The next day, Mikella found herself in a difficult position once again. She was in front of the elevator barrier that was working properly now, and thankfully it was just her, Zeke, and those who planned on leaving.
Vivian and Eliza did what they needed, mostly Eliza giving her report to Zacharia as Vivian was just here to keep an eye on Clara in this dangerous biodome. Kneeling down, Mikella hugged Clara tighter than usual, a sort of auto-limiter in her brain ensuring that she would never hurt her doing so.
“Take care, okay?” She said, giving a light kiss on her forehead and smiling down on her. “If you get a message again, they’ll know how important it is and let you be here. So no more going off on your own, alright?”
“Okay…” Clara nodded, a frown visible on her face. “Are you gonna do… something dangerous again?”
“Well… yeah,” Mikella winced, having no choice but to tell the truth. She always feared that if she kept lying to Clara, eventually she’ll never trust her again. However, the look of Clara’s scared face made her continue. “But Zeke will be with me, and he’ll protect me. So don’t worry about me, alright?”
Eventually, Clara nodded. Zeke then came over, and once Mikella let go of Clara, she went over to hug Bobo deeply too. He hugged her tightly, rubbing the top of her head.
“Everything’s gonna be fine,” Zeke said in a soft voice. “We’ll come back up when we’re able to. We’ll get stronger, and soon we don’t have to worry about this at all.”
“Okay… stay safe, Bobo. And make sure Sissy doesn’t get hurt again,” Clara quickly looked up at him. “And you too! Don’t get hurt again and be a dingus!”
Zeke chuckled. “I don’t think I’ll stop being a dingus, but I’ll always take care of Sissy and myself, so don’t you worry.”
Clara gave him a glare for basically ignoring her request, but she let him go and went over to Vivian. She turned back around, and waved her siblings goodbye as Zeke activated the elevator.
It went up without a hitch, and Zeke made sure to put in some extra workings on the runes. He was doing the magical equivalent of locking the elevator to make sure it doesn’t get out of whack–and more important, keep out others that weren’t supposed to head inside.
They weren’t sure whether the army might be able to figure this out, which was nigh impossible, but with a supposed seer on their side, it was possible they might bring in runists of their own. It was just a stopgap, but something that put the soldiers at ease.
With the two alone again, he faced Mikella with a solemn look. Ever since the angel came to meet them, Zeke had that look in his eyes that was on edge. As though at any moment, they could be attacked.
There was also something within those eyes of his that made her think a fire was lit within. Compared to the time he wanted to train himself, that fire was ready to burn everything around him.
As for Mikella herself, there was no question–if Clara is involved, she’ll wade through hell or high water. She’ll kill anything and pave her path in blood if it means protecting her precious family.
That included Clara and Zeke. Nothing else mattered.
“She’s gone now,” Zeke said, a bit of sadness in his voice. Mikella nodded, sharing the same feeling. “And today’s the day we go out to find the tower. Do you think we’ll find it in a day or two?”
“Maybe, but it’s not like we have to find it immediately,” Mikella said, hoping that she was right herself. “We’ll need to make sure to avoid any areas that’s filled with dangerous monsters. We’ll also have to map out the place while we go too. We need to take every advantage we have. In other words, we got a lot of work on our hands.”
Zeke let out a deep breath. “Right. I’ll see what I can do with my runes–make our journey a little easier for us, you know?”
He smiled, the idea of working on his runes again lightening his mood. Mikella smiled back at his tiny excitement. It was good to see him returning to his usual nerdy self.
Then again, they really might have to reconsider their supplies. When they returned to the base, they prepared themselves for the journey ahead. Zacharia has already told his unit about the circumstances, and how he will ‘lead’ the special team forward with the other Journeymen, leaving some of the soldiers behind to guard the base.
She hated that he’s making himself out to be their leader again, but she had to admit that the man knew what he’s doing. And so far, he really hasn’t done anything to Clara despite knowing about the angel possessing her.
