She swung, and the streets were covered with ice.
Slain: Svel - Lv 2, Svel - Lv 2, Svel - Lv 3, Svel - Lv 6, Svel - Lv 6, Svel - Lv 8, Svel - Lv 10, Svel - Lv 12, Svel - Lv 12, 113 more… Gained 6,397 Exp
She took a breath and forced her mana to slow. It resisted. It wanted to act more. To fight more. She didn’t let it. Slowly, it began to slow, and the lightning in her chest gently faded to a whispering static. The blue sparks trailing from her shoulders disappeared. The jagged shards of ice floating around her fell and shattered.
She gave a glance at her status.
Unit: Alexa Hugo Francis Lv 11 Exp: 44,828/295,245 Health: 40/40 Mana: 50/50 Strength: 13 Endurance: 8 Spirit: 10 Resistance: 6 Dexterity: 14 Charm: 13 Coins: 1200
Mm. Thirty seven points of mana. She’d used thirteen after an hour of fighting. Not bad. She was getting better at conserving her magic.
And it was magic. Not just her mana. Magic.
It’d been a week since she found Alps Zero and met that…other her. She still wasn’t sure what that actually was. She wasn’t sure if she’d ever know. It was a worry she wasn’t willing to tackle at the moment. Not until everything had stabilized.
It’d been a week. She found it somewhat odd that neither the siblings of Frieyen asked anything about it. Except then Frieyen admitted they were worried she would react badly if they did. “You were hugging it like it was going to disappear, you know?” The Faery had said to her on an uneventful evening, and despite the curl of shame she felt, she gratefully nodded.
Her immediate concern was getting James and Grace’s Endurance up to six. It wasn’t impossible, but it wouldn't be easy. Unless they found a Sub Scenario that gave them a boost in Attributes like she did, they’d need to gain it from leveling up. And so far they’d found no Sub Scenarios. That did little to them. If anything, their enthusiasm soared. They hunted from dawn to dusk. They would read through the dictionary for an hour. Then they’d rest, and then they’d wake and do it all again.
Her assumption was right. James’ Endurance rose with every increase in level, and he made the cut in just three level ups. Grace was more like Alex’s. Hers rose slowly, and only when she fully drained herself. She’d risen three levels. Her Endurance had risen by two points. She still needed two more points to come to six Endurance.
But Alex knew the girl would make it. They still had weeks before the month would come to an end. And if she didn’t, she could find some sort of Endurance Supplement from the LIVE Auction.
The two weren’t with her at the moment. Nor was Frieyen. The Faery had said she was going to use the magical raspberries they’d grown to awaken the twins’ mana.
Alex was alone. During the daytime. The survivors could watch. She’d seen them watching her. She felt mildly like a burning mess all throughout, but she didn’t back away. She couldn’t. Her Charm wouldn’t let her.
She knew the life she had in the past would never come. No longer could she skulk around. No longer could her name be hidden. The Hunter was known. If she couldn’t fight with an audience watching her, if her body froze the moment she felt eyes on her, she wouldn’t survive. Nor would the twins. Nor would Frieyen.
She needed this, and though she’d run into the alleyways to hide a couple times, she’d say she was doing rather well.
More than anything, she needed the space for her Winter Magic. She had no control. And though Alps Zero proved a great tool to direct her magic, her fighting tended to leave entire streets ladened with spikes of ice. Lethal to any approaching monsters. Also just as lethal to any allies around her.
It wasn’t a surprise. Winter Magic was aptly named. A magic that gave its wielder the essence of winter. The biting cold, the storms of ice, the silencing of even the loudest sounds, covering entire countries in snow. That was the magic that had permeated that mountain. That was the magic Alps Zero had adapted from the many years it spent trapped under all the ice and snow. It was hers now.
But at least she had some control. She distinctly remembered nearly decapitating herself the first time she used it.
She took a look back at the Exp she’d gained from her recent battle. Over six thousand in a single battle. Some thirty thousand in an hour. She hummed. As she’d expected, it was far higher than when she fought together with Frieyen and the twins. Here, she had no worries of injuring anyone.
She glanced around. The streets were covered in ice. Sharp, jagged ice. They rose from the ground like pikes, and corpses were held up on them. Her ice was stained a twinkling red. The sight was morbidly awe-inspiring.
She shook her head.
She began walking. Her shoes crunched through the ice below her. She could distantly see Svels shivering from the alleyways, tittering among one another. She could see smaller Svels among them. Babies. She supposed she shouldn’t be surprised. There were no restrictions barring them from reproducing now. But they’d only reproduce if they felt safe. If they had some place they could call home.
