Vol. 2 - Chapter 20 – Jeanne’s Worries

On the other hand, inside Titan things looked just like when he left. Nothing could change overnight the glorious capital of the Saharan Empire, Titan. Yet the people were fickle, especially when the arrival of the outsiders happened.

The criminality inside the city skyrocketed that there were multiple cases when the Red Knights had to intervene because the Black Knights couldn’t handle the increasing cases of chaos. There were still cases of players who committed gruesome crimes just believing it was a game.

Their behavior was also a catalyst to how some inhabitants of the city were thinking and looking at the players, and as the players who just wanted to play the game in peace found it hard to get quests, a massive chance was formed, followed by public backlash where the S.A Group was accused of messing with peoples freedom of content.

Nevertheless, this was not for long especially when such cases of crimes were published in the game’s forum, making the community of users in Titan gather around, starting shaming in the forums each individual who committed crimes which affected the overall experience of the rest. The cancel culture effect was still alive and well even in the late 21st century, only that it was used less after some restrictions added by the UN Council.

The players who committed crimes inside Titan, apart from being restricted for days on end from playing the game after being imprisoned, they also had to face the backlash of the public, and so most of them stopped playing the game, quitting it, and also asking for a refund, some who committed a lesser offense inside Saharan Empire and in general inside the Satisfy world who wished to get their money back, managed to get them.

In a unique fashion, the CEO of S.A Group issued a statement where he too lashed at the people who committed such gruesome acts in the world he and his friends built it, declining their refund request on the premise they played the game 30 days.

“You think is unfair that you’ve spent your money and want a refund? Then I also want you to return the people who you murdered. Apart from this, according to the theme of services you’ve signed, all of those people will be under police notice, and I suggest you go to a psychiatrist or doctor to check on yourselves.”

“ while it is a game, doesn’t mean you can blindly and foolishly kill NPC’s as you see left and right. There are consequences to everything you do inside the game, and now you will have to face them.”

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It was an unfortunate event for most players who just wanted to enjoy their life, and also the developers who sweat and had sleepless nights creating the inhabitants of the world, but with the message registred by the community, taken as a good sign of faith in the players the events unfolded without the intervention from a body of power.

Aside from this, nothing significantly changed in the lives of the NPC’s, with except for two gorgeous ladies who were drinking tea while watching the fireplace. One girl had a silky raven long hair, with mesmerizing violet eyes, and with a body figure that could be the envy of other girls, while the other girl had long golden hair braided at the end strands, with hazel eyes which made her more mysterious, and light make-up on her face, while wearing comfortable clothes, that could make someone guess she was a hunter.

“Sister, it has already been one month since the letter. I am starting to get worried about Mathias.” mentioned the blonde girl, while sipping from her cup of tea with a worried expression.

“Patience, sister, we have to believe in his words. From my interactions with the outlanders, they mentioned that most of them were sent randomly in different locations of the world, with only the ones choosing the Saharan Empire being sent to regions of the Empire.”

Jeanne sighed, being pacified by Fayrene's words, and as they were discussing something ordinary, she thought about the serious talks she had with her and turned nervous while remarking.

“Fay, there’s still this thing that has been bothered me for a while, about my role as Bishop. My Faith has been placed to question more and more, and I fear the Goddess will sense it and punish me. Even now even if you use that spell of yours to hide us from her eyes, I am fearful for our safety for even daring to say that.”

“Sister, as I look at things, the power of light that comes from Rebecca is something closely related to Mathias’s and my Arcane Energy, it shouldn’t be something that can be revoked overnight just because she feels like it. You’ve trained for it, right?”

“I did, but I am still fearful that everything will be taken away from me and I will be useless.”

Fayrene who gazed at Jeanne while taking a sip from the teacup, remained silent seeming to contemplate before responding to Jeanne’s worries.

“You are worrying too much Jeanne, regardless if you have the power and status you have now, it will not change anything in Mathias’s eyes. That’s what you fear, that he will not embrace you knowing what you’ve been through?”

“…” Jeanne didn’t say anything, but her silence was enough to respond to Fayrene’s inquire.

*Chuckle* “That little fool doesn’t care about such insignificant things. Don’t you remember that he didn’t even shift a glance and stared in your eyes even after you told him who you are, about what you’ve experienced with that curse of yours? Same for me, I remember as it was yesterday his tender touch of my scarred arm, while all I wanted was to cut it off.”

“Thank you sister, it is really awkward for me to be thinking like this.”

“You’ll get used to it pretty fast, once you are around him.”

As the girls were talking about menial things, connecting deeper, and knowing each other in a friendly-like relation, Jeanne reached a point where she opened up about one of her dreams she constantly had.

“I had some dreams about how I had to fight angels and demons together with a crimson-haired man who was giving off blazing energy around him. What do you think of it? Or have you had such dreams?”

