelps are pretty mad that I wasted a year and a half with our little game, but I think it was worth it in the end. I mean it was fun for me and it didn¡¯t even break you! Which means we can do whatever I want when it comes to combat training. I am so looking forwards to this little monster. First order of business, however, is figuring out what you want to use as a weapon. honestly, what weapon you prefer means absolutely nothing. You''re going to be picking up a variety of weapons anyways, but I thought it might be nice to let you pick what I beat into you first. Then again seeing as you are a little monster. Yea, you know what forget choosing. Monsters have to fight with tooth and claw, so it shall be unarmed combat first. Oh right, almost forgot, apparently I have to give you three straight hours to practice magic once a week or something. But that''s boring so, you can practice magic during your daily ten minute breaks. Anyways you¡¯ve got ten minutes or so to readjust to seeing and stuff.¡± Finished with his explanation the demon ogre walks away, leaving me to confirm how my new mana sense works in conjunction with my old ones. After a bit of testing, I find that my new mana sense does not interfere with my sight and hearing at all. It is simply a sixth sense added to the already present five. If anything my eyesight and hearing are better than before I lost them. Having confirmed that there is nothing wrong with my new parts I sit down and start to think about what the demon ogre just said. So I am finally going to learn to protect myself, huh. But knowing that damn demon ogre this ¡®training¡¯ is going to turn into another excuse to torture me. Torture or training the end result speaks for itself I guess. So far I have always gotten something out of his ¡®training¡¯, but he is still a psychopath. I can¡¯t even begin to imagine what he has in store for combat ¡®training¡¯. Actually, I can only imagine it¡¯s probably going to be one sided fights to near death. With me being on the near death side of things every time. Getting up I search the room for the demon ogre. Since my last dodge, I haven''t been able to sense the mana inside of him at all, so I am forced to locate him with my eyes. When I see the demon ogre in the middle of the room our eyes meet and he shouts, ¡°Well if you''re looking for me then your breaks over. Right then let''s get this started, attack me however you like. No magic mind you, any of that and I¡¯ll have to get some extra teaching in. On second thought, use magic all you want and then I can have some fun disci- ¡­ teaching you.¡± Okay, note to self no magic, but what the heck does he want me to do? I have no idea how to go about attacking a giant mountain of meat and muscle. Even then what is unarmed combat even supposed to be? Do I just go up and punch him and what about kicking? I know grapples exist. What kind of silly teaching method is ¡°attack me however you like¡±. Then again given his prior offenses, it¡¯s better than before. ¡°Are you going to attack? Or, maybe you want me to show you how it¡¯s done first? C''mon you''re a little monster, let your instincts take over and attack me. You better do something before I lose my patience. Unless, maybe you''re trying to make me lose my patience? That would make you one brave little monster now wouldn¡¯t it,¡± the demon ogre goads me from his position at the center of the room. Since I don¡¯t want the demon ogre to rile himself up any more than he already has I quickly run over and try to throw a punch at him. But the demon ogre simply steps out of the way, which results in me tumbling to the floor in a rather grand fashion. ¡°What the hell was that supposed to be? Not only was it slow, but it was also completely predictable. Do you know why I am telling you to rely on your instincts? Well, I¡¯ll tell you why! It¡¯s because when you came at me when that side effect kicked in ¡­ well, frankly it was wonderful. Like a wild beast untamed and unpredictable. So get the hell up, try to tap into that mindset and come at me before I come at you!¡± I hear the demon ogre shout from above me. Tap into that mindset he says. I don¡¯t even remember that day! How am I supposed to understand something without memory of it? Well if I keep mulling over it this damn demon ogre is probably going to make this harder than it already is. Getting back to my feet I try to attack the demon ogre with a kick this time, but he catches my leg. He then proceeds to lift me into the air and dangles me upside down. After leaving me dangling for a while the demon ogre seems to make up his mind and transfers his hold to my arm instead. Stolen story; please report. He lifts me until we are eye to eye and says, ¡°Alright you don¡¯t seem to understand the situation here. So, I am going to make this very simple, every time you fail to hit me I am going to bend something the wrong way. Then you are going to keep trying to land hits, bends and all. Once you are immobile from all the bending you will be fed blood and once you''re all fixed up, we will start again. Luckily since you are, really, bad at this you are going to be ingesting a lot of blood. Which means we are going to see that wonderful little side effect again. Hopefully, after it happens enough, you might start to remember the feeling and learn to Gods damn fight!¡± after finishing his explanation the demon ogre grabs my arm with his other hand and as promised he breaks it before dropping me to the floor. I don¡¯t feel any pain from the broken arm, but getting up is more difficult without its use. After I manage to get myself up I try to attack the demon ogre again. My attack once again fails and this time, he breaks a finger on my good arm. Like the demon ogre promised, the cycle of attack and break continues until I am unable to move. Seeing me immobile the demon ogre forces blood down my throat and the cycle starts again. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ¡°Man am I glad these whelps have gotten really good at fixing this kind of thing. I take it easy for just a moment and a little monster with only three hundred strength and dexterity takes my arm. Guess that means I can¡¯t keep calling you a little monster anymore. Alright, then you have graduated to simply being a monster! Congratulations monster, you don¡¯t need my training anymore. Ah, it''s been an enjoyable five years. Who knew it could be so much fun to break something that can be fixed perfectly over and over again. Now don¡¯t go getting too excited, you¡¯re not rid of me just yet. Those whelps want me to take you on your test run. The test is pretty simple too. We walk into the first town we see, I deactivate the collar and you destroy everything in sight. Fun right? Oh, don¡¯t even think about trying to attack me when I deactivate the collar because it can be turned back on just as quick. Anyways you got two hours to get ready. One of the whelps should show up to take you to your room and until I come get you for your test run, you can do whatever you like in there,¡± finishing his sentence the demon ogre then turns and walks for the door with his right arm in hand, severed at the elbow. Finally, I¡¯m finally done with that damn torturous demon ogres ¡®training¡¯. Though, I do have to admit that the gains were quite immense. I am now proficient with a lot of weapons, immune to poison, paralysis, mental attacks, burning, cold, mana poisoning and I also have my mana sense now. But today is finally my chance, I get to escape and kill that damn demon ogre. I thought getting a chance to kill him would be difficult. When my training was over I half expected him to take his money and leave. If he did that, then I would have to try to hunt him down after escaping this place. Instead, the demon ogre is the one that has to guide me out of this facility. So I can finally kill him and once he is dead my escape is guaranteed. Before I start planning though I should confirm my status again. I have been checking it a lot recently so there shouldn¡¯t be anything new, but since today is an important day it''s better to be sure so {Status}.
Name: Race: Chimera Sub-races: Vampire, Succubus, Dragon
Age: 10 Sex: Female
Level: 1 Job: Error
Health: 134068/238050 Mana: 4500/5000 (limted) (634819Max)
Str: 300 (limited) (33215Max) Int: 300 (limited) (27221Max)
Dex: 300 (limited) (35658Max) Wis: 300 (limited) (24769Max)
End: 47610 Charm: 2000
Titles: Skills:
Chimeric Being Informational Sponge Passives: Racial Passives: Actives: Racial Actives:
Genius Programmer Follower of Logic Photograhpic Memory LvL - Draconic Language LvL - Complete Mana Control LvL - (evolved) Charm LvL 1
Chosen of Change and Balance Organic Clock Mana Sense LvL - (evolved) Blood Mana LvL - Programming Magic LvL - Spells + Flight LvL 4
Scientific Genius Modified Instinctual Clock LvL - Draconic Scales LvL- (fully limited) Chantless Invocation LvL - Partial dragonification LvL -
Immune Limited Pain ImmunityLvL - (evolved) Succubus''s Allure LvL - Limiter LvL - ---
Combat Genius Fear of Muscle (fully Limited) Mana Immunity LvL - (evolved) Enhanced Dynamic Vision LvL - Over Limit LvL - ---
--- --- Mental ImmunityLvL - (evolved) Charm Aura LvL - (fully limited) --- ---
--- --- Paralysis ImmunityLvL - (evolved) Prehensile Tail LvL - (fully limited) --- ---
--- --- Posion ImmunityLvL - (evolved) Bloody Regeneration LvL - --- ---
--- --- Cold ImmunityLvL - (evolved) (fully limited) Cold Resistance LvL 8 (20% limited) Draconic Aura LvL - (fully limited) --- ---
--- --- Heat Immunity LvL - (evolved) (fully limited) Heat Resistance LvL 8 (20% limited) Blood Rage LvL - --- ---
--- --- Enhanced Senses LvL - --- --- ---
Looking at my status everything¡¯s the same as the last time I checked with the exception of my stats having gone up a bit more. Since I already examined everything new over the last few times I checked there shouldn¡¯t be any need to do it again. Browsing over all my skills one last time I start thinking. Really, though, if it wasn¡¯t for this ¡®Limiter¡¯ skill I am sure that damned demon ogre would have already caught onto my plan. Honestly, it¡¯s hard to believe a skill like this even exists. Wouldn¡¯t most people die before ever gaining this skill? Deciding to examine ¡®Limiter¡¯ again I focus on it and cast {Status Examine}. Immediately a blue screen appears above my status.
Limiter My goodness, you are living with some crazy people. How did they ever let things get so bad that this skill shows up? Okay so to get this a person has to spend several years training with their stats severely limited and it''s not just any training either. To get this skill you have to be pushing your poor limited body as far as it can go and if for any reason you unlimit your stats before getting this skill, poof all that effort has gone to waste. Most people who knowingly try to get this skill either have to give up or their bodies break before theskill is gained. Now I bet you¡¯re thinking ¡°well if it''s so hard to get, then isn¡¯t it good?¡±. Little one, the simple answer to that question is no, for the most part. All this skill does is let you limit things in your status. So let''s say you have a title you don¡¯t really fancy the effect of. You can use this skill to either fully or partially inhibit that effect and that limiting ability works for anything in your status. It works on stats, titles, and even skills, but other than sealing up a really pesky title I¡¯m not sure why anyone would actually want this skill. An interesting fact about this skill, though, is that limiting an evolved version of a skill completely will force the system to use the previous iteration of that skill. This explanation brought to you by the one and only Goddess of Change and Balance
After reading the skill description again and confirming my stat gains I close my status. Since the researcher tasked with bringing me back to my room should get here soon I decide to just wait. After five minutes I hear and feel someone opening the door to the room. Looking over I see a researcher I don¡¯t recognize enter the room. After looking over and seeing me he shouts, ¡°Follow me, I¡¯m here to take you back to your room!¡± Following the researcher it takes us a few minutes to arrive at a room I haven¡¯t seen in five years, the room I use to live in. After dropping me off the researcher turns and leaves me to my own devices. I see the old mirror still resting in the corner so I decide to walk over to it and what I see is quite a surprise. Rebecca said once that my body was supposed to mature quickly and having succubus blood in me I was expecting to cut a pretty good figure. But I never imagined... ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ A/N: A quick note to say that later there will also be another skill description page containing our little mc''s new skills because it is implied that she has already examined them all on her own time. I thought of updating the old skill page, but I decided that making a new one marked with its relevent chapter was a slightly cleaner method. Skill Descriptions (Ch.9) (Not a Chapter) *Unedited* A/N: The skill descriptions for the new skills and titles introduced in chapter 9. Yet again I will make a short list of ones I think are interesting or relevent. - Blood Rage - Mana Sense - Complete Mana Control - Over Limit Ok now on another topic. To those who have decided to click into this I have a question. Now since this question does contain some spoilers I will be placing it behind a spoiler tag. Spoiler : Alright, so first of all I would ask that anyone who wishes to input their opinion on this also use a spoiler tag, simply as a courtesy to others who wish to find these things out as they read. Now on to the question, so next chapter we will be finding out about our little mc''s new appearance. This, in turn, leaves me with a dilemma, currently as the next chapter is written she is the same as before, but I will agree with others that the GB portion of many fictions is very, very oversaturated with childlike characters. This has left me wondering if I should change the decision I made back when I wrote the chapter and age up the character some. The change wouldn''t be to something like supermodel figure, boobs/butt curvy body line kinda thing, but more of an aged up version of herself. Maturation of the face, a bit more height and whatnot. This is where said dilemma comes in, a lot of future dynamics that have been planned, two in particular, between the mc and others would have to change. One of these important characters has been met and one hasn''t. Now that doesn''t mean the change is impossible, it is honestly quite possible, but would slow things down as I remodel things when the story gets there. So getting down to the actual question here because I have said a lot without asking much. Should I stick with the current plan for the mc or go through with the maturation. It could also be worth noting that the two others characters mentioned above will be fairly omnipresent after their official appearances and one will fill the role of buxom model body type, much to the envy of our mc. While the other will have more a modest, but perfectly proportioned body type. As a extra thank you for those who have read through this at the expense of their unspoiled reading adventure. I will answer any burning questions that might exist, within reason and without giving to much away. Behind spoiler tags of course. _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Immune Another auto title granted by the system. So the system gives this one out for getting enough immunity skills. I don¡¯t remember how many it was, but seeing how many you have, well it¡¯s no wonder you got this. Those researchers have really bad taste in people. Anyways having this title grants a boost to the holders immune system. Kinda weird I know, but hey it¡¯s not my fault, I didn¡¯t design the system. I guess the bonus this title grants might be nice though. No more catching colds or anything, so that''s a nice perk right? This explanation brought to you by the one and only Goddess of Change and Balance
Limited I can only guess this is the systems bad attempt at a joke. This title is gotten to showcase that you own the ¡®Limiter¡¯ skill, but most people haven¡¯t ever heard of the skill ¡®Limiter¡¯. So in the end this title is just the systems way of taking a jab at the skill holder. This explanation brought to you by the one and only Goddess of Change and Balance
Combat Genius Are you collecting these? This is just another genius title so you should already understand why you got it and what it can do for you. But incase your still not sure about either I shall explain briefly. You got this genius title because of all the combat training your ¡­ umm can we even call him a teacher at this point? Ah whatever, because of all the combat training your teacher beat into your body. As for what it does, well it makes you mildly more proficient with all weapons. You''re not going to be a master at using a weapon you have never used before, but you¡¯ll be fairly good with it. Another bonus this title gives is that even if you''re already really good with a weapon, this title will still improve your proficiency with that weapon. Only just a little, but it''s better than nothing right? This explanation brought to you by the one and only Goddess of Change and Balance
Fear of Muscle After getting beaten for so long your body subconsciously grew afraid. Afraid of what? Well, afraid of muscles of course. Alright jokes aside, this title was given to you by the system because your body was traumatized by your extraordinarily muscled instructor for so long that you instinctively fear largely muscled creatures. What does that mean? It¡¯s simple, even if you don¡¯t mentally feel fear your body has no problem feeling it and reacting to said fear for you, all thanks to this handy title. But in all honesty this is a pretty bad title. When you see a largely muscled specimen from now on your body will either try to distance itself or if it fails to flee, your body will attack. You know fight or flight response? Ok maybe you don¡¯t know, but trust me on this one. This explanation brought to you by the one and only Goddess of Change and Balance
Enhanced Senses Sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch. These five sense are shared by most people. This skill makes them better. You can see better like a hawk. You can smell better like a canine. You can hear better like something that ¡­ hears well ¡­ like a fox maybe? You can, ok you know what? All five of your senses are just better. I am done embarrassing myself here. This explanation brought to you by the one and only Goddess of Change and Balance
Mana Immunity This is the evolved form of ¡®Mana Resistance¡¯. Now normally I would have to ask how in the world this happened, but since the owner of the skill is you. Well, let''s just get on with the explanation. So having between one to four levels in ¡®Mana Resistance¡¯ is pretty normal among adventures, but for someone to get this particular skill evolution completely relies on Naofa¡¯s judgment. Well that would be the case normally. So to evolve ¡®Mana Resistance¡¯ into ¡®Mana Immunity¡¯ the skill holders body has to die to mana poisoning. Yep you have to die, starting to see why Naofa holds the keys here? Oh right, I never told you what Naofa governs. Well she is the Goddess of Life and Death. Anyways as I was saying, to get this skill normally, Naofa would have to to revive someone''s body after they died of mana poisoning and then the revived has to continue to endure mana poisoning until ¡®Mana Resistance¡¯ maxes out. Not a very easy or appealing prospect. This evolved skill however is very handy if someone can obtain it. This skill makes the body immune to mana poisoning. thus skill holder can drag as much foreign mana as they want into their body. I¡¯ll let you figure out what a good use for that could be on your own though. This explanation brought to you by the one and only Goddess of Change and Balance
Mana Resistance Adventures are people that delve deep into the dungeons scattered about the world in search of treasure. Why is that important? Shhh I¡¯m getting there. Now where was I ¡­ oh right, for these adventurers there is one danger that¡¯s greater than any other, mana. Why mana? Well, when you get deep enough into a dungeon the mana inside starts getting real thick in some areas. The problem with that? Foreign mana is highly poisonous to the body, Causes a whole heck of problems, but I digress. This skill makes the holders body more resistant to mana poisoning. Meaning it takes more foreign mana to contract mana poisoning. That''s all there is to it, but most people don¡¯t get this skill very high. Well that fact is understandable when you consider that mana poisoning has an astonishingly high fatality rate. This explanation brought to you by the one and only Goddess of Change and Balance
Cold Immunity The evolved skill derived from ¡®Cold Resistance¡¯. This skill makes your body immune to cold and cold related damages, no more frostbite or hypothermia. Though if someone made a spear out of ice and impaled you with it, the damage done by the pointy end would be applied like it was a normal spear. It simply wouldn¡¯t feel cold. Anyways since you can¡¯t feel cold with this skill you could take a nap naked in a snow bank and be quite comfortable. Well comfortable with the temperature at least, though I guess some people are comfortable with public exposure too ¡­ This explanation brought to you by the one and only Goddess of Change and Balance
Cold Resistance A skill that makes the body more resistant to cold, like the name says. For the most part the higher this skills level then the harder it is for the body to sustain cold related damages, things like frostbite or hypothermia. This explanation brought to you by the one and only Goddess of Change and Balance
Heat Immunity This skill is the evolution of the skill ¡®Heat Resistance¡¯. Just like the name makes it sound, this skill makes your body immune to anything hot. No more burns, heat stroke, sun tans. Actually since your part succubus I¡¯m not sure if you could have gotten a tan in the first place¡­ Anyways since your body is immune to heat you could sit around in a fire. It would also be possible to wade through molten rock and be completely fine. Well, maybe if that stuff wasn¡¯t so viscous. This explanation brought to you by the one and only Goddess of Change and Balance
Heat Resistance A skill that makes your body more resistant to heat. Now that doesn¡¯t mean a person can go walking into a wild fire with this skill at low levels, but as it levels up the amount of heat their body can handle will go up. This explanation brought to you by the one and only Goddess of Change and Balance
Mental Immunity The evolved form of the skill ¡®Mental Resistance¡¯. So I guess what this makes you immune to is slightly vague isn¡¯t it? Well it¡¯s things like drugs and magics that affect the mind. That does mean that this skill will protect you from things some consider pleasant however like alcohol, but it won¡¯t keep you from getting tricked by someone with a particularly silver tongue. This skill also cannot protect you from just simply going insane because of torture or other such methods. You are simply immune to substances and magics that alter the mind. Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. This explanation brought to you by the one and only Goddess of Change and Balance
Mental Resistance A skill that helps it¡¯s owner resist magics and substances that affect your mind. The higher someone has this skill, the easier it will be for that person to ignore the mind altering effects. Succubi used to very much disliked this skill in the past, back when a succubus feeding with ¡®Charm¡¯ was common place. Seeing as ¡®Charm¡¯ has a mind altering effect this skill would do quite a nice job blocking it. Of course if the level of the succubus''s ¡®Charm¡¯ skill was higher than the level of someone''s ¡®Mental Resistance¡¯. Well at that point the charmed target should have spent more time leveling their skill if they were that worried about it. This explanation brought to you by the one and only Goddess of Change and Balance
Paralysis Immunity This evolved version of ¡®Paralysis Resistance¡¯ makes the user immune to loss of control over bodily functions due to the use of foreign substances and certain magics. Of course if someone just ties you up or knocks you out, well this skill isn¡¯t going to save you. Useful skill, but there is definitely more than enough way to get around it. Then again at least no one can lace their weapon with anything like muscle relaxant against you. This explanation brought to you by the one and only Goddess of Change and Balance
Paralysis Resistance Just how many of these are you going to examine ¡­ ahem, I mean ¡®Paralysis Resistance¡¯ is a skill that helps the user resist effects that cause a loss of control over bodily functions. This resistance does not cover loss of control due to outside forces, like rope or a simple rattling of the brain from a good hard kick. This explanation brought to you by the one and only Goddess of Change and Balance
Poison Immunity Evolved form of ¡®Poison Resistance¡¯, makes your body immune to poisons that would cause harm to your health. So things like poisons meant to make you sick or just plain old meant to kill. There is also a whole host of other poisons it negates. Interestingly enough this skill also negates magic based poisons. Having this skill does mean that you never have to be wary of poisoned food. Even the most dastardly of poisons would prove ineffective against you so you meal safety is forever assured. This explanation brought to you by the one and only Goddess of Change and Balance
Poison Resistance You really went and examined all of them ¡­ I mean they are just the unevolved version of skills you just examined why would you. No I¡¯m a professional so take a breath. Okay that''s better, now where was I? ¡®Poison Resistance¡¯ is a skill that helps the holders body resist harmful poisons better. Most people raise this skill by ingesting small amounts of poison, until it eventually levels up to a respectable point. Though a person can¡¯t level this skill to level ten simply ingesting small amounts of poison. This explanation brought to you by the one and only Goddess of Change and Balance
Pain Immunity ¡®Pain Resistance¡¯ maxed, ¡®Pain Immunity¡¯ get! Now let''s get on with what this skill does. This skill doesn¡¯t do much other than simply turn off the bodies ability to feel pain. There is one type of pain however that this skill does fail to negate and that pain is mana poisoning. Why does it fail to negate the pain caused by mana poisoning? Well thats because its special a kind of pain, but what makes it special is a secret. Ok maybe it''s not a secret, but it becomes more mysterious if I say it''s a secret. This explanation brought to you by the one and only Goddess of Change and Balance
Mana Sense Okay, frankly what you did here was just downright insane. You''re not the first to ever to try to replace lost sense with mana. By the way everyone who has tried that died of mana poisoning, but anyways you are the first being to ever try to give yourself to the mana around you. Really what kind of crazy idea was that. Well whatever, it was the necessary kind of crazy to evolve ¡®Mana Sight¡¯. So here is a fun fact about the process with which ¡®Mana Sight¡¯ evolves. If someone without high resistance or immunity to mana tried to evolve their ¡®Mana Sight¡¯ skill, there is about a fifty percent chance they would die. Die to what? Well let''s just leave that topic alone ¡­ forever. So what does your new found sixth sense do? Well it lets you feel and feel with the mana in you, around you and in others. What does that mean? Well let me ask you this, what does it mean to see? What does it mean to hear? What does it mean to have any of your other five senses. Well it means something, but feeling mana is completely natural to us gods so I¡¯m not exactly sure how to explain it. It just is you know? I guess it¡¯s like cramming your five other senses into one, maybe? Look I have never had to explain this before so give me a break on this one. This explanation brought to you by the one and only Goddess of Change and Balance
