Everyone except Stardust wanted Queen to teach them the [ Charisma] skill. She strongly refused to teach anyone the [ Charisma] skill. Lily tried to get her husband to force Queen to give her the charisma skill but her husband had respected Queen’s decision. Even Scarlett’s [ Mind Magic LVL 3] wasn’t enough to control Queen into giving her the charisma skill as her magical defense was strong enough. All the NPCs sulked for a while that they won’t obtain the [ Charisma] skill and will have to somehow get it on their own.
The party trained their physical and magical stats for three months in Desert Area 2. They only hunted and foraged enough food to keep them going. Stardust greatly admired the efforts that everyone was putting in. All of their new physical and magical capabilities will ensure better survival chances when confronting the deadly monsters in Desert Area 3. Most monsters have much higher base stats than the wild animals and some can even use magic like the giant desert mole monster that they encountered before using [ Sand Magic].
During this time, Queen learned [ Light Magic LVL 1]. She could create a ball of light in her hands yet her magic has zero offensive capabilities; the light magic was simply harmless to everyone. It was much better than [ Fire Magic] at lighting up the darkness and it could be used to blind enemies. At a higher level, light magic can begin to do damages. Everyone naturally congratulated each other when anyone learned a new skill. Soon after, Rainbow had also acquired [ Light Magic LVL 1] as Queen was willing to teach it to her.
( Queen) << My light magic will put me in the spotlight to showcase myself as the one true ruler.>>
Scarlett would frequently use her [ Mind Magic] to control the insects buzzing around and make them attack Luna. Luna freaked the fuck out and kept on rubbing more and more repelis plants all over the campsite to keep the insects away but they would never go away. All the repelis plants were wasted in one day. It only forced Luna to quickly improve her fire magic to incinerate all the insects before they can crawl all over her and bite her.
Scarlett kept on practicing her [ Mind Magic] on the others despite not having the consent to do so. Fortunately, everyone else remained alert and defended themselves from her mental assault. All of their magical defenses were too much for Scarlett to penetrate. She was able to hypnotize Stardust to great success as he was a willing training partner. Due to the fears of Scarlett trying to control Stardust, she could only practice her mind magic on him as long as three other NPCs were protecting Stardust. Lily was one of the NPCs always protecting him.
Lastly, Lily was the last NPC to learn her unique magic, [ Debilitating Magic LVL 1]. It can make your enemies weaker and become unable to use any skills. Perhaps Lily learned this type of magic because of her prior frail body and wanting to make others suffer as she did. This magic was going to be well-suited for her to control the other NPCS’ into being obedient to her if she can overpower them. Rainbow wanted to learn [ Debilitating Magic] from Lily but she refused to teach her. Rainbow remained cheery as she would do her best to learn all types of magic on her own if she has to.
To summarize all the unique magic as learned by the NPCS’,
2 - Marla [ Magic Strength] + [ Magic Defense]
3 - Luna [ Fire Magic]
4 - Remi [ Darkness Magic]
5 - Lily [ Debilitating Magic]
6 - Queen [ Light Magic]
7 - Rainbow - many magics learned
8 - Violet [ Wind Magic]
9 - Scarlett [ Mind Magic]
10 - Monica [ Blood Magic]
Magic had greatly improved their lives and was used frequently for everyday tasks.
Marla - [ Magic Strength] and [ Magic Defense] improved her hunting and fighting capability immensely. It was also very useful in transporting resources to another area and having mock fights with the others.
Luna - [ Fire Magic] to cook and keep the party members warm during the cool nights. Also used to incinerate all the insects that get too close to their camp.
Remi - [ Darkness Magic] was used to help block out the sunlight as she slept inside the tent during the day.
Lily - [ Debilitating Magic] hindering the Desert Area 2 animals’ movement and strength. Also used on Scarlett when she gets too out of hand trying to control her husband. Lily exclusively used the most painful type of debilitating magic on her.
Queen - [ Light Magic] to light up the night sky, enabling the party to function throughout the entire night if they wanted to. The visibility range was massive compared to the light emitted from Luna’s fire magic.
