yawn
''Hgn~'' I stretch out lazily after a yawn.
The stone floor wasn't exactly the ideal bed, huh. Took me a while to fall asleep. This puppy though, he just shamelessly slept on my stomach...
''Oh, you woke up!'' Ariel flies in front of me excitedly.
''Good night, Ariel.'' I reply. ''Where's Skely?''
''He's out for some fresh air, apparently.'' She shrugs. ''Want to wait for him before we move on?''
''Sure.''
With that, Ariel flies away to the bookshelves again.
''...''
To start with what happened to both of them after yesterday's incident... It's a long story.
In short, the siblings went to this cave a long time ago to acquire the legendary elixir that could cure Ariel's terminal illness but ended up failing when they encountered that woman. And apparently, this cave used to be a dungeon, that is why it had the elixir.
The human version of Skely practiced dark magic, specifically, the spell that would make normal people turn into undead, in an attempt to turn Ariel into something that could live on if he couldn't get the elixir, like a banshee, for example. The problem was that he couldn't exactly choose which type of undead to turn Ariel into, nor could he keep his sister's memory and personality, all because of the spell's restrictions.
So he just modified the spell, according to him. Though it was not perfect, as they were only able to keep some of their memories and personalities, as well as a portion of their statuses. Now, I'm not sure if that's common or not, but the important thing is that they're both happy now.
Another question is: What happened after the woman was caught by the mysterious creature in the... Flashback?
Assuming that the woman was killed by that creature, then someone else must have placed the barriers and the golem here, then the notebook - Skely's diary, beneath the magic circle, not to mention how the notebook 'exploded'...
There's really no answer to all of that, so better not think too much about it.
Ariel gained two new skills: [Language] and [Manifestation], the former enables her to talk while the latter is for physical manifestation, as the name implies. Skely unfortunately didn't get anything.
Oh, Ariel also gained a title as well, [Ghost Saintess]. She was a Saintess, how surprising.
Talk about titles, I completely forgot that I gained one as well.
[The Underdog: Level and stats are just numbers. +0.2 for all stats when facing a higher level opponent] [Rare]
It's pretty good, better than the other one, I think.
I also decided to buy [Blink], which only costs 3 MP per activation instead of 10 like [Teleportation], but has a range of ten meters, as of level 1, instead. I seriously can't afford to use 10 MP every time I want to dodge an attack.
That costed four skill points, and now I have three. I'll probably just save up for another purple or orange skill.
''Brother, you're back!''
Oh, it seems like Skely is back. Wake up, Smiley. It's time to hunt.
''Good night, Lady Aurora.'' Skely bows lightly.
''Good night.'' I put Smiley aside and rise to my feet. ''Are you two ready for some adventure?''
'''' Yes. ''''
auf
The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
Good.
----------------------------------------
rustle
''Hmm, so having high INT doesn't correlate to being smart, but instead indicates skill activation efficiency, is that right?'' I ask, moving the bushes aside with my hands.
''Basically, yes.'' Skely replies. ''And INT doesn't increase when leveling up, so any title or equipment that has bonus INT should be prioritized.''
''Makes sense.'' I nod in understanding.
Having a teacher like him is truly reassuring.
''By the way, are you really fine with your new name?'' Ariel calls out. ''You didn't seem to like it that much.''
Skely hesitates for a second.
''It's fine. I am not the man I used to be anymore. There's no reason to cling to the old.'' He replies.
''Why, it's a nice name though?'' I interjects.
'''' ... ''''
What?
''Anyway, we're almost there.'' Ariel coughs a few times and says.
''Good.''
We decided to hunt together to raise Ariel's level so she can buy [Inspect], which would help us immensely as she is our primary scout, and to test out Smiley's abilities as well.
Though there is still one thing I'm curious about.
''Why do you have [Cuteness] in the first place, Ariel?''
''Why? I used to be the cutest and most charming Saintess of all, that's why.'' Ariel replies proudly. ''It went down from level nine to six though.''
She is cute, that's not wrong.
''Shh.'' Skely in front of us shushes, raising his index finger. ''There they are.''
As I peer through the dense trees into a clearing, I see a bunch of blue jellyfish floating lazily in the air. Six of them, to be exact. Ariel discovered lots of monster hoards after wandering outside almost every night for a long time. The only problem is that she didn't know any of their levels to determine if they're good opponents or not, that's why buying [Inspect] is crucial for her.
[Zircon Jellyfish Lv13]
[Zircon Jellyfish Lv12]
[Zircon Jellyfish Lv15]
Okay, good level range.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Name: --
Race: Zircon Jellyfish Title:
Level: 15
HP: 36/36 MP: 25/30
STR: 3.1 INT: 3.6
AGI: 2.7 STA: 2.4
Skill: [Float Lv.6], [Puff Lv.4],
[Reflective Counter Lv.3].
State: Normal.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
A quick look at their skills tells me that they can inflate spikes like a puffish and counter a percentage of the damage they receive to the enemy for the duration of that skill. The floating skill is not very important.
''We can do this.'' I whisper.
''Absolutely.'' Skely affirms.
''What's our strategy?'' Ariel pokes her head out.
''Just stack mental debuffs on them, then finish them off.''
After receiving a nod from each of them, I crouch down to meet Smiley.
''Smiley, you use you [Induce Madness] on all of them, alright?''
auf
Smiley immediately jumps into the clearing and runs to the center of the group. As the jellyfish begin to react, a red aura explodes from Smiley's body, creating a red dome covering the whole clearing.
The unfortunate monsters' bodies start to distort wildly as they wriggle in the air, they appear to be stunned, although their HP is not decreasing.
Smiley then turns around to 'smile' at us, with his signature smile and glowing eyes, making Ariel and Skely flinch for a second.
''M-My turn...!'' Ariel flies in and does her wail, this time making our enemies fall to the ground and taking a chunk of HP from them as well.
''This isn't even a fight.'' I sigh lightly and step into the clearing together with Skely, activating my [Domination].
The jellyfish that were wiggling their legs or tentacles are now completely motionless, lying as if dead.
''Each of you finish three of them.'' I say.
''Okay!''
auf
Smiley immediately jumps on a jellyfish and munches its flesh hungrily, while Ariel manifests her hands and catches a light spear from Skely, ready to stab them to death.
Normally, the undead would take immense damage when exposed to any form of light magic, but in this system, elemental magic can't do any damage to the user, so Skely can still use light magic. In addition, party members cannot harm each other, so Skely's spear does no damage to Ariel at the moment.
Talk about the party function, apparently, the experience gained when killing an enemy in a party or a group is divided by contribution, so I'd imagine there's no 'EXP carry' in this world, as Chloe would say.
auf
''Oh, you went up by a whopping 7 levels... Did you just get bigger?''
Smiley is undoubtedly bigger now, I'd say fifty percent bigger than before. Still cute regardless.
''I'm level 9 now~!'' Ariel shouts excitedly. ''Now I can buy-''
BOOM
'''' !!! ''''
Suddenly, a huge gust of wind, like a typhoon, blows on us.
I quickly look up and see a figure I never thought I would see. Under the moonlight, a giant owl with white feathers, a body big enough to not fit into a normal house, is staring at us curiously.
''M-Mom...?!'' I inadvertedly mutter.