it took them a while to find back to the same cafe they had their first talk with kamaron and when they finally found it they saw a bored dhstell lying with her head on the table while kamaron had 2 different plates before him.
„finally i thought you got lost somewhere"
„we did and then we found the way back"
when they sat down they ordered something before then asked kamaron about what happened on murim
„tell us who are you that you can easily summon someone who can defeat something that even 50 people couldn't. we only heard it for the most of it but it didn't even sound like a fight was happening"
kamaron let out a sigh before answering
„that's one of the reason why i didn't want you to meet helictair this early. she might gotten a bit rusty but that means nothing on this level. even dhstell knows how to pull her punches but what do you expect from an insane mass murderer other than mayhem"
lüziel was spilling his drink when he heard that but he was not the only one shocked by that
„what do you mean mass murderer, why would you send someone like that to anywhere other than a prison!"
„but she didn't even feel that mean?"
„that was a long time ago abut every snow and then she still has some spasm you could call it. more importantly you have ow seen things way out of order. normally you wouldn't interact with grintß that strong ever or only after long times even if they are in the same guild as you. you may have heard from different legendary fighters via other people on murim, thats the same idea. there are people far above anything a normal grintß will ever see. they are the .1% that make up 99% of the power."
„but why didn't anyone of murim show up? even if they where partially that strong they would have no problem dealing with it"
kamaron was spinning with his finger flicking it in the air to a few words
„they would if they knew about it. those other people you saw should have been enough to deal with this so why would someone that strong bother to deal with it? they also have things to do but if this wasn't resolved there would have been an official emergency request that most of the time gets taken up by people who are related to the place in question."
„and what with the people that suffer before that"
rina was indignant at that
„what do you expect. the people in power can only do so much and there are things only they can do so they have to fulfill their responsibilities. you pretend like every little city is relevant but in the grand scheme of things they are worthless."
„i know it upsets you rina but he is right and you know that too."
kamaron was clapping in his hands to get their attention back
„we meant to gather here for a different reason. show me what your curse does. you haven't gone through much but what do you expect for first years. you most likely have meet helictair in person so you should have seen what the curse can look like but thats an unrealistic standard, even a lunatic wouldn't get that far in a year given the most extreme measurements"
it took a bit of convincing to get rina to stop being stubborn but when she finally showed it to kamaron he made a surprised sound
„death, wasn't that impossible but still surprising but more importantly this looks like a prolonged extend to people suffering constantly"
„that must have been from the fire cleanup but why didn't you say anything, we though t you just couldn't take the heat anymore"
„i can take this, thats why i have this right!"
„it's nice and all that you are not giving up but now that you have felt how it is even under barely any exposure you have to decide what you want to do next. you can go on like this and it will probably come something useful out of it but you could also choose to go a step further and make more out of it at a higher risk."
„what will happen if i do that?"
it's going to grow more and permanently be stuck to your back if it reaches a certain threshold but in exchange give you something way better in return. this is treated as a curse so most people try too avoid this and never reach even the threshold to get any skill out of it. you are right now barely at the border where you could get something but in the remaining time you could grow it out"
„so i haven't even reached the smallest degree while trying to hold out as much as i can"
rina looked depressed at the table
„no one said this will be easy"
„and what happens if it's left like this"
lüziel was now speaking
„well nothing or rather the only thing is that it just vanishes"
„you heard that you can just let it be. you don't have to do this"
„but then all of this meant nothing. i wanted to do this to proof that i'm strong enough to take all of this to you so that you finally can stop protecting me always"
„just let 'em go to riastehc. let's see how long she can be this diffident there"
dhstell lifted her head a bit up just enough to swap from laying on hear side to standing on the chin
„you know that's not going to go well"
„that's the point. she wants to get stronger so send her somewhere where she needs to get stronger"
„what is riastehc?"
marth was intrigued by this mostly for his own interest
„it's my home planet. you want to see more than just humans after all. you don't even need to answer i can feel your excitement"
„normally it would take 5 to 10 years before newcomers go further out than their home realm for a good reason. if you don't even know how to traverse properly or how everyday task work you shouldn't just jump out there where nothing is familiar to you"
„you did it after a year so why can't they do it right away. i remember that when i meet you for the first time that you still struggled with those things and your only redeeming quality was that you are good to sniff out jobs where you just had to wait 'til the others finished. the only reason i even noticed you was because you did so little while pretending the opposite"
„and if you weren't so damm perceptive i would have had it easier than what i needed to do after you doxed me"
„you simply shouldn't have done jobs you were not equipped to deal with"
lüziel raised his like he was in class and made them realize that they where still there
„and what about us, have you forgotten that we are still here"
they both sat down back o their chair and cooled a bit off before kamaron started to talk again
„if you want to go somewhere else first proof that you can handle it. if you can before the last month of the year use the system properly and know how to get around, then i will bring you to riastehcs capital personally and show you just how much a difference there is between everything and everyone you will see up until that point and some of the midd level fighters there are."
„midd level, why only midd"
„you'll know if you see. this of cause also will come with the part where they fight meaning that you will feel what actual fighters endure in this world which can be quite a lot"
rina hesitated before answering
„i will be ready for that"
„great this means you will go full force ahead it seems. show me what you can do in 5 month i want to see it"
kamaron looked extremely exited all of the sudden
„i though you where against this?"
„changed my mind. so whats you next goal? now you need to do quests that are harder than just errands"
„i hope you don't expect us to do something extremely dangerous just because of this. i wont just let us run head first into a mission that looks to hard as our voice of reason seems to have been lost in a dream"
lüziel was looking at marth who was lost in thoughts right now
„whatever you seem fit. you can just do it the normal way, this is just there as an incentive for you to give it your all"
they stayed a bit longer but there was nothing relevant anymore that kamaron let out so they eventually decided to go back to the guild to get a new mission to clear. this time they chose a hunting quest, despite rina being at first against hunting ‚poor animals', to work towards the goal of being strong enough in 5 month. their goal was to defeat a derpf who has gone wild. at the village that send out the request they got told that a derpf with rabies was endangering their other derpf with also getting them so they wanted it to be killed. derpf were just a horse but with stubbier legs and shorter neck but despite that they where surprisingly fast.
„so we need to first find it then second catch it and third be careful not to get bitten. this will not be the easiest but should be doable"
„rina do you think you can calm it when we find the derpf? you seemed to get along well with the others"
„i don't like to use my skill to hurt them but in this case i think it is better so i will try my best"
they found the derpf inside the forest moving circles around a lake. as preparation they bought rope and made a lasso to tie the derpf to a tree as first measurement to disarm the threat. luckily rinas king of nature skill functioned on the derpf somewhat even if it still was moving a bit sporadic. this gave marth the option to throw the lasso around its neck with his second attempt tying the other end to a tree. the derpf tried to escape making rina do some choking noises when the rope tightened around it's neck
„marth hold it down"
„and get kicked?"
„don't be a wimp and do it! you do see what this is doing to rina!"
marth search for a good opportunity to grab the derpf and when he grabbed it from the side slowing down its movement did this give lüziel an easy clean cut through its neck. with a las scream of rina they where finished and cleared the quest faster than expected. over the following 2 month they took further small requests barely holding they money at a stable amount. during that time did marth finally start gathering exp but he decided to not use them until he got enough to make a choice. lüziel also gathered his first following star giving him better reflexes than he was used to. when marth broke the 100 exp mark was when he started to think about a skill he should get with it.
