Snapping out of his shocked state, Sain suddenly asked, “What the hell just happened?! I was just...”
“Taking down a Behemoth after several of your friends died and not caring about it” interrupted Eden.
“But before I got the final blow-”
“Lightning fell down on it all of a sudden which relieved you of your kill though you still managed to level up quite a bit” interrupted Eden once again.
“Yeah but then I was suddenly-”
“Teleported here where you are now asking me those questions, yes I get it, you're about to complain on why I did that right?” interrupted Eden for a third times in a row.
“....”
Sain frowned at Eden who seemed to know what he was thinking.
“It's not like I know what you're thinking but I generally know what people want to know when these things happens” replied Eden to Sain's thoughts without any consideration to Sain's mental stability.
“Also the reason why I stole that kill was to make sure it doesn't get to your head. I still remember when Gen, Mel and Jenny were full in their head...took too long to 'correct' their thinking.”
'Plus I kinda forgot about you guys since Alexandra was sending out massive amounts of killing intent at me and then next thing I knew, 4 of you guys died while I wasn't watching...damn...! Don't kill them so fast you damn Behemoth...not that it matters now since your dead. I want my entertainment! A quick one sided fight is no fun to watch' thought Eden at that moment as well.
'Why do I have a feeling that Eden is having evil thoughts right now?' though Sain at the same time, 'Also....'
“Why did you teleported us out so suddenly? You could have done it before or after the battle” asked Sain obviously annoyed that Eden stole his kill.
Eden scratched his cheek, “Actually, a certain Alexandra was about to kill me and then....well I was forced to teleport you out and didn't exactly have the luxury to think whether you were about to win or not.”
“....”
Sain looked behind Alexandra who had a face mixed with concern and killing intent towards Eden.
But that wasn't the most important thing to Sain right now. He looked to the left and right and found Miriel was knocked cold out of it for some reason. He quickly went to her and checked if she was all right calling out to her:
“Miriel! Miriel, are you all right?!” he said frantically trying to see if there was something wrong since she was not responding to him.
Seeing this, Alexandra gave a few glared at Eden before going to tell Sain, “She's fine...we just knocked her out since this is something that only you should know.”
'Only me?'
Sain looked around and found that their masters were here as well looking with concern faces. For some reason that made him concern as well knowing that something was truly wrong. Alexandra held his right hand covered by the glove Eden gave him and the others and took it off examining what was underneath it.
“What the...”
Sain was astonished that the snake marking on his hand called 'Mark of the Serpent' was glowing a deep red and looked like it was alive on him right now. He really had no idea what was going on but the others seemed to know.
“I knew it....”
With her sword at hand and anger clearly on her face, Alexandra faced Eden and pointed her sword at him with rage. Eden was mildly shocked but still calm about all of this. You could see that there; for a brief second was a cluster of mana in his hand about to attack though he withdrew it to allow Alexandra to threaten him instead of fighting each other.
“How could you do this?!”
“....”
“You know what will happen in the end don't you?! Are you planning to make them monsters like us that can never fit in with other people.”
“....”
“Why have you hidden this from me?! Do you not care for the children?”
Eden was completely silent except for the comment, “When were you the type that liked children?”
Alexandra did not even bother stabbing him since there was no point in doing that. Instead she want right at him and slapped him at once. Eden took it without moving those glaring at Alexandra all the time.
Alexandra could only next mutter in a soft voice, “Weren't you the type to like them as well? They were the only ones that weren't afraid of us at all. Truly innocent creatures....no matter the age.”
“What I want are not children but tools to use at the end. You know that sooner or later these children will have no 'future' unless these measures are taken.”
SLAP!
Alexandra gave him another slap in the face for that comment.
“Do you really regard other people as mere tools now? What of the days when we were younger and were exploring the corners of the continent freely causing all sorts of mayhem? Did you only feel that they were worthless in the end?!” there were tears in her eyes now seeing that Eden had reverted back to his 'cold' self that would occasionally appear but never once did he cause harm to others in this way.
“Those days....were truly troublesome. Whether I wanted or not, trouble would always follow usually by someone screwing up and resulting in a massive battle. Other times legendary creatures would appear and we would fight them to the death...usually barely winning in the end. But....while annoyed, I never felt they were worthless since they were the happiest days of my life and in the end they were the times I spend most with you and Viv.”
Eden let out a sigh and then proceeded to say, “You know, you should actually let me explain things to begin with before you go ranting off in an emotion rampage that might destroy this city before that Demon Monster Army does” intentionally taunting her with a bit of humour mixed into his tone.
“Why the hell should I when you do this kind of shit behind my back” complained Alexandra clearly more calmed down than before.
“I didn't, you just weren't there at all when I did it” explained Eden, “Plus I would have told you sooner or later when I had the chance but Sain here 'awakened' a lot earlier than I thought. In fact, it had only been 7 months since the mark went on him. Usual case with those brats over there indicated that it would take a year or two to start acting up at first.”
“...Heh....so you're saying that I overreacted right?” with a fist clenched just for him.
“...” Eden looked a bit stunned, “Either way you're going to hit me aren't you?”
“Yep.”
“Then I will say you greatly overreacted this time.”
“Good for you.”
BANG!
Eden was hit squarely in the stomach and was showing signs of great pain being hit by Alexandra. No one knows whether it was due to the physical pain or emotion one.
“Alexandra...you might kill our baby like that” commented Eden.
BANG BANG BANG!
That joke was taken badly even though usually Alexandra would go along with it to tease other people.
Eden was hit three more times in the same location just like that. Eden fell to the floor powerless as the others watched this damn love comedy scene that got real serious. It was only when Sain uttered, “So....isn't there some sort of invasion happening?”, that things went back on track.
