A/N: Yo, bet you thought this story was dead, but much like me, you were mistaken, we live, though I nearly bled out recently after going in for surgery twice this year, and it had nothing to do with the surgery, which were pretty minor, and now my stomach has a hole in it due to my medicine wearing out the lining, WTF? Anyways, please enjoy the newest update, and long overdue Christmas present. Yes, it's been that long, and I'm sorry.
(Update: 8th July 2019) The end of this chapter has been updated, I meant to add something like that originally but in my haste I forgot.
(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: 933 / 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)
Trance: Balmung Strike, Balmung Omni, Balmung Blaster
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 TWENTY
Meeting the protagonist, part 2
The fire breath that burst from the Grand Dragon's fanged maw should have burned him and Zidane to a crisp, the difference between their levels was far too severe. However Mark had been fast enough to cast his barrier spell, it had cracked and been blasted away in mere seconds, such was its force and heat. However Mark had managed to grab Zidane in that brief instant, scooping him up in one arm, before creating another magic barrier as he tried to get some distance. The second barrier lasted about as long as the first.
"You okay, Zidane?"
"Urgh… Somehow," Zidane replied. "Can you do anything against that dragon?"
Mark considered it, with enough Bio's, or if he got lucky with the sleep/Hypnos spells, he could win against even this flying beast, but its sheer size, speed, and the amount of MP it would take, was an issue. "It's not 0%, but I'd say your prayers just to be safe."
"I don't believe in God."
"Well let's hope you don't have to find out today." Mark almost laughed, as he watched the Grand Dragon, who seemed curious that the walking meat snacks had yet to be cooked despite two attempts with its mighty flame breath.
'I need to stack spells, even if I use up all my MP in a short fight, half arsed methods won't work.' Mark thought, sweat streaming down his face, though most of it wasn't due to the raised temperature. A deep, almost nostalgic fear seemed to creep on him, as though he had faced a dragon before, which combined with the familiar terror of impending death.
(A/N: Check out Trapped in the world of Final Fantasy 8 where exactly that happens to Mark (me) in chapter 1 – sadly I'm locked out of that old FF account, but there's 14K of villain MC content for you to enjoy.)
"Cast: Asag's Toxin!" Mark chanted, gesturing with his metal and leather encased fist. Its powerful rotting and poison damage would let Mark eventually kill it. Given the circumstances, he couldn't charge it up as much as he did in the battle with the Black Mage golem, the same battle that near-crippled the use of his arms.
The swirling black and purple orb of magic, which hovered inches above his gauntlet, fired towards the dragon like a bullet. However, despite its massive size, it change direction mid-air with such a shockingly fast reaction, it could be compared to the ridiculous Omni-directional movements of a fly. The spell missed by a wide margin.
The Grand Dragon growled angrily, its magical senses telling it how dangerous the poison spell modelled after a demon of pestilence was. Mark cursed under his breath, as except for perhaps Hypnos, none of his spells were going to land if it could react this fast.
HP: 1786 / 2126
MP: 893 / 999
The dragon had been frightened by the spell, and in turn adjusted its mind-set, this was no longer a hunt, the human was a threat, so it would afford the armoured human all the respect and violence that it would another dragon, as far as it was concerned now, its territory was being encroached upon, and it would provide the appropriate force.
Another fire attack was charged, this time a fireball.
Mark cast another barrier, and another, and another, stacking them.
'Announcement: Magical Barrier level 2 (60MP) and level 3 (90MP) have now been created.'
The three spells combined into a large and thicker barrier, with far more detailed magic diagrams glowing across its surface. 'Alright, it worked!' Mark though jubilantly, as the powerful magic barrier stopped the dragon fire completely.
HP: 1746 / 2126
MP: 803 / 999
"Y-You stopped that?" Zidane remarked, stunned, having been certain of their impending death.
"Yeah, somehow…" Mark replied, while beginning to channel a Bio spell as the torrent of flames began to clear.
However…
!
A magic barrier only blocks spells, purely physical attacks are another matter.
The dragon's head smashed through the defensive spell, having used the flames as cover, its maw was closed, forehead ridge front and forward to charge. Mark threw Zidane to the side, while drawing his Icebrand, the large sword collided with the Dragon's head-butt, the sword barely cut into the scales, and was swiftly pressed back into Mark's Pluto armour.
Mark's feet left the ground, he didn't even attempt to stop the several of tonnes of force that would otherwise have hit him, relaxing his muscles and not grounding himself to try and survive the hit. As a result he was sent flying like a rocket, much in the same way as a boxer would twist his neck, and relax his upper body to absorb a strong hit to the face.
HP: 1118 / 2126
MP: 803 / 999
Mark had learnt his lesson with the Black Mage, he'd never be able to use his arms the same way again after that fight, though upgrading to Grey Mage had boosted his stats enough to compensate, it didn't change he was practically crippled. Additionally the dragon had significantly more physical power than the modified super soldier, so he needed to be careful. The game hadn't even started yet.
