The monster hadn't noticed me yet so I took this opportunity to prepare for the fight. I didn't know what I was going to encounter but it was big. I ejected the spent watershell from Malice loading in a fresh one. So far I'd yet to come across any elemental weakness that these skeleton monsters could have. As a precaution, I pulled out the spare rockshell. Another new name courtesy of Douge. And replaced it with my quad elemental shell. I didn't have many of these left. I only had three and no way to make more right now, but what was the point of holding on to them if I wasn't going to use them for moments like this. I remember a moment from back in high school before my parents were killed.

  “ Hey Rin!” Steven called out to me. Both of us sat next to each other in class and have become relatively good friends due to our proximity.

  “ Rin! Did you get that new game? Fantasy.”

  “ Final? No I didn't.”

  “ Aww man you're really missing out. I binged it all weekend.”

  “ Is it good?”

  “ Oh yeah super good. I've been saving all my most powerful items for the last boss fight. But I don't know if I'll use them because what if there's a phase two or even a phase three.”

  “ Yeah?”

  “ I mean I guess I should use them. I always do the thing where I save up all the good items and end up never using them cuz I think I'll need them later on.”

  “Then you should just sale them?”

  “ No no no I'm sure I'm gonna need them.”

  Next week after Steven had beaten the game He came back to me grumbling that he should have used his items earlier on while he was struggling cuz he ended up not needing them due to all the grinding he did to level his characters up for the final fight and that by the time he got to the final fight he wiped the floor with the boss

  I pulled out an earth mana crystal looking it over before quickly referencing my Mark Of The Void skill again.

  [Skill: Mark Of The Void level . This is a god skill. Skill will react and form new skills based on other skills. Mark Of The Void allows you to devour magic sources. Devouring magic sources can grant new abilities. Devouring a mana rich item will temporarily increase one stat.]

  I was hesitant to eat a rock but if I was reading this skill right it's like giving me a boost for the fight. I shook out my arms and legs as I'm mentally prepared myself.

  The mana crystal didn't taste. Too bad actually. It had a sort of rock candy flavor but didn't hurt my teeth to chew it and it sort of just melted in my mouth like cotton candy. A thirty minute timer appeared in a new window.

  [30 minutes remaining: Constitution has been buffed by 5 points.]

  That was good. My Constitution was one of my lowest stats and that buff brought it up to eighteen. I aimed malice at the borough entrance and pulled the trigger in an instant, a rock formed in front of the barrel spinning slowly. At first, the rock itself formed into a large drill shape, eventually spinning so fast, it became a blur. A new attack I worked on with Sophia by condensing the mana I can press the rock giving it a spiral form spinning it at high speeds for better penetration. This was apparently one of the most common earth elemented spells I never seen Douge use it before because he never needed to have a ranged option and always opted for impelling spikes and rock armor. Assumer concept for this. Drill shot. Could apparently be used for all the elements.

  I released the drill shot, sending it into the burrow and hopefully hitting the monster inside. I didn't have to wait for confirmation as the monster leaped out of the burrow, it's a long segmented body hitting the ground creating a plume of dust around it. The monster had a striking resemblance to a giant centipede. Just like every other monster in this area, its entire body was made of human bones. Long leg bones made the centipedes forcipules. They were long. Pincher-like appendages that came just behind its head. The centipede struck out with its forcipules attempting to grab me. I readied another drill shot as I dodged back firing at point blank into the monster's face. Despite this attack being a well-known and well-used spell, I still added my own modifications. The spinning hunk of rock lightly penetrated the bony exterior but that was enough as it exploded. All the mana decompressing at once. It tore a large chunk of bone from the centipede's body enraged by the attack. The monster swung its back end at me a pair of? More forcipules. I had some common knowledge of centipedes so what I saw right now I knew was completely wrong. The centipede usually only had one head and a false backend but this monster appeared to be two centipedal creatures fused into one. The other end attempted the same attack trying to grab me. Using the sword in my off hand informing an obsidian blade on malice. I parried the attack using the centipede's own momentum causing its head to rear back. Dashing forward I slashed in an x pattern. The bone didn't chip or break the attack leaving only a small cut. I quickly moved to the side, getting out from under the monster. Somehow its original head managed to circle around into my blind spot and by the time I saw him it was too late. The centipede managed to grab me, its forcipules injecting some sort of toxin into me.

  [Debuff: inexorable paralysis has taken effect.]

  [Skill: Magical inept has attempted to resist inexorable paralysis.]

  [ Debuff: inexorable paralysis has not been resisted]

  I screamed out in pain though gritted teeth I could feel the toxin entering my veins like burning water flowing through me. It will seem to be just paralysis and not an immediate one at that. I was now on our time limit. I just didn't know how long I had.

