I swung in his direction excitedly, with my eyes wide.
“What is it?”
Instead of telling me what the item was, he placed it in my hand. It was a small, clear, glass bead that seemed to pulse with energy. Wrapping my hands around it, I looked up at him quizzically.
Once again, he refused to just talk to me like a normal person.
Am I already getting on his nerves? Maybe he’s just tired?
Whatever the case, he gave me a small frown, “Use the System.”
Whatever you say. You really aren’t great at the whole conversation thing. Maybe he’s actually bad at it and that’s why he comes off as cold?
I thought for a moment.
Probably not. He can articulate himself pretty well when he wants to. He just doesn’t care enough. Maybe I can change that one day, he makes it pretty lonely. The System’s great and all, but it’s not an actual person. Just a robot.
Moving on, I asked the System what the Item was, thanks to being a Hunter now.
> [… Analyzing the subject of user Drifa’s query…]
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> [… Analysis complete!]
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> [Transformation Stone (D+): Fuse this sparkly stone with an object composed of only one material. The object chosen will be given the ability to transform into any tool you’re proficient in. The Items transformation is restricted being composed of the same material as the fused object itself.]
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> [Requirements: User must have completed The Frozen Dungeon. The user must have the ability to control pure or corrupted energy to fuse the designated object with the user’s energy signature and the Transformation Stone. There must be at least one charge remaining in the item to transform it into anything but its original shape.]
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> [Charges remaining: 1000/1000]
I looked at Ismund full of awe and gratitude.
“Are you sure you want to give me this? I mean, I haven’t seen the other items you’ve got, but this has got to be up there if it’s not the best! You could use this for so many things, even if it’s more or less a utility item. Where did you get this stuff from anyways? Loot-chest like a video-game? …Nevermind, you probably don’t know what I’m talking about.”
The longer I went on the more unhappy he looked for whatever reason.
What’s up with him?
“I can’t use it.”
He waved his empty palms in the air.
“No magic.”
Right, I forgot about that… Wait, then how does he transform his sword and use that storage space thing?
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
> [The Twin Spirit Swords and Box of Holding are blessed artifacts. In other words, they are old and I’ve decided to power them myself, that way they don’t require the presence of dungeons or any other energy for that matter.]
Okay, makes sense I guess. You called it a blessed artifact. Are you saying that you ‘blessed it’?
> [Affirmative.]
I waved a distracting, but interesting thought from my mind I decided to just focus on the things in front of me, that being the gem and my butterknife. I tried to squish them together very hard and only managed to make my finger tips white.
Oh yeah, magic.
I looked over at Ismund again. Honestly, he was basically just a dark outline with most of his features blurred now, the fire wasn’t thriving and it was getting pretty dark out fast.
“I’m gonna mute you again, okay? That way I can use this.”
I lifted the gorgeous stone.
Ismund simply grunted in what I thought was affirmation. I was pretty sure anyways. The problem was he grunted a lot. Thankfully he mostly stuck to either the ‘I don’t care’ sound or the the grunt of some sort of agreement. It made things simpler.
I’ll take the grunt as a win.
Changing the settings on my bandana I heard the ugly static noise that was corrupt energy but… there was no silence or rhythme.
Where’d it g-, ah, right, the protective field is gone, along with my chance of using the stone for the next while. How long do you think until it’s back up System?
> [Unconfirmed. After it is recovered, estimates will be available in the future. Energy is currently limited.]
I guess… at least it was worth it. I mean, it’s meant to be spent, not hoarded, like money, right?
> [Negative. User Drifa’s pure energy is not meant to be created or derived from the protective field. It should be created by user Drifa alone, without outside help. It will stunt your growth potential significantly. In addition, when you use all of the protective field surrounding you, you are vulnerable to the corrupt energy due to the contract.]
Great help you were with that.
> [… I will concede that user Drifa’s protective measure regarding the ice sphere was a worthy and functional investment.]
Of course, it was!
I paused for a moment, brows creasing.
Wait, wait, wait. Back up. You’re saying that I can purify magic in the air without using your energy? Do I need any energy at all?
> [Affirmative. The user does not need condensed pure energy to make condensed pure energy.]
What,-
I voice was shrill in the silence, I think so at least, everything around seemed pretty still.
“-Why didn’t you tell me earlier? That could’ve-”
As I was gesticulating at The System I suddenly stopped.
Oops…
My cheeks grew flush as soon as I noticed I wasn’t thinking in my head anymore. To the left, Ismund was waiting for me to… get going?
He gave me a look when I finally looked at him.
I chuckled nervously, “I was talking to the System! Not you.”
In the dim light, I could barely make out his gesturing. Ismund nodded and raised his brows exaggeratedly in an, ‘I know’, sort of way. After that he brought his pinched hand up to his mouth and brought it across his lips, ‘zip it’.
It only made me finish turning into a red tomato.
Doing my best to maintain my dignity, I frowned and nodded at him. Unfortunately, time didn’t stop to let me think more about the new revelation, and neither did Ismund.
Just as I was about to read the System’s response, Ismund walked up snapping his fingers in front of my face. I couldn’t hear it, but the idea got across.
“What is it?”
He pointed into the dark, empty woods.
“Is there an animal?” I looked around.
I think I heard somewhere that I’d see their eyes shine if there were any animals. I don’t see any bu-
Ismund shook his head and tried again. He pointed at the woods, pointed us, and made his fingers walk on his hand like a person.
“We’re going in there? Now? In the dark? What’s going to keep us from running into trees? Or, or… getting lost?”
I was starting to lose my cool.
Well, I probably lost that a while ago.
My voice, once again, got louder as I talked.
Ismund nodded, quite sure of himself. He also gestured to the ground and our dwindling fire-
I mean, sure we were… you were, packing up but, I didn’t really think about this part.
-and proceeded to head into the bush.
“Don’t leave me here!”
I ran after him, not eager to be left alone, even if it felt like that when I was with him some of the time. I hit something solid.
“Umph!”
Feeling what it was with my hands, I found Ismunds backpack.
Better than a tree… Much better than a tree.
Now that I was facing away from the fire and its embers, I couldn’t hear or see.
Let’s hope I can at least keep the other three with me.
The dungeon had given me enough nightmares for weeks, and now this. It was not at all conducive to relaxing of any sort.
How am I going to keep myself from getting separated?
An idea struck me, and I hoped it was a good one.
Hopefully, he isn’t too bothered by it. No doubt he’ll be a little bit though.
walking behind him I traced my hands allong the face of the bag I found many pockets, straps, and other metal things stuck to it.
Where is it?
Reaching up higher I eventually found the drawstring used to close the bag underneath the top flap covering it. Since he always kept it so tight, there was an excess of string I could hold onto. A leash.
For who? I don’t know… If he doesn’t like me doing this I could always say that I couldn’t hear him say not to. And I don’t see a way of getting around doing something similar. The only other option, really, would be to hold his hand or wait till morning.
I snorted a little.
He would NOT like either of those options. Especially not the first. I'm not sure that I would either.
I noticed the blue, flashing, notification in the corner of my vision and opened it.