Chapter 8: Final Test

(XENO)

The battle so far had been going exactly as Xeno had thought it would. He was being pummeled while he tried to dodge the incoming attacks of his enemy… Yeah, not kidding; even with just a single pair of claws and limiting his damage output for the duel, Colonel could still kick his ass to Netherland!

Still, Xeno had not given up yet. When Colonel next tried to hit him, he dodged only to see a crater on the ground he was standing on a moment before… Yeah, Xeno did NOT want to get hit by that! As he continued to place as much distance as he could from his enemy, he could not help but wonder how Tyke had managed to survive not one, but a few of the enemy’s hits! Even with as he was now, Xeno was certain he would be flattened if he got hit!

Colonel swam over towards him, ready to throw another punch, so he dived to the left in order to dodge the incoming Shrimp. Colonel merely continued with his attack without care, blasting the ground with yet another crater. He really wasn’t taking the duel too seriously, much to Xeno’s luck…

Xeno swung his Lazo and snared Colonel’s torso, squeezing as tightly as he could. Colonel tried to pull off the Lazo with his claws, but found his club-like claws to be ineffective for the task. Unwilling to use another pair of claws just to rid himself of the Lazo that didn’t even hurt him thanks to his scales; he stopped trying and continued his barrage of attacks.

Seeing Colonel back in the offensive, Xeno pulled the Lazo upwards, launching Colonel against the roof at the same speed and strength that he was coming at him. Colonel didn’t react in time as he crashed against the roof.

BANG!

The cavern began to shake as portions of the roof began to collapse. Soon the water was murky with dust and dirt, making it difficult to see. Once the water cleared up a bit, Xeno saw that Colonel was standing over at the pillar he had started at, looking over at him even before he had noticed him.

“Not bad Maomer-child, buku. But thou shall need to do better, buku!”

Colonel once again lunged over at Xeno, giving him no time to gather tactics and forcing him to play the dodging game once more. However, he felt a strong pull on his right hand as the Lazo was pulled away.

Xeno gazed back in time to see Colonel wound the Lazo around himself using his claws. He determined that Colonel had used the attack as a decoy so that he could take away his tool without him noticing. Xeno could only gaze in disappointment as the Lazo he spent some time making snapped around Colonel when he twisted it too much and fell over the floor as simple pieces of rope.

“A tool is good only if used, buku. Once stolen or broken, it is of no use, buku. Don’t depend so much on only one tool, buku.” – lectured Colonel as he waited for Xeno’s reaction to his precious tool being destroyed.

“Fair enough, I’ve been using that tool quite a lot today as you’ve said. But it isn’t the only card in my hands!” – Xeno confronted his opponent’s words as he prepared to Quick-Equip his next tool with the left hand behind his back as he pointed at Colonel with his Trident in his right one.

“Gupupupu! So thee wish to continue, buku? Then I’ll oblige, BUKU!” – he charged towards Xeno in a straight line, readying to smash him again. Xeno pulled away to dodge once more, but at the place where he was at before was now his net. Colonel charged right through it, becoming entangled in it quickly. He tried to push the net off him with his punches, but the ropes held for the time being…

Xeno tood the chance and began to counterattack with his trident, stabbing at Colonel with all his might as he tried to escape. Colonel took the first attack with a guarded expression, but simply ignored the next couple of stabs as he continued to try to escape the net.

As I thought, my offense is too low… He can simply ignore it for the time being! I’ll have to change target…

Xeno concentrated on his enemy’s body and started to analyze him as Colonel continued to pry the net off him. THERE! – Xeno thought as he lunged his trident at a spot between Colonel’s claws and feet. Colonel gave a small grunt of pain and surprise as he took a critical hit from one of the few week spots between his scales. He was rather surprised that Xeno had managed to identify the weak spot, but considered he should’ve expected as much while he was tied up with the net.

Xeno lunged once again to begin a barrage against Colonel’s weak spot, but Colonel jumped away and tried to punch his trident, but was off by a bit. Damn! – thought Colonel – This net sure is heavy to restrict my jumping ability this much! I’ll have to compensate with instincts…

Now wary of the enemy’s intent of breaking his trident, Xeno was a bit reluctant to blindly attack the enemy. On the other hand, Colonel could not fully concentrate on escaping as if he did Xeno would take the opportunity to attack him. Colonel smirked at the way the duel was going as he made his decision…

Colonel began to move his claws about the net, but not removing his sights from Xeno. Xeno could only gaze quietly, waiting for an opportunity to strike. Suddenly, Colonel pulled the ropes from around himself and became surrounded by the net entirely in a cocoon.

Unable to react, Xeno could only watch blankly as the net cocoon began to break down from the inside as Colonel smashed his claws against the ropes with all he had. Soon, the tough ropes broke apart and Colonel escaped his predicament. Xeno tried to attack the retreating Colonel as he swam away, but he was not fast enough and now Colonel was out of reach.

Xeno took hold of the trident with a tight grip as he prepared to continue the duel.

“Buku! This duel was refreshing, but it is now over, buku! Accept your defeat, Maomer-child buku!” – told him Colonel as he prepared to fight Xeno head on seriously. Xeno could only toughen his expression and prepare himself for the coming conflict. Colonel charged at him, but at a slower much more controlled pace than before. He was extending his claws backwards as he swam over. In moments, the two were within reach and attacked.

Bright shards of silver were thrown in every direction within the cavern as Xeno’s trident exploded upon impact with the enemy’s claws. Xeno was thrown against the cavern’s wall from the impact. While he had not received the attack directly, his arms had still taken in some severe damage as the weapon they held shattered to pieces.

