3rd person P.O.V.
The sun was nearing its zenith, the only sounds being the whispering of the wind and the murmuring river. That is, until an annoyed voice rumbled from a clearing in the forest.
"No, no, no! That's all wrong! You're supposed to make the atoms vibrate, not spin!"
Daniel said, annoyed as John made another Vacuum sphere instead of a Fireball.
It had been almost twenty-four hours since they had started working together, and as both had agreed, they had been working only on magic for the time being. Unfortunately, John didn't seem able to apply the concept behind some of the spells Daniel tried to teach him. For example, Mana claw was an absolute success, and so were also some passive skills like Falcon's eye and Enhancement, but when it came to elemental spells, he was an absolute failure.
"Well then, maybe you should stop being such an ass about it and try to explain better!"
Daniel sighed, and brought a hand up to his temple. In that moment, a stray thought passed him by: 'maybe John simply isn't good with them because his expertise is supposed to be something else.' Thus, he explained his theory to him.
"You know? Maybe you are right," John pondered, and leaned forwards to look at his friend. "after all, there was this feeling when I used Mana claw that I didn't have when I tried things like your Fireball. Like… it felt right. Or at least, that it was what I was supposed to do. You get me?"
His explanation, while lacking, still confirmed Daniel's theory. Maybe it was connected to his mana being another color, or maybe it was his System that chose so, or whatever else! The point being, he was supposed to be good at something else. Daniel had formulated some sort of half-assed plan in his mind, so he exposed also that to John:
"Alright, so I have an idea. Imma use TeS for this, but bear with me," He then lifted up his hand and started listing off his fingers: "so, we've got the different magic schools: destruction, restoration, illusion, conjuration and the like. We know that you aren't good with destruction, as it is what I tried to teach you, but we still have a couple more to try. Wanna do this?"
"As ready as ever." He rolled his shoulders a little, and then got up. "Might as well do it."
Daniel gave a satisfied nod, and tried to come up with some spells for him to try. His thoughts were cut short when a quest notification popped up in front of him:
*ding*
New quest!
Aptitude test (story quest)
John can't use the spells you want to teach him. Try to find out what's his specialty!
Create a healing spell for John [ ]
Create a defensive spell for John [ ]
Create an attack spell for John [ ]
Help John come up with his unique skill [ ]
Form a party with John [ ]
Completion rewards:
5.000 Xp
Increased closeness with John Romano
Team quest
Failure penalty:
Decreased closeness with John Romano
John will be pissed at you for a while
'Gratis Xp, huh?' Daniel mused, while looking over his quest. 'Nothing wrong with that, plus John was gonna be mad whether I failed with the quest or not. Yet… team quest?' His eyes lingered on the unfamiliar detail for a while. 'What's that supposed to mean? Guess I just have to wait and see.'
Closing the tab, Daniel returned to his musings. First on the list was a healing spell. 'Probably he should be able to do so by concentrating his mana in the areas around the wounds to accelerate the healing process.'
To test his theory, he'd need to try it. Daniel knew he wasn't going to like it, but he still had to, so…
"Hey John?" He asked, his voice wavering a little.
"Yeah?" He turned to the side to look at him. "Got any ideas?"
Daniel took a breath to calm himself down, and said: "I need to borrow your dagger."
John was visibly confused by the request, but he complied nonetheless. With the dagger in his right hand, Daniel turned off his Reinforcement and made a small cut on the back of his arm.
John was, of course, alarmed by his seemingly senseless action, but Daniel held up his good arm and said:
"This is for your spells. I need you to heal me."
After John had calmed down, Daniel explained just what he wanted him to do. It took a couple tries, but he managed to close the wound easily enough.
'It won't give me a boost of Hp. Instead, it will simply increase the Hp regen a little, but it will do.' Daniel reasoned to himself.
John's eyes lit up, and a smile found its way on his face, as a new window came up in front of him:
Dia (active & passive) Lv: 1 (02.4%)
A couple Hp can save a life, but an increased regeneration works too.
Active: 25 Mp/second
Passive: 15 Mp/second
Increase Hp regen by 2% while active. (Can use on others)
Increase Hp regen by 1% passively (only on the user)
Daniel had noticed the look in John's eyes, and as he was a bit curious too, he asked:
"So, what does it say?"
