Feeling tired, Yukali amicably left the gaming room where Veronica was still playing with Lady Niadas. While she was walking thoughtfully up the stairs, she took another look at her status.

User Name

Yukali

Race

Dragonkin

Bloodline

Cinis Ustrinum Anguis

Age 18

Level 1

HP 200/200

MP 120/120

Feats

One with the Sword

Haunted Stare

Background

Servant of Nobility / Traumatic Childhood

Class

Monk LV. 1

Sub Class

Locked

Title

ScaledFist

Exp 0/100

Attributes

Strength 20

Constitution 20

Dexterity 15

Intelligence 12

Wisdom 12

Charisma 11

Luck 6

Skills

Intermidiate Sword Use

LV 1 0/100

Cloaked Blade

LV 1 0/100

Ki Fist

LV 1 0/100

She had made the decision to choose the monk class, as she had felt she was close to a breakthrough in her sword skill. A strange energy that she now knew was Ki had been flowing through her during her when she practiced the sword lately. In fact she had managed to employ it to help keep her hidden while she was waiting for the moment to strike Lord Attomas.

Reaching the third level, she went to her room and entered it. Surprisingly she found the lights were still on, and Yukali saw Megan was sitting on the edge of the bed looking down at the floor of the room. The room they were staying in had a nautical theme about it, and the carpet was a deep blue. "I thought you would already be asleep by the time I got up here. Did you have dinner?"

"Yeah. Jack stopped by and made sure I ordered something. However they brought more than I could eat, so you can have the rest if you would like." Megan said.

Walking over to the nearby table, Yukali saw a plate of food that had been half eaten. Feeling a bit peckish, she took some of the bread and ate it. After eating it, she took off her armor and started to prepare to go to bed. While she was doing that, Megan asked "You said you wanted to speak with me?"

"That I did. If you are too tired, we can wait till tomorrow."

"No, I am okay. What did you wish to speak with me about?"

"Jack sent me a contract today while I was in the sauna. I accepted, and I am now one of his Users."

"Be careful not to rely on him. It's best to rely on yourself." Megan muttered.

"I believe that as well. I will use him to help myself get stronger, but I will not rely on his strength. I aim to go on a journey to get stronger and achieve several of my dreams. As part of that, I would like you to come with me."

"What?" Megan looked confused and said "Why do you want me to come with you?"

"I see through you. While the others see you drowning in grief, I see a woman resolving to take a path to get herself stronger. You aim to kill this Luxurian."

"And you what? Want to stop me from doing something stupid?"

"Whether it's stupid or foolhardy, I don't know. I'm not one to judge another person's revenge after I have done my own. What I want is the opposite. I want to help you gain the strength to fight her. By helping you, I achieve my own goals as well."

Looking up Megan glared at Yukali and said "What goals would that be?"

"There is a place I would like to go down south in the Empire. As I am a monsterkin and they don't like us down in the empire, I need help to travel down there."

Megan glanced to the side and said "Yeah, that is a problem. Not sure how I can help you with that. I'm not a mage, so my word is not exactly worth much in the Empire."

"You underestimate yourself. You have a very commanding presence. You may not be a mage but what you are is just as powerful. Beneath the surface, what the Empire really respects is power. If I pose as your slave, we will be able to travel without much trouble in the Empire."

Frowning, Megan said "How is that going to help me gain strength?"

"The place I wish to go to is a dungeon. By fighting in the dungeon, we can quickly gain strength. Even Jack knows it is a suitable place to train, as he himself is building one."

"Why do you want to go to the Empire then? Why not wait till Jack is finished?" 

"Because there are rumors of Dragons at the bottom of the dungeon in the Empire. I wish to go down and see for myself."

"I've travelled enough to know they don't exactly let just anyone into a known dungeon. I would not be able to get a pass, no matter how powerful you think I am."

"That is not a concern. For we already know one person that will help us get into the dungeon."

Squinting her eyes, Megan asked "You are talking about Princess Falean?"

"Yes, I was there when Telvin came back with a pair of slave collars. Jack placed one onto her, and she regained her senses, although she is now relatively odd. Notwithstanding her strangeness, I was able to communicate with her, and she agreed to sign a pass for us."

"You're assuming I will go with you." Megan said looking deep in thought for a long while, before saying "I will go with you. There are some things I will need to do in the Empire anyway. Before we go there, however, we will need to stop by my club. In addition I have some people I need to kill. You will help me or the deal is off."

Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.

"I have no trouble with killing, as long as you believe they deserve it. After you have finished with your tasks, we will head south to a special mine on loan to the Empire. We will be able to catch a ride on an airship there."

