A/N: Hey everyone, long time no see, as mentioned previously my laptop died, and I haven't got my data back, which has set me back on all my stories, my newest Vampire Attack novella in particular, along with the detailed plans I had for this story, but I more or less remembered what I had planned for this chapter, so here we go. Also I was writing a light novel earlier so if you spot a 1st person perspective out of place, let me know. I think I edited them all, but I'm sleepy, 3am, and 5am the last two nights writing.
(Start of chapter)
DINGIR AVATAR STATS
Character class: Grey Mage
Rank: Pluto Knight X (Private)
Level: 20, 7041xp until next level up.
HP: 1822 / 2126
MP: 993 / 999 (maxed)
Strength: 52 (88)
Speed: 33 (28)
Spirit: 46 (50)
Magic Defence/Defence: 40 (71)
Magic: 78
Magic Evasion/Evasion: 28 (47)
Primary Weapon: Ice Brand (freeze add-on)
Secondary Weapon: Mythril Dagger
Weapons available to switch out: Iron Sword, Goblin Dagger, Javelin, Pinwheels x20
Headwear: Iron Helm + Headgear
Armour: Iron Armour + Chain Plate
Accessory: Steel Gauntlet with buckler + Leather Wrist
Skills: Minus Strike, Mental Break
Abilities: Bright Eyes, Level Up, Man Eater, Bug Killer, Grey Magic, Antibody, Bandit, Dragon Killer, Devil Killer, Undead Killer, Beast Killer
Magic: Poison, Regen, Sleep, Panacea, Osmose, Protect, Cure, Bio, Shell, Stop, Scan
Magic Stacking: Asag's Toxin – level 1 (40MP) Adel's Healing – level 1 (30MP) Hypnos Field – level 1 (50MP) Physical Barrier – level 1 (30MP) Magical Barrier – level 1 (30MP) Magic Gluttony – level 1 (20MP)
(Possible stacking ideas, Bio Pestilence, Mass Cleansing, Frozen Time, Eagle Eye – using unused spells) – delete this on fanfiction
Trance: Balmung Strike, Balmung Omni
Items: 20 D-Potions, 6 Phoenix Down, 10 P-Potion, 9 R-Potions, 30 Potions, 10 Eye Drops, 10 Echo Screen, 10 Soft, 13 Goblin Steak, Traveller's cloak, Isekai ring, silk shirt, lots of regular clothes.
Gil: 14931
A nerfed Dingir in Final Fantasy 9, seriously?
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Meeting the protagonist, part 1
Returning to the castle, Mark allowed himself time to eat, visit the toilet, a quick shower, ask (beg) one of the knights to re-bandage his half-healed torso, and get changed back into his armour for guard duty, it had been an overall productive first day in Lindblum. Like gaining a resistance to one type of elemental magic, as well as the double killing power against fellow humans, along with bug monsters, dragons, devils, the undead, and even beasts, if you included those he had learnt previously. All this would be helpful going forward, and once he no longer needed the items equipped to use these skills/magic/abilities, he would be able to use these options in his grey magic for others, like his future party once the events of the game started.
Tomorrow he would try at being the merchant that he had once pretended to be, and if there was time, Mark would leave the city to face Lindblum's local mist monsters for some level grinding. As now he had Bio and Magic Stacking, now he could finally be considered a threat to many monsters.
The following day after a night of guard duty, Mark slept for perhaps four hours, before bathing, styling his hair differently and dressing his formal shirt and slacks before sneaking out to visit the merchant's guild, wearing his Mythril dagger on his hip, and item sack strapped on the top and bottom like a slanted rucksack.
After showing his items to a clerk who worked there, he was ushered into a private room. Minutes passed before a portly man with a genial demeanour, but sharp eyes entered the room, followed by a slightly younger woman, who was all business, her gaze analysing me with unsettling focus.
"So you must be the man who brought me this?" the portly fellow said, holding up one of the potions Mark had given him. It was an R-Potion, which healed most medical ailments and battle status effects, while also healing twice as much HP as an ordinary potion. It was the best he could create with his current skills and item availability. With High Potions as a base, Mark knew he could make something much better, but for now, this was enough. The P-Potions were already so all-purpose that they were revolutionary compared to what was sold, which was exactly his intention.
Mark nodded. "Yes, that's correct."
"My name is Andrew Brewer, the head of this branch," he said by way of introduction.
"Mark Green."
The man took a seat on the couch opposite him, setting down the potion he had given them, it was half empty. They must have tested it, not believing the scan magicks they doubtlessly had. They woman remained standing, still observing him, it was unsettling, but Mark didn't allow it to show on his features.