„you're still not sure?"
„it's not like i could change my mind later. i have noticed that i lack behind in terms of physical prowess so should i take at first a simple body upgrade. why is there no trial time with these, in games you could just save take one and if its bad reset."
„you need to decide quick or you will fall behind even more. you can't even keep up with me when i run a bit"
„says the person with infinite stamina. you already where better but now you have training in addition to your natural skills"
„but rina isn't wrong. i also start to easily outpace you. it is as if with every cp we got that our bodies got stronger in addition to the natural getting stronger from doing exercise"
„must be nice but thats what it meant that my body can't grow anymore i'll guess"
„you need more speed. you are so clever but can't do what you want to so you need to get faster"
rina was doing some shadow boxing in different speeds to show what she meant
„i mean how bad can basic buff really be. as long as i don't know what i need that should be a safe choice. i really can't let you do everything all the time"
Skill: Quicken
Description: You can move your body faster and its easier to move it
Cost: 10 Exp (5 out of 5 left)
Buy?
„Whoa this is weird. just with the press of a button i feel lighter. it's not much but definitely noticeable, but i should probably split it up. what does speed do you any good if you don't have the power to do something in the end"
„race me, race me"
„i doubt i stand a chance even with this"
„still a good comparison i would say"
as they expected was rina still way faster than marth but he definitely could keep up better now. with the coming month they started to realize that the missions they took did not only get easier but had less rewards despite being the same they took always. it was then teat they realized for the first time how the system actively changed the rewards from missions. those mission that got payed by other people still had their usual tallon rewards only dropping cp but those that got payed automatically by clearing the mission had so drastically reduced that they became completely unviable so they had to swap to higher rated missions.
„so the lowest rank is not befitting anymore. i hoped we could wait with harder before rinas curse runs out but we cannot afford this anymore."
they are still all beginner quests so it should be fine, i think"
while marth ad lüziel where looking over different missions was rina fixated on one specific one. she didn't like what needed to be done but he also didn't like that others could be harmed if no one took. lüziel was noticing her intense stare trying to find what she was looking at
„‚eliminate the monsters' it couldn't be you would never want to do something like that"
„no… we need to do this. i don't like to kill something… but if no one does this who will protect the villagers"
rina was hesitating while speaking and visibly conflicted between helping the villagers but also needing to kill the monsters. when marth saw what they where talking about he did take the mission of the board to look closer at it
„it is rated as easy so it should be doable for us. easy does mean you need some expertise in the given objective but basic fighting is something we can do"
„you really sure about this. you always let us do anything that had to do with attacking so picking something that is all about that wouldn't fit you"
„i need to do this. i don't want to hurt someone but i know that sometimes you need to do it and i can't just always sit behind you and watch you. every time i see you get hurt i have to ask myself what if this was more serious could i help you"
„get hurt all i got where surface wounds at best. it does suck but i can take it"
„let her do it she clearly is trying her best but it doesn't help that whenever rina can't do something we do it instead."
when they wen't to where the mission was they saw what their goal was and lost a bit of confidence but not for the reason they thought. what their goal was was to kill ostriches who constantly came and attacked the fields. it was not a quest to completely rot them out but rather to thin them out yearly as they had no predators in this environment who would do it.
„so you're telling me we need to not only catch those but also take them out while where at it. ostriches are monsters i'm telling you."
„you sound like you have experience"
„i had my 2 experience with them and they are not something you want to anger, those legs are not only for running"
as per usual they tried using rinas skill but they already learned that it doesn't work on hostile animals so it showed near to no effect. after the first unsuccessful day they spent the next day planing on how to catch them. it took quite a while but on the next day they where able to split single ones away from the group. even singled out it was quite the experience trying to deal with them but it was doable. over the next 4 days they killed of more but had to do a break for rina who was able to take more but it still put her under a lot of strain. this mission confirmed that they where able to handle easy missions without a problem. for the rest of the time they cleared further mission but the one time they tried something tougher than easy they failed and had to abort that mission. when marth started to lack behind again he got his second round of exp usage for again basic ability boosts as he still didn't knew what to get outside of that. this time it was kamaron who called them this time meeting up at the central gate of pauroe.
„before anything i want to show you something."
he brought them to what looked like a military camp where they saw a few groups doing exercises
„so all of those came here at the same time as you can you tell me the difference"
„they look slow, even slower than marth"
„and they look like they are missing power behind their punches"
„thats right. i might have cheated a it here but you also never asked. in fact not many go instantly to doing quests but instead do normal jobs to get stable income. of cause at the cost of being slower in clearing the third act"
„so you're telling me we didn't have to pick up missions that specifically gave enough tallon for the hotels we slept at!"
„but this was way more fun than doing a boring normal job"
while marth was quite annoyed did rina and lüziel take this without much problem even if it gave lüziel a bit of an annoyed frown we he heard it
„there are 2 types of people those who are are working for stability and those who work for improvement. if you weren't of the second you surely would have thought of another option. didn't the mips when you came here say exactly that ‚you can choose to work normally instead of clearing the third scenario'"
dhstell came up from behind
„but.. well… we… well… i mean… maybe it isn't normal to not even think about the option of doing work to earn money but who would in this scenario"
marth was dumbfounded at what dhstell said. his rambling got interrupted by dhstell continuing to speak
„you see all of those, they are contracted by a guild which amounts to a normal job as long as you aren't exceptional in tests. the reason why they didn't grow much was because they did more non quests than quests in this year"
kamaron was clearing hi through to get back the attention
„as dhstell was saying they are doing what you would call the ‚normal' way of going with the third act. you first get a way to stably live while doing some fast quests, thats why the long ones are always left behind, and later start going more at it. there is something called progression break that you can take to get 70 years of your work to clear the third act. you only get it once and as the average time it takes to clear the third act lies at 100 years you have to do the other 30 while working."
„and what about the ones who don't do that"
„thats how MOST grintß do it. you can also choose to do quests instead which is harder, less stable and faster. just look at the gap you have reach in a year that you can even see the difference yourself and i am not talking about learning how to fight here. clearing quests or to be more precise doing any advanced task will strengthen you body different that you are used to. the system will give you in the sense of skill visible feedback but also invisible. you probably have realized that you can do heavy work way easier than you should thats all the systems fault. there is something like a level you have but that is just an approximation of your power using your skills and body."
„so there are levels. how can you see them!"
marth excitement was shot down by dhstell giving a disgusted tsk from her
„that's only for idiots. all it is is everything you already should know by yourself. see someone way stronger than you he definitely has a higher level but why would you need to know that if you can already see the difference and if you can't it's not relevant anyways"
„levels are stupid. i know exactly how strong i am!"
rina looked proud while proclaiming that giving a nodding reception of dhstell
„it's not like it helps us achieve anything and if i had to guess it doesn't come for free"
„why are you so against this isn't it awesome to see your level by way lower than someone else's but still beat him easily"
„that aside you seemed to have ben busy from when we last met as i can see. i actually just said it as a joke to bring you to bring you to riastehc as you had no chance to be ready for it but you did put in the work to get a tenth of the way there and my only real concern was her with that curse. it wasn't a joke that you were not able to see anyone on the level of what midd level fighters can do but let's just leave it up to you. are you ready to feel unimaginable pain that exceeds the limit of your body?"
