People screaming.
Their houses burning to the ground. The smell of burning flesh.
Shadows with no faces, killing and howling in the night.
Only a woman fought against the darkness.
Her silver hair shining in the middle of darkness.
Turning around she looked me at my eyes.
“Save them”, was her last desire.
I woke up in the middle of the night. Tired as I was, I went back to sleeping. The dream already forgotten.
----------------------------------------
It was morning.
The sunlight shone through the windows. Birds chirping. A calm day.
I slowly got up, drowsing.
And felt cold on my back.
Turning around I saw my shirt ripped. A large cut, going from the neckline to the beginning of my tail. A thin bloody line followed the trail of the cut, as if the blade slightly cut the skin.
I looked at the room.
Syd was meditating. Sweat running through his shirtless torso. It looked like he trained before stopping for the meditation session.
I cleaned my throat. He looked at me.
“Know what happened?” I asked, showing the cut on my back.
He just shrugged.
“It’s better to ask Brother…” he paused for a moment, trying to remember the name of the monk. “Oliver? Anyway, ask him to repair it. The next visit to the town will be only in two days, and you have no other sleepwear.”
And went back to meditating.
I got up and cleaned my face in the bucket of water. Urg, icy cold. There was a small toothbrush too.
“Isss thisss yourssss?” I asked him.
“Nope, mines over there” he answered, pointing to his own bucket of water.
I brushed my teeth.
Looking in a mirror, I discovered where the extra mana went when I overeat.
To my horns.
They were a bit bigger now. The points shining through the black hair. If it wasn’t me who created them, I would not even notice it.
And it gave me an idea about where to find Arcane Mana for the infusing class.
I closed my eyes and concentrated on my forehead.
Yeah, there was energy there.
I compared with the mana from my breathing and heat. It looked similar, but at the same time, slightly different. As if it would work in another way.
I didn’t have a way to compare with Earth and Water Mana right now, but I think I got it.
Changing clothes I went downstairs to get me some breakfast.
There were some pilgrims there.
Luna, Piper, Clink (I still don’t know his name), the Ent and the only Human guy.
Early birds.
But the smell of food took my attention from them.
They were all on the same table, close to the window, Luna asking them about how the training of today would be like. I quickly grabbed bread, fried egg, a banana and a little of honey (I remembered that potassium and calories were important for physical training). This seemed interesting.
“He’s training is not that though” said the Human guy. He was eating bacon and eggs, with juice. He had brown hair, and dark blue eyes. He had that cool look. He also wasn’t overly tall, only over 1,75 meters tall.
“What, what do you mean with ‘not that though’” Viny seemed to disagree with him. He wasn’t eating anything, but was directly under sunlight. Eating, maybe? “I lost an arm during the spar! An arm!”
Now, Viny was an interesting guy. He used a sleveless shirt. He had a pale skin. He had brown things under his skin, which looked like roots, instead of veins. Two sprouted from under his hair, framing his face. His hair was moss green, and looked like grass. His eyes were green too. Completely green. Only his pupils were different, black rather than green.
“But you grew it in less than ten minutes” said the Human, witha a deadpan fan.
“Still” said a grumpy tree.
“Anyway, it’s not downright impossible” said Clink. Only fruits and juice for breakfast. Healthy guy (or vegan). “Just don’t stay still in front of him. He likes to get people doing pushups and sit ups if he thinks you’re taking it easy.”
I sat down, next to Piper.
“Good morning, Gyp” she was eating cake and tea. Luna, as ever, wasn’t eating anything. Vampire trait, I think.
“Morning, Piper. Cheerful at thisss hour?”
She just smiled.
The others noticed me.
“Hey… Gyp right?” said the human. I nodded (strangers talking, entering nod mode) “I’m Leon”
Handshake.
“I’m Phill” said the Ent.
I nodded to him. He was too far to a handshake, anyway.
“I don’t think I ever introduced myself” asked the Clink, pointing to him. I shacked my head. “My name is Aimar”.
