NOVEL NEXT Chapter 7: Unlikely Beast
"So? Aren't you going to free me?" Juliana asked again, more tame this time. That was the Juliana he remembered from the game. Not whatever that screaming monster was a second ago.
Nick walked over to free her when a message popped up.
She groaned and began yelling more obscenities when Nick stopped, so he hid himself behind the message. Juliana was nothing like he remembered. She was supposed to be kind and caring...
Instead, she was kind of a bich.
>--< Tutorial Dungeon Completed >--<
[Exp. Gained: 500]
+-- Loading --+
>--< Level Interface Unlocked >--<
+-- Loading --+
[Leveled up]
+-- Loading --+
...
--(Stats)--
+-- Personal
Name: Nick
Title: King of the Cosmos
Race: Human; [Dragon Walker]
Gender: Male
Age: 25
Path: Warrior
Level: 2
Exp: 0/1,000
+-- General
CP: 30,000
Strength: 15
Dexterity: 20
Intelligence: 20
Luck: 10
Defense: 15
Health: 45/60
Mana: 30/30
Stamina: 70/90
+-- Path: Warrior
*One-Handed: 20
*Block: 20
*Medium-Armor: 20
Stealth: 15
Annihilation Magic: 15
Illusion Magic: 15
Restorative Magic: 10
Heavy-Armor: 15
Light-Armor: 15
Two-Handed: 15
Clairvoyance: 10
Divinity: 100
+-- Perk points: 1 --+
>--< Proceed to upgrade a Path? >--<
'A path?'
So, in addition to the general path warrior–which honestly seemed more like a class than anything–there were also these different paths, which functioned like singular skills. For example, the upgrades within the One-Handed path should increase his ability with swords.
But then, if that's the case, a higher level would imply that there were stronger upgrades to unlock–especially if a path was level 100.
Speaking of... why did he even have level 100 divinity?
Was it because all the gods had died?
Does that mean...
'I'm practically a god?'
"Hey!!! Captive girl here! You know it takes like 2 flucking seconds to unclasp a girl, right! Deckhead, I promise I don't flucking bite." Juliana flashed a smile, one that despite her harsh words did make her look pretty.
'I should probably free her before I continue exploring.' Nick thought as he hurriedly crouched behind her, trying to work the clasps.
They were held together by some mechanism that was impossible to decipher. He could clearly see where the clasp was to free her, but it was like his fingers didn't know what to do.
"You don't know how to work that? What are you, a flucking virgin?" Juliana asked as he continued working behind her in an attempt to loosen the clasp.
"What? No... no, I'm not a virgin!" Nick stammered as he continued struggling, unsure why that even mattered here.
Who cares if he was a virgin?
That had nothing to do with his troubles freeing her.
Nick played with the clasps for a few more seconds before growing tired. Pushing himself off the ground, he summoned his new sword the second he was standing again.
Juliana shuffled timidly when she heard the twing of the sword. "Hey, you're not thinking of doing anything dumb, right? Y- you know, if you're going to be crazy, I- Ahh!"
She yelped as the sword flew down, cleanly cutting the chain binding the clasps. With a smirk, Nick said, "I'm not dumb."
She stretched her now free arms before going to work on the clasps. They were opened within seconds, freeing her completely. "Jury's still out on that."
Turning to Nick, the sight of his sword made her gasp. She had never seen one so... elegant before. Subconsciously rubbing her wrist where the clasps had been just moments ago, she walked toward him while studying his sword.
Then she tenderly laid a finger on it, tracing its blade with a woman's care. As her finger made its journey down to the shaft, a soft smile escaped her lips.
Whoever he was, he was strong.
'Uhhh... what the hell is going on?' Nick thought as his face became completely flushed. Sure, his sword was really cool, but she was treating it like some divine object.
After a few more seconds of pure torture, Juliana lowered her hand from his sword. Then it suddenly began glowing with a bright light.
'What the!'
Nick yanked his arm, instinctually trying to throw the sword. However, it stuck to his hand as if some force was keeping it there.
+-- Loading --+
[Fang of Finality finished assimilating]
Assimilating...
What does that mean!
The sword began to glow brighter and brighter until it finally disappeared in a final triumphant flash of light.
Somehow, he felt stronger. Nothing substantial, but it was like the sword was added to his being. Looking at his stats, he didn't see any increase in his stats, except for his CP which increased to 40k. Combat power.
It was kind of weird to see such a gacha element in a stats system that more or less resembled an average RPG, but he figured that maybe it was moreso copying an mmo.
Either way, it was obvious that his CP was his overall power, taking into account his stats, path levels, and equipment strength.
Looking at Juliana, he wondered if Valkyries increased his CP as well. She was looking back with an inquisitive look of her own, the tip of her pointer finger and thumb grazing her chin as she bent a little and studied where Nick's sword had just been.
After a few seconds, Juliana said, "That's quite the elegant sword. I can't say I've ever seen one quite like it."
Then she shrugged and began walking to the cave exit. After a few seconds she stopped and raised her hand to her chin again, thinking.
Nick was basically just standing still, his brain overloading from everything that was happening.
Then the system quest flashed again, giving him an obvious objective.
>--< Bind Juliana to you. >--<
"BIND!!!" A shrill voice from behind him made Nick almost jump out of his skin.
"FLUCK NO!!!"
She took one last fearful look at the system quest message before turning to run. It was nice that he saved her, but...
Nick raised his hand to ask her to stop but before he could even speak the rocks above the entrance collapsed, leaving both of them trapped.
Juliana pounded the rock once before lowering her hand, defeated. Turning back around, she gave a fearful chuckle before saying, "Hey, let's talk about this, ok."
Nick was confused, but all he wanted to do was talk anyway. He didn't know what the system meant by binding her to him, but based on the way she acted he knew it wasn't anything pleasant.
Thinking back to the game itself, he didn't remember anything like that. The character would just summon the Valkyrie and then they'd join in battle for forever.
Maybe this game world forced them to fight? So basically the game wanted him to treat her like a battle slave...
He didn't want to do that. If she joined his squad, it should be of her own volition.
Giving his best attempt at a warm smile, Nick awkwardly waved at Juliana. "Talking sounds nice."
Juliana's scarlet red hair fell to her waist, and as she approached Nick she pulled at its ends. She stammered for a bit trying to find the words to say, but then a rumbling in the ground caused both of them to rely on each other for balance.
Juliana fell into Nick's arms as a gargantuan snake head broke through the ground. It found its prey a moment later, and as its eyes became slitted the beast let out a low hiss.
--(C-Rank Monster: Desert Basilisk detected)--