The Restoration Berserker

by Curiosity44

Torn from a life unlived in one second and deposited in a life unexpectedly wished for in the next, what is a man to do but forge his own path? Join Marik as he arrives in a desert in a world he once thought to only be fiction and fantasy... and that he doesn't know much about. Slight AU for changes I will make. Small harem (3).

3. The Past Part 2: Rumi

Chapter 2: The Past Part 2: Rumi

Slavers.

My first interaction with humanoid beings in this entire world and it's with slavers.

What kind of shit luck is that supposed to be?

I was going about my day as usual, whittling a bone on top of one of the taller rocks with a bit of shade and surveying the land for my next challenger when I caught side of a dust cloud approaching my outcropping of rocks.

I stayed in my spot; one I chose for it's advantage of hiding me from sight unless someone was looking directly at me, and witnessed as a caravan broke over the horizon.

It wasn't a very long one, it had around a dozen carriages being pulled by lizard type beasts.

So how did I know they were slavers?

Well the answer to that was simple.

Two of those 'carriages' were just cages on wheels with people stuffed inside wearing collars.

I didn't want them approaching my campsite without getting a handle on them so I threw my cloak on, grabbed some knives I fashioned from fangs, and got into an ambush position at a sand dune where they couldn't see my approach.

My cloak was made from the fur of beasts who lived and hunted in the desert so it blended in perfectly with the sand as I laid prone on the ground.

Soon enough they got close enough for me hear and observer them better and my thoughts were confirmed.

They were slavers.

And not for convicted criminals but kidnappers and murderers.

Bandits the lot of them.

The people in the cages were nothing more than women and children with dead eyes.

I listened close enough to hear some idle conversation and confirmed it.

As I observed them, a pair of eyes caught my own.

A pair of ruby red eyes met my golden ones as we both widened in surprise.

It was a teen girl, and one that I could have sworn looked familiar to me.

It might have been the bunny ears but something stuck out to me with a sense of nostalgia but I ignored it for the moment to witness the collar on her and the bruises on her face.

I rose a finger to my lips in a universal gesture and she narrowed her eyes at me like a hawk.

I wasn't a hero or some shit but when I see something disgusting in front of me and have the ability to act, I'll do it if I want to.

That was the meaning to my new life.

To be free.

And slavery sickened me.

I imagined myself with a collar on my neck and my first life flashed before my eyes practically making me growl.

This wasn't earth, there were no politics or law enforcement to stop me, so I acted as I wished.

Using the skills I forged through six months of consistent life and death combat, I moved like a ghost on the sands, nothing like the fumbling screaming fool I was on my first day and moved to the end of the caravan.

The girls eyes were still trained on me without error and I felt my brow twitch.

'How good is her eyesight? Your making me feel silly here.'

"Just a little farther boys! We can rest in the shade of those rocks for the night."

"Yeah!" x 30.

A voice from the front called out and the other bandits cheered.

Around three dozen all told and around two dozen in the cages.

I stalked them and noticed their posture, steps, and eyes.

They were sloppy.

They walked like they were trudging on and lacking energy.

Sweating and panting under the harsh rays of sun.

'Wimps, can't even adapt.'

Their eyes were solely focused on the rock outcropping close by and not standing guard at all.

Through my time fighting, my instinct for combat was refined. When I looked at something, I would get a gut feeling of how dangerous it was to me.

The unfortunate side of it was the more dangerous they were, the more my Berserker ability fought to take control.

The lure of a challenge was an aphrodisiac.

But them? I wasn't feeling much of anything.

It was flat out disappointing.

Like looking at a rock and expecting it to punch you.

Ignoring the stare on me, I moved like a ghost behind the guard at the end of the caravan and in deft movements, a hand slapped over his mouth and a blade went through his throat and into his brain.

'Light'

Just with the hand grabbing his face, the man's body felt light.

'After fighting giant monsters for months, a regular man is nothing.'

The second my blade penetrated his throat; I shoved his head into the sand and buried his body halfway so as not to be seen before moving quickly over the sand to the next one.

The fur coverings were silencing my steps as I practically glided to the other rear guard.

The wind blew by and the rear guard had less than a second as his eyes widened to the sight of golden eyes and a white mane of hair before a large hand clamped over his mouth and a second crushed his windpipe as everything went dark and his ears were stuffed with sand.

I stood over the second buried guard in a crouch and met eyes again with the red eyed girl.

Her eyes glinted excitedly and I smirked before moving forward.

One by one, guards were silenced and buried without anyone being the wiser.

They were all so focused on their target and exhausted for some reason that it wasn't even a challenge.

I was eight down without a single alarm raised when I reached the first slave cage with the girl in it.

By now a few more realized I was there but they only looked at me with fearful eyes.

The only holdout was her, the bunny eared red eyed girl.

When I was close enough, a harsh and cracked voice called out to me.

"Oi."

I paused my step and turned my eyes on her.

"Free me."

I eyed the next guard in line and moved closer to the cage before whispering back.

"I'll do it after their all dead."

She growled and hissed at me.

"Don't be a moron, you took out the level 1 drop outs. The leader's a level 3 and the five at the front are all level 2's. Do you really think you can kill them all alone?"

An excited blood thirsty smile grew on my face that had the others in the cage pull away from listening in.

"Is that so?"

She narrowed her eyes at me.

"Don't make me smack you, you fucker. I don't know what your fucking problem with them is but you're not the only one who wants their blood. So free me you crazy bastard."

I rose a brow at her.

"You're not really sweet talking me here."

"Why don't you come closer and I'll sweet talk my foot up your ass."

Despite her words I couldn't help but grin at her.

"Your welcome to try sweetheart."

"Hurry up you bastard."

I weighed my options and I was excited for a possible fight but I knew she was right. Level 2's like these guys I could deal with but a level 3 was outside my range alone.

Anyone can level up as soon as a single stat reaches D grade. The vast majority level up prematurely for a variety of reasons but it creates a large divide among levels.

While these level 2's were things I could handle, a level 3 simply had more stats than me. It was simple math.

So with a visible shrug of my shoulders and an infuriating smirk that had her growling at me, I went to the back of the cage and grabbed two bars before heaving them apart.

It wasn't very loud but the bars creaked a bit as I bent them out of shape much to a few wide eyes of the kids and a raised brow from the bunny girl waiting on the other side.

She looked at the bars and back to me.

"Strength build?"

I shrugged.

"Sort of."

She rolled her eyes and jumped out before holding up her shackled hands.

I narrowed my eyes at them before deciding on the quickest action.

"Stick your hands out and pull them apart."

She did so and then in a speedy action, I brought my knee up and my elbows down at the single chain the center and shattered it along with my kneecap.

A deep growl came from my throat only to have my mouth clamped by the girl.

She looked at me with wide eyes and pulled me down to the ground before whispering.

"Are you insane?! How are you supposed to fight like that! I thought you grabbed the key from one of those fuckers!"

I held up a hand at her rapid fire questions and held my other hand to my knee before it glowed yellow and seconds later the pain faded as I healed it.

I didn't care if she saw it.

I removed my hand and winked at her wide eyes.

"See, no problem. Thanks for caring babe."

She blinked before growling at me and pointing a finger in my face.

"Don't call me babe you bastard. You caught me off guard. Who the fuck injures themselves just cuz they can heal from it?"

I rose a hand and she slapped my shoulder with a surprising amount of force and rolled her eyes.

"Stop dicking around, snap this collar off me."

I stuck my head over the sand dune. The caravan was minutes away from my campsite.

"Alright, hold still."

She lifted her chin and I narrowed my eyes on the collar before grabbing both sides and heaving as hard as I could while still trying to be careful of not injuring her but the metal only rattled and groaned.

"Come on, harder."

"So not the time babe."

She shot me an amused look and I shook my head before giving in to the lure of my battle lust.

The fog came over my mind lightly as I willingly called on it.

Unknown to me, my sclera turned a pinkish color to the girls eyes and a dangerous air came from me as my muscles bulged on my arms and chest but it passed a second later as the collar snapped and launched to the sides.

I reeled in the fog with a force of will and breathed deeply at the momentary weakness as the girl looked at me strangely and patted her neck.

The contact seemingly got her focused and she looked away for a moment.

I could have sworn I heard a sniff and looked at her worriedly.

"You need a moment?"

Rather than respond normally, a fist launched out and smacked my shoulder as she wiped her eyes with an arm and looked toward the caravan.

"Shut up you crazy bastard. Come on, we got some fuckers to kill."

I chuckled and rubbed my shoulders as I stood with her.

"You're a violent one aren't you babe?"

She narrowed her eyes at me.

"Stop calling me babe."

I rose a brow at her.

"What should I call you then?"

Her eyes met mine and for a moment it felt like I saw someone else. Someone more vulnerable for a second.

And then it passed as she spoke.

"Rumi. My names Rumi."

I smiled at her and held out a fist.

"Beautiful name babe, names Marik."

She scoffed at me but hit her fist on mine.

"I'll kick your ass later Marik."

"Kinky. You need help with those?"

I pointed at her ankle shackles but she only smirked at me and jumped in the air before twirling with her momentum and kicking her legs at a speed faster than I could visually see.

In the next second she landed and two thuds were heard from the shackles landing on the ground.

She shot me a challenging look and took off with a final comment.

"Right sides mine."

I looked at her speeding figure before going back to the shackles and shaking my head.

"She might really kick my ass. Why do I find that really hot?"

I shook my head again and took off to the left side.

The caravan was slowing down and we had to act quickly.

When I got to the next guard, I rose a brow when I realized I was missing one of my knives.

'She nicked me! Oh it's so on!'

I looked to the right just in time to see her copy my moves by covering the mouth and stabbing the throat just as she looked at me with a smug look on her face.

I chuckled and then cursed as the guard heard me and was beginning to turn but I managed to crush her windpipe before burying her head in the sand.

What, do you think all the bandits were male?

Gender equality bitch.

I didn't miss the condensating look Rumi sent me as she moved on and was quick to catch up.

We moved in surprising sync for two people who just met as we took down a guard on each side and buried them before rushing to the next.

The ones in the cages stayed silent but I could tell their eyes were on us.

As we got closer to the front, the difficulty began to rise as the guards were a bit more alert and probably had higher all around stats as they managed to resist before dying.

Not enough to truly get someone else's attention but enough to throw in a jab or reach for a weapon.

When there were less than ten remaining and me and Rumi went for our next targets, my eyes widened slightly as I saw someone on top of one of the carriages stand up while stretching their arms as if they just woke up.

She turned her head just in time to see Rumi kill her guard and the two of them froze with their eyes on each other before she snapped out of it and opened her mouth to shout just as knife impaled her through the back of her head.

Rumi's spooked eyes met my own and I nodded at her as she swallowed and nodded thankfully back before I motioned to move on.

The guards body fell off the carriage and Rumi caught it before it could make a sound.

We only got one more each before the lead carriage reached the outcropping and the leader called out some orders.

POV change:

"Rak, Daph, with me. Let's scout and make sure nothing is hiding in there.

Creg, get everyone started on camp in the meantime."

The three closest bandits nodded and jumped off the lead wagon.

The leader was tired and never even noticed anything was wrong with his men as he cracked his neck and walked into the rock outcropping with two of his top bandits.

The other guy, Creg as it was, had turned just in time to blink his eyes as the two men to his sides had blades go through their throats.

"What the fuc..!"

He didn't get to say anything as the bodies hit the floor and two figures charged him.

As an experienced level two he managed to draw his blade and deflect some attacks.

The two assailants were relentless and practically fed off each other's moves to chain attack him.

The guy only had the single thought going through his head.

'Which assassin organization did we piss off for them to send elites on us?!'

Meanwhile, inside the rock outcropping, the leader and his two top bandits had frozen at the sight they came upon.

"What the fuck…"

"I think I'm gonna be sick."

"This is fucked up."

The three were wide eyed looking at a scene of pure carnage.

Crushed stone, cratered walls, and even pockets in the sand were one thing.

But the blood was another.

Everything was literally glowing red from how much blood had been spilt.

