I heard muffled sounds and the patter of feet rubbing against wood floor. I opened my eyes and had trouble focusing, my vision was blurring. “What in the hell is going on.” I said with a strained voice, it hurt to speak, it felt like needles were piercing my throat. Everything seemed out of focus, I wasn’t able to make anything out. I seen the outline of a woman making her way over to me. I tried to get up but my my body hurt too much to move. I groaned as my body strained to move.
“Don’t try to get up Hiro. Just take it easy.” the blurry woman said.
The pain was too intense. I laid back down, closed my eyes and fell back asleep. When I woke again the intense pain seemed to have faded into a dull but manageable feeling of being Intensely bruised. My sight managed to focus this time, I sat up from whatever I was laying down on. My fighters Gi wasn’t on me and my pants were gone as well. I removed the blanket that was covering me. I seen my legs, they were covered in Bruises and. It looks like I was dragged behind a moving car. A quick look over the rest of my body, it was pretty much the same scene, cuts, scabs and bruises everywhere. My head started pounding with a horrible thumping. I heard footsteps coming from where the door was, I looked andwas Connie.
“Welcome back to the world of the living. If I would have known you’d be injured this much by my spell I would have given you more time to hide. Travelers these days, they don’t make them like they used to. Connie laughed at her joke.
“Ya well I wasn’t expecting to be hit by friendly fire” I said.
“Whatever, hurry up and get better. Your girlfriend has been bugging me nonstop with updates on how your doing, you’ve been sleeping the whole time.” Connie said with a smirk.
“How long have I been here?” I asked while trying to stand.
“Six days damn it!” She said with an irritated tone.
Connie put some food on the small wooden table next to me. She then turned around looked me up and down, smiled at me and then left the room. Have I really been out for six days? I sat back down and looked at the oatmeal looking food that Connie had set down for me, drank the water filled cup. I fell back down on the bed, my stomach was beginning to stir. Not because of the injuries but from the food Connie left me. It tasted so damn good. The water tasted even better. If I really have been asleep for six days then this was the first time I’ve eaten since the battle. After about ten minutes of laying down and replaying the fight in my head I decided I needed to get moving. “A hero needs to be strong” I said aloud to myself.
I looked around for my Gi, but it wasn’t there. The only clothing in the room was the boxer looking underwear I currently had on. I walked to the door and and reached for the handle, the door swung open and hit me in the face. I stumbled back tripped over my feet and landed on my ass. “Damn” I said while rubbing my face where the door hit me. I looked towards the door to see who hit me. “I’m sorry” said a soft voice. There was a woman standing in the door way. She had crimson red hair that reached her shoulders. Bangs partially covered one of her vivid green eyes, she had a sun kissed tan to her skin. She was clothed in green robes that covered her body. She’s kind of cute, I thought to myself. She was really cute.
Flustered she dropped the clothes that I assumed she was holding for me. Connie must have told her to bring them. She fumbled around trying to pick them up off the floor. “It’s ok” I said with a smile. “Let me help you.” I stood up and helped pick up the shirt she brought. She had already picked up the pants and shoes. “I’m really sorry sir.” She said still fumbling on her words. “It fine, don’t worry about it, after the the battle I went through a door to face is nothing.” A DOOR TO THE FACE! God why couldn’t I think of anything better to say. I thought to myself. She smiled at me, handed me the rest of the clothes, turned and walked out the door. I stood there staring at the door that she just walked through. She was beautiful, not in a sexy character from a game, type of way but as in a genuinely beautiful person. I pictured us at the beach having a picnic and watching the sunset as the light gleamed off the surface of the calm ocean. I snapped out of my daydream, hurriedly got dressed and walk out the room.
When exited the room I seen Connie, Griz and that beautiful girl sitting at the table in the middle of the room. I looked around and seen a bookshelf overstocked with books, there were even some in stacks on the floor in front of it. There was a small wooden box filled with water where they put dirty tableware. A Couple windows that let the sun through, it must be early morning I thought to myself. All three women were looking at me as if they were expecting me to say something, I walked over and sat in the empty chair next to them. “Uhh hi everyone” I said while still looking around.
“Good to see you made it through” Griz said with her arms crossed and smiling at me.
“Ya I guess I did” I replied.
“I believe you met Carla already Hiro.” Connie said while pointing at the girl that hit me the door.
“Oh ya we met already, she just attacked me with your door there” I said jokingly. Carla’s face turned red.
“I didn’t mean to!” Carla exclaimed.
“I know I know, I was just teasing, but yes we have met already” I said.
“Well glad to see your sense of humor is back youngster, now you can get the heck out of my house. I only nursed you here cause I was the one who messed you up.” Connie said with irritation in her voice.
“Thanks for healing Connie.” I said. Her irritation vanished and she smiled at me.
“Well in the end we are safe and you are on you way to being healthy again. As long as your ok that’s all that matters.” Connie said. Then I remembered that Darl was injured as well.
“What about Darl!” I yelled out without thinking.
“He’s ok, hes back at the Training area, he’s been waiting for you. Ready to go see him?” Griz said.
