Hello Readers!
Sorry about the silence and lack of updates in weeks. I have one I think is a rough draft for a chapter. I have mixed feelings about the chapter and would like to ask advice for you, the readers, about it. One of my main questions is that do you think I am using the flashbacks well? If not how can I improve cause I don't have any real experience in writing with flashbacks and current events happening at once.
Thanks for the advice and comments!
ShirouKuroEmiya
P.S Please excuse the grammar and syntax. This is a rough draft and I am still in the process of editting it before final release.
Bell's and His Friends' Adventures Chapter One
Lilius Arde sighed in frustration at how her new patron god had pushed her to the side. She knew the logical reasoning behind why Shirou had not wanted to get involved with the Soma Familia situation anymore after the discovery of Evilus being involved, but still! It infuriated her that she was being treated like a child.
Just like she had felt numerous times already, Lili felt like marching to Shirou and demanding that she be allowed to help. Yet, another part of her scolded her for wanting to get involved in a matter that she could prove more of a liability than assistance. Many people knew that Evilus was dangerous, but not enough so it was the public enemy one that the authorities portrayed it to be.
She knew a fraction of the truth that the authorities had managed to conceal from the public, but Lili shivered in fear, recalling what her new patron god had told her. The sheer amount of atrocities and evil acts they had done far surpassed the boogeyman status that parents used Evilus to teach their children what to not become.
Evilus was such a threat that in Tenkai, the land of the gods, coalitions of divine beings would work together to suppress Evilus wherever it could be found. The shocking part was that the gods, completely unrestrained as they were on Genkai with their god-like powers, were unable to destroy Evilus as it was akin to a cockroach that would never die and sprout out like weeds.
"Not, let's forget about Evilus!" shouted Lili as she slapped herself. "There is no point in worrying about something that I cannot do anything about." She started to look around the talking and moving crowd. "What was his name again...? Ah! It was Bell Cranel."
"You called for me!?" shouted a voice from behind Lili.
Lili jumped in surprise and she was about to draw upon her weapon from her belt when she saw the cautious eyes turning towards her. She mentally cursed. There was no danger. She was not in the Dungeon where monsters could pop out of anyway with the intent of killing her. This was the peaceful and bustling streets of Orario!
"Sorry," she apologized as she let go of her grasp of the knife on her belt. "You surprised me there." Lili scrutinized the newcomer that had surprised her. "Are you Bell Cranel from the newly formed Hestia Familia?"
"Yes, that is correct." The white haired boy nodded his head enthusiastically. "You must be Lilius Arde. My goddess told me that you were going to be my guide into the Dungeon."
"Yep," said Lili, "Are you sure you have everything you need?"
"I do."
The Pallum gave Bell another look. If she hadn't gotten to train or explore the Dungeon with Shirou then Lili might have not noticed it. Bell was incredibly well-trained well beyond the standards of many new adventurers. It wouldn't surprise her if Bell could give even veteran Level 2 adventurers a run for their money in terms of pure combat skills. He also had likely received specialized training that spies, saboteur or assassin to hide anything that might give them away and blend in so that they could carry out their mission.
Or Bell could be a natural actor. Lili noted to herself. Whatever the case, Bell is not the green adventurer he looks like. The only thing he is missing is real world combat experience. Her eyes were drawn to the few pouches attached to Bell's body. "Can I check what you have inside the pouches?"
"Sure!" Without a single thought, Bell detached the pouches from his body and handed them to Lili.
It quickly became apparent that Bell had regular old pouches, unlike the ones that she now possessed as a gift from Shirou. Lili shook her head and berated herself from thinking just because she owned many that others would do the same. A Bag of Holding, the most common name for the spatially expanded pouches she had gotten from Shirou, were often a sign of seniority amongst adventurers. Of course, there were the rare case of a younger or less experienced adventurer owning a Bag of Holding, but those that possessed it were likely because they got lucky to encounter a treasure trove or had money to afford one.
"Did you train with an experienced adventurer?" asked Lili as she handed back the pouches after examining them to Bell. "You got a few days of ration and all the equipment normally someone that has really experienced exploring the Dungeon would carry."
