“Ok, now I’m spent”, I said while grimacing, my butt hitting the floor with a thud, the jolt only making the migraine worse.
“I told you to not push it, but did you listen? Of course not!” The beautiful, pale, amazon exclaimed in exasperation while throwing two of her four arms into the air.
Her loud voice made the headache worse, thankfully she was quick to notice and stopped berating me.
“Sorry, but you know that I just worry about you, because I care, right?” She whispered with care into my ear, one hand resting on my head while she called upon her [Aberrant Ice Affinity], creating a pleasant chill on my scalp.
“I know, and I love you too”, I said while I was unsuccessfully trying to rein in a groan.
“I love you, but I don’t think I like these masochistic tendencies of yours”, She replied, placing a kiss on my nose as a final punctuation to her sentence, while fixing a lock of her deep purple hair behind her ear with one hand.
At least I think she went for a kiss on the nose, since, given that I was about 60% of her size, her kiss landed on more than simply my nose.
“What ‘masochistic tendencies’!? I was given awesome cosmic powers, and only lately got to test them”, I grumbled, gently pushing her away. Not that I could have succeeded if she hadn’t let me.
“And completely running your reserves of [Mana] dry helps in that, how?” She asked with her signature raised eyebrow, cocked hips with hand on it, and a small grin that showed her shark-like teeth.
“[Incongruent Source]. I thought that it didn’t make sense that it simply made my [Mana Pool] bigger with the kind of description it had, and this experiment proved that it’s not what it’s meant to do; that’s just a beneficial side effect”, I explained, my mind working furiously through the pain to extrapolate a working theory out of the recent experience.
“Huh… and what did you find out?” Sheeno didn’t know all of my [Traits] and [Titles], just like I didn’t know hers, but I did take care to mention to her the weirder ones, especially those I got once I got recognized as a [Fulcrum].
Which was a fancy term in brackets that said I was the destined protagonist for… something. Unsurprisingly reading into destiny wasn’t an exact science.
“Look”, Instead of boring her with my half-assed explanation I just decided to share the important data with her, and a piece of my [Status] became also visible to her.
MPs:
-3%
“It’s… in the negatives- HOW!?” It didn’t take long for the deceptively sharp [Banished Princess] to realise what that just meant.
Not the mere fact that a value that should represent something inside me went below empty, that has happened before, but what was astonishing was that, contrary to previous experiences, I did not faint, nor did my brain collapse on itself.
And if it wasn’t for the headache I was certain that I could push things further, if I had to. A perfect last resort to surprise my enemies, if you asked me.
“Now, if only there wasn’t an ominous black fountain inside my [World Within] as a result of the other [Trait], I would have felt better about it, but something so lucky was definitely not written in my cards.”
“I’m still unsure on the ‘how’, but I’ll keep looking into it. In the meantime I won’t have to worry about a sudden blackout sneaking up on me anymore”, I said, accepting her hand in getting up.
Given her barbaric fighting style and her shredded physique, you’d think that she wouldn’t be soft but full of callouses, instead her hands were as perfectly cured as those of a model back on Earth.
Guess that’s a given with the super-human [Stats] one could reach in this world between world, [Nexus]. Even I, with my meagre [Body] increases, had developed some decent muscles, and my diet and activity these past month or so definitely helped on a more basic level. Still, people would have killed back on my previous planet for the ease that you were presented here with to improve, especially since it was followed with a direct increase in numbers on your [Stats], and those were always a dopamine rush.
Both because ‘number goes up, brain goes brrr’, and because getting stronger, through the [System], was a heady feeling; which risked being addictive if one didn’t get the hang of it quickly enough.
“They don’t ‘sneak up on you’, you just have to pay more attention. Otherwise, how do you think people normally deal with it, without your broken [Traits]?” She scolded me with a glare, but not a serious one, more like one of those that a mother would give to their problematic child: Filled in equal parts with love and exasperation.
