|
Forest Ground
|
|
Category: Quest
More power, more fame! You are already gaining more views!
Reward: 1x Teleportation Crystal to City Grounds, 1x Teleportation Crystal to the location of your choice
Failure: N/A
Completion Condition: This quest needs an explanation, so here it is. You are currently in the City Grounds, the place where everyone starts at. There are other Ground Types, and the Forest Grounds is one of them. As you can see, there aren''t many monsters in the Cities, and you have a lot of shelter to hide in. That is why it is the easiest Ground Type. However, at this rate, you won''t be growing fast enough to compete with others. Use the Teleportation Crystal you should be able to find in your Inventory to teleport to the Forest Ground. It''s not too hard, don''t worry, and you will still be in the same area as you are now.
Duration: N/A
|
"I received a quest," Kaelen broke the silence a few minutes after I finished reading the chunk of text in my quest. I raised an eyebrow. Did all of us get a quest?
"Me too," I hummed, "What is yours about? Mine basically told me to teleport to the Forest Ground."
Elias perked up, "Oh? It told me to do the same thing. We can probably go together. Kaelen?"
"Yes," she nodded, "They must have assigned us the same destination on purpose, or everyone received the same quest."
I pulled up my inventory as I listened to their words, and just like the quest promised, I found an item that was not there before. It was labelled ''Teleportation Crystal: Forest Ground Starting Point'', and shone with a soft green light. Deciding to summon it, I mentally called it out and onto my palm. It wasn''t very heavy, and the translucent gem gave off a calming scent of leaves, trees, and paper.
"Are we going to follow the quest''s instructions?" Elias asked warily as he called his crystal out as well, "We don''t know how dangerous the Forest Ground would be."
"You were the one to suggest that we get more items by fighting," I laughed, "But we should be fine. We''ll receive a teleportation crystal to come back, and we can use that if there''s danger."
We both turned to look at Kaelen, and she easily agreed, her crystal landing on her lap with a soft thud, "We need to get stronger. The First Event shouldn''t last longer than 10 days, even if some people refused to or could not fight. We don''t know what will be waiting for us once we Integrate, so it would be better to prepare ourselves."
Elias gulped, staring down at his crystal, but eventually, he accepted our reasoning, "Fine. How are we going to use this crystal, though?"Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.
I thought for a moment. Most of the System''s functions I had used so far involved imagining the desired effect taking place, so it was not much of a stretch to assume that this would work the same way. With that in mind, I suggested, "I am not certain, but maybe you can visualize stepping in through a portal, or being surrrounded by a forest, or anything similar to that, and trust that the stone would take you there?"
Now that I said it out loud, it sounded ridiculous, so I added, "I can try to use this method first. If I disappeared, you know that it worked. Also, we should end up in the same spot, so the type of forest you think of should not matter."
There were no objections from my companions, so I gripped the stone tightly in my hand and closed my eyes. The portal option was easier for me, so I imagined the stone manifesting a swirling purple vortex of pure energy, and by entering this portal, I would be able to be transported to the forest. Then, once I had the imagery of the portal firm in my mind, I forced the mental image version of myself to step into the portal, visualizing the experience in detail before having ''myself'' land in the destination the crystal had promised.
There was a swooshing noise, and when I reopened my eyes, I was no longer in the room. Instead, I was in a large clearing, with a tall fence surrounding it. The stone was gone, too, leaving no trace of it behind. There were people nearby, too, clustered mostly in groups of two to five, but there were also those who travelled alone. No one attempted to approach me, and I was not the type to walk up to a stranger and ask how they were doing - Kaelen was an exception, and though I had no idea why, I did not regret my decision to include her in my Battle Group.
A ding! noise interrupted my observations, signifying that I have completed the quest. Although I already knew what I got, I still pulled up the notification just so that it does not distract me, since it would keep flashing at the corner of my eyes until I acknowledge it.
''Forest Ground'' Quest Completed. Quest Complete Condition reached. You gained 1x Teleportation Crystal to City Grounds, 1x Teleportation Crystal to the location of your choice. You may choose to define the destination of the Customized Teleportation Crystal at any time.
That was a relief. I could make the decision when I was more well-versed with the new world''s layout. As I dismissed the notification, I noticed Kaelen pop up beside me. She explained before I had the chance to ask, "Elias is coming, I think. He is just struggling with the visualization thing you suggested."
"Great," I breathed, "This area should be relatively safe. Once he arrives, we can start exploring this forest, but I suggest that we stay close to this starting area if possible. We can return to this place every night. Those fences have to mean something, right?"
She nodded, "I have the same idea. If we are allowed to come back without teleporting here, it would be better to have a safe zone among the danger."
That was a point to consider that I did not think of. If the System did not allow us to exploit this place to take breaks from fighting, or for shelter, it would be harder. There were not any houses here, unlike the City Grounds, so we would be more vulnerable to monster attacks than I was comfortable with.
With a thud, Elias landed in front of us, staggering as he tried to keep his balance. I grabbed him before he could topple over, and once he got his bearings, Kaelen explained our plan to him, summarizing it well enough that I did not need to elaborate. He agreed to it readily, and we started making our way to the front, deciding to check there first for a door or gate. There was one, but there were a few people standing in front of it, and their faces did not look kind. I frowned, walking up to him with Kaelen and Elias behind me.
"Can you please move?" I said, glaring at them, "We are going out."
One of them grinned sneakily at me, but his smile was obviously fake, "Ah, of course. However, as this is the property of the Storm family, you must submit all of your loot to us, and pay an entrance fee of 500-"
I scowled at them, "Hold on, you said this forest is the property of the Storm family?"
"Yes," the same man replied, his eyes glinting with greed, "Come on, pay up. 500 New Gems and we''ll let you through. No old currencies, they don''t work here. Don''t waste our-"
Taking a step further, I growled, "Do not obstruct my path, or you will be crushed."
There was a flare of something in me, a fiery flame that refused to obey anyone and that would scorch anything that dared to stop it. The new facet of my personality felt... right, as if I''ve had it for a long, long time.
You can create anything, it told me, None of them will ever measure up to a fraction of your future strength.
Distracted by the momentary burst of power, I did not notice the effect my voice had on the those around me. The man who was talking to me took a step back, a sinister look on his face, "Boy, don''t try to go against the Storm-"
I interrupted him for the third time in this conversation, "You are nothing compared to the Creator. Let us through and stop being a bother."
Wait, why did I say that? There was no time to ruminate on it, though, because the guards are already charging towards us.
3v5, Who Would Win?
The... thing inside me was quiet for now, but I could still feel its confidence boost rushing through me like adrenaline. Kaelen shielded us in her force field, and Alaric popped up at the front, flapping his snow white wings. He commented, "Fighting among humans? Hoot! Alaric does not like this! What did you do, hoot, while Alaric was gone?"
I opted for silence as an answer, because mostly, our current situation was my fault.
"Terra, do you have enough Mana for a monster?" Elias asked, "I can support with my corrosion Skill, but I can only focus on one guard at a time, and my boulder attack takes some time to build up."
I nodded, grinning, "Glad that you asked. I have a lot in reserve, and I am ready to pull off this attack."
My gaze swept through our opponent''s ranks, and I added, "We don''t know what kind of powers they have, but there are only five of them. I am confident I can make my creations take on three to four of them."
"Then, I can make another force field and trap a guard," Kaelen suggested.
Elias chuckled, "And fry them?"
That called up an unwelcomed picture of roasted chicken, with the guards'' faces juxtaposed onto them. I winced internally, banishing that thought away from my brain. Kaelen did not seem to be affected by this imagery, however, because she just agreed, "And fry them."
"I''ll go for hand-to-hand combat with the one at the far right," Elias pointed at his target, "The Queen Bee dropped a weapon I''m eager to use."
Right on cue, a sword with a yellow and black aura appeared in his hand, and he elaborated, "It is magically poisoned without needing my own Mana. This would work really well with the corrosion Skill."
None of us objected. The plan has a decent chance of succeeding, and I was itching to try out a new Skill combo I had been thinking of. Elias left with Alaric - we agreed that Alaric could serve as a distraction or even a minor threat by aiming for the eyes, and Kaelen used her force field Skill on the left-most guard. It was my turn. First, I set the scene for an illusion. It would be simple, like the encounter with the bee. Nothing would change in the illusion, except that the three guards under my spell would not be able to see or hear any of my monsters and any of my other attacks. Three was my limit for Illusion, so it was just enough. Wonderful.
I called out mentally for the Story Weaver paper then, and it appeared alongside the black leather book. I sketched my first design, together with its desired attributes. It was simple, really, just a normal tiger with a stinger for its tail, without any fancy magic powers - that would cost me too much Mana, a resource I had to use sparingly. Not wasting any time, I conjured up an image in my mind, not sharpening out too many details for the sake of time but leaving enough to not compromise the quality of my creation. Then, I hurled the qualities I wanted it to have - strength, aglity, durability and poison - at the tiger, and it was done. There was only a minor aching in my mind when I placed the tiger behind my targets, making sure that it was far enough from Elias.
It wasn''t that difficult, since the three had begun to attack our force field. One of them generated sharp spikes that protruded out from his fist, and pounded on the barrier with them. The middle guard was clearly stronger, with a skill similar to telekinesis in her arsenal. However, the rocks she had been trying to hurl at us were way too weak to do any real damage to the force field, with any damage to it quickly repaired by Kaelen. They must be really weak compared to the bees, but I guess 100 tiny Level 1 bees were strong in numbers. Regardless, our enemies'' efforts were futile - the last guard, the same one who had spoken to me earlier, had been trying to throw himself against the glowing barrier for the last five minutes. It did occasionally crack, but it did not shatter.Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
Kaelen had already begun to rain down lightning bolts on the man she had been focusing on, resting after every wave to replenish her Mana, but the bolts were enough to incur screams from the man, who was too preoccupied with not dying (he was failing at that, too) to try escape the bubble of light he was trapped in.
I took in all that in a few seconds, then lowered my head again to work on crafting a story for the tiger. The creature alone would be enough for now, I decided, after seeing the power level of my three opponents, but if it was not, I could just create a helper for it. The story was not of the best quality, but it did not have to be. My author side hurt at this thought, but I didn''t have time to care. If I wanted to, I could get a little pet just for me and give it a backstory, after this is over.
I directed the tiger to finish off the three guards, as well as the remaining two if they were not dead by then, before self destructing like the other monsters I had created. Every time I had to destroy one of the monsters I brought to life with the skill, some part of me ached, but it was okay. I reminded myself of the Companion I would make for myself the next time we rested, and watched as the new pieces of paper attached themselves to the black book by magic, and my headache increased. I no longer needed to do anything, though, so I sat down and just watched the scene unfold.
Ding!
Watch the Illusion Realm?
[ACCEPT]
Curious, I cautiously clicked on the Accept button. Illusion was my own Skill, so it was unlikely to hurt me, right?
It did not, thankfully, but the scene in front of me did change slightly. It was like I could see two versions of the tiger versus guards battle, one in the perspective of those under my Illusion, and the other as per normal. Although disorientating at first, I quickly got used to it, and I had to admit, there was a sadistic kind of fun in seeing how well the combo was going.
The guards could not see the tiger, so all they knew was that some kind of invisible monster was trying to hurt them, and that made them panic. They were trained, yes, that was clear from how they did not just start running away like a normal person would. I would do that, too, if I was the victim and not the attacker. However, training could not protect them against some enemy they could not see. Although they were occasionally lucky and were fast enough to land a hit, my normal vision told me that the slices were shallow. In response, the tiger''s claws and bites always landed true, and his barbed tail had already injured two of them, leaving the left-most guard to fend for himself while his teammates flailed around in the ground.
It was a losing battle. For them, of course.
This was the first time I had truly felt the power of my Skills, as in, really, truly, realized the things I could potentially do with it, and these were only three Skills. I was not sure if I could get more, but my System Team''s wording told me that there was a chance I could. The foreign personality within me suddenly did not feel that alien anymore. Perhaps, it was supposed to be part of me?
Yes, it seemed to whisper in a language only the two of us could understand, We are one. You are me, and I am you.
By now, the tiger had obliterated my last enemy, and Elias looked to be close to getting his kill, too. Kaelen''s target had been reduced to ashes, and her offense force field had been recalled by now. Since Elias did not need my tiger''s help, I pulled out my Story Weaver book and, with a few quick scribbles, changed the tiger''s ending so that it died as soon as it killed the last guard. I watched the beast disappear into fragments, my ears full of the ringing from the System notifications. I decided to look at them later, humming as I watched Elias'' fight. With a triumphant shout, he wrapped his left hand around the guard''s neck, his corrosion Skill eating away at the man, who was already bleeding out from a poisoned wound in his abdomen. Before I knew it, the guard was dead, and our way forward was clear.
Elias turned back to us, boasting as he Inventoried his sword, "That was easy. You need help- Oh, never mind. The two of you are faster than me!"
Skeleton Troubles
"Do you think human kills would drop any loot?" Elias asked as he jogged back to us, Alaric flying above him. I frowned. I had the same question, but at least Elias could be a lttle more subtle about it. Kaelen seemed to agree.
The girl crossed her arms, "We should be... more remorseful about this?"
Elias shrugged, smirking, "Sure, but wasn''t you raining down thunderbolts and cooking that guard there? I didn''t watch, but I''m sure that Terra can tell us how much you enjoyed this."
"Fighting was thrilling," Kaelen defended herself, "But at least..."
"At least pretend to care, Elias," I finished for her. Alaric hooted his affirmation, and the girl nodded. I continued, "But if you want to satisfy yourself, we can get a few fights in before coming back for the night."
I called up my notifications as I waited for their reply. If my guess was not wrong, the guards should drop some, if not all, of their inventory. That was the better choice that I was hoping for. The other, of course, was the normal type we would expect from a monster, and that meant that we would be getting human body parts of some kind. I was not looking forward to owning one of those, but there was also a decent chance of it happening.
You have slain Rocky Snider [Human] [Lvl. 4]! You gained 400EXP, 1x Skin Suit [Unbonded], 3x Mutated Bear Claws, 1x Skeleton Cage, 2920 New Gems
You have slain Alvin Lawrence [Human] [Lvl. 3]! You gained 300EXP, 1x Human-Hair Wig, 1x Fox Tail [Evolved], 10x Three-Headed Cobra Scales, 2440 New Gems
You have slain Lark Norris [Human] [Lvl. 3]! You gained 300EXP, 5x Forest Deer Meat, 4x Horned Wolf Meat, 2220 New Gems
1400EXP to next level!
"Sure," Elias grinned, already making his way to the gates, which was now unobstructed. I waited a moment to see if there would be more notifications, but I did not hear anymore ding sounds, so I had to assume that my Battle Group members'' human kills wouldn''t give me any benefit. That was not a significant loss, and the loot I just obtained from the three guards were more than enough to satisfy my expectations for the battle. The System was generous this time, allowing me to get both human-related loot drops and the spoils of battle that others had given to them to place in their Inventories. I smiled just thinking about how I could use them all, once I had the time to sit down and look at them later today.
Kaelen patted my shoulder gently, bringing me out of my thoughts, "Terra, if we don''t catch up soon, we will lose track of where Elias is going. Alaric had already left with him."
I nodded, calling out the pair of lion claws to function as emergency weapons, just in case something jumped out at us, and followed her. We soon catched up with Elias, who slowed down so that we were walking in a single line. It probably was not the best stealth method, but it would work for tonight if we stayed close to the safe space.
We walked in silence, until a few minutes later, as the owl appeared from above, flying down to meet us.
"Call me, hoot, when it''s time to fight!" the owl flapped its wings a few times and landed on Kaelen''s shoulder, where it disappeared into a ball of silver light that was immediately absorbed by the girl''s skin.
Kaelen explained, "Alaric is an owl, so he likes night more. I don''t know what happens to him when he... enters me, but he''s probably resting now."
That made sense. I guess I shouldn''t have been that surprised to see that the System''s arrival did not change the fundamental habits of the animals on Earth. As we fell into the harmonious silence again, I looked around at the forest around us. There were no monsters that I could sense with my limited human capabilities, and if there were monsters mutated by the System anywhere nearby, we would have known by now, since every enemy so far had tried to kill us the moment they laid their eyes on us. Therefore, I allowed myself to relax somewhat, but my grip on the lion claws did not get any looser.Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.
The forest was decently lit, the light of a late afternoon sun penetrating through the canopies to light our path. The trees were large, and some had gnarled roots and hollowed tree trunks. Parasitic vines wrapped themselves around those dying trees, their coils getting tighter and tighter as it spiraled its way up into the canopy. There were not many animals nearby, not even normal ones, but there was a constant buzzing in the air that came from apparently nowhere. I frowned, remembering the bees and how that battle did not go well, at least not for me.
"Are the two of you hearing that noise?" I asked, "There''s no insects nearby, and the noise is driving me crazy."
"Terra," Elias said, his face serious, "I don''t think you can get any crazier after what you did back there with the guards. Your voice was so scary."
I stared into his eyes for a few seconds, and he burst into laughter. Suddenly a little embarrassed - I actually believed him -, I glared at him and tried to channel the power I felt when I was dealing with the guards.
It must have worked somehow, because Elias gradually calmed down, "Okay, okay, i''m sorry. I wasn''t lying about the scary part th-"
A loud roar from somewhere beside us startled all of us, and Kaelen, reacting the fastest, pulled up a force field around us to guard us against whatever was incoming. Turning to face our threat, I found myself face to face with an enormous skeleton. There was an eerie glow coming from its ribcage area, but before I could inspect it further, a frantic System message came.
This is- We''ve got no time for that, you know who I am. Run, Raven, run! Go back to the starting zone, and think of a plan with the information we will be sending you. Don''t fight it now!
I nodded at nothing in particular. My System Worker sounded serious, and the sheer size of the skeleton corroborated the danger of the situation the three of us were in at the moment. I shouted louder than necessary, "We need to go, now! It is too strong for us, especially with no preparation."
Elias opened his mouth to argue, but closed it when he met my eyes. Kaelen yelled a countdown before our barrier came tumbling down, just as the giant skeleton raised its fist up high to strike. We ran, dashing through the tall grass and shrubs that filled the ground. Several times I almost slipped, but Kaelen was always there to help me balance. The skeleton had realized by now that we were no longer in front of it, and it growled, turning to glare at us again. Its heavy footsteps pounded through the forest and its grunts echoed all around us as it chased us.