  I mentally commanded malice to change barrels to my quad element itself and in a panic I fired off three rapid shots of unfocused mana the only mental command was to kill. The first shot hit dead center. The centipede's head, the second one missed hitting the main body. The third and final shot hit one of the forcipules completely shattering the connecting bones causing the centipede to drop me. I could feel the paralysis taking effect as my left leg wouldn't move. Fuck. I thought. The second head reared back like a snake ready to strike. A new notification appeared.

  [Overclock cooldown finished.]

  I grinned thankful I didn't use the full body form earlier as I activated it now. Power rushed into me when another set of notifications appeared.

  [Inexorable paralysis has not been resisted]

  [Inexorable paralysis has slowed paralysis will now take twice as long.]

  The numb feeling in my leg was still there but I could definitely feel the effects lessening. Time seemed to slow as it always did. When I activated an overclock the second head was still reared back. I rushed up pulling my hand back. What's a mental command mana began pouring out a malice swirling around the barrel and up my arm. The mana solidified into a glowing white gauntlet veins of red, blue, and brown. The Gauntlet had a pair of thrusters on the elbow that glowed a bright green and with a rush of energy I punched, wind propelling my fist forward faster than I could have ever moved it myself. A large conical shape formed from my wrist to the tip of malice, the swirling colors encompassing the cone and in moments my arm was buried into the centipede's body.

  What happened next was more than unexpected. Sophia had told me that residual mana can often be left over when combining elements and in this case my quad element shell combined all four. I hadn't noticed it before, but my panic shots left a residual mark on the centipede. Cracks expanded out from the impact point quickly growing across the entire body. Pure white light glowing from inside as if the centipede was a large ornamental lantern. The moment the cracks reached the first residual mark things got weird. The cracked and fractured centipede expanded out like a balloon, each piece of bone connected to what seemed to be a fleshy nervous system. Each chunk of bone held on by a meaty string. The expanding body freed my arm and allowed me to jump back away from the monster where I had an even better view. The light had reached the head. The centipede's entire body was ballooned out. Each piece rattling as a centipede screeched in pain and then nothing. The entire centipede disintegrated, turning to a large pile of ash.

  [ Light elemented damage has disintegrated Geophilomorph bone abomination. Your loot ability has activated]

  [Level up]

  [Paralysis toxin has been obtained]

  [Geophilomorph bone greaves have been obtained]

  [5 fire crystals have been obtained]

  [5 water crystals have been obtained]

  [5 earth crystals have been obtained]

  [5 wind crystals have been obtained]

  “ How did I get a pair of greaves from? you know what? That doesn't matter right now” I could still feel the toxin spreading through my body. Even though it was slower, my entire leg had begun to lock up. It wasn't too uncomfortable like my lake had just fallen asleep and pins and needles were pricking it all over. Unable to move my left leg. I hopped over to the borough and peered inside. It was a large open space with a steep ramp down to the bottom.

  “Liliandra!” I shouted trying to get a response. I heard a faint mumbling but couldn't make out what the words were. There's only one way down there and she was my only chance at curing this debuff. I jumped forward, falling flat on my butt and sliding down. I tried to keep my balance but hit a large rock and was sent tumbling rolling head first. I landed with a sickening crunch as something broke.

  “ That did not go as planned.” I groaned “ Liliandra speaks out so I can find you.” More mumbling but it was definitely her. I tried to get back on my feet but as soon as I put weight on my right arm, searing pain caused me to fall again. It was strange feeling this amount of pain from a broken bone after all the injuries I had gone through. I tried rising up again this time leaning on my left arm. Another notification flashed across my vision.

  This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

  [Overclock has ran out stats will slowly return to normal]

  Shit. I thought. As I could feel the paralysis slowly speeding up again then a thought occurred to me. I quickly went into my inventory and pulled out more earth mana crystals. I quickly ate five of them as I limped my way towards Liliandra's mumbling. A notification for a constitution increase popped in my vision every time I finished a crystal. With each stat increase the inexorable paralysis slowed down. Eventually I made it to a large mound of dirt with a single Fur covered hand sticking out of it.

  “ Liliandra!” I shouted I put panic into my voice more for the benefit of her than me.

  “Rin! Help!” Her voice was muffled by all the dirt piled on top of her.

  “ Don't worry I'll get you out “ I said. Using malice I mentally commanded it to switch over to a rockshell placing the tip of malice's barrel into the dirt. I pulled the trigger commanding the Mana to move the dirt and compress it into a wall. Slowly all the dirt surrounding her body slid away as if it was retreating from my touch eventually forming into a thick wall to my right. She looked ragged. clumps of mud stuck to her fur where her sweat mixed with dirt.

