Aftermath

“So that’s what happened on my end Kyle, how about you?” asked Jerald having regrouped with his son and the struggling Ben who had soon found himself trapped in a suit of armour of his very own.

“Well things here went about as expected but I’m surprised that Denzel’s mind broke the way it did,” Kyle said shaking his head as he looked at the suit of armour that contained the former captain of Farholt’s guards. It was hard to believe that the once proud man was now the raving lunatic that stood before him struggling vainly against the magical armour that imprisoned him but when Ben had seen what had become of his master he had stopped screaming death threats and had simply started sobbing and allowed himself to be quietly put inside an armoured prison of his own.

“But,” Kyle said suddenly causing his father to flinch and look away unable to meet his son’s eyes.

“What really surprised me was when the Zone closed around us. Care to explain what happened there?” Kyle asked in an acerbic tone of voice.

“Uh, well, you see son,” Jerald started stammering, Kyle was almost as terrifying as Emma was when he was angry, and Jerald just knew that both would chew him out over what had happened when they finally returned to Farholt.

“Yes father?” said Kyle in the same dangerous tone of voice he had asked the first question with staring directly at the back of Jerald’s sweating head with his glowing blue eyes.

“I accidentally killed one of the guards,” Jerald explained in a quiet voice. “Apparently the Mana released by his death was enough to finish forming the Zone.”

Kyle placed a hand on his forehead and sighed at his father’s regrettable tendency to forget how strong he was, “Really dad? And how exactly did you manage that?”

“He wasn’t as tough as I thought he was!” Jerald exclaimed. “I’m not Thomas, I can’t check these things myself! I just have to go with my gut.”

Digby was watching this exchange with a strange mixture of sadness and amusement, he was sad that one of the guards had been killed, they all were, but somehow, he still found it amusing that despite the situation they had found themselves in, these two still found the time to continue their usual comedy routines. Digby sighed in exasperation, and shook his head, often it was hard to tell who the parent was and who was the child.

“Alright you two that’s enough,” grumbled Fi. “Never mind who’s fault it is, what are we going to do about it.

The three stared at the business-like little serpent briefly before Kyle turned to look at his father and raised an eyebrow.

“I’ve already had Dig send a message on ahead of us, so Ai and Sul should be here shortly to escort the prisoners back and then I’ll hunt down the Boss myself,” Jerald said firmly, happy to have the conversation move away from his mistake.

“So, I guess the real question is; what do you want to do son?” he asked.

Kyle looked at his father in confusion for a few moments before understanding dawned, his father was suggesting that he should stay and get some real training done while the Zone still existed.

“I’ll stay!” he said quickly and Fi nodded her head in agreement, if Kyle could Level Up, she could finally get some a Skill or some Magic of her own and become more than a glorified help function. Which was something she had been looking forward to since she had been summoned, watching Kyle learn new Skills and spells while her own growth had stagnated had been harder for her than she would ever admit.

Jerald grinned at their response remembering what it was like the first time he Levelled Up, “Good,” he said happily as the two sat down to go over the gains from the fight with Ben.

“Right so you got a few gains from that last fight, you got a new sub-skill and two of your Skills have gained a level so let’s look at those first,” suggested Fi bringing up the information.

Skills Increased!

Chain Fighting-Mastery

Proficiency Level 2-13% to next Proficiency Level

Current Bonuses increased!

Increases damage dealt with Chain Weapons by 6%

Blunt Weapons-General

Level 6-3% to next Proficiency Level

Current Bonus increased!

Increases Blunt damage by 6%

New Sub-skill of Hand-to Hand Combat Unlocked

Choke hold- Holds the target in place and deals 5 SP and 2HP damage p/s. When SP is depleted HP damage is doubled. Costs 15 SP per second for a human-sized target with a lower Strength Stat than the User. Extensive use will cause the target to lose consciousness. May be used with an appropriate weapon (decreased SP cost on larger targets).

“Wow what’s up with Choke Hold? It seems a bit too powerful with the information I can see,” said Kyle in surprise the other two Skill Ups were good but the new Sub-skill was actually more interesting right now.

“Hmm, from what I can see the SP cost increases dramatically if the target has the same Strength as you and exponentially if they have higher Strength than you,” replied Fi as she accessed the advanced data provided to her and bringing Kyle crashing down to earth.

“However, it also looks like if you us it for long enough that the target loses consciousness the SP cost will return to normal, provided that the target is a similar size to you,” she continued ignoring Kyle’s disappointment.

“Oh well, at least I now have a Skill that can help me to disable someone without hurting them too badly,” Kyle sighed. “Anything else I should know?”

