"Let's not be childish" Su'ong said as she bent over the defenseless Mana Crystals. Ever so gently, as if picking up a newborn child, she scooped up the Earth attuned Crystal and clutched it to her chest. Within her small hands, the shard began to glow. Softly at first. But quickly gaining in intensity.
Alan scooped up the remaining crystals, and watched on in wonder as Su'ong gasped in obvious pleasure. The Earth attuned crystal emitted a dim glow and sent a cool breeze rushing through the room.
"What the Hells was that?" Alan asked. His confusion evident in his voice. Having just watched the Mana Crystal create light and wind, he activated [Mana Perception] and stared at the Naga, searching her from head to...tail, looking for any changes.
A golden inner-light began to radiate outwards from within Su'ong's navel as she extended her arms out to her sides. Tilting her head back and closing her eyes, she released a fierce scream tinged heavily with both pain and pleasure.
Without any idea of what was happening, Alan grew concerned. He couldn't even to do anything to help. He clenched his fist in anticipation, and resolved himself to watch until the end. Su'ong arched her back in a display that would cause envy to a contortionist. Alan's brows creased with worry. He feared that if she were to bend much further, her end may be coming sooner rather than later.
Blood fell in large droplets as his nails dug into the flesh of his palm, tearing deep, jagged grooves into the callused skin. Concerned as he was with whatever might've been happening to Su'ong, he failed to notice the damage to his hand, or the fact that he'd already nervously chewed through his bottom lip.
With worry pasted across his features, Alan feared the worst. Throwing caution to the wind, he rushed forward while casting [Healing fog]. As his Spell wrapped around them both, Su'ong opened up one of her golden eyes, and peered at Alan with amusement.
"Alan? Whatever are you doing? She asked, as a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. "Of course, you realize I'm not in any danger right? As I am still in the early (F-Stage), (E-Stage) Mana is still a bit much for me to handle. But I've already absorbed an astounding amount from this Crystal. Yet somehow it's still virtually PACKED with energy!! The glow you might've seen was the Mana circulating through my pathways, and into my Beast Core. Your Spell does feel nice though!" She said, giving Alan a thoughtful look.
Remarkable! Your Skill(C)[Multiversal language comprehension] has grown to Level 12! +1 Free Status Point!
CAUTION! Your Skill (C)[Multiversal language comprehension] is still prepared for Skill Evolution!
Proceed with Skill Evolution? Yes/No
Before Alan could react, she pat him on the head like one would their favorite dog. Simultaneously irritated and aroused, Alan allowed her to have her way with the top of his head.
She briefly ran her delicate fingers through his hair, yet suddenly, she stopped and stared at her hand with barely restrained disgust, while rubbing her fingers together. Alan tried to ask what was wrong when Su'ong locked him in place with an intense glare.
"You walk around with an unlimited supply of water, and yet, when was the last time you took a shower? Humans DO bathe right?? Just because we're in a dungeon doesn't mean you get to be a filthy germ-ridden animal. There's no way I'm traveling alongside an unwashed boor. My grandmother would thrash me for even considering it.
"I'm sorry? What?" Alan replied, his embarrassment making him react defensively. "I apologize. I really haven't had much of a chance to maintain my personal hygiene, what with constantly running into traps, fighting for my life, not to mention losing an arm in the process. I'll try to take my cleanliness more seriously from now on."
"Not to worry my little Human Daemonling!" Su'ong cheerfully regarded Alan before slithering across the room to the pit fall trapped entrance and gathering up a large pile of sand with her tail. "We'll get you cleaned up in no time flat! She slapped a hand to the floor, and the pitfall closed.
"I'm not a Daemon", Alan grumbled.
He had barely begun to ponder her last statement when she casually wriggled over to him and held out her hands. Unsure what she expected of him, Alan grabbed her hands with his own blood encrusted palm. He looked questioningly up into her eyes, wondering what could possibly be next.
He wasn't made to wait long for an answer. Quick as a whip, Su'ong wrapped her long tail around his legs and waist, effectively pinning him in place. "Yes, yes. You're not a Daemon. And now it's bath time," she whispered sweetly. But the maniacal sheen to her gaze immediately put Alan on edge.