„you talk this so high up but how much worse can it really be?"
„much much worse. those over there if they would attack each other at full force it would be nothing more than a tiny stinging but if i do this it will be a lot more"
kamaron pulled out a knife cutting in his finger. this prompted rina involuntarily to stiffen up her entire arm from a pain she couldn't even describe
„what is this it hurts so much but you haven't done anything special"
„what it really is is not feeling the same pain but the force they took. if someone weaker get's hurt you can take it easily even if the wound is deep but if someone stronger gets slightly hurt it will feel extreme. you understand what i am saying right"
„eye you over there no gawking. if you don't belong here go"
someone of the trainers noticed them and came over
„perfect, let's have a fight. that makes it even more obvious what i was showing. if you are anyone who has anything to say let's have a no bet fight. one of my vs. one of yours first to be pinned down"
„what are you talking about this is a trainings camp not a box ring"
kamaron was loudly sighing
„well nothing that can be done if you don't think your training didn't make your trainees strong enough for a fight, but that is to be expected from the tower guild who is basically just a glorified welfare society"
„are you one from night hounds or star seekers who just came to make yourself funny about the less rich. not everybody has the resources you guys have so get of your high horse"
„oh i can assure you we are not part of any guild but it is common knowledge among the higher ranked how bad the training here is"
„and you think you are that much better, what cha mad them do a thousand squads every day and now think they can outmuscle real training."
„oh they did how many at least 5 quests thats all the training they need"
when the trainer heard that he was first going to give another rude answer before realizing something
„then sho it officially in the arena. we can get a stop any time we want. if you really are that great why not show it everyone?"
he was grinning while saying that but didn't expect when dhstell answered all fired up
„alrighty we can crush one of those cocky guilds down to where they belong. we take whenever you want this week and bring your best first year to see how useless your training really is"
„you will eat those words. just some missions and already thinks they are some geniuses"
he went away for a bit before returning
„in 2 hours 15:30. i hope your not trying to just run because we will make an announcement for this newbie fight"
he agin wet away taking one of the students with him
„always easy. these idiots don't know whats best for them even after having failed so often recently. who of you two is better at not losing"
„hey why am i being left out here"
dhstell was looking at marth before answering
„cause your weak. you have that dum level 0 skill so you are right now below average. i don't want to see a real fight but a total stomping"
„level 0 is potentially one of the best skills but that only at the very high end and somewhere around the middle. right now you just have to deal with that you are going to be always weaker getting skills to barely keep up"
„back to the real question who is better at not losing. i don't expect much of you but all you need to do is just not get hit and you win by default"
„would think that you of all people would say run away until you win"
„in the end winning is what counts and not how you got there and in this case it will also show how worthless these fighting techniques are if the opponent isn't trying to get hit like a normal person, so who is it!"
dhstell was was pointing between rina and lüziel trying to get an answer
„i am good at running away. no one can catch me if i want to"
„shouldn't say something that dum but that's perfect. also no advices or tips. it's easily noticeable on this level so it's more humiliating if you win without"
while waiting went back to their usual cafe with kamaron investigating rinas curse before the three told them what they did during that time. when the time came they where standing 15:20 at the colosseum. it was a huge building that from the outside looked like a sports stadium looks. on the inside it was divided into 2 different arenas one looking like a modernized gladiator colosseum while the other looked like it was for some sort of sport. there where some amount of spectators but it wasn't that many and over the 10 minutes they didn't increase much in number. when the trainer that kamaron challenged did he gave them only a short look.
„so you didn't run away"
he then walked together with another boi to the other entrance of the arena. dhstell turned to rina after after giving the trainer the middle finger
„remember if you never lose you have to win at some point. we will be in the audience so don't even try to search for help"
„and i can really win this"
„if that has anything to say you could just hit them really hard a few times to win but that would need some amount of knowledge to land solid hits"
„we will be cheering for you i'll guess. i don't really know what to think of this so just remember before you get hurt badly just give up they are the ones who set this up"
„ey don't ruin it. don't even think of giving up and you will win"
before they started a short announcement was made but most people in the audience did bother to change what they where doing to pass the time. when the fight started they bot at first waited but rinas opponent lost his temper from rina not showing any sign of going to the offensive so he came right at her. it took only 1 hit for rina to realize that this was never something she could loose. she always was good at catch but now it felt like the catcher was just slowly walking at her instead of trying.
„stop running away and fight! what coward would come to a fight without the intention to fight"
rina wasn't affected by the taunting and kept evading until you could hear out of the audience someone screaming
„just knock ‚em out already, it's clear that he doesn't stand a chance"
it became increasingly easier for rina to dodge to the point where she got bored enough to do close range evasions leading to a hit that actually connected with her. it hurt a bit but she had felt worse things and she mostly just felt sad for her opponent to the point where she just went behind him to pushed him over and end this fight. it probably was probably as an act of mercy when the referee took this as a victory despite her opponent being no where near to actually having been defeated from that ‚attack'.
„what the hell he can still fight! in what world was that a victory!"
the trainer came running towards the referee but got booing out of the audience member who cared enough to look what was happening
„just give it up she isn't even trying and beating your student this hard"
„yes just suck it up that your training is worthless. all you tower guild is useful for is to keep the lower ranks in check"
it was an absolute victory not in the fighting sense but rather in the lack of anything that could be called a fight. when rina tried to help up her opponent he just hit her hand away and walked out where he came from. when she returned to the others did dhstell great her in excitement over her absolute victory
„i didn't know it was that bad, are you just a natural or do they suck more than expected"
„this felt so mean as if i where bullying him"
„now all of this was just an elaborate setup to get a final answer to the initial question. now that you have seen how large the gap can be do you still think you can take it to experience real fights?"
„if this is the difference that can come in between persons who start at the same time over not even a year what insane difference is there with people who are decades ahead!"
marth was frightened about what the answer to his own question could be
„it's not like they will go all out. skill are restricted during these fight as it would be hard to contain fights in arenas with a lot of skills"
„i can take it i'm sure. i don't want to just hold back lüziel and marth"
kamaron just nodded as answer and brought them to the central gate
„i was avoiding this for so long and now i'm standing here marching directly towards her"
„you know there is no point in hiding when we visit a club"
„but i can prolong it a bit if we go far away from the capital"
„what are you talking about?"
