Mark's character stats(Start of Chapter 10)
Character class: Wizard Knight / Pluto Knight X
Level: 11, 2441xp until next level up.
HP: 576 / 576
MP: 687 / 693
Strength: 28
Speed: 22
Spirit: 39
Magic Defence/Defence: 22
Magic: 53
Magic Evasion/Evasion: 11
Weapon:
Headwear:
Armour:
Accessory
Skills: Minus Strike
Abilities: 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: 743
Hi all, as mentioned in the previous chapter, I'm looking for OCs for future chapters, if you want to be in the story as a minor character, let me know, as I will need a lot of OCs over the next 4 - 5 chapters. They'll need to be one of the following:
Female Alexandrian soldiers, or any of the staff on the Red Rose, kitchen, engineer, (any gender) Cid's servants, knights, etc... and I promise not to let my OC bone any of your OCs. Unless you want him to. ;) Just kidding. At least I figure that's one reason that I've only got one OC so far. Otherwise I'd have to accept I'm not that popular an author, and we can't be having that, can we?
Name of Character:
Name of person who submitted idea:
Physical description of character:
Personality description of character:
Preferred job/role in story:
Here is the first OC I have received, and will be appearing in this chapter as well as another later.
Name of Character: Saria
Name of person who submitted idea: Sage (NemesisNecrosis)
Physical description of character: 5'10", shoulder-length copper hair, pale freckled skin, pale green eyes. Runner's build.
Personality description of character: Kind, the sort of person who buys food to give to street kids even on a limited budget. Wry, somewhat black humour, a self-aware sort of person, realistic, tries not to be cynical where others can hear. Can be caught in wistful moods, but usually pushes that back in favour of getting shit done. Was a street kid herself, pretty good with knives and at sneaking around.
Preferred job/role in story: Eh, wherever she'd fit. Go wild. Or not.
A nerfed Dingir in Final Fantasy 9, seriously?
CHAPTER TEN
The backstreet killer
(Mark POV)
It has been another month since the rather twisted idea to hunt criminals for experience points in lieu of mist monsters had occurred to me, and I have found it to be a surprisingly unsettling task. I have killed so many times since coming to this world. Goblins mostly, but on several occasions, actual people. But I noticed that without my life or another's being in danger, it leaves me shaking afterwards.
I thought myself more detached, or rather mentally and emotionally stronger, but clearly this isn't the case. As without my instincts or rage, I cannot ignore what it is, and that is cold blooded murder.
The fact that they were criminals helped with the guilt, I had copies of wanted posters, and when not working, or my days off, I actively hunted them. I actually prevented several crimes while looking, not anything serious though, a few brawls and thefts. It made people think more highly of me, but it denied me more kills.
Nevertheless, I have managed to level up three times in the last month, except for the Hobgoblin incident, this is the fastest I've managed to level up in a short period. But it's hard, not simply in terms of resolve, but the physical strain. One does not simply stumble from one criminal to next, there's a lot of work involved, and as a Knight of Pluto, the hours were long and tiring. I doubt I could keep doing this and my job without just dropping from exhaustion some day. I'll probably take a break soon, if not just for my health, but the risk of other soldiers catching and imprisoning me.
I regarded my Status as I strolled the backstreets of Alexandria, returning to the castle, I'd stopped for a few beers, sadly it had been a quiet night for crime, and I knew through experience not to waste my time. Time for an early night, or at least early by my standard.
Character class: Wizard Knight / Pluto Knight X
Level: 14, 4199xp until next level up.
HP: 844 / 844
MP: 998 / 998
Strength: 40 (52)
Speed: 31 (26)
Spirit: 48 (49)
Magic Defence/Defence: 30 (50)
Magic: 75
Magic Evasion/Evasion: 16 (36)
Weapon: Iron short sword
Headwear: Iron helm
Armour: Iron armour
Accessory: Mythril gloves
Skills: Minus Strike
Abilities: Bright Eyes, Level Up, Man Eater, Bug Killer
Magic: Poison, Regen, Sleep, Panacea, Osmose, Protect, Cure
Trance: Balmung strike
Items: 20 potions, 1 phoenix down, Antidote, 13 Goblin Steak, Traveller's cloak, Isekai ring, silk shirt, lots of regular clothes.
