[[Sea Surfing]]

87% to Rank 1

“Kuh…Even after this much…It’s still hard.”

Alex complained to himself as he balanced himself on the calm waters. Beads of sweat rolled down his cheeks as his MP was slowly decreasing. The little crab viewed him carefully as it surfed around him, putting its claw against what seems to be its chin.

With the little crab as the mentor and his guide to mastering this skill, he continued to slowly drift and move across the calm waters.

It was quite a sad sight, but he ignored it.

Going back a couple hours, after Alex couldn’t handle the overflowing cuteness anymore, he carefully slipped his arm out of Marie’s grip and got up. Deciding to drive his thoughts away from the previous event, he softly called the crab and began training his [[Sea Surfing]] skill once again.

This time, with a much better and clearer understanding of what he needed to do, the percentage left to reach Rank 1 decreased tremendously.

Now, with 13% left until Rank 1, Alex’s last remaining task was to master the ways to move around! He was already capable of balancing himself over the water and making slight movements, but finishing the final act and drifting over the waters was still a mystery to him.

Thankfully, the crab was here!

“[[Concentration]]”

Activating his [[Concentration]], he further increased his focus on training. If possible, he wanted to reach Rank 1 today, and better yet, in this hour. But he wasn’t setting his hopes very high for such a miracle.

“Muu~”

“…”

However, it seems there was another obstacle in his path to mastering this damn skill.

Back on the solid ground, Alex could hear the cute purrs Marie was making as she was sleeping peacefully, showing a blissful smile.

“I wonder what she’ll say if she knew this…”

“Mukyu~”

“hah…”

He let out a sigh of astonishment as his eyes looked over to the sleeping Marie. After all, she has been making those cute purrs for up to 2 hours now!

Seriously, is she something of a cat girl or not?

That’s a serious question he needed to answer.

“Kuh.”

Realising once more that his thoughts had derailed, he quickly dug himself back up and buried those odd thoughts in the deepest parts of his mind.

He also still has that image of cat girl Marie too.

He shook his head and once again trashed those odd thoughts away.

“Hah…Let’s hope for the best, I suppose…”

-3 hours later-

“Muu~”

And so, time continued to move forwards, moving those left behind in the past. Back on Earth, if her mental clock was still going strong, then it should be around evening by this point. However, with the ever-present sun hanging up there in the sky for all eternity, her clock might have some mistakes.

Oh well, that didn’t matter too much.

At the least she got her beauty sleep, right?

“Finally awake?”

“Muu~……A-Alex?!”

“Hi.”

Immediately, right as she opened her eyes, she could see Alex standing there, his eyes looking at her with both curiosity and amazement. Eh? Why does he seem slightly groggy?

Wait, that doesn’t matter right now!

I-If he’s here…that means he heard her purr like that right? Right?!

“Wawawawa, I, I was just…uh…uh-”

“Woah. Calm down.”

Uwah…Hearing such caring and soft words, her heart calmed down slightly. Although, she didn’t mind if he was the one to hear that…

“W-Wait, what am I even thinking?!”

“Hmm?”

With her cheeks turning bright red, she turned around and dug her face into the back of the sofa she was sitting on. “Oi.” He called out to her, but she didn’t seem to have listened to him, or even heard his call at all.

Arara…This girl sure is troublesome.

Not that he minded.

Jake was always troublesome, so he was quite experienced in dealing with troublesome people.

“So-“

“Haha?!”

“…Ahem. So, are you okay now?”

“Uh…Uh……”

“……Need more time?”

“N-No! I-It’s okay! I’m really okay now!”

“……”

In a somewhat enthusiastic, and also slight bashful act, she stood up and reached out her hand to him, only to pull back seconds later and dig her face back to the sofa in embarrassment. Was this girl really okay?

And then, for some random reason, he decided to ask her a totally normal question.

“…Piggy back ride, or princess carry?”

“…Eh?”

“Piggy back ride, or princess carry? Which one do you want?”

“E-Eh?! W-What do you mean b-by p-p-pri-“

“…hah…”

Seeing as she was reluctant, either that or she was just too embarrassed to answer, he sighed softly and walked up to her. Using his better than normal muscle strength, he carried her in his arms and walked towards the pool.

“A-Alex?! W-What are y-you doing t-to me?”

“…Just wait.”

With him now standing at the ledge of the dry soil, he made sure that Marie was safe in his arms. From her bright red cheeks and shocked expressions, he concluded, that she was not okay.

But either ways, let’s begin, shall we?

“[[Sea Surfing]]”

“W-Waah!”

Just as he activated his newly learned skill, he jumped off the ledge and onto the water surface. Forming a pair of surfboards on the soles of his shoes, he made contact with the water surface, and what followed after, was truly a miracle.

“W-Wha-“

“Hell yeah!”

Shouting happily in his heart, he smiled in satisfaction as he drifted across the calm waters, with the little crab also happily joining in. It seems that this guy was also really happy for his successful attempt.

