Chapter 15 Escape
4742 Words
Eunich brought John to the armor shop the next morning. “Armor smith, treat this guy ‘nicely’.” He said to the old man.
“Oh, the human kid. Sure, no problem.” The old man answered. Eunich left the store after introducing John to the old Dark Elf.
“So, what can I do for you?” The old man asked John.
“I want my armor fixed.” He answered. The old man looked at John and said, “Where’s your armor?”
“Here.” He took his bag and showed the armor to the old man.
“Hm. I’d say this armor is crudely made. The inexperience of the smith is visible!” The old man blurted.
“Well, he told me it was the first time he would make an armor like mine, so.” John told the smith.
“This armor is made from… let see, armored cat pelt and dragonewt whiskers.” The smith mumbled while analyzing the armor. John, on the hand, was amazed. “Did you have the appraise skill?” He asked.
“What? No. A smith should know what he is dealing with to make or fix something. Appraisal skill is not needed.” The old elf said.
“Alright. I can fix this within a day. Do you want me to strengthen it?” The old elf asked.
“You can do that?”
“Of course! So, do you want to? You have to provide the materials, though.” The old smith said.
“Well, I do have some of these Red Irons I got from Borina cave. Can this be used to strengthen my armor?” John asked while showing the red irons to the smith.
“Hm. That will do. Also, if you can get me two pieces of Brown Bear pelts, I can make this armor of yours much stronger.” The old elf said.
“Well, I will try. Your king does not really want me going out the village.” John revealed.
“Hm. Then I will make do with these. Come back here tomorrow.” The old elf said went inside his smithy inside the armor shop.
“Where should I go now?” John mumbled.
“Sir, if you are done with your business here, let us go back to the palace.” A Dark Elf soldier said while John was still pondering what to do.
“Oh, I thought I was alone. Okay.” The soldier brought John back to the palace.
===============
Svaltar weaved through the forest, jumping from shadow to shadow. He was following Kahflear’s trail. “Where are you Kahflear?” He muttered.
Soon, he found an opening on a large boulder. The trail stopped there. Slowly, Svaltar moved into the opening. There were sorts of sounds coming from deep within. “This must be his research area!” Svaltar concluded. He hid on the shadows and went deeper.
Inside that cave, Svaltar saw the village chief.
“Just a little more and everything will be in place!” Kahflear muttered while mixing some concoctions. There were different beasts in cages lined up in his research room.
Suddenly, a fist size crystal ball glittered, and a voice was heard from it asking, “Kahflear, what is the status of your work?”
“That voice…” Svaltar thought.
“I am halfway done. Be patient, things will be in place soon.” Kahflear answered.
“Patient? You created a problem, a troublesome one! Hurry things up!”
“Yes, yes. What is troublesome? Svaltar? I have him captured back in the village. What can he do?”
The voice answered angrily, “He sent the human boy here! I have no choice but to send some soldiers to save him!”
“What? So, that’s where the human boy went! That is fine as well. Keep him there. I will deal with the soldiers and Svaltar.” Kahflear said to the voice.
“I intend to keep the boy! He is a perfect scape goat!” The voice answered and after, the crystal went silent.
Meanwhile, Svaltar, who was hiding in the shadows was shocked and confused. “The King!? Kahflear is doing all these for the King? Damn it!” He hurriedly fled the cave. “I must get back to the village!”
==========================
In the Dark Elf Village, the King summoned the general. “Have you finished what I ordered you to do?” The King asked.
“I have done it, sire. We are only awaiting orders.” The general replied.
“Good. Three days from now, the plan will commence. Make sure the human kid stays where he is.” The King ordered.
“Yes, sire!”
“Eunich, are you there?” The King called.
“I am here, sire!”
“Keep an eye on the kid and give him what he wants. He needs to stay put.”
Eunich nodded and bowed to the King before leaving the study.
Meanwhile, back in John’s room.
