Chapter 48: Chapter 47: The Aftermath – End the First Arc.

A groan leaked from Drake’s mouth, the rays of the morning sun touching his face. He opened his eyes, trying to blink away the bleariness, but not only were his eyes unfocused but his head was a jumbled mess as well.

He felt pain everywhere, which only added to the confusion, barely being able to remember where he was.

After a few moments of blinking and trying to move his body, his vision cleared enough that he could make out the small crater he was currently in. And the small pink haired construct that was somehow resting on his chest.

Which was heavy and fucking hurt by the way.

But he didn’t have the heart to wake her, and not to mention he didn’t have the strength. His body felt like solid lead. So Drake was content to just lay down and relax for now.

Drake’s chest was still painful and progressively itchy as he felt his muscles and bones mend underneath his skin. Every passing moment giving a small amount of clarity to what had happened just last night.

His ankle pained as it mended. Where Bear had gripped him, slamming him to the ground. His wrist felt bent in the wrong direction as it slowly aligned itself correctly, reminding him that Bear had also crushed it when he pushed him into the ground even more.

Drake’s left hand struggled to rub his abdomen which felt like the worst of it. He could feel the burnt tissue along with the not surprisingly more than tender parts where Bear had brought his fist down on him, and where Drake himself had seared his flesh to stop from bleeding.

Drake coughed a sigh through his still incredibly hoarse and pained throat, barely able to bring a self admonishing grin to his face.

He stared into the deep blue sky. The endless ocean of blue was clear as day, but soon became distorted in Drake's vision.

He bit down hard, clenching his jaw nearly cracking his teeth.

He had lost. He had said his piece and gave his all, to still lose without so much as leaving a scratch on Bear. The man had only even moved because he wanted to, not because Drake made him.

Drake choked back a scream in his chest, a low shaky growl only escaping his clenched jaw.

The mountain was high, and Drake was barely at the starting line. He became complacent again, drunk on his perceived power from crushing the Kobolds. He had forgotten that other people had unknown abilities, secret techniques, titles, and possibly even better classes than himself. His class was made for the long haul, and he had tried to sprint right out of the gate.

Fuck. Drake cursed, releasing his held breath.

He laid there for a few more minutes, just trying to clear his head, the sound of Natto’s rhythmic breathing somehow comforting in the otherwise silent morning.

Drake felt unusually weak, it must have been at least 6 hours since he started recovering but he still felt battered and broken. And now that he had a clear head to think, the fact he was still recovering was very queer.

He finally noticed the blinking icons on the peripheral of his vision.

[Weakened]

Weakened - Debuff

• Target is placed in a weakened state of 10% to maximum stats from overuse of their body.
• Can not be cleansed
• Extended Weakness due to massive overuse, Lasts 5 hours 47 Minutes 13 Seconds

[Divine Frailty]

Divine Frailty [F Rank] - Debuff

• Target is weakened to a state of 50% of Maximum Status
• Regeneration is cut by 50%
• Can only be cleansed by a skill of its rank or higher.
• Lasts 18 Hours 47 Minutes 13 Seconds

Well ain’t that a bitch… Drake sighed.

But he couldn’t refute that he had gone much further than he had intended. The fight with Bear was, all things considered. Eye opening.

Drake made it a point to fight Shigure if he ever had an opportunity to. He could only guess how strong the second strongest person was. Or maybe Bear was simply a freak of nature. He did have a Divine Debuff after all. Drake didn’t even consider something like Divinity affinity to even be present.

He tried to flex his hands but only received a painful recoil in his right arm. He wanted to check out his body more but fatigue stripped him of the energy and the strength to move.

After several more minutes Drake started becoming bored. He wasn’t able to move his body, but his internal mana flow was good enough to practice some things.

He needed to make use of every second he could if he was to catch up and surpass this new wall that was the man Bear. If Bear had been one that came for Drake’s life, instead of someone who was his friend. Drake shuddered at the thought.

And from what Bear had said, they were coming, whether Drake wanted to accept that or not.

