Chapter 62: Is it Over?

The loud crunch of shattering glass was heard, the small pieces from the container of the amber liquid shimmering to the ground like falling stars.

"What do you mean he's dead!?" growled Joker, pulling in the man by his collar, his eyes pointed knives, "It was just some level 10 punk who isn't even on the ladder!" he shouted, spittle covering the restrained man.

"I-it. H-h-he was on the ladder!" the man said, trying his best to cower and lean away from Joker.

Joker's brow rose, "Who is it?" he asked not letting the man go.

"His name was Shot! He might have been level 10 but he killed people in one blow! It was like fighting Bear!" the man shouted, nearly hysterical.

The next moment the man was on the ground, slumped in a pooling puddle of red, a low gurgling and popping of bubbles barely sounding.

Joker pulled his knife up to look at the blade, then wiped it on the man's back to clean it.

"Anyone else want to lie to me?" he asked, looking around the room at the remaining 5 people.

Everyone shivered at the gaze but shook their heads.

"Good. You," he said pointing the knife at one, "What really happened, you all jump Kohoo and run away?"

The woman he pointed to hesitated, her voice shaky and her body language sheepish as she folded her hands together, "I-it's true. I don't know how but I watched him kill Julia in a single spell! B-but he was also able to send Dominic flying with a single blow to his chest!" she shouted, looking down at Dominic still in a pool of his own blood.

"Huh.. Guess I shouldn't have killed him then… Bastard was telling the truth.." Joker shrugged and gave a smile, "Oh well. Someone please tell me you at least picked up their loot?"

Four heads nodded in affirmation.

"Good!" Joker shouted, "Now, tell me more about the highest participant on the TP Ladder."

[Rank 1: Shot 1,315,675 TP]

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A slow swaying motion slowly roused Drake awake.

"My liege.. Sire! Please awaken, my liege!" the slightly higher than normal voice pleaded.

"Just five more minutes…" Drake grumbled, then winced as he turned over onto his stump of an arm, taking in a quick breath, "Ah! Susmaryosep… That stings! You know I lost an arm Theo…" he said, cracking an eye to see the dirty blond haired man's face very uncomfortably close to his own.

"Sire! For it not a dire situation that needed your hastily attention, this one would surely entertain your jesting. But I implore you please, we must move to liberate the captives of the Goblins! There is little time!" Theodore said, gripping onto Drake's garb.

"Thanks Theo, I'm fine too. Appreciate you asking…" Drake sat up, his shoulder still stinging from cauterizing the wound. He looked at his status and it was full, but as always the lingering feeling of the pain still remained. Drake quickly scanned the mine shaft and found Natto a small distance away sitting on a small stone.

"Natto? What, no dolt? No ape comment to chew me out?" Drake joked, slowly getting up to walk over.

Natto was silently brooding as she stared at the ground.

"Come on, we're alive and we made it out. Let's take that as a win," Drake said, kneeling down to meet her eyes.

Drake lifted her bangs to get a good look at her. She wasn't hurt thankfully, but her eyes were red circles from her obviously crying. Their eyes met and she quickly turned away new pools of tears starting at the corner of her eyes.

"What's wrong Natto? It's not like you to be so upset without me doing something really stupid," Drake smiled, trying again to joke.

"You did do something stupid!" she shouted, making Drake grimace, "And I believed you said that there were no more secrets! Certainly your dealings with that bottom feeding of a rat in the form of a man could be considered a secret!" she turned back to him, her eyes now having small streams that dripped from her chin, as her lip quivered, "Do you still not trust me enough to share such things?!"

Drake rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, "Of course I trust you. It's just that whole thing isn't the type of laundry I like to air. It was my problem, and I had to deal with it back in the day, of course my family knew I was fired for a false accusation but that's pretty much as far as it went. They supported me until I got back on my feet and it went from there."

"Is it not our problem? You told me we are in this together and I am entitled to such things! Do not treat me like a child Drake!" she wailed, beginning to full on pout as she stood up.

"Alright, alright.." Drake consoled putting his hand on her head, "I promise no more hiding things like that," he smiled, lying through his teeth.

Drake knew she wanted to share the burden, but his past was his emotional trauma to bear, and he wouldn't put that onto the little construct to carry with him. He would deal with it on his own time and in his own way.

Natto looked at Drake, her face pensive as it shifted from relief, sadness, concern and reluctance.

Drake moved to pick her up with his right arm, but chuckled wearily when nothing happened.