“Yes mommy- oof!” I tried to act like the child she was treating me as, but I got chuffed on the side of my head for my efforts.
“We’re basically the same age, you dunce. Now go take a shower, that Prise might have news for us later in the day”, and with that she made her exit out of our private training room.
A light clanking drew my eyes to her hips, where the weapons that I had crafted for her, and the reason behind the last blackout I had, rested as per their usual; although, if I had to be honest, I probably didn’t need those for me to look at her swaying hips.
“I’m definitely the one that came out on top in this relationship… or maybe not, given her favourite position when-“
Nope.
Stop with the horny.
We have more important matters to discuss.
Of course [Buddy] had to interrupt the pleasant sight with one of his screens. By now, I was convinced that he deliberately cock-blocked me whenever he thought he could get away with it.
The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
“And how has my favourite spiritual/mental symbiote doing?”
I am the only entity that you could describe as such, so my not being your favorite by default would have been downright insulting.
But I am doing relatively well, thanks for asking.
“You’re welcome.
Any reason in particular why you have interrupted my normally erotic thoughts?”
There is nothing normal about you, at all, and you know it.
And the reason why I was prying into your thoughts was to understand if you had noticed the hitchhiker.
“I resent that part about not being ‘normal’, but I get it. And yeah, after that last test, the new addition to the [World Within] became hard to ignore.
Any idea on what it might be?”
An atypical variation of [Demon] perhaps.
“I have a [Demon] in my soul-space?
…
Anyway.”
* * *
Two weeks.
That’s how long they gave us to sort out unresolved matters and last-minute preparations, before Rubicon Riverfist, the [Guild Master] of the [Rainbow Adventurer Guild], was forced to send us out as reinforcements to the [Human Army] that was trying to reclaim the piece of land that got [Transferred], same as us, here on [Nexus].
Well, it was namely me, the [Fulcrum], that was being called upon, but there was no chance in hell that Sheeno would let me go alone. And neither would Undine, of course, the [High-Priestess] of the [Demi-Goddess of Water], her own mother, and my newfound big-sister, after she had followed me all the way over to the [Wild Area] to stay at my side during these turbulent times… and hopefully using me as a sort of shield for all the heat she might catch because of the stupid war a [Noble] family was waging on her mother and her [Temple].
And so, that’s how we got to the point where the [Party] with me, Sheeno, and Undine were given a decent amount of time to work on getting better at our professions, so that we could survive being some sort of linchpin, or even spear-head, to the [Army] that was trying to take the land that was supposed to be rightly ours.
But, no matter how much we studied, or trained, I constantly felt like I was one step behind of my enemies. But maybe that was just a sensation born from having the [Goddess of Destruction] actively working against you, while my [Patron], the [Goddess of Luck], was forced to act only indirectly and passively because there were rules in place so overly powerful entities could not interfere with mortals. Yes, [Destruction] was sort of breaking the rules already, but, as I understood it, it was still within the parameters [Creation] set; but just barely, so any other form of interference might work as a signal of ‘go ahead’ for every [God] to also act directly, and that would quickly devolve into utter pandemonium.
“[Nexus] calling Darwin?”
My musing was interrupted by a hand being waved right in front of my face.
“Stop it. I was thinking”, I gently smacked away a light blue hand, and the owner snorted in amusement.
“Well, don’t. [Knight Captain] Prise is supposed to come any minute now to report our departing schedule, so you need to be sharp: If anyone after us is left, this would be one of the last chances they would have to try and get to us”, Undine chided me while bringing one side of her dark blue hairs behind one of her slightly elfin ears; although, her nature as a [Water Nymph] made the top of the underside a bit jagged, compared to normal Elves.
Also, what’s up with everyone putting their hair behind their ears today?
