Blair

The process was different to enhancing my arrow to explode, but not by much. It was simply wanting it to pierce, to be extremely powerful at doing so. When it was pressed against the tree it seemed to have a sharpened tip, which I made sure to note with subsequent attempts. Though while it would surely enhance the piercing capability it left me unsatisfied. Part of me thought that it should just pierce with minimal effort, alas, no matter how I tried to enhance the arrow I couldn’t arrive at a conclusion just yet. Piercing Shot wasn’t as easy to learn as I thought, at least not one with actual piercing capabilities.

Two hours passed as the sun finally set, the Humans being uncomfortable with me staying on alert also set Matt to stay as a scout to alert them in case of danger. Learning from their previous mistake, they slept under bushes and shrubbery rather than in the plain open.

An hour passed as I played with enhancing the arrow ⁠— constantly reutilizing the same mana I was using ⁠— and finally. When the moon shone in the strongest light, something strange happened. A gust of wind occurred, rustling, ripples of sound, and then along with each wave, they manifested. Blue lines filled the background, red lines filled the ground, and up where I sat, there was grayish white. As the ripples shifted, and some areas of the forest ground became blue, and others red, the red engulfed Matt. And along with it, came a reaction from him, his eyes opened wide and looked at me with a plea. As I turned back to where the red coalesced, I saw it standing there; there were no demons, just one of those.

[Everwood Moose. Lvl. 5]

Ghastly stick legs, massive horns, and a gigantic stature that I couldn’t hope to match. I sighed as it stared at Matt and nocked an arrow. Using the chance to sharpen the arrow with mana I decided to not enhance the string, and simply pulled. The string effortlessly pulled back, a far cry from the usual pulling force I was using. The lines in my vision didn’t change, until they did, the red expanded into the trees, the blue shrinked further and so did the gray.

It gruffed blue mist, so I fired the arrow. With a wheeze it streaked.

The moose grunted as the arrow hit the side of its head, it pierced right through it and into the grass. Blood gushed as it turned to look at me with its abyssal eyes, but the only thing that flashed through my mind at that moment was confusion. It stared at me and suddenly all the red shifted towards me, the gray lines if little remained near me but not on me. Though there was also another worry in my mind regarding the arrow. Had I used too much force? I frowned and nocked another arrow as the moose wobbled. It breathed more mana into its limbs to charge at me. With a little hop it grasped onto the air as I put even less strength onto the string and shot. The red lines shifted with each movement, and finally the arrow flew through the air, crashing against the moose with infinite dullness, piercing through its flesh and into its skull before falling off like a stick. Along with it, vanished the red. The hit drew deep blood and caused its direction to change, with a creak and a grunt, it hit the tree; like a fallen star it hit the ground as its brain ceased to function. All there was were spasms of its life draining away. The lines became mild, and the red vanished.

I sighed and nocked another arrow, using slightly more strength and imbuing it with the piercing sharpness. The process did not take more than a second as the arrow was let go. Going through the air at a leisurely pace it hit the moose on its hide, digging into it before finally stopping, the feathered back of its body remaining visible.

I stared at the lines that finally vanished. Penumbral Sense seemed to be some sort of danger sense but not quite, and even now I still did not understand what the blue lines were. I theorized that the gray was considered safe, and well; the red unsafe. With all of that in mind, and not enough information, I moved onto the other experiment I was running: The Piercing Arrow, and there was one main concern.

It wasn’t piercing enough.

[You have killed: (E) Everwood Moose. Lvl 5.]

I shook my head. It died fast but it wasn’t what I was looking for, I was almost certain that a well placed Explosive Shot could kill it⁠— well last time it had technically killed it. Piercing Shot was much harder than I initially imagined, my makeshift version didn’t seem to pierce enough. At least it wasn’t strong enough to compete with Explosive Shot anyway, which was disappointing. A sigh left me as I turned to check on the humans and by extension Matt, just making sure none were hurt⁠— though protecting them did not feel under my responsibility.

Matt stared wide eyed at the moose before looking at me and swallowing, following up with a small nod. Some of the humans shifted awake but Matt reassured them, I didn’t really follow their conversations or the mentions of my name as I instead I simply thought.

Making it sharper isn’t enough. I stared at the moonlight realizing that making it sharper wasn’t the secret behind Piercing Shot. It needed something else to truly pierce. Perhaps if I had Piercing Shot when facing the Boreal Kame the arrows would’ve gone through the ice. Maybe I was obsessing over it, but I didn’t want to keep struggling so much. I felt that I was lacking a lot of things in combat; what if someone closed the distance on me? All I could do was try to push them away with Explosive Shot, it just didn’t sit well with me being so incapable in certain situations.

A skill for every situation… I closed my eyes. I still had a long way to go, but if I learnt one skill at a time then it was possible. It just took time.

[Incubation Period: 4 days 3 hours 5 minutes]

Which truthfully, I felt like I didn’t have much of it. Glim had been sort of away, I think he was sleeping. He did mention responding to being called, so I did.

“Glim.”

It shook for a moment before blinking with its light. [Oh Blair!] It called in surprise. [What kind of knowledge do you seek?] It said with a profound voice.

I frowned, did Glim just read my mind?

[Oh, looks like I was right!] It beamed, making me sigh. I had just assumed wrong. [Hey don’t be disappointed! I totally did read your brain, you know? Like, pew pew, pew! Laser pin-point mind reading!] I stared at Glim weirdly. [Oh sorry, I was actually dreaming something from far away in the universe or perhaps seeing something from far away? Unsure, anyway, those beams of light are really cool!]

“Glim,” I interjected. “You mentioned opportunities to acquire a prophecy shall appear on the fourth day. When is this fourth day you spoke of?”

