…Enchantment?
And that command…chant.
The feeling she got, it was just like…Ariel? No…more potent?
Ais Wallenstein once again could not help but stare at the boy she had just come across as he let loose a howl of glee and rushed forward to meet the army of monsters shooting towards him as a massive group.
He thrust his arm out and unleashed a wave of flame that rushed towards the group, washing over multiple of them and roasting them alive.
Enchantments were rare, but Ais had seen a few, she'd even once seen a girl years back who had a powerful flame enchantment of her own.
Yet…it did not measure up to the one she was seeing right now. The closest she could approximate it to…was her own Ariel spell.
Which she was only capable of, because of her mother, because she had the blood of a powerful spirit running within her veins.
'Who is he?' Ais wondered as she stuck back, out of the way and watched.
The flame enchantment he used, was powerful and potent. As he finished roasting near ten of the monsters alive with a single wave of his hand, the boy sped up and leaped powerfully into the air.
He overshot the entire army of rushing monsters and fell like a blazing meteor towards one of the Infant Dragons.
A double handed hammer blow came down towards its head and would have crushed its large reptilian skull, if the Killer Ant did not leap into the air to block it.
Even still, despite its massive frame and enhanced power, it was slammed into the ground hard.
'It protected its ally.' Ais realised, and not for any nice reason she was sure. Because, it left the boy stopped in mid air for a moment.
A moment long enough for both Infant Dragon's to open their mouths wide and spew out a pair of huge gouts of flame towards him.
Her hand twitched towards her sword, only to stop as she heard the boy laugh, "Nice try!" he shouted and she blinked as the fire under his feet seemed to…swell?
He kicked off with it and split through the gouts of flame, clawed fingers punching into and through the eye of one of the Infant Dragons a moment later.
The dragon did not even have time to roar in pain as the clawed fingers pierced its brain and its huge body at four meters tall went limp and toppled over.
It barely even fell a meter before the boy was kicking off of its snout and shooting through the air towards the other one, fire exploding from his feet and propelling him forward.
The Killer Ant rose from the ground where it hit at the same time and shot for him, clawed hands outstretched to pierce into the boy.
Only to just barely miss, the enhanced ant monster shooting through thin air while the boy stabbed both of his clawed gauntlets up through the Infant Dragon's mouth, piercing up through its skull and killing it just like the first.
The Killer Ant let loose a furious screech as its monster comrade fell and a multitude of Bad Bats fell upon the boy.
Who merely waved his arm and lashed out with an arc of flame that slashed right through them.
It took his attention enough for the Killer Ant to rush him and the other monsters he'd overshot to regroup and as one swarm towards his back, pincering him between both.
Yet, the boy did not even spare them a glance and shot towards the Killer Ant. It lashed out with its clawed arms, only for the boy to duck underneath them and stop down on its knee.
A horrible crunching noise echoed as the huge bipedal black ants knee-like joint broke on impact and it howled in pain.
"You can't fight for shit mate." the boy laughed, even as the twin arm-leg stingers at its abdomen shot out to pierce him in a flash.
He spun around around and lashed out with an elbow that caught the enhanced ant in the jaw, wracking its skull and burying it into the ground again.
He was right. The ant was more intelligent and way more powerful than its normal brethren for sure.
But it was new and while the monstrous instincts it had allowed it to adapt to its growth easily, it did not know how to use its power to the fullest extent.
Instinct could only take one so far.
From what she saw, the boy wasn't any faster, in fact, by her estimates, he was just about even with the Killer Ant as far as speed went. But, he so easily predicted how it would attack and targeted its weak points to debilitate it in mere moments.
Despite apparently only being a level one, even if his strength did not reflect that. He knew what he was doing in a fight.
He had been in many a fight, that she was sure of.
With the ant down, he turned and shot towards the rushing monsters trying to take him by surprise, "Bada-boom!" he cried out…as a war cry?
He lifted his hands up, fire swelling into a sphere held between both of them before lowering it and thrusting both hands.
Like the first time, a wave of fire leapt from his hands, though this time, twice as big as the first, if not larger.
The rushing monsters had no chance to dodge and literally ran straight into the wave of flame, their cries of agony echoing as they were burnt alive, before going silent.
The only noise left being the roaring of the flames before they two dwindled away.
With that done, he turned away from the burnt corpses he'd just left littering the dungeon floor to look at the Killer Ant just staring at him as it clutched at its leg.
