I looked over the forest from the top of the Palace, trying to figure out where the Dungeon could possibly be. I looked at the definitely not pitch black area of the forest where the {Corrupted} Dungeon couldn’t possibly be.
“Hm… Whatcha think, Systie? Think that’s it?” I asked.
Systie popped into existence and circled around my head. Nah, it couldn’t possibly. There’s no way anyone could be that flashy. Especially not me.
I heard a yelp behind me as someone else attempted to climb up to the top of the Palace. I turned around and frowned as Queen Julia struggled to climb the tiles. I sighed and simply lifted her up and onto my shoulders, where she looked down at my horns in confusion.
“You can hold on if you think you’re going to fall,” I told her, patting her leg.
She let out a half-hearted snort. “Me? Fall? I’ve come up here countless times! I’ll never fall!” However, her body betrayed her actual feelings as she gripped onto my horns for dear life. “Though, I feel a little nervous…”
I rolled my eyes and looked forward. “What’re you doing up here? I mean on top of the Palace, not my shoulders.”
She smacked my horn before sighing. “I usually came here to relax; to get away from the ruckus in the castle and that boy, if only for a little bit.”
Queen Julia seemed to slowly relax on top of my shoulders and she leaned back, still holding on. “The Kingdom… can hardly run without me and now look at me. I’m the size of a child with my mind slowly deteriorating into that of a child. If I were in my original body, I would never sit on top of someone’s shoulders.”
I frowned, confused at the implications. “Don’t you have a husband? Not even for him.”
She shook her head. “He died… some time ago. Can’t remember when. I couldn’t care less, since the only reason I married him was to produce an heir to the throne. Never really cared for him. It was arranged by my mother anyway.”
“So, you’re saying you’ve never loved anyone before?”
“Duh. And now, even if I wanted to, I couldn’t; look at this body!” she yelled, hitting my head with her fist, likely putting a small dent in my skull.
“Ow,” I mumbled, monotone.
She seemed surprised and patted the area she’d hit. “Sorry…”, she said in a child-like tone.
Then, she hissed. “This is what I mean! My mind is reverting to a child’s! Anyway, what’s that floating eyeball you were talking to?”
Oh, you remembered me? It’s fine, keep on talking-
“Systie, I didn’t forget you were here,” I said, patting the eyeball. “Don't act like no one knows you exist. This is Systie, Your Majesty-”
“Stop. Don’t call me that. Just Julia. Or Juli if you really want-” She froze in place as she spoke, suddenly nervous. “Er… Actually, just Julia…”
Blinking, I stilled slightly. “You… saw that memory?”
Julia seemed uncomfortable as she tightened her grip on my horns. “I mean, only fragments of it. And those fragments are pretty blurry as it is. I really only specialize in reading the emotions and main aspects of memories. The most clear parts of the memory were two names: Juli and Hylla; and the associated feeling with those names: Loss and love respectively.”
I sighed and looked over to the horizon, towards the Dungeon.
“Sys, is there any way to reverse her changes done to the Queen?” I asked.
I have no clue whatsoever, she said gleefully. Never seen anything like this, and, believe me, I’ve waited for something like this to happen.
“What?” Julia hissed.
I shuddered. “When Systie says she has absolutely no clue, then you know that it’s a lost cause to even try and figure it out.”
Julia smacked my head. “Why are you taking her word for it! She’s just… wait, what are you?”
Julia seemed to gain a sudden interest in Systie. “Your voice… sounds exactly like the System’s…”
Neither Systie nor I responded, willing to let the little girl figure it out. Suddenly, the Queen seemed to choke on the air.
“YOU’RE THE SYSTEM?”
There you go, little pest-
I smacked Systie off the edge of the palace, sending the Eyeball flying down at the speed of sound until she finally managed to teleport back to me.
Jeez! Sorry, I was just attempting to get into character! She complained. Now I’m almost out of Mana. I didn’t even know you could intentionally hurt me!
“That wasn’t any character. That was just you being obnoxious,” I responded, rolling my eyes.
Eh, fair enough. Anyways, little pint, I am a shard of a fragment of the System. I have access to many parts of the System, but I cannot just make materials appear out of thin air, though it would be cool to drop some unobtanium on this guy’s head.
“Some what?” Both me and Julia asked.
Case in point. Anyways, I know a lot of things, but I can’t exactly access most of my memories. Some only surface when I’m confronted with it and others I can’t even access due to some stupid barrier I installed just in case something like this happened.
“So, you expect that you’d become somebody’s Bond, but can’t even haggle with a shop owner?” I said suspiciously.
