LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 4: It begins (if it hasn’t already)
Grant got up early in the morning and started getting ready. He had chosen not to take off his uniform for the night. Grant told himself he wanted to adapt to the adventurer lifestyle, and get used to wearing the uniform for days at a time. Truthfully? He just wanted to wear his costume. As one got older, they would find more hobbies to pass the time, and he had weirdly gotten into cosplay. Fafni chided him a few times, but shut up once he joined him in his costume tomfoolery.
Dragons look good in vampire costumes.
And as chimeras surprisingly.
He greeted the bartender and the lady working at the guild before leaving for the carts. They were rather plain carriages, tho Grant could sense some basic protection magic on it, obviously meant for the goods. Unsurprisingly given the amount of carriages strewn together, there were many adventurers. As far as he could see, none of them were particularly strong, but none of them were quite weak. Probably D-C rank would suffice as a general average around here, with a few below D, Grant included. Once all the adventurers gathered one stocky well dressed man showed up, and announced groupings, with Grant being paired with two E ranked adventurers. One was a blonde lady, blessed moderately on both ends of the body, with a rather chipper personality, named Natalie. She introduced herself as an archer. Using (appraisal), Grant found:
[Status]
Natalie
Age: 15
Class: Archer/ Scout
Level (estimated) 20
Mana circles: 3
Skills:
stealth(low) marksmanship(intermediate low) wind(intermediate) fire(low) clean(medium), cooking(medium) tracking (medium), piercing arrows(medium) summon wind spirit (low)
‘Not bad’ thought Grant. She wasn’t bad for her age, and even had potential. Looking at her mana flow and body conduits, it had potential and should she lived long enough, he could easily see her going places. The levels were an estimate by the system, though couldn’t really label them levels, because levels aren’t a natural thing, but rather something the administrators created in conjunction with the system, modeled after video games.
The other one, Dain, had gray hair despite his age and dressed in the normal adventurer way, and was similar, but had another problem. Dain, a tall, well built boy, apparently used a great sword. However, looking at his mana potential and qi potential was quite disheartening.
He had low mana potential, but had high qi potential, and had he lived amongst the cultivators to the east, much like poor Jonathan, he'd probably be a rising star. Here? He’d likely die as forgotten rubble eventually. And his stats?
[Status]
Name: Dain
Age: 17
Class: Vanguard / greatwsordsman / Healer / magician
Level(estimated) 35
Mana circles 1
Skills: Fire control (intermediate) water control (intermediate) air control (medium) earth control(medium) charge, heavy swordsmanship( medium) heal (medium) (appraisal) (body strengthening (low)
Not bad, but ultimately he would slow down as his potential dragged him down.
The mana flowing through his body was far lower than qi flowing through his body, and without the proper cultivation techniques, the mana wouldn’t flow properly, and even if he had those techniques his mana control would never be as good as his qi control. Grant decided that if he’d have a chance, he’d help this poor child. Maybe not cultivation, but if he bought a mana improvement potion in the system’s shop at some point on this trip, if he was approached first. Students required initiative after all. Good ones at least.
And so, the trip began.
It was a rather peaceful ride for the first few days. In the eyes of the people there, he was the mysteriously dressed, eccentric, man, who was working out carefree and meditating. If they’d sense mana flowing around, they’d assume he was making magic circles, but they sensed no increase in mana. “What if he’s a monk?” whispered one adventurer.
“In that attire? What temple would take him?” scoffed another adventurer. Many thought him ridiculous. Not that he cared. Grant liked ridiculous things. He was proud of the time when his armor looked like something out of a comic. Only one adventurer noticed the circulation of energy, one that others could not see, and he felt something.
Energy.
Power.
Desire.
Grant had begun his cultivation again, as he decided a backup source of power would be good. Once he had served the old god Flamel for hundreds of years and thus helped with a great deal of his plans and interactions with others. It’s because of this he knew one was never truly safe on Earth. All it takes are the whims of an old monster, an old god, a random powerful monster, or any myriad of things and one would end up dead. Better safe than sorry.
He knew, as one of those old monsters how those kinds of stories went.
Unlocking his acupoints and utilizing his meridians were far easier then he once recalled, though he felt a certain feeling of… nostalgia as he flowed his qi through his body. It reminded him of a time when he was a simple adventurer, wandering and learning, fighting monsters and exploring the unknown. Grant was looking forward to that again. He had a new young body and he was going to abuse it.
At some point through the week he had managed to bypass the 15 stages of condensation and into the establishment stage.
The adventurers working with Grant found him to be a weird one, like those high level adventurers, with the key difference being he was an F-level adventurer. Grant was just a weirdo to them. This very much changed when a horde of [wild] goblins attacked the cargo from the back in a surprise attack.