Xeno held back the blood that accumulated in his throat and swallowed hard as he tried to resist the pain his arms were in. He raised his head to see Colonel floating at the point of impact, looking in his direction. He gently swam over to him.

“It would seem that thou are unable to continue, buku… Give up… buku…” – he said in a terminal tone of voice. Xeno knew the duel was over, not only were his arms greatly injured, but all of his weapons had been destroyed in that battle, one after the other. There was hardly anything else he could do…

Suddenly, a vision sparked within Xeno’s mind… Failing to live up to the expectations of others… - “Mom… Dad…” - Just as the vision entered his mind, his arms moved without his knowledge and took something from within his inventory each: his silver knife and his coral knife. Involuntarily, Xeno stood with great difficulty as his mind wandered over his past.

“Child, stop buku! You are in no condition to continue, buku…” – Colonel tried to make Xeno desist his attempt at continuing the duel. However, Xeno did not listen to him. He was lost in his own memories as his mind slowly fell to the shroud of darkness…

“Child, stop… You mustn’t………………………..”

*PLAYER: XENO IS UNCONSIOUS*

*TIME UNTIL BODY WAKES: 1 HELIX HOUR*

*TIME REMAINING IN EARTH: 6 REAL MINUTES*

*WOULD YOU LIKE TO LOG-OUT IN THE MEANTIME?*

Xeno’s mind also did not recognize the system’s voice as his mind wandered off…

(COLONEL)

“Seriously, what’s up with this child, buku…” – said Colonel as he pulled away Xeno and Tyke’s unconscious bodies away from the collapsing cavern. After a subduing Xeno, he had been forced to knock out the other one as well, or he might kill him if he kept insulting him… He really wanted to kill him too, but he wanted the little runt to suffer first, calling him a crab!

Colonel continued to fume over the second’s insult in an attempt to not think about what had happened just before, but failed to do so the pain of his severed leg haunted him over the event…

Just when he had thought that the duel was over, the child’s eyes had become hollow and filled with some emotion similar to despair… Yet not quite it… Colonel could not place his finger on or even come close to understand his thoughts at that moment, but he could clearly understand the meaning behind his actions. The child had taken out yet another pair of weapons from who knows where!

Colonel was excited for a moment, thinking that the child still had yet ANOTHER trick up his sleeve to combat him, but was flabbergasted when he realized that the kid had simply taken out a pair of daggers. What was more; one of them was a flimsy, unrefined coral dagger that would most likely break within a single touch with his scales. Colonel quickly determined that the child was simply picking at straws and sighed.

“Child, stop buku! You are in no condition to continue, buku…” – he tried to make him desist his attempt as he rose from the floor with great difficulty. He continued to try to get him to stop for some time before Xeno had begun to sway from one side to the other, unbalanced as if he was to keel over any moment…

“Child, stop… You mustn’t………………………..”

He lost sight of Xeno and felt a great deal of pain for just a moment. He looked to his back in time to see Xeno turning around to attack him once more with the daggers. One of Colonel’s legs floated over between the two. Xeno had just cut off one of his legs!

Colonel was greatly surprised as Xeno once again lunged at him with much greater speed than he had shown at ANY point in their duel. Now paying fully attention, Colonel managed to dodge the attacks that Xeno launched with ease. While Xeno’s speed and attack power seemed to have risen far more than Colonel had anticipated, he could still see and analyze much better than Xeno thanks to his much more advanced eyes, though the evasion was still by a hair’s breadth…

Colonel frowned as he continued to dodge Xeno’s attacks and took a good look at the auras surrounding Xeno. He saw that one of the auras was now shining more brightly than the others, replacing the one that originally was within Xeno. Colonel did not know the meaning behind this, but he decided to finish this before anymore could occur as he figured that Xeno was not in control of his actions at the moment…

He unlocked one of the skills he had left in reserve for this battle, but thought he wouldn’t get to use:

“Catatonic Burst Punch”

As Xeno thrived closer to him for a flurry of slashes, Colonel punched the water in front of him; Xeno’s head immediately swung backwards as the bubble hit his head squared! Colonel looked grimly at Xeno’s unconscious body flailing towards the bottom of the cavern. He was aghast that he was forced to create an overheated air bubble and launch it at him in order to knock him out!

He was about to consider what he should do now, when the cavern began to shake violently. Making a subconscious decision, Colonel swam over to the still falling Xeno and picked him up before swimming over to the exit with all his might. Along the way, he found the scoundrel who insulted him, so he knocked him out with a punch and pulled both Maomer’s along the cave’s exit!

(DIO)

“They sure are making a ruckus in there…” – sighed Dio as he felt the quakes, most likely a result of Xeno’s battle with the enemy he had to face. It was a strong enemy that had been causing great strife within this sector for years now, but the Elder could not send the guards over to fight it because she believed they stood no chance; which was quite reasonable…

The thing Dio found a bit unreasonable was sending over a newborn to face off against this menace, though he had to admit that the newborn was quite capable. Even if he were to ignore Xeno’s achievements back at the fields, he would still have a high evaluation of him in regards to his tactics in battle. This was saying quite something as Dio was not easily impressed.

“Well, might as well take out the notepad and continue calculating…” – murmured Dio as he acted his thoughts. He began to read quickly:

Coral Berry Production:

Production of Berries is rising.

Quality of Berries is rising.

Requirement of Berries is rising.

Deduction, current output of berries is not sufficient for the future.

Better production techniques are required.

