A Former Hero’s Journey : I just want to live peacefully!

This chapter is leaned towards the Rpg system of the world

Chapter 31

Arthur found himself staring at the crystal in hand. He was scrutinizing it carefully. He had heard the description from Kimiko.

[Observe]

[Holy Blood Crystal]

[?????????????????????]

His came out looking like this. He looked at Kimiko while saying.

“…..Clearly, the one abnormal is you master. You can clearly read the description of it even if you didn’t know about it while we have to research on it. I will give it to the research station to know what it is made up of but we can already guess from the name, don’t we?”

His face looked grim.

“The bodies found in the capital had their blood drained dry. A sad and terrible way to go… but it matches with this. This thing is the cause of the recent increase in Monster tide and it breaks once used up. A clever trick but as expected of a force that has lasted for millennia. Now, the problem is whether or not they will bring this Tide towards the capital. If so, the army, already understaffed as it is, will be forced to quell it leaving the city in the hands of only the [Royal Guard] and [Peacekeeping Force]. They will be stretched thin if the [Cult] decide to attack various places.”

Arthur then sighed.

“Damn. I will talk about this later with the Prime Minister and the King. So, Master, how was the trip?”

Kimiko just replied.

“Refreshing.”

Arthur nodded.

“I see. What is the collateral damage?”

“The whole Giant Forest is decimated.”

Arthur seemed to make a face that said ‘As-expected’.

“Well, you must be bored then, to have to listened to this boring meeting talk right?”

Kimiko shrugged.

“Not really. I am not a fan of Political side because its way over my head when I am involved in it but it is interesting if you are on the third party observing the charade.”

Arthur sighed once more.

“It seems that you are quite enjoying yourself.”

Kimiko nodded as she left the couch.

“Well, I am enjoying it. I will also be enjoying the festival along with your sisters. Though if something were to happen, your sisters might be furious and lend a hand. I will too if the [Cult] ruin my fun. I am quite selfish like that.”

Then she walked out of the room and disappeared using [Gate]. Arthur smiled faintly.

“No matter what you say, Master, you can’t help but get involved right? You are not as selfish as you claim to be, otherwise you might not have helped. Now, how to deal with this mess?”

Kimiko had transferred herself to the same alleyway as before. She then walked towards the Adventurer Guild to report her finished quest. When she reached there it was already afternoon and was not as crowded like before. There Rosalind was in the counter talking and laughing with Eva. Rosalind took one glance at her and waved her hand to her. Eva seemed to look behind towards her. As she got closer, Rosalind asked while Eva mused something like ‘Isn’t that the Adventurer from Aron city?’.

“Hello, are you going to fulfill the quest now? The time limit is a whole week so you don’t have to be worried about not completing it fast. Don’t worry, even if I were to leave, the quest is already recorded to your Guild card and any receptionists will still know about your quest.”

Kimiko took out the monster core and placed it in the counter, startling Rosalind. Even Eva seemed to be impressed by it as she swiped it to examine.

“Looks like a core of a new [A-rank] monster. It is fresh as I cannot detect any degradation or emission of Mana.”

Degradation of the core is a term that when a monster core is left alone for a while, it starts to leak mana from within it. The quality and rank of it drops as more of its mana leak. The higher the rank of the monster core, the more time it takes to degrade completely. That is why monster core from F to D degrades completely and turn into normal crystal within few months while those of above rank may take few years. Even storing them in time stopping [Storage box] cannot stop it from degrading.

That is why people use monster core without thinking of storing it. Adventurers use it to make equipment and people use it in their daily life. Also why the society is dependent on the constant source of monster core. It takes few hours to start degrading so the one Kimiko brought was still fresh and had yet to degrade. This is how those Adventurers prove their accomplishment in [Subjugation Quest]. As Eva was talking about it there was no denying that Kimiko had completed her quest. Rosalind was stupefied as she began to stammer.

“B-But... Y-You….I gave this Quest only few hours ago! How and [A-rank Monster]! Sigh, I guess it is as expected of someone like you chosen by him.”

Eva narrowed her eyes. It was given a few hours prior and she already completed it? There was an A-rank monster as well. It spoke volumes of her capability.

‘She isn’t normal one. That means back then, did she had anything to do with that column of fire? But she was outside….. No, she had arrived after those suspicious people left. Then, does she have any connection to them?’

While Eva’s mind was racing with theories, Rosalind proceeded.

