For I Am A Side Character - 57: Fighting an Orc and Learning some New Skills
One thing to separate strong monsters from “Strong” monster is the very nature of their existence. Certain monsters may seem equal by the very label of their rank, lets say a B-ranked monster from a B-ranked dungeon…and comparing it to a monster from a D-ranked dungeon, yet the monster’s rank is B-ranked and has a special title, the only monster to come out victorious in a battle against one another is the one who claims to be the titled monster.
Now, If in certain events where Jessica were to fight a B-ranked monster named the [Demented Ghoul Warrior] in her current level and skill, she has a higher chance to fight such a monster compared to the Grizzled General Orc. Because the orc has a title that simply tells of his skill and prowess through the experience of living inside the dungeon.
Simple Ghouls who were just created in the dungeon does not have the skill nor the capacity to learn like what the Orc is capable of. Ghouls are simply, simple minded monsters and nothing else.
Now for the Orc that stood before Soril, this orc was recorded by the simulation machine with the experience that could come toe to toe with an experienced B-ranked hunter. Paired with the fact that this monster was born with the instinct to fight since its birth from the dungeon, its nature does not come close to something as common as that of a human’s instinct. This Orc was simply born as a monster with the skills necessary that it brought him to a point of his life where he gained a title blessed by the dungeon.
A General’s title.
With that said, this monster was one of the most formidable opponents in the record of B-ranked monsters of the latest simulation machine.
But to that end, is it enough for someone like Soril Remus who felt no fear whatsoever in the front of such an appalling enemy?
Well to that question, the answer was clear for the Orc as he looks into the eyes of his very enemy.
No words were said…just the silence yet loud presence of the orcs murderous intent and the response of how Soril simply stood with no reaction whatsoever.
Something felt odd in this moment…for all of the data in the monster’s activity, for all the bastards who he faced, each and everyone felt a sense of fear from him…but not this person…
Instead, he was the one who felt fear.
Monster or not, the orc knew he could not survive…
Those eyes of his enemy told him so in just a simple gaze.
Bu he could not back down…instead he raised his his axe then and there and made the effort to at least try…
Maybe those eyes were just an illusion.
Maybe everything about that enemy was a lie…a facade…
But the moment he did came forward, so did the Soril.
And when Soril dashed on forward, he raised his sword and shield and countered the monster forward.
[Heavy Counter!]
The moment his axe met the shield, he instantly felt the gap of their very skill as a predator of this room…
Just like how Jessica felt overwhelmed by the orc, the orc in turn felt incredibly overwhelmed by the pressure this man was bringing into the fight.
As his hands were found pushed back by the force of the parry, what came next simply caused him to feel even more fear from his opponent.
As he was found open for attacks, he was met with a palm strike instantly to his chest, breaking him even more.
But still he persevered, as he found himself being attacked like a ragdoll, he took all the chances he could and tried to fight back…
And in one of his arsenal skills, he had one that can simply bring one opponent to their knees even without him doing anything.
That skill was called [Fear] an ability that simply pressures the minds of an opponent to a point that his entire body freezes, leaving him open for attacks from the orc.
So without hesitation, the orc brought out his skill.
[Fear]
Staring straight into Soril’s eyes, he had the perfect chance to inflict fear into the mind of his opponent, but despite this skill…
Soril never froze on the spot…and instead, he simply charges forward with no hint of even being affected by the skill.
“Krahh!!” (Impossible! Impossible! Every opponent I faced froze in place because of this skill! Yet he remains unaffected!?? How!?)
As the orc struggled to understand what just happened, Soril pushed forth and simply raised his sword to a slashing move.
The orc was so preoccupied by what just happened, he didn’t know until the end that he had already taken damage by a sword.
A slash straight to his left arm was made….in it, his arm was decapitated. Leaving him with one arm left.
“…KHK!” as the Orc grinded his teeth in the pain and anger of this fight, he tried clearing his mind as much as he could, but what came next simply left him feeling like a newborn infant of an orc.
