I groaned, trying not to fall asleep.
“How’re there so many?” I grumbled, Mia looking over to me from the bed, having just woken from her nap. “And these are the most severe cases! I’ve used more Mana in a day than I ever want to use again.”
I looked over at Systie, who was also in complete dormancy. “Even Sys is completely out of it. Then again, I haven’t been able to supply her with Mana. I’ll just give her a hundred thousand for now.”
After supplying her with some Mana, she still didn’t move. I shrugged and looked over to Mia. “Welcome back to the world of the living, Mia.”
Mia frowned as she rubbed her eyes.
I rolled my eyes. “I’m exhausted. I don’t even think I have the energy to talk to anyone but you and Systie right now.”
Mia hopped out the bed and walked over to me before crawling up on my lap and snuggling against my chest, like usual. I sighed and rubbed her horns, eliciting a purr from her. As I absent-mindedly did this, there was a knock.
Suppressing a groan, I called, “Come in.”
However, Treia was already coming in and closing the door behind her. She sighed as she sat down on my bed. It was quiet for a few moments, the only sound being Mia’s light purrs. Treia then looked at me.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen you so exhausted. Not even during the Dungeon Break,” she said, standing up and leaning down next to me to pet Mia as well. “You know you can ask for a break, right? You don’t have to do this all day, every day.”
I looked at her sadly. “I can’t just leave them all like that, can I?”
She shook her head. “No. You’re Jason. You can’t.”
Treia then kissed me and didn’t stop for nearly a minute. She only pulled away when Mia looked up at her and lightly patted her cheek with an annoyed expression. Treia laughed and simply put her chin on my shoulder.
We stayed in this position for a few moments before I yawned. “I should rest… but I need to get back to work. So-”
Treia pushed me back into the chair as I tried to stand. “Oh, no you don’t. You need to sleep,” she snapped, giving me a stern expression. “I can take Mia to do whatever and you can sleep. And no buts,” she added as I opened my mouth to complain.
I snapped my mouth shut and groaned. “Fine, mother.”
“Good.”
~~~
I shook my hair out, Mana almost completely drained. I had realized that Systie had, at some point, put a mental cap on how much Mana I could use, probably so I wouldn’t accidentally kill myself.
“How do you do stuff like this?”
Systie didn’t respond, most likely focusing on Mia, who she said she was watching before I started for the day. I shrugged and tossed a muffin into my mouth.
When the Queen asked me if I could help the people infected with [Corruption], I didn’t expect to be wrangling with beasts in human shapes. The people who were turned would be at least four times as strong as a Level 70. However, this wasn’t much of a problem for me and I could pin them down until I was finished purifying them, which usually went one of two ways. One, they’d either be embarrassed and completely go silent or, two, they’d continue fighting me even after I let them go.
Currently, the person writhing on the ground in front of me was the second kind, and the last of the ones who’d turned and been kept captive.
“Who do you think you are!?” she yelled.
“How about you check your Status instead of yelling at the first person you see,” I mumbled. “Also, put this on.”
I threw an extra cloak over the woman before yawning and turning around. “My day is over.”
Ignoring the Elven woman, I stepped out of the area below the infirmary and stretched out my arms. I blinked into the sun and got about a fourth of a second to process the white blur flying my way before it crashed into me, knocking me a good ten feet back, nearly slamming me into the wall of the building.
I lifted Mia up into my arms and she pressed her cheek against mine while giggling.
“Hey, Mia. What’d you do?” I asked her, lifting her onto my shoulders as Treia came running by as a blur almost crashing directly into me. However, she stopped right before she crashed into me, skidding to a stop.
“Mia!” she scolded. “What are you- oh, Jason? You’re out already?”
“Yep,” I groaned. “I better be getting some great ass payment for this.”
Treia gave me a small smile. “I’d hope so.”
“I mean, like a big ass reward. I have to wrangle against things that are lower level than me but I still have to use Skills against them. I better get like…” I thought for a moment.
