Complete - Dabbling Newbies | Page 2

The Felis questions were answered as soon as the huge beast stepped out of the darkness... Her eyes widened. "Wh-Wha.. Wha?!"

When the enormous bat screeched loudly, Ruby could only stare at it paralyzed- Even if that was a game, the encounter with the creature seemed so realistic that the girl could only stand still from the shock of seeing something so terrifying.

The bat charged at the girl, headbutting her on the stomach with all it's might- Throwing the female like she was a ragdoll toward the cave wall, where she would slam her back and fall.

And that was how Ruby was shown for the first time what was a Critical Hit.

Falling on her knees, the Felis coughed with teary eyes, trying her best to catch her breath. 'What was- What is that?! Why it hurts so much, isn't it just a game?!' She thought to herself, shaking her head as she tried to stand up again. Finally standing up, the girl had her legs shaking both in fear and weakness- That was a hell of a slam.

She held her head, until something in her brain snapped her out of the pain- The Felis suddenly looked around, searching for @Manya Boole... But the enormous beast was blocking her vision from the Faerin, making her worries grow even more... Suddenly, a window of the Investigation Mode popped up.

DIRE GIANT BAT

Type: Beast
Size: Huge
Rarity: Uncommon
Location: Big Caves
Level of Threat to you: HEROIC​

Ruby had no idea of what 'heroic' meant as a threat, but she sure knew that it was probably a horrible thing specially because one attack of that thing almost dropped her HP to zero.

Looking up at the monster, the Felis narrowed her eyes- She needed to do something about it before it was too late. Raising her Liuqin, Ruby tried to think on something that would be painful... Something that would make this creature actually feel damaged... And considering that it was a bat- The answer was obvious: A sharp and acute sound.

"Take this-"

Then it was... Mercilessly, the Felis pulled her instrument's thinner cord, rubbing her finger tips through it's length harshy as she tried to summon her illusion to amplify the terrible and piercing sound.

illusionary wave

The ruthless waves flew toward the bat, bouncing on the walls in high speed until it finally connected with the monster's ears that jerked off shaking it's head. Recovering, it showed it's might fangs to Ruby letting out another screech and charging once again toward the Felis.

"Ah no..." The girl tried tried to move, without much success because of her weakened state, she supported her body against the wall. The Felis stared helplessly at the creature, without having much to do- She shutted her eyes tightly to brace herself for the hit.

 

He focused on his spell, looking at the Giant Bat. It was stronger, stronger than anything he'd seen an unbeknownst to him, it was one of the toughest monsters out there to face...for a solo adventurer. For two, it'd be half as tough, but right now that bat was twice as strong as @Crimson Ruby and Manya combined.

That didn't mean they couldn't get away from it. He'd need to get it distracted...

A spell appeared in his vision, in his Third Eye. It was...a Disruption spell. Yes, they couldn't hope to fight the Bat to the death, not after it managed to sneak in a powerful attack and got the advantage from the get-go, but they could get away from it, and rally up.

He ran towards the bat, suddenly feeling bold. He was a tiny Faerin, the bat could probably eat him in one gulp and not belch, and he was just as much a newbie as Ruby was...but a part of him was determined. His first instinct would have been to run away with Ruby to a safer area, but now that he could not do that, his next decision was to charge in. It was fly or die, and he was about to see if his wings would hold up.

A Spellbane ability, this was not truly an offensive spell...but it was the right spell for this moment. As Manya approached the bat, he pointed both hands towards it, like he was holding something away from him, or pushing something.

Fizzle

The Spell did little in the way of actual damage, but it would completely disrupt the bat, from its senses to its magical aura, messing it up so enough to cause confusion, disorientation, and make it sluggish and slower.

