Azrie Part: 1/2
With my spear in hand, I deflected the deadly claws of the Fangtooth, I took a few steps back, as it tried to inch itself forward to bite into my throat. I grunted and pushed, throwing the monster away from me. My arms already ached from that—and the monster; it landed on its legs softly doing nothing more than a silent slide. Its agility was high. It attempted to launch itself at me once more, but I sidestepped its more than obvious trajectory. Putting mana on my ring, I had a brief moment of pause—how to take the seeds out? The monster ran to me once more and nearly scratched my arm off.
Out, out! I panicked a bit and one of the vases was haphazardly teleported out, it tumbled and spilled its contents. I snorted and reached for a fistful of seeds, nearly falling as I tried to dodge the monster once more. Mistakes piled on. As soon as I realized it a sense of guilt—foreboding filled me. It was a sense of nervousness that told me to stop. But, I didn’t want to use my bow nor slide nor— I had to slide out of the way to avoid my throat being gouged out, its sharp claws drew surface level blood from my skin. The monster was too fast, it didn’t let me think I just had to act.
I tried to comb through my memories of plants in spite of this, but the monster once more was at my throat. I grunted and managed to lazily stab it with the spear, using the ground as a pivot. It yelped with a hiss, and took a few steps back. Silver Azalea— no that was useless, the two Azaleas I was aware of were useless. The mushrooms? The okra, the unnamed plant, the vines? I panicked and chose the Lyco puff. Quickly changing the seeds within my hand, I threw them with my mana in place. The monster dodged as they landed and sprouted into a small group of mana filled mushrooms. I felt—my mana had dropped but not by much. I focused on them—
Sprout. The mushrooms exploded into a cloud of toxin-filled air, quickly enveloping the monster under its mantle. It stared at me with wariness but it soon began to wobble, its legs tensed and it lunged at me once more. I grabbed my spear with both hands, dropping the remainder of the seeds. The monster was repelled but this time it landed askew, nearly losing balance. I could do this.
With the mental image of the ring storage in mind, I focused on seeds and my hand—soon they appeared into existence already within my fist. I needed an easier way to sort the seeds. I needed a plant—the benevolous okra, to provide me the seeds I wanted, but I also needed something to keep it alive—evergrowing puff. I felt my instincts point me towards the right plants in my mind, even though there were less than ten of them.
I threw a couple of seeds onto the ground, all of them flourishing into nothing but small puffy white mushrooms. And then, I focused on the plant and threw a mana filled seed in the middle. It sprouted within a second. The monster took my pause to go for my throat, which I barely managed to push off, thankfully it's agility had taken a considerable hit, but I still bit my lip in displeasure. It’s hard to do so many tasks at once. The okra finally bloomed, it was a darkened black plant with looming branches full of seeds. I could feel my mana within it, but the plant was no longer feeding on it, but instead, the puffs that I too could feel slowly diminishing. And then I had a brief period of realization.
This isn’t my prophecy— I was trying to use: Scarlet World.
“Well, looks like you’re handling one just fine.” Elasia said from behind as I heard her fingers snap. “Add two more and it becomes a pack.”
Two monsters materialized before my very eyes. Exactly the same as the other one—two more Fangtooths.
[Toothless Fangtooth. Lvl. 39]
[Toothless Fangtooth. Lvl. 43]
The first Fangtooth tried to lunge towards me, but I stabbed it with my spear, it yelped and flailed, managing to barely get off as it began to bleed. It distanced itself away as the two remaining Fangtooths turned to me. My eyes darted as I felt my mana remaining on some Lyco Puffs. Bloom! I exploded them, once more enveloping the monsters with toxin spores. It was a strong ability, but I felt silly and inadequate. I could hardly keep track of the okra, the two kinds of mushroom puffs, let alone think of using the wisteria seeds for attack. Nefarious Wisteria. I commanded in my mind towards the okra, I felt one of the pods change within my senses, I reached as the monsters wobbled from the toxins. I injected my mana onto the pod and tossed it at them, my mind immediately moved to sensing it as it reached the two new monsters.
Bloom—
The pod broke; exploded into a myriad of black vines and I desired—pointed to the two. The vines wrapped around one monster and the other one managed to evade away. They gripped as they began to bloom into purple flowers. The monster yelped in pain as it began to bleed all over the ground, the plant consumed it as I saw roots dig into its body. I had a brief moment of pause seeing its effects before the other two monsters, one that was more injured than the other, attacked me in conjunction. I parried one, but the other bit onto my leg. I smacked it but to no avail, its fangs perforated onto my calf as searing pain spread through it. I stabbed it with my spear barely denting its head due to lack of mana—mana, push—the tip became a bright green as it pushed into its skull.
