BXBX NOVEL Chapter 45 - A Second Stand Part 2
* Elijah Woods x Jamie Fine - You *
***
"You\'re saying that there are more monster kings? How many else do we have left, and if what you call the 2nd king hasn\'t died yet, where is it?" Maria questioned.
"I think I can answer that," Joey yelled to the group as he readied his light sword. "Monsters attacking from the north!"
Looking at the horde of monsters charging at them, with the dark grim reaper at their front, Camilla and Maria gasped at the same time.
"Rain, what\'s the situation over there?" Maria asked Rain as she was the one healing Raven.
"Ugh" almost as if answering the call, Raven woke up and groaned in pain. Looking around, she instantly realized what was happening.
"You\'re awake!" Maya hugged her tightly. "We have to run!"
"So I couldn\'t even kill that idiot huh?" she said in disappointment as she stood up with Maya\'s help as she felt a familiar pain in her head. "Camilla, how ready are you?"
"Got two small spells at the ready."
"Small as in they can take care of that crowd of monsters?"
"Yes, but possibly not the 2nd king." she said as she looked down and smiled in embarrassment.
"Copy," Raven said with a hand over her head as the headache wasn\'t planning on letting go that easily.
"Joey," she called out and looked at the boy with the long light sword. "You\'re a B ranker, are you ready to go up against an A+ ranker?"
"Err, no?" Joey said bluntly. "But I\'ll do my best, your highness."
"Pfft, don\'t be a party pooper, and stop with that title, it\'s just embarrassing!" she said with a chuckle, somehow making the whole ordeal seem a little bit... casual, rather than a life or death situation.
"We\'ll provide you with some cover fire and support whenever you need it, don\'t worry about it." she continued.
"Maria, get a feeling for the battlefield and tell me what you think, or if you get any strange sensations indicating the type of your powers. But staying safe is your priority.
"Rain stand behind me and Maya, we\'ll keep you safe.
"Maya, use your gun for cover fire whenever needed, but be aware, it\'ll suck some energy out of you." Even though the Wingman mostly used the world\'s energy, it did require some energy signature to assume friendly.
"Uhm!" Maya replied, rather excited to protect Raven for once, and be of help.
"Drones!" she called lastly for the drones that were following the group. "Scout, keep an eye for any stealthy enemies. Guardian, activate your force shield whenever needed."
""Uhm!"" Everyone nodded as they assumed their respective roles.
\'Kayla, what\'s our mana condition?\' Raven asked in her mind.
[Mana resting at 100%]
\'What?! why am I feeling so weak and disoriented?\'
[Your soul has been exposed to slight corruption, Kayla has currently little to no information about the issue.]
\'Damn it, I shouldn\'t have tried to play hero and save the stupid souls!\'
[But saving them was only a byproduct of your actual plan. You wanted to-]
\'Oi, oi I get your point alright! No need to stab at my good self-image\' Raven replied slightly red in embarrassment. \'what are my stats now by the way?\'
[Loading Status Page...
[Race: Soul Weaver.
[Class: Royal
[Blessings: Infinity\'s Will. Avavia\'s Affection.
[Titles: Soul Weaver Princess. Heavenly Collector. Exorcist.
[Rank: C++
[Energy Capacity: 320,000 EP
[Magic Skills:
Advanced Mana Manipulation (tier 2) - Level 2
[Inherent Skills:
Contingency Call (tier ???) - Level ???
Quick Study (tier ???) - Level ???
[Special Skills:
Ruler\'s Domain (tier 2) - Level 2
Invigoration - Level 2
Holy Touch - Level 2
Vampiric Touch - Level 2
Shadow Manipulation - Level 3 (Max)
Scanner Rings - Level 2
Deadly Vision - Level 2
Contractor - Level 2
Soul Illusion - Level 2
Stealth (Passive+) - Level 3 (Max)
Soul Predation (tier 3) - Level 2
Knowledge of the Ancients (Passive) - Level 2
[System Unique Skills:
Absorption - Level 2
Integration - Level 2
Appraisal (Passive) - Level 2
Thought Acceleration (Passive) - Level 2
Parallel Processing (Passive) - Level 2
[Ultimate Skills:
Ex Machina: Nanotech Creation (Spacial Transfer Bracelet series, Wingman series guns, Guardian Drone series, Scout Drone series.)]