"Wait a minute. I hope you didn't choose me because you think I'm flush with coins. I don't have nearly enough coins to get us tickets on an airship. We will have to travel by carriage to the Empire."

"Do not worry, I have a large amount of coins that I just need to go pick up. It's in the bank system, so I can get it in any major city so it won't be an issue." 

"Since you signed up with Jack, which class did you decide to take? I should know if I'm going to be fighting by your side." 

"I decided to take the Monk Class."

"I thought the Monks were more of a barehanded class. Don't you use a sword? Your skill in it is quite impressive."

"I do. However, I have recently been able to access a power that I now recognize as Ki within me. I can use Ki with my sword, so no issue there. In fact, I believe I should learn a martial art as well."

Before getting to bed, Yukali began her routine night stretch of muscles. The room was silent except for Yukali's occasional grunts of exertion. Megan had been watching her awhile before she asked "I still don't understand why you wish to travel with me. Surely one of the others would be more useful than me. If you haven't noticed I'm not exactly okay, in fact, I feel awful all the time and just want to lay around. Not exactly a good travel companion."

Stretching down she touched her clawed toes, Yukali replied "The others have their strengths and flaws. But I chose you, because your eyes remind me of my own. That you will do what you need to do. Plus, you have a head for dealing with people, which has never been my strong suit."

A soft chuckle emerged from Megan and she said "I'm not sure I'm up to dealing with people. Most of the time I feel like biting other peoples heads off, or just curling into a ball and weeping."

Finished with her stretches, Yukali went over and sat down next to Megan. "You know I have never loved a sole person. There are some I care for, but never loved. Lord Attomas ripped that emotion from me long ago. So I can't know what you are going through." She went silent for a moment, then said "What I do know is the thirst for revenge. I will aid you in your quest to kill this Luxurian, you have my word."

Nodding, Megan slid under the covers of the bed and turned away from Yukali. Going to her side of the bed, Yukali turned off the lights and slipped under the covers as well. Closing her eyes Yukali was about to go too asleep when she heard Megan say "If you want to pass as a slave in the Empire, you are going to have to wear a slave collar. A real one, are you going to be okay with that?"

"When I decided on my path, I knew that was likely. I suppose it is ironic I sought my freedom from Lord Attomas, only to now seek to place another collar around my neck."

"If we go in with a fake one, they will likely find out. At that time they will likely kill you."

"Today Telvin got two slave collars. I managed to convince them to give me the cheap one. It is currently in my inventory. When it is time, I will ask you to place it upon me, thus you will then be my master for the duration the collar is on."

"You are placing a lot of trust in me. You won't be able to remove the collar yourself, how do you know I won't just keep you as a slave?"

"Because you are a good person, and you know Alexia would hate it."

Silence struck Megan and then she eventually replied "Yeah you are right."

"When we are in the Empire, I will be your loyal slave. All I ask is you do not ask too much of me."

"If we are going to act like master and slave, we will make out a contract to be clear on the boundaries. When you put on the slave collar, it's going to be hard to set limits, so it's best to set them beforehand. I'm sure I can get a contract paper from Lady Niadas."

"Very well, that will work."

"How exactly did you know about this dungeon anyway? Most dungeons are kept secret from most ordinary folk."

"Lord Attomas was investigating them. He considered them the likely source of monsters. Before the goblin wars and before Kingdom of Sevaris took over, monsters could only be found inside of a dungeon. He had several theories on why, and I managed to look over the information he had gotten."

"Why do you want to meet a dragon?"

Staring up at the dark ceiling Yukali said "Lord Attomas belittled my ideas. He had little good to say to my face. When he took me to bed the things he said nearly crushed my spirit. While I may have killed him in the physical sense, memories of his words haunt me, making me feel like I need to constantly prove myself. Besides becoming stronger, I will seek evidence for every hypothesis I had. I will destroy his work so nothing remains of him. I want him forgotten by history."

"Good for you. Lord Attomas was an asshole."

"Yeah." Yukali closed her eyes when she heard some screaming take place outside down below. Snapping her eye's open, she leaped off the bed and opened the door to the balcony and looked down, with Megan following behind her. There were no lights down below in the courtyard near the pool, so it was hard to make out. But it looked as if several people were struggling near the pool and screaming.

As she was about to leap down, the moon came out from behind the clouds and lit up the courtyard. This was just enough for Yukali to see what was going on. To her disgust, she saw a monstrous ball of flesh climbing out of the empty pool. It had grabbed three women, and several others were dodging its tentacles. It was in the process of ripping their clothes and anger flared through Yukali.

Looking closer at it, the examination skill activated and she saw some of its information.