We went back to eating.
People started to arrive. Soon, our group was divided.
Clink Aimar and Leon were called to their usual group. Phill went to the jocks group, when they arrived. Broox and Torrik joined us.
It was a peaceful breakfast.
Finishing it we all went to the training grounds. The trainer apparently told them yesterday that he would be waiting for us. We (the newcomers) were told that this meant he wanted us there early.
Arriving in the grounds, we found him meditating.
When we stepped inside a line encircling the area, he stood up and walked toward us.
“TODAY WE’LL BE SPARIN’” he indicated the newcomers “BUT JUST ONE SPAR AT A TIME. ONE VERSUS ONE. UNTIL DEATH.”
Well, we are basically immortal, since we could respawn. Still, quite a merciless training.
He pointed at me. I went to his side.
“ORC. COME FORWARD” he pointed to one of the jocks. “YOU’LL GO AGAINST THE IMP”
“YES, SIR” it seems he really liked sparring.
The trainer looked at me. “When I tell you to greet, put your fist over your heart. Same if you are armed, with the blade pointing up.” Quick instructions
There was a circle on the ground. There were two straight lines on opposite sides of the circle.
“TO THE CENTER!” we obeyed. “GREET! ON YOUR LINES!” we went back to the white lines. We stared at each other.
He took his weapon from his inventory. A greatsword. The thing was bigger than me. He noticed it too and grinned.
I put both hands on floor. He put his right foot in front.
“BEGIN!!”
The orc ran at me and began a swing from above. But he was too slow.
I ran with all my might. Towards him.
Before the sword reached his head height I was already inside his defenses.
When the sword reached the ground I was using his leg to propel me upward. Our faces got too close and he threw his head back, startled and dropped his weapon.
I used this moment to attack. I bit his neck. Hard. I tore a hunk of it out. It seems I bite through some arteries too, as blood spurted at me. He tried to stop the bleeding, but it was obviously lethal.
I spit the flesh out of my mouth.
The metallic smell filled the place. But the blood had a sweet taste. It tasted kinda good.
I looked at the others.
Some were disgusted by the scene. Some were nodding, as if approving the method. Luna looked like she wanted a taste of his blood, too. Another Vampire trait, I think.
The trainer looked at the mess. When the orc died, he turned into light and seemed to disappear.
Congratulations!You acquired Fang Proficiency
“ONE HOUR TILL HE’S BACK! APHRODITE, YOU GO AND TAKE HIM BACK”
She nodded at his orders. “Yes, sir!”
“NOW, WHAT WAS THE ORC’S MISTAKE?” he asked to the others pilgrims.
Another Orc answered “He underestimated the Imp, sir. Thought it would be an easy fight and made a too large and clumsy move.”
The teacher nodded.
“Exactly. If he had stopped to think for a moment, he would have noticed that the Gods wouldn’t allow something weak to protect the world. Remember, not only strength wins a fight.”
He took a breath.
“IMP! Why did you go for a lethal attack from the start?”
“It wasss until death sssir.” I answered “and the godsss promisssed we would be reborned in death sssituations. And they fulfilled all they promisssed.”
“Good. Uncertainty in a fight only leads to death. And prolonging a battle might cause your death.”
“NEXT!” he looked at the pilgrims. “SERENA, YOU’RE UP AGAINST THE IMP”
He called an Elf girl forward.
Yet, another beauty. She had a long blond hair, tied on a braid. This made her show her pointy ears. She got a nice figure. Slim waist, big boobs. Even her hips were well designed.
She took her weapon out.
A sword, but it got slimmer along the blade and pointed in the end. Looked like a fencing sword, but able to perform slashes.
I took out my dagger. Surprise attacks wouldn’t work this time.
“GREET” the same position as before, but with my dagger. Her looked better, with the longer blade.
I also had an idea. I used Inspect! on her sword.
Sky Piercer?????You can't use Inspect! on this weapon!