"Huh? What did you-" John stuttered for a second, until he finally righted himself and gave an actual answer. "Yeah, well, the skill is called Dia and as of now, it increases Hp recovery by 2%. The cost is a little high, at 25 Mp per second, but I can keep it up."
Daniel nodded, satisfied, and gave John back his dagger.
Daniel went back to his plans, but this once not for long: 'For the next part we will need a defensive spell, but I have already something in mind.'
"Alright, and that's one down." Daniel slammed his hands on his knees and pushed himself up. "Now, we're gonna need you to be able to protect yourself. So, I have in mind a simple shield spell. First things first, you need to-"
John took no time in cutting him off: "Condense my mana and then flatten it. If Jee-Han could come up with it, then most certainly I can too." He concluded, with a satisfied smirk on his face.
Daniel shook his head with an amused chuckle, and responded to his claims with as much sarcasm as he could muster:
"Very well then, genius," he said, punctuating the last word with a small bow. "If you are so good, then why don't you give me a practical demonstration?"
Glee filled Daniel as John's smirk wavered for a second, even if it returned just as strong the second after. John shrugged his shoulders a little, and extended his arms at his sides.
Almost a minute passed, and except for Daniel getting a tad impatient, nothing happened. Another couple of minutes passed, and still nothing. At the end of it, Daniel got fed up with waiting, and walked towards John with the intention of shaking him back to reality.
Unfortunately, something didn't agree with his idea, as he ended up slamming face first into thin air. Rubbing the offended part, Daniel opened his eyes again, but couldn't see anything different, except that John was trying, and failing, to hide his laughter. It didn't take long for him to put two and two together:
"Cheeky bastard." He growled with a scowl. "You know I'll get back at you for this." He said, annoyance thick in his voice.
John didn't give any regards to him, and brushed off the semi-threat easily enough. Daniel took the chance, and punched his arm. John let out a small 'ow', but otherwise didn't complain.
There was still a quest to finish, so they both agreed to get back on track. 'Next on the list is an offensive spell. Destruction won't work, but what about conjuration and alteration?' An idea had popped up in Daniel's mind, and he relayed it almost immediately.
"If I remember correctly, back home you wanted to learn how to use a bow, right?"
John nodded slightly, but remained silent. Probably he was thinking deeply about something. Thankfully, Daniel knew exactly how to make him return to the land of the living. He whipped up his Inventory, and pulled out finally the bow and the quiver, after so long. Placing them in front of John seemed to do the trick, as his eyes opened so much that they could fall off. John immediately swiped the bow from Daniel, and started examining it from every angle.
"Where did you get these? You never had them with you!"
"Well, I always used my spells in the long range, and I'm not really the type to use these things. You on the other hand… well, you wanted them, so there. Plus, I always kept them in my inventory. Now please calm down, so I can explain the next spells."
Once he had finally settled down, I gave him a rundown of what he was supposed to do: basically, with conjuration he could make more arrows, and with alteration he could give them different modifications, like poisoning, explosive, high-penetration, and so many more. After a couple minutes of trying it, John managed to keep his giddiness in check, so they got to the second to last point of the list: the unique skill. Daniel really had no idea, so he just let John run wild and brainstorm a little.
"How about a spell that makes my bow become a machine gun? I think that it would be pretty nice."
Daniel shook my head, exasperated, and responded slowly: "It's the third time you asked me that. And it's the third time that I will say that you can't make something if you don't know how it's made, magic or not."
John's head dipped a little, and he gave an apologetic look. They kept quiet for a couple more minutes, and then John came back with another idea:
"Alright, hear me out: you know how I have to be fast in order to use my dagger?" I nodded, wondering where he was going to go with that. "Well, what about a spell that gives me super speed for some time? Think we can use that? Like your Overdrive, but even stronger?"
Daniel had to admit that his idea was pretty good, so he gave his approval. Immediately, John got to work, and Daniel added his input whenever he felt it could be useful. After around an hour of work, at sundown, they had managed to complete his special skill…
John's P.O.V.
Finally… it was done. My own special skill. It wasn't exactly as I expected it, as it worked on all my stats together, instead than only my speed, but it was still awesome!
Haduramensis (active) Lv: 1 (00.0%)
'My blade is me. I am my blade.' By using your magic to empower your dagger, cleave every enemy in your way!