“I am bored!” He complained. He inspected his stats and focused on his passive skills. “Ha! Since I have nothing else to do, maybe I should just train my passive skills. The Grand Scholar did say that passive skills are the most important skills that are needed to improve much more than the active ones.” He muttered.
“Let see, my passive skills are Universal Language (Max), Fear Resistance (Lv.1), Pain Resistance (Lv.2), Memory Bank I (Semi-active/Lv.3), Illusion Resistance (Lv.1), Craftsman (Lv.2), Book of Spells I (Lv.1) and Danger Sense (Lv.4). I also have the semi-passive skill, Meditation (Lv.5).”
“Apart from Meditation and Craftsman skills, the only passive I can train with is this Book of Spells I skill.” He thought. “Should I hurt myself to raise my Pain resistance? And Fear resistance, up to now, I haven’t felt scared, so, how do I raise this? Damn! Mother was right, it is truly hard to raise skills!” He muttered remembering Tatiana’s words.
An idea then came to him. John immediately entered meditation. He closed his eyes and used his Float skill at the same time. “Better to train all my skills as much as possible!”
He used Telekinesis and made the things inside his room float. Then, he made them fly around the small room at random. With his Parkour skill, he dodged them one by one whilst in the air.
“Ow!” He bumped his knee on the table while he dodged the stool. “Imagery!” He used the new skill he obtained and imagined the floating objects as lethal weapons coming to him.
He spent hours training inside that small room. “What is happening inside?” The guards standing by John’s room wondered as they heard the noise coming from the human kid’s room.
“Should we report this?” The other guard asked.
“O-okay. Go tell sir Eunich!” The guard immediately left to fetch Eunich.
Moments later, Eunich arrived panting. “What is going on?!” He asked the guard.
“Sir, this is going on for hours. We do not dare go inside!” The guard said. Of course, the guard knew how strong the human boy was. He saw how he easily killed the guard leader at the village gate.
“What the hell is that boy doing inside?” Eunich knocked on John’s door hard. “Open up! What is going in there?”
“Oh? Eunich?” John ceased his training and opened the door. “Eunich, what is it?” John asked the elf.
“What the hell are you doing in there?” Eunich asked.
“Huh? I was just training. Why? Am I not allowed to train as well?” John said honestly.
“What? Training you say?!” Eunich was surprised. “What is wrong with this kid?” He thought.
“Haha! Did I disturb everyone?” John said laughing awkwardly.
“Please refrain from causing such ruckus again!” Eunich said as politely as he can. “Do you understand?”
“Ah… o-okay. Geez!” John went back to his room. “Tsk! I feel like a prisoner than a visitor!” he mumbled. He went back to his training but this time, he only did Meditation while using Float and Telekinesis at the same time.
He also did imagery training in his mind. With the help of Imagery skill, he conjured sorts of enemies in his mind. Monsters he encountered and even the famous villains in the animes and mangas he read back on Earth.
In the evening, John was still in meditation, however, he was not focusing on imagery training at the moment.
“Ting! A new skill has been created through meditation.
Ting! Heightened Sense Skill acquired.
Ting! Meditation skill leveled up.”
“Yes! A new skill!” John was overjoyed. A thought came to his mind while he was meditating. He thought about the movies he saw before, the ones where the protagonist meditated and was able to heighten his senses.
He tried his all to focus everything on his senses via meditation. In the first three hours, he focused to sharpen his hearing before he proceeded to his other senses. It was already late in the evening when he finally acquired the skill.
“Ting!
