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Chapter 389: Is this How Sisters Bond? [Release Version]
🕑 Added 2023-02-02 02:47:18 +0000 UTCAuthor Note: People are reported that they didn't get the Email notification, so I will be sending this again. Sorry to those who got double emailed.
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<Multiple proficiency requirements fulfilled. [Dreadflame Dragon Lv. 6] [Hellblade Dragon Lv. 6] [Unarmed Technique Lv. 10] [Unarmed Mastery Lv. 7] [Dark Resistance Lv. 10] [Stage Fever Lv. 7] [Handicraft Lv. 7] [Woodworking Lv. 8] [Territory Release Lv. 3] gained>
<Skill requirement fulfilled. [Dark Resistance Lv. 10] evolved into skill [Tenebrous Resistance Lv. 1]>
There were two weeks left until the Event Quest began. Twelve days had passed since we slipped out of Inkoran-Tazul to go to speak with Saori. Naturally, as an idol, I couldn’t exactly stay still. I had to do something to prepare for the big day, not to mention I had an upcoming concert to prepare for. So, what exactly did I do?
<Custom Magic gained: [Hydra]>
“All-growing serpent, all-growing monster
From flesh you came, of molten fire you are made
Obsidian skin and bones cover your body, your breath as vile as noxious flames
Heed my call, oh beast, fight by my side. Explode in pure heat!
Hydra!”
A brown magic circle appeared behind me before it sent an eruption of purple lava into the air, scorching the air and the ground around me. Using my wings as cover, I blasted the splashes away from me, protecting me from my own spell. After some seconds passed, the lava congregated back to the still visible magic circle, before it turned into a molten sludge with three serpentine heads.
This [Corrosive Flame] spell created a golem; that was my answer to two of my current weaknesses. First, a lack of quick lava creation, and then my just-average melee capabilities when I was away from my close-combat oriented team members like Saori or Neill. Similar to Tasianna’s idea of covering up her weaknesses by spamming golem-type spells like [Winter’s Golem] and [Slithering Frost Serpent], I had the fantastic idea of an ever regenerating lava source.
It just so happened the mythological hydra was the best inspiration source for it … Even if those monsters were a real thing in this world.
Obsidian Blaze!
Even if the hydra golem could move by itself, it was still more useful if I took full control over it. Unlike [Unheiliger Engel], which was a more jack-of-all-trade spell, this new custom spell was here for one thing only—carnage!
“Fire!” I unleashed the triple-headed monstrosity, forcing it to spew corrosive lava sprays at my opponent in front of me, following up with my own [Corrosive Flame] breath.
The feminine silhouette of my opponent disappeared under the inferno, however, with [Detection Sensor], I could tell she managed to dodge the blasts. In fact, snapping my head to my left, I saw her skating along several blue seams—dragon paths—covering the ground. A fat grin was on her face as she glared at me with her hands accumulating pure mana into a ball.
Pulse Arcana! I instantly recognized one of my sister’s moves. Striking with pure mana—something kirins could harness with their dragon paths—counted as a magical attack, but it wasn’t affected by any resistances. Meaning, if you had low wisdom, these attacks could hit like trucks!
I’ve been able to pad my vitality and wisdom for a while now, but this would still sting! Fortunately for me, I didn’t need to dodge, all I needed to do was continue spamming spells as my trusty companion helped me!
And just as I thought that, I felt a signal coming from below me. I kept my eyes on my approaching sister, shooting out spells and using the [Hydra] to hinder her, but I knew whoever this new signal was, it was coming out of my shadow. Seconds later, I was launched into the air, avoiding the [Pulse Arcana], all while I felt somebody carrying me.
“Let’s go, Rajah!”
[“Yes, Master!”] Fully adorned in new Grimnir-made armor, my battle cat, Rajah, roared like a real tiger before he used [Air Steps] to softly land on the ground, only for him to dodge away again, as Neill nearly landed a sucker punch on us! [“I’m ready!”]
I nodded and took out my glaive before grabbing the added handle on Rajah’s full-body armor, holding onto it tightly before I placed my feet into his stirrups. Once I was finally ready, Rajah jumped into the air, prompting me to activate my rocket boosters to blast us forward while charging at Neill with my glaive pointed forward like a calvary.
