All the way to school, all Riu could think about was what Aiden had said to him the night prior. Ember had always hated Aiden, long before Riu even went to them. She used to tell him about Aiden and how much of a jackass he was.
There was no way that she actually liked him now, after years of torment he put him through. The first chance he got, he will ask her about it. He decided to go the long way to avoid Silvia and her group.
As usual, Ember was in the main hall.
"Ember, can we talk?" He asked as soon as he got into ear shot
"Sure." She lead the way to an empty classroom nearby.
"You and Aiden, are you two actually friends?" Riu asked, getting straight to the point.
"So? He's actually a cool guy." She said shrugging
"Ember, you said you hated him." He said slowly
"That was then. He apologized for everything before and now we're friends." She said as if that ended it
"What about me? All the things he put me through? Did he apologize for that?" He tried to keep calm but he was getting increasingly mad.
"Riu, he isn't your friend. He doesn't have to apologize for you to be my friend." She said
All Riu could do was stare at her. What was she saying.
"Plus, if you stopped and looked he is actually nice. You two should reconcile." She nodded at her words
"Ember, he has tormented me since I began to live with him. You know this and your O.K with it?" He asked, unable to keep the anger out of his voice.
She detected that anger and responded to it.
"He did that to you. You need to figure that out. I'm sorry that he did that but I can't stop being friends with him just for that." With that she left.
Left Riu to state after her. To wonder if the two of them were even friends anymore. Who would do that? Riu didn't have long before the bell rang. First period was gym.
Riu made his way there. He took that class with Ember, they used to hang out there all the time. Now he didn't know if he even wanted to sit next to her. By the time he got there, the bell rang again.
"Alright kids, today we will do practical training. No skills, no mana. Only weapons. If you don't have one already then please select on from the rack." The coach yelled
He then passed out small papers, "this will tell you who your opponent is."
Rius paper read, 'Miles.' Miles was a sweet boy but he is strong. Riu could beat him. One by one, pairs went up and fought. Riu could easily see who would win and who wouldn't. Ember lost to Maia, which was no surprise. Soon it was his turn.
Miles was a short kid with ted hair and freckles.
"Sorry man." He said gripping his long sword
Sorry? Ah he thought he was still a weak level 1 F rank. He told no one but Ember about his level. But he was still F rank. He believed Mes was either E rank or D rank. He took out his spear.
"Don't hold back." Riu said, smiling.
Miles charged forward, using a forward thrust. It was like that one PvP in DragonTale. He used the body of his spear to deflect the attack. He put the butt of his weapon under Miles feet, causing him to fall hard. This didn't mean he won though, cause Miles used his sword to catch himself. He then aimed for his neck, he moved back just in time.
This was dragging out. He needed to knock his sword out of his hands. Riu ran forwards, the spear facing towards Miles. Surprised, he took a step back and moved his sword into a defensive position. Riu aimed for his fingers. With a yelp, Miles dropped his sword. Definitely an E rank. I'd he was a D rank he would have known to thrust his sword back, giving him a chance at another counterattack.
As he suspected, he had won. He looked at the coach and the other students. Surprised. He looked over at Ember, who didn't look surprised but proud. He got chills. Looking towards the entrance to the gym, he saw Principal Lou. Why was he here? Catching his eye, the principal turned and left. What was that all about?
Riu took his place with the other students when,
{You leveled up!}
He stated at the screen that popped up. He didn't even kill anyone. Did he level up just from sparring? If so that gives him a huge advantage. Is this a one time thing?
"That was amazing." Riu turned to see Maia had come up to him.
She smiled at him before returning.
"Good job." Ember came up to him and sat next to him.
Riu didn't know if he was overreacting or not but he decided to ignore her. She looked hurt at that and didn't speak further.
"Wow, did you inseparable pair actually get into a fight?" Silvia came up to the two of them
"I don't know what you mean." Ember said stiffly
"Sure. Say Riu want to eat lunch with us?" She said turning to him.
Riu thought about it for a bit. What did he have to lose?
"Sure." He answered, leaving Ember shocked
"Great, I'll meet you at the cafeteria." She said before leaving.
"What are you thinking? You know they want to just embarrass you or something." Ember said
Riu didn't answer.
"I thought we were going to eat lunch together." She said, giving him a side glance.
"Eat with Aiden." Was all he said as he stood and walked off.
It made him angry at how she was acting all nonchalant like that. If she can make friends with someone like Aiden who he hates, he can make friends with Silvia who she hates. He knew it was petty but it was the only thing he could think of to get back at her.
Soon enough lunch and came and Silvia really did wait for him.
"Over here." She lead him to a table near the windows. No one was there.
