Adventurers Guild Adventurer's Guild - Announcement Hall

Spoiler: The Marked's

Spoiler: The Original Holder

After throwing away a certain eyeball as far as possible from Nagrand, Valuren returned to his previous sleeping tree and was pleased to find his wooden charred sword still stuck in the ground. He goes over to the sword and hangs his new katana next to it, after a careful attempt to not make it fall over.


“Valuren~, take a rest, you just got shot, right?~”


Veri phases out of his body, jumping up on the tall tree they used to sleep on for the most of the time they were here near Nagrand. Valuren throws her his backpack, she catches it and puts them to where he used to store his backpack at.

Valuren was ‘shot’ at his right shoulder in his recent quest, still, he persisted on with what he wanted to do to quickly recover from his injuries, and that was by exercising his injured shoulder.


Veri pouts angrily at the stubborn boy and phased into his body, he begin his warm-ups by the usual head to toe exercise, not even a minute in, he heard rustling sounds from behind him. He turns around to find a rather tall person standing next to both of his swords, the charred wooden sword and the Japanese sword, Karma. The person began unsheathing the katana after lifting it and inspecting it for a while.


Valuren decided to speak, not wanting to wait any longer.

“U-Uhm… that’s mine, put that back!”


“Your -sword…- huh?”, the person had a rather serious tone as he begin to lift the sword thus pointing the blade toward Valuren.

“You’re talking to it’s -real owner- over here.”


A frown appeared on Valuren’s face, “Real owner…?”

He began to study the person’s air, from the looks of it, the man looks like a generic Japanese, yet, what made the person clear was his rather tanned skin color and his muscular build. On top of that, the man is really tall, possibly reaching the height of 1.9m.


In an instant, the man speeds up to attack him, Valuren had manifested his chained whip around his right arm just in time to block the blade from hitting him, “Nngh?”


“...How, -curious.-”, the man glares into Valuren’s eyes as he continue to scan his black chains whip.


“Hey, hey! What’s the hell with you?!”

The man widened his eyes for a bit after hearing a sudden female voice coming out of Valuren’s body. He focuses back to putting more force into his sword, pushing it on Valuren’s weak guard.


Valuren felt the black chains of his digging into his right arm, hurting him with the chains. He had to close one of his eyes, his left eye to be exact to showcase a pained expression to the unknown man.


“Hmph!”, the man felt no sympathy for him as he rips off a part of Valuren’s already tattered right sleeve, revealing his markings.

Another glaring, this time at both the markings and Valuren at a time.


Valuren gazes into his eyes with a frown and confused expression before he notices the blade of the katana turned red glow. The man immediately kicks Valuren away from him. Valuren managed to hold his ground for a moment, before dropping down on his back. He is still injured from the bruises and was ‘shot’ by a slug, made the injuries worse.


Valuren stands back up hurriedly as he heard the groans of the man in front of him. The man puts the sword back into its’ sheath as he glared into Valuren’s eyes with his dark colored red eyes. This made Valuren perplexed as he had gazed into the man’s dark colored eyes, and not dark colored red eyes.


“Oi, you’re also a -Marked,- are you?”, the man drops his guard and still keeping a stern glare toward him.


Valuren had his mouth open to answer but was disturbed by Veri’s angry tone, “What if we were, asshole?”


The man continue to glare toward Valuren as he hear a rather pissed off female voice from his body, he then let out a heavy sigh while still holding tightly to the steel katana.


“...So, your name was Valuren Chaan Hourtha.”


“H-How did you?”, Valuren managed to speak up, he’s really confused on what was going on.

The man lifted the katana while pointing his index finger with the hand gripping on the weapon, “I learned of it from my sword, -Karma.-”


Surprised, Valuren had his mouth agape once more as he watches the man lowering down the sword and take off the left side of his custom-made grey leather jacket, revealing a familiar ancient Japanese word that represent Karma on his left shoulder. The writings are the same as what was shown on the blade of the Japanese sword, Karma.

Valuren then heard the next words from him.


“Karma is -both,- my Mark and my Phase.”


“Phase, you say? Where is she?”

Veri phases out of Valuren’s body right after she asked the man, she looked rather irritated by the man interrupting both of her user and her precious slumber time. The man nodded as he lifts his sword toward his own head.


“Right… here…!”, yelled him as he hits his own forehead with the back of the pommel of the sword. After a few minutes had passed, the man lowers his sword again as a female voice comes out from his mouth.

“I got a lot to say to you, young man.”


‘He’ then turned toward Valuren to stare at him. Valuren bows down in an apologetic manner as he goes, “S-Sorry…”


“...Hey, you. What’s your name?”


‘He’ then turns toward ‘their’ fellow ‘Phases’, “Call me Karma, the Mood of Actions.”


“Weird title, so… you’re a Japanese sword, the Karma?”


“Yes… How about you…? You control waters, is that correct?”


“Huh?”, Veri frowns at her words, wondering about it.

Valuren interrupts the conversation, “U-Uhm… Miss Karma, Veri never had a title, she was born with only ‘Veri’...”


‘He’ listens to Valuren’s words and turns back to inspect Veri’s rather casual appearance, Veri was indeed, still thinking about what Phase Karma had just said to her earlier, “Whatever then.”


‘He’ then hits ‘his’ own forehead again with the pommel, returning back to his usual serious air, “In any case… this sword is -rightfully- mine. Got it?”


Both Veri and Valuren looks at each other, then at him.


“S-Sir…”


“Call me Karma.”


“Then… Mister Karma, about that sword…”


“What? You’re not going to get it from me.”

Veri clicks her tongue, annoyed by Karma’s rude behaviour, “Let him speak, you Karmic asshole.”


Karma only shrugged, he did not give a single thought on what Veri had just said to him. Valuren begin scratching his cheek as he asks the man a question;

“You switched souls, from the sword to the body?”


The tall man frowns at Valuren’s rather silly question, he sighed heavily before answering him with a yes. He lifted the sword, unsheathing it to reveal the red-glowing blade mid-changing color back to its' regular steel color, he continued, “She can -only- see and hear anything outside when she’s ‘unsheathed’. We could only communicate via telepathy or some direct contact.”


“Direct contact?”


“It’s easier to communicate when I’m holding onto the katana, it’s painful in the ass to concentrate telepathy.”


Valuren nodded in understanding, even though both Veri and him never had an issue communicating with each other. Karma continues to speak, still insisting that Valuren cannot have the sword.


“Unless…”


The two youngsters watched him walk over to where the wooden sword in the ground, Karma gave him a devil smug as he tosses his own katana toward Valuren. He catches the steel katana and was stunned by the sudden act.

He then felt a strong gust of wind hitting him, as he turned to look at a certain charred sword being pointed straight at him. Karma is wielding Valuren’s former sword, while wearing a way more serious expression towards the young man.


“If you can -cut off- the blade of this wooden sword, with that blade of mine.”


Veri hugs herself as she scoffs at his remark, “Hah! My Valuren will surely cut that piece of wood off ya!”, after that she phased into Valuren’s body, possibly going back to sleep.


With a serious tone, he goes, “Then, try to -appease- me with that, kid.”

Spoiler: Karma's Session

Valuren was pushed away from the sheer force from Karma’s wooden sword, trying to maintain his balance was a fail as he felt the exhaustion kicking in, he falls on the ground with his back.


“A-Aaarh… t-that hurts…”


The tall man walks over to him, giving a satisfaction smile before lending his hand to the youngster, “Kid, you’re injured but you held on long enough to even make me give the sword to you.”


Using his left hand to grab the man’s hand, he said in a surprised yet relieved tone, “R-Really, Mr. Karma?”

As Karma pulls Valuren toward him, he releases his hand just before the boy even gets to balance himself to stand up, making him fall back on the ground once again.


“Ow!”


“That was a lie, get up! You got 10 seconds!”


They continued on with their sparrings, with various time of Valuren mostly being pushed back by a half-assed effort from Karma.


“Haaarh!”

Valuren swings the katana at him, Karma only responded by re-positioning the wood blade slightly and effortlessly to make the steel blade misses the blade by a tiny margin. Unscathed from the cut, this clearly shows that Karma is a trained swordsman, a much better swords user than Valuren.


Annoyed by Karma’s amount of salts given to him during the exchanges, Valuren tried to attack once more - only to be pushed back again, with a kick to the stomach from Karma. He looked up after dropping down on one of his legs, to find Karma wiping down the dusts and dirts from the wooden charred sword.

Another salt was given to him.


Karma was charged again, this time, however, Valuren’s eyes changed colors from the usual orange-red to full red. He glared into the young man’s red eyes as he gave him as certain smug face before pushing him back effortlessly.


Valuren falls on his back again, closing both of his eyes while panting for breath. Karma playfully stabs the wood sword back on the ground but still holding onto it.

“What? -giving up-, already?”


“N-No…”


“...Then, what?”


Valuren opened both of his eyes back, the red eyes are no longer there as it reverts back to its’ original color. He jumps back up on the ground with the help of the katana, ready for more.


“I’m fine! One more time!”


Karma stops the man from charging at him by lifting his palm at him, “Wait.”

He then beginning to scrutinize the young man’s eyes, next, nodding to clear his thoughts on the matter, “So, you’re not some ordinary ‘Mark of Arms’, you’re one of those ‘Mark of Natures’, just like my old friend.”


Valuren drops his guard as he watches Karma pluck out the sword from the ground easily and swinging it around, playfully. He realises that he had to answer him, “Mark of Natures?”


“Enough talk.”


“Huh?!”, this time, Valuren is on the defense.

Valuren gasped before entering combat again, and thus, another rounds of Valuren being pushed down on the ground, gasping for breath, and continuing on with the fight against a superior swordsman.


Karma dodges Valuren sword stabs by ducking down before punching him in the guts.

“Urgh!?”, Valuren was about to fall forward, losing his consciousness over the pain of being hit on his stomach several times.


Karma chose this moment to strike Valuren on his neck with the wooden blade, only to be stopped by a tight left grip of Valuren’s, he widened his eyes to find Valuren’s red eyes staring him down. Then Valuren begin his counter-attack by lifting the steel katana to slash down the wooden sword from Karma’s grip.


Click, a click of a tongue came out of Karma.

Karma twists the wooden sword, causing Valuren’s grip on the sword loosened - giving Karma the opportunity to evade the sword slash. Valuren missed the wooden sword completely and hits the ground, his eyes turned back to his regular color and was surprised by the sudden turnabout.


Karma begin to strike again, this time by using the pommel of the wooden sword to jab into Valuren’s injured shoulder, hurting him more.


“Argh!!”, he screams in pain as his right grip on the steel katana loosened, he immediately switched the grip from right to left before falling on the ground. He’s feeling the great pain from the pommel jab on his right shoulder, causing him to pant for more breath.

Karma observed Valuren’s deep red bruises on his right shoulder, and continuously glares at him.


“It’s -Game Over-, kid. Without your -main arm-, you -cannot- withstand another clash with me!”, yelled the serious Karma as his dark colored eyes turned red from the fact that the steel katana changed colors to red glow.


“N-Not… yet!”, Valuren lifted himself one-handed, still panting for breath from the injuries - insisting on with the fight, he tightly gripping on the katana in his left hand. A heavy sigh escaped from Karma’s mouth as the man goes, “…Fine.”


“I’m going to have to -break your other arm- to teach you, on how to -give up-.”, he points the wooden sword right at him, challenging him one last time.


“Haarh!!”

Valuren manifested his black chains around the handle and the hilt of the katana before swinging it directly toward Karma’s sights. Karma widened his eyes in response due to the surprise of Valuren’s sudden movements, trying to dodge the steel katana by blocking it with his wooden sword.


He realised that he was wielding the wrong material to block a great-conditioned steel blade. The wooden sword were halved down to only leaving the handle of the wooden sword in his hand. The wooden blade falls on the ground next to him as he glared toward Valuren catching the incoming steel katana without trouble.

Valuren falls back on the ground, before losing his consciousness.


Clenching his teeth, Karma watched Valuren’s fainted body before switching his attention toward the handle on his hand. He smiled after inspecting a perfect cut on the wooden sword, “A perfect clean cut, to think of that kid to be using his own -ability- against me…”


He throws away the handle while walking over toward Valuren’s body, he then crouches down to check on the boy’s right wrist. He smiled once again while looking at his tired face before going, “What a -thought-provoking- one, Valuren.”

Spoiler: Night Meal

Valuren wakes up after feeling two senses of warmness nearby, a firecamp and the smells of tasty sweet potatoes, he sits up after finding Karma sitting across of him on a dead log he found somewhere nearby the area.


“How’s your -shoulder?-”, asked the man watching the fire in front of him.


“It’s fine now… thanks for asking, Mr. Karma.”


He nodded after hearing his words, he pats down on the dead log next to him - telling him to sit down beside him. Valuren goes over to the side of his right before taking a seat on the log, next, he gazes at the cackling fire being fire.


Karma shoves him one of the sweet potatoes he had bought from the guild’s tavern, “Eat up, don’t let it get cold.”


Valuren wipes his left hand before taking the food from his hand.

“Thanks…”, he looked down on the ground before continuing, “I… fainted, right?”


“Yep.”


Valuren let out a sad sigh.

“But.”


Valuren turns to look at him, “You managed to cut off the wooden sword, a clean cut.”, Karma turned to find a tilted Valuren gazing into his dark eyes.


“You… get to…”, he then proceeds to place his steel katana on his laps, brushing the handle and the sheath of the katana from the potatoes’ drops on it, “...have this, only -momentarily-.”


“Only momentarily?”, Valuren lifts the sweet potato to eat them.


“I’m just lending it to you, for now, eat up. Before it gets -cold-.”

Karma brushes down Valuren’s hair, rubbing his head gently while chuckling.


”A-Alright.”

Spoiler: Acting Father

Karma sighed after a good amount of watching on Valuren’s sleeping face from below, he’s sleeping on the sleeping tree as always. The only difference was that Valuren’s right arm are wrapped in black chains with his body, making sure that he does not drop the arm down the tree and of course, to prevent causing more injuries.


“Valuren, was it? What a genius bastard, even though… it was as to be -expected- from someone who had another ability.”