Remember that feeling? — Release. The mana exploded at the tip and mashed its brain into nothingness, the Fangtooth vanished into thin air with shadows. However, the pain continued to spread, and the other monster turned with a lazy hop and threw itself at my arm. Shit— I couldn’t dodge in time. It clung and bit through it as I saw my red blood spew. I felt danger overwhelm me and at that moment, a bright flash overtook my vision, there was a deep shriek of pain as I recovered my eyesight. And that's when I saw one of the golems with its arm raised, shining in an incandescent light at the tips of its rocky fingers. I turned to my side, where I saw the beast sprawled on the ground enveloped by a red net of mana.
My eyes slowly moved to my arm where— huh— my flesh had been melted, and I could hardly move it in certain directions. The pain spread as if it were continuously digging deeper into my being. Constantly aching, caving away at my insides. I felt warmth on my skin, blood covered my being.
“Well, you did a decent job, but you’re not ready.” Elasia’s voice entered my ears, finally reminding me it was just a supposed benchmark. “Unfortunately you seem to be struggling to even use your abilities effectively.”
I drew a pause. “Yeah…”
She snapped her fingers, and the remaining two monsters vanished from existence, melted into the ground as if they never existed. I wanted to protest regarding my levels or rewards, but I felt undeserving of things. However, as if reading my mind, Elasia spoke once more.
“If we were to level you up, The System might actually get angry.”
[I can attest to that!] Glim said in between Elasia’s hands. She was holding onto it. Huh. I kept forgetting that Glim existed, perhaps it could’ve helped me with my Prophecy. [I cannot help you with Prophecy revelations or techniques,] it elaborated.
“Yep, Prophecies are purely individual based,” she agreed. “Anyway, Blair. I think this is all for today.”
“For today?” My expression changed to one of disappointment, and perhaps betrayal— I could still keep going—
“Well, look at you—you’re already bleeding all over, bet you didn’t notice that wound on your stomach.” As she pointed that out, I suddenly became aware of another source of pain. “Toothless Fangtooth have a numbing agent to help them deal damage without being noticed. They are like nature’s assassins—well if you ignore all the other species that can do the exact same thing. Now come here, Blair.”
I heeded her relatively soft gesture, and as soon as I reached her side she gave me a health potion. I grabbed it with a small amount of doubt but drank it nonetheless.
“Now I’ll take you back to your room, you’ll need rest to think.”
I agreed after some hesitation.
Azrie Part: 1/2
With my spear in hand, I deflected the deadly claws of the Fangtooth, I took a few steps back, as it tried to inch itself forward to bite into my throat. I grunted and pushed, throwing the monster away from me. My arms already ached from that—and the monster; it landed on its legs softly doing nothing more than a silent slide. Its agility was high. It attempted to launch itself at me once more, but I sidestepped its more than obvious trajectory. Putting mana on my ring, I had a brief moment of pause—how to take the seeds out? The monster ran to me once more and nearly scratched my arm off.
Out, out! I panicked a bit and one of the vases was haphazardly teleported out, it tumbled and spilled its contents. I snorted and reached for a fistful of seeds, nearly falling as I tried to dodge the monster once more. Mistakes piled on. As soon as I realized it a sense of guilt—foreboding filled me. It was a sense of nervousness that told me to stop. But, I didn’t want to use my bow nor slide nor— I had to slide out of the way to avoid my throat being gouged out, its sharp claws drew surface level blood from my skin. The monster was too fast, it didn’t let me think I just had to act.
I tried to comb through my memories of plants in spite of this, but the monster once more was at my throat. I grunted and managed to lazily stab it with the spear, using the ground as a pivot. It yelped with a hiss, and took a few steps back. Silver Azalea— no that was useless, the two Azaleas I was aware of were useless. The mushrooms? The okra, the unnamed plant, the vines? I panicked and chose the Lyco puff. Quickly changing the seeds within my hand, I threw them with my mana in place. The monster dodged as they landed and sprouted into a small group of mana filled mushrooms. I felt—my mana had dropped but not by much. I focused on them—
Sprout. The mushrooms exploded into a cloud of toxin-filled air, quickly enveloping the monster under its mantle. It stared at me with wariness but it soon began to wobble, its legs tensed and it lunged at me once more. I grabbed my spear with both hands, dropping the remainder of the seeds. The monster was repelled but this time it landed askew, nearly losing balance. I could do this.
With the mental image of the ring storage in mind, I focused on seeds and my hand—soon they appeared into existence already within my fist. I needed an easier way to sort the seeds. I needed a plant—the benevolous okra, to provide me the seeds I wanted, but I also needed something to keep it alive—evergrowing puff. I felt my instincts point me towards the right plants in my mind, even though there were less than ten of them.
