Chapter 86

 

Dream State;

“So what’s the blue screen for?” I asked anxiously. It’s hard to contain myself. Anytime a blue screen has popped up so far it’s been good. I reluctantly give up the last pair of girl’s clothes to Sunghee. We’ll have to make more or improvise later. I might be able to scrounge up some dwarven clothes still…

“Don’t let anything happen to these. They are the last pair,” I cautioned to Sunghee after giving her the new pair of school girl clothes that are too small for her but all that I have at the moment.

“What?! It’s not my fault!” Sunghee exclaimed.

“Oh please, you don’t think it’s too convenient that you came back totally naked to seduce Shun? Even I’ve got eyes you know,” Fox scoffed.

Sunghee blushed. “Sorry.”

“Yeah, we’ll see about that,” Fox seemed like she was in a bad mood. Huh? Is that what happens when you get low mana? Does it make some people like whiny or others easily mad?

“Back to the screen, ladies? Please help me out with it,” I urged them back to our current issue to solve.

“Hmm you got another one? How many times has it been now?” Fox is coming in closer. She’s going over it. But she lets Sunghee read it to me.

“This is pretty good pace,” Sunghee mused as she’s coming closer to me.

“I know right? I can hardly believe it!” I said.

“I wonder what it could be? Is it something new or an upgrade of something else?” Sunghee guessed. She’s finally got the school uniform skirt on and has put her arms through the sleeves. She isn’t doing up the buttons yet however and there’s a lot of skin up top showing…

“Guess we’ll find out,” Fox acknowledged. She’s a little bit further away and sitting on her heels with her ears pricked up. Even though she’s trying to look dour, she’s obviously interested. “I guess it’s safe enough to look now. I don’t think there are any more of those imps here…” she added.

Sunghee is surprised again, “Well OK, let’s go over everything. Give me just a minute. Some of these words are kind of hard to figure out. This is a second language to me too you know.”

Her finger traces ahead and then back a few times. It’s a good two minutes before she’s able to pull anything up. “Wish Egyptian used a sound alphabet instead of this picture crap…”

“So what’s up?” I asked.

Sunghee’s face is scrunched up. “OK, I think that word is minion right?” She asks Fox.

Fox takes a minute also but then came closer. “It’s an altered hieroglyphic again. But it’s not minion…it’s something else. Hang on a sec, its coming to me and it’s on the tip of my tongue,” she explains to me.

“No wonder I couldn’t make it out,” Sunghee bit her lip.

“And that means what?” I asked.

“Oh wait a minute. I remember now. So, I think it’s the word for like a familiar? But the problem is that it’s a specific type and I don’t know this word’s full meaning. Both mages, summoners, and demons can have familiars, and that’s another issue entirely. I have an idea of what its saying based on the context, but I’m not hitting it fully because there are like several words for a familiar in Egyptian,” Sunghee said.

“So?”

Impatiently Fox jumps in confirming and snapping her fingers, “So it’s saying you’ve gained a familiar.”

“I agree,” Sunghee added.

Sunghee would have gotten the translation right, she just is slower than Fox, who has used this system of writing her whole life.

Could that familiar setup be…?

My mind is wandering back to Asakura’s weird behavior. Now it’s suddenly obvious!

Asakura is my familiar! And its an advanced familiar, not some bat, cat, or dog trash!

This is amazing!

But I want to be reserved about it and humble. It would be easy for a reaction to be sparked by the two girls already, realizing this other third girl might have some new appeal to combat with their girl seduction power.

“Ah that makes sense,” I said.

“Oh?”

They both take it reasonably well when I explain that Asakura has been really close to me lately and behaving strangely…almost inhumanely strange.

“You better get that checked out actually,” Fox said.

“You mean…like getting some other sources?” Sunghee questioned.

“Eh? How? It’s not like there’s a guide book,” I started to say.

“Actually there is a way to get a guidebook or other technical manuals on magic. And some of them may have books on familiars, if we can get to the right city that has them,” Fox countered.

“Eh? Really?” Sunghee is also shocked.

“But it will take time to travel and won’t be anytime soon,” Fox Girl apologetically informed us.

“Why didn’t you mention that before?!” I almost yelped. If there were technical manuals…then I could boost my skills.

“Yeah, there’s also a special world wide mage’s merchant network. I didn’t mention it yet because you need to get to a city of course and with the right one with magic infrastructure. So there’s no gain if you can’t get to a big city. But basically mages sell each other information and skills through a network. You can get all kinds of…” Fox was interrupted.