\'Hm, I see some new skills, you\'ll have to explain them after we\'re done here.\' Raven thought to Kayla. \'I am kinda curious about the skill Knowledge of the Ancients though, it\'s a passive skill...\'
Just as she thought about the skill, foreign information flashed through her mind.
All of a sudden, knowledge about runes and enchantments became familiar to her.
Smirking slightly, she pondered if that was because of what she\'s witnessed in the trial where she used these runes. Now that she can create them, things were going to get a little bit more... fun.
Seeing the cunning smile on her face, Camilla couldn\'t help but ask, "Have a new \'creative\' way of dealing with the dark reaper?"
"Maybe," was all that Raven said.
Camilla shrugged and got back to her spells. It would never hurt to have more at the ready, just in case some unpleasant surprises arise.
"Fuuu~" breathing out slowly and closing her eyes, Raven activated her Shadow Manipulation skill, summoning her dark armour.
Her shadow disappeared from its place on the ground, or rather crawled up Raven\'s body and covered her like a second skin, forming the familiar jet black armour.
Since her skill: Knowledge of the Ancients wasn\'t an active skill she didn\'t need to spend mana in order to keep the knowledge of how to make the runes and add them to her armour.
The runes, at her level, worked as connectors and amplifiers. They basically were a way for her to channel amplified mana into her armour directly increasing its power, defence, and durability.
Although she could do that with her Mana Manipulation, she couldn\'t amplify it, nor could she keep it going for long. The runes were more efficient.
Different runes would have different structures, and each structure is responsible for different functions. Just like a cell in the body, the function determines the structure.
"Fuuu~" breathing in and out slowly, she followed the steps in her mind in order to form the runes.
\'Condense your mana into small orbs,\' she thought to herself as a small orb of golden light appeared floating up above her open palm.
\'Add more and more energy until you\'ve formed a solid core.
\'Imprint the function onto the core.\' this would usually be the hardest step, but she had the necessary knowledge to make it work.
\'Visualise the appearance of the rune in your mind as you match its structure to its intended function.
\'Pulse a small amount of energy into it to lock the rune in its current shape.
\'One last pulse in order to imprint it into the armour.\'
"Fuuu~" the process was rather quick in real life as she had Advanced Mana Manipulation and Thought Acceleration to help her out.
Plus, with Parallel Processing, she\'s never had to lose track of the monsters coming her way.
The final product was one small rune that was engraved into her chest plate, almost like a metallic tattoo. Instead of the ominous red she saw in the trial, it was pulsing with her own majestic gold, making her armour even more magnificent.
"You\'re not gonna be doing any fighting, are you?" Maya said with one raised eyebrow.
"Err, my mana is full, I can\'t see why not..."
"Because you make fainting look like a hobby to you!"
"Haha don\'t worry," Raven said as she scratched her cheek in embarrassment. "I\'ll be more careful, I promise!"
"We\'ll see *sigh*" Maya was done with her careless attitude, but now wasn\'t the time to argue.
\'Alright, time for swords to show up now.\' she thought as she condensed massive amounts of mana forming two incredibly bright golden wisps of light. After some quick molding and reforming, two golden great swords appeared in her hands.
Repeating the same process she\'s done for the armour, a set of twin runes appeared on both swords. Glowing with a deeper shade of majestic gold.
[Please note that your Mana reserves have dropped to about 65%]
\'Eh that\'s it? That\'s awesome! The little rank up I got must\'ve added a lot to my overall stats.\' usually her armour set and two swords would take up more than 50% of her overall mana.
But now, even though she\'s used some other skills to create the runes, it wasn\'t even close to the old amounts.
[Do you wish to activate invigoration to restore some of the lost energy?]
\'Err, you haven\'t explained that skill yet. Would you please be so kind and do that for me?\'
[Affirmative.
[nvigoration - Level 2: For a set number of charges per day, you\'re able to breath in the world energy and convert it to mana of your own signature, restoring a portion of your mana reserves. Charges per day: 4. Current percentage of mana that will be restored: 15%
[Remaining charges: 2]
\'Hmm, that looks good, but I\'ll refrain from using it now.\' Raven said to Kayla as she looked at the horde of monsters now so close to their location.
The dark grim reaper was eyeing her in.... suspicion? \'Does it think I\'m still hiding something?\' Raven thought to herself.