As my surroundings light up with the help of Moon Glow, I stare at the monster in front of me. Standing at half my height, it’s an ant, but much bigger, angrier looking and was looking at me like it wanted to eat. Seeing the pinches it had before its mouth click, I looked over the rest of its body. The body was completely different from normal ants, with a light green exoskeleton. Requesting a simple version of the System information, I saw what I was facing.
Level 21 Gale Ant
Wanting this to be over quickly, I moved in and threw a simple punch at its head. Moving quickly, the ant…dodges with the help of wind magic, before snapping its pinches at my arm. Reacting slowly, I move to the side and tumble a bit.
“Where is the fight, Alisha? Don’t let it push you around, kick its arse!”
Regaining my balance, I shot an irritated look at Elise. Hearing a sound approaching quickly, I turn and see the ant right near me…why did I look away like that. Stumbling away from the ant as it once again bit where I had stood, I heard a tsk from Elise.
“Did I make a mistake making you an A Rank Bronze Grade? I had thought you had more fight in you than this.”
A feeling of anger arose at Elise’s words. Is she implying that I am weak? Certainly…something is strange with me, I was distracted, letting my guard down and felt unmotivated…though, what is the purpose of fighting if I couldn’t even return to the others.
Clumsily dodging an attack from the ant once again, I heard Elise speak up once more.
“If this is all you can do, forget travelling to the other side of Draken, you’re not even worthy of becoming an adventurer. Become Black rank? Travel to Crater Hell? Fighting like that will get you neither. As your advisor, I suggest quitting and working in some store if this is all you can muster.”
Sensing a surge of mana from the ant, I raised my arms in front of me as a blade of wind hits me, cutting into my arms. It wasn’t deep but it stung. Feeling the anger boiling within me due to Elise’s words, I didn’t direct it at her, but at myself. I started feeling angry at myself for acting like this. She’s right, I could fight better than this.
Speaking once again, Elise’s voice got louder with each word. “So what if you’ve stumbled off your path? So what if the road ahead is difficult? Get off your arse, face it with all you have, and don’t waste away just because it’ll take you a decade to get home. The current you is pathetic compared to the one from earlier today. The one earlier today would laugh at the current you. Kill that weak monster already.”
Dodging another attack from the ant, the anger in me overflowed. With nowhere to direct this anger, I directed it at the ant. My mind started clearing as my thoughts turned to Elise’s words. I knew she was right, so what if it took me a long time to see everyone, one day I’d be able to meet them again, talk to them and laugh together.
Watching the ant, I started noticing how clumsy it was. It was fast but unbalanced, its magic was sloppy at best and the only thing strong about it is its bite. Clenching my fists, I let the anger within me direct me as I felt my body slowly transform. Opening my fists as they became claws, I felt myself become oddly focused.
Feeling the magic I was outputting, it was pathetically weak. Increasing and focusing the wind around me, I moved quickly in on the ant, dodging its clumsy excuse of an attack and swiping my claws at its neck. Digging deeply, for a moment I felt a thrill. I keep swiping at its body, keeping my claws deep each time, feeling my anger being relieved each time I attacked.
Seeing its blood splutter along my arms, I heard something approaching me from behind. Ignoring the System telling me something, I started sinking into this feeling of anger as that sinister aura erupted from me. Keeping my mind tranquil I don’t lose myself to it, but use it to move to the new ant that had come along, ripping into it as it cried out.
Hearing more come, I felt myself becoming happy. Things to release my anger on kept coming, and I welcomed them. All of this anger at myself surged as I directed it towards fighting the things around me. I sank deeper into my monster form, I didn’t know what I looked like but I knew I was laughing every time I sank my claws into something.
Why am I laughing? Am I happy? No, I felt tears streaming down my face, so am I sad? I felt a mix of emotions bursting within me. Anger at myself, sadness that I couldn’t see the others anytime soon, happiness at being able to fight monsters, excitement at the prospect of getting stronger and so many other emotions I didn’t understand.
Soon, I felt exhaustion overcome me. Around me were the corpses of ten ants, breathing heavily I felt the anger within me dissipate, and while it was still there I felt motivated by it. Collapsing onto my knees while panting for breath, I heard Alice cry out in concern. Looking at my hands, my monster transformation slowly ended, I knew I had transformed far more than I ever had.
I felt amazing. Even if it takes me twenty years I would get back to Crater Hell. Even if I needed to get to Black grade to achieve that I would do it. Clenching my fists, I felt a determination growing within me. Looking back up at Elise, I see she had at some point pulled out a sack and was collecting materials from the ant. Glancing at me, she smiled.
“Your eyes have a much better look to them now. Good, remember this feeling.”
Climbing to my feet, I watch as Elise plunges a hand down easily and removes a small, palm-sized gem of sorts. Seeing me watch, she giggled and put the gem into a pouch. “The core and parts of Gale Ants can be sold. Most monster materials in this dungeon can be sold actually, this lot should net you about 1 silver in total for just the raw materials, 2 silvers if you through in the cores. Since this is one of the lower levels, these monsters are easily hunted so they aren’t worth much.”
