An Unborn Hero

In a room far outside of Flinel, a group of zycrians sat on granite slabs, arranged in a neat circle around a mushroom-shaped arrangement of limestone. Panels of marble made up walls, floor and ceiling, with open, glassless windows providing a view out onto the stone city below.

Or maybe 'stood' would be more accurate than 'sat'. It was hard to tell with zycrians.

Something else that was hard to tell with zycrians was their emotions, at least for human viewers, who found it very hard to correctly interpret the twitches of their eye-stalks or the flexes of their mantles. This group of the slug-like creatures, however, made it very easy.

"What the flying $%#& did I just read?" asked one, purple velvet draped over his sticky body and a crown of pure sapphire balanced between his eye-stalks. Several of the others radiated relief, having been trying to articulate a more polite version of the question themselves, but having been beaten to the punch by someone who had more important things to worry about than social graces.

"The latest intelligence report on the situation in Flinel," answered one of the others, who in no way shared in that relief, on account of the way it was her job to explain.

"While being completely accurate, that doesn't even begin to answer my question," sighed the zycrian [Mollusc King], waving a tentacle over the acid-etched sheet of slate he'd been reading. "Let me repeat myself. What. The. $%#&?"

Another aspect of zycrian biology gave them an impressive ability to pronounce random collections of punctuation, which they tended to do when agitated.

"Our spies and scryers all vouched for its accuracy. After which I had medical personnel carefully examine our scryers, cast whatever spells they knew to purge any sort of mind-altering toxins, had a bunch of priests and mages check them over for any other hostile effects, and then personally supervised them as they repeated their surveillance spells. The outcome was the same."

"So, first of all the demonic forest empties itself into Flinellian territory, and rather than get wiped off the map, like you might expect to happen when a kingdom is invaded by a million monsters, they field an army of little human girls, all with the same height, build, hair and ridiculous uniform, who go on to utterly crush the monster army?"

"That is indeed what the report says, sir, although I should reiterate that our most up-to-date information indicates the fight is still ongoing."

"Some sort of golem? Something they were developing in secret?" asked one of the other zycrian ministers, doing his best to be sensible about the entire thing.

"They obviously don't have complete confidence in them, given the concessions they made for us to open our borders to refugees," said another. "Which would make sense, if this was the first time they were fielding them."

"Didn't they ask us for reinforcements? If we had some of our people on the front lines, they'd surely be able to pick up better information."

"Yes, but we indirectly turned them down in favour of reinforcing our own border. It's a bit late to change our minds now."

One of the other ministers tapped a tentacle against his slab a few times as he thought. "The description of their uniform sounds familiar," he said carefully. "That elf, Rrillandral, at the [Hero] unveiling event? Don't you think it sounds similar to that? If I recall that report correctly, Kellela, a member of the hero's party, claimed it to be a spell developed by the [Hero] that provided increased abilities to the target."

"If that's true, and they've adapted it for army use, and it's sufficiently effective for them to stand their ground against a monster horde of this size..." asked the [Mollusc King], leaving the end of the sentence dangling.

"Then there's not going to be any kingdom on the continent capable of standing up to them," answered someone else, putting voice to what everyone there was thinking. After all, while Kellela may have given away a small amount of information at the ball, she certainly hadn't shared its restrictions.

"We need to get our tentacles on that spell..."

"Already?" asked Rrillandral, sipping a cup of tea at a small outdoor table, where she was seated with another girl who looked very much like her.

"Yes," answered Brylyndril, who was back in his Leaf Green form. "A little earlier than expected, but the situation in Flinel changes things. The forest has lost much of its defence."

"Yet the demons—the strongest defenders—remain. Would it not be better for the party to gather experience against lesser monsters first?"

"Unlike monsters, demons will not attack as a horde. You know this; you have fought them often enough to know their behaviour. They are individually strong, but not foes that are beyond your group. I have forced Mystery to learn a couple of mental defence sub-skills, and the effects of [Hero] and [Demon Slayer III] will increase their effectiveness. I've spread [Magical Girl Transformation] to the best of my ability, and she's picked up [Famous Spell Forger] as a result."

Brylyndril glanced off to the side, well aware that despite his claims, he couldn't take all the credit for that one. Without the Flinellian situation, it would have taken far longer for Mystery to earn it.

