《This is no game!》 Prologue - Thinking with portals Well, from where I should start? A portal opening in the middle of the school? Magic suddenly appearing? Monsters on the other side of said portal? Decisions, decision¡­ Oh well, let¡¯s go from the start! I don¡¯t remember my name. I guess I¡¯m 18 years old. Hobbies include murder of monster and reading¡­ ¡­ ¡­ Yeah, shitty introduction, I know. Not my fault since I don¡¯t remember most of my past. Anyway, where was I? Oh right! Portals! It all started a few days ago. It was a normal winter day, with absolutely no snow in the tropical country I lived. Hell, it was one of the hottest days! It was the last week of school, everybody was crying, saying goodbyes for friends who they wouldn¡¯t see anymore since it was the end of high school. Everybody was there, next to the cafeteria when a strange noise began. It was quite high pitched at first, like a small girl scream. Then, it turned into something like a howling. Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. It was really, really annoying. Then, the sound suddenly stopped and everyone was looking around, questioning each other about what just had happened. They didn¡¯t see the portal appearing. It was just a dark blue dot. I thought there was something wrong with my eyes. But them it started to expand. It stopped when it reached one meter radius. Then, it started pulsating, the color getting brighter and then back to the dark tone. At this point, everybody had already noticed it. Eyed filled with curiosity, we started to approach it. And then, it exploded. Author note: and there it is, my first prologue. IF there is some grammar errors, please comment and no, I intend to make bigger chapters, this was just the kick start Chapter 1 - Gods and Character Creation The last thing I remembered was the explosion. But instead of being pushed away from the portal, it pulled me. Then, I (not) gracefully passed out. ¡°Welcome to the Midplane human¡± I suddenly opened my eyes. I was in the middle of a black space. It felt like it had no end, there was only darkness. Actually, I couldn¡¯t feel my body, only this feeling of¡­ roundness? It was kinda lonely, being in this dark place alone. ¡°Behind you, child¡± the voice said, apparently amused. I turned around, startled. There was a lightwoman. ¡­ No really, it was like a stream of light, forming the body of the woman. I couldn¡¯t see her features, but her eyes shone with a brighter light. ¡°I forgot, you humans cannot see us in this form, right?¡± I could only nod, almost blinded by her ¡°Just a moment, then¡± And she started to shine. More than before. I could only hide my ¡°eyes¡± trying to stop a permanent blindness. This gave me time to analyze my ¡°body¡±. A round sphere. Apparently my soul. My gaming and reading past whispered that I must be on some summoned-to-another-world situation When I turned back I was astonished. Instead of light, I saw the most beautiful woman ever. She was pale, and had long platinum hair. Long enough to reach her ankles, and tied just at the tip. She had a face that could only be called elven. Even her ears were pointed! But instead of eyes, there was only the bright light, just as it was before. And red lips. Full red lips. When I said her hair reached her ankles, it was only an assumption. She wore a simple long white dress, long enough to go further than her feet, with long sleeves, and at her shoulders there was a white furry scarf. On her hand shone some rings. Really expensive looking rings. I could only blink staring at her. I could see a smile forming on her mouth ¡°Nice to meet you, child. I am the goddess of snow. And I have an agreement I wish to make with you¡± Again, I only stared at her. Apparently, she saw this as acceptance and continued to talk ¡°Right now, the other gods are talking with the other children so no need to worry about then. Our world is nearing an era of changes. After giving the mortals the gift of magic, they spent a thousand years, trying to understand it and control it. Now, the reason of this gift has come to light. Monsters were meant to wake up in the next century. Before they arrived, we decided to give mortals ways to fight against them. But right now it is too risky to let them fight, it is still too soon. So we made an agreement with the God of your faith. We are to borrow you, and make you teach, help, and guide mortals on how to defend themselves. We agreed that, to complete this task, we would summon humans from your plane, and train them in our plane. He agreed to this, but only with the condition that none of you are allowed to die in this plane. Lady Death has been warned and, therefore, none of you will suffer death. Going through a situation that would cause you death will make your body turn into energy and reborn in the closest temple. Any question?¡± I was still staring, agape, at her story. Yeah, not very heroic, I know. She was still grinning ¡°and, to make sure you would receive something nice too, we, the gods, decided to give you a gift.¡± As she said that, a mirror popped into existence in front of me. ¡°The present is the chance to create your own body, modify it in any way that you want and, at the end of your task, take it with you to your original world. Now, I shall excuse myself while you change yourself¡± she finished saying and simple vanished. I stared at the mirror and saw my body, only that it was naked. An average guy stared back at me. Black hair, brown eyes, a thin line of beard on my chin. Not fit, I blame the delicious foods. 170 centimeters of averageness. Well, I can only think that I was now in a kind of Character Creation room. Don¡¯t know how I¡¯m not freaking out. Maybe it¡¯s because all this is a kind of dream becoming true to me. After playing and reading so many adventures, it was finally my time. My reflex smiled to me. Or maybe they¡¯re controlling certain aspects of my brain, to make me calm and agreeable. The smile quickly vanished. Now¡­ how to make changes? ¡°Oh, I forgot to say¡± said the goddess, puffing into existence. ¡°To change any part of your body, you only need to focus on it and imagine how you want it. On the side of the mirror there is your current race. Focusing on it will show you the races of this world and you can change for whatever one you want. Enjoy¡± She vanished once again. Well, nothing to do about it. Sighing, I checked the races available. And again went agape with the number of choices. Human, Dwarf, Elf, Orc, Hobgoblin, Beastman, Vampire, Elemental, Construct, Fairy, Demon, Angel, and various others. And a lot of them had sub races, like Wood Elf, Incubus, Golem, Imp, and so on¡­ It was a dream of any RPG gamer. Curious, I chose Incubus and waited for the change in my reflex. Let¡¯s just say¡­ I was shocked. It had curved horns out of my forehead. Bulging muscles. Full 6 packs. And a scary¡­ uhm¡­ well¡­ ¡°sword¡±. Maybe ¡°greatsword¡± is the correct word. Feeling my face hot, I quickly changed my race. Hell, how can anyone live with that weapon? Next, I decided to look at the elf. I chose High Elf. Now there was a lean guy staring at me. Long hair. Point ears. Aristocratic appearance. I decided to not look further down. (Sorry fundoshis) This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.Totally disliked the guy¡­ me¡­ us? He looked like the douche of every story. Deciding to avoid the jerk flag I changed races. Now¡­ let¡¯s see¡­ Orc! Now I was a tall guy. Really macho to say the least. Wide shoulders, big muscles. A strong jaw with some tusks. He wasn¡¯t the ugly guy I was expecting. Taking out the tusks he was your average bodybuilder. But he had an air of countryside. Again avoiding the flag (farm boy flag) I changed races. I spent lots of time in this play. A Hobgoblin with very long pointy ears. A Dwarf with full beard. A Golem with green mad eyes. A Vampire with long canines (again jerk flag, skipped). The beastkin were interesting. There were some sub races, like Pisces, Avians, Mammalians, Reptiles, Insectoid (nope race) and Amphibians. Pisces were quickly discarded. The sea already has some nightmarish creatures, and the lightgirl said there would be monster appearing. So nope to underwater world. Though the fish tail was really shiny and seemed fun to play with it. Avians were discarded too. Aside the birdbrain jokes, flying was something difficult to get so quickly. And the races were cosmetically ugly, with the bird faces. Hey, it¡¯s for the rest of my life, I wouldn¡¯t trade beauty for flying. Amphibians were¡­ disgusting too. Another nope race. And Insectoid was discarded without the need to check. Now there were only some choices left. The Reptiles were pretty cool, with scales and strong tails. The Mammalians were kind cool too; with the claws and wild look and fluffy fur (my nekomime side was fangirling¡­ scratch that the nekomime IS the fanboy). The Elementals were pretty neat too, especially because there was an under note saying they¡¯re strong mages. Under Constructs race I found even another interesting race! Gargoyles! They were pretty awesome too. With the leathery wings and lizard-like tail. I would almost immediately chose then if not for the side note: ¡°has low movement during daytime, causing them to lose agility¡± Noooo, I like the agility build! Why would you do this to me! There was the Imp too. They looked a lot like Gargoyle, but a bit smaller. *sigh* ¡®too many options¡­ and for the rest of my life too¡¯ That¡¯s way too hard on me! I could go on like Human, but I would lose this chance¡­ So I have Reptile, Mammalian, Gargoyle, Imp, Elemental, or Elf Decisions, decisions, decisions¡­ Well, let¡¯s take another roll on these races¡­ not this one¡­ nope¡­ not even in the seven hells¡­ Maybe an Angel? But they look so¡­ not me. And feather wings looks like a pain to clean. Another look at demons¡­ ignoring Incubus¡­ definitely ignoring Succubus¡­ the Imp¡­ Then, I decided to take some chances on this new world. I have lived my whole life as the background character. May as well turn into a race suited for stealth. I chose the Imp. Hope I don¡¯t regret later. I decide to have a young face. The race had strange eyes, with black sclera and white pupils. Scary, but I can live with it. The ears were pointed like the Goblins, although a bit shorter. I had black hair, but decided to make it short, only long enough to cover my forehead. On my forehead there were some small horns, small enough so the hair could cover it. I also had an impish grin (very puny) with really sharp teeth. I make my color reddish. I decide to define my muscle tone, but just enough to see the lines. Don¡¯t wanna look like a bodybuilder. The tail is decided to stay very long. This race also has a maximum height of 1 meter. So I go for maximum. Ugh, being this small will be difficult. Finishing the modifications I tested how to move this new body. The arms were a bit longer than what I was used to. I get a feeling that I would be faster running on all fours. Moving the tail was interesting. But I couldn¡¯t explain how I moved it, since the muscles were in the tail. Thankfully, it seems that the movements were already on my mind. I just need practice to actually move around. Also I had to constantly remind me that now I had claws. I almost cut myself a lot of times, few moments after creation. And they have some kind of venom. A really charming race. Looking back to the mirror I decide to upgrade a friend of mine. It¡¯s no ¡°greatsword¡± but I am already small; don¡¯t want to be all small. ... Modifications finished, I decided to call back the lightgirl. ¡°Seems like you are finished¡± nope, didn¡¯t need to call her, ¡°huh, Imp? Interesting choice. I little tip: if you ever think about changing the effects of your poison, you can go to a temple and request some modifications And since you are from another realm, certain aspects of life are different. Satiety can be exchanged for mana. Meaning that every food you eat, after being digested for nutrients, will turn completely into mana. Though liquids still need to be¡­ released¡­ as before. Also, if you begin to feel hunger, your body will change mana into nutrients. I suggest you don¡¯t let it happen, it may have some drawbacks. From the day you wake up, monster will start to spawn after 8 months, on the new year. Now, when you arrive at the world, search for a priest and ask for aid.¡± She reached for my hand and gave me a coin. "Rest a little and in the next morning pray for the gods. Offer this coin. We will give you yet another gift.¡± She once again smiled and, while touching my forehead she started a little chant. ¡°Good luck child¡± was the last thing I heard, before once again passing out.
Author Note: Aaaaaand another chapter, just one more to go before I start the new chapters. testing how to post and the few tools that royal road has. Chapter 2 - A Wild Nopette Appears (and The Blue Panels) It felt like I was sleeping. ¡­ But the ground was rocky and hard¡­ it was hot too¡­ How did I sleep here? I get up and, looking around, I see that I¡¯m in some kind of glade. Uhm, seems like I was not sleeping, since i don''t feel the usual drowsiness of waking up. ... ''Whatever'', I thought to myself, shrugging. Let''s go back to watching my surroundings. There was a pond near. Some small animals were drinking on it. Rabbits and deers. The grass was tall and there were flowers all over the place. The trees surrounding the glade were tall and gave an ancient feeling. There was also a shrine on the middle of the glade. The glade gave a calming feeling. It was a pretty place to take a nap. It also had a Disney movie feeling, but I bet it¡¯s because of the animals. Unfortunately, it was the middle of the day. The sun was showering light upon the glade. It was mesmerizing, but also too hot. Suddenly a blue screen appeared in front of me
Welcome to the New World!
Lost children of another world, gather at the monastery! There, you will receive teaching about this world, and classes on magic and fighting.
Rewards: new skills and titles!
Oh! Surely a game-like world! There were even rewards! Excited I tried to open my character screen.
ERROR!
To see information about yourself you must acquire a screen plate. They are obtained on temples, sanctuaries or places filled with religious power.
Oh boy. It seems I will have to go there anyway. But how would I reach there?
ATTENTION
For being a pilgrim, you will be able to ask help from the god of wisdom. The help will appear like the messages you received so far.
Neat! A helping system! Hmm? But how I use it?
GREATINGS!
I¡¯m the god of wisdom. You may call for my help by simple talking with the blue plates. (or by asking for help in your thoughts)
Alas, you shall receive the skill: Inspect! To activate it simple think the name of the skill and information about things shall appear.
To see your list of skills, you must first acquire your screen plate.
Well thought, I think. They really were prepared to help us. Focus, focus¡­ ¡®Show me the way to the monastery¡¯ Then, a small part of the blue light that made the plate disconnected from it and formed a tiny arrow, pointing to the forest across the glade. And now I got a tracker! This world is truly game like. I got up for the first time in this new world. And feeling the grass scratching my legs, for the first time I also looked at myself. And got embarrassed, obviously. I was wearing some kind of loincloth. And a vest. There was little left to imagination. The loincloth only covered the top of my legs like short shorts. And the behind was a little lower, to give more movement to my tail. The vest was totally opened. With nothing to close it. Really it was the least protecting outfit I have ever seen. Thank god I wasn¡¯t a girl or this outfit would attract every kind of creep in a kilometer radius. But I had no shoes for some reason. Deciding to ignore the obviously newbie clothing (and thinking the gods have really no sense of shame) I decided to follow the blue arrow. Walking through the woods was relaxing. It looked like this was a common hunting ground, since I saw lots of human tracks and the animals seemed to evade this place. My feet were somewhat hardened and walking shoeless didn¡¯t hurt (thank God this little blessing) The monastery was surprisingly close by. I think that even without the tracker, I would be able to find it. Especially because a few moments later the bell on the main tower began to ring. 12 clangs. It must be midday (yeah, incredible deducting power I know). After the bell stopped I walked to the entrance. It was yet another calming place. And had a massive structure. The entrance was a gate and very thick walls surrounded the whole buildings. There was a giant building across the entrance. I guessed it was the temple, since the bell tower was on it. The left of the monastery was a simple building with lots of windows. I could some monks inside so there should be the dormitory. At the right was a four story building, although it looked a bit more new. Also lots of windows. Didn¡¯t know why there was another dormitory, but the few people inside this one had some strange crosses above their head. Some kind of optical illusion I think. On the side of this building there was a stable. So maybe it was a dormitory for travelers? Anyway, there was a huge space on the middle. There was a fountain with the image of a mermaid pouring water with a jar. A very well made statue. Maybe the sculptor had some mermaid modeling for him, who knows? The tracker was above said fountain, as if the destination was there. There were some monks tending the garden and there was also another one talking with some people, this one near the fountain and the people with their backs turned to me. They also had the strange cross above their head. Weird. When I crossed the gate the tracker seemed to disintegrate. It seems that everyone on the plaza looked at me. I stopped moving. With one foot still in the air. It must be a really comic scene. A tall woman got up and started to run toward me. I was still paralyzed with all the attention. And she jumped at me, hugging me. And kissed me. A very wet and hot kiss. Yeah, I¡¯m still confused you know. It was one really deep kiss, one I surely never gave and this weird girl seemed to enjoy it. She was hot. Third degree burn hot. Tender and peachy skin. Big boobs. Hourglass figure. Long blond hair tied in ponytail. Don''t know how, but she was contorted in a way that let me see her ass.An ass worth of saying ¡°dat ass¡±. Also a tail with a spade at the tip. And she had some horns on her forehead, so I guess she was some kind of demon. And she had blue eyes. Cat blue eyes, with slits instead of pupils, I mean. She stopped the kissing. I was out of air, panting. She put her finger on my mouth and put her mouth close to my ear. ¡°Hey, handsome. The first was mine¡± she whispered and blinked an eye. The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings. It was all cool and dandy, until I felt something poking my leg. Looking down at it I saw a bulge. Unfortunately, it wasn¡¯t mine. And with that I jumped really far from her¡­ him? But I tripped on a rock and was back on the floor She pouted a little but started to grin. ¡°If you get cold at night, I can warm your bed¡± all that said with a blink while kneeling on the ground with her hands fondling her sides. But no futanari in my life. Never. From now on she would be Nopette. The monk reached us and hit her¡­ him¡­ well, Nopette with a heavy book. This made her stop the flirty act with both hands on her head and some tears in her eyes. The monk sighed at her and approached me. ¡°Sorry for that child. We are still trying to teach her to control her instincts.¡± He helped me up but I only reached his waist. He was tall (at least for me) and had a bald head. Brown eyes and serene smile, he looked like the trustful fellow. Better than the trap still holding her head. The monk bowed to me. ¡°Welcome to our monastery. I assume you must have arrived recently¡± I just nodded. ¡°Well, then I shall call someone to help to around¡±, he said while looking at the monks. ¡°Brother Oliver, could you help the newcomer?¡± Said monk nodded to my savior and come closer to us. ¡°Good afternoon, pilgrim¡± he said, with a big smile. The other monk already left, taking the Succubus with him and going to the group by the fountain. They were already talking between themselves so the little play was something common, I guess. ¡°Follow me, I¡¯ll show you around and get you your status plate¡± He calmly walked toward the right dormitory, and I followed him. It was really beautiful. It had an old and saint atmosphere and the rock gave a nice warm feeling. Seeing my curious look, the monk smiled and said that the stone had a lesser fire enchantment to keep warm. He took me to the second floor and opened the door for me. Entering the room I saw two beds next to the door. And under the windows were two desks. One of the desks had some books on it and also some paper and ink. It looks like someone was recently studying there. The other was clean. Both beds were clean. ¡°This will be your room. Later you will be able to meet with you roommate¡± Seeing my terrified look he said ¡°no, Taylor won¡¯t be your roommate. Despite her¡­ equipments¡­ she still is a girl, so in another floor¡± I only give a relieved sigh. Picking the chair from the empty desk, he motioned me to sit on the bed. I obeyed. ¡°It seems you¡¯re a quiet child. What¡¯s your name young one?¡± he asked. It seemed like a therapy was about to start. ¡°Sssorry¡± I said. And stopped immediately. I just hissed? I tried again ¡°sssorry¡­?¡± Seeing my confused face he grinned. ¡°First time talking since you arrived?¡± I nodded not wanting to hiss again. ¡°The hissing is one of the characteristics of races like Imp and Hobglobins. The gods said that many of you wouldn¡¯t be used to your body. No need to worry, go on¡± I tried again, ¡°sssorry, but I don¡¯t recall my name¡± I hissed to him. ¡°It¡¯s a common symptom. It seems the travel erased certain things from your memory. Probably to help you adjust to this new world.¡± He nodded to himself. ¡°now what¡¯s the las t thing you remember?¡± ¡°There wass lotss of people. Ssome were crying? Them a blue thing appeared. It ssspined and exxxploded. After, I met a goddessss. Created thissss body. Woke up in a glade. Walked to here.¡± I summarized my memories for him, trying to speak the least possible. I was already getting used to the hiss. ¡°My memoriesss before that isss hazy. They¡¯re there, but I can¡¯t remember¡± I completed. He smiled once again. ¡°Good. You remember being human at least. Now, please lay down. I will begin the ritual to give you your plate.¡± Lying on the bed, he pulled the chair closer to the bed. He put a ring on top of my belly, and using some brush he took from nowhere he started to draw a circle with some ink. The brush appearing from nowhere made me flinch. Maybe he took it from his inventory. He also took a ceremonial dagger from the inventory and made a cut on his hand. Using the blood, he put some details on the ink circle. ¡°The blood makes it easier to channel the power of gods¡± he said, looking at my confused face. When he finished the details, he asked me to give him my hand and said he would draw a little of blood. He took another dagger and made the cut. Using the dagger he poured some drops of blood into the ring. The circle, started to shine. The ring floated and my blood was circulating the ring. With a flash the blood entered it and the ring dropped at my belly. The circle had disappeared. Looking at the monk, I could see he was somewhat tired. Seeing me worried he gave a nonchalant wave ¡°First lesson on magic: it costs some energy to cast it. The greater the spell, the bigger the consumption of energy. After some seconds, you will be back to normal¡± He looked at his hand and chanted a healing spell. He also cured my hand. There was a small tingling feeling and the cut closed leaving no scar. Then he stood up and went to the door. ¡°Now you rest. Tomorrow you will receive one last gift from the gods. Until then, rest¡± He gave a quick good bye and exited the room. With nothing to do I picked the ring and used Inspect! on it.
Ring Status Plate
Ownerunnamed*
RaceImp
TitlesNone available
Screens**Inventory, skill and quest screens
*You may choose your name **To open other screens, just think: Open ____ Screen, while usin the ring
I gave a quickly look on the other screens. Under the skill screen I only had the Inspect!. The inventory had only the coin the goddess gave me and the quest screen was empty. Back to the main screen I stared at the name. Now I beheld the second greatest enemy of all gamers, only losing to the Character Creation. The Name Selection. Author Notes: Thanks for reading! Aaaaaand the last (probably) chapter of today (both were finished yesterday, but it was alreafy 3 AM, so i went to sleep). Got a writing spree, and decided to post both chapter. Also tested the blue panels, and man, it''s annoying to use them. Now, I plan to post at least a chapter weekly (if I have another spree, i might post quicker), and chapter 3 is almost ready. If you see any mistakes, please comment! Chapter 3 - Name Selection and Gods Gift Name Selection The bane of all gamers. The nemesis of every RPG player. The last obstacle you have to face before saying you have completely created your character. People usually went with names that represent their will. Names that represent perseverance and their commitment to stay unbent. This usually makes them pick names of things like plants and small animals, like Mouse or Weed. I could take a name with a grandiose felling, like Zeus or Thor. But the risk of being seen as someone wanting to be a Mary Sue was too great, and would affect my relation with others. I could also pick some common name. But for a hero to be called Bob¡­ it wasn¡¯t an attractive idea. Maybe I could pick some orcish name, like Garrosh or Bargulg. But I didn¡¯t choose to be an Orc, so it wouldn¡¯t fit. And should I pick a surname too? This expands the number of choices a little. Decisions, decisions, decision¡­ It would be better to pick a name that won¡¯t make me hiss. It needs to be something simple. Maybe something that resembles the job I intend to take. Rogue, thief, trickster, swindler¡­ Gyp? It¡¯s simple. Don¡¯t make me hiss. Not a name of any god if a recall. It is someone who tricks others. Maybe I should learn illusion. ... But I like it. And since I¡¯m going to an agility build and rogue like class¡­ how about Shadowrun? Satisfied on my decision I start focusing on the ring and select the Owner option
Say the name you have choosen
¡°Gyp Shadowrun.¡±
WARNING
Low world population detected. The surname is not necessary Titles can be used as surname in this world
This makes things easier. ¡°Gyp.¡±
Name selected: Gyp
ATTENTION
For completing your creation you received the title Pilgrim.
TITLE SCREEN
PilgrimRaise affection with mortals. Able to ask for favors. Greater chance of getting discounts. Damage against monster increased by 10%. Learning and improving skills are now easier.
Wow, title jackpot it seems. I look through the window (the real one, not the panel) and get surprised. It¡¯s already getting dark. The ritual and the name selection took more time than I have thought. Feeling the chilly breeze coming from the window I cover myself on my blankets and finally go to sleep. Tomorrow would be a long day.
¡°Hey, wake up!¡± a strange voice said on my ear ¡­ Should I? Nah, I will continue here. In my comfy, warm, filled with hope and dreams blankets. ¡­ ¡°Hey, come on man¡± said the pesky voice again, Covering my ears! Don¡¯t wanna wake! ¡­ ¡­ ¡­ ¡°GET THE FUCK OUT OF THE BED¡± (I could almost see him flipping some tables instead of me) ¡°Don¡¯t sscream. I¡¯m awake¡± I said scared by the sudden yell. There was some freezing air around me. I rolled to my back and saw some random guy on top of me with my blankets on his hands. The whole scene screams Stranger Danger. I stare at him, face beginning to feel hotter. The situation with Nopette (maybe named Taylor) still fresh on my mind He stares back, and seeing my face getting redder (I do have red skin) he notices the whole situation, with me on my scant clothes. Truly a bad situation. He hurriedly gets up and out of my bed. ¡°Sorry dude, but you weren¡¯t waking up¡± he said, cleaning his throat and looking embarrassed. The long pointy ears getting red. Now I really paid attention to him. Lean body? Check Pointy ears? Check Blond hair? Check I just found the hero of Hyrule, Link! ¡­ ¡­ ¡­ Yeah, bad joke, I know. Couldn¡¯t resist. But seriously, only the green cloth was missing. Also he had the strange cross above the head. Well, Link clone (Clink?) was getting even redder with my close inspection. Trying to stop the awkward atmosphere, I jumped off bed and checked if everything was in order. Loincloth covering everything. Vest covering almost nothing. Yeah I was ready to face the day ahead! ¡­ I really need to find some new clothes¡­ ¡°What isss it?¡± I groggily asked him. I don¡¯t really like waking up before the sunrise so I hissed with full force to him. ¡°The last part of the ritual is about to start¡± he said, looking more cheered up. I only stared, confused, tilting my head a bit. ¡°The last gift man, remember?¡± wow, he cheered down quickly ¡°You know, pray, offer the coin and receive some awesome last gift?¡± ¡°Oh that.¡± I nodded. He looked like he lost all hope on the world, sighing and with the how-could-you-forget-it face. ¡°Here, put this robes and clean your face.¡± He said, throwing said robe on me. ¡°There¡¯s a water bucket next to the desk, use it to wash yourself¡± Clink exited the room. I quickly cleaned my face and neck (ouch, cold water) and, taking out the vest, I put the robe on. I kept the loincloth since it looked like underwear and didn¡¯t really want to walk around without something covering the important bits. Out of the room Clink was still waiting. ¡°Good, now follow me¡± he said and started to walk toward the building that I guessed that was the temple. I would like to say that there was no problem during our walk¡­ but Clink had really long legs (I almost reached his waist). Even with some bonus to agility, I was slower when walking, and every each step he gave was equal to three or more steps I gave. I was quickly falling behind. Running to follow him we arrived at the building. It was an outstanding chapel! Outside, it looked like a three store building (without counting the tower), but inside there was just the first floor. It had a really tall ceiling and the decorations were superb. The roof was painted and had a stained glass on top of the altar, and there were two balconies on the front of the temple. The altar had some kind of pond surrounding it, and the light that comes from the rising sun illuminated the aura, giving it a surreal look. Maybe because the water wasn¡¯t totally crystal clear, it had a blue tone, and looked a little viscous. It seemed like everybody was there. The strange people with crosses on top of their head (this must be a sign of the ones who came from my original world) and monks filled the rows of chairs closest to the altar. The monk who saved me from Nopette had already started the ritual. He used four jars of water. He submerged them on the water and said some words, dropping the water back to the pond. On the seventh dive, he kept the water inside the jar and placed it upon the altar. When I arrived he was doing the third jar, and after I spent my time observing him I ran to the front of the altar. How I knew it was there that I had to go? Easy, there were three others using the same robe as I. Four jars for four people. Easy as that. One of them was a Dwarf. I couldn¡¯t really see much expression on him since his beard covered most of his face¡­ and chest¡­ pretty sure it even covered some belly. It had a nice red tone, almost as fire. He was just a ¡°little¡± taller than me with roughly 1,30 meters tall (who am I kidding? 30 centimeters was a lot). There was an empty chair besides him, so I sat there. The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. On the other side of the Dwarf was a beautiful Vampire. She used glasses and was nearly 1,75 meters tall. Her black hair was tied in a braid, that she left hanging on her front giving full view of her pale nape. And the robe little did to hide her breast. It wasn¡¯t something out of a hentai, like some other girl I met, but it had a respectful size. And on my side there was an Incubi. Nearly 2 meters tall, I didn¡¯t even reach his waist. He had long curved horns, and something that I missed on the character creation¡­ he had hooves instead of feet. So I guess Incubus and Succubus must be like the satyrs (I don¡¯t really remember if Nopette had hooves, I was too occupied worrying about her other parts). He had a handsome face and pointed ears like an Elf. After analyzing them (I should really stop with this habit of fully staring at people) the monk finished blessing the jars and called the Vampire to start her part of the ritual. Now I was fully attentive, curious for what would happen. He put the jars on front of the altar, and instructed us to put the coin on the jar and step back. The Vampiress graciously walked toward her jar and dropped her coin. When she stepped back, the water started to get hectic inside the jar. Then the water raised and turned to stone. And then it changed into a human. The stone thingy was totally nondescript. Looking closer, I could see it was covered in precious stone. The Vampire bowed to it, and it raised its arms. In front of Vampy, it started to shine brightly. She reached her arms and take hold of something. When the light died, the stone being vanished, and she was holding a greatsword. It was made of some silvery metal and studded with jewels. It was a really pretty sword. She put the sword into her inventory and came back to her chair. Next was Dwarfy turn. Same proceedings. Drop coin into water. Water goes crazy inside the jar. Water raised and turn into fire. Well, not exactly the same, I guess. When Dwarfy bowed the same light came, but it didn¡¯t wait for him to reach it. Fire thingy was more impatient than rock thingy apparently. When the light faded, there was a hammer. It was painted in orange, and when illuminated, it looked like flames were dancing on it. Yeah, I noticed. It gave a hammer to a Dwarf. Almost facepalmed myself. Then it was my turn. I dropped the coin on the jar. The water went crazy, but I could feel the air getting colder around me. The water raised and froze, and a clearly feminine figure stared at me. I bowed. Then a light shone brightly. Reaching to it, my hands closed around the handle of some weapon. I could almost see the goddess smiling. And when the light died, I was holding a dagger. It was light. The handle had a white cloth hanging from it. It remembered a claw, a twenty centimeters blade, cold as ice, and equally pretty. Of course I used Inspect! on it.
