I kicked at the dead bear, annoyed.
“Why is it always bears,” I grumbled. “I mean, I’ve gotten two Levels, but they’re so weak, that all I have to do is slash them with some Void and that’s it.”
I looked over to Mia, who swallowed a bear in her Dragon form before shifting to her Humanoid Form and walked over to me, clearly ready for me to pick her up. Doing that, I glanced at our Statuses.
Status
Name : Jason Andromeda (Bonded)
Level 47 | Tier 3
Race : Voidborn Abyssal
Health : 89920/89920 (4496 Health/Min | 74.93/s)
Mana : 89920/89920 (6744 Mana/Min | 112.4/s)
Class : Voidborn Abyssal Prince I (Unique)
Bond : Miana ???
Stats
Strength : 562 (Base : 281 Effectiveness : 200%)
Dexterity : 562 (Base : 281 Effectiveness : 200%)
Endurance : 562 (Base : 281 Effectiveness : 200%)
Vitality : 562 (Base : 281 Effectiveness : 200%)
Mana : 562 (Base : 281 Effectiveness : 200%)
Intelligence : 562 (Base : 281 Effectiveness : 200%)
Free Points : 0
Bond : Status
Name : Miana ??? (Bonded)
Level 45 | Tier 3
Race : Lightning-Ice Draconic Serpent (Humanoid Form)
Health : 143872/143872 (7194 Health/Min | 119.89/s)
Mana : 71936/71936 (5395 Mana/Min | 89.92/s)
Bond : Jason Andromeda
Stats
Strength : 450
Dexterity : 450
Endurance : 899 (Base : 450 Effectiveness : 200%)
Vitality : 899 (Base : 450 Effectiveness : 200%)
Mana : 450
Intelligence : 450
Nodding, I took a look around and was about to continue on when the communication crystal Treia had given me began to heat up and shake, signaling that her message was important. Sighing, I lifted it up and let her message come through.
“Jason, you need to come back now. It’s the Dungeon Break I told you about. It’s going to start soon,” her voice said. “Come to the City Center. We need to have a meeting with the Governors.”
“Oh, come on!”
Mia stared at me, trying to figure out why I didn’t want attention. I side-eyed her and shook my head. “You’ll understand one day, little one. One day.”
It had been nearly a week since I’d arrived in the city. The King and Queen had messaged Treia after she was attacked by the Demon Possessed and Treia had to yell at them for a good thirty minutes that she was completely safe and wasn’t going to come back until after the Dungeon Break and that she didn’t need them to send people to protect her since she was completely protected (I’m sure she didn’t tell them she was going to fight in it, but “Y’know, they don’t need to know,” Treia said. “They can complain later.”) They’d also wanted to talk to me, but I was conveniently half a dozen miles away, where I was sure the Dungeon entrance was since the ambient Mana was higher than mine.
Treia had immediately started complaining about me getting Mana Sickness but quickly shut up when I told her I had nearly 90000 Mana, instead muttering about the unholy amount of Mana I had.
So here I was, riding Mia as she shot like a bullet towards the city, stopping nearly fifty feet away from the center, both as far and as high. She shifted into her Humanoid Form and I flew ahead with her in my arms, crashing into the ground behind Treia, creating a crater the size of a coffee table in front of the building and spreading dust everywhere.
She used her [Wind Manipulation] to keep the dust off her clothes and glared at me.
“Really?” she said. “You’re still in your cloak and it’s covered in blood.”
With a very precise usage of [Void Manipulation] I got rid of the blood and earned two Levels with the Skill as I strained to keep it thick enough to eat the blood and dirt, but thin enough to keep it from eating my cloak.
I waved my now spotless cloak in front of her and she sighed, sucking the dust out of my hair and off my new boots. I grinned and gave her a thumbs-up.
“Come on, you idiot,” she said, rolling her eyes and grabbing my wrist to drag me along.
As we entered the City Center, which was filled with paintings of various things, like the previous Governors and Kia family representatives. I looked over to Treia’s painting and smiled. Treia looked over and scowled.
“Don’t grin at that; it’s horrible,” she grumbled, pulling me along.
“What?” I asked. “It looks nice. Far better than the grumpy one I know now.”
“You deal with politics then. Maybe I’ll think about being happy for once.”
I gave her a horrified look. “Nooo, thank you. You do what you do best.”
She shook her head as we arrived at the door. Sighing, she let me go and gestured at the door. “You first.”
I raised a brow and took a step forward and opened the door. “Princesses first, your Highness.”
