Author's notes : I'm going to answer some of the questions I got in reviews at the end.
Disclaimer: I own nothing except my OC.
It's been a few hours I think since Nora fell back asleep. I've laid her back down in my coat. Before long, the sun is rising, and it's getting brighter. So I started looking around the area we were in. I was surprised that no grimm came across us last night, but then I realized that most in the area must have gone running towards Kuroyuri with all the panic that place caused. While walking back towards Nora, a sudden notification catches me off guard.
Quest Completed
[Quest: Survive the Night]
Objective - A hoard of grimm is going to attack the village you're in, don't die.
To be completely honest I forgot about the quest with all the commotion like nearly dying and all that, but why am I getting this so late? We have been out of danger for a while now or did we have to literally survive until morning?
When a quest has bonus objectives it will occasionally not be considered complete until certain bonus objectives have met a completed or failed state.
I scroll down on the floating screen to the bonus objective.
Bonus Objective - Nora survives (Completed)
Bonus Objective - Lie Ren Survives (Completed)
Bonus Objective - Kill the Nuckelavee (Failed)
Bonus Objective - One of Ren's parents survives (Completed)
Bonus Objective - Both of Ren's parents survives (Failed)
Reward - 2000 EXP
Bonus Rewards - 1500 EXP, 2x [Ring of Oath], Familiar Egg, Trait [Intimidating Eyes]
So the hidden bonuses were to keep Ren's parents alive but I was only able to save one of them. Wait so this means Ren and his mom are safe then. My assumption about the grimm must have been right then without any of them around for a while they must of made it out of the forest not only ok but before we did.
+3500 EXP (875)
Level up!
Level up!
HP, AP and MP restored.
Wow. I got two whole levels from the quest. I almost died like three times, but yeah! Two levels seems like an appropriate compensation.
All that was required for quest completion was for you to not die.
That could have been accomplished by simply leaving the village while the majority of the grimm were preoccupied with the panicking civilians.
You finding Ren and fighting the grimm were completely optional.
Well, that's true. It was me trying to do the bonus objectives that almost killed me, not the main quest. I lucked out this time, but next time I need to have a better plan than just hoping I find who or what I was looking for. Speaking of luck, should I increase mine? What does it affect exactly?
The luck stat pertains to the odds of an event occurring in your favor, independent of skills.
So if it doesn't increase my chances of crit or stun, then what do you mean by an event?
The most recent example was you not losing your sword during the teleportation or excursion into the nearby river.
'Excursion' it says like it was a trip I planned.
Even though I got to hold on to my weapon, it being jammed into my leg wasn't very lucky.
Your luck is currently the bare minimum for a gamer, so your result was the bare minimum.
Splitting the ten points I had from my recent level ups between both luck and dexterity to bring up my two lowest stats. There, now hopefully that will stop me from getting impaled by my own weapon next time my 'luck' triggers.
"Now what else did I get?" I clicked the glowing mail icon on the floating screen and a large near foot long oblong black stone appeared in my hands.
[Familiar Egg]
An egg that will hatch a random familiar. (can not be placed in inventory)
How is this an egg and how do I even hatch it.
A familiar egg will hatch eventually by just being carried around.
Like in Pokemon... and why does it look like it's made out of rock?
The shell has been modified to avoid repeats of previous incidents.
Ah, so people were dropping their eggs, well at least I don't have to worry about it breaking in combat.
Sitting my egg to the side, I look at the two items that appeared in my inventory.
1x [Ring of Oath] (Soulbound Rain)
1x [Ring of Oath] (Soulbound Nora)
While wearing [Ring of Oath] Increase all stats by 2 for each additional person wearing a [Ring of Oath]
Taking out the rings and looking them over. Both bands were simple silver with a small gem embedded into each one. One was gray and the other pink. Putting them back into my inventory.
Index, why did I get two items that look like wedding rings as a quest reward?
They are items that benefit having close party members and they are more akin to engagement rings. Wedding rings are more elaborate.
The semantics of the exact type of ring wasn't the issue it was more of you giving them to two ten year olds.
I fail to see the issue. You agreed that the girl would travel with you so the reward was chosen to benefit the both of you.
