6 - The two captains

 

Use of mana recorded: creation of a new skill to match mana movement. [10%]

“What?” He called out, surprised to see the new kind of notification appear as soon as he stepped out of the stairs. He heard the sound of wood splitting, and another notification appeared.

[20%]

He swiped his hand in the air to remove it, to no avail. He then remembered the mental procedure and freed his vision in order to look around. The notification itself was not too intrusive, but having text float in front of his nose was distracting even if the background was transparent. He looked around curiously. This was the first time he could walk around and explore freely. He was still very new to the experience of being on the surface of a planet. Everything was a source of wonder and awe for him: the bright blue sky, the smell of the earth and of the forest. The village was bustling with life, and he sat down to take it all in, a wide smile on his face. It was the first time he could relax ever since coming to this world, and he wanted to make the most out of it. He had no idea what the elves had planned for him, but the whole oracle business left him wondering. It didn’t bother him, though, because he knew that without them he’d be very dead by now. And he had nothing better to do. As long as what they ask him to do doesn’t harm Lunora, he decided to do it. Speaking of which, he wondered what she was doing now. It was presumably morning, although he wasn’t sure. He had grown up in space, but even if he knew how to read the sun’s position on Earth, there was no guarantee it was the same here on this planet. But it didn’t matter. He was happy, and relaxed. The dark voices and thoughts that had plagued his mind ever since the crash were strangely silent, and he wanted to make the most of this time of peace and quiet. He knew it was only the calm before the storm, but still he hoped this moment could last for a bit longer.

There were a few people in the distance, elves, training with bows inside a small fenced field to his right. Three of them were shooting wooden training arrows at painted targets, while another was handling an empty bow. The target in front of him was painted on the side of a wide, hard and sturdy looking tree, and yet was riddled with deep holes. The elf cocked a nonexistent arrow into his bow, causing Fenrir to chuckle a bit. But, contrary to his expectations, as soon as his fingers touched the string a blue arrow appeared. It was translucent and ethereal, incorporeal even, but it travelled the air at great speed and lodged itself deep into the wood. A huge chunk of bark detached from the trunk and fell on the ground.

[30%]

That was magic! He continued watching for a bit, excited and awestruck. 

But suddenly his peace was interrupted by a loud voice yelling from somewhere behind him.

“Finally! The mighty and strong human has blessed us with his presence!” Said the voice, a little bit unsteady and unnecessarily loud. Several people laughed together with him as they approached Fenrir. He turned around, visibly annoyed, to see who was coming his way and saw a group of five young elves approaching him. They were all tall and slender, with golden hair and delicate features. The one in the middle had slightly reddened cheeks, and was walking weirdly. As soon as the captain’s gaze locked with his own, his face scrunched up in a deep frown.

“You! You think you are so important, so untouchable. All you humans are the same. You all act high and mighty, but the only thing you’re good at is hiding yourselves behind your shiny armor and your metal weapons. You are nothing but cowards!”

Several people, probably together with his group, cheered him on. Meanwhile, a crowd was gathering all around in a circle, and even the elves who were training had stopped to watch what was happening.

He didn’t know how to reply. He could feel dark clouds gather in his mind, and felt a strange kind of raw, uncontrolled anger build up inside of him. He tried to speak but no words came to his mind. He had no idea how to reply to such an idiotic insult, and had zero context to draw from. He cursed his own lack of knowledge. There was only one thing he could do: improvise. This was not a first contact diplomatic mission, he was no longer a real captain, and he had no idea just how to act. This was clearly outside what was predicted by the space navy standard protocol. But, he had encountered situations such as this. In online role playing games, granted, but he knew how to act. All he had to do was to stick to his character. Putting on his chaotic neutral persona, he replied to the taunt.

“You think I am the coward, yet you approach me armed and surrounded by allies. What, you scared of me?”

The elf tensed, and straightened up his back in an attempt to look intimidating.

“I don’t care what you think. You are a trespasser, an invader. Go back to those cities of stone you humans like so much.”