She seemed to concentrate on my weapon too. Same idea, it seems.
“ON YOUR MARKS!” we retreated to the white lines “READY! BEGIN!”
She started a stabbing motion. Did she think I would run at her like before and intended to stab when I got close? I grinned, at this foolish move. I would wait and attack when the motion would leave an opening and counter.
She continued the motion. Instead of going at her, I waited.
Is she crazy? I’m not even moving. What does she intend to hit? And why it seems she is aiming at my heart?
Her smile sent shivers down my spine. I frowned.
I dodged to the right, remembering the name of her sword. But I was too late.
Something seemed to cut the air between us. I felt a stab in my left shoulder.
It hurt a lot.
It had passed all the way to the other side of my arm. I started to bleed through the hole she blasted on me.
Pressing the broad side of my dagger on it, I felt a chilling sensation and the bleeding was gone.
Her sword could shoot bullets of air. Piercing bullets of air. And she was doing the same move again.
This time I dodged. And ran to close quarters. Against a sword with long range I would need to get closer. Especially because my dagger had such short range.
She got to shot again, this time against my leg. I sidestepped it, but felt as the air passed next to it. That was close.
And we started the real spar.
She seemed to like to stab. But with us this close, she had to change for slashes.
She went for a downward cut. I used the dagger to parry it to my side.
She gave a spin and made a horizontal slash. I jumped backward to avoid it.
It was a mistake.
She gave another spin while going forward. But now went for a stab.
I had to get down on all fours to avoid this one. Luckily she aimed to my head.
I ran to her and made an upward swing, making her sword go up and breaking her stance. At least I thought it had broken, but she kicked me away from her.
I took the hit unprepared and was thrown behind.
She already had recovered her stance when I got up, and was already shooting at my chest.
Luck was by my side. I blocked with my dagger. It made me go backward a little, but at least it didn’t pass through.
I once again ran to her. She was surprised that I blocked it, so she didn’t have time to prepare another bullet.
I jumped and slashed at her face. She slashed from right to left, parrying.
The parry made me spin. But I wrapped my tail around her left arm.
When my feet touched the ground I pulled her down. She was still surprised, so she was easily pulled. I hold her shoulder and stabbed her heart.
I kept the dagger in place until she vanished.
Congratulations!You acquired Small Blades Proficiency
I was sweating. That was a close one.
“NOW, WHAT WAS HER MISTAKE?” asked the trainer.
If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.
“She got too surprised when he blocked her attack.” This time was Piper who answered.
“Yes, she had almost total control of the battle. She was quicker and had more experience. But she didn’t know what to do when surprised. She lost control, making her lose the battle.” He turned to me. “How did you know she was going to attack at your chest?”
“She only attacked two placessss: Head and Heart. She didn’t have time to properly aim, ssso I thought she would go for the chessst.” It seems I really was lucky.
He seemed to agree that I was lucky.
“Now, let’s go for tougher opponents” he looked around. “BROOX, YOUR TURN!”
I was already at the center preparing to use Inspect! on his weapon. Except he hadn’t taken it out yet.
“ON YOUR MARKS!” damm, I didn’t get to see it “READY! BEGIN!”
Broox charged at me. Fast.
I was surprised and could only dodge. He ran past but turned around.
He started a swing as if he was a baseball player hitting the ball. But with empty hands.
I was really confused.
When I completely turned around a giant hammer appeared on his hands. It was cartoonishly big.
I tried to defend with both arms. Bad idea.
The hammer hit me like a truck. I was sent flying. Both arms probably broken. And some ribs too.
The pain wasn’t even registered when I saw the hammer again. It was descending on my head.
Everything went black.
----------------------------------------
“So you died”, said the goddess of snow. Her beautiful face serious again.
We were in a winterly forest.
“Since you don’t have nothing to do before reborning, I will answer one question” she declared.
I thought a little
“Why Japanese public showers?”
She smiled, and the cold seemed to get more pleasant.