"Yeah it's just going to be us today. The others had things to do." She said, setting down her lunch box.
"Cool." Riu sat in the opposite direction.
"So, how was your day?"
"Absolutely trash." Riu said through his pizza
"Ha, tell me about it." She grumbled
"What happened to you?"
"Well first my dad decided to get drunk last night so I had to suffer through his hangover, I have to visit my mom today and I so flunked that quiz." She ranted
Ah, he had forgotten about the rumors. There has been a rumor a few years ago that her mother killed her father's brother and attempted to kill him. She's in jail now and it seems like her father has turned into an alcoholic.
"I'm sorry that happened. Did you not study?"
"If course not. I never study, she just added some stupid trick questions. What about you?" She asked
"Well," he sighed, "it's a bit complicated but me and Ember got into a fight over someone."
"Oh? Like romantically?" She smiled
"Do you know Aiden Mirez?"
"Yeah. Oh." She laughed
"He's the son of the people fostering me." He said, putting his food down.
She didn't say anything than, "I heard that you won against Miles. Good feat for a F rank."
Thankful that she changed the subject he replied"is it really though?"
She laughed at his reply, "nah, that boy isn't trained well enough. Speaking of, want to come to my house for training tomorrow?"
"I'll have to ask." He said
"Great!"
"Say, you looked like you really knew what you were doing." She said
"VR games nowadays gives you real experience with weapons." He replied
"Amazing, then does that mean that you know a lot of moves?"
"Some, why?"
"Well, we need some advice on training do having you there tomorrow would be even more helpful." She said, biting the end of her fork.
Riu felt at ease as he talked with Silvia about anything. She listened and engaged in the conversation. She didn't have to leave right away it hurry with what she was saying. All too soon the bell rang for class.
"Awe man. See ya later Riu." She got up and waved
He waved back. He didn't have to go to class today as it has been cancelled due to a meeting. It was a selective class so it wasn't a big deal. Anyways it was better than way.
He began making his way towards the exit. He should go to the tower and level up. He was only a level away from level 10. He needed new skills. The tower soon came into sight.
He should start at floor 2 and make his way up. it was a bit longer in the teleporter then when he went to the first floor. He got his spear ready. He should hunt some slimes first just to get to level ten.
Slimes vary depending on the habits, there were poison slimes, dark slimes, fire slimes and more. The slimes in this area are grass slimes.
Soon enough, a small little green blob came into view. It was busy absorbing mana. Killing it was easy. A few more came out and surrounded Riu. A skill they all shared, Grass Cutter. Could definitely kill a human but Riu knew to kill them before they got a chance. He eventually saw the window he'd been dying for.
{You have level up!}
Soon the world faded to black. Three different boxes appeared in front of him. They were the same wooden box. Nothing was different.
{Choose one box.}
Inside these boxes were three skills and a item. Two boxes will be useless while one will be useful. The same boxes gave no indication of what was inside them. It was all down to luck.
Riu pressed the middle box, always go for the middle. The box opened. He smiled, always go for the middle.
The three skills he had gotten were: Mana Vision, Language Interpretation, and String of Fate.
These were great skills. Now it was time for the item. He tentatively put his hand into the box and pulled out a necklace. It was more like a choker with a big purple gem in the middle.
{Contractors necklace. Using this necklace, you can make contracts with beasts and monsters. Fir each contract you get one through four of their skills.}
What an amazing item. Riu immediately put it on. Contracts huh? He never made those in the game. He always went alone. The skills part was also a good bonus. Soon the darkness began to fade and he was once again in the tower.
Now was the time to check his new skills. First up is Mana Vision. Riu pressed on the skill and immediately the window popped up.
{Passive skill.
With this skill, you can see the quantity and quality of mana that something or someone has.}
This will definitely be useful. Next, Language Interpretation.
{Passive skill.
There are no language barriers that are in your way.}
Another passive skill. Strange, does it mean every language barrier? Even the ones between human and animal? He'd have to test that one out later. Last one is String of Fate.
{Mana skill.
This allows you to produce a strong string.}
This seems like the only skill that needs mana to activate. String? What a weird skills, he didn't remember such a skill in DragonTale.
He touched the necklace on his neck. Perhaps he should get a contract while he was there. First things first is to level up. He has to be at level one hundred to rank up. Riu turned to the forest, he had to go deeper and beat the boss slime in order to go up to the next floor.
He followed the trail down into the darkening forest. There weren't as many slimes as he had thought, as he only came across four at most.
"If this keeps up I won't level up at all." He muttered, Slicing a tree slime in half.
He was getting more comfortable with the spear. He paused to look at his window. He only leveled up twice the entire time, so he had gotten ten stat points.
