We left the safety and shelter of the house, and I was quickly reminded of the reason why I had entered it in the first place. The sun shone bright above us, and I had to raise a hand to shield myself from the light. We picked a random direction and started along the road. It did not take long to find our first enemy, with the loud growls and roars attracting our attention.
"Terra, are you a close-up fighter or a long-range?" Elias asked, breaking our silence as we neared the source of the conflict, "It's obvious for me - I fight at close range."
He snapped his fingers, and a pair of daggers appeared in his hands out of thin air. The silvery blades glistened in the light, menacing. He caught my surprised gaze and laughed, "Have you not figured out the inventory function?"
I tried that, "System, show me my inventory."
1940 New Gems, 0 Ancient Crystals
W: Weapons
M: Materials
C: Clothing
T: Tools
F: Food
CI: Cursed Items
MI: Magical Items
O: Other
2x Lion Claw (W/M), 1x Lion Hide (M/C), 2x Raw Lion Meat (F), 1x Green Bean Seed (O), 1x Rope (T/O), 1x Rope [Acid Resistant] (T/O)
"You're right! This works," I murmured. Another command learnt! Seems that my lion claws could be used as weapons, which would come in handy since I could not rely on my Class Skills all the time.
I added as I closed the blue box pop-up for my inventory, remembering his question from a few minutes ago, "I lean more towards the long-range side but I can learn close combat as well. Oh, also, I need to level up my stats a little after we are done with this battle. I got some money."
"Sure. How did you get the money?" then, before I could reply, Elias answered his own question, "You must have fought some of those beasts too. They drop good loot, don't they?"
I shrugged, "The loot wasn't bad. There was a lion that was jumping around a few hours ago. It was mutated, apparently."
I summoned the pair of lion claws from my inventory, imagining the loot being held in my hands. They appeared a second later. There was a short round end, presumably for me to grip onto, and a curved blade-like moon curve ending in a sharp point. They were primitive-looking, which was expected since they were claws from a lion I had slain.
"Great! I took out an overgrown dragonfly. Its wings just... stopped working after I touched it by accident while activating Corrosion. It was easy afterwards," he said, a look of disgust on his face as he thought about the monster. I listened, but hushed him after he was done. We were a turn away from reaching the monster, and from the brawl noises, it seemed like a huge creature, perhaps even bigger than my Mutated Lion. Elias caught onto my nervousness, and his face sharpened into an expression of seriousness to match mine.
Taking a deep breath, I led us around the last building, and we saw the monster. It looked similar in general shape to a giant winged fox, but it was also on fire, its fur burning a bright red, a color that gradually faded to blue at the tip of its tail. Someone was already fighting it, but this was clearly not a one versus one battle, because that said person was losing. With a ferocious roar, the creature flung its attacker into the air with its claws, sending her flying off and crashing into a building nearby. She did not move after she landed. The fox turned to growl at us.
"It saw us," I muttered, "You go closer to it, but be careful. I need a while to prepare in order to activate my Skills."
Elias replied, "Alright. If I can injure one of its wings, it would be great, but I will just touch and run away. It is a bit stronger than what we can take but this also means better experience points for us."
Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.
"Go!" was all I said before I conjured up a piece of paper from my Story Weaver ability. It could work as a medium for the Artist Skill too, I hoped. The pen came with it, and I hastily drew what I had in mind. I couldn't keep this beast down with just vines alone - it could just beat its wings and my vines would be broken, but if I created another animal, one with equal poweress as this monster, perhaps they could duel it out. I drew a large griffin-like animal, envisioning it as some kind of golem made out of magma. It could fly as well, and I made sure that its beak and claws were sharp.
As soon as I had it on paper, I began to imprint the design into my mind, meticulously working out every detail as fast as I could. Then, I gave it qualities in the same way I did the vines: fierceness, strength, flight, fire resistance. I could feel my energy escaping me, but I held on, hoping that this would not tire me to the point of fainting again. I deposited the beast behind the glowing fox, then summoned more paper and started to weave a tale of how it fought and killed the fox, then melted away into nothingness. That last part was important if I didn't want it to go rogue.