But Marie was lost, completely lost. One moment she was one the sofa, and seconds after that she was now in his arms and drifting across a body of water, with her hands tightly holding onto his clothes.

In both shock and amazement, she watched as they swiftly raced around the pool of water, the moving wind washing over Alex’s crimson red hair. His hair danced and flapped in the wind.

Somehow, she felt comfortable in his arms too.

“Ah…His hands are warm…”

She comfortable rested her head against his chest, the beats of his heart reaching her ears.

“Pii!”

And of course, the little crab had to snap her out of the moment.

……

“Marie?”

“Muu…”

“Marie. We’re done.”

“Uwah?! O-Oh, i-it’s over?”

“Yeah?”

Rather awkwardly, he gently lowered her to the ground. With a bashful expression, she let go of his hands and stood back up. She seems to have lost track of time.

Seeing as she was still quite antsy from the ride he gave her, he decided to cut straight to the chase.

“So, how was it?”

“H-How was what?”

“…The ride.”

“O-Oh…W-Well…It was quite nice…and comfortable…and warm…and-“

“N-No, I mean was it okay?”

“O-Oh…I-I mean…yeah…it was…”

What was with all those she just said earlier?

Nice, warm, comfortable?

In a moment of realisation, he placed his hand over his face, hoping that she wouldn’t notice his blush. “How could I not realise…That must have been embarrassing…”

He did an internal facepalm in retort to his absent-mindedness.

“A-Alex?”

“…Nothing.”

Letting out a deep sigh, he moved his hand away from his face. Somewhat shamefully, he turned to her and summarized her words.

“So…I guess the ride was decent?”

“D-Decent? That was amazing!...Y-Yeah. I-It really was.”

“I see. Thanks.”

To the sudden thank she got from him, she was genuinely surprised to hear it, but she later replied with her own thanks, in which he returned the thanks and thanked her, and then-

Yeah you get the idea.

This exchange of thank you’s took about 2 minutes to conclude.

“Well, I guess that’s a success.”

Status: Damian Alexander Lv 21

Health: 203/203 (+68)

Mana: 160/248 (+83)

Strength: 89 (+30)

Intelligence:108 (+36)

Resistance: 92 (+31)

Agility: 101 (+32) (+5)

Skills:

{Illustrator} Rank 1 (72%)

{Blood Borne} Rank 2 (%)

{%^&#$ &f &^([email protected]%r) R$3^ Y (&&&

[Agility] Rank 1 (64%)

[Cleaving] Rank 1 (17%)

[Blood Hound] Rank 1 (25%)

[Magic Manipulation] Rank 1 (34%)

[[Concentration]] Rank 1 (34%)

[[Third Vision]] Rank 1 (12%)

[[Sea Surfing]] Rank 1 (Max)

Titles:

(Blood Borne)|(Illustrator)|

In a state of satisfaction, Alex read his status page with a tinge of excitement in his eyes. Never in his life would he ever learn how to surf, but seeing as the two places he has been in were in someway filled with water, this was a skill that was needed.

But either ways, he really was glad he managed to get it to Rank 1

Although the fact that Rank 1 was its max level was quite shocking.

[[Sea Surfing]]

Rank 1

The user is now able to surf and drift across the waters.

The amount of MP used depends on the amount of time and the speed the user is travelling at.

Huh, for once, the skill description actually explained the rules and regulations of said skill. It’s quite rare to see those rules, you know?

Take for an instance, his {Illustrator} skill as an example. Although it did tell him that he was able to conjure an item by tracing the object, it didn’t really tell him how to apply the effects, or what was even the amount of MP needed to use it.

But, oh well, at least he has the skill.

Putting that all aside for now, he looked over to Marie, who was still looking away bashfully, playing with her short blonde hair as she showed a warm and happy smile.

It seems like he went a bit too far, didn’t he…?

He was caught in the moment, alright?

Oh well, at least she looks happy about it! That’s all that matters, right?

“…?”

But, as he was about to derail once more, a sudden chill crept up his spine. Without any words spoken, he activated his [[Third Vision]] skill. The world around him turned monochrome.

“What…is that?”

Far in the sky above, although it didn’t look very clear, at all, he managed to see a silhouette, probably a beast of some sort, standing on four legs. It was oddly large for any normal beasts he has encountered ‘til now. Waves of energy moved and circled around it like a miasma.

What could that be?

But just as he asked such a question, the beast disappeared, along with any traces of magic around it.

Just, what was that?

“A-Alex?”

“Huh? What is it?”

“N-Nothing.”

She answered softly and looked away once more, her cheeks still burning red. Will this girl be alright?

Hah, who knows? The future is still unknown.

Letting out a sigh, he grabbed the pouch of apples he placed nearby and took out an apple for her.

“Want one?”

“E-Eh? I-I mean, sure…”

And so, he managed to get her to look at him, even if for a slight moment.