“It seems you have completed your Quest. Give me your ‘Adventurer Guild’ card and I will update it.”

Kimiko gave Rosalind her card. Rosalind proceeded to touch the card to the orb. The orb glowed for a while before returning to normal. Then she asked to Kimiko.

“So, would you like to keep the core or would you like to sell it?”

Remembering her current balance, Kimiko replied.

“Money please. Also I have extracted the core of other monsters as well. It is in this [Storage ring].”

Kimiko took out the storage ring and gave it to Rosalind. Right, Kimiko did not leave any of those cores in the wild. She picked it all up because she had learned to be frugal back in her home in Japan. She definitely needed to teach her maids not to spend too much because they needed to prepare so much food.

“All right. I will take it to the superior.”

By saying that she left. It was an awkward silence that reigned between a stoic Kimiko and a glaring Eva. For some reason Eva was seriously glaring at her. Remembering what Arthur said about her hot-headedness and how she was enjoying her time with Rosalind, Kimiko thought.

‘Is she going to pick a fight with me because I ruined her time with the receptionist?’

Just then, a misunderstanding was born.

After 10 minutes passed, Rosalind came out with a sweaty look and weary smile. Then she gave Kimiko’s ring back.

“A-All the money is inside there….”

Her eyes grew spirals in them as she wobbled.

“….all 19,000 gold plus 2,000 of the original reward money.”

Kimiko may not see anything unusual but it was the first time for normal people such as Rosalind to encounter such amount of money, after all Aron city did not have much quality Adventurer. Kimiko nodded and took the money before leaving the Guild. Not before giving a thumbs up to Eva.

‘I don’t know whether you can marry someone of the same gender in this Era but I hope you both to remain happy.’

Eva narrowed her eyes as she thought.

‘Is she mocking me for not recognizing her back then? What a bitch!’

Eva glared even harder at her retreating figure.

Kimiko reached the outside of her mansion, the gate automatically opened like before. She walked straight in. Before reaching the mansion, she saw Annie and Mira out in the garden. Annie was standing while Mira was sitting. Annie seemed to be talking about something to Mira. As she got closer, she could hear what Annie was talking about.

“Now on today’s lesson, we will talk about [Passive Skill] and [Active Skill]. [Active skill] are those skills whose effect are time limited. Meaning after you activate it, after a certain time they disappear. Another case is that if you run out of mana to support them, then they disappear as well. [Magic] fall under it as it’s effect is for certain period of time. Then there are few exceptions to the rule. Like some curses which persist for many generations. [Active skill] is categorized into two; those that require formula and those that don’t. Magic attacks always require magic formula to cast them. Either you buy such formula or you research them. Those formula are then engraved in your mind and as you use mana to cast them, a magic formula will appear. Watch.”

Annie pointed her palm towards the sky.

“[Fire Torch]”

A red circle full of symbols appeared on her palm and a ball of fire appeared, glowing warmly. Mira was awestruck.

“This simple spell is used for lighting up dark spaces. It will continue to light until I cut off its mana.”

The fire suddenly disappeared.

“Remember there many conditions that determine the strength of your magic. First is imagination. It is why there are chants in a magic. It is used for focusing and to create a clear image of the magic. Stronger the imagination, stronger will be the result. Second is surrounding. It is important to know the geography of where you are. If it is volcanic place, [Fire] and [Lava] magic will be boosted greatly. If it is snowy, [Ice] magic will be boosted. If it is windy, [Wind] magic reign supreme. Place and surrounding can have a boosting effect of your spell. Third is amount of mana used. It is simple. More mana, more power but less control. Fourth is quite hard. Perfect control over your mana. You see when you use magic some of your mana may not be converted to elemental mana and will be wasted. There is efficiency chart. In between two people the one who has less wastage can triumph over those that has more wastage because more mana means more power and the one whose wasting it, is weaker. As for the fifth….”

Annie then pondered.

“….. it is the [Age] of the language used in making the formula. History suggests that Vesperia has had over countless civilization that dated back to 100,000 years old or even further. The language they used will be recorded by the [Will of the World]. These language holds power and the older they are, the more powerful they become. So if two mages fight then the mage which used the magic formula which is made by ancient language older than his enemy will triumph. However, encountering these ancient languages are very rare and even decoding it is a challenge. That is why there are many ruins scattered all over the world whose history is yet to be known.”

Mira nodded eagerly. Annie huffed.

