Chapter 6

'It's been a week, huh?' I think as I'm going to do my first D-rank quest; to collect 10 small lamp grass, since there's been a deficiency for a while down. I yawn as I make my way through the forest, still feeling sleepy since I was told the best time to collect it was early morning or late at night, and there's no way I'm going out at night. I remember what happened last week as I look around.

(Flashback)

Through the week, I went to the library after my morning workout and doing my daily quests. Not seeing Noelle around, I sigh disappointed and get back to studying. Looking at the details about vision, I see primogems are used mostly to upgrade our vision, working similar to constellations in the game with six levels, the first to third being easy to use with only primogems; 1000, 10k and 100k primogems respectively. The fourth to six using ascension materials from elites to bosses, in rising difficulty. The potency is also increased, with new actives/passives being added after each ascension.

I also found out that elemental mastery is mostly increased by using elemental skills and burst repeatedly, with rising difficulty each rank increased. The benefits are great though, with increased damage and skill efficiency, depending on the type of skill the vision wielder holds. For example, a pyro user may experience and increase in DoT damage, AoE damage and Burn damage, while a Dendro user may experience increase in control range, increased damage and larger area of effect.

I also found out that the main weapon types used are 3-star weapons. 4-star and above weapons are really hard to come by, only in the hand of strong people like Kaeya, Amber, Bennet, etc. as for 5-star weapon. The only people who has it in Mondstat was Jean, Venti, Diluc and albedo. From the book, Diluc weapon was a family heirloom, same as Jean's, Albedo was from dragonspine while venti is an archon, duh. Increasing the damage and the associated skill in the weapons is done by buying enhancement ores from the blacksmith or from the guild.

I met Noelle again in the fourth day with Amber. Amber, the sole Outrider of the Knights. She's always incredibly cheerful, bubbly, and optimistic no matter the situation, but there's a lot more to her character than just her happy-go-lucky personality. She was very extroverted and was very happy when I asked what outriders do. Turns out they act as scouts, delivering any and all information about anything threatening to the city. She also likes to help the citizens whether it be trivial or challenging. She was also a three-time gliding tournament champion.

As she was excitedly explaining all her exploits, I held Noelle's hand as I whispered to her "how've you been? I haven't seen you around and I missed you a bit" she blushes as I rub my thumb on her sweet spot, courtesy of my sexual prowess skill.

She replies "I've been busy, what have you been up to?" "Just going through the history and training a bit everyday" "really?" she asks. "Well I haven't gotten the chance to look around and enjoy myself for a while now", I muse. "Hmm, how about I show you around one of these days?" "Oh my, are you asking me out, my lady?" she pouts, blushing slightly. She's fun to tease, I swear 'not that I'll tell anyone else' I muse inwardly. "You're making fun of me in your head aren't you?" she cuts out my thought glaring at me. Is this the 'women's instinct? Scary' I shudder

"I would never" I chuckle "But sure, let me know when you're free then" she nods and looks back at Amber, whose reciting a tale of how many tricks she pulled while maintaining the lead in a race between her and….. Yeah I got lost, so I just hum and nod along. She's just too extroverted for me, not going to lie. I separated from them a few minutes later then went to rest for the day.

I also got acquainted with a few people; Lisa when I wanted to borrow a few books about elemental reactions. When she asks why I took this book, I told her "I'm having it so I don't get in trouble hurting myself because there are some elemental reactions like freeze that affect the user as well as the enemy" she just smiles and gives me a few tips about elemental jargons. When I asks why she helps me, she just winks at me and goes back to her book. I just walk away blushing slightly since her 'mommy-dommy' vibes are too much. It was through Noelle who told me the she was happy I wasn't rushing to kill myself.

I met Kaeya and Diluc when I went to Angels share, but I just nodded at them before having a drink. It was fun watching venti perform, he was a very good bard. 'If only he stopped drinking like a tap' I think, which earns me a glare from him. Quickly looking the other way, he looks around in confusion before continuing his singing. It did get weird when they started the whole 'a hole is a hole' talk, so I just paid and left.

