Chapter 164

Worst Birthday Gift Ever Part 2

(Jhonny)

Balls of falling black death, in a gray and dying land, where only crazy Cassiopeia, the Doctor, is capable of standing around without flinching.

Honestly, Jhonny had joined the Midnight Hunters because of how powerful and commanding Mallory was. The fact that she could stand defiantly against any obstacle that came her way, that spoke volumes about not only her character, but also about the people that were willing to follow her.

Originally, Jhonny had joined just for the idea of following Mallory’s coattails, as managing to be just one of thousands on said coattails meant fame, power, and prestige were all his.

Yet, despite everything, he still felt hollow and empty inside. He knew the best parts of this world were missing, and that no matter how hard he tried the most he could do was to be a follower.

All of that changed when he met her. The girl, the prodigy, the princess, the rising star, whatever nickname you went with they all invariably defined one person and one person alone.

Even now, with death staring them down, even without knowing what to do to survive, Jhonny knew, he just knew that if he stayed near Cass and listened to her, he would survive.

Over his years he witnessed many things. A few things he attributed as being miracles, a lucky last-minute strike to kill an invading orc. The sudden dodging, and subsequent self-impaling of a charging monster. He had seen many minor odd coincidences that at the time he had taken as miracles. Perhaps they were, but after seeing Cass, his classifications of miracles had changed.

Can a person be a miracle?

Originally, Jhonny would have told you no. Yet, after months of being with and seeing Cass first hand, he couldn’t help but feel that his answer had changed from a definitive no, to a cautionary, maybe.

Cass herself was not perfect, she herself would be the first to state how she messed up, and immediately look for ways to improve. That fact alone, given her level of success could be considered a miracle, the fact that she never let her success go to her head.

Yet, being with her now, he knew two things. First, Cass had no clue what to do to solve this problem before them. Right now, a wall of death was barreling straight for them, and while his mind told him he should try to figure out something to do, a way to save himself, he felt oddly calm. This of course led to the second fact that he just knew, and that was that Cass would do something amazing if he just waited long enough.

“Well there it is.” Cass muttered mostly to herself.

Had it not been for Jhonny’s enhanced senses from his recent core completion, he likely would not have been able to hear her mutterings.

“Where what is?” Jhonny asked.

Cass, never looking away from the wall of death, just sighed.

“The boss monster for this event finally appeared, though it would have been nice if he showed up before the wave of death and lightning.” Cass muttered, as she gave a slight hop off the ground. Then Jhonny watched as her body rose three foot off the ground and gracefully came to a stop.

At first Jhonny wondered what she was doing, but then he felt, more than saw the slight fluctuations of mana.

This was his Master’s mana. Having spent so long beside her, Jhonny could now feel the difference between when she used mana, versus when others simply cast spells. There was a weight, a physical force behind Cass’s castings that was wholly unique to her and her alone.

Ironically, it was only after spending so much time with Cass, and trying to learn the methods she had for detecting and perceiving mana that Jhonny could now put into words the exact difference between her casting abilities and that of everyone else’s.

With her casting, Jhonny decided to hold off on his questions, not wanting to disrupt her focus. Instead, he just looked up and watched, as Cass who had risen so high was just sitting there, creating a protective dome that encapsulated both her and Jhonny.

Even without the ability to Sense and Detect Magic available, the fact that she was casting a spell was more than obvious, particularly with the fact that the balls of death fell down and seemingly disappeared in a wide arc around them.

Months ago, Jhonny would have attributed this to being a miracle. The ability to create a shield strong enough to block this relentless attack in an alternate realm of reality. Those who could survive in alternate realms were few and far between, yet Cass seemed to be able to make the transition flawlessly.

Chills.

Whether it was from the sheer volume of controlled mana being wielded violently, or the visual display of the magical death attacks dropping to only disappear, or a combination of both, Jhonny didn’t know, but at this moment he felt awe.

As she floated, Jhonny could see her slight movements, the involuntary movement of her hands as she directed forces of mana out in one direction then the next. He also noted that there was a faint sense of absorption of ambient mana, which she was somehow doing with her Qi.

Yes, the more he watched, the more he was certain that she was able to block, break apart, and then somehow cultivate the falling death energy into her body.

She kept saying that using mana and Qi simultaneously was something that should never be done. Yet, here she was, constantly using both simultaneously. Honestly, Jhonny didn’t know if she even realized that she was able to wield both simultaneously. Of course, what he considered using and Cass considered using, were light years apart from each other.

Cass wanted to be able to use her most effective magical spells, while simultaneously using her Qi powers at the same time. That Jhonny could see as being too much for anyone, well anyone other than Cass. It was clear that this was just one of her new goals that she had set for herself.

Honestly, by now, Cass’s goals should really just be considered her daily to-do list, as she flew through most of her goals ceaselessly. Goals and projects that would take other people months to accomplish if ever, she breezed through.