Rainbow - can do what most of the others can but is less effective.
Violet - She was using [ Wind Magic] to keep herself cool the entire time. Violet was like a walking air conditioner. Sometimes when the day gets too hot, everyone would surround Violet, and she would create a nice breeze all around her. Also, her wind barrier does stop the sandy wind from blowing on their camp and helps to keep sand out of their eyes. She was also using it to routinely blow off the sands off their clothes and especially their undergarments. Her [ Wind Magic] also allows Violet to transmit her voice a fair distance away. A skilled she called [ Wind Message] A reversal of this skill to hear someone from a fair distance away called [ Wind Listen].
Scarlett - She used [ Mind Magic] to control insects to attack Luna every day. The insects had very little magical resistance and their mind was too simple so it was easy to control them.
Monica - Her [ Blood Magic] was used to drain out the blood from all the animals they had killed. She was also washing everyone’s clothes and bodies with her blood magic and not a single drop of blood remained behind.
Simply put, magic was being used for everyday non-combative purposes. Unlike some other stories where magic is only used in combat. Magic doesn’t have a rigid structure and with enough creativity, you could expand its usage. For example, Violet figuring out [ Wind Message] and [ Wind Listen]. They are both applications of her [ Wind Magic].
Lily had already figured out that her [ Debilitating Magic] also works on non-living things. She can debilitate people’s weapons and armors to render them useless. Or she could use it on the environment and make it worse to live in.
Queen had realized that her [ Light Magic] can be used to create elaborate illusions but right now she could only make simple illusions like making small things disappears or small illusory images.
Rainbow despite her generalist approach to magic, had figured out that she can combine different magics to level the playing field or surpass the specialist at their own game. Due to her flexibility, she can be useful in many different applications.
The other NPCs also figured out some neat application for their magic and perhaps it will be revealed in the later chapters when they do something crazy and cool.
<< Since we are going to start hunting monsters instead of wild animals. They will all drop monster cores and other precious loot while their biomass will disappear. The new NPCS’ created with monster cores will have higher starting stats and perhaps some skills which will help them not fall behind the older NPCs who had the time to train their stats and skills. Hopefully, the older NPCS’ don’t mind them having a higher starting point. It is also possible that instead of escaping the shitty desert, we will simply build a new civilization in the desert.>> ( Stardust)
=====
The physical and magical training had gone well for the last month. Lily was no longer the frail girl she once was. Everyone was in their peak powers.
Updated NPC stats shown below from all of their past progress.
***** NPC LIST *****
-DEAD-
NPC 1 - Freya