It only got worse as he felt her lower body begin to writhe, Tugging at his greaves and leg coverings. Alan gasped in suprise when his leg armor dropped to the floor, exposing his tender flesh to her overwhelmingly warm scales.
"My pants fell off!" Alan yelped, trying and failing to extricate himself from within the layers of sandy snake coiled around his legs. By this point, Su'ong was cackling in full on glee. Using the tip of her tail, she trapped Alans wrist and yanked his arm down to his side.
She placed her lips right against the delicate flesh of his neck and practically purred into his ear. "Most of the Beast-Folk men would die to be in your shoes right now, so quit being a baby and enjoy yourself." With a wink, she returned to work, removing his bracers and chestplate.
Unwilling to risk injuring her in an attempted escape, Alan refrained from making any brash actions. He had to admit that he was secretly relishing the unexpected attention anyways. And a part of him was afraid that if he became too worked up, his as-of-now dormant Emotional Stockpile would steal away his excitement. Unwilling to risk such an outcome, Alan ceased all resistance.
Once she had him completely stripped down to the nude, Su'ong released Alan's arm and used her tail to pull a mound of sand around them. She coiled her body around Alan up to his shoulders and once again, she reached down and slapped the floor.
Before Alan's astonished gaze, the sand turned to a golden wave of liquid. The liquified sand took on the shape of a cylindrical tube surrounding their bodies before solidifying into an amber glass. Su'ong pulled out her canteen and upturned it over Alan's head. As the water poured, she removed a small vial of floral-scented oil and added a single drop into the water, and another on top of the Humans patchy, uneven hair.
"You seem pretty nervous Alan. Do humans not usually bathe with one another?" The Naga asked with a curious look on her face as she massaged the sad remains of his hair into a foamy lather. "Or are you simply uncomfortable with me because I'm not a Human..?"
Her shoulders drooped, and she suddenly grew quiet, focusing her frustrations on more important matters. Like building up a mountain of foam to scrub the grey sludge from behind the ears of an unwashed Daemonling, Suong thought to herself. She flicked an unruly silver braid out of her face and got to work scrubbing. Well, I've hit rock bottom grandmother... It can only go up from here now, right?
"Actually... If I'm being totally honest," Alan said, his face flushing red as he spoke, "It has nothing to do with you being a Naga... I," He hesitated, but decided there was no point in denying it. "I think you are the most captivating being that I've ever seen." Su'ong struggled to keep a straight face as he kept speaking.
"I can't honestly say what the normal bathing procedure is for Humans in general but... I tend to bathe alone. I definitely haven't bathed with a woman before." Alan lowered his eyes and studied the bath water. "Though because he knew it would get an irate reaction out of me, when we were younger, my idiot brother Rexus used to scream out "Cannonball!" At the top of his lungs, and jump into my bath..."
He sighed, "It always made a mess, and he was conveniently missing whenever it came time to clean it up..." As he thought of his brother, Alan couldn't help but smile, "Dammit Rexus, you'd better be alive..."
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Su'ong chose not to respond, choosing instead to allow the Human's mind to wander. It was obvious that he was thinking of better times.
Alan began to relax as she started to slowly slither in a spiral around his body. The motion gently ground the oil into his skin, exfoliating his deeply clogged pores and releasing a scent that vaguely reminded him of the Apple trees back home. Although his armor was self cleaning, and helped to help his body relatively fresh, it hadn't able to remove all the gunk contained within his skin. This was made all the more obvious as the water in their glass chamber turned from clear, to tan, and finally, by the time it was over, the water was the color of a dark coffee.
Once she was satisfied that his body had been cleaned to her standards, Su'ong finished her chore by scrubbing Alan's face with handfuls of sand. With a gesture, the glass enclosure surrounding them fell to the floor. Returned to nothing but sand.
She then upturned her canteen onto his head, rinsing him from top to bottom in cool, clean water. Su'ong slowly backed away, all the while studying her most recent work. Apparently satisfied, she threw Alan his armor with a wink. "That wasn't so bad now was it?" She teased. Without another word, Su'ong slapped his exposed backside with the end of her tail before crossing the room to stand before the obsidian door.