The free stats from the item are great, but it would be weird to just give a child what basically resembles an engagement ring out of nowhere. I'll figure out what I will do with these later. I'm just going to move onto my new trait
Trait [Intimidating Eyes]
Eyes become more Intimidating giving off an eternal glare.
Increases the effectiveness of intimidation skills and actions. Makes anyone under 30 Aff/Rep wary of you. May cause loss of Aff/Rep when first meeting someone.
I walk over to the river to see how my new trait has changed me. I knelt down and leaned towards the moonlit water and nearly stumbled back at the deep piercing green eyes glaring back at me.
"How is this a reward? I look so threatening." I ask while slightly pulling at the areas around my eye trying to soften my expression.
Perks and Flaws can be gained by the completion or failure of quest respectively.
Traits can fall under both categories.
The effects of the traits may be beneficial or detrimental depending on how you use them.
My eyelids are somewhat darker along with becoming more angular and tilted, and my iris has shrunk a bit, revealing more of the sclera. Even though my face is relaxed, I find my brows naturally furrowing into a slight frown.
In an effort to soften my look, I smile and quickly realize that a mouth full of sharp teeth had the opposite effect.
So from this quest I got a handball sized rock I have to carry around, a near engagement ring that has no effect unless I give the other one to a ten year old girl and a change to my appearance that will make people cautious of me. I want my time and effort I put into that quest back.
Seeing Nora start to stir, I pick back up the surprisingly light egg despite its appearance and put it in my pack and walk over to her.
"It's morning." I say to the waking girl.
"Okay." She yawns awkwardly and sits up, staring up at me with a puzzled look on her face. "You seem... different."
"Different how?" I asked, knowing she was going to note the difference in my appearance.
She now stood up and moved directly in front of me, looking me skeptically in the eye.
I'm now quickly trying to come up with a way to explain my sudden change in facial structure.
"You're not wearing your scarf, that's it!" she exclaimed with a smile from seemingly figuring out the change in my appearance.
I stare at the girl in front of me with the far too pleased expression on her face. "Yea... it was wet so I took it off last night."
"Oh, well it was dark then so I guess I didn't notice." she says back and then just stands there apparently done talking about the change she noticed.
Did she really not notice the difference?
Most physical Traits that change your appearance in a major way will alter your history as if you have always had them.
Then what was with Nora just now?
The history alteration forces the past to synchronize with the new present, but the process is not instantaneous. She realized something had changed but wasn't able to identify what it was with her new memories of you.
"We need to find our way out of this forest" I say to Nora getting back on track.
"How are we going to do that?"
"We are going to pick a direction and walk in said direction" I replied.
She gives me a puzzled look. "Will that actually get us out of the forest?"
Attaching my shield onto my backpack and wrapping my now dry scarf back around my neck.
"It's worked 100% the times I have been lost in a forest, now let's get moving" I replied while beginning my trek walking parallel to the river. Before she thinks to inquire how many times I have been lost in a forest.
We've been walking for a while now. My hud doesn't have a clock but I don't think it's been over an hour. We took a rest not too long ago. Nora is brimming with energy probably due to her massive jump in level but I've been awake for almost a full day now. Nora wanted me to take a nap but being the only one that can currently fight between the two of us I wanted to get somewhere that wasn't a random forest before I made us vulnerable like that.
Further ahead we could see a break in the trees and sped up our stride. As we approached the forest's end, we could see buildings. The closer we got to the buildings, the more familiar they looked. We both halted as we realized where we ended up or rather where we returned to.
We both stood there staring at Kuroyuri village or what was left of it. From where we were there didn't look to be any grimm remaining but we still couldn't call it empty. The streets were strewn with corpses, some missing limbs, others with what looked like chunks of flesh bitten out. When you think about it makes sense the grimm didn't eat, so once someone died and stopped giving off fear or whatever negative emotion the grimm were drawn to, they would just lose interest and move on to the next victim until none were left.