So Drake practiced casting his magic above his head. It was an interesting exercise in what he could and could not do.

As long as Drake could imagine a spell coalescing in front of himself and guide his mana in the correct direction, he could summon a magic circle and then produce the spell.

He could summon a fireball in front of his mouth, a drop of water in front of his eye. Drake could even move the earth that was touching the back of his head, allowing him to tilt his head forwards so he could get a better look at his body.

Regretfully after seeing it, Drake didn’t even want to describe how battered and torn he was. Somehow most of his armor had survived, but his pants were torn and barely covering him, his boots were bent and dented. Thankfully his rare Garbs had taken almost no damage, save some frayed edges, and some crusted blood and dirt. Ok, a lot of crusted blood and a little dirt.

But in the places Drake could see his flesh, it was mortifying. Black and blue covered every inch of his flesh that was exposed, the seared flesh was a harsh black.

Drake felt regret once again for losing, had he been better and more apt at fighting it may have been different. But he was still just a normal person, he had learned a few things from his escapades and training with the Kobold Commanders, but at the end of the day, they were just animals and there was no technique. He could only grow so far outside his raw destructive power, and that was what had been carrying the majority of his fights so far.

But like Natto had mentioned, he was an all rounder. When Drake finally met another class above his level, that specialized in something -Drake had no idea if Bear was a defensive specialist or attack based on everything- he had been helpless because of his low level, and lack of real experience in fighting people.

Drake lowered his head, pushing his self loathing concerns to the back of his mind. And tested out some more things he could do. He found that he was actually unable to create spells outside his vision. It wasn’t as if he lacked the imagination to do so, but it seemed that there was a limit to the creation if there was no line of sight. But, Drake was able to place spells there after he had casted them, also noticing the extra expenditure of mana when he kept spells out longer than normal.

For example he could move a Rock Bullet from his frontal vision and have it move to the side of his head out of his line of sight. And he could still feel the bullet through his mana manipulation, almost as if it was a part of him. He could even insert the bullet into the ground, feeling the small chunk of earth separate from the ground, letting him move it underneath him, albeit with some janky control that was nowhere near the fine control Drake wanted but he would work on that later. And had it pop up on the other side of his head into his vision again.

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Drake also found out that he could place his spells into already made physical manifestations of his elements. Placing a Rock Bullet into the ground, he could disperse his mana into the ground, allowing him to control a large portion of it and shape it to his will.

There was only one problem though. The use of this cleared him out. When he had tried to take control of the earth in a size around the same as his body it had drained him so much that he lost control immediately, forcing him to stop his practice for now. But still. it was something he added to the list of things he could possibly use for later.

Drake had started feeling slightly better and had gained control of his head after a half hour or so of practice. Leaning his head forward and up he looked at Natto, who had surprisingly still been able to sleep through his practice.

“Is she really sleeping, or is she screwing with me….” Drake mumbled softly.

“Naw she’s sleeping,” a voice said from above him.

Drake looked up to see Bear, a half smile on his face, and a cup in his hand.

“Well do you mind helping me out then, I’d like to get up at some point,” Drake scoffed.

“No can do there man. When I tried to help last night after our… spar.. She nearly tried to kill me,” Bear said, his mouth going flat as he shrugged a shoulder.

Bear jumped and landed next to Drake in the crater, with surprisingly no sound. The man must have weighed nearly 300 pounds of pure muscle alone but made no noise.

Crouching down and bringing his voice to a whisper Bear brought the cup to Drake’s mouth, making sure to eye the small construct to see if she would wake up and try to murder him again, “Here's some water, your throats probably fucked from last night,” Bear smirked.

Drake raised a brow, but appreciated the joke and the water all the same.

“Little miss over there, was up most of the night, double checking on you. I didn’t know constructs could merge with their owners so it was a surprise when she uh… disappeared inside you a couple times,” Bear admitted sheepishly.

Drake leaned his head back, heaving a relieved sigh from the cold water before speaking, “That’s…” he closed his eyes and thanked her in his heart. She had been haughty, manipulative, and quick to temper, but she was bound to him, and grew to quickly be important to him. It had been so long since he had been able to trust someone outside his family, and he was truly appreciative of that.

