Skill: Whimsical Melody

Requirement (Type): Environ or Genesis

Requirement (Potential): Craftmaster

Requirement (Artifact): any Blessing necklace

Prerequisite (Skill): Sound Blast (LV50+)

Soundwave Infusion (LV25+)

Soundwave Suppression (LV25+)

Prerequisite for each Level Up: Sound Blast +5 LV

Soundwave Infusion +3 LV

Soundwave Suppression +3 LV

Postrequisite: Symphony of the Light

Symphony of the Devil

Symphony of the Survivor

Imploding Chant

Reserves cost: 65,000 (LV1)

Ability: As the melody starts, gain three of the following ten effects at RANDOM (damage % for LV1 and grow as the skill levels up)

Deal 200% damage to one target

Deal 160% damage to all enemy targets

Gain 10,000 Armor

Deal 320% damage to yourself

Enchant a target with the '100% weakness to Sound' debuff

Enchant a target with a 7s Stun

Drain 100% extra of your own reserves

Deal 270% damage to a random target

Do nothing

Manipulate an object with a mass <100g using vibration for 45s

Excerpt from "The Encyclopedia of Flair Skills, Volume 17 (9th edition)"

Eugene De Lavet

Then, she transforms into a dragon.

It's not exactly a dragon. . . I think. In her current form, Aqua is barely bigger than a regular human. I've never seen a dragon in real life, but those reptiles depicted in the books are huge. Knocking-off-castle kind of huge. I guess this is a Flair skill which shapes Aqua like a dragon. If it is, then she's done a pretty good job. She has dragon legs and teeth and other dragony stuff.

"I think I have an idea of what this skill is," Lek says. "Let me see. . ."

He wiggles around like he normally does when retrieving data, and the menu flashes before my eyes.

Flair Static Block, Dragon Form Duration 90s Water Torrent 3,800/s Attack Range 5.5m Attack Duration 15s Movement Speed -65% Temporary Armor 3,000 Stun Resistance 80%

"For such an angry girl, she sure has a whole lot of defensive skills." Alleria comments.

"Defensive? Defensive?" Aqua roars. "This is my ultimate destructive form! I will submerge you!"

I mean, ranged attack and stacking armor sound pretty defensive. The water torrents don't do much more damage than Aqua's base damage. The entire point of this form is to establish distance.

The little fires a torrent of water from her mouth, dragon style. Melodi and I dodge in different direction, and her torrent follows my steps. Water droplets splash on my neck, and I yell, "Can you lower the temperature a bit more? Craving a cold bath here."

That seems to anger Aqua, because the torrent trailing me grows twice the size. BUT NOT TWICE THE COLD. Who the hell wants hot water in a desert?

I keep running down the rockies, and the dragon keeps craning her neck to reach me. I hop off a ledge and out of her reach. Her movement speed is 65% lower. I don't think she'll even attempt to move from her spot, let alone catches up to me.

Suddenly, the sky above me turns several shades darker.

"Who turn off the sun?" I look up and see Aqua looming over me. In the air.

This part of the rockies is way too narrow. I can't move without jumping off the cliff. So I tank 3,800 damage a second. For three seconds.

When Aqua withdraws her torrent, I'm soaked. The water creeps inside my armor, irritating me by sticking my undershirt with my skin. I look at my health bar.

Health 7,675/18,475

That's a lot of HP I just lost. Luckily for me, since Aqua takes time to suck the water back inside her for some reason, I manage to jump out of the edge, joining Melodi.

I barely blocked any damage since I don't learn blocking. I'm not supposed to have to block when dodging is just superior in every way.

I yell at Lek, "WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME SHE CAN FLY?"

"She's in dragon form! What do you expect? Read the fine print in the bottom corner."

I squint to look at the corner and there's indeed some scribble there.

*Dragons can fly as well as releasing elemental orbs and torrents

I frown. "Who reads fine prints? They're always barely eligible and placed where nobody bothers checking. Also, her attack sucks. She has to withdraw her torrents before using them again. Blasting water balls is so much more efficient." The key indicator of an attack sucking balls is that we have time to chit-chat between skill resets.

"She can't do that, Eugene. Her Flair is a Shapeshift type, not Environ. The water is part of her body. Do you even know what a Shapeshift type is?" Melodi asks.

"I do! It's written in the book."

"Wherein is it?"

". . . Between the table of contents and the appendices."

"Gosh." She rolls her eyes.

Aqua ascends and releases another torrent. I move around to stay clear from impact, but there isn't that much space to move apart from the flat land on top of the rocks without jumping off. I turn to Melodi to ask for ideas, but she's already on her bike.

"What are you waiting for?" She slaps on her seat. "Ride down the mountain!" Then she drives off.

"W-wait for me!"

I get to my bike to find it soaked with water. I grasp the handle to start the engine, but it only gives me a few feeble grunts. Water must've clogged the Soul igniter, or whatever part that's responsible for wanking and spanking the engine until it wakes.

"Come on. . . come on!" I tighten my grasp and smash the back of my seat. "It's just water, not a choking hazard!"

The sound akin to someone gurgling water resounds behind me. Soon, it grows into the sound of a hundred people gurgling at once, then to a national harmonious gurgling session.

Another torrent is coming.

"Go, you idiotic wheeled donkey!" I clench on the handle with all my might, twisting it to the max.

My bike coughs out water from its engine and immediately gives a robust, throaty growl. Because my grip is so tight, I. . . fly off the cliff.

The torrent hits the ground, blasting me to the ground dozens of meters below. My body lurches forward. My stomach leaps up into my mouth. My head's in vertigo.

Desert dust assaults my eyes. The yellow sand impends closer each time I blink my eyes.

I'm about to crash.

The memory of when I first learned to ride the bike flashes before me. I took it to the mountainside and lost control. The bike smashed into a tree and burned to a crisp, but Azra saved me by grabbing me with his vines. I felt every motion and emotion back then as I do now. Then, I heard Melodi screaming from underneath. She's screaming the same thing, right now.

"Tuck in! Loosen up!"

I does exactly as told. Then my bike hits the sand, splitting the sand as it keeps moving forward. I'm in balance. I'm intact. I just made a perfect landing without even knowing how I did it.

"Did you see that?" I turn back to Melodi. "Did you freaking see that? I'm invincible—"

A water downpour burst at me, sending me off the bike, flying. My body hits the ground with a thud. I'm aching all over. The human body has 206 bones, and it feels like somebody just snapped all of them in half at once.

Scorching sand and shingles burn against my back. I want to move my body, but every inch I shift is torture. Aqua once again looms over me, directing her ceaseless torrent at me. Another hit and I'm done for.

The outburst of liquid launches at me. Then Melodi jumps in. Her Sonic Barrier deflects the torrent entirely.

"This is why you should've learned blocking," she says through her gritting teeth.

The barrier is invisible, so I can only tell that it's cracking by streams of water penetrating several spots near her arms and legs. But Melodi stood unwavered until the torrent stops.

The young girl descends to the ground and transforms into her humanoid shape. "You're next," she says matter-of-factly.

Melodi doesn't reply, instead turn to me with a grim look and flames of anger boiling in her eyes. "Lie where you are. You have like five HP left."

"I have six left, not five, mind you. . . Wait, what are you doing?" I notice her placing her index finger on her necklace, and it the necklace beams with golden light. The light slithers from her neck down to her arms, stopping at the tip of her index finger, imprinting intersecting thick and thin lines in particular circlet patterns on her skin. "That's a forbidden technique. Azra will kill you."

"It will be done before he knows it," she replies, then turns to Aqua. "Forbidden skill: Whimsical Melody."