I broke away my gaze from the horror that was in front of me to see Nora on her hands and knees vomiting. I leaned down and rubbed her back after not too long she seemed to have emptied what little she had in her stomach. I pulled the canteen out of my inventory while she was preoccupied with steadying her breathing. Removing the top I hand it to her. She rinsed her mouth then took quite a few large gulps of water. Reminding me neither of us has had any food or water since last night. I looked forward back into the mass grave that was once a village.
"Nora, I know you're not going to like this, but we have to go in there," I say to the first confused then shocked girl.
"Why! do you not see the bodies'' she practically screams, pointing in the direction of a random corpse.
Not liking the idea any more than she did, I began to explain. "I do but we don't have any food, water or anything else and I have no idea when we will get to another village."
She looks down at the now half empty canteen she's holding then back at the village with a grimace "but" she starts but then stops herself and looks back down.
"I know, I don't want to go in there either, but we don't really have a choice. We will get what we need then leave ok" I say standing.
"Ok" she agrees, returning the canteen which I hook to my pack.
As we start to make our way into the village I take her hand. "When we are near a body you can just close your eyes. I'll guide you." she nodded back in confirmation.
Making our way into the village and past a few bodies. I looked around and found the shop where I got my pack before. Entering the seemingly untouched store I grab myself a bigger pack and hand over an identical one to Nora. After basically retracing my steps from the other day, getting two more sleeping bags and Nora a canteen, I realized that I'm an idiot; why am I not just putting any and everything that is not nailed down into my inventory.
After realizing that I had been under utilizing my inventory I started tossing anything that looked semi useful into it. Tool, rope, blanket, soap, paint, wine... if I could pick it up into the inventory it went.
Nora didn't seem to notice she was either trying to avoid looking at the bodies or stuffing as much food as she could into her pack.
We didn't come across much in clothing in our size but had quite a sum of lien from all the shops we raided so we could just buy some clothes when we found another settlement.
Making our way towards one of the few remaining buildings we had yet to scavenge. Looking past the broken glass, we could see weapons not a lot or high quality but there were a few left. From the look of the store, others had broken into it most likely to get something to defend themselves with. Seeing nothing better quality than the sword and shield I already possessed, I tossed any spare metals and tools into my inventory. I turned to Nora who was looking at the other end of the shop.
"You should pick out a weapon so you're not empty handed if and most likely when we get in a fight later" I say to her, getting a nod in return as she starts looking through what was left of the armaments upon the racks on the walls.
"I'm going to check the next building over. I'll be right back" I say, getting a second nod as she inspects a polearm.
I make my way out of the shop and cross the road to the next place on the right when I stop in my tracks at the sight down the road. If not for the easily recognizable mask and color scheme along with its giant tusks I would have assumed a wild warthog wandered into the village.
It just stood there with its four eyes unblinking; it seemed just as surprised with my sudden appearance as I was with its own. A good dozen yards or so separated us, but from that distance, I could easily see the difference in our sizes, it was about the same height and nearly the same width of an average car. White armor like plating over parts of its legs and back. I was the first to break our mutual shock by pulling my shield from my pack and unsheathing my blade.
Boarbatusk
Race: Grimm
Level 20
HP – 960
VIT – 96
STR – 54
DEX – 79
INT – 14
WIS – 8
LUK – 9
Traits – Armored
My sudden movement broke it from its stupor causing it to start moving in my direction. Expecting it to simply charge at me. I was taken by surprise when it leaped into the air tucking in its legs and started rolling at me extremely fast like it was Sonic the freaking hedgehog. The difference in our Dex was noticeable given how quickly it closed the distance between the two of us. While I was not even able to make three full steps out of its path one of its tusks knocked against my shield, luckily pushing me the rest of the way out of its roll. The rest of It passed by me and continued its roll until it crashed into a building in its path.
[One Light in the Dark]
+50% DEX
The crash caused the structure to fall in on the grimm making quite the sound that caught Nora's attention and brought her to the front of the stop she was still in.
"What's happening Rain? What was that noise?" she asked, from the doorway looking around seeing me with my weapons out and the cloud of dust coming from the recently demolished building.
"There was still a grimm left," I replied, not taking my eyes off the now collapsed structure.
"Can you kill it or should we run?"