Gripping tightly to his sheathed katana, he can clearly hear a female voice talking into his mind, “Obviously, and to think of that boy to be using me as a throwing weapon… talk about getting harrassed!”

He patted the handle of the katana, possibly patting his Phase after hearing her whining about the sparring earlier, still watching the firecamp, currently cooking down an unfortunate hare.


“Getting -harrassed?- You’re nothing but a sword, my Phase.”


“...That’s mean! Apologize to all weapons in the whole world, [redacted]!”, he continued on brushing the katana gently, calming down his Phase.


“Sure, sure.”

Next, he unsheathes the blade, revealing its’ natural state of colors, the regular steel colors.


“-Neutral-, -good-, -evil-.”


”Yup, that’s how my ability works.”

Another sigh escaped from him as he goes in a tired voice, “How tiresome…”


He reached down for the hare meat, ripping it apart before putting them back into the fire.

“[redacted], don’t forget your own ability now.”


“You can control the wind, after all.”


Karma glares at the flames with an anticipation look.

Spoiler: Green Girl

A beautiful view of the night skies, as a woman in her early 20’s wakes up from her sleep.

“Yaawnnngh-waaa!~”


The girl have a long and beautiful green hair reaching down to her waist, and to be around 1.75m in height.

She lifts herself off her bed before clapping both of her cheeks, redness hits her cheeks as she walks around in her room to find her armour equipment, the armour was more like a custom-made iron cuirass with a vertical line of lime green in the middle of the armour’s torso. Patting the iron shoulder guards from the table in her room.


“Fuwa-wa~, time to resume my daily workout~ routine!~”, she stretches her own body as she goes to a small shrine she set up in her room, after a moment of praying, she puts on her equipments and a unique keepsake hair clip in her hair.


“Time to wake up Lord Ta’hru!~”, she leaves her room after grabbing her training sword near the door.


The scene zooms into a locket on her desk near the bed, revealing a green-haired young girl and two figures patting the girl's head and shoulders.

Spoiler: Red Flame

“Ey, lad. What’s up with that color on your hair?”


An old man asks a certain teenager walking down the streets, the teenager in question heard his words and turns around, the person was wearing a hoodie that’s clearly from a different world, the hoodie had a pattern of flames and a school badge on it. The teenager had a angered expression, seemingly annoyed by the old man’s words, but, is he?


“What the fuck do you want, old fart?”


The old man frowned, having without a single clue of what the youngster had just said, it was not in the Common language. The old man squints his eyes to inspect the young man’s appearance, realising that the boy was not a person in this world of Edhellen.


The teenager had a gradient hair color, brown on the bottom and orange on the top part of his hair, on top of that, this person is about 1.72 tall, unlikely the regular height for a 18-year old.


The old man points at his own head, which is clearly balding but some grey hair remains intact, “Your hair color, young man.”


The youngster shakes his head mid-sighing, “None of your fucking business.”

He then walks away into the crowd, and no longer to be seen in the sights of the concerned old man.

Spoiler: Veri's Wonders

Veri sits down by herself, and remembered what Phase Karma had said to her.

“Yes… How about you…? You control waters, is that correct?”


“...What do you mean by that… Phase Karma?”, she looks into her right palm, still thinking about it.


“Control… waters… What does that mean… is it like, controlling a certain amount of water nearby… or, actually creating waters?”

She tries to lift the waters from the waterskin pouch, nothing.


“...Shiro, Hatsu-baka. Mama’s. Do you know what can I do? Was I worth of anything… for my user?”, looking up in the skies, tears dropped from her face.

“Mama Shiro… what am I? Mama Hatsu-baka, who am I?”


“I don’t know anymore… what can I do… I want to help my Valuren, my love.”

Wiping down her tears off her cheeks, before sobbing after looking at the ground.


“You’re Veri, our precious ‘daughter’.”


“Huh? That… voice… Mama?”

No response, but it calmed down the girl’s heart as she smiled at nothing.

...

“...Ah, it’s about time for dawn, time to wake up him.”

Spoiler: New Casts [for now]

Spoiler: Karma [NPC]

Full Name: ???
Nickname: Karma, Mr. Karma.
Inner Soul’s Name: Karma.

Spoiler: Personal Details

Gender: Male (Inner Soul/Phase - Female)
Race: Human
Age: 30
Class: Swordsman
Height: 190 cm
Weight: 60 kg
Hobbies: ???

Spoiler: Skills

Skill Modes:

• Neutral Karma - ???
• Good Karma - ???
• Evil Karma - ???

Combat Skills:

• ???

Life Skills:

• ???

Spoiler: Karma's Appearance

Dark purple slick back-like with curtained hair mix hairstyle. Dark colored eyes (changes between Good or Bad Karma). Tall slightly muscular adult build. A tattooed ancient Japanese word for Karma appear on his left shoulder. Wears sarashi on his upper body area. Light tanned skin. Always looked serious.
Weapons:
[Equipped] -Karma- Steel Katana.
Armors/Clothing: Sarashi, tailored grey leather jacket similar to kusari, wrapped hands, black tailored pants and a hikers' shoes.

Spoiler: Phase Karma's Appearance [Inner Soul/Phase]

No appearance, just a soul in a steel katana.
Clothing: ???

Spoiler: Job Details

Affiliation: ???
Occupation: Samurai (formerly),Wanderer.
Rank: ???
Points: ???
Coins: ???
Mission Completed: ???
Mission Failed: ???
Inventory:

• ???

Spoiler: Backstory

???

 

Here come this week's quests, this time with the announcement being made by me. As @AliceShiki is having problems logging in, I am posting this in her stead.

Just like last time, you have about a day and a half left to turn in the quests from last week. The number of quests has been kept at 15 this time as well - should you consider that too few, do tell us.

With that being said, in a few minutes, the new quests should be online. I would recommend tagging @Lenaia as your receptionist if you want your quests granted ASAP, as she should be coming online more or less soon, while I will be going to sleep once this is done.

Spoiler: Member List

Staffs:
@AliceShiki @BB_Tensei @Lenaia @Magnatia @Naraku @Nurman @Quaesitor @shad12ow @Way
C-ranks:
@A5G_Reaper @Haxagen
D-ranks:
@michael.kx5 @Razogul @strikegunner @Unreachable Hope @wraith @Zero300 @Zone Q11
E-ranks:
@Adrian160596 @Aion Satria @Alcor @Amayah @Aqua Melodia @Arcturus @Arexio @Balthazzar @Bielt @Blackwater @Blitz @Clown333 @Daisydacrazy @Ddraig @Dovey @Drevart @Ejsarv @Evil Lee @Exitiumm @Fairy-chan @FallonCreziato @Fossil @Fr0stb1te @FuRen @Haitaka @Harem_lover @Hasr11 @Heckaton @Hirame @jbturkle @Kuma Desu @Kysil @kyuukestu @leegood @LittleFox21 @Lum @Miku @MrAconter @MvD @Nahrenne @nguuuquaaa @Osamaru @Otaku108 @Paradox Ribbon @PotionMaster @Ripple @rosie94hrpr @Siostar @Sir Koopa6000 @Skarmie @Skulkie @Soremad @SpearOfLies @The Everdistant Utopia @TiggerBane @Waffles2.0 @WhitesRabbit48 @Wobbly @Xalysian @Yul B Allwright @Zek

 

Not getting alert yo

 

Same

 

Seems like this post didn't trigger an alert, so I'm reposting it.

New quest batch is live everyone, sorry for the delays and stuff, NUF refused to open for me for a good amount of the day... orz

As usual, poke me if you wanna be removed from the tag list and I'll take you out ASAP~
... Ah, and if you saw any quest mega weirdly formatted... That's what happens when you copy paste stuff from Discord, no clue why, I'll fix it soon though.

Spoiler: Member List

Staffs:
@AliceShiki @BB_Tensei @Lenaia @Magnatia @Naraku @Nurman @Quaesitor @shad12ow @Way
C-ranks:
@A5G_Reaper @Haxagen
D-ranks:
@michael.kx5 @Razogul @strikegunner @Unreachable Hope @wraith @Zero300 @Zone Q11
E-ranks:
@Adrian160596 @Aion Satria @Alcor @Amayah @Aqua Melodia @Arcturus @Arexio @Balthazzar @Bielt @Blackwater @Blitz @Clown333 @Daisydacrazy @Ddraig @Dovey @Drevart @Ejsarv @Evil Lee @Exitiumm @Fairy-chan @FallonCreziato @Fossil @Fr0stb1te @FuRen @Haitaka @Harem_lover @Hasr11 @Heckaton @Hirame @jbturkle @Kuma Desu @Kysil @kyuukestu @leegood @LittleFox21 @Lum @Miku @MrAconter @MvD @Nahrenne @nguuuquaaa @Osamaru @Otaku108 @Paradox Ribbon @PotionMaster @Ripple @rosie94hrpr @Siostar @Sir Koopa6000 @Skarmie @Skulkie @Soremad @SpearOfLies @The Everdistant Utopia @TiggerBane @Waffles2.0 @WhitesRabbit48 @Wobbly @Xalysian @Yul B Allwright @Zek

 

Spoiler: Go, Swashbuckling!

"But Mika, what I'm worried about is my lack of sustainability. If I get hit so much as once, I'm effectively out of a fight."

"That's true enough, but what are you planning to do, then? Put more training in endurance so that you can afford to take more hits?"

“That doesn’t sound like a good idea somehow…”

"Very true. Unfortunately for you, if you did start dedicating effort into other aspects now, you'll only end up with a half-baked average standard. You're a human, Elaine, and your kind usually have mundane physical parameters in comparison to other races. That why, even if you take a single attribute and ran with it, you'll still be better off than improving equally across the board. That is unless, of course, you wish to stop being human."

"I think I'll stay with being human for now, Mika. I don't really find the notion of having my blood sucked and living forever very entertaining."

"While I wasn't exactly referring to a vampire, I get what you're trying to say, at least. No matter. I have some ideas in mind; go grab your stuff and meet me downstairs in the backyard in fifteen minutes."

* * * * *​

Twenty minutes later, the lessons were in full swing.

"Well, no one said that your fighting spirit had to take on the form of flames, you know. And your conclusion is correct; fire isn't really your thing."

Elaine held her cheek with a hand and remained quiet for a bit, deep in thought.

"You know about the elements."

"Well, yeah. Fire, water, lightning, stuff like that."

"But did you know that magic on a whole ties deeply with emotions? Different emotions pertain to different elements, and sometimes you can amplify magic by virtue of emotion alone. So if you feel that something doesn't work, just swap it out for something that works."

"Oooooooh…I don't get it."

"Pfffft. Of course you wouldn't understand so easily. If we all understood emotions so easily, then they wouldn't be called emotions, silly. They are fascinating precisely because they override reason and defy logic."

Seeing how lost the younger girl was, Mika allowed herself a wry smile, before they decided to temporarily change subjects. The next topic was...

"Who said you could only hold a rapier that way? Try holding it in a reverse grip."

“But, using this kind of position...Won’t it become very open to disarming attacks?”

Elaine gripped the wooden rapier awkwardly, causing the old combat veteran to guffaw loudly in amusement, before attempting to regain a straight face. It wasn’t very convincing.

"Only if you swing it like an idiot. Remember, the reverse grip is for weapons that are light and can move quickly; a rapier fits both requirements. Fighting with this method is mostly based on the movement of your wrist. Do it correctly, and people wouldn't even dare approach you to try disarming you."

Mhm mhm. Nodding, she continued with the exposition.

"Anyway, while you were correct to arrive at the conclusion that dual-wielding would greatly improve your firepower, it's best if you start with a knife on your other hand instead of another rapier. A rapier counts as a main weapon, see, so wielding two at once might be too overwhelming for you, unless…"

Mika grew quiet, causing Elaine to shift uncomfortably.

"Unless...?"

Without warning, a fist flew towards her, which Elaine just barely managed to dodge. She’d only drawn one of her practice rapiers before a flurry of strikes followed up, unrelenting in it’s furious assault.

"Mika?!"

Her senpai didn’t seem inclined to let up the attack, so she could only defend herself, focusing strongly on making all of her parrys count. Even then, Mika’s offensive was tipping the table heavily in her disadvantage, and thus she had no choice but so grab her second rapier to even the odds.

Slice slice slice slice slice slice chop. Mika ducked backwards to avoid that last hit, and ceased combat. Warily, Elaine lowered her rapiers as well.

"Wow, that's rare."

“What is?”

If not for the fact that Mika had harboured no hostility whatsoever during that small bout and held back plenty, she might have counterattacked---which would have been an incredibly foolish attempt.

"You're ambidextrous. It's almost like you were born to dual wield, but..."

"But...?"

Elaine’s following words were extremely quiet, almost as if she was afraid of the answer.

“Nothing much. I was about to say, don’t get conceited. Hubris is the undoing of many great people.”

She relaxed, her mouth reverting to a small grin of ease---relief, even. It lasted about long enough for Mika to continue speaking.

"Also---you can come out already, Alter Ego. I know enough to recognise one when I see it, so you can drop the act now. It seems quite a hassle for you yourself to keep up the pretense as well, don’t you think?"

Elaine's startled expression showed itself for a grand total of five seconds before it was masked by a polite smile.

"As expected, it's difficult to get anything past you, Mika. But still, I'm curious. When did you start suspecting me, and what exactly gave me away?"

Mika raised an eyebrow.

"Nothing much really...Except the fact that the Elaine I'm familiar with is and always has been left-handed. Ambidexterity isn't something that can be learnt, so the spar just now tipped me off a lot. And the fact that you directly called me by my name. But if you must know, I had my suspicions much earlier before that."

The Elaine lookalike groaned.

"...Was I really that obvious back there?"

"You tell me. A girl your age introducing herself with her full name, and wielding a rapier no less. Did you really think it would be difficult for me to put two and two together and realise that you're from that house, youngest daughter of Kaslana?"

"I've been found out already, even though I did my best to hide it…this is embarrassing."

"There's still more, you know. Based on our interactions, I've always felt that something was off about you, but at first I figured it was just a case of mild identity conflict. If not for that little spar just now, I might have never noticed. Very clever. Therefore, would you tell me your story as well? I can’t exactly say that I’m not interested."