"I have to thank my Uncle for that," said Bell as he reattached his pouches to his body. "My uncle taught me most of what I know in regards to fighting and the Dungeon. He said that he had even reached the furthest depths of the Dungeon that no one has survived to tell."
Lili raised a brow, but otherwise didn't comment on the topic. "Do you have any last things you have to do before you head below into the Dungeon?"
"No." Bell shook his head.
"Let's go then!"
- O -
Lili really wondered who this "Uncle" of Bells was. The white haired boy was mowing down the monsters on the 1st floor like he was doing a gentle warmup before the actual workout. He had been too overtrained to the point that many monsters up to the tenth floor would pose no challenge to Bell. In her mind, Bell should have been allowed to become an adventurer long ago.
Besides Shirou, the strongest and most skilled adventurers she had seen in action had been Level 4 Adventurers, the highest level adventurers in the Soma Familia. They lacked the combat skills that Bell had possessed. What Bell lacked compared to them was the physical and magical boost given by Falna or the combat experience that came from actual fights brushing with death. If Bell possessed both lacking aspects then Lili doubted that many Level 4 Adventurers and even possibly a few Level 5 adventurers could match Bell.
Bell's "Uncle" had to be much more stronger, skilled and experienced then any adventurer that Lili had met personally, beside Shirou, to have taught Bell to the combat skill standards of most Level 4 adventurers. If her instincts were right then Bell's Uncle was at the very least one of the greatest Level 5 adventurers, maybe even a Level 6, which was incredibly rare as Level 6 Adventurers were considered the powerful outside of the solo Level 7 Adventurer belonging to Freya Familia.
"What do you think, Arde-san?" asked Bell, snapping Lili out of her musing. "Did I do well for my first time in the Dungeon?"
Lili nearly face-palmed. If she hadn't known it beforehand, Lili would have thought that Bell was either messing with her or he was just being really humble.
"You did really well." She smiled. "Do you know anything about dissecting monsters?"
"I have some experience with cutting animals that I have killed for food, but no monster dissection."
"Well let me show you then," said Lili as she started dissecting the closest monster with ease. "Magic stones are normally located where the heart of the monster should be. Of course there are a few exceptions, but generally magic stones can be found either at the heart or any other important organs."
She was grateful that Bell wasn't a stranger to dissecting animals otherwise it would have been a difficult task for her. Her past experience taught her that many new adventurers took a while to get used to the process, and that was why Supporters were popular amongst the adventurers.
Lili continued to dissect a few more monsters to Bell before she stepped back and watched for the most part as she advised the boy what to do.
"You're really good at this, Arde-san." Bell commented as he finished with his dissection of the last monster corpse.
"I spent much of my time as a Supporter," Lili replied in a melancholic tone as she thought about her life prior to meeting Shirou. "If you don't count my time of being a Supporter for several years then I have been an adventurer for only about three months."
"What Level are you?"
"I just reached Level 2 a week ago." She replied, but frown formed as that was the last time Lili had gone to the Dungeon with Shirou before he got involved with the current Soma Familia's situation. She snapped out her musing when she noticed Bell's glowing eyes. "Don't consider my progress as the norm. Most adventurers take years to reach Level 2. It is not unheard for an adventurer to take a decade to reach Level 2."
"What? Really!" asked the white haired boy in disbelief. Lili nodded her head. "I am not going to take years! My goal is to reach Level 2 in several weeks just like you."
Lili was about to advise Bell that he tone down his expectation until she remembered how easily dozens of monsters on the 1st Floor of the Dungeon had been taken out by him.
"Good luck then," She smiled. Lili stood up and looked towards the stairs leading deeper into the Dungeon, the 2nd Floor. "Shirou-sama promised your goddess that I would show you the ropes. The 1st Floor is too easy for you and there is nothing to learn here anymore."
"Here we come, 2nd Floor!" Bell shouted eagerly as he rushed forward and Lili raced after him.
