I got hit by a oodles of levels after killing the Mole. Which, to be fair, it was 8 levels above me. Levels, oh man getting levels was an intoxicating feeling. More so than just satisfaction from winning and seeing numbers change, there’s an actual physical feeling associated with it. It was just mind-numbing ecstasy.
Garrus helped me up from where I had fallen on the ground, “Good showing, lad. Had I worried there for a second when it slung you against the wall, but you have a good head on your shoulders it seems.”
“Thanks, man. I had myself worried there for a second as well. Honestly, I wasn't planning on my last attack to travel through my sword, but it worked out in the end I guess.” I looked at the blade in my hand trying to see if I could glean some hidden feature about it, as I squinted at it the system deemed my focus enough to be considered [Identify].
[Blade of the Warden] -
A blade crafted by the Elven Warden of the Citadel of Nalthien. Its sharpness is unmatched and unquestioned. The Blade of the Warden has a natural affinity for the primary elements and their derivatives.
“What the hell, this thing is a purple!” I exclaimed in surprise.
“Did you never identify your weapon?” Penny looked at me incredulously, “You’ve been walking around with an epic-grade weapon without even realizing it?” She genuinely seemed angry with me for not knowing. I just turned to her, staring at her impassively raising an eyebrow before deciding to just ignore her.
“I’ve seen this phrasing before… What does it mean by primary elements and their derivatives?”
Karif was the one who answered me, “It refers to the six natural elements you find in nature and their direct composites. Earth, air, fire, water, light, darkness. The direct composites would be things like your lightning which is a derivative of air specifically. So something like a composite class of fire and earth would create lava or magma and is considered a derivative of natural elements. But a composite of light and light again would create radiance, which is not a direct derivative or naturally found. That’s kind of a broad generalization and there’s a lot of nuance to what I said, but that’s the general idea.”
“Huh… That makes sense, pretty interesting. So essentially I could cast spells through this sword then?” I turned to him, as he inspected the blade in my hands.
“Well clearly you can, the correct question would be what spells can you not cast through the sword?”
“Yeah, that makes sense. Should probably test that out.”
“Indeed you should,” Karif said with a smile.
I turned around and stuck the sword out to test it against the wall.
“Incoming!” Penny yelled from the side.
Damn. Every time I try to do anything in this world I get interrupted. This is kind of ridiculous. I turned around to look for my next opponent as it came through one of the tunnels. This one was huge, barely managing to squeeze into the tunnel it was one. It popped into the chamber we were in filling up a huge amount of the circular room.
“Alex, you might want assistance for this one,” Garrus spoke softly next to me so as not to draw attention from the Mole.
[level 10^1]
Yikes, this one was ascended. I gritted my teeth. On one hand, I really wanted to test myself against the Mole, cause if I managed to kill it I would get an insane experience. But on the other hand, Garrus was right. This opponent was more than likely a lot stronger than the previous one and subsequently more dangerous.
“Garrus, do you think you’d be able to step in before it mauled me if I tried to go at it alone?”
He grimaced at my question, “It’s possible one of us might be able to intervene, but you’d be courting death facing that thing alone. An ascension gives it a huge advantage in a fight over you, even if you have a purple class and an epic-grade weapon.”
I swallowed as the creature sniffed around, screeching again. Everyone was standing completely still and avoiding making noise so that the creature didn’t aggro to any of them. I don’t know what was pushing me to want to try this. I always scoffed whenever characters in fiction did things like this, running the risk of getting themselves killed just for a few faster levels… But when you’re the one standing there, it just seems so different.
After my first kill, I just felt more confident. Maybe it was the levels, maybe it was the powerful blade in my hands, maybe it was just the fact that there was someone that’d be able to bail me out if things went too far, regardless I felt confident.
“I think I can do it, my stats have jumped up massively thanks to that one kill. And knowing I can cast some attacks through my weapon changes a lot.”
“Alright… Real quick then, you want to make sure your blossom is down and you fight near it, you’ll also want to recast any buffs since you’ve leveled so the new stats can take effect. Now go, before it bumps into one of us.”
I instantly sprang into action. Thankfully this room was large enough to hold the enormous Mole. I sprinted along the edges of the room while casting [Nature’s Protection] feeling the wood fall off, before reforming from the ground up around. While still shoddy workmanship it seemed to mold to my body a little more comfortably this time.
