Chapter 224 - Flying Free

I exploded out of Lun’Kat’s lair, immediately tumbling and falling to the “ground” as my wings shattered against her protective illusion. I tumbled and rolled on the hard rocks, not a shred of evidence that it was a massive illusion instead of natural rock present. I stabilized into a roll, then as my feet got under me I kicked up and re-launched myself with [Scintillating Ascent], into the blue sky.

Soaring in the air, feeling the wind in my hair, and the sun on my face for the first time in months. No longer was I trapped in the mines! No longer was I a prisoner in the dwarven city! No more playing doctor to a genocidal dragon!

Free!

I was free!

Free to fly in the sky! My eyes burned and forced themselves into a hard squint as I saw full sunlight for the first time in months. I continued to fly away from Lun’Kat’s lair, flapping at full speed, pale skin crisping in the summer sunlight for the first time in ages. I felt little shivers go through my body as [Scintillating Ascent] rapidly leveled up, the minor ‘transformation’ aspect to it working its literal magic on my body.

Ok, mostly free. I looked down at the precious egg I’d nabbed from the dragon’s lair. It was a deep, fiery red, with bright golden lines crossing over it. It was warm, almost burning to the touch. One more flap, and [Bullet Time] broke, time resuming its normal march.

Thinking back on it - shit. How was I supposed to hatch this egg? Did I need to keep it warm? Lun’Kat stuck her eggs in a firepit while she napped, should I do the same?

At the same time, the egg hadn’t been in a fire in her lair - but she clearly had some sort of stasis field, freezing things in place. Like the unicorn foal. I had no idea what that meant for hatching said egg though. Had it ruined things? Or was the stasis a proper stasis?

Argh! This was hard. I guess I was going to try and match the temperature the egg gave off with my Radiance. It would stop it from losing heat too fast, and was hopefully where the egg needed or wanted to be. I would be so pissed if I got the egg of some fantastical creature, then ruined it by being totally clueless how this worked. I wanted to get a companion out of this, not a hardboiled egg.

I wonder what would be inside though? Given the place of honor in Lun’Kat’s collection, given that it was next to a unicorn of all creatures, it had to be something good. My greedy little heart wanted it to be a red dragon, a heist Lun’Kat had pulled against one of her own.

I carefully adjusted the temperature my hands were giving out to the egg, and once I’d worked it out, I tied it off with [Persistent Casting].

Which reminded me - I needed to check on my new levels! I should’ve gotten a TON!

I turned my notifications back on.

[*Ding!* Congratulations! [The Dawn Sentinel] has leveled up to level 377->418! +3 Dexterity, +24 Speed, +24 Vitality, +170 Mana, +170 Mana Regen, +48 Magic power, +48 Magic Control from your Class per level! +1 Free Stat for being Human per level! +1 Mana, +1 Mana Regen from your Element per level!]

LEVELS! A ton of levels for a single healing event! Sure, I’d imagine that healing a dragon would be worth more than that, but maybe “healing a potentially Remus-ending threat” got me dinged on the “Sentinel” aspect of the job.

[*ding!* Congratulations! [Butterfly Mystic] has leveled up to level 338->345! +8 Strength, +8 Dexterity, +70 Speed, +70 Vitality, +70 Mana, +70 Mana Regen, +70 Magic power, +70 Magic Control from your Class per level! +1 Free Stat for being Human per level! +1 Strength, +1 Mana Regen from your Element per level!]

Booo. Not a lot of levels. Then again, the only Radiance magic I’d used was flying away, and trying to acquire some dragon knowledge.

I continued to suppress my capped skills notifications. They just weren’t that interesting. No, what was significantly more interesting were the rest of my levels.

No [Cosmic Presence] levels made me sad. If only I’d permitted creatures in the aura when I was building the skill, it probably would’ve capped. Along with getting me out that much faster. Prolonged time multiplying Lun’Kat’s natural healing? Yes please!

[*ding!* [Wheel of Sun and Moon] has leveled up! 311 -> 395!]

