Chapter 440: Aftermath

A rock tumbled, and we immediately snapped back into fighting mode, looking all around. We were tense for a long moment, just waiting for the wyrm to erupt out from the ground and resume the fight. My bet was directly under Fenrir’s legs, and I was standing up, light on my feet, Auri in my hands, ready to go. Ready to fly, ready to fight, ready to pit all my skills, experience, and magic against the best the wyrm had.

As time passed and our mana regenerated, I started to slowly relax.

“You can’t run away and come back with a sneak attack in a fight for dominance, can you?” I asked Iona.

She shook her head.

“No. Animals rarely fight to the death, and the battle was going poorly for it. Why continue to fight us, when it could move somewhere else, and fight something weaker for its territory?”

The wyrm wasn’t coming back. We’d won!

“We won!” I shouted out, feeling like I was on top of the world. It was like I could see again, the world no longer the cold clinical mathematics of combat. I could appreciate that I was almost literally on top of the world, standing on the back of an armored wyvern, who in turn was on the summit of a mountain. The glorious sun shone down on us. The breeze was soft, the day was warm, and life was just full of color. A few fluffy white clouds, drifting through the air. The red of blood, all over Iona and Fenrir - only some of it theirs. The orange of the fires Auri started, steadily chewing through a patch of the forest. The yellow of the beautiful sun up above. The green of the leaves on the trees. The clear blue of the sky, inviting us all to go fly. The purple of the shadow the mountain was casting. The brown of fallen trees, and the black of heavy smoke. The day was wonderful, and had it all.

“We won!” Iona’s helmet retracted, the warrior mentally manipulating her mallium. She approached me, and my eyes widened as I realized what was about to happen.

I tried to escape. I really did.

“Not the-” My words were cut off as Iona wrapped her arms around me and gave me a huge hug.

“We did it!” Iona cheered, saying a few more things, but all I could think about was how much grime and gore was getting rubbed into my clothes, my hair, my…

I shuddered, and pushed Iona away, my face twisted in disgust.

Iona’s jubilant expression fell.

“What’s wrong?” She asked, all concerned. “Are you alright?”

“Oh I’m fine, it’s just…” I gestured down to myself.

“BRRPT!”

Auri had heard a problem - and the solution, as always, was Fire. Cleaning flames erupted around me, fixing the blood everywhere issue.

“Thank you Auri.” I said without a trace of sarcasm. The gore had just gotten to me in a way I hadn’t felt before.

“Levels?” Iona asked.

Before I could answer, Fenrir twisted his head around, grabbed a damaged plate of armor by his hip, and tore it off, spitting it down the hill.

“Better.” He sighed, settling down.

Iona jumped down off Fenrir’s back and started patting the massive monster, whispering reassuring words as she started to look over him and his armor.

“Auri, you good?” I asked.

The little phoenix puffed up her chest, and I noticed she’d given herself a new ‘medal’, a slightly different color of flame on her multicolored body.

“Brrrpt!” She reassured me that she was all good, and that I should totally go check my levels!!

I jumped off Fenrir and gave Iona and him some space, opening my notifications.

The first ones made me wince.

[*ding!* The Eventide Eclipse has slain a [Rabbit (Wood - 13)]

[*ding!* The Eventide Eclipse has slain a [Aquilops (Water - 36)]

[*ding!* The Eventide Eclipse has slain a [Deer (Wind - 140)]

[*ding!* The Eventide Eclipse has slain a [Minmi (Metal - 50)]

[*ding!* The Eventide Eclipse has slain a [Squirrel (Wood - 6)]

The list went on and on, detailing the absolute carnage we’d performed on the local woodland wildlife.

We’d bumped off a lot of critters.

I filtered them out, and went to my level-up notifications.

The first one made me beam.

[*ding!* Congratulations! [The Dawn Sentinel] has leveled up to level 514->520 +3 Dexterity, +24 Speed, +24 Vitality, +170 Mana, +170 Mana Regen, +48 Magic power, +48 Magic Control from your Class per level! +1 Strength, +1 Dexterity, +1 Speed, +1 Vitality, +1 Mana, +1 Mana Regeneration, +1 Magic Power, +1 Magic Control for being Chimera (Elvenoid)! +1 Mana, +1 Mana Regen from your Element per level!]

Whoa! That was more than I expected! Then again, I think what I’d been doing had been almost exactly in [The Dawn Sentinel’s] wheelhouse. Fighting within Exterreri’s borders, home of the current Sentinels, against a higher-level monster. I suddenly realized that as much as they needed me to acknowledge them, it worked both ways. I’d also been acting primarily as a healer in that fight, keeping Fenrir and Iona healthy, restoring their bodies as quickly as they were torn. It wasn’t quite there yet, but [Hunger for Knowledge] was another strong boost.