The Mole instantly detected the use of my skill and lashed out in my direction by swiping its claw at me. I barely managed to dodge under the attack, feeling the air it displaced as it moved by.
‘If I get hit by that even slightly, I’m gonna be in bad shape.’
I continued running so that the Mole had its back turned to the rest of the group. It was big, but it only filled about 10% of the massive chamber we were in. I was going to have to use its size to my advantage. While I glanced around trying to see how I could manipulate the creature using the room, it lunged forward and tried to body slam me against the wall. Using my new-found agility I launched myself up as high as I could and slammed my sword in the wall to try and use it to push myself over the Mole. The height I reached was absolutely insane for someone from the world I came from. In this instance, it still wasn’t enough and both my legs got caught by the mole and completely crushed against the wall.
I let out a scream of agony, feeling as everything from my knees down turned to mush and the bones in my legs were powered by the sheer force from the Mole. Thankfully I managed to keep myself held up off the ground, as the Mole inspected the ground instead of up in the air. Barely able to think through the pain I raised my hand and cast [Jolt] to the side down one of the tunnels. The Mole heard the skill usage but also heard the impact of it hitting the wall down the tunnel, and it was unable to see what after the impact instead of me.
As it bounded off I cast [Healing Blossom] on the wall next to me, watching the flower sprout out and feeling my legs quickly grind back into shape. I checked my mana, my eyes going wide.
Mana - 198/510
The cost was the downside of this skill. Which was fair considering at max level it could take me from 0 to max health in 3 seconds. The Mole heard my healing skill go off and came bounding back into the room as I hung from the wall. My legs felt healed up enough, I cast [Shocking Grasp] with the intention of it going through my sword, and just like planned it flowed along the edge of the blade giving it an aura of lightning.
I put my legs against the wall and pushed and flipped over the Mole slashing in tandem with my jump, the blade cutting long and deep into the Mole as the skill stored in it discharged arcing over the back of the Mole. I landed on my feet behind it, instantly whipping around, my mind completely focused on one thing.
Killing this goddamned oversized rodent.
[SLASH!]
I roared out my skill name putting all my strength and speed into the attack swinging the blade horizontally. Blood sprayed out from its legs as I connected them, covering my face. I didn’t even notice, I instantly ran around.
I don’t know what I had initially been afraid of, this creature was stupid. I was smarter, I was faster, I was better than it. My blade slashed out in a flurry of blows at the Mole as it screeched in pain trying to squish the miniscule intruder into its lair. It had trouble moving due to the injuries to its back legs so it couldn’t move fast enough to keep up.
I laughed. My own voice even shocked me. I had almost died in the beginning, and yet now I was laughing? There was clearly something wrong with me. The smile instantly disappeared from my face. Something wasn’t right, this wasn’t my personality. I knew myself, I was a competitive person, but I don’t remember being like this.
I pushed superfluous thoughts from my mind and dashed forward sliding under a swipe from the rodent, a single hit would still leave me in bad shape so I needed to be careful. I came up standing in front of the Mole with the intent to carve into its face but quickly had to jump back as it nearly chomped down on me.
I landed lightly on my feet, taking a stance with my blade poised ready to strike. The Mole looked in my direction, I’m sure if it had eyes they would reflect the fury I could feel emanating from it. I watched the Mole slowly coil up as we stared each other down.
“Alex, watch out! It’s about to charge!” Garrus yelled out from the side as the Mole sprang forward, but I had been prepared.
I had turned around while it launched forward, sprinting for the wall. I moved faster than I ever imagined possible, I came up on the wall and pushed myself up the wall, this time making it high enough that I didn’t get caught. I arced backward over the Mole as it hit face first into the wall, I charged my blade with the one skill I could and came falling down landing blade first plunging it straight into its skull.
My full weight, speed, and strength went into the attack. The powerful blade pierced through its skull like it was made of butter and discharged my skill frying the brain inside its head.
‘Ping’ [Large Tunnel Mole - Level 101] has been defeated.
‘Ping’ [Shock Enthusiast] has leveled 3 > 4 - +4 Vig, +1 End, +1 Str, +3 Dex, +2 Agi, +4 Int, +3 Wis.
…
‘Ping’ [Shock Enthusiast] has leveled 6 > 7 - +4 Vig, +1 End, +1 Str, +3 Dex, +2 Agi, +4 Int, +3 Wis.
