Botan woke up on the morning of the fourth day with none of the enthusiasm he had before. Before, things were new and exciting. In many ways it still was, but… with a bit of luster removed, the situation was showing itself for what it was. The soreness piled up each day, he was still fighting alone, and all this political backstabbing was happening around him and he was supposed to just level up and ignore it? This was still better than being dead, but the novelty of this world wouldn't charm him forever.
"What do I do long term?" That question swam around in his head the whole morning. As he ate breakfast, he tried stopping himself, after all, that forward-facing worry was how he lived his first life and it wasn't very productive. Unfortunately, habits were hard to break.
He had a slow start due to soreness and a lack of sleep. By the time he was up and moving, the time he had to capture the city via drawing was gone. That would have lightened his mood, but it didn't happen. Not only that, but not as many people seemed to be out and about today, he wasn't sure why. That only added to a growing feeling of loneliness and isolation that had begun to set in.
With a nasty feeling beginning to well up, he decided to get lost in his job. He had a lot to worry about, but he couldn't think about it. He got back to leveling up.
Day four saw him heading west from town and quite a bit further as well. Once he hit level 7, he could finally use the [Grass Blade]. Using that felt good for a while and helped his mood a bit. Using a katana to fight was more novelty for him to appreciate. Westward seemed to be wetlands, then into marshes, then later still into swamps if you traveled far enough. It'd take most of a day's travel to reach the swamps, so he'd head no deeper than the marshes.
Things were going better than days prior. Botan was still fighting monsters between levels 1 to 6, but was level 7 himself. With some of the pressure off of him, he began to reset his mood again. "Maybe it's only rough at the beginning?" Botan thought hopefully.
As Botan weighed his circumstances, he became lost in thought… again. He traveled further without noticing or caring that the weather seemed to get cloudier and the wind picked up a bit. He hit marshes just as the rain began to pour. It took the rain for him to be pulled from his thoughts. He switched to the [Lilypad Umbrella] form. It helped. His situation worsened when a new monster appeared. He used his [Scrying Marble] on this new enemy, as he did on each new enemy.
[Dynamice]
[Level 7]
"Wait! That name!" Botan scrambled to kill it quickly.
The monster chattered its teeth to throw sparks at Botan. He ran through it and swung. Only after he attacked did he realize he was still using [Lilypad Umbrella], so the damage was much lower than he anticipated. He tried switching, but switching between weapon forms took too long and he saw the monster's fuse tail was already half burnt away. He had no choice but to swing again and again, hoping to kill it fast enough.
After the fifth hit, he saw the EXP notification indicating that he managed to kill it in time.
"Holy shit… I nearly-" BOOM!
While the monster was dead, the bomb apparently wasn't. Botan was knocked off his feet and into a tree. The hit was hard and he heard an internal 'crack'. His ears were ringing, his eyes watery, and it took him several moments to remember which direction was up. He laid against the tree a few minutes before managing to stand. He switched his weapon to something useful for combat and ignored the downpouring of rain that had intensified.
He found no remains of the monster, meaning nothing to have gained from that. He was becoming more and more frustrated. He didn't remember his drop menu and just started getting mad. "That hurt. Like it really really hurts! And I killed it first, that's BS. And if the damned flower could switch faster, I would have-" He continued making excuses without recognizing his own mistakes.
After ranting to himself to no benefit for a bit, he cooled off and continued. He started seeing a lot of monsters hunkering down or running away, but somewhat larger monsters seemed to become active now, using the storm to move closer to town. This would be Botan's first shot at a monster that wasn't decidedly a small-fry.
Botan fought whatever crossed his path, taking extra care to finish off dynamice the moment they were spotted. He was trying to get back into the groove, but about 20 minutes into the storm Botan began to realize his blunder. Magic was caused by motion, and what causes more motion than weather? Botan saw lightning begin coming down nonstop all over the place. He questioned it at first but got his answer quickly. Lightning struck a tree near him and split it in two. While it wasn't impressive, Botan saw how the tree almost came apart, pieces flying everywhere. Upon closer inspection, Botan saw it was the same dark wood from the night before.