- O -
Lili couldn't help but be jealous of Bell. Whoever Bell's Uncle was, he had to be one of the strongest or most experienced adventurers there was if Bell possessed a fraction of the fighting prowess or combat knowledge demonstrated before her. If she had been trained under Bell's Uncle then Lili doubted that she would be as weak as she was right...
What am I thinking!? Lili slapped her cheeks. No matter how powerful, skilled or experienced Bell's Uncle is he cannot compare to Shirou! Someone that had ascended into godhood thanks to his own abilities and achievements as an Adventurer...
She paused for a moment as Lili realized there was so much that she still didn't know about her new patron god. Lili didn't doubt for a second that everything that Shirou had told her had been the truth. Shirou had told her a lot of things, many of them likely regarded as divine secrets that very few mortals were blessed to even know. There was also a lot, which she realized Shirou hadn't told her.
Lili promised herself that after she finished her current task of tutoring Bell then she was going to learn more about her patron god.
As Lili focused back on Bell, she noted what Bell didn't know about being an adventurer and had started to make a plan, or at least that was what Lil should have done. There was no way Bell was going to respect her as a teacher if she was inferior to him as an adventurer.
"It would also be a good time to put Cinder Ella to use in combat for the first time after all that practice I had done under Shirou's tuleage," remarked Lili as she recalled the first time Shirou had approached her in using Cinder Ella for combat.
"Hey, Lili," said Shirou as he approached the busy Lili, who was dissecting a monster corpse that they had brought up from a recent Dungeon run. "Have you ever thought about using Cinder Ella in combat?"
"That is sucicide!"
shouted Lili, instinctively as she recalled the time when she thought Cinder Ella could be used in combat before being proved wrong time and time again until she had given up on that wistful thinking.
"Well given your reaction, I can guess that didn't work out well?"
Lili rolled her eyes. "Of course, it didn't work out well." She growled. "If it had then I wouldn't have remained stuck as a Supporter all these years during my time in the Soma Familia. An adventurer is more useful and important than a Supporter."
"You didn't know the correct methods or didn't have good advisors to help you out." Shirou sighed. "I once fought a very dangerous Sealing Designation..." He abruptly stopped as if he blurted out something he shouldn't have said. "I mean, rogue adventurer... His nickname was the Chimeran Shifter. His unique skill set was very similar to your Cinder Ella."
Before Lili could ask more about this Chimeran Shifter, Shirou materialized a crystal that she had seen him use in the past. The crystal was put down onto the table and it lit up as a screen of light formed above it.
It wasn't very obvious at first. Lili thought she was watching a recording from what looked like a camera. Not long after the recording started playing, it became apparent that no camera had been used for the recording when she saw body parts moving in a manner similar to how someone might see the world with their own eyes.
Her attention about the recording being from a first person perspective quickly ended as she was drawn to other things that were shown from the recording.
The identity of the person the recording was showing from their first person perspective was quickly revealed when she saw the familiar glowing lights that gathered together to form into objects and movements appeared on the holographic screen. It was none other than Shirou Emiya.
She quickly turned to look at who had the guts to fight Shirou. Her patron god after all was a mortal that had ascended into godhood for his fighting prowess, including his other skills such as blacksmithing and cooking that reached divine levels. Only a fool would fight Shirou, at least head-on.
How the battle unfolded surprised Lili, despite being forewarned by the nickname of the rogue adventurer. The robed male that fought Shirou used a combat style that Lili had never seen or heard about. His body constantly changed in shape and size as he fought against Shirou. He would use body parts of more physically capable monsters to enhance his physical abilities to using natural abilities that humans didn't possess such as poisons and acids. His arsenal of abilities constantly shifting as he tried to kill Shirou.
Lili didn't know how long the fight lasted, but it could have been an eternity as she focused on the rogue adventurer's fighting style. It was beautiful, the pinnacle of what she had wanted to achieve. Her previous attempts when she had thought it was possible Cinder Ella seemed so childish compared to what the rogue adventurer fighting Shirou showed. It also demonstrated how limited her understanding and imaginations of what Cinder Ella was capable of.