'I can't let Zidane die!' Mark thought, while creating a physical barrier behind him, manipulating it with his mana to soften it, it still hurt when he smashed into it, but it was better than being crushed against the mountainous terrain beneath Lindblum. 'Zidane is the protagonist, he cannot die here,' Mark thought while sliding down the barrier, feeling his neck and back spasming.
An open fang filled maw greeted him, ready to rend him in two, Mark jammed his sword into the dragon's lower jaw, it shrieked, the dragon killer skill doubling the damage, but even so, it continued to force its head forward until they were pressed against the rock face, but unable to properly bite into him. Fire then began to gather in the back of the dragon's throat. Mark's plan to use poison wouldn't work if it was evaporated by the flames first; and neither did he have the strength to force a dragon back, or the time to wiggle free. So he took a chance, confidence emboldened by the recent success with making a stronger magic shield.
"Cast: Stop!" he chanted, pouring three, and then five times as much MP before he felt the spell shift, and the world seemed to distort and turn grey, the dragon's movements frozen completely.
"Announcement: Frozen Time – level 1 (40MP) has been created."
'It worked?' Mark thought stunned, even so, his body reacted immediately, desperate to survive, he ripped the sword out of the Dragon's mouth, and wiggled out of its massive fangs, and just in time, as the flames burst forth, burning an indent in the rock-face, if he had been any slower… it didn't bear thinking about. The Grand Dragon tried using a Thundara spell, but was disorientated from its fire breath blowing back against the rock face, and missed without Mark having to use a defensive spell.
HP: 1014 / 2126
MP: 763 / 999
'Stop is still a better spell if it hits, Time Freeze stopped things for so little time with how much MP it used,' thought Mark as he pointed his sword towards the dragon's neck for a upper-stance thrust. 'However it affected the immediate surroundings and any in-progress attacks, this'll have its uses.' Mark then kicked the ground so hard that it left indents in the ground, as well as a nasty recoil to his knees, but the magic sword stabbed deep into the dragon's neck thanks to the momentum, along with the dragon slaying ability.
Even so, it was a small wound compared to the dragon's size so it wouldn't be fatal. Never the less it shrieked in agony, and tried to shake him loose, but Mark was ready, and cast Asag's Toxin into the wound before it could shake him free. The wound turned black and rotten and the gigantic monster began to thrash about. Ironically this would have crushed Mark, but Zidane with an impressive show of speed, and a hint to his future abilities, tackled the much larger man to safety.
HP: 1010 / 2126
MP: 723 / 999
"Thanks, kid."
"No problem, you saved my life first," Zidane replied, flushing in embarrassment, likely recalling how they had first met, and to be saved by someone who he had taken a knife to less than an hour prior.
"You're too important to let die," Mark said thoughtlessly, as he watched the continuously thrashing dragon nearby, its actions gradually becoming weaker. The poison spell he had modeled after Dingir's demonic rival Asag was absurdly powerful and he now knew he could change the nature of a spell or simply buff it by multiplying the MP consumption to raise the spells level. 'How high can I raise the level for a spell?' Mark mused as the dragon finally died and the experience points immediately made him level up. Potentially he could use up all of his MP on a single spell, and when he could get those ethers that restored all of one's MP in one go in bulk, he could potentially take on the strongest monsters… if he could avoid their attacks.
"What do you mean by that?" Zidane asked, dumbfounded. He could tell Mark wasn't gay and coming onto him, as a good looking teenager living in the theatre district, Zidane was familiar with that kind of attention. But neither was the armoured man a friend or even an acquaintance. So him going out of his way to save him from those low-lives, and then risk death against a dragon was absurd.
'Ah crap!' Mark internally cursed. He couldn't tell Zidane the truth, but a little truth mixed in with a little creative lying might work.
"Well?"
"That was a slip-up on my part, but I suppose I can tell you a little." Mark stood back up, dusting off his armour, inwardly wincing at several large fang marks on the torso and legs. The Queen would probably give him crap for this; he had seen the sexual-sadism in her eyes when he had been whipped for misbehaviour on their way here. Mark wouldn't be surprised if the wounds re-opened again after that fight…another problem to worry about. Brahne could have him killed just to improve her mood, let alone the armour. Fortunately the cuts were fairly thin, if he polished his armour enough, he might get away with it. Fortunately the other Pluto Knights were rather slovenly, which helped.
"In answer to your question, I have a use for you and your associates. Many months from now, you will be hired on an important mission to Alexandria by your king. You in particular will be essential to that plan, so having you die now would be an issue for me, as for why I was tailing you before; I was simply scoping a future prospect."
"You're an Alexandrian right?" Zidane pressed. "So why would you know what King Cid is planning months before he tells us?"
"I have many contacts," Mark lied casually. "And as my goals do not align with the Queen's at this time, I'll be lending your King Cid a little aid. Regarding the nature of that mission, it will be an escort mission, however the who, how, and why is none of your business until Baku gets the order. Since I saved your life, I will have you keep quiet about it or the Queen will kill me."
Zidane nodded begrudgingly, not liking it, but the bleak seriousness of the armoured man showed how serous he was, and how very different Queen Brahne must be as a ruler when compared to the benevolent King Cid. "Okay."
"Thank you."
"Alright, let's head back to the city, I've guard duty for the princess soon."
