Chapter 11

Seeing the message, Leo couldn't help but panic. How had his sister paid for his hospital fees for so long? Did she take out a loan? What if she borrowed money from some sleazy old man!. His mind was spiraling from the mere thought that his only family member was in danger because of him.

Navigating the menu, he sent a message to his sister.

Hey Sis.

I just got this weird message from a guy named Anthony Samael who said that he would charge you for unpaid hospital fees if I didn’t donate my body for science. What the hell is this about? How did you pay for the hospital?

However there was no immediate response as Pyrs returned with a tall middle aged woman who had feathers peeking out from behind her ears and wore a shawl and was wearing a pair of glasses. “Pyrs, if this turns out to be a waste of time, we will have a very serious problem” The woman warned but Pyrs was unfazed.

“Rori, it will be, trust me. Have I ever let you down?” Pyrs asked with a confident expression on his face.

“3 times this week alone” the woman responded while adjusting her glasses. Pyrs facial expression froze as he became a bit dejected.

Leo turned to face the newcomer. The woman smiled gently back at him and said “Nice to meet you young man. My name is Rori. I run the alchemy shop in this little village.” in a gentle voice, seemingly noticing Leos unstable mental state.

“Y-yeah. Nice to meet you” Leo said, constantly checking for messages, unable to concentrate on finding out more about Astra.

“This old sack of dwarf bones doesn’t know how to use advanced appraisal magic so he came and got me” Rori said, the callous treatment of the dwarf made Leo almost pity the dwarf but he naturally preferred Rori over Pyrs. After all, Rori noticed that he was a boy from the beginning.

A notification came back from his sister, the message was short but it did relieve him a little bit.

Bit busy at the moment. Long story short is everything is fine. I have a friend who I work for. She paid all of your bills. I am with her right now. We will see you soon. I’ll explain more then.

Leo sighed in relief. He knew his sister would never lie to him about something like this. With that relief, Leo was able to focus on Rori and Pyrs.

“Sorry. I was just getting a message from my sister” he apologized, bowing his head a bit but Rori replied “It is alright child. Now may I see this weapon that needs to be appraised?”

Leo held out his wrists “This is it Ms. Rori” he said, nodding towards Astra. Rori looked at the bracelets before glaring at Pyrs, silently wording ‘Are you kidding me?’ with her gaze.

“Well might as well since I am here” Rori mumbled before beginning to chant. Holding her hand above Leos wrist

Leo was unable to understand what was being said but he felt an indescribable feeling around him as something swirled on top of the womans hand.

“[Detailed Analysis]” Rori shouted. A large status screen appeared before the 3 of them, All 3 of them feeling their jaw drop a little bit at the results.

Skill Level Inefficient

Skill Partial Failure

Partial Information displayed.

Weapon Type: Soulbound (Growth Time)

Star Bracelets (R) Max Potential: ??? Grade

A pair of bracelets that have revived a small connection to the stars. Potential for Growth

Innate Skills: Invocation of Evolution (Low),Bond of the Zodiac (Low, Currently Unavailable),Ego Creation (Low) [New!],???,???,???,

Bound to Player: Leo

Stat Bonuses:

Def+ 10

Atk+5

Uprade Status: 0%

Upgrade Requirements: ???

Upgrade Materials: Any Weapon/Armor/Accessory

Invocation of Evolution (Low): Summon the power of the void to consume Materials. Materials used will be used to evolve ‘Astra’ and unlock additional forms

Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

Bond of the Zodiac (Low) : Bonds formed from companions you have shared life and death with can be connected to each other via the power of the stars. Affinity based. (Max use is 12. Currently 0/12 in effect)

Ego Creation (Low): Create an ego to be inserted into a weapon. Weapon grade will be reset upon successful integration. Failure will result in weapon destruction.

The three of them were surprised by different things that they saw. Leo was surprised at Astras versatility, capable of becoming a weapon, armor or accessory. Rori was surprised by the fact that despite using relatively advanced magic, she still failed to fully appraise a pair of bracelets. What stunned Pyrs though was Astras potential. It seemed like there was no cap on it and one of its skills was capable of turning other weapons into Ego Weapons!

It would be a lie to say that Pyrs wasnt interested in taking Astra for himself but he knew better. He deemed it would be impossible for Leo and Astra to part, they must have incredible affinity to have a potential like this.

[Do you see our Greatness now? We are impressive no?] Astra asked, seeking praise and this time Leo couldn’t help but agree that what he saw was indeed impressive.

“Yes yes. Very impressive” he admitted, stroking his wrists affectionately. His words drew curious looks from Rori and Pyrs. Without skipping a beat, he said “Astra can talk, but only I can hear her” in a matter of fact manner. Pyrs nose flared, his interest rising, wanting to know even more. But before he could say anything, Rori covered his mouth and said “You should go now. If you don’t leave now, this old man is gonna yap so much your ears will fall off.”.

Not wanting to waste any more time, he nodded his head at Rori in thanks before saying “Thank you sir. I will drop by again another time” before rushing out of the room, heading to the village centre in search of the chief. He had the necklace to turn in for a quest reward.

