Chapter 41: Charred Battles (1)

"Principal Julianne? How did you know we were bored?" Emria inquired.

"You two girls were alone in a room, I was simply monitoring you via the spy devices installed in this room."

"Excuse me? We are being spied on? I was under the impression this was a luxury room, not an infringement of privacy," Saprhilla stared at her, unamused.

"Don't worry, we don't normally use them. I just wanted to make sure you girls were safe. I noticed you said you wanted to do some tinkering yeah? Well, I have just the job for you! Think of this as Ranger training. This is the kind of job a mechanical Ranger would take on," she explained, as the eyes of the two girls lit up with excitement.

"Well? Whaddya say? Wanna try?"

"Yes!/Yeah!" They answered in unison, following the principal out of the room.

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"That's the plan, you got it, princess?" Core was conferring with Chloe, telling her his theory about Riskel's Spring.

"That's the best shot we've got. I'll give it my all!" She fired herself up, preparing herself to fulfill Core's plan.

"Perfect. Reggie! D8! Cover for the princess a little longer!"

"Roger that!"

Reggie, who was in the front, was barely able to avoid critical harm from the powerful soldiers, while D8 was able to hold them off effectively, but not able to go on the offensive. It was clear that team Core was at a severe disadvantage.

"Haha! What a futile effort! I admit, I did not see the spike coming, but it was still no use!" Riskel laughed, suddenly feeling a gust of wind come to his direction.

It came from behind Core, Chloe suddenly sprinting out to the side at full speed.

"Wha..? I noticed that she was a Dragonborn, but is that really the Orthlys princess? There is no mistaking it, that is the royal wind Spring…" Riskel uttered, then laughed. "But it doesn't matter! You're still too slow! Soldiers! Full power!" He cranked his Spring to maximum output, making the soldiers even more powerful. As the soldiers grew exponentially in power and speed, Reggie was now retreating, and D8 began struggling to defend.

Chloe continued running to the flank, the ultra-fast soldiers now catching up to her. She took a sharp turn towards Riskel, boosting herself into the air and jumping above the mob of troops.

"Now princess!" When Core yelled that, Chloe burst a current of wind through her heels, propelling her red boots off of her feet, hitting Riskel directly in the face. The attack dazed him for a second and impaired his vision, but due to his Spring, they didn't do much damage.

"Tch, how dare you! If that was your plan, then it suck— huh?!" As he removed the boots planted on his face, Chloe had disappeared from his vision. "Where did she go? Soldiers! Find—"

Suddenly, a monstrous hurricane of wind blew beside Riskel into the frontlines, ridding Reggie and D8 of the soldiers attacking them.

"Huh? Was that her? Where did that power come from?! Soldiers! Protect me at any cost!"

The soldiers formed a circle around Riskel, and using their enhanced speed and strength, put everything into protecting their commander.

"Pitiful," Chloe uttered as she dashed through their ranks, blowing each of them away as if they were feathers. She continued dashing back and forth, forward and backward, each time producing a gust of win larger than the last. The wind swirled the army together, creating a symphony of air, compacting the soldiers into a single point in the cavern, crowding around Riskel.

"Hey! Get off me!" Riskel struggled, trying to free himself from the bodies of his soldiers around him.

As Chloe flew above them, Visible wind began vacuuming into Chloe's blade, accumulating charge for one final attack. Her power was through the roof, unlike anything they'd ever seen before. Suddenly, lightning began bolting in the cave, swirling vigorously around Chloe's sword.

"No way… That bastard figured out my Spring? But how!" Riskel spoke his parting words.

Chloe slashed horizontally at the crowd, infusing the wind with electricity in a vigorous gale of wind that propelled at the army, obliterating the opposing battalion. The soldiers were spread around, electrocuted, and knocked out.

With all the enemy soldiers incapacitated, D8 approached them and captured them in her Spring, turning them into marbles.

Chloe's strength returned to normal as she collapsed from exhaustion. Before she hit the ground, she was caught by D8.

"Ah, thanks…"

"No, it's my pleasure princess. Please get all the rest you need," D8 responded.

"She's right. You did amazing, now rest up," Core said.

"That was awesome Chloe! How'd you get all that power?" Aksed Reggie.

"I would ask the strategist over there… I don't really get it myself," she said, making Reggie turn his head to Core in curiosity. Core sighed, beginning to explain what had just taken place.

"You noticed how protective Riskel was over his robe? No matter what happened during the fight, he didn't want his robe to be damaged or dirtied. I deduced two reasons why that was the case. Number one, he's a neat freak and doesn't want to get dirtied, or number two, his robe's appearance has something to do with his Spring. Looking around his army, I was able to connect his robes appearance with the rest of the soldiers: The color."

