Chapter 62 – Lucky Draw
We ended up spending a good five more days in the elven city of Aurora seeing all the sights there are to see. There actually wasn't that much to do despite these elves loving to live in comfort, at least compared to the dwarven kingdom. This place isn't really suited for tourism it seems.
We did eat a lot though, unfortunately nearly everything is salad related so food sucked. Elves aren't actually vegetarians, you can find meat sellers around the place but most prefer rabbit food, that's what vegetables basically are anyway. You'd think fish would be quite common since this city is literally next to that huge river but once again, it's not all that common.
Always need to make sure I've got meat stored away in storage in case of a bad situation like that undead dungeon, we can't risk the chance of starving somewhere if another dungeon like that comes up hence the reason for the lacklustre food.
Despite my complaints at the lack of actual food, it still wasn't that bad, mostly because of the gorgeous buildings and libraries in this place, made sure to purchase a load of books since elves like to value history on certain things even if some of its fake.
Oh, also found out the elves' perspective on the whole dwarfs' vs elves thing that went down, it's a little more complicated than first thought.
They actually believe the dwarfs purposely set the volcano to erupt themselves just to spite the elves and get revenge for previous wars they had against each other. I very much doubt that's the case seeing that father and mother both said the reason was down to a God but if true, there's always two sides to a story. I'm going with the dwarfs here though; it seems a little mad to set off a volcano in your own back yard but they are a little mad so it's not completely impossible. They'd probably make gunpowder bombs and set it off that way.
Also the dislike of humans isn't as strong as you'd think, it's more a dislike for the empire than anything else. Petra probably helped with that since her history did bring her to this place more than once. A lot of the older elves know about her and greet her as hero in the streets, it's the younger ones who seem to have the racist tendencies, young in elven standards is still quite old though.
Elven age is a little complicated since there are different species of elves that I'm unable to tell the difference between. I'm pretty sure dark and high elves live the longest but for the actual age, maybe up to a thousand years? It's not written about since elves don't actually track their own lifespan very well but the oldest I'm aware of is a very old looking elf who is close to a thousand, Petra pointed someone out to me when we walked past her. She looked at deaths door and had darker skin so that's what I'm basing it off.
Then again, some of the other species of elf only live a little while longer than humans so it's extremely varied. Let's just go a hundred years to a thousand and call it a day. That's elven lifespan for ya.
Other than stop the two rulers in this city waging war, Petra seems to have done a lot throughout the years helping a lot of folks in quite a few tribes. This is to be expected though, can't go into everything she remembers since there's a lot she's done but her memory is holding six-hundred years' worth of memories after all.
Seeing that I'm thinking about her, that was a very intimate moment with Petra at the bath house, I pushed myself a little too far with that. Like I said last time, it was only cleaning but that was way too... stimulating? I think that's the correct word for it, still not ready for that much. One day, I should be hopefully...
We've left the city now anyways, back into the skies as an immortal fire bird watching all the little mortals from the heavens. There's only trees below me right now and I'm stuck with three people on my back but my description of myself still kinda works. I will be immortal if my levelling keeps up at this rate and I gain some more abilities.
Let's get the status thing rolling along then, left it purposely till now so I'd have something to do while flying back. There's only so much enjoyment you can get from flying in a straight line for hours to days after all.
'Status'
[Name: Ikarus | Species: Phoenix | Level: 97]
[Health 29,540*/30,000*]
[Stamina 9,718*/10,000*]
[Magicka 20,000*/20,000*]
[You currently have 18500 unassigned points]
It's been difficult to do not invest anything since last seeing my status but the main reason is because I don't know what to do with it. If I invest this all, all those assigned points will double down to the enchanted clothing I have on but... I could gamble three times for new abilities as well. Urgh, I can't decide, maybe someone else can help.
