Mark's character stats (Start of Chapter 8)
Character class: Wizard Knight / Pluto Knight X
Level: 10, 163xp until next level up.
HP: 523 / 523
MP: 630 / 630
Strength: 28 (40)
Speed: 20 (15)
Spirit: 35
Magic: 49
Weapon: Iron short sword
Headwear: Iron helm
Armour: Iron armour
Accessory: Iron gauntlets
Skills: None
Magic: Poison, Regen, Sleep, Panacea, Osmose, Protect
Trance: Balmung strike
Items: 1 phoenix down, Antidote, 13 Goblin Steak, Traveller's cloak, Isekai ring
Gil: 180
A nerfed Dingir in Final Fantasy 9, seriously?
CHAPTER SEVEN
Guarding the Princess
"Holy crap!" Mark yelled rolling back repeatedly to avoid the furious consecutive of Steiner, hitting the stone wall of the practice area, he kicked off, diving forward he narrowly sailed over the captain's follow up swing.
Forward rolling into a standing position, he grabbed his nearby short sword, which Steiner had easily knocked from his grip minutes ago, turning he blocked Steiner's overhead swing, he was forced to one knee, but managed to guard, using his right gauntlet to support the blade as he strained against the older knight's great strength. It hadn't helped that Steiner had used the skill Man eater, which greatly increased how much damage his attack could do against humans.
Suddenly the weight of the attack ceased, and Steiner stepped back, sheathing his blade. "Well done," he acknowledged with a brief nod. "You need to work on protecting your wrist and maintaining a solid grip, but otherwise, you've improved a lot."
Mark grinned a little at the compliment, "Thanks Captain, but you're like twice as strong as me, so sparring with you is still pretty tough."
"Did you want to stop?"
"Hell no!"
"But your next attempt to best me, you'll have to save it for tomorrow, your with me protecting the Princess today," Steiner informed Mark as he scrambled to his feet.
Mark sheathed his short sword, and nodded, "yes, sir!" he looked up to the sun, which was no longer dimly peeking over the sky. It must be around 7am. Time for the princess's wake up call.
The princess's maids would wake, wash, dress, and bring the princess breakfast, overseen by the lady in waiting, meanwhile Mark and Steiner hurried to the door of her chambers. The soldiers who stood watch at night, saw them approach, nodded briefly and left for their much deserved rest. Mark and Steiner took up guard on either side of the princess's bedroom and then they waited to escort the princess on her day.
It had already been a month since Mark taken the post as the Pluto Knight of ten, while he hadn't levelled up as yet, his fitness in general was much improved as a result of Steiner's training, sparring, and running after the princess all day, spending years sitting down writing hadn't helped matters.
He had also learned the basics of Alexandrian sword fighting, which relied upon overhead swings, and four directional slashes, but what made the style interesting was that it used seemingly reckless charges for defence, as weapons struck the fighter's armour, and was deflected by the forward movement combined with angling the edges of the armour and gauntlets, a brilliant method that was ideal for war, but it required a reckless, almost insane courage to risk defence on such a fleeting moment should your blade fail you.
Mark lacked that, but managed it just barely with his fast reactions, he was wasn't mindlessly devoted to the Kingdom and its safety like Steiner or Beatrix. He just needed to survive long enough for the events of the game to unfold, then he would be able level up quickly across their travels until they defeated Kuja and Necron, and then he could go home and give Hironobu the beat down of a lifetime, and enjoy the adulations and riches from decades of writing novels and comics.
An unexpected, or rather forgotten benefit of recent events was that sparring, while low on EXP, filled up the points for skills at about half the rate of random encounters. Iron Helm had taught him Bright eyes and Level up after about a week into his training. It had been quite the boon as he had been given the equipment as part of his employment.
Skill unlocked: Bright Eyes
"Immunity to the negative status: darkness, also allows for improved night vision."
Being able to see in the dark was handy, Mark had tried it, and found he could see as well as he could in the daylight, though it lacked colour, even in rooms with no light, it worked. As skills were always active, it was very handy. Then of course was the original in game purpose of blocking darkness status effects. What he really liked about it was that he had perfect clarity when fooling around with the lady soldiers when he invited them back to his small room. Candles didn't provide much light in the dead of night, and he liked enjoying the sight of his bed fellows when he had sex.
Skill unlocked: Level up
"Level 1.5 times faster than normal."