-ALIVE-
NPC 2 - Marla 210 rng increase ( 150 min)
NPC 3 - Luna 210
NPC 4 - Remi 210
NPC 5 - Lily 190 ( 210 magic)
NPC 6 - Queen 200 ( 210 magic)
NPC 7 - Rainbow 200 ( 210 magic)
NPC 8 - Violet 200 ( 210 magic)
NPC 9 - Scarlett 180 ( 210 magic)
NPC 10 - Monica 170 ( 210 magic)
***** NPC 2 Marla *****
Base Attribute: Desert Tiger
Class: Fighter
Stats:
Physical Power: 250 → 460
Physical Speed: 220 → 379
Physical Defense: 200 → 409
Magical Power: 0 → 202
Magical Speed: 0 → 166
Magical Defense: 100 → 301
Resistances:
[ Heat Resistance LVL 6]
[ Poison Resistance LVL 1]
Physical Skills:
[ Melee Weapon Mastery LVL 5 → 6]
[ Weapon Throw LVL 6 → 7]
[ Focus LVL 4 → 5]
Magical Skills:
[ Mana Generation LVL 1 → 5]
[ Magic Mastery LVL 1 → 5]
[ Magic Strength LVL 1 → 5]
[ Magic Defense LVL 1 → 3]
Karma: 63
Loyalty: 95%
***** NPC 2 Marla - End *****
***** NPC 3 Luna *****
Base Attribute: Desert Rabbit
Class: Fire Mage
Stats:
Physical Power: 70 → 237
Physical Speed: 160 → 316
Physical Defense: 50 → 239
Magical Power: 10 → 187
Magical Speed: 10 → 200
Magical Defense: 30 → 239
Resistances:
[ Heat Resistance LVL 5 → 6]
Physical Skills:
[ Cooking LVL 3 → 4]
[ Tailor LVL 7]
Magical Skills:
[ Mana Generation LVL 1 → 5]
[ Magic Mastery LVL 1 → 5]
[ Fire Magic LVL 2 → 5]
Karma: 77
Loyalty: 89%
***** NPC 3 Luna - End *****
***** NPC 4 Remi *****
Base Attribute: Desert Mouse
Class: Assassin
Stats:
Physical Power: 90 → 290
Physical Speed: 200 → 388
Physical Defense: 40 → 240
Magical Power: 10 → 212
Magical Speed: 10 → 204
Magical Defense: 20 → 193
Resistances:
[ Heat Resistance LVL 5 → 6]
Physical Skills:
[ Needle Shoot LVL 7 → 8]
[ Ambush LVL 5 → 6]
[ Focus LVL 3 → 6]
[ Stealth LVL 2 → 4]
[ Fighter LVL 1 → 3]
[ Critical Strike LVL 1 → 2]
[ Night Vision LVL 1 → 5]
Magical Skills:
[ Mana Generation LVL 1 → 5]
[ Magic Mastery LVL 1 → 5]
[ Darkness Magic LVL 1 → 5]
Karma: 0
Loyalty: 62%
***** NPC 4 Remi - End *****
***** NPC 5 Lily *****
Base Attribute: Desert Fox
Class: Debuff Mage
Stats:
Physical Power: 10 → 196
Physical Speed: 10 → 166
Physical Defense: 5 → 159
Magical Power: 10 → 232
Magical Speed: 10 → 234
Magical Defense: 10→ 223
Resistances:
This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
[ Heat Resistance LVL 2 → 5]
Physical Skills:
Magical Skills:
[ Mana Generation LVL 1 → 7]
[ Magic Mastery LVL 1 → 7]
[ Debilitating Magic LVL 1 → 7]
( Hidden) God Skills:
[ Evil God’s Happiness LVL 1 → LVL 2]
Karma: ???
Loyalty:100%
***** NPC 5 Lily - End *****
***** NPC 6 Queen *****
Base Attribute: Desert Mouse
Class: Politician
Stats:
Physical Power: 80 → 265
Physical Speed: 80 → 271
Physical Defense: 80 → 268
Magical Power: 10 → 218
Magical Speed: 10 → 169
Magical Defense: 10→ 171
Resistances:
[ Heat Resistance LVL 4 → 6]
Physical Skills:
Magical Skills:
[ Mana Generation LVL 1 → 5]
[ Magic Mastery LVL 1 → 5]
[ Light Magic LVL 1 → 5]
Other Skills:
[ Charisma LVL 1 → 2]
Karma: -10
Loyalty: 20%
***** NPC 6 Queen - End *****
***** NPC 7 Rainbow *****
Base Attribute: Desert Rabbit
Class: All
Stats:
Physical Power: 150 → 339
Physical Speed: 190 → 354
Physical Defense: 140 → 308
Magical Power: 10 → 204
Magical Speed: 10 → 184
Magical Defense: 40→ 243
