Chapter 44
Chapter 44 - Bound Companion System
A system notification popped into existence inches from Mei's face shortly after Naomi's transformation.
You have gained a Bound Companion. Unfortunately, the Bound Companion System cannot be activated within the tutorial. You will have to wait until you return to your world and enter the Game properly to witness its effects.
Mei blinked.
"Did I just get married?"
"I sure as hell hope not," Adam replied.
Naomi scratched the base of one of her horns, looking more than a little embarrassed.
"I... kind of... accidentally resonated with your item and became something like its item spirit."
"You died...?" Adam asked, completely baffled.
"No."
"An item spirit is something like a soul which resides inside of an item and strengthens its functions," Mei explained. “Basically like a virtual assistant, except far more versatile.”
Having read an unhealthy amount of xianxia slop, she was surprisingly qualified to comment on the subject.
"Oh, so like Siri?"
Mei let out a weary sigh.
"Sure. Like Siri."
"Cool."
She turned back toward Naomi.
"So, what can you do now? Any special abilities? And did we get married or not?"
Naomi shook her head.
"No to all of those."
She rested a finger against her lips as she thought.
"Well... maybe I gained something. I'm just not sure what it is. It feels like there's something missing."
Mei shrugged.
"If we can't figure it out, there's no point stressing over it."
Naomi blinked.
"I suppose you're right."
Adam looked between the two women.
"Isn't that... kind of important?"
"Not really," Mei replied, shaking her head. "You saw the notification. There's literally nothing we can do until we get back to Earth."
He wanted to argue.
Instead, he realized she had a point.
"I... guess you're right."
Mei nodded, immediately moving on.
"Anyways, let's design some clothes!"
She turned to Naomi with an eager smile.
"Want to help?"
Naomi nodded without hesitation.
"Of course. Fashion and design are my forte. Unfortunately, the orcs have absolutely no interest in either."
"I know. It's tragic! I've been trying to convince our orc to wear something new, but she refuses to take off that ugly chest wrap and skirt. She won't even let me alter them!"
While Adam agreed with Granessa that practicality mattered more than appearance, he also understood Mei's frustration. The leather armor, if it could even be called armor, had absolutely no artistic merit.
It was also a little too revealing.
Granted, after spending so much time around Mei and her endless collection of cosplays, he barely noticed things like that anymore.
As he drifted into his thoughts, the two women launched into an animated discussion about recent fashion trends inside the tutorial.
Half an hour passed with no sign of the conversation ending.
Eventually, Adam gave up on following along. He stepped through the large glowing portal that served as the wardrobe's exit, leaving a short note on the counter before heading outside.
There were a few things weighing on his mind.
Whenever he found himself stuck on a difficult problem, running always helped. There was something comforting about putting one foot in front of the other with no destination in mind. The rhythm cleared away distractions and let him focus.
The problem occupying his thoughts was his class.
Even now, he still didn't understand it.
When the tutorial first began, he'd assumed it was straightforward enough. He was a glorified healer who happened to specialize in protective magic.
The more he learned about magic, however, the less certain he became.
It wasn't his class that was simple.
It was his understanding of magic.
At first, he'd assumed imagination-based magic would be easy to master. If spells were limited only by creativity, then surely casting them should be simple.
Reality had proven otherwise.
Magic was dangerous precisely because imagination had no limits.
If your imagination ran too wild, you could quite literally kill yourself.
Adam knew that from firsthand experience.
Even now, after raising his Magic stat to B-rank, he still refused to cast the legendary spell he'd accidentally created. Maybe once his Magic reached S-rank he'd finally be willing to try again.
On the other hand, lacking imagination wasn't any better.
Without enough creativity behind a spell, it came out weak, lifeless, and disappointing.
Limp-dicking spells were, unfortunately, a very real phenomenon.
Thankfully, his imagination had never been the problem. If anything, he had too much of it.
So where exactly did his class fit into a magic system with virtually limitless potential?
For a while, he'd believed he finally understood.
During the battle against the Army of the Dead, he'd concluded that his role was to stand on the front lines, protecting everyone while healing his allies.
It made sense.
Except...
It didn't.
Ymir had said his class possessed the potential to evolve beyond Mythic grade.
A tank healer was certainly rare.
It was undeniably valuable.
But it wasn't something Adam could picture surpassing Mythic.
The more he thought about it, the less sense it made.
His thoughts remained hopelessly tangled as he ran.
So he ran faster.
His feet pounded against the stone streets as buildings blurred past on either side. Wind whipped through his hair while the scenery became little more than streaks of color.
He was moving at speeds that would have been impossible before becoming a player.
At this point, he wouldn't have been surprised if he could outrun a speeding car.
