BXBX NOVEL Chapter 84: Good Morning
Chapter 84: Good Morning
Zarian rubbed his hand over the fancy marble counter as he and Naomi had a comfortable lull in the conversation. Golden dawn light peaked through the windows in the gray, hazy morning. Another day arrived, and both Marines could hear the great commotion of soldiers, acolytes, and friends stirring to action.
Thankfully, everything they needed for the caravan journey north was already prepared. The noble soldiers only needed to hitch up wagons to the hexaoxen and travel drakes, the latter being large, scaly beasts of burden who were sometimes easier to work with.
Apparently, there was no such thing as horses in this world. At least not the type that the Floridians would know.
“I thought you wanted to avoid all of this responsibility,” Naomi said, knocking her shoulder into his.
“I was a boy then. Now, as a man who can carry mountains on my shoulders, I don’t mind as much. It’s a new game to play.”
“Yeah?”
“Can I get a perfect score by keeping them all alive? At least until it’s time to part ways.”
“That’s one heck of an escort mission.”“In video games, people tend to hate escort missions. I can probably make it easier. Though it’ll come at a cost.”
Naomi turned and moved her face close to his. “What’s the cost?”
“I got a new divine achievement I’ve kept to myself. I get to distribute a whopping twenty high value levels to anyone. I was holding back because I wonder if you guys would want to work for your levels on your own. Or take the boost?”
“Do you plan to give yourself any?”
“I don’t really need them at the moment.”
“What would you do if you took all of them?”
Zarian rolled his eyes. “I’ll focus more on studying my grimoires. Maybe work on side projects while you guys grind to catch up. But who knows how long that’ll take.”
“You can always just hunt for bigger and greater challenges, no?” Naomi asked.
“Ah, there it is. I could. Then the gap between us will be so huge it’ll feel like an accordion. Or rush hour traffic in Miami. Stop and go. Stop and go.” Zarian shook his head. “I know everyone’s in a rush. I should be, too, with the mounting challenges. But I refuse to leave my party behind. If I take the extra levels, I’ll wait for you guys. Maybe I’ll open up a store or something in the meantime.”
“You make it sound like you can start up a store lickety split or that we’ll take forever to catch up.” Naomi growled with a cocky smile. “I won’t let you chill out for that long.”
“We’ll see. For now, I’m holding onto these. Maybe we’ll use them later for emergency cases.”
“We’ll see.” Naomi extended her hand and forced the air to spiral around in front of her palm using her new Psychokinesis skill. She could move stuff around from afar or up close. The closer, the better. She also had two other skills called Overclock and Earth-Sky Meditation.
Zarian liked both of them. They suited Naomi very well.
Overclock was similar to Adrenaline Jolt but more internal for Naomi, boosting her mind and body. Earth-Sky Meditation required Naomi to calm her body and find tranquility, then she could boost her Wonder and Mysticism.
All her new skills, plus her gains in traits and stats as the epic Rumble Psion would’ve placed her as the second most powerful easily if it wasn’t for Bianca’s legendary profile as the Light Princess and her good +3 alignment.
If Naomi had the good alignment and could get it to +1 at the very least, she would’ve had Bianca beaten for sure.
It seemed like a tie between the two now.
“This is fun.” Naomi smiled as she sent motes of dust swirling in a cyclone. They glinted in the golden dawn light beaming through the empty kitchen.
“I’m glad you like it.” Zarian nodded. “I think it’s fun, too.”
He watched her play with her Psychokinesis. She made another mini dust cyclone. Then she combined the first and the second into a bigger cyclone and moved it over Zarian’s head.
She played a game of ‘I’m Not Touching You’ like an annoying brat until Zarian concentrated on his aura with pure manipulation. He condensed a chunk until his aura became visibly dark in the air. Then he shoved it against her dust cyclone and disrupted it.
Naomi’s mouth opened in surprise. “That wasn’t Straight Darkness.”
“Nope. Pure aura manipulation and Dark Affinity. Get wrecked.”
“No fair!” She lunged at him. They clashed softly, their limbs entwining, hands grappling for position and holds.
Zarian fended her off, but Naomi was tenacious, pushing his head against the wall and cranking his neck awkwardly. They thrashed about on the counter until they rolled off and fell to the floor, causing some minor damage here and there, but nothing too immense.
Zarian didn’t even bother trying to out-muscle her and focused more on technique. Naomi’s growth made her so physically strong it was like grappling with a miniature giant.