„just some personal problems. simply ignore that. shouldn't you be hyped to see a completely different world fir the first time"
„of cause i am. this feels like it finally really starts our adventure"
going through the gate wouldn't have revealed that they where somewhere where humans aren't the dominant species. there was a larger amount of rakte directly at the gate than other races but especially at gates it was nothing special to see lots of races. what really gave it away was when they went on the street leading to the gate. while any other time they saw predominantly humans they now saw tails everywhere. it was an alien look making them realize how little they actually had seen up until now. rina saw a lot of stares at their direction and felt quite uncomfortable
„why are they all looking at us"
dhstell was answering her
„it's me that they look at not you. seeing humans is one of the most normal thing that could happen in any of riastehcs planets"
„why are they looking at you?"
kamaron was answering her question now
„count their tails, without staring to much that is, and you will probably find out why"
„so it's because of the 9 tails. it's hard not to notice when most running around only have 2 or 3"
marth was looking through the crowd searching for anyone with more than 3 tails but could only find very few with 4 and nearly no with 5
„i guess now is as good as any time to explain. was going to do it anyways for the upcoming fight but lets go somewhere else than the middle of the road"
dhstell lead them to a nearby park and on the way they realized a few signs with weird symbols on them. they already had seen signs having different languages like russian, japanese or english but on these they couldn't even make out what language it could be. at the park they where sitting right at the center getting an overview of everyone moving around in it.
„it's time for a lesson about rakte. this is one of the most important things you should know, never piss off a rakte with a lot of tails. if look around you you will see that there is no child with more than 1 tail and younger adults also often have only 1."
they where looking around and could confirm that among the few childs they could and young looking rakte all had only 1 tail
„so you're saying this has to do with age?"
marth turned at dhstell looking at her 9 tails and got in response a middle finger of her
„at least don't stare at me when you imply that i am an old hag you ass. age is part of it but not everything. you could die of old age and only have 1even if that would be more impressive than having 7. they represent how strong someone is, the older you get the stronger you get therefor more tails grow out but with fighting you can grow more way easier."
when there was an awkward silence for a bit kamaron broke it by speaking again
„why did you stop. this is your race so you should know this better than me. you can do the talking this time"
dhstell gave out a groan before taking up where she left
„they are called spirit tails. we can channel energy through them which strengthens our body. obviously if you have more you are stronger got that. someone with 2 easy peasy someone with 4 will annihilate you."
„that sounds quite extreme. how could doubling go from easy to way to strong"
kamaron was giving a short answer before getting hissed at from dhstell
„you think of it as linear but it's exponential"
„you want me to do this or not. don't think that it's just 1 more tail. it's as hard to get the 4th tail as the 3 before combined so if you ever say it's just one more tail you will rightfully get ripped apart. there are also second tails you can't see so the gaps are even larger. it's said that a normal rakte gets 2 first and 1 second tail in a 70 year life span or for the grintß version its about 4 first and 2 second. so if you see anyone with more than that you better respect 'em or it ends bad for ya. worse gets if you see the color change."
dhstells tails started to faintly glow in a white light
„it represent the emotional state but mostly it's only red. kids have green also as they don't know to control it but the only important one is red. that's when they want to mess ya up and are confident they can do it"
„but what does this mean?"
rina was trying to wrap her head around how all of this works being most of all confused that dhstell talked about the color but showed something completely different than said
„just look it up in a library i won't explain how this functions in its totality. that way to complicated for me to bother and most rakte don't even know so why should you care"
„i can imagine other human like species but that there would be something this magical actually part of them. i thought everyone was just like us and got special abilities later. this is even better than i could have imagined. what else is there"
as dhstell did show any interest in responding to marth was it up to kamaron to answer
„having more than just other body parts is rare. you can easily say that everything you see is exactly that and will be fine 99% of the time but this is also no ‚magic'. it is more complicated than would be worth explaining so look it up yourself if you really wanna know"
„this is so lame, why are humans so boring. i also want something like that"
„i don't think you need any like that rina. your abnormal enough as is"
„anyways we should go to see the fight. this will be your first time getting a comparison to what goes on in the world of seekers"
lüziel tilted his head a bit
„seekers?"
„it's effectively mercenaries"
they went to a giant bulding like none around it. compared to the colosseum they had in pauroe this was way more jagged not using any arcs but using triangles and hexagons. inside the people where separated in 3 lines with them taking the one where mostly rakte with mostly 4 or more tails.
„this looks like a class system"
lüziel was just talking to himself so he was surprised when he got a response
„it is but separated via age. their tails are extremely important for them so those with more get treated better. for non rakte they at best usually only are allowed in the lowest ranks with some like big guild leader also being allowed in the second"
„and why are we here then?"
„call it the privilege of being with us"
the longer they where in the queue the more did they notice how distancing the ones before and after them where making them feel like they didn't belong there. at the counter they first got a weirded out glance but got through without a problem after dhstell talked to the one at the counter.
„it feels like everyone dislikes us. shouldn't we go somewhere else"
„that may be true as you three don't belong here but those punks have no saying over that so take your seat like you mean it and they wont bother you outside of looking"
dhstell was sitting down right in the middle of a row with kamaron sitting right next to her. marth and lüziel sat down without a problem but rina did hesitate a bit hearing the others gossiping about what seemed to be them. it took a while before the fight started and they could see in that time how the concentration of non rakte was way higher in the lowest ranks. they also didn't thought that something this modern day gladiator fight would have such popularity. shortly before it started the electronic board above the arena swapped from advertisements to showing the bracket and below each fighter a number besides their name.
„that's not fair that one has a way higher number than the others"
rina noticed that some of the fighters had up to 10 times higher numbers than others
„that's how betting works, have nothing to show for yourself gets you a high number"
„it does seem a tad bit disproportionate. 2:18 is the point where you have to ask yourself why would you ever bet on this"
„it's more exiting with underdogs against veterans. in the end this is for nothing but entertainment."
while looking around did lüziel notice how empty the top row was compared to the others 2 with the bottom being completely overcrowded but before he could say anything there was a loud honking followed by an announcer. despite his volume was it hard to completely understand what he was saying for one because of a weird accent but also because the crowd went even louder with the announcement of the beginning
„what is he saying!"
„just some standard hyping up the crowd. only 30% clear the 4th act or in other words 70% come never even close these type of fights otherwise so it's quite popular"
„this does look like it has way to many non rakte. wouldn't others simply go to their own arenas"
„you have seen tho colosseum the romans made. humans had for a long time nothing until the romans came but rakte have this baked into their culture so they are the most dominant in the fighting scene on this root"
it suddenly became dark with spotlights going on pointing at the entrance. out of it came a extremely muscular rakte with 4 scrubby tails and a oni mask and short trousers as the only clothing. at the same time the narrator screamed loud enough to be clearly hearable even over the crowd
„and in the one corner we have the fearsome person who single handily cleared a champion class mission in the unforgiving heats of the black death valley! will he be bringing the heat with hime scorching his foe or will he finally reach his limit and burn up? it is THE DEMON OF THE DESSERT"
there where a few mixed reactions of the crowd. some where hyped up while others seemed to show no interested and again other booed. the highest row was the one who was the quietest during this showing that they came for a different fight. when the demon of the dessert reached the arena did the narrater continuo
„in the other corner we have someone who will always be ready to take any mission you have clearing over 50 missions a year. it is even said that he can clone himself to be everywhere at the same time. some say quantity truly is better than quality but will this also be true in the ring? here comes THE MULTIMAN"
on the other side a more agile looking person came out with a cape that had an infinity symbol on it. for him there seemed to be quite a bit more positive reactions than before but you still had the three main camps of no, negative and positive reaction. when he reached the arena he threw away his cape revealing his 3 smooth tails.
