Natto walked back over disgruntled, dusting herself off as she picked pieces of grass from her hair. She patted her ears gently as she glared at Drake still cackling.
"You could have warned me!"
"Hey, I didn't know it was going to happen," Drake shrugged smiling.
"To be stuck with you for the rest of my life…." Natto whimpered.
Drake kept his smile and picked her up, pulling a large venison skewer from his inventory.
"Now, now. You're alright, here."
"Hai, ham nawt foreghiving shew!" she said chewing on the skewer.
"Yes, yes. Isn't it time you get to bed too? I set up a bed for you in the tent," Drake laughed.
Natto yawned as she gnawed on the meat, "I am getting somewhat tired.. What will you do?"
Drake pointed to the box.
"Going to get familiar with my new goodies."
Natto waved turning towards the tent, "Do not spend all your time staring at the screens you will go blind."
"Yes, mom," Drake replied picking up the box and putting it onto a new table from his inventory. Eager to get into his new gear.
"Now what did Dragon Santa give me?"
Drake pulled the surprisingly familiar tape from the box, a little put off on how much it looked like one of the moving boxes his mother used constantly to send things back to the Philipines.
The tape removed he flipped open the flaps only to see a kaleidoscope of lights covering the empty space.
"What in the…? Is this like a dimensional space?" Drake thought out loud sticking his hand into the light.
"Oh, that feels very weird…" Drake grimaced moving his hand further and further into the box until he felt something touch his fingers.
Grabbing and pulling the thing out he was surprised to see several items come out of the space and tumble out onto him.
He had pulled out several pieces of armor and clothing he assumed to be the Asuran Armor he had purchased.
"Well, these are colorful?"
[Asuran War Vest [Rare] [F-Grade][Set Piece 1/6]
257 to 275 Physical Damage Reduction
202 to 217 Magic Damage Reduction
7% Critical Hit Reduction
+20 to Strength, +10 to Dexterity, +5 to Endurance
Set Effects: Increases Health and Mana Regeneration by 20%. Increases Skill Proficiency Gain by 2%. Increases Defense Proficiency by 50% when surrounded by Enemies scaling from 10 to 100.
Requires a minimum of 2 Set pieces to activate Set Effect.
The armor of choice for warriors of the Asurans. Mana-infused threads and leather made from the fierce monsters of their homeworld Ran'tu Kai, these garbs offer defense to rival Dwarven-made Mana Steel Equipment. +25% defense proficiency.
Drake's eyes sparkled as he looked at the black and white top vest, chains of deep colorless black seeming to absorb the light of his fire spells around him feathered from a center node in the back and front of the vest.
"Only one problem…" Drake said suddenly feeling embarrassed, "It only covers the top half of my body… Where's the rest of the armor?! You don't expect me to wear something that shows so much skin do you!?"
Drake gave up sighing. He had no other option but to wear the equipment. His current armor was torn to pieces from the tutorial and his recent training. So much so that they could hardly be called anything but rags at this point. His wonderful armor was no more.
Taking off the robes and his undershirt he suddenly felt incredibly vulnerable and quickly placed them into his inventory for sentimental value as he slipped on the vest.
The vest fitted perfectly as if it was made just for him, his arms slipping into the holes of the vest as the chains fell into place around him, surprising him further by making no sound despite obviously being made of metal.
Drake picked up one of the chains, jangling it still hearing no noise.
"Thats neat," he scoffed picking up the next piece.
[Asuran War Leggings [Rare] [F-Grade][Set Piece 1/6]
288 to 294 Physical Damage Reduction
212 to 225 Magic Damage Reduction
5% Increase to Spell Critical Strikes
+20 to Intelligence, +10 to Wisdom
Set Effects: Increases Health and Mana Regeneration by 20%. Increases Skill Proficiency Gain by 2%. Increases Defense Proficiency by 50% when surrounded by Enemies scaling from 10 to 100.
Requires a minimum of 2 Set pieces to activate Set Effect.