She frowned slightly.
It was a small worry she’d been holding for the past few days. There were more monsters than she remembered. Most they met were still at their base levels. Which was odd. Monsters that came through the rifts could now increase their level like she could. Hunting other monsters gave them Exp. Which meant a lot of monsters were reproducing. A lot of monsters had found a place they felt safe in.
A Monster Nest.
She could see why one had formed. The Gramatoa had most likely taken down any Monster Nests in her past life. But the Gramatoa was no more, and Prytors were notoriously territorial. There was nothing stopping the monsters from congregating. The only exception to this would be the Raeys, but that did little to stem the tide.
A Monster Nest had appeared somewhere, and she felt…mildly responsible. It had some benefits and dangers, she supposed. More monsters meant more Exp, and more possibility for death. Then again, it was either more monsters or the Gramatoa rampaging throughout the city. She far preferred the former.
She glanced at the sky. It was still just before noon.
Mm. She supposed she could try to find this Monster Nest. Maybe even destroy if she’d regained enough for her mana. She quickly went to a nearby alleyway and leapt onto the roofs. A surprised shout came from behind her. She turned to see another Unit staring at her, and she gave him a soft greeting before she left. She silently cheered.
A day before, she’d actually been approached by another Unit. It was a familiar man, though she couldn’t immediately figure out why. He’d then ask if she and the siblings could join him and his group. She asked where he was living, and he told her that he was gathering as many as he could into an underground train station at the northern edge of the city.
Recognition came then. She knew that man. He was the elected leader of the group she’d joined in the past. The ‘King’ of their group in the Second Scenario.
She’d politely declined his offer. “I fight better alone,” she’d explained as she pointed to a field of sharp ice just behind them. The man still tried, and she’d sighed and told them she was uncomfortable at the idea of staying with strangers. The man reluctantly agreed. She bid him good luck as she left.
She knew he’d do well. She didn’t know what happened to him after she separated from them, but she knew he’d do just fine in the Second Scenario.
She kept an eye on her mana as she leapt from roof to roof. It increased. Slowly. She held back a sigh. It’d take some time before she would gain some sort of mana-boosting skill. Or maybe she’d just buy one from the Shop or the Auction. It depended on the circumstance.
She’d come across some other survivors along her trip. They’d greet her. Most with enthusiasm. Some asked for advice. Some asked about her sword. Some asked if she could join them. She replied as politely as she could and fled-, went on her way.
Eventually, she stopped encountering other survivors. The last few she’d met had suggested she turn away. She asked why. They said that many monsters were grouped at the local cemetery. “It was insane.” A boy her age had said. “I-, god, I saw a guy get dragged there before getting eaten. It’s-, don’t go there. I know you’re the Hunter and all, but that’s-, it’s just-” She’d calmed him down and told him she’d be fine. He looked doubtful. She gave him a pat on the head and thanked him for his worry.
She followed his directions. He was right. The moment the cemetery came into sight, she could see a massive grouping of monsters. Svels, Vlaids, Boros, and Mitheles. The Svels and Vlaids stayed just outside the cemetery. Crowding around it to form a ring of fur and flesh. The Boros were resting within the walls of the cemetery. Some sleeping. Some feeding their young. The Mitheles were at the center, weaving web after web around the fledgling nest.
She glanced at her mana. Forty eight points. Just two more and she’d be full. That was enough.
She took a breath. Lightning roared in her chest. Mana flooded her legs. Blue sparks lit from fingers aflame. Shards of ice began forming around her. Mist coiled around her.
She leapt into the sky.
This Unit has entered a designated space. Presenting Sub Scenario...
Monster Nest
Threat: F
Requirements: Destroy the nest and its inhabitants
Success: 1000 Coins, Additional Rewards added based on actions taken
Failure: The Monster Nest grows
Time Limit: Two Hours
She soared past the Svels and Vlaids. She slowed just above the Mitheles. She raised her sword over her head as she began to descend. The air began to screech as her magic turned it to frost. The Mitheles turned up. They screeched as she fell. Some tried attacking. Some tried escaping. It didn’t do much in the end.
Her eyes burnt a bright blue, and she grit her teeth as she slammed her sword into the earth.
And the cemetery exploded with ice. It spread outwards, shaped like jagged peaks. The Mitheles were frozen solid. The Boros were as well. Those that didn’t were stabbed by the jagged ice.