Considerations:

1- Reevaluation of Land Health in Western Coral Fields.

2- Examination of Health of Corals in the Western Coral Fields.

3- Experimentation of substances’ effects upon living Corals.

4- Unknown

Seaweed & Algae Production:

Production of Seaweeds is constant.

Creation of new Seaweed Fields is slowing.

Quality of Seaweed from new Fields is Lowering.

Requirement of Seaweeds remains constant.

Deduction, output is currently favorable.

However the lower quality of Seaweeds may cause problems in the future.

Re-Education of Seaweed Field Workers is necessary:

Considerations:

1- Lower the pay of those who create lower quality fields.

2- Have the Elder Educate the workers (LAST RESORT)

3- Change low quality workers to other tasks. (will lower manpower in fields)

4- Lead by example (Application: Unknown)

Whale Services and Milking:

Number of clients is rising.

Size of Barn causes some to have to wait outside for some time.

Collection of milk is growing.

Quality of Milk rises with the satisfaction of the whales, currently Excellent.

Deduction, increasing the size of the barn will increase the satisfaction of the whales and provide better quality milk.

Low Priority due to milk quality being Excellent at present.

Considerations:

1- None

Quality of the Guards:

Number of provisional Guards in village is sufficient.

Quality of the Guards has been increasing.

Moral and Motivation of the Guards is currently high.

Guards receive instruction from Sir Sion.

Sample Guard has proven his strength, speed, and ability to follow orders.

Sample Guard prioritizes elimination of enemies over acquisition of high quality materials.

Sample Guard proves to be easily surprised when shown new ways to fight.

Sample Guard recovers quickly and naturally fits in to the new ways of fighting.

Adaptability of new Recruits seems to be high, but slow in developing.

Considerations:

1- Have Mr. Rupert along with Sir Sion explain the importance of the materials for the village’s wellbeing.

2- Have Mr. Rupert search for new weapons and techniques and provide them to Sir Sion to teach new recruits.

3- Addition: have the Recruits work part-time under Mc Neel to increase manpower, give the new recruits a different type of physical exercise and continue to teach them the importance of high quality materials.

Dio stopped reading as he began to feel that the tremors were getting much stronger than before. He placed the notepad back in his pocket and looked over at the cavern to see if they were coming back yet. Upon seeing that they were still not on their way, Dio considered interrupting the test and getting them to safety.

Considering that Xeno would be particularly dejected over failing because of his worry, Dio decided to wait a couple of extra minutes and then burst in to get them out. The tremors continued to increase in strength and Dio was losing the little patience he had left. He was about to charge inside when he noticed a figure trying to escape.

Moments later, the two who went inside were pulled out by a fleeing Mantis Shrimp. Dio was quite surprised to see that both Xeno and Tyke were unconscious. Upon seeing the Mantis Shrimp place the two down on the sand, Dio swam over and inspected their bodies. He quickly determined that Tyke was fine, just a few broken ribs. On the other hand, Xeno had a severe concussion so he took out some ointment from his inventory and started to apply it over Xeno’s wounds. Slowly, yet surely the wounds began to dissipate.

Remembering, Dio looked around to see where the Mantis Shrimp was, but was surprised to see he wasn’t there anymore. Ignoring this for the moment, Dio continued to tend to the wounds of his patients…

Soon after he was finished with his tending, he heard a loud grumbling from behind. He turned in time to see the cavern finally collapsing completely… and the Mantis Shrimp charging out of it as fast as he could. He was holding a pair of Dagger, coral and silver; Xeno’s daggers! The Mantis Shrimp swam over and placed the daggers next to Xeno.

“Whew! They almost broke a couple of times, buku. But retrieve them, I managed buku…” – he said as he caught his breath.

“Thank you, sir. I’m sure the young Xeno will appreciate the gesture.” – said Dio amicably.

“Buku, maybe…” – said the Mantis Shrimp seemingly uncertain himself – “Name be Colonel by the way, buku.”

“It is a pleasure to be your acquaintance, Sr. Colonel; my name is Dio.” – responded with a hand gesture to his chest as he lightly inclined his head and back – “I must thank you for saving these children from this predicament.”

“It was no problem, Dio-san.” – replied Colonel nonchalantly.

“Oh, but indeed it was; I had not expected that Ol’ Scrooge’s power would be to the extent of destroying his lair…” – said Dio as he began to ponder how exactly the old crabbulate lord had managed to get these two in this condition.

“Ol’ Scrooge?”

“Yes, the Crabbulate Lord that has been ruling this area for some years now.”

“Ah, the old foggy! Yeah, he’s dead!” – said Colonel as a matter of fact.

“They managed to defeat him?” – asked Dio doubtfully due to the way Colonel expressed himself.

“Nope, I did… About a month ago.” –answered Colonel in a serious tone.

“Oh… boy…” – said Dio as he began to consider the consequences of what Colonel was saying. It was quite problematic to have sent someone to subdue an enemy that was already dead for a whole month… Considering Mc Neel, would there have to be another test for Xeno…?

“Something the matter, Dio-san?”

“Yes, one of these was supposed to subdue that individual today, hence our presence here…”

Colonel began to think to himself for a moment then said – “Did he know the race or appearance of his target?”

“Nope” – Dio denied – “It was meant to be a surprise as this was a test… Why do you ask?”

“I see… So this is the primary reason for this child to challenge me to a duel…” – Colonel explained his thoughts unconsciously.