She gave me a disdainful look before she sighed and put on a flat yet regal expression, walking through the door. I played with the thought of leaving her alone before remembering I had nothing else to do. I set Mia onto the ground and she stuck her tongue out at me before walking into the door before me. I smiled and went inside, closing the door behind me.
Instantly, four heads spun in my direction, assessing me. I met each of their eyes with a small smile before ignoring them, taking the final open seat that just happened to be next to Treia at the front. Mia hopped onto my lap and immediately grabbed a muffin off the table, unhinging her jaw (which I’d recently learned she could do when I saw her stuff an entire, though thankfully peeled, large blue fruit called a glaze fruit which, as I said not even 16 words ago, had skin, kinda like an orange, into her mouth which had been nearly twice of what should have fit, thoroughly terrifying me when I first saw it) and swallowing it whole.
She glared at whoever was giving her horrified looks before grabbing another muffin and was about to do it again before she looked at Treia, who gave her a flat look, instead biting into it like normal.
After Mia finished, a man at the other end of the table cleared his throat. He stood up and looked over to Treia and, by default, to me.
“Your Highness, we still haven’t found the entrance to the Dungeon so we cannot predict where we have to defend,” he said, visibly worried. “If we can’t even get a single lead.”
Treia gave him a flat expression. “We do have a lead, but you all seem hard pressed to ignore it and the one who found it. Jason Andromeda, could you explain your findings?” she said, looking at me expectantly while also kicking me under the table.
Before standing, I kicked her back and looked at the very untrustworthy people around me. I set Mia onto my chair as I stood.
“While I was deeper in the surrounding forest, I noticed an area with far higher than normal Mana density, about a mile North,” I started, remembering the script Treia and I had made for this. “When entering this area, I noticed the sheer amount of Earth and Stone type beasts. Their average Levels were between 20 and, from the highest I saw, 66, though I didn’t fight that yet. This area is where I believe the entrance is.”
Immediately after I spoke, muttering broke out in the room, most of which were comments of how trustworthy my word was. Trying not to snap at them to shut up, I lifted Mia back into the air and sat back down, putting her on my lap.
Treia gave me an apologetic look before sighing and standing herself. Looking over to her, I waited for her to speak as the room grew quiet.
“Would you all mind explaining why you’re so against believing what he has to say? Don’t give me those looks of confusion. I can hear your muttering. Every word,” she said in a deathly cold voice.
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Jesus Christ, I thought. She really does sound all regal and stuff. Maybe I should practice that. I looked over to her again. Though, I think that just filling the room with Void will do the trick for now, I continued, slowly darkening the area around her.
There were audible gulps and all was silent until one woman stood up with a determined expression.
“With all due respect, Your Majesty, this boy came out of nowhere, and now you’re integrating him into our meetings. What exactly brought up this choice?”
I snorted. “I’d rather leave you all and deal with the Dungeon myself, but, alas, you dimwits clearly can’t see that this is a test to see if you can deal with things yourself or if you need outside help. I’m only here to make sure the Princess isn’t killed, not to solve your problems,” I said, drawing on Mia’s aggravated emotions to bring my voice to a cold tone. “I’m fine with leaving this place in ruins as long as Princess Kia isn’t killed. So I’d up my game if I were you. You don’t get any help unless necessary.”
The woman whirled on me. “Are you threatening me-”
“No, he’s not threatening you. He’s threatening your positions. If you can’t use your position to protect this city, then why have it at all?” Treia continued for me. “The reason he’s even here is because of the Demon Possessed fiasco. He has no reason to keep this city standing except to make sure nothing happens to me. Now, if you cannot even make an attempt to protect this city, then I will gladly take you from your seats and hand pick others to do it for you.”
And we’ve derailed from the script. Hell yeah.
Every person in front of us froze in place, looking horrified. I continued.
“Or are you here to protect the people in this city so they can become the next to protect it? I hope that’s what you’re here for. We will be taking our leave now. I hope you make the right choice.”
I focused as hard as I could on the Void, trying to rip a hole. Preferably without a Void Beast trying to eat my face off.
~Two Days Previously…~
“So these are books on what’s known about Void Magic?” I asked Treia, who sat next to me, letting Mia eat while sitting on her lap.
She nodded. “Yes, though it’s more focused on Portal Magic. The Void Mages who wrote this book still live today, though they’re kinda more…”
“Stuck-up assholes?” I supplied, getting an eye roll in response.
“I mean, I wouldn’t put it like that-”
I interrupted her with a knowing look. She laughed. “All right, maybe I would, but not in front of them. Anyways, these books were graciously ‘borrowed’ from the library in the Manor, mostly to satisfy my curiosity.”