Mark's EXP still increased at a snail's pace, but when he could fight mist monsters, then this skill would really make a difference. But it definitely helped with learning skills. With the only skill now being what the iron sword taught, he was able to learn the Minus Strike after just another two days of sparring, during a particularly gruelling session when he had lost most of his HP, it had unlocked, and Mark had ended up almost killing the captain with the unexpectedly powerful attack. Steiner guarded just barely and was send flying into the wall, cracking it. His armour had taken the damage, but his sword had broken.
Skill unlocked: Minus Strike - 8MP to cast
"Deals non-elemental damage equal to the difference between user's max HP and current HP."
Steiner had been stunned at first, then irritated that Mark had broken his sword, and Mark finally got a taste of the screaming he was famous for in the game. He calmed down when the princess approached, she had once again snuck out of her more lady-like classes to watch two knights batter each other to pieces.
Garnet found it fascinating, and unlike other women she didn't get to learn how to fight, she was expected to do princess things, she hadn't chosen her station, and she found it profoundly boring. Even when her innate gift for healing magic was discovered, she seldom got to use it, though Beatrix had taught her the three basic spells after much pleading.
Only when someone was hurt in front of her did she get to usually use it. Like now. "Don't worry Steiner, allow me," she said as she approached, laying a hand on him, she whispered, "Cure," a green light enveloped them, and Steiner's injuries and HP recovered. Though she needed to use it several times to fully fill his HP. "There we are, good as new."
"Thank you Princess," he said, flexing his grip.
"You're welcome, Steiner," smiled Garnet.
The young princess glanced to her newest knight, Mark the knight of ten, unlike most of the others, who slacked whenever possible, she found this knight to be capable and hard working, though he conducted himself far more casually than Steiner, any bows were done to the absolute bare minimum, almost insulting to nobility, but she could tell, he saw it as a formality, there was no loyalty, or reverence to the crown. Steiner put her and her mother on a pedestal of greatness, treating her with the utmost formality, while most other men regarded her with barely concealed lust, despite being a few years short of the country's mateable age.
But with Mark, there was none of it, he just saw a child he needed to keep safe because it was his job. As impossible as it seemed, he did not respect or fear the crown. It was fascinating, too most nobles and royalty, a commoner acting as such was practically a crime. But she appreciated the variation he brought to her daily live. He was quick with the banter, never stopped or gave her trouble when she snuck out of lessons or the expected, dreadfully boring 'hobbies' to do things that she actually enjoyed. He'd even given her knife fighting lessons on one occasion, saying that being royal didn't excuse her from being unable to protect yourself.
"After all, if Steiner and I get killed, who's to protect you from who knows what, an enemy won't go easy on the ruling class," he grinned evilly, messing her hair in a fatherly way. "It's quite the opposite, actually. So let's catch you up on how to kill a person."
With the guarding patterns, they hadn't had a chance for a second lesson, but she practiced it alone when she was supposed to be sleeping for an hour or two each night. It gave her a thrill to practice something like this, women were the fighters in this country, and yet she wasn't allowed to undergo the same training. She had a strong gift for healing magic, she was taught the basics only, and seldom allowed to use it, occasionally begging to help inside the castle's infirmary. She felt trapped here, bound by her position as princess, and future Queen of Alexandria. Practicing with the blunt dagger they used in the lesson, gave her a sense of freedom and defiance against her mother.
Regarding Mark as he struggled to his feet, Garnet cast cure on him, he paused, startled, before quickly rising to his full, impressive height.
"Thanks Garnet," he replied with an appreciative smile. He saw the glare from Steiner, and amended, "Princess Garnet." When Steiner left to replace his sword, Mark muttered, "like it matters what I call you, we both know you're a princess already."
She giggled in response.
Garnet finally finished dealing with her servants and lady-in-waiting, and left her room, as usual Steiner was waiting for her to act as an escort, her mood lifted slightly as she saw she had Mark on guard duty today.
"Good morning," she said to them.
"Good morning, your highness," they replied with formal unison, though it was ruined by a quick wink and thumbs up from the bearded knight of ten, and yet another day of princessing and guarding began.
"Here you go," said one of the treasury staff, handing over a small bag of gold coins, 3000 Gil, his monthly wage.
Mark quickly counted the coins, it was correct, he signed the documentation to show he had collected his wages, thanked them, and left, thankfully today was his day off, and he finally had the time to explore the city, and do some shopping, not only for skill based items, but clothing in general. The shorts and undershirts they provided to wear under the armour were rough material, and very uncomfortable.