Dio’s face began to pale as he realized that the one who saved the two was also the one who left them in the condition they were in… He also felt greatly apologetic towards the Mantis Shrimp as the whole duel affair had been a great misunderstanding that had originated from Dio not being there to tell Xeno that he wasn’t the target! Dio could only hold his face in shame as he began to think he had failed in his duties for the first time in his life.

“Why is it that thou seems to have given up on life, Dio-san?” – asked Colonel noticing the moody aura flowing out of Dio.

“Nothing, please ignore this failure of an existence.” – said Dio as he insulted himself verbally while calling himself much worse things in his mind.

“Seriously? Then why does it seem that thou possess similar eyes to those of this child?” – he said as he pointed at Xeno. Not understanding Colonel’s meaning, Dio asked him to explain as he tried to contain his own emotions of self-depreciation. As such, Colonel began to retell the events that had transpired…

(PHIO)

Phio was slightly depressed as she watched Josh practice his magic. Thanks to the exercise style Xeno had shown him, he was now capable of summoning three Electric Balls and had them spin symmetrically around the circle. He was ecstatic and it showed on his face, but still maintained his concentration with few problems.

It was now a rare occurrence that his spells dissipated without his wanting to and even rarer for them to explode! This could only be called a great advancement from before when he would fail to even summon a spark and when he did it would blow up in his face!

Still, while keeping a reassuring smile on her face against her friend’s achievements, she could only feel sad inside. There were plenty of reasons for her to feel sad about. How she had failed to say sorry to Xeno before. How it was her blessing that had caused the incident a few days ago. How she had not seen Xeno since and feared he’d be punished in her stead.

But none of these reasons were the true reasons for her sadness, this she knew. When she felt the saddest, was when she was watching her cousin and friend Josh practice magic. He was growing up quite quickly and soon he would set off to become a mage at any cost. There would be nothing to deter his path as he was resolved. Yet this is not the reason she felt sad.

The reason she was sad, much to her grief and sorrow, was a tiny bit of jealousy she had felt whilst Xeno had been teaching Josh about magic. She felt that she wanted to be taught as well, yet couldn’t express her opinion at the time… Soon they had been interrupted by others and the incident occurred, so there were even less chances of talking with Xeno!

Now all she could do was watch Josh practice while she had nothing of interest to do… She sighed, bored and sad that she had let go of that opportunity that day…

“HEY, PHIO! LOOK!” – yelled Josh in his excitement. He was holding the three orbs around him as they span around his abdomen. A dangerous stunt to say the least, but he seemed to be holding up quite well for the time being. Phio grew a little restless as she saw the danger Josh had placed himself in unknowingly, yet calmed down significantly as soon as the orbs fizzled harmlessly out of existence.

“Wha…? Out of Mana AGAIN!? But I just regenerated!” – screamed Josh in fury.

“Th-that’s what yo-you get for having a sma-small Mana Pool…” – mumbled Phio.

“Oh, man… How do I increase my Mana Pool anyways?” – asked Josh inquisitively.

“Ju-just study!” – said Phio as she took out a conch titled “Bio-generation”.

“But I HATE studying!” – said Josh in shock.

Phio sighed as she watched Josh’s antics. Wanting to be a mage, but lacking the intelligence and wisdom to gain a large Mana Pool as well as hating to study to increase his stats… His dream of being a Great Mage were much farther than Xeno had thought…

“Why do YOU have such a large Mana Pool anyways! You don’t read SO much?!” – asked Josh in doubt.

“I-I read… just enough… I… also have… Faith… and Tune…” – Phio answered flustered and unable to unite her words in a proper sentence due to the gaze of her friend.

“So I need Fate? How do I get Fate?” – asked Josh expectantly.

“N-not Fate… F-A-I-T-H, Faith… And yo-you can’t just get it…” – explained Phio – “Yo-you have to… earn it… or have it… given to you…”

“EHH!?”

“Fa-faith is the… energy given by higher beings… Gods… Devils… Guardians… you know…”

“?” – he had no clue…

“…forget it… you just can’t… and don’t try singing again please!!!!” – tried to finish Phio, but finished in a semi-desperate tone.

“Oh, damn… There HAS to be another WAY! And I’m gonna find it!” – said Josh with resolve, much to Phio’s consternation…

“Well that will have to wait, youngling”

Josh and Phio turned around immediately from the scare that they were given. Behind them was Sir Sion who seemed to be smiling helplessly at the antics of these two. – “Come on, you two… Mc Neel wants to have a word with you.”

(TYKE)

Tyke woke up groggily a few minutes later. His head felt like it had been hit by a boulder and he felt slightly disoriented. It didn’t help him to find himself outside in the fields when he was certain last time he was inside the cave… He sat down and looked around. Beside him was Xeno who other than being unconscious, seemed to be fine much to his relief. He had no idea how he had managed to escape or defeat that crabby crab…

He continued to explore his surroundings with his eyes and found Dio deep in conversation. Tyke was about to thank him for saving him and ask him a few things, but stopped at that moment because he recognized Dio’s conversation partner…

“Th… THE CRAB!!!”

Dio looked over at him with a helpless expression while the Crab swam over with amazing speed and punched him in the head, planting Tyke’s head into the ground. His body twitched uncomfortably as he lost consciousness once more…

(Sir Sion)

Sir Sion was back in town talking with Mr Rupert in the library. After confirming the details of the Mission, he had visited over to talk through things with the Head Librarian. He was a bit worried about the young who had gone unknowingly to fight a very powerful foe…

“Yee worry too much, Sion. The Lads will be fine… I think?” – tried to comfort him Mr Rupert unreliably.