Hearing those words, Eden immediately got up as if he wasn't hit with a total of four punches that could each take out a Dragon in one go and then said, “Right! Monster invasion to repel, but first, I need to explain some things that I should have said beforehand before Alexandra tried to beat me up just then.”
Sain nodded still next to the unconscious Miriel lying helpless on the ground.
“Basically-”
“Master Eden! The demons are VERY close to the city right now! Not even a hundred metres till they hit the walls!” shouted a guard coming into the building all of a sudden. Eden muttered, “Damn why does this always happen at the wrong time” and then along with Sain and Alexandra, teleported to the north city walls were the front lines of the battle was.
“Eh? What do we do now?” asked one of the masters that was left behind. The others did not know what to do since they were left with no instructions on what to do.
In the mist of this, White slipped away to try and find 'normal' clothes to wear instead of this maid outfit he was forced into by Alexandra.
[p=center]xXx[/p]
“Stock up on arrows! All warriors or otherwise that do not have a range method of attacking shou-ah! Master Eden, your here at last! We were just preparing just in case you wished to abandon us” said to what seemed to be the captain guard of this city that worked to preserve peace and order in this city.
Eden gave him an irritated look filled with the message, 'Would I really do that?' without saying it. The captain guard naturally said, “Sir, with your reputation, I would not be surprised if you declared yourself to be the bringer of death and destruction and wage war against the Kingdom.”
While Eden was conversing with the captain guard, Sain look the time to look around. They were certainly on the north wall of the city which was a standard 7 metre tall for all cities of a certain size. The walls were around 5 metres thick so it was actually quite a thin wall for a city this big but it seems budget and safety cuts were happening even in this world.
'Also...why the hell was I teleported here as well?! Wouldn't any other person do besides me?' wondered Sain in his thoughts.
“Put this glove back on...” said Alexandra all of a sudden to Sain. Seeing her from afar was one thing but being so close to her was another things as well. Sain suddenly felt that his heart was beating much faster than it should in her presence.
“Hmm? Increased heart rate....I'm surprised that you don't have the same reaction to Eden” wondered Alexandra aloud adding much to the embarrassment to Sain. Seeing that Sain was quickly turning bright red Alexandra comforted him with:
“Don't worry! This is a natural reaction of teenage boys...and sometimes teenage girls which are a lot more frightening than you think....compared to me, Eden had been hit on by all sorts of people much more! Hahahaha, it's still a good laugh to remember those times. In the end he casted an anti-charm spell on himself so other people would have 'normal' reactions to him. Well this doesn't affect stronger people or those with high resistance to magic though like me.”
“I'm more surprised on how quickly your reaction to Eden changed in such a short period of time” said Sain trying to steer off the topic which was currently making him very uncomfortable.
“Oh that? A good tip....women can quickly change their impression on things in a blink of an eye. Mortal enemies will become best friends and best friends will become mortal enemies for the tiniest thing. This is even more profound in those girls with you. As for me....those things never interested me that much so I'm pretty much the same for everything.
“Except for Eden.”
“Yes...except for him....he's the only thing I'm worried about” Alexandra let out a sad voice thinking of the past and present Eden. Back then...he was much more free and lazy which made it comfortable to hang around. Now he was still the same but lacked that feel that made you want to laze around as well around him.
While others may not know, Alexandra knew it was probably that 'Destroyer' factor in him that was causing this change. He would slowly become colder when fighting, using much more advance and cruel tactics against people and would slowly lack the hesitation to kill others or cause them great pains when he needed to. The goofing off Eden that would always complain about things that Alexandra originally knew and this slightly more serious Eden was worlds apart to her.
“You really are married to him aren't you” said Sain seeing a bit into what Alexandra was worrying about, “As the person closest to him, you know him the best and would worry about him the most.”
“Eh what? Yes, we're married though it was more like a spur of the moment thing. We were both drunk as hell with some dwarves and then Eden proposed when things came to another and I accepted and....lots of things happened after that. Mind you that dwarves have the best beer in the land” replied Alexandra blushing a bit to his words and responding without knowing to that much.
“Why is it that when I take my eyes off you, you start to talk about things I don't want others to know!”
Eden lightly knocked some sense into Alexandra's head with a tap before heading to the edge of the very thin wall where there were a line of black fog and demons a hundred metres away. They numbered around a hundred thousand but were all strong; at least level 300 monster for the weakest.
“I suppose I should take care of this” said Eden with a sigh jumping off the wall heading to the monster army all alone.
[p=center]xXx[/p]
When Miriel woke up, Sain wasn't there. She wasn't asking herself that of concern but rather on why he wasn't there at all. Did he abandoned her? Did he decide that the others were worthless? Those thoughts filled Miriel's mind due to her fear.
“Ah Miriel, you're finally awake at last...that subduing spell was too strong after all” said Jenny when she saw that Miriel was wide and awaken.
“Master....?”
“Yes, I am your master and I am here. What is it that your wondering now?” asked Jenny a bit happy to see that Miriel still recognised her as her master instead of Eden since....anyone else would be fine but Eden for her safety.
“Where's Sain?”
Jenny let out a face with the words, 'As I thought' on them and said to Miriel, “Do you like that boy that much? You are at that age...”
“Not at all! Something is strange with him...like there is someone else controlling him and...and...!”
“You are extremely worried about him right? Don't worry about that, it has been dealt with...or will when those two guildmasters decide to stop being distracted and get to the main point already” said Jenny in a tone dissing Eden and Alexandra a bit while they weren't here.
