Otherworldly Trials [LITRPG Adventure]

If there was anything Mikella hated the most, it's being useless on where it mattered.

She knew she had the capabilities to handle anything thrown at her, and she also knew that in any emergency, she would put her abilities she had available to their limits.

But when it came to helping Zeke with a chronic headache that could potentially be fatal, she had no other choice but to let fate run its course. And that was only second to being useless where it mattered.

She crossed her arms as she watched the otherworlders continue their training, the mages from Zeke's side moving over to her physical training now that their teacher is out of bounds. They groaned in displeasure, but some were appreciative of taking a break from mentally exhausting themselves and getting a good sweat in. But half the time, Mikella's mind was stuck on Zeke's predicament.

Thankfully Lyle and Janet provided excellent teaching, providing their own lessons and views on how to handle energy control and using their skills effectively. Since their own training was fresh compared to her own, the otherworlders learned it in stride and made excellent progress.

Eventually the training came to an end, the otherworlders too tired to continue onwards. Once Mikella helped make meals for everyone with Lyle's help in the kitchen, they left everyone in the emergency housing they lived in and went back home.

All the while, Mikella kept to herself, trying her hardest not to think too hard on the matter.

"Mikky, we can all tell you're suffering," Janet spoke up, catching her off guard. "Just go back to Zeke. We'll go back to our place soon enough."

"Ugh, right," Mikella groaned, reminding herself to train more on her stupid poker face. Apparently it's terrible. "Sorry."

"Hopefully the potion I made works out," Lyle stated. "But that's still not a good crutch to lean on. You got any idea what's the cause?"

"I have no clue," Mikella shook her head. "I asked Alissa, and she asked Cronus, and they both said that this is due to Zeke's recklessness. But he had no other choice. What else could we do in that situation?"

"Yeah," Janet stared up into the orange-painted sky, the Studded Star shimmering dimly in the evening hour. "We all would've died without the barrier. Even Cerulean said so. Oh, what about her? Did she say anything?"

"She's about as elusive as Cronus, so that's a no," Mikella said. "I have no clue where she is."

Cerulean, Cronus' daughter and a Master of her own, helped them out when they needed it the most. After bringing them out of the tower without losing a single otherworlder, which was a blessing, she disappeared to Cronus to handle some things that were clearly none of her business.

"And I'm pretty sure she wouldn't give a crap about Zeke too," Mikella said bitterly. "Ugh, I hate this so much. All this power and I can't do jack shit."

Mikella opened up her status screen, seeing the rewards she got from the tower upon leaving it successfully. She wanted some assurance that she at least did something right.

You have cleared the dungeon: Fiery Hearth

You have received the following rewards:
300 Gold Coins
600 Silver Coins
Skill Book: Siren Song

Seeing the rewards, she and Zeke were both extremely rich compared to before, reaching close to 800 gold and 1600 silver for themselves. That was enough to purchase a house in a good district here in Arcelot, and then some for whatever they desired. Of course, they planned on putting it all into their savings for any emergency to come since they don't need a house for their current troubles.

What really grabbed her attention was Siren Song. According to the skill book, it was a buffing and debuffing skill in one go. Depending on the stats the person had while using it, it could increase the overall power she had and decrease the power of her enemies. It could even affect multiple allies and foes if she put more effort into the skill. Due to how useful it was overall, and considering she is, what Zeke and Janet would like to call, a selfish damage-per-second class in any MMORPG. She didn't like that kind of label, so she readily learned it.

Siren Song (Rare), Level 1
Allows you to empower yourself or impede your enemies depending on your attribute growth. If you lean towards the physical side, you can increase yourself and your allies' physical attributes. If you lean on the magical side, you can inflict your enemies with the debuffs Dizziness, Nausea, and/or Numbness depending on their physical and magical attributes. Either can be available depending on how high your attributes are. You can increase the potency of your buffs and debuffs depending on the skill level.

It was the first skill she had that didn't require a specific stat to determine its power, but it was clear from the description that this skill is rather unique on how it handled attributes. She can either increase her and her allies' power or inflict some nasty debuffs on her enemies. Considering that she's the type to have decent stats all around, she'll have more of a chance to empower themselves than inflict debuffs, but the debuffs could also happen if her enemies were just peons with barely any willpower.

