The last part of the skill sounded somewhat ominous, but Kazen was happy for what he currently had. At the very least, he didn’t start over with nothing to back him up.
"You're still looking through your stats?"
Lyla's voice broke Kazen out of his reverie, as he suddenly turned his head. He saw Lyla staring at him quizzically, and Kazen responded, "...There were quite a few things I had to read through. What about yours, all done?"
"Yeah."
"..."
There was a short moment of silence. Kazen was curious about what kind of skills and stats Lyla had, but felt like it would be rude to just ask her. He assumed that Lyla thought the same. The silence was starting to get slightly awkward, as Kazen coughed, "W-well, we should get going soon, I think."
Hearing this Lyla nodded, "The faster we start our training, the sooner we'll end and be free to roam around! You're right! So, let's go!"
Kazen then started walking forward as he pressed through the grass which reached up to his ankles in this grassland. He realized that the status bar was slightly blocking his view, although it was translucent.
If only there were some way to make this screen move to the side...
Then the status screen suddenly moved to the edge of his vision. Now, whenever Kazen wanted to glance at the status screen, he would have to roll his eyes to the right. Satisfied that his front vision was finally not being blocked, he continued walking.
The ground beneath them started becoming slightly rougher, as several crater-like holes started to appear in the ground beneath them. Seeing this made Kazen puzzled, as he came to a pause.
"Wait...where are we?"
"You haven't even figured it out?!"
Kazen considered the possibilities for a moment. He remembered Aileen mentioning before that they could choose where to 'spawn' them, as she called it. Given such a scenario, it made little sense for them to have materialized far away from their destination, which meant they were most likely close.
As he observed some more, he realized that there was practically nobody in sight here.
It certainly wouldn't make sense if we were to suddenly materialize in front of a bunch of locals as if we were teleporting.
Teleportation was a skill that was only known to be possible by the Monarchs, who were known to be SSS-Ranked Hunters. If Kazen and Lyla recklessly teleported into a crowd and people found out they weren't strong after all, Kazen and Lyla would have been in quite some trouble. They’d be chased all over the continent for their secrets, and they would know no peace.
Perhaps one of the conditions for being teleported into Alethea…was there to be no people present in the immediate surroundings.
Since that's the case...we're somewhere close to Mezendia...and there's a grassland nobody ever comes to...
Suddenly, enlightenment hit him.
"The Liuthian Grasslands!”
“…The what?”
Situated to the north-east of the border town of Haslom, where they were currently headed was the Liuthian Grasslands. It was commonly known to be home to a nomadic tribe of horsemen who’d once shook the world with their fame as mounted cavalrymen.
Hearing his words, Lyla tilted her head and her eyebrows furrowed, as she tried to recall whether she had learnt such a thing while having prepared for entering Alethea.
“Liuthian…Liuthia…I don’t remember having heard about such people?”
Kazen chuckled, “I’m not that surprised about it. After all, the Liuthians have never really tried to invade other kingdoms nor have they given others any reason to invade the area. After all…”
Kazen spread his arms, “This terrain isn’t exactly the most suitable place to set up a Kingdom. The terrain would make it easier to conquer, even if people were to set up a city here.”
And Kazen turned around, and started walking as he explained, while Lyla started into a slight jog to catch up and walk beside Kazen.
“These Liuthians worship the River God Azleth, so they’ve set up their villages along the Azleth River. If we find the river, we can just trace our way down to Haslom.”
Lyla couldn’t help but ask, “…Even so, how do you know which way the Azleth River is?”
And in response, Kazen pointed to the distance towards the south, where there were three snow-capped mountains looming with its peaks obscured by mist.
“The water originates from the top of the mountain, then flows downwards into the river the Liuthians have set up camp at. It should be easy enough to find the river since that’s the case. Since Haslom is right next to the river, we can just head downstream after we arrive at the Liuthian’s village.”
Lyla had a look of amazement, “…It really is different having a local show me around. I really hit the jackpot, didn’t I?”
The moment she said that, the ground beneath them rumbled, as a gigantic worm shot out from their right.
Lyla immediately rotated around and kicked Kazen away, causing him to tumble to the ground. Using the force from the kick, she jumped away as well.
The worm narrowly missed both of them, as it burrowed back into the ground.
“You-you kicked me!”