At least, just enough for him to run around it. He didn't even speak, nor did he slow down - slipping one of Ruby's arms around his neck, he hauled her to her feet and then began dragging her away. He was so much smaller, and not very strong either, but determination burned in his eyes, even as he glared at the bat for hurting his friend. Even if she was unable to move, he tried to haul her away, if not away from the bat (that was nearly impossible), then to a safer distance where he could draw the Bat's aggression while healing Ruby.

The Bat shook its head, the aftermath of the sonic disruption as well as Manya's magical disruption having given the two adventurers precious time by leaving the bat disoriented, but it quickly recovered, right as Manya had pulled Ruby away from its clutches. It screeched again, and Manya could feel the noise reverberating through him.

It was seeking them.

"Ruby, you alright?!", he said. Usually one should not try to make noise while fighting an opponent who relied on hearing, but Manya was concerned, a pit forming in his stomach from the guilt. He should never have brought her here!

Even as such thoughts swirled around in his mind, dark thoughts turned to dark energy, coalescing about the Faerin youth. It was waiting, patiently yet eagerly at the same time waiting to be used...

 

At the moment the creature was almost getting to kill Ruby, she was scared, the girl just wanted to go far from that cave and log off, but she knew that it would happend after that horror scene ended with her dead... Or at least it's what she thought- For some reason, the finishing blow never came.

Instead of a hostile attack, the Felis was actually being held by his comrade. Ruby's ears twitched weakly as the boy attempted to rescue her from the dire situation, and she tried with the remaining strengths to move away along with him. For whatever reason they were able to move far away from the monster, even if temporarily, Ruby could only have the theory that the Faerin halted the creature somehow.

"I-I'm okay... Thanks Manya..." Taking deep breaths and being held by a friend, the girl's fear faded away- And now there was only one feeling remaining in her heart: Hatred. The Felis always had to deal with scumbags in her daily basis, but noone of those scumbags did something that could almost kill her- Her teeth clenched with a hiss, showing her small yet frightening Felis fangs.

"We need to kill it." She muttered with a vengeful voice, unusual to her pretty and calm tone, and the gears in her mind began to work faster than they did in any time of her life. It branched in several possibilities on how to murder that beast in the most painful ways possible, but in all of them it would require both her and the Faerin to get in a very deadly condition- So unfortunately it wasn't a choice, instead they needed something that could simply kill it.

With a screech echoing through the depths of the cave, Ruby turned her face that had a mix of tiredness and anger. "We need to continue, Manya. I have a plan!" Her golden eyes looked the surroundings of the cave, the ceiling was coated with rock spikes and fragment of boulders, which would make the plan work even better.

"But we need to do it together." She glanced back at @Manya Boole's eyes.

 

Manya nodded at her. She was alright, well enough to speak and think clearly, at least. He placed his hands on her arm, focusing on casting the spell.

White Healing

"Run me through the plan." He said, his eyes on the Bat as he watched it recover. They'd only get a few more seconds, maybe less, before that thing struck out to attack them. If they split up and ran in either direction, that'd buy then one more second, and if Manya drew the attention of the Bat, they could stop it from going for the Felis, who would still have some damage on her, considering that his healing wasn't enough to cover all of the damage.

Manya wanted to kill the Bat, too. More so than just a simple 'It's a monster, we're players' thinking, it had attacked @Crimson Ruby and harmed her. It was then that he understood the gravity of the full-dive system - she'd have felt all that pain, at that exact same magnitude.

It wasn't just a matter of gameplay, this was life-and-death. They might come back from death, but he neither wanted to die in the first place nor did he want to let Ruby do so. Which means ending this Bat.

In opposition to Ruby's own thoughts, Manya wanted this fight to end as quickly as possible, with a decisive and powerful strike. Dragging it out would put Ruby in further danger, and he didn't want to let that happen.

He took his hands away from her arm, as the healing energy fixed hairline fractures, removed bruises, and caused the soreness in her gut from the headbutt to fade out. She wasn't completely healed, but it was a good enough patch-up.