“No freaking way!” Sunghee seems happy too. She knows better resources means we can do better and be more successful.

“So you can either hire a demonologist to help with what information you need here, or you can get the guide book,” Fox said.

“That sounds cool.”

“No its not. It’s not at all,” Fox shakes her head.

“Why?” Sunghee asks for both of us.

“Think about it. If you are running a city or in a city guard to do anti-demon operations and fighting demons what’s the easiest way of catching one?” Fox asked.

“Maybe by monitoring what things the demons have to have in order to live?” I guessed.

“Bingo,” Fox snaps her fingers. “So what do you think will happen if you start looking up demon books, demonologists, and things that only demons would look for? They watch for that sort of thing you know.”

She rolls her eyes.

“Damn,” I said.

“So is this going to be a dead end?” Sunghee frowned.

She coughs a bit before continue, “People will see your interest in demon books and technology and magic made by demons and naturally accidentally associate you with them. You need to take a back door first by acquiring human like skills first until you can hold your own.”

“So you think it will be slower that way won’t you?” Sunghee guessed with an odd look on her face.

“It’s round about kind of through the back door but you can do it. But he will definitely attract attention by going after demon knowledge first. Human skills won’t acquire as much attention. So lay low and stay under the radar and find stuff piece meal under cover.”

“But I don’t want to sacrifice strength to go for something less so how will we work this out?” I said.

“Well as I was about to explain, human skills aren’t as powerful as other races’ in magic or combat initially. But they can be worked up to that point. It’s just longer,” Fox shrugged. “sorry. Part of the hardship of being a human on this planet, I guess.”

“So he could eventually reach a point of holding his own,” Sunghee gave me an encouraging look.

“I thought I was there already,” I frowned.

“You are getting close but you are still kind of like an apprentice still. You are like a new recruit maybe but just a little better than the other fodder,” Sunghee gave me an empathetic pat; my pride is bleeding and making the back of my throat itchy hearing that.

“Yep, but go for steady and slow with survival. It seems like that’s what your skills are anyway,” Fox said.

“Ah, slow doesn’t sit well with me either,” Sunghee seemed frustrated. “But at least you aren’t a priest. At first that sort of turned me off somehow but it’s more like you are some kind of light mage or paladin type.”

“Any kind of mage is a big advantage,” Fox corrected on her.

“Is a paladin different than a priest though?” I asked.

She shook her head, “they are tons different. I don’t think you are actually a paladin. You just have the fluke of that one skill and some heals. You can continue to fake being one but people may start to notice you aren’t wearing heavy armor if you stay in one location to long. There are other issues to like whether or not you can enter in churches and sanctuaries and get their blessings. If you are a fake you won’t get their special ‘bonus stat’ blessings.

I’d like a blessing. That sounds cool. And it has stat ups?

“Still not a paladin, mage more like,” Sunghee argued back.

“Is it really that big a deal? I think I’m just trying to grow in every area with a little bit of everything aren’t I?”

“Whatever,” Fox shrugged.

“Familiar is a mage skill, not a priest or paladin. I guess it’s true a lot of knights and paladin type classes do use armor,” Sunghee hurriedly added.

“Eh? We haven’t really talked about knights have we yet?” I interjected.

“Not yet, but that’s a conversation for another day. We’ll get to that and talk about knights and city guard type jobs later,” Sunghee said looking irritated.

Hm why did she look irritated? Was there some kind of back story or dark secret there?

She seemed to be bitter when both of those two ideas were mentioned.

“I thought we finished that discussion,” Fox said folding her arms again and giving a standoffish posture, bringing us back from the tangent we’d almost gone on. That’s what it was like when you had two experts with you. If you have two experts then you have three expert opinions and everyone wanted to talk at once and go off on tangents.

“Well let’s worry about our own current problems right now,” I said.

“Yeah it’s that every time we get anywhere it seems there’s a new Shun problem to solve,” Sunghee shook her head.

“This is so annoying. Seems like we keep having to say that often,” Sunghee agreed.

“So back to the problem at hand,” Fox interrupted. With all of us this excited it seems like we all wanted to talk at once.

“But are you sure Asakura is …I don’t know becoming some kind of familiar?” I said.

“That’s what it says,” Sunghee’s eyes are wide open as her fingers have gone over the text more than once.

There should be a whole host of abilities associated with a familiar, and ‘master mage’ relationship!

But the problem is that it will take time and training to unlock them!