While screaming, Kazen immediately circulated his mana, as he absorbed the Density from the earth beneath him, hardening his muscles.
He then reached for his sides to draw his weapon, only to realize this was a new body, and he didn’t have any weapons at the moment.
The ground beneath them constantly shook, as the giant worm burrowed its way around the ground, trying to find an angle to attack them.
“I’m so sorry. Next time, I’ll just let you get eaten by the giant worm monster!”
Even while complaining, Lyla started to channel her own mana, and she suddenly started to glow in a faint blue light that seemed to be mixed in with the slightest hint of purple.
Then…nothing seemed to happen. As Kazen tilted his head in confusion while still focusing on the battlefield, the ground near them suddenly exploded as the worm jumped out of the ground…and simply burrowed into another empty part of the field.
These creatures…have intelligence?
Beasts usually had some level of battle instinct, but Kazen found it problematic that this 10 meter worm knew how to feint attacks too.
Kazen immediately channelled some of the Density in his body into a sharp earthen spear as he held it at the ready in his right hand, as he absorbed more earth to make up for the loss.
“Kazen, I’m going to make the monster jump in front of you. Do you think you can throw the spear right into its mouth?”
“Make it appear in front of me?! How…alright.”
Kazen knew it wasn’t the time to be questioning her on how she was able to do it. He simply assumed it was one of her skills, and acquiesced to her request.
Lyla nodded, then channelled her mana and once again, he didn’t visibly see any difference.
However…he now very vaguely felt a presence about 10 meters away from him. For some reason, he felt like he wanted to give that spot where he felt the presence a good punch, but it was a very slight instinct and he was easily able to suppress it. He realized that it wasn’t that the worm had intelligence, but it was baited into attacking the presence instead.
Kazen made the muscles of his right arm grow stronger, as he placed his right foot behind him. Right then, he channelled his [Sensory Enhancement]. His sense of touch grew more acute, as the vibrations he felt coming from the ground felt even clearer, to the point where he could trace where it was coming from to an extent.
His right arm tightened, as his grip on the earthen spear grew firmer.
Just a little closer…
Then, the creature suddenly jumped out of the ground, diving towards the presence in front of him.
“Now!”
He stepped forward with his right leg, twisting his body as he hurled the sharpened spear into the mouth of the creature.
The spear hurled into its mouth, and pierced the inside of its throat.
A scream rang out throughout the fields, as the creature failed to burrow into the ground due to its pain, and started wriggling while letting out shrieks of pain.
“What are you waiting for, dimwit?! Press on the attack!”
Lyla ran forward, and so did Kazen as he conjured another spear. As Lyla ran towards the worm from the side, she summoned a mist-like purple sword from her hand.
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The creature finally seemed to be recovering slightly from the pain, when Lyla reached the creature first and swung down her mist blade.
The blade passed through the worm like the mist it was…and the creature shrieked once more, clearly in even more pain than when it’d been speared by Kazen. The grass rustled around them, and Kazen finally reached the head of the worm as he forcefully used both arms and stabbed down into the worm’s head.
And…the worm stopped wriggling, as it went silent.
[You have slain a Giant Worm!]
[You have gained 2200 experience!]
[Level up!]
[Level up!]
[Level up!]
Kazen tried to regulate his breathing, as he released the Density from his body, causing bits of earth to fall from his pores. It was just a single worm, and he was already breathing heavily?
This weak body…
As he was having such a thought, he turned his head to Lyla, who had collapsed onto the ground while heaving in exhaustion.
Kazen couldn’t help but feel slightly amused at the sight, as he smirked, “We really the jackpot, was it?”
Lyla’s face reddened a little, “Oh, shut up. You’ve lived here all your life and even you didn’t expect this.”
At that moment, the ground beneath Kazen’s feet suddenly felt rougher somehow.
What just happened….oh!
He realized the effect of [Sensory Enhancement] had worn off, causing his sense of touch to have become dulled.
I wonder if I could increase the duration of the skill somehow…
Kazen thought to himself that he would think about this later, and focused on the fact that he had received messages that he had ‘levelled up’ twice.
He remembered Lyla explaining to him earlier that he would get stronger as he gained experience.
Thinking about how to prove this, he thought about the stats screen he'd seen earlier, which was the most direct representation of his strength.
