In Loki's Honor

The water goblins didn't attack. They parted and lined up on both sides, creating a sort of honor guard for us.

"I think they want us to go in the lake," I commented.

"Yes. Let's go--"

"DAUGHTER!" The elder lake fairy burst from the water with a spectacular shower of glittering droplets. "It's about time you were set free from that conniving... YOU!"

She fired a bolt of pressurized water at me. Nenandil deflected most of it but we still caught part of the spell.

Elder lake fairy used water jet. You lost 5974 HP. Mana shield spent 2241 MP. ( Base 5,000 (-750) x 5 Skill x 2 perk x 0,75 magic resistance x 0,75 magic eater x 0,75 Elementalist x 0,5 partial deflection )

"Dammit," I said as I caught my wounded familiar and healed her. At the same time, I raised a shield of stone to protect us from the jet. "Stop that, you psychotic fairy!"

It stopped.

"Daughter? Are you hurt?"

I lowered the shield and the stone melded back into the tunnel. "She will be fine. I'm healing her. What the heck? Trying to kill your own daughter?"

Nenandil's mother fluttered next to us and touched her daughter's forehead. She used a healing spell of her own.

"No. I'm trying to kill you! And what's wrong with you, spending centuries away from me you filthy human... You're not human,"

I was angry but I met Nenandil's eyes and she mouthed, 'be nice". I nodded at her and politely greeted the real elder lake fairy.

"Pleased to meet you. I'm princess Alloralla of Fulgen. An elf now, but I was the human you bonded your daughter to."

She stared at me. "Your displayed status is fake. But don't even need to believe you. You do have Royal blood,' she pointed at my blood that was seeping into the lake. "Also, you gave priority to healing my daughter rather than yourself. How did this happen? Our agreement was that she would stay with you until your final death."

Nenandil coughed. "And that remains true. She tricked you, mom."

"I didn't get it. Explain, please. Before I decide that killing you is the best option."

I finish healing Nenandil and she flies to hug her mother. "She's the Old Soul, mom. Though her body might die, her soul lingers on in the System. She eventually is reborn, and I go with her."

I checked Nenandil's mother. She jumped a few levels these centuries and now is level one hundred and three. The second-highest level creature I've seen so far.

"I've seen enough. The bond between you two is something not even the Gods can touch," she replied to Nenandil with an impressive display of wisdom. "Come. Let's go into the lake. You took the trouble of coming here to see me, I'm sure you can spare a few moments of your time to tell me of your exploits.

I felt something. Call it intuition or my understanding of a fairy's mind during my brief existence as one, but I knew there was a trick there.

"Of course. But let me stow my gear. I don't want it getting wet," I sent my equipment to storage. I could stow it without taking it off but couldn't dress up from storage. I immediately shifted into an Argentinian red caiman. "We can go now."

Nenandil chuckled. Her mother widened her eyes. "Quite the tricky one, aren't you? How did you obtain fae powers?"

"By living as one. I was the silkie known as Silverstreak once if you must know."

She shut her mouth and assumed a neutral face. "Aye. That name is not unknown to me. Neither is the fact that the silkie Silverstreak had a lake fairy as a companion."

The elder fairy flew down and sat on my muzzle in front of my eyes. "You lived for a brief period of time, a shooting star that streaked the sky and was suddenly gone. But your legacy remains. You forged a nation with your lifeblood. For that, you have my respect. Come. I won't entrap you. Until the next sunrise on the surface. Give me that much time."

I gave her a toothy caiman grin, "You get a week if you only tell me how should I call you."

"You may call me Doris, Old Soul."

"Well met, Doris. Your daughter has been my rock."

"Rock?" Doris asked, clearly confused because she took my statement literally and Nenandil wasn't a rock.

"A firm place where one builds their home, mom," Nenandil explained. "It's a human thing to associate objects to concepts."

"That's interesting. Come and enjoy my hospitality."

I would but I knew I had to refuse her food. The last time she fed me something was enough.

Inside the lake, I shifted into a goonch devil catfish. I had to thank Jeremy Wade for that one. It was one hell of a beautiful and deadly fish. The goblins took a good look at me, I snapped my teeth at them, and they decided to find food elsewhere.

