“DAAAAAAAD!” Alli shouts as she struts into Akira’s office. Hinata, Akira’s biological daughter follows behind her friend with a small smile that reads ‘What can you do?’.
Akira just sighs and finishes what he was working on. What happened in Italy has turned into a massive political maelstrom. He is doing the best he can, but a true war is much closer than anyone would like to admit.
While he was taking care of his daughter, Leo and his faction of greedy, arrogant fools started spreading ‘News’ about how Micah attacked him without cause and destroyed an important cultural site.
Dealing with a bunch of high tier 2 and tier 3 individuals, Akira expects them to be intelligent. But after three days of arguing, he truly believes that just because they put stats into intelligence, it doesn’t mean they are smart.
Slowly setting down his pen Akira looks up to see his daughter and her friend. “Yes daughter?” Akira says to Alli as she plops down in one of the nice chairs around his office.
Not really paying attention to Akira, Alli starts to speak to him while looking at the ceiling. “Your kind of like my father, yah know.” Alli looks at Akira to make sure he is listening. Seeing him giving her his attention, Alli nods to herself. Looking back up at the ceiling she continues while kicking her feet up on the armrest.
“When we brought Helo back for the first time, my dad sent him directly into the dungeon.” Alli gives Akira an expectant look.
“Aaaand I did the same thing.” Akira shrugs. She has a point. “Don’t worry, he should be out soon.”
After speaking he looks at his daughter. She has yet to say a thing. But he knows that isn’t unusual for her. When she was a child, she used to sit by his side during meetings. She would listen without saying a word for hours.
He was conflicted when she became so close to Alli. It was great to see his silent daughter have fun, but at the same time, his normally calm daughter started getting mischievous.
What Akira refuses to admit is that it might be due to himself. His own skill with illusions has led to him playing pranks on his wife, to her own dismay.
“So? You took him all week.” Alli complains while kicking her feet.
“Alli, it has only been three days.” Hinata says to her friend.
Alli sticks out her tongue at Hinata before responding. “That’s practically a week.”
“Huhhhh. It is less than half a week.” Hinata sighs as she answers.
As the two teenage girls bicker Akira goes back to doing his work. Thanks to Leo’s rumors there are many minor factions around the globe that are worried he is coming for them next.
Ducking beneath a diving crow. Helo intentionally steps into the deathly curse energy and lets it affect him. He has found that individually, the curses the crow’s use on death are fairly weak. So, for the entire fight he has been intentionally letting the energy affect him so that it doesn’t have the chance to gather anymore.
The energy is quickly purged by the excess vitality in his system. Hearing the beating of wings to his left, Helo ducks and spins while slashing with his blade. The crow splits in two and its body tumbles off in two bloody pieces.
Jumping over another and stabbing a third. Helo continues his killing spree until suddenly, there is nothing. It is odd to feel nothing. He doesn’t know how long it has been, only that his psyche is screaming that he should be doing something. There should be pain. But at the same time his instincts and aura are completely calm.
Leaning with his back on a tree Helo uses his aura to scan his surroundings. He isn’t sure how long it has been, only that he has dealt with constant attacks. No time for rest, no time to even put on new clothes.
There is only so much that the enchantment’s on his clothing can do. Losing another pair does a lot to worsen Helo’s mood. Those were gifts from Alli and Hinata.
Scanning with his aura Helo isn’t sure how far he can reach, but he can easily tell that his range has expanded. Not sensing any more crows or negative energy around him. Helo finally has a chance to check his notifications.
Looking past all the kill notifications. They all look exactly the same as the first one, but he does find a few extras that he is happy about.
You have gone from level 41 to 43.
Due to days of constant fighting your End has gained +2.
Due to pushing your body and mind you have gained +2.
Name: Helo
Bloodline: Redacted (23.9%)
Tier 1
Class: Shaded Predator (Pseudo Tier 3)
Level: 43
Stats: 562
- Str: 35 (+5%)
- Agl: 91 (+15%)
- Dex:59 (+15%)
- Per: 66 (+30%)
- Vit: 120 (+50%)
- End: 36 (+15%)
- Int: 35 (+5%)
- Will: 120 (+50%)
Still not feeling anything attacking, Helo lets himself believe that he might finally be done. Gaining two levels is amazing. Increasing his bloodline more than a percent is amazing. But that doesn’t change the fact that he is exhausted.