“You really expect such a half-assed attempt at calming me down will work?” – said Sir Sion as his left eyebrow rose high.

“Nay, I expect this be a deterrent… Or else I’ll ask Doc for sedatives.” – answered Mr Rupert as a “matter-of-fact”-ly.

Sir Sion could only sigh and wish he had been simply given the sedative. The Doc’s sedatives were wonders that could easily knock out whales without any chance to react, but those needles… They were much sharper and longer than the ones he usually uses on other patients…

Receiving an unexpected injection is less painful than knowing you are about to receive one in a little while. Never the less, Sir Sion would’ve resisted the drowsiness if only to ensure that the young were safe.

“Even so, it does not feel right…”

“Mayhaps to yee, Sion. But the Elder may have her reasons…”

“Perhaps…”

“Yee are not thinking of crossing her, are yee?” – asked Mr Rupert in doubt.

“HELL NO! I’d rather be sedated right this instant!” – Sir Sion quickly denied.

“Good, good… Yee stand no chance against her.”

“I don’t need anyone to tell me that much…” – Sir Sion sighed at his weakness.

“Now, now Sion. Yee know her strengths are different than yours…”

“Yes… But the spells of a Witch can leave anyone feeling weaker than one is…”

“Aye, that be true…” – complied Mr Rupert troubled – “Still, give the lads some time to finish up before picking them up, no?”

“Very well…” – relented Sir Sion – “I’ll give them till sundown, kay?”

“Un, that sounds reasonable enough! Be well, Sion!”

“You too, Dad…” – said Sir Sion as he took his leave from the library.

“Sigh, that son of mine has a good heart, but that could get him killed if he ain’t careful… Does he not realize Xeno would not want his test interrupted even for something such as this?” – wondered Mr Rupert in a murmur…

(Xeno)

Xeno felt that his whole body as shaking as his cloudy consciousness began to clear up slowly. A voice he seemed familiar with resounded around him, whether this voice was outside or within his head Xeno could not determine. He continued to be shaken with greater vigor, but Xeno could not awaken fully as his mind began to wander about elsewhere. Suddenly, he was sent flying backwards as a great deal of pain inundated his face.

“WAKE UP, BUKU!!!!!”

“AHHHH!” – screamed Xeno at the sudden pain in his face. He began to squirm in the ground for a few moments while the stinging pain resided. In the meanwhile, he could hear someone admonishing the one who had hit him…

“That is not the correct way to awaken someone, Sr. Colonel.”

“Aye, buku. But it was necessary this time, buku.”

“That is beside the point. There are still other options before resolving to use pain as an awakening mechanism.”

“Thou are correct, buku. But those would take longer to work, buku. This is faster Dio-san, buku.”

“Sigh, seriously…”

“Ugh… Dio and… Colonel?” – asked Xeno as he finally recognized the voices of the two individuals.

“See, I told thou it would work faster, buku”

“Just let it go… How are you feeling, Xeno?”

“Err… Aside from the slight pain in my face, just fine…”

“You don’t need to hold in the pain you know?”

“Err… I’m not holding it in… I screamed a bit ago because I was surprised from the sudden pain, that’s all! If it’s this level of pain, it’s not much truly…”

“I see… Quite a strong body you have there.”

“It’s not much of the body… But the Mentality to handle pain easily.”

“Oh…”

“Dio…” – said Xeno in embarrassment – “I’ve yet to complete my mission…”

“Oh, that… Don’t worry about it, you can still complete it!”

“Ha? But don’t I need to subdue the target to tame it?”

“Indeed that is one of the common methods of taming wild creatures, but befriending them or even earning their trust, admiration or simply being considered worthy is enough for the contract to establish.”

Xeno was surprised at this news. Previously, when he had done research, he had read that the best way to tame a wild creature was only to subdue it. However, according to Dio there were other methods that seemed just as likely to work.

Whilst simply defeating an enemy would be enough ground to form the contract, in long term duration the creature may rebel and search for freedom from the contract. So wasn’t it best to befriend it beforehand to prevent a sudden loss of manpower?

He looked over at Colonel who patiently waited for him to analyze what he had learned now, then asked – “Are you… Willing to form a contract with me?”

“Buku… Thou have proven to be an interesting fellow, buku. Thou uses a variety of tools and weapons as well as tactics and styles in battle, buku. Still, thou are an unpolished gem, buku. I’ll pound the basics into thour body until thou explode, buku!” – answered Colonel with a slightly crazed gleam in his eyes.

Xeno was slightly taken aback because of the sudden urge of the Mantis Shrimp, but smiled soon enough. With someone strong teaching him, he was bound to become stronger. While he seemed to be stronger than the Maomer in the village, the village was just that… A Village!

The world was huge and sooner or later he would find much stronger enemies about… Especially other players! He began to think about the things he still needed to overcome. The currently unknown maximum level and maximum stats were daunting for the players at present… Especially when the highest leveled player was currently in the 1500 level at present…

He was about 1/150 of that individual in terms of level alone… Though level is less important in this game, it still showed just how many battles an individual has experienced throughout his gameplay. In terms of stats, the difference would be even worse as he had not been training in only one stat since he arrived in this world… His Diligence and Education would only do so much to help him, he needed instruction if he wanted to someday reach the top levels where he had the suspicion his friends were at presently.

