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9.81% Unbound Familiar / Chapter 70: Dark Impact

Chapter 70: Dark Impact

Michael sprints out of the city, with hundreds of people doing the same in order to preserve their lives. Just as he leaves, however, he hears a magical message from Loutiel detailing where he should go now, which was helpful, if he hadn't tacked on the last bit... "- Good luck! And, remember your debts."

"Yeah, yeah. No chance of me forgetting... Douchebag." he mutters while slowing his pace as he reaches the treeline. With Loutiel's information, at least now he had a vague idea of where to go. He'd travel across the coast until he entered Gallia and found La Rochelle.

To be honest, he could vaguely remember the name 'La Rochelle'. It was the second time Saito encounters Fouquet, and where Louise and Wardes ditch everyone on an Airship to give Henrietta's letter to Prince Wales.

Hopefully, he wouldn't run into as much trouble as Saito did, but he wasn't all that against it in the end... More trouble meant more exp after all.

Michael lets out a sigh and kicks a pebble on the road, wondering if he should have stolen a horse while he was at it. Sure, his passive walking speed was pretty ridiculous when Shadow Dance passively activating, but that didn't mean it was any less boring.

In the end, Michael decides to disregard the warning of not 'Texting and walking', and pulls out the Book of Commoners to converse with Rhasta. He'd try to read the Magical Theory book as well, but doing so while walking on this bumpy dirt path was more difficult than he'd anticipated.

He opens the book and begins conversing with Rhasta, the old shaman cheerfully teaching him the basics of mana manipulation. Most of which required Michael to actually sit down and meditate, but as this wasn't really an option, they'd worked out a compromise.

Michael would cast Ether Shocks and attempt to feel the magic flowing through him. This turned out to be way more effective than simply meditating, but the method wasn't really applicable to any who didn't possess this 'Dota System'. After all, you couldn't cast spells unless you were proficient in basic mana manipulation.

After that, it was just trial and error. It takes around half a day of walking for Michael to finally reduce the chant for Ether Shock down to just 'Shock'. While it might not look much, it'd drastically increase his rate of casting, simply because he didn't have to fully shout the spell name.

Not only that, but now he had a basic understanding of how to direct his Ether Shock... Previously, it would just strike any living thing he mentally regarded as 'hostile'. If there were no applicable targets in its range, it'd instead just strike other random things in the area.

Now however, he had limited control on where the threads actually went. He could even have multiple threads target the same person. And unