POV Tanya:
A sound sharpening was constantly reverberating through the forest. The heavy-armed kobolds with long red capes and heavy-looking, black, plated armours formed a small group, sharpening and polishing their weapons with an intense glare as if they were their children.
Each of their swords radiated a terrifying draconic aura that caused air to shiver around them. The temperature was rising and decreasing around them, and the red crystalline eyes of their dragon-shaped hilts kept flashing as if the blades had their will.
An even taller figure in similar but even more decorated armour engraved with silver ornaments and massive wings on his back stood at the side, looking absent-minded.
For some reason, he stared into nothingness as if his mind was absent.
‘Where is his majesty finding all of these weirdos.’ Tanya sat on the ground, using a tree to support her back. She was unmoving, her emotions in turmoil, ‘Is he dead or alive?’
She was still in disarray after learning that her fiance had gone missing without any trace. ‘He simply vanished, so maybe he is alive as he wasn’t publically executed.’
However, she wasn’t so naive to believe it and knew that as he was a duke, his public execution would be too problematic, making it more likely that he would be just silently disposed of.𝓞𝑣xt.𝐜𝒪𝐌
She was confused and in turmoil, not knowing how she should feel, ‘He was annoying and musclehead, but he was mine.’
She pushed back her worries as her duty to her master was more critical and turned her head towards the white-haired girl.
She just stood there looking up towards the sky, her legs shaking and her face pale with bags under her eyes.
“How long till you regenerate your mana? We need to continue. We are still on enemy territory.”
“Uhh? Few hours?” she immediately woke out of her daze, turning her eyes towards the black-haired woman, her frosty blue eyes slightly glowing.
Tanya sighed, feeling like it was a whole eternity, ‘So slow… no, that is still extremely fast for a human. Why do I still forget how inefficient humans are when I used to be one of them?’
“In that case, take some time to rest. It will be bad if you collapse from lack of rest, lose control of your magic, and burn to death.”
The girl looked around with a scared look, her long white hair waving around as if she was searching for something. Finally, her eyes turned back towards Tanya, “How? There is nothing but dirt, trees and bugs here?”
“You are really spoiled, a fitting for a daughter of an archduke.”
“How am I spoiled? There is simply no way for me to sleep like this. You are not even a human. You could probably sleep on the hard stone with magma raining upon you.”
Tanya looked at her, feeling understanding, ‘She is right. I was once like her. There is no way my old self could rest like this.’
“Alright, you can use me as a pillow. I should be soft…” she stopped, realising how weird it sounded. She closed her mouth, confused about how she could say something sounding so weird.
“Uhh, I will…” Ariana slowly walked towards her, her usually pale face gaining a slight rosy tint with her heart loudly pounding in her chest. She slowly lowered herself next to the black-haired woman and plopped on forest soil next to her. She tilted to the side and snuggled to the woman, her long white hair tickling Tanya’s nose.
Tanya was so shocked by it happening so fast that she could only stare at the white-haired head resting on her chest. A frosty cold feeling was spreading through her body as if a block of ice rested on her.
‘Is she enjoying this? Was this her plan all along? Well, another weirdo on our side…’ she could feel the girl’s heart racing with her hormones going haywire.
She thought about changing her thought, her hands already moving to push Ariana away, ‘No, she needs to relax. She just abandoned her whole family. It has to be hard on her… I also need to relax.’
She closed her eyes, enjoying the weird feeling of her heat mixing with the girl’s coldness and the softness of another living being at her. She slightly stirred, feeling like a pair of eyes were locked on her.
(AN: I hope that this kind of little peppery scene is not too disrupting, as I feel it will be good for a story to make chars more lifelike. Also, it felt nice to write. Such a change of pace. Don’t worry. This will be only a minuscule part of the story, not its focus. But if you really hate it, let me know, and I will avoid it as much as possible from the storytelling sight.)
POV Players:
Silence fell upon the army. The players, kobolds and mutated monsters looked at the massive smouldering crater filled to brim with molten magma. Nothing was left behind.