"Oh! I see. So whoever's wearing the same color as Riskel gets a boost in power and speed! And Chloe's wearing a green coat! That's why Chloe was able to benefit from it… But if that's the case, then why'd it take her so long to get powered up? She was wearing the green jacket the entire time," stated Reggie.

"Right. That's why she kicked her red shoes off, which directly opposed her green jacket," Core explained.

"Not sure I'm following."

"Riskel's Spring doesn't only boost people wearing the same color as him, but it also equally weakens people wearing the color opposite to him, in this case, red. Chloe wasn't being affected by his Spring in the beginning because she was wearing both green and red, which canceled each other out. Kicking her red shoes off removed that debuff," Core expertly explained, mesmerizing the group with his brilliance having figured out the enemy's power so effortlessly.

"That really was amazing though princess, you have the power of lightning. I assume that comes from your draconic side. That's probably why Rein was able to control metal when he copied your Spring. Too bad you only unlock it at a certain power threshold," Core stated. Chloe laughed softly, her energy levels incredibly low.

"I guess I'm just gonna have to get stronger and level up my Spring," she uttered, resting her head on D8's back, who was giving her a piggie back ride.

"Anyways, let's continue. The others must be—" Core stopped talking. Suddenly, blood burst out of his ears and mouth, collapsing him on the ground, coughing up blood.

"Master?!" D8 rushed over to his side, still holding Chloe on her back who's eyes re-opened when she heard Core collapse. Reggie Caught Core before he hit the ground, the blood he was coughing not stopping.

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A little earlier, above the ground.

"I won't use a Spring, and I expect you not to use one too, k? Let's just fight, stats to stats," Luther spoke to his petrified opponent.

"H-huh? Why..? Are you giving me a handicap because you know there's no Springs for me to copy here?" Rein asked, slightly irritated, but too scared to decline.

"Oh, no. I just wanna see what you're made of. Came all this way out here, it would be a shame if the battle ended too quickly. I wanna get my portion of fun," Luther said as he perked in energy, stretching his neck to warm up.

"Fine… Let's go."

The two dashed at each other, Rein going full speed from the beginning. He attacked continuously, with maximum power and speed, but never landing an attack. His blows were effortlessly dodged and blocked by Luther, who expertly wielded his spear, deflecting Rein's swords by intricately spinning his glaive.

This exchange continued until Rein began to realize the true power of his opponent. Luther finally counterattacked, jabbing Rein's chest with the back end of his spear, sending him flying backward.

Rein dragged his feet across the ground, slowing his velocity and regaining his balance. When he looked back up, Luther was gone from his spot. He felt a light tap on his shoulder, to which he turned around attentively, continuing to attack. Luther sighed and didn't bother to dodge this time.

"Let's see if you can even penetrate my skin."

Rein slashed at full power, directly slicing Luther's shoulder. To his dismay, his sword cut through Luther's sleeve, then bounced off of his skin. Rein continued slashing, producing the same results every time.

"Damn, so you're this weak. I'm gonna need you to stop ripping my jacket," he uttered as Rein continued to attack. Luther held out his palm and placed it on Rein's stomach, lightly flexing his hand muscle which sent Rein flying into the dirt, making a visible dirt trail in the ground.

Rein glanced at his health

Health: 927/1500

"Shit," he thought to himself. "Those two light attacks did more than a third of my health. And earlier he brought me down to 300 with one attack… He's just toying with me…" He thought to himself as Luther picked his nose out of boredom, flicking the booger away.

"Hey, kid! When'd you first activate your System? How long ago?" Asked Luther, screaming across the grassy field they were in, which was surrounded by charred grass.

"Huh? Why do you want to know?"

"Just tell me. I won't do anything with the info, just curious."

"... About six years ago."

"And what level are you?"

"... 90…"

"I see. That's pretty average if you use a contractor…"

"Contractor?" Rein's curiosity piqued.

"What? You don't have a contractor?!" Luther's surprise was evident through his voice as if having a contractor was par for the course for System wielders.

"The hell is a contractor?"

"You're telling me that you got to level 90 without a contractor? Did you kill high-level monsters or Spring users? Oh, other than Dwayne."

"How the..." Rein stopped mid-sentence.

"A contractor is someone who can earn you experience by killing creatures. Anything they kill, you get the experience for," Luther explained.

"How do you set a contractor then?" Rein continued the conversation, trying to stall for his health to recover.

"Well, you know that pain you feel whenever you try and tell someone about your System? Yeah, whoever you do that to automatically links to you," Luther explained.

Rein raised an eyebrow, confused. "Then I should have like 3 of—" Rein was interrupted by Luther, who was clarifying the statement he previously said.

"Oh, but you can only have one contractor. Whoever you first tried telling is your contractor, and shares life force experience with you. In other words, killing," As Luther finished speaking, he saw Rein's face grow a heavy expression of disappointment as if he regretted his previous actions.

"The first person I tried telling about my System…"