"So you're actually a knight?" Zidane asked as they entered the tunnel the kidnappers had used.
"I would think the armour was obvious, I don't wear this heavy crap as a fashion statement, you know?"
"Can all knights use magic?"
"Heck no, most just mess around with a sword unless they get a magic one which can teach them sword art skills, I'm a Grey Mage as well, so I'm awesome."
"What's a grey mage?"
"Status and imbuing magic, like the people who make potions and magic items."
"Never heard of it."
"I'm not surprised, but don't stunt your knowledge to what you need to be in a thieving gang. You never know when something could be used to your advantage. Oh and get stronger, you're way too weak, and you've got all these monsters outside the city to level up, but avoid the dragons."
An angry vein twitched on the future protagonist's temple. However Zidane knew the knight was right, without the knight's intervention, he'd be dead. "What was your name again?"
"It's Mark."
Several minutes of silence passed as they moved higher up the dark, narrow path to the city.
"So… you mentioned a princess, is she hot?"
"Here we go…" Mark sighed; Zidane was a terrible flirt in the game, it seemed that was true even now.
"What?"
"I can't answer that, she's a year younger than you, it's not appropriate for me to say if she's hot or not."
"Of course I get the one prude in this city," Zidane sighed.
"Not a prude, she's just too young for me to be passing those sorts of comments." Mark retorted with mild irritation, recalling accusations of that damnable dressmaker. 'I hate medieval standards, why am I the weird one for liking women my own age?' Not that he never dated younger women, but they at least had to have grown past having 'teen' in their age, even eighteen and nineteen made him feel uncomfortable despite being legal in his own world. It was why he was so careful around Beatrix's sister who was close to that age and clearly had amorous intentions towards him. Lately she kept trying to get him drunk, thankfully with his much larger body he could outlast her without losing his morals to drunkenness.
Zidane didn't get what Mark meant about her being to young to pass comments about, it wasn't uncommon for commoners and nobles to get married at his age, or marry someone a generation older, though merchants tended to wait until later, not having the advantage of an arranged marriage, maybe it was the same with knights. "Is it because she's your boss, or the status difference?" he asked.
Zidane didn't realise how close he was to being punched by the much stronger man.
"Fine, she's very cute, she'll be a real beauty when she grows up." Mark conceded, unwilling to have that conversation any longer, but rephrasing it so he didn't feel like a creep. He had long since given up trying to explain Earth standards to a fantasy world centuries behind his own. At least Alexandrians didn't let you marry until you were sixteen, most other countries here were way worse. Seeing Grandmothers that were his own age was a real mind-fuck, he wasn't young as such, but he was still in his physical prime for the most part, and far from being middle-aged, let alone old.
"Was that so hard?" Zidane grinned.
A loud smack echoed in the smuggler's tunnel.
"Ow!"
"Zidane is that you?" called out a woman's voice, a strong sounding voice but young, mid to late twenties most likely. Mark didn't recognize the woman's accent, though after a flurry of echoes as the woman ran down the deep gloom of the tunnel, he did recognize the speaker. She was a rat type beast woman, one of the many demi-human races that lived alongside the standard variety of human. He recognized her clothing and the spear was a dead giveaway, but he still glanced to the name and level above her head out of habit.
Freya Crescent: Level 28
"Hey Freya!" Zidane grinned in greeting as she approached. "What brings you down here?"
"I heard you were kidnapped," she said by way of explanation. As expected of a dragon knight. "I trust you were not involved?" she asked Mark, vaguely recognizing him from the weapons store.
Mark shook his head, while Zidane quickly said, "No, he saved me. But thanks for hurrying to my rescue too."
Freya relaxed slightly. "Why did I him cry out in pain just now?"
"The brat said something to offend me, so I gave him a quick smack." Mark replied with an indifferent shrug.
"I see."
"How was I offensive?" Zidane demanded.
"Not my fault if your too dumb to realize." Mark replied, ruffling Zidane's hair, making him pout, muttering about being treated like a kid and making Freya snort in bemusement. Not that Mark paid the protagonist any mind. He was thinking about Freya's presence in the smuggler's tunnels. 'At least I know how Zidane survived the dragon in the game's original timeline.'
"Lets get back, this dreary place is hardly suitable for conversation."
CHAPTER END
Next Chapter: The lowly knight is secretly a rich merchant
A/N: Sorry for the wait. You won't be waiting six months for the next one. I hope you liked the Freya bit I tacked on at the end.
(End of chapter)
DINGIR AVATAR STATS
Character class: Grey Mage
Rank: Pluto Knight X (Private)
Level: 21, 19030xp until next level up.
HP: 1010 / 2551
MP: 723 / 999 (maxed)
Strength: 63 (99)
Speed: 39 (35)
Spirit: 55 (59)
Magic Defence/Defence: 48 (79)
Magic: 94
Magic Evasion/Evasion: 34 (53)
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 1/2/3 (30/60/90MP) Magic Gluttony – level 1 (20MP) Frozen Time – level 1 (40MP)
Trance: Balmung Strike, Balmung Omni, Balmung Blaster
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: 17296
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 (Now finally out on lulu and amazon stores.)
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