Rotten pieces of meat, torn apart limbs, and a mesh of corpses of various monsters were piled high in one corner as pieces of them were strewn around.

Claw marks, acid, magical attack residue, and a variety of marks from the sheer amount of monsters that had been here were clear as day to their eyes.

And stripped monster materials were piled high in another corner.

At any other time, a pile of such materials would have the leader eyeing them with greed, but in this case he wasn't happy.

"Someone or something is here. This could be a training ground for some group. We need to get the fuck out of here. Don't touch anything and retrace our steps."

The two with him didn't argue with the order and followed him back out. Rak was trying to not gag and Daph was pale as a sheet.

The three were on full alert and practically jumping at every shadow in the rocky area only to sigh in relief when they got to the exit a minute later and saw the lead carriage.

The leader saw the slaves out of the cages and moving cargo so he assumed they were following his orders to set up camp.

Spotting Creg leaning against a pillar, he walked over with the two others.

"Creg! Get them packed back up, we're getting out of this area and spending the night in the sands."

Not getting an answer after a moment, the leaders eye twitched as he reached out a hand to his subordinate.

"Oi Creg! Are you fucking sleeping or some…."

His eyes widened in shock as Creg was pushed over by his gesture and fell with a wet splat.

His instincts shouted at him at the very moment and the leader hit the deck faster than ever before just as a figure had dove at his previous position.

"Tch."

The sound of the figure clicking his tongue was audible in the leaders ears but in the next second all he heard was a loud crash as a second figure had appeared next to Daph and a leg connected with her head in a loud *crack* before Daph was launched into the nearest stone wall.

"I TOLD YOU I WAS COMING FOR YOU BITCH!"

The voice was familiar to him, it was the voice of that rabbit bitch, their main target of their hunt. She was prized goods someone was offering good money to be captured.

The leader snapped out of his shock a moment later when the first figure who almost took his head crashed into Rak and the two went tumbling in a flurry of blows and knife strikes.

Rak was a rouge and a deft hand so he wasn't too worried about him.

Rushing back to the head carriage for his weapon, he shouted for his men.

"Men! Get the slaves back in the cages! Get in formation!"

He didn't even look to see if his orders were followed as he rushed in and grabbed the handle of his personal weapon and tore it out it's casing, revealing the nearly four foot long monster of steel.

A Battleaxe made entirely of metal with a long metal shaft ending with a pointed spear like pommel on both ends.

The axe blade was nearly one and half feet long and curved in a deadly shape with the opposite end holding a sharp pike. Where the blade met the shaft was a tuft of black fur and the handle on the end was wrapped tightly in leather for a firm grip.

(AN: See Nordic Battleaxe)

It was his prized possession that he paid an arm and leg for in the merchant city to the west and the main reason someone like him managed to reach level 3 in his life.

Good blacksmiths were rare in this part of the world and most merchants had to travel to Orario or the dwarven kingdom to procure goods.

Jumping out of the carriage, his anger boiled as he didn't see his men in formation.

"WHERE THE HELL ARE MY MEN!?"

He looked around in growing anger as all he saw were the slaves huddled up at the end of the caravan and looking at him in fear.

He pointed his axe at them.

"You! Where are they!?"

They pulled back in greater fear but no answer was given to him.

He was about to shout again and charge over to demand answers before something came flying at him.

Acting on instinct, his hand came up and stopped the projectile but it didn't stop the warm liquid from hitting his face.

Blinking in shock, he looked at what was in his hand only to see the decapitated head of Rak.

"AH!"

He shouted and threw it away before looking with wide eyes as a large blood stained cloaked figure approached.

He recognized the figure as the one who almost took his head.

"OI! Who the fuck are you!? Why the fuck are you attacking us?!"

The figure didn't stop walking as the wind blew off the hood revealing the face of a teen with tan olive skin and a white mane of hair stained red.

A wide and wild smile was on his face as he looked at him.

"Who cares why."

The figure slammed the earth and charged him with battle lust practically oozing from him.

"Fight or die!"

The leader didn't have a chance to respond before they met and could only block with his axe.

Anger was clouding his mind and he was full out panicking at the crazy situation.

Ironically enough, he gave his assailant what he wanted and fought for his life in his panic and anger.

POV Change:

Rumi was angry.

No, angry wasn't enough to describe how she felt.

Wrathful, demented, vengeful, she was on the warpath to tear apart the bitch known as Daph.

She chased the woman like a war god through the rock pillar maze smashing through stone with each stomp as she closed in on the bleeding and disorientated woman who ruined her life.

"I'LL RIP YOU APART PIECE BY PIECE YOU BITCH!"

"Stay the fuck away from me you crazy animal!"

Moving like a demented pinball, Rumi kicked off four different pillars in tandem before diving at Daph with all her force.

Daph only managed to twist her body at the last second but her arm wasn't saved from the collision and was shattered from the force.

"AHHH! You fucking whore!"

She slashed with her sword with her other hand and drew blood from a slash across Rumi's shoulder but the wound was ignored as Rumi spun into her guard and traded a dozen blows before she landed a bone shattering kick on Daph's ribcage.

Daph screamed in pain before being launched away only to get stopped short as Rumi grabbed her by her hair and practically ripped the roots from her skull causing her to screech like a damned banshee with her voice echoing off the stones around them.

Her screams were cut off in the next second as Rumi grabbed Daph by the back of her head and slammed her face into a rock wall repeatedly.

"YOU – DARE – CALL – ME – A – WHORE – AFTER – WHAT – YOU – DID!"

In a last ditch attempt, Daph tried to stab Rumi with the sword still in her right hand but Rumi was having none of it.

She grabbed the blade with her bare hand letting it cut into her skin before her leg lashed out and kicked the pommel out of Daph's hand and crushed her wrist.

Her screams of pain only fueled Rumi's wrath further as she used what was left of Daph's hair as a handle and whipped her body at every surface in reaching distance.

The uneven rock walls, the burning sandy ground, the sharp outcroppings, a massive dust cloud was raised as Rumi viciously destroyed the landscape with Daph's body.

A minute passed as the dust settled to see a bleeding and huffing Rumi standing over the absolutely destroyed form of Daph who was barely recognizable and in human shape.

She was wheezing and in more pain than she could comprehend.

"K…ki…kill…m.e…"

Rumi angrily looked at her broken body and spat as she began to lose the edge of her rage.

"You fucking whore. You came into our caravan, our home and place of peace, you seduced your way in and batted your whore fucking face, you tricked Raul into sleeping with you and then turned around and put a knife to his throat and threatened me.

I ended up in chains on my way to be a breeding sow sex slave for some fat fuck in god knows where and even when I willingly didn't resist, YOU STILL FUCKING KILLED HIM! RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME! THE MAN WHO PRACTICALLY RAISED ME!

I should heal you and break you all over again you – stupid – fucking – bitch!"

With each word at the end she stomped her feet on Daph's already mangled limbs and only got whimpers and cries of pain in response.

When her fit passed, she just looked on coldly at the broken body on the edge of death and scoffed.

"I can't believe the life I knew ended because of some weak bitch like you. A burial is more than your worth but seeing death coming at you is good enough for me."

With a final kick, she smashed the base of a rock pillar and watched it tumble down to smash and bury the woman she hated more than anyone else in her life.

And then she just stood there, shaking slightly and feeling the pain from her wounds as her ears drooped.

Deep breathes escaped her lungs as she thought on certain memories of a father figure with a soft smile.

"I avenged you Raul. Rest in peace."

*CRASH!*

Her words had just ended as a figure smashed into a stone pillar nearby her.

Blinking her eyes in surprise, Rumi looked over at the figure imbedded in stone with a raised brow.

"You having fun?"

The strange and annoying guy who freed her and helped her get her revenge scoffed and rolled his eyes and he peeled himself off the stone.

"Ok, so maybe level 3 is a bit much."

"You think?"

Rumi couldn't help but let out a surprised giggle before slapping a hand over her mouth.

The annoying guy, Marik, shot her a look with upturned lips.

"Did you just giggle?"

Rumi shot him a death glare with a slight blush of embarrassment.

"You heard nothing."

"But I…"

"Nothing!"

She stomped her foot and made the ground shake for emphasis and Marik held his arms up with an amused look.

But just then, another crash came nearby.

"YOU DAMN BRAT! WHERE ARE YOU!"

Marik sighed and Rumi's eyes widened as he opened his cloak and revealed a very bloody torso and some very lethal looking stab wounds.

"Alright, alright, think you can buy me a minute or two?"

Rumi marched over to him and got a good look at his wounds while ignoring the muscled skin around them.

"Oi, are you gon…"

"I'll be fine."

Marik cut her off and she sent him a glare that he met with a challenging one that did a lot of annoying things to her, mainly annoyed her.

"You think you can do it?"

They stared at each other for a long moment until another closer crash sounded and she scoffed before slapping his shoulder.

He winced in pain.

"Ow."

She smirked and walked off.

"Don't be baby you stupid hunk…*cough*.. hulk.."

"Did you just.."

"Two minutes! You got two minutes max before I'll probably be overwhelmed."

Her ears were twitching in embarrassment at her slip but he thankfully ignored it.

"I only need one, go get him babe."

She shot him an annoyed look that was matched by that infuriating smirk before stomping off.

"Stupid annoying jerk, I'll kick your ass if you die!"

"Yes ma'am."

She took off and charged at the rampaging level 3 to get away from the idiot.

And strangely, she wasn't worried about the possibility of him not having her back.

That just annoyed her more.

POV Change:

'Ok, in hindsight, don't charge a more powerful enemy while bleeding from multiple lethal injuries.'

I winced as I used healing with both hands to handle the more serious damages.

When I missed the leader on the sneak attack, I ended up using my momentum to attack the bandit that was following him but the fucker wasn't as weak as the others I sneak attacked.

His body was sure as hell weak.

My fists were crushing bones beneath his flesh.

But his Dex stat must have been pretty high because his hands moved insanely fast and pocketed my torso with more than a dozen stab wounds.

'Not only that but that I think that fucks blades were poisoned.'

I had been poisoned before by some of the monsters out here but a combination of healing and time usually flushed it from my system.

Well, I did suffer through the pain while it was flushed out and the flushing out part wasn't fun either but it worked.

The issue was that most of the venomous monsters used neurotoxic types that aim for paralysis. This one was causing my wounds to burn and the bleeding wasn't stopping.

'Hemotoxic then.'

I changed up the spell on my right hand as the glow changed from a light yellow color to a greener shade and diagnosed myself.

A string of data entered my mind from my most damaged organs to the smallest issues and I focused on one of the main points.

[Hemotoxin Poisoning – Lethal]

Using the knowledge granted to me, I quickly began dressing my more organs and sealed the outer layer of skin to stop the bleeding but that only contained the poison inside myself.

I grunted in pain at the feeling but I didn't have much choice as I was on the clock.

'Fix anything that can cause death in the short term, I'll deal with the rest later. The poison won't kill me soon, ignore it.'

Of course, it would just spread further but I didn't have the luxury of time to worry about that.

I brought up my Falna page and really debated that (+) symbol.

'I could level up. I'll have better healing spells and possibly something to deal with poison…but…my stats..'

[

Strength: B780 S987

Endurance: B780 S987

Dexterity: E470 B790

Agility: D500 A810

Magic: B750 S970

]

I had been pushing off the level up for months now fighting for those final stat points.

It took me two months to reach B grade stats but I didn't max it out even with four more months.

That's just how difficult the climb in stats becomes when you hit the higher numbers.

It's like trying to fill an already full glass of water with more without spilling.

And in that analogy spilling means exploding or death, which the system automatically prevents from happening.

Hearing a crash nearby, I grit my teeth.

'I don't have time for this shit, do it or don't man, it's life or death.'

With a grunt I closed the screen and stood up, ignoring how my insides burned.

I took a deep breath and let the familiar fog come over my mind.

'I can't be weighed down by the pain.'

Unknown to me at the time, my sclera turned a slight pink and my canines elongated slightly as a feral aura began emanating from me.

Focusing my senses on, I hunched forward and smashed the ground beneath my feet as I prowled toward my prey.