Resistances:
[ Heat Resistance LVL 4 → 6]
Physical Skills:
[ Fighter LVL 2 → 5]
[ Melee Weapon Mastery LVL 2 → 3]
[ Weapon Throw LVL 2 → 3]
[ Needle Shoot LVL → 2 → 3]
[ Basic Archery LVL → 2 → 3]
[ Focus LVL 1 → 2]
[ Ambush LVL 1 → 2]
[ Stealth LVL 1 → 2]
[ Critical Strike LVL 1 → 2]
[ Night Vision LVL 1 → 2]
[ Basic Archery LVL 1 → 2]
[ Double Shot LVL 1 → 2]
[ Hawk Eye LVL 1 → 2]
Magical Skills:
[ Mana Generation LVL 1 → 5]
[ Magic Mastery LVL 2 → 5]
[ Magic Strength LVL 1 → 2]
[ Magic Defense LVL 1 → 2]
[ Fire Magic LVL 1 → 2]
[ Darkness Magic LVL 1→ 2]
[ Wind Magic LVL 1 → 2]
[ Blood Magic LVL 1 → 2]
[ Light Magic LVL 1 → 2]
Other Skills:
[ Skill Mastery LVL 5]
[ Logical Reasoning Lvl 1 → 2]
Karma: 98
Loyalty: 100%
***** NPC 7 Rainbow - End *****
***** NPC 8 Violet *****
Base Attribute: Desert Fox
Class: Wind Archer
Stats:
Physical Power: 160 → 319
Physical Speed: 180 → 335
Physical Defense: 150 → 317
Magical Power: 10 → 170
Magical Speed: 10 → 206
Magical Defense: 40→ 227
Resistances:
[ Heat Resistance LVL 4 → 6]
Physical Skills:
[ Focus LVL 5 → 7]
[ Needle Shoot LVL 4]
[ Basic Archery LVL 7→ 10]
[ Double Shot LVL 1 → 6]
[ Fighter LVL 2 → 4]
[ Logical Reasoning Lvl 2 → 5]
[ Hawk Eye LVL 1 → 6]
Magical Skills:
[ Mana Generation LVL 1 → 5]
[ Magic Mastery LVL 1 → 5]
[ Wind Magic LVL 1 → 5]
Karma: 12
Loyalty: 80%
***** NPC 8 Violet - End *****
***** NPC 9 Scarlett *****
Base Attribute: Desert Ape
Class: Mind Mage
Stats:
Physical Power: 170 → 327
Physical Speed: 170 → 343
Physical Defense: 170 → 320
Magical Power: 10 → 187
Magical Speed: 10 → 168
Magical Defense: 30 → 201
Resistances:
[ Heat Resistance LVL 5 → 6]
Physical Skills:
[ Fighter LVL 1 → 5]
[ Focus LVL 1 → 5]
[ Melee Weapon Mastery LVL 1 → 3]
[ Knife Mastery LVL 1 → 5]
[ Weapon Throw LVL 1 → 3]
[ Critical Strike LVL 1 → 2]
[ Night Vision LVL 1 → 2]
Magical Skills:
[ Mana Generation LVL 1 → 5]
[ Magic Mastery LVL 1 → 5]
[ Mind Magic LVL 1 → 5]
Karma: -75
Loyalty: -95%
***** NPC 9 Scarlett - End *****
***** NPC 10 Monica *****
Base Attribute: Desert Ape
Class: Blood Mage
Stats:
Physical Power: 180 → 350
Physical Speed: 180 → 335
Physical Defense: 180 → 346
Magical Power: 10 → 170
Magical Speed: 10 → 201
Magical Defense: 31 → 306
Resistances:
[ Heat Resistance LVL 5 → 6]
Physical Skills:
[ Fighter LVL 1 → 4]
[ Focus LVL 1 → 7]
[ Self Recovery LVL 1 → 4]
Magical Skills:
[ Mana Generation LVL 1 → 5]
[ Magic Mastery LVL 1 → 5]
[ Blood Magic LVL 1 → 5]
Karma: -52
Loyalty: -45%
***** NPC 10 Monica - End *****
Lily was the most talented person in learning magic as she was two levels above everyone in [ Mana Generation] and [Mana Mastery]. She did her best to teach the others magic but they could not replicate Lily's talent.
When magical skills reach the max level of 10. It was possible to keep training it to evolve it into a much stronger form of magic. For example, when Stardust tried to teach Luna the next steps into her fire magic journey, the fire magic tree looked something like this.
[ Fire Magic] → [ Strong Fire Magic] → [ Intense Fire Magic] → [ True Fire Magic]
All elemental magical progression also followed some variation of this pathway.