She could win outright if she wanted, but she kept giving him opportunities to fight back. Since she didn’t press down on him too hard, he found an opening to flip her over. He mounted her. She remained under him.
“When did you start playing soft?” Zarian questioned.
Naomi hesitated. “I don’t want to be mean all the time, not to you or my, um, friends.”
Naomi sounded like she was struggling with her genuine emotions.
Zarian gasped. I always knew she liked everybody, but now she’s verbalizing it more. When did Naomi become so cute?
The Rumble Psion squinted up at him. Instead of shoving him off, she looked away with a pout. “Don’t make a big deal of it, okay? I’m just … easing up … because it’s you.”
He held back from teasing. Instead, he got off of her and offered her his hand, and she took it gracefully. He helped her up and took a moment to look her over.
Despite their comfortable attitude with the coming morning, they were both dressed for a new chapter in their Star System life. Their sleek adventure-ready outfits, the Wolf Dragon Hunters, were epic and tailored for them.
Hannah had made the Wolf Dragon Hunters herself, pushing her capabilities as a budding crafter while maximizing her abilities as the legendary Runic Engineer in a small amount of time. The outfits were brown and green leather bodysuits. No metal plates needed.
Hannah had layered her best enchantments using the advanced versions of Amplify Force, Reinforcement, Might, Haste, Blend, Quiet, and Recharge for each wearer. She even took the time to make a version that diverged between men and women, just for the sake of vanity.
Naomi’s version showed off her legs between her boots and the mid-thigh covering. Zarian’s version showed off his arms between the gauntlets and his leather pauldrons. Hannah’s enchantments covered every part of the body regardless of their skin being exposed as long as they wore each piece of the Wolf Dragon Hunter.
“I feel like I’m going to a convention.” Naomi turned about slowly to show off. “Nice fit, though. It’s comfortable all over. My compliments to Hannah for considering how I’m shaped.”
“I don’t know how she can’t consider it.” Zarian snorted. “Your butt is big.”
She kicked at him lightly, which would’ve put him through the wall if it landed. Thankfully, it was a slow kick that gave him plenty of time to sidle out of the way.
He ran into Gilbert, the big man striding in. Gilbert wore his Wolf Dragon Hunter suit like he was some barbaric prince from a savage land. He’d even let his beard grow out, which gave him a more rugged look, which worked well with his cowboy-like wizard hat.
“Stop all your fooling around, you two. I’m not going to be the only one wrangling around these knucklehead youngsters. They’re all tripping over each other like excited pups and kittens, barely knowing what to do with themselves.”
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Despite the disapproval in Gilbert’s tone, Zarian could tell the man was in a good mood. He’d helped a lot of people yesterday, which leveled him up and pushed his Healing Force +1 skill up to the twenties.
Gilbert could heal from further out and with more potency. That and his legendary Knighted Healer class came with some excellent abilities that suited him very well.
“Is this where the party’s at?” Bianca swept into the room.
Her elven princess dress glittered, fluttered, and dazzled like usual. She was still bare-foot, strangely, but she recently purchased an alchemy vial from an apothecary.
The alchemy potion should make it easier to protect and maintain her feet. There wouldn’t be many enchanted pedicures on the road to North Crown Peak, at least not for the next week.
“Do you mean party as in our group or actual party? Because we had a party last night, Bianca. You were tipsy enough to sing merengue or something of the sort,” Gilbert said. “I’m still struggling with rolling the R’s by the way.”
“Oh, yeah, well, we can fix that on the road. Oh, can you …?” Bianca trailed off.
Gilbert rolled his eyes before sending a thick pulse of healing into Bianca. It was inefficient to use his Healing Force +1 for anything other than healing bodily injuries and buffing up the health of someone’s vitality.
Still, Gilbert could help with poisons and even perk someone up a little outside of direct healing.
“Ah, nice, nice. I’m very thankful. You are the best knight a princess can ever have.” Bianca turned about. She smiled at Naomi, and the other woman looked away. Bianca gave Naomi some weird stares before slowly turning away to look out the doors. “Where’s Hannah? She knows to meet us here. It’s practically tradition.”
Zarian was going to say that Hannah was on her way with Arnold, but something caught his attention elsewhere in the town. He had his Spectral Spider Network +1 spread far across Central Bramblevale, beneath the town, on the town rooftops, and even beyond the town walls.
As long as he kept the spectral spider skill in his alpha section, he could send them further out and stay connected with them. So when he received an urgent ping from a spectral spider, he traced the alert to its origins and saw through the senses of the spectral spider calling him.
