Chapter 20 Fairy Tales
Yuelian
“Mama, why do they still serve us?” A question that has been at the back of my mind. Our small supermarket only employs people from my uncle's family. They are our shadows.
“.....” My mother smiled and rubbed my head. “Why do you want to know?”
“Johnny can speak 5 languages. Cindy has double Ph.D.s. These people are way overqualified to work at a supermarket.” I had become friends with some of the workers. They are wasting their talents working here. “And they are all using fake names.”
“......” My mother looks taken aback momentarily, and then a bitter smile shows. “You are so smart. I wish you would have remained a child, run around, watched cartoons, got in trouble, and done stupid things like other children your age.”
“.....” It must be difficult for my family to raise a gifted child. If I told them everything I was thinking, they would probably be scared. While other children my age were crying for ice cream or a new toy, I was quietly listening to the adults in my family talk about family business. I found it to be more interesting.
“Why do you listen to what I say?” My mother picked me up and sat me in her lab. She smiled teasingly. “Even as a child, you can refuse to listen to your parents and do whatever you want.”
“Because I love mama and papa? Is that not normal?” I look at her in confusion. Perhaps I am a weird kid and other kids are more rebellious.
My mother kissed my forehead.
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The pink dragon coils around my hand like a bracelet. I can feel it drinking my mana. The dwarves ran away as soon as this thing hatched. I have only seen a dragon from afar and from live streams, but there is no doubt about it. It's extremely small compared to the biggest one which is the size of a mountain and even compared to the humanoid-size egg it came out of, but this pink thing is undoubtedly a dragon. I guess the babies are born without scales or wings. Its skin has a weird luster that shines in the sun.
“It's cute.” Miyong rubs the baby dragon with one finger. It was quite small, the size of a baby kitten. The baby reacted to Miyong's touch and started drinking from her mana as well. This thing, can't possibly only eat mana for nourishment.
“It's cute as you said, but you feel it don't you?” I look at Miyong seriously. She nodded with a meek face. Her instinct must have told her even if she is not as sensitive to mana as myself. This cute thing, it's much stronger than us. So much stronger. It's like comparing an orange to the sun.
Veeeeeeeeeeee
“......” Miyong grimaces
“!” For a fraction of a second, I felt like my body melted. This is probably why the dwarves ran away.
We didn't know when she arrived, but a red-haired woman was standing in front of us. Behind her, the dwarves are piled up like trash. At least they are still breathing. Her power is even greater than this baby. If the baby is like the sun, she is the elemental fire itself. But her frightening powers are the last thing on my mind. Tears flow down her face as she looks at the baby dragon. I see, she is the mother.
I gently lift the baby to her to the baby’s great discontent. It started to scratch and bit my hands but there was no real strength in those bites. The woman took the baby from my hands and gently cradled it while the baby looked up at her with wide eyes. It must be surprising for the baby to see something like that for the first time. Compared to us, her mana is so extremely intense, so pure. The baby started to furiously drink her crimson mana. The woman smiled at her baby and then turned to us, her eyes sharp.
“The child did not burn you, that is a surprise.” She waves her hands and a wooden chair appears nearby. As she sat on the chair she looked at us with her red eyes, the intensity of her gaze made me want to run away. The gaze of the apex predator. The baby dragon sat in her hands, protruding belly facing the sky, it seemed to have fallen asleep after eating. I heard a thud nearby and saw Miyong get down on one knee. The red-haired woman smiled at her. “Smart girl. Let me see your face.”
Miyong gingerly look up at her. The red woman smiled.
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“I can see why my daughter likes you.” Miyong looks back down on the ground. Even the GM did not invoke such a reaction from Miyong. The woman in front of us is something else entirely. I wondered how the game or the GM was able to lure her here. Or if she was even part of the plans at all. If the entity that created the game is more powerful than even this dragon, I don't know how we will be able to fight them. She turns to me but I remain standing. She smirks.
“I don't know how those dwarves managed to get a hold of your child, but we had nothing to do with it.” I needed to make sure she wouldn't burn us.
“The dwarves pick up anything of value that they find. It is their nature.” She is surprisingly generous. “They will serve me for 5000 years as atonement.” Never mind.
“Excuse my ignorance, what should I call you? We humans do not have any knowledge of your world.” I had to be careful of what to say, but the words coming out of my mouth ended up sounding awkward.
“You will call me nothing. I did not permit you to address me.” I noticed that she was speaking with her voice, unlike the GM or the market manager. The language she speaks is undoubtedly human, but it is not any language that I have ever heard. It is almost like a mixture of all human languages, and yet I could understand her perfectly. The red woman caressed her child for a moment then spoke again. “So many rude ones.”
