Nightmares Paradise [LITRPG System Integration]

The elf alien blinked, pointing a finger at Jon, understanding the meaning behind his actions.

"Jon?", their voice was alluring, perhaps even more so considering it was not intentional. Jon could quite distinctly hear the unfamiliar twangs of an accent, although it wasn't one that Jon could place.

The elf repeated the word, trying to familiarize themselves with it. Jon could hear them mutter a series of alien words. Jon could not even begin to imagine what the elf was saying, but he could hear a deep emphasis on certain vowel-sounds.

Repeating Jon's action, the elf pointed a finger towards their chest, showing a soft smile before introducing themself.

"Avahni", the name might have seemed out-of-place for someone from the modern era but fit the image of a beautiful elven woman. Jon still was not quite sure whether this elf was a man or a woman, but just nodded, repeating the word, letting himself familiarize with it.

The elf smiled but shook their head, repeating their name slowly, placing significant more emphasis on the second "a" sound. After a couple tries, Jon managed to perfect his pronunciation of their name, causing the elf to smile, before pointing to themself again.

This time, gesturing to the entirety of form.

"Lutin", she spoke clearly.

The pronunciation was significantly easier than their name, allowing Jon to perfectly pronounce it on his first try.

Avahni clapped a couple times, causing Jon to marvel at how similar their expressions and mannerisms were.

'Gestures such as pointing possess similar meanings. Motions such as clapping are equated with values and feelings such as 'correctness' and 'pleasantness'. Is this because we are both humanoid? Is there something about our appearances that promote certain actions with certain qualities or states of mind?' Jon couldn't help but wonder about the nature of what it meant to be human with the existence of a sentient humanoid right in front of him.

It did not just overturn thousands of years of philosophy and theology.

It overturned humanities place in the universe.

That they were not special. That they were not alone.

Jon did not quite discount the possibility of God, or Gods not existing. The System seemed quite close to omnipotence if it could create something as miraculous and wondrous as this small realm. And if it could sense everything within it, all at once, it was quite swiftly approaching omnipresence.

The lutin tilted their head to the side, waiting for Jon to introduce his Race in a similar manner. Suppressing the need to slap himself for being distracted in his own thoughts, Jon nodded, gesturing to the entirety of himself.

"Human", he spoke, calmly and without pause.

He listened as Avahni repeated the word, trying not to emphasize the vowels. There were still traces of an accent in her words, but Jon still clapped, mimicking her actions, nonetheless. The lutin just smiled at Jon, before pointing to the fragments on the ground, pronouncing some strange word that Jon did not quite catch.

Raising an eyebrow, Jon gestured to the large, silverish rectangular prism beside his Fire Mana Core. Picking it up, Jon held it in the palm of his hand, as if to show them what these gemstones were.

This particular fragment was the Fragment Of Size.

Jon watched as Avahni shook her head and gestured towards the large spherical shaped jewel beside it, causing his brows to furrow inwards, as Jon felt unsure in where this dialogue was heading.

Jon could only watch dumbfoundedly, as the lutin reached behind themself and pulled out a spherical jewel of equal size and shape, pushing it towards Jon. It's beautiful emerald lustre glistened in the sunlight, releasing beams of various shades of green onto the sandy riverbank.

The colour reminded Jon of his Fragment Of Tree, although with a far greater gleam to it.

Avahni then gestured towards Jon to take it, their fingers releasing its grip on the Mana Core, letting it sit harmlessly in their open palm. The lutin used their free hand to point towards their green-coloured Mana Core, before gesturing towards Jon.

He then watched Avahni point towards the Fire Mana Core placed idly beside his feet, before pointing back to herself.

"Avahni… Jon," The lutin spoke some other word that Jon didn't quite fully hear but was one whose meaning he fully understood.

The alien elf did not just come forward to introduce themself to Jon.

They wanted to trade their Mana Core for the one in his possession.

"Ah", was the only thing that Jon could say, before rubbing his chin thoughtfully.

'I admit, I did not consider Avahni capable of thinking of such a thing. Perhaps I was too indulgent in the fact that I am the first human to ever come into contact with an alien. Their species obviously has advanced far enough to grasp the concept of an equivalent exchange, so perhaps they are already well beyond mercantilism,' Jon scratched the top of his head, his cheeks somewhat red in embarrassment.

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In his arrogance, or perhaps in the arrogance that was born form human nature, Jon thought that he was the advanced species meeting a primitive alien lifeform for the first time. His sense of wonder and awe came from his inherent sense of superiority that came from being at the top of the food chain.

Despite his hesitance at first, which was born from a combination of Jon's paranoia and rational thought, the lutin known as Avahni wasn't aggressive or confrontational in the slightest.

They came before him in order to trade one of the Mana Cores in their possession for the one that was in Jon's. Considering that Avahni would have received the System prompt to integrate the Mana Core the moment they picked it up, Jon theorized that there were only three possibilities on why they did not choose to do so immediately.

The first being that they too were worried about the pain that accompanied their first Mana Core integration. It would leave them temporarily defenceless if the pain was even remotely close to their previous experience. Finding a safe and isolated place to integrate the Mana Core was perhaps their best bet.