The Bat had rallied itself, before charging at them once again. One advantage they had, it was not swooping and trying to eviscerate them with its claws, owing to the small size of the place they were fighting in. Manya pointed a finger, not even trying a spell as he just caused a powerful burst of light to disorient the Bat, before running to its left, keeping its attention on him.

 

"Listen Manya! Don't get killed-" Ruby asked- No... She ordered. "-You are my most valuable piece now. What I want you to do is to you keep making it confused and slowing it down while I set something up... When I give you a sign, let's group up and I will be able to proceed!" The Felis was considering this as a huge Xiangqi battlefield that only had three pieces, and for their luck- They had the number advantage.

She was the shì, giving the Faerin the ideas and advising what he needed to do- @Manya Boole was her jiàng, someone she needed to protect no matter what, but still needed to put in danger for her strategy- And then we had the bat as the shuài, someone that she sure needed to kill. Of course, in a tabletop a battle like this would simply end up in a draw, but in this battlefield no one would stop them from eternally trying to 'check' each other pieces, and it was most likely that the Bat would win a resilence game.

Before blasting off in a run, Ruby held her Liuqin and twisted it's cords and began playing a song in a hastily and rough way.

Song of ferocity

Hidden: Battle Theme

The harmonic energy of the uplifting song filled the Felis and the Faerin with an overwhelming courage and determination, their fear toward the creature would dissipate for the few moments they were going to fight it and their movements would become faster.

Finishing the small song, Ruby started to charge toward the battlefield. Her eyes maintaining attention on two things: Her comrade and the best places to create illusionary reverberation spots- The Felis gears in her head began working even faster as her brain calculated invisible vectors that represented where the sound waves would be hitting and bounce.

Stretching her arm toward the targets, she would activate the illusion spell on separated places, carefully positioning it to make sure they work as intended. One misplaced spot would be enough to make the plan fail- "I need a little more time, Manya! Hang in there!" Ruby warned, looking at the Faerin.

The Giant Bat would attempt to bite the mage with it's enormous mouth, trying to eat him alive. Upon failure it would screech and keep charging toward the boy with a vicious intention of finishing his life with one strike.

 

Manya nodded at her words when she had spoken them, absently noting it. Now, running from the Bat's ravenous jaws, he remembered those words, focusing on them. He should not falter, he should not give up! This was the moment that he should fight!

The Bat nearly took his legs off with another snap, but Manya had an unexpected advantage - he was a very small target, moving about with animated speed. Another bite came deadly close to killing him, as fangs snapped down over blue cloth...only for him to shrug out of his coat and keep running not slowed at all.

The music still thrummed in his ears, giving him a dogged persistence, a desire to best this creature! Manya was usually mild-mannered, but that song made him want to win, grab victory so badly from the jaws of defeat and to be proud about it. His heart swelled with courage and strength. Time to use it.

"On me!", he yelled out, his otherwise squeaky and soft Faerin voice now had an edge to it. He aimed his left hand at the Bat.

Focus on the target. Aim your hand at them. And then let the spell fly.

Evil Curse: Strike Down!

It was like a rushing gust of wind, but the air stayed still. The Bat would stop, before screeching and thrashing in place. Foul magic was corroding the life right out of it, and while it was not strong enough to even appreciably harm the Bat, it was definitely not a pleasant feeling - it was the sensation of death and pain, inflicted over and over.

Now the Bat was mad, but the effect of the attack had given him enough time to put some good distance between Manya and the Bat. Disruption was a bit tricky, but as long as he was the more visible, more actively dangerous threat, the Bat would try to fight him, both out of anger and fear. This gave the Felis the time she had requested for. Manya didn't even look to check her progress, his eyes focused on the Bat.

It was, for now, a battle between the two alone. And the Bat charged once more. This time, Manya was more than ready. A bright flash of light burst right in front of the Bat's face, and even if it was not reliant on sight, it recoiled at the stunning light.