She was at least glad that no soldier started pestering him to join along, or to ask too many questions regarding the two. But at the same time, it truly proved that Zacharia’s unit is filled with dogs who would follow his every order. It made her cringe at the sight of it.
On the other hand, Mikella and Zeke met up with Rajin and Nina, the nature-based healer and the beastmaster respectively. They’ll join the mini group to traverse across the biodome and find the tower they need to clear. At the same time, she hoped they would find the fortress needed to finish the quest.
It was right near the late morning hours before noon that the team was prepared to leave. With all their stuff prepared, they set out to find the tower.
When they walked, Nina took the chance to send out her bird around the area, using the map she was given by the scouts to link to their travels.
Several hours passed like that throughout the day. While within the confines of the biodome, they had no clue on the daytime, but they were still able to see some of the differences between day and night.
For example, the crystals start to dim just slightly as the hours pass. Cloud mentioned something about the mana having a certain timer when it is at its strongest before having to recharge. The monsters also change their patterns depending on the crystals’ lightning. The bison would run away, the light of the crystals no longer possible for them to see very well. The Hunters would also move away as their prey vanished, possibly to either rest or to find better spots.
However, that meant that the stronger, nocturnal type of monsters would come out, leaving the group to stay focused on their surroundings. On the way, they’ve been attacked by several Hunters, all of which were easy once Zeke used his barriers to defend them against their attacks and flames.
This time, they had no reason to hold themselves back for training. While it would be optimal, being in their best form to take on the tower would be the best way. So once the Hunters found their attacks wanting, the others quickly dealt the final blow to the head from their confusion, causing instant death.
Myra and Piker certainly made waves of progress throughout the week. Myra’s spear became longer as energy formed at the tip of her blade much like how Mikella’s sword did. However, there was a small difference in the color, with Myra’s Spear Art technique being reddish.
On the other hand, Piker’s techniques were different. Rather than extending a blade of energy from his bastard sword, he instead formed a sort of aura-like layer around the blade, causing it to grow wider in return. Not only would it make a decent shield to hide behind, it also made his attacks dig deeper in the swiping motion rather than a stab, which was perfect for Piker with his heavy blade.
Mikella realized that despite being different weapons, Myra’s Spear Mastery was similar to her own, while Piker’s own Sword Mastery differed greatly from Mikella’s. She supposed it was all about what they intended to do with their skills, rather than just following a simple path dependent on the weapon.
While they traversed the land with Nina’s aid, Mikella asked Val if other skills can grant extra power on top of levels. She recalled Zeke telling her that a mage can learn Fire Mastery, allowing them to learn different types of fire spells without resorting to a skill. It would take a while to learn, but having more abilities while using only one skill was decent in her eyes.
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So far, only the elemental type masteries and weapon masteries can honestly teach someone either a spell or an Art to use. And only if they trained hard enough to use the skill properly. Mikella could understand that, and wondered if she should perhaps learn Lightning Mastery to learn a lightning spell.
But considering she doesn’t even have Mana Perception, that seems extremely unlikely. On the other hand, she can still learn more weapon skills if she feels like it. Somehow that felt a little silly in her mind.
Soon, nighttime approached as the group had no other choice but to make a small camp. Thankfully with Zeke around, they can make a small barrier that doesn’t need an engine running 24/7. Instead of making tents, they just slept on the ground to relax, while also making sure to pick a location that gives them an advantage in case they were ambushed by the monsters, such as sleeping near the reef of a giant hill where they can attack from one side and be protected on the other.
They had their meals, cooked within Zeke’s impromptu kitchen, getting everyone decent food rather than just eating dry meat and stale bread in most fantasy stories.
Mikella watched the campfire burn, sitting on the crystal she had to cut to make it comfortable to sit on. She recalled the scene with the angel dozens of times in her head, but she still couldn’t wrack her mind around it.