Although, with all of the beasts lurking around the forest, finding such a place would be difficult, if one was willing to take the chance in the first place.

The second possibility was if Avahni was similarly worried about the compatibility between the Mana Core in her hands and the Mana Core she chose while placed within the Pure Room. While this was the least likely option, Jon himself wouldn't integrate a Mana Core that did not quite sit well within his chest.

He had seen quite a number of different possibilities for Mana Cores while within the Pure Room, but only a handful of them seemed to fit himself. Jon was not sure if this was an expression of his intuition, or whether his personality seemed unconsciously repelled by certain concepts or notions, but nevertheless, he chose his Knowledge Mana Core based on how well it seemed to fit him.

And the third possibility, and quite possibly the least likely of the three.

Was that the Mana Core that Avahni had in their hand was the exact same one that she chose in the Pure Room.

No matter how unlikely that seemed, it still remained a possibility.

'If it is something like a Forest Mana Core, or a Tree Mana Core I could definitely see someone just being able to find it out in the open… I guess it does fit Avahni's aesthetic and everything as well,' Jon was not quite sure if that was considered stereotyping but didn't bring it up before gazing at the Mana Core in the lutin's hand.

The colour did seem reminiscent of his Fragment Of Tree…

'My Knowledge Mana Core already integrated a Fragment Of Tree, so it wouldn't feel out of place to integrate a Tree Mana Core. Considering that I'm still missing five Mana Cores yet already possess four abilities associated with my Knowledge Mana Core, the total number of abilities I should be able to possess it as least thirty,'

'Not only does that allow for a more generalized array of abilities, but it also promotes synergy between them. Even if one does not possess similar Mana Cores, the fragments that they choose to integrate into them should be able to create synergistic effects!'

Knowledge and Nature…

Knowledge and Trees…

Knowledge and Plants…

Jon could see any of them working. Perhaps even more so than a Fire Mana Core would be able to.

Lifting his head, Jon could see the faintest traces of apprehension on Avahni's face. He could understand her concern. To them, this strange, barbaric alien remained in silent thought while they extended their hand openly, leaving themself unguarded and potentially open in the event that things turned violent.

It only just occurred to Jon that he was still naked at the moment. Looking down at himself, he tried to suppress the heat rising in his cheeks before clearing his throat, deciding to accept Avahni's offer.

Picking up his Fire Mana Core, he held it out openly in his unblemished hand, watching as the lutin's expression dramatically shifted, their eyes widening and their mouth dropping in shock. Avahni blinked a couple times before pointing to the Fire Mana Core and then pointing to herself.

Jon merely nodded.

"Avahni," he spoke while gesturing towards the Fire Mana Core.

Jon then pointed towards the green-coloured Mana Core in Avahni's hand, nodding a little bit more enthusiastically.

"Jon," he said, still pointing towards the object in the lutin's hand.

Both of them reached towards the Mana Core that the other held in their hand. The moment Jon seemed to touch the green-coloured Mana Core in Avahni's hand, the lutin swiftly plucked the Fire Mana Core in Jon's, allowing him to do the same.

Both paused as a familiar integration prompt appeared in front of them.

"Wood" Mana Core discovered.

Would you like to integrate this "Wood" Mana Core?

Y/N

Jon could not help but feel somewhat surprised that he guessed the concept within the Mana Core wrongly but was fine considering he was relatively close to the mark. Wood seemed to carry a number of different connotations in comparison to Nature, Tree or even Plants in general, but it was something he felt he could work with.

'Wood is a type of construction material. It can be grown, treated, and then transformed into the foundation for a building or construct. Conversely, wood is almost always associated with trees, which then subsequently represent growth, life and most often interconnectedness and nature as a whole,' Jon felt pleased with the Wood Mana Core, not sensing any internal friction or discord with the possibilities that this Mana Core represented.

Glancing towards Avahni, the lutin similarly seemed pleased with their Mana Core, the smile on their face becoming more prominent, as a slight pink tinge blushed their cheeks. Jon thought that Avahni was beautiful, at least by human standards, but did not react physically, unconsciously glancing downwards for a second.

His steady stream of thoughts kept the majority of his embarrassment at bay, knowing that if Trevor or Summer ever found out about this, he would never hear the end of it.

'It doesn't matter. I'll just say something like "humans tend not to wear clothes when they are alone". I'm the first human Avahni has ever met, who is going to disprove my words when there might not be another human for a thousand miles in any direction?'.

Jon snapped out of his thoughts, seeing Avahni lift their head, pointing towards Jon before raising two of her hands, holding them in front of her eyes as if they were binoculars. The human blinked at the familiar actions the lutin took before they gestured towards their Mana Core, tapping it softly against their chest.

Avahni's face held a hopeful expression, trying to remain positive and optimistic that Jon would understand her actions.

'She wants me to… watch her while she integrates her Mana Core? There is no way right?! How the hell can she trust a complete and utter stranger with their life, especially one that isn't even the same species or Race as them!?' Jon's expression didn't change, simply nodding slowly, repeating her actions to her.

He did not even get to lower his hands, before Avahni fell to the ground, accepting the integration notification.