Nenandil told her about my exploits. Of fighting demons, assassinating kings, dueling pirates. She embellished things a bit. When she started the tale of Silverstreak, things got serious. I knew my efforts to curb fairy slavery at the root were important but I never expected it would reach her here in her secluded lake. When I commented that, mother and daughter laughed at me.

"The spriggans and gnomes talk too much. The two are long time friends, and they wander these tunnels and the rock in their eternal search for glittering gemstones. It was through them that I heard of you, Silverstreak."

"I'm honored, Doris," I replied as my whiskers floated in the current.

"The honor is mine. I'm sorry you had to put up with that idiotic sister of mine."

"I beg your pardon?" I asked, confused.

"Brenn, the fire fae Queen. She's my sister."

I never knew her name. We verbally abused that silly and infatuated fairy Queen for a while and I kept in mind where I was. I couldn't get swept by Doris's rhythm or I could very well stay stuck here for centuries. Doris's home was a cave at the bottom of the lake. The goblin village was entirely underwater along with some tunnels. The lake monster population was restored but they stayed away from the goblins.

"You have a question. Ask it, child," Doris said.

"What happened with the goblins? Why are they underwater?"

She laughed. "That happened after you decimated them and my monsters. I had never revealed myself to the goblins before. Once they learned I was the one responsible for the lake, the started to worship me. They offered me magic crystals and cores, and I used them to improve my power. With that, the lake rose and the goblins changed. Because they drank of my waters, their fear of drowning vanished and they embraced the lake. Their babies started to be born with paddles in their limbs and gills. Over a century, the entire tribe became amphibious and the lake rose to cover their village."

"And why the lake monsters don't eat the goblins?"

She giggled, "They do! But I don't want them to vanish. The goblins are quite useful since they can live on land and water but they prefer to stay with me. So I tell the monsters to stay away from the village as it was back when it was dry. Once here and there, a goblin wanders where they shouldn't and chomp!"

"Maybe I should chase some goblins myself!" I chomped the water with my ridiculously toothy maw. The fairies laughed and giggled.

"Oh, darling, that's a scary fish you have there!" Doris came to inspect me. "Elegant. Deadly. I LOVE IT!" She squealed. "I must have it. Could you lay some eggs for me?"

"She can't mom. She has a curse that blocks her from having offspring."

Doris floated away, absorbed in thought. "And if you are the last Royal elf, you are in deep trouble. I bet that fancy council of yours are pulling their hairs out for some time now."

"Yes, they're desperate. Do you know anything about why?" I asked.

"I was new when the elves came to this land. They made pacts, covenants with the forces of nature of this place, myself included. The Royal family tithes their magic every year to us, and in return, we keep the forest verdant, the waters clean, and the air pure. Me and my sisters, the elder Sylph Nephele, and the elder dryad, Daphne. They are overdue for more than fifty years."

That's why the council pissed in their panties when I told them the being Lily defeated to complete the rite was the elder lake fairy. And that's why they were so desperate I got a magical Class.

"And why would they be in trouble if I'm the last of my bloodline?"

In jest, she asked, "How much MP do you have?"

"Less than two hundred thousand."

She made a serious face, "We require ten million MP on the summer solstice."

"I guess I need to gain some levels then," I joked.

"I guess you must," Doris deadpanned. Her expression softened. "But I guess that the benefactor of our kind, the one that sacrificed her life so early deserves a boon. If you wish, I'll ask my sisters to refrain from claiming their tithe for a century.

"That won't be necessary. I believe I can offer the tithe in due time. Ten million MP?"

"Each," she grinned.

"You're joking," It was my turn to stare at her.

"She is," Nenandil came and rubbed my scaled and then faced her mother. "Mom! This is serious! They are keeping Alloralla prisoner!"

"Okay, okay. But the elves owe us fifty years of tithes. What boon do you desire?"

I looked up at Nenandil sitting on my head. I swam a bit around Doris 's cave and came to a decision.

"I wish I could take on the shapes of my previous lives."