* * * * *​

The same small backyard, but silent. It was hard to believe that only a few minutes ago, someone was speaking and someone had been listening.

"There, I've told you everything there is to know about me. What do you intend to do now?"

"I intend to do nothing about it."

Elaine raised her eyebrows in disbelief.

"I was led to believe that you cared quite a lot for the previous me. Why---"

Before she could go on, she found Mika's index finger on her lips, in a shushing manner.

"That's true, but it seems that I have also created a misunderstanding. I can and will protect you from others who would do you harm, Elaine. But I cannot protect you against yourself; that much should be very clear. And if I'm to be candid here, I'm quite pleased by this development."

Mika removed her fingers, and regarded the younger girl who was now staring at her with suspicion.

"Why is that?"

"Your inner nature is clashing with itself; you are aware of your old shortcomings, and are attempting to straighten them out. Whatever the results of this process to re-establish yourself, I am fairly confident that it'll benefit you quite a lot."

“You are weirder than I thought.”

Elaine pondered over the matter, and concluded thus.

“While you were mostly on the mark there, did you forget that if my better nature won out, I’ll be a very different person from what you know?”

“And which exactly is your better nature?”

The girl opened her mouth, but no answers came forth.

"You are kind and gentle, Elaine. But that wasn't the reason why I took a liking to you; if that were the case, I would have directly gone to a temple. Nuns, I am told, all tend to be kind and gentle."

As Mika had said earlier, she had been quite convincing. It would have taken someone rather close to her to noticed the small things she sometimes let slip, and even then, they might just brush it off as a small lapse.

"No, I took a liking to you precisely because you're the individual called 'Elaine'. Which is why I'll leave you to your own device, and move only to clean up any messes you make. Doing any more would be coddling, and people hate that, or so I'm told."

Alas, her target had much, much more life experience than herself. The odds had been too far apart to be bridged by deception alone, and being discovered was an inevitability. Fortunately, Mika didn’t seem upset by the little trickery at all.

"Besides, I think you're always lovely regardless of whether your hair is black or silver."

The girl looked away, pouting as her cheeks developed a faint blush.

"You're such a bad person, Mika. And here I thought that your treatment of the other me was solely because of pure affection."

"Unfortunately, my intent is nothing as pure as that, Elaine. Purity is born of innocence, and I've lost touch with that long ago. What remains is a selfish desire to protect my own companions, not unlike a beast marking its belongings."

"And mark me you did. This rune does more than allow me to discharge lightning, doesn't it?"

"Fufufu, so you've found out about it, haven't you?"

Mika casually braced her right arm against the wall and shifted closer, trapping Elaine between herself and the wall as she smirked.

"If you desire so, I can always mark you permanently, in a more direct manner. How about it?"

"Th-That's improper! To begin with, I'm only 17 this year, an-an-and I haven't...uhm…"

To the girl who was blushing furiously, Mika gave a small laugh and leaned in briefly for a small smooch on the forehead.

At least, that was the plan.

"Mhm?!"

Elaine had looked up at the wrong (or right) moment, and gasped as her lips came into contact with another. Although, to her credit, she didn't try to break away. It was the lupine girl(?) who first stepped back with a sigh, and a mischievous smile.

"The fragrance of flowers surrounds you as usual, and the closer you are, the stronger it is. It's almost sinful, Elaine. I could barely keep myself from swallowing you whole."

"I don't think you're in a position to be saying that, Mika. That was my first, too…"

"Oya? If that's the case, I can strike off an entry on the lists of firsts that you owe me...Not that it'll do much to decrease that sum~"

Thus, one could observe the dominant alpha wolf in her natural habitat, teasing the clueless, blushing fledging wolf who was just learning how to stretch her claws...just kidding.

"Just a word of advice, Elaine."

"…Yes, Mika?"

"Some things are worth holding onto, even if you think them of little use. And sometimes, we all need that little bit of chaos within harmony."

"...Mika…"

"Now now, there's nothing to be anxious about. I understand that it feels frightening, but that's just how it is; we love routine and resist change, like we always have. Here, I'll go fetch the few books I have about Dual Wielding and Rapier Wielding, and we can read them together, okay?"

Like a fool, Elaine nodded. And so…

* * * * *​

"Uhm…"

"Yes~?"

"Why are we seated like this?!"

"Is there a problem with this arrangement~?"

"Of course there is! Why am I sitting on your lap? Also, what's with this situation?!"

When it came to taking advantage of the situation, Mika was an old timer, leading to this situation where the indignant young girl was trapped secure between Mika and the thick leather-bound book.

"Stop licking my ears! It tickles!"

Although, it seems like there was more than reading being done here.

"Then, I'll lick your nose~"

"Isn’t there an option that doesn't involve licking?!"

"Mhm...No~"

It seemed like it might take a small while before any serious kind of discussion can be held, but after some light hearted bickering, one of them, who had started on a great disadvantage, had reached a complete loss, and was now reluctantly(?) settled on the laps of the content orange wolfkin.

"You have the Valorous Wasp style basics down to a pat, but that’s the dominant style for your left hand. As for your right hand, that’s a different story altogether. Do you have any styles in mind?”

“Coiling Viper and Carving Mantis both don’t seem too bad, but I kinda find Fluttering Swallowtail rather interesting as well.”

“If that's the case, why don’t we go have a hands-on experience to see which style suits you most? Better hands on experience than just theorycrafting, after all."

"Okay, I'll go get my things ready---?!"

A hand silently nabbed the girl who was planning on getting up, dragging her back down with a small yelp.

"You can get it ready tomorrow morning. It's bedtime now."

“But the bed’s too small for two---”

“Wouldn’t be an issue if we squeeze a bit.”

“This isn’t just ‘a bit’! I can’t breath, Senpai!”

“Don’t mind the small things. Good night!”

“Senpai! I---can’t---move! Don’t rub the---uhnn!”

Once again, it seems like it might take a while before either of them will go to sleep...

Spoiler: Updated Skills

Id and Superego: Because of this identity disorientation, Elaine's psyche has manifested itself into two predominant personalities, bringing with it a set of new traits. The two personalities that define Elaine; the adventurous, impulsive, thrill-seeking young girl, and the composed, elegant and practical ojou. Both are parts of herself, so the former affects the latter, and vice versa.

Pseudo Parallel Processing: Because there's technically two of her, one of them left-handed and the other right, under the right conditions, Elaine is able to achieve multitasking and by extension ambidexterity.

Float Like A Butterfly, Sting Like A Bee: The left-handler favours the Valorous Wasp stance, while the right-handler favours the Fluttering Swallowtail stance. With the pseudo ambidexterity, she can use both at once.

Valorous Wasp: One of Elaine's preferred stances, heavily focused on relentless assault. Surrounded? Attack. Injured? Attack. Attacks not working? Well...Attack harder! This stance is often used to press the attack and give the opponent no time to respond, and while simple, can be difficult to deal with because of this straightforward nature.

Fluttering Swallowtail: The other of Elaine's preferred stances, centred around parrying, countering, and defence-breaking. An adaptive utility-based stance, although it's offensive potential is nothing to scoff at if the wielder knows their stuff.

Regulus Fulminata, The King of Lightning: After correcting some flaws pointed out by Mika, Elaine's Regulus Puniceum underwent a permanent change, with the affiliated element becoming lightning and the colour scheme converting to a white-purple one. Elaine also loses the ability to manifest it independently beyond two metres of her, as well as it's former ranged capabilities, in exchange for gaining deadlier close-quarters performance.

Class: (Duelist) ---> (Swashbuckler)

 

New Quest batch is live everyone~

So uhn... A few thingies I figure I should mention somewhere.
1) I did a small cleanup on the Member List... As in, I basically removed people from it that haven't commented on any AG thread in a long while and don't really seem like they still want to play. It's not like those people can't play anymore, but I figured doing this would make the Member List a bit more accurate in showing what the playerbase is in case anyone cares to look at it.
2) I tried linking the requesters to the their appropriate wiki pages whenever possible to make it easier for new players to know if it's an old NPC or a new character... This is a bit flawed because a bunch of old NPCs don't have wiki pages yet, but I'll try fixing that~

Oh, and I finished moving (finally), so I should be able to be more active from now on~

And as usual, if you want to be removed from the tag list, just poke me and I'll take you out on the spot~

Have fun~

PS: You still have roughly 37h to finish the quests from the last quest batch.

Spoiler: Member List

Staffs:
@AliceShiki @BB_Tensei @Lenaia @Magnatia @Naraku @Nurman @Quaesitor @shad12ow @Way
C-ranks:
@A5G_Reaper @Haxagen
D-ranks:
@Blackwater @michael.kx5 @strikegunner @Unreachable Hope @wraith @Zero300
E-ranks:
@Adrian160596 @Aion Satria @Arcturus @Arexio @Balthazzar @Bielt @Blitz @Daisydacrazy @Ddraig @Fairy-chan @FallonCreziato @Fossil @FuRen @Haitaka @Hasr11 @Heckaton @Hirame @jbturkle @Kuma Desu @Kysil @kyuukestu @leegood @LittleFox21 @Lum @Moy @MrAconter @Nahrenne @Paradox Ribbon @PotionMaster @Ripple @rosie94hrpr @Siostar @Sir Koopa6000 @Skarmie @The Everdistant Utopia @TiggerBane @Waffles2.0 @WhitesRabbit48 @Wobbly @Xalysian @Yul B Allwright @Zek

 

OOC: hmmmm. May or may not have forgotten about this..

DAMN U RL

 

Finally, an overdue SS! As for the person it's perspective is from, that'll be a guess.

Warning: it's a wee bit dark.

Spoiler: ??? ---- ???

"Let's just say, for instance, that you are able to see a clock no one else sees. A countdown of seven days, ticking down by the hours, and you don't know what will happen at the end."

"Every so often, you find yourself in a white space, devoid of life save for your own. There's seven open doors floating before you, and you see nothing beyond them save more white space. But you notice that you can close one door every time you enter the space."

"On the seventh day, you are brought into the space once more, with only one more door remaining open. But, before you could move to do anything, the surroundings darken and taint, and a large horde of monsters rush out, overwhelming and killing you."

"You wake up, on the verge of a heart attack, and realise that you are lying in that same white space, with all seven doors open and your body perfectly untouched. A second chance, and you realise you have to close all the doors."

"And you find out the hard way that the doors can only be closed on the dot in set intervals, so the last door has to closed exactly at the split-second before the monsters flood the room, but it's too late. A repeat of the first time occurs, and there is nothing except vicious snarling as your body is torn limb from limb."

"Then you find out that you've been given a third chance as you wake, and your body is already sprinting to close that first door. You start paying strict attention to the time, sometimes doing nothing but stare into space for an hour, waiting for the space to show up, for the doors to close. And for the first time, you made it."

"The first monster barely manifested before the door slams into its face, closing securely. You hold your breath, afraid that it might break out and attack you, but the door remains silent. Uneasy, you peek around the other side. It's empty as always, and for the first time the space remained white. You've managed to complete the seventh day without dying."

"And then your vision darkens as you feel your legs buckling under you, and when you wake up again...the same room with the same seven open doors."

"Now, the was just an analogy. The real thing is like this; you have seven days to save the world. And you don't know what happens at the end of the seven days, except that it definitely isn't a good thing."

"Being new and inexperienced, you do your best, but in the end it wasn't enough, and as you watch the world end on the seventh day, your last thought to yourself is 'if only I did things differently', before you die in agony and your consciousness fades."

"And when you wake up again...Guess what you see? Your dead friends who perished over the course of these seven days, staring at you in the bed with concern. They don't remember dying, and in the beginning, neither do you."

"Because time resetted back to that date, jumbling up most of your memories afterwards. You only feel a faint sense of regret and sadness, but aren't sure why."

"As you fumble, you are reminded about the seven day deadline to save the world. You're not exactly sure why, but from time to time your body seems to move by itself, so you decide to let your instincts take over. You spend the seven days rebuilding your relationship with your friends, who have reverted to that neutral state like how they've initially greeted you seven days ago."

"Finally, as you reach the seventh day with your old friends once again in tow, the world ends. And this time, as you wake up in that bed with the same old faces looking at you, you remember everything. And with that precognition ability, you set out to avoid the world ending."

"And so the trial and error begins. You don't know what caused the world to end. You only know that it will end after seven days unless you find out why. So you deepen your relationship with your friends, and with their support, you begin investigating. And it takes time---a lot more than just seven days."

"Over the course of several seven days, as you work your body past the breaking point repeatedly, you discover a lot of things. Things about the people around you. Things about the mastermind. Things about how the world works. And not all of these things are always pleasant; you learn of trickery, lies and betrayal, and you are forced to put down some of your old friends who once fought on your side."

"Knowing that if you don't solve things by the seventh day, you'll wake up knowing that they'll be there, staring at your bed with the same clueless concern as always. Seeing someone whom you had to personally kill just looking at you, unaware about their futures…"

"But you forge on with your goal. You've given up too much now to stop, and you're driven by that dark curiosity---what lies at the end of all this? What exactly are you expecting to find? Like a drug, you know it's bad yet can't stop taking it, each use causing you to slip deeper."

"Remember, up to this point, I was only talking about successful runs, runs where you make it all the way to the end of the seven days. There are much more runs where you don't, see. Accidents can happen to even the careful, and sometimes it's just plain bad luck that your head was where the monster's jaws were. You die over and over and over and over again, until you've gotten so used to it that dying feels merely numbing to you."

"That's why I said it's not luck or skill that I was able to counter all of your attacks. Dying ten times, and hundred times, a thousand times…the movements become part of you even if you don't want to learn."

"And finally, you make it. You had to go through a lot of trying times, and some of the scars will never heal. Many of your old friends are gone, but those who are left behind, those who have survived, have prevented the world's ending. For the first time in what seems like forever, everyone lets loose and throws a huge blowout party to celebrate, drinking into the night. You fall asleep on the soft bed with several friends, cuddling to share the warmth."