It bobbed. [Right, sorry. The day you spoke of⁠—] It shook. [Huh… A minor Voting Interference has happened?] It paused, seemingly pondering. [Hmm… Blair…] Its voice turned serious.

“Yes?”

[Allow me to advise that when acquiring a Prophecy, read the Prophecy description very very carefully.]

I stared. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

It bobbed. [Just do it, for I cannot explain it. Now, onto the fourth day. The fourth day begins in…] There was silence. [Three Hours, and… Five minutes.]

I stared at the timer confirming Glim’s statement.

[Incubation Period: 4 days 3 hours 5 minutes]

So there wasn’t really much time, huh? A sigh left me as I quickly changed my plans. I didn’t want to stay with the Humans for longer than necessary, at the same time I had things to do⁠— goals to achieve. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath remembering the Guardian of the Osthus Tree, or affectionately referred to as snake. I had unsettled debts with it. I wanted to deal with that before the Prophecy things happened. Before I had to worry about other things.

I slowly climbed down the tree as I approached Matt bringing bad news. Part of me felt a bit bad when thinking that he had given me something and once he thought I was here I would leave again, at least if I was in his position I wouldn’t know if I’d be angry or mad. He stared at me with small surprise, his squared and sharp featured face reflected the moonlight in a way that almost made him seem naturally angry. Though his expression of surprise betrayed everything else.

“Blair…” he greeted quietly. “Do you have anything to tell me?”

I reached under my cloak and grabbed the quiver, before ransacking all the arrows from it and giving it back. “I must leave.”

His eyes widened as his brain spun to jolt itself to full alertness. “Wait, why?”

“I have unsettled debts that I must finish within… 3 hours. Unexpectedly,” I sighed.

He pondered before looking up at particularly nowhere, I assumed it was the timer. “So once that is done you can come back?”

I stared at him for a brief moment, feeling confusion and surprise. “So, you still want me to come back?”

He nodded solemnly. “The fact that you are giving me back the quiver is enough.” Matt took a breath. “If it's not much of an ask, where are you going?”

“I am going to kill the tree snake."

I expected him to laugh or scoff, but he simply stared in quietness, he took a moment before making a question. “Are you serious?”

I nodded.

“Then… Allow me to accompany you.” He stared at me under the moonlight, his eyes glistening with determination. But even though he seemed resolute I couldn’t help but ask.

“Why? You’re most likely going to die.”

He bit his lip. “I want to grow stronger for the sake of my friends, or well my coworkers. Well if you can even call them that, I barely know these people.” He shook his head. “Not important, I worry about my family and the people I know, and perhaps other humans too, seeing we are all supposedly allies. I want to watch you, I want to be stronger, I want to be as strong as you… So that maybe I can protect them…”

I followed in understanding. “You worry about your race? That’s why you want to be stronger?”

He pondered. “I suppose, yes, why do you ask?” He looked up to my face, which I didn’t know how it looked like but I felt some sadness within me. It irked me, his statement irked me. I envied him? I didn’t know.

“You’re in a good place to worry,” I finally said, defeated. “ The elves took everything from me, I have no allies, I am just… alone.” I felt part of me crack saying it. So much struggle and it wasn’t even the first step. “If this whole… System thing started before that perhaps I could’ve done something about it…”

How far did I have to take it? The thought scared me. What would happen afterwards? So many worries that were tossed to the back of my mind as I simply focused on getting stronger. At the same time, when would be a good time to take revenge? At the moment I didn’t feel strong enough…

“You… you’re alone?” Matt asked with disbelief, bringing me back from my thoughts.

I confirmed. “All my everything is dead,” I finally said. “I do not know how hostile the elves are against others, but at least with all of these new species. It’s a rule of the strong. There is a very low chance at peace with the elves I think.”

Matt gravely nodded. “Blair, I do not know how you feel about us Humans, but at least allow me to accompany you on this mission, I probably won’t get anything but at least I shall know what type of strength is needed.”

I shook my head. “There is no such thing as needed. I almost died to a Guardian when we met. I am all out of potions, if I didn’t have a last health potion perhaps I might’ve been in no condition to move. In short, no amount of strength is enough.”

Hearing me, Matt looked at the ground with a mutter. “I suppose it's a never ending grind, huh?” He seemed to be thinking of something. “Blair, allow me to help you.”

I tilted my head. “Help me? How?”

Matt raised his head, his black eyes staring right into me. “I want to help you with the Elves.”

Huh? I frowned. “This is an act of revenge; my revenge. Not yours.”

He nodded. “I suppose, but do you plan on killing every single elf, innocent or guilty?”

“That⁠—”

“Allow me to help you kill those who have caused you pain,” he said definitively.

“But why?”

“Because even if you’re an elf, a kind of elf,” Matt corrected. “I can’t help but see you as human, compared to those demons and monsters. You feel like one of us. I know I am pathetic for wanting to help a damsel in distress, but I feel true sadness when seeing you speak of your people. Or maybe it’s something else, I don’t know,” he said with finality.

There was a brief silence as I didn’t know what to reply. “I still don’t get it.”

Matt smiled mockingly at the ground. “I don’t either, but at least I know you’re not a bad person. I think it might just be human things.”

Huh… ?

Matt stared at the ground before chuckling. “Forget all I’ve just said, for now simply allow me to accompany you to your fight with The Guardian, and after I hope you can re-accept our deal about the demons.” He smiled at me and extended his quiver along with two vials.

One was a pale transparent gray that glistened under the moonlight, and one was a pale blue. To my surprise they were health and mana potions. The quiver hung there too, in front of me. My mind struggled to make a decision before I finally rearranged my plans a bit.

“Fine, snake first, then we deal with demons.”

Matt smiled in agreement.