Today was probably the worst day of Mikella’s life. When she came to, it felt like she just got off of a massive drunken spree, suffering the worst hangover in existence.
Just like a hangover, she remembered her actions, the way she just abandoned her team to search for stronger prey, saying not so team-friendly words to them. Then, she acted like a total brat on a high horse towards her own host and captain of the military force and got promptly stomped on her ass for it.
And just like a hangover, the moment she woke up, her head was aching just as much as the rest of her body. Her midsection came off the worst, however. Despite her mind fluctuating from the headache, her body still remembered how her guts were almost squeezed out of her stomach from a very pissed off Val.
And now, she found herself sitting on the couch in front of the two hosts, Val and Cloud sitting across from her. All the while, Zeke sat beside her, showing a very concerned look on his face.
This was just like a parent visiting her teacher to have a meeting regarding her recent behavior. Somehow, after everything, this was probably the worst.
No, this is definitely the worst, by far.
Mikella remembered waking up to find Zeke and Val looking over at her, each looking concerned. Pain was still rattling at her insides, but the moment Mikella was fine enough to walk, they were taken to the living room to speak at length about what happened. They stood still for a few minutes while the hosts were speaking to each other before returning back to them. That’s when Zeke began with a hard look at Val.
Mikella turned to Zeke, showing an expression that was hard to pin down. He was either mad, worried, anxious, afraid, or just focused on what was going on. Cloud on the other hand showed a reluctant face as though he didn’t know why he was even here.
Val, on the other hand, was the hardest to pin down. Her face was cool and neutral. There was no sign of that dangerous glare that sent shivers down her spine even as a memory. She was still, like a calm lake right after a raging storm.
The mood was tense, and thankfully the kids were still outside, not bearing witness to what was probably the most tense moment in this house by far.
“So… what happened?” Zeke started after the silence took over for way longer than it should.
“Zeke, I’m going to give it to you straight. Mikella went against my order and abandoned her team to find stronger monsters to face,” Val answered, her face still neutral despite the severity of her words.
Zeke turned to Mikella, and just like a parent hearing bad news from her teacher, he showed concern but also tinged with anger and disappointment.
Despite wanting to argue that Zeke was nowhere her parental figure, or even her husband for that matter, Zeke is–by all accounts–her partner. So of course, finding out that his partner was acting like a major bitch didn’t sit well with him.
“I just… I just don’t understand why she would do that,” Zeke asked, shaking his head. Mikella could’ve answered, but something about this was making her shut up and not bother answering. If anything, she wanted to leave and just hide underneath her covers and pretend this day never existed. “It doesn’t sound like her at all. Mikella, why did you do that?”
“I…” Mikella grimaced. It was becoming harder and harder to look at Zeke’s face. That look of his… she could feel the disappointment pouring from his eyes. “I’m not really sure what happened. I was just so angry at my own progress, how long it was taking for me to level up and…”
“Is it because of me?” Zeke asked, finally causing Mikella to turn to him. It wasn’t a look of disappointment. It was a fearful look, as though he just found out the realization of his actions. “Because I keep taking your XP away?”
“That’s…”
Mikella couldn’t answer in full. At the end, she ended up blaming Zeke for not letting her level up even after beating the Big Boss Monkey. To say that wasn’t true would be lying, and right now, she just couldn't lie to Zeke.
“So, it’s because of me that you’re acting like this,” Zeke said, which prompted everyone to look at him. “I didn’t talk to you about it, and I was just so focused on learning runes. I… I should’ve talked with you more.”
“Zeke…”
Was Zeke actually blaming himself for her own behavior? Even if one of the problems was their shared experience, not only was that out of his control, it was clear that everything else was her fault. Her actions, her insults, everything lead to her getting to this situation.
And yet Zeke figured it was all because he wasn’t there when she was… hurting? In pain? She didn’t feel like it.
She certainly felt something was off, but if she didn’t even know herself, how can she properly explain it to Zeke? Rather, she kept pushing it off, not wanting to bother explaining the issue as she already knew the answer; just more fighting.
But clearly that was a wrong thing to do.
“Val, I–”
“Zeke, before you continue,” Val interrupted him with a raised hand. “While I do suggest you two should communicate your feelings more, this is not the case for that. This is a bigger issue than the lack of communication.”
“What do you mean then?” Zeke raised his brows.