Almost there! We quickened our pace, scrambling as we darted the rest of the way to the starting spot. The monster hurled one of its bones at us just as we pushed through the gates, the bone fracture piercing into the fence just moments after we closed the door. There were pounding on the other side, but the fence held strong even with the power of the skeleton''s punches. Eventually, it lost interest, realizing that it was just wasting its time, and left. When the loud banging finally ended, we all sat down near the entrance, relieved. There was a System notification waiting for me, and I clicked it open immediately, remembering my System Worker''s promise to supply me with more details on the giant skeleton.
|
Skeleton
|
|
Category: Quest
Giant skeletons are practically indestructable physically. It is built to withstand most of the damage you can throw at it, magical or physical. However, all of them have a weak mind and a special heart. You should know how to exploit their minds. For the hearts, they are souls that the skeletons'' hard exterior cannot protect, but they are hard to destroy even if you can get your hands on it. You are lucky that you have someone in your Battle Group who can do that, though. Good luck, and don''t forget to check out your new chat request when you are done.
Reward: 5 Ancient Crystals
Failure: 1 Cut
Complete Condition: A Giant Skeleton must die at your Battle Group''s hands
Duration: 1 week
|
Whoever gave this quest was clear enough in what they wanted me to do, but I needed to first get my teammates to agree to this. No matter how much I did not want to get the failure result, my System Workers made it clear that I could not take on the Skeleton, at least not by myself.
I clicked the Quest notification away, and said, "I think I know the trick to winning against that skeleton."
A Plan, A Meal, and A Project
"Hm?" Kaelen asked, sitting straighter. Elias also Inventoried his poison sword, which he was inspecting, and focused on me. I continued, rephrasing what my System Workers told me through the Quest''s instructions, "We can''t kill it with my monsters. It won''t work. The only thing I can do is to put it under a temporary illusion. But it has one weak point: its heart, or you can also call that its soul. I saw it earlier too, or at least I think I did. But even the heart is quite tough and hard to destroy, not to mention that it is hard to reach..."
Elias gulped, "Are you implying what I think you are implying?"
I nodded, already mentally preparing for the worst, "You don''t have to do it if you do not want to, but we can''t win without your corrosion Skill."
"How did you know all this information?" Kaelen asked, not in a suspicious way, just curious.
I pointed at the air before I realized too late that they could not see my notifications. The System world still needed some getting used to, "My System team gave me a quest and there was some information about the Skeleton."
Elias grumbled, "You''re lucky, Terra. The only Quest I''ve ever gotten so far is the Forest Grounds one."
"I''m sure you''ll hear from them soon," I patted his shoulder sympathetically, "But are you willing to-"
"Of course!" he grinned, and I relaxed, hearing his response. He added, "If you''re willing to catch me when I fall."
Kaelen held up a palm-sized force field ball, throwing it up into the air and catching it again, "Alaric can help you, both in getting up there and coming back down. I''ll catch you with my Skill if needed."
Appearing a little more convinced of the plan now, Elias nodded. Seeing his positive response, I grinned, clasping my hands together and ending the conversation before Elias could change his mind, "Great! We''ll rest for tonight and strike tomorrow."
I paused, my stomach growling. I was surprised that I did not feel hungry sooner, but maybe it was because my adrenaline overpowered any desire for food. But our bodies still needed the energy, "Do the two of you have any meat from the kills?"
Elias hummed, taking out a large piece of red meat that looked cooked, "I got this from my fight from the guard. It''s some kind of deer meat."
Kaelen, however, was a little embarrassed as she admitted, "Not really. The fire fox was my first monster fight, the bees didn''t drop any food, and my guard loot... Also has none."
"It''s okay, I have enough for both of us," While reassuring her, I took out two Forest Deer Meat items, wondering if they were safe to eat just like Elias'' food. Suddenly, two blue boxes popped up in front of my eyes just as I asked that question in my head.
|
Forest Deer Meat
|
|
Category: Item
Food that comes from the System via the Loot system are safe to consume unless their item names are clear about them being raw. However, cooking them often result in better tastes. Food stored in your Inventory does not go bad, but putting food out will result in rotting after a while.
This Forest Deer Meat item does not have any special effects when consumed.
|
That explains things. Was it a special message from my System Team or if the item had the same description for everyone else? If it was the first one, I had to thank them for the help they were giving me, even though I knew that I would continue to be wary of System-related... entities for now. I sent a mental command to the System to close off the blue box - both of my hands were occupied with the meat - and handed one piece of food to Kaelen, who took it eagerly. I dug into my portion, explaining after swallowing one mouthful of meat, "We don''t need to cook these, so it should be fine."This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.
Fine did not mean that it tasted well, however, and although I was grateful about having some food in the first place, whoever set the System message really was not lying about uncooked monster meat. It was not bland. Instead, it had a weird taste, similar to raw meat, or at least how we would imagine it. But that was not it - there was a leaf-y acidity, laced with bitterness. That was coming from someone who had eaten leaves out of curiosity.
Wincing despite my best attempts to just bear it and be glad for the nutrition, I swallowed the food as quickly as I could without choking on it. From Elias'' and Kaelen''s expressions, it was clear that they did not enjoy our dinner either. Elias swallowed his last piece of meat, grumbling as he lay down on the soft dirt, "Well, that''s an interesting meal. I''m going to sleep now. Wake me up in about four hours. Kaelen, you deserve to rest through the whole of tonight."
Kaelen did not argue as she finished her portion too and allowed herself to slide down the fence she was sitting against, tired. As their eyes slowly closed, I called out my lion claws and placed them in locations where I could reach easily, before taking out the Story Weaver papers and starting to draw with the pen that came with it.
The new ''personality'' within me stirred, What are we making?
"A pet," I replied softly. There were some people resting near us, and I did not want any of them to think that I was mad.
Win? it asked, Powerful?
"No, just a pet," I murmured. However, if it wanted to, I could make a dragon. I had wanted a little bird, just like Alaric, or maybe a kitten...
It grew angry, and I felt a pressure radiating from within me as it grunted, Why would you make something that isn''t strong? A dragon is fine.
I groaned as its aura caused my bones to creak at places where it was most powerful. It could read my thoughts? It had a bad temper too. Giving in to its demands, I sighed, sketching the rough outline of a dragon on my paper. As I began to use my imagination to fill in more details into my pet project, I gradually tuned the other entity away.
The dragon would be a darker shade of red, and its tail would be charcoal black. Large enough for five people to ride on it, its attacks - both biting and clawing - would also be many times stronger than even my stone golem. I wanted to make it even more powerful, but my head began to hurt, so I stopped, realizing that I had hit my limit. For its magic, I was more than generous. I gifted it fire abilities, while making sure that it was immune to that element - I was still worried about using my own fire manipulation ability because of the drawback. Then, I made its fangs and tail-spikes poisoned. Its scales would also be a perfect shield against attacks, and of course, it could fly.
When I was done, I sat back against the fence, tired out mentally. However, I still had to actually activate the ability via visualization. I held the dragon''s picture in my mind''s eye, fixing some proportion errors to make it more streamlined for flying. When I was satisfied, I began throwing its powers at it one by one, each one sapping some of my Mana. I could feel the essence slip away, but there were still enough left for the Story Weaver ability, fortunately. Before I finished my creation of the dragon, I added three important things: loyalty, human-like sentience and telepathic communication. The loyalty aspect sucked just a little less energy out of me than all the other attributes combined, and I groaned at the lethargy that washed over me right after.
It wasn''t that I had never thought about using the quality of obedience to control my previous creations. The only reason why I had not tried it with the previous monsters was because I only wanted to use them for one battle, so it was easier for them to just die afterwards to prevent any mishaps like the vines incident. I guess I was kind of scared of the consequences of relying on their loyalty when there were others around me too. The risk was just too great for that, but this dragon was different. I didn''t create it with any particular scenario in mind - I just wanted to have a sort-of companion like Alaric was to Kaelen, so I had to hope that this would work. If not... I guess I could always kill it on the spot.
Sad but necessary.
When I was finally done, I did not use my Story Weaver Skill to reinforce its obedience. I had to test it first. There was another reason I was refusing to admit to myself: I was worn out after making such a complex animal, especially after bestowing upon it so many special abilties that normal animals wouldn''t have. I deposited the dragon a few metres away, and opened our telepathic communication channel as it began sniffing the earth.
I could feel the other me... No, I meant the other entity buzz in excitement inside me as I sent out my first message to my creation, ''Come here.''
The dragon raised its head, staring into my eyes as if determining whether I was worthy to be listened to, before stomping towards me. By now, other people nearby had realized that they were in proximity to a gigantic beast, and some began fleeing, while others were frozen in place, shocked and terrified. I could hear someone whisper, "They are not supposed to come in..." and suddenly felt a little bad.
Don''t regret giving life to such a strong creature, Raven, she - the entity - sang in my head.
''Raven, huh. You might have created me, but don''t expect to control all of my actions,'' the dragon''s snarky voice floated into my mind through the telepathy channel, ''Ravens are prey, birdie.''
I grinned as I heard the nickname, ''Wasn''t planning on it. Welcome to the world of the living... Hydra.''
Elias Corruption
When I woke Elias up, there was, understandably, a little bit of shock and a lot of screaming. That scared off the remaining few who were brave enough to stay around for the sake of having more space. Elias only calmed down after a few minutes, but by then we were the only people in this area. After that, it only took a while to convince Elias that the dragon was not a monster for him to kill, and instead a new companion I had worked on while he was asleep. He accepted that reluctantly ("Terra, please don''t do that to me again, or Kaelen, or anyone else we pick up.") and we swapped positions. I lay down near Hydra while Elias took up my role. I felt myself drifting off when the dragon commented with a hint of amusement, ''Humans are weak, aren''t they, birdie? Are you weak?''
''No'', I replied, a little proud, as I recounted the scope of my powers and what I had done with them. The new personality in me jumped excitedly, but I tuned her... it out.
The dragon waited for me to finish, although I could see impatience gathering in his eyes as he scoffed, ''Silly hatchling. A power is not a useful power until you can use it.''
Yes, the voice in me answered. It did not take me long to figure out why it could (or at least thought it could) communicate with the dragon - it was a part of me, at the end of the day, no matter how much I wanted to expel it from my body, Tell the other me what I cannot, dragon.
''There are two of you?'' the dragon cocked his head, smoke rising out of his nostrils, ''Regardless, I will get to the point. Birdie, you''ve missed a lot of things you can do with your power in your haste to do all those quests and devour all the essence of the beasts you slay. I am glad to be created, but won''t it be easier for you to use tools? I don''t know what you call them here, but they do exist, yes? You can store them in your Inventory and you do not need to control them. Your power has a lot of potential, but you are not a competent wielder.''
''How do you know so many things?'' I questioned, suspicious. If Hydra was a dragon that I created, he should have no knowledge of anything except perhaps information on the abilities I had granted him, ''I mean, you did not even exist a few hours ago.''
The other personality within me felt amused when I said that, and the dragon laughed outright, a booming noise that startled Elias. It probably sounded like a roar to him, but I was connected emotionally to Hydra too. It was hard to explain, but we had a psychological bond that ran deeper than the simple telepathic communication. Elias glanced back at us, but since Hydra was not actively trying to kill me or Kaelen, he soon focused on surveying his surroundings for signs of enemies. I highly doubted any human would want to disturb us with the dragon around, but it was always safe to be cautious.
Hydra explained with a tone similar to the one somebody would use if they were trying to teach one plus one to a four year old, ''When you create sentient beings like me, where do you think they pull us from? I was an actual, ancient dragon living in one of the System-integrated worlds. In that world, we were one of the dominant species, and we too use tools suited to us. We were strong and smart, but our population was still small compared to the elves on our planet, so the System was not made available to us but to them. It made those elves wildly powerful although many of them were killed off, but that''s not the point.''
We fell into a weird silence, and I realized that he was waiting for me to say something, so I did. Reluctantly, I replied, ''Yes, I understand now. I... did not think of making machinery during my battles. My first succeeded with a vine attack, so I leaned on them instinctually to protect me. I''ll create them the next chance I get, but I need to rest now.''
The dragon nodded, and when he replied with his usual tone, I could hear a wisp of softness in it, ''Humans are weak. Sleep well, little hatchling.''
--
When I woke up, Kaelen had already gone through the ''freak out and understand'' phase, and we were ready to go. There was no need to check with Elias on whether or not he still wanted to fight the skeleton - seeing that I had somehow managed to get us a dragon seemed to have bloated his confidence a bit, and that was good for this battle.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.
We set off with Alaric and Hydra after having a quick breakfast of meat: horned wolf meat for me, another piece of forest deer meat for Kaelen, and whatever red meat Elias had swallowed while grumbling under his breath.
The forest was lively for the first few steps, but as we got further away from the safe spot, the woods grew eerily silent and the buzzing noise returned. As we pushed in further with Hydra flying above the canopy - the forest was too crowded for his liking -, the noise grew louder and louder until a roar erupted from behind us. The skeleton from before now loomed over us again. The ''soul'' I had seen before and the System Worker had described pulsated strongly within its skeleton armor, and every step it took towards us were like heavy drum hits that messed with my heart beats.
However, this time, we were ready.
Elias was lifted up by Alaric until he was floating right before the skeleton''s heart. It did not seem to notice. To it, they were probably just flying bugs it wanted to kill. I sent a quick request to Hydra to prepare for intervention in case the plan went wrong, before focusing back onto the skeleton before me. I was not certain how mana worked in this world, so although I had a full mana reserve now after a few hours'' sleep, I still worried that it might not be enough, even with its supposedly weak mind, but I had no choice but to trust my System Worker''s words and just go for it.
I visualized an illusion where the skeleton was able to eat and destroy anything it wanted, and made sure that the illusion hid Kaelen, Elias and me. The imagery must have soothed the skeleton, because the moment I pushed the illusion onto it, it stopped moving and relaxed. For extra protection, Kaelen created a force field to shield us, and we were tense as we watched Elias climb onto the skeleton. As he did, I painstakingly ensured that the skeleton could not sense him in any form. Elias reached into the skeleton''s heart with much difficulty because of how thin the gaps between its bone armor was, but he managed it after a few tries.
The moment Elias'' fingers touched the skeleton''s soul, the boy started to use his corrosion ability, and the pain must have been so immense for the skeleton that it almost jerked itself out of my illusion. I had to exert extra effort to keep the illusion on, and to be honest, I was surprised that it held. Just how weak was this skeleton''s mind? As the heart continued to disintegrate into nothingness, I felt many more pushes on the illusion, but I reinforced it every time. My knees weakened, and I staggered, but I tried my best to fulfil my role in this fight. It was only when the last bits of the skeleton''s soul was about to disappear that its mind made a desperate attempt with all its power to break out.
This time, it succeeded.
I fell back onto the ground with a daze, my head aching like someone had stepped on it. Kaelen asked, "Terra, are you okay?"
I nodded, but did not have the time for a reply. My attention was fully on Elias and the skeleton. I sent out a message to Hydra, ''Distract that skeleton! Don''t try to actually fight it - it is really tough.''
''Sure, little bird,'' The dragon agreed, and it flooped down, flying in loops around the skeleton''s head. By now, the creature had flung Elias off of its chest. Fortunately, Alaric caught him in time, and when he saw the dragon, Elias shouted over the noise from the skeleton and Hydra''s occasional clashes, "Alaric! Drop me at the same spot!"
"Are you sure, hoot?" Alaric asked. When Elias nodded slightly, it did as he asked, and Elias did the same thing as he had done earlier, plunging his arm into the skeleton to reach for the heart, which was just beginning to repair itself. His fingers wrapped themselves around the trugging piece of the monster''s soul, and with a final push of his ability, the remainder of the skeleton''s essence disappeared. The bones that the skeleton was made out of fell apart, but before they could reach the ground, they were already melting away as notification alarms ringed in my ears.
A Battle Group Member has slain 1x Giant Skeleton [Lvl. 8]! You gained 400EXP, 160 New Gems
''Skeleton'' Quest Completed. Quest Progress: 1/1! You gained 5 Ancient Crystals!
You have received a gift from Player #KTWC-52931 from Planet #5468-K [Integrated]! [View Details]
I was almost certain that the gift was from the ''someone'' who sent me that chat request. I had forgotten about that again, haven''t I? Now that the skeleton problem was dealt with, I should have some time to check that chat request out during my night watch today. But for now, we surely have enough energy and time left to fight some more creatures. I clicked open the details of the gift. I could at least open that while we walk - it could be something helpful.
The moment I saw what was in the gift, my eyes grew wide and I gasped in surprise.
Enemy of the Shadows
Kaelen was checking Elias for any wounds after Alaric brought him down, but I was frozen in place. That was a bit of exaggeration, but even when I joined them, my mind was still on the gift. Player #KTWC-52931 had sent me something that can be used as a weapon, but its name screamed dangerous. It had gifted me something precious, and Ability Stone, but it was not a relatively normal one like my fire ability. Instead, it was "Ability Stone: Daemonic Transformation". I did not need this at the moment, and I had no idea if it would even result in something good.
Probably not.
My instincts were surprisingly quiet, and it was as if they silently accepted that it wasn''t too bad of an idea to take in the ability stone. The other personality inside my head was, unsurprisingly, a giant advocate for absorbing the stone, supporting her argument with her classic Powerful! explanation. Needless to say, I did not listen to her.
Kaelen shook me out of my thoughts, "Terra, are you listening?"
"Huh?" I asked, looking a little guilty.
"We are discussing what to do next," she said patiently, and somehow I felt worse, "Elias wants to ''punch some more monsters and show them what we''ve got'' but I think we should just go back."
I didn''t hesitate, "I agree with Elias. It is still early in the day and we can use this time to get some easy kills. For loot and for the Major Event."
That had been what I wanted to do after we won the battle, but I added, "But if you want to go back, we won''t stop you."
Elias nodded, causing Kaelen to scoff playfully, "Of course I won''t abandon the two of you. What kind of person do you think I am?"
As we began walking back in the direction of the safe space entrance so that we could stay close to the area in case another dangerous monster like the skeleton spotted us, another notification popped up at the side of my eyes. It was a message from my System Team of workers, and I read it eagerly, expecting some kind of secret information that would get me ahead of others. Instead, it was a piece of bad(?) news.
Raven, we saw the contents of your gift. If you want to use the stone, you must use it soon. Because it was sent from a different universe altogether, it was worn down severely and it might just dissolve in a few hours. We recommend that you be cautious use it, but no matter your decision, you must make it quickly.