The choice was taken from us when it came charging out of the building in our direction. This time, with its distance from me, I used [Holy Shock] one after another; doing so nearly emptied my mana pool, but over a few seconds I reduced the grimm's HP by just over half. The sudden burst of damage seemed to cause the boar like grimm to lose its footing and stagger across the ground a few feet ahead of me.
With its movement halted, I charged at it preparing my only melee skill. This thing is eight levels above me but I've already got it part way dead. Now within striking distance I swing at its skull with my empowered melee ability for it to barely move its health bar, another strike resulted in the same.
Not giving me a chance to go for a third attack, the grimm had returned to its feet. Given how close we were, it couldn't charge me again so it just pushed against my shield. I placed my sword arm on the back of my shield, keeping my shield and the grimm in place, preventing it from starting up charges again.
But now I find myself in a predicament with both of my arms keeping the grimm in place and not enough mana for any more [Holy Shocks]. I can't do anything about the grimm besides just trying to hold it in place.
I glance at Nora watching the fight from the doorway "Nora, are there any ranged weapons in there?"
She looked confused when I asked, but the realization dawned on her as she rushed back into the shop. Moments later, she returned to the door with a wooden crossbow.
"There's this but I don't really know how to use it." She says, dropping a quiver of bolts at her feet, looking over the weapon.
"Pull back the string, place the arrow in the middle, aim then pull the trigger." is the best response I can give knowing almost nothing about crossbows myself.
This grimm has more strength than I do, so I can't do much else besides hold up my shield against it to stop it from advancing any further. But that's all I need to do while Nora does what damage she can with the crossbow and I wait for my mana to regenerate.
But the bolts she was firing just bounced off the boarbatusk.
Looking over the grimms stats again. What does armored mean exactly? I noticed it before I assumed it was some kind of damage reduction but how my [Holy Shock] tore through its HP so it couldn't have been that much of a reduction.
Enemy Traits can affect damage to or from an enemy or how stats scale with an enemy.
The Armored trait reduces all physical damage near armored areas drastically.
Well, that's why neither my [Crusader Strike] nor Nora's bolt did much damage.
My arms were already starting to strain holding it in place, and my shield was beginning to dent inwards slightly. "We need to hit its underside or its top where there is not a lot of armor!" I shouted.
"Hold on, I got an idea" is all I get as a reply as she disappears back into the shop to reappear with the spear.
"Keep it still, I can only do this once, I think." she said, pointing the spearhead downward at the ground and tightly clutching it in her hands and wrapping her legs around it.
Before I could ask what she was doing, she flashed pink and disappeared from my sight. Confused by Nora's sudden absence, my attention is drawn skyward, with the sound of screaming piercing the air. Nora is now about four stories up holding onto the downward facing spear plummeting toward the grimm in front of me.
All I could do was watch her descent as the spear pierced the back of the boarbatusk that immediately disintegrated and continued to drive the spear a few inches into the dirt.
With her now in front of me where the grimm was prior I stared at the girl. I could see her eyes were wide and skin was pale. I could see slight indents on the spear where she was gripping it.
The silence between us was broken by her "I wasn't trying to go that high" was all she got out before she fell from the spear onto the ground unconscious.
+[Quick Grimm Tusk Necklace]
When running in the same direction for more than 5 seconds, movement speed increases by 15%.
+450 EXP (+113)
Level up!
HP, AP and MP restored.
Skill Gained
[Consecration] (Active)
Consecrates the land beneath you, dealing continuous light damage to all enemies standing in the area. Deals double damage to creatures of dark and undead. Lasts 1 minute or until canceled.
100MP per use
With all the commotion from our fight with the boarbatusk we got the attention of a few other grimm that were hidden throughout the remaining shops. It was only a pair of low level creeps so I was able to handle them on my own while keeping them away from the incapacitated Nora.
I even tried out my new ability. It was a little lackluster to be honest. Although it affects the ground around me for about thee yards, which is good. It will easily be under anything I fight in melee and anything close by but slightly out of my reach. But the low amount of damage it does makes it mostly pointless to use. It is my only area of effect ability, but it's also my most expensive. I'd be better off using my other skills one at a time when fighting multiple enemies; it would be faster and more efficient than using up a lot of my mana, only to do a small amount of damage over time.
