Chapter 12: A Bleeding Princess
(A/N: The 'Strength' stat was messed up on chapter 9, 10 part 1, and 10 part2. The strength should have been '27 and then 28' instead of '24 going to 25'. It's fixed in this chapter, just wanted to let y'all know. Might be some grammar errors.)
The first thing I did after mentaly stabilizing myself, at least to what I could, was taking the bodies of Evelyn and Erza. I took them a good ways away from the area we had been sold in. I took them out to the forest, to a good place where they could rest. Where I could bury them.
They deserved a proper burial.
As I was digging their graves, I found myself continuously thinking 'What if?'
What if I had the powers of the Shadow Monarch? Would I say that reigning word? That word that has such power behind it. Would I dare to let that word leave my lips?
'Arise.' Would that word be fit to say to the corpses of the two I failed to protect? The two I failed to liberate?
If I had such power at this moment, would I bring them back from the grave? I found myself repeatedly clinging on to this question, continuously trying to answer it. But I was never satisfied with my answer.
After covering them, and finishing the graves, I stood. I stood in front of their resting place. I wished I could bring them to their parents, but I didn't have such luxuries at the moment, nor did I know the family name of the elves. But maybe, maybe one day if I ever cross paths with them, I would bring them to visit their children.
I thought back to when Alice cut her wrist because of the loss of Arthur, back when they had encountered their own battle of slave traders. Though I only read this through TBATE, since I'm in their same world, this must have actually happened not too long ago. With their children gone, the elven parents would probably be in a similar mental state.
I thought about putting a flower on their graves, but then I thought back, Tessia had said that offering flowers was somewhat disrespectful, or something like that. So I simply left their graves plain.
After saying my goodbyes, I headed back into the auction area, looking at what items were left. After the between me and the scum, the guests seemed to have caught on to the situation, since none of them were seen anywhere. They had all left.
I took a couple items and scraps that I deemed useful, putting them in my inventory. I left all the dead bodies of my enemies where they were, not wanting to break a sweat moving them. They didn't deserve such courtesy.
After storing the little I wanted, I gathered numerous torches, and brought fire to the 'Gold Mine Auction.'
It was over.
***
Soon after setting out to who knows where, I completed my daily quest, as I didn't want to get taken to that desert plain. After completing the quest, I rose up a level. The idea of leveling up made me think back to the rewards I had received after killing the scum.
[Title: Gravedigger]
A title given to a mage skilled in hunting humans. When facing humans, all of your Stats will increase by 40%.
Along with the title, I also received the skill 'Intimidation.'
[Skill: Intimidation Lv. 1]
Active skill.
Mana required to activate 100.
Can render a designated target in a state of fear for one minute by using your powerful aura. Multiple targets can be selected.
Effect 'Fear': All stats -50%
A skill that reduced my enemies stats by fifty percent was a huge gain. The only thing was that if the enemy had a high enough resistance, the effect would fail to activate. It was a hit or miss, but a welcomed skill nonetheless.
'Stat Window.' I said, in my head.
Name: Zefrow
Level: 5
Class: None
Title: Gravedigger
HP: 520
MP: 58
Fatigue: 0
[Stat]
Strength: 29
Stamina: 20
Agility: 20
Intelligence: 20
Perception: 17
(Available points to distribute: 13)
[Skills]
Passive skills:
- Tenacity Lv. 1
Active skills:
- Dash Lv. 1
- Intimidation Lv. 1
'My HP and MP rose from the level up. My stats also rose by one, also from the level up. And I have 13 points to distribute.'
'3 points in Stamina. 3 points in Agility. 3 points in Intelligence. And finally, 4 points in Perception.'
'Tti-ring.'
[Stat]
Strength: 29
Stamina: 23
Agility: 23
Intelligence: 23
Perception: 21
(Available points to distribute: 0)
And with that done, I started walking again.
***
Four days of walking and sleeping had passed. I had just gotten done with my daily quest, as well as distributing my points. My level had risen four times.
Name: Zefrow
Level: 9
Class: None
Title: Gravedigger
HP: 940
MP: 106
Fatigue: 0
[Stat]
Strength: 33
Stamina: 30
Agility: 30
Intelligence: 30
Perception: 28
(Available points to distribute: 0)
[Skills]
Passive skills:
- Tenacity Lv. 1
Active skills:
- Dash Lv. 1
- Intimidation Lv. 1
My stats were getting stronger and higher by the day.