The main gate to Central Bramblevale was opening. The drawbridge was already down, connecting the land on the other side of the massive moat outside.
The guards and soldiers stood aside as mist rushed through the gate and obscured vision of who or what was coming in. The morning was slightly misty already, but today promised to be a bright and clear one later.
The incoming mist entering through the main gate shouldn’t be so thick, nor should it move so fast while maintaining its consistency.
The spectral spider couldn’t see what was lurking inside. It couldn’t even hear any noise from the rushing mist. Everything inside of it was completely obscured.
That was magic at work.
Zarian flipped his focus to another spectral spider observing from the ledge of a stone tower. He saw the mist take an unnatural turn down a street and continue its rushing movement.
“Everyone, I need you to see something. I’m activating your mind spiders,” Zarian said.
“Still creepy, but okay,” Gilbert said.
Zarian activated the spiders in each of his party member’s heads. He directed each person to follow his lead.
They had to volunteer to go where he wanted them sensory wise. They all accepted and saw through another spectral spider that was still ahead of the rushing mist.
The spider was on a street that led to the mansions, specifically the ones that housed acolytes and had chapels in worship of the gods. The mist was coming straight toward the Lovewar Mansion.
Zarian shifted from the spectral spider to Hannah. He invited the others, cramming into Hannah’s head. She was standing in front of Arnold, who looked concerned down at Hannah as she readjusted from the sensory movements of multiple people, as well as herself.
Then Zarian pushed even further for more access to Hannah’s brain. She had to accept, and when she did, he spoke through her while using her mouth and voice.
“Arnold, real quick, this is me, Zarian. Don’t give me that funny look. This is serious. Do you know anyone who controls mist and can completely conceal themselves and others inside of it while running through the streets?” Zarian asked.
Arnold’s eyes flew open. He pivoted on his heels and moved with fast strides for the way out front. Hannah followed as Arnold spoke.
“That would be the White Rose of Kingsblood! If he’s here, then he’s bringing the White Roses of Purehome and Purgehunt with him, along with the Royal Guards.”
Hannah took control of her mouth for a moment. “That isn’t in the reports I’ve read unless the kingdom has kept this power very secretive.”
They knew of Arnold and the ones for Purehome and Purgehunt at least. The other White Roses, such as the one for Kingsblood, were more secretive.
Zarian took over again and spoke through Hannah’s mouth. “I imagine Arnold would know more than us.”
Arnold nodded. “Yes, well, the White Rose of Kingsblood wouldn’t allow many to live and know of this ability. This is the type of maneuver where they’ll rush your defenses and take you by surprise.”
“What can you tell us?” Zarian asked, still speaking through Hannah.
“They’ll have fifty Royal Guards at most, but best believe they aren’t just guards, they’re the best fighting force the kingdom has who aren’t White Roses. They won’t hold anything back. If they break your barrier, they’ll kill everyone.”
“Can you fight?” Zarian asked through Hannah’s mouth.
“I must fight. We both know this kingdom is going to meet its end soon. I will stand with you even if this is the end of my days as a White Rose.” The corner of Arnold’s mouth twitched. “Oh, but I must admit it burns to fight alongside a gnoll elder.”
Zarian would’ve laughed if the situation wasn’t serious. Someone was going to ruin his perfect escort game, and it hadn’t even started! He stayed focused. “Who can you fight?”
“The White Rose of Kingsblood is the Sixth Guardian. He always bested me by the slimmest of margins.”
“Then make good use of my gift. I’ll take on the White Roses of Purehome and Purgehunt. Naomi, Bianca, Gilbert, Hannah, and the skelly boys will fight the Royal Guard.”
“Wait, what? You can’t be serious! That’s too much!” Arnold shouted.
Zarian didn’t bother explaining anymore. He retracted himself from Hannah, and so did the others. Everyone was on the move to leave the mansion now.
Para extended through the slits in the back of Zarian’s bodysuit and reached farther behind him. Like always, she appeared as his powerful, monstrous, and leathery cloak.
He kept the hood down. He was unafraid of the light these days, and he had a more appropriate head attire.
Summoning his wizard hat instead, Zarian felt it land snuggly over his head, its wide brim shading his face in deep darkness. He wore his monocle next, which had its enchantment changed once more.
It still made him look wiser and older, but it also enhanced his vision acuity to a high degree, making it easier to notice small details and see through blinding effects.
Zarian, his party, and Arnold congregated outside. Soldiers, acolytes, and their friends from last night were making final preparations with the wagons and the animals before saying farewell. Under the rising sun, these people had no idea their own kingdom’s elite forces were rushing in to wipe them all out.