Ice Talon
The gift from the goddess of ice, this dagger has some ice enchantments on it
Bonus Skills
Freezing TouchCuting with this weapon causes hypothermia. May cause freeze
Soothing TouchThe broad side can stop bleedings
Halt HealingThe edge of the blade doesn¡¯t cure bleedings
Bingo! The abilities on this dagger were incredible! Even the Halt Healing, since it would cause hypothermia and make the target continue to bleed. I put the dagger in my inventory and went happily back to my chair. Now was the Incubi turn. Coin dropped. Water raised. It turned into some black ink. For some reason there was no bright light (maybe it was the god of darkness or something). There was a black space in front of Horns, and when the light returned there was a giant double edge axe on his hands. It seemed to exhale some kind of thick miasma. I swear, some of it even dropped to the floor! When he got back to his place the monk shooed us from the temple and into the cafeteria. It looked like they wanted to do their daily prayers, and we were hindering them. The lack of lecture made me confused, but maybe this ritual was repeated so many times that they got tired of it. We all walked to the cafeteria. When we arrived, there was a really beautiful table full of food. Bread, cake, fruits, some light candies, milk, juice and teas. And many more things. It was a breakfast worthy of the gods! The food was served by some people that really don¡¯t look like monks. Maybe the monks paid people to help them, or they willing gave some help¡­ Focusing on more important matters, I took some food. I took some pieces of cake, a bread with some fried egg and a juice that smelled like orange. Picking a table that would allow me to see every one (stare at them) I sat and began the analyze. There was two Succubus and three Incubus. They all sat down together, and the air around them looked thick. Maybe because they simple smiled of sex, for some reason. A dangerous group for different reasons. The guy in the ritual was already with them. The other Succubi, the one I had yet to meet, saw me looking at their direction. She giggling poked the one beside her and both smiled to me. Getting embarrassed, I quickly looked at the other groups. With the Vampire was a Siren. Sirens are the winged relatives of Mermaids. They are beautiful women, who had the same singing abilities as the Mermaids, but instead of swimming the flied. There were also a Cat-girl, two Elves and a Human girl. All girls. Birds of a feather flock together, it seems. There were four Orcs next to the food, followed by a Bull-man and some Plant-guy (Ent, if I recall). They seemed like the jocks group. The biggest group had two Humans (they looked like the stereotype of hero), the Dwarf guy, a Reptile, and eight Elves. They were a noisy bunch, talking about classes and training and being loud. Hmm, the Elves were in greater numbers. The ideal of grace and eternal beauty seemed to attract lots of people. And I finally noticed what was bugging me. Most people were more than average in looks. The women had hourglass figure or a really fit body (scant clothing, always helping you analyze people). The men had bulging muscles or lean body with aristocratic looks that made (fan) girls go crazy. I got goose bumps imagining that some of them might be cross-dressing. At least I wasn¡¯t the only non-model level on the room. The Dwarf and one of the Orcs weren¡¯t exactly handsome. But the Orc really looked reliable in a fight. So there were: three Humans, a Dwarf, ten Elves, two Succubus, three Incubus, a Felimorph, a Bovinemorph, a Reptilian, an Ent, four Orcs, a Vampire, a Siren and an Imp. There were 30 pilgrims, including me. Not number that can save the world, I guess. Thinking about saving the world with only 30 people made my appetite simple vanish. After some minutes a trainer looking guy came to the cafeteria and started to yell at everyone, urging us to eat and run to the training grounds. Today will be a long a day.
Author Note: Aaaaannd another chapter. I really was sleepy yesterday, didn''t remembered that the chapter was already complete ?? Just needed some correction and fixing the panels (damm, it''s really annoying) Anyway, thanks for reading! Chapter 4 - World Affairs and New Clothes Leaving the half eaten food behind, we followed the trainer. Except he stopped and pointed to four people, including me. ¡°WHAT ARE YOU GUYS DOING?¡±, a screaming trainer, great. ¡°Following our trainer to begin our¡­ training?¡± answered/asked Vampy. ¡°YOU GUYS, GO TO YOU ROOMS AND CHANGE THIS CLOTHES RIGHT NOW!¡± he really liked to scream ¡°AND YOU TRAINING BEGAN TOMORROW! DISMISSED¡± He stormed away. We stared at each other. We didn¡¯t really had spare clothes. ¡­ And he came back ¡°TAKE YOUR ROOMATES AND FIND SOME CLOTHES!¡± Captain Scream once again left. Sighing, I approached Clink. He was talking with some Elf chicks. Weird, the trainer just told them to help us. Pulling his shirt he looked back. ¡­ He didn¡¯t see anyone and turned to the elves. ¡­ I pulled again. Now, he looked down. The elves were giggling at this little exchange. ¡°What?¡± he asked. ¡°Trainer sssaid. Help roomatesss find sssome clothesss¡± I answered. He wasn¡¯t really smart ¡°Oh, I¡¯m not your roommate.¡± I could almost see my head tilting in confusion. He shrugged ¡°The monks didn¡¯t find your roommate this morning. So they asked me. That¡¯s why you were late¡± he explained. ¡°And who¡¯sss my roommate?¡± head still tilted. ¡°Lemme see¡± he looked at the people who were still in the cafeteria. ¡°There! He¡¯s coming here¡± And pointed at someone behind me. On the way was coming one of the Incubus. The one who was laughing at me earlier. ¡­ I must be running out of luck. I turned to Clink again, looking for help, but he was already making some excuses. ¡°Sorry, I don¡¯t really get along with him, bye!¡± he said, already going. He waved to the Incubus and continued his merry way. ... Traitor! Turning back, the giant was already beside me. I had to look waaay up to see his face. More than two meters tall. Really muscular. Was using something that looked like a tank shirt (I could see some parts were ripped, so he must have customized it himself) He was grinning. He squatted to try talk with me but he was still taller. He had red slit eyes. Must be a race characteristic. And black hair. ¡°Hey buddy. I¡¯m your roommate, Sydonai.¡± He extended his hand. ¡°But you can call Syd¡± Of course I gave him a hand shake. Don¡¯t wanna be known as the impolite one. ¡°Nice to meet ya. I¡¯m Gyp¡± I responded. He got up. ¡°Now let¡¯s go to our room, you don¡¯t wanna be late for your introduction of this world.¡± He cheerfully said. Hmm, maybe I was wrong about this one. He appears to be a nice guy. Following him, we went back to the dormitory. I stayed silent the whole way. He was whistling all the way. At least he wasn¡¯t walking as quickly as Clink. I was getting tired to run after everybody. Entering our room he went to his desk. He took out a beige shirt. ¡°Here, try this one¡± he threw it to me and jumped on his bed. Turning around I took off the robe. Ugh, the tail was sore from staying down for too long. I stretched it, and moved it around to remove the soreness. I wore the shirt. It was so big it wasn¡¯t even funny. The hem went all the way to my knees. The sleeves were too long and my hands were nowhere near the exit. Even the neckline was kinda big, showing a lot of collarbone. I turned around to ask for another shirt and found a Demon, legs crossed, sitting on his bed and staring at me. I stared back. ... And remembered the stretching I just did, I felt my face getting hotter. Thinking quickly, I pulled my hand out of the sleeves, and extended it, palms up. ¡°Pay¡±, the best way to get out of an embarrassing moment is joking. ¡°I don¡¯t pay for only a strip¡± he smiled. Joke adeptly backfired. Shaking my head on the counter joke, I pretend nothing happened ¡°Do you have any other ssshirt?¡± ¡°No, but you can keep that one¡±, he flexed one arm. ¡°The training made it uncomfortable on my arms.¡± I just stared at his ripped shirt and poor excuse. Shrugging, I took off the shirt (making sure to don¡¯t give another show) and put my old vest on. I decided to use the shirt as some kind of pajamas (they were quite confortable). ¡°Let¡¯sss assssk the monk. Maybe he hassss ssome shirtsss¡± I hissed He got up and guided me to the monk¡¯s dormitory. Nothing happened on the way. Looks like my luck is coming back. Entering the other dormitory I was surprised by the simplicity of the room. It looked like some customer service desk. All in wood. There was some old monk, reading a book behind this desk. The place smelled like paper and wood. Directly in front of us was the entrance to something that looked like a library. Maybe the old monk was the librarian? At the right were some stairs that probably lead to the monks rooms. At the left was the entrance to the monk¡¯s cafeteria. The librarian looked at us, as if asking why we were interrupting his readings. ¡°Sir¡± started Syd ¡°We are looking for Brother¡­.¡± He looked at me ¡°Brother Oliver¡± I completed. He grinned ¡°Do you know where he might be?¡± ¡°Brother Oliver? Mmmmmm¡­ at his room second floor last door of you right¡± he said and turned back to his books. Syd nodded and walked to the exit ¡°Bye Gyp, see you at night¡± he said, without looking back, and exited. Sighing I went upstairs. Knocking at Brother Oliver¡¯s door I waited for some seconds. He opened the door quickly. Maybe he was already expecting me. ¡°Ah, pilgrim please, enter¡± he backed away to let me enter and pointed a chair ¡°please sit down¡± I entered his room and observed a little. He didn¡¯t have a roommate. A big bed was leaning on the left wall. A small dresser stand in front of it. There was a desk, one similar to a principal desk (hey, some memories came back¡­ a principal scolding¡­ better forget it), but filled with books, papers, some ink¡­ maybe he was a scribe? On the right wall there was only a rug, like an area dedicated to praying. Quickly finishing analyzing, I sat down on the chair he pointed. ¡°At what may I help you?¡± ¡°I wasss thinking you could give me sssome clothesss?¡± ¡°I have some, but it will be a little big for you.¡± ¡°No problem¡± I grinned, there would be hardly a too small cloth. He went to the dresser and looked through the clothes. ¡°Have you chosen a name already¡± he asked, stopping the search, and looked at me I nodded ¡°Yup. I have chosen Gyp¡± He frowned at my answer. ¡°You pilgrims choose rather strange names¡± he sighed. I only grinned at his reaction. ¡°Found it¡± he got up and brought me a white shirt and some shorts. ¡°Can I change here?¡± ¡°Yes, over there¡± he pointed to a place next to the dresser and went to his chair, across the desk. It was out of his sight so I had some privacy. It was a good fit. The sleeves finally reached the wrist, but the hem was a little lower than usual. It only bothered a little my tail. The short fit nicely. Even if it had to stay lower than usual it had some laces that reminded a belt, so it wasn¡¯t falling. I looked at the monk. He didn¡¯t have a father look, so why does he have such small clothes? ¡°Do you have children, Brother?¡± I asked curiously. He shook his head. ¡°No, these clothes belonged to a Hobgoblin that once visited the monastery. He was quite injured so he asked for our help. He didn¡¯t want to wait we repair the clothes, so he left them. I kept it, just in case someday I needed¡± I sat down again. It looked like he had more to say. He cracked his neck, as if preparing to a long talk. And picked a globe that was underneath the desk. Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. ¡°Now, Gyp, I¡¯m tasked to give you general information about this world. The gods said that you would come unprepared to this world, and that our job is to teach things about this world. As your monitor, I decided to first teach about our world, politically I mean¡±. He breathed and started the lecture This world was divided in six continents. Two continents at the poles, called the White Continent and the Ice Continent. The Ice Continent didn¡¯t have any sentient race living there, because it was really cold. The White Continent only had a few villages, mostly at the coast and only one at the center, inhabited by Giants and Boreades. Boreades are a snow people race, with purple wings and a resistance against cold. At the north was the Royal Continent, inhabited mostly by Humans. South was the Wild Continent. Inhabited by Elves and Orcs. At the west were the Wastelands, inhabited by Demons. It has been only a hundred years since the other races started to be on familiar terms with the Demons. It seems the previous Demon Lord was some greedy person. He was rather mean, and had an oppressive domain and waged war against the other races for four hundred years. After he was slain by his own people a more charismatic Lord raised to power, one that was more open to a friendly relationship. ¡°The war ended little time ago, so beware some people that still hate the Demons. Take care in small villages, as they¡¯re more apt to kill you before you can say ¡®I¡¯m a Pilgrim¡¯¡± he added. Shivering at the thought, I continued to listen. At the east were the Easterly Islands, an archipelago inhabited by the Beastkin. The Dwarves are common in caves of every mountain range of both Royal and Wild Continents. Hobgoblins, the sentient race that came from goblins, live in every continent, with exception of the Wastelands where they evolved into Imps. Harpies, commonly live in mountain tops, Sirens live on cliffs. Still, saying that elves only live at the Wild Continent would be a lie. These places are where the races are more common. ¡°In instance, we have an Orc that would train the pilgrims in the way of Druids. And also there is elves living on the city down the mountain. So never be surprised to find some race out of the places I just told you.¡± He paused for a moment ¡°Except the Merfolk, they¡¯re quite territorial and their need of water make then reject any attempt to bring them to the ground¡± There was also the Floating Kingdom of Haziel, a massive island that soared high in the skies, home of the Angels and Valkyries. Haziel was the queen, and she had one of the strongest military power of the world. Still, both races are peaceful, and would rather cure instead of killing. The world was in an era of peace. There is currently no war between the continents. My ears picked interest at this. He said no war between continents, but said nothing about inside war. He noticed my ears going up, and grinned. He stopped for a moment to drink some water. ¡°Now, I¡¯ll talk about the inside affairs of the Royal Continent. I¡¯m not informed about the other continents, so internal affairs of each, you should visit them¡± There were currently five kingdoms in the Royal Continent. It¡¯s said that these kingdoms were founded by six great generals that saved this continent after dragons started to attack. They are: Bristain, Earlton, Hagavia, Redoak and Dragonspire. ¡°This monastery is located on the Redoak Kingdom. This kingdom is further divided amongst five Lords, each with their Dukes and Barons. The village in the mountain¡¯s foot is under the domain of Lady Etna Firebound, who rules from her castle at the north, the Citadel of Ashes. Currently, the kingdoms of Earlton and Hagavia are in war. Something about someone wife, falling in love with other lord and escaping to his castle. She was denied, since said lord was already married. Returning home, the young lady was attacked by bandits and was killed. Her family blamed the lord, and asked for payment and that he public asked for forgiveness. He denied, both families went to war and dragged their kingdoms to their rivalry.¡± I actually facepalmed to the reason of this war. Brother Oliver seemed to agree with me. ¡°And with this, we are finished with this lecture.¡± He said leaning back, tired with the entire one sided talk, and looked at the window. ¡°The sun is getting high, it¡¯s almost time to lunch¡­¡± he said as if talking with himself, and focused back on me ¡°You should get going, now I have my attend to my prayers before midday.¡± He said, and with this I went to the door. ¡°Ah, one more thing¡± I stopped ¡°there¡¯s a little information I must give to you.¡± He sighed. ¡°The gods send pilgrims to every continent. The Demons races, particularly Succubus and Incubus, were commonly sent to the Wastelands. But some where still sent to other continents, like you. The reason for this was to give more fighting power, with all the varied races.¡± Tense pause, as if he was trying to decide how to say his next words. ¡°Other places had at most one of those two races. But in here there are five of them. And their races have a unique racial characteristic.¡± Another tense pause, he sighed ¡°Each of them produces a¡­ miasma?¡­ no¡­ scent?¡­ anyway, something that makes others more¡­ susceptible¡­ to their approach. For being a Demon, you have a resistance against it, but not immunity. And you are sharing a room with one of them¡­ what I¡¯m trying to say is...¡± Brother Oliver was getting embarrassed. ¡°I get it, Brother Oliver.¡± I interrupted him. ¡°I will take care¡± I said and smiled a little to show him I completely understood. He looked relived to stop talking about it. I inwardly sighed. What a problematic roommate I got. But it appeared that there was more. ¡°But also, there¡¯s the Siren and the Vampire. Both races are known for their hypnotic powers, the Sirens¡¯ Song and the Alluring Eyes. I don¡¯t want to make you enemy of them, but still, beware these people.¡± ¡­ Dammit, my luck seemed to have dried. The bells started to ring ¡°¡¯I¡¯m late!¡± his sudden exclamation scared me ¡°I have to go! Go to the lunch ground, lunch must be almost been served!¡± And he kicked me out of his room. I stared at the door for some minutes. Shrugging, I went downstairs. And, remembering the books I saw on Syd¡¯s desk I went to the librarian. ¡°Excusssse me, sssir¡± I said, holding on the edge of the desk and pulling myself up ¡°Yes, pilgrim?¡± the old monk stopped reading and looked at me. ¡°Can I borrow ssssome bookssss?¡± He pulled his glasses up before answering. ¡°Only with the permission of Sister Minerva. She¡¯s the one that will teach you about magic¡± he said and went back to his book. I was exiting, when I remembered the way Brother Oliver reacted to the bells ringing. I once again climbed the desk. ¡°What is it now?¡± asked a really annoyed monk. ¡°The bellsss already rang, it¡¯sss midday¡± I said and watched his reaction He gave me a shocked look. ¡°Already?! I have to pray!¡± he got up, closed and locked the doors to the library. He gave me a suspicious look and entered a door behind the desk. Probably it was his room. Hmm, he was old, maybe old enough to have lived through the war against demons? Since I didn¡¯t know how long humans lived in this world it was quite possible. Shrugging, I went to the cafeteria to grab my lunch.
Author note: I''m dieng here. Saw that I got three followers and decided to finish this chapter. Next one may be posted in three or four days. Thanks for reading! And if you pick any grammar mistake, please, comment And any ideas for the names of unnamed characters are welcome (for most of them, really, 33 characters and only 4 were properly named. It must be some kind of record) Chapter 5 - Pilgrims and Magic Introduction On my way to the cafeteria, I stopped to give myself a facepalm. I completely forgot to use Inspect! on the new clothes.
Modified Simple Shorts
Shorts modified to fit tailed humanoids
DefenseSmall protection against cold and sunlight
The defensive options were something new. The shorts really didn¡¯t cover enough to protect against rain. If these options were consciously given, pursuing tailoring would be interesting. Crafting bikini armor with high stats would be amusing. Focusing at the present, I checked the shirt.
Enchanted Tracker¡¯s Shirt
A shirt modified to fit small humanoids. In forests, it gives a small concealing skill
DefenseSmall protection against cold, rain and sunlight
Enchants
Lesser Camouflage (forest variant)Merge with surrounding plants, acquiring a green and brown color.
Enchanted¡­ Maybe¡­ I just received a very expensive gift¡­ Well, depending on how much enchantments cost. Still, this made me remember that Enchanter was something I wanted to try, if I ever were to use magic. ¡®Stealth, Illusion, Tailoring and Enchantment¡­ I¡¯m really going to a jack-of-all-trades building¡¯ I sighed to myself. Reaching the dining hall, the food was already served, but no one had arrived yet. Only some nuns and their helpers were there. They must be still training, then. It was really calming being alone in the silence I grabbed my food (beef and smashed potatoes)and made a happy discovery. On the desserts table was a cake. It looked like a carrot cake. But the happy thing was the icing. Chocolate! True Dark Chocolate! I was so happy that I even shed a tear! Thanks all the gods for allowing truly delicacy to exist in this world! Getting a huge piece, I went back to where I sat earlier. The food was great! These people really know how to do their jobs! Actually they were smiling as I ate. And I found yet another thing that bugged me when I noticed them. These smiles. These condescending smiles I kept seeing ever since I arrived here. Maybe they thought I looked like a kid, or some kind of pet. But doing something about it may turn against me. Having they think about me as child will make them think I have to be protected. And that was okay with me. Now, I just had to think in a way to endure it. When I was about to start eating my lunch, the others began to arrive. Goodbye sweet silence! I looked at them, to see what the training had done with them. They were a mess. Bloody clothes, messed hair. Some were bruised. Strangely the ones who had more blood in their clothes were the ones with fewer bruises. Odd. The physical training was literally a pain, it seems. People started to sit around. Vampy and Birdy walked my way, and after came Bull. ¡°Hey the trainer asked us to take the newcomers to him after the lunch¡± said a cheerful Siren signaling at herself and Bull. She was beautiful. Exotic, but still¡­ beautiful. She had Japanese eyes. Pulled eyes, not the anime ones. She had a well proportioned body. Hourglass, but totally possible chest. She tied her shirt, cowgirl style, giving a full view of her waist. Her wings were black, which contrasted with her tanned skin, and gave a slight purple tone when under the light, same with her hair, tied in a bun, with something that looked like a pencil holding it in place. She was wearing some shorts (it seems pilgrims only gained shorts) and long boots. The bovine-morph was a muscular guy. Really muscular. He wore shorts and was shirtless. He had a brownish skin that looked like it was covered with fur, but with some black spots. The fur looked denser on his forearms. His horns sprouted from the sides of his head, different than demons, which sprouted their horns on the forehead. He also had a small tail with a puffed tip. He had brown hair and brown eyes. ¡°Can we sit here to lunch?¡± he asked. Too many people. Entering nodding mode. They sat down. ¡°My name is Piper. The Cool Beauty(lol) is Luna, my roommate. What¡¯s yours?¡± asked Birdy Piper she actually said lol. Vampy Luna ignored her joke. ¡°Gyp.¡± Short answer again. The bull didn¡¯t introduced himself. Rude. Awkward pause. ¡°So, why did you choose Imp?¡± Vampy asked. The others looked at me, interested. ¡°I wanted to go sstealthy.¡± The hissing was out of control, being embarrassed didn¡¯t help it. ¡°I didn¡¯t believe the ¡®forever changed¡¯ part¡± A lie, but even I didn¡¯t know the exact reason. Piper nodded as if she understood it. The others didn¡¯t. I elaborated ¡°I recently played a game. Liked it. Tried to imitate. Ended up like thisss.¡± Partly true. Damm games, making us do random choices in life. ¡°Few words.¡± Back to Birdy ¡°Why so serious?¡± she asked smiling. ¡°The hisssssing isss awkward to me. Trying to avoid.¡± Short answer, again. Bull grunted ¡°Know how you feel. Still trying to get used to grunting¡± *grunt* ¡°And why did you choossse it?¡± I asked, now interested on this little talk. *grunts* ¡°Thought it was interesting. I have already been human my whole life, so I wanted something different *grunts*¡± ¡°But why bull?¡± He smiled ¡°Because of muscles. Was trying to get them for years. Saw the chance and took it¡± yes, he grunted. I looked at the Siren. She got the cue. ¡°I was a trying to be a singer¡± she said, a little embarrassed ¡°but I wasn¡¯t very good at it¡± She gave a small smile ¡°so like Broox, when I saw an opportunity I took it¡± So that¡¯s why he didn¡¯t introduce himself. Bro OX. I internally chuckled. ¡°Why not mermaid¡± the curious me asked. ¡°I used to play a lot of games. So I have a felling of which monster will spawn. And underwater monsters spawning next to me? No thanks¡± she shivered. Wise Girl. Another pause. I still didn¡¯t eat the cake. Better start it. Chocolate was great! And the cake was really good too. I gave a mental thumbs up to the cook. And then looked at Vampy. She didn¡¯t give her reason. She noticed my gaze but ignored me. Piper noticed it too and giggled. ¡°And why you choossse Vampire?¡± Direct question. No way she can dodge it. She looked at me. And looked away. She faced her friend, trying to escape the question. And found no help. It seems Piper was interested too. She started to blush. ¡°I liked a certain movie. And liked the vampires on it.¡± she stuttered a little. ¡°Tha-that¡¯s why I chose it¡± I stared at her. At her eyes, actually. They were golden. Being an avid reader, I gave a try at that book too. I grinned ¡°Did you try to name yourssself ¡®Cullen¡¯?¡± She was tomato red too. Better stop before she bites me. Her friend was having a fit besides her, laughing. Broox didn¡¯t get it. Back to the cake we ate in silence. (Except Piper, who was still trying to hold her laughs) Finishing their meals, Broox and Piper fished the other two newcomers from their groups and took us to the training grounds. It was on the border of the forest, outside the walls. Maybe to train in different grounds, the clear area and the forest area. When we arrived, both senior pilgrim quickly gave their goodbyes and went back. Traumatized much? The trainer was training (puny wordplay). He was attacking a scarecrow. Noticing our arrival he wiped some sweat off his brow. ¡°EVERYONE! TAKE OUT YOUR STAT PLATES AND PREPARE FOR INSPECTION¡± God, he was loud! Everyone put their rings one. Why don¡¯t they change the name for Stat Rings already? Maybe at the past they were plates¡­ Focus on the now, Gyp¡­ He walked to us, and pointed to the Dwarf. ¡°YOU! Come ¡®ere and show me your Movement Skill!¡± even without the screams his voice was loud ¡­ ¡­ Movements Skill? What¡¯s that? Luna saw my poker face and grinned. Bending to her side she whispered. ¡°Skill Screen. Little arrow on the right. Use it to side scroll.¡± I looked at the panel. There really was a small arrow. (internally facepalming). The Skill had four pages. Active Skills, Passive Skills (including blessings and currently worn enchants), Movement Skill and Elemental Affinities. Now, to the Movement Screen. It had the properly movements skills and also ¡°weapon¡± proficiency.