Blood Rage So drinking blood is taboo for most vampire families these days, but it''s not for a reason that would ever affect this generation''s vampires. Back when the humanoid races were just starting to sprout up, the progenitors of today''s vampires needed at least a little blood in their diet. However those vampires had a real big problem with that itty bitty need for blood. If a vampire back then wasn¡¯t careful about how much blood they ingested they could fly into a rage. So being a rage fueled by blood, well you should understand by now why this skill is called ¡®Blood Rage¡¯. Anyways if this skill stopped at just getting really angry it probably wouldn''t be so bad, but it has two nasty effects. The first being that a vampire that enters a blood rage sees a boost to their physical stats (you know strength, dexterity, and endurance). Now this isn¡¯t just a tiny boost either, the progenitors of the vampire race saw upwards of a ten times increase to their stats. By the way, you must be made from a pretty old bloodline seeing as you get a seven times increase to your stats. So far so good right? When you drink too much blood you get angry and you also get stronger, so what''s the big deal? Well that''s where nasty side effect number two comes into play to make this skill worse. When ¡®Blood Rage¡¯ activates the vampire will lose all ability to think rationally and attack anything around. Anyways to wrap this up I will state that most vampires these days have completely lost this skill and are perfectly safe to drink blood without any repercussions. Well not that they need blood anymore anyways, it¡¯s not even nutritious for them. Oh, one last thing, while I never confirmed it for myself there was a rumor once, when the skill was commonplace, that ¡®Blood Rage¡¯ has a second activation method. This explanation brought to you by the one and only Goddess of Change and Balance
Over Limit Please never use this! Ok I guess explaining myself would help out here. So to get this skill body someone needs to see more than half their stats double while under severe limitations. Once this skill is gained it will then allow the user to to increase any and all of their stats up to two hundred percent. Now why would I ask you to never use something so useful? The reason being that to achieve such an increase while still being in control of yourself, this skill has the nasty side effect of self destruction. Not self destruction like blowing up mind you. When used while it is true that skill can up to double your stats the side effect is severe. With the skill active, for every attack you land your health will drop. The amount of damage your health sustains is dependent on what percent your stats are boosted and how many stats are boosted. Just please unless the situation is so very dire that death is completely immanent anyways never use this skill. This explanation brought to you by the one and only Goddess of Change and Balance
Limiter My goodness you are living with some crazy people. How did they ever let things get so bad that this skill shows up. Okay so to get this a person has to spend several years training with their stats severely limited and its not just any training either. To get this skill you have to be pushing your poor limited body as far as it can go and if for any reason you unlimit your stats before getting this skill, poof all that effort has gone to waste. Most people who knowingly try to get this skill either have to give up or their bodies break before the the skill is gained. Now I bet you¡¯re thinking ¡°well if it''s so hard to get, then isn¡¯t it good?¡±. Well little one the simple answer to that question is no, for the most part. All this skill does is let you limit things in your status. So let''s say you have a title you don¡¯t really fancy the effect of. You can use this skill to either fully or partially inhibit that effect and that limiting ability works for anything in your status. It works on stats, titles and even skills, but other than sealing up a really pesky title I¡¯m not sure why anyone would actually want this skill. An interesting fact however is that limiting an evolved version of a skill completely will force the system to use the previous iteration of that skill. This explanation brought to you by the one and only Goddess of Change and Balance
Complete Mana Control The prior form of this evolved skill let you give precise instructions to your mana. This evolved skill one ups that by making mana a subconscious part of your body. Alright that might not have made much sense. Think of it like breathing, you can breath without actually thinking about breathing, but you can also change your breathing if you think about it. Well that''s what this skill does with your mana control. Normally the mana in your body does whatever it wants and to make it do something useful you have to stop and direct it, but now that you have this skill that is no longer the case. Now your mana is constantly doing something to help your body operate better and it¡¯s doing that regardless of whether or not you are actively guiding it to do so. However if you do stop to control your mana directly instead of commanding it to move you can simply move it. Eh, ok that doesn¡¯t make much sense either, but I can¡¯t really do much better than that so, it will have to do. Oh, you can also directly influence the mana around you if you wanted and while normally you can¡¯t directly influence the mana in others ¡­ well there are ways around that. This explanation brought to you by the one and only Goddess of Change and Balance
Chapter 10 A/N: So in the end this is the decision I came to. For those that don''t understand what I mean with that statement, don''t worry about it. Anyways onto a note everyone can understand, I will be releasing a .5 a bit later and That will mark the end of my pre written chapters. Now what that means is that releases will slow down. There will for sure be at least 1 new chapter every week and at the fastest, a new chapter may come out within 3 days of the last. Now that fact might dampen some moods, but it is to ensure at least a minimum level of quality is maintained, it''s already bad enough I don''t want to rush it and make it worse. Hopefully, it''s an understandable and forgivable situation for most. Finally if I ever hit a point were I won''t be able write or post over an extended period of time, I will try to make a post about it. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ But I never imagined ¡­ that I would have only grown this much. It¡¯s been five years. Since my body supposedly matures faster shouldn¡¯t I look about eighteen or twenty by now? There¡¯s always the possibility that this is my body at full maturity, but I can¡¯t imagine a succubus that looks this young her entire life. That sounds like it would be a detriment for a succubus considering what they ¡®hunt¡¯. I was really hoping my body would develop well too because in my other life I could only dream. Dream about what could have been if I hadn¡¯t been born in a male body, but since I actually have a female body now I really don¡¯t want to look this young for the rest of my life. Looking in the mirror I would guess my age at around 13 now. Though, I am still short for that estimate at 4.9 feet. My face has lost quite a bit of its childishness, but there is still a lot of promise for the future. As for the rest of me, well, I could definitely tell they were there when I was learning to fight. I was never really able to guess sizes in my other life, but I would give myself maybe, small to medium C? I probably can¡¯t expect to develop into a model figure, but I want a bit more at least. Given that I¡¯m a small part succubus that shouldn¡¯t be too much to ask for. ¡°This scene is almost identical to five years ago, isn¡¯t it? Your current condition, however, is going to make certain infiltrations we had planned much more difficult,¡± hearing a voice I last heard five years ago snaps me out of my thoughts and I turn to see Rebecca standing in the doorway. After staring at each other in silence for a few minutes Rebecca finally says, ¡°What, you¡¯re not going to greet me? Well, whether you greet me or not doesn¡¯t matter. I only came here to confirm the reports that came in. To think that the reports that stated your growth was terribly off prediction would be true. The ones who argued so hard to mix in succubus blood would be rather disappointed if they saw this. Then again we can probably use this innocent look. Ah, I have to make changes to so many plans now. This would all be easier if your body had properly developed along our estimated predictions, but then again there is still the question of why it didn¡¯t. I guess it could be thanks to that ogre¡¯s training ¡­ should we have let your body mature further before starting your training? Well anyways I did say that my only reason for being here was to verify reports, but there is a secondary purpose to this visit. If you would come and lay on the bed we can move this along.¡± After she finishes talking Rebecca walks over to the bed and pats the side to urge me to come over. Following instructions I walk to the bed, get on it and lie down. Rebecca then proceeds to tie my arms to my sides and tie my legs in a way that would only allow me to shuffle along. After tieing me up Rebecca then puts a burlap bag over my head so that I can¡¯t see anything. ¡°Just a few precautionary measures. While we know that ogre could easily stop you, it would be rather unpleasant if the two of you went at each other in the facility. The bindings may not seem all that strong, but they are regularly used by tamers to capture monsters up to A rank. So don''t expect to escape them by yourself with your stats being sealed by the collar and as for limiting your vision. Well, there are just some things you just don¡¯t need to see,¡± after she is finished I can sense Rebecca leaving the room, but before the door closes completely I hear her quietly whisper one last thing, ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡± ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- After waiting for about an hour I hear someone opening the door to my room. Since I can¡¯t feel the mana in their body I can assume it''s the demon ogre. ¡°So this is how they plan on keeping you from breaking anything before we get outside. What a rather tasteless method those whelps came up with. If it was up to me I would have just ripped your arms and legs off before carrying you out. It¡¯s not like I couldn¡¯t just fix you once we got outside. It¡¯s too bad that it wasn¡¯t left up to me, now let''s get going so I can finally get paid for this job ¡­ I just hope you won¡¯t disappoint me.¡± when the demon ogre finishes talking I feel him pick me up and toss me over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. After about fifteen minutes of being jostled about on the demon ogre''s shoulder, we finally stop and he throws me to the ground and removes the bag blocking my vision. Regaining my sight I can see that we are currently in what looks to be an elevator. Crouching down the demon ogre starts to remove my bindings as he talks, ¡°Right those whelps shouldn¡¯t care if I unbind you in here. Honestly, I don¡¯t see what the problem is with letting you see some white hallways. There are probably much easier ways to break out of here than an elevator the whelps can shut down any time they want. Now sit there and wait quietly until we reach the surface.¡± After the demon ogre finishes removing my bindings I rub my appendages to help getblood flowing through them properly again. Since I have been told to sit quietly this is a good chance to sort the information that was just learned. So this lab has been underground? Well, that would explain why there wasn¡¯t any windows at all. Then again I have only ever been in two rooms, but it must be pretty deep down since we have been in this elevator for three minutes already. Where this lab is will hardly matter once this damn demon ogre is dead. Once he dies I can leave this place and never look back. After spending another few minutes in the elevator I feel it come to a stop and the door opens. The first thing that hits me is the smell of nature. It smells so different from where I have been locked up since I first woke up in this life. The only other thing I notice before the ogre shoves me out of the elevator is that it is currently dark out. Walking out of the elevator behind me the demon ogre comes around to my front and forces me to look him in the eye before saying, ¡°Alright, before you go getting mesmerized by nature I am going to set one simple ground rule. You can inspect everything as much as you want, but if you ever fall behind more than five meters. I am going to tie a lead to your collar and drag you behind me. Understood? Of course, you understand. Now let''s go, we have some walking to do before we reach the nearest town.¡± Letting me go the demon ogre turns around and starts walk away. I quickly follow after him while looking around at my surroundings. From what I can see around me it looks like we are in a forest. I can see that the trees around us aren''t so densely packed that it would get in the way of combat, but they are packed enough to provide possible opportunities in a fight if used right. The trees are also thick enough to easily break sightlines. It¡¯s a slight shame that there isn¡¯t much undergrowth to trip on or I could have used that to my advantage. Since it¡¯s currently night I was expecting to have trouble seeing, but my night vision is surprisingly excellent even though I can¡¯t see the moon through the trees. Since I slowed down a little to inspect my surrounding I notice myself falling behind and hurry to catch up with the demon ogre. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- We have been walking for about an hour now, but this forest shows no sign of ending anytime soon. It¡¯s also weird that I haven¡¯t seen any other sign of life at all this whole time. I haven¡¯t been able to sense anything other than myself the entire time. When I was told the world had monsters I was expecting us to run into something in these woods. Not to mention that this damn demon ogre looks completely unworried that I might try to attack him anytime. Then again, since my stats are supposed to be sealed he probably doesn¡¯t think there is any reason to worry. Maybe it''s time I give this psycho a reason to repent for everything he did to me. Having decided it¡¯s time to act, I release the limits on all my stats and skills except for ¡®Draconic Aura¡¯. Slowly I walk closer to the demon ogre. My current plan is to limit his movement by destroying one of his legs. Since the demon ogre is so huge compared to me, I decided beforehand that going for a leg first would be the best course of action for a sneak attack. I get up right behind the demon ogre and I am about to attack, but I leap back as he stops moving to talk, ¡°About damn time! I was starting to think you were going to disappoint me, but man am I glad he told me that you managed to remove your seal. Otherwise, I might have left myself sealed and man that would have been mes-.¡± Stolen story; please report. The moment I land without listening to what the demon ogre is saying I cast a flurry of chantless spells consisting of {Fireball}, {Rock Shard}, {Water Blade}, {Wind Blade} and {Ice Shard}. When I am done casting the spells materialize in front of me instantly and launch towards the demon ogre. As my spells reach the demon ogre he effortlessly swats them down one after the other with one hand. Seeing that none of my chantless spells even matter to the demon ogre I decide to use my current strongest attack spell and chant, ¡°{Icicle Cloud}.¡± As I chant the spells name a cloud consisting of tens of thousands of razor sharp, sixty centimeter long icicles forms around the demon ogre. After about a second my view of the demon ogre is obstructed as thousands upon thousands of icicles crash into his body kicking up a cloud of powdered ice in the process. A minute later there are no more icicles left, but I can¡¯t see the result of my spell since there is still a rather thick cloud of powdered ice blocking my vision. As the cloud of powdered ice slowly dissipates I hear the demon ogre start laughing wildly from inside it as he yells, ¡°I must say that was some pretty impressive magic! It really is a shame that my body is completely impervious to anything made from foreign mana. Just a little blessing I picked up from a certain someone, but if you''re done with your little magic tricks let''s fight!¡± This damn demon ogre still thinks he is in complete control here. If he wants to completely underestimate me then I can just use that to my advantage. Just because my spells won¡¯t work on him doesn¡¯t mean I am helpless. It should be easy enough to outright kill this damn demon ogre with my fully released stats. But I prefer the idea of aiming my attacks to cripple him so I can, slowly, pay him back for taking ¡®care¡¯ of me for five years. I take off the shoes on my feet as I activate ¡®Partial Dragonification¡¯ on my hands and feet while also feeding mana to my wings to release them. By the time my wings are completely unfurled my hands and feet look like a mix between a dragon''s claws and human appendages. I look over at the demon ogre to see that he is patiently waiting there for me to make the first move. Deciding to oblige I kick off the ground as hard as possible. As I hurtle towards the demon ogre using my wings to gain lift so I can attack him at around chest level. Reaching the demon ogre I launch in a frenzy of punches, kicks, and swipes of my claws, but it doesn¡¯t matter what I do. No matter how fast I attack nor how perfect my feints are, the demon ogre effortlessly dodges or blocks everything I throw at him. While treating my attacks, which are currently more than a thousand times faster and stronger than in training, like he is deflecting a small child¡¯s fists the demon ogre starts to talk fervently, ¡°Yes, yes! This is what I wanted! There''s no wasted movement, yet there¡¯s none of the rigid predictable movements a well established fighting style imparts. If he hadn¡¯t boosted my stats for this battle I am sure you would have already taken my head, but unluckily for you, I have quite a powerful backer. This really has been rather enjoyable five years, but all good things must come to an end. Don¡¯t think I haven¡¯t noticed the change in your attacks as I started talking just now. You started off intending to maim me and now you have gotten to the point that every attack is aimed to kill. It¡¯s honestly becoming rather dangerous and so it¡¯s time to end this fight.¡± After finishing his statement the demon ogre catches a kick I have aimed at his neck with both hands and spins his body with his arms outstretched ramming my back into a nearby tree, toppling the tree in the process. The impact knocks all the air out of my lungs and I fall to the ground gasping for air. Once I finally start breathing normally again I can only think of one thing. Why? Why can¡¯t I touch him? Why can he render everything I do useless? Why can such a despicable creature like him be this strong? I am more than a thousand times faster and stronger than before so why? Why can¡¯t I kill this damn demon ogre? Why, why, why, why?! ¡°Why?!¡± with my hatred for the demon ogre finally starting to bubble over completely I unintentionally shout out. ¡°This is it! This is the moment I have been waiting for this entire time. That sweet, sweet climax of rage. That pivotal point where the mind teeters on the border of insanity. Oh, I know! Since this is a momentous occasion how about I give you a name to call me by and while I''m at it, I might even tell you who my backer is. Ah, I can¡¯t wait to finish pushing you into the depths of despair. That moment when you realize your long awaited revenge is going to end in failure. Now I¡¯m not sure this is the nickname used the most when referring to me, but out of all the things I¡¯ve been called, well this one just kinda has a nice ring to it. The Ripper, people actually started calling me the Ripper because of my hobby. Honestly, I quite like the title, but that doesn¡¯t really matter now does it? This is all about giving you a name to hate, a target for you to hunt in your fruitless quest for vengeance. Ah, but I made a second promise, didn¡¯t I? Well, he will probably be mad at me for outing him, but you know what, who cares! My great benefactor is none other than the one and only God of War and Peace. He personally asked me to come train you. At first, I couldn¡¯t understand why, but it all made sense once I met you. I have never met a monster so very interesting before. No matter what I did you just wouldn¡¯t break. Well until now at least. But our time is running short so let me end this by saying one last thing. Once this test is over and I bring you back, you will never see me again. I will leave that facility with my money and no matter how hard you try the Ripper will elude you for the rest of your life. Not matter how hard you try, you will never get revenge,¡± after the demon ogre finishes his last sentence I can¡¯t hear anything anymore other than the sounds of my ragged breathing and my heart beating erratically in my chest. As the sound of my heartbeat intensifies it feels like my blood is boiling in my veins. Boiling away the last traces of rationality I have left. This feeling is almost the same as when I overdose on blood and ¡®Blood Rage¡¯ activates. No this doesn¡¯t just feel like it, it is ¡®Blood Rage¡¯, but that shouldn¡¯t be possible. I haven¡¯t ingested any blood this whole time. Argh, it¡¯s getting hard to think ¡­ wait, why am I even fighting this feeling? If I let ¡®Blood rage¡¯ take over this could be my chance to kill this damn demon ogre. This damn demon ogre will finally die. Before the last vestiges of my rationality slip away, I decide to do one last thing. Just before my conscious is completely consumed by blind rage I activate ¡®Overlimit¡¯ at two hundred percent. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- As the darkness retreats from my consciousness I can immediately tell that my body is in horrible shape. It¡¯s immediately clear that I am missing an arm and can barely even stand. After verifying that there is nothing and no one currently trying to immediately kill me, I probe inside my body using my mana. After probing my body I find that most of my ribs are broken, one of my legs might as well have been removed it''s so shattered, my remaining arm is heavily fractured, half the muscles in my good leg are torn, both my wings have been ripped out and I am suffering from a colossal amount of internal bleeding along with all the blood I am losing externally. All in all its amazing that I am even still alive right now. Having confirmed the status of my body I quickly look around at the remains of the battle between me and the ogre. Seeing the carnage around me it¡¯s unbelievable that this used to be a forest. As far around me as I can see it looks like the area was hit by a meteor shower. But I can¡¯t manage to find the demon ogre anywhere. I also can¡¯t see anything that looks like his dead body either, but there is way too much blood around for it to belong all to me. Scouting the devastation I consider the fact that I am still alive and that he isn¡¯t around. Deciding that even if the demon ogre escaped he probably won¡¯t survive long I start thinking about my current situation. Alright before stopping to contemplate whether or not that damn demon ogre survived I should try to make it through this first. I would like nothing more than to fall over right here, but if I did that the researchers would find me for sure. If they do find me they will probably hire someone stronger than that damn demon ogre to guard me next time, but what can I even do to get out of here? It feels like my body is about ready to give out on me at any moment. While I am weighing my current options one of the first spells I tried programming comes to mind. The spell in question was my attempt at a teleportation spell. The spell''s effect is supposed to fold the space between two locations together, connecting them together like a doorway. The spell in theory, is supposed to be used with preset coordinates but Thinking on it further I come to the decision it¡¯s probably possible to use the spell without preset coordinates. It¡¯s probably rather stupid, not to mention dangerous, but I don¡¯t really have any other choices in this situation anyways. Since my consciousness is rapidly fading instead of thinking about any further I just chant the spell while pouring in all my remaining mana, ¡°{Interspatial Fold, Gate Open}.¡± As I cast my spellspace in front of me warps and I barely cross into the warped space as I lose consciousness. Chapter 10.5 A/N: With this the last chapter I had already written up is out. For me, that''s great because it means I can start comfortably writing again. I kinda withheld writing from myself until I posted these because otherwise knowing the way I act this would have never actually been more than a story quietly rotting away in google docs. I would also like to quickly touch on the subject of the ratings because there seems to be a strange little battle going on there. Positive or negative, getting one or the other is about the same to me, but what I am really looking for is feedback. Something along the line of what I am doing right or wrong, or maybe something is neither right nor wrong. While everyone may have differing opinions on what right and wrong might be, anything and everything is nice so long as it''s constructive. So that I can possibly use it to continue improve my writing, Both for myself and for the others reading this story. Anyways on a story realated note, next full chapter the mc will probably finally be getting a name. So everyone who has been wondering about that can look foward to it. Also the next post will be an Interlude not a full chapter, but more on that when I post it. _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ???¡¯s PoV ¡°Mommy, how much longer until we get home?¡± I ask mommy who is sitting across from me in the carriage. Mommy has a wry smile on her face as she says, ¡°Rin, Sweetie, I¡¯ve said it before but you''re turning sixteen in a few days. You shouldn¡¯t be referring to your father and me as mommy or daddy anymore.¡± ¡°But I don¡¯t want to call you something else and daddy said he was okay with it,¡± I puff out my cheeks in a pouty manner while looking over to daddy who is sitting beside me for help. ¡°Honey, Rin calling us mommy and daddy isn¡¯t really so ba-,¡± daddy starts to defend me but mommy cuts him off, ¡°It isn¡¯t about whether or not Rin calling us mommy and daddy is a bad thing. It¡¯s just¡­¡± Mommy sighs lightly and gives me a soft smile before she continues talking, ¡°Alright enough about that for now, we can talk about this at home later. I know being in a carriage for seven days isn¡¯t fun but there are only a few more hours until we arrive at home. Also weren¡¯t you the one who told your father that wanted to come with us to the prince¡¯s birthday celebration.¡± What mommy just said is true so I decide to busy myself looking out the carriage window and letting my mind drift. It¡¯s true that I¡¯m the one that convinced daddy to bring me along but I wasn¡¯t expecting the carriage ride to be so long. I did have fun at the celebration and everyone was really nice to me. Well, a lot of the boys were really nice to me but not many other girls talked to me. I was really hoping to make some friends with some of the girls in the capital too. Ah! That looks like a really small Tatsu. Looking out the window I see a squirrel quite a ways off from the road so I point it out to mommy, ¡°Look mommy that squirrel over there looks like a really little version of Tatsu. Oh, I know mommy lets play I observe. I¡¯ll go first, I observe with my two eyes something that looks like Tatsu.¡± Mommy smiles at me before looking out the carriage window and saying, ¡°Goodness you¡¯re quite energetic aren''t you. Now let¡¯s see if we can¡¯t find that Tatsu look-alike of yours.¡± After looking out the window for a bit mommy finally says, ¡°There¡¯s our Tatsu look-alike, as always your eyesight is impressive Rin. our little look alike is rather far away but I guess it¡¯s my turn now. Hmmm now what do I see, oh I know. I observe with my two eyes something brown, green and leafy.