The strongest fire magic user that Stardust saw was only midway into the [True Fire Magic] level. Naturally, Stardust had already mastered it to [ True Fire Magic LVL 10] when he was pretty much a kid. Later on, as he grew into an adult, he was even able to evolve [ True Fire Magic] into [ Godly Fire Magic] but was only able to obtain [ Godly Fire Magic LVL 9]. Stardust did his absolute best to teach Luna the [ Godly Fire Magic] skill with his words but Luna was not able to comprehend his teachings. Then he tried to explain [ True Fire Magic] but Luna still could not understand. Then he tried to explain [ Strong Fire Magic] but Luna still could not understand. Lastly, he explained the next level into [ Fire Magic] But Luna did not understand and had to keep practicing on her own to advance her skills.
Stardust did the same thing with the other NPCs when he knew of their magical skills but to no avail. Despite his knowledge of all magical disciplines, it was useless to the NPCS’. A teardrop fell down Stardust’s face as he struggled to teach them complex magical techniques with his words.<< One day in the future, my NPCs will finally understand my magical teachings. Especially when they reach close to the highest possible level.>> ( Stardust)
***** NPC Class List *****
2 - Marla - Fighter
3 - Luna - Fire Mage
4 - Remi - Assassin
5 - Lily - Debuff Mage
6 - Queen - Politician
7 - Rainbow - All
8 - Violet - Wind Archer
9 - Scarlett - Mind Mage
10 - Monica - Blood Mage
***** End *****
The NPC classes are not rigid but rather serve as a trademark in what they are best at. NPCs could change to another class if they choose to but it would take some time to gain skills and experience relevant to that class.
The new NPCs and their specialization had changed their battle formation. Surprisingly four of them became pure mages, Luna, Lily, Scarlett, and Monica. Not all the NPCs openly shared their class information with the party. The battle formation would now look something like this.
Frontline
- Marla - Fighter
Marla is the only capable NPC that can fight on the frontline. Rainbow could fight on the frontline but her effectiveness is about 30% of Marla’s. Remi is also another melee fighter but she was very vulnerable in long direct fights making her about 15% as effective as Marla. In the end, Marla is the sole front-liner for the party. She had a huge responsibility in keeping everyone safe and it’s kinda unfair for Marla to be the party’s exclusive tank and front-liner. But Marla doesn’t mind and embraces the difficulties.
Marla looked at everyone with a bright smile, “ hahaha everyone, you have chosen to specialize in the backline to support me. Don’t worry, I will protect everyone!”
BackLine
- Lily - Debuff Mage
- Rainbow - All
- Violet - Wind Archer
- Monica - Blood Mage
(Lily) << Joining the battle will only make my husband see me in a brighter light as I will become an extremely useful NPC to him. It is my duty as his wife to showcase my pure brilliance!>>
Rainbow, Violet, and Monica willingly joined the battle team as they wanted to improve their chances of survival to find better resources in the tougher areas. Those four and Lily would do their absolute best to protect and help their ace Marla defeat the powerful enemies that lay before them.
Non-Combatants
- Stardust - NPC Maker
- Luna - Fire Mage
- Remi - Assassin
- Queen - Politician
- Scarlett - Mind Mage
Not all the NPCs wanted to fight even if they could. Remi was a special case in that she was the night guard and didn’t want to partake in daytime activities.
Luna said, “ sorry guys but my responsibility is in doing supportive tasks for the party, not fighting. “ A stray locust had invaded Luna’s personal space of 20 meters, and it was quickly incinerated by Luna without her noticing. Her [ Fire Magic] was guarding her against the insects 24/7 even when she was asleep due to the PTSD caused by Scarlett constantly controlling insects onto her.
(Lily) << Why do we have so many useless dolls in this party that doesn’t want to help the battle? Luna… your fire magic is quite deadly and it could be useful in combat and not just cooking.>>
Lily smiled, “ Queen and Scarlett please tell us your class roles if you ain’t helping us fight.”