No surprise there! I’d been using it a TON.

[*ding!* [Sunrise] has leveled up! 198 -> 344!]

Grinding [Sunrise] when I’d been bored between healing sessions paid off!

[*ding!* [Scintillating Ascent] has leveled up! 287 -> 312!]

All that from one escape flight? Nice!

[*ding!* [Scintillating Ascent] has leveled up! 312 -> 313!]

Oh shit. That was a good reminder that I wasn’t clear yet, and I was still in Lun’Kat’s territory.

I focused a bit more on my speed and flying, upping the pace a bit.

[*ding!* [Long-Range Identify] has leveled up! 368 -> 370!]

[*ding!* [Pristine Memories] has leveled up! 210 -> 215!]

Comparing books and runes in my head worked out! I should try remembering Lun’Kat’s lair, and drawing it. That might be good for some more levels.

[*ding!* [Sneaking] has leveled up! 211 -> 270!]

[*ding!* [Avoiding The Dragon’s Eyes] has leveled up! 270 ->341!]

Avoiding the Dragon’s Eyes: The mighty dragon is the most powerful creature on Pallos, and their hoards are famous for being places of amazing treasure. In order to survive sneaking through their home, you’ll need to Avoid the Dragon’s Eyes. Improved and increased sneaking abilities per level when trying to avoid a dragon’s notice, and when a dragon is looking for you.

Well. I can’t say I was disappointed by it - I’m certain the skill helped keep me alive - but now the skill was almost entirely dead. I didn’t plan on avoiding too many more dragons. It was going to suck losing the skill, and replacing it with something else.

Ok, sure, there was a slim chance that Lun’Kat could actually see through the gigantic eyes she painted over the moon, in which case the skill was top-tier. And I did have something to hide from her.

I glanced down at the egg I was holding.

Totally worth it. I now, potentially, maybe had a companion, and an open skill slot. The two were practically made for each other.

A bit strange that the skill didn’t cap though.

[*ding!* [Bullet Time] has leveled up! 299 ->418!]

Living under the effects of [Bullet Time] for a week would do that I guess.

[*ding!* [Oath of Elaine to Lyra] has leveled up! 316 ->375!]

Jackpot! Willingly walking to my death to heal a deadly monster paid off in spades! My numbers were going to be insane! I couldn’t wait to check them.

[*ding!* [Persistent Casting] has leveled up! 290 ->291!]

Meh. I’ll take it.

Cripes, how jaded was I? Getting levels far higher than the vast majority of the Remus population, and my reaction was “meh.” Going out to explore the wider world had done a number on my worldview.

[*ding!* [Passionate Learning] has leveled up! 358 ->376!]

Rummaging through Lun’Kat’s stuff, being curious and trying to learn everything I could got rewarded!

I had no doubt that [Passionate Learning]’s massive experience boost helped with everything. Heck, if I didn’t have the skill, I’d be at what, half my current level? Give or take?

Probably not quite that bad, but I couldn’t deny that it was useful, and one of the key cornerstones to my success. I had to let other people know. Specifically Artemis. Her school was the perfect place for that kind of stuff! If her students got famous for being high-level, that’d help her out.

[*ding!* [Sentinel’s Superiority] has leveled up! 377 ->395!]

[*ding!* For reaching level 400, you’ve unlocked the Class Skill [The Stars Never Fade]. Would you like to take this skill? Y/N]

The Stars Never Fade: You burn as brightly as the twinkling stars in the heavens above. Like the eternal sky, so too will you be eternal, turning back the wheel of time on yourself and those you choose. You have fought disease, injury, plague, war, and all other manner of death. Now fight the good fight against the implacable enemy who takes all - Time. Immortality skill. Reverts age back to a chosen time. Minimum age of 8. Decreased cooldown per level, increased age target control per level.

OH FUCK ME! YES! Yes, I want this skill!

Nothing happened, and I felt my heart plunge into my toes. I slowed my flight, just hovering there as creeping dread came over me.