“As for the magic itself, there are many elements like [Fire], [Water], [Wind], [Earth], [Lava], [Ice], [Lightning], [Space], [Time], [Light], [Dark], [Gravity], [Holy], etc. There is even that doesn’t require element as you use pure mana called [Elementless]. Each of these magic is again divided into three categories i.e. Attack, Defense and Support/Buff. Understanding till now.”

Mira nodded and Annie seemed to be proud. She continued on.

“As for those that don’t use circle, they are simply physical skill. They too use mana to augment their power. For example, take two wooden post. On one use normal slashing attack. On the other, there is a skill move called [Slash], use it. You will see that the one we used the [Skill] slashes much deeper and faster than normal slash. That is the difference. Simply think of it like physical action that takes mana to use it. Certain skills gain the attributes of above mentioned element to make flashy attacks that cause various elemental damage. You can also create your own skill. Also, this type of circleless magic is divided into three; Attack, Defense and Support/Buff. This is all for [Active Skill].”

Mira listened carefully while Kimiko leaned on to the nearby trees to look at them.

“[Passive Skill] are varied. They have level on them. They are divided into 1-9 with the least powerful being 1 and the max being 9. After it reaches 9, you have the option to upgrade them into higher one or into different options that will provided. They are active continuously while only few can be turned off. Let’s say [Presence Concealment Lvl 8].”

To Mira it seemed that Annie disappeared for a second as she searched for Annie.

“Nyaaa!!”

“I am right behind you.”

“Nyuuuaaa!”

Mira got scared and shrieked but Annie walked in front as if nothing happened and continued on.

“This is skill that can be turned off and on. It is also known as [Active Passive Skill] because it behaves exactly like an [Active skill] but it is not. Also some of the passive skills, once upgraded to max, lose their lvl status. [Passive skill] like Resistance skill are the passive skill that cannot be turned off and on. There are various passive skills. You have to perform certain task to gain the skills. If you want fire resistance, then you may have to get somewhat burned or so. Various action gives rise to various passive skill and to level them up you have to perform the task that gave rise to it in the first place but leveling up gets difficult the higher you rise.”

Annie inhaled and continued speaking.

“As for the last, [Job] is also one of the important mechanism. There is a [Skill Tree] for the [Job] you have on. This [Skill Tree] offer their own physical skill or magical skill as well as passive skill, depending what kind of [Job] you have. The [Job] is very important as it gives various [Stat] increment once you level up. Also there are many unique [Job] you can get from the ruins but you have to complete their test in order to get them. Each unique [Job] offer their unique [Skill Tree] which can be viewed from your [Status page]. However, in order to use these unique skill, you have to understand how they work. Also if you level up while holding a job you get 1 point which you can use to upgrade the unique skill given by your [Job]. Lastly, you cannot change your [Job] until and unless you are blessed with other [Job] and the skill that are unique to your old [Job] cannot be passed over to the new [Job]. Any questions before we finish this?”

Mira asked a question.

"Then what will happen to the [Physical Skill] you created without the benefit of the [Job], nya? Will they leave you if you change your [Job], nya?"

Annie nodded.

"Excellent question. The answer is no. The skill you create and the common skill obtained through the [Job] will not leave you. Only [Unique Skill] that you get from the job. Also if you were to get a [Job] that contradicts your previous [Job], then those skill will get locked and you won't be able to use them until you have a [Job] that has both those characteristics. Like let's say you have [Warrior] job then you change it into [Fire Mage]. Then you won't be able to use simple skill of [Warrior] job like [Might] which raises your physical attack because it is incompatible with the new [Job] until and unless you have a job that caters to both of them like [Fire Swordsman]. Be sure to check which skill you still have from your [Status Page] after changing the [Job]. This is it for today’s lesson. Ponder in it and ask me any other questions if you have tomorrow. You are dismissed for today."

Mira nodded as she stood up and went happily inside the mansion. Annie just stood there and asked.

“How long are you planning on staying hidden, Mistress?”

Kimiko walked out from the shadow.

“I am impressed; I was using my concealment to the max just then.”

Annie smiled.

“I am an archer. I do have keen awareness of my surrounding as a passive skill, Mistress. Also, [Presence Concealment] only makes it difficult to discern people, it does not hide them fully. I will notice when the grass near the tree has been trampled yet there is no track unless the person is still standing there.”

Kimiko looked at the open field, feeling the wind that swayed her hair as well as the warm sun with sunny sky. She felt a little sleepy.

“I’d like to rest a bit; it looks quite enjoyable to rest in this place.”

