In the time he’d been speaking—the thought still bewildered him a little—to his now-charging band of murderous scorpion-spider Arisen, the elf’s transformation had progressed rapidly. Her flesh retained the pale beauty it had held before, though now her skin was more like what Aurelian would classify as ‘goth girl’ pale than the mere ‘fair skin’ she’d had before. It was as if every scrap of melanin had been removed from her flesh, and every sunkissed moment of pigment had been erased.
More than that, Aurelian noticed a tangible increase in the visible sculpting of her musculature. Where before Zylara had been lithe grace and nimble elegance, now she instead held a more defined curvature to her calves, and her thighs had thickened considerably with muscle.
Her glutes—which he steadfastly refused to think of her as her arse—had also seen a marked improvement in both firmness and substance, though Aurelian pointedly avoided staring once he remembered she was entirely naked.
It just felt wrong, to him, to leer at her in a state of such vulnerability.
Zylara was the embodiment of the hot elf stereotype which every gamer nerd had ever wanted, and it almost felt like he was putting that boyhood fantasy on her when he looked at her. He felt vaguely like Adam in the Garden of Eden, tempted by the view of the apple—he snorted at the correlation between ‘apple’ and ‘butt’—and the wiles of Eve.
The elven maiden had flirted with him, and despite that being a possible indication of attraction, he had no desire nor right to presume such. He was sure she had no shortage of options, nor past amusements, given the System’s description of elves as, in essence, eminent horndogs; and he had no wish to risk overstepping with her. Especially, in fact, when he considered she might very well be one of the few true friends he made in the Realms for the foreseeable future.
Besides, she deserved more from him, after what she’d already sacrificed.
Aurelian risked another glance upward, and noticed that her savaged arms and wounded torso—from what he could see—had been given the same melanin-reducing physical reconstruction, and that there was a vitality-laden red flush to her skin in various places as the changes took hold.
Zylara had even stopped screaming, and had instead improved from throat-rending cries to a low groan of discomfort while she floated among the wrapping brace of light, and power, twining across her body.
When the braids of Life, Death, and Anima reached her scalp and rolled down her hair to push it toward a glossy, midnight-black that could have challenged the Blood Lord’s Chalice for which was darker; a sudden chime occupied his mind—and Aurelian’s vision was momentarily obstructed by a new System alert.
Transformation Complete!
Zylara Lyse Bloodstorm has been successfully Transformed!
Congratulations, Aurelian Lucis Imperius!
You have Sired your first Blood Scion!
Aurelian barely had time to process the alert before another populated his vision, in the same moment as he noticed Zylara beginning to descend. She drifted down like she was held aloft by wind, and for all that he wanted to catch her, she was still very naked. He opened his mouth to utter an epithet at the impossible choice, but the sound died halfway through his vocal chords when he read the new prompt—and his brow furrowed in confusion.
Congratulations, Aurelian Lucis Imperius!
Hidden Conditions Met!
You have managed to bring back an extinct species, and simultaneously create a new one!
Achievement: Blood and Legacy
For successfully achieving another impossible feat and massively advancing the greater goal of your Reclamation, you have received the following:
1 x Runic Bloodmail of Eld
1 x Elden Map Fragment
1 x Skill Compression Tome
“Aurelian.”
A voice that mixed a familiar elegance with a more ethereal, and regal confidence pulled him from his consideration of the Achievement announcement—and, for the second time in the same moment, surprise left him speechless.
Zylara stood before him, naked as the day she was born, and smiling at him with eyes as red as freshly spilled blood. His eyes automatically swept her from head to toe, and he felt his cheeks inflame at the visage of feminine perfection she had become.
Before he could say anything, or even apologise for the instinctive up and down; she stepped closer and wrapped her arms around him. Aurelian felt her, with agonising awareness, pressing what he couldn’t help but feel was a distinctly more generous chest against his body, and pulling him into an embrace that applied pressure to his very bones.
Zylara definitely seemed stronger than before, as well.
