The last two weeks have gone smoothly for Hinata and her party. The only issue they have had is that Helo has yet to return. But that does nothing to stop their excitement from growing as the weekend comes closer.
“Are you ready? Have you talked to your spirit grandpa? Is he ready?” Looking at the rest of their party, Gabi smirks, “We all know that it is going to be him doing all the fighting.”
Scowling at Gabi, Carl looks her in the eyes. Doing anything less with such provocation would be discourtesy to the position he holds as the Twin Heiresses Champion. “You know that the skill that guides and teaches me. The skill does not control me.”
“Mhm suuuuuure.” Gabi nods in a very sarcastic manner. “yooooooou’re totally right.” She says while winking at him.
Turning back to his food Carl continues to eat. If it was anyone else, he would already have thrown his gauntlet. But even if she is a brat with no manners, she is family.
Hinata smiles from her seat. The chair to right usually has Helo, then Alli on his other side. But with Helo gone for so long they needed some way to fill the space. Petting the black kitty’s fur, the jaguar purrs happy while curled up in Helo’s chair.
“Don’t worry Carl! You’re going to kick all their asses!” Alli yells out with a chicken wing held out in her fist.
Hinata sighs softly to herself. Gabi and Alli both have terrible manners, but at the same time they are the heart of their party. “Without using such vulgar terms, you’re going to do great Carl.” Hinata says with a soft smile.
Carl beams as his two mistresses share their faith in him. Hardening his resolve, he prepares to do his best.
Correcting her glasses Luna scrolls down on her tablet. “It looks like tonight is a by-day for all noble groups. With a little less than one-hundred-eighty parties they need to knock the number down to one-hundred-twenty-eight by the start of the tournament tomorrow morning.”
“Than…” Hinata starts to say to the always diligent Cat-Kin.
“There you go Carl! It sucks Helo isn’t here to enchant you some new armor.” Alli says with a small pout.
Luna sends Hinata an appreciative look for trying to thank her, before speaking up again. “The tournament only allows for skills and techniques. All armor and weapons are going to be handed out by the school.”
Even since her issue during the last challenge Arisah hasn’t been speaking up as much. But showing just how much she has started to come back to herself, she speaks up to the group. “I think that is great. It means someone like Dorimer can’t win by paying his way.” She says with a small smile.
“Arisah has a good point.” Rocco says while nodding to her. He speaks up a little too quickly. It is obvious he is trying to affirm her for talking. “It means that we should get some last-minute skill training in Carl. They will prove to be the difference between victory and defeat.”
Happy with the idea of more sword training both Carl and Rocco excuse themselves and head to the back of the property.
Seeing the two boys leave Hinata is tempted to join them. She wouldn’t mind sharpening her own skill with her sword. But before she heads outside, she goes to her room to call her father.
Every time she calls him to check on Helo, Akira considers keeping Helo prisoner. She has called him more times in the last week than in the previous two months.
As her tablet rings Hinata hears a soft knock at her door. Just as she gets up to open the door her tablet connects.
Coming from the tablet is her mother’s voice. “But I’m sure Carl is going to do just great. He does have that legacy skill. Oh! Hi Sweetie, calling to check on Helo again, you’re going to be such a doting wife. Anyway…”
Hinata blushes furiously as her mother continues to talk about how Carl is going to do. Opening the door Alli can hear as Yuki continues to talk. Alli wants to laugh at Hinata’s embarrassment. But her eyes go wide and she keeps her laugh to herself. She is aware of what Yuki can be like, if she lets her presence be known she will be stuck listening to Yuki talk for the next two hours.
Seeing her best friend holding in a laugh at her expense Hinata smirks. “Mom! Alli is here too! Don’t forget about her!”
“Alli sweetie! It is so good to see you, I haven’t talked to you in like two days.” Yuki says from the tablet. On the screen they can see Helo and Akira eating while Yuki busies herself serving the two men.
On the screen behind Yuki two annoyed maids watch as their jobs are done for them. Maids in the Starhaven household would be thankful for a chance to escape, but in the Kashiwagi household it is an honor to serve the patriarch and the person who they gossip will be the next patriarch.
Hinata blushes again when she sees Helo’s blushing face at her mother’s previous marriage comment. Grabbing a pillow Hinata and Alli get comfortable as they prepare themselves for Yuki’s impressive lungs and ability to string together random conversations into a single conversation that leaves no room for excusing yourself politely.