The fight abruptly ended as the Shirou in the recording found a perfect opportunity to deliver a decisive blow at the rogue adventurer's brain, but it seemed to marvel at Lili what a shapeshifter was capable of in combat besides the spying potential shapeshifting possessed that Lili was already familiar with.
"As you have seen, Lili," said Shirou. "This is a great example of Cinder Ella's potential if used properly." He produced more crystals and laid them on the table. "The Sealing... Rogue adventurer wasn't the only shapeshifter I have fought before. Here are recordings of several others that you should learn from to expand your knowledge and imagination of what Cinder Ella can do."
Lili smiled as she recalled how enlightening those recordings had been. She focused on the monster before her. Magical energy was channeled into her body and felt her physical body change.
"I have fought many shapeshifters," said Shirou as he wrote on a blackboard as if he was lecturing Lili. "Shapeshifters, at least in combat prowess, all fall under somewhere between these two camps." He drew a horizontal line on the blackboard and drew two figures on each end of the line. "There is the stereotypical shapeshifter that completely transforms a monster and one that hasn't altered their bodies at all."
"Isn't the entire advantage of shapeshifting is to transform parts or your entire body into a creature that is suitable for the situation? If you don't transform at all then what is the point of shapeshifter?" asked Lili in confusion.
"What I mean earlier by 'one that hasn't altered their bodies at all' are shapeshifters who don't seem to have altered their body, at least at first glance. In fact, their transformation can be just drastic as someone that completely changed into a monster. It is just happening within the body and the outward appearance hasn't been altered at all. These internal shapeshifters their insides like muscle, bones and organs, but don't underestimate them just because their shapeshifting is not too obvious." Shirou replied. "What's more difficult to stop? Surviving in a busy street packed with people where anyone is a potential killer or you are trying to stay alive in one-on-one duel to the death."
"It is easier to survive a duel than a street packed where anyone is a potential attacker." Lili responded immediately, and after her words left her lips she felt enlightened. "The danger of an internal shapeshifter is that it is harder to guess what they are capable of compared to a monster shapeshifter where the form they take is much easier to predict."
"That is CORRECT!" Shirou smiled.
He started to draw a vertical line, straight through the previously drawn horizontal line. At the two ends of the newly created vertical line Shirou drew a human figure clad in gear and a bear.
"There are shapeshifters that rely completely only on their transformations," Shirou continued, pointing at the very top of the vertical line, which had the bear. "And there those that are still even transformed rely on items to enhance their combat prowess." He pointed at the bottom of the vertical line, showing a person fully decked out with items. "Every shapeshifters' fight style..." His hand wandered around the graph that Shirou had created."...lies somewhere on this graph."
Lili had practiced a little bit of all four styles, but that had all happened during friendly spar with Shirou in a safe training environment. It was now time to test all training for the first time against a monster inside the Orario Dungeon.
She recalled as much detail about medicine, biology and anatomy as she could. Lili also played close attention to remembering her own hands-on experience at dissecting the numerous monster corpses as Shirou's research assistant. Details that were important to the success of what she was going to do.
Her body accelerated forward at great speeds. The first monster, a small goblin, heads came clean off in one strike as if the bones and joints that made up the neck didn't exist at all. Several more heads and limbs of goblins quickly followed suit.
Lili slowed her body to a halt after she dispatched the small group of a dozen goblins. She looked down at the weapon in her hand. It wasn't anything special. Just a regular iron dagger that any adventurer would have as a weapon of last resort, but more often or not used for more mundane purposes like cutting rope, preparing food and monster dissection; all tasks not suitable for a weapon like a sword or axe.
"Lili watch-!" Bell shouted in alarm, but it was too late.
A lone orc came from behind Lili and swung its wooden club at Lili. She didn't act too surprised. The orc hadn't caught off-guard as Bell had thought. Lili brought her arms forward to protect her chest as the wooden club hit her and sent Lili flying into a nearby wall.
"Lili!" shouted Bell as he eliminated the orc with ease and quickly ran towards Lili.
"I am okay," said Lili as she slid down the wall she had smashed into and got up like there was no problem. "See?" She replied as she brushed herself as Bell distressingly checked her for any wounds. "I am perfectly fine."