“Thank you.” she said in the same queenly tone as before, though it was tempered by the waiver of pure emotion. “This transformation is more than I ever could have hoped. You’ve given me the most desired version of myself. The System listened, Aurelian. It listened to me for the first time in my life, and it gave me the option of what to do—of what to become. It allowed me to redesign myself, Aurelian. That’s a thing heard of only in tales… or, I suppose, among Nephilim.”
Her words were thick with raw emotion, and Aurelian instinctively wrapped his arms around her in kind—and placed his already-scarred-over palm atop the crown of her thick, silky-smooth black hair. “I… you’re welcome, Zylara.”
“You don’t understand the gravity of the gift you’ve given me.” she insisted while tightening her grip on him enough to make it measurably more difficult to breathe. “You don’t understand what it means to have true self-determination for the first time in my decades of miserable life, always hating what I saw in the mirror, and the lack of what I wished was there. You freed me from my own self-loathing, Aurelian.”
Zylara’s voice waivered while she spoke, and seemed to be dancing between relief and remembered pain. Aurelian had the distinct impression interrupting her would be in poor taste, and so he simply let her speak.
“You have no idea what it’s like to see other women, and wish to have what they have.” she continued against his chest. “You freed me from that pain. You freed me from hating myself for something I could never control; from the resemblance to the body of a father I’ve hated my entire life.” she let out a ragged sigh when she said it, as if purging herself of something she’d kept locked within for a very long time.
“You’ve given me the right to choose my most perfect self.” she continued in a distinctly happier tone. “I finally look like my mother’s daughter, instead of his. I may not have… appreciated what she did, Aurelian, but she’s my ma-ma. I looked at her, and I looked at myself, and I knew I reminded her of a love that had cursed her. You… you gave me the chance to save her from that pain. You gave me a chance to see her look at me without seeing him. Thank you. Thank you.”
“If you’re happy, I’m happy.” he said with an awkward smile, though not due to her clear emotion. “Though you know you’re, um, naked… right?”
“I know.” she said with a small laugh, and a markedly more pleased voice. “At least when I’m hugging you, you can’t stare at my tits.”
“Ah.” he said when that logic clicked into place.
“It’s not like I mind you staring, though… and they did get bigger, by the way.” she demurred with what he recognised, even in her ‘new’ voice, as on-brand Zylara-style teasing. “A full brassiere size or two larger, I think. The System was very accommodating.”
“Jesus Christ, Zylara!” he half-groaned, half-laughed. It was just like the elven woman to turn a sweet, vulnerable, and personal moment into a chance to fluster and off-put him with a few quick sentences.
The fact he’d noticed she’d jumped from what he’d have eyeballed as ‘B’ to a large ‘DD’, and pointed it out in her own way, did not help matters.
It did make sense, though, he conceded after a moment of thought.
He was by no means an expert on psychological conditions, nor on the nature of anatomical disconnect—but dysmorphia was a well-understood phenomenon on Earth, and given what Zylara had confessed about her father’s true nature, he could imagine her feeling a sense of disgust and self-repudiation for what she might have assumed was any kind of resemblance to the unknown elf.
Not that it would be proper to ask.
“That’s not all,” she said while ignoring his flustered reply. “Look.”
A System message populated his view before he could respond.
Zylara Lyse Bloodstorm has invited you to view her Character Sheet (Hidden).
Do you accept?
Y / N
It wasn’t a hard choice. Aurelian accepted immediately.
He had only really seen Bahamut’s character sheet as a point of reference, and had never bothered to really dig into Karsys and Zylara’s own. Partially due to not knowing them all that well, and partially because he figured they wouldn’t be as exciting as Bahamut’s. It had been a foolish thought, of course, given he’d shared his—but Aurelian likely had very different views on the ‘privacy’ of that sort of thing than they did, as denizens.
The fact Zylara’s sheet was also classified as ‘Hidden’ interested him, though he would need to see if the Skills, Traits, or Titles revealed the reason prior to interrogating her. He had his own version of veiling his true power, but he wasn’t sure what Zylara’s would be. While he read, his eyebrows rose steadily, and his eyes started to widen in shock. Not only was Zylara’s character sheet impressive, he could also see what he assumed were new and very important changes.