In this manner, Manya kept the Bat on himself, alternating between disrupting it and harming it to slow it down and lock it down. But he could feel his Energy dropping from casting actual spells. He can't keep this up for long, but the Bat could likely do this all day.

He had faith that @Crimson Ruby would come through, however. He didn't doubt it for even a second. And so he kept on dancing at the death of death, grim determination his only fuel.

They won't die, not in the Beginner's Cave. That was just ludicrous!

 

Four... Five... SIX... SEVEN-

A heavy breath, the Felis was getting extremely tired. "Aah... ahh..." She clenched her teeth. "Come on- Keep going!" Ruby exclaimed to herself, seeing the remaining places to create reverberation spots. Her eyes kept glancing at the little Faerin, she was constantly distracting herself with the worry- Even if her courage was increased because of the spell, she wanted to make sure her comrade was fine.

Eight... Nine... Ten-

She shook her head. 'I need to focus, he will be fine... He sure will be fine!' Nodding to herself, she looked away from him and turned back to see the rest of the spots. The girl was still midway to finish her setup, but now she was focused. 'Trust on him, and do your job.' Ruby stretched her arms again.

Eleven... Twelve... Thirteen... Fourteen... Fifteen-

Her eyes widened, her knees shaked, her ears twitched. Her energy was dropping, it was already on 40%. "Tch-" The Felis shook her head again, finishing another part of her job and stepping away to go for the next. Possibly the Faerin was already on his edge, she had to speed up. She braked her run again.

Sixteen... Seventeen... Eighteen... NINETEEN-!

"Just one more-!" She looked back at the ceiling, stretching out her arm.

TWENTY-!

It was complete... Her dodecahedron reverberation arena was complete! Now all she needed was to call the bat's attention- She turned back to see the bat and @Manya Boole. "MANYA! IT'S READY, LEAVE IT TO ME NOW!" The Felis yelled as hard as she could.

CORD BLAST

Throwing her hands without a care in the world on her Liuqin cords, the rumbling sound blasted off toward the bat's head- Slamming it's thundering energy on it's ears. The creature would screech in pain and stare back at Ruby. "COME HERE YOU COWARD!" The Felis yelled to the top of her lungs as the beast turned to face her.

 

No matter how big a headstart he got, he was still clearly outmatched by the Bat, of course. It was ravenous, it was persistent, and most of all, it was as stubborn and determined as he was. After all his attempts to goad it and make it follow him, it was now almost fully focused on the smaller Faerin. Of course, it was part of the plan, but unless the plan came together soon, the next step would involve grievous injury to him. He could feel his feet getting wobbly, and a harsh but important lesson etched itself into his mind:

Spellcasters need to stand their ground or risk exhaustion.

But he couldn't do that! Not now, not when lives were at stake! So he made one final foray, dragging the bat away...before the signal came. He grinned and turned to face @Crimson Ruby . "That's gr-"

And that's as far as he got before the bat's massive wing swiped out. It had learned that while its jaws had lethality behind it, they lacked reach, but its wings were large enough, and with the difference in level between the Bat and Manya, it was also pretty darned powerful. He felt himself flying back and slamming into the walls of the cave, and he felt like his lungs exploded the air in them winded out by the impact.

The sonic blast would hit the Bat solidly, several angles of approach coming together to focus the waves on one point. Each different waveform amplified the other through resonance, and all of them came down with perfect precision on the Bat's ears, causing it to let out a bloodcurdling screech and the, turn its head away from its erstwhile prey to focus on the Felis, murder in its eyes. Without spending any thought on its newfound intellect, it rushed the girl with reckless abandon, its immediate instinct to just kill her. Not defend territory, not hunt for food. Just to kill - something only a monster could do.

As he slumped down against the wall, Manya coughed up blood, but he was not concerned. No, he was more concerned for his friend, who was now the target of an unstoppable rage. He placed his hand against his chest and breathed in and out. Two spells. He just needed two spells and he could move again...