“ You don’t need to know,” replied Scarlett instantly. “ Stardust knows about my class so you don’t need to worry about anything,” she lied.
“ It’s alright Lily,” assured Stardust. “ All my NPCs have full privacy in their stats, skills, and class and don’t have to share it with anyone.”
Queen said, “ I’m a supporting type of NPC like Luna, I can’t join the battle.”
“ Please tell us your class,” begged Lily.
Queen looked away and refused to say any more. << If Lily never existed, perhaps I would have told everyone about my class but I don’t want her mocking me about being a useless class that can’t even fight.>>
Lily said, “ Luna please remember that your fire magic can be very useful in burning our enemies to death. Queen your light magic can be used to blind enemies and if you concentrate your light beams well enough, you can burn out their eyes from afar instantly!”
Luna and Queen nodded to her kind advice. They both seriously don’t want to help the battle. Luna was afraid while Queen thinks the others should fight for her.
Monica questioned, “ I thought you wanted to fight in Desert Area 3, Scarlett.” << If I can make Scarlett’s death look like an accident during the battle, that would be great. Even if I can’t, I would willingly murder her. Unfortunately, Scarlett had kept her guard up pretty well and everyone else would intervene to stop me from murdering her. I’m sure Stardust would be able to forgive me even if I would kill Scarlett in cold blood. Only in the chaos of the battle, will there be ample opportunities to get rid of that disgusting traitor.>>
“ I can change my mind too, you know,” grinned Scarlett. << I can’t read your minds yet. But I can tell that Monica and Lily are still very hostile to me. They want to get rid of me. Ahhh I just love this chaos even if my life is at stake, it’s beautiful. I can always rely on my savior Stardust SheLVLo protect me from those two psychopaths. But if I were to murder Stardust, I wonder how much fun and chaos will that cause? I would probably get killed by the others for doing something like that but maybe it could be worth it.>>
“ There is no need to pressure them anymore,” said Violet. “ We can manage with the current party.”
Violet was the battle leader. [ Hawk Eyes LVL 6] gave her good vision over a great amount of area. [ Wind Listen] allowed her to listen to conversations from afar and how she can transmit messages to everyone quickly with [ Wind Message]. She also had the [ Logical Reasoning] skill to adapt to the changing battlefield making her the most suitable to be the battle leader.
Higher stats and skill levels can be extremely helpful in battle or other situations. Your battle experience will also play a key role in determining the outcome of the battles. Weaker enemies could use group battle tactics to overcome stronger foes. Stardust was super weak compared to his NPCs. If the NPCs wanted to revolt against him, they can easily do so. Good thing, all the NPCs but Scarlett had no interest in revolting against him yet. Stardust wasn’t sad that he was much weaker than them but felt proud of all of their strengths. This time it was him who needed to be protected and it gave him new feelings of what it is like to be protected and care for.
“ It’s time to go,” said Violet.
The battle team had already prepped their equipment and supplies and were preparing to leave. Lily ran back and gave Stardust a deep smooch. SheLVL kept on smooching Stardust in front of everyone. Then Marla came back to forcibly drag Lily to go with the battle team. Lily had teary eyes at the thought of being away from her husband for this battle but she soon put on a determined face to become a competent woman for her husband.
If Marla didn’t drag Lily along, Lily would have most likely kept on smooching Stardust. Although Stardust would make sure Lily doesn’t get too carried away there. Lily was also cementing her status as his wife by being openly affectionate to him in front of everyone. Mostly everyone doesn’t mind much but it was important to Lily to make sure nobody else tries to steal him away from her.
The battle team was headed for an area without any of the aggressive giant cactus monsters. It was an area filled with bigger plants sparsely populating the sandy plains. The mana density was low and it would be much higher further into Desert Area 3. They had already scouted the edge of the areas and determined it was safer than trying to fight against the tens of thousands of poisonous needles being shot from the giant cactus monsters.
Meanwhile, the ones staying behind can continue training in peace while protecting Stardust from Scarlett if she ever tried anything funny.