"It best to put them into things I need." He said looking over his stats.
In the end he decided to put four points in agility, five in strength and one in wisdom.
"That outta do it." He said turning just in time to cut another tree slime.
He continued down the darkening path, it had become very eerie. There weren't any beasts in sight. Soon he heard some voices. Sounded like a group of maybe three or four. He followed the voices and came across a hunting party.
He needed to be careful, anything could happen. He turned to walk away, they weren't any of his business.
"Hey kid, come on out." One of the men called.
Riu but his lip. He was caught. He slowly crept out of the bush and stood in front of them. They were a sturdy group of four. The one who had called him had a big build, probably a tanker.
"What are you doing here?" Asked the smallest of the group, maybe a mage.
"I was,uh, hunting." He answered
"Here? You know this is where the boss rests." Said the guy who had called him.
"I know. I'm hunting it." Riu said
"Well would you look at that, do are we! Why don't we go together?" He said laughing
In all honesty, Riu didn't like the idea. These men could be up to anything, get he got the feeling that he really didn't have a choice. He just nodded. He could loose them later.
"Well time for introductions. I'm Jake," The guy who had called me indicated to him self, "That's Alex," He pointed at the smallest member, "Michelle," He turned and pointed at the blonde, "And Darion." He pointed at the last member.
Jake looked like he was the leader if this small troupe. Alex was most definitely a mage, the green cloak told that . Michelle had a bow on his back, so hr was the archer and Darion must be the damage dealer.
"So, whats your rank?" Alex asked walking besides him.
"F."
"oh. Then why are you on the second floor? Isn't it too dangerous?" He asked
"What's life without a little danger?" Jake asked, looking back at them.
They were definitely going a different way then when Riu was first going, he wondered if this was the way to the boss .
"We've actually defeated this boss before. This time though we're going for it's baby." Darion said
It baby? Beasts do have baby's, but are very protective of them. Unless one of them had a taming skill, getting the baby would be useless.
Slimes started to appear more frequently now. Riu watched as the group tore through them. A one sided massacre. Something about the group gave him chills, a feeling that they could not be trusted. He decided to test out one of his skills.
Alex definitely had more mana then the rest, but what surprised him was each of their quality of mana. It was dark and sinister. They definitely weren't good people if even their mana shows it.
Eventually they came across a cave. A big one.
"Looks like we're here. Keep with us kid." Riu bit his tongue as he followed them.
The boss slime was a dark slime. If it had a child then it would turn into a black slime. The slime soon came into view. Since it was a boss, it was much larger then a normal slime. It was as big as a classroom.
"Here we go." Jake said, taking out a shield.
The slime turned around, revealing a smaller, darker slime. It's child. The target. The battle began. The ground was very well organized, Alex and Michelle handling long ranged attacks, Alex healing, Jake's tanking and Darion going in.
"Get it!" Jake yelled
Darion reached for the baby slime when the mother used a skill, sending him flying. Soon her grayish color turned the darkest black. The others seemed to hesitate.
"What's happening?" Alex muttered, watching as the boss started to rampage.
"Ugh, We need to fall back." Jake said, putting Darion, who seemed unconscious, on his shoulder.
They all headed back to the entrance when the slime hit the roof. The whole cave seemed to rumble and break apart. They had to make a run for it. They all dashed for the exit when Alex stopped.
"It needs someone to let out it's anger on." He said, turning to Riu. He pushed him back just as cave entrance closed on him.
"Tch." How cliche.
Riu turned on the slime, who was indeed rampaging. He'd have to take her out. Thankfully he had more skills now. Using Mana Vision, he saw where the mana was most dense. That must be it's core. Take it out or destroy it.
(Take my child!? How dare you!)
An unknown voice ringed in his ears. Was this the slime? Could his skill work even here when the beasts weren't his contracts?
"I wasn't going to take your child!" He yelled
(You. . You can hear me. How interesting.) The slime made a move, making an arm like substance. Riu barely managed to dodge it.
"Wait, I can help you get revenge!" He cried, better make friends then enemies right?
(I care not for such things. Die.)
Do he needed to fight. It couldn't be helped. He took out his spear and ran towards the slime. String emerged from him and circled the slime, making it unable to move.
(What is this?) It cried
He immediately made the string tighter and tighter. He could crush it and sell the core.
(Ow! Stop this human!) It immediately began thrashing around.
A big rock fell from the cave roof, heading right for the baby slime. He could make a contract with that slime, so he ran forward and grabbed it, using his string to cut the rock.
(Why? He is a slime. Humans kill us.) The mother stopped moving
"Your right," Riu revealed his necklace, " I wanted to make a contract with the both of you."