Slowly standing to his feet Helo starts heading toward the opposite location that he entered from. His first few steps are more akin to stumbles. But his will and vitality are his main stats for a reason. Even as exhausted as he is, he can still push forward.
It doesn’t take long to reach the other end of the rift. As far as rifts go, this one isn’t very large. The issue was with just how many rift monsters were inside.
The fighting to so long mostly because of the curse and his own lacking skills. He has one way to deal area damage. But each time he did he exhausted his own reserves and created a large amount of deathly curse energy. It created a cycle that in the end made it much easier for Helo to just kill them all one by one.
Just before he is about to step out of the rift in his extremely dazed state, Helo looks to the side and finds a box. “Huh… I forgot about that.”
Opening the loot box Helo finds a talisman. It looks nothing like the talisman’s that Ren makes at his shop. Those are pieces of paper or some kind of mana rich material that is enchanted as a single use item.
This… this is what you would think of when a necromancer says the word talisman. It is dangling from a bracelet. Made from some kind of dark grey flesh. The energy radiating from the item reminds Helo of the death curse the crows were constantly using on death.
Using his ‘Apprasial’ skill, Helo tries to find out some information about the talisman.
A saved death.
A talisman made from undead flesh and infused with life saving measures.
- When taking fatal damage, the talisman will activate and counter.
Helo looks at the item with some surprise. This is not what he expected at all when he felt the horrible energy radiating from the item. Considering using the item himself Helo…
Just as he thinks about using the item his instincts activate and he feels a faint since of danger. Looking back at the item Helo uses ‘Appraisal’ again. Again, he sees the same description.
Giving the item a questioning look, Helo places it within his necklace and decides to have someone more powerful look at the talisman.
Finally able to leave the rift. Helo stumbles out of the exit and looks around with a dazed expression. From what he can tell at first glance it is the same time as when he entered. A little after noon. So, it has to have been at least a day since he entered. But based on how he feels, Helo expects it to have been at least two.
Pulling out his tablet Helo checks his messages.
Magical Girls and their trusty guard (Group Chat: 3)
(Lunar Girl) Helo. Where are you?
-Hey, you disappeared.
-Oh. That old man kidnapped you. Bummer.
-Uhhhhhhggggggg. How long are you going to take!
-It has been a day!
-I am soooo bored.
-It has been two days.
-You better not have died.
-It has been three days.
-RIP Helo.
-It has been four days. Are you just going to live in that rift?
(Green Fox) Text me as soon as your out and I can come get you.
-It is almost time to go back to school. If you’re late I have already worked it out with my father to have Kristen bring you.
(Golden Wraith) …
(Golden Wraith has changed his name to Helo)
(Helo) I am out.
(Lunar Girl) Really.
-That is all you have to say for yourself.
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(Lunar Girl has changed Helo’s name to Golden Wraith)
(Lunar Girl) As your punishment you have to leave your name.
(Green Fox) On my way. We have to hurry the Spacecallers are almost here.
Looking up from his table Helo wants to sigh. He doesn’t really like the name that everyone in his year started calling him. It started with everyone in his field trip group, but things quickly expanded to his entire year.
It isn’t long before Helo starts to hear the sound of a vehicle in the distance. It isn’t like the cars that he saw while he was living near Mr. Bernard’s resort in California. These run completely on mana. All Helo can really here is the sound of leaves getting run over.
When Hinata pulls up she looks out the door to her ATV. She is driving something that looks very sporty with large tires and a lifted suspension. Hinata looks down at where Helo is fitting on the forest floor and studies him closely.
“You look terrible.” She says in a neutral tone.
Helo was expecting more of a reaction from her. He is a little surprised that is all she said. She must be as upset as Alli, she is just trying to hide it. Helo thinks to himself. He wants to pat himself on the back, he has been growing emotionally. A year ago, he wouldn’t have noticed.
“Yeah… I feel that way too. I want to sleep a week.” Helo grumbles as he slowly climbs to his feet and into the ATV.
Before he can fully enter Hinata gives Helo a disapproving look. “You’re not getting in here looking like that.”
Looking down at himself Helo grunts in acceptance. He is coated in dried blood. All his clothes are gone and the only clothing he is wearing is his enchanted underwear. Otherwise, he does have his necklace, bracers and knife belt on his waist.
