Whilst Lunetta was fighting the gnolls, the other participants of the tournament weren't slacking off. Most of them had gotten to level 5 at this point, though they were also occasionally working on their skills Lunetta was doing both so her efficiency at this stage was quite far ahead. The main places where these participants had advantages would be in getting a settlement up.
Lunetta had looked around a bit and found some survivors that were captured by the gnolls, she ended up simply asking them if they wanted to fund or be in a settlement, most had replied yes so she had at least gotten some supporters. She had even gotten one builder that was working on her house at this moment.
'Getting rain power is quite difficult' She was at this moment standing in the rain simply looking up as the rain fell upon her. Her recent advancements in tailoring had allowed her to make some boots as well, using the method described before, only adjusted to make boots, she wanted to mess around a bit, but she didn't really have enough Mana to push on certain aspects.
So now she just absorbed rain affinity, a funny thing about affinity is that most affinities are "grouped" into larger sections like the general affinity of the rain, but there are a few different affinities usually present in this main affinity. Hence the naming on her class, she was sided more towards silver moon than any other kind of moon affinity.
It is possible to harvest them, but unless you're specializing you're just wasting your time. She wasn't specializing, she just wants to feel the rain. And it was going quite swell, she was decently wet, had a purring sensation in her chest and was blushing quite hard. The purring being from the rabbit snugged quite close to her chest, it was quite light, the blushing was mostly from frustration.
She went over and kicked a rock only to find a scorpion under it. The scorpion was biding it's time however so she got a sting almost immediately. [Agile Black Scorpion Level 20] a decently leveled beast had bamboozled her. Impressed she went down and pet it a bit. It didn't seem agitated at all, quite proud of itself. She was quite reactive, especially since moonlight is quite fast her being close to it gave her some reflexes.
Soon the scorpion joined her on her shoulder. It pinched her ear a bit. She already regretted bringing it along. But from what she learned from the rabbit, beasts are incredibly useful and you don't get history from them unless you issue commands. So just creating a bond and doing fuck all else with it was quite productive all things considered.
It stopped pinching her ear, allowing her to focus on the rain, a few drops had landed in her eyes causing them to become bloodshot but she kept staring at the sky line a lunatic... Well she does screw around with moon magic so she's one anyway why not completely embrace moon insanity? Though lycanthropy doesn't sound too fun.
After a while of rain, tears and ear pinching she finally managed to grasp something from the rain. That staring at it was moronic and led absolutely nowhere. So she began creating rain affinity Mana with her affinity and with some screwing around she got it in the palm of her hand. After some thought she threw the rain Mana at the scorpion on her shoulder.
It popped it like a bubble, but it stuck and it seemed to irritate the little critter. It then walked squeezed her earlobe. Her starting to sob and beg had made it stop after a while though. She then received a bond prompt from the scorpion.
Agile Black Scorpion[G] has requested a bond. Terms: None
Do you wish to accept Y/N?
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She accepted and soon she and the scorpion felt each other's emotions. She felt a bit of cold sweat run down her back. "Agile Black Scorpion" was a bit deceptive. It had some ancient rarity poison that could even take out peak D grades. The fact that it was curious had likely saved her life. Another benefit was some poison resistance. "Some" was underplaying it a little.
She was essentially resistant to any poison the scorpion could dish out. It also spoke to her mentally but most of it was just impressions, mostly of mixed feelings of her destroying it's home. But it had allowed her to carry it and become companions because it recognized her strength. She didn't care too much, if anything she now had a new projectile, and her ear is being pinched again.
After screwing around with her friends a bit she started moving her rain Mana around her body, feeling it seep out of her pores to create a sweat like substance. Some precipitation and she was dry again. It was starting to get dark once more. Then she had an idea. She pooled the rain Mana into her arms and found it to make her a tiny bit stronger.
Finally she got something for her pained efforts.
Passive: Embodiment of Rain a passive that additionally pushes all stats by 30%. All Rain enhancement effects are greatly increased.
The rain caused a circulation effect inside her and when she added rain Mana to any part of her body it seemed to fit in and boost her a bit. She jumped and boosted her arm, slashing down with [Moonlit Slash] she had pooled in around 10% of her Mana on the rain, and used the least bit of Moon Affinity Mana as possible. It resulted in her tearing down around three trees before it hit the ground, it didn't go very deep.
This told her that she had to combine them in ways, hopefully even combine rain and moon, but something told her, her gut mostly, that doing something along those lines would just create sparkly water drops. Nothing as powerful as the individual components. She'll have to see what the future brings for her, right now she felt quite happy with her strength, she had the rabbit, good levels, the scorpion, and now this passive.
She used [Moon Body] and although it isn't as effective on her Strength anymore, she still felt the effect. Pooling in rain Mana and Moon mana drained her by around 50% in two seconds. She gated it a bit and found herself still drinking Mana like a madwoman, but it wasn't as pronounced as it was before. She could run a lot faster, pack a greater punch, whilst not wasting a lot of efficiency on Moonlit Slash.
It was all in all a good upgrade. The only thing she had to complain about was the scorpion tugging itself underneath her shirt's shoulder area. It wasn't uncomfortable but she was still a bit anxious about the stinger hitting her. It wouldn't hurt, but just knowing the pure power of that poison was enough to make many piss themselves if it got this near. The bastard even went as far as poking her a bit with it.
'It fucking knows' She swore internally, before moving into position, a light soon surrounded her and she was transported off to who knows where, likely the site where the tournament is supposed to be, maybe it was on some moon? When she found herself it was around a bunch of people. They were rather sharply dressed, nobles of the old world she guessed.
There weren't a whole lot of people, it was more like a small mob than a crowd, around 500 people distributed over a decently sized area. More people were coming in though, and after another half hour it grew to 1000. She had found a nice place to sit and look smug. She had won the leveling race and now she had quite a bit of power.
An old man approached her, he had a long staff on his back with a bulbous head. He carried himself with dignity. He had a kind of charisma to him, almost as if he had a stat for that. 'Maybe he did' She thought. Soon he reached her and seemed to be working himself up. It took him around five minutes to walk up to her and stare at her for a few more minutes.
She honestly didn't care how awkward the guy was, it was honestly just annoying having someone stand there and not say shit. Until he spoke.
"Will you join the Fire Dragon Clan?" He asked, his voice emanating throughout the whole square. The asshole was doing this on purpose, he seemed to have multiple reasons for doing it. He was only level 5, but he seemed poised to strike should she attack him. She gave him a polite smile and thought a bit. He didn't seem like the bad kind of guy, but using social pressure was an assholish move.
Her smile turned thoughtful as she regarded him.