Doris swam next to me and bopped my nose. "No biting this time!" She laughed. "That's a tall order. I'll need to summon my sisters. Come. Let's find ourselves a mushroom circle."

I had no idea underwater mushrooms were a thing until I saw the circle that grew in a particularly bland piece of the lake floor. Catfish me and the two fairies swam around the circle and Doris started to call her sisters. "Brenn, Nephele, Daphe, Lorelai. Heed my call and answer my summons. Come, sisters. A worthy petitioner requests a boon of us."

The mushrooms hummed and glowed. The lakebed in the middle of the ring vanished and was replaced by images from far away, like someone panning satellite view Google Maps at top speed. It stopped and a fairy crossed over. Then it moved onto the next, and so on. A few minutes was all that took for the five elder fairy sisters to get together. Lorelai was the elder spriggan, the earth fairy.

Their combined power was astonishing. Brenn, the fire Queen I met in my past life seemed the youngest of them, both in mental age and level-wise.

"You!" She pointed at Nenandil. "You vanished with that silver silkie! What happened?"

"We died, Queenie. That's what happened," I answered in Nenandil's stead. "Though I am here now."

From what Nenandil told me when I am using {Animal Shapes} other fairies recognize me as one of them.

"But if you died, how can you be here? And a {Princess} nonetheless!" Brenn gasped.

"She's the Old Soul," Doris said with a wave of her hand to hint that it was nothing. Then she tugged Brenn's wings. "And we need to talk about you hitting on my daughter!"

Oh, yes. We were all underwater but nobody was bothered by that. If you try to make sense of these fairies, you lose it.

Doris then explained my predicament and my wish to her sisters. They sent me to swim around and maybe bite a goblin or two with Nenandil while they confabulated.

"Why would you choose that boon? You could very well ask for something that doubled your MP pool," Nenandil asked.

"I think every time I die, I lose a bit of myself. I feel like all my previous selves, but I am not them anymore. That's why I spent all that time as a rabbit. And there's another reason."

She tugged my whiskers, "What! Don't tease me like that!"

"I know you felt bad that we had to sacrifice ourselves when I was Silverstreak. If I can become a silkie again, wouldn't that be nice?"

"Aww!" She cooed. "You'd do that for me?" Nenandil giggled and chuckled. "You're so lovely!"

I didn't eat any goblins. I was still stuffed from the orc's lifeforce for the next fifty months. After a while, Nenandil steered me back to the ring.

"We decided to grant your boon. But we demand our tithe," Doris declared. "All fifty years of tithes."

Yes, of course, they want their due magic. That shitty council is going to get an earful.

"Can I pay in installments? Five hundred million MP will be hard to come by."

"Each," Nephele the elder sylph says with a grin.

"If I can repay in installments, then it is fine. How should we do it?"

"Easy. We can drain it from your blood until it is paid," Daphe, the elder dryad started to send her root-tendrils toward me.

"Wait. Wait. Give me just a few minutes to prepare. And a place with breathable air," I said as I pumped my fins to swim away from them.

"That's acceptable," Doris said. "You have fifteen minutes. Lorelai, Nephele, you can make a cave with air to the side of that wall," She pointed.

In the cave they made for me, I prepare for my ordeal. Why was I doing that? Because whether I wanted or not, it was my duty as the elven princess. I liked Fulgen. I liked a lot of elves. I could cowardly run away and start a new life, but to Alloralla, it felt wrong. The council would have its due. But I needed to prepare.

I first spent my open perks. I had eight perks to choose from. I followed the previous pattern and invested my Elf perks to improve magical ability and the Hero perks to improve survivability.

You gained the Elemental Magic Affinity (ultra-rare) perk. You have an affinity with all the eight basic elements. Fire, Water, Ice, Wind, Earth, Lightning, Light, and Darkness.

- Your Earth Affinity (rare) perk was removed by obsolescence.

You gained the Force Magic Affinity (rare) perk. You have an affinity with Force magic.

You gained the Affinity Resistance (very rare) perk. You resist 25% of the damage from magic to which you have an affinity. For non-damaging harmful effects, they end 25% earlier.