50 Mp/second
+30% to all stats
+10% damage
?- reach level 50 to unlock
?- reach level 100 to unlock
The only thing that was leaving me perplexed was that it was way too similar to Daniel's for my tastes. That was what I would get for copying someone else's skill.
After I was done showing off my new skill on some innocent trees, I turned to Daniel, only to see him fiddling around with his screens. Of course, I couldn't see his screens, and he assured me that he couldn't see mine, but I could recognize the gestures. He seemed to be searching for something in particular, as his hand never stopped moving. Finally, he seemed to find what he had been looking for, and typed something. Once he was done, he turned to me, and I noticed the Cheshire grin that threatened to split his face.
Before I got the chance to ask, a window popped up in front of me.
*ding*
You have been invited by Daniel Samuels in the party: "No game no life". Do you want to join?
Yes/No
Yep, that's Daniel. No matter what, he'll slip you a reference, blatant or not. Still, an invitation shouldn't be left unanswered, thus I accepted. In the moment I pressed that button, some text appeared over Daniel's head:
Daniel Samuels Lv: 20
Guardian
Hp: 2150/2150
Mp: 3675/3675
Oh. I was actually wondering why I didn't see any of those. Seemed like they appeared only on your teammates' heads. Judging by Daniel's eyes flicking over my head, he could see my own data.
That didn't last for long, as I saw Daniel's focus shifting back down, and he pressed something with a little fist bump. I was about to ask what that was all about, but a random notification stopped me in my tracks:
*ding*
New quest!
Monster hunters (team quest)
The realm of Convexity is in the middle of a crisis! You must defeat the creatures causing havoc!
Find and defeat Haolus! [ ]
Find and defeat Yolgan! [ ]
Bonus: ? [ ]
Bonus: ? [ ]
Completion rewards:
15.000 Xp
New skill
Bonus: ?
Bonus: ?
Failure penalty:
One hell of a beating
Possible death
Warning: accepting the quest will immediately send you to the Convexity realm.
.
..
…
….what.
I slowly turned to Daniel, and was a little startled by the fact that he was just a meter away from me. If I didn't mention it, he was taller than me by a little more than half a head, so he was a little intimidating at times.
Nonetheless, I quickly recovered, and ordered him: "Explain."
He shrugged his shoulders just a little, and started: "When I started helping you with your spells, I got a quest for it. The last point was to form a party with you, and in the rewards was a 'team quest'. Seems like these quests will appear to the both of us. Anyway, I think that's all you needed to know…?" he finished with a questioning glance, waiting for an answer.
I nodded, and said: "Do you think we should accept it? I don't know you, but this gives me a 'boss fight' kinda vibe."
He didn't even answer, as he pressed what was probably the 'Accept' button. My notification disappeared, and we were both enveloped by a bright light. Around five seconds later, the light left, letting us see a completely different scenery.
What I saw boggled my mind: all around us, were some sort of crystalline floating islands, connected by some smaller patches of crystal here and there. The sky was a deep purple, with lilac and blue blotches randomly strewn around. It was… surreal. As if no mortal should have ever been able to reach such a place, and yet, there we were.
I'd like to say that it didn't faze me much, but I would be lying. We stood like a couple of idiots for a good ten minutes, before we finally snapped out of it. Setting our heads straight, we finally heard two quite uncanny sounds: an eagle's cry and some sort of roar that was a mix of a tiger with a T-Rex. They had come from the same direction, so we hurried towards them.
The sources of those sounds were two beasts straight out of a fantasy novel: one was a wyvern. They have only two legs, and their arms are fused with the wings, just so you know. Its scales were a dirty white, with its horns, underbelly and wings being a somewhat darker shade of grey, and it was around four meters tall.
The other being was a huge falcon, almost completely black, except for the feathers around its eyes, the tips of its wings, tail and some small dots on its chest, which were purple instead. This one came up to around five meters and something.
A quick Observe gave me some more information on them:
Haolus
Astral falcon
Lv: 25
Hp: 2031/2740
Mp: 1565/2800
STR: 21
DEX: 35
VIT: 24
INT: 30
WIS: 15
LUK: 12
?
Yolgan
Wyvern
Lv: 30
Hp: 2935/3390
Mp: 2940/3210
STR: 35
DEX: 28
VIT: 39
INT: 21
WIS: 25
LUK: 18
?