“Your Acrobatics Skill is also near levelling up and you made some good progress on the mastery for your Minor Flame Enchantment,” Fi continued causing Kyle to frown slightly. “What’s wrong?”

“It just seems like my Skills are going up awfully fast,” Kyle said, he wasn’t upset by this turn of events far from it, the sooner he could get away from his Skill Point deficit the better, it just seemed odd.

Fi looked at him in exasperation, “Two of those Skills are Class Skills which mean they level up slightly faster anyway, but that was a real fight, not just training, these Skills are for fighting so it makes sense that they level up faster when your life is in danger.”

Kyle flinched slightly at the reminder that Ben had been trying to kill him, but then sighed defeatedly, Fi was right it did make sense that his Skills would level up faster in a real fight. Which only made him more excited about training in the Zone, all the monsters he fought would actively be trying to kill him. That was what they did after all and he wasn’t going to let his guard down but that didn’t mean he wasn’t looking forward to his first taste of fighting a monster.

The group sat around chatting for a bit while they waited for Ai and Sul to arrive to take the prisoners back to town.

When they arrived Ai quickly flitted over to Kyle.

“Kyle, dear, are you alright?” she asked worriedly, the last time she had seen him he was still weak from forcibly activating his Suppression Aura and she could tell from the damage to his clothes that he had been in a fight, so it was only natural that she was worried about him.

“I’m fine Ai, Ben just gave me a little trouble when we caught up to him that’s all,” he explained calmly fingering a tear in the homespun shirt he was wearing with an irritated look on his face, he was really starting to wish that he had asked Fi to bring the leather vest and bracers that he usually wore when sparring with them when they had left home that morning, his normal clothes just weren’t tough enough for this sort of activity.

Ai’s beak clamped tighter as she quickly checked him over any injuries that his regeneration hadn’t dealt with yet and visibly relaxed when she couldn’t find any.

“So, are you coming back with us?” she asked carefully knowing that a freshly formed Zone was a good way to get some Experience at low levels, provided you were careful anyway.

“Actually, I was going to stay here while dad deals with the Zone’s Boss,” Kyle replied.

Ai sighed to herself, this was what she had been worried about, though at least Emma had made her come prepared, in a manner of speaking at least.

“Well then, you might want to wear this,” she said irritably, pulling a black bundle out of her Inventory and dropping it in Kyles lap.

Kyle blinked in surprise as she flew off in a huff, he had been expecting her to complain about him staying behind, especially after the event of the day, but he hadn’t been expecting whatever it was that she had given him.

“Well?” said Fi excitedly looking at the item with eyes that almost seemed to glow in the dim purple light that filtered through the trees. “What is it?”

Kyle snorted at her silliness. This was the way she always acted, one minute she would be serious and business-like, the next she would act like a child, this came especially apparent when it was time to eat.

Unfolding the bundle, he discovered that the item was a long jacket made from a plain black fabric with leather patches that would cover the wearers vitals when worn. On the inside the jacket was lined with a strange blue fabric that was very smooth to the touch.

“Huh, Fi can you Identify it please?” requested a bemused Kyle who was wondering where Ai could have gotten such an interesting looking garment.

Scion’s Guard

Item Tier (Rarity): Custom (Unique-Modifiable)

Armour Type: Light Outerwear.

Physical Defence: 15

Magical Defence: 18

Durability: 20/20

Multiple craftsmen worked together to create this jacket to protecting their student. Despite being reinforced with leather it is still light enough to be treated as Light Armour and is also lined with silk produced by an Arachnid Matriarch which has enhanced not only the Magical Defence it provides but also increases the efficiency of spellcasting. It’s design also allows it to be slightly modified if the wearer sees fit.

Additional Effects

· Decreases MP cost of spells by 5%

· Modifiable design- This item may be modified via changing the material used to reinforce it (currently Grey Maned Fox Leather or by adding more (may change armour type).

Crafters: Emma Fergusson and Thomas McKinnie

“Holy shit!” Kyle blurted out. It seemed that this item had been created specifically for him. He took a moment to process both that and the frankly ridiculous defence it offered for someone of his Level. And it was even able to be modified! He looked at the area that had been reinforced and discovered that each piece of leather was contained what something a bit like a pouch that had three sides of strong stitching running around it and one weaker line of stitching strong enough to hold it in place but easy to undo so that the leather could be replaced without affecting the Jacket’s durability.

“This means that my spells now cost 12% less to cast,” Kyle muttered in a dazed voice.