Clinging to the rock walls, I ping ponged off the surfaces until I found Rumi just as she kicked the side of the large battle axe and redirected it toward a stone pillar that crumbled under its force.

The bandit leader had a crazed look on his face as he tried to kill her.

Running up behind them, I shouted.

"Rumi, duck!"

Her eyes widened as she did so but the leader heard me just as well and ducked but that was what I wanted.

Vaulting over her, I brought my heels down toward his head but he blocked with the shaft of his axe.

"YOU! DIE BRAT!"

He went to change from blocking to striking but from my stretched position between them, I stretched out my hands.

"Rumi."

Seemingly understanding me without saying anything she put her hands in my own and as I fell from my point, I flung her over my head and added my own force as she copied my previous move and brought her heels down toward his head.

This time he wasn't able to block and got struck on his shoulder as a loud crunch was heard.

"AH!"

Following my actions, Rumi grabbed my feet before I could hit the ground and flung me like a flail as I came around and landed my fist hard on his jaw and rocked his brain.

Seemingly showing he wasn't a level 3 for nothing, he swung his axe even with his disorientation to get some space and the two of us summersaulted backwards out of the way.

His eyes met ours in a second of silence.

The whole process from my entrance happened in a manner of three seconds.

Rumi and I glanced at each other and nodded before we charged.

She was faster than me and went for a kick to his ribs that he countered by trying to take her head off but I grabbed her and swung her around launching her right into landing both feet in his stomach making his eyes pop out in pain.

On her rebound I came in and landed my own haymaker on him but on the counter he moved his axe to take off my arm only for Rumi to kick me out of the way and the axe fell in the space between us.

And then as one my fist and her foot came down on the handle and crushed his hand.

"AHH!"

He was forced to drop his axe and jump back but the two of us were relentless.

Again and again the fight moved as me and Rumi fell into a seamless teamwork and chipped away at the bandit leader.

He got more and more desperate with each passing minute and his hits came faster and harder.

A few times I tanked the blows while Rumi countered and damaged him.

Her feet were lethal weapons and numerous times I heard bones creaking and cracking under blows but we were tiring out faster than he was.

I had to pull more and more on the fog as my movements became more wild, more feral, and less uncontrolled.

Rumi picked up on that but she was covering the slack by focusing on attacking and countering while leaving me for the main focus of his attention.

Meanwhile I was seeing red and focusing all my battle lust and craze on him alone.

I couldn't know that I looked like a monster or barbarian in the man's eyes as my cloak was torn up revealing my blood covered form wearing only a loincloth.

Blood dyed my white hair red and my eyes and teeth just completed the image of a feral monster rather than a human.

The psychological damage was doing wonders to his mind.

But corner an animal to the limit and it will lash out with a surprising amount of viciousness.

In a moment of weakness on my part due to my limited vision, the leader waited for Rumi to counterattack when I blocked and his eyes gleamed.

"Fuck you bitch!"

A hidden dagger gleaming with a green edge came down right in the path of Rumi's traveling kick.

Her eyes and brain could see it coming but she was already in motion and there was no room to maneuver.

Blood splashed and a scream was heard but it was Rumi blinking in surprise as her leg was splashed with blood and the bandit leader screaming as my fist shattered the elbow of his one good arm.

Then before he could fully comprehend it I ripped the poisoned blade from my forearm and stabbed in straight in the jugular.

His eyes widened in shock but there was no hesitation on my part.

My vision had only grown more and more red as time passed and the animal wanted blood.

"RRAAAHHH!"

An inhuman roar came from my throat as I tackled the man and began laying into him with a demented smile.

His body spasmed as my fists rained down one after the other and smashed his face into a pulp.

And even when he stopped twitching my fists still didn't stop.

"O…"

"Ma…"

"Mari…"

"OI YOU BASTARD!"

My fist paused mid swing as I turned red eyes on Rumi who was looking at me wearily from a few steps away.

"He's dead you idiot. Calm down."

She stared at me right in the eyes without blinking and I my haze of battle lust was interrupted by the sight of her red eyes.

It was a different shade from the red haze.

It was like looking at cooling lava, ready to burst into flames at any second and at a temperature you know will burn you but currently at rest.

She walked closer and lightly put a hand on my shoulder, pushing me off the corpse of the bandit leader and I was surprised to notice I didn't fight her.

My head pounded for a second and I held a hand to my temple and turned away taking deep breaths as she bent over the corpse and took the poisoned dagger from the remains of his throat and examined it.

It was only then as the haze began to fade that I realized just how much pain my body was currently in.

"Oh."

I sat down as my face paled at the level of pain.

It was like my insides were boiling.

And not only that, a pain beyond what the first poison felt like was searing me from my right forearm.

Turning my eyes toward it, they widened at the sight of the wound turning black.

Rumi was examining the blade and cursed before looking at me.

"Shit! This was necrotic poison; we have to dig it out before it spreads!"

A wry look came over me as I realized the blade struck closer to my hand and was spreading black lines under my skin.

With a hiss of air, I responded.

"A little late for that."

She looked at my hand and cursed before her eyes landed on the fallen battle axe and rushed over to grab it before rushing back.

"Hold out our hand."

My eyes widened.

"Wo! Wo! Hold up, let's talk about this!"

She shot me an annoyed look.

"You want to lose a hand of an arm?! Hurry up!"

"No, no, no, no, I don't want to lose either!"

"Stop being stupid!"

"Your trying to chop me up! I'm going be stupid!"

"Now you're just being a baby!"

"How about I chop your limb off huh?!"

She smashed the axe into the ground and looked at me with her hands on her hips and an aggravate look.

"Then what the hell do you want to do?! Your poisoned!"

I scoffed at her and waved my hand nonchalantly only to groan in pain and switch hands.

"Wrong one… And whats the big deal, I practically have poison in all my organs right now…"

I mumbled my words in annoyance only to freeze as I realized what I just said.

Before I could blink a hand grabbed the collar of my torn cloak and I was lifted face to face with a calm faced rabbit girl.

"You want to repeat that? What do you mean you have poison in your organs?"

I tried to lift my good hand to her shoulder.

"Now let's just sit down and rel…"

"Marik!"

"Alright, alright, the other guy next to the bandit leader used hemotoxin covered knives."

Her eye twitched violently.

"And you still fought the strongest fucker around in that condition?!"

I grunted and pushed her off before sitting back against a rock pillar.

"Oi, I didn't realize it at first and when I did it was too late. I wasn't going to leave you to die to that fuck."

She looked at me with a hard look for another second before she sagged and sat next to me.

"How can I help you."

My hands glowed as I casted healing on myself and shot her a raised brow.

"Why would you want to help me? We killed the fuckers and you got your revenge. You don't even know me."

I grunted the second the words left me as she punched my shoulder.

'Why is she so strong?!'

"Ow."

"Shut up you bastard, you saved me and I owe you for that. I'm not leaving till I pay my debt."

"Oh? Will you do anything?"

I wiggled my brows and her look turned murderous so I held up my non injured hand.

"Oi, oi, just a joke. I think I can handle my wounds but how about you grab me a new cloak? I have a stack of them in that direction with all my other crap that I've made in my time here. You can grab one for yourself as well. I'm sure I've got some in your size."

She nodded and got up only to pause.

"Why do you have them in my size?"

I chuckled and scratched my cheek in slight embarrassment.

"I'm uh, not the best leatherworker or seamstress around but with a shit ton of materials and enough time and effort, I could do something simple like make some cloaks. The ones in your size were failures for me but it was good stuff so I didn't throw them away."

She smirked at that and started walking away but my ears caught her words as she walked off.

"Thank you."

I smiled warmly and totally, 100%, did not check out her ass as she walked.

I'd love to say she added a sway to her steps just for me but I'm pretty sure she was as exhausted as I felt.

Maybe even more depending on when the last time she actually ate something was.

Shaking my head, I ran a diagnostic spell on myself and winced at the results.

'If nothing changes, I really will die.'

But thankfully, it was time for a change.

Pulling up my status, I smiled wide as three of my stats maxed out.

It might be questionable why my magic stat maxed out but during the beginning of the fight, I was still casting healing even while I punched the fucker.

Casting magic under the berserker state wasn't impossible, just much harder than usual.

Healing was something I had become very familiar with after hundreds of casts so I could manage it to some degree.

But when the fog really came on, my magic slipped and it was full offense.

So with three S999 stats, I was happy to finally hit the (+) button on my screen.

The page flashed for a moment and I gasped as my entire body suddenly felt weightless as I some kind of film passed over me only to be dropped right back to the ground.

It was only for a single moment but it felt like something 'bigger' than me grabbed me for only a second.

My whole body vibrated with a pins and needles feeling like when your limb falls asleep after sitting on them.

It felt like my body was numb and something deep in my chest breathed in and out.

Something was poured into my body and something from my body was poured into wherever the first part was coming from.

Like being filled with soothing warm water.

Like being in a womb.

My body felt like it expanded and contracted in a metaphysical manner.

And then like a flash, it stopped and settled as I slowly regained feeling in my limbs.

A gasp broke from my throat as I gulped in air desperately.

'What the fuck was that.'

I didn't get even a moment to ponder what the hell just happened as the familiar feeling of a sledgehammer crashing into my skull impacted me and my vision swam as information rushed into my brain at rapid speeds.

I blinked rapidly to clear the spots and held a hand to my head with a groan.

And then my mind processed the information and I couldn't help but laugh.

A slightly insane laugh from all the pain and craziness of it all.

A laugh at both joy and annoyance for different reasons.

But most of all, it was a laugh due to seeing a solution to my current problems.

With a twisted smile, I cast the spell as my hand glowed a deep green.

It was that sight that Rumi returned to, seeing me laughing quietly like a loon with a green glowing hand and still covered in blood wearing a loincloth and a tattered cloak.

My laughter paused as we made eye contact.

I really couldn't blame her for looking at me for a long moment before throwing a new cloak at me and walking away with an expression saying, 'I'm just done with all this shit right now.'

*Line Break*

"For the last time Rumi, I was delirious from blood loss and extreme amounts of internal pain."

She rolled her eyes at me.

"Sure, sure, whatever floats your boat crazy."

I growled and flicked my currently bleeding finger at her making her scowl and avoid it.

"Oi! That's gross! I'm eating here!"

This time I rolled my eyes.

"Oh, is that what you're calling it? I have better manners and I've literally been alone in a desert for six months fighting monsters with my bare hands daily."

She growled back and threw a bone at my head that I avoided with the same ease she avoided my blood.

We were bickering and arguing but…we both had small smiles on our faces.

It had been a few hours since my level up and the sun had set.

Rumi had helped organize the slaves with the older women helping out and managed to deal with all the crap from the caravan.

Dead bodies were looted, the carriages were looted, and practically everything of value was shoved into the few larger carriages.

The carriages, which amounted to around twenty all said, including the two 'cage' ones, were ransacked.

The twenty or so slaves only needed five carriages to carry them all comfortably along with whatever they took.

I personally didn't care for the shit the bandits had. It was apparently some valuable commerce items that could go for a good amount at desert cities.

The bandits didn't only deal in kidnapping for slavery but also robbing caravans of their merchandise.

The desert I was in, as I came to find out thanks to a map, was called the Kaios Desert and it was confirmed that the world I was in was Danmachi.

Why? Because at the center of the continent on the map was a bright marker labeled 'Orario'.

I was currently in the south western portion of the massive continent fabled for the crazy and deadly amount of monsters that called the sands home.

It was apparently a common area for people to reach level 2 after living in the area for years.

Anyway, the Desert had 3 cities.

The Merchant city on the western coast of the desert, the city where you can find almost anything under the sun for sale for the right price.

The Entertainment city on the southern coast of the desert, the city famous for slavery. It was basically a lawless Las Vegas combined with Dubai.

It was called 'Santorio Vega'.

The upper class were practically princes with their fortunes and did whatever they wanted.

And the last city was at the north eastern most edge of the desert where the sands faded to become the plains of green grass. It was called Preblica and stood surrounded by short mountains filled with various small towns and races.

It was prime 'fishing' area for bandits and slavers.