I looked over to Daniel, who seemed to be scanning for himself their stats. A couple seconds later, he lifted his head and said in a very commanding voice while moving towards the two fighting beings: "You take care of the Falcon. I'm taking the Wyvern, and remember:" he stopped himself mid-step and turned once more to me. "If a bird can't fly, it's already half dead."
I gave him a fist bump, and we both moved towards our respective targets. I made use of Daniel's tips, both from then and when we worked on my spells, and prepared an arrow.
/small flashback/
"Remember," said Daniel "if the enemy doesn't see you, and you need to kill them, begin with poisonous arrows. So, if the fight lasts longer than expected, you can count on the fact that your enemy will get weaker the more it goes on. Got it?"
/end flashback/
Thus, I readied my bow, and shot. My aim was true, and the arrow pierced the back of the Falcon, in the point where the wing connects to the body. At the same moment, I could see Daniel throwing a quite big Fireball at the Wyvern. Nonetheless, I returned my attention on my enemy, and notched another arrow.
It was screeching in pain, but that didn't deter it from trying to charge into me. I moved away at the last moment, and saw Haolus' beak bury itself where I was a second before. I took advantage of the situation, and tried to shoot an arrow in its eye. Unfortunately, I wasn't fast enough, and the hit merely grazed its beak. Still, that was enough, as the arrow was of the explosive variant.
Haolus recoiled, but didn't seem too affected by what was basically a grenade going off on his nose, except for a small crack. He tried charging at me again, but I moved out of the way once more. What I didn't keep in mind was that it wasn't stupid, and it expected for me to move away. Thus, in one swift motion, it brought its talon on my chest.
-53 Hp
It hurt, but I was prepared. In fact, I whipped out my dagger and planted it right in what could be called its ankle. It shrieked in pain once more, and lifted its talon off me in reaction. I capitalized on that, conjured the sharpest arrow I could, and let it loose.
I nailed Haolus right in the eye, and skewered its head, with my arrow flying out of its top. It was immobile for a moment, and then fell on its back with a thud.
+1500 Xp!
I was about to go help Daniel, when Haolus' body started glowing. It slowly disintegrated in a shower of sparks, which started dancing to a nonexistent wind, becoming more compact by the second. Once it was done, I approached what was left of the former Astral falcon, and gave it a once over with Observe.
Astral falcon's egg
Grade: Legendary
Astral falcons are a little like Phoenixes, and this is the proof. Normally, an Astral falcon would return to being a chick, but since this one died prematurely, it returned to being an egg.
Wow. Now that I didn't expect. How was I even supposed to carry that thing around? It was bigger than a ostrich egg, for fuck's sake! Maybe… I could put it in my inventory for a little while?
I decided to test my theory, and in fact, I could! I turned around to look for Daniel, and there he was, holding an egg too. I noticed his hair was a little singed, but he was fine for the most part. I was a little curios, so I asked:
"Well? How did it go?"
Daniel's P.O.V.
/five minutes earlier/
I ran towards the Wyvern, and readied a Fireball. I made it stronger, as to make the most damage possible at the beginning. After a couple seconds, I lobbed it at Yolgan, and hit it square in the face. Then I casted Frost on its legs and ran towards it. Unfortunately, it got free and slammed its tail in my chest. I was thrown back a couple of meters, and I rolled a little before I managed to stop and get back on my feet.
Once I lifted my eyes, I was greeted by a stream of fire coming my way. I rolled away just in time, but my hair felt really hot for some reason. Returning my focus back to the matter at hand, I dived out of the way from another stream of fiery death.
I was getting really mad, so I unleashed on Yolgan a Thunder and Aeroblade combo, charring some of its scales and leaving a pretty big gash on its muzzle. That must have enraged it, as it roared and charged me. I wasn't going to back down, so I ran towards it with all my speed. Once I was close enough, I jumped as high as I could, and pointed my sword down. I landed on Yolgan's head, and in one swift motion I beheaded it.
+2000 Xp
I stumbled a little when I landed, but I was otherwise fine. Turning back to the rapidly dissipating Wyvern, I saw what looked like an egg within the ashes. Observe relayed:
Wyvern's egg
Grade: Legendary
Wyverns are distant cousins of the Dragons. Unlike Dragons, Wyverns aren't limited to a single element, but it takes longer for them to master a certain one. The actual question is how have you got this? Mother Wyverns never leave their eggs unattended. Hopefully you're happy now, you dirty mother killer.