Changes clearly wrought by his hand.
Name: Zylara Lyse Bloodstorm
Temper: Initiate
Infusions: Mind 1/2 | Body 1/2 | Spirit 1/2
Core: Bloodstorm Core (Purification Stage)
Chakras: 1/7
Level: 36 | Race: Sanguine Elysean (E) | Origin: Storm Elf (E) | Gender: Female | Zodiac: Owl (R)
Health: 675 | Mana: 376 | Stamina: 420 | Anima: 0
STR: (42) 46 | AGI: 68 (88) | DEX: 115 (132) | VIT: (45) 56 | END: 77 | INT: 85 | PER: 92 | WIL: 46 | CHA: (77) 88
Mind Skills: Revelate (E) 26 | Precision Aim (E) 51 | Persuasion (UC) 38 | Deception (UC) 22 | Exploration (UC) 62 | Tracking (R) 48 | Iron Will (R) 48 | Cryptography (R) 31 | Investigation (UC) 29
Body Skills: Running (C) 66 | Acrobatics (UC) 59 | Evasion (R) 48 | Environmental Adaptation (E) 52 | Poison Resistance (UC) 49 | Ranged Mastery (R) 56 | Shortsword Mastery (C) 32 | Stormsurge Momentum (E) 42 | Pain Tolerance (UC) 59 | Durable (UC) 30 | Elemental Resistance (E) 37 | Piercing Shot (R) 38 | Heavy Shot (UC) 42 | Rapid Shot (UC) 39 | Lightning Shot (E) 46
Spirit Skills: Mana Control (R) 48 | Soul Sense (UC) 32 | Shadowmeld (E) 57 | Lightning Bolt (R) 34 | Lightning Infusion (R) 22 | Mend (UC) 22 | Purify Air (E) 36 | Gale Force (R) 28 | Wind Blade (R) 27 | Anima Conversion (E) 1 | Anima Syphon (E) 1 | Anima Infusion (E) 1 | Anima Diffusion (E) 1 | Force Control (L) 1
Traits: Elven Alacrity (UC) | Keen Mind (R) | Fast Learner (E) | Stormblooded (L) | Hunter’s Senses (R) | Natural Predator (R) | Sanguinated (L) | Force-Bound (T)
Titles: Survivor (R) | Outrider (R) | Defender of the Innocent (E) | Markswoman (UC) | Spellbow (E) | Walking Arsenal (R) | Adaptive (UC) | Death Defying (E) | First Scion (L) | Nephilim Blooded (L)
Languages: Common | Elven
33% to Level 37
You have 4 Skill Points Available!
You have 1 Skill Upgrade Point Available!
“Holy shit, Z.” Aurelian exclaimed with bewilderment. “Your abilities are insane!”
Zylara laughed into his chest at his words, and the new enhancements to her voice made it sound akin to an ethereal chime. Goosebumps erupted on his skin at the sound, though they weren’t from displeasure at the sound.
“Now you know how Karsys and I felt.” she teased. “Do you want to see the new abilities?”
“Of course I do!” he said without hesitation.
With another laugh, she complied.
Name: Bloodstorm Core
Type: Mana Core
Quality: Mythic
Tier: Initiate
Requirement: Calamity Essence, Storm Elf Origin
Description: A fusion of your natural Swiftbolt Core and the latent energies of your Nephilim Sire’s Calamity Core Soulforce has resulted in the formation of a Bloodstorm Core, hearkening to an Infusion upon your Sire’s Body. This Core allows you to harness your Lightning attunement with greater potency, and wield it by the authority of your blood, absent the permission of the Eternals or Divine.
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
Effects: All Arisen you command may inherit an echo of your Lightning abilities.
Special Effects: You are immune to any Lightning-based abilities inferior to your current level.