“Yup, let’s go.” We got up thanked Connie and Carla then left. On our way to see Darl. Griz and I were reliving the highlights of the battle. She was re-enacting some of the fights mimicking the motions of battle. She seemed like a kid that was playing with action figures. Except she was hot! We finally reached the training area and seen Darl training some of the young fledgling would be travelers.
“Darl!” Griz yelled.
“Hey guys!” Darl shouted while waving at us. We ran the rest of the way to him.
“Good to see you Hiro, glad to see your better. You ready to start training again?” He said.
“Uh, not yet I’m still kind of healing.” I lifted my shirt and showed him the scabs and bruises that riddled my stomach and chest.
“Uuuuffff, man those Nokrin soldiers did a number you Hiro.” Darl said.
“Actually that was all from Connie, she really messed him up good.” Griz said as she slapped my back. Darl bursted out in laughter.
“Dam Hiro that old bat did that to you, so much for being a “Hero” if you can’t even take a hit from an old lady.”
“She caught me off Guard.” I said embarrassingly.
“Well Jays been waiting for you, go see him and then come back we need to train. You guys are still leaving right?” Darl asked while looking at Griz and I.
“Ya we are still leaving, probably a little later than we originally planned though, since you know we did get attacked.”
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Darl waved at us and got back to training the recruits. We made our way towards Jays armory. When we reached the shop we seen Carla leaving. “Hey Carla” i said while waving my hand.
“I don’t think she heard you. Try saying it like a man.” Griz said jokingly.
“Whatever” I replied with a smile. We went inside and seen Jay at the counter.
“Hiro, Griz! How are you guys? Jay said with a big smile on his Viking looking face.
“We are good Jay. How’s business?” I replied.
“Eh business is ok, but the reason I wanted to see you guys was for one, to thank you guys for helping to fend off the invasion. I don’t think my shop or any of us for that matter would have been here if it wasn’t for you guys, Darl and Connie. You guys really save our asses.” Jay said.
“It’s nothing really I mean this is our home as well. If we didn’t take the fight to them they would have brought it to us.” I said.
“Well either way thank you guys, from the bottom of my heart I think everyone in Barrel Creek thanks you guys as well. But onto business, the other reason I wanted to see you guys was for this.” Jay pulled out a new bow and some arrows. “These are for you Griz, the bow is made from ogre tusk and reinforced with iron and resin to make sure it keeps its shape. The string is special Zigrite fiber, its extremely flexible but can also act as a weapon, it stretches and bends but when pulled tight the fibers also acts as a blade. I also put these two small knives at the ends of the bow for close combat incase it ever comes to that.”
The bow was beautiful, the ogre tusk was shaped and carved to perfection, the iron was running up and round the whole tusk in a spiral. It had a yellowish tint to it that I assumed was the resin. The Zigrite string was shiny like a metal cord and when Griz pulled back on it and released it made a twang sound of metal vibrating. “Don’t forget the arrows. These are special customs made one for you Griz, they have the arrowheads that Hiro designed but the arrow shafts have a small iron rod running through them. They were a pain to make but I think they will serve you well, they can take more of a beating then the normal ones you use and with the metal rod you will be able to channel your electricity better.” He gave the arrows to Griz, the excitement in Jays face while telling us about the weapons. It was like a kid trying to tell his parents he just learned to flush the toilet, it was priceless.
“And for you Hiro! The cloth armor or whatever you were using that you called a GI, isn’t gonna cut it, you need something better, so I made these for you.” Jay pulled out a set of leather armor, with thin metal plates around the chest and stomach, the arms had nothing on the inside of them besides straps, and the outside also had some type of shiny metal at the outside of the biceps and forearms. The pants had stitching around the side where the shins are. “This is reinforced leather armor made from Titan Wolf hide, I had to special order this stuff but it’s worth it. The metal plate looking thing is Zigrite fibers woven together, they bend and flex extremely well and can also take a beating.”
“Hey uh, what’s Zigrite?” I asked in confusion.
“Oh I forgot this is the first time you’ve seen it. Well it’s an extremely durable plant that grows in the fire region, it’s not rare or anything but just takes a while to get it. The fibers of the plant are four times more durable than iron and has the color of refined iron. It’s a really great material. Specially for you since you like to get close and personal, it’ll work perfectly with your fighting style.” Jay said with a smile.
“Oh.....ok well thanks. I began to say.
“Also Hiro, here.” He pulled out a leather belt with and iron strip across it. The iron strip was about 5 inches wide. “This is just a belt to put things in. There isn’t really any use for it but it looks cool with the armor.” Jay was smiling from ear to ear. He handed me the items.
“Oh and the final piece to the puzzle. Your weapons.” He took out two reinforced leather gloves with Zigrite on the knuckles. The tips were shaped into a sort of spike and the end but it wasn’t sharp. I scanned everything.
-Leather Titan Wolfe armor set
Defense: 42
Made from reinforced Titan Wolfe hide and clad in Zigrite fibers.
-Iron belt
Defense: 9
A belt made from leather and clad in iron.