As I stand I felt a bit unsteady, the exhaustion has reached deep. I continue watching as Elise rips the cores out, storing them separately from the monster parts she took. The monster parts were mainly the exoskeletons that were still intact. Looking around, the monsters had been ripped apart, caused by me in my monster form. Decapitated heads, and legs were broken or cut off or in two cases the ant was simply torn in half. However, I felt much better than a few hours ago, like my mind had been cleared up.
Looking down on my body, it was full of wounds, deep and shallow. Most of the cuts had stopped bleeding, and looking at my arms and legs they were the most wounded. Moving my limbs caused spikes of pain to rush to my head. Hearing Elise walk up to me, I look back up as she hands me a pouch.
“Take the cores. They’ll be helpful to you, slowly extract the energy from them.” Taking the pouch from her, I nod. “Alright, one more place to go. Can you walk by yourself?”
“Mm, I’ll be okay.”
Following Elise, while keeping the glow from Moon Glow around myself, I struggled to walk due to the exhaustion of my body and after walking for a few minutes, I tumbled forward. Before I collapsed, I felt Elise pick me up on her back and carry me without a word. Feeling my body relax, I fell asleep.
***
Feeling myself being shaken, I wake up slowly and see Elise standing over me. “Wakey wakey. We’re here Alisha.” Rubbing my eyes, I still felt tired and looked around. We were in a room, and nearby is a table with small shelves, some were empty while others had folded clothing and shoes. Sitting up, Elise explained.
“We’re at the hot springs, take off your clothing and put on this towel.” Getting up, I still felt some of my exhaustion, I hadn’t slept much. Once I do as Elise says, she leads me out of the room to outside, where a big pond of sorts with steam coming from it. There wasn’t anyone else here but myself and Elise. Stepping into the heated water, the wounds on my legs stung as I hissed in pain.
Submerging my body, the wounds I had sustained reopened as the pain stung me even more. It must’ve shown as Elise comforted me. “These springs have good regenerative properties, the pain is normal, and your wounds will heal rather quickly in here.”
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Looking down, I did indeed see that the wounds were visibly healing already, the flesh slowly stitching itself back together. Letting the springs do its work, I also felt my exhaustion melting away. I wasn’t full of energy, but I no longer felt exhausted to the bone. Letting myself relax, I look around. Around us were wooden walls, blocking the view from all sides except for the place we had walked from, which was an open room with no doors.
Looking towards Elise, I saw that she too was relaxing in the springs as well, and thinking of what she said earlier, I decided to question her. Feeling Alice move around on my head, I also planned to wash her too.
“Elise, why were you in my room before?”
Not answering me for a few minutes, she soon turns to me and says “As your advisor, I’m responsible for your life. To accomplish this, I usually will do some research on new applicants, so I went and spoke to those that had found you and brought you to Vale. After speaking with Roland, I found you had asked about a place called Crater Hell.
"Upon learning that, I decided to see where this Crater Hell was, so I decided to research it, but before I could do so I received a request from the Lily Pond Inn to assist you. From what was provided in the request, you had visited the library before coming back, unresponsive to anyone, pale and very shaken. So I headed to the library and found you had discovered the location of this Crater Hell.
"We don’t have much…or rather, we have no information about it, so I don’t know anything about this city, town or whatever it is, but I do now know from your reaction it’s something like a home. The distance from here to Crater Hell is huge, and from what Roland told me you had somehow ended up here. So with that information, I came to see you and saw you were depressed, so I figured the best way was to drag you out and give you some encouragement.”
Listening to what she said, it seemed that someone at the Lily Pond Inn knew something had happened to me. Thinking of Floof, I wondered if it was him who had requested someone to help me out. Either way, I appreciated their help, compared to how I felt earlier I felt a lot better now. Thanking Elise, she simply said not to mind it and that she’d do it for any adventurer under her. As we sit there in silence, I felt my wounds fully heal as time passed slowly.
“Alright, let's head back. It’s nearly midnight and you’ve got a big day tomorrow with your first request.” Standing up, I suddenly felt a shock go through me. Looking upwards, I felt a presence for a split second, one I felt was very familiar…but it seemed different yet very familiar. Wondering what it was, I couldn’t feel that presence anymore.
It reminded me of Crater Hell for some reason…frowning slightly, I wanted to know why I felt something like that, but I knew I couldn’t just get the answers right this moment. Getting out of the spring, I walked back to that other room.
***
Looking up at the ceiling of my room at the inn, I stretched as I laid down, Alice asleep next to me. Elise and I had walked back here and after entering I had found the young boy who had delivered me food once at the desk. After seeing Elise off, I returned to my room. Looking at the notifications from the System, I saw I had levelled up.
You killed Gale Ant
You gained 10,000 experience.
You gained 1,000 Class experience.
Seeing 10 of these messages, they ended with a level-up notice.
You levelled to 21.