I raised my eyebrows. “Aaannd?”
Treia sighed. “I mean, no point in you using Void Magic and not making use of portals, my aspiring Battlemage.”
“Your? You’re starting to remind me of my old friend, Princess,” I said, giving her a suspicious look.
“I’m just copying you, Jason. If it makes you flustered, imagine how I feel,” she said, glaring at me.
I waved my hand. “Pish posh. Me? Embarrassed? Could never happen.”
“Like how you, uh, very beautifully juggled a few trees?”
I looked at her in mock horror. “How did you even learn of that?”
“The Jason-shaped indentations on a few trees maybe?” she sighed. “Back on topic though. I honestly think that these books will be worth your time. No reason to not take advantage of your… advantages?”
I hummed thoughtfully. “I get it. You just want to teleport around.”
She hit my shoulder. “Hey. Who doesn’t? Plus, you did me a favor, so I’m doing you a favor. You shouldn’t leave these types of things hanging.”
“You still owe me; I saved your life. Twice. Those are worth like four favors each.”
She grimaced. “Crap. So I owe you, what, seven favors?”
“Yep.”
Treia sighed and rubbed Mia’s head. I picked up a book and opened it, scanning the first pages at record speed. “Oh, really? So it’s like ripping a hole?” I mused. Then I frowned. “That doesn’t make sense. If you rip a hole to nowhere, then that’ll probably just drop you in the Void. Wouldn’t it be better to visualize the place you want to go and then open a hole in both places while threading them together, kinda like how a wormhole works?”
Treia looked at me with an expression of confusion. “What?”
“I mean, they’re saying that you need to open a hole where you are, then reach through the Void to open another place, requiring you to map out the Void. But, if you’re connected to your Mana, like you’ve told me, then couldn’t you leave a Mana stone filled with your Mana where you want your exit portal to be, then open a hole in both places, threading them together with the Void?”
Treia gave me a pensive look, trying to understand what I was implying. “So, have something filled with your Mana in a place you want to get to and, since you have a connection to your own Mana, it should be easy to find that through the Void?”
I nodded before putting down the book and throwing my sword across the room. Treia frowned as I concentrated on my [Void Manipulation] and, instead of making the Void move around, I let it do what it did best. Destroy things.
Then, a thought crossed my mind.
“Wait, are there such things as Void Beasts?” I asked.
She went pale as what I assumed was the fabric of the world ripped open. Pushing my Mana through it, I could immediately feel the Mana of my sword through the Void and I rushed towards it with my Mana, trying to open another portal at the sword.
“Jason… there’s something on the other side!” Treia hissed as a massive pressure began to press onto us.
I faintly heard Mia hiss and press her own soul against it, easily moving it back for a few moments. However, those few moments were more than enough to rip open another portal and bind the two of them together. After another moment, there was a dark circle that floated in the air, passively draining my Mana. I reached through and grabbed my sword before cutting off the Mana.
For a few moments, Treia and I just looked at each other as I ignored the skill I’d just gotten.
“Well…” I started.
“That went well,” Treia muttered.
I nodded vigorously, patting Mia’s head while mentally praising her. She nuzzled her face into me, happy she’d done something.
~Present Time~
We walked through the portal and I cut off the Mana, trying to ignore the glare that Treia shot at me.
“Really?” She hissed. “This was supposed to be diplomatic. Not a threat of having them dethroned!”
I gave her an exasperated look. “If they can’t deal with anything themselves, then what’s the point of them being there? Give ‘em time. They’ll figure it out.”
Treia grabbed my horn, something she’d found very good at leading me around with, and pulled me along behind her as I yelped in pain. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Yamada giggling at our antics and I gave her a half-hearted glare before Treia dragged me into the manor, grumbling under her breath.
“The first time I go out… ruin everything… idiotic…”
Tuning her out, I lifted Mia onto my shoulders while sliding my horn out of Treia’s grip. Slightly annoyed, I walked next to her as she made a few turns and she was about to open a door as the Bag on her hip began to vibrate at a near invisible pace and she cursed. She spun to me with a very worried expression and began to speak quickly.
“Jason, Mia, would you-” she started in a panic.
She was interrupted by her bag opening and an orb flying out of her bag and flashed with strange markings… wait. Those were Runes, right? I read about it somewhere. Treia tried to hit it out of the air but it zipped out of her reach before an image of a woman frowning appeared in the air. Every cell in my body screamed at me to get out of the woman’s field of vision, causing me to scramble back, nearly teleporting away in a panic.
