Chapter Thirty-Five: That's new...?

Drake emerged into the sunlight blinding him, as he used one hand to shield his eyes, and the other to carry the now resting Natto who was curled up in his arm.

Before he was chased out of the mine by her, she had tripped and fallen. Beginning to wail and cry, refusing to get up and demanding to be carried out.

Drake had still felt somewhat guilty for almost crushing her in his hands a few times already and reluctantly threw his fireball out of the mine with a small explosion, to come back and cradle the now sleeping Natto as he carried her outside.

He looked down at the small construct with red tufts for ears and a twitching red squirrel tail mumble incoherent words softly as she rested.

Your constant mood changes are a little too dramatic there kid. You're lucky I feel bad, so I'll let you get away with it for a little longer. Drake thought.

Drake walked out into the outpost's now mostly open area, breathing in the sunlight that was beating down on him after spending a few hours in near total darkness of the mines. He had been a classic basement dweller before but after everything here, there was nothing like knowing you were still alive with the feeling of sun on your skin.

He stretched his unoccupied arm up and heaved a grunt in relief as he walked his way over to the only standing tent in the outpost. Drake entered and gently put down the still mumbling Natto onto the bed.

Drake was also exhausted from the numerous things that happened today but he felt a bit awkward sharing a bed with the small construct or even the same tent at the moment. He was comfortable talking to the little girl but they had only known each other for a few hours and he felt it may be a bit weird if he took the liberty of sharing a room.

After Drake made sure she was settled, he moved outside of the tent and out into the sun. He brought out one of the beds and placed it down in the open. Drake wanted to just bathe in the sun for an afternoon nap.

He first checked the gate by jumping up to the guard towers with ease, making sure that the only thing in sight were the dead bodies of the kobolds and the aftermath of his fight with the massive Foreman.

"I really need to go clean that up soon. I need the Cores now also… Ahh whatever that's a tomorrow Drake's problem," he said as he jumped down and bee-lined for the bed not bothering to check any of his notifications or new skills.

It wasn't what he wanted right now. No, what Drake needed was some good old mindless lazing about to clear his head.

He flopped onto the soft linen bed and placed his arms behind his head. He closed his eyes and concentrated on the warmth of the sun rays as they kissed his skin.

Drake took a moment to truly clear his head and enjoy the peacefulness of the now quiet Outpost. Almost as if everything had disappeared and gone back to normal. In this second there were no monsters, no need to fight, no levels. There was no tutorial. It was just him, the bed, the warmth of the sun, and the heavy feeling on his chest.

Drake opened one eye as he questioned his last thought. Expecting to find Natto fooling around after waking up on his chest. But he surprisingly found nothing.

He opened his other eye as he looked at where he felt the pressure on his chest quizzically. There were two small indentations on his garb where he could feel the weight of something.

First the glint of a knife shone into existence as the effect of a mirage slowly waved over in front of him, revealing a small green humanoid in makeshift leather with a red cap. It's feet matching up perfectly with the two indents on Drake's chest.

"Well. That's new," Drake said.

The next moment both the small green person and Drake both screamed in unison. Drake's tattoos flared to life around his arms as the small green monster tried to bring down the knife with both hands into Drake's chest.

Drake barely caught the blade in both his hands before it entered his chest. The small green monster while quick and surprisingly stronger than it looked couldn't out power Drake. He pulled the knife from the monster's hand as he sat up, his other hand quickly moving to grab it by the throat.

Drake stood off the bed with the monster struggling in his grip as he read the new notification.

[New Subjugation Quest! Subjugate 20 Red Cap Goblin Assassins [F Rank]

[Reward: Experience. 1 Random [F Grade] Piece of Equipment]

"What the… Please tell me there isn't going to be an army of you guys. And shouldn't you be using a sickle?" Drake questioned the still struggling Goblin.

"Manifest my power, Manabolt." Drake chanted out of habit. "Damn that's right I don't have that spell anymore do I, well that's awkward," he chuckled softly, no magic circle forming.

Drake was about to cast one of his new fire spells but remembered that Natto was sleeping, and surely his fireball spell would wake her with its loud explosion. He looked through the other spells and found that the Wind School would be the most appropriate for the situation.

[School of Wind] Proficiency 2(0%)

The active ability set to control the magic school of wind. Your proficiency over wind is still early at this juncture, giving you only the basics of spells.

Spell: Wind Cutter - "Wind that shall not be shackled, have freedom. Wind Cutter."

Basic single target spell. Deals wind damage in a 1 to 0.5 of Intelligence.

Small Mana Cost.

Spell: Tornado - "Torrential gust, the unforgiving winds, blow forth. Tornado."

Basic Area of Effect spell. Deals wind damage in a 1 to 0.25 of Intelligence.