Beacon Of Hope

Battlefield Healing

He felt a surge of energy flood him, just enough power to then cast the healing spell. He felt his internal wounds fix and seal, his bones stitch together, and his lungs reinflate. He took in a deep breath and wiped the blood off his lips.

He was trusting her to do this. But even as he did, he funneled what little he had of his Energy for one last spell, to help things along. One last blast of Black Magic. He aimed his hand at the Bat, anger and fury clouding the otherwise-gentle Faerin's mind.

Just a few more seconds...

 

Her eyes widened seeing the Faerin slamming into the wall. "MANYAAA!" She called for her friend's voice, but there was no answer, only an enormous beast looking at her while it opened it's wings. A guilt panged in the girl's heart, her friend... That thing hurted him because of her stupid plan.

With clenching teeths, the girl hissed in anger instantly... But something happened. The amount of hate inside the girl along with the courageous buff she casted in herself not only made her stay completely fearless over the creature, but also made something in her head turn off. Her angry expression faded away, turning into something that at first would look docile... But looking at it long enough, a vicious intention could be felt.

The monster rushed at her. As response, the girl smiled gently- "I'm gonna kill you." She muttered, slowly raising her right hand to slightly cover her face, and her left hand would hold her Liuqin behind her back. Ruby motioned her right hand, like she was waving something in front of her face... Something like a hand fan.

The Felis was actually imitating one of the many presentations she had done in her chinese town, it was a dangerous dance that had movements that could be compared to Circus acrobats. Unfortunately it has been months since she have done something like that, last time being in her school festival- And considering she haven't choose Acrobats Mastery as part of her skillset, she needed to trust completely on her personal ability.

Closing her eyes and letting out a calm sigh, the girl flexed her knees as soon as the monster was close enough and jumped. The Felis moved gently on the air, passing over the creature with a smooth and careful movement as she twirled, pulling her Liuqin back to her arms and landing behind the giant bat.

The beast braked it's charge after noticing it's target was gone, turning back at the Felis to see if it could react- But it was too late.

Ruby pulled her instrument's cords just once, and with a snap of her fingers the reverberation arena activated- Instantly, the Felis energy dropped to ZERO, but she braced herself to stay awake- Even if for time enough... Otherwise the reverberation arena would fade away.

The sound of the notes flew away from the Liuqin, hitting the first reverberation spot... And then the second, then the third, then the fourth... The sound gradually increased it's volume-

Hidden: Notes increasing their volume

-Louder, LOUDER, LOUDER! LOUDER!! LOUDER!!!

The reverberation arena rumbled like an earthquake- The creature screeched as loud as it could, feeling a deep pain. Ruby's eyes widened so much that it was almost like her eyes could pop out of her skull at any moment, probably the vibration and the deafening sound were the only thing that were stopping her from flat out passing out from a Mind Down.

"GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" The Felis would let out a painful scream, she was doing her best to endure the enormous pressure that she was applying to herself and the creature. Her eardrums snapped as a burst of blood came out of her inner ears- Her teeth clenched in pain, but at least the deafeaning sound disappeared for her- Now it was only the vibration that shaked all her body, both externally and internally.

A crack appeared on the cave's ceiling, and the stalactites that were right above the Felis and the Bat were almost collapsing.

After what were probably the longest twenty seconds of her life, Ruby's body couldn't endure anymore, and it slowly surrendered to the exhaustion. Her vision was getting darker, and her limbs felt numb and light as she slowly fell- While she was falling on her back, the last thing the girl could see the stalactites finally collapsing from the ceiling. It was now going to have a small, yet very deadly shower of spikes.

Deep inside her heart, through all the hatred she was feeling toward the bat, the only thing she was wishing was that @Manya Boole was alright... Because if that plan worked, at least he would be okay.