Oh yeah, forgot that assshole cut it off… Damn that skill was crazy. Cut right through my defenses like butter. He thought, bringing his other arm down to pick her up.

Once up, Natto sniffed for a moment then used Drake's garb to rub the snot from her nose.

"Hey! What gives?! How do you shift from worrying to doing this kind of stuff all in a matter of seconds?!" he shouted, conjuring a ball of water to splash both his shoulder and Natto, deflating the small girl, her ears and tail flopping down like wilting redish flowers.

"I am a woman of many faces," Natto said, blowing her pink bangs out of her face.

"Yeah faces of gross snot filled angst maybe," Drake said then started looking around.

"Who are you looking for?" Natto asked, raising a brow as she picked her arms up to wring the water from them.

"The woman you mentioned, can't seem- OK OK I'm just kidding!!!" Drake laughed, blowing hot air on both her and his clothes, his head tilted away from the very pointy metal object that mysteriously appeared near his face.

After pacifying Natto, Drake turned again to Theodore, who was anxiously waiting at the door of the Mines, his cane in hand, his eyes pressed to the cracks peeled to see anything.

"Theodore," Drake said.

"Yes-" Theodore answered, turning into a wall of water splashing over him, soaking him to the bone in lukewarm water.

"You're covered in blood bro, time for a scrub," Drake said with a grin on his face. "I'm glad you didn't die Theo. And thank you. You know, for not snitching," continued Drake, placing his hand on Theodore's shoulder.

Theodore gazed at Drake, his mustache sticking to his face, and looking like a certain fast food's yellow 'M' framing his mouth as he slightly frowned.

"My liege please be serious! We must be forthwith in returning to the goblin's encampment! Those people… Harley… This one will do anything!" dropping to the floor, Theodore bent at the knee, his head facing the ground, "Anything I have said before, but I beg you as I do not have the strength myself. Save her!" Theodore implored.

Drake kneeled to meet Theodore, his hand again finding the man's shoulder.

"Theo. It goes without saying. You've earned your keep and I will do what I can, but you need to take care of yourself first, you're a mess," Drake said smiling.

A scoff sounded next to Drake's ear, "That is certainly rich coming from someone who rushed in head first with a 50% debuff restricting him!" Natto grumbled, crossing her arms.

Drake laughed sheepishly and stood, his hand stretched to help Theodore up, "Nevermind that. Let's get us cleaned up, yeah? Then we can go, it will only take a few minutes, and the more we dally the longer it takes. Know how to speed shower I hope?"

Theodore's eyes found renewed life as he took the hand, hope welling up in his chest, "Yes my lord! This one's middle name is Speed!"

Drake raised his brow for a moment but dismissed it, pouring more water onto Theodore ignoring his grunting as the man quickly scrubbed away the blood on his body.

Drake quickly switched to some warm air as he let his mind wonder for a moment. His thoughts turning to his arm, pondering whether or not it would be permanent or if there was a healer that could regrow limbs or maybe a rank up would fix it like he had read in so many other light novels and stories.

Finishing up in the Mines, Theodore piped up with a question.

"My liege, do you feel capable enough to fight?" finally asking while looking at Drake's severed arm, regret clear on his face, "Will the loss of your appendage not hinder you?"

Drake gave a look of forlorn as he glanced at his stump, but only for a moment before he changed to a grin again.

"I've got a few things in the bag and that level up beefed me up quite a bit. I'm dumping the points straight into Intelligence. Going to be needing as much mana as possible for this little trick," Drake's smile grew larger as he summoned a spike of earth in front of him.

Quickly molding the long spike into the form of an arm, he placed it on his shoulder, slightly overlapping onto his clavicle.

Looking at his status then stats, Drake nodded. His mana had stayed at 100% with the regeneration he currently had, canceling out his basic earth magic manipulation consumption as long as the arm remained stationary.

Eyeing his mana, he began flexing his manipulation to move the arm and fingers. Each movement making a small dip in his mana, then quickly filling back up. The more dexterous uses of the hand and fingers required more mana, but it wasn't a problem.

Drake looked at his new stats glad to see the Rare class combination was treating him well even before the added stats.

