"Thanks." Jericho half smiled.
Princess beamed. "Well, at least you can earn some money while I am at school now."
Jericho gave a nod back and pulled out his wooden flute and resumed playing the calming medley he was playing back at the elven village.
The girl turned to her friend. (By the way Ken, you look great! You look a lot like Lux did before everything happened this morning.)
The boy's short tail wiggled happily out of sight. (I look much cooler now right?)
(Definitely; how is it walking on all fours like that?)
Ken looked around to make sure nobody was around before reverting to his human form. "With the game system's help I am getting used to it. I prefer my human form still."
Princess laughed. "Alex would mention something about the glory of technology right now."
He inwardly grumbled that she brought up Alex again. "Truly, it is still strange how natural that body feels but how much it doesn't seem to affect my normal self. Oh, Princess, can I ask you for a favor?"
"You need a new collar right?"
"Um, I didn't mean that." He shuddered at the thought. "I know how honest you are. I was wondering if you could not say anything about my current condition to anyone except me and your brother." He shuffled awkwardly.
Princess smiled. "You are right, I don't really have much of a filter, but I am good at keeping secrets. You will tell people about your condition on your own. Even my brother has secrets I'm helping him keep. Your secret isn't mine to tell. Besides keeping secrets and being honest are two different things."
"Thanks." He replied. "By the way, Jericho, how high is your luck stat?"
Jericho lowed the flute, "fifteen." He resumed playing.
"No wonder, if that was tripled in earlier levels…" he replied. "Princess, I know you prefer dancing outfits but here are some sandals and a cape. They are level 10 equipment so we will need to level up a bit more before you can use them, but it will at least give you a bit more defense in case you get attacked."
Princess smiled. "Thanks Ken but…"
"Take them; they are too weak for me right now. Besides, I got them from the people that attacked us. If you don't like them, you can switch them out later for better ones." He interrupted.
"Thanks." She replied taking the items.
"And for you Jericho, here is some leather pants armor. It shouldn't affect your movement much but it will at least keep you safer once you can equip it." He handed over the pants. Find authorized novels in Webnovel，faster updates, better experience，Please click www.webnovel.com <a href="https://www.webnovel.com">www.webnovel.com</a> for visiting.
Jericho grabbed the armor and put it in his inventory with a swift motion as he took a breath to keep playing.
[You have gained the Flute skill 8/10 Master]
"Oh yeah, Jericho, you wanted to try out something with my human form skill?" The pre-teen recalled.
The bard snapped out of his thoughts. He put his flute away and pulled out the guitar. "Right." He started strumming while focusing on the blond haired pre-teen's 'Human Form' ability.
Ken received a few notifications. [You are under the effects of the Composition of (Human Form). While the piece is playing, your human form timer will reduce at half speed. After the composition is completed a minute will be restored to your transformation timer. Because you are the only ally with this skill, the effects will be doubled. The timer will reduce at quarter speed and two minutes will be restored when completed.]
The bard ended the melody.
"Jericho, the effects are amazing! Not only is the timer slowed down while you play, when you finish it gives me extra minutes." Ken exclaimed excitedly. "If you use your song, I can be human all day long."
Jericho gave a nod. "Today it won't make much of a difference though, right?"
A server announcement was made. [The server will shut down in 30 minutes and will be offline until 7:00 PM tonight. Please finish up what you are currently doing and log off. The game company is not responsible for any items, progress, experience, or other things lost or misplaced because of a failure to log off.]
The three put away their items and logged off.
***
The day was festive as Moira and Kenneth danced.
"Ken, I have a great idea!" Moira shouted.
"What's that?"
"You should learn a line dance with me. There are quite a few of them that fit with what we have been practicing."
"A line dance?" Ken asked.
"Yeah, it is a type of western dance that has a series of steps that are performed before you rotate and do it again. Normally they are done with lots of people and they are a lot of fun. Jericho wrote a song that I made a dance to. It will be perfect for you to practice your swing steps with."
Ken chuckled awkwardly. "Will I have time to learn it?"