"Where did you get it?" he asked, sounding very enthusiastic, leaning forward.
"I made it," Mark replied.
The woman made an amused noise, obviously not believing him.
"R-Really?" Andrew stuttered, his emotions mixed between hope and disbelief.
"Indeed," Mark said firmly. "I am a Grey Mage of no small skill, bring one of your own brand potions and I'll change it here in front of you."
Andrew Brewer nodded, "Reina dear, a potion, if you please?"
She removed one from a pouch on her hip, too small to hold a bulky potion bottle, probably a storage item like my sack, and handed it to Andrew, who then placed it on the small table between them. They were probably expecting Mark to say it was his, or at least prepared for the possibility. Mark was neither young or old, but he did look older than he appeared, it wasn't impossible to think he had decades of practice, and thanks to Mark's high intellect, creativity, and the game assisted mechanics of his avatar's powers, he probably had a much easier time than the natives of this once fictional fantasy world.
Gathering his magic and focus, Mark placed a palm above the potion, and the complicated collection of magic circles surrounded the healing item, it vanished inside the pocket dimension where he could add his influence. Mark added both mana and anti-venom, he wasn't going to use up one of his expensive items to perfectly recreate an R-Potion, but it produced a P-Potion, double healing plus removing any poison or toxin. It took perhaps ten seconds before the sickly green potion appeared on the table as his grey magic circles vanished.
"I call it a Pana-Potion, twice the effectiveness of a normal potion, additionally contains the spell Panacea." Mark held it out to the merchant leader, who took it with shaking hands. "I have several unique potions like this, I am will to sell an exclusive trade deal with you on several conditions."
"What are your conditions?" Andrew asked with shaking hands as he used scan. He then glanced to Reina, "Could you make something this quickly?" he asked.
She shook her head, oh so she was a Grey Mage as well? "No his speed is dozens of times faster than anyone we have, not including the quality of his work…its perfect." She then lowered her head briefly to Mark. "My apologies for not believing you made this."
"Its fine," Mark replied dismissively, "now about my conditions."
"Of course!"
"First, I wish to keep my involvement secret to the public eye, at least for now. I'm currently working under foreign nobility in another capacity, and I don't trust them with these. So do not trade or sell these to Alexandria."
"Given our wars with them in the past, I have no problems with this. What else?"
"I am only here in Lindblum briefly so a place for the normal potions and ingredients I require for production must be sent to me in the castle city and then transported back. Perhaps the local merchant guild in the city if you trust them, or a warehouse I can access when my schedule allows while you handle the rest. I am willing to go for 70/30 in your favour in exchange for handling everything besides the production itself."
Andrew considered it. "We have several small places on the docks, yes, that can be arranged. However I will need to know where to find you."
"Alexandria castle, Pluto Knights wing," Mark replied. They looked startled; the Pluto Knights fall from grace was not common knowledge outside of the walled city itself. "If you cannot arrange contact with me safely, send a letter, or find me at the Queen Ann's pub in the west-lows, I often drink there."
"For a knight of the royalty to not trust his own rulers with his superior potions, how interesting," said the merchant with shrewd eyes, he had figured out why Mark didn't want to give the country an edge. Every major merchant was a part time spy for their royalty, selling off any information they heard on their travels. It was one of the things that gave Cid and edge over other nations.
Mark smiled grimly, he was taking chances here. "Think whatever you like, I don't care if you tell any Tom, Dick, or Cid," Mark said dismissively, though putting on a slight emphasis on the name Cid, hoping the merchant was smart enough to pass it on to the King. A little paranoia would be helpful for getting Cid to arrange Garnet's kidnapping on her 16th birthday.
"Anything else?" Andrew prompted.
"One more," Mark replied. "I want you to charge higher rates to military and nobility whenever you can get away with it and lower rates to the poor. Healing items shouldn't only be for the rich."
They continued their discussions for several hours. At their prompted he tested on how many he could make at once, 99 was the answer. Meaning he could make tens of thousands easily on his days off or at night now that he was no longer hunting criminals for experience points. Eventually all the info was exchanged and contracts were signed. He would be contacted within a month to begin making his special potions at the location in the Alexandrian docks.
This deal could potentially make him millions of Gil, and with that he could mass purchase the best items and equipment and learn as many skills and abilities as possible for the journey ahead, as well as outfitting the rest of the FF9 team. He had other ideas as well, but he first needed to build a relationship of goodwill and trust with the Lindblum's merchant guild that came from more than a good business deal. Those were matters of the future.
