NOVEL NEXT B1 | Intermission 2
The Jungle
Right after Astrid finishes training her twin’s adaptation for shadow magic, she rushes straight into the jungle, heading deeper in than she’s ever been before to fight monsters just a little bit above her level on her own. But no matter how many she kills, the gap in levels between her and Lexi continues to ravage her mind.
Ever since she was little, the things that she remembers the most is always the sight of Lexi protecting her. Of her twin sacrificing for her. So whenever she gets the chance, she always tries to do the same for her sister.
It’s just how their relationship works. They’ve been together all the time for as long as she can remember. Since before their mother vanished.
But now Astrid can’t help but feel helpless at the mere sight of her sister’s power. Even while she was training her adaptation, the idea that she wasn’t even strong enough to so much as hurt Lexi left a gaping hole in her chest.
I will grow stronger. And I’ll defend the base while she’s gone. It’s the only thing I can do for her now.
Astrid clenches her fist at that thought before rushing through and finding and killing another level 46 tiger in the woods. Then another. And another.
Over the hours she’s been hunting, she gets wounds covering her entire body with major damages to her armor accompanying the wounds.
But she persists despite those wounds, uncaring about any exposure the damaged armor might bring. Uncaring about any of the pain.
She continues fighting.
Until she finds a man standing in a tree watching her, making her freeze stiff.
I didn’t sense his approach.
Astrid quickly identifies the man, making him smirk before jumping down from the tree to land in front of her.
And what she finds in the identify sends a wave of terror through Astrid. Terror she manages to bottle up and no show as she faces the man.
{Ethan Silva – Hellfrost Dragon – Level 99}
This man is a Class S species.
Silence fills the area as Astrid tightens her grip on her sword, but after several seconds of silence, the man’s smirk turns into a frown.
“You’re not her,” he says, instantly making Astrid realize he had briefly thought she was Lexi. “You look just like her except your hair and eyes.” He tilts his head slightly. “Are you perhaps twins?”
The man doesn’t wait for Astrid to respond as his eyes suddenly turn into blue slits before returning to normal and he shakes his head, “In that case, send her my regards. Tell her a member of the Hellfrost Dragon clan says good luck on claiming the spot of Champion for the Block.”
Astrid frowns at that, only for the man to suddenly sprout blue draconic wings from his back before he flaps them and begins to fly away without another word.
Silence once more fills the forest with the only sound being that of Astrid’s heavy breathing and the flapping of the man’s wings.
He didn’t kill me.
Astrid watches the man fly away for a little while, just studying his appearance to be able to give a clear description to Alexia.
Two ice-blue draconic wings, slit blue eyes like a reptile, blue claws when his wings appeared, shoulder length silvery blue hair, sharp and pointed ears, two horns, two sharp teeth, and seems to be calm and calculating in both appearance and actions.
After making a mental note of everything, Astrid quickly begins to head back to the base. But as she runs she can’t help but wonder just why the man didn’t hurt her. Not to mention why he didn’t decide to ask if he could come to her base.
He seemed to recognize Lexi as well. I would normally think that was because of her time on the throne after the Tutorial finished, but he looked like he had something more personal in the way he talked about her… has he met her before?
Astrid continues running all the way through the trees until she makes it to the clearing where Lexi’s house is, where she finds a strange sight that has her skidding to a halt in her run.
“What the…” she mutters as she sees her twin casually lying down with her back against a tree as Aidan sends spears of water at her left arm, the princess’s fiancé coats his sword in ice and attacks her left shoulder, Alara coats her blade in fire and attacks her right arm, and the princess attacks her right shoulder with blades of both earth magic and wind magic.
All of the attacks have already left her twin mostly sleeveless as she lies there seemingly taking in the beauty of the lake with an absent and partially bored expression on her face, the minimal damage of all of their attacks not likely being enough to break past her Pain Resistance.
“Lexi,” Astrid says while slowly making her way closer to the tree through the clearing, bringing her twin’s attention to her along with the brief attention of the people attacking her, “what the fuck are you doing?” She then blinks and shakes her head. “No, never mind. Just… whatever…”
Astrid, having given up on using common sense on her twin at this point, human common sense, just turns away and walks towards the base instead. But not before seeing her twin casually shrug her shoulders and return her attention to the lake again, regaining that bored expression of hers.
She’s seriously just sitting there farming up adaptation to a bunch of different magics… is that… is that normal? For a quantum reaper?
Several seconds pass in silence with the only sounds being that of the skills and spells being cast in the clearing before Astrid makes it to the base where she finds the others – those who don’t have magic skills – still hard at work building the base.
Then she blinks.
Shit, her ridiculousness almost made me forget why I rushed back!
Astrid immediately runs back to the clearing to tell her twin what just happened to her in the jungle.