The angel, Zoan, turned out to be the ‘special’ friend that Ana mentioned to them about. At first, Mikella worried that it was the sort of situation where a child imagined up a friend to handle the stress and trauma of everything around them. Clara was such a special child that she often exhibited those kinds of behaviors, such as tending to herself and mostly staying at home even on a bright sunny day.
Thanks to Zeke, she was able to expand a little, as though a fellow comrade of shyness shone a light onto her path. Though Mikella noticed that Clara wasn’t actively trying to talk to her special friend, only when facing the mirror.
She put it aside, figuring that it wasn’t her place until it was time for her to let go of her imaginary friend. While she wasn’t a mother, she always tried her best to raise Clara to be able to become independent. Her own mother wouldn’t do jack shit, only causing trouble at one point or another.
But to think that instead of being something as innocent as an imaginary friend, it was an angel that has transcended to divinity, a servant of a god who planned on doing something to them all.
It made her scared. Way more scared than the time they were stuck at the tower. The night before, she couldn’t sleep well at all, and she even went over to Zeke to talk about it. Even he was awake at the time, unable to comprehend what happened.
And right now, the opposite was happening. Zeke went over, noticing her staring at the fire, and sat down near her on the ground. It wasn’t as easy lugging a crystal around or cutting a crystal apart, so he opted to just sit his ass on the ground.
“You okay?” Zeke asked, raising his knees and facing her while she kept staring at the fire.
“No,” She answered promptly. She wouldn’t bother saying that she’s ‘fine’ to Zeke. It was obvious that she was thinking about the events that happened to them. “Not really. I don’t think I’ll ever be okay.”
“I get the feeling,” Zeke nodded, staring back at the fire. The others were just resting up for the night, and with the barrier up, nobody really has to keep watch. Still, the Journeymen were still up, talking about potential plans for later. “I don’t think I’ve been okay since we left the tower.”
Zeke continued, tilting his head. “But that’s kinda obvious, right? Everything changed around us. We got super powers compared to being in the old world. And now there’s gods and angels around us.”
“Yeah…” Mikella said, her tone drifting off. “Zeke… I’m scared.”
“...Yeah.”
Zeke nodded slowly. Mikella looked over to him, wanting to see his expression. It was thoughtful and empathetic. “I’m scared too. Even though I’m supposed to be the man here.”
Mikella scoffed. “Who cares about that stuff?”
“I do,” Zeke retorted, but he shrugged. “Eh, not that it matters. Still, it gives me confidence.”
“More like you keep stressing yourself out,” Mikella said, but a hint of a smile rose on her lips.
“We’ll be fine though,” Zeke said. “I don’t know how, personally, but I know we will be.”
“I wanna believe that,” She nodded. “I mean, reaching Journeyman within two years? For what?”
“Some kind of epic fantasy battle of massive proportions, probably,” Zeke shrugged. “That, or the world exploding?”
Mikella shook her head at the idea. They had enough battles as it is. She opened up her status screen, checking the numbers. “We can reach Journeyman at Level 60, right? We got 20 levels left. Even with the XP shared between us, if we kill enough monsters while helping others out, we might be able to reach it.”
“That’s not all,” Zeke shook his head. “I asked Cloud and Val about it. Turns out there’s more requirements to reaching Journeyman outside of leveling. We gotta get titles, and we’re good on that–but we also have to max and evolve or advance 5 skills.”
Mikella’s eyes widened at that. “Five skills? Seriously?”
Zeke nodded. “That’s the bottleneck for most people. Acquired Skills from skill books don’t count, either. And apparently, some people needed more than five skills to advance, often six or seven, or even more than that.”
“But never less than five?” Mikella asked, hoping they were special enough to warrant an easier Journeyman access.
“Never less,” Zeke shrugged. “I asked that same question.”
“Damn… So five, or maybe more skills depending on how shitty our luck is. I’m guessing our class skills also don’t count?”