From the jungle outside I could feel traces of mana appear, a group of tall humanoids with various skin and hair colors walked out of the jungle. They are standing on the branches of the blue trees strangely, like an upside-down bat. They have starkly different colors, but it feels like I am just staring at the flowers and trees of the jungle. If I could not sense the mana coming from them, I would not know that they were there. As their feet crossed over from the jungle into the building, the clarity of their existence became very pronounced. The group kneels in front of the red lady.
“Why did so many races cross over? This is interesting.” The red woman smirked at something amusing. The group of tree humanoids said something that I could not understand, then the system suddenly lit up.
[Auto Translation On]
“Forgive our foolishness, Matriarch! We only wish to wait for a good opportunity to reveal ourselves. Your servants are at your command.” The tree people said. They look at her with fervor, love, or obsession. I am not sure which.
“You elves are creepy. Stand in the back and be quiet if you have nothing fun to say.” The red woman waves her hand and the elves retreat to the tree again. When their feet landed on the trees, the clarity of their existence faded like they were never there at all.
Crash! Boom!
A hulking, muscular, green-skinned humanoid jumps up to the fifth floor from below. It is carrying a massive sword even bigger than its body on its back, multiple long katanas on its hips, and rows of daggers across its chest. He is wearing rusted armor pants but nothing above the waist, showing off incredible muscles that do not seem to contain even an ounce of fat. Some type of tribal tattoos adorn his upper body. A classic monster seen in almost all fantasy stories.
“Flame Mother, the clan has crossed over.” The orc put one fist above his heart while kneeling on one knee. This guy feels more like a knight than a monster.
The scene of the elves standing in the trees, the dwarves slowly regaining consciousness next to the red woman, and the orc warrior kneeling in front of her. Outside the building, the jungle is completely quiet, as if waiting for her command. I couldn't help but feel like I was in a fairy tale.
Why are all these monsters serving her? Even if she is powerful, there is no reason to follow her through different dimensions to serve her. There is something more that we don't know.
“Secure the area. My daughter likes this place.” The red woman said to the orc. He bowed his head and jumped out the window again.
This is messy. We have to get away from here and intercept our family before they run into these monsters. I look at Miyong who is still kneeling on the floor. I don't think I will be able to run if she is still in that state. Jackie is still unconscious, but I don't mind leaving him. The red woman turned to us.
“You two will stay. You will be my daughter’s pet.” Is this even part of the game?
The red woman then stood up from her seat, and crimson mana burst out from her body. I felt like my entire being was disintegrated, but only for a fraction of a second. I can feel it without looking outside, her mana has surrounded the world like a crimson dome.
“I claim this world.”
Ding!
The system screen pops up in front of us. I could not help but smirk while reading the new quest. This was not in their plans it seems.
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Mali
[Emergency Quest!]
A powerful monster has claimed the earth as its nest. Fight to liberate Earth! Monster waves will periodically invade Earth as long as the quest is running.
Reward: Every surviving participant will gain immortality on quest completion
Failure: Monsters will eventually overrun the world if the quest is not completed.
I couldn't believe my eyes. This quest appeared soon after I felt the burst of tremendous mana in the direction of the jungle. The sky turned crimson for a moment before returning to normal, but I could feel it. The world was covered by a mana barrier of godly power.
“Jenny, what are we going to do?” Jenny stood still next to me. She must be as shocked as I am. We have been locked inside this quarantine room for the last few days. This place looks like a high-class hotel room except for the massive size. They even have computers and video games for us to play, but a prison, even a fancy one, is still a prison. I wonder what happened to the freshmen girls.
“I don't know.............. If Yue was here, he would start pacing around and say some smart stuff.” Jenny said while looking at the system screen. I know that she regrets what she did. Us being imprisoned by her sister probably helps with that hindsight as well.
“Your sister wouldn't lock us in here forever, would she?” I asked her.
“.......” Jenny grimaces. That's the answer. We are stuck here.
Veeeeee
The sound of the magnetic lock on the door opening. Someone is coming. I have not used Echo since we were shoved in here. Jenny said we should avoid showing them our real powers. We could easily escape this place, 6 inches-thick steel walls are nothing in front of the power of mana. But where would we go? Jenny’s sister is a general in the army, we might be branded as escaped criminals or traitors. As a thousand thoughts race through my head, soldiers with machine guns rushed into the room. I can see the hollow barrels of the guns pointed at us. Jenny’s sister, Juno Connors, walked in after the soldiers. She towers over everyone else in the room.
“Jen, I am sorry to do this.” Her blue eyes are filled with sadness. “Fire”