It was surprisingly quiet and still again.
Most likely, its new intelligence was warring with its instincts. The instincts of a monster were different from a mere animal, or even the monsters on the surface.
Their instinct was to kill the mortal races above all else, even at the cost of their own life.
Yet, she'd saw it before. How with their intelligence they realised they could not win and it would be smarter to run and fight another day.
The wings on the ants back began to flicker rapidly once more as the boy approached it, a sigh leaving his lips, "Guess I should have held you down a bit more and force fed you some more magic stones, would have got a better fight out of you." he mused.
He was looking down on its strength.
And it understood that.
The monster hissed through its mandibles, rising into the air with rapid beats of its wings. Instinct and intelligence were both cast aside in favour of anger.
Anger over its pride being hurt.
It did not try to be fancy or smart.
Instead, with all its might, the enhanced Killer Ant blitzed through the air towards the boy, razor sharp claws on its hands stretched out to claw into him, the razor sharp limbs thrusting from its abdomen to pierce him through.
It was a charge meant to take anything the boy threw at it head on and keep going, even if it died it would take the boy with it even with just its corpse.
In reply, the boy thrust his hand out a wave of flame erupting from it once more and washing over the charging monster.
It screeched in agony, yet did not stop, Ais could see its dark shape pushing through the torrent of flames with all its might and it erupted from the other end, corpse alight with fire.
For the first time, she saw the boys eyes widen in surprise.
…He was not expecting it to be able to do that?
Neither was she in fact.
So much so, she was not fast enough to even reach her sword before the beasts claws were inches from the boys bare neck.
CLANG!
Her eyes widened, so to did that of the Killer Ant's as its claws struck something shining blue and metal-like that appeared out of nowhere, blocking it from gouging out his neck.
So stunned was the beast, it could not react as the boys own hand shot forward, clawed gauntlet punching through its chest and coming out the other side, covered in gore and grasping a magic stone.
The enhanced Killer Ant gave a shuddering creaking groan, "Beruuuu…." before its body burst into smoke and it disappeared, all that was left of it being the magic stone held within the boys grasp
In the end, despite the intelligence it gained. A monster was a monster in the end. It was born to kill and nothing more.
Gaining intelligence did not make them see the error of their ways or anything asinine like that. It just made the instinctual murderous beasts, better at it.
And that was why, it could never have fathomed running away only to live. Only to live and kill again. That was its existence and why it charged as it did and died for it.
As it deserved.
The boy in her gaze touched at his throat, eyes wide and staring at the magic stone in his grasp, "…Alright, I take it back, you actually were a bit of a threat in the end. I got lucky there, if not for my power I would've been dead." he spoke and Ais' brows furrowed.
It sounded almost like he was complimenting the monster for almost managing to kill him with its suicidal charge.
And then…he brought the hand holding the magic stone in it to his mouth, opened it.
And bit down, his teeth crunching straight through it as if it were a piece of candy.
'Eh?' if Ais tilted her head to the side anymore in her puzzlement, she would topple over.
Why…was he eating it?
Right in her view, he munched down on the magic stone, breaking it down into tiny crystal fragments and then swallowed.
Before turning around and walking to the corpse of the Infant Dragons and tearing out their magic stones…and then eating them as well as their corpses burst into black smoke.
Before turning on his heel and making his way towards the monster corpses and one by one, tearing out their magic stones and…eating them.
'Do magic stones taste good?' Ais wondered. She'd never thought to eat them before.
Were they full of nutrition or something? Or was it some kind of dominance thing like Bete loved to brag about over 'weaklings'?
Wouldn't it hurt actually? He was swallowing sharp stone shards after all.
Ais continued to stare as he picked up the few drop items left over from the corpses and made his way over to the pile of them.
With no monsters in sight, Ais moved, making her way over to him as he piled the drops up properly and admired his loot.
"…Why did you do that?" she asked when she got behind him.
The boy jumped, whirling around, a fist lashing out on instinct, "Jesus-fuck Mary and Joseph!" he exclaimed as he did.
Ais caught his fist easily, noting that even without that flame enchantment the punch was well beyond what any level one should be capable of.
He stared at her, mouth agape.
"…Sorry for startling you?" she said. It was polite to apologise, she gave him a scare after all.
"What the fuck?" he mouthed, "Ais Wallenstein, the hell are you doing here?"
"I was returning to the surface and saw you?" she replied. What else would she be doing?
