“Make sure ye know wha-”
“Accepted,” I interrupted. I raised an eyebrow at Naea, trying to say who do you take me for? An ominous bubbling within my core was taking place, the magic flowing within taking on yet another new sensation. “You said this would save you, right?” Naea’s thin bottom lip pouted and she nodded. I chuckled and rolled my eyes. That’s all I needed to know.
The energies in the air came not from Naea or myself, which explained their power. I felt like I was sitting in the middle of a waterfall, only kept afloat by the fact it was a metaphor. I couldn’t drown in the overwhelming river of mana, only endure it. The pair of us were lifted into the air, Naea in my arms.
The small area of English parkside lit up like the sun for multiple reasons. Once again, if someone had the chance to watch, they wouldn’t understand what had occurred, but to the two involved, the process was laid bare. The intricacies of a contract which bound souls couldn’t be hidden in small print.
Which was why I knew Naea had ceded nearly every inch of control she was able to in the forging of this contract. While the magic was settling, I returned many of her freedoms to her. As the patron of this contract, I was free to alter the arrangement while the bond was still young.
The process was quick and painless, not costing me anything I couldn’t live without. Naea had asked for a miniscule stream of my energy as her payment and I broadened the scope of this portion. “Did ye really insert a bonus clause into the familiar contract?” Naea laughed happily. “Jus’ what kinda fool are ye, Grant?”
I didn’t answer, because I didn’t need to. Naea could feel the truth of my thoughts. The same was true in reverse. Separate yet bound, it was like there was a viewing port from my soul to her’s. I shrugged instead. “A lucky one, apparently. The best kind of fool.”
“Well, the kind that survives,” Naea agreed easily and I laughed again. My feet found the floor and I released the fairy into the air. She flipped and twirled before coming to a rest at my eye level. She frowned at herself in confusion, though all I felt was excitement. Naea was right about the most important part - the quick ritual had healed her. “Hold on… What?!”
“What?!” I exclaimed back, genuinely taken aback by the outburst. So, not everything is shared. That’s probably good. If Naea could still surprise me, then I wasn’t just reading all her thoughts and her mine.
“What is this?” Instead of answering, Naea asked another unhelpful question. Then, she spun at increasing speeds until I was sure I was going to throw up, let alone her. Her excitement kept growing. “How? How?”
“Clearly you’re all better.” I moved over to the leg I had severed and nudged it with my foot, grunting with satisfaction as it gave me the option to loot the whole monster. Convenient. This one had been called Monet. Instead of white briefs on its head, it had a large red stocking which I had ignored at the time. The sword it had been using was also dropped nearby, so I grabbed that too.
Looted: Ham and Mushroom Calzone, White Belt (Upgradeable)
Would you like to upgrade your currently equipped White Belt?
I accepted and watched with interest as colour leaked into the fabric around my waist. Naea looked over and cackled. “Ya wet yerself?” I gave her a withering look and checked out the upgraded stats of the item. I cracked my neck, feeling the effects before I knew what they were.
Item - Yellow Belt (Upgradeable)
It never gets easier. You just get better.
Defeat the remaining Amphibious Attack Animals to upgrade.
Effect: Attributes +5%
This was what I expected, but I still felt excitement bubble at the sight. Just how much stronger would the item grow as I cleared the dungeon? Naea buzzed back and forth, still giggling to herself. It was getting a little old, though I didn’t want to ruin her fun, I wanted to join in. “Seriously, what is going on?”
She stopped in front of me and looked at me like I was an idiot. Her eyes narrowed, then opened again in surprise. “Ah ye silly thing, you muted the System.”
“What? No, I didn’t. Did I? How do I unmute-”
You have performed a feat of wonder. Achievements Unlocked.
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Achievement Unlocked - Boss Combat (World First)
The lords of the dungeons, even encountering dungeon bosses can be lethal. You fought and survived.
Effect: Increased resilience to level disparity
Achievement Unlocked - Kill Over Fifty Enemies In A Single Attack While Ungraded
Facing a horde is no simple task. Decimating one even less so.
Effect: Fortitude Attribute +5%, Will Attribute +5%
Achievement Unlocked - Level 25 (World First)
The journey to the top isn’t a race… but you’re winning.
Effect: Highest Attribute +10%, Other Attributes +5%
Achievement Unlocked - Survivor
Return from the very brink.
Effect: Regenerative effects increased
Aspect Achievement Unlocked - Draconic Legacy
Pride. Power. Potential. Like the dragons of old, your actions embody these ideals
Effect: Positive effects last longer with higher potency.
Negative effects are weakened. You have a small chance to negate an incoming debuff.
Achievement Unlocked - Familiar Contract (Region First)
You are the first in your region (Europe) to bind with a familiar.
Effect: Increased experience gained for familiars
I was increasingly of the opinion that the System had a twisted sense of humour. Not only did it shout all of the following announcements at once directly into my head, it wasn’t until I received the prompts that I acquired the benefits. I must have silenced the messages while fighting the scorepions, or some time during my poisoned escape.