Movement Skill
CrawlingMovements on all fours. May benefit stealth skills
Adept - level 1
WalkingWalking speed and fatigue endurance
Beginner - level 2
RunningRunning speed and endurance
Journeyman - level 2
JumpingHeight of jump and jump distance
Adept - level 1
ClimbingClimbing speed and fatigue endurance
Journeyman - level 2
SwimmingSwimming speed, holding breath and fatigue endurance
Apprentice - level 1
ParryingBlocking attacks using weapons
Beginner - level 1
DodgingEvading attacks
Adept - level 1
AcrobaticsJumping, climbing and running synergy skill
Adept - level 5
BlockingBlocking attacks using protective apparel and equipments
Apprentice - level 1
Proficiency
Claw ProficiencyAbility to use Claws in combat (attack speed and strength)
Amateur - level 1
Venom ProficiencyEffectiveness and power using venoms
Amateur - level 1
If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. Brother Oliver already told me about skills levels. There were seven: Apprentice, Beginner, Amateur, Journeyman, Adept, Master and Grandmaster. But to have movement rated¡­ well, at least it explains why I¡¯m so much slower when walking. Maybe all of them started at level 1? With the walking and running I did since I got here, it would explain how some were already leveled. But the parrying, blocking and swimming really made me cringe. He studied Dwarfy¡¯s skill and then Incubi¡®s. Then, it was my turn. ¡°PIPSQUEAK, COME ¡®ERE!¡± I frowned at this. I went anyway. ¡°How do I ssshow it¡± I asked. He sighed. I bet it was a FAQ. ¡°Just say: Show Movement Screen, while using the ring¡± I showed it. He studied for a time. ¡°Ability build, quite high. But fragile. Gonna have to train ya on how to fight without gettin¡¯ hit, and no chance for ya in an underwater fight¡± He seemed to concentrate on something. Was he already creating a training plan? ¡°Venom, huh? So quick fights, without getting hit.¡± He nodded to himself. ¡°Got it, tomorrow we begin¡± why did I felt some menacing aura? It can¡¯t be that bad, can it? I went back to the group and waited for Luna being inspected. When he finished he turned to us ¡°GO TO MAGIC CLASS NOW, NO LOAFIN¡¯ AROUND¡± he screamed said, and went back to his training. We went to class, of course. ¡°Piper said the magic classes start an hour after lunch, in a room on the fourth floor.¡± Said Luna ¡°We are already late.¡± So we decided to run back, instead of walking. I looked at Dwarfy. ... He looked at me. ... I pointed at the Demon in front of us. ... He nodded. Together we jumped at the Demon¡¯s back. ¡°Hey!¡± he sounded annoyed. ¡°Out of my back!¡± He didn¡¯t even slow down. I climbed to his shoulder. ¡°It isss quicker thisss way¡± I said to him (climbing skills¡­ checked) He growled but accepted his fate. I looked at the Dwarf. ¡°I¡¯m Gyp.¡± I said. ¡°Torrik¡±, he answered. We decided to silently enjoy our way back. When we arrived at the building we got off. The Incubi looked angry and ready to start a brawl, and Luna was about to burst in laughing (I guess we broke her Cool Beauty act) Ignoring him, Torrik and I went upstairs. No way we would fight with someone who ran with two people on his back. Luna and the Demon followed us after a short time after (she was still trying to control her laughs). Arriving at the room we knocked. And entered. ¡­ It was chaos. Fireballs flying aimlessly. Ice shards sprouting at random. Wind howling. There were some flashes of light nearby and a ball of darkness on the other side. ... We closed the door. ¡°Wrong place I hope¡± said the Incubi Just to be sure we opened again. Still chaos. Actually, a bit worse, with vines covering the ceiling. We looked for the teacher. There was an Elven woman close to the door. She was looking at the chaos and looking like she was remembering the good old time. She noticed us and turned to the pilgrims. ¡°HALT ALL MAGIC!¡± She screamed. And they really stopped. ¡°I am going to teach these children about magic. Revise the basics of magic and back to meditating!¡± she said, more calmly now. ¡°If I come back and see even a fire igniting the responsible will suffer death from each basic element.¡± ¡°That was a joke, right?¡± asked Torrik. Looking at the other pilgrims serious faces we decided to don¡¯t ask. She took us to another room. ¡°I¡¯m Sister Minerva, the Storm Witch¡± she presented herself giving a kind smile and made us do the same. ¡°I¡¯m Luna¡± ¡°Torrik¡± ¡°Gyp¡± ¡°I¡¯m Uriel¡± I got surprised at his name. A Demon of lust named after the angel of purity, oh irony. ¡°Now, let¡¯s begin our class¡± she motioned us to sit on the closer chairs. ¡°Hmm, where to start¡­ well let¡¯s go from the elements There are seven basic elements. Fire, water, earth, wind, lightning, light, and darkness. There are others, known as lesser elements, but we will start with these. Some places can have more elemental mana than others, for example, in the sea, there would be little to no earth mana, making Earth Magic really weak on open sea, but really stronger in deserts or canyons. Magic happens when you infuse your mana in the world and urge the elemental mana to follow your will. The mana inside the bodies is referred as Arcane Mana. In the last example, if you are in the sea, you can convert Arcane Mana into Earth Mana and cast the spell, but it would require chanting, or a great amount of mana. And without a high affinity, the change would be far from1:1. On areas with high concentration of mana, they can solidify into mana crystals, an expansive and rare magical ingredient. Also, mana and energy are interchangeable. If you ever run out of mana, you can exchange your own energy into mana, but doing so is extremely dangerous, and using it irresponsible can cause death. The opposite is possible too, if you ever starve, you can change your mana into energy, but without the nutrients from food, you wouldn¡¯t be able to go very far with this. Magic is divided into various areas. Signs, Spells, Chants, Rituals and Enchants. Signs are magic that use the body to be casted. There is not even the need to say the spell. But because of their quick cast and little mana required, they are weaker than the others. But if you are in a fight, and needs a quick attack, that¡¯s the most efficient. For example, gathering Arcane Mana in my hand, closing it and pointing both the indicator and middle fingers at a target, I would cast a Pusante Sign, a magic that causes the air to move quickly in one direction and impact with the target. It would have the same power as a slingshot. And if I use the elemental mana I would cast the Pusante Spell. To cast it, you would need to channel the elemental mana and actually say the spell. It¡¯s quick and in the rearguard of a fight is a potent and quick weapon. It costs more mana, since you are urging something static to serve your biddings. It would hit as hard as an arrow. Now Chants are more difficult. As the name imply it requires a longer casting time. It¡¯s usually used in healing magic or simple to train your affinities. A Pusante Chant would require at least three minutes to cast, depending on your ability to gather the Wind Mana. On the rearguard, it would be a devastating magic eliminating several targets. But the casting requires concentration and stopping the conjure would cause the gathered mana to go unstable, causing dire situations. It would hit harder than a cannonball. And there¡¯s Rituals. Very complicated and long lines to chant, taking hours to be cast, unbreakable concentration and too large amounts of mana are necessary. Usually uses mana crystals to achieve the amount necessary. Or sacrifices. A Pusante Ritual would be as strong as a hurricane, but one with all the air going at the same direction. It would be enough to blow up this monastery. And for last, there¡¯s Enchants. Enchant is a magic that infuse elemental mana into a target. In this case, the enchanter¡¯s ability and the amount of mana infused will affect the results. Also the enchanter needs to know which aspect of the element they want infuse into something. For example, I could enchant boots with Wind Mana and grant a speed boost. The higher the amount of mana you spend, the higher the effects. There¡¯s also a combat technique that uses enchants. You infuse yourself with the elemental mana. Using Wind Mana, you can accelerate your strikes, or gusts of wind in with every hit. The monks here are practitioners of this art. And a little thing you should know about enchanting. NEVER use you own mana. The process would make you permanently lose the amount of mana. That¡¯s why we use mana crystals. Although the power of an item enchanted with Arcane Mana is way higher than an elemental mana one. Still, permanently losing mana is something most mages would never do. Despite it, some really old mages sometimes enchant items with all their mana. These are known as legendary-tier equipment. Selling at least one of these would make you rich for your entire life. With this, our theoretical class ends.¡± Said a really tired Elf. She went to a shelf full of crystals and got four small crystals. She gave one for each of us. ¡°These are empty crystals¡± she explained. ¡°I want you to meditate and, when you think you can use the mana, infuse elemental mana into them.¡± She watched us making confused faces ¡°When you meditate, you attain awareness of your surroundings. With this you also got to sense mana inside and around you. Sensing it makes it possible to move. Start from your own mana and use it to encircle the mana outside. Now hurry and begin! I will be on the other room and will come back in¡­¡± she outside the windows ¡°two hours¡± and exited. Time to train, I guessss.
Author Note: New Chapter! Hurray! For now, forget my plans on weekly release. I got hooked on my own story, so around a chapter per day until the hype settles down. And I finally gave more names to characters. Now only twenty somethings characters need names! Any mistakes, please comment. Thanks for reading! Chapter 6 - Meditation and First Torture Meditation, huh? ... Before I started I looked around to see what the others were doing. Luna seemed to be praying. She even put her hands together. She must have been a religious girl before. The image of a Vampire praying was oddly hilarious. Torrik just closed his eyes and seemed to be concentrating. Hope he doesn¡¯t fall asleep. I have a hunch that Sister Minerva wouldn¡¯t like it much. Uriel was just spacing out. Maybe he too didn¡¯t know what to do. Or maybe his race had too big of a drive to be concentrating. Possible, since I only saw one Succubi training magic, with the others nowhere to be seen. I decided to go with the traditional meditating. Cross legs, close eyes, deep breaths and concentration. I left the crystal on the chair. I would first try to actually find the mana first, and then infuse it. Breathe in¡­ ¡­ Breathe out¡­ ¡­ Breathe in¡­ ¡­ Why am I running out of air? Dammit, manual breathing is on. I totally lost concentration. Spent several minutes trying to control my breath. Am I that bad at ¡®Breathing¡¯? Well, second try. ¡­ ¡­ Ugh, now my tail hurts. Trying to ignore. I opened my eyes. Luna was still concentrating. Torrik was positively sleeping. Uriel seemed to get the hang of it, and was meditating alone in a corner of the room. I awoke Torrik. He was embarrassed. I waved off his thanks. Now back to meditating. What I had to find? Mana. But how to find it? No idea. I tried to recall what Sister Minerva told us and what I already knew. Mana was all around. And inside of us. It can be used as energy. And energy could be exchanged into mana. So, energy? How would I detect it? I thought about the other world. About my family I couldn¡¯t remember. About my friends. And ended up thinking about school. Strangely, I could remember some classes. Math, arts, biology, history, chemistry, physics¡­ Also remember a little detail about energy. In some situations, when a body lost energy it would lose it in the form of heat. So heat = energy = mana? I smiled and concentrated the same way Torrik did. I put the crystal on my right hand. And focused on my heat. More concentrated on my torso and head. How to move it? I tried to move it to my right hand. ¡­ No sucesss¡­ It seemed to slip if i went too fast. I decided to go back to the lotus position. And held the crystal with both hands. Now, I would try slower. First acquire the mana to move¡­ got it. Now slowly move to my shoulders¡­ It took more time but I got it. Now, even slower move both manas down my arms and into the crystal¡­ Slow¡­ Calm¡­ ¡­ Can¡¯t believe it¡­ I did it! I opened my eyes to see how the others were doing. Luna crystal was emitting some light. She already had figure it out, it seems. Uriel was almost getting it too. He sometimes gave a small smile, maybe for getting to move mana, but frowned when he lost control. Torrik was observing the others too. Maybe he was at the same point as me. Well, back to infusing, I guess. Now that I know how to do it, it was easier. Laughably easier. I finished the infusing and opened my eyes. And got immediately worried. My crystal was emitting a dimmed red light. I looked at Luna¡¯s. It was shining but without colors. A blue panel appeared
Congratulations!
You have acquired Fire Proficiency
¡­ Fire? But it was Arcane Mana¡­ What did I do wrong?¡­ Uriel was getting the same as me. I could see his crystal slowly getting redder. Torrik got a yellow light, and looked as confused as me. And then, our time ended. Minerva was back at class. She looked at everybody''s crystal. And went to where she was before. ¡°Good. All of you infused the crystals. But only Luna got to infuse the Arcane Mana.¡± She said and pointed at me. ¡°Gyp, how did you take the mana?¡± ¡°I ussssed the energy that wasss on my heat.¡± I answered. Did I get it wrong? Uriel nodded. It seems we had the same idea, at least. Minerva looked at Torrik. ¡°And from where you took your mana?¡± ¡°From my breath. You said Arcane was exchangeable with the surrounding mana, so I thought it was through breathing.¡± She nodded at his answers. ¡°Have I done it wrong?¡± ¡°No, no child. It¡¯s a common mistake.¡± She looked at Luna. ¡°The odd thing is Luna getting it on her first try. But I do have a theory of how she did it.¡± She made a pause. ¡°Luna is a Vampire. Vampires have a different¡­ body¡­ compared to other races.¡± She started. ¡°They don¡¯t need to breath, don¡¯t generate too much heat and don¡¯t sweat. Torrik, using your breathing you channeled the Arcane Mana that was changing into Wind. Uriel and Gyp did almost the same, but with Fire Mana. Now, let¡¯s hear from Luna how she did it¡± Luna was getting embarrassed. ¡°I felt that something was off ever since I came to this world. It was like a different feeling, like something inside me was changing. When you gave your class I discovered what it was. It was mana. And the changing feeling I got was from it changing into the other mana¡± The teacher put her hands together, looking pretty happy. If we weren¡¯t here I bet she would be hopping. ¡°Exactly! From talking with the others pilgrims, I theorized that your old world don¡¯t have mana. How this works, I don¡¯t know, but there isn¡¯t any mana there. Luna felt it, because of her race slow exchanging rate. And that¡¯s what I want you to do. Find this strange energy that you didn¡¯t felt before and tomorrow we will continue.¡± She looked outside the window. It was already getting dark. ¡°Now, go eat! Until tomorrow¡± she waved a goodbye and exited. We went downstairs, still thinking about the class. The others were already dinning. And the food! Carrot cake with chocolate icing again! Some sweet bread! As always, well prepared! These people really know how to cook! I sat down with Luna and Piper again. Broox was with the Orcs again. Arm wrestling. Battle maniacs, I guess. Uriel was back with the other demons. Torrik was back to the big group. Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. ¡°Thinking about it, where¡¯sss the other girlsss? The onesss from thisss morning¡± I asked Piper (Luna was back to her Cool Beauty act) ¡°Oh, them? They got tired of Luna being so talkative (lol) and went back to their own group.¡± She again said lol. And pointed to said group. They were giggling and pointing at Broox¡¯s group. Obligatory plastic girl group. I nodded and focused on eating. But Piper had other plans. ¡°Hey Gyp, how old were you on the other world?¡± She asked, as if trying to keep the talk going. ¡°18, why?¡± as always, short answers. And then noted that most pilgrims were hearing this little exchange. ¡°Ha!¡± Piper suddenly exclaimed ¡°I said he was more than fifteen years old!¡± and looked at the human girl from Barbies club. ¡°Pay up, Aphrodite!¡± Aphrodite? Like the goddess of beauty? Just how much self-centered was this girl? She sighed and gave a bag full of coins to Piper and went back to her place. I stared at Piper. ¡°How old she thought I was?¡± She grinned. ¡°Around ten¡± Ouch. That hurt. I spent the rest of dinner in silence. But still ate. A lot. First time I ate all the food since I got here. I wonder where I would store all the extra mana. I got up and stretched a little. And gave my goodbyes to the girls. Now, time to go to sleep! At least was what I thought, until I reached the stairs and felt a hand holding my shoulder. It was Brother Oliver. ¡°Hi Gyp¡± he smiled ¡°There¡¯s just one more thing before you go to sleep. Follow me.¡± This dormitory really looked like the monk¡¯s one. Except theirs, after you entered, had a library in front of you, their dormitory at the right and a dining hall at the left. But ours were different. There was the dormitory at right and a cafeteria at the left. But the ¡°reception¡± hall was a little bigger, and I still haven¡¯t visited the front room. We headed to it. I could hear people talking. When we entered I saw a loft. Some chairs and some sofas, so people could have conversations. Two doors, one at the left and the other at the right. We went to the left one. When we entered, there was a changing room, with low shelves were you could place your clothes. Yeah, it was the public showers, if I was not mistaken. Brother Oliver pointed a room out, and said that I should relieve before going to the showers. I haven¡¯t even noticed that I really needed to go. Ah the blessing the goddess told me. The one that made all food be converted into mana. But liquids still needed release. Still, great part was converted. That¡¯s why only now I felt the need to go. Coming back, I took off my clothes. There was a small towel, that I saw people using to cover their parts. I wore it and went inside the proper showers. Great part of the area had a big pool, steaming with hot water. On the sides were little showers with small stools, where the person had to sit down to clean themselves. It looked a lot like the ones from mangas. Brother Oliver was beside one of stools, pointing me to sit down. I had no chance to run away so I obeyed. ¡°The maids that clean the rooms complained that your blankets were dirty. We noticed that you walked all the way from the forest to here, shoeless. And you didn¡¯t take a bath.¡± He took a brush ¡°So they insisted that it was my job to properly show you our hygienic customs.¡± He pulled another stool and sat behind me. ¡°So let¡¯s start!¡± he said with a terrifying smile. I would like to say that I sat calmly during the whole ordeal. Instead, let¡¯s just say that he was strong. Really, needlessly strong. The brush seemed to remove some layers of my skin. Maybe he got a lecture from said maids for not taking me to the showers when I arrived. It was Hell! I can only imagine that it comically looked like a guy trying to wash a misbehaved pet. I know that I look like a child, but I can take a bath myself! But then two monks passed by us. ¡°Brother Oliver Got it easy¡± one of them said. These showers must be used by the whole monastery. ¡°His prot¨¦g¨¦ is quite small¡± The other laughed ¡°Brother Tristan was really unlucky, look at the size of that Demon¡± I looked at where he pointed. Uriel was passing through the same ordeal. Maybe some joke the monks had with the pilgrims. And it looked like the only thing that stopped him from running was the chanting the monk was using. Only a spell to stop someone of that size. At least it was not because of my appearance. After the torture washing, he told me to go to the pool while he cleaned himself. My skin felt a bit redder. The water was good! But it was quite deep for me¡­ Well time to train swimming! I could hear some laughing (probably at the scene of a certain Imp in a rather small pool) but I was feeling good, so ignored them. It felt good! Well, good until I reached a deeper part of the pool, making a worried Brother Oliver come running to take a drowning Imp out of the water. This little incident gave the bathers more laughs and I received a long scolding from a half-naked monk. After the bath (and promises to never return to the deeper side) we got out of the shower room. Brother Oliver used some magic to clean our clothes and took me back o my room. It seems that, with the little incident, he convinced himself that I would kill myself if he didn¡¯t keep a lookout until we reached my room. ¡°Good night, Gyp. Please, go sleep¡± some monk would pass the whole night up, worried. Waving good bye, I entered my room. Syd was already sleeping, so with nothing more to do I changed into the large shirt and went to sleep.
Author Note: Aaaaaaand today''s chapter (really, it''s becoming a daily release)! A little smaller than chapter 5, but I felt I reached a nice point to stop. Chapter 7 is already being written! Next we will see some physical training! And more characters! And some more (annoying to create) panels! As always, if you find grammar mistakes (or any other kind of mistake), please, comment. And thanks for the followers! Following this really makes me want to go on. We have 12 right now. Pretty good for a begginer (and without experience) writer. (Goal: achieve 30 followers and make a Side Story based on a chosen character) Thanks for reading! Chapter 7 - First Kill and Creators Lore People screaming. Their houses burning to the ground. The smell of burning flesh. Shadows with no faces, killing and howling in the night. Only a woman fought against the darkness. Her silver hair shining in the middle of darkness. Turning around she looked me at my eyes. ¡°Save them¡±, was her last desire. I woke up in the middle of the night. Tired as I was, I went back to sleeping. The dream already forgotten.
It was morning. The sunlight shone through the windows. Birds chirping. A calm day. I slowly got up, drowsing. And felt cold on my back. Turning around I saw my shirt ripped. A large cut, going from the neckline to the beginning of my tail. A thin bloody line followed the trail of the cut, as if the blade slightly cut the skin. I looked at the room. Syd was meditating. Sweat running through his shirtless torso. It looked like he trained before stopping for the meditation session. I cleaned my throat. He looked at me. ¡°Know what happened?¡± I asked, showing the cut on my back. He just shrugged. ¡°It¡¯s better to ask Brother¡­¡± he paused for a moment, trying to remember the name of the monk. ¡°Oliver? Anyway, ask him to repair it. The next visit to the town will be only in two days, and you have no other sleepwear.¡± And went back to meditating. I got up and cleaned my face in the bucket of water. Urg, icy cold. There was a small toothbrush too. ¡°Isss thisss yourssss?¡± I asked him. ¡°Nope, mines over there¡± he answered, pointing to his own bucket of water. I brushed my teeth. Looking in a mirror, I discovered where the extra mana went when I overeat. To my horns. They were a bit bigger now. The points shining through the black hair. If it wasn¡¯t me who created them, I would not even notice it. And it gave me an idea about where to find Arcane Mana for the infusing class. I closed my eyes and concentrated on my forehead. Yeah, there was energy there. I compared with the mana from my breathing and heat. It looked similar, but at the same time, slightly different. As if it would work in another way. I didn¡¯t have a way to compare with Earth and Water Mana right now, but I think I got it. Changing clothes I went downstairs to get me some breakfast. There were some pilgrims there. Luna, Piper, Clink (I still don¡¯t know his name), the Ent and the only Human guy. Early birds. But the smell of food took my attention from them. They were all on the same table, close to the window, Luna asking them about how the training of today would be like. I quickly grabbed bread, fried egg, a banana and a little of honey (I remembered that potassium and calories were important for physical training). This seemed interesting. ¡°He¡¯s training is not that though¡± said the Human guy. He was eating bacon and eggs, with juice. He had brown hair, and dark blue eyes. He had that cool look. He also wasn¡¯t overly tall, only over 1,75 meters tall. ¡°What, what do you mean with ¡®not that though¡¯¡± Viny seemed to disagree with him. He wasn¡¯t eating anything, but was directly under sunlight. Eating, maybe? ¡°I lost an arm during the spar! An arm!¡± Now, Viny was an interesting guy. He used a sleveless shirt. He had a pale skin. He had brown things under his skin, which looked like roots, instead of veins. Two sprouted from under his hair, framing his face. His hair was moss green, and looked like grass. His eyes were green too. Completely green. Only his pupils were different, black rather than green. ¡°But you grew it in less than ten minutes¡± said the Human, witha a deadpan fan. ¡°Still¡± said a grumpy tree. ¡°Anyway, it¡¯s not downright impossible¡± said Clink. Only fruits and juice for breakfast. Healthy guy (or vegan). ¡°Just don¡¯t stay still in front of him. He likes to get people doing pushups and sit ups if he thinks you¡¯re taking it easy.¡± I sat down, next to Piper. ¡°Good morning, Gyp¡± she was eating cake and tea. Luna, as ever, wasn¡¯t eating anything. Vampire trait, I think. ¡°Morning, Piper. Cheerful at thisss hour?¡± She just smiled. The others noticed me. ¡°Hey¡­ Gyp right?¡± said the human. I nodded (strangers talking, entering nod mode) ¡°I¡¯m Leon¡± Handshake. ¡°I¡¯m Phill¡± said the Ent. I nodded to him. He was too far to a handshake, anyway. ¡°I don¡¯t think I ever introduced myself¡± asked the Clink, pointing to him. I shacked my head. ¡°My name is Aimar¡±. We went back to eating. People started to arrive. Soon, our group was divided. Clink Aimar and Leon were called to their usual group. Phill went to the jocks group, when they arrived. Broox and Torrik joined us. It was a peaceful breakfast. Finishing it we all went to the training grounds. The trainer apparently told them yesterday that he would be waiting for us. We (the newcomers) were told that this meant he wanted us there early. Arriving in the grounds, we found him meditating. When we stepped inside a line encircling the area, he stood up and walked toward us. ¡°TODAY WE¡¯LL BE SPARIN¡¯¡± he indicated the newcomers ¡°BUT JUST ONE SPAR AT A TIME. ONE VERSUS ONE. UNTIL DEATH.¡± Well, we are basically immortal, since we could respawn. Still, quite a merciless training. He pointed at me. I went to his side. ¡°ORC. COME FORWARD¡± he pointed to one of the jocks. ¡°YOU¡¯LL GO AGAINST THE IMP¡± ¡°YES, SIR¡± it seems he really liked sparring. The trainer looked at me. ¡°When I tell you to greet, put your fist over your heart. Same if you are armed, with the blade pointing up.¡± Quick instructions There was a circle on the ground. There were two straight lines on opposite sides of the circle. ¡°TO THE CENTER!¡± we obeyed. ¡°GREET! ON YOUR LINES!¡± we went back to the white lines. We stared at each other. He took his weapon from his inventory. A greatsword. The thing was bigger than me. He noticed it too and grinned. I put both hands on floor. He put his right foot in front. ¡°BEGIN!!¡± The orc ran at me and began a swing from above. But he was too slow. I ran with all my might. Towards him. Before the sword reached his head height I was already inside his defenses. When the sword reached the ground I was using his leg to propel me upward. Our faces got too close and he threw his head back, startled and dropped his weapon. I used this moment to attack. I bit his neck. Hard. I tore a hunk of it out. It seems I bite through some arteries too, as blood spurted at me. He tried to stop the bleeding, but it was obviously lethal. I spit the flesh out of my mouth. The metallic smell filled the place. But the blood had a sweet taste. It tasted kinda good. I looked at the others. Some were disgusted by the scene. Some were nodding, as if approving the method. Luna looked like she wanted a taste of his blood, too. Another Vampire trait, I think. The trainer looked at the mess. When the orc died, he turned into light and seemed to disappear.
Congratulations!
You acquired Fang Proficiency
¡°ONE HOUR TILL HE¡¯S BACK! APHRODITE, YOU GO AND TAKE HIM BACK¡± She nodded at his orders. ¡°Yes, sir!¡± ¡°NOW, WHAT WAS THE ORC¡¯S MISTAKE?¡± he asked to the others pilgrims. Another Orc answered ¡°He underestimated the Imp, sir. Thought it would be an easy fight and made a too large and clumsy move.¡± The teacher nodded. ¡°Exactly. If he had stopped to think for a moment, he would have noticed that the Gods wouldn¡¯t allow something weak to protect the world. Remember, not only strength wins a fight.¡± He took a breath. ¡°IMP! Why did you go for a lethal attack from the start?¡± ¡°It wasss until death sssir.¡± I answered ¡°and the godsss promisssed we would be reborned in death sssituations. And they fulfilled all they promisssed.¡± ¡°Good. Uncertainty in a fight only leads to death. And prolonging a battle might cause your death.¡± ¡°NEXT!¡± he looked at the pilgrims. ¡°SERENA, YOU¡¯RE UP AGAINST THE IMP¡± He called an Elf girl forward. Yet, another beauty. She had a long blond hair, tied on a braid. This made her show her pointy ears. She got a nice figure. Slim waist, big boobs. Even her hips were well designed. She took her weapon out. A sword, but it got slimmer along the blade and pointed in the end. Looked like a fencing sword, but able to perform slashes. I took out my dagger. Surprise attacks wouldn¡¯t work this time. ¡°GREET¡± the same position as before, but with my dagger. Her looked better, with the longer blade. I also had an idea. I used Inspect! on her sword.
Sky Piercer
?????
You can''t use Inspect! on this weapon!
She seemed to concentrate on my weapon too. Same idea, it seems. ¡°ON YOUR MARKS!¡± we retreated to the white lines ¡°READY! BEGIN!¡± She started a stabbing motion. Did she think I would run at her like before and intended to stab when I got close? I grinned, at this foolish move. I would wait and attack when the motion would leave an opening and counter. She continued the motion. Instead of going at her, I waited. Is she crazy? I¡¯m not even moving. What does she intend to hit? And why it seems she is aiming at my heart? Her smile sent shivers down my spine. I frowned. I dodged to the right, remembering the name of her sword. But I was too late. Something seemed to cut the air between us. I felt a stab in my left shoulder. It hurt a lot. It had passed all the way to the other side of my arm. I started to bleed through the hole she blasted on me. Pressing the broad side of my dagger on it, I felt a chilling sensation and the bleeding was gone. Her sword could shoot bullets of air. Piercing bullets of air. And she was doing the same move again. This time I dodged. And ran to close quarters. Against a sword with long range I would need to get closer. Especially because my dagger had such short range. She got to shot again, this time against my leg. I sidestepped it, but felt as the air passed next to it. That was close. And we started the real spar. She seemed to like to stab. But with us this close, she had to change for slashes. She went for a downward cut. I used the dagger to parry it to my side. She gave a spin and made a horizontal slash. I jumped backward to avoid it. It was a mistake. She gave another spin while going forward. But now went for a stab. I had to get down on all fours to avoid this one. Luckily she aimed to my head. I ran to her and made an upward swing, making her sword go up and breaking her stance. At least I thought it had broken, but she kicked me away from her. I took the hit unprepared and was thrown behind. She already had recovered her stance when I got up, and was already shooting at my chest. Luck was by my side. I blocked with my dagger. It made me go backward a little, but at least it didn¡¯t pass through. I once again ran to her. She was surprised that I blocked it, so she didn¡¯t have time to prepare another bullet. I jumped and slashed at her face. She slashed from right to left, parrying. The parry made me spin. But I wrapped my tail around her left arm. When my feet touched the ground I pulled her down. She was still surprised, so she was easily pulled. I hold her shoulder and stabbed her heart. I kept the dagger in place until she vanished.
Congratulations!
You acquired Small Blades Proficiency
I was sweating. That was a close one. ¡°NOW, WHAT WAS HER MISTAKE?¡± asked the trainer. If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. ¡°She got too surprised when he blocked her attack.¡± This time was Piper who answered. ¡°Yes, she had almost total control of the battle. She was quicker and had more experience. But she didn¡¯t know what to do when surprised. She lost control, making her lose the battle.¡± He turned to me. ¡°How did you know she was going to attack at your chest?¡± ¡°She only attacked two placessss: Head and Heart. She didn¡¯t have time to properly aim, ssso I thought she would go for the chessst.¡± It seems I really was lucky. He seemed to agree that I was lucky. ¡°Now, let¡¯s go for tougher opponents¡± he looked around. ¡°BROOX, YOUR TURN!¡± I was already at the center preparing to use Inspect! on his weapon. Except he hadn¡¯t taken it out yet. ¡°ON YOUR MARKS!¡± damm, I didn¡¯t get to see it ¡°READY! BEGIN!¡± Broox charged at me. Fast. I was surprised and could only dodge. He ran past but turned around. He started a swing as if he was a baseball player hitting the ball. But with empty hands. I was really confused. When I completely turned around a giant hammer appeared on his hands. It was cartoonishly big. I tried to defend with both arms. Bad idea. The hammer hit me like a truck. I was sent flying. Both arms probably broken. And some ribs too. The pain wasn¡¯t even registered when I saw the hammer again. It was descending on my head. Everything went black.
¡°So you died¡±, said the goddess of snow. Her beautiful face serious again. We were in a winterly forest. ¡°Since you don¡¯t have nothing to do before reborning, I will answer one question¡± she declared. I thought a little ¡°Why Japanese public showers?¡± She smiled, and the cold seemed to get more pleasant. ¡°One of the gods was interested about their culture. So he decided to tell people it was the ¡®right¡¯ way of cleaning¡± A light shine through the trees. ¡°It¡¯s time for you to go.¡± Her smile was the last thing I saw, before entering the darkness.
I woke up in a cold table. For some reason naked. I was bombarded by sudden panels
You Died!
New Title!
For coming back from death you acquired the title: Immortal
Immortal
In death situation, time slows down, allowing you to avoid it.
Congratulations!
You acquired the skill: Perforate
Congratulations!
You acquired the skill: Pain Endurance
Perforate - Beginner Skill
Used during stabs and slashes, causes abnormal status
Perforated targets suffer from heavy bleeding
Pain Endurance ? Passive Skill
Increases pain tolerance.
Makes you harder to knock out, using pain. This doesn¡¯t affect other methods of knock out.