It could be that the lightning was just so strong it overcame the defense, but based on how the wood almost fell apart, Botan came to the conclusion that the lightning was magical. Meaning that storms, earthquakes, tsunamis… All major natural disasters created countless magic effects throughout. This meant that weather was a bigger deal than he first considered.
Botan had no choice but to flee and find somewhere to hide from the storm as well. He crawled for a while, seeing all manner of chaos happening above him. After a bit, he found a large tree with a large root system. It created an ideal hole for him to slip into. However, the hole was a bit deeper than he expected, leading into a small underground opening. It was too dark to see.
[Illuminate]! Botan fired off a soft white light that slowed to a stop at the center of the area, shining over the whole small room. It appeared to be a chamber made of dirt, clay, and roots. The walls had inconsistent markings of claws, meaning a monster dug this out as a burrow. The rain and wind didn't seem to affect this place. The lip of the entrance was too high for water to get in and the tree was too sturdy to move. Botan had no choice but to sit tight and wait out the storm.
Meaning he had nothing better to do than think to himself, something he'd normally avoid.
"I'm freezing and soaked to the bone… This chainmail isn't doing me any favors." Botan thought. Rather than take the armor off as a response, he didn't move a muscle
"I'm supposed to travel between towns and eventually countries with destructive forces like that just appearing out of nowhere?" Botan failed to see the obvious warning signs of the weather changing and decided it was unfair.
"That must be why so few people were out and about this morning. Would have been nice to get a warning!" Botan blamed people for not actively warning him instead of addressing the fact that he noticed something was off and ignored it.
"Then those stupid rats…! I killed three of them, but only have two bodies to show for it." Instead of seeing it as improvement or his own mistake in weapon form choice, Botan chose to blame uncontrollable circumstances.
"Because that first one exploded… It still hurts. Even the bruises from two days ago aren't gone yet. Why the hell do I have to be so damned sore!?" Botan focused on the pain, no longer weighing it against being dead.
"It hurts as much as… hit Churri would have… Why do I have to be separated from my family? I've never left home for more than a weekend trip. How am I supposed to deal with that? How am I supposed to get back?" Botan's thoughts returned to his family and old life, more bitterness with it. He was now crying.
"Instead I'm here. In some undeveloped country that summoned me unwantedly. Working my ass off and trying to get closer to going home… If that's even possible." Botan's situation was far from ideal and now stewing in it for a while would only worsen his mood. He was shackling in anger now.
Botan almost went too far. "And I'm all alone! That's the worst part! I go out, get my ass kicked alone all day, come back and go to sleep alo-... Well, I have Tia…" He managed to look past himself. He wiped his tears away.
Botan stirred from his thoughts and looked around. He saw some dead grass and such dried out in the corner. "I have the dynamice teeth, I can start a fire.'' Instead of uselessly wallowing in self pity, Botan got to work. He began to move the dried grass to the center of the room, using [Illuminate] again to keep his workspace bright. After the third handful, he saw something in the dried grass.
"Is that a-" Botan had found a monster egg surrounded by the dried grass. It was probably meant to keep the egg warm. Botan picked it up and looked at it. It was larger than any egg he saw, between two to three times the size of his fist. At the same time, he didn't think it belonged to a larger monster. He imagined them being larger than this. He sat the egg down near his bag. He'd think about what to do with it later.
After sitting it down, he realized he was still wearing the wet chainmail. "Why am I still in this?" Botan briefly thought before removing the armor and bringing more of the dried grass over. Once he was done, he looked for other things he could burn. He could only find strips of bark with very little wood, but it was all very dry, which made the next part easier. He wasn't used to cutting monsters up yet, but he had to remove the large teeth from one of the dynamice and struck them together. After only three tries, he started the fire. He used the teeth from the dynamice to do so. It was at least as good as flint and steel, but was probably better. That'd be useful in the future. He sat near the fire holding the egg, still on the last thing he thought.
"Tia… She has it rough too. Her king is dying, her son won't come home, and yet she cooks for me each night with a genuine smile on her face as she tries to help me learn magic." Botan considered, calmly reevaluating things while staring at the fire.
"Magic… Magic! I could have just hit the first dynamice with my new ranged skill the whole time… So that was my… fault… Come to think of it, I ran at the monster first. I could have switched forms first. I could have paid attention to the weather, I could have-" Botan got back on track after thinking about how Tia had it rough herself.