He sent another message to his sister, telling her to meet him there with her friend. In the centre of the village, the old village chief was standing there, seeming to enjoy the fresh air. Turning to the newcomer, he saw the young cat who had run off without listening to him.

“Oh my poor child. Sssseems you got lucky in getting away from those monsterssss” the old snake remarked putting his hand on the boys shoulder, thinking that the boy had gotten lucky in escaping from the goblins with only a few scratches.

“Lucky? I killed the ones I came across” Leo huffed, growing tired of people assuming that he was incapable of defending himself. “I even came across a bracelet and thought I should give it to you” he added, pulling it out to show the chief, thinking that there would be a reward of free points or experience points.

“A bracelet? Oh no…” the old man sighed in distress. “The Goblin Leader isss getting clossser to our village. We need to wipe them out!” the old man said, his legs trembling as he tried to head off somewhere but stopped in his tracks.

“You said you killed them right? Will you help usss?” The village elder pleaded with tears beginning to form in his eyes.

Samuel has issued you the quest: Goblin Extermination

Quest Details: News of a goblin settlement has been spotted too close to the village. Form a party and wipe them out within 24h.

Difficulty: B

Completion Reward(s): 1 gold. 10 Free Points, 3000 exp

Requirements: Party of 4. (Current Party 1/4)

Quest Failure: Village Destruction

Additional information: If the village is destroyed, all players within the village will have their characters deleted.

Do you wish to accept the Quest [Accept/Decline].

Note: Declining the request will result in Village Destruction

The reward for handing in the bracelet was a surprisingly serious Secret quest. Leo became incredibly nervous when he saw the requirements. Even with the addition of his sisters friend, it would only be the three of them. With no choice but to accept , he began to think about what to do and how to find a 4th member when a loud voice called out to him.

“Leo! We’re here” Luna shouted waving her arm at him as she and her friend got closer. Leo saw the woman with green hair that reached her waist with ears similar to her own and couldn’t help but be distracted for a moment. She was extremely pretty in his eyes but didn’t want to say that in front of his sister. He didn’t want her to think he was the kind of guy to hit on his sisters friend.

When the two of them got close to Leo, Luna turned to her friend and said “Lily, this is my brother Leo. Leo, my friend Lily”. However, Leo noticed that Luna was glaring at Lily for some reason before she turned her gaze to glare at him. ‘What did I do?!’ he thought feeling wronged while being looked at like that.

“Pleasure to meet you Leo. I am your big sisters best friend. Lets get along!” Lily said with an amicable smile. She was trying her best to not break out into a sloppy smile as she looked at the cute cat boy in front of her.

‘Oh. My. GOD. He is SOOO CUTE!’ she internally squealed, covering her mouth just to make sure she wasn’t drooling. Lunas ice cold stare was now understandable to Lily, if some other girl tried to steal such a cutie from her, she would want to kill them too.

“Please take care of me and thank you for looking after my sister” Leo replied, bowing his head a little in Lilys direction. Luna puffed up her cheeks in disapproval, already regretting letting the two of them meet.

Leo had lots of questions to ask but the quest from the old man standing next to him took priority in this very moment. “So ladies, I will need your help with something” Leo began, speaking a bit nervously.

“What is it? This Big sister would be happy to help” Lily said immediately, Luna scowling at her friends words, clearly not pleased with Lily calling herself a big sister.

“So I just came across a quest… and it requires a party of 4. Failing the quest will result in the destruction of this village and the deletion of our characters. To make matters worse, I can’t be sure but my gut tells me if my character gets deleted, I might die for real…” he confessed. After all, he wasn’t able to log out for another 150 or so hours. Glancing at the timer he saw

Body Upgrade In progress.

Remaining Time: 150 hours, 29 minutes, 12 seconds

Unable to log out until Time reaches 0.

Note: Leveling up will reduce the Remaining time.

Luna and Lily exchanged shocked looks before they nodded at each other, coming to a mutual understanding. “We won’t let that happen” Luna said adamantly as Lily turned away for a moment. “We just happen to know someone who can be our 4th. Lily is calling them over now” she explained.

“Oh? What kind of person are they?” Leo asked curiously but grew apprehensive when his sister looked a bit disgusted.

“He is a jerk. The way he talks to girls bothers me. He is so fake.” Luna growled, the displeasure of thinking about him was written all over her face. She wanted nothing to do with him but was willing to make sacrifices if it was to ensure that her brother remained safe.

Just as Leo was about to ask for clarification, a tall slender man with black hair slicked back and Amber eyes approached their group. “Oh my~! When you called me over, I thought it was for something serious. Did you call me to act as a guard for this party of pretty flowers~” the man said with a wink.

Leo felt an instant aversion to the man. He was the textbook definition of sleazy but something felt off about him. Despite the mans attitude, Leo couldn’t shake the feeling that the way he acted was unnatural, as if everything he did and said was manufactured in some sort of act.

“So Ms. Bunny. Since when did you have a sister. She is just so cute. Kind of makes me want to steal her away for myself.”

Leo’s expression became frosty as he glared back up at the man.

Never before had he thought a face could look that punchable.