There was two crossed out words, but I could not read them because they were gone too fast. They could be important, or maybe the Worker just made a typing mistake, but there was no way I''d ever find out. Regardless, with two most likely unrelated parties giving me the same advice and my gut feelings not opposing to absorbing the stone, I was really considering it.
Hydra''s voice filled my head, ''What''s going on? You look distracted. There is an enemy about five metres from you.''
''I was sent this stone...'' I explained the situation to him, and the dragon immediately replied.
''Are you stupid, little hatchling?'' he growled, sounding exasperated, ''When you get a chance to gain power, you take it.''
That is the third entity to tell me the same thing. Might as well. I''ll do it after dealing with whatever monster Hydra was talking about. With a soft voice so as to not startle the beast in front of us, I informed Kaelen and Elias of what Hydra had reported, "My dragon partner said he saw an enemy five metres... about four now, in front of us."
Elias shrugged, "The trees are so thick that I can''t see anything."Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.
At that moment, a sharp shriek could be heard from somewhere in front of us, and we rushed forward to find a young man lying on the ground. There was no monster to be seen. There weren''t any visible wounds or scars, but he was just lying there, unmoving. I bent down to touch his neck. His skin was still reasonably warm, and although I did not major in forensics, I had some basic knowledge. The information I had told me that the man was either still alive or was just killed a few minutes ago. There was no pulse, though, which made it clear that it was the latter.
Before I could tell the others about what I had found, a pool of murky darkness rose out of the man''s chest. It morphed into the rough shape of a large eagle, the size of Alaric, and there was a skull mask where its face was supposed to be. I stepped back, trying to figure out a plan to defeat it. I could hear Hydra descending from his position up in the canopy, crushing branches as he landed. At the same time, Kaelen worked fast, trapping it in a force field and protecting us with another, but the creature simply phased out of the force field. Kaelen gasped, "How could that be possible?"
I had the same question, and Hydra answered it in my head, ''I had this kind of creature back home, too. They are not exactly the same, but similar enough from what we''ve just seen. You can''t fight it with physical damage - It is just made out of shadows. You don''t have a shadow manipulator on hand, but maybe the daemon transformation can help you?''
I grumbled. I knew that Hydra was not lying from our emotion link, but it did not mean that I liked it. I called the stone out from my Inventory, and it gave off waves of eerie energy that reminded me of radiation. I visualized the stone being absorbed into my body, and it melted into my palm, giving me a cold electric jolt that sent me shivering all over. It didn''t matter though. If this worked, I would be willing to overlook how uncomfortable the absorption process is.
Kaelen''s voice is nervous, "The creature... has stopped moving, but my force fields can''t stop it from getting to us. Terra, Elias, any ideas?"
I nodded, but did not explain - I did not even know how this ability worked. I drew force from the ability, just like the previous time with the fire. However, since I had no idea what I was getting into, I let the ability take me wherever it wanted. A system ding ringed in my ears as the transformation began.
Evaluating Player Raven Dawn... ERROR! 5!@#%!24954 ERROR!
User is an Entity... Reevaluating... ERROR! %#@%^! ERROR!
Entity-Player Raven Dawn cannot be evaluated. 50% 50% will be taken.
Before the words of the System could sink in, I felt the pain of the transformation kick in. It was an understatement to say that it was absolutely agonizing. When they depicted someone suddenly gaining wings and horns in those fantasy stories, they did not mention that growing bones and skin in a few seconds puts a great strain on the person''s body. There was a lot of cracking and tearing as my skin and bones grew to accomodate my new body. It hurt, terribly, and I could see stars before my eyes, but that was not it. Tendons pulled and muscles stretched, giving me sporadic spasms and jolts all over my body.
It really took all of my willpower not to fall over and give up. However, the worst part ended quickly. As the last piece of bone finally clicked into place, a deep ache ran throughout my entire being. I shuddered. I would need some time to get used to it, but I did not have the luxury of time.
The shadow eagle was startled by my transformation and began flying towards us. We ducked, but it swiftly turned to divebomb us once more. I tried to control its shadows like Hydra had suggested when he recommended for me to use the stone, but it did not work the way I wanted it to. Although I could feel them with my mind, they struggled and fought against my willpower. New as I was to this power, I could not handle them. There was some despair as I considered the possibility that even with the shadow control that this new form granted me, it might not be enough to do any damage to the eagle.
Then, some kind of secondary instinct spoke to me, and with much wariness but not much choice, I listened to it. I took off towards the sky, exerting a lot of energy to control my wings, until I was at eye level to the two empty holes in its skull mask. It felt like I had just run a marathon, but this was only half of the job. I called for the monster''s shadows to answer my call, and surprisingly, some did. It gave me a big headache, of course, and it only lasted for a few seconds before it regained its bearings.
The creature looked angrier than ever, but now that I had a way to defeat it, it suddenly did not feel as menacing. I grinned, focusing on the shadows that the owl was comprised of, and launched my attacks.
Battle of the Mind
I quickly invested some New Gems in Magic, worried that what I was going to do was going to take too much Mana from me. The first 10 stats I added still costed 100 New Gems each, just like what the System Workers had told me at the beginning of everything. However, the next stat I added subtracted 300 New Gems instead of 100. All in all, I decided to pour 15 stats into Magic. I left the rest as they were for now - they would not be useful for this battle. All of this happened within a second, and I forced my wings to bring me down a little so that the shadow eagle wouldn''t crash into me and send me into an unwelcomed plunge that would end with my face flattened against solid earth. As the creature manoeuvred itself around to face me, I pulled up my profile to check my new stats.
|
Lvl.8
|
Raven Dawn
|
ADULT
|
|
Daemonic Transformation, Normal Fire Manipulation [Rare]
|
Strength: 17 [+]
Defense: 14 [+]
Magic: 35 [+]
Mind: 14 [+]
|
Class: Storyteller
Skills: Story Weaver [Lvl.1], Artist [Lvl.1], Illusions [Lvl.1]
|
Once it was in front of me again, I let the blue box fade away and glared at it, channeling all of my mental strength into separating it into shadow-ey chunks. They resisted against my control, but my grip was like iron. I had wanted to tear off a wing first, but the shadows there were too thick for me to separate, so I went for a clawed foot. It was not easy by any means, but after a hard tug of war, I could finally detach it. There was no blood, of course - I did not know why I expected it to bleed - but the shadows called to me, as if it wanted me to accept it as part of me.
Before I could reject it, it was already floating in the air above me, and it felt so right to let it become part of me. I beckoned to it, allowing it to sink fully through my forearm when it reached me. All of a sudden, I could feel my horns and my wings grow larger. Accompanying those changes were pain, shock, and an instinctive feeling that I was stronger than I was before I absorbed the shadow, even if only by a miniscule amount.
Unfortunately, due to my distraction, the owl used this chance to dig its remaining claw into me, and I could feel a foreign force trying to push its way into my brain. I ignored the pain and the feeling of blood trickling down my arm from my shoulder. Instead, I focused on my mind and the attacks launched at it. Both my secondary and primary gut-feelings were telling me that letting even the smallest part of it in would mean a death sentence for me, so I pushed hard against it, patching up any part of my mental wall that it managed to crack. At the same time, I channeled 11 stats into Mind as quickly as I could. The change was instantaneous, and my fight against the owl''s shadow influence became much easier. Eventually, I was able to chase it out entirely, tearing out part of its right wing''s shadows in the process.
As I stepped back into reality after our mental fight, I hastily absorbed the shadow I had just obtained - I need every edge I could get now. The sharp pain came back again, as the horns and wings grew. Luckily, the horns did not get heavier, something I had to attribute to its magical properties. The shoulder wound that the owl''s claws had inflicted was not bleeding anymore, but it still ached. The owl dropped by half a metre, but with an angry shriek, it transferred the shadows in its remaining claw to repair its wings, before flapping them with a strong beat and rising to meet me once more.
I focused on the beast''s right wing. It would not have any extra shadows to move around if I tear the entire wing off, unless it wanted to shrink to a much smaller size. The shadows felt just as thick and hard as before, but now I had a part of it with me, and it was very different. I called out in the tone of the shadows I had absorbed from it, ''Trust me. Trust me. Trust me.''This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.
The shadows in the eagle''s wing did not open up to me just because of this, but they were confused, and they showed just a little bit of weakness. Grabbing onto that weakness, I drew a mental lasso around the base of the eagle''s right wing, and pulled hard. The creature was half way through its attack motion, its target me, when it suddenly felt its balance waver. Despite its best efforts to counter my attack, I was still able to pull the wing from it, and it fell towards the ground like a broken aeroplane. I absorbed the large chunk of shadows that I just stole from it with much anticipation. I had to grow stronger and win... Wait, was that my thoughts?
That problem did not matter much to me as I chased after the helpless shadow owl, aiming for a kill.
Hydra sounded surprised in our telepathy link as I descended onto the ground to squash the remaining life force from the creature, ''I didn''t know this ability would allow you to absorb Shadow Essence.''
''What?'' I asked half-heartedly as I landed on the ground. The owl had morphed its shape into a smaller version of itself so that it had wings again, but it could not do much more than lift itself a metre off the ground. It was aiming for Kaelen and Elias, who were probably easy targets in its eyes compared to me.
I gripped onto its shadows again in my mind to hold it back from invading my companions'' minds. Hydra''s reply came just as I decided to just tear its head off from its body and end the battle, ''Focus, Raven. I will tell you what I know later.''
Sending a wave of affirmation to the dragon, I imagined wrapping a chain around the creature''s neck - I''ve learnt that things in this new world is easier with visualization - and tightened it until it was pressing uncomfortably against mini-owl''s neck. Then, I made the most powerful tug I had attempted in this battle while trying to confuse the owl''s shadows to think that they were safe and I was their friend. They put up a good fight, but eventually, they gave up, and with a ding of the System''s notification bell, I knew that I won. Before the shadows would evaporate, I took them in eagerly, feeling the bittersweet ache as I grew stronger again.
You have slain Dark Phantom Owl [Lvl. 15]! You gained 1500EXP, 1x Ability Stone: Shroud of Darkness, 3x Darkness Bombs, 1x Concealing Cloak [Unbonded], 600 New Gems
Nythirra Veraelia from Planet #2577-M [Integrated] has sent a Chat Invitation! [View Details]
You have received a gift from Player #FYNR-10598 from Planet #2577-M [Integrated]! [View Details]
I''ve received another chat invitation and another gift. This person at least revealed their name, unlike the previous one, unless the gifter of my daemonic transformation ability is named Someone. Probably not. I decided to check the gift when we rest next. Clicking the notifications away, I strode towards Kaelen and Elias. They had escaped to a safer spot while waiting for my battle to finish when they realized that there was nothing they could do to help.
When I reached them, Elias patted me on my uninjured shoulder, "I have no idea how you won. You''re so strong now."
Kaelen nodded, sighing, "There was nothing we could do. Wait... Let me heal you."
She used a protective force field on me, and I could feel her healing thunderbolt strike down, ridding me of the wounds I had accumulated and clearing away my aches for the moment. As soon as the force field was lifted, however, the pain from my wings and horns came back full force, causing me to wince.
"Thanks," I said, and she smiled softly.
"I think this is enough for one day," Kaelen looked up at the sky, "It is noon anyway. We can go back to the safe space to have lunch, then decide what to do next."
"Fight more monsters, of course!" Elias cheered, "I don''t know what most of the loot are, but I know I want to keep them coming!"
I shrugged, seething when my wings moved with it, "I don''t mind, but I do need to practise flying with this."
I did not want to admit that I was sort of stuck with the wings and the horns, so I had no choice but to make these new additions more useful and less hindering. Elias seemed to understand, though, because he relented, "Fine. We can stay inside for the remainder of today, but tomorrow..."
I agreed, "That is fine with me. I just hope that not all of the monsters are as strong as this one and the skeleton."
Two hums answered me as we made our way back towards the safe space.
Shadows Power
On the way back, Hydra accompanied us in the sky while we walked - Elias had insisted so that we had a chance to encounter a few more monsters. Alaric had disappeared into Kaelen somewhere during my battle with the shadow owl, and hadn''t come out since.
Silence covered us for a while until I remembered Hydra''s promise of telling me about shadow essence. I sent him a telepathic message about that, and his reply came after a short while of thinking, ''When someone with control over shadow essence kills another creature with access to this substance, they can accept the essence as part of their own pool. If they choose not to, the System would take away any that is not claimed at the end of a battle like it does for normal creatures. You can manipulate this energy as your actual weapon to cause physical damage, and invade others'' minds like the shadow owl tried to do to you. You don''t need mana for an attack using Shadow Essence, and you can reuse most if they are not absorbed by your enemy.''
My eyes widened. That was stronger than I thought. Curiously, I asked, ''If you are not the dominant species, how do you know all of this?''
I could hear clear annoyance in Hydra''s voice when he replied, ''Just look at the monsters you''ve fought, birdie. They are not the dominant species either, but they still have levels. It''s the same for us. Although we are not the species chosen by the System, we still have access to it, we just don''t have any Class. Dragons were one of the species chosen to possess Shadow Essence, so I know a bit more about it than its counterpart.''
I hummed, letting my body operate on autopilot as I summoned my newly acquired shadow essence so it it formed a little ball on my palm. It wasn''t painful like the fire was, but there was a cold chill that ran through my body when it was called out. When I cautiously poked a finger at the black wispy ball, my hand just went through it as if it was mist. That was to be expected. Then, I tried to control it and shape it into something harder. I''ve favored daggers and knives so far, so I shaped my shadow essence into a rough shape of a small knife, before bestowing upon it properties such as hardness and sharpness as I would when creating a new monster.
When I touched its edge again, the blade was no longer the ethereal ball of shadows it was just a moment ago. Instead, it was sharper than even my lion claw daggers, and if I had touched the sharp side, I was certain that I would have cut myself. I sent a wave of surprise and appreciation towards Hydra through our emotion link and described the experiment I had conducted.
''Great, you know how to use it now,'' Hydra sighed, his tone a little disappointed, ''Stupid hatchling, do you know that this is the most inefficient way you can use this? It takes mental strength to keep the blade sharp, and you can easily achieve the result using a normal weapon. No, what you should be doing is attacking the minds of your enemies from afar. This synergises well with the Skills you already have, since all of them are long-ranged. If you want to fight close-up, temporarily imbueing your weapons with shadow essence is also more efficient way of using it. But I guess you don''t know about these methods yet.''
I grumbled some indiscernable words through our link, and reabsorbed the essence into my body to practise with at another time.
Nothing eventful happened for most of our journey after that, much to Elias'' dismay. However, when we were a few metres from the safe space - we could see the fences built around it - we finally encountered some enemies. It was a group of three snakes. They were the size of pythons, but from their jaws, poison dripped. One was red, another white, and the last one was black. While they would have been a hard opponent for hand-to-hand fighters like Elias, battling against a duo of two long-range attackers (Kaelen and I) was a bad matchup for the snakes.
Kaelen protected us with her force field, and trapped the white snake in another. The red one slithered towards us, sinking its fangs into our protective shield while its black companion slapped hard with its tail. The golden dome shattered for a brief moment, but Kaelen put up another just as quickly. I remembered how she was struggling to defend us against the bees merely a day ago.Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
She must have levelled up her Magic, too.
I decided not to call Hydra for help. This should be nothing more than moderately difficult even without him. Deciding to test my shadow essence''s mind attacking ability with this opportunity, I generated a ball of shadows and made it hover on my palm while sinking into my mental world to visualize a special illusion for the two snakes I was in charge of. I first crafted a world without me, Kaelen, Elias and all my attacks - I do the same thing every time. Then, I needed to put something that would weaken the snakes'' mental fortresses. I wasn''t sure what snakes were afraid of, so I just recreated a larger version of Alaric and inserted it into the illusion, instructing it to keep scaring the two snakes. When that was done, I pushed the completed illusion onto the minds of the snakes.
They did not even resist, allowing the image to slide in smoothly. After giving ''Alaric'' some time to spook the snakes, I instructed my ball of shadows to spilt into two thin veils and allowed the first one to fall onto the red snake. I imagined my mental self riding the shadows and forcing my way into the snake''s mind. Once I was in, I allowed the wave of shadows to overwhelm everything in the little space.
With a ding!, the snake met its demise and I retreated out of its now-broken mind with all of my shadow essence intact. I combined both veils, locking my eyes onto the black snake. By now, Kaelen had finished off the white one with her lightning bolts, and was soothing a grumpy Elias (he could not help at all because of how strong the snakes were in close combat). I directed my sheet of black mist to wrap itself around the black creature''s long muscular body, and transferred my consciousness into the shadows again. The black snake put up some resistance at first, but with a heavy push, my black torrent and I were in.
Soon, this snake succumbed as well, and the only proof that it ever existed was in the new notification that I just received.
A Battle Group Member has slain 1x Venomous Python [Lvl. 5]! You gained 250EXP, 100 New Gems
You have slain 1x Venomous Python [Lvl. 5]! You gained 500EXP, 4x Python Meat, 200 New Gems
You have slain 1x Venomous Python [Lvl. 5]! You gained 500EXP, 2x Python Fangs (Venomous), 200 New Gems
"We won," I grinned, then remembered that Elias was still sulking, "Sorry, Elias, we''ll get you some monsters to fight tomorrow."
He smiled slightly, "I''ll take you up on that. Hear that, Kaelen? You and Terra will be supporting me tomorrow!"
"Sure, sure," Kaelen sighed, pretending to be exasperated.
Our spirits were high as we entered the safe space together with Hydra, who was allowed in presumably because of our connection. As soon as they saw the dragon, those who rested close to the gates vacanted the spot for us, too fearful to confront a beast. We took up the place we did the previous night, Hydra landing beside me. I took out two pieces of meat before handing one out to Kaelen, but she shook her head, "I got some food from the python. Thank you though."
I shrugged and put one of the food items back into my inventory before biting into the python meat I had just received from killing one of the two snake monsters. I lay back against Hydra''s muscular wings, relaxing. He shifted a little at first, startled, but did not push me away. I hummed. It was just as comfortable as they had depicted it in the fantasy books. Hydra''s scales were smooth and cool to the touch, and it was quite sturdy too...
I lowered my mouth to bite into the snake meat again, but realized that it was gone. Frowning, I looked around to figure out who had stolen my food. My gaze landed on Hydra, who was munching away at something. When I glared at him, he just snorted through our telepathy link, ''What, little birdie? You are going to make me starve? How sad. Maybe I will get hungry and eat you... Because-''
''-birds are not prey,'' I grumbled, and he slid his wing out from behind my back. I fell onto the ground, groaning in anger and a little of pain as my wings crashed against the earth. Before I could get up, Hydra was poking me on the head with his wing.
