Chapter 14 - Self Driven Duty
After exiting the apartment YuJu didn't go to Ellis, he knew she needed some time to reorganise her thoughts alone
With some free time on hand, he decided to take a stroll while reviewing the progress he and his servants made
_________________________________
Name: YuJu
Race: Human
Gender: Male
Level: 25
Class: Master
STR: 14.6
AG:74.8
VIT:21.4
INT:9.4
INS: 8.2
AP Available: 0
Titles:
-The Unseen: Your presence is shrouded by mystery
Skill "Beyond The Veil" Is Gained
-Kin Of Blood: You share a Blood Bond with your slave
Skill "Blood Message" Is Gained
Contracted Soul-Slaves: Anput, Ellis Jasper
Contracted Blood-Slaves: Mia
_________________________________
If anyone were to see his stat sheet right now they would be shocked out their mind, it has been barely half a day yet YuJu has already reached second class while most haven't even gotten first, but of course, if he didn't achieve just this much after going back through time he might as well call himself an idiot
"My Int seemed to have raised itself by 2.1 while INS only by 0.1? Sigh, the hardest to get stat indeed"
He hadn't increased those two stats at all, only the boosts he acquired and natural increase since his class gave him a natural increase in them, he had used 3 points into strength and 4 into VIT to bring it to ten, the rest was dumped into agility
Much to his delight though those stats increased further on their own when he used blood to strengthen his body, that gave him 11 VIT, 5 STR and only 3 AGI, the last one was already high thus the low increase, in fact, it wouldn't have increased by more than 1 if not for it being the main stat of a Vampire
Next, he clicked on Elli's name from the list, opening up her status
_________________________________
Name: Ellis Jasper
Race: Human
Gender: Female
Level: 19
Class: None (Swordsman)
STR: 10.9
AG: 11.1
VIT: 10.8
INT: 41.1
INS: 5
AP Available: 0
Titles:
-BattleBorn: One who is forged through battle and born anew!
When in battle both mind and body will adjust accordingly
Gained "Battle Stance"
Special Status: Contracted Master: Yuju
_________________________________
"Oh? Her INS raised by 0.5 on its own? Well, that a genius for you"
For Ellis's stats he had invested 6 points into her STR, AG, and VIT, since an average ten was needed for those if one wanted to perform greatly, but the rest went into her INT stat, as for the extra 4 in all stats it seemed
Overall he was happy with her stats, as for the increase by 4 in all stats it seemed to be from his own boost
"Speaking of which why did Anput not gain any boost?"
He remembered the notification mentioned Ellis and Mia but not Anput, so he clicked her status to check
_________________________________
Name: Anput
Race: Hound
Gender: Female
Level: 14
Class: N/A
STR: 0.9
AG:4.4
VIT:3.5
INT:4
INS: 36
Titles: None
AP:0
Special Status: Contracted Master: Yuju
_________________________________
"Indeed, she had not gotten the boost, perhaps because she wasn't around at the time"
He thought about it for a moment before recalling that she was there when he got his 2 plus boost
"Hmm, there must be a special condition to share boosts, I need to look into it, for now, though lets finely check our newest edition"
He opened Mia's stats sheet for the first time
_________________________________
Name: Mia
Race: Half-Vampire
Gender: Female
Level: 5
Class: Servant Of The Night
STR: 8.3
AG: 35.4
VIT: 18
INT: 6
INS: 4.2
AP Available: 6
Titles:
-Blood-Slave: You share a Blood Bond with your Master
Skill "Blood Message" Is Gained
Skill "Inheritance of Blood" Is Gained
-Halfling: The Mystic Laws Support you
Special Status: Contracted Master: Yuju
_________________________________
Its was expected that her stats would shoot through the roof, after all, aside from the +4 boost, she had changed her race which was one of the fastest ways to gain power
But what puzzled YuJu was the Halfling title, he couldn't make any sense of it for he knew nothing about Mystic Laws, nothing about Laws even
"I should ask around for that later, for now I need to check her skills"
He was curious what skills she had, as he only had his class skills while Ellis had BattleBorn alone, while Anput had no skills to speak of
_________________________________
Lurk: You are one with the shadows (Proficient-Low)
Blood Sacrifice: Sacrifice the blood of your victims to your Master (Beginner-Low)
Blood-Bat Shift: Transform into a Blood-Bat (Beginner-Low)
Bat Camp: Summon a colony of murderous bats to your aid [Night Only] (Beginner-Low)
Embrace: Turn the victim into a Vampire [Vampire Rank Depends on Skill Proficiency] (Intermediate-Mid)
Blood Message: Convey Your thoughts through blood
Inheritance of Blood: Inherit power based on your Master's traits
_________________________________
Looking at the proficiency rank next to the skills YuJu feels a rush of memories
"Heh, already at Proficient-low, plus the evolved version of stealth, I guess the inheritance of The Unseen is really powerful"
He remembered when the apocalypse struck, at that time monsters spawned in his area enmass, the only thing he could do at the time was hide in under a car and wait
Sadly the monsters only increased in number, the fewer humans they could find the more that roamed the street, he had stayed in the car for a whole day while droves of monsters passed by, thankfully though the wait wasn't in vain as he reached intermediate in stealth, and he drove it to Proficient-low in the following week by roaming around