I finished reading everything necessary by the sixth day, so I'll just go there either to meet Noelle, or to read some novels. 'I miss my fanfictions' I muse as I wake up early in the morning. After taking a bath and having some bread and coffee for breakfast, I went to the adventurer's guild, but with a different objective this time.

"Ad Astra Abyssosque and good morning Mr. Noctis" Katherine greets me. "I've already told you to call me Barry, Katherine" I complain. She smiles and ignores my tired expression as she asks "the usual dailies?" "No I think I'm ready for a normal quest" she nods and asks me for my card as she gives the commission list.

Looking at it for a while, I pick one that'll be enough for me for now. The description looks like this;

D-rank quest: Pick 10 small lamp grass for the florist, as the supply has been going low. Location: whispering woods, starsnatch cliff. Time to submit quest: One day. Caution: Hilichurls may be present. Two or more D-rank adventurers recommended. Reward: 5k mora, 500 mora per extra flower.

She looks at it worriedly and asks if I can do this alone. I nod and she sighs as she gives me the card. "Be careful", she says. I smile and say thanks as I look at my supplies. Seeing it's sufficient, I wave her bye and go to the quest location

(Flashback end)

As I look around at the entrance of the forest, I see some pyro slimes as I use elemental sight to look around. Taking care of them quickly using elemental infusion on my new 3-star weapon. Checking the details using my 'status' (I found this out by accident, I danced around a lot when I found this out);

Name: Halberd

Rating: 3-star

Type: Polearm (A/N; I'll start using polearm instead of spear)

Attribute: 5.1% atk increase

Weapon skill: Normal Attacks deal an additional 200%ATK as DMG. This effect can only occur once every 10s. Active skill

Closing the screen and picking up the slime condensate, I walk slowly towards the deeper end while picking a few flowers. Feeling a track on my elemental sight, as I turn it only every few minutes due to the fact it uses a lot of mana, I follow it slowly to find a group of three hilichurls lying on the floor. Two were sleeping, while the last one was playing with the stick and shield on its hand. I look around for a sign of enemies, but find none around.

I sigh and cheer myself up before slowly crawling towards the one with the shield, since it's going to be the harder one to deal with. At about six meter at its back, I thrust the spear to its neck.

*Splat* it groans as it coughs blood from its throat where I cut it and falls to the ground with a thud. 'Shit' I curse silently as I quickly turn around and activate my skill. 'Hail of spears', I chant silently as 10 meters around me are frozen before spikes appear around frozen zone. Tch, I curse again as one dodges and the other is killed by three spears to the neck, face and waist before it could get up. I run to the other and stab it in the heart, but it dodges and it stabs its shoulder. It yells loudly and mutters some incorrigible shit before swinging the stick to my head. *thud* I groan as I parry the stick, feeling its strength is higher than mine.

Taking the chance as its off balance, I stab it in the foot. *puchi* it groans as it falls to the ground, crying because of the pain. I don't give a chance as I stab its heart, killing it. Scanning the area with elemental sight, I hear more than 5 hilichurls and one axe mitachurl coming in about 15 seconds. I quickly pick the remaining flowers around before running in the opposite direction they are coming from.

After running for about 10 minutes and confirming none of them followed me, I fall to the ground tired and rest for about 30 minutes, before looking at the status board;

Enemy type: Hilichurls

Grade: Normal (grades are normal, elite and boss)

Rank: D-rank

Looking at the detailed information, it states that depending on the sub-type of enemy (shielder, archer, etc.) they may have one or more of their parameters increased, i.e., archer has a D+ rank in agility while shield users has D+ in endurance, and Stick user has D+ in strength. I sigh and close the window before looking at my quest item. Seeing its remaining 2 flowers, I go back to fight for more experience while searching for the flowers

It took till around 4pm in the evening before I got back to the guild, looking all dirty and gross since I had to hide in bushes to ambush a few groups. I also got a new skill, but more on that later. Seeing me all dirty. Katherine asked "are you okay? Did you get the quest items?" "I think you care about the quest more than me at this point" I tease while she rolls her eyes and glare at me. I groan and her the items and the item drops from the hilichurls and slimes I killed. She raises an eyebrow and looks at me, but I whistle and look around, finding the sky a beautiful orange as the sun sets.