Something to let me develop a body quicker, Systie said as well, her eye finally waking at the prospect of a reward.
Treia rolled her eyes. “Mia, I know you thought about food, and to that, I say that Jason already makes you food. Every day. You’re lucky he’s part of the Keepers, or else you’d starve. And Systie, I think that can wait.”
Systie’s pupil dilated. Don’t get all fussy about it. I’m just tired of sitting on Jason’s head all the time.
“We all know that’s a lie,” I said, patting her.
She went quiet.
She summoned a few dozen eyes and threw them all at me, pummeling me and Mia.
“Hey! I was just kidding!” I said, throwing up a portal to make them crash into Treia.
She easily dodged the eyes while glaring at me. I grinned and jumped up on top of a building as Treia followed me, throwing a [Wind Blade] at me.
~~~
Treia slept with her head on my lap, Mia curled on top of her. I looked down at them with a small smile before shaking my head and focusing on the paper in front of me.
“Damned reports,” I grumbled. “Who assigned me these things?”
Systie rolled over on top of my head. Who knows? The Queen, likely? She may want to know more about the patients.
“...I sincerely doubt that. I would assume it’s the people of the infirmary who are suspicious of me.”
Good point. I wouldn’t put it past them. No one really likes you around here.
I shrugged. “Oh well.”
There was a few moments of silence as
Treia twitched in her sleep, muttering, “More…”
Systie snickered and I simply looked upward at her, confused. “Does she want me to keep talking?”
I didn’t take you as that much of an idiot, but sure.
“Uh… What?”
Systie snorted and looked down at my half-written report. Anyways, how have you managed to not get caught using Abyss? I thought you’d already be being chased down by half the kingdom.
I rolled my eyes. “Well, I’m not as dumb as you think I am.”
Debatable.
“Correct. Still, I can keep myself hidden from the Elves when I need to. The only person I’m afraid of being caught by is the Queen. Or that one general who looks at me weird.”
The woman? She’s nearly Level 200, far above what you can handle. In more ways than one.
“Ha ha, so funny, you disembodied retina,” I said mockingly. “You can’t really say much though.”
She hit me over the head. I will soon, don’t worry. Now get writing.
“Mhm. Writing. Hard to do when you’re constantly flooding my head with thoughts for your body.”
I could feel her pout. Not my fault I don’t want to be region-locked to your head. Also, hurry up and Level.
I rolled my eyes. “I’ll think about it.”
There was a long silence as I wrote, still not well-versed in the writing of this world and having Systie mentally guide me. After I finished, I carefully lifted Treia’s head from my lap and stood. I looked at both Mia and Treia for a few moments before jumping through a portal that opened above the infirmary and landed on the ground to return my report.
If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.
Systie rested on my head, dormant as I left the papers sitting where they would be reviewed later on. After leaving, I walked through the city, looking over to the many shops, looking if I could buy anything lasting. Thirty minutes later, I was still browsing the shops, nothing interesting to be found. I sighed.
“Might as well leave…” I mumbled.
I sighed and began my trek out of the shopping district before something caught my eye.
Someone’s hand waved to me, trying to catch my attention. I frowned at the Elf before I noticed the dark symbols on their arm.
“A Dark Elf, huh?” I said under my breath. “Eh, couldn’t hurt to check it out.”
I made my way over, where the man grinned at me.
“A fellow Dark Elf, huh?” he said happily. “Don’t see that often around here.”
I shrugged. “I’d assume so. I already get some very… displeased looks.”
He nodded. “Understandable. Ever since the fall of the Kingdom…” he sighed. “Anyways, what’re you looking for? Something for a beloved? A jewel of immense power? Curses for your enemies?”
“I guess the first one. Know anything About Bonds?”
Systie stirred slightly on my head, interested. The man’s grin widened. “Anything for a friend.”
~~~
This is actually pretty nice, Systie said, enjoying her new cushion. I mean, it has nothing on your head, but it’s a good substitute.
