“I could’ve sworn it was somewhere around here.”
“You said that the last 800 times lyci.”
“Well, maybe if you didn’t ruin the map, we would find it by now.”
“We are playing hot or cold with that stupid compass, why do we need a map if we’re just following it.”
“Ugh, if it wasn’t a demon we were chasing, I would’ve done this by myself.”
“Shut it Grev.”
“Yeah, shut it, no one asked you.”
“YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO TALK EITHER, YOU RUINED THE MAP!”
Bickering was a party of three, two swordsmen and a priest. The girl, Lyci, was dressed in chainmail and green leather, held a ‘compass’, that was made from Icryst, a black and sharp crystal. Its function was to warm up the closer it is to demonic energy. However, it isn’t exactly working correctly as it warms up every few seconds like a forgotten microwave.
Ivan, the priest, was their designated support, he came from the church of Life and was newly recruited to help cleanse the demon.
“Wait guys, I think we are heading in the right direction, it warmed up again, this time it’s as warm as a freshly laid egg.”
“…Ew gross.”
“Shut it, Ivan.”
“Finally, we can finish this quest soon and then I can have a drink to forget you two. Alright let me remind you two, we are after a shadow demon, Ivan, your blessing ready?”
“Aye aye captain.”
Grev glared at Ivan. “Just because I have ONE hook hand, I’m a pirate now.”
“We’re get-ting closer~ Over here, over here.”
Walking into a clearing, they saw the destruction of the forest. Many trees torn and broken, dirt ripped from the ground and scars buried into the dirt.
“Woah, one hell of a fight, probably rare grade monsters fought here recently.”
“It’s just past that small hill and back into the forest, we don’t need to linger here.”
Carefully treading on the debris, they crossed the clearing and entered back into the forest.
“Hotter, it’s getting hotter, we are nearly thereeeeeee.”
“Put the rock away and get ready for an ambush, the shadow demon is the assassin type, just be ready to react in a moment notice, Ivan, give us your blessing, just a weak one so we can hit ‘em.”
{minor mana blessing}
Soon a blue opaque aura covered the swordsmen’s blades. Crouched and unsheathed, the trio stayed vigilant, wary of the shadows.
“We are definitely getting closer.” Lyci whispered. “I can FEEL the heat from the crystal in my pocket.”
*snap*
Everyone turned around, facing Ivan and stared daggers at him.
“Sorry” without a hint of guilt.
“It’s slightly vibrating now; we are 50 meters away.”
Motioning for silence, Grev guided the team in the sunlight, avoiding shadows and future sticks. Soon they reached a clearing and what they saw confused them.
Sitting in the clearing was a female wooden statue, in a lotus position and stiller than a tree.
“Is that a Druid? Or treant? Or did someone leave their doll out here?” Ivan whispered.
Why do I learn these hand signs if no one listens anyways Grev couldn’t help but lament.
“I-I think it’s the demon we’re after? Or maybe it’s hiding its shadow? I don’t know but the crystals very warm right now.”
“Doesn’t matter, I’ll attack it and you guard Ivan for any ambushes. Okay lets go!”
Lunging at the statue, Grev made an overhead strike toward it, looking to sever the motionless statue in half.
However, meters away from striking it, the statue opened its eyes and dodged slightly, having only one of its arms severed. A red liquid flowed out of the wound but soon coagulated like amber.
Staring at the arm emotionlessly, the statue bent down and picked up the arm. It morphed into a club and was angled against Grev ready to strike.
“It’s alive! It really is our target or an innocent person, uh, tree person, treeson. An-anyways the crystal is now constantly warm s-so it’s definitely our target.”
“{mana blessing} our target is a shadow demon not, whatever this is.”
The blade in Grev’s hand felt sharper and more resilient, as he swung his sword, the statue parried his strike, chipping the club.
Grev struck multiple times as a probing attack, still wary for any moving shadows. But he was worried for nothing as he only had to face his opponent.
