‘Yo, Zana. I need a favour.’
I teleported right into her cave. After exploring a lot of possibilities, I went to her place to see if she could magic up a tracker spell. When I got there however, I noticed that she was sleeping.
‘Sigh… don’t want to do this, but…’
I moved closer to her and touched her tail. When I did, I noticed that the tail was now green and golden in color. I stepped back, unsure as to what I was touching.
‘Show me her stats, agent.’
STATUS
[Name: Zana Hyakkiyako
[Species: Modified Naga Lord Level 1/100
[Status: [Very Hungry]
[Age: 16 years
[Rank: A+
[Race Rank: Tier 2
[Class: Magician Level 10 (Qualifies for 2 more sub-classes)
[Sub-Class: Great Shaman Level 4
[Titles: |Successful Experiment|, |Terrible Witch|, |Witch|, |Child of Ongril|, |Tyrant|
[Blessings: -
[Level: 91 Exp: 7/320,000
[Health: 10050/10050 Stamina: 4590/9900 Mana: 1530/2950 Strength: 12250 Speed: 10200 Defense: 9120 Dexterity: 22500 Intelligence: 1890 Magic: 2150 Luck: 250
'W-Why does she have the name, Hyakkiyako?'
<<This is because she is a member of your familia.>>
'But the others don't have it.'
<<A familia member is different from a servant. Familia members are more like siblings or lovers.>>
'T-That so? Hmm, also she's a modified Naga Lord?'
<<From what I could gather, she closely resembles a Naga, but I believe the system added the "modified" part since she is not exactly one>>
'Then why not give me the question marks like before?'
<<That is unknown>>
‘I see. Still, Zana’s a beast. How is she the weakest tyrant?’
<<That was before her evolution. Currently she stands above Krull>>
‘Seriously? So she could beat that thing in an arm wrestling competition?'
<<Physically, Krull still stands above her. However, with her magical prowess coupled with her dramatic increase in physical strength, she should be able to beat the War Monger>>
'I see. Would there be a problem in me waking her up?’
<<No. Just provide food for her>>
‘Why?’
<<The status [Very Hungry] means she is starving>>
‘Right…’
I looked into my item box and took out some of the food I stole from the nobleman’s home. I tapped on Zana’s tail to get her up. She was so big and her defense was high enough that I doubt it even did anything to her. With my highest strength, I punched her and she groaned.
“Nush mow.”
She muttered sleepily.
‘Ah… Come on, Zana, wake up. I brought food.’
I went closer to her face.
“Fooj?”
She opened her eyes. I could see a green glint in the darkness.
“Hinotori?”
Slowly, she sat up, rubbing her eyes with two of her hands, whereas her new arms stretched. Surprised, I jumped back.
‘Z-Zana!’
“What?”
‘Y-You’re not black anymore! And you now have four arms.’
Zana looked at her body. She was leaner and smaller than before, although still quite big. Her tail was green and golden in a beautiful blend, whereas her upper body was now fair, with four arms and large breasts. She had green messy hair with golden streaks and there were red tattoos covering her stomach area. Her face was now like a model’s – mature and cool.
‘A cool beauty!’
I ended up shouting. She grabbed her face and blushed after hearing me.
“Y-You really think I’m beautiful?”
‘Ah… yes, but that’s not what I came for.’
I threw the food to her and she caught it.
“You brought food for me?”
‘Yes, but that’s not why I came here.’
“You wanted to say hello?”
‘Yes, but… let me talk.’
She started digging into the meal while looking at me.
‘When I went back to the West yesterday, something happened. Now Minerva’s missing and Goliath is dead.’
“Hmhm.”
‘So can you help me locate Minerva?’
“I can do a locater spell, but that will take some time. You mind waiting out?”
‘Oh… um, sure. This is easier than I thought.’
“Get me a memento of Minerva’s. Something that meant a lot to her. It will make finding her faster.”
‘Ok then. Thanks.’
I teleported back into the West, at what used to be Minerva’s cave. It was in shambles now. The fight must have ended up getting it destroyed. When I got inside, I was met with some bones and bloodstained floor. I didn’t like it, but if there was something that meant a lot to Minerva, it had to be here.
I looked about and all I found were useless jewelries and carvings into the wall after some minutes. I then moved to the mansion, into my room where Minerva slept. Looking around, I identified her bat on the wall.
‘That’s it. It probably means a lot to her.’
I grabbed it then went right to Zana.
‘Here.’
I handed it over to her. She inspected it and her eyes glowed a bit.
“She has some connection to this thing?”
‘Yes…?’
“Um… I will try my best…? It will take some time. You can do whatever you want for the day.”
‘What do you mean for the day?’
“Well, this item you have brought to me carries almost no value to Minerva. So, unless you have something better, I cannot finish in less than a day.”
‘Ah… how would Minerva not have any connection to this? It was the bat she had used for years!’
“Did she tell you that?”
‘What?’
“Did she ever tell you that this thing meant anything to her?”
‘Um…’
“It will be a day. Find something to do. I sense a bad aura around you. Maybe you could try finding peace this day.”
‘Finding peace?’
“Certainly. I will begin now.”
I clicked my tongue then walked out.