Name: Sanguine Elysean
Type: Race
Rarity: Epic
Description: Your Elysean heritage has been fully awakened and brought to the fore, and has been shaped by the Sanguination of your Sire. As a result, you have gained all the bonuses afforded to members of the Nephilim-descended Elysean race.
Effects: +3 Willpower per Level, +1 Charisma per Level.
Special Effects: All other Elysean-blooded individuals will instinctively recognise you as a pureblooded existence, and if your Charisma is higher than theirs, automatically defer to you.
Name: Sanguinated
Type: Trait
Rarity: Legendary
Description: You are Sanguinated. Your Sire was the first of his kind, and you are the first to inherit such power directly. Yours is the legacy of the Blood Lords of Eld, and hearkens back to a power even gods have failed to attain.
Effects: +3 Vitality per Level, +2 Charisma per Level, +15% Mind Skill XP.
Special Effects: You have gained access to the Anima Resource as a result of this trait, allowing you to manipulate and wield it to whatever extent your Skills allow.
Name: Force-Bound
Type: Trait
Rarity: Legendary
Description: You are the bound companion of a being that has been granted a Dominion, and as such benefit from the power that dwells now within your blood in kind. An echo of divine power is now yours to wield in service of the Lord of Force.
Effects: +2 Willpower per Level, -50% Mana Cost for all Force Skills.
Special Effects: You have gained access to Force Control, a lesser incarnation of your Sire’s Force Dominion.
Name: First Scion
Type: Title
Rarity: Legendary
Description: You are the first Blood Scion of a new bloodline, and the first such existence in untold millennia. Yours is the inheritance of Eld, and the grace and power of the Blood Lord lineage stretching out into time beyond memory.
Effects: +10% Strength, +10% Vitality, +100% Anima Syphoned, +2 Charisma per Level.
Special Effects: As First Scion, you alone have Command Authority over the Arisen Legion of your Sire, second only to your Sire’s own, and will be recognised as the de facto leader and inheritor of the Arisen Legion should your Sire die a True Death.
Name: Nephilim Blooded
Type: Title
Rarity: Legendary
Description: You have, through an ancient and sacred ritual, been Sired by the blood of a Primogenitor that is also a Nephilim. Such a thing has never occurred in the history of the Realms, and as such, you are the first of a unique line of Sanguinated Elyseans.
Effects: Skill Limit Penalty Nullification, +2 Attribute Points per Level
Special Effects: You are able to sense Soul Tethers upon those of your current Temper or lower.
“So. What do you think?”
“I think you’re an absolute monster now, Z.” Aurelian answered with a shake of his head. “I also think that your First Scion title is going to prove very useful, if normal isekai tropes are anything to go by.”
“What do you mean?” she prompted curiously.
“Well, let’s just say that I might be rendered mysteriously unconscious for random lengths of time, and having someone to control my Arisen Legion while I’m as awake as a brick will be very reassuring.”
“You shouldn’t speak of such things,” she murmured. “It’s inviting bad luck.”
“Trust me, it’s just how it goes. As for the rest… whew. You have some crazy Attribute bonuses too. What are those from?”
“Oh!” she said with a laugh. “Here, I’ll pinpoint them for you.”
Zylara was as good as her word, and the skills in question ‘lit up’ for his attention.
Name: Precision Aim
Type: Mind Skill
Rarity: Epic
Level: 51
Tier: Adept
Description: Focus your mind and hone your awareness, actively increasing your accuracy with ranged attacks, and allowing you to fire with pin-point accuracy while moving. The faster you are moving, the more mana is required for Precision Aim to work.
Initiate Infusion: This skill has been Infused with [Skylord’s Focus] at Initiate tier. This Infusion allows your Precision Aim to be used irrelevant of speed of movement, and grants you triple your natural accuracy when attacking any foe within five hundred metres. At distances of one hundred metres or less, you are alerted to Critical Points on your targets, allowing you to deal exponentially more damage with each attack.