Name: John Arcala
Nickname: Reborn
Level: 23 (Exp. 33.78%)
Race: Human
Class: Pupa
Age: 1 month, 3 weeks
Health: 12320
Mana: 17935
AP: 5928
DP: 10085
Strength: 42 (+300)
Dexterity: 22 (+305)
Intelligence: 100 (+523)
Vitality: 111 (+505)
Wisdom: 50 (+310)
Agility: 40 (+302)
Active Skills: Telekinesis (Lv.7), Float (Lv.4), Divine Light (Broken), Sprint (Lv.3), Force Shield (Lv.5), Meditation (Semi-passive/Level 6), Parkour (Lv.6), Hard Punch (Lv.4), Skull Bash (Lv.3), Appraisal (Lv.7), Sink (Lv.1), Hold Breath (Lv.1), Swim (Lv.1), Energy Control (Lv.3), Area Sense (Lv.4), Shadow Hunt (Lv.1), Dark Control (Lv.1), Mana Manipulation (Lv.1), Doll Make (Lv.1)
Passive Skills: Universal Language (Max), Fear Resistance (Lv.1), Pain Resistance (Lv.2), Memory Bank I (Semi-active/Lv.3), Illusion Resistance (Lv.1), Craftsman (Lv.2), Book of Spells I (Lv.1), Heightened Sense (Lv.1)
Title: Anomaly (Awakened), Tatiana’s Son, Contracted [!], Reborn, Coward, Worm, First Kill, Craftsman, Skill Creator, Spell Holder, Clay Doll Maker, Thought Weaver
Title Skill: Danger Sense (Passive/Lv.4), Imagery (Active/Lv.1)
Branch Skill:
Force Shield [Open]: Thorn Shield (Lv.2), Thorn Coffin (Lv.4), Drill Shield: Tornado (Lv.2)
Craftsman [Open]: Cooking (Lv.2), Mining (Lv.2)
Spellbook [Open] [5/5]: Bloodline [Sprite (Locked)], Air Shot (Lv.1), Flame Shot (Lv.1), Water Shot (Lv.1), Rock Throw (Lv.1)
Heightened Sense [Open] [6/6]: Sight (Lv.1), Sniff (Lv.1), Listen (Lv.1), Taste (Lv.1), Sensitivity (Lv.1), Intuition (Lv.1)
Status points: 0
“Nice! It’s a package skill! Let see what these skills are!”
“Ting!
Name: Heightened Sense
Type: Support
Description: All six senses of the holder is enhanced.
Cost: Depends on what sense is heightened.
Ting!
Name: Sight
Type: Support
Description: Sense of sight is enhanced. Can clearly see 1 km from the holder.
Cost: 10 MP/second
Ting!
Name: Sniff
Type: Support
Description: Sense of smell is enhanced. Can smell vividly 1 km from the holder. Smell distinction is possible.
Cost: 10 MP/second
Ting!
Name: Listen
Type: Support
Description: Sense of hearing is enhanced. Can clearly hear sounds 1 km from the holder. Distinction of sound is possible.
Cost: 10 MP/second
Ting!
Name: Taste
Type: Support
Description: Sense of taste is enhanced. Can vividly taste food. Discerning ingredients is possible.
Cost: 10 MP/second
Ting!
Name: Sensitivity
Type: Support
Description: Sense of touch is enhanced. Can vividly feel everything. Caution! When active, all receptors are enhanced.
Cost: 10 MP/second
Ting!
Name: Intuition
Type: Psychic/Support
Description: Holder can predict 5 seconds into the future. Danger Sense skill is enhanced.
Special Function: Predict
Special Function Cost: 1000 MP
Limitation: Sight will be lost for 2 minutes after predicting 5 seconds into the future. Confusion status will be incurred.
Cost: 100 MP/second
The last branch skill of his Heightened Sense skill caught John’s attention.
“A psychic/support type? This is new. I wonder, Telekinesis would also fall to a psychic type of skill too, right? And what is with this? I can predict 5 seconds into the future plus my Danger Sense skill will be enhanced! This is a powerful skill but there’s a limitation.” He muttered. “Should I try this out?”
“Ting! Heightened Sense: Intuition skill activated.”
“Ting! Special function: Predict activated.”
John’s world view suddenly changed. The surrounding turned grey then he saw himself sitting on his bed. Then, everything returned to normal.
“Ah! f**k!” John blurted when he found himself blinded and confused.
After two minutes, the side effect was gone. “Being blind is horrible! And the hell with confusion! I felt my head splitting!” he complained.