To the north of the desert was the land ruled by Rakia, Ares kingdom.

To the east of the desert was a large expanse of mountains, forests, and various frontier cities and towns. The only notable thing about the area was the Amazoness nation off the south eastern coast and the dwarven kingdom at the mountain range at the very north eastern area.

And finally, to the north east was Orario.

Of course, on a continent this size, traveling wasn't such a quick and simple thing.

Just going between the desert cities took months for normal civilians.

The area I found myself in, my little rock outcropping, my home away from home, was more or less halfway between Preblica and the Entertainment city.

The slaves would be returning to Preblica and using the goods to acquire funds and start a new life away from the sands of desert.

I didn't blame them and told them to take whatever they wanted.

What the hell do I need all those supplies for?

I just grabbed some more useful stuff for myself.

For one, some actual water practically brought a tear to my eye.

For another, spices to season my meat diet with all but made me cry.

Other than that, some essentials to remind me I was a human, like pants, was all I really needed.

I had mountains of monster materials I had no idea what to do with and now with extra carriages available, I could move my shit to a city and make some money.

When I told as much to Rumi, her response made me feel annoyed, embarrassed, and resigned.

"So you want to sell… all of this?"

She looked between the massive assortment of monster materials with crossed arms and a tapping foot.

"Yeah? What the hell am I supposed to do with it? It's worth something right?"

She nodded.

"Yes. Most of it. Some of it is in terrible condition and you're better off just throwing them away but most of it could fetch a very good price.

The merchant city would get you the highest return but the distance to shlep it all makes it not worth the effort.

The other two cities will buy all of it."

I grinned at that.

I was finally going to have some money to spend. On stuff I didn't know I wanted yet.

But then her words brought me back.

"But…you have no idea what any of this stuff is worth do you?"

I thought about that and held up a finger while opening my mouth but at her inquisitive look, I dropped my finger and grudgingly nodded.

"No, no I don't."

She nodded with a smug look.

"That's what I thought. I'm coming with you and I'll help you sell it to the right people for the right price."

I narrowed my eyes at her.

"Why?"

She scoffed and kicked some sand at me.

"I owe you dumbass. Not only for freeing me and helping me kill those fucks, but that last strike. I'm not some stupidly undying brute like you, if that blade nicked my leg I wouldn't have said leg right now."

I played that around in my head for a moment before nodding.

"Alright. Your welcome for being awesome."

I laughed and dodged a kick to my shoulder even if it jostled my injuries.

"Stay still you moron."

She halfheartedly attacked with a smile that matched my own.

Two minutes later we remembered how tired and injured we were and stopped.

"*Huff* 10%."

I rose a brow at her and took a breath.

"What?"

She leaned against a rock wall and pointed a finger at me.

"I'm taking 10% of the profit."

I scoffed at her.

"What happened to owing me?"

"This is this and that is that."

I rolled my eyes.

"Women."

"What was that?"

I flicked a pebble at her forehead.

"I said women. You can have 20% for all I care, I don't have much need for money."

It was her turn to raise a brow but she shrugged.

"Whatever floats your boat dude. I won't reject more money."

I flipped her off and she just smirked at me.

"What do you want to do with that thing?"

She lifted her chin at the bandit leaders battleaxe.

I shrugged and grabbed it by the handle, lifting it up with a bit of effort.

"I think I'll keep it. It's a good quality weapon and frankly I've been thinking if I should start using a weapon at some point.

Does it bother you?"

She rose a brow.

"That it belonged to that fucker?"

"Yeah."

"Why would I care? A weapon is a weapon. You expect me to blame the knife instead of the wielder? That's just stupid. I would kill that fucker any day of the week but I couldn't care what you did with the axe."

She gave me a look like I was stupid before turning back to the stuff and I didn't really know what to say so I shrugged and tossed the axe into the 'keep' pile.

After that she just sorted through my stuff and tossed away anything useless.

In my defense, it took me around a month to remove monster parts with some measure of skill.

I hunted a deer, once, in my first life. I could be excused for not being an expert at it from the start.

Trial and error never really fails and I had a lot of material to practice on.

While she did that I used some spices to cook some meat over a fire while also healing myself.

The healing myself part took the majority of my attention which is why I let her have the first portions of cooked meat.

She tore into it like a rabid beast much to my amusement.

"Shut up you bastard, those fuckers barely fed me to keep me contained."

I hummed at that.

I wasn't going to show her pity, she would just be insulted by it.

Instead I was blunt.

"How did those morons capture you anyway? Numbers?"

She grunted and a poor thigh bone was crushed beneath her teeth.

It wasn't intentional on her part but I winced a bit and crossed my legs.

'Yeah, careful with this one.'

"The fuckers caught me off guard."

She told her tale and I listened while healing myself.

It was taking a while to heal but I was pretty fucked up with hemotoxin poison breaking down the red blood cells in my organs.

Thankfully, my broken magic was healing me just fine.

Two spells in particular.

Fast Healing, the next tier of Healing. It was five times as effective as the basic healing.

The other was Resist Poison. It didn't cure the effects of poison but it boosted whatever defense the body had against any poison and rapidly helped to eject foreign substances from the body.

I currently had black blood leaking from my fingertips of one hand as I used Resist Poison to push the poison into my arm and out through my hand with the dead blood.

And at the same time I was using Fast Healing to repair the internal damages as soon as the poison was gone and recover the lost blood.

The necrotic poison was the first to be expelled in a black sludge like material and left a very frightening hollow in my arm from where it ate away at my flesh but it was currently just smooth skin.

Healing is OP.

Rumi didn't seem to care for the growing puddle of blood as long as it didn't touch her and she was being fed.

Her tale was short and to the point.

She was an orphan on the streets working as a pickpocket.

One day she tried to pickpocket some older guy with an easygoing air only to be caught.

Long story short, the guy ended up almost forcibly adopting her.

As bad as it sounds, it was for her own good as the man didn't want anything from her. He just had a soft spot for kids never having a chance.

The man's name was Raul and he had a traveling caravan of outcasts and those wanting a life on the road.

They took in orphans here and there and helped them along to find new homes.

Just a couple decent people in the world trying to do what they thought was right.

Unfortunately, Rumi wasn't one for 'families' and having parents so she never found a home. She stuck with the caravan in their travels growing up.

At one point, the caravan picked up a wandering goddess.

The Egyptian goddess Bast, or Bastet for full.

She was kind if a bit lazy and spoiled but she was welcome among the caravan.

Bast had taken a liking to Rumi and offered her a Falna seeing how strong willed the girl was.

And surprise, surprise, the girl fell in love with fighting.

Despite Raul being a level 2 himself, Rumi was the first line of defense always rushing into battle.

"It always drove the old man crazy. I swear seeing him almost rip his own hair out in frustration was hilarious. Especially when I walked by him dragging a monster corpse, he just had this twitch in his eye that was fucking hilarious!"

It didn't take long at all for Rumi to level up. It took her around a year even with all the traveling to max out her highest stats before Bast leveled her up.

That part of the story rose a question in me.

"Hey Rumi?"

She hummed between bites.

"What did the level up feel like to you?"

She stopped chewing and threw me a weird look.

"What?"

She pointed a half-eaten leg of meat at me.

"What kind of stupid question is that? No one can stay awake during a level up, your instantly put to sleep for a few minutes. Everyone knows that, it's common knowledge."

I blinked at that; it rose a dozen more questions in my mind but I just clamped my mouth shut.

"I see. Sorry, I was curious. Continue with your story."

"Marik… did you.."

"I was just curious, I'm a bit out of touch with common knowledge out here. Continue, what happened next?"

She didn't seem to buy my change of topic but shrugged a minute later and went back to eating.

Apparently Bast had moved on soon after leveling her up.

She was going to meet a friend and told her to head to Orario if she wanted to pursue the path to godhood.

"Does Bast have a Familia?"

Rumi shook her head.

"Nah, she said I could join any Familia I wanted, Bast was too lazy to have a full time Familia. I swear I can't tell how she survived in the mortal world so long. Stupid cat."

I chuckled at that and she smiled before going on.

It was only a few months after that when the caravan picked up a new person. A woman named Daph who was apparently on the run.

She asked for help and Raul and the others were happy to do what they could.

Daph asked for them to help smuggle her to the next city by hiding with them.

Nothing was amiss for about a week as Daph got closer to Raul, who was a middle aged but single man.

She seduced him and the same night she entered his bed, the caravan was raided by the bandits.

Rumi was the first to fight back as usual and killed some of the low leveled scum before Daph revealed herself with a knife to Rauls throat.

Seeing her father figure's life at risk, she surrendered as they slapped chains on her ankles, wrist, and neck but as soon as she was in a cage, they slit Raul's throat in front of her.

She couldn't even fight back at that in her heavy chains and could only curse and scream at them.

It was over a month of traveling through the harsh and hot desert while starved and dehydrated with the bandits leering at her and telling her over and over how some rich fat bastard put out a bounty on rabbit women for him to enjoy some exotic sex slaves that finally led to them reaching my spot.

"And that's all she wrote. Not much of a tale all things considered but its mine."

I hummed at her words and took another two skewers off the fire, sprinkling them with spice and passing one to her, getting a thankful nod in return.

"I think it was interesting. Growing up in a traveling caravan must have been fun for a kid."

Truthfully I envied her a bit.

To have a chance to grow up in such a free and open world even if the dangers were all around but I also knew what my life gave me even in the cage.

Cages and comforts or freedom and danger.

An interesting concept and question to ask someone.

Their answer tells you a lot of their personal values.

"It had its ups and downs. How about you Mr. Barbarian in the middle of ass nowhere?"

I shot her a light glare at her cheek and smirk before chuckling.

I thought about how to answer for a second before giving a basic run down.

"Hm… I was an orphan as well. Not much to say there. Orphanage life wasn't bad excluding bullies but you learn to deal with it. I was a natural fighter you know? Came out the womb throwing hooks and kicks."

I puffed up my chest in mock humor, making her laugh before going on.

"Despite fighting in underground matches for excitement and money, I was actually studying to be a scholar if you could believe it."

She scoffed and openly laughed at me.

"You?!"

I mock glared while she pointed a finger at me.

"Dude, you look like the guy a fighting ring sends out when they really don't want to lose any money on a bet."

I couldn't help my lip twitching in amusement.

Complimenting and insulting me at the same time.

"I'll take that compliment for what it is."

"Sure you will."

I tossed my cleaned bone at her head and she dodged while laughing and throwing her hands up halfheartedly in surrender.

"Fine, fine, I'm just kidding. Go on."

I cracked my neck and leaned back.

"Well, to make a long story short. A better fighter than me with a kind heart talked me out of underground fighting before I could do something that would really get me hurt.

He gave me a better outlet to fight and train while having time to focus on studies.

Life wasn't bad all around but… you know, the place I'm from, I never think I want to go back."

She gave me an inquisitive look.

"It's hard to put into words but it's as if the very society built a cage. A mental cage of expectation and peer pressure that forces everyone to grow in a way beneficial to their society.

It's infuriating on a deep level. No one is truly free there despite having no physical chains.

So one day not long ago, a bit over six months, when I found myself getting jumped one night and waking up in the middle of a desert thinking it was some weird dream, I just kind of accepted it.

The whole life I built till then was over, and even if I could go back and continue it, I couldn't build any desire to do it.

I faced my first monster that day in a fight that left me on the edge of death but I had never felt more alive and free then in that moment.

You get what I mean right?"

We locked eyes over the flames and on a certain level, it felt like something clicked.

Her voice came out softly.

"To lose yourself in the flow of battle."

I replied in the same tone.

"To feel the euphoria of dancing on the edge."

She smirked and kept going.

"To let it all fade away because nothing else matters in that single moment."

I stood up.

"To fight for the sake of fighting."

She stood.

"To conquer and dominate your challengers."

I took a step around the fire.

"To feel your blood boil and your enemies splash against your skin."

She took a step in the opposite direction around the fire.

"To find that release in victory."

"To find purpose in your existence."

"To not care for the views of others."

"To be your truest self as you fight for your life."