¡± Hmmm, I wonder what mommy is pointing out. Every time we play this game mommy always finds something interesting and describes it in a really mundane way. Let''s see since mommy is describing something that sounds like a tree¡­ oh! Maybe mommy saw a treant pretending to be a tree. At least, I think that''s what they do. I kinda remember reading about it in a book once. Well, that''s what I am going to try looking anyways. Wait, there are no trees around here so how did mommy see ¡­ what''s that!? While looking out the carriage window I spot something that looks like a person lying on the ground quite a ways off from the road and so I try to bring mommy''s attention to it, ¡°Mommy I think there is a person laying down way over there.¡± After looking in the direction I am pointing out mommy looks to daddy, ¡°Tell them to stop the carriage I think Rin is right.¡± Daddy does as mommy says and gets the drivers to stop the carriage. Once the carriage is completely stopped I dash out before mommy or daddy can stop me and start running towards the humanoid figure. Leaving the carriage I can hear daddy call out after me, ¡°Rin get back here right now! We don¡¯t know what it is you saw! It might be dangerous!¡± Ignoring daddy I keep running towards the humanoid figure in the distance and getting closer I can tell that it¡¯s a person lying facedown on the ground. Once I get close enough to get a proper look at them, I can only let out a scream and fall back onto my butt in shock. As I fall over I hear daddy yell something behind me, ¡°Rin! Rin what happened!?¡± I¡¯m so shocked I can barely respond but I manage to stutter out one word, ¡°B-Blood.¡± In front of me is the figure of a small girl but something is horribly wrong. The girl in front of me is drenched in blood and on the ground where she is lying is a huge pool of blood. Not only that, it also looks like she is missing one of her arms. As the initial shock of the sight before me recedes my mind starts racing. Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. I¡¯ve never seen this much blood before. Sometimes when the soldiers come home from hunting they have wounds but none of them have ever been this bad. But this girl is still alive, right? She can¡¯t be dead. Even, even if there''s a lot of blood maybe it¡¯s not all hers. Ah, what do I do? I should go help her but ¡­ I can¡¯t put any strength into my legs. ¡°Rin what''s the mat-. My goodness, what happened here?!¡± when daddy finally reaches me he sees the girl and runs over to her, ¡°Who would do something like this and to a child no less. First I should check her status to check if she is still alive.¡± Daddy quickly fumbled around in his pockets pulling out a status stone. Daddy starts bringing the status stone closer to the girl intending to check her status. A lady suddenly appears behind the girl and starts talking, ¡°You know there was an old human saying. I think it went something like ¡®Curiosity killed the cat''. but honestly, I¡¯m not sure it is so difficult to remember all the sayings humans used to have. Well, what I¡¯m trying to say is that sometimes being too curious can lead to ¡­ unintended consequences. Not that checking this girl''s status would actually have any heavy repercussions. Ah, but I am getting ahead of myself, aren''t I? Right, I should introduce myself first. Very well I am -,¡± as the lady is about to introduce herself daddy interrupts her, ¡°The Goddess of Balance Karia.¡± ¡°Mou, you took my introduction from me ¡­ and you didn¡¯t even mention my full title,¡± the lady pouts a bit but quickly composes herself before continuing, ¡°Well whatever I¡¯m in no position to complain since I am here to ask a favor of you in the first place. Now, before I get sidetracked again I will explain-.¡± ¡°If I might so bold, I would like to ask why a supposed goddess would even need a favor from mortal in the first place.¡± Hearing mommy¡¯s voice I turn my head and see her slowly walking towards us as she talks, ¡°if you¡¯re a goddess shouldn¡¯t whatever you ask of us already be within your power.¡± The lady takes a moment to think before answering mommy, ¡°You know, gods and goddesses, we aren¡¯t omnipotent. We are indeed incredibly powerful but that in itself can be its own curse. Now if you had let me finish I was going to tell you about the favor I require. It¡¯s rather simple really, I want you to take this girl in and raise her. But don¡¯t worry should you refuse I¡¯m sure someone would find her here eventually. Though if she is found by bandits I can¡¯t say for sure what her future would be like. The telling of fortunes has always been Fates territory.¡± Mommy gives the lady a rather skeptical look while saying, ¡°Putting aside for the moment all the questions that need to be asked before I could even consider bringing a, potentially harmful, unknown element into my home. This girl will not survive a trip to the nearest town. Rather even if we had a doctor present at this moment, I doubt this girl could be saved. So do how do you, pray tell, want us to raise a child who will soon expire.¡± ¡°Ah, right ¡­ I completely forgot about that. I¡¯ve only watched her grow up in that environment so I completely forgot. Right right right, now that I think about this would be where Naofa would rebuke me for thinking that was normal for even a moment. Well if you are going to raise the girl you would find out about this sooner or later. Here just force her to drink this,¡± as she talks the lady throws a large glass bottle full of gold tinged red liquid to daddy. ¡°Suddenly telling us to force whatever is in that bottle to a dying child. Do you really expect anyone to believe-,¡± finally managing to garner enough power in my legs to stand I run over and interrupt mommy, ¡°If the lady is telling the truth then the girl will be ok right? If what''s in that bottle can save her then shouldn''t we at least try it? Otherwise, that girl is going to die no matter what isn¡¯t she?¡± Mommy looks at me pleading to her with my eyes and gives a defeated sigh before turning to daddy, ¡°Alright I can¡¯t really say no if Rin is this adamant about it. Feed whatever that is to the girl and let''s see if our so called goddess lives up to the title.¡± Doing as mommy says daddy reaches to turn the girl over so he can feed her the contents of the bottle but lady stops him, ¡°Before this goes any further the young one should return to the carriage. Not only will this be a sight not fit for a child, but there are things we must discuss among adults.¡± Being called a child I am about to raise a complaint but mommy silences me using a gentle voice, ¡°Rin, sweetie, I know you might not like it but you should go wait for us in the carriage like she said. Can you do that for me?¡± Nodding my head meekly I run back to the carriage before getting inside and waiting. I try to look out the window to see what going on but for some reason, the area where mommy, daddy, and the lady are is really blurry. Since I can¡¯t see anything my only option is to sit back down and wait patiently. After what feels like a really long time the carriage door opens and mommy gets in followed by daddy who is carrying the girl in his arms. As daddy lays the girl on my side of the carriage with her head in my lap both him and mommy have really complicated smiles on their faces. Deciding not to ask any questions yet I turn my attention to the girl in my lap. Somehow she isn¡¯t drenched in blood anymore and not only that she also has her missing arm back. For some reason, while inspecting the girl I feel the need to pet her head. Gently stroking her hair I find that it is really silky and soft. Rhythmically moving my hand I listen to the girls steady breathing as she sleeps and I also slowly fall asleep. Interlude 1 A/N: So this one is an interlude, now most of the time when these show up in the future they will have no plot relevance. If there is plot included I will point out that fact in the A/N. For the most part, these interludes will normally be just a bit of fun or a bit of history on a character. There is a small bit of plot included in this particular interlude. I would also like to thank ArchmageNaoki for proofreading this chapter. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 6 years old Rebecca¡¯s PoV I¡¯m quietly sitting alone in my room because mama said that papa would take us out today if I was good. Mama said something about papa having a duel of succession. I don¡¯t really understand what succession means, but mama said that papa and another beastman have to fight. I don¡¯t like the idea of papa having to fight, but mama said that papa fighting was really important. So I should be a good girl and not bother the adults. I don¡¯t really like leaving my room without mama anyways because sometimes I run into papa¡¯s wife. She always makes a really scary face when she sees me and I hear her yelling at papa through the window a lot when I am in the garden with mama. But mama said if I was good today it would be just me, mama, and papa. As I¡¯m happily smiling to myself I hear the door get thrown open, but I don¡¯t manage to turn around before I get picked up. As I am about to start struggling I hear mama¡¯s voice from the person holding me, but she sounds really sad, ¡°Rebecca, I know I said we would spend the day with your papa after his duel, and I know you were really looking forward to today. But things are going to be different from now on. We won¡¯t be able to see your papa anymore.¡± I¡¯m confused why is mama saying we won¡¯t be able to see papa anymore? I was being really good today too. Did I do something to make papa dislike me and mama, but I don¡¯t want to never see papa again. I don¡¯t even mind if papa¡¯s scary wife is there too. When I think about never getting to see papa again I start crying and mama strokes the back of my head while trying to soothe me, ¡°Shhh, shhh it will be ok, mama is still here with you. We are going to be just fine.¡± ¡°Come now telling a child that they will never see their father again. Of course, they would start crying, but I suppose it is better than hiding the truth behind a veil of fragile falsities. So would my assumption that you are the previous lord¡¯s mistress and child be correct? Yes, judging by that expression I am completely correct. Such a shame the girl is a half breed, she would have made a wonderful gift for my son otherwise. Ah, but it will be what it will be. With things as they are, I would like to ask that you vacate my new estate. The servants will help you with what little goods you wish to keep and a property will be prepared for you on the edge of the city,¡± Confused by the voice I don¡¯t recognize I start wiping the tears out of my eyes and I see a wolfman standing in the doorway, but he is saying a lot of complicated things I don¡¯t understand. Suddenly, I see papa¡¯s wife yelling angrily as she pushes past the wolfman to get into the room, ¡°This wasn¡¯t the deal, you told me that you would get rid of them if I helped you!¡± ¡°And I am indeed getting rid of them, am I not?¡± the wolfman answers back very calmly, but mama starts squeezing me tighter, it kinda hurts a little so I struggle which only makes her squeeze tighter. Before I can complain to mama, Papa¡¯s wife starts yelling at the wolfman again, ¡°No! You were supposed to dispose of them, not just send them away. Even after I fulfilled my part of the deal and pois-.¡± as papa¡¯s wife is yelling the man pulls out the sword at his waist and before anything I can see what''s happening mama covers my eyes. While I wonder why papa¡¯s wife suddenly stopped yelling, I hear the wolfman''s voice again, ¡°How irritating now I have to get the servants to clean this up. Now that the nuisance is gone I will once again extend to you my generous offer. Take your daughter and accept the prepared property on the edge of the city, or I will have to soil this fine room further.¡± ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 16 years old Rebecca¡¯s PoV ¡°Ah, so many chores to get done once I get home, but mom is trying her hardest for me, so I have to try my hardest too,¡± I quietly mutter to myself as I walk down an alley carrying a basket of groceries meant for tonight''s supper. A normal 16 year old girl probably would be scared to walk down back roads, not to mention a back road alley, by herself, but since I am a beastkin my worries are next to none. I don¡¯t think there is any beastmen in the city that would ever touch a beastkin because we are ¡°disgusting half-breed filth¡±. Otherwise, everyone that lives on the outskirts of the city otherwise known as ¡®The Slums¡¯ tends to keep to themselves. Looking around at the subpar living conditions reminds me of when me and mom first got here. At first, I was too young to understand what had happened. I went from the beastkin daughter of a noble''s mistress to nothing more than a common beastkin, before I was old enough to understand the implications. But I grew up fast, the slums are not kind to naive children. Eventually, mom got enough money to send me to one of the few beastkin schools in the city. If they can prove themselves useful, even a beastkin can find employment somewhere and the better educated you are, the more useful you can be. Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. I know what mom has had to do to send me to school and make sure we get to eat anything at all. I have seen the bruises and the look in her eyes when she comes home late at night. I offered to take her place before, but when I did she could only hug me tightly and start crying so I never brought it up again. Rounding the last corner before reaching the place me and mom have called home for the ten years brings me back to the present. Approaching our home I see that the door is open, but mom wouldn¡¯t leave the door open. No one just leaves their doors open in the slums. Now panicking I sprint towards the door. Crossing the threshold into our one room home I see a group of robed people standing around the room and mom is sitting on the bed. Now panicking, even more, I tentatively ask, ¡°Mom is everything ok, who are all these people?¡± ¡°Is this the girl?¡± ignoring my questions one of the robed figures asks mom a question, which she answers with a nod. The same robed figure talks again though I can¡¯t discern whether they are male or female from their voice, ¡°Hmph, this kid better be worth it, we went a hell of a long way for this,¡± another of the robed figures, this one''s voice decidedly female, follows up on his statement, ¡°Well not that it matters, so long as we bring back who they want we get paid anyways, right?¡± Panicking more than before I try calling out again in a trembling voice, ¡°Mom please, tell me what¡¯s going on, who are these people?¡± ¡°Rebecca, you¡¯ve always been a smart girl and I want you to have the best possible chance at life. I just can¡¯t give you that, but these people can give you a better life,¡± mom has tears in her eyes and she can hardly keep her voice steady as she talks. Before I can say anything else the robed person with the androgynous voices walks over and picks me up, dropping me onto his shoulder, while talking in a standoffish manner, ¡°Right well this is a touching moment, but we have a job to do. I¡¯ll be taking the girl while you guys clean up here.¡± ¡°Hey, wait, put me down! No, I don¡¯t want to go! Mom, mom, MOM!¡± yelling while being carried away, the last thing I see before rounding the door is a sword jutting out of mom¡¯s chest as the light fades from her eyes. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Present Day Rebecca PoV ¡°MOM!¡± I yell waking up in bed covered in a cold sweat. Taking a moment to take in my surroundings I murmur to myself, ¡°That same dream again. Thinking about it I started having that dream more frequently after leaving specimen 56 with that ogre didn¡¯t it?¡± Since I probably won¡¯t be able to fall back asleep I get up and dress. As I finish dressing I hear someone knocking at my dorm door. Walking over and opening the door I see one of the younger researchers that often gets used as a message delivery boy standing there. Seeing me he jumps a little before he starts stuttering out his message, ¡°m-m-miss Rebecca, u-um, I-I wa-was s-s-s-sent t-to t-tell y-you-,¡± but the poor boy gets cut off by the man standing behind him, ¡°What our nervous friend here is trying to relay to you is this, your precious specimen has escaped.¡± Looking up at the man I see a face I truly despise. The man in question is, Lucain, the lead researcher on the project running parallel to mine and due to major differences in opinion we have always been at odds. Under normal circumstances I would slam the door shut, thinking nothing of it, but after what Lucain just said I ask, ¡°What do you mean escaped?¡± ¡°It¡¯s a simple concept really, but since you don¡¯t seem to understand let me simplify it for you. Due to the hired SS not returning within estimate, a scouting team was sent to verify the situation at the target town. However, while in route they found a highly devastated stretch of forest, well the reports actually say they found a devastated stretch of what used to be forest, but that¡¯s a technicality. They also reported finding a trail of blood leaving the area but following it all they found was what little remained of the hired SS. No traces were found of the weapon and while a search is still underway, it has been assumed lost. This is my favorite part, Finally because of this loss, the Chimera Program will be put on indefinite hold until further notice. Along with this, all staff presently working on the Chimera Program will be moved to the Andro Project. That means you now work under me.¡± ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ???''s PoV ¡°This is what you called me down here for? I do hope you understand, all, the consequences.¡± I hear that annoying woman''s voice behind me as I look upon the tattered mess in front of me. Without looking up I answer in a low voice, ¡°you don¡¯t think I understand? I was nearly turned into a goddess by that witch!¡± After a moment''s pause I feel that damn woman loosely drape her arms over my shoulders and rest her hands on my chest as she whispers into my ear in a playful tone, ¡°How is that a bad thing? I think you would make an adorable goddess, considering how cute you already are it¡¯s only a matter-.¡± before she goes any further I interrupt her through grit teeth, ¡°Naofa, Just shut up and do it.¡± ¡°Fine fine, but you do realize this is the last favor I owe you, right?¡± as she reverts back to a business tone I can feel Naofa backing off and without any hesitation I answer, ¡°Yes, good tools are hard to come by, especially with everything I have invested in this one. No matter how much trouble he has already brought and will continue to bring, he is an excellent tool that I can¡¯t afford to lose.¡± Chapter 11 A/N: So this chapter took longer than intended to get done, for various reasons, but I will get into the why at the end of the chapter for those interested. Thank you to ArchmageNaoki for proofreading this chapter. _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Darkness, no matter where I look, all around me there¡¯s only darkness. Not limited to my sight, I can¡¯t feel or sense anything either. It¡¯s like I am floating in a black void, I can see and feel my own body, but otherwise there is nothing else. This is what I imagine death is like, so does that mean I am dead? ¡°No, when you die Naofa decides what to do with you and sends you on your way. Only in special cases do the dead retain their awareness, usually because Naofa wants something. In those cases, she has this little office she made and it¡¯s really quaint, she even has all these different outfits depending on-. Right, I¡¯m going off track and we do not have much time together. Getting to the point, you aren¡¯t dead.¡± From the void all around me, I hear a voice, it¡¯s a calm almost melodic voice, but at the same time it¡¯s also excited and erratic. Well since the voice from the void answered a question I never voiced, it¡¯s probably safe to think that my thoughts are being read. If my thoughts really are being read then I have a question, who are you and where is this? On cue with the question I''ve asked in my mind, the voice starts speaking again, ¡°Almost correct, but I can¡¯t see anything that¡¯s not being actively thought of. Tampering with memories is also possible, but that is mostly limited to inserting myself into someone''s memories to make my presence seem natural. Though, that¡¯s not what you asked about, right, getting off track again. I am the Goddess of Change and Balance Karia and I have my reasons for not revealing myself. As for your second question, where we are isn¡¯t important. Now because time is getting short, we shall have to hold the question and answer period next time. So, for now, I shall get to the point, when you wake up you will be in a safe place and in good health. It¡¯s ok to entrust yourself to the people who will be around you, but the choice to do so is yours to make. Also, I decided to try playing around with your ¡®Limiter¡¯ skill, so your status is not quite how you left it, sorry. Now it¡¯s time to wake up.¡± ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Waking up the first thing I can feel is that I am laying on something soft and comfortable. Taking that into consideration, the fact that I am in a safe place like the voice of the goddess told me is probably accurate. Sitting up I decide to quickly gauge my body''s condition before taking in my surroundings. Briefly probing my body with my mana informs me that I am in perfect condition, if not even better than before. There are two anomalies, though, the first being that my tail is curled around my waist like a belt and is currently considerably blunt. The second change is that they got bigger, I¡¯m still the same size, but they are definitely larger. Deciding to leave my physical changes for later since they aren''t detrimental in any way, I inspect the space I am currently in. First inspecting the bed I am sitting in, it¡¯s huge, someone could comfortably fit three of me in it. After I am done inspecting the bed I start looking around and find that I am in a rather spacious bedroom that, by the looks of it, was furnished in the gothic era. While I am looking around I hear the sound of a door opening and sense the mana of an unknown person. I turn my head to the side and lock eyes with a girl that looks to be in her late teens. I get plenty of time to examine the girl because she freezes like a deer in headlights the moment we make eye contact. Looking her over, the girl could probably be considered quite beautiful by most. Wavy sandy blonde hair that falls a little past shoulder length, a very well balanced face, she has a very good figure, her skin tone is slightly pale and she seems to be about 5.6 feet tall, though, she wasn¡¯t very lucky when it came to chest development. It doesn¡¯t take the girl very long to snap out of her stunned stupor and she quickly runs off closing the door behind her. Considering I know nothing about the residents of the place I am currently in, other than the appearance of the girl who just ran off, it probably wouldn¡¯t be wise to wander around by myself. After coming to my decision I don¡¯t have to wait very long before I hear the sound of a girl talking loudly in an excited voice, ¡°Hurry up daddy, she¡¯s awake, she¡¯s awake!¡± I hear a male voice answer her, though, it sounds rather muted through the door, ¡°Slow down sweetie, even if she is awake she isn¡¯t going to run off and if you''re too excited you might scare her.¡± ¡°See? Look! She¡¯s finally awake!¡± the girl is still rather excited as she opens the door to the room and enters while dragging a man in behind her. As the man gets dragged into the room I notice he is very muscular and the moment I acknowledge that fact, my body instinctively retreats as far as possible while remaining on the bed. After managing to distance itself as much as possible my body starts trembling violently. Noticing my reaction right away the girl turns around and starts pushing the man out the door, ¡°Daddy you''re scaring her! go find mommy and tell her to come instead!¡± Despite his protests, the girl manages to push the man out of the room and once he is gone she gets on the bed. She slowly approaches me and as the girl reaches me my body is still trembling violently, so she slowly sits down beside me. Without saying anything she starts gently stroking my head. Even though it¡¯s a rather foreign feeling, it¡¯s also really comfortable and after closing my eyes for a bit my body finally stops trembling. ¡°It seems not intervening really was the best option, but you can¡¯t just start petting someone without asking them first. With what your father told me and from what I saw when I got here, the girl was in no condition to answer a yes or no question. Then again you''re not listening to me at all right now are you?¡± hearing a woman''s voice I open my eyes, and standing at the edge of the bed I see a woman who greatly resembles the girl who¡¯s currently petting my head. The woman, however, is taller and gives off a much more mature ageless feeling. Her hair is also pale silver instead of blonde and her skin is also much paler. Since the girl doesn¡¯t seem to have noticed the woman was talking to her I reach over and shake her a little while saying, ¡°She¡¯s talking to you,¡± it seems to work because she turns towards the woman and starts talking excitedly, ¡°Mommy, look! She¡¯s finally awake! But she got really scared when she saw daddy. Then after telling daddy to go get you I remembered that when I used to get scared when I was little that you would pet my head and it would calm me down. So I decided to try it and it worked.¡± After the girl is done talking the woman gives a wry smile and says, ¡°Well if she has calmed down enough I would like to talk with her, but you will have to wait outside the room with your father.¡± ¡°But I ¡­ fine,¡± the girl tries to protest, but the woman quickly gets her to agree with a stern look. After the girl is out of the room with the door closed behind her, the woman fixes her stare on me and starts talking, ¡°I have heard a lot about you, with most of it being quite unbelievable, but since my source was a goddess I will just have to suspend my disbelief. When we first found you I was convinced you were already too far gone to save, but here we are now. You wake up like none of those injuries even existed in the first place, even if she already told me I want to hear it from you, what are you?¡± What am I? If she really did learn about me from a goddess, then she probably already knows I am a chimera. In that case lying about my race won¡¯t do me any good, then again in my past life I abhorred lying and that fact hasn¡¯t changed. The best way I can think of to handle this situation is simply being honest and telling her the things I was called during my eight years in the lab. You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version. Having decided I look at the woman and answer, ¡°Chimera, Experiment, Monster, Freak,¡± after getting my answer, she stares at me for a bit before letting out a sad sounding sigh, and sitting on the edge of the bed. After sitting she pats the edge of the bed beside herself to beckon me, and after I move to sit beside her she starts talking again, ¡°I didn¡¯t ask what the people who raised you thought, I asked you. So once more, what are you?¡± Receiving the question a second time I realize that I¡¯ve only ever accepted what others told me. I have never stopped to think about what I am myself. In my other life, what I was, who I was, those were questions I asked myself all the time. So thinking about it right now, what and who am I? Unlike my other life I am not a human anymore, then again I was never really a human, to begin with, but in the end does that matter? Does it matter what my race is? Does what other people think of me change anything? In the end, I don¡¯t really think it does, whether those researchers thought of me as a monster or simply a weapon, in the end, nothing changes. Having come up with an answer I look at the woman and say, ¡°I am just me,¡± a brief smile flashes across her face after she gets my answer before she says, ¡°A rather unconventional answer, but that is just fine. Now we did tell the goddess that we would take care of you, but how we care for you is your choice. If you wish we can supply you with some knowledge of the area and enough money to get by for a year. If you ever needed help, you would be able to come to us and if it is within our power to help we will. Conversely, you can stay here and be our second daughter, but no matter what, the most important thing is that whatever you decide is what you want..