Moira gave a nod. "Yep, most basic line dances like the one my brother and I made are fairly easy to follow even if you don't know the dance."
Jericho turned on a partial recording and started playing a melody on fiddle.
Moira started to dance. "Ken, watch me and then when you think you can follow along stand next to me and dance too!"
Ken's eyes widened with both shock and excitement. "That almost looks like…"
***
Purai looked calmly around the forest before receiving an anticipated system notification. [Your friends Dancing Princess and Jericho the Bard have come online.
She sent them a message. [I'm on my way over to Lilly's flower garden. I will meet you there. How are Lux and Ken doing?]
The bard promptly sent a reply to Purai. [They are doing great, they both seem much happier after your serum removed Ken's curses. See you there.]
Purai excitedly traveled over to where Lilly's flower garden was. "Finally, I did something right." She clenched her fist happily. "I can do this!"
The flowers and the young elf came into view. "Lilly!" Purai called out.
"Purai! You are back! Did my new friends find you?" Lillith inquired with a bright smile.
The healer nodded. "They did and what is even better is I was able to get rid of the lynx's curses!"
"I knew you could do it!" She gave the healer a hug. "I bet they were so grateful! I should tell everyone to be nicer to my new friends since they brought you back happy."
Purai smiled sadly and patted the young elf's head. "Lillith, I'm leaving."
The young elf held tighter and remained silent for a bit. "Will you come back sometime and play with me some more?"
The healer hugged Lilly back. "I'll visit. But it may take me some time."
"I understand." The elf let go of the healer and picked up a beautiful white flower. "For you, may it keep our friendship pure even when we are far apart."
Purai teared up. "Thank you Lilly." She reached into her own bag and retrieved a book. "This is my collection book of our adventures together. Keep it so we can add more to it when we meet again in the future."
The sounds of footsteps approached.
Lillith looked over. "Ah, new friends welcome back! Where is your other friend?"
Jericho smiled. "Hi Lillith, our other friend was a bit busy and couldn't make it."
"I see, Thank you for helping Purai."
[You have completed Help Purai. You have gained Lillith's gratitude. You have gained 300 Exp.]
"Are the four of you also leaving?" She asked, looking at the cats strangely, noticing the extra one.
"We are. Thank you so much for your help Lillith, we will be back." Jericho replied.
"By the way where did the extra lynx come from?"
Jericho gave Ken a look to see what he wanted to do.
The pre-teen sighed and assumed his human form. "I'm actually here, Lillith." He paused. "Hello Purai." He said aloud.
The healer looked over at the cat who had just become a person. "Who?" She paused as she thought the blond in front of her looked incredibly familiar.
"Relax, it's me, Ken."
"Wait, you're a human?" She started to inwardly panic.
"Wait you're not human?" Lillith asked.
Ken shook his head. "No, I'm a lynx."
Purai sighed in relief.
"I wanted to tell you thank you for helping me get rid of those curses and giving me this cool transformation ability."
The healer's eyes widened in shock. "I did all of that?"
Lillith frowned as she stared at Ken.
Ken nodded with a smile. "Yeah, my little brother and I have been very happy all day thanks to your help."
The young elf came over. "But you were clearly human when I met you. And Lux was much bigger."
Ken laughed. "I know. It was a side effect of both our curses. By the time we met up with Purai, I had taken all of Lux's curses and he reverted back to being a kitten. If you must blame anything for the crazy curses, you should blame the fog."
Lillith sighed. "Oh, I get it now. Sorry for assuming you were human."
The pre-teen shook his head. "There was no reason for you to assume otherwise. If I had to apologize for every time I made an assumption, there would be no end to the apologizing."
"Really?" The young elf asked back.
"Yeah, people will assume what seems apparent to them, even if it is wrong. Don't beat yourself up for being wrong. Just give yourself more time to think and observe so you can act instead of react. While that won't appease everyone, it will help you out." Ken crouched down and reverted back to his feline form even though he didn't need to.