“Wait a second. What exactly happened to Sain?” asked Miriel confused on the information she was getting now. There were a lot of gaps in when Jenny was saying to her.
Jenny sighed thinking of something and then muttering, 'I better not get killed over this' and removed her right glove that was the same as the one Miriel had on her hand. There, as if it was burn on, the Mark of a Bird was on her hand.
“Eden told you that we had these marks as well right? Well let me explain how these 'marks' work.”
The other 5 masters in the room were a bit surprised but did not stop her or say a word or even bother interfering at all, doing their own thing. It was a rule that you don't interfere with someone else's choice on what they want to do.
“These 'marks' are basically a tool that allows us to draw out the inner strength that our mind and body are suppressing. You have heard of people unleashing great strength or speed at times when their lives are in danger right? This is simply the same...however the difference is that we can do that at will.”
“I see....”
Such a concept wasn't that rare at all. Miriel knew that there were players that had lifted the limits on their bodies in game and were powerful thanks to that.
“With our 'marks' however, there is another feature. It does not simply draw out inner strength but personalities with it was well that are hidden inside....”
“What?”
Miriel could not believe her ears at all. Such a thing was fundamentally impossible to do. Things like inner personalities are things of fiction or scams that certain religious people say to trick people in the end.
“Not everyone have a hidden personalities that they are unconsciously suppressing. That is why Eden actually seek out people like us in the first place. We are all people who have lost something too important to recover. The Inner Personalities are a result of our hatred and despair or something that was replaced by something new after said event. In exchange for even greater power, what was being hidden inside begins to slip out bit by bit until it corrodes your mind and personality itself.”
Jenny looked sadly at her own mark as well.
“Don't get me won't, the power that comes with this is enough that it compensates of what happens afterwards. But what is the most troublesome thing is that things get really out of hand when you can't control that 'other' personality in you. Usually these things appear after a year or so but that Sain....in a mere 7 months managed to unleash it.”
Miriel frowned, what Jenny said might have some significant but it mostly did not make sense at all, so she asked:
“So...what exactly is happening to Sain again?”
“His other personality appeared out of nowhere and Eden needs to suppress it or let it loose from there.”
“And these gloves are...?”
“A way to suppress them until the time is right to use them though our ones are much more powerful while your ones only have a small amount of power to begin with.”
“So...what happened to Sain won't happen again right?” asked Miriel really hoping that that kind of Sain would not appear again.
Jenny shook her head and said, “That depends on him in the end.”
[p=center]xXx[/p]
“And that is more or less what happened to you” said Alexandra concluding her side of things as well to Sain.
“....”
Sain thought about it. When he was in this 'trance', he didn't feel like that there was something wrong at all. In fact, he felt that everything was finally fine and he was 'complete'. Like something that was being pressed down was finally released. In the end, Sain asked, “Can this be controlled?”
Alexandra replied with a smile, “Of course! That's the whole point of the glove!”
“And the others?”
“The same will happen to them as well. It only depends on when though. Of course by then, we will actually have things sorted so the same thing won't happen like with you.”
With this, the matter of things was resolved fine and the two watched as Eden was about to face off the monster army on his own.
[p=center]xXx[/p]
“I'll give you guys one final warning since I have other things to do. Scam or die” said Eden all alone in this mass of monsters that were all powerful demons. The moment those words left Eden's mouth, it seemed that the Demons started to laugh as if this was a joke.
Eden sighed and then muttered, “Your death....”
Space distorted around Eden as if there was something there covering him like armour. Eden would not have mercy for fools that didn't consider his warning.
“Chains of Heaven!”
Several chains came bursting out of the distorted space. Nothing much, but there were only 5 golden chains that came out hitting several of the Demons at once and dragging some of them to the ground easily.
[Rooooooar!!!]
It was at this moment that the Demon Army finally recognised Eden as an enemy.
“Lightning Spear.”
A spear made of lightning that was twice his size appeared along side his arm as he moved in close to one of the demons that looked like a troll and smashed his fist into it along with the lightning spear.
Bang!
Lightning was sent to the surrounding area as well as part of Eden's spell as he continued to use 'Chains of Heaven' to keep the other Demons quite a distance away from him in check. Various kicks, punches and magic spells of all kinds later, Eden made a gaping hole in the Demon Army in a matter of 10 seconds.
“Lightning Shower!”
Eden raised his hands using 'Chains of Heaven' as a defence to knock back Demons on all sides as he casted this massive AOE spell that covered the entire army at once. The Demons could only watch as lightning from above fell on them.
Bang Bang Bang Bang....!
Several thousand weaker Demons died in that one onslaught of a spell. The other Demons now only focused on killing Eden as it seemed that he was the greatest danger that they could ever face.
“Ice Nova!”
After leaping from place to place dodging attacks from Demons that would not even affect their comrades due to the effect of this dark fog, Eden slammed his fist into the ground causing ice to burst out of the ground like spikes for several tens of metres in front of him.
Next using his leg, he casted the next spell as if he was kicking it out.
“Flame Burst!”
From his simply kick, came flying out a wave of fire that covered and burnt the nearby Demons into ashes like they were paper. Normally Demons had high resistance to all things, especially physical attacks but their magic resistance wasn't something to joke about. It was just that, the amount of power in these spells were simply too much for any creature that was bound to common sense could endure.
“This is taking too long...time to finish this now” said Eden ignoring the screams of the Demons around him as he swiftly moved his hand across the space in front of him making small balls that were no bigger than tennis balls each with different colours.
Red, Blue, Purple, White, Yellow and so on until there were a total of 12 of them around him.
“Catalyst Demolition!!!”