"Hehe, no one knew how valuable the boost was at the time, it might have only stated 2x the actual effect is out of this world"
Skills have proficiency, from Beginner to Master, and each one is divided into Low, Mid, and High
When one gains a skill he has two ways to increase proficiency, one is through gaining his own understanding and the other is through using skill points, SP in short, which one gains 10 of for each class he or she owns
With SP it is very easy to rank up skills as it is like a game where you only need to press a button and its done, but to raise it through hard work would need extreme talent and effort, that's why the proficiency boost for one week is great as it provides great talent to normal people and a monstrous talent for geniuses
"Damn, if I didn't have major business in that place I would have gone somewhere else and taken Mia with me"
It was the first time he felt a shred of regret since coming back, but knowing he would receive great rewards there he set aside his regret and made his way into the apartment Ellis was in
Walking in he saw her laying on the couch with her hand covering her face and only a towel on her wet body, which he assumed just came out the shower
"You seem awfully relaxed"
She didn't answer his teasing remark
"Once Anput comes back we will head toward the north-west, form ther-"
"I'm not going"
She interrupted his explanation
"?...I don't believe that's up to you"
She removed her hand and looked at him with a dull expression
"If it was before I would have followed you, but now the people don't have anyone to protect them with all the skill holders dead, since I am the cause of their death I will stay here to guard them, even if it means my death"
"How awfully responsible of you, sadly I am already used to the ignorant heroic spirit the likes of you have, as such I saved Sofia and Mia and taught them how to fend for themselves, in fact, your not even a match for Mia right now"
Ellis's dull face turned into one of shock, she knew how much power she currently held and that's exactly why she was shocked, she wondered what method he used to make Mia so strong that she would be beaten by her
As for doubting his words? The sense of trust their bond provided made such thoughts invalid
"Are you satisfied now?"
He said bending over her
A light flush of red seeped into her face, she was so confident just a moment ago and her mind was made up, nothing could change it making her very uncaring toward him, but he shattered her confidence and now she was very self concise about her position and cloths
"As I said, is there anything unsatisfactory?"
Ellis shook her head to his sweet smile, the red in her face matching her red hair now
"Good, then we will proceed with my plans, get dressed and let's move out"
He stopped teasing her and left, allowing her to pick some new clothes out from the house and follow behind, Anput came a moment later and the three of them started to run toward the north-west, leaving a silent Mia watching from the shadows
...
"So where are we heading"
Asked Ellis after recovering from her embarrassment
"Were currently heading toward the border of the human world"
"The human world?"
He nodded
"Our world, Earth, or as otherworldly beings call it, the Blue Gem, is one of many worlds that dot the universe, and every now and then a world is merged into Infidome, otherwise known as the collection of worlds, when a world is merged it is given a protection period where the neighboring worlds cant invade them, but after that its survival of the fittest"
The information was too much to absorb for Ellis, so many new terms and unbelievable statements in one small dialogue
"So after a week portals will open up at the borders of the world?"
"Portals? Haha, no there isn't a divider between worlds anymore, you can think of Infidome as one big planet that keeps getting bigger and bigger each time a new world is added"
"How is that even possible?"
"You think levels and monsters are weirder? This world is magical, never believe anything is impossible"
Although she had a hard time believing it she could only nod, monsters popping out of nowhere wasn't of the norm either
The group made a trail of blood as they ran, they didn't bother stopping for one or two beasts as Ellis merely slashed them on her way and YuJu mapped the road to avoid big groups, thus for the next half-day the three of them never stopped running
"Haaah, haaah I cant, run anymore"
Ellis slowed down, sweat dripping down her glistening skin
"We still have a whole day in front of us, and we're not even close to the noctule beasts that give stimulants"
"I really can't run anymore we shou-"
"Ahhhh, Help help mee!"
A shrill scream brought their attention to the east
"I will go help them"
"If you have the energy to fight then you have the energy to run, ignore them and let us go"
"No! I have to help them"
"People are dying every second, what difference does it make if you save a few now who will die days or minutes later"
"Because it is my duty!"
"Says who?"
"My..This gift i have, it must have been given to me for a reason, to protect these people I was blessed, so I must do it"
"You were blessed? Kid yourself not, I was the one who gave you the power you hold, do you think you would get as far without my guidance"
Ellis didn't respond, she merely turned and dashed toward the screams
"...It seems she had learned nothing, this fool"
YuJu could only sigh and follow, his brain churning with thoughts on how to teach this woman her position