《The Lucky Clover》 Chapter 1: The Mislade Misfortune of the "Lucky" Clover. Please give me feedback on this chapter in this thread and rate the series! This was my first chapter writing a longer than 1k amount of words. So it gets better as I got more used to the episodic writing style ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 1: The Misladen Fortune of the "Lucky" Clover. Hi my name is the ironically named, Clover, whose life has been laden with misfortune. Perhaps I blame it on misfortune or some screwed up destiny but I was cursed with both feminine body and name. I feel life is just a waste of time and I preferred to spend it alone and without anyone watching. I was neither the tallest or the shortest but for some reason because of my blessed name I always seemed to be the one who was picked on. I realized from a young age I knew that my parents had rather idiotically stuck me with what a large portion of society would deem was a girls name. As such on the first day of kindergarten I was labeled an outcast by the other boys and made fun of for being named Clover. It wasnt easy I admit. Soon I was everybodys favorite person to insult or punch. My teachers tried to bring me more into the group but that just drew ire from the other people. As a result I always drew my gaze down to try and bring less attention to myself. But that just made me more of a target as people viewed me weak So as a result of always being picked on I made it a goal to stay away from others. I thought of myself as the lone wolf, the trailblazer and perhaps a bit of a maverick. But in the end I was simply deluding myself, I was at my very simplest: a loner. Because I separated myself from others I had to do something with my time. So I started developing hobbies, that society would not deem suitable for my age. Throwing myself into books I ravaged any sort of information that I could get a hold of. I believed that books could never let me down and would never judge him. So as such were perfect companions for me. As I grew older and entered into High School, a few guys tried to talk to me but they were all rebuffed as I no longer believed people. The only people I relied on were my parents They did care for me but I know they didnt quite accept or understand my reason for this obsession in scouring whatever knowledge I could find. They felt that it was better to work hard at school and make friends with people. Hell I dont even know why I had this thirst for knowledge. Perhaps it was just to fill the void I never knew existed. This continued throughout high school. I had no one to talk to and so I padded out my time hunting for any form of knowledge that interested me, languages, technology, flora, fauna, literally anything that took my fancy As others celebrated finished their high school with their friends, I felt my life was peaceful and deluded myself into thinking. My lifes pretty good, theres no need for other people. Books will always be my friends. This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. Then tragedy struck. One day my parents did not return. I later saw on the news that it was the worst train wreck ever and hundreds had died in the all-consuming inferno. A thought that I never knew existed started expanding, no devouring my very consciousness. What now? Who can I rely on? My always supporting books were sold to pay for the funeral and university debt my parents had incurred in their earlier life Soon any remaining money I had saved before was gone. Since I was already 18 years old and had no living relatives there was truly no one I could rely on. The pillar of support that had been my books and knowledge had up and vanished in a flash. Thrown to the streets with less money than an ugly whore on a cold night. Gone. Gone. Gone. Everything I thought that had been concrete and unmovable was gone in the space of a night. I felt a wave of helplessness engulf me. I truly felt alone. SCREW YOU WORLD. FUCK YOU DESTINY! I cursed all the known and unknown beings for setting my life on such a terrible course. WHAT KIND OF IRONY IS THIS? CLOVER. HAH! NOT VERY LUCKY WAS IT? I must admit anger seemed to flow over me as I swore at the unfair nature of this world. Then a thought came into my head. A completely insane thought that no sane human being should ever think. And as I reflect now what was I thinking? Lets Just End it. I felt relief flow over me as I no longer cared about life and knew my life would end soon. So I trudged my way back to the kindergarten where my shitty life had begun. I was actually in such a good mood that I started singing. Always look on the bright side of life, Always look on the right side of life, What have you got to lose? You know, you come from nothing And youre going back to nothing. What have you go to lose? Singing the song over and over. Until I got back to my godforsaken kindergarten where my loner life began. I slogged my way up the 5 floors until I climbed on top of the roof of the kindergarten. And now here we are. The cold ice bitten night wind clawed at my lips drawing whatever life I had left in my body. What a shitty way to die isnt it? No one will mourn my death, hell no one will care. I stepped onto the ledge of the roof and looked down. A feeling of fear coursed through my body. Out of instinct or perhaps just pure self-preservation, I fell back and landed on the snow covered roof. Shit I cant even kill myself properly. I felt my body growing colder and colder into the warm embrace of death and oblivion. My consciousness fading momentbymoment Just as I was about to fade off into the darkness, A booming voice crashed into my very state of awareness. Perhaps it was inside my head or right next to me. I no longer could tell. Do you want to start over? [p=center]Next Chapter?[/p] Chapter 2: The Second Chance Please give me feedback on this chapter in this thread and rate the series! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 2: The Second Chance Then with a sudden flash the darkness was obliterated. In its stead was an aurora borealis being whose colors can only be described as fluctuating between the blue of the ocean and the wonderful kaleidoscopic colors of a sunrise. As I noticed it, I felt its warmth as it passed through me, like a mothers embrace but somehow even greater. The beings embrace transcended any describable or comparable warmth. It truly felt like a transcendent celestial being that overcame any possible descriptions that I could think of. It emanated this pure feeling that can only be described as love And then it spoke. Clover, your life has been a source of great misfortune. I was surprised such an alien object was able to communicate with me. How is it able to do this? I am able to do this as I am transmitting directly into your mind. On earth I guess it would be called telepathy. Wow that really was impressive. I thought, I wonder what does it want from me? Its not so impressive as the god that everyone seems to worship this is the least of my powers. What I want with you is to give you a second chance. Why do I deserve this chance? Ive never amounted to anything good. Ive always been the butt of all wrongs and hates. Everyone has always looked down on me. If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. There was error in the system that delivered many times the amount of bad luck to you than it should have. As a result I am giving you a chance to start over from the very beginning. A clean sheet. So when do I go ba- Not so fast, it wont be on the Earth you but rather on a different parallel world that seems to worship a different version of me. Do you still want to proceed? A new start, on a different world, with unknowns and perhaps worse circumstances. Should I take the leap of faith? Should I go into a completely alien world and risk my life again? Risking my life for the unknown? Why should I go into the unknown? Whats the point? All I am is a loser. A Social Outcast A blemish that ruins everything Why should I try when the same result will just happen over and over again? I suck. Im a coward. Im a no good loner. Just as this same sense of hopelessness was about to engulf my thoughts again. A new thought sprouted and took root. It blossomed and enveloped the previous helplessness. I can start over and do it better this time. No more blaming my name for my problems No more blaming my parents No more blaming anyone. Taking my own destiny into my own hands. Then I knew my answer. Should I roll the dice or spend eternity regretting? Yes. [p=center]Next Chapter?[/p] Chapter 3: Restart Life Start! Please give me feedback on this chapter in this thread and rate the series! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 3: Restart Life Start! The sudden darkness took over. It was punctuated suddenly by a status message. In the same ocean blue color that Higher Being had been.
*Tring* you have been born
Status:
NameClover AuroraRaceHuman
GenderMaleAge1
Level1Health100
Strength10Endurance10
Dexterity10Agility10
Charisma10Leadership10
Intellect200Luck50
Special TalentLucky Clover: This will add 50 times your level to your luck
I reacted slightly to my name being Clover but I steeled my determination to once again affirm I would not let something like a name stop me from achieving my own destiny. As I got used to my surrounding I noticed a viscous warm liquid was suspending me and the surroundings around me seemed to convulse. As sudden as the darkness had come a blinding light soon appeared around the darkness. I closed my eyes to shield myself from the dazzling brightness that lay around me. I felt the warmth of a blanket and then as I looked up above and squinted I saw the radiant smile the one who had just given birth to me. It wasbeautiful there was no other word to describe it. That was my last thought as I drifted off. I soon woke up again and realized I had this sudden hunger that needed to be sated. I wailed and wailed for help. And then she appeared. There was my mother a woman with striking red hair, and an irresistibly dignified face. Eyes that pierced through any lie and at the same time carried indescribable warmth. A nose that any model would have been proud of and a beaming smile that struck away any insecurity. Next to her was my father who seemed a proud man grinning from ear to ear. He had a certain playful edge that seem to equally as welcoming as my mother. As my mother came to my side she gave her breast for nourishment and I was soon filled with relief that spread throughout my body. It was an acceptance I had never felt or remembered before. An acceptance of my very being for all its fault and problems. I feltloved. The time between me being born and my first birthday seemed to slip by. I felt somewhat embarrassed when I pooped my pants but my parents never seemed to mind. Everything around me felt massive, the surroundings seemed almost like obstacles in whatever way I looked at it. As my first birthday approached I seemed to be more and more introduced in my surroundings. My parents delighted in describing what everything was to me as I explored whatever took my fancy. As I listened in my parents conversations one of the first things I started to understand were their names, Aster was my fathers name and my mothers was Heather. Through the course of the year I had slowly grasped the nuances of this new language as I listened more and more to my parents conversations. As I explored I came across a book that took my fancy. Its rich dark red covers drew me to it and my parents took notice. My mother spoke, This a BookB-O-O-K As I opened the book I saw a whole new alien language that I did not recognize. It had the structure of English but the symbol base of the Chinese language. My father noticed my interest in these symbols and asked me if I wish to start learning reading. Yes! I replied so interested in learning a new worlds knowledge. He whispered to my mother, Our sons so smart. Hes learnt to talk and speak and he already wants to learn how to read! And so began the nightly reading teaching me to slowly read this new alien language. After my father came back from his work, hed immediately come to my room and start teaching me the symbols of this world. It was much harder than learning to speak and talk as the language seemed more archaic than languages I had learnt in my previous life. But by the time I was 2 years old I had soon mastered how to read. And was able to read by myself with occasionally asking my mother whenever I struggled with words. As I grew older and got my hands on more and more books I started to understand about the world and place that I had started my life on. The continent I was on was called Alexandria. I was a human but there were a great many races that seemed to reside on this continent. It seemed my mother had lived on one side of the continent while my father on the other. The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. When I asked my parents about how they met. My father smiled, Hah son, I was a bit of an adventurer who explored around and met a great many girls in my travels. Your father was a little bit of a player, He winked, my mother playfully slapped and continued the story, Ah yes I remember when your dad came round he just wouldnt stop bugging me. Constantly bugging me and asking me out on a date. It only took me five times though! Then you gave in, and the rest is history. It seemed my parents love each other a lot. They are always smiling and laughing around each other. As I was about to hit 4 years old I asked my parents about the blue Status box that I had seen before my parents my father was surprised, Clover, youve seen the Status window? Usually us parents only talk about the status window when you hit 5 years old. How did you find about it? Yeah I have a brief memory of it when I was born. Ive never seen it since but I was always curious about it. Ah yes the Status window something our world has never truly explained. But nevertheless ever sentient being on our world except for the demon beings is able to call it up. How do you call it up? I asked. All you have to say is Command Status! and then think as strongly about that the status window and it will appear. Why dont you try it now? Command Status! I exclaimed. But nothing came out. Try it again but imagine strongly of everything you know about the status window. Command Status! I shouted, closing my eyes thinking of the ocean blue box. Status:
NameClover AuroraRaceHuman
GenderMaleAge3
Level2Health230
Strength20Endurance20
Dexterity20Agility20
Charisma20Leadership10
Intellect250Luck100
Special TalentLucky Clover: This will add 50 times your level to your luck
I saw everything youd expect from an RPG like game all except for the Special Talent which drew my gaze, Does everyone have a Special Talent? Yes, my father continued, Every usually has some type of small boost that boosts there initial began like Extra Strong +10 strength or Health boost +200. Usually it helps out in the beginning but decreases effectiveness as you train up. Wow that really is amazing. My father continued, Only you can see your status. No one else is able to unless you authorize it. Most people avoid the annoyingness of constantly having to call it up and instead buy a Status Tag. He gestured to his own Status Tag which was looked blank, Authorize Clover. As he said those words suddenly the stats appeared on the tag. Status:
NameAster AuroraRaceHuman
GenderMaleAge34
Level35Health2490
Strength300Endurance150
Dexterity100Agility180
Charisma200Leadership60
Intellect100Luck20
Special TalentBrute Strength: It is twice as easy to train strength but twice as hard to train dexterity
He continued, In my case my special talent is Brute strength. Which allowed me to power through any monster that fought against me. Ill buy you a Status Tag for your birthday tomorrow if you want? Do you have anything else to ask before you sleep? Nothing else Dad, thanks for being so patient. I didnt want to hassle my father anymore as it was already late. Besides I could explore on my own the Status Tag. I went upstairs and prepared to sleep, looking forward to my 4th birthday and my very own Status Tag. [p=center]Next Chapter?[/p] Chapter 4: Tag Your Well Wishes Chapter 4 Today is my 4th birthday in my new life. It seems that in this new life Ive had a better start. This life compared to my old life I''ve taken many more steps in the right directions. This world seems to be a hybrid of RPG and Real Life. Im still wondering about my Special Talent Lucky Clover. I have yet to see how Luck influences anything in my real life? Perhaps if I gamble Ill win all the time? Or is it just a useless stat? Nevertheless my new family and I are off to go purchase the Status Tag in the our closest town Paolona. We live on the outskirts of town so today because the whole family is going we are taking our horse drawn cart. It is rather slow progress as the terrain can be rocky at times. However as I look outside on our way to Paolona I see a great many shops outside, a bookstore, a couple of places for travellers to stay, an eatery even a farmers market where my mother has told me we barter our own crops. Finally in the center of town we hit the Adventures Guild where my father says is the easiest place to buy the Status Tag. As we enter the Guild Im suddenly hit by the amount of activity thats in there it almost reminds me of a busy classroom in my past life. There seemed to be all sorts of people, warriors, rangers, mages even a couple of bards! There were chairs, tables similarly placed like a tavern and in the center there was a beam holding up the whole building with billboards stuck on littered with requests. It was rather overwhelming for me having spent the last 4 years isolation with only my parents as company. As we go up to the counter the old lady greets us and my father fairly warmly. Hi Aster and Heather its been a long time, She spots me, Ah look at your son, hes so cute! What can I do for you today? Nothing much just want to get our Clover a Status Tag, replies my father. That will be 1 Gold, anything else? No that will be all thanks Greta, responds my smiling mother. As we look for a place to sit I notice the Status Tag looks similar to my fathers but seems in a different color. Looks like that theyve tried to make appeal more to the kids now, remarked my mother, anyway lets get this Status Tag linked to you. Once we got a space my father started describing the process First things first, put your thumb on the it, with some of this liquid over here. I did as instructed, placing my thumb in this red ink like wax substance and then putting it on top of the blank status tag, now say Status Tag Link Clover. With a little bit of hesitation as to what would happen I spoke, Status Tag Link Clover! Suddenly the tag flashed and smoked, once the smoke had cleared, my Status Tag with all my stats appeared. The Lucky Clover Special Talent flashed up in mind again, I was no longer able to hold back my curiosity so I ask my parents about it, Hey Mom and Dad has anyone ever heard of my Special Talent, the Lucky Clover? No, what does it do? My mom responded. It seems to boost my luck. Wow Ive never heard of Luck boosting Special Talent. It must be destiny, we named you Clover and your Special Talent is to do with Luck! Ive never actually understood what Luck does nor how to train it. But Im sure youll put it to good use, interjected my father. After the process of getting my very own status my parents decided to celebrate a bit and we celebrated my 4th birthday in the nearby tavern The Raunchy Boar. My father gave me a play sword made of wood with a simple rectangular hilt that he had made himself. Because I was keen to start being able to start sword fighting I asked, Can I start learning to use swords from you dad? Id love to be able to use a sword like you, adding the last part on the end to perhaps hopefully convince him to teach me by praising him. Sorry son, youll need to wait until you are at least 5 years and youve grown a little more. The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.Do you promise when Im 5 years old Ill be able to learn to use swords from you? determined to make some sort of promise to hold my father to Sure I promise. My mother had also got me present from the nearby bookstore and bought me a book titled, Sentient Species of Alexandria. I thought youd like a book like this, you always seem to have nose stuck in our books if you arent outside exploring. Id also noticed that youd almost read all of ours, if you want you can start buying a few books from the bookstore near our house to read from. Wow thanks mom! I was so surprised my mother had noticed that I had almost run out of books and the book shed gave me was a wonderful leather bound book. Filled with diagrams and descriptions it was the perfect thing to keep me occupied. As soon as we got back I went upstairs and started pouring over the book.
Bastinians A fur covered people who''s ancestry can be traced back to the Wolves. They admire power above all else and have kept their pack mentality. Preferring to stay as a group rather than as separate individuals.
Elves The so called "Fair Folk," who have the grace and poise that any king and queen would envy to have. They have long lives and will disappear unless they wish to be found. They speak only truth but are masters of twisting truth.
Demons A group of beings that have intelligence but very little is known about them. They are unable to use Status Tags with most people generally accepting this as proof of their unholy qualities.
Kitsune A dying breed of humanoid fox creatures who have kept their characteristics tales and ears from their predecessors. They usually are fairly cool and calm. They have been known to be very cunning tricking the unsuspecting passers-by out of sums of money and valuables.
Spyron An extinct set of dragon people who seem to have disappeared from the face of the earth, rumoured to hold great power and a devastating temper. Not much is known about them as they had all but disappeared when the first human settlers appeared.
I was so intrigued about the species that exist on Alexandria that I completely lost track of time and then suddenly felt incredibly tired. So I fell onto my bed and then checked my status tag and fell asleep. Status:
NameClover AuroraRaceHuman
GenderMaleAge4
Level2Health230
Strength21Endurance20
Dexterity20Agility20
Charisma20Leadership10
Intellect253Luck100
Special TalentLucky Clover: This will add 50 times your level to your luck
[p=center]Next Chapter?[/p] Chapter 5: Lifelong Lessons from My "Dear" Father Please give me feedback on this chapter in this thread and rate the series! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 5: Lifelong Lessons from my "Dear" Father I kept myself busy throughout the 4th year of living on this planet. I split my time between outdoor training to train my physical stats and reading as many books to increase my intellect. My outdoor training consisted of running around town and as I got fitter and fitter I alternated between jogging and sprinting to up my cardiovascular which seem to be one of the major factors that influenced my endurance stat. The key I found was to always push myself, whenever I challenged myself I made larger gains. I almost treated my stats as a way to judge how much I progressed. It was tough but I wanted to learn my sword fighting as a way to protect myself. So I readied my body for the training ahead. Not only did I train my body but also my mind, making sure I kept it sharp, I made frequent trips to the bookstore to read books. Hiding sometimes from the shopkeeper who did not like me reading books and not purchasing them. A game of cat and mouse that kept me on my toes. During my runs I would find anything of value on the ground when I was training and I would try and sell it, sometimes it was something small like a piece of leather sometimes it was replying to a lost and found poster and turning in for a reward and even once I found a small gem on the ground. Perhaps this was due me increasing my levels and therefore increasing my luck? All of the money I saved I used to purchase more books whenever I could. I wanted to rely on only me and not repeat the mistakes of my past life. Perhaps the quote from philosopher George Santayana is apt, Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. I took these is as my words to live by and made sure I learnt from my past. To perhaps right the wrongs of my past and change myself for the better I also forced myself to talk to people around the town to make sure that I was not the hermit I was in my past life. It seemed to also increase my Charisma stat which was a bonus that I took. So when my 5th birthday can I immediately asked my father if I could learn fighting. Sure Clover, Ive seen how disciplined you were in the past year training yourself so you would be physically able to handle sword fighting. Id be happy to teach you. Really you mean it? Thanks dad! this time I really meant my words, I truly believe the first step to bettering my life is to make sure I can defend it. Learning sword fighting for the sake of sword fighting seems a bit boring. Why dont we work towards a goal? In the town Paolona near us we have a tournament for sword fighting. The requirement is level 10 so well use sparring as a way to both get your skills better and to get to that minimum requirement. That sounds like a good idea. It would allow me to test myself against people of this world and see how I stack up. So lets begin, while I was adventuring this style, Rock Style was what I used because my special talent was brute strength which allowed me to have a lot more strength so I focused on my key strengths. Rock Style is a style that relies on using your raw power to overwhelm the opponent which was perfect for me. Its a great way to set your foundations right. He lowered his hips and set his feet wide apart and gestured me to do the same. He continued, The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.You take a low stance so that you can generate power and overwhelm anything that your opponent throws at you. The basis of Rock Style is all about simple techniques that use your own bodys power to overwhelm your opponents. Are there any other styles? Yes son, the two other main sword styles are the Water style which is the great weakness of Rock style that seeks to use the opponents power against them. Most people characterize it as the Countering style. The other is the Lightning style which uses speed as the main way to defeat enemies. Other people call it the Speed style. Its natural enemy is the rock style. So in most of the time when people fight it goes like this Rock style beats Lightning style, Lightning style beats Water style and Water style beats Rock style. So are you ready to start sparring? Yeah. Ok then, first lesson try to get the first strike. As he said those words he quickly swiped at my legs and dropped me onto the ground, Second lesson never let your opponent get you off guard. He gestured his hand. I took his hand and as he was lifting me up he let go, Third lesson never trust your opponent. Thats a lot of lessons, was it really necessary for you to do all that? Sword Fighting is an unforgiving world. The sooner you learn that the better. Do you want to continue? Without hesitation I replied, Yes, lets do this. As I spoke I charged him trying to catch him off guard. I swung my wooden sword at his kidney area but he blocked it fairly easy with the hilt of his sword and dragged the sword at out my hand and it flew behind me. Good job trying to recover the initiative but dont ever put yourself every in a position where you are off balance. The Rock style relies on a steady base so that you are always balanced. Come at me again. I picked myself off the ground and picked up my fallen sword. Just as I was about to pick up my sword my dear father Aster thwacked my head with his sword and I fell to the ground. The last thing I hear as I pass out, Never turn your back on your opponent. I think, Damn this is gonna suck really bad, as I sighed as I drifted off into the darkness.
NameClover AuroraRaceHuman
GenderMaleAge5
Level4Health480
Strength35Endurance39
Dexterity21Agility31
Charisma40Leadership10
Intellect307Luck200
Special TalentLucky Clover: This will add 50 times your level to your luck
[p=center]Next Chapter?[/p] Chapter 6: A Fathers Legacy Please give me feedback on this chapter in this thread and rate the series! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 6: A Father''s Legacy I am now 8 years old and three years of hard work training with my father to learn the Rock Style has passed. Its been a tough few years filled with many moments where I thought I would fail. I now run with weights on my back to so that I can train my muscles quicker and push my body more to their limits. When my father first suggested it I thought he was kidding as he went all Karate Kid on me and gave me a bag of rocks to run with. I cannot explain how dead my legs were after running, they felt worse than lead; I almost could not feel my legs after my usual run. But in the end it paid off, I am much lighter on my feet when I fight and more able to change direction and apply power to my strikes. He has also instituted every day to do 1000 slashes a day with a real sword to train my forearms to handle the weight. Of course we started smaller than that as I was initially unable to hold and fight with the 3kg sword. But we started gradually and now I do 1000 slashes a day to make sure I keep my strength up. I also have been making sure to take regular trips to the bookstore and have taken to working part time for the bookstore so I can be close to the books and read them whenever I want. This allows me to spend whatever money I have on the books I really want to keep and read again. Being closer to the books has definitely allowed me to read more than I did previously. And then on top of all of this I spar with my father when he comes back from his work guarding the town nobles governing building. Hes made sure to keep me on my toes in my duels with him and is still hard for me to fight him with the wooden swords as hes much stronger than me. Hey Clover, Im really proud of you, for these past few years. I honestly didnt think that you would stick at it. I thought with your love of books youd take a less strenuous role and become a writer or some other profession. Thanks father, Ive wanted to be someone who could defend what he cares about so Ive always felt I needed to learn sword fighting so I could defend myself. Speaking of defending yourself, remember the tournament in Paolona? Yeah of course that was what I was aiming to fight in. I think with these two years of practice and hard work I think I am ready to fight anybody! Not so fast you still cant beat your old man! And there are many more people who are stronger than your old man. I fought in tournaments too do you want to hear your old mans story? Sure, could be good to learn from your experiences! Okay then, I was young, brash and ready to take on the world, a bit like you. Back then there was no Paolona tournament but a tournament in the state capital of Franziland. Going off track a little youll need to earn a ticket in the Paolona tournament to even participate in the one I fought in. Anyway back to the story, I was a young brash lad like yourself who thought I could beat anybody. I had never been overpowered in battle and never been beaten. But really I was a small fry. You were a small fry? Yes it hurts your old man to admit but I had really only fought against weak people before entering the tournament after being with noblewoman and gaining her favor. So you basically whored your way into the tournament Ouch that hurts, my very own son says it so clearly, lets call it using my errrr manly charms to gain favor. Anyway I entered the tournament and in the first battle I had a user who fought with the lightning style and I easily smashed him to pieces, I thought myself pretty damn good back then. But really that was just another small fry who got himself against a user, me, who had a fighting style that was good against lightning style. In the second match as I progressed into the top 16 I fought against another fellow Rock Style user. This match was far harder than any duel I had had previously. His sword style and mine nullified each other and we were almost at a stalemate, before I decided to improvise and sweep the leg that I did to you that very first time you learnt sword fighting. Do you remember?" This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.Yes, I remember very clearly, my dear father using such a low move against me. Alls fair in love and war son, anyway I managed to defeat the Rock Style user and progress. This time I fought against a Water Style user. It was diminutive woman who had far less stats than me so I thought itd be an easy fight. So you beat her? No I lost unreservedly she completely nullified my strength, no she used my strength against me and beat me with it. That day I learnt you need to be adaptable. So I pass this lesson on to you. So what does it mean to me then? How will I learn to defend myself against Styles that Rock Style is weaker against? Youll learn them. Youve gotten plenty good at using Rock Style in these past couple of years and as you grow stronger and stronger youll get even better at it. But now I think it is time for you to learn Water Style. To surpass my legacy of fighting in the Franziland Tournament and perhaps win it. Anyway lets go back to fighting. You ready? Yep. Lets get this started. My father made the first move with a heavy side slash movement to push me off balance, I realized from his shoulder that he was executing this move so I parried it away and went in with my own offensive. I stepped in as I had far less of reach than my dad. And came in with my own slash downwards he blocked it front on and started his way to make his own slash down my left side. I instinctively knew I wasnt going to make the parry so I readied my own slash from my right side to hit his sword before he could touch me. As our wooden swords clashed they broke apart and the duel was over. He left me by myself soon afterwards saying, Yes it seems you are ready to learn a new style of swordsmanship. Ill find you a tutor in Paolona. I went back to my house and stuck my nose into a book distracting myself from the anticipation of learning a new type of Sword Style.