Gil: 2458
(Normal POV)
'Hmm…One more level up, and my MP will hit maximum, or at least that was the case within the game.' But of course that didn't apply to monsters, Kuja, in their brief passing of each other showed he was about ten times stronger than that. 'But that's what strategy and teams are for…' Still unlike games, it wasn't turn based combat. Fights here were hard and brutal, and ended with blood and death. There was no resetting your playstation here. At least with the following month's pay, he had brought twenty potions, at 50 Gil per bottle. They restored 150 HP in battle, and 100 HP outside of battle, Mark assumed that it must use adrenaline levels to trigger the battle bonus, otherwise the potions would have to be sentient, as it wouldn't make sense to make the potion weaker outside of battle when the wounded needed it more post combat.
The entrance for the servants and soldiers was guarded as usual by two guards, the area well lit by torches. Mark noticed as he headed for the barracks that he recognised one of them, it was Carrie: Level 15, a lady he occasionally entertained, and another he didn't recognise. But that wasn't unusual, Alexandria had many territories and guarding stations, and everyone was rotated back and forth between those other territories and the walled city that Queen Brahne called home. Carrie had been out of the city for close to a month now.
Mark glanced briefly to the name and level that hovered above the other soldier's head by habit. Saria: Level 14. The small black star emblem on her helm, declared her part of the mage corps, to which most black magic users in Alexandria belonged, and at level fourteen, Saria likely knew the quartet of basic spells, and like most black mages, that meant she was stronger than him, at least as long as she kept him at long range with offensive spells. But then they all wore armour, even those in the mage corps, and all learnt how to use a sword, spear, dagger, sling, and bow. It had been the same for him, he sucked at using a sling and bow.
It didn't bother him though about still being a weaker character, as once the game started, and he joined Zidane and the others, he would level up quickly and gain status based spells that could kill quickly like Bio, Demi, or even Ultima and Holy if the whole 'your magic is based on Asag and Adel' thing was true. As high as his MP and magic stats were, without some strong offensive spells, he'd always be rather lacking. At least he had Osmose, Cure and Regen, with those he could keep fighting and fighting, and he continued to gain old skills from his original body.
Saria was slightly shorter than himself, with copper hair peeking beneath her helm, pale, freckled skin, which was common with true red heads, slender with a runner's build, though the armour made that a bit tough to see. Yep, he definitely didn't know this women, nor had he the time or energy to flirt with the new Alexandrian soldier.
"Morning, Carrie!" he called friendlily, lifting his helm as he approached.
"Oh, Mark, your back early today, no evil villains to slay?" Carrie joked.
"Just a few Grand Dragons, but no villains to slay, I may have to resort to drunkards to wet my blade," Mark joked back, as the guards knew he often went on night time walks and seldom returned smelling of booze. If only she knew how right their joking was.
"Well, I finish my shift in an hour, so I might be able to help you with your 'sword' problem," she grinned.
Mark flushed slightly at the unexpected innuendo, most of them rarely propositioned him in front of other soldiers. Saria looked mildly surprised, but thankfully didn't comment on it in that moment, but her raised eyebrows spoke volumes. "Sure, I always appreciate your expertise in 'that' area. You know where to find me," Mark replied, pretending that she hadn't caught him off guard.
After Mark passed through security, and headed inside the castle towards the Pluto Knights rooms. Saria turned to Carrie, and said in a wry tone, "I think you can do better, Carrie."
"What do you mean?"
"Well your last lover was much more handsome," Saria said, still surprised as Carrie was usually more reserved around whatever man she was with, at least with others present, and yet she had been so flirty with the new Pluto Knight.
"A man is more than his looks," Carrie dismissed, she'd actually thought that her ex Bradley was too good looking, almost like a girl, and just as soft as the stereotype that so irritated the almost all-female army, sure her ex was a decent enough lover, but the Pluto Knight was far more capable in that area, and much more fun to talk to.
Mark was all the good things about being a man from her perspective, with none of the negatives that plagued most of the men in this city, he was strong, confident, brave, intelligent, and while a little cocky, never belittled women. Carrie had seen him in action during the Goblin invasion, despite being lower leveled than most of them, he had kept fighting, even badly wounding the Hobgoblin Necromancer that General Beatrix had to be called in to defeat, and his strategies had brought them a lot of extra time.
