Poisoned Rationality

-Natalya-

I woke up to the sound of my name being called.

“Nat! Nat! Nat!” My four-year-old little sister Aurora shouted, rushing into my room. “Up! Up!” I groaned softly and sat up as Aurora jumped into my bed.

I hugged her as I got out of bed before setting her down and stretching.

“Breakfast time!” My other little sister, Juliana, shouted, running into my room as well, followed by my little brother, Aaron. Juliana was seven years old, and Aaron was five.

“Please quiet down,” I told them. “I’ll make breakfast, don’t worry. Let me get dressed first.” My three siblings left my room while I got dressed, and then began swarming me again the minute I stepped out.

I walked into the kitchen and began preparing breakfast for the four of us. I sliced some fruit and put some peanut butter on slices of bread before setting the food on plates.

I got all three of my little siblings into their chairs before I sat down to eat as well. After that, I helped them get all the things they needed for school before we started walking toward the large building.

I had to stop Aurora multiple times from rushing off to look at a cool bug she saw, and Aaron sometimes stopped walking to look at a cool flower.

Eventually, though, I got all three of them at school, and I could let the teachers handle them. They waved as I walked away, and I waved back.

Now that they were at school, I could relax.

It was tiring helping my siblings get ready for school most days, but it was also a little fun. I do love them dearly, but sometimes they stress me out like crazy.

Both my parents were very busy all the time, with my father working as a receptionist in the mayor’s office, and my mom working as an internal worker of the Adventurer’s Guild, meaning she was one of the people who handled the files and forms of the Guild.

I had the whole day to myself, or at least up until my siblings got out of school.

I decided to go to the town library.

The building was pretty big, with high ceilings and large shelves that were filled with books. The ceilings had huge glass windows that let in tons of light, giving the room a fairytail-esque feel.

Once inside, I found a nice beanbag chair to sit in. I leaned back, stretching, before curling my tail around my waist.

I opened up my status to see if anything had changed after the goblin quest. I knew I had gotten a level up, but I didn’t know what had changed, if anything.

Status (Lvl 1):

Name: Natalya Rorys

Race: Shiruku Wendigo

Age: 16/9/7

Level: 11 (43% EXP)

Statistics:

Str: B Vit: B

Int: A Dex: A

Agi: A Def: C

HP: 100% B

MP: 100% A

Titles: Fire Wielder

Skills: Complete Fire Immunity [NA], Complete Explosion Immunity [NA], Fireball [A], Great Timekeeping [B], Handbomb [B], Flame Summon [A], Flame Control [B], Dress of Fire [C] (4 Hrs)

Class: [Blast Mage]

A new skill! Its name sounded interesting.

Dress of Fire

Rank: [C]

Active

Effect: Cloak yourself in a dress made of fire that only affects enemies, applying [Burned] on contact, lasting up to four hours. Increases [Fire] damage by 50% and decreases the MP cost of [Fire] spells by 50%, excluding this skill. Time limit only resets after cooldown has been spent or after waiting the length of the cooldown without using the skill. Cooldown only applies after the time limit has run out.

Cost: 60 MP per hour

Cooldown: 10 hours

Holy shit, that was a strong skill. A dress made of fire that only affected enemies sounded super cool on its own, but the other effects were even greater.

The fifty-percent boost to [Fire] damage and the fifty-percent decrease to the MP cost of [Fire] spells were ridiculous amounts.

The stuff about the time and cooldown was interesting too.

From what I understood, the maximum time limit was four hours. However, if I only used it for one and a half hours, then I wouldn’t have to wait for the cooldown, but the next time I used it, I would only have two and a half hours to use it.

After the time limit ran out, I would need to wait ten hours before I could use it again. But if I waited ten hours without using the skill, the time limit would be reset back to its maximum.

All in all, a very useful and unique skill. I couldn’t wait to try it out on our next quest.

…

-Sarya-

A free day.

It was hard to wrap my mind around the idea. A day without anything to do? Weird.

In the Sea Skarr Palace, there were no “free days”. Each day, there was always something happening or something I had to do.

