Luné Alpenglow
Luné enters the crafting room, and smiles at the two Beastmen sitting side by side in chairs. The one known as Miyoshi speaks in surprise, “You’re a Hero!” Koto is also surprised by Luné’s golden eyes. The only person not following is Sebastia, who remains silent, as she looks around the crafting room. Luné rubs the back of her head, as she says, “I’m not that interesting. I’m still a commoner.” Koto speaks, relaxing a little, “That explains why this dungeon isn’t hostile.” Luné shakes her head, and waves her hands, “I’m not that special, I’m just a normal girl. Seriously, look!” She displays her stats, and the two Beastmen stare in awe, much to the confusion of Luné. Sebastia wanders over, and looks as well, then says, “My Lady, you may want to look at your Class again.” Luné turns her stats to herself to read, a bit confused by the three, and she sees:
Luné Alpenglow
Female Hero:Human/Dungeon Core
Level 12
Experience: 12/15
Health: 40/40
Mana: 0/0
Strength: 5
Dexterity: 3
Constitution: 4
Spirit: 4
Armor: 6 (0)
She stares at the screen blankly for a second, and then bellows out her confusion. Sebastia smiles and gives her a pat on the head, as if to say “its alright, we all miss things sometimes.” Koto and Miyoshi watch in silence, waiting for Luné to come back to reality, and soon enough, she does. Luné looks at the two, and asks, “If you don’t mind me asking, where did you come from? I didn’t really get told much about what happened, I just know four Beastkin are now dead.” The two look uncomfortable at that, and Luné adds to her words, “You don’t have to tell me. I just want to know, since you can stay here if you need to.” Miyoshi looks at Koto, then at Sebastia. Koto sighs, and then says, “To repay your kindness, I will tell our story. After all, we all could be in the same boat, now that you have gone against that group.” Luné takes a seat in front of the two, ready to listen. Sebastia just remains standing beside the three. And Koto begins telling their story.
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Koto Youngthorne
Koto began sitting up, stretching his back a little. He smiled at the sound of birds chirping outside, and enjoyed the warm sun entering through the window onto his face. After a minute, he stands up, and begins getting ready for the day. While he does, he hears a woman’s yell from across the house, “Koto! You will be late to training!” Koto called back to her, “Sorry, Ma! I’m hurrying!” He soon makes his way through the house, and stops by the kitchen, where the Kitsune is scrubbing dishes. He walks over to give her a hug, as she says, “Before you run off, can you wake up your sister for me?” Koto nods in response, and heads off to his sister’s room, there he opens the door slowly. Seeing the lump in her bed, he quietly stalks over, and raises his hands. Then he thrusts them down, suddenly tickling the lump, who wakes up with a jolt and begins laughing uncontrollably after a panicked yelp. While trying to escape, the blanket slips past her face, letting Koto grin mischievously at Miyoshi’s face. Koto stops and begins chuckling, “Up and at ‘em, Miyoshi. I’ll see you when I get home.” He pats her head as she pouts at him, then he exits the room, just barely hearing her say, “Jerk.”
Koto heads to the front door, and as he passes the kitchen, he says, “I got her up! See you later, Ma!” Her response is rehearsed and rapid, yet still warm and loving, “Stay safe out there!” Koto exits the house, and starts running, heading for his teacher’s home. As he runs, he sees a group of Wolf Beastkin entering the village. He doesn’t pay them any mind, and enters his teacher’s home, and smiles happily as he closes the door. Taking off his shoes, he heads further in, and takes a seat where he normally does. Sitting quietly, he waits for his teacher to arrive, and soon the Nephilim enters, and takes a seat across from him. Smiling, the Nephilim speaks, “You are not late for once. Did you skip breakfast today?” Koto rubs the back of his head, “I know you say not to do that, Teacher Araqiel, but I can’t help but run out of the house when I’m excited.” Araqiel softly chuckles, and then says, “You need to make sure you eat well, or your training will be for naught. Now, show me what you learned yesterday.”