“Mhmmm. Yeah.” Helo proceeds to pull stored water from his storage and clean himself. Once he is done, he pulls a hoodie over his head and a pair of shorts. Looking at Hinata he waits to get approval before climbing into their ride.
Minutes later all the students that were in Japan are teleported together across the world and to Iceland. The arrive in Iceland at Friday morning when they left Japan after noon on Friday.
Before everyone is dismissed everyone from his own field trip group are called to the side and told that they will be questioned later about what happened to them on Monday. They are also told that some changes will happen to the school in response to what happened.
This does surprise Helo. The school seems to place a lot of emphasis on the students that died in the attack. But multiple students have already died in rifts, and nothing happened. It doesn’t make sense to him, but he is new to all this.
When they are finally dismissed to head home Helo and his party head out after saying goodbye to Maria. Everyone is silent as they walk back. Even the energetic Alli and Gabi who has no filter. The meeting they just left brought up memories about the attack, most of them are still a little shaken about the memory of how close they were to death.
On the way back the entire party comes up short as they see someone leaning on the gate to their home. The person appears to be feminine, but their face is obscured. Naturally stepping into a defensive formation everyone gets ready for a potential fight.
“What are you doing outside our home?” Alli stands up straight and points like a general leading her army.
“Calm down Alli.” Camilla says with a soft chuckle. Her sharp features come into view. Alli instantly relaxes and wants to step forward, but Carl holds out a hand to stop her.
“Mistress. I’m sorry, but I cannot permit you to pass.” Carl raises his shield defensively. “Her family attacked us.”
“We don’t know it was her family.” Alli says with a point while trying to push Carl’s arm down.
“It’s okay.” Camilla says with a sad smile. “I understand.” She looks crestfallen and she looks away. “I don’t know if it was my family that tried to kill you. But I can’t say for certain. So… Your friend has a point.”
“Hello Camilla.” Hinata says it in a genial tone. She was never as close to Camilla as Alli, but she still considers her a friend.
“Hey Hinata.” Camilla smiles and gives Hinata a short wave. “I just came to check on you all. I heard all the things my uncle has been saying. That you all destroyed the landmark on purpose.” She looks at Alli. “That your uncle attacked him for no reason.”
Camilla looks sad as she speaks. “I know it isn’t true. My uncle… Well, he has been getting more unstable every time I go home.”
Camilla sighs. “But I shouldn’t be seen with you.” Alli looks sad at her words. Camilla holds up her hands. “Wait. It’s not you. It’s just. To my uncle I am just a pretty face to throw at someone. I don’t have much worth in his eyes, and you know what they say about snitches. If one of the guards saw me here and told Luca…” Camilla shivers and she starts to walk past her group.
“I just came to say sorry.” After her last words Camilla uses her tier 2 speed to disappear from their home.
“Well damn… That just makes me feel bad for her.” Gabi looks a little pissed that she feels empathy for Camilla. “Makes it hard to be mad at her.”
“I wish Uncle Micah just killed that jerk.” Aiko says as she crosses her arms.
While everyone talks Luna opens the front gate and everyone heads inside their house.
The next two weeks go by quickly for everyone. After the first week things started to settle down. Once the political landscape cooled down, the school sent out a message.
Essentially Italy, Russia, Guatamala and Australia pulled back from allowing students access. At the same time, clans and countries all over the world closed off their borders and upped security.
Their next week of school went by quickly classes were tense, but nobody acted out in any way. One thing that was new was Da Chan reached out to Helo to check on how he was doing after the attack.
This did cause Alli and Hinata tease Helo about making a friend. But they only did it because they were happy that he was talking to someone outside their party. Helo doesn’t interact with his party members much. Even when they all hang out together, he has been tending to nap lately.
The week after their field trip was in South Africa. This is one of the homes of a Neutral Family. While there the team spent time relaxing on the beaches, fighting monsters, and trying out new foods. Thankfully this trip had no issues.
The following week was looking to be another simple week. But in the morning on Monday every student received a message.
Challenge #2: Green Thumb.
Each team will receive a seed from a generic flower. Whoever has the best flower on Friday wins.
Any plant that is turned in must have come from the seeds that are handed out.
All over the school people are stopping and staring in complete shock. This is such an odd challenge. Helo’s party on the other hand looks ecstatic. Everyone at the breakfast table looks directly at Arisah with eager faces.
Being as quiet as Hinata but shier, Arisah blushes as everyone stares at her. “Okay…” She says weakly. “I’ll do my best.”