"I really am the source of most of my problems. If I do this though, if I just actually do something instead of just worrying about it, it'll be better than analyzing problems I'm not solving. I-" Botan was putting himself back into a good headspace and felt the egg move.
"Huh. It must like the warmth." Botan turned the egg to evenly warm the egg. "I don't know what you'll be, but if you're something like a jackknife rabbit, maybe I can keep you as a pet? A pet, yeah, that'd help a lot." Botan thought.
Even being alone without allies was easily fixable if Botan took the time to really consider his options.
"Tia has it rough, but so does everyone in the castle right now. Will has kids to feed, I only have myself to worry about. And this little one's parents look like they're long gone… In the grand scheme of things It's not that bad for me." Botan kept thinking to himself while turning the egg.
"And no one is doing this to me, but me. Tia never told me to fight for 12 hours a day. No one said I had to run such a tight ship. I did this… Which means I can fix it rather easily." Botan concluded.
"If I take a heavy hit, I'll stay closer to town the following day, taking it easier. Maybe even use some of that day to work on that magic training… In fact-" Botan sat the egg a bit back from the small fire for safety, then began to spin as Tia taught him.
He felt himself reach the position he was yesterday, then reached a different one. It felt like a better position when he was getting there, but felt worse once he went to it. He tried again and again, feeling like he was on the right track, but somehow got lost on the way to the right destination.
"It's like… It's like there isn't an optimal position at all and you have to…" Botan realized. "You have to keep moving, like this!" Botan kept switching between the three positions he kept mistaking for the supposed optimal positions. None of them were the right position, nor any spot between. "You have to keep moving, just like this. You just follow that feeling, the one that leads me to each of those three positions." Whatever feeling Botan was following, he kept letting it lead him along. The more he did so, the better he was at determining where the feeling was leading him.
After a few minutes he stopped to turn the egg again, only then realizing that he either passed 5 minutes, or was easily going to do so.
Botan could have just cried in the cave over being trapped in another world. About being injured multiple times. About being overworked and getting little sleep. About being alone, cold, and wet. Instead he managed to see what he was doing. That most of his issues were self-inflicted or easily fixable. Botan ate a bit of the leftovers he had, then applied some salves to his bruises. He pulled out his journal and made sure to capture this dirty little hole in his art. It wasn't as impressive as Weldroe, or the summoning location, but it now meant something to him.
Afterward, he held the egg as he took a nap to catch up on sleep. The fire lasted until he fell asleep, which was enough.
The storm continued to wreak havoc above Botan, but never reached him. After about 3 hours, Botan awoke to far less noise. He could see light trying to penetrate the small cave as a good sign. Botan put his chainmail bale on, which was now dry, if a little dirty. He then placed the egg in his bag before exiting the small hole to assess the damages.
A few things were different, brushes thinned, some branches snapped off, but for the most part, the area wasn't that affected. Botan found that surprising at first, but reconsidered. If this is how dangerous weather is in this world, then plants and trees are probably much tougher and more resilient in this world. From the burrow he stayed in, Botan assumed monsters also relied on the strength of the plant life to defend them from storms. Otherwise, how would anything survive these types of events? These events must happen often.
Maybe that was partially why the supposed greatest weapon in this world was visibly a plant. Because they had to be much, much stronger for the ecosystems to brush off such chaos. Botan found a bit more respect for the weapon he wielded at that thought.
He explored the surrounding area and found a few enemies he could take out easily. He found himself in luck as he could clean up monsters damaged by the storm. It may have felt cheap, but he wasn't complaining. He did this for a while, but he eventually came upon a larger enemy. It was about the size of Botan, though only ⅔ of the height. It was a creature made of shrubbery, branches and such. It was widest at the ground, almost like it built itself up. The face of the creature seemed a bit reptilian in shape, but the snout was clearly a pig's. Botan used another marble while eyeing the beast.
[Shrubblet]
[Level: 17]
Botan saw that the monster moved slowly and seemed to be picking on lesser foes that were still hurt, same as himself. "Judging by the way it moves, its speed is probably lower than normal. It probably lives in the swamp, where the high water slows his prey more. So this is a rare venture just to get the easy food…" Botan tried analyzing his foe.
