NOVEL WEB 233
Chapter 233: World Event
“Katrin!” Agni practically squealed, launching herself towards the Scribe. She was nonplussed to find Shula beat her to the punch.
A feigned look of pained disgust creased Agnis’ brow as she watched the Imp leap into Katrin’s ample bosom, nestling her face within the mounds.
“Hi.” Katrin replied, a smile coming across her face as she stroked Shula’s blond locks of hair. Shula looked extremely content while Agni seemed ready to blow. Internally they traded jabs.
*You snooze, you lose.*
*Why were you even born? All you do is suck up air and opportunities.*
*Defective demon.*
*Mini-bitch.*
*Red-haired heathen.*
*Die, midget.*
*That’s not cool. I’m a little person. Also go fuck yourself. Oh-- wait, you can’t even do that right.*
After trading barbs Agni forcefully ripped Shula from her warm place, putting her into a headlock.
“Let’s see you disappear now you little bi- AH!” Agni screamed as Shula’s tail whipped around, smashing her in the nose. She released the Imp and fell backwards and almost instantly Shula set upon her. She drove her heel downwards with precision and without mercy. She caught Agni in the solar plexus, using just enough force to get a reaction. She then stomped Agni’s forehead the moment her hands shifted position.
“It’s 1,000 years too early to come after me.” Shula shouted as she relentlessly rained heel kicks upon Agni’s exposed points.
“Katrin! Hi. How was your practice today?” Merri asked, ignoring the row happening just a few meters away.
“Oh, the same as usual. Basically just making a ton of enchanted items.” Katrin responded with a smile. She too seemed to be used to the cat-fight which had now reached the end with a satisfactory result -- at least for one of the demons.
“ST-STOP AH, OKAY OKAY OKAY, I GIVE YOU’RE PULLING THEM OUT!” Shula shouted, her face contorted in pain as Agni stood above her, one foot pressed firmly against Shula’s back. At the same time she had both of Shula’s wings firmly in her grasp, pulling backwards.
After a few more moments of Shula’s anguished cries Agni finally released, but as expect only because --
“Agni. You don’t have to bully her, you know. Aww, there there.” Katrin said as she waved Agni off and knelt to console Shula. With crocodile tears in full effect she threw herself into Katrin’s arms once more, offering a supremely condescending glare occasionally.
*Oh yea? Two can play that.* Agni thought inwardly as she turned her back towards Katrin, bringing the tips of her pointer fingers together.
“You always do this. Favor her over me. What did I ever do to deserve this?” Agni turned, rather dramatically as a lone tear rolled down her cheek. The sublime sadness of her expression caused Katrin to all but abandon Shula, The Imp fell to the ground with a thud.
“Aww! Agni, I would never!” Katrin practically cooed as she ran over towards Agni, her breasts bouncing rhythmically with each step. She wrapped her arms around Agni’s neck and offered her a juicy, warm kiss on the cheek. This act was accompanied by an equally loud and dramatic kissing sound.
“Mwa!”
Agni savored the moment of her rival’s defeat, casting a smirk towards the Imp who had just managed to rise to her feet after being dumped unceremoniously.
*Who’s 1,000 years too early?* Agni thought inwardly as she continued to accept her Goddess’ bountiful affections.
*I hate you. I’m running away!* Shula communicated,rather dramatically, in response. Her brand of unique dark humor would have been taken far too seriously for anyone but the succubus.
“Ahem.” It was the voice of Oliver Pagnal. He seemed strangely bashful, perhaps even uncomfortable with their public display of affection. Agni couldn’t help but smile in response to his indirect awkwardness.
“Let’s move on now that the trainees have returned.”
The past few days of their lives at Mystic Tower had been a series of events designed with a singular purpose -- to ensure their survival rate and give each adventurer the tools to grow.
Based on this, there were various things each adventurer needed to do, reliant upon individual testing. As it so happened, Katrin was ahead of the curve due to her penchant for reading just about anything. This was a personality quirk that formed due to Katrin’s adventurer class, Scribe.
Due to this ; her basic knowledge about how the Systema worked , the world at large, Grimlock and many things in between , were all above average level. This, in turn, allowed Katrin to skip all of the primer ‘classes’ and move straight into stage two -- practical growth.
The same stage that Agni and the others were about to begin today. After their long morning spent locked in a desperate battle with slimes they had been given a break. All of them now wore chapel approved suits, created by Support category adventurers, also known as Servicemen. The suits were created just for basic training and geared towards the wearer. Naturally this was a great deal of work and Katrin handled it exceptionally.
The plan Oliver Pagnal laid out was rather simple, they would visit a dungeon and train in a relatively safe environment. Agni was surprised to find that things like dungeons even existed. To her, shards were a type of dungeon. On this she was both right and wrong.
“Mmm. It’s kind of correct. A dungeon is what happens when a shard finishes it’s full expansion and overlap of reality. It becomes a real, tangible place in our world that can be explored like any other.” According to Katrin who explained the details to Agni and the others while Oliver carried on his overall explanation of their next trip.
According to Katrin, once a shard fully expanded, the creatures within became much more numerous -- and deadly. This was the main reason that adventurers sought to destroy shards before their encroachment matured fully. A world full of dungeons, Grimlock just as powerful as the shard worlds they used to inhabit -- it would be a much more dangerous place.
Still, many adventurers used these very same dungeons as training grounds. According to Katrin, the bulk of the dungeons lay in a place in the far east called Kirlunst. Agni immediately recognized this as the same city where she and Vivian Lex traveled to awaken her familiar. It was also the same place where the Demonic Chapel resided.
Oliver explained that there were actually several dungeons all across Adventia that had been kept in check by adventurers. These dungeons had been categorized by threat level and assessment of the enemies within and based on that, restrictions on entry were made. If there were restrictions on a dungeon there usually came several caveats with visiting the place.
Firstly, the restrictions faced depended largely on which chapel was responsible for the dungeon territory. Some cared very little about preserving the safety of adventurers who traveled forth, chapels like this generally set Gol as the primary way of allowing access. In other words, as long as each member of a party paid the fee, they could enter regardless of how fierce the creatures were within.
Conversely, other chapels had rules of testing strength for people who may not have met the rank requirement, or they could outright deny entrance for other reasons -- completely up to their discretion. The dungeon area that Oliver planned to take his ‘class’ to was a joint dungeon shared by many of the chapels in Grenvale.
He had just come to the point where he was ready to begin sorting the adventurers into groups when Oliver paused mid sentence.
“Huh?” Another woman said aloud. Soon the group of adventurers all muttered amongst themselves. Even Katrin joined in.
“What is this?” The Scribe said as she focused on a new alert hologram hovering just a few centimeters away.
“New Dictionary Entry Added : Nox-Aurora.” Agni read aloud as she too checked out the alert. All around adventurers were busy doing the same, even Oliver Pagnal. His eyes eagerly scanned the new contents of the dictionary entry within the menus of his Systema.
“An event first created by the God of Balance. A world-wide competition that calls upon adventurers to discover their limitations, weaknesses and surpass them.”
Oliver’s brow furrowed as he focused on one particular phrase in the description.
*God Of Balance.*
Just then, when the sound of murmuring had begun to fade, another alert appeared.
[World Event : Nox-Aurora has begun.
[Quest Added - Nox Arcana.
“What is this?” Oliver asked, just as puzzled as everyone else in the world at the moment.