As if summoned by having her name spoken aloud, a knock came from the living room; using a new trick I picked up when studying up more on [Runes] I made my [Aura] resonate through the interphone, and a mental picture of Sir Prise on the other side of the main door appeared in my mind. Of course, [Unavoidable Detection] picked her up well before she had actually knocked, but I wasn’t one to waste an opportunity to waste some free exercise in my new abilities… at least not anymore.
The door opened on its own, revealing the lupine form of the [Knight Captain] still in the process of lowering her clenched fist.
She spent maybe a second to glance at us before giving us one of her usual, emotionless, serious, and resolute nods.
“Good, you look ready. A stuffy bureaucrat from the [Army] came in just earlier making not-so-subtle questions”, She immediately said in a monotone.
“And they didn’t demand anything already? Color me impressed!” Sheeno replied in a sarcastic tone, fiddling with her ruby [Spatial Ring], probably checking that was taking with her anything that was best not left behind.
As far as I was aware Undine also had something similar, although hers was a fancy silver bracelet. Only I had a bog-standard backpack, if bog-standard meant that something was [Enchanted] to hell and back so that stuff put in it weighted less than a tenth that they normally would, slowed the passage of time within, and that it was slightly bigger on the inside.
I still can’t believe that those cat-granny-twins just let me study their [Spatial Enchantments] on my free time: How their attitude did a 180 after discovering that I could use [Runes] was kind of worrying, but I wasn’t going to look at a gifted horse in the mouth.
A weird proverb that, especially since Troy fell exactly because the people in that city believed in that same ideal.
“We believe they’re keeping it on the down-low, probably in a vaiin attempt to keep information about the appearance of a [Fulcrum] away from the public”, the [Knight] kept talking with Sheeno, unaware of my vacant mind.
“I mean, would they even care?”
A flicker of a frown crossed the [Lupine Kebunu]’s face. “Are you seriously asking if every common person wouldn’t be interested in someone who is seemingly predestined to have a big impact in their world as they know it?”
“Yeah… forget I asked. I just never thought about it in those terms: It’s kind of obvious once you reflect on it”, I said with a grimace, scratching awkwardly my cheek out of embarrassment.
“It’s fine: Being at the center of the public’s eye is probably a new thing for you. Don’t worry, both me and your mate have plenty of experience in the field, and will help you accordingly”, Undine patted me on the shoulder reassuringly, and I could only smile in return.
“Unfortunately, you becoming famous also means that all of our enemies will be more likely to successfully track us wherever we go”, Sheeno continued, a frown marring her beautiful face.
“Well, it’s not like it took them all that long in the first place, so I don’t think things will change much in that regard”, I tried to lighten things up, but even to me, my words felt hollow.
“I wouldn’t be so sure if I were you”, Sir Prise interrupted our [Team]-building exercise, and it was clear that she was reading up to burst our bubble.
“How so?” I turned to her with a frown of my own, not liking the non-absence of a tone in her voice.
“Why don’t I just show you?”
* * *
I furiously rub at my face, while Undine pinched the bridge of her nose between two long fingers.
“Please, tell me that I’m just imagining things?” She almost whispered to the [Knight] that had brought out the [Artifact] linked to some kind of surveillance system.
The [Artifact] by itself wasn’t the problem, it was almost a given actually that it existed, it only made sense that when one needed to watch over a large place to invent a way to do so remotely; no, the problem was who the ‘camera’ was following, and who he was talking with.
“Unfortunately not, [High Priestess], things are as they appear”, Prise said, her voice back to her usual emotionless self.
“What is this? Really, am I going to have the equivalent of my own ‘sinister six’ knocking on my door by the time the next month rolls around?” I said while gesticulating between the projected screen and the air.
Nobody understood the reference, even though the [System] probably gave them the relative package of pop culture to understand it, but that was fine. The reference was mostly for the sake of centering myself when faced with the first person to ever try and kill me outright.
Jeff was back, and he was making his way here with a small army of mercs and [Priests of Purity].
Jeoff.
“Whatever!”