Chapter 251: Reunited

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AN: Got some editing suggestions? Suggest it on the Google Docs here:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Wjy-mtlRIQFvEZ7w6vcj-lv5gbJyXGTmDCH5Elu3hqo/edit?usp=sharing

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Yrania POV:

The past two days have been such a delight! It’s not often she gets to witness such a profound change in one’s perception. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say she has never seen it happen to this extent, let alone witness this change in two people! She’s learned a lot about Runalymo psychology, but does everyone have the same reaction to seeing anima in mana, or is this unique to Runalymo?

Unfortunately, there isn’t anyone else to study, and it will require more observation to understand how this profound change in perception could affect someone. But before that, there’s been a different development in her study targets.

Yrania can’t help but wiggle her tail in excitement while studying Alysara’s embarrassed reaction to her family’s intervention.

This, too, is rather interesting. Runalymo are quite open when it comes to sexuality, so Alysara shouldn’t be too embarrassed. Or could it be that she’s embarrassed about the situation itself? She was caught off guard by all of this. But this points out a glaring issue surrounding Alysara; She is an Heirloom Progenitor, yet so far, she has been uninterested in romantic relationships and even sex in general.

Part of that blame goes to her work ethic; she’s so single-mindedly focused on her mana studies and work that she doesn’t entertain other goals. However, that doesn’t explain everything.

Yrania flicks her tail in thought.

Sexuality can be very complicated. It’s not so straightforward for some people. For some, they just can’t make that romantic connection, while others can only form that connection conditionally.

Yrania thinks back to the few interesting cases of this happening: there was an individual who could only experience romantic feelings with someone they already knew intimately, one could only feel romance towards children, and yet another could only feel love when seeing people in pain.

She wonders if Alysara is a similar case or if she has simply delayed her mental development. Perhaps both. This is the first she knows of an Heirloom Progenitor who is seemingly uninterested in romance and sex. This is completely new ground she’s treading on, so she can’t just make assumptions.

Of course, she can use her Bond to feel out the true reason behind all of this, but where is the fun in that? It’s basically cheating by getting the answers so easily. Plus, studying the mind this way helps her Bond grow faster.

Whatever the case, she hasn’t had this much fun studying someone in a long time and hopes that Kayafe and Alysara will continue delivering increasingly more exciting observation material.

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Alysara POV:

I sigh exasperatedly as I walk through the Dungeon entrance. Mom demanded that I attend the next family gathering in addition to my niece’s Kyholo, and I also have to go to her weekly tea meetings with her friends.

“Reminds me of the time I spent among the Elven nobles,” Kayafe says. “They prioritized climbing the social hierarchy over all else.”

“Is that how you met one of your companions?” I ask.

She nods. “Verdant was a child of a high noble but didn’t like high society, and he ran away with us. I don’t blame him either; how they chose their heir involved a massacre.”

“A massacre?” I tilt my head.

“Elves have a lot of children, dozens at least. In order to inherit their noble title, one had to kill all their siblings in battle. Verdant wanted none of that. He devised a system he thought was fair and just. While Alex, Dwohl, and I didn’t think the same, Elves are very different. They can have hundreds of children, and they don’t share the same family bonds we do.”

“What was his system?” I ask.

“He would gather the seeds of everyone for that year and mix them; only the strong would survive their sapling stage and become true Elves. This would abolish their nobility and the unfair society he lived in since there would be no way to pass on noble titles if the state raised the children.”

“So instead of personally killing their siblings, he’d just let them die? And who would raise the children?”

This sounded just as bad to me.

“Elves are plants, Alysara. I don’t know the specifics, but the ‘weak’ elves don’t die; instead, they become some sort of lesser Elf like a tree. Their tree homes are their siblings who were deemed too weak. As for their caretakers, Verdant wanted a specific job for that: Elves who actually desired to care for the young.”

I suppose that not all species are social or herd species. Many animals from my previous life would have children and just leave them to fend for themselves. Interestingly enough, many of those animals also had many children. It is the evolutionary strategy of having so many children that at least a few would survive, even if most would not. It seems the Elves have evolved in that way, so they may not really care about the well-being of their children.

Whatever the case, it doesn’t involve me, so I don’t need to get worked up about it.

“I see. Well, before we go out to level up, I want to see Esofy and catch up with her.”

“Alright.” Kayafe nods.

It’s after work, so airships of monster hunters are returning, and waystone keys are being given back. Esofy is still in her office, as she needs to be there to receive the keys.

We arrive just as she is locking up the last key.

“It’s been a while,” Esofy says.

“It has,” I reply. “How’s Tana doing?”

“Better, but she’s still going out on her own. She’s going to keep going solo, and there’s not much I can do about it, so I made her promise to run away if she needs to and to return around this time. She’s gotten very strong, stronger than me and anyone else here.”

“What level is she at?” Kayafe asks.

I give her an inquisitive glance, wondering why she’s interested; she hasn’t met Tana before.

“Just wondering if she’s powerful enough for you to spar with. Without your [Manipulate Magic], you’re still very weak,” Kayafe says.

Although it pained me, I had to agree. I can probably get by with my Bond level, but if Tana has grown to match…

“That’s actually a great idea!” Esofy exclaims. “She’s close to level one thousand in both her Classes and Bond.”

“Hmm…” Kayafe crosses her arms in thought. “What of her Skills and Class tiers? The level one thousand Bond stage is a big power boost, but I’m not sure her Class levels can bridge the gap of Alysara’s Bond and Race tier.”

“She said she’s close to Heroic tier; I don’t know about her Skills,” Esofy answers.

“Hmm, I think it might be beneficial for her to get to level one thousand in her Classes before challenging Alysara, especially if Alysara improves her Classes.”

“And Bond,” I say.