I threw a couple of seeds onto the ground, all of them flourishing into nothing but small puffy white mushrooms. And then, I focused on the plant and threw a mana filled seed in the middle. It sprouted within a second. The monster took my pause to go for my throat, which I barely managed to push off, thankfully it's agility had taken a considerable hit, but I still bit my lip in displeasure. It’s hard to do so many tasks at once. The okra finally bloomed, it was a darkened black plant with looming branches full of seeds. I could feel my mana within it, but the plant was no longer feeding on it, but instead, the puffs that I too could feel slowly diminishing. And then I had a brief period of realization.
This isn’t my prophecy— I was trying to use: Scarlet World.
“Well, looks like you’re handling one just fine.” Elasia said from behind as I heard her fingers snap. “Add two more and it becomes a pack.”
Two monsters materialized before my very eyes. Exactly the same as the other one—two more Fangtooths.
[Toothless Fangtooth. Lvl. 39]
[Toothless Fangtooth. Lvl. 43]
The first Fangtooth tried to lunge towards me, but I stabbed it with my spear, it yelped and flailed, managing to barely get off as it began to bleed. It distanced itself away as the two remaining Fangtooths turned to me. My eyes darted as I felt my mana remaining on some Lyco Puffs. Bloom! I exploded them, once more enveloping the monsters with toxin spores. It was a strong ability, but I felt silly and inadequate. I could hardly keep track of the okra, the two kinds of mushroom puffs, let alone think of using the wisteria seeds for attack. Nefarious Wisteria. I commanded in my mind towards the okra, I felt one of the pods change within my senses, I reached as the monsters wobbled from the toxins. I injected my mana onto the pod and tossed it at them, my mind immediately moved to sensing it as it reached the two new monsters.
Bloom—
The pod broke; exploded into a myriad of black vines and I desired—pointed to the two. The vines wrapped around one monster and the other one managed to evade away. They gripped as they began to bloom into purple flowers. The monster yelped in pain as it began to bleed all over the ground, the plant consumed it as I saw roots dig into its body. I had a brief moment of pause seeing its effects before the other two monsters, one that was more injured than the other, attacked me in conjunction. I parried one, but the other bit onto my leg. I smacked it but to no avail, its fangs perforated onto my calf as searing pain spread through it. I stabbed it with my spear barely denting its head due to lack of mana—mana, push—the tip became a bright green as it pushed into its skull.
Remember that feeling? — Release. The mana exploded at the tip and mashed its brain into nothingness, the Fangtooth vanished into thin air with shadows. However, the pain continued to spread, and the other monster turned with a lazy hop and threw itself at my arm. Shit— I couldn’t dodge in time. It clung and bit through it as I saw my red blood spew. I felt danger overwhelm me and at that moment, a bright flash overtook my vision, there was a deep shriek of pain as I recovered my eyesight. And that's when I saw one of the golems with its arm raised, shining in an incandescent light at the tips of its rocky fingers. I turned to my side, where I saw the beast sprawled on the ground enveloped by a red net of mana.
My eyes slowly moved to my arm where— huh— my flesh had been melted, and I could hardly move it in certain directions. The pain spread as if it were continuously digging deeper into my being. Constantly aching, caving away at my insides. I felt warmth on my skin, blood covered my being.
“Well, you did a decent job, but you’re not ready.” Elasia’s voice entered my ears, finally reminding me it was just a supposed benchmark. “Unfortunately you seem to be struggling to even use your abilities effectively.”
I drew a pause. “Yeah…”
She snapped her fingers, and the remaining two monsters vanished from existence, melted into the ground as if they never existed. I wanted to protest regarding my levels or rewards, but I felt undeserving of things. However, as if reading my mind, Elasia spoke once more.
“If we were to level you up, The System might actually get angry.”
[I can attest to that!] Glim said in between Elasia’s hands. She was holding onto it. Huh. I kept forgetting that Glim existed, perhaps it could’ve helped me with my Prophecy. [I cannot help you with Prophecy revelations or techniques,] it elaborated.
“Yep, Prophecies are purely individual based,” she agreed. “Anyway, Blair. I think this is all for today.”
“For today?” My expression changed to one of disappointment, and perhaps betrayal— I could still keep going—
“Well, look at you—you’re already bleeding all over, bet you didn’t notice that wound on your stomach.” As she pointed that out, I suddenly became aware of another source of pain. “Toothless Fangtooth have a numbing agent to help them deal damage without being noticed. They are like nature’s assassins—well if you ignore all the other species that can do the exact same thing. Now come here, Blair.”
I heeded her relatively soft gesture, and as soon as I reached her side she gave me a health potion. I grabbed it with a small amount of doubt but drank it nonetheless.
“Now I’ll take you back to your room, you’ll need rest to think.”
I agreed after some hesitation.