"Hurry up and put that cute little butt of yours away!" She said with a grin, "Let's go try to kill a Boss!"
Alan shook his head in disbelief and dressed himself as quickly as he possibly could, all the while trying not to squirm under Su'ongs scrutinizing gaze. Once he was fully geared up, he walked over to stand next to her by the Boss door.
"It's not very enjoyable is it?" Su'ong asked directly, as she turned to stare at Alan in stern contemplation. While waiting for a response, she continued to stare into his eyes without blinking. Alan studied her face, hoping to uncover some hint of what exactly she was talking about. Unfortunately, he was beyond clueless.
"What's not enjoyable?" Alan asked uncertainly. He stared back at her in obvious confusion.
"Being ogled at while you are trying to get dressed," she replied flatly, giving Alan a mixed look. After making her point Su'ong made a show of turning her back to Alan, and facing the grotesquely carved door instead.
As Su'ong pretended to be lost in her inspection of the door, Alan felt his ears get hot. Without thinking he grabbed her hand and spun her upper body around to face him. "H..hey um.." Alan took a deep breath, and peered deeply into her golden eyes. "I apologize for what happened before...I really had no idea you were going to come out of that wall, and when I saw you standing there, I froze up."
For a split second she studied Alan's face, and to Alan it seemed as if she was searching for the faintest hint of a lie. Apparently satisfied with what she saw, Su'ong flashed Alan a dazzling smile and instinctively tossed her head, flinging her ponytail over her shoulder in the process.
"You've already apologized twice, there is no need for a third." Su'ong said. "I accept your apology, and now I've gotten even. Just know that the payback next time will be far less... Enjoyable." With a final ominous glance in Alan's direction, Su'ong began to do a series of intricate stretches. Just watching her flexible form writhe and contort made Alan's back hurt
"Alan...really? Surely you have some preparations of your own you can go handle. Must you keep staring at me?" Muttering under her breath, Su'ong moved over to the corner of the room, out of sight behind one of the obsidian pillars. Alan rubbed his head sheepishly, and faced the Boss Room door.
With an unknown Boss monster lurking right on the other side, Alan quickly decided that to proceed with caution was always going to be his best bet. With a thought, he stored his Basilisk Fang and withdrew his Tower shield from inventory. The moment he had his shield in hand, Alan realized he'd never gotten a chance to [Examine] it. With little time remaining to him before challenging his first real Boss, he activated his Skill and peered at the Shield along with it's description.
(Uncommon) Tortoise Shell Tower Shield- High quality Tower Shield painstakingly crafted from the remains of an Adult Wasteland Tortoise and Enchanted with both the Auto-cleanse and Self-repair Enchantments.
Grants the wielder use of the (Common) Technique {Defenders Aegis} twice every 24 hours.
+5 Strength +5 Dexterity
Set bonus: +5 Constitution, +5 Vitality, +3 Agility, +2 Strength. If Shield is equipped in conjunction with Wasteland Tortoise Scale Armor, Set Bonus is doubled.
(U){Defenders Aegis}- Upon execution, this technique allows user to instantly come to the aid of any single ally within sight. Upon coming into contact with an enemy attack, the Tortoise Shell Tower Shield emits a wave of kinetic energy, staggering all enemies within five feet. High Stamina Cost.
This thing doubles my set bonus?!! AND it has its own Technique?! It's a shame it's only usable twice a day...although the innate Technique was limited in its use, the shield itself was obviously of high quality. Alan stared lovingly down at his newest piece of equipment, eager to put it to use.
The shield was an unadorned section of glossy black Tortoise Shell, carved into a slightly concave rectangular shape. Located on the back of the shield Alan found a rotating sleeve into which he could slide his arm. Underneath the sleeve was a horizontal metal brace that Alan would've been able to hold on to for extra stability. Had he still possessed both of his arms.
After the utter failure of his {Mirage Step} Technique, Alan found himself both excited and nervous at the thought of attempting to use {Defenders Aegis} in actual combat. Instead of taking a chance of the Technique failing him at a crucial moment, Alan instead made up his mind to equip it now, and try to execute the Technique without anyone's life depending on his success.