"To see the true face of your foe."

We prowled around the flames matching eyes in a strange primal sort of dance until we stood face to face, inches apart.

"To see a soul laid bare."

"To see a soul laid bare."

Our hands found each other's.

"To face an equal of worth and skill."

"To win or lose without a care as the fight is all that matters."

For the first time, I saw her face up close.

Looking down at her with our height difference.

In the light of the fire I saw the little details.

The lines of her face, the soft tufts of fur around her twitching rabbit ears, the shade of her white hair, the curvature of her nose, and the true depths of those enchanting red eyes.

Her natural scent was husky and light, nothing truly noteworthy considering we both needed a wash but it was her scent.

She looked up at me with the same studious look I was giving her, as if we were seeing each other for the first time.

My voice came out soft.

"To find an equal."

Her voice was just as soft.

"Of worth and skill."

I brought our joined hands up slowly and planted a kiss on the back of her hand.

"To a beautiful partnership Rumi."

She blinked at my words as her eyes focused on our joined hands.

*CRASH*

And in the next second I found myself ass over kettle with a judo flip and laying on my back with a very confused look.

"Oh."

She looked at me while I was giving her an annoyed look that practically radiated 'Why did you ruin the mood?'

She flushed and quickly moved over.

"Ah, my bad. I'm not used to people touching me."

"And your first reaction is to flip someone?"

She looked down at me without an ounce of shame.

"Yes. That or kick them."

I rolled my eyes and grabbed her ankle while she was being smug.

She totally didn't squeak in surprise and fall on the ground next to me.

"Did you just…"

"Now we're even."

"Oh it's on you bastard."

She growled and lunged at me but the two of us were far too tired to seriously fight.

We rolled around in the sand and roughhoused.

"You started it!"

"Yeah, and I'll end it!"

"It was such a good mood!"

"You shouldn't have kissed my hand!"

"You're a beautiful girl and I'm an attractive horny teen, what did you expect me to do?!"

"Like I know! Just die!"

"You didn't deny my points."

"DIE!"

"Oi! No biting!"

"No rule that says I can't!"

It was ten minutes later that the two of finally stopped.

I was laying on my back with Rumi's back on top of my chest and we were both huffing and wheezing in our exhaustion.

We already rolled a distance away from the fire and only the clear moonlight shined down on us.

Eventually I spoke.

"It makes me happy you know."

She huffed and slapped my chest in annoyance.

"What does you bastard?"

I smirked at the top of her head.

"To know I'm not alone."

Her ears twitched and she turned her head to look at me. In the light of the moon, I saw a vulnerable look in her eyes for the first time.

A look I hadn't seen from her so far.

Not when she was in chains, when she 'convinced' me to break her out, when we were killing the mooks, even after she had her revenge, although I wasn't truly paying attention to her in all my pain at that point.

But still, this was the most vulnerable I had seen her.

"Yeah."

It was just one word, but it said a lot.

In a surprising action, she took my own hand and kissed it.

I looked at her with wide eyes and she just smirked back.

"To a beautiful partnership Marik."

Nothing else had to be said, a bond had been formed.

My arm went around her waist and she didn't fight it but snuggled in and got comfortable.

It was affectionate but not intimate.

We weren't a couple but it was a show of trust.

Under the light of the moon, we rested in each other's arms.

Her head on my shoulder and her back to my chest while her arms wrapped around my wider arm covering her.

Nothing else had to be said, and the two of us rested in peace.

That is, until something couldn't be ignored for much longer.

"Hey, Rumi."

My voice was soft and barely a whisper but her ear twitched.

"Hm?"

Her tone was inquisitive.

"Can I touch your ears."

I really, really wanted to touch them. The damn things were inches from my face.

She turned a single cracked eye on me.

"Go to sleep Marik."

"But.."

*bang*

Her foot landed in the space between my legs, inches from my boys.

"Go to sleep."

I sweat dropped and nodded as she turned her head back.

She didn't reply to my quiet mumbles.

"Damn violently beautiful woman, going to be the death of me, and why are her ears so damn fluffy."

But if her head was turned so an ear rested beneath my chin, neither of us said anything.

Just as neither commented on the soft smiles on our faces as we fell asleep.

Under the moonlight, in a private corner of the world all to ourselves infested with deadly monsters, a bond was formed as we rested in each other's arms.

A bond that would last a lifetime and perhaps more.

*Line Break*

Time had moved quickly after that day.

At Rumi's request slash demand, and because I was already at the end of the usefulness for my little man cave area, we packed everything up and escorted the free former slaves to Preblica on the deserts edge.

The trip through the desert took a few weeks but we apparently made great time since we had less carriages, more transport lizards to pull the smaller amount of carriages, and since me and Rumi just tore through any monster that had the balls to appear.

It was actually a little game between us.

Whoever spots the monster first gets the fight.

Safe to say, it was a downhill battle for me.

I forgot just how frighteningly sharp Rumi's senses were.

But on the upside, our piles of monster materials only grew.

And on the double upside, I finally had a use for the literal hundreds of magic stones I had filling up a large sack.

According to Rumi, all monsters have magic stones, doesn't matter if they are in the dungeon or not.

The world has a grading system for the stones that can be simplified with level + Low – Mid – High.

A very simple system since not all similar leveled monsters are the same.

In the dungeon for example, a floor 1 goblin would have a level 1 magic stone but a floor 12 Orc would also have a level 1 magic stone.

The difference was in size and purity.

And with higher levels the color and material of the stone changes.

The vast majority of my magic stone collection was Low-1 grade, a good portion was Mid-1 grade, and a small amount were High-1 grade.

Apparently they were all bought, sold, and traded at the same rates like a currency in most of the world.

Set after examples the Guild of Orario makes but slightly inflated due to rarity.

When I mentioned I didn't want to sell them, Rumi didn't really seem to care but she was curious why and I showed her.

One of the new spells I got from my level up, Synthesize Soul-Gem.

As you can guess from the name, it allows me to create my own soul gems from Skyrim.

Soul gems are crystals that in the game absorb the souls of defeated foes to be used in enchanting weapons, armor, or gear.

In my case, it absorbs the energy inside the crystals to form and fill the gems.

By casting the spell, a magic crystal will become a soul gem, but the gem will have very little energy inside it.

The fill the gem, I have to place multiple magic crystals on the gem for it to absorb the energy inside them.

And of course, the higher grade the magic crystal, the faster the gem can be filled up.

Unfortunately, I can't increase the quality of my soul gem just yet.

[Synthesize Soul-Gem I – Convert magic crystals into Petty soul gems.]

No matter what I did, Petty was the limit at the moment.

Considering it had the 'I' at the end, I can only assume the spell will be improved as I level up more.

In game terms, there were five grades of soul gems. Well technically six but the last two are at the same level but have different fuel sources.

Petty – Lesser – Common – Greater – Grand.

The last is Black gems but they are just as good as Grand and considering the fuel source is magic crystals, I doubt it would make a difference.

I've had plenty of time over the months to think about my Skyrim styled magic system and I've come to the conclusion that the spells I am being given are a mix of the standard spells and MOD spells.

The Diagnostic spell was my first clue but even with my new spells, I still see changes.

The undead spells were removed and in its place were others.

[Spell Book:

Level 1:

Healing.

Lesser Ward.

Diagnose.

Level 2:

Fast Healing.

Healing Hands.

Steadfast Ward.

Synthesize Soul-Gem.

Resist Poison.

Resist Curse.

Sun Fire.

Level up to access more spells.]

Fast Healing was an improved version of Healing. About five times as fast and effective.

Healing Hands was as effective as the basic level 1 Healing but it allowed me to heal others.

Rumi was a very appreciate test bunny for this spell even if she didn't know she was one. What she doesn't know won't hurt me.

Steadfast Ward is a stronger ward spell than Lesser Ward. No real change there. I was still stuck in place if I wanted to use a Ward spell and it mainly used against magical damage rather than physical but the current version can at least stop weak arrows.

I asked one of the woman without a Falna to try and shoot me and got my result from it. Rumi was quick to point out the practicality and realistic approach of the spell when she tried shooting me resulting In me pulling an arrow out of my shoulder much to her amusement.

Resist Poison and Resist Curse didn't eliminate or cure but it helped resist the effects, boosting your bodies recovery, weakening the poison or curse, and helping to expel anything invasive.

And finally, the last spell, Sun Fire.

My First attacking spell.

It literally formed a ball of golden yellow light in my hand that could be shot like a fireball.

I couldn't alter its shape or anything but I didn't have to.

It dealt damage by exploding and burning on contact.

It wasn't real fire, it was light. Just like a ball of sunlight except it mimics properties of fire and explodes on impact.

A real fun spell although I can't exactly spam it. It takes a minute currently for me to charge it up before I can cast it.

Those were the seven spells I gained on leveling up, even if two of them are just improved versions of my existing spells.

There were only two other changes to my Falna.

The first, I realized that my Berserker grade didn't increase.

When I asked Rumi, she said Developmental Abilities only increase in grade when you become more proficient in them or you use them enough.

While that did differ from how I thought it automatically increased every level up, I found her logic to be sound.

It makes a lot more sense for people to have to actually put in the time to learn their abilities rather than be given free handouts.

Even my spells were like that.

I'm given the knowledge on how to cast them and what they do on a basic level but becoming more skilled and efficient in their usage is all on me.

Cutting down the casting time, increasing power, speed, and efficiency for the mana spent is all on me training with them.

The second and final change was a new Developmental Ability.

I was given a few choices between crafting options I fulfilled the requirements for and was happily surprised by what showed up.

I can only figure it's from my soul gem spell or possibly from how I transmigrated but for some reason, I was offered the Mystery developmental ability.

The ability that lets you create magic items.

Now I'm not the smartest guy around, I have no shame in admitting that.

I don't think I will be capable of inventing crazy inventions or stuff but what I do have and can do is the knowledge and will to rip off idea's from games and anime.

Games like Skyrim with their enchantment style and anime like Fairy Tail with their magic items for everyday life.

So I chose Mystery without hesitation.

Now, the challenge becomes putting my theoretical idea's into practicality.

That kinda stumped me.

I know I'm supposed to guide the mana from the soul gem into the item I wish to enchant and then I have to mentally envision the process of how the effect comes to life.

At least, that's the basic knowledge I got with the ability.

Take making a lighter for example.

I have to envision the process when the friction wheel on a lighter is turned by the thumb, how a tiny stream of gas is released, and which is then ignited by a spark to create a flame.

Just doing such a simple process took me two weeks and a dozen soul gems.

The result was a simple stick of metal I ripped off some armor that ejected a small flame on one end when you poured mana into it.

Two weeks for just that.

And the fuel wasn't endless.

Using a petty gem for enchantments wasn't going to be getting me anything combat useful.

Life comforts though? I had some idea's in that area even if results would take time.

So all in all, I had my hands full on our trip through the desert.

And my cloak made from monster materials from monsters native to the desert made traveling much smoother.

The material helped keep me cool in the sun and retain heat at night.

Rumi grudgingly applauded me for making them.

Conversations with the others was kept to a minimum on my part.

Not because they couldn't speak to me or were afraid of me but because we were just strangers.

We were polite and I helped where I was needed but otherwise I kept to myself.

Rumi wasn't exactly close with them despite a few women coming from her original caravan so she was in a similar boat.

We just didn't have the heart to abandon them when we were going in the same direction anyway.

I did get to play with my new battle axe though!

I had absolutely no idea what I was doing technique wise but just throwing my brute power behind a swing made for an incredibly satisfying result.

Bare hands would always be preferred method of combat, but I could get used to using a battleaxe for cases where it's needed or when a fight simply isn't exciting enough for me to cut loose.

So it was a few weeks after leaving my area that we finally saw something outside the sands of the desert.

The sands turned to rough ground and settlements began popping up here and there but we ignored them for the most part.

Just stopped to trade for water.

I did make a small demand to stop at the first river or stream we saw and no one had a complaint on that point.

Despite healing magic taking care of any health issues and sand being used to wipe away anything needed, I hadn't had a goddamn shower or bath in seven months and anyone standing between me and a body of non-drinking water was going to taste my axe.