“It would do Tana a lot of good to group up with you; I’m sure she can learn a lot from Kayafe,” Esofy says.

“I can give her pointers, sure, but we don’t have a lot of time, so if she’s coming with us, then we’ll head out as soon as she returns,” Kayafe says.

“Yeah, that’s fine. I’ll feel truly reassured if Tana is with the two of you rather than on her own.”

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Tana POV:

Tanafyam stares down the Vitality Devourer, a foe he’s been beaten by a hundred times now. He gets the feeling it enjoys causing fear and pain and watching his struggles. It prefers inflicting its strange fear rather than trying to attack him during obvious openings. However, he is growing resistant to the fear. It’s been good training for his resistance Skills [Damage Reduction] and [Indomitable Mind].

It’s always foes like these that are best to train against. They are arrogant and prefer to play with him. They enjoy the sense of superiority and power… until it’s too late for them. It has a tier and level advantage on him, but those aren’t everything. Skills and martial prowess play a major part and can more than make up for the difference; he has spent years refining both against foes stronger than himself. So what if there’s a mountain he has to climb? He’ll get over that peak and conquer his enemy.

Tana slowly draws his sword; the bone monstrosity watches arrogantly, waiting for him to get ready, its wispy eyes burning with anticipation.

I’m not like I was the first time we fought, Tana reminds himself.

He’s learned that he can’t just burn an enemy’s Vitality away anymore; he needs his flames to cut into this monster’s Vitality like a blade and burn true to its core, a flame that burns eerily green.

Flames erupt from his sword, and finally, the monster stirs, knowing that he has made his preparations… except it pauses, seeing something new, something strange, something dangerous.

The normally blood-red flames have turned green, and it instinctually flinches; the orb in its forehead flashes repeatedly, and the wisps in its sockets burn brightly with fear.

Tana smiles.

“See that?” Tana taunts, “That is real fear, not like your fake terror!”

Tana vanishes, and for the first time, the Vitality Devourer can not sense anything; was he not attacking?

Suddenly, the Vitality Devourer jerks, only barely managing to dodge the flames as Tana reappears in a burst of fire, except it didn’t escape? Blood-red flames spread across its body, trying to eat away at its Vitality.

Tana does not hesitate as he slashes with his sword, the raging flames around him flickering unpredictably, and for the first time, his sword hits a rib and cuts clean through! The monster screams in pain, confused by how its danger senses aren't working as fast as before.

Not so tough after all, Tana muses. You relied purely on overwhelming defense and power, so you don’t know what to do when you find an equal foe.

Tana is done holding back. He’s gained everything he can from this weak monster, and it’s time to put it down.

He slashes forward, unleashing a wave of blood-red fire, except this time it’s much more concentrated, like a blade.

The boney monster tries to dodge, but the wave grazes it like last time, shaving off bone and marrow. At the same time, Tana appears above its head, and slashing downward, he cuts off a mandible. If only he could spread this green flame with [Sticky Flames] and launch it with his [Slash Wave], but he’ll figure it out eventually.

The monster lashes out in desperation; the realization that its foe is not a toy anymore has finally dawned on it.

Tana feels his [Danger Sense] activate and narrowly dodges a barrage of attacks, taking several grazes that heal almost instantly. It warps around the battlefield in a frenzy, attacking from all angles, but he dances just out of reach every time, observing the new behavior and looking for openings.

This is when a monster is most dangerous, when it is desperate and fighting for survival. He keeps this up for several minutes, then with a swift motion, he steps forward and cuts the monster’s skull in half with his sword, and a blade-like wave of blood-red flames continues bisecting the monster.

It, of course, doesn’t immediately die; it has too much Vitality for that. The two halves flop around, no longer in a condition to keep fighting. That is the downside of having too much Vitality; death will come slowly and painfully. One needs fast regeneration or healing to match; otherwise, they are as good as dead after being reduced to such a state.

Tana quickly gets to work hacking the bones into smaller pieces and burning away the ludicrous amounts of Vitality, a time-consuming task that takes a couple of hours. Eventually, the monster dies after being cut into small enough pieces. Tana inspects the violet orb he cut from its skull.

Vitality Wellspring Orb:
(Exalted)
The powerstone of an ancient Vitality Devourer. It produces an incredible amount of Vitality.
Vitality production 5000.

This should be able to make something really good. Tana stores the material in his ring. He has no idea what it can be used for since he has no talent in crafting, but maybe the blacksmith in the village will have an idea.

It’s about time for him to return anyway; Esofy will get mad if he’s late. He activates his Waystone key and appears in the village center, but to his surprise, Esofy is waiting for him, talking with a strange royal-blue-haired woman made almost entirely out of Vitality, alongside a familiar, very beautiful woman; she has five very long tails, a developed and voluptuous body, and eyewraps covering her eyes… Alysara.

His chest tightens in pain as he remembers her words the last time he saw her. He thought he had forgotten them, that he had moved on, but seeing her now brings the pain back as if she had rejected him only yesterday.

“Tana. You can't just live for other people,” “What have you done for yourself?” “Tana, I think we need to reconsider our friendship.”

These words come back to haunt him, and he can feel tears threatening to spill down his cheek, but he steels himself. He’s not the same person anymore. In a way, she was right; he hadn’t lived for himself, he didn’t fight for himself, but now he does. He fights because he wants to, because he enjoys it. Overcoming adversity and going against stronger beings brought color back to his life.

“What will you do if you encounter an Exalted-tier monster, one that is over level one thousand and has three Classes?”

He has beaten one now, and she was right: they are incredibly powerful and hard to kill, but—

“I'll get stronger! If they are Exalted-tier, then I'll become Legendary! If they are level one thousand then I'll get to level two thousand!”

He was right too. He got stronger and defeated it. He will become Legendary.