Over the past four days, I had hunted mana beasts, for both the experience and food. I needed practice with my swordsmanship, but most importantly, I needed practice with kamui.
I had merely gotten lucky, lucky that kamui had worked out in my favor against the slave traders. As it was my first time using that power. A lot of things could have gone differently with kamui, but I'm still alive to this day, and I'm very grateful for that.
Over the four days, I had practiced phasing through objects, sending my body parts to the kamui dimension. I had also practiced sending my entire body over, as I needed a place to sleep and the dimension was my best bet.
But most importantly, I had made a great discovery. A discovery I was banking on to survive, and thankfully it worked out the way I had predicted it would.
With the constant use of kamui came the inevitable. The double edged sword. I noticed my vision slightly blurring, and blood continuously oozing.
Which then meant the time had come, the time to test my theory. I needed a good result, or else my TBATE experience could be short lived.
I shut my eyes, the silence within the forest was omnipresent, not a squeak could be heard.
"Status recovery." The breeze swept through me, leaving me feeling refreshed and ready for another fight, ready to open my eyes. I wasn't sure if it would work or not, but I had to find out.
Opening my eyes, I sighed.
It was gone. The blood, the ever growing blindness.
All gone.
I could see clearly.
"What a relief," I chuckle out.
'Status recovery' could heal the blindness. (A/N: I have no idea if status recovery would actually be able to do that, but for the sake of the fanfic, let it be.)
With my theory proven correct, a huge weight had been lifted off my shoulders.
After hunting a little more, gathering food and supplies, I teleported myself to the kamui dimension. I took out a blanket from my inventory, which I got from a random box reward.
'Another day.'
***
"Phoo. Phoo. Phoo," I panted, as I finished my daily quest.
[The following rewards are available.]
Reward 1. Full recovery of the current physical condition
Reward 2. Three additional Stat points
Reward 3. Dungeon Key Yin
[Would you like to collect them all?]
'Yin Key? Confirm.'
[Item: Dungeon Key Yin]
Rarity: S
Type: Key
A key that transfers you to an instant dungeon. Can be used at The Porch of Darkness.
''The Porch of Darkness', what the hell is that? So much for directions.' This key reminded me of the tower Jin-Woo had to clear. But this could be something completely different.
'All three points to Perception.' I said in my head.
[Stat]
Strength: 33
Stamina: 30
Agility: 30
Intelligence: 30
Perception: 31
(Available points to distribute: 0)
All of a sudden I felt an unknown sensation. A rough chill ran through and all over my body, causing me to look every which way. 'I can't sense anyone.'
A bell caused me to look up.
'Tti-ring.'
[A bleeding Princess has requested your presence.]
[Do you accept the request?] (Y/N)
'A bleeding Princess? What the hell is going on?' It didn't make sense, the system never did anything like this in solo leveling, at least not that I can remember.
Thoughts, options, reasons, they all ran through my head. I pulled my daggers out of my inventory and took a deep breath. 'I don't understand what's going on, but something tells me I need to accept that request.'
"Yes," I said out loud.
As soon as I made my decision and answered the system, a blue portal started forming in front of me, similar to when I used the key to get to the Elshire Forest.
'Here we go.' I took a deep breath and made my way inside the portal, daggers ready. The blue glow of the portal enveloping me as I walked through.
*WARP*
I thought I would be walking out of the portal, but that was not the case. As my body passed through, and my vision came clear, my body was dropping. I looked down to see all types of rocks covering my entire surroundings, rocks that I would now be landing on. 'A cave?'
As I landed on the rocks, I heard some kind of blast, and with that blast came voices. I couldn't tell what was going on, who was there, or what they were saying. I dropped off the rocks and landed on the more floor-like part of the cave. I ran over towards the direction of the voices and blast.
'Just what the hell is going on here?' I asked myself, the voices becoming clearer. As I came around a corner of rocks, a light was beaming down from above. Within the beam of light, a figure stood tall.
'Horns?'
I glanced to my right, searching for what the figure was looking at or for. There they were, two more figures, their silhouettes hidden behind the dust smoke created by the damaged rocks.
My eyes widened as the dust and smoke were blown away, revealing two angelic bright white wings. Next to those wings, a boy, with a petrified look on his face.
"Sylvia? Arthur?"
***
(A/N: We reached the vote goal in less than 24 hours. Didn't expect that, so thank you all. But yeah, I took a week off uploading, since it was the end of the arc. I'll probably do this everytime we finish an arc. Just letting y'all know in advance.
Till next time.)
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