Chapter 123: Watching
During my time on watch, I continued to practice Noxious Grasp with the help of Ethereal Armor’s Light Plate, as well as continuously activate Regenerate whenever my Stamina got high enough in order to help heal up some of my still low Health. It’d been a while since I’d actually practiced Noxious Grasp; back when I’d gotten Exponential Reclamation, I’d also gotten Expedite at the same time, and that was the Spell I’d spent most of my Mana on since then. Any time we were traveling, everything was put toward that. So, really, I hadn’t had much time at all to use this newly-acquired Mana/Minute on the Spell.
But now that we had some downtime to rest, when we weren’t as worried about the time limit of the Demons, I could finally spend some time practicing it. Especially now that the rest of my Spells were at their Rank limits for now, it seemed like Noxious Grasp would be what got most of my attention in terms of practice until we reached the Barinruth Empire.
It didn’t take more than two hours for it to get to its thirteenth Rank, the notification popping into my mind as the smoke left my skin through my fingers and seeped through the glowing-white armor covering my body.
Threshold reached. Noxious Grasp XP has reached 844.
Noxious Grasp Rank has increased to 13.
Due to Noxious Grasp Rank reaching 13, it has undergone the following changes:
Mana Cost: From 4.94 to 5.06
Health Drain: From 18 to 18.9
Stamina Drain: From 8.99 to 9.44
The new Rank wasn’t much on its own, but the extra efficiency was always appreciated. Especially with the Venomous Grasp Upgrade, that Stamina Drain moving upward was especially important. Draining close to 20 Stamina in a single second with the Spell was backbreaking in most encounters, especially when it barely cost anything to use—around five seconds of Mana regeneration, and that was without taking Light Plate into account.
Plus, it just took me one Rank closer to 20, which would come alongside a new Upgrade for the Spell. Getting my first Upgrade for the rest of my Spells was great—it’d increase all of their effectiveness by an extreme amount—but a second Upgrade for Noxious Grasp was even more exciting. Thanks to that new Fester aspect of the Spell, it’d become a staple of my fighting style, punishing my opponents for fighting recklessly to me while simultaneously demanding they finish the battle quickly. And a new Upgrade would allow me to add yet another aspect to that. Just what would it entail?
While I pondered that, I also tried what Erani had talked to me about, focusing inward on myself and essentially meditating on the topic of Ainash. I hadn’t known her for long, and really, we’d been so busy that I hadn’t really had the time to consider what I really thought about her. I’d made plenty of heat-of-the-moment decisions, sure, but what were my real, long-term plans?
One thing I knew for certain was that we couldn’t abandon her. That was non-negotiable. We hadn’t had her in our care for long, but I knew that Erani agreed with me—Ainash was with us, and we’d make sure she had a good life. No way we were just dropping her off somewhere when we got to Barinruth.
But that was something we had to consider. We were approaching Barinruth soon, and we’d need to figure out what to do once we got there. Really, entering the Empire would cause some problems of its own right, which was something we’d have to solve.
First, there was the very obvious issue that we were fugitives of the Demons. They were hunting us, and the Barinruth Empire would sooner let us die than risk angering them. But that wasn’t an unsolvable issue. We could sneak in somehow, or maybe disguise our identities. There were plenty of ways to figure that out.
We wouldn’t have many money problems, I anticipated, because of the high Levels Erani and I had acquired. We weren’t world-class by any means—or anything even remotely close to it—but at this point, we were clearly above the Levels of your average adventurer. We’d be able to take on harder, better-paying jobs in whatever place we entered, exterminating problematic monster populations or even just doing basic maintenance for people that required someone with some high physical Stats. Both Erani and I would fit that requirement, at this point, so I doubted finding some basic work would be much of a problem.
Ainash did pose some issues, though. It was one thing that she wasn’t Human. Trying to bring a monster of any kind into a Human settlement was obviously a problem—we, as a species, historically did not work well with others. The simple fact that Humans didn’t get any XP for killing other Humans was, in my opinion, one of the reasons we were able to band together and create societies in the first place. We had no real incentive to kill each other, but all the incentive in the world to fight off anything else.
Ainash would not be afforded that basic courtesy by the System. No matter how friendly she was, people would see her and see a potential number in their notification box. And it wasn’t just an issue that some fanatic may try to kill her for XP. Just the simple fact that she wasn’t Human would be enough to scare most people off in an instant. Even mostly Humanoid monsters, like some types of Faeries, weren’t welcome at all in the Human settlements I knew of, despite the fact that they were perfectly capable of speaking, interacting, and helping out in all the ways a Human could.
And that was the other issue. Ainash couldn’t even do that much. She could communicate with us just fine, but my easy time speaking with her reminded me of the fact that pretty much anyone else wouldn’t be able to. Now, from what I understood, she’d be able to open up communication channels with others just fine, as long as there weren’t too many, but that wasn’t the issue. Really, what would the average person think if a flame-eyed forest monster walked up to them and started beaming words into their head. It’d be seen as an attack nine out of ten times. They wouldn’t even give her a chance.
So we were dealing with a mute monster that didn’t understand our spoken language, didn’t look remotely like a Human, and—the real kicker—didn’t even look like a monster anyone would recognize. She was a Draconiad, now. Not a common Nymph, not a rarer Dryad. Either of those, at least some people would see what she was. Really, if she was still a Nymph, people might actually understand that she was just an especially cooperative one. But Ainash was a complete unknown to people—a borderline mythical species at this point.
