Chapter 86: Is this what they call Bonding?

For the next hour, the trio sat in relative silence, the only sound between them the ruffling of clothes and the sounds of people talking in the distance from the tents behind them.

Natto had fallen asleep in Drake's lap, a pool of drool forming on his right pant leg. Looking down he gave a quick sigh, but he was used to her being a handful.

In Drake's good hand, he held two small clear crystal stones. Claire held a singular stone in between her cupped hands as well.

They both stared into the distant rising sun, just content with resting and watching the horizon.

At least until Drake became restless. He had been so busy the past week that he felt that if he was not moving forward with something he would drown in boredom. Every moment he wasn't making progress was a moment he fell further and further behind.

Taking a breath, he tried to relax himself then, for the first time in a while, Drake pulled up his skill list.

[Skills Branches]

Primary: Elementalist P2(37%) [F Rank] 0/5

Magic Sight P2(38%) [F Rank]

Heretical Mind P2(33%) [F Rank]

Multiplicative P2(82%) [F Rank]

Elemental Endowment P2 (16%) [F Rank]

Elemental Conflux P2 (5%) [F Rank]

Secondary: Shield Miller P1(86%) [F Rank] 0/5

Warrior's Stamina P2(27%) [F Rank]

Guardian's Reprieve P1(94%) [F Rank]

Aura of Command P1(0%) [F Rank]

Martial Strike P2(11%) [F Rank]

Empty

Primary Sub-tree: Internal Mastery [F Rank] 0/5

Of the Apex P2(15%) [F Rank]

Weak Point P2(13%) [F Rank]

Tempered in Flames P2(35%) [F Rank]

Tyrannical Aura P2(14%) [F Rank]

Empty

Second Primary Sub-tree: Soul Mastery [F Rank]0/5

Mana Manipulation P2(19%) [F Rank]

Atrophy of the Mind P1(17%) [F Rank]

Cower P1(21%) [F Rank]

Sound Body and Mind P2(15%) [F Rank]

Purity of Soul P1(90%) [F Rank]

Secondary Primary Sub-tree: Weapon Mastery [F Rank]0/5

Hoarder P2 (17%) [F Rank]

Fully Loaded P1(0%) [F Rank]

Weapon of Choice P2(14%) [F Rank]

Adrenaline Acuity P2(23%) [F Rank]

Empty

Second Secondary Sub-tree: Empty

Still playing around with the stones in his left hand Drake looked over his current skill's progression.

He was making headway with most of his skills considering it had only been a few days. Just proving to him that hard work had allowed him to start to close the gap between him and the upper ranks of the participant ladder.

Thought he was miffed by the stains that were some of his skills. His 'Fully Loaded' skill and 'Aura of Command' skill both sat at a still abysmal 0% but they would hopefully quickly change now that he had a party to allow him to use the Command skill.

Drake also had a few quests he had completed with more on the way. Also a large amount of equipment he was still waiting to cycle through after all the commotion.

He had unsurprisingly leveled up once again after finding the rest of the captives he could get to in the forest, but Drake wouldn't be surprised if the Goblins still had some placed elsewhere sadly.

Only able to grit his teeth thinking of what might be happening to them as a reflex to the thought. Once again reminding him of his ability to empathize was slowly waning.

Looking over his Stats they had truly ballooned once again, with some free stats to spare, thanks to some of his passive skills helping with the growth of his Intelligence.

[Drake Wallen]

[Race: Human] [F Rank]

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

Tutorial Alias [Shot]

[Elemental Miller] [Unique] Level 16

[Vitality] 274 (15%)

[Strength] 314 (20 +10%)

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

[Intelligence] 582 (15+15%)

[Wisdom] 270 (15%)

[Endurance] 200 (20 + 15%)

[Free Points] 50

Looks like I have a few points for a rainy day for now. I was able to bring up my endurance thankfully but it did cost almost my entire stat pool… Now I'm looking at my Dexterity lagging behind a bit since I've lost my arm. Drake thought.

It was true that he had steered away from close combat in favor of using his Magic Manipulation almost fully leaning into it with his near 600 raw Stat point. But he was concerned he might soon need to place more into his physical stats, he didn't want to not have the growth needed to fully utilize his skills after all.

Breaking him from his thoughts, Claire struggled to speak up.

"U-um, I'm sorry I'm just not ready to speak about it just yet… But since we have time can we use the stones..?" she asked pensively.

Drake looked up from his stat window and realized she was looking at the stones he was holding.

Here I am ignoring the person I was trying to help and console… Drake thought, admonishing himself.

"Yeah, that sounds good. You go ahead, you've used some of the more common ones right?" he asked.

Claire nodded and gripped the stone wearily.

"H-here I go," she said.

Drake looked on ready to step in if needed, but was captivated by how the use of the stone looked from the outside in. He had never seen someone use a stone in front of him, not even Theodore.