He continued to stare at her, before sighing and pulling his hand back, "Of fucking course, just my luck I run into the crazy Sword Princess already," he huffed in pure annoyance and Ais found herself frowning a bit, she wasn't crazy, was she? He looked her up and down, before shrugging, "Eh, you're alright, but you don't compare to Hestia at all. Dunno what that idiot was smoking, he totally needs his eyes checked."
Hestia? That name was familiar.
Wasn't that the goddess Loki didn't like? She met her once if she remembered right, after she had just descended.
Still though…
"Rude." Ais pointed out simply. She didn't know what he meant by not comparing to the goddess Hestia, and had no idea who he was talking about and why smoking was involved, but she could still tell, he was rude, "…Also…I am not crazy."
Why did people always say that?
The boy stared at her for a moment, before sighing and nodding, "Yeah, it was, wasn't? Sorry, my bad." he apologised.
"Okay…" Ais nodded, accepting his apology, "Why did you make an enhanced species?" she asked again.
He quirked an eyebrow at her, before shrugging, "I was looking for a good fight to be honest and testing something out," he replied honestly, "It doesn't look like there's a single monster that will be able to challenge me properly right up to the Goliath, except it goes in reverse there and I can't take it right now, though I have few ideas if I need to."
He was…surprisingly straightforward and upfront with his answers. Odd…maybe?
'Mmm.' she nodded at his words. The strongest he would encounter until the Goliath, would be a minotaur, but from what she saw, he would have no problem dealing with one or even a few of them.
"How are you so strong…while only a level one?" she asked, his answer letting her latch onto the topic.
"I work out." he gave her a smirk and held up one arm, flexing his muscular bicep.
Ais tilted her head to the side, and blinked, "…A lie?" she wondered. If a level one could get so strong from just exercising their body, level two's and above would not be so rare.
"No, just not the whole truth," he snorted and then looked her up and down, examining her. For some reason, she felt his gaze was stripping her bare and felt her spine straighten up in response, "You might be pretty sword princess, with some incredible thighs, but that won't have me giving up familia secrets and all."
…Ah?
Ais looked down at her legs clad up to the thigh in long blue boots and gazed at the flesh of her thighs for a moment.
What did her thighs have to do with anything?
Well, he at least did confirm he was level one.
"Does it have to do…with you eating those magic stones?" Ais asked next. If not, did he really just have a taste for them?
That would be weird.
The boy said nothing for a moment and crossed his arms as he stared into her eyes. she stared back blankly.
"…Should I, or shouldn't I?" he mused aloud, debating with himself out loud, apparently uncaring if she heard or not, "It would probably be best to clear it up in advance with you just in case, y'know?"
…No, Ais did not know at all what he meant.
She nodded anyway though.
"Alright, simply put, it's a skill of mine," the boy revealed with a shrug, "The strongest skill in existence actually. I get stronger by eating the magic stones of monsters and even gain their abilities like breathing fire and the like."
Oh.
…That was a really strong skill. But, was not something that would help her at all.
Ah, too bad.
Disappointed welled in her stomach.
"Even…that enchantment?" she asked, curious despite herself. It was so very similar to her Ariel, and she'd never seen a monster with such an ability before. The thought of a monster having a similar ability made her lower stomach roil with the beginnings of a black flame.
Perhaps…an enhanced species like that Killer Ant? Maybe an Infant Dragon?
"Nah, that's from another skill I have, the best skill actually, I just got it earlier and it was the reason I came down to test it out down here." the boy shrugged.
He had a very high opinion of his skills it seemed.
Very…odd though. He was only level one, and he had two skills? That was weird. Especially two that were so…potent. A
…And there was the possibility he had more.
She was level five and had been an adventurer since she was seven years old and only had one skill.
"How long…have you been an adventurer?" Ais asked, head tilting to the opposite side.
"A few weeks." he answered without hesitation.
A few…weeks? A few weeks and he was this strong, with such potent skills?
"How…I don't…understand." Ais blinked, confused.
"How I got so strong or how I got my skills?" he asked in return.
"Yes." she nodded.
Had she been…doing everything wrong all this time? If she hadn't, it didn't make sense how he'd be able to do as he did and she couldn't. The falna wasn't supposed to pick favourites like that.
"As far as my first skill goes, it's apparently an innate trait to my soul, so no luck there for anybody else," he replied, "The second one though, that was born from the love between me and my goddess, Hestia, the best goddess by the way."