Name: Stormsurge Momentum
Type: Body Skill
Rarity: Epic
Level: 42
Tier: Initiate
Description: Invoke the power of the storm to suffuse your limbs with lightning speed, and allow you to traverse terrain with heightened celerity. This skill passively increases your Agility by 20%, and allows you to temporarily boost it by a further 20% at the cost of 10 mana per second of use.
Initiate Infusion: This skill has been Infused with [Thunderous Alacrity] at Initiate tier. This Infusion increases your passive Agility boost by 10%, and allows you to use Stormsurge Momentum’s temporary boost for free while in the presence of a storm. Additionally, you cannot be impaired by any movement-affecting Skill lower than Stormsurge Momentum’s current Tier.
Name: Elemental Resistance
Type: Body Skill
Rarity: Epic
Level: 37
Tier: Initiate
Description: All resistances to Fire, Water, Earth, and Air mana types and their subsidiaries and advanced types are compressed into this Skill. Each level of Elemental Resistance allows you half the skill’s level in damage nullification against those elemental attributes, rounded down. (Current Nullification: 18%)
Name: Shadowmeld
Type: Spirit Skill
Rarity: Epic
Level: 57
Tier: Adept
Description: Shadowmeld allows you to become one with the shadows when standing still for 3 seconds, and retain that Stealth while stationary or moving at less than 15% of your maximum speed. This skill functions only in deep shadows, and is especially powerful at night, or in Territory controlled by a friendly or allied Authority.
Initiate Infusion: This skill has been Infused with [Nightstalker’s Grace] at Initiate tier. This Infusion increases your passive Dexterity by 5%, and allows you to hide in any shadowed area. Additionally, the first time you make any attack after each successful Shadowmeld, you will gain a temporary 30% boost to your Agility and Dexterity for 3 seconds.
Name: Stormblooded
Type: Trait
Rarity: Epic
Description: Yours is the blood of the Stormlords, and your connection to that line is as pure as any found in the Realms. Hearkening back to the power of the Eternals themselves, your connection allows you an unprecedented connection to Air and Lightning Mana, and enhances your physical abilities as you grow in strength.
Effects: +2 Agility per Level, +1 Dexterity per Level, Air and Lightning Skills cost -50% Mana.
Special Effects: Your Attribute per Level bonuses scale with your Temper, and increase by 1 point at each new Temper stage. Additionally, you passively gain a 10% bonus to your Dexterity.
Name: Defender of the Innocent
Type: Title
Rarity: Epic
Description: You have proven yourself to be a noble person, worthy of praise and accolades, for the unwavering protection of the innocent and defenseless—even at significant risk to your own life—time and time again.
Effects: +15% Charisma, +2 Charisma per Level.
Special Effects: When rushing to the aid of those weaker than you, you gain +25% movement speed and all Stamina consumption is reduced by 75% until you exit combat, or the threat has been deemed neutralised by the System.
Name: Spellbow
Type: Title
Rarity: Epic
Description: Might and Magic are blended in your blood, and you are an exemplar of harnessing both gifts to a degree rarely seen. You have performed incredible feats of martial and magical combination, and have earned recognition from your Ancestors as a result.
Effects: You have gained the ability to create Arrows from pure mana. Each Arrow costs 1 Mana, and may be created free of extra cost from Air, Fire, or Lightning mana.
Special Effects: Your arrows ignore all armour that is not enchanted, and equal to your current Temper or higher.
Name: Death Defying
Type: Title
Rarity: Epic
Description: You have been reduced to less than 5% of your total Health five times in as many hours, and not only survived, but eked out a victory in each encounter. As a result of this, you have defied Death itself, and spat in the face of Fate.
Effects: +15% Vitality, +3 Vitality per Level.
Special Effects: You take 20% less damage from all sources when below 15% of your Total Health.
Aurelian let loose a low and impressed whistle when she shared her impressive array of Epic Mind, Body, and Spirit Skills and sighed wistfully. “Stormsurge Momentum would be so useful for me. So would Elemental Resistance. How did you get them?”
He was aware of Death Defying and Defender of the Innocent as well, but neither of those seemed practical for him at that moment. He couldn’t risk the requirements for Death Defying, and nor did he have any reasonable way to attain Defender of the Innocent presently.
