Chapter 100: Chapter. 85: Parents

I received the 30 second Guidance of Stars from the quest, it made me feel a bit happier as I turned away from the Moonfangs I had just killed. I returned to the cave only to be met with loud cackling from Sun.

“What’s so funny?” I frowned, feeling some annoyance.

“You should’ve seen your face!” he laughed more. “You looked so⁠— lost?” It chuckled. “Oh, Blair, you are very innocent. Do not worry however, it wasn’t meant to be some kind of joke. It was indeed the best chance to kill two Lower Moons.”

I frowned. “What do you mean by innocent? What were they even doing?”

“They were making a family.” Sun shook his head.

I paused. “Oh…”

“Anyway,” he continued. “That’s not particularly important. The important thing is that you seem to level up considerably faster than what I was expecting. Good job on that.”

“It’s because I am E grade…” I sighed.

“Is that so? Even better job in killing both of the Moonfangs then,” Sun mused. “You’re doing great Blair, I know that in your eyes this place ⁠— my home ⁠— is nothing more than a passing thing for you, but I hope to have your help to kill those of Moon, and once that is done.” His gaze met mine. “I will serve you, unconditionally.”

I frowned. “Wasn’t it an alliance?”

He shook his head. “I’ll acknowledge you as the alpha leader, you can go much further than whatever I can. Your rapid improvement shows it.”

I couldn’t help but feel slightly confused. “Is that so?”

He nodded. “It has taken me some years to gather my strength, but you? Not very long from what I can judge. I’ve always been scared of fighting those of Moon, and yet you do it without hesitation.”

“Because I have nothing to lose?” I asked as if it were obvious, even though the statement hurt ever so slightly. “All I can do is get stronger to stay alive.”

“That is true,” he finally agreed. “But even then, respect you deeply.”

I shook my head feeling disapproval for his statement, but it also seemed like I wouldn’t be able to argue. I didn’t really want to lead anything, even though having Sun join me was a nice thing, it was also something that⁠— well, it was neat but I simply thought of it as an amicable or even friend-like relationship rather than some type of leader and subject dynamic.

“Anyway,” he spoke. “Even though this underground place is always under the mantle of the night, my senses tell me it is time to sleep. So I will do that, you should rest as well, Blair. There are long days ahead.” After he said that, he circled for a bit before curling into a ball and sleeping.

I stared for a brief moment, and suddenly yawned. I did feel tired. My mind was⁠— well, it was doing its things. I shook my head, and went to select a skill.

◇ ◇ ◇

Some familiar options were present.

[Skill ⁠— Covert Lethality (Rare Passive) ⁠— If the enemy is unaware if your presence, gain 50% bonus damage for the next three seconds after initiating an attack.]

[Skill ⁠— Chain Frenzy (Rare Passive) ⁠— After every kill gain a 5% temporary boost to your attributes up to a total of 15% with a duration of two minutes, each kill refreshes duration.]

[Skill ⁠— Firing up (Rare Passive) ⁠— For every five minutes in battle gain a 5% temporary boost to your attributes for a total of 15% bonus. Disengaging a battle for more than a minute will reset the passive.]

[Skill ⁠— Bone Breaker (Rare Passive) ⁠— Cracker of Skulls. Bones are 20% more susceptible to breakage when you attack them.]

[Skill ⁠— Friend of the Dark Plants (Rare Passive) ⁠— All Dark Plants within your vicinity will receive a 20% Attribute Boost. Direct contact with the plant will increase this bonus to 30%.]

I pondered for less than a second before I made my decision. Bone Breaker was probably the most attractive one out of all of them, in a more practical way⁠— well granted I had no idea when it would not come in useful, but considering my Prophecy was based around Dark Plants it was a bit of a bad idea to not select the skill. Without a second thought I made my decision.

[Skill Learned ⁠— Friend of the Dark Plants (Rare Passive) ⁠— All Dark Plants within your vicinity will receive a 20% Attribute Boost. Direct contact with the plant will increase this bonus to 30%.]

Not long after, I opened my attributes and distributed all 6 free points on Wisdom given that Frenzy was so intensive on mana consumption, and soon. I felt strong.