“Here’s the problem Shun…most creatures in this world don’t have humanoid familiars. What do you think would happen if they did?” Fox asked.

“This isn’t elementary school. Just get to the point and spell it out for him,” Sunghee growled.

“Probably they’d want to recreate slavery if they could make anyone a familiar that’s a human right?” I asked.

“Yeah exactly! That’s why foxkin don’t like humans much, by the way,” Fox winked at me. Somehow she isn’t objecting? I find that weird considering how she was before.

“Slavery isn’t so bad if it’s Shun. It’s only bad if you have a bad master. But for a mistress type of relationship being your bed slave isn’t so bad,” Sunghee said. She of course tries to make her boobs bounce and shake while doing so. She still hasn’t buttoned up her shirt.

She’s totally crazy isn’t she…

“You are totally missing the point. The point is only demon faction mages have humanoid familiars right now…well that’s how it used to be. But about ten years ago a few Gaia faction mages said it was possible for others to get them too,” Fox said.

“Wait? Gaia? What’s that?” I said.

“Gaia is the pro human, anti-demon faction for this world,” Sunghee explained. “They are a big deal. It kind of operates much like a church in a way because it works across kingdom borders. It’s basically a bunch of crusaders, priests, knights, and mages that are trying to stop the demon world from taking over this one. But mostly people see them as knights and soldiers that are kind of reckless and anxious to be martyrs and half crazy. But they are not bad people.”

“They are kind of nicknamed the Church of Gaia, but they aren’t really a church. It’s kind of a running joke,” Fox snickered.

“You can laugh all you want but they are responsible for the demons having not taken over already,” Sunghee said.

“Really? So if I’ve got this demons gear and blood in me, then I probably better avoid them,” I sighed.

“Yeah that’s a bit hard actually. Ironically they might have more study material and tools to help your light magic skills more than anyone, but they’d kill you for sure if they knew what was going on with you,” Fox said.

“Gaia faction huh? So there must be a lot of different things like that out here? We’ve only talked about the Demon faction and the Gaia faction, the Dwarf faction, the Egyptian faction, and several others that are farther away. How many others are there?” I asked.

“Well there are a lot. It’s just how big are you trying to go? There’s a Vyskland Empire faction that’s pretty big but their borders aren’t very close to us right now. They are a major player, and the demon faction is as big as probably the top three all together, but the problem is that the demon faction has several factions within it and they sometimes fight each other for power. That’s probably why they haven’t already taken over,” Sunghee said.

“Wow,” I said. “But aren’t the Yayoi a faction?”

“Not quite. They aren’t totally unified yet and aren’t big enough to be considered one. But if some of your people got them together that could change,” Sunghee said. “I’m only saying that because of all the different cultures out there the Yayoi are probably the most similar to Korean or Japanese culture right now so it’s an option.”

“More of a headache actually,” Fox frowned.

“Well who are these Vyskland Empire guys?” I asked.

Sunghee stretched her muscles and looked stir crazy. “Do we have to talk about that now? I don’t know too much about them but think like medieval Europe with castles and knights and you’d probably have a general image for something like them. It just so happens that the home base for the Gaia faction is on the border of them and some kind of neo-Arab caliphate empire that borders them too.”

“Eh? How come all these factions sound similar to stuff from Earth history?” I couldn’t help but say scrunching up my nose.

“They aren’t actually the same…but…you have to remember this whole deal of kidnapping communities from Earth from magic has been going on for hundreds and thousands of years here,” Fox said.

“Wow…that’s…terrible,” I said.

“By the way those are just the human factions. The Dwarven faction is one of the demi-human factions that is about as big as the human empire factions but there are a whole slew of them out there, but most of them are hidden,” Fox said.

“Good to know, makes it less boring,” Sunghee yawned. I think she was getting sleepy.

“You know it’s frustrating that this whole damn time we’ve been caught up in this underground crap. At this rate the whole world is passing us by,” I vented my stress.

“Not really. You have to remember virtually every community, faction, city and whatever else out there that you can name is under siege from demons and evil in this world,” Fox interjected. “They see this world as rich in resources and ripe for the taking. I mentioned that before but I didn’t really explain visually how just normal cities are almost all fortresses just so that people can eke out the meager living that they can. If you think it’s bad for you now, wait till you really see what’s out there,” she added.

“She’s right on that unfortunately,” Sunghee sighed.

Long silence…

I sighed.

So once again I’m reminded that this is a hell world.

“So uh, do you have information on the different types of mage familiars out there? I’d like to know more about that,” I said hoping they’d be able to tell me more.

