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Chapter 22: The Next Step

It could mean that two opposites have to be together as one...it was worth a shot…

“Emi could I hold your hand?”

“Ehhhhhh….Sure if you want.” She turned away slightly hiding her embarrassment a bit.

“I’m sorry.” I knew that she was rather embarrassed at the situation so I tried to be as quick as possible. I reached out and held her hand, and spoke the words,

“May luck always be on your side.”

“T-thank you…?” Emi was rather confused at the whole proceeding but it still did not stop her from turning red.

“It didn’t work…”

“What do you mean it didn’t work…” She said coyly completely different from her usual self.

“Maybe it wasn’t close enough to have an effect,” rather I decided to rely on my gut feeling. I needed to rely on my instincts they had gotten me through the riddles in the cave and they should get me through it now. I suddenly hugged Emi and holding her hand tight and closing my eyes as I said the words,

“May luck always be on your side.”

She had closed her eyes and seemed to have given up fighting my rather intimate movements. Perhaps this is what the Japanese call “dere” As I felt the warmth from her body emanate to my own I knew that this was the right answer to reach my goal. A glowing occurred that stemmed from the ring and I suddenly felt that I was sucked with Emi through the ring.

The sensation of being teleported is not one I would wish to repeat again. It felt like I was almost stretched and my body was somehow elastic. If I were to compare it to my previous life I’d compare it to being sat on by a bully but 100x worse and longer. Every part of my body felt as though it wanted to expand but at the speed we were going the air resistance stopped us expanding. I’d compare the speed to being in the most insane go cart. But worst of all were the sudden dips and drops in the trip, each one feeling like a bungee jump each.

I’d guess that those who were adrenaline junkies would appreciate it and perhaps enjoy it but as a former bookworm (even if reformed) it was a rather unwelcome pleasure. As I got used to the sensation of the speed I tried to look around but it was all a blur. I closed my eyes and prayed it would be over, holding Emi close to me as we sped through the air.

When I opened my eyes the eccentric man who had sold me the ring in the first place was standing in a rather muggy cellar grinning ear to ear.

“Welcome to my humble abode. The name’s Angil.”

“Whaaaaaaaaaat…theeeeeeeee….heeeeeeeell!!!!!!!!” I exclaimed. Emi mirrored similar thoughts.

“I understand you are rather confused but I felt something and took a chance.”

“So you are somehow involved with the nightmarish cave that Emi and I visited?”

“The Cave of Dark and Light is its full name. And yes I was a disciple of the one who made the cave in the first place.”

“Jesus…”

“Who’s that?”

“Never mind…what do you want with Clover and I then?”

“I was curious about what you rewards you got from the cave. Did you get the stat rewards or the sword rewards or the new special talent?”

“All of them…”

“All of them!” he exclaimed, “The cave was supposed to be set to only reward one of those attribute.”

I shrugged and continued, “So do you know the significance of these swords or the special talent gained?”

“Ah those swords were a rather important keepsake from my former master. He made those weapons by his own hands. They had this unique ability to adapt to the owner. He never told us what they were for but all we knew was that they were specially made to be used with magic. If sold they would go well over a hundred thousand gold coins each.”

I thanked my lucky stars I had not given one of my swords to repay the horse rental.

Emi continued the line of questioning, “What about our new special talent?”

“Which one did you get enhanced magic? Elemental specialty? Or an INT boost?”

“No…” Emi answered, “We got something called Innate Magic.”

“Oh! Wow how did you get that? That’s perhaps the hardest one to potentially get. I guess being the first to complete the cave helped but still… Innate Magic is rather a special form of magic that combines the internal power of the body and allows you to draw from the external environment and internalize this energy inside yourself. What does it say currently?”

I looked at my Status Tag, “It says “You are now able to use Magic.”

“I can update that if you want?”

“Really is it that easy?” I was slightly amazed as I was under the thought that it was tamperproof.

“Yeah my master created the Status system. So he taught us the disciples how to modify them. Actually why don’t I just update your system in other areas…”

“Someone actually created the system...I did find it rather weird that none of the books I had read had ever mentioned the creator.”

“Yeah it seems to be rather hush hush about it. My master seemed to not want us spreading that information…oh well what’s done is done.”

What a lax attitude!

“So are you ready to hand them over?” he continued.

“Ehhhh sure.” I replied

“Yeah okay then…” Emi also spoke.

We handed them over and he put his hand on them both and a sudden light glowed from them as he placed them on the palm and recited some indecipherable words.

“Here you go all done!” he said rather brightly.

“That was quick!”

I peered at my status tag:

NameClover AuroraRaceHumanGenderMaleAge11Level19Health4260Strength310 (+57)Endurance312(+57)Dexterity274(+57)Agility286(+57)Charisma195(+57)Leadership125(+57)Intellect896(+57)Luck75(+950 +57)Heroic1Special TalentLucky Clover:

This will add 50 times your level to your luckSpecial TalentInnate Magic:

This allows you to draw energy from external sources to help aid in magicEquips:Sword of DarkDamage: 95 (5*level)

Bonuses: +3*level to stats Strength, Endurance, Dexterity and Agility (current level: +57)Sword of LightDamage: 95 (5*level)

Bonuses: +3*level to stats Charisma, Leadership, Intellect and Luck (current level: +57)

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