…As he'd said before, yes.
"Born from love with your goddess?" she repeated slowly, "So…I'd get a skill if I loved Loki?"
That made some sense, she guessed. Since she did have Loki's blessing on her back. Maybe loving Loki…would increase their compatibility, maybe?
"It's possible But, you're thinking about it wrong. Honestly, you're a bit of an airhead aren't you?" the boy snorted, "Like, that's never been a secret, but I didn't think it was that bad."
She wasn't that bad…was she?
Honestly…it didn't really matter in the end.
"I'm thinking about it wrong…meaning, you know the correct way?" she asked, her ears perking.
"Well yeah, it's not that complicated a system," the boy snorted, "Any power gamer from back home worth their salt could break the Falna over their knee and absolutely bust it and make even the first rate adventurers in your own familia look completely untalented."
What an…arrogant statement.
And what was a 'power gamer'? Some form of talented warrior from his home? It would have to be a place full of utter monsters to make the likes of Finn, Riveria and Gareth look untalented though.
But…if he was telling the truth, then-
"Do…you know how I can get stronger, faster?"
He raised an eyebrow at her, "Most likely," he shrugged, "It depends on how you want to get stronger though. Do you want to gain new skills? Do you want to increase the speed the stats on your falna go up? Do you want immediate combat effectiveness, or hell, do you just plain old want to level up?"
"Yes." she replied instantly.
…The way he spoke of it all so casually, it resonated with her. He really did sound like he knew exactly what to do and what she needed to do to get stronger.
When she thought about like that, then, perhaps, it was no wonder this boy had such an innately powerful skill unique to him and had already gained that powerful enchantment skill as well in only a few weeks of being an adventurer.
"…Yes to what?" he gave her a weird look.
"Yes to all of it," Ais reinforced, giving the boy a determined look, "Can you teach me how to…break the falna over my knee and become a 'power gamer'?" she quoted his words back at him.
Any typical level five would never take advice or ask for training from a mere level one. Especially from one from another Familia. But, Ais didn't care. She would do anything to get stronger and stronger and stronger.
So she could take back what she lost.
His gaze turned dry, "Are you kidding, do you know how much effort that would take?" he retorted, "Especially with you? You'll be the hardest of all to train in getting good this way."
He rolled his eyes, "And that's not even taking into account you're from a completely different familia, one that belongs to a goddess that hates mine because she's jealous she isn't Bestia."
Yes…she supposed Loki would be a problem if she found out, but-, "What do you mean…that I'd be the hardest to train?"
"You're about as mentally flexible as a rock," he huffed, "The best I could do with you is raising your stats, level ups and some immediate combat ability increases. You're a lost cause when it comes to skills though, which means you'll never have an optimal build and will just be a failure in the end. I don't wanna waste my time with that. Not to mention, what's in it for me? I've got my own stuff to do you know, I'm the captain of my own familia after all. I can't just waste my time for you."
Were skills truly that important…that he believed her apparent inability to teach her how to get more, made it useless to help her?
"Are…skills that important?" she asked. While it was true they were helpful, her most potent combat abilities came from her stats, level ups and her enchantment magic.
Could she not just focus on them? She'd had the urge to ask as such, but she felt, if she did, she'd lose…something with this boy she wanted to teach her.
So she swallowed her instinctive first response and asked what she did.
"….The fact you even have to ask that, tells me how lacking you are mentally," he sighed and Ais resisted the urge to pout at the boy, "Look, as far as the falna goes, in reality, not a single part of it is more important than another, they all synergise, but other parts of it show their worth more at different points. Early on magic and higher stats and level ups especially show their worth, but later on, down the line, the skills really show their worth. You might be strong for a level five. But I guarantee you right now, that if you were level seven, with the exact same stats as Ottar, he'd still absolutely demolish you in a fight."
So, it was something like that, huh? She could not deny, that if something like that did occur, she could not see herself defeating Ottar. And apparently, if this boy was right, her strength would seem lacking in comparison the higher levels she got, because of her lack of skills.
"How…do I get more skills?" she asked.
The boy sighed, running hand almost tiredly through his short spiky hair, "Emotional experiences and raw desire," he replied, "Love, idolization, lust, rage, despair, hatred. All these emotions that effect you during pivotal moments, profound emotion in these times, is a trigger for skills."
'…Oh…' Ais' eyes widened ever so minutely.
Avenger. Her skill.