¡± What do I want? I am not sure what I want, in my other life I used to do most of what I did for others, but I never really took the time to get what I wanted out of life. Even in this life, I have been raised only to fulfill the goals of others, since I start this life I have only ever wanted to one day escape, but I never thought of what I wanted to do after I escaped. How should I live from now on and what should I strive to achieve? Also, did she just offer to adopt me? In my other life, I was always somewhat estranged with my family, not to mention others, because I would never voice my desires. Unless they reached out to me, I would always quietly mute myself and await the next time I was needed. In the end, I never even told most of my immediate family about how much I despised the fact that I was born male. Not to mention this life, the closest thing I have had to family so far was Rebecca and to her, I was probably never anything more than her only successful experiment. A tool to be used so that she could reach her goals, so I guess while Rebecca may be my mother in a sense, but truthfully I have never actually had a family in this life. Then again do I deserve a family? I am just a creature born and raised to be used as a weapon, so does something like me, a weapon meant only to kill, really deserve a family? ¡°You¡¯re thinking about this too hard, so let''s make it simple. No more thinking, time to answer, what do you want?¡± the woman jostles me from my thoughts by tapping me on the head with the back of her hand. Confronted with her sudden demand for an answer I barely manage to choke out, ¡°I want a family.¡± As I give the woman my answer I feel something slide down my cheeks, and land on my hands which are currently clenched shut on my legs. Looking down at my hands I see that what fell onto my hands are tears and with that realization, like a dam that has built up pressure to the point of bursting, I start crying. I feel the woman gently pull me into an embrace and start stroking the back of my head. For some reason, even though ¡®Heat Immunity¡¯ should be active, being hugged like this feels really warm. While trying to bury myself in this feeling of warmth I start crying even harder. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I¡¯m not sure exactly how long I cried for, but I have finally calmed down now. Letting go of me, the woman looks down at me with a gentle smile and pushes my hair away from my eyes while asking, ¡°Feeling better now that you¡¯ve let all that out?¡± After I answer her with a meek nod the woman gets up and walks to the door while talking, ¡°Now even if you have already met, I should formally introduce you to my daughter, since she is going to be your new sister. There is also myself as well as my husband to introduce, but considering your earlier reaction, we will save my husband¡¯s introduction for later.¡± After opening the door and ushering the girl inside the room, the woman has her sit beside me on the bed before talking, ¡°Now there are some things that need to be taken care of before this is completely official, but you can let us take care of everything on that end. What I want from you two is that you get to know each other. I know that this is amazingly sudden, but since you are going to be sisters from now on I hope you two will be able to get along.¡± Unsure how the girl beside me will react to this news, I try to take a tentative glance at her, but I am hugged from the side before I get the chance to. While she is hugging me the girl is also talking in a very excited voice, ¡°You mean she is going to be my sister from now on?! I always wanted a sibling and now I have an adorable little sister. It¡¯s going to be so fun, I can show you around the house and later we can train together and-.¡± ¡°Now now, calm down for a moment. You haven¡¯t even introduced yourself to the poor girl yet, so how about you start with that,¡± interrupting the girl hugging me the woman brings up a good point, I don¡¯t know anyone''s name yet and the girl now realizing this, stops hugging me long enough to introduce herself, ¡°Mommy is right we don¡¯t even know each other''s names yet. I am your new big sister, Rin Natsumi.¡± Using Rin¡¯s introduction as her cue the woman also introduces herself, ¡°I am your new mother ¡­ actually, you can just call me mother, or better yet you can call me mom,¡± after the woman''s, well I guess I should try to start thinking of her as my mother from now on if I am really going to be living here. After my new mothers self introduction, Rin voices a question I have been dreading, ¡°So, what''s your name?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t have-,¡± interrupting me as I am about to say that I was never given a name, my new mother answers for me, ¡°The goddess chose your name herself, so I am sure she would be devastated to hear you say that you don¡¯t have one. You are called Kitten and from today on you are my daughter, Kitten Natsumi.¡± _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ A/N:So I had trouble even starting this chapter which is in part why it took some time to come out, that and I caught a cold. My body reacts in a silly way to a simple cold, I go from small amounts of restful sleep to sleeping 12 hours and waking up completely exhausted, which really saps my will to do anything. But the biggest hurdle for this chapter, and possibly for chapters yet to come, is in the nature of the problem I actively seek help for. Thanks to my problem, I often manage to mentally degrade myself to the point that I lose the will to continue a variety of things, but this story is something I hope, that with the help of my therapist, I will be able to see through to completetion. Both for myself and for those that find enjoyment in reading it. Mostly what I am trying to say is, please bear with me as I try to write this story and while I will try to get chapters out in a timely fashion it may not always be possible for me to do and for that, I can only apologize. Chapter 12 ¡°My new little sis has such a cute name, plus you¡¯re so soft and adorable too.¡± as Rin talks, she tackles me back into a hug and starts cuddling me, which gives me a bit of time to think about what I just learned. So a goddess chose my name, the only goddess that has ever tried to contact was Karia and while she claimed to be the Goddess of Change and Balance, that claim falls a bit short when all I heard was a voice in a black void. I mean was that voice even a goddess in the first place? Then again it doesn¡¯t matter which goddess decided to name me because even if I worried about it until the end of time it wouldn¡¯t change the situation, I finally have a name. But, while I do like my new name, which deity¡¯s idea was it to name me, a creature born and raised as a tool for war, after something so fluffy and adorable. ¡°Your face says that you¡¯re thinking something negative, does being my daughter really sound like such a bad thing, or maybe it¡¯s that you dislike your name?¡± my new mother asks a question as she pokes my forehead. Did I really have such a negative expression on my face? Quickly shaking my head I say, ¡°I¡¯m grateful for both.¡± Smiling my new mother reaches down and pats my head before saying, ¡°Don¡¯t worry about voicing your misgivings, if we are going to be a family from now on, communication will be key. Ah, I almost forgot!¡± seemingly remembering something my new mother turns towards the room¡¯s door and calls out, ¡°Sophia, you may enter, please bring that in with you and Rin, please release your new sister for now.¡± As Rin reluctantly separates from me I look towards the door in time to see a girl in maid¡¯s clothes walk in. looking her over she looks to be 18 at about 5.9 feet tall, she has a fair face and she would probably be considered very pretty if she was smiling. She has short cut hair colored a deep crimson, a tanned skin tone, and a slim yet well built figure. The maid girl, I believe my new mother called her Sophia, is carrying an ornately decorated wooden box in her hands and upon reaching my new mother, she holds it out while saying, ¡°The requested item madam, if there is nothing else for me to attend to I will take my leave, as Lady Rin seems displeased with my presence.¡± Looking over to Rin I see that she is scowling at Sophia, but before I get a chance to ask why I hear my new mother start talking, so I turn back to look at her, ¡°No, you are to stay right there while we talk. Rin will be fine with you here, you are supposed to be her personal maid after all,¡± after receiving my new mother''s order, Sophia gives a brief curtsey before standing off to the side of the bed. Nodding in satisfaction my new mother turns back towards me and opens the box that is now in her hands while talking, ¡°The goddess who asked us to care for you also wanted us to give you these. My husband tried examining them, but he couldn¡¯t figure out anything about them. Not mentioning the fact that the only clue we received from the goddess was to tell you to infuse them with mana after putting them on, but our attempts to do so ourselves yielded no results.¡± Inside the box which my new mother is now holding open in front of me, lies two thin jet black bracelets sitting on a white cushion. I tentatively reach for the bracelets while sending a glance at my new mother. Answering my glance, my new mother nods to me, so I pick up the bracelets and put them on. Since nothing immediately happens I do as my new mother said, and try moving my mana into the bracelets. The moment my mana enters the bracelets, however, they liquefy and seep into my skin as the room around me goes white. Looking around my surroundings are exactly the same as the black void where I heard the, supposed, voice of the goddess, except it¡¯s white instead of black. While I am thinking that I hear the same voice as last time, ¡°Are these actually recording properly? Honestly, this is why I never ask you to make me any-. What? It¡¯s recording right now?! Ahem, hi it¡¯s me again, Karia, so if you got these bracelets then we have already been introduced. Well, I say that, but my current plan is just to talk to you so unless I decided otherwise you should have only heard my voice. Though, I would really like to know what kind of, Ah! I am going off track again, okay back to the bracelets that have currently integrated themselves into your body. So the bracelets, they don¡¯t really have a fancy name or anything like that, but I promise they are really great. I got them made especially for you and they have the ability to take on any form you want. Um, it¡¯s kinda hard to explain the specifics, but I will give it my best. You just have to think of the process as the bracelets creating an extra skin that you can mold and color as you wish. The best part about this second skin is that it take on the innate properties of your original skin. Thanks to that anything molded with it will have the same toughness as the rest of you and even if you limit your original stats things molded from the second skin will retain your original stat values. It¡¯s also possible to re-absorb anything you mold out of this second skin, so long as you are touching it, by willing it back into yourself. How you use it is up to you and if you try hard enough you can probably find some really fun uses for it. Like an obvious use would be making weapons, though, I wouldn¡¯t recommend anything ranged unless you can retrieve it. Anything you mold that goes farther than 1000 yards away from you will evaporate and take at least a day to find it¡¯s way back. Then again so long as you don¡¯t need it later I guess that¡¯s not so bad. But, seeing as I am about to go off topic again, this will probably be a good point to end this message, so it¡¯s time to wake up Kitten.¡± As the voice stops I can feel myself being shaken and I hear Rin talking in a panicked voice, ¡°Sis? Oh thank goodness you''re fine, those weird bracelets suddenly melted and then you just stopped moving. You wouldn¡¯t even answer when I was shaking you, but you''re fine now, right?¡± looking at Rin I can see that she has tears in the corner of her eyes and looking over at my new mother even she seems slightly worried, so I nod my head while saying, ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I¡¯m okay.¡± After looking me over to confirm my well being Rin nods to herself before she goes back to hugging me. After Rin gets herself settled, my new mother looks at me and asks a question, ¡°Now that we have confirmed that you are fine, I would like to know, what happened?¡± I can¡¯t see Rin, but my new mother looks really curious, even Sophia that has been mostly stoic to this point, looks slightly curious. I could try to vocally explain what happened, but considering my limitations that seems rather ineffective. So I guess just showing them what I learned would probably work best. I wriggle my arm out of Rin¡¯s grasp and sticking it out in front of me, I try to emulate the feeling the voice of the goddess told me to use. I close my eyes and try to imagine a second skin. From that second skin, I try to pull out the image of a gymnastics baton. When I feel something resting in my palm I close my hand around it and open my eyes to look. In my closed hand is a jet black gymnastics baton, I didn¡¯t think of a color so I think it¡¯s safe to say that black is the default coloration. As I try to imagine the baton becoming a part of my second skin again it complies immediately and disappears almost instantly. Having ended my demonstration I look back at my new mother while saying, ¡°Learned to use bracelets,¡± leaking out a small sigh my new mother gives a defeated smile before talking again, ¡°Why did I even think we could understand an item granted by a goddess. Well, we can try to figure out the specifics later, for now, we should have you go wash up and afterward, we can talk more over something to eat. Since my husband was stopped when we first found you, we have not tried to check your status again, but since you are now awake my husband and I would very much like to see your status, with your consent of course.¡± Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. ¡°A bath! Come on sis, I¡¯ll show you the way there and help you get cleaned up,¡± letting me go while bounding off the bed Rin grabs my hand, but before she can get me up, my new mother stops her, ¡°I¡¯m sorry Rin, but I need you to come with me. We are going to explain what happened to your father, Sophia will guide Kitten and help her wash if she requires it.¡± Rin looks like she is about to start protesting, but after receiving a stern look from my new mother Rin reluctantly follows her out of the room. After watching the two of them leave the room Sophia looks at me and says, ¡°Let us also depart, lest we keep the madam and master waiting.¡± As she finishes speaking, Sophia turns and gestures towards the door, so I quickly get off the bed and follow after her. Looking around as we exit the room I can tell that this building is huge just judging by the halls. The decor and architecture, like the room I woke up in, is very gothic era in design. After a twisting maze of halls we pass through a changing room and finally reach a room containing an enormous bath. There is also what looks like showers on the walls, the space, in essence, reminds me of a Japanese public bath, but architecturally it¡¯s built in a gothic design. Before I can further inspect my surroundings, however, Sophia begins to quickly and efficiently strips us both of our clothes. As she undresses me I try unwrapping my tail from my waist and after moving it around a bit, I find that my control over it has not dampened at all. After she finishes stripping us both Sophia picks me up and sits me down on a stool in front of one of the showers as she says, ¡°Since the madam, master and Lady Rin, will be awaiting you to eat, it shall be faster if I aid you.¡± Since I really don¡¯t feel like she will take no for an answer, I simply nod my head and let her do as she pleases. Receiving my consent Sophia pours water over me and starts silently washing my hair. After spending a fair bit of time washing my hair she begins on the rest of my body, but she doesn¡¯t say a word throughout. She is supposed to be Rin¡¯s personal maid so I guess having to take care of me is probably unpleasant and the fact that I am an oddity that has suddenly intruded into her master''s household must make caring for me even more unpleasant. ¡°Is it unpleasant?¡± deciding to probe Sophia¡¯s thoughts about me, I ask a question and she answers with a question of her own, ¡°You ask if something is unpleasant, yet you do not specify. If you wish for an answer, you must be direct so I will ask, what is supposed to be unpleasant?¡± I wasn¡¯t expecting Sophia to turn my question back at me, so I say, ¡°You¡¯re Rin¡¯s personal maid,¡± without stopping her hands Sophia answers while still washing my body, ¡°Yes I am supposed to be Lady Rin¡¯s personal maid, but Lady Rin has refused my services since the day we met. Due to this failure, I have instead dedicated myself to perfectly completing my madam''s every command. Even if my madam ordered me to die in battle to protect her family, I would do so without question and so, there is no need for me to question my madam¡¯s order to care for the child she has adopted.¡± ¡°But, I¡¯m a monster,¡± due to the way I was conditioned during my time in the lab I respond without thinking. Hearing my response Sophia¡¯s hands stop moving for the first time since she started washing me. She then picks me up and turns me so that I am facing her, before proceeding to look me over completely. After she is done examining me, Sophia, slowly starts talking, ¡°Are you truly a monster? What I see in front of me is a young girl. True she may be different, but if being different is all it takes to be a monster, then aren¡¯t we all monsters? Wouldn¡¯t an Asura like me, born and raised in battle, be a monster? Before the master and mistress removed me from that life, every day was a fight for survival. The weak would die and the strong would live, doesn¡¯t that sound like a monster''s life to you? But, it¡¯s different, isn¡¯t it? We, I killed to live, but monsters they are born with an innate love for death, yet they do not slaughter each other. They do not kill to survive because they live off the mana they were born from. No, monsters kill for the pleasure of it and so I ask once again, is the young girl in front of me truly a monster? Or, is she just a little girl who is too afraid to find her true self?¡± Having said her part Sophia turns me back around and turns on the shower to rinse me off while she starts to comb out my hair. I stay silent as she combs my hair because I myself don¡¯t know the answer to her question. All my time in that lab, I was raised while being told that I was just a creature created to kill, a monster and even though I thought I accepted that no matter what anyone says I am simply myself. A small part of me still wanted to believe those researchers, somewhere deep inside I still believed I am a just a weapon meant to kill. But after hearing what Sophia just said even that small part of me is unsure now. Once Sophia finishes combing my hair and leads me back into the changing room I decide to leave my current line of thinking for later. Once we get into the changing room Sophia once again stops to examine me before saying, ¡°Madam did tell me to prepare you only appropriate undergarments and have you wear one of Lady Rin¡¯s older dresses. But looking at you, that plan now seems somewhat foolish. Though, with your old clothes being little more than tattered rags, currently, there are no other options.¡± Following her line of sight, I can see that she is looking at my chest, but her worry does make sense, compared to Rin I am quite a bit more sizeable. Rin seemed to be a small B, while my current size is more of a large D, so having to wear Rin¡¯s old clothing would probably be extremely restrictive. Actually the bracelets I got earlier might be useful in this situation. I could probably make myself something to wear using them and not only could it be whatever I like, it would also second as protective wear. Looking straight at Sophia I hold my hand out and ask, ¡°Can I have underwear,¡± nodding to me she retrieves and hands me the underwear she had put aside. Putting on the bottoms is simple enough, but after watching me struggle with the brassiere for a while Sophia shows me how to put it on properly. Now that I have underwear on I decide to try out my idea and imagine my second skin forming a short kimono around my body. Surprisingly enough it works almost immediately and after checking myself over, I draw the kimono back into my second skin. Having confirmed that my plan works I try different outfits ranging from shrine maiden clothes to casual wear I had seen in my other life. I finally settle on a white thigh length gothita styled dress, complete with a black coat, plenty of frills, lace, black socks that rise up to mid thigh and a pair of simple black shoes with a short heel. Trying to move around a bit I find that my molded clothes do not feel restrictive in the least, but instead, it almost feels like they aren¡¯t even there. Finally satisfied with my outfit I turn towards Sophia, who has been silently watching me. When I turn to look at her Sophia is making a face like she wants to ask something, but as she notices my gaze she quickly composes herself before saying, ¡°If you are ready, the master, madam, and Lady Rin will be awaiting your arrival in the dining hall. If you would follow me I shall guide you there now.¡± Chapter 13 Without waiting for confirmation Sophia turns to leave the room. Quickly catching up to her, I once again let her lead me through the maze of halls. I will have to learn where everything is eventually, but I think getting Rin to guide me around, at least for a few days, might be fine too. As I follow Sophia we pass by quite a few other servants, who stop and bow or curtsey when they see me. I find it slightly awkward to have people treat me with even minor amounts of respect, but if I had to guess, based on these living conditions, someone in my new family probably holds an important position in this country. Suddenly Sophia stops in front of a large set of double doors before turning around and addressing me, ¡°We have arrived at the dining hall. I will enter first and inform the madam of your arrival, so please wait here until I return.¡± Finished talking Sophia turns around and enters the room in front of us. Doing as I was told, I wait patiently for Sophia to return. I don¡¯t need to wait very long before I see her crossing back through the doors. ¡°Since the master is currently waiting in another room, the madam has requested that you enter, please do not keep her waiting,¡± holding the door open as she talks Sophia ushers me into the room. Looking around as I walk in, I can see that the dining room is rather large, but it pales in comparison to the bath. The room is also architecturally consistent with everything else I have seen and in the middle of the room, there is a table that looks like it could comfortably seat six. My new mother and Rin are sitting at the end of the table farthest away from the door so I make my way towards them. ¡°Sis, come sit beside me! Ah! Your clothes are so pretty. Did one of the maids buy them? I don¡¯t remember ever seeing them and they fit you so well. Nevermind, quick sis sit down!¡± seeing me walking over Rin starts to call out excitedly while bringing the chair beside her closer to herself, and when I sit down, she grabs me into a hug then settles down. Unsure on what to do in my current situation I look to my new mother for help. After making eye contact my new mother gives a wry smile while saying, ¡°Rin while I do understand that you like your new sister very much, she isn¡¯t going to run away if you aren''t holding her and we have some important things to talk about, remember?¡± ¡°But, she is just so soft and comfortable to hold, you would understand if you tried hugging her¡­ fine!¡± being shot a stern look by my new mother, Rin lets go of me and my new mother starts talking again, ¡°Now while I have quite a few questions, most of which I think will be easily answered if we see your status, but if you don¡¯t want us to check your status, we won¡¯t force the issue.¡± As she finishes talking, my new mother sets a stone, that looks like the one Rebecca used to use to check my status, down on the table in front of her. I guess this is her way of indirectly asking to check my status. I want to trust my new family so, I want to share my status with my new mother, but I don¡¯t really want to use the stone since it is really bad compared to my status spell. Wondering about what to do I remember the one spell that the goddess gifted me that I never used. Deciding to try out the spell, I mentally chant {Status} and then while focusing on my new mother I try mentally chanting {Status Share}.
Name: Kitten Natsumi Race: D????????3?????¡è???????!??????????????????G?????????¡ã????????????????????????????????3??????????¡ì??? Sub-races: Vampire, Succubus, Dragon,G?????????¡ã????????????????????????????????3??????????¡ì???
Age: 10 Sex: Female
Level: 17 Job: Error
Health: 250000/250000 (forced safety limit) (¡ã???¦Ì??????¡ë??????????¡ì????????Max) Mana: 750000/750000 (forced safety limit) (¡ã???¦Ì??????¡ë??????????¡ì????????Max)
Str: 50000 (forced safety limit) (¡ã???¦Ì??????¡ë??????????¡ì????????Max) Int: 50000 (forced safety limit) (¡ã???¦Ì??????¡ë??????????¡ì????????Max)
Dex: 50000 (forced safety limit) (¡ã???¦Ì??????¡ë??????????¡ì????????Max) Wis: 50000 (forced safety limit) (¡ã???¦Ì??????¡ë??????????¡ì????????Max)
End: 50000 (forced safety limit) (¡ã???¦Ì??????¡ë??????????¡ì????????Max) Charm: 4500
Titles: Skills:
Chimeric Being Informational Sponge Passives: Racial Passives: Actives: Racial Actives:
Genius Programmer Follower of Logic Photograhpic Memory LvL - Draconic Language LvL - Complete Mana Control LvL - (evolved) Charm LvL 1
Chosen of Change and Balance Organic Clock Mana Sense LvL - (evolved) Blood Mana LvL - Programming Magic LvL - Spells + Flight LvL 4
Scientific Genius Modified Instinctual Clock LvL - Draconic Scales LvL - Chantless Invocation LvL - Partial dragonification LvL -
Immune Limited Pain ImmunityLvL - (evolved) Succubus''s Allure LvL - Limiter LvL - (forcefully semi limited) ??????????¡è??¡À??????¡Â??¦Ì?????¡ê?????? LvL - (forcefully limited)
Combat Genius Fear of Muscle Mana Immunity LvL - (evolved) Enhanced Dynamic Vision LvL - Over Limit LvL -(forcefully limited) ---
Giant Killer ?????????????¡è????????????¡À?????????¡Â????????¦Ì?????????¡ê????? (forcefully limited) Mental ImmunityLvL - (evolved) Charm Aura LvL - Toxin Production LvL - ---
--- --- Paralysis ImmunityLvL - (evolved) Prehensile Tail LvL - --- ---
--- --- Posion ImmunityLvL - (evolved) Bloody Regeneration LvL - --- ---
--- --- Cold ImmunityLvL - (evolved) (fully limited) Cold Resistance LvL 8 (20% limited) Draconic Aura LvL - (fully limited) --- ---
--- --- Heat Immunity LvL - (evolved) (fully limited) Heat Resistance LvL 8 (20% limited)Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings. Blood Rage LvL- --- ---
--- --- Enhanced Senses LvL - *OMITTED* LvL - (force limited, locked, sealed, OFF LIMITS!) --- ---
¡°How, what? This is a status page, but why does it look so different?¡± I can hear my new mother muttering to herself, but thanks to the status page in front of me I can¡¯t see her. Though, from what she is saying, I can guess the spell has probably allowed her to see my status and that means I can also focus on examining my status. What the heck happened to my race and my stats? Not to mention there¡¯s a weird new title and some strange new skills. But, there does also seem to be some normal ones in there, also what does all this ¡®forcefully limited¡¯ stuff mean? Plus hasn¡¯t the limit on my ¡®Fear of Muscle¡¯ title been removed? Well, that explains my reaction when I saw my new father but did the self proclaimed Goddess Voice really have to unlimit that darn title. I guess my best choice here is relimit ¡®Fear of Muscle¡¯ and trying to examine one of the oddities in my status. Now decided, I fully limit ¡®Fear of muscle¡¯ before I focus on the title ¡®??????????¡è???????¡À???????¡Â??????¦Ì?????¡ê????¡® and cast {Status Examine}. Like always, on the first time I examine something, it takes a few moments before a second blue screen appears above my status.