In retrospect, [Fires of Justice] would have worked well with this skill: a multitarget ability that has a chance to burn for a percentage of health every second it does damage. Even if it would have only worked on things around or below my level, it would have made the skill usable then.
After I had finished off what I hoped was that last of the remaining grimm in the village I took the unconscious Nora and her supplies and things she gathered back to a home we had previously cleared out. I laid her on the bed and removed one of the blankets I had stored in my inventory to cover her. Then proceeded to barricade the door and single window best I could. By this point I have at least been awake for twenty-four hours. I'm not as tired as I should be given how much I've been fighting in the past day but want to try to get in a short nap while Nora is recovering. I have no idea where the next closest settlement is or how far the Nuckelavee had roamed off to but I want to head out and get away from this area as soon as Nora is able.
Sitting my sword and shield on a table next to a somewhat recliner-like chair I had in my inventory that I took from one of the other homes. I had put them in the front room where the barricaded door was, so I would know right away if anything tried to break in while we were resting. Pulling out another blanket to cover myself I dozed off.
Some time later I was awakened by a seemingly recovered Nora and we were now at the table eating some of the food we had scavenged.
"So now that you're awake" I start getting her attention "and after we are done eating we are going to leave here and try to find another village or something. Do you know of any nearby?"
"Once we got to Kuroyuri, I didn't leave, and I don't know how to get back to Nagato." she says sadly.
"It's alright, it doesn't really matter where we go. I just want to get away from here in case the nuckelavee comes back" I reassure her.
"Nuckelavee?" she questions while going back to her food.
"The big horse-like grimm that was here, it's called a nuckelavee" I say, causing her to stiffen at the memory. "I don't know where it went, but it's been maybe twelve hours since it was here, and I don't want to stay here in case it backtracks or something."
"But what if we run into it on our way to the next village?"
"You didn't really look around while we were outside for understandable reasons. But with its size, the grimm basically tore up parts of the paved pathways outside when it moved through the village. There is an easy path to follow with its entrance and exit of the village; we just head in the opposite direction." I explained, causing the worry on her face to dissipate.
"Now finish your food so we can leave. I want as much sunlight as possible while we travel." I told her as I finished up the pastry I had been eating then stood up and walked to the barricade, which I began breaking down.
By the time I cleared the doorway Nora had finished her meal. Now that I think about it the amount she ate was quite large for her size but given she hasn't eaten well in months it's understandable. In any normal circumstance, I would tell her to ration her food since we don't know how long we will be traveling, but given that I have all the food of a small village in stasis in my inventory, running out anytime soon is unlikely.
Putting on my pack that held my familiar egg and re-equip my sword and shield, I looked over at Nora attaching the crossbow from before along with the spear she impaled the boarbatusk with onto her pack.
"So you're taking both of those with you?" I ask.
She strung the spear vertically on her pack and put it on. "Yeah the spear did help us out with that grimm, so I'm going to use it, and my aim was also good with the crossbow, so I will take both with me."
"You do know teleporting above grimm impaling them then passing out isn't a viable combat strategy, right?" I say teasingly.
"Noooo! I'm going to learn how to actually fight with the spear" she says back red faced.
Then, we left our short lived base and headed towards a way out of the village in the opposite direction of the nuckelavee tracks, which happens to be the entrance I used when I first stumbled upon this village. Stopping at the now fallen sign I look at Nora standing next to me then at the spear pointing skyward from her pack.
I've only been in this world for like a day and I have already drastically changed the lives of at least three people. I looked back at Nora who gave me a small smile. A change in semblance and weapon and who knows how else she will change in the future. She is not even really Nora Valkyrie anymore. Now that I think of it.
"Nora do you have a last name?"
Shaking her head "No most of the kids at the orphanage didn't."
"Would you mind if I gave you one?"
Brightening up at my request, "Yes! Please, if you don't mind, I would love it if you gave me one!" she said excitedly.