The Vlaids and Svels were quick to react. The weaker ones fled. The stronger monsters rushed across the ice to hunt her down. She grit her teeth and hefted her sword from the ground. Pain struck her for a moment, before she slammed her foot down and spun. The air froze into jagged shards of ice as her sword passed through, and they flew off towards the approaching horde. Her ice stabbed right through them. Those she hit died in seconds.
A Svel came from behind her, and she quickly leapt up. Her mana rose again, more willing, more demanding. It rushed into her sword, and Alps Zero glowed a bright white. Some of them noticed this and began running. Most continued approaching. She took a breath and slammed back down into the ground.
Ice rose from the earth, stabbing out of the soil and rising towards the sky. More monsters died. She grit her teeth. She could feel the cold setting in. She could see frost creeping across her arm. Her fingers were numb. But she wasn’t freezing. The burning heat in her chest roared against it. Demanding her to move. To rush forward and fight.
The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
She let it do so for once, and her arms burnt blue as she blurred. She swung her sword through monster after monster, movements drawn from a life once lived. The Svels tried overwhelming. The Svels tried biting through her. The ice floating around her stopped them. Her sword was there to cull them.
The excitement inside her was building. The desire was growing. The blood seeping through her shirt looked delectable. Her sight was blurring slightly. Her cheeks hurt slightly.
There was little she could do but regulate the mana she was using. Nor did she want to. For the moment, she was a passenger in her own body. A valve doing its best to stop all the water it was holding from spilling.
She wasn’t sure how long she spent fighting. The world she saw before her eyes had blurred, mashing together into a canvas of dilating colors. In that void of her own making, she’d only felt herself and the sword in her hands. It was both disturbing and familiar. An uncomfortable state of pointed focus she often fell into in the past. A mechanism to save what little energy she would have during a hunt.
By the time the world rushed back into view, she found herself standing over a Vlaid. It was whimpering beneath her feet, tongue lolled out onto the ice. There were wounds all over its body. The ice below shone a light red. She stared at it.
She slammed her foot onto its head. Its skull was caved in. It died.
She glanced at her status.
Mana: 9/50
She sighed. Just below ten points. Around a fifth. That was better than she’d expected.
Slain: Svel - Lv 13, Svel - Lv 13, Svel - Lv 13, Svel - Lv 13, Svel - Lv 17, Svel - Lv 17, Svel - Lv 17, Svel - Lv 17, Svel - Lv 12, 597 more… Gained 43,222 Exp
She took a breath. Only 600 monsters, was it? Hmm. As expected of a new Monster Nest. Mature Monster Nests could have up to tens of thousands of monsters. Maybe even more.
She looked down at herself. She was…horrid. Her arms were covered in frost, and without her mana rampantly pushing her, they were very painful. It was as if thousands of needles were digging into her skin. An apt description, she supposed. This was something she’d need to get used to for the time being. Her Endurance wasn’t high enough to shield her from the biting cold her magic brought.
She’d probably spend the rest of today and the next day resting.
She gave her shirt’s collar a slight pull. Her shirt had turned completely red. So had her shorts. Her shoes were completely caked in blood. She gave her hair a quick look. Her hair was similarly caked. She frowned slightly. She’d have to wash herself when she got back. And get a new pair of clothes. The ones she wore now were unusable.
Unit Alexa Hugo Francis has finished the Sub Scenario, Monster Nest 1000 Coins gained
Additional Rewards calculated. Gained Essence of Winter
She blinked.
Essence of Winter
Rank: D
Allows the Unit to use Winter Magic.
She brought up her palm. She called forth that coldness she felt from Alps Zero. Frost formed from her fingers, glimmering like falling snowflakes.
That was nice. She could use Winter Magic without wielding Alps Zero now. She still would though. The sword was a great tool to focus her magic. And it’d continue to do so until she managed to rein in her control over her mana.
She closed her eyes and grimaced. She could feel herself crashing. She needed to get back soon.
She hoped Frieyen and the twins wouldn't be overly surprised to see her like this.
----------------------------------------
Her hopes were dashed. They were very surprised to see her completely drenched in blood. And very worried. She could do little as Grace dragged her off to shower in the rivers. She nearly fell asleep while she was cleaning herself. She actually did fall asleep while they were eating dinner.
She managed just an hour more before all energy left her.
----------------------------------------
She was right.
The first thing she felt when she awoke was pain. She’d looked down and saw red blots covering her arm. The aftermath of frostbite. She sighed. She had it coming. She’d overextended herself. It was fine. She’d felt worse pains. Gone through worse hells. Frostbite would do little to put her down.