“Kristen dear, can you run this to the girls?” Yuki says while holding out a plate of sushi and rice for the two girls.
Neither of the girls are going to decline. Especially when their excuse is that they already had friend chicken for dinner. That would only add another thirty minutes to her mother’s rant, and it would turn into explaining to them about how they need to prepare for their future husband. They both have already heard the rant, and with Helo there on the other end of the phone, it would be horrible.
It a small flash of rainbow light Kristen appears by Yuki’s side and grabs the dish. “Oh, changing things up, I like the colors.” Yuki says as Kristen disappears and reappears in Hinata’s room.
Handing over the dish both girls cuddle up around the plate of sushi, they would be dumb to say no, especially when Yuki’s sushi is delicious.
A few hours later Helo appears beside the two tired girls. His eyes are slightly closed, and he looks like a dead man walking. Over the last few hours, he just kept eating as Yuki talked, and talked, and talked. What else was he supposed to do, it felt rude to say no, and he had nothing better to do. Plus, it tasted so good.
Patting the bed beside her Alli says. “Lay down you look so tired.”
Barely even acknowledging Alli’s request, Helo lays down on the side of Hinata’s bed and falls asleep almost instantly.
The next morning Helo wakes up wrapped tightly in a pair of arms. Using his aura, he can feel Alli’s presence behind him, then behind her bundled up close is Hinata.
Wrapping himself in his aura, Helo’s presence slowly starts to fade until he is completely gone. Slowly extracting himself, Alli mumbles as Helo’s heat disappears, but she quickly turns in her sleep and latches onto Hinata.
Stretching out his body Helo feels surprisingly amazing. Is it all that sushi? Was it magic sushi? Helo starts to wonder as he carefully leaves the room. Walking down the hall Helo checks his own room and isn’t supposed to find both Lelai and Inka using his pillows as their beds.
Sighing to himself he accepts that he will have to clean his pillows before sleeping and heads to take a shower. It isn’t long before he is dressed and ready for the day. Only he feels better than he ever has before.
Stretching his body again Helo focuses on the feeling of his muscles moving and the energy flowing through his body. That stops Helo up short. The energy in my body. Closing his eyes and diving inward Helo finds his central area. Looking around he is happy to see the bright copper and dark purple flowing energies. In the center of his core area there is also a buildup of solver-grey energy.
SILVER GERY! Helo thinks as he rapidly reforms the twin paths through his core area. Looking down at the twisting wisp of energy, Helo again tries to figure out what it is, only he has no idea.
Over the next twenty minutes Helo sits on his bed and attempts to control the energy. Only he has no idea how to do so, it is so different and at the same time similar to his own energy. The fact that he can only forcefully exert the slightest of control over the energy is extremely frustrating for him.
Sighing as the silver-grey wisps start to dissipate Helo gets up from his bed. To his side Lelai and Inka are still sleeping.
Walking to the kitchen with his new energy fresh on his mind, Helo remembers a notification he got the day before.
Your skills will need to be upgraded and modified to function with your new affinity.
Well, I’m going to have to go test my skills. Doing anything but learning how his new energies interact with his skills would be irresponsible. He is so lost in thought trying to guess how his skills will change that Helo completely ignores the repaired central living area.
Stepping outside the back door Helo walks through the garden. Waving to Arisah she is hard at work making sure all the energy flows are correct. Seeing the smile on her face, Helo is happy to see her doing well.
Stepping onto the training field, Helo starts testing his skills.
Racial Skills: 5
- Greatly Enhanced Perception (Instincts) (Rare)
- Greatly Enhanced Natural Energy (Mental/Physical) (Rare)
- Regeneration (???)
- Major Vitality Siphon? (???)
- Dark Curse (???)
The first skills he looks at are his racial skills. Judging by how great his body is feeling, and how real the feelings are, he can already guess that his enhanced perceptions and energy are even more enhanced than they already were.
Summoning one of his Kukri to hand, Helo draws the blade along his arm. The blood starts to pool in the wound. Switching the blade for a towel Helo wipes away the blood and the cut is already closed.
“Well… I’m not totally sure how to test my regeneration.” Helo says to himself. Seeing his perfectly healed arm, he shrugs. “Still works.”
Not sure how to test his ability to drain vitality either, Helo moves on to his last skill. Shrugging his shoulders, Helo starts to meditate. Entering the core area he looks around. Still no mana.
