Chapter 19: Coincidences
We just buy simple food and ingredients from the current open shops and leave, there's not much else to do. We gave our goodbyes to the griffin spirit in our backyard and it chirped sadly.
Lina is very depressed, going from losing her master to falling for
and then nearly losing
must be getting to her. I spend the trip hugging her and kissing her neck and hands.
"I'm sorry, I shouldn't be making you worry about
like this," she says.
"I'm the one who should be sorry, I got overconfident."
"You are both sorry and that's it," Alissa interjects, I think she's getting jealous right now.
I gotta give them all attention, we are all needy after facing terror.
When the road looks clear we land behind a tree and I mark it as a "coordinate" for [Gate].
We reach the Ant Hill pretty fast and in much more comfort than last ti.
I put my skills like this:
Wolf Ryder Skill Report
Physical
Skill Na
Level
Skill Na
Level
Skill Na
Level
Sword Use
9 6
Dodge
5 5
Parry
5 5
Block
2 8
Shield Bash
0 1
Muscle Explosion
0 1
Battlefield Perception
2 1
Magical
Skill Na
Level
Skill Na
Level
Skill Na
Level
Sense Mana
2 5
Mana Control
0 7
Mana Recovery
7 0
Mana Efficiency
2 5
Reduced Mana Cost
7 0
Mana Overuse Resistance
0 3
Electric Magic
7 8
Earth Magic
0 2
Light Magic
6 4
Nature Magic
7 13
Space Magic
14 16
Summoning Magic
11 9
Blessing Magic
0 14
Illusion Magic
0 2
Golemancy
0 2
Redirect Mana (creator)
3
Sense Soul (creator)
2
Miscellaneous
Skill Na
Level
Skill Na
Level
Skill Na
Level
Andraste Language
9 1
Dismantling
0 2
Enhanced Sen Recharge
0 3
OBS: Level ans (free point) (trained point)
I feel safer when my skills are properly distributed again.
Everyone except Lina puts a Ring of the Servant, it's a ring that blocks experience gain and gives it all to the one without a ring. It's used by nobles for training but we will use it to power"level Lina, she's currently the weakest and can't properly fight beside us.
I summon a spirit elental, a light elental and a fire elental. The spirit elental is invisible if you don't have [Spirit Magic], you can only sense the mana if you get too close. It's good for scouting, we will tell it to keep behind us a good distance away and warn if there's anyone following us. The light elental is a shining outline of a curvy woman, it will give us light and it has a positive ntal effect on all of us, sothing we are in need. The fire elental will walk in front burning all webs.
"Why are they all won?" Asks Ciel while frowning towards my light elental.
"Don't you see any similarities?" Asks Alissa.
"To whom?" Ciel frowns harder.
"Well, you?"
Ciel takes a few seconds, then she opens her eyes wide and blushes a bit.
"Now that we are talking about it, why are my elentals won? They co like this when I don't put any effort into changing them."
"T-the elentals search the heart of the master for sothing to copy. They look for soone they... hold deep in their heart," Ciel says bashfully.
I smile and kiss her lightly. Lina looks at
with expectancy, I summon a small earth elental and she covers her face with her hands.
"Hahahah, well, it's not that different from you, it's you know, flat," Roxanne says and pulls her tongue.
Lina groans and Alissa pats her back. Ciel is glaring at Roxanne who hides behind Hana.
I go to Lina and grab her hand.
"Rember, flat is justice," Then I kiss her.
The trip is rather calm. The Giant Tarantulas are no match for any of our group. My shield hand still hurts so I hang back.
We reach the Arachne territory and Alissa tenses up. I put all our extra points into [ntal Resistance].
"I hate this sll. I know it's not poison but it sses up with my slling ability, again I won't be able to tell if we get poisoned," Alissa says, frowning.
"Ciel, use [Diagnosis] on us every 10 or so minutes," I say.
She nods.
Aoi seems quite content, I thought she would be more afraid but she's very comfortable on Roxanne's shoulders. She even dared walk beside us until she got tired. She tried to fire a fireball into a spider but the spider was too agile to hit, but it's good to know she can give a small help in a pinch.
"There's sothing... odd," Alissa frowns.
"Oh, what is it?"