A fat dwarf just stood there, looking at his chainmail, feeling kinda pathetic, “What the hell is this? There is no way that someone could tank such a hit head-on. It makes me as tank feel like shit.”
The clouds of smoke and dust still drifted through the sky, everyone just staring at the brightly glowing magma, thinking about the incredible firepower shown by the two monsters.
The air was so hot the humans were covered in sweat, their faces and clothes wet as if they had come out of a bath.
“You are dumb, dude. Only idiot would try tanking an attack from a regional threat…” his taller friend in tattered black robes standing right next to him said solemnly while playing with his spear.
“As you say, NoobaFet, hahaha”, the dwarf erupted into laughter, his stomach jiggling as if it was a sack filled with water.
“Dammit, I don’t know why you are taunting me. You know that I am nothing compared to NoobaFet, whoever it is. That dude literally got a world achievement.” BoobaFet looked again towards the crater, unsure what to do next.
Ding!
//
You have got a message from the player, Lili2003:
“I am back. Where is everyone?”
//
POV Vesuvius:
The dragon threw his last glance at the burning crater with regret and flapped his massive wings shooting into the distance with a shockwave exploding behind him.
‘It is all destroyed.’ his heart hurt just thinking about all the poor gold and jewels that used to live inside the destroyed castle.
It was a painful thought, with his only luck being that it never was his, ‘Never gained, never lost. At least this should scare a hell out of my enemies to prevent such tragedies from repeating.’
Suddenly the dragon’s eyes pulsed in gold light, ‘Wait, how could I forget my lesson from the trial? Even the molten gold is still gold!’
The dragon raised his clawed hand, and his will and domain spread in all directions. In an instant, he became aware of everything, his mind feeling and touching everything belonging to his affinities.
His eyes immediately grew wide as he opened his mouth with a large grin.
His horns flashed slightly, the whole mass of magma on the ground stirring and moving, forming a massive vortex.
‘It works. I can already feel you!’
His concentration grew even more, the immense amount of information flooding his whole mind, his brain splitting and filtering it.
The next moment droplets of magma rose into the air, flying straight towards the dragon, where they stopped, levitating right before his eyes.
More and more droplets kept rising and shooting into the air like small sparks collecting before the dragon, strong currents of wind carrying water gushing against them, quickly cooling them down.
Finally, something glinted in the bright light radiating out of the dragon and magma, his eyes distorting as he sniffed, inhaling the air.
‘It is really gold! It worked. Come to me!’
Even more, droplets burst out of the magma, all of them flying towards the dragon who welcomed them with his whole heart.
Even with the gold saved, his mind was filled with worries, ‘I survived, but my important minions are squishy. I need to reinforce their guards. Also, the enemy is fast. I refuse to go unprepared for the battle that will eventually happen.’
The dragon’s mind moved in a weird direction, his human and draconic knowledge mixing, forming a new idea, ‘Railguns, such curious and potent weapons. I have my domain, electrical affinity and earth affinity. I wonder if I can use it to replicate its effects.’
The dragon continued flapping his wings, sending ripples across the magma lake under him as more and more droplets of molten gold collected before him.
‘Time to see what my new storage is. The old pouch served me well, but it is time for something better.’
A small black ring appeared before him in a flash of light, levitating in the air and glowing in the faint red light. It looked unassuming without any decorations except for red glowing letters engraved into its black metal.
Ding!
//Analyze result:
Name: Greater Demonic Storage Ring
Category: Magical Netheric Accessory
Grade: S
Item level: 50
Effects: Allows storing items, both physical and spiritual, inside. Its capacity scales with the wearer’s MAG stat. The ring is bound to the original wearer’s soul, always finding its way back to the owner.
Warning: It might be evil.
//
The dragon’s eyes glinted, finally feeling a relief, ‘As expected of totally busting the system’s expectations. This ring is perfect. Finally, I can get rid of my old insecure pouch.
‘This reminds me that there is one important ability to evolve. Time to see what I can do with my hoard.’