[World Tree Messenger]

Passive I (Deviant - 30%)

Who better suited than her Guardian to speak her thoughts. There’s simply no one more trustworthy among those roaming the world than you, especially as you found it natural and did so without even being asked. Messengers are what World Trees are not, roaming and fast while carrying the weight of their tree itself.

Thus, your speed increased by 33% (30%), and so is the credibility of your words.

Korra’leigh Grey, Guardian of Idleaf, Deviant of Humanity, relegated to a mere errand girl.

Did it piss me off? No, not really. Thinking about it, that was actually what I was - well, one of many things - a messenger. After all, how many times have I relayed what I learned from Idleaf or Esudein to others? How many times have I had to explain her actions? Or the number of times I explained to her how the human world works. I wouldn’t be surprised if I got a class like [World Tree Teacher] or [World Tree Nanny]. Although, that one would be a better fit for Esudein.

So, [World Tree Messenger], I guess me running through the wilds and passing on what I knew while using the rune was the last hurdle to get the skill. Almost sounded too easy, and it made me wonder what other skills I was one step away from getting. Perhaps some combat-related skills? A girl could only hope.

But with my luck, my next skill is gonna be something as stupid as dancing. Not that dancing was stupid. It was fun when you had a drink or three before. Only it wasn’t...okay, I was going to say: It wasn’t a skill useful in combat. [Dancer’s Stride] in my skillset was proof that even such a skill had its place, though.

Well, I guess I was a little too hasty to dismiss the dancing skills. After all, [World Tree Messenger] was an ordinary skill, in my opinion, yet the bonus it gave was at least a tier higher than [Dancer’s Stride]. That begged the questions of how much better the Guardian dancing skills would be and if I ever got one, would I swap it with my current one?

Hell, yeah.

Don’t get me wrong, [Dancer’s Stride], [None to Squander], and [Striving Mule] were great skills, the best ones I had access to, and nicely made up for the shortcomings of my Class Skills. So far, I was quite happy with them. Only, they were always kind of temporary, taken with the idea that one day I would master them enough to gain access to better skills.

In fact, Deckard told me to always have an open mind for new skills, that I could never know what opportunity I would ever get, and that maybe one day I would get rid of a skill I thought I’d have with me till I die. Back then, I asked if he was talking about himself, if it happened to him, and of course, he laughed it off, saying it happened to a friend of his.

No way did I buy that.

Nevertheless, if [World Tree Messenger] was any indication of the skills to come, I had a lot to look forward to.

***

Usually, when I was in the barracks, I used their free hospitality to help myself to some food. The chefs there were good and didn’t mind if I wanted to take seconds. In spite of that, I refrained from visiting the mess hall this time around, though. Even after puking the contents of my stomach due to a sudden teleportation at the roots of Idleaf in Esulmor and then running for three and a half hours straight, I was still full. Plus, since Squad Four was still unavailable and, according to Rayden, it didn’t look like I was going to be able to go to Fallen’s Cry with them today; I was due for a training session with Deckard. And that meant one thing, more food.

Honestly, I didn’t know whether to rejoice or cry.

Deckard’s food was delicious, and the mere thought of it made my mouth water. I literally had to wipe my drool. On the other hand, I didn’t manage to finish one bowl, and he had five more for me to empty.

“Weren’t you supposed to wait for me at the gate?” I growled at my mentor the moment I found him in Labyrinth Square, still a little miffed that he wasn’t there. Even though him being there wouldn’t guarantee he wouldn’t do the same shit as Agent Sah, I had more hope in him understanding better what I had been through.

“And you weren’t supposed to be there for another hour at least, Little Beast.”

That gave me pause. “You’ve calculated how long it might take me to get from Esulmor?”

“Hey, who do you take me for? I can do the math.”

“That’s not what I meant,” I growled again, knowing his apparent hurt was a mere play, a tease to lighten the issue.