I rolled my eyes and looked to Mia, who was hugging her new stuffed animal, since I hadn’t had any clue what else to get her. Clearly, the stuffed animal route was the correct route since she had been absolutely ecstatic when I pulled it out of my storage.
It had turned out that the man had many, many things, just in general. I’d found books, toys, what looked like some very volatile-looking Scripts, and scrolls that were filled with Runes, many of which weren’t even in the large journal I had. I had promptly bought a large stuffed dragon for Mia, a fancy looking pillow for Systie, the scrolls and one or two of the Scripts, and a interesting looking necklace that, with some testing, would not blow up your neck when too much Mana was inserted into it (which is what happened before due to a limiter Rune being faulty, which Systie had nearly screamed her nonexistent lungs out in warning to while I was testing. It was fixed… hopefully) and would instead let out a pulse of whatever Elemental Mana was inserted into it, with different effects.
I’d given it to Treia, since, well, I couldn’t really find anything else.
“This isn’t going to explode, right?” Treia asked suspiciously. “Most of the ‘Presents’ you give me usually explode.”
“Of course not. It used to though. Fixed it,” I said, in an matter-of-factly way.
She glared. “That’s not reassuring in the slightest.”
I looked at Mia, who rolled snuggled into my side, hugging her stuffed dragon. “Well, I didn’t know what else to get… I have another stuffed animal if you want it?”
I held out a stuffed lion, which Mia petted with her free hand before giggling. Treia stared at the lion for a few moments, her hand twitching.
She then sighed. “It’s okay. I just don’t want to randomly explode when wearing it.” She took a drink of what I assumed was either tea or coffee.
I shrugged and placed the lion on my lap, knowing she wanted it. “I mean, I could’ve gotten a ring, but that doesn’t seem appropriate yet,” I said smugly.
I got the exact reaction I was hoping for: she looked confused for a second, processed the statement, and spit out the coffee with wide eyes, coughing.
“YET?” she got out in the middle of her coughing fit.
Both me and I began to laugh as she tried to clean up the spilled drink, Mia rolling onto my lap with the lion. I could even sense amusement from Systie, who I couldn’t remember if she had laughed before.
“Excuse me! What do you mean, ‘yet’, you little-!?” she hissed, slipping as she stood up and crashing to the ground, the coffee falling onto her head as she groaned. “Damn it, that’s hot!”
Mia and I continued to laugh, Treia laid on the floor.
***
When Treia proposed that she could go into the surrounding forest to Level, she hadn’t expected Jason to just agree with her.
“Yes, yes,” he’d said, completely serious. “If what some of the people say is true, namely that killing {Corrupted} Beasts nets you serious amounts of… Execution Points, this could be very good for you.”
Did you just make a reference to- Systie started.
“Yep. I sure as hell did.”
Confused and bewildered, Treia now found herself in the forest, kilometers away from the city with Jason, Mia, and (begrudgingly) Systie as moral support.
“You’ve just gotta kill things! Can’t be that difficult! I mean, the low Leveled ones nearly got me to Level 100, but luckily I didn’t!” he called down from a tree branch nearly thirty meters above her.
Both Mia and Systie booed at him.
“See! They’re happy about it too! Anyways, from the bear I fought, it had a major weak point.”
You killed it in one hit! You didn’t give yourself time to find a weak point!
“Pish posh. Exactly what I mean! Kill it in a hit! That’s where it’s weak!”
Treia shook her head. “That boy, I swear.”
She then steeled herself as she began to search for a {Corrupted} Beast. The first thing she noticed was that it was deathly quiet, with no birds, animals, or whatnot within earshot. This was the first sign that something was seriously wrong. As she snuck through the undergrowth, she caught a whiff of a nearly unbearable stench.
Ung. Something was definitely killed nearby, She thought. Hmm…
Treia pulled on her glove, nervous. With a gulp, she grabbed onto a tree branch, pulling herself up so she could get a vantage point. She looked up, knowing Jason was nearby and would make sure she didn’t get snuck up on even if she couldn’t sense him.