A cold darkness covered the girl's vision as her consciousness faded away.

 

Manya was...managing. He was pulling through. But he was watching the fight with a subdued awe. His eyes widened with fear, and a choked voice tried to escape his bloodied lips as he saw the Felis stand her ground while the Bat charged...but then with swan-like grace, she had jumped...nay, flew over the Bat, lightly landing on the other side...and then she worked her magic once more. From this distance, the noises felt more like a violent, constant droning, but he could see the air shake from the force of the resonance and reverberation. And then sharp cracking noises ran through the cave. Manya looked up just in time to see the stalactites fall down.

The Bat thrashed and howled in rage, turning its head to @Crimson Ruby even through the pain. But before it could do anything, several half-ton stalactites crashed down on its back, pulverizing the beast's body underneath the weight. With a comically innocent squeak, it was floored, rubble holding it down.

Manya was casting Beacon of Hope over and over, regenerating his energy first. Once the fight was settled, he turned his eyes from the Bat to see that Ruby had fallen prone, and wasn't moving.

Panic gripped his heart, pure and simple. He ran over to the Felis as quickly as he could. "Ruby...", he coughed out, ignoring the shooting pain from trying to speak, before he looked at the Bat with a glare.

It was barely alive. Its body was crushed, and it was leaking reddish-black blood, but its head still moved, twitching about.

Manya looked at the girl, holding his hand under her nose. Yes...she was breathing. That was all he needed.

And he straightened up from her unconscious form and walked over to the Bat. He too was decidedly calm. This was no longer a fight, but an act of mercy. He stopped, his feet inches away from the slowly growing puddle of blood near the Bat, and crouched down. And he placed a hand on the surface of the warm, sticky blood.

Evil Curse: Strike Down!

The Bat's thrashing instantly stopped, and the gushing of the blood slowed down a bit. Now he saw what the spell could do: it drained away vital force from the target, but when used on a target which the spell could kill...it'd blow up its heart.

Manya would have been horrified by the spell, but now, after all that it had done...it was a mercy for the Bat. He was being kind, practicing using all his dark arts on the wretched thing.

He walked over to Ruby next and wiping the blood off his palms on his blue coat, placed his hands over her head. One after another, he cast healing spells over the girl, and once he could see that her wounds were tended to, he moved her hand over his shoulders, and the Faerin magician lifted the girl up.

They could leave the cave, yes...but the end was so close, it'd have been a waste to leave, fleeing the place in fear. He snapped his fingers and the grimoire that had stuck onto the roof of the cave detached, floating into place before hovering there.

It took a while, carrying the light but definitely larger Felis along, but in the end, they reached it. The end, the back of the cave. There was a wall, a roughly hewn stone wall with dozens, maybe even hundreds of inscriptions on it. And Manya's face lit up with a smile; the smile that he had almost lost during that fight with the Bat. He shook the Felis beside him, hoping that she had recovered enough from her ordeals to at least wake up.

"Hey...hey! We made it!", he said, the excitement barely contained in his voice. They had made it. None of them died. And most importantly, they had defeated the Bat which had tried to do them in.

No, she defeated the Bat. He just mopped up the remains, is all. For a second, he felt an immense surge of respect and adoration for the Felis, and he blinked his eyes slightly. He looked at Ruby once more, still unconscious, but he hoped that she had begun to stir now. If anyone deserved this victory, it was her.

 

Deep and cold darkness, nothing could be heard, nothing could be seen... Ruby felt some sort of fear, she was in a disturbing situation to say the least. This game... It felt so real, that she was actually fearing that the consequences would be similar to real life. In a few seconds, she asked to herself is she was dead. Because if that was the case, how exactly she would wake up? Wasn't there something called 'respawn'?

Something was wrong, and no matter how intelligent she was- She couldn't understand, how a game could possibly kill her like that? Peharps she was in the wrong thought process? Maybe she wasn't dead? That would be a miracle if she wasn't, but again... Miracles could happend.