''Lunch is over,'' he urged me as he flapped his wings and took off, ''Let''s fly.''
Why not? I was not hungry anymore. I answered his call by extending my wings and soaring into the sky. Time to train.
Flight Training
''We will stay within bounds of the fence for now,'' Hydra said after we stopped ascending. I nodded, and he continued, ''Right now, your flying ability is worse than a hatchling.''
I wanted to argue with him on that, but he was right, ''What do you suggest?''
The dragon sent me an emotion wave of smugness and pride as he explained his training idea to me. It sounded dangerous at some parts and I could think of many ways this could go wrong, but the little voice at the bottom of my heart growled out for power. I relented, and sent a simple reply, ''Okay.''
As soon as my answer left my mind, the dragon started to fly away from me, thus beginning the first phase of our agreed-on plan. This would only end when I became too tired to move, or when I catch up to him. I took a deep breath and followed, trying to keep up with him the best I could. However, the dragon was too fast. He was already at the end of the starting field when I reached the halfway point. There was no clear sign that it was the half point, so it was only a guess based on how long Hydra took to reach the end.
By now, my wings were aching so painfully that it might as well be burning, and sweat had begun gathering on my face.
Gritting my teeth, I pushed through, beating my wings again and again while trying my best to ignore the agonizing way my muscles were straining themselves. Every part of me rebelled against my command of continuing the exercise, but I reached down deep inside me and pulled out the voice that had been urging me on with the promise of growth. Strangely, my mind was quiet without the semi-constant presence of my other self, who would be screaming my ears off by now to go faster, faster, and then some more.
When I finally reached the other side, Hydra had begun heading back. I had to blink away tears of pain to focus and follow, clawing at the air as if it would make me go any faster. I felt so helpless, watching as Hydra flew further and further away from me despite me putting in my best efforts to reach him. Every once in a while, when the distance between us were so wide that I could barely see him, the dragon would slow to a stop and wait for me to go closer. Once I could see him clearly again, though, he zoomed off, and this cycle repeated.
It went on for a while, and by the time I was back at the rough midpoint, my wings felt like they were melting away, and every flap felt laborious. I had to gulp in large mouthfuls of air, and even then my body shouted for more oxygen. The mere bites of snake meat I had eaten about three hours ago felt completely inadequate to satisfy my body''s needs.
My vision blurred, and I thought I could see Hydra waiting for me at the starting point without flying away. I rubbed my eyes with all the strength I had to spare, but he was still there. As I approached him, the melting sensation in my wings continued, and gradually, I began to descend without meaning to. Hydra dropped by half a metre to catch me on his back, delivering me to the ground.
He huffed, ''Weaker than I thought. But at least you have a breakthrough now.''
''What?'' I asked, and Hydra placed his claw on my back, where my wings were. I turned to slap his claw off, but then I realized that my wings were gone. I panicked, frantically trying to call the wings back out, but only a System notification greeted me.
Currently molting... 38% Completed...
''What does this mean?'' I gasped, confused.
Hydra removed his claw, replying as we walked towards where Elias and Kaelen were resting, ''This means that you are going to grow stronger when your wings come back. Dragons molt, and some kinds of more mutated birds do too, so I assumed you would, if I push you a little.''Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.
I shivered, remembering the agony I had experienced thanks to his training plan. He called that a ¡®little¡¯ push? It wasn¡¯t that I was too lazy to go through this training, but after all this, at least he could do more than brush it off. The dragon must have sensed my emotions through our link, because he explained nonchalantly, ¡®Hatchlings go through much worse than this, birdie. I was thrown into the centre of an elven city and had to fly my way back out to survive with arrows, fireballs and lightning bolts chasing after me.¡¯
There was nothing you could say to that, but Hydra did not sound bothered by what was done to him. It was normal for him, you supposed. Sighing, you slumped against the fence, picking out another piece of snake meat from your inventory.
¡±Terra, where did your wings go?¡± Kaelen asked.
You chuckled awkwardly, not sure how to explain a process that you did not know about until five minutes ago, ¡°It¡¯s a complicated story.¡±
She shrugged, not pushing for more answers.
Silence prevailed for a few seconds until Elias changed the topic, ¡°What have the two of you been spending your New Gems on? I have enough to spare and I want to spend some on my stats.¡±
¡°The stat build you want to go for should be a little different from mine and possibly Kaelen¡¯s,¡± I hummed, ¡°All of my Skills use Mana and I am a long-ranged fighter, so I spent most of my New Gems on Magic. During that battle with the owl, I had to boost my Mind because the owl tried to invade into my head. But Corruption requires you to get close up with enemies and your boulder-dropping Skill needs Corruption to work¡¡±
I trailed off, thinking, and Kaelen picked up from where I had left off, ¡±I think you should put most points in Defence and Magic. Terra explained choosing Defence better than I can, and your Skills are still mana-based, so Magic is a good choice too. None of us really needs Strength for now and Mind is only for situations like the shadow owl.¡±
I nodded, silently agreeing with the girl¡¯s advice. After considering our words for a moment, Elias began typing away at a System screen I could not see. He inputted his stat choices before frowning, ¡°I don¡®t feel any different¡¡±
¡°Of course you won¡¯t. The amount of New Gems the three of you have to spare is not enough to make a big enough difference for you to feel it. You might sense that you have a larger mana pool, but your skin won¡¯t harden into steel,¡± Hydra cut in, amusement lacing his deep, commanding voice. I was surprised. I did not remember giving him vocal cords.
¡®It comes in the same package as the sentience,¡¯ Hydra explained through our link.
A System ding! interrupted my thoughts and I eagerly pulled the notification up, expecting to see an update on the melting process. It did not let me down.
Molting Complete! Your wings have been restored! 1000EXP gained!
You have levelled up! You gained 500 New Gems!
I stood up, extending my wings to test how they had changed. For one, the ache that I had from even having them on my shoulders have faded into a dull nudging in my brain, and the horns did not feel that awkward to be jutting out of my head. Together with the acclimation, the strength of my flight muscles and the control I had over them also more than doubled.
I grinned, beating my wings as hard as I could to test how powerful they had become. A heavy gust of wind pushed me off the ground, and I called out to Hydra from my position, ¡®I¡¯m ready!¡¯
He shot up from the earth too, meeting me in the sky as he explained the second phase of our training, ¡®I will attack you, going faster and faster each time. Try to dodge. If you need me to stop, shout into our telepathic link.¡¯
It sounded easy, but it was not easy in practise. As Hydra blew fireball after fireball towards me, it grew harder and harder to dodge. For example, when I moved to the left to escape from a sphere of fire, there would be an attack meeting me there, forcing me down, where another shot of flame would graze my arm. Hydra did not seem to tire, but I did not regret making him this strong.
The efforts of our earlier practise had paid off in the sweet increase of power, and that taste of success drove me on further. I knew that the fireballs were coming too frequently for me to handle, but how could I improve if I didn¡¯t take any risks and push myself to the limits? It was worth it. I could just imagine myself after molting for the second time and-
Boom!
A fireball crashed into me, sending a wave of searing pain throughout my entire body. Dark spots danced at the corner of my vision as I fought to stay afloat in the air but to no avail. As a sea of darkness engulfed me, all I could hear are the screams coming from Elias and Kaelen as I plunged helplessly towards the ground.
The Art of Creation
The first thing I sensed when I woke up was the sound of arguing.
"She left with you for a few hours and she almost died!" Elias shouted, and I could hear the sound of his hand slapping against my dragon''s scales.
"Alaric had to catch her," came Kaelen''s worried voice, "Do you know what might''ve happened if I did not summon him in time?"
"It doesn''t matter," Hydra replied, unconcerned, but I could feel his worry through our emotion link, "My bond to her would have forced me to use my body to cushion her fall."
"That''s not the point," Kaelen sighed, "But you went too far, dragon."
I forced my eyes open, and pushed myself off the ground. Night had fallen, but the moon had not risen yet. upon hearing the rustles that indicated my consciousness, Elias and Kaelen rushed to my side. The girl stared at me nervously, "How are you feeling?"
I cautiously moved my muscles around, feeling for any aches, but there was none. With a surprised smile, I shook my head, "No. Kaelen, your healing is powerful."
A flicker of conflict passed in her eyes as she replied, "Not powerful enough."
She guided my hand to my face, and I feared the worst. My vision was not impaired. Could it be my hearing? The reality was not as bad as I had feared, though. Kaelen traced my fingers over some bumps and lines on my face, but they did not hurt. She sat back down and explained, "I healed you, but they still scarred."
I smiled as I brought my finger back onto my face, feeling for the marks Kaelen had brought my hand to find, "It is worth the rewards I will get from this training. Charisma had never been my strong suit even before this."
"I told you she''d get it," Hydra''s deep smug voice growled, earning glares from Kaelen and Elias.
The corrosion user shook his head, "That is not something to be proud of. This time, it is just some scars... What about the next time? She suffered more injuries training with you than in all our battles together!"
But... It all ended well, didn''t it? That little voice whispered again. Kaelen could heal me every time I got hurt, and I would be as good as new. Like I had said, the pain is a low price to pay compared to the power-ups my wings had and will receive. This was the chance to practice without fear of true death, and letting the fear of something that would most likely not happen control my decisions was just idiotic.
I stood, testing my wings with a flap. Already, they were much more powerful than when I first started, generating a small whirlwind that Kaelen had to use her force field to block. Hydra grinned with his teeth, ''Good progress, hatchling.''
He recognized my efforts? My eyes widened and my determination to continue learning from Hydra strengthened. Elias sensed that and tried to stop me, "Terra, please stop. We can fight monsters together if you want to improve. Hydra doesn''t know when to stop."
I thought about how I had been able to overpower our enemies and refused, "Sorry, but I want fast and targeted progress, and monsters won''t provide me with that. We will still hunt tomorrow because we had agreed on that, but only Hydra can provide me with the tutorage I really need. Kaelen, why can''t you just heal me if I get injured?"
She tentatively replied, "I can, but it takes a few seconds to build the force field and another few seconds to cast it, not to mention that the two of you spar in the sky, and we might not even be able to catch you."
I smirked, imagining being at the peak of the world and being able to defeat any enemy I find. The thrill of winning and the lure of growing stronger pushed me to brush her worries off, "No, it is okay. I trust you."
Kaelen clutched her head in frustration, and I could hear her grunt out under her breath, "I don''t trust myself." as she aggressively crushed a force field ball in her hands. Elias sighed, trying to change the topic even though I could sense that he was not done with this matter yet, "Who''s going to watch our backs tonight? I don''t trust the dragon."If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.
I offered, "I''ll take first watch. I just woke up."
Elias gave me a suspicious look, "What if you just fly up to fight with your crazy dragon partner and leave us vulnerable?"
Kaelen pinched him, shushing him up as she spoke for me, "I''m still worried about Terra, but she won''t do something like this."
I nodded, trying to look convincing. Expecting him to argue back, I was surprised when he just lay down and grunted, "Whatever. I''m going to sleep."
"I guess that leaves me," Kaelen patted me on the shoulder before lying down and closing her eyes too, "Wake me up in a few hours."
As their expressions gradually turn calm and their breathing rhythmic, a soothing silence set upon us. Hydra stared at me, as if waiting for me to do something, but I sent a message through our mental link to discourage him from trying to get me to do anything, ''I have some things to deal with so I''m busy for now.''
Hearing that, Hydra sent a wave of annoyance towards me, but he did not argue. Instead, he rested his head on his claws, closing his eyes. Any other person might have thought that he was sleeping, but from the periodic emotion wave I received from him ever so often, I knew that he was still awake and vigilant.
Trusting that he would keep watch for all four of us while I worked, I called out the Story Weaver book and the pen that came with it, before drawing a design I had in mind ever since Hydra had reprimanded me for not using my power to the fullest extent. It was time to test if he was right about using non-living objects to boost our group¡¯s attack power.
I worked hastily but meticulously, drawing the rough outline of a gun before filling in the details. Back when I was still a hobby artist, I rarely drew guns, but when it was necessary to progress an character lore or when it was fitting to introduce a gun-wielding side character, I did research about their structures and the best way to represent them. I held the image of a gun reference I had used before as I sketched, taking about twenty minutes to get the details just right. I did not want to make it a low-quality work like my temporary battle monsters, since it would be reusable¡
When I was finally done, I stared at the image of the gun that I had drawn and focused on etching it into the forefront of my brain. Once I had a nice visualization of how I wanted my Creation to look like, I let two balls of energy form, one representing a never-ending supply of bullets and the other durability, and threw the two at the ¡®gun¡¯. As the object absorbed them, I felt a small bit of mana leak from my mana pool. I did not include strength and fire rate because they should be automatically added in with the design itself.
However, when I tried to deposit it in the real world, an error message greeted me.
ERROR! System cannot create an Item as it does not have it in the System Database!
Mana Cost not refunded!
I grumbled incoherent words under my breath and turned over the page to an empty side. Even if the System did not know what a gun was, it should return the Mana I had used to try creating this item. It was not my fault that it did not recognize the machinery. Even so, I knew that complaining would not yield anything worthwhile, so I began drawing again.
This time, it was a weapon for Kaelen. I had three items in mind that I wanted to use my Skill to make for her: a dagger, a set of bow and arrows and throwing knives. I had decided to start with the bow and arrows set. I first drew a simple but firm bow on the paper, taking about ten minutes to sketch and fill in the details for this weapon. Then, I drew a quiver of arrows on the same page, before noting down the properties that I wanted it to have.
The bow would be strong and have auto-nocking capabilities, but I did not want to make it so sturdy that it was stiff, as I wasn¡¯t really sure if Kaelen¡¯s Strength stat was strong enough for her to handle the force needed to shoot that kind of bow. As for the arrows, all of them would be able to lock in and chase a target of choice and attack them until the arrows are destroyed. As soon as I generated the ball of energy for this quality, I felt a lot of Mana leave my reserves, and I grimaced.
I had wanted to give them elemental properties too, but I should probably conserve my Mana a little and not spend them all on this weapon.
With that thought in mind, I quickly wrapped up the creation process and dropped the bow and quiver of arrows in front of me. I picked them up and lay them against the fence wall carefully so as to not damage them. Then, I sat back down to make two more weapons, one for me and one for Elias.
I didn¡¯t know what Elias wanted or what would suit him. His Skills required him to fight close-up, but he already had a sword and a pair of daggers from his loot drops¡ I sighed, and decided to ask him when he woke up in the morning instead of making something he might not even need. That left one last person to make a weapon for - me.
I hummed, thinking about what might be helpful to me but would also not cost too much mana. All of the ideas I had in mind for myself required some magical properties to pull off, but I did not want to strain my mana pool too much. Suddenly, an idea came to mind. I grinned.
Toxicity
I set about drawing a pocket-sized bow and a small bag of smaller arrows to go with it. They were important, but that was not the main item I wanted in my arsenal. The archery set was just a smaller version of my gift for Kaelen. I had decided that my class Skills, together with my newly gained control over shadow essence and the capabilities of my battle partners, should be enough to defeat most enemies for now. Thus, if I really needed another weapon to support me and help me out, it probably meant that the opponent is many times stronger than me and would be able to keep me from using normal attacks like shooting an arrow or swinging a blade. It meant that I needed to escape instead of engaging further.
However, since the hypothetically powerful enemy would be able to easily block all my strikes, I would have to use more hidden methods of attack if I wanted to distract them for long enough to run away with Kaelen and Elias.
The pocket-sized bow would be easy to draw and shoot, with three slots for more arrows to be released at the same time. The arrows themselves would be fast and lightweight, easy to nock and quick in flight. They would not be my preferred choice of weaponry, but I was preparing for a desperate surprise attack. It was not something I would use in every battle.
That was not all, though. I had received quite a few poisonous and venomous loot drops from my previous battle with the bees and the recent one against the pythons. Most games I had played so far had a crafting feature hidden somewhere in them, so I figured that it would not hurt to try and make my own poison. I could potentially use Artist to bring out a kind of poison deadly to any and every creature the System had ever seen, but that would be risking it with my current Mana reserves. Another time, perhaps, when I have a higher Magic stat and a larger Mana pool to draw from.
Once the tiny bow and the pouch of tinier arrows were out in the real world with all the properties I had chosen to give them, I suppressed a growing headache and opened my Inventory, attempting to store them in it.
It worked, and they were safely in the storage area with all my hard-earned loot items.
I relaxed a little now that I was almost done, and began my little poison project. I pulled out all the items that had some kind of connection to toxins. That came up to twenty items in total: eight Stingers and ten Worker Bee Venom Sac from the bees, as well as two Python Fangs (Venomous) from the two snakes I had slain on the way back from fighting the shadow owl and the skeleton. I called for the items'' descriptions, hoping that it would also show me an option to mix and combine them. Instead of getting their information though, the small blue screen that popped up in front of me was filled with instructions on how to create poison. It was as if the System had figured out what I actually wanted to do.
It was convenient, but it also raised a few worries within me about the omnipotence of the System.
It would be a problem for future me, when I became a lot more powerful. There was no use getting anxious over that now. With that thought in mind, I began following the steps clearly listed out on the translucent cyan screen hovering before my eyes. It was less expensive to craft in terms of material than I had expected, costing me only one Stinger and two Venom Sacs to create a small dish of pitch black liquid. It was contained in a small transparent box with a plastic-like texture that had appeared out of nowhere.
Despite the absence of light - the moon had risen, but it was temporarily hidden by the clouds that had drifted over it -, the pool of poison glowed like obsidian placed under the sun. It barely had an aura, unlike most other magical items I had encountered so far, but the small pulses I felt from it was so horrifying that I could feel hair stand up at the back of my neck. I pulled an arrow out from my Inventory and dipped the needle-thin item carefully into the black, lethal substance. It triggered a small ripple, but the tiny wave was not tall enough to reach my finger and injure me.Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.
When I pulled the arrow back out, its tip glowed in the same color as the venom that it was submerged in, and it gave off a faint ripple of the same dangerous energy. I stored it in my Inventory again, and this time, it had a different item name: "Lightweight Arrow (Bee Poison-tipped)". It was only one arrow out of the 50 I had created for the first batch, but it was enough for me to prove to myself that this plan of surprise attack could actually work. Judging by how little of the poison my needle-thin test subject had absorbed, I could probably use this small container to taint all the other fourty-nine and still have some left over.