"Well, I'm feeling so 'flashes' with [Sense Presence], as if pieces of souls are moving near us."
"Hm... you are poisoned, it's a weak confusion," Ciel says.
"Well then, it's another mind poison, right?" I grin.
"Yeah, it's not affecting her body, only her mind," Ciel lifts an eyebrow.
Roxanne smiles, she grabs Hana and they both kiss deeply. Alissa flinches and smiles, she rembers.
A re kiss won't do, to break any mind poison I have to pour my feelings into it.
I grab Alissa by the waist and pull her. I kiss her and pour my love, my trust, my happiness for having her always beside . I grab the back of her head and comb my fingers through her silky hair.
When we break Ciel and Lina are lightly blushing and staring blankly.
"Mind poison can be broken by the passion of love!" I spread my arms wide and pull Ciel.
I do the sa for her, I feel the squishiness of her body through her armor and rember all her delicious spots, her tight hug, her kind eyes, her sweet voice. I feel calm in her arms.
I break the kiss and grab a fidgeting Lina and kiss her too. Her cute deanor, her endless curiosity, her dedication to , her innocent soul. All I want is to hug her and keep her safe.
Once I finish I notice Roxanne is still kissing Hana. Roxanne is desperately trying to undo her armor, her robe is already on the ground.
"Uh, Roxanne...?" I ask.
"W-what?" She asks and imdiately goes back to kissing.
"What are you doing? Now is not the ti."
I grab her and pull her away. Hana sends
puppy eyes wanting more and Roxanne glares at .
"You okay?" I ask.
She turns her head away and starts fidgeting.
"Well she, uh, is still poisoned, it's dium arousal," Ciel says.
"What? No, can't it be just normal arousal? Does it ans I'm poisoned?" Roxanne says, discreetly rubbing her legs on each other.
"Well, sorry Roxanne," I say.
A shining hand touches Roxanne's shoulder and she stops fidgeting, her anxious face turns into one of displeasure.
"Noo, this feels so frustrating," she drops down her head.
"Well, having an orgy in the middle of the Arachne territory isn-..."
I get interrupted by an unpleasant feeling. I draw my sword.
"The spirit elental is dead, sothing is coming."
Everyone gets ready for combat imdiately, Roxanne lets out a long sigh.
I stare at the tunnel and wait for it to co. I hear nothing.
I hear my breath, it's slowly becoming heavier in anticipation. Adrenaline runs through my body. I feel my muscles creak as I hold my sword harder. The tension brings fatigue, my body is still weary.
It's tiring to keep my head up, I will just look with the corner of my eyes. My posture is hurting my back, I will just hunch a little, it will be easier to stay like this. I look down, my head is too heavy to keep up, I gotta save energy. I feel sleepy.
A shining hand touches my shoulder and I feel the pleasant sensation of mana coursing through my body.
I look up and see Hana defending a strike from an Arachne. It's a giant spider with the upper body of a woman on its head, on a normal posture it's around 2 ters tall, this one is bigger, nearly 3 ters. This one's spider body is black while the human body is sickly white and full of blue veins with disheveled black hair.
Holy shit I think this was a spell similar to [Illusion Magic]'s level 15 spell [Pacify], how terrifying that I never felt it coming.
Alissa hits two arrows on the Arachne's human chest. Ciel keeps in front of
while I recover my senses. Lina is beside Hana, she crushed a spider leg. Hana is countering a blow from a very pointy spider leg, she opens a long cut on the Arachne's body. Roxanne is gathering mana and besides her Aoi is staring at , I feel her worry.
I feel the Arachne gathering mana. I charge a bit and release [Lightning Bolt] at the sa ti the fire elental and Roxanne lets out [Fireball]. The Arachne stops and convulses for a mont, it gets hit square in the exposed and well-endowed chest. Both breasts explode, opening a large wound.
"HIREEEEE!"
The Arachne recoils in pain and covers her eyes from the explosion. Hana takes the opportunity and charges with her wings, she decapitates the Arachne, which falls limp on the floor. That's how a sword fight goes, you look away from a second and you say goodbye to having a head on your shoulders.
Lina falls down on the ground and starts crying.
"Masteer! Don't leave ~!"