Name: Blair | Level: 35

Race: ??? (E-Grade)

Feats: [Lone Survivor], [Bottomless Ambition], [Champion Of Champions], [Champion Of Illusion], [Pest Control], [DeathShot], [Five of a Kind], [Pacifist of the New World]

Prophecy: Scarlet Bloom (D-Grade)

Basic skills: Universal Understanding (NaN), Universal Inquiry (NaN)

Free attribute points: 0

VIG: 84 | END: 42 |

STR: 40 | AGI: 51 |

PER: 43 | WIS: 90 |

Skills: [Proficient Archery (Uncommon Passive)], [Explosive Shot (Rare)], [Power Draw (Uncommon)], [Penumbral Sense (Rare Passive)], [Frictionless Slide (Rare Passive)], [Burrowing Shot (Rare)], [Flashbang (Rare)], [Mana Manipulation (Epic Passive)], [Three-Marked (Rare Passive)], [Frenzy (Rare)]

Prophecy Skills: [Seed Manipulation (Rare Passive)], [All Dark (Uncommon Passive)], [Friend of the Dark Plants (Rare Passive)]

Attunements: Dark plants (II)

Prime Currency: 50

I smiled. I was pretty close to 100 Wisdom, and that, well, that made me happy. I nodded to myself, and sat down on the distant corner. I yawned, and laid down somewhat weirdly. My eyelids felt heavy, and even though I was dirty I ended up falling asleep in no time.

◇ ◇ ◇

Dreaming of weird things.

The sun shone through the window⁠—

Dust particles floated down, the wood creaked⁠—

Moss. Damp. Earthy⁠—

I always wanted to be a great warrior.

I opened my eyes, my vision was hazy as I stared at the wooden ceiling. The ambience was warm, the air smelled of the earth and humid. My body felt warm as I awoke, and looked around in the treehouse. I felt like something was off, but I was unsure about what exactly was wrong. I stretched and looked around, quickly spotting a bow on the far away corner. It was a bit dented, and its wood was cracking, the string was old⁠— next to it there were some dull tipped arrows.

My bow and my arrows. I moved from the bed, and walked towards them. I wore nothing but a shirt that fit loosely around my body, and every step was tiring. I had no idea what hour it was, but eventually I did reach my bow. It was a gift from my parents for me to train in the way of archery. Since it was one of the main methods of combat here, well⁠— it was on our veins supposedly, not like i paid attention to those things being said by other people.

I reached the bow, perhaps it was a bit of a routine but I nocked an arrow and looked around. Finding a marking on the other side of the house, I aimed and soon shot the arrow. As if it was guaranteed. It hit the same groove and dented the wood ever so slightly. I smiled, feeling a sudden sense of accomplishment, it was quite the long shot⁠— and I had yet to warm up. My arm throbbed a bit, which wasn’t a good sign.

Right, it’s better to stretch first.

I warmed up my muscles, eating some fruit along the way. Meat wasn’t available until dinner after all. I moved in place, jumped a bit, and simply tried to get my heartrate up, and soon enough, I was sweating, ready to practice more⁠— and well, rather than practice it was just fun. I never saw it as a practice thing really, it was the only thing I could do at home. I looked towards the door and shook my head. I couldn’t really leave the house without permission after all. I wasn’t an experienced warrior ready for the wild just yet, but I sure looked forward to it. I finally turned to a window at the back. It was open, letting in a cool breeze, and as I glanced I saw a small haystack target with a fruit in front of it. My mind paused for a moment, and then I remembered the words of my parents just last night.

Blair if you hit the target, then you can leave the house for today.

You are reading story Blair: A Non-Human LitRPG at novel35.com

Well, it was a one day thing, but I also wanted to go outside. I didn’t really get to leave the place all that often after all. Sure there were exceptions, but most of the time it was accompanied, and others it was me sneaking out a bit⁠— which was always met with harsh punishments. Thankfully, I had convinced my parents that I was going to be obedient⁠— which I was. I very much was, they were great warriors that brought food home, without them, I’d starve to death!

I looked towards the wall, where the rest of the arrows were and quickly counted five of them. So I had a total of six shots? Looking out of the window I saw a small sign next to the target and the fruit, the fruit itself was⁠— a purple color and round, I never found out its name, my parents refused to tell me ⁠— next to it there was a small sign with a number.

20 meters.

I had six shots to hit the target away from twenty meters through the window? I smiled, I did feel confident this time around, I had been practicing a lot after all! Soon enough, I stood by the window propped on a small chair to perfectly line up my shot. Otherwise it was a bit hard to see.

I fired the first one⁠— miss. Second⁠— Miss. The third, the fourth, the fifth⁠— misses. And finally, the sixth. I bit my lip, I did feel hopeful for leaving the house, but it was alright if I didn’t get to leave. I was used to it anyway. With all that in mind, I fired. The arrow streaked through the air, and was hit by a small gust of wind, it trembled and curved⁠—

Hit. The fruit fell over next to the hay, and I trembled ever so slightly. I had done it!

Feeling triumph, I propped the bow back on the wall and headed towards the door. This time without guilt or hesitance I opened it, and soon enough I came to see the village in the distance. The house was a bit isolated, but that also meant it was special. It was the one of highest status! Well, I was told that, it meant that no one would bother us most of the time. It didn’t take long before I left, the ground was a bit uncomfortable under my feet, but I didn’t mind it ⁠— I had to be tough to become a great warrior!

