Chapter 8: The first quest
"Because my reach is short, I've been practicing fast and nimble battle style, Master! I was also forced to learn close combat because I can't bring out too much of my mana outside." Louise explained more of her battle style, sharing some bits of her past, which sounded interesting.
Her memories were full of holes, but nothing punctured the first twenty years of her life.
It meant that despite having a unique case of memory loss, at least the first two chapters of her life were intact, and she seemed to have trained arduously for most of her teens and early twenties. Louise would cure her amnesia with her crystal memories in her hands — that was the only way to mend her and bring out most of her potential.
"We can try kicking together- Ah…."
Talking so casually and freely was relieving, but Louise quickly realized that she'd stepped over her boundaries, becoming overly excited. In the end, she was a slave and didn't know what had happened to her before The Oracle got a hold of her card.
It was scary.
What if she had been the same as today? What if the Human Emperor, a man whom she feared and whose title was etched in her heart, did the same to her before?
Louise grew silent, dropped onto her ass, and started crying again. She had been feeling so great, and it all crumbled instantly, her heart aching too much. She couldn't bring her face up and look at Leon, who stood silent and simply looked after her and their surroundings.
His silence angered Louise, too.
How come he couldn't find proper words now? He had been doing that all day!
After crying for an unknown amount of time, Louise despised her master. When she became used to this new pain and disappointment, Louise wiped off her tears and looked up, only to find him staring at her deeply.
Leon parted his lips when they saw each other in their eyes, "You did well."
"Ah…" Louise's broken heart instantly healed while her blue eyes seemed to tear up again.
"I know it's hard to overcome your fears. I myself needed… a near-death incident and the tests. I won't fabricate any tests or tough times, though. I am not that cheap, Louise." Leon extended his hand, allowing himself to pat the fox girl.
He'd been stopping himself from close contact, knowing it was not a time yet. And now, all his patience rewarded both him and Louise, for tears streaming down her cheeks were surely too warm.
'A good comprehension… I'm using it for a good cause, am I not?' Leon questioned inwardly while Louise reached for his hand to hold him dearly. He felt like he was pretty manipulative, but was he really?
Leon wanted good for both of them.
"Master…"
"Yes?"
"Your kick was cool."
"Thanks."
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"I have a skill called the Nine Fire Spirits Art that I can't use, Master…." Louise opened her system and showed her profile to Leon, showing all her skills, which were mostly sealed.
Her abilities were mainly unavailable because of her low level and lack of memories. With memories, the experience comes, so Leon understood that.
Amnesia in another world was really dangerous.
But the skill she showed him was actually something she naturally couldn't use. It required a splendid mana control.
[Nine Fire Spirits Art(Legendary): An user can produce, store, and summon nine empty legendary fox flame spirits.]
"It's a skill from the far past and created by the lady known as Amaterasu. At that time, female foxes were notorious for stealing husbands from other races and playing with them. When they were done with their prey, female foxes sucked off the man's soul and sealed them in their arts. Amaterasu was inspired by those arts and formed her own, developing the skill that is now legendary. There's a legend that she has created nine suns with millions of human souls as a punishment for hunting her kind. The souls inside went through an unimaginable ordeal while the humans outside and their lands became dry and barren." Louise slowly and carefully explained.
"Locking and punishing souls inside… It's a concept for a future, isn't it?" Leon asked himself and Louise, believing this skill would only be akin to flying fireballs of a higher quality for the current him.
In fact, if it weren't for the system message from his class, Leon would be doubtful of his chances of summoning a fire concept.
"Master won't know until he tries," Louise replied and looked at Leon with faint anticipation, for more would make her repeat her mistake.
Leon nodded and used the skill through a combination of his will and system. Something within his soul stirred, and a soul connection in the form of a blue chain appeared between him and Louise. That chain went from his heart to hers, a genuine and equal connection.
"Go ahead, Master," Louise reassured her master, telling him she wouldn't mind if he were to hurt her or steal some of her mana. At this point, she understood that she'd stepped on a warm and free path, Kindling Path and that Leon needed her skill and help to progress.
Even if it'd hurt her in the future, no one, including Louise, could blame her for this choice.
Having her word, Leon carried on with the process. The chains rattled, Louise's mana went through the unique connection, painting it scarlet, and Leon felt a new, hot feeling dwelling within his heart. In the next second, nine flame spirits slowly escaped from within his heart, floating around him.
Leon flawlessly felt them under his control.
To show it to Louise, he made those nine flame spirits circle around his hand, then made an 'O' above his palm. At last, Leon asked Louise whether she wanted to touch them, she nodded, and he sent them in her direction. His flames naturally didn't hurt her.
Louise experienced their faint warmth, then flicked one of them. Of course, those were empty spirits, so they moved the way Leon wanted them. So when it looked like Louise was playing around with the new kind of flames, both of them actually enjoyed their presence — Louise was aware of it.
"Master has so much potential…." Louise faintly uttered, seemingly in a daze.
Seeing that she had it all under her control, Leon agreed with her, "The same goes for you."
And while these two slowly immersed themselves in their moment, presences around the forest lurked in silence and bushes, having their eyes cast on them.
When their moment to attack came, Leon's whole body became uncomfortable and itchy!
"Attack!" Leon warned Louise, whose fox ears twitched and went erect.
Both of them stood up, then Leon promptly grasped Louise's wrist and ran away.
A few breaths later, the ground behind them exploded like a volcano. Only a deep hole was left, nothing more, and Leon knew they would have been gone, too, if he hadn't reacted fast enough.
At last, the enemies came out from the shadows.
[You've received a quest from the system.]
[Quest: The First Undead Enemies.]
"Pleased to meet you, the otherworlder," a skeleton wearing a riddled cape said, his red orbs of eyes looking at Leon with an unfamiliar hatred.
Why would he hate Leon? Was it because… he was a human?
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