"Awn, she just fell for an illusion too. It seems to be a strong nightmare," Ciel says.
A shining woman hugs Lina from behind and she slowly stops crying. Her eyes regain focus and she looks at us confused.
"What? You are back! Wait, where's the Arachne?" She asks, her eyes blinking repeatedly.
"It's dead, she cast an illusion on you just before she died," I say, rubbing her hand.
"Oh... that's good... what I saw was..." She looks with a pained face, tears still on the corner of her eyes.
I interrupt her and give her a kiss. She stiffens and I give a few more all over her face until she giggles.
After she recovers her composure the light elental releases her and we move on. I summon another spirit elental.
"So, I think that one was really powerful, well magically, not physically. It didn't expect us to all have resistance, otherwise it wouldn't have attacked," Ciel says.
"Yeah, I was a bit surprised that , Lina, and Roxanne had the worst with these illusions and poisons," I say.
"You three have the lowest 'Sanity', that makes you all more vulnerable," Ciel says.
Roxanne sighs again. She must still be feeling frustrated.
We don't have another encounter with an Arachne, it seems our party size makes them wary of us and the last one who we t severely underestimated us.
With the elental we are ahead of schedule, we reach the mole territory and have lunch. Sandwiches and so hot tea do just fine here, you don't want to spend a long ti eating on these dusty and oppressive brown tunnels, it is seriously depressing and sours the mood of the al.
After lunch, Alissa goes to work. With her warbow, she just one-shots every mole, their thick skulls are now useless to the penetrating power of an enchanted bow.
Not long and we reach the springs.
"Ah! How I have not missed this stuffy and moist atmosphere," Roxanne jokes, taking a deep breath.
"If it weren't for the little devils around here I think it could be a bit comfy," I say.
It's not so stuffy, at least not for the almost hermit .
The girls frown at , except Lina who grabs my hand and nods with happiness. Aoi seems displeased at the wetness of the ground and decides to stop walking beside us.
I dismiss the fire elental and bring a lead earth elental. He will strut in front of us, stepping on all traps and simply ignoring everything. Aoi loved the elental and decides to nest on top of its flat and hairy head.
When we reach the stairs Hana grabs
like a princess and we jump down. With her wings, she slows the fall and we safely touch the ground. Then I open a [Gate] for the other girls and the elental struts through the stairs. A vine trap grabs its leg and then snaps while the elental continues as if nothing happened.
I drink an average MP potion so I can use [Gate] more tis.
Floor 2. 1 Stalker, dispatched by Alissa.
Floor 3. Multiple bear traps latch on the elental, they just scratch his feet before being crushed and falling off.
Floor 4. 1 Stalker appears and Roxanne wants to try sothing.
She gathers mana, she stretches her hand forward and points her staff. She makes gestures with her hand as if she's trying to crush sothing. She's not chanting.
With a crackling noise, a small ice stake grows out of nothing. I feel Roxanne's mana is coursing a few centiters outside her body, this is not normal. Roxanne relaxes and the stake flies towards the stalker, I hear a thud in the distance.
"Nice aim and you didn't even chant," I say.
"Thanks. Yeah, I understand now how the system works, how that 'itch' you explained can be 'scratched'. I never felt it before you put the points for , I still feel the urge to chant but if I hold it in I can cast it without chanting and I still have control over it. [Ice Lance] is very mana intensive but with so effort this ti it cost
3/4th of the normal," Roxanne says, she seems very proud of herself.
"This 'itch' might be the reason I can 'expand' my soul, see if you can move whatever is inside you like you moved a muscle or a finger to try and 'scratch' that 'itch'. But try to do it when you are lacking mana otherwise it doesn't work properly. Maybe you can learn [Redirect Mana]."
"I see, I will try it," Roxanne says with a happy nod.
"I also felt your mana coursing outside your body, is this an enchantnt?"
"My robe has a [Mana Control] enchantnt that improves it a bit."
Lina's Trivia: mana boosting enchantnts flow better on loose clothing than on tals or stiff leather, other enchantnts work the opposite. Mana has to flow and harmonize, loose clothing allows the robes to flow where they are needed and aid mana flow. Chanting works similarly, it harmonizes the mana inside us and prevents it from running wild. The other enchantnts have to control mana in a very specific way to form the spell required, which is why gems are more useful than tals, their crystalline structure guarantees a specific behavior.