Botan removed his bag and left it hanging on a nearby branch, keeping his journal and the egg safe. "If that's true, then if I keep my distance, it doesn't matter…" He readied his weapon, pointing it forward.
[Spring: Seed Strike]!
He fired off his first skill. The skill was a small yellow light shaped vaguely like a vector point that shot fast and struck the monster in the side.
"Oooooigh!" The monster turned to see his attacker, but saw nothing. Botan hid behind the tree, wanting to buy more time before he'd have to engage the enemy directly. The trees here were quite large, roughly 15 wide in diameter.
[Cooldown remaining: 43 seconds]
"One minute cooldown. I can't use just this skill to win." Botan concluded.
The monster began to circle the tree and Botan slowly went around the tree away from it. The monster was slow, keeping at a pace where its movements wouldn't cause enough noise that it couldn't hear something else move. The moment it heard Botan moving, it picked up speed and ran around the tree at him.
"That's its top speed? I can outrun that. I can't kite it yet though. For all I know, it has me beat in stamina." Botan thought.
[Shimmer]!
[Spin]!
Botan made the beast stop at the sight of [Shimmer], then sliced deeply into the creature several times with the [Grass Blade] using [Spin]. It spun around his palm and the back of his hand. It would have felt similar to when the [Flower Stem Pole] forced his hand open, but he was somehow more aware of how the weapon was going to move when using [Spin] this time. He couldn't begin to guess why.
The beast recoiled, not expecting that visual effect nor the heavy damage it just took. It stepped back a moment and readied itself, seeming quite angry. Thorns came to the surface, with some short vines moving around beneath.
Giving Botan a moment was probably meant to intimidate him into running away, but it only meant he could use his skill again. Seeing his ranged skill was ready to use, he shifted forward ever so slightly and inched his leading foot forward. This wasn't something he was conscious of doing, but didn't go unnoticed by the enemy.
"Oooooigh!" The beast roared and began charging.
Botan took advantage of his close proximity to the tree and his foe's shorter statue.
[Illuminate]! Botan shot the harmless light spell at the charging monster and took three good steps in a flat run up the tree before kicking off of it. This gave him the height to easily jump over the beast, clearing it and landing behind it. The monster rushed forward and was momentarily blinded. Before he could find Botan, he was given an answer.
[Spring: Seed Strike]!
The yellow light shot like an arrow and had struck the monster yet again. Three clean hits on an enemy without a scratch to show for it. Botan was doing pretty good against an enemy twice his level.
"Oooooigh!" The beast turned and ran right at Botan.
Botan was low on tricks with all three of the previous skills on cooldown. So he did what any brave hero would do in the face of such an issue… He ran away. Specifically, he ran just a bit faster than the monster, having it chance him around another tree. He kept running like a fool until his three skills were off cooldown. That left him pretty winded, but he thought this was going to be the end of the matter.
He spun mid stride and pointed his weapon at the pursuing beast, sliding as he spoke his skills name.
[Spring: Seed Strike]!
For the third time, a bright sharp light shot off and pierced the foe, this time in the face. Botan thought the fight was over but the monster kept charging. He then readied himself to use [Shimmer] and [Spin] again. He did so, but the beast didn't slow down from confusion like it did before.
[Spin]!
Unfortunately, the two traded blows. Botan thought he hit harder with the blade spinning to hit multiple times, but he had the air knocked out of him and was sent over the monster. Both took to the ground a moment. Botan found himself at his feet first but thought better than repeat his mistake of hoping the next attack would be a winning blow. He had enough time while the boar-like creature stood to switch to the [White Lotus Shield].
The monster didn't stand back up as much as reform itself structurally from the branches and barbs that made up its insides. It turned to face Botan. It didn't roar this time, just rushed him right away. It was clearly taking things seriously now. Botan widened his stance and prepared to be pushed back. He needed to buy time for cooldowns again.
The monster slammed into him and as expected, Botan gave way, sliding back a bit. However, he ultimately held his ground and defended himself. The monster was shocked at that and unexpectedly started running away. Botan was momentarily confused before pursuing. Botan thought the monster would just attack him like an idiot until it died, but clearly understood that if it can't tackle something, it couldn't win. Botan should have assumed that, since it showed intelligence earlier in the way it ignored [Shimmer].