-Titan Wolf Gauntlets
Attack: 27
Leather made from Titan Wolf hide and reinforced with Zigrite.
I didn’t scan Grizs items, I was too excited with my new armor. I began to equip everything. I seen Griz eye balling me while I was taking my clothes off. “Hey my eyes are up here” I said to Griz while pointing at my face. Her face turned red and she turned away and looked at her new ogre tusk bow. Once I finished putting on the new equipment I turned to Jay. “Hey Jay Carla was just here right?” Jay nodded. “Who is she, I met her at Connies when I woke up but I didn’t even think to ask anything about who she is.”
“Oh, ya she was dropping off some materials I ordered from some armor repairs, and as for who is she.” He paused and stoked his beard in thought. “Well to put it bluntly, she’s Connies grand daughter. Her parents died when she was around 7 years old and Connie has been taking care of her ever since. She a traveler, she actually just got back into town the day after the attack to visit and she’s going to be leaving to the city of Crystal Bright soon.”
“So she’s a traveler? Is a healer or something.” Usually in the anime the girls are the healers and I could use a healer.
“Actually she’s not, she might know some healing spells but she’s a pretty accomplished summoner.” Jay said.
“What! Like a necromancer or something?” I said in shock.
“A necro-whater?” Jay said with bewilderment in his eyes.
“You know someone that raised the dead, like skeletons and zombies.” I said. Jay stared at me with confusion.
“Uh....no.....not that, she’s a summoner, she tames beasts and monsters, she can call on them to fight for her.” Jay said.
“That’s pretty much the same thing except without them being dead!” I said with frustration.
“Don’t yell at me boy, I’ll take that damn armor back” Jay snapped at me.
“Sorry Jay.” I said with a smile.
“All good Hiro, I’m just messing with ya. Anyways, get out of here I got work to do.”
Griz and I complied with Jays request and we left the shop. Once we were outside there was an awkward silence between us for a couple minutes. Then we talked for a couple minutes after the silence and decided to call it a day. I was still a injured and needed to heal, my health was full but my muscles still ached. I headed back to the house to to get some rest. Griz wondered off talking about she needed to get some anger out. I didn’t bother to ask what she meant. She’s a very sexy woman but she has a one track mind. Once I got to the house I cooked up some steak and had some leafy green vegetables soaked in rendered boar butter. The meals were getting old, at first they tasted amazing but eating the same thing day in and day out get boring, I’d love to have a slice of pizza, a burger or some type of junk food.
After eating I went to my room, changed out of my new armor and put some more comfortable clothes on. I started going over the fight with the Chaos Knight. After thinking about it for what seemed like and hour I realized that no matter what I did in the fight there was no way I could beat him, I was simply outmatched in every way. I needed to develop some new skills. But what could I do? I sat up and rubbed my temples and took a couple deep breaths. Then and thought came to mind. I remembered Connie did that crazy black hole spell. That means there must be some type of gravity here and if there’s gravity their might be some other features of this world that resembled my world. Like.....hmmmmm.....magnetism. Could I make magnets? I thought to myself.
I went into Grizs room real quick grabbed some of the iron arrows she had laying on the floor and hurried back to my room. I sat on the chair that was next to the window, it was overlooking a dirt alley. No one used the alley really it was just a space between the buildings. Every once in a while I’d see kids running through there playing some tag type game. I held both arrows in each hand and held them out in front of me. If I remember correctly from school to make and electro magnet I have to run electricity through it. I don’t remember the exact specifics on it but I figured I’d wing it. I channeled electricity into the arrowhead in my left hand and moved the one on the right towards it. Nothing happened, I tried again except with the other arrowhead. Nothing happened that time either. After about 20 minutes of trying it over and over and over again. I was exhausted and my mana was at 40%. What am I doing wrong. What was it that Connie said when she first taught me about magic?........I need to imagine it and give it shape. Ya that’s what she said. Maybe I’m going about it wrong.
I sat up straight sharpened my mind, held up the two arrows. I felt the mana flowing within me, the tendrils of mana flowed out my hand and into the arrows, traveled up the wooden shafts and poured into the metal arrowheads. Once I felt the mana connected I imagined a strong electro magnet. The electricity flowing around and winding around the arrowheads forming tight coils. I imagined the sensation of the arrowheads pulling towards each other. They began to materialize and the arrowheads actually started to pull at each other like they were being stitched by some invisible force. Then I imagined them pushing away and soon they began to do just that.
New skill gained:
Electro magnet - Level 1 - You can imbue electrical energy to any metal object you touch. You can turn them into magnets to push or pull, and switch the polarities at any time.
Current item limit: 4
Mana cost 1 per second per item.
“It worked!” I shouted to an empty room. Why is the skill called Electro magnet thoug?. I doubt they had that here on this world. I was thinking of an electro magnet so maybe the skill took on the name. Ya that must be it. At least it sounds good when I say it to myself. I continued practicing my newly acquired skill and by sunset I had it at level 8. I was now able to have 6 items as my limit. I’m gonna need to go and see Jay tomorrow and get some new weapons for my skill. My original idea of a gun in this world is starting to take form......somewhat.