Shin returned with Karla back to the others in no time, the three waiting around roughly where he left them.
“Of course this is who you wanted to recruit…” Yen through some shade Shin’s way at the sight of another beautiful young woman.
“No. She killed him.” Before Yen could fully form a response to that revelation, she introduced the new member. “This is Karla.”
Karla smiled at them but did nothing in particular.
“Donny.”
Her eyes turned to the sole person who introduced themselves back. “Fight?”
“Sure.”
“Be back later.” Shin informed them as he left suddenly once again.
There was something that caught his eye on the way over which he wanted to visit. Before long he found himself into front of a fence of brambles through which his eyes couldn’t see. Shin knocked twice and waited but no one answered. He tilted his head before conjuring a spiralling spirit orb and carving out a doorway, and pushed it in as he entered the fairy cove.
Shin glanced around. This cove was quite different from the one he visited prior. Large mushrooms replaced trees for homes but most notably the place was grim. Dimly lit, small barren trees, and an air of hardship about the place. Even the fairies that poked their little heads out to see the stranger had faces more of worry than wonder. Shin continued to what seemed to be the most notable place in the center of the cove, where an eerie old fairy sat on a thorn of thorny branches.
[Fairy Harrier (uncommon) - Greater Lord]
White hair and wrinkled skin with sharp features the old fairy stared back with derision and mockery. “Why have you come, human?”
“Looking for strong spirits.”
“Aye, there may be what you seek. However… All those paths are closed, now that you have entered my domain.” He cackled back, his voice growing louder and more ominous with each word. “None shall oppose me. None shall be free of my torment. I rule this cove, and soon I shall rule this forest!”
The old man cackled madly, his voice echoing throughout the cove. “I am Barley the Tormentor! Soon my reign of terror-”
Shin slapped his hands over the evil fairy squashing it to paste. Misty tendrils of magic rose from his palms as he parted them, fashioning the soul together and nonchalantly placed it within his own. The surrounding fairies looked on with shock, and then broke into celebration. Cheers filled the cove as the little fairies danced and sang as others flew around making the mushrooms glow warmly with faerie dust.
“There’s another cove that way.” Shin pointed towards Flutter’s home. “You’ll be safer there.”
Silence took hold as the fairies paused their celebrations, and then returned to the festivities without a care in the world. Shin tilted his head. If they didn’t want to, he wouldn’t make them. If something went wrong, they should be able remember the way at least and flee to safety. A bolt of fire exploded in the sky way in the distance, back towards the dungeon. Shin blurred away immediately, tearing through the forest in the direction of the party.
---
Karla flashed through the surging web of vines, the sheer quantity preventing her from reaching her opponent. She darted left as an invisible force closed in on an empty space. Fire and force exploded around her as she drew nearer and nearer. A wall of vines erupted before her and she sundered a path through, bursting towards the orange haired mage.
Karla broke through the mage’s invisible shield but her fist and body passed through flames as the mage turned to fire and took to the air. She darted away as a force tried to hold her in place again, rushing towards her downed opponent. Dozens of sharp long thorns speared up from the ground but she danced around them, spinning in the air as she smacked down another red explosion. Three white winged angels with golden shields and weapons soared towards her.
She slipped inside the spear thrust of one, rupturing it to death through its armor. A sword of another deflected off her reinforced arm as she broke its neck with a kick. A quick pivot in the same fluid motion flowed into a lunging elbow shattering the helm of the angel and another fist crushed its head against the ground, all three scattering to dust. Karla burst towards the priest of vines, hand raised.
“Stop.”
Karla came to a half just before the priest, several sharp thorns aiming towards her vitals and the protection of vines and a magic shield formed before her. Both looked towards Shin who had just arrived.
“She tried to kill Donny!” Yen yelled, holding a firebolt steady in her palm aimed at the shaolin.
Shin glanced over at the knight behind Kamala. Unmoving, badly injured, but not dead. He thought for a moment. “No fighting people in the party unless me or Kamala watch over. If we tell you to stop, you have to stop.”
“Okay~”
“Fuck that!” Yen objected. “She’s a total psycho, kick her out.”
“You can hunt monsters if you want. Don’t go too far, we’ll stay around here mostly.” Shin casually told Karla.
“Kay.” The icy blue haired battle maniac burst off into the forest.
“Shin!”
“Gonna find spirits.” He sped off too, in the opposite direction, prismatic eyes looking forward to the future.
---
Shin weaved through the arrows of the centaurs, as he cut down another and the herd shifted formation among the trees. Half human half horse with slightly bestial features, these rare tier creature’s weren’t too powerful on their own but they were more intelligent than most he had fought and coordinated well in a group.