“As your mentor, it’s my job to know you, your limits, and what you’re capable of. It wasn’t that hard to guess that if you shifted into your beast form, you did, didn’t you?”

I chuckled. “Sure I did.”

“Well,” he smirked and went on: “...it wasn’t hard to tell that you could make the trip in your beast form in four hours. What was hard for me to gauge was how long your business in Esulmor would take. So, I left the job of sitting on one’s ass at the gate waiting for you to Sah.”

“Wait, you did what?!”

“Don’t get your panties in a twist, Little Beast. He would have been there, anyway.”

True, it was hard to argue with that. Still... “He berated me for teleporting before I had even consulted with him, reminding me that I could run into mind mages, which I indeed could, considering they’re trying to get to Esulmor and me.”

Deckard shifted his weight and nodded. “He yelled at me for that, too. Frankly, the guy’s right on this one. I made a mistake and shouldn’t have let you go just like that. I know it’s no excuse, but it’s been a while since I’ve trained someone. I got rusty and put you in unnecessary danger. Sorry, Little Beast.”

While I didn’t blame Deckard for any of that, I was prepared to give him more of a hard time, to pick at him a little longer for the hardships I went through at the gate. Yet with what he said, the man took away all my drive to do so.

“How else would you go about it? Idleaf can only move me, Deckard.”

He smirked. “I could hire a mage to put a tracer on you and then have him teleport me to you. The problem is, there isn’t one who could do it in Castiana, not to mention it would be expensive as fuck, anyway. Stuff involving teleportation always is. So, unfortunately, the only solution seems to be for you to wait in Esulmor, under the protection of the beasts, and I or someone else - Sah perhaps - will come for you.”

Well, I didn’t mind waiting in the woods with Esudein and the rest. I could enjoy the flight there. Still, wow. That was some serious babysitting stuff, making me feel really pathetic. Was I truly that weak? I was, wasn’t I?

A growl escaped my throat as I sighed. Regardless of how I had grown, I was still weak. There was no point in deluding myself otherwise.

“Then why didn’t you send someone to meet me halfway?”

Deckard raised an eyebrow. “Did you use the road?”

Ah, I didn’t. I mostly kept in sight of the road, but it was more of my guidance that I held on to so I wouldn’t lose direction. Whoever would go to meet me would have a hard time finding me.

“So, the next time?”

“Yeah, Little beast. We can’t take more risks like this.”

“Is that worry I hear in your voice?” It was there, no doubt. The man was worried about me while I was out there alone. That was sweet.

“Then you heard wrong! Maybe you’re not as used to your mutations as you thought,” he waved me off. “Come on, let’s go. There’s no use wasting any more time here when it can be put to good use in your training. I hope you got hungry on the way.”

I moaned out loud as my fears came true, betrayed by Sage, who wagged wildly behind me at the thought of more good meat. That’s how my afternoon at Fallen’s Cry began.

***

Of course, Deckard was curious about my new rune, the aim of this whole somewhat rushed and ill-thought-out venture. Although he wasn’t as interested in seeing what it looked like as what it could do, I rolled up my sleeve and showed him my shoulder while lighting up the rune. I was very proud of it. After all, when it came down to it, the rune was a sign of my growing strength.

Sadly, I was still a long way from standing up to someone like a master guard, let alone Deckard. I knew it; my so-called mentor knew it. And so he didn’t let me take too long to gather myself. First, he made me replace [Eleaden Standard Language] with [Roundhouse Kick], a skill I acquired not too long ago after much effort. Honestly, a reasonable thing to do. It increased the chances of me getting the appropriate Guardian Skill. Then, after some exercise where I sweated my ass off, he made me shift into my beast form and eat a bowl of meat.

[Roundhouse Kick]

Active I

Anyone can kick; even an unborn baby in its mother’s womb can do that. Yet only a fool would think it might be easy. Giving the kick a form is much more complex than just moving your leg. It requires learning to control the movements of your entire body, from your toes to your tail to the tips of your ears.

You did so, and thus your roundhouse kick will pack 20% more power.

