After a good night's rest and some filling breakfast, we ready ourselves to head out for the day. Rocco is taking the lead with organizing everything so I literally have nothing to do. I didn't tell him about the people who were watching us since they had no ill intentions. I don't wanna cause him unnecessary worry.
"Alright, listen up," he says with that solid drill sergent voice. "For safety, we'll be moving in pairs. Lina and Mark, you're in charge of combing South. Tabitha and Adresin, North. I will take the center with Freya. And Richard..." he pauses and looks at me. "Just do whatever you want."
I shrug in response.
"Richie will stay at the camp where it's safe since he's basically our radio," he continues. "Alright, let's move out."
Upon his announcement, everyone rushes to their designated areas. Meanwhile, I decide to stay in the camp and drink my coffee. Richie stares at me in silence which makes me a bit uncomfortable.
"Want some coffee?" I offer.
He nods in response.
[Rocco/Freya Team]
Minutes have passed since they began combing their area. So far, there's still no danger and nothing catches their eyes. Rocco glances at the youngster with him and thinks. If it was up to him, he wouldn't have brought this girl along with him. But because of a secret request from someone who single-handedly crushed a battalion of monsters, he felt that he had no choice.
"Miss Freya, how's your area?" he calls out to Grace who's a bit of a ways off from him.
"Nothing here. Yours?" she replies.
"Negative. Just keep your eyes peeled," he says.
What a curious child. In Rocco's eyes, she's quite young but she already has an air of responsibility about her. He can't help but worry. Mustering his courage, he decides to plunge himself into the mess that is Richard's group.
"So, Richard... he your dad?" he says a bit awkwardly when they join back together.
Grace simply nods in response.
"But I heard you call him Uncle before," he muses.
She freezes a bit and responds, "It's... complicated."
Seeing that he touched on a sensitive subject, he decides to change his line of questioning.
"So why is he training you?" he continues. "Are you aiming to be an [Explorer]?"
With this, Grace stops and looks Rocco dead in the eyes.
"Is this an interrogation, officer?" she says sternly.
Rocco puts up his hands defensively.
"Gosh no," he replies. "Just curious is all."
She cases him for a bit before going back to her scanning routine.
"You're a good guy, Sergeant Rocco," she says. "And un- dad seems to have taken a liking to you. So if you just ask him, I'm sure he'll tell you what you want to know."
He raises an eyebrow.
"Oh? And what is it that I want to know?" he asks.
"Where he came from and why he's in New York," she replies with a smile.
Rocco's eyes go wide.
"The daughter's as weird as the father..." he mutters.
[Adresin/Tabitha Team]
"The trees here are a bit malnourished," Adresin reports as he investigates the nearby flora.
"Affirmative," Tabitha replies as she jumps from one branch to another.
"If we follow them, it should lead us to the cause," he continues.
"Mhm," she responds.
Awkward. Adresin is the type to be friendly with everyone. After all, it's his job to make sure that things run smoothly for the Lupinus operation. But only after spending some odd minutes with Tabitha, he's already at his wit's end. He's been trying to make conversation with her but it all gets blocked by her one word replies.
"Let's go..." he sighs in defeat and continues his search.
[Mark/Lina Team]
As the two scan their area, Lina notices that Mark is staring into space.
*Bonk*
"Stop being distracted, Mark," she warns after swiftly hitting him on the head with her staff. "Do you want to get yelled at by Sergeant?"
Mark flinches out of surprise.
"Oh, yeah... sorry," he says apologetically.
"What's gotten into you?" she asks. "Ever since we got attacked by the rabbits, I've been noticing that you're more distracted than usual."
"That..." Mark starts but swiftly changes his mind. "It's nothing..."
Lina pauses and crosses her arms.
"Is it about Sir Richard?" she asks.
Mark's ears suddenly perk up at the mention of his name but stays quiet.
Noticing that she won't get anything out of her friend, Lina sighs and continues her scan.
"Fine, don't tell me," she says annoyedly. "But focus, please. This is our first major assignment and I'd really like it if we don't mess up."
Mark just stares at his partner in disbelief.
"You really act differently around new people..." he chuckles weakly.
[Richard and Richie Team]
[Mortality Deactivated]
Fuck... That feels good. Since the gang is looking for god knows what, I decide that this is the best time to try things out.
[Consumed Legendary Mana Potion]
Ugh! The taste of this mana potion brings me back to not so good days. Good thing this one fills up my mana immediately so I don't have to drink a bunch.
[Summon Familiar]
In my few weeks of being back, I noticed a ton of things. One, is that the system that I have is only limited to showing me information about myself. Levels and whatnot have disappeared so killing a bunch of monsters is pointless. The User Interface has also disappeared so whenever I cast a spell, it doesn't give me the specific mana cost or the level of the spell. However, because of my experiment with opening Adresin and Grace's mana veins, I noticed that controlling mana flow is possible just like in Garden of Days. Another thing that I noticed when we fought the [Blackhole Rabbits] is that because of [Divine Soul], a simple [Vacuum] spell that was literally used for cleaning floors in the game is somehow powerful enough to suck up an entire battalion. However, since it's a weak, unranked spell, it didn't destroy everything unlike when I used the high level [Telekinesis] spell shortly afterwards. So, if I take all that I know about my powers, I think I can bypass the overkill tendency of my spells by controlling the amount of mana I inject when I cast them.
*Shing*
When I cast the spell, a familiar magic circle appears in front of me. Richie watches intently while sipping his coffee.
Now, focus. Just like what you did with Adresin and Grace, consciously control your mana output.
Moments pass and I am drenched with sweat. It's taking a while for the spell to cast since I keep on having to retract the mana whenever I feel like losing my grip. Breathe, Richard... Just like she taught you. Breathe and let the mana flow like river into the circle.
As I slow my breathing, I start to feel the energy surging in me. It's like a wild horse: free, limitless, untamable.
"You fucking shit..." I mutter. "Causing me so much trouble even though I'm your owner."
The mana resists my control. Richie looks at me with concern as I strain every fiber of my being. Strain? Wait... that's not right. Again, Richard you forgot to breathe properly.
*Pheeww*
Damn... This is so fucking hard! How the hell does she do this every waking moment? I swear, she's bullshitting me.
*Pheeww*
The mana resists and roars as I assert my dominance over it. However, unlike before, my breathing is steady and my demeanor is calm. I'm starting to feel it. All this time, I've used it like a tool but with this, I'm beginning to feel that it's an extension of myself. Like a new set of arms and legs.
"Now, you son of a bitch, finally got ya!" I exclaim as I finally grip the reins of my power.
At once, the magic circle shines and multiple blue, fiery wolves appear from it. Richie's eyes go wide at the sight of my summoning and I collapse due to exhaustion.
"Fuck..." I mutter as I gasp for air. "You guys.... chase Adresin and Grace around. Don't hurt them, just... make them run for their lives."
Following my commands, the wolves rush into the forest with unimaginable speed.
While I lay on the ground, Richie comes up to me and gives me a cup of coffee.
"Thanks kid," I say and flash him a smile.