„so who you think wins"
marth was talking to lüziel
„you seem awfully exited over this"
„of cause where else could we see something like this"
„why would you enjoy this. all they do is hurt each other"
rina on the other side did not look forward to this. 4 big spotlights lit up the arena and with a horn the fight started. both fighters went into a fighting stance locking closely at what the other person did while circling for a bit until he demon decided to take the initiative making a sort of karate chop directed at multimans heart using his sharp claws like a knife. multiman dodge with a small step trying to counter but the demon already went for the next attack using his other hand knocking away the attack of multiman but before he could reach him a chain pulled down his arm.
„so what actually are the rules of this. this looks like they want to seriously injure the other"
„well there not really rules. the judged do try to stop fatal injuries and they are not allowed to affect anything outside the arena and no weapons as this isn't supposed to be weapon combat but thats all there is"
„this is insane how could this not be illegal"
as of now the fighters did not suffer any mention worthy injuries but rina still felt them like deep pinpricks and looked not happy about it. dhstell could just shake her head
„get over it little miss princess. this is nothing special and if there really where something to happen we always have the system giving us such advanced technology that most of everything that doest kill can be healed"
their attention was drawn back to the arena when suddenly a different type of light appeared as a flame cartwheel smashed into the ground burning everything around multiman but leaving out an halve circle around him and the flames immediately dying out from what looked like a wave of nothing
„what the hell was that! since when decide flames to simply stop"
„you couldn't see it i'll guess as humans don't see the same wavelength we can see. he send out a shockwave using the power of his tails suffocating the flames. thats quite impressive for a 3 tail when most can't even do it in the first place"
despite the attack failing in damaging it dod not fail in getting the demon back in close range combat as multiman tried to keep his distance. it again was a chop but this time followed by an upwards kick using the hand that attacked as footing
„wait, that looked so odd. i'm not a close combat expert but i do see if there i something off happening. despite that move not favoring it he decided to keep his body turned straight at him"
„what cha expect, turning his weak side towards them. they may look fancy but these tails are not only for show. if you don't protect them yo could loose them. they may grow back if damaged but always weaker than before"
„wouldn't that make them a detriment in combat"
„in a world where they wouldn't give you also strength, agility and other abilities."
despite looking way more ruffed up did multiman calmly block and dodge one combo after another from demon. if not for rina they wouldn't even have noticed it but she constantly felt a cold burning pain in her arms and legs like she was freezing.
„this hurts so much why wont they stop this madness. what good comes out of people hurting them this much for enjoyment of others"
„remember me saying that you will feel it way more painfully. right now they don't even do much but thats already too much for you?"
the ones around them looked at rina when she let out a small scream holding her wrist while at the same time the demon had a snowflake like blue structure appear on his wrist leading him to immediately stop attacking trying to get a bit away to deal with it but multiman did now went to the offensive but got stop by an explosion of smoke followed by a flame whip wiping out of it. unable to see it in time he had to take it holding his arms in the way. following the whip was an attempted spinning kick but be it the injury or the smoke it did not got far enough giving multiman a short time to freely grab the tails hissing by. when he grabbed them did his entire arm explode in cuts. for the first time did rina now feel a really strong pain letting out a loud enough scream that a large chunk of people around her heard it over the crowd. despite the deep cuts did the grip of multiman not loosen pulling at the tails with demon only barely dodging bigger injuries from turning full speed getting a deep cut on his chest before kicking away multimans feet who had to let go to catch himself but broke down with his cut arm not being able to support him anymore. rina now felt a strong pain from where a tail would be while not even having one. again a flame cartwheel tat would have been the final blow for multiman if not for something else happening. lüziel realized it first as he was the entire time having an eye on rina. what happened before happened was just looking like standard pain but now she turned completely white her pupils widening to an extreme amount and her entire body starting to shake. she couldn't even endure a second before breaking down.
„THAT FUCKER WHAT DOES HE THINK HE DOES THERE!"
kamaron sprung up looking extremely angry looking. the reaction of others took a bit longer but everyone around them started to get extremely agitated from what happened down in the arena. the flames stopped the moment before they hit multiman and when he stood up you could see his tail glowing way stronger and deeper than before where it just was a faint red shimmer.
„what is going on, what is happening to rina!"
„a dive, we have to get her out of here. i did not expect this this is completely illegal to do and he definitely doesn't do it from his own power so how!"
kamaron picked up the shaking rina forcing his way through the other people standing in the way followed by the others. on the outside he laid her on a bench with dhstell jumping into action doing something that neither lüziel nor marth could discern what it was.
„can you please tell me what is going on"
kamaron simply ignored lüziel talking to himself
„why did that ass have to do this. i really don't want to do this… no she wont make it without proper stabilization. if i really have to do this at least i can go all out"
he pulled up the orange menu and marth noticed the emergency call standing at the top. when kamaron was finished he turned to dhstell who looked irritated
„what the hell am i supposed to do humans aren't able to do this. i have nothing good to release her"
„if anyone has the abilities and is smart enough to do this without any equipment than it would be you"
„i know but don't complain if it doesn't work"
walking towards the arena they could see a group in uniform having police written on the back.
„that's why the build them so close together but i would rather have the hospital be close right now"
kamaron now turned towards lüziel who pestered him with the same question over and over
„it's a dive something insanely skilled rakte can do opening the connection to the beyond. spirit tails are always connected to the beyond but only via a singular point while a dive let's them widen the connection. it is not only risky as you can completely fall in but the power is way greater than what most rakte can survive"
„that makes no sense what even is the beyond what does that have to do with rina"
„imagine the tails being plugs and the point your average socket. you only get limited amount of energy compared to what is possible to protect your device but now imagine you skip from that straight to plugin into the power plant hoping your device not to explode from the extremely higher voltage. in her case the problem is that this ‚curse' is also connected to the beyond which is the medium where she gets all the pain transferred but now someone opened a big hole sucking her in and she is stuck with no way back as she misses the plug and is straight up wired into the beyond."
„and what will happen to her now?"
„she will die if nothing is done and fast that is. all we can do is hope that the hospital know a way to stabilize her. it is technically possible for a rakte to be in a dive without tail if they get cut of after starting and as that is what people foolishly try to do to stop a dive that went out of control they should not be completely clueless"
it only took 3 minutes but they felt like 3 hours for lüziel and marth who could do nothing but watch and hope until an ambulance appeared. they looked confused when they saw the patient being a human for something only rakte could have but they nonetheless picked rina up and followed by dhstell, who forced herself with them, put her into the ambulance driving of. kamaron, marth and lüziel had no other choice but to take a buss to follow. at he hospital was quite the commotion when they arrived.
„at some point you have no choice but to tell us why everyone is up and running for you. this is way over the top for just an average person being brought to an hospital no matter the injury"
marth was trying to use this situation to get a bit more information about kamaron as he kept his own identity so secretive
„you will see soon enough i presume. that child wont just let me use her name without trying to bother me"
after 10 minutes came dhstell to where they where waiting but only because her need was gone and it took another 10 for someone to come out and tel them that they can't do anything more here as they lack in equipment for this special case but she is out of danger for now. with everything that happened they thought nothing shock them at this point but they where sorely mistaken as everyone quickly lined up making space but also looking nervous like they where expecting someone special. through the main entrance came not only doctors to pick up rina but also people dressed in what could only be described as military attire. this time they did not only picked up rina but all of them putting everyone but rina into a limousine that looked even for being a limousine extremely extra.
