"Are you doing all right there, Naz? You've been spacing out in front of the smithy for a while now," Reino asked, having noticed the guard captain function practically like a statue for his business, the illusion of him being a statue only broken by the dumb, blank stare in the captain's eyes that no competent sculpter would willing put on their creation.
"Y-yeah... I just got the shock of my life, just now," Naz murmured, the aftershock still lingering in his mind, similar to a snake coiling its prey with how strong the lingering sensation was. With a reserved but amused sigh, Reino looked upon the razzled town guard captain, a feeling of concern laced in layers of joy at the guy's discomfort.
"You're referring to Zalroth's Miko friend, I take it?" Reino asked amusedly as he leaned against the smithy's entrance doorframe, a childish grin pulling at his face while awaiting Naz to register what he had just asked. The guard captain almost tripped over his feet at the reveal, but managed to catch himself before he could make a scene of himself in public.
"And here I thought him being strong while not being an adventurer was the most shocking thing... about him?"
Taking a moment to glance around, Naz noticed the distinct lack of the two who had caused the pause in brain activity, only adding to his confusion and Reino's amusement on his break. Scratching the back of his head, Naz puzzledly uttered, "Wait... where'd they go?"
Meanwhile, back in the mines again, Zalroth dashed to a halt beside some large boulders of iron and darker shaded stone, all with large melted cuts in them, that were once common golems before being defeated. Raising a hand, Metsu identified the golem pieces to be ones she hadn't used her subjugation and recruitment skills on, given the pop-up screens above them being a dead giveaway to the fact.
[Activated Skill: Shadow Subjugation]
[Activated Skill: Radiance Recruitment]
[Activated Ability: Copy Compression]
[Metsu Aquired: Copy Points]
[Metsu Gained: 56 Shadow Points]
[Metsu Gained: 66 Light Points]
"You could've used Nero to help you," Zalroth grumbled, at having to carry two individuals on his back as he rushed through every single tunnel of the cave's highest floor. At the behest of Zalroth's question, Metsu awkwardly chuckled, struggling to find the right way to phrase why such a good question didn't have such a clear answer, leading smoke of shame to pour out of her ears.
"Well, you see. I may have got a little trigger happy and ended up using all my saved shadow points to evolve Nero... ahh...,"
"Oh, makes sense,"
"You aren't mad I put our transporter out of commission without warning or checking it by anyone first?" Metsu muttered meekly, mentally shuddering at the thought she'd jumped the gun and inconvenienced everyone.
"Not really, if it really became a problem, I could just take you to a nearby dungeon arch and farm you points to make a new one, given your insistence on saving all those light points," Zalroth retorted jovially, getting a relieved exhale from the conjurer of light and shadows.
"You sure though?"
"Positive, besides, if those two adventurers could book it here in less than a day then we can manage at a slower pace, " Zalroth remarked reassuringly before he added, "Although I don't recall you having an evolution skill or ability, did you manage to level up while I wasn't looking?"
"Oh, when using copy compression ability, it gives EXP, no matter level, like in dungeon arch places," Metsu explained earnestly, not wanting it to sound like bragging despite how proud she was for figuring out how her level randomly increases on occasion. Zalroth nodded in acknowledgement, going into a mini mental rant that it seemed monsters outside of dungeon arches don't give EXP if their level is too much lower than his.
[Copy Evolution][Cost: 6000 Hexa]
-The user can evolve their copies into a further branch of the species the copy was copied from-
-Cost for shadow/light points depends on the rarity the user wants, along with the matching monster core rarity, and if the user doesn't have one, then the cost is doubled-
-To uncommon is 75 points, rare is 175 points, very rare is 750 points, super is 1500 points, legendary is 2250 points, and unique is 3000 points-
-The copy must go through each rarity grade by grade, and must go through a hibernation/incubation phase-
"Zalroth! ZALROTH! Turn Turn!" Metsu cried out, grabbing at the guy's head and struggling to move it an inch, in a dreadful plea to get the guy's attention. Hearing her yelling, Zalroth reluctantly turned around, only to be ever so gracefully greeted by a face full of rock that shattered upon contact with him, splintering into tiny pebbles that harmlessly stuck to the trio's hair.
"My, what a brawny greeting."
Zalina narrowed her eyes into an inquisitive glare, trying to figure out how Zalroth could make such an obvious misidentification and making her wonder if he did it on purpose. While the little fae pondered, Metsu was just left in confusion, convinced she could've sworn the golem was made of copper.
"Zalroth, that joke doesn't work when that golem's made of copper."
Zalina pointed out the minor difference between copper and bronze, ranging from the difference in colour and smell, with the most major point being how copper isn't a naturally occurring alloy. Sighing at the sudden metal lesson and how Metsu's tone reminded him of someone, Zalroth quietly muttered, "I was talking about how it looks like a bodybuilder."