?????????????¡è????????????¡À?????????¡Â????????¦Ì?????????¡ê????? So, sometimes you try unprecedented things and you get unexpected results. That¡¯s kinda what happened here, I tried something that had never been done before and a result completely outside of my expectations occurred. But it¡¯s not like it¡¯s a bad thing or anything like that, the system just broke a little that¡¯s all. Yep, the system just broke a little so you got this title. yeah, that makes sense so that¡¯s going to be my story and it¡¯s what I am going to stick with. This explanation brought to you by the one and only Goddess of Change and Balance
Wait, the system made by a god, that gained sentience and decided to do its own thing...just broke a little? I mean, what did she even do to me that broke this damned system? I mean would it kill this goddess to think about, me, the person that has to live with all this. The magic is nice, but from what the few interactions I¡¯ve had with my new family have taught me, I am going to have a hard time ever getting my point across in four words or less. Not only that but now I possibly have to worry about a rogue god created system getting mad at me for ¡°breaking¡± it. Actually, forget it if the system gets mad at me, my-happy-to-interfere-with-everything-goddess will probably find a way to deal with it, and I just have to leave it up to her when the time comes. Without wasting any more time thinking about what if¡¯s, I quickly focus on the other two oddities in my status and cast {Status Examine}.
??????????¡è??¡À??????¡Â??¦Ì?????¡ê?????? My answer is the same as when you checked the title, the system broke. So I have absolutely no idea how you got this or what it does for you, none at all, totally have no idea. This explanation brought to you by the one and only Goddess of Change and Balance
*OMITTED* Nope not going into it, this skill has already caused enough trouble so from now on it is off limits.I had everything perfect too, I had stopped it just right, nothing too big or too small and then you leveled up, which earned you this stupid thing. This stupid skill managed to show up and ruin some of my work before I could lock it away. Anyways this explanation ends here and this passive stays under lock, end of story. This explanation brought to you by the one and only Goddess of Change and Balance
Well, that didn¡¯t teach me anything new about the broken bits in my status and the goddess seems really unhappy about whatever skill it is she is hiding from me. The last two things left to check seem normal enough and I can probably safely check them out later, though, ¡®Toxin Production¡¯ seems rather dubious. However, it is interesting to learn that I can gain more skills simply by raising my level, but more importantly, since I reapplied the limit on ¡®Fear of Muscle¡¯ I should be able to meet my new father now right? Dismissing my status I realize that at some point Rin must have gotten bored because I am currently once again being cuddled. Since it does feel comforting I decide let Rin do as she pleases. Looking at my new mother, I see that she is still giving the air in front of herself a hard stare. That in itself might be the biggest flaw with my status spell, the stone¡¯s status screen might be crude, but everyone can see it. With my spells only myself and those I cast ¡®Status Share¡¯ on can see the status. So to everyone else, every time I checked my status I¡¯ve just staring blankly into space. While thinking about the faults present with my status spell, my stomach makes its presence known with a gurgling soundand helps me realize I am rather hungry. The sound from my stomach also seems to get my new mother''s attention as she says, ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I may have slightly forgotten myself there. Your status page has so many things I have never seen before and that''s excluding its overall appearance. Though even if I received a few answers, seeing your status has opened up many more questions, but after seeing your titles, it seems past experiences are to blame for your reaction to my husband. It will probably be quite a difficult task to slowly get you used to him.¡± Giving a small sigh as she finishes talking, my new mother looks like she is thinking quite deeply about how to acclimate me to my new father, but since I limited ¡®fear of Muscle¡¯ again it should be fine now, so I speak up, ¡°Fear of muscles, solved.¡± After hearing what I said my new mother gives me a questioning look while she talks, ¡°I¡¯m not sure I understand what you mean when you say that you solved your fear. From what I heard about your reaction to briefly seeing my husband, it is going to be a long time before we can even have the two of you in the same room. Though it is slightly hard to understand what you¡¯re trying to convey when you speak so little, but from what little I did hear about your upbringing it isn¡¯t too surprising that you haven¡¯t opened up to us completely. When you feel comfortable enough to talk, there won¡¯t be anyone here that isn¡¯t willing to listen.¡± ¡°Limited speech, goddess¡¯ doing,¡± since my new mother seems to have misunderstood why I can¡¯t talk very much I quickly correct her before waiting the arbitrary fifteen seconds and continuing with what I want to say, ¡°Limiter skill, limits fear.¡± My new mother looks surprised but quickly composes herself before talking again, ¡°So what you are saying is that it is not that you do not wish to speak more, but that you cannot speak more. While I cannot say that I understand why a goddess would do such a thing, it is not our place to question the gods. As for your fear, if I have properly understood what you told me, one of your skills should allow you to interact with my husband while avoiding your previous reaction, correct?¡± I give a quick nod to confirm what my new mother has said and after giving a small sigh my new mother turns to address Sophia, who has been standing near the wall, ¡°Sophia, could you please fetch my husband and inform the kitchen that we will be ready to dine.¡± ¡°Very well madam I shall do so immediately, will anything else be required?¡± Sophia responds while giving a brief curtsey as my new mother dismisses her, while turning back to me and Rin, ¡°No that will be all I require, afterward you may return to your regular duties unless my husband has need of you.¡± With one more curtsey Sophia leaves the room. While we wait for my new father to arrive, my new mother fills the time by asking questions and I answer them to the best of my ability, while Rin seems content to simply keep cuddling me. After a few minutes of back and forth question and answers with my new mother I hear the sound of the doors to the dining room opening. Looking over I see a man sticking only his head and neck past the doors as he timidly calls out a question, ¡°Are you sure I can come in? She looked really scared the first time she saw me and I don¡¯t want it to happen again, so I don¡¯t want to come in unless you are really sure,¡± I can hear Rin giggling behind me as the man talks and my new mother sighs before calling back to him, ¡°Yes we are quite sure, now please come in, you are currently making a fool of yourself in front of both your daughters and that is not the best way to leave a good first impression.¡± Receiving my new mother''s confirmation the man, who I can probably safely guess is my new father, slowly opens the doors and walks into the dining room. As he slowly approaches, my new father notices that I do not have the same reaction as I did when we first met and his steps gain some confidence. When he gets close enough I quickly look him over, Though, to say that he is mismatched is putting it too lightly. My new father has a fair skin tone and a face that can only be described as pretty. He has long pointed ears and short blonde hair. He is also rather tall at 6.4 feet, but he is nowhere near as big as he seemed when I first saw him. If you only looked at his face he would just be a tall pretty boy type, but his highly muscled frame is a complete mismatch when compared to his face. After reaching the table my new father sits down and my new mother puts her hand on his shoulder as she talks, ¡°Well since it seems that you really aren¡¯t reacting negatively, Kitten, this man is my husband and, from now on, your father,¡± giving a quick nod, I look towards my new father and apologize for my reaction when I first met him, ¡°I¡¯m sorry about before.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it, you can¡¯t help being afraid of what you¡¯re afraid of right and you''re ok right now, so that¡¯s what counts,¡± my new father smiles at me warmly as he talks, contrary to both his timid entrance and his slightly imposing body type my new father seems to be a very friendly person. My new father looks like he wants to say something else, but stops when we hear the doors to the dining room open again as a woman in a maids dress walks in. The maid gives a brief curtsey before addressing my new mother and father, ¡°Madam, Master, the meal is ready, shall I have it brought in?¡± My new father turns back to me a moment before calling out to the maid, ¡°Yes, you may bring in the meal, we are ready to dine,¡± giving a curtsey the maid makes a motion and two other servants carry the food in while my new father turns to talk, ¡°We can talk more after our meal, you must be quite famished at this point and Rin neither you nor your new sister can eat if you are clinging to her.¡± Rin slowly lets go of me as one of the servers sets our meal down in front of us. The meal itself is simple, but well decorated, consisting of a type of meat, a medley of vegetables, and some fluffy looking bread. There is also the faint smell of spices, though I can¡¯t recognize any of them. Alongside my plate, the server also sets down a silver looking fork, knife and a clear glass full of a pink liquid. Deciding to pick up the drink first, I bring it up to my nose and smell it. It gives off a really fruity smell, but like the spices, I don¡¯t recognize the smell at all. Bringing the drink up to my lips I take a sip and find that it tastes like a mix between a cherry and a strawberry. Satisfied with the drink I set it down and, picking up my utensils, try a piece of the meat. I¡¯m really looking forward to having my first meal of solid food in this world, but after putting it in my mouth I am rather disappointed. It probably tastes about as good as anything from my other life, but compared to the blood I am used to having it¡¯s really bland, almost tasteless. After reluctantly chewing for a while I finally swallow the piece in my mouth, but the moment it hits my stomach I immediately vomit it onto my plate, along with what little else is in my stomach. After vomiting I start coughing violently and I hear the clattering of chairs before I feel a hand rubbing my back. As my coughing starts to subside, I hear my new mother''s voice from beside me, ¡°It¡¯s alright, take your time, today has been an eventful day and you probably need rest. Rin will guide you to your room so you can lay down and we can find you something easy to digest when you wake up.¡± I can feel someone grab my hand as someone else helps me stand, but my brain is currently having trouble registering what''s happening around me, thanks to the shock of my sudden adverse reaction. I can feel someone cleaning up my face and then whoever is holding my hand starts to slowly lead me forward. Eventually, we reach a familiar room and the person guiding me helps me into the bed, which I collapse into while drawing my molded clothing back in and I swiftly fall asleep. Chapter 14 Waking up my body feels heavy. It¡¯s not a feeling of sluggishness, but instead it feels like there is a weight pressing down on me. Though, it isn¡¯t an oppressive weight, instead it¡¯s warm, and comforting. Opening my eyes I find that I am in the room I woke up in yesterday. Since I was shocked about my body¡¯s sudden reaction to my first bit of solid food yesterday, I didn¡¯t realize where I was being led to at all. Thinking about it now, it makes sense that I was brought back here to rest. Looking at the blankets covering me I find that they look strangely lumpy. Reaching out I pull the blankets to the side and underneath them I find Rin. She is sleeping half on top of me with her arms wrapped around me, her face is buried in my chest and her legs are semi tangled in mine. Examining her more closely, Rin is currently wearing something that reminds me of a negligee from my other life. What she is wearing is not nearly as short or transparent as any negligee I remember, but it still gives off a light feeling of indecency. I¡¯m guessing she changed after bringing me back here and then for some reason she decided to sleep in the bed with me. With some effort, Since Rin still won¡¯t let go, I manage to slide her down to my waist and sit myself up. As I silently watch Rin sleep since I feel bad about the idea of waking her up, I reach over and lightly stroke her hair, which prompts her to snuggle into me even more. While engrossed with petting Rin¡¯s hair, I am startled by the sound of knocking from the door and I turn in time to see my new mother walking into the room. Seeing me and Rin my new mother lightly shakes her head while talking to herself, ¡°This girl, I knew she was happy about getting a new little sister, but to think this is where she was rushing off to.¡± while giving me a slightly sympathetic look, my new mother keeps talking, ¡°I am sorry about Rin, she has never had anyone even close to her age around and thanks to that, she seems to have already gotten very attached to you.¡± Looking down at Rin sleeping peacefully I shake my head and softly say, ¡°Feels warm, It¡¯s comfortable.¡± My new mother looks thoughtful for a moment, but she seems to decide herself before walking over and leaning down to whisper into Rin¡¯s ear, ¡°Your sister might be fine with this situation, but you should be awake by now. If you don¡¯t wake up I might have to tell your tutor to double the amount covered in your lessons.¡± I am not sure if that counts as a threat or not, but it seems to work since Rin quickly tries to lift herself while talking slightly nonsensically, ¡°No, no mommy, too much already. I don¡¯t need more book reading, look I¡¯m awake mommy.¡± Eventually, Rin manages to sit up and after looking around bleary eyed for a bit she mutters, ¡°Where am I?¡± ¡°By the looks of it, you seem to have snuck into your sister''s bed, care to explain?¡± my new mother talks while giving a short laugh and Rin makes a face like she just remembered something as she says, ¡°Oh, last night I got changed and then I decided to check on sis. But, sis looked really cold sleeping like that, then I remembered the stories you used to tell me about your adventures with daddy. In a lot of those stories, you said that you and daddy would sleep together to keep warm, so I decided to sleep with sis to keep her warm.¡± As she finishes with her explanation Rin looks really proud of herself and so shaking her head slightly, my new mother changes the subject, ¡°Right well we can talk about this later, for now, Kitten let¡¯s get you dressed and then we make our way to the kitchen to find something you can eat.¡± ¡°Wait, what about me!?¡± Rin crawls to the edge of the bed while talking as she realizes that she¡¯s been left out and my new mother answers her in a matter of fact tone, ¡°You need to change out of your nightwear. Afterward, you can come find us in the kitchen, and we can all relocate to the dining hall to eat with your father.¡± ¡°Okay, I¡¯m going to go change right now!¡± shouting as she bounds off the bed, Rin dashes out of the room. Since my new mother is distracted watching Rin I decide to get off the bed, and create the same outfit as I had yesterday. Turning back to me my new mothers seems to realize the true nature of my outfit after seeing it again and starts walking out of the room while motioning for me to follow. Following behind my new mother, we quickly reach the kitchens. As we enter one of the men cooking stops and walks over to give a bow before he crouches down eye level with me to talk, ¡°You must be Lady Kitten, I am truly sorry that your first meal here was received so adversely. We take great pride in our food, though, yesterday''s meal may have been too heavy for someone overwhelmed by a new environment. Hopefully what we have planned for today''s breakfast will be suitably light enough.¡± The cooks seem to think that it is completely their fault that I wasn¡¯t able to eat, but it was probably due to the fact that yesterday was the first time I ever tried to ingest solid food. Thinking on it now, while I was in the labs the only things I was ever fed were liquid nutrient blends and blood. So it makes a lot of sense that my body would reject the sudden introduction of solid food. Since it¡¯s not their fault at all, I quickly shake my head and respond to the cook, ¡°First time solid food.¡± The cook in front of me looks rather confused with my response, but my new mother puts her hands on my shoulders, turning me towards her, before asking, ¡°Kitten, are you saying, that yesterday was the first time you had ever been given solid food to eat?¡± I answer with a nod and my new mother looks thoughtful for a bit before turning to the cook, ¡°Well that would explain her reaction yesterday. Can you make anything that her body won¡¯t reject, but will still satiate her nutritional needs?¡± ¡°While I could come up with a special menu for Lady Kitten to slowly ease her body into eating solid foods, it would be much easier to find a starting point if I knew what she used to eat before arriving here,¡± as the cook voices his opinion, both him and my new mother to look back at me prompting me to speak. I don¡¯t see a problem with telling them what I was fed all my life, so I slowly open my mouth and say, ¡°I was fed blood.¡± Hearing my response my new mother''s eyes open wide in surprise and she tries to stifle a gasp with her hand. Slightly worried about my new mother¡¯s reaction I ask her, ¡°Is that bad?¡± My new mother quickly shakes her head and seems to calm down as she answers, ¡°No I was just slightly surprised, a large majority of vampires, myself included, are taught since we are young that blood is something reserved for special occasions. Some families even go so far as to ban its consumption completely and even for vampires, the benefits of blood have thinned to near nonexistence. So that fact that you were raised on it, well it leaves me to wonder at the integrity of those who took care of you before.¡± Shaking her head my new mother lets out a small sigh before continuing, ¡°That damn goddess, excluding the important details. Alright, until our cooks can come up with something we will have to make due, how much were you given at every meal?¡± ¡°Small capsule, once daily¡± I talk while demonstrating the size by holding up my thumb and forefinger. Hearing my response my new mother looks stunned, but before she can say anything else Rin runs in talking excitedly, ¡°Mommy can I show sis around the house after we eat? I want her to see all my favorite places, I know I am supposed to have lessons today, but since sis finally woke up it would be better if I took the time to show her around right?¡± My new mother seems to compose herself thanks to Rin¡¯s sudden entry and turns to order the cook, ¡°Please obtain a spoonful of blood from one the animals meant for butchering today and bring it back here as swiftly as possible. Also, I would like you and the others to create a menu to slowly habilitate Kitten¡¯s digestive system, though, it would probably be best if the dishes incorporated blood in some form.¡±This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. The cook gives a swift bow before leaving to do as he was told and my new mother turns to talk to Rin, ¡°I have already asked your tutor to excuse you from today''s lessons, but I want you to go to the dining room to tell your father I will be there with Kitten soon.¡± ¡°Yay, I get to spend all day with sis!¡± Rin shouts as she runs off enthusiastically. Once I can¡¯t see Rin anymore I turn to my new mother and ask about something that has been bothering me since earlier, ¡°You don¡¯t like deities?¡± Receiving my question a thoughtful look passes over my new mother''s face before she answers flatly, ¡°No, I do not. What they do may debatably be for the greater good, but I do not approve of their methods. Even this time, while the result is wonderful¡­¡± My new mother stops talking while making a face like she just ate something sour, but before she can continue her thoughts, the cook returns with a bowl in hand, ¡°Madam, the requested item. I did, however, take the liberty of transferring it to a more portable medium, I hope that course of action was permissible.¡± ¡°Yes that is perfect, I shall take it from here and you may inform the servants that we shall be ready to receive our meal in the dining hall,¡± my new mother dismisses the cook while taking the spoon and bowl from him. While it¡¯s too high for me to see inside the bowl, I can already smell the familiar scent of blood. Silently my new mother slowly stirs the contents of the bowl while staring at them. Eventually, she seems to solve her inner turmoil and she fills the spoon up before handing it to me. Receiving the spoon, the smell of blood is even stronger and it helps me realize just how hungry I actually am. My new mother watches intently as I slowly put the spoon in my mouth, but the difference is staggering. If the meat I tried yesterday was akin to a cheap instant meal in my other life, then blood is comparable to a four star restaurant. As I swallow my hunger almost immediately abates and I guess my relief is apparent because my new mother says, ¡°It¡¯s slightly hard to believe, but you really do look like you¡¯re doing better simply after one spoonful. Alright, Rin and your father are most likely waiting for us, hopefully, the cooks will be able to think of something for your meals.¡± Setting down the bowl and spoon as she talks, my new mother holds out her hand as if inviting me when she is done. I take hold of her hand and she leads me to the dining room, though, compared to yesterday the house seems much less confusing. Reaching the dining room me and my new mother sit with Rin, and my new father, shortly after servants enter with my new family¡¯s breakfast. Rin questions the fact that I am not eating and my new mother finally manages to placate her by telling her that I was only going to eat my meal alone for this breakfast. After finishing her meal off way too quickly Rin bounds off her chair and grabs my hand while talking energetically, ¡°C''mon sis, I am going to show you around the house today.¡± As Rin pulls me behind her I can hear my new mother issue us a warning, ¡°Please be careful you two, try not to get in the way of the servants, and Rin be gentle with your sister.¡± Heeding my new mother''s warning Rin slows down, and has me walk beside her. As we walk through the home Rin excitedly introduces me to servants she knows, and tells me lots of different stories about her life here. Though, with what I have gathered from her stories Rin has been extremely sheltered all her life, only leaving the premises of her home on very special occasions. As Rin continues to show me around I can tell that the mansion is huge, but not nearly as confusing as it seemed yesterday. The mansion has three floors, the first floor has all kinds of facilities like the kitchen, dining room, and the bath, among others. The first floor also has a huge banquet hall and extra rooms for guests, the room I woke up in is also one of those guest rooms. The second floor seems to mostly be rooms for the servants, though it also has quite a few storage rooms that Rin introduced to me as, ¡°excellent places to escape to.¡± The third floor is all rooms for the family and special guests. When we get to Rin¡¯s room I am somewhat surprised by her extensive collection of stuffed toys, but I am more surprised by her even larger collection of bows. Being told by Rin that she had a bow collection I thought she meant the kind you wear in your hair or on your clothes, not the bow and arrow variety. But there are an impressive amount of different types of bows. Back with the demon ogre, I trained with crossbows, but other than those I never tried any other kind of ranged weaponry. After she is done showing me her collections, Rin decides to drag me onto the bed and sits me down in front of her while she hugs me from the back. As she cuddles me Rin tells me stories she knows about my new mother and father''s adventuring days. After telling stories for a while Rin pulls me closer to her chest and asks me a question, ¡°Hmm, hey sis, what do you want to do in the future? I want to become an explorer like mommy and daddy. Then I can travel the world and find lots of new things. After that, I can come back to share my adventures with mommy and daddy, so I was wondering what sis wants to do in the future.¡± What do I want to do in the future? Just yesterday I finally woke up somewhere outside of that lab and then I got adopted into a family. Just those two things are already more than I could have ever asked for. In my other life, I had no ambition, I lived for the sake of being alive because death was simply the end. By the end of it I had gone through my life never wanting for more, but I also never really found happiness did I? Then again am I any different right now? Even with the way I was treated in that lab, I simply accepted it. I never strived for more, I did and learned as I was told. I guess wanting to escape was a goal, but I only ever tried to achieve it passively. Does that mean I am no different from my other life, am I destined to live life following the whims of others forever? Suddenly Rin disturbs my thoughts by squeezing me tighter while she says, ¡°Sorry I asked something weird. If you don¡¯t know what you want yet you shouldn¡¯t think about it so hard, but instead just experience new things until you do find something, at least that¡¯s what mommy used to tell me when I was younger. Oh, I know! You can become an explorer with me, I am sure we will find something you want somewhere right? So let¡¯s start by exploring the house more! Is there anything you are curious about?¡± For some reason even though it¡¯s not a decision I would have ever come to on my own, Rin saying I should become an explorer with her makes me feel warmer. But I am not sure what else there is to see in the mansion. After thinking for a bit I start thinking that with a home this big, I can imagine they have some kind of library. I learned a lot while in the lab, but I barely know anything about the history of this world and a library would probably help with filling in those gaps. Tilting my head back to look at Rin, who I am currently leaning on I ask, ¡°House have a library?¡± After I ask my question Rin¡¯s eyes start to swim around and she quickly helps me off the bed while talking in a slightly strained voice, ¡°Ah, we have only seen the inside of the house so far right? How about we go outside, I can show you the garden it¡¯s really pretty. Oh and we can also go visit the soldiers at the barracks training field, mommy is probably training with them right now.