I knew that most of the people who worked in the palace had some free time. The butlers, maids, cooks, and other staff all had at least one day off a week, but, as a princess, I didn’t.

So I didn’t know what to do. I guess I could just train. Maybe take a small quest.

I exited my room at the Guild’s Inn and went down to the front room to find the quest board.

After a minute of examining, I picked out a simple one. Find some dark wolves, slay them, and bring back their fangs. The reward would be two silver coins per 15 teeth, with one copper coin for any remaining teeth.

A good reward.

As I walked toward the forest, I looked at my status.

Status (Lvl 1):

Name: Sarya Corsola

Race: Sirenadia

Age: 17/0/17

Level: 13 (86% EXP)

Statistics:

Str: A Vit: B

Int: A Dex: Aty

Agi: A Def: C

HP: 100% B

MP: 100% A

Titles: Skarr Princess, Skarr Dancer

Skills: Blade Dress [A], Battle Dance [A], Recall [A], Echo Search [C], Song of Battle [A], Bone Stomp [A], Spine Rush [B]

Class: [Devil Dancer] [Sage of the Sea]

A new skill! I focused on it, and another status window popped up.

Spine Rush

Rank: [B]

Active

Effect: Dramatically increase your running speed for a maximum length of 30 meters or a maximum time of 10 seconds, creating large spines of bone jutting from the ground along your path that decay after a minute or upon being destroyed. Effect starts when you first start moving after the skill is used and ends when you stop moving or slow down.

Cost: 80 MP

Cooldown: 1 minute

Another bone-spike-related skill. This one would let me increase my speed a lot, as well as leaving an attack behind me.

I decided to try it out on whatever I encountered in the forest.

After around ten minutes of walking, I found the first sign of the dark wolves. Lots of paw prints, as well as semi-dried blood on the ground, and a few bones and scraps of fur.

I used [Echo Search] and watched as the path the wolves had taken appeared on the ground. I began following, moving slowly so as not to startle the wolves. Thankfully, the wind was blowing at me, so I wouldn’t be detected by my scent.

Another ten-ish minutes passed, and I heard rustling in the bushes. I leaped backward as a dire wolf landed right where I had been standing before it turned to me and growled.

I grinned and cast [Spine Rush], waiting for the wolf to move. It suddenly lunged, and I began moving, red energy coiling around my legs. I ran to my right first before circling around to cage in the wolf, leaving a decent gap.

The spines shot out of the ground as the wolf was landing, although they grazed its side instead of skewering it straight through. It growled again and began stalking toward me. I focused on its movements and watched as it came in range of [Bone Stomp].

I raised my right leg and stomped the ground, red energy shooting down my legs and flooding into the dirt, rushing forward, and exploding out of the ground in an array of sharp bone spikes.

The dire wolf howled as it was skewered before starting to thrash around. Some of the spikes began breaking, but I could tell it was going to die.

I ran forward with a curveclaw in hand and sliced across its neck, killing the beast.

You have killed a [Level 24 Stone Dire Wolf]!

Level Up!

[Alert]: Level 14 Reached!

Another level! Wow, that wolf must have been strong. I knew there were elemental wolves in the area, but the fact that it was a [Stone] wolf, a dire wolf, and also level 24 was very surprising.

After collecting the teeth, front claws, and a decently large section of the pelt to sell, I re-cast [Echo Search] and began my trek again.

It didn’t take long to find the wolves and defeat them. I noticed, after all the dark wolves were dead, a couple of regular wolves, but I left those alone.

Slaying monsters in these forests was encouraged, given that too many would create a swarm of them that would endanger the town. However, hunting regular animals, which were a normal part of the ecosystem, was banned, and could earn you big fines and jail time.

I was all done with what I needed, so I headed back to town.

After turning in the wolf teeth to the Guild and selling the dire wolf parts, I was left with a decently large chunk of money, two gold coins, three silver coins, and five copper coins.

With the new money I had, I felt like getting myself some nice food for lunch.

I walked toward the market, wondering what I would get. Maybe some grilled fish. It’d been a while since I had any.