‘Just how expensive had this been to make?’ he wondered to himself, he didn’t know how expensive Arachnid Matriarch Silk was but with the effect it had even just as a lining for a jacket he assumed that the answer was very expensive. Which probably explained why they had used Grey Maned Fox Leather for the reinforcements. A Grey Maned Fox was a grey fox that had been exposed to a large amount of Mana becoming a Mana Mutant and growing until it was the size of a tiger. Despite its large size it was known for its speed and stealth capabilities and averaged around Level 12, meaning although it was far stronger than Kyle the leather than could be made from its skin was a lower quality one for its Level, usually being used to make lighter leather armour used by low levelled Classes that focussed on Agility.

A Unique piece of equipment like this would be very expensive to have made, most Crafters simply wouldn’t bother with a one off item like this, preferring to make schematics which can be used over and over again easily and taught to others, technically this could as well but that would require Kyle, the owner to allow them to copy it, something that he never intended to do. This jacket was a gift that at least two of the most important people in his life had made specifically for him as shown by the note down the bottom that named the Crafters who made it, a Crafter could choose whether or not to hide their name when the item was complete like with the chain that Bernard had given him or shown like with this jacket.

Seeing that he was still looking at the gift in astonishment Sul flapped over, the owl-shaped Companion’s wingbeats were so quiet that Kyle didn’t even notice he had arrived until he opened his beak.

“Those two worked on that a long-time young man,” he said quietly causing Kyle to nearly jump out of his skin.

“It was supposed to be a gift to celebrate you receiving a Class and being offered a place at the Adventuring School in Greenhearth,” Sul continued with a sigh, diplomatically ignoring Kyle’s surprise. He was used to people not realising he was there until he spoke, it was one of the few bad things about being in the shape of an owl.

“I guess they never imagined that today would end up like this,” Kyle said sadly looking around at the captives sadly remembering the events that had brought them here.

“How is everyone by the way?” he asked Thomas’ companion who watched him with his large luminescent eyes.

Sul’s feathered ruffled out in irritation, as the companion of Farholt’s priest he was deeply affected by the events of the day, it never looked good when guards betrayed their own town after all.

“Well you know that Sonia’s alright but Ryan….” Sul trailed off briefly thinking about the best way to describe the boy’s feelings.

“He needs a break. His injuries go deeper than the ones caused by Ben’s spear, but he will recover eventually.”

Kyle flinched, and threw a glance at Ben, his eyes glowing balefully before he closed them and shook his head sadly. Ben had been manipulated by Denzel, something even Ben himself was now beginning to understand, it didn’t mean that Kyle was going to forgive him, but it wasn’t his place to decide the other boy’s punishment.

“And what about the mayor and the guards who remained?” he asked.

“They’re alright, Thomas and Yuliah managed to heal them all without any complications,” Sul said.

“But it seems that the one who stabbed the mayor was Denzel,” he continued his voice becoming a growl. “So, it doesn’t matter what else he’s done he’ll be tried for attempting to murder the man in charge of the village he was sworn to protect and put in prison, probably for the rest of his life.”

Kyle blinked at the anger in the usually calm and collected Companion’s voice before nodding carefully, “That’s probably a good thing, he isn’t exactly safe for normal people to be around right now,” he said glancing at the man who was still mumbling something behind the shadowy visor of the suit that imprisoned him.

“What about the other guards?” he asked. Some of them had been unwilling accomplices to what had happened, and some had even helped deal with the fires started by Denzel.

“They’ll be treated on an individual basis,” Sul explained. “Thomas has a Skill that allows him to determine whether or not someone is telling him the truth, he’ll use it on all of them and if they honestly feel bad about what happened their punishment will be more lenient.”

Kyle winced as he remembered a few times he and his friends had run afoul of that particular Skill causing the companion’s eyes to close slightly in amusement. This Skill was common to Priest Classes and other similar Classes, which was another reason why Priests like Thomas and Yuliah were often called in to help settle disputes.

The guards moaned as they heard this, considering the situation they found themselves in now it was likely that they would all be getting lessened punishments, no one liked being trapped in a suit of armour that could both prevent you from moving and make you move depending on how it was directed so they were all feeling pretty sorry for themselves right now.

“Thanks for telling me Sul, I feel a bit better now about the part I played in this,” admitted Kyle.

Sul seemed to smirk at the boy, it was hard to tell with the beak, but Kyle was well enough versed in Ai and Sul’s expressions that he was certain that was what it was, “That’s no problem young man,” he said cheerfully.

“Now I suppose the two of us should start heading back to Farholt,” he said slightly louder than his previous making the guards moan again.

“Isn’t it getting a bit dark for that?” Kyle asked incredulously. “Are you just going to march them into town in the middle of the night?”

Sul blinked in surprise, “Well we can’t very well keep them out, here can we?”