When that was all done, I collapsed onto the ground, panting heavily. My head was hurting terribly once again, but I was not fully out of energy. I shouted, "Elias! I'm done! Prepare to retreat!"
"I still can fight... Where did that new monster come from?!" his surprised shriek pierced the air, and I smirked at the response.
"Don't worry about it, just focus on wearing the fox down. The new one is my creation. How does he look?" I stood up with the support of the ground, staggering on my feet. Gripping the pair of lion claws in my hands, I dashed forward and joined Elias in the fight, hacking away at the fox's ankle. It stomped the ground angrily, but I held on until blood oozed out at last. Pushing the sharp end of the claw deep into the wound, I grunted and did not let go of the opening. My golem also began its attack, punching the back of the fox repeatedly before gripping the animal's neck with its huge arm. The fox writhed in its hold, but could not get away. Even when it tried to take to the skies (I sadly dislodged the blades before they could be dragged away with it), the griffin golem flapped his bat-like wings and followed closely behind.
"That... griffin is your creation?" Elias' eyes were blown wide open. I nodded, grinning proudly as the two chased each other in the skies. The golem eventualy caught up with the fox, and with a heavy slam, forced it down onto the ground and causing a deep impact crater. I tentatively inched closer, and found the fox lying on the ground. It was not dead, however, because I did not receive a notification. The golem sniffed the air, before plunging its heavy claws into the fox's body and putting it out of its misery. Life was extinguished from the fox's eyes and it went limp. His target dead, the golem howled in pain before being reduced to ashes. My plan worked! As the battle ended, I suddenly felt a jolt in my system as several blue boxes appeared in front of me.
You have slain 1x Fire Flying Fox [Lvl. 8]! You gained 800EXP, Ability Stone: Normal Fire Manipulation [Rare], 320 New Gems
You have slain 1x Magma Griffin Golem [Lvl. 10]! You gained 1000EXP, 1x Magma Griffin Golem Feather [Unbonded], 2x Cooked Griffin Meat, 1x Magma Griffin Golem Cloak [Unbonded], 400 New Gems
The Magma Griffin Golem do not count towards your 'Kill 5 Creatures' Quest. Quest Progress: 2/5
You levelled up! You have levelled up! You gained 500 New Gems!
You levelled up! You have levelled up! You gained 500 New Gems!
1200EXP to next level!
Someone from Planet #5468-K [Integrated] has sent a Chat Invitation! [View Details]
I frowned at the last notification. Something inside me resisted against even looking at the details, but if the planet that someone was from had already been integrated, conversing with them could yield me some answers. Elias noticed and spoke, his reptilian eyes blinking at me, "Terra, that was a great fight, you just carried me through the whole thing, but you look a bit... Are you okay?"
"I'm fine," I chose my words carefully. I trusted him a little more now, after going through this battle together, but I was still not certain if I should just go announcing to everyone that I got a wave from an alien. The lone fighter from earlier was stirring, her eyes opening slowly. I replied before she got her bearings and could hear us, "I got a chat request through the System."
"First contact kind?" he asked.
I nodded, "Yeah, you can say that. I'm not sure if I should accept-"
"You totally should," Elias patted me on the shoulder, "Congratulations. If you play this well, you could get a Gift or something. Tell me if it's a fan."
"Wait, they could see what we are doing?" I narrowed my eyes, "I didn't really think to approach it in that way, but if you think it's a good idea..."
"I don't actually know, but how else would that alien reach you? A wrong click and it just so happens to deliver right after such an epic battle?" Elias questioned, and I started to believe him, "We just can't see those things yet. Maybe it would be one of the 'benefits' of Integration. Also, the lone fighter girl over there is waking up, think she'll be interested in joining us? Joining me?"
"We can try," I left out the biting remark that it was me who recruited him, and started walking towards the girl, who held up her hands to protect herself. A shimmering dome of energy surrounded her defensively as she glared at us, trying to look intimidating. However, she must be worn out, because the force field seemed to flicker, and she shook with exertion.
I sighed, "But it might be harder than you think."