Two weeks had already passed since the war event began. Conflicts and the gathering of forces were happening in every place all over the New World. Even the Island of Beginnings, which had never been involved in the previous war event, was swept up by it. Its ten-year-long peace was gone.
The place of births and new adventures, where new players accumulated experience before venturing to the Main Continent, had beco the battlefield between the lone king and the army of slis.
A huge domain had been dominating a third of the island for a couple of days already, and it showed no sign of collapsing soon.
Nevertheless, the beach on the southern side of the Island of Beginnings was relatively peaceful. The moon shone its gentle moonlight down on the sea without minding the surge of dark and water elents magic power from the west side of the island.
A young woman in white clothing strapped her hair into a ponytail and tightened her robe. She moved closer to a bonfire to warm herself up. Standing guard near her was a giant rabbit with a physique similar to a bear.
There must be a safer place for her to stay sowhere in the town, but there were many reasons that she had been avoiding entering the city for several weeks.
She didnt feel lonely, however. She always had the giant white rabbitnaly Fluffyas her companion. Additionally, yesterday she just unexpectedly got another mber into her family.
Reminding of yesterday, she showed a gentle smile while stroking the hair of the black-haired little girl who was taking a nap next to her. The girl was wearing light armor made of blackfish scales weaving together.
Oww! It hurts. Dont bite, Qua-chan. Its not cute. She scolded the girl.
Im not a pet, human. The girl struggled to get out of the young womans lap, but her body was currently too weak to do that. My na is Quasar, not Qua-chan!
The current state of the Eclipse Fish Quasarthe legendary Light Stealerwas no different from a helpless infant. At the ti when she was injured in Zhongsuyuan City, she was in a bad shape since dark-elent magic didnt have recovery spells. In order to heal herself, she needed to rest in the place with condensed dark magic energy, so she exerted the last bit of her power to leap through ambient mana to the place with the most powerful dark energy in the New World. Compared to the Monster Realm, she thought anywhere in this world would be just a childs playground for her. Unexpectedly, when she appeared on this island, she showed up in the middle of the battlefield.
Quasar is basically an aquatic animal. She normally lives in the water and depends on it for survival, though she had learned to spend magic power to support her life in the place without water. She usually had no problem with the constant energy consumption since she could either take a human form or rely on ambient mana. Unfortunately, she was no longer a Lord Rank monster and Kritsana was seizing complete control over ambient mana, leaving her no choice but to use her own magic reservewhich was pathetically low due to her low rank.
Explosions from countless abilities and undying corpses brimming with magic power raged the battlefield. It took Quasar everything she had to desperately flee from that place toward the south, which was relatively safer. Once she got out of the sinister domain, however, her magic reserve was completely expended, no longer able to support herself to swim in mid-air. She crashed, rolled, and stopped on the beachjust ten ters away from the water source.
She was terribly dehydrated and about to die. Gritting her teeth, she felt bitter to realize that she was going to die without fulfilling her revenge yet.
Darkness overca her vision. Darkness was usually her allyher favorite place to livebut it was currently depriving her of her life. She let out a dry cough as she lanted this ironic joke.
She hadnt escaped from Hell just to die uselessly like this...
Lady Nyx... Please show rcy... I dont want to be in that place anymore...
Hell was a vast desolate land, possibly borderless. Roaming in there were monsters that had lost their desires, goals, and ambition. It took all of her efforts just to hang onto her wills and ego, refusing to let them go.
Knowing that she had to return to that cruel place, she was hopeless to the point she prayed for the rcy of the Goddess of the Nightwho she had forgotten for a long ti.
When was the last ti that she had called out the Goddess na? And Why did she stop worshipping her? Thinking back... It must be around thousands of years ago when Mammon silently ambushed her from a dark shadow. After that, she quit putting her faith in the Goddess.
Her incredibly weak body was lifted up. Quasar thought she had already died, yet she heard the celestial sound of an unknown goddess.
Fluffy? What did you pick up? Dont eat leftover food, or you will have a stomachache otherwise.
At that ti, Quasar had actually believed that the voices owner was a Goddess, though she found out later that they were simply a human. Since she didnt have an ounce of strength left to resist, she was imdiately registered as a pet once the voices owner ca to take care of her.
Then, the na of her first-ever master erged inside her mind, disregarding her will.
Francine.
Dont be stubborn. Its already late at night. You should rest. Your body is still weak, isnt it? Francine lightly scolded the girl.
I dont need to sleep!! Quasar lost her temper. Quit treating like a little kid!
Due to her status as a pet and Francines Mind Link, however, Quasar was well aware that Francine was genuinely worried about her. Thus, she was reluctant to behave too aggressively.
Concurrently, with the said skill, Francine was also aware of Quasars hidden consideration toward her.
Kya~ Youre so adorable.
Quasar rolled her eyes in annoyance. Using the Eclipse Scale Mana Shell spell might not be the best idea since the spell made her stay in the childish human form, though she had to do it to preserve her magic power. The spell temporarily transford her fish scales and gills into clothing and generated a small dark domain to cover her skin, stopping her from suffocating.
Francine showed a mild smile. She liked monsters more than humans since their personalities were generally more straightforward. She planned to continue spending ti in the Island of Beginnings befriending Quasar and raising her Affection Level.
Never again that she would repeat her past mistake, taming too many monsters beyond her capability. In order to utilize that many monsters, her rank would have to be at least Lord.
With Fluffys help, she had recovered her lost levels and was now at Level 1,000 Knight Rank. As she was, if she wanted to display the full potential of each of her pets, taming three or four monsters was her limit.