And then I felt terrible. Welp, just one thing I could do at that point: take care of the egg and of the eventual hatchling.
With that, I picked up the egg and made my way towards John. From what I could see, he handled the fight well, and got an egg like me too. Then, he turned around and saw me. Finally, he asked:
"Well? How did it go?"
I stared at him blankly for a couple seconds before saying: "Well enough, I guess." I looked around me for a second. "So… how do we get out?"
*ding*
Monster hunters (team quest)
Quest completed!
Find and defeat Haolus! [OK]
Find and defeat Yolgan! [OK]
? (Only John): Fight Haolus only on the ground [OK]
? (Only Daniel): Decapitate Yolgan [OK]
Rewards:
15.000 Xp
New skill
Bonus: Infernis armor (chestplate) x1 (Daniel)
Bonus: Seraph armor (gauntlets) x1 (John)
Return
"Oh, so that's how." I looked up at John. "Welp, let's go, shall we?" And so, I pressed the return button.
After another flash, we returned to our training spot. The moon was low, so it could have been either late evening or very early in the morning. Still, I didn't get much time to think about it, as two notifications appeared before me:
+15.000 Xp
*ding*
New skill!
Spirit bind (active) Lv: Max
Binding your soul with another being, you can call upon it in your time of need. The binded being is called a familiar, and it will grow as you do.
Binds a creature as your familiar within a 10 meter radius
1500 Mp/use
I gave a look in my inventory, and sure enough, a new piece of armor sat there. Equipping it, I gave myself a once over. My new chestplate was absolutely badass. Its base was black with some red details here and there, and the bronze rimming made me feel like I was wearing a piece of lava.
When I stopped gawking at my new armor, I looked at John, and noticed his new gauntlets: they had a base of what looked like reinforced leather almost as long as his arm, covered with small pieces of a metal similar to silver, golden markings here and there, giving it a very holy-like aspect.
I was brought out of my reverie when John said: "Well, Daniel," and he pulled out his egg from the inventory, "how about we try out this new skill?" With a smile threatening to split his face.
I couldn't avoid smiling a little myself, and answered: "Time to test it out." With that, I put my egg down in front of me, and concentrating on my new skill.
Around thirty seconds afterwards, I heard the telltale sound of a crack. Opening my eyes, I saw a small crack on the top of the egg, the latter wobbling a bit. A second after, the crack opened a little more, and I could see the tip of a small muzzle poking out. A couple wobbles more, and the crack reached half of the egg. I moved closer to get a better look, and in that moment the egg burst open.
What I saw was a small wyvern, barely long even a meter from the tip of its tail to the muzzle. Its scales were white with a touch of light blue, its horns a silvery color, same as its underbelly, while the wings were a light cyan.
Its eyes opened, and it looked around for a second, stopping when it saw me. Immediately I was glomped by seven kilograms of wyvern, and it took quite an effort to avoid falling. Looking down to the little hatchling currently nuzzling my chest, a window appeared:
*ding*
?
Wyvern (male)
Lv: 1 (0/20)
Hp: 120/120 (+1.4/s)
Mp: 160/160 (+1.9/s)
STR: 3
DEX: 4
VIT: 2
INT: 6
WIS: 3
LUK: 8
?
What were those question marks supposed to be? Maybe it was because he didn't have a name yet? Welp, I couldn't the poor kid stay nameless, now could I?
"Now then, little one," I started with the most official voice I had: "from this day forward, your name shall be Sora."
The little wyvern, now named Sora, looked up at me in contemplation for a couple seconds, then he lightened up and squealed: "Daddy!"
And it was in that moment that Daniel knew, he fucked up.
Yeah, yeah, I'm late again. And so? I have way too many things on my plate as it is. My time writing has been cut considerably, so I'm sorry to say that I might have to change the schedule to post every two weeks. At least I will have some leeway, and will be able to update somewhat more regularly. At least, I'll try.
It seems like no one reviewed the last chapter, except for Dragon_Uprising. Thanks, btw.
Really, people, I need the feedback! I want to know what you think, even if it's just a couple words! Really, every review gives me the will to write some more, and if it helps, the more revs, the quicker I might update, you know?
Well, that was pretty much everything. So, without further ado, Xeno out!
P.S. do y'all even read the notes? I'm kinda curious.