She sighs and says "this is 5k for the quests, 10k for the extra flowers and 8 condensate for 50 mora and 6 damaged masks and 4 broken arrowhead for 100 mora. That's a total of 11400 mora". I give her the card as I thank her. She nods and give the money as I put it in my bottomless pouch. Marking my quest as completed, I smile as she congratulates me on reach AR 20 on my adventurers' card. "Thank you" I reply as I look at my card;

Name: Barry Noctis

Adventurer Rank: 20 (D-rank)

Vision: Cryo

Weapon: Spear/Polearm

Quests: 22 D-rank completed, 0 awaiting

Balance: 120k mora, 420 primogems

I found out I could store my cash and primogems on my adventurers' card, making it easier to carry. Heard it was a nifty trick from the Northland bank. I just think of the amount I want and it pops up in the pouch.

I tell Katherine goodbye as I head to good hunter to have dinner, after cleaning up at the inn I was staying at. 'I have to find a place to stay since I'm staying here for a while. Maybe I'll ask Noelle or Miss Lisa' I think as I wait for my meal. After I got served a plate of sweet Madame and an orange juice, I start to eat ravenously as I enjoy the rich taste and love Miss Sara puts to the meal. I'm brought out of my food high as I feel someone smiling amusedly at me eating with my cheeks full.

"Fufufu~" I hear as I shudder. I look up and blush slightly as I see Miss Lisa watching me eat from the opposite side of the table. "Good evening Miss Lisa" I greet as I swallow and drink some juice before I choke on it. "What are you doing here? Aren't there other empty tables around?" I ask as I look around.

"You don't want me here?" she teases me and I laugh awkwardly as I reply "of course not, you're welcome anytime". She chuckles as Miss Sara comes in and takes her order of a fruit salad and apple cider. I also take the chance to order another plate as I'm very hungry, apparently. As Sara delivers our food and we start eating. She asks "why didn't you come to the library today?" "Did you miss my presence?" I joke.

I'm caught off-guard when she nods, covering my mouth as I cough some food out of my mouth. She laughs as she says "you are too early to start teasing me dear" she teases as I smile a little embarrassed. "Noelle was looking for you this afternoon" "really?" I reply an octave higher. She smiles as I cough, blushing a bit. "Can you please tell her I'll be coming only about three days a week?" she nods "but you'll owe me a favor" I nod and thank her.

We chat a bit about my day, explaining my adventures on the forest. She listens attentively, nodding when I escaped, telling me it was the right choice, since a lot of adventurers overestimate themselves and get killed because of poor assessment of strength. She also gives me some tips in fighting and elemental manipulation. After paying for her meal, I thank her as I escorted her to the headquarters. "I enjoyed the impromptu date we had cutie, hope we have a fun one next time" she teases me as I smile and reply "sure, let me know when mis- *cough* Lisa" I correct as she glares at me.

She smiles and kisses me on the cheek. I'm frozen solid as she chuckles and says sultrily "good night cutie". I can't help as I look at her swaying hips as she walks in, winking at me before going inside. I glare at the guards before going back to my inn room. Greeting the receptionist, I go to my room and think about the kiss. I rub the cheek and smile goofily as I imagine that ass again. 'Milfs are the best!' I yell inwardly before check my stats. 'Status' I think

1/2

Name: Barry Noctis

Race: Human

Rank: E- > D-

Parameters:

Strength: E- > D-

Endurance: F+ > E+

Agility: E > D

Mana: D > C-

Luck: -

Skills:

FFM (C) > FFM (C+): *New; increase in mana by one rank

Fast learner (B)

Magical affinity; Ice (A)

Mana concealment (A+++)

*Accelerate (D-) > (D+): 2-fold increase in speed and reaction time for 15 > 45 seconds.