“Why do I have the impression I’m talking to a backwards troglodyte?” he said to himself, but loud enough for the others to hear him. The plan was to provoke the elf into a fight, overpower him and put a stop to the harassment before it could degenerate further. 

Or perhaps it was an opportunity, some part of him told him. He felt his mind cloud over, his thoughts overwhelmed by a dark red mist like that one night in the plains.

It would be a great way to vent some of his frustrations, and the elf had it coming, had he not? Yes, it was all that stupid elf’s fault. He had done nothing wrong, and yet that guy came here guns blazing and accused him of random things? Then it was not Fenrir’s fault if the other guy ended up hurt.

“A what? How dare you mock me. I will teach you a lesson!” the elf continued, but Fenrir paid him no mind. Insulted, he readied his bow.

---

“What is he doing?” Said Lunora, who was watching the scene unfold from her room on the tree. The distance was too great for voices to be heard, and even the light bent slightly as it traversed five hundred meters of atmosphere. But nothing escaped her eyes as she watched the scene.

Tanyth, that idiot. What was he doing, messing with her guest? She had to put a stop to that, before Fenrir could get hurt. She turned around, grabbed her bow, and rushed for the stairs.

“Don’t.”

She stopped in her tracks as soon as she saw her father, Eldor, standing at the doorway.

“Why not? They are trying to gang up on him!” She said nervously, throwing her hands in the air as she talked. She soon realised her demeanor was not very ladylike, but she didn’t care.

“This is not your fight. If he can’t handle even this much, then the oracle wouldn’t have sacrificed itself for him.”

“But! Even if that were true… we can’t have him fight against the people of the village.”

“Tanyth had been warned, and yet chose to ignore a direct order from me. This shall be his punishment.”

She tried to argue, but her father forcibly suppressed her attempt with his overwhelming aura. Defeated, she rushed back at the window to watch the scene from above. There was a commotion in the group, as two distinct fronts had created. On one side there was Fenrir together with two of the guards, while on the other side there was Tanyth’s group together with a few of the hunters that were supposed to be training in the fields. She strained her eyes to better understand what was happening. Three spirit arrows appeared above her friend’s head, and started circling around the area to keep his enemies in check. He then lunged forwards, grabbed Tanyth by the neck, and threw him several meters into the air. The elf landed on the hard ground, presumably with a thud, even though she couldn’t hear anything. The others quickly grabbed his unconscious body and retreated hastily, cursing all the while.

There was something on Fenrir’s face, a darkness in his eyes. She couldn’t be sure, she was so far away, but she felt a shiver down her spine. For a moment she thought she had looked into an impossibly deep abyss. Then, as quickly as the sensation came, the feeling disappeared and she once again saw her friend. 

Her Fenrir, the man she had fallen in love with.

---

[100%]

Creation successful. Awarding new skill: spirit arrow 1.

Spirit arrow: a racial skill unique to the elves. Conjure an ethereal arrow (mana construct, tangible) that you can control with your mind (user locked, Fenrir). Items such as [bow] (weapon locked, material dependent) increase the power at the cost of control. Power and number of arrows increase with skill level, magic affinity, and mana used (expand to show power ratios and formulas).

He stared at the notification, feeling more and more anger building up inside. Those damn messages. He was sure his blood pressure was so high he could have an aneurysm anytime now. 

“Now, now, now. Last chance to surrender.” Fenrir said, pulling the two mana arrows from his body as if they were irrelevant splinters. He looked at his opponents and grinned, even as a stream of blood stained his clothes. His grin was crooked, asymmetric and wild, clashing violently with the neat image of his exposed pearl white teeth. The elves looked at him, unsure about what to do, eyes wide as if they were looking at a monster. 

Meanwhile, he tried to free his field of vision of all those damned system messages. He wanted to scream and punch something. Apparently the system shared his love for overly complicated things, and had invaded his mind with status messages and numbers. He quickly came to understand the importance of a clean user interface, a thing he had always taken for granted before. Fuck that, fortunaltely he could take it out on those stupid elves that had challenged him. Beating them to a pulp would do wonders for his stress.

He grunted as he pulled out the last of the arrows, and looked at its bloodied tip for a moment. Another message appeared.