Then, he found his position familiar. “Ah? Isn’t this how I was when I used Predict?”
The skill function and timing made him wonder. It was not in synch. “Shouldn’t it be five seconds after using the skill? But the prediction came true five seconds after the duration of the limitation!” He analyzed.
“This skill is not usable during battle. Darn! I thought it was powerful and useful!” He muttered. “But enhancing my Danger Sense skill is somewhat good, I guess.”
He expected to use it in battle. He imagined himself predicting the moves of his enemies five seconds in the future, but sadly, that was not the case. True, he can predict five seconds in the future, but it was useless when the prediction was about five seconds in the future after the limitation was done.
What about what happens during the time when he is blinded and confused due to the skill? It was not included in the prediction. That is a fatal flaw.
After all that, he went to sleep.
=====================
“Hey kid!”
“…”
“Kid!”
“…”
“Hey!”
“…” John heard a familiar voice.
“Kid! Hey!”
“What?!” John responded groggily.
“Open your eyes, kiddo!” The voice ordered.
“What is it?” John stared at the person above him. “Huh?”
“Hello, kid!”
“f**k!” John blurted and hurriedly sprung from his bed.
“Easy, easy! Its just me, old Tu Mu!”
“Tu Mu? H-how… am I dreaming right now?” John wondered. “What kind of look is that? Is that your true appearance?” Tu Mu appeared as a human-shaped vine. The features were closely resembling someone famous on Earth; Johny Depp to be precised.
“Indeed, you are. Anyway, do not mind the appearance, listen well, I do not have much time, so, let us get to the point. Leave Darklia.”
“Huh?” John was surprised. “Even if I want to, the Dark Elf King won’t let me leave.”
“Do everything you can to leave. The Apostles are starting to notice. Also, try to learn some trail-masking skills or anything close.” Tu Mu said.
“Wait… are you saying even I left Shacannah, they are still in danger? I did not mask my trail even now!” John blurted. Although, it was short, John did have a mother in Shacannah. Even if he does not want to admit, he cares for his sprite mother deeply.
“That is why I am telling you to learn it fast! Do not worry, the Apostles will not be able to touch the sprites. I am out of time. Leave Darklia as soon as possible!” The image of Tu Mu disappeared after that.
John woke up and it was already morning. “Leave Darklia huh! How should I do that?”
He knew that even with his stats, he is not a match to the Dark Elf King. If a fight ensues between them, he will be defeated for sure. “I really should raise my skills’ levels fast.” He muttered.
After an hour or so, “Sir, your breakfast is here.” A guard announced.
“Thanks, come in.” John answered. A food tray was delivered to his room by the guard. “Can you ask Eunich to come here. I have some business to attend at the smithy.” John told the guard.
“Yes sir.” The guard nodded and left.
In a while, Eunich appeared in John’s room. “What do you want?”
“My armor, it will be done today. I need to get it.” John said.
“Fine. When do you want to go?”
“Right now.” John smiled.
So, Eunich took John to the Dark Elf smithy. “Oh, you are here.” The old Dark Elf greeted them.
“Hello sir. I am here for my armor!” John said.
“Of course. Here it is.” The old dark elf handed John a new piece of armor. “It’s a new armor made from your old armor, brown bear pelt and red iron.”
“Wow! H-how much does this cost?” John worriedly asked. By the looks of the armor, it surely be expensive.
“The King’s order is to give what you want. The King will pay for it.” Eunich was the one to answer.
“Oh, is that so? How generous! Hehe! Thanks!”
“Try it on and see the effects.” The old Dark Elf smith said.
John hurriedly wore the armor.
“Ting! Iron Bear Armor equipped.”
“Huh? Is there an update on the system again?” John thought when he heard the announcement. “Appraise!” He said in his mind.
Ting!
Name: Iron Bear Armor (Common)
Type: Full Body Armor
Durability: 100/100
Stat bonus: 10 Agility
Description: A piece of armor that turns into a full-body armor when activated. Made from Cat Armor, brown bear pelt and red iron.