He had begged her to keep quiet about his trance when she had brought it up, she had convinced the others to do the same. Trance users were rare, she only knew of six people in the city who could do it, and Mark's was probably the strongest.
Not that strength was all it took to attract her, he was simply a nice person, even when he first tried wooing her, when she said she wasn't interested, he hadn't pestered her, gotten aggressive, the normal responses. Mark had only smiled, and thanked her for her time, not in the least offended. That had made her mildly curious, then she started hearing lots of positive 'reviews' from other women working in the castle, not just about being a good sexual partner, but how he treated them in general, he was a rare example of a gentlemen among the male knights, she ultimately approached him, much to his amusement.
He was about a decade older than the men she usually went for, but he was fairly attractive in a rugged sort of way, and the black hair and grey eyes was a rather nice look, though she was glad when he shaved off the beard, it tickled a little too much during 'certain' activities. "That's one reason I grew it," he had said with a wink, making her blush. She hadn't missed the slight flush of his cheeks earlier, and knew it would fun to tease him about it later.
"Perhaps so," Saria conceded in response to Carrie. "But isn't he the one I've been hearing about, the middle-aged pervert that's been sleeping with all the soldiers in the castle."
"Ha!" Carrie laughed. "Despite how he looks, he's in his thirties, and if he's a pervert he's kept it well hidden." And though he had slept with about twenty or so Alexandrian soldiers, most of those were one night stands. Only a few saw him with any regularity. "Besides, I'm a soldier, I could die tomorrow. It's the same for most of us, we don't worry about marriage or having children. A casual partner who gives a damn is ideal."
"Fair enough," Saria shrugged, it was different for her. She had someone she loved, who was loyal to her despite sometimes being out of the city for months at a time. She had grown up in the orphanage in the northern section of the city, she stayed at his place or there when in the city, with much of her wages going to helping the people who raised her and the new generation of kids living there.
Thanks in part to Saria looking out for homeless kids, the number of kids living there had increased beyond what they could fund themselves, so she helped financially. As a corporal of the mage corps, she made a good living. But everyone had to do guard duty at some point, even Lieutenants and captains, but she didn't mind it, as it meant no mist monsters.
(Scene change: Backstreets of Alexandria, several hours later.)
It was carnage, the streets in the far south sector were covered in the dead, soldiers, civilians, human and demi alike. Some had been stabbed to death, others electrocuted and burned, the cobblestones ran red with blood. The figure responsible was short and stout, little could be see of his features due to the deep dark of night, save for a glowing pair of yellow eyes.
"KILL!"
CHAPTER END
Next chapter: Saved by luck
Hey guys, hope you enjoyed the new chapter, even if it was a transitory based chapter. Any ideas on who this glowing eyed killer is? Just kidding. It's pretty obvious, or is it? I originally planned to have my OC go full serial killer, but I prefer the route I took on that.
After the next chapter or two, we will be skipping to one year after I/Mark got transported to Gaia, just in time for the Lindblum arc.
We've got about seven chapters left on disk zero and the game starts. I'll be taking a break then to spend more time of Grey Faction 3: Immortal's Dawn. But I plan to continue through the game. Got some great ideas planned.
Alright then, that's it. I won't be putting the end of chapter status as usual as we showed it already in the chapter and no fights occurred after that. Thank god, you're probably all thinking.
And as always, be sure to check out some of my more recent novels and comics, just search the titles on amazon, lulu, or barnes&noble.
Many of these have Mark/Dingir in them.
Grey Faction 2: Mistaken Apostle
Grey Faction comic: Volume 1: Jinhai's Justice (re-release)
Grey Faction comic: School Wars: chapter 1 (free to download)
Secret Yuuki & the guilty heart chronicles: The Dimension War
Secret Yuuki & the guilty heart chronicles: The Starlight Alliance (novella with artwork throughout, and very short comic at back)
Vampire Attack: Empire of Shadows (100 page novella + 3 comics) sequel to Symphony of Darkness game.
Okay, now I'm really done. Have a great morning/afternoon/evening or whatever time you read this.