Soon, I made it to the main road of the village, where all the branches and trees were cleared, where the only place with sunlight actually was. I wandered around as other elves pointed at me in confusion, I hadn’t met a lot of people really, so I was nothing more than a stranger, which was fine. Strangers were bad after all, people that weren’t worth my time unless they knew my parents.

I wandered around and around, and then⁠— a firm grip held my hand out of nowhere. I turned with slight nervousness only to see⁠— an arm full of muscle and markings, scarred all the way to the shoulder. As I looked over his squared face and the frown, I noticed it was my father. I couldn’t say so much as a word as I was brought back to the house. And soon, I was met with a very angry father.

“Why did you leave?” He asked, irritation evident.

Soon my mother arrived, and in a similar fashion to my father, she reprimanded me too. At the same time, upon finding out I had hit the target, they didn’t smile. Instead their faces became ugly, and before I knew it, the fruit was back in place, and I had a bow and real arrows in hand. It felt different⁠— heavier, harder to use. We stood outside, the fruit moved to about the same distance.

“Blair, you won’t need to prop yourself anymore. You just have to hit the fruit, yeah?” My mother asked, though her face showed anything but kindness. In the end, I had no choice but to nod, and nock an arrow.

Both of my parents stood next to me and watched me very carefully. Analyzing my every move, taking into account every twitch of my muscles. I felt nervous as I aimed, the bow was painful to draw, so much strength⁠— but I persisted. I wanted to show them how far I had come. Gritting my teeth, I fired the first shot as pain coursed through my arm.

Miss.

The second, with stiffness.

Miss.

The third, the fourth, my arm burned.

Misses.

At the fifth my arm was trembling from the pain and I couldn’t see straight, and that’s when I heard a sigh come from my mother.

“You cannot do it Blair. We’ve tried everything, but I don’t think you have hopes to be a warrior just yet. Isn’t that right⁠—” The trees rustled as my father’s name echoed.

“That is right. Blair, you must practice more.”

I felt sadness. How many times had I heard that?

“I can do it!”

My protest however, just angered my mom as she picked up a vine from a distant tree. She came towards me as it dangled from her arm. I was a bit confused, but she spoke.

“Nock an arrow. Your father will be the target.”

My heart skipped. “What?”

Before I knew it, my father was standing about ten meters ahead of me⁠— a normal target distance. Next to me my mother stood.

“You’re going to shoot at him, if you hit it with perfect form, then you’re a warrior.” I instantly shook my head⁠— my mother slapped me. “It’s not an option.”

I swallowed as I stared at her eyes. It’s not an option. I looked towards my father who also nodded. It’s not an option. I nocked the arrow and quickly thought. I just have to miss. If I miss I won’t hurt him, and I won’t be a warrior! I didn’t want to become a warrior at the cost of injuring, or even killing my parents. I loved my parents.

With new-found resolution I nocked an arrow and aimed to the side⁠— A shadow hit my arm as burning pain assaulted me.

“Fix your posture,” my mother said from the side as my skin became red.

I fixed the way I was holding my bow, but still aimed⁠— more pain came. As I was admonished for lacking in some way⁠— I swallowed but endured the pain as I was corrected and fixed, and soon, finally. I still was aiming improperly with perfect posture, and just as I was about to shoot, my mother came to my side and⁠—

Nudged. She nudged my bow towards my father’s heart. My breathing stalled as the pain around my arms and lower back intensified.

“I don’t⁠—”

“Shush. You are going to.”

“I don’t want to!”

I protested and tried to let go of the bow, but in a flash. My mother held my arms and forced me to aim at my father. My heart was beating faster and faster as I squirmed under her grip, but to no avail.

Please no⁠—

The string trembled.

“P-Please!”

“Blair, you’re just a Village maiden,” my mother said that, but she still forced me to continue.

The string creaked.

“No!” i tightened my grip, but her hand simply pinched into my skin making me yelp⁠—

The arrow was let go.

NO⁠—

◇ ◇ ◇

I screamed as I woke up with a cold sweat. I stared at the cave ceiling as my messy hair fell within my vision. I looked down only to see bone-like armor as I remembered⁠—

A nightmare. I bit my lip as I began to tear up.

“Blair, are you okay?” Sun asked suddenly but I didn’t feel like replying. Instead choosing to quietly cry as I tried to drown the memory away.

I was a village maiden. I was supposed to be grateful that I was taught how to behave⁠— how to do things⁠— I was grateful? I bit my finger as I began to feel frustrated. That arrow was caught mid air from my father as he shook his head. In the end, no one was hurt except for me. It was⁠…

It’s the very first thing I chose to forget about. The first true painful memory. The sentiment existed in the past, based on my vague memories but at this point it was right there in front of my eyes. It was impossible to ignore as I digested how I felt at the time.

Did my parents even love me?

I began to cry.