NameClover AuroraRaceHuman
GenderMaleAge8
Level8Health950
Strength81Endurance74
Dexterity40Agility54
Charisma80Leadership10
Intellect414Luck400
Special TalentLucky Clover: This will add 50 times your level to your luck
[p=center]Next Chapter?[/p] Chapter 7: A Rocky Start Please give me feedback on this chapter in this thread and rate the series! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 7: A Rocky Start The squirrels, the squirrels have the power! I must chase the squirrels via the Rainbow of Consciousness. What?!! Theyve acquired Acorn Go-carts that run on their stockpiled supplies, theyre zooming into the distance. How will I catch up? Oh look a unicorn is there, thats perfect! Ill use the unicorn to catch up to the Squirrels. Wait the squirrels have morphed! Into a blue flash of lightning? Wait! From look at the sky theres giant waterfall about to hit my head. I was jolted awake by a splash of water and a voice displeased with my current state of being, Wake up! Stop just laying there, sleep is for the weak! March outside right now. Said the yellow blur. I groggily rubbed my eyes and the yellow blur was gone. Outside the room I could hear the voice yelling which I detected as a womans, Hurry up! I pulled on my pants and got dressed as soon as I could. I rushed outside and there was the origin of the voice, a blonde young woman who seemed to wear a mixture of anger and displeasure. I ran up and joined another person who was there. As I got closer I noticed the other person was also a girl probably around my age. I didnt realize Asters son would be so lazy. I thought you would be more prepared. Didnt your father tell you your lessons for Water Style would start today? I slapped my cheeks with my hands to wake up myself fully and prepared myself to answer when I noticed suddenly how stunning the woman who was reprimanding was. She had short blonde hair, beautiful smoky green eyes and not even the anger that distorted her face could distract away from the sheer brilliance of this womans face. However if you forgot to describe the woman shapely figure that would surely be an insult to all things- Ah I see Asters son is a bit slow, he cant even form a response to my question. Beautiful! I suddenly blurted out the end of my thought to try and cover up my initial slowness. What a stupid thought. My face turned deep red. The womans face softened and the anger subsided slightly. Thank you Asters son for the complement. Now lets begin with a slightly easier question. What is your name? Clover, Clover Aurora. Okay now, can you answer my other question, did your dad tell you about the lessons that would happen today? Still entranced by the face that lay before me it took my a while to formulate an answer, Errrrrrrrrrr, no he didnt he said hed find a teacher but never told me anything after that. Okay. Well then my name is Lisa Rassi, but you can address me as Teacher, Im 15 years old, and she gestured to the young blonde girl next to me that I had completely ignored, and this is my sister, shes 9. Shell be joining us when she can for these lessons and will serve as both a student and your rival in learning the Water Style. Shes had a fair head start as shes been learning Water Style for the past year already. This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.The younger girl smile and put out her hand, Nice to meet you, Clover. Im Emilia Rassi but you can call me Emi. Nice to meet you too Emi. I shook hands with her and returned the smile. Anyway lets get down to business, Lisa interrupted, Today Ill be teaching you Water Style, do you know anything about the Water Style, Clover? Err its also called the Countering style?it beats Rock Style? It is weak against Lightning Style? Lisa rolled her eyes, *sigh* So your father really only told you the basics, typical. Do you know about your Status Window? There lots of different stats in it? Correct, and do you know what these stats are used for? Not really Well in the context of fighting, Water Style uses Dexterity and Agility as its major stats to help fighting, Lightning Style uses, Strength and Agility, and your so called beloved Rock Style is the brute of the bunch using Strength and Endurance. However all the styles uses the different stats in various different ways to differing degrees. Stats may help a particular style but there is no substitute for practice and execution of techniques. Did you get all of that? I paused to consider if I had understood all the words coming from that lusciously plump mouth. Ill admit I didnt really hear all of the words she had just spoken. Its was so easy to get distracted when she talks, she just had those perfect proportions. Oh crap I havent said anything yet! Ive got to say something... Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh Yes. Okay then. She smiled, god her smile is so wonderful, Now then lets see how you fight against Emilia over here. She threw a wooden sword my way. A flash of the broken wooden swords from yesterdays fight blipped onto my mind. Do I have to? Im worried that I will hurt her. Emi narrowed her eyes and set her stance while saying, No need to worry. Im ready to fight you. Oh okay then. I readied myself for battle. Lisa asked both of us, Are you ready? we both answered yes. 321Duel! I took the initiative and flew in, ready to make the first move a downward diagonal slash and end this fight decisively. Emi suddenly stepped side ways and avoided my attack and hit me with her own sword right in the kidney. I fell to the ground with an almighty thump and took a while to get up. Lisa reproached me while I was on the ground, Never underestimate your opponent. I got up and decided to change tactic with a sudden slash at her legs. But they never reached as she had gotten behind me somehow and hit me again, this time on the arm. This continued for a while as I got progressively more and more bruised. As the sun started to set Lisa with a bit of disappointment in her eyes ended the lesson. I waved my goodbyes and thanked them for their time and trudged my way back into my room and collapsed onto my bed. Still stinging from the hits dealt by Emi. [p=center]Next Chapter?[/p] Chapter 8: An Education. Please give me feedback on this chapter in this thread and rate the series! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 8: An Education. A year and a half had passed after starting to learn the Water Style. Lisa Rassi is a thorough teacher, harsh but thorough. A few things have happened in the 12 months, after finding out I was unable to use my left hand for sword fighting Lisa cursed my father and started to force me to learn Water Style with both hands. Added to which she told my father off for not teaching me to fight with my left hand and soon I was partaking in two classes one in the early morning with Lisa and one in the night with my father to practice using my left hand for Rock Style. It became rather hectic everyday doing Lisas sunrise training with Emi and then going to my part time job with the bookstore and then after my father came back from work learning Rock Style with my left hand. So you see Ive had insanely tough few months of training. But I feel its worth it, learning and fighting are two key skills needed for when I grow older. My ninth birthday had arrived I woke and went downstairs and I saw my parents even Lisa and her sister Emi were also there. As tradition on my ninth birthday they told me that everyone was given a magic tag to test if they could use magic. They had tried to keep any mention of magic away as to lessen the disappointment if I was unable to use it. As I hoped against all hope that I would be able to use magic, however I was unable to, the magic tag did not react and as my parents explained it was usually only people with at least one magical parent who were able to use magic and both my parents had been unable to so they had not held out much hope. Inside my thoughts went into overdrive processing the information, perhaps magic was a genetic thing? Perhaps seeing my face turn thinking through this piece of information, Emi went up and hugged me, her face after the hug was rather tinged. I forced myself to put the matter aside and to not ruin the party and replied, Thanks Emi that really helped. Making sure I smiled to stop everyone worrying I just didnt want feeling sad on your birthday. I cant use magic too, and my parents told me most people cant use magic either! she smiled. My birthday continued, I was still a taken aback from being unable to use magic but I ignored it by telling myself that Id just focus on being excellent in other aspects. After the magic test we ate some cake and had my parents slipped me a bit of the homebrew ale they had and I enjoyed the sweet notes of the ale. It started making a bit sleepy so my parents carried me off to bed and I fell asleep. The next morning my Emi perhaps believing I will still disappointed decided that we should go out and see our village Trinia a bit more. Where do you want to go? she asked. I dont really know honestly much about our village Ive only ever been to the bookstore and my house Ive never really look around. Alright then! Ill bring you along my own special tour of the best places in Trinia. We walked around and went to the clothes store and tried many different types of clothes. Emi even bought me some clothes, telling me I looked dashing in these clothes. I of course denied it but she insisted on buying. Afterwards we went to the little caf shop in our town and had a small bite to eat. The local cuisine in Trinia was rather similar to that found in Italy so I enjoyed it very much. I even had half thought that this could be considered a date but discarded that though completely. After all in this world I am only considered 9 and she really is 10. The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. As we finished eating our lunch Emi decided that we should end our little tour by the lake near Trinia. It was a fair walk away but we entertained ourselves talking about sword fighting of all things. But I decided to try and steer the conversation to learning more things about Emi as we really didnt talk very much apart from talking about sword fighting. Emi how did you get into sword fighting? Ah my mother of all people introduced it to me. Good now steer away the conversation, What type of person is your mother? Very warm but also sometimes very strict. She says shes like a mother lioness! Good good learning more about her now, So how is it like at home with your mother, father and your sister? Very lively usually its a lot of fun. Theres always someone talking in our family! Thats cool, do you know what you want to be when you grow up? An adventurer just like mother, she said it was so much and she loved it. Great weve got an shared interest, Oh me too! Thats part of the reason why I wanted to pick up sword fighting. Haha maybe we can form a party when we are older and explore?! Her face slightly blushed. Dontloseyourcool, Yeahuh sure thatd be cool. We soon arrived at the lake and I sat on the shoreline as Emi ran into the lake. Emi looking slightly puzzled went out of the water and asked, Why arent coming in to swim. I havent actually learned to swim. I answered honestly. Even in my last life I had lived in a landlocked country and had never had the urge to swim. Perhaps I was afraid or perhaps I wanted to stay away from other people, regardless I never had actually learned to swim. Why dont I teach you then? She pulled my hand and before I could answer I was right slap bang in to the lake. I just about could stand on my tip toes and was in a sort of precarious position. Okay then, she continued as she stood in the lake; she had no troubles standing in the lake as she was a head taller than me, Just follow what I do. She seemed to swim a sort of forward crawl. I tried to attempt the same and she swam right next to me to make sure that I wouldnt drown. After a few goes at it and a lot of lake-water drunk I was soon able to swim at least half decently. It had gotten darker so I walked her home and then walked back to my own house. As I lay in bed I noticed I was no longer sad about not being able to use magic because I knew someone my age would always be there to support me. It filled me up with a warm feeling inside. Perhaps not knowing magic wouldnt be too bad?
NameClover AuroraRaceHuman
GenderMaleAge9
Level9Health1290
Strength95Endurance102
Dexterity74Agility90
Charisma90Leadership10
Intellect414Luck450
Special TalentLucky Clover: This will add 50 times your level to your luck
[p=center]Next Chapter?[/p] Chapter 9: Popping the Question Please give me feedback on this chapter in this thread and rate the series! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 9: Popping the Question Another two years had passed and I had gotten proficient at using both Water and Rock Style with both hands. It had taken longer because of having to learn both styles with both arms. My father had suggested that I make sure I was able to use both styles well so that I would have a better chance of winning the tournament in Paolona. I thought that better adaptivity would mean a better chance of winning the tournament. Being able to use both hands I felt would be a great way to get an edge. Especially as I had made sure to learn to use both two handed and one handed sword. And now I felt ready so I asked my dads permission to enter the tournament this time and he agreed. Emi had also grown a bit as a swordsman, she was a far better Water Style sword fighter than I was as she seemed to be able to react better and counter than me but she had also been started a year ago learning Rock Style from my father which meant I had the edge in Rock Style. Because of this we had some well fought battles. We were fairly evenly matched and even Lisa Rassi congratulated me on my progress saying, I never believed that you would match my sister. Although Emi had grown and hit her growth spurt earlier, I had just started my puberty so I was now taller than Emi. She now seemed to wear her blonde hair longer than before and it shined golden in the sun. We had become very close through our hard practices taught by her sister and shared everything with each other. After one such practice it popped into my mind to ask the question, Hey Emi Ive really enjoyed these practices together. I have a question to ask you. I had never really asked someone for a favor so I was fairly nervous Oh whats the question? She blushed as if she was preparing herself. I steeled myself for a no as had been the case many times in my previous life, Doyouwanttogotogethertothe To the what? Clover where do you want to go? She smiled I took that as a sign that she was encouraging me to finish so with a smile reinforcing my hopes I popped the question, Do you want to go together to the Sword Fighting tournament in Paolona and compete? Ohuhhhhyeah. She seemed rather taken aback but still smiled as she responded. Perhaps she was expecting another question? I still wondered about why she was taken aback but had neither the experience nor the desire to pursue what she was expecting me to ask; regardless I reasoned I had gotten the answer I wanted more than I had hoped for in my previous life. So I went to bed a happy man that night. Where am I? A darkness surrounds me, yet theres nothing. Perhaps the absence of everything? This feels familiar for some reason*. As I started to get more of a picture I noticed the surroundings around me had become slowly more vibrant. The blues that Id felt before and the eclectic colors seemed comforting against the previously dark background. Welcome back Clover. The psychedelic colored galaxy-like being greeted. Errr glad to be back? So how are you enjoying your current life? All I can say is that its been very different from my past life. How did asking Emi to accompany you to the tournament go? Pretty good she seemed pretty excit-WAIT! Dont suddenly lull me into a false sense of security. Why am I here? I needed to tell you a few things, most importantly you must win the Paolona Sword Fighting Tournament. Why? Why is it so important? I cant explain it right now but I will reveal it after you have won the tournament. The only I hint I can give you to winning is to not impose restrictions on yourself just because people claim they are there. O-Okay Do you still have your Red Status Tag that you got from the lady in the adventure guild? Yes. Why do you ask? Ive made a few modifications to you particular Status Tag that should help you out in the future. The first of which is an upgrade to show your level of mastery in different skills. You can check it now if you want, Suddenly the Red Status Tag appeared in front of me, Turn it round to see your progress in mastery. This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.
Skill Mastery
ReadingAdvanced Lv.7
CookingBeginner Lv.6
Rock Style Sword FightingIntermediate Lv.8
Water Style Sword FightingIntermediate Lv.5
SwimmingBeginner Lv.10
Oh wow! Thats going to be fairly useful in the future. That should help you evaluate yourself and your progress. There are many more features on the status tag but for now you are not ready to use those. So whats your reason for giving me all this help? Im curious. Not a very good answer for an omnipotent being is it? Suddenly there was a loud rumble akin to thunder, What was that? I apologize that was a laugh from me. Im not omnipotent thats merely a tag people place on me. Can I ask a question? What? Why were stats created in this world? I was curious. Wait so you created a whole world just because you were curious? Yes, there are many worlds out there perhaps an incalculable amount out there and I use them to craft and test many new ideas. So why was I put on this particular one? I was interested in how you would react to a world similar but far different and removed from your own. Do you do most things because you were curious? Perhaps. Anyway going back the my main point, what are the point of stats? They are just a way to measure someones aptitude. Not really answering the question are you? Then how about Luck? I seem to have this insane amount of the Luck stat and have no idea how to use it. Thats for you to find out. You really are enjoying my life, arent you? Gods cant enjoy, they have no conceivable emotions unlike you sentient beings. You like being pedantic dont you? Perhaps. Do you need anything more from me? Nope. Then I best be gone then, As I tried to walk away to leave I was unable to, Wait how do I actually leave? Just think the thought to leave and you will. Pretty simple huh? Think the thought to leave Leave, leave, leave. I kept repeating leave in my head and I noticed the world around me dimming and then fading to dark. I opened my eyes once more and I was once again in my bed sprawled out bathed in the dim rays of peeping sunrise. I lay there disoriented and slightly confused at the whole proceeding. Wondering what that was about and why that had occurred. Was there a meaning to anything in the world? Did we just exist for the sole purpose to please a Gods curiosity? Was there a purpose or is this all coincidence? I pondered many questions as I lay in bed and as the sun began to rise I too rose from bed and began my day.
NameClover AuroraRaceHuman
GenderMaleAge11
Level12Health2660
Strength210Endurance230
Dexterity175Agility194
Charisma120Leadership30
Intellect781Luck600
Special TalentLucky Clover: This will add 50 times your level to your luck
*See Chapter 2 if confused. [p=center]Next Chapter?[/p] Chapter 10: “Luck” Strikes Again Please give me feedback on this chapter in this thread and rate the series! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 10: Luck Strikes Again After I got the answer from Emi, I decided upon preparing ourselves for the short journey. My father and Lisa wished to come but I thought better of it and decided that this would be the time to set off on our own, Emi and I. To see the world by ourselves and perhaps experience new things along the way. So after talking to Emi about going together by ourselves and her subsequent agreement and a rather long conversation convincing the worrying family members to let us go alone, spouting things like, Were old enough to use common sense and Our fighting abilities are already good enough to defend ourselves they relented. The weeks before we set about preparing ourselves for the short day journey to Paolona and the tournament. The tournament was set for a month from now but I thought it would be best to go earlier and look around Paolona and get used to the surroundings before entering the tournament. So we packed a days of supplies and enough money to last us until fighting in the tournament. Lisa came over and brought over Emi and with her a sword. Hi Clover, I just wanted to wish you and my sister luck in the tournament. I know youve trained hard these past few years so I wanted to give you this sword as a gift. Thanks Lisa, I was rather surprised as even on my birthdays she had never given me a present, Ill do my best in the tournament and do you proud. I believe you will, remember all your practice and use your instincts to decide what is the right way to fight your opponent. There will be many more experienced people in the tournament so you must use your mind to beat them. I will do, thanks for the advice. Though I already expected the tournament we would be fighting in would be fairly challenging, using my wits would be the best way for me to win. I was neither the strongest not the most experience so I would have to use every bit of preparation to win. My parents also came in while I was preparing the supplies and packing. Son, Im proud of you and the work youve down to get up to this point. Do your best and that is all a mother can ask for. Thanks mother I will do my best I think all this preparation that Ive had all these years will pay off in the end. Clover, I want you to keep this Magic Tag with you, not to remind you about not being unable to magic but rather to get past obstacles in your way. Magic is neither the be all or end all, it is not all powerful and with hard work it can be overcome. Thanks mom, Ill keep that in mind. When I face obstacles Ill have this Magic Tag on me to remind me of that. Afterwards they began the whole parent bit about keeping safe. After my parents had left I set about finishing my preparation for tomorrow morning. I had already set up the rental of horses to use for both Emi and I so that we could travel there by horse otherwise the journey would take far longer. The night before we were meant to leave there was an almighty storm and it rained down very heavily. Nevertheless Emi and I decided to start our journey anyway otherwise we would lose the deposit on the horses and cost our parents even more money. This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. So we set off in the rain with our parents and Emis sister waving us goodbye. I was in fairly good spirits as I had planned where would stay and budgeted how much we could use per day. As we were walking down the road that connected Trinia to Paolona I noticed that trees had fallen in the night and that the road had been closed off. While I was trying to brainstorm ways to try and move the fallen trees, Emi suggested the idea of going through the forest as she and her sister frequented the forest to go hunting for the family. Emi took the lead as she had more experience on these roads, as we traversed through the forest road to get to Paolona I noticed that the ground was getting rather more wet and muddy as we continued along. I suggested to Emi that we turn back but she refused, Were doing it today otherwise well lose another day and have to spend more of our parents money. We just need to be careful. The rain continued to pour down heavier and heavier I saw our horses struggling to get a foothold in the ground but we pressed on. Emi was in front leading the way through the road, as she pointed and looked back to tell me which way would be going, her horse lost grip on the road and fell off the roads edge I panicked for a second as I saw Emi fall from view. I got a hold myself again and immediately decided to save Emi. I slid down the slope and tried to catch up to Emi as she was falling. 20 meters In front of her I saw a rather menacing large rock. I was 5 meters from her, I immediately sped up running down the hill even faster. Trying to close the gap. The rock kept coming closer and closer and Emi was unable to chang her direction. Just as I she was about to hit the rock I jumped at her and launched her with me past the rock and we rolled down the hill. There were many rocks and stones and the world became rather a blur, I likened the feeling to being on the most terrifying merry-go-round. I caught glimpses of the edge of the cliff as we were approaching. I braced us for going over the edge, praying to all the unknown gods and the god I knew personally to help us. We were two meters from the edge when suddenly we dropped down through a pile of leaves. I pushed my body in front of Emi and the ground to make sure that she would be okay and tried to relax my body as I remembered I had read before woman who was so relaxed after being kissed and she fell of a cliff she managed to survive so I calmed myself and tried to put the fear out of my mind. We finally dropped down to the ground and luckily landed on some leaves that cushioned the fall a bit. I fell into the darkness upon impact and fainted. Just as I was about to lose consciousness I saw a blue box appear.
*Tring* New Stat Created: Heroic Stat+1
[p=center]Next Chapter?[/p] Chapter 11: Black and White Please give me feedback on this chapter in this thread and rate the series! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 11: Black and White My mind fades back into consciousness and just before I open my eyes I see a blue text window reading:
You are the first to discover The Cave of Dark and Light+25 all stats
Ah so this place that weve landed in is called the Cave of Dark and Light. Weird that I would get such a mess- I suddenly noticed that I was being shaken violently and being shouted at by a voice that I recognized. Come on Clover Wake up! Please dont be dead! CLOVER! As I open my eyes I can see the faint outline of a girl, shaking me violently. My mind slowly starts processing and I finally realize it is Emi looking very worried that I may be dead. Its okay Emi Im alive Im okay. She hugged me closely I could feel her warmth being transferred to me. Thank God! What were you thinking suddenly jumping off your horse and rolling down the hill?! I was just so worried that I would never see you. I didnt want to think about not seeing again. So I just instinctually ran to try and save you. Still you didnt need to do that. No I didnt need to but I wanted to I really care about you, I wanted to protect you. Even in the darkness I could see her smile at that. I was glad that she felt the same way about caring for me. Anyway back on top Clover, where do you think we are? I think this place is called The Cave of Dark and Light. How do you know that? I just have thiserrrrrfeeling? O-Okay thenIts so dark in here. I wonder if we can get out. It doesnt look like it we seemed to fall through a whole down to here. Its so dark even now its so hard to see each other. Did you bring something that could light up? No I dont think so and anyway I seemed to have lost all my stuff. Luckily I put our gold on me so we didnt lose that. I seemed to have also lost the sword Lisa gave me. Boy shes going to be mad at me when I get back. But we still needed to solve the problem of being able to navigate to see. The worst thing would be trying to find our way out of here blind. We needed the light to keep track of our direction and where we were. Did we have any sort of light source on us that could be used? The idea came to me as I thought about the items that I had on me, If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.I know what we can do, we can use our status tags. Do you think that will work? I believe so as long as we keep thinking of Status Tag in on mode then it should stay on. We should test it to see if that gives us any actual light. We both took out our respective status tags and said the words to start them up, Status Tag On! The light that they give was a welcome relief that although fairly dim was far better than previously. As my eyes got used to the new light conditions I noticed how badly scratched up Emi was, Emi are you okay? You look horribly banged up. Yeah a bit sore here and there but I didnt break any bones. I think Ill be okay. I instinctively suddenly felt a need to hug Emi so I proceeded to hug her. I know this isnt much but hopefully it makes you feel better. She seemed to perk a bit so I was happy that I had managed to do the right thing to cheer her up. Hugging her felt so nice and warm and comforting. I wanted to keep doing it but I knew this wasnt the time. We needed to think of a way to get out. As I peer round to see our surroundings I spot a sign saying The Cave of Dark and Light. I pointed to it and told Emi, It looks like this cave is actually called The Cave of Dark and Light. Yeah it seems like it. We should start looking for a way out as it doesnt seem like well be able to use the way we came from as a way back out. Yeah good idea, we need to scout and see if theres a way out. Though well need to be on our toes to make sure we dont get any nasty surprises, warned Emi. As we entered the cave we noticed a gradual difference in the walls of cave. On the outside it had been very craggy and cave like but as got further and further in they seemed to smoothen. Almost as if someone had formed the cave themselves This set alarm bells ringing in my mind as I thought perhaps this was a trap, but there really wasnt any other choice other than going in deeper and exploring. As we ventured deeper we noticed that it was a dead end on a wall that looked so smooth it was impossible for it not to have been created by something. It was a rather imposing wall completely smooth, solid as any material I had seen here and hollow in sound, On the wall there was writing all over and it read, Welcome, to the first challenge. Answer me this, I am the light in the dark, and dark in the light. And I sleep for just one night. What am I? [p=center]Next Chapter?[/p] Chapter 12: Riddle Me This Please give me feedback on this chapter in this thread and rate the series! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 12: Riddle Me This Emi immediately cried out, That doesnt make any sense. What is both light and dark? Emi calm down this is a riddle, we just need to think through it. As I stared at the writing on the wall I too panicked but knew that because we were by ourselves we couldnt rely on anybody else. I took a deep breath and got to thinking, What is light in the dark and dark in the light? Some type of flame? A candle? Maybe? No. It doesnt sleep for one night and you can have a candle in the light What else is bright? What shines in the dark? But isnt there in the light? Dark probably means night so it must be something shines in night? The stars? They are invisible in the day time. But they dont sleep for one night, they are always there in the night. What else is in the night sky and is gone for a night? Ive finally figured out the riddle. I immediately shouted the answer, The moon! The moon! Emi immediately retorted, Dont go mad on me Clover! No! the answer is the moon! Oh. The wall as if responding to my voice, suddenly moved upward into the ceiling allowing us entry into a narrower room than the one we entered from previously. This room was far grander with torches with some type of magic that seemed to sustain them. The torches glowed a ruby red color that flickered with tongues of orange and yellow. It seemed to give the whole room a sort of dungeon feel that was different from the wild cragginess of the previous room. As we walked further into the room we spotted in the middle a single desk with a chair and piece of parchment that read with the words, My windows are as dark as sin and the rest of me is as bright as day and I sleep for eternity. What am I? Come on Clover Im useless at riddles. I prefer straightforward approaches. This one I could feel was harder than the last one. What was dark as sin and the rest bright as day? And sleeps forever? It must be something inanimate As sleeping forever is usually a way to tell a child that someone is deadso it must be something that isnt moving or at least an object Now what does the first line mean My windows are as dark as sin? Blacked up windows? No that would be way too obvious What are windows? What are their characteristics, made of glassso they are clear They are see through Does it mean peering through a window and they are as dark as sin? So peering through to see something dark as sin But only beings would commit sin So what object was a being before but now is inanimate? It must mean they are no longer alive now! So it must be something that is no longer alive because they sleep for eternity. So what has windows that are dark as sinand the rest white Windows must mean something else This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.Wait a moment windows! Windows, theres a saying that says Eyes are the windows to the soul That would fit with the soul and sinning Now what is the meaning of rest of the message as rest of me is as bright as day? When I think of bright as day I think of day obviously now the what is the day? Compared to sin its bright like the comparison. Maybe its talking about the difference in color therefore the opposite of dark is light and light is usually symbolized as white. So what has eyes that are black and the rest of them is white? And sleeps for eternity? Thats it! Its a skeleton! A skeleton! I shouted the answer because of my excitement at figuring it out, Its a skeleton! You figured it out Clover, well done! She immediately came up and hugged me. I once again felt that warm feeling course through my body. It felt good to be happy with someone. A door appeared at the end of the room with the words, You may proceed. As we entered into the last room dimly lit room. It was lit by the next riddle which was on the floor, I am greater than God Almighty and more evil than the devil himself. The poor have me, the rich need it and if you eat me you will die. What am I? The words glowed and lit up the room throwing a warm but eerie feeling on the walls of the box like room. As I looked around I saw how small the room was compared to the last ones. As I struggled with this last riddle for 10 minutes in silence with its complexities and the length compared to the last ones, it dawned on me where this cave lead to? Would it leave to the outside or perhaps as a cruel joke to those who entered it would go back to the beginning? This unknown caused panic within and I had to take a couple breaths to calm myself down. Come on Clover I know were relying on you but I know you can do this. Just keeping it throughTheres nothing that can stop you I know that. Emi I guess was trying to encourage me. Hah nothing that can stop methats a joke. I know a great many things that can stop me a truck, diseases, getting stabbed in the heart, even the god that I met I was powerless against him. Nothing can stop me waitasecNothing is better than godnothing is more evil than the devil himselfThe poor have nothingThe rich need nothing and if you eat nothing you will die! Thats the answer Emi well done! I ran and hugged and kissed her without thinking. Her face tinged red from the action and the surprise Nothing is the answer! Nothing! The original words on the ground faded into the ground and new words lit up instead the message now changed to, Congratulations, onto the last and final challenge. A door appeared with a simple sign that said, Mans Greatest Weakness. I hesitated as I thought of my past. Emi still read and looking at the words, she smiled and said, Come on youve got this the last and final challenge. I believe in you. She grabbed my hand and pulled me into the next room. [p=center]Next Chapter?[/p] Chapter 13: Revisiting the Past Please give me feedback on this chapter in this thread and rate the series! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 13: Revisiting the Past The room as we entered was completely dark. I suddenly felt the panic I had felt before and then all of sudden I was assaulted magic that sent a mixture of memories and delusions into my mind. It was my first day of kindergarten sitting in the bright yellow chairs and desks the walls seemed to be awash with different colors that mixed in with each and flowed into each other. We had come to everyone introducing their name. When it finally arrived to me a sudden fear passed through I stumbled my introduction, M-M-My n-n-name is C-c-c-lover. M-m-meet y-y-ou t-t-o n-n-n-ice. No I mean Nice meet to you! The sheer inadequacy of that statement sent a rod of shame straight through my heart. It even hurt now as I recalled it. I tried to recover but the damage was done, at first it was a single person, and then like a wave of sickness it spread to everyone. Even the kindly old teacher, had turned into some demon winged siren who screamed so high pitch it hurt my ears. Everyone was laughing at me and there was no way I could stop it. It all entered my heart, invading it little by little, probing at any weakness shown and capitalizing on it. As it got progressively louder and louder I noticed everyone was turning into dark monstrous shadows who screeched like demons. These abomination were converging on me like an unstoppable tidal wave, all of them laughing at me; I wanted to hide, shut myself away from it all. I wanted to be alone, by myself, unwanted, unloved, unremembered. I curled up into a ball and tried to shut the whole world around me. But it kept getting louder and louder, and more and more impossible to ignore, each sneer, laughter and insult edged closer and closer hitting me at every weakness I had tried to hide before. It seemed to know my every doubt, uncertainty and insecurity. Why was this happening to me? Why did I have to go through this all again? Why did I deserve this? Why should I live again? Whats the point? There nothing here for me anymore? Life will continue to repeat itself and I will be in the same situation At this point the demons had started converging on me, I noticed my dead parents had appeared and had started surrounding me, they were sneering, laughing, calling me names and calling out my greatest fears, You are useless! You are a waste of space! You could be replaced by a monkey! You bring shame to our family! You should never have been born! You should just die already! As the crashing waves of hopelessness invaded my heart and I felt all hope was lost I heard a voice. A pure golden voice that cut through the black, the evil, the fears and reached me. Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.CLOVER! CLOVER! CAN YOU HEAR ME?! CLOVER TALK TO ME. I was suddenly shunted out of my delusions and back to reality. There was Emi holding me to her breast trying to get to me as I was edged closer and closer over the cliff of complete hopelessness. The shining light had shone through and blasted away the little evils that had lurked in my heart. The unknowns, the evils, the little monsters that lurk inside all of us. They hide waiting until you are at your weakest and jump out at you. They take no prisoners and have no sympathies. The little monsters called fear. Fear, that was the answer to mans greatest weakness. I held onto Emi as I tried to recover from the ordeal. She did not resist and let me stay there. I did not know for how long all I knew was that her warmth warmed my heart and made me understand of the demons inside of me. The fear that is within us all, the fear of the unknown, the fear that screams out us, holding us back, limiting us, questioning us, always lurking never dead but always hidden. I mustered I could say at that point and whispered, Thanks Emi. Ill always be there for you. She replied back tightening her embrace on me, Whenever you want to hug Ill always be here for you. You understand? Yes Emi, thank you. The embrace lasted for what seemed like an eternity. But I did not want to release as it was the safety that I had always wanted and never had. Being able to rely on someone was something I had not experienced before. Being able to have someone by your side and be able to let go of your insecurities felt so great. When we finally let go I finally was ready to accept what I had denied all along, all this time I had kept thinking it was some childish feeling that was because of some insecurity I had felt in my previous life. But I knew it was different now. It was night and day from my original wish of companionship it was a feeling that seemed to overcome any hesitation, any fear, any fragility I had before. As we stood up, I saw Emi in a different light than I had seen her before. I cared for her and really cherished what she had done to for me and accepted me for who I was. It was a feeling like no other having someone who would always be there for me. With almost a silent understanding she gave me a nod and smiled. Knowing she supported me and my answer, I had no regret when finally voiced out the answer I had worked out through the nightmarish situation I had just faced. I spoke it out, Fear, is mans greatest weakness. [p=center]Next Chapter?[/p] Chapter 14: Risk and Reward Please give me feedback on this chapter in this thread and rate the series! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 14: Risk and Reward As soon as we answered the question a chest suddenly appeared through the floor inside the center of the room. It gave off a warm glow that seemed to spread to every corner of the room, not like the previous rooms with torches that gave a dungeony feel but rather more of a welcoming feel. As we walked closer to the treasure chest, Emi was still fairly cautious, Do you think its a trap? Perhaps a final trap to finish off those who get through all the other rooms? Probably not, I doubt that they go through all this trouble to just kill the adventurers at the end. I still approached cautiously heeding Emis warning and as we got closer we saw letter floating in the middle of the air on top of the chest.