Eventually, Adam found himself standing atop a large hill somewhere within the endless sea of grass that the orcs called home.
He stood there in silence, gazing across the rolling emerald plains stretching toward the horizon. The wind swept through the tall grass in gentle waves, carrying with it a peacefulness that was hard to find anywhere else.
He let out a long sigh before flopping onto his back.
His exhausted body finally gave in after running for what felt like hours. Staring up at the afternoon sun, he closed his eyes.
"I guess this time a run couldn't fix the problem."
The warmth of the sunlight and the soft whisper of the wind lulled him to sleep almost immediately.
— — —
In his dream, he found himself walking among beings that existed beyond Mythic grade.
Gods.
Each ruled over special abilities called concepts, and the scope of those concepts determined the extent of their power.
One appeared as a regal man with the head of a jackal.
Anubis.
The god of the dead and funeral rites.
Another sat upon a throne of storm clouds, lightning dancing around his body.
Zeus.
The god of lightning and justice.
As Adam wandered from one divine figure to another, a thought slowly took shape.
If I were a god... what would my concept be?
Protection?
But what about healing?
If protection became perfect, healing would become unnecessary if no one he protected was ever hurt.
If healing became perfect, then protection would lose its purpose because the dead could simply be brought back.
Both at a state of perfection could exist alone.
He frowned as he thought more deeply.
But I'm not a god.
Neither my protection nor my healing can ever be perfect.
So instead of trying to perfect one...
I need them to complete each other.
When a shield breaks, the one behind it is injured.
So what if the shield never truly broke?
If a shield could be healed...
...when would it ever fail?
His thoughts continued spiraling.
Am I the shield?
Are the people I'm protecting shields?
Could everything be a shield?
Eventually, his thoughts drifted toward Mei.
What would she do?
If I had her class, it'd be much easier.
I'd just shoot the problem.
A small laugh escaped him.
...Wait.
Why can't I?
If everything can be a shield...
And I can heal anything...
Then why couldn't a bullet be a shield?
Why must a bullet exist only to destroy?
Could it protect instead?
Could it mend?
The dreamscape began twisting around him.
The gods disappeared.
The sky folded inward.
The earth unraveled into countless fragments of light that spiraled toward him.
Every sight, every sound, every sensation flowed into his consciousness, feeding the embryonic form of the concepts within him that had yet to be born.
He couldn't describe it.
He didn't even understand it.
Would he one day become something like those gods when the concepts fully matured?
He didn't know.
But he was certain it would make him far stronger than he had ever been before.
"Adam... are you asleep?"
A familiar voice echoed through the collapsing dream.
Mei.
The world around him shattered like glass.
"Huh...?"
Adam jolted awake.
"What?"
He blinked several times, trying to clear the haze from his mind.
The afternoon sun was gone.
In its place hung a brilliant full moon, bathing the endless grasslands in silver light. Fireflies drifted lazily through the air while crickets chirped all around him.
Mei stood nearby, her expression caught somewhere between relief and frustration.
"What are you doing out here?" she asked quietly.
Adam frowned.
"I went for a run, then took a nap. I left a note."
He wasn't sure why she sounded so concerned.
Back on Earth, he'd done this sort of thing more than once. He'd go for a long run, find somewhere quiet to rest, and occasionally fall asleep for a few hours.
Granted, they were currently trapped inside a deadly tutorial, so maybe not the best idea.
Still, the orcs' grasslands were one of the safest places they'd found. Dangerous monsters existed, but only deep within the wilderness, far from where he was.
Mei stared at him.
"Do you know how long you've been gone?"
He frowned.
"Missing? Wasn't I only out for a few hours?"
"A few hours?"
She slowly shook her head.
"Adam... it's been an entire week."
His eyes widened.
"What?"
"Ymir organized search parties after you didn't come back. One of them eventually found you here."
She gestured toward the hilltop.
"They said you wouldn't respond no matter what they tried. There was also some kind of invisible barrier surrounding the entire hill. They couldn't get anywhere near you."
Adam looked around in confusion.
"I didn't run into any barrier."
"You wouldn't have." Mei shrugged. "It disappeared the moment you woke up. I walked straight through without any resistance."
Adam pressed a hand against his temple as he tried to make sense of everything.
None of it added up.
He remembered leaving the wardrobe sometime in the afternoon. Even if he'd run farther than usual, no more than three hours should have passed before reaching the hill.
He'd been tired.
Not sleep for an entire week tired.
Then there was the barrier.
Where had it come from?
...Had he somehow cast it in his sleep?
No matter how hard he thought he couldn't figure it out. All he gained was a headache.
Until a notification popped up.