"When you wake up the next day, happy and ready to enjoy life for what it is...Guess who you see, sitting over the bed and staring at you in concern? And for that clock which is hanging in your peripheral vision...would you like to take a guess what number it's at?"

"̶̗̓Ả̴͚t̵̟͠ ̶̥̇t̴̰͘h̴̙̔a̵̪͆t̶̻̓ ̷̤̉p̸̛̪ō̵̮ỉ̴̯n̴̞͊t̴͓̕,̷̨̚ ̸͎̽w̸̥̌h̶̛̤ą̵̈́t̵̳̔ ̶̖̓d̸̟̈o̵̩̚ ̶̢̀ÿ̵̘o̶͚͘ṳ̵͂ ̵̧͆ẃ̸̜ạ̷͋n̵̥͗ẗ̶͉ ̷̫͠t̶̲̎o̷͇͝ ̸̰̔d̴͚̃ŏ̵̞ ̵̩̍ñ̴̩e̴̡̕x̷͇̿t̸̲̓?̸̲̄ ̶̞͠I̴̱͊t̶͔̀'̶̯̀s̴͉͗ ̷͚͝s̵̖̕ẗ̶̠́i̷͚̐ĺ̷̤ĺ̸͚ ̸̢̕t̸͓̐h̷̦͠e̴͎̾ ̶̥͘s̸̹̃a̴̖͠m̴̢͂ē̸͈ ̸̙̑o̵̟̊l̵̖̀d̷̢̃ ̵̒ͅs̶̝͑e̵̙̚v̷̮̿ḛ̷̍n̸̯͐ ̷͕̈́ď̷̡a̵̞̾ỵ̵̈s̶̼̚,̴̣͝ ̵͙̂a̶̘͐l̶̡͐ĺ̷̰ ̵͓̽ọ̵̈v̸͇̅e̴̦͝r̷̭̉ ̷̣̓a̵̖͝g̴͎̀ä̶͍́i̶̭̒n̸̡̓.̶̳̔"̵͕̌
̸̩́
̶̺̑
̵͈̇"̵͔͑N̴̯̚o̷̥̊ ̸͍̉m̴̬̀a̸̛̞t̷̗̓t̵͎̅e̸̻͗r̶͕̒ ̶͂͜w̴͔̄h̴͎̾à̵̜t̷͚͑ ̷͓͝y̴̡͌o̶̟̓ù̸̠ ̴͍̎ḏ̷̽o̸̩͛,̷̳̅ ̸̽ͅt̷̻̍h̸̫͆e̸̼̓ ̵̢̌w̸̛̭ö̵͇́r̸̰̍l̸̟͑d̶̮͝ ̴̳͛r̸̢̋e̶̪͒s̸̩̑ḙ̶̊t̷̆͜s̸̬̎ ̷͇͝o̴̬͒n̵͚̆ ̸̹͆ȅ̵̖ṉ̶̉d̵͍̑ ̷͇̿o̸̦͑f̴̟̋ ̷͉̋t̴̪̋h̷͔̒e̸̤̾ ̵͔̎s̸̰̔e̴̫̚v̶͙̀e̴͕͛n̵͖͆t̸̰̂h̷̨́ ̶͔͆d̶̺̚ȧ̷̫y̸̢̋.̷̙͝"̸͕͘
̸̓ͅ
̸̲́
̵̢̅"̸̻̓Ȉ̴̱f̴͂ͅ ̴̧̔y̷̼̒ó̵̡u̸̼͂ ̸̤̉d̷̗̕i̷̺̎e̶̖̿,̴̼̑ ̶͇͋y̴̯̽ǒ̶̖u̶̗͑ ̴̡͊ȓ̸̠ẻ̴̯s̸̞̓e̴̻̊t̴̹͐ ̵̨̉t̶͉̓o̴̱̚ ̶͉͌t̸͉̀ḣ̸̹e̸̪̚ ̴͎̅f̴̛̪i̵͈̅r̸͕̈́s̸̜̔t̸͓̔ ̵̱̽d̵̛͇a̶̖̿ẏ̷͕.̸̮̀"̶̺͛
̷̨͝
̷̠́
̴̗̿"̴̰͗Ā̶͉n̴͈̓d̵͕̔ ̷̞͗ẃ̸͉h̴͔͘ě̷̡n̷͍̈́ ̴͔̊y̶͎̑ö̸̘́u̵̹̚ ̵͇̆ṙ̵͍ḙ̸̇s̴͈̓é̸̱t̸̛̗,̵̳́ ̷̰͘y̴̡̋o̷̫̓ṷ̶̅r̷͓͑ ̵̊ͅr̴̼̂e̶̯̽l̸͇͒ḁ̷̑t̴̳͆i̸͓͆ȍ̶͈n̶̩̽s̴̺͛ḧ̵͔i̶̩̐ṗ̷̜s̷̳̒ ̸̬̚w̷̛̳i̴̗̔t̵͇͘ȟ̵͙ ̷̡̎y̶̨̑o̷̟͝u̵̱͘r̶̥͗ ̶̪͌c̷̮̚l̷̪̄o̷̭͋s̶̯̑e̶͔͑ ̴̡̇f̵͕̀r̷̪͆i̸͔͘e̶̼͒n̴̪͂d̵̠͋s̴̲̐ ̸̳̆ā̵̢l̶̥̉ļ̶̔ ̴̃ͅg̸̣̔e̵͓͒t̵̟̿ ̴͉̓ț̸̄â̶̡k̵̠̇e̵͉̅n̶͑͜ ̶̝͆b̷̝̎ȃ̷̙c̷͚͠k̶̑ͅ ̸̤̄t̴͚͂õ̵͕ ̶͍̉t̷̥̂h̶͙̍e̶̦͛ḯ̷̭r̶͔̕ ̸͉̕o̶͕͒ŕ̵͎i̸̘̿g̸̖̈́ì̵̮n̵̞͗a̴͚͠l̵͕̀ ̷͓̾v̴̡̈́ä̴͔́l̶̻̽u̵͚̔ë̵̘s̸͙̉.̸̠̒"̷̫͆
̷̘̄
̸̨̆
̷̪̕"̴̮̈F̶̙̿i̵̼̚n̴͙͝a̵͕͌l̵̖͐l̸̬̃ý̴̡,̶͍͘ ̸͔̿ņ̷͛ơ̴̠ ̴̻̈ǒ̵͇n̶͔͋è̴͚ ̵͍͂r̶͔̾ȇ̵͎m̶̳̕ĕ̷̩m̶͓̔b̶̗͌e̵̙͠r̵̫̿ś̸̮ ̸̭̚a̴̬̚n̸̝̓y̷͙͝t̵̝̀h̶̞̉ḭ̸̏n̷̝͗g̵̠̃.̵̲̈́ ̸̼̈́N̵̩̓o̸̍ͅ ̵̖͗ỏ̴̝n̶̨͒è̵͕ ̸̙̇e̵͍̋x̴̟̾c̴̞̔ê̴̙p̴̋ͅt̶͔͂ ̴̙̚ỵ̸̐o̵̖͝u̵̥͌.̷͖̅"̶̍ͅ
̶̠̓
̵̖͝
̷̺̍"̵̭͘D̵̘͑ė̶̢s̴͕̍t̶̤̃ŗ̴̒ȏ̴̼ỵ̸̾ ̵͙̊t̵̟̄ḧ̸̥ë̴͎́ ̵͇̕w̸̟̕o̶͇͑r̵͎͒l̸͓̈́d̸̩̕ ̴͓̈́ẇ̸ͅī̴̟t̵̻̓ḧ̵͈ ̴̹͆y̵̢͗o̴̪͌u̶̖͠r̵̥͆ ̵̻̄o̶̭͋w̵̖͑n̶̹̄ ̴͍̍h̶͔̉a̸̛̭n̸̻͗d̶͓͠s̵̛̥?̸̦̃ ̸̥̋Ṡ̷͎u̵͙̎r̶̗͘ě̸͕,̴̣͐ ̴̰͗g̴̬̈o̷͇̔ ̸͚͗a̷̜͌ĥ̶̭ë̸̳a̴̼͛ḑ̶͝-̸̖̉-̷̢͠-̸̖͠i̸͎̍t̶̛̜ ̵̢̐j̶͉̽u̴̜̔s̵̬̆ẗ̴͖́ ̵̧̐ȑ̸ͅe̶̿ͅŝ̶͉e̴̙͆ṫ̸͍s̷̮̚ ̶̖̐t̶͕̀o̶͍͗ ̶͓̉ṯ̵̅h̶̳͒ẻ̷̻ ̵͔͋f̸̙͋i̴͙͑r̷̤̾s̶̱̃t̵̮̓ ̴̠̎d̵̨̅a̵̟̓y̴̦͛ ̶̭̑à̶̳n̸͔͆ẙ̸͉w̸̺͗ȧ̵͔y̸͓͒.̵̦͌"̸̛̖
̸̪͗
̸̛ͅ
̴̠͊"̵̤̍F̸͉̄ĭ̴̪n̴̜͒d̵̛͇ ̴̟̚s̸͚̓ȏ̵̪m̸̡͌e̸̡͌t̸̛͈h̵̰̕i̴̞̾n̷̺͝g̴̤͝ ̶͇͆i̶͜͝n̶͇̆t̷̤̅e̸̻͂r̴͚͗e̵͚͠s̷͙̓t̸̩͆ǐ̵͔n̷̩͛ḡ̴̰ ̷͍͝t̴̨̅o̴̥̊ ̵͚̏ṗ̶͔a̷͈̽s̸͈͂s̶͖̆ ̶̣̇t̸̜̑h̵͓͋e̶̻̐ ̶̠̂t̴̛̟i̵̩̋m̶̯͌e̵̡̋ ̵̧͐w̸̰̔i̵̘̓t̷̡͝h̵̻̅ ̸̥̿a̸̳͝s̷͍͒ ̴̥̓y̵̜͗o̴̳͂ů̴̗ ̷͍̇l̷̮̈i̸̺͌v̴͉̔ḛ̶̆ ̴͖͒p̶͚̋a̶̹͘š̴̢t̸̗͌ ̸̧̍t̵͍͐h̸̥̕é̴̤ ̸͎̊s̶̨̆ë̴̝́v̷̮̉ê̸̺n̶̟̒ ̷̢̎d̴̪̒ă̵̮y̸̼̌s̶̱̓?̴̤̅ ̸̱̑G̵̓͜o̸̦͂o̸̜͊d̷̬͛ ̷̘̒l̶̙̈́ū̵͇c̴̻̈́k̶̢͗.̵̥̓"̵̥̊
̵̯́
̴̦͌
̴͔̿"̸̝̊Ś̴̢p̵̖̍e̵̻̓n̷̝̾d̴̹̑i̸͚͗n̶̪͒g̴̩̓ ̸̺͋q̴̨̄u̵͙̓a̶̰͝l̸͙͌ĭ̵̡t̶͉͝y̷͎̍ ̷̙̍t̵̮͘i̵̮̕m̴̯̀ê̷ͅ ̵̖͋w̶͚̅i̸͚̚t̶̞̀h̶̯̃ ̵̖͂ỹ̴̙ȯ̸̜u̷̮̓r̸̤̿ ̷͙̎f̸͖͝ą̷̏m̴̟̚i̸̠̇l̷̤̃y̶͓̒?̵̹̑ ̸̟̒W̶̭͘o̷̤͝ń̸̬'̸̜͠t̵̙̄ ̵͙̕ẗ̸̫h̷̫́a̴̬͊ț̵̂ ̴̪̎j̴͉͠u̵͚͆ș̵̋t̴̢̚ ̷̲̅h̷͔̅ŭ̷̟r̸̮̉ẗ̶̺́ ̶̯̏m̸̼̎ȏ̷͙ŕ̷͓e̸͚̎ ̵͇͂o̴̩̊n̶̖͝c̶͚̾è̸̖ ̵̻̊ỷ̵̝o̴̟͑u̵̜̍ ̷͓͊g̶̠̉e̶̛̙t̷̤̀ ̴̺̆r̵̪̂e̶̩̓s̷̬̅e̷̫͑t̵̳̓t̶̢͗ė̴͎ḑ̷̓ ̸̰͌a̵̩͝ṉ̴̕d̸̄͜ ̵̯͠r̵̖̚e̷̺͛a̵̖̒l̵̤͌i̶͍͘s̷̼̀e̵̗͑ ̵͓́t̷̟̿ḣ̶͈a̶̬̕t̴̲̀ ̶͕͑ǹ̸̙ọ̶͛ṅ̶̙e̸̪̊ ̵̠̍ȏ̴͖f̷̺̅ ̸͉̔i̶͉͌t̶̞́ ̶̭̇à̶̠c̸̳̽ť̵̺ǘ̵͔a̴͕̕l̷̖̊l̴̲̚y̵̩̅ ̷̢̑h̶̀ͅa̷̛̫p̸̩͐p̴͇̈́e̴̳͝n̵̹̈́ẻ̴̼d̴̛̘?̸͉̀"̴̺͑
̸̝́
̷̨͋
̸͕͗"̷͈̒.̶͉͘.̵̗͒.̵̟̍.̶͖͑.̵̼̊.̴̠̆"̸̨̇
̴̞̌
̴̛͜
̸̭̕"̸̳̊.̷̮̕.̴̥͌.̸͚͊.̵̞̈́.̸̝̕.̴͎͂"̴̥̀
̵͛ͅ
̸̘̓
̶̠̐"̵͓̽.̴̥̊.̸͓͆.̸̨̀.̵̟̅.̸̠͂.̵̧͛"̶̛̰
̷͔͆
̴̛͓
̷̙̓"̶̝̃Ş̴͆o̵̱̍.̵̻͝.̵̭̾.̶͕̅f̴̲̒ò̶̦r̵͍͠ ̸̖̈́t̶̖̎ȟ̸̬e̸̮̾ ̷̨̿s̷̝̓a̵͕͒k̴̆͜e̵͇̿ ̴̖̀ȯ̶͎f̷̹̍ ̷͓̾m̵̰͘y̵̳͠ ̵͕̀s̷̮͝a̶̝͠n̵̳̿í̷͙t̷̞̽y̵͈̍…̷͓͂"̸̇͜
̴̧̎
̸͈͛
̷̣͗D̷̘͗i̸͓͛e̸̿ͅ.̷͎̀ ̴̭͝A̷̖̓n̷̼͋ḍ̷͘ ̴͔̍s̷̰͘c̴̮͂r̷̨̎ë̶̪́a̷͎͗m̴̺͂ ̶͉͘a̷̧͆s̴̥͐ ̴̻͊ẙ̴͓o̵̱̒ů̷̗ ̸̧͝d̶͑ͅo̴͛͜.̸͖̓
̵̙̂

Spoiler: Clean Version

"At that point, what do you want to do next? It's still the same old seven days, all over again."