CONGRATULATIONS YOU ARE THE FIRST TO COMPLETE THE CAVE OF DARK AND LIGHT
It then switched suddenly to another message
OPEN CHEST TO RECEIVE ITEMS AND REWARDS
And then it repeated itself
CONGRATULATIONS YOU ARE THE FIRST TO COMPLETE THE CAVE OF DARK AND LIGHT
Heeding the instructions I decided to open the chest with Emi. The message on top of the chest suddenly changed again
TWO PEOPLE DETECTED: REWARDS CHANGED TO REWARD TWO PEOPLE
The contents of the box suddenly changed and what appeared was instead two pairs of swords, One pair were named on the hilt Light and Dark respectively and on the other was Fire and Ice. Emi chose the ones named Fire and Ice as she preferred the brighter colors of Fire Red and Ice Blue while I picked the simpler designed and named Light and Dark. As soon as we picked up the swords the text above the chest changed once again
ADDITIONAL REWARDS GIVEN: +50 IN EVERY STAT AND ROLL FOR NEW ADDITIONAL SPECIAL TALENT. ACCEPT?
What do you think Emi? I reckon we should take it the +50 in every stat is a massive boost. Yeah and having a new special talent cant be bad either. Hopefully its something that we can use. Alright then ACCEPT. ACCEPT. As soon as Emi and I accepted a sudden rush of warm went through us. It tingled as it reached every spot in our body. My body seemed lighter and more energetic. It was an interesting feeling to say the least. I suddenly noticed that something as glowing in my pocket. I picked it out and it was the Magic Tag that my mother had given me! I gasped, Magic! I immediately checked my status tag and Emi followed suit,
NameClover AuroraRaceHuman
GenderMaleAge11
Level17Health3560
Strength285Endurance305
Dexterity250Agility269
Charisma195Leadership105
Intellect856Luck75(+850)
Heroic1
Special TalentLucky Clover: Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.This will add 50 times your level to your luck
Special TalentInnate Magic: You are now able to use Magic
I noticed my Special Talents had increased to two with this new Innate Magic Special Talent. Emi noticed her new Special Talent, Clover we got Magic! Wow thats so fortunate! I wonder what this means for us? These new swords, increased stats, new special talents. I wonder why this has happened? Perhaps it had something to do with my luck? Perhaps my destiny was finally changing for the better? Anyway Clover we should probably try and find a way out of here. As we looked around I spotted the door that led to the outside. To the side of the door there was a sign that read
Select Destination: ? Franziland ? Paolona ? Trinia ? Other
Since we had originally decided to go to Paolona to participate in the tournament we decided to go there and continue with our original arrangement. As we opened the door we saw it leading to a deserted alleyway with no visible people there. We walked through the door and when we turned back the door had disappeared. Emis and my stomach suddenly grumbled from the amount of energy used in the ordeal so we decided to first pay a visit to the Horse Stable that we had rented from an apologize and then have dinner. It soon became apparent that the Horse Stable Owner was less than pleased and asked for a cash remuneration. We offered a set of the swords but impatiently waved that away and said Cash. Cash is king. How much? I asked. 800 Gold Coins, those were good horses. EIGHT HUNDRED GOLD COINS. That was almost all our money that I had budgeted for. Yes pay up now. Guards had started walking over to see the fuss and so I decided to pay it up to cause less trouble. Is it possible that our parents can for it in Trinia? Are you crazy? The roads completely blocked up because of the storm, it will take weeks for that all to be cleared. Am I going to get my money or will I have to ask those guards over there to convince you to give my money. Either way I will get my money. My face when I came back prompted Emi to ask what happened. Weve got almost no money left those horses cost a lot of money and we had to pay a penalty for losing them. What are we going to do? I really dont know. But anyway we should go to a place to sit down, eat and then recuperate and think of a plan. Luckily the food seemed fairly cheap in Paolona so we found a seat in the Hungry Boar which seemed to be affiliated with the tavern in our town. Emi had some steak and potatoes while I chose the stew to try and save a bit of money. Both dishes were delicious and as we were enjoying our meal I heard some commotion going on in the distance. It seemed that a few burly men were harassing this diminutive blue haired woman. She seemed so striking blue hair that caught the attention of everyone and porcelain doll like face that spoke of beauty but also like a doll she seemed rather emotionless. Her body on the other hand smoke more of a Barbie-like shape and proportion with a killer hourglass figure that would force 10/10 men and woman to ogle at her. Emi also spotted the trouble as I was lost in my own world and had suddenly run up to them to see what the trouble was. Oh shit. Authors Note: Lucky Clovers effect will now be in brackets as its easier to remember numbers that way. [p=center]Next Chapter?[/p] Chapter 15: Damsel’s offer Please give me feedback on this chapter in this thread and rate the series! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 15: Damsels offer While I was gawking at the beauty of the woman, Emi had already started to charge up and get involved with the situation. I didnt think I could do very much given the situation and I was more interested in what caught my eye to the person. Wow real great that 3 burly men gang up on 1 small girl. That must be so manly. Im so impressed. Emi was starting to insult them, which was always a great way to stop conflict Look lady this woman stole our money so were trying to get it back off her. The blue haired girl, who I had just noticed had animal ears that reminded me of something, interjected very emotionlessly, No you have the wrong person. Look blue haired girl, one of them putting a hand on the blue haired woman, we saw you bump into us and one of us felt some of our gold being taken. All we want is our gold plus a little extra for the extra trouble caused. Nonplussed Emi inserted herself between the man and the woman and continued the barrage at the men, Really looks like you want some else from the woman. Do you want to scream and see what happens? Youll regret this. Well make you pay. Warned one of the men as they left. Come on why dont you join us at our table, offered Emi, gesturing to me. As I saw the blue haired girl nod in agreement I also saw something below her dress also move. Immediately I recalled where I had seen her before, it was a drawing in the book Sentient Species of Alexandria my mom had given me for my fifth birthday. She was a Kitsune! A girl whos ancestors evolved from foxes! As she sat down, Emi offered to buy her a drink or some food but the girl declined. I decided to at least introduce us to this girl, Hi my names Clover Aurora and this here is Emilia Rassi were from the nearby town of Trinia. Whats your name? The girl replied in a flat tone, The names Rene Foxworth, and I came to visit because I heard a tournament was on. Emilia joined the conversation, Oh wow what a surprise that is, isnt it Clover? Were also going to be competing in the tournament. Yeah it is a pretty nice coincidence that we all came early to compete in the tournament. Thanks for saving me back there, Emilia, I dont do so well with confrontation especially when they are guys. No problem Rene, you can just call me Emi if you want. Alright you both can call me Foxy as thats what everyone seems to call me. I thought this was the best time to interject the thought I had previously, So is it correct that you are indeed a Kitsune? Her eyes slightly opened and then narrowed a bit, Yeah how did you know? The slightly visible ears and the tail wagging underneath the dress gave it away. Dont worry we mean no harm, its actually the first time Ive ever met any other species before so Im actually fairly happy. Sorry Foxy but is it okay if we can change the topic for a bit? Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.Yeah no problem. Thanks, Emi weve still got a problem of what to do with our remaining money after the horse problem. Yeah I dont really know what do with the rest of the money. Its the first time weve been away from home. I think weve got enough for food to tide us over for a week but weve got no money to pay for lodging Foxy suddenly interrupted our conversation, You can stay with me in my room if you want? Its the least I can do for getting me out of that situation. I looked at Emi and she nodded so I accepted Foxys offer, I think well have to take you up on that offer. Thanks a lot Foxy. No problem Emi. We made our way back to the room that Foxy had booked and saw that luckily it was a fairly big room. As we settled down Emi brought up a rather big question, What do we do with trying to replace our belongings and other stuff? We lost all of it when we fell down that hill. I guess we can make do I hope. I replied. But well definitely need to buy some new clothes as this is the only set I have right now. You can borrow a pair of mine if you want, Foxy suggested. Really? That would be so great. After the two girls had a bath I had mine. I tried to forget that the two girls had had their baths already but it was a fairly difficult thought to get out of my head. So I just lay in the bath relaxing and winding down a bit my mind which I had used fairly extensively in these past few days. I thought about many things most at the forefront about magic. What did it mean to Emi and I? What type of magic innate magic? Does that cover all magic or only a small fraction? What on earth was that dungeon? How was it able to use my thoughts and previous memories against me? Was someone able to read my past thoughts? Who was the person who created that dungeon? All of these thoughts swirled round my mind. None of them had any answers and many of those would probably would never have answers. But we really needed to find out what type of magic we could use as it could be key in the future. I came out of the bathroom and saw Emi wearing one of Foxys tops. I suddenly realized how much Emi had changed from the girl I had known before. Foxy was rather modest in her proportions I would liken her to a Barbie doll while I suddenly realized how much more of Emi there was now. Emi suddenly realizing I was staring the area that was eventuated by the small shirt immediately narrowed her eyes. She let it go but I knew later Id pay for it. We soon organized sleeping arrangements and it was decided that Emi and Foxy would sleep on the bed together and then it was decided, mainly by Emi, that I would sleep on the floor with whatever things I could find. Emi decided this was punishment enough not being in the comfortable bed. And I couldnt agree more. The floor was hardwood and the bed would have been much softer for a number of reasons However I soon fell asleep as tiredness took over. [p=center]Next Chapter?[/p] Chapter 16: Bed and Breakfast Please give me feedback on this chapter in this thread and rate the series! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 16: Bed and Breakfast I woke up feeling fairly sore from sleeping on the floor but otherwise well rested. The day looked sunny and after yesterdays ordeal I doubted any day could be more extreme than that. The girls were still sleeping in bed. I stared at them for a bit as they looked at peace and decided to walk around a bit and explore before coming back with breakfast. I left a note that Id gone to buy breakfast and proceeded to explore the general area around. As I left the lodging named the Sleep Sheep I looked around and saw far more than I had seen yesterday in my tired self. There seemed to be a market nearby and curiosity got the best of me so I decided to explore it. I found there were numerous shops opened as I explored the market but one caught my eye so I decided to visit that one first. It was one of those shops with all sorts of knick-knacks that anyone would find something that would catch their fancy. It was littered with small daggers, cracked teapots, runes that promised protection, precious stones and other such items. One such item did catch my eye above all the other numerous items on the table was a ring. That didnt seem that out of place. It didnt sparkle like the precious stones nor have the superstitious attraction of the runes nor the usefulness of the daggers but somehow it caught my eye. I thought it would be perfect for Emi to wear. Not to flashy but classy, it had an interesting design on it with a blue precious stone inscribed with a design that looked like the Yin and Yang symbol in my previous life. I decided to talk to the shopkeeper about purchasing the ring. He seemed a fairly odd character with an empty sword harness on his hip, a monocle on his left eye and a rather squinting expression that made you think he was trying to see right through you. How much will this ring be? twenny gold coins, good sir. Any chance you can go lower than that? Ive got very little money to spend. How about 15? itsa deal. Thanks good day to you. Good day to you and may luck always be on your side. Winked the man. I left the shop in rather high spirits with the gift that I would give Emi and decided that I had spent enough time wandering and needed to buy breakfast. I walked around the different cafes and one of them I was inexplicably drawn to. Probably it was due to the smell that came from the freshly baked bread smell, wafting out from the shop. I bought a loaf from for 5 silvers (1 gold piece = 10 silvers) and some cheese from the farmers stall next door and brought it back to where we were lodging. Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more. The girls seemed fairly happy about the breakfast and Emi was very happy about receiving the ring as a gift. She hugged me and seemed a bit more upbeat. While having my walk I had finally had thought of an idea to earn money, Do you guys want to create a party and earn money? What would we do though to get money? Emi asked. I guess take requests from people and get money from rewards? How about we go to the adventure guild and form it from there? Then we get access to more requests? Foxy quietly suggested. That sounds like a good idea actually Foxy. Well done! I know where the Adventurers Guild in the town is, we can finally register ourselves as official adventurers. I said. Emi added, Okay then lets finish our breakfast first and then go to the Adventure Guild and register ourselves as a party. We quickly waffled down our breakfast and set about getting to the Adventurers Guild. It was a short 15 minute walk that went by fairly fast as everyone was fairly animated even Foxy seemed rather upbeat about becoming a party, Im really looking forward to being in a party with you guys. Me too Foxy, we had a nice little chat yesterday didnt we? Emi replied. Oh you guys did? I never heard it. I replied surprised. Yeah you were out like a rock last night. Foxy and I share a lot in common its nice being able to talk to a girl about things. Thats cool. I was slightly jealous about sharing Emi but I let it go as it didnt really seem right to pursue it as we were staying free of rent with Foxy. We entered into the Adventurers Guild and walked up to the counter to sign up. Greta was at the counter and greeted us, Hi Clover long time no see, oh youve brought your friends. Which ones your girlfriend? She winked. Oh St-stop it Greta. I blushed. I had no comeback, as I hadnt expected her to say that. Emi continued for me as I struggled, Im Emi and this is Foxy. Were looking to register as Adventurers and as an official party. Sure dear, just give me your Status Tags and Ill sign you right up. Err I dont have a status tag. Foxy whispered to Emi. Can we buy a Status Tag for my friend here? Emi asked the elderly lady. Yeah sure honey, it will be 10 gold to buy a status tag. Uh here you go. I gave the 10 gold from my pocket and bought Foxy a status tag. After registered the Status Tag we came back to the counter and started the process of registering us as Adventurers. After we registered as adventurers we were soon registered as a party. However there was still one question that needed answering, What will your partys name be? [p=center]Next Chapter?[/p] Chapter 17: Cat and Mouse Please give me feedback on this chapter in this thread and rate the series! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 17: Cat and Mouse Our Party name huhEveryone started trying to come up with names that would fit, some were better, How about the CEF Brigade? It could be the initials of our names? suggested Emi Some were not so good Party A. Its simple and easy to remember, added Foxy hopefully. However we couldnt decide on a name until I had remembered the gift I had given Emi, What about Yin and Yang? Where does Yin and Yang come from? Emi asked curiously. Its from a far off land, I answered vaguely, It means to have balance, balancing out the good with the evil in a constant battle for which one would be better. That actually sounds pretty good! Alright then what do you think Foxy? Foxy nodded in agreement perhaps disappointed we didnt go with her suggestion of Party A. I told Greta our name and she made it official, it was now on all our Status Tags. Greta knowing that we were fairly knew at this asked if we knew the adventurer rank system and none of us did so she started to give an introduction, At its simplest it is a system to judge the quality of an adventurer, everyone starts at Rank 1, exceptions. Through doing requests given by the Adventurers Guild and other important entities you can level up. The leveling system is fairly straightforward. Starting from ranks 1 to 10 you need to do 5 missions of the same level to level up. Do you guys understand this so far? We nodded and gestured to go on. However you can speed up the process by doing missions that are one rank higher than your current rank which will give you the equivalent of two missions. If you find the missions are currently too hard for you then you can do missions are easier but they will only account for half a mission. This means if you do a mission that is two ranks higher than your current class you will get the equivalent of 4 missions in if you complete it. Past rank 10 it differs but for now that should start you off. Do you have any other questions? No thank you Greta, I smiled and replied. Good why dont you check out the billboards in on the pillar over there and try to get one of the Rank 1 missions to let you understand the basics of it. Thanks we will do that. We approached the board and saw a great many different types of missions, from slaying dragons (rank 10) to protecting merchants (rank 7) to even babysitting babies (rank 1). They were all of varying difficulty. We decided on a find a missing cat request as it wouldnt be too boring or too hard as our first mission. Emi started reading off the request, Help find our poor kitty that went missing yesterday. She is a Tortoiseshell cat that responds to the name Mirabella and has distinctive orange gloved paws. Sounds like a fairly straightforward quest right guys? Yeah sounds like it should be pretty easy, responded Foxy. As long as work together we should be able to find and corner the cat. So began the rather arduous search for the missing kitty. We asked many different people if they had heard of the cat in the description and the picture provided. But none had seen a cat like that. We then started looking at the more deserted parts of town to see if they were lurking there way from the crowds but we had no luck. It was soon night fall and we still hadnt been able to spot the cat anywhere. Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. Lets just pick a different mission. I was thinking a more straightforward mission could be easier to complete. But Emi vehemently protested, No weve got to find the cat. The cat could be scared, it would be so horrible if the cat wouldnt be reunited with their owner. I would imagine the cats owner would be very very sad. We need to find it. I was surprised at the intensity that Emi suddenly blurted out with but Foxy uncharacteristically smiled, nodded and said, Of course we can well find that kitten. Did you have a kitten when you were younger? I asked Emi. Yeah and one day it was gone. I was so heartbroken and I cried for ages after. Its a little embarrassing but I really did care for the cat. We need to find that cat before the cats owner feels the same way. Alright then we will. I patted Emis head like I would a dog as I thought it would comfort her. She seemed to blush but let continue. Foxy on the other hand narrowed her eyes, so I instinctively put my hand away. We continued to search for it, but we had no luck. We decided to stop for a bit and have our takeaway dinner that we had bought discounted from a shop that was just about to close and we sat underneath a tree near the wishing well because it was a nice cool night. The dinner was immensely satisfying particularly and nice to have on such a cool night, it had fresh citrus flavors that mixed well with the gamier mutton. The mutton was accompanied by some summer vegetables that complemented the heavier mutton by cutting through with some more sour notes. As I lay back relaxing on the ground after such a hearty meal I spotted a cat in the tree. With the distinctive orange gloved paws and tortoiseshell cat that had been looking for all day. I immediately pointed and got the other peoples attention by whispering quietly, Look theres our cat weve been looking for. As I was about to set up a plan to somehow try and catch the cat, I suddenly felt a gust of wind and the next thing I knew I saw a blue flash suddenly pass me. In an instant Foxy had somehow managed to run up the tree and somehow catch the cat by surprise. Both Emi and I were in awe of the feat Foxy displayed with the athleticism that I could only hope for. I was however a bit jealous as I thought I could have caught the cat for Emi as it had meant a lot to her. Emi instead ran up to Foxy and hugged her however the cat was still in Foxys arms so it was a rather comical display of a cat being squashed between two growing girls. I definitely felt something tug at my heart but I decided to push it away and allow Foxy the spotlight for this one. Emi seemed rather happy and was cuddling the kitten all the way to the Adventurers Guild. Afterwards Emi thanked Foxy, Thanks Foxy I really appreciate that you believed in me and caught the cat. We went back up to the lodging and this time I was able to bargain a couch from the lodgings front desk to use to sleep on so I fell asleep rather more quickly than I had the previous night. I heard a bit of whispering in the night but had been so tired from todays activities that I faded to sleep no longer paying any attentions to the world. [p=center]Next Chapter?[/p] Chapter 18: Good Fortune Please give me feedback on this chapter in this thread and rate the series! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 18: Good Fortune It was a new morning as I woke up and looked over at the girls sleeping in the bed. They seemed like angels in the bed cuddling next to each other. I guessed their late night chats after I had gone to sleep had drawn them closer together. I hesitated to wake them up as they seemed to at peace. But we had a job to do and we couldnt dawdle around. I woke them up gently by calling their names, Emi and Foxy weve got to get up. Otherwise all the good missions will be gone. mmhmmm,said one of them or perhaps both of them it was rather hard to decipher who was saying what as neither of them seemed to be reacting to what I said. Come Emi and Foxy, I lightly shook them both to try and get them awake. At last I noticed some life as they started stretching. Emis eyes opened rather slowly and spotted me they widened rather quickly as she noticed my position. I had maneuvered myself seemed to be straddling in the area between and to get a better position to wake them up. Cl-Clover what are you doing? Your face is rather close isnt it? Emi blushed slightly. After she had pointed it out I had noticed I was rather close to them and to the stranger passing by it could have looked like I was just about to get into bed with them. Sorry! I withdrew myself as quickly as I had noticed, Could you wake up Foxy for me? Y-Yeah no problem. I got off from the bed and tried busying myself with the nondescript task of trying to get ready very, very slowly. I tried to put how close I was to them out of my mind. In my previous life I had never been so close to girls that were unrelated to me. It made my heart pump and wake me up fairly quickly. I cheered silently in my head as I celebrated getting closer to girls in this new life. After I had slowly gotten ready and Emi had somehow convinced a rather sleepy Foxy to get up, I left so that they could get changed and prepared for the new day. After I had come back with the some of the fresh bread from the bakery and a jar of silky sweet blueberry jam I had found in the farmers market, Foxy and Emi had gotten changed and were far more awake then I had left. Emi looked to have calmed down from the rather surprisingly intimate wake up. We had our breakfast and the bread again did not disappointed. I had chosen a whole-wheat option as I had remembered somewhere from my past life that it was healthier and would provide a longer more sustained carbohydrate burn. It had an earthy nuttiness that complimented well with the sweet fruity blueberry jam. After we had eaten our breakfast we set towards reaching the Adventurers Guild. However by the time we had gotten there it was already starting to get rather busy with lots of different classes and types of people frequently entering and exiting. I took a moment to take it all, we were finally adventurers blocked from getting help from our parents we have to fend for ourselves. It made me feel rather responsible for the other two as I as mentally much older than them. Even if I hadnt experienced much besides reading in my previous life. The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. The Adventurers Guild was packed with people standing on the hard oak floors. There were a fair amount who seemed to be adventuring alone, those were mainly warriors, rogues and other melee classes. While in the groups there seemed to be a better balance of players with a fair few mages and ranged fighters in the mix. However predominantly there seemed to be more swordfighters than anything else. No one paid any attention to us as we walked to the billboard and looked at the jobs available for us. As we were looking Foxy made a suggestion, Why dont we target a Rank 2 mission? It will allow us to level up faster and take more and more difficult missions. Sounds like a great idea! Emi said Yeah I agree. I had felt yesterdays mission had been rather boring without any fighting or action. I also wanted to do more than I had done yesterday and perhaps, fingers crossed, impress them a bit. This mission looks pretty solid. My eyes were drawn to a Rank 2 mission to find and hunt 5 goblins that had been terrorizing the nearby farm area. Receive 1 gold piece for each goblin killed and 3 gold pieces for boss type goblin. Heads required. Yeah should allow us practice our sword skills too! Emi agreed. Kind of a low gold gain thoughFoxy said. Yeah but were only looking to get more experience right now we can always go for harder missions later. We still have plenty of time! Emi replied. Okay thenFoxy sounding like she was not entirely convinced. She relented in the end and we accepted the mission. It was a half a days walk or a 1 hour ride to the area. I thought that it would be to not use horses until we had gained money maintaining the last debacle had taught us the unpredictability of the world can be a poor trick to those poor enough to suffer it and not be able to repay the damages. We also brought lunches of blackberry marinaded venison sandwiches and by the time we had gotten to the farms it was already noon. So we decided to have lunch while keeping half an eye out for the goblins that seemed to be around the area. I chose a place that seemed to be a great place to have picnic. It was nicely shaded by a tree and a cool breeze flowed through. It was a rather cool day out on the fields waiting for the goblins so it was rather nice to sit outside and eat our lunch. However halfway through our lunch I spotted something moving in the distance. I immediately got the attention of my companions and pointed to the specks in the distance. We put away our sandwiches and prepared our weapons. Emi had her Fire and Ice swords, I had my Dark and Light dual swords and Foxy seemed to take out her two daggers that she somehow produced from somewhere. We were on high alert as we waited to see a clearer picture of the sudden intruders. They came closer and closer, all of us were rather on edge as at least I knew that this would be Emis and my first proper battle. Because of the place I had chosen we were prime to ambush the intruders if they got close to the farm. Allowing us to luckily defend both the house and have a decent chance to catch them in ambush. We prepared ourselves for a fight if the intruders turned hostile. [p=center]Next Chapter?[/p] Chapter 19: The Game of Life and Death Please give me feedback on this chapter in this thread and rate the series! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 19: The Game of Life and Death The green specks soon became easier and easier to see in plain view. It was the goblins that we had been waiting for. There seemed to be 10 of them who had gathered to raid the farm. They seemed rather lightly armored with on metal shoulder pads and a dagger each on the hips. The one who seemed to be ordering the others around seemed like the boss. He was twice the height of a goblin and I guessed would stand a foot taller than the average human. He had an adventurers helmet on that he must have taken and a sledgehammer that he seemed to be holding in two hands. We bided our time waiting for the opportune moment to strike. The mob seemed to be rather lackadaisical in the way they approached the farm we had been guarding. They had spread out and seemed to be combing the farms field for resources. Emi and I were rather scared, it was the first time we had seen goblins before. They had a warty like skin texture that seemed to both repulse and transfix us who had never seen something so disgusting. The eyes were a dull yellow color which seemed to indicate a lack of proper nutrition. As Emi and I tried to gee ourselves up to ambush the goblins. I looked over at Foxy who seemed rather detached. There was no smile, no fear just a look that seemed to indicate she was the hunter and they were the pray. Before I could I talk to Foxy she had suddenly gotten in to a crouch position and had hid into the field that the goblins were pillaging supplies from. She worked her way from the back, with a rather fat slobbering goblin who seemed to be lagging around behind the rest of the ground. She stalked her way behind the intended victim and slit its throat before it knew what was going. It was so sudden the goblin had no chance to even raise a cry. I was mesmerized at the cold efficiency she seemed to be displaying, it was like nothing I had seen, not like the power that I had seen my father display nor like pure almost artistic feel that Emis sister, Lisa had. It was much closer to like an assassin, cold and unfeeling. I saw her take down another two effortless and I touched Emi to signal that we should be helping rather than just being passive spectators to this uneven battle Foxy had taken down another one but this one had screamed and his cries of help had been noticed by the other goblins. They rushed over, with the boss in front. I knew that this did not bode well for Foxy who had so far been killing each monster stealthily. As the monsters passed our location to reach where their fallen comrade lay Emi and I jumped out and stabbed the two stragglers who let out a scream. The goblins turned round to see the commotion and this served to be their undoing as Foxy jumped out and danced her way through two goblins laying a path of destruction. All that was left was the boss and goblin twins who seemed rather surprised at the lack of numbers around them. Foxy ran in without hesitation trying to get a killer blow on the boss. He deflected and stood his ground. Emi and I charged Emi went in first. She used the water style to deflect the power from the goblin bosses hammer smash and I went in for the kill. The goblin boss was off balance after the rather heavy hit but he recovered enough to side step my rock styles side slash. He regained his balance and the twins by his side went on the assault. One attempted stabbed below the hip on me and the other tried to go for Emis neck. We used the Rock Styles defense as we were certain we had more strength than the goblin twins and rebuffed them. The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation. The bosses attention had turned after he saw the goblin twins taking our attention to Foxy who had been sneaking around looking for the stealthy killer blow on him. He turned his hammer and slammed it towards Foxy, she rolled to the side the avoid the blow and jumped to her feet ready to face the boss one on one. We meanwhile were heavily involved fighting the twins who had better teamwork than us. While one defended our blows with his dagger his sister tried stabbing at us. As I was fighting them a thought came to my mind, this was a battle not a swordfight or duel. Theres no need for honor or lack of dirty tricks. My advantage was more strength and reach than the goblins. An idea popped into my head as I analyzed our strengths and weaknesses. I quickly adapted using my foot kick the legs out from under the male twin and as he was falling to the ground off balance Emi pounced on the opportunity and stabbed him in the head. I followed suit against the other remaining twin, slicing her head clean off with a massive cleaver motion using my Black Sword. We ran to help Foxy out who was struggling to against boss goblins superior attack power. As she drew his attention by avoiding his hits, Emi and I aimed for his legs and cut them clean off, blood spurted out of open wounds. The goblin after losing the height advantage suddenly saw himself eye to eye with Foxy; he widened his eyes as a dagger from the front courtesy of Foxy stabbed him right between the eyes. It killed him instantly and he immediately fell to the ground. As we were checking the goblin bodies for valuable loot we took the heads clean off all of their shoulders and bagged them up. They were surprisingly heavy or perhaps I was feeling rather tired after the adrenaline fueled fighting session I had just experienced. Foxy seemed as usual rather emotionless as she picked up the heads. The sun had gone down as we had finished dragging the headless goblin bodies to be burnt in a fire. We carried 3 heads each with me carrying the last one as I insisted. In my head as we trudged back I was amazed at the difference in aura around Foxy during she hunted the goblins and her normal emotionless self. There seemed to be an unsettling quality towards her. Emi looked rather worried and I could see she wanted to ask Foxy about it but had held back. We dropped off the goblin heads and received the 12 gold we were owed. We also sold the loot that we took from the goblins and found that the adventurers helmet actually had a relatively high endurance and strength enhancement on it (hence why perhaps the goblin boss was so strong) so it was worth 10 gold. It had been a rather exhausting day with my first battle so when I arrived at the room I wasnt even thinking about Foxys change in atmosphere, instead, I immediately collapsed onto something soft and faded out, completely lost in dreamland. [p=center]Next Chapter?[/p] Chapter 20: The Talk Please give me feedback on this chapter in this thread and rate the series! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 20: The Talk I was woken up suddenly by a rather alert Foxy who motioned me to be quiet. As I got my senses back I noticed I had slept in the bed along with two girls. I cursed myself as I was not awake to experience it instead sleeping through this minor miraculous fortune. Anyway I soon put that in the back of my mind as Foxy gestured me to follow her outside. I followed her and she lead me to this rather scenic place by the lake near Paolona. Good, we wont be disturbed now, Foxy was pleased with her choice of location So what was so important that you wanted to not be disturbed? I want to talk to you about yesterday. First off promise me you wont tell any of this to Emi. I promise. Go on what do you want to talk about I didnt want to point out how she turned into a different person so I let her reveal however much she wanted. Ive had a rather hard life, learning to fight from a young age to fend for myself. I wont go into much detail about my past life as it isnt important right now. All that is important is that you know that when I hold my weapons Im serious. Okay then so why tell me here in a place so secluded? I probed for answers. I didnt want to worry Emi about such a serious topic. She seems such a caring person I didnt want to burden her. Thats understandable but why dont you try to. Shes always been very accepting, I know just recently I had something similar that she helped me with. I dont want her to pity me and start our relationship on the wrong foot shes one of the first to care about me and its been tough I must admit to open up. I understand, I had a past that I didnt want to accept and she helped me confront it and as a resulted in us growing closer not further apart. Relationshipa specific choice of diction I just dont feel ready to. You seem to be taking this rather well? More level headed and mature than your age suggests. Haha you dont know the half of it Anyway promise me you wont tell her about our little conversation. Dont worry about it I wont let onto other peoples secrets. You can trust me. I smiled trying to reassure her. Ah there is another thing that I should probably let you know Is something wrong? I had begun to piece together that something was amiss. Having slept on it and thought it through I had remembered yesterday Foxys sudden outburst. Perhaps to do with money? Remember those people that I was with when you met me? Oh yeah. Those big burly men who had ganged up on Foxy were still in my head. Well I sort of owe them a debt that I need to repay. What type of debt is it? This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.The gold kind, I was betrayed. Thats why I decided to join the fighting tournament in the first place. I dont like fighting straight on as it doesnt suit my style but the prize money would go a long way to satisfying that debt. So do you want me to lose? No Id never want that to happen. This just sort of blurted out of me. I just needed to tell someone that. As it had been killing me inside a bit while I was partying with you. Dont even worry about it, I smiled trying reassure her, Just do your best and Ill do mine. Thanks for listening, She hugged me rather suddenly and I felt her rather feminine curves. They werent as pronounced as Emis but as a man who hadnt had much experience with woman it was more than enough to surprise me, Please dont tell Emi okay? Still in the embrace, Yeah of course not. I promise you I wont. We walked back to the lodging with Foxy looking rather more upbeat than she had been before. It seemed like a whole weight had been lifted off her shoulders. We chatted a bit and talked basically about nothing until we got back to the lodging. Emi was already wide awake when we had returned and she asked us about where we had been. I answered something nondescript and vague while Foxy nodded along. It didnt seem like Emi was particularly convinced but she let it slide. Even if her expression said otherwise. We decided as a group that we would change it up a bit and decided to go eat outside for breakfast. As a reward for the rather lavish winnings we had last night, we went to a caf and celebrated there. It was good to have some tasty food and sit on the chairs outside the caf and relax. I decided to have smoked ham and eggs while Emi chose to have pancakes with syrup and butter that she reminded her of home. Foxy to have something a meat patty that was somewhat reminiscent of a burger patty but served in slices in a cream sauce. She explained that she needed to eat more meat regularly because of her ancestors requiring more protein than the average human needed. It was nice to have a change of pace, even if what Foxy had told me weighed heavily on my mind, what could I do to help her out? Her hard life and her unfortunate current circumstances seemed such bad luck. I almost wished I could share some of my luck stat with her. But I still didnt know how much of an effect it had on anything. Perhaps seeing my worried expression or just having been with me since we were young children, Emi knew something was wrong and gave me the same look that she had given me earlier after I had come back with Foxy. But I first needed to find a way to cheer Emi up without letting her know Foxys secrets. I could handle the weight of knowing but I didnt want to Emi burdened with it too. [p=center]Next Chapter?[/p] Chapter 21: Special Talent Please give me feedback on this chapter in this thread and rate the series! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 21: Special Talent Our party decided to have a short break as Foxy had to do things by herself. I believe that perhaps was the reason why she told me her gold plight. Im guessing that she went off to earn more money than she could with us. I didnt ask her how or what she was doing as I didnt really feel it my place to question her circumstances. It didnt matter much to me, it allowed me to have some nice solo time with Emi like in the old days. So I decided that I should take Emi out and investigate how our new Special Talent: Innate Magic. Emi and I had talked at length about the Special Talent but neither of us could figure out how or what it did. I had a strong suspicion it was heavily related to magic but in what way? So we decided to try and find out. Because of the nice amount of money we had earned earlier mainly from killing the goblins, we could spend our time for a bit finding out more about our new Special Talent. We decided to first visit the Magic Scroll Shop but when we asked about Special Talents we were rebuffed and turned away as the shopkeeper said we were taking up his time. We walked around a bit aimlessly trying to find any indication of our Special Talent but most said they didnt know and others just flat out threw us out of their shops. By the time we had finished walking around Main Street it was already lunch time so Emi decided that it was her turn to pick a place to eat and she chose a small little shop that served noodles that reminded me of the ramen shops I had eaten before in. These noodles however were closer to pasta and it was served in a rich broth which I could not tell what exactly was in it. We both enjoyed our meals immensely and I saw Emis expression soften as she relaxed a little maybe even forgetting a little bit about Foxy and my bit of covering up. As we were reminiscing and just discussing about what we saw in the city my eyes suddenly were drawn to Emis finger which held the ring. Although he did not seemed to be in the Magic business perhaps he would know about supernatural things and the occult. It was worth a shot. I pointed it out to Emi and she agreed it was at least worth a shot. We arrived at the market where I had bought the ring as it was only a short walk from Main Street. I looked to find his rather outstanding shop I had seen before but I was unable to spot it out. When I asked some of the shop stall owners and described him to them. They denied ever seeing such a person in the market. I found this rather strange, I had clearly remembered his peculiar look, with his empty on harness on his hip and the glass eyed monocle on his eye. He would be someone that everyone would remember and spot. I pondered this and as Emi fidgeted with her ring, I remembered that the shopkeeper had said something rather peculiar when I had left the shop. The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement. He said, Good day to you and may luck always be on your side. And winked too he must have somehow known that I was somehow connected to luck. Otherwise he wouldnt have said that nor would he have winked after he said it. But it still didnt get me any closer to actually finding where the weird man was. As Emi passed the time rubbing the ring that she had been wearing while I had been thinking all. I noticed it glow. I got close up to Emi and whispered into her ear, she reacted as it was suddenly a rather intimate situation but I pushed ahead anyway as I didnt want anyone else hear it, Your ring is glowing how about we go somewhere else and figure out the ring. It could lead us somewhere. Emi still red from the rather intimate contact nodded and we left to a more deserted alleyway. She had stopped rubbing the ring as we made our quick exit from the crowded market and it had faded back into its usual dull metallic appearance. I wonder why the ring glowed. Emi voiced out her thoughts. Yeah me too, it must be something to do with the man who sold it to me. His shop was filled with knickknacks and I was drawn to this one. Perhaps he meant to sell it to me? But that still doesnt lead us any closer to finding the man. It does though give us a clue. He meant to give it to me, he meant perhaps even to let it fall into your hands. Did he say anything to that was out of the ordinary? He did when he said his goodbye say May luck always be on your side. Does that mean anything to you? Not particularly. I still hadnt told Emi about my first special talent so I still didnt want to reveal it just yet. The gears in my mind turned round and round to try and figure it out. Yin Yang is about how to opposite forces that are contrary are actually complimentary. They are related and interconnected with each other. The most common example if I remember properly is good and evil. The opposites fighting each other and relying on each other to survive. If there was no evil then there would be nothing to compare good toEven my blades are called Light and Darkopposites of each other. Even Emis swords were called Fire and Ice, commonly contradicting elements. Perhaps the ring was indicating some other oppositeperhaps related to Emi and me. What was different between usour genderperhaps the key to this is the role of gender and the opposites of each other. Maybe the person who gave us this ring was the same one who created that Cave. It cant be coincidence that I was drawn to the Yin Yang ring. But how does this all relate to each other? [p=center]Next Chapter?[/p] Chapter 22: The Next Step Please give me feedback on this chapter in this thread and rate the series! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 22: The Next Step It could mean that two opposites have to be together as one...it was worth a shot Emi could I hold your hand? Ehhhhhh.Sure if you want. She turned away slightly hiding her embarrassment a bit. Im sorry. I knew that she was rather embarrassed at the situation so I tried to be as quick as possible. I reached out and held her hand, and spoke the words, May luck always be on your side. T-thank you? Emi was rather confused at the whole proceeding but it still did not stop her from turning red. It didnt work What do you mean it didnt work She said coyly completely different from her usual self. Maybe it wasnt close enough to have an effect, rather I decided to rely on my gut feeling. I needed to rely on my instincts they had gotten me through the riddles in the cave and they should get me through it now. I suddenly hugged Emi and holding her hand tight and closing my eyes as I said the words, May luck always be on your side. She had closed her eyes and seemed to have given up fighting my rather intimate movements. Perhaps this is what the Japanese call dere As I felt the warmth from her body emanate to my own I knew that this was the right answer to reach my goal. A glowing occurred that stemmed from the ring and I suddenly felt that I was sucked with Emi through the ring. The sensation of being teleported is not one I would wish to repeat again. It felt like I was almost stretched and my body was somehow elastic. If I were to compare it to my previous life Id compare it to being sat on by a bully but 100x worse and longer. Every part of my body felt as though it wanted to expand but at the speed we were going the air resistance stopped us expanding. Id compare the speed to being in the most insane go cart. But worst of all were the sudden dips and drops in the trip, each one feeling like a bungee jump each. Id guess that those who were adrenaline junkies would appreciate it and perhaps enjoy it but as a former bookworm (even if reformed) it was a rather unwelcome pleasure. As I got used to the sensation of the speed I tried to look around but it was all a blur. I closed my eyes and prayed it would be over, holding Emi close to me as we sped through the air. When I opened my eyes the eccentric man who had sold me the ring in the first place was standing in a rather muggy cellar grinning ear to ear. Welcome to my humble abode. The names Angil. Whaaaaaaaaaattheeeeeeeee.heeeeeeeell!!!!!!!! I exclaimed. Emi mirrored similar thoughts. I understand you are rather confused but I felt something and took a chance. So you are somehow involved with the nightmarish cave that Emi and I visited? The Cave of Dark and Light is its full name. And yes I was a disciple of the one who made the cave in the first place. Jesus Whos that? Never mindwhat do you want with Clover and I then? I was curious about what you rewards you got from the cave. Did you get the stat rewards or the sword rewards or the new special talent? All of them All of them! he exclaimed, The cave was supposed to be set to only reward one of those attribute. I shrugged and continued, So do you know the significance of these swords or the special talent gained? Ah those swords were a rather important keepsake from my former master. He made those weapons by his own hands. They had this unique ability to adapt to the owner. He never told us what they were for but all we knew was that they were specially made to be used with magic. If sold they would go well over a hundred thousand gold coins each. The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.I thanked my lucky stars I had not given one of my swords to repay the horse rental. Emi continued the line of questioning, What about our new special talent? Which one did you get enhanced magic? Elemental specialty? Or an INT boost? No Emi answered, We got something called Innate Magic. Oh! Wow how did you get that? Thats perhaps the hardest one to potentially get. I guess being the first to complete the cave helped but still Innate Magic is rather a special form of magic that combines the internal power of the body and allows you to draw from the external environment and internalize this energy inside yourself. What does it say currently? I looked at my Status Tag, It says You are now able to use Magic. I can update that if you want? Really is it that easy? I was slightly amazed as I was under the thought that it was tamperproof. Yeah my master created the Status system. So he taught us the disciples how to modify them. Actually why dont I just update your system in other areas Someone actually created the system...I did find it rather weird that none of the books I had read had ever mentioned the creator. Yeah it seems to be rather hush hush about it. My master seemed to not want us spreading that informationoh well whats done is done. What a lax attitude! So are you ready to hand them over? he continued. Ehhhh sure. I replied Yeah okay then Emi also spoke. We handed them over and he put his hand on them both and a sudden light glowed from them as he placed them on the palm and recited some indecipherable words. Here you go all done! he said rather brightly. That was quick! I peered at my status tag:
NameClover AuroraRaceHuman
GenderMaleAge11
Level19Health4260
Strength310 (+57)Endurance312(+57)
Dexterity274(+57)Agility286(+57)
Charisma195(+57)Leadership125(+57)
Intellect896(+57)Luck75(+950 +57)
Heroic1
Special TalentLucky Clover: This will add 50 times your level to your luck
Special TalentInnate Magic: This allows you to draw energy from external sources to help aid in magic
Equips:
Sword of DarkDamage: 95 (5*level) Bonuses: +3*level to stats Strength, Endurance, Dexterity and Agility (current level: +57)Sword of LightDamage: 95 (5*level) Bonuses: +3*level to stats Charisma, Leadership, Intellect and Luck (current level: +57)
[p=center]Next Chapter?[/p] Chapter 23: Be As One Please give me feedback on this chapter in this thread and rate the series! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 23: Be As One Thats some overpowered stat gaining from those weapons! I exclaimed. Emi mirrored similar sentiments. Yeah but those weapons were only for the first who completed the cave, Angil explained, People afterwards would get decent equipment if they actually found the cave but you guys got a special reward as the first ones to discover and complete it. Is what you used to change the Status Tag magic? I wondered, perhaps this was the person to teach us about the magic that can be used. Yeah Im a mage by profession who took up blacksmithing and jewelry making as side hobb-. Could you teach us how to use our special talents? Emi interjected rather excitedly. Sure, I wont teach you magic per se but rather how to utilize and understand this special talents basic principle. Great that would be so so helpful! Emi replied. Angil he took us out of the cellar to a nearby river outside his inhabitance and then he proceeded, You have to calm your core down. Be able aware of both yourself and the things around you, he instructed us to sit down cross legged and basically if I were to compare it to my previous life, meditation. Breath in and out, take the same amount of time for each. Pay special attention about the surroundings around you. The sounds, the smells, everything. He while we were sitting down meditating had positioned himself in front of us and followed his own instructions. Feel the wind as it blows through you, the sounds of the insects in the river, the smells of nature. I concentrated trying to be aware of both the world around me and inside myself. It was a rather hard task to get right. I had always been more of a person who focused on task, that being reading in my past life, but this exercise was forcing me to take a wider view of the world. The world around me as a whole, I had never realized how vibrant and full of life this world was. I tried stretching my senses to the extreme taking in as much of the world as I could. As my eyes were closed I almost tried to imagine the world around me through my other senses. Stretching them to their utter limits in exchange for a better understanding of the world. I felt a flash- I was suddenly transported mind away from my body which I could now see meditating along with Emi who seemed to be rather struggling but nevertheless trying. It was always a comforting feeling being around Emi who tried so hard and persevered. Perhaps that was one of the reasons I had arrived at this point in this new life. Without Emi I wouldnt have found Angil, Without Emi I wouldnt have bought the ring. Without Emi I wouldnt have survived the cave. Hell without Emi I would not be here. Anyway I had to push that out of my mind as I seemed to be floating around. I saw Angils spirit actually peeking around away from his body. He spotted me and floated up. What surprised me was that his spirit was not in the guise of his normal bodys image but rather a modified one which seemed to have taken some cues from a bird, with the feathered body and ah the fierce eyes of the Eagle. Perhaps he was an eagle? Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings. I looked at my own body in the reflection of the river and saw that even myself was not my own human image but rather one that was some sort of reptilian inspired version of myself. I noticed that I could see far more straight ahead than I could as a human but my peripheral vision had been altered. My vision also seemed to be dyed heavily blue. My whole body took on a rougher leathery like feel to it and my nails had become more clawlike. It was a weird feeling being a reptile but nonetheless an interesting one. Welcome to the Magic World. Angil spoke. I peered around and for some reason everything around me seemed to have something like the Aurora Boreas being. The energy flowed out an in from one being to the next, animals and plants alike. Even my own body had a reservoir filled with this ethereal energy. It was amazing, the different living beings seemed so vibrant even the ground itself had specks of the same energy around. It was breathtaking. Ah I see your companion is starting to also feel it too. I looked at Emi and saw the beginning of her spirit freeing herself from her body. It was rather interesting seeing her struggle with it but still persevere through. Focusing more and more on the world around. She finally broke free of her earthly constraints and glided around. She was seemed to have a horn on her head and pale white skin which immediately gave me the impression of a unicorn in the fairy tales. All majestic and proud. Welcome Emi to the Magic World. I could see she was rather shocked that an eaglesque human was talking to her and I tried to clear up the confusion. Im the reptilian human and Angil is the eagle-like human. You should have a look at yourself too. Try looking through the water! She glided through the air to the river. I heard a sudden sound of shock as she discovered herself changed too. Im a horned horse now! Whaaaaaaat? Yeah I can definitely understand being part some sort of reptile will take some getting used to. These are your spirit animals merged with your own bodies that embody your true selves. Do you know what they mean? I asked curious for the reason I was a part reptile. No one knows except the person himself. Even the person can only guess why he was given the animal. This is so amazing! Emi exclaimed. Its so psychedelic seeing the world like this. You guys are ready for the next step to truly understand your Special Talent. [p=center]Next Chapter?[/p] Chapter 24: Boy Meets World Please give me feedback on this chapter in this thread and rate the series! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 24: Boy Meets World It is all well and good to be able to see the energy around you but your power allows something rather different. To be able to harness this energy and put it to your own use. Angil continued. The problem is that we, I gestured to Emi and myself, dont actually know how to use magic. Before we went into the cave the Magic Tag didnt respond to Emi or I. Ah those things are rather useless. They only respond to magic that has already been awakened. The Special Talent perhaps speeded and upgraded the awakening for you guys but you always had the potential for it. So how do we learn to use this Innate Magic? Emi now rather filled with zeal to get started learning. Alright then first off why dont we get back on the ground? We followed Angils suit and arrived back on the ground. Angil continued his explanation, Now I want you to touch the ground with your hand. We followed his instruction and touched the ground, Wow the ground is so warm! I exclaimed rather shocked at the difference between this world and the one we inhabit. This is because of how in this state you are more acutely aware of energy around you and the warmth it gives off. Angil explained. So what does this have to do with the harnessing energy? Emi asked. Well the easiest way to get energy is from taking it from lower capacity animals. This means the insects and bugs which are in more numbers in the ground. So are you guys ready to start? I looked at Emi for agreement, she was a newly different Emi, she seemed somehow more dignified and in some ways I had to look at her in a new light as a woman. While I had been thinking these thoughts she had nodded and answered, Sure sounds like a good idea. Alright then, I want you to hold your hand on the ground and then try and feel each of the beings in the ground. It doesnt have to be a lot of them. Try to start with 5 for now. I focused on the ground and tried to feel out 5 specific consciousness in the ground. I found a 2 centipede, a spider, and a couple of worms that were close to the top of the ground. I grasped the energy and willed it to come to me. It felt different to my own that I had felt in this Magic World. Mine felt warm and welcoming, like a lazy afternoon sun that makes you feel sleepy and comforting. This on the other hand felt colder, less accepting, more like I had taken something that I shouldnt have. As I drew it I felt the light of the creatures disappear one after another. Theyre dead! I exclaimed finally figuring out why they had disappeared. Correct, Angils face looked serious, that is why you must be careful when you use this type of magic. If you draw all of the energy from any being it will die. Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.Why? Why did I have to kill something innocent? To teach you this lesson and etch it within yourself. Remember every piece of magic has a burden and if you exceed this burden you will die like those bugs. His face usually cheerful face turned grave as he explained. Emi looked equally horrified at this outcome as she had done the same as me, I wont use this power then. Killing harmless creatures just to increase the power of a spell is wrong. It is your choice, he turned to talk to Emi, but I offer a different alternative, take from many creatures that can handle it and control how much you take. That takes much more skills than the wanton destruction you just inflicted on those creatures. I had already made up my mind to do what I could to be stronger so I had to take this opportunity but I was determined to make sure that I use it sparingly and carefully. Emi we should learn how to use it, otherwise you never know when it could go out of control, she agreed begrudgingly, I turned to talk to Angil, Alright then teach us how to use it and control it. As you wish, but be warned it is a magic not to be trifled with. It must only be used when you are serious and in the correct state of mind. If you dont agree to this then I wont teach you anymore, understood? Understood. We replied. Okay, the safest way to take energy from the external environment is to take it from animals that have more energy. These are usually larger or more intelligent beings which allows you take enough energy without killing the fauna or flora. Why dont people just take it from humans or even larger animals? I asked perhaps wondering if this was a way to circumvent the problem of killing animals. After all the larger the animal the usually the greater the energy reservoir. That would be a good idea in theory but the greater the more intelligent the animal the harder it is to take energy away from. Then how about an entire forest? Taking a minute amount from each tree could be a great way of reducing the problem of potentially killing things. Another good idea in theory, Angil continued and shut me down, however the greater the number of things you control to get energy from the harder it is to control. So then how do most people do it safely? Im sure most of the people with this special talent dont want to kill things. Well there are so few people who have this talent. Even rarer that two people be friendly about each other. The probability of it is so insane that I was surprised that both of you actually had it. That doesnt answer the question, how do most people use this power? [p=center]Next Chapter?[/p] Chapter 25: Safety Announcement Please give me feedback on this chapter in this thread and rate the series! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 25: Safety Announcement Ahhh thats a good question, Angil thought for a second perhaps remembering a past memory, Most people take a companion, someone to draw from. Is there a reason for this? Emi wondered. Well did you feel the energy you took from those insects in the ground was different? Yeah Emi remembered recalling the feeling, It was coldand so different from the energy inside my body. Yeah me too! I also recalled a similar feeling This is because you didnt have the acceptance of those you were taking the energy from, Angil explained. So thats why people take a companion I was just about beginning to put the pieces together. Correct, most people take an animal of some sort and increase the trust between the animal and themselves. So that the animal allows you take their energy. Is there an advantage to this way than just taking it from a group of different animals? I asked. I was wondering if there were different ways to go about drawing energy. Yes there is, it is much more efficient and if you build up enough trust the energy transfer grows more and more efficient. Interesting I was in deep thought as I processed all this information. I also saw Emi mirroring similar thoughts. After a while I came up with a different way, How about taking from humans that you trust? I thought it could be a good way for Emi and I to increase our teamwork. No! Dont do that! outburst Angil, his eyes seemed to be watery as he said those words, You dont want to lose someone you trust a lot. Did that happen to you? I sensed this was the reason why he was so against it. Yes between me and someone I truly cared about. Do you want to talk about it? Emi said trying to be as delicate as possible. No its in the past and I dont want to revisit it. I would heavily advise against it as magic is a rather fickle beast to play around with. Are there any other warnings or restrictions you want to talk about? Perhaps this was the best time to do this so that I knew where I could not crossover. Dont do spells before you know you can do them. Dont EVER try and bring someone back from the dead. EVER. Promise me. He said the last words rather firmly. I promise. Promise. Good. He said satisfied. What do most people take as companions, are certain beings better suited to certain people? I tried to push it back to a less sensitive and taboo topic. You are correct in your assumption Clover. Usually the easiest way is to pick an animal that has a good affinity to your Spirit Animal that you are right now. In this case, Clover you are connected to a some sort of lizard and Emi you are connected to the Unicorn. The unicorn! she exclaimed, they exist? Yes but they are a rather rare animal. My suggestion would be to pick an animal that is close to a unicorn which is the horse. So I would suggest you take that as your first companion. Are there any other advantages to taking a living being close to your affinity to you? I wondered, digging for more information. If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.As you have activated and know your spirit animal, you will automatically feel it easier to create trust between those animals closely affiliated with your own. So the short answer it is preferable to take animals close to your own spirit animal? Yes. Do you know a place to get a horse or a lizard? I thought trying to speed up the process. Yes but I think it should come naturally, you want a companion who is drawn to you therefore I would advise on just getting any old animal. Ahhhhh I retreated back into my mind as Emi started asking questions about her own animal. I kind of cursed my luck a bit as I didnt really think a lizard was a really cool animal as compared to something like unicorn. Where was my luck stat working in any of this? I still couldnt understand what Luck exactly did. It wasnt as straightforward as I assumed it would be. Its not as if I would suddenly win every coin toss or always win in card games, I pondered. Instead it had turned my life into a rather more eventful time. Perhaps this was lucky in itself? My previous life was filled with the same monotony of reading more and more books and grasping for information. Here in this world I was actually going out and exploring the world. Experiencing it rather than just putting my nose into a book. I still enjoyed books but the world around me also drew my interest. But still what was the luck stat in this world? Emi fell down in that forestthough I wonder if my luck influenced other people, however that was asking more and more questions without answering my initial question I saved Emi from that rock, was that my own skill or luck used? Im almost certain falling into a cave instead of being thrown off the cliff must have been due to my luck. IF it was due to my luck then I am thankful. I finished the cave via my and Emis own strength. But the rewards perhaps were influenced by luck? Angil certainly seemed surprised at the rewards. I lost a lot of money from losing the horses but if I hadnt then I wouldnt have met Foxy. Though I still dont know much about Foxy. She seems close to Emi which makes me feel jealous inside. Thinking about it, from the words Foxy said she really cares about Emi. I care about Emi but I cant stop this feeling that Foxy cares Emi in the way that I care about Emi. I think of Emi more than just a friendperhaps its something more than that? Thoughthinking of Foxy and Emi together brought out other feelingsdamn it going off topic again Foxy telling me of her problems rather than Emi seems to be because she to wants to shield her from her troublesunless of course that was all a lieDAMN IT all these questions and dou- CLOVER! Emi killed my train of thought and I was brought back to the present. I cleared those thoughts off my mind and made a mental note to address this later, Are you there Clover? She knocked my head and I replied, Yes EmiI was thinking about something. What? She cocked her way in such a way that I couldnt help but feel endeared to her. Nothingit wasnt important. [p=center]Next Chapter?[/p] Chapter 26: Where the $!#% Are We? Please give me feedback on this chapter in this thread and rate the series! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 26: Where the $!#% Are We? I soon caught up to the conversation that I had missed which had moved on from questions about Emis animal to safety concerns and afterwards we returned back to the Physical World. It was a rather an eye opening experienced that made me think perhaps that there were different worlds linked to the same one. Like what I had read in one of the books in my previous life, similar but different worlds occurring in the same time space but we were unable to see them. Perhaps the Magic World was a similar world that existed in the same plane but we merely treated it as an extension of our own. It was my current hypothesis that had no base in actual evidence but I still had this strong gut feeling that I was right. I wonder what the God I knew would say about my thoughts Do you have anymore questions? Angil asked. Perhaps this was the best time to ask it, What is luck? Angil was silent for a moment and then answered, Luck is perhaps the least understood of the common stats that everyone has. For example Strength is conclusively the power that an individual has and Endurance, the stamina that a person has, however has many modifiers that affect it, including, the weight, height, age of a person. Luck on the other hand seems to affect all other stats, to what degreeno one knows, in what wayno one knows. I dont even know how to increase luckIts a mysterious one that perhaps my master would know but I dont even know where is or if he is still even alive. Sorry I cant be more helpful. Thanks for trying I guess from that it affects everything but at the same time no one knows to what degree I had a gut feeling it changed my life in different ways but no concrete evidence. I had other questions like what the Heroic stat was but I wasp pretty sure I would receive a similar answer. I guess I would have to find it on my own or perhaps somehow try and pry an answer away from the god who had given my a second chance. But I doubted my chances as he was far more adept at avoiding answers than I was at asking question. Any other questions? he asked. Emi thought for a second, Where are we? It had been an obvious question that I hadnt even thought of to ask but nonetheless one that we really should have asked earlier. I smiled at my lack of foresight. If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.Angil thought for a second and smiled and winked, Somewhere It was obvious he wasnt going to answer properly so we dropped it. How do we go back then? We had traveled here in a ring which seemed to have disappeared when we arrived. Thats easy, he answered, Ill give you two a ring each that will allow you to onetime travel back to where you came from. Thanks. How do we use it? Emi asked. Just think of the feeling of wanting to go back and you shall. You best be going now as your time will be soon up. I held hands and we both looked into each others eyes and thought of going back, we started to disappear different from how we had gotten here. It was more us turning invisible than the severe warp speed that had gotten us to Angils place. As we were about to disappear I thought of one last question, Who are you? He twinkled and sparkled mysteriously, I am Angil. And with that I no longer saw him instead I was greeted by the overwhelming stench of manure as we appeared back in the alleyway. We seemed to have picked the place where the manure was thrown to turn into fertilizer. Lucky us We tiredly treaded our way back to the to the lodging and were greeted by Foxy who seemed rather worn out too. I decided not to probe what she had done especially in front of Emi and anyway she seemed even more worn out than we were. I let Emi have a bath first as it seemed she could stand the smell less than I did. I stood outside of the room to prevent the stench of poop from lingering in our room. I got a few stares and people holding their nose as they walked past me but I tried to ignore them as I best I could. After what seemed like an age Emi opened the door and I was greeted by a relived face who had that just got of the shower hair look that I and males all around the world would be happy to see. I tried to play it cool but I gawked a little I must admit. Her clothes clung to her body rather tightly and I admired her curves for a second, they seemed to enhance a certain feature of her body. But I was most drawn to her face which seemed glowing and almost angelic as compared to stench that I seemed to have from the manure. Emi smiled and let me in and I went into the bath for a long while after that. [p=center]Next Chapter?[/p] Chapter 27: A Sticky Situation Please give me feedback on this chapter in this thread and rate the series! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 27: A Sticky Situation We resumed our partying after our little ordeal and Foxys mysterious errand she had to do. She only indicated to me briefly that it was to do with paying off the debt. She wouldnt say how large it was nor why she owed it. Pushing further would have attracted more attention from Emi and Foxy didnt ask much about what we did either so I thought it was fair. After having our breakfast and it was decided that Foxy would have first pick on which mission we would do since Foxy and I have decided the first two. We peered round the board curious on which one Foxy would pick. In the end she picked a mission that was harder than the previous ones. A rank 3 mission, she said it would challenge us but I thought more because it was a fairly high gold reward. I kept quiet as I didnt want to have Emi overly concerned but prepared myself just in case for a more difficult quest.