“I understand, please teach me well Colonel-sensei.” – said Xeno as he inclined his head in respect. Then, he lightly touched Colonel’s head and said loud and clear:

“Activate: Pet Contract”

*PET CONTRACT: ACTIVATED*

*TARGET DETECTED*

*WOULD YOU LIKE TO MAKE COLONEL YOUR PET?*

*Y/N*

“Yes”

(Mc Neel)

Mc Neel was in his office, listening to the explanation of the events that took place during the mission from Dio and Tyke. Xeno and Colonel listened to the two of the talk about the events that happened alongside Mc Neel, curious about the point of view of the two. Mc Neel was quite joyous upon hearing the way Xeno had taken care of his enemies, but was still holding his worry within himself… He could still not understand why ol’ Scrooge was not here and in his place was this Mantis Shrimp…

Once the report reached the cave, Tyke took over the explanation mostly, though he fidgeted whenever he was about to mention the Mantis Shrimp… Though that may have something to do with innate fear after being repeatedly pounded for calling him a crab… Mc Neel took a mental note to convince Sir Sion to teach his recruits Biology.

Then came the part about Xeno challenging Colonel to a duel and Mc Neel finally had a clue as to what had happened… He thought that this creature is the one he should’ve contracted with? This… May be my fault again… Should’ve just said who his target was instead of letting him guess… I thought sending Dio would ensure he would, but in that circumstance it was natural for him to fail to do so…

As Mc Neel continued to analyze the situation, Colonel took over the explanations by giving a description of the battle in excruciating detail, from when he was dodged by Xeno, when he was launched towards the roof, when he snapped the lazo and was ensnared in the net and attacked with the trident, to when he escaped and shattered the trident. The battle seemed to have gone quite extraordinarily, though even with Colonel’s explanation of Xeno’s actions it seemed patently obvious he had been playing around with him…

Then, Colonel seemed reluctant to say what happened next, but still explained how Xeno had started attacking him with renewed strength and speed. He even showed the leg, which though it had mostly regenerated thanks to some herbs provided by Dio, still had a scar which would take a week to disappear… Mc Neel grew curious about this power, but Xeno was even less willing to explain what had happened… He seemed to have had some idea of the event, but also seemed unsure of his suspicions, so Mc Neel let him be for the time being…

Never the less, Colonel knocked out the rampaging Xeno and took both him and Tyke out of the collapsing cavern. Outside, he had conversed with Dio at which point he had made an emphasis on having had killed ol’ Scrooge last month. Now Mc Neel was really having cold sweat… Having made a mistake which caused the boy to fight the wrong creature was one thing, but sending him to fight an enemy that has already been dead for an entire month? Yeah, he might’ve made a huge mistake this time… Mc Neel began to curse himself in an attempt to commit suicide before Mam finds out about this…

“Ohoho! So that’s why you brought along a Mantis Shrimp, huh?”

Mc Neel felt doom upon his very being as he heard the door to his office open swiftly and saw his mother standing upon the doorway. He quickly gave up on suicide; she’d just heal him up before he dies so she can punish him… While these dark thoughts littered within his mind, outwardly Mc Neel was beaming with enthusiasm as he began to retell Xeno’s deeds.

The Elder listened intently to him, but he had the uncanny feeling she was planning how to punish him later on… Once he was finished, she said – “Ohoho! Seems to me that Xeno passed that test with flying colors, no?”

“Indeed, Mam! Indeed he did!” – he said with a forced smile. He was screwed… - “Right! Xeno, your rewards are quite interesting… First up…” – Mc Neel clapped his hands and two figures entered through the window as if waiting for his signal – “In addition to the pet you have just contracted with, these two who seem to have a good relationship with you will also become your companions in the future! Hope you treat them well!”

Xeno seemed surprised and excited as he began to talk with Phio and Josh. It seemed he had not believed he would get three companions in one day, let alone friends he had made. He seemed quite happy as he chatted with them and created the contracts. Phio and Josh seemed quite interested in Colonel, but almost immediately:

Josh – “So… who’s the crab?” – he was sent flying towards the wall in an instant. He didn’t die since Colonel controlled his strength so that he could barely survive and Phio blessed him instantly to heal him up. Still, he seemed to become excited from the hit, pestering Colonel to teach him much to Colonel’s annoyance… Phio on the other hand seemed to be quite scared from the show of strength and couldn’t seem to gather the courage to speak to him anymore…

Mc Neel could only snicker at their antics, but stopped once he saw the look in his mother’s eyes. He cleared his throat and continued:

“W-well, that’s the first reward! The second reward is allowing you to utilize a particular item within our vault. Dio?” – Dio rummaged his inventory and took out a sphere and gave it to Mc Neel – “This is the item I was talking about! Its name is The Sphere of Destiny’s Path.”

Xeno’s ears puckered up at the name of the sphere. He had heard of an item with a similar name mentioned on the forums only once in a distant land. To think he would see a similar item here.

“This item” – continued Mc Neel oblivious to the turmoil within Xeno – “has the unique effect of analyzing the characteristics of any individual who wields it and give him any classes that the individual is capable of acquiring at that moment. In other words, once you wield this item you will gain classes depending on how well you have trained during your apprenticeship. Some gain several classes, some gain only one class, a few don’t gain any at all. It all depends on what they did during their Training. So…” – he extended the sphere towards Xeno – “are you ready to gaze upon your destiny?”

Xeno took only a moment to gaze upon the sphere and said as he gingerly touched it – “I am!”

Once he did, light began to emerge from the sphere and entered Xeno’s body. He could feel the warmth of the light swimming around his insides, inspecting his body and past, and changing him in ways he did not know. After a few minutes, the light exited his body and went back to the sphere, the room becoming darker as the light abandoned it…

(XENO)

*DING*

It had been some time since he last heard that sound of notifications… He had instructed the system to not send him anymore notifications until he completed his training. He figured this was a good time as any to inspect his windows. But just before he was about to word his command, he decided to change it for the privilege of others.

