Chapter 38: I have officially become a party leader.

Chapter 38: I have officially become a party leader.

[So, I just need to put this on and then let my mana do all the work, right?] I said.

[Yes, Princess Hestia. Simply say Interface on and it will activate,] said Tasianna.

Saying Alright., I then proceeded to put on this bracelet onto my left wrist like a watch, pouring mana after it was strapped on properly. This accessory is a simple, gray-colored metal bracelet with a beautiful, marine blue colored stone, or gemstone, lodged into the middle. A strap was also attached so the wearer may adjust it to their wrists size.

Once my mana ceased leaving my body, meaning that the bracelet was fully recharged, I spoke the command Interface on to activate the gadget.

A blue screen projected out of the bluestone. It looked very similar to a video games pause menu, showing multiple little icons that were interactable by touch. Pressing my finger on the screen, it felt like touching a liquid, but somehow it felt very familiar as if this screen was an extension of my body.

This is a manatech, a mana-fueled alternative to Earth's electric-based technology. What makes it a manatech is the little mana battery inside it that acts as its core to absorb and store mana for the tool's usage.

Compared to the mana battery inside that [Warhammer Mana Cannon] that we encountered during our troll battle, this one was a dwarven-made, meaning that it would only absorb my mana when I allow it.

Like an electric battery, you can only make the manatech work if it was sufficiently charged, otherwise, the device would be useless.

According to Tasianna, the first one was created by the dwarves; designed so retainers can keep taps of the status and location of their lords, but cause of the experience sharing function, it has also become popular with veteran warriors.

[This is a screen made from your mana,] Tasianna informed me, explaining the familiar feeling once I touched it. [Please have a look at these three icons.]

Tasianna flew up to me and pointed at three separate icons on the HUD, each displaying different functions that this gadget had.

The first icon, in the appearance of a handshake, is the Party button. Touching it, another screen appeared, similar to a window pop-up on the PC, and gave me two options to choose. On the left side was the button for Form Party and the one on the right is Join Party.

Instructed by Tasianna, I pressed the left button.

Party Leader

Name: Hestia Atsuko

Level: 74The inaugural upload of this chapter took place via N0v3l-B1n.

Job: None

Health: 2634/2634

Mana: 9021/9051

Stamina: 1352/1352

Effects:

[Damaged Mana Path [Left Wing] (Minor)] [Humanized (Moderate)]

The whole menu screen changed once I pressed the button. In the upper part of the screen, there was a UI very similar to an MMO's party system, displaying a couple of my status board information. I was currently in my humanized form, so my stats were suffering from [Humanized (Moderate)].

It has been a while since I last checked my status board in my humanized form but for some reason, I was level 74. When I first used [Humanization], I only just evolved into a D rank monster, so my level was zero, but my humanized form showed me as level 25.

Thinking back, it took me 25 levels to evolve and I was currently level 24 in my dragon form.

Does this mean my human level is scaling with my dragon one?

Huh?

Saori Segawa wishes to join your party

Accept

Decline

Tasianna Marinna Silverpond wishes to join your party

Accept

Decline

Turning my head around, I saw that Saori was fiddling with her own bracelet. It had the same simplistic design as mine but hers, on the other hand, does have a few small, red stains, residue from troll blood that we couldnt clean off.

You see, these bracelets once belonged to the trolls that we killed outside the cave, who wore them like rings. This fact should be telling of how massive those trolls were, when two rings perfectly fitted mine and Saoris wrists, although mine was a bit loose.

Looking to my side, Tasianna was also awaiting my confirmation by staring at her own blue screen. Compared to our party bracelets, hers was beautifully designed with a keychain attached to the strap of the bracelet.

It was a pristine white bracelet, adorned with small flower engravings. Instead of our marine blue colored stone, hers is a bright green that sat in the middle of an extravagant emblem. The emblem, a triangle made from three sets of curling lines intersecting each other to represent the wind, had two pairs of iridescent butterfly wings on its sides.

It was hard to recognize every single detail, due to how small Tasiannas bracelet was, but I guess my improved eyesight due to [Enhanced Vision] is helping out.

Tasianna told me that it was the emblem for the Goddess of Wind, Zephira and that this bracelet was distributed to all servants of the royal family.

The difference in quality between ours and hers made me envious but I quickly buried this displeasure. Tasianna informed us that our bracelets model was extremely outdated and that it was lacking some of the features that the latest models had.

Disappointing but we really only needed one feature and this model had it. Beggars cant be choosers.

Shaking off those thoughts, I pressed Accept for both prompts, accepting both my companions into my party.