  “Rin.” She whispered I only smiled in response. A reassuring smile.

  “ I know you're probably not feeling the best right now, but I messed up in my last fight and got hit with a pretty strong debuff.” Despite all the effort I took to slow the debuff down, I could feel the toxin reaching my heart. My vision slowly started to fade as my heart rate lowered.

  “ I'm probably going to pass out here soon. I don't know what's going to happen once the paralysis spreads through my whole body, but I can feel it. Slowly shutting my body down.” Her eyes went wide as she sat up shitting forward “ Don't panic. I see you don't have your staff.” My breathing was becoming ragged and I had to take short breaks between words. I quickly went into my inventory and dumped out all the crystals I had along with all the spare ammunition from malice. I could see she wanted to speak to say something but she held her tongue and waited for me to finish. “ I will be fine.” My vision slowly blinked out as I lost consciousness.

  I woke up feeling numb. My whole body ached but I could feel it.A faint light illuminated my surroundings and a soft plushness enveloped my head. Liliandra was suddenly leaning over me. She had tears in her eyes. The fur on her face was soaked.

  “ Thank you, Lumia. He's awake, praising the gods.” She placed a hand on my chest and curled over placing her head against the bottom of my face letting out a soft sob. I raised my hand and placed it on her head petting her trying to comfort her. Another knot twisted in my stomach. Perhaps this was too affectionate but I needed her to like me. To worry over me.

  “ I'm fine.” My voice came out hoarse and my lips were dry. A few new notifications were obstructing my view somewhat so I read them and dismissed them as Liliandra talked.

  [Liliandra has now joined the party, please see party interface tab for more info.]

  “ Your heart stopped while I prepared the ritual. I thought I was too late. I thought.” Her sobs were muffled by my chest.

  “ It's okay you're not alone anymore.” She nodded and sat back up using her robe to clean snot from her face and my chest.

  “ That monster did you beat it?”

  “ Yeah I had to overclock and use some valuable items but I did it.”

  “ What's with you? You struggle against a town rank wraith not even five days ago and then kill a city rank monster.” She said with a soft chuckle

  “ That was a city rank monster?” I hadn't even noticed my wisdom stat must be high enough to deal damage to them consistently. I really need to figure out how to tell strength through aura.

  “ Yes even though I was buried I could still feel the thing through my aura.” She paused for a moment. Glancing at my left hand where my new mark was.

  “ Is that a mark of the serpent? I thought the owner of that mark was still alive.” Mark of the serpent? Perhaps she thought that because of the snake heads?

  “ No it's…actually let's not talk about that right now okay?” I said

  “ Okay “ she didn't push me any further. I wasn't sure how she would react to the truth and figured waiting to tell everyone else was okay would be best.

  “ What am I laying on anyways? It's pretty soft.” I said

  “ My lap.” she said

  “ You're lap?” I said

  “ Yeah my lap.” Her lap?.Is this a good thing or a bad thing? Good I think but.. I sat up and my whole body tingled with pins and needles.

  “ We should set up camp for the day. This place should be safe now that the room monster is dead. I need ten more hours before overclock is ready to use and I would like to have that ready in case another strong monster attacks.”

  “ Oh okay.” She sounded disappointed?

  We settled in for the night. Both of us needed rest and there was no real reason to rush when rushing could get us both killed. After some internal debate I finally decided on getting my wisdom to 20 and dumping the rest of my stats into intelligence. I figured if I got a new skill at 25 for strength I should get one for intelligence and hopefully it would be something as good as unstoppable force was.

  [Level 16]

  [ Stats: Strength 35, Constitution 13, Dexterity 10, Intelligences 22, Wisdom 20, Spirit 20]

  I decided to examine the greaves I had gotten from the centipede, pulling them out of my inventory and I looked them over. They looked like oversized shin guards with a leather backing to bind it to the leg. The greaves were an ivory color with small overlapping plates that looked a lot like the segments on a centipede. They were cracked crystal set into both placed dead center of the bowl like top half right where a knee would go.

  [Geophilomorph bone greaves: Leg armor. These greaves were created from residual mana left over by a Geophilomorph bone abomination. These greaves are made of the Geophilomorph bony exoskeleton and have been enchanted by the inherent nature of the monster.]

  [Plus 5 Dexterity]

  [ Self repair: this armor will draw in ambient mana to repair its self process can be accelerated by using personal mana.]

  [ Skill: false legs.]