"How? You are not using any armor. That shouldn't have protected you at all. Unless..." Bell stared at Lili's robes.
"They are just regular robes," said Lili as she used her dagger to cut a slit on her clothes as demonstration. "Every adventurer has their secrets, so don't think too much about why I am not hurt." Bell seemed like he was going to press on until Lili shot him a glare. "Let me show you more of what I am capable of."
Lili looked with satisfaction at the monsters that she had just taken out. What Shirou had named the "warrior build" had worked perfectly just as expected. She didn't really care about the name of "warrior build" or the nonsense about its name origins having to do with "videogames". None of that mattered as long the internal transformation worked.
She took deep breaths and flexed her body. Despite several weeks of practice with Shirou's guidance, it felt extremely strange. Her body was way more heavier than usual. Another part was that she was much more muscular. Those two things made her slightly uncomfortable for a while before she quickly dismissed that thought. Why should weight concern her? It was temporary! And something such as weight and appearance really didn't matter in the dungeon as physical and mental, or in the cases of magic users their magical, abilities were the most important things that mattered. Your weight or appearance wouldn't matter to stay alive inside the Dungeon.
As she undid her transformation, Lili could feel several things changing at the same time. Her skin became softer. Muscles started to shrink. Bones lightened. All of that didn't matter so much as her much as her organs. In particular she paid most attention to her heart and lungs. If anything went wrong with those then the consequences would be immediate and could, Shirou had gravely warned, lead to a dire situation ranging from immediately to within several minutes.
"Lili," said Shirou in a very serious tone as he stared at Lili with a grave expression. "Shapeshifting can have very dangerous consequences if not done properly. It is one of the reasons why shapeshifters are very rare. You are altering your very bodies."
"Really?" Lili asked innocently as felt that Shirou was taking the topic way too seriously. "I never had any problems with shapeshifting that could harm my health."
She was about to continue when Lili suddenly remembered when she first received and started using Cinder Ella.
"You had some bad experiences while first learning to use Cinder Ella didn't you, Lili?" asked Shirou as if reading Lili's mind. "Well it should have been nothing too serious given how you currently don't have any problems with your body and mind." Lili stared at Shirou, but he ignored it and continued on. "Tell me what was the worst experience you had when you started learning to use Cinder Ella."
For a moment, Lili thought of outright denying that she never had any problems learning Cinder Ella, but she stopped herself from blurting out the lie. She was not talking to a stranger or an acquaintance where telling an embarrassing part of her life would be used to humiliate her. This was her friend, not her patron god no matter how he acted, that cared deeply about her.
She took a deep breath. "I never encountered any problems with shapeshifting that might have endangered my health." Lili blushed and resisted her instinctive urge to
not talk about it, but she suppressed it. "There were several instances where I tried to transform into other races but the transformation didn't work out well. For example I tried to transform a Cat People but my cat ears didn't work or the tail didn't come out right. Thankfully, I was able to reverse any mishaps. It was only a matter of effort and time, no matter how bad the mistake was."
"Well this wasn't what I had expected," sighed Shirou. "I had been expecting something more serious. Nothing too bad that might have threatened your life, but accidents that could have permanently scarred you." He suddenly looked at Lili in a jealous manner. "Falna makes everything so convenient. If you hadn't received the assistance that comes with the divine blessings known as Falna then you would have faced several dangerous situations learning even the most basic forms of shapeshifting."
"Shapeshifting is that dangerous!?" shouted Lili in alarm as a seed of fear about shapeshifting started to form.
Shirou nodded his head. "Shapeshifting alongside the more fickle forms of magic like divination (future-peering) magic are incredibly difficult to master given their potential to harm their practionitors." He paused as he stared into Lili's eyes. "You are manipulating the very essence of your body. What if you alter something like your brain or other organs incorrectly? I don't think I have to explain the consequences of that..."
"Eek!" shrieked Lili as she could imagine the gruesome results. She then subconsciously blurted out in fear, "Should I stop using Cinder Ella then?!"