Party Leader

Name: Hestia Atsuko

Level: 74

Job: None

Health: 2634/2634

Mana: 9038/9051

Stamina: 1352/1352

Effects:

[Damaged Mana Path [Left Wing] (Minor)] [Humanized (Moderate)]

Name: Name: Saori Segawa

Level: 50

Job: None

Health: 1941/1941

Mana: 639/639

Stamina: 1206/1206

Effects:

[Humanized (Moderate)]

Name: Tasianna Marina Silverpond

Level: 31

Job: Mage

Health: 472/472

Mana: 1751/1751

Stamina: 312/312

Uhh Tasianna unconsciously let out her voice. [T-These are Princess Hestias and Madama Saoris stats? Incredible]

Were they, really?, I silently thought as I glanced over at a new icon that appeared at the top of the menu. Clearly depicting the abbreviation EXP this button definitely had the function to allow experience sharing. As the party leader, I could decide how much experience would be shared among everybody. I quickly activated the function and decided on a fair three-way split among us.

Saori, noticing that I activated it, laughed enthusiastically, [He he, it seems our normal way to power level will be even more effective, Hestia.]

Her gleeful smile was clearly showing her addiction to leveling. I massaged my temple and told her not to overdo it, again, unless she wanted [Battle Frenzy] to reappear.

She quickly apologized, saying I did promise that I would stop that, huh? Sorry, just forget what I just said.

Doing just that, I looked away and asked Tasianna to resume explaining the last two icons.

The second icon was a map, which I presume is the party member locator function of this tool. Unfortunately, my expectations that it was a real map were shattered once I opened it.

This function simply told the distance between each party member and if they were close enough to be eligible for the experience share. It seems you can't gain any experience when your party members gain experience outside the effective range.

[Interesting,] I said. [Doesnt this and the party function make one of [Hestias Retainer]s effect useless? Specifically, the one where you can ask for my condition?]

What I mean was that Tasianna and Saori could use [Hestias Retainer] to ask the System about my current condition and situation. They could ask it trivial questions like Did Hestia eat something wrong?, or even more serious questions like Was Hestia in mortal danger?

[These functions will only work when you are wearing yours, Princess Hestia,] Tasianna answered. [If you were to put it in your [Storage Magic] then we would not be able to find you anymore. Especially in your dragon form, it would be impossible to use the bracelet, yes?]

I nodded.

These devices use mana signals to detect and register the party bracelets of others when you wish to form a party. Once the party was formed, the devices only remember the mana signal of the bracelets itself, not the user.

It seems those that dont have enough mana to spend on refueling their bracelet's mana battery carry portable ones that act as external batteries, so in most cases, the mana of the user wouldn't coincide with the one fueling the party bracelet.

The third, and last, icon looks like a card, specifically an ID card.

[If I had my ID, I could have shown you its function. My apologies, Princess Hestia.] Tasianna apologized, then proceeded to point at the keychain of her bracelet. [You would attach your ID card on the keychain, therefore, enabling the function. Yours seems to have broken off, unfortunately.]

Apparently, an ID is, quite literally, an identification card, similar to the ones we had on Earth. These are manatechs that serves as a way to identify us and is a necessary part to survive and live in any civilization in this world.

If this party bracelet wasnt already enough of a surprise, then hold on tight. Tasianna mentioned that ID cards are also used to gain Quests that are assigned by guilds, freely available for anyone to accept.

[Besides killing each other, anybody can gain experience by accepting and fulfilling quests from various guilds, like the artisan guild or merchant guild,] Tasianna further elaborated on this very familiar video game mechanic. [I didnt rise up to this level through killing monsters, but from the daily awarded experience I would gain as an attendant of the royal family.]

I was astonished.

Until today, I thought you needed to kill monsters to gain experience, but I just learned that you could share experience and that there were experience rewarding quests. Considering that the System is accommodating this, it must mean that the gods are doing a wonderful job of adapting their System to this developing world. For a bunch of old geezers, theyre keeping up with time.

[[Identify] is usually a hard skill to acquire, so our world has ways to overcome this. One of them is that these party bracelets can display the current status board of the ID cards owner by attaching it to the keychain,] said Tasianna.

[I see,] I mumbled which made me curious about something. [So, why dont you have your ID anymore? Did they take it away before you went into self-exile?]

Tasiannas left eye twitched for a second, before casting them down, [My belongings were taken by the troll and must be buried in that cave now. Im not too sad about losing my ID, but the necklace given to me by Princess Schuri was with it]

Ouch, did I just open a wound?!

[Oh my] Saori shook her head in exasperation. She then gave me a newly sewn one-piece and underwear. [They should fit you now but do give me your impression on their design, later on. They are the prototype for your future clothes, after all.] she then went to console Tasianna.

I left them alone and concentrated on switching to my new clothes. You see, as [Humanize] seems to be a Tier three skill, there were breakpoints at level three, seven, and nine. Upgrading the skill with my SP, my humanized forms age has reached twelve, which meant that my height has increased. That also meant that I outgrew the clothes that I was just wearing this morning.

Constructing a small earthen room to change in, I dispelled my flame dress, preparing to put on the stuff Saori gave me. My first impression was that they were specifically made to accommodate my tail and wings, especially the underwear.

First, was the halter bra without a back strap. As I would usually have wings, all the strings had to be tied around my neck but that wasnt the case when I was using [Humanize Lv. 8], which actually made me wingless!

Second, the bottom part was just a panty with a large hole to fit my tail through it.