‘Ping’ You’ve acquired a new skill [Sparking Blows]
‘Ping’ [Blade User] has leveled 3 > 4 - +3 Vig, +3 End, +2 Str, +3 Dex, +4 Agi, +1 Int, +1 Wis.
…
‘Ping’ [Blade User] has leveled 6 > 7 - +3 Vig, +3 End, +2 Str, +3 Dex, +4 Agi, +1 Int, +1 Wis.
‘Ping’ You’ve acquired a new skill [Thrust]
‘Ping’ You’ve acquired a new skill [Piercing Blows]
‘Ping’ [Blessed by Nature] has leveled 2 > 3 - +10 Vig, +10 End, +10 Str, +10 Dex, +10 Agi, +10 Int, +10 Wis.
…
‘Ping’ [Blessed by Nature] has leveled 4 > 5 - +10 Vig, +10 End, +10 Str, +10 Dex, +10 Agi, +10 Int, +10 Wis.
‘Ping’ You’ve acquired a new skill [Nature’s Touch]
‘Ping’ You’ve acquired a new skill [Barrier]
Garrus and the rest came running up to me, “Are you alright, lad? I should’ve never let you do that, it was way too dangerous.” He fussed over me like I was his son who had fallen and hurt himself on a playground.
I ignored him and the rest, I held my hands up looking at them. I felt strange. When I first came to this world I still felt sluggish, but now I felt alive. It was a corny way to think about it, but it was the only way to describe how I felt. I could hear everything, and see everything, and performing complicated acrobatics seemed to just come naturally. I could hear every breath coming from the party around me. I could practically count the individual hairs on their heads. Alive was definitely the correct description, all of my senses were heightened. I could only think back to the notification I had received.
‘Biology has been enhanced huh? Guess that goes beyond just stats…’
Garrus shook me out of my reverie, “What’s wrong lad? Talk to us!”
I gently moved his hands off my shoulders, “I’m fine Garrus, just trying to get used to everything. I feel weird, I can see more than I expected too, I can move faster, think more quickly, and see things I couldn’t before. I’m just not used to it is all.”
“You’re not used to it? Hah! You talk like you haven’t been an elf all your life or something. Elves have a stronger natural biology due to their affinity with mana, it's like you’re thinking like you’re… a human…” Garrus slowed down towards the end and his eyes widened. “No… Laddie, who are you? What are you?”
I moved past him and the group made way for me, “We should head back to the top.”
None of them disagreed.
“So I’ll ask again, who are you exactly?” Garrus had a much more serious look on his face, the rest of the group were downright suspicious of me now.
I stood in front of them looking all of them in the eyes. I felt anxious, it didn’t seem like they’d let me go without knowing but at the same time, I didn’t necessarily want people to know about who I was.
“You better speak up before I get pissed off.” Penny seemed downright hostile. George and Karif were suspicious but didn’t seem antagonistic.
“Fine. If this gets around to other people though, the moment I’m able to, I will come for you.” I started each one of them down. Garrus nodded his head slightly, “That’s a decision I’ll have to make after I hear your side. I’m willing to live with the consequences if I need to.”
He didn’t threaten me and took what I said seriously. Garrus was honestly a great guy. Despite the seriousness around me, I couldn't help but feel a bit of admiration for him.
Penny scoffed, “Who cares? Get to talking kid.” I immediately fixed her with a glare to which she stated slightly in response, “You wanna go? I’ll beat your ass right now.” She wore an arrogant smirk on her face as she took a couple of steps forward.
“Enough, Penny. Shut your mouth.” Garrus was quiet when he spoke. Penny instantly stopped and paled slightly before taking a step back and waiting.
I gave each one of them one last look before jumping into my story, starting from the time I went to sleep before I woke up in Kelthas, to the time I met them in the guild for the first time.
After I finished my story there was silence. After a minute I spoke first, “Now you know why I was so hesitant to trust you at first. Also why I didn’t just instantly tell you everything right off the bat? And now you also know why I don’t want you going and blabbing to every person in the guild.”
Garrus nodded his head slowly, “Yes, I do. I agree that not everyone needs to know you’re a realm jumper or the fact that you have a gods damned Heart of the Ancients in your chest. That alone is enough to get people to murder you. It also makes the story that you saw the Sentinels of Discord a little more believable. It also means you were the one they were after when they killed Tony and his group.” He fixed me with a stare.