From each of these small coloured balls were a high level spell of each element. And what came out of them when Eden casted them all were all powerful high level spells of each element.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!
Like a 'rainbow' of some sort...not a better way to explain this was a coloured wheel each with a different colour on each part came an attack. The red one was a fire spell, the blue one was a water spell, purple one was a lightning spell, white was a light spell and so on.
In the end the Demon Army was wiped out like that without mercy causing a large cater with nothing else in there except Eden to be formed immediately like it was a natural thing.
However looking around, Eden let out a sigh saying, “Now....how to clean this up....most of the loot from these guys are gone as well.”
Management from the Kingdom would soon complain that he had 'wasted' valuable materials that would 'greatly' benefit the Kingdom even though the Kingdom had no use for Demon Remains except if they wanted to experiment on using them later which the churches all oppose.
[p=center]xXx[/p]
On the north wall, Sain watched all of this happening with mouth wide open in shock. To his left and right were also shocked guards that had never seen Eden battle before. For those who have, they were only mildly shocked but then continued their work.
“Okay! Monster Army has been repelled! Send word to the citizens that everything is all right now!”
“Reallocate the arrows and bows back to the armoury!”
“Clean up the cannons on the walls as well! Make sure you don't slack off on guard duty because of this!”
There were several people trying to get to work cleaning up on their side but there were much more unresponsive people who were thinking whether or not what they saw was real at all. Even when the Kingdom with the help of Dwarves and Gnomes presented the first mechanised soldier, they weren't as shock as now.
Magic is powerful but there is a limit. The sword is better than magic since it is more reliable. The age of Magic is ending were conceit thoughts that these mindless guards had and supported as they could not use magic freely at all.
They have seem mages being supported by others all the time and could not do anything at all besides that. They were simply useful tools with greater power than normal people in the end. It had been many many years since a major war appeared in which mages were one of the most important factor to consider. Now people just consider them mostly as those with a little too much firepower in their hands.
But what Eden had shown was something that could not have happened, should not have happened. For the guards who have lived only a short 20 or so years, this was too much for them. 'Magic' should not have that kind of power. But the 'Magic' they have just seen could easily destroy cities and Kingdoms at will. Something that they, the 'bottom' could not fully understand and fear.
“Is that person a Demon? The church should go ahead and execute that thing.”
“Nothing to see here....just a damn act in the end.”
“Things should have it's limits. Monsters should all die for us.”
The guards started dissing Eden who essentially saved them in the end. Sain felt a lot of disgust to the guards that never seemed to have done their job at all. Feeling this kind of thing, he looked to Alexandra who was giving off her cold smile.
“....”
Sain immediately backed away from her fleeing for his own safety in the end. He ran to where the captain guard was who also looked in shock at Alexandra. Seeing Sain, the captain guard simply said, “Looks like we're going to get new guards soon...this batch was a failure” with a sigh.
Though Sain did not want to, he understood what was going to happen next.
The Aura around Alexandra quickly materialised and expanded outwards completely pressing down on the north wall including where Sain and the Captain Guard was standing. It was like a white demon just awakened there. Everyone there felt 'death' itself was approaching fast at them.
“Judgement Sword of-”
“Stop.”
Eden appeared, probably with a teleport and tapped Alexandra on the shoulder.
“I'm used to this kind of treatment plus...with that amount of power, half the city will be destroyed in one go.”
The white aura decreased in size and Alexandra appeared to be normal now. The Captain Guard next to Sain sighed in relief and muttered, 'Thank God that things didn't head to that direction...' before leaving to his work.
As Sain walked towards the two guildmasters, he observed the reaction of the guards that were badmouthing Eden just then. They were all collapsed on the ground shivering like crazy and most of them wet themselves due to Alexandra. Sain could hear the slight prayers to the Gods that they worshipped as he walked by.
'It's ironic that the person that saved them was the 'demon' they were badmouthing and the person that nearly killed them all was probably closely connected to the Gods that they are praying to right now.'
“Right, crisis avoided and got some more contribution from the Kingdom. Time to head back” Eden grabbed Sain who was just by and teleported back to the Guild Building.
[p=center]xXx[/p]
Appearing back at the guild building, Miriel saw Sain, Eden and Alexandra and sent killing intent to Eden. It was like a slight pressure appeared in the building though it paled compared to the one that Alexandra sent out just then against the guards.
“Right where were we?” asked Eden ignoring the clear killing intent against him.
“What we're going to do with the 'marks' now” replied Alexandra also ignoring the killing intent against Eden.
“I suppose I can give him a higher powered one to cancel it but...isn't that kinda disappointing. I've seen the progress that was made thanks to the 'other' Sain. A few weeks and they gained 7 levels so easily. There was no room left for mistakes but the hunting sped up rapidly.”
“So...you want him to be a lunatic?” asked Alexandra quite sceptic.
“That said from a fellow lunatic isn't very persuasive at all” replied Eden with a sigh, “Well....I think it's fine to keep him as he is right now since it seems that he's not affected by it out of combat at least.”
With that, the decision to keep the 'commander' Sain was approved and pushed through at the same time.
[p=center]xXx[/p]
Later on that night...when Sain and Miriel logged off since there was no point staying on when the others were banned from logging back in due to dying for another few days in game. In the vortex world that could only be accessed by those of the guild by the permission of the guildmasters and as a place that will not affect the outside world at all.
A total of two people were here right now inside a certain building that was largely inspired by eastern temples or monk training grounds.
“Stop it...I can't last anymore” said a certain 'man' named Eden.
“Quiet! I want to go at least another 5 rounds!” ordered a certain woman named Alexandra.
“Damnit are you trying to kill me through exhaustion?!”
