Two Destructive Hours Later.
'...take shape, nightfall!'
BOOM!
"SKREEEEEE!"
"KIIIIRAAAGH!"
The goblins shrieked in fear as they were chased around and slaughtered by other goblins!
Acheron had killed over 100 goblins and transformed them into shadows, using them to kill the other goblins.
Since the skill was temporary, she could transform as many as she liked.
KRAAASH—!
"RRAAAA!"
Stellar stood there, watching the poor goblins suffer over and over again.
"SHIEKKKK!"
Cr-Crack!
Then suddenly, Acheron's eyes blurred out, her legs weakened as she dropped to the ground.
"What the..."
The goblin shadows disappeared one by one slowly.
[Mana: 503 → 28]
'The hell? How is it that low? Last time I checked it was still around six hundred...'
「 You need to rest, your mana is nearly depleted, give it some time to recover. 」
"Yeah, I lost track of my mana flow, lost in the moment..." Acheron laid down full body on the grass, panting.
「 Hmph~ It's expected, your mind is not aligned with your body fully, may take a while before you can handle it. 」
"Yeah, yeah..." Acheron pulled up her status screen to see how much she had grown.
[Ding!]
[Ding!]
[Ding!]
[Ding!]
Tons of notifications started flooding in.
[You have increased your Mana capacity by 1!]
[You have increased your Arcana Power by 2!]
[You have increased your Mana capacity by 1!]
[You have increased your Mana capacity by 1!]
[Status]
» Name - Acheron Anaxagoras
» Core - Origin
» Stage - 4th of the Descendant Sun
[Stats]
» Mana: 47 / 1232 (+32)
» Arcana Power: 159 (+9)✶
» Agility: 81 (+2)✶
» Endurance: 53 (+3)✶
» IQ: 222 (+14)✶
"Woah~ I have grown a ton."
A different type of notification appeared as soon as the stat increases disappeared.
[Ding!]
[You have slaughtered over 100 goblins!]
[You have earned the title: Ugly Queen]
"Ugly queen? What's that supposed to mean..."
〈 Ugly Queen ♣ 〉
⤷ Every goblin you encounter will have an innate emotion of fearing you.
⤷ Your attacks damage is multiplied by 10% against any goblin.
"Oh... hmm... not bad, I don't like the name though."
「 You're going to have to live with it, Ugly queen...pfft 」Stellar let out a soft laugh.
Acheron laughed in response, they both sat there for another ten minutes before it occurred to Acheron that her body was still in the real world.
She turned to Stellar. "Can you return me back? My siblings must be looking for me."
Stellar nodded and stood up, waving her hands in different motions.
「 Feel free to come back anytime... 」
Fwsh...!
"Will do..."
Acheron's mind body left the domain and entered into the transition space of null and void.
・
・
・
Gasp~
[Welcome back to the world of the living]
She opened her eyes in the real world, back to her body. She stood up, dusting the leaves from her clothes.
'Wow... I feel so... light—ack my head.'
[Temporary Debuff: Mental Fatigue - Concentration -20% for 2 hours]
"My mind is exhausted; I need to sleep..."
Jamie was searching the whole mansion, looking for her hair brush.
She stumbled upon the garden where she saw Acheron standing alone under the moonlight.
"Ney—! Oh... Emm, Acheron! What are you doing here?" Jamie shouted.
Startled, Acheron turned.
"Oh, Jamie, it's you."
"Duh, hurry up and come inside, Claire finished making dinner."
−−−
The next morning.
Golden Plains, a small inn around Ironhill.
Nieves tossed around her bed, uneasy from the dream she was experiencing, a dream of her past.
.
.
.
"Nieves, get up!" Her father burst through the door, holding his bow in hand.
Nieves looked around to see her family home, her mother stood in the kitchen, later rushing to the door when she heard her husband.
"Dear what's wrong?"
"Bandits are he..."
Shing...!
A blade passed through her father's heart.
"No... nooooo!" Nieves quickly got up from the bed and rushed to aid her father.
.
.
.
Knock. Knock.
"Nieves, you awake?" Vincent called out from the door.
Nieves jolted up from her sleep, covered in sweat and gasping for air.
She rubbed her eyes, slowly getting up from the bed. Those dreams don't bother her anymore. Ever since her parents died, she has been seeing these dreams of the scene over and over again.
At some point it didn't bother her anymore, the only thing she wanted was revenge, the only thing her mind thinks of whenever she gets those dreams which motivates her even more.
She staggered to the door, still half asleep.
Opening the door, Vincent stood outside in his usual attire.
"Morning there love, I thought maybe we cou...!"
Vincent froze mid-sentence, immediately turning his face away.
"Y-Y-Y-You—!"
"What?" Nieves was still rubbing her eyes, wondering what was wrong with him.
Then she looked down at what she was wearing.
Her face turned completely red.
Slam!
She slammed the door in his face.
"Wait outside!" She said loudly, her voice cracking from embarrassment.
Outside, Vincent leaned on the balcony, trying to calm down his racing heart as he tried not to think about what he just saw.
He looked out at the town where people had just started to open up their shops, children running through the street even though the sun was barely up.
He saw the smiles on the elders' faces, the young teenagers as they assisted their parents with their various work.
It was those smiles he wanted to protect.
Vincent came from a small family out in the eastern sea, on a small island called Ronsivol, his family was not a rich one, his father was a fisherman while his mother was a caretaker.
Throughout his childhood, he spent most of his time helping his father while on an empty stomach, eating only once per day.
And still...
The nobles who lived on a nearby island would come, pretending to want to buy some of their fish but would threaten Vincent and his father to give it to them for free instead.
Saying excuses like:
"We are the ones who protect you from those sea monsters"
"You better be grateful we aren't killing you."
They would smile and laugh as they stole from the poor, some didn't even come for the food, they just came to torment the hard-working commoners of the island.
Vincent could not bear it anymore and questioned his father:
"Why don't we fight back? Why do we still grovel to them even when they have stolen from us?"
Vincent's father did not answer, he understood the anger of his son... but fighting against the nobles was not only a crime but just because of a single commoner's retaliation, they could kill every single commoner on their island.
Vincent never fully understood the reason why and then one day... he lost it.
On a hot afternoon, Vincent went out to get one of his fishing equipment he left outside the previous day.
When he got there, he saw all the boats destroyed with fire still burning on some of the wood remains, two noble boys with sword in hand and staff for the other laughed as they continued smashing everything to pieces.
Vincent did not think twice and attacked them with a nearby stake he found on the ground.
They fought for a while and one of the nobles lost his eye, the other ran when he could not best Vincent in a fight.
Vincent went home and told his father.
Immediately, his father ordered him to pack his things and leave the island.
If the nobles ever got hold of him, they would do to him things worse than death.
That evening, Vincent sailed away from his family, never to return again.
Years later, he found out the father of the noble he blinded killed every single person on Ronsivol island.
He cried for a very long time, all these years he thought they were safe, still enjoying their lives.
He resolved himself and set a goal, to take revenge on all nobles who treat commoners like they aren't human beings.
A few months later, he and Nieves met for the first time.
Joining to achieve their goals, they agreed to help each other.
An hour passed and the door finally opened.
Nieves stepped out, fully dressed in the academy uniform and her hair tied neatly.
There was silence for a while then Vincent took the liberty of speaking first to ease the tension.
"I-I thought we could go to the academy together." Vincent stuttered, looking the other way.
"Alright, let's go." Nieves said while walking towards the exit.