Claire went into a trance almost, and the arm that gripped the stone lit up in a faint glow of white, as it trailed up her arm, finding its place in the center of her chest as it spidered out to every part of her body from her center.

Eventually she gave a gasp for air and the light subsided, he assumed signaling the end of the process.

"That was much quicker than I thought…" Drake said, looking at Claire concerned.

"I-it felt like that took a longer time than it should have…" Claire eked out through gasps.

"How was it? Good skill?" Drake asked with a smile tugging at his lips, trying to keep the mood up.

Claire looked up and smiled back, "Y-yeah. It's another buff skill, this time for Water Magic!" she said proudly, her face glistening with sweat from the subsumption process.

Drake gave a hearty laugh and brought out a cup of cool water from his inventory, and a few other things, handing her the water.

"What are you going to do with those?" Claire asked pointer with her chin at the leather straps he had brought out.

"I. Have been neglecting some things that I said I needed. So! I'm going to get it done now while I can," Drake said, using his earthen hand to punch holes into the straps, and twisting them into a small pouch.

"You aren't going to use your stones?" she asked curiously, and a little disappointed.

"Well," Drake continued to form a small pouch out of the leather, doing his best not to wake Natto, "Last time I used a rare stone, I nearly killed Natto, and the time before that I nearly killed her again. Oh wait, that's right the last time I didn't nearly kill her, but my skill did go out of control and I made her very, very shaky, not good, in a shake weight way, but like pale face sweaty way," Drake said sheepishly.

Claire eyed him concerningly, as she kept silent, sipping the water from the cup. Obviously content with not seeing him use his stones now.

Drake was no leatherworker but did his best to work with what he had. Making some straps, and using the strings of leather he had cut off, he attempted to sow together the pouch he had been procrastinating on.

"Annndddd done! Nice, just what I needed," Drake said proudly, pulling several of the potions he had gotten from his inventory, and pushing them into the small rings of the pouch.

He also pulled four red pieces of jewelry from his inventory, placing them into the last compartment in the poorly made pouch.

"T-that looks um… Nice.." Claire lied looking away.

Drake held the pouch up to the sun, seeing gaps and some of the pieces falling apart already, as one of the flasks slipped from a ring.

He quickly caught it putting it into his inventory, as he chuckled wearily placing the rest into his inventory, setting the leather on fire now that it was ruined.

"Well, it was worth a try… Guess it's time for quest rewards then," he said trying to change the mood.

Claire perked up at that, shifting in her chair slightly. She had already cashed in on some of her own quests but hadn't been as lucky as some of the others.

Drake pulled up several of the quests going through them, in his hand a black die materializing.

[ 20 of 20 Goblin Lieutenants [F Rank] have been subjugated. Quest Complete!]

[Accept Rewards?]

[Yes/No]

[You have been awarded Experience,]

[Please roll for Equipment Rarity]

Drake grinned at the prompts, having not seen them in some time. His pulse surprisingly rose as he held his breath in anticipation.

Exhaling then taking one more deep breath, Drake tossed the die lightly against the floor, casting it to bump against the wooden wall of the Outpost, it bouncing back to them a 16 facing upwards.

"Wow.. you have some real unfair luck there don't you.." Claire said with a glare.

"Haha…" Drake chuckled, holding his hand under the mote of light that flashed.

In a moment the flash vanished leaving a red shawl.

[Halo Shawl of Possibilities [F Grade][Rare]

Effect: Allows the user to pull freely from their inventory.

A shawl made from the wings of the Volcanic Fire Drakes of the Elemental Plains.

"I don't think I should use this… The Dragons are going to kill me.." Drake mumbled.

"Huh? What did you say? That's a really nice-looking scarf, it's so strikingly red!" Claire said excitedly.

"Haha… Yeah, nice… It seems it's a shawl. But would you look at that? That fixes my problem." Drake smiled, wrapping it around his neck.

The shawl made a light snapping sound, and startled Drake, as it fixed itself in place, much like his mask had done. Using some sort of system feature or possibly magic, but if it was the latter, Drake's Magic Sight couldn't see it. Unraveling around his neck and instead placing itself in almost a halo around his shoulders, the ends of the shawl fixing themselves on the middle of his forearms.

"That is oddly cool.." Drake mumbled.

Now how do I test it…? Drake thought, then he looked over to Claire who was still looking on wide-eyed.

"Hey, Claire."

"Hmm..?"

"Can you hit me?"

"I'm sorry..?" she said, confused.

"I need to test the shawl, and for that, I need to be in combat," Drake said, then suddenly feeling a sharp pain in the side of his arm.

Natto had woken up and had sunk her teeth into his arm.

"Dosh dish work? Shu bahoon!" Natto said through her closed jaw.

Drake looked down with a straight face at the small construct. Then tried to pull something from his inventory.

A second later a red vial popped into the air above Natto's head, smacking her with a clank.

She fell backward, her hands rubbing the forming bump on her head.

"Yeah, looks like it works. Thanks," Drake smiled.