As much as he could tell…he could not win…
He wanted to survive as much as he wanted…
To him, he didn’t know that he was inside a simulation. Instead, what he knows in instinct is that he was in a fight…fighting like what he usually would…but that all changed once he meet a true monster in the field.
He tried flailing around his axe as he struggled to survive…keeping the man in front of him a distance away at all cost…but the man didn’t stopped at all.
Instead, the man welcomed his slashes with a simple block from his shield.
*Thud*
As the axe rammed itself under the shield’s surface, the axe was left stuck and the orc was left staring at the man in front with no other choice on hand…
And without even trying anything anymore…the orc accepted his defeat.
And Soril ended the fight.
[Heavy Slash]
His body was cut in half…and what felt like minutes to the General Orc, only lasted seconds in real time.
“…I’m done. Bring me out.” said Soril as he simply waited for the person who was handling the machine to respond.as he was being brought out from the machine, his eyes remained somewhat cold where not a tinge of fear lingered inside those eyes…
Yet as soon as he came at the sight of reality, his eyes returned to its original state.
As he walked close to Jessica, he simply crossed his arms and asked her a question.
“happy?” he asked as he had this disdained furrow on his brow.
“hehe, very much so.” said Jessica as she was somewhat satisfied at the result.
“Good, now can you go and get yourself checked? I think you got a concussion from the simulation.” he said as he was worried for her.
“Oh no, I’m feeling fine. I just had a dose of painkillers and now my headache is gone.” she said as she stood up from the chair and she gave him a thumbs up.
“Wait…So you were fine if you just took a painkiller?” asked Marilyn as she was quite mad by her act.
“Well we’re hunters. We go to something much worse every time we go into a dungeon. Something like a concussion is barely a threat to our lives.” she said with a smirk.
“Geez…then what was all that about?”
“Hmm? What are you talking about?” she asked.
“You know…Soso?”
“Hmmmm??” and then she asked again in complete cluelessness with a hint of murderous intent.
“N-nevermind.” said Marilyn as she completely throw the curiosity away.
As Jessica was talking with Marilyn, out came her father who approached Soril.
“So your name is Soril Remus right?” he asked in his formal tone.
“Yeah…nice to meet you Mr. Young.” said Soril as he tries to be formal in front of her father.
“Hmm, Soril…how would you like to be a part of the family.”
“Eh?”
***
As the group was standing by at one end of the training ground, while at the front of them was a lined up figure of target practices, each one started conjuring their own magic.
First was Zelisha who tried infusing her arrows with one particular element that she was closely connected with. Which was the thunder Element.
Out come as her arrow was bursting with the flashes of lightning and the cracklings of thunder, so much power was within that arrow that she was certain to fire it. And when she fired without hesitation…the moment she was able to let go of her arrow, the element quickly disappeared and what only hit the target practice was a simple arrow.
“Zelisha, don’t forget to concentrate even when you let go of the arrow…this isn’t just a simple mana reinforced arrow. This is lightning. Lightning is powerful and difficult to control than other elements because of its nature of being incredibly erratic in its moments of activation…you need to concentrate harder than usual if you want to learn this element.” said Marilyn as she was the main person who taught her friends in the assignment.
“Right…right..Okay, I’ll try again.” said Zelisha as she pulled in her arrow once again.
Meanwhile, Thors on the other hand was trying his best on trying to willfully move a piece of pebble in front of him.
Without the use of his hammer, he remained sitting in a lotus position as he stared at a rock.
“Hmm, I’ve been at this for thirty minutes…how can a person even move a rock?!” asked Thors as he was incredibly angry.
“Rocks are simply one of the most patient elements when it comes to its personality. A strong will is needed to move a rock as well as a patient and decisive mind…its takes a lot for a person if he wants to appeal to the nature of a rock.” said Marilyn as she instructed Thors.
“Hmm…” as Thors raised his hands and tried inserting his mana directly into the rock, the rock immediatelty crumbled and broke down into smaller pieces.