„what are you royalty. i have never seen anything this luxurious in my life"
kamaron just answered by looking annoyed out of the window viewing the people outside staring at this convoy driving through the streets driving towards the gate. this confused both marth and lüziel
„wait where are we going"
„to the capital. gates can also be used to travel between cities on the same planet"
„the capital but why are we going there"
„no matter what i think of her behavior the empress does have the best everything you can find on riastehc"
„the empress! so you are royalty or wait is it dhstell who is royalty"
„you wouldn't see dhstell on a throne in a million years. we just have a very… ‚good'… relationship with the empress"
when arriving at the capital they surprisingly saw the opposite of what you would expect. everything was so modern jet the capital had no skyscrapers and the houses all looked antique in building stile only as everything was in prestige quality.
„wow this looks like taken out of a history book"
„it sort of is. everything was made from the ground up after being completely destroyed 600 years ago but it looks like they kept the old stile. rakte do care about tradition a lot and having the capital stay the same for thousands of years while never falling behind in technology does send a strong message."
their convoy split up when they arrived at the palace sticking out in the middle of the city with the ambulance boing to a side building that was connected to the palace while they where brought to the main entrance. if you had to describe it in one word the best description for the palace would be white. green and yellow where also visible but everywhere where white ornaments and statues looking like the worlds most expensive story book depicting clearly some sort of story. inside most thing where made out of wood but the trend of story book ornaments continued.
„you said the city was destroy but this does not look like it's new. this looks like it stood here since the beginning of time with the story being expanded every time something happened"
marth was looking in awe at what was seeable in the ornaments not noticing kamaron quietly murmuring
„well we did have enough respect to not destroy this at the very least"
the people guiding them brought them to a large door that was split in blue, red, green and yellow parts all with their own unique images separated by the black center going out in 4 lines that themselves got interrupted by white lines coming from the outside white of the rest of the door. when the door was opened they could see a throne room with an highly elevated throne on which a woman sat. as they came close they started to actually see how she looked like and it was nothing smaller than the appearance of a goddess looking down on them. she had long smooth black hair and 7 equally as black tails which had a white tip. her face looked gracefully upon them as she stood up in her white robe that covered her body having written on it different things in the same language they saw when they came here in circles around her arms legs and body in the same colors the door had.
„a true goddess. who knew that god would not be a human but instead a beautiful rakte"
when they came close the guards went down on their knees with lüziel and marth following without a question. with kamaton and dhstell showed no signs of following did the guard try to force them but got interrupted by the empress who signed them to go away. you could feel their hatred towards kamaron and dhstell but they did as ordered and left closing the door to the throne room. she then began to speak with a smooth and surprisingly deep but definitely feminine voice
„at least you companions know to show respect towards the only person with the capability to save your friend"
lüziel was looking pleading at kamaron to make him at least for the moment show his respect but he just answered instead while dhstell was even worse as she actively acted disrespectful leaning against a pillar with crossed arms and lowered head as if sleeping
„and what if not i know exactly that you won't just abandon her. thats simply the kind of child you are"
„i could behead everyone here without someone asking. you should ind your manners"
from dhstells direct came a
„i would love to see you try"
before kamaron could answer was the empress already standing before him continuing
„we are what we are that will never change, that is how you see other people. long gone are the times where i was a helpless child forced into a position of power. the only one who hasn't changed over all this time are you. you will see what it will gets you if you don't start to see people as they are right now instead of how they where."
„i will give you some respect as you do have reached this point out of your own power but you first have to proof to me that you are no longer the small child of back then and you have yet to do that"
the empress turned around and walked back up the stairs
„a you companions do not know of me, i have to assume considering your personality, i should introduce myself. i am arhkuhv and the empress of all rakte. in the case of your friend you don't have to worry. i am already informed that her life is not in danger but it will take time to cure her of the special predicament she is in but know that no one can say if she will have any lasting damage as she is the first recorded case of this. for the time of her recovery you will be living in this place and are to be treated only second to myself. rooms are already prepared and the guards will bring you there. if you have any needs or complains you can direct them at a servant send to you. for now you are dismissed and will be at a later time informed about more."
„tsk, this is nothing more than a fancy prison as you can just let us run around without having an eye on us"
dhstell was leaving her position at the pillar to walk towards the door followed by the rest but they got stopped before leaving
„all of you can go with the exception of kamaron. i have still to talk to him"
kamaron and arhkuhv waited for the door to close before she went back down
„you have still not given up. my opinion has not changed about the child from back then. i do not only tread you as a child because i knew you since childhood but because you act like one behind that facade of the empress"
„my goal may be the same but the reasoning has long changed. there was a time where i started to hate you for what you did and how little you seemed to care about others but that is not true is it now. you are like a father trying to protect the people you find but you don't have the power to be everywhere at once so you started to instead force them to grow strong enough to protect themselves. it may be hard for someone who lived as long you and has grown as strong as you to know when someone is no longer of need of you help but you should start by opening your eyes and look at the people around you"
„are you trying to seduce me because i could tell from how bad of an attempt this is. i have to say that you not look like a child that much is true but you act like one always waning what you cannot have and throwing a tantrum if you don't get it. aren't there more important thing the empress should concern herself about than the well being of a random outsider"
kamaron was looking at her wiggling tails while saying that
„we shouldn't call someone a ‚random outsider' when he rewrote our history as the one who killed the old empress and created the new one. most rakte don't even know what happened back then as no one survived who was involved in that except for me. but maybe i am wrong after all this time"
arhkuhv took a bit of distance before going on all 4 while 4 more tails appeared where the other 7 where which all started to glow bright white with a tint of yellow in it. kamaron instinctively also went on all 4 behind him appearing where there should be non 4 smooth tails also starting to glow in a bright white.
„look at you, you say you are no child yet you show of your feelings like one. what would your subjects say seeing you like this"
instead of answering did arhkuhv jump at kamaron with her claws out be he did not react to this. even when her claws digged deep into his sides all he did was just standing there not even changing his expression. next arhkuhv made herself ready to bit wit her sharp teeth into his neck stopping stopping when she started to taste his blood. after that did she retreat back to her starting position with both standing back up and the light plus the extra tails fading returning the room back to its normal lighting.
„it seems that i was not wrong to choose you and only you as the one who will give me my children. it will be the strongest empress, no the strongest raktuma to ever exist as a offspring of your kind. it took me a while to find this as it happened so long ago that there is no one left who could remember him, your only child. he became in young ages already so strong that city where threatened by him and due to a lack of a good mother to teach him did he went out of control leaving you no other option but to kill him before you couldn't anymore. i am not like dhstell only obsessed with fighting and will care about and teach my child properly to make something like that never happen"
within the split of a second did kamarons face change from his usual calm and collected self to an aggressive one. his tails appeared again first glowing in red getting darker and darker until the entire room was filled in black the only thing visible being kamaron and arhkuhv who herself had her tails starting to glow in a blue white opposing the black as best as it could.
