The decision of where to place the Bear Skill Tattoo wasn’t all that hard for Johann. Arms, legs, hands and feet made no sense and as much as he wanted to find out what a bear aura would do his back was also out.. Placing it on his chest Johann agreed to the prompt asking him if he wanted to activate the tattoo and with a small flash of light and a bit of searing pain an incredibly realistic tattoo of a bear’s head appeared on his chest.
Medium Bear Skill Tattoo applied, Bear Physique (Tattoo) gained.
Bear Physique (Tattoo):
A Passive skill reserving 10% of your Mana Regeneration to grant the following effects.
-Increases Density by 200%
-Increases Vitality by 10%
-Increases Strength by 10%
-Luxurious Hair
Johann was … disappointed. The skill was nice, especially how soft and clean it made his hair, but he had really been hoping for a skill that let him transform into a bear. Still, beggars couldn’t be choosers, and the skill did increase Vitality so he wasn’t going to complain. Looking around Johann found the rest of the team all staring into space, likely looking at the results of their own tattoos.
Once everyone returned to reality they came together to brag discuss what they had gotten. Meliandra, who had placed her Fire tattoo on her right hand, gained [Dread Flames], a skill that imbued flames with necrotic energy. Happy had placed his Vitality tattoo on his chest and gained [Superior Vitality], a passive skill that increased his Vitality by ten percent as long as it was his highest attribute. Since it was, Happy became Very Happy.
Ishtar placed his Magic Sword Tattoo on his left hand, his main hand, and gained [Sword Enchant] which sounded like an Enchanting skill but was actually a skill similar to [Spell Imbue]. Whereas [Spell Imbue] imbued a spell into an object temporarily [Sword Enchant] would imbue a spell into a sword for much longer, albeit at a lower power.
Mary’s Sun Tattoo, which she placed on her back, had an effect very different from what she had hoped. The skill created magical armor on her whenever she stood in sunlight, converting the light into a skintight magical barrier. The strength of the armor was entirely dependent on the quality of of light, making the skill next to useless during the night, but it provided a second layer of armor on the level of enhanced steel without requiring a drop of mana.
After the rewards discussion finished the team decided to move on. Johann shared his and Mary’s desire to complete as many quests as possible and even mentioned why. The hidden milestone rewards would come to light soon enough anyways and showing a little good faith would help his position as team leader.
After all the events of the day there were only a few more hours before night time. The group traveled over to another Ratatösk and completed another easy quest, awarding them each a Clay Apple of Iðunn that would an extra month to their lifespan. The reward was met with thoroughly mixed feelings. Anything that increased someones lifespan was undoubtedly a treasure but, well, one month was somewhat useless. Worse, only one of the apples could be eaten by a person so they couldn’t even use quantity to overcome quality.
On that lackluster note, the group set up their camp for the night. Johann used his [Natures Grasp] spell to ‘grasp’ the group in a large dome made of bark, effectively shielding and concealing them, leaving only a small hole at the top for air.
Johann stayed out a moment, leaving a hole just big enough to crawl through that he would close when he went to sleep. For now though he wanted to just sit and collect his thoughts. The view of the tree and its surroundings was amazing. The tree itself seemed suspended in space, everything else other than the tree a pitch black emptiness. There wasn’t even a sun, not that Johann could see. The light seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere all at once.
Johann sat there for a while, lost in thought while staring at nothing in particular. The last few days, months really, had been so hectic. As he sat staring into space (literally) he couldn’t help but wonder what was going on. Between his trait and this event it was hard to brush it all off as coincidence. It seemed crazy but deep in his gut he felt as if this was all somehow about him. It seemed like a stupid though, he wasn’t some sort of savior of the universe or ‘chosen one’, he was just a guy searching for a bit of adventure.
After a while Johann gave up. He wasn’t going to solve the mystery that was his life staring into space. What he was going to do though, was go to sleep.
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Johann stared at the trunk with wariness, his eyes scanning for the rot beetle that had almost killed Malek and himself when they had arrived three days ago. If he never had to travel across the trunk again he would be happy, but if he wanted to complete any more quests then it was time to move on.
The last two days the team had spent completing quests, the five of them completing another nine quests before they ran out. They’d also met a couple of other groups but managed to part peacefully. Or at least, they did after Johann showed off his [Nature’s Grasp]. Even the other druids weren’t capable of manipulating the bark of Yggdrasill so the casual display of power put to rest any thoughts of fighting.