Special Function:
1. Armor Plate: Use 50 DP to activate. The armor will be covered in red iron scale. Boosts Defense Points by 100.
2. Plate Arrow: Use 15 AP to activate. The red iron scales covering the armor can be shot as projectile. Burning status will take effect when hit due to the nature of the red iron.
Added Features:
1. Weight reduction (30%)
2. Damage reduction (30%)
3. Fire resistance (35%)
4. Cold resistance (10%)
Weight: 10 kg (-30%)
“Wow, this is better than before!” John blurted. “What does common mean though?” He muttered.
The smith answered him while smiling, “It’s the item’s class. Your previous armor did not even pass as a Common class item.”
“Oh?” John thought, “The appraisal really made an update. Maybe its about to level up again.”
“What are the items classes?”
“Items are classified to Common, Rare, Unique, Epic, Legendary, and Holy, from weakest to strongest. However, there was a special item class which was thought to be for gods only, the Mythic class item.”
“I see. Thank you!”
“No problem.” The old dark elf smiled.
Eunich brought John back to the palace after the transaction with the smith.
“Please stay here. Call me if you need anything.” Eunich left after leaving those words.
“I really am a prisoner, am I.” He muttered. “Let scout the palace. Maybe I will find a way to escape.”
John used his new skill, Heightened Sense: Listen, to eavesdrop around the palace. He thought it is better than scouting in the shadows. This way, he will not be detected, especially by the king.
John focused his ears to important conversations. Thanks to his skill, he can distinguish and pick the sounds he wanted to hear. Just his luck as well, he heard the King’s voice speaking with someone.
“Two days from now, the soldiers will bring Svaltar here. Have you contacted the Blood Goblin tribe?” The voice of the King asked.
“I have, sire. They are willing to concede to your rule.” The unknown voice replied to the king.
“That is good.” The King said, “Take this to the Blood Goblin Chief, this will prove our ‘alliance’.”
“I will go right away, sire!”
John withdrew his skill. “This is a chance!” He thought. John went to the window and stared at the castle’s entrance, waiting for someone to come out.
“Heightened Sense: Sight. Sniff.” He whispered. Soon, a dark elf came out from the palace. “Got you!” John caught the elf’s smell and put it to memory.
He took his backpack and sunk into his shadow. “Shadow Hunt!” John left the palace and followed the man. The dark elf was about to exit the gates when John was able to hide in the dark elf’s shadow.
“Success!” He thought. So, he left Darklia by riding the dark elf’s shadow.
================
“Hm?” The Dark Elf king jolted. “Call Eunich and Tampoff!”
Eunich and the dark elf general hurriedly went inside the King’s study.
“The human kid escaped! Find him!” The King ordered.
“Yes sir!” The two hurriedly left the study and brought soldiers out to capture John.
Soon, they caught with the messenger dark elf. “Halt!”
“Ah? General! What is it? I am on an errand for the King!” The messenger told the General.
The General took out an orb and commanded his soldiers to take position. They surrounded the messenger who was getting confused and afraid. “What is going on?” The messenger muttered.
“Kid, you are already surrounded. Get out and surrender quietly.” The General spoke. The messenger was confused. “Are you talking to me, general?”
The general ignored the messenger and spoke, “So, you won’t come out? Alright.” The general threw the orb above the messenger.
Ting!
Danger!
An announcement rang in John’s mind. It was pointing at the orb thrown by the general. John immediately jumped out of the shadow before the orb exploded. A 500-meter radius of light field appeared. No shadow was found inside.
“You did hide in his shadow.” The General spoke.
“Damn it! I thought I made out unnoticed!” John complained.
“Hoh? A pipsqueak like you thinks you can escape our King’s notice. Heh! That is bold. Come back with us quietly!” The general ordered.
“And if I don’t? What will you do?”
“Oh? I will do this!” The general unsheathed his sword and lunged at John at an incredible speed. Fortunately, John was very agile as well.
Activating his Parkour skill, he easily dodged the general’s swing. He threw a Hard Punch at the general who blocked it with his sword.