New effect discovered: 15% physical damage reduction due to [Genetic Enhancement]

Awarding corresponding skill: Genetic augment (body) 1

[Secondary effect detected... Awaiting trigger condition to award skill.]

Genetic augment (body): your body is stronger (str bonus), tougher (dmg reduction) and overall better (general stat increase) than an average human (race, locked). Power scales with user level and skill level. (expand to show power ratios and formulas).

He looked at the elves responsible for the damage, and for the messages. He crushed the arrow-shaped magic constructs in his hands. It would be hilarious if those elves perished under their own magic, wouldn’t it? He focused his mind into activating the new skill, channeling mana into it. The sensation was strange and mysterious, but now was not the time to investigate. Already annoyed by all those useless messages, he directed all of his rage and bottled up emotions into the magic casting. He managed to conjure three arrows by burning all of his mana pool, and instructed them to circle around him defensively. The arrows obeyed, bending to his will as he commanded them, all of his pent up anger and powerlessness manifesting as a crackling thunder inside the arrows themselves. A few sparks and arcs of electricity cut through the air, filling it with the smell of ozone.

Modifier: [lightning] applied.

Spirit arrow 1 -> 2. New effect: modifier has been incorporated into the skill by the user. Skill evolution successful. New skill: Elemental spirit arrow added as a variation of the old skill. Both are now available.

“Impossible! How did he do that?” One of the thugs said to the leader of their group, who was even more confused than his fellows. Meanwhile, Fenrir was growing more and more enraged. He fought down the instinct to swat those status screens like flies out of the sky, knowing it was useless, and directed his gaze at his opponents. If the screens were intangible, then he would swat the elves instead. 

The elves watched the arrows move in the air with a stupefied expression, while their leader was standing still with his mouth opening and closing as if to say something. While he was distracted, Fenrir grabbed him and launched him in the air.

You have incapacitated: elf thug. Awarding experience. 

Level up!

Level 1 -> 2

All base stats increased. System updated to Version 1.0.1. New features: map; waypoints. New feature: magic manifestation. New active skill: pulse scan 1. New passive skill: auto mapping 1. 

Auto mapping: automatically add an area to the map. Range: line of sight (sense, Fenrir).

Pulse scan: reveal and area and permanently add it to the map. Range: 10*([skill level]+[user level]) meters (sense, Fenrir). Cost: low. Cooldown: 100 minutes

Hidden quest completed: discover how to use magic without external help.

Reward: magic affinity upgrade [F]->[E]

Feature: magic manifestation has produced a unique skill: Magic conversion.

Magic conversion: all magic is automatically converted into a skill (source: Fenrir, target: Fenrir). Effectiveness and speed varies depending on context (expand). All magic created by the user is immediately converted into a skill. User will be unable to use magic, except for creating new skills.

“FUCK THOSE MESSAGES!” He yelled. The air felt still, and everyone was completely silent and immobile as they watched him. 

He paid no mind to the eerie atmosphere all around him, his mind completely invaded by red mist. There was only one thought: violence. Actually, there was also a complete, undiluted and unfathomably deep hatred towards those floating letters that kept appearing and appearing over and over again. The amount of clutter in his field of view was impressive, he conceded. It had managed to enrage him to this point, very impressive indeed. 

He directed the arrows towards the other elves. He would do a massacre today. Fuck those screens and these stupid caveman elves. The least he could do was to mince their meat with their own spirit arrows until they were no longer recognisable. Idiots, fuck them, fuck this world and fuck the system messages. It was their fault if he was like this, okay? It was all them, not him. He wanted to be peaceful, he was very grateful they had saved him. But no, they had to just come and provoke him. It was their fault. Their fault only. They were about to die because of their own stupid decisios.

Then he heard footsteps, and a voice. The red mist dissipated, and the arrows vanished a few millimeters away from the faces of their targets.

With newfound clarity, the captain quickly skimmed through the messages and then dismissed them, leaving them for later review. He was just in time to catch Lunora, who had bolted towards him at an impossible speed. She hugged him and smiled. He gently returned her smile and stroked her silky hair.