Floor 5. The puddles of water are bubbling and releasing noxious fus. I put [Poison Resistance] on everybody and we just stroll through. With Ciel and Roxanne's potions, it would be quite simple even without the Resistance. Only certain puddles aren't bubbling so I guess we would need to go around these if we wanted to not get poisoned. Thanks, skill system, it's basically cheating.
Floor 6. A stalker is following us from too far, can't really get an angle for a shot. I summon a german shepherd dog and sic him on the stalker. After a minute or so I hear a death scream. The doggy latched on the neck of the Spriggan and snapped it. I tell him to pant and wag his tail and everyone gives him a pat.
The lead elental steps on a crumbling floor and gets stuck on the floor. He manages to look adorable as his huge leg dangles from the stairs.
Floor 7. We enter a suspicious corridor.
"Go past the corridor and tornt any monster on the other side," I tell the spirit elental.
It goes through the wall and I get glimpses of chanisms as I share my vision with it. Yep, it's that godsdamned trap again.
"I could go ahead and kill whatever is in the other end, this corridor is nothing for my flight," says Hana.
"There are other traps in this corridor, better not risk it. If anything happens I will use [Gate] to send us back here, understood?"
Hana shrugs.
A few seconds later we hear a painful scream. I share my vision and see the spirit is hurting the soul of a Spriggan.
"Hihihih," Roxanne giggles evilly. She coughs and recomposes herself.
With Alissa in front, we dodge all traps. On the other side, the Spriggan is rolling on the floor screaming in pain, these monsters are completely vulnerable to magic.
"You know what. Hana, can you tie him up?"
"Oh, I see. Lem try sothing," she grins.
Hana first ties his hands and legs then she gets a very long rope and makes so very odd patterns with it. Once she's done it looks like the Spriggan is using a harness made of rope, it leaves him with very little mobility.
"Hana... Where did you learn this?" I ask.
"That's uh... a book my mom had, there were so very interesting... illustrations," she looks away."
, Ciel, and Alissa massage our eyes while Lina looks confused and Roxanne shivers.
The lead elental carries the tied up monsters as it struggles to break free. I can hear it cry, though I'm not sure if it's from the pain or humiliation.
Floor 8. Alissa noticed the Spriggans co near every once in a while just to run away soon after. It seems they got the ssage and know what will happen if they get close, capturing a Spriggan was the best idea I ever had.
Floor 9. The Spriggan stopped crying but it's now fidgeting weirdly.
Floor 10. The floor is filled with traps, now that the elental is carrying the prisoner we use random rocks we had collected to set off the traps. Instead of blowing they cast a spell, either a water blade or an earth spike attacks whoever steps on it. We waste a lot of ti on this floor.
Floor 11. It's the floor full of vines. We keep the lead elental in front but it gets slowed down by the number of vines, though it made things easier for us.
Floor 12. I just can't ignore the way the Spriggan is acting.
"By the Gods don't tell
he's... aroused?"I ask.
"T-this pattern the rope is supposed to... rub the crotch, ass, and nipples..." Hana says, she fidgets and looks away.
"Put it on the ground," I order the elental.
I cut one of the ropes that's limiting its movent the most.
"Let's go," I say.
Nobody says anything.
Floor 13. There's heavy mist on this floor. We tie a rope to all of us and walk slowly.
"Wolf, put all my points into [Wind Magic], at level 20 I can use [Wind Storm], it should clear the mist if I put so effort into it, though I won't be able to attack."
"Good idea. In case we get attacked release the rope connecting us and surround Ciel and Roxanne."
We slowly walk through the floor but nothing happens. When we reach the stairs they turn into a slide and gush water like last ti. The elental slips and slides down, he crashes into the spear trap at the ground and crushes them all.
I touch the elental and send a bit of mana, with this all the scratches and light penetrations get cleaned up.
"Boy, am I glad you have [Gate]," says Hana.
"It's almost a cheat," I say.
"Well, it is," Ciel says.
I shrug.
Floor 14. The mist continues, it gets even heavier, I can barely see a ter in front of .
"This is bad," I say.