“Bam!” The general was pushed back a few steps. Cracks appeared on his sword. The general was surprised. “This kid is really strong!” He thought.
“Drill Shield: Tornado!” Thorn drills appeared around the general and with a wave of John’s hand, the drills flew at the general.
“Weak!” The general sliced and crushed the thorn drills with his sword.
“Phew! Phew!” Arrows flew out from the soldiers bows aiming at John.
“Force Shield!”
“Tak! Tak! Tak!” The arrows were not able to penetrate the shield, but it was enough to avert John’s attention.
The general managed to close in on John. His sword was swung down at John’s head.
Ting! Danger!
Announcement rang in John’s mind. With telekinesis, he stopped the sword inch from his head. “Tsk!”
“Flame shot!” He cast a spell with his free hand, aiming at the general’s face.
“Area Sense! Heightened Sense: Intuition!” He simultaneously activated his skills. A clear picture of his surrounding appeared in his mind.
“Energy Control! Mana Manipulation! Imagery!” John thought.
“Air Wave!” He morphed his Air Shot spell and made a new one. With John at the center, a circular air current blew the dark elves away.
Ting! Air Shot spell leveled up.
He immediately used sprint and ran into the forest. When he left the area where the light orb was shedding light, he dived into a shadow with Shadow Hunt and left the area.
“Get up! Follow him!” The general angrily ordered his soldiers.
===============
“We lost him sir!” The elf soldiers reported.
“Damn it!” The general cursed angrily. “Let us return!”
They slowly withdrew the search. John found a hole behind a boulder and hid there. It was fortunate that while in the shadows, he can pass through objects or he would not have found that hole.
“If my skills were high level, this would not be happening!” He complained. Even with his physical strength, he only managed to push back the general a little. “It must be that sword.” He thought as he remembered the general’s sword.
Before the fight he managed to appraise the sword.
Name: Bone Crusher Sword (Unique)
Type: Sword
Durability: 500/500
Attack: 150
Stat bonus: +15 Strength, +10 Dexterity
Description: A sword said to be made from an earth dragon’s thigh bone. It might not be as sharp as other swords but beware for its bone crushing might.
Special Function:
1. Bone Crush: Use 50 AP to activate. Amplify force by 10% of the holder’s Strength stat.
2. Earth Dragon’s Might: Use 100 AP to activate. Tap into the earth dragon’s intent hidden in the sword. Inflicts fear and confusion.
3. Earth Tremor: Use 300 MP to activate. A spell that sends waves below the surface. Area of effect spell. Covers 100 meters around the user. Stuns the enemies for 5 seconds.
Added features:
1. Weight Reduction (10%)
2. Damage Amplification (5%)
3. Damage reflection (10% chance)
4. Damage dispersion (15% Chance)
Weight: 100 Kg (-10%)
“It must be that sword!” John firmly thought. “I should find a weapon for myself!”
=====================
“Svaltar, your back!” The other dark elves greeted him when they saw him back.
“We have to leave!” Svaltar said to them.
“Did you find the village chief?” Arus asked.
“I did and his location is not the only thing I found.” The other elves were intrigued.
“This plan, it was all devised by the King!” Svaltar said to them.
“What?!” They were all surprised. They did not expect their King will endanger their race like that.
“I was wrong. Kahflear was ambitious but so is the King. He is the one who wanted to cease back the throne of Avalund!” Svaltar voiced out what he thought.
“But, this kind of strategy, to suddenly boost the monsters’ strength, they are making a catastrophe and it will greatly affect all of us!” one the dark elves pointed.
“We must leave! The King sent soldiers to get me. If I am caught, no one will be able to warn the other race. No one will be able to stop the King and it will be the end for our race!” Svaltar said grimly.
The group’s atmosphere became gloomy with that thought. “Where should we go?” Arus asked. “We cannot go to Darklia.”
“Let us go to Veran.” Svaltar said.
“The Wood Elves?!” the others blurted.
- Writer
