Development

Nox pats Umbra to stay put. He exchanges looks with Roi and together they attack him.

Roi in the front blocks the attacks of the incoming blades, and Nox uses gravity to slow him down. They attack in sequence, trying to create an opportunity for a hit.

Nox lands a punch to his face, but it barely scrapes him. Roi lands a cut on his hand. Rago pants heavily, but he doesn't give up.

He increases his pace and grabs Nox by the throat. Roi jumps on him and cuts him in the back.

With Nox in one hand, he swings his sword on the other, barely missing him, but the following Shockwave forces Roi to take a few steps back.

Nox, unable to breathe, resorts to using the last of his mana to cast Ice Shards into Rago's face. It doesn't do much damage, but it's enough to release him.

The young man falls to the ground and onto his knees. He coughs a mouthful of blood, painting the ground red.

Rago wipes his face, but his vision is blurry from the ice crystals. He maniacally swings his sword, making him unpredictable and more dangerous. Roi runs to Nox's side and together they jump backwards a few meters to avoid the crazed waves of random attacks.

They carefully surround him and land attacks one after the other.

When he turns around swinging, the other comes from behind.

It doesn't take them that long for Roi to land the deciding blow to Rago's abdomen with his dagger.

Rago, though, doesn't go down just yet, until Nox punches his face with all the remaining strength he has left.

Rago falls. A thud echoes throughout the village and a ring of dust rises. Exhausted, Nox falls next to him.

Roi feels the fatigue taking over his body as soon as he realizes that the fight is over. Streams of pain inside and out of his body surface, causing him to sit and groan for a few minutes.

Umbra howls and rushes over to Nox, licking his face as soon as he gets near him.

Unbeknownst to them, in the distance, across the mountains towards the sea, a new storm is brewing. Scarab walks out of a tent, whistling his favourite tune. The camp sees an old man supported by a cane strolling about.

They run and surround him with their hands on the hilts, ready to draw their swords.

Soon after, behind him, runs a blonde young man with eyes sharing the same color as the fresh ocean. "Let him go"

Old Scarab stops and turns his head slightly. "Ku Ku! Wise!"

"Old man!"

He caresses his long whiskers and looks at the young man at the corner of his eye, saying nothing.

The blonde hero steps forward and stares at Scarab. With his fist, he clangs on his armor as if he's making a promise, with his hand on his heart. "The time will come, when our roles are reversed. I won't show mercy!"

Scarab smirks and turns the other way. "Ku Ku!"

Watching the whole thing unfold is a brown-haired young man, sitting in front of the tent, doodling on the ground with a piece of wood. "Gil! What was that about?"

Startled, the blonde hero turns around. "N-Nova!"

The young man clicks his tongue. "Don't call me that!"

Jesting, Gil retorts. "What am I supposed to call the strongest hero?"

"I don't care about that…"

He looks in the direction where Scarab walked away. "Who's the old man?"

The blonde hero shakes his head. "He said his name is Scarab, and offered information about the one who defeated Jenna!"

Nova shows a surprised face. After pondering for a while, he looks at Gil. "Why?"

Gil shrugs his shoulders. "No idea."

The blonde hero looks at the half sword in his hand and clenches his fist. "One thing I'm certain of, is that the old man is insanely strong…"

A clanging sound echoes throughout the camp after Gil throws his broken weapon to the side. He closed his eyes and let out a sigh, as if he already said his goodbyes to a partner he knew for years.

Moments later, he opened his eyes and turned towards Nova. "By the way, when are you going back?"

"I still have some time."

Gil puffed his chest, filling it with air and a touch of arrogance. "Wanna check out the Altar of the Fallen?"

Nova tries not to show his excitement, by turning the other way, showing his back to Gil. "Is that thing open?"

"Yeah! Finally! It'll be like old times!?"

Nova ponders for a while. He checks his schedule and groans as he tries to decide. "... But… It's so far…?!"

Gil approaches him. His face reveals a grin from one ear to the other. "I know you want to go… Come on. We haven't been on an adventure together in a while!"

The young man with the blonde hair then looks down. "Besides, that Demon Lord guy is around there somewhere as well, and I want to check him out."

Nova still hasn't given him an answer, as he's still thinking about it.

"Well, you have until the day after tomorrow to decide. That's when we leave!"

Night is fast approaching, with the sun's setting to be the starting point of the colorful hue exchange between blackness and daylight.

At the Abandoned Village, where Nox still enjoys the warm rays, seems to wake up. Most of his injuries are healing, and his fatigue lessens. Drowsy as he is, he finds the strength to stand on his two feet.

He walks around the village, checking out his new acquisition while thinking about what to do about it. After wandering for a while, he finds himself in the middle of the place. It's like a plateau, surrounded by old buildings, where no one would dare walk in no matter the time. "This is scarier than I remember!"

Nox looks around, trying to concentrate. An eerie sensation packed with a mysterious vibe intensifies when a cool breeze scrapes his nape, making him shiver. He keeps getting an ominous hair standing feeling.

The young man finds a place in the plateau he likes and sits. Right next to a relatively old tree with branches leaning down from the excess weight of the thick foliage, that provides enough shade to avoid the bubbling rays of the sun.

He bites his lips, and with reluctance in his voice, calls. 'Grimmy!'

{Loading…}

['Good morning, Nox.']

The young man curls his lips. "Yeah, sure. How do I develop?"

{Loading…}

['Call out; Development!']

"Thanks…!"

While under the shade, he gets up and leans on the rough bark. "Development!"

A transparent, almost holographic table emerges from underneath his feet. It has a round shape, and it appears to be made of stone. On top of it are what seem to be the village's blueprints.

With a swift motion, he places his hand on top of the table and waits. A blue light blinks at a steady pace and a three-dimensional model of the area grows from the stone. Even the large tree Nox leans on appears on it.

His curiosity peaks when, by mistake, he touches the stone fence on the table, and a surrounding thud raises dust, surrounding the village. "What happened?"

He leaves his position and walks towards the cloud of dust. To his surprise, the wooden fence collapsed. Excited, he returns to the table and touches where the fence used to be. A see-through blue screen appears.

[/Development\]

Would you like to rebuild [Fence]?

Yes | No

[/Development\]

With a smile on his face, he tabs, |Yes|

A green screen pops up a few seconds later. [Development Completed!]

Nox notices it has a new name.

[Wooden Fence level 1]

Once again, he runs towards the fence he just built. He rubs his eyes in disbelief. It's completely repaired, and it looks sturdier than ever. He is so surprised and excited at the same time; The young man runs all the way around the village, inspecting every inch of that fence. He takes a couple of hours to finish and return to the Development Table.

He touches the table with a smile on his face. "We need a gate as well!"

[Wooden Gate Level 1]

The same thing happens. After repairing the gate, he runs all the way to the entrance to inspect it. Compared to the previous one, the replacement is much better in terms of wood quality and sturdiness. It has strong planks holding the thing together with chains to lower and bring it back up.

Something he enjoyed doing repeatedly. He even played with Umbra for a while, by having him go outside and lower the gate to let him in. They both rejoiced and had their fun.

All the running back and forth has Umbra following him at some point. The Mana Hound didn't understand what was happening, but it joyfully ran with him, wiggling its tail the whole time.

Nox returns to the table and ponders over what to do next. "How about…!?"