Jhonny spent so long staring up and enjoying the magical view of the falling hail pellets of death energy falling, and disappearing that he barely noticed the moment when the all of violence stopped, at least for a moment.

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“Is it over?” Jhonny asked, only to drop his yes down and see that they were now surrounded on all sides by the wave of death.

“No, we are just in the center of the storm.” Cass said, then she began checking her pockets.

“What are you looking for?” Jhonny asked.

“Needles, well any long thin metal strips to be honest.” Cass said, rummaging through her pockets and finding what she needed to be drastically missing.

“Needles, do you mean sewing needles, or acupuncture?” Jhonny asked, instinctively reaching for his bag of holding. As Cass’s bodyguard it was pointed out that in no uncertain terms he should carry around everything that Cass might possibly need at a moments notice, and provide it to her. As such, Mallory had a list of Cass’s known skills, and provided a bag of holding with various supplies that she might need randomly on her journey.

At that Cass looked flustered, as she quickly shifted her head from staring straight forward and looked towards Jhonny.

“Acupuncture.” Cass said, a slightly confused tone to her reply.

At that Jhonny just started looking and pulling up a mental list of the types of needles began going through a list, “regular, silver, or gold?”

While he asked, Cass had already shifted her attention back towards a spot in the distance.

“What?” Cass asked.

“What type of acupuncture needle do you need, bronze, silver, or gold?”

“What are you an acupuncture Olympic committee member?” Cass asked, but then answered anyways, “silver. No, wait. Silver and Gold.”

As Cass answered, she turned her attention back to the distance.

Clap, clap, clap.

Then Jhonny heard the approach and mocking clapping coming from the person that was likely the random boss that had all but been summoned by everyone’s comments. This was another reason why Jhonny stayed behind, as he felt a bit guilty for having likely contributed to this in some way.

Jhonny was about to pull out the sets of needles, when he realized there was a problem.

“Do you want the 21-, 23-, or 25-gauge needles?” Jhonny asked, realizing that there were many different sizes to these needles.

“Oh, my Gods, just give me whatever and I will make it work.” Cass all but shouted. Well, it wasn’t a shout, more of a regular person raising their voice to regular speaking volume, but for Cass it sent a shiver down Jhonny’s spine. Not the awe-inspiring shiver from earlier either, this was the you better get your act in gear shiver that meant Cass was about three steps away from putting her full attention on you, versus the real problem at hand.

Realizing the warning for what it was, Jhonny pulled out two long rolls of coiled leather strips from his pouch and let them begin unrolling, revealing multiple needles of varying sizes.

As quickly as the needles appeared, they quickly disappeared as well. Well not quite disappeared, as Cass once again showed off her amazing ability to multi-task, when Cass used her Telekinesis ability to pull the needles out of their holster and hurdle them towards the man.

As the needles flew towards the man, there was a flash of light as some of the needles were stopped by a magical barrier that had been erected.

FLASH!

There was a burst of light that caused Jhonny to blink a few times as his vision was filled with a white-hot overlay.

Gurgle.

By the time Jhonny had blinked his eyes clear, he saw the man, a mage, collapse to the ground. Gurgling as he clasped at his neck, where a silver needle was protruding.

That was kind of vicious, Jhonny wasn’t evening going to lie, as he was taken aback by the look of pain on the mage’s face.

Just seeing him gurgle and choke on his own blood was a bit much. Yes it was a tiny prick to the neck, but that had to be painful. Cass for her part just sprouted her now signature set of dual wings and glided forward, before stopping over the mage.

Jab, jab, heal.

Cass lashed out with energy infused into her fingers where she struck at a few vital points on the mage, causing him to collapse and cry out. Or at least try to cry out.

“Gahhh,” was all he managed to get out, before Cass held up her hand, and Telekinetically removed the silver needles from the mage.

Then she began healing him.

Within seconds the wounds that were caused by the needles suddenly sealed up. The blood was still there, but no new blood was coming.

Jhonny just stared at the entire process, only belatedly realizing the slight tug on his hands as he felt the needles once again finding their spots in his pouches.

Part of Jhonny wanted to comment that those needles needed to be sanitized, but then part of him realized the golden needles were clean, as those had been the ones to be stopped by the random shield set up by the mage.

“My magic, what did you do to my magic?” The ghost mage asked, clear confusion and panic taking over his words as he moved through basic casting poses.

Having seen the poses, and been through so many of Cass’s classes, Jhonny realized just how pointless these gestures were to the art of casting, but they generally helped with focusing the mind on the act of forcing mana to do your bidding.

“I took it away, once you prove to be capable of wielding such powers responsibly, you might get them back.” Cass scolded. It was times like this, when Jhonny could fully see the former mother of four come out from the girl who barely looked to be more than a teenager.