"No matter what you do, the world resets on end of the seventh day."

"If you die, you reset to the first day."

"And when you reset, your relationships with your close friends all get taken back to their original values."

"Finally, no one remembers anything. No one except you."

"Destroy the world with your own hands? Sure, go ahead---it just resets to the first day anyway."

"Find something interesting to pass the time with as you live past the seven days? Good luck."

"Spending quality time with your family? Won't that just hurt more once you get resetted and realise that none of it actually happened?"

"......"

"......"

"......"

"So...for the sake of my sanity…"

Die. And scream as you do.

 

Procrastinating mode.

Spoiler: Catherine's daily life

"...do take care!"

Cutting off the link to the construct, I stretches my arms and take a break from the musty old tomes. Currently I'm staying at a rather obscure village in the Empire, the local lord coming from a duke's lineage but have long since fallen nearly all the way to the bottom. Such families are prime targets to gather information, you see. The only thing they can be proud of is their history so they'll be doing their all to make sure it's not forgotten. That means ancient records, dating all the way to the Dragon War. Unlike the still-powerful, however, they're a lot more flexible with allowing travelling scholars to peruse their record. Especially with gold pieces greasing the deal. To think that these guys turned me away eighty years ago, time sure is powerful.

Obviously, this isn't the first time I'm doing this kind of things and hopefully not the last. Usually it doesn't offer anything directly, but from time to time I find details of powerful houses destroyed during the war. Outpost of the Order or one of the Association's mage tower. Locations where dragons fell. Old legend of some Saeth the Scaleful or similarly pompous lizard names terrorizing a particular province. Analyzing those and doing some field survey have revealed forgotten castles and tombs, dragon graveyards, lairs, stuff like that.

Manmade structures tend to have wealth stored. I must've ran into dozens of those over the years, and while those abandoned are usually stripped clean any that fall to dragonfire can still be dig out. Having unquestioning manpower sure help in that matter. Enchanted items, coins, even information at times, that's my entire foundation of wealth. But all that, is merely means to an end.

And here comes the topic of dragons. I suppose I'm a bit obsessed with it, coming to power just a scant few decades after their kind have been driven to near extinction. By then all the good materials are ruined, ignoramus turning the bones and scales into sword and armor. Such waste, all those potential shattered and the smidgen of what left lauded as legendary equipments. Imagine, if you will, the strength of a dragon raised from the dead? Without any mortal flesh inhibiting its true potential. Each piece of bone enchanted with runic carving-

-I'm rambling again, yes? It happens when you get to my age. I've read everything in here, another dead end. I suppose I really should visit another lead the guild so helpfully discovered a few weeks back. Nyllia, wasn't it? There's no report for a while, so that thing probably still doing its elemental stuff. But someone will eventually be sent there if the Abyss start overwhelming the Tower, I should be quick.

I close the tomes and bid farewell to the host, mounting on a horse I've purchased from the local stable. As inefficient as it is, too many questions will come up if I use my preferred transportation. Necromancers aren't as widely accepted, these days. Shame how magic declined, but I suppose it was an acceptance born out of necessity. The Dragon War is one for the sake of survival after all.

I travels to an out of the way wilderness where the road turns into vague paths on the grasses. Several layers of magical detection reveals no people nearby so I stop and bring the horse to a copse of trees. Here's where I left my own ride, but I can't leave the horse around either. Standard treatment for it.

"Thanks, buddy. Have a good sleep."

I pat the beast of burden, channeling my mana through my fingertips. It visibly ages as it sit down, before finally laying on an eternal rest. The magic doesn't stop and continues to eat into the horse, its skin sagging and decaying at visible speed before all that left are the bones. And not long after, not even that. It doesn't feel pain during the process, only a sudden and rapidly setting weariness in its whole being. Can't have the target making a ruckus after all.

"Mmm, good enough. Come, Arach."

What comes out from the camouflaging tarp is a large, arachnoid construct made out of bones. It have a flat base with eight legs, each having two joints, circular flat body, and symmetrically placed four arms around it. Underneath is a multitude of spare limbs stored in cage-like slots, where it only need to discard whatever damaged part and grab a new one on the fly. Honestly, if something like this skitters to a town it'll be shot at with no question asked so I have to make sure only using it away from civilization.

I took great care personally carving each pieces so that it fits seamlessly as a whole. I design it with combat in mind, and it's amazingly good at that. The upper limbs are capable of near universal movement and have enough variation of spares to either pierce, smash, or grab at stuff. The legs can still function if at least two at each side remains, and it have spares too. It's capable of rapidly moving in a circle to cover damaged part, not to mention how fast it could sprint in one direction to avoid encirclement. The body is made out of interlocking layers of bones - think ribs - and an imbrication of thin pieces like jigsaw puzzles propped up by equally thin and numerous upright pieces. The former redirects piercing attack away from the core while the latter diffuses blunt strike instead of straight up breaking the whole thing, making it highly resilient to physical damage.

And finally the core. It's at the very center of the body, a pebble-sized gem attuned to myself capable of storing mana and imbued with carvings to instill some baseline behavior that it can never go against. Just in case someone tries to hijack my creation. The gem is covered with a layer of cartilage that basically doubles its size, and further coated in two more layers of imbricated plates which is then further layered by solid bones. Unless a single blow can pulp the entire construct, it'll last through a ridiculous amount of beating no matter how one-sided.

The construct drags out a wagon from the copse. A pair of skeleton comes out of it to fold and store the tarp, clean the seat a bit, before finally storing themselves in a chest. Satisfied, I take a seat and mentally issues a command to Arach. From here to Nyllia, I just need to go south. The border patrol should be nonexistent near the abyss, so I'll take that path.

*****

"Mmm. It's a big guy, yes? Not a dragon, unfortunate. But it was a big drake. Maybe larger than mine?"

Currently, I'm looking at a massive darkness elemental. What's unique about it, however, is the reptillian bones that funtions as a base to its shape. Perhaps that's what make it considerably stronger than the other elementals, holding its own against several giants of light despite having a damaged form.

I'm waiting for the incoming reinforcement. My biggest creation, in fact. Literally. It's a pale imitation of my final goal but it should suffice for this purpose. It's close, so should be about...

"Now."

It's night, otherwise it'll cause mass panic. A titanic creature slammed down nearby, causing minor quake through the area. Appearance-wise, it certainly qualifies to be called a dragon. Towering about fifteen meters tall, its a pale-white skeletal dragon with two heads and two pair of wings. Any expert would realize that the wings belonged to wyverns and the heads are slightly different, one a drake and the other, well, wyvern's. It's a missmatch piece I kludged with several large speciments, but even with that it possess raw power unmatched by most other things in the known world. It will suffice, for this.

Generally, killing an elemental boils down to one thing; scatter or destabilize its element and it'll implode by itself. Well, this particular one is closer to the Tower than the Abyss, fueled by whatever instinct driving them to destroy the opposing element. That means it will not replenish easily, no matter how deep its reserve are. Then there's the big stick I brought over, a skeletal dragon wreathed in deathly mana. Darkness and necromancy overlaps, at times, but elementals does not mix with each other no matter how similar.

My creation lunged at the thing, their aura clashing and corroding each other. It'll be my victory even if I doesn't interfere, the darkness elemental already weakened over the weeks, but life isn't fair that way. Besides, it wouldn't do to ruin those pristine bones. I raise a hand and points at the struggling elemental, particularly at one of its thigh.

"Disconnect."

There's an audible pop, even at this distance. The thigh came halfway out of its socket, and my draconic construct is synced to rip it out of the elemental. That isolate a portion of the darkness mana from it, which is rapidly corroded until it's gone. I repeat the same maneuver several times, taking the creature apart piece by piece before finally the last wick of darkness is expulsed out of the bones.

"Grab those, let's go."

There's no need for verbal command, really, but sometimes I've got the whim to order my creation around. The dragon grab on the bones before flying off east, where I have one of my base at the mountain range in Ternus. Speaking of which, I'll pass by Nagrand to get there. Perhaps I should drop for a visit? I've been away for quite a while.

 

New quest batch is live everyone, on schedule for a change~

So glad to have finished moving and actually have time to sit down and do this~

Oh, right, I totally forgot to say this last week, but @Magnatia is now a receptionist too, feel free to tag her if you want for your quests~

And uhn... We'll deliver the rank up quests for the people in need sometime this month, okay? And a reminder to everyone that we don't really keep track of how many points each person has for the most part, so please poke us once you reach rank-up requirements, alright? Otherwise we might totally miss you.

For anyone that didn't clear their quests from last week yet, you have roughly 40h left to do it.

Have fun, everyone~

Spoiler: Member List

Staffs:
@AliceShiki @BB_Tensei @Lenaia @Magnatia @Naraku @Nurman @Quaesitor @shad12ow @Way
C-ranks:
@A5G_Reaper @Haxagen
D-ranks:
@Blackwater @LittleFox21 @michael.kx5 @strikegunner @Unreachable Hope @wraith @Zero300
E-ranks:
@Adrian160596 @Aion Satria @Arcturus @Arexio @Balthazzar @Bielt @Blitz @Daisydacrazy @Ddraig @Evil Lee @Fairy-chan @FallonCreziato @Fossil @FuRen @Haitaka @Hasr11 @Heckaton @Hirame @jbturkle @Kuma Desu @Kysil @kyuukestu @leegood @Lum @Moy @MrAconter @Nahrenne @Paradox Ribbon @PotionMaster @Ripple @rosie94hrpr @Siostar @Sir Koopa6000 @Skarmie @The Everdistant Utopia @TiggerBane @Waffles2.0 @Wobbly @Xalysian @Yoko Hagihara @Yul B Allwright @Zek

 

Part 1 of what happened to Lethe during the long absence. (Still trying to find the other half of what I wrote...)

Spoiler: The Quest that was Supposed to be Completed...

Task: Death In The Family
Requester: Count Chocolove
Quest Rank: E-Rank
Rewards: 11 Large Copper Coins
Description: Count Chocolove has been reflecting as of recent, and what he found was fear within. He now believes there's a family curse affecting all men above the age of 30, causing madness and eventual death. The Count is quite afraid of this curse, and would like to consult with an expert, but doesn't know where to find an expert in curses who could dispel his worries. He's also quite busy. Find a curse expert who specializes in this particular problem.

Spoiler: The Masters of the Dark Element

Lethe realized shortly that he, in fact, did not know a single expert on curses or such. With a sigh, Lethe decided his best course of action was to wander around, talk to others, and hope for the best.

His first stop on his tour to collect information was to the merchants’ area: one of them might have stumbled across a curse master or rumors of one in their extensive business travels. Well, it was that and the fact that he was literally standing right next to it…

“Lethe!” called an overly excited female voice before the little rabbitkin got two steps into the rest area.

He turned towards the voice to see an ecstatic Imelda (the wife of the leader/real boss of the Silver Smith Merchants) bouncing his way.

“I knew it was you! I could never mistake such a cutie!” Imelda continued after glomming onto the small adventurer. “So, what brings you here? Are you going to travel with us again!”

“Imelda, Imelda dear, I think you’re goin’ ta crush the poor boy if you don’t let him go soon…” came another familiar voice as a shadow was cast over the pair.

“Haaarooold! I’m not even hugging him that hard! Look!” she said swinging the resigned Lethe around to face her husband. “He’s perfectly fine, right?” Imelda continued as she looked down at Lethe.

At the moment, all Lethe could manage was a small nod. He had been subject to more ferocious huggers, so Imelda wasn’t really that bad in the grand scheme of things…

“All the same, my dear, best let the boy down so we can hear what he has to say,” Harold said in both a soothing and doting voice.

“Fiiiiine!” Imelda acquiesced albeit pouting as she finally released the poor adventurer.

After making a small attempt to straighten his clothes, Lethe looked up at the two merchants.

“Know any exp’rts on curses?”

“Hmmm…Curses ya say? Well, I’ve heard of a bi-annual showdown happenin’ near The Abyss for Masters of the Dark Element, but not sure if any of ‘em are experts. You know anything, dear?”

“I figure that’s probably your best shot, little cutie. Unless you want to look for Agusto Maximus of East Orleans. Granted, no one knows where East Orleans is or what Agusto looks like, you could always try? I’m pretty sure he’s just a fairytale used to terrorize the young ones into obedience though…”

Lethe instinctively shuddered at the mention of Agusto Maximus of East Orleans. Regardless of the fact that he didn’t remember the first thing about the tale, Lethe decided he would much rather risk the showdown than search for the mysterious master from East Orleans.

“When’s th' showdown?” Lethe proceeded to ask.

“Ah, um, those Masters of the Dark Element use some sorta weird calendar, but I’ve heard that they’re plannin’ on holdin’ it the next ‘Tenebrus’ at some sort of lounge about the south of The Abyss. In normal folks’ terms, it’s happenin’ in eight days’ time. Not sure about where the lounge is though, or why it’s being held in a lounge in the first place…”

“They’re probably pretty old, darling. Can’t blame them for settling down with age, can you? Remember how Grannie’s joints are now that she’s older? Even if they’re masters, they can’t stop time!”

“Right, as usual, my dear,” Harold responded looking at his wife dotingly before giving her a smooch.

Lethe turned to wander around and see if he could figure anything else out about this supposed showdown while the couple was caught up in acting extra lovey-dovey. Only after, of course, muttering a soft thank you to the two oblivious lovebirds.