It was a little after ten o'clock while passing through the theatre district, on route to the city exit, where he planned to monster grind, Mark spotted a familiar monkey tailed gnome. He got off and immediately went in search of the then fifteen year old thief. Mark wasn't sure why exactly, but he lived in this fantasy world, and he had just seen the soon-to-be main character of the tale. He followed at a distance; he was heading to the same tavern Zidane had frequented in the game. Since Zidane had training as a thief and was a denizen of the underworld, Mark instead went into a few other shops first, and then went into the tavern.
Mark took a seat at the bar, but a good distance from Zidane; he seemed to be in good health, flirting heavily with the barmaid who was almost old enough to be his mother. Mark smiled faintly at the boy's antics, before ordering a drink himself, then a few more, relaxing slightly, he was about to leave, his curiosity sated for the moment after listening to the lad chatting with others, when a dagger firmly pressed against his throat.
'Cast: Shell, Cast: Physical Barrier,' Mark instantly silently cast, one reducing potential damage, the other, he moulded around his skin as invisible armour. He then slowly tried to reach for his dagger, but the oversized kitchen knife only dug deeper, applying pressure, but no longer able to break his skin, Mark heard Zidane curse at being unable to draw blood, probably planning to go the intimidation route.
"Mind telling me why you've been following me?" Zidane asked quietly but firmly, the few other patrons, and employees ignored them both at that point, it was probably common in a district secretly overrun with career criminals.
Mark chuckled. "Mind telling me how your search for the blue light is going?" he asked, mentioning something extremely personal to him. Zidane froze for a moment.
Suddenly Mark leant forward onto the knife, trapping it with his chin. He twisted, pulling Zidane forward and off balance to the side. An elbow strike came to meet him, knocking the much smaller lad unconscious, and given he was only level ten and Mark was level twenty, it wasn't surprising.
"Nice try, kid." Mark said while rubbing his neck, fortunately there was no cut; the spells had done their job. His back was stinging a bit from his sudden movement, but he could tough it out.
Then a club struck Mark's chest, and smashed him through the bar itself, thanks to his defensive spells, he avoided broken ribs, but he did lose some HP. He lay there, faking defeat, ready for the follow up attack, but it didn't come. It was one of the patrons that had attacked him, while another grabbed Zidane and slung him over his shoulder.
"Still alive, huh? Well thanks for knocking Zidane out, saved me the trouble, kid owes me a lot of money, and there's no Baku to save his monkey hide, this time."
'Oh great, what now?' Mark thought as they ran out, easily standing up, brushing away the splintered wood and ignoring the barmaid's glare. 'If they kill him, it'll mess up the plot…better take care of this quickly.' Mark hurried after them as they took a series of backstreet paths that that eventually led down and outside the castle, close to the dragon gate, via a secret tunnel, likely carved over decades for illegal purposes. Zidane was tied up at this point, and thrashing about.
They dumped Zidane a good distance away, before pouring an amber liquid over him. In the distance, they all heard the mist monsters react to the smell, it was a drug used to lure in monsters for their yearly hunting tournament. "If you survive kid, I'll expect the money on time next month, if you die; we will consider it square with this." They hurried back up the tunnel as the noises grew louder. Mark had hidden behind a scraggly bush, meagre cover, but given their haste, he had gotten away with it.
Zidane had already begun cutting the ropes, when a massive roar sounded, Mark looked up.
"Is that a Grand Dragon?" he muttered, his dark hair beginning to turn black and lengthen as the trance that he kept suppressed through his level ups burst forth as he felt despair. The Grand Dragon, level 60.
CHAPTER END
Next Chapter: Meeting the Protagonist, part 2
A/N: Thanks for reading the newest chapter. No end of chapter stats this time, as no changes yet.
And as always, check out my current novels and comics listed below; they'd make good Christmas gifts. (Hint, hint.) ;)
MY MAIN BOOKS AND COMICS:
Search the titles on Amazon, Lulu, Barnes&Noble, and most major online retailers, available in Kindle/EBook, and Paperback. (Some in Hardback)
Grey Faction: Arrival of the Grey Queen
Grey Faction: Mistaken Apostles
Grey Faction Comic: Jinhai's Justice
Grey Faction Comic: School Wars
Grey Faction Comic: Arrival of the Grey Queen
Detective Michael: The Scalpel Murder
Detective Michael: Riverside Mystery
Detective Michael Comic: Volume 1
Vampire Attack: Empire of Shadows
Vampire Attack: Shadow Force (Currently on hold)
Secret Yuuki & the Guilty Heart Chronicles: Dimension Wars
Secret Yuuki & the Guilty Heart Chronicles: Starlight Alliance
Nexus Comic: Volume 1
Corpses 'N' Things
Monsters 'N' Things
Vampires 'N' Things