Gained the following Stats:
Agility: +40
Strength: +20
Intelligence: +15
Toughness: +5
You gain 10% more Stats due to Aspiring Hero, you gain the following:
Agility: +4
Strength: +2
Intelligence: +2
Toughness: +0
Health increased to 1,500.
Lunar Mana Increased to 13,500.
Feeling my body strengthen more from accepting the level up, I relish in the feeling for a moment with my eyes closed. Opening them again, I felt completely refreshed, like I hadn’t been tired a moment ago and had actually slept for a few hours. Sitting up, I was a bit confused about that feeling.
Well, more time to do other things I guess. After thinking about it, I decided to head outside to try my hand at Astral Ice magicks, to see if I could pick up on new magic. Grabbing the book, I scoop up Alice and put her in my coat as I head out of my room. Heading downstairs, I see Floof sitting at a table, talking to Jessica. The lobby had very few other people, after all, it is rather late at night.
Upon seeing me, Floof gestures for me to come over, and approaching him I see Jessica glance at me before looking away.
“Young fox, it’s good to see you back on your feet. Are you heading out? You should rest some more.”
“Ah…I levelled up earlier and I strangely feel full of energy, so I decided to head out to learn magic.”
Glancing at me, Floof nods and says “I see. When you level up you’ll usually feel well-rested for a day or two. Some believe it’s due to the gaining strength from the System. It only happens from level 20 onwards, which is when you gain more Stats from levelling, so that may be right.”
Thinking over what he said, the feeling did indeed only happen after accepting the level-up. Looking once again at Floof, I quickly thank him for calling Elise.
“Hm? I didn’t make a request.” Turning to Jessica, he says “Young Jessica here did, she saw you return and checked in on you at dinner time to find you had been sick and were unresponsive in bed. You should thank her.”
“Master! I told you not to mention this!”
Seeing Jessica glaring at Floof, she looks away from us. Floof chuckles as he says “Jessica here seems cold, but she’s rather caring, even more so towards our kind, Young Fox.”
Seeing Jessica remain silent with her face turned away, I thanked her for helping me. Heaving a sigh, she turns to me and says “It’s fine, looking after our customers is our duty.”
Chuckling once again, Floof changes the topic “If you’re heading out to practice magic, you should go to the backyard. It’ll let us help you in the case of the blizzard hitting us early. They predict it could happen as soon as tomorrow.”
Taking Floof up on the offer, he calls over the young boy. “Lenny, show our guest to the backyard. Keep an eye out in case the blizzard stricks early. Remember, if she is experiencing inspiration do not interrupt her, if that happens and the blizzard starts, call me.” Lenny nods and starts leading me to a room behind the counter.
After walking through a few more rooms, we arrive outside in a courtyard. It was rather simple, a walkway around the courtyard with the square in the middle under the night sky. Lenny sits on the ledge of a wall and says “If you sit in the middle it’ll provide an easier time gathering energy of the night.”
Thanking him, I do as he suggests and sit in the middle of the courtyard with the book in my lap. Nudging Alice, she flies back to the walkway and rests on one of the supporting beams. Recalling the information from the book, I close my eyes as I sense the energy of the stars. As I sense it easily, I start trying to sense what the book says next, the sensation of the coldness of the stars.
Very quickly I felt the energy within me conflicting. I still had energy from the moon flowing into me, so I moved that energy out of me, working to block energy from the moon from entering me. It took a few minutes as my body was too used to absorbing both the energies of the moon and stars, but soon I felt only the energy of starlight within me.
Trying to feel the coldness of the starlight felt confusing. The starlight within me is warm, there isn’t a hint of it being cold or getting cold. Removing all thoughts from my mind as I was still being distracted by thoughts of Crater Hell, I focus on the energy. Recalling the content of the book, it said being in freezing temperatures would help inspire me.
Removing my coat, I throw it to the side as the freezing chill hit me right away. It’s much, much colder than it had been when I was first teleported here. Letting the cold hit me, I keep my eyes close and sink myself into my mana realm. Feeling the power of starlight surrounding me here, I concentrated on feeling both the coldness and the starlight at the same time.
For a moment, I felt something, something distant. Trying to grasp that feeling again, I try merging the starlight within me with the coldness surrounding me, but something stopped me from doing so. It’s like when I try to cover every muscle in my body with Lunar Blessing like a thin barrier is preventing me from combining the energies.
I keep trying, not forcing it this time but slowly intertwining the two together. However, as I am about to fully combine them, I heard a loud crack in my mana realm. Looking around with a scare, my eyes find the source of the sound quickly as they land on the orb that Flannery would emerge from. Down the middle of the orb is a crack, and before I could react, the orb splits apart before turning into light.
The light from the orb swirls around for a moment before moving towards me, merging into me. As the light enters my mana realm self, I felt an overwhelming feeling in me, an inspiration…inspriation about Lunar magic, like I had experienced years of it. As my thoughts faded, my final thought and worry is about Flannery’s orb…why had it disappeared.