Moderate Mana Cost.

"This should be interesting, I haven't had a chance to use this one yet. Hate to do this to Yoda's 12th cousin twice removed and all that, but you did try to kill me. And I'm all about equality when it comes to monsters trying to kill me," Drake smiled derisively. "Wind that shall not be shackled, have freedom. Wind Cutter!"

Drake brought his hand in front of the goblin's face as he chanted the spell, a light green magic circle forming at the end of his hand. The next moment a small slicing maelstrom of wind formed and shot forward, passing through the goblin's head seemingly harmless. It then continued on and wisped across the outpost at a speed Drake could barely track if it wasn't for the dust and dirt it had kicked up along the way. Eventually it dispersed as it struck the side of the mountain.

Drake looked at the goblin, yet nothing had happened.

"Well…. That was anticlimactic.." Drake said, confused. "Looked cool but- Oh god what the fu-" Drake shouted as he watched the goblin suddenly stop moving, and go limp. It's head slowly sliding off its body in several pieces. Soon Drake was only holding a headless corpse.

"Oh man that's god damned gnarly," Drake said, dropping the body to the ground. "That one was unexpected. I wonder what happened where it hit the mountain," he continued as he shook the green blood from the goblin from his hand.

[You have defeated Red Cap Goblin Assassin [F Rank] Level 17] [10,000 Experience and 2,000 TP has been awarded]

When Drake had walked over to the impact of his spell he couldn't see anything from a first look. He bent down and looked more over the rough surface of the stone until he found a smooth slit going into the mountain. He would have missed it if he wasn't looking.

"Wow, that is way more powerful than I thought from reading the Elementalist description. Didn't they say it was looked down on? Is it because of my stats?" Drake thought aloud, as he walked back to his now green colored bed.

"Man…. I swear I'm getting blood on more and more things. I really hope I get some clothes with self cleaning or something soon. Shit. That reminds me I need to run and get water." he said looking around, trying to find a water source he knew wasn't there. The only source of water he knew of was the river he had met Bear at.

Drake paused his thoughts as he remembered his conversation with Natto looking at the now forming skill stone near the cut up corpse of the goblin.

"Ew… Do I really have to open this little dude up to get that core? Should I just make her do it herself…?" Drake wondered, bending down to pick up the stone.

[Skill Stone: Illusion] [Uncommon]

[Unlocks a random Skill from the Illusion tree.]

[Requirement: Open Skill Slot]

Oh… so it's an all use skill stone, I wonder if I should use it? Drake thought flipping the stone in the air like a coin, before putting it into his inventory.

"Well I'll be sure to ask Natto when she wakes up. But now, first things first," Drake grumbled as he reluctantly picked up the headless corpse and put mana into his Tattoos.

"Sorry buddy. I was never one for desecrating the fallen, but it's a cruel world we live in," Drake said unenthusiastically.

Drake plowed his hand into the chest of the goblin and felt around, his face changing into weird expressions as he did. His hand moved around inside the goblin trying to find anything that might have a semblance of a core. He finally touched something that was hard and felt much like the skill stones near where the heart of the beast should have been and ripped it out of the monster.

Blood splattered on Drake as he cursed slightly, but unclenched his hand to see the item now in his hand. The core was a small red stone that shone like a dirty setting sun in the green blood.

[Monster Core [F Grade]

The condensed mana core of a monster.

Can be used as an ingredient for many purposes, and also as a material for many professions.

This item may also be used as a consumable to increase one's level but be warned, the continued use of this item will stunt one's growth in the process.

"That's something she didn't mention. I guess it makes sense since I wouldn't want to halt my progress for a short term gain anyway," Drake mused.

As Drake was looking over the core he heard the flapping of the tent's covering open up as a small shrine priestess wearing construct walked out, rubbing their eyes with their sleeve.

"Whaa.. Ahh… What is going on out here… Oh my word, why are you covered in green!? Did you have a run in with the lord of the swamp?!" She shouted, trotting over in small hurried steps.

Drake smiled, holding out the monster core still covered in green goo.

"Oh, hey there. Have a good nap there princess? Here, one monster core, el dente," Drake joked.

"Disgusting. Wipe it off or clean it you brute, I am not going to eat it while it still has blood on it!" she screamed incredulously.

"What do you want me to cook it like a potato or something? Or do you want it more like a medium-rare steak? Because anything but medium-rare on a steak kinda makes you a psycho, just saying," Drake said, waving the core in front of her.

"No you dolt! Just wash it off! Use your water magic," Natto said.

"But I can't control my new spells like that. It would just shoot out like my other spells and destroy it wouldn't it?" Drake asked.

A look of understanding dawned on Natto's face as she face palmed. "I forgot we have not gotten you any utility skills yet have we," she said.