After having visited and chatted with many a merchant, Lethe finally had a better idea of the so-called showdown: It was to be held in a lounge literally called South of The Abyss which, strangely enough, was in the city of Asphodelus. Apparently, the owner had some sort of weird of obsession with The Abyss…

As far as the Masters of the Dark Element went, no one really knew much. They were kind of weird and shady hermits with too much time on their hands from what Lethe had heard. As a side note, they also dressed in large, black cloaks whenever there was a gathering. This mode of dress had gotten them in trouble more than once with the city guard and Zarek, the captain of the guards.

Armed with sufficient information, Lethe figured it was time to strike out towards Asphodelus to find these suspicious Masters of the Dark Element.


A “short” hitchhike or two– okay, maybe three– later on some merchant caravans Lethe finally arrived at his destination. Hopefully, none of those HEM sympathizers remembered him from his last jaunt in Asphodelus… If they did, well, running was always an option, right?

Thankfully, luck seemed to be on Lethe’s side for once and he made it to South of The Abyss with no issues. He just took a few rabbit naps here and there to recharge and lie low. After all, one can never be too prepared when dealing with mysterious organizations that have questionable fashion sense.

From the outside, South of The Abyss looked like any other retro-demon theme lounge. It even gave off that slightly offensive cultural appropriation vibe that many humans said made the establishment feel “more authentic.” Lethe was a little horrified that such a place still existed, but work was work, so he headed inside to gather some info.

“Hey, laddie! Haven’t seen a beastman like you in quite some time! Welcome, welcome!”

After nearly tripping over the closest barstool and dropping the mug he was drying, the human man– who appeared to be the owner and only occupant of the lounge– erm, pranced over to Lethe.

“What can I do for ya? Food, drink, trivia? Oh, I know, carrots! Ours are the freshest in the whole city! You won’t regret it! We even…”

Lethe stared at the rather portly, balding man as he continued to ramble on. He seemed a little desperate in his attempts to get Lethe’s business. Guess racially offensive business don’t do as well as they used to.

“Know anything’ ‘bout th’ Masters of th’ Dark Element?” the petite adventurer asked, cutting off the man’s endless rambling.

“You! How?! How do ya know about that?! I don’t, I don’t know nothin’ about them!”

Given the man’s complete inability to lie, Lethe gave him a look. The man flinched.

“Oh-oh-okay. Fine. I’ll tell you about ‘em. Only if ya buy somethin’ though! I don’t do freebies here!”

“’ll buy a carrot.”

The man then quickly shuffled back to the kitchen to get a carrot to exchange with the young adventurer. A large clatter and a few choice words later, the man returned dried looking carrot in hand.

“Here! Now, pay up! One Large Copper!” the owner said, shoving the carrot in Lethe’s face.

Lethe turned away in disgust. There was no way such a carrot was worth a Large Copper!

“No carrot. Take th’ money ‘n just give me th’ info.”

“Fine, fine. I admit this one’s rather lackluster. Just grabbed the first one that came into ma sight though. I’m sure we have some better ones. Lemme go back there an’ check.”

“No need. Just wan’ s’me info, please.” Lethe responded slowly with a slight grimace. He was almost positive all the carrots back there were exactly the same as the one he had just been shown.

“Well if that’s what ya really want, I’ll tell ya what I know. But don’t go around saying that they don’t give ya what ya pay for at South of The Abyss! I tried an’ ya said no! Just remember that!” the man sputtered out before grabbing the coin with his sweaty, grubby hand.

Wiping his hands on his apron and sliding the coin into his pocket, the man continued: “As far as I know, they have secret meetin’s all around but only a showdown every other year here. The next one’s tonight actually. Ya can tell who they are by the oversized, black cloaks. That’s all I really know. They rent out this entire place an’ pay me good money to stay outta their way, so I don’t really know what they do in here.”

…Lethe wasn’t sure whether he wanted to laugh or cry. All the man had said was information the rabbitkin had already known before even making it to Asphodelus.

“…nothin’ else?”

“Uh, well, they order a few casks of Whittle Briars’ Mead? Oh, an’ a few plates of pastries from the local bakery. Don’t know why though. They ordered food from here for the first meetin’, but never again after that. Guess they have no appreciation for fine, fresh food made by yours truly.”

“M’kay. Thanks…” muttered Lethe trying not to roll his eyes at the man’s complete obliviousness.

“Ya sure ya don’t want me to go fetch another carrot? Don’t want ya goin’ round sayin’ I cheated ya!”

“No, s’ okay.” The adventurer shook his head vigorously while slowly backing towards the door. There was no way on Edhellen he was taking that carrot with him. As soon as Lethe felt the door behind him, he swiftly turned and strode out as fast as his little legs could take him.

----------

Unfortunately, luck decided it wanted nothing to do with Lethe the second time he went to wander around Asphodelus.

“’ Ey you! You’re dat whelp from Bendon’s Mead and Ale that messed wit’ Garth! Ya better get back ‘ere so I can give ya the beatin’ yous was askin’ for last time!”

Not prone to letting others beat him because they lacked all sense, Lethe turned to make an escape. Just as he turned, though, his stomach started to feel queasy… Oh dear. Looks like he wouldn’t be getting a beating or learning any more about the Masters of the Dark Element. No sooner than the thought had crossed his mind, did Lethe disappear from where he was standing.

“’ ey, ‘ey! Where’d ya go ya little twerp!” the HEM sympathizer continued yelling about for the rabbitkin who had just up and vanished right before of his eyes.

----------

Lethe knew exactly what was going on: Random Teleport had activated. Looked like Count Chocolove wouldn’t be hearing about Lethe’s findings any time soon…

First things first, Lethe had to figure out where exactly he had landed. Hopefully nowhere too dangerous, right?

 

Spoiler: A duel and some training

The two arrived outside of the city on to the plain Tera was sleeping on a large rock.

"I see we have a witness. Good.
Lets us get started then."
She motioned to Jun, and he went towards another rock, sitting and curiously watching what the two ladies were doing.
Rei bowed once with her left hand clasped over her right fist and took a defensive stance.
She wanted to observe Kathicia's fighting style first.
A small grin was forming on her lips, the initial anger replaced by excitement.

"Weapons or no weapons?" Kathicia says whilst shrugging off her sword belt and removing her cheongsam.
Tera rolls off his rock over towards the Varg wolf.

"With, my body itself is my weapon.
Let's have some fun, shall we?"
Rei's grin was already wide enough to cover her face from end to end, her sharp canines peeking out.

"Fine then!" Kathicia pulls out two of her daggers and gets into her martial stance whilst slowly approaching Rei.

Rei started circulating Ki throughout her body, triggering the physical enhancement and waited to see whether Kathicia will get within range, or throw her knives.

Kathicia continued to come closer and just before arriving in her punch range she punched and the chain pinned into her arm flahsed forwards towards Rei.

Caught a little by surprise, Rei dodged the chain by a small margin by leaning and performing a side-step to the left.
Right, can't forget about those
"My turn"
She kicked the ground from her position, and stepped-in right before her opponent's torso, her fist already in a position to strike.
She twisted her body, releasing a short karate mid-height punch.

After having missed the strike Kathicia dropped the dagger into the position at slightly below head height. After Rei got into striking distance she immediately leaped away from her. Whilst throwing one of her daggers towards Rei's hand.

Slightly twisting her hand mid-strike, Rei repelled the incoming knife using her arm guard.
Not bad, her reaction time shows battle experience.
Let's see how she reacts under pressure.
Rei chased after her, intending on not letting the opponent a moment to rest or think.
One hand was in defensive position for anything that might come flying her way, the other ready to unleash a barrage of light but sharp strikes as soon as she will get in range.

Noticing that Rei is following her after her at a fast pace kathicia proceeds to take to the skies whilst pulling out two new daggers. Upon getting to a height just above Rei's head Kathicia throws a dagger down at Rei.

Rei stopped in her tracks and activated thought acceleration as she does so - catching the thrown knife mid-flight with perfect timing and deactivated thought acceleration.
She took aim and threw the knife back to its owner with the force of an arrow.
Her accuracy wasn't perfect, but it was easier than hitting the bullseye on a darts board - the target was much bigger after all.

Kathicia continued to fly up after throwing the knife down towards rei and prepared to drop like a rock on to where Rei was.

Rei stood in place as she watched Kathicia dodge the knife by soaring higher and higher, out of her reach.
Tch, as I though flying opponents are quite troublesome.
Now then, what should I do....hmmm?
Rei noticed the blood angel is readying to rush at her from the great height.
Is she sane? If it goes wrong the shock from the fall would hurt her more than me.
She planted her feet in a wide stance that would give her steadfast balance and coated herself with Armament while activating flame enhancement.
"Inferno panzer "
She prepared herself to block the attack and disperse the shock wave through her feet to the ground.

Kathicia looked down at Rei who had suddenly had a slight red tinge to her body. Kathicia decides against recklessly charging down yet and begins to wait patiently floating in the air above Rei whilst flipping a knife.
Tera wakes up from his nap and heads over towards Rei standing looking up into the sky and proceeds to look up and notices a girl flying in the sky. He then proceeds to lie back down on his rock that he rolled off of and tried to go back to sleep.
Kathicia body had continued to pale out this entire time and a faint miasma of blood had started to grow around her wings.

When she noticed Kathicia has called off the rushing attack, Rei deactivated inferno panzer to avoid needless waste of ki.
The two fighting girls were currently at a standoff.
What should I do now? Pick up stones and start flinging them at her?......No, she could hit me while I bend down to pick them.......if only there was something I could use to jump at her.

Kathicia saw that Rei had stopped glowing red and decided that it was time to charge again so she got back into a position to drop down on Rei again.
Whilst rapidly dropping Kathicia made sure to look out for the red glow on Rei again.

This is going nowhere and I can't risk wasting Ki like before.
Rei chose to dodge the fall by throwing herself to the side and performing a fall-breaker to jump on her feet again.

When Kathicia saw that Rei dodged to the side she proceeded to pull up whilst throwing her two held knifes at the point the dodging Rei should land at if they wish to regain their feet.
Kathicia only stop so that she was just floating above the ground and then dropped to the floor.

The two knives were deflected by the Leg-guards on Rei's shins.
Probably a miscalculation on Kathicia's part.
Rei stretched her hand and caught both knives mid-air in her hands, an idea strikes through her mind.
She preferred to fight hand to hand but.....this time she had no such leeway with her opponent being able to fly fast.
Taking a page from Kathicia's book, she tied each of the knives to bandages strengthened by her ki, creating a pseudo-chain that won't rip from the momentum of being swung around.
Thus Rei had a makeshift kusarigama.

Whilst Rei was doing something with her knifes Kathicia proceeded to pick up her two daggers which where near to where Rei originally stood. Kathicia began to slowly walk towards Rei with her bladed fans out her skin a pure white colour without any blood left running under it and her wings a bright and bloody red.
Tera was sleeping half way between the two on a rock but offset.

Testing out her new weapons, Rei span the knife in her hand that was facing the opposite direction of Tera, the knife gained centrifugal force as it kept spinning above her head.
She let the knife go in such timing it flew to the same side as her hand, she then grasped the bandage and pulled it towards the opposite way to cause the knife to sweep at Kath in an arc.

Kathicia dodges out of the way of the knifes tied onto the rope, however the knifes movement gets stunted as they hit into her armoured wings without damaging them.
Whilst dodging Kathicia flicks out her wrist to go and strike back at Rei.

"Ooph!"
Late to react, Rei barely blocks the incoming chain with her arm guard put up, but the hit resonates through her arms, numbing them a bit.
That's going to leave a mark.
She retrieved the thrown knife with the "rope", and started spinning both of them parallel to her body.
Alright, let's try that one more time.
This time two knives flew at the same time, and they went in a straight line towards Kathicia, only slightly bit arching from above.

Kathicia having already started to move to the left after her attack hit Rei dodged the attacj that Rei made with the two knifes tied on to the rope.
Whilst dodging the attack Kathicia slotted one of her daggers into one of her chain and tried to slice at the exposed part of Rei's extended arm with the fan in her other hand to make her bleed.

Rei tried to quickly retrieve her hand but the fan was just in time to leave a small cut on her arm.
Rei ignored the light pain as clenched both her fists and released a quick barrage towards her opponent.
the strikes were small and precise, without wasting a single movement.

Kathicia blocks each of Rei's fast strikes against her, seemingly wasting movements before one of the strikes hit the chain that was loaded with a dagger which proceeded to launch the knife from the chain.

The knife hit Rei's torso, leaving a deep cut in her armor, and stabbing her shallowly through the side.
Unluckily, the knife managed to pass right between the chinks of her chainmail.
Luckily it didn't manage to stab deeply.
Rei groaned, her barrage stopped for a short moment, only for her to reach her hands to grab at Kath's shoulders intending to deliver a headbutt

Kathicia got stopped by Rei who proceeded to headbutt her driving the breath out of her body. Whilst having the breath hit out of her Kathicia flicked up her legs and proceeded to try and kick the dagger that was embedded into Rei's armour.

Unfortunately for Kath, she was more disoriented than she thought, the kick missed the knife and hit Rei's chest armor.
Not that it mattered much because she barely had any.
Rei frowned a bit.
Is it my imagination that I felt I was being dissed right now?
Not intending to miss this chance, Rei sent a high kick towards Kath's liver.

Kathicia's chains got in the way of Rei's kick lessening it's power before it hit Kathicia in the liver. The kick hit her and due to her slightly being in the air pushed her back more so then actually dioing any damage.
Quickly Kathicia pulled out her last knife and hurled it towards Rei before trying to stabilise herself in the air.

The knife flew from Rei's blind spot, hitting her before she could realize it was there.
unfortunately for her, it buried itself right in her lower back all the way to the hilt, in-between two large chinks in the chainmail that were meant for freedom of movement.
"UGH!"
The wound was starting to bleed, making a red stain on her black outfit.
Rei Knew better than to pull out the knife and allow a bigger blood flow to rush out.
She willed herself to her feet and activated lightning enhancement, then thoughts acceleration, intending to end this battle soon.
She pulled out the two tied knives and started spinning in place, creating a small tornado in her perimeter.
The knives, pulled by the centrifugal force of her spinning in place, gained more and more power, enough to cut down a tree if it hit one.
The tornado was inching towards Kath.