Kazen moved back his stats panel to the front of his vision, and looked at it.
----------------------------------------
[Player Stats]
Name: Kazen
Level: 13
Class: Channeler
HP: 960/1000 MP: 930/1200
Strength: 20 Dexterity: 20
Intelligence: 50 Endurance: 30
Charm: 2 Faith: 4
Stat Points: 15
Authorities: Control, Perception (Degraded), ???
Skills: Channel: Earth (Lvl 1), Channel: Flame (Lvl 1), Seed of Potential (Lvl Max)
Shards: Domain of Control (Lvl 1), Sensory Enhancement (Lvl 1)
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The first thing he noticed was that his 'Level' had increased by 3, and was currently at thirteen
The second thing he noticed was that the [Stat Points] now had a value of 15, as compared to 0 from earlier.
This means I get 5 stat points for every level I gain...
Kazen thought to himself for a moment, then increased his level of 'Intelligence' by 1. He waited for a moment in anticipation...only to feel slightly disappointed. He didn't really feel much of a difference from earlier, and was wondering whether increasing his intelligence had really done anything...when his eyes widened as he looked at his mana pool.
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[Player Stats]
Name: Kazen
Level: 13
Class: Channeler
HP: 962/1000 MP: 950/1210
Strength: 20 Dexterity: 20
Intelligence: 51 Endurance: 30
Charm: 2 Faith: 4
Stat Points: 14
Authorities: Control, Perception (Degraded), ???
Skills: Channel: Earth (Lvl 1), Channel: Flame (Lvl 1), Seed of Potential (Lvl Max)
Shards: Domain of Control (Lvl 1), Sensory Enhancement (Lvl 1)
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My mana...it increased by 10?!
His [Channel: Earth] and [Channel: Flame] skills cost 50 mana each. If he simply invested all the points he'd gotten from this single kill into those skills, he'd be able to cast them at least 3 more times!
This...isn't this a cheat?
Even still, he didn't want to be hasty and invest everything into a single stat without consideration. He decided to hold off on it, as he excitedly thought about the different kinds of paths he could improve himself.
He was reeling in amazement when Lyla's voice reached him, "...Hey! Aren't we going? I don't want to stick around just to end up as...lunch for another one of these worms."
She wrapped her arms around herself as she shuddered, thinking about the experience she just went through.
"True...we'll have to get a move on. And I'm sorry, who's the one who had to rest right after the battle?"
Lyla plucked a blade of grass from beneath her and tried to throw it at Kazen, only for it to just float to the ground right in front of her.
"W-well, if it wasn't for me kicking you away, you'd have been worm food by now!"
"Well thank you so much! Either way, you're right, we should get a move on. But before that..."
Kazen walked up to the now-dead Giant Worm and knelt down near its head. He pondered for a moment, before he channeled the earth beneath him and formed an earthen spear, and hardened it.
He then poked into the cut he'd made in the worm's head earlier, and started to dig around with his hands. Lyla's face went pale, as she immediately clasped Kazen's hand in fright.
"D-don't tell me...I'd rather die than have to eat worm for lunch! No way I'm eating that!"
Kazen paused and looked at Lyla with a deadpan expression, as he pulled his hand out of the worm's head, holding a small brown crystal which had a very faint brown glow trapped within.
"Calling a worm that is pretty rude, you know? And I was digging around for this, an earth core."
Lyla's expression finally eased a little, and wanted to touch the stone too before she noticed the brain fluids dripping from the core, and backed out.
Looking at it with a half disgusted and half fascinated expression, she asked, "...Is this similar to the lightstones we have in the Forsaken Continent?"
"Well...I'm not sure what the lightstones really are, but basically these hold a piece of essence of these creatures. You can say that they hold a...memory of sorts."
"A memory?"
Kazen nodded, "Basically, the light within the core is the small portion of the creature's soul that will never die out. It holds the faintest traces of the creature's memories. Skills, its experiences, and so on. It's a fantastic material to use in enchanting."
It was then that Lyla remembered that Kazen was originally an enchanter, and her eyes shone, "So does that mean you'll be able to use enchanting now?! Can you show it to me! Oh, I know! Enchant my clothes for me!"
Kazen stood up, and simply started walking away from her towards the Azleth River.