After a small demonstration of common spells, Koto looks to Araqiel, who nods approval. Araqiel then speaks, “Well done. That’s the very basics. Now, let's see how your sword training is coming along. Pick up one of the training swords.” After a small demonstration of the basics, Araqiel smiles at his pupil, and speaks again, “Great. You have more aptitude with spells, but being capable of defending yourself with a sword is very beneficial. Today I wi-” Outside of the house a scream can be heard. Araqiel walks quickly to an actual sword and takes it with him as he heads to the front door to see what is going on. Koto follows, just as curious, and worried. They exit the house, finding a Inuhito man on the ground, bleeding. His wife stands nearby, her hands over her mouth, tears in her eyes, and fear coursing through her veins. A Wolf Beastkin stands, a bloody scimitar in his hand, and a foot on the dying Inuhito, he yells out to the onlookers, “Listen up! This is how it’ll go! This town is owned by the Corsair Corps now! You will give up half your population to be slaves, and we’ll let the rest live!”
Araqiel steps further into the road, and he yells out as well, “And who are you to demand such a thing!? You come into our village, harm our people, and you expect us to go quietly!?” The Beastkin laughs, and says, “Looks like we have a wannabe hero! What the fuck do you think you can do, Human?” Araqiel speaks with cold indifference, “You mistake me, brigand.” He draws his sword, prompting one of the archers, who Koto had not even noticed, to fire at him. Araqiel simply cuts the arrow in two. The Beastkin is startled by this, and yells out, “Archers! Kill this fucker!” About six more arrows are shot at Araqiel, and he simply dodges each, or cuts them out of the air. Araqiel ignites his wings, revealing a blazing white holy wing, and a charred black demonic wing. One of the archers screams out, “Shit! Nephilim! Run!” The Archers begin running, just as the Beastkin who had been taunting Araqiel begins sprinting off. Araqiel does not let him escape, however, and launches himself at the Beastkin, cutting through his legs, and standing above him as he falls, saying, “This is the price for harming one of this village.” He then severs the cowardly wolf’s head from his body. Araqiel goes to the dying Inuhito, and calls for a healer, but the village’s doctor does not arrive in time to save his life. Araqiel, having put away his wings at this point, goes to the man’s wife, and gives her the news, then he takes her to her home to mourn. Koto, knowing lessons will not continue for the day, returns home, and checks on his mom and sister. The three spend the rest of the day together, trying to forget what had happened.
During the night, as Koto sleeps, he is rudely awakened by Miyoshi shaking him away in a panic. He jolts up as he hears the sounds of combat, the screams, and the wails of fear. As he starts getting up to follow Miyoshi out of the town, their mother runs into the room, and turns, holding herself in a defensive posture, as a Wolf Beastkin with golden eyes steps into the room. He smirks, and chuckles, saying to them, “Really? You will defend them? Even to death?” Their mother growls at the Beastkin, causing him to scoff, and quickly slash his sword across her chest. Despite the yells of her two children, worried for her safety, she remains in a defensive position, even through the pain. The Beastkin laughs, “Still standing? You must be at least level 4, and have only applied Constitution. Or you are far higher than I give you credit for. Though that doesn’t matter. You clearly can’t keep this up. So die.” He slashes her again, making her crumple. He ignores the screams of the children, and their attacks as he drags them away.
He drags them into the street, and holds Miyoshi towards Araqiel, who is cutting down multiple Beastkin. He yells out, “Nephilim! Surrender and the rest will be spared!” Koto screams out, “Don’t do it, Teache-” his voice is cut off, as the Beastkin squeezes his neck tightly, making Araqiel drop his sword. The Beastkin throws the two children to the side, towards some of his men, and begins walking towards Araqiel, who is beginning to be bound by yet more Beastkin. Soon the two children and the rest of the survivors were shackled and driven away from the village. But before they were taken away, they were forced to watch, as the Beastkin with golden eyes beheaded Araqiel in front of them all.