Parrying a blow once more, Grev caught the club in his hook hand, attempting to yank it out of the statue’s hand.
“Duck!”
Lyci, eager to finish the job quickly and abandoning Ivan, and swung above Grev.
As Grev ducked, he lost his balance and his hooked hand.
“Y-you idiot! I had this all under control, go back and protect him!”
“You can do it if you’re scared, now let me do it, I’m better than you are anyways.”
Now facing two opponents, the statue’s wooden eyes narrowed ever so slightly. Deflecting the strikes of the blades till only a stick remained of the club, it’s legs buckled and strained.
“Hold them still, {Daze}”
A wave of confusing banter entered the statue’s mind, overloading its senses. Under the pressure of two swords and distracted, it would be defeated if not, killed soon enough.
Suddenly, with a sweeping motion of the stick, the statue leaped back and ran.
“H-hey, come back here!”
“Don’t let it get away!”
{accelerate}
Abandoning all caution, the trio immediately began to chase after the statue.
The statue tripped and stumbled numerous times, allowing the others to catch up. They were of course, adapted to the increase in speed, and were veteran enough to not trip over roots while the statue was recently born and not used to any large movements.
However, despite being clumsy, it was completely silent, not even a leaf crushed beneath its feet could be heard, added to the fact that they blended in the background well, allowed it to easily lose its pursuers.
“Ha, ha, ha, lets, ha, do the, ha, thing, I can’t keep going.”
“HA, your getting old, old man.”
“Okay captain!”
Lyci ran to the left while Grev went to the right of the statue. And soon the trio began to glow in a soft yellow light.
{golden restraint}
The aura from the trio began to sap the strength of the statue. Despite its endless endurance, the light restricted its movements to the point the trio could easily catch up.
“Ha, ha, ha, just, ha, stab it, ha.”
Twirling her sword, Lyci swiped at the statue, carving through the stick and splitting a leg. The statue finally fell over. Without hesitation, Lyci lunged at the statue decapitating it.
“That wasn’t so hard, ha, was it?”
“Yep, just got to carve a piece as proof and then you can purify it.” Lyci chopped a finger off and casually motioned with said figure to burn the body.
{Lysong’s blessing}
This caused the body to glow in a light yellow light before disintegrating into light dust. Ivan got up and clapped his hands.
“Done! Now if only we had that map…”
“You’re STILL on that?”
“Well, where else are we?”
“We’re… in Jahera forest.”
“We are lost, admit it. If it wasn’t for a certain someone we wouldn’t be lost!”
“Just… ha, just wait a bit and let me catch my breath.” Said as he swiftly took out a leather pouch full of water, sat down and took a swig.
“God dammit, who taught you guys, just… *sigh* just look at the way the sun is setting, that’s west and we have to go south, now put two and two together alright?”
“So um, according to the sun, we have about an hour before it sets.”
“Right so let’s make camp for the night.”
“PHILIP, SAVE MEEEEE!”
Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.
“Ssssssssorry kid, you’re on your own.”
Grabbing Tokki by her ears, Noel flew over a crowd of wolves and dropped her in the middle.
___
[Name: unnamed]
[Species: Mud Wolf]
[Level: 8]
HP: 42/42
[Strength: 22]
[Vitality: 14]
[Intelligence: 8]
[Agility: 26]
[Charm: 8]
[Luck: 7]
[Quick and sharp witted, this wolf is nothing to scoff at, especially since it never hunts by itself. It is especially deadly in swamps)
___
“You are too cruel, dropping a bunny in the middle of a wolf pack? Evil, Veil, Disgusting, Stupid, GIVE ME MY FREEDOM BACK!”
“Danger is a good motivator to get stronger faster, don’t worry, with me around they wont even get a whiff of your fur.”
Bullshit
Feeling her already fast beating heart, she immediately dashed, looking to find a weak point in the formation.