“I don’t usually dream that much. What you’ve seen is a mystery even for me, Jeanne. I can’t give you an answer to what your dream means, but one thing is for certain, it is bound to a conflict, angels, and demons? It can be interpreted literally or metaphorically, I can’t even imagine what would mean if it’s a literal angel or demon as in the stories.

As for the crimson-haired man, likewise, I can’t mislead you with baseless things since I am not a witch to sell lies.” remarked the raven-haired girl while sipping from her teacup.

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Back to Mathias, who was fighting the mountains with high spirits in the darkness, he could see the familiar peaks getting closer and closer to him.

In the process, as he was getting closer, with most of the beasts he was avoiding without putting a fight, there was on his path which lead to the next section of Gravelmark, a monster with the body of a bear covered in thick fur and feathers, whose head was like that of an owl but with serrated beak was right in front of his path.

*SCREECH*

"Not again." commented Mathias who noticed the monster aggressively screech in his direction, and unfurling its feathers at him.

[Owlbear - Lv 28] (20.000 HP)

Seeing this beast start charging at him full of aggression, he took a flask of Strength Potion, along with one for 'Intelligence Potion' he managed to get from Olga inside Cidarian after she warmed up a bit to him thanks to his achievements for Cidarian.

[You have gained 50 STR for 10 minutes.]

[You have gained 50 INT for 10 minutes.]

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'Arcane Intellect'

'Arcane Barrier'

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Casting his buffing spells, which eat him of 1000 MP, he quickly used a recovery MP pot, to refill 400 mana and only after he was done, he used Ragnius to counter the charge of the Owlbear, yet he was still out strengthened by this beast.

[You have suffered 50 damage.]

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Not playing on the movements of the owlbear that was about to swipe its sharp claws at him, he sidestepped using ‘Raven’s Movement’ and instantly sent out two ‘Piercing Rains’ attacks which carved the fatty skin of the bear, however because of the relatively high defense of the bear, the damage was lesser.

[You have dealt 176 damage to the target.]

[You have dealt 89 damage to the target.]

[You have done 137 damage to the target.]

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Seeing this type of damage from his spear attacks he got serious because it was evident this wouldn’t be a smooth sailing fight. The second ‘Piercing Rain’ dealt a total of 475 damage, where immediately the monster turned its large, 2.4 meter body to fight back, but Mathias had the advantage of speed, moving in circles around the beast attacking with basic attacks, from the first that connected easily, with occasional critical hits because of hits 2.2% critical chance.

It was when the Owlbear attacked Mathias with an instant skill damage, that his fast piercing attacks ceased, dealing a total of [2134] damage after a total of ten strikes.

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[You have suffered 352 damage after being hit by ‘Owlbear Talon’]

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The fight continue on, where the bear sent another ‘Owlbear Talon’ that he couldn’t dodge being hit by one of the monster's talons, as if it was a hunter, a silent one at that, until it screeched and roared, from the attacks he has dealt to him.

[You have suffered 396 damage after being hit by ‘Owlbear Talon’]

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After that skill of the bear hit him, he started attacking the monster using ‘Treachery’ which dealt a total damage of [2286] when completing the entire combo of seven attacks, but it was still not enough to lower the momentum of the bear which sent another attack, that Mathias couldn’t dodge, and who sent him backward, a claw attack, called ‘Olwbear Pounce’

[You have suffered 510 damage.]

Quickly getting up from the ground, he started channeling his mana for one spell that he still had to gain experience in using and also find the right times to cast it. Mathias could feel his mana getting depleted fast by his mana channeling, but soon enough once he casted his arcane spell, the Owlbear couldn’t even find space to dodge his spell.

‘Arcane Barrage’

From his hands at the same time, three arcane missiles were fired at the large beast, hitting him on different locations of its body.

[You have dealt 939 damage to the target.]

[Critical!]

[You have dealt 1878 damage to the target.]

[You have dealt 939 damage to the target.]

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[Arcane Barrage]

Rating: Rare (Growth)

An Arcane Spell obtained after the user of arcana found the method of launching one after another the ‘Arcane Missiles’. Being a spell obtained from the understanding of the user, the damage still lacks, unlike the original spell.

Launch 3 arcane missiles that deal 155% of your magic power, each of the missiles having a chance of 6% of dealing critical damage.

Skill Consumption: 750 mana

Skill Cooldown: 1 minutes

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After each of the missiles hit their target dealing a total of [3756] damage, the Owlbear whose body started being covered in burn marks and also deep cuts released a strong cry of pain and anger.

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*SCREECH*

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Yet this reaction of the beast meant nothing for Mathias, as he took a fighting stance with Ragnius, commenting in a cold voice, while refilling his depleted mana with another mana potion.