New skills and title¡­ almost compensate the pain¡­ Almost. Dying, especially the way I did, was really uncomfortable. Someone threw clothes at me. ¡°Here, wear them.¡± A guy voice. I looked around and saw Broox. He looked a bit embarrassed. It was my clothes that he threw to me. They were covered in blood. A little mystery resolved. That¡¯s why unbruised people appeared covered in blood. When they died, their body was ¡°reseted¡± but the clothes kept dirty. The bruised ones were the winners, and their clothes were less stained from blood. I wore then. And tried to get up. The world decided to spin. Broox helped me to sit down, and sat down beside me. And looked away; ¡°Look, I wanted to say¡­well¡­mmm¡­ I¡¯m sorry¡± he stuttered. He looked at my confused face. ¡°For the fight. I was kinda ruthlessly there¡± *grunt* ¡°It wasss a ssspar until death.¡± I said ¡°nothing to worry about. It needsss more than a bloody death to make me angry¡± I jokingly said. He didn¡¯t seem to believe it. ¡°Look, I had jusssst torn a guy¡¯ssss neck. And given the chance I would do it to you, too.¡± Well, not a good thing to say, but it did seem to positively affect him. ¡°Now let¡¯ssss go back there. The trainer musssst be yelling at usss for taking too long.¡± He gave a relieved sigh. ¡°No need to worry.*grunt* It takes more time to be reborn from the first death. It¡¯s almost time for lunch¡±*grunt* He got up. ¡°Brother Oliver wanted to talk with you.¡± *grunt* ¡°Let¡¯s go, I take you there¡± *grunt* ¡°Fine, but I need him to repair ssssome clothesss.¡± I planned to ask him to sew before the magic class. ¡°It isss on my room¡± He agreed, and helped me up. Walking was painful. It seemed he planned to support my arm while we walked to the dormitory. Good plan, except I was more than eighty centimeters smaller. A little detail he forgot. He looked sad about the unsuccessful plan, but shrugged it off. On the middle of the way I asked for a few minutes to rest. ¡°You ussssed a skill?¡± I asked, remembering the sudden charge during our spar. He nodded. *grunt*¡±Yeah, Burst Charge. It¡¯s just a Beginner-tier skill, but useful¡± *grunt* This was also explained by Brother Oliver. Movements and Passive Skill have a level attached, because you get better every time you use them, so they need more levels. Active Skills don¡¯t. For example, if you just use a Slash Skill, no matter how many times you use it, the same slash will come out. Instead of level, they have upgrades. So, if you have a Slash Skill, but manage to dismember a target while activating it, it will change into Dismember Skill, a higher tier skill. We went to my room and grabbed the shirt, and went to the monk¡¯s dormitory. During the walk, Broox decided I was going to slow for his taste. So he picked me up and walked his normal pace. He was not even slightly interested on my complaints. He dropped me on the ¡°reception¡± and went back to his room. I entered and climbed the old librarian desk. He was immersed on his book. I spent well over three minutes there before noticing. Again, it must have been a comic scene, with me hanging on his desk, only the tail moving. He was startled when he noticed me. ¡°What you want?¡± Hmmm, pretty angry. ¡°Brother Oliver. Isss he on hisss room?¡± ¡°Yes, of course he is. Now move it¡± what a grumpy old man. I went to Brother Oliver¡¯s room. Again he quickly answered the door. ¡°Oh, Gyp. Come on in¡± he let me enter. His room was the same. He asked me to sit down and sat on his own chair. Serious atmosphere. Another lecture, I guess. ¡°There are some things I forgot to mention for you during our last encounter.¡± He took a deep breath as if preparing for a long class. ¡°The first thing is about the world monetary system. On the Royal Continent, we use these coins as currency.¡± He took out three coins, of different colors. ¡°The one that worth less is this copper coin. We call it a jack. With a hundred jacks, you get a silver coin, called a dame. With a hundred dames you get a gold coin, named a king. Currently I don¡¯t have the next coin, which you would get after exchanging a hundred kings, a mithril coin, called a dragon. In any bank you will be able to exchange a group of coin to another, and some merchants might be willing to exchange them too. We follow a twelve month calendar. Each month with thirty days. Our season have a period of three months each. We are currently on year 499 after the Demonic War, the fifteenth day of the fourth month. The other thing was about the Fairies races. I forgot to mention another detail about this world. The Fairy currently lives on their own side, called Arcadia. This is different from a different plane, like the one you came from. Planes are distant realities from our own, while sides are just a step from ours. And also, the gods. More specifically, our religion. The gods that brought you are commonly known as lesser gods. The ones we pray for are different. They are the Five Greater God, also known as Creators. They were the ones that created the first sentient races. The first god, the Eternal One, wished for a race that was graceful and long-lived. He created the Elves and gave them his forests. The second goddess, the Survivor, wished for a race that would survive any catastrophe that was thrown at it. She created the Humans and gave then her fire. The third god, the Mighty One, wished for a strong race, capable of unparalleled strength. He created the Beastman and granted them his islands and oceans. The fourth goddess, the Lost One, wished for a race that was immutable, and created the Constructs and gave then strong metals and ores. And finally, the fifth gods, the Twins, also called the Mistaken, wished for change. They mixed the other races and created Demons, and all other races that came from the original four and gave then their breath, so they could change, and change all within their reach. They fought against their sister who wanted stability, in what later would be called ¡®The Parting¡¯ and won. She created her own side, the Harboring, and closed all sources to it. There, she stays with her race, in an eternal sleep. The power used by ''both'' gods, during the Parting, created two races, that none of the gods had planned. The Angels and the Fairies. None of these races received the gods¡¯ gift, so they had to learn from the other races. For not receiving the gods help, they don¡¯t worship them, and moved to their sides. Only recently some of the Angels came, on their flying citadel. But the Fairies continue on their side, mysterious and unreachable. Only recently we discovered about the Twins, a god worshipped by the Demon. Our scriptures told about them, of course, but their intentions were lost during translations. We thought they were just a being seeking destruction. After we established a friendly contact with the demons, we got the entirety of the Scripture, making us start their worship. And that¡¯s our religion.¡± He stopped to breathe, while catching a purse of coins and gave it to me. And here¡¯s a gift from the monks¡± there were ten dames and thirty coppers inside the purse. ¡°We make visits to the village below on every fourth day. The next visit is in two days. You can go with us, and spend the money in any way you want. We spend over two days there, healing the people, so you can also try to learn some basic crafts during our stay. And I think this is it. If I forgot anything, I will call you again.¡± He leaned against his chair. ¡°Now, you should go. It¡¯s almost time for lunch.¡± I gave goodbyes and exited. And quickly returned. Brother Oliver looked curious about why. I took out the shirt and asked him to sew it. He gave a bright smile, happy for me relying on him, and said I could come back before dinner to take it back. His smile made me think that Brother Oliver was slowly becoming Father Oliver. I went back to the Dining Hall.
Authors Note: Aaaaaand new chapter! (a little longer one) I didn''t quite manage to write a good fighting scene. No matter how many times I tried, I didn''t get what I wanted. this was the best I could do (hope I can improve it in the next battle) More lore! And information about skills! Next, acquiring magic! As ever, if you find mistakes, please comment 13 followers to go before I have to learn how to make pools! Thanks for following! And Thanks For Reading! Chapter 8 - Elemental Sphere Series and the Twin Moons Warning! Mature Content below. there will be a another warning when it begin, but you have been warned (you will get why the purple color, instead of red) On the way to the Dining Hall, I stored the coins into my inventory. They stacked and a number appeared besides it. I was grateful for this; since this meant that I wouldn¡¯t be tricked by some conman and receive fewer coins than agreed on a transaction. The lunch went completely uneventful. I was the only one on the hall, but decided to eat something anyway, thinking that people would arrive at any moment. They didn¡¯t. After lunch, I went to the fourth floor, to train a little mana manipulation. On the way, the bells began to ring. Now was lunch time. Well, I discovered that the first pilgrim arrived here more than ten days ago. I needed this time to catch up. I went to the same room as yesterday. It was empty. I took five crystals and sat on the ground. Holding one of them I started the infusion. I went with Fire Mana, at first. After the training from yesterday, it was easy to move the mana to inside the crystal. I didn¡¯t even needed ten minutes to fill it with mana. After I decided to go with Wind Mana. This was more complicated. I decided to take the mana from my lungs. But every time I got hold of it, it seemed to escape my grip. I tried to think about it. Air was freer than fire. The warm was transferred from a member to another easily. I had to think about a way to take hold of air and don¡¯t let it escape. ¡­ Maybe if I use the Arcane Mana? I made a globe of my mana, and used it to enclose the Wind Mana. And slowly infused the crystal with it. it took me thirty minutes. When I opened my eyes I was disappointed. I had infused the crystal with Wind Mana. But it wasn¡¯t pure. A blue aura seemed to surround the yellow light. I had infused Arcane into it too. At least, it was considered good enough.
Congratulations!
You acquired Wind Proficiency
I would need to think a method to use a more pure mana. But it was enough for me, since I wouldn¡¯t delve too much into Wind Magic. Next I decided to go for water mana. I decided to use my saliva as a source of mana. I could use sweat or tears to do it too, but saliva was more abundant right now. Focusing into it, I discovered it was rather easy to move water. Fire and wind were too¡­ detached, but water flowed extremely easier. I did it in less than fifteen minutes. The crystal was clear, but emitted a little of light. Water seemed to be of a transparent color
Congratulations!
You acquired Water Proficiency
I decided to go for Arcane next, since I had no idea from where I would get Earth Mana. Since I already practiced a little this morning, moving my mana wasn¡¯t hard. And the training with Wind Mana seemed to help me too. It took roughly ten minutes to infuse the crystal.
Congratulations!
You acquired Arcane Proficiency
But now I had to deal with Earth Mana. I stared at the crystal for some minutes. Until I noticed I was being observed. I jumped, startled. It was Sister Minerva. I didn¡¯t see her entering. For how long did she observed me infusing? ¡°Earth will be a little more difficult¡± she told me. ¡°You seem to be doing well. Already discovered how to move Arcane Mana right¡±, she said, picking the blue crystal. ¡°But need more training in wind.¡± She took the yellow crystal, with a disapproving face. She looked back at me again. ¡°I will teach you how to use outside mana. I would wait the others, but they are still lunching. It¡¯s better to make you go a little faster.¡± She sat down, in front of me. She pointed me to sit down too. She held my hands. ¡°Now, I¡¯m going to teach you how to use Mana Sight. It will help you in detecting the mana around you.¡± She told me to close my eyes. ¡°I will infuse my mana into you, follow the pattern after I stop, and you should be able to get it.¡± I nodded. ¡­ A sudden cold feeling entered my hands. It started to go up my arms. Maybe it was her mana, but it was too uncomfortable. It stopped just behind my eyes. They started to spin. They formed a complicated pattern. It created three spirals on my eyes. The front one was over my pupil, the second, over my retina. The last seemed to go more inside the head, over my brain. They were connected by small mana filaments. Minerva asked me to open my eyes. The room was bright. Small dots covered the air. Red, blue and yellow dots covered the air. Some brown and green dots covered the ground. Minerva shone in every color. But she emitted blue, yellow and white stronger. ¡°This is Mana Sight. Learn the pattern.¡± She told me. I closed my eyes, and studied the formation. I replicated the pattern, and when I was sure I got it right, I asked her to remove her mana. I created the formations and opened my eyes. The dots were still there.
Congratulations!
You have acquired the skill: Mana Sight
Mana Sight ¨C Passive Skill
Allows you to see the Mana signatures
She waited for me to finish reading the panels. ¡°We, mages, usually let one eye with Mana Sight on and use the other to see normally. This way, the excessive light will not blind us.¡± She got up and walked to the spot where she teaches her classes. The others arrived at the same time. ¡°We will continue infusing the crystals today. I will help you through all the steps.¡± ¡°Sister Minerva, how about the others? Who will instruct them today?¡± asked Torrik. ¡°Howlot, the Druid, will be teaching them today.¡± Strange, wasn¡¯t the druid an Orc? She smiled when she noticed our confused faces. ¡°He was raised by humans, so he got a human name¡± ¡° We need to finish the four basics mana plus the Arcane, and acquire the Mana Sight skill today.¡± She took five crystals for each of them. ¡°Gyp has already finished these steps, so he will proceed to the next, learning the Elemental Sphere Series spell.¡± The others looked surprised when she told them about me. But they seemed to fire up, as if me being more advanced than them would not be tolerated. I bet Sister Minerva told them just to get this motivation. While they were concentrating, the Sister approached me and whispered. ¡°We will let your training on Wind Mana for latter.¡± She gave a conspiratory smile. It wasn¡¯t possible to cast an Arcane Sphere Spell, so we only had to train four of it. She showed how the magic would appear, casting a Water Sphere Spell. We began with the Fire Sphere spell, since it was the mana I controlled easier. I had to concentrate my Arcane Mana on my hands and make it ¡®call¡¯ the Fire Mana around. On my first try I mistook the mana inside me with the outside one, and called a lot of it for my hand. And passed out. ... I wake up to see a worried Luna looking at me. She was holding my head. Her usually cold hands felt unusually warm on me. It seems that, when I called my own Fire Mana, I collapsed because of suddenly decreasing my own temperature. Sister Minerva gave a quite long lecture, about the usage of inside mana and how much it was preferable to use the outside mana. My second try went more smoothly. I used Mana Sight and detected the Fire Mana on the ambient. I used my Arcane Mana to secure it. When I brought it to my hand, a small fire ball started to form. It didn¡¯t grow a lot though. Only to a pea size. Minerva pointed out that I shouldn¡¯t bring the mana to me; I had to change my own mana into fire, without using the fire mana inside of me, and use it to attract more mana. This was quite complicated. I spent the next two hours analyzing my mana naturally changing into heat and trying to mimic it. I indeed got some results, but they were unsatisfactory. I tried the other three Elemental Spheres, but got similar results. Sister Minerva told me to train the mana manipulation a little until tomorrow. The others had reached me. Luna got to cast all the four Elemental Spheres. Minerva told her that tomorrow she would train the other three mana: Lightning, Light and Dark. Uriel managed to cast a Fire Sphere Spell, but didn¡¯t got any of the others, while Torrik managed the Wind Sphere and the Fire Sphere, but didn¡¯t have time to try the others. They too received the same task as me. The Sun was almost setting when we went to the Dining Hall. Today we had soup. The hot meals had various spices and herbs on them, making them smell delicious, while also having a good nutrition value. But before eating I quickly ran to the monk¡¯s dormitory, to get my shirt back. The pain from being reborn had already passed, so I was quite fast to get there. ¡°Here is your shirt¡± the monk looked quite pleased at his job. ¡°But the shirt had a strange smell on it, be careful about what cut it¡± I said that I would take care of me and put the shirt on my inventory. I ran back to the cafeteria. Everybody was still there. I sat with Luna and Piper. Today Leon and the other human girl were with us. Apparently, Piper was pretty talented with druid magic, and Leon was trying to get more hints about how to use it. I didn¡¯t get to talk much, since I was the only one that hadn¡¯t eaten yet. Not that I talk too much, anyway. The Human girl was a redhead. She had blue eyes and had some adorable freckles on her face. She went with the petit look, but was still very pretty. Her waist was sure to cause jealousy from any woman (that is not a pilgrim). Not a big pair of boobs, but they fit her body quite well. She looked like a model. I had a hunch that this body wasn¡¯t too far from her previous one. Her name was Clare. Then I went to take a bath. Unfortunately, I hadn¡¯t learned the cleaning magic. For some reason the other men said they didn¡¯t have time to teach it to me, so I had to wait for Brother Oliver. This, of course, granted another brushing session. At least this one wasn¡¯t a torture. But still, I wasn¡¯t a child, I could take a bath on my own! Not that he listened to my complains. He finished and sent me to the pool. He made me promise that I wouldn¡¯t go to the deeper part again. If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. I used the (pleasant) time on the hot pool to train my Water Mana manipulation. It was funny to see the others getting startled when a sudden ball of water hit them. Luckily, they didn¡¯t discover who the culprit was. And I actually managed to get the skill, even if the ball was filled with Fire Mana, too.
Congratulations!
You acquired the spell: Water Sphere
Water Sphere ¨C Apprentice Spell (Elemental Sphere Series)
Conjures a small ball of water. With a high concentration of Water Mana, it is possible to cause an abnormal status on the target.
Oh, another skill that causes an abnormal status. I was getting a debuff skill set, apparently. Instead of immediately going upstairs I decided to go outside and train my Air Mana manipulation. When I got out I had yet another surprise. There were two moons on this world. One was blue and the other was red. I can¡¯t believe that this was the first time in three days I looked into the night sky. Well, this explained why some monks were so happily talking about both moons being full today. I had ignored it, thinking it was some term I hadn¡¯t learned yet. Saddened by my clear lack of attention I trained for some time, until I was able to cast a small ball of air. It wasn¡¯t enough for getting the skill, but the strain of training for this long was causing a headache. I put my sleeping shirt and went to sleep. I was clearly out of energy, and collapsed into my bad. Syd laughed at this. ¡°How was your day?¡± he asked. He was amused by my lack of energy. ¡°Long day. Too much energy ssspent. Mussst sleep.¡± Laconic answer, hope he get that I¡¯m really tired. ¡°Well, I was just thinking to tell you that you don¡¯t really have to go to all the classes. But you seen tired, so I¡¯ll let you sleep.¡± He laid on his bad, playful smile on his face. I growled at this. ¡°And only now I am told it¡± I said, grumpily. It didn¡¯t take long for me to sleep.
Warning Mature Content I woke up in the middle of night. I kept my eyes closed, trying to fall asleep. I was lying on my side; my left arm was getting quite uncomfortable. It was cozy under the blankets, but a little too hot on my back, and a feeling of something pressing on it. There was also a strange but nice smell filling the room. Instead of going back to sleep, I seemed to get more aware of my surroundings. It was a really too hot on my back. And I could hear someone breathing above me. Startled, I opened my eyes. I saw a purple mist inside the room, illuminated by the light that came from the window. I was facing the door. A blue panel appeared in front of me.
CAUTION!
You are currently in an area affected by the Moonlit Purple Aura
Moonlit Purple Aura
The Purple Aura is released by both Succubus and Incubus. The aura makes others more susceptible to their advances
The moonlight coming from both moons at the same time improves the strength of this aura
For being a Demon you receive a resistance against this aura. It is still advised that you move from the area to avoid the debuff.
A hand suddenly appeared on my vision sight. It embraced me. The ring was giving a faint purple glow too. Panicking, I used Inspect! on it.
Ring Status Plate
OwnerSydonai
Current Statusaffected by the Moonlit Purple Aura
Oh, shit. He was affected by his own aura. This won¡¯t be good. I slowly moved away from him. He grunted a little, but remained fast asleep. I observed him a little. He was somehow able to enter under my blankets. He was completely naked, as far as I could see. His sleeping face was handsome, without the grim he used to have. his mouth slightly opened. His smell was so good it almost made me go back to under the blankets. ¡°Sssshit, it isss affecting me¡± I shacked the thoughts out of my head. I decided to climb down from the window. I don¡¯t know what he would do if he awoke, and I surely didn¡¯t want to discover. The faint purple glow on my ring told me that I wouldn¡¯t resist it, either. His bed was a mess. It seems he was rolling around, before coming to mine. I looked at the window. Both moons were shining brightly. The whole monastery was covered in the purple mist. Thanking for my high climbing level, I went down the wall. When I reached the floor I decided to go to the training grounds. It was close and the mist didn¡¯t seem to have reached there. When I arrived there I heard a girl puffing and moaning. It was Serene, with her shorts on her knees and hand between her thighs. There was a faint purple light on her eyes. She was leaning against a tree. When she noticed me, she closed her legs, with her hands still between them. She was blushing, embarrassed for having been found. I started to go back when her faint voice reached me. ¡°Help me.¡± It was all that she said, but the implications were heavy. If I went to her it would be the same as doing a drunken girl. She would probably hate me. ¡°Please¡­¡± I looked at her face. Blushed, the request was so embarrassing that made her purple eyes fill with some tears. The need also shining strong on her eyes. The air was filled with the purple smell. I only had time to see a small panel appearing before going to her.
You have been affected by the Moonlit Purple Aura
I spread her legs and took her shorts out. Her hands were still there, trying to appease her. I calmly removed them, and licked her fingers. They tasted very sweet. Losing the little control I had, I went down on her. She tasted great. I looked at her while eating her out and saw she was enjoying it, her back slightly arched. When I licked a spot inside of her, she suddenly convulsed, and put her hands on my hair. She seemed to like, I thought, so I concentrated my efforts on that point. After some moans, I felt her convulsing and an ever sweeter taste on my tongue. She was already wet enough to what was coming next. When I stopped, it seemed she wanted to complain, and wanted me back there. But this situation caused my needs to appear too. I kneeled, and took off my shirt. The night was hot, but the wind still made me shiver. I took off my loincloth. I presented to her my thick meat. It was over 20 centimeters, already wet from pre. It was really hard to create this ¡®sword¡¯. I had to make me a grower, and play around with the settings to get it to retract inside when not hard, leaving me with a somewhat normal size for my height. The size was already big on grown up man, and having it on me was almost hilarious. Though Serene didn¡¯t seem to find it hilarious in her semi delirious state. She just wanted to the fire to stop. And she knew I had a way to stop it. I pulled her to the ground, making her lay on it. I rubbed it on her, and stoke it a little, thinking on a good way to lub it. Even if it was somehow wet, it would still hurt to just stick it in. She was already going through this whole ordeal. I didn¡¯t want her to have something more to regret tomorrow. I decided to use some spit on it. I still had some of her honey on my hands, and was really nice to stroke with it. When I thought I was prepared I lined it against her entrance, and slowly entered. When I entered a little I pulled back. And went in again. There was some resistance at first, but the slow coming and going make it possible to enter. I had already discovered with my tongue that she wasn¡¯t a virgin anymore, so I didn¡¯t have to worry about it. Her moaning didn¡¯t help me go easy on her. When I was entirely inside her, I pulled all the way to the tip and slammed all into her at once. This made her give a little hop, and her boobs jiggled a little. I made the same thing again and she answered the same way. I started to pound her, and massaged her boobs with one hand while the other was holding her waist. The pounding made me reach my peak, and I emptied myself inside of her. When I started to remove it, I discovered she wanted more. Her eyes still shining purple. I noticed my ring already lost the purple light, but since I came all the way here I wouldn¡¯t just stop. My hips were burning from the moves I just made so I decided to please her with my tongue once again. She was even sweeter now, and the little salty taste I just mixed in almost made me stiff again. I spent a long time eating her out. When she was finally spent my face was glistening with her wetness. I laid on top her, tired, hugging her waist. She was still holding my head, slowly massaging it. It was good, a pleasant snuggle after all that exercise. ¡°Please, don¡¯t tell anyone about it¡± she asked me, still red from the whole situation. Her eyes had lost the purple light. At least, it didn¡¯t seem that she hated me or that he regretted it. I promised her, that I would never tell anyone about it. We stayed there a little more, snuggling against each other. A few moments later, I decided that it was time to go. I was going to come back running, so I could warn her if something was still wrong. She decided to spent more time on the training grounds. I saw her speaking something, but I didn¡¯t hear it. She was too far away. The purple mist seemed to be thinner on the monastery. I went back to my room. My bed was a mess right now. Syd was nowhere near the room. I decided to lie down. There was still a nice smell on the blankets. Tired, it didn¡¯t take too long for me to sleep. End
Author Note: Aaaaaand new chapter! Also the mature scenes I had promised on the description. Hope you like it! There were also some more magic learning on this chapter. Next, a special training! And so many followers! Thank you for trusting in the little ol'' me to give you a good story. And I even wrote a small side story for the Valentine Event, just planning a good day to release it (it even gave me an idea for what to write when I finish with Gyp) Thanks for reading! Chapter 9 - Capture The Flag and Magic Specialization Once again I woke up with the birds singing. I think the lack of curtains and the sun shining in my face really worked to make me get up. I checked my bed. No Syd. I checked my shirt. No random cuts. And finally, I checked the room. Syd was not here. His bed was still a mess. Remembering some of the thoughts I had yesterday I quickly got redder. Deciding to ignore it, I got up, cleaned my face (I used some Fire Mana, so no cold water today. Also, got a spell, Warm Wave, a utility spell) and brushed my teeth. Changing my clothes I went down stairs. Before eating, I decided to take a bath. The changing room was empty, and only a handful of monks were in the showers. I took a quick bath, didn¡¯t even go to the hot pool, and just took a cold shower. Finishing my bath I decided to go grab some food. There was an awkward atmosphere there. A lot of people were flustered and embarrassed, not able to face their friends. Last night surely made them do some things, huh. I grabbed my plate (today will only be fruits, bananas, apples and some grapes), and sat down with Piper and Luna. They seemed fine, compared with the others. Maybe Luna, who was a Demon too, resisted the mist but I didn¡¯t know how Piper seemed this fine. When I asked her she gave me a wink. ¡°Little Luna here is my roommate, remember? When she sensed something was wrong she quickly took us away of there.¡± Pause to eat something. ¡°And you, were you affected by it?¡± she seemed really interested on my side of the night. I got redder ¡°Almosssst. But I managed to exit the monassstary before doing sssomething.¡± Half lie, I did exited the monastery, but I really did something. She seemed to believe me, but I could see her pouting a little (damm, gaming fundoshis!) ¡°The monks said they would apologize after breakfast¡± said Luna. ¡°It¡¯s better that you finish soon¡± I looked at her, no plate in front of her. My curious side quickly took control. ¡°Luna, I haven¡¯t ssseen you eat yet. Are you eating?¡± She blushed. And looked to Piper. And pretended she didn¡¯t look that way. What an easy to read Vampire. I looked at Piper, scrutinizing her. Obviously looked at her neck. Nothing was there. But maybe biting arteries wouldn¡¯t be a well thought idea. But I did see two small holes on her wrists. ¡°Oh¡± was all I said. Luna looked a little redder. Piper looked amused. I went back to eating, not wanting to delve into this situation. After we finished we went to the fountain. It seems public speeches were given there (the first day I arrived a scolding was going on. Some people had invaded the kitchens and stole some food) We sat down and waited for everybody to arrive. The both of them were talking about their pasts. I frowned at this, since I didn¡¯t recall mine and asked if they knew why. And it happened that they did know. People who changed their races for Humans and Elves kept most of their memories. Farther from human meant more memories were forgotten. Something about the brains being too different, and taking some time to be able to keep the memories. Currently, the most different from Human was me, but both of them said I would be able to recover them. People started to arrive. Still embarrassed. When the head monk arrived (I asked Piper his name. It was Father John. Luna didn¡¯t know too) he started the speech. It happens that the monk¡¯s rooms were filled with various spells, which protected them from the Purple Aura. Our dormitory, before we arrived, was only used for training, and lacked the spells, since no one lived there. The ones outside protected themselves by purifying the aura around them, but stayed still, to avoid being affected. The monks actually didn¡¯t know about such spells. And our dormitory was a new building so they didn¡¯t cast such spells. And about the Aura in itself, there were only tales about it. They considered it was only tales that were told out of boredom. They apologized for their recklessness. He also said that since tomorrow will be the visit to the village above, he ordered the monks that will be going to buy gifts for us. ¡°Not that it will fix anything¡± he said. ¡°But maybe it can help recovering from it.¡± After finishing he sent us to the training grounds. We still had a world to save in the next months, so we had to train. The trainer was waiting for us. He was smiling (shivers were felt) ¡°TODAY WE WILL BE PLAYIN¡¯ CATCH THE FLAG!¡± this actually sounded funny ¡°KILLING AND MAGIC ALLOWED!¡± nope, not that funny anymore. ¡°DIVIDE INTO TWO TEAMS, AND WHEN YOU¡¯RE READY WE WILL START!¡± Sighing, we decide that the first we will make a human and a non human teams. Just for the felling of WOW it gave doing it this way. So it was a team with the three Humans, the Dwarf, ten Elves, and the reptilian (not a human, I know, but we wanted to split evenly) On the other team was a mess of races: five Lust Demons, a Vampire, an Imp, four Orcs (they were happily shouting For the Horde!), an Ent, two Beastman, and a Siren. We had the advantage in brute strength, but the best magicians were on their team. Tough it will be hard to cast spell inside the forest, our group had more ¡®freshman¡¯ too. There was a river dividing the forest in two. The flags were placed at the top of two small hills. The objective: catch the flag and cross the river. Magic was allowed (except for chants and above), killing was too. Everybody took out their weapons. We decided to leave the protection of the flag for the Demons, and to Luna and Piper. Their racial skills would serve as good distraction. The main attack would be made by the jocks club, and I and the Catgirl would be in charge of delivering information through the party chat about kills and the enemy information. Yes, party chat. When the groups were formed a blue screen appeared to everybody, listing us as party members. The crosses above my team turned blue, and the opponent become red. This world was truly game like. When the Demons released their aura, everybody quickly moved from the area. We really didn¡¯t want an encore of last night. Luna and Piper moved to higher grounds, where Piper would snipe the targets with her longbow. Luna would be using Mana Sight to prevent Piper from quickly dying from spells. Well, since I¡¯ll be just a scout, I decided to put my weapon away. I would climb the trees and scout from up there (some tree had branches that crossed the river). And so we started. I quickly used my high leveled climbing and acrobatics skills to quickly reach the battle scene. It was movie-like. The clang of steel, the explosion caused by magic and the combatants shouting. They were fighting inside the river, with water reaching their calves. Urg, bad place, slippery and hard to move. I crossed the river and sighted the three pure mages they had. So I decided to go for stealth kills. Grabbing my dagger, I moved over to where a Human was casting his magic. The Elves had heightened senses, so killing him would be quicker. I waited for him to begin channeling a spell, when he would be too concentrated to notice his surrounds. When the spell began to form I jumped down, stabbing his head. Fatal hit. Without waiting for him to disappear, I quickly climb up. The interrupted spell exploded. I smiled. This would help to cover his death. One down, three more to go. The next one was an Elf. And he was already in alert. Maybe seeing the name of the human I just killed disappearing from the party list made him worry. It didn¡¯t help either, when an arrow hit the other mage in head. Piper was really a sniper. I went above him. But he moved. Annoying, he should let me kill him quickly. A sudden crack on the branch I was standing made me jump to another. Just in time. The branch was incinerated by the mage. The one who cut it was the reptile, wielding an axe. He probably was protecting the Elf, and noticed me when I jumped on that branch. The mage had found me too. It was two against one. Cursing my luck, I jumped into the reptile. He defended, using the broad side of the axe as a shield. Just what I wanted. I used it to jump back, giving me some impulse, and running to the mage. He was startled and quickly cast an ice shard at me. I avoided it. And got close enough of him. He took his dagger out too, and parried. I smiled at him. I used my other hand to keep the wielding one in place, and projected my mana. I cast out all the fire mana from around him, making him freeze. Unfortunately, I was next to him, so my heat was removed too. While we both were freezing, I hoped that taking the mages out would help us. He died first. I made sure of it. Didn¡¯t want him to be warmed up after I died. The Lizard hadn¡¯t reached us yet. And then, I died.