Quickly picturing the most famous bodybuilder she knew of, the image in Metsu's imagination overlayed the raw copper golem's cobbled-together boulder body. Her eyes lit up, seeing what Zalroth was talking about, and she said, "Oh... makes way more sense."
A brief silence fell upon the group, only broken by Metsu inpatiently asking if Zalroth was going to defeat the golem so she could get more light and shadow points. Slumping his head dismissively, almost considering not doing it with the tone Metsu gave him, but knew better than to let his feelings get in the way before he cleaved the raw copper golem's head with a pickaxe swing.
[Activated Skill: Shadow Subjugation]
[Activated Skill: Radiance Recruitment]
[Activated Ability: Copy Compression]
[Metsu Aquired: Copy Points]
[Metsu Gained: 60 Shadow Points]
This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.
[Metsu Gained: 60 Light Points]
"Woah! That guy was worth three of the highest-level common ones," Metsu announced in shock.
"That is how maths works," Zalina whispered under her breath while sitting on Zalroth's head and holding onto a makeshift gem-powered flashlight.
After helping in the collection of Metsu's shadow and light points, Zalroth returned to the surface, basking in the fresh air for the briefest of moments before being tackled by Yumi Yuna; well, more like she slammed into him like he were a brick wall. With her face smushed against the guy, Yumi Yuna slowly slid down until flopping on the floor, making a light thud as she did.
"Geez, Nagami wasn't joking about stats turning people into a brick wall," Yumi Yuna grumbled as she rubbed her slightly red face.
"What do you want this time, Fashionista?" Zalroth asked, scooping the fashion crazy girl off the ground and plopping her back on her feet.
"Look, bub, we need someone strong enough to lift the frame of our project so we can put everything together," Yumi Yuna stated pompously, wagging her index finger in Zalroth's general direction, spinning it in a egg shape as to keep the guy's focus on her with the odd choise finger movement.
"You want to turn me into a glorified mini crane?" Zalroth riposte, not liking the request one bit. But despite his dislike of it, the look in Yumi Yuna's eyes told him that she'd spin him coming out of the mine again to be him going against his promise to Nagami if he refused to help. Choosing not to speak, Zalroth begrudingly rolled his hand, displaying his agreement before he felt two hands grab onto his raised wrist. Weighing even less than a feather to the guy, Yumi Yuna dangled from Zalroth's arm, staring forward with unwavering passion and deadset determination.
"Onwards."
The guy remained silent, mostly from not wanting to know what kind of reason Yumi Yuna had for doing what she just did. Zalroth did as he was asked, marching onwards, carrying the sewist like a weightless handheld lantern.
Occuring elsewhere, a swirl of Hexa from every element erupted from the eight translucent crystaline triangles at the centre of the grand circular chamber, each representing one of the eight elemental attributes, and from which each type of Hexa particles formed from: orange for fire, blue for water, cyan for ice, teal for lightning, light brown for earth, grey for wind, black for shadow, and white for light.
Stood within the torrent of Hexa particles, a tall figure covered in finely woven cyan robes befitting the highest rank of the clergy. The guy's eyes were fierce and determinedly focused, identifying every single different type of Hexa particles in search of even a single yellow one. But his efforts were wasted, not a single Hexa of the holy attribute presented itself, leaving the guy mildly perturbed.
Soon after his revelation, the holy man closed his eyes and relinquished his control over the Hexa particles. With the Hexa slinking back into their respective crystals, the light generated from the natural occurrence subsided, allowing the chamber's original colouration to shine through and reveal the faintly cyan bricks lining the walls with intricate patterns carved into them.
"So, that summoning ritual must have disrupted the holy great fissure, so this is what the Divine meant by great disruption would occur should the summoning circle be used so close to the Primal Fissure," the holy man murmured as he gazed upon the inert golden border around the Hexa crystal octogon.
[Aventus is a very tall, tanned, thirty-five-year-old-looking elf male that towers over people at ten feet tall; he has well-kept, neck-long chestnut brown hair, ocean blue eyes, and very pointy elf ears]
[Aventus is wearing a blue vestment, a dark blue mozzetta with a golden trim that has two golden fascia connected to the back of it and reaching down to his knees, an extra-long golden silk stole that he has wrapped around his biceps, sleek gold gauntlets, and sleek gold knight-like boots]
"Hi yaaaaaaaa, High Sovereign Pope guy," Sukinia said earnestly, waving her arms over her head excitedly. As the super short teen tried getting the guy's attention with even more exaggerated movements, Sukinia was clocked in the back of the head, sending her face first into the pristine birch floor and covered by her droves upon droves of hair.