“Could you stop staring and just come already. Sheesh, you’re worse than my cat.”
Johann turned his head towards Happy. “You have a cat?”
Happy grinned. “Heck yeah, best pet on the planet. Six foot long snow tiger that is the cuddliest kitty you’ll ever meet.”
Johann blinked, the thought of the large man snuggling with a snow tiger temporarily breaking his mind. “Uh, okay. You know what, you’re right, let’s go.”
With that he activated his Eagle’s Feather and slipped off. Eagle Feathers were the item they had received as the extra reward for finishing ten quests. The feathers were one use items that projected an aura that would drive away any monsters for the next eight hours. It should allow them to travel to Gloria’s branch without incident.
And it did. The journey took them a little over seven hours to walk the entire way, something that Johann and Mary chafed at. They were used to running everywhere and seven hours of walking felt endlessly slow. Still, the rest of the team were in no way fit enough to keep up, a fact made clear after Happy all but collapsed after a mere thirty minutes of running.
The new branch was much lower on the tree than the previous one and wasn’t one of the branches that people started on, as evidenced by the lack of a guardian at the base. Once reaching the branch the group took a quick break, once again despite Johann and Mary’s desires. The two of them were eager to rejoin their friend and now that they were so close every delay grated at their nerves. Still, they weren’t going to proceed without backup and Happy was adamant on taking a break.
After a quick break to rest, clean themselves up a bit and take care of some sanitary business the group moved on. Along the way they spotted a few corpses that showed evidence of Gloria’s passage. Johann noted evidence of magical damage on the corpses as well, proving that Gloria wasn’t alone.
Eventually the group found Gloria and surprisingly only one other person. As they spotted Gloria the Rakshasa spotted them. Johann and Gloria cried out and began running towards each other, Mary following Johann at a more sedate pace.
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As Johann got close he suddenly realized what was about to happen but before he could do anything Gloria reached him, sweeping him up and into a bone crushing hug. Despite her usual calm attitude (when not fighting that is), Gloria could be surprisingly emotional sometimes. As his bones were being ground together Johann could feel how worried she had been.
He could also feel his organs being crushed.
“Glori-argh, le- ge- flrgl” Johann tried to speak, his words garbled by crushed lungs.
Mary arrived and placed a hand on Gloria’s arm. “Greetings Gloria, it is good to see you. Could you perhaps let Johann go? I cannot heal the dead.”
Gloria swiveled Johann around so she could see Mary. “Mary! It’s good to see you too. Oh, whoops.” She let Johann go, the poor man collapsing to the ground and in a groaning pile as Gloria stepped over him and lightly hugged Mary.
“Yeah, that cracked something.” Johann levered himself up onto his elbows and looked at Mary. “Seriously? Perhaps?”
Gloria smiled and grabbed Johann by his shoulder, yanking him up. “Oh, stop complaining.” She then gave him another hug, a much gentler one this time. “I’m glad to see you’re alright.”
Johann hugged her back. “You too.”
Mary cleared her throat. “I am alright as well.”
Gloria released Johann from the hug and looked at Mary. “Oh, I was never worried about you. I just get worried whenever the idiot twins are out of my sight.”
“Wait, idiot twins?” Johann asked.
“The bakery incident.” Gloria said, giving Johann a deadpan look.
Johann grimaced. “Alright, point made.”
Gloria nodded. “Anyways, who’s your friends.”
By this point Happy, Ishtar and Meliandra had walked up, along with the haughty looking man that Gloria had been standing with.
“This is Ishtar, Meliandra and Happy. Who’s that guy?” Johann gestured at the haughty looking man who was currently staring down his nose at Johann.
“How dare yo-” the man couldn’t get more than three words out before Gloria clamped her hand over his mouth.
“This is Prince Nicholas. Ignore everything that comes out of his mouth, he’s an idiot.”
The prince looked outraged but a look from Gloria silenced him.
Johann looked at the prince quizzically. “Alright, then why haven’t you gotten rid of him?”
Gloria shrugged. “The idiot paid me an extravagant amount to make sure he doesn’t die during the Event.”
Johann switched his confused gaze to Gloria, who gave him a small shake of her head telling him not to ask. Johann was even more confused but he trusted Gloria so he let the matter drop.
Johann turned to Meliandra and immediately felt awkward. When they had formed the group it was with the understanding that it was temporary until they found more members of his team but now that he had found Gloria he felt awkward about saying goodbye.