The siblings assured her that she didn’t need to come with them. “We’ll be fine.” James had said. “I’ll make sure Grace over here won’t jump off a building or something.” He then added. Grace was quick to whack him on the back of the head for that. Alex had stared at them for a good few seconds before she nodded. In the end, it left her and Frieyen to guard the cottage. The Faery would idly float around, and Alex would sit and gently swirl her mana through her arm.
Then, Frieyen would suddenly ask. “Can you use your magic to fly?” Was their question. Alex would blink before she shook her head.
“Not at the moment.” She answered. Frieyen asked why. “At some point, I’ll be able to use ice to carry me into the air-, no, well, I can do it, but I’d immediately fall straight after. My ice is too fragile, and my control over them is as well.” She shrugged. “It’ll take some time before I can do that. And it’ll take more time before it’ll become something I can maintain.”
Frieyen hummed. “But you can, eh?” They asked. She nodded, and they grinned. “You better learn it soon! I wanna fly together!”
She smiled slightly. “Mm. I’ll do my best.”
“Oh, oh! Your thing’s Winter Magic, right? Is it, like, seasonally locked or something? Will you become more powerful when winter comes? Will you lose it if you, I don’t know, go to another planet or something?”
She blinked at the question, before she shook her head. “No. Winter Magic isn’t like World Runes. It draws from the concept of winter. As long as I know how dangerous winter can be, my magic will always exist.” She frowned for a moment. “I guess something might happen if you bring me to a world without winter and wipe my memories away. I’m not too sure really.”
“Ooh…”
Alex stared. “What’s with the question?”
“Oh, I don’t know, just curious, I guess.”
She raised an eyebrow. “Of?”
They hummed. “It’s-, well, just worried if you were dropped into some pocket universe because of a Sub Scenario, y’know?” They looked away. “I-, I know you’re strong. Real strong. But the Monolith’s cruel, and magic’s a fickle thing.”
She sighed. Pain flared when she brought her hand up to pat the Faery’s head. She still did it anyway. “It’s alright. Thank you for worrying.” She said slowly. “If anything, shouldn’t you worry more? Your connection to the planet is what’s keeping your runes working as they are, isn’t it? What’ll happen if a Sub Scenario brings you up to space?”
“Ah-, uh, true. But!” They quickly raised their finger up to her. “But! It ain’t as if my runes will stop working entirely! The Monolith can do its thing, but my World Runes will always work!”
“Except you’ll easily break your brain without your connection.”
“Except I’ll break my head easier, yeah.” They glared. “At least let me feel some triumph.”
She shrugged. “I’m being realistic.”
They huffed.
…
“Hey, Alex?”
“Hmm?”
“You’ll…” They stopped for a moment, and a sad smile came onto their lips. “You’ll still be here if I sleep, right?”
She frowned slightly. “Of course?”
“Will you?” Frieyen laughed slightly. It wasn’t a pleasant sound. “Alex, you-, you’re insane, you know? Fighting the Gramatoa, getting magic, destroying a Monster Nest. I think you’ve done more in a month than others could’ve done in a year. It’s-, you’re like a hero from a story, or maybe a fairy tale.” They looked up to her. “And I’m just…here.” They took a breath. “Some days, I wonder if you’ll return. If maybe you finally got eaten or something.”
Alex didn’t speak. She couldn’t. This felt important. Ethereal. Like Frieyen would never say it again if she interrupted them now.
“It’s dumb. Really dumb. I know I can’t fight. I ain’t like you or Grace or James. I can’t go out there and kill monsters.” They laughed again. Harsher. “I have the World Runes; I have the world at my fingers, and I can’t do anything.” They grit their teeth and banged their fist onto the desk they were sitting on. “I’m not a Unit. I can’t level up or whatever. I’m just an NUC.”
She grimaced. NUC. Non-Unit Character. Those who’d come across the Monolith but weren’t turned into a Unit.
“It’s not fair.”
It wasn’t.
“I just want to help.”
Alex closed her eyes.
It was just how things were. Faery were, at the end, a species forcefully dragged into the Monolith’s play. An innocent third party turned into characters for a stage. And she didn’t even know what’d happened to the Faeries back in her old time. She didn’t know if they’d survived the catastrophe of the finale. She didn’t know if there was even an after.
It was just how things were.
…
She hated that phrase.
“Do you want to?” Frieyen stilled, eyes turning up to her. “Do you want to?” She asked again, voice hard. “If there was some way to turn you into a Unit; if there was some way to change, would you take it?”
They sniffed softly. “Y-Yeah?” She stared, waiting. Frieyen took a breath and nodded. “Yeah.” She said. Steadier this time. “If there’s some way, then I’ll take it.”
