It took a few hours to coax Gail down from her tantrum. I could understand why she was upset. She had told me not to do it, I almost got killed, and my stupidity had cost her an item she needed badly. To be honest, she was of almost no help during the crawl, and she knew it. That was her chance to get stronger, taken by me in a stupid attempt to prove myself.
When we had gotten back to our room, she locked herself in the bathroom, having not given me a single glance or word since we left the dungeon. I couldn't hear exactly what she was doing in there, but she was giving commands to her Shic Bracelet, probably assigning stat points. I decided to do the same.
"Status."
{Name: Sorren Steele
Race: Human
Sex: Male
Class: Allfather Candidate
Titles: Chosen Of The Void, Demonic Lord, Goblin Slayer.
Level: 2
HP- 600/600 MP- 250
Strength- 20
Dexterity- 20
Constitution- 20
Magic- 40
Charm- 17
Luck- 20
Skill Points- 10
Skills- Blessing of The Void- (Passive)
Low Rank Summoning Level 3
Blessing of Hecate Level 1
Blessing of Janus Level 1}
Skill points, huh? I thought to myself. In games, they could be assigned to skills or attributes directly, maybe they work the same here? I clicked on the 10 next to Skill Points, and the number shimmered, changing to a 9. The tip of my finger glowed white, though it didn't hurt. I tapped Strength, and the level went up by one. It really did work like a game...
I assigned the remainder of the points to Blessing of Hecate, and closed the window. As I did, I heard this-
(Acquired Skill- Basic Fire Mastery
Acquired Skill- Fireball
Acquired Skill- Basic Earth Mastery
Acquired Skill- Earth Shield
Acquired Skill- Basic Water Mastery
Acquired Skill- Water Manipulation
Acquired Skill- Basic Air Mastery
Acquired Skill- Gale
Acquired Skill- Basic Demonic Mastery
{ Low Level Summoning gains a level}
Acquired Skill- Mastery of Akashic Records)
"Woah," I said to myself. That was a ton of skills. I clicked on the descriptions for each skill, and read this-
{Basic Fire Mastery- Allows basic control over Fire- otherwise known as the state of matter, Plasma.
Fireball- Offensive magic, costing 10 MP. Shoots ball of fire from the palm of the user.
Basic Earth Mastery- Allows basic control over Earth- otherwise known as the state of matter, Solid.
Earth Shield- Defensive magic costing 20 MP. Causes a shield of stone to float in front of user/ user's party.
Basic Water Mastery- Allows basic control over Water- otherwise known as the state of matter, Liquid.
Water Manipulation- Continuously uses 5 MP for every second used. Allows manipulation of the molecule H2O, otherwise known as water.
Basic Air Mastery- Allows basic control over Air- otherwise known as the state of matter, Gas.
Gale- Basic magic that can be used defensively and offensively. Costs 20 MP.
Basic Demonic Mastery- Instantly assigns "Low Level Summoning Level 1 to your skills.
Mastery of Akashic Records- Instantly connects your soul to the Akashic Records, giving it an artificial life of it's own.)
"My soul... refers to my Soul Weapon, right? Tetsudama?" I said to myself. As the name of the sword passed my lips, it was summoned, the same, but different. It pulsed, and I heard a female voice in my head. Not the voice in the bracelet, but clearer. Beautiful.
"Name me." It said. "Name me." I was taken aback, not expecting this development.
Against my own will, a name appeared in the back of my head. Aki. I know, I know. Akashic, Aki. I have terrible naming sense. I get it.
"Aki." I said, grimacing. As soon as I said the name, the katana shifted in my hand, twisting and unfolding until it was a human- a girl about my age. She had jet black hair as dark as the blade, but shining in the sunlight. She was as pale as snow, with deep red lips, and a thin frame, a kimono the same shade as her lips hugging her body tightly.. She was also almost unnaturally beautiful, and had jet black eyes- eyes with no iris. She looked at me and laughed, a clear, ringing sound.
"Hi," she said, "I'm your loyal soul blade, Aki. Or Tetsudama, depending on the form."
"Uh, hi Aki. Hold on one second, I need to get someone to help me figure some things out." Gail was going to be even madder at me then she already was, and who knows how the sleeping arrangements would work.
