Swordsmaster Fox-girl

After punching the Guildmaster (like he’d asked me to), I got to the lake and sat down next to it. “Let’s see how strong I’ve grown. Status.”

==STATUS==

Name: Esther Raze

Species: Fox-kin

Class: Soldier of Stars
Sub-class: -UNCHOSEN-
Sub-class: -UNCHOSEN-

Rank: ★☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆ (1/12)

Titles: Master of Swords (+10% to STR, DEX, and AUR) // Star-breaking swordsman (Access to Cosmic swordsmanship) // Slayer of Mages (+4 to ARC) // Devil of Arylist (+5% to AUR) // Reincarnator (hides the user’s Titles to any and all appraisal skills and items)

Gift: Kirion, the Blood-drinking sword (current rank: ★★☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆ [2/12]) {DISCONNECTED}

 Avaron, the Mana-eating sword (current rank: ★★☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆ [2/12]) {DISCONNECTED}

Trait: False pragmatist (+4 to INT and DEX // -10 to Hidden stat: Emotional stability)

=================STATUS=================

STR: 14 (+1.4) → 18 (+1.8)

DEX: 18 (+1.8) (+4) → 25 (+2.5) (+4) [CAPPED UNTIL NEXT STAR RANK]

INT: 12 (+4)

END: 8 → 14

LUK: 5

ARC: 12 (+4) → 22 (+4)

AUR: 25 (+2.5) (+1.25) [CAPPED UNTIL NEXT STAR RANK]

Current state: Blessing of the [Outer Sun God] (Tier 1) // Blessing of the [Storms Monarch] // Curse of the [Monarch of Violence] (1) // Curse of the [Monarch of Violence] (2)

====SKILLS====

{E} [Minor heal]

Completely heals minor wounds like light cuts and bruises on the target’s body at the cost of the user’s Mana.

{D} [Iron tail] (Race-exclusive skill)

As the user infuses Aura or Mana into her tail, it hardens like metal. Can be used for both offense and defense.

{E} [Ice-cold beauty] (Passive // Active)

Passively makes the user more attractive and sets her neutral expression to boredom at the cost of making it harder for strangers to approach her. When used as an [Active] skill, the user’s facial expression is eliminated. Due to the trait [False pragmatist], this skill does not remove or suppress the user’s emotions.

{NS} [Fox Fire] (Race-exclusive skill)

A Skill created by Fox-kin Shamans that have managed to achieve a connection with the other world. Allows the user to manifest and control wisp-like blue Flames and paves the way to more mystical evolutions of Fox-kins.

{E} [Star steps] (Part of Cosmic swordsmanship)

Like the Celestial whom this sword style took inspiration from, the user draws the power of stars to make footholds, enhancing her speed and allowing her to briefly step on thin air.

{D} [Meteor sword] (Part of Cosmic swordsmanship)

Utilizing the power of gravity, the user’s sword lights up like a meteor in the night sky and crashes down onto the opponent, inflicting heavy damage.

{C} [Moon arch] (Part of Cosmic swordsmanship)

The Great General of the Old Gods’ army struck the Celestial, knocking him back thousands of miles. Clutching his wounded parts, the Celestial called upon the raw power of the Starlight that he was born in and split the General’s heart into pieces, half a world away. Only being able to use an inferior version of this, the user delivers a flurry of blows containing pure Aura that extends and traces the trajectory of her blade, dealing heavy cutting damage.

=====

‘O-Okay, that’s a lot to think about.’

It only made sense. After all, I was so busy that I even forgot I had Status in the past year…

Anyways, Soldier of Stars was the class that that silver-haired woman gave me.

 

[Soldier of Stars]
Deals more damage with Star-related attacks. This Class can be advanced.

 

It said there that Nira and Aerin were [DISCONNECTED]. It was understandable. I’d leave me to if… You know what? Forget about it! 

 

My STR, DEX, and END had increased by a lot. Again, it made sense because I used to run around the town all the time, working fifteen-hour shifts… It was fucked up now that I think about it.

As for my ARC, it was probably increasing due to my using [Minor Heal] like, a lot during the past year.

But…there was something more interesting. Two of my stats reached 25. That meant I just needed another to reach 25 to get to 2-star!

Well, kind of.

I remembered that Otherworlders had to do something called a “progression quest” to break through. This was much better than running around with no clue how to break through since for non-Otherworlders, breakthroughs felt very, very random. Holy shit, I’d just realized how miraculous it was that I managed to become a Swordsmaster just by killing.

I mean, I’d heard that some had to dive deep below the sea to even break through a star rank! 

Anyways, onto the Curses and Blessings.

 

[Blessing of the {Outer Sun God}] (Tier 1)
Deal more damage with Fire attacks.

[Blessing of the {Storms Monarch}]
???

 

‘That woman… Ast, was it?’ 

She was a total bitch, giving me a blessing without telling me what it was and daring to tell me that I owed her!

 

[Curse of the {Monarch of Violence}] (1)
Instead of being percentage-based, the user’s titles will give a flat bonus instead once she reaches 3-star.

[Curse of the {Monarch of Violence}] (2)
???

 

The first curse was very damaging in the long run, and the second curse was so fucking ominous that I’d prefer having two of the first ones.

‘Looks like that bastard really knows how to fuck me over…’

No use thinking about it now. Only my Skills were left to muse over.

‘Fox Fire’s description is…interesting.’

What did it mean by Mystical? I didn’t know, but it was definitely going to be something amazing. I mean, it was evolution, alright? Of course it had to be amazing!

After giving my Status one last look, I decided on what I’d do.

‘My ARC is the closest stat to 25 right now, so I’ll focus on increasing my Mana.’

But without Nira, the fastest way of gaining Mana was gone. So, I did the second-fastest method: using lots of magic.

Just existing and letting my body automatically absorb Mana was too slow for my liking. The books I’d read told me that using a lot of magic was a good way for lower star-rank individuals to gain more Mana, and Ihwa also told me so in my past life after I’d asked her why she was firing spells into the sky daily.

Which magic you use didn’t matter. Your Mana reserve would increase every time you used Mana.

The amount of Mana used hardly affected anything in lower star ranks. So, using spells that consumed small amounts of Mana was the most optimal way to do it.

With that out of the way, I got to the nearest tree and reached out with my hand. Touching the hard bark, I nodded in satisfaction. ‘This is sturdy enough.’ I tensed my muscles and—

“Eughhh!”

—Slammed my hand into the tree without any protection.

It hurt like hell, but to gain more power, it was worth it.

I repeated the action again and again until the bark tore the skin of my hand open. Then, I slumped down on the ground and hovered my intact hand over my injured one.

“[Minor Heal]”

Although the wounds had healed immediately, this was going to leave a scar. I knew it. Somewhere deep in my heart, I hated having scars. I felt like I wanted to die if anyone else saw these scars.

However, I needed power to revive my loved ones as soon as possible. 

“Insecurities be damned!” I slammed my hand into the tree bark again.

“[Minor Heal]”

.

.

[ARC has increased by 0.0001]

[ARC has increased by 0.0005]

[ARC has increased by 0.0004]

[ARC has increased by 0.0002]

[ARC has increased by 0.0005]

[ARC has increased by 0.0001]

[ARC has increased by 0.0002]

[ARC has increased by 0.0006]

[ARC has…

.

.

.

After a full day of smashing my hand over and over again, I managed to achieve a grand total of… 0.026 more ARC.

‘Okay, this is doable.’

In fact, it hadn’t even been a full day! It was early afternoon. Maybe. The only reason why I stopped was that I didn’t want to go into Mana-exhaustion.

Sighing, I looked at my now-scar-riddled hand one last time before turning back to the house. However…

“How long have you been standing there?”

…I saw Fred sitting on his bear, watching me with thoughtful eyes.

“Long enough to know that you’re a total masochist.”

I scoffed. Flipping him off, I brushed past him. Though, I didn’t forget to ask him the thing that currently weighed most on my mind.

“Where’s Nowa? I have to make her lunch…”

“You don’t need to worry about that. She’s playing in the town with Freya.”

“She’s DOING WHAT!?”

It was cloudy today with almost no sun. But still, Nowa being inside the town without me accompanying her? Dangerous! A lot could happen! What if some thugs killed her? What if she was kidnapped? WHAT IF SHE SCRAPED HER KNEE!?

So, I marched right up to Fred again and lifted him up by the collar. The bear—Ursa tried to jank him back, but I promptly kicked it in the face to make it stop.

“TELL ME! WHERE IS SHE!?”

“I-I don’t know!” Fred stuttered. I know I was scaring him right now, but Nowa was more important! “F-Freya only told me that she’s going to the town…”

“Tch, useless.”

Roughly throwing him to the ground, I rushed toward the town.

‘Please be safe, Nowa…’