Plus, the amount of Stingers and Worker Bee Venom Sacs would also give me enough materials for four more batches of toxins. I smirked and sent a short recap of what I did to Hydra, who was still awake. He grudgingly approved, ''That was not a bad idea for a hatchling. You could use it in battle against other humans, but monster hide is tough. They also have quick reflexes, so they would be able to dodge easier than you think... Also, you should rest soon, birdie. A tired bird is a easy snack.''
I nodded, ignoring his last remark, ''There is just one more thing that I need to do.''
I pulled up another Story Weaver page and started drawing a dagger, one of the weapon ideas I had in mind. I wanted to test a theory out. From my previous creations, I had learnt that simply drawing something would not cost any of my mana - they were taken away when I was in the visualizing and the final generation phases. Therefore, I could just store all these ideas on paper, and materialize them when I had enough mana and needed them in battle. That would allow me to fight back more efficiently than furiously drawing in the midst of a battle.
However, that was only a theory. The paper I was using was special - they were part of another Skill. There was no guarantee that when I called the papers out again the next time I needed them, the sketches I had made would still be there. All my hard work might simply disappear when I put the pieces away. I really hoped that this would work the way I wanted it to.
Ten minutes later, I was finally done drawing the dagger. It did not have much detail, but it would be enough for me to visualize it clearly in my head. Then, I deactivated Story Weaver, allowing the sheet of paper to fade into nothing and lay back against Hydra''s outstretched wing. He opened a single eye, but did not say anything.
I waited for a few minutes just to be sure. Then, with much anticipation in my heart, I called out the piece of paper and the pen with the Skill. The first side was empty. I tensed and flipped the paper to the other side, preparing for disappointmen, but there it was. My art was right there, and it looked exactly the same as it did when I had stored the paper. I grinned proudly as I imagined all the different ways I could use this shortcut. The sides of my mouth curved sharper when I pictured the shock on my enemies'' faces when I whipped out a bag of homing throwing knives to fling at them.
It would save me so much time and bring my Skill up to another level. I wanted to explore my other two Skills too, but like Hydra said, the first watch was almost over, and I was tired. I stood up and gently shook Kaelen awake. She groaned and rubbed her eyes, before shooting up with a fearful expression and surveying our surroundings for danger.
I soothed her, "Don''t worry, Kaelen, it''s just me."
"Oh," her face reddened and she calmed down, "It''s my turn?"
I nodded, "Yes, but before I sleep, there''s something I want to show you."
Her eyes lit with interest and I pointed towards the archery set that I had placed nearby with a smug smile, "That is for you. I created it using my creation Skill while the two of you were sleeping. I would have made one for Elias too but I don''t know what he needs. I''ll tell you what it does tomorrow."
Kaelen shook my arm and thanked me sincerely, "Thank you, Terra! I''ve been hoping to get a long-ranged weapon for a while!"
I smiled slightly, acknowledging her. She let go and took up her position while I rested my head on Hydra''s leathery wing again.
Sleep came easily.
A Brand New Day, A Brand New Fight
When I woke up, the sun had not fully risen yet. The moon was still hanging low on the horizon, but its dim glow was rendered almost invisible by the emerging sunrays. The sunlight shone on Kaelen''s tense figure, outlining her with a golden aura. Elias was still asleep by the gates, and Hydra was lying on his stomach next to me. I sent him an emotion wave to greet him ''good morning'', causing him to stir.
While waiting for Elias and Hydra to wake up, I brought up the gift notification that I had received from Nythirra. Clicking to see its details, I was relieved to find that it was not another weird ability stone that gave me shadow-ey powers - I was not complaining about the growth in power, but one is more than enough for now. Instead, I was given an item titled ''Temporary Shelter'' and enough materials to build a small but permanent wooden cabin.
I wasn''t lying about the last part. There were so many logs, planks, nails, tiles and stones stockpiled together in this gift that I couldn''t help but gasp at how generous that Nythirra was. If I wanted to explore further into the woods, this would be necessary as a secondary base for the three of us to use when we were too far away to get back to this safe space in time to rest. We could not just stay in the vinicity of this fenced area forever.
I immediately opened Nythirra''s chat request, hoping to thank her for it, and a System message greeted me.
Entering Chat Room with Player #FYNR-10598! All messages are automatically translated.
That solved the problem of communication. After the message flashed in front of my eyes for a short while, I was taken to a page that resembled the chat screens from before the System''s arrival. A simple ''Hello'' message appeared on the top left corner, followed by an option to Accept or Deny the chat request. I smiled, glad that I could choose to refuse to talk to them. My mind flashed to the mytherious someone who had sent me the transformation stone - I was seriously debating whether or not I should reject his request.
I mean, he did give me a powerful weapon in my arsenal...
I shrugged to myself, deciding to just leave his request be for the moment. Without another moment of hesitation, I accepted Nythirra''s chat request, and the System prompted me to send a message. I typed in a quick ''thank you'' for all the resources that she had given me. Now that I had checked out the gift, they should all be in my inventory. Grinning, I brought up my Inventory screen.
9440 New Gems, 5 Ancient Crystals
W: Weapons
M: Materials
C: Clothing
T: Tools
F: Food
CI: Cursed Items
MI: Magical Items
O: Other
2x Lion Claw, 1x Lion Hide, 1x Raw Lion Meat, 1x Green Bean Seed, 1x Rope, 1x Rope [Acid Resistant], 1x Magma Griffin Golem Feather [Unbonded], 2x Cooked Griffin Meat, 1x Magma Griffin Golem Cloak [Unbonded], 7x Stingers, 8x Worker Bee Venom Sacs, 1x Exoskeleton Armor [Unbonded], 1x Teleportation Crystal to City Grounds, 1x Teleportation Crystal to the location of your choice, 1x Skin Suit [Unbonded], 3x Mutated Bear Claws, 1x Skeleton Cage, 1x Human-Hair Wig, 1x Fox Tail [Evolved], 10x Three-Headed Cobra Scales, 2x Forest Deer Meat, 3x Horned Wolf Meat, 1x Ability Stone: Shroud of Darkness, 3x Darkness Bombs, 1x Concealing Cloak [Unbonded], 2x Python Meat, 2x Python Fangs (Venomous), 1x Temporary Shelter, 50x Wooden Logs (Basic), 50x Wooden Planks (Basic), 100x Nails (Strong), 50x Wooden Tiles (Thin), 100x Small StonesUnauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
The items she gave me more than tripled the amount of items I had before. Sure, the things I received were probably quite cheap in their Integrated world, and easy to find even here in our world. We were surrounded by trees, and stones were not a rare thing to see either. Even so, the quantity was appreciated.
Could the System provide me with a detailed sheet of instructions on how to build a tree house?
As soon as I had that thought, a blue screen popped up in front of my eyes.
Build a Tree House?
[Yes] [No]
That was convenient. It was clear that I did not have to build the house myself, and the System would do it for me. I grinned, already imagining the three of us sleeping in the tree house a long distance away from this safe spot with all our loot stored away in our Inventories. Hydra could just find a resting spot on the ground beneath us or something. That was one flaw the tree house would have - No such structure would be able to house a fully grown dragon as large and heavy as Hydra was. I wouldn''t be able to use his wing as my pillow anymore...
It was as if he heard my thoughts, because Hydra woke up fully at that moment and sent me a message through our telepathic link.
''Hatchling, you wake early,'' Hydra commented as he rose to his feet, flapping his wings. He glanced at the sun, which was still not fully up yet, and continued, ''Too early.''
I was brainstorming a clever retort when Elias sat up too, yawning softly as he stretched, "Good morning, Terra, Kaelen."
Kaelen''s posture relaxed when she heard his voice, turning back towards me with a mildly surprised expression as she said, "Oh, I didn''t know you were awake, Terra. Good morning to you too, Elias."
Although I was a little embarrassed, I did not let it show on my face, instead smiling slightly, "I am just stealthy like that... and hungry. I''m hungry. Kaelen, do you still have any meat left over? I can share mine with you if you don''t."
"No, I d-"
"Who cares about food?" Elias grinned, before realizing that both me and Kaelen did not agree with his words. Regardless, he insisted, "We can just head out now and eat on the way. If we wait any longer, Terra and Hydra might start training again."
Kaelen opened her mouth to shush him, but I shook my head. Unlike last night, his comment just now was more friendly and playful than it was scathing, so I could let it slide. I stood up too, stretching out my wings and beating them a few times to warm them up for battle. I took out a piece of horned wolf meat and bit into it while walking towards the gates, "I''m fine with that."
--
Very soon, we were walking deeper into the forest, having agreed to explore a little further in today. Kaelen let Alaric fly out not long after we left the safe spot, and he joined Hydra above the canopy a few minutes after he got used to the environment shift.
As we continued our hike, the air started to get colder and I had an uncomfortable feeling in my gut that told me that there were monsters nearby. It did not even take a full minute for that premonition to come true. With a fierce roar, a large purple wolf jumped out at us. Violet flames flowed with it fur like an extension of the monster. It growled as it circled us, hatred burning in its red eyes. Two horns protruded out from between its ears, and I had an idea of what it might be - the horned wolf meat I had just eaten this morning must have come from one of these creatures.
That did not tell me anything useful about it, but at least I have a name to call it by.
Kaelen was fast, casting a force field around us and taking out the archery set that I had made for her the previous night. Elias was a little surprised when he saw it, but didn''t comment on the new weapon.
That reminded me to ask him for his weapon of choice so that I could make something for him too.
She shot an arrow, but it missed. However, when she went to pull another one back, I stopped her and pointed towards the wolf. The arrow was turning back, autocorrecting itself from its wrong flight course. It began chasing after the creature, much to the amazement of my companions. I grinned, proud, as it finally stuck itself deep into the forehead of the giant purple fire wolf. It stumbled, grunting from the pain, but it was not dead.
My satisfaction didn''t last long, however.
Suddenly, from all around us, a chorus of growls and howls echoed, the sound chilling us to the bone. I shivered, doing a quick calculation of how many wolves there might be. A normal wolf pack would have about six or seven wolves, but if I had to judge purely based on my hearing, there were much more than that hiding among the trees near us.
We were surrounded. The wolf that had leapt out to meet us had merely been a bait to keep us here while the rest prepared to fight. I gritted my teeth and called down Hydra while Kaelen did the same with Alaric. We were outnumbered, but it did not mean that we had to lose.
Wolves Are Hard to Kill
As the first wolf charged towards us again, its companions began to emerge from their hiding spots as well. I surveyed my surroundings quickly to find that there were about thirty wolves in total. There were definitely more wolves here than should be normal in a wolf pack. However, this was a magical group of unicorn wolves, so I could not use the laws of normal biology on them.
While I was checking out the formations of my enemies, I found something intriguing. While five of them had the same horn that the first one did, the foreheads of the other creatures were bare. Similarly, while the wolves with horns had the same glowing crimson eyes as the first one, the rest had dull, lifeless black eyes. Right then, I was too preoccupied with the problem of battling all of them to care about their physical appearances, but I did take careful notice of that detail to ponder over later.
I pulled out my mini-bow and the poison I had concocted the previous night, and dipped the tip of the first three arrows in the toxic substance. They glowed darkly as I nocked them on the bow. I pulled back the string and let go, allowing the three poisoned arrows to soar out and plant themselves into two wolves. The third sadly missed its target, but Kaelen''s follow-up shot nailed it to the stone and dirt. Blood pooled under its head as it fell, darkening the soil with a taint of battle. Hydra roared as he plunged from the sky, crushing two regular wolves under his claws as he reached us. They were dead within a second of hitting the ground and Hydra scoffed, ''You are crying out for help over some weakling like this? Call me when there is something actually dangerous.''
With that, he flew back out towards his spot above the canopy after leaving me with a cryptic sentence, ''Just don''t let them go through metamorphosis.''
Elias had left the protective bubble of shimmering golden light to strike out against the monsters with Alaric''s support. They worked well, with Alaric distracting the wolves while Elias applied his corruption Skill to them. I closed my eyes, preparing myself for the illusion to provide them further support. I imagined a forest with only them and heaps upon heaps of freshly killed deer meat, just waiting for them to feast. However, when I reached out with my mind to spread the effects of my Skill around, I hit a solid block from all of the wolves'' minds.
While I had not used my Illusion Skill as much as my other Class Skills, it was still something I relied on during battle. Even in its Class Skill''s description it was stated to be almost undetectable, unblockable. Guess the problem was on the word almost. Even so, the mob of horned and regular wolves around us should not be that high of a level to resist the effects of Illusion, right?
Regardless, I had no time to dwell on this because the wolves seemed to have not only block my attempt at influencing their minds, but also detect it, and they did not look happy about it. The apparent leader of the whole pack, the initial horned wolf, glared at me as it leapt towards me, growling, while the other wolves followed suit. They were focusing fully on me, as if Elias and Kaelen did not exist to them. In that moment, I was their sole hated enemy. As the claws and teeth of the first wolf reached us, the golden shield shattered under its ferocious might and before Kaelen could create another one, it was already next to me.
The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.
It didn''t matter. It wouldn''t hurt to just kill it before it could do anything. Even if it was not the ''metamorphosis'', it was one monster down. I shot three poisoned arrows at the wolf, which was growing in size as purplish fire erupted from its body. Its horn was halfway complete, and its eyes was a color of dark orange. To my immense surprise, the arrows just bounced off it as if its skin was made of iron. I gritted my teeth and crafted a sharp trident out of shadow essence and directed the weapon towards the wolf.
I was met with great resistance, and my head throbbed, but I continued pushing through, gritting out a yell, "Elias, help me!"
He turned towards me. It did not take long for him to understand what I wanted, but he shook his head and frowned, "I can''t! If I leave, the other wolves will get to you."
"Just do it!" I said, firm, as I retrieved the spear of shadow essence. It had merely penetrated the skin of the beast and refused to go any further. I had no choice but to get Elias to try. I reassured him, "I will take care of the other wolves, just kill that one!"
As he began running towards the morphing beast, I shouted at Kaelen, "Kaelen! Don''t kill any horned wolves!"
She nodded after a simple glance at the wolf Elias was dealing with, and redirected her arrowtip to help me clean up the remaining creatures. It took a long and hard battle, which was made more difficult by the absolute vehement rage all of them were showing me. They always tried to attack me, all of them at once, and it was admittedly difficult to deal with more than ten wolves rallying together to try and kill me from all angles, while trying my best not to kill the horned ones among them. That would just power up another regular wolf and make it harder for all of us.
Even so, after a difficult fight, we were able to reduce our enemy''s number to four, not including the one Elias was trying to defeat. He yelled, frustrated, "Corruption isn''t working!"
I sighed. This was probably the scenario Hydra had been warning me about. Regardless, now that all the other regular wolves were gone, I could just kill the rest of the horned monsters with Kaelen''s help and end this battle once and for all. I grunted as I used a few more rounds of poisoned arrows supported by shadow essence to defeat three of the remaining wolves while Kaelen finished off the fourth. That left us with the one Elias was dealing with.
However, when we turned to his direction to assist him, we saw him running towards us, his face frantic. We peered over him and saw, to our absolute horror, a gigantic half-wolf, half-unicorn monster. It had a wolf''s head, but a horse''s lower body and a pair of wings. With its height making it tower over us, its full body covered in purple fire and its eyes glowing a furious royal purple, it was a creature straight out of a fairytale author''s nightmares. I shook internally at the mere sight of it, and I could sense that Elias and Kaelen felt the same. I stepped back, horrified, when I realized that by killing the remaining horned wolves, I had only made this monster stronger than it already was.
What could we even do against this beast?
Raven, when did you become so rash? I knew she would... Forget that, just run! Don''t even think about coming back here!
I pulled on Elias'' hand and shouted to Kaelen, "It''s too strong for us!"
She got the gist of things and lowered her force field before joining us in running away. Alaric flew into her and disappeared to wherever he went when he was resting. I sent a hastily crafted message to Hydra so that he would be aware of the main events that had happened while he was up in the sky and enjoying himself. I was multitasking, of course. Physically, I ran with Kaelen and Elias, the unicorn-wolf hybrid crushing trees to catch up to us.
''You are stupid, birdie, but at least it would not focus on you anymore. Just so you know, it is not worth it to make it this strong just so that it hates other people as much as it hates you,'' Hydra grumbled through our link. I could hear him begin to follow us from his spot above the trees.
We ran for our life, the constant threat of becoming monster food hanging like a sword over our heads. Just as we were about to reach the gates of the safe space, we realized that the fence was gone. That meant that we were bringing a death threat to whoever was still hiding out in that space. However, since the monster might favor killing off those stragglers more than it cared about me once I led it to them, Kaelen, Elias and I might be able to escape.
No matter my decision, I knew that I had to choose fast...
Saskia and the Wolf
I ran into the clearing. I know, a good person would have prioritized the lives of whoever that might still be inside, but honestly, I did not care as much as I should have. My life, and maybe Kaelen''s and Elias'', were more important than the survival of strangers who probably would not help me if I was stuck in a similar situation.
I was never a hero.
Kaelen shouted over at me as we passed the place where the fence once was, "There might be people inside, Terra! Are you sure?"
I did not reply. I didn''t know how to tell her that it was part of my plan, to have it focus on innocent people so that we could escape mostly unscathed. Elias shot me a conflicted look, but followed without a word of complaint. He understood, I knew, and I was thankful for that. On the other hand, Kaelen''s accusing glare burned me, although she said nothing more. We both knew that there was no changing my mind, and it was clear that she did not want to strike out on her own to lead the beast away, either.
Behind us, the wolf-unicorn roared and sped up, its paws landing heavily on the ground as it continued chasing us. The sound spurred us on, rushing through the blades of grass and clusters of shrubs as we strived to increase the distance between us and the beast. As we ran deeper into the clearing, we could see other people gathered nearby in small groups, huddled together as they tried to appear invisible so that the monster chasing us would not catch sight of them.
Of course, they failed.
The first time the unicorn-wolf sniffed out a human and feasted on the poor man, my heart clenched painfully and there was a bitter taste on my tongue. Others nearby began dashing deeper into the woods, too, but more were frozen in spot, panicking instead of doing something to save themselves. A few brave ones tried to attack the monster, but its hide was so tough that their makeshift weapons just broke on contact. None of the pokes drew blood, and the assailant was quickly dismembered by the beast out of a maddened rage.