‘Can you believe her? Me? A bad aura? Finding peace?! I only carry good vibes and am all about that peace stuff! I don’t need anything!’
<<According to your memories, when people are grieving a loss, they go through certain stages. Stage 1 is denial like you said.>>
‘Stop saying weird things, agent. Tch, what will I do today? For once, I don’t have anything on mind. Any suggestions, agent?’
‘Grow stronger.’
‘Huh? What was that?’
<<I didn’t say anything>>
‘Um… agent, do you have any suggestions to me growing stronger?’
<<Yes>>
‘Really? What?’
<<Use your system well>>
‘Huh? Use my system well? What do you mean? Don’t I get my experience points already? Isn’t that all the system does? Give me experience and let me see my stats?’
<<No. I have explored it and the system has various designs to make you get stronger faster>>
‘Eh? Faster than I grow normally?’
<<Admittedly, your growth rate is absurd. However, if you used the system properly, your growth rate would be far higher>>
‘… Wait, I wasn’t strong enough to stop the necromancer early because of how I used the system?’
<<Yes>>
‘You could have been less blunt about it...’
I was starting to feel guilty. If I was stronger, I could have ended all of this easily. It was my fault that Minerva was captured, Goliath was dead and several members of my familia were injured. Shiroi and Aeri had lost a lot of respect for me. Oki was right. If I was a better leader, none of this would have happened. I might have been able to help Minerva and Goliath.
<<Logically speaking, you would not have even reached Minerva’s level of strength within one month>>
‘What?’
<<At best, you would have achieved Arisu’s level of strength so you would not have been able to do anything against what killed Goliath.>>
‘… I see. Ok then! Show me how to get stronger!’
<<Certainly. Status.>>
She called and my status opened up. I had gone to level 26/70. I had gone up 5 levels and my stats had increased a bit.
‘What’s the problem?’
I asked her. Everything was in order. I had lots of skills and my numbers were looking high. I would probably be enough to beat Shiro now.
<<Your skills>>
‘Hm? What’s wrong with them?’
<<Two problems. Their levels are too low. Without your raw magical power backing you up, most of them would not be able to cause a single scratch on anything stronger than you.>>
‘Seriously?’
<<Yes. Your strategic use of speed and strength to increase the power of your attacks also sometimes makes up for this, but in situations were you won’t be able to move around, you will need to have your skills be strong enough>>
‘I totally see what you’re talking about.’
<<Good. Second problem. The number of skills>>
‘Isn’t having a lot of skills a good thing?’
<<Yes. However, having too many skills is bad for your body.>>
‘Hmm, but if I have the resistances to it, won’t it be better?’
<<Yes, if those skills were originally of your species>>
‘What?’
<<With the unique skill [Evolver] you steal skills from races that are completely different from yours. The strain it puts on your body would be equal to the amount it puts on the original species. Luckily, you have not used many skills that are from races stronger than yours.>>
‘Haha… I think I get you. It’s like someone from land 1 eats the food from land 2. They haven’t done that their whole lives, so they could have a bad reaction to it, right?’
<<Close enough.>>
‘So, what will we be doing then?’
<<Starting now, you will take skill fusion and synthesis very seriously>>
‘Eh? Why those two?’
<<Normally, if you were fusing the skills yourself, you would need to cut off the parts that are unhealthy for you, add the parts together then create a new strong skill specifically for you.>>
‘Like creating strong medicine from two different poisons?’
<<…Close enough>>
‘I can feel the anger from that.’
<<You aren’t thinking straight>>
‘Sure. So, what are we doing?’
<<Please fuse the skills [Taunt] and [Lustful Gaze]>>
‘Hmm? How do I do this?’
<<Fusion is akin to making food. Simply take the ingredients, use the tools and make your food>>
‘I see. In that case.’
I willed for both skills and mashed them up together. Just like cooking. Dump all the ingredients into a bowl, set heat to it then make the food. At least that was what I believed. I had done this before, yet it was much harder this time. When I put both skills together, I received some resistance from the skills and eventually the fusion was cancelled.
‘What the hell? I’ve fused skills before. They were easy to do, so why did I suffer so much this time?’
<<The skills you fused were like in nature so you were able to simply mash them up. However, the skills [Taunt] and [Lustful Gaze] are opposite in nature. Whereas [Taunt] causes unbridled rage, [Lustful Gaze] causes illicit excitement>>
‘Huh? [Taunt] aggroes and [Lustful Gaze] makes people horny. Both make people excited, no? Same difference.’
<<Sigh…>>
‘Did you just sigh?’
<<[Fusion] of both skills will require for you to chip off the useless elements of both, look for what is compatible and add them, making it more suitable for you>>
‘You didn’t answer my question earlier!’
<<Are you a kid?>>
‘I heard that! Ugh, I’ll do it.’
I concentrated hard. I picked out both skills and inspected them. [Taunt] was a skill that made enemies angry. They lost their shit and came to attack me. [Lustful Gaze] was also one that made enemies lose their shit, but would only come towards me for sexual gratification. When I thought about it, it became clearer. I could simply cut off the part in [Taunt] where they’d come to attack me.. [Lustful Gaze] was fine as it was, but I was not going to give them sexual gratification, so I removed that part, which made it more like I would simply pleasure them.