Princess let out a light chuckle. "Brother, your Zen wisdom seems to be rubbing off on Ken!"
Jericho smirked. "Well, at least that makes one of you."
Purai, who missed the comment, looked at the cat. "You can't maintain your human form for very long?" She inquired.
Ken looked up at the healer and shook his head. (Not as long as I would like anyways. I have more time I can spend as a human but I want to wait until later. We have quite a bit of traveling to do.)
Princess translated.
The healer smiled. "Thank you for using it to tell me you are doing better. I'm glad."
Ken gave a light nod
Lillith returned to her garden and picked a few more flowers. She passed one to each of them. "I'll see you again." She paused.
Jericho gave a nod. "We will see you again."
The young elf sniffed before running off.
Purai started to lightly cry seeing the elf run away in sadness. "I'm sorry Lillith." She whispered.
Jericho felt a twinge of emotion break through the darkness he was trying to escape from. "Goodbyes are hard." He lifted the flute he was carrying, sat down next to the flower garden and started playing a calm minor toned piece.
Lillith listened from the shadows while crying. "Thank you, Jericho." She pulled out a smaller flute of her own and started playing a different piece in a slightly discordant harmony with his.
Princess looked around. "Where is the second flute?"
Purai released a sad chuckle as she wiped some of her tears. "Lillith bought one two nights ago saying it would be good for her flowers. She practiced for hours."
The dancer walked over to the flower garden and pulled out a new forest green dress she had made. She hung it from a tree near the garden.
The flutes stopped.
Jericho stood, slowly. "Let us stop by Pren one more time before heading out to the Satyrs. I want to loosen up a bit more."
Princess nodded. "Purai is that alright with you?"
The tear stricken healer nodded. "Alright. But what for?"
Jericho started walking. "A performance."
After they departed, Lillith came out from where she was hiding and found the dress. A sad smile followed by a determined look flashed across her smooth face. She grabbed the dress and changed. She ran into town and emerged shortly after with a traveling bag. The elf quietly followed after the group.
© J Eranoth
"Thanks." Jericho half smiled.
Princess beamed. "Well, at least you can earn some money while I am at school now."
Jericho gave a nod back and pulled out his wooden flute and resumed playing the calming medley he was playing back at the elven village.
The girl turned to her friend. (By the way Ken, you look great! You look a lot like Lux did before everything happened this morning.)
The boy's short tail wiggled happily out of sight. (I look much cooler now right?)
(Definitely; how is it walking on all fours like that?)
Ken looked around to make sure nobody was around before reverting to his human form. "With the game system's help I am getting used to it. I prefer my human form still."
Princess laughed. "Alex would mention something about the glory of technology right now."
He inwardly grumbled that she brought up Alex again. "Truly, it is still strange how natural that body feels but how much it doesn't seem to affect my normal self. Oh, Princess, can I ask you for a favor?"
"You need a new collar right?"
"Um, I didn't mean that." He shuddered at the thought. "I know how honest you are. I was wondering if you could not say anything about my current condition to anyone except me and your brother." He shuffled awkwardly.
Princess smiled. "You are right, I don't really have much of a filter, but I am good at keeping secrets. You will tell people about your condition on your own. Even my brother has secrets I'm helping him keep. Your secret isn't mine to tell. Besides keeping secrets and being honest are two different things."
"Thanks." He replied. "By the way, Jericho, how high is your luck stat?"
Jericho lowed the flute, "fifteen." He resumed playing.
"No wonder, if that was tripled in earlier levels…" he replied. "Princess, I know you prefer dancing outfits but here are some sandals and a cape. They are level 10 equipment so we will need to level up a bit more before you can use them, but it will at least give you a bit more defense in case you get attacked."
Princess smiled. "Thanks Ken but…"
"Take them; they are too weak for me right now. Besides, I got them from the people that attacked us. If you don't like them, you can switch them out later for better ones." He interrupted.
"Thanks." She replied taking the items.