All in all, not such a bad skill. It boosted the strength of my roundhouse kicks quite a bit. But that was the catch; it only strengthened my roundhouse kicks, nothing else, not even any other kind of kicks as opposed to [Punch], a skill that was impacting all of my punches no matter which way I executed them.

Anyway, it was about how one looked at it, and taking [Roundhouse Kick] I saw as the beginning of the journey to gain a skill that would incorporate all my fighting styles, or at least most of them, and not just one attack in particular. That skill was essentially meant to be proof that I was indeed the Guardian of Idleaf and not just some gal with a fancy title.

In fact, thinking about it, this was the first time I was aiming to acquire a specific skill and conditioned my training to it. Until now, I had gone with the flow, so to speak, and made use of what my miserable life had given me. It was actually quite exciting to think about the possibilities and what I should do to increase my chances of getting such a skill.

It was no wonder then that despite all the pitfalls of such an endeavor; I forgot the time and stayed in Fallen’s Cry with Deckard longer than I had planned. That’s why I was in a bit of a rush after that to sell the furs and meat of the Horned Rabbits I butchered so I could visit the public baths before heading to the Library, not covered in sweat and grime stinking like a pig.

Mr. Sandoval was still studying the book Creatures of the Old World: Sand and Dunes by A.T. Sunglide he believed might hold the secret to the origins of my ears and maybe even my mane. Well, he’s been reading it for over two weeks already and didn’t find anything like that in the book. As unfortunate as it was, the old man did not give up and went through the book, again and again, hoping he had missed something. Honestly, since the book wasn’t his, and it was owned by his old friend Margaret Baxter, I believed him studying the book was just an excuse to visit the old lady. But why not? He seemed much happier these days.

Not to mention the excitement he was brimming with over the fact that the books he had asked the Imperial Chef Healer for were due to arrive any day now. Well, and with them, his new assistant. Whenever that was brought up, the librarian would get very anxious. It was kind of funny, but I didn’t blame him. The old man was used to being alone in the library, and the thought of sharing it with someone else troubled him. The fact that he had no clue who his assistant was supposed to be was not helping, either.

Such was today’s visit to his palace of tranquility that, for me, was his library. Mr. Sandoval, now a level 79 Librarian, didn’t have any news for me about my mutations, so we mostly talked about me, and whenever the conversation turned to his new assistant, he got uneasy and turned the conversation to the books the person in question was supposed to be bringing with them.

Believing that after leaving the library, I was done with books for the day was a mistake I was quickly disabused of, as Aspen came out with two of them during my magic training. Some basics on mana and the elements, or forms of magic, if you will. The problem was that the books were nonsense to me without [Eleaden Standard Language]. I was unable to read a single word of them. Of course, after all the time I spent on Eleaden - most of it locked in the cellar - I was able to recognize a few characters here and there. After all, knowing that this day would come and how important literacy was, I tried to catch as much as possible. However, the priority was to learn to speak Standard first.

Speaking of which, I knew I wasn’t good at it yet, stammering with a thick accent. It had to do, though. I was secretly hoping that my accent would blend in and no one would make fun of me in the city. Where did my hope come from? There were a ton of refugees from the collapsed Terran Federation in Castiana, each clan sporting its own Standard accent. So, in my mind, the locals should be sort of numb to the diversity by now.

Nevertheless, for my lack of reading and writing skills, my next stop was the City Hall. The little kitsune Ria may have fulfilled what I asked of her when she taught me to speak Standard, but if she would be willing, I would have another job for her.

***

“Ah, hi, Korra,” Enola greeted me as soon as I reached her desk. “Are you here for Ria?”

“Yes, you see, I’ve gotten rid of the language skill and....”

“Oh, my,” gasped Enola, turning actually pale a little. “Ria will be devastated. She’s been a completely different girl since you showed up; so happy. But...that day had to come.”