The armor of choice for warriors of the Asurans. Mana-infused threads and leather made from the fierce monsters of their homeworld Ran'tu Kai, these garbs offer defense to rival Dwarven Made Mana Steel Equipment. +20% defense proficiency.
"Are all of these pieces going to be this dramatic looking…? God I hope so," Drake smiled bringing the leggings into the light.
To call them leggings wasn't exactly accurate. They looked like torn cloth pants wrapped in some type of hefty leather. The thighs then protected with an interlocking flexible metal material. And covered on top of that the bottom coverings of a robe with iconic black fire on white, the inseam a bright striking red. The whole thing was fastened together with a similar pitch-black metal chain for the belt.
Drake looked around briefly out of habit even though his aura told him both Claire and Natto were sound asleep in the tent, then pulled off his old armor slipping into the new piece of gear.
"Oh.. Oh! Oh…! That's like silk… Dios ko, I have to remember to get fresh undies when we get back to my apartment, not to mention a bunch of other stuff… Rice, candy, my rice cooker, my pc, my tablet… Will I even have electricity for it? I'll figure that out later," Drake digressed picking up two cloth wraps in his hands next.
[Asuran War Footwraps [Rare] [F-Grade][Set Piece 1/6]
133 to 142 Physical Damage Reduction
121 to 127 Magic Damage Reduction
+20% to Stamina Regeneration
+20 to Endurance, +5 to Dexterity
Set Effects: Increases Health and Mana Regeneration by 20%. Increases Skill Proficiency Gain by 2%. Increases Defense Proficiency by 50% when surrounded by Enemies scaling from 10 to 100.
Requires a minimum of 2 Set pieces to activate Set Effect.
The armor of choice for warriors of the Asurans. Mana-infused threads and leather made from the fierce monsters of their homeworld Ran'tu Kai, these garbs offer defense to rival Dwarven Made Mana Steel Equipment. +15% defense proficiency.
The footwraps were exactly that, wraps of tough silky cloth. There was however a large metal frame that fit perfectly into the arch of his foot at the end of each wrap.
Drake looked at it curiously and through some trial and error was able to twine them around his feet eventually, the metal plate at the soles of his arches.
Once he was done he spotted another pair of wraps, but these were already bundled away almost like a compression wrap.
Drake could already guess which pieces these were but inspected them all the same.
[Asuran War Handwraps [Rare] [F-Grade][Set Piece 1/6]
120 to 135 Physical Damage Reduction
115 to 130 Magic Damage Reduction
+5% to Physical Critical Strikes
+15 to Vitality, +5 to Strength
Set Effects: Increases Health and Mana Regeneration by 20%. Increases Skill Proficiency Gain by 2%. Increases Defense Proficiency by 50% when surrounded by Enemies scaling from 10 to 100.
Requires a minimum of 2 Set pieces to activate Set Effect.
The armor of choice for warriors of the Asurans. Mana-infused threads and leather made from the fierce monsters of their homeworld Ran'tu Kai, these garbs offer defense to rival Dwarven Made Mana Steel Equipment. +15% defense proficiency.
Drake whistled looking at the stats and feeling the effects of the set activate once he finished wrapping the Handwraps into place, squeezing and unclenching his hands feeling the fabric between his fingers.
"These are incredibly comfortable…" Drake mused, then summoned a spike of earth in front of him, condensing the mana used to do so to harden the spike.
Drake's arm hummed with power as his lone tattoo ring flared to life. Reeling back his hand he threw a straight right into the spike, smashing it to pieces.
"Wow, I barely felt a thing," he smirked looking at the wraps.
The armor hadn't even hemmed from the strike, only a bit of dirt covering them.
"Now the problem is, do I replace the rest of my equipment with the set items? There's technically seven pieces. The bracers shoulders and headpiece are the ones I'm currently not wearing. Stat wise the shoulders would be better than my shawl, but I don't want to give up the ability to freely use my inventory… and my bracers right now are technically better at epic grade. But the full 6 piece bonus is nothing to scoff at. If the tutorial is any indicator I'm sure there will be swarms of monsters again at some point. I guess I can just freely equip the other two pieces when I need it," Drake nodded to his self-explanation putting the three extra pieces away and stuffing his hand back into the box.