"And for you Jericho, here is some leather pants armor. It shouldn't affect your movement much but it will at least keep you safer once you can equip it." He handed over the pants. Find authorized novels in Webnovel，faster updates, better experience，Please click www.webnovel.com <a href="https://www.webnovel.com">www.webnovel.com</a> for visiting.
Jericho grabbed the armor and put it in his inventory with a swift motion as he took a breath to keep playing.
[You have gained the Flute skill 8/10 Master]
"Oh yeah, Jericho, you wanted to try out something with my human form skill?" The pre-teen recalled.
The bard snapped out of his thoughts. He put his flute away and pulled out the guitar. "Right." He started strumming while focusing on the blond haired pre-teen's 'Human Form' ability.
Ken received a few notifications. [You are under the effects of the Composition of (Human Form). While the piece is playing, your human form timer will reduce at half speed. After the composition is completed a minute will be restored to your transformation timer. Because you are the only ally with this skill, the effects will be doubled. The timer will reduce at quarter speed and two minutes will be restored when completed.]
The bard ended the melody.
"Jericho, the effects are amazing! Not only is the timer slowed down while you play, when you finish it gives me extra minutes." Ken exclaimed excitedly. "If you use your song, I can be human all day long."
Jericho gave a nod. "Today it won't make much of a difference though, right?"
A server announcement was made. [The server will shut down in 30 minutes and will be offline until 7:00 PM tonight. Please finish up what you are currently doing and log off. The game company is not responsible for any items, progress, experience, or other things lost or misplaced because of a failure to log off.]
The three put away their items and logged off.
***
The day was festive as Moira and Kenneth danced.
"Ken, I have a great idea!" Moira shouted.
"What's that?"
"You should learn a line dance with me. There are quite a few of them that fit with what we have been practicing."
"A line dance?" Ken asked.
"Yeah, it is a type of western dance that has a series of steps that are performed before you rotate and do it again. Normally they are done with lots of people and they are a lot of fun. Jericho wrote a song that I made a dance to. It will be perfect for you to practice your swing steps with."
Ken chuckled awkwardly. "Will I have time to learn it?"
Moira gave a nod. "Yep, most basic line dances like the one my brother and I made are fairly easy to follow even if you don't know the dance."
Jericho turned on a partial recording and started playing a melody on fiddle.
Moira started to dance. "Ken, watch me and then when you think you can follow along stand next to me and dance too!"
Ken's eyes widened with both shock and excitement. "That almost looks like…"
***
Purai looked calmly around the forest before receiving an anticipated system notification. [Your friends Dancing Princess and Jericho the Bard have come online.
She sent them a message. [I'm on my way over to Lilly's flower garden. I will meet you there. How are Lux and Ken doing?]
The bard promptly sent a reply to Purai. [They are doing great, they both seem much happier after your serum removed Ken's curses. See you there.]
Purai excitedly traveled over to where Lilly's flower garden was. "Finally, I did something right." She clenched her fist happily. "I can do this!"
The flowers and the young elf came into view. "Lilly!" Purai called out.
"Purai! You are back! Did my new friends find you?" Lillith inquired with a bright smile.
The healer nodded. "They did and what is even better is I was able to get rid of the lynx's curses!"
"I knew you could do it!" She gave the healer a hug. "I bet they were so grateful! I should tell everyone to be nicer to my new friends since they brought you back happy."
Purai smiled sadly and patted the young elf's head. "Lillith, I'm leaving."
The young elf held tighter and remained silent for a bit. "Will you come back sometime and play with me some more?"
The healer hugged Lilly back. "I'll visit. But it may take me some time."
"I understand." The elf let go of the healer and picked up a beautiful white flower. "For you, may it keep our friendship pure even when we are far apart."
Purai teared up. "Thank you Lilly." She reached into her own bag and retrieved a book. "This is my collection book of our adventures together. Keep it so we can add more to it when we meet again in the future."
The sounds of footsteps approached.
Lillith looked over. "Ah, new friends welcome back! Where is your other friend?"
Jericho smiled. "Hi Lillith, our other friend was a bit busy and couldn't make it."