Suddenly something shook her- The girl grasped to this small external interference, following it to come back to her senses. Her golden eyes would slowly try to open, a considerably effort was needed for that- But soon Ruby would find out that it was a worth effort... The sight in front of her, it was simply amazing.

It was a huge wall with the names of all adventurers that did their best to go through this challenge, and now... The duo was there. "We did it..." She whispered, slowly turning to see @Manya Boole smiling in excitement. The Felis too, smiled brightly before wrapping her arms around the boy in a weak embrace. "We did it, Manya! We defeated that thing- And now we are going to write our names on the rock!" Her voice was filled with happiness, the satisfying feeling of winning something after so much effort warmed her heart, that no longer held any anger.

But something called her attention... The sound of her voice, somehow sounded extremely muffled to her- In fact it was practically inaudible. Her right ear twitched, and one of her hands reached to it, feeling a dry blood on it. "Uh.. Test? Test..." Her ear twitched once again, something was clearly wrong with her hearing. "I... I think my ears are gone." She giggled nervously.

 

Manya would have burst out laughing with happiness when she had come to, and he just pulled her into an extra-tight hug. He was worried there, for the briefest moment that she wouldn't make it, that something might have gone wrong and they'd all have died and become bat food. But no, they made it through! Oh, how glad was he to just live!

He nodded with a grin and looked around the ground. He couldn't see any sharp rocks to carve their name in, so he might have to try his magic. Sear it on with White Magic, perhaps? But then he heard her exclamation about her ears, and he smiled, albeit with a hint of worry. Ear damage might ruin a person's sense of balance and be best treated quickly.

He let go of her, having her stand there as he supported her and Manya examined her ears. They were leaking...something, a whitish fluid, tinged pink. Burst eardrums, probably. Working with music wasn't as safe as you'd think, it seems. Still, this damage was minor as far as White Magic healing was concerned - it did not sweat over the complexity of the wound or the organs injured, merely the magnitude of the injury. He grinned and rubbed his hands. "Don't worry, I got this. I think I have enough for one more heal." He flexed his hands a few times, before cupping either of Ruby's ears with his hands. Manya gave her his brightest grin, rubbing the oddly-soft cat-like ears, and instinctively scratching them like one would to a household cat.

The spell he wrought wasn't exactly a proper one - more like a funneling of holy light into someone, wishing for the essence of goodness to undo the damage, to make whole what was undone by ill-fortune. It took a few moments, but soon, it had worked well enough. Her ears might be ringing for a while longer, but healing was just one step, a temporary fixture - rest was the most important curative, after all.

And he was done. Letting go of her ears, he smiled at her, a light blush on his cheeks as he lowered himself from the tip-toes he was standing in to reach her.

"Feeling better?"

Still, the euphoria of the moment was lingering. He gave a quick glance at the wall, and he could almost see two spots being etched with their names. Manya Boole (White Magician title optional) and @Crimson Ruby , two more adventurers who cleared the Beginner's Cave!

 

Ruby stood still, calmly letting the boy check what was wrong. After all, they probably trusted their lives on each other a few minutes ago- Trusting him to take care of that was completely easy to manage.

Trying to hear the boy's words, Ruby focused on his voice as he said something about having one more heal. That was a relief, but what she didn't expect was that the Faerin would hold her ears and start to rub and scratch it. Her eyes widened for a few seconds in surprise, but the caress... It was just... So satisfying and good.

Her ears twitched in a calm way and her tail wagged happily, she closed her eyes leaning a bit more to the boy's hands. No one has ever rubbed her ears like that before, but that felt extremely nice! The warm and softening feeling of the white magic healing her wounds also helped to make it feel even more comfortable.