I ran to the bathroom door, calling her. When I heard no response, I realized- The Blessing of Janus- she traveled to the dungeon alone.
I called Aki to her katana form, and shot a fireball at the door. The door promptly exploded, but somehow, the mirror lay untouched. I laid one foot on the mirror, and then found myself in the treasure room of the dungeon's first floor.
The treasure room was much the same as we left it. The only difference was the impending danger that came with being in such a dangerous place alone. We were supposed to come in parties for a reason.
As much as I didn't want to admit it, I cared about Gail. Not romantically, not yet at least, but the strong bond of a good friend. We were roommates after all. In a party, that bond was necessary to stay alive. To my left, in the very back of the room was a small, glowing pad, with a teleportation circle in the center.
"Hurry up, Master," said Aki in my ear, urging me along to rescue a girl she had never met. I gripped her pommel tightly and stepped into the circle, ready for the horrors that awaited me.
"I will rescue her," I said to myself. She couldn't defend herself with just a single Kobold. It just wasn't possible. The room around me began to fade. Getting ready, I opened my Inventory, and pulled out Eteing. At the top, I saw tabs that weren't there before.
These tabs apparently allowed me to access several different windows, while only having to open one. The first, of course, were what already existed, Inventory and Status, but there were a few extras. A Skill Tree, a Minimap, a Friends List and Party Status screens.
These discoveries were likely related to my control of the Akashic Records, making real life seem more and more like a game. When I finally appeared inside the second floor, I was instantly attacked by several Kobolds. Fighting them now was completely different than in the arena with Gail. Being Level 2 was a huge difference. With both Etieng and Aki, I was able to fend off several waves of the monsters, cutting through their light armor like it was butter.
As a half hour passed, I started to doubt whether I needed to follow her to begin with. I hadn't seen her by now, so she seemed to be fine. As I thought that though, I heard a scream coming from around a corner. I ran, swinging my sword, cutting down everything in my path. Most of the monsters were fine, but were on the ground long enough for me to run past.
The screaming came from the boss room, and I felt waves of heat coming from there as well. I ran up the stairs to find Gail, pinned by a Kobold Lord. His HP was half gone, but it was clear that she was pinned. She clutched a small scimitar, one dropped by one of the Kobolds outside, weakly holding it up to the massive sword held by the Lord.
As the monster was clearly preoccupied with Gail, I brandished Etieng and Tetsudama, ravaging his back with the sharp edges of my blades. The beast howled in pain, blood dripping from his back, sizzling as it turned to Akashi in the air. Quickly turning around, it swung at me as I fired a fireball at it's feet, shooting me backwards and transforming it's feet to popping, blistering ash.
I glanced up at it's HP and saw that it was steadily dropping as the fire crawled up the monster's burning body. I grabbed Gail and headed to the far end of the room, remembering why I came. Not to train, but to rescue her. When we got to the other side, Gail, having almost died, hugged me tight and sobbed.
If I had arrived a second later... I thought. I shook my head, perishing it. Glancing across the room, I watched as the Kobold Lord tried to douse the flames, pouring mead in a goblet near his throne on himself, only causing the flames to burn higher. I suppose the cup had been served to him before I got there.
Soon, the Kobold Lord turned to Akashi, leaving only a vast quantity of gold and Mana Stones. I coaxed Gail down just long enough to put the loot in the inventory, and hacked at the throne, looking for the room behind. I found this extremely difficult, though, because Gail would not let go for another second.
Exasperated, I fired another Fireball at the throne, causing it and the wall behind it to simply explode. I picked Gail up and walked into the treasure room, only to set her down on a small dusty bed found there. She passed out immediately, and I sighed, exhausted. The trek over had cost me a lot of MP, and I had fired off two Fireballs, two expensive bits of magic.
I completely looted the room, filled with 300 Low Grade Mana Stones, around 2,000 Gold Coins, and a small bag of Runestones.
Runestones are powerful items, not to be taken lightly. To break one is to instantly learn a skill inside, but to understand and wield one is to be able to manipulate the laws of the universe. It was with the power of Runestones that Odin was said to create the universe.
I put everything in my inventory, and picked Gail up. We were ready to go back.