That, and I was splitting experience with Auri. I wasn’t quite sure what portion of [The Dawn Sentinel] leveling was from what I did, and from what Auri did.

My capped skills remained capped.

[*ding!* [Cosmic Presence] leveled up! 328 -> 330].

Honestly, I felt lucky I’d gotten two levels, and a little bad. Meant I hadn’t been on point, that I hadn’t been quick enough, to heal up Iona and Fenrir, and my passive aura had kicked in.

[*ding!* [Sunrise] leveled up! 472 -> 475].

Levels for the level god!

Was there a deity of levels? I knew some people worshiped the System itself, but was there a god of the System?

[*ding!* Congratulations! [Butterfly Mystic] has leveled up to level 490->498! +8 Strength, +8 Dexterity, +70 Speed, +70 Vitality, +70 Mana, +70 Mana Regen, +70 Magic power, +70 Magic Control from your Class per level! +1 Strength, +1 Dexterity, +1 Speed, +1 Vitality, +1 Mana, +1 Mana Regeneration, +1 Magic Power, +1 Magic Control for being Chimera (Elvenoid)! +1 Strength, +1 Mana Regen from your Element per level!]

Okay, that had to be almost all Auri. I hadn’t used much Radiance during the fight, just hitting the wyrm with a few [Nova Lances]. Hadn’t even gotten a good chance to bust out any good wizardry!

[*ding!*

You’ve unlocked the Class Skill [Starfire Lightstorm Apocalypse]. Would you like to replace a skill with it? Y/N]

Starfire Lightstorm Apocalypse: Unleash the cataclysmic power of the cosmos. The wielder of this spell calls forth the unparalleled energy of the stars, converging the essence of celestial light into a singular point of unimaginable intensity.

As the cosmic energies spiral and merge, a dazzling maelstrom of Radiance forms, crackling with the very essence of the stars. At the moment of critical mass, the Starfire Lightstorm Apocalypse is unleashed, erupting in a breathtaking explosion of raw power.

The devastating shockwave created by this celestial outburst expands in a rapidly growing sphere, engulfing everything in its path with the unstoppable force of a supernova. The searing light of the Starfire Lightstorm Apocalypse incinerates all it touches, reducing even the most formidable foes to mere ashes and leaving a trail of scorched devastation in its wake.

This apocalyptic display of power is a testament to the unfathomable power of the stars and cosmos.

Use this skill wisely, and you may harness the power to reshape the battlefield and turn the tide conflicts in your favor. Beware! For the celestial fury unleashed by the Starfire Lightstorm Apocalypse is as merciless as it is magnificent, and its devastating force is not easily controlled.

Butterfly Mystic’s tendency to pick up skills I saw strikes again! Maybe that was also a chunk of the experience? I’d gotten up close and personal to a brand-new Radiance skill.

The description was quite something, and I wanted to roll my eyes at how Iona had boiled it down to a ‘big explosion’. Talk about an understatement!

The skill was terrible for me. Massive indiscriminate explosion? Unfocused power?

Collateral damage?

No, as cool as it sounded, as powerful as it looked, it was not for me. While I found myself fighting far more than I ever would have believed as a kid, while I was an elite member of the military, there was a single line at the heart of me, whose beat drove my life.

First, do no harm.

This skill was the very essence of harm.

Cool to see though!

[*ding!* [The Very Hungry Bookwyrm] leveled up! 118 -> 128. +80 Dexterity, +80 Vitality, +80 Speed, +240 Magic Power, +240 Magic Control, +240 Mana, +240 Mana Regeneration per level from your Class! +1 Strength, +1 Dexterity, +1 Speed, +1 Vitality, +1 Magic Power, +1 Magic Control, +1 Mana, +1 Mana Regeneration per level for being Chimera (Elvenoid)! +1 Mana, +1 Magic Power per level from your Element!]

YES! I was ready to class up! All my levels here were from Auri, but hey, I was also feeding her half my experience that I was getting. It was a fair trade.

I wasn’t going to class up until I’d finished the deal with Arachne, and found out if I was going to become one of the [Loremasters] or not, because that sounded like a sweet and easy way to get a stronger class.

[*ding!* [Long-Range Identify] leveled up! 417-> 418].

If I ever found an amazing general skill, I was dropping [Identify]. Assuming I was still dating Iona - or more.

[*ding!* [Parallel Thoughts] leveled up! 178 -> 200].

Oh nice, I could have five thought processes going at once now!

[*ding!* [The World Around Me] leveled up! 81-> 85].

Slow and steady. I’d noticed this one leveling up during the fight, as my sphere of perception grew in size.

[*ding!* [Imbue] leveled up! 189-> 195].

Nothing like saving people in a life or death fight to level a skill!

