*Knock* *Knock* *Knock*
"Coming!"
Vanessa came to the door, this time sounding more like a normal person.
Vanessa's front door swung open.
"You're here sooner than I expected, come inside."
I followed Vanessa inside and toward her living room.
It seemed a little bit cleaner than before, and was much easier to navigate.
I plopped down on a sofa in front of the coffee table opposite from Vanessa.
Vanessa broke the silence. "Emilia dropped by without you earlier, she said you wanted me to train her."
Wait, what? She's not at the inn anymore?
What is it that she's trying to achieve? She been giving off rather desperate vibes as of late.
"Huh?! Really? Where is she now?" I asked in a considerably less than calm state.
Vanessa laughed at me for a good minute. "You should see yourself, so concerned.... Anyway, she's in one of my training simulations. Don't worry she's just practicing her magic on some dummies."
I let out somewhat of a sigh of relief. I'm not sure why I'm so concerned.
According to Emilia, she's been alone her entire life. That means she's gotten along just fine without me thus far. But still...
"By the way, you've got a slightly ominous mana eminating from within you. It's giving me the creeps," Vanessa noted.
Oh right, I forgot all about the collar.
I pulled it out of my body and as soon as Vanessa saw it she apported over to herself.
She looked concerned, almost scared even.
"Lilith..." Vanessa muttered.
"You know about Lilith?" I asked.
"Anyone who's lived in this city long enough does. She's responsible for a lot of the shady business that happens in this place. Most notably, the black market."
"Sounds like a pretty twisted figure. Yet, it seems to suit her based off of my interaction with her," I said.
"You interacted with her?!" Vanessa yelled.
I was taken aback. "Uh, telepathically yeah..."
Vanessa took a deep breath.
"Listen, you must never cross the nobels. They have enough money and resources to command the entirety of this city, even some S-ranks. For your safety and the people you care about, do not cross them."
Kinda of already did that.
I stared at the collar Vanessa was holding.
"It's a control collar. Anyone who this is placed on will be completely and utterly controlled. Well...that is if their will is below a certain threshold."
I figured as much, still concerning that I had it inside me though.
"That's only it's most prominent function however. It can also act as a beacon for the owner, surpress the wearer, push the wearer beyond their natural limits, or even enable the wearer with the abilities of the owner."
"Wait, a beacon?!"
"Yes, but it's almost all burnt out of mana, your body must've absorbed it all. With it in this state, I can isolate it for further study. It's well crafted, so it'd be a waste to throw it away."
Vanessa levitated the collar into the air, teleporting it to some unknown place.
That was spatial magic...I wonder how strong Vanessa is anyway. I never bothered to check before.
Name: Vanessa
Race: Human-Esper
Rank: N/A
(Status)
Lv.10-Exp(3,451/10,000)
HP: 900/900
MP: 1,000/1,000
Strength: 13
Agility: 14
Endurance: 12
Intelligence: 1,945
Sense: 14
Mana: 1,234
Spirit: 465
Attribute Points: 0
Passive Skills:
Mana-Recovery (Lv.Max)-Increases the natural speed at which mana recovers.
Mana-Sense (Lv.Max)-The abilty to sense mana within people or the environment. Currently works within a 200 meter radius.
Accelerated Thought (Lv.11)- Speeds up thought processes.
Activation Skills:
Max-Charge (Lv.Max)- Absorb Mana from the environment to refill your supply.
Mana Link (Lv.Max)- You can link your mana with those around you if they're in range of mana sense.
ESP (Lv.Max)-??? Unique State Skill.
Spatial Magic (Lv.Max)-Laws of reality can be manipulated by the user via mana.
Transmutation (Lv.12)-Change the properties of a material manually.
Meditation (Lv.Max)-Focus youself with a calm mind and guided breathing.
Body Enhancement (Lv.Max)-Enhance the abilities of the body via mana.
Appraisal (Lv.Max)- Observe someone's status. May even be possible to see skills with heightened proficiency. Works within 50 meter radius.
Healing Magic (Lv.12)-Restores health and mends the wounds of targets via mana.
Potential Unlock (Lv.Max)- You can distribute the attribute points of those you've established a bond with accordingly.
(Continue Scrolling)
You know, I'm surrounded by these types of people, aren't I? I couldn't sense a thing, but Vanessa's probably stronger than me in any technical aspect.
Also, what's this about being an esper?
"Espers are a variant of a human. There are many variants of different species, just as I am a crimson slime, she is an human esper, therefore she is granted unique abilities," Erythro informed me.
I see, so it's related to that esp skill she has then.
While her stats and abilities were a bit overwhelming, I didn't show any visible indication.
"Acting has been Upgraded to Lv.2"
"Anyway, Vanessa-"
Vanessa interrupted. "Oh yes, the training, right? It's already prepared for you. Although, I must warn you, I'll be having the simulation run itself as I have some business to tend to. Once you defeat all of your opponents, you'll be pulled out automatically."
Wait, what? With that, Vanessa snapped her fingers and I was banished to some volcanic hellzone.
It was hard to breath from how hot and dense the air was. My vision blurred and I began sweating profusley. I keeled over, gasping for air for what seemed like hours but was actually minutes as my lungs burned.
"Allow me to adjust our internal processes...I have finished." Erythro said.
In a few seconds, our body returned to homeostasis, and I actually managed to stand again.
"Thanks Erythro. Man, I felt like I was gonna die there."
"If you were to die, I would die," Erythro added.
Fair point.
Looking around the hellish battle field, I couldn't actually see anything to battle.
As I stood around in utter confusion, my thinking reached an abrupt end when the ground began to quake out of nowhere.
It had to have been at least a 7.0 on the richter scale.
Pillars of lava began to shoot up from the ground all around me. Taking note of this, I flew about 25 meters above the ground to observe from above.
The ground pulled apart as something massive began to rise from beneath it's surface.
It took about 1 minute before I could see what it was in full detail.
That's...a dragon! Lava poured off of it's glorious radiating figure.
It's eyes shot open as it seemed to fully awaken.
The dragon's primordial gaze wandered around for a bit before settling on me. It's unsettling how it's eyeballs shifted in it's sockets, but it's expression never wavered.
I won't lie, I don't even think it was even using any fear inducing skills, yet I felt pure dread when it looked at me.
The dragon paused for a second...until it opened it's mouth.
At first only a small spec of orange-ish light was visible inside it's abyssal maw, but it soon surged into what was basically a miniature sun.
"Combat Mode Initiated"
Before I knew it, there was a firey sphere of death only a few feet away from my face.
No, what the hell!? This is unfair, how am I suppose to react to that in time?! Shit, shit, shit, what do I do?!
"Teleport! Hurry!" Erythro yelled at me.
With what little focus I had remaining, I concentrated on moving about 3 meters to the left.
I blinked and the ball of fire whized past me. It...it worked.
MP: 2,981/3,500
Behind me an explosion went off that was at least 200 decibels loud. The entire sky lit up as a result.
The dragon seemed displeased that it missed. It huffed a huge cloud of smoke and sprouted enourmous wings from it's back.
This thing looked like it's only intent was to kill me. I felt no impression that it had no other emotion beside hostility.
Erythro seemed amazed. "Fascinating, so Vanessa has samples of a Emperor Welsh Dragon's DNA..."
That thing is an Emperor Welsh Dragon, my opponent, my next stepping stone.
To be honest, I feel like I'm going to be the one who gets stepped on here.
No...not just stepped on. Completely and utterly crushed.