Before I could get more than a dozen feet away however, an enormous pressure fell onto me and I felt my brain short-circuit. Mia fell off my shoulders and rolled across the ground, very annoyed.
Mia glared and hissed something that I felt I should understand but was just beyond me.
Oh, she just has another two vocal cords, huh? I thought to myself, wondering why I just learned that. How fun.
***
Again, Mia was very much annoyed. Why was everything’s first reaction to something new was to use Soul pressure? She was getting pretty tired of pushing back against it. If she didn’t get some sort of Talent or whatever it was called (Didn’t her Bond call it a “Skill”?) for all of this within the next day, she’d get her Bond to pull off her scales one by one. At least the ones on her tail.
What do you consider your tail and your body? Her Bond asked in her thoughts, in Draconic.
This had been happening recently, mostly when he was sleepy or just exhausted. He’d switch to Draconic in his thoughts. He obviously didn’t realize it, but it was interesting, nonetheless. Probably her fault.
She pictured her body and then her tail and pushed the image to him.
THAT’S THE SAME TH- his thoughts trailed off into weird squeaks that she translated as, -ING, YOU NIMROD! She was still pretty sure the “nimrod” part was off a bit, though-
She blinked and scowled. There it was again, where his natural thought process affected her. It was mildly annoying, but she could understand how he got to some of his decisions now. Like how he decided to keep the weird girl alive. Treia, was it?
Well, she wasn’t complaining. Treia fed her, so she couldn’t care less-
THERE IT WAS AGAIN.
She shook her head and forced her Soul over her Bond’s, trying to keep away the influence from the weird floating head while Treia shrieked at it, Mia’s Bond’s ears bleeding while he muttered some very strange things in Draconic (How did he even manage that with two less vocal cords- oooh, nevermind) and made random squeaks in his language. After a few moments, she was able to get the pressure off him.
Before she could relax and try to fix his brain, the pressure descended on her. Mia’s eyes widened and she squeaked, forcing her soul into a barrier that the other Soul tried to get past.
The floating head looked at her in mild confusion. “What an interesting little Dragon, aren’t you?” it said in perfect Draconic.
“Go away, Bond hurter!” Mia hissed at the head while trying to keep her own head clear.
“Give me a reason to leave you and the Abyssal alone-”
A black spike shot through the orb behind the face and the pressure disappeared with the face looking confused.
***
“That was the Soul Transmitting Rune, or whatever it’s called, right?” I asked the floating head while my pounded like someone was constantly ramming into it with a drum. “Also, that black spike was amazing. Didn’t know I could do that with the Abyss.”
Treia looked at me in object horror as the orb-face glanced at me, mildly interested.
“Ah, Abyssal. Would you kindly explain why you’re with my niece?” the head said in a soft voice that rang in my ears.
“No.” I glared at the face. “Who are you?”
The woman sighed. “Fine. I am Queen-”
“Good enough.”
She looked at me, taken aback. I studied the face a bit, noticing the similarities between it and Treia. She had the same eye color, though a bit more defined. Her hair seemed to grow the same way as Treia’s, though it kinda curled in a bit. She also had more Elven features, like her slightly pointed ears. It wasn’t enough to notice at first glance but it was definitely there.
“Will you tell me why you’re with my niece now?”
“Depends,” I grumbled, glancing at my notifications as Mia yipped something angrily.
The woman snapped back at Mia as Treia tried to hide behind the face as it turned towards her. As I read my notifications, I froze in place and looked over to Mia.
“Ah, shit. We fucked up.”
Bond system Error!
Origin of Error : You were speaking the language of Dragons due to outside influence. This should not be possible until Bond Level II
Fixing…
! ERROR !
You have broken a System rule. However, the Manager looks over this due to outside influence.
Fixing… Fixing… Fixing…Fixing… Fixing… Fixing…Fixing… Fixing… Fixing…Fixing… Fixing… Fixing…Fixing… Fixing… Fixing…Fixing… Fixing… Fixing…Fixing… Fixing… Fixing…Fixing… Fixing… Fixing…Fixing… Fixing… Fixing…Fixing… Fixing… Fixing…Fixing… Fixing… Fixing…Fixing… Fixing… Fixing…Fixing… Fixing… Fixing…Fixing… Fixing… Fixing…Fixing… Fixing… Fixing…Fixing… Fixing… Fixing…-
Error!
Cannot fix due to Current Bond Level II!
Artificially Increasing Bond Level!