“One of the gods was interested about their culture. So he decided to tell people it was the ‘right’ way of cleaning”
A light shine through the trees.
“It’s time for you to go.” Her smile was the last thing I saw, before entering the darkness.
----------------------------------------
I woke up in a cold table. For some reason naked.
I was bombarded by sudden panels
You Died!
New Title!For coming back from death you acquired the title: Immortal
ImmortalIn death situation, time slows down, allowing you to avoid it.
Congratulations!You acquired the skill: Perforate
Congratulations!You acquired the skill: Pain Endurance
Perforate - Beginner SkillUsed during stabs and slashes, causes abnormal statusPerforated targets suffer from heavy bleeding
Pain Endurance ? Passive SkillIncreases pain tolerance.Makes you harder to knock out, using pain.
This doesn’t affect other methods of knock out.
New skills and title… almost compensate the pain… Almost.
Dying, especially the way I did, was really uncomfortable.
Someone threw clothes at me.
“Here, wear them.” A guy voice. I looked around and saw Broox. He looked a bit embarrassed.
It was my clothes that he threw to me. They were covered in blood.
A little mystery resolved. That’s why unbruised people appeared covered in blood. When they died, their body was “reseted” but the clothes kept dirty. The bruised ones were the winners, and their clothes were less stained from blood.
I wore then.
And tried to get up.
The world decided to spin.
Broox helped me to sit down, and sat down beside me. And looked away;
“Look, I wanted to say…well…mmm… I’m sorry” he stuttered. He looked at my confused face. “For the fight. I was kinda ruthlessly there” *grunt*
“It wasss a ssspar until death.” I said “nothing to worry about. It needsss more than a bloody death to make me angry” I jokingly said.
He didn’t seem to believe it.
“Look, I had jusssst torn a guy’ssss neck. And given the chance I would do it to you, too.” Well, not a good thing to say, but it did seem to positively affect him. “Now let’ssss go back there. The trainer musssst be yelling at usss for taking too long.”
He gave a relieved sigh. “No need to worry.*grunt* It takes more time to be reborn from the first death. It’s almost time for lunch”*grunt* He got up. “Brother Oliver wanted to talk with you.” *grunt*
“Let’s go, I take you there” *grunt*
“Fine, but I need him to repair ssssome clothesss.” I planned to ask him to sew before the magic class. “It isss on my room”
He agreed, and helped me up. Walking was painful.
It seemed he planned to support my arm while we walked to the dormitory. Good plan, except I was more than eighty centimeters smaller. A little detail he forgot.
He looked sad about the unsuccessful plan, but shrugged it off.
On the middle of the way I asked for a few minutes to rest.
“You ussssed a skill?” I asked, remembering the sudden charge during our spar.
He nodded. *grunt*”Yeah, Burst Charge. It’s just a Beginner-tier skill, but useful” *grunt*
This was also explained by Brother Oliver.
Movements and Passive Skill have a level attached, because you get better every time you use them, so they need more levels. Active Skills don’t.
For example, if you just use a Slash Skill, no matter how many times you use it, the same slash will come out.
Instead of level, they have upgrades. So, if you have a Slash Skill, but manage to dismember a target while activating it, it will change into Dismember Skill, a higher tier skill.
We went to my room and grabbed the shirt, and went to the monk’s dormitory.
During the walk, Broox decided I was going to slow for his taste. So he picked me up and walked his normal pace. He was not even slightly interested on my complaints.
He dropped me on the “reception” and went back to his room.
I entered and climbed the old librarian desk.
He was immersed on his book.
I spent well over three minutes there before noticing. Again, it must have been a comic scene, with me hanging on his desk, only the tail moving.
He was startled when he noticed me.
“What you want?” Hmmm, pretty angry.
“Brother Oliver. Isss he on hisss room?”
“Yes, of course he is. Now move it” what a grumpy old man.
I went to Brother Oliver’s room.
Again he quickly answered the door.
“Oh, Gyp. Come on in” he let me enter. His room was the same.