Much, much, cleaner all around with smiles and a particular shine, we kept going as if we just shed pounds of fat.

After passing through a main road between two mountains, we finally came upon the large city of Preblica.

Not going to lie, it looked like a stereotypical Isekai fantasy style city with wooden buildings and various races.

It was no Orario and it didn't have hundreds of armed high level adventurers or random gods walking everywhere, but it did have its own bustling population.

After passing through the gate, which we paid the fee's for in magic crystals much to my annoyance, something I wanted to bash in the gate guards head for if Rumi didn't stop me, he was a nice guy all said, we went directly for the merchants district.

It was a typical street converted into a bazaar with loads of specialized stores buying and selling while merchants without stores had stalls through the streets.

We parted ways with the caravan there, the older women thanking us profusely but we just waved it off.

They were nice people and we were glad they had a new chance, but baby-sitting duty was tiring and we were just done.

We gave them most of the bandits stuff and escorted them here so frankly our job was done at that point.

Rumi practically skipped ahead with a smile as I followed while pulling a rope attached to a carriage.

We could have brought in the carriage lizards but the guard mentioned how it's a pain to keep them contained around so many people.

I just shrugged and grabbed the carriage.

It helped to keep some of the prying eyes away to see a single man pulling it with a single arm without any strain.

No clearer sign that says, 'I'm an adventurer, don't fuck with me.'

Our first stop was a slightly out of the way mid-sized armory shop.

"I've met the guy who runs this place before. He likes to haggle but he's fair and won't backstab you."

I shrugged and let Rumi go inside.

A few minutes later she came out with a bald old guy with a large upper body and smaller lower body.

I wanted to laugh a bit at the size discrepancy but managed to keep it in.

The old man took a look at the carriage and nodded to Rumi before pointing to a gate.

"Aye, take it on back kid and I'll take a good look at what you got. I don't usually buy raw materials like this so it's been a while since anyone brought me raw monster materials in such amounts."

"Thanks Sal, we appreciate it."

The man scoffed and waved a hand.

"Business is business kid, and Raul never did me wrong."

Rumi's ears dropped a bit and Sal patted her shoulder with a sigh before giving me a significant look and jerking his chin.

My eye twitched but I understood his meaning and began moving to the gate.

"Oi babe, your burning day light."

Rumi snapped out of her thoughts and kicked a pebble at my head.

"Don't call me babe you bastard!"

I dodged it with a chuckle.

"Yeah, yeah, now come on."

She grumbled but helped me out while Sal smiled at us before going back inside.

I lightly bumped my hip on Rumi's as she passed while shooting her a smirk and her frown melted away.

"Thanks."

"Don't mention it partner."

With her happy smile returned, we got to work moving the carriage to a storage area where Sal and two apprentices met us.

"Alright, show me what you got brats."

And show we did.

With each pile of monster products put down Sal's eyes rose more as he wrote it down on a clipboard.

"Two Tailed-Rock Scorpion, Iron Tailed Scorpion, Venomous Horned Scorpion, Melting Scorpion, Hermit Scorpion, Hammer-Tusk Scorpion, son, did you get dropped in a scorpion pit nest or something?"

I shrugged and kept the stacks separate.

"What can I say, the bastards love me. That and they are practically blood hounds in the sands. I thought their numbers were endless and stopped questioning it at some point."

Sal gave me a deadpan look and shook his head.

"You young brats and your insanity. Let me guess, you were somewhere in the center of the desert?"

I rose a brow but nodded and he laughed while the two apprentices were shooting me looks like I was crazy.

"What?"

I looked at Rumi but she shrugged in confusion.

"That's prime monster territory boy! They call the center of the desert the devil's nest since no one can go through it without being attacked by monsters.

The main trade routes go the long way around to avoid going through there."

A lightbulb went off in my mind.

"Ah, that explains why it took so long for me to meet other humans."

Rumi added in with a smirk.

"Yeah, only the dumb, the criminal, or the strong would go through there."

"Aw Rumi, did you just call me strong?"

"No, I called you dumb. Who the hell just sticks around and says, 'This seems like good training, I'll just stay here'."

I gave her the finger.

"This handsome guy right here does. And tell me you wouldn't make the same choice."

At my stare she raised a finger to argue but even Sal gave her the same look as me and she put her finger down and looked away.

"Stupid hunk…"

She mumbled her words with an adorable blush.

"What was that?"

She tossed a piece of shell at my head.

"I said shut up and get back to work you bastard!"

I caught the shell with a smile as Sal laughed.

"Hahaha you two make a good pair but she's right, back to work."

We went through the mountains of stuff I had from all my months of fighting and Sal expertly eyed their source and judged the quality on a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being a perfect piece.

Very few were a 10 in his eyes.

I did get to learn all the various names of the desert monsters I fought though.

Before then I just looked at a monster and said:

"Oh, this one spews acid."

"Ah, the coyotes are back."

"Is that the weird rainbow snake thing?"

So on and so forth.

I kept such thoughts to myself though and just nodded my head at whatever Sal said, trying to look like I had some knowledge on the topic but Rumi was giving me the stink eye.

She knew.

I admitted nothing.

A good few hours of going through everything, Sal had everything indexed.

I could have gone without the harsh verbal beatdown of how shoddy my cloaks were for the material I used but I ignored the smith.

Then came the haggling.

Rumi stepped up to the plate and I let her swing.

And boy was that a show.

I actually had to step out to grab some street food snacks and came back to see them still going at it so I handed the apprentices some food and we just watched the show.

In a world without TV, this was quality entertainment.

It took them over an hour to realize what we were doing and the apprentices got smacked over the head while Rumi tackled me to wrestle for a bit until I showed her the food I got her and she was back to being happy.

She liked carrots, who knew?

Although seeing her look me in the eyes and snap the thick part of a carrot with her teeth did make me wince much to her amusement.

Anyway, we joined Sal for dinner in his shop as they ironed out the last of the haggling and finally came to a satisfactory middle ground.

It was a nice number.

2.8 million valis.

Not bad for sixth or seven months of daily work.

According to Sal, good quality monster materials are in high demand in most cities. Level 1 monsters were everywhere on the continent and only a fraction of the overall population had Falna's.

But civilians using monster made gear could defend themselves or take down a level 1 monster in groups.

So monster parts were highly sought after.

I did ask about better quality ores or potions but he just shook his head.

Only Orario had the resources to keep getting their hands on high quality ore, herbs, and parts to make the stuff level 3 and up adventurers need.

The rest of the continent gets by with that they got with perhaps only the highest echelons of kingdoms having any real access to rare materials found in their land.

It really makes one realize just how valuable the dungeon is to a civilization.

But at the same time, the dungeon is a hot potato since everyone knows it has to be mined frequently to prevent monsters overflowing outside and to prevent catastrophe beasts from being able to roam free.

The three last ones left a large degree of fear in everyone's minds.

In this day and age, only the morons from Rakia or the Empire attack Orario and even then it's just a show.

Ares likes waging wars whether he wins or loses and the Empire likes to show they are strong by making a show of things without actually doing anything.

Real interesting stuff.

Back to the point, I made 2.8 mil Valis and I was very happy with that.

In Orario, a good house in a good area would cost 800K Valis.

In most of the world, a decent meal runs about 300 Valis.

Numbers are all over the place really but whatever.

Right as the deal closed, I brought up another point.

"Sal."

"Yeah kid?"

"I'll give you 100K to outfit me and Rumi in good quality gear for level 2's. I don't need a weapon and our cloaks will be fine for a good while but we both need some light armor, durable clothes, and if Rumi wants a weapon then that too."

Sal chuckled and nodded.

"Aye, you two are practically in rags and could still bring me all these parts. I can armor you two up. Fair warning though, this isn't Orario, we don't got no fancy magic metals or enchanted gear."

I waved a hand.

"Don't worry about it, we'll be fine."

He nodded and finished his drink before getting up.

"I'll go take a look and see what idea's I can come up with, you two brought me a lot of fun toys. My apprentices will get your measurements and any specific requests.

As for the money, go get registered at the merchants guild and we can do it. Tell em Sal's covering the tab."

We nodded and he walked off.

They explained to me earlier that no one in their right mind walks around with bags of coins anymore.

Some nations use paper bills like the Far East but most nations use some form of coin currency.

Valis is the most well-known but only cities close to Orario deal in it.

It had apparently been a few hundred years since someone with the Mystery developmental ability came up with the idea of an ID and card system.

The big guilds on the continent, such as the Guild of Orario, the Merchants guild, and a few others work as a sort of bank.

The liquid funds don't really matter since everyone with more thank 10K valis goes to get themselves an ID and bank card.

The card works as your ID and keeps track of your funds.

You can use the card in most stores and exchange funds between two parties by touching cards and manually doing the process.

All the guilds jointly agreed on the system and oversee it.

The cards are tied into blood and if the owner dies, the card is useless.

The only real difficulty is actually getting one since every card cost 15K Valis.

Many civilians who make under such an amount don't get one.

Rumi never had a need for one seeing as Raul had dealt with things so we both needed a card.

The Merchant guild was open 24/7 so we didn't bother resting and head over.

While we walked, Rumi couldn't help but nudge me with her elbow.

"Hey, thanks for that back there."

"Hm? What do you mean?"

"For commissioning gear for me."

I rose a brow at her in confusion.

"Were partners, isn't it normal?"

She smiled and put her hands behind her head.

"Yeah, I guess it is."

The walk was peaceful for a minute as we walked shoulder to shoulder, slightly brushing against each other every now and then.

But then I decided to tease her a bit.

"Besides, your portion is coming out of your cut."

She half tripped over nothing and glared at me.

"What?!"

I held up my hands.

"Don't what me, you get 20% of the profit, pay for your own shit."

Her glare could have melt steel with the look in her red eyes before she huffed and turned away while crossing her arms.

"Fine. Be a jerk you bastard."

I couldn't help but laugh at how cute she looked when she pouted and threw an arm over her shoulder and pulled her in much to her surprise.

"I'm just fucking with you babe; I don't give a shit about money. What's mine is yours and vice versa. Take 20% or 50% for all I care. I just want to fight and enchant stuff."

Her response was expected and I took an elbow to the ribs but she didn't move away.

"Stop teasing me you bastard, I'm gonna kick your ass one day."

"But it's so much fun! Your adorable when your aggravated."

Her cheeks turned pink and I dodged a foot stomp aimed at my foot that cracked the earth.

"Shut up moron."

I chuckled but wisely shut up.

We didn't move from our new position though until we arrived at the guild.

The Merchant guild was just like a stereotypical wooden guild building you would see in an Isekai fantasy story.

And the process to get an ID was simple.

Just walk in, wait in line, talk to the guy behind the counter and ask for ID's, and tell him the cost was being covered by Sal.

Sal gave us a token to prove he was ok with it.

Then it was a simple process.

The guy asked what our profession was and then handed us two red metallic cards.

Apparently adventurers get red, merchants blue, and civilians white.

There was something said about nobles paying extra for gold but it wasn't important.

All we had to do was drip a drop of blood on the card and hold our fingerprint against the blood and the card does the rest.

[

ID: Marik Grimm.

Issued by Preblica Merchant guild.

Occupation: Adventurer.

Funds: 0

Transfer amount: 000

]

That was all it was. Simple and to the point.

We were warned that losing our cards doubles the fee's to get a new one but otherwise there wasn't an issue.

It takes our blood and fingerprint to make a new card and if a new one is made, any old card is disconnected and thereby terminated.

A really cool system.

It gave me some ideas for how to play with enchanting and magic item creation.

Anyway, with cards set, we head back to Sal's place.

And if we happened to end up in the same position with my arm around her shoulders as we walked, neither of us said anything.

I did make a joke before we got there that had Rumi throwing me into a wall though, but it was worth it.

I like a girl with some fire in them.

And I could tell Rumi would lose respect for me if I didn't fight back and treat her the same way which is why I responded by knocking her into a fence.

And then a game of destructive tag began that had an officer knocking on Sal's door at 9PM asking him if he knew us.