“As long as that lower body of yours can move. I don't mind if you can't move down there either way. It has been a while since I’ve been able to dominate you like this.”
What they were doing?
They were sparing of course! What the hell else could they be doing?
Without magic nor aura and skills, the two were simply fighting using swords training their movements. While the above things were very powerful and could be easily used to blast your way to victory, against a truly powerful foe that can counter 'power' with 'skill' alone, these kinds of things were indeed useless in the end unless you have proper skills.
As such, even now, the two were trying to hone their skills just in case that they would once again face enemies that had such skills. Normally they could just blow them up from long range if it came to that but that hurt their pride greatly when they did.
“Ha!”
Eden swung his sword horizontally at Alexandra while Alexandra blocked it swinging the same way.
Clang~!
The two swords vibrated due to the large impact even with these simple exchanges. Then they started to speed up once again attacking each other over and over again faster than the previous strike.
Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.
Punches and Kicked were also thrown in as well and the swords blurred to the point that they that the after-effects of attacks looked like the space in which they cut through and clashed suddenly exploded with no reason at all.
Clang Clang Clang....~!
Another few seconds passed but in between the two, they have tried to strike each other several dozen times with great focus and concentration.
Clang Clang Bang...~!
The two jumped away from each other and sweat immediately then poured down Eden's skin due to his body keeping him from having accidents in battle.
A total of 42 parries and a row has been made!
Register to Game of this achievement?
“Nope” said Eden as he rejected whatever this was in front of him. Whenever he did something a number of times in a row that was over 10 times, this message always appeared. It was quite annoying and it seems that there was no way of turning it off....well it would more or less get buried under all the other messages that could spam his face once in a while so it wasn't that bad.
Eden checked his stamina and it was quite low. He was panting right now since they have been at it for around several dozen times now. When Eden looked at Alexandra, she did not even have a sweat on her.
“What kind of stamina do you have you damn beast” muttered Eden.
Alexandra let out a smirk but then changed to a slightly worried face and said, “That's because I don't slack off in training at all. Compared to before...did your stamina get lower? Near the beginning....players' stamina only increased but then a while afterwards, they noticed that the stat actually lowered when they weren't doing anything for a while. Perhaps that's what happened to you since the last true serious battle you had was a couple of years ago.”
Eden thought back on that particular incident. It forced him to even use 'Magic King Drive' to it's limits and even then he barely won.
“Yeah..those giants were a real pain to deal with. High resistance to everything....plus surprising speed for their size.”
“Though fun to fight” added Alexandra.
Eden frowned, “Fun to you, not me. I had to run around clinging to my life as a 'weak' mage.”
In a sarcastic tone, Alexandra replied with, “If you were a weak mage then all other mages are crippled or worse.”
“Not my fault that they are so weak” replied Eden nonchalantly.
“And not my fault that you have no stamina at all....do I have to use that 'stamina increasing' drug on you...?” muttered Alexandra in a low tone though Eden still heard most of it.
“What?” Eden had a bad feeling for some reason.
“Nothing! Nothing at all...” replied Alexandra frantic that Eden actually heard that.
'Curse his falcon hearing' thought Alexandra really regretting not stopping him from creation a whole range of skills in his spare time.
“Anyway let's continue” said Eden holding his sword in hand once again.
“Right.”
The two continued to spar against each other throughout the night once again.
[p=center]xXx[/p]
Back in real life....both Peter and Hina logged off at the same time and were immediately besieged by the others who have died during the battle against the behemoth.
“What happened? Did you die as well?!”
“Was that Behemoth killed?! I don't want to fight it again!”
“Uh....please be alright!”
Such comments flew to the two from the others. With a sigh, Peter dismissed any more barrage of words since he couldn't understand what one person said since several other people were trying to talk over one another.
“Long story short, the Behemoth is death and both me and Hina there gained 4 levels...”
The other nodded as if this was expected. Since it died and was pretty strong, it gave lots of experience right? But the next thing shocked them.
“But Eden stole the kill from me and immediately teleported us out of the dungeon to do some things involving a monster invasion to the city.”
“....?”
The others were confused. Grace was not at all understanding what was happening, Maria with her nature felt that something was wrong but couldn't put her finger on it, Mark simply did not care at this point and Ian thought that Peter was cutting something out with his instincts as an 'observer'.
“Don't worry...everything is fine” said Peter trying to relieve the others though they had nothing to be scared of to be relieved of. This added suspicion from Ian who asked, “Are you hiding something from us oh commander?”
Peter blushed a bit since during the hunting spree that he forced on them, it slipped out of his mouth to call him 'commander' which sounded natural at the time and everyone accepted it. Now it was being used to blackmail or threaten him. Peter immediately regretted the decision back them though it was mostly in the heat of things that caused him to slip those words out in the first place.
'Shut up! Call me Commander and I will lead you even though hell itself!'
Those were the precise words that Peter spoke during that time though he really did not want to remember them.
Though a bit entertained partly since this was a bit of revenge for forcing her and the others on several week long hunting spree, Hina watched on as Peter suffered a bit though in the end 'helped' in.
“What this 'Commander' that will lead us through hell is wanting to say is that Eden place a tight seal on our mouths on some matters. If even a word slips out of what he doesn't want too many to know about even you guys, we learnt this by accident; we'll all be forced into eternal 'Hell Training' from him.”
“....”
The others though only Ian was questioning them to begin with shut up. Hina inside her thoughts giggled since Eden and Alexandra weren't the type to even care about these things though Alexandra was on the side of extreme worry like a mother while Eden was the uncaring type....definitely not a father....but more like a stressed mother instead. Another thing to note was that they just 'preferred' for the others not to know for now and probably had no intentions of punishing them at all if this was leaked.