¡°Child, you are dying too much¡± said the white goddess. I was back to the snowy landscape. But this time, I was once into human form I looked at her ¡°Does I have another question¡± She smiled and nodded. ¡°Who was I?¡± a question that today have come back to my mind. She looked I little sad. ¡°You were Matthew Johnson, 19 years old, brother of Melina. Your mother died when you were young. When you finished middle school you went to a live alone. Your sister went to another.¡± The light surrounded me. ¡°Our time is over, again. Now, the cycle restarts¡± And I was blinded by the light.
I woke up on the cold stone. Naked. Again. Sighing, I looked around. The mage first mage I killed was already up, dressing. The one who died of a headshot was putting his clothes on. The one I killed freezing was taking his clothes from a Human. He brought my clothes to me. ¡°Who won?¡± I asked. He looked embarrassed, putting his hand on his head. ¡°I managed to go through the battle on the river and arrived at your clothes, together with Clare.¡± He looked to his side ¡°two of the Demons were dead, by some magic. So I went against three while Clare took care of the other¡± he looked at me, expecting me to give up on knowing. I didn¡¯t. He sighed ¡°I managed to kill all three of them in a strike, but destroyed the flag in the process. Since the objective was to capture the flag, we lost. And, the trainer didn¡¯t have another flag, so the play ended.¡± I looked at him. Three Demons. In one strike. If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. This guy was truly the hero character. Even with his clumsiness. ¡°So, they ordered me to wait for the guys to be reborn and give them their clothes¡± he said. A lot of lights began to form in another table. ¡°One is coming, I have to go. Bye!¡± and went his way. I looked at the rebirth process, while putting my clothes on. It was interesting. The light danced around the table, and suddenly concentrated in one place. It seemed to crystallize, and began forming the body. It was an Elf, didn¡¯t know his name. Since the training had ended, I decided to go train my water manipulation. The trick I used against the mage gave some clues about how to obtain other proficiencies. I went to the fountain. I formed a Water Sphere and brought it to me. Sitting down, I analyzed it. I looked into the ball, and saw it had some Fire and Earth Mana inside of it. I slowly removed them. The ball didn¡¯t change in any way. Opening my eyes, I was surprised to see how much it had changed. It was almost see through. And emitted a faint glow. There was also a new panel.
For completely cleaning the Water Sphere, you gained a new spell: Mana Water
Mana Water Sphere ¨C Elemental Sphere Series
You can summon a ball of mana, mimicking the effects of pure water It corrodes most of the materials known by mortals
Congratulations!
You acquired the title: Water Mage
Water Mage
Allows you to rapidly cast water spells. Water spells are more powerful.
¡°Wow¡±, was all I could say. This is awesome! I let go of Mana Water Sphere, and casted Water Sphere. ¡­ It was really quicker! Before I had to wait over two minutes for it to be completely cast. Now, it only took some seconds! For a bigger sphere! Testing really gives advantage! I sat down again and tested my other idea. I made two Elemental Spheres, one with fire, and the other with water. Casting both of them was hard, as I had to make sure to don¡¯t add any unwanted mana. I used Mana Sight, to make sure I was only using the mana I wanted. After completing both, I slowly tried to fuse them. There was a small sizzling soung. And the mana completely changed. I was startled, so I let go of the mana I have created. It had a gray tone. It spread across the area, making it hard to see. I have formed steam.
Congratulations!
You have acquired Mist Proficiency
I looked at the panel, agape. I wanted to create boiling water, but created a new proficiency. It was hard to stop the laughing from coming (my chuunibyou side was never this happy) After the laughing passed, I trained with this new mana. It was similar to Air Mana, but a lot denser. It was easier to control. I even managed to cast a Mist Sphere spell. The bells rang when I was training casing multiple Spheres of mist. I still had to make all the steam go away¡­ ¡­ Well, I will just concentrate all in one magic sphere, and ask Minerva what to do with it. It was a rather interesting morning.
The lunch went normally, people had already forgotten last night incident. I got some awkward stares, for walking around carrying a spell. But they didn¡¯t say anything. I sat with Broox, Piper and Luna. Luna had a food plate in front of her. ¡°What happened?¡± I asked Broox. *grunt* ¡°She lost a bet, now she have to eat¡±*grunt* She didn¡¯t seem to be liking it tough. But managed to eat all. It was these little things that made you wonder if these were the people who will save the world. ¡°And why are you carrying a spell around?¡± *grunts* ¡°Tried sssome new ssspellsss. Didn¡¯t know how to disssperssse though.¡± *grunt* ¡°That¡¯s why I don¡¯t train much magic. Don¡¯t have the patience to try and get it.¡± with a shrug, he went back to eating. After lunch people started to go out. Another day with the druid, it seems. We went upstairs to start the class. Sister Minerva was a little flustered. Don¡¯t know why. After she created a mini storm inside the room when we asked what she did yesterday, well, we decided it wasn¡¯t worth the risk. ¡°Today we will start a specialization program. Don¡¯t worry, if you hadn¡¯t manage to acquire the basics mana, you probably don¡¯t have a good affinity with it. Training affinity takes too long, so I let this part of the training for the druid.¡± She asked what each of one would pursue. Luna wanted an ample magic arsenal. She decided to sacrifice powerful spells to have more variety. ¡°Don¡¯t know which one I¡¯ll need later¡± was her reasoning. Uriel wanted to be a pure Fire Mage. He really liked to play with it, and didn¡¯t got to train his other spells. But he wanted signs and spells, since he planned to fight on the front rows. Torrik said he would only pursue enchanting. I was surprised that he didn¡¯t plan to be a fighter to protect this world. Instead he wanted to be a craftsman, and help the people develop some defenses. Sister Minerva told him that she would search for a Master Enchanter, and he could leave the class, if he didn¡¯t want to participate. He exited the class. I asked for Water and Mist magic. She didn¡¯t seem surprised with our answers. In fact it seems she had already figured out what each of us would want. ¡°Since you had decided on what magic to follow, we will now make you more attuned to such spells. We will create Elemental Shards and put it into your bodies. This way, it will be easier to use your spells.¡± She made us summon the Elemental Spheres of the elements we had chosen. I was quite help to know that bringing my Mist Sphere all the way here wasn¡¯t in vain. Luna got to be surrounded by a lot of spheres. It looked like she wanted to impersonate a solar system. She didn¡¯t like the joke though, and I spent some minutes dodging various spheres of random elements, until she calmed down (the Cool Beauty was no more). To create the shards we need to muster a great amount of mana. It was especially difficult with Air Mana (according to Luna) since she had to solidify something that in essence was opposite to solid. Solidifying Water Mana was not that hard. Now, Mist Mana took lots of time. By the time I had finished it, Luna had already formed her shards, and Uriel was doing the next step. The next step consisted in putting the shards inside our mouths and taking the mana inside ourselves. A little advice from Uriel. Don¡¯t put scorching stones inside your mouth without mentally preparing for it (I would still avoid it though, even if mentally prepared). He said he almost gave up on spot. Luna take it easier than him, since the other mana balanced the hotness coming from the Fire Shard. Mixing both Water and Mist Mana was easy as drinking water and breathing. Except that I didn¡¯t select an area for them to occupy, losing all the mana, and had to do the whole process again (another lecture from Sister Minerva after this mistake) The second time I was more careful, and decided to inject them in a hand, each. Now, whenever I looked into my hands with Mana Sight on, I saw a grey and a transparent light in each hand. After this, Sister Minerva taught us several magic. To Uriel, since he wanted to be a close fighter, she only taught the Fire Clad spell. It made weapons acquire the blessing of fire, being coated in flames. He could also use it on himself. And she taught him the Flamoj Sign. At the end of the training, he was able to coat his hand in fire, and throw flames into the enemies. Minerva said that, with training, the sign would have an increased reach and get even hotter. To Luna, she taught the Bolt Series, spells that had a true combat significance. They moved quicker than the spheres, and caused abnormal status. And me, I had to learn both Water Clad and Water Bolt magic. And she taught ways to attack with boiling water or freezing water. She also taught me a Mist Spell that would summon mist around me and one that would distort a target sense of depth. It seems I¡¯ll really be able to obtain the Illusion Spells I wanted! Or, at least, some optical illusion tricks¡­ When we went downstairs to have dinner, we were told that the others were still training with the druid, since he wanted to improve their affinity with Dark Mana. So on the dinner were only me, Luna, the Lust Demons (except for the succubus that trained to be a mage and Uriel, who usually took a bath and just after he would eat), three Orcs and Torrik. The bath time also was awkward, since the monks were putting up a barrier to stop the Twin Moons creating another Moonlit Purple Aura. The showers that usually were crowded with monks looked deserted. It didn¡¯t help that Syd asked me to help him wash his back, as the others, who usually helped him, had already bathed. (Though I did got him to teach the cleaning magic, so I got that going for me) The thoughts of yesterday night still clouded my mind. And he even offered to wash my back in return. When he asked why I was getting so red, I simply answered it was the heat. When we returned to the room I was still redder than usual, but just jumped into my bed. I really needed a good sleep.
Author Note: Aaaaaaaaaand new chapter! And more magics! Yay! I''m planning a small... upgrade... for Gyp. Don''t know when it will occur, or even if it will occur. (You will have to continue reading MUAHAHAHAHAHAHA) And currently 25 followers! Only 5 to go, before I make a Side Story (not including the Valentine one) And TWO rates (and quite high, too)! Don''t know how to (or even if I can) visualize who rated but thanks for your time! So, for the 25 followers, Thanks for following! Thanks for Reading! Chapter 10 - New Spells and Fated Encounter I woke up feeling a nice smell. Unfortunately, I already knew this smell. Yeah¡­ he again. But this time his is holding me like I¡¯m some kind of plushy toy. I wanted to say that I dealt with this situation clear headed and maturely. Leaving a frost Demon (alive, of course) on my bed, I changed clothes, cleaned my face (Warm Wave is best spell) and brushed my teeth. Looking outside the window I observed some dark clouds coming. It will rain in the next days, maybe even today. I went downstairs in a happy stride. I liked raining weather. And I remembered something that we will do today. Village visiting! No until death battles (really, I went to two classes and died two times¡­)! No head splitting magic training! No waking up to awkward situations! In the Dining Hall, I grabbed some fruits, bread and egg, and sat with the usual group. Piper smiled. ¡°Someone is happy today, huh?¡± ¡°We¡¯ll be visssiting the village today!¡± I said, lifting a glass I found. ¡°It¡¯sss like an adventure!¡± While she was grinning I saw Luna nodding. She was hyped to go too. We resume eating. And then, the moment I was waiting has come. Most of the pilgrims went to the carriage. Some were staying, to train a little more or simple because they didn¡¯t want to go. The monks were going to buy some food to the monastery (they grew the vegetables and fruits). Brother Oliver and another one were selected to go today. They also did the whole missionary job. You know, healing wounds, curing diseases, giving sermons and punching any bandits to submission. One thing I forgot to mention. These monks were the fantasy monks. Training everyday to strengthen their bodies and minds. They used a hardening technique that made their skins as hard as metal. And some Elemental Clad spells, too. So, everyone prepared, we started to go down to the village! ¡­ ¡­ It was boring! Nothing happening. Only the horses moving and some people talking. And the monks were taking turns to ride the carriage and meditating. Since they would pass at least two days healing at the village. So they would need lots of energy. Since I had nothing to do, I trained dual casting. It would be more useful if I could cast two spells at the same time. And I wanted to train my delaying spells. So I was surrounded by water and mist bolts when something interesting happened. A bear decided to attack us. Not really, but saying that it was simply protecting his territory didn¡¯t give the oomph. It was the first time I saw a monk in action. Brother Oliver was meditating, so the other monk had to deal with it. I was standing up to help him when he suddenly vanished. When I looked around, I saw him punching the bear. And saw when he sent it flying. More than ten meters away. ¡­ Really, why did they even need us to save this world? We had to be stronger than this? But then again, the Human boy defeated three Demons in one strike, so some of us were getting there. After this, nothing more happened. But I did learn a new spell.
Mist Mimicry ¨C Amateur Spell
Controlling the mist, you can make it take form on any shape you want
Although I could only make it form some objects, it was one more step towards an Illusion Mist spell. (Chuuni mode on). At least, the long hours of boredom made me reflect about what the goddess told me. About myself. The human, Matthew. I didn¡¯t know how to feel about it. I felt like I knew him. And that¡¯s the weird part. Him, not me. I didn¡¯t felt like we were the same person. Maybe it was the protective mode we went in, to help us adjust to the changes. But still, it was odd. Although knowing that I left my father and my sister did get to me. Losing my mother and then me must have been hard to both of them. And so, we arrived at the village when it was getting dark. We would stay in a house the monks built, so they could rest without having to abuse of someone hospitality. It was a medium village, they told me. They had a library and a manor nearby, house of some low royalty. Only in the center of the village had the shops we so wanted to visit. There was a small church too, but there were only a handful of priests. Not enough to take care of the whole village. The monk¡¯s house was on the outskirts. I say house, but it wouldn¡¯t be bad to call it an Inn. The lower floor was for the faithful to pray, to house some patients and the kitchens. The upper floor had the bedrooms. And there we took our bath (cold version, not even a hot pool) and went early to sleep. We didn¡¯t want to lose anything that would happen the next day.
When I woke up, I went to the kitchen. Morning hunger was worse hunger. There were some priests preparing our food. The agreement between the monks and the priests seemed to include food preparation for them, since they would spent the whole time healing the wounded. I saw Aphrodite helping the priests to prepare the food. I was stunned for a few seconds. The view made me promise to myself that I wouldn¡¯t judge a book for its cover. There were some of the pilgrims eating too. Surprisingly, Piper wasn¡¯t awake. Nor Luna. So I sat down with Broox and the Orcs. They were having an interesting conversation about the usage of armors, and what materials they would want. Surprisingly, Broox wanted leather armor, instead of full plate armor. I always thought he was a tank. ¡°Have to swing a big hammer, after all!¡± he said, after I questioned him. Luna and Piper only arrived later. Piper was paler than usual, so I tried my best to avoid eye contact with them both. After that, we all went out to visit the village shops! We decided that it was time to buy some everyday clothing. The jocks seemed saddened for not being able to wear armor all the time we spent here, though¡­ So, I, Piper, Luna, Broox, Uriel (he appeared out of nowhere) and the jocks went out, looking for a tailor. It was a pretty village. Unfortunately, being so close to the river made it have a faint smell of fish. Though the bakery made a really good job at suppressing such smell. We went straight to the tailor shop. Thank God the others had already visited the village (and the tailor), or I would spend some time here looking for it. But there was something odd with the villagers. I noticed especially after I heard Luna sighing It was in the small details. How a mother quickly carried her son out of our way. How a guy stared daggers when Broox unknowingly touched him. How a group of people suddenly went silent when we passed near them. With these reactions I could induct some things. First, they had something against pilgrims. or at least against non-humans, the latter being more probable, as our group didn¡¯t had a single human, and it would be hard for them to recognize pilgrims (the overhead crosses were something only pilgrims could see). Second, they knew that we were together with the monks, as none of them made any move against us. They surely depended a lot of the monks. And finally, the third. They probably didn¡¯t know about our mission on this world. This would make even more sense if their hate was against non-humans. Since they didn¡¯t know we were here to save them, they only had the bad stories about non-humans to judge us. So we were something akin to monsters and nightmares to them. The others, or didn¡¯t noticed it, or they already knew about it, and decided to keep quiet. Luna seemed to have already noticed it. It was a regular theme in books, after all. Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there. I didn¡¯t know if Ur already knew, as we had spent little time together, and he seemed like your everyday serious guy. But these things made me think that the title of Pilgrim wouldn¡¯t protect us in this world. Thank God we were able to reborn (maybe they predicted this, and quickly accepted with our rebirth agreement) When we did arrive at the tailor shop, near the river, we found a beautiful lady taking some tea. She was red headed, and had green eyes. For some reason she used that clothing that would scream belly dance in my old world. Her waist was out for us to admire. Her cloth was see through in some parts, and covered only the important bits. She was sweating, as if she had just finished exercising She looked like a foreigner, even to me. Maybe that¡¯s why she was so far from the center of the village. She was the tailor. And a dancer at the local inn at night. She told that she trying out her outfit for tonight¡¯s show, and called us to give a visit at night. Then she asked us to wait a moment while she changed her clothes. When she came back, she was sporting a more conservative dress. And took our measures. She decided to left me, Broox, Ur and Piper for last. Since our bodies was so different from humans. She seemed to have more contact with the non-humans, different from the other villagers. Or she had a really good vendor face. From the four, she started with me. The smaller. ¡°So, how would you want your clothes?¡± she asked, a smile on her face. And too close. ¡°Sssome long sssleeve ssshirt, with a hood.¡± I was flushing, I know it. ¡°and trouser¡± She smiled and finishing my measures, went to the others. After this we surprisingly had nothing more to do. So we went to the library and spend out time. The librarian was a young boy. Blond, blue eyes. Tall. Very noble look, and yet he looked like a cool guy. He took us for a kick tour around the library. It was quite big. The first floor had books about cooking and alchemy. Potions, foods, oils, bombs, salves and others were all in this place. The second had book about fighting techniques, war strategies and some documentations about some wars. Also, geopolitical and history books. The third floor had books about magic, healing, summoning and, for Luna happiness, some fictional books. When I asked the librarian about it, he simply answered that, since magic depends a lot on the mage imagination, books that improved creativity usually was placed together with magic ones. He left us, and went back to his desk. We all separated, and looked for books we would like. In one of the aisle, I was walking while reading and, distracted, bumped into a girl. She fell, knocking down a lot of books with her. I went to help her but stopped when I saw her face. She was beautiful. Blond wavy hair. Fair skin. Blue eyes. Red lips. Lips that were curved in an apologetic smile. Her glasses were a crooked from the bump. I gathered her books and ran from there. I didn¡¯t know what else to do. I was flustered from only looking at her. And letting one of the Orcs know that I was going, I left the library. It had already passed the time for lunch. I went to the bakery to grab some food. It was a bad idea. It seems I was right about the villagers. They really didn¡¯t like us. It took me lots of time to be served. At first, I thought it was because I was small, and the baker wasn¡¯t able to see me. Until I noticed he was purposefully ignoring me. I could only sigh. Not wanting any problem, I went back to the monk¡¯s house. There was food there. I didn¡¯t eat much though, the situation with the villagers left a bad taste in my mouth. I went to the forest and climbed one of the trees. I had already decided that I would lay down a little, to calm down. And also to pass time, as there was nothing else left for me to do. Resting on the branches, it didn¡¯t took me long to sleep. When I woke up, it was already dusk. I had spent the whole day sleeping. The sunset looked wonderful, and the twin moons collaborated a lot for such an otherworldly scenario. Some of the kids were playing near the forest. Playing tag it seemed. It was a calming scene. The kids playing, the sun setting. The smell of bread being baked nearby (this reminded me that I haven¡¯t ate nothing since lunch). There was also a gentle breeze. She was there too. The girl of the library. Her hair and dress waving in the air. It looked like she was taking care of the children. It was in this calm scene that everything went hectic. I saw her running to the children. Horror marked on her face. The children were looking to the forest, screaming and pointing at something. I got up, and searched the culprit of the screaming, dagger already on my hands. A wolf, bigger than any dog I have ever seen, was running toward one of the children, who went too close to the forest. The girl reached first, and protected the kid with her body. I was too far. I wouldn¡¯t reach them. I extended a hand, and remembering what I have done yesterday on the training I sent my mana. Closing my eyes, I prayed that I could get it right. And expulsed all the Fire Mana on that area. I waited for a minute, eyes closed. No scream. So I slowly opened my eyes. There was a spiked block of ice in front of the girl, the wolf trapped inside. Only two meters away. Any closer and I would have frozen her. Any later, and the wolf would have reached her.
Congratulations!
You learned the spell: Zero Zone
Zero Zone ¨C Journeyman Spell
By manipulating the heat in an area, you can create a frozen space
Sighing in relief, I felt tired from manipulating so far from me. Almost went back to sleeping. But I felt something looking at me. It was the girl. Correction, she was looking in my direction, searching from where the spell had come. I hurriedly went to another branch. From this one I wasn¡¯t able to see the village. I heard when some adults arrived. They were shouting. There were some loud questions about what happened. Someone trying to calm down the others. And a sudden silence when all the mess stopped. And I heard some footsteps. Coming on my direction. ¡°Thanks for saving me¡± I think it was the girl. Did she see me? ¡°I don¡¯t know who you are. But thanks anyway.¡± I could feel her smile. And then she left. I looked at the side of the tree and saw her running to the village. Tired from the over usage of mana, I stumbled back to the monk¡¯s house and, once again, went back to sleep.
Author Note: Aaaaaand new chapter! This one took longer than I thought. Holidays (I was forced to spend time with my family) and some lack of creativity really slow people down. So, for now, sorry for staying such a long time without posting. The sad thing is that I already know to where I want to go, but writing the progress is being more difficult than I thought. Well, personal matters aside, NEW magics! New characters! Yay! And I reached 46 followers!!! Know what this means? Yup you got it! Side Story, Secondary Character Edition! (If you want someone who is not on the poll, please, comment!) Thanks for all the people who decided to follow! Hope to keep you interested on this story. And, after a quite long note, Thanks For Reading! S.S. - Dreams and Memories I couldn¡¯t move. But the body moved alone. Probably a dream. I was back to being human. It seems I was getting ready to go out. I lived alone, ever since I began high school, so there was no one to see me leaving. It was winter. A beautiful day. Clear blue sky. Strange in other countries, but in this one it was a quite commonly. I went to the shopping. There was a girl waiting for me. Young and cheerful. Smiling for some reason. She was wearing jeans and a black T-shirt, with a rock band print. No idea whom they were. Her black hair was untied, flowing at her back. She talks with me a little. It seems I have kept a promise with her. Since I began to study for the entrance exams of some university I had spent little time with her. She said I promised before that we would go out today. I didn¡¯t even remember promising it. We went to get some crepes. There was a nice fondue in this mall. One that she always wanted to go. I thought it would be nice to take her there. This was our breakfast. It was early, so only us were there. We asked for a meat one at first. It was funny how she didn¡¯t know how to use the skewers. She even dropped half the meat inside the oil! I spent my time laughing at her antics. She was cutely pouting at this. And then we asked for chocolate one. This made her overjoyed. Her happy expression closing her eyes while tasting the fruits with chocolate was really cute. When the fruits ended, she looked around. Seeing we were alone she took the chocolate plate and started to eat the chocolate. Using her fingers, since there was no spoon in the table. I teased her a lot, saying she looked like a small kid. She ignored, and continues to happily eat. After there we went to buy some CDs. She was a hardcore music listener (according to herself), and spent some hours looking through the wares, listening to every CD she caught. Sometimes she would make a happy face while listening. Others, she would just cringe. It was funny at the beginning, but I was getting quite impatient after minutes of waiting, and told her to quickly choose one. She blinked an eye to me, and said she would be downloading the CDs she liked, and was just listening to the previews. She imitated a pirate (even saying Yo-ho) and continued to look at the CDs. An employee listened this, and kicked us out, annoyed. What a grumpy fella. We them went to a bookstore. My turn to let her impatient. This was one of the good stores. A lot of fictions books, and just a small bookshelf of self-help books. These were my terrors, and I didn¡¯t get how there were so many of them. Strange people. She was quite low tempered. She was starting to get annoying so I ignored her for some time. This store had a game section too, and I spent quite some time browsing the games. She got inpatient at this. She tried to drag me out of the store. I pointed out the time she spent at the CD store. She said she could, since she was younger. I decided to go with her, annoyed. We found some of her friends. She talked for ages with them. They asked her to go with them to the club, but she said that she had a promise to keep with me. They said their goodbyes and went their way. It seems we visited all the stores of the mall. Thank God she hated spending time buying clothes, and only bought a black blouse she said was cool. I teased her, saying that black was the only color she had. She pouted, but didn¡¯t argue, so I guess I was right. We ate once again. This time she wanted burgers. I only sighed at this quite unhealthy girl and bought some for us (I did promise that I would buy her anything). It took too much time to arrive. She was even throwing another of her antics, saying she would starve before the food arrived. She was quite pleased when it arrived. After, we decided to go watch a movie. Geeks as we were, we chose a super hero movie. Mistakes were made. It was a horrible movie. Bad acting, bad phrases, a forced twist and a rushed end. She didn¡¯t get to watch. Too busy sleeping. It was gold when she snored and startled a couple in front of us (I pretended that I didn¡¯t know her). She didn¡¯t get why I wouldn¡¯t stop laughing, when the movie ended. It was time for lunch, so we went for a self served restaurant. She got rice and meat and drank a coke. I got a salad with chicken, and drank some juice. She teased me, saying that eating that much would make me disappear. I ignored her. We decided to go to the amusement park after that (she was well rested after the movie) It was one cheap park. Only the basic rides. We first went to the shooting cabin. We decided to make a bet. The one who got more successful shot would get 20 dollars. It was a massacre. For me. This gun-loving girl really bested me. From the ten shots I got five. She got all. 10/10. I got a little penguin strap for my cell phone. She got a big plushy toy. A little cartoonish devil, hugging a heart. I asked her why she got it. She said it was cute. I said she probably lost some screws. Her hit hurt a little. We went to the roller coaster. We both were terrified. Two scaredy cats. If it was for the line behind us we would have ran away from there. I screamed during the ride. She screamed even louder. After we got off we agreed for never ever ride one of those. We went to the Ferris wheel. It gave a really good view of the whole city. She was admiring the view when she saw two friends of her. Out in a date. She started to giggle and send messages through her phone. I told her to stop acting like a kid. She adeptly ignored me. The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there. After, we went to the haunted house. It was incredibly boring. We decided to try and scare some of the ¡®monsters¡¯. We were successful. The lady though, didn¡¯t seem to enjoy the prank. We listened to a really long scolding. And then, she wanted to eat again. Ice cream this time. I told her that she would get fat if she continued like this. She only hit me. She got a chocolate flavor one. With chocolate icing, the kind that hardens when touching the ice cream. I got a mix of cream and chocolate. We sat in one of the benches, and watched the people coming and going from the park. I had another place to go. The people from my class wanted to make a reunion, since this was our last weekend together. Many would go to different universities, so it was likely the last time we would see each other too. I told her to come with me. At first, she told me that she didn¡¯t want to go, since there wouldn¡¯t be much people she knew. But I insisted. I didn¡¯t really want to go, and getting her to go with me would at least give me someone to talk with. It¡¯s not that I didn¡¯t have friends in class. But they were getting on my nerves, with the goodbyes and crying every time it was mentioned that the year was close to the end. Today we would take a photo for the school album, so I had to go. She said that she would go if I took her to go ice skiing. I mall had constructed a skiing ring, so people could enjoy one of the winter pleasantries in this tropical country. I agreed (not that I wanted to go skiing or anything) I said that we should go walking. It was close enough, but she was stingy about paying for transportation (she said she could spend her money in more important things. Like chocolate). On the way we found two of her friends. The ones that were dating back at the park. It seems they kept it a secret from their friends, including the girl. She obviously wanted to tease them a little, and asked me to wait for her. I sat on a cafeteria, waiting for her. (I bought a bottle of water, so they wouldn¡¯t kick me out from here) I was watching the television while she went to meet her friends. The news was talking about a rare star event that would occur today. Not entertaining, so I only half listened. Checking my phone, I saw that I have missed a few messages from the people of my class. It seems they decided to make a last minute party. And someone had the great idea of making me responsible to make a cake. I inwardly swore. I quickly got up and went to my sister. She was still teasing the couple. I gave them my apologies and carried her from there. She complained a little, but after I told her the reason, she agreed that we had to hurry. We went to a confectionery we liked, hoping there would be a good cake that was still whole. We got one. Carrot cake. With chocolate icing. One of her favorites. It was odd, but she didn¡¯t usually like cake. Only the ones that were chocolate flavored and were a bit wet. Or the cake that we were taking to the party, If she had any plans of not going with me, well, they were shattered now. She would never allow herself missing a cake she liked. When we got there people had already arrived. I introduced them to the girl. They had already begun the crying and hugging play. Red eyed, they had already began a little play. Secret friend. We previously made a lottery with the name of everyone in class, and had to buy a gift for said person. But before giving the gift, we had to describe the person, and the others had to discover who it was. Since it was the last year, people remembered some good moments together. And then, they started to cry. I arrived at the middle of this. The girl went to a chair on the corner, smiling as if she knew I was bad in this kind of development. Thinking about it, she probably knew. But I have to admit, it was pretty funny. After the little play, we decided to take the photos for the album. I went to the girl and hugged her, thanking her for coming with me. She was embarrassed and told me to go take the photos while she tasted the food (without letting people see her, of course) I went to take the photo. But an annoying noise began. It started as a kindergarten screaming, but changed to a deep howling. A small circle grew not too far. I stared at it. And the last thing I saw was the explosion.
A girl sat alone, in a destructed building, holding a paper. It seemed she was praying. Some dark figures started to move to where she was kneeled. She got up and faced her enemy. Her brown eyes filled with determination. She took a revolver and moved to get a better view of her enemies. She put the paper together with a plushy. A strange demon, hugging a heart. The paper was a photo of a boy. Same black hair, same brown eyes. Her twin brother. ¡°Were have you gone, brother?¡± She asked the photo. Not getting an answer she loaded the gun and started to shoot.