“Mikella,” Val turned to her, her glare returning. Mikella’s flinched, an act that everyone caught and got her to lower her head in embarrassment. “What level are you right now?”
“Uhh… Level 27,” Mikella answered hesitantly.
“And your skills?” Val continued.
“Umm…” Mikella took a moment to summon her status to check. “Other than my Class skills, everything is above 5. Sword Mastery is at 7, and my acquired skills are at 6.”
Despite her getting the worst breakdown in her life, she was proud of her accomplishments of raising her skill levels.
But when she turned to look at Val, she had a difficult look on her face that Mikella could barely describe. Cloud himself looked rather uncomfortable, and Zeke was the only one who shared her confusion.
“Is there something wrong?” Zeke asked.
“Normally,” Cloud was the one to answer. “A new person joining the system would take their time to raise their level. Of course, that’s only if the situation was normal. It’s clear that your situation is not. So it’s understandable that she raised her level and skills that much higher.”
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“But to do that in only two months is too fast,” Val continued. “Too fast, and too reckless. It’s one thing to go after one powerful monster after another, and another to get titles based on your achievements. However, what me and Cloud failed to recognize is that your class is not something we’re used to seeing.”
“What?” Mikella asked, now curious instead of ashamed.
“Mikella, you have chosen a Dragon Warrior class,” Val said, prompting Mikella to nod. “That’s not a normal class that anyone can choose by any means. We were serious when we said it was rare for a reason.”
Val stood up from the sofa, going behind and pacing while Cloud continued to sit and having a pensive look.
“Dragons are notoriously proud monsters, known for their intelligence and arrogance beyond normal understanding. So it made sense how you acted in such a way. For example, a normal warrior is more interested in combat, sometimes relying on brute force than just thinking logically. On the other hand, a mage can get extremely curious for their own good. Those are traits that we grew up looking out for, to ensure that no matter how one acted, when one levels, those particularly troublesome traits are nurtured into something better.”
“But like we said,” Cloud answered as soon as Val finished. “We never saw a Dragon Warrior before.”
“So…” Val closed her eyes. “It’s possible that there were traits that we never saw before that you exhibited, and that made your personality worse in return. Especially after your rapid growth, your class is… well, it’s taking over you.”
“What?!”
Mikella and Zeke answered in unison, standing up from their seats and staring at them in disbelief.
For Mikella’s part, fear gripped her insides. Because everything started to make sense for her now.
The thoughts in her head, the strange way she acted, the way she looked at herself… she had always been a confident person, but lately that confidence became assurance, and then turned into an absolute truth in her head.
The fact that she missed all that, thinking that it was all her, made her shiver.
“Then what do we do?” Zeke asked. He turned from angry and concerned to borderline panicking now. “Is it going to take over her completely? Will she… will she lose herself?”
“Now hold on,” Val raised her hand. She grimaced, as though she didn’t intend to make it like this. “It’s not as serious as that. Like I said, it’s a trait–sometimes when people level up faster than normal, those traits start to show up as part of their classes. It’s just a mood change–nothing more.”
“Still, it can get rather dangerous,” Cloud answered, raising both hands to gesture calm to the two. The otherworlders sat back down to face Cloud while Val continued to pace behind him. “If the traits revolve around putting oneself in danger, or worse, putting others in danger–that’s where we step in.”
“And Mikella was clearly heading down a bad path. Not just in ignoring my orders, but continuing to get farther into the forest and beating stronger monsters. And all by herself as that. That’s just asking to die a lonely death.”
Mikella winced at that. As far as she knew, she was planning on doing exactly that. She didn’t even think that was a bad thing, even now.
But after glancing over at Zeke who had an angry and concerned look on his face proved how wrong she was.
“So… which is it? Which one is the class and which one is Mikella?” Zeke asked, actually starting an interesting question for her.
“It’s both,” Val answered simply, shooting Mikella down completely. “The only way to ease the traits of your class is by leveling up slowly over time. Perhaps after half a year, that would be natural. If one trained hard enough and focused on themselves and their mental state, those traits can easily be controlled. It might change someone, sure, but that’s no different than life–especially after gaining the system initialization.”
“You just quickened the process way too much,” Cloud said with an easy smile, but Mikella didn’t feel good at all.
