In the end, I healed enough to not have to be carried in a princess carry, something Niall hinted at with a smirk. After opening the door and passing me onto the Solar Ascendant guy, Niall leaves somewhere.
Passing through the tunnel full of greenery, we walk slowly. The man probably sees my still far-from-perfect state and walks slower.
I notice that he is smiling for some reason and is nice to me. Should I tell him I'm not into men?
“It’s been a long time since I saw Lady Niall smiling that way,” he breaks the silence finally. “In the past few years, she was always in a gloomy mood, even though she tried to hide it, constantly worried about something.”
“I guess it’s not easy to defend that many people.”
“It is not. But I think it was her other problem she was worried about. Lady Niall holds no secrets from us, so I know your companion helped her. But she also seemed to have fun with you out there. So I want to thank you for that. She deserves it as she suffers a lot because of us all.”
On our way back, we even stop to eat some food from something reminiscent of a food stall that is there for all the people working on the fields covering a huge part of the tunnel.
Against my will, I learn that he and that Reaper something class guy look at Niall like a daughter, used to be bodyguards in the noble house of Niall’s father. Just from the way he talks about her, it is nearly as if he sees her as a child. Someone most likely over 200 years old and a Champion.
As much as I complain about this kind of info dump, I come to think it wasn’t that bad, as I learned a bit about how others might see Champions and about the world from before the war.
Soon after, I enter the apartments again.
Lissandra, who has nothing better to do as always, looks at me. “The inscriptions I made are all messed up and need to be redone, give me a bit of your mana.”
I do so, and five minutes later, I’m on the floor again, fighting against the pressure on me using only kinetic energy.
----------------------------------------
After five hours pass, I’m punished for my success. Being able to move my pinkie finger seems to be enough of a reason, and Lissandra increases the difficulty. The next time it will be even more difficult; I’m sure of that.
Currently, both me and Myrra exit the Workshop for 5 hours of hunting and then 1 hour of rest before more training.
“You sure I shouldn’t carry you? You still seem to have some internal wounds. Silly feral one. You're supposed to train to not get hurt, not hurt yourself to train. So typical of you.”
“I blame my environment and the people around me affecting me the wrong way.”
She nods seriously, her tail twitching and showing her amusement, “That seems to be the case.”
“Actually, am I not a victim here? I should report it to someone. Physical and psychological abuse or something.”
“Indeed, feral one, it’s quite serious what's happening to you.”
I jump away from her, and she does the same. Where we stood, the earth bulges and dozens of spikes pierce the ground. Through them mana flows, strengthening them.
The spikes explode, and hundreds of small projectiles from stone crash against the barrier I make and the similar one made of Aurora glass Myrra creates.
More than the attack, I watch Myrra’s defense. Even now, I’m quite fascinated by Aurora glass. The crystalline material with reflective facets that go through multiple colors according to Myrra’s use of the skill, element, or whatever it is.
It’s something she gets from a combination of her fire and ice attacks, I think.
Aurora glass seeps into the air, dozens of tiny reflective particles she uses similarly to my anchor and teleports through, disappearing to hunt the monster who attacked us, leaving me behind to deal with the other one.
[Veil Guardian - lvl ??]
Tall, pale, and with voidsteel blades instead of forearms and hands. As many times before, the monster screeches with a voice full of hate, and I cut off the signal it sends to the Veil.
Blue veins going through its skin increase in number, and the gravity field envelops the area, crushing the trees and boulders under the pressure.
The monster charges at me.
I use [Resonance], and the effect of gravity disappears. It’s so easy to do it now, and I try to mimic what Lissandra did when I attacked her before with her [Disruption].
Instead of using a lot of my mana, I reach only for a few percent and create a single projectile.
As the Veil Guardian reaches me, I send kinetic energy through my body and dodge a few times, avoiding the swings of the voidsteel blade.
Kinetic energy is different to use; unlike using mana, even the movements look different. It’s not as smooth; instead, it is a burst of speed added to movements.
I elongate the projectile over my shoulders, creating something akin to a spike as long as my forearm that I start to spin around its axis.
The voidsteel blade cleaves deep gashes into the ground and cuts through the boulder behind me. A few trees fall down as an invisible slash leaves them cut smoothly.
Dodging under the last swing, I boost my body, take a step closer to the monster, and hit its chest with an open palm, adding kinetic energy to the strike.
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
The force of the attack makes the monster stumble back, and I shoot the projectile I was creating, accurately piercing through the Veil Guardian's head.
[You have defeated Veil Guardian - lvl 273]
My instinct screams at me to use more mana, to move more, but I push these habits down. Not with my skill but on my own.
I check, and there is barely any dent in my mana reserves; it’s already nearly filled back.
Cutting the voidseel blades off the dead body I sell them to the system shop. Then, using only kinetic energy to strengthen my body, I rush towards where I sense more monsters.
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Five hours later I check my notifications, and there is only one.
[Lvl 240 > Lvl 241]
“Myrra, am I cooked?”
“Feral one, as far as I can see, you are not cooked? I don’t even know what using ‘cooked’ in this context means.” She reacts a bit confused.
“Based.”
“Based on what?”