This causes a round of cheers but when they stop Arisah is looking at Hinata. “You told your father that you wanted to work on both of your bloodlines, right?”
“How…?” Hinata starts to ask but she stops. “He told you.”
Arisah smiles softly. “Yes. He asked me to help you with your bloodline. You focus so heavily on illusions that even your Foxfire is weaker. You haven’t even touched on your nature affinity.”
“Okay, ill help.” Hinata acquiesces. Arisah smiles to herself and nods like she won a great victory for Dryads everywhere.
Even after they receive word about the challenge, the first few days of the week went by fairly smoothly. At first everyone was excited to talk about how their group was doing. But after a few days of talking about plant growth, people lost interest.
The only people truly invested are those with the right affinity for the task. Groups like Maria’s are fairing well. With four wood elves in their party, they have a plethora of knowledge.
Fortunately for Alli and Hinata, the group that is off to the best start is easily their own. Arisah doesn’t just have a nature affinity. Her own Dryad bloodline is so thick that in some ways she is more plant than flesh and blood.
Everything changed when Gabi got into a fight during one of their classes.
With entire parties in the Party Battling class, it has turned into a sort of hangout. Instead of being upset about it, their teacher John Arkson loves it. Out of every class his has the best attendance and everyone seems to enjoy being there.
Usually, the classes go extremely smoothly with everyone training and helping one another. Sometimes people even help those outside their own party. This just reinforces the belief that John has that battle is the best way to get to know someone. So, with all the political tension lately, he has upped the amount of cross-party training that they do.
It all goes well with only a few problems, this being one of them. “HA!” Gabi points and laughs at the small sprout that is barely peeking out of the ground. “Is that your teams challenge plant!” Gabi laughs at how tiny it looks.
“Hey leave Plantie alone!” Lessie shouts back. She is a second-year student that is in one of the middle of the pack parties. Lessie hugs the tiny plant to her chest and glares at Gabi.
Her party leader audibly smacks his own forehead at how Lessie is acting. Lessie looks back with wide teary eyes. “Wes! Stand up for us!”
Wes drags his hand down his face and sighs. “Aghhhh. There is no us Lessie, the plant isn’t sentient.”
Lessie pouts at the obvious betrayal. But she quickly smiles brightly as someone else steps up to defend her. Her parties SIMP Brock. Brock stomps forward while pointing a rage filled hand at Gabi. “How dare you disrespect Lessie when she is just trying to make our teams pitiful attempt better!”
Lessie smiles triumphantly at Gabi, but as Brock continues to speak she quickly turns and glares at him. “Hey! What do you mean ‘Pitiful Attempt’! Plantie is doing just fine!” Lessie holds up the plant for all to see.
In a tiny pot the smallest of stems is starting to poke out from the top of the mulch. Everyone that is participating in the challenge has someone in their party that can increase growth in some way. Unfortunately for Wes and his party, nobody can.
A few more chuckles sound out from the surrounding students and Wes ducks his head heaping to disappear.
Hinata, who does not like Gabi so openly mocks another team, is walking up to pull her back. Before she can Gabi starts speaking again. “Our party already has germi… something our plant and are modifying its offspring!” Gabi says proudly to the hundreds of students in their class.
Everyone’s gaze shifts from Lessie and her adorable plant to Gabi. Only they are no longer laughing or thinking about how cute Lessie looks. Now they are staring at Gabi in interest. Some are even nodding and pulling out phones or tablets. They never had the idea to produce offspring of the plant they received.
Now Hinata is angry. Stomping up she grabs Gabi by the earlobe and starts to drag her back. Hissing in her ear she says. “What are you doing!?!”
Gabi surprisingly, is easily pulled and stumbles along at an awkward angle behind Hinata. “You idiot!” She hisses out before depositing Gabi in between Rocco and Carl. In this moment the three of them realize that the usually calm and pleasant Hinata truly is a young heiress.
“She does not move from between the two of you until we are back to the mansion.” Hinata points at them all. Then she looks at Gabi. “Once we are back YOU will be guarding the plant until it is turned in.” With that Hinata stomps off to find Helo.
Gabi and Carl look completely confused by what Hinata is doing. It is Rocco that clarifies things for them. “The rules never clarify who’s seed the flower has to come from.”