“How’d you do Auri?” I asked my little fireball.

“Brrrrpt!!” No complaints at all on her end, all the FIRE. “Brrrpt?”

“Yeah, wait. If we end up becoming Sentinels again, that’ll unlock something solid in your second class. Shouldn’t be more than a week or so.”

“Brrrpt!” Auri gave me her flashiest salute, then buzzed over to Fenrir and Iona. Having determined that Iona had gotten some quality time unbuckling Fenrir, and that he deserved to be out of his armor now, she summoned a dozen [Mage Hands] and got them to work. In short order, Fenrir’s surviving armor was in a neat pile, and Iona was looking him over, scratching and rubbing various places.

He let out a low rumble of contentment, settling down to bask in the sun.

“Classing up.” He said, and the sparkling lights of a new class started to dance around him. I gasped and whirled to Iona.

“He hit 512?” I squeaked with joy, running over to her.

She gave me a tired grin.

Goddesses, that grin.

“Yup!” She confirmed, sounding as proud as ever. “Sorry about earlier, here.”

With a mental flex, she ‘shed’ all the blood and gore, her armor folding up along her back like how she usually kept it.

“Better?” She asked.

I jumped into her arms, trying to hug her tightly enough to let her know that, yes, it was all better, trying to apologize for my earlier revulsion.

“It’s the skill. The stupid skill.” I murmured into her hair.

She stroked my hair, whispering back into my ear.

“I know, I know, it’s alright. I don’t blame you.” Iona replied.

Love once again blossomed in my chest, and I felt like the luckiest woman alive to be with Iona.

We spent a second, a minute, an hour, a timeless moment there together, locked together, simply enjoying each other’s company, delighted to be with one another.

“Brrrrpt!!” Auri’s reprimand eventually brought us back down to Pallos. She was perched on Fenrir’s head, looking around before making a little quarter-circle hop on his head, checking out the next direction for ‘threats’.

Like anything would try to threaten Fenrir after the stunt we’d just pulled.

Iona’s eyes were sparkling, and not just with stars.

“Hey, devastationosaurus.” She started.

I squawked in protest.

“That was mostly you two!”

She lightly punched my arm.

“Yeah, yeah, all my notifications are saying your party so I don’t wanna hear it.”n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

I rolled my eyes at her.

“What’s up?”

“This is going to sound stupid, but this mountain’s home now. I know we’re planning on talking with architects and getting some real builders here, but I want to build a shelter here, now, today. I want to sleep in it. I want this to be home.”

Something in Iona’s tone had me looking up at her, taking her words seriously.

“Alright, let’s do it. What’s the plan?”

Iona held out her hand, and her axe snapped to it, pulled along by her [Telekinesis].

“How hard can stacking some logs in a block, then chopping out a door possibly be?”

I looked at the sheer number of fallen logs strewn about the mountain. I looked at Iona’s axe.

“I’m not hauling them up here. No way. Let’s build it down there.” I suggested, pointing to a slightly flatter spot that had a couple of trees.

Iona kissed me, and it took a few minutes before we got started properly.

“How hard could it be.” I grumbled again, glaring balefully at the log that had just rolled off the pile. I’d needed to move quickly to avoid my foot being crushed again.

Famous. Last. Words. Neither of us were big on building. My education had been limited to basic wilderness structures that I could quickly assemble with local flora, bolstered by [Mantle of the Stars]. Just enough to help keep the elements off of me while I grabbed a quick nap.

Iona’s education in the subject was both better and worse. Growing up in her little village, she’d helped out now and then as a kid with the basics - like thatching - and watched the adults do the heavy lifting. At the same time, civil construction wasn’t a high priority for the Valkyries. Like, yes, now and then they’d be helping someone rebuild a house, but that was usually as the manual labor that could make it happen in a day or two, not the designer and architect.

We were good at a lot of things. We weren’t good at everything, and directly building houses seemed to be on that list.

For now. I was Immortal, like Night. I had a long, long time to pick up skills, and building simple log cabins was rapidly rising on the list.

With our powers combined… we’d figured out a few things.

Like, getting the ground properly level was important.

Like, getting notches and joints carved into the end of the trees was critical, otherwise the log cabin was literally more air than wood for walls.

Like, flattening the logs so both ends were the same thickness was needed.

Iona looked so frustrated that she could punch another tree over.

“This is supposed to be easy!” She shouted.

I studied what we had.

“Idea.”

“Anything.” Iona practically growled. I knew she wasn’t mad at me.

“This isn’t going to last, isn’t supposed to last. You see those three trees there?” I pointed to three sturdy-looking trees in a line.

“Yeah?”

“Let’s pile up some logs against it, then lean more against them. It’s not perfect, it won’t last, we’ve got nothing for the gaps, but it requires no engineering knowledge, and I can close both sides with [Mantle].”