"And that's enough? What about the others?"

"Thanks to [Cosplay], they now know how to draw the maximum effectiveness from [Magical Girl Transformation]. As do you. The defence and power it provides will suffice."

Rrillandral pondered, but she knew her father honestly believed they would win. If he didn't rate their chances very highly, he'd be telling her not to go in with them. "There's really nothing else to do?"

"Mystery can't be far off [Astral Explorer II], but I'm not sure that will add much. If you meet a demon that can attack souls, she's dead regardless. I honestly think you're better off invading before the monster population regenerates; that sort of ability is more common among monsters than demons."

"And how does Flinel fare? I haven't told the others of the attack; Grace would find the knowledge a... distraction. Rose, too, if she knew her parents were fighting on the front lines. But if I continue to hide it and they find out I knew..."

"Actually, there's nothing but good news there. Thus far, the wave has been held at the border with minimal casualties."

"Really? How?"

"From what I hear, it's all thanks to a large group of little girls in impractical dresses."

Rrillandral raised a quizzical eyebrow at the fellow little girl in the impractical dress, knowing full well he wasn't the type to interfere in that sort of way.

"Don't look at me like that; I had nothing to do with it. The dresses of these girls are blue."

"Rose's parents!" realised Rrillandral. "They were there with us in the Flinellian capital. Even if they couldn't cast it themselves, Rose must have taught it to them, and they passed it on."

"Indeed. Although I will admit to sharing with them a few tips about how behaviour influenced the spell. This cycle is certainly unlike any other, and the repercussions will be felt for centuries. Maybe even millennia," sighed Brylyndril. "Return to your teammates and pass on my decision; you will depart in three days' time. And bring Mystery to Myllearn's Heart. I have something I need to give her."

"Okay, now I'm just getting bored," complained Melody, launching a pair of swords with pinpoint precision straight into the eyes of a wyrm that had smashed its way out of the forest. "Can't say I ever thought I'd be facing down some type of dragon and complaining about being bored."

"It's a wyrm," shouted someone else, fighting a few paces to their side. "Only rank six. A proper dragon starts at eight."

"Only," snorted Platus. "Here we are, a pair of bronze ranked adventurers, fighting things that are only rank six. We should be ashamed of ourselves, picking on weaklings like that."

Melody laughed back. "Think we can apply for promotion after this?" she giggled, as mage-shields flickered overhead, blocking an incoming barrage from a group of rot-horrors. Someone further down the line blasted them with a rain of swords, the silver tarnishing before it even hit them, rusting, decaying and breaking down after only a few seconds in contact with the disgusting monsters, but that didn't matter much when everyone could just summon more.

"Hopefully. On the other hand, so can everyone else. I suspect the adventurers' guild is going to be overworked for the next few months."

"You're making a bit of an assumption there."

"Am I? What's that, then?"

"That we're all going to survive."

A horn blew somewhere to their left, the low pitched alert indicating tunnellers. A squad of earth mages worked their magic, pulling the burrowing worms up to the surface, where the waiting defenders turned them into pincushions.

"Looks like it's all going pretty smoothly to me," replied Platus, just as a resounding roar echoed from the forest. A row of trees burst apart into splinters, shards of wood sent raining over the battlefield, and out of the resulting hole stepped something that made the earlier wyrm look like a child's toy.

"I really wish you hadn't said that," muttered Melody.

Another horn blew almost directly behind them, this one the alert for a high-ranked monster.

"As do I," complained the earlier voice to their right. "Now we have a real dragon to deal with."

"Why didn't you tell us Flinel was being invaded?!" psychically yelled Mystery, far too quickly for her [Telepathy] to keep up. Thankfully, Brylyndril was using his own.

"What, not even a hello first?" he asked jovially, not reacting at all to Mystery's anger.

"Hello," replied Mystery. "Now answer the damn question!"

"Because there was nothing whatsoever you could do about it, and the knowledge would have only distracted you," shrugged the [Monarch of the Vale].

"You don't get to decide that! We could have gone back to help!"