Shin darted to the side as a powerful concussive force blasted a tree apart. He glanced over to the leader of this tribe, a Centaur Psion, his target. Two swirling green orbs appeared above Shin and shot off, boring through the ordinary centaurs as he carved through a share of his own.
The gyros whizzed around the trees, soaring towards the psion from both sides. The centaur leader’s face twisted in anger and with a roar, concussive force exploded from him, destroying the attacks that had wiped out his people. For a brief moment, Shin cast Greater Swift and severed the centaur’s head from his body in an instant.
No sooner had the body fallen had Shin started harvesting its soul, storing it before hopping around to do the same to the others.
[Harvest Spirit has reached lvl. 10. 50 Attribute Points rewarded.]
This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.
For the benefit of his spirits, Shin willed the skill further.
[Harvest Spirit has upgraded to epic tier Harvest Soul.]
Shin had truly felt the loss of the tenfold progression boost these past nine days, although it wasn’t anything unexpected. He sat down amidst the carnage and pulled two uncommon tier spirit souls out, redcap and skraeling variants. Recaps weren’t common to come across unless he lingered around bloodshed, but he had encountered a tribe of hostile skraelings. Tiny warriors, not much larger than pygmies, with gray skin with large bulbous heads.
Shin channelled Soul Fusion and the two souls meshed together. He held it firm and stable, giving no favor to either as they fought for survival. Eventually they swirled into a whole and the soul formed into a living creature, a horned plant humanoid creature, weapons in hand.
[Spriggan Ambusher (rare) - Intermediate Lord]
The spriggan moved and Shin severed it in two, harvesting its soul and putting it within himself. He had learned a few things about soul fusion. The first was that even if both were dead, a succession fusion would result in the revival of the new spirit. The second was that they would typically be hostile towards him. On the more practical side, the chances of success were better if they were the same rank and tier, and even more so if their ‘types’ seemed compatible.
Shin took out the souls of a kappa and a yeth and fused once more. The skill succeeded again, this time producing a result he had seen many times.
[Nue Waterwader (rare) - Greater Lord]
The creature had the face and hair of a beautiful woman though like a kappa, the top of its head was bald and slightly caved in, its body covered in green scales and a turtle shell on its back. Without a shred of uniformity or reason, Shin deduced that Nues were something of a spiritual chimera, where any new spirit that didn’t fit into an existing species fell into.
Shin re-added the spirit to his arsenal of materials just as before. It marked a significant line of success concerning uncommon tier, and so now Shin believed he was ready. He called forth Mara and took out the Lovelorn Nymph he had fought early in the second stage.
“Don’t abandon me! You promised!”
“I won’t.”
“Liar!” Mara cried. “Using me… making another stronger, I know it!”
“I’m making you stronger.” Mara fell silent and her flailing calmed slightly. “You’ll win.”
Shin channelled the two souls together, giving preference to neither. He held the swirl more stable than before and the fusion finished faster. From the glowing light formed a large bird with the head of a beautiful woman.
Two long blue feathers flowed back from her forehead and two strands of red hair spread over her face like eyebrows flowing back passed the rest of her long curled hair of the same rich color. Purple eyeliner painted the ends of her eyes matching her lips among an ethereally pale face. The patch of feathers of her chest was white but the rest were pitch black with purple tips. A long tail feather of the same design fluttered in the wind as she hovered on two wings before Shin.
[Nue Warder (rare) - Greater Lord]
Mara smiled at him, her gaze full of confidence and intelligence. “I said I would be beautiful, did I not?”
“You are.”
Her mature smile grew more. “I said I would be strong as well. It pained me to be so useless.”
“You got smarter.” Shin chimed in.
“I was always smart. It was just that wretched state that clouded my mind so. Ah, but that is over. Now I can properly protect you.” Mara’s eyes grew deeper and more intense. “Renew the bond, my king. Let us conquer all you wish.”
“Yeah.”
Shin formed a bridge between their souls and Mara accepted without hesitation, her missing bond returning to where it was.
[Nue Warder (rare) - Greater Lord]
Strength - 204
Agility - 367
Constitution - 228
Vitality - 233
Dexterity - 220
Perception - 421
Force - 989
Spirit - 796
Control - 550
Willpower - 512
Skills:
Ward lvl. 1, Mana Shield lvl. 1, Sonic Wave lvl. 1, High Pitch lvl. 6, Greater Screech lvl. 1,
Traits:
Protector (epic), Sound Amplification (rare), Nightvision (rare), Lesser Disease Resistance (rare), Lesser Curse Resistance (uncommon), Lesser Poison Resistance (uncommon),
Shin first noted her lopsided stats. A mage type specialist, her Force nearly that of Inari’s despite the kitsune being a whole tier ahead. Her skills had changed for the better as well. Luring song and charm had not seen much use but the two new defensive skills she acquired held much greater value. He had the same Ward skill already but more was always useful.