Quest Rank 3: Clear out the nearby cave which has been filled with spiders. Each normal giant spider is worth 2 gold each. The queen if found is worth 10 gold
It didnt give any numbers or any indication on the environment that we would be fighting in so I thought it would hard to prepare. Nevertheless it was Foxys turn to choose and she had chosen this one. I reasoned that it was only a rank harder than the goblin one we had just taken and we didnt have too much trouble. That was considering even when Foxy decided to do the whole mission almost singlehandedly. Alright then lets get this done! Keen to start Emi seemed in good spirits with everyone back together again. Yeah lets do this. Foxy smiled mysteriously It shouldnt be too hard but it is still rank 3, as long as we work together we wont get into too much trouble I reckon. I said perhaps tempering the mood to make sure they were completely on guard. Definitely as long as we work together nothing can stop us. Emi grinned and locked arms with Foxy and I and we walked together out of the doors. It wasnt as long a travel as compared to the Goblin mission we had done before it was more of a clear and kill type of mission as compared to the guard, wait, and ambush mission that the Goblin was. This mission was harder than just fighting against harder monsters, this is because we are fighting in their territory. Territory they are familiar with. I briefed and warned the other two along the way about the potential dangers. Foxy seemed to half listen and nod but I could tell her attention was elsewhere. Emi on the other hand was very attentive and seemed to really pumped to fighting together with everyone. If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. As we saw the cave I motioned for us to stop and prepare a plan. As I was about to set out a plan, I saw Foxy running into the cave with her daggers at the ready. Come back Foxy! Its too dangerous to go alone! I shouted trying to convince to turn back. However she soon disappeared into view. Emi and I ran in abandoning any sort of plan that we could have come up with as we didnt want Foxy to be alone in the cave. I could see that the spiders had been here for a long time. Spider webs and carcasses were littered everywhere. It reminded me of the Lord of the Rings where Frodo enters the Spiders Cave. It had that eerie look. As we got further and further in it got darker and darker until we were almost unable to see in front of us. Foxy! Foxy! Emi and I whispered trying to call her out. AHHHHHHHH! I heard a scream and it seemed to resemble Foxys voice. I motioned Emi to use the Status Tag trick we had used in the Cave of Dark and Light and it shone a small circle around us. The darkness in this cave seemed to be alive, clinging onto us whenever our backs were turned. Whispering sweet words around us. I knew it was just my imagination but it scared me nevertheless. We quickly tried to follow the voice but it seemed that we were constantly misguided. The voice had been bouncing off the wall so it had deceived us. Foxy! we shouted trying to perhaps find where she was, Where are you? Im in something sticky, She cried out, Uhhh its everywhere I cant move from it. Can you describe what is around you? I cant move! Im stuck in this spider web. I can feel them coming! Help! Dont worry well find you. I really had no idea how to find her as our Status Tags were really giving us a pitiful light around us. What do we do? We had no other light sources, a shortcoming on my part I must admit. We should have packed themARGGGGH forget that we have to work with what weve got. How do we find Foxy? Emi noticed the trouble look on my face and she whispered, You can do it, calm yourself down, you got us out of that other cave you can get us out of this mess too. I breathed in a few breaths and tried to calm myself down trying to ignore the screams from Foxy even if my whole body willed myself to try to run and find the voice. Breath. Breath. Take deep breaths, calm myself down Wooooooosaaaaaa. Use everything at my disposal. And suddenly it clicked. I knew exactly what to do to find them. I came back to reality as I heard Foxy scream out, HELP EMI AND CLOVER! YOU HAVENT LEFT HAVE YOU?! I SEE ONE OF THE SPIDERS HES COMING. HELP ME!!!!!! [p=center]Next Chapter?[/p] No Chapter today My computer corrupted so I''m reinstalling everything. Therefore I won''t have time to do anything for today. Not to worry I backed everything up so there was nothing lost. Just will be squeezed for time so I want to finish that first for today :). If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.Thanks for understanding, Jostag Chapter 28: Limits Please give me feedback on this chapter in this thread and rate the series! 100k views! Thanks everybody Ive really enjoyed the success and crafting a story that you the readers have enjoyed reading. Heres a small thing I mocked up for fun: http://i.imgur.com/rqQLemx.png ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 28: Limits Think Clover. Think. We cant see anything so we have to think of a way to see in the dark The Magic World! Emi! We need to get into the Magic world so we can see! Emi and I closed our eyes and focused ourselves into getting the Magic World. I opened my eyes and the world was illuminated with everything living leaving a speck of light that glowed and shone on everything. I saw Foxy in the distance struggling and stuck on a spider web and a spider slowly getting closer to its prey. How do I help her if Im stuck here? I need to somehow be able to control my body and still be able to see this light. I went back into my body but again I was greeted by the darkness of the cave and the shrieks from Foxy. Emi and I looked at each other in the darkness and I knew what needed to happen. I closed my eyes, thinking not about reaching out but seeing the world through my eyes. I willed myself to push my eyesight into the other realm. I suddenly felt a warm glow reach my eyes, perhaps from my own magic that had been previously locked and hidden away. This warmth was entering my eyes and I opened them. The world was colored like the Magic World but I could still move my arms. Clover! Your eyes theyre glowing! Emi exclaimed. I can see everything Emi. Think on only using your eyes to enter the magic world. Focus on only your eyes. Clear your mind and focus your inner energy onto your eyes. Thats the way! Emi clenched her arms and closed her eyes. And after a couple of moments she too had glowing eyes like she had described. Come on we need to reach Foxy fast! I ran and Emi followed suit. We ran towards the glowing mass of energy that was on our right. As we got closer I spotted Foxy which was very different from the stalking arachnid bodies of the spiders. The energy instinctively felt warmer than the spiders. I drew out my swords and sprinted towards the spider closest to Foxy. I cleavered its head completely off and it fell down with a thud. I saw the energy exit the body and be released into the air. My body instinctively knew this was the life of the creature exiting into the afterlife. Emi dodged the bite from one of the spiders and picked off a couple of the smaller spiders who were looking for the opportunity to take their piece of Foxy. Their comrades seemed to retreat ready to strike at the moment of weakness. We stood our backs facing Foxy and readied ourselves into fighting mode. I took my more familiar Rock stance and Emi her Water stance. Perhaps sensing the opportunity had gone, the spiders disappeared back into the darkness and we could no longer detect them through our eyes. Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there. I stood on guard as Emi cut through the spider webs and brought Foxy down. Foxy burst our crying and hugged Emi tightly, I-I-I thought you had deserted me and left me in this darkness. Of course not, we would never do that. she switched off her magic and comforted Foxy to stop her hysteria. She at that moment seemed like a mother caring for her child who had just had the most horrible of nightmares. I switched off this new improvised magic instead calling up my status tag to provide a bit of ambient light around us to protect us and calm Foxy a bit so that she was no longer in total darkness. W-what happened to your eyes? They glowed. Foxy asked perhaps recovering a bit from her ordeal. Ah just something that we learned recently, Ill tell you later, Emi smiled slightly. After a while Foxy regained her composure and stood up, Thank you Emi and Clover for saving me. No need to say that we are a party. Emi patted Foxy reassuringly. Which Foxy took very welcomingly. I interrupted that warm atmosphere, perhaps due to jealousy or anger from Foxy running off, Foxy I know you are scared but you need to make better decisions. We could have come up with a plan before and not stuck ourselves in this situation where we were in a dark cave with spiders all around us. Dont do that again okay? I softened for a bit, We have to work as a team. I dont want any of us getting injured okay? Foxy turned to me and nodded, possibly she was swept up in the moment, Foxy turned and hugged me too. Her normal breasts (comparatively to Emis) made me a feel a little bit turned on but I knew this wasnt the time to think that and I returned the hug. As we released I saw her face was tinged red for a moment. Perhaps it was the status tags warm glow or something else. But I pushed that out of my mind as I saw Emis face looking at us intently. Anyway we need to be on our toes, eager to change the topic I said, theres still a chance the spiders will attack us. Lets have me in the front and you guys protecting my back and well try and find our way back to outside the cave. Foxy and Emi both nodded and we tried to make our way out of the cave. It was fairly easy as Emi and I would use our newly found eye magic to spot the mass of energy that was outside the cave and we followed that out. We took turns as it felt like a fairly tiring magic so we rested while the other one was using it. We managed to navigate ourselves out of the cave and into the warm welcoming gaze of the sun as it greeted us from the darkness we had exited from. [p=center]Next Chapter?[/p] Chapter 3: Alt. Version (NOT CANON) - 100k Views Bonus NOTE: This is not canon and was my original version which I decided to not go with in the end. It didn''t seem the right way to go. But I thought it would be a nice bonus for the celebrating of 100k view, to see what direction it could have went if I had decided to go this way. I feel It would certainly would have been a completely different story had I gone this way. But I scrapped it in the end because I didn''t feel it had enough "punch" and it seemed to push me into a corner that I did not want to go. Chapter 3: Alternate Version: As my consciousness came to. I was suddenly struck with fear. Darkness was all around me. The same darkness that I had felt as I left the other world. I heard himself wailing in fear, the liquid that surrounded me seemed to convulse as I was constricted by the sides of this object. Was I going to die? Was this going to be the end of me? My life cut short as soon as it began? Then suddenly a blinding light surrounded the darkness and a warm blanket soon followed filled with the warmth of a mothers love. And then it struck me. Im being born. I looked up above and squinted seeing the radiant smile the one who had just given birth to me. It wasbeautiful there was no other word to describe it. That was my last thought as I drifted off. I soon woke up again and realized I had this sudden hunger that needed to be sated. I wailed and wailed for help. And then she appeared. There was my mother a woman with striking red hair, and an irresistibly dignified face. Eyes that pierced through any lie and at the same time carried indescribable warmth. A nose that any model would have been proud of and a beaming smile that struck away any insecurity. She gave her breast for nourishment and I was soon filled with relief that spread throughout my body. It was an acceptance I had never felt or remembered before. An acceptance of my very being for all its fault and problems. I feltloved. As she gave her breast for nourishment I heard her say. My lovely Clover, what a beautiful baby. After an initial hesitation I immediately told myself I would not let something as simple as a name, stop my progress. It even steeled my determination to start anew. This was a mother who loved me. A mother who accepted me. A mother whos smile who washed away any doubts I had. Yet again I faded into sleeps warm embrace. By the age of 1 I was already crawling around exploring my surrounding with my mother Andrea constantly worrying. But my father, Constantine protested in a language I had never heard of, xfdfds dfkmqw alwkma alkwr nazoe apqnasd ortpm oasdm. I explored all around every which way I could find. Climbing around on the oak staircase or even once my dads work study. The work study seemed to be filled with all sorts of chemicals and inscriptions. I could feel something was different. As I was climbing on top of the table to have a closer look my strength gave way and fell down with a massive knock. I had fallen down on my elbow and I was wailing with pain. My mother rushed in and saw that I had a wound and immediately uttered words that suddenly made me feel a warmth wrap around me and my elbow no longer hurt. It seemed to go back to normal Afterwards she started telling me off. Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit. By the age of 2 I was finally able to walk, talk understand the language that parents were talking in called Basic. I was finally able to gather where I was, it seemed from what my parents told me was that I was on the continent of Alexandria. I was a human but there were a great many races seemed to reside on this continent. My dad seemed to have the job of researching new ways to use the Souls power and mother seemed to be a retired adventurer who met had met Constantine my father during her travels and settled down with him. By the age of 3 I was starting to get more and more curious about the world around me and had proceeded to try and read as many of the books that resided in the home. My mother explained to me that because of the new invention of Ink Press books were becoming more and more widespread. In one of the books I read I saw that there seemed to be something called Soul in which power could be used from. When I asked my parents they introduced me to there seemed to be also some sort energy control that would almost be akin to magic in my original world. My mother Andria explained this was how she healed me when I got hurt before. [Introduction to Soul Soul is a contested subject that many brilliant minds of Alexandria can not seem to agree exactly what it is. But at its simplest it is a way in which to manipulate energy around us to do many different tasks. This power is believed to be descended from the Almighty God who gave it to the first beings as a way to defend themselves against the demon monsters. Souls uses can be split up into 4 categories: Earth C Manipulating directly the solids around us. Water C Tends to deal with the manipulation of liquids around and inside us. Fire C Is the manipulation of heat in all its different forms. Aether C Is a disputed fourth where there is some evidence that this existed previously but no one has been able to prove conclusively.] By the age of 5 I was getting more and more interested in what this power of Soul and how to harness it. My parents bought me a book for my birthday that introduced these concepts to a beginner [How to use Soul for Beginners In this book we learn how to use Soul in an easy way that anyone can be able to use it! In these few steps youll be able to use Soul to do some amazing things. Step 1: Understand to begin to use Soul you must first have a calm state of mind. Step 2: Now breath deeply in and out. Concentrate on this breathing. You should feel this sudden warmth begins to spread to your body. This is Soul. Step 3: Now to release it remember to do this outside! Get a bit of clear and start imagining in your mind that you are molding that bit of ground into a ball. Step 4: Keep repeating the steps until you have success.] They encouraged me to try Soul out under the supervision of them but I was too intrigued by this concept of Soul and its power that I practiced in secret at night whenever I could. Chapter 29: Regroup Please give me feedback on this chapter in this thread and rate the series! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 29: Regroup I breathed a sigh a relief after getting out of the cave, Alright then lets start making a plan. Emi perhaps more sensitive interjected, Why dont we go back to town and regroup there, we didnt bring any food so it would be best to get something in ourselves before coming up with a plan. Foxy nodded in agreement still shaken by her experience in the cave. I was inclined to agree especially with Foxy in this state. Yeah that would be a better idea. I agreed. We started to make our way back to the town to plan and sort out the information we had gained from our exploration into the spider infested cave. It would be good to have some food and unwind a bit. Added to which it would be far more productive to get Foxy to 100% than have her do a half hearted attempt at fighting. She could get hurt or even worse perhaps die. That produced a rather bad taste in my mouth which surprised me as I had not known her for that long. I guess I was starting to care for her now? I had really thought before that I had only cared for Emi but I guess I was starting to open up. So Clover what do you think? Emi asked. Huh about what? Completely oblivious to what the flow of conversation had been About where do you think we should eat. I dont know, why dont you choose? God why cant you be more decisive Emi sighed and together with Foxy decided on a small caf that was just off the main street. It had a classic Parisian caf feel that I had read about in some of the books in my previous life. It was an interesting experiencing what I had read about in books. It was better yet improved with the two beauties who were sitting at the table. However Foxy and Emi were two different types of beauties both immensely appealing, Emi was the more outgoing beauty, the one whos friendly and makes you feel at home but has the immense curves that any model would be envious to have, her smile always radiated a warm glow and once you were finished with that there was much more to see... Foxy on the other hand seemed like the type that you wanted to care about, she seemed so delicate, so cutewould be the best way to describe it. Especially with the foxy ears and tails that made her infinitely more appealing, especially to a certain niche who loved that sort of thing. Listen Clover! Why arent you paying attention? Emi intruded through my rather long tandem thought. Oh sorry I just had a few things on my mind What were you thinking about? Nothing I definitely couldnt say what I had been thinking aboutthough I had actually forgotten what I had been thinking about. It was probably not anything important Okay thenAnyway back on topic what do you want to eat? If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.I dont know what do you think looks good? Sighwhy dont we get the lunch meals. They seem good value. You get a drink too. What do you want Foxy? Lunch A sounds good Fish and Potatoes with summer vegetables. Replied Foxy emotionlessly Why cant you be more like Foxy sometimes. Said Emi in a rather low undertone that I barely caught. I raised an eyebrow but my intuition said this was definitely not the time to ask about it. I peered at the lunch menu and picked one that sounded nice Ill have Lunch D then, noodles with a cream sauce. It reminded me of home a bit and gave me a bit of a homesick feeling from my past life but it soon past. Life I felt was better this way. We finished ordering and got onto discussing tactics for the cave. What do you think we should do in terms of setup for battling? I asked curious about what their opinions on the matter were. I dont really know about those things, actually Foxy what fighting style do you fight with? Its completely different from what Clover and I do. Ah thats the lightning style I learnt from an old friend, Foxy replied rather somberly. I couldnt work out if it was due to her recent ordeal or something in her past. I ignored it, Okay then so you are the speedy typeI guess our formation should be you striking and then us defending for you while you deal out damage to the spiders. Foxy nodded rather slowly. Dont worry, I tried to reassure her by smiling, Well cover you. Emi hugged Foxy and said, You know we care about you right? Foxy warmed up a bit and returned the hug, Yeah I care about you. I mean you guys. She blushed at the second statement. Anyway we should get back on topic, youll attack the spiders while we defend and counter with our dual swords. Does that sound okay? I interjected. Yeah Foxy nodded and smiled obviously happy. Now we also need to figure out a way to illuminate in the darkness. I think that was our major problem. If we are able to see them the spiders shouldnt be so much of a problem. Actually, I was curious about that what was the glowing eyes thing you guys had? Foxy asked Ah we are magicians so we used it to see in the dark. I didnt want to give away specifics as I didnt know them myself but it seemed that we needed to find out more about magic. So why dont you use that? That is a good idea, Emi nodded her head and looking towards me for confirmation, But that still doesnt answer how you will see in the dark. We need some way to allow you to see too. Oh okay then well need to find a way to light up the darkness but still have my hands free then. Foxy seemed to be recovering and was a little more upbeat. Well less emotionless for her. We finished our meal fairly quickly and went around the town to search for the answer to our problems. [p=center]Next Chapter?[/p] Chapter 30: Answers Please give me feedback on this chapter in this thread and rate the series! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 30: Answers We again ventured into the market to search for the solution to our problems. I spotted the monocle wielding man who had introduced us to magic who had his stall set up. I looked at Emi in surprise and pointed. She widened her eyes and we made our way to Angil. Angil what are you doing here? I asked rather confused at why he was selling knickknacks again. It is good to see you anyway Angil. Emi said Thanks Emi, I love selling little bits and bobs to people. What can I do for you today? If there was anyone who could solve our problem about finding a way for Foxy to see then it would be him. Weve got a small problem, I explained, Were partying and we have this quest where we need to go into a very dark cave and have our hands free. Do you have anything that can light up a cave for us to see our surroundings? Angil chuckled, I remember my own days adventuring it was so much fun. Discovering new things, risking life and limb for the treasure chest at the end that may or may not be there. Lots of fun. Do you need something for all of you? No Emi and I are covered, we discovered this way of only forcing our eyes into the other world. Wow thats very interesting, can you show me Id love to know. If you give us a discount on this purchase then Id by happy to. I thought shrewdly he had something we wanted and we had something he wanted it could give us a good price. Haha always the businessman I see Clover. Sure why not if you show me what you did then Id be happy to give a discount. Alright then its a deal! We shook hands, I was rather proud of myself for actually managing to bargain as in my previous life I had been rather bad at confrontation. And here in in this life doing just that. How times have changed Alright then show me what youve got. I concentrated and tried to remember how I did it before. It was forcing energy into my eyes and willing them to see the other side. Being able to see what is in front of me and what is invisible. I felt the familiar warm glow and my eyes were able to see a sudden bright light that was in front of me. Angil was glowing with so much energy that I was blinded I covered my eyes and when I reopened them it had disappeared. Was it my imagination or did he have the biggest supply of energy I had seen in anything yet? Thats a useful ability you have there, Angil winked and said cheerily, How do you do it? Th-that amount of- I tried to say something but I saw Angil motion to be quiet. Why dont we continue this inside? Would it be okay if I talk to Angil alone? Emi and Foxy nodded rather perplexed but allowed it all the same. I followed Angil inside to his shop and he closed the door. I was surprised you were able to see that. So it was true, you do have a large amount of energy inside you I probed for answer, It was another life and another time where that amount was needed. How were you able to do that? I had hidden that I had that amount of energy from the normal user. Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.I dont know I guess I forced more energy into my eyes this time than I did previously, out of luck more than anything else Ah luck, what an apt stat you have there for your name. What?? How did you know? I was surprised he knew about my luck stat. I had a quick peek at your other stats while I was changing your status tag. I guess thats why you were asking about luck Why do you have so much energy? What do you actually know about my luck stat? Who are you actually? Haha so many questions again. You are an inquisitive one Clover. For the first question I stored it up, bit by bit building it for the time when I needed it. I guess it never came but I still do it. Just that luck influences a great many things, follow your instinct is my best advice, even if something may seem wrong or going the wrong way trust your instincts. Thats all I can say. As to the last question I am just a disciple of my master. Who is your master? I tried probingly to get to the bottom of it. A good question again I dont know all I know is that he was a special man. Anyway lets go back on topic, how you were able to see my energy was forcing energy into your eyes? Yes that is correct. Did you say any incantation or anything? No nothing at all Thats weird usually for most spells some sort of speech is required to activate itThen how did you do it, it cant have been just sending energy into your eyes? All I can say that it was a feeling, perhaps belief is a better word. So you believed you could do it and it happened? Angil widened his eyes in astonishment or disbelief. His monocle fell down as his eyes widened. I saw a glimpse of a golden eye behind the monocle. He immediately put it back and the eye returned to normal. He was definitely not a normal person. Anyway Angil continued, Keep this fact try too yourself about me. It has taken a long time for me to escape the chains of my past life. Alright but give me a good price on whatever you sell me that will help me in my small problem. Haha no need for a good price, Ill give you this crystal I fashioned it should help you out. All you need to do is put energy into it and it will light up. That should solve your problem. Come to me again when you finish this question Ive got something to talk to you about. You can bring Emi too next time. He gave a yellow crystal to me that was around the size of an egg and a little holder for it so that it could be attached to the hip. We walked back outside and he said, Good luck on your quest. As he waved our group off. I could tell Emi was bursting to know what we had talked about but she sensed this wasnt the time to ask about it. So she opted to not ask. [p=center]Next Chapter?[/p] Chapter 31: Plan for Success Please give me feedback on this chapter in this thread and rate the series! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 31: Plan for Success By the time we had arrived back at the Spider Cave it had gotten dark so we decided to hold off going into the cave. We set up a crudely created camp, I collected firewood and tried to start a fire, Emi was in charge of hunting for food as she had the most experience hunting with her sister and Foxy was in charge of setting up the camp. She said she had done it a lot before so we trusted her judgement. I remembered reading in a camp book had a perused before in my previous life that I needed to collect some tinder. Luckily there were some Birches nearby so I collected the bark from the Birchwoods and gathered some branches too. I forced myself to try and remember how to build a campfire as I hadnt paid much attention to the book as I read it. I remembered that there was a reason why I should bring lots of different sizes of branches that had to be dry but I couldnt remember how. So I breathed a deep breathed a deep breath. What are the properties of branches? They burn so they are used in firesso what are the properties of different sizes of branchesthe bigger and thicker ones are harder to breakthey also take longer to burnAha! So the thinner ones would burn easierso they would be the best to use to start a fire. I smiled as I figured it out and continued to work on the fire. I remember watching Bear Grylls on TV on how he started a fire. He seemed to build a small pile of leaves and then use some sort of fire starter to start the fire on the quick easy burning Birchwood which is filled with natural oils to start the fire. So I built a sort of tent with the little sticks and twigs and then set the Birchwood below it and I looked all set to start the fire. However how would I start the fire? I didnt have a fire-starter on me and trying to start it with two sticks, I couldnt quite remember how to do it. Was there other ways to start a fire? Perhaps I could use magicbut I didnt actually know how to do much with magicI could transfer and gather energy around me like I did with those dead insects and I could focus it on a part of my body like I did with my eye. How could those skills help me? How could I create a fire flash point? It was no use just creating heat into my hands? I needed a spark I tried to gather the heat into my hand focusing on bringing all my energy into my hands. I felt warmth spread to my hands as I was focusing but it was only warmth, how do I create a spark? That energy only warmed up my handsLets go back to the fire starter it was metal usually flint and steelwhat do I have that is metal? My swords thats it! I held my swords and started trying to focus on putting lots of energy into my swords they heated up but weirdly I did not feel it painful. I held the swords are tried running one of the swords across the other A spark! The spark flew down onto the Birchwood and the Birchwood started to catch fire. I quickly dropped my swords and put the Birchwood into the tent of twigs. It soon caught fire. It was at this moment I saw Foxy next to me. A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.She had sett up the camp and had obviously been watching me for a fair time struggling, she smiled, If you were having this much trouble starting the fire why didnt you ask meI could have given you my flint and steel to start a fire. I was lost for words, on one hand I had used my ingenuity to start a fire on the other I could have saved a lot of time and energy just asking for helpuhhh yeah thanks next time could I use your flint and steel. Sure. She smiled obviously amused at my whole experience in creating this lowly fire as she turned away to finish final preparation for setting up the camp she ended with, You should probably pay more attention to the fire its dying out. Ahhhh! I rushed over and started feeding the fire to keep it alive. I heard her giggles in the background. I just saved it when it was on the cusp of dying. Foxy seemed different just then perhaps she felt more at home here. Or there was another reason Emi came back after a short while and she had caught a couple of hares in her traps. She skinned them with her hunting knife and I set about trying to figure out to cook them, I had been so used to using a pan at home that I was trying to replicate that here. Emi took over as she saw me struggling, Ahhh youre so useless at these things. She smiled as she figured out a way to spit roast them over the fire. I smiled too as I had as usual gone for the most complicated action when a far simpler technique could have worked. The food wasnt anything special as we had no seasonings so the meat felt a bit gamy but it was satisfying all the same. Foxy seemed to relax outside of the city and we were soon laughing and joking around. It was a nice break from the seriousness of adventuring. Foxy had created one tent like structure out of the leaves and branches Emi was initially skeptical if it would hold but it did. Foxy had said she had only built one structure so we all slept in it. It was a rather snug fit but after being together with them for a while, especially Emi, perhaps they were becoming more accustomed to me. Though it was tight fit I wasnt complaining and I drifted off into sleep between them. I felt far more at home here than I had been in many of the places I had stayed in this or the past life. It was nice being together with people you care about. It was nice in a number of ways [p=center]Next Chapter?[/p] Chapter 32: Desire Please give me feedback on this chapter in this thread and rate the series! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 32: Desire We woke up bright and early to finish off this quest as quickly as possible. I tested the crystal I had obtained from Angil and when I put energy into the crystal it seemed to glow. Emi and I took turns putting a fair amount of energy and that seemed to let it sustain itself for a while. So we gave it to Foxy and proceeded into the cave. Emi and I switched on our Magic Eyes and we were greeted by over a dozen energy signatures from the Spiders. We seemed to have tripped the warning alarm they had set up and they immediately started to converge on us. Emi and I took defensive stances and Foxy took a rogue-like stance which was very low. She immediately sprung forward and attacked two of the spiders. The smaller of the two fell down without much of a fight but the other one seemed to be injured but still alive. It counterattacked and tried to hit Foxy. I blocked it with Dark and countered with Light killing him instantly One of the smaller more agile spiders on the right of me tried to attack me in the middle of my battle with the spider. Emi stabbed right in the head and it did not move after. Three down a fair few more to go. In the mean time Foxy had flanked around the spiders and had hit a few in their weak spot in their abdomen. These proved to be effective hits as another two were killed. The spiders retreated and reformed their structure on a more narrow part of the cave. This stopped us from flanking them as easily and made it harder to kill them. The spiders at the back of the first line spit some type of viscous green liquid. A part of it went onto Emi it seemed to be some sort of acid, it burned through part of Emis clothing. She quickly ripped it off but seemed to lose her stance as she was preoccupied with the acid. One of the spiders tried to hit her but Foxy was too quick and chopped the legs of the spider clean off. As it fell to the ground Foxy finished the job with a downward stab from her daggers. At the same moment a couple of the same sized spiders attacked me from both sides as I was all alone. I parried knocked one of the off balance and then quickly turned to face the other one on my other flank. I parried and slashed with Dark but the spider did not die. I then slashed right through the spider with Light as it was recovering from the first hit. It seemed that Light had some sort of effect on the spiders as I could hear an audible scream and a burning smell. Perhaps Lights effect was to be more effective against those of the night while Dark perhaps had the opposite ability. We had so far killed about half their number. They seemed to grow scared for us and retreated but then a loud screech spread throughout the cave. A spider three times the size of any of the others came out. She was the color of Cherry with dark line all over her body. This I guess was the queen, she had intricate marking and the other spiders were either in awe or fear of her. They immediately tried to go on the offensive. But their numbers were unstructured and lacked teamwork. Foxy hit the first few and Emi parried the next while I struck down with my swords. We followed this pattern until their numbers thinned out. Soon it was just the Queen and her two remaining larger minions. Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. The two minion who were the largest of the bunch (excluding the queen) converged on us. They both would have made a large war horse look small. I tried to strike at one of the legs but I was unable to cut completely through. While I had kept them occupied Foxy had tried to go round the back and stab them at their abdomens but they ejected the same liquid as before and rebuffed her attacks. Emi stabbed one of them in the head but their heads were much harder than before. We returned to defensive stances and I tried to think of a way through this battle. I instinctively looked at my sword and remembered Angils words Trust my instinct My eyes were drawn to my blades. I started focusing on them and as I did I felt Light shine brightly and Dark have this aura that seemed to almost consume the darkness. I shouted at Emi, Pour energy into your blades. She did the same her swords transformed too. One into a flaming scorching blade while the other was suddenly covered in ice. Foxy glanced over amazed at the change. But as she did one of the larger spiders took their opportunity. I lunged over to try and block the attack from the spider. My sword Light glanced the spider and it immediately seemed to engulf the spider in a light. The spider screamed and disappeared into a nothingness. Emi seeing my strike on the spider decided to test her own might. She struck the remaining minion spider and it immediately froze. She then used Fire and that dealt the finishing blow on the spider. Now it was only us and the Queen spider. My sword Dark seemed to have a mind of its own. I felt its wishes to devour the monster in front of us. It was an unsettling feeling, it was neither evil nor good but rather a wish to eat. I looked at Emi and Foxy and nodded. They knew I wanted them to cause a diversion. They both started flanking the monster and the Queen had no idea which way to look with all the motion. I ran at the Queen directly and pushed off its leg and jumped up onto its body. Dark seemed to desire eliminating the Queen so plunged it into the Queens bright red abdomen. I did not go all the way through but from the wound a blackness spread throughout the Queens body it screamed for help but none would be able to save it. The black was unstoppable until it covered her entire body and then I felt a sudden increase of energy into my body. The only way to describe it was unholy. The energy was uncontrollable and I fell down into the darkness. [p=center]Next Chapter?[/p] Chapter 33: The Darkness Please give me feedback on this chapter in this thread and rate the series! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 33: The Darkness Hi Clover. A voice penetrated my hazy mind clearing it right away. I was no longer in the cave but in the great abyss that would scare most people. However having been here now several times this endless place did not scare me. I was back with my favorite god. Hi God, why do I get the pleasure of your visit this time? Please weve been meeting up so many times I find it a bit odd almost to be kept on being called god. Call me Greg. Gregwhy Greg exactly? I widened my eyes by the rather absurd name this god seemed to want to be called. I dont know Im trying it out. I tried Li and John but they didnt feel like my name. So youve decided to call yourself after a human nameI thought you would have some inconceivable name that would be unable to be comprehended by the us mere mortals which would confirm your very existence as a deity. Thereby placing you squarely as God I do. Mhm. I was rather skeptical that this god who wished to go by the name Greg was indeed the one true god or even a major god at all. Though stranger things have happened, Ive landed on an alternate planet where status windows are a part of the norm, magic exists and most improbable Im living rather amicably with two girls in the same roomSo I guess things dont surprise me much. Yes. The one called Greg spoke. There was a silence as perhaps neither side knew what to say to break that rather awkward end to a conversation. The one true Greg, I mean God broke the silence, So Im guessing you are wondering why you are here again? That would be correct Im kind of wondering why you brought me here. I was under the impression that I would only talk to you after the tournament was over That was the original intention but circumstances have changed. You are actually in possession of one of my more prized pieces in my collection. Oh really? My swords are connected to you? Yes I was the one who created that little puzzle in the first place. You call that a small puzzle Yes a few interesting riddles that were meant to bamboozle the few that trespassed there. I started connecting dots if Angil knew the person who created the dungeon then Greg must know be the guy. So you must know Angil? Youve met him? Ah yes Angil was a nice guy. You know him?! Yeah a very peculiar guy with a fair few different quirks. A similar case that drew my curiosity like you. Sure so what was so important that you needed to drag me back here? Ah yes, do you remember what happened before you passed out? I was using the sword Dark and it seemed to be doing the job it spread all over the monster and killed it. You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.In that sense you are correct but in an entirely different sense you are wrong. Really?! Greg the God suddenly manifested the two swords, Dark and Light and gave floated them up in between his incorporeal body and my own. They seemed to glow when handled by him almost as if he they had a consciousness of their own They are alive?! I exclaimed. Correct, in one sense. They have desires and thoughts but no moving parts or body in that sense. So then how are they alive? You could say that in your own world they would be called spirits within an inanimate object. They were given life from love. So you are capable of love I murmured. I guess it would be a bit of both, a bit of magic and a bit of thought that could possibly be conceived as love. So then why did you reveal that to me? Well both your swords and Emis both have thoughts and desires and the one that you felt as you passed out was one of Darks The need for energy? Nosomething perhaps more deadly than that, the need to devour Is that was the reason I passed out? Yes it wanted to devour power that you were not ready to handle. It forced all of the magic from the body of that monster you were fighting into your body. The result was obvious then, I havent really used any magic so I cant handle more than I can use. Yes magic isnt something measureable or as simple as your own world seemed to imagine in their fictional pieces of literature. It is forever fluctuating forever moving around. So then how do I control the needs of Dark? You need to control your own emotions, you suddenly had an intense urge to kill that monster and Dark wished to comply its current masters wishes. What do I need to do then? Whenever you feel Dark is becoming out of control you need to impart your own thoughts into the sword itself. The thought of restraint, rejection of the energy it wants to give. I also felt the energy it wanted to give wasfoul. Evil like it was rejecting life itself. That perhaps is what you believe is true, evil is evil there is no need for it but that is what I believe is wrong. Evil and Good coexist like that yin yang symbol in your previous life. They need each other to survive. They rely and live together. What you must know is that life has need for both the Dark and the Light. Hence why I created this set. Emis is similar the Flame and the Ice which is meant to be the Heat and the Cold. But that didnt sound as cool. Seriously? That seems a little irresponsible deciding somethings power just because it didnt sound as cool However youve forgotten one thing in all this talking What is that? I asked curiously The Light. [p=center]Next Chapter?[/p] Chapter 34: The Light Please give me feedback on this chapter in this thread and rate the series! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 34: The Light The Light? I asked, The Light I guess represents the Good. Right? Perhaps, but the Light is not as clear cut as you may assume. But the Light represents the purity of the soul, the goodness within us all. But just like anything in the world clear cut differences prove worse than a grey area. What do you mean by that? One may believe that they are working for the good but in fact be doing the complete opposite. A famous quote explains this, The road to hell is paved with good intentions Being single-mindedly set on one path is wrong. The embodiment of light believes itself right in all cases but as you and I know beings are all flawed. Therefore their Light or Rightness could be considered wrong. Wait a moment you are considered the Good and the Right, if we are to believe what my world says about you. Wouldnt that mean that you wrong? I never said I was right, I even said I wasnt omnipotent. If you only act on the completely right then as the quote goes you will eventually go down the evil path. That is what you mean coexistence with Evil? Yes correct, therefore make decisions on what you believe is correct not on what is considered the right way by others. So going back to the sword of Light, what impact does this have? The sword of Light can be considered the antitheses of Dark, as you might imagine but in the same way it is similar. Dark and Light can be considered opposites but they share the same characteristics. They wish to be the dominant force in the world, they wish to influence those around for their own side. So what does this have to do with the sword Light? The sword Light, is perhaps more fickle than Dark as it is appeals to your own goodly intentions, it wishes you to protect everything but you cant. It wishes you to destroy the Dark but without the Dark to compare the Light can not exist. While the Dark wishes to devour the Light wishes to protect. In a basic sense if you throw your energy into it will protect what you hold dear. No matter the cost. So this works in a sort of synergy with Dark? Absolutely correct, the Dark takes away energy while the Light uses energy to protect. Being able to use both is key to being successful in this world for you. So without the Dark I would be unable to use the Light to protect as it would cause my death but without the Light I could be the one being devoured and therefore lose my life. Yes. Damn thats tough. I didnt say it was easy but it is the path you have chosen by choosing these swords and choosing this path. So what about Emis swords? The Almighty God Greg vanished my swords and magicked Emis into existence. Just like my own they exuded an aura, one an intense burning fury and the other a cold indifference that would be equal to any fury that that the other had. This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it. Fire and Ice, were another pet project of mine. They dealt more with emotion than Dark and Light. They were perhaps another side to a sentient beings thoughts. The cool, calculating and logical side and the hot, passionate ad emotional side, both of which form the major parts of a sentient beings thought process. Always at odds but both of vital importance to a persons very being. So what are their intentions and desires? I asked wondering about their difference compared to my own Dark and Light. These ones are far more vague but easier to control. However understanding them is the most important part to being able to control their powers. In a way utilizing them every day would be easier but it is as hard to master as your very own Dark and Light. The sword Fire moved and started floating around me. Its very core seemed to imitate the very passion that any human is capable of. Fire is uses the feelings of a person and those around them to power itself up. It translates those into power but the quality of this power really depends on the user. If the feelings of a person are too much then the sword Fire could draw too much from those around and overwhelm the user with its power. Much in the same way Dark does. The sword Fire disappeared from view and Ice took its place. Its cool aura tingled all the way to my core and shook me. Ice on the other hand uses cold calculating power to both be used as a blunt weapon to stun a person but its true purpose is to launch a mental attack on those the user deems its enemy. In this way perhaps Fire and Ice are similar they both use the users willpower in order for their true power to be released. Beware a strong mind is needed to handle such a mentally debilitating task. Jesus, I mean Greg in my innermost mind I thought, thats strong. They all have their strengths and weaknesses it depends on how, why, when, who and where you use them. They are a lot more complicated than I thought. But isnt that the fun? The fun? You know about fun? I perhaps dont know how to describe fun but the Journey in which you take to master these will be far more exciting and revealing than anything your past life would be. Isnt that what fun is? I dont know but I guess thats part of what I need to figure out. Is this what innate magic is for? Thats for you to decide and find out about. As he said that everything around faded into the light and I saw Emis face looking rather worried. I wasnt laying on the ground but rather on her lap. Ah the much sought after lap pillow. How very nice I closed my eyes and smiled. Hey Clover are you awake? I was worried about you when you collapsed after killing that queen. Yeah Im feeling okay a lot of things happened I guess. Really? Ill tell you later about it. I fell asleep exhausted after a very tiring day. I could feel a gaze looking at Emi and I but I was too tired to care. [p=center]Next Chapter?[/p] Chapter 35: An Experiment Please give me feedback on this chapter in this thread and rate the series! Will be on the only chapter this week. I''m taking a week off to enjoy Christmas! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 35: An Experiment After my short nap I woke up feeling refreshed. We picked up the loot and proof of the kills (in the form of the heads of the spiders) As I was picking up our spoils the discussion with Greg the god weighed heavily on my mind. I still wondered why Greg decided to be called Greg. Foxy was glaring at me a little bit and I assumed she was rather jealous of my relationship with Emi but I decided not to push it. Who knew what could happen if I pushed the issue? Not to mention the issue of her debt? What was her situation? Why was she in trouble? So many questions, I let out a sigh unintentionally and brought out the looks from both Emi and Foxy. I smiled and blushed and looked down as I suddenly was very focused on this particular spider head. It was the Queens head that had been obliterated by my sword Dark it looked completely different as if all the color had been drawn away from it. It looked lifeless and made me sick to the stomach looking at it. I vowed at that moment to stop this Darkness from being uncontrollable again. We soon gathered up the heads together and turned them into the guild. The people at the Adventurer Guild raised a couple eyebrows as we collected the money from the quest in total we had killed 14 spiders and 1 queen for a grand total of 38 gold pieces. A substantial amount especially for us starting out beginners. Though inconsequential to the cost we had to pay for that horse. That still hurt me thinking about that. We turned in for the night and nothing memorable happened. The issue of Foxy weighed on my mind but I guess I would have to have a frank talk with her about it as my mind faded to sleep. I woke up early in the morning after, encouraged by the saying The early bird gets the worm, even if quote originated from a person who was renowned as a night owl it still held true. I am determined to control these two swords and be able to protect myself and those I care about. I walked briskly to an empty patch of grass that was outside of town. I found a spot that had the welcoming morning sun bathing its place so I sat myself there and closed my eyes. If the average passerby from my previous world had seen me they would have assumed I was meditating but I was heavily focused on practicing getting into the Magic World. It still took work to get into the world and to be honest for it to be really of any use it must be something I can slip into. Therefore I decided that I would practice switching from the normal physical world to the Magic World. I extended out my consciousness to the living things around me and spread around, encompassing everything. Feeling their emotions, thoughts and beliefs. A blanket over the immediate area around me. The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. It was so much information as I opened my eyes I was back into the Magic World. Suddenly everything seemed to make sense. The noise of everyones consciousness were now crystal clear. The chaos had somehow become ordered. The world took on the characteristically blueish glow from the amount of living entities around me. While I wasnt drawing anything from them I could feel the immense power that was around me. The last time I had drawn from those insects I hadnt felt that immensity around me. The living energy inside these creatures was clean and pure while what I had drawn from those insects had been clouded. I moved my scaly body towards one of the larger consciousness around me, a badger who had been burrowing below me. I focused myself on it and tried to understand the badger. The badger was right burrowing for food so I could feel its need for sustenance and food. From this I had an idea, I pushed my energy towards the animal. It seemed to reject the present, luckily the energy seemed to flow back into me. I decided to attempt again, I impressed on the badgers mind this feeling of helpfulness from me, a pure wish to help a fellow living being. I gradually felt the resistance I had initially felt from the animal melted away. I presented the energy again to the animal again and this time it as better received. While I could feel it had been accepted I could feel that it didnt trust me who was a complete stranger. I also inference that the distance between the badger and I was also another cause for the problem in giving energy. Perhaps the earth itself was acting like the resistance in an electrical wire? I reached out again to the badger and I had noticed it had moved to the surface and was burrowing towards to me. I switched back to the physical world and was greeted by the snout of the badger who seemed to be peering around for the sudden disturbance in its world. I directed my thoughts to getting back into the Magic World and reached out for the badger. It seemed to have a positive attitude towards me. We stared at each other in silence perhaps gauging the other partys opinion. It suddenly reached out its claw and dropped something. It then disappeared underground as quick as it had appeared. I tried to reach out to it but it seemed to have disappeared out of my mental reach. I redirected my focus to the physical world and saw the badger had given me a present. A gold coin it had probably found in the ground as a reward for the energy I gave to him. I was tired but pretty excited at what I had achieved. I felt the status tag in my pocket glow and I saw a new attribute had been gained on the Skill Mastery Section:
Multi Species FriendshipBeginner Lv.1
[p=center]Next Chapter?[/p] Chapter 36: The Cost Please give me feedback on this chapter in this thread and rate the series! It''s Christmas so I thought I might as well give you a chapter for you guys to celebrate. Merry Christmas! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 36: The Cost What on earth is Multi Species Friendship? I guess it was to do with what I just did. Forming a sort of friendship with the badger by giving energy to him. I wonder how this will evolve? Why is it at beginner lv.1? Again I am frustrated with all these questions with no more answers than before. However I had slowly gotten used to it now. Many things in life would not have answers but I had decided it is best to find your answers when you can. I shelved the Multi Species Friendship for another day as I had felt the strain of giving energy and perhaps it needed to be trained slowly. It was now time to start on my Dark and Light practice. I remembered back to what Greg had said about the swords, Dark consumed energy while Light used energy to protect. I also remembered that my Light sword seemed to react to Dark creatures and seemed to wish to obliterate them while my Dark sword wanted to consume the Dark Creatures for energy. Perhaps the Dark sword had an effect on other types of creatures? But first it was better to master how to use the Dark sword to control its energy absorbing function. I entered the Magic World once again and searched for what I wanted. After a few minutes I found my target, a large lizard that seemed to be lounging near on the tree above me. I remembered back to what Angil had said about my affinity towards reptilians so perhaps it was better to start on something I was closer to and try to get energy from. I reached my spirit body towards the lizard trying to impress that I meant to be a friend. The lizard seemed to initially trust me more than the badger had. I impressed that I wanted it to come near my location and although it was initially hesitant I convinced it by giving some of my energy to it. I felt it was more efficient than when I gave to the badger. Perhaps it was a combination of affinity, trust level and even my third hypothesis which was that the more objects between you and the target made the energy transfer less efficient. Having impressed on it that I was friendly it came down from the tree and came to me. I spent a bit more time on convincing I meant no harm. After about half an hour it seemed to be fairly relaxed around me. I decided it was now or never, I held the Dark sword near it. The lizard stared deeply into my eyes and I felt a bit guilty at what I was doing but I pressed on as I reasoned being able to control this power was needed for the future. As I poured my thoughts into the sword it immediately reacted almost instantaneously as if it was telepathic it seemed to hum like the light sabers in Star Wars as it voiced out its voiceless thoughts. The lizard was frightened and instinctively felt the force in my hand was an unnatural existence. However due to my efforts it did not run away. Dark urged me as if it was the Devil whispering in my ear, urging me to bring it closer and take the life force from the creature in one fell swoop. You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.I followed its call and touched the fuller onto the lizards body, the lizard jumped as the cold metal touched its skin. In the same instant I could feel Dark start drawing the energy from the lizards body rapidly I resisted its calls to take all the energy and instead I impressed on it to slow itself down. It fought at first and as I pounded it with thoughts of slowing down it gave up and slowed the rate at which it took energy from the lizard. Alas it was too late and as it was slowing down I felt the last of the lizards life force slip away from its body and into my sword which hummed with content with the animal sacrifice it had just procured. I felt sick as I had vowed I would avoid life loss as much as possible but I had killed the lizard who I had bonded with. I could feel the loss it had felt, it had almost seemed to reserved to its fate of being dead. I could feel its sigh as the last of its life force come away from it and the darkness draw it into the abyss. I felt my eyes water even if I was mentally an adult I still felt the sadness from taking an innocent life. But I had learnt a valuable lesson. It was vital that I train Dark to answer my orders without question and not fight me as that had wasted precious seconds that could saved the lizards life. I took a few breaths, breathing in and out deeply to calm myself and put Dark back into its hilt. I drew the life force energy that had proven fatal for the lizard into my body. I felt the emotions that it had felt. From confusion to fear to resignation of its fate. I felt its last seconds of life and sickened me, it sickened me to my core that I had done something to this innocent life. I vomited as it proved too much for me. I trudged my way back to the lodging we were staying in and I kept this life lesson that had cost the lizard its life in my mind. The sword Dark was not meant to be taken lightly, it must be taken with as much caution as I needed to swing my blade. It had risks for me and the other beings I drew from, I kept that close to my heart as I walked up the stairs to reach the room where we were staying in. I decided to keep this to myself as I wished not to have them bear the burdens that I had placed on myself. [p=center]Next Chapter?[/p] I am back sort of... I had a rather busy few weeks with christmas and new year and other personal things so I had to take time off to sort those things out. I''m going to try and get back to the daily postings I initially started. This will continue until the end of the month and then I will most probably be unable to access the internet. So I will have to stop and then I will hopefully start up again after that. I''ll have to see. But I promise you this series will be continued. It will just a bit more time as my real life commitments clash with my online ones. From tomorrow expect hopefully daily postings again! This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.Cheers and thanks for those who have rated and liked my story. I''m glad people like the world I''ve created! Jostag Chapter 37: Magical Words Please give me feedback on this chapter in this thread and rate the series! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I opened ready to greet and wake up the girls who probably hadnt gotten up yet. I love you. The words I heard when I entered the room. The receiver of these words was Emi and the sender, Foxy. The words pierced through the room. It cut through any perceived perceptions, doubts or thoughts otherwise to the contrary of what Foxys feelings were for Emi. They hit the room like what I expect a bunker buster would do to this very room. The next part was perhaps as painful the silence as Emi seemed shocked by the predicament she found herself in. Hell I was shocked and I wasnt even the one who had received the confession. I felt a rather painful thrust into my heart as I heard those words but I disregarded it for the moment as what was in front of me as far more important. Okay Emi broke the unbearable silence, Thanks for telling me I thought you should know said Foxy who I could feel felt quite embarrassed I had walked in. She walked out of the room with her face fully red and all that was left was Emi and I. Ummmm I tried to say something, anything something to try and break the silence but my mind stayed blank. Dont say anything. I need some time alone. Emi replied cutting me off. Take all the time you need. I left the room and proceeded to wander around the town. My mind swirled as I wondered what she meant by her answer. Okay? what type of answer is that? Who gives that type of answer to those words? My heart beat faster as I remember those words that Foxy had spoke. My hearts yearned to have the same words spoken to me. While I had denied it for a while I really did like Emi but I still wondered why? When I had first met Emi I had been far more attracted to her sister Lisa. What had changed since then? Obviously a few years but perhaps I had only been physically attracted to Lisa but hadnt really gotten to know her. Emi on the other hand I had gotten to know, fought against, struggled together through the cave of Dark and Light and formed a party together. Through all these experiences I had learnt to accept the good and bad. She was rash and sometimes angry with me for random reasons but I knew that when I needed her most she was there. I liked her for who she was not only because I was attracted to her appearance that I had recently taken more of a notice of. God (I mean Greg) I felt sort of like one of those dumb or dense characters that seem to inhabit those stories where they get the girl. But perhaps I had tried to ignore those signs that I had felt that Emi liked me too, I had never had never felt such feelings of happiness from someone other than family. But I had denied these deep and pure feelings for far too long. Time to step away from the so-called Dense Protagonist that every person who reads a novel or any piece of literature gets angry about. I need to be more aware of my surroundings. Just as I want to protect myself I need to be more aware of those around me. Whether romantically or otherwise. Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road. I suddenly felt I had to gasp as I had realized throughout that whole thought I had not taken a single breath. I took a few deep breaths and promised myself that I would be more aware of my surroundings. Not only for my survival but for my wellbeing too. Waitwhere on earth am I? Damn it I had just resolved that I would be more aware of my surroundings and through being so deep in my thoughts I had wondered away from the part of town I knew. Oh the irony, promising myself I would be more aware and then getting lost *sigh* it will be long road ahead of me As I finished my thought I realized something wasnt right. The air around me felt wrong and my swords seemed to humming as if something was wrongSomething WAS wrong. I pulled out my swords and called out, Come out whatever foul beast wishes to do harm to me! What the hell was that? Why am I sounding like one of those old fashioned heroes It seemed as I had found myself in an alley. Thieves flowed through both sides cutting both of my exits. They laughed as they came closer. It seemed they thought they had found easy prey that they could steal from. I readied myself, What do you want of me? I drew my swords ready for the fight that I sensed would soon happen. Why do I keep speaking so weird anyway? One of the muggers spoke who seemed to be their leader, Just your stuff we dont want much. He laughed and the laughter flittered through the band of bandits. I laughed with them, loudly and as fake as I could. As I started to do that the man that had started the laugh stopped laughing and narrowed his eyes, So you dont want to part with your valuables then. You presume correct. Damn it maybe I was doing this because I was nervous? Alright then lets get this over with. He made a gesture and all the men unsheathed their range of weapons. Some had proper swords, others daggers, a couple of them had bats that resembled baseball bats and one of them even had a large sledgehammer. Both my swords started emitting their auras as I got more excited. I immediately tried to calm myself and restrain their power but I could feel that the adrenaline was pumping through as I got ready to fight these enemies. Luckily the alleyway was normal so I wouldnt be completely surrounded on all sides. I breathed in and calmed myself as I analyzed the situation. [p=center]Next Chapter?