It’s a bit like before… Treia thought. When I first met him, he watched from the sidelines to make sure I wasn’t dead.
Treia felt herself slowly relax as she sat on the branch before she jumped to the next branch nearby. Hopping from tree to tree, it seemed like the smell from before was following her. She ignored it for a little bit, assuming that it was just getting worse but her body was refusing to acknowledge it. Nearly twenty minutes later and a few kilometers out, she stopped as the smell hadn’t stopped.
Wait, could the actual monster be that smell? Treia thought.
She immediately scrambled higher up the tree at a breakneck pace, knowing that Jason would later say that she looked like a squirrel, but couldn’t care less… at the moment. Once she was a good ten meters from her previous position, she looked down to see… something.
She gagged and nearly threw up at the sight of the beast. She then looked up and squinted, barely spotting Jason.
He seemed to realize that there was no possible way for her to fight the rotten and bloody… thing below her with a calm mind. He portaled down to her Level and scrunched up his nose, Mia, who was in his arms, doing the same, but scrambling out of his arms and back up the tree at a pace Treia couldn’t hope to match.
“Bleg,” he said calmly. “That thing has been following you for a while now.”
“Uh huh. I gathered that. How are you going to get rid of that?”
He thought for a moment. “I’d burn it, but then there’s the problem of the environment, and I can’t kill it since I’ll definitely Level from it. So, the only real thing I can do is incapacitate it in some way. Maybe freeze it?”
“That would definitely stop the stench. I’m starting to think I should’ve trained with lightning-” Treia stopped mid-sentence and looked at Jason, who scrunched up his face.
“No. I did not forget about lightning. Do not ask,” he said, looking up nervously.
Treia looked up slightly to see the furious face of Mia glaring down at him. Treia snorted.
“You get to deal with that later.”
He groaned before a bolt of lightning cracked and slammed directly into the beast, easily conducting with the blood flowing from various pores while it let out shrieks and screams. Almost immediately after, it fell to the ground, silent and Jason gagged next to her. However she didn’t notice this since she was throwing up her last meal at the smell of burnt flesh and the previous smells.
~~~
Finally, Treia thought, trying to get the smell of the previous beast out of her mouth. Another, less repulsing, {Corrupted} beast.
She studied what looked like a six legged wolf the size of Jason. It had matted fur, stained with what she assumed was blood from its previous hunt. When she tried to Identify it, however.
Error. Cannot Identify.
Approx. Level - ??
“Well, that’s unhelpful,” she muttered. “Welp, might as well try to fight it.”
She thought about Jason’s warning.
“Don’t try to fight it head on. In a battle of physical strength, you will never win. Unless you’re Mia. Then go ahead,” He’d said, Mia at the moment pulling on his horns, angry he’d forgotten that the Lightning Element existed.
She sighed. Gotta play it safe. Maybe try to use [Storm Eye] to get some superficial damage done. I’m far better at sustained damage over time than… damage per screenshot? What does that even mean Jason?
She shook her head and activated the Skill before jumping down and throwing half a dozen [Void Blade]s mixed in with a few [Wind Blade]s. Once she hit the ground, her eyes went wide as the wolf charged at her with unimaginable speed. She was barely out of the way as barrelled by, skirting across the ground to turn back towards her, letting out garbled growls.
Poor thing. I couldn’t imagine what it must feel like to be like that. Don’t worry, I’ll put you out of your misery… hopefully.
It lunged at her again, but she was ready this time. She unsheathed her sword before-
SHITWRONGSWORD-
She yelped as she threw herself to the side the moment her practice sword shattered in her hands. She quickly looked up to Jason’s general direction where she saw that her new sword, that they’d both clearly forgotten about, was launched down at such a speed, that there was the crack of a sonic boom right as it hit the ground, stunning the wolf for a moment.