Instead of being sour, I wriggled with the pleasure of these new effects taking hold. My muscles felt firmed, my mind more at ease. I had just gained multiple levels worth of power, in ways which were multiplicative. Try as I might, I couldn’t help turning to Naea with a slack jaw.
“Y’see why I’m so buzzy?” Naea opened her own achievements and showed them to me, a feature of our bond. She also had the region's first familiar achievement, as well as survivor and one more. One I didn’t have. Her version of the familiar achievement was slightly different and only said it improved the effect of skills based on the familiar contract. We hadn’t got that far yet, but it was intriguing all the same. Her survivor achievement was the same as mine.
Then there was the last one, which was definitely why she was so excited.
Achievement Unlocked - Limit Break
Dungeon monsters are bound to their container, mostly. You’re the exception.
Effect: Level cap removed. Attributes unlocked. Evolution unlocked.
“It’s like I’ve been freed, Grant! I didn’t even know I was being held back but gods, it’s like I can actually get a full breath!” Naea spoke quickly, her excitement bubbling up. “My wing’s fixed and I can tell there’s so much more. Can we go find something to fight?”
I laughed. “Why don’t you start on the frog guy? Most of him is over there somewhere.” I gestured into the sands of the desert area. I wasn’t ready for another fight just yet, though I would be physically recovered quickly. My body had just changed a lot, and even before that I had haphazardly placed attribute points as I fled the scorepion horde.
So, there were achievements available to me. More than that, it really was a race between myself and others. The messages had given me some information which I had desperately needed. I looked again at the Level 25 achievements and felt a little weak at the knees. There was a very real chance I was currently the strongest person on the planet. The implications were terrifying.
More than anything, the information was fuel to my fire. I already had reasons to push myself against this dungeon and now I not only had more tools, I had competition. Something I had clearly been lacking.
There was also the phase “while ungraded” which I didn’t have an explanation for, but felt important. Was it a rising scale, or would I land on Grade F once I got one? Perhaps there was some kind of leaderboard ongoing for all the people of the planet. I really had no clue, but it was another thing to aim towards. Was there another achievement for becoming the first graded individual, like with level 25?
The possibilities were making me salivate, so I took a bite of the calzone, shaking my head at how good it was. I went to find Naea, giving her some of the cheesy meal to share. She loved it, clearly surprised at the quality of human cooking. I couldn’t help being a little smug, even if I had never once made something of this level. I sat down in the warm sand, and Naea landed beside me.
“So,” I said, looking forward into the hazy golden landscape.
“So,” Naea replied. She matched my line of vision and the two of us were quiet for a while. I could feel the hummingbird buzz of Naea’s frantic mana. She wasn’t in distress, that was just the natural flow of her energy. It felt chaotic to me, but I knew it was dancing comfortably inside her skin. We were connected now.
Intensely connected.
“This one’s for you,” I proclaimed. Naea’s look of confusion was priceless. Brandishing the weapon which had taken her arm and wing, I stood and moved it with a flourish. Not bad, I thought. The sword itself was in the style of a japanese short sword. It wasn’t my area of study, but the description had named it a wakizashi blade and it was definitely gorgeous, if nothing else.
The hilt was wrapped in dark green leather and a small crossguard in the shape of a flower adorned the base of the blade. The metal itself had a slightly blue sheen to its flash when the light caught it. It was sharp, though apparently not enough to get through the Yo Staff. As they were both rare items, that made sense.
“Ye might notice it’s a lil’ big for me?” At around the same height as Naea herself, she was obviously correct. She would need to wrap her arms around the hilt just to hold it.
“Ah, I thought you might say that.” Wielding a toothy smile, I held the sword forward and sent a surge of mana into the blade. I had to change my grip quickly as the magical properties changed the small blade into a tiny blade.
Chibizashi
Once held by a master swordsman, this cursed wakizashi was discarded after the sword itself seemed to run from an incoming blow.
Effect: Infusing the Chibizashi with mana allows the wielder to change its size
As I was hesitant to assign any weapons to my mastery for now, this was a perfect item to give to my new familiar. Naea grabbed the weapon with a huge smile and got some distance from me before going wild in the air. It wasn’t fancy, or skillful in anyway, but her speed and size turned her into a complete blender. I shouted as she hovered closer, and she stopped, looking sheepish.
The sword disappeared, and I raised my eyebrows in surprise. “You have a storage space?”
“O’ course I do,” Naea answered, looking at me like I was stupid again. “Where do ye think the loot comes from when?”
I squinted, thinking. Upset she made so much sense, I stood up and started walking. My mana had settled, my heart had calmed and while the morning had been dramatic so far, that didn’t mean I could rest on my laurels. The achievement for meeting the boss would help me defeat it. “Come on,” I called over my shoulder before breaking into a light jog, “let’s go find that fucking scorepion.”