“What how?” The mage stammered, then crab walking backwards, he stared at Cass in disbelief.

Silence.

With a shock, Jhonny’s instincts told him that something had stopped.

Looking around, he realized what had happened, the giant cloud of death that had surrounded them was slowly breaking apart.

Realizing this, Jhonny couldn’t help but ask. “Was that it?”

No sooner were the words spoken, then Cass turned from hovering over the incapacitated mage, to stare at Jhonny.

“Why do you all insist on increasing the difficulty of this stupid quest?” Cass asked.

Then before Jhonny could comment, he received a quest update notification.

Optional Quest (Upgraded Difficulty): Under Pressure: While on your way to find a relic called the fabled Mirror of the Dead, you have discovered an impromptu spiritual display of electrical energy. While you have discovered one source of the spiritual disturbance, the true threat has just revealed itself. Objective, survive for the next thirty minutes. Time remaining (29:59). Rewards: Experience, possible bloodline evolution perks, variable.

Yes, it seemed that Jhonny too was now able to improve his chances of awakening his own bloodline, but he had to somehow find a way to survive the next thirty minutes.

He was about to ask something ridiculously stupid like “did you just get that same quest update notification?” But fortunately, he stopped himself. There was no use trying to pour more water onto this grease fire.

Instead, he just looked around sheepishly, before trying to figure out where the new threat would come from.

***

(Cass)

Jerks. They were all jerks.

Why not just get a tattoo that states I don’t believe in Karma on their foreheads.

Then just when the first set of challenges was taken care of. Just when I feel the sense of the enhanced Spiritual Qi master just watching from a distance, what does Jhonny boy scout over here do, but go and test Karma once again.

The moment he spoke, I could feel the ancient Spiritual Qi master awaken. This was unlike anything I had ever felt before, mainly due to the fact that up until now I, and those in my class were the only ones who had Qi.

Now it seemed that there was at least one more person, this random expert who just so happened to be hanging out in the spirit realm. Actually, I can understand why this expert was drawn here, as even in the spirit realm, the pull of the Mirror of the Dead was extremely strong right here. This meant that the most powerful spirits that could feel and detect magic would naturally be drawn here.

As such, it made sense as to why so many highly powerful spirits had all decided to congregate here.

Then the master began to move.

Rumble, crackle, shake.

As the expert moved, the whole spirit realm began reacting to his presence and focus.

Seeing that this was a Spiritual Qi master, I realized this would likely be a test of my ability to use my newly acquired Spiritual Qi. Not wanting to cross streams of energy, at least not this early, I decided to cancel my two active spells, and drop to the ground.

I also don’t want to know what it is like to have my wings chopped off in midflight. Not that I would want any of my appendages to be chopped off mind you, but the wings seem like they would be rather flimsy and something that would likely be targeted by a sword expert.

Plop.

I land in a puddle of spiritual rainwater, and residual spiritual essences.

“Hahaha, you have done it now. The master has returned, and he will discipline you.” The mage who now has a ruptured magical core states defiantly.

Hearing him, I realize that I might need to take care of him.

Shink.

Realizing I don’t want this guy to pose any threats mid-battle, I act almost involuntarily.

“This is it, this time you are going to…” was all the spirit mage managed to say, before a silver needle raced across the space from Jhonny to his neck, and found a critical pressure point before knocking him out completely.

He was still alive, and healthy, but for the moment he would not be a distracting factor that I would need to account for.

With him knocked out, I Telekinetically lifted his spiritual body and pushed him off to the side.

With that I just waited, for the eventual reveal of the spiritual Qi grand master.

The moment he moved around the last building and had a direct line of sight towards me, the system let it be known that he had arrived.

Thunderclap.

This was not the violent thunderclap from earlier. Rather this was the blowing stuff up while walking forward like you own the world walk. Strictly done for people with vision and likely viewers who were tuning in, to watch this spectacle.

Just as expected, Jhonny was extremely excited by this grand entrance and slow walking pace that this master chose before striding forward.

It was clear that to add tension to the scene I would likely have to talk to this jerk. Yes, he was a jerk, solely for the fact that I didn’t make any of these statements, and yet I would have to deal with him as a result of the actions of others, ergo a jerk.

“Oh, my Gods.” Jhonny said.

“Oh, my Gods is right, you all are determined to make this trip as ridiculously challenging as possible,” I replied back.

“No, that is Jackie Khan. The legendary Qi master that was killed at the start of this world. To think that we have found him.” Jhonny said, clearly geeking out about seeing this old master.

As he spoke, I realized that Jhonny was right. The monster, the sole original NPC trainer that had such ridiculously high standards that he never took on a disciple was here. Realizing this, I turned to Jhonny before speaking.

“I just want you all to know, that you all suck, and this trip is stupid. That is all.” I say, as I look forward and prepare for whatever will happen next.