She pulled it out the ground and immediately shot forward towards the {Corrupted} Wolf, quickly and cleanly slicing off one of its legs and creating a large gash in its chest before it regained its bearings. She then hopped into a nearby tree and, taking out a large chunk of her Mana, threw down a [Black Hole], which was effectively a hole in the world that somehow dealt Void Damage even to her.
The black orb of death slowly churned through the air, eating up loose plants and even the leg she’d chopped off. As it ate up more things, its pull grew stronger, and, due to her lightweight complexity, she had to hold onto the tree trunk for dear life. The wolf yelped, but it was far too late for it. It was ripped from the ground and thrown into the hole.
Please just die. I really just want to- Wait, what do I want to do? She frowned and slightly looked up towards Jason. Probably just go to sleep, now that I think about it. I only really want to get to Level 80 today. Then probably fall asleep for a good twelve hours. Preferably with Jason, but I guess I’m okay with being alone.
Treia then shook her head vigorously. Why am I thinking about this right now?! I’m in the middle of something far more important!
She focused on the [Black Hole] as it dispersed, leaving behind an area filled with gashes from its constant bombardment of slices of Void. The {Corrupted} wolf fell to the ground, missing another two legs along with one of its ears. It stumbled away, letting out garbled whines.
Treia gulped and let go of the tree, jumping to its down in front of it.
She let out a sigh. “Goodbye, {Corrupt}.”
She then plunged her blade into its skull and it went still as it fell. She wiped her face as she looked up at Jason, turning around.
“It’s dead!” she called up while checking her status.
She then frowned. Why didn’t I get a-
“TREIA!”
Before she could process what was happening, there was an explosion of dust and earth as something crashed down behind her, shaking the nearby trees while staining them with black blood. Treia fell forward and scrambled towards the nearest tree before looking back to see Jason on top of the mangled body of the wolf that had tried to use its final breaths to kill her when she turned around. Mia was scrambling down the tree above, Jason clearly had left her when he crashed down like a bomb.
He gave the now dead wolf a dark look. “You should’ve just laid down and died,” he growled, his segmented jaw letting out ominous clicks.
For a few moments, he seemed to breath heavily before taking a breath. He shook out his hair before realizing he’d activated his Armor at some point.
“Huh,” he mumbled. He then turned around and crouched down in front of Treia. “You okay.”
She stared at him with wide eyes, completely at a loss of what had just happened. “Y-yeah.”
He nodded, looking relieved. “Sorry. It tried to get you when you turned around and I just snapped. I don’t really know why I’m angry in the first place.”
Jason sat down in front of her. “And I stole your kill. Sorry about that.”
She took a few moments to process what he was saying, Mia falling from above with Systie right behind her.
Jesus Christ, Jason, Systie said, clearly surprised, strangely enough. I knew your mental state was… volatile at best, but I didn’t expect you to just casually make a crater wider than a sequoia trunk.
Treia stared at Systie. “What do you mean ‘Volatile’?”
Systie looked a bit uncomfortable, if an eye could be uncomfortable. Well, he’s kind of a really rare case of a Partial-Integration.
“What does that mean?”
So, simply, it means that he was almost completely Integrated. His body and mind were completely unscathed when being adjusted to the System. His Soul however… is a complete wreck. The only reason he’s able to keep his sanity is because Mia’s far more powerful Soul is able to keep his from completely shattering.
Jason looked at Systie, then to Mia, who, uncharacteristically, blushed before snuggling into his blood covered shirt. “This is the first I’ve heard of this.”
Systie seemed surprised. “Mia never mentioned it? She’s been aware of it this entire time. It’s why she clings to you like you’re some sort of teddy bear.”
Jason blinked. “Huh. Well, that’s absolutely terrific. I know I’m mentally unstable, but my soul shattering to pieces?” He shook his head. “Oh, whatever. Just add it to the list of things I need to do.”
Jason scowled. “And I’m Level 100. Well, I guess, that’s fine. Let’s see what I got this time…” he blinked. “After we get you to Level 80.”