Annie looked around.

“It is quite nice and I think it is good to relax once in a while. I will wake you up in an hour or so.”

“Mmhmm…. How about two?”

Annie replied instantly.

“No, Mistress.”

Kimiko pouted.

Aaron Pov  

Aaron looked at the dragon in surprise.

“[Bloodline of the Hero]? How?”

The huge dragon just shrugged or what seemed to be a shrug.

“How the hell would I know? But one thing is for sure.”

Aaron asked, curious.

“And that is?”

“It came from your mother’s side. Your father didn’t possess it when he came here, otherwise I’d know it.”

Aaron mused for a bit. Fafnir was still talking.

“It could be an explanation for why you have different characteristics than most of your family. Especially why your eyes are different.”

Now he wondered. His feature may have some difference but it still paled in comparison to Fiore. She was like a perfect copy of their mother.

“You see. My blood is especially potent. Also, there is no dilution of blood even if you were to marry other from outside the family. The bloodline of the dragon, especially of a [Dragon King], remains strong. Everyone in my bloodline possess red hair and golden eye as a physical trait from what I have heard from her.”

Fafnir pointed out to the struggling girl. Aaron thought back to his father then to Rowley, Brand and Alisa. They all had the same characteristics; red hair and golden eyes.

“However, you possess a blue eyes. Something not seen for a long time. As the [Draconic Bloodline] does not dilute, it simply means your other ancestry is just as strong. Only two other [Bloodline] is blessed like mine which are [Divine] and [Heroic], that does not dilute. [Divine] can be considered somewhat unpleasant to me which I did not get from yours, so it should be the other [Heroic] bloodline within you.”

Aaron asked a question.

“What if…. Say what if you don’t even have one characteristics?”

Fafnir tilted his head.

“Well, it’s simple. They are not of my Bloodline.”

Aaron’s eyes widened in disbelief.

‘No way, then Fiore….’

He looked down as he pondered at the ramification. His heart seemed to be in turmoil.

‘No way mother would have cheated on father. I guess only Father has the answers to it.’

Fafnir then asked.

“Ok, then come here. I will unlock your Bloodline.”

Aaron walked and stood in front of Fafnir. Then Fafnir just touched his head with one of his nails.

“And done.”

Forget the previous melodrama, Aaron was stupefied by the casualness of the whole thing.

“….What? Is that it? I heard that we were given a task that had 50% chance of turning us into mentally dead?”

Fafnir seemed surprised.

“What do you mean boy? All my tasks are way too easy that even you can do by sleeping.”

Aaron’s opened his mouth in disbelief. While the girl covered in blanket was thrashing around, wanting to say something which Fafnir noticed. He opened the mouth section of the blanket.

“Yes? What do you want to speak about?”

“You big dummy! Binding me in this loathsome thing.”

Fafnir replied casually.

“Well, speak up fast otherwise I will bind you again.”

“All right, All right. Ummm…. do you know the difficulty level of your tasks?”

Fafnir quirked an eye.

“Why? It is very easy for someone of Lvl. 500 to do it. Even you should know that.”

Aaron’s mouth had yet to close but it became even wider.

‘What the hell! Lvl. 500?’

The girl just giggled and pointed her hand towards Aaron. Fafnir looked at him and squinted his eyes.

Aaron Lvl. 283

Then metaphorical sweats began to pour out of his body as he screamed.

“THE FUCK! WHY IS YOUR LEVEL SO DAMN LOW!??”

Aaron could not help but scream back.

“WHY THE HELL IS YOUR LEVEL REQUIREMENT SO DAMN HIGH?!!”

All the while the girl giggled in amusement.

Five minutes later

After they all calmed down, Fafnir asked.

“Really? Has the level degraded so low?”

Aaron asked curiously.

“When was the last time you checked the level of the people around you?”

“Umm… 150,000 years ago, give or take few years?”

Aaron was surprised. That was….. how to say? Lazy? How long do they even live? Because of so many revelation, Aaron stopped being surprised and went with the flow.

“…… You mean to tell me my ancestor lived from those ancient time?”

“No. I was just going from old hideout to new ones and stumbled onto your ancestors. The land was good so I gave them my blood to kick the monsters out. Then I created this place to calm the bloodline.”

The girl giggled at the ‘Just-let-me-die’ face made by Aaron and interjected in the middle.

“You people are lucky that 90% of the task here is made up of silly things. Otherwise, no one would have survived.”

