Concept ( 3 )

Anise - " The...it worked! Woohoo! "

The world seemingly shifted, the ground underneath me swapped from a foliage covered dirt to a floor of moss and stone. Though I cannot see, I cam easily tell this is Arch's home... I... can't sense anyone nearby, he hasn't arrived yet then.

- " Arch isn't here yet. Search for the trace and lead me to it... my old eyes don't work like they used too. "

Anise - " I'm... picking up on a signal... it seems to be Mana, in the field I was reborn... it seems to be Cobalt's mana? "

- " A... Are you sure? I'm not picking it up... lead us there Anise. "

Anise - " Of course! Oh, Dice... hold onto him, make sure he doesn't trip or anything! "

Dice - " Any excuse to hold onto him would suffice, come on now then Cobalt. "

Dice heralded me by my hand, we followed Anise's trail of mana... or, at least I did, Dice was likely actually just following her... it's a little hard to describe what Mana looks like from person to person, it's just a little bit different ... like a finger print.

Eventually I felt a hot presence breathing down my neck, only cooled by the aura let out by Jotun... It felt... heavy, malformed... almost like it wasn't whole... the presence I mean.

- " What is it? "

Dice - " It looks like... a small ball of dark red... "

Jotun - " It smells like blood... be careful. "

The pungent smell of blood crept into my nostrils, it was worse than anything I've smelt before... like rotten meat and milk...

Anise - " Hey uh, Cobalt... try and put some Mana into it. "

- " ... Eh-? Why would I do that? "

Anise - " Honestly I'm surprised you aren't already messing with it, anyhow... I suspect something like that would work, other wise you could use Explosive Blood type Mana. "

Dice - " Cobalt does have a tie to Asi with Mana... if this is some remnant of her then this might just work... hopefully. "

Sigh... alright. Let's do it...

Thin tendrils of mana coalesced from my core, they flung and drove themselves into the... thing. Funny enough, I can't see anything but the tendrils so... it's a little hard to describe.

Though, I did hear something.

It was, chatter. A discussion amongst... two males? One's voice is deep, his words always coming out at a slow and even pace... the other is more like a heron, brisk and energetic... with confident and hearty undertone.

...ah, I wasn't just hearing things... there is... a young-ish Lady, I can't really tell, but... she is there too, snickering at the males bickering and solemnly laughing along.

I... can't exactly make out what they are saying...

- " Dice... who are these people, what do they look like? "

Dice - " Hmm, well... there is a spiky blond haired swordsman... a large framed man with a shield... a small mage girl... there is something more though... "

- " Enlighten me. "

Dice - " That blade REEKS of Holy energy... and moreover, this... video... is definitely dated... there are players with equipment in this shot, high rank too... this must of happened before rusted blade. "

Anise - " I'm sensing more of that... energy, the same one this orb has, it's like it's stuck o to that man. "

- " We must find him then, any idea where he could be? "

Jotun - " From the looks of it, pioneer town... Demonic Continent... I've been there. "

- " How do we get there? "

Jotun - It's a long journey... it took me half a year at sea to make it across. Moreover... "

Anise - " That party isn't made of players, those are NPCs... and... on the Demonic Continent. "

Dice - " They are likely a Hero Party. That sword's rank seems to be stronger than Purin's weapon, it's likely a Hero's Blade. "

- " Enlighten me, what are we fucking talking about? "

Jotun - " Groups of dipshit kids gathered together to try and kill the Demon Lord, happens all the time. Thing is, this kid has backing with some Kingdom and Church. "

Dice - " There are very few people who have such privilege... it's second only to becoming a Crusader. "

Ugh... don't remind me, ' privilege ' was having to attend shitty parties and duel for the enjoyment of nobody... nothing about being a crusader was cool, except maybe warping, but even then I lost that half way through.

Alright then. Guess we should head... to the nearest city probably. I believe Morin is just due west of us, maybe further up north? I wonder if Anise can teleport us again...

- " Alright, that's... settled. So we have some sort of bread crumb trail laid out for us, our first thing to think about will be to get to Morin. "

Anise - " Right, we don't have any mode of transportation... how will we get to Morin in the first place? "

- " Well, I'm sure that the original car should be around here somewhere... "

Obviously Arch did not have the car in the war scenario, and likely it should be around here somewhere... Cav and Horizon took it when they broke up from the party all that time ago, but since they reformed the car should be somewhere near here.

Jotun - " So uh... who's driving? "

Oh.

Damnit Damnit Damnit Damnit Damnit Damnit Damnit Damnit Damnit Damnit Damnit Damnit Damnit Damnit Damnit Damnit Damnit Damnit Damnit Damnit Damnit Damnit Damnit

...

Alright so I guess I gotta teach SOMEONE to drive... Syn and Scarab can't... I don't think Dice would be a good fit either with her reckless and buoyant nature, Anise... maybe? Jotun probably would see a random monster and try to run it over... I guess Anise then.

- " Anise gets to drive. I'll teach you as we go. "

Jotun - " EHH?!? Come on! You are telling me I can't drive the GIANT FLOATING MASS OF METAL? I was practically born for that shit! "

Anise - " You are probably going to ram it into the first monster you see. "

Jotun - " So? "

Fair enough.

- " Fine. You wanna drive Jotun? "

Jotun - " Yeah!? "

- " Alright then. But just... stay on the road when we drive, ok? "

Jotun - "... fine. I guess I'll stay in the road... but if there is a monster on the road, I'm not stopping. Deal? "

- " Sigh... Deal. "

Alright. Now we gotta wait for Dice t-

Dice - " Found the car-! "

Speak of the devil.

Alright. Guess it's time to teach someone how to drive... but first we should do some adjustments to the car.

And... here it is.

I can't see it as usual... so to adjust it I'll... have the System help me... ick.

System, I have a few changes to apply to the vehicle... I need the material to replaced by Feather Storm Metal and the Mana Crystals reconstituted. Can you do that?

| Confirmed... making adjustments... |

| Adjustments Complete. Item augments added. |

Ey. Now this is a vehicle! I'd think it's beautiful if I could see... and, I guess I found a downside to the Mana Echolocation thing. The Visions it grants me become distorted when I move... I... don't know what to do about that.

Let's get this show on the road! First step, Morin Citadel!

Actually wait... that is the second step, first step is to teach Jotun how to drive a car.

Jeez... I hope I get my eyesight back soon.