Even though it was only one level up, I am in a good mood, so I decide to mess with her a bit more. All with the use of knowledge from the twins and the confusing gibberish they used all the time together with Brainiac.
“Would you say I’m the goat?”
“Did you get hit somewhere? You clearly aren’t a goat.”
“Oh, I didn’t say it before, but nice drip, I like your clothes, they are lit.”
“You are indeed even more annoying than before. Wanna have a fight? No cheeky stuff, just body strengthening, I will beat it out of you.”
“Mood. But anyway, let’s get some bussin’ food.”
“You little shit...”
Her reaction makes me even happier and I dodge the kick she throws at me. The next time I meet the twins, I will have to ask if I used these words correctly. They are still confusing as fuck.
Walking through the entrance tunnel after being let in by Niall’s Frozen Reaper guy, I allow myself to relax just a bit. Around 50 minutes remain before another round of training, so I decide to examine the place a bit.
“And by the way, it’s your rest time, so why do you keep that orb near you and train shaping? A little bit of rest is fine.”
“I’m on a time limit here; as you might have noticed, our companion requires me to level up 5 skills.”
“It was you…”
“Would you believe that? Five skills to level 50.”
“But it was…”
“So yeah, I have to train a bit more.”
Myrra sighs and looks at a man who's been staring at her; that makes him turn away quickly and rush behind the trees.
“If you need help, feral one, I’m here. I owe you a lot, and if it comes to it, I will fight with you against Lady Lissandra if you fail.”
It’s as if she declared she is willing to die with me and for some reason, I can’t find the right words to react to it. Such a surprising declaration out of nowhere catches me off guard.
She notices it and smiles with her fangs showing. Her tail shows she is even more amused than before, and her ears perk up.
“Am I also cooked now, feral one?” Myrra asks with a bright smile.
“We have to do something about your habit of picking up weird words, the same with ‘nya’ before.” I decide to ignore it for now and push by her, heading deeper into the workshop.
“Did I use it incorrectly? Should I call myself goat instead?” She quickly catches up to me and walks by my side.
“Please stop, I’m sorry for teasing you before.” Seeing the lynthari I once considered majestic using these words ruins my image of their entire race even more.
“Based.”
“...”
“We are going to get some bussin’ food? Do you think they have restaurants here? That would be cooked!”
“That’s not even how you use… whatever, why are you so quick to catch these things up?”
“Feral one, I might not be at the level of Lady Lissandra, but my talent is quite good. Out of all the lynthari, I was considered the most talented in millennia.”
Even though she is still smiling, it makes me remember that her entire world is gone. She might not consider herself fake or doesn’t consider it at all, but it doesn’t change that fact.
Unlike me, who will most likely return to Earth, she has nothing left. Just that crazy woman by her side who pulls her around.
The way she always tried to stay by my side ever since we met again now makes sense. We weren’t best friends or anything like that, but I’m someone she knows, and we probably did have a better relationship than she currently has with Lissandra.
Not having time to grieve, having to fight to survive, unable to hear a lot of things because of the censor preventing it, the risk of dying at any moment.
“Maybe your talent is at the level of pets the court ladies from Lissandra’s planet used to have,” I tell her.
I start noticing just a bit of clinginess from her. The way she talks quickly and stays nearby. As if an animal looking for someone to share warmth with.
Even though she tries hard to not let it show. “Maybe in a few months. So far, none of us are a match for them, feral one! But one day!”
Walking and joking, we pass through the tunnels and a few caves.
All of these places are huge. The walls from which they got massive crystals for Skyhold Islands. The giant tools they used to create parts of them.
One of the rooms has a pillar in the middle that looks like it could move up and down, imitating hits of a hammer. Just that pillar is as big as buildings, and there are more things like that.
It’s all fascinating even when they are sitting there and collecting dust. Some even used as meeting spots for kids that run around and play. The inscriptions look fine, so it all could probably work with a lot of effort, but they are not powered, mana too precious to waste like that.
“It’s like a city,” Myrra says. “Thousands of people. Gardens, fields, waterfalls. Seeing it used this way is nice, but sad at the same time. Do you know what I mean?”
“Yes. It used to be a busy place, full of people working on yet another part of a Skyhold Bastion. Hammering sounds, rails used, materials mined.”
It all feels a bit post-apocalyptic. As if a once prosperous city was left behind and taken over by nature, the trees piercing through the roads and growing in the middle of the streets. That kind of feeling.
All radiates this feeling of nostalgia and the tools created by generations of people, most of whom are already dead. It’s something proven even by most of the tools left behind being taken apart, to serve in a better way.
----------------------------------------
In the end, we don’t find any stalls offering food and just walk around, and the hour of rest passes like that.
When it’s about to end, we turn around and return to our apartment where Lissandra sits, working on the arm of the Saint. It might be me, but the arm seems to be a bit smaller than before.
Lissandra glances up from the arm at the orb that still floats near my shoulder and I train with constantly.
It’s to the point the entire time while walking with Myrra I also had to keep up my healing passive from the strain and effort I put into that shaping exercise.
“Continue what you are doing but with no healing for the next 10 hours,” she says simply and continues to work on the arm.