Before Johann could try and stumble through that conversation Meliandra came to his aid. “Well, Johann, Mary, it seems that it is time for our group to split up.”
“Uh, are you sure? I mean, will you be okay with just the three of you?” Johann asked.
Meliandra smiled. “It is kind of you to worry but you need not, we will be fine. With the rewards we have gotten so far the three of us are more than up to the task.”
“Ah, alright. I guess this is goodbye.” Johann awkwardly held out his hand.
“Farewell Johann Alltud. If you are ever in the Siren Isles then please do visit the royal palace, I would be delighted to host you.” Meliandra shook Johann’s hand with a smile before moving towards Mary. “The offer extends to you as well Mary. Any time you wish to drop by I will be most delighted to see you.”
Mary demurely shook Meliandra’s hand, blushing fiercely.
“Alright you two, let’s be off. We don’t want to spoil their reunion.” With that the princess turned around and strode off, Happy and Ishtar saying their goodbye’s before chasing after the princess.
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“Hey princess, what the Hel was that about?” Happy asked when he caught up with her. “Why’d we suddenly leave like that?”
Meliandra looked at her fellow teammate with a smile It was really refreshing to be surrounded by people who had the political savvy of hungry dogs. There was no need to watch her words or seek out the hidden meanings in others.
“It is proper manners to not overstay one’s welcome or to linger. Our contract was until Johann and Mary found other members of their team and now they have. Besides, that prince seemed like he wasn’t of a good sort and it is far better to have less people than have someone who is incompetent.”
The two men accepted her reasoning, as Meliandra knew they would. Ishtar valued politeness and Happy hated incompetent people so her reasons agreed with both of them. They weren’t her true reason though. Meliandra had seen the little exchange between Gloria and Johann and she’d immediately guessed that there was more going on between Gloria and Nicholas than they’d let on.
More to the point it was quite obvious that they were reluctant to speak of it in front of strangers, herself very much included in that category. In different circumstances Meliandra might have stayed and tried to suss out the secret, she already had a few guesses, but she owed Johann and Mary for their assistance.
Besides, being able to leave on good terms with two future adventurers was a potential favor she could call on in the future.
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“Alright, now that they’re gone, what was that about?” Johann asked.
Gloria was about to answer when Nicholas beat her to the punch. “You do not have the right to know peasant! That is my personal business and peons like you are too stupid to understand.”
Gloria whipped her head around to Nicholas to berate him but once again found herself too slow. With a thunderous cracking the bark under the prince exploded upwards, burying the prince up to his neck with a crushing pressure that threatened to pop him like a zit.
“Johann no! Let him go!”
Johann was currently staring at the prince with a look of pure hatred on his face, his hand clutching his staff turning white as he gripped it with hard enough that it would have broken if it weren’t made of ironwood. He whipped his head towards Gloria, the white-hot hatred aimed at her for a moment before his gaze softened a touch. The bark retracted a smidge, enough for the prince to be able to breath, but it didn’t release him.
Johann trained his gaze on Gloria. His face was blank but his jaw was clenched and his hand still gripped his staff like he wanted to break it.
Gloria sighed. “He’s acting, trust me. He’s actually decent when he’s not pretending to be an ass.”
Johann kept staring at Gloria for a moment, not blinking or moving a muscle. Gloria was about to say something else when the bark suddenly released Nicholas, the prince collapsing to the ground. At Gloria’s gesture Mary rushed to Nicholas’ side and began to heal him.
Johann didn’t notice. As soon as the prince was free he turned around and ran off. After telling the Mary and Nicholas not to leave Gloria ran after him. After several minutes Gloria found Johann. The bark here had formed something akin to a cliff, one that Johann was currently sitting on as he stared forward at nothing, his eyes wet with tears that flowed down uninterrupted down his face.
Gloria didn’t say anything, she just sat down next to Johann and stayed silent. They stayed like that for a while, the silence making the minutes seem like hours. Eventually Johann spoke, his voice cracking as he did.
“Is, he okay?”
“Mary’s got him, he’ll be fine. Are you okay?”
Johann didn’t answer, which was an answer in of itself.
Mary sighed and shook her head. “That bloody idiot. I told him not to do his stuck up routine around you or Torin but the idiot wouldn’t listen. He really is a good ... well, a decent person, once he stops acting. He’s not some stuck up noble, he’s just trying to survive a bad situation. He’s not ... like that man.”