More And More Difficult
"
"Huh~?"
"
"Maybe tell me about this some other time?."
"
"Find some other user that isn't sleeping…"
"
Huh fine, fine I was hoping to have a little break day today from finding that village but whatever. Let's see what the robot lady wants.
I mean come on I might seem like this workaholic guy that fights till he's almost dead every day which is normally true. Except on weekends. That goes for my little gem job as well. There really isn't a reason for it, maybe it's for keeping some modern-day practices with me.
Whatever it's fine it's not like it's asking me to do anything too crazy I'll just open up my stats screen real quick and~
Hmm?
Modification? Is my stats screen getting an update or something? Why on earth do I need to confirm it? I mean sure I guess I don't see why not. I'll accept.
So is that it? Because it doesn't look like much changed…
Wait a minute, was my rank always E? Was that the modification? If that's the case why did it happen oddly? I remember last night I assumed it would become rank E when I hit a PL of 500. Did it just take a while for it to activate?
Is anything else different? All my stats seem to be the same and with my stats, all that's different is that Persistence has changed from ST1 to ST2 so ya not very interesting…
Wait a minute, what's up with my gem? It's all so a different shade of blue. It's slightly lighter now. Huh, that must also be part of the 'modification'. I'm not really sure if it will do anything different other than changing looks but even if it doesn't I'm just happy I am being acknowledged for my hard work.
"Hey Akari, you awake? Ren just wanted to see-" Marissa stops in the middle of what she was saying.
I was holding my hand close to my face examining the gem when she walked in. Seeing how I was surprised when she walked in I froze up and held the position a bit longer than I should have.
And uh you see Marissa being curious about what I was looking at so intensely would look at that thing as well and looking at where her eyes were looking at, it was my gem. The problem is how she's looking at it. This person almost never gets interested in anything other than magic.
"Akari, you will follow me immediately." She says assertively.
Like normal I go through some basic counterarguments.
"And if I don't want to?"
"Then I force you," She says, surprisingly more assertive and a bit scary as well.
My normal comebacks are much more of a chill laid back type of thing but Marissa seems either super serious or super mad. I guess it could also be both.
I sit there trying to think of whether I should continue my comebacks acting as if nothing is wrong or just do as she says but her mood is way too different from normal for me to be confident with what she'll do next.
I, of course, choose the path of the least resistance and get out of my bed.
Without saying anything Marissa moves through the house only taking a few moments to look scornfully at the gem in my hand. She finally stops once we enter an unused room. The room had random papers and books scattered around and an unlit candle.
Marissa points at a chair in the room and turns her back to me. Taking her pointing as a command I decided to just sit down on the chair. In front of me are a table and another chair on the other side.
Marissa suddenly lights the candle and brings it and some type of orb to the table. She sits down at the table putting the candle and orb on the table as she does.
"Akari I need you to touch the or and say Oh divine Look into my soul and reveal what's within"
Hmm, it seems to be some kind of chant? The whole divine part kinda gives it away and reveal what's within? Come on, it's probably to see my stats or something.
I mean I basically have two choices here.
"Akari, just do it." She says in a tone I hate.
As she says that I feel a shiver run up my spine but not from fear but from something else. It feels like something I've felt before. Kinda like a weird invisible pressure.
Ahh, come on I hate it when people are this serious. It's so annoying. Looks like I only got one choice now.
I decide to grab the orb and chant whatever she told me to. Even if she does figure something out I'll figure out what to do.
"Oh divine look into my soul and reveal what's within," I say trying to sound as bored as possible.
I stare at the orb waiting. Normally when I chant or use magic I can almost feel it move inside my body but uhh I'm not really feeling anything right now…
I look up at Marissa who is just looking at the orb…
Maybe I messed up? Should I try again?
"Oh divine look-" I get cut off
"There's no need, it seems I was mistaken," Marissa says leaning back in her chair.
That weird pressure finally disappears and it seems like Marissa messed up.
I look at Marissa with a questioning face.
"You may leave."
Thankfully she gets what I was trying to say. And trust me I get out of there fast. Just before I leave I take a quick look back at Marissa. Hmm? I swear I just saw some type of light coming from her but it appears to not be there anymore.
Without risking my luck anymore I close the door behind me.
With a sigh, I walk across the small hallway to my room on the other side. At that moment I see a cat girl in the living room.
"Sup Mara remember no practice today," I say, not looking away from my door.
I know it's rude to not look at someone when talking to them but it was only a small comment that she already knew anyway.
Once finally in my room, I take a minute to take a breather and go through my stats to try and distract myself. I got stopped before I could check out everything and now that I got the time I don't see why not.
I decided to check out the flashing 'Quest' Icon in the top left to see what my next task is. And as it turns out it reads. Defeat the goblin village.
Hmm…
Welp this sucks. I almost got found out by Marissa. The quest given is almost impossible and I think Ren is getting close to completing her little spell. Something happened recently that made her demand for my money disappear so now I cant even slow her down…
I almost feel like I'm in trouble. Like Akari two is going to pop up any second now. And since I don't want that to happen I'll just fix it myself. Now if Akari two was her what would he say?
Maybe berate me for my slow progress? In that case, what do I do to fix it?
"Huh," I sigh as I think of the answers.
Welp, it looks like my weekend privileges are off. I mean that's what I have slow regain for I guess. It also looks like I'm going to have to be more personal with those goblins.
"Battles that test your strength and resolve will help you dramatically." If I remember correctly is something He said a few times.
Well, guess I got no choice now. I gotta get stronger than Marissa, make sure I'll be able to get away from Ren and beat that goblin village somehow.
I guess I'll wait till nighttime…
…
…
…
My old iron sword, Nova slices threw the air pairing the goblins' attack. The goblin stumbles back and I take that opportunity to cast an earth spell. The rock-like shape takes a moment to form but when it does I use it to throw it at the enemy.
The goblin gets hit directly in the face from the 'spell' and goes unconscious. I take that moment to walk over to it and use-.
"Mana Consume"
With that the goblin squirms as it turns into dust. I feel a weird wave hit me and then I feel something really hit me.
Another goblin had gotten behind me and had hit me with some type of blunt object. He had me on the ground rubbing the part he had just hit as I noticed he was running at me.
In preparation, I hold out my sword. As soon as it gets close to me I thrust my sword into its chest and thankfully the goblin's sword painlessly misses me.
The skin, muscle, fat, and bones are all felt as its body resists my sword from entering it. It sends ripples up my arm and into my brain. I hold on tight to the sword as the sword slowly rips through its body.
It only stops once I pull back from the now screaming goblin. I finally took that moment for a breather.
Now on the ground the goblin squirms with pain. I have no intention to leave it in this state. But before I'm able to do something the face on the goblin almost fads away. Is it some skill?
The face on the goblin disappears but not without leaving another face behind in its place. Is it some type of girl? A normal one. With black hair but with a single blue stripe in it. A friend.
The face immediately disappears as I rub my eyes only leaving the ugly goblin.
My hand will absolutely not let go of the sword. Its grip on it is way too tight. I need to calm down.
In a moment that felt automatic, I still find the strength to slit the throat of the goblin, killing it instantly.
I step back to make sure the blood splattering out of it doesn't touch me.
I take a moment to look around and realized that I was alone.
Comically I almost expect a ding-like sound to happen and a chest to appear for loot. But it doesn't.
I open my stats skill to check it out.
Strength 115
Speed 132+15
Defense 79
Intelligence 91
Quick learner(Rank E) Advanced Appraisal(Rank E) Stealth(Rank F) Mana Consume(Rank C)
Better Balance(Rank F)
It's too bad this way works too well…