“Hold up.” I had to stop her before her misunderstanding went too far. It wouldn’t have been nice to scare Ria by telling her that today was the last time we’d seen each other when it wasn’t true at all. “As I said, and as you can likely hear, I got rid of the skill, but that doesn’t mean I don’t need her help anymore.”

“You mean?”

“I can’t read at all, let alone write. Honestly, Enola, I can’t even sign my name in Standard.”

As she understood, the color returned to her face. “That doesn’t mean you can’t read and write, right Korra. You just can’t do it in our language.” It was nice of her to try to comfort me. There was no need, though. Sure, it bothered me, but I found it vexing rather than making me feel inferior or shit like that.

“Don’t worry. I’m not that fussed about it. I was wondering if Ria would be willing to keep teaching me, though.”

Enola gave a warm smile. “Ria will be thrilled. But you should know she’s still learning herself. What she can teach you will be limited, and honestly...I find it hard to say, considering her...you’d be better off hiring a real teacher for this, Korra.”

Yeah, not that it didn’t cross my mind. I finally had some coins, a relatively steady supply of them - as long as I kept going to the Labyrinth and hunted down Horned Rabbits. Maybe not every day, but I could afford a real teacher. “What about Ria, though?”

Enola closed her eyes for a moment, thinking. “Just because you’re going to learn from someone else doesn’t mean you can’t see her. Of course, I would have to make arrangements with her mother as it would not be within the scope of her job and under City Hall’s supervision unless you intend to continue to hire her as your Guide.”

It was nice to help the little kitsune and give her some confidence, but I wasn’t rich enough to pay just to see her. “Wouldn’t be...,” I said, pausing to think it over. “Wouldn’t it be better if I met her mother in person? You know, so she knows what kind of person her daughter is hanging out with.” Even though I haven’t had kids myself, if I were her, I’d want to know. Nevertheless, the mere thought of meeting that woman, a stranger to me, made me quite uncomfortable.

“That would be ideal,” Enola said, a broad smile on her face. “Do you want to arrange the meeting yourself, or we’ll do it through City Hall? Personally, I think meeting through the City Hall would give you more credibility in her eyes.”

“Through the City Hall, please.” That sounded good. “That is, if she’s willing to meet with me at all.”

“She will!” Ria squealed from the staff door, where it appeared the little rascal had been listening the whole time. How she escaped my notice was beyond me. But what I didn’t miss was a hint of alarm in her stature and voice. Luckily, her eyes beamed with confidence while her tail wagged cheerfully behind her.

“Hello, Ria,” I said, grinning as I glanced at her tail. “Lia.”

***

Name: Korra'leigh Grey

Race: Human/Beast

Gender: Female

Age: 29

Main Class: Deviant of Humanity

Sub Class: Slave

Level: 122

Constitution: 159 (41)

Strength: 88 (30)

Endurance: 44 (29)

Dexterity: 41 (28)

Intelligence: 46 (17)

Wisdom: 34 (14)

Class Skills (8/8):

Indomitable Will (Passive V): lvl 135

Behemoth (Active II): lvl 29

Wrought Hide (Passive III): lvl 42

Unbending Resilience (Passive III): lvl 35

Mantle of Magic (Active II): lvl 17

Ride of Ancestors (Active II): lvl 21

Call of Nature (Passive III): lvl 31 -> 32

Beast Core: (Passive I): lvl 1 -> 4

General Skills (10/10):

Eleaden Standard Language -> Roundhouse Kick (Active I): lvl 1

Perfect Equilibrium (Passive III): lvl 45 -> 46

Spatial Domain (Passive III): lvl 49 -> 50

Beast (Passive IV): lvl 65 -> 67

Never-Dying (Passive IV): lvl 66

Tail of Poison Empress (Active II): lvl 27

Heart of Magic (Passive II): lvl 26 -> 27

Striving Mule (Passive III): lvl 33 -> 35

Dancer’s Stride (Passive III): lvl 46 -> 47

None to Squander (Passive II): lvl 25 -> 28