[Sukinia Takanashio is a super short, brown skinned, fourteen-year-old human female; she has monsterously long curly black hair that can completely cover her body, black eyes, and a rouge red cute skull tattoo on each of her cheeks]
[Sukinia is wearing an open winter-styled rouge red fur coat with black super fluffy cuffs and hem, black silk tights covered in rouge red cute skull embroideries, a black leotard made from the same material as her tights, and rouge red espadrilles]
"Do you have any sense of etiquette towards authority?" Lunona grumbled aggressively, having reached her mental limit from being forced to listen to Sukinia's complaining about Zalroth for the entire night.
[Lunona Dualthorn is a super tall, fair-skinned, seventeen-year-old human female; she has slightly long and spikey silver hair with long locks of hair in front of her ears, and deep yellow eyes]
[Lunona is wearing a light beige knee-length fur jacket, a silver silk crop top, black leggings, and black winter boots]
"Glad my hair broke my fall..." Sukinia muttered cheekily, muffled by her hair as it bounced in time with her words. The taller teen scoffed, flicking her head away from the smaller one aggressively, angered that the smaller teen managed to completely miss why she'd been hit in the first place.
Clicking her tongue, Lunona slumped her shoulder against one of the many large, dark cyan pillars lining the circular walls, watching as Sukinia stuck her head out of her mass of hair like a rabbit emerging from a brush. Seeing the giddy grin on her classmate's face, Lunona grimaced with annoyance and uttered, "How'd someone as air-headed as you end up with one of the stronger classes?"
Sensing it reaching its end and allowing the duo to finish their interaction, Aventus brought his hands together, instilling a sense of authority into the air that brought the two girls' attention to him.
"So two of the Divine's emissaries have come to greet me in the Inner Sanctuary's Convergence Spring, how unexpected. I would ask why, but I've come to know over this past week that you aren't one for small talk, now are you?"
"Yeah, Lunona is such a bore when talking with anyone she sees as a superior," Sukinia teased, rolling around the ground like a ball of fur as she avoided the torrential stomps from Lunona trying to kill her for her comment.
"Indeed, it makes her far easier to work with than certain members of the clergy, going on and on about vain possession and useless brides to me.". The High Sovereign Pope's assessment of her caused Lunona to freeze up, turning as bright as a tomato in embarrassment for a brief second. The taller teen's pause in motion allowed Sukinia to make a clean getaway to the other side of the Convergence Spring chamber, proudly stating she won, which snapped Lunona back to reality.
"Right..., so onto why we're here," Lunona stated with a faint blush on her face as she stood up straight, her posture very prim and proper.
After a short explanation from the two girls.
Managing to get the guy to part his hands with the news, Aventus raise a hand to his chin in contemplation before mentioning, "I see, so you believe there were more otherworlders summoned by the ritual than just your class, and at least one of them has already reached level five hundred. To think anyone could achieve that in such a short time."
Lunona silently nodded, going along with what the guy said. Her mind was more preoccupied with the relief she felt from managing to keep Sukinia from spilling any mention of the assassins being the medium for her cursed puppets.
"Yeah, and it was so annoying that it was too dark to see whoever they were, but now that I think about it, I feel like I've been near that five-hundred-guy back on Earth,"
"As in, others from our school ended up getting dragged here too?" Lunona grumbled, fearing what Aventus might say next.
"I'll have to send some envoys to the Aulemin Kingdom to investigate. I appreciate you two taking the time to inform me of this," Aventus stated, turning around from the spring to give the duo an appreciative bow before just as quickly returning his attention to the Convergence Spring. The girls looked at each other, slightly taken aback that the guy had thanked them, but knew it was probably their time to leave, given they had nothing else they wanted to tell him.
"So, should we like...," Sukinia managed to say before being cut off by a strong rumble that almost knocked her off her feet. With a trace of cursed Hexa particles escaping her body, Sukinia barked quietly, "Geez, those guys don't know anything about restraint."
"And you do?" Lunona asked, obviously being rhetorical, but such obviousness flew right over Sukinia's head and straight into space. The tacklessly gullible look on Sukinia's face was all it took to send Lunona back to her base, perpetually annoyed state. But instead of saying anything else, Lunona simply left the room, leaving Sukinia to childishly wave to Aventus before rushing to the exit.
"Duh, that's why I'm not going to go yell at them directly and'll swap their plates at lunchtime later," Sukinia stated proudly as she marched out of the chamber after her friend, but briefly returning to close the doors she left open. With the room to himself again, Aventus raised his gaze to the mosaic glass dome ceiling, depicting the union of three abstract objects: a thorned crown, a cracked pearl, and a multi-bladed sword.
"So there is a chance, the bringer of Ruin may still emerge, if only I had learned of that ritual sooner."