"Hey, wait! Help me out here!"
"No, why would I waste such precious material on normal clothes?! Let's at least get outfitted with equipment once we reach a village near the river or something!"
And as they bantered, they continued forth.
* * *
[Player Stats]
Name: Lyla
Level: 13
Class: Illusionist
HP: 358/1000 MP: 720/1100
Strength: 10 Dexterity: 10
Intelligence: 30 Endurance: 10
Charm: 50 Faith: 2
Stat Points: 15
Authorities: Falsehood
Skills: Mind Blade (Lvl 1), Taunting Orb(Lvl 1)
Shards: True Heart (Lvl 1)
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[Mind Blade]
Lvl: 1
Type: Active
Cooldown: 1 hour
Cost: 200 mana
Effect: You can conjure an illusionary blade that invokes a feeling of pain in the enemy when it slices through them.
* The potency of the skill decreases the more intelligent the target is.
----------------------------------------
[Taunting Orb]
Lvl: 1
Type: Active
Cooldown: 1 hour
Cost: 250 mana
Effect: Create an illusory orb that emanates ‘Aura’ to simulate a presence, and provokes nearby enemies.
----------------------------------------
Looking through her skills list, Lyla felt somewhat crestfallen. She had realized that her skills were…not suitable for travelling and fighting alone, since she didn’t have any direct combat skills.
Kazen, on the other hand…
She turned around and glanced at him, who was walking beside her while scouting the area in front for any enemies.
Throughout their journey here, she’d constantly acted as the support for Kazen, who was the main person who would deal damage to the worms. Through their few battles, they’d gained a certain level of teamwork, and could roughly guess the other’s intentions without having to verbally speak.
Kazen had always been the one who had actually dealt the blows that damaged the enemies, and had she presumed he would have gotten a lot more experience than she had.
He had even killed one of the worms on his own by activating his Shard, after it had severely injured Lyla with a direct hit on her from its tail.
Seeing that had left a feeling that she wasn’t actually needed.
She couldn’t help but feel complicated. Not being needed meant it was less likely for people to take advantage of her…but she hated feeling like she was a burden. With these thoughts, she wondered how she could become stronger in direct combat like Kazen.
I wonder what his level is…
She thought to herself for a moment, as she glanced at the details of her Authority.
----------------------------------------
[Authority of Falsehood]
Passive Effect: You have an innate understanding of people’s emotional states. You are able to easily detect lies, and have a sense for what people want easily.
Shards: True Heart (Lvl 1)
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[Shard - True Heart]
Lvl: 1
Cost: 80% of maximum mana
Cooldown: 24 hours
Effect: For 30 seconds, when your target takes any actions or speaks, it will be in accordance to their true thoughts and emotions. The duration increases by 2 seconds for each level that the target is lower than you, and decreases by 2 seconds per level for targets that are higher levelled than you.
* Your target can choose not to act on their thoughts or emotions.
* Does not work on targets that have a ‘Charm’ stat that is more than double of yours.
----------------------------------------
She thought about using it on Kazen to find out about his skills, but she decided against it. Kazen…hadn’t treated her unfairly so far. Although it was more so that she didn’t actually know him well, she didn’t want to be the first one to manipulate Kazen in any way.
I’ll never become like the Consort…and the King.
It was as she decided this in her heart that Kazen’s enthusiastic voice suddenly rang in her ears, “Look! Seems we’ve finally arrived.”
Broken out of her contemplation, she looked up, and her heart thumped.
In the few short hours she’d been in Alethea so far, she was loving it so far. The difference between how the Forsaken Continent was dark and how Alethea was bright gave her a feeling that she was as far away as she could be from her pitiful circumstances in the Forsaken Continent.
And as she looked forward, she saw a gigantic river come into view, spanning at least a hundred meters in width as it seemed to flow towards the south-west. A giant village, with people of bronze skin and close to 2 meters in height seemed to walk around the village doing their chores.
Behind the river, there appeared to be a dense forest that seemed to extend all the way inside, till it reached the base of the mountains.
Looking at the people of Alethea for the first time, she was excited. Finally…she would be able to meet new people who weren’t obnoxious nobles, and would be free to get along with anybody she wished.
And so, she couldn’t help but think to herself in anticipation.
What kind of people will I meet here in Alethea?