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Luné Alpenglow
“Dammit!!!” With a slam on the table, all in attendance are startled away from the tale, and look to Sebastia. “Gods dammit!!! Why!? What the fuck is wrong with people!?” Genuine hatred and anger can be seen in Sebastia’s eyes as she turns around, and she looks at Luné, and despite the suddenly calm and chilling voice she uses, Luné can all too easily see her fury, “Just say the fucking word, my Lady. I’ll go decapitate all of those bastards.” Luné, trying to be the voice of reason, speaks to her in a calm voice, “We don’t have enough information. We can’t just jump, without knowing where to jump.” Sebastia sighs at that, and simply starts to walk, “I need to cool my head. Sorry for exploding like that.” Luné is silent as she watches her walk off, and then she looks at Koto, and nods, “I’m sorry. She must have some baggage surrounding slavery.” Koto nods slowly, a sad look on his face, “It's okay. I’ll just continue the story.”
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Koto Youngthorne
A few months passed, and each of the survivors were sold off, mutilated, or worse. The few who weren’t, were planned to be sold, like Miyoshi. Koto wasn’t so lucky, as his tail had been removed, and his ears were nicked with blades. While they cried for days long gone, they were a few days away from the stop they had been mocked about. As one Beastkin had said, “Say goodbye to your sister, because she’s getting sold off to be the toy of some noble.” Koto wanted to rip that Beastkin’s throat out, but he couldn’t, even if he could get close enough.
During the night, as the caravan camped, he laid beside Miyoshi, holding tightly to her, when he heard a noise nearby. A quiet voice whispers from the darkness, “Get ready to run, kid.” He sits up a bit, looking at where the voice came from, as a man in a fancy getup and masquerade mask approaches from the brush, pulling out a set of tools. As the man nears, Koto realizes he’s a Dark Elf, and is almost about to yell in panic, as the man grabs his mouth, and shakes his head, “Quiet, you want free, I’m passing by, you get freed. Got it?” Koto nodded quietly, and the man released his grip, using his tools to pick the lock on their shackles, freeing the two to run. The Elf smirks, and then says, “Wake the girl. I’m going to go make a big distraction.” He then began sneaking around the two, and off into the camp.
Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.
Koto immediately starts shaking Miyoshi awake, and quietly says, “We need to run.” Miyoshi starts to get up, confused and dazed, but she follows Koto as he bolts for the darkness of the forest. As they run, they hear combat suddenly erupt at the campsite. Koto simply ran, not looking back. Eventually, the two got to rest, and would sleep properly for a few hours, until daybreak. As the sun rose, they continued leaving the area, trying to cover their tracks as well as possible. Soon enough, Koto and Miyoshi believed themselves to be safe, and stopped to rest, wondering how to survive in the wilderness, but that was when they heard the voices of some of the Beastkin. They began sprinting, and soon ran into Sebastia, who decimated the Beastkin, and they found their way to Luné.
Koto finishes his story, and sees Luné mulling it over. As Luné thinks, he can hear Miyoshi’s stomach rumble, which in turn causes a cascading effect in the room, making all three of their stomachs growl out for food. Luné looks at the two, then smiles, at their embarrassed looks. Koto does not find his plight amusing however, but he hears Luné speak, “Carcere Fabricator.” She then presses an invisible button, and a white light appears before them. After a second, the light turns green, and a basket of bread appears. Miyoshi immediately can be seen doing a grabby motion with her hands, and her mouth hangs wide. Koto stares in silence, as Luné speaks, “Go ahead. It's not poisoned. It's my heroic ability. I can fabricate things from just the mana around me. It's how I got Sebastia.” All Miyoshi needed to hear was to go ahead, and she’s already to the races, uninterested in what Koto just heard. Koto grabs a loaf of bread as he speaks, “How you got Sebastia?” Luné nods, grabbing a loaf as well, “Yes. When I became a dungeon core, my ability was upgraded, and I could summon a ‘summon’ as it's called in the menu. Because of the ambient mana at the time being Legendary in quality, I was able to summon Sebastia, a Swordmaster.” Koto begins to think to himself as he eats, Sebastia is a Swordmaster? How did she use that complicated spell that called light down from the heavens? Luné stands, and takes another loaf of bread, as she speaks, “I need to get back to tending to the dungeon. Stay as long as you need.” Luné walks off, and Koto sits quietly. He looks to his sister, and just leans against her. He hasn’t felt this calm and safe since before this whole mess. Miyoshi happily starts to lean against him as well, and soon enough, the two fall asleep.