Kathicia floats around the edge of the small tornado. The blows hitting Kathicias wings in such a way that it deals no damage and the small bits of debris caught up in the wind do nothing at all to the wings of Kathicia.
Whilst being buffeted around by the winds kathicia concentrates on the blood that is bleeding from Rei's wounds whilst slowly losing consciousness to a burning fire at the back of her mind. Kathicia begins to form small chains of blood around the daggers and begins to have them slowly try to pull out the daggers from Rei's body.

The blood chains yanked the knives buried in Rei's body with significant force, Stopping her movements in place from the pain.
Unluckily, one of the knives also happened to leave a hole in Rei's kidneys.
Now she had major bleeding she needs to stop as soon as possible, and a very painful organ damaged.
With her accelerated thought, she felt the pain go on even longer.
She discovered an unexpected weakness of the skill.
Rei deactivated thought acceleration and lightning enhancement and started pouring her remaining Ki into her final assault.
"Inferno Panzer - Chariot!"
"Berserker mode!"
Rei crouched low, in a sprinter's crouch, and kicked the ground strong enough to leave a footprint and some cracks in the ground where she just stood.
While it wasn't as fast as her full speed in lightning enhancement, it was well beyond speeds normally possible for a human body.
Blocking this attack normally is rather unrecommended.

Kathicia noticing Rei powering up quickly made the sane decision to prepare to propel herself as high into the sky as she could after Rei launched herself.
Kathicia burst up into the sky just fast enough to dodge the attack launched by Rei. Noticing the damage to the ground she decided to not chase after Rei and instead threw one of her fans into Rei whilst retreating towards the two daggers that were pulled out from Rei's body.
Whilst retrieving her knife Kathicia checked her body for injuries. She had somehow lost her white stockings in the fight and parts of her skirt had been ripped revealing the densely packed scars all over the two positions.

Because of her Berserker state, Rei didn't notice she ran out of ki and the fan that was flying from behind hit her in the back, curving a long cut across it.
She collapsed in place face-down, her skill deactivating from the intense blood loss.
In her fading conciesness, Rei was barely able to recognize the fact that she has lost.
Even with healing magic or potions, the two deep-wounds would surely leave scars behind them.
Her first two scars since her new life began, and her first loss in years.
Ahhh, I forgot about this feeling, this frustration.
This is why I can't quit fighting.
Dammit, I wanted to win......not even because of our argument.
I just wanted to win...
Right before her vision blackened and her hearing muffled out, she saw Jun running towards her and she felt his tongue licking her bleeding wound and heard his whimpers.
She raised the left side of her body and embraced him with one arm.
Sorry Jun, I didn't win.
The last thing she heard before blacking out, was light footsteps approaching.
Remembering the original cause of their dispute, she hugged Jun closer - as if to protect him- before passing out.

"...Why did Rei hug the varg wolf to her chest? Anyway I'd better take her back into town to get her patched up before she dies from blood loss. I never thought I'd be doing this for a foe I fought. It's just to weird to weird but I do want her help so guess I can't do anything else but this." Kathicia pulls off her white gloves and begins to perform first aid to her to prevent her from dying before she can drag her ass back to the city to a healer.
Kathicia collects her Cheongsam and her stockings whilst using blood magic on the unconscious Rei to keep as much of the blood in her body as she can. Picking up the body Kathicia begins to whistle as she carries Rei and the Varg wolf back into the city with a smile across her face from the fairly easy victory over the higher ranked adventurer.
The blood returning to her body returning her to her natural look but her scars on her arms, chest and legs open to the public.

"Gahahahahahaaa! You were beaten quite well, little Rei!"

"Oh, shut up! and don't call me little!"

"Gahahahahahahahahaha~! I can't breath!"

"It seems my loss amuses you a lot. Perhaps I should really stop your breathing right here and now"

"So scary~, woah your eyes are actually serious.
Okay Okay, I will stop.
.....Pffft!"

"You old fool! You just laughed again, didn't you?!"

"Sorry sorry~, I couldn't help it! Won't happen again - I promise!"

"Alright, it better won't"

Rei found herself sighing again at Raikou's carefree attitude.
"Was I really always like this?"

"You also would act like me if you were the one watching from the sidelines though"

"......True"
She couldn't deny it.

"Especially with how you jumped to conclusions about that flying girl.
Did you really think she was going to do something to the warg cub?"

"I admit I was a bit rash, but being overprotective of the people you love is part of being......alive I guess"

"Fumu Fumu, There is some sense in what you say."

"By the way..."

"Yes?"

"Why is this place so damn dark, hot, and humid? Last time I was here it was practically spring"

"Oh THAT, simple.
It's because we were on the verge of death from blood loss."

"...........were?"

"Yes, it seems someone is forcibly stopping the blood from leaving our body.
We still lost quite a bit so until we recover that..."

"I see......"

Suddenly a black sun, casting weird "light" appeared in the sky, making it possible to see something.
"That was fast!
Well, that's your cue.
Our body should be waking up any second now.
See ya sometime later, Rei"

"Yeah, I will see you around Raikou"
Inner-Rei closed her eyes, and felt her senses fade before realigning with her real body.

Kathicia hovered over Rei whilst the healer was working her magic keeping as much of the blood within Rei's body as was angely possible. Rei lost more blood from her body whilst the healer was working on healing each specific wound as the power that Kathicia used would otherwise interfere with the healing process.
After finishing up with Rei Kathicia watches the cub snuggle up to Rei likely trying to provide warmth to Rei. Kathicia sits and decides in her mind that one day she will claim the life of Rei. Though today will not be that day, nor for a long while will this be the case but someday Kathicia will take the life of this girl before her.
Kathicia sits and smiles whilst time passes playing with the blood inside of her own body.

Rei woke up to a ceiling she saw once before.
"This is, the temple?"
She felt something small but warm lying by her side.
She raised her head and saw Jun sleeping right next to her.
She raised her hand a started petting the soft warg cub.

"I see you are awake now"

When she heard a voice calling out to her she saw Kathicia sitting on a chair by the side of the bed.
"You brought me here?"

"I mean I can't have a second "death" on my hands so soon in this town. I still stay here."

"....Fair enough, still, thank you.
By the way, did you need something? Since you could have just left me to the healers.
But you are still here, which means you have something to talk about."

"Yes where did you get that wolf from. It's so small yet it's blood smells good, I wish to find an adult version of it so that I can absorb the best traits from it's bloodline for myself." Kathicia licks her lips whilst talking.

Rei answers while slightly disturbed but still keeping a calm face.
"There was a pack, not far from town.
In the south forest.
I eliminated them, but there are sure a couple more packs living not far."

"By the way you are not allowed to die to anyone but me. Sp I'm going to help you with learning how to deal with flying opponents once you have fully recovered." Kathicia exits the hospital room whilst smiling evilly.

Rei stared at the door after the blood angel left.
Huh. I guess that means she likes me? Her way of acknowledging other people is a bit disturbing though
She laid back down and closed her eyes, waiting for her Ki and stamina to recover.
Ah. I better keep this a secret from Gourd and Ayumi-chan ...... not possible.
These wounds will definitely leave scars.
I wonder how should I apologize.......Jack won't mind, but Ayaya will be angry.
A couple of hours later the wounds completely healed however just as she suspected, they left two scars on her back.
Rei dressed up in spare clothes provided by the temple, (hers were too bloody to wear again without washing first, and weren't dry yet) and headed out with Jun in her other hand.
She greeted and thanked the sisters who healed her before leaving the temple.

Kathicia was sitting by a small body of water with her arms completely barred to the world. The arms riddled with blade, bullet, arrow and many other types of scars to numerous to count running up and down where her gloves used to cover. Further scars where visible up and down her legs.
"Never thought I'd have to resort to changing into my black gloves to cover these up oh well guess I can leave them out I'm sure there will be other people with lots of scars on them.

The next morning, Rei was facing Kathicia at the plains where they had their battle again.
"Good morning, I am ready for some training.

"Training? What kind of training do you want?" Kathicia pulls out her 4 knives all of them blunted from use yesterday and begins juggling the actions showing off all her scars.

Rei titled her head to the side.
She ignored the scars, for her they were the natural mark of a warrior.
"Hmmm? Didn't you say yesterday that you would teach me how to fight flying enemies?"

“I said I’d teach you I never said I would tell you how to fight those whom can fly. Plus it’s useless if you don’t already have an idea to try.” Kathicia smiles and catches the four knives in one hand throws them lightly and watches as they land in a cross shape. She then lightly sighs to herself thinking this may be a long day.

"Hmmm, well I had some ideas like using trees and building to jump high, or use projectiles like stone or knifes, but they are half-baked measures at most.
And my abilities are extremely close range oriented.......
Perhaps a shock wave punch, or wind-sword kick?"

"Are you able to use either of the two yet?" Kathicia smiles at the girl actually being able to think of ways to use her ability to progress forward.

"I........used to.
Long story, or maybe not.
The current me however, can't perform those attacks at a level that is sufficient for battle.
The range is a bit.... lacking.
Though I do make progress every day.
I finally reached half a meter two days ago."

"You need them to have a two metre effective reach or they are basically useless skills. Aiming for spears and other such weapons is to hard and many beings who have flight use extremely long reach along with the manoeuvrability that flight + polearm allows them." Kathicia smiles sadly at Rei. "Oh well it will still help with some flying beings such as harpies.

"I rather not rely on weapons if possible.
I find using my own body a lot easier.
Though it shortens my range currently.
I guess I should focus on training those two skills until they are usuable.
Maybe I should also train my jumping ability"

"I didn't mean for you to use weapons I meant that there are many flyers who do use weapons with massive reach which is why when going against flying combatant you need a good long range on some attacks." Kathicia shakes her head at Rei and smiles. "If you are going to focus on training those two skills try and hit the knifes on the floor from where you are."

"Alright"
Rei took a relaxed side-ways stance, with her right fists pulled back next to her hip and her lant hand forward in a cat paw.
After a few seconds of gathering power in her inner ki chambers, in one smooth but sharp movement, she threw a punch in the air, aimed at the knife embedded into the ground.
A small "pop" sound was heard, and some wind rushed past Kathicia.
The grass between her and the knife shaken in the direction of the knife, but soon returned to normal.
"Ugh"
Rei decided to try again.
In her second attempt, she took her time gathering more ki and focused it harder in her right hand.
She held in the power until her arms started trembling and she no longer hold it back.
She threw the fist towards the knife, and a small boom resounded.
The grass beneath Rei's feet to the point where the knife was embedded was unnaturally bending away from her.
The knife was uprooted from the ground and flew a short distance away.

"Hmmh it doesn't seem to hit very hard from the looks of it." Kathicia begins to bend over and picks up the knife that was uplifted from the ground. "Well there is no damage to this but let us see what it does in the forest now I hope you can clean up the branches on a tree with it." Kathicia smiles and begins walking over into the forest.

Following behind Kathicia, Rei entered the forest.
After a bit of walking, they stopped in front of a tree with a lot of leaves.
Prepping herself up, Rei started building up power again.
This time she focused on trying to make it stronger than before, and on making the ki power her more efficiently.
She overlayed the power of several punches into one before striking.
The force of the wind and its range were incomparable to before.
The tree was soon naked of all its leaves and was slightly leaning away from Rei.

"This doesn't seem all that damaging to the trees. Aim for the trunk this time let us see how much damage you can do at optimal range with a full charge of that attack you are currently doing. We need to make sure that it actually hits hard as well as creating a cone of attack to hit a largeish area." Kathicia smiles whilst playing with some blood.

Rei nodded at Kathicia and took stance again in front of the tree.
To make things fair, she stood on the other side from where she started.
This time she positioned her two arms together in two fists parallel to each other near her hips.
She gathered as much power as before, letting her arm charge up to the limit.
She let her one arm rest while she gathered power in the other, and then changed roles, and vice versa again and again.
Then she tried to concentrate the power in one point, making it as small as possible.
When she felt she could no longer hold the ki in place from all the compression, she strikes the tree with both fists at the same time, still parallel to one another.
At first it seemed nothing happened to the tree, but if you took a look to the other side, you would see a hole gauged out as if something inside it dug it's way out.

Kathicia stands on the other side of the tree and sees this hole appear. "Hmm Well this is kind of a weird way to attack but it's effective none the less." Kathicia smiles and walks up to the tree and hits the other side of the tree with a dagger hilt.
The tree bark stands firm after the hit. "Well you are going to have to make sure to take into account the minimum range on this attack or maybe it's just the tree is super strong in this point which is weird. But hey this will be very effective at killing people with tough armours if it has the minimum range." Kathicia smiles and proceeds to sit on the floor.
"Well there is only one thing lest to test your max distance but I think we should use a river for that so we are now moving again!" Kathicia continues to stay seated on the floor. whilst waiting for Rei to come around to her.

Rei tilts her head and approached Kathicia.
She croached down to be of similar height level to Kath, and asked.
"Ummm, didn't you say we are supposed to be moving? Then why are we sitting?"

"I felt tired so I'm going to have a nap now." Kathicia immediately begins to start sleeping whilst sitting on the floor.

"Eh? Oh, alright.
Then I shall practice a bit more over there"
Rei took a bit of distance and started practicing all the different kinds of shockwave she could create earlier.
She tried mixing it in together with Katas, incorporating the shockwave attacks into her usual fighting style.
After she judged that she did enough for now, Rei looked over and saw Kathicia still napping.
She laid down near the blood angel, and relaxed her tired body.
Sometimes taking a nap out here was also nice.

Kathicia gets up and stretches and goes for a walk parts of her body that are usually healthy looking covered in scars and bloodstains. Kathicia kicks Rei who was sleeping near by to wake her up before wandering off towards the river to revitalise herself.

Woken up by the kick, Rei sit up and stretched her body to avoid stiff muscles.
After the short warm up, she followed Kathicia to the river and splashed some water in her face.
"Okay, what now?"

"We are in the river now aren't we? What were we going to do in the river?"" Kathicias skin seems to glow slightly and many of the scars disappear from view.

"Right..... testing my max distance was it?
By the way, what is going on with your scars? These things are usually permanent.
Or are you simply hiding them?"