  [False legs generate a false image of the user. This skill has a high aggro]

  [Mana crystal slot. This slot can be used to provide mana to the greaves.]

  Shit. I thought to myself if that monster could create false images of itself I'm glad I killed it fast. I placed them back into my inventory and added them to my current gear set. The leather greaves I was wearing disappeared and were replaced. I pulled out a few water crystals and slotted them in. A clink sound let me know they were secure.

  Liliandra blessedly pulled out her portable bathroom and a few water crystals later I was freshly washed. The rest of our time went fast. Food, sleep and then we were up again. I could feel liliandra wanted to talk about something she was unusually quiet the entire night. A stark contrast to how she has been. Her posture was different and she seemed more depressed.

  “ Hey Liliandra you okay? It seems like something is bothering you.” I had debated asking her and ultimately decided the best decision was to nip whatever problem was going on in the bud. She was currently fixing a new water gym to her staff after finding it buried in a pile of well. We don't need to really go there. I looked to me then to my hand.

  “ No, I'm not okay. I just want to go home.” She said

  “ There's more to it then that I know it.” I said she let out a sigh.

  “ How can one man who barely got his neural implant removed. What a month, maybe two months ago? Have so many secrets about his abilities. Magic is one of the most straightforward things in this universe. It's one of the connecting foundations between all of civilization, something that connected all the planets despite language barriers.” she said

  “ I don't know what to say” I said

  “ No, of course you don't know what to say. How would anybody know what to say in your situation this entire time? We've been stuck here. I've tried to be the happy-go-lucky person but it's just too much weight. Sophia kept her mark secret from me and Douge but not you? I saw the way you two were looking at each other? There's a layer of secrets that I don't even know about and how? How can you two share secrets like that when you barely even talk?. No, I see you have a mark of your own. Have you been hiding it this whole time? Has Sophia known? Does she know what I don't?.” Sophia did know about my skill but not the mark that I now have.

  “ No she doesn't. this mark.I got it at the beginning of this floor. I knew about Sophia's mark of the wolf because she told me concerned that I had seen it after we formed a party thanks to my ability” That wasn't a lie but not the truth entirely

  “ Really?”

  “ Yes. I'm sure you've seen it. The notifications appearing in your vision like a tool tip from a video game.”

  I pulled up the party interface tab and selected Liliandra. This was my first time using this interface and it was pretty intuitive. Below Liliandra's name was Douge and Sophia's both grayed out.

  “ Appears I can give you certain controls. Give me one moment. “

  I scrolled through Liliandra's info screen

  [Liliandra Of The Xulun Mountains]

  [Race: Beastkin : White tiger]

  [Level 30]

  [ Stats: Strength 10, Constitution 15, Dexterity 15, Intelligences 35, Wisdom 40, Spirit 15]

  [Skills]

  [ Elemental affinity wind]

  [Elemental enhancement: wind(Wisdom)

  [Mana manipulation]

  [Chantless incantation: wind cutter, wind scythe, gale shot]

  [User permissions: Interface skill limited]

  I was stunned by how high of a level. She was almost double of mine but our stats weren't too dissimilar in distribution it seemed. The only skill I could interact with was user permissions. Upon drilling. Further down into the interface I was greeted with a list of options All of them were turned off. I turned on her party interface allowing her to see party members as well as her own skills. I only gave her permission to view users' information. So she wouldn't be able to view mine. Her eyes went wide as she presumably got a series of notifications.

  “ There are secrets that I have that I'm not willing to tell you despite how close we've gotten. I promise I will tell you more once I feel ready. “ I gave her a reassuring smile.

  “ Okay” she nodded.

  The two of us journeyed back through the rooms I had already explored and cleared out. Despite our surroundings, it was a relatively calm walk Liliandra and I chatted idly to help pass the time. After clearing a few rooms together, she seemed to be more comfortable with the level of the enemies around us. None were too challenging with the two of us, so that was a blessing. In the days before where we spent time training together Liliandra developed a new spell that allowed her to fight up close and personal. Using her staff as a conduit for her magic, she would form a scythe of wind at the tip, often slicing her enemies in half. It seemed awkward at first but she had quickly grown proficient with it. Unlike a regular scythe that would get stuck if the strike didn't slice clean through her enemies. Her wind scythe would often dissipate and reform allowing her to make clean sweeping motions without any fear of getting her weapon stuck. I liked the idea and adapted it for my own combat style rapidly dismissing and reforming my blade. If my strike didn't cut clean through.

  After about two hours Liliandra stopped us.

  “ I can feel Douge.” She said, closing her eyes and extending her aura out.

  “ We need to take a right. I can feel him in that other room.”

  “ Okay let's get Douge back.”