“Fine.” She growled, glaring murder at the logs like they’d personally affronted her.

With a new plan in mind, we got to work.

With our new super-simple design, we got things going. It wasn’t amazing, and I was frankly a little terrified to sleep under it - logs were heavy, and that much weight crushing down on me promised a mild inconvenience - but it was coming together, and I felt my heart singing as it did.

Ours.

We had a home. A home, together. A home the two of us built with our own hands.

Right then and there I swore to work with the building crews on our new home. There was something indescribable about building my own home. I wanted to live there for a long, long time, how would it feel to pass by a brick, and know I’d placed it there with my own two hands?

Yeah, I wouldn’t have skills, I wouldn’t have experience, but I had to imagine the builders could use a willing and eager pair of hands, combined with a decent physical baseline. I couldn’t hurl logs around like Iona could, or - okay, any comparison to Iona in the physical department would find me wanting - but I’d stake my physical abilities against the average mortal [Builder] any day.

Fenrir joined us as we were placing the last few logs, Auri perched on his head, looking as smug as anything. The two of them had flown off a few hours ago after he’d finished with his class-up. Iona looked at him, and her eyes widened.

“Whoa.” She said.

“Want to share?” I asked.

A small breeze whipped around us, and a tiny rumbling cloud formed in front of Fenrir. A few flakes of snow and hail fell out of it as lightning occasionally crackled from the cloud.

Then it all dissipated. My mouth dropped open.

“You took Storm?” I was shocked.

Fenrir made a pleased growl.

“[Lord of the Frozen Skies].” Iona shook her head in disbelief. “Fenrir, that’s amazing. Elaine, do you mind if Fenrir and I take a few minutes?”

“Nope! Not at all, go have fun. Auri, want to help me finish this?”

“Brrpt!”

Auri and I kept working at it. The two of us couldn’t easily move logs around like Iona could, no matter how Auri strained with a legion of [Mage Hands]. However, enough logs were in place that we focused our efforts on other things.

Auri gave the whole thing a light cleanse with her flames, perfectly charring the wood to help seal it up and preserve it, killing the legions of bugs and termites living in the wood. We then went on a hunt for all the soft ferns and leaves we could find. I conjured up some simple bags with my wizardry, and we stuffed them full of the bedding. [The World Around Me] assisted in locating some of the still intact rabbit and deer corpse that we won't mind being kind of smushed. They were fresh enough, especially after [Chef] Auri was on the case.

Iona and Fenrir eventually returned, and her eyes gleamed at the sight.

We settled in for a nice little evening barbeque around a campfire.

“What did I ever do to deserve you?” She asked, stroking my hand. I leaned my head on her shoulder.

“Everything.” I whispered back.

She laughed, picked me up, and carried me into our lean-to.

Our house.

[Name: Elaine]

[Race: Chimera (Elvenoid)]

[Age: 27]

[Mana: 948,700/948,700]

[Mana Regen: 594,518 (+1,182,650)]

Stats

[Free Stats: 0]

[Strength: 1,335]

[Dexterity: 10,946]

[Vitality: 33,142]

[Speed: 33,174]

[Mana: 94,870]

[Mana Regeneration: 94,992 (+118,265)]

[Magic Power: 58,527 (+1,521,702)]

[Magic Control: 58,392 (+1,518,192)]

[Class 1: [The Dawn Sentinel - Celestial: Lv 520]]

[Celestial Affinity: 520]

[Cosmic Presence: 330]

[The Stars Never Fade: 14]

[Center of the Universe: 473]

[Dance with the Heavens: 520]

[Wheel of Sun and Moon: 520]

[Mantle of the Stars: 495]

[Sunrise: 475]

[Class 2: [Butterfly Mystic - Radiance: Lv 498]]

[Radiance Affinity: 498]

[Radiance Resistance: 498]

[Nova Lance: 498]

[Lepidoptera: 498]

[Nectar: 498]

[Solar Corona: 498]

[Scintillating Ascent: 498]

[Kaleidoscope: 498]

[Class 3: [The Very Hungry Bookwyrm - Spatial: Lv 128]]

[Spatial Affinity: 128]

[Comprehensive Speed Reading: 128]

[Channeled Blink: 42]

[Bookwyrm's Hoard: 128]

[Beneath the Dragon's Eyes: 128]

[Vivid Dream Reading: 128]

[Astral Archives: 128]

[Hunger for Knowledge: 128]

General Skills

[Long-Range Identify: 418]

[Parallel Thoughts: 200]

[Companion Bond between Elaine and Auri: 520]

[The World Around Me: 85]

[Oath of Elaine to Lyra: 520]

[Sentinel's Superiority: 520]

[Persistent Casting: 432]

[Imbue: 195]