"I don't know they disappear usually on the spots that I usually don't keep covered. Whilst the parts that are don't. It's silly but it happens none the less. They have flared up for some reason today who knows. Ehh not really my problem." Kathicia smiles and shrugs whilst continuing to float in the river.

"You seem to be enjoying yourself there.
Anyway, you wanted me to release a shockwave down the river right?"
Rei took stance facing away from Kathicia and charged up her fist.
The amount she could charge has increased from earlier, just by a little margin.

"What do you mean enjoying myself I'm just having a bath.
Yep just fire it down as far as you can max charge."
Some of Kathicia's scars were disappearing.
Kathicia was waiting for the backwards shockwave to appear.

Fully charged, Rei released the shockwave that was building up on her punch.
The water beneath her feet split in half, reaching almost one and a half meters.
Three times her former range.
While not yet at a distance she can use for battle, it is quite the progress.

"No backlash I'm surprised you have very good control of this so far.
Now don't even charge it and release it immediately let us see how much difference your charging makes!" Kathicia begins cleaning her wings which look extremely beaten up and damaged.

"okay"
Rei took a stance again and shot a shockwave punch without any charging.
Waves appeared in the river and the water was slightly split for about a few centimetres short of a full meter.

"Well you probably won't need to use that to much but you should keep measuring the range of this. I'm sure you know how to extend your range better than I do so the only thing next is live combat so yeah see you around." Kathicia sits down in the river and continues playing with her wings which look completely trashed.

“Yup, hard work pays off.
I will add this to my daily training regime.
Thank you for your time, see you around Kath"
Rei created a small fire to dry herself and went back towards the city.

Spoiler: Notes

Kathicia's body appears heavily damaged at this time. This is mostly because of Kathicia's actions in the duel against Rei.

 

Spoiler: Gearing Up

"A delivery for Missus Elaine."

For some reason, the human-sized golem was wearing a maid dress.

"Uh…"

Coated in a sleek, silvery metal, it shone in the light but didn't sparkle. Criss-crossing chains circled it’s body, and it didn’t have a face. Where a face should be was literally a rounded piece of metal. When it spoke, it sounded like the grinding of metal.

"Also, a note. Please accept them."

"Uhhh, okay?"

The girl blinked, and opened the proffered note.

*****

‘Dear Elaine, thank you for your efforts in field-testing the prototype armour. Haruna caught wind that it was broken, so she tweaked the design more and made a new set. Please help her test it out in actual combat situations again.’

Again? I mean, I’m getting to use it for free, but hopefully she didn’t add any of her ‘extra effects’ like the last time…

‘In addition, since both of us have caused you some troubles accidentally, we have sent over some items that may be of help to you. Please take care of us in future as well.’

Trouble? I have a bad feeling about this...

'By the way, to receive the package, please insert 5 silver coins in the slot located at the top of the golem’s head.'

It costs money?!

Elaine hesitated a little. She wasn't really in need of money right now, so 5 silver was still an acceptable expense for her. But again, what if it was just one of Natalia's little pranks?

"Unnn, it can't be helped! Fortune favours the bold or the fool or whatever! Let's do this!"

*Clink clink...clink clink clink*

“Payment received. Now delivering the items.”

The golem reached up and pulled it’s head off.

Woah…?!

The inside was mostly hollow, and with the free hand, the golem pulled out a wrapped package and handed it to Elaine.

“Package has been delivered. Have a nice day.”

As she looked on, the golem replaced it’s head, folded itself into a ball, and rolled away.

“...Well, let’s unwrap this package first. I know there’s armour inside judging from this bulk, but I wonder what else?”

Taking care not to peek, Elaine groped around the package a bit, and lifted out the first thing she touched.

“As expected of Haruna, her stuff aren’t just run-of-the-mill works.”

The leather armguard that she lifted out was light yet sturdy, banded over thrice at the very least with metallic studs covering the surface. There were small pieces of leather added here and there, giving it a simple yet sleek finish. There were no straps of any sort; the whole thing was a single reinforced piece of leather to avoid lowering durability.

“Haruna outdid herself with this one...Wait.”

Flexing her fingers a few times, Elaine frowned. The piece fit snugly, but as soon as she had put it on, she had a weird feeling.

Enchanting…? No way, enchanted gear aren’t that easy to come by. I’ve a feeling it’s something else.

She then reached for the next piece of armour, but while doing so, she felt a thinner package within the big one, and pulled it out.

"Woah!"

A pair of black-white rapiers greeted her eyes when she tore the wrapping away. They resembled a pair of helical spires, the points ending in finely sharpened edges.

"A matching set...so pretty. Did Haruna forge these too? Wonder if she made the sheaths as well, hmm…I'll have to ask senpai to help me think of fitting names for them later."

This time, something literally flew to her hand when she reached inside the package.

"Eek?! What's this!"

The spherical crystal glowed faintly blue in her hands, and otherwise had no indication of it's identity at all, but there was no need for that. The excited young lady immediately pressed it against the crest on her abdomen.

"As I thought!"

A teardrop symbol was added to the crest, making it seem more complete than before.

"This is worth 5 silvers, all right! No, wait, isn't this a bit too generous for the price? Ah, well. I think they're probably going to ask me to run even more field tests in future, so this could be with downpayment attached...Oh well."

Gripping a rapier with her left hand, Elaine gave it an experimental swing. The blade went through a small rock with no resistance at all. In fact, there was no sensation of it ever being cut into two.

"Nice! Guess I'll be able to take more hunting quests again now!"

*****

Spiral Blades: Two rapiers sharing a matching design. The blades aren't long and straight like most rapiers, but rather two intertwined metal pieces that form a helix shape at the base. The interwoven metal provides more durability and greater piercing power in exchange for decreasing slashing power.

Prototype Leather Armour II: General-purpose designed leather armour. The defensive value of the armour is better than the first prototype, but the best part is the additional effects; Haruna's design cuts down on fire resistance (which wasn't that high for leather gear) in exchange for boosting resistance against blunt and slash attacks. The structure also makes it harder for foes to get a grip on the armour.

Verdant Protector: Passive skill. Her presence becomes a bit more comforting, especially to those that harbour fear.

 

Hello, hello everyone~ o/
That's just to say that the quest batch is live, for anyone that didn't clear their quest, you should have roughtly 36 hours left to report it~ (AliceTime is hard to remember!)

And well, Ali-chan is rather busy today as well as Lenaia, so if you have any quest to take, you should tag either me or @Quaesitor.
Also, if you have enough points to rank up, tell us else you won't ever be able to rank up~
Oh, and before I forget, if you count, you will notice that there are 10 quests instead of 15, we thought it should be fine as 7 quests was taken this week~

That was all! Have fun~

Spoiler: Member List

Staffs:
@AliceShiki @BB_Tensei @Lenaia @Magnatia @Naraku @Nurman @Quaesitor @shad12ow @Way
C-ranks:
@A5G_Reaper @Haxagen
D-ranks:
@Blackwater @michael.kx5 @strikegunner @Unreachable Hope @wraith @Zero300
E-ranks:
@Adrian160596 @Aion Satria @Arcturus @Arexio @Balthazzar @Bielt @Blitz @Daisydacrazy @Ddraig @Evil Lee @Fairy-chan @FallonCreziato @Fossil @FuRen @Haitaka @Hasr11 @Heckaton @Hirame @jbturkle @Kuma Desu @Kysil @kyuukestu @leegood @LittleFox21 @Lum @Moy @MrAconter @Nahrenne @Paradox Ribbon @PotionMaster @Ripple @rosie94hrpr @Siostar @Sir Koopa6000 @Skarmie @The Everdistant Utopia @TiggerBane @Waffles2.0 @WhitesRabbit48 @Wobbly @Xalysian @Yul B Allwright @Zek

 

New Quest batch is live everyone, sorry for the super long delay... Any quest you all had taken and did not solved are now considered failed, alright? Since... Well, it's been far more than 1 week by now.

Things will be back to normal starting next week. Deadline for this batch is still Wednesday Night in Alicetime.

Have fun, everyone~

Spoiler: Member List

Staffs:
@AliceShiki @BB_Tensei @Lenaia @Magnatia @Naraku @Nurman @Quaesitor @shad12ow @Way
C-ranks:
@A5G_Reaper @Haxagen
D-ranks:
@Blackwater @LittleFox21 @michael.kx5 @strikegunner @Unreachable Hope @wraith @Zero300
E-ranks:
@Adrian160596 @Aion Satria @Arcturus @Arexio @Balthazzar @Bielt @Blitz @Daisydacrazy @Evil Lee @Fairy-chan @FallonCreziato @Fossil @FuRen @Haitaka @Hasr11 @Heckaton @Hirame @jbturkle @Kuma Desu @Kysil @kyuukestu @leegood @Lum @Moy @MrAconter @Nahrenne @Paradox Ribbon @PotionMaster @Ripple @rosie94hrpr @Siostar @Sir Koopa6000 @Skarmie @The Everdistant Utopia @TiggerBane @Waffles2.0 @Wobbly @Xalysian @Yoko Hagihara @Yul B Allwright @Zek

 

Friday? not Tueday?

 

Spoiler: Old Gear

"Another fragment of the past, I suppose. I had it repaired out of sentiment, though it is not a very powerful weapon. In fact, I do not know if it can even be considered a weapon."

“The shape is unique. Is this meant to be a shield, senpai? Or a short spear?”

"It's an umbrella. The original purpose of it was to shelter one from the rain. That's why, I don't know if it will be any good in a fight. Still, I had it fixed for some reason…"

"It looks beautiful, Senpai. I think the design suits you fine."

"I'm flattered if that's truly the case. Ah, I remember now. This used to be a luxury item created by an acquaintance, though it's been gathering dust in my stash and never saw proper use. Then again, I don't hate the feeling of rain on my skin, which is maybe the reason why I never used it."

"Ne, Senpai, what's the markings here mean?"

"Markings…? Oh, these. Words written in an old language, one that I like but am not particularly good at."

"What's it say?"

"Give me a few moments to translate it...wait a minute."

"What's the matter, Senpai?"

"The words are inscribed on with a particular ink, and they only appear visible under moonlight. It's daytime and I'm attuned to the stars, but how did you see those markings?"

"I dunno."

"How very strange. I had to confirm this so many times, but you are, without a doubt, a regular human. So why can you see these? I do not understand."

"Senpai, the message, the message!"

"Ah, alright. In the common tongue, it's a riddle...I thought as much. This is the Pledge of Rain, but I forgot the name of it’s creator."

The girl sighed, rising to her feet.

"It's alright. I'm sure I saw her back then, and I believe she would forgive me. But we should start heading back now, the sky looks overcast."

*Boom*

It started drizzling lightly.

"Well well, seems like this thing is going to see some use after all."

The parts creaked slightly, but otherwise worked fine. Mika opened the umbrella and held it over Elaine.

"Let's see if this old thing still blocks rain."

Of course, she only realised later that because Elaine had Vivian's blessing, neither of them actually needed protection from the rain.

Spoiler: Pledge of Rain

The rain stopped.

On the bridge she stood, gazing at the sky.
Facing death and fate, such is her reply:
Tomorrow is out of reach, yet I will not fly.
Thus is our pledge, our everlasting tie.

An old umbrella with the above inscribed on the canopy. It's quite well-made considering the number of years it's been buried in a pit somewhere, but that's about it. It has no special powers and is rather plain, so it really doesn't qualify as much of a weapon. Mika uses it anyway.

 

New Quest Batch is fiiiiiiiiiiinally live everyone, things should get back to normal starting next week.

I'll see if the next batches can also go back to 15 quests, this one was rushed, so only 10 this time around.

Have fun~

Spoiler: Member List

Staffs:
@AliceShiki @BB_Tensei @Lenaia @Magnatia @Naraku @Nurman @Quaesitor @shad12ow @Way
C-ranks:
@A5G_Reaper @Haxagen
D-ranks:
@Blackwater @LittleFox21 @michael.kx5 @strikegunner @Unreachable Hope @wraith @Zero300
E-ranks:
@Adrian160596 @Aion Satria @Arcturus @Arexio @Balthazzar @Bielt @Blitz @Daisydacrazy @Evil Lee @Fairy-chan @FallonCreziato @Fossil @FuRen @Haitaka @Hasr11 @Heckaton @Hirame @jbturkle @Kuma Desu @Kysil @kyuukestu @leegood @Lum @Moy @MrAconter @Nahrenne @Paradox Ribbon @PotionMaster @Ripple @rosie94hrpr @Siostar @Sir Koopa6000 @Skarmie @The Everdistant Utopia @TiggerBane @Waffles2.0 @Wobbly @Xalysian @Yoko Hagihara @Yul B Allwright @Zek

 

Sorry it took so long, new batch is live, deadline for any unfinished quests of the last batch will be tomorrow night, alright? As in... You have 30h left to finish them.

Things should get back on track next week... Definitely... *shivers*

Oh, and as usual, if you don't wanna get poked anymore, just tell me and I'll remove you from the poke list.

Spoiler: Member List

Staffs:
@AliceShiki @BB_Tensei @Lenaia @Magnatia @Naraku @Nurman @Quaesitor @shad12ow @Way
C-ranks:
@A5G_Reaper @Haxagen
D-ranks:
@Blackwater @LittleFox21 @michael.kx5 @strikegunner @Unreachable Hope @wraith @Zero300
E-ranks:
@Adrian160596 @Aion Satria @Arcturus @Arexio @Baabaablack @Balthazzar @Bielt @Blitz @Daisydacrazy @Evil Lee @Fairy-chan @FallonCreziato @Fossil @FuRen @Haitaka @Hasr11 @Heckaton @Hirame @jbturkle @Jeanette @Kuma Desu @kyoshijiro @Kysil @kyuukestu @leegood @Lum @Moy @MrAconter @Nahrenne @Paradox Ribbon @PotionMaster @Ripple @rosie94hrpr @Siostar @Sir Koopa6000 @Skarmie @The Everdistant Utopia @TiggerBane @Waffles2.0 @Wobbly @Xalysian @Yoko Hagihara @Yul B Allwright @Zek