Francine took a look at Quasars tiny diamond earring. Actually, this item was attached to the left fin of Quasars original body, but it seed the system made it be apparent even when the monster was covering her body under a spell. The earring was the power-dampening device designed as a pet accessory. It was mainly used to ta a monster stronger than the master. Fortunately, she had kept it in the bank, so she didnt lose it when she died under Sebastians hand. The earring used to be on Fluffys ear, though it got transferred to Quasar yesterday. Fluffys Affection Level toward her was already at max value anyway.
As Francine was busy playing with Quasar (Francine did it one-sidely, actually), Fluffys ears suddenly pointed up. It looked to the left.
With the effect of Mind Link, Francine felt that Fluffy was sensing sothing approaching them, so she stopped playing with Quasar and got up. She packed her belonging, ready to flee.
In the past months, her escape skill got improved a lot. She wanted to avoid fighting as much as possible, especially against players. Most of her ti usually spent on either grinding levels near the Illusion Forest or playing with Fluffy to increase its Affection Level and her understanding of its behaviors.
Fluffys sense told her that the approaching one wasnt a human, but a monster. Its rare to see a monster wandering alone, but when it happened, the monster was likely to be strong.
...The sli race. Level 300 Marquis Rank. Francine could accurately discern the monsters level. At this level, I think its manageable for us. Lets wait and see.
Fluffy nodded. It spared the approaching sli a sharp look. The scar under its right eye twitched for no reason. Once the invader hopped into its attack range, Fluffy gave out a warning by expanding its qi sphere that was as cold as the snow land bathed under the moonlight.
Snow Moon Qi Lunar Rabbit.
The tranquil and passive qi extended with Gods Cathedral qi technique, forming a freezing domain. Under extre coldness, the incoming orange creature slowed down significantly, ice starting to cover its skin. It descended to the sandy beach by the gravity.
Racial Skill ga Flare.
The orange creature heavily vibrated, causing the ice on its skin to break and disperse. It opened its mouth, which released hot steam coming from its body. It hopped three tis in quick succession and stopped in front of Fluffy.
Luaid had been staying in the Sli Kingdom since birth. His rank might be Marquis and he might possess only four combat skills, but his mastery over his skills shouldnt be underestimated.
Adult slis in the Sli Kingdom must possess at least one of the skills belonging to the Guardians. Including their own Way of Sli, that ant they were free to learn two other skills from others before their skill quota was filled.
Luaid preferred brains over the brawl, so he didnt possess direct combat or defensive skills such as Formless Soldier or Orbiting Cosmos. With his desire to beco a handso and capable sli as Divine, he eventually chose Moon Reflecting Mirror that cos with versatility.
For the record, his Way of Sli was Slis Roar, which was the skill developed from Sli Sing-a-Song, while the ga Flare skill was the advanced version of Slis Roar, similar to how Poluk having Genesis Punch or Viola having Divine Raint. Presently, Luaid was the only one capable of using ga Flare.
As for the other two skills, Luaid chose to learn Opaque Sli (which would develop into Sparkless Lightning) and Sleeping Sli (which would develop into Thousand Dreams) from a couple of old husband and wife who quit fighting and secluded themselves, staying peacefully sowhere in the Kingdom.
Both Opaque Sli and Sleeping Sli were psychic-type skills. Unfortunately, Luaid wasnt at the level where he could improve the skills yet.
Luaids target was Francine, the person he was given the direct assignnt from His Majesty to find her. With his eyes locking onto her, he didnt care about other beings regardless of they were humans or monsters. He bounced past Fluffy without even sparing the rabbit a glance. Even though Fluffys level was higherbeing Level 10 Lord Rankthe rabbit race was generally docile. Compared to Quasars craftiness or Luaids techniques, Fluffys fighting prowess was inferior to the two.
Being ignored by a lower rank opponent, Fluffy was upset. Since its master hadnt given any specific order, it expressed its anger by cladding its left palm with Freezing Soul qi technique. Baring its freezing claws, it struck at the small creature next to it.
Snow Moon Qi Rabbit Hunt.
Luaid didnt even look at the attack. No matter how powerful the attack was, such a straightforward approach wasnt worth his attention. His skin beca slightly darker for a second before Fluffys palm hit the spot where he was standing. The orange sli vanished and miraculously reappeared on Fluffys shoulder.
Dont waste my ti, ya! His imposing voice contained the power of Slis Roar, though he limited the skills effective range and destructive power. Fluffy covered its ears, its body swaying. It lost its balance and collapsed.
Luaid hopped over the defeated opponent and stopped in front of Francine. He looked up at her, his dole eyes blinking.
Hello. Francine activated the skill that allowed her to ntally communicate with monsters. It was quite ineffectively, however, which she had already anticipated from the facts that Luaids rank was higher than her and was in a perfectly healthy state. Knowing so, she was concerned. The orange little slis appearance might look adorable, but its fighting prowess was beyond Fluffys, who was at Lord Rank. The previous exchange between them implied that if the sli intended to kill, even Fluffy wouldnt be able to protect her.
Nevertheless, the little slis next action was to make a crying face, tears running down from its big eyes. It made an expression like soone who had been lost for a long ti but finally found their destination. It wept at her, making a loud noise.
Oh! Savior! Finally, I et you! I have been searching for you for a really, really long ti.
...The truth was that Luaids journey lasted only a couple of days.
Savior? Francine pointed at herself.
Oh! Youre our greatest hope! Only you can break the Sli Kingdom free from the thousand-year-long curse. Again, the Sli Kingdom was attacked less than a week ago. Please lend us your strength, Savior!
Luaid had a habit of exaggerating things. It wasnt that he was a liar, but doing things this way was more exciting. For him, who had been staying under the darkness within the sealed Sli Kingdom for a long ti, making things more exciting was his only enjoynt.
Francine realized this must be so kind of a hidden quest. What do I need to do?
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