“You already tried that before, it wont work if you keep repeating a mistake. Like I said…Patience and Will…take that to heart Thors.” said Marilyn.
“Gah…fine.” with that said, Thors remained staring at his rock.
As Marilyn left the two on their own, she then went to a different place in the mansion.
“How are you doing? Do you feel different?” asked Marilyn as she approached Jessica as she was found floating at the middle of a pool in her own home.
“I’m feeling something alright…although my mana is barely capable of occupying the whole pool with my own mana, with just a few bottles of potion and…yeah, I’m feeling something.” said Jessica as she remained floating at the middle.
“Good, that’s progress right there. If you keep at it, you might just be able to use water in a spell before class would even start.” said Marilyn.
“Aren’t there supposed to be skills about this kind of element? Isn’t that more easier than this?” asked Jessica as she was skeptical about the form of practice.”
“Sure there are skillbooks with the water element, but those are just a one time thing. Your limited by what the skill gives you, but by learning it first hand, you can have access to dozens of skills simply by the broad understanding of it.” said Marilyn.
“…right.” yet still Jessica seemed skeptical about it.
“Its true. There has been studies that if a person who simply learned a skill from an obtained skillbook were to fight a mage who learns an entire row of magic with a certain element, the mage always wins because of his variety.” said Marilyn.
“*sigh*…you’re the teacher.” said Jessica.
“Good, and how about you Soril? You doing okay?” asked Marilyn as she found Soril with a laptop on his lap while he was sitting by a sunbed by the pool. From what he was doing , it seems like he was looking into something in the internet.
“Yeah…I tried looking into some of the dark magic in the articles and blogs, but for some reason, all its showing me is a bunch of weirdos trying to make a weird and cringy videos on how to make the dark element seem cool…but its all just for show to them. ” said Soril.
“Ah…those kinds of guys aren’t really someone you should be focused on, they bring a bad image for dark mages everywhere. I’m really sorry that I couldn’t help you with that…but the dark element isn’t really something I’m experienced in. Any other element is fine, but since my major is the light element, I barely had the interest to learn the dark because it defies my major.”
“Its alright…I can figure this out on my own and if not, I can just look for advice in the internet.”
“Still, to think that you actually have a compatibility with the dark element is something I didn’t expect. I thought you were more like Thors who was capable with the earth element since your personality is similar to his.” said Marilyn.
“Yeah…I thought so too.”
“But you still have other choices like the water element…Water doesn’t conflict with the dark element at all… this is a perfect chance for you to learn it with Jessica.” said Marilyn.
“Yeah…I guess as long as I can learn an elemental skill for professor Morrison’s assignment, I don’t have a choice on the matter.” said Soril.
“Great, get in Soril.” said Jessica as she invited Soril into the pool with her.
“Just get in the pool and try to feel your mana’s flow within the course of the pools current by exerting your mana into the pool’s water.” said Marilyn.
“Wouldn’t it conflict with Jessica’s mana?” asked Soril.
“Hmm, that depends if you guys aren’t rejecting each others mana…I read in a book once that if two mages were compatible with the same element and with each other, the progress for their advancements in learning the basics of this elements triples in speed.” said Marilyn.
“Oh, so just like in Sgt. O’riley class. The way he has us paired with one another to make us grow stronger in a spar..” said Jessica.
“Yeah, something like that. Its all about compatibility…and since its you guys, I don’t think I have anything to worry about.” said Marilyn.
“Hmm…Okay.” as Soril agreed, he started taking his clothes off and he showed his muscular body to Jessica and Marilyn which made the two feel somewhat overwhelmed…
“Hnn…God your body is a damned eye candy.” said Marilyn as she was starting to blush in the glory of Soril’s figure.
“Agreed.” said Jessica.
“geez…you guys are weird.” said Soril as he got in the pool immediately.
“Ahem!…anyway, I”ll leave you guys here for a bit while I go back and visit Thor’s progress.” said Marilyn as she left.