However, just as the wolf-unicorn moved on to its next victim after dealing with the last of the fools who dared to attempt to hurt it, another person jumped out to fight it. A sudden pressure weighed down on all of us as she appeared, and I instinctively stopped to watch. The girl had long black hair which flew in the air as she unfurled wings very similar to mine - only that it was fully black and much larger (I still haven''t checked how my own wings looked like, but I knew that hers was bigger). From her hands black shadows erupted, forming rapidly into a sword made of shadow essence. How did she obtain this ability?
Hydra murmured in my ear, ''From this alone, it is easy to tell that she is much stronger than you are, hatchling. She might be more powerful than I was back in my world.''
It was hard to believe at first, but as she flapped her wings and rose into the air to deliver her first strike, all the while avoiding all the attacks the monster was sending at her, my impression of the girl changed fast. She raised her sword and slammed it into the monster''s side, etching into the beast the first wound it had received today. A few dark blobs of shadow essence remained in its body, but the girl did not bother to call them back. Instead, she striked again, before disappearing a second later to avoid a sharp-tipped hoof that was flying towards her.
I looked around to see where she had gone to, and soon found her on the other side of the beast, striking the wolf-unicorn with her sword again. After tens of these exchanges, with the girl teleporting away every time the monster tried to hurt her, the girl flew back a few meters and shot dark strings made of shadow essence towards the monster. They attached themselves to the beast''s wounds firmly, and no matter how much the wolf-unicorn tried to escape, it could not do so.If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
The girl''s hands performed a complicated, quick set of movements, almost like a dance, and the monster''s body convulsed according to her fingers'' movements, hitting itself repeatedly until it staggered, the angry light from its eyes fading away like a switch had been turned off. Its eyes closed and its body sagged. Seeing that, the girl retrieved her strings and descended towards the ground gracefully. Her wings disappeared when she landed, and she strode towards the fainted monster. It was not dead, but it was definitely unconscious. Its body shrunk slowly as it lay there, slowly returning to the form of a normal wolf. The only difference was that it had a horn now.
I let out a breath I did not know I had held, and felt Kaelen and Elias relax around me as well. The girl came over to us, her eyes on me, "Can I join your battle group, Rav-"
I clamped a hand over her mouth before she could give my name away. While I was less wary of Kaelen and Elias, I wanted to tell them my real name myself. Having it come out of another person''s mouth might make them think that I did not trust them - which was true, but was also best left unsaid. I excused myself from my companions and led the girl away from them before removing my hand.
Gripping her by the collar of her white jacket, I pulled her towards me with a sharp, shadow essence enhanced tug. The girl knew my name when I had never met her before, and that was enough to make me suspicious. Not even everyone in the same course and same year as I was in university knew my name. I would never have expected that a stranger would recognize me. I growled, "Who are you?"
Her eyes widened, but there was only a brief flicker of fear in her eyes before she replied confidently, "I''m your classmate, remember? I sit near you for lectures very often, but we barely talked."
I did not remember her, to be honest, and my secondary instinct - the one that came with my shadow essence - confirmed that with an uneasy feeling. She was lying to me, I could be almost completely certain of that, but would it be worth it to call her out and make an enemy out of her?
No, it would not. I had seen the level of control she had over her shadow essence, and it would make me a lot more powerful if I could just play along and convince her to join us. Of course, I could not trust her fully in the near future, maybe even for the whole time she was with us, but until she proved to be troublesome... We could cooperate. Even so, I could not just let her go this easily and make myself appear like an idiot, so I held her gaze with a glare, pulling her tighter, "What''s your name?"
Silence. What little patience and trust I had in her was wearing out fast. Somehow, the emotions rushing through me were different towards her than I remembered feeling when I rescued Kaelen with Elias, but I refused to dwell on that. Focusing back on the girl in front of me, I growled, shaking her, "Answer!"
She finally replied, "Saskia, Saskia Reyes. I know you might not have heard of me but..."
That was enough for now. Any more of her blatant lies and I might change my mind again. As I turned to leave, she trailed off. I expected her to follow, but she stayed at her spot and continued trying to convince me, "Raven, I can be useful. I have... information, and you know I can fight."
"Prove it," I spun back to face Saskia, "What information?"
"You will not be able to learn shadow essence control without me."
"That doesn''t prove anything," I shook my head, eyes scalding. Saskia could have just observed that from my training and the battles I had engaged in after I received my daemonic transformation ability. That did not prove anything, and instead, I could feel suspicion rise up inside me. If she was really following me so that she could lie to me now, the girl could be dangerous. Even if I could handle a crisis Saskia caused in the future, I wanted to avoid it happening in the first place. If it required a battle with her now, I could-
"In three days, the second Main Event will take place, and for you, it will involve Emi."
"Don''t use her nickname as if you know her!" I shouted as I fought the urge to scream, kill and cry at once. I had been successful at suppressing my thoughts about Aemira the last few days, but Saskia''s sentence had brought all the memories back.
You knew the truth. The memories of the first day told me. You knew, you just wanted to hide from it.
Saskia nodded, but pressed further, "Accept me into your battle group now and see for yourself if my words are true in three days."
I narrowed my eyes, and we fell into an uncomfortable silence as I scrutinized her. There was no cracks in her confidence, no sign that she was lying. Eventually, I opened my mouth.
Two Companions and A Saskia
"Fine," I told Saskia, "But if I find that you are lying about this..."
She nodded quickly, sweat forming on her brows as the girl responded, "Of course. If my predictions did not come true, you can do anything you want with me."
"Good," that was acceptable. As I turned to leave again, I remembered something important, ""Also, call me by-"
"Terra. I know," Saskia''s smile was snarky as she cut me off, finishing my sentence for me. Annoyance flared up inside me. If she already knew, why did she use my real name? Did she do this so that she could expose me in front of my companions? Did she think she can play with me like that?
I glared at her, "So you knew. Then why didn''t you use that name back there?"
I jerked a thumb towards the rough direction of Elias and Kaelen, and gripped Saskia''s jacket collar again. As I pulled at her, I readied my tiny-bow with my free hand. I stopped as I was nocking the arrows. I shouldn''t be this wary of other people. What was wrong with me?
Nothing was wrong with me. Anyone would react this way, right? I was not so certain anymore.
"If I didn''t, you wouldn''t have paid attention to me."
Yes, nothing was wrong with me. I growled out, releasing her and spinning her to the side, "Don''t do this again. Until I reveal the name to my companions, call me Terra."
Then, with a shove, I dragged her back out of the woods and into the clearing, where Elias and Kaelen were waiting for us.
As we approached, Kaelen ran over, slapping me on the shoulder gently as she grumbled, "I''m not suicidal, but you could have thought of a better way to deal with the unicorn-wolf monster than leading it into a temporary settlement!"
I shrugged, trying to sound apologetic, "Sure. I will lead it away from other humans the next time?"
"Now," I pointed towards Saskia, "Her name is Saskia, and we were... acquintances at school. I guess she''ll be joining us."
You have made an Battle Group with Player #KEFA-25291! You will now have boosts when you are within proximity of them. Level up your Battle Group Unity Level to increase your buffs!
''That''s a way to introduce someone,'' Hydra commented drily, and I sighed.
''Don''t be so proud of yourself,'' I argued, ''Where were you when we were trying to escape from the monster? You could have helped. I''m sure flying is faster than running.''
''I didn''t feel like it,'' the dragon laughed, his tone nonchalant as he replied, ''When you created me, I made it clear that I would not listen to you every time.''
There was nothing I could say to counter that, so I just changed the topic to ask something that had been on my mind ever since Saskia''s battle with the unicorn-wolf ended and the adrenaline faded, ''Why didn''t I get any loot from the wolves I killed?''
Hydra answered easily, ''Because all the essence from the wolves, both horned and normal, that you and your little friends killed were all absorbed into the wolf that was undergoing metamorphosis. None was left, so the person who killed the final beast would receive everything.''
That person was Saskia. However, even I had to admit that she deserved the rewards she reaped from defeating the unicorn-wolf monster. Even now, I could still recall the smooth and powerful strikes she landed on the monster. On the other hand, my shadow essence could not even penetrate its form when it was still at its first stages of metamorphosis. There was a huge gap between us, so she was right about my need for guidance on the mysterious substance.Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
With that in mind, I gathered the attention of my battle group members and laid out two things we could do at the moment, "Now that the fence has disappeared, there is no point in staying here, unless you think that we can get more strength through sheer numbers alone."
None of my companions nor Saskia said anything. It was clear that they understood that those who still stayed in this area were far below our level of power. Staying with them would be wasting our time. It might even endanger ourselves if we had to save the others from threats caused by monsters.
"There are two things we can do then," I explained, "I received enough materials to build a permanent base in the form of a tree house, so we can go and construct that somewhere in this forest first."
"How did you even get that?" Elias asked, confused, "We didn''t fight any monsters that might drop wood or stone. Have you been picking up rocks and pocketing branches while we were not looking?"
Saskia glanced at me, her eyes telling me that she knew exactly what happened and just chose not to share the information with the other two. That was good. I couldn''t have her expose all my secrets just to show the extent of her knowledge. I chose her because I wanted to learn information about the future events and about other people, not to create a weak link in the group.
"I received another gift," I said simply. About that, maybe it was time for me to check the chat to see if there was any replies after i sent the message.
"Another?!" Elias''s eyes widened, and he chuckled, "You must be really favored by those aliens."
"It''s my second one, so not that much," I shrugged, indifferent. After a short pause, I coughed to clear the awkwardness that was brought by my previous words. As far as I knew, neither of my companions has received any gifts. I was not certain about Saskia, though. Then, I continued, "Either way, we can build the tree house first, or we can continue exploring and find some more monsters to fight. There is a third option, but that would mean we have to split up."
"What do you mean?" Kaelen asked, frowning.
"I need to train my shadow essence," I replied, and when my companions began to complain, throwing some minor insults at Hydra, I raised my voice, talking over them, "With Saskia and Hydra!"
After hearing my clarification, Kaelen and Elias quietened down. After a few seconds of silent contemplation, Kaelen hummed thoughtfully, "While it does sound better than leaving you alone with the dragon, we don''t really know Saskia well yet. I think we should stay together. I can heal any injuries that you might have during the training."
Elias nodded along, agreeing, and reorganized the plan, "I have to take Kaelen''s side on this, sorry, Terra. What about this? We go and build the tree house somewhere further away from this area, and fight any monsters on the way. We can use the map to find out where we can set up the base. After we build the structure, we''ll take the rest of the day to train. I''ll practise my corruption skill on Kaelen''s force field or something while the two of you train with shadow essence. Tomorrow, we can set off to hunt again."
"I''m fine with that!" Saskia accepted Elias'' offer without much hesistation.
To be honest, Elias'' idea did not sound too bad, so I nodded, guiding us to the edge of the clearing again, "Let''s go, then."
As we walked with Alaric scouting ahead and Hydra flying above us, we discussed the location to set up our base at. I suggested building it about five kilometres from the safe space, but quickly dismissed it myself since it was a little too far at the moment. At our current speed, it would take about an hour without resting. Eventually, after some deliberation, we decided that two kilometres would be suitable for now, allowing us to have a relatively safe spot deep in the forest so that we can hunt better monsters but at the same time close enough so that we would not be overwhelmed by monsters that were too strong for us to handle.
After that, there was little chat among us as we focused on looking out for potential danger that Alaric might have missed. As we walked, I decided to check Nythirra''s chat to see if there was any reply. There was.
Nythirra: You''re welcome. I have been watching your battles when I can, and they are great. Keep it up!
I smiled slightly. This could mean that I would be able to get more gifts from her if me, my companions and Saskia fought well from now on. I replied quickly, typing on air as discreetly as I could.
Raven: I will! We will be using the materials you gifted us soon. Good luck on your fights too!
I clicked send, hoping that the System would not mess up and translate it into something offensive to the alien. I needed every little bit of support I could get, even if it was from an alien who could see my battles as if it was a live streamed game of survival - which it technically was. When my world became integrated after this Major Event was over, could I watch the feed from other worlds too?
That thought was so weird that I banished it from my head immediately. Watching aliens get chased around by a bunch of monsters? Not yet, thank you very much.
I waited for a few minutes, but there was no reply from my alien benefactor, which should be expected because it was likely that we had different timezones. On that thought, I clicked the chat away and mentally commanded another blue screen to show up. What''s better than checking your profile information while walking through a forest full of monsters?
Invisibility
There was a reason why I wanted to check my profile information. I had used my class Skills several times since I received them, and I wanted to check if any of them had levelled up by now. The way the skills'' desciptions were worded, and common sense, suggested that I might be able to make my already-powerful Skills even more advanced. Eagerness filled my heart as the blue screen opened. Sure enough, all three of my Class Skills were level two, having gone up by one from all my battles.
|
Lvl.9
|
Raven Dawn
|
ADULT
|
|
Abilities: Daemonic Transformation, Normal Fire Manipulation [Rare]
|
Strength: 17 [+]
Defense: 14 [+]
Magic: 35 [+]
Mind: 25 [+]
|
Class: Storyteller
Skills: Story Weaver [Lvl.2], Artist [Lvl.2], Illusions [Lvl.2]
|
Curious about what levelling up my Skills up had changed, I clicked open the Skill descriptions of all three of them, watching the new blue screens pop up one after the other and covering the ones below them. The top-most box was the Illusion Skill.
|
Illusions
|
|
Category: Class Skill
Raven, you should not be looking at this while walking. The screens are translucent, but it is like texting and driving... That''s the term, right? Just focus!
You can create realistic illusions. Simple. While a target is under said illusion, you can control what they see, hear, smell, etc. The illusion is not real and would not hurt the target physically by themselves, but few can see through them. At Level 2, you can put 4 people under this Skill. Mana Cost is decreased slightly and your understanding of the Class Skill has been boosted.
[0/10 Uses to Level 3]
|
I frowned. The Skill description looked different from the previous time I had seen it. My System Workers could change the italic portion at will? That could be a piece of useful information in the future, but for now, they could just talk to me through the bolded System notification things. I did not know what those messages were called, but that really wasn''t the point. A sweet sensation bursted in my heart as I found the change to my Skill. I could use this power on more people at once, and the amount of ''hidden currency'' I needed to use was also decreased alongside it. Despite that, I made a mental note to boost my Magic stat a bit more with my New Gems the next time we rested.
Next. I mentally commanded the blue box showing my Illusion Skill to close, and another screen popped up in front of my eyes.
|
Artist
|
|
Category: Class Skill
What did we say about texting and driving? We are nice(r), but we will block this if it would help you.
If you draw any item in any medium and with anything, it would become real as long as you want it to be real. If the ''item'' is an animal, plant or other, it becomes alive if you wants it to be (yes, it can come out dead, but that''s not fun) and has all the properties you want it to have. It might be better to write those properties down, though, unless you want a flesh-eating plant instead of a little pet because of a stray thought. At Level 2, Mana Cost is decreased slightly and your understanding of the Class Skill has been boosted.Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.
[1/10 Uses to Level 3]
|
I hummed. What does my understanding of the Skill mean? I had skipped over this portion for the previous Skill, but now that both Illusions and Artist had that boost, I was curious. Did it let me I could draw better for Artist? Create stronger monsters out of my imagination? None of them seemed to be that connected to the Skill''s special effects. Instead, they were tied to my own artistical talents and expertise. I mulled over it as I left the System interface open, but could not come to a conclusion. Eventually, I decided that I would be able to figure that part out the next time I used the Skill in a fight, so I did not need to waste time brainstorming possibilities that might just be getting me further and further from the truth.
As I removed the Artist blue box, I expected to see the Story Weaver Skill hidden underneath, so I was surprised when I saw a countdown timer and an image of a well-drawn and intricate lock, together with a mildly annoyed System message.
Time Remaining: 1 hour 59 minutes
ERROR! System Screen Locked!
You really have to force us to do this, don''t you, Raven?
I grumbled as I closed the screen, which was glowing silver instead of the usual blue, but my disappointment vanished quickly when I finally realized what my System Workers were trying to tell me. That understanding sent me into a well-disguised panic. I sent a hastily-crafted message to Hydra, ''Hydra, do you sense any danger?''
While waiting for his answer, I tried my best to listen for any hidden sounds and also kept my eyes out for any sign of danger. However, I saw and heard nothing.
"No, hatchling, nothing,'' The dragon replied, confident, ''Why? Your sixth sense blaring?''
Instead of answering with words, I sent an emotion wave that showed a negative response. It was hard to describe what our bond was like, but our minds had grown close enough that we did not need words for every telepathic exchange anymore, which was a good sign. Maybe, hopefully it was not a bad thing. I wouldn''t know.
After Hydra reassured me of our relative safety, I relaxed instantly, relieved. If even he could not detect anything, we should be fine. The System Workers on my team was probably just paranoid and did not want me to die. Maybe the longer I survived, the more likely they could receive their ''pay rise''.
I finally realized how wrong I was when a sharp claw grazed my arm, leaving three deep gashes and a lot of blood. I growled and swung my arm forward with as much force as I could muster, sending the creature flying off my arm. It landed with a thud somewhere nearby. Kaelen yelped and encased us in a protective shield of shimmering yellow and casted a healing lightning bolt on me. I thanked her quickly and sank into my Illusion Skill. Our invisible enemy could either be using a similar ability, or was plainly invisible, but I was hoping that the Skill I had could hint me towards its general location. I was not disappointed.
This was either a part of my Skill that I had not explored in the previous times I had used it, or the supposed ''boost'' that came with my new understanding of the Skill granted by my increase in Skill level, but it worked, and that was all I cared about. In my mind''s eye, I could see a reconstruct of the part of the Forest Grounds that I was in. There was a few balls of energies of different colors and sizes all around me. On my command, the Skill allowed me to zoom in on the enemy that had hit me a few seconds ago. The murky brown ball of sticky-looking energy was about half a metre outside of Kaelen''s shield, but it was also constantly moving, the energy rolling forward and crashing into the spot where our barrier should be. It fell back, but soon restarted the cycle of ramming itself into our protective dome, being rebounded back by half a metre, and trying again.
It was resilient, for sure.
I opened my eyes again, muttering a rough plan to my companions (and Saskia), "I know where it is. If it is not too difficult, Kaelen, can you keep the force field up a bit more? I''ll use my illusions Skill to counter whatever it is using to hide from us."
As soon as I received a nod from Kaelen, I dove back into my mind, creating a safe and fake environment. In that illusion, the creature would feel safe revealing itself to us. It took a while to decide on what scene to use, since I didn''t really know what monster we were dealing with, so I instead settled for a circular patch of clearing filled with tall grass, with rings upon rings of trees surrounding the grass. It normally would not work well to change the surroundings up too much, but I had a feeling that this would work.