Look, people are hard to deal with.
“Shut in.”
Hikikomori.
“Yeah, I know you are.”
I’m talking about you!
“Pish posh. I was not. I spent time with Leah and at least went to school. You’ve spent millions or more years just sitting around with minimal contact with any form of life,”
Julia looked between the two of us before yawning. “I’m tired. Can we take a nap now?”
I lifted her off my shoulders and gave her a strange look. However, she had already begun to curl up in my arms and fall asleep. Sighing, I jumped off the edge and into a portal, Systie following close behind.
Next up, a dungeon to conquer.
~~~
Mia lifted herself into my arms and glared at me.
I shuddered as I had a flashback of one of the Queen’s personal guards charging at me at the speed of sound with a sword as Julia cried in my arms as I tried to explain what was going on. I’d had to throw the Queen at the woman to get her to stop, which wasn’t one of my best moments. Though, throwing children at other people had some sort of messed up appeal…
I shook my head and looked at Mia, who gave me a flat look.
Mia, no one tried anything. We both know that even if someone attempted, you would probably bash them in the skull hard enough to push them about six feet under, figuratively and literally.
Mia seemed to consider this.
Mia suddenly cut off, both her thoughts and emotions blank to me. Systie sighed.
I have to cut her off so your head’s not constantly filled with her “fantasies”. They are nothing to joke about. She has a very active imagination. And it’s unnecessarily detailed.
I nodded, understanding what she meant. “Right. Thanks, I guess.”
My Bond stared into space as we walked to the dining hall, getting a wave from Treia, who was already there along with an embarrassed stare from the small Queen, who was clearly on some sort of seat raiser so she could eat.
I sat on the opposite side of Treia, putting Mia onto her chair next to me. She immediately looked at the food on the table and licked her lips. I grinned at the new additions to the table.
So they started to use the cookbook recipes I translated. Unfortunately for them, I snatched that book.
I watched the Queen take a bite of rice pudding and blink in surprise as she mouthed “Health Regen?” Nodding, I looked at my own food, which I could tell was made with Lightning Mana. Mia was chowing down on her food, which was Ice Mana-ed. Treia poked at her food, which she was clearly skeptical of.
“Why is there Void Mana in this?” She muttered.
I choked on my eggs and nearly coughed them out, but I was able to keep it in my mouth and swallowed it. Treia frowned at me.
“Sorry, I didn’t think they’d put out the food I left there,” I mumbled.
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
Treia stared at me for a few moments before starting to eat with far more vigor than before. I shrugged at her display, looking at my own food and began to slowly eat. It was quiet for a moment before the Queen cleared her throat, which no one but me noticed. I looked up to the Queen, who was trying to get our attention. I flicked my fork at Triea and she caught it, looking at me confused. I pointed the fork at the Queen and Treia frowned as it was somehow in my hand again. She choked as she saw the Queen waving her short arms to get our attention, but didn’t spit out her food.
Once Treia had her attention on the Queen, Julia nodded.
“Okay. Now that I’ve gotten your attention-” Mia looked up in confusion before glaring at Julia. “-May I make a proposal?”
Treia tilted her head. “I mean, I guess? Depends on what the proposal is.”
“Then, may I go with you to clear the {Corrupted} Dungeon?” she asked.
The room went silent for a few moments before the door to the hall crashed open and one of the Queen’s personal guards, the same woman who I was sure could kill me, rushed into the room.
“My Queen! You cannot!” she exclaimed, taking rapid breaths.
Julia frowned at the woman. “Why can I not? Because I’m in this body? That would be some real flawed logic to keep me here.”
“That’s not the problem at all! How can you possibly trust these people? A Dark Elf, a Serpent, and this so-called ‘Princess’? How can you be sure they’re able to keep you safe-?”
I stared at the woman, annoyed at her. “Do you want me to prove to you that I’m perfectly capable of keeping people safe? It may delay our leaving by a day or two.”
The woman glared at me when I interrupted her. “Excuse me? You seriously think you can fight me and win?”
“Nope, but I tend to surprise myself sometimes,” I responded, shrugging.
Mia smacked my arm and glared at me.
Mia huffed and looked back to her food, mildly annoyed.
“Fine. You find me by the barracks, Dark Elf,” she snapped.
“Sure.” I sat there for a few moments before I processed what she said. “Wait wha-”
However, she was already gone. I slowly looked at Treia, who banged her head on the table before I could even say anything, groaning loudly. ‘
~~~
I looked across the arena, regretting my decision already. I could feel Mia’s worry from nearby, but I tried to ignore it to calm my own nerves.