I thought it was going to be quick and simple, fight a wolf sure I can do that, two? A bit difficult, three, nope, sixteen, what is wrong with your brain.
Dejected, Tokki sighed and looked at her stats, it always made the corners of her lips rise whenever she looked at it.
___
[Name: Bin Tokki]
[Species: Rabbit]
[Level: 9]-8426 exp till next level-
[Please allocate: 87 points]
HP: 54/54
[Strength: 9]
[Vitality: 18]
[Intelligence: 18]
[Agility: 34]
[Charm: 11]
[Luck: 7]
[Innate ability: Swiftness]
[Skills: {Burrow lvl1} {hop lvl8} {swimming lvl4} {little glutton lvl3} {danger sense lvl2}]
[A small, soft, and adorable mammal typically prey for larger animals such as foxes, wolves, humans, etc.]
___
Tokki has been saving up her points as she never felt the need to upgrade her stats. Other than being extremely tempted to increase agility to escape the wolves, she knew if she got better, only hordes of wolves would wait for her.
It’s been 4 days since she last had that delicious hot cake, and she has been leveling up quickly. Not only has she leveled up from eating all those karots, but she has also gotten more agile from all the training. If she were to do the first forest run again, she wouldn’t even trip now!
“TOKKI! LOOK OUT!”
Snapping out of her daze was a shout from Daisy. However she didn’t need the warning, her danger sense acted like a mini spider-sense and allowed her to tell the direction of danger coming at her, in this instance, right in front of her.
*Snap*
Stopping mere moments away from the jaws of a hungry wolve, Tokki suddenly did a backflip and kicked the wolf in its snout.
“ow”
“I wish you guys were as nice as Sally!”
“shut up, we don’t know who Sally is, but she is a disappointment if she didn’t eat you!”
“She’s NOT a disappointment.”
Angered, Tokki drop kicked the wolf who talked bad about Sally.
[Reward: Exp 134]
Stepping off the unconscious wolf, Tokki was joyful yet confused, she gotten exp from defeating her opponent. She always though she’d get it like video games where she had to kill them, however since these training he steadily defeated the occasional wolf.
“Nice job, I found another wolf pack, so enjoy!”
Bringing in another 13 wolves, Noel grinned sadistically at Tokki.
“YOU DEMON!”
Crossing her arms in an X shape, Noel retorted. “Wrong, I’m a fairy.”
Gritting her teeth, Tokki had an idea.
Ha ha, if you are going to be like that then you leave me no choice, if I remember correctly you had 93 agility, now I wonder what would happen if I out ran you. He he.
[Agility 34->121]
You want speed? You got SPEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEED.
Like hitting the gas pedal, Tokki immediately zoomed around, and ran past the wolves.
“What the-“
“Look at her go-”
*THUD*
On a certain tree, a certain bunny face was firmly kissing its bark.
Shaking her head, Noel calmly floated over. “Tsk tsk tsk, to think you were purposely being slow, ai I got to punish you for being a naughty little rabbit.”
*Groooowl*
Glancing to the side where the wolves were hungerly looking at Tokki, Noel rolled her eyes and a flash of lightning illuminated her pupils.
Empowering her voice to sound like thunder, Noel uttered one word. “Scram.”
And just like dogs during a thunderstorm, they immediately whimpered and ran away.
“Now let’s see what with her condition.”
Gently peeling Tokki off the bark, Noel examined her.
“Yikesssss looksssss like that got to hurt.”
Tokki ears twitched and was slowly bleeding from her head, her eyes blank.
“She pulled a muscle and dislocated a joint, and her face is bruised. What a waste of a cute face.”
*Sigh*
Jolting Tokki awake, Noel held her by the ears like a sack of potatoes.
“Ughhhhh what happened?”
“You went super-fast, and it looks like you weren’t at all used to that speed, how long were you hiding that from me?”
“Sorry, I got annoyed you kept bringing in wolves so I, uh, thought about running away.”