Her utter hatred of monsters made manifest on her falna. Which was born because of…her past. What happened to her parents.
"Then there's the raw desire. If you pursue something with an intense enough emotion, even the desire for a skill itself, if the emotion is pure and strong enough it should manifest in a skill." he continued.
Wait…that didn't seem right.
She blinked, "I…don't think you're right on that point." Ais pointed out. If it worked like that…shouldn't she have gotten a skill by now in regards to her desire to take back what she'd lost, "…I've been wanting something for as long as I've been an adventurer, working towards it every day…but I've not got a skill revolving around…it."
It had been all she was working towards after all.
"And?" the boy snorted, "Just because you wanted it and worked towards it doesn't mean squat. It's how it effects you as a person. This is why I said you'd be the hardest of all to help this way. It's no secret after all, that you're like a doll with no emotion. I'm betting whenever you think of what you want and are working towards, you squash the thought and the emotion revolving around it because it hurts to much to think about."
He pointed a finger at her, "You refuse to allow yourself to feel, as such, you're empty inside," he declared, "You've got nothing in you to fuel a skill and that's why you've never gained one regarding that. Not that I really blame you, whatever happened to you, must have been horrible for you to end up blank, but the falna doesn't care about it being unfair, the falna only cares for what you fuel it with. Experiences, effort and emotion. You only give two out of the three, and that's why you'll forever only be two thirds as strong as you could be."
…Ah.
Ais, did not know what to say in response that. But, she understood what he meant now.
"So…I'm a lost cause?" she asked. Because…just because she'd learned exactly why she'd never gained another skill since the day she'd become an adventurer, didn't mean she could just fix it easily.
She didn't even know how to feel properly anymore. She'd long since cast her emotions aside for strength. The only strong feeling she could remember the feeling of now, was the black flame that enveloped her core.
Everything else…was simply going through the motions.
"…Ugh, don't give me that pitiful look," the boy looked away, rubbing at his neck, "Damn it, I'm such a sap. Fine, fuck it, I'll help you out and help you get stronger. But not for free, this is a transaction alright?"
She blinked, a small fluttering sensation briefly twinkling in her lower belly, before it disappeared, "Okay…I'll give you anything you want."
"Ugh…first lesson, watch what you promise," he pinched the bridge of his nose and gave her a dry look, "Don't go promising stuff like that willy nilly. What if I abused that and demanded you become my woman in return or something?"
"…Ah…" her mouth hung low a bit, "Yes…I understand." she would have complied if that was what he wanted in return for letting her gain the strength she thought she could from him, there were very few things she would not do to get strong enough to achieve her goal, but, she understood at least.
"I've really got my work cut out for me here," the boy took his fingers from his nose and pointed at her, "Alright, I've already gave you a lesson straight up when it comes to skills, so I'll have you repay me for that now."
"…Okay," Ais nodded, "What do you want me to…do?" she tilted her head to the side.
He grinned widely, "I just want you to watch my back, you're at least strong enough to keep me from dying in this regard," he replied and held his hand out for her to shake, "The name is Caelan Odhar, captain of the Hestia Familia, and we're heading back down deeper. I want to pick a fight with the Goliath and see if I can beat it, I'm feeling pretty confident with you as a safety net."
She blinked, taking his hand and shaking it, "…Are you…trying to level up?" she asked. A level one, beating the Goliath, or even just managing some decent damage on it before she finished it off, would surely be enough.
The now named Caelan just snorted, "Nah, I can already level up, I just want a good fight toots."
…Toots?
And here we go, back with...chapter 13? Yeah, 13 I think.
I'd talk more right now as I usually do. But I'm just gonna apologise for the long wait, been a bit busy with things going on as you know and getting back into the swing of things writing wise. That plus I just spent all night writing for Systematic shinobi and got a chapter down for on the big P to the eon. It's Six in the morning and I've got the gym in a few hours, so I need to get some sleep in to rest up before then. Meant to be in bed like fuck hours ago man.
Seriously, I need to go take my dog out and everything first as well before then. My schedule is all out of whack. But, the grind is as always, eternal and we must never skimp on offering our bodies to it.
As always, if you wanna read ahead and before others you can on my Pa-atreon.
Anyway, shameless Pa-atreon plug. I've got one, go by the same username on there, easy to find and all that jazz. Support me if you want, it'd be swell, but don't feel pressured lads and ladies, I'll be uploading my stuff outside it regardless and not keeping it all behind a paywall or anything like that.