But nothing here could help Zeke in his predicament. Just like before, she felt like her build failed her where she felt it mattered. She knew she was on the right path, but it was these moments that made her hesitate over and over again.

"Mikky, you can't blame yourself like this. It's not fair and you know it," Janet said, her words comforting while her hand rested on Mikella's back. She smiled at her, appreciating the gesture. "You're sounding like Zeke. Do you want to be like Zeke?"

"Heh, no. Not at all," Mikella chuckled. "But that's just how I feel."

"Well, we'll see how he is when you return home," Lyle spoke up, his tails swishing left and right. That got Mikella to giggle at the sight, which Lyle took in stride with a grin of his own. "And you let me know if the potion did anything. I'm confident that it would ease the pain, but I'm still fresh on using that new skill of mine, so I wanna know if there are any downsides."

"Lyle, that's not something you should say when she's already feeling shit about it," Janet said with a frown, getting Lyle to raise his hands.

"Hey, hey, it's my job. You think I want to have my brother from another mother suffer like this? I gotta make sure things work properly."

"It's fine, Janet," Mikella shook her head at Lyle's ridiculous title for Zeke. "And thanks, Lyle. I'll make sure and let you know. Here's hoping Zeke is just sleeping now."

It was still a little early, but anyone would get knocked out if they were in that much pain. Not to mention that they got an early start tomorrow for more training. She hoped she could see Clara and let her know how things are going, and she also hoped that Zeke was fine enough to at least let her know how he is.

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Unfortunately, they were still quite a bit away from Mikella reaching Alissa's house before Lyle went ahead and started being a nosy dickhead again.

"So… how things are going between you two?" Lyle said, turning around with that fox-like grin. Mikella swore that his fox ears propped themselves up only when something saucy was about to happen. "From what I saw, it looks like things are going well."

"Oh my god, just drop it, would you?" Mikella let out a heavy breath, rolling her eyes. "Everything's fine, and we're doing well. Hell, nothing bad happened at all."

"That's not what the otherworlders say," Janet said under her breath, catching Mikella by surprise.

"Yeah," Lyle snickered like some villainous crony in a cartoon. "We keep hearing from them that when you two spar, it's like you're just bullying the poor guy. Even with the free heals, that's just brutal."

Mikella did feel a bit guilty, knowing that her going all out even in a spar against Zeke who was currently suffering chronic headaches wasn't exactly something a girlfriend would do. However, she stayed resolute as she smiled at the two.

"Hah, they're just exaggerating things. If anything, Zeke likes it when I go hard."

That made the mood around them quiet as Mikella noticed the two staring at her questioningly. She raised a brow, asking 'what?' to them.

"So…" Lyle raised his single brow slowly at her. "You turned him into a masochist?"

After carefully reading into his obvious expression, her cheeks blushed at the implication. Then she rightfully pulled out her training sword and chased after Lyle, laughing his ass off while Janet just stayed back, completely leaving Lyle to his fate.

…..

He had a good dream. It was a dream he never thought he would have, so it was a really good dream.

He dreamt of a time before he lost everything. A time where everything seemed simple and easy to understand. He looked up at the giant plasma screen, showing a movie of a man with his dog.

The dog was beautiful. Its fur was lustrous and refined, not a single blemish in sight. Its dark, shimmering fur only accentuated the dog's mighty form as it bounced across the field, as though gravity didn't affect it.

Its teeth were sharp, but they were never meant to harm anyone. Instead, it was a deterrent to intimidate those who wished harm on his owner. When turning to his owner, it gave off that doggy grin, its tongue lagging through its fangs in excitement to see what the owner wanted from him.

It was a good dog. A very good dog, and Zeke wanted one for himself. But Mother never allowed it. She said dogs were mutts that belonged to the streets, useless and unloyal, only willing to serve when given its treats. After that, they stink up the place and spread diseases all over.

And like a good boy, Zeke gave up on the dog. But this dream he had, he was the owner of that lustrous, powerful, and fluffy dog he always wanted.

It was a good dream. It was a simple dream. But it was his dream.