Using her floating scales like a shield, she redirected the attack slightly away from her, allowing her to grab my glaive. Instead of fighting over it, I let go of it and sent my own set of scales out, creating small floating platforms for Rajah to step on to conserve his [Air Steps] usage. Undeterred by our failed attack, he continued staying mobile while I resumed my spell onslaught and my [Hydra] attacks.
Inside my subspace’s training area, we were allowed to go all out with the destruction. As such, I was free to use [Bedrock Blades] to push Neill back into [Hydra]’s range, and then use my new spell to slam its sludge heads on the ground, creating more lava while threatening her with irresistible toxins. With [Obsidian Blaze], even if the initial attack didn’t hit her, it allowed me to use my magmakinesis to attack with.
“That’s good! Keep moving around, Rajah. Keep spamming that mana pool of yours, Sis!” Neill encouraged us before stomping the ground, sending her dragon paths forward to stop my [Bedrock Blades] before [Gale Step]ping forward to smash the ground before us.
At that,rocks flew up out of the ground, blocking our sight and path, but Rajah got creative. Using the numerous shadows created by this move, he cast three [Dark Tendrils]. One to grab onto his front paw to help us continue moving with my rocket boosters, while the other two to keep Neill in place as my [Hydra] launched a lava breath at her.
She shielded against the breath with her scale barrier, giving me the chance to retrieve my glaive and flank Neill in a pincer maneuver with my [Hydra] golem. Once enough speed was created, I jumped off Rajah’s back and set my tail and glaive aflame. With one deep breath, I recited my going-all-out battle cry.
“Kriffiek kllk gaaung!”
“Kriiark klish garfinik.” And so did she.
<[Battle Frenzy (Minor)] inflicted on [Young Sunfang Dragon, Hestia Atsuko Kargryxmor]>
Strands of my hair turned glowing white while some of hers turned neon purple. This was how two Kargryxmor dragons fought, with the one who could last longer in [Battle Frenzy] mode usually winning due to the huge stat boost at the major stage. At least, that was what Neill told me. As this was training, though, she limited her usage to the minor stage for my sake.
<Battle Frenzy: The battle will of the Black Tyrant Dragon Kargryxmor coursing through his descendant’s blood, tamed by the dragon to release the full potential of the Black Tyrant’s spawn. When activated, depending on the stage, stats and resource regeneration will increase>
Based on Neill’s own experiences, minor gave 10%, moderate 25%, and major was a whooping 45% increase in stats and resource regeneration—health, mana, and stamina, in other words. Since she just unlocked her [Battle Frenzy (Major)], it would be a bit unfair for me, even if I had [Symphonie des Feuergottes] and [Stage Fever] to keep up. It was training, at the end of the day.
And this little fact became even clearer when Neill used her dragon paths to pull out some of her scales to form a temporary baton to block my glaive. Sure, I broke through it, but the little opening she created with this trick meant the flame breath of my [Hydra] struck me, sending me flying back.
Terrible mistake in a real fight which a real fighter could take advantage of, but something to remember in the future since this was just a spar. This was, after all, my first real golem-type spell. I needed to learn to manage it better, and keep tricks like what Sis did in mind.
As I stood back up, my [Foresight] activated and I ducked as Sis nearly kicked me, only for her to stomp down at my glaive, once again separating it from me. Usually, I would rocket boost myself out of a melee confrontation, but this was training and I wouldn’t shy away from bettering myself.
I grabbed her leg, pulled her closer to me and jumped, nearly landing a kick to her head, before thrusting my tail forward. Being more proficient and my CQC trainer, Neill barely needed to sweat to block them, but I continued, even copying the motions Sis used to fight her.
“Good! Keep your arms up! Guard when you hit, don’t let your legs slow down! Footwork! It’s even more important to keep attacking as if you’re flowing like a river while you’re fighting with your limbs only!” She handed her advice as she dodged, blocked, and even countered.
Using the fighting style I developed on my own, Yorshka’s martial training, and Sis’s pure close-combat instructions, I kept pushing Sis back. By also using my flames, rocket boosters, scale-dust, [Flash Fire], and draconic abilities, keeping up pressure was even easier. Alternating between them, even mixing some spells here and there, made it so Sis could counter less and less.