“Silly rabbit (trixs are for kids) you won’t be able to outrun me, I have lightning dash that triples my speed, you could hardly make it out of this forest before I catch you.”
Daisy hopped and landed beside Noel.
“Yep, and didn’t you remember about my lesson about not putting to much importance into one stat.”
“You only talked about too much in strength?”
“Did I? Well, it works both ways, if you’re too agile, your brain can’t keep up, unless you have some instinct that can move your body for you. And while we are on this topic, I should mention, if you have too much endurance, then your own body would be too difficult to move so you would need strength just to move. So, it’s more or less a cycle, too strong? Well, your body won’t be agile enough to hit with its full force. Too agile? Your weak body is just going to hit everything and you won’t be able to react. Too tough? Well good luck moving. You need a balance in every area, so you won’t have weaknesses. Although I have yet to see some weakness for being smarter. I haven’t seen anyone’s brain explode and it’s really hard to get smart, reading is boring, why would anyone read. It’s just staring at a dead piece of wood and hallucinating based on what you think is happening. Although I think some foods can make you smarter, but they are rare. Imagine you can just become the strongest by eating food, imagine. Oh Tokki?”
“Uh huh, uh yeah, uhhhh yea I’m awake I’m up.”
“Oh good, like I was saying”
~
“Now that’s the kind of book I would like to read, maybe making one of the weakest monsters, like say a slime? And make it super strong.” *sigh* “Too bad I’m illiterate. Oh, here we are.”
“Here Daisy, you take the rabbit to Lady Dalbon and get her fixed up, ill be on an errand.”
“Again? You keep leaving us while you do your ‘errands’.”
“Yes, and they are V E R Y important, I cannot postpone it.”
“Buy me a drink asssssswell when you are done.”
“Hey shut it. Now shoo shoo.”
*zap*
And then Noel was gone.
“Woah, did she teleport?”
“No, now letssssss get you checked up.”
Taking a casual stroll, they followed a dirt pathway that led to a lake. Not a ripple was seen on the lake and was so clear you could see the rocks at the deepest part of it. Across the river was a small cabin, built from oak wood.
“Is that where we are going?”
“No.”
“We are going up!”
“Wait up? But it’s just a lake?”
“I think ssssssshe hit her head too hard.”
“Heeeey.”
“Its simple, we just go on that rainbow.”
“Wait a minute what?”
“Letsssss jusssssst sssssshow you.”
Slithering up the rainbow, Philip motioned with his head to follow.
“This is not physically possible.”
*Sigh* “just hop on, I’ll carry you if you’re scared.”
“Wait uh, I’m not scared watch.”
Lightly hopping onto the rainbow, it felt surreal. Like placing your foot on thousands upon thousands of tiny threads, each with a different level of heat. Some warm, some cool to the touch. It felt like god’s perfect pillow. And the TASTE, now that’s a different story.
Wait taste? Why did I lick the rainbow?
“Come on, ssssssshe doesssssssn’t wait forever.”
“O-ok on it.”
Despite the steepness of the rainbow, Tokki had a firm grip on the ground.
Climbing the rainbow higher, despite the warm floor, the wind brushed against her. Although she had a fur coat, she couldn’t help but shiver from the cold. The place felt, very empty, the mist obscuring the surrounding to the point Tokki couldn’t see her own two paws, the tall trees were to the back, signifying that there was indeed ground at some point. If not for the sound of Daisy steady hopping, Tokki would’ve been frightened to do this alone.
“Keep it up, we are nearly there.” Echoed a voice.
After what seemed like ages, the mist finally thinned out and a cottage appeared. It was pretty small but the oddest thing happened when Tokki took a step forward, the house grew a bit, and with every step forward, it grew another inch. Once Tokki was at the front door, she fitted exactly the size and what was even more odd was that her friends were her size.
“Did you guys shrink?”