Aaron looked at her in disbelief.

“And you didn’t tell him?”

The girl shrugged.

“I couldn’t. Because once he sleeps so do I. The place randomly chooses a task and borrows my body to say it. Unless something happens I won’t wake up.”

Aaron was a little curious of the girl who resided here. This girl simply was different that Fafnir so to call her a part of him would be….. wrong. Just what was the identity of the mysterious girl wrapped in blanket?

“So who are you?”

The girl in blanket replied.

“My name is….”

Fafnir cut the conversation in the middle.

“…..is irrelevant for the time being. Anyway, any questions before I boot you out of this place?”

Aaron looked at the big green dragon. This dragon who claimed to be older and even more powerful than [Calamity Class] Elder Dragon. Fafnir did look more intimidating than any dragon he has ever seen. He asked.

“So what IS your level then?”

Fafnir replied plainly.

“My level? Hmm the last time I checked it was above Lvl.1000.”

“….what?”

He had heard that people can break the Lvl 500 mark with the right training and [Title]. But he thought that the levels ended at 1000. But here was a dragon that even broke the level cap. And he said he was one of the [Five Dragon Kings]……

“What are the other [Dragon King]’s level?”

Fafnir looked at him incredulously and asked.

“Do you think I will tell you?”

Aaron truthfully replied.

“…..No.”

Fafnir nodded.

“Good. Just because I brought you here and talked with you amicably doesn’t mean that I consider you my equal. The only reason I am talking is that you are interesting and the only partner I have here to talk with is this little ungrateful girl.”

Fafnir pointed out to the girl, causing the girl to squawk in indignation. He continued on.

“And the only reason you are so calm is because I am the progenitor, meaning I can force you to be calm without you even knowing it. Also I restrained myself to appear more friendly.”

Aaron wondered about the other Dragons and asked him.

“Do they all have names like you?”

Fafnir nodded.

“Yes, it how we were feared back then. People used to tremble when our names were spoken. We fought against the [Ancient] because back then there were no useful opponent from your pitiful race except for those few individuals. Our fights could reshape continents. Our names were [Fafnir the Tempest Dragon], [Niudla the Dragon of Sand and Earth], [Alatrax the Inferno], [Fatalia the Blitz Dragon], [Orochi the Dragon of Calamity] and [Bahamut EX the Firstborn].”

Aaron was surprised that Fafnir would tell their name.

“Anyway, don’t tell others about it and keep our meeting a secret. Otherwise, I will kill you.”

Aaron nodded.

“Not that I have any intention to. I’d guess it’s more trouble than its worth since you are hiding and all.”

Fafnir nodded.

“Ok, brat, get lost. I can feel some disturbance nearby. Now that your Bloodline is fine and dandy, the boost it will provide to you is more significant than others. Why? Because I was the one who treated it for you. Now, you can fight evenly with someone who has 75 levels over you.”

Aaron looked surprised.

“That is significant boost. My father could fight someone whose is 50 levels above him but how does it work?”

The Dragon just hummed and then suddenly Aaron found himself inside the cavern. He sighed. Then remembering about the disturbance he walked out of the cave. One of the horse was not there. Likely, Rowley had already left. Not that it was strange, considering the time it took to take the test was few days.

“Hmm?”

Aaron looked towards the rising column of smoke. It was at the direction of their mansion.

“Shit!”

And he ran, leaving the horse behind. The horse was slow when he could run much faster than it. He had brought a [Storage ring] with him which contained all his armor and weapons as he changed into them while running. After two minutes of running he jumped over the gates and into their compound. The fire was raging while the surrounding was cluttered mess. The grounds were cracked and bodies of soldiers and robed men lay still. The soldiers were theirs while the robed men were not.

“Now is not the time. Fiore and Alicia! Where’s uncle Rowley? Damn!!”

He sprang inside the mansion through the glass. He could sense that there were still people inside. It was Alicia, Fiore and some of the housekeepers. There was one unknown person there. He broke through the door that separated them only to find Alicia, who was in front of sacred Fiore, on her knees, clutching her injuries tightly which was bleeding profusely. Her weapon, a halberd, was right beside her. She looked at him in shock. Looking at her injury, he turned furious as he brandished his sword at the intruder. He snarled.

“WHO THE HELL ARE YOU!?”

The intruder looked at him. His furious visage gave way to confusion as the intruder looked so much like his….

“Mother?”

Thanks for reading. Though I hope the above information on the rpg mechanism made sense.