"I would have warned you to stop using Cinder Ella if you had learned it the old fashion way," Shirou shook his head, "but that is different if you learned Cinder Ella through the Falna system."
"Will it be safe to use Cinder Ella then if I learned it due a Falna?"
"The Falna system isn't perfect," Shirou started to smile, "but it greatly reduces the dangers of learning normally dangerous magic and abilities if you had learned through the old fashion way. Falna is also called Divine Blessings for a reason." His smile started to crack. "Shapeshifting via Cinder Ella shouldn't be a problem for most cases..."
"Most cases! You mean to say that there is a chance a mishap might cause a horrible accident?!"
"It depends on the level and complexity of the shapeshifting you're trying to attempt. Tell me what level of shapeshifting you're capable of first before I answer more on the question..."
Lili sighed remembering how ignorant she had been about the dangers of shapeshifting prior to Shirou's tutelage on the subject. It had rather been a miracle that she had never suffered any serious injuries or accidents. Not only had she learned about the dangers of shapeshifting, but she had gotten better and learned ways to reduce the chances of shapeshifting accidents down to a point that unless Lili was rushed or not focusing properly on the task then shapeshifting shouldn't be dangerous.
Since the "warrior build" worked so well then she needed to try out the other "builds" that Shirou had helped devise.
She took a deep breath to inhale the Mana in the air. Lili smiled as she thought about the other things she had learned from Shirou that was not about shapeshifting or adventuring. The world of magic had also been opened to her. She had learned about the basics of Od, Mana and etc.
"Oh, you know Mana Breathing too!" exclaimed Bell in excitement.
Lili looked at Bell in surprise. She had almost forgotten about him since she had spent time recalling the past. A brow rose as Lili stared into Bell's eyes.
"Where did you learn Mana Breathing from? I thought it was a unique skill that only my patron god could give since I had never heard about it before learning from him." asked Lili.
"Really? It's that rare?" Bell rubbed his head in confusion. "According to my Uncle, any good mage should know how to do it."
"Every mage knows how to do it?" Lili's eyes wondered. "No, that can't be right... If that is true then why would mages use Mana Potions? There are also different types and grades of mana potion that affect all sorts of functions of mana potions like how much Mana can be absorbed through drinking and etc."
Her shoulders drooped. For a moment, Lili had thought she had been special. That she had learned only something that Shirou had known. The melancholy didn't last long when she recalled how childish she was being. So what if someone else knew Mana Breathing! She had learned many things that she doubted anyone had learned before from the newest god in Tenkai!
"So, how come you learned Mana Breathing?" She glanced at Bell's body. "You don't seem to be lacking in the stamina department."
"Maybe by your or most adventurers' standards, but not according to my Uncles." Bell shook his head. "My Uncle would often say that if the normal person had an Od count of 1 and I was 10, but I was lacking. I should look at trying to get an Od count of 100 to be considered a proper adventurer."
Lilí's mouth dropped open. Bell's Uncle's standards were way too high! The average adventurer, while superior to the normal person, almost like a superhuman in many ways, was about two to three times better. If an adventurer was hundred times better than the average person they would be counted amongst famous adventurers that everyone in Orario know of.
She was about to ask what other lofty standards that his Uncle might have when Bell prepared to fight a new wave of monsters that were approaching.
"Let me handle it," said Lili as she placed her hand on Bell's shoulder before the boy could dash off. "I want to try another build."
She took in deep breaths to finish the Mana Breathing that had been interrupted earlier. According to Shirou, a very skilled user of Mana Breathing could supplement their Od with Mana to reduce the drain on someone's stamina such as during combat. And a master would not feel the slightest drop in their stamina if they used only Mana instead of the usual Od to fuel their body and mind. Lili was far from reaching a medium or superior level of proficiency in Mana Breathing, but she had learned enough to recover some of the Od she had previously used in fighting and shapeshifting earlier.
Many adventurers would kill to learn Mana Breathing, and it would completely ruin the Mana Potion industry if it became widespread, thought Lili as she prepared to unleash another Build upon the new monsters.
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Thank you for reading!