Once I was done, I held the image in my mind as I made out the rough location of the enemy through Illusion. Once I located the energy ball, I tried something new. I took the scene of the clearing and trees and pushed it gently but firmly into the sticky brown structure that might have represented its mind - since Illusions worked on the mind.
It worked, and the picture slid in without too much resistance. Relieved that it was not like the horned wolves, I returned to reality and watched the results of my hard work unfold. After a few minutes of restless waiting, during which there were no more force field rams, the little beast finally showed itself. It was a small, pristine white rabbit, with murky brown eyes and two disproportionally long horns of the same color as its eyes. It sniffed the air nervously, but it must have detected no danger, because it stayed visible. A few seconds later, before we could even react to the reveal, a large creature jumped out and devoured the little rabbit whole.
Enemies and Loot
As it gobbled down the last silvers of meat from the rabbit, the new monster turned its gaze to scrutinize us, as if daring us to challenge it. It was a large deer-like animal with natural growths all over its body. Grass hung off of its back and vines wrapped themselves around the beast. With a pair of sharp horns and a fluff of mane running down its neck and glowing green, it looked more peaceful than dangerous. Or, it would have if it did not kill and finish up a whole critter in front of our eyes.
I considered the option of defeating it and reaping the rewards. If I managed to defeat it, would it yield me an ability stone? If there was even a tiny chance of it dropping another one of those precious stones for my collection, it was an enemy worth fighting. Beside me, my companions and Saskia seemed to have similar thoughts, but clearly for a different reason from mine.
Kaelen gasped, breaking the silence first, "It... It ate the rabbit, right? The cute little thing."
"Don''t forget the cute thing would have killed us if given the chance," Elias grunted darkly, but it was obvious from his expression that he held a similar sentiment. The reason why they wanted to kill the deer did not matter to me, all that mattered to me at the moment was that they would support me in my incoming battle with the monster.
Saskia did not say a word, but her shadow essence sword materialized in her hands, and that was enough to tell me her stance on the matter. She brandished it, glancing at me. I realized then that I was the only one who did not show my opinion, so I nodded, finalizing our unspoken plan to defeat and loot the deer. Unaware of its fate, the deer still stood proud, staring us down condescendingly, its calmness invoking much annoyance within me. Discarding such distracting thoughts, I focused on coming up with a plan.
"Does any of you want to land the finishing blow?" I asked as an idea began to formulate in my head, "We can split the loot if... necessary."
I turned to look at Saskia, and she hummed, "Splitting won''t be needed unless the three of you have other opinions, but we can alternate finishing blows whenever possible. We can trade loot among us if we are interested."
When she finished, her gaze fell on me, silently asking for confirmation. Reluctantly, I had to admit that her idea wasn''t wrong. I sighed, adding on to her suggestion, "I''m fine with that. All of us can kill this one if given enough time. I can just act as backup if something goes wrong. I''m not particularly interested in this monster. Kaelen, do you mind?"
She nodded, understanding what I wanted without the need for words. I saw her concentrate on the space around the deer, and instantly, a dome of shimmering energy fell on the deer, trapping the creature within. This way, we could take some more time to discuss and prepare a plan. The deer did not appear to be as strong as the skeleton, or as dangerous horned wolves pack, so we could afford to use a basic method of attack.
Saskia was the next to concede, "I have no use for this deer, either. I have enough meat for now, and I don''t need to craft anything."
"I''ll handle it, then," Kaelen did not waste another second and landed a barrage of lightning attacks on the deer. It writhed as the plant growths on its body twisted and morphed in an attempt to subdue it. After about five bolts, the deer was still holding itself up. It was weakened, that was for sure, but it still had a bit to go before death. A thought flashed through my mind and I dove into my mind using my illusions Skill, and searched for the deer''s energy ball. It was easy to find, the monster''s mind pulsing a deep forest green at the back of its head.
Gasping, I rose back into reality and suggested, "Kaelen, aim for the back of its head, a little lower and towards the neck."
She raised an eyebrow but did not argue, deciding to trust my words. As her sixth lightning bolt struck the area where the deer''s energy ball was hiding, it collapsed, its eyes rolling to the back of its skull. With another streak glowing gold, the deer beast was dead, and Kaelen glanced at me, incredulous, "How did you know?"
I grinned, keeping my words cryptic, "The same method I used to reveal the rabbit''s location."
It was vague, but it seemed to be enough to satisfy Kaelen''s curiosity, so we continued walking. As we hiked, I asked, "What did you get from the deer, Kaelen?"
She clicked a few times on thin air before replying, her eyes widening, "Some meat, a horn for crafting I think, and a deer skin cloak that lets me shapeshift into something similar to that animal. That last one is amazing."Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.
"That one could come in handy in battles," I agreed, "We can check out its exact properties later. I am particularly interested about how much of the deer''s physical abilities it lets you copy over."
"What do you mean?" Kaelen sounded genuinely confused, and after a brief second of organizing my thoughts, I replied.
"I''m not sure if you saw it, but the plants on the deer seemed alive," I recalled the vines slapping the bolts away and the shrubs moving to block the strikes that managed to slip through, "I just want to know if they carry over through the cloak, or that is only for the actual animal."
Saskia agreed, her usual light smile making me mildly annoyed, "Yes, I did catch onto that part. You are perceptive too, aren''t you, Terra? However, I don''t think it would apply to the cloak."
"Did your prophetic stalker abilities let you see that too?" I whispered into her ear, perhaps harsher than I meant to make it sound, but Saskia just shrugged it off without another word. I grumbled about her lack of response as we continued moving through the forest, nearing our destination.
As the area of choice came in our line of sight, something else did, too. Two medium-sized two-headed snakes were shooting at us at high speeds, reaching us before we could even react. One headed straight for Kaelen and Elias while the other shot towards me and Saskia. I called out my lion claw daggers while shielding my arms in a thin but durable shield of shadow essence. My first dagger deflected the bite from the head on the right, while my other claw cut off a tooth of the snake head that was about to bite into Saskia.
"Focus," I hissed at her as I risked a quick look at Kaelen and Elias. The two were holding up much better than I had feared, with Kaelen making small but quick golden shields while Elias chose the best time to land corruption hits on their snake.
Time to focus, like how I had instructed Saskia to do. Taking advantage of the snake''s recoil, I launched three poisoned arrows at it, and two found their mark, lodging one arrow below each head. The purple snake was angered by my attack, and both heads headed for me. I dodged by throwing myself against the ground so that it missed, rolling so that I was directly below the snake. Without hesitation, I split the creature in half with a dagger and nailed the heads onto the ground, one dagger for each head. I held the thrashing animal there until its attempts at escape slowly weakened.
Eventually, it stopped moving, and a System notification dinged in my ears. I removed my weapons, storing them back into my inventory as I spun back to face Saskia, "Why didn''t you do anything? We both know that you are strong enough to take it out."
"Thought you were enjoying the battle," the girl barely sounded apologetic, but she was correct about that once again. I could not deny that the thrill of the battle, together with the rewards I have yet to check out, was what I was looking for. I glared at her as silence stretched out between us, broken only by the battle noises from Kaelen''s and Elias'' fight, but eventually turned away to help my companions.
The two of them were almost done with the snake, though. Elias had corroded away most of the snake''s lower half, and he was steadily making his way up to one of the heads. When the snake tried to bite him with one head or sometimes two, Kaelen would always be there to support him with a well-placed semi-circle of force fields wrapped around his hands and any other possible points of injury. They were a fluid team, and it was clear that they did not need my assistance. Even so, I did not avert my gaze from their fight, ready to do my best to protect them if something unexpected happened.
While waiting, I sent a telepathic wave to Hydra, sharing my memories with him through our link. While our connection had certainly grown stronger since his creation, our minds were still not close enough for him to access my memories directly, and vice versa. Even though I needed to inform him of what we were up to every once in a while (especially since he preferred his spot up in the air, intervening only when he felt like it, which was rare), I couldn''t help but feel glad that my thoughts were not that freely accessible to him yet.
I clicked open the System notification that I received after my win against the snake just so that it stopped being a nuisance.
You have slain 1x Two-Headed Cobra [Lvl. 10]! You gained 1000EXP, 1x Venom Sac, 4x Two-Headed Cobra Scales, 2x Python Meat, 400 New Gems
3600EXP to next level!
The venom sac could be useful for my poison project. I also took note of the cobra scales, deciding to check out crafting later, either tonight or tomorrow. Before I could lay out a possible lan for all four of us tomorrow, I was pulled out of my thoughts by Hydra''s answer.
''Hatchling, the horned wolves are close to your area,'' Hydra sounded slightly worried, something new for him since he was always so confident, but based on his words, his wariness was not unwarranted, ''You might want to reconsider-''
He trailed off, descending from his spot in the sky just as Kaelen and Elias killed their two-headed snake, and a scene that was eerily familiar unfolded before my eyes. A large wolf with a singular horn resting on his head leapt from behind the tree in front of us. Violet flames erupted from its fur as it brandished its horn and circled us, growling menacingly. Its gaze, burning with hatred and anger, was fixated on Saskia though, and I understood why.
It had to be the beast she knocked out earlier but did not kill. I readied my Skills and my shadow essence, expanding my wings for the first time since we set out today.
"Remember! Don''t kill the horned wolves!" I reminded my companions, as well as Saskia, and prepared to fight. This time, we were prepared for the wolves'' tactics.
I Hate Wolves...
The wolf bared its teeth at me as it saw my wings, no doubt grouping me together with Saskia, the person who had defeated it earlier and ended its rampage. It circled us, glaring at us through the force field Kaelen had constructed almost on reflex.
Without another moment of hesitation, the horned wolf leapt towards me, growling as more wolves leapt out to greet us - but not in a friendly way. There must have been more than 40 of those bloodthirsty creatures, and they swarmed over to us in less than a second. Only three of them had horns including the first one, but all of them were not to be underestimated.
Kaelen struggled to keep the shield up as more and more wolves piled onto the dome, adding their weight as they bit and clawed into the golden hemisphere of protection. Eventually, her knees gave way.
The horned wolves each led a smaller group of ten to twelve wolves as they split up to fight us. Even then, facing twelve System-enhanced beasts was still a nightmare.
''Hydra? I really need your help now,'' I sent a mental message to him as I let arrows fly, trying to buy myself some time as I pulled out my Story Weaver book to create the knives I had drawn. I wanted to draw and control a monster instead, but even with Hydra helping me and keeping the wolves away from me, I doubted that I would be able to sketch, bring to life and write a story for the beast under such tight time constraints. The monsters I could use this technique to fight were either distracted or weak enough for Kaelen to block it using her force field Skill, but the wolves were neither.
Without Hydra''s assistance, I wouldn''t even have enough time to produce the knives.
The dragon didn''t bother answering as he understood what I needed him to do. He drove his claws into the beasts near me just before they sunk their teeth into my skin. I sunk into my mind to visualize, but just as I threw the energy balls at the conjured mental image of the knives, a wolf tore off a decent-sized chunk of my flesh and broke my concentration. With an angry yell, I instinctively pushed my shadow essence into its mind.
The instinct would have saved me normally, but unfortunately for me, horned wolves had a hive mind, and they hated mind control.
Instantly, forty or so wolves turned their heads towards me, absolute rage burning in their eyes. Hydra tried his best to help, but while he busied fending off five wolves nearby, the rest of the pack attacked me all at once.
I pulled out my lion claw daggers, forgoing my idea of throwing knives completely. They were close enough for stabbing now, and wasting precious time on using Artist is not a wise decision at this point. Even then, I was overwhelmed.
I met two wolves'' claws with my daggers, the clang of metal against bone loud and ominous. The wolves were stunned, and I took the time to plunge my weapons into their necks, not letting go until another monster used this opportunity to bite my arm. I had to let the wolves go, or I would probably lose my arm completely. They slumped onto the ground, heavily injured but still alive. Their brethren didn''t care about the fallen, though, as they stepped over the pair I just hit, effectively reducing the two to corpses. Their eyes glinted with a sadistic glee as they used their claws to rip away skin and flesh, leaving long, gaping wounds all over my body as the wolves came from all sides.Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
I tried my best to fight back, but no matter how much I tried, more of them just kept coming in, stepping over each other in their eagerness to land the finishing hit. My companions all tried to help, with Hydra duelling with five or more monsters at once, Kaelen trapping some wolves in her force fields and zapping them with electricity and Elias disintegrating as many wolves as he could with his bare hands.
Only Saskia did nothing and continued observing as if she was watching a show, occasionally nodding as if deep in thought. I ignored her, deciding to deal with her apathy when I was no longer on the brink of death. As it was, I had a very low chance of surviving this, with all the wounds I had sustained over the past few minutes, but there was no reason to give up fighting when there was still a silver of opportunity. For a moment, it seemed like I would win, with the remaining number of wolves down to less than ten. Even with so many gaping holes in my body leaking blood, it felt possible to defeat the pack.
Until I made a second mistake. As my dagger tore into the heart of a horned wolf, I gasped and pulled my blade back, but it was already too late. As the monster fell, I could almost hear amusement in its final howl. The pain of all my wounds had not truly reached me before then, but as an evolving beast leapt towards me, its black fur catching on purple fire, I felt the tiredness and the agony sink in. Why was I fighting a losing battle? It would only showcase my weakness to everyone around me, because only someone who was not strong enough would lose to a mere wolf pack. I was just embarrassing myself, making all those mistakes that now led to my imminent demise.
However, just as I was about to give up, someone appeared in front of me, blocking the deadly strike with her body alone while swinging a blade at the beast.
Saskia began fighting the monster while I tried to help by killing off the other wolves. Soon, the remainder of the pack were dead, and the remaining horned wolf was held in a golden cage while we waited for Saskia''s battle to finish. It wasn''t that we did not want to help her, but that it was simply impossible to interfere. Their weapons - Saskia with her sword and the wolf with its claws and teeth - clashed again and again in speeds I could not reach even if I strained myself. They were so fast that they were almost a blur to my eyes. However, judging based on the wounds they received, it seemed that Saskia was losing. Was this newly evolved monster even more powerful than the one we accidentally created with the essence of even more horned wolves?
I breathed heavily, worry gripping my heart as I watched them fight, once again reminded of my helplessness to aid Saskia. Fortunately, with a final roar, the girl pushed her shadow essence blade into the wolf''s, and it fell. As she wobbled towards us, wounded but alive, the relief I felt was immediate, and I could hear my companions let out held breaths as well. Just as she reached us, she fell into me, her wounds finally getting to her. I supported her with my hands, and that was when I realized something was very wrong.
A large, gaping hole replaced the patch of skin between her shoulder blades, and blood was oozing out from the wound. Behind her, a large horned wolf stood, satisfaction in its eyes as it watched us. In that instant, it all clicked.
With a yell, I sliced into its neck with the pair of lion claws, and was met with no resistance. As the creature''s head came crashing into the ground, I felt a deep guilt surge up inside of me. If I wasn''t so careless, if I had made even one less mistake, then Saskia would not have died. How could I live with this? After distrusting her so much over the past few hours since we met, how could I live with this?
I grabbed Saskia''s lifeless form from Kaelen''s arms, shaking her angrily, "No, no! You don''t just kill yourself like this, you bastard. You don''t just sacrifice yourself and get away with it!"
Ding! The notification felt taunting as I fell to the ground, still holding Saskia''s body.
You have slain 1x Horned Wolf [Lvl. 8]! You gained 800EXP, 2x Horned Wolf Meat, 1x Wolf Horn, 320 New Gems
Angry Bird
Despite the loss, we had to continue on, or we would be killed, too. We eventually decided to store Saskia''s body in my inventory before moving onto our journey. All of us were quiet. Although we hadn''t known Saskia for more than a few hours, the impact of having someone die on us was still great. As we trekked on through the forest, a gloomy mood settled on us and the atmosphere was heavy. The uncomfortable silence lasted for an hour before a roar broke the quietness like hammer crushing glass. I smirked coldly. Whatever the beast was, it came at a horrible time.
I was ready to slice it up into little chunks of flesh to satisfy the itching urge within me. It called me to kill, to destroy, as if that would bring Saskia back. It wouldn''t, but it would at least satisfy my simmering anger. With all these thoughts rushing through my brain and heating me up into an enraged frenzy, I lunged towards the moving shadow, releasing a volley of arrows while bringing out my lion claw daggers. My knife dug a deep hole in the unfortunate deer''s stomach, and it collapsed onto the ground.
It was only then that I took in the appearance of my opponent. The deer was larger than normal, and its body was glowing a faint green. The creature''s horns had interesting growths attached to them, the way a parasitic vine would wrap itself around a perfectly healthy tree. I pulled out the pair of daggers from its flesh, waiting for the ringing of the notification alarm.
Ding!
You have slain 1x Forest Deer [Lvl. 5]! You gained 500EXP, 4x Forest Deer Meat, 2x Parasitic Wormvine Seeds, 200 New Gems
I was starting to hate that sound, but I didn''t have time to complain as the sound of hooves thundering against the forest floor soon reached me. Another deer, presumably one of the same species as the creature I just killed, appeared in front of us, three of its companions in tow. I growled as I stood up, leaping to meet them. I sent a wave of shadow essence to the first deer as I landed two slashes on the second. At the same time, three poisonous arrows were dispatched straight for the third deer. They were all helplessly lying on the ground within a minute, leaving Elias and Kaelen shocked. Even so, it was not enough to quench my desire for revenge.
I didn''t even know what I wanted to do to avenge Saskia, but I just had to keep killing things until I found out.
You have slain 1x Forest Deer [Lvl. 5]! You gained 500EXP, 3x Forest Deer Meat, 1x Forest Deer Antler (Parasitic), 200 New Gems
You have slain 1x Forest Deer [Lvl. 5]! You gained 500EXP, 4x Forest Deer Meat, 2x Parasitic Wormvine Seeds, 200 New Gems
You have slain 1x Forest Deer [Lvl. 5]! You gained 500EXP, 2x Forest Deer Meat, 1x Forest Deer Pelt Suit (Unbonded), 200 New Gems
900EXP to next level!
"Terra, you were so fast," Elias'' gaze was filled with something similar to admiration.
However, Kaelen frowned as she warned me, "Terra, I know you feel bad about her death, but think about it. If you risk your own life in fighting battles we could have won together, and you die, you are dishonoring her sacrifice even more."