The guy took one look at us in cuffs with light bruises and burst out laughing before paying the fines and getting the cuffs off us.

"It's coming out of your cut brats."

"Yeah, yeah, thanks for the help."

"Thanks old man, he's paying."

"Oi! What the hell."

"What? You said whats yours was mine and vice versa? Pay the man."

She stuck out her tongue at me cheekily and I was tempted to bite that tongue.

Sal found the whole thing hilarious.

Jokes aside, the guy had his apprentices take our measurements and went into his workshop.

I turned to one of the guys.

"Doesn't he need to sleep? It's almost 10PM."

The guy looked at me weirdly before realizing and laughing.

"Ha! Forgot you're not from around here. The master is a level 2. He doesn't need much sleep and when he gets in one of his crafter moods, well, he might just disappear for a few days.

If we didn't see the empty plates next to the door after we left him food, we would think he died in there."

I blinked at that and nodded.

It was then that I realized something I should have.

My need for sleep had decreased a lot.

I still left at least six hours by habit but it wasn't really needed.

I could do with four hours and be fully rested but it wasn't as satisfying.

Sleep is a gift.

Anyway, they got our measurements and we told them a few details before they went to the forge.

Rumi and I were kinda just left hanging so we found a couch and chilled out leaning up against each other and relaxing with our feet up.

"It's been a while since we could just relax."

Rumi chuckled and turned a page in a book she picked up from a shelf nearby.

"Tell me about it. The last two months for me were certainly eventful."

I gave the back of her head a worried look.

"Rumi."

"Hm?"

She turned to look at me curiously.

"You doing alright? I can't say I know you that well but I think I can tell enough to see a bit."

She looked at me blankly for a moment, seemingly judging something before she rolled her eyes and lightly elbowed me.

"I'm fine big guy. You're a real softie under all that muscle ain't you?"

I scoffed and flicked her ear.

"Don't get used to it bunny girl."

"What if I want to barbarian boy?"

I rose a brow at her but she just chuckled and turned back to her book.

I worked my jaw for a response when she grabbed my arm and put it around her shoulders and leaned her back against me.

"Don't overheat your brain Marik. Just shut it and stay like this."

I still didn't know what to say so I just shrugged and did as told.

In my off hand I was holding a book about some more common knowledge.

I figured since I had the chance it was good to get my facts straight.

It was annoying looking stupid when Rumi had to explain stuff to me.

She knew it to and shot me a smug look when I chose the book.

Damn bunny girl.

We just stayed like that, reading in peace and enjoying the heat and presence of each other.

Soon enough our eyes were dragging and we we're out cold.

When the sun rose the next day, Sal came upon the sight of us snuggled up on the couch with my head resting atop hers and roared with laughter that had both of us shooting up ready to kill something.

Sal just laughed harder and started wheezing.

It wasn't the alarm call we ever wanted and Rumi seemed to want to skin the man while I just waved it off.

Try going to college or spend a summer in sleepaway camp in an all-male building.

I was immune to light hearted stuff.

Rumi was another story but with the promise of our gear ready, she settled for demanding food.

How that resulted in me making breakfast I didn't know, but I didn't really care to be honest.

After eating meat over cooked on campfires and hot stones for over half a year, I was happy to use a real kitchen again.

Albeit a medieval one but hey, they at least had fridges and a stove.

They run on magic stones and are common homestay appliances.

I was happy to use Raul's groceries to make some breakfast for everyone.

Basic eggs, bacon, toast, and coffee for everyone.

Rumi got an omelet with carrots and mushrooms because why not. She just handed them to me and said please so I shrugged and threw them in.

I'm no chef but I got good reviews.

One thing I learned on the road was that Rumi makes a mean stew. Only issue is we needed water so it didn't happen till a few days before we hit the city.

After food we got our stuff.

For myself, I got some good combat all terrain boots with steel tipped heels and points. I had been using leather wraps for shoes for far too long.

Moving up I got padded light armored pants of the most durable material he had available. I didn't need it to block damage, I just needed something to handle the abuse of my movements, being soaked with blood, and able to be stitched up if needed.

I didn't bother with a shirt; it wasn't my style.

He just gave me a stack of tank tops with an understanding nod.

Shirts were restricting.

Against what I said, he still redid our cloaks to make them 'real cloaks' as he put it rather than my shoddy work.

Well fuck him.

The cloaks were nice though.

I had used night owl feathers for the inside to make it softer but it wasn't as smooth and comfy as it was now.

His smug look was begging to get punched.

The last piece of main gear were a pair of bracers for my forearms that went up to my fists.

It was made of the hardest shell from the monsters I had hunted and was a nice add on for my fists to do more damage and take less damage.

Considering my fists will always be my main weapons.

Other than that, I asked him to use the biggest roll of leather I brought to make as many wrist/leg bands as well as strips in various shapes.

"I don't know what the hell you need it for but that was the most time consuming part of this whole thing you bastard. I'm charging extra for that."

I waved him off without a real care.

I wanted them to practice enchanting on. Monster materials were better conduits for enchantments then other basic materials.

The last thing he did for me was sharpen the battleaxe I got from the bandit leader.

He didn't even charge for the last one since he loved the craftmanship on it.

Rumi's outfit wasn't all that different from mine.

We both like practicality without any fanciness or extra features.

Comfort, usability, durability, that's what we cared for.

So her clothes were pretty similar with the durable combat pants and tank tops, plus the cloak we were a matching pair.

The difference was that she got shin guards that double as boots, made from the same material as my bracers.

The insides were padded and outfitted to be breathable and comfortable.

She was hopping around the place trying them out with a massive smile that has Sal and I chuckling.

Even if I was internally wincing at the idea of being kicked with those things.

Further, she got a headband to keep her hair out of her eyes and finally got herself two knives to go in hostlers on her thighs.

While kicks were her mainstay, sometimes you just needed a good knife to get a job done.

"So brats? Anything else you need?"

Checking myself over and double checking the rucksack of all my important goods like clothes, magic crystals, and a variety of knickknacks, I shook my head.

"I think we're good, we should hit up the market for spices and such and then…"

I turned my eyes inquisitively to Rumi.

"And then?"

She got my message and hummed for a moment before her eyes sharpened and Sal and I unconsciously took a step back.

She ignored me and looked at Sal.

"You want the carriage we came in?"

I shot her a curious look but she waved her hand and I shrugged and gave her the floor.

She's got enough of my trust to know what she's doing.

Sal looked curious as well.

"Uh, sure I guess? Was in decent condition, just some wear and tear, I'll give you a fair price without haggling."

"Good, it's yours for whatever price you think is fair. The two of us are heading back into the desert and I think we need some…faster transportation."

Now she had my attention but she ignored me again.

Sal's eyes widened in realization before he chuckled.

"Ha, you crazy kids. Sure, go kill yourselves. Brat, take out your ID card."

Despite my confusion I did so and Sal placed his card over mine.

He swiped his finger over his card and put in a transfer amount and both our cards vibrated slightly before he pulled away and I was the proud owner of 2.65 million Valis.

"There you go. Adding in the price for the carriage, and taking away the price for my services, that's the tally.

I would tell you two to stay safe but I know how your kind is like so I'll just say, win and survive you brats. Even if you have to run away, living to fight another day is still a win in my book."

With a heavy pat on my shoulder and a surprisingly soft pat on the head for Rumi, he quickly walked off into the back.

I blinked at the abrupt goodbye and looked at Rumi.

"The fuck?"

She smirked and grabbed my arm, almost making me forget my bag, before she dragged me out of the shop.

"Wo, hold up a sec babe."

She stopped and turned to me.

"What? We got stuff to do."

I raised a finger.

"'We' also means that 'we' both need to know what we're doing, but whatever on that point, do what you want, I got your back.

Before all that though, take out your ID."

She grumbled but still did so.

"It's more fun to show you."

I chuckled and bumped shoulders lightly.

"I'm sure, so how does this work. Like this I think?"

I put my card over hers and put in the transfer amount.

Both our cards vibrated and I pulled away with a smile.

"Good, job done. Let's go shopping."

I turned away with a smile before the back of my cloak was grabbed and pulled me back to see Rumi looking down at me with cold eyes.

"Marik."

I smirked up at her.

"Yes beautiful?"

Her eye twitched but she dutifully pushed through and showed her ID card.

"Want to say something to me?"

"Last night was wonderful. Worth every penny."

Both eyes twitched and she started shaking.

"I'm worth 1 fucking valis?"

Her voice was cold and quiet and I deciding to stop teasing her.

"Of course not, didn't you hear what I said babe?"

Her cold eyes locked onto mine.

"Whats mine is yours. Your worth all I got."

I added a wink at the end but her shaking didn't stop and I got worried.

That is, until I was thrown through a stone wall.

"You bastard! Stop saying shit like that!"

I looked through the hole to see her blushing heavily and couldn't help but laugh loudly even through the pain.

It might have been a different sight for the family eating a meal and looking at me on their floor laughing like an idiot.

Turning to them, I got up, brushed myself off, and nodded.

"My apologies. My partner is a bit feisty when it comes to flirting."

The two men chuckled and waved.

"Oh it's fine dear, we are only young once."

"Go take of your girl young man, happens all the time."

I rose my ID card.

"Can I pay you for the wall?"

They waved me off and stared at my chest.

"No need, I think you already paid."

"Mn, what a wonderful way to start the day."

I beat of cold sweat went down my back and I nodded stiffly.

"Right, sorry for the intrusion. Enjoy your meal."

I quickly left through the hole I made and double timed it when I heard them checking out my ass.

Rumi didn't have time to say anything as I lifted her like a sack and hauled ass.

"Oi, whats with you?"

"You threw me into a gay couples house Rumi!"

She blinked at me over my shoulder for a second before she lost it and burst out laughing.

"Hahahahahaha oh that's gold! Hahaha!"

She was smacking my back while laughing.

"I will have my revenge."

She patted my cheek mockingly.

"Sure you will 'babe', sure you will."

A tuft of white hair caught the corner of my eye to land on her bunny tail and I smirked.

*Smack*

Rumi's laughter abruptly stopped.

"Marik…"

"Yes?"

"Did you ju.."

"I did. It was wonderful. Everything I imagined it to be."

I flexed my hand with a nod.

Next thing I knew I was being choked.

"I'll show you who will get the last laugh!"

"You…started…it…"

"Well I'm gonna finish it you bastard!"

"Ru…mi…"

She eased up a little.

"What?"

"You have… a glorious ass.."

The choking recommenced.

"Really!?"

"Must…speak…truth…"

How it looked aside, she wasn't being serious and I could tell.

We were both having too much fun.

Having someone so similar to each other for the first time was freeing in a way.

Soon enough, we were going through the market with her riding my shoulders like a kid without a care in the world.

Some of the kind older women gave us discounts while saying we looked cute and we took it without any shame.

Money we might have, it still felt nice to get free stuff.

It was an hour later when the two of us were laughing under a tree and enjoying some street food while leaning on each other.

To our side was a large bag full of supplies that I was designated to carry.

I wondered if it was too much but Rumi assured me it would be fine.

She had yet to mention what her plan was and my curiosity finally got the better of me.

I swallowed my last bite and rested my chin on the top of her head.

"Rumi, where are we going?"

She paused mid bite before continuing and I gave her a moment.

"First off, my head isn't a stand for your brutish head. How much does your hair weigh?"

I chuckled at her question. My hair really did have some weight to it. It wasn't silky like her's but it was more spiky like a Dragonball Z character. Or better yet, it was like Jaraiya's from Naruto.

"But your hair is so soft and your head is just at the perfect height for me."

I got a halfhearted elbow to the ribs but I saw a slight smirk on her lips.

"Shut up you. And to answer your question. I want to hunt a certain someone. The path there will also be useful for us."

I hummed at that and after she finished her food, I pulled her in a bit snugger and she sighed and closed her eyes to relax.

The sounds of the city and the gentle rays of the sun around us as we rested against a tree out of the way.

It was a few minutes later that I responded.

"The fat bastard huh?"

Her eyelids cracked open to show fierce red eyes.

"Mn."