…..

His eyes fluttered open, showing the sharp light that he had forgotten to turn off before whisking himself away into his bed, the pain too extreme to keep focus.

He was ready to face the pain again, his mind a mess and completely fuzzy, but as it cleared up, his brows furrowed. The pain was gone. Completely gone.

He widened his eyes. That wasn't supposed to happen. No matter how good it feels to not feel that intense amount of pain, to suddenly not feel any pain at all was too strange.

He had several notifications blinking at the bottom right of his vision, but he ignored it for now. It was probably detailing the effects of the potion he drank and the debuffs he had.

First, he checked within himself. There was no pain, but there was a strange ache in his chest. He shouldn't have any abnormalities a normal person would have after taking a nap, like a crick in the neck or any back pain due to his body being Journeyman stage.

So that was something, at least. The pain went somewhere else, but why? Seeing that, he checked his logs.

He expected the debuff he received and the potion's effects, hoping that perhaps the debuff disappeared but was replaced with something else. Instead, several notifications dropped onto his vision, and each one only made him more confused.

You are afflicted with Intense Headache.

Your spellcasting is limited, costing 50% more mana per cast and reducing the potency by 25%.

…..

You have drunk Lyle's Cure for Zeke.

Any excess energy source you have in your body will be expunged in the following five minutes. Your resource regeneration is increased by 200% during the expulsion, but afterwards, your regeneration will be decreased by 75% for 5 minutes.

*****

Familiar Construction completed.

Due to the familiar construction, your skills have been transferred during the process.

-Steadfast Mind
-Iron Parallel Thought
-Meditation
-Enlightenment

You will still retain the stat bonuses you have acquired throughout the progress of the transferred skills. As an added feature, you will still gain new stat bonuses as long as your familiar levels the skills instead.

…..

New Title available:

Tamer:
You have created a bond with a new ally that will travel along your journey. Treat them well, and in return they will treat you well. Headpats, however, are completely mandatory.

You have gained +5 INT from your title.
You have gained +5 SPI from your title.

Title Skill attained: Best Friends Forever

…..

Best Friends Forever (Title), Level 1 (Maxed)

It's only natural that your best friend shares the same benefits. Your familiar gains more experience points for every action by 1%.

Zeke had to take a double take. Hell, he closed his eyes by covering them with his hand before opening them again to read his notifications.

"Okay, I just need a fucking minute to figure this mess out and…"

"Hold on! At least get me out of the covers!"

Zeke jumped out of his bed, his arms tensing and ready to fight. The new voice shocked him wide away and rid himself of the confusion plaguing his mind.

"Who's there?!" He roared, his tattoos flaring with energy. He felt a twinge of weakness in his body, explained by the notification sent from Lyle's potion. He turned his head in a swivel, trying to expand his senses to find this new voice.

It spoke again, and it carried none of the hostility despite Zeks's own bursting out everywhere.

"I'm here! Help me! I'm trapped in a world of fuzzy blankets!"

Zeke furrowed his brows, turning back to his bed. To his shock and possible horror, something moved underneath the covers, just as the voice said.

His fists gripped tight, wishing he had his pack to summon his gauntlets for whatever the hell it was. If it was just a random voice, he might have calmed down by now. But it wasn't a normal voice.

It spoke directly into his mind, as though something spoke straight into his brain. That made him nervous. However, looking at whatever it was that moved underneath the covers, it was a strangely small creature that Zeke had no clue what it was. The voice was also rather… puny, like a child with a high, chinny voice.

Still, he willed himself to move his hand forward, pulling the covers off the bed slowly. When the covers were gone, what was left on the bed was…

A very small puppy.

"Phew!" The puppy spoke again, its mouth not moving but it clearly stood up on its four legs, wagging its furry tail left and right. "It was hot down there! Hi there, Zeke! Thank you for giving birth to me! I promise to be a good dog and be your best friend forever!"

Zeke's eyes just stared at the puppy, clearly excited to meet him for the first time, yet knowing exactly who he was. It even knew his name.

The title finally explained it all, but Zeke's still sleep-addled mind just couldn't comprehend it.

What in the actual fuck did he do while he was asleep? Again?