¡± Following behind Rin I can¡¯t help but think that even though she just avoided the question, it¡¯s probably not due to any negative intentions. If I had to say, based on her reaction I think the reason Rin avoided the library is probably because she dislikes studying, which is rather expected of someone her age. I am rather okay with forgoing the library visit for now, though, because we get to go outside.The only time I have ever gone outside in this life is when the ogre led me out of that dreadful lab and even then it was trees, trees, and more trees. From what I have seen out of the windows, this home seems to be centered on a gigantic hill overlooking a large city. Following behind Rin she leads us to a door on the first floor and exiting through the door we enter an enormous flower garden. All around us, there is all kinds of trees, plants, and flowers I have never seen before. While the sunlight is a little too bright at first, once my eyes adjust I start to run around and satiate my curiosity. I explore the flower garden for a while before Rin guides us across the front of the mansion towards another large building. Looking at the mansion from outside it really is huge and, like the inside, the outside of the mansion is built in a gothic style. After a bit of walking, we finally reach the other large building but compared to the mansion it is really unassuming. It¡¯s a rectangular building built with a flat roof and it really has no defining features. As we reach the building, I can hear the sounds of wood hitting against wood, and as Rin guides us toward the back of the build the sounds get louder and louder. Rounding the corner of the building we are greeted by the sight of a huge training ground filled with many men and women performing all kinds of different exercises. Looking around there are even people training by attacking wooden dummies and firing bows at archery targets. As we walk by, most of the people stop, and offer some sort of greeting before resuming what they were doing. While I am looking around Rin suddenly accelerates while pulling me behind her while shouting, ¡°Mommy! We came to say hi!¡± When Rin stops we are standing in front of my new mother, and looking her over she is covered in a film of sweat. As my new mother wipes her body off with a towel one of the women brings her, she asks me and Rin a question, ¡°I thought you two were exploring the house today? Well, it doesn¡¯t matter, but Rin, would you mind explaining why you brought your sister to the training grounds?¡± ¡°Well, mommy has been training me to be an explorer since I was little and so I thought, if one day sis is going to adventure with me then you should train her too,¡± with a large smile on her face Rin innocently reveals her motive. Chapter 15 Hearing what Rin said about training me into becoming an explorer, my new mother raises a hand to her mouth to stifle a laugh, Rin seeing this tilts her head and asks, ¡°Why is that funny mommy?¡± After managing to compose herself my new mother responds by saying, ¡°Sorry, I didn¡¯t mean to laugh. Now before we can even talk about training, Kitten, I know this could very well be one of Rin¡¯s impulsive ideas, but do you actually want to be an explorer in the future?¡± From what Rin told me being an explorer would allow me to explore the world with her and, at least right now, I feel that I want to stay with Rin, so I nod my head in affirmation. Receiving my affirmation my new mother smiles and nods her head before putting on a stern face while she says, ¡°Right then, from what I saw in your status page last night, physically you should be very capable, but I will need to assess if you can hold your own in a fight.¡± As she finishes talking my new mother calls out to a woman standing nearby and signals for her to walk over. When the woman reaches us my new mother wastes no time explaining the situation to her, ¡°Right then, I want you to have a match against my daughter so that I can assess her combat abilities.¡± After hearing what my new mother wants the woman seems confused as she says, ¡°But madame Lady Rin has only received minor training with a sword, I can hardly think this would be a fair match.¡± My new mother shakes her head briefly before responding, ¡°I don¡¯t want you to have a match with Rin, I am well aware of her faults with blades. No, the one I want you to battle against is my new daughter Kitten.¡± The woman sends a surprised look my way before turning to my new mother and exclaiming, ¡°Madam!? You can¡¯t really be asking me to have a battle against such a young girl?! I could abide with having a match against Lady Rin because you have trained her since childhood, but-.¡± ¡°I am not asking you to have a match, it is an order. You, bring them both a wooden practice blade and let us commence this match,¡± having her complaints firmly rejected by my new mother the woman meekly hangs her head and when a man hands her a wooden training sword she quietly accepts it. Having handed the woman her practice sword the man walks over and offers me the other wooden sword he is holding. I accept the wooden sword absentmindedly because I am currently trying to think of a way to end this match without hurting the woman too much. There is probably no way I can go at her with full strength. Compared to that damned demon ogre she seems much, much weaker, but I am not sure exactly how much I am supposed to hold back. I guess I could try to close the gap between us as we start and sweep her legs out from under her before she can react. Yea, that¡¯s what I¡¯ll try and if it doesn¡¯t work I can adjust as I go, so long as I don¡¯t break anything she should be fine afterward. But¡­ just to be safe I should confirm with my new mother whether or not they can heal the woman if I don¡¯t hold back enough. Ah, I guess I should start trying to think of my new mother as simply my mother since she herself seems to be trying to think of me as one of her daughters. Nodding as I make up my mind I look towards mother and ask, ¡°Mother, healing magic useable?¡± A brief expression of disappointment crosses mother''s face, but no one else seems to notice as she says, ¡°I believe I know what you are worried about, though, I¡¯m not sure who put the idea of healing with magic into your head, but using physics magic to heal others usually ends badly.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry sis, she is one of the soldier''s mommy trains, so even if you lose, she will make sure you don¡¯t get hurt,¡± misunderstanding what I am worried about, Rin gives me some words of comfort and a brief hug before walking over to stand with our mother. Once everyone is out of the way mother calls for me and the woman to ready ourselves. The woman takes a stance, but looking at her stance, while I can tell she is well trained, she doesn¡¯t seem to be taking this fight very seriously. I am not sure if she is not taking me seriously because of my appearance, but this does make it easier to win without hurting her. After I reaffirm my grip on the wooden sword and ready myself, my mother gives us the signal to start. In less than a second immediately I close the gap between us and throw a feint. Surprised and completely taken off guard, to the credit of her training, the woman still manages to try to raise her sword so she can block the oncoming strike. But, when she does I grapple her, reach my leg around the back of hers, and pull her leg out while throwing her to the ground. Since I took her by surprise again, I manage to throw the woman without any resistance and she lands on her back a little harder than I had anticipated. But, other than have the air knocked out of her lungs, she doesn¡¯t seem to be too worse for wear. Pointing the wooden sword at the woman''s neck I look at my mother and ask, ¡°It¡¯s my win, right?¡± Receiving my question, mother makes rather a complicated expression before finally answering, ¡°Yes, and a complete victory at that.¡± As my mother announces my victory I lower my sword and I hear a murmur pass through the crowd of people watching, which now seems to consist of everyone who was previously training. ¡°You¡¯re so amazing, sis! I can beat the soldiers when we are shooting targets, but I don¡¯t think I could ever win if I fought one up close! But you beat her so easily, it was so amazing!¡± as I hear Rin''s voice from beside me I get tackled into a hug. Since I want to confirm that the woman is ok, I free myself from Rin¡¯s hug and turn my attention back to the woman. But, when I look at her the woman is glaring at me while trying to sit herself up as she talks to my mother, ¡°I want another fight, I had my guard down since she seemed so defenseless, but next time-.¡± ¡°Haven¡¯t I always trained all of you to fight with everything you have, no matter the opponent? There is no need for another battle, even had you taken her on seriously, Kitten would have defeated you utterly anyways, but I am sure you understand that after facing her,¡± having mother cut her off, the woman seems ashamed with herself as she hangs her head low. Seeing the woman''s reaction mother quickly follows up on her statement, ¡°Consider this loss a lesson for the future, never underestimate any opponent. This also extends to all of you watching, Kitten isn¡¯t an opponent any of you could defeat and now, I will demonstrate why.¡± Turning to look at mother, I can see that she has a wooden training sword in each hand. Seeing this Rin and the woman hurry to join the crowd. The people crowding around, seeing mother readying to fight, start whispering even more loudly among themselves. ¡°It seems everyone is excited, even if I train with them, everyone is always too afraid to have a match with me. So I hope you will be able to give me an enjoyable time, it can be dreadfully boring since the soldiers don¡¯t need my help with the local ruffian and monster populations,¡± having said her piece, mother readies herself to fight and prompts me to do the same with her eyes. As I take a stance, I wonder about how much power I should be using in this fight. Mother definitely seems to be stronger than the woman I just beat, but if I compare mother to that damn ogre, I would have to say she seems quite a bit weaker. ¡°First lesson, don¡¯t give your opponent time to prepare their strategies, in most situations those who strike first gain the advantage.¡± hearing mother''s voice snaps me out of my thoughts just in time to see a wooden sword swinging towards my neck. Since I noticed the attack late, I barely divert it, but mother doesn¡¯t give me a chance to establish myself. She launches a flurry of attacks using both her blades. Each attack is weak individually, but the way she links them together and the speed she does it at makes her movements seem like an intricately beautiful dance. No matter how many attacks I block or parry, the dance doesn¡¯t stop, if anything mother seems to be getting faster and for some reason, it¡¯s a little harder to move than normal. Eventually, mother starts going fast enough that she starts making slight errors and seizing one of those chances I completely disrupt the rhythm of her dance. Mother seems momentarily stunned as I break her rhythm so I use this chance to launch an attack of my own, but when my sword gets close to her It suddenly slows down. Mother uses this slight decrease in my swing speed to lithely dodge my strike while putting some distance between us. Since I don¡¯t want mother to go on the offensive again I pursue her and launch my own offensive, but like the first time, when my sword gets near her, it feels as if it¡¯s traveling through something incredibly viscous. Always parrying or dodging by a hair''s breadth, mother has a wide smile on her face while she says, ¡°It is pleasant to see that your stats were not just for show, but you are clearly holding back. I am seriously fighting you with everything I have, being taken so lightly kinda hurts my feelings a little too. But, if we keep going like this, I am going to lose by simply exhausting myself, so I am going to try to end this now.¡± As she finishes talking mother parries one of my strikes far to the side and it suddenly becomes incredibly hard to breathe, making me slightly light headed. Following up her parry, she attacks with her second sword, but since it seems impossible for me to block it in time with my own sword, I catch her sword with my tail instead. While wrapping my tail around mothers sword, I swing mine towards her neck, barely stopping just before it hits. Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there. Realizing what just happened mother lets go of both her swords and it also suddenly feels easier to breathe again. Putting both hands in the air, mother has a huge grin on her face while she says, ¡°I give up, it¡¯s my loss. Ah, that was fun, but it¡¯s a shame I couldn¡¯t make you get serious. I really wasn¡¯t expecting that last action, using your tail like that was really clever. Not to mention that last swing, it was so fast that I didn¡¯t even have time to increase the air resistance around it so I could dodge, but it also didn¡¯t help that you managed to retaliate even after I suddenly lowered the air pressure around you so much.¡± Letting go of the swords I am holding, I sink to the ground. Seeing me sink down Rin runs over and starts looking for anything that might be wrong. But I ignore her while thinking back on what just happened. I just tried to seriously hurt mother. It was only for a moment, but if I hadn¡¯t stopped myself I might have actually killed her. Why? Why did I try to attack her seriously? Even if I have only known her for less than two days, so far she hasn¡¯t shown me any malice. Instead, she invited me to stay in her home, she invited me into her family and that¡¯s how I repaid her kindness. ¡°You shouldn¡¯t worry about that you know. That goddess may not have given us the whole story, but I heard enough. Being raised in that kind of environment it¡¯s only natural that you might react like that in battle. If anything, it¡¯s my fault for trying to make you fight seriously,¡± hearing mother''s voice I look up and she ruffles my hair while giving me a soft smile before pulling me into a hug. Why is she trying to comfort me? The person who was only a hair''s breadth from removing her head. What if it happens again and next time I don¡¯t stop? What if¡­ what if inside, I really am¡­ Before I can finish my thought, mother quietly whispers into my ear, ¡°You are my daughter, no matter what others may tell you, no matter what you may become in the future, you will always have a place in this home, as my daughter.¡± After hugging me for a while longer, mother finally separates from me and helps me stand back up while saying, ¡°Rin is right, you really are quite comfortable to hug.¡± ¡°Right!? Sis is so soft and that slight coolness she gives off is so comfortable. I could sit and hug her all day,¡± Prompted by mother''s statement Rin answers while hugging my neck from behind. Since I have calmed down, I take a look around and see that the crowd is still mostly stunned silent. Even though I can hear a few surprised voices, they are a minority. Finally, the silence is broken as a man calls out, ¡°That¡­ did that really just happen? You must have gone easy on the girl right? Us losing to that girl is one thing, but I can¡¯t imagine you¡­¡± Hearing the man, mother turns to him and replies, ¡°Can¡¯t imagine me what, losing? Well, you don¡¯t have to imagine it, I was defeated by my daughter and in all honesty, I can¡¯t say she was even close to getting serious. So if all of you want to defeat her one day, well, you will have to be able to win against me first.¡± After listening to mothers response the man is silent for a moment before he starts laughing as he says, ¡°Forget winning, I don¡¯t think anyone here could even think anyone here could even think about surviving against you or your husband. Let alone even harboring the thought of defeating the little miss there. Compared to the rest of us the lot of you are closer to mons-.¡± The man''s words die in his throat as mother shoots him an incredibly icy glare and once she is sure he isn¡¯t going to say anything else, mother shouts out, ¡°Well, I hope everyone learned something from today¡¯s matches! Now stop crowding around and all of you get back to training, a certain someone''s actions have earned you another three hours! I will be taking my leave with my daughters.¡± As she finishes talking mother leads me and Rin towards the mansion. We do have to stop several times to peel Rin off me, since walking while getting hugged is rather difficult. Mother eventually convinces Rin to stop reattaching herself to me by telling her we¡¯re all going to the bath to get cleaned up before the evening meal. That statement, however, does also prompt Rin to pull me and mother forward by our hands while urging us along. Being pulled along by Rin I stumble forward, almost falling over, but mother catches me before I do. Rin still completely oblivious to what just happened behind her, is stopped by mother, who then proceeds to lecture her, ¡°Rin¡­ I do believe I warned you this morning to be gentle with your sister. Or maybe, It¡¯s that I didn¡¯t make myself clear enough?¡± ¡°I¡¯m sorry mommy, you said we could all take a bath together and I got excited because we don¡¯t get to take baths together very often. Plus we have sis here now too so it¡¯s even better! Hugging sis while relaxing in the warm water sounds so comfortable and we can wash each other''s backs, and I can brush her hair, and...!¡± Rin quickly tries to explain herself, though, she seems to forget her original purpose midway, which seems to make mother even more unamused with her. Since mother doesn¡¯t seem like is going to stop lecturing Rin anytime soon, I sit myself down in the grass and wait patiently while thinking about what happened today. Today was fun, I saw a lot of new things, but it¡¯s surprising how late it is already. Also, I don¡¯t think Rin ever mentioned anything about lunch, maybe this is a society that has two larger meals a day? More importantly, mother is quite strong, that damn demon ogre was way stronger, but looking at her, I would have never thought that I would have trouble fighting her. Actually thinking back to that battle, mother was using her mana quite liberally, wasn¡¯t she? Ah, now that I think about it, mother also mentioned that she was changing the air resistance and pressure didn¡¯t she? So, mother was using physics magic to control the air around us while we were fighting. Honestly, doesn¡¯t that make her quite incredible? My magic is really simple, I say or think it¡¯s name in dragonic and the spell I programmed initiates. But, from what I remember about physics magic, the caster has to focus on how every aspect they wish to use works. Then that means, mother was fighting like she was while focusing on controlling the air around us, and If that''s true, then mother really is quite amazing. As I sit in the grass thinking, I feel a light breeze blow by and it finally firmly sinks in, I am outside. I was distracted by seeing so many new things when we entered the garden and with the battles at the training grounds it never really dawned on me that I was outside. In my other life, I took going outside for granted. Grass, trees, they were things I thought nothing about in that life, but thinking about how I was stuck in that lab for eight years, I now feel that I understand how easy it is to under appreciate things we take for granted. Throwing my arms out to the side, I lay down in the grass and simply listen to the sound of the wind blowing over the grass. It¡¯s a little hard to believe I missed something so simple, but it is incredibly comforting to know that I¡¯m not locked in an isolated room anymore. Slowly thinking it over more I start wondering if maybe my fight with that damn demon ogre, waking up yesterday, and my day today¡­ maybe it¡¯s all been a dream. How could I realistically have been found by a family that would actually adopt me? Pulling from experiences in my other life, wouldn¡¯t a sisterly relationship, like what I have with Rin after only two days, normally be impossible? What if I opened my eyes right now and I am lying on the same hard floor I¡¯ve slept on for the past five years. What if I open my eyes right now and the blue skies, the grass, mother¡­ Rin. what if I opened my eyes right now, and they are all gone. With that last thought in mind, I tentatively open my eyes. The first thing I see is, mother looking down at me with an endearing smile on her face and an intense feeling of relief goes through me. Reaching over mother carefully removes a stray hair that the wind has blown into my face, as she softly says, ¡°You know, they say that the goddess that governs over dreams and reality is actually quite weak when compared to other deities. Personally, I think that¡¯s quite wrong. The most common belief is that dreams and reality can never coexist and so the goddesses power is split into two. However, I believe that dreams and reality are inseparable, one cannot exist without the other. When a person reaches their dreams, those dreams become a reality, creating an environment for new dreams to be nurtured and without those dreams reality would stop moving. Because how can people move forward without dreams to chase? Hmm, I guess what I¡¯m trying to say is if you ever feel lost, just look to your dreams. Now, give me your hands and let me help you up. I got Rin to wait patiently, but I am unsure how long she will last if we don¡¯t hurry at least a little.¡± Getting up as she finishes talking mother extends her hands down to me and when I reach my hands towards hers, she takes them into hers before helping me to my feet. Still holding one of my hands, mother directs us towards Rin who, upon seeing the situation, grabs my other hand and, just like that, we walk the rest of the way to the mansion. Chapter 15.5 Mother¡¯s PoV Turning over in bed, I reach my hand up from under the covers to touch the side of my neck and as I do, I feel another hand lay over mine, accompanied by my husband''s voice, ¡°Honey? You''ve been touching your neck while looking at Kitten since dinner and while she might have been too preoccupied with Rin to notice, I wasn¡¯t. You still haven¡¯t told me what happened at the training grounds today, so if you can¡¯t sleep anyways, feel like sharing?¡± Lightly grabbing my husband''s hand, I sit myself up in the bed and he does the same. Firmly looking him in the eyes I start to talk about what has been bothering me, ¡°Sorry, it¡¯s just, I¡¯ve been thinking about how Rin¡¯s going to have to leave for Specialist Academy City soon and the thought of how she is going to handle it has been worrying me.¡± ¡°I¡¯m sure it will be fine, while she may act like she does, our Rin is quite self sufficient. But, now that you¡¯ve said it, separating her from Kitten might be slightly difficult. You have seen them together more than I have, but from what I have seen Rin seems to have grown strongly attached, so I understand why you might be worried about her,¡± as he tries to placate my worries, it¡¯s clear to me that my dear husband has misunderstood what I was trying to convey. Squeezing his hand a bit tighter I quietly correct my husband''s misunderstanding, ¡°I am not worried about Rin, she might be sad at first, but the thought that she will make friends her age, not even mentioning, the promise that her sister will join her when she is old enough will placate her.¡± With a look of realization, my husband looks at me and slowly says, ¡°If you aren¡¯t talking about Rin then that means¡­ are you possibly worried about Kitten?¡± Receiving a silent nod from me, my husband continues his talk, ¡°From what I have seen, Kitten doesn¡¯t seem like she will be too shook up. It might be a little hard to see her new sister leave after only a month of being together, but the feeling she has given me so far is that Kitten isn¡¯t very emotional. Other than that initial reaction to me, in the past two days from what I have seen she hasn¡¯t shown much other than curiosity.¡± Raising an eyebrow I look at my husband and give a slightly mischievous smile while saying, ¡°I see, so that¡¯s why you excused yourself so rapidly after those two finished their breakfast and left. If that really is the case, I am surprised that you didn¡¯t play witness to what happened on the training field.¡± Quickly defending himself my husband says, ¡°I just wanted to make sure the two of them didn¡¯t get into any trouble, that¡¯s all. When they went into Rin¡¯s room I decided to get some work done after they had been in there for a while and I ended up losing them when they went outside. Because of that, I have no idea what happened between you and Kitten.¡± As he stops talking, my husband brushes his free hand against my cheek and gives me a soft look before continuing, ¡°So if you are willing to tell me, I want to try to help, what happened with Kitten that has you so worried about her?¡± Conceding, I tell my husband about how our daughters came down to the training grounds and how Rin asked me to train Kitten. I tell him about the match Kitten had against the female soldier and already he seems surprised with just that. Finally, I tell him about how I had Kitten fight against me. ¡°...not only was I soundly defeated, but she didn¡¯t even look to be the least bit serious. The entire time, I was giving it all I had and she seemed to be trying to figure out how much power to exert to win without hurting me,¡± finishing my story, I look towards my husband and wait for his response. After taking some time to digest the information he just received, my husband finally looks back into my eyes and while giving me a firm look says, ¡°While it is surprising to learn just how strong our new daughter is, you have yet to tell me what has you so worried. Kitten wouldn¡¯t be the first person you¡¯ve lost to, while she might be the youngest, the world is wide and we both know that very well. There will always be someone stronger than us, so I can¡¯t imagine simply losing has you this worried.¡± The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there. Like always, I can only think that my husband is incredibly on point when it comes to me. How can he be so clueless about what anyone else is thinking, but take notice immediately when I¡¯m worried about something. Shaking my head, I quietly continue, ¡°You¡¯re right, I am not worried about my loss. What has me worried is the feelings behind Kitten''s last strike. If she hadn¡¯t stopped it, I would have lost my head, wooden sword or not. But even that isn¡¯t what worried me, I am no stranger to the feeling others give off when attacking to kill. No, what makes this time different is that there was nothing. It was clear throughout the rest of the fight that she was being careful, but it was almost like that last moment was based on reactionary instincts alone. I don¡¯t know how she was raised, but based on that strike alone that girl has seen some terrible things.¡± I stop to take some time to sort my thoughts and my husband quietly waits for me to continue, so I do once I know what I want to say, ¡°But, what happened after Kitten realized her actions also really worries me. She had a breakdown, the same girl that hasn¡¯t shown anything other than calm complacency since she woke up had an emotional breakdown? So I decided to skim the surface, what I saw there, was the worry about how I would react to her actions, but going a little deeper I saw what she was really worried about. Only her conscious thoughts were about me, subconsciously all her thoughts were about Rin. Kitten herself might not realize it, but that subconscious side of her has already become dependent on the affection that Rin gives her. This dependency probably stems from the environment she was raised, but it worries me to think about what Kitten would do if someone ever hurt Rin in front of her.