“Well…I kind of let my sister borrow my new mage books a few years ago. So I don’t have them anymore. That’s not factoring in being captured right after that either,” Fox apologized.

“So there is information but it’s just not with us now,” I restated.

She nodded. “Give it some time, I’m sure we’ll get more information. It’s got me curious too actually.”

“Whatever…so back to before, if I can’t do demon skills without being noticed by anti-demon spies then where do we pick our base and place to live?” I asked.

“Yeah, I’d like a place that isn’t like living in a third world country. You won’t do that to us right Shun?” Sunghee said while folding her arms under her boobs and pushing them up for effect.

Fox is giving me a look that’s screaming be careful of what I say and that this is a sensitive issue.

“RIGHT?!” Sunghee again reinforced with wide eyes.

I shrugged, “I don’t want to live like a coal miner or some slave serf either,” I grumbled. “Where we live is going to be a sensitive issue,” I added.

“Good,” Sunghee sighed in relief.

“So what do you think about picking a base or place to live?” I asked Fox. “I have to prioritize a place that has access to magic or magic training.”

She shrugged, “I’m just helping you guys through this and actually don’t know all the human city locations. But you need and could get answers from a demon city, not a human city or dwarf city. As much as I’d think a dwarf city would have the most protection and economic opportunity, the problem is the skills and things you are going through are pushing you towards a demon city route.”

“Really?”

I looked at Sunghee for confirmation.

Sunghee looks up at the ceiling and then seems to be picturing something in her mind. “Actually that makes a lot of sense. Something is happening to Asakura, and to fix it you should deal with that first and confirm what type of familiar she is since there are many types. It could affect her growth in the future to know that too. I’m not sure how you will get away from the dwarves though. If they suspect something demonic that could get bad really fast too. They despise evil, particular orc and goblinoids primarily, but also war with demons easily too.”

“Crap!”

“Let’s look at the other part of that blue screen real quick,” Sunghee suggested.

“There’s more?” I’m surprised.

“Yeah, apparently adversity loves you,” Fox said sarcastically.

“Shun aren’t you glad I can help you with all your problems?” Sunghee winked at me. Is she trying to like make me give her more attention?

“What’s that supposed to mean?” I asked with narrow slits for eyes.

“It’s not anything bad. But adversity creates growth. You could also take the idealist perspective of rushing to it like most folkloric heroic types but they do seem to die young in that approach,” Fox says while shrugging.

“No thanks…I like staying alive,” I counter jabbed verbally.

“Well, it’s more fun when we get to save you from a fix,” Sunghee smiled really big.

I look at Sunghee who also looked puzzled. “I don’t know about that,” she muttered.

Fox reads the screen this time, “So it’s some kind of minor Stun spell, captured from beating the boss in the dungeon. Spell lasts ten seconds, cool time of twenty seconds, and works on single targets only.”

“Sweet! He got a new skill? And not just the message about the familiar?” Sunghee is ecstatic.

“Holy shit. This is actually really useful. It’s got a pretty long duration if you consider that for battle ten seconds counts for a lot,” Fox exclaimed.

“You think so?” I asked.

“Actually I kind of want one of those,” Fox said.

She gives me a high five.

“Nice.” I feel good too.

“But I thought you had a stun already?” I said to Fox.

“Well…I’m basically a speed based mage. I haven’t been able to get one and just had to work around it,” she said.

“Well…if he got the familiar thing and the stun what else is different?” Fox asked.

“Good question,” Sunghee said.

“Are there any other changes?” I hurriedly asked.

“Let me check,” Sunghee said.

“Looks like your resistance buff is up to 21% from 20%. Also your stat buff is up to 11% from 10 all around now. Your shield strength is a bit stronger too, and so is your Starry Missiles spell, but because they are a more advanced type of concept, the blue screen doesn’t seem to have a display for their strength as a numerical value yet,” she said.

“Other than that no other changes,” Sunghee concluded.

“Well, that’s enough. But is this really the limit though? I wanted to get stronger more quickly,” I asked.

Fox looked at me like I’d just demanded a million dollars. “Are you kidding me?! Think about it! You improved in all areas from just one battle! Do you realize how good that is? All we have to do is keep this up and you will be a lot stronger in no time. Plus those skills will all compound off each other. It’s like everything went up because you have skills for all types of your abilities that work with combat.”

“But how do I know if I’ll be strong enough to set Haruka or Ayumi Sensei free yet?” I asked.

It was a tough question. It had the other two girls stumped.