"Petra... I'm stuck. I don't know whether to invest my points into stats or gamble them for something potentially amazing"
"You should never gamble Ikarus-sama, alcohol and gambling are not good for you"
So priestess and her God are both against gambling as well? I bet he's a reformed alcoholic and has a betting addiction, some of his policies are really weird seeing how laid back he is on other things.
Apparently priestess doesn't even need to pray or worship him as well, she only does it since she wants to. I've asked a fair amount about it during our travels now so I've got a rough idea on what goes on inside her head but even then, she's still not that open.
The knight just doesn't have much of a personality so there's nothing to say on him, he honestly reminds me of a bland anime protagonist who builds a harem around him just by being really dense. Nah, I'm just being mean, he isn't that bad since he can have a backbone sometimes but most of the time he just flows with it.
I'm not even responding to Charlotte though, sometimes the best response to someone being annoying is to just pretend they don't exist. It's rude but that was not the answer she knows I was looking for.
(Petra) "Need a little more to go off than just that Ikarus"
"Basically... there's twenty abilities I can win from investing stat points but Aesa says some of them can be basically God tier in strength but of course, it's a gamble. The alternative is just increasing my normal stats"
She already knows the ins and outs of my system, no point telling her about on how the stats per level thing works. Worrying about potential curse death is really no longer a concern, I've got way too much health for all that being an issue. Even if the loss is doubled because of my enchanted gear currently being on, I've still got way too much time left to worry needlessly like normal.
"It's... difficult to give an answer, how many times could you use it instead of improving your points?"
"Just the three"
"Then maybe give it a go once? It shouldn't prove that much of a risk and besides, you've always got me to protect the cute and adorable Ikarus if you do buy it a few times"
Damn it, every time she calls me cute it always catches me off guard, it wouldn't be as bad if it was something like beautiful or handsome but cute always gets me right in the chest. Fuck it, you only live once and I'll blame her if I get something shitty. It's only wasting ten levels if it ends up a shit one.
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---Just want to point out, I'm literally randomizing this from my list. The fate of Ikarus's draw literally relies on pure luck, not story telling!
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'Aesa, let's give the gambling ability a single buy then'
[<Does -user- wish to confirm the action of spending 5000 points into -sacrificial lamb-?>]
'Yes'
I'm kinda expecting a cool animation or music to start playing when the lucky draw commences. Unfortunately, my system has no such capabilities and will just give it to me straight.
[<Confirmed, -user- has unlocked -ERROR- ability>]
'Damn it, that shitty error message hasn't come up in so long'
[<Apologies, Aesa needs to update R.P system to accommodate for -sacrificial lamb->]
An update? I guess the gambling abilities need a compatibility patch or something like that. Aesa takes not even half a minute, then swiftly returns.
[<-Sacrificial lamb- patch has been installed. -User- has unlocked ability -star blaze->]
'Star blaze?'
[<Every 24 hours, -user- can turn themselves into a miniscule sun>]
'Hold up, the hell does that mean?'
[<That's the description Aesa has been provided with -user->]
So I've unlocked an ability with next to no explanation, Aesa doesn't sound too excited over such an unlock so I doubt it's the extremely rare high tier stuff. It's literally called star blaze though, it's got to be good, right? It fucking cost five thousand points, I'm demanding a refund if it ain't.
"Guys, we're landing for a bit..."
__________
I've found a secluded spot in the pine tree forest away from any tribe or prying eyes, I've got a reason for wanting to do this in an extremely remote area but I'll get onto that in a second.
"Erm... you might want back a little Petra"
"We're both resistant to fire Ikarus, remember?"
I guess Petra has a point, the other two I already told to stand way back just in case. Aesa did say a minuscule star, that could still be the size of a planet considering how big suns can be. Crap, is this how I'm going to destroy the world by activating an ability that causes everything to die? Urgh, my curiosity cannot be defeated, I'm still trying it out regardless.
"Yeah but it still has star in the name... at least turn around so it doesn't blin-"
"Heh, what was that?"