„YOU WILL NOT TALK LIKE THAT ABOUT DHSTELL AND YOU ALSO HAVE NO PERMISSION TO TALK ABOUT MY SON! IF I EVER HEAR YOU SAY SOMETHING LIKE THAT AGAIN I WILL NOT STOP BEFORE EVERY SIGN THT YOU EXISTED IS WHIPED OUT!"
the room started to regain it's colors as kamaron started to calm down again
„i shouldn't have listened to you. you do not deserve the right to talk to me if that is how you act. you are lucky that i still see you as the only person capable of being the empress or otherwise you would have seen the light of the next day after a comment like that."
with that he flung open the door leaving not even bothering to pay attention to the guard who tried their best at stopping him after seeing his hostility
„leave him alone. he is free to do as he chooses"
arhkuhv waved them away with the guard following her order reluctantly
„he is probably the only person who could make me feel his much fear. i have gone to far but don't think i have given up you will fall for me"
marth, lüziel where brought to a large room in the third floor where they could see a large chunk of the city out of the window while dhstell got the room next to their. the room was looking quite normal compared to the rest of the palace.
„looks like they just dumped us into the cheapest rooms they had"
„at least the view is nice. you don't see something like this every day. this looks more amazing than any picture could show"
as there was nothing to do in the room they tried to go out but when they did they got followed by a guard. when asking about rina they got told that right now they could go to her and with nothing else left to do they went exploring the town. they cold feel how specifically rakte distanced them from them when they went by while other seemed to not care.
„talk about culture shock. they tread us like we're dangerous or something like that. when i finally got placed into this dream world everyone is keeping their distance making it not possible for me to enjoy it."
„sounds like they should distance themselves from you"
„don't tread me like a creep. who wouldn't want to learn about these things"
the first thing they really noticed when walking around was how green was replaced with red. trees had all red leaves and even grass was red. while doing missions up until now the things they saw where close enough to what they knew but now that they had time to simply wander around they felt that this was no longer like the earth they knew and they didn't initially notice it when coming over as there still where some green trees in the other city making it simply look like autumn colors. where pigeons would be they now saw birds that where way more spherical with the head barely sticking out of the body which itself was covered in a fluff and you you couldn't even see their wings until they started to fly away when they revealed that they only had shorter wings helping them to simply jump high instead of really flying. what was normally someone taking their dog for a walk was now replaced with an animal most closely representing a pig with fur but long easy hanging down and being less round and stronger looking legs and shoulders and the feet had some hoof like toes. their first stop was a snack stand.
„it looks somewhat normal, even if i couldn't say what it actually is outside of meat and vegetables"
„i haven't eaten anything since the morning so i'll guess we can try"
they took 3 different things, first there where shashlik like skewers, next there where filled meatballs and lastly something looking like bread. with their lunch they went to a nearby bench trying them out
„why the hell is this so sour. it's like biting into a lemon with meat flavor"
„i don't see your problem this is amazing. it's more than just putting a bit lemon juice on a stake but it definitely works"
„how can you like this? this is way to much. at least the meatballs taste normal. and lastly this. wow this is just strange. it's like mochi but bread and the filling is so dominant"
after their lunch they continued looking around but didn't fid anything special before returning
„wouldn't you expect a capital to have more tourist attractions. no shops or anything is directed at visitors"
„now that you mention it, it is weird. i didn't notice it because of not being there but now that i look around i only see normal shops"
marth looked around before continuing
„there also seems to be near to only rakte. even in the more country side looking places we been as of now there where a lot of different races. it's as if they don't want outsiders to be here."
he turned around to the guard following them
„could you tell us why?"
but they just ignored his question. when they returned to the palace they where greeted by an angry kamaron arguing with some rakte who gathered around him
„… if you want to keep staying here!"
„just fuck off! i couldn't care less about your sense of honor. what the empress says is the rule so keep to it"
„as guards it's our job to protect this palace and city and we cannot accept someone who is this disrespectful to the empress"
„you know what, i don't have this anymore"
marth and lüziel couldn't even see what was happening but in a blink the guard was lying on the ground hold down by the same weapon she held just a moment ago
„you like to order by strength so beat me and i shut up. oh wait you can't do that because words are all you got"
„this is enough! the empress told us to treat you highly but this was now a clear act of aggression"
„who is supposed to be the aggressor here. you treated us like shit from the very beginning you racist cats"
with thise words a grand fight emerged with kamaron and the guards, or at least you would assume that but what marth and lüziel saw was a one sided stomping from kamaron. if not for the empress stepping out into the chaos the guards would probably all been cleanly lined up ko on the ground.
„this is enough! i command you to stop this this second!"
„empress, he went completely insane and started attacking us!"
„that command was for you as well!"
„but…"
„SILENCE! i do not tolerate this behavior"
kamaron was turning towards where he heard the empress talking while still holding down 3 guards
„can't even control your closest people…"
„you to are to stop this right this moment or i will banish you from the city"
kamaron was releasing his hold and sitting down on a fountain rim to the dismay of the surrounding guards but they did silently line up instead of doing something
„i do not know or are interested in what happened, everyone here will receive a punishment INCLUDING YOU!"
she was pointing at kamaron who just shrugged
„what cha gonna make me do, civil services. oh no anything but that"
„you will be set under my direct control for 1 year"
kamaron jumped up but he was not the only one who disliked this with the guards also breaking their silence
„empress how could you do something like that"
„never! you know exactly what that means and i will not let you simply do something like that"
„it will fit you nice to finally be pulled down from your high horse. you have been acting way to cocky because of your standing in the world. if you do not like this judgment than take our companions and leave. i am helping you out of a personal bias but will not endure it if you act inappropriately"
„you slight fox trying to abuse my disadvantage. you are insane if you think i would just accept you as a lehcil. i will only accept this if you beat me in a firhtuhg"
even if marth and lüziel didn't know what he was talking about they clearly saw how outrageous this proposal was by how everyone suddenly having a face of disbelieve
„do you even know what you are talking about you arrogant human"
„did i allow you to speak. do you think i can simple refuse such a challenge as the empress. tomorrow morning you will have to face me in a firhtuhg and if you lose you will for 10 years be my servant"
„trying to sneakily increase the punishment. in that case i will also up the ante and if i win every action i do no matter what will be allowed without consequences on riastehc"
„you prepare the training grounds for this. i want everything gone tomorrow"
the guards where hesitating but promptly moved to action through a simple look of arhkuhv. kamaron took this as a sign to go to where their rooms where. marth and lüziel stood there for a moment to comprehend what they just saw then tried to catch up tp kamaron. when they stood in front of kamarons and dhstells room they could hear dhstell loudly laughing from the inside. when they entered they could see dhstell rolling around on the bed while kamaron was moving in circles.
„what the heck happened there. why did you fight the guards?"
„look your only fans have come to cheer you on"
kamaron was turning towards the door where they where standing
„just forget it. whatever you saw wasn't relevant for you. i have to deal with that i have to serve that arhkuhv for 10 years now so i don't need you input on this"
„to me this looked like you where the one at fault. you do know that rinas live is hanging on whatever they are doing. could you at least pretend to act nicely as long as where here."
lüziel looked angrily at kamaron
„why'd you think i did this!"