Making some snap judgment calls, Zarian distributed the high value levels. He gave Arnold five levels. He gave each party member two levels. Then he heaped on seven levels for himself.
<You’ve leveled up from 53 to 60! Stat points dispensed!>
Zarian dumped all of his Free points into Mysticism, pushing it all the way to 420 at the base amount. It was 525 with the Overpower trait.
“My lords and ladies, good morning!” Roland said cheerily.
Zarian smiled. “It is a good morning, isn’t it? Perfect for kicking jerks and gods in the crotch so they know who’s boss.”
“Uh, what?” Roland looked like Zarian took a piss in his morning oats.
That was okay. The young man didn’t need to understand just yet. But he could provide a service by holding onto something precious.
Zarian reached over and grabbed the dungeon core Hannah was still holding onto. He passed it into Roland’s hands and gave the young Garden Officer Cadet a meaningful look.
“I will protect it with my life,” Roland said.
Zarian nodded before he stepped ahead of the others, turned on his heels, and gave them a sharp two-finger salute with a confident smile. The others replied in their own ways.
Gilbert tipped his hat at Zarian before he used his new Summon Spirit Steed skill and launched onto the back of a majestic eight-legged horse called a Sleipnir.
Gilbert yipped and hee-hawed. His massive and powerful steed reared up into the air and kicked its many legs. Then Gilbert reached down and took Hannah’s hand, helping her get on the back of his steed as his co-rider. Hannah summoned her hard hat before they rode away fast on the Sleipnir.
Naomi summoned her witch hat. She rushed forward, patted Zarian on the shoulder, and then sprinted straight toward the action. She moved with the power of a mini She-Hulk, the earth quaking with each footfall.
Summoning her feathery wizard hat, Bianca touched grass with her bare foot and zipped forward. She gave Zarian two Spanish-style kisses, one for each cheek. Then she sped away in a flurry of lights and elven grace, following behind Naomi.
Behind them, Zarian’s ten skeletons dashed forth. They made no rattling noises as they stalked toward the incoming mist. They all had their own enchanted weapons Hannah had provided, plus their usual enchantments. Loner and Hasty were up at the front of the skeletal charge.
“Are you sure about this?” Arnold asked, incredulous.
“Yes, very much so,” Zarian answered.
“My lords, what is the matter? Are we still in trouble with the local forces?” Roland asked, cradling the dungeon core like it was his child. Head Acolyte Lora was standing next to him, and she was just as concerned.
More soldiers, acolytes, and innocent bystanders looked bewildered at the ensuing conflict. Their pack animals bellowed or hissed, both types of beasts able to sense something was wrong. Granted, most of them could see Zarian’s party and the skeletons rushing at the incoming mist that barreled up the street.
“Nothing’s wrong, Roland. Just clearing some obstacles. You and the others will be fine,” Zarian said. “And Arnold, I’m feeling very sure of myself. Do make sure to beat the Kingsblood Rose, okay? I’ll be ashamed of you if you can’t do that much with all the help you’re getting from me, a gnoll elder.”
“I wouldn’t dare bring such dishonor,” Arnold said resolutely.
“FOUL EVIL!” roared an unfamiliar man from the other side of the barrier.
“Oh, that’s my cue.” Zarian summoned his grimoires before he cast Void Step.
Meanwhile, the man who’d yelled lunged into the air with a super jump, breaking free of the rushing mist. The man was dressed similarly to Arnold, wearing a white suit with white gloves and a white rose pin.
Instead of a liquid metal sword, the attacking White Rose held up a long javelin of white flames that burned with an intensity that was beyond epic, beyond legendary, and could only be divine.
He was wielding an ability infused with a god-given boon, and he pointed the tip of his flaming white javelin at the barrier and all the people staged behind it.
Noble soldiers, wishful acolytes, and new friends alike looked up to see their oncoming doom at the hands of dogmatic good and its merciless persecution of evil and innocents alike. The angry White Rose only needed to sling his arm forward and let the divinely influenced javelin do the rest.
“FACE THY JUDGMENT AND BE SCOURED BY THE POWER OF PURGEHUNT!”
“You can Purgehunt these nuts,” Zarian said, stepping out of the void midair.
He fell in a casual arc in front of the White Rose of Purgehunt. In Zarian’s hand was an orb of darkness he’d created in the void. He let it go as a void-enhanced dark bolt, ramming into the chest of the Purgehunt Rose.