However, Hina wanted to torment Peter a bit once again and this was a good chance to tighten her grip on the others.
“Anyway, I intend to spend some more time in the game trying to gain new skills” said Peter. Hina likewise said, “I want to try out a new weapon just in case in the worse circumstances....I think that man called Park could help me.”
Later one through a discussion, it was decided that Peter and Hina would go back into the game to see what was happening there while the others researched from various places on what is happening around the continent in order to get a better grip on things.
Hina researched most of the things they needed but 9 months passed in the game and her information was now outdated. She did not have the time at all to look at forums or T.V channels that broadcast about Royal Road.
[p=center]xXx[/p]
Back in the game before Sain and Miriel logged back in...a certain group of three was cleaning up the remains of the battle that Eden single handedly took part in.
“WHY THE HELL ARE WE THE ONE WHO HAS TO CLEAN THIS UP?!!!!” shouted an irritated man that looked around 30-40 years old on the later side. This man was a master tactician that had once commanded a small army of 3000 against a large army of 30 000 and won with only a thousand dead in the end even in what was told to be the most disadvantaged battle to be recorded. Other than that, he was the Master of Sain and was called Gen.
“I don't know about you but I expected to be forced into this kind of work...considering my skills” replied a woman in green that looked around the age of 20 years old but was much much older. Mel, the druid was known as the hell bringer of the battlefield summoning nature magic of all kinds that literally destroyed the enemies into pieces. She was also the Master of the timid Serena who was just starting to open her heart to other people properly.
“Well I think this can be considered revenge on us for defying Eden in the end....sigh...why did I join you two in your rage against him...that was a really bad idea that caused to almost die several times already” muttered a woman in purple and blue that looked of similar age of Mel but actual age was also similar as well. Unlike that certain person, she was known as a master barrier user and would often save the lives of others on the battlefield...else she also used on for her experiments as well. This person was Jenny and also the Master of Miriel.
The three once again looked at the wreckage known as the battlefield that Eden stepped into and sighed collectively.
What was once a good forest area was completely flattened with all the threes gone and a massive crater in the centre. It was only fortunate that this didn't extend all the way north to the mountains else Eden would still command them to fix this up.
As they were doing work, Gen filling the hole, Mel regrowing the trees and Jenny moving a massive amount of dirt and other stuff, they actually conversed together since they had been in the same whacked up group for so long.
“Sain managed to get into that state.....” said Gen looking a bit worried, “I hope that other personality isn't too bad.”
Jenny and Mel looked at each other and nodded with a smug look on their faces.
“Of course his personality is better...compared to you.”
“I don't believe he became a backstabbing bastard whenever he changes.”
“Ack!”
Gen took a hit since they were intentionally digging out his worried from the inside with a poisoned knife with their words.
“It's not my fault that I become like that when I change!” retorted Gen in his defence.
“Doesn't change what you did. I remember how many times you left us in a mob of monsters to escape on your own. You also become a coward when you change as well” said Mel already getting annoyed even when thinking about it.
“Yep, the increase in power is worthless with you running away all the time, why do you think Eden suggested that you NEVER use it again unless it was in a situation where you couldn't escape and had to cooperate with the rest of us” said Jenny as well remembering that Gen in that state actually willingly helped them since there was no other way. She only wanted for Gen to be more useful in the end without the backstabbing part.
Then Jenny remembered and muttered out, “Wasn't it because of that state that Anna now hates Gen the most. Before it was actually Ron I think who talked about her size.”
“Please don't rub it in like that....she still attacks me all the time when everyone else isn't looking....though she still does even when there are other people around as well....” Gen sighed.
“Anyway, what do you think the effects of the other 5 will be like?”asked Gen trying very obviously to steer things away from the topic of himself.
“I'm worried about Serena.” “Not worried at all with Miriel.”
“Huh?” “Huh?”
The two looked at each other a bit surprised. Mel was the first to speak.
“Why aren't you worried about Miriel? Don't you think the other personality that comes out will be...extreme?” asked Mel.
Jenny without worried shook it off saying, “Don't worry, Miriel is surprisingly honest in the inside. Plus that red haired elf is the same as well...I believe her name was Lyndis? I think they will have a good relationship sooner or later since they are similar in how they are in the inside.”
Mel sighed hearing these words since unlike those two, Serena isn't exactly completely honest, “I don't know where Serena's true colours lie.....though she hasn't realised yet, she placed a wall around her heart completely that even if she wanted, she would still be unable to express her true emotions to others...I fear that the other personality that comes out of her will be....”
“Like the backstabbing coward Gen?”
“Yeah that.”
“HEY! Don't refer to me like that....”
With auras of superiority Mel asked in an arrogant voice, “And what are you going to do about it?”
“Yeah, what about it?” asked Jenny in the same tone as well.
Gen sighed and muttered under his breath, “Why is it when it comes to insulting me you two stop fighting and cooperate so well....?”
Gen remembered the countless times that the two got into fights. Well to be precise, when Mel got in another fight with Park and Jenny trying to stop them while he, Ron and Anna watched on though Anna sometimes attacks him in the middle of that and Ron simply laughed it off trying to flirt with women that he sees.
“....”
'Now that I think about it, we're not exactly the best role models to have...' Gen thought looking on his and the others behaviour in the past. Gen shrugged it off and then continued to fill of the land to level with the rest of the place around them along with recreating the part of the forest that was completely cleaned out just recently as well.
Later on with several more arguments, they fought each other to the near death until Eden forcefully stopped them and once again forced them to clean up...after themselves this time. They were all in a bad mood that day.