Eventually, Rajah joined in, using his shadows and dark magic to our advantage to keep her movements in check. I even got [Hydra] to come over, using the lava like limbs with [Obsidian Blaze]. With all of them here, I didn’t need to focus on my artillery mage skills, I could fight and relish in this blood-pumping action.
Neill might have been holding back, and not only with her [Battle Frenzy], but it still felt hard to continue fighting with my claws and tail. It did feel like I was trying to punch a hummingbird.
However, like all good things, it had to end. Rajah, being a rank C virigress, couldn’t keep up with us in Stamina. I didn’t even have to use my solar energy nor did Neill have to go full-serious, but we still stopped today’s sparring match.
“Good work.” Neill threw over a towel so I could clean off my sweat. Well, it was more her sweat landing on me as she used her grappling moves. Unless it was really hot, I just wouldn’t sweat.
Still, I accepted it just as Tasianna and Svena came over to serve us some ice tea, letting the both of us cool and wet our parched mouths. We both moaned at the same time, letting out sighs of happiness after a tiring training session, while Rajah just devoured his tea bowl like a dog. My body didn’t feel too exhausted yet, but I could feel the burn with how taxing Neill’s training regiment was.
Funnily enough, Svena did let out a small giggle when this happened, prompting us to ask her what was wrong. She told us up until now, she had never seen two sisters bond this much through fighting and exercise. Very understandable.
“It does make us seem more like tomboys, huh?” I noted, only for Neill to wrap her arm around my shoulders.
“Nah, that’s just a human thing. Nothing beats some roughhousing for rapport, if you ask me. You get to know a person better when they are ready to show you their weak and strong sides,” Neill gave her opinion on it, to which I could agree, as sparring with Saori and Tasianna in the past had brought us closer. “Still, wouldn’t this be more common if you have a primarily dominant male household, though, Svena? The girls have to fight back. I had to with my brothers, even if they only did it to teach me of draconic society.”
She tilted her head, contemplating the question. “I guess that is a good point, Lady Fargryneill. Although, I didn’t have any siblings myself, so I couldn’t tell you.”
On the other hand, my virigress gave a concise answer. [“Rajah likes to fight with siblings. Shows who is strongest and who has to protect the other. Can’t really fight and train with anybody else but family when we still lived in the forest.”]
“Fairies do pull pranks on each other, both male and female,” Tasianna stated. “Maybe we can ask Tatsuya and Kyouya? Have they ever mentioned if they had siblings?”
As such, we turned around to the other group currently using the training grounds—Ellaine’s training pals.
“Faster! Faster! Come on, this isn’t just endurance training but this is also for your agility! We’ve done this so many times already, so keep up!” the blue-haired noble girl shouted while wearing sweatpants and a tank top, all sweaty as she had been keeping up with her own training since past lunch.
“Huurgh …” the archer Misaki groaned softly as she wiped away some sweat from her forehead.
“Getting used to this everyday just won’t happen if you make it harder with every passing day!” our resident runeslayer, Kohaku, complained, looking slightly annoyed as she rushed right next to Ellaine.
Along with those two, four other students were participating in this training— Tatsuya, Kyouya, Kazumi, and Nishio. Aside from the Tatsuya and Kyouya, they were all members of the upcoming Event Quest, so Ellaine—as the de facto captain of the students—had been training them intensely ever since we learned about the quest twelve days ago.
The first part of the training involved going to Griffonpeak and Cedaraille to hunt in dungeons to level up, and this was the second part of it. Leveling and increasing your stat skills might be the fastest ways to raise your base power, but neglecting simple training regiments and sparring wasn’t good. Especially sparring should never be left out, since it helped you learn how to fight by sooo much.
Speaking of training, I haven’t had the chance to go to a dungeon myself with any of them. Aside from my usual training with Yorshka, Master, and Neill, I have been preparing my concert for the dwarves. Just like last time, I was collabing with Rosserto. Meaning, I had to write and accommodate him and his band once again, which took some effort. It also helped that I wasn't going into the more difficult dungeons this time, so I didn’t have to try hard and could just focus on my actual profession.
Gaining more fans to upgrade [The Light] was equally as important, considering the rewards I was gaining from it. I could power level my Jobs once I was inside the rank B dungeon [Menagerie of Golems].