¡± While still keeping his gaze completely focused on me, my husband unhesitantly says, ¡°I may not have any idea how I can help, but if you decided to use that power again this must be important to you. So, whatever you need of me, you simply have to ask.¡± Listening to him answering my worries in the only way I could imagine him to, I give a soft laugh and rest my head against my husband''s chest. Sitting like that for a while, listening to the sound of his heart, I finally talk again, ¡°And I wouldn¡¯t expect anything less from you. From now on all we can do is try to show Kitten that not all the places in this world are like the place where she grew up. That not everyone will treat her like those that raised her, that she is our beloved daughter, and she will always be in a safe place around us. But, when Rin leaves for school we may have to redouble our efforts, there is a possibility of nipping that dependency after they separate.¡± Wrapping his arms around my waist my husband asks me a question, ¡°Well now I understand the goal a bit better, but what exactly can we do to achieve that?¡± Since my husband now understands the situation I decide to share with him my plans for tomorrow, ¡°For your part just keep being yourself, you¡¯re already a big loveable person, so if you try too hard you might scare her instead. But, tomorrow, I was planning on having Sophia guide Rin and Kitten into the city so that they can visit the explorers guild. We did promise Rin before leaving for the prince''s birthday celebration, that she would finally be able to visit the city as a birthday present. It¡¯s also a good opportunity to help both of them understand what being an explorer really means. Rin only has our old stories to go off of and Kitten seems to simply want to follow along with Rin. Seeing the guild and learning where their current choice might lead directly from the source would be a good experience for both of them.¡± Shaking his head my husband smiles and says, ¡°If you think that¡¯s what¡¯s best then I have no reason to argue, but to simply be myself, those are rather vague instructions.¡± Hearing his comment about my instructions being too vague, I reach up, wrapping my arms around my husband''s neck, and kiss him, before moving to whisper into his ear, ¡°Well if it¡¯s more precise instructions you are looking for, how about I instruct you to help me, ¡®keep warm¡¯ tonight.¡± Chapter 16 ¡°Lady Kitten¡­ Lady Kitten, it is time to wake up,¡± hearing someone calling out my name and feeling like my body is being shaken, I sit up in bed while rubbing the sleep out of my eyes. ¡°Good, now that you are awake, would you wake Lady Rin,¡± turning towards the voice, I see Sophia standing beside the bed. Complying while wondering why Sophia is the one waking me up, I turn and shake Rin who probably, once again, snuck into my bed while I was sleeping. After a bit of shaking, Rin slowly starts to wake up while sleepily mumbling about something soft getting away, but as she lazily glances at Sophia, Rin immediately snaps awake. While giving her an Icy glare, Rin flatly asks Sophia, ¡°Why are you here?¡± While busying herself with laying out a set of clothes and two sets of underwear, Sophia answers Rin in her usual blunt tone, ¡°I am here to wake Lady Kitten as instructed by the madam if anyone shouldn¡¯t be here, isn¡¯t it you Lady Rin? Now please get up and dress, the meal will be served once you are both present in the dining room.¡± Deciding not to reply further, Rin gives a hmph and gets off the bed. Letting the negligee she is wearing fall to the ground, Rin takes the clothing and one set of underwear that Sophia has laid out. Following Rin¡¯s example, I get down from the bed and draw in my molded nightgown, while grabbing the remaining set of underwear. Seeing both me and Rin exposing ourselves without a second thought, Sophia interjects on the situation, ¡°Lady Rin, you are setting a bad example for Lady Kitten by undressing with others present.¡± Looking up and glancing around, Rin goes back to dressing while responding in a cold voice, ¡°I don¡¯t see any people other than me and sis, so undressing in this room is fine.¡± While fiddling with the bra I am trying to put on, I wonder what could have happened between the two of them for Rin to be acting like she currently is. I have only known her for two days, but so far, I don¡¯t think I have seen Rin express negative feelings towards anyone else. If anything, Rin has come off as the cheerful type. I would really like to ask her about it, but considering Rin¡¯s current attitude towards Sophia, the subject is probably rather taboo. After watching me struggle trying to get my bra to fit comfortably, Sophia walks over and helps me with it, while explaining to me what I was doing wrong. Once Sophia separates from me, I mold myself an outfit and decide not to ask Sophia about her relationship with Rin. Remembering the conversation we had when she was washing me, I don¡¯t think Sophia would ever give away personal information having to do with her master''s family without permission. Since me and Rin are now both dressed, Sophia guides us to the dining room to help me further memorize the layout of the mansion. As we walk Rin retakes the demeanor I have gotten used to her having, but she still treats Sophia like she isn¡¯t there at all. When we reach the dining room, me and Rin sit down at the table with our parents, before Rin asks, ¡°Mommy, why did she come to wake up sis?¡± ¡°Hmm, I wonder why you know that I sent Sophia to wake Kitten. If I am correct, you should have been in your own room sleeping. But, we can talk more about that after the meal, the topic coincides well with another important upcoming matter.¡± with mother''s response the conversation ends there and we silently wait for the meal to be served, though father does try to spark some small talk, he ultimately fails. After our meal is served, we eat in silence and after everyone''s done eating mother finally breaks the quiet atmosphere, ¡°Alright, since you were quite patient and ate without making a fuss, we can have our discussion now. Firstly, since you have refused time and time again to have Sophia as your personal maid, I am instead going to have her serve Kitten. But, before you complain, allow me to explain my reasoning, since you have probably forgotten an important upcoming event.¡± In an instant, Rin¡¯s face goes from looking like she is about to explode into complaints to completely confused and mother continues with her talk, ¡°I decided to assign Sophia as Kitten¡¯s personal maid since it would be best for her to have another presence nearby because you will be departing for school in Specialist Academy City soon-.¡± With a look of realization, Rin interrupts mother and quickly interjects, ¡°I completely forgot about that! But, mommy can¡¯t sis just go with me, If she is going to become an explorer, then it¡¯s okay right? If sis can¡¯t go yet, then it¡¯s okay if I don¡¯t go yet, I can wait until sis is older and we can go together.¡± ¡°Rin, there is almost nothing more me and your father can teach you if you stay here. If you truly wish to be an explorer, then going to the academy city is your best choice. You can choose not to go, but you are already at the optimal age for admission. The longer you wait, the more difficult it will be, even with a recommendation from us,¡± mother calmly admonishes Rin¡¯s idea of delaying her departure, while giving her thoughts on the matter. Looking at Rin, I can tell that she is completely torn on what to do from the look on her face. While I am not sure exactly what the Specialist Academy City is, from what I understood in the conversation Rin and mother are having, Rin is currently weighing pursuing her dream of being an explorer against staying with me. I don¡¯t really want Rin to leave, but I don¡¯t want her to let go of her dreams just so I can have her here either, so I share my thoughts on the matter, ¡°You should go there.¡± Hearing what I said, Rin seems even more torn on the matter so I decide to give one last push. Hugging her for the first time, I wait until I can talk again and say, ¡°It¡¯s your dream, right?.¡± I feel Rin hug me back, but before she can say anything, I hear mother speak again, ¡°The two of you will still have some time together before Rin leaves and, if it is what she wants, Kitten will also attend school at Specialist Academy City when she is old enough in two years. It may seem like a long time, but two years passes faster than you might expect. There is still a week before you have to make your final decision, so you don¡¯t have to make your choice right now, but Rin, do think your choice over carefully. Also today, as a belated birthday present to you Rin, Sophia is going to take the both of you to visit the explorers guild branch in the city.¡± ¡°I finally get to go down to the city! What are we waiting for then, let''s go, let''s go!¡± shouting excitedly, Rin is about to drag me off, but Sophia stops her before she does. Rin scowls at Sophia, but my mother quickly follows up on the situation, ¡°If you keep trying to drag your sister along like that someone is going to get hurt one day. You are not going to get there faster if you rush and for today Sophia¡¯s word is law, you obey her instructions no questions asked. Sophia, I trust that you will keep my daughters out of harm, but do try to let them enjoy themselves.¡± Answering mother with a bow, Sophia leads me and Rin out of the mansion. Once we get outside Sophia instructs us to wait for her and she goes back inside, I would guess, to prepare some things for going down to the city. Sitting and waiting for Sophia, Rin is almost hopping up and down in excitement so I decide to take a better look around the mansion''s front yard. But, there really isn¡¯t anything to see. There is a lot of space, but the only other things of any relative interest is how well kept such a large plot of land is and the tall spiked metal fence that extends all the way around the property. Looking to see if I can spot anything else interesting, I see what looks like a green squirrel, the size of a Shiba Inu I had in my other life, basking in the sunlight near the mansion. Curious I decide to point it out to Rin, ¡°What is that?¡± ¡°Tatsu!¡± with a shout Rin runs over to the big squirrel and scoops it up into her arms before starting to walk back over. Since Rin seems so comfortable with it and she called it by, what sounded like, a name, the big squirrel must be some kind of pet. Though, a squirrel that big is rather strange and I am curious why it¡¯s green. If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. Thinking further on it, this is probably the first time in this life I have seen an animal, I have heard a lot about monsters, but I have never seen anything of the like. Then again, I was isolated for a long time, so that fact isn¡¯t really surprising. As I am thinking, Rin gets close enough that I can get a better look at the creature in her arms. But, other than being much bigger and green, the animal she is holding looks no different than squirrels from my other life. Once Rin is within touching distance of me the squirrel in her arms look rather wary of me, but she doesn¡¯t seem to notice as she says, ¡°Sis, you haven¡¯t met Tatsu yet right? Well, sis this is Tatsu, Tatsu this is sis. Mommy and daddy got Tatsu from the tamers guild when they were still explorers. Tatsu is really strong, but he is also really friendly. He also likes being scratched behind the ears like this, see?¡± Demonstrating as she talks Rin starts scratching the squirrel named Tatsu behind his ears and he begins to make what almost sounds like a deep purr, which sounds odd considering it¡¯s coming from an oversized squirrel. Remembering my past life, I was never really socially proficient and because of that, most of the time I found myself getting along with animals more than people. So even though the situation in front of me is rather odd, seeing something like Tatsu in front of me, I can¡¯t help but want to pet him. ¡°Do you want to try holding him while we wait?¡± as if sensing what I¡¯m thinking about, Rin talks while holding the purring Tatsu out to me. With intent to take Rin up on her offer, I slowly move my hands to grab Tatsu, but once my hands are about to make contact with him Tatsu abruptly stops purring, snaps his eyes open to look at me, and starts loudly screeching. Surprised, I jerk my hands back to myself and Tatsu uses Rin¡¯s surprise to wriggle out of her grasp. Once he hits the ground Tatsu runs off as fast as he can screeching all the way. Looking at her empty hands, Rin slowly pulls them back to her chest looking confused, but, at least, it doesn¡¯t look like Tatsu hurt her during his escape. Rin turns to look towards where Tatsu dashed off to, but he is already long out of site. Turning back, she slowly walks over and pulls me into a hug without saying anything. Reflecting on what just happened, it¡¯s still rather surprising. In my other life there were, of course, animals that were wary of me, that¡¯s only natural, but what I saw in Tatsu¡¯s eyes, that wasn¡¯t wariness. The look in his eyes and his reaction, what they displayed was outright terror. ¡°What happened? I heard shrieking, so I expected something must have broken into the yard, but instead, I rush back only to find the two of you completely dazed.¡± Sophia¡¯s voice suddenly cuts through the silence, causing Rin separate from me with a start. Without any of her previous enmity towards Sophia, Rin slowly manages to stammer out a recounting of what just happened. Closing her eyes, Sophia seems to think about something before saying, ¡°I can¡¯t say I know why Tatsu would have such a reaction, but it can be discussed with the madam later. Even if I was interrupted, this amount of preparation should be fine, unless that is, you wish to cancel today''s planned excursion into the city?¡± Regaining some of her previous excitement Rin grabs my hands and exclaims, ¡°No we still want to go, right sis?¡± Giving a small nod to Rin, I free my hands and turn to look at Sophia. Noticing that she has changed out of her maid outfit, I examine her current choice of clothing. Though, rather than clothing, Sophia¡¯s current wear looks more akin to light leather armor, designed to protect most of the body while still allowing for a complete range of movement to the joints and waist. Seemingly satisfied with our responses, Sophia starts giving out instructions, ¡°Good, now I am going to set some ground rules and once we get down to the city, if you fail to follow any of these I am going to force you to hold my hand the entire time we are there. Do I make myself clear?¡± With her statement getting a firm nod out of both me and Rin, Sophia continues with her instructions, ¡°If both of you understand then this will be simple, when we are in the city, neither of you are to leave my side, unless I say it is alright, do not talk to strangers, and finally, if you wish to visit something, it will wait until after we have been to the explorers guild branch. Also, Lady Kitten, I would ask that you wrap your tail around your waist like it was when we first met.¡± Doing like Sophia has asked, I manipulate my tail until it looks convincingly enough like a belt. Looking satisfied Sophia motions for us to follow her and leads us towards the large gate in the fence surrounding the mansion''s yard. Crossing through the gate, there are two men standing guard, stopping us, Sophia tells them what Rin relayed to her about the incident with Tatsu and that, on mothers orders, we are headed down to the city. Hearing about what happened with Tatsu, one of the men gives a firm nod before heading through the gate towards the mansion. The other man wishes us a good time in the city today and sends us on our way. As we descend the gentle slope, Rin talks excitedly about all the things she has only gotten to see from the carriage windows on the few occasions that she has gotten to ride it through the city. Funnily enough, Rin seems to be excited enough to ignore Sophia¡¯s presence, but it could also simply be that she has temporarily forgotten about her distaste thanks to her excitement. After about a half hour of walking, we are finally close enough to the city for me to get a better look at it. At least, that should be the case, but the city, as far as I can see, is surrounded by a large rampart. Looking at such large walls, I can¡¯t help but wonder what they are keeping out with them. Within a few more minutes of walking, we finally reach the walls surrounding the city. Rin is so excited that she nearly dashes off, but Sophia firmly grasps her shoulder while saying, ¡°Lady Rin, have you already forgotten the rules I set, or could it be that you wish to hold my hand for the rest of the day?¡± Having issued her warning, Sophia continues to lead us forward towards a large gate set into the cities walls, but I am somewhat surprised that I can¡¯t see anyone coming in or out. I would have thought that any gate would see activity in such a large looking city. As we reach the gate a man in what looks like light plate armor walks over and addresses Sophia, ¡°It¡¯s a rare sight when, that, Sophia isn¡¯t alone on her way into the city. May I know who the two girls with you are?¡± Though Sophia¡¯s expression doesn¡¯t change the tone she uses to answer the man is colder than her usual way of speaking, ¡°When have you ever been allowed to ask about any of my business? You guard the Natsumi family¡¯s personal gate to the city, but you may not be long for that position if you continue to ask questions needlessly. Now, may we pass, or do you have more needless questions?¡± ¡°Fine, fine, glad to see you are all business as usual, but at least let me give the identity of these mysterious girls one guess. Yesterday I heard from two passing maids that the Natsumi¡¯s adopted a young girl into their household and their first daughter should be sixteen this year. So could these two maybe be the mysterious daughter and even more mysterious adopted daughter? Alright, alright, that¡¯s crazy and I know it, that over protective mother would never¡­¡± as the man talks, Sophia starts scowling at him and he goes slightly slack jawed mid sentence. Composing himself the man turns around while rubbing his chin and says, ¡°Right, you are free to pass, but I am obligated to ask how long you believe your business in the city will take.¡± Ignoring the man''s question, Sophia leads us through the gate and I finally get to see my first city in this life. Chapter 17 ¡°Chaotic,¡± I can¡¯t help but mutter the first thought to enter my mind as I see the city for the first time. Having heard what I said Sophia briefly stops and interjects, ¡°I suppose it may seem that way to someone entering this city for the first time. Look around if you wish, but remember to stay by my side.¡± As Sophia starts walking again, I quickly grab her hand to make sure that I won¡¯t fall behind and try to better take in my surroundings. But, taking a better look doesn¡¯t do much to change my initial thought. The roads seem to be made up of uniformly laid bricks, but then that uniformity stops shortly after. Looking at the buildings lining the streets I am reminded of a multitude of cultures from my other life. Some resemble my new home, but I can also see architecture many other cultures present. There are buildings that remind me of the middle east, some make me think of traditional japanese, and those are only the few that I can immediately place. Turning my attention away from the architecture, compared to my other life, the populace in this city is also quite different. Only briefly taking notice of all the different races around, what really surprises me is seeing quite a few people simply stopping and talking to each other. In my other life once you entered a large enough city everyone would usually keep to themselves. Sometimes people would know each other, so they would stop to talk, but usually talking to another person on the street would only get you a dirty look or completely ignored. As we walk further into the city the concentration of people starts to rise and I¡¯m starting to see roadside stalls selling various goods. I am also starting to spot signs hanging from the sides of buildings designating all kinds of shops and restaurants. Walking along more I notice the shops and stalls around start to subtly change. The further we go, the more I can see a variety of survival supplies being sold, I even notice shops dealing in primarily weapons and armours. When Sophia finally stops us in front of a large stone building, the area around us seems to consist of a lot of inns and taverns. Looking at Rin I can see her staring starry eyed at the sign attached to the building in front of us. Managing to catch a glimpse of the sign before Sophia leads us into the building I read, ¡°Airnez Explorers Branch.¡± Entering the building, it¡¯s quite spacious. Along one wall, there is what appears to be several boards, most of which have quite a few papers pinned on them. There are also quite a few people seated at tables filling the front half of the room.While there are almost no two people of the same race, almost all have the same thing in common, which is they are armed. Nearly everyone in the room is visibly armed in one way or another. Guiding us inside, Sophia leads us to what looks to be a reception desk, manned by a dark skinned woman with ears that look like father¡¯s. When we reach the desk the woman is sitting at, she doesn¡¯t even look up from the papers she is writing on until Sophia clears her throat to gain her attention. Giving a startled gasp, the woman quickly regains a professional air as she greets us, ¡°Ah, I¡¯m sorry about that, welcome to the Airnez explorers branch, how may I help you¡­¡± The woman trails off near the end of her sentence as her gaze settles on Sophia and she shouts, ¡°Sophia! It¡¯s more than rare to see you here, last I heard, these days you only leave the Natsumi¡¯s household when absolutely necessary...u-umm, s-so sorry, w-what can I help you with today?¡± Withering under Sophia¡¯s glare, the woman stutters at the end of her sentence and Sophia responds in her usual tone, ¡°Simply because we have known each other for eight years does not mean we maintain such causal relationship. As for our business here, the madam would like to have Lady Kitten and Lady Rin learn more about explorers from the guild branch itself.¡± With a look of realization, the woman is about to say something, but instead I feel someone grab my shoulder followed by a male voice, ¡°The older girl I can accept, but for a succubus, this one looks way too young to-!¡± The male voice stops suddenly and along with a strangled sound of pain, I feel the pressure on my shoulder disappear, followed by a loud crash. Turning towards the crashing sound I see a fat man, with features resembling those of a pig, on the ground slumped unconscious against the wall. The wall in question also now seems to be cracked where, I can only assume, he crashed into it. Giving the unconscious man a look of disdain, Sophia stores what looks like a miniature gavel on her person and loudly addresses everyone else in the room with a deadly calm tone, ¡°Consider that a warning, if anyone else decides to touch Lady Kitten or Lady Rin, you will not be as lucky as that orc.¡± Turning back towards the reception desk, Sophia addresses the woman once more, ¡°Now, could we use a private room to continue, I do not wish to expose Lady Kitten and Lady Rin to this filth any longer than necessary.¡± Looking rather horrified, the woman behind the counter tries to respond, but the best she can muster is a quiet squeak. Glancing at Rin standing on the other side of Sophia, she seems rather agitated, but before she can say anything, an unknown female voice breaks the silence. ¡°Good to see that you haven¡¯t lost your touch as the ¡®Mad Dog of War¡¯, but could you refrain from destroying the premise. Not to mention, you¡¯re scaring the employees¡­ I guess I will have to handle your business myself.¡± turning to look at the source of the voice, I see another woman sauntering towards us. Inspecting her more closely, the woman has a pair of horns that greatly resemble mine, a pair of small wings on her lower back and a thin black tail ending in a spade shape. Her clothing, or lack thereof, seems to be meant to greatly accentuate her more than bountiful figure, fulfilling its purpose quite well, probably more than necessary in fact. While I wonder who this woman is, she slowly closes the distance between us. Stopping in front of us, the woman slowly looks over Rin and give a satisfied nod. She then careful passes her gaze over me, but unlike Rin¡¯s case for some reason, the woman suddenly leans in before smelling me. Confused by the woman''s strange action I take a half step back and Rin steps between us while saying, ¡°You¡¯re making sis uncomfortable, so stop it.¡± From behind Rin I can see the woman smile coquettishly as she straightens herself, but unlike before her tail is quivering as she talks, ¡°Oh you sweet little child, I haven¡¯t even started making anyone uncomfortable yet, but don¡¯t worry once you get used to it, a little discomfort can feel quite amazing. Then again, while your sister seems like quite an exotic treat, that air of innocence you give off is, as always, quite delectable. But, I shall have to stop myself, I¡¯m afraid that before I go any further I would have to subdue a certain dog of war. Such a shame, I will have to ask your mother about lending me the both of you later, but if I had to choose one, I haven¡¯t had something this exotic before.¡± Grabbing onto me, Rin is completely beet red as she puts more distance between us and the woman while shouting at her, ¡°You stay away from sis, mommy would never give sis to someone like you!¡± Seeing that things are starting to get out of hand, Sophia steps between us and the woman before flatly stating, ¡°I was tolerating your behavior because you''re a friend of the madam, but I do believe you have teased my Ladies more than enough. If your needs must be satisfied outside of sanctioned establishments, you may use my body as you wish. Now let us consider the matter settled and continue with our business.¡± ¡°Aww, but you¡¯re no fun to play with. Some people might like playing with dolls, but I enjoy slowly teasing cute reactions out of my toys,¡± giving a clearly fake pout the woman protests Sophia¡¯s suggestion. Seeing that Sophia is not going to relent, the woman sighs with a shrug of her shoulders and turns around while saying, ¡°Fine, you said she wanted the young ones to learn about being explorers right? Hmm, alright follow me to my office and we can sit down and talk.¡± After telling us to follow her the woman starts to walk away, but Rin refuses to follow. Eventually, Rin begrudgingly relents, while completely red in the face, when the woman points out that it would be against the law for her to ¡®eat¡¯ us without our permission. Following the woman she leads us into a room full of shelves filled with papers. The room also has a small desk at the back and a small table surrounded by rather comfortable looking seats. Walking to the small table the woman motions for us to sit in the biggest seat, while she sits opposite the table to us. Clearly still not trusting her, once we sit down Rin hugs me protectively and stares the woman down. With a small laugh at Rin¡¯s actions, the woman finally introduces herself, ¡°Allow me to finally introduce myself, I am the manager of the explorers branch located here in Airnez. I would offer you something to drink, but considering the situation I hardly think little Rin here would agree.