I didn’t back down and held his gaze before he finally closed his eyes, leaning his head back and taking a deep breath. “I don’t hold that against you, though. There’s no way you could’ve done anything and every decision up until that point had practically been forced upon you. You didn’t choose to go through that portal, nor did you really expect them to be able to follow you that far so easily.”
None of the rest of the group said anything, George seemed to be slightly more sympathetic than the rest giving me a slightly pitying look. Penny wouldn’t even look at me instead staring at the dirt. Karif had probably the most stereotypical mage reaction ever in that he was incredibly invested in my story. Probably would dissect me if I gave him the option too.
“We should head back for now, I think this has been enough excitement for one day. I’d also like to confer with my party members about what we do going forward. Are you fine with that?” Garrus wore a neutral expression on his face while he spoke to me, hiding his emotions behind a mask.
I nodded slowly, “I think I’m fine with that. If my story doesn’t instantly push you away I have a lot of questions I want to ask that I haven’t been able to. I’ve only been here 3 days so far, as far as I can tell anyways.”
“Good let’s head back then.” Garrus led the group, I stayed several steps behind their group. The tension between us was slightly uncomfortable, but that’s just how it is given the circumstances.
The walk back was as uneventful as it was coming in. Soon enough we were back at the town entrance. We walked through and eventually came to the first intersection before he turned to me, “Where are you staying for now?”
“Ah, I’m staying at an inn on the westside called ‘Cattle’s Step.’”
“That’s good,” he replied, still keeping the same neutral expression. “Then how about we meet back at the guild tomorrow at several hours before noon?”
“That works for me.” That gave both me and them plenty of time to think about it, although it also gave them enough time to plan to betray me… Although Garrus didn’t seem like the type to go behind someone's back like that.
Garrus nodded to me before turning and walking off without a word. None of the rest of the group said anything to me either. Not that I could really blame them, I was practically the direct reason a group of their friends had gotten killed. Even if I wasn’t directly to blame for causing it, the Sentinels had been there looking for me when they killed them.
“Well… Hopefully, this works out for the better tomorrow.”
I got hit by a oodles of levels after killing the Mole. Which, to be fair, it was 8 levels above me. Levels, oh man getting levels was an intoxicating feeling. More so than just satisfaction from winning and seeing numbers change, there’s an actual physical feeling associated with it. It was just mind-numbing ecstasy.
Garrus helped me up from where I had fallen on the ground, “Good showing, lad. Had I worried there for a second when it slung you against the wall, but you have a good head on your shoulders it seems.”
“Thanks, man. I had myself worried there for a second as well. Honestly, I wasn't planning on my last attack to travel through my sword, but it worked out in the end I guess.” I looked at the blade in my hand trying to see if I could glean some hidden feature about it, as I squinted at it the system deemed my focus enough to be considered [Identify].
[Blade of the Warden] -
A blade crafted by the Elven Warden of the Citadel of Nalthien. Its sharpness is unmatched and unquestioned. The Blade of the Warden has a natural affinity for the primary elements and their derivatives.
“What the hell, this thing is a purple!” I exclaimed in surprise.
“Did you never identify your weapon?” Penny looked at me incredulously, “You’ve been walking around with an epic-grade weapon without even realizing it?” She genuinely seemed angry with me for not knowing. I just turned to her, staring at her impassively raising an eyebrow before deciding to just ignore her.
“I’ve seen this phrasing before… What does it mean by primary elements and their derivatives?”
Karif was the one who answered me, “It refers to the six natural elements you find in nature and their direct composites. Earth, air, fire, water, light, darkness. The direct composites would be things like your lightning which is a derivative of air specifically. So something like a composite class of fire and earth would create lava or magma and is considered a derivative of natural elements. But a composite of light and light again would create radiance, which is not a direct derivative or naturally found. That’s kind of a broad generalization and there’s a lot of nuance to what I said, but that’s the general idea.”
“Huh… That makes sense, pretty interesting. So essentially I could cast spells through this sword then?” I turned to him, as he inspected the blade in my hands.
“Well clearly you can, the correct question would be what spells can you not cast through the sword?”
“Yeah, that makes sense. Should probably test that out.”
“Indeed you should,” Karif said with a smile.