"You aren't getting away!" [Spring: Seed Strike]!
And with a fourth shot, the beast went down. Botan received his EXP, so there was no mistake.
[You are now level 9]
"I-I did it! Not only did I down that bastard, but I got two levels out of it! One more level and I can do that job for Will… In fact, I can do it now. I'm stronger than other level nine adventurers." Botan allowed himself some praise.
He saw the beast was made entirely of plant life, so he decided to look at the body a bit first. He was hoping to find one plant in it that was the 'main body' or something for him to aim at in the future. He felt 'tips of the trade' and general experience was just as important. It turned the Jackknife Rabbits from a fairly difficult fight to a simple set of needed action.
He took the Shrubblet apart, seeing vines and branches all wrapped in foliage. Throughout the body was a light green plant that seemed to be the skeleton. It was long and flat, it almost looked like an underwater plant.
"That'd explain why they live in wetlands and swamps. This means slicing is better than ranged attacks. Because this is hard to hit on that thick body otherwise." Botan concluded.
.
[Shrubblet Bramble Branch]
Abilities Locked Equip Effect: Bonus: Attack + 4
.
[Shrubblet Thorned Vine Whip]
Abilities Locked Equip Effect: Bonus: Speed + 5, Skill: Hook
.
[Shrubblet Flower]
Abilities Locked Equip Effect: Bonus: Magic Attack + 6
.
[Shrubblet Life Leaf]
Abilities Locked Equip Effect: Bonus: HP Recovery (Small)
.
"Why did I…?" Botan was confused as to why the Shrubblet gave 4 different weapon forms. He had a theory, but he couldn't prove anything right now. He retrieved his bag and made sure the egg was safe before happily going along, rounding up the free bodies from the storm and the easy EXP from worn out monsters. Botan even managed to collect 8 Dynamice bodies before he had to head back. Normally he'd just absorb one right now, but he had a theory and the perfect chance to test that theory.
In one day he addressed the issues he was having, figured out the first stage of casting magic, got several new weapon forms, had a cool theory to test out, and had a monster egg he had to see if he could domesticate or sell. It was the most productive day he's had so far. Things were definitely looking up. Now he was off to Will's, then Hector's, and then Tia's.
"...I have more allies than I realized" Botan thought in passing.
.
[Otherworld Index]
Today we'll be discussing Malestorms. Malestorms are strong storms that possess the requirements to perform magic. Not every storm can, but the more powerful a storm is, the more likely it is to develop into a Malestorm. Malestorms are considered one of the more deadly natural disasters, on the same level as earthquakes and tsunamis. They are extremely rare in most of the world, but Ventus has them all the time and western Mosden has them on occasion. As Botan realized, plant-life has adapted to this threat and is just as durable as the monsters.
In fact, wood in this world is not strictly weaker than iron. Just as certain alloy blends can be very tough, one could also farm certain species of tree for equally tough material. The wood Tia used to test magic is called 'Wardwood' and it requires Malestorms to split them open to spread the seeds. In this way, these trees guarantee that if their seeds spread, it's during a storm, increasing the chances of the seed taking root.
Malestorms usually cast additional lightning that doesn't strike in the same natural way normal lightning does. So being non-conductive or not being the highest point from the ground does not mean you are safe. They can also use magical lasers, usually seen in the center of hurricanes. These pillars of light that temporarily tie heaven and earth are among the most destructive forces in the world. Few people have ever survived entering the eye of a hurricane in this world. Among those who did, only one wasn't a hero, the first king of Ventus.
For the danger they pose, dark clouds are seen as even greater a sign of ill-omen than in our own world.
And yes, the term 'Malestorm' comes from 'maelstrom' and 'storm'. This is a reference to the author's terrible sense in naming.
[Author's Notes]
And now a slow chapter where Botan unravels a bit once he's forced to take a bit to think about his situation. He was driving himself too hard and was lucky he got a chance to readjust before he crashed and burned. I'm hoping this characterizes Botan well enough. I worried that I neglected Botan as a character due to focusing too much on establishing the setting.
He has made headway in his magic training. Step two time.
He also found himself an egg. With Botan's first party member be a monster pet?
Lastly, what could Botan's theory be?
Find out, next time!
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