“Open and Show Character, SSA, Class, Tittle, and Pet Windows to everyone in this room.”

Tyke – “That’s a huge amount of abilities…” – he said in wonder.

Mc Neel – “I’m more worried about the boy’s diligence…” – said as he expressed himself.

Josh – “Phio has HOW MUCH MANA?!” – screamed as he saw Phio’s status window.

Phio – “Bu… Hm… Josh leveled up?” – counterattacked Phio when she saw Josh had passed her level some time ago.

Colonel – “Bukubukubuku! Those tittles! Bukubukubuku!” – he continued to laugh aloud.

Xeno on the other hand could only gape at Colonel’s status window: Level 25, six times his Strength and Life and a bunch of stats he hadn’t expected to see this early in his play… Colonel had REALLY been playing along with him… Phio’s window was also quite strange as she seemed to have large amounts of Faith, Tone and Charm, as well the advanced stat Devotion. While it was common for Priests and Performers to have low levels and better stats due to spending more time practicing their role than fighting monsters, Xeno still found them quite high for a common Sea Angel… Though he wouldn’t ask her if she didn’t want to tell him… As for Josh, he was simply worried about his Recklessness and what its effects could lead to…

Finished viewing his new companion’s windows, he turned his gaze back at his. He was confused about the mystery stat as well as why two of his stats had unknown values: Spirit and Aura. If he remembered correctly, those stats mostly affected the way others viewed you as dangerous as well as strengthened some of your moves. In addition, both Spirit and Aura were supposed to increase his Mana and Skill maximum limit a bit, but looking at those values and calculating he soon realized that the unknown value stats had NOT been taken into consideration…

He also looked at his SSA window which mostly contained a bunch of abilities, but also some random spell and skills. They had been growing steadily whilst he was training, and he gained quite a few as well. There was also an unknown something there, but there seemed to be no discernible way to determine what it was…

Then there were those tittles… He could guess when he obtained The Miracle Worker with ease, he might’ve gained The Harvester thanks to the architects he brought those materials to or while he was hunting monsters earlier in the day. But he could not think of a time he did something to earn the tittle of Polymath… Oh, well! At least it’s effect is pretty neat and could give his abilities a further boost in their growth!

His classes were quite a few though: Scholar, Tutor and Biologist are studious classes while the rest all dealt with nature, be they animals or plants… Perhaps he should consider trying to find some abilities related to the other Kingdoms of the Phylogenetic Tree? Xeno wasn’t sure if The Helix took into consideration the Microscopic Kingdoms, but he might as well try to deal with Fungi if he ever gets the chance… Though he’d had to be careful of fungal diseases and other dangers of the Fungi species… Maybe dealing with fungi isn’t such a good idea…

He looked around, but the others seemed to still be looking through the multitude of windows, so he decided he might as well check his inventory to see his savings and the materials he could sell later in the day:

Just as he finished checking his inventory, the Elder walked over to him and said – “So, you’ve gained quite a number of abilities now!” – she seemed quite happy for some reason – “What plans do you have now?”

“None at the moment, perhaps train a bit more and study about the surroundings before heading off?” – thought Xeno aloud.

“Excellent, then do you mind doing us one last favor before? It is related to the seaweed fields…” – Xeno could only shudder in discomfort as a pang of guilt attacked him once more. He promised himself at that moment to help out as he could and listened to the Elder’s request…

(?)

Lila – “Good Afternoon folks! This is VR Action Newscaster and my name is Lila! Today we will be reporting about some rather unexpected developments over at the East.” – she paused to let it sink then continued – “It seems that one of the famous Sky Isles belonging to the Icarian natives, the Tark Norm, has been impaled! The complete details are as of yet unknown as this development happened around three days ago in The Helix, which means a few hours ago here in real life! We’ll be going live with John Caster who is currently about to interview some eyewitnesses!”

The Screen faded over and showed a map of the currently known world of Gaia in The Helix, it swiftly zoomed in to one of the towns of the East and stopped by showing the Interviewer who was talking to two fishermen.

John Caster – “Would you mind repeating that, sir?”

Paul – “Yah, Tom! We went to fish the other day.”

Tom – “Yah, Paul! We were fishing out in sea when some mother of quakes happened!”

Paul – “Yah, Tom! Then Seaweeds grew from the sea and pierced the clouds!”

Tom – “I keep telling you Paul, those couldn’t have been Seaweeds!”

Paul – “I know seaweeds when I see them Tom!”

Tom – “Anyways, those things pierced Tark Norm which seemed to have been floating over the sea at the time.”

Paul – “Yah! Anchored them real good Tom! Hahahaha!”

Tom – “That they did, Paul! Hahahahah!”

The two continued to laugh obnoxiously as John didn’t know whether to believe these two buffoons or not… Deciding to ignore them from now on, he continued with the news – “As you may have noticed, rumors of this being an attack on the Icarians have started to formulate, but this could as easily been an attack of the Icarians against the Sahuagin with which they have animosity towards! It is currently unknown who’s party is to blame.”

Tom – “Hold on, we just said…”

John Caster – “In addition, I’ve received notice that some of the other Sky-bound races, particularly the Avariel who have been in war with the Icarians, are planning to make use of this opportunity to remove one of the most important cities of that race from their wargame. As Tark Norm seems to be anchored, it would spell the end of said Sky Isle.”