"Nope," said Drake as he enunciated the word with a pop of his lips.

"You. Give it here," she said, holding her hand out. "Now, you. Go over there and dump out your skill stones," she finished, pointing Drake away from the mess of the goblin.

"What am I a dog..?" Drake whispered under his breath as he just complied, dumping the remaining of his skill stones on the ground. "Now what?" he shouted over.

"Take it slow. Start with the mage stones in your Elementalist tree first until you gain some utility skills. Be sure to tell me each skill so I can direct you when to switch," she shouted back.

Drake shrugged as he picked up one of the many mage skill stones he had collected over the past days.

Simple enough. Mages need mage stones for mage skills. Why didn't I think of that… Drake thought sarcastically.

Nevertheless he gripped the stone and began consuming it.

[You wish to consume, Skill Stone: Mage [Uncommon]

[Confirm?]

Drake assented and began the process of subsuming the stone, doing his best to not enjoy the oh so enjoyable feeling encompassing his entire body.

After a few seconds the feeling passed and Drake heaved a breath of relief that he was able to not go into a stupor again.

[You have learned Skill: Mage Sight [F Rank]

Drake's vision suddenly bloomed in a myriad of colors as he saw red, blues, greens, and browns in more vivid radiance all over the place. The ground hummed with the color of brownish green particles, the air held a faint greenish yellow.

Drake's head began to sting slightly as his eyes felt continually strained as the new visuals bombarded them. He raised his hands in front of his face and they too were painted in a colorful spectrum.

"What skill?!!" Natto shouted.

"It's a skill called Mage Sight," Drake shouted back, "It's really hard to see things right now, everything is so bright!"

"It must be an ocular skill, if you're lucky it will also double as a better inspection skill. I would venture that you should look at the description!" she yelled.

"Why is she even so far back, is she afraid I'll blow up again…? God damn, yelling is giving me another headache!" Drake grumbled.

Mage Sight [F Rank] Proficiency 1(0%)

This skill grants the passive ability to see the elemental affiliation of objects and beings. It also allows one to see ambient mana of the same vein. It will also allow the user to inspect any object or being that has mana with greater detail, that increases with proficiency.

No passive cost.

Active Inspection Cost: Very small amount of Mana.

No cooldown.

"Oh lucky me.. Now my eyes can hurt even more," Drake grumbled, "It's like all those days when we binged playing in the dark with full brightness screens for server launch day. My head is killing me," he complained.

Soon he heard the tapping of food steps again, as Natto trotted over to him, her tail bouncing up and down as she did.

"Do not dally. Certainly you need to use another stone, unless you want to have your eyes bleed you need some form of magic or mana manipulation. This time use it in your Soul Mastery tree, it will make it more likely to manifest a magic manipulation skill," she instructed.

"Huh?" Drake questioned. His head was beginning to split and he could barely hear or follow what she was saying. But made out enough to follow her instructions.

Grabbing another stone he quickly went through the prompts and absorbed the stone.

[You wish to consume, Skill Stone: Mage [Uncommon]

[Confirm?]

Assenting to the prompt, Drake barely felt the pleasure of subsuming the stone as his head continually beat like a drum in pain, forcing his eyes close as he winced.

[You have learned Skill: Mana Manipulation [F Rank]

[You have gained insight into [Mana Manipulation [F Rank] Proficiency 1 has increased to Proficiency 2. You now have better understanding of how to wield and manipulate mana]

Drake's head continued to pound every time he tried to open his eyes, even after consuming the stone, but he forced himself to read the prompt for a moment seeing the new skill. He had gotten the skill but what now. It wasn't passive, or automatic?

Drake kept his eyes closed, his head still drumming as he knelt to the floor trying to focus. He knew the skill had to have done something. He tried to fight through the blood pounding in his ears as his head threatened to split from overuse of the Mage Sight Skill.

Drake felt his flow of mana, it was a steady flowing waterfall inside of him. He could feel it being sucked over a cliff inside him and falling into a bottomless pit. Into the ocular skill he had obtained. At this rate eventually the river flowing into the falls would dry up well before the pit was filled. He needed to slow or even dam up the flow.

Drake envisioned in his mind the making of a dam, little by little, bit by bit he built a great dam. He remembered the Hoover Dam from shows he used to watch on the late night tv shows as he built the first section in his mind, then another and another. Eventually Drake had built up a massive wall to cease the flow of the water, allowing him to take a chance and open his eyes as the pounding in his ears subsided.

Drake slowly opened his eyes as he saw the normal ground and bits of grass in front of him. He sighed in relief. "That was intense. I don't think I've even been hit hard enough to make my head feel like that, and I've taken a lot of blows to the head," Drake said.

"Oh yes. I have certainly seen it," a small voice from a snacking construct said behind him.