[Drake Wallen]

[Race: Human] [F Rank]

[Profession: Miner P2(7%) [F Rank], Empty]

Tutorial Alias [Shot]

[Elemental Miller] [Unique] Level 11

[Vitality] 224 (15%)

[Strength] 274 (20 +10%)

[Dexterity] 200 (30 + 20%) +(40)

[Intelligence] 440 (+15%)

[Wisdom] 229 (15%)

[Endurance] 130 (15 + 15%)

[Free Points] 6

Drake smiled. The class descriptions had not mentioned it but he was gaining a full 10 points in his main stats, Vitality and Intelligence, and 8 to his sub stats, Strength and Wisdom. He placed 62 points into Intelligence, pumping him up to over 400.

The increase made him giddy inside feeling his mana pool well up. He made a point to again place visiting Shigure's high on his list of things to do after the rescue and leveling up a bit more. He would need to learn to make more powerful Jewelry now that he had less fingers to go around, and only so many spots on his ear to use.

At least for now that he had lost an arm. He slightly lamented that he only had 40 extra points in Dexterity now that he lost it but it wasn't a large loss. Drake's bigger priority was to either find, or make Intelligence jewelry and something that would hide his identity.

The people that had come with Stewart as well as himself had some sort of item that obscured the identification skills and he would need that sooner rather than later, with his increase in TP and would only grow as he went.

Drake looked to Natto first, who nodded and merged within him. Then he turned to Theodore.

"Alright Theo, wait here for a moment. I'm going out, and then I'll come back when I've cleared the outpost alright?"

Theodore hesitated for a moment, obviously wanting to object but nodded and tightened his grip around his cane.

Drake gave him a quick nudge with his new stone atm, "Don't worry Theo, we'll figure out how to get you stronger in no time. But first things first, let's rescue your girl. Speaking of which. Natto, I've been meaning to ask, there's a party system right? There has to be."

"There is. The basic party system splits the experience gained on an even basis, then is adjusted based on contribution. For more advanced features you would need a full support class to assist you," Natto explained.

Drake talked to himself, Theodore unaware of their conversation, "Oh there are full support classes? Are they only branches of priest classes? And I'm guessing just mentally asking for a party will make the system do its thing right?"

"That is correct. Support classes can come from any of the base classes, each one becoming specific to its base in what and how it supports. Warrior classes needing to be in closer range to give benefits, even some needing killing blows to enemies to ramp up buffs. Rangers similarly can give support from range in various ways. But Priests on average are more geared towards helping others."

Drake nodded, then asked a question they both were thinking.

"So does that mean there might be a Priest that could be geared towards healing enough to mend my arm?"

"Yes it is possible. It would be somewhat unexpected to find one within the tutorial at such a low relative level though. Without a proper supporting number of people they would be essentially useless outside of anything else," Natto replied.

"That's all I needed to hear. Guess Shigure's is higher on the list again. But now it's time to get to saving some people," Drake said.

Chanting his defensive skills Drake opened the door to the mines, the morning sun striking him in the eyes briefly painting the entire outpost in bright white.

Adjusting quickly he looked around, scanning the outpost with his blue glowing eyes while also expanding his aura to the fullest.

Feeling nothing odd within its 3 meter sphere and seeing no abnormal fluctuations in mana. Drake waited a moment, bracing for a sneak attack. But it never came.

Drake shrugged, and ran the span of the outpost making sure to check every nook and cranny of the area.

Satisfied no one was remaining, even the corpses of the people he had killed, giving him some mixed thoughts, it was clear.

"Drake. They certainly deserved what they reaped. You need not feel remorse for punishing such people," Natto said, trying to console him.

"It isn't that Natto. I know it was justified, and if it happened again I would do the same thing every time. What is bothering me is how I feel about it. When I first killed my first monster, I nearly broke not being able to cope, throwing up and reeling for some time. But this? I feel nothing but justification for what I did. I know inside my head it is wrong to take life but I feel nothing, no remorse, no sorrow. I almost feel… good about it. Like they even deserved it for even considering they could hurt me or my family…" Drake trailed off, gripping the hem of his garb with his real hand, "These skills, they've changed me more than I care to admit or maybe even want. But I don't think I can survive if I don't change. Is that wrong?"

A beat of silence passed before Natto answered.

"Drake. I have told you and you know as well as I. This is not your old world. And I will do anything to keep you alive. If you must kill someone in cold blood to do so, I will not admonish you or even bat an eye. I certainly sympathize but you will not find me trying to take some moral high ground trying to find justification. You take life to protect your own. It is now that simple."

Drake sighed, then took a calming breath.

Turning to the Mines, he was silent. It was going to be a very harsh wake up call. Drake was now certain that the world was going to be very, very different.