~Alyssia Sil’vorken~

Alyssia breathed in the fresh air, marvelling at how much ambient ether was present in the atmosphere. This wasn’t her first time in a Locus of power but from the descriptions her older sister had given her, this locus was far more potent than the one she had explored. That wasn’t unexpected though.

Rakisha had only gotten the opportunity to challenge a locus that had already been conquered after all and so it made sense that it wasn’t quite up to par with the one Alyssia was currently in. I mean, this is probably the first locus on Earth that has been challenged, Alyssia thought and the expected rewards got her heart pumping with excitement. Even the invaders on her planet hadn't arrived so early after the world's evolution. If she could get a rare soul-bound item like her sister had received it would make her foray into this strange dimension one of the best decisions she’d ever made, even if she currently had no idea how to get back home.

The fact that Alyssia had gained access to the system already made the desperate flight to save her brother's life a great opportunity and all the future adventures she had planned were just the cherries on top. While the system was a crutch for the uneducated and an anchor tying them down, it was incredibly precise in its deductions of its hosts and their powers. With her prior education, that meant the system only provided benefits without the detriments to proper understanding that initiated worlds received.

Quantifying power as stat points and making them investible at the mere click of a button was honestly revolutionary. She, like everyone back on her home world, had been going by feel all this time, using expensive regents and rituals to enter heightened states of self-reflection just so they could assign the power they received upon levelling up as the system put it.

It was a far from perfect method and lacked the clinical precision that the system granted the denizens of this dimension. Just by accepting the system, she'd been made aware of the stats she'd failed to assign in her path to power over the years, a grand total of 163 stats. It was frankly, an absurd wastage that had left her reeling when she first saw it. And I get access to way more rituals than the common Alverin. Just how much are we weakening ourselves because our rituals are so inefficient? For her race, with all the Ether theory they already had, the system would honestly be a game changer. All she had to do, was find a way back to her people, a task easier said than done and grant them access to this amazing tool, a privilege she'd been granted due to her unique status as a dimension traveller. She'd been given the ability to grant system access to other sapients.

I’ll make sure Artemo's a real monster by the time I take him back home, Alyssia thought happily. Her brother had only just turned 11 and if he’d still been at the village, he would have started to learn some magic from his grandma. Alyssia felt a stab of regret when she remembered how eager he had been to start his education. He wouldn’t be learning the old magics of their tribe any time soon. Alyssia was nowhere near proficient enough in the stuff to start teaching him so she’d just have to make sure he received the system equivalent of a course in ether usage, only enhanced by her own experience and knowledge.

I’ll make sure he gets at least an epic class, maybe we can even push for legendary if I put him through enough loci, she promised herself. It was the least she could do after failing him so badly and maybe she was doing it as an experiment to satisfy her curiosity a little, but did it really matter? The stronger Artemo became, the easier she’d be able to sleep at night and she couldn’t wait to see her family's reactions when she introduced them to the powerhouse Artemo would become.

Rakisha’s gonna lose her shit, she thought in amusement imagining how her older sister would react when she met an Artemo that could wipe the floor with her. None of that future would be possible if she failed to conquer this Locus of power though, Alyssia couldn’t really bring herself to worry over that fact. She was, unfortunately, suffering from the emotion of over-confidence that she had been warned about time and time again and yet no matter how much she told herself to get her head in the game, Alyssia couldn’t really bring herself to worry about the task before her.

After all, she knew that nothing short of a disaster would keep her from conquering the Locus of Hercules when she had someone with Arthur's potential on her side. It was a matter of when, not if with him here. Maybe he wasn't up to snuff yet, but they had plenty of time to sort him out. That was the main reason why she'd chosen a locus to train Arthur in after all.

The time dilation effect present in these places was potent stuff, and she'd be making sure they got their money's worth here. The man in question however didn’t seem to reciprocate her feelings and Alyssia smirked when she saw how worried he was. The idiot really needs to learn just how absurd his existence is. At least his aura seems to be brazen enough. Alyssia mused. Too brazen in fact, she thougt as she felt it brush up against her. Otherwise, he’d live his whole life never realising his full potential, permanently in disconnect from his true self. What did that screaming cartoon call it? A training arc, yes?

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~Arthur Ward~

Arthur felt his heart drop when he identified the strange-coloured horse. How the hell are we supposed to catch nine of those? He wondered in disbelief.