I turned around and stuck the sword out to test it against the wall.
“Incoming!” Penny yelled from the side.
Damn. Every time I try to do anything in this world I get interrupted. This is kind of ridiculous. I turned around to look for my next opponent as it came through one of the tunnels. This one was huge, barely managing to squeeze into the tunnel it was one. It popped into the chamber we were in filling up a huge amount of the circular room.
“Alex, you might want assistance for this one,” Garrus spoke softly next to me so as not to draw attention from the Mole.
[level 10^1]
Yikes, this one was ascended. I gritted my teeth. On one hand, I really wanted to test myself against the Mole, cause if I managed to kill it I would get an insane experience. But on the other hand, Garrus was right. This opponent was more than likely a lot stronger than the previous one and subsequently more dangerous.
“Garrus, do you think you’d be able to step in before it mauled me if I tried to go at it alone?”
He grimaced at my question, “It’s possible one of us might be able to intervene, but you’d be courting death facing that thing alone. An ascension gives it a huge advantage in a fight over you, even if you have a purple class and an epic-grade weapon.”
I swallowed as the creature sniffed around, screeching again. Everyone was standing completely still and avoiding making noise so that the creature didn’t aggro to any of them. I don’t know what was pushing me to want to try this. I always scoffed whenever characters in fiction did things like this, running the risk of getting themselves killed just for a few faster levels… But when you’re the one standing there, it just seems so different.
After my first kill, I just felt more confident. Maybe it was the levels, maybe it was the powerful blade in my hands, maybe it was just the fact that there was someone that’d be able to bail me out if things went too far, regardless I felt confident.
“I think I can do it, my stats have jumped up massively thanks to that one kill. And knowing I can cast some attacks through my weapon changes a lot.”
“Alright… Real quick then, you want to make sure your blossom is down and you fight near it, you’ll also want to recast any buffs since you’ve leveled so the new stats can take effect. Now go, before it bumps into one of us.”
I instantly sprang into action. Thankfully this room was large enough to hold the enormous Mole. I sprinted along the edges of the room while casting [Nature’s Protection] feeling the wood fall off, before reforming from the ground up around. While still shoddy workmanship it seemed to mold to my body a little more comfortably this time.
The Mole instantly detected the use of my skill and lashed out in my direction by swiping its claw at me. I barely managed to dodge under the attack, feeling the air it displaced as it moved by.
‘If I get hit by that even slightly, I’m gonna be in bad shape.’
I continued running so that the Mole had its back turned to the rest of the group. It was big, but it only filled about 10% of the massive chamber we were in. I was going to have to use its size to my advantage. While I glanced around trying to see how I could manipulate the creature using the room, it lunged forward and tried to body slam me against the wall. Using my new-found agility I launched myself up as high as I could and slammed my sword in the wall to try and use it to push myself over the Mole. The height I reached was absolutely insane for someone from the world I came from. In this instance, it still wasn’t enough and both my legs got caught by the mole and completely crushed against the wall.
I let out a scream of agony, feeling as everything from my knees down turned to mush and the bones in my legs were powered by the sheer force from the Mole. Thankfully I managed to keep myself held up off the ground, as the Mole inspected the ground instead of up in the air. Barely able to think through the pain I raised my hand and cast [Jolt] to the side down one of the tunnels. The Mole heard the skill usage but also heard the impact of it hitting the wall down the tunnel, and it was unable to see what after the impact instead of me.
As it bounded off I cast [Healing Blossom] on the wall next to me, watching the flower sprout out and feeling my legs quickly grind back into shape. I checked my mana, my eyes going wide.
Mana - 198/510
The cost was the downside of this skill. Which was fair considering at max level it could take me from 0 to max health in 3 seconds. The Mole heard my healing skill go off and came bounding back into the room as I hung from the wall. My legs felt healed up enough, I cast [Shocking Grasp] with the intention of it going through my sword, and just like planned it flowed along the edge of the blade giving it an aura of lightning.
I put my legs against the wall and pushed and flipped over the Mole slashing in tandem with my jump, the blade cutting long and deep into the Mole as the skill stored in it discharged arcing over the back of the Mole. I landed on my feet behind it, instantly whipping around, my mind completely focused on one thing.
Killing this goddamned oversized rodent.
[SLASH!]