"It is. Eight are coming, we are surrounded!" Alissa yells.
The girls huddle up on the elental. Ciel starts gathering mana.
"You know what, Hana, spread your fire around us," I say.
She inhales, "FOO~M!" The fire spreads. I hear screams of pain.
"[Wind Storm]!"
A strong wind makes it difficult to stand, at least we aren't being cut up to pieces like [Wind Storm] is supposed to work. The mist clears up around us and we see 4 Spriggans on fire and rolling on the ground in pain. The other 4 are frozen, watching their allies burn to death.
"You guys seriously don't rember ?" I ask.
One of the Spriggans runs away.
"I will use your bark to smoke my at!" Hana taunts.
The 3 remaining Spriggrans charge and scream.
"YAAAH!"
"HYAA!"
"HIII!"
Hana drops her shield and does an overhead strike on the first one. The second one blocks a small [Fireball] and gets bashed by Ciel, once he falls he gets his throat pierced by her glaive. The last one gets an arrow on the leg and his head stepped on by the elental.
"Huh, I think I understand too how that 'itch' works," Ciel says.
Aoi wakes up and slls the air. She gets down from the elental and walks through the embers as if they were nothing, then she stops in front of one of the burned Spriggans and starts to eat his stomach.
I turn around and wait until I hear a burp, Aoi cos running back to the elental and returns to sleep on its head.
"We have been giving her lots of raw at but I guess a dragon would prefer barbecue," Hana says.
"Her fire breath is getting more stable perhaps soon she should be able to roast her own at," Ciel says with a smile.
Alissa rubs my shoulder.
Floor 15. We reached our target.
Roxanne drops down on all fours, her staff clacks as it falls on the ground.
There's no Moonlight Moss here.
"There, there. With the [Gate] we can check here every few days and see if there's any more," I say, tapping Roxanne's shoulders.
"Yeah, don't worry, we still got enough of the elixir for a while," Hana says, tapping the other shoulder.
Roxanne groans and gets a kiss on the cheek from each of us, this makes her giggle.
It is 9 PM. We make camp in a small, empty room and set up our bath. As soon as we enter Roxanne pounces on . Hana gets jealous and turns Roxanne around, she rubs Roxanne's mouth on her pussy while I do her from behind. Alissa starts masturbating like always. Lina stares, trying to absorb every detail until Hana looks at her with hungry eyes and she blushes. Ciel looks down, trying to ignore Roxanne screams, Aoi is on her arms and both are pouting, feeling lonely.
After that, we relax around the cooking magic tool. Alissa starts cooking a blue soup, we found a blue-grey moss that can be used as a seasoning, it reminds
of annatto, nostalgic. Hana is taking care of a spit roast of large slabs of wyvern at while Aoi watches it spin, completely entranced. Ciel is cutting so vegetables. Lina is huddled next to , reading a book. Roxanne is studying so moss with Ted and Suzy at her lap. I'm studying andraste.
"What are you doing Roxanne?" I ask.
"Well, I'm trying to look for the specific signature of the mana in the moss. There's always a mix of a few signatures and the mark of a good potion maker is how well he can separate those signatures," she shows
a small lens with a few black inscriptions.
Lina stops reading and starts listening.
"What are these signatures?"
Roxanne smiles wildly.
"Plenty of substances like say, at, have a lot of mana signatures, this huge amount of signatures makes the potion have unknown interactions. You could be making a healing potion that ends up poisoning the person in the long run. Or it could have adverse effects like nausea, confusion, loss of mana control. Or like my Moonlight Moss MP potion, it paralyzes you."
"I have been looking at the moss of this dungeon and it's incredibly similar to the Moonlight Moss. Unfortunately, it's not corrosive, it's this corrosion that makes it useful for MP potions. It bonds with silver and corrodes most signatures on common mana crystals, allowing it to refine MP potions to much better levels. The byproduct of this corrosion, unfortunately, is what causes the paralysis."
Lina's trivia: Every atom can "absorb" mana, so when casting a spell you can "gather" this mana on the environnt to aid you during chanting. Having a mana charged object close to you can affect your casting, positively or negatively. Crystals have predictable behavior, making it beneficial when they are close. Since mana has a "signature
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