Oh shit. What if I was too late? Skills only lasted so long once they were offered. What if it was too late? What if I’d lost my chance at being immortal, just because I had my notifications off? What if-

No wait, I was an idiot. I needed to tell the system what skill to replace.

Wait, shoot, what did I want to remove. Um. [Dance with the Heavens] was out, I probably needed [Celestial Affinity], um, um, um. Wait, yeah, there we go. That was the skill to remove.

I focused on getting the skill, and losing [Solar Infusion] for it.

My heart paused for a terrifying moment, the fear of missing my one shot at Immortality rising.

Although - maybe I could ask Night nicely if he’d make me a vampire? Sure, there were a ton of downsides, but I could totally pull off the hot vampire look.

[*ding!* You’ve acquired the skill [The Stars Never Fade]]

YES! Old age was defeated! All I needed to do was get home before anyone I knew or loved died of old age, and I’d be set.

Or died in a war. Like the civil war that had probably already started, but I was told to stay out of it. I needed to do some serious thinking soon about where I needed to go next, and what to do next.

I was tempted to try the skill on myself, but a few things gave me momentary pause.

First, I was pretty happy with my age. 20 was a fine number, heck, 30, 40 were also pretty good numbers. I might start considering at, like, 50 or 60, depending on what my vitality did to my aging, but either way I was already at the lower end of what I was happy with.

Which brought me to the second point. “increased age target control per level” implied that I couldn’t quite exactly control how young I became. I’d die of embarrassment if I ended up at, like 10 years old again. Being reincarnated already kinda sucked in some respects. When I was a kid, I got treated like a kid, and I had felt myself mentally slide back into a kid’s mentality. A combination of how I was treated, and the hardware I was working with.

Puberty sucked. I’d already done it twice. I wasn’t risking doing it a third time.

Lastly, there was the conversation I’d had with Night, way back when. He’d mentioned that all Immortal races were cursed by White Dove. I wasn’t sure if winding back time on myself would count as Immortality - after all, I could still die of old age, and plain old violence - but the skill did mention Immortality. Playing around with a skill, just for White Dove to visit me again and curse me, didn’t seem great. Especially if I got some ridiculous, over-the-top curse like “dirt now melts me like lava” or “Can’t cross running water”, or “must forever dance” or “get turned into a newt” or some other ridiculous curse.

No, the skill was going to stay at level 1 for now. I took a look at my status.

[Name: Elaine]

[Race: Human]

[Age: 20]

[Mana: 409320/409320]

[Mana Regen: 338381 (+353806.125)]

Stats

[Free Stats: 89]

[Strength: 942]

[Dexterity: 1462]

[Vitality: 11118]

[Speed: 11118]

[Mana: 40932]

[Mana Regeneration: 41021 (+35380.6125)]

[Magic Power: 18094 (+339262.5)]

[Magic Control: 18094 (+339262.5)]

[Class 1: [The Dawn Sentinel - Celestial: Lv 418]]

[Celestial Affinity: 418]

[Cosmic Presence: 286]

[The Stars Never Fade: 1]

[Center of the Universe: 418]

[Dance with the Heavens: 418]

[Wheel of Sun and Moon: 418]

[Mantle of the Stars: 418]

[Sunrise: 344]

[Class 2: [Butterfly Mystic - Radiance: Lv 345]]

[Radiance Affinity: 345]

[Radiance Resistance: 345]

[Radiance Conjuration: 345]

[Lantern: 345]

[Nectar: 345]

[Sun's Heart: 345]

[Scintillating Ascent: 313]

[Kaleidoscope: 345]

[Class 3: Locked]

General Skills

[Long-Range Identify: 370]

[Pristine Memories: 215]

[Avoiding The Dragon's Eyes: 341]

[Bullet Time: 418]

[Oath of Elaine to Lyra: 375]

[Sentinel's Superiority: 395]

[Persistent Casting: 290]

[Passionate Learning: 376]