It takes a second, but Gabi’s eyes go wide. Carl who is standing straight beside Gabi. Nods his head. “I see. The mistress was right to be upset.” Carl looks down at the much shorter Gabi. “You have blundered.”
A few yards away Hinata finds Helo and Alli relaxing along the wall of the arena. The main part of their training is done for the day, all that is left is a random cool down drill that John will announce after their break.
As Helo watches Hinata storm up, he stands up to meet and her and matches her serious expression. “What’s wrong?”
“Haaaaaaa… You need to head home. Like now. Arisah is there growing her flower, but she might get attacked soon.” As Hinata speaks, Alli’s eyes go wide.
“We need to leave.” She starts to call the rest of the party, but Hinata stops her.
“No. That will look suspicious. We will be dismissed soon. For now, Helo can make it there with nobody realizing.” Helo slowly nods at Hinata’s words.
He really isn’t sure about what is happening. Or why it is happening at all. Everyone seems to be taking the challenges so seriously. But to him it just seems like a pissing contest. Not understanding, he asks Hinata.
“Well. You heard Ria talk about how she can get bonuses based on how good we do. This is a part of that.” Hinata starts to explain things to him. “But there is more to it. We gain points that can be used to purchase things within the town, resources, teleportation, or slots in a dungeon.” Pulling out her tablet Hinata shows taps for a few seconds and shows the screen to Helo.
The screen has everyone in their party. Each person has a number attached. Scrolling down Helo can see lists of ‘Prizes’. Seeing his own name having the third most, just under Alli and Hinata. At the moment he has almost four-thousand school points. Helo starts to go through the list of prizes.
First on the list is a note stating that almost all shops within the school town accept the schools points, even the auction house.
Next is a collection of dungeons. To his surprise there are dungeons outside the original sixteen. After the dungeons there are resources that one can purchase. From what he can see the list starts with untouched material for crafters. Next there are a bunch of resources that are unique. Stuff that permanently boosts stats, empowers bloodlines, or even helps in the process of upgrading skills.
Before he can really start looking, Hinata stops him. “Sorry Helo, but can you head back to the house.” Hinata has calmed down some after seeing Helo’s curiosity. But she will still feel more comfortable when Helo is there to protect Arisah.
Not that the Dryad truly needs protecting. Arisah is a sweetheart, but she can be scary when your mean to her plants. Especially when all the plant life in the area stands up straight and feels like it wants you to decompose within their roots.
Nodding Helo quickly slips through the crowd. He is using the application of his aura that he used when he attacked the bookie. All he is doing is dampening his presence so that he is harder to notice and recognize.
While slipping through the crowd Helo does notice that more people are on their phones than usual. But after hearing about Hinata’s worries he understands why. Picking up speed as soon as Helo at the exit to the arena he activates his aura to hide his presence and then ‘Bloodline Awakening’. Doubling his speed, Helo takes off through the town.
There are a few people that spot him. He isn’t invisible. But even if they tried to chase him, by the time they got to where he was, he is already gone. It only takes him a few minutes to exit the town and run down the road trailing dark smoke as he moves.
Once he gets within a few houses of his own Helo starts to pick up odd energy signatures within his aura. It isn’t weird for people to be within their own houses. But it is weird for people to be hidden behind walls and looking at his own.
Especially since the end of their road doesn’t get many pedestrians. They live on the end of the road with a cliff. There is nothing past them, so anyone extra is there for a reason.
Reaching the wall to his own house Helo stops as he feels someone along the wall to the left. Moving, Helo moves toward the left. The walls on either side end with a cliff, so anyone over there is instantly suspicious to Helo.
Moving slowly with his presence concealed, Helo makes to the end of the wall. But as he gets close to the cliff, he can hear people talking.
“You said this was a good idea!” One-man shouts to another.
“It is! Their party is in a group class right now, and they have a great plant grown. We just have to get through these traps.” The other man says.
There is a barrier stopping people from simply slipping into the property where the wall stops. But at the same time, it is one of the weaknesses that Helo found when he was studying their property.
“Traps! There shouldn’t be any traps!” The first main complains.
“Oh, shut it. People make traps all the time. This isn’t the first time someone changed the basic defenses they are given by the school.” The second man says while he starts to poke at the enchanted trap, he and Bibbin made together.
Peering over the edge for a second Helo can tell that they are still at least a few minutes away from breaking past the trap. Walking back toward the gate, Helo lets himself in and goes to check on Arisah.