(contract? What is that?) It asked
"A contract is like a set of rules for both parties that neither can break. A contract can be terminated though." Riu explained, hoping it wouldn't start attacking again.
(I see. Most humans force slavery upon us. You want to be equals. Will my child get the same treatment?)
" Of course."
(Then allow us to make a contract. I do not wish to die yet.) She said
Riu touched his necklace and a paper like object appeared in front of him with a set of rules. They were fair rules, such as not forcing them to do things. Take care of them. Let them leave if that's what they want and more like that. The slime seems satisfied and so did the baby, cause soon this window appeared.
{You have made [2] new contracts!
You have gained [1] skill from |Unknown|
You have gained [2] skills from |Boss|}
He stared at the window, "Your name is 'boss?'"
(Yes.)
"Why don't we give you and your baby a name, good ones?" He said. He would not be caught dead saying that.
(New names?)
"Yup. Like, mh, you are now Oren and your baby is now Blue. Sound good?" He asked, saying the first names that come to mind.
(Oren, Blue. What beautiful names.) She slowly began to shrink and grabbed her child.
{You have name |boss| to |Oren|
You have named |Unknown| to |Blue|
Do you agree?}
Riu pressed yes. A purple mist surrounded them and they disappeared. He knew they were in the necklace. It was a feeling he couldn't describe. Now let's see what skills he got.
The skill he got from Blue is called Unsuspecting. It made him, as it said, unsuspecting. A good skill if he ever needed to commit a crime. Also a passive skill.
The skills he got from Oren are called Rampage and Care. Rampage is a last resort type of skill, it takes away his ability to think and reason for extra power. It also takes a lot of mana. Care allowed him to care for those who are younger then him. This can help get people on his side later.
There was a small red crystal on the ground where Oren had just been. This was proof that he has 'beaten' the boss. He needed to give this to the portal to gain entry to the third floor. Putting it in his inventory, he looked through his skills again and realized he had leveled up.
"You can level up through contracts? Amazing." He knew that by training and fighting can help level up, it was slow but still a way, but through contracts? God was smiling at him.
Soon the exit to the cave began to rumble. Looks like their back. It opened to reveal the four of them, looking better then ever. He wondered how he looked.
"Where's the boss?" Darion asked looking around
"I defeated her." Riu said
"You? An F rank?" Michelle asked as though such a thought was ridiculous. Such stereotype so early? Man.
"Ranks don't matter." Riu said defensively
"Oh yes they do. What did you do, boy?" Jake snarled coming up to him.
Riu knew he couldn't win if he fought them now. He had to think of a way to get out of this. Just as he was brainstorming ways, Jake grabbed him and flung him against a wall. The cave rumbled again.
"Where the other one then?" He asked, a crazed look in his eyes.
"I-I don't know!" Riu said, coughing. Blood. Looks like he's more injured than he thought.
"Yeah right. Maybe a beating will help you remember." He said, advancing on him.
Suddenly a purple mist flooded the room, and Oren was towering over them.
(Do I kill them?) She asked
"Yes." Riu nodded, grabbing his sides.
Little Blue also came out and began humming a soft tune in him. The pain slowly went away.
"You have a healing skill?" Sucks he didn't get it.
By the time Riu looked back up, Oren had Michelle in her mouth and the others were knocked out. Jake twitched and got back up.
"You bastard!" He yelled, charging forward with Darion's sword.
He wasn't a damage dealer and definitely not a swordsmen, so he was no match for Oren in the state he was in. He sunk to his knees and started to endlessly mumble things. Riu was too far away to hear.
Oren used her arm to rip out his heart. Riu looked away for that. She took all of their cores and handed them to Riu.
"Thanks."
(Of course. Let's go Blue.) They both disappeared again, this time with less mist. He wondered if there was a way to get rid of that mist.
That was resolved quicker and quieter the. he thought it would. He picked up the cores. They could be used for many things such as levels, skills, stat points, and money. Right now, Riu need levels.
Each one will give him s different amount of levels depending on the level of the core. He absorbed the first one, then the second. Eventually he had absorbed each one.
{You have leveled up!}
The world began to fade to black. A window asking him what he wanted came up. Skills were easy to get now. He needed to level up his spear. He pressed in the weapons category and three boxes appeared. After the first time, you can choose different categories that you want.
He, of course, chose the middle one. It was a poison dagger. If he fused them then the stronger of the two weapons would take form. The cave came back and he put the dagger into his inventory. He will do that later. For now he was going to go back home and get some rest. It had been a long day with the usual cliches that you see in mangas. Riu sighed, hopefully not everyone will be like that or he'll have a lot of murders on his hand.