"You could have," replied Brylyndril, flexing [Intimidation]. "You might even have been able to defend a small section of the border, but what then? You couldn't protect the entire length with only five people. If the line was going to break, your presence wouldn't save it. Trust the Flinellian army to do their job, and concentrate on doing yours; ensuring that no more monsters leave the forest."

"You don't get to decide that!" repeated Mystery.

ding

For overcoming powerful [Intimidation] with pure anger, [Robust] advances to level 24.

"Too late; I already did," shrugged the [Monarch of the Vale], deactivating [Intimidation], secretly impressed at how little effect on Mystery it had. The difference made by [Strengthened Will] was significant. "So, are you going to whine about it, or do you want to know why I called you?"

As annoyed as Mystery was, she had to admit he had a point. What could five of them do against a million? And, from what Rrillandral had told them, Mystery had unknowingly already played a starring role in the operation. Tactically speaking, stopping her from rushing in was probably the correct move.

That didn't mean she wasn't pissed as hell about it, though.

She tried to distract herself by looking around, but she didn't see anything special. Rrillandral had led her down a couple of corridors into what seemed to be an unfurnished domed antechamber. A couple of guards had stood outside it, but the inside was completely empty. Even Rrillandral hadn't stepped within, leaving Mystery alone with the elven king. An ornate double-door stood closed on the opposite side.

"Fine. Why did you call me?" she asked.

Brylyndril beamed, then threw open the decorated doors.

"Woah," exclaimed Mystery as she stared in awe at the beautiful flows of mana beyond, her anger forgotten. It ran in ribbons both up into the roof of the chamber and down into its floor, while hovering in the air, a central sphere of mana rhythmically expanded and contracted, almost as if the mana was being pumped upwards.

And hovering in the centre of the sphere was a tiny branch. A mere twig, leafless and attached to nothing, and yet it glowed with the radiance of the sun.

ding

You have seen Myllearn's Heart. [Soul's Eye] advances to level 39.

Achievement unlocked: [Blessed of the Forest]

Mystery (Human)

Age: -9 months

Occupation: Hero (L)

Skills:

- Soul's Eye (U) (39/100)

>> Sense Vitality (U)

>> Sense Soul (R)

>> Sense Mana (U)

>> Sense Light (C)

>> Sense Sound (C)

>> Pierce Illusions (U)

>> Sense Miasma (R)

>> Multi-focal (R)

>> Sense Spirit (R)

- Astral Projection (U) (23/60)

>> Sure Navigation (U)

>> Uncontainable (U)

>> Tether of Will (L)

- Robust (C) (24/50)

>> Hardened Soul (R)

>> Secured Mana (U)

>> Pain Tolerance (C)

>> Strengthened Will (U)

- Stealth (C) (3/20)

>> Camouflage Vitality (R)

- Magical Girl Transformation (R) (22/30)

>> Age Correction (R)

>> Gender Bending (R)

- Light (C) (12/20)

>> Heterochrome (U)

- Increased Attributes (C) (11/20)

>> Mana Storage (U)

- Investigation (C) (5/10)

- Cosplay (U) (11/20)

>> Skit (U)

- Mana Absorption (U) (4/20)

>> Drain Mana (U)

- Translate (U) (10/20)

>> Two Way (U)

- Telepathy (U) (15/40)

>> Reciprocity (U)

>> Empathy (U)

>> Guarded Mind (U)

- Lightning Bolt (U) (3/10)

- Fireball (U) (4/20)

>> Multishot (U)

- Wall of Light (U) (1/10)

- Energy Resistance (U) (1/10)

Achievements:

- Early Bloomer II (R)

- First Skill (C)

- Journeyman (U)

- Survivor of Zarklaxxos, the Arcane Infernal (R)

- I Broke The System, And All I Got Was This Lousy Achievement (E)

- Astral Explorer I (R)

- First Spell (C)

- I Broke The System Again, And Now The Administrators Hate Me (E)

- Famous Spell Forger (E)

- Demon Slayer III (E)

- Monster Slayer V (E)

- Curiosity (U)

- War Veteran (U)

- Royal Audience (C)

- Diligent Hero (L)

- Studious (C)

- Pioneering Guider (E)

- Royal Pervert (R)

- I Couldn't Stop Breaking The System, And Now I've Been Smited (E)

- Royal Corrupter (E)

- Blessed of the Forest (C)