[/p] Chapter 38: Action Please give me feedback on this chapter in this thread and rate the series! I''ve written a couple chapters after this but they aren''t to my liking to the way I wanted the story to go so the next couple of days I''ll need to plan this next part a bit more detailed than I did before. Hopefully have a chapter tomorrow we shall see depending on how my planning goes today. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 38: Action The leader was in front so I needed to try and dispatch him first. Perhaps that would scare a few of them away. I needed to make sure I avoided the sledgehammer holder as that could be rather nasty if that hit any part of my body. The daggers I would also need to be careful that they dont try and stab me as I am otherwise preoccupied. While I felt calm I also felt an excitement that I could feel came from my swords. I guess the thoughts and emotions transfer was a two way street. I diagonally slashed at the leader of the group. He seemed to have been prepared for that and parried away. I readied myself, cursing myself for not killing him the first time. I noticed though that where he had parried seemed to have a dark blackish spot probably left from my sword Dark. It seemed even though I tried suppressing its powers I was not experienced enough to completely hold back its power. I had been slightly preoccupied by this discovery when I felt from my left hand holding Light that I was in danger. As I raised my arm holding Light I knew that I had acted to late. The offending mans sword was about to cut through me when I felt energy from me get drained and my sword Light glowed with a shining aura that completely blocked the mans strike. He let out a surprise gasp he let back and put himself on guard. The leader of the group angrily shouted, Damn it, its a magician. Be on your guard we cant let him escape! I thanked my lucky stars that somehow I had gotten out of that first foray unharmed but knew I couldnt be careless anymore. I readied myself in the Rock style stance and prepared to fight my way out of this group who must have numbered at least 20. I knew I couldnt hold back. I switched on my Magic Eyes (which I felt was an apt name) and saw how much energy they had. Compared to a lowly lizard they seemed to have far more energy than I had realized. Dark hummed as it softly suggested that I take energy from those around me. One of the bandits mistakenly thinking that I was not ready struck out with their dagger at my midriff. I parried with my sword of Light and stabbed out with Dark. Dark hungrily devoured the energy in the bandit and I felt a rush of the energy come through. A mix of confusion and fear as the thief felt his energy leave his body. I pulled out my sword and cut the connection as he fell into darkness. A sense of fear and dread spread through out the group I was fighting as they realized what had happened. This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.Monster! A couple of them screamed as they ran away scared at the scene I had seen. Any of you want to meet the same fate? I pointed my swords at those around me. A couple more fled and the rest took a step back. Finally I had some breathing room. I readied myself for the second assault. I stabbed with Light who struck out and using some of the newly gained energy from Dark launched those I struck at the walls of the alleyway. Their lifeless bodies fell down to the ground with a disgusting splat. I felt some of the energy leave my body as I expended it through Light. The bandits on my left side who had just witnessed the power of Light turned tail and screamed as they ran away. The Bandit Leader knowing that the tide of the battle had changed gestured for his henchmen to retreat. They backed away slowly and I readied myself for any false step they make to attack me. They melted in the darkness as if they had never been there. I held onto my swords till the end of the alleyway just in case any of them tried to attack me. None of them did luckily as I felt mentally tired from that battle. I slogged my way to a nearby caf, the other people in the caf seemed rather wide-eyed as I sat down. I looked at my appearance in the caf window and saw that I had splotches of blood around me from those I had stabbed with my swords. I sheathed my swords in their hilts and sat down. One coffee. I gestured to the waiter of the caf and he ran back into the caf and as he entered he tripped on the doorway and fell down. By that time I was too tired to care and dozed off. By the time I had woken up a cup of lukewarm was next to me. I drank sipped the espresso as I savored the taste of life. Taking the lives of those bandits made me feel sick. In my previous life I had never even killed as much as a fly. But I knew this was a different world with a different set of rules. That was what I told myself, convincing myself that the killing was necessary for me to survive. Was my life worth the lives of all those bandits I had killed? I had promised myself that I would protect myself and survive. They wanted to kill me and I wanted to kill them it was as simple as that I surmised. I had won thats why they had lost their lives. By the time I had finished the coffee I felt better. This was different from the killing the lizard which was an innocent life. These people had meant to kill me and me them. I had just been more successful. In future battles I couldnt hesitate when I take someones life as others wouldnt have the same preconceived notions as I had. There would be time after to feel bad about deaths in the heat of battle but in the middle of a battle was definitely the absolute worst time to feel bad about it. I made my way slowly back to the lodging after I asked for directions from the terrified waiter in the cafe and opened the door and stepped in. [p=center]Next Chapter?[/p] Chapter 39: Reveal Please give me feedback on this chapter in this thread and rate the series! Managed to figure out the next part so here''s a chapter. Enjoy :) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- As I stepped in I heard the end of the talk between Emi and Foxy. Foxy seemed like she felt emotionally drained and Emi looked confused on how to react, Thanks for telling me but I need more time to think about it before I give you an answermy mind is still confused Uh Hey everyone Hi clover, CLOVER what happened to you? Her whole complexion changed when she saw me. I looked down and saw the blood strewn on my shirt from the battle with the bandits. It looked very much like I was bleeding Or that I was a serial killer like Jack the Ripperthough I did kill a lot of people in a short time Dont worry this isnt my blood. I took off my shirt to show that I hadnt gotten hurt. But as I took of my shirt it seemed like I did indeed get cut quite deeply on the side of my torso probably from the many underhanded dagger strikes from the bandits. That looks really terrible! Emi noticed it immediately and rushed over. Uh my bad. I guess I hadnt realized that I had been cut perhaps due to the adrenaline coursing through my body. I did feel a bit fatigued but I had attributed that to me using my powers. Where did you get the cut? Foxy walked over and finally spoke recovering from still being in her own world with the confession and the discussion. She was very calm as she analyzed it while Emi panicked trying to get cloth to stop the bleeding but it seemed that it wasnt working. It was a rather larger cut vertically that was as long as the length between the wrist and the elbow. It was obvious wed need treatment. Do you think there is someone who can care for me, to stop the bleeding? I asked trying to stay awake as it was coming increasingly obvious that I was losing a rather large amount of blood still. Uhhh I dont know! I dont know what to do. Emi was panicking like a headless chicken who didnt know what was up or down. She seemed like she was close to crying because she was worrying about me. Im so lucky to have someone like her in my life. Its okay Emi, move over. Foxy suddenly said calmly. She gently pushed Emi away. She started to feel her hand over the laceration which if I hadnt been bleeding to death I would have felt rather sexyDamn it keep on task! Do you know what to do? I asked looking at Foxy. Emi still looked like she was on the verge of tears as she looked at all the blood spilling on the floor. Yes but this is going to make you quite tired, She continued to examine the wound, I havent told you guys before but I can use magic too, however I dont do offensive spells but defensive ones. In my previous battling I was a support healer who was able to protect themselves from monsters to try and make me more useful. This is a rather big injury so Ill have to use some of your energy to heal it. Okay then I had never suspected Foxy of being able to use magic but perhaps I was unable to comprehend her type of magic as I was inexperienced. You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author. She muttered words under her breath as she concentrated and each word penetrated the room with its power. Each one seemed to have a meaning that had been lost to the ages but even the most small child would know each of these words held power. As she recited the words I could see a glowing happen on the affected area, Emi looked wide eyed as she felt helpless in the situation. Unable to help only able to spectate. Her eyes were locked on my wound as she stood there silently watching Foxy do her magic. Right in front of my eyes I saw the wound mend itself. This magic seemed to accelerate my own bodys healing systems to close the wound. After about 20 minutes of Foxy incanting it finally closed up. I was so relieved that I fell on the floor probably due to the lack of blood and onto to something soft. I heard a scream and a shout and then darkness. I woke up on the bed with fresh clothes put on. I decided not to think about that though. No use in thinking things unnecessary that could embarrass people it seemed that both Foxy and Emi had fallen asleep while keeping watch on me while sitting on chairs by the side of the bed. Their faces now lay on my bed with both of them dribbling. I must admit it was one of the cutest things Id ever seen, more than that it was heartwarming to me. That there were people in this world that cared this much for me. Im sure if I was the reverse situation I would do the same. I cared as much or perhaps more for both of them. They were both my trusted friends that I wanted to keep close with. Foxy the newcomer who obviously had trust issues before but I had slowly opened up to us. A little suicidal in fights but she always had the right intentions in mind. I knew she cared a lot for Emi but after revealing her power and perhaps the last thing she was hiding to save me I know she also cares a lot for me too. Emi, my childhood friend, not like one of those annoying ones in the mangas or light novels I read in my free time in my previous life. She was strong, outgoing, friendly and always there for me. She was the reason I managed to pass through the Cave of Dark and Light. Without her I would have been lost to my delusions and probably have died there I cared for both of them deeply probably more than friends but I had never been in this situation before. They were as connected to my heart as much as my arm or leg. Id neither want to part with either. They were integral parts of me now, I unconsciously started stroking both of them on the head. Both of them smiled in their sleep and seemed to like it so I continued it for a while, happy to have them close by. It brought a smile to my face that made me feel warm inside. I wanted to do whatever I could to make them happy. Never again would I want to see the face Emi had showed, the scared and helpless face that had turned her complexion to that of a ghost. I needed to make it up to her and Foxy, who had revealed her power she had been hiding all this time all to help me. Im glad shes started to open up to us. [p=center]Next Chapter?[/p] Chapter 40: Storytime! Part 1 Please give me feedback on this chapter in this thread and rate the series! Tournament Fighting will begin in a few chapters ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 40: Storytime! Part 1 I continued to stroke their heads absentmindedly until they woke up. They seemed happy to have someone stroke them and I was content just to keep them happy. When both of them had fully woke up and Foxy had stretched out like a cat on the bed like a cat. I decided to finally talk, Thanks Foxy and Emi for helping me out. It has been a long time since Ive had people I could truly trust like you guys and Im forever in your debts for helping me out. Foxy thank you for healing me, I know it must have been hard for you to reveal yourself completely without hiding anything back. Thanks. And Emi thank you for caring so much for me, I know you felt helpless and Im sorry for that. I should have been more careful I apologize for that. Both Emi and Foxy nodded obviously they had been worried about me if I would recover fully especially after such a long gash. It was Foxy who finally broke the silence with a question, How did you get such a large slash down your body? I was about to be mugged by some bandits who I underestimated their numbers. I should have been more careful, I tried to rely too much on the powers of these swords. Yeah I was wondering about that, why do your swords have powers? Foxy asked. Emi answered in my stead, We discovered these swords at the end of a dungeon through a lot set of events. It seems my swords one of my swords can generate fire while the other can generate ice. Clovers have something similar. I decided to come clean, just as Foxy had come clean about her powers, Yeah mine have some weird powers that are quite hard to control. One of them can take the power of things around me and one can use energy to throw protection over things. Those are the main powers but I still havent discovered all their uses. I seem to find different quirks and uses of them as I use them more. They are rather dangerous but I know I need to master them if I want to get stronger. Foxys eyes expanded, surprised at this revelation which obviously were rather alien in this world. I mean seriously swords that have powers? Id never heard of swords that had supernatural powers like these ones It was a rather predictable reaction for someone in her position to have. Who are you people? Just two people who wanted to join the sword fighting tournament. I said simply. No really though? Seriously Foxy. Emi said reassuring her. We just had some errr unfortunate or perhaps fortunate events happen to us. What of? I guess its time to come clear for all of us. After all were a party. Well tell you our story and youll tell us a bit about yourself. Perhaps this could be the time that we learn a bit about her past. Alright then Foxy hesitated but agreed to it. It began in our village which is a days trip from here. I started. We arent able to go back because of the winter has completely blocked the path between the two villages. Emi clarified probably predicting what question Foxy would ask. Yes, anyway back to our story. I met Emi while I was looking to learn Water Style with her sister Lisa. We fought- And I completely whooped his ass. Emi patted my head like a parent strokes the head of a child. If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.Yes but we still trained together and by the end Emi was learning Rock Style and I was learning to be able to fight with Water style. So both of you are able to use both styles well? Foxy obviously curious about our fighting styles. Yeah but it seems that after all this fighting real life monsters has sort of naturally mixed the two styles together. I seem to have put some parts of Rock Style in my Water Style and Clover seems to have done the other way. Emi answered trying to clarify why our styles are different from the vanilla Water and Rock Style. Yes its been a rather steep learning curve to learn to fight real life monsters. Its about surviving rather than just keeping the strict form of either Rock or Water. Anyway after a couple of years after that we got more of the hang of it and set of for this tournament. The day we left it was raining very heavily and Emi over here decided we should take a shortcut through the forest. I playfully punched Emi a little ribbing her a bit for our rather long detour. Emi looked a little embarrassed as she had sent us through a rather crazy adventure on an otherwise potentially easy and straightforward trip. Anyway as we were riding our horses I continued the story, We came across a cliff and Emis horse started to lose footing on the hill due to the rain making the forest floor unsteady. Her horse tipped over and she fell careening down the hill. I jumped from my horse to try and save her and we both fell into this cave. Ill continue the story Clover, This cave we found out was called the Cave of Dark and Light, Emi took over as I had told the majority of the beginning. This cave wasnt like any other cave I heard of before or since. It wasnt filled with monsters but puzzles. Riddles that didnt make sense to me but to Clover they seemed like bread and butter. Dont sell your self short you helped me plenty, without her I wouldnt have been able to finish the cave, I put a supporting hand on Emi to comfort her a bit, She gave me a lot of the inspiration for the first few and support for the final riddle. I wouldnt have been able to do the riddles without her. Thanks Clover. She seemed kind of worried remembering the events of the last riddle, The first few riddles were simple ones that you just needed to figure out the right answer from the clues given but the last one had just a few words Mans Greatest Weakness was all it said. There it seemed Clover was assaulted by something and he looked so helpless. At first it didnt seem it would stop and he kept getting paler and but I managed to stop the nightmare by comforting him and he seemed to get better. At the end of the ordeal he simply spoke a word and the cave was finished. What was the word? Foxy inquired probably still a little worried about me. Fear. I replied still a little pale from remembering the events. It was the scariest thing we ever did. Emi continued the story, There we found the rewards and got our swords there and a mysterious door appeared that allowed us to be transported to this town. We lost all our money paying the penalty for losing the horses and thats where we found you in the pub. Thats our story. We both looked expectantly at Foxy waiting to see how she would react. I guess its time for you to learn a bit about me. [p=center]Next Chapter?[/p] Chapter 41: Storytime Part 2 It is not the easiest of stories to tell but Ill try and tell it as best I can. Foxy prefaced her retelling of her own story. *Flashback* I was born in a one of the many different beast villages to the south of here. Mine was called Foxtrot. Back then there were a lot of my kind, the Kitsune running around. We were by no means peaceful but we co-existed with the other tribes around us with a few a scuffles here and there. It was a good life, my mother and father were good people, my father was a hunter and my mother a gatherer of berries. A usual day for me back then was waking up at the crack of dawn, eating a small bit of breakfast and drinking from the river by our village and then hunting with my father and the other tribesman to get us some meat from the nearby forest. We mainly hunted animals like deer, rabbits and other small animals. We hunted enough to just feed the whole village, we never had a shortage of food though and no one ever went hungry. After hunting we would convene back at the village and stockpile all the food that had been gained throughout the day, there would berries, ripe bursting with juice and vegetables, firm, crisp and earthy from the gatherers and farmers, deliciously fresh caught meat from us the hunters and the children of the tribe would do their part by gathering fresh water from the river nearby. We would then have a giant feast in the middle of the village with everyone. I can still remember the great buzz around the town at dinnertime when everyone was together. Laughter and smiles from children and adults alike, it was a general sense of merriment throughout everyone. Back then I had no worries I was just a teen who had just entered the hunters group and was still getting the hang of hunting as a pack. People said that I was a natural but I thought I just picked up things easily from imitating other people. Ill admit I miss those days those days where there were no cares in the world, no real danger to our survival and life was carefree for everyone. However that soon changed, at first it was the disappearance of a few wayward gatherers who had gone farer than they should have venturing deeper into the forest than advised. People mourned for those who went missing but most chalked it up as bad luck than anything else. I didnt pay much attention to it as I was still too busy trying to adapt to the life of a hunter. Im a heavy sleeper as you know and waking up at the crack of dawn isnt exactly a great match for me. I was too busy to notice but perhaps I and the people around me should have noticed sooner. The disappearances continued to grow and mount as time went on. A few survivors from the disappearances could only murmur a few unhelpful words, bright red eyes, sharp jagged teeth and a rock hard shell that couldnt be penetrated by our spears. It sounded like the stuff of nightmares to most of us. We still couldnt believe that our peaceful village had suddenly been turned upside down with the number of deaths. In that first month I lost my mother, my cousin and my uncle. Most families had at least one person they know disappear. I was so devastated from losing my mother that I didnt come out to hunt for days after. A large numbers of those who survived dare not to do their required jobs or else they be taken too. Soon the elders of the village had to institute rationing to make sure there was enough food for everyone. No longer was there the smiles and laughter around, No longer was there a carefree life, No one could still claim they were innocent and unaware of the grasp of these monsters on our lives. Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions. However the worst had yet to come. That came several struggling months later, when we were weak and struggling to survive let alone protect ourselves. They arrived in the night, it was one of those nights you remember, bitteringly cold and unforgivingly windy. Maybe it was the weather or hunger or a combination of both. They came through the forest stalking their prey, each of them were at least 6 feet tall. They towered above us who had been shrinking from the cold. Seeing them in the clear is the scariest thing Ive ever seen. They had a bug like shell that encased their torso and smaller shells that looked like gauntlets on their arms. Their eyes were crimson red, but somehow glowing, their eyes seemed to darken for a second and turn pitch black and then brighten a few moments after and turn into the color of claret. Their whole face was dominated by these eyes but somehow it was their mouth that drew the most attention. The teeth were like a normal beings teeth, in two rows top and bottom. No, it was far worse, there were rows of jagged, putrid smelling teeth that gnashed biting down like a reaper of doom. They were quick too, they had wings that allowed them to travel at surprisingly quick speeds, we found that out after the first line attacked those stuck in fear by the appearance of these bug like monsters. There was no mercy, no emotion, pure killing machines focused on the single minded task of eliminating the people in front of them. My father sensing that doom was about to engulf the whole village threw me into the relieving areas and told me to hide. I was completely struck by fear that I didnt even respond. There were screams, oh god there were so many screams, cries for help fell on deaf ears as these foul creatures eliminated everyone of my friends and family. Then there was a deathly silence that engulfed the whole village just an hour after. Not a single thing was left alive by this god forsaken evil beasts. They smell was unbearable mixed in with the smell of urine and feces that I had hid inside but I was alive. I waited until the light of day came and I dragged myself from the poo and wee and surveyed the area around me. None of my friends, family or anyone in my village had survived except for me. The village with laughter and smiled had been completely extinguished in a single night. What lay in its place was the foul stench of systematic decimation of a village. Blood was everywhere, limbs, eyes, lay all around. Not a single body had been left unharmed, all of them were in pieces, the monsters had destroyed my village completely. It was terrible, I cried for hours after, mourning all my family and friends who I had lost to these disgusting creatures. I prayed to the heavens for someone to bring them back. But no one amount of crying and praying helped. After a while I accepted everyone I had ever known had died and I would never see them again. It was tough and to this day I dont think Ill ever get over it. But I washed myself in the river, washing the blood, excrement and other unmentionables of myself and just lay there in the river. Wondering what to do, what would happen to me? Why had god deemed it right to have an entire village disappear? I just lay there in the river hoping that it was all a bad dream but my nightmare had only just started. [p=center]Next Chapter?[/p] Chapter 42: Storytime Part 3 Chapter 42: Storytime Part 3 Somehow from the tiredness or just unluckiness I had blacked out and been taken down the river. It was from my unluckiness that when I woke up I was in chains. These chains chafed on my wrists as I struggled to pull them off to no avail. I was wet, tired and now a prisoner of someone. The surrounding around me pointed to a human temporary settlement. I had not met many humans at the time but I had guessed from the tent structures and the horses around that these were in fact humans as the visiting merchants who sometimes appeared in our village would carry similar sorts of things. A voice called out to me, So youve finally woken up, a voice rang out from behind me, Haha arent you a pretty thing, we found you by the river. You must have been washed up there. It would suck to be you. Wha-What do you want? I struggled to put on a brave face as I felt completely helpless at the mercy of these unknown humans. Nothing much just to sell you on when we get into town. The voice from behind sounded like it was approaching. So you are slave traders! How so very astute of you. The voice came into view as I discovered my captor, who was dressed all in black leather, How did you guess? Was it the chains or that you are a prisoner that gave it away? He sneered as if he said the funniest thing. Others joined in, it seemed this was a gang of Slave Traders who were in the business of stealing our kind and selling us on. I had never actually believed these people existed, they seemed only like nightmares the elders would tell us to make us behave. All of them had weapons on them, some I had seen others that looked completely alien to me. Ive never seen so many of you animals just wandering around, The guy who was clearly the leader of this group continued his little rant, What? Did you guys finally know your place? Below us and serving our every need and whim. If you know what I mean? He winked as he said that. I felt a chill go down my spine. He repulsed me by his very presence, the look in his eye made me think he thought of us as mere livestock, meant to be traded from one person to the next. Screw you! You disgust me! Why dont you just go fuck yourself, I tried to put a brave face on, focusing on how he repulsed me to ward off the fear but it really was a temporary measure. I had never been properly outside my village so all of these interactions with these humans were new to me. Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author. Oh I intend to but It wont be me, This one is a feisty one lads, He seemed to be addressing his little bunch of henchmen, Lets show her what happens to those who defy us. The cruel laughter spread around the camp. The man dressed all in black like the reaper himself, dragged me by the hair, I screamed and shouted for help and saw that there seemed to be other types of the beast tribe who were locked and chained up. They didnt even try to keep eye contact with me, no they avoided eye contact with me. Their spirit seemed broken and completely lost. I continued screaming for help as he dragged me through the camp and into his own tent. I felt so alone, so abandoned by my fellow people. They didnt even try and protest. I wont go into what happened, there he did things to me. Things I dont think Ill ever be able to get over. He took away my innocence, both mentally andphysically *Flashback stopped* Foxy cried as she was unable to continue the story. How could people do that to her? Its okay Foxy, were here for you, I tried to console her, I hugged her trying to see if what had worked on me in my darkest hour would help her as she relieved through probably hers. I felt so helpless. Yes Foxy you dont need to continue if you dont want to. Emi looked troubled and worried as she tried calm Foxy down. No. Foxy breathed in and out as she tried to calm herself down, Ive decided to talk I might as well get through it. Take your time, we can wait until you are ready, Emi and I will be here with you until you say you dont need us anymore. Emi nodded along with my words, I know this is hard for you and I cant even think of what that evil man did with you but if we ever find him well give him exactly what he deserves. Thanks Emi, and Clover. Its tough but I think I need to tell it someone. After a few minutes Foxy had calmed sufficiently down, Emi had gone downstairs and brought up a hot cup of tea to sooth Foxy and that seemed to do the final trick allowing Foxy to collect herself and continue with her story. *Flashback* [p=center]Next Chapter?[/p] Chapter 43: Storytime Part 4 Chapter 43: Storytime Part 4 By the time he was done with me it the day had turn to dark and my hope had also gone. Those thingssigh I got put back with the other trapped prisoners who were going to be sold along with me. It was there I finally got a good look at my trapped companions There were mainly Bastinians with a handful of other species sprinkled in. Everyone was silent, defeated and like me looked like all hope had gone. It was terrible even thinking about it, I even heard some of them praying to their own gods to strike them and kill them now. Since it was completely quiet my consciousness soon faded out and I fell asleep, perhaps to temporarily get away from this nightmare or perhaps it was just mental or physical fatigue from my ordeal. Night became day and we were chained up to the cart and forced to march behind the horse drawn cart. For amusement the Slave Traders would suddenly speed up the cart and drag us along on the ground as we tripped over each other trying to keep up with the cart. They only gave is one relieving break a day which meant you either held it or in some cases for those with less control over their downstairs would just relieve themselves as we walked behind the cart. As we were marched behind we would be assaulted by swear words and other foul language as they assaulted our minds as our bodies tired too. I can tell you at times I wasnt sure what was happening. It seemed better to delude myself away in daydreams than be stuck in this real life hell. As time went on I could no longer tell the difference between the two. However throughout this I promised myself I would get away and I would survive free and away from this godforsaken slavery. The time struck on one of the most windy days I had seen. It was stormy, like you hear about in the legends. Trees and other debris were being thrown in the air around us. The humans were panicking trying to protect themselves from the rain sheeting down and the wind sending large things around and through us. I was completely water soaked , cold and shivering. I wanted it to end, Im not proud of it but I wanted it to end it just there. However luck had brought me into this situation and luck for some reason decided it was enough and it would give me a sliver of a chance to get out. A wayward tree had decided on its path and its way was the cart, it barreled through the cart and smashed it pieces root, branch tree and all. The chain stopping our escape was finally gone. I made a dash for it, and I looked back the others had decided to huddle around for warmth instead of running away. It seemed truly that their spirit had been broken. I said quick prayer to them and I disappeared into the woods, the human Slave Traders none the wiser. I sprinted and sprinted for what seemed to me like miles but could have just been a few yards, the forest in front of me was so dense and the wind whistled through it as this crazy storm roared and showed its almighty strength against nature. Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions. Finally the rain had subsided and I was given reprieve from the weather. I had ended up in a small confined area that was free of trees and by a river. I set to break free from the shackles on my raw red wrists which by the end I succeeded however not until my wrists bled red into the river. I washed myself in the river, careful not to get swept up into it and followed my dead dads advice that settlements are usually near rivers. He was right as he usually was and I arrived at a human/ beast village that seemed to be a halfway point between the two territories. I went into one of the nearest taverns and I recuperated my tired bones, I ate the leftovers of the people before me on the table and felt satisfied to finally have eaten a proper meal. I felt shame doing this but most of my pride had gone when the Slave Traders had finished with me. I had heard from my dad before that the best way to find work was in the biggest building in the town, which would be called an Adventurers Guild. From there I begged one group of sympathetic Adventurers to bring me along and I got better and better as I managed to try and pick up as many skills as I could, lightning sword style, healing, using my better vision than most. Anything to be useful to the group I was joining. I never stayed very long in any one group as I never really felt very much part of their groups. And as drifted from group to group I moved from town to town until I hit this town. Where I heard there was a fighting tournament. So I decided to join this tournament and pay off the debt I had gotten when I had decided to trust some not so trustworthy adventurers who left me to fend for myself by those people you saw in that tavern. *Flashback stopped* Theyre the ones who hired those thugs to force me to repay back the debt. Thats why Im hoping this tournament will be my way of finally being free of any shackles money wise or physically Wow I was stunned at how much she had gone through, Emi and I had lived far more privileged lives and our ordeal was so far less than hers. We spent the rest of the night just trying to cheer Foxy up and perhaps distance her from having to relive through those horrible memories. [p=center]Next Chapter?[/p] Temporary Stop Laptop charger crapped out unable to type out chapters. Hence why the delay. Will get back to you ASAP. Typing this on my phone Chapter Recap It''s been a while so I read through the whole story again to recap everything and make sure I remember the details. Then it occurred to me that you the readers would probably have forgotten parts of it too. So here it goes a very short recap about what has happened so far. Clover has a an unhappy life and is constantly bullied because of his name (as he believes) or his attitude to life. He throws all his time into books and sources of information believing he can just rely on them. His parents die, he loses everything and wanders on the streets. He comes up with the plan for suicide. Jumps of the top of the roof and tries to kill himself. There he meets this wondrous being called "Greg" (which at this point he doesn''t know his name). Greg explains his bad circumstances as a massive mistake from the system. He gives Clover the chance to be reborn, Clover considers and makes up his mind and gets reborn as a baby to the new parents called Aster and Heather Aurora. He''s named Clover Aurora now. He starts growing up wanting to protect himself. Constantly asks his dad to become a swordsman. Finally relents on his 5th birthday and teaches him how to fight. After a while he gets good at fighting, feels confident he can protect himself. He''s achieved a good level of proficiency in his father''s chosen sword style Rock Style. Father tries to ease his enthusiasm by talking to him about his time in the big fighting tournament in Franziland. Where he fought his way up but was tripped up by his own overconfidence and being beaten by someone of the Water Style which is his sword style''s weakness. Clover next morning gets rudely awaken by Blonde Beauty Lisa Rassi. Where he rushes outside and meets here sister Emilia Rassi, nicknamed "Emi". They fight and he gets put on his ass as his style is weak to Emi''s practiced Water Style. Emi and Clover continue to train and fight together and get rather close as friends. Clover learns Water Style and later on Emi starts learning Rock Style. On his 9th birthday Clover is tested for Magic and sadly he is unable to use magic. He gets upset and Emi cheers him up by taking him out a on trip in which he learns swimming and eases of the tension he had from not being able to learn magic. Throughout this time he visited by the God Greg and is warned not to put limitations on himself just because other''s say those limitation exist. After a couple years have past, he asks Emi to join him in Paolona where the qualifying tournament is at to continue to the big tournament in Franziland. She agrees and they set off on their journey. However it is raining and the original path is blocked. Emi, knowing her way around the forest due to hunting with her sister, suggests the forest as a possible other route to Paolona. They ride their horses slowly through the treacherously slippery path and Emi loses control of her horse and rolls down the hill. Clover immediately jumps of his horse and hurtles down the cliff to try and save her. He does and he gain the Heroic Stat. If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. They land in the Cave of Dark and Light (where they get bonus stats to all their usual stats from being the first to discover the cave) and through a series of riddles each getting harder and harder. With the last one a painful flashback/nightmare to Clover''s past they proceed to the reward''s room. There, both Emi and Clover receive a pair swords, Fire and Ice and Dark and Light respectively. They then arrive to Paolona through a magic door and find out the penalty for losing their horses is most of their money. Tired and poor, they go to an inn to recoup but find a massive hubbub is there with a girl being harassed by a few burly men. While Clover is engrossed in the cool beauty, Emi goes over and protects the girl. They bring her over to their table and they learn her name is Rene Foxworth, nickname, "Foxy." Foxy offers them her room after hearing their plight and they soon after form a party. They fight monsters and Emi and Clover learn the meaning about their magic through a magic ring that transports them to the man Angil. Angil teaches Clover and Emi about their magic and the consequences of it. After which they go to the magic world and Clover is a lizard human and Emi is a unicorn human. They learn more about their magic and then continue partying. After one tough fight against Spiders where Foxy gets caught up. And a rather unfortunate meeting for Clover with some bandits which causes him to be unknowingly badly injured. Foxy reveals that she can indeed use magic and heals Clover up. This gets them onto the topic of their pasts. Where Clover and Emi explain their past and then Foxy explains her rather unfortunate circumstances (Chapter 41 to 43). Hope everyone is now caught up and remembers all the details to the story! [p=center]Next Chapter?[/p] Chapter 44: Signups A couple weeks went by and our party strengthened by learning each others past and as a result blazed through the party ranks and by the day of the tournament we were a level 8 party. It seemed Emi still hadnt responded to the words from Foxy but Im sure she was still trying to make up her mind. We walked together to the tournament signup near the center of Paolona where we agreed we would split up and concentrate on fighting our own battles. When we arrived we were greeted with a flood of people who had all obviously tried to signup to fight. In the middle of the crowd was the signup table with a sign above it showing STATS AT THE READY. Where a man who was completely overwhelmed with all these signups was trying to create some semblance of order in the chaos. DUE TO MASSIVE DEMAND ONLY THOSE WHO ARE LEVEL 20 AND HAVE AT LEAST 200 SKILL POINTS IN AT LEAST 2 OF THE FOLLOWING STATS CAN PARTICIPATE IN THIS TOURNAMENT, STRENGTH, ENDURANCE, DEXTERITY AND AGILITY. THIS IS FOR YOUR OWN GOOD OTHERWISE YOU RISK INJURY. EVERYONE ELSE WHO DOES NOT MEET THE REQUIRED STATS PLEASE MAKE AN ORDERLY EXIT INTO THE STANDS! The crowd groaned one of them shouted, Thats impossible! Ive been training for years and Im only 200 in my strength stat! Another of the crowd joined in, Yeah why shouldnt we be able to?! Shut your mouths you useless peons! A man barged through the crowd to the front of the signup table. Only those worthy of this tournament should be able to enter! Put me down for fight. Chosen fighting style LIGHTNING STYLE! He grinned as showed his status tag. The crowd slowly filtered out into the background as they resigned to their fate. They gasped at his stats. The sign above changed its information to show his stats.
NameLord Christopher HelmsworthRaceHuman
GenderMaleAge23
Level25Health2550
Strength203Endurance180
Dexterity220Agility200
Welcome Lord Helmsworth. The Man sitting at the signup table bowed to him. Not many qualified for this tournament have they George? Helmsworth grinned at the man who was called George. Not many my lord. It looks like you have a good chance of winning this tournament. Good Good Good. ILL SEE THE REST OF YOU AT THE TOURNAMENT. He gestured to the handful who still were there and he walked away. A purple haired woman with a striking appearance in standard adventurer attire this time stepped up to the signup table. Mary Andrews, Water Style. She showed her status tag to George. Her stats flashed up onto the signboard
NameMary AndrewsRaceHuman Hybrid
GenderFemaleAge18
Level23Health2190
Strength280Endurance150
Dexterity208Agility300
The crowd gasped in awe of her skills. One of them shouted, Marry me! This went on as more and more people flitted in signing up, the crowd subsided to the cafes around the town center as most of the contestants only just about hit the requirements and the initial excitement had worn away. We had decided to try and be as covert as possible and try and draw as little attention, so we waited until the near the end of the signups for the tournament to join in. Foxy stepped up first, Uhhhh Rene Foxworth, Light- George cut her off, Little animal girl are you lost? This is the table for signups for the big sword fighting tournament. I know! Foxy let out an uncharacteristically angry voice. Obviously pissed off at the guy from underestimating her, RENE FOXWORTH, LIGHTNING STYLE. She shoved her status tag into Georges face. That drew the attention of the people around. Looks like our plan had failed Stolen story; please report.
NameRene FoxworthRaceKitsune
GenderFemaleAge15
Level26Health4270
Strength380Endurance349
Dexterity320Agility500
The crowd let out a shout at her obviously insane stats. Even I gasped as I had never actually seen even part of her stats before. Emi had a similar expression as she wowed at her Renes surprising stats. 500 agility was insane! Am I have high enough for the requirement? Foxy returning to her more usual deadpan face. I could obviously tell having been around her for a while she was saying it rather smugly. Uhhhh yes George was obviously eating his words at this moment. I was next up to the plate I walked over trying to ignore the obvious stares from a lot of people. We had come as a group and they were obviously waiting to see what type of monster stats we all had. Boy whats your name and what is your sword style? Obviously still down from the embarrassment by Foxy. Im Clover Aurora and my sword styles are Rock with a bit of water. I gave him my status tag Mhm. He took it and checked it. The display board changed as it revealed my name and stats. His eyes opened as he checked and double checked them to make sure they were right,
NameClover AuroraRaceHuman
GenderMaleAge11
Level22Health4680
Strength421Endurance412
Dexterity394Agility401
Holy crap those are some insane stats! The crowd had reformed and were looking intently at the signup board. That must obviously be fake theres no way someone would have those stats Another person chimed in. Why on earth is this scary child even joining our sword tournament? George gave me my tournament pass and waved me away. Emi was the last one to go up, there were murmurs in the crowd, Shes so pretty, is she going to be insanely strong as the others? A shout from the crowd came up as a man ran in front of her and shouted, Marry me! Errrr no. Emi who although looked old for her age was still inexperienced and obviously embarrassed and surprised at being randomly proposed to on the spot. She walked around him and continued to the signup table. Name and Style? Poor George was a bit depressed at the sight of us. Emilia Rassi errr, Water Style a bit of rock. Status Tag. Oh yeah here. Emi gave her status tag, she was obviously still a bit nervous at being around such a massive crowd who were all obviously intent on watching her.
NameEmilia RassiRaceHuman
GenderFemaleAge12
Level24Health4540
Strength360Endurance382
Dexterity432Agility416
The crowd tirelessly again gasped looking at those stats in awe of how strong she was. I had figured out that our stats were this strong was aided in the fact that our swords were equipped and were giving us a massive stat advantage. We walked off trying to ignore all the stares we were getting. A few of them tried to follow but we lost them in alleyways as we made our way home. [p=center]Next Chapter?[/p] Chapter 45: Tournament Arc! Part 1 I won''t have my laptop to be able to type out new chapters but I''ll be trying to release a chapter a week (for the next couple weeks) when I can through my phone. Here the first part! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Chapter 45: Tournament Arc! Part 1 The morning of the tournament had finally arrived. The reason why we came here. What we had worked for through our party to get better for. I knew now that our stats were better than most other peoples but sword skill wasnt something measured by those stats. There was something to be said for technique in sword fighting. That was where I was more worried about. Anyway we all walked over together to the Sword Fighting tournament area. Where I bid farewell to both Emi and Foxy. They had been placed in different seeds to me. These seeds were based on some type of qualifier that we did not enter. Therefore we were all at the bottom of each of our groups. I was on the right side while they were on the left. I was secretly a bit happy about this as it meant that I wouldnt fight them until later on so I could warm up and get my eye into sword fighting. I looked around and spotted the area that we would be fighting in which was an in-the-round stage where at the center of stage we would be fighting with audiences on all sides. This area where we would fight was circular and as per the rules you were not allowed to step outside the circle. Id estimate the circle was around about 30 meters in diameter. There was enough space for a bit of maneuvering but not enough to run away from your opponent. Meaning you could potentially power through your opponent but they could just as easily put you on your ass with a counter. A thought came into my mind about worrying for Emi and Foxy but I tried to put that out of my mind as this was my battle and I needed to focus on it. Luckily there were a couple battles before me so I could see what other people use as strategies. The first battle was between Gerald Smith who was a scrawny man with a rapier as a weapon against Mary Andrews that Human Animal Hybrid which had kept the ears but lost the tail from her Animal side. There would certainly be a faction in my old world that would have worshipped her as a god but I was more focused on the battle than what would take my fancy. Before the battle was about to start, there strolled a wizard who came onto the stage and cast a spell. He explained, My fellow spectators the protective shield has been cast upon the stage. So that neither youre the spectators nor the participants will have any long term injuries. The compere next to him continued the explanation, For those new to the scene this damage will instead the damage will be converted into mental pain that will paralyze you the more you get damaged! Lets get this battle started between, the Dancing like Classically trained Gerald Smith and the Ferociously Predatory Mary Andrews! May the best swordfighter win! He left the ring afterwards and in his place was a ref. Which gestured the two fighters to walk to the opposite sides of the circle. As both of them motioned that they were ready, the ref signaled the start of the match with a loud BEGIN! The crowd shouted their approval as the first of many matches began. Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel. The two fighters had vastly different approaches to the fight. Gerald had opted to get into the classical stance with a fencing like posture while Mary Andrews dressed in red had more animalistic qualities and prowled around with her two one handed swords searching for the smallest chance to pounce. The intensity in the air was palatable as the competitors sized up their competition, looking for some cue, some reaction that would give the other the advantage. My heart beat with adrenaline as I saw the concentration and fire between the two. Mary Andrews took the first move after a hesitation step from Gerald. She pounced at him with a sword slash to bash the guard of Geralds sword away. But Gerald had foreseen this and had spun as his sword grip was bashed away and spun around with the power of Marys hit twice fold against Mary. Mary jumped away to cushioning some of the power. It was obvious she had taken some cues from Rock Style and incorporated them into her Lightning Style. They once again sized each other up, trying to force the other to make the wrong move. After a couple minutes of a few jabs here and there traded by Mary and Gerald, Mary lost patience and charged at Gerald. She ferociously struck at the mid section of Gerald pushing him back to the edge of the circle with each hit. Gerald tried to push the divert the power away from each hit but with so many sword swipes he just couldnt nullify all the sword strikes. He was soon littered with many small cuts and his movements were dulled as he incurred these wounds. It was both breath taking and painful to watch as Mary wore down the defenses of Gerald. With a final strike to bat his sword away, Mary used her shoulder to smash Gerald out of the ring. The ref jumped in between Mary and Gerald as Mary went into finish the job, Mary Andrews wins with a touch fault by Gerald! Mary roared which drove the crowd wild as they cheered the ending of this intense match. I came back to my senses as I noticed I was sweating from the sheer adrenaline and excitement caused by watching two different sword styles clash and fight for supremacy. While Mary Andrews sword style gave her the advantage against the counter guard of Gerald it was still an amazing sight. I was pumped for my match and as I was looking forward to watching the next match, the backstage manager gestured me over for my match which would begin after the next match. I was lead to the waiting room and told to sit and wait quietly. I could hear the compere outside entertaining the crowd by playing to them while he was announcing the next matchup. My heart was beating so quickly I was afraid that I would not be able to contain my excitement. Was it excitement or was it actually nerves? I closed my eyes and tried to calm myself down and prepare for my battle. [p=center]Next Chapter?[/p] Been a while hasnt it? I''ll be resuming this soon. Just regathering my thoughts and refamilirizing myself with what I wrote over these past few months. Thanks everyone for being so patient. It has just been a crazy sort of few months. I''m in the military right now so I had a lot of things to deal with but hopefully I can get this back on track. Still not 100% on what my direction was but luckily I wrote down most of my thoughts for after this arc. Things may be a bit different but I hope you guys can understand. I''ll be releasing the last chapter I wrote before my rather abrupt hiatus. Chapter 46: Tournament Arc! Part 2 My mediation/ breathing exercises were interrupted by the host who had walked in, What do you want to be called while you are walking out? Errr I dont know? I didnt think we needed to come up with something? Okay then son, He sighed, Whats your name? Clover Aurora Clover Aurora Okay then well call you the Bright Lucky Star Clover Aurora! How does that sound? Err I don- Great then its settled. Good luck for your next battle Clover! He walked away probably because he had yet to visit the other person who I would be fighting. I had forgotten to check the schedule and as a result the person I was fighting was still unknown to me. I silently cursed myself as I mentally made a note to make sure I pay attention more. I continued the breathing exercises and calmed my nerves/ excitement down for the battle ahead. I had my Rock Style and I was also pretty good at Water Style. I just needed to make sure that I use the right one and the right time. After a couple minutes my name was called by the backstage man and he lead me to the door which he unlocked and gestured me to walk through. The darkness that I had been sitting was cut through by the brightness of the stage as the ground shook as the crowd cheered and anticipated my match. This was my first formal battle, I had fought monsters more than I had fought people so I was nervous. Would my fighting skill be enough to dispatch the next opponent? At the back of my mind perhaps I was also thinking about what had happened when I had used these very swords in my hands and dispatched all those bandits. I had to keep that power in check and keep myself in control at all times. I hesitated as I saw the darkness of the walkway get cut off by the sun outside. I took a deep breath and marched through. As soon as I walked through the crowds voice struck to me to the core. The sheer racket reverberated everywhere right through my spine. My breath quickened as I felt the adrenaline kick in. I closed my eyes and focused on the opponent in front of me. I barely heard the host introduce my opponents name who was apparently the brother of the Lord that we had seen in the signups. He certainly showed that arrogance that his brother had shown. The conviction that he was better than everyone else was apparent in his stance. He saw a helpless boy in front of him and looked at me like nothing more than prey to be hunted. BOY, if you surrender now Ill promise to be gentle. His bellowed and somehow managed to be more deafening than the crowd around me in this coliseum like arena. I shook my head and said not a word in response. I was ready for whatever he would throw at me. Id make him take back that boy insult. I breathed in and out to calm myself. Alright then boy lets get this going then. I guess you dont want this easy HAHAHA! The ref signaled the start of the match and the crowd roared as he charged at me. He was quick! He had made up half the distance in the blink of an eye. But he was like an uncaged untrained animal. I merely jumped to the side and avoided his unbelievably slow slash. I guess the dog has no bite! I inadvertently said that out loud instead of thinking it in my head. Youll pay for this. He rebalanced himself and set his guard as he tried to close the distance between us using his considerable bulk. It looked like he was trying to corner me so I would have nowhere to run. I wasnt going to let him. I chanced a swipe at his sword with my left one to try and knock some confidence. Instead the sword flew out of his hand and onto the ground. His eyes widened in surprised as he realized he was facing a proper warrior. He dived at his sword to try and get it and regain the parity. But I wasnt having it, I was going to make him suffer for his comment. I kicked his sword away and stabbed down with Dark with all my might to make sure he stayed down. There he wasnt going to get up from that. I heard a crack and a scream from below. The crowd went silent as the sickening crunch could be heard throughout the stage. From below I heard the cries as he held his ribs where I had put stabbed him. There was no wound but in its place I had broken his ribs. Now time to end him. I stabbed down with Light in the same place and he passed out on the stage. I felt satisfied as I looked down at his helpless body. That will teach him to be arrogant. What am I saying? This is terrible, Ive broken someones ribs! My anger subsided and the shock came in its place. This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there. The host shocked by what had occurred tried to regain the atmosphere of the crowd, And shockingly the Shining Lucky Clover has mercilessly finished off his opponent in with ease. And somehow finished off the barrier in the process! Our wizard will be recasting a strong protective shield to stop this from happening again. Raise your voices for the winner of the battle Clover! He rushed over and raised my hand to signal that I had won. I hadnt meant to permanently hurt my opponent but I had been so used to putting my life on the line and never holding back that somehow I had somehow destroyed the barrier that the wizard had placed on the stage. Perhaps it was my swords or my skills that had punctured it. The host continued, We will have a short break while our team of wizards sort this problem out. Please have a refreshment or snack while your wait! He instructed me to the exit and as I made my way to the exit I spotted my opponent on the floor grimacing and holding his ribs in pain. The medical staff had rushed in the intervening time and were working out how to fix his ribs. I turned away as I heard a rather nauseating scream from my opponent. I tried to block it out as I made my way to the exit. At the end of the exit I saw Emi and Foxy who looked rather worried, Emi called out to me anxiously, Are you okay? We heard a scream from the arena and rushed over. Its okay, that was my opponent. You shouldnt have come you need to prep for your match too! Thanks Emi and Foxy for coming. I tried to move them to the waiting area for their matches they finally relented as Foxy said, As long as you are okay thats what matters. I was surprised at her comment but thankful she cared enough for me. Thanks guys, come on you guys need to prep yourselves too. As I sheathed my Light and Dark into their scabbards I felt the bloodlusted feeling subside away. I needed to be careful with these swords. They will take any opportunity they can to seek any weakpoint in my will. Dark especially. I took a deep breath and pushed it out of my mind and walked with the Emi and Foxy to the waiting area. [p=center]Next Chapter?[/p] Chapter 47: Tournament Arc! Part 3 Sorry it took a while for me to sort back my ideas again and remember the whole plot I was going through. But now I''m back. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Chapter 47: Tournament Arc! Part 3 Foxy and Emis battles progressed with no problems, easily dominating their opponents far quicker than I had. It seemed putting our lives on the line against real monsters in real life and death situation had paid off. From what I could see most of the people here were those who had only learnt to swordfighting and did not have critical experience we had. Their forms were too rigid against the Foxy and Emi, Foxy easily struck out her opponent with a quick jab from daggers destroying the footwork of her pitiful opponent. Emi on the other hand seemed to employ a strategy similar to a defensive boxer, constant small hit to goad the opponent into striking and countering their strike with on her own. Their strategies worked splendidly and before I knew it, my next opponent was in front of me. The obnoxious man who we had met at signups was right in front of me, Christopher Helmsworth. He seemed to have donned heavier armor and had outfitted himself a heavy oaken shield on his left hand and a claymore on his right. His whole visage pissed me off, he laughed as he looked down at me, his armor glistening flawlessly in the afternoon sun, Oh its the shrimp I saw at signups, the gods have blessed me with an easy win. Well see. I kept my anger in check even with his repulsive behavior, I knew my actions would speak louder than any callous insults he could come up with. Yes well see. He winked and turned around walking out onto the battlefield. Instantly I became suspicious of what he had up his sleeves but what could I do? As we both stood in our respective positions and I searched for whatever plan he had up his sleeve but I just couldnt figure it out. The ref greeted both sides and readied both sides for the beginning of the match. Helmsworth and I both nodded and took our respective defensive positions. Begin! the ref shouted. I immediately went on the offensive. Striking with Light at his shield but as I was just about to make contact with it my sword was forcefully rejected by his shield. It took me by surprised and caused me to get off balanced. The bastard took his chance and body checked me with his shield. I felt something sharp go into my kidney and as I stepped back to regain my balance I felt a warm liquid coming from the area. What the hell is that? I muttered. How do you like my surprise? He laughed arrogantly. Steadying his form again with his shield in front. I was at a loss, this was what he was going for and I was dumb enough to fall right into his trap. The wound was a worrying thing but that shield had me far more surprised. How was it able to repulse my sword? I had struck using enough force to break the protective body of a spider but how did that shield rebuff me let alone survive my attack. Id been too arrogant. I laughed at my own stupidity for believing just because my last battle had been easy that all the duels would be so. This guy had experience and he was not above using dirty trick to win against me. But what the hell was that shield? The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.My surprise seems to have had the appropriate effect. He smiled and I as I was looking at him my vision seemed to blur. My head started to getting dizzy and my body started feeling like it was being weighed down by lead. What the fuck did you do? I shouted at him. Just a little insurance you could say. Tapping the middle of the shield a spike suddenly shot out and back in. Dont worry this shields going to be able to hold up against anything you can throw at it. His laughter had turned into a cruel sneer as he readied himself. What could I do? Time was obviously against me, whatever was that shield was somehow rebuffing- He suddenly lunged at me and swung his sword at me. I ducked at the last moment and rolled back onto my feet. Shit I hadnt been paying attention. I had forgotten he was a lightning style user. I refocused my mind on the problem ahead of me and considered my options. Speed was the name of the game. I drew a deep breath and steadied myself, I charged at him this time using Dark but the same result occurred, luckily I was able to keep my feet and move away from the counter he had. But he moved onto the offensive and took to beat me down with his claymore while he hid behind his shield. My body soon had many small cuts all over my body. My consciousness weakened as I steadily was getting pushed off. I tried a different plan using my footwork to try and get behind him. If he was going to cheat I might as well not play fair. I faked one way and went the other striking with my sword. However this cost me as he yet again rebuffed me and hit me with his shield on my face. Blood splattered out of my mouth and tainted the shining armor. He recoiled with a look of disgust as the blood spread on his armor. I could feel myself getting steadily weaker, none of my attacks had gotten through Every time I struck that shield seemed to push me away. All my attacks had been useless, the only thing that I had managed to do was ruin his perfectly shining armor. Wait so something did go through then It was a crazy idea but what other chance did I have. I could feel I had maybe a couple minutes max left in this fight. The poison was sapping my strength away bit by bit with every exertion. I grinned as I spat some more blood at Helmsworth he took a couple more steps back his face now a in perpetual look of repulsion. There! Thats my breathing room, my clothes were now dripping with blood from the countless wounds he had inflicted on me. Now it was my turn to turn the tables on him. [p=center]Next Chapter?[/p]