“Well it’d be better than marching them back when they should be asleep!”

“My dear boy,” Sul sighed. “When did I ever say they wouldn’t be able to sleep, that’s why Ai’s here. It’ll be easier to transport them that way as well. I’m just here in case something goes wrong, I’m more powerful in a fight after all.”

“So, what? You are going to put them to sleep with one of Ai’s lullabies and march them back like that?” Kyle asked slowly, it did make a kind of sense but in some ways, it made the whole thing seem more invasive.

Fi wriggled slightly in her form of a shrug, “It’s not perfect but it should get them back safely and without causing extra trouble.”

“And they won’t have to put up with the monotony of the journey,” Sul added.

“I guess,” Kyle finally conceded, sometimes you had to make the most of a bad situation, besides it was probably a more pleasant experience than was waiting Denzel when he got sent to prison.

“Right, those of you not currently under suspicion of attacking the elected leader of your settlement cover your ears!” shouted Ai, who had been waiting for them to finish their conversation before beginning.

Fi threw Ai a dirty look, she didn’t have anything she could cover her ears with so she would have to be woken later with one of the potions that the others carried on their person for waking someone who had been put to sleep by Ai, the only other option was to wake up naturally from the magical effects of her lullaby which could take up to a day depending on how much MP she put into it. The companions of the guards would have to be carried back by the suits of armour that contained their partners as most of them didn’t have the ability to cover their own ears either and those that did were being closely watched by Digby.

Kyle carefully covered his ears to block out the sound of Ai’s singing which was actually something he enjoyed normally but the amount of MP she would be putting into the Skill was enough to get each guard back to Farholt and none of them knew whether or not any of the guards had a Skill that would allow them to resist the effects so she would be using even more than she normally would to ensure that someone got a decent nights sleep which was what Ai had been using it for in recent years.

After Ai had finished the suits of armour which had been ‘programmed’ by Jerald to take the guards directly to the town jail in Farholt silently stood up, picked up the guards’ various companions and walked away followed by Ai and Sul who winged along easily behind them. Kyle quickly fed Fi a potion which soon had her spluttering irritably as she woke up just in time to watch the last of the sleeping prisoners being marched away.

“Yup, that’s creepy,” she remarked once she had recovered to which Kyle nodded silently in agreement.’

“Well son, how about we start getting ready for the night?” Jerald asked ignoring the comment about how creepy his constructs had seemed.

“You pitch the tent and I’ll get a fire started,” he said walking away from the others who watched him go with bemused expressions on their faces.

Kyle shrugged, “Alright then. Can I have the tent Dig?”

Digby nodded and summoned the simple shelter from within his Inventory, it had been a while since it had been used but that wasn’t a problem, as items in the Inventory came out in the same condition as when they were put inside, as a matter of fact Digby was pretty sure that Jerald was planning on using the food and water he had been keeping in his Inventor for emergencies.

The next morning the four woke up to discover that the purplish hue caused by the excess quantities of Mana in the Zone had deepened further.

“Hmm,” hummed Jerald in surprise.

“What is it dad?” Kyle asked worriedly.

“The Zone seems to be growing faster than I had anticipated,” Jerald said. “Maybe the monster that became the Boss here was stronger than the average monsters in this forest.”

“What does that mean for us?” asked Fi breaking Jerald out of his reverie.

“Hmm? Oh, well I was planning on leaving Digby with you just in case anyway, so nothing really,” Jerald shrugged causing the others to roll their eyes.

Jerald always acted like this when there was fighting to be done, the only reason that he had ended up marrying Emma in the first place was because she beat him in a fight before Jerald had developed his constructs to the point where they were usable in combat. They had been in a party for a few years and both Al and Thomas had been despairing of the two ever getting together, Emma had been interested in Jerald but when another man had hit on Emma in a bar Jerald had reflexively knocked the other man out cold. Naturally this didn’t go down well with Emma who had immediately challenged him to a duel and managed to win by the skin of her teeth. After this event Jerald had started acting differently around her and eventually asked her out. The two had been inseparable ever since.

“Right,” said Jerald who still had a distracted look in his eye. “When I went to collect firewood last night I found a clearing populated by rabbits, among those rabbits there were already some Mana Mutants beginning to appear, so if you head in that direction,” he said pointing to his left.

“I’m sure you’ll find them,” he finished triumphantly.

“Uh, Okay?” Kyle said looking at his father oddly.

Jerald grinned, “Right then! I’ll be off.”

The other three watched silently as Jerald started whistling while he walked away.

“Is he always like this when mum’s not around?” Kyle asked Digby who groaned.

“You have no idea.”