As Soril went into the pool, Jessica immediately swam close to him as a sign of intimacy.
“So what should I do again?” asked Soril.
“Try to exert your mana into the water…just like how you would normally reinforce a weapon with your mana, this is just the same way but more gentle.” said Jessica.
“I don’t know how to use my mana to reinforce a weapon…the only basic thing I know is mana spears.”
“Hmm, then here…feel my mana and try to copy the feeling of how I’m reinforcing my mana into the pool…yet gentler.” as Jessica said this, she reached out her hand for him to hold.
“Okay…” as Soril was able to grab a hold Jessica’s hand, he was able to interlock with her hands in an intimate way.
Feeling the very nature of her flowing mana, he sensed how her flow was as fluid as that of a running river…
‘Hmm…okay…okay…I think I got it.”
And as soon as he got the jest of this skill, he started applying it to the pool…
And almost immediately, the pool reacted quite well with his mana.
“…Whoa.” Jessica saw how the water in her pool started glowing under the influence of Soril’s mana and to it, because his man was extensively more larger than hers, he was able to quickly develop the entire pool with his influence. Each inch of water connected from the pool was affected.
And soon enough, Jessica felt something weird from the waters…
“Hmm…I’m feeling something more clearly now…is this what it means to have control over an element?” she asked herself as she was feeling more of what this water doing to her body.
Jessica floated on the surface of her pool, her senses attuned to the gentle ebb and flow of the water around her. The sun’s warm rays danced across her skin, casting a golden glow over the rippling surface. As she closed her eyes, she felt a deep connection with the element surrounding her.
On the surface, she felt warm under the sun’s light…yet as she went deeper into her sense using the very waters around her, she started feeling cold…
‘Its…heavy…cold…yet I feel powerful.’
The moment she opened her eyes again, she found herself staring at the blue sky as she floated atop the pool.
“Did you feel it?” asked Soril as he floated beside her
“Yeah…I did.” she said as she started swimming close to him.
As she went near him, holding his hand, she faced him upfront and layed her head on his chest.
“Thanks…you really helped me a lot with this.” she said.
“No problem.” he said.
“Right…About what my dad said.”
“Yeah…he was just probably excited.” said Soril.
“Yeah, but it was good that you rejected him. From where it was going, it seemed like he was planning to adopt you or something.” said Jessica as she started talking about the event a couple of minutes ago.
“Its okay…I wasn’t really bothered by it.” said Soril.
“My family plans to make a guild under our name just for me to lead it in the future…”
“Really? That sounds like a good opportunity.” said Soril.
“It is…and I was wondering, can you be there by my side when that happens?”
As she said this, she raised her head from his chest and looked him in the eyes…
With their eyes staring at each other, she waited for his answer.
“Of course.” he said with a smile…
“Thank you.” as he answered, with her thanks, she embraced him with a soft gentle strength.
***
By where they were being intimate, it didn’t seem like no one was looking, but to an unnoticed security camera, a couple of pairs were found staring at the jewel of a moment.
“Hmm, it seems like they were already intimate from the beginning.” said a feminine mother who watches as she was smirking from ear to ear.
“Ahhh…although it looks nice…my heart…it hurts…my baby… My baby!” said the father who was looking like he was in anguish.
“Give it a break already darling, your daughter has flown the coop, and she has already found a partner that seems very suited for her, so why argue?” asked the mother.
“…Hmm…don’t you think it would have been better to have him as one of our own?” he asked.
“You were seriously trying to adopt him?” asked the mother.
“Well…I looked into his profile and it seems like he’s the only one left in his family. Through past incidents, he’s living on his own.”
“Oh my…that’s horrible. But still, look at the boy, he manages just fine…and it seems like he’s going to be great for our daughter, that much I know.” said the mother.
“Hmm, you were right about Eric’s wife…maybe you are right.” said the father.
“its called a woman’s intuition darling.” said the wife.
‘Right…I guess your right.”