[p=center]xXx[/p]
The next day...
Eden was relaxing at the time lying face down on the sofa in the guild building...the previous night exhausted him since Alexandra didn't want to stop at all.
'Why is it that she always seem infinite stamina when I face her...?'
Eden was complaining in his heart all about Alexandra. How she wanted to fight him so much; how she complained when Eden didn't tell her everything he did and how she would drag him inside with no stamina and force 'stamina increasing' drinks in him for another dozen rounds.
'I don't want to move.....'
Eden was experiencing muscle pains...though at this point it was surprising that Eden would have muscle pains or even forgot to use a skill to remove that muscle pain.
'So...tired....it hurts.....'
Another thing was that he was mentally exhausted as well. Proof was that he was lazing around like this and not doing work...though that happens half the time but this was suppose to be his active state where he actually did work.
“Umm...Eden?”
'Who's that....I recognise that voice. Probably one of the new brats....Sain was his name? Can't remember properly right now....'
“Are you all right....?” he asked to the Eden lying face down with no energy what so ever.
“No......”
Eden had barely enough energy to even talk right now. The following window explains his situation quite nicely.
You are exhausted to the point that Infinite Stamina would not help you!
Due to the constant strain on both body and mind, you are incapable of even moving or thinking too hard on matters. Due to the consumption of multiple stamina increasing potions that forcefully increases stamina back to maximum, the effects on your body is increased several fold.
This state is similar to a drunken state except that you cannot heal this or recover quickly. It is highly suggested that you rest for a few days without doing anything to allow you to recover
- Stamina will be set to the lowest value for a few days
- Mana Regeneration due to extreme mental fatigue will stop.
- Unable to use skills
- Movement speed will dramatically reduce to near zero
- Moving the body will be extremely difficult
'Damn that Alexandra....forcing me to drink several of those.....and now my body is in this state and I can't use skills at all.....'
“Is it possible for you to teach me some new spells in that state?” asked Sain who seemed to know that me in this state was mostly useless.
“Can't use skills right now....unable to teach....go to Gen or Jenny.....” Eden muttered barely being able to even move his lips to talk.
“Ah okay.”
With that, Sain left Eden like this.
'Now that I think about it....those brats don't even call me Guildmaster anymore....don't care anymore.....need to sleep.....zzzz.....'
It would later be known that Eden slept for a whole week in a row with no signs of waking up until a certain someone came by.
[p=center]xXx[/p]
Following Eden's advice...though it was when he was not in the right state due to whatever Alexandra forced him to do, Sain seeked out Gen or Jenny to train up his magic skills a bit.
'A better healing spell, a offence buffing spell and a spear skill as well. These are the three things that I want. I can probably get the healing spell from Gen, buffing spell from Jenny and the spear skill from Park..that means I need to visit three people.'
First of all, Sain went to visit his master which he hadn't actually had a proper conversation with in months.
'Well that was because Eden was forcing all of us to do things and things led to another and we never actually talked after graduation....'
Taking several tens of minutes to get to, Sain entered the house that his master was.
“Master! I'm back!” Sain shouted while opening the door to the house without warning.
Gen was doing something with his pants down and had a face of ecstasy looking at a picture of someone in an inappropriate position though did not know who nor did not want to know.
Bang!
Sain immediately slammed the door shut without hesitation. After a few moments, he heard Gen say, “Enter.”
“Master! I'm back!” Sain shouted once again completely ignoring what happened before...which actually did not happen at all.
“Oh Sain! So you finally come back after leaving for so long!” said Gen in bliss since his own apprentice came back from Eden with his own will and also completely ignored what happened just then....
“Eden said to come to you or Jenny to learn some spells” clarified Sain.
“....”
For some reason Gen had a face that was a bit disappointed and worried about what was up with this. Normally, Eden had the ability and capability to teach anyone anything they wanted though he did not always do so since it was along the lines of cheating by getting his complete help. The ability to freely create skill books is a highly crave over skill that only Eden had after all.
“So what kind of spell do you want? I can only teach you and nothing else at this point. We are not really master and apprentice anymore and are simply comrades through the guild.”
“Yes, I want a stronger healing spell” requested Sain.
Gen confused asked and clarified, “Healing? Doesn't that Serena girl have some perfectly fine healing spells? Why would you want to learn some healing spells as well?”
“Oh that...”
Sain proceeded to explain on how his healing spell was much weaker compared to Serena's and his attack spells are much weaker than Miriel's as well. He also emphasised on how he felt that he was being left behind by the others that were sharpening their skills while his ones were still blunt.
“I see....that IS the core problem with jack of all trades. You need to have extremely high skill proficiencies as well as a large range of skills and spells to use. But don't you have that wolf summoning skill Eden gave you? Is there a need to gain a spear skill?”
“If Luna dies then I'm a bit screwed in close combat” replied Sain.
Gen pondered about it for a while and then started an explanation on what Sain could do.
“There are many types of shaman. Those who are closely connected to close combat and use spells to support themselves, those who use magic was a main and combat skills as a backup, those who specialise in light and dark magic and so on....however you cannot become all of them else it would take too long to get stronger. From what I know, you are the extreme support type so you don't actually need combat skills at all. Spells that increase the power of allies and spells that decrease the power of foes seems to be something that you are interested in...”
“But wouldn't having more powerful healing spell be important as well?”
“Yes...but compared to causing the enemy to not be able to attack your allies and making it easier for them to kill them faster to not get hurt....healing spells aren't that important if you don't take damage. They are a safety line against enemies in which you get hit by.
“....”
Gen stared at Sain for a bit and laughed.