“You should know the rules of a spar. No fatal attacks. That’s it,” the guard said from across the field. “We start in four seconds.”
“Heh?”
Exactly four seconds later, the ground where she was exploded and I got the faint sense of Earth Mana being used. When the dust cleared, the woman was gone. I blinked and went still.
Is she… underground?
I could feel Systie trying to communicate with me, but I shut her off.
She went quiet and I focused around me, trying to figure out where she was. After four seconds, I frowned and stood up straight, thinking.
She used Earth Mana to go into the ground and is undetectable? That can’t be right. Hold on, which way did the dust from her movement go?
Realizing what had happened, I kicked up twenty feet into the air as the woman crashed into the ground where I had been just a split second before.
“She went up, disguising her Wind Mana with Earth Mana, making it seem like she went into the ground while actually flying up into the air. Clever,” I mumbled.
I skidded across the ground, instinctively raising my sword as hers clashed against mine, launching sparks everywhere. I threw her off me, noticing that she was much weaker physically than I was, but made up for it with speed, a bit like Treia. The way she jumped away from me was like what Mia did during the Dungeon back in Mayflower, launching herself off of walls like a rabbit on crack.
The only problem was that she was an order of magnitudes faster than Treia, practically a blur. She stayed absolutely nothing, still moving around at a pace that I could hardly perceive.
That’s obviously a Skill, I thought, constantly in motion. If it were Treia, she’d run out of steam pretty quick, but I have no way to know how much Endurance she has. She could have enough to outlive me, which could be annoying.
“Well, I should probably get up to speed, huh?”
I channeled [Abyss Touch] while disguising it with Mia’s [Lightning Manipulation], quickly noticing a change in her movement. She was less of a blur, but still fast enough I could hardly track her. I launched myself across the arena, using as much force as possible to kick up dust, instantly noticing that she was keeping the dust away with [Wind Manipulation], most likely.
No way I can catch her with [Abyss Tendrils], and even if I managed to, she’d probably get out-
“Quit thinking so much-” her voice coldly said behind me. “It makes this boring.”
I snorted and caught her sword before she could slice my head from my shoulders.
“Sure, I’ll stop thinking about it. Just don’t blame me if I do the stupidest things imaginable,” I said before ripping her sword from her hand and punching her in the face.
She flew back like a bullet before crashing into the arena wall with a cloud of dust. I blinked.
“There is no way there’s that much dust,” I mumbled, hopping back as she crashed into the ground in front of me, nearly impaling me with a large spike of Earth.
I punched it to dust and was just barely able to grab the woman’s arm and throw her into the ground before trapping her under a four foot thick chunk of ice, costing me nearly 50k Mana. I began to charge up a bolt of Lightning infused with trace amounts of Void before letting it dissipate.
“Wait, I don’t have to do this myself.”
I could feel the woman struggling under the ice and I knew that I’d need to buy myself at least twelve seconds, three to get into position and nine to charge up my ultimate attack. Currently, there was no way that she was going to be under there for that long so I made the decision to stuff my mouth with an Ice Muffin and swallow before throwing spikes of Ice at the woman to inflict her with Frostburn.
Ailment : Frostburn
Take 10% more Ice Damage and decrease movement speed by 15%
I heard her curse as I did this, which told me I’d succeeded with the Ailment. With another 50k Mana, I dumped even more ice on top of her.
I moved away, taking the three seconds I hoped I had to get into position and pull out the three-part Runescript I needed.
Will this drain me of all my Mana? Yes. Will it be absolutely amazing if I pull it off? Hell fucking yeah!
***
Queen Julia watched in awe as an explosion of three Mana types began to rush into the three papers Jason the Abyssal had pulled out and condense in the gap between the three papers, creating a raging ball of Ice, Lightning, and Void.
That has to be at least three hundred thousand Mana he’s putting into that!
Princess Treia, who stood at the edge of the stands while cursing at him. By standing on the edge, she really meant that she was literally standing on the railing.
“THAT IS FAR TOO MUCH MANA, YOU-!” She shrieked.
In a way, I somewhat disagree, Systie, the grumpy, floating eyeball grumbled. Mia says it’s about 450 thousand Mana- WAIT WHAT THE FUCK IS HE DOING?! DON’T AIM-
Clearly understanding what idiocy was going on, Mia, the dragon, grabbed the eyeball out of the air as Jason jumped high into the air as the ground below him exploded.
Julia stood up as her Guard looked up at the doomsday beam now bearing down upon her.
How did he know she’d go below him? She thought.