Exiting meditation Helo looks at the secondary effect of dark curse.
- Dark Curse (???)
- Primary(N/A)
- Secondary(N/A)
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The skill gives him the ability to select a class skill and make it a racial one. He has no idea why, but he assumes it is a trade off of no longer having mana. It is called ‘Dark Curse’ but is labeled as skill, not status defect, so it must have an upside to its downside. The upside seems to be choosing two racial skills.
Moving on to his primary class skills Helo has six to go through.
Primary Class Skill: 6
- Forced Still (Rare)
- Dark Blade Projection (Rare)
- Defiled Wound (Uncommon)
- Bloodline Awakening (Rare)
- Dark Hand (Rare)
- Negative Weakening (Uncommon)
Realizing Helo has nobody to test the skills on he goes through his option. He could grab a party member. But some of his skills are painful and he wouldn’t want to use them on an ally. It takes a few seconds, but he pulls out his tablet and sends a message to Kristen.
A minute later Helo is sitting down waiting for a response. Instead of getting a text or call, Kristen appears by his side and with a spatial warp, they are gone.
Falling five feet to land on his body Helo yelps. “Hey! What was… and your gone.” Looking around him, Helo can see rows of undead creatures. Using ‘Detect Weakness’ Helo scans them.
Plauge Corpse.
A rift monster born from corruption and filth.
Weakness: Dex
Virus Cat.
A cat infected with corruption.
Weakness: Int
All around him there are random creatures and corpses, but each one is infected with some kind of disease. “Is this your idea of a joke.” Helo grumbles while getting to his feet. “No, bringing diseases back to the clan would be inexcusable.” Helo says while wrapping himself in his aura and finding a place to hide and think.
“They were going to purge the rift because they didn’t want anyone getting sick. It was Kristen’s job and she dumped it on me.” Nodding to himself Helo feels like he has the right idea.
“Hahahah!” Akira laughs while he watches Helo fight corrupted monsters through a dungeon crystal. He has his Dungeon Master add one to his office so he can check up on his people.
Turing to Kristen, Akira points and laughs like a toddler. “Hahah! He so found you out!”
Shaking himself out, Helo jumps a few times to get his blood flowing. “Even if Kristen is being mean, this is a great opportunity to test my skills.” Feeling out the strength of the monsters around him, Helo can tell that they are low tier 2 in strength.
So, getting ready, Helo laces his kukri with ‘Forced Still’. Still not revealing himself, Helo is still spotted by a few of the monsters. They start lumbering, shuffling and staggering toward him. Each one weak from some kind of disease and corruption. The monsters aren’t running at him full tilt because even though they can see him, they can’t feel him.
Taking a step up to the closest zombie Helo stabs it in the leg. Focusing all his senses on the monster, Helo winces slightly at the onslaught of data coming from his aura, body, and mystical senses. But he has able to feel as the skill freezes the entire monster’s leg. Only this time the Null affinity that he has been building within his spirit goes to work with the skill, as the monster’s leg regains its motion a small portion of the energy in the leg is gone.
Stepping back into hiding, Helo thinks about what he just saw. “So, the skill now drains energy. I wonder what happens if I hit someone in the chest.”
He goes to do just that and is happy to find that the skill slightly slowed down the monster’s limbs while draining a large portion of energy, mostly mana.
Going on to test his other skills, Bloodline Awakening’ has increased energy control. Which makes sense, because when he unleashes his bloodline, it is like using a refined version of the energy his body now naturally makes.
‘Dark Fang Manifestation’ or ‘Dark Blade’ took a few attempts. The new energy broke the skill structure. But once the skill was functioning Helo noticed that slid into the corrupted cat easier.
‘Dark Hand’, Helo couldn’t get a read on, but from the darker presence around the skill, he assumed that it has increased resistance to outside interference.
‘Defiled Wound’ increased the amount of time and energy it takes for the wounds to close. While ‘Negative Weakening’ now also seems to increase the energy someone expenditures on those who are affected.
None of his skills changed, upgraded, or were modified in any way. But Helo got some great ideas on how he should go about upgrading the skills. Right now, almost all his skills are at Low Rare Grade. So, he should now have an easier time bringing them up to Mid Rare. He just must practice the skills and do his best to push their new effects.
For the next three hours Helo dashes through the rift at his top speed. Using a healthy mix of all his skills Helo is trying to get a feel for their changes. The only skill he is actively trying to upgrade right now is ‘Negative Weakening’. This is his only skill still Uncommon Rank.