--BZZT—

A young lady with long red hair swinging down to her hips turned off the television using the remote control in her hands. She then walked over to a table in the far end of the room while she muttered to herself – “East and Seaweeds? No it couldn’t possibly be… But…”

She placed a button on the side on the table and it began to shift, showing a digital replica of the map previously shown on television, only this one was of greater quality, showing a greater scale and detail of Gaia. She quickly went over to the position where Tark Norm was floating and connected a device to the table.

As she began to write code after code in the device in her hand, a long string began to appear between Tark Norm and the sea. Soon enough, the string reshaped itself in the shape of seaweeds and extended itself upwards and downwards. The topmost of the seaweeds was lost from view as it entered an area that she had not inspected before whilst the seaweed continued to descend… Soon it reached a city and planted itself amongst the various weeds that surrounded the West portion of the village.

“Damn, so it WAS the Village of Sed… Just what the heck did Savi do now?!” –screamed the girl in frustration. It had only been around four days since Savi had begun to play the game, just how had he managed to cause this event with less than one month of gameplay?!

She decided to get to the bottom of this and directly called him with the device in her hands. She waited for some time for him to answer and just as she decided to call later as she figured he was still in the game, he picked up.

“Kris? What’s up? Just got out of th…”

“What’s UP? Seaweed, that’s what’s UP!”

“Wha… How did yo…”

“No time! WHAT. DID. YOU. DO?”

Unable to handle his friend’s tone of voice, Xeno confessed the events that led to Tark Norm’s current state. Kris didn’t know whether to laugh at the simple error that caused this event or at the fact that Xeno had planted such high quality seeds so early in the game. If it’s this much, it won’t be too much of a problem…

“Okay, I get it… So it wasn’t your fault directly anyways?”

“Yes…”

“Then don’t worry about it!”

“…you are the one yelling at me…” – mumbled Savi.

“What was that?”

“NOTHING! Anyways, thanks for calling for I had a question…”

“You? A question? How unexpected!” – she said ironically.

“Haha… Anyways, I seem to have obtained an unknown stat and skill and I have no idea what they are… Also two stats with unknown value: Spirit and Aura. Anything rings a bell?”

Kris’s eyes popped out of her head. How the heck did he release his limits already? It took her months to figure out the great secret of The Helix and a full year to actually get access to it! Savi released the secret accidentally and doesn’t even know what it is?! She felt frustration rising up in her chest, but also a bit of pride in her cousin.

“Figure it out yourself.” – but there was no way she would help him if he got that far already.

“Wha-WHY?!” – asked Savi surprised and a little bit annoyed.

“Consider it a test of sorts… All players MUST figure it out on their own. That’s an unwritten rule in what you’re asking.” – she explained her friend while holding back her laughter. Her friend did not appreciate when knowledge was kept away from him, even if for his own sake.

“DAMN IT! Can I get a hint at least?” – pleaded Savi.

“No, if you have the stat and skill, you already know the answer and just don’t want to believe it…” – reasoned Kris.

“…there no way, right?” – said Savi uncertain.

“Regardless, telling me the answer won’t do anything. You have to unlock it on your own. Get to it so you can reach the rest of us more quickly, okay?” – she said in as sweet a tone as possible.

“Kay… By the way, about the Icarians…”

“Yes, Savi?”

“When will they be attacked?”

Kris began to calculate while looking at her map – “Few days after the next month… approximately!”

“Got it! Can I get you to make them stay in their current location?”

“Won’t they be unable to move right now as they are anchored?”

“They’ll get released soon enough if things work out correctly in my end.”

“Okay then… But wouldn’t it be more beneficial for them to start escaping as soon as that happens?”

“No, they’ll still be chased by the Avariel and suffer some loses before they manage to reach a safe zone…”

“Then… what exactly are you planning?” – asked Kris intrigued by his plan.

“Give them a closer Safe Zone!”

Chapter 7: Proof of Worth

And this is the resolution of the Training! Those are some well-endowed status windows, right? Though they are severely lacking in comparison to level 1000 individuals… None of you expected the maximum limits to be so extreme, right? Hahaha! The Village of Sed is minuscule in terms of worldly importance and is usually ignored, which suits the shy Maomer just fine, but leaves so much unresolved curiosity in their hands!

Anyways, I’ll give you an overview on the Skill and Mana calculations for now:

Mana is calculated by 5 points for every point in Intelligence or Wisdom and 10 points for every point in special stats such as Faith, Devotion and Tune. This calculation ensures that priests that specialize in Faith and Devotion and performers who specialize in Tune will be able to have enough Mana for their various spells. Mixing them all up together and you get someone with a large pool of Mana at their disposal. Of course, this only works if you have the talent and devotion necessary to obtain those stats, which some (Josh) don’t have. There are other currently unknown stats that can increase the Mana Pool, let’s hope Josh manages to discover one before his incredibly low Mana Pool gets the better of him!

Skill on the other hand is calculated by 5 for every point in Strength and Physique, 10 for every point in Vigor and Finesse and 15 for every point in Brutality. This final stat adds 1200 Skill to Colonel who had over 4000 Skill at his disposal. Quite powerful if compared to the others, but he is easily over twice Xeno’s level and is quite a bit older as well! He must’ve been taking it easy for some time in order to explain his low stats in comparison to his age…

There are other calculations I utilized, but I’ll leave them for some other time. I promise to keep the info regarding stats and calculations and write them down in the Volume page once this volume is done with. Don’t expect me to give you a view at their character windows as many times as I’ve done in this volume, but you can expect it when a new character joins up if any!