Then the world went white and the barrier that kept all damage from inside the arena inside the arena nearly shattered. The Queen pumped her Mana into the quickly depleting crystal until the light died away, leaving a gigantic crater at the edge of the area with her Guard knocked out cold in the middle of it. Jason shakily stood at the edge of the crater before throwing his sword across the crater until it stuck into the dirt next to her head.
“I… win,” Julia faintly heard him whisper before he collapsed.
He’s nearly out of Mana and he’s not regenerating it fast enough since he hasn’t deactivated his Skills yet!
“How much Mana did he dump into [Lightning Manipulation] for him to not be regening!?” Treia snapped at the eyeball as she hopped over the barrier, rushing to Jason’s side.
It’s the combination of him being Mana deprived and still using his Skills!
“What are we supposed to do then?! He can’t use Mana potions or he’ll just evaporate into a cloud of Jason- where’d Mia go?”
Julia knew where Mia had gone but was too baffled to speak as she witnessed the small Dragon kissing her Bond.
***
I woke up feeling dizzier than the time I’d gone over the top of my bike's handles with Leah riding the bike with me. That’d ended up with the two of us rolling nearly ten meters and coming out with me having a broken arm and Leah with a broken leg, though this time felt far more painful than that time.
I groaned as I attempted to sit up before realizing that there was a small form on top of me who’s horns poked into the blanket I was covered with. Mia snored on top of me clutching my shirt tightly.
Watching her sleep for a long few moments, I sighed and placed my hand on her head, stroking her hair. I let her rest there for a long time, thinking about how reckless I was during that fight. I gritted my teeth and resisted the urge to break off my horns.
“I can’t keep going on using brute force to solve each and every one of my problems. What happened to using a good strategy to beat my opponents?” I hissed.
Some small voice commented in my head. You used her as an outlet to vent your frustration of your memory.
“I can’t be that petty. I don’t want to use people as punching bags.”
You’re better suited to being alone, not working with a team. You try to show off to everyone when you’re in a group and that ends up being your downfall. You lose patience, and you want to end fights quickly and as flashy as possible. You’re an idiot.
“Then how was I able to work perfectly fine with Leah back in the Abyss?”
Because you two know each other. You don’t know Treia well. Plus, you try too hard to get powerful quickly instead of training to get powerful at the current level you’re at. You’re so used to a single type of battle that if you got into another type of fight, you wouldn’t be able to figure out how to change the tide. You need real experience, actual training, to understand your Bonds and your girlfriend better, to be able to work with them. You’ve dragged them around for long enough.
I laid there, realizing what I should’ve realized long ago. I processed this as Mia slept on top of me. I sighed.
“Yeah, I need to change,” I mumbled. “And soon.”
~~~
“You won the match,” I told the Guard, still exhausted.
As the woman began to complain, I raised my hand. “Let me finish.”
Mia poked my cheek as the woman went quiet. “As I was attempting to say, I don’t deserve that win whatsoever. You weren’t even trying were you?” She sighed and shook her head. “I understand that. If you’d tried, I’d have lost. What I did was not me fighting, but venting my frustrations. I won’t go into what my frustrations are, but I apologize for not treating our spar like a fight.”
The woman sighed. “When you were fighting, you seemed angry. I could tell that something had been bothering you for a while, even if you didn’t realize it yourself. You hide most of your feelings behind a false mask, even if you don’t notice it yourself. I know this since I did it myself when I was as young as you and training to get the position I’m in now. I thought that if I gained as much power as possible, I’d be able to get anything I wanted, even throw away my heritage. I’m part Dark Elf, to let you know. I hated it for most of my life, and would’ve done anything to get rid of that part of me.However, I grew to accept it as something I couldn’t change. I even grew to accept the power it gave me, learning to control my own Dark Mana.
“Anyways, enough about me and now about you.”
She leaned into my face. “Your fighting style is pure bullshit. No rhyme, no rhythm, no technique. It’s barbaric. You’re not Harmony, you’re an Elf. Fight like one. From this point onward, you’re now a temporary member of the Elite Trainees.”
I flinched before sighing. “Yes…”
“You call me General Maya now.”
I put down Mia and she seemed to realize that she’d probably be dragged into this if she didn’t move and was about to dash away when General Maya grabbed the Dragon by the Horn.
“Don’t think you’re getting out of this, Dragon,” she snapped. “You two clearly can’t work together well.”
Mia looked at her in pure shock.
“I know this since I’ve watched Bonded partners fight together before. You two are the furthest from in sync one could be. Now, stand next to him. You’re part of this, silent child.”
I internally steeled myself. This would be a long ordeal, wouldn’t it?