You gained the Tree Stride (very rare) perk. You can spend MP to enter a tree if the trunk is thick and tall enough to fit your form. You can see and hear around the tree normally. You can exit at any time from the same tree or pay MP to exit from another tree at a range of Magic x 100 meters.

You gained the Favored Defense (ultra-rare) perk. All damage from favored enemies is reduced by 25%.

You gained the Extra Skill Point I (very rare) perk. You gain 1 extra Skill Point per level.

You gained the Extra Skill Point II (very rare) perk. You gain 2 extra Skill Point per level.

You gained the Extra Skill Point III (very rare) perk. You gain 3 extra Skill Points per level.

You gained 240 retroactive Skill Points.

To allocate the rest of my Exp, I had to rank up my Class and Race.

You become a High Soul Surgeon.

You gain 7 (+3) Skill points per level.

Your proficiency level with medical skills is improved.

You become a High Alchemist.

You gain 7 (+3) Skill points per level.

Your proficiency level with alchemical skills is improved.

Your Class ranked up into Questor (unique). As a Questor, you gain:

1 Attribute point per level.

1 Endurance every odd level

1 Willpower every even level

1 Strength, Dexterity, Mind, Charisma every level, alternating (5 to each Attribute by level 20).

1 Attribute point every four levels.

1 Magic every four levels.

10 (+1) HP per level

6 (+3) MP per level

2 (+2) SP per level

6 (+3) Skill Points per level

1 perk every two levels.

Your race ranked up into Elder High Elf [star] (unique). As an Elder High Elf [star], you gain:

1 Attribute point every level.

1 Dexterity every odd level.

1 Mind every even level.

1 Endurance, Strength, Willpower, and Charisma each level, alternating (5 to each Attribute by level 20).

1 Magic every three levels.

6 (+1) HP per level.

10 (+3) MP per level.

3 (+2) SP per level.

6 (+3) Skill Points per level.

1 perk every even level.

I had three million Exp unallocated. With my Exp table bouncing back to a hundred thousand to the next level instead of twenty-six million as it was for level twenty, I would get a few levels.

You become a Questor level 6.

You gained three Questor perks.

You become an Elder High Elf [star] level 5

You gained two Elder High Elf [star] perks.

You become a High Soul Surgeon level 3

You become a High Alchemist level 3

You gained 159 Skill Points.

I think that's enough skill points for the Skill fusion I wanted.

{Combine Skills} activated. You are sacrificing the following Skills:

Improved Stamina 9, Improved SP 9, Improved SP recover 9, Improved HP 9, Empower Healing [self] 9, Reduced Sleep 9, Hold Breath 9, Efficient Metabolism 9, Psyche MP Storage 9, Spiritual MP Recovery 9

Plus 399 Skill Points.

You gained the Epic Constitution (ultra-rare) Skill. Increase recovery and the pool size of your HP, MP, and SP by Rank x Ego x 0,5% (current 2750%)

Your Epic Constitution (ultra-rare) level is Master 50 (The maximum level for this particular Skill - excess Skill Points were lost).

Funny. It just combined the Skills with the same formula. It was always rank times attribute times one-half percent. There wasn't a perk associated with mastery either. I felt the sting of being scammed out of more than two hundred Skill Points because of that stupid cap.

I spent my Attribute Points and checked my Status. Then I understood why it was that way.

Strength 14 / 21 - Dexterity 19 / 24 - Endurance 16 / 21

Mind 15 / 22 - Willpower 21 / 22 - Charisma 16 / 24

Magic 104 / 110

Ego 110 - Luck 100 / 110 - Soul 100 /110

HP: 2,356,406

MP: 4,081,275

SP: 928,125

Yeah. To hell with the two hundred Skill Points. I shifted into my hybrid form for the regeneration and instructed Nenandil to bring biomass to me. I had no idea how long this would take.

The five elder fairies entered the cave. Daphne, the elder dryad, extended her roots and pierced my were-cat body. The other fairies started to chant and drain my MP at an alarming rate. I blacked out from the pain.