Storm Walker Zephyr (Evolved Rank E) Level 109- A horse that runs like the wind, the sound of its hooves beats herald the coming of a storm. Though not the strongest of creatures, they have been known to easily surpass the speed of sound

[Due to this beast being a creation of Locus of power in a non-combat floor, the host will gain only a tenth of the levels killing such a beast would gain when done in the real world]

Arthur wasn’t too worried about the creature's high level. He had expected as much even if he had hoped that the horse would be a little weaker. No, what worried him was that the damn creature could consistently run at the speed of sound, a truly absurd pace for an animal that had just passed level one hundred. That must mean the horse has 400, no probably 500 agility, with an insane movement skill to boot. Arthur wondered in despair. Comparatively, he only had 118, a truly pitiful number when he looked at his other attributes. Once his greatest strength in the early days of the system, now it lay forgotten along with charisma.

It wouldn't be too big a problem if he was allowed to kill the damn beasts, but the system had rather explicitly warned against that. With his health and Constitution, he was sure he'd at least survive the repercussions, but he wasn't too sure about Alyssia. From what she'd told him, he knew that she wasn't exactly a tank. Quite the opposite actually. She was a glass cannon. Maybe a glass nuke's better. Arthur reconsidered. One that could navigate the battlefield with the speed of a fighter jet. She had voluntarily told him that her highest stat was agility. Being a scout for her tribe meant she had to be fast.

"Alyssia. You said the time dilation's pretty strong here, right?" Arthur asked.

She nodded her head. "It was the main selling point for coming here to train instead of just going off into the jungle or something. You were hesitant up until I told you that."

She took a seat on the grass and patted the floor in front of her, indicating he should sit down. Looking back up at him, he noticed a strange look in her eye. Was it weariness? Maybe even embarrassment.

"I know you're dying to ask questions. Hell, for once your aura seems to be agreeing with you. I'm not my sister. My education focused more on the combat side of things, but I should be able to give you some answers." She laughed self-depreciatingly.

"Ma always used to say I'd regret not studying properly. I'm the only one left to teach Artemo about everything and I don't know jack-shit."

Arthur didn't quite know what to say to that but didn't want to create an awkward silence. Forging ahead with his initial question wouldn't be the worst thing right?

"So, Alyssia. I don't know if your status is the exact same as mine, but-"

"It is." Alyssia interrupted. "It was the first thing I checked out when I left the government facility." She said, smiling at him.

"Don't worry. All I did was ask a few humans some select questions." Alyssia quickly added in response to Arthur's raised eyebrow. "There was no violence involved."

Arthur didn't need to be a master aura reader to know she wasn't telling the truth. Alyssia was a terrible liar, like caught with your hand in the cookie jar and denying it kinds of bad. She visibly wilted under his judging gaze.

"Okay. maybe a little violence." She finally relented.

Arthur shook his head, amused. He didn't really care what the alverin got up to in her spare time. So long as she wasn't needlessly massacring humans, he didn't have a problem. Even if she did, he doubted there was much he'd do about it. Dealing with aliens wasn't his job, after all. That was for the people in charge to handle and they deserved a little chaos for the shit they'd just pulled.

"I don't care what you do in your free time," Arthur said, looking at the green woman who was doing her best to look remorseful but was failing spectacularly. Case in point, she immediately looked back up with a massive grin on her face when he said that. She's like a little kid. What happened to that Amazon warrior from before? He couldn't deny that this new side of her wasn't endearing though.

That same wary look was suddenly back in her eye, only this time, it rapidly hardened into determination.

"I didn't want to say this Arthur, and I hope you don't take it the wrong way," she spoke solemnly, "But I find the human race as attractive as you would a chimpanzee."

The shift in conversation topic was so bizarre it almost gave him whiplash. Why would she randomly say that? Where the hell is she going with this?

"It's not that I find your people ugly," she continued slowly, as if she was trying to take the sting out of her words. "In fact, you're quite beautiful. But in the manner I'd find a leopard beautiful or a kitten cute. Like a majestic dragon kind of pretty, not the sort of attraction between lovers."

With a feeling of exasperation taking over him, Arthur started to realise where this conversation was going. Still, what the fuck. A chimpanzee.

He wanted to stop Alyssia there, but it was like watching a car crash in slow motion. The words wouldn't come to his lips.

"If we weren't friends, I wouldn't be having this conversation." She said. "It would be far less pleasant. As flattering as I find your attention, a coupling between us simply cannot be, Arthur."

Alyssia's voice was as deadpan as it could possibly be.

"Fornicating with you interests me as much as sex with a primitive primate would. I am truly sorry, but I must reject your advances now and save you from heartbreak."

The air was silent for a long while.

Okay, what bullshit Alverin mating proposal did I unwittingly make?