Unfortunately his testing was less than successful.
The moment Alan actively tried to use the shields innate technique, he instinctively knew the requirements had yet to be met. This technique actually required an ally to be in immediate danger.
How in all the Nine Hells the technique was able to determine whether an ally was in mortal danger, Alan hadn't the slightest clue. Though he had to admit that with the staggering amount of information he currently lacked about nearly Everything having Anything to do with the System, it wasn't much of a surprise to find something else he'd have to figure out at some other time.
Alan stored his shield and once more equipped his Basilisk Fang. He glanced at his PSA and saw that not only had his Party tab been unlocked, but he also had access to a new tab. This one was labeled Contacts. He opened Contacts with a thought, and was taken to the very short list of his current allies. The list consisted of only one name. Su'ong Zhú. Alan mentally selected her name, and his Party tab opened. Before he could begin to wonder what happened to cause his tabs to switch, a small dialogue box appeared.
It said simply Su'ong Zhú has accepted your Party Request. Along with the dialogue box came a flood of information, and several new features. He gained access to a detailed screen depicting his party. Listed were both his and Su'ongs vital information. Exp needed to Level up, Statistics, Health, Mana, and Stamina Pools we're listed at the top. Following the vitals were all active/passive Skills, Buffs/Debuffs, and current cooldown times. The sheer amount of settings and information was overwhelming. Lets just focus on the basics for now, Alan thought soberly.
He also got access to a side tab with party leader functions. This screen included detailed controls for his party. Among them were Party chat features, battle formations (of which he had none), and Exp and Loot distribution. Those, Alan left at their current settings. An even 50/50 split.
"I've never been invited to a party by a boy before.." Su'ong purred into his ear. Alan was so concentrated on his his PSA that the sudden noise startled him into jumping off the ground. He looked over at his strange new companion with with mild irritation, but his emotions cooled immediately when he saw the look of concern on her face.
"Down boy! It's just us in here!" She said sarcastically. A grin slowly spread across her face. Feeling foolish for panicking, Alan decided to play it off. Completely ignoring the fact she'd almost made him soil himself, Alan instead responded to her random declaration.
"IF we manage to make it out of here" Alan stated with a serious look, "We'll throw a real party. I may not know much about parties, but pissing into a hard wind would beat this one."
Her grin turned into a beaming smile, and she wasted no time responding. "I'm going to hold you to that. The last party I attended was for my 16th Life-day." With a wistful look on her face, she finished reminiscing. "And that was nearly a year before my dearest cousin tasked me with following that Gods-damned Sklear into the desert..."
With a sad shake of her head, Su'ong banished her regrets. If she managed to make it out of here, she could find plenty of time to mourn her mistakes. And plot revenge. She was going to grasp this chance at escaping the Dungeon or die trying. She suddenly had a chance at a future she'd long since given up on. Her waning will to live had been rekindled by this strange Human. She straightened her back, and held out her left arm. A wicked looking stone javelin materialized in her hand and she looked at Alan with her eyebrows raised.
"Are you ready for this?" She asked.
Alan glanced over at her, and she bobbed her head in confirmation. The time had come. Alan placed his hand on the Boss door and an alert appeared, hovering at eye level.
*WARNING!* You are about to enter the first floor Boss Room. Proceed? Yes/No.
"Are You ready for this?" Alan retorted sarcastically. Without waiting for a response, he took a deep breath and mentally selected Yes.
Alan held his breath as the feeling of the cool stone on his palm ceased to exist. As if it had been but a figment of his imagination, the door vanished before his eyes. He paused before the wide-open entrance and felt Su'ong grasp his hand. He turned to look at her, and almost stepped back a pace. The serious look on her face was equally as unexpected.
"I don't know what we will find within this accursed chamber, but don't do anything stupid. Prioritize survival above all else." She pat Alan's head several times, and with a smirk, she whispered threateningly into his ear.
"If you try to run away, I will come and find you." With her threat made, she swat him with her tail, pushing him in the direction of the Boss room.