“Hey, Tatsuya! Kyouya! You two got any siblings?” I shouted, prompting them to turn around.
“No!” It was fully synchronized.
I nodded. “Well, there you have it.”
While everybody else shrugged and pushed that topic aside, Neill turned her head around to shout at them. “You two! Stop slacking and keep up with Ellaine! You’ll be keeping my Sister safe while I’m gone, so you better get stronger!”
“Y-yes!”
Oh dear …
Okay, setting that part aside as well, once Neill and I were done with our break, we left the training area and entered Mother’s roost. Since its owner was still sleeping inside my room, it was empty, which made it the best place for my [Battle Frenzy] training. With the twins, Shay and Beth, around and with Tasianna fully taking over the maid duties after Svena left, it was time to continue this important part of my development.
“What is your lust?” Sis asked the moment I sat on the ground, crossing my legs in a meditative manner.
Lust, the third step of the [Battle Frenzy] training. Instead of Neill or Kramps explaining to me what the sin of lust actually entailed, it was Ellaine who did it due to her connection to the archdemon of lust herself, Klea’Hatma.
According to her, lust wasn’t defined in the same way to how Earth characterized it. It wasn’t just sexual and bodily wants, lust was about being a hedonist—doing what you want regardless of the consequences. The pursuit of your pleasure should rank above everything else in this world. Just as Klea’Hatma told us, she wasn’t really on anybody’s side right now, she was just following who was more interesting to her, who could bring her more satisfaction and stimulus.
Meaning, if we failed to entertain her, she could backstab us at any moment. She was a wildcard. A joker.
Which was a perfect segue into Neill’s explanation on what the lust stage entailed. Just like greed and gluttony, lust was about desires. I had to remember this, but there was one little caveat to the process.
“My gluttony is relationships; whether friendly or hostile, I don’t want to be alone. I need others,” I replied. In the twelve days we’ve been preparing for the dungeon trip, I have been repeating this over and over again.
After all, every [Battle Frenzy] step was influenced by the past phases. Sloth was about being content with life—which was the happiness of my friends—while gluttony was needing something to stay alive. They build up upon each other, and was a major reason why the higher you went, the more difficult it would get.
Gluttony was a “gate,” according to Neill; it was the stimuli or “button” to enable me access to [Battle Frenzy (Minor)]. Greed, the fourth step, was the second gate while lust was the connection between the two. The third step kept things together while also acting as mental preparation for the next stages.
A good example would be Neill’s lust. When she told me about it, it fully explained what exactly was demanded of me.
“If the only way I had to make the world respect me as an individual, to treat me as if I was something more than just my name or appearance, then I would even fight the gods. Even if it would be for a small, fleeting moment, if my name could be written down in history, I would gladly give my life to bring up my mother’s clan. Make people fear and respect the Gueillxar name.”
It was determination and will to do anything to fulfill your lust. That was the essence of this meditative stage—for ultimate power and to make yourself happy, what were you willing to sacrifice and endure? What sad and vile acts could you perform for what you deemed the most important part of your happiness. This was the connection with your gluttony.
… Meaning, this was also the part where it began to contrast with the foundation of your [Battle Frenzy]—Sloth. Now, it was about transcending past your contentment to achieve more power. To unlock the fourth stage and [Battle Frenzy (Moderate)], I now had to move out of my comfort zone.
Naturally, my answer to this was—
“I don’t know.” I shook my head, still unable to answer Neill’s question.
When Neill first posed this question to me, I couldn’t answer like she did. What exactly would I sacrifice to obtain happiness? If I had to defend my friends, family, and all my relations, then could I kill somebody? Of course, that wasn’t even a question. I was helping Aurena out ‘cause I wanted to see my Papa and Mama back on Earth.
I was willing to fight the demonkins for them and also for the people around me. I thought I had it down, but then Neill came in with the questions which just shook my internal convictions.
“Could you martyr yourself to ensure everybody’s happiness? Could you become the villain for everybody’s sake? Could you sacrifice your own gluttony for the happiness of everybody else?”
And I just couldn’t answer. Could I martyr myself? Could I die to assure everybody else would be happy when I was currently living the life I had dreamed of? My entire first life had been dedicated to being an idol, to shine and give people smiles. To heal their souls with my song and dances! … Could I turn myself into the villain they turned their weapons at? Could I become the person who would make them sad?