He asked me to sit down and sat on his own chair. Serious atmosphere. Another lecture, I guess.
“There are some things I forgot to mention for you during our last encounter.” He took a deep breath as if preparing for a long class.
“The first thing is about the world monetary system. On the Royal Continent, we use these coins as currency.” He took out three coins, of different colors. “The one that worth less is this copper coin. We call it a jack. With a hundred jacks, you get a silver coin, called a dame. With a hundred dames you get a gold coin, named a king. Currently I don’t have the next coin, which you would get after exchanging a hundred kings, a mithril coin, called a dragon. In any bank you will be able to exchange a group of coin to another, and some merchants might be willing to exchange them too.
We follow a twelve month calendar. Each month with thirty days. Our season have a period of three months each. We are currently on year 499 after the Demonic War, the fifteenth day of the fourth month.
The other thing was about the Fairies races. I forgot to mention another detail about this world. The Fairy currently lives on their own side, called Arcadia. This is different from a different plane, like the one you came from. Planes are distant realities from our own, while sides are just a step from ours.
And also, the gods. More specifically, our religion. The gods that brought you are commonly known as lesser gods. The ones we pray for are different. They are the Five Greater God, also known as Creators. They were the ones that created the first sentient races.
The first god, the Eternal One, wished for a race that was graceful and long-lived. He created the Elves and gave them his forests. The second goddess, the Survivor, wished for a race that would survive any catastrophe that was thrown at it. She created the Humans and gave then her fire. The third god, the Mighty One, wished for a strong race, capable of unparalleled strength. He created the Beastman and granted them his islands and oceans. The fourth goddess, the Lost One, wished for a race that was immutable, and created the Constructs and gave then strong metals and ores. And finally, the fifth gods, the Twins, also called the Mistaken, wished for change. They mixed the other races and created Demons, and all other races that came from the original four and gave then their breath, so they could change, and change all within their reach. They fought against their sister who wanted stability, in what later would be called ‘The Parting’ and won. She created her own side, the Harboring, and closed all sources to it. There, she stays with her race, in an eternal sleep.
The power used by 'both' gods, during the Parting, created two races, that none of the gods had planned. The Angels and the Fairies. None of these races received the gods’ gift, so they had to learn from the other races. For not receiving the gods help, they don’t worship them, and moved to their sides. Only recently some of the Angels came, on their flying citadel. But the Fairies continue on their side, mysterious and unreachable.
Only recently we discovered about the Twins, a god worshipped by the Demon. Our scriptures told about them, of course, but their intentions were lost during translations. We thought they were just a being seeking destruction. After we established a friendly contact with the demons, we got the entirety of the Scripture, making us start their worship. And that’s our religion.”
He stopped to breathe, while catching a purse of coins and gave it to me.
And here’s a gift from the monks” there were ten dames and thirty coppers inside the purse. “We make visits to the village below on every fourth day. The next visit is in two days. You can go with us, and spend
the money in any way you want. We spend over two days there, healing the people, so you can also try to learn some basic crafts during our stay.
And I think this is it. If I forgot anything, I will call you again.” He leaned against his chair. “Now, you should go. It’s almost time for lunch.”
I gave goodbyes and exited.
And quickly returned.
Brother Oliver looked curious about why.
I took out the shirt and asked him to sew it.
He gave a bright smile, happy for me relying on him, and said I could come back before dinner to take it back.
His smile made me think that Brother Oliver was slowly becoming Father Oliver.
I went back to the Dining Hall.
----------------------------------------
Authors Note:
Aaaaaand new chapter! (a little longer one)
I didn't quite manage to write a good fighting scene. No matter how many times I tried, I didn't get what I wanted. this was the best I could do (hope I can improve it in the next battle)
More lore! And information about skills! Next, acquiring magic!
As ever, if you find mistakes, please comment
13 followers to go before I have to learn how to make pools!
Thanks for following!
And Thanks For Reading!