I roared out my skill name putting all my strength and speed into the attack swinging the blade horizontally. Blood sprayed out from its legs as I connected them, covering my face. I didn’t even notice, I instantly ran around.
I don’t know what I had initially been afraid of, this creature was stupid. I was smarter, I was faster, I was better than it. My blade slashed out in a flurry of blows at the Mole as it screeched in pain trying to squish the miniscule intruder into its lair. It had trouble moving due to the injuries to its back legs so it couldn’t move fast enough to keep up.
I laughed. My own voice even shocked me. I had almost died in the beginning, and yet now I was laughing? There was clearly something wrong with me. The smile instantly disappeared from my face. Something wasn’t right, this wasn’t my personality. I knew myself, I was a competitive person, but I don’t remember being like this.
I pushed superfluous thoughts from my mind and dashed forward sliding under a swipe from the rodent, a single hit would still leave me in bad shape so I needed to be careful. I came up standing in front of the Mole with the intent to carve into its face but quickly had to jump back as it nearly chomped down on me.
I landed lightly on my feet, taking a stance with my blade poised ready to strike. The Mole looked in my direction, I’m sure if it had eyes they would reflect the fury I could feel emanating from it. I watched the Mole slowly coil up as we stared each other down.
“Alex, watch out! It’s about to charge!” Garrus yelled out from the side as the Mole sprang forward, but I had been prepared.
I had turned around while it launched forward, sprinting for the wall. I moved faster than I ever imagined possible, I came up on the wall and pushed myself up the wall, this time making it high enough that I didn’t get caught. I arced backward over the Mole as it hit face first into the wall, I charged my blade with the one skill I could and came falling down landing blade first plunging it straight into its skull.
My full weight, speed, and strength went into the attack. The powerful blade pierced through its skull like it was made of butter and discharged my skill frying the brain inside its head.
‘Ping’ [Large Tunnel Mole - Level 101] has been defeated.
‘Ping’ [Shock Enthusiast] has leveled 3 > 4 - +4 Vig, +1 End, +1 Str, +3 Dex, +2 Agi, +4 Int, +3 Wis.
…
‘Ping’ [Shock Enthusiast] has leveled 6 > 7 - +4 Vig, +1 End, +1 Str, +3 Dex, +2 Agi, +4 Int, +3 Wis.
‘Ping’ You’ve acquired a new skill [Sparking Blows]
‘Ping’ [Blade User] has leveled 3 > 4 - +3 Vig, +3 End, +2 Str, +3 Dex, +4 Agi, +1 Int, +1 Wis.
…
‘Ping’ [Blade User] has leveled 6 > 7 - +3 Vig, +3 End, +2 Str, +3 Dex, +4 Agi, +1 Int, +1 Wis.
‘Ping’ You’ve acquired a new skill [Thrust]
‘Ping’ You’ve acquired a new skill [Piercing Blows]
‘Ping’ [Blessed by Nature] has leveled 2 > 3 - +10 Vig, +10 End, +10 Str, +10 Dex, +10 Agi, +10 Int, +10 Wis.
…
‘Ping’ [Blessed by Nature] has leveled 4 > 5 - +10 Vig, +10 End, +10 Str, +10 Dex, +10 Agi, +10 Int, +10 Wis.
‘Ping’ You’ve acquired a new skill [Nature’s Touch]
‘Ping’ You’ve acquired a new skill [Barrier]
Garrus and the rest came running up to me, “Are you alright, lad? I should’ve never let you do that, it was way too dangerous.” He fussed over me like I was his son who had fallen and hurt himself on a playground.
I ignored him and the rest, I held my hands up looking at them. I felt strange. When I first came to this world I still felt sluggish, but now I felt alive. It was a corny way to think about it, but it was the only way to describe how I felt. I could hear everything, and see everything, and performing complicated acrobatics seemed to just come naturally. I could hear every breath coming from the party around me. I could practically count the individual hairs on their heads. Alive was definitely the correct description, all of my senses were heightened. I could only think back to the notification I had received.
‘Biology has been enhanced huh? Guess that goes beyond just stats…’
Garrus shook me out of my reverie, “What’s wrong lad? Talk to us!”
I gently moved his hands off my shoulders, “I’m fine Garrus, just trying to get used to everything. I feel weird, I can see more than I expected too, I can move faster, think more quickly, and see things I couldn’t before. I’m just not used to it is all.”