Okay, that was pretty dumb for me to say, was thinking how you can go blind looking at the sun but obviously with Petra, that's not a thing. Let's just get this done with, this better not destroy the planet...
'Aesa, activate star blaze'
[<Confirmed, -star blaze- has now been activated>]
Then ever so slowly, I feel a small fireball created from nothing inside my chest start to grow. The feeling is different to normal magic but it still is a little similar. Then it starts growing by the second, and growing and grows some more.
By now, it must look like I've got a big ball of fire covering my entire bird body and it's still getting bigger.
"Petra, what do I look like?"
"Ikarus, you might want to calm it slightly"
Petra has a slight look of concern now; I'm struggling to see if it's still getting bigger or not but I'm thinking that might be the reason.
"Wait, is it still growing?"
"Yeah, it is, close to the size of a tiny building now"
Petra steps even further back while responding, I don't have any fucking control over this big fireball that is surrounding me. And it's still getting bigger, I think. Stop growing you stupid bastard!
'Aesa, why is not stopping?'
[<-User- can relax, it should stop soon... probably>]
'What do you mean probably!? Shit!'
Thankfully enough, the sun looking fireball that I'm centre of has finally stopped expanding, it's roughly the size of a small building. I may have been over worried ever so slightly but for all I knew, it wasn't going to stop and would've continued till the entire planet had been consumed.
I can barely see inside here but what I can definitely see is everything that it touches seems to be burnt to flame, the ground has turned black where this ball has touched and the trees inside are rapidly burning up as well, most are already dead. The only thing alive in here with me is Petra, the mad blind woman has literally just walked in without a care in the world.
"Heh, it's pretty warm inside here"
"Petra, I love you and all but you're mad as a hatter at times"
"..."
Why does she look like that? Did I say something stup- shit! I didn't mean to say that!
"Like, fucking bird tongue, I meant to say like! Fuckkk!"
I even facepalm hiding my beak under one of my wings from that wrong use of that word, that was such a dumb thing to say, stressing out about destroying the planet caused me to say something dumb. Thankfully, Petra isn't the type of person to call me out on something like that.
"Heh, it's fine Ikarus, like you too"
Good, thank the Gods she's not pressing me on this. That was NOT an actual confession of love, that was just plain ol'Ikarus stupidity. We're still a long ways away from that like with everything else.
...
Ah, the dreaded uncomfortable silence now, I'm going to talk to Aesa out loud to drown it out.
"Aesa, how long is this supposed to last? You must have more information on it by now?"
This ability is cool and all but it doesn't seem all that practical other than for close defence and someone could easily counter it with fire resistance, it's pretty much pointless like with Petra here. I guess I could run around like a headless chicken and charge into them with this for people who aren't resistant, that could work. I guess it's somewhat alright, where's the insane beginners' luck you're supposed to have when you gamble though? There's no way this one is top tier.
[<-Star blaze- should only last 5 minutes and has a 24-hour cooldown, should be finished shortly>]
Ah, can't forget the dreaded twenty-four-hour cooldown, everything cool is going to have this I guess. At least it means I'll have to constantly vary my fighting style, that's my third cooldown ability now. First was invisibility which I still haven't used for a proper scenario, then the giant and now this. It's varied, I'll give it that.
And wouldn't you know it, star blaze is now shrinking. Give it a second and it'll be completely absorbed back inside of me, what a weird ability that was unlocked. I hope I unlock a nuke next, that was a little disappointing.
"That's a really good ability Ikarus, your luck was good there"
"Huh? All it would take is with someone with fire resistance like yourself and it's pointless"
"Heh, how many enemies do you think have perfect fire resistance Ikarus? That ability is very strong, don't underestimate it"
I should give it some serious consideration if Petra says it's good, I guess it probably could kill most things that enter its range.
(Charlotte) "Are you two okay?"
(Nathan) "We saw that fireball from over there"
Oh, so it didn't blind those two then? If they saw it, then you'd think they'd been blinded when taking a peek earlier, guess it barely holds any blinding power compared to an actual sun then.