Led by a [wild] goblin archmage, by the time the adventurers realized, they rushed towards the back with the expectation that they would have work to do and people to treat. Much to their surprise they found nothing but goblin bodies, each cleanly cut. Grant was in the middle of it all, cutting off goblin ears and humming to himself, naught a drop of blood on him, nor a drop of interest in him.
The adventurers around him formed a far different view than they had initially viewed him. “Wow, mysterious and strong! He really is a curious weirdo!” chirped Natalie. Over the past few days Grant had introduced himself as an off the books hunter, but that was a common statement. By killing all the goblins without problem, however, he at least proved capable. Dain pondered on the mysterious energy, and the clear skills.
Grant was pretty happy about the goblins. Up to this point Grant had no opportunities to kill any monsters, leaving him at level 1. After slaying a horde of goblins. He’d reached level five, if the notifications the system provided him meant anything. And he felt it. Stronger. The system had one huge benefit that even magicians and mana users found tempting; mana absorption.
All beings absorbed mana when killing enemies. However, what humans, and other non-monster races found problematic, was their rate of absorption. For humans, they absorbed about 5 percent of a foe's mana on average, with other races absorbing 10, and monsters absorbing 60 percent. Humanity, ignoring all exceptional individuals, would always find themselves lacking compared to other races and in turn those races found themselves lacking in comparison to monsters, hence why human heroes were so rare and monsters were always stronger.
The system offset this in Gant’s world. Players were able to absorb a whopping 20 percent from foes, and the system took a 40 percent cut. This may seem unfair at first glance, but A) the system must sustain itself in the long run B) the system uses that extra mana to improve your body upon leveling up, and C) the extra charge was also used to produce the items from the shop the system has and used to grab monster eggs for the egg spin, a gacha type roll which many players gamble on in hopes of getting a rare monster like a high level dragon or manticores amongst other things. Almost all eggs contained in this section were orphaned eggs from the wild which the system grabbed, incubated, and then stored in the shop, which when won, would hatch a few days later. The remaining mana was released to ensure the environment would remain mana rich.
Speaking of leveling up, by leveling up, Grant could feel his body being improved, muscles strengthened, and brain power increased. Leveling was a unique feature of the system, where once a certain amount of exp, or mana accumulated not in the mana circle, had been accumulated, the person in question would then gain an increase in strength thanks to a development in his body. This sadly wouldn’t contribute to his cultivation, but would provide a burst of strength in contrast to other people, who would experience a slow increase in strength as the mana count grew in their body.
He knew that there was a status he could check for stats in the system layout, but for now, he was content to say no. Grant had lived near a thousand years before he helped implement the current form of the system.
‘I lived long enough without needing a stat page, I’m not needing it anytime soon.’ The system had been around for hundreds of years, born of the machinations of the administrators, but had changed over the years. From bards and “gods” being the ones to deliver quests, and into the modern times the quest givers were “intel officers” assigned to agents. Upon the first RPG to ever exist being released, names changed once more. Dungeon masters and players, with the 21st century hailing the current name of the ones who control the system, “The administrators”, with the system also receiving its new and current name.
Grant had been around the block way before the stats, and felt no need to use it now. In the end, no matter how much hp you had, when you lose your head, you lose your head. Heart crushed? Dead in most cases. That’s what the neutered appraisal spell was for. Grant had to admit, though, the notifications of leveling up, and levels in general, alongside a more convenient virtual shop had been positive changes brought upon by the system. The inventory was great for new players, when once spatial magic had only been limited to those capable of using it.
After the goblin attack, people were far more on guard, as the goblin attack merely signaled the approach of a higher concentration of monsters than before as they slowly approached York.
Perhaps coincidentally, more monsters started showing up, from lone goblins to the canine-type kobolds and even a few orcs. The adventurers fought valiantly, and soon they also got to see Grant in action. Grant approached enemies in what would seem to be to be a leisurely stride but with a slip of his hand and depending on the situation a dodge or two, his enemies falling shortly thereafter. No one could really figure out what was going on. Only the few c rank adventurers could speculate what was going on and Dain could only sense an increase in the mysterious energy emanating from the hooded man with each step before an overflow followed by the target falling. Grant continued cultivating but no one questioned now, as they were assuming it was connected to his weird style of combat. Dain, on the other hand, analyzed what he had witnessed. Between him and Natalie, he’d always been the more analytical type.
Looking back on what had happened, he noticed that as Grant approached each foe, the energy flowing through his body started flowing rapidly, concentrating in certain areas on the body, until the final step before his enemy, when the energy finally settled into points along the arm, as well as flowing through the blade.
By the time Grant walked past them, the energy dissipated back into the body, leaving behind the bloody chunks of his foes.
What was this mysterious energy?