„could have just took the 1 year, but now its 10. this is one of the best jokes i have heard in a while"
dhstell was continuing to roll laughing around
„just shut your yap. you would have found it equally as funny if i did just follow her orders like a dog, wouldn't you"
„you could at least explain what is happening to us when you could potentially harm us be cause of a tantrum"
dhstell was sitting up on the edge of the bed
„he is too embarrassed to do it. he seriously challenged the second highest standing rakte to a firhtuhg as if his 4 second tails could shit against her. at least you can give a better show than 99% of rakte despite being human can't you?"
with neck breaking speed flew a pillow directly at dhstells face who simply ducked under it letting it smack against the wall. during that did marth realize what he just heard.
„wait a minute tails? how can kamaron have tails if he is a human, can i also get some?"
„sure if you wane die. there are a lot of people who tried getting them but no matter what means they use it always ends in death with the exception of 1 person"
dhstell was pointing at kamaron
„but how did you do it there has to be a way to recreate it if you do the same things again"
kamaron was waving with his hand while shaking his head
„you don't even need to trie. it's an unnamed skill type. you know how skills are categorized in basic, local legend, local mythic, legend and mythic"
„actually no. i have seen the tag on skills for basic and legend but thats all."
„i guess that makes sense for people who haven't done anything."
„so what does it mean. you can't just say stuff and expect us to not want to know"
kamaron sight
„what a hassle. you would figure out sooner or later anyways. its separated into basic which means concepts like swordsmanship. then locals are the race bound, you can only get local skills of your race and finally mythic skills have certain unlock requirements for you to even have a chance to get them. the skill shop will only show basic and legend skills otherwise. well thats all nice and all but my skills class is unnamed"
kamaron was pulling up the yellow menu showing a skill to them
Spirit Tail
Class:
Description: you have the ability to grow the spirit tails of the rakte gaining all advantages and disadvantages of them.
Growth: Level 4
„this looks not very helpful of an description. it literally just describes the obvious"
„thats because skill descriptions are not random. they reflect the experience of people using them and their origin. in a case of a new skill it starts blank and is basic at the beginning. right now it doesn't even say that you can only get second tails"
„this sounds like it's a normal thing to happen."
„it is somewhat depending on the era you're in and how active grintß are. on death your actions will be put in trial and some did enough to create skills all based on how much impact they had on their race. for example all empresses of the rakte have a skill related to them and a few have even reached mythic status. arhkuhv has better control over her tails than any other rakte i know of so that will probably be what she gets as legacy"
„amazing. so in other words you can become eternally part of history if you raise up to be something worth remembering. did you hear that lüziel. what amazing things could we get out of this that at some point where wielded by someone that amazing"
dhstell disrupted marth
„not only good. it's not about righteousness but impact. to begin with what does good even mean but the one we don't like"
„so your telling me i could get some awesome demon flame or something like that"
lüziel was patting on marth shoulder
„i think you got a bit of track here. so what is with the fight. it has to do with those tails but what then. it is equally as bad if you win and the empress gets hurt and no longer wants to support us"
„someone did listen to what i told them. all non lethal damage can be healed no problem. and to begin with she wont lose in this type of fight"
dhstell was wiggling with her finger
„you are so sure of that but why did kamaron accept that fight to begin with then"
„pride"
„pride? how much pride is there if you know you lose"
„for us rakte you would never see someone weaker serve someone stronger that ain't happening so my husband over here needed some way to prove that he actually was weaker in some sense to do it"
„husband? you only use that to mock me for how many years now. how nice of my wife to that supportive"
„not to stop your lovers quarrel but we are still here"
kamaron waved them away
„you can go now. i don't have more to say to you"
marth looked disappointed but knew not to bother kamaron more as he looked quite annoyed again. as the sun started setting they decided to go to their bedroom.
„so what do you think will happen tomorrow. this sounds like like something completely insane is going to happen"
„how should i know. what happens happens thats all there is to it. no reason to try to overthink this"
„you're so boring. how can you not get exited seeing the mysterious kamaron fight showing of part of his strength that was build up as being so over the top"
their talk got interrupted by something knocking at the window. looking at it they saw a bat or at least they though that at first. what they really saw was only vaguely resembling a bat. it had wings similar to a bat but had tiny hands at the wings with which it clawed at he window. on its head where round ears twitching right over its flat face showing only 2 bright red eyes. like a lion did it have a white mane hiding it'S dark blue shimmering body that was apparently lying on the ground as they couldn't see any feet. it also had a tails like a fin that had no hair on it but emitting a faint glow.
„what is that"
marth was going to the window searching for a way to open it
„wait you can't just let it in what if its dangerous. it could be poisonous or have rabies why else would it want to get in"
„but just look at it, hw could that adorably fellow be dangerous. i just need to hold it"
as if it heard marth flew it suddenly away
„no don't go. i want to look more at you"
„you really throw all reasoning away when it's about things you never saw before"
„it's not things i never saw before but things i COULD have never seen before"
it took them a while to actually fall asleep as they both had different things to process. when they woke up it was already bright outside. when going outside their room they could feel the tension that was in the air making them a bit uncomfortable.
„it feels like the world is about to go down and we simply didn't get told"
„that might be because it could be"
from behind walked dhstell up to them
„despite how they say they are not certain if their all high and might empress maybe can be beaten in a firhtuhg BY A HUMAN. it's one thing if its another rakte as that just means there is someone stronger but what about someone who should physically not be able to do it, what does that say about their empress"
„this sounds like a really big deal. should there really be that type of fight if its that important"
„at least it shows that arhkuhv has more backbone than these pipsqueaks."
„but what will happen if he wins?"
dhstell shrugged
„dunno don care"
lüziel frowned a bit
„shouldn't you also be concerned about this being also a rakte and stuff"
„it's not like i have much connections with my race outside of being one"
marth suddenly remember the bat like thing from yesterday
„why didn't i think of that before, you sure know what it was right? yesterday something like a bat was at our window. it looked so fluffy. i need to know what it was"
„bat?"
dhstell was staring blankly while trying to figure out what a bat was. while marth was waiting for an answer did lüziel realize where the problem was
„something with wings like this and feets here and a small oval like body with mane"
we was trying to do his best impression of representing what he was describing
„oh you mean a ab`d. i didn't know that they lived here. shouldn't they be in colder climates usually, weird"
„so you know, tell me more about it it was so adorable"
„do i look like a lexicon to you. go to a library for that. anyways there is still time before the main event starts you should get something to eat. i sure as hell will"
when they went to the cafeteria of the palace marth and lüziel for the second time stood before the choice of what to take as they knew nothing of whats there although some things looked familiar to food from earth.
„what now. it's like russian roulette. you have no idea what tastes and what doesn't when everything is foreign to you"
„if you search for human dishes you won't find them. it's an unwritten rule that all capitals only have things from their own planet to make sure that you always know what is riasdohg or some stupid shit like that"
marth was looking at the table full of a salad?
„i thought you would be more of a meat person"
„what because i know what i want. i happened to like a good salad"
„shouldn't judge someone by stereotypes"