“Hahahaha! What's with that look? Don't worry, I'm not going to interfere with your path. I myself am an extremely close combat type of shaman and many people told me I was doing it wrong! You don't need to look for that Jenny for the support spells you are looking for! I can provide them myself along with a stronger healing spell!”
Sain looked happy since now he didn't really need to waste time to talk to someone that he really didn't know and only knew from another person. His respect of Gen shot up just then.
“However....”
And suddenly Sain felt that this was a bad idea.
“You need to do me a favour.”
Favour from Gen
Gen has a favour for you to do. Content will be revealed when you accept the quest.
Restrictions: Unknown
Reward: Several spells
“....”
“You do know that Eden is out of commission for a few days or weeks right? At this rate you will fall back compared to the others. Plus I doubt Jenny will be kind enough to teach you as well. She is a stubborn person after all.”
Sain had to accept this quest no matter what. He needed those spells to grow stronger.
“I....accept.”
You have accepted the quest
[p=center]xXx[/p]
Several minutes when Sain left, Eden was still lying face down on the sofa which would be his bed and home for a few days at least.
“Ah Guildmaster!” said Miriel seeing him, “What's wrong?”
Eden managed to get out the words, “Alexandra.....”
Hearing that word, Miriel thought that Eden was sleep talking and tried to shake his body to wake him up. Several groans later and a glare from Eden who could not move his body, Miriel misunderstood the intentions of Eden's words.
It was not that he was dreaming of her and answering her question.
'That was a bit embarrassing....' thought Miriel thankful that Eden could not see her red face right now.
“What do you want? First Sain and now you....?”
“Ah, I want to know how to use weapons” replied Miriel.
“Weapons...?” wondered Eden confused.
'Why is she asked about that? Isn't she a mage? Well I can definitely pin this on someone else...'
“Go to Park. He's the expert on a number of weapons” said Eden.
“Why not Alexandra?” asked Miriel confused now as well.
Realising on what Miriel was thinking about, he replied, “Only go to Alexandra if you want some experience in getting beaten up. She can't even teach someone how to use the sword since he does it all naturally as breathing. Park on the other hand is an expert on many different weapons though still a master with the spear. But first talk to Jenny about this since she may become moody if you don't tell her beforehand and go to Park directly.”
With that, Miriel left Eden.
'I do hope when the other brats when they can get back into this game; they don't ask me the same bloody thing each time....learn to depend of your masters not your guildmaster for Gods sake!'
[p=center]xXx[/p]
Miriel made her way to the library where her Master in magic; Jenny was. Ignoring the other people who gathered there to take advantage of the place for rare books and skills; Miriel walked into the 'common books' section which was understandably empty except for some rare people.
Looking around the place, she didn't seem to be able to find her master at all though according to Eden she was here.
'Oh...I suppose I can use that spell to find people I as....'
“Clairvoyance!”
A thin strain of light appeared in front of Miriel and quickly guided her to where Jenny was.
“Damn.........die.....take.........”
For some reason, Miriel could hear whispers of something...probably her master was doing something. Either way, Miriel walked to Jenny concentrating on doing something.
“Die Die Die!!!!” said Jenny in a frantic voice that sounded like the words of a crazed woman.
“Master...?”
What Miriel saw could only be described in one way, a black magic ritual. Jenny with her clothes in tattered was holding two things. One was a large nail that was the size of a knife and the other was a doll covered in red substance and was dripping the floor and the wall with it. Strangely enough, Miriel thought she recognised who the doll looked liked.
“....”
Miriel was so shocked that she could not even mutter a single word in response to what she was seeing.
“Ah...”
That was the first word Jenny let out when she saw Miriel standing there shocked. Quickly enough, while holding the large nail and doll in her hands, Jenny smiled as if nothing was wrong and said, “Oh Miriel, you took the time to visit me.”
“Yes....Eden directed me here to tell you that I wish to train to use a weapon from Park....”
Her smile unchanged like he was a poker face, Jenny said, “I see...so it was Eden....nevertheless I have some things to pick about on someone else this time....you WILL help me right? Of course this will be a favour from me”
Favour from Jenny
Jenny has a favour for you to do. Content will be revealed when you accept the quest.
Restrictions: Unknown
Reward: Unknown
“....”
Miriel could not help but to be shocked of what was happening.
'Did I do something wrong in my past life to deserve this....?' wondered Miriel really wanting to deny this quest. But then Miriel looked at the 'blood-soaked' Jenny with a weapon in one hand and a doll in the other.
Observing the doll, it repaired itself after a while but for some reason...which Miriel did not want to know, whenever it was damaged or stabbed, it let out some red liquid that was very similar in colour to blood which made Jenny look very scary.
“Yes.....?”
You have accepted the quest
[p=center]xXx[/p]
At the same time...
Eden was still lying on the sofa...this has been said three times so you get the picture.
“Ah...!” exclaimed Eden as if he remembered something important.
'Damn...I forgot to tell those two that this was a very bad time to be involved with their masters...along with Mel. They are all in bad moods thanks to me forcing them to clean up after me....well what's the force that could happen?'
With that, Eden left those thoughts away as he slept peacefully as others were about to suffer.
Onwards?PreviousExitNext
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Author's Notes:
- Word Count: 10000~
- Finally finished this chapter...was planning on doing it all yesterday but then Ninnin challenged me to Pokemon Showdown where I found out my rusted skills in pokemon led to horrible team building skills....did well in random battles though
- Anyway this may be a bit (very) unpolished chapter since I had little idea on what to write getting into this...need to make those volume plans again...but I think it turned out a bit better than I thought it would go not forcing me to re edit several times.