"I see, Thank you for helping Purai."
[You have completed Help Purai. You have gained Lillith's gratitude. You have gained 300 Exp.]
"Are the four of you also leaving?" She asked, looking at the cats strangely, noticing the extra one.
"We are. Thank you so much for your help Lillith, we will be back." Jericho replied.
"By the way where did the extra lynx come from?"
Jericho gave Ken a look to see what he wanted to do.
The pre-teen sighed and assumed his human form. "I'm actually here, Lillith." He paused. "Hello Purai." He said aloud.
The healer looked over at the cat who had just become a person. "Who?" She paused as she thought the blond in front of her looked incredibly familiar.
"Relax, it's me, Ken."
"Wait, you're a human?" She started to inwardly panic.
"Wait you're not human?" Lillith asked.
Ken shook his head. "No, I'm a lynx."
Purai sighed in relief.
"I wanted to tell you thank you for helping me get rid of those curses and giving me this cool transformation ability."
The healer's eyes widened in shock. "I did all of that?"
Lillith frowned as she stared at Ken.
Ken nodded with a smile. "Yeah, my little brother and I have been very happy all day thanks to your help."
The young elf came over. "But you were clearly human when I met you. And Lux was much bigger."
Ken laughed. "I know. It was a side effect of both our curses. By the time we met up with Purai, I had taken all of Lux's curses and he reverted back to being a kitten. If you must blame anything for the crazy curses, you should blame the fog."
Lillith sighed. "Oh, I get it now. Sorry for assuming you were human."
The pre-teen shook his head. "There was no reason for you to assume otherwise. If I had to apologize for every time I made an assumption, there would be no end to the apologizing."
"Really?" The young elf asked back.
"Yeah, people will assume what seems apparent to them, even if it is wrong. Don't beat yourself up for being wrong. Just give yourself more time to think and observe so you can act instead of react. While that won't appease everyone, it will help you out." Ken crouched down and reverted back to his feline form even though he didn't need to.
Princess let out a light chuckle. "Brother, your Zen wisdom seems to be rubbing off on Ken!"
Jericho smirked. "Well, at least that makes one of you."
Purai, who missed the comment, looked at the cat. "You can't maintain your human form for very long?" She inquired.
Ken looked up at the healer and shook his head. (Not as long as I would like anyways. I have more time I can spend as a human but I want to wait until later. We have quite a bit of traveling to do.)
Princess translated.
The healer smiled. "Thank you for using it to tell me you are doing better. I'm glad."
Ken gave a light nod
Lillith returned to her garden and picked a few more flowers. She passed one to each of them. "I'll see you again." She paused.
Jericho gave a nod. "We will see you again."
The young elf sniffed before running off.
Purai started to lightly cry seeing the elf run away in sadness. "I'm sorry Lillith." She whispered.
Jericho felt a twinge of emotion break through the darkness he was trying to escape from. "Goodbyes are hard." He lifted the flute he was carrying, sat down next to the flower garden and started playing a calm minor toned piece.
Lillith listened from the shadows while crying. "Thank you, Jericho." She pulled out a smaller flute of her own and started playing a different piece in a slightly discordant harmony with his.
Princess looked around. "Where is the second flute?"
Purai released a sad chuckle as she wiped some of her tears. "Lillith bought one two nights ago saying it would be good for her flowers. She practiced for hours."
The dancer walked over to the flower garden and pulled out a new forest green dress she had made. She hung it from a tree near the garden.
The flutes stopped.
Jericho stood, slowly. "Let us stop by Pren one more time before heading out to the Satyrs. I want to loosen up a bit more."
Princess nodded. "Purai is that alright with you?"
The tear stricken healer nodded. "Alright. But what for?"
Jericho started walking. "A performance."
After they departed, Lillith came out from where she was hiding and found the dress. A sad smile followed by a determined look flashed across her smooth face. She grabbed the dress and changed. She ran into town and emerged shortly after with a traveling bag. The elf quietly followed after the group.
© J Eranoth