Feeling around he pulled the rest of the consumables and skill stones from the box until he pulled one of the items he was looking for. His new Dimensional Storage.
"Just put that into place real quick."
Drake removed one of his old 'smaller' bags and replaced it swiftly with the new storage, increasing his already monstrous inventory with more space.
A little more fumbling around in the box he pulled out his new earrings and rings, replacing those as well until he pulled a small chest and the last item from the box.
"These are the spirit tattoos then huh?" Drake wondered looking at the small golden chest.
Not wanting to wait Drake opened the chest, it covered in red velvet-like material on the inside, housing a small vial filled with gold liquid.
[Spirit Ink Tattoos of the Asurans [Rare] [F-Grade]
520 to 552 Physical Damage
515 to 530 Magic Damage
5% Increase to Base Critical Strikes
+10 to Strength, +10 to Intelligence, Reduces consumption of Mana for spells by 5%
By constantly infusing mana into the Tattoos you may produce Magic Spiritual Ink Tattoos of the Asurans. The increased infusion of mana will increase the durability and damage of the tattoos by 1% per total Mana percentage.
The Spirit Ink Tattoos are made from the reforged material of fallen rivals of the Grand Asurans. By design the Spirit Tattoos wish to consume and grow.
A limit of 1 Weapon can be integrated into the Spirit Tattoos to increase Grade.
The Spiritual Ink Tattoos are a special tool used by veteran warriors in the halls of the furious Asurans. They are forged by skilled craftsmen so that the Mana Infused Ink may take shape for the fighter. By design, they are perfect for mana control and manipulation. As well as the growth of apex fighters within the ranks of the Asurans
Drake's eyes bulged at the description, his legendary E-Grade weapon flashing in his mind.
Taking a few audible breaths he tried to calm himself, his hand shaking as he held the vial.
"Calm down, relax… I can't use it yet. You read the description right Drake? If you feed it the gauntlets now you wouldn't be able to use them since it would increase to E-Grade…. Just breath… Take it slow!" Drake forced himself to let go of the box that held E-Grade Gauntlets inside them. Almost succumbing to the temptation to see the new weapon come to life.
"All in due time… ALL IN DUE TIME!" Drake shouted to bury out the voice telling him to upgrade the weapon already.
Letting out another breath Drake looked at the vial in the light of his spells.
"How do I use this then? Don't tell me I need to see a tattoo artist to use it first?" Drake wondered.
Drake first took off his tattoo ring, placing it back into his inventory, running his fingers over the vial of gold somewhat viscous liquid.
"I hope they don't want me to drink this stuff, I'm not into that…" Drake cringed, turning the vial over several times, "Well it's a weapon right? Maybe I just equip it like one?"
Drake shrugged popping the vial open, extending one arm.
"Here goes nothing."
A moment later the gold liquid almost slithered out of the vial in a single blob, snapping to the skin on Drake's arm. He suddenly felt his skin burn with an intensity akin to when he consumed a skill stone.
Gritting his teeth he forced himself to not flinch away as he emptied the vial, the liquid searing his skin as it slowly entered his body. The next second his skin illuminated in a golden light as the flash cascaded across his arm and past his shoulders to his other arm as he dropped the vial.
Letting out a breath of relief after the process finished Drake looked at his arms seeing a faint ethereal outline of flames painted on his skin.
"Dope…" Drake mumbled, then pushed Mana into his arms feeling for the weapon.
Once he found the connection to the weapon, the sensation was instant. His arms flared in a golden light once again, almost coming to life off his arms as the flames danced with a royal hue of deep gold.
"Hahaha! This is amazing!" Drake shouted, feeling his mana smoothly transition into the weapon, instinctively feeling that the amount he could pass over to it was a monumental number of times more than his tattoo rings could previously hold.
It felt as if the Spirit Tattoo was a part of him, not just physically but spiritually.
Drake pushed his hand out pointing it to the air.
"I can't possibly not cristen this!" he shouted, his hair suddenly turning white, the flames around him bristling as they hardened forming spikes of ice with a golden flame humming with life underneath.