“Stormsurge Momentum is a bloodline skill,” Zylara said with a hint of dissatisfaction. “I inherited it from my father, I believe, given that my mother is just a normal, run of the mill mutt elf.” she sighed and then continued more cheerfully. “My Elemental Resistance, however, was the result of careful curation. Sanctuary has learned how to trigger certain skill acquisitions, and Elemental Resistance is one of them.”
“How is it triggered?” Aurelian enquired immediately.
“Get hit by all four different elemental types repeatedly, and until your health drops to below ten percent multiple times. It’ll usually be awarded if you have all four resistance types at Initiate Tier within a day or so of one another.”
“Hmph.” Aurelian grumbled. “I’m missing Earth, Water, and Air resistance. I have Fire, Ice, and Lightning.”
“We can fix that, probably, on our journey.” Zylara said soothingly. “Though, first, we need to kill those remaining Skarnids—and for that, I need—”
“Clothes!” Aurelian said abruptly. “Right! Sorry! I have something for that, actually.”
“You mentioned that.” Zylara said in amusement.
“Yeah, I got an achievement for, uh, Siring you—and part of it was armour. One second, let me just—”
Aurelian mentally claimed the System reward, and three items dropped to the ground nearby in a neat pile: a brown leather tome, a piece of torn parchment, and what looked like a folded set of steel and mail beneath them, as black as a starless night.
Zylara pulled her head back to look at the pile, and then raised her scarlet eyes to lock with Aurelian’s own. “Don’t look away.” she commanded simply.
“But I thought—?”
“Aurelian.” Zylara said more firmly. “Don’t. Look. Away.”
Aurelian swallowed at her tone of voice, but nodded once in assent. He had no idea what she was playing at, but the look in her eyes—a mix of apprehension, nervousness, determination, fragile confidence, and beneath it all fear—told him that not obeying her would be, at the least, destructive in a way he probably didn’t have the ability to understand in that moment.
Women, he had learned from both his mother and sister, were beings of great mystery.
When Zylara stepped back, Aurelian received a full view of her new body, and found himself dry-throated for the first time in a very, very long time. She was, in a word, stunning. Her height had to have increased to just over six feet tall—perhaps around one-hundred-and-eighty-five centimetres or more—and her skin had taken on an alabaster smoothness that made it almost shine in the noonday sun.
Her silky black hair fell around her high, sharp cheekbones and aquiline jaw to the lower part of her back, with several bangs in the front resting down to just below her collarbone, which was clear to see, and elegantly feminine without being distracting. Her shoulders were somewhat wider, and her biceps notably more defined; with a clear rise and fall along her arms sloping with the muscles.
The elven maiden, watching him unblinkingly, took a moment to stretch languidly—and Aurelian let out a quiet noise somewhere between a tortured groan and a wistful sigh when she did.
Zylara’s breasts were a work of art. Full, supple, and with the kind of gravity-defying rounded firmness that could usually only be achieved through a careful mix of skincare products and religious workout regimes.
From everything he’d read—anatomy and erotica both, if he were being honest with himself—and the limited discourse he’d had with the medical student he’d dated once; her breasts would have been best described as archetypical, or else a mix between rounded and bell-shaped.
Both breasts were staggeringly symmetrical, and were adorned with a small areola and rounded nipple both a darker shade of pink or lighter shade of red. When Zylara moved, her breasts lifted and shifted in a way that diverted blood from his brain, and left him swallowing back saliva while he warred with the ingrained instinct to look away, and the deeply male desire to stare without blinking.
His eyes inevitably trailed further down, and roamed first over her neatly set and defined six pack, past her carved V-shaped lower abdomen, and toward her groin. One of the main things he noticed, distantly, was that Zylara was almost entirely hairless below her eyebrows at the front, and below the lowest parts of her scalp at the back.
Whether it was a trait of elves or a side effect of her Transformation, he wasn’t sure—but the black-haired, pale-skinned woman was as smooth as silk, and unblemished in a way actresses and models on Earth would have given exorbitant amounts of money to emulate.