Author Note Aaaaaaaaaaaaaand new (side) chapter! This one is for the Valentine Day Event (it''s not the one I promised to write) Valentine Day, for me, represents my family, so a little chapter about a guy and his sister before the portal. Wow, 55 followers. I''m getting embarased with this many people... anyway, Thanks For Reading! Chapter 11 - States of Matter and The Dammed Luck As always, I wake up with the sun glaring at me. Seriously, I need to find some curtains. Getting up to wash my face, I recall the dream I had. What an odd dream. But remember my last hours as a human was somewhat comforting, even if I still don¡¯t feel like I was the human. Shrugging these thoughts, I went down to eat. People were already eating. This time Piper and Luna was there two. Even Luna was trying to eat, but again, it felt like she didn¡¯t like it. Slowly eating, I observed what the others were doing. Aphrodite and the other elves were talking about going to the church, to learn some healing abilities. Different from the monks, who used their own mana to heal, priests used mana that came from the gods. This would let them save their mana for spells. But trying to maintain a good image within the church and having a good relation with the gods seemed a pain, so priesthood was out for me. Both Clare and Leon were preparing the others to a morning spar. They didn¡¯t want to let their fighting abilities rust in the time we would spend here. They also wanted to get combat oriented Skills. So, most of the group were divided between some going to the church, and the others going to train. This only left me, Luna and Uriel without anything to do the whole day. Since we three were demonic races, it didn¡¯t feel right to learn the healing spells of the village¡¯s gods. Maybe we will need to go to the Wastelands if we ever want to follow that path. And we wanted to train our magic abilities first, before trying our fighting skills. We ended up going to the library once again. Some of the mages said there was a training room for mages inside the library that had similar enchantments to the magic training rooms in the monastery. They both went ahead, as I wanted to take a proper bath before heading out. Yesterday I just dived into the bed without worrying about things like hygiene. The water was cold. But nothing a Warm Wave wouldn¡¯t be able to fix. I should really teach this spell to Ur. The upgraded version of this spell may be a great help in the future. Finishing the cleaning I went to the library. And noticed that going last was a bad idea. The villagers were really glaring daggers at me. Going out with lots of others non-humans before seemed to make them ignore instead of glaring. But a little Imp, alone, walking around their village without a care in the world seemed to make them a bit angry. Noticing the bad atmosphere, I entered an alley and climbed to the rooftops. This way, they wouldn¡¯t see me, and I would be able to test my Acrobatic Sill. This part of the way was funnier. Arriving at the library, I decided to go directly to the training room. Entering training mode, I though what my next steps would be. Since I acquired the Zero Zone, it feels I should train ice magic too. But adding a new training would be a little more tiring. Shrugging, I casted the spell. The spell in itself was different than how I manipulated mana. First, I didn¡¯t have to make my mana go all the way to the target. It seemed that by casting I created a chain reaction that culminates in a frozen area. Second, when I used mana manipulation, I removed the Fire Mana from the area. The spell was different, it created Ice Mana. Manipulating the mana of the area I created, I began to study the Ice Mana. It was quite similar to manipulating fire, since both dealt with heat. But it also looked a lot like water, but a lot denser. Hmm¡­ maybe I¡¯m controlling water the wrong way? Maybe true Water Magic was not about the water in itself? But liquids, instead? Going this way I concentrated on my claws. The ice was already transformed into an Ice Sphere, later I would try the Shard spell. For the first time, I stated to produce my venom. It was an odd feeling. Close to sweating, but I had more control over it. It was a purpleish liquid (it screamed poison). It was more viscous than water, as it seemed to collect, before slowly running to my hands. It had the same temperature as my body, so it had hardly any differences in heat. Focusing on it, I got its mana signature. ¡­ And I was right. There was some Water Mana in there. A bit of another one too, but I didn¡¯t know what it was. Concentrating on it, I cast the Sphere Spell. A little orb with purplish color formed in front of me.
Congratulations!
You acquired the spell: Poison Sphere
Poison Sphere ¨C Elemental Sphere Series
By manipulating other liquids you can create a Sphere that slowly kills the target
¡­ And bingo! So water magic dealt with liquids! And now I somehow acquired the three states of matter. Solid, liquid and gas. Ice, Water and Mist magic. How fitting. Now, I just need to remember to absorb an Ice Shard. Grinning at this coincidence I resumed my training. Manipulating ice was quite easy, compared with the other two. Creating an Ice Shard was easy too. Solid magic seemed to react better with shardification. But now, I didn¡¯t know where I would ¡®install¡¯ it. A place where it would be easy to access, and far from my heart and brain, if possible (don¡¯t want to freeze them when distracted). Well, well, well. Decision, decisions. I looked at my right hand and extracted the shard from there. I don¡¯t have three hands, so maybe I should just abandon the symmetry. Taking the shard to the other hand I implanted all three of them on my left hand. And it had an odd feeling on it. Three different mana leaking from your hands gave this strange touch. And so, I decided to look for the other two. No, I hadn¡¯t forgotten them. Seriously. Going out of the room I began searching. First I found yesterday girl. Bumping at her of course. I guess it was destiny or something after all. I helped her gather her things and turned around to go. She had other plans. She held my shoulder and gave me a hug. She moved closer to me, If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. ¡°Thanks for yesterday¡± she whispered at my ear. And then, she quickly got up and left. I was flabbergasted (and yeah, I never thought I would use this word to describe me) Shaking my head I, trying to recollect my thoughts, I went looking for the other two. They were reading a bible it seemed. A rather big book. Maybe it was actually a weapon. They heard me coming and quickly turned to me. Luna slightly raised the cover, letting me see the title. ¡°Demon¡¯sss and their Giftss? It looksss kinda tiresssome¡± ¡°It¡¯s kinda interesting really.¡± Said Ur. ¡°Did you know they classify us according to the seven sins? And we also have some racial abilities that aren¡¯t listed as skills?¡± Luna looked quite cheerful with her little discovery. ¡°Let me guessss, Vampire are Pride Demonsss¡± I sat down; it looked like a quite long chat was coming. ¡°Wrong!¡± she said, still strangely happy. ¡°Here it¡¯s the Vanity Demon. And they are Shapeshifters, not the Vampires¡± Heh, strangely fitting. ¡°Anyway, Vampires are the Wrath Demons on this world. One of the interesting thing I found was that we have some ability that allows me to ¡®boil¡¯ my blood, making me quicker and stronger.¡± ¡°And what¡¯sss the catch?¡± She blushed a bit. ¡°I need to consume more blood after it, and can¡¯t use it with low blood on me¡±. ¡°And why the blush?¡± Ur seemed to find it funny too. ¡°Some good memories?¡± and there it was, the first time I saw Ur acting like an Incubus, teasing people around. Of course, Luna got redder, and started to punch him (not, that I think it hurt, it was just adorable) ¡°None of that!¡± Yeah, it was clearly all of that ¡°Stop grinning, idiot! And you too¡± she said pointing at me. Well, well. Now I HAVE to ask Piper about it. Clearing his throat, UR turned to me (ignoring the vampire throwing a tantrum beside him). ¡°Mine is obviously the Lust Demon¡± he said with a somewhat annoying smile. ¡°And why you look so happy about it?¡± Lady Tantrum came back. ¡°I choose this race because of its¡­ charms¡­ you know? It would be awkward to get a Gluttony Demon choosing an Incubus!¡± Point made, continuing. ¡°Anyway, the Purple Mist is just one of the Incubus ability. We apparently can hear thoughts and we also have some substance in ours¡­ body fluids¡­ that act as an aphrodisiac¡± Yeah, deadpan face at you. ¡°What? Don¡¯t believe me?¡± here comes the teasing Ur ¡°want me to give you some in depth teac¡­ Ouch!¡± Luna hit him with a book. It was super effective! Ignoring the new Lord Tantrum, I turned to Luna. ¡°And mine? What you found about Impss?¡± ¡°You are the Envy Demons¡± she answered. ¡­ I¡¯m a what now? ¡°Envy? But that isss sssso not cool!¡± yeah and now I¡¯m throwing my tantrum. It must have something in these books. Luna let her vengeance boil a little before finally giving me the good news. ¡°Well, some of you do have a nice ability¡± ¡°And what isss it?¡± even I could see my eyes shining. ¡°First, are you venomous?¡± ¡°Yeah¡­ why?¡± ¡°It¡¯s an ability that only appears on some Imps. And only on the venomous ones. It¡¯s called Envy¡¯s Boon.¡± ¡°Yeah, and what it do?¡± ¡°Whenever you kill something you are able to receive one of their skills or ability!¡± ¡­ That¡¯s kinda OP! ¡°And how do I do it?¡± She pokerfaced. ¡°I don¡¯t know¡± I got up. I have an amazing ability and don¡¯t even know how to use it. To the sad corner I go then. She came after me, trying to somehow console me. ¡°Well, the book actually says that the gods send a warning, asking what ability you want¡± I looked at Ur. He was reading the book. Strange, why do I think I¡¯m forgetting something important? ¡°So it can be like a panel warning you about it.¡± he was trying to cheer me up. ¡°No, it wouldn¡¯t be. I didn¡¯t received any panel when I killed the otherssss during the training¡± We all stopped to think about it. ¡­ ¡°Well, you didn¡¯t actually kill them, did you?¡± it seems Luna thought about something. ¡°After all, they¡¯re still alive. Maybe you have to kill it for real?¡± It seemed like a good way to think. ¡°Then, maybe I don¡¯t have the ability¡± ¡°No, the book said that ALL Imp with poison have this ability¡± Ur was still reading it. ¡°Nah, I killed a wolf, and didn¡¯t receive any panel¡­¡± ¡­ ¡°Maybe¡­ you didn¡¯t kill it¡± Luna asked. ¡°Pretty hard. I frost it. Very dead.¡± ¡°But what if¡­ it didn¡¯t die¡± ¡­ Well, that¡¯s a scary thought. ¡­ ¡°We need to go there. Now!¡± I got up, and started running to the exit. Both seemed to understand my hurry. Before fully exiting the library, we heard a huge howling coming from the forest¡¯s direction. My dammed luck!
Author note: Hey people, good news, I''m not dead! My school life totally made me busy, and after a while, I had a no motivation to write phase. And I''m probably writing now because I have a seminar to present tomorrow. Oh the power of procrastination! And it looks like the winner from the pool was Luna! She seems to have made you curious about her don''t you? Her side story will be coming next! Spoiler : Spoilers: no, she isn''t a love target And now about the story. I was there, enjoying my life, when I read the reviews. And it was talking about my race selection! Blasphemous, right? No, wrong. I read again and the race selection is really bugging me. It was a really forced selection. So I''ll be holding a pool. Should I rewrite it, and any other mention of his creation, or should I blame my newbieness, and cope with it? I appreciate if you answer it. And for the 63 followers: I HAVE FAILED YOU! If there is any thing I can do (except the love routes, I hate them) please tell me, and I shall do it Oh and thanks for taking your time to rate this fiction (even if it does have low ratings. I still have plans to raise it MUAHAHAHAHA) Anyway, THANKS FOR READING Tl''dr: I''m not dead Chapter 12 - The Big Dog and Trading Orders We ran toward the howling. People were already running from there. It was chaotic. People running, children were crying. And still, the howling somehow was louder than anything, freezing our soul with that terrible noise. And then, we arrived. A giant wolf. It was bigger than the last time I saw him. Its claws were different, crystal-like. Its fur was spiked, and had a blue tone to it. It was thrashing a house, looking for some prey to hunt. Decided to quickly finish it I extended my hand toward it and gathered mana. ¡°ZERO ZONE!¡± I screamed, and ice engulfed the wolf. I used way more mana this time. No way would he still be alive. We approached it. ¡°Did you get a message? Did we kill it?¡± asked Ur. He was quite worried and looking at the destruction around, he was right to be. ¡°No messssage. Maybe it hasss a delay?¡± I hope I was right. The ice cracked, making a loud noise. It seems today was not our day. Seeing this, we all took some distance. And we activated Mana Eyes. The ice mana was flowing inside. Towards the wolf. ¡­ The damn beast was absorbing it. It seems it would be a fight. I looked at the others. ¡°This will be hard. Three mages and a magic absorbing wolf.¡± Ur wasn¡¯t motivated ¡°Let¡¯s try with fire. Maybe he has a weakness to it.¡± Luna seemed more agitated. Lucky for us, Ur was focusing in Fire Magic. He took out his black axe, and activated his magic. The flames he summoned reacted with the axe, and some flames turned black. It was some kind of magic armor. Black flames engulfed his arms while his legs were still covered with red flames. It had a nice visual to it. Since the flames didn¡¯t cover his whole body, it was safe to assume that it wouldn¡¯t give a defense increase. Maybe speed and attack boost, if I was correct. But the black flames may have some kind of bonus, so he got that going for him. I hope it has. Luna summoned some fireballs. They were floating around her ready to strike at her command. And looking at the frown she had, she was ready to cast more if needed. She summoned her claymore too. Maybe she wanted to be prepared if she had to engage the wolf at melee. And me? Well, I suck at fire magic. The only I know is the Warm Wave. And its usage was more for daily usage than to battle. Shrugging away the image of a small imp, trying to boil a leg of a giant wolf, I used the Poison Sphere. And started to gather some mist. I couldn¡¯t be directly attacking, but maybe I could support the other two. Summoning my dagger, I quickly climbed to one roof. I will be trying to stealth attack it. Luna saw me climbing, and nodded, figuring out my plan. She knew how bad I was with fire. Ur was warming up, so he didn¡¯t saw me. The wolf was still absorbing the ice. The first to attack was Luna. She transformed three balls into bolts, and shot the wolf. A big yelp was heard. She gave a thumbs up. He didn¡¯t absorb the fire. And the rising temperature melted the remaining ice, stopping the wolf from absorbing it Ur began to run to it. I sent the poison sphere, together with mist, and targeted its eyes. Let¡¯s just say it wasn¡¯t happy. The poison seemed to hurt it, and he lost most vision with the mist. Ur zeroed in and swung the ax down. The wolf noticed the attack and quickly jumped back. It still had some working senses. It started to gather mana at its mouth. A breath attack. And shot a freezing ray. Luna sent a lot of balls and made a barrier with it. Then the attack connected. A huge amount of mist appeared. The sound of sizzling water filled the place. Ur suddenly jumped out of the mist and got a hit on the wolf¡¯s front paw. He was unscathed, the barrier canceled out the attack. But looking at Luna, I saw that she used a lot of her balls stock. She was already summoning more, but wouldn¡¯t be able to defend so soon. Ur tried a horizontal swing, but the wolf jumped up and behind Ur, where it tried to attack him. Getting an idea, I quickly extended my mana toward the wolf. It was an almost pure ice mana. I pulled it and was able to make it miss the attack, and Ur quickly jumped away, turning around to face it again. And now the wolf was glaring at Ur, meaning its back was totally open to me. I coated the dagger in poison and jumped down, stabbing its back paws. If he hadn¡¯t noticed me before, now he did. He quickly turned to me, trying to bite. But I was able to dodge, and ending up below its jaws. It made a huge mistake. Ur swung his ax and got a clear hit on its side. Blood was freely pouring from it. Luna was not behind, and fired the rest of her bolts. That made the wolf scream in pain. The impact of both attacks made the wolf fall. Seeing the huge opening I quickly clawed its neck. Coated with poison, it was a lethal attack. And it finally stopped moving. Ur fell down. He was dead tired. Luna seemed to have a migraine from magic over usage. My hands were totally covered with blood, and it reached to my arms. My clothes were in similar state. A sudden panel appeared before me.
Congratulation!
You defeated the Leech Wolf (for real now)
Leech is a rare variant from wolves, born when a wolf absorb a large amount of mana
Oh. I did create the wolf. But no one needs to know that. And I¡¯m just gonna ignore the goddess remark.
Envy¡¯s Boon Activated
Please, select the ability you want
Mana AbsorptionIce Attuned
I chose Mana Absorption. It seemed like the best option. The attuning I may get in the future, from training my magic. A yellow light enveloped the Leech, and formed the image of a wolf. I heard the gasps from both Luna and Ur behind me, but was astounded by the wolf. It walked toward me and blasted in dust that was absorbed by me. And it was hella painful. It was worse on my hands and in my mouth. A migraine sudden began. The pain was enveloping me, and it felt like it was trying to burn me. With the pain still increasing, I finally passed out. When I woke up I was in a bed. It was a simple room, but the amount of white screamed ¡®infirmary¡¯. If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. Aphrodite was beside me. She was stunningly pretty. Her blond hair was tied in a ponytail, and it was resting on her shoulder. Her eyes were closed in concentration. Her arms were extend above me and chanting something that sounded like a pray. And some light particles were falling into me. She was healing me. Ok, I would never ever judge anyone by their appearances ever again. Feeling that I woke up she opened her eyes. Clear blue eyes. ¡°You¡¯re finally awake!¡± She was smiling ¡°I¡¯m gonna call your friends, they are dying to see you¡± She got up and walked to the door. Not gonna lie, even from behind she¡¯s beautiful. Luna, Piper, Ur and Broox quickly entered as she left. ¡°What. The. Hell. Happened?¡± Piper was apparently not happy. ¡°I already told you Piper. Wolf hunt. Yellow spiritual wolf appeared. He absorbed.¡± Ur rolled his eyes. ¡°Yeah, I heard the first time. His version now.¡± She was not amused by his answer. So I told what happened from my side. When I reached the part that the boon activated, Luna and Ur made that expression of ¡®I got it¡¯. Seeing as the other didn¡¯t get it, I left both of them to explain it and looked in a mirror. I had changed more than I first thought. My eyes had a normal sclera now, but the irises were yellow. My face had a somewhat feral look to it, and the teeth were clearer sharper. My hair grew a little, and looking at my hands, there was something that looked like pads, but really small. And my horn had grown a little. I got up, wanting to see how the village was after the attack. But something made me stop. I was a little higher than before. The Envy¡¯s Boon gave me a slight increase in height. Yeah, I know what you may think. ¡®No, it¡¯s just in my head¡¯, and ¡®there¡¯s no way it can happen¡¯ and so on. But I created this body, so I knew it from my toes to the tip of my horns and I was somewhat taller. A few centimeters, two or three I guessed. Nothing to brag about. And it brought something to mind, something I thought I had dealt with. I missed being taller. Being a very short humanoid was troublesome, but there was no way to change it. Except, now there is. I really would need to look at it in the future. After having my moment, I asked the others what had happened after the battle. They explained to me that I passed out after I absorbed the yellow wolf, and that I spent the whole day resting. Today would be the day we would go back, but the attack made us delay our plans. A message was sent to the monastery, telling what happened and requesting help to fix the village. Also, some traders had arrived, and they said they were helping around. We were not the new faces anymore. That¡¯s also why Aphrodite was healing me, since all the trained healers were helping out the injured from the Wolf attack, and they still didn¡¯t trust us enough to help. After some minutes of talk Aphrodite came back and kicked everyone out, and screaming something about no patient walking around. According to her I wasn¡¯t completely healed yet, and I had to take some rest. She even stared daggers at me, saying that I was allowed to walk around. And with that, I went back to sleep. ... As if. I waited to Aphrodite to go out and escaped through the window. I wanted to see what happened on the battle scene. When I reached the place (going on the roofs, of course) some people were still rebuilding it. They saw me, but it looked like they had more to do than bickering over a small demon. Only some of them looked like they never saw demons before. I guess these were the traders. But they soon joined the rebuilding. From what I saw, three houses were completed destroyed, and two were half destroyed. The strange thing was that no ice was seen; only some burn marks. It probably melted during the day. It was strange that where an ice creature attacked, only fire remained. With nothing else to do there, I went back to the infirmary, praying that I didn¡¯t make the nurse get angry. It was silent there, and it didn¡¯t took too long before I truly fell asleep. When I woke up it was the middle of the night. There was another nurse here, taking care of the patients. He saw me waking up and brought me a cup of water. It had some sweet taste to it. I rested my head at the pillow, waiting to be fully awake. But then the healer started to touch my Status Plate. It looked like he was putting something at it. I tried to protest, but my head felt very light. Something was odd. I couldn¡¯t move at all. My vision was getting blurry. The nurse called someone, and another guy came in. he looked somewhat familiar. He picked me up and gave something to the nurse. I heard some laughs and he exited the building. And took me to a nice stroll at the forest. Except it was not nice. And I had no other choice than going. There were some carts where he took me. There were others, but the drug was showing its full effect, and I couldn¡¯t really recognize anything. But still, during the walk I discovered why the guy was familiar. He was one of traders helping at the reconstruction. And it didn¡¯t make any sense of why they were kidnapping me. The guy took me to the back of the carts. There were some sacks there, full of whatever he was selling. But he went deeper on the cart. He lifted a cloth up, revealing a cage. And threw me there. Very rude, in my opinion. He said something and got out of the cart. The ¡®nice¡¯ impact, at least cleared my mind, and I was able to look around. And I saw a woman in another cage. And a guy. And other. And a small child. Five people at total, including me. And this made me notice what these traders were really selling. People. These people were Slave Traders.
Author''s Note: Aaaannnnndddd new chapter! YAY! I finally had time to finish this chapter. A brief fight and some plot happening. Don''t forget to comment what you think about this advancement! The previous poll said that I should continue the story as it is, so be it. And no, I didn''t forget Luna''s side chapter. I''m still working at it. Any grammar mistakes or strange phrases? please comment! Thanks for reading!, especially the 63 people who put up with me and my unstable writing habits, but still like the story, you guys are awesome! Chapter 13 - Black Market I don¡¯t know for how long I was drugged. But I was pissed. Really, really pissed. After the drug passed I tried the most reasonable routine one would follow on this situation. Rain magic upon their heads, of course. Except for a tiny little detail¡­ I wasn¡¯t able to control the mana around me at all. Yeah, scary¡­ especially for a mage. Like me. I still could activate my Mana Sight, so I could still control my pure mana, and I could saw all the mana that surrounded the place. But no matter how much I tried, I couldn¡¯t make it move. If this didn¡¯t make me despair, the next thing I discovered would. The Elemental Shards I had imbued on me were missing. They were my last resource on attempting an escape, since controlling them would be closer to controlling my own mana than controlling the outside. But without them, magic was out. The next action would obviously be suicide. Okay, not that obvious but for someone like me, who can respawn, it was obvious. Next step: find a weapon to kill myself. Still, I hope I found some other way to escape. Suicide would be kind of difficult. And I really didn¡¯t want to die, again. The others, who were enjoying this nice trip with me, were asleep. Not that they had much more to do, as they were locked in cages like me. But the lack of chains was somewhat unnerving. I always imagined that slaves would have meters and meters of chain holding them, but there were none to be seen. And I could only conclude that they were restraining us with something else, beside the cages. Or they trusted we wouldn¡¯t try to escape. I think the first option was more likely. And now, to search for the weapon. Cages, five people, our clothes, some cloths, and ropes. That was everything I could take. No sign of metal, except for the bars. And if I could break them, I wouldn¡¯t be considering suicide. Guess there won¡¯t be an easy way, or as easy as killing myself would go. This left me with strangling myself. If I didn¡¯t have poison resistance, I could try to poison me¡­ Looking down at my hands a sudden urge to punch myself arise. My claws! Nice, pointy and sharp! I looked at the claws ad wondered what would be the most painless way to die. ¡­ Poor wolf, it must have been to brutal to kill him that way. Well, now or never I guess. I closed my eyes and held my neck with my claws. This way it would be somewhat fast, I think. After a minute of hesitation, I closed my hand. ¡­ And nothing happened. I opened my eyes. My hand was still in my neck, ready to slash it. But a strange light was stopping me. Following it with my eyes, it was being emitted by my Status Ring. And the ring had a strange mark on it, that I definitely hadn¡¯t seen before. Curious, I Analyzed! It
Ring Status Plate (Modified)
OwnerGyp
Current StatusMark of the Slave*
*other functions (including your Inventory and Titles) are disabled due to this status
*the Master can decree absolut orders
Present Orders
Don¡¯t kill yourself Don¡¯t hurt yourself Don¡¯t use magic Don¡¯t leave the Master surroundings (30 meters) Don¡¯t speak
What. The. Actual. Fuck! Noticing I didn¡¯t said anything yet I tried to talk. No words came from my mouth. What?! I couldn¡¯t even fucking talk?! And what about my weapon!? And my clothes?! I can¡¯t run around on the shirt the nurses gave me! ¡­ Calm down Gyp. Think what you know about slavery on this world. First thing, it wasn¡¯t allowed on every kingdom. Only Hagavia and Dragonspire had laws that permitted the purchasing of slaves. But from distance, it was more probably we were going to Hagavia, since Dragonspire was on the other side of the continent. At least I think I know where I was going. Now, think on how to remove the slave status. I tried to remove the ring. It didn¡¯t work. It was stuck! For some reason it was stuck! Maybe it was glued by magic. But at least this meant that the ring was causing the slave condition. If I only could remove it¡­ But the orders really worked wonders. And answered my questions of what was happening with the others. That¡¯s why everyone was only caged. All means to escape were knocked down by the orders. So effective it was scary. So, plan A and plan B were down. Damm, it¡¯s time for plan C If I can¡¯t kill myself, let others kill me! Yay! Worst plan ever, but the one with greater chance to succeed. But, there was no one around. I guess I will have to wait a little till I can escape. With nothing more to do, I waited. Three hours. Three hours without doing anything. If I could kill myself I would had already done, just to free me of this boredom. Instead, I planned the worst ways possible to kill someone. These guys won¡¯t leave unharmed from here. While I was boiling my future revenge, the others gradually woke up. But with the order, I won¡¯t be able to sate my boredom. But it seems they were conditioned to wake up around this hour. When the last was truly awakened, one of the merchants appeared to give us food. Bread and cheese. A cup of water. ¡­ Are they trying to kill us? Those monsters! The guy didn¡¯t even spare us a second look. He was treating us like animals! After a very unsatisfying meal, the wait continued. So I decided to counter the seconds. 9543 seconds after, the carts have stopped. They were unloading the merchandise. The merchandise being us. At least it wasn¡¯t a long journey. There was another group of merchants, but this one seemed way more terrifying than the current one. It seems the ones who captured me were only kidnappers. The ones who would actually trade us would be the next group. The leaders of both groups were discussing something. But they were too far away for me to be able to hear them. They were negotiating, I guess. The one I assumed that was the leader of the kidnappers was an overweight man who gesticulated a lot while talking. The other was calmer, and looked almost bored. They freed us from our cages and let us wander around. Maybe they wanted us to stretch our legs. A product is a product, even if they are people. And damaged products don¡¯t sell well. Worst choice, if I may say. The first thing I searched for was their food stock. Fortunately, everybody was away from the carts, waiting for the negotiation while talking on groups. And none of them seemed to bother with the slaves, so I had time to look for their food. They must have disarmed all of us before caging us. But they overlooked a small detail on one of us. Natural toxins production. These guys would suffer from kidnapping me. But still, when I was poisoning their food, I was feeling guilt. They drugged and dragged me away from home, and I still felt guilty for them. I must be way too kind. But mind you, I didn¡¯t forgive them. I put enough poison to make them scream for some nights asking for death. They would survive, but I would make them suffer enough. I only left the bread and cheese untouched. I wouldn¡¯t like to harm any unfortunate slave. And of course I would memorize their faces. If I ever encountered them when I escaped from this, I would make them suffer again and again. This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there. Some of the thugs were looking for some of the slaves. Me and the little girl. From what I heard from the various conversations going on were that there was a big amount of slave dealers around here. And this particular one only dealt with non-human races. Also the group who kidnapped me usually don¡¯t dwell on slave trade, but they sometimes happened to buy some and resell (and kidnapping, apparently) The child was a cat girl. She was black haired, and had that lovely face that only children have, except for her eyes, which looked eerily dead. Since she was not crying I could only assume she had already been through this. The guy stared at us. Really, I think he even stopped blinking. Browsing the products. ¡°Fascinating. An infant demon?¡± Oi? Who¡¯s the infant? ¡°How did you acquire it?¡± Stop ignoring the mute demon! ¡°It was lost near the Red¡¯s territory. Caused some ruckus there. We gladly captured him.¡± Oi! What¡¯s with that lie? What a bastard! ¡°It¡¯s rare to see one so young. You were really luck, merchant.¡± He finally stopped staring at me. ¡°But it¡¯s no good. It doesn¡¯t have any use on labor job. Only the ones who like eccentric things would buy it.¡± HEY! I heard it! Don¡¯t talk like I¡¯m not here! ¡°B-but it¡¯s a demon! T-they¡¯re usually expensive!¡± It seems the merchant plans backfired, huh. Wait¡­ should I really be happy? They¡¯re basically saying I worth less? Self esteem, lowered. ¡°Indeed.¡± He seemed to calculate something. ¡°We are going to visit a noble who collect such things. But I will not take risks. 15 dames on the demon.¡± Hey! Only 15? Raise it! Wait¡­ that¡¯s not right¡­ Don¡¯t sell me! I¡¯m no merchandise! ¡°B-but we spent more than that! Just to caught him we spent 20 dames!¡± What!? Only that!? ¡­ Time to put a certain nurse on my black list (together with some other ¡®merchants¡¯) ¡°Well¡­ maybe I can raise a little¡­¡± he sighed. He considered the new information. I could almost see the calculation on his head. ¡°Well, let me see the girl. Maybe I can make a better offer to you.¡± And now he stared at the girl. Since she was using long sleeves he was touchier on his analyze. Her arms, legs and even backs. It was unpleasant when he lifted her dress. All the situation screamed ¡®Stranger Danger¡¯. ¡°This is a good one. She already worked before. Where did you get her?¡± The merchant seemed a lot calmer now, having his ¡®products¡¯ getting praised like this. ¡°A lower noble was having some trouble with her slaves. She decided to sell some of them, and since she was young and her parents died of disease, she was one of the first to be sold¡± This was sadder than I first thought. She probably watched her parents die. It must have been traumatizing. And then she was sold, and had to leave her home. She must have suffered a lot. ¡­ Goddammit. Now I really want to save at least her. No lone escaping now. It will be the hard way. ¡°So she already knows the job.¡± He thought a little more. ¡°How about it? 80 dames on both of them. The merchant didn¡¯t seem to like it. ¡°B-but sir! I was expecting at least a king on both of them! Maybe we can raise a little?¡± The slave dealer gave one of those sinister smiles. ¡°My friend, you just said the girl¡¯s parents died if disease. How can I know she doesn¡¯t have it too?¡± he grinned even more ¡°Remember? No risks taken.¡± The merchant was cornered. Remembering some of the history classes I had on the other world, I could see why diseases were so problematic in a medieval setting. Even with magic, I doubt slaves could hire a healer, and I really don¡¯t see a noble caring for they servants that much. But I didn¡¯t understand why the merchant was so worried. Couldn¡¯t he just sell us for other slave dealers? Unless¡­ He doesn¡¯t have a permit to sell slaves? I could see now why he was trying so hard to sell us. And since this is a group who only deal with non-humans, he was expecting to make a profit. But now he had his hands tied. And, this did bring a grin to my face. A really good way to ruin his life. How many years would he spend in jail after he gets caught? And even better, since I wouldn¡¯t kill him I won¡¯t feel sorry! And the slaver guy wouldn¡¯t waste a second trying to protect him. No risks taken, if I remember well. The merchant would fall down. But only after I escape. Still, the slaver was cunning. To drive another into the corner like that¡­ he was dangerous. And my inner monologue really took some time. They had sealed the deal. 80 dames on two slaves. And the girl worth double of me. Self esteem, even lower now. Now that this was over, they both called their mages. How did I know they were mages? Well, I acquired the habit of looking at new people with Mana Eyes. Mages tended to have a lot more mana inside them compared to other people. But both of them seemed rather weak. Maybe pilgrims had a boost to magic? Anyway. New plan of escape. Clearly, they had to undo the orders to transfer the ownership. How I knew? I spent hours with nothing to do, with just the ring, the only different thing abnormal, to distract me. Hours reading the flow of mana, and I was able to crack the code of it, and inspect its properties. This also showed how weak the mage was. I wasn¡¯t a mage for even a month, and I was still able to decipher it. He really needed to train¡­ wait¡­ what I¡¯m saying? Well, forget it. I¡¯m backtracking. The merchant¡¯s mage was kneeling besides us. He reached for the girl first and broke the enchants. She only stared to the ground. She was really used to be a slave to try to escape now. The mage turned to me. He looked for something on his pockets. SO! The instant he undo the orders I will escape! And then, I will have my revenge! MUAHAHAHAHA! ¡­ ¡­ Except he drugged me again before exchanging. Dammit! I forgot this guy removed my shards! He must know I¡¯m a mage too! And like this, I once again went to sleep against my will¡­
Author''s note: Aaaaaaaaaaannnnnnddddddd New Chapter! A quick one, just for the transition between the two arcs. Not much happened, only the addition of some characters (name pending). And of course to give some satisfaction about why Gyp didn''t make a bloodbath. And no, I don''t plan to make this a super dark arc, with the MC losing faith in humans and turning into a demon lord. It would be too easy. And now, I will seriously try to finish Luna''s Side Story. It''s a bit harder to make another perspective in another way, meaning, giving her a different thought flow. I''m still a newbie writer, so it''s kinda hard. But it is a change of pace, and I think will make me a better writer. Damm, long note, isn''t it? If you find any mistake, please comment! (including: grammatical, weird phrase structure and skill) Thanks for the 69 (giggity) followers! But you are giving me contradictory feelings! With nothing else to say, Thanks for Reading! Back Story - Luna, part 1 UGH... It really was hurting... Magic is really a double-edged sword. I was kneeling because of my migraine while the others finished off the wolf. The battle was tiring me from the start, bur that last fire barrage really took me down. I just hope both of them really can kill it. Kill it. A thought I didn¡¯t have on my old world. It was a rather peaceful life. I was an only child. Both my parents worked a little, so I rarely saw any of them. They worked so hard, but we still couldn¡¯t afford much. The task of helping out at home were all mine. Still, I did it without complaints. How could I? They were trying to support me after all. But being the one who looked after my house had an impact in my family. I couldn¡¯t go out much. I couldn¡¯t go to the karaoke with my friends. Couldn¡¯t go to the party. And God forbid them of hearing about a boyfriend. For some reason both of them were attached to me, and didn¡¯t want me to leave home. And with that I followed my boring life. ¡­ It was suffocating. I remember the day before we were brought to this world. I was walking home with a classmate I had a crush on, since we had a school assignment to work on. He was the easygoing but shy type, although he really liked to play pranks. This funny side of his was what attracted me. Arriving home, I went to cook our lunch, while he started our assignment. I went to tell him it was ready when everything went wrong. I tripped on the carpet. And fell down on him. I was totally ashamed. This kind of situation with the boy I liked made me blush quickly. I looked on his eyes. He was trying to apologize for the situation. And we heard the keys falling. We looked scared at the door. My father was there, for the first time coming early from work. He had this angry face. And I could imagine why. He kicked my crush out. He was already yelling. And then he turned to me. He scolded me for the whole evening. I wasn¡¯t even listening to him. Only trying to hold back my tears. When he finally stopped, he grounded me. All that injustice made me speechless. And I being unable to talk back made me angry. Angry with myself and my inability to fight back. That night I cried a lot. My mother wouldn¡¯t come back today, so it was only me and my father. It was only late when I decided to sneak out. I was tired to always hold back. I would, for the first time in my life, do something for myself. The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.Time to feed my ego. I called one of my friends. She thought it was a joke, but soon she was saying I was doing the right thing. There was a party going right now. I locked my room, took the keys and exited through the window. And there I went. It had loud music. Loud, my bones were almost vibrating. No lyrics to be heard. It was crowded. I quickly found my friends. We had already decided that today would be ¡®Girls Night¡¯. No boys allowed. And so I danced. Danced until I was tired. I rest and went back to dancing. Until even my soul felt cleaner. And that was my first night out. I remember when we left the party. It was almost 5 A.M. For the first time I thought it wasn¡¯t boring. That I had finally found something that made me happy. I left the girls and went alone to my house. I was almost running. It was late, and I didn¡¯t want my parents to discover about tonight. I was happily rushing to home. Feeling that happy heartbeat after the party. Until someone held my wrist. I turned around. It was some guy I never saw. She was wearing a hood, so I couldn¡¯t see his face. My heart began to beat faster for a totally different reason. And for the first time I felt fear. He took me to an alley. I tried to resist but he was stronger. He held me on a wall and tried to kiss me. I bit him, and he punched me. He said that I should be a good girl and that I should stop resisting. He had the audacity to tell me I was going to like it. I had already given up when the strange began. A high pitch sound. The guy was scared. He dropped me and began to run. I only stayed there, too shaken to move. The sound changed to a howling. When I looked up, a circle was shining. A Portal, my mind told me. A faint smile appeared on my mouth. And that was the last thing I remembered from my old world.