I stare intensely at the girl trying to figure out a new name for her. Before she had the whole Thor theme with the lightning and hammer, but now she is using a spear and teleports. My Norse mythology is spotty to say the least but there is one person who comes to mind who could fit, so she will not just be a valkyrie, she will be the valkyrie.
"Brynhildr," I said to the girl who was waiting next to me.
"Brun what?" she asks me, confused.
"Brynhildr, she was the daughter of a god and a valkyrie, a kind of battle maiden that brought worthy souls to an afterlife." I say to her, getting a more puzzled look. Probably wondering why I would give her that name, so I continued explaining. "Well, they bring people to the afterlife and you can teleport people, and Brynhildr who was the eldest used a spear to fight." I finish pointing at her weapon.
"Oooooh I get it, yea that fits me perfectly. From this point on I am Nora Brynhildr!" she practically shouted happily her well known bubbly personality starting to shine through more and more.
+15 Affection with Nora for giving her a last name. [60/100]
Nora Brynhildr Affection has reached 50
Perk Unlocked
[Childhood Friends] - Bonus Affection/Reputation with anyone who considers you a childhood friend.
Well it's not really a perfect fit especially since the only thing I know about the valkyrie is from fate grand order, but I'm glad she likes it.
Calming down from the excitement of her new name she turns back to me. "Rain you don't have a last name either right?" she asks her excitement building up again. I can see where this is going.
Shaking my head in confirmation to her question. "Nope, I'm just Rain."
"Then I'll give you a name too" she says scrunching up her face in concentration.
Standing there waiting for Nora to come up with something the silence is broken.
"Bow!" she says aloud.
"What?" is all I respond with.
"You know cause your name is Rain and your semblance uses light, right, so your name could be Rain... Bow like you know a rainbow." she explains with a grin far to proud of herself.
I just stare back at her blankly.
"Do you not like it?" she asks, seeming to deflate at my reaction.
"I like it!" I quickly respond trying not to upset her
I honestly don't know what I was expecting. She is a ten year old and the fact that it's somewhat related to my light magic is pretty clever. But I'm not going to have my name just be rainbow.
"But I have a suggestion and a way our names can have a connection. In the mythos Brynhildr is from there is a bridge that connects the land of the gods and the lands of mortals, the Bifrost, also known as the Rainbow bridge."
"Yeah, you could be Rain Bow Bridge!"
I meant using Bifrost but I guess that also works.
Rain B. Bridge
Level – 13
Class – Paladin Lvl 13/100 [19%]
Race – Faunus (Shark)
HP – 320 [32 per minute]
MP – 320 [32 per minute]
AP – 640 [32 per minute]
STR – 32
VIT – 32
DEX – 15
INT – 32
WIS – 32
CHA – 32
LCK – 15
"You ready to start our journey, Miss Brynhildr" I ask, holding my hand out to Nora.
"Yes, let's begin Mister Bridge" she replies, taking my offered hand with a smile.
And with that we were on our way.
Author's notes #2: I got some reviews about the statement I made in the last chapter A.N about Nora's and Yang's semblance. I want to clarify what I mean by Nora's semblance being worse than Yang's. I do believe Nora's does have a lot of benefits over Yang's being somewhat immune to the damage of electricity(but not the pain), not technically needing to be hit by the opponent. I meant worse in activation cost and usage it required whoever she is fighting to use electricity against her or for there lightning storm or for her to simply carry around lighting dust which she doesn't for some reason. I think she only used her semblance like four times during eight seasons.
Now onto the questions:
TheUnknowableOne - I do not know much about dnd I'm basing Rain's paladin skills on WOW & Final Fantasy 14.
Runeion - You didn't ask a question but I'm definitely going to use Gates of Valhalla as her semblance name.
JKingSniper - You also Didn't ask a question but I'm glad you got the reference
Theshocker517 - Yes, Rain will get an actual semblance.
Ruberforumfree - Rain forgot she was a mage. His knowledge of the world is based on what I remembered before I started doing research for this fic so expect him to not remember things correctly.
J. S. Theios & Onix121 - I changed the shark 'night vision' statement in the previous chapter. I hope that it is better now. Thanks for correcting me.