Drake let the feeling pass after a few silent seconds and then opened his eyes to look at Bear, who was still casually sitting on his haunches eyeing the small construct wearily like a rabbit ready to bolt at the slightest sign of movement.

“Did she really scare you that badly?” Drake painfully chuckled.

“I’m not good with kids bro. They always cry when they see me…” Bear said trailing off.

Drake blinked a few times, astonished that the man actually cared about something so trivial. Chuckling again slightly, “That is hilarious. I never thought I would see a real anime trope come to life. Are you really trying to act like a gentle giant type after what you just did to me?”

Bear looked away again sheepishly, “Yeah about that…. I’m sorry I went overboard, but after seeing how hard you were pushing, I couldn’t not show at least what I could do. Again sorry about the debuff… I know it stings.”

Drake, very slowly and barely shook his head, “It isn’t a big deal. If anything I should thank you for showing me another goal to reach. But I don’t think-” Drake trailed off looking down at Natto, who had now clearly woken up as she bared her teeth at Bear, her tail and ears standing straight up as she hissed through her teeth.

“What are you doing here! I told you to get the fuck out! How dare you even come close to him after what you did!!” she hissed.

“Whoa, easy there Natto,” Drake said trying to calm her with a half grin, “It isn’t his fault I asked for it.”

“Drake!” she shouted, moving quickly to the side of his head, her hands moving nervously around not sure what to check first, “You are awake. That is good, how do you feel?”

“I’m surviving.” Drake responded, noticing that Bear had stood up and backed away slowly, as if Natto was the actual Bear.

“Ah, thank goodness,” Natto sighed, her hand on her chest. Then a fist quickly found the side of Drake’s head.

“OW! Hey I’m injured here!” Drake said with a half-hearted laugh. His body shimmered in pain slightly, but decided to ignore it.

“And who is at fault for such an outcome!!” she yelled, her eyes going to Bear steely, then back to Drake, “I told you it was a bad idea! If it was not for the two stones you had for your empty slots you would have died! Yo-You can nott keep doing that!” she wailed, suddenly breaking down in tears. Surprising Drake, but he just looked on at her dotingly as she cried into his shoulder, her hands harmlessly pounding on it.

“It’s alright, look I’m fine, I survived. You won’t get rid of me that easily,” Drake said, trying his best to move his left hand to the top of Natto’s head, “That goes for all of you,” Drake said loudly, fighting back a cough.

A dirty blond head shook at suddenly being addressed as it was slightly peeking over the edge of the crater. Theo slowly rose into full view, monocle and all, “Are you more amicable my liege..? This one apologizes for daring to question your decision of the night past. It was not my place to speak out,” he said, fixing his monocle, then giving a slight bow as he stood fully erect.

Drake managed to slowly shake his head, remorse clear on his pained face, “No Theo, I shouldn’t have lashed out because of my injured pride…” Drake said trailing off, his thoughts going to Natto and how she had quickly become someone Drake had full trust in. And how he thought possibly Theodore may be the same some day, if given the chance.

“I- Please continue to tell me when I’m making a rash decision. From here on that is,” Drake smiled, but only half of his face followed the action, the other suddenly had a wailing Natto covering it, bringing more tear covered fists down on it.

Theodore’s face beamed, he twirled his mustache excitedly as he spoke with glee, “Yes! Without a shred of doubt this one will rejoice in the honorable duty of steering my lord in the proper direction when he is found amiss!”

“Alright not that far, baby steps my guy,” Drake chortled.

“Well, it looks like I’ve overstayed my welcome,” Bear said, his hand scratching the back of his head, finally chiming in, “But first Drake, I need to go over some things with you.”

Drake raised himself to a sitting position using his earth magic to mold a seat, forcing Natto to roll from his face down to his lap. She shook, her tail and ears flapping slightly, then glowered at Bear, but held her tongue.

“Oh? And what’s that?” Drake asked.

“It’s about the murder group, that’s out to get you.”