Chapter 409 - Friend or foe

Sofia ran through the flowery field of blue grass, slaloming between the rising drones, she stopped where she had seen the light, a spot near a few of the rare trees dotting the meadow’s grassy landscape.

Nothing out of the ordinary here…

Sofia switched between her layers of vision, but both her mana senses and her eye’s heat vision failed to find anything that stood out. The plants growing near the three trees here were a bit strange, but so was everything else on that planet. Even the way the planet’s blue grass swayed despite the lack of wind was a bit eerie, slightly reminding Sofia of the ebb.

Maybe it was just a weird plant producing some light for an instant?

Sofia kept looking around, but found nothing, she was going to let the matter rest and leave, when she finally saw something.

Behind one of the trees, the air looked weird. Slightly contorted. It was faint but she clearly noticed it, and as she looked straight at it, it stopped. Strangely, she felt like she didn’t really see what she thought she saw. It was like that weird vision had been superimposed over reality.

Pareth felt the need to come out. He stood near Sofia, ready.

It took Sofia a second, but she understood where that feeling came from.

The eye.

‘Visual anomaly spotter’

Something is here.

Something invisible.

And it’s not emitting any mana or heat.

Still, Sofia placed her hand on Pareth’s leg bones.

I think we’re safe, so far. Whatever that thing is, the title doesn’t recognise it as an enemy. So it’s not hostile. And… It is hiding; from us.

Pareth nodded slowly, slightly relaxing his posture but standing his ground.

Sofia took a step to the side, and for a fraction of a second, she saw the anomaly again, behind the same tree, until it quickly disappeared.

One more step, one more glimpse at the thing behind the tree.

It was like a kid trying to escape another one by running around a table, using that obstacle to stay just out of reach.

“Is someone here? I saw something behind the tree. I’m not looking for trouble but if there are invisible things around me then I am in danger. I need to know what’s happening. Are you friendly? Or are you a danger?”

Sofia spoke, looking at the tree.

No answer.

She looked at Pareth. Dispel the weapon.

Sofia stored her scepter and Pareth dispelled his sword. They could bring them back in an instant if needed, but Sofia felt that if she said she wasn’t looking for trouble, then lowering her weapons was the least she could do to prove her good faith. Assuming whatever she was facing could understand. But to hide behind a tree like this, reacting to how she moved, Sofia couldn’t help but feel that it felt decidedly human.

There were a few more moments of silence as Sofia stared at the tree, then, slowly, the weird visual anomaly emerged from its cover, bit by bit. Sofia closed her right eye, which could not perceive it at all, giving her a better view of the thing.

The thing behind the tree was clearly vaguely humanoid. Not more than a shade also fits that description, perhaps, but humanoid still. Clearly, its arm was hugging the tree, as if scared to lose its protection, while the thing’s head poked out of cover, looking back at the observer. Still to Sofia, it only looked like disturbed air, like the shifting of light above the desert on a hot day, but contained within a vaguely human-looking boundary.

Another type of Sunless?

It was hard to tell what exactly pushed the creature to actually reveal itself, but its true form slowly manifested itself for Sofia to see.

It was indeed a vaguely humanoid thing. Unlike anything Sofia had ever seen before. It was entirely gray, its skin was made of nothing but flat planes and sharp angles, like crumpled paper, and it sported long conical limbs ending in a point. It had a somewhat oval head, gray and faceted like everything else, with no apparent face or other feature Sofia could focus on, a rather elongated ‘torso’ with long conical ‘legs’ and four conical ‘arms’. While everything about it was so unfamiliar, it moved like a person.

Sofia was entirely too good at reading body language, after all, it was her skeletons had to communicate, so she could tell; that thing was scared. It was frightened by her, but also – hopeful.

Still no reaction from the title.

She had the urge to identify the strange being, but she did not want to suddenly send magic at the thing and scare it more.

I should just reciprocate.

Sofia’s armor disappeared, absorbed back into her skin. She stood there, without protection, only holding onto her shield while the creature still hid some of its body behind the tree.

“Can you speak?” Sofia asked.

The creature did not react. A few seconds later, a wave of color spread across its faceted gray skin. A wave of blue. It spread from the creature’s head to the rest of its body before fading out.

That…

Sofia spoke out again, “I’m searching for the towers. Can you help me find one?”

Another few seconds, and another wave of blue rolled across the creature’s skin, the color a bit deeper, this time.

Is this how it communicates? It still looks scared. Probably can’t understand me…

Finally Sofia gave in, and Identified the creature. The small blip of mana left Sofia to reach the creature before leaping back to her. The creature was startled, a wave of yellow light spreading across its skin as it hid back behind the tree.