“Be mad and get even madder. Do you think I am not annoyed when dumb creatures attack me for no reason? I only intended to go home to my loved ones, and yet you have to be adamant in stopping my journey.”

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[Health: 1058/2366 ] [Mana: 618/1938]

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Gazing at the Owlbear, he saw that it too, was half of his HP, and he should be able to put an end to the fight soon.

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[Owlbear - Lv 28] (10.947/20.000 HP)

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With the beast charging at him, as it was about to release another of those Talon attacks, Mathias advanced rapidly, getting right in the close melee range of the beast, disabling its ability to throw the talons at him, and with some fast-paced basic attacks, which dealt a total of [1154] damage, the beast did a jump before attacking the ground madly, kicking off Mathias’s balance, before returning with a claw attack, blocked just in time. Yet, the stress his arms holding Ragnius suffered was enormous, suffering damage even when the attack should be blocked.

[You have suffered 97 damage.]

To return to his dominant advantage, he casted an ‘Arcane Missile’ hitting the monster right on its head, pushing it backward and sending it in a frenzy.

[Critica]

[You have dealt 2430 damage to the target.]

*ROAR*

The Owlbear immediately bounced back, starting to charge at Mathias, and unlike all its attacks that Mathias got used to, this was a new pattern that took him by surprise. He sent two 'Piercing Rain's' which didn’t stop the monster at all from its advance, and faster than he expected the Owlbear, used its beak to pierce Mathias’s chest, later on initializing a claw attack to end him for good.

[You have suffered 580 damage from the enemy’s ‘Owlbear Dagger’]

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Barely alive in those moments, he gritted his teeth and channeled Evocation before the claw made contact with him, he immediately sent out the ‘Arcane Missile’ which pushed the monster back, dealing [607] damage, in doing so stopping its momentum and attack.

*ROAR*

Not caring about what the Owlbear had to say, he took a health potion that he downed before he started charging at the monster, getting closer to it, and what it seemed to be a melee confrontation, Mathias engaged with another ‘Arcane Missile’ which created a burn wound, which was on the double damage spectrum, hitting the beast with [1215] damage.

Seconds ticked for Mathias, who started sidestepping, before channeling another ‘Arcane Missile’ which angered the beast even more, starting to charge at him, and end him.

“We’ll see who ends who.” remarked Mathias in a cold voice, before firing off another arcane missile, while behind him a dark-purple portal opened up, sending off a dark-purple sword flying in the direction of the bear, and cleaving it along with the missile that hit the mark.

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[You have dealt 607 damage to the target]

[☆ Chaos Blessed has been triggered. Spell: ‘Chaos Sword’ has been cast, dealing 1517 damage.]

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Approaching the end of the fight, while his stamina was on the bad margins, being [18/100] after being required to cast ‘Evocation’ to kickstart his mana recovery process, later after acquiring 750 mana, he started gathering power for ‘Nephtys Lament’ which had a low chance of miss because of all the effects of the attack.

*SCREECH*

The Owlbear woke itself with Ragnius skewering its body, while also causing an agonizing hit.

[You have dealt 1834 damage to the target, while also triggering the debuff ‘Weakened’ lowering Owlbear overall stats by 20%]

Quickly drawing Ragnius back so he wouldn’t be done just like against Evander, he followed by doing an two ‘Piercing Rain’ which dealt [894] damage, followed by a ‘Sweep Thrust’ who against this monster couldn’t get a knockdown effect, but the damage was still contributing to its downfall.

Only one skill away from ending this monster, Mathias jumped in the air after ‘Sweep Thrust’ and unleashed ‘Bloodfall’ which from all the blood from the ground, and Ragnius blade, gave you the impression you were watching a waterfall, only that it was completely gory.

The beast could only cry about its end, and drop on the floor dead, not turning into gray fragments.

[Critical!]

[You have dealt 1080 damage to the target.]

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[You have defeated an Owlbear gaining the following rewards: 2250 EXP, 750 silver coins, Furious Falchion, Owlbear Pelt 1x]

Clearing his notification windows and also checking out the item he gained, a rare type bastard sword that only users with level 30 could equip, before gazing at the dead corpse of the Owlbear.

“This should be another chance at Mana Devour. From what I understand, it might happen only to those beasts that have a certain amount of mana inside of them, and this also happens occasionally.”

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Lowering himself to the corpse after recovering all his mana, he went to touch the monster’s heart location, before his hand started shining in a dark-purple light, starting off the incantation which turned the surrounding area in a show of dark-purple lights.

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As he called the incantation with his body giving off the dark aura that had a vibrant purple light which enveloped the corpse of the boar monster, slowly turning it into dark-purple light fragments which scattered in the wind, before a new notification entered Mathias’s attention.

[Mana Devourer has been cast successfully with the result being: Success]

[You have gained 2 INT stats and 0.2% Growth to the Mana Core(A)]