“Precisely,” Val walked over to the front, facing Mikella down with her arms crossed. “And while I do take responsibility for not noticing it sooner, and if I’m being honest, I shouldn’t have done what I did to you…”
Val leaned in, her eyes turning sharp like they did before. Fear gripped her heart as Mikella shivered, her eyes widening and a cold sweat running down her head.
“I won’t forgive any disrespect towards me. Especially towards your fellow team members and, worst of all, to your partner.”
Her heart ceased. She remembered the awful things she thought when she was thinking about Zeke. That unfortunately got Zeke’s attention as he tilted his head.
“What do you mean?”
“Uhh, that’s–” Mikella tried to answer, her face flushed as her heart sank at this realization. Unfortunately, Val beat her to it.
“She thought you were useless and what you’re doing here is no different than playing and slacking off. She also thought that Myra and the twins were too weak and useless in combat. Oh, and that’s not to say how she thought about the town as a whole as well.”
Mikella could feel every bit of herself breaking apart by Val’s words. She wasn’t intending to mock her–it was all because of her fault that she felt like this.
Deep within her, she knew that everything she thought back then was wrong. That no matter how one spends their time, it is spent however they want. That was the point of living. Yet she ridiculed it, calling it useless in her head.
She turned to Zeke, only to feel her heart breaking after seeing Zeke look back in shock and horror. His face… it was like his own heart was breaking. She wanted to say immediately that it wasn’t true.
But it was. She herself said so herself to Val. Val only just looked at this scene and pursed her lips.
“I don’t know whether that was your personal feelings, or your traits coming alive and biting your ass, but either way–you will be punished for this.”
“W-Wait, wait,” Zeke shook his head, tearing his focus away from Mikella. “Hadn’t she been punished enough?”
“Physically? Yes,” Val nodded promptly. “But that was… well, mostly for me. Cloud already chewed me out on that, so we’re good on that.”
Mikella’s brows rose. So that was why the two felt like they were having a mini-argument before facing the otherworlders.
“But that was expected. However, directly ignoring a captain’s orders is a serious offense. This would normally mean being kicked out of the force and disallowing you to hunt the monsters outside the forest. Guards would be put around you at all times until further notice, making sure that you don’t sneak out of town and face monsters to level up again.”
Mikella’s face turned stiffed in horror. Not only would that be so embarrassing to go through, the idea of not being able to fight again to level was horrifying by itself.
She had already leveled up a lot at this point, but to be barred from fighting was too much.
“D-Does it have to be that serious?” Zeke asked, equally horrified by the result. “I mean, I understand that she went too far, but…”
“But since we’re in a pretty bad situation right now, I won’t go that far. However, she will have to be under house arrest for this. This isn’t because of the disrespect–anymore leveling and fighting would only worsen the traits of the class further. I don’t want that, and I’m sure neither do the two of you.”
The two gave a heavy nod, Mikella most of all. She was just glad she won’t have some babysitter making sure she’s behaving in town.
That, and she honestly wanted to stop. She loved to train, even back in her old world, but she always had a tendency to go too far. This was one of those cases, and even more so when she went as far as being so disrespectful.
“On top of that,” Val continued. “When she returns, she must, no matter what, follow my orders. Cloud and Zacharia, the general of the military, are included. You may not like it, but this is for the sanctity of the town. Anyone caught not following orders, chaos will erupt. I’ll make sure it will never come to that.”
The last sentence hinged deep with a tone of absolute. Even if she had to kill Mikella, she would do so if it meant the safety of the town.
At that moment, her fear turned into something else–resoluteness and gratitude. She would do the same if she was in Val’s position. The fact that she felt so only made her more guilty for her actions.
“So… house arrest and following orders,” Zeke followed up, nodding to himself. “Umm, for how long?”
Val just shrugged. “Honestly? If the situation ever turns from bad to worse, I’ll forget the whole house arrest. But for now, maybe three months. Less with good behavior.”
“Okay…” Zeke let out a relieved breath. The look on his face eased up and a lot of tension was gone. However, he turned back to Val. “So, what now? How can we level?”
That was a good question. She may have taken it too far, but that didn’t mean she didn’t want to stop leveling. All she had to do is to just not fight so much. Which begged the question as to how they can level now.
“Well that’s easy,” Val smiled, getting Cloud to mimic her as she turned to Zeke. “Since you share a link and can gain the same amount of XP–you’ll take her place.”