After having it for a while, and with a good direction to focus the skills growth, Helo is using it at every chance he can get. On the bright side, the pervasive corruption of the rift makes it so that even non-undead monster he kills, quickly turns into an undead and starts attacking again.
Swamp Chieftain
An undead goblin shaman.
Weakness: Vit.
“KUkukuku!” The shaman cackles from its unhinged jaw. Helo doesn’t even know how it can move its jaw, the thing only has a single strand of muscles still connecting it to its face.
He was the one to split open its jaw when it was still living. As soon as the monster dropped Helo looked for a rift to leave. All he wants is to find the closest body of water and clean himself.
But his luck wasn’t strong enough. Moments after he killed the Chieftain. It pushed itself back up. Now its corruptive attacks have a necrotic effect too.
Weaving through the bodies of the rising Goblin Guards. Helo starts using ‘Dark Blade’ in a way that he hasn’t for a while. The skill was originally meant to be an extension for his kukri. But the skill just went too well with ‘Dark Hand’ that he started using them as disposable throwing weapons.
Most people would balk at the cost of casting and recasting ‘Dark Blade’ in its separate weapon form. But Helo has the energy reserves and regeneration. Plus, he lacks ranged attacks.
Extending the blade of his Kukri to almost a foot-and-a-half Helo skilling fully weaves through the monsters and the attacks of the Chieftain. All while lopping off the heads of the now zombies.
It only takes a few minutes for the guards to be dead, for good now. Turning toward the boss, Helo channels a large outmount of energy into ‘Negative Weakening’. Trying to focus on the increased mana cost effect, he sends out a wave of dark purple energy.
Still channeling ‘Dark Blade’, Helo wraps his kukri in ‘Dark Hand’. Tossing the blade into the air he uses his will to launch it forward faster than he can throw it, almost faster than he can track.
The Chieftain attempts to cast a shielding spell, but ‘Negative Weakening’ not only weakens his Intelligence and Wisdom stats, but it also increases the cost of his skills.
The extended blade uses the increased resistance of ‘Dark Hand’ to easily shatter the shield, then the increased penetration of ‘Dark Blade. The Kukri lodges itself into the front of the Chieftain’s forward. Stunning the zombie long enough for Helo to leap to its shoulder and use his second blade to lop off its head.
Seeing a chest and rift exit appear across the battlefield. Helo quickly gathers his first blade, and dashes to the clean hope that is the rift exit. He doesn’t even see what he get from the chest, touching it with his finger as it disappears into his necklace.
Standing before the rift exit, Helo uses ‘Yin-Yang Balance’ to flood his body with vitality. His mental energy is nearly drained by the time he stops, but his body is flushed clean of any and all diseases.
Stepping through the rift, Helo moves through space. Landing on the ground he only has a moment to see the trees in front of him before space is twisting again. The next second he is standing in his shower at Hinata’s Kashiwagi. Just as he reappears, he can hear a gag to his left, but there is a rainbow light blinding him, and then Kristen is gone.
Helo sniffs himself only to gag too. Quickly stripping out of all his clothes Helo washes himself for almost an hour before he feels ready to reenter society. As he leaves the bathroom. There is another rainbow flash and Helo is moving again. I am getting a little sick of this, even if it is convenient. Helo thinks as he reappears in the middle of the training field.
“HELO! WHERE ARE YOU!” He can hear Alli’s shouting. “HEY! When did you get there!” Alli says while running up to him. She just came from the back garden. “Come on, Carl is about to fight.” Alli says while grabbing his hand and dashing toward the front of the property.
By the time they stop running they are sitting in the arena with the rest of their party surrounding them. “Hey. You found him.” “Where was he!” His party starts to ask.
“Was he in a hole?” A surly voice asks.
Everyone looks at Rurgrim due to his weird and very dwarf like guess. “Ahem. Maybe we should just ask him.” Hinata says while looking at Helo. Her voice sounds sweet, but her gaze is saying ‘You better have a good explanation’.
Looking around at him at all the other people in the stands. Helo decides not to say anything about the impromptu rift session. “I was testing my skills. They changed with what happened over the last two weeks.”
The surrounding people all look confused. But his party nods in understanding. He was cultivating for two weeks. It makes sense he would want to get a feel for what changed. Hinata nods as well, but she also meets his eyes with an expectant look. Helo can tell she is going to be asking for the full truth later.