Yeah, she’d face some problems integrating with society, that was for sure. It was crushing to think about—she’d been uprooted from her own home, run halfway across the kingdom by people she didn’t know, fighting other people she didn’t know, and now, when Erani and I finally got solace, she’d be the one to bear the further burden of integrating with a Human society for the first time.
Not to mention the fact that she didn’t have very good experiences with Humans. Would she even be able to mentally deal with seeing so many at the same time? Any other time she saw a dozen people at once, it meant she’d need to draw her weapon and start killing. Sure, we could easily establish that that behavior wouldn’t be necessary by telling her, but it wouldn’t be that simple. In cases like these, instinct often trumped reason. Even if she didn’t attack, I doubted Ainash would be able to relax while around people. Would she ever be able to overcome the numerous traumatic experiences that’d been piled onto her in these past couple weeks?
But Erani and I…if she couldn’t do it on her own, we’d help her through it. At this point, I wasn’t just fighting for survival, or to have an easy life one day. Sure, that was part of it, but I also knew that I’d fight to give this kid a brighter future. These Demons, the corrupt Humans doing everything they said, they needed to go. Whether that was by convincing them to leave us alone, or by killing every last one of them like Ainash wanted, they wouldn’t keep terrorizing the world any longer.
I’d been shown in my own life that I couldn’t really rely on people. I didn’t like relying on people. I relied on my parents, and they died. Then I shut myself in. I decided “never again,” and lived my life to never have to force myself on another person again. I’d become a Classer, someone who could protect themself, work for themself, and get stronger by themself. So I forced everyone else out. I sat, put my head down, and spent every waking moment on work, training, or studying. I’d become a perfect, self-sufficient machine. That was what I’d wanted, as a kid. This teenager who fancied himself a total loner.
And then I realized I’d have to rely on people one more time in order to get my Class. It was just one more time, and then I’d be good to go. And I did. I paid those two people, Dorrn and Feiya, to help me one last time, and then I’d be good on my own forever. And so I paid them to help me get my Class. And then they died. And I was forced out into the woods on my own, tested on those same skills I’d trained for all those years.
To be honest, at the time, it was a bit validating, in a sick way. I’d spent all my life saying that, if I ever relied on others, they’d just die on me and leave me stranded in life like had happened before. And so, when I worked with Dorrn in Feiya, putting my trust into them, and they ended up dead, it was like I’d been proven right. And all of that training and learning was put to use.
But then, the Demons came. And I was forced to work with Erani. And sure, I’d already gotten to know her before, and we were even working together, but that wasn’t true reliance. It was a business relationship and a date. I wasn’t leaning on her—if she fell, I’d stay standing. But when we both fell during that invasion, we had to help each other up. And suddenly I was relying on someone again. And this time, it didn’t backfire. That awful theory, that I could never work with another person, it’d somehow been proven wrong.
When I looked at Ainash, I saw a bit of myself in her. She had her mom killed in front of her. That was sure to force any kid into a bit of a fugue state. Just like I’d been put into. But where I’d come up with the coping theory, “I can never rely on someone else again,” she’d come up with the idea that all “bad guys” were inherently evil. And Humans were a part of that category. She’d be able to work with me and Erani, sure, but we still came from that fundamentally evil people. Hells, my attitude toward her back then probably contributed toward her feelings.
But now, I felt like I could see the beginnings of her shedding that idea. That maybe, just maybe, she didn’t need to give up on Humanity yet. Perhaps there were some good people in us. And I just knew that giving her a whole town’s worth of people to interact with—people who had nothing to do with the “bad guys”—would either make or break that progress. Either they’d act with compassion, or with hatred.
It was my job to make sure she saw the good in Humanity. I wouldn’t let the enemy break her. Even if she killed every single last one of them—working with us to rid the world of the Demons—if Ainash came out of it a broken shell, never able to trust another person again, constantly on-edge and waiting for another attack, I’d have lost the war. And I wouldn’t let myself lose.
Ainash could fend for herself in a fight, but she was still a kid at heart, and it was my job, as surrogate parent, to make sure she could have a childhood. Some sort of innocence had to be preserved. Some optimism. Even if it was just a sliver leftover from a broken child’s heart. I wouldn’t let the Demons take that away from her, too.
Threshold reached.
Your Bond with Level 30 Draconiad has deepened.
Due to your Bond being deepened, it has undergone the following changes:
Stat Increase: From 6 to 8
XP Gain: From 3% to 4%
Heat Resistance: From 16.9% to 21.9%
I opened my eyes, looking around and seeing that the moon had crested the sky. Sensing inward, my Status told me that I’d regained my two uses of Time Loop for the day, and I let out a breath that I must have been holding in for hours. We were finally safe. Really, truly safe.
And then I laid my head back on the hard rock and dirt below me. I was tired, and my watch was about over. I’d wake Erani up and have her take her turn, and then I’d go to sleep.
We were maybe a couple more days away from Barinruth, and then we’d be through. But for now, I just needed some rest. It’d been a long, long day.
Ideally, the next few days would be nice and uneventful.
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