“Even if it means going against fate?”
They scoffed. “Fate’s overrated. Our roads are our own to mold. The pilgrimage we make to the stars is one of our own making.” They grinned. “My life’s already a weird one. I got pulled from my world, found a newly born one, and now a new Unit’s askin’ if I want to become a Unit. I don’t know where this life of mine will lead to, but it’ll be mine and mine alone.”
She smiled slightly.
Fate, was it? Had it been fate for humanity to fall against the Final Scenario? Had it been fate for her to meet her death below that blood filled sky? She supposed it didn’t matter. She didn’t know why she was back in the past. She didn’t know who that other her was. She didn’t know many things. Perhaps she’d never know. And that’s fine.
And so, she began to speak, and a secret of the Monolith was told.
----------------------------------------
Conviction acknowledged. Beginning formation of a new Destiny…
----------------------------------------
By the time she finished her explanation, it’d turned to night. The siblings had returned a couple hours before then. James had dropped onto his bed and slept in seconds. Grace had stayed awake for a few minutes. She swiftly decided she didn’t want to shatter her brain and fell onto her mattress. She and Frieyen shared a quick laugh before she continued.
“So you’re saying monsters are…machines? And they have an innate system?”
“Organic machines.” She idly corrected.
“And so the Monolith’s using World Runes to force that system into people? And that’s the thing that makes a Unit?”
“Mm. It’s…more of the Monolith changing our souls to make it more malleable. The System Units have is just a display the Monolith created to visualize all the changes we go through as we gain more Exp.”
Frieyen nodded. “So the Monolith used World Runes to pry open a soul’s limit, gave them a numbered display to make everything look good, and Exp is just the…soul essence? Soul water? Soul-whatever that Units take in when they kill monsters.”
She nodded. “It’s energy used to grow a Unit’s soul. It’s why training also works.”
“And the mind follows the soul, and the body follows the mind.”
“Yes.”
“And all I need to do is use that one rune!?”
“Can you handle pain?” She asked instead. They blinked before they slowly nodded. “Are you sure? That rune I showed you was a condensed form of the entire array. It’ll be fast, but it’ll hurt. The one the Monolith uses is much longer, but far less painful.”
“How long?”
“817 Runes long.”
They grimaced. “I…think I’ll be fine. I mean, it’s just pain, right?” She nodded. They returned a wary grin. “Then I’ll be fine.”
“...alright.” She glanced around. They were just outside the cottage. The night was silent. They were alone then, with nothing but the slow rolling wind as their audience. She turned back to the Faery. They looked excited, and their wings left behind a trail of golden dust as they flew back and forth. “Are you sure you want to do it now?” They nodded. She sighed. “Alright.”
She pressed her hand into the dirt, and a dome of ice rose around them. It was a jagged, uneven thing. But it closed them off from the world. That was enough.
“This…will work, right?”
She nodded. “It will.” She knew it would. She’d seen it be done before. Multiple times. She knew it could be done again. “Just be ready for the pain.”
“O-Okay.” And so their fingers lit up, and they began to draw the large rune she’d drawn on the soil an hour before. Their fingers left behind a trail of light, and they remained in the air, glowing as they continued to draw in silence. She watched as the rune slowly formed. Then, minutes later, it was done. And Frieyen gave her one last wary smile as they pressed their palm into the center of the rune.
It glowed brighter, and then they began to scream.
But more than that, Alex could feel the massive surge of mana wafting from the rune, swirling around as a storm of pink and greens as it rushed into the Faery. The pressure within her ice dome rose dramatically, and she grit her teeth as she watched the ice surrounding them begin to crack.
She quickly pressed a palm onto her ice, and she flooded it with her magic. The ice reformed. Then they cracked. And then she reformed it again. A precarious balance. One she couldn’t break. Lest she let all this mana escape into the atmosphere and potentially trigger some unfortunate event she really didn’t want to deal with.
This was the issue with condensing 817 Runes into a single letter. The mana the World Rune dragged from the planet would be immense, and it was all forced into such a small space.
But it was working. She could feel it. She could feel something happening inside the Faery. Something inside them was shifting, turning larger. Deeper.
Then, just as quickly as it came, it went away. The pressure died away, and the weight in the air disappeared. Frieyen stopped screaming, and she let out a pained sigh as she caught Frieyen from falling. She grimaced as she let her dome shatter. She hadn’t healed completely from her little stunt the day before, and this hadn’t helped.
She glanced at the sleeping Faery in her hands, and she smiled. It worked. All she needed to do now was to wait for the Faery to wake.
…Mm. She should probably rest as well.