“Actually, we also gotta max out Class Skills too,” Zeke said with a grimace, and that instantly got Mikella to frown.
“Seriously…” She then recalled the skills that had automatically advanced when she chose her class. “I’m also guessing the first time my Sword Mastery advanced wouldn’t count too, right?”
“It has to be skills we improved on our own. Like our energy manipulation skills.”
“Alright, then what?”
“That’s about it,” Zeke answered. “But that’s also pretty difficult. After Expert stage, our leveling drastically slows. Supposedly after reaching level 50, the amount of XP needed increases ten times over. There’s no specific number, but some calculated that it would take more than a million monsters just to reach level 59, and probably a million more on top of the first million for the last level.”
“A million…” Mikella’s brain shut off at the number.
“That’s only if we kill the same low level Apprentice monsters like back at the forest,” Zeke said. “That’s where most people are able to hunt. Hunting in higher-level areas, like in this biodome, is very rare. And people in this world can be pissed off if you go and kill more than a million monsters just to level up.
“It’s definitely not an MMORPG in this world,” Zeke sounded wistful as he looked up at the cavernous ceiling of the biodome. “You can’t just casually kill monsters and level up, or accept quests from random people to gain easy levels. You gotta make sure that it doesn’t fuck up the world, or better yet, to piss off the people that owns the land.”
“So either find a biodome like we did,” Mikella said. “Or get fucked by where you were born… That’s messed up.”
“Is it?” Zeke shrugged. “Reminds me of reality, honestly. Like in the old world.”
Mikella shivered. No matter where they go, depending on where you were born and live, your life is decided from the get-go.
“There’s also dungeons, not unlike the towers,” Zeke mentioned, tilting his head a bit. “There are also those weird spatial tears that allow you to enter areas that normally don’t exist in the physical world. You can find lots of cool shit there, like rare treasures that increase your levels just by standing near it. Or an item that can instantly boost the level of your skills.”
“Huh, that sounds pretty cool,” Mikella smiled slightly. “You read that in one of Cloud’s books?”
“Yeah. I’ve been trying to find lots of ways for us to get stronger, or ways to get ourselves home. I know we already decided to stay here, and I stand by that. But you never know–Maybe we can get some kind of advantage by going in there and out with some stuff, like guns or something.”
Mikella laughed, a little louder than she would’ve liked. “Seriously, Zeke? Guns, in this fantasy world where magic exists?”
“Hey, you never know. Maybe my barrier might break if you shoot it,” Zeke shrugged. “That or maybe pick up a nuclear bomb and just blow the tower sky-high.”
“And the entire biodome on top of that?” Mikella mused, which finally prompted Zeke to stop speaking like a maniac.
All of a sudden, the horrid sense of helplessness slivered out of her core. Now, only a light feeling filled her chest as she kept talking nonsense with Zeke. It was the sort of stuff that divulged from a serious topic to just one of their usual talks.
It helped her ease up. Even if there was a daunting task ahead of them, that didn’t mean they always had to fight. There would always be times like this where they can just relax and unwind.
Knowing that, she felt that she can take on anything the world throws at her. So what if the angel is possessing Clara? Now that she thought about it, having an angel look out for Clara in some ways was a boon. After all, Clara said that it was her friend that mentioned bringing up the barrier around the town when the Bastion soldiers attacked, saving hundreds of lives in the process.
She would still dislike how that Zoan chick treated them, but in the end, her purpose was not to hurt Clara, and that was enough. Even if they were treated as tools, as long as Clara is safe, Mikella would find a way through.
With the little help of her barrier mage by her side, she can probably conquer this world. Maybe she’ll have Clara be a princess just as she deserves, with Zeke by her side as a guard and herself as the loyal retainer. That idea filled her mind and made her giggle at the prospect of having Zeke be a jester, getting Zeke to look at her quizzically to find her giggling to herself for some reason.