A bored-looking Ryan steps into the middle of the arena. As he does the crowd starts to cheer around them. “Why is it always me.” He says while trudging up the steps.
Ignoring the cheering crowd Helo checks his notifications. He was in a rush to finish the rift so he never looked at them.
Your skill ‘Negative Weakening’ has upgraded into ‘Energy Curse’.
Energy Curse (Rare): Channel curse energy from your bloodline and send out a wave of physical or mental energy. Causes physical or mental weakness to those that are within the wave. The more energy you put in, the more weakness they will suffer. While under the effects of this skill, any movement or skill requires more energy. This is greatly increased while using mana.
Helo smiles at the first skill upgrade since he finished cultivating. He expects more to come, but he also knows that it will be more difficult. The system will help less at upgrading a Rare skill than an Uncommon one.
You have gone from level 43 to level 44.
You have gained…
Name: Helo
Bloodline: Redacted (28.9%)
Attunement: Body (Minor-Vitality), Spirit (Minor-Dark)
Tier 1
Class: Shaded Predator (Pseudo Tier 3)
Level: 44
Stats: 620
- Str: 40 (+5%)
- Agl: 98 (+15%)
- Dex:65 (+15%)
- Per: 72 (+30%)
- Vit: 132 (+50%)
- End: 41 (+15%)
- Int: 40 (+5%)
- Will: 132 (+50%)
Free Points: 2
Helo is excited to see the level gain. He is going to have to put in a lot of work during the summer to break into tier 2. He does pause for a second. With two free stat points he can bring his Agility up to 100 right now. He remembers what happened when he brought his Vitality, and Will up to 100 points, he gained a title.
Looking around at the distracted crowd Helo subtly wraps himself in his aura. Then adds the points to Agility. He can feel a surge in his body, he already had an easy time tracking the fighting in the arena, but now it looks like they are barely trying. Only it is Helo’s speed that has changed.
“BING!”
Your agility has reached 100 points while in tier 1. Due to this you have gained the title ‘Agile Predator’.
Agile Predator (Uncommon): Whenever you are tracking your speed stat increases your speed of thought. This adds onto the effects that Intelligence and Perception have on your speed of thought. Agl gains +5% efficiency.
Helo is slightly confused about the decrease in rarity. The title he got for Vitality and Will was rare grade. Maybe it has to do with two versus one. Or maybe the synergy between vitality and will. Helo shrugs in the end because he isn’t really sure.
One final thing before watching the matches, Helo pulls up his full status sheet.
Name: Helo Vital
Tier: 1
Bloodline: Redacted (28.9%)
Attunment: Body (Minor-Vitality), Spirit (Minor-Dark)
Title: Nature’s Alpha (Epic), Spirit Blessed (???), Yin-Yang Balance (Rare), Agile Predator (Uncommon).
Gear: Alpha Wolf Hide Bracers (Epic), Boxers of Infinite Regeneration (Epic), A mother’s first gift, a father’s first lesson. (Mythic/Hidden) (Rare)
Aura: Null Presence
Age: 17
Class: Shaded Predator (Pseudo Tier 3)
Level: 44
Stats: 622
- Str: 40 (+5%)
- Agl: 100 (+20%)
- Dex:65 (+15%)
- Per: 72 (+30%)
- Vit: 132 (+50%)
- End: 41 (+15%)
- Int: 40 (+5%)
- Will: 132 (+50%)
Racial Skill: 5
- Greatly Enhanced Perception (Instincts) (Rare)
- Greatly Enhanced Natural Energy (Mental/Physical) (Rare)
- Regeneration (???)
- Major Vitality Siphon? (???)
- Dark Curse (???)
- Primary(N/A)
- Secondary(N/A)
Primary Class Skill: 6
- Forced Still (Rare)
- Dark Blade Projection (Rare)
- Defiled Wound (Uncommon)
- Bloodline Awakening (Rare)
- Dark Hand (Rare)
- Energy Curse (Rare)
Skills: 3
- Nature’s Flow Meditation (Uncommon)
- Detect Weakness (Uncommon)
- Appraisal (Common)
Techniques: 2
- Moon-Staff (Uncommon)
- Moonshines Afterblock (Uncommon)
- Twin Fang of the Beast (Uncommon)
- Attacking from a step behind (Uncommon)