A few hours later, after Ikarus and Edward grabbed something to eat, Edward headed into the game. When he opened his eyes, he found himself standing on the sidewalk of a busy intersection. He had last logged out here because it was in between the inn he frequented as well as the southern gate.
'I'll first check to see if Leila is online,' He thought to himself as he opened his window. Ikarus appeared on the ground next to him with a flash of light— startling a few nearby players— before sitting down at Edward's feet.
As he opened his menu, Edward saw that everybody except for Markus was still online. He must've been at work at the moment— a place Edward should've been at the moment. However, the thought slipped his mind.
"Whoops," Edward mumbled. However, now that he had the assistance of Desert Industries, Edward had a feeling he wouldn't have to worry about money for a few days. Therefore, the thought of quitting his job didn't seem to bother him. He shot Leila a message, hoping to meet up. He was surprised to find himself on the receiving end of a voice call a moment later.
"Uh, Leila?" Edward asked— it felt strange to be talking to somebody not directly in front of him without having to hold a phone to his head.
"I'm here. Brandon has been helping me level up for a few hours. I'm glad to say that I've reached level ten!" Leila's chirpy voice replied. From the tone of her voice, Edward knew she wore a massive smile on her end of the voice call.
"How? I thought only I would be able to change the XP distribution," Edward asked.
"Well, yeah it's been slow. Once he saw that I was online he suggested that we hunt together so I wouldn't have to catch up later. He's been using his outrageous luck to give everything to me on a silver platter. At times, I'll face like a dozen boars but they'll all trip in the middle of their charge," Leila chuckled, "It's ridiculous how outrageous his ability is."
"Ah, yeah that would do it," Edward mumbled. An image of a dozen boars all being at the mercy of Leila's flames popped up in his mind, "Are you guys coming back to the city right now?"
"Yep! We just got past the gate. Oh— it looks like Brandon's heading to do other things now— bye, Brandon! So I'll be free for the next few hours. Want to meet at the inn? I have something to show you," Leila suggested.
"Yeah, that sounds good. I'll see you there," Edward replied as he closed the voice call. Afterward, he turned north and began to walk down the road. On the way, a few players pointed at him and whispered to their friends in hushed voices. Edward had already gotten used to how players became full of fear when he approached, for the most part. His achievements when he first arrived in Pathe had set the foundation for a reputation of pure strength and ruthlessness— but now it was even stronger with the existence of his [Dragon Presence] skill. However, despite how familiar he had grown with his reputation, it still felt strange to have people whisper about him directly in front of his face.
"Let's go a little faster, Ikarus," Edward whispered as he picked up his pace.
"Tada!" Leila said as she opened the door to the room. Edward was seated on the same chair he once read a book from, so Leila was in plain view as she entered, "Look at my stats, big boy! You're not the only powerful one, anymore!"
︽
Lvl: 10
XP: 0%
Title: The Forgotten Flame
Origin: Dragonkin
—
HP: 200
MP: 470
SP: 100
—
DMG: (Pyrokinetics - 15) 109
DEF: (Leather Armor - 8) 48
—
POW: 10
AGI: 20
END: 40
WIS: 94
LUC: 10
—
Active Skills: [Perfect Pyrokinetics], [Dragon Breath], [Dragon Call], [Minor Morph]
Passive Skills: [Draconic Presence]
Knowledge Skills: [Draconic Language]
︾
"Oho! You're right! You've decided to focus on Wisdom, didn't you!" Edward smiled. As he leaned back in his chair. He clapped his hands and turned to Leila before he gave a quick nod.
"Yeah, but my defense and speed are still both slow," Leila nodded as she pounded her chest with a smile. A moment later, though, her eyes widened before an even bigger smile crept onto her face, "Look at my skills! Look!"
Edward smiled, then turned his attention back to the status screen hovering before him. Only a moment passed before he turned back to Leila.
"Why do you have so few?" Edward asked. As he counted the skills. He turned his attention to the last active and cocked his head.
"Well, I used to have more, but some of them combined to form a new skill called [Minor Morph]," Leila smiled. Then, she held up her hand and laughed. With a snap of her fingers, her entire arm— beginning at the elbow and ending at her nails— suddenly ignited. The sleeves of her armor shook as if they were blown in the wind before shook suddenly being pushed back against her skin. Flames emerged from her arm— beginning at the elbow and ending at her nails— and surrounded her arm. Once her entire arm was surrounded the flames began to change shape. The edges of the flames became sharper and almost solidified while the flames gathering around her fingers elongated until they mimicked several sharp nails.
Soon enough, she had surrounded her arm with pure fire until the shape of a dragon's arm emerged. Leila moved it through the air for a moment and clenched her fingers. Small flames fell away from her arm when she moved— almost like water bouncing off of a rock— before extinguishing in the air when they left the warmth of her body.
"Incredible, isn't it?" Leila asked as her arm returned to its normal state only a moment later. She looked at Edward and placed her hands on her hips, "Soon enough, I think I'll be able to surround my entire body in that stuff! We'll be as strong as Dragons ourselves, Edward!"
"You... you combined skills?" Edward asked in shock. He stood up and took a step forward as he began to smile.
'This is great news!' Edward thought to himself, 'I was beginning to worry how my skill list would look when I reached a higher level— I wouldn't like to be very cluttered— but this solves that problem!'
"Yep! Do you want to know which skills they were?" Leila asked with a cheeky grin, "They were [Dragon Sight], [Dragon Scales], and [Dragon Strength]! When I learned the last one, the skills combined together— I didn't even need to do anything!"