"Here we go," he entered a tailors and ordered black shirts and trousers in the style he favoured, made of cotton, as well as socks, and underwear. It cost extra for his larger than average physique and for material that wasn't sinfully itchy and stiff, but well worth it. It set him back 800 Gil, a lot for non-magical clothing, but something he desperately needed, still considering the quality of what he used to wear, the game equivalent of £400 wasn't too bad, except for shoes, socks and underwear, he likely wouldn't need to shop for clothes again in the two year period...he hoped. He would collect them later that day, they had many staff, and they worked remarkably fast.
After that, Mark then visited the cobblers and brought two pairs of black shoes, well closer to boots, but they were comfortable and sturdy, they made them in an hour, after taking a huge number of measurements. Even without having extra wide, size 16 shoes, stores that sold premade shoes didn't exist in Alexandria, the only exception were magical equipment items, which apparently changed to fit the wearer. They set him back another 380 Gil.
After that, he had a quick lunch at the pub, which set him back 5 Gil, which included an almost warm ale, but still it was his first drink of anything alcoholic since he arrived on Gaia. While there, he spotted Alleyway Jack, but avoided the card playing pickpocket for obvious reasons.
Then finally was the time to visit the equipment shops and armouries. He swung by the Synthesis store in the off-chance, but like in the game, he couldn't enter it. It was locked, a sign hung in the window 'closed indefinitely due to family emergency' so this was how it would work, until an adult Garnet returned to become Queen, it would likely remain like this...Disk 3, 4, he couldn't remember. Then Lindblum was his first chance at getting Synthesized weapons.
"Never mind, this short sword is pretty good." He checked out the equipment stores and armouries, very few things were better than his weapon, and were very expensive for his current circumstances. But he found Mythril Gloves, they cost nearly a thousand Gil, but besides the superior metal and defence they offered, they also allowed him to begin learning Man Eater and Bug Killer. These skills allowed him to do an 1.5 damage against humans and bug type monsters, ideally he would find all these killer type skills, as it added quite the edge, he was still pretty weak after all.
When he returned in the evening to collect his clothes, he discovered they had found a silk shirt for him, the magical kind that taught the spell Cure. Using the gaming sight he possessed, he saw a green dot next to the skill, he could learn it. They let him have it for only a hundred Gil. As long as he wore the shirt, he could use Cure, that would be difficult as it was fabric, and something that needed laundering. So he made sure to wash and wear it as much as possible. Two months later he would unlock the spell and no longer need the item, though he still wore it on occasion, silk was pleasant to wear after all.
Mark was worried by the lack of level ups, but for now he would be patient, he was learning skills all the time, and perhaps he could convince Steiner to let him tag along with the women on monster killing missions. If he could just get to at least level 20 by the time the game came... If he could just level up once every two months, he could make it.
He hoped.
CHAPTER END
Next chapter: Six months and only one level up!
Mark's character stats(End of Chapter 8)Some new stats have been added.
Character class: Wizard Knight / Pluto Knight X
Level: 10, 96xp until next level up.
HP: 523 / 523
MP: 630 / 630
Strength: 28 (40)
Speed: 20 (15)
Spirit: 35 (36)
Magic Defence/Defence: 20 (40)
Magic: 49
Magic Evasion/Evasion: 10 (30)
Weapon: Iron short sword
Headwear: Iron helm
Armour: Iron armour
Accessory: Mythril Gloves
Skills: Minus Strike, Bright Eyes, Level Up, Man Eater, Bug Killer
Magic: Poison, Regen, Sleep, Panacea, Osmose, Protect, Cure
Trance: Balmung strike
Items: 1 phoenix down, Antidote, 13 Goblin Steak, Traveller's cloak, Isekai ring, silk shirt, lots of regular clothes.
Gil: 915
Hi everyone, sorry for the long wait, I've only got until the end of November to finish this book I've been asked to do, it's the sequel to the Secret Yuuki: Dimension Wars. It's full title is Secret Yuuki & the Starlight Alliance. As such my other fanfiction stories will suffer delays. But I'll get back to it as soon as possible, help me out by getting a copy of Secret Yuuki on amazon today. :)
As for this ff9/grey faction story, I'll try to do it as often my schedule allows. Have a wonderful day everyone.