Author''s note: Aaaaand new (smallest) chapter! I was planning a large chapter, but got too depressed to go on, so I decided to make small chapters about her past. I will still write about her creation, and first time arriving the other world. But I will only give small chapters when not in the main story. It''s not necessary to read these smaller ones, since I won''t be telling no plot on these. They are just to get to know other characters. Hope you like it! Thanks for reading! Chapter 14 - Merchandise and Card Game Okay, now my head hurts. The adverse effect of being drugged TWICE a day. I¡¯m really rethinking my plans of letting those merchants alive. ¡­ I think I¡¯ll be extra evil with the mage guy, if I ever find them again¡­ Anyway, here I was, with my head spinning and waking up in another cart. But, it had a bed. We were still travelling, as I could feel the cart moving. What? Oh that? Yeah, you heard it right. I was sleeping in a bed. This totally confused me too, don¡¯t worry. Also, I think I should say that I was not the only one. The catgirl from before was with me. And, as you know, it¡¯s a cart. It doesn¡¯t have much space. What I¡¯m trying to say is¡­ well¡­ I¡¯m sleeping with her. And before you think anything kinky, no. Not that sleeping. Only cuddling. And, no, no need to call the cops. From the way she¡¯s holding me, I would guess she thinks I¡¯m some plush toy. No kidding. She¡¯s even a bit taller than me. Time to kill some things and grow, I guess. After escaping from her hug, I quickly analyzed the situation. I remember being drugged by the merchants. After staying on a cage, I remember being sold. But nothing afterwards. Why the hell am I in bed? First things first I looked at my ring. The slave mark was still there, so no use analyzing the ring. Just gonna jump to the orders list
Current Orders
Don¡¯t kill Don¡¯t escape (30m radius) Don''t use magic
And that¡¯s it. And it only helped to let me even more confused. The only exit was through the front. I guess they still didn¡¯t want us to try to escape. With nothing more to do, I exited. ¡­ The one riding this cart was the leader from before. He was wearing an overcoat, but I think that he was wearing leather armor too. He used a hat to protect his eyes from the sun. If I remember correctly, he was bald, but had a black beard covering his face. He had that air of a general, telling you that he should be respected. I couldn¡¯t help but lower myself into a fighting stance. He saw me. ¡°Easy, boy¡± he was grinning. ¡°No use trying to fight. You can¡¯t kill.¡± ¡°I can ssstill hurt. And hurt badly.¡± I replied. He seemed amused. ¡°So you can really talk. Guess you¡¯re not a kid then.¡± He scratched his head. ¡°Now, maybe you will worth more¡± he mumbled. ¡°Hey, I can hear you!¡± ¡°And you can¡¯t do nothing about it¡± he said in a somewhat dark tone. Okay, it got dark. Time to try again. I sat beside him. My ability to ignore the almost fight was working wonders. ¡°Where we going?¡± Sincere curiosity, not that I¡¯m not thinking on ways to escape (getting killed was still the one with most success rate) ¡°Just taking a rare one to a wealthy noble around here. He likes non-humans slaves, so I guess he will pay us handsomely¡± He probably saw my face and quickly added. ¡°Not you. You are rare, but not what he usually likes. And we still have to read your skills¡± I tilted my head, confused. He saw that and explained it. ¡°We don¡¯t have anyone who can read the God¡¯s Scripture, so you aren¡¯t for sale. For now. And our current trade is too important to make it wait.¡± He pointed to another cart. ¡°The main attraction is on that one.¡± OK, he talks. He must be quite bored. Maybe I can reason with him, and he¡¯ll let me go. ¡°Sssso, another thing. I¡¯m not a real sssla¡­¡± He raised a hand, stopping me. ¡°Don¡¯t even try. I don¡¯t know how that old merchant got you, but it¡¯s not my problem. They made a slave agreement over you. I paid money for you. You¡¯re a slave now¡± He continued to drive the horses like he just didn¡¯t drop a bomb in a demon. ¡°But, sssir he kidna¡­¡± I tried to restart ¡°Do you want me to order silence to you?¡± Okay, that really made me shut up. I sat there, for many minutes, thinking if I should stay or go back to the bed. I was counting the numbers of trees (we were in some kind of plains, so it was a rare occurrence) we passed when he suddenly talked again. ¡°If you still think about revoking your slave mark, you should talk with your next employees. I¡¯m sure they will try to help you. But you will have to wait until you¡¯re sold.¡± Now he started to talk again. I¡¯m not gonna lose my last chance to ask one more thing. ¡°And why that?¡± I asked. He looked at me, confused. Maybe I was really ambiguous. Maybe I should train my speech? I pointed to inside the cart. Realization downed on his face, when he understood. ¡°Oh, the accommodations, you mean?¡± I nodded. ¡°Well, you are our newest products. We don¡¯t want you to break before you are sold, do we?¡± Before you are sold. Thinking of what could happen after I was sold made me shudder. ¡°But the other kept uss in cagesss?¡± ¡°Well, Otis, that old merchant, doesn¡¯t have a permit to trade slaves. We, on the other hand, have it¡± he looked at the other carts. ¡°And we only deal with top products¡± And two questions answered. We were being treated well, so we could worth more. And I got the name of the other trader. It will be a lot easier to track him down. But one more thing was bugging me. ¡°One more thing, why you¡¯re being polite with me?¡± Now, I¡¯m asking the real question. He looked at me, considering if he should answer. ¡°Because you obeyed when I told you to be silent. I was taught that obedience should be rewarded. Don¡¯t you think so?¡± Okay, it got serious here. Of course I nodded. I won¡¯t be debating life lessons with a slave trader. And disagreeing with him could potentially kill me. Yeah, it would help me to escape, but I think I will look for a less painful way first. I wondered if it was okay for me to walk around. I asked the ¡®nice¡¯ slaver if I could, and he simply nodded. ¡°30 meters, don forget¡± he said, as I was getting off the cart. Better not disobey him. There were four carts in our little crew. The cart I was sleeping was the last one. I guess two were for the slaves and the other two for the slavers. Because of what Leader told me (uhmm, I have to remember to get his name) I think that there were only three slaves on this group. At the distance, it was possibly to see a huge forest. It dominated the landscape, and i was only able to see it from left to right. It somehow felt that there were less people on here. I remember at least 20 before, but now, I couldn¡¯t even see half of it. First, I wanted to go to the ¡®main attraction¡¯ cart. I got really curious of what they will sell. It was the second cart. Well, it was my plan at first. But then I passed on one of the slavers carts. There was a small statue there. A guy holding a purse and scales. It was very well made. Uhmm, I guess it was one of the minor gods? Something like the trading god, I wonder? ¡­ And then it downed on me. This was a shrine. I think my best plan to escape just went down. IS a shrine equal to a temple? The goddess never said anything about it. DAMMIT. Now even if I die I will most likely resurrect right beside the slavers (maybe). But it was too risky. This WOULD make my price go up, but I don¡¯t want to be known as an Immortal Slave. Well, back to the planning board, I guess. ¡­ With this sullen mood, I proceed to the other slave with the catgirl by my side. ¡­ What? I look again. Yeah, she was there. The little catgirl from before. When did she get here? ¡°Hey¡± I said. ¡°Hi¡± she weakly answered. And, that was it. Our biggest conversation so far. And of course, awkward silence followed it. Well, let¡¯s just walk to the other. She just followed. By the way, while I was having a depressive moment, the Leader¡¯s cart was almost reaching us. So now I had to walk a little more. And together with the silent girl, we went to the slave cart. The cart looked like a cage, so we could clearly see the slave inside. ¡­ He was HUGE. Even bigger than the other Pilgrims, and I might add that most of them must had modified their height. And he was buffed. If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.Not the magic buff, you gamers. The I-live-for-the-gains buff. He would easily put bodybuilders from my world to shame (random memory recollection, some muscle guys in tight speedos. Proceeding to re-delete it) He was seated in a chair, while looking bored to the maximum. He had chains on both wrists and ankles. He was using a vest and cargo shorts (not really cargo shorts, but looked a lot like it). He was a Beastman, but I don¡¯t really know which one. Since he was sat down, I could only see his ears, and it really wasn¡¯t enough to guess it. He had a large scar starting on his forehead and making a straight line across his left eye. He was red haired, but since he was completely ignoring us (is he sleeping?), I couldn¡¯t see his eyes. The strange thing was that it looked like decoration. Even the cage seemed to make it look like some kind of presentation. While we were astonished (catgirl even hide behind me. He was that scary), we got close our destination. Ahhhh, that¡¯s why there were less people, the rest had gone ahead to prepare the camp. They were starting to cook the lunch. Nothing to do anymore, I called the girl to go back to our cart. I wouldn¡¯t like no one to think we were trying to escape, would I? On the way back, I finally got her to tell me her name. It was Katlyn. Her parents had a strange naming sense. And when we arrived, I tried to talk with the leader guy again. And I discovered some things. We were stopping because there was a bandit gang on this forest, and before crossing it, the slavers had to pay a toll. Strangely civilized, I thought. The place we were going was a castle owned by twins. They apparently wanted to breed more slaves to work on their mines, and so, they needed a strong male to get the right genes. And that¡¯s what they would sell. This took me a while to digest. Knowing that there were slaves in this world was one thing, but discovering they were doing selective breeding was in another level. I took a time to process it all, enough to make Leader-san worried with me (yeah, I forgot to ask his name). After that, he left to talk with the rest of the dealers. And so, I had some time to myself, as Kat almost immediately went back to sleep. So recollection time! I was brought to a new world. Killed and was killed on my third day. Learned magic on the same day I was killed. Discovered that my race is totally looked down. Killed a wolf. Learned about my race specific ability. Killed the same wolf. And now I was a slave. ¡­ Yeah¡­ A lot happened. No doubt I¡¯m feeling really tired. I guess it won¡¯t be bad if I sleep a little. I woke up with some guy yelling at me. It was Leader-san. It was time for lunch. I woke Kat up (it was easy. Maybe it¡¯s because she had already been a slave), and we went to eat together. The slavers were eating and making a mess. It almost felt like those guild scenes, with everyone eating and talking loud, except this was more like a picnic. And it was a group of slavers. And I had the first real look at the group. All of them were human. Guess it makes sense, as we were in a human continent. There were even some women that looked equally scary as the males. The bandits who controlled this forest had arrived too. So they were sharing food with the slavers before going into business. Both groups completely ignored us as we went to pick our food (it was some kind of soup). Only the cook talked to us, pointing to where we should eat. The Beastman was already eating. So we sat next to him to eat. And again, he is huge. His bowl was huge too; being easily bigger than mine and Kat¡¯s bowls together (Kat looked with envy at his plate). And I got to see his eyes. It was red, almost at the same color of his hair. And the great surprise. I got to see his tail. At first, I thought it was a raccoon-like tail. But the color reminded me of another animal. It took me a while to remember it. But I did remember. The fluffy and having nothing in common with this giant, the red panda! ¡­ Okay, he looked a bit cute after this funny discovery. Anyway, we ate our meals. Quietly. It seems silence is a Beastman¡¯s trait. After eating we just sat there, waiting for something to happen. It gave me some time to think about random things. What are the others doing? Will I ever be able to escape from slavery? Are the red panda men a race with only red heads? While thinking these, the giant got bored too. He took out a pack of cards. It seems he wants to play. Kat, who was glooming around, suddenly got happy, snatched the pack from the big guy (this made me worry for her life) and started to teach me how to play it. He didn¡¯t seem to be angry about it, and only laughed at her action (thank god!), and just waited her to explain it to me. But he looked a little eager to play. So, regarding Beastman, second trait: loves card games. Hope it¡¯s not a gambling game. I¡¯m terrible at those. Luckily, it was not a gambling game. Still, they totally obliterated me on it. We played it for hours. Whenever I thought I had good cards, they seemed to vanish, and I was left with some pretty bad cards. Whenever it seemed I would win, both suddenly pulled it out. I was only able to win one round. But I won¡¯t talk about how many I lost; I still have some pride on me. But regardless of my ability to lose most rounds, it was funny. Kat was cutely laughing, and the big guy (I discovered his name was Reka) didn¡¯t stop smiling. We even attracted the attention of some slavers. At that point, I was simply spent, so when the others started to enter, I just quit. And thus, they started to gamble. With nothing else to do, I simply laid down on the grass. It was peaceful, with the shadow of the tree covering me, and the weak breeze that was blowing. And I simply let my mind wander. When it was getting dark, Reka and Kat had taken almost all the belongings of the slavers. It was surprising that the slavers simply let them stay with their coins. I guess it means that slaves are not as low as animals for them. That, or it would be too embarrassing for them to use their position to win against a little girl. I had to take Kat away when they started to bet clothes. A little girl shouldn¡¯t play so far in a gamble. It could take a serious turn in events. So I dragged a complaining (and slightly richer) kitty to the cart we were sleeping. Leader-san was there, so I guess the negotiation went okay. He told me that tomorrow, before the sun rises, we would continue our way, and we should get some sleep. We entered the cart and went to sleep. Or tried, in my case. It seems I had sleep enough already and I couldn¡¯t make myself asleep. So, I climbed the cart to look at the night sky. Leader-san was sleeping on the chair he was sitting while driving the cart. I got a little worried about him. And immediately facepalmed. I was worrying about a slaver. I sighed. Guess Stockholm syndrome is really a thing. Up there I stargazed. My old world pollution made the stars more difficult to see. Here, I could see more stars than I had ever imagined. The twin moons were glowing, red and blue, giving the starry sky an uncanny look. From the south (at least, I think it was south) there was a beautiful aurora. It shone in red, blue and yellow. I stayed the whole night gazing at the beautiful sky
Author note: Aaaaaaannnnnnnddddddd new chapter! Finally! And now, I''m going to proceed destroying the image everyone has of slavers! MUAHAHAHA! But seriously, Gyp was lucky. He got one of the nicest bunch. But still, don''t go around defending slavery. It was only to make them slightly more interesting. And he didn''t even interacted with them yet. And apologies for being so late to write this one. I had a lot of tests and seminars in these past weeks, and only now I could get time to finally finish it. And I still have more tests, so the next chapter might be a liiiiittle delayed too. Anyway, thanks for all the people who are following this fiction, it''s almost embarassing to have so much following. Some more and I will break the 100 mark! If you see any grammar mistakes, please, comment (including odd sentences, my native language is getting on my way a lot). Thanks For Reading! Chapter 15 - The Slaves and The Twins We were arriving at the castle owned by the twins after four days travelling. It was awesome. A single tower rose from the middle of the castle. Four towers, smaller ones, rose from each cardinal point. The main building was circular. At its base, there were several houses, probably where the servants resided. It wasn¡¯t a town, but the noise coming from there screamed ¡®city life¡¯. The castle looked like it was carved from the mountain behind it, having a similar color to its rocks. The whole village was surrounded by a 10 meters high wall. From here, we could only see the towers and the gate of the walls. From what I heard, there was a giant mine behind the castle, and it was the main resource from this area. It was the only mithril mine in all the territory of Hagavia, and it was one of the three in all the Royal Continent. Needless to say, it was an expensive metal, and gave the twins a huge income. Okay, I know what you are thinking ¡®You just arrived at the forest Gyp! How can you already be there?¡¯ So now, I will resume of what happened on these last four days. First, I will explain our speed. The things that pulled the cart weren¡¯t actual horses. I thought they were, but then I saw they had 6 legs (and almost died of heart attack). It was a close relative from horses, but they were raised by elves and infused with magic, so they were a lot quicker than the normal ones. They were called B?. But they were quite weaker in terms of combat, so they were only used as transport (and they were expensive). They were so fast that it wasn¡¯t possible to follow them on feet, so I passed almost four days inside the cart with only Kat to talk, when she wasn¡¯t sleeping. And I discovered more about the world, while talking with her. For example, the traditions of some Werebeast tribes. In general, they were a warmongering (and gambling) race. So they made rules. One of them is that when they lose a battle, the losers should be taken as slaves by the winner. This made the hot blooded tribes think carefully before attacking others, and decreased the violence rate of the race. So the slavery custom actually came from the Beastman, and not from Humans, as I first thought. Again, I should stop my biased view of Humans. Of course, this also made some of the more pacific ethnics find ways to avoid battle. One of them was the Champion Duel, where the champions of enemy tribes would fight, and only the champion who lost would be taken as a slave. Reka came from one of these Duels. Also, I learned that Beastman had a surprisingly slow growth rate. This made no sense from my point view. Why would a race so connected to fighting grow so slowly? And I also discovered that she was 15 years old (the shock almost made me faint. She didn¡¯t look older than 7!) I learned some ''common sense'' things that I didn¡¯t know. The blue panel I usually read things, is what they call ¡®God¡¯s Scriptures¡¯, and it¡¯s actually a language that not many domain (hell, some can¡¯t even read their own language). So, the Pilgrim¡¯s innate ability to read it is something out of this world (no pun intended). She almost fainted (retribution for the win) when I carelessly said that I could read it. She made me promise that I wouldn¡¯t tell anyone about it. According to her, it would make get involved to the wrong people, so I promised her. Also, the time needed to control mana was roughly 5 years. And to control a Mana type would take another year. Yeah, the Pilgrims learned it is less than a week. The bonus given by our title was no joke. Of course I didn¡¯t tell her I was a mage. It would be too much of a shock for only one day of conversation. And about Hagravia. I discovered lots of things about it too. It was the only country were women commanded. According to legends, the founder of this country was the only woman hero, who earned her hero grade through battle. To honor her, it was made custom to let the Queen rule the country. The castle where we were going was also rumored to be one of the best places a slave could work. It was said that this family was attached with their personal servant, being compassionate, just and kind with them. I also discovered how to play card games better. I even increased my winning rate to 9 every time we played (we still had to stop to eat). I¡¯m still not telling how many I lost. And one of the most interesting things that happened. I discovered why Leader-san was so kind. I t turns out that he was a slave long ago. He was a gladiator, and with every win, he gathered money, until he was able to buy his freedom. I guess it is awkward for him to choose this line of business, but maybe he is just trying to save others from the terror of slavery. Of course, not only good men worked here. On the day following the aurora borealis (wait, it come from south¡­ so ¡®australis¡¯, I guess?) one of the slavers got quite angry from losing the card game. He even tried to vent out at the slaves. Being unable to fight back, Reka could only endure the blows. Until Leader-san came. That was the day I swore to never disobey Leader-san. He was totally in scary mode. The years as a gladiator were clearly showed to us. He broke six rib bones, both arms and a leg of the slaver, leaving him one step from death. He called one of their healers to heal him, and broke him again. And left him on the road with his things. He had already disobeyed before, so he was harshly dealt with. Oh, Reka was OK. He was a champion of his village. The healer also was good, so it only took some hours for him to be completely healed. This little event made the trip more enjoyable for me and Kat. That same night, Reka completely destroyed everyone on the cards. Even Kat wasn¡¯t able to keep up with him. Needless to say, I quit after losing #$@ times for him. That day, he was the richest on the group. And then, here we are. At castle Silberburg. It was almost midday when we saw the gates. It was one of these days with some clouds in the blue sky. We were not running anymore, so we could hear the forest. The bugs¡¯ buzzing and the horses¡¯ trot. It was really calming. Leader-san already told his plans. He would enter alone with Reka in the castle, and we were to await him outside. Reka was currently being ornate. No kidding. The amount of oil they are using to make his muscle glister against the sun and the amount of cream to make his hair gleam was absurd. They even gave him some gold chains! And in the four days we took to arrive here, Leader-san made him work out to get pumped, so now he was almost a Hulk (except for the tail and ears). He was literally sparkling. Well, it would still take some time for him to get ready. And his bored face told everyone he did not like all that arrangement. Dragging a laugh cat with me, I went to pick our food. Of course, it was before the gates opened. Everybody just stared at it. The gates only opened to visitors, and there was definitely no one ahead of us. It was only us. And then, some horses exited from the castle. I looked at Leader-san. He was pale as a ghost. ¡°What the hell went wrong?¡± I heard him say. The entourage was quickly coming our way. They were riding B?. On front of them, two young looking people were commanding. They both jumped when they arrived at our little camp. One was a stunning girl. She was tall, with a wavy blonde hair. Even having small breasts for being slim, her clothes was good fitted for her, showing her curves very well (And what good curves she had). She looked like a model, and her serious face and blue eyes gave her a princess aura. Besides the princess, was a young man. He was tall, with his blonde hair tied in a bun with a well shaved face. He also had blue eyes. From the way he walked to his face, he was a total prince charming. His armor wasn¡¯t as tight as the girl¡¯s, and was more intimidating than hers. Even not knowing them, I could say they were nobility. And the coat of arms in both armors really gave it away. A black tower, over a white and silver field. These are the twins, Freyja and Freyr Wenz. And, by the look on their faces, they were pissed. ¡°JOSEP¡± a really mad princess walked in Leader-san direction (what? You thought I forgot to ask him his name? Leader-san sounds cooler). Her brother was accumulating some mana, but didn¡¯t look like he would attack. It seem more like a protection measure. Freyja stopped in front of Leader-san, just some centimeters between them. ¡°You fucker. You made 10 of our servants die!¡± Well, now we get why she is pissed. Now, to discover why she was pissed with us. ¡°M-milady?¡± Leader-san looked taken aback. I¡®ve never see him this way. ¡°W-what did happen?¡± ¡°The merchant you recommended to us¡­ do you remember him?¡± She backed off, and started to walk around him. ¡°Otis? Yes milady, what happened¡± It seems he got calmer. I guess years of working as a merchant gave him this ability of cool headed. ¡°That Pig! He sold us 3 sick servants!¡± She stopped at his front again and pulled her sword. ¡°Did you know about it? Did you know about the sick ones¡± She put the tip of her sword against his throat. ¡­ Ohhhhh¡­ Now it makes sense. The guy who kidnapped me had passed here before. And sold some sick slaves. And now they¡¯re blaming Leader-san for supporting that business. ¡°Your Highness, you know I would never try to damage you in any way¡± He said, a lot calmer than before. Freyja stared at him for a few seconds. ¡°On your knees¡± She ordered, pressing the sword against his skin, making a thin line of blood flow. Leader-san was quick to comply. Freyja made a motion with her hand to one of her guards. He brought her a vial. ¡°Drink it¡± She said, only lowering the sword to give him the vial, and returning immediately. He looked a little confused at this development. Maybe it never happened along this way before. Well, I guess it would be safe for him to drink. If she wanted him dead¡­ well¡­ she already has a blade on his throat. It¡¯s better to follow. Leader-san came to the same conclusion as me, and with a sigh, he opened the vial and downed the liquid in a single gulp. The princess waited for some seconds. If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. And then his aura changed. No kidding. It was all flowing on the chaotic way all auras flow, when it suddenly got orderly. What she did to him? ¡°Are you Josep, the Neckhunter, unbeaten champion of the Royal Arena?¡± she asked while staring at him, sword in his neck. He made a face like he didn¡¯t like the name. ¡°Yes, Your Highness.¡± He simple answered. She heated her sword. ¡°Are you a slave merchant of the Hagravia territory?¡± ¡°Yes, milady. And also from the Dragonspire, when I got an request.¡± He answered. ¡°And now¡­ did you know about the sickened servants that Otis sold to me?¡± There was a moment of silence, while everybody waited for his answer. ¡°No, milady. I would never let someone sell damaged goods.¡± He answered still in a monotonic voice. Everyone seemed calmer after the answer. Even Freyr let the mana flow normally again. Why did everyone level headed now? He had answered the same before? Was it because of the potion? What was in there? Kat looked my confusion and simply whispered to me. ¡°Truth serum¡± ¡­ That is dangerous. But now they were kinda smiling so I guess it wasn¡¯t that bad. Freyr finally came down from his horse, and came to talk with Leader-san. ¡°Sorry for my rudeness. I have to do all in my power to protect my domain¡± Freyja said in a apologetic tone, while helping Leader-san up. I ink she is truly sorry. ¡°No offense taken, milady. Just hope you hadn¡¯t use the truth potion.¡± Leader-san answered, in that mechanical way. Freyr was smiling. Maybe he thought it was fun this robotic voice? ¡°So, since we are already here, let¡¯s see what you have for sale!¡± He said, in a happy tune. Is he that dense? Just a minute ago they were ready to kill everyone and now he want to buy? This is double personality dense level! ¡°I¡¯m sorry, Your Highness, but I¡¯m afraid he isn¡¯t ready yet. You came a little early than expected¡± Said robot-san Leader-san. ¡°Details, details¡­ let¡¯s just see him and get over with it!¡± He said in a excited tune. Freyja shook her head to her brother. But they got to see Reka anyway. I guess being the most powerful people at the moment gave them some leeway, and they were guided to the slave. When they reached him, both got agape at the view. Even in the commotion from before, the slavers working on him didn¡¯t stop. So now there was a giant before them, almost gleaming under the sunlight, sitting on that I-am-bored way. I must admit, it was awe-inspiring. ¡°Where you get him?¡± Asked an astonished princess. ¡°He was sold to me from a clan of the Beastman. They had some debts with my group, and that was the only way to pay.¡± Came the mechanical answer. They went inside Leader-san¡¯s tent to discuss the price. They really wanted to buy him. While they were away I looked at their guards. All were using heavy armor. But it had a duller color compared to the twins armor. I guess only the twins had mithril armor. While the rest had the silver armor that this castle was rumored for. Oh, by the way, this city wasn¡¯t known for forging mithril. I guess they don¡¯t have such advanced forges to do it. But they do forge with silver, which is also extracted with the mithril. And it¡¯s quite good quality. But they weapon seemed better. Even sheathed, the mana they emitted was different from the armor. I guess these had mithril weapon too. I think it won¡¯t be a bad idea to antagonize with them. And of course, I want to train my magic. Controlling mithril might be an awesome ability to get. While I was drooling over the idea, the twins had finished their business with Leader-san. His aura was almost getting back to normal. I guess the potion don¡¯t have such long duration, after all. The twins were almost going, when Freyja seemed to remember something. She came towards Leader-san again. ¡°I¡¯m sorry Josep, but you still have to pay for the servants who died.¡± She said once again in an apologetic tone. ¡°Milady? Wasn¡¯t Otis the one who should pay?¡± He asked, still on the monotone voice. ¡°We tried to contact him, and we discovered that they were killed some days ago, while travelling through a forest in Redoak.¡± She said in a sad way. ¡­ DAMMIT! MY REVENGE WAS TAKEN FROM ME! ¡°You know the rules. You supported him, so now it¡¯s your responsibility.¡± She said. Still, it seems she really didn¡¯t want to do it, but was somewhat bound to do it. I guess she really is a good girl, deep down. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, Your Highness. But we don¡¯t have much to pay right now.¡± He said. ¡°Come on, Old Man.¡± Said a dense prince. Like, come on, read the atmosphere! ¡°You gonna say you don¡¯t have any other slave with you?¡± He said jokingly. ¡°Well, I do have some but¡­¡± ¡°See, there¡¯s no problem them!¡± ¡°But sir, they weren¡¯t properly analyzed yet and¡­¡± ¡°Oh come on, Old Man! I can do it for you! For free! Now, where are they?¡± He said already looking around. ¡°That way¡± Leader-san said, pointing at us. He lost against this hurricane in person form. Defeated, he turned to talk with Freyja. He stormed his way toward us. ¡°What we have here? A catgirl?¡± He said, while kneeling in front of Kat. He quickly grabbed her hand, and began to read her Status. How do I know it? I discovered that using Mana Eye while someone read the table made me able to notice the mana formation. Of course, I couldn¡¯t read, but it was already something. He went quiet quickly. ¡­ Did he found something strange? He started to mumble something to himself. And then he nodded. ¡°That will do. Indeed it will do.¡± He said while nodding. Then he turned to me. ¡°A demon? Hey, Josep! What race is him?¡± He shouted. ¡°We still didn¡¯t analyzed him, your Highness. So, no idea.¡± He shouted back, and went back to talk with the princess. ¡°Interesting. It¡¯s my first time seeing a demon, so pardon my intrusion!¡± He said happily, before taking my hand and reading my Status. And again he went silent. He stared at my screen for quite some time. Is he the first to actually read it? Come on people, you need to do better job! ¡­ What am I saying? Don¡¯t read it! I¡¯m no slave! Actually isn¡¯t he silent for quite some time? Did something happen? Is he okay? And then he started to tremble. At first, I thought he got some random sickness. But then I got what was happening. He was getting excited at something. He quickly got up and dragged his sister to a corner. It was quite comical the face everyone was making while both was having their discussion. Sometimes they would shout ¡®You won¡¯t believe it¡¯ or ¡®No way!¡¯ but the rest we weren¡¯t able to hear. At the end, both came back, looking controlled. ¡°We accept both slaves as your way of repayment, Josep, the Neckhunter.¡± Said Freyr in a serious tone. Okay, even without knowing him, I know he is planning something. He didn¡¯t act that normal since he arrived! ¡°Are you sure, Your Highness?¡± Asked Leader-san. He seemed a little unsettled with the sudden change. ¡°Maybe I can get something better for you when I come back?¡± Hey! That hurt, you know? ¡°No need, old friend.¡± Said Freyja in a relaxing tone. ¡°Since you wasn¡¯t in the wrong, these two would suffice.¡± Leader-san looked to both of them, confused. But I saw what they did. They putted him between a rock and a hard place. He couldn¡¯t deny the deal, since he would be stepping in a noble kind word and risking the payment of ten servants (which sounded expensive). He also didn¡¯t know mine and Kat true value, and would look really indelicate to ask for our status. ¡°And, for your service during all these years, we wish to grant you this sword¡± said Freyr, while giving him a sword. A mithril sword. They won. There was no way to deny such a thing. While Freyja and Josep finished the transaction, Freyr made the guards help with our luggage (they were quite surprised at Kat spoils from her gambling). Some of the guards were to return later, while we were to quickly return to the castle. Freyr asked the guards who would stay to help the slavers on their departure, promising to send someone to pick them up when he got to the castle. He was quite smart, making the guards unable to complain about the sudden decision, while also looking considerate about their condition. He was so calculating that it was scary. Anyway, with that, we were on our way to the castle. What did he saw on Kat¡¯s Status? What did he saw on mine? ¡­ Well, I guess I will discover it sooner or later. For now, I will only appreciate the view while we go to the castle.