[Supporter - Lv.228 - Imprint power : 10 -  Effect : ???]

Supporter…

This is definitely a person, somehow. A not… Not a trial trial-taker.

Do people just live on this planet?

And most importantly… Why does it have an indication for Imprint power???

Does…

Sofia looked at Pareth.

[Hero - Lv.249 - Imprint power : 333 - Effect : ???]

No… I…

Sofia identified herself. What she saw made her feel a bit sick in her stomach.

[Saint - Lv.249 - Imprint power : 512 - Effect : ???]

I really don’t like this…

She looked at the tree again, at the shivering being hiding behind its trunk.

If they’re a race of people that lives on this planet… Then people like me, who come from another world to hunt anything that moves for imprint power…

Ahah…

I’ve never felt the system be so grim.

It’s… slightly nauseating.

I think I’m starting to understand a bit better why there are no strict rules about cooperation in this trial.

It’s not just about conflicts arising from having to share the monsters’ imprints…

But also about not getting yours ‘stolen’.

Slowly, the creature’s head peeked out from behind the tree again, still emitting waves of yellow color spreading through its being, slowly turning back to a calmer blue.

It’s like it’s communicating emotions through colors. Blue is tense or inquisitive, fearful, and yellow is surprised, troubled.

Sofia focused on her least used ability from VPPV, the newly acquired ‘light beautification thing’ as she had dubbed it, and used it to copy the creature’s waves of light as well as she could. It was not very clean or uniform, but a wave of calm blue light flowed over her.

The creature was startled again, taken aback, another wave of yellow running across its body, it completely stepped out from behind the tree. The yellow then transitioned into a green.

Green?

If you’re standing still, how am I supposed to understand what that means?

Well… I don’t know what I’m doing but…

Sofia copied the green hue, projecting it around herself, the color a bit off, but close enough.

The creature took an hesitant step forward, the tips of its strange conical legs with no feet hovering ever-so-slightly above the ground despite no evident use of mana at all.

Its green hue morphed, shifted as it took more steps forward until it stood just a few meters away from Sofia, its color the same as hers, pulsating in harmony.

This… Is good? Maybe?

Sofia found it hard to focus on the next step to take, as maintaining the light show in a way she wasn’t used to was actually quite complex.

I have to break this standstill, somehow… But I don’t know what the colors means…

How do you communicate with someone like this?

[Title changed to ‘Cheater’]

[Title change function is locked for the next 24 hours]

[Sprite dancer - Lv.228 - Imprint power : 10 -  Effect : ???]

Spirit dancer…

Wait, no, Sprite!

The creature was thrown off by the identify mana surging at it once again, its green color wavering. It switched back to blue as Sofia raised her right hand to her chest, and the creature took a step back.

Calling onto her magic, Sofia used the skill she had learned from Shaily.

[Call Elemental sprite]

A small black sprite gradually formed within Sofia’s palm, once fully there, it came alive, slowly flying up, hovering between the two people.

A shadow sprite.

The creature’s featureless head followed the sprite as it flew up. The waves of color on its strange angular skin shifted from green to a dark black similar to the sprite’s. The creature’s four conical arms rose and their tips came together in front of it. The waves of color coursed through its arms and gathered at the tips, until they all detached and collided together with a crackle and electric sparks.

A second shadow sprite was born.

Woah.

The small black sprite flew up, it circled Sofia’s and Sofia’s circled it.

The creature’s skin shone green again, three of its arms went back down, but the last one was now pointed at Sofia. The creature stepped forward. With a slow and careful approach, under pareth’s watchful glare, it brought the tip of its strange arm to Sofia’s Dragon-armor-covered fingertips.

Author's note: 

Heya! Hope you liked that chapter :3

Sorry it was a bit late, I've had to deal with unexpected power outages, not exactly the best working conditions...

In other new, I want to announce an extra chapter coming... relatively soon? Let me explain : After the school year, and before leaving Exidia, Sofia, Cinthia, and Astelia go out together for a nightly drink. 

Cinthia's chat bugs out and suddenly starts asking questions from garbled usernames out of nowhere. 

Where could these come from? Well, that's where you step in. 

Go ahead and ask questions for them, and they might make it into the extra chapter. I will also announce this on Royal Road and on discord, so there will probably be plenty of questions, and not everyone will make it, but yeah. I thought it would be nice to have a small interactive chapter like that. I hope you like the idea.

Anyway, Happy Reading (｀• ω •´)b