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Luné Alpenglow
Luné walks to the porch, and exits the house. She hands a loaf of bread to Sebastia, who is leaning on the railings. Sebastia looks at the bread, and takes it, then says, “My Lady. I truly, truly, wish I could just run off and kill those bastards without endangering your life.” Luné smiles at Sebastia, and answers, “We can get to that soon enough. Koto and Miyoshi are the ones who should be like that. They were actually wronged.” Sebastia looks at Luné, and frowns heavily, and speaks, “Do not say that, my Lady. Slavery wrongs everyone. Not just those it actually affects. Somewhere down the line, a family has been separated, and a friend has been unable to save those that remain from taking their own lives.” Luné is silent, and then starts to feel uncomfortable. Sebastia continues, “Do not say it. Because I know it affects more than just the people it happens to.” She looks back out at the forest, and Luné walks back into the house, headed for the basement.
Contrary to the dour mood, however, a wolf pokes its head out of one of the empty rooms. Luné smiles sadly at it, knowing it is one of her monsters. Which means the spiders are now wolves. The wolf, sensing its master’s sadness, wanders over, and Luné watches as it presses against her slightly. Being up to her chest, she nearly topples over from the bump alone. Stabilizing herself, she pats the wolf, and starts walking to the dungeon core room. The wolf follows, and enters behind her. As she nears the core, the wolf lays down beside it and her. She places her hand on the core, and absorbs it, falling over again, and becoming the dungeon. As her vision returns, she can see the whole dungeon once again. The wolf has grabbed her by her shirt, and dragged her into a more comfortable position, and is now laying still, with her head on its body. She decides to focus on this wolf first:
Monster Menu
Eurasian Wolf Level 5
Health: 10/10
Strength: 2
Dexterity: 2
Constitution: 1
Spirit: 1
Current Orders: None
Currently Feeling: Protective
Speak to set new orders.
Luné watches the wolf quietly, not wanting to set orders by accident. She then stops focusing on the wolf, and looks at the spawners. Finding the wolves trying out their new feet, she decides to first focus on the Wolf Spawner:
Spawner Menu
Wolf Spawner Level 5
Cost to Level: 15 Mana
Cost to Upgrade Monster: 15 Mana
Level Monsters
Upgrade Monsters
Update Monsters (5 Unallocated Points)
She looks at the Update Monsters button, and mentally presses it:
Wolf Monsters
Subspecies: Eurasian Wolf
Level: 5
Armor: 0
Dodge: 0
Health Maximum: 10
Mana Maximum: 0
Strength: 2
Dexterity: 2
Constitution: 1
Spirit: 1
Unallocated Points: 5
Upgrade Tree
She decides to mentally press the Upgrade Tree button, which reveals the many paths the Wolves can take, and a warning to her that says “If you choose an upgrade path, the Monster will no longer be capable of being changed.” She quietly reads through the tree, seeing a few things that interest her. For example, the “Dire Wolf” upgrade, which seems to be the ultimate basic wolf. The “Arcane Hound” upgrade seems to be the best along a magical tree. And finally, there’s a hybrid between the two, “Shift Dog”. She focuses on that for a second, and sees:
Shift Dog
Species: Wolf
Rarity: Mythos
Armor: 5
Dodge: 2
Health Maximum: 80
Mana Maximum: 10
Strength: 10
Dexterity: 10
Constitution: 8
Spirit: 5
Ability:Pack Hunter, When fighting alongside allies, user has a doubled chance to hit.