She was, simply put, the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen—both in person or otherwise. Every gamer dude’s elven ‘waifu’ fantasy rendered into gorgeous, buxom, muscular reality. He finally had a true reference to Arwen’s beauty, and she was his goddamned companion.
“You’re killing me here, Z. We need to go.”
Zylara laughed at his mix of warning and growled frustration, and elegantly prowled over to the pile of items with a demure smile and blink of her long, dark lashes.
“And here I was having fun.”
I knew horny elves would end up biting me in the arse. Aurelian lamented mentally, while trying in vain to dispel the image of Zylara and her impressive new posterior that his mind automatically created.
“Oh. Wow.” Zylara’s voice, no longer playfully flirtatious, intruded upon his thoughts. “Aurelian, do you have your pouch?”
“No, it’s on Bahamut for safe-keeping.” Aurelian replied while turning, and noticing her already mostly clothed by some sanity-sparing miracle of the System and item usage. She wore a set of moon-silver chainmail that hid her body well, with red-runed black plates on her biceps and shoulders, and similarly runed obsidian plates over the majority of her torso.
Her forearms were covered by red-patterned black steel vambraces on her forearms down to her wrists, and her legs were covered in the same mix of plates over her thighs—cuisses, Aurelian reminded himself—and form-fitting dark leather down along the impressive lengths her legs.
That same black leather hugged her muscular lower thighs and calves down into a pair of red-runed black sabatons, both of which seemed to be light enough for her liking when she kicked her toes into the ground and tested them.
Her black hair fell in waves down her back, with clear bangs on either side of her slightly elongated and pointed ears. The red of the armour matched the crimson of her lips, and in some cases, the bright scarlet of her eyes. It also contrasted very nicely with her new, flawless alabaster skin tone.
“Why do you ask?” he continued after he had a chance to take her in.
“You need to see these items. I did get armour, as you can see, but you got some important pieces here.” Zylara explained while moving over to snatch up her blackened, red-runed bow—which, promptly, erupted with crackling bolts of scarlet lightning—with a look of satisfaction at its changes. “The map fragment you can use immediately, and you should probably do the same for the Tome—but that’s up to you. I’m not sure if you want to save it or not.”
“You go on ahead. I’ll meet you over there. I need to heal myself, too.”
Zylara grinned at him and replied with a demure “Yes, my lord” before igniting Stormsurge Momentum in a crackle of red lightning and surging away from him toward the direction he sensed both the Arisen and Bahamut.
And now, he realised, where he sensed Zylara as well.
That would take some getting used to. At least, unlike the Arisen, he couldn’t sense her emotions at all. That would have been a basket of complication he had no interest in carrying around. Instead, he bit the bullet and used his Anima—now no longer needed—to accelerate his healing, and converted it into rapid restoration with a hissing breath as damaged flesh and even some broken bones were rapidly and near-instantly repaired.
“Fuck me.” he growled under his breath. “Will that ever not hurt?”
Pain Tolerance is now Level 39!
Aurelian snorted at the System alert and shook his head in disbelief.
He didn’t care what anyone said. The System definitely had a sense of humour.
----------------------------------------
Zylara AI Concept Art [https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/868964548219121694/1200574977003495464/Modification_Zylara_2_Resized.png?ex=65c6ad94&is=65b43894&hm=24184f23225d2a08f8986faa974fa0e55a185a7a82b00c2cc79ffe3d75a92f8f&]
Zylara AI Art 2 [https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/868964548219121694/1200270140961460314/DALLE_2024-01-26_10.20.39_-_A_stunning_elven_female_with_long_jet_black_hair_cascading_down_to_her_lower_back_wearing_an_ensemble_of_red_and_black_runic_leather_and_chainmail_.png?ex=65c591ad&is=65b31cad&hm=c08976b6c73cd1b46dc6ef7f69bc5e67eb57f775e3ccc51a87ca5e70c6e5cb89&]