¡± Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. While I¡¯m curious what this woman being the branch manager here means, I am more curious as to why she is so familiar with Rin and Sophia, so I ask, ¡°You know Natsumi family?¡± Slowly and deliberately crossing her legs, the woman looks towards me and gives suggestive smirk as she replies, ¡°I know your new family very well, I was in a party with yours and Rin¡¯s mother before I took over this branch. But when I heard that she had adopted a new daughter, well that woman has never lead a dull life has she.¡± As she talks the woman looks at Sophia and puts on a serious face before carrying on with the conversation, ¡°Right, you wanted to know more about explorers, where should I even start. I guess the basics is a good of a place as any, explorers by simple definition, explore, but you might have already figured that out. Being more precise explorers are a branch of specialist that many consider to be a jack of all trades. When they first came to be, the main purpose of explorers was to explore and map previously unexplored lands. But these days, with the exception of the northern lands, most of our current world has been very well mapped. Thanks to that, many explorers these days tend to search for and explore dungeons instead. Though given the nature of dungeons, being an explorer has naturally gotten more dangerous, and to deal with that many explorers now learn to fight. Now before I continue, any questions so far?¡± Rin¡¯s previous wariness seems like it was almost a lie as she sits on the edge of her seating while she excitedly asks, ¡°You said explorers are a type of specialist right? What other types of specialists are there, and if dungeons are so dangerous, why do explorers go into them? Do explorers do anything other than exploring dungeons? Actually, what is a dungeon and why do we need to explore them in the first place?¡± Putting her hands up, the woman tries to calm Rin down and answer some of her questions, ¡°Whoa there, pace yourself and let''s get this done one question at a time. A lot of this stuff you will learn when you attend the specialist academy, but some of the quicker questions I can answer right now. Firstly, specialist is a collective term, while it can be used to describe anyone that has attended at the academy, most choose to refer to themselves using their specialization if asked. I¡¯ll briefly touch on a few of the larger specializations, and try to give you an idea of what they do. Firstly you have slayers, they are pretty simple people, and all they do is take bounties on monsters. Some slayers will settle in one town or city, but most of them end up roam from city to city looking for their next payout. Another common specialization is tamers, most tamers deal in catching, taming, breeding and selling regular animals, but there are the crazy few that aren''t content with that. We call those individuals monster tamers, while they are still technically tamers, they deal in monsters rather than regular animals. Did you know your father actually used to be a monster tamer? It took your mother a lot of effort to convince him to become an explorer and set out with us. The next specialist branch comes in, when instead of monsters, it¡¯s other humanoids that need to be dealt with, and the people who accept those bounties, are the mercenaries. Mercenaries, like their slayer counterparts, do their work on the basis of bounties. Got a group of bandits that needs to be taken care of, need more bodies for your army? Put up a bounty and chances are mercenaries will the be ones to answer. However, not all specialists are combat oriented, I won¡¯t go into it now, but good examples of specialists that don¡¯t do combat are merchants and craftsmen. There are more specialists of both varieties, but this explanation is already starting to drag on so I will move on. When it comes to dungeons, you will learn exactly why they are dangerous in the academy, but if I had to say, it¡¯s because they don¡¯t follow the natural laws of our world. As for why explorers have decided to explore them, well it differs from person to person, some are fueled by greed, others simply seek the thrill of adventure. In the end, these days the only one who can decide what it means to be an explorer is the one exploring.¡± While the woman''s final piece of advice sounds really sagely, it leaves me with a question that I decide to ask, ¡°Then, aren¡¯t explorers pointless?¡± Giving me a slightly saddened smile the woman answer my question, ¡°Yes, as far as current demon society sees it, unless an explorer is able to venture into dungeons then their only purpose is to fulfill odd jobs. Most explorers these days, are people giving a last ditch effort to try and get a recommendation into the academy city. The other group are the truly strong, those seeking to uncover the mysteries of unexplored dungeons. Explorers like your mother and father, that simply used the title of explorer as free entry to go wherever they wish to go, are almost extinct these days.¡± Hearing the woman¡¯s answer, Rin who has been quietly listening to her asks a question, ¡°But explorers can still go wherever they want right? So me and sis can explore the world before coming back with lots of stories for mommy and daddy right?¡± ¡°Your innocence truly knows no bounds does it? Hahh, I can¡¯t even bother thinking about asking your mother to lend you to me anymore. To answer your question, yes, more than any other specialist, explorers can go wherever they want, so long as their rank allows that is.¡± the woman smiles softly as she talks before she looks at me and seems to remember something. Getting up and walking to the desk at the back of the room the woman talks as she rummages through its drawers, ¡°I almost forgot, your mother asked me to make you an identification card, but I couldn¡¯t get it finished since we lacked your mana signature, aha found it.¡± Pulling out a small clear credit card shaped object the woman walks over and hands it to me while she says, ¡°If you guide a small bit of mana into the card it should register to you. Afterwards, it should show your name, and job as designated by the system. The card can also show your chosen specialization plus its current rank, but you have to get it updated at a specialist branch for that. The cards final function is for purchasing or selling goods, and services. With a little mana and a thought, joules can be transferred or received. But don¡¯t worry, only your unique mana signature can be used to transfer joules from your card to another.¡± Doing as the woman said, I transfer some mana into the card in my hands and my name appears in black lettering. The word joules with a zero beside it also seems to be present on the card and after taking a quick look the woman,she nods as she says, ¡°Looks like it¡¯s properly registered, however, I will ask that you try not to lose.¡± While the woman is talking, I decide to try drawing the card in my hand into my second skin because the residual mana clinging to it feels remotely like the bracelets I got from the goddess. Much to the surprise of the woman in front of me, the card seems to melt into my hand and when I think of myself holding it again, the card reforms in my hand as it was before. Not even bothering to hide her shock, the woman shakes her head before saying, ¡°What just happened? ¡­ you know what, I am not even going to bother asking, some topics are better left untouched. Just so you know that card is something made with a magic item granted by a god, so how you did what you just did with it, is simply beyond me.¡± ¡°Anyways you girls have probably heard enough prattling from an old lady like me. Knowing your mother she probably told Sophia to let you two have a little fun before heading home, so I won¡¯t keep you any longer. But, if you want to try my brand of fun, well that could also be arranged,¡± as the woman finishes her sentence she lightly licks her lips and Rin immediately moves to defend me. Seeing Rin¡¯s reaction, the woman throws her hands up in defeat and Sophia gets up to guide us out of the room while giving the woman a curt bow while saying, ¡°Thank you for catering to the madam''s request, hopefully, we will never meet again.¡± With a short laugh, the woman guides us to the door. Following behind Rin I am about to leave the room, but the woman stops me to whisper in my ear, ¡°One last thing, while I have no clue exactly how a succubus mix breed came to be, my nose is never wrong. So if you ever need advice on how to deal with the instincts that will come when you¡¯re older, my doors are always open. Anyways, have fun in the city today and I hope that you will think about accepting my...advice, I can assure that you won¡¯t regret it.¡± Craning my neck to look at the woman, she gives me that same coquettish smile and gently pushes me out the door. Chapter 18 After pushing me out of the room, the woman closes the door behind me. While I do have an idea what eventual instincts the woman is referring to, I don¡¯t have time to stop and think about exactly what she was insinuating. Hurrying up, I run to catch up with Sophia and Rin. When I find them, they are waiting in the building¡¯s lobby and after I reach them, Sophia asks us both a question, ¡°Now if this decision were up to me, we would return to the mansion immediately. But, the madam has ordered that I ask you where you wish to visit and take you there. So, I shall start with Rin, what do you wish to visit today.¡± Without taking any time to think about it, Rin starts excitedly listing places she wishes to see, ¡°Oh, I wanna visit the stalls we saw on the way here and there was a shop that sold bows nearby. I also want to visit a place that sells clothes, mommy and daddy always buy me my clothes, so I want to try buying my own. There might also be places that sell stuffed toys right, I want to try visiting those too and-¡± Seeing that Rin¡¯s plans are getting out of hand Sophia interrupts her and states, ¡°Lady Rin, Not only would we fail to see everything you wish to see with a single day, but Lady Kitten would be given no chance to choose what she wishes to visit. I will ask that you both choose two places you wish to visit and no more.¡± After hearing Sophia¡¯s statement, Rin stops and thinks for a moment before saying, ¡°I don¡¯t like the idea of sis not being able to choose. I really want to buy a new bow for my collection and I would like to buy my own clothes. But, I really want to visit the collection of stalls we saw. Hmm, what about you sis, what do you want to go see?¡± Receiving Rin¡¯s question, I take a moment to think about what I would like to visit in the city. Thinking about it, I never went out much in my other life did I? But, when I think of going out in my other life three things come to mind, entertainment, food, and shopping. I don¡¯t know what the people here do for entertainment, I guess I could ask Sophia¡­ actually, she seems like the type to focus solely on work. So entertainment is out and I can¡¯t handle solid food yet, so trying the local cuisine is also out. I guess that leaves shopping, but what do I even want to shop for? Thinking about it, didn¡¯t Rin mention clothes earlier? I really would like to see what the local fashion is like and hopefully, I can get some ideas for new outfits to mold. ¡°Clothes...and stuffed toys,¡± as I¡¯m informing Rin of what I would like to see, I think of a second place I would like to visit and meekly add it into my request. Hearing my answer, Sophia quickly makes the final decision on what we will visit today and says, ¡°Since Lady Rin wishes to browse for bows and I know of a shop that specialises in ranged weaponry nearby, we shall tend to that first. Afterward, we will visit the open air market and then search for shops specializing in clothing. While the two of you are inspecting clothing, I shall inform myself on where we might find a shop that deals in stuffed toys. Also, Lady Rin, if, at any point, you leave my sight without my express permission, we will return to the mansion immediately once I have confirmed your safety.¡± ¡°Hey! Why are you only warning me? What about...fine!¡± Rin starts to complain about Sophia¡¯s last statement but quickly gives up when I tug on her hand, urging her to follow after Sophia who is already walking out of the building. Following behind Sophia, we go by a few places that look like they sell bows, but when I ask her why we aren¡¯t stopping at any of those, the response she gives me is, ¡°Premium real estate, does not equate to a premium product.¡± After some walking, Sophia turns us into a series side roads until we eventually reach a very worn looking door, with a barely legible sign that reads, Shooting Blind. As Sophia leads us inside, I¡¯m surprised by the sheer range of weaponry lining the walls and shelves. There are all kind of bows, crossbows, things that look like throwing weapons, and a bunch of other weapons I don¡¯t recognize at all. Almost immediately after getting inside the shop, Rin excitedly rushes over to a wall displaying a selection of bows and Sophia calls out to chastise her, ¡°Lady Rin, please remember you are not currently at home, you are going to inconvenience others by rushing about.¡± ¡°Hmph, what others? Ya try¡¯na make fun o this old man? Look round yaself ya damn war ¡®ound, ya see customers? Ain¡¯t no one round ere that¡¯s gonna visit a shop owned and run by a crippled old arpy other than you lot. If the girly wants to look around, let er, little life¡¯ll do the place some good.¡± hearing a shrill sounding voice, I look towards where it is coming from and spot a man reclining in a chair behind a wooden counter. Inspecting him, the man''s most striking features, other than his strange way of speaking, are a small set of emerald green wings where I would expect his ears should be and a large scar that looks like a claw mark that runs across his whole face. Seeing the man Sophia gives a sigh and says, ¡°I see you are still lively as ever you old fool.¡± Chuckling as his only response to Sophia, the man turns his head towards the back of the shop and calls out, ¡°Ya ave an interestin eye girly, most wouldn¡¯ give that bow more than a single look.¡± Looking towards where the man is facing, I can¡¯t see anything out of the ordinary, so I walk around the display stand that¡¯s blocking my view and find Rin staring at a bow more than twice my size. As she stares at the giant bow, Rin quietly mutters to herself, ¡°Amazing.¡± ¡°Y¡¯actually think this monstrosity¡¯s amazin?¡± suddenly hearing the man''s voice behind me, I turn around with a start and see the man standing behind me along with Sophia. Responding to the man''s question, I hear Rin¡¯s excited voice from behind me, ¡°Yeah, It¡¯s, really, really amazing! I really want it, but it¡¯s probably expensive, maybe mommy will buy it for me if I ask her when we get back home?¡± Hearing Rin''s self deliberation, the man starts laughing loudly and I cover my ears because it sounds like a loud shrieking cackle. Once the man looks like he has finally calmed down, I slowly remove my hands from my ears just in time to catch him say, ¡°Aven ad a laugh that good in ages. That bow there girly, she was ma one and only attempt at makin a bow only an ogre could shoot. But, if ya asked me now, I¡¯d tell ya it was a stupid idea. Ain¡¯t almost no ogre that would shoot a bow stead of findin a big rock to throw. Fully drawn, I reckon ya could shoot right through a triple S ranked monster with this beast. Problem is, damn material¡¯s too unyielding, never did find anyone tha could even string the beast, let alone draw er. Found a couple willin ogres too, but even those lot could barely bend er, let alone managin to string the beast. But, ya know wha, if not only cause ya gave me a good laugh, I¡¯ll make ya a deal girly. If ya, the war ¡®ound, or the small girly can manage to string the beast, I¡¯ll give er to ya for free. If none o ya can, she¡¯s goin back on tha wall to continue er wait for the one who can tame er. So, whaddaya say girly, feeling up to the challenge?¡± As the man finishes issuing his challenge, Sophia looks like she is about to say something but, Rin quickly runs up to the man while exclaiming, ¡°I want to try!¡± Giving a chuckle, the man steps around Rin and removes the enormous bow from the wall. After attaching the stringer to it, the man then walks back and hands the bow to Rin. Receiving the bow, Rin grimaces slightly, but after only making the bow bend slightly she stops trying while shaking her head. Having failed Rin turns towards Sophia with an expectant look on her face. Receiving Rin¡¯s expectations, Sophia sighs lightly while accepting the bow and says, ¡°Lady Rin, I don¡¯t believe that I shall manage to succeed.¡± ¡°Try!¡± not caring what Sophia has to say, Rin yells in an ordering tone and Sophia, seeing that Rin isn¡¯t going to change her mind, attempts to string the bow. But, one thing is completely evident after Sophia¡¯s attempt. Even though she is bending it quite a bit, Sophia doesn¡¯t seem to be anywhere near strong enough to bend the bow to the point where the string can be secured onto the ends. Looking as if this was the result he was expecting, the man gives another chuckle and announces, ¡°Valiant effort, an while our resident war ¡®ound put in quite a good attempt, in the end, the beast wins again.¡± Walking over to Sophia the man takes the bow from her and starts walking back towards the wall before Rin asks, ¡°But what about sis?¡± ¡°If the war ¡®ound couldn¡¯ make the beast yield I don fancy that hedgin ya bets on¡­ ya know wha, why not. Go on an give er a try small girly,¡± As he talks, the man turns around and walks over to me, before gently handing me the bow. Receiving the bow I find that it weighs almost nothing, but Rin¡¯s expectant stare adds a different sort of pressure to the situation. Satisfied that its weight isn¡¯t a problem I step on the stringer cord and start pulling up. While I pull, the bow bends rather anticlimactically, but simply due to its sheer size a problem arises. By the time the bow is bent enough to secure the string, I am in no position to do it myself. Seeing my problem, Rin helps me by securing the bowstring. The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation. After Rin gives me the okay that the string seems properly attached, I lower the bow and step off the stringer cord. Seeing as the bow is way too big for me to remove the stringer cord myself, I hold it out to the man and he gingerly takes it into his hands while talking in a shaky voice, ¡°Never, never thought I¡¯d live to see the day. Well, a promise is a promise, the bow¡¯s yours girly, but, Sophie, would ya mind avin someone come pick it up another day? I-I at least wan some time to admire er before she goes to er new owner.¡± With a faint smile, Sophia gives a shallow bow and says, ¡°Understood, I shall inform the madam and someone will be made to pick up the bow at a later date. Also, I will let it slide this time, but never call me Sophie again. Now, Lady Kitten, Lady Rin, let us continue with our plans for today.¡± Done talking, Sophia starts to walk away. Rin quickly gives me a hug while thanking me before grabbing my hand and starting to hum happily as we follow behind Sophia. With us following behind her, Sophia leads us back to the main street and we start to make our way towards the collection of stalls we saw earlier today. As we walk, I think back to earlier and start to wonder about how strong Rin really is. Sophia is understandably strong, In the guild, she managed to hit that man hard enough that he hit a rather sturdy looking wall with enough force to crack it. But, from what I remember the man at the shop saying, Rin managed to bend the bow about as much as an ogre could. Then that means Rin is rather strong compared to how she looks, right? I could use ¡®Status Other¡¯, but without asking for permission I would rather not. It seems wrong for me to check the status of anyone in my new family without asking when they waited to ask me before seeing mine. I guess the easiest way to sate my curiosity would be to just ask Rin herself. Looking at Rin beside me I try to properly word my question within my limitations and, hoping she will understand, I ask, ¡°how¡¯d you bend bow?¡± Rin seems to take a moment to decipher my question before a look of realisation crosses her race and she says, ¡°Oh, you want to know how I¡­ well I¡¯m not really strong like you and Sophia, so I had to use magic. Ah, I forgot to ask what it was made of! Whatever that bow is made of, it was really strong, but like that old man said, you have to be really strong to bend it. I used a lot of mana and I was only able to do that much. But, the way you were able to bend it super easily, was really amazing. One day I want to be able to do that too and then I¡¯ll be able to shoot it properly. Oh! Look, we can see the stalls now, I wonder what they sell.¡± As the stalls start to come into sight, Rin gets completely distracted, but her saying that she used magic does leave me wondering. Physics Magic, Mother used it to control air resistance and atmospheric pressure in a small area. Rin apparently used it to make a material she normally wouldn¡¯t be able to bend at all, bend even a little and from what the old man said, that seems to equal the strength of an average ogre. While its effects clearly aren''t as flashy or prominent as my Programming Magic, it seems to be really flexible to make up for that and if everyone can use it, then I can never be sure what someone will come up with. I will have to study my own magic more when I get the chance, otherwise, I might be disadvantaged when I really need it. With that last thought, I notice that we are now at the collection of stalls and Rin is excitedly pointing out stalls she wants to visit. Inspecting our surroundings as we walk, rather than a collection of stalls, our current surrounding is more of an outdoor market. There¡¯s a lot of stalls selling foods and each one is different from the other. There are also a few stalls selling different types of accessories, jewelry, and other nicknacks. Looking around more, there is more than just food and accessories, but as Rin drags us to a stall selling various necklaces, I find myself more interested in inspecting the people running the stalls. I didn¡¯t realize it at first, but most of the people manning these stalls either remind me of Rebecca or father. I¡¯m not very well versed in the demon subraces, but from what I remember reading in the lab, most demons look humanoid with some kind of defining characteristic. Most of the people running the stalls in this market, however, either have animal ears and tails, which would make them beastkin like Rebecca was, or have long pointed ears like father. But, the few people running stalls that I can safely guess are demons, do all have one thing in common and that is that they all have collars around their neck, much like the one that was put on me in the lab. ¡°Collars of punishment,¡± too absorbed in my observations, the sound of Sophia¡¯s voice makes me jump a little and I notice we are now in front of a stall manned by a demon with a collar around his neck. Seeing my reaction, Sophia stifles a laugh as she continues to talk, ¡°You seem to have a habit of getting lost in thought Lady Kitten. Curiosity can be a driving force, but try to remain aware of your surroundings. Though, since it seems Lady Rin shall take some time still to decide herself, I shall aid in satiating your curiosity while we wait. You have most likely already noticed that there are relatively few demons running shops in this market. The reason is simple, in demon society, your strength determines your rights. Seldom will a demon work outside of a combat specialization and most of the time those that do are either the crippled or the punished. As for what the punished are, they are the fools that tried to enact a law that is now very seldom used, without the strength to follow through. The punished can be very easily spotted by the collars of punishment they are forced to wear. The lucky among them may be taken care of as servants. The extremely lucky are even given reprieve and freed from having to wear a collar of punishment. But, those without luck are thrown to the streets, left to helplessly fend for themselves. However, this lesson will have to end here, it seems Lady Rin has decided on what she wished to purchase.¡± While I am still curious about a lot of point Sophia just talked about, she doesn¡¯t seem intent on explaining any further. Since that is the case I turn my attention to Rin instead. Looking at her, Rin is walking back from the stall with a small wooden box and curious what she bought I ask, ¡°What¡¯s in the box?¡± Giving me a mischievous smile, Rin hands the small box to Sophia as she says, ¡°It¡¯s going to be a surprise. Sophia, keep it safe for now and give it back to me immediately when we get home. Now let''s go find some clothes, there are a lot of clothes I want sis to try wearing.¡± Storing the box, Sophia gives a small bow of affirmation and turns while saying, ¡°Understood Lady Rin, let us head off then.¡± With Sophia leading, we stop at quite a few stores dealing in all ranges and cultures of clothing. In every store we visit, Rin has me try all kinds of outfits while trying quite a few herself. But, for the most part, instead of actually trying the actual clothes I can only use them as a model. Thanks to my current body build, clothes that properly fit my upper body seem nearly impossible to find. As we are browsing through, what Sophia warned us will be, our last clothing store, Rin picks up a simple white blouse and black skirt. Walking over to Sophia, Rin holds the clothes up against her and after looking her over says, ¡°I think you would look really cute in clothes like these Sophia. It¡¯s no fun that you are always wearing armor or your maid clothes.¡± Taking the clothes from Rin, Sophia puts them back where they were found while flatly stating, ¡°Lady Rin, I have made this statement before, I am merely a tool, not a friend. I do not seek to be cute, I wish to be efficient. Now, If you are both finished browsing this store, we shall head to our last stop for the day.¡± Puffing out her cheeks, Rin runs back to me and yells at Sophia, ¡°Fine then, keep being that way, but if you ever make sis sad I won¡¯t forgive you.¡± While trying to find a shop that sells stuffed toys the atmosphere between Rin and Sophia is rather tense. But, when we finally do find and enter a shop that sells what we are looking for the tense atmosphere immediately melts. Seeming to completely forget about her sour mood from the clothing shop to here, Rin grabs my hand and leads me to the large selection of stuffed toys. After quite a bit of time, plus a bit of urging from Sophia, I finally decide on a small white stuffed cat toy. Having decided on what to get, Sophia is about to pay for it, like she already has with the clothes we bought, but Rin adamantly states that she wants to pay for my stuffed toy herself. With a sigh, Sophia lets Rin do as she pleases. Paying for it, Rin gives me my stuffed toy and I hug it closely to my chest. As we leave the store it¡¯s already starting to get dark and so Sophia starts leading us back to the mansion. Though, during the uneventful walk back, I do catch Rin sending my stuffed toy envious glances every now and then.