Author''s Note: Aaaaaaaaaaannnnnnndddddd New Chapter! Ha! I bet i caught you off guard! You thought i would take forever to write one more, didn''t you? (Relax,I thought it too) So here it is, with a subtle push to the plot. Now we will see some od the customs of the Hagravia''s nobility (I will try to make it fun). I still didn''t develop Kat and Reka a lot, but i intend to keep them around for a long time. Try to discover what was on Kat''s Status. It was veeeerryyy subtle pointed last chapter, and I admit it will be hard to find without nothing what it is. But I''m mean, and I''ll make everyone go crazy looking for it MUAHAHAHAHAHAHA (if you think you discovered, you have my permission to comment it) Next, I think I will try to finish Luna''s Side Story. It will have an interesting ending. And now, thanks for all the people following this fiction (it''s more than a hundred!) I will think of some nice thing to write for celebrate you. I was even thinking about writing a new fiction, but I think I will wait a little more (goal: 50 chapter) before really starting it (maybe only write a one-shot) If you find some grammar mistake or story mistake (it happens) or sentences with hard meaning, please comment. Thanks For Reading! Forced Hiatus Not a new chapter! Bad news people. Last week, I managed to get my PC infected with a random ransomware. This little f***er made me delete most of my documents and, unfortunately, it included all the chapters I had already written and all my plans for the plot, characters, abilities, locations and so on. (and even other fictions I wrote) This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. This made me get a little unmotivated about redoing all of it (especially the planning), and counting with the finals coming and random seminars, I decided to go in a hiatus. I still don''t know when I''ll come back, so please, endure the lack of future chapters. Chapter 16 - More Twists and the Sweet Taste~ The castle was even more incredible closer to it. The silver walls were glistening under the sun light. They were not as shine as silver, so I think they must had put something on it to diminish the glow. They were really well made, as there were few flaws on it. It was also way taller up close, making it a breath taking structure. The castle also, even not being made of silvery ore, was a beautiful building too. Just after the walls was a small village that stood on the side of castle, closer to the mountain. The guard who was riding with me said that there was where the families who didn¡¯t belong to the nobility resided, both civilians and slaves. He also explained that all slave could buy their freedom, and a lot of the ones who managed to buy it, remained here to work at the castle, leading for the formation of the small village. When we were almost on the castle, the twins disappeared. Not the kind of running and hiding, no. One moment both were there, and then they simply disappeared! I could see the surprise in Reka and Kat¡¯s eyes, but the guards were unfazed, so I guess there was nothing to worry about. When we got closer, the doors to the balcony were openrd, and the twins came out. The stranger thing was that they were both dressed formally, out of their armors. How they were able to get up there and change clothes was a mystery. Freyja step forward. ¡°Jorson! Go with the new guys to the village and see that Ko explain their jobs and show their new house.¡± The guard she called jumped from his Bo and went to help Kat to get out of her horse. Freyja still had more orders. ¡°Bastian, go to the guard tower and send three to pick up the others who were left behind. With the horses, mind you. The others may rest.¡± Bastian rode toward one of the towers close to the wall, to call for the others. The rest of the guards were also dismounting (the guard that was with me simple grabbed me and put me at the floor), and we were about to go when Freyr stepped forward to say something. ¡°Leave the demon behind; we need to talk with him.¡± And with this, both went inside. The guards looked confused about this, but quickly complied. While they were going, I could see Kat looking at me with concern, but she turned around and followed the guard. I stood there, thinking what the hell I did to already have the attention of the twins. After some time, a butler exited the castle and urged me to follow him. He was a dog-morph. His hair was completely white, so he must be quite old. No, he doesn¡¯t have a muzzle. Only a fluffy tail and dog ears, both white. It was somewhat adorable. The inside of the castle was a lot warmer than the outside. With the Mana Eyes, I could see various Ice Shards around, to cool down the castle. Needless to say, the interior was also well decorated, with tables, paintings and statues everywhere. Even the furniture seemed expensive, made from some fine looking wood. The butler took me to the second floor (the stairs were hellish, just saying) where we passed through a large corridor, filled with pictures of the Wenz family. All were blond, except for those who married into the family, and even they usually had blonde hair. The blue eyes were not a family trait, but black eyes instead. The twins inherited it from their mother, who was also in a painting at the corridor. I would be tremendously impressed by the castle luxury, if not for some of the servants who were coming and going around various rooms that were much less decorated. Such servants received a glare from the butler, meaning they were clearly making something wrong. It seems we went through the most decorated ones, and they tried to use the old tactic of intimidation by money. Why the twins would go so far for it, is something I still don¡¯t understand. The butler stopped in front of a grandiose door on the end of the corridor. He knocked and waited for the answer. The twins quickly answered, and the butler opened the door to let me pass. And again, I was stunned. We were at one of the towers of the castle. The walls were decorated with bookshelves, which went up the tower in a spiral. In the middle of the room was a great table, but from my point of view I couldn¡¯t exactly tell what was on it, except from some books pilled on the edge. At the other side of the room was a desk, and it was filled with more books and notes. Some were carefully rolled, and had a more official look. There were some that were simple thrown on the desk, maybe some personal notes. Behind such desk was another balcony, but not the one where the twins simple appeared. They went through a lot of trouble going from room to room to make this meeting. Sitting on the desk was Freyja, looking at some papers while she waited us. She was using a glass, and I must say it really fit her, giving her a serious and wise look. Her brother was nowhere to be seen. ¡°Uhm?¡± Freyja gave a nonchalantly look at us. ¡°Oh, the demon. You can leave now Clement, I take it from here.¡± The butler gave another bow before leaving and closed the door. Freyja went back to her papers, and I was left there, waiting. And I waited. ¡­ And waited. ¡­ And waited a bit more. ¡­ Still no response from the Lady. She was still reading her papers, and her expression changed just a liiiiiiitle bit, and she now had a small frown. Tired of waiting, I gave a small side step, to see if it would bother her. Not seeing any other change on her expression, I gave some steps, and waited. Seeing she was still unresponsive, I relaxed, calmly walked to the big table at the middle of the room and climbed (yes, climbed¡­ no, it¡¯s not funny) a chair to have a better look at it. Glad I didn¡¯t need to drag it, since I prefer to not anger the blonde lady over there. On top of the table was a map. And not your regular map, no. This, my friend, was an advanced map. The map had the whole Royal Continent on it. But different from the other maps I had seen, this one was a lot accurate. For starters, it had elevation too. The mountains and volcanoes were well depicted on the map, and even their colors were well represented. There were also miniatures of cities and other reference points. I could even see the monastery from here! The map also had a large border, so people could take their notes on the table without risking destroying the map. ¡°Hey sis! The demon seems to enjoy the map!¡±Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. The outburst almost made me fall from the chair, but I was able to control myself. Searching for where the voice came from, I found Freyr on the stairs, right above the door, carrying an old looking book. Yeah, I had forgotten the stairs were in spiral, so I haven¡¯t seen him over me. Freyja was still composed and only gave a quick look at him. ¡°Have you found it?¡± ¡°Yeah, it was almost at the top.¡± He said while jumping from up there. I was shocked by this, and almost ran to help him. But he simply floated down, as if it was the most usual thing. And he had that smug smile, as if he was testing my reaction. So I was considering throwing him out of the window, to see if he could float there. ¡°Here, the book about demons.¡± He said it in a thoughtful tone. Demon book? What, are you going to summon something? This could be dangerous! ¡­ ¡­ Oh yeah, I¡¯m a demon¡­ it must be about me¡­ hahaha¡­ A-Anyway, this caught Freyja attention, and she put the paper she was reading down, and asked to take a look at the book. While she skimmed through the pages he didn¡¯t wait her to finish it. ¡°It seems the demon over there¡­¡± He pointed at me. ¡°Uh, Gyp¡­ Was it? is an Imp. They were classified as an Envy Demon. They usually leave their villages when they reach 15 years, their maturity age. But Gyp doesn¡¯t look like an adult Imp. Aside from his wolfish features, he looks almost like a child one. Maybe it¡¯s because of his ¡®Pilgrim¡¯ condition, or the gods simple forgot to give him an adult form.¡± What? Exactly how much information did they have about these things? I didn¡¯t even know half of that! And he hadn¡¯t finished yet. ¡°In the book they mention that Imps can alter their looks by killing their enemies, but no one clearly explained how that happens. Almost all Imps reach a savage stage, so it was impossible to gather information about them.¡± He gave a small pause, and Freyja took that opportunity to speak. ¡°Can he be used by us?¡± Hey, I can still hear you, you know? He looked at me (he knows), and gave a sinister smile. ¡°Yes, we could use him.¡± With this Freyja got up, and came towards me. She sat down in a chair at near mine and stared at me with serious eyes. ¡°Gyp, right?¡± She extended her hand, to greet me. Things developed too fast, and I was unable to anything besides nodding and greeting. ¡°You must already know, but I am Freyja Wenz, Lady of Silberburg.¡± ¡°I am¡­¡± The brother was about to say something but Freyja stared at him. ¡°Okay, shutting up¡­¡± She sighed but recovered fast. ¡°First of all, we would like to apologize for the way we first met. Making a god¡¯s envoy a slave was quite indelicate.¡± She pulled a key and unlocked the collar around my neck. Things were developing quicker now, it seems. ¡°We also hope you can forgive Josep, he didn¡¯t know what he was dealing with when he first bought you.¡± She said, and gave a bowed. I recovered a bit from the happening, so I stopped her monologue. ¡°What do you know about the Pilgrimsss?¡± She calmly looked at me, reading my expression, before answering. ¡°It was already written on some holy texts about the coming of heroes. We just needed to know where to look at.¡± ¡°And you¡¯re not the first one we met. Some weeks ago a noble passed here, and they had some Pilgrims as their bodyguards. They said they were on their way to train and¡­ level up?¡± Freyr added to the talk. The term ¡®level up¡¯ was something known only by the people from Earth, so I¡¯m quite sure they are telling the truth. With this, it was all settled to me, but Freyja still had that ¡®but¡­¡¯ face, so I sighed and waited for her to drop the bomb. She noticed it and gave a cutesy smile. ¡°Now, you may want to return to your companions, but we would like to ask for your help in a difficult matter.¡± ¡°Brother, approximate the map to the forest.¡± Freyr was on the other side of the table, and he said some words before touching the table. A light emanated from the map, and mountains and villages disappeared. On its place, the map was showing a huge forest, with some villages surrounding it. ¡°This is Drex Woods, a forest that recently came to the attention of all the nobility.¡± She pointed to three of the villages. ¡°These villages have reported kidnappings recently. The scariest thing is how often they are happening, and the dispatched knights were unable to capture the kidnappers. The other villages also had cases of missing people, but only two or three people per village; a lot of people, but still less than these three. We were only able to discover the alias of the bandit¡¯s leader; someone nicknamed Mad Hat; and that their base is somewhere on this forest. It was decided that we would ask the bounty hunters to help us on this.¡± While she took a pause to breath, I asked the most necessary question. ¡°How would I help?¡± Freyr was the one who answered. ¡°We guess that the bandits must have some kind of mage with them, and he is able to locate any knights who try to approach them. So we intend to send you, who should be able to pass through their barriers undetected. You also have some training in magic, a plus. And your race is basically perfect for such an undercover mission.¡± ¡°What I gain by helping you?¡± It was another important question. I can¡¯t simply get into something so dangerous without gaining anything. And it¡¯s a long way back to the monastery, so I wouldn¡¯t like to go back on foot. ¡°Besides my friendship?¡± Freyr asked in a mischievous tone. I just glared at him and look at his sister. She seemed tired of her brother antics. ¡°There is a prize in gold for who capture Mad Hat, dead or alive. And in case you are able to find the kidnapped people, we will also give you one of our Bo.¡± I thought about the deal. It was the kind of thing a summoned to another world hero would go and try to solve. It would really help me in improving my skills. And I wouldn¡¯t die, even if get killed; so I guess I could give a help on this case. But still, I thought I could gain something more from this. ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll do it.¡± They started to get happy, but I raised my hands to stop them. ¡°On one condition; that you free the slave who came with me.¡± Yes, I became attached to Kat, so I would try and give her a little gift. No, no +1 to harem. She¡¯s just a girl, and I truly wanted her to enjoy a life of freedom. The twins got together to discuss my condition. Not long after they came back with another proposal. ¡°We can let the slave go in about a month. There will be an event on this time, and we will need all the slaves we can gather. Is this good enough for you?¡± I guess that a month will not be that bad?... Besides, it was said that here is a good place to work at, so I guess it wouldn¡¯t hurt. ¡°Okay, agreed.¡±
Quest Accepted!
Capture the bandit, Mad Hat (dead or alive)
Rewards10 gold A Bo A slave
¡­ I almost fell down by the sudden appearance of the blue panel. The twins were also surprised by it, and I could see them murmuring something and shaking their heads in unison. ¡°Go take a bath for now, we will hold a late lunch, and I hope we can further discuss your mission.¡± Freyja said, before going back to her paperwork. Waiting for me outside was the old butler. He had received orders to take me for the guest room, so I could take a bath and change my clothes. Riding for almost a week left me with a heavy odor, and I guess the lunch wouldn¡¯t allow for such smell. And I really needed to change my clothes. The room was¡­ elegant. Cozy, even. They had left the magical fireplace lit, which gave the room a comforting atmosphere. The green flames must be colder than the normal flames, as the room wasn¡¯t suffocating. The bath was also heated, by some Fire Shards at its base. This also reminded me to redo my own shards, but for now I would only be using Water ones, as I didn¡¯t have much time to create the others. Fortunately, the butler wasn¡¯t there to help me put the clothes on, as it would be way embarrassing for a 21th centurier like me. He did leave some clothes behind, but I had the uncomfortable felling they were kid¡¯s clothes. He also went as far as making a hole at the pants, so I leave my tail free. Guess having a tail make you remember this kind of details. He was again waiting for me outside the room, and he surprisingly took me back to the twins¡¯ library. Although, this time, he simple entered the room without knocking. Maybe he was making a show before?... The twins were sat on a smaller table at the side of the room, which had been ignored on my previous visit. There were already some food on top of it, and there was also a plate reserved for me. They were actually waiting for me before starting to eat. After sitting down, Freyr was the one who was serving the food. The old dog had already left the room. Freyja had a somewhat guilty look, and didn¡¯t made eye contact with me. Weird. ¡°Here Gyp. Taste some of this.¡± It was spaghetti like food, with some vegetables decorating it. A very charming meal. Actually, all the food there looked appetizing, and spending my previous meals eating soup and bread, well¡­ I would totally be wolfing it down! ¡­ Except it was too spicy! What is this? Super Mexican food? Are you trying to kill me? Freyr was surprisingly considerate, and quickly gave me a glass of wine. And it was a good one, to add to it; there was a small hint of alcohol, but a grape like taste filled my mouth. Its sweet taste overcame the burning sensation of peppers. Although, isn¡¯t it too sweet? I was about to ask the twins if this is its normal flavor, when a sudden box appeared before me.
Congratulation!
By consuming various poisons, you are now able to secrete some of them
Poisons gainedCapsicum - Hemorrhagic poison Soft Dream - Sleeping powder
¡­. My jaw dropped a lot by seeing the message. ¡°ARE YOU TRYING TO KILL ME?!¡± It¡¯s not actually my fault to go on an uproar like that. Freyr had a refreshing a smile, and was cutely blushing a bit as if he had made an adorable mistake. ¡°The book said some Imps had poison resistance, so I got curious~~~. But to think you would gain new abilities~~~ Hahahaha~~¡± ¡­ Someone, save me from these crazy nobles! Back Story - Luna, part 2 I was only feeling the ground. I didn¡¯t want to feel anything else, so I stayed there, motionless, with my eyes closed. I didn¡¯t want to think about what almost happened to me, so I tried to shut my mind down, and maybe try to sleep it off.
I was doing a pretty good job, until I finally felt the ground beneath me. It was rough and uneven, very different from the pavement of big cities. I managed to open my eyes, and saw earth. I wasn¡¯t close to any garden a moment ago, so finding myself on the earth got me confused. Confused enough to get me out of my torpor. I was in the middle of a cave. The earth was reddish, but the walls of the cave were browner. The roof, more than 10 meters above me, was filled with small gems, which reflected light and illuminated the cave. I couldn¡¯t see from where the light was coming, but it must have a strong source for illuminating this whole place. I was surprised for a moment, before remembering the odd circle that sucked me in. Years of reading made me realize what that thing must have been. Some kind of portal. This realization was not the best for the moment. I thought about my dad, about my friends and about school. If what I have read could be used for this situation, then I would probably be unable to go back. I sat back down and hugged my legs close to my chest. Thinking about losing everything, tears began to fill my eyes. I tried to not cry, but only seemed to make things worse. The air got stuck on my chest, and each sobbing only made it hurt. I was only half breathing, an amount that wouldn¡¯t help me recover. ¡®What a pathetic thing I was¡¯, was the only thing I thought, while trying not to cry on the lonely cave. I remembered what almost happened to me before the portal and how powerless I felt. I remembered the fight with my dad and how angry I got. I remembered the face of that guy who I liked when he was kicked out of my house and how embarrassed I was. All these feelings coming to me only made the sobbing worse. It made me want to hide, to runaway, to disappear. I was surprised to notice that I actually wanted a lone cave like this. I cried for some time, until I actually recalled my situation. And the loneliness now was oppressive. The already emotionally shaken me did not cope well with this feeling, and I went back to my painful, dry sob. But this time, something changed. There was a warm presence on the cave. A soothing sound seemed to resonate throughout the crystals, trying to calm me down. I felt a hand on my shoulder and jumped away from it. Not because I was scared, but because how comforting it actually felt. There stood a man. He had a brownish skin, just like the walls of the cave. It was also strangely filled with crystals. His hair looked like the ground, a reddish tone to it, long enough to be tied in a small ponytail. His eyes were strikingly beautiful, one shining in an inhumane clear color, just like a diamond and the other with a silver light, just like the moon. The man, who looked like a humanized golem, gave a sigh, before coming at me and hugging me. It was strange, but instead of trying to escape, I remained there. For a girl who had just passed it wouldn¡¯t be strange to try to escape, it would be expected even. But he had such a calming presence that I only remained there, leaning on his chest.Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. It finally seemed I was able to breathe, and with it, the tears began to fall. I don¡¯t know how long I cried on his arms, but when I finally came to myself, I was sat on the ground and hugging him, while he hummed some melody that made him vibe, almost as if he was purring. He wasn¡¯t even hugging me anymore, and his arms were resting on his sides, supporting both of our weights. ¡°I see that you finally calmed down, child.¡± His had a strong voice, which made the entire cave tremble with each word. ¡°S-sorry¡­ I¡­ I¡­¡± I was embarrassed, for crying in front of a stranger and still holding him like that. Noticing the way I was hugging him, I tried to pull away. Instead of letting me go, he put a hand on my back and pulled me closer again. Before I could protest, he began to purr, and that vibration soothed my mind. He released me, and helped me to go back on my feet. ¡°Welcome to my domain, child from Other Earth. I have a favor to ask of you.¡± What he told me next was akin to fiction. Another reality, threatened by monsters. An agreement made with the God from my earth. And finally, his proposal. For me to become a hero. I was flabbergasted by all that. Of course, anyone would want to be hero, and receiving immortality at the same time made it irrecusably. ¡°Wow¡­ Me? A hero? A real hero?¡± He smiled and nodded. ¡°Wow¡­ it¡¯s unbelievable¡­ But¡­ who are you?¡± Curiosity mixed with my shyness, but the question was still asked. He seemed to grow an even bigger smile. ¡°My name is Cailou. I reign over the Stone, Gems and all the other precious stones. The musicians thank me for being the first to create melody, while all the races know me as the First Haven.¡± ¡°Are you a god?¡± He thought a little before answering me. ¡°I¡¯m close to it, but not exactly as you imagine a god to be. I am not worshipped, but I still am more powerful than most beings. Powerful enough to be denied contact with anyone from the world. But enough talking about me. It¡¯s time for you to choose.¡± A mirror grew from the floor. It was facing me, so I could see my reflex. I was surprised my eyes weren¡¯t swollen from all the crying. I wasn¡¯t even dirty from lying on the ground! ¡°With our blessing, you will be able to choose from the races of our world. By focusing on any part of your body, you will be able to change it. Now, excuse me while you recreate yourself.¡± He sat down, facing away from me, and began to hum another song. The list of races was enormous. From the ones I saw in every other fiction from some that I never even heard about. I spent a long time browsing the list, but at the end, I was unable to choose any. ¡°Uhm¡­ Cailou? Could you help me choose a race?¡± Asking the opinion of a god seemed to be the smart choice, after all. He though a little before and asked me without facing me: ¡°Tell me about your last day on your earth.¡± I told him everything. After spending a long time crying on him, I was far from being embarrassed again. He listened in silence during the whole time. ¡°What made everything go wrong?¡± He asked when I finished telling everything. I almost answered it was my father, but something made me stop. I thought about it, and figured out it wasn¡¯t his fault. I thought a little more, before finding the answer. ¡°My anger. My anger made me take the decision of going out, and it also made me avoid company of others during my way back home. It was my anger fault.¡± I could feel, from deep within me that this was the correct reason. He slightly turned his head, until I could see his diamond eye staring at me. ¡°And what you want to do about it?¡± I exhaled, but I didn¡¯t take long to answer him. ¡°I want to control it. My anger can give me strength, so I wouldn¡¯t get rid of it, but I can¡¯t have it taking control over me.¡± He gestured, as if he was shooing. ¡°Then this must be the better choice.¡± Vampire. I looked at myself as a vampire. She looked almost the same, but her eyes shone in yellow color. Looking deep at it, I saw these were the eyes of someone who fought with her anger, taking control over it, and making it her strength. I choose it. It was a god suggestion, after all. I made some changes on her, but it was quick things. Finishing my recreation, I turned to say I had finish. I flinched when I saw him already behind me. ¡°You have finished.¡± It wasn¡¯t a question, but I still nodded. He put his hand on top of my head, before pulling me to another hug. ¡°In this world, if you ever die, you shall be revived on the nearest temple. Mana and nutrition are interchangeable. When you eat, it will be converted into Mana. If you ever feel hunger, your mana will satisfy you. Don¡¯t spend all your mana while hungry or you will die. This is the last blessing from the gods.¡± He tightened his hug. ¡°Good luck on this new world.¡± His whole body shone, and I passed out on that light.