I didn’t even have to consider the last point after I couldn’t even answer the first two. Once again, this training went fully philosophical and ethical. When I first tried to solve and mentally jump over all these problems, I just overheated and forced everybody to cool me down. It just made me so angry having to even think about this.
If you thought about it, Kramps probably had an easy time with these questions. His gluttony was survival; an extremely selfish wish which would have no problem solving this lust issue. Neill was, of course, harder since her happiness was tied with her kirin clan and her own self-worth. Still, in her pursuit for power, she would be glad to put down her life to do so.
If it was to protect somebody I loved, I would also give my life. That wasn’t even to debate, but since I desired everybody’s happiness while also maintaining relationships, the question naturally turned into a scenario where I would have to perform terrible acts to assure them. If the question was only reserved with how much I would train or risk bodily, it would have been too easy to answer.
“How much evil could I do to achieve what I want” was essentially the question lust wanted me to answer.
“… Yeah, I had a feeling.” Sis shook her head, sighing in exasperation. “It’s weird, honestly. Cuz to me, greed felt faaar harder than lust, but you have them in reverse. Once you conquer your lust, acknowledging what you want, what you’re greedy for, is even easy for a hatchling. Well, wrath, envy, and, finally, pride won’t get any easier. They’ll make you question your motivations and all that, really.”
“… It’s all about being a dragon, right?” I hit the point of this training. This wasn’t about being the best and moral human, it was about being a strong descendant of Kargryxmor, the Black Tyrant of the Skies. “We are following his pattern; his training. How he conquered [Battle Frenzy].”
“That’s the only way I know, sadly.” Neill could understand my frustration, as I honestly had hit a huge wall, similar to how envy was her insurmountable wall for a while. “The training, as you say, is to bring out your full draconic instincts while allowing you the clarity of mind to control the increased aggression. That is why I can only maintain [Battle Frenzy (Major)] for a very short moment. Enough for one or two attacks.”
When I temporarily had access to [Battle Frenzy (Major)], I defeated that demonkin of envy with ease. He couldn’t retaliate at all. According to what my parallel minds told me, since I was unconscious when that happened, it felt like a max level player toying with a beginner who had just made it through the tutorial session. They weren’t defenceless, but not a challenge either.
An easy comparison to it would be [Symphonie des Feuergotess Movement (Finale)]. A moment of supreme power for a heavy cost. In [Battle Frenzy (Major)]’s case, it was the possibility of going completely berserk, while finale would leave me extremely crippled even with my solar core intact.
Oh, speaking of cores, my solar core had finally regrown and was back to normal. Yay! Tasianna and Grimnir were planning on doing something with my two broken ones, so I gave them the shards.
In any case, with today’s training still showing no fruits, since I just couldn’t find an answer to this whole lust thing, we stopped for today prematurely … just like the last ten days. With training done, we went and took a quick shower before having dinner, filling ourselves up so we could do the last thing on the list for today.
In fact, it was something I had been waiting for a while now! I charged into Grimnir’s workshop, where I saw him, Daichi, and Haruka packing something in the former’s tool bag. Once they were done, we picked up Ellaine from the dining room and prepared for our departure.
“Princess …” As I was about to put on my boots, Shay and Beth approached me in their full elven forms. They weren’t assuming these forms ‘cause they preferred it over their dragonewt appearances, it was ‘cause they had to accompany me while staying incognito. “Must we really go out? Have you forgotten how dangerous it is?”
Neill, who was coming with me for the same reason as they were, stroked her hair. Just like them, she wasn’t in her dragonewt form, but her human one. “You two know you can’t stop her. We just have to be careful of any dragon and wyvern slayers.”
Right. It had been twelve days now since the Ankoran King sent the notice of the Event Quest to as many places as possible. It was his duty to Goddess Chihiro. Sadly, this was a huge problem for us, as this meant it attracted some very unwanted guests: dragonkin slayers.
Yes, it also attracted tourists and just people who wanted to witness this historical moment, but it brought out people who wanted to kill Manethala the Avaricious. These people were independent adventurers who didn’t care if Kargryx went to war with the humans. Most were consumed with envy or hatred for dragonkins, and they just wanted to kill them and harvest their parts. While a lot of hunters respected them simply for the prestige of killing feral true dragonkins, it did get problematic when they wanted to kill intelligent ones … like Sis, Cernust, and me.