"Ah- That feels nice-" She smiled brightly, and again for her surprise she would let out a purr. 'What?' Her ears perked a bit, and the boy released her ears that twitched with a bit of annoyance, wanting a bit more of the caress. The boy then asked if she felt better. The girl could hear him perfectly and her ears weren't hurting anymore, even though an annoying noise was disturbing her audition.

Finally snapping in her head what just happened, her cheeks blushed in a deep tone of red. "I-I am, thanks a lot Manya..." She looked at the ground, trying to avoid eye contact for the first seconds, her lips turning into an embarrassed yet grateful smile.

Her eyes then turned to the wall, and the Felis approached to it. She placed her hand on an empty spot, pressing against it. Brushing off part of her embarrassment, the girl turned back to the boy. "Let's write our names here! Manya and Ruby!" She said giving a sweet and childish smile, her shyness being completely shattered for a few moments.

 

He nodded as he too ran towards the wall, looking at the spot she had pointed. Yes, it was the perfect place! He patted his pockets though and found nothing with which to inscribe their names on. But they could always use a bit of focused magic, right?

"Yes, yes! Manya Boole, White Magician! And Ruby, Entrancing Siren!" He laughed at the title he gave her, while it was nice, it just felt...silly, especially coming from him. Perhaps given time, she might choose a title for herself, something more fitting and perhaps catchy, as well!

He studied the wall and all the names that had come before. They were not the first, nor would they be the last, and there were several names...but not too many as you might expect in a game like this. True, not everyone would have come here, but a fair share would have. Even with such numbers and estimates, Manya realized that the players of this game were a close-knit and exclusive group. He breathed out, a short sigh.

"You know, after this I think I'm heading out of Brisshal, going to...hmm, Honeyhome first, and then through the mountains to Astorea. And from there, just travel, on and on and on. Explore and learn and see what this world is about! But I wouldn't mind it if we banded together in the future! Would you like to be my friend?"

Well, they were already friends, weren't they? Fire-forged ones, straight from battle. But Manya called up his UI, and it was made clearer that this was asking permission to send her a formal friend request. His gloved hands rested over the spot where he was to write his name, and in his mind, he started piecing together what kind of spell could etch out words into rock. Other players had done it with all kinds, from rocks to sharp knives, actual chisels and tools to fire and lightning, and even in moss and magic itself. So why shouldn't he write in his name with a bit of personality as well?

"Got any idea how you're going to put your name here?", he asked off-handedly, as he typed in @Crimson Ruby in his UI and found her player avatar. Just need her permission now!

 

Rubbing her chin, the girl twitched her ears hearing the boy's suggestion. "Entrancing Siren?" She pondered for a while, giving a small nod after closing her thoughts. "This is good. I like it!" Ruby smiled, giving a small rub at the empty spot, clearly treasuring this moment. 'No wonder Futaba like games so much...' She thought, letting out a happy sigh.

She turned to @Manya Boole, carefully listening to him. The boy apparently had a lot of knowledge about the places of that area, or maybe it was just Ruby that didn't take her time to go and read the Location Info that was in her UI. In any case, as soon as he asked if she wanted to be his friend, the answer came out instinctively. "YES! Uh-" She rubbed the back of her head, letting out a giggle.

"Yes, Manya. We are friends! I want to have more fun with you... I think you are my first online friend." A young person not having an online friend was quite rare for the time they were living in, but Ruby came from a traditional chinese family, so it wasn't uncommon for her to not have much online contact. "I've always been very far from online things, specially games... And I must say, I had a lot of fun with you. I really hope we have more times together!" Her lips expressed a honest and beautiful smile.

Looking back at the wall, she pondered how to write her name on it. Then, she looked at her hands. "I think I will use this, I don't have much choice." Ruby showed off her nails, that were sharp like a cat claw. She took a step back, letting Manya write his name first. "By the way, I will keep my promise and play you something." The girl smiled, after getting through this dungeon she finally remembered a song. One that was kind of funny, kind of uplifting and very joyful... Something that reminded her of the boy.