Name

Piece of Mark the Abomination

Race

Abomination

Level

12

Difficulty

3

HP

400/400

MP

60/60

"That thing?" Megan shouted in surprise as Yukali quickly donned her armor through the equipment screen.

Then unsheathing her sword, she jumped down. With a mighty slash she cut through a tentacle grasping one of the girls. To her disgust a white liquid sprayed out of the wounded tentacle before it was absorbed back into its body. Looking closer at it, she was sickened by the multiple mouths and eyes all around the thing. They were screaming silently in horror, and at the same time letting of a strong sense of lust.

Several tentacles that resembled penises except they had eyes on them, reached out towards her. Yukali dodged backwards while slashing them with her blade covered in Ki. The abomination backed off perceiving her as a threat and grabbed the other two girls it had closer to itself.

Megan roared from above "Freeze Asshole!" A surge of power flowed from above and slammed into the flesh ball who looked like it was struggling to move afterwards. After a bit a tentacle emerged from it's top and emitted a stream of white goo towards Megan standing on the balcony. Megan dodged back inside to avoid being covered.

Another door to another balcony slammed open, and Telvin appeared with his bow and looked down. Pointing down he roared "Cage Of Thorns!" Several thick green vines wrapped around the flesh blob who started to frantically struggle. Seeing it was presently immobilized for the moment, Yukali jumped forward and slashed through the tentacles binding the woman, and they managed to escape and flee towards the inn.

While she was achieving that, Telvin began to pelt it with arrows. Veronica ran through the entrance wearing a loose robe. She waved her hand and a blue shield popped up in front of Yukali just as several fleshy tentacles reached out and attempted to grab her only to smash hard against the shield.

Charging her ki fist she ducked around the shield and slammed her fist into the giant fleshy ball. When her fist connected, it seemed to burn the flesh and it shuddered in pain. Telvin yelled "We need to burn it!"

Maetrin came out on another balcony "I got Alchemist's fire!" at that moment he tossed several flasks at the beast, and Yukali quickly backed up. Once the flasks hit, intense flames burst up and she hears it's flesh start to sizzle and burn under the intense heat. To help the blaze, Telvin came out and hurled several bottles of spirits onto the flaming blob.

The vines were burnt away allowing the blob to try to roll away, only for Riley to come charging in and slam it into the wall that fenced the courtyard. Jack came out and waved his hands creating a blue box around the blob as it continued to burn. "Get the pieces you cut off, we have to kill each piece or it will grow back again!"

With the light of the flames, Yukali managed to find the still moving tentacles she had cut off the blob and pitched them into the fire with it. They kept adding wood and alcohol to the fire while it struggled to escape its fiery prison. It didn't even die when it's HP had gone to zero, and for the next thirty minutes it would occasionally move.

The blaze got so hot, that Jack was the only one who could stand next to it comfortably. Finally, he said "There that should do it."

He walked back but kept the blue box around it. Yukali said "Is it dead?"

"Yeah, though it's only a piece of it. It must have broken off sometime ago. I don't sense the main body anywhere nearby. Unfortunately, you won't get any experience unless you destroy the main body." He looked at the rest of the group and said "I will keep an eye on it until it has fully turned to ashes. The rest of you can go to bed."

Walking back inside, she passed the old woman who headed out to speak with Jack. Stepping inside Yukali was greeted by three young girls. One was a Foxkin, the other two were human. The foxkin said "We wanted to thank you for saving us." 

"No problem. I couldn't let that thing have its way with you. No one should be the victim of a monster."

"I'm Rena; this is Seika, and that's Mika. We three are the lead supporting dancers for Oren Academy."

"What's a supporting dancer?"

"We support our players by the sidelines and keep the crowd energized. We are currently in town doing a competition with several other academies."

Curious Yukali looked at the girls a bit closer and found they were actually all pretty toned. "What kind of competition?"

"We do a series of routines that are part dance and part gymnastics. We were actually practicing a routine outside when we got attacked by the monster."

"I hope you do well in your competition."

Yukali was about to pass by them, when Rena said "You are a Dragonkin right?"

"I am."

"I've never met one before. Are you able to breathe fire like Dragon's can?"

"No, no Dragonkin can do that."

"Oh that's a shame."

"So where is this Oren Academy?"

"It's in the capital Kestana. We are one of the top three academies in the kingdom."

"Why is the competition in such a far away place?"

Rena scratched her head with her large ears moving about and said "Tradition. Apparently the first supporting dances took place in this village."

"I see. You should get to bed. You need to sleep if you want to compete at full strength."

"Naturally. If you're ever in the capital look us up at the academy. I would love to show you around campus."

Feeling like she was done for the night, Yukali went upstairs and found Megan was already asleep. Sliding into bed with her, she quickly fell asleep as well.