It was form-fitting and feels comfortable to the touch, reminding me of the same feeling I had when I touched the party bracelets blue screen. I guess this is how mana feels likes.

The dress, a mana blue one-piece that stretched down to my knees, has an open back that leaves room for my wings to freely flap.

Now that Im fully covered, I technically never have to take them off again. Its made from mana, so cleaning it is unnecessary, and it can repair itself using my mana.

I and Saori previously tested this function out. It would turn into a choker when we monsterized and it reforms back into a dress once we humanized.

The only complaint that I had, was that you couldnt change the appearance of the clothes with your mana, freely. You would need to modify the mana fabric itself to change anything on the clothes, however, I wouldnt know how to do that. Saori probably does, but Ive no interest in changing her work. It feels rude to do so.

Besides, everything feels comfortable and that's the most important part of clothes.

As a final check, I let my wings out to see how comfortable it was. Being able to freely change from [Humanize Lv. 7] and [Humanize Lv. 8] finally gave me the option to walk around without my wings, while retaining my new height and Age.

Hestia's Status Board Health: 5267/5267(+765) Mana: 18102/18102(+2541) Strength: 2677 (+426) Intelligence: 4682 (+1045) Vitality: 1388 (+221) Wisdom: 1654 (+280) Agility: 5191(+941) Stamina: 2704/2704(+438) Effects: [Damaged Mana Paths [Left Wing] (Minor)] Skill Points: 0 (-7350) Unique Skill: Skill: Magic skills and related Physical skills and related Senses and movement skills Resistances

[Physical Super-Resistance Lv. 2] (+1)

[Absolute Pain Tolerance]

[Mana Leak Resistance Lv. 1] (New)

[Abnormal Status Nullification]

[Fear Resistance Lv. 1]

[Holy Resistance Lv. 4]

[Inferno Resistance Lv. 1]

[Terra Resistance Lv. 1]

[Wind Resistance Lv. 2]

[Water Resistance Lv. 1]

[Dark Resistance Lv. 1] (New)

Stat growths and related

[Health Recovery Lv. 4]

[Stamina Recovery Lv. 5]

[Enhanced Health Growth Lv. 6]

[Enhanced Health Capacity Lv. 2]

[Arcane Conduit Lv. 1] (New)

[Enhanced Strength Growth Lv. 5]

[Enhanced Strength Enforcement Lv. 4]

[Sorcerers Power Lv. 1] (New)

[Enhanced Vitality Growth Lv. 4]

[Enhanced Vitality Enforcement Lv. 4] (+2)

[Enhanced Wisdom Growth Lv. 4]

[Enhanced Wisdom Enforcement Lv. 4] (+2)

[Speed of Sound Lv. 1] (New)

[Enhanced Stamina Growth Lv. 5]

[Enhanced Stamina Capacity Lv. 4]

Others

[Singing Lv. 5]

[Dancing Lv. 3]

[Poison Creation Lv. 4] (+1)

[Trap Creation Lv. 4]

[Identity Blocker Lv. 2]

[Identify Lv. 10]

[Noble Aura Lv. 4] (+2)

[Battle Mind Lv. 6] (+1)

[Royal Etiquette Lv. 2]

[Leadership Lv. 4] (+2)

[Cooking Lv. 7]

[Dismantle Lv. 7]

[Thought Acceleration Lv. 2]

[Parallel Thoughts Lv. 8] (+2)

[Body Temperature Control Lv. 1] (New)

[Humanize Lv. 8] (+1)

[Pyrokinesis]

[Aerokinesis]

[Telepathy]

Ability List:

[Flame Blast]

[Spark Claws]

[Spark Flame]

[Spark Fire Breath]

[Spark Fang]

[Spark Inferno Blast]

Spell List: Custom spells

[Imperial Hellfire]

Lava spells

[Lava Ball]

[Lava Stream]

Holy spells

[Minor Heal]

[Cure]

[Modest Heal]

[Smite]

[Light]

[Holy Protection]

[Holy Strength]

[Purify]

[Sacred Smite]

[Sacred Veil]

[Sacred Field]

[Banishment Beam]

[Major Heal]

Fire spells

[Fire]

[Firebolt]

[Imbue Fire]

[Fire Ball]

[Strengthening Flames]

[Flame Spear]

[Petal Flame]

[Flame Explosion]

[Inferno Blast]

[Blazing Twister]

[Inferno Beam]

[Scorching Sun]

[Spiral Hellfire]

Earth spells

[Earth Wall]

[Rock Blast]

[Earth Strike]

[Rock Bullet]

[Sturdy Earth]

[Earth Spears]

[Earth Crash]

[Earthen Shackles]

[Terra Wall]

Wind spells

[Wind Bullet]

[Wind Cutter]

[Air Shield]

[Wind Slash]

[Swift Winds]

[Wind Blast]

Space-Time spells

[Haste]

[Storage Magic]

[Warp Point: Entry]

The Light spells

[Shine]

[Sanctuary]

Titles:

[The Light] [Bearer of Kargryxmors Blood] [Otherworldly Reincarnator] [Princess]