Sexual prowess (B-)

*Spearman ship (E+) > (D): Basic > Intermediate understanding of spear arts. Increase in spear damage by 5 > 25 percent. Increase in attack speed by wielding a spear by 5 > 25 percent.

*Mana enhancement (E) > (D-): increases all stats except mana by one rank

*Elemental mastery (E+) > (D): increase mana by two ranks. Increase elemental mastery by 5 > 25 percent. Increases mana control by 5 > 25 percent

*Elemental Sight (D+): Shows elemental traces in a 350m radius. Increase in rank increases details shown.

*Parallel thought processing (D-): Increases the ability simultaneously process lots of sensory information at the same time by two-fold. Increases rank by continued usage.

*Presence concealment (D): Sub-skill of mana concealment. Hides ones presence, drops when preparing to attack.

2/2

Vision skills;

Element: Cryo: Non-awakened (Non-eligible)

Elemental control: D-

Elemental Mastery: D

Elemental regeneration: D-

Elemental skill: Hail of Spears (E+) > (D-): Freezes the area around you in a 10 > 15 meter radius, conjuring ice spikes from below. Increases damage and defense penetration by 5 > 15 percent.

Elemental infusion (ice): E+; brittle, lasts a minute, breaks against anything stronger than a slime.

Elemental Burst: None (Not awakened yet)

Smiling at the increase in strength, mostly agility as I feel more 'liberated', for a lack of a better word. I separated the normal skills from the vision skills. Seeing the new terms, I'm confused before the information is shelved to my head. I groan as I process the info, the parallel thought processing working overtime. I go through the info and I am confused by the different details I see. I just go to sleep since I'm tired and I'll go through it tomorrow.

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I changed a few things, since it won't make sense otherwise. This is an AU universe. I'll be keeping things the same as canon until traveler comes over. Although some events will be changed. I also made changes in the artifact, vision and weapon upgrade system. In summary;

Concerning the weapons, the ascension details is the same as the game, seeing as domains are available (will be explained in the next chapter), but refinement will be done by refinement orbs, which are expensive and hard to get. The same for 3 to 5-star weapons. The only way to get it is buy opening chests (exquisite and above) or by luck in domains (1 percent chance). Using the weapon skill requires a mental toggle, unless it's a passive skill. It can be used freely after the cooldown so there's no issue.

Artifacts are available, but there are no sub-stats, only the main stats like atk increase, elemental mastery, etc. 3-stars will increase by one sub-stat, 4-stars by two sub-stats, and 5-star by three sub-stats. For example;

Flower of Life: Endurance increase

Plume of death: Attack increase

Sands of Eon: Increase in mana regeneration

Goblet of Eonothem: Bonus elemental/physical damage

Circlet of Logos: Luck increase, regeneration increase (health)

It can be turned on or off with a mental command. It's also bonded so that only the user can use it, unless it's given away by free will. Also set skill are available, but the percentage type will be modified, i.e., atk is increased by 18% will be changed to atk is increased by 1 sub stat, or pyro damage is increased by 15% is changed to pyro elemental mastery or elemental infusion is increased by one grade.

Vision constellation will be opened from C1-C3 by primogems, while from C4-C6 will be exponentially more difficult to open. From a random elite enemy to open C4, to a boss monster to open C5 constellation. C6 can only be opened by acknowledgement from the archon in charge of the element, making it that no one as unlocked it for a long time. So most of the characters will have C4, with a few C5 visions. The effects are random from increase in elemental mastery to increase in luck or extra effect in elemental skill or burst. The only constant is the increase in one grade in elemental skill in C3, and one grade in elemental burst in C5.

That's all for now I guess. Let me know if you prefer long chapters like this for 3 chapters a week, or short ones for 5 chapters a week. Peace.