“Itssssss the illusssssssion fairy’sssssss magic.”
“Welcome.” A cat beast kin with a suit opened the door. He was as tall as Tokki. “Are you here to see Sir Dalbon, Madam Dalbon, or Lady Dalbon.”
“We are here to ssssssee Lady Dalbon.”
“Please have a seat, ill inform Lady Dalbon of your arrival and bring some tea.”
Daisy jumped onto a couch cushion while Philip coiled around a mushroom lamp. Pausing for a second, Tokki jumped and sat beside Daisy.
“So, um, this place is kinda weird.”
“It isssssss normal for ussssssss common citizens not to know how arissssssssstocratssssssss live.”
“Wait we are asking help from nobles?”
“Yeah! What’s so surprising about that?”
“Um nothing”
I’ve been reading too many novels where the nobles are the evil ones. Walking on rainbows, magical powers, right this place is much different than real life, I’m sure there won’t be any cliques in this world.
“Lady Dalbon is ready to see you, follow me.” The butler said before opening the door.
The butler guided them through the halls, the rose scented carpet was soft to the touch and gave an addicting feeling. Hanging on the walls were numerous fairies. Some wielding a blade fighting various creatures, others gifting people or animal relics. They all had one thing in common and that was the fairy depicted had bright blue butterfly wings and a teal dress with long flowing black hair.
“We are here.” The butler says as he knocked three times on the door.
A faint “Enter” could be heard on the other side.
The butler held the door open for the guest to enter the room. “Excuse us, Lady Dalbon.”
As they entered the room, many herbs and spices tingled Tokki’s nostrels. It smelt of disinfectant and burning wood.
“Hello, hello, what do we have here?” Said a petite teal fairy hovering over a cauldron. “Noel’s mounts, welcome! To what do I owe the occasion?”
“Lady Dalbon.” Philip started, tilting his non-existent hat, “We requesssssst of you to heal our junior.”
“HmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmMmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmMmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmMMmmmmmmmmMmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmMmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmMmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm, no.”
“You know the rulesssss, and sssssso do I.”
“Fine, I’ll do it, I’ll do it. But let me think for a moment, what do I want, what do I want.” She haphazardly threw in random ingredients, from starkshrooms to vivine.
“We can disssssscussssssssssss payment afterwardsssssss, I would like her healed.”
Nudging Daisy a little, Tokki whispered, “what rules are they talking about?”
In an equally hushed voice, Daisy replied. “There is an ‘unspoken’ rule that healing fairies are obligated to healing their patients for a favor in return more or less reasonable.”
“Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm, I got it, recently there has been humans intruding upon our territory, and the female human was holding a beautiful black crystal, I want that and in exchange I’ll heal you little buddy here.”
*pat* *pat*
“ooooo, your soft, just like my pillow, would you like to sleep with me darling?”
“Um, no thanks Lady Dalbon.”
“You are quite cute, call me Hcet, oh I have an idea, when you complete the quest, ill throw in a potion that would make your fur softer, eh eh? Then you might want to change your mind.”
“Oh, um, I’ll think about it Lady Hcet.”
“Oh right, here’s a GeonGrape for your uh whatever wound.”
“T-thank you lady Hcet.”
Taking a small nibble then throwing inside her mouth, Tokki felt a surge of energy clawing its way to the legs and head.
[Vitality 18->19]
Oooooo stat points
The wound on her head sealed and formed a faint line before healing completely, as for her legs.
*POP*
…
“TOKKI ARE YOU OKAY? WHAT HAPPENED, LADY DALBON WHAT HAPPENEDDDDDDD!”
“Calm down, calm down, she must’ve dislocated a joint and it popped back to place.”
Oh my god, I felt my heart jump to my throat.
“Um, since she is healed now you guys can begin my request.”
“Right now?”
“Yup”
*clap*
Suddenly, the trio landed on top of a sleeping woman.
”H-huh? GAH SNAKEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE.”