Ability:Shift, User is turned incorporeal and invisible for a short amount of time.
Ability:Ambush Hunter, User may turn invisible for an extended period of time, but cannot attack until out of invisibility.
Luné silently reads, and smiles. She then looks at the other two. Noting that Shift Dog is not a middle ground, rather, it is a third option. A stealth focused option. The Dire Wolf is the Wolf equivalent of a Swordmaster. The Arcane Hound is the Wolf Wizard. And the Shift Dog is the Wolf Recon. Which means a normal Wolf, is simply a Commoner or Noble. She returns to the normal Wolves for now, and allocates their remaining points:
Wolf Monsters
Subspecies: Eurasian Wolf
Level: 5
Armor: 0
Dodge: 0
Health Maximum: 30
Mana Maximum: 0
Strength: 4
Dexterity: 3
Constitution: 3
Spirit: 1
Unallocated Points: 0
Upgrade Tree
For now, she just needs loyal protectors. She glances at the wolves around the spawner, and sees that the points have already been added to them. Each looks healthier, and seems stronger. At least partly. The smaller ones still look a bit frail, but not as much as a normal Human does. She smiles, as many of the Wolves begin wagging their tails happily. She focuses on a few, and sees that they all seem to be feeling excited, happy, or confident. She giggles to herself at their happy movements, which gets their attention, but they quickly return to their normals, and begin wandering about. Not having anything to do at the moment. She takes a look at the Void Sprites immediately begins trying to change them to something else, only to get a notification:
Attention!
Void Sprites cannot be changed, as they are a gift from (Error).
This confuses her, but she decides to just focus on their spawner, and do the same:
Sprite Monsters
Subspecies: (Error, Unknown Species)
Level: 10
Armor: 0
Dodge: 0
Health Maximum: 10
Mana Maximum: 10
Strength: 0
Dexterity: 3
Constitution: 1
Spirit: 6
Unallocated Points: 6
Upgrade Tree
She presses the upgrade tree again, and sees quite the unnerving sight:
Greetings, Luné
I am Chaos, of Probability
You may be wondering why I have given you something interesting
That is due to you being rather interesting for a Human
With introductions out of the way, you will find no upgrades for these Sprites
They are a special creature
Give them mana over time, and level them, then one day they will become more
But do not fear them
They will mean you no harm, as they are yours to command
But do not let them control you either, or you will destroy the world
I look forward to your growth, “Heroine”
She closes that with a shiver down her metaphorical spine. She then simply pretends to have not seen that, as she allocates the points:
Sprite Monsters
Subspecies: (Error, Unknown Species)
Level: 10
Armor: 0
Dodge: 1
Health Maximum: 10
Mana Maximum: 20
Strength: 0
Dexterity: 5
Constitution: 1
Spirit: 10
Unallocated Points: 0
Upgrade Tree
She needs a backline, whether these things are creepy or not doesn’t matter. If her wolves are taking the frontline, she needs something to support them from the back, with a shiver she returns to the core room, and focuses on her wolf companion, and she decides to try to name the wolf. She focuses on the wolf, and its menu appears. She then focuses on the “Eurasian Wolf” part at the top, and she then says, “Cloud”. As she says it, the name changes, and even the whole screen:
Boss Monster
Cloud
Female Wolf:Eurasian Wolf
(Undecided Class) Level 5
Experience: 0/15
Armor: 0
Dodge: 0
Health: 30/30
Mana: 0/0
Strength: 4
Dexterity: 3
Constitution: 3
Spirit: 1
Current Orders: None
Currently Feeling: Alert, Grateful, Honored
Speak to set new orders.
She stares quietly, and realizes, that she just made the Boss that tends to be at the end of a dungeon.