“I wouldn’t rush that,” Fox said. “If you go in there too early it’ll be bad for us.”

“You’re just saying that because your jealous,” Sunghee stopped her, giving her a funny look with her head cocked to one side and an evil looking smirk.

“Well I admit I am a little bit. But…it’s also true in this case,” she stared down back at her.

“The problem is that Sunghee already wanted to be with you for helping her out. That means that the boss that you fought to get her out and the stuff you went through to get her out were like way weaker than they would have in a normal situation,” Fox explained slowly.

“And?” I asked.

“So, it means that if you tried to challenge the box now for the other girl Haruka, you would surely die,” Fox finished. “And the other girl you need to be able to heal faster than mana amplified sickness and be able to have the type of healing magic strong enough that you can affect sick genes and whatever else is planted in.”

“Damn, that sucks,” I said. I had been wanting to go after them actually…but not recklessly. I’m badly disappointed. My long term plans will have to very long term.

Sunghee pats me on the back, “sorry Shun. But you still have us, you know.” She rubs my back affectionately. Her hand lingers there and feels good while she’s lightly drawing imaginary alphabet letters or something in my back.

“Th-that’s true.” I sort of lean against her shoulder.

“So right now we need to get you a lot stronger before it’s time to do anything. But don’t worry someday it will happen but just play it safe first for a while,” Fox reiterates her point. “I’ve actually been wanting to have a heart to heart with you on this. Your abilities suck to be honest.”

“What?! But I’ve come so far,” I interrupted protesting.

She starts ticking off bullet points on her fingers, “you don’t have a movement ability besides a movement speed buff, no travel ability, you have no shield stacking skill yet, you should have like three or four defensive skills and not just one, a magic searching ability, a magic stealth ability to hide from mage hunters, more utility spells some of which should be about working with groups and other adventurers, some good skills for…or particularly against mage hunters, no training for fighting mage hunters, only one element which seems to be light or mind magic, and no elemental affinity yet such as water, fire, earth, or air.” She huffs, “the list goes on. You really aren’t ready for anything right now.”

“So make me ready. I’m willing and I’ll train hard,” I said.

She shakes her head. “We still need to get you combat abilities up for survival before we can even address those things. You notice that last battle you were more hanging on by the skin of your teeth than anything else.”

“Well that’s true…but…” I countered by Sunghee had already jumped in.

“Survival techniques and combat defense skills do have higher priority; at least that’s how I would teach you too,” Sunghee agreed.

“So you have those skills that you mentioned? You have stealth magic, more utility, and travel based skills?” I stared at Fox.

She nods slowly, “I’m not holding back or hiding anything from you Shun. But we have to have priorities first. Learn the basics and then I’ll teach you a spell to hide your magic from mage hunters. Oh and if you want to live, you better hurry on this one. This world has a lot of mage hunters. But I can’t just give it to you. You have to have the right strength and preparation or it’ll mess you up.”

“Damn.”

All this time no one had told me anything about that.

Mage hunters?

Wait a minute, was that what that assassination deal was all about when we’d first gotten to the gnome’s warren? We hadn’t fully identified if that was from Akimoto or others.

But I’m woken up before I can do anything.

I wake up too Asakura going at it again.

Wow.

It’s like someone put her sex drive on turbo and the gas pedal is stuck down against the floor while she’s bouncing up and down in cowgirl position. Because the cavern is cold it does feel good to have her naked body against mine again.

There was an unmistakable sound of wet flesh slapping together as she was getting into it, while bouncing up and down on my rod.

“Asakura?” I whispered.

She seemed to be in a trance. She didn’t answer back. She seemed more animal than human.

Eventually she stops but she doesn’t stop for quite awhile. It felt good to a point, but I’d gotten scared when I realized she was so aggressive and difficult to stop. Finally I managed to get her back into her clothes around when I heard the others waking up.

I have to figure out how I will deal with her too.

The others will surely discover something is wrong with her.

Weird, are her boobs growing again?!

I think they are!

How can they have grown that much in one day?

I’d thought the same thing yesterday but this is clearly even bigger than then. Her waist is the same though, or even probably a bit thinner if that’s possible. Perhaps her body is adjusting by pulling stuff from one area to put it into another…yeah that makes the most sense even if I can’t measure or prove it scientifically.

My mind reverts to Sunghee and Fox’s comments though;

So there are demon cities and not just human cities? And somehow I won’t be able to help my team without visiting one?

I really need a good map.

And how many types of familiars are there?