With the whole Adulthood Pilgrimage thing, Sis and Cernust had to actually be wary of people wanting to hunt them. Due to tradition and the established rules of it, even if they got into a problem with them, Kargryx, as in our dragon father, mothers, and siblings, couldn’t really intervene. I was a special case, but I also couldn’t count on proper support.
Aside from the whole “leave them to fend for themselves” mentality, there was some support we dragonkins could get. It was in the form of the dragonewts of Loatryx, fervent followers of the dragons, to the point dragon hunters were instant kill-on-sight in Loatryx. No judge, no questions, no court. Dragon blood was also a taboo subject, unless you were a true or lesser dragonkin.
As the Ankoran King mentioned, Ankor-Nazta forbade the entry of dragonkin slayers into their land and cities due to their alliance with Kargryx. In fact, if you tried to enter the city, some guards were even instructed to outright arrest you on the spot. That was why it should be safe for us in the city … but, you always had to expect people being smuggled in if you were a huge metropolitan like Inkoran-Tazul.
A few days later, a few wyvernslayers managed to enter the city despite the guards managing to find three groups of dragonkin slayers. We had only learned this later, after dragonewts and levianewts just jumped on them like some sorta gang. About thirty of them attacked a party of six, killing all of them. Wyverns weren’t even respected that much by them, but they didn’t risk it at all in case they were dragonslayers.
“The usual vigilantism.” Those words from Sis stuck in my head when she commented on the situation, as if it was just a normal thing. “When security starts to fail, the normal person will rise up to ‘fix’ things, regardless of the method.”
Those thirty vigilanties were punished under the laws of Inkoran-Tazul, with the local Loatryxian and Caedhulen embassies trying to lighten the sentences. It was weird there was a punishment for this despite laws forbidding dragonkin slayers on dwarven lands, but it was more about the principle and peacekeeping.
Neill recalled her mother telling her how a law had to be installed to stop dragonewts actively murdering dragonkin slayers inside prisons, or how some would kill whoever people accused as a slayer, despite them being proven innocent afterward. It got so messy diplomatically, the six dragon empresses had to personally oversee everything after an entire dwarven hold lost over half of its land to a misunderstanding between the dwarves and humans on how to “hunt dragonkin slayers” and where the justice in all of this was.
Violence bred violence, no matter how honorable the reason was. There was a reason why vigilantism was called vigilantism.
“Sis, just change.” Returning to the present, Neill ordered me, shivering a bit. It wasn’t cold inside my subspace, it was just her trauma of having encountered some crazed dragon slayers in the past.
<[Humanize (Major)] inflicted on [Young Sunfang Dragon, Hestia Atsuko Kargryxmor]>
I then used some ocran powder nuts to dye my hair black, once again assuming my complete human disguise. For my own safety and also to prevent dragonewts from smelling me, I had to go around the city as a human. Thankfully, we have been growing these [Ocran Powder Nuts], so we now have a surplus for me to use.
“Atsuko Licht,” that was my pseudonym while I was going around town. I mean, it wasn’t needed, but if you asked me, it fitted an idol and celebrity to have different identities. I was a complete other person appearance-wise right now, so I decided to use an old name. “Licht,” the German word for light and also the name I took when I posed as a noble lady from the Empire to stop a slave auction.
Now, as “Atsuko Licht,” I entered Inkoran-Tazul alongside Ellaine, Shay, Beth, Neill, Grimnir, Daichi, and Haruka. Our goal? The railroad guild and our acquaintance there—Jadhund. We weren’t going there just for trains and stuff, there was also something concerning manatech and artificers we had to deal with.
We were here for the Church of Chihiro.
Comments
Collabing can be used instead of collaborating. It's more "trendy" to say it like that, especially for eastern idols. They even use the English word for it.
Diego Rossi
Thanks for the chapter. I didn’t even have to use my solar energy now did Neill have to go full-serious -> I didn’t even have to use my solar energy NOR did Neill have to go full-serious theywere -> they were Just like last time, I was collabing with Rosserto. -> collaborating