More importantly was the shield skill he had fused away, and with her Force it would be formidable. And as Shin had hoped, she returned her two offensive sound skills, along with the ever useful mental attack, which would all now pack a bigger punch. Mara hummed with an air of pride and elation as Shin inspected her status favorably.
“I’ll call you later.”
“Of course.”
Mara faded back into his soul, her arrogance and joy still felt through. Shin was happy she was pleased with her evolution, his thoughts turning to the next stage where he could harvest and level far more efficiently. He had wondered about the next step for her but he had just obtained that piece. All that was left was his training.
[Bonus Stage will begin in 24 hours.]
A surprise message interrupted his thoughts. The system had not signaled the last stage, nor had it described it as anything other than the number of stage. His mind briefly drifted back to the last conversation he had with Onamuji before speeding off into the forest. He still had time and mana, and he would put his new soul collecting skill to work in preparation for this bonus stage, whatever it was.
Just as he thought that, Shin came to a sudden stop. Ahead floated a spirit, three feet tall with childish features donning a large robe that seemed part of itself. Her expression calm as she turned to him with eyes like a bright starry sky, pleasant and foreboding.
[Sidhe Dreamer (rare) - Greater Lord]
“Would you like to dream?”
---
Dull, heavy strikes fell on Donny’s shield as he desperately defended. A vermillian shield he bore, his obsidian goblin one destroyed in their first fight, and it was not the only one. Karla’s leg struck the gong of bastion he was forced to constantly use, lest she shatter another shield.
He cleaved at her neck with his orichalcum axe at barest sign of an opening. Her eyes followed easily and she raised her hand, aura reinforcing it as she deflected the axe away, and kicked out. Donny gathered Bastion on his chestplate. She couldn’t break this piece of armor but she could bypass it entirely and rupture his insides, as she had done so often these past days.
Spellbreak shattered his skill and sent him crashing back. He sprung to his feet just in time to see a sweeping leg aiming to burst his head apart. Just before the strike landed, Karla froze in the air, locked in place.
“That’s enough.” Kamala spoke calmly while strain showed on Yen’s face. The speed they ‘sparred’ at forced every ounce of her attention, and even then, she could only barely predict what the mad monk would do if she wasn’t paying her any mind.
“Show more care to your limits.” Kamala lectured Donny as she healed him.
“Wouldn’t be good training if I did.”
“Heal, please.” Karla hopped over by Kamala in an instant, holding out her bloodied hands with a cute smile, completely at odds with the brutality just prior.
Kamala paused a moment and began healing. Her wounds were only surface level as they usually were, so it took no time at all. “There’s only a few minutes left so don’t run off.”
“Kay~”
“This is insane. Even for Shin.” Yen grumbled from the shade of a tree.
“Better strong members than anything else.”
“Teammates not timebombs…”
“What, still down about the patron thing?”
Yen scoffed. “The system should give more info about invitations. I had a bunch and the one I picked was a fucking loser.”
“Don’t worry about it. Saving the best for last, huh.”
“Shutup.” Though Yen cracked a smile.
Shin flashed past them and into the dungeon before they could call out. He sped through the dungeon to the boss room in an instant, startling Flutter at his sudden appearance.
“Survive.”
Before she could say a word, he brought out the soul of the old fairy and fused them together. The spoiled fairy queen’s wails of shock soon turned to wails of rage as she fought to save her own existence. The swirl melded into one and from the light emerged a child like being, 3 feet tall in a fluttering robe and no wings. Flutter’s face remained the same as before, though her expression somewhere between shock and repulsion as she inspected her new form in a daze.
[Sidhe Oppressor (rare) - Greater Lord]
Strength - 161
Agility - 374
Constitution - 208
Vitality - 184
Dexterity - 343
Perception - 452
Force - 712
Spirit - 777
Control - 575
Willpower - 698
Skills:
Greater Pixie Dust lvl 5, Greater Befuddle lvl. 2, Shroud lvl. 1, Greater Harass lvl. 1, Greater Ache lvl. 1,
Traits:
Faerie Presence (rare), Lesser Magic Affinity (rare), Lesser Curse Resistance (rare), Minor Poison Resistance (uncommon), Minor Disease Resistance (uncommon), Minor Charming Resistance (uncommon),
Shin disappeared without a word as the bonus stage arrived, leaving behind Flutter to slowly glance at her new body and collapse into an utter mental breakdown tinged with rage.
All five members of the party appeared together along with other parties and individuals in a place none of them expected, a wide corridor with modern furnishings, the walls lines fully with classic arcade consoles of all kinds.
“Welcome~” The voice of a playful boy sounded throughout the building as if through speakers. “To the Newcomer Festival!”