I should listen to her, I knew I should, but the rage boiling in my heart overshadowed everything, coloring the whole world in bright red glasses. She could sprew out all these lies, I thought, but all she really wanted was the loot. Even having this thought was wrong in so many different levels, and I was aware of that, but I wasn''t really in control of my own thoughts anymore. The anger was mind-numbing, and it felt so good to fall into its trap, occupying my hands and my mind with nothing except battle.
Even so, I had to keep my thoughts and my words separate, so I nodded rigidly, "Alright, I will be more careful in the future. Don''t worry about me."
It was clear on her face that she did not believe me, but the girl said nothing more as we continued on. Casual chatter between Elias and Kaelen started after a while, but I didn''t bother joining them. Instead, I spread out my senses as much as I could to scout for any possible enemies nearby, spreading a thin veil of shadow essence through the forest around us. To be honest, I would probably choose to lead us towards a group of monsters just to let off some steam, but much to my annoyance, there was no such opportunity. Our surroundings was infuriatingly devoid of any beasts, as if they were avoiding me intentionally. My vision darkened.A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
When we finally arrived at the camping site, I put on a convincing smile and suggested, "I''ll build the tree house, and we can fight a few monsters before coming back to rest for the night. Unless any of you wants to train?"
I sent a similar message to Hydra as I waited for Elias'' and Kaelen''s replies, ''Hydra? We''re stopping here for the permanent base. If no one objects, we''ll be fighting more monsters after I build the base. Can you look for any potential opponents?''
''Fine, wait for me'', Surprisingly, Hydra did not refuse my request this time, and I could hear his heavy wingbeats as he flew away.
"I''m fine with that," Elias shrugged, "To me, monster fighting is a good way of practising while getting rewards at the same time."
"I would be overruled even if I said no," Kaelen sighed, scrutinizing me as she continued, "So I vote yes, but only if we can actually work as a team."
She gave a pointed look at me, which roused my anger again, but I pushed a wiggling frown down as I nodded. A wave of nausea and bone aches swept through me as I tried to cage my emotions in so as not to show irritation on my face.
Kaelen looked satisfied at that. Taking advantage of their agreement and how Hydra had not returned yet, I opened my inventory to create the wooden tree house. Of course, it is possible to make a permanent base using Artist, but I wasn''t sure how much mana this endeavor would take. If there is resources already available to use, there was no reason for me to create the tree house myself.
As the blue screen appeared in front of me, I was briefly worried that the screen would still be locked since it might not have been two hours yet, but the inventory page popped up without any ERROR notices.
11460 New Gems, 5 Ancient Crystals
W: Weapons
M: Materials
C: Clothing
T: Tools
F: Food
CI: Cursed Items
MI: Magical Items
O: Other
2x Lion Claw, 1x Lion Hide, 1x Raw Lion Meat, 1x Green Bean Seed, 1x Rope, 1x Rope [Acid Resistant], 1x Magma Griffin Golem Feather [Unbonded], 2x Cooked Griffin Meat, 1x Magma Griffin Golem Cloak [Unbonded], 7x Stingers, 8x Worker Bee Venom Sacs, 1x Exoskeleton Armor [Unbonded], 1x Teleportation Crystal to City Grounds, 1x Teleportation Crystal to the location of your choice, 1x Skin Suit [Unbonded], 3x Mutated Bear Claws, 1x Skeleton Cage, 1x Human-Hair Wig, 1x Fox Tail [Evolved], 10x Three-Headed Cobra Scales, 2x Forest Deer Meat, 3x Horned Wolf Meat, 1x Ability Stone: Shroud of Darkness, 3x Darkness Bombs, 1x Concealing Cloak [Unbonded], 2x Python Meat, 2x Python Fangs (Venomous), 1x Temporary Shelter, 50x Wooden Logs (Basic), 50x Wooden Planks (Basic), 100x Nails (Strong), 50x Wooden Tiles (Thin), 100x Small Stones, 1x Venom Sac, 4x Two-Headed Cobra Scales, 1x Wolf Horn, 13x Forest Deer Meat, 1x Forest Deer Antler (Parasitic), 4x Parasitic Wormvine Seeds, 1x Forest Deer Pelt Suit (Unbonded), 1x Body of Saskia Reyes
I tried not to look at the last item in my inventory as I focused on creating the tree house. Just like how it was like when I first received the resources, merely thinking about the final product I wanted to produce was sufficient to generate a System message that I had been waiting for. Seeing it reassured me somehow and calmed me down, even by the tiniest amount.
Build a Tree House?
[Yes] [No]
Without much hesitation, I pressed ''yes'' and the screen turned to a loading bar as the System began constructing the tree house on an ancient oak tree nearby.
Build a Tree House in progress!
Time Remaining: 20 minutes
"It said it would take a while," I relayed the information to Kaelen and Elias. At the same time, Hydra returned from his flight with a piece of bad news.
''Hatchling, it is very weird,'' the dragon''s low voice rumbled in my mind, ''There are no signs of monster activity anywhere nearby. I did not search very deeply, but most monsters should be visible to me on a quick, basic scan.''
''So either they are too strong, too good at disguising themselves, or there''s just no monster nearby,'' I deduced.
As soon as the dragon sent an emotion wave of affirmation, I disconnected our telepathic link to explain the situation to Elias and Kaelen, "I asked Hydra to search the surrounding woods for potential enemies we can fight... and he found none."
"None?!" Kaelen''s eyes widened as she exclaimed with much shock on her face, "Terra, what did you do?"
"Maybe we are too strong for them?" Elias smirked, but when neither of us laughed along, his chuckles grew awkward. He soon realized why we were affected by his words, and lowered his head guiltily.
I cleared my throat, swallowing bile as I kept up the positive mask. Inwardly, I wanted to strangle him. If we were powerful enough, she wouldn''t have died.
"I don''t know," I replied honestly. There were three (and maybe more) reasons behind the disappearance of monsters nearby, and I couldn''t be sure which ones caused it, "But rather than coming up with ways to explain the mass monster deletion, there is something else we can do while waiting for the tree house to finish building itself."
Build A Coffin (and It Exploded)
It didn''t take long to convince them to do what I had planned.
Before we began doing the work, however, I first needed to use Artist to create three tools, one for each of us. With that thought in mind, I called out the Story Weaver papers and began drawing three decent-sized shovels next to each other on the paper. Since I only needed a rough sketch for this to work, it only took me about ten minutes to draw out the lineart for each of the shovels. They were simple and practical, and that was all we needed. Once I finished the sketch, I stared at the images on the paper, trying to imprint the lines to memory. When I felt ready, I shut my eyes and dove into work, generating a more detailed picture of a shovel in my mind before throwing one energy ball at it: durability.
I wrapped up the creation process, sensing my mana stream out of me as I chose to deposit the shovels in front of me. When I opened my eyes again, Elias and Kaelen had already grabbed one shovel for themselves. Without wasting any more time, I tapped into my inventory again, confirming that I still had some resources left over. They should be enough for the item I wanted to make. I pictured a simple wooden coffin in my mind, big enough for Saskia to lie down in it comfortably. It only took a spark of thought for the crafting interface to appear in front of me.
Build a Coffin?
[Yes] [No]
Nervously, I chose ''yes''. Another blue box appeared , and much to my relief, it took a much shorter time to build a coffin, at least when compared to the tree house.
Build a Coffin in progress!
Time Remaining: 5 minutes
I nodded at my companions as I picked up my shovel too. We could make use of the five minutes to start on the hole.
"We need some measurements," Elias frowned, "Or we won''t know how big it needs to be."
The urge to slap him erupted in my heart, but I forced it down. Instead, I carefully deposited Saskia''s body on the ground between us, trying my best to avoid glancing at her. It was difficult, but I managed to avert my gaze for the entire time while Elias and Kaelen used their steps to measure the approximate size the hole needed to be. As soon as they announced that they were done with the task, I squatted down, ready to place Saskia''s body back into my Inventory, but at the same moment, the coffin finished building itself, so I stood back up.
"I''ll start digging. Can the two of you put... her in?" I began to dig into the dirt inside the region Elias and Kaelen had marked earlier. As I began throwing behind me shovelfuls of dirt while making sure that they would land outside of the pit, I watched from my peripherials as my companions moved her body from the ground to the wooden coffin before slowly sliding the lid so that it covered the whole opening. Then, they came over to join me, chatting about their ideas for the monsters'' disappearance. I tuned them out and focused on my work. We wouldn''t be able to do it for every dead person we met, of course, and I was not the type of person to use my resources and time for such tasks.
However, after what she did for us, it just felt right to do it for her, at least to me, and my companions agreed with me enough to help.
Ten minutes passed by slowly, and just as I heard a ''plop'' sound behind me, signalling that the tree house was complete, we finished digging the hole. As we took a step back to review our work, a low rumble erupted from beside us. I turned to the source of the sound, and was surprised to find that it was the coffin that emitted the noise. Nervously, I materialized the lion daggers, preparing my mind to tug on the telepathic string between me and Hydra if it became necessary. Kaelen encased us inside a golden force field, and Elias drawn out his poisoned sword. The air crackled with electric tension, as we all waited for the unknown to happen.Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
With a violent explosion of shadow essence, the coffin burst open, wood splinters flying everywhere. The dark ball of energy radiated outwards, and I had to construct a thin barrier of the same energy over Kaelen''s shield to protect us from the mental effects of the force. As the remainders of the attack gradually calmed down, I warily removed the shield, allowing the shadow essence to flow back into my body. Now that the obstructive barrier was gone, all of our gazes fell unanimously on the figure that just emerged from what was left of the coffin.
It resembled Saskia in the rough outline, but that was where the similarities ended. The new creature''s horns were much larger, and it was thrumming with a powerful energy. Its wingspan was also greater even from what I could see, and it had a mask and a set of armor made solely out of shadow essence, making the being appear dangerous and malevolent. It was hovering about twenty centimetres off the ground, even without the wings'' assistance, and there was a spinning vortex of shadow essence at its feet, supporting it as the beast towered over us.
Instinctively, I could tell. It was not something I could fight. Just as I opened my mouth to yell ''retreat'', the figure began speaking, its voice booming in our ears.
''As my vessel''s companions, you have failed to keep her safe,'' it growled, its voice striking a wave of fear. My ears rang, although it was speaking in my head, and when I touched my hand to my earlobes, I could feel a dense liquid trickle down my arm. Saskia had that thing as her patron? No wonder she was so strong. Even bringing up her name stung terribly, and I couldn''t help but wince.
''I''m not a mere thing, human,'' it grumbled, but I could hear a significant change in its tone. It wasn''t as angry as before, ''I''m an Ancient Shadowborn from a world that has been integrated for a long time.''
''Sorry,'' I sent reluctantly, and the moment my mind touched the shadowborn''s, I felt a huge resistance, but the message drifted into its mental space without too much of a problem after I gave it a hard push.
The shadowborn''s gaze interlocked mine, and I felt a shiver run down my spine from staring into the abyss-like souless eyes. Even so, I held strong. After a few seconds, the shadowborn broke our eye contact and continued in its deep voice, ''However, I will revive her for you to try again. Do not fail me.''
The last condescending remark made my anger ripple, but before I could shoot back an indignant reply, my telepathic link with Hydra activated, and I heard a single word through the transmission channel, ''Don''t.''
It took a lot of effort, but apparently, even the competitive side of me didn''t want to risk getting me exploded like the coffin, so I was able to hold my tongue.
The shadowborn''s form wavered for a moment, and I could see a purplish black core form slowly at the centre of its chest area. The dark tendrils that flailed around it were pulled into the core, making it expand. When the last of the shadowborn''s essence was eaten, the core disappeared, sinking into Saskia''s chest and getting enveloped by the flesh. Her eyes returned to their natural colors, her wings and horns dissipating as well. Not wanting her to die two seconds after the shadowborn ''revived'' her, I bent down slightly, rushing forward to catch her as Kaelen removed her force field.
However, she stood strong, although her eyes were closed. Realizing that she didn''t need my help, I straightened from my half-crouching position with an awkward cough as I waited for her to wake up. I didn''t have to wait for very long, fortunately, as the girl''s eyelids soon slid open. I had half expected her to be scared, at least a little, but she regained her composure quickly after quickly surveying her surroundings, and I couldn''t see a hint of wariness in her expression.
That would change soon, I thought to myself as I prepared to shake her with every ounce of strength I had.
Tree House
I leapt on top of Saskia, sending the both of us crashing to the ground. I felt the shadowborn''s presence in my mind for a brief moment as it indiscreetly tried to threaten me. Kaelen and Elias must have felt that mental pressure, too, because they quickly ran towards us, no doubt to pry me off of the girl.
"Why did you die?" I grumbled, shaking her by her collar. She didn''t fight back, her smile - the one that was getting on my nerves - wide on her face. I yelled, "I wouldn''t have died even if you didn''t help!"
I knew that it was untrue. The level of poweress that creature displayed in its match against Saskia was unimaginable for me, but I was driven on a mixture of rage and - as much as I hated to admit it, desperation, so logic did not really have a spot in my mind at the moment. Ever since the System integrated into Earth, logic had taken a backseat most of the time while my emotions and instincts battled it out.
"You know that''s a lie," it was that soft yet confident voice again. She held my gaze with just the same amount of conviction and certainty.
Was she accusing me of being weak? That part of me flared up again. The same part that had led me to almost die from one of Hydra''s fireballs, so... Not a good sign, but I didn''t care.
As a result, I grew angrier, and as Elias began to push me away, my shoving became more intense. Saskia''s smile never faded, even as her eyes turned purple-black for a moment, the final warning from her shadowborn patron before it acted against me. I was flung backwards by a powerful force by Elias, with Kaelen catching me with a well-timed overturned force field, just before I could do more damage and bring the wrath of an ancient alien over us.
Then, Saskia stood, patting off some dust as if nothing had happened, and it was just a friendly brawl. Her shadow loomed over me, and I could see the wolf''s figure swirling inside, a mental image that sent my mind into a weird frenzy of madness. I jolted, jumping up and righting myself before the others could see my little trip-up. I didn''t know what that emotion just now was, and if I just ignored it, then it never happened.
It was easier on my tired mind.
By now, the tree house had been built. I turned towards my companions to lead them into the wooden house, and sensed tension in the expressions of Elias and Kaelen as they carefully shielded Saskia without arousing too much attention to the fact that they were trying to protect Saskia from me. I shrugged, keeping the annoyance off my face. Elias was convinced by my mask of indifference, as he relaxed and came over.
"Terra, don''t do that again," he frowned, "Her shadowborn... patron is always watching. I definitely felt it getting angry back there."
"I won''t," I smirked, keeping my voice carefree, "It was just a welcome back present for her."
"Are you sure?" Kaelen jogged over too, Saskia following after her. She was still not convinced, and it was shown crystal clear on her face, "It didn''t seem like a present to me."
"That''s because it was supposed to be a warning, so that she would be more careful of her surroundings," my tone shifted to a more serious hue, "If she dies again, that shadowborn might not revive her again. A small present for her own safety."
Kaelen threw a force field ball at me, and I had to dodge. She then lightly kicked my leg while tossing another ball of golden light towards me. When that was all done, I had a couple scratches on my leg, but otherwise, I was fine. Other than a little bit of confusion and anger, of course. More than a little.Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
"What are you doing?" I grunted, and Elias was just as befuddled as I felt. Saskia leaned against the tree our tree house was based on, watching us with a minimally interested expression.
"Giving you a feel of what you just did to Saskia," Kaelen replied, her tone more satisfied now that she had fired off the attacks, "As well as a very minor taste of what it would feel like if we send the shadowborn into a frenzy, just like how you almost did a few minutes ago. He would absolutely destroy us if we attack Saskia again."
"He probably would," Saskia confirmed with a nod, "I''m his last hope for a vessel. He would be more than mad if I''m damaged in any way."
As we began walking up the stairs leading up to the wooden tree house, Saskia began explaining her pact with the shadowborn in more detail unprompted, "My Class was a bunch of ERROR messages, which was confusing to me and my System Workers, but with some luck involved, I was contacted by a shadowborn, the one that you met just now. It saw the stream featuring me, and it was interested. The shadowborn was very old, and its body back in its world could no longer be used, as it had broken down. The shadowborn would be dead now if I hadn''t agreed to give it my body to inhibit in exchange for its power."
It was a plausible story, but my instincts informed me that there was something she was hiding from us, that she was lying in the story she told us, but why would she lie to us when she could have just said nothing at all? It didn''t make any sense, yet my gut had never failed me throughout the period after the System''s integration, except for the time Saskia was killed.
That was a really big mistake, but...
My thoughts trailed off as we reached the door of our tree house. I inspected the door, which had a stone lock on it. There was a small line of words hovering over it, and when I concentrated on the words, a blue screen popped up in front of me.
Inject your Mana to open.
I was not certain what it meant, but I had an idea. I pressed my hand against the rough material, and brought to mind an image of my mana reserves. Then, I pictured a tube, which was attached to the stone lock, as well as the mana pool. Once I had that image firmly in my mind''s eye, I instructed the tube to suck some of that mana up and towards the stone lock. I felt someone patting my shoulder, but tuned all outside stimuli out as I focused on opening the door.
With a soft click, the door swung open, and I returned to the real world as well. I''ll have to teach the rest how to open this door later, if their mana were compatible with this lock.
I turned to see who had interrupted my attempt earlier. I found Elias, whose hand was still on my shoulder, watching on with shock as he realized that my plan had worked. He retracted his hand, an embarrassed frown twisting his face. I nodded at him, assuring him that it was fine although my insides were churning because of his lack of trust in my abilities.
I entered the tree house before anything else could happen.
It was a lot bigger than how it looked from the outside, but I supposed that it was just another magical feature. There was a decent-sized ''living room'', which had a small fireplace, a rectangular table with four chairs surrounding it and two doors leading out of the main living room. Inside the two rooms, we found two minimal bed-like structures in each room. Each ''bed'' was more like a wooden rectangular low table with a wool-like material laid out over it. I patted the wool, my palm sinking in as the warm softness enveloped me. That was out of my expectations. I thought that it would feel rough, just like how I had imagined unprocessed wool to feel like.
Maybe I was wrong... Or maybe it was just magic at work yet again.
Once we were done with the tour of the wooden house, Elias voiced the question that had been lingering at the back of my mind for a while since Saskia ''came back'' from the dead, "After this, are we going to train or find monsters?"
Before I could answer, Saskia smiled, "We''ll talk about that later, but first, we''ll have food! With the fireplace, we might have real cooked meat this time."
"You can make us some sticks, right?" Elias turned towards me, clearly eager to implement Saskia''s suggestion. Holding back a glare, I sighed.