I did tell them not to look just in case it did do something like that but if they want to take the risk, then I'll just let them get on with it.
Let's go and hit the skies again.
__________
A short while later...
Okay, I now have a problem, I want to buy another... really badly. I've already had a slight alcohol addiction, now a gambling it seems, really shouldn't joke about this but I'm bored flying nonstop, alright? If I could fly and drink, I would but there's no way I'd be able to hold the damn bottle. I wonder if I could get Petra to pour some in my mouth but that might be asking a little too much.
There's only so much conversation you can realistically have with people you spend every waking minute with, it's not like there's an endless amount of conversation I can have with Petra as well. I'd love a portable radio just to listen to music or something like that, these trips are getting annoying after all.
Everyone is obviously back on my back and we're still on our trip back over to the capital, I really can't help myself though.
"Petraaah... should I do it again?"
"Heh... really Ikarus?"
"We just got back on you Ikarus-sama"
(Nathan) "You'll definitely want to land and give it a test run before heading back"
I can see why there's complaints, this goes against all my previous stuff about not liking to stop constantly, I'm being pretty hypocritical right now but alas, gambling comes first. I really ain't a good role model for kids.
"I seriously won't stop till we need to sleep, I'm not a child with zero willpower you know"
"..."
"Okay Ikarus-sama"
(Nathan) "As long as we don't have to stop straight away"
I mean, it's not like I was asking for your approval anyways. I'm the one flying here, I'll stop when I want too but whatever then, let's start the lucky draw again!
'Aesa, let's spend some more points!'
[<Does -user- wish to confirm the action of spending 5000 points into -sacrificial lamb-?>]
'Another confirmation message? Yeah, let's do it'
[<Confirmed, -user- has unlocked ability -human descent->]
'I've unlocked something called human descent? I swear that sounds similar to my curse'
[<-User's- curse is -dragon descendant-, not descent. Ability -human descent- allows -user- to switch to a human for->]
'That's fucking shit! Why would I want an ability for something I can already do?'
I must be visibly fuming right now after cutting Aesa off, what's the point when I've literally got a choker that does the same exact thing? It's very clear she was about to say human form, what a pointless ability.
I can still fly perfectly while annoyed so the others have no clue what's going on, they probably will end up hearing me complain in a second.
[<If -user- had allowed Aesa to finish, Aesa would've explained entire ability. -Human descent- allows -user- to switch to a human form without use of enchanted equipment. However, this form is slightly different and comes with built in retractable phoenix wings>]
'So what's the other differences then? Having human wings seems a little pointless knowing that I can change form no issue now, can't understand any useful situation where wings on a human body would be more beneficial'
Other than flying through a small gap, I really can't think when it would help. Maybe for something like trying to remain confidential but wings on a human would look suspicious as hell. I guess it gets cool points but it still isn't practical.
[<...>]
'You're seriously not giving me a response?'
[<Unfortunately -user- has unlocked potentially the worst ability from the list of 20. Only noticeable difference from normal human form is that -user- will have feathers and wings on human body>]
'Fuckkk... of course, my terrible luck was always going to return at some point. Gain thirty levels, throw ten of them in the trash, at least the other one is useable'
At least that confirms it then, no more gambling for quite some time now, I'll probably get bored and invest in some more stats on the journey back, might leave it as it is right now as well. I really can't tempt myself though, despite how shit that last one was, I still know it's a bad idea to keep over five thousand just in case I ever get another gambling craving.
Let's just focus on getting back as quick as possible now... Wait, does this mean I can now fly and drink at the same time? No, it's still bloody pointless since I'm basically always playing the role of a people carrier, sighhh...
__________
---I have finally completed the list of 20 abilities from the gambling draw and wouldn't you know it, Ikarus actually did get one of the worst possible draws! I don't even have to force her to get unlucky since pure luck is playing its part, you can blame random number generator for such a predictable twist!