She didn't say anything else but I understood.

The rich fatty that set out the bounty for any rabbit women was the cause of everything that happened. He wasn't the gun, or the one holding the gun, but he was the one who put a prize on her head to everyone else who had a gun and was willing to use it.

"And what did you mean about the route being useful?"

She didn't open her eyes and I found it incredibly adorable when she yawned and rubbed her head on my chest.

Her ears brushing against my chin and neck.

"Your little man cave was on the edge of the center of the desert. The closer we head to the center the higher the danger. Level 2 monsters can be found there in small amounts but for the most part you will see swarms of high end level 1's.

Not to mention the sandstorms and the environmental challenges. Nature gets a bit strange in that area."

"And you want us to head in there?"

She didn't even open her eyes as a hand came up to pat my cheek lightly.

"Don't ask that question with that stupidly handsome bloodthirsty smile on your face."

I deeper chuckle came from my throat at how easily she could read me.

Her hand didn't move away from where it rested and I enjoyed the contact for a moment before play biting her fingers.

"Hey."

Her eyes opened with an amused smile as she looked up at me.

"Wha?"

I smiled around her fingers.

"I need those back."

"You sure I can't keep em?"

She rose an amused brow as her other hand gently moved up my thigh.

"You want to trade appendages?"

She had a certain gleam in her eye that had me deciding to open my mouth and release her fingers, you never know with her.

She laughed lightly in an almost husky giggle as she pat my cheek.

"Good boy."

I narrow my eyes at her and moved my hand down her waist to rest on her ass.

"Don't push me woman."

"Or what?"

"Or I might push back."

I gave her ass a light squeeze for good measure but to my surprise she just laughed with a light blush before getting up.

And she did it in a way that had her short fluffy tail brush against my chin.

"Maybe next time 'babe'."

She reached out a hand and I took it before realization came over me.

"Your fucking with me aren't you?"

She only shot me a victorious smile.

"Maybe later."

And then she walked away.

"Oh you little… this is revenge for earlier isn't it!"

"Damn straight it is! Now hurry up or you ain't getting anything you annoying hunk!"

I grumbled and shook my head before grabbing our bags with one hand and throwing it over my shoulder.

I caught up to her easily enough and I found myself lost in her smile.

We had been growing closer and more affectionate with time but since our time in the city and the goodbyes of the freed slaves, she really feels to have lost a lot of weight on her shoulders.

She was still cold to strangers but toward me something had changed.

And it was making being around her very enjoyable.

She laughed when I caught up and grabbed my hand.

"Come on, we got one last stop. You're going to love this."

"I have mixed feelings when you say something like that."

She rolled her eyes and pretend kicked my shin.

"Don't be a baby."

"I wouldn't mind being yours babe."

She blushed and really did try to kick me that time but I blocked it with a hand.

"Stop doing that shit!"

"What happened to all that confidence a minute ago?"

"You want confidence? I'll show you some damn confidence!"

She got in my face as she said that and was pointing a finger at my chest when a passerby wolf whistled.

"Get a room you two!"

We shot the guy twin glares that had him shrinking his neck and running off. A second later we both burst out laughing and she easily melted into my side as we continued walking.

"I never get tired of that."

"You better not."

"Wouldn't dream of it babe."

She shot me a mock glare with a small smile and we continued on.

Soon enough we arrived at a large store with a certain object in the window.

I deadpanned at it.

"No."

Rumi smiled wide and bloodthirsty.

"Yes."

"Rumi…no."

"Rumi yes."

I sighed and rubbed the bridge of my nose.

"Do you even know how to…"

She smacked my chest with a large smile.

"Of course I do. Don't you trust me?"

She gave me big innocent looking rabbit eyes and even made her ears bend into the image perfectly.

"Woman, I will pin you to a wall in that alley and have my way with you if you keep playing with my heart."

"Kinky, maybe later. Now come on, we're burning daylight."

I sighed and let her pull me into the store with big stars in her eyes.

'I just know this isn't going to end well.'

*Line Break*

"I knew this wasn't going to end well!"

"Shut it! I got this!"

"Right! Go to the right!"

"Stop being a backseat driver!"

"Ok, just head straight on for the venomous 30 meter snake then."

"What do you think I have you for?! Sick em boy!"

"…"

It had been a few days since we left the city after making a certain purchase for our transportation and we were right back into the desert sands.

But rather than walking or using carriages this time, we were currently using something called a sand sled.

It's like a large canoe or a small houseboat with a mast and a weird contraption of ropes and wood used for steering rather than a wheel for some god forsaken reason.

And Rumi had apparently ridden one years ago and had always wanted to have one for herself.

The good news, there was a single bed below deck and it was slightly cramped which was really nice for a budding couple.

The bad news, Rumi had overestimated her driving skills and was learning on the road.

I grunted and slapped her ass as I passed her only to get a light kick on my own that sent me to the front of the boat.

I shot her a glare and got a wink back.

Shaking my head with a chuckle I looked ahead at the quickly approaching snake and held out my palm.

A ball of innocent looking golden light began to grow in my palm before reaching a basketball sized orb.

It took about 30 seconds to form and I had to focus on it quite a bit to make it stable.

I took aim and launched the spell like a cannonball as it soared through the air to land just to the right of the beast.

An explosion of heat and wind buffeted us as the snake was sent tumbling off to the side.

It's scales were burnt and it's skin turned bright red but otherwise was unharmed as it slithered away quickly.

"You missed!"

I flipped her off.

"I wasn't trying to kill it."

"Why the hell not?!"

"The smell of blood will attract others and if I see more than three monsters in one spot, I will rush off without thinking and at the speed you're going, I'm going to lose you.

So it's this or get separated babe and your ass is not getting away from me so easily."

She shot me an amused look and laughed as she adjusted the course.

"Fine, your still on point big guy so stay up there."

"Aye, aye cap."

I gave her a fake salute and dodged a tossed shoe.

"That's Captain Carrots, maggot! Mwuhahaha!"

I rolled my eyes at her and didn't look back.

She was having way to much fun.

But the genuine smile on her face set my heart at ease.

*Line Break*

A little over two months later, and a dozen mutiny attempts down that resulted in many brawls that always seemed to end with bruises and cuddling, we finally arrived at the entertainment city.

It was like Dubai back on earth except it was actually by the ocean.

The city was massive, full of casino's, slaves, red light districts, and really, just plain openly controlled pandemonium.

Frankly the city only ran orderly thanks to the rich and powerful investing money to make it stay that way for their amusement.

The good news however was that those same rich and powerful people like to enjoy the spotlight.

That made finding our target a simple process.

The hard part came with actually infiltrating.

That took two weeks, a lot of beatings, and a lot of planning.

But we made it work.

Rumi was very unhappy to find three rabbit women in chains in the man's home.

Not to mention the other were species that were kept as slaves.

She was not happy at all.

I only stood guard on the balcony and picked off any guards that happened to come to close on their patrols but it was already piling on bodies.

Rumi had been taking a long time to deal with the rich fuck.

Not only did she break some bones but she also brought in the women he played with to let them get their pound of flesh in as well.

I sighed as I looked off into the distance.

'So many families torn apart and people chained and tortured for a single persons greed. Personal power truly is the only thing you can truly rely on in a world like this.'

The door behind me creaked open and I turned my head back from my post to see a very cold faced Rumi wiping her hands with a cloth.

"You done babe?"

"Mn."

She walked up beside me and tossed away the rag.

"Satisfied?"

"Mn."

"Good, come here."

I wrapped an arm around her shoulder and brought her into my chest.

She was tense at first but quickly began to relax in my arms.

"It's over."

I ran a hand through her hair.

"Yeah, you can live without any regrets now."

"Mn. Marik…thank you… for everything."

I smirked and looked down at her.

"Anytime babe."

She chuckled and rubbed her face on my chest before letting go.

"Oi, don't rub your face on my shirt."

She smirked at me.

"Come on, let's go out of here, best to get a head start."

My eye twitched at that.

"You know the plan didn't involve leaving witnesses?"

She shrugged.

"The plan didn't take into account how many slaves there were. We adapted."

"You adapted."

"Semantics."

She walked ahead of me with a sway in her hips and winked at me before she jumped off the roof to another building and I followed behind with a chuckle.

Due to how many slaves there were, and Rumi's demand for the other girls to have a chance to take some revenge on the monster who ruined their lives, there was very little chance of getting away without getting found out.

The slaves themselves ran for the cellars which had escape routes but if anyone got caught, torture or the threat of it would guarantee the blame was pointed toward us.

It's not like we even told them to keep quiet as we really didn't care all things considered.

Even if we got a bounty, which would only happen if another rich fucker cared enough, no other city or nation would care.

The entertainment city puts out bounties like it rains, the rest of the world outside of criminals just ignores them.

What it did mean however, was that we would be dodging chase parties from the city and any outlaw on the way out of the desert.

Which is pretty much what happened.

Thankfully, we had a sand sled.

Unfortunately, some of them had them too.

Thankfully, we were battle junkies who only got off on larger challenges.

Unfortunately, for them, they were not.

For every team that came after us, more bodies were left as food for the monsters of the desert.

For every ambush, there were only corpses remaining.

For every assassin, a head was mounted on a pike.

Eventually, they stopped coming.

The first part of the journey after the city was full of humanoid challenges, the second part was full of monstrous challenges with the occasional level 2, and the last part was a smooth sailing vacation as we rode out of the sands for good.

Rumi made sure to milk the sand sled for all it had and I was shooting the smug rabbit an annoyed glare as I picked myself up from where we crash landed through some tree's after she didn't slow down at the end of the sand while she straddled me.

"You feel proud of yourself?"

"Damn straight."

"My spine isn't straight bitch."

"Oh don't be a baby."

*Punch* *Crack*

"Ow!"

"See, now it's straight."

"Bones don't work like that!"

"You sure? Cuz I'm sure I saw a certain 'bone' of yours that did."

I shot her an annoyed look.

"How is your offense so strong but your defense so weak?"

Her brow twitched.

"None of your business."

I got up close.

"Let's make it my business."

She pushed my face away with a good natured huff and got up.

"We can have fun later, come on, let's find a river or something."

I hopped up and grabbed our bags.

"Yeah, sand is in places it really shouldn't be."

"Tell me about it."

"Just be glad for my healing spells."

"Didn't I show my appreciation already?"

"I couldn't ever have enough of such a thing."

At her amused look I bent down to steal a kiss before pulling back with a smirk.

Except I didn't get far before my cloak was grabbed and she brought me back in to deepen the kiss.

"Mwah! That's what I'm talking about. Come on stallion, the future awaits!"

I shook my head as she lunged onto my back and pointed forward.

Taking a look back with the sand dunes on the horizon, I bowed my head in thanks for the first part of my journey.

'Over a year down and so much has happened. I wonder what else is in store for us.'

"Maarriikk~! Come on! Mush."

I rolled my eyes and smacked her ass.

"Behave you."

She growled playfully and bit my shoulder.

"Make me."

"What happened to the cold and serious Rumi?"

"She found herself a hunk."

"Is that so?"

"Yup."

I turned my head to see a smirk that matched my own as she leaned in and pecked me.

And then she play kicked my sides.

"Now mush."

"Let's see if you can handle a wild ride babe."

"Anytime lover boy, anytime."

We took off into the woods like a cannonball with only our laughter ringing in the wind.

Leaving the desert for good and stepping into a new area.

The south – south-east of the continent and it's territories.

A location that held something I wanted quite a bit.

A special type of glass made from minerals only found in the Wishe forest.

A glass called 'lacrima.'

End Chapter.

AN: So yeah, I know I rushed the ending here but frankly I was having trouble just shutting up. The Rumi adventure in the desert could have easily gone on for another 20-30K in my book but I needed to move things along.

Next chapter is for our lovable amazoness pair, some enchanting progress, and some fluff and comedy.

Hopefully it will be the last and then I can get right into Orario, but I'll let it flow for now.

Drop a comment and let me know what you think.

How's my take on Rumi in a Danmachi setting? She has NO relation to MHA Rumi. This is just an OC based on her character with a different background.