"Moeru."
A shift in Drake's mana happened quickly the process of turning his fire into its matured white form happening in a split second as it breathed to life instantaneously, surprising Drake as he saw the dense ball of fire mana continue to build.
Soon the ball was so bright it illuminated the night like a bright north star. Condensed into the size of a small baseball hovering on top of Drake's open palm.
Once it began contesting his control, he smiled, willing it into the air as it shot upward. The sound of the screeching ball of intense heat searing the very air as it reached for the sky.
"Cheers, to the next chapter."
The ball of fire imploded turning night to day for miles around the area and of course startling Claire and Natto as they ran out of the tent to find Drake grinning ear to ear.
Turning his head to them he grinned even wider, "Sorry, did I wake you?"
—-----------------------------
"I said I was sorry. It wasn't even that bad," Drake laughed, as he sliced apart some meat for their breakfast.
"I thought we were under attack again!" Claire shouted from the other side of the table, pointing her knife at him, "Don't do that!"
"But, I had to test out the new weapon I got. You know how it is."
"I don't! You can basically destroy whole neighborhoods with your magic power, you can't go throwing it around as you want anymore…" she admonished him.
"Alright, alright. No more showing off. But I have a present for you," Drake slipped in, washing his hands briefly before taking out a ring from his inventory.
"I know you can't use it, but I thought you would want something of mine while we're apart. Ya know to remember me by," Drake explained, holding out his remaining Tattoo Ring.
"T-this is… This is the last one of the rings you always had right?" Claire asked pensively.
"Yep. I got new weapons so I don't need it anymore. Do you want it?"
Claire nodded looking at the ring before trying to slip it on, only for the system to send her a small zap informing her she couldn't wear it.
She wagged her hand from the shock but puffed out her cheeks, "I wanted to wear it!"
Drake chuckled and pulled a strap of leather from his inventory, twining it to make a neat, durable thread, lacing it in between the ring.
"Here, maybe this will work since it won't provide stats this way," Drake said, moving behind her to drape her hair out of the way so he could fasten the leather.
"No shock, perfect," Drake smiled, giving her a kiss on her shoulder, "Now you won't forget me," Drake laughed.
Claire's face went crimson for a moment before she raised the ring and looked at it endearingly, "I would never forget you. How could I, you're the man who saved my life and I love."
Drake embraced Claire from behind letting his feelings pour over her through it.
"I've never been good at saying stuff like that. So I'll just say it since you won't be seeing me for a while," Drake said turning her around to look her in the eyes, "I love you too Claire. I'll come find you once everything is done, so wait for me."
"Only when everything is done?" she said, pursing her lips.
Drake scoffed, "There has to be a place to come back to doesn't there? You're a big strong girl now, I know you can manage a little bit without me."
Claire fell into his embrace once more as they stood silently in each other's company for a time.
"Alright, so one last meal before we're out of here huh?" Drake said letting her go and looking at the countdown.
[Current Time Remaining in Tutorial: 3 hours 02 minutes 43 seconds]
The rest of their time was spent relatively silently together, they finished preparing the meal, cooking, and sitting with one another. Even Natto was pleasant as they ate and simply enjoyed each other's company as they waited for the end of the tutorial to come.
Drake pushed the thoughts of what was to come once they were back. His mind set on the present, relaxing in the moment for once.
Drake and Claire gazed into the midday sky as they held hands, the clock ticking down.
10
9
8
7
6
Drake turned to her, leaning in for one last kiss.
"I'll see you on the other side yeah?" Drake said, pressing his head to hers.
5
4
3
2
"You know you will. Can't get rid of me you stubborn asshole," she smiled back, gripping his hand a little tighter.
1
Claire's hand vanished inside Drake's as they were both engulfed in a spectrum of lights, much like they had with the introduction of the tutorial. The sound of the robotic woman chiming in their heads.
[The tutorial has concluded. You will now be placed back to your original locations on your planet, as best the system can provide. We hope you have enjoyed your experience.]
[May you gain insight, power, and renown. And most importantly, survive.]