“You’re not used to it? Hah! You talk like you haven’t been an elf all your life or something. Elves have a stronger natural biology due to their affinity with mana, it's like you’re thinking like you’re… a human…” Garrus slowed down towards the end and his eyes widened. “No… Laddie, who are you? What are you?”
I moved past him and the group made way for me, “We should head back to the top.”
None of them disagreed.
“So I’ll ask again, who are you exactly?” Garrus had a much more serious look on his face, the rest of the group were downright suspicious of me now.
I stood in front of them looking all of them in the eyes. I felt anxious, it didn’t seem like they’d let me go without knowing but at the same time, I didn’t necessarily want people to know about who I was.
“You better speak up before I get pissed off.” Penny seemed downright hostile. George and Karif were suspicious but didn’t seem antagonistic.
“Fine. If this gets around to other people though, the moment I’m able to, I will come for you.” I started each one of them down. Garrus nodded his head slightly, “That’s a decision I’ll have to make after I hear your side. I’m willing to live with the consequences if I need to.”
He didn’t threaten me and took what I said seriously. Garrus was honestly a great guy. Despite the seriousness around me, I couldn't help but feel a bit of admiration for him.
Penny scoffed, “Who cares? Get to talking kid.” I immediately fixed her with a glare to which she stated slightly in response, “You wanna go? I’ll beat your ass right now.” She wore an arrogant smirk on her face as she took a couple of steps forward.
“Enough, Penny. Shut your mouth.” Garrus was quiet when he spoke. Penny instantly stopped and paled slightly before taking a step back and waiting.
I gave each one of them one last look before jumping into my story, starting from the time I went to sleep before I woke up in Kelthas, to the time I met them in the guild for the first time.
After I finished my story there was silence. After a minute I spoke first, “Now you know why I was so hesitant to trust you at first. Also why I didn’t just instantly tell you everything right off the bat? And now you also know why I don’t want you going and blabbing to every person in the guild.”
Garrus nodded his head slowly, “Yes, I do. I agree that not everyone needs to know you’re a realm jumper or the fact that you have a gods damned Heart of the Ancients in your chest. That alone is enough to get people to murder you. It also makes the story that you saw the Sentinels of Discord a little more believable. It also means you were the one they were after when they killed Tony and his group.” He fixed me with a stare.
I didn’t back down and held his gaze before he finally closed his eyes, leaning his head back and taking a deep breath. “I don’t hold that against you, though. There’s no way you could’ve done anything and every decision up until that point had practically been forced upon you. You didn’t choose to go through that portal, nor did you really expect them to be able to follow you that far so easily.”
None of the rest of the group said anything, George seemed to be slightly more sympathetic than the rest giving me a slightly pitying look. Penny wouldn’t even look at me instead staring at the dirt. Karif had probably the most stereotypical mage reaction ever in that he was incredibly invested in my story. Probably would dissect me if I gave him the option too.
“We should head back for now, I think this has been enough excitement for one day. I’d also like to confer with my party members about what we do going forward. Are you fine with that?” Garrus wore a neutral expression on his face while he spoke to me, hiding his emotions behind a mask.
I nodded slowly, “I think I’m fine with that. If my story doesn’t instantly push you away I have a lot of questions I want to ask that I haven’t been able to. I’ve only been here 3 days so far, as far as I can tell anyways.”
“Good let’s head back then.” Garrus led the group, I stayed several steps behind their group. The tension between us was slightly uncomfortable, but that’s just how it is given the circumstances.
The walk back was as uneventful as it was coming in. Soon enough we were back at the town entrance. We walked through and eventually came to the first intersection before he turned to me, “Where are you staying for now?”
“Ah, I’m staying at an inn on the westside called ‘Cattle’s Step.’”
“That’s good,” he replied, still keeping the same neutral expression. “Then how about we meet back at the guild tomorrow at several hours before noon?”
“That works for me.” That gave both me and them plenty of time to think about it, although it also gave them enough time to plan to betray me… Although Garrus didn’t seem like the type to go behind someone's back like that.
Garrus nodded to me before turning and walking off without a word. None of the rest of the group said anything to me either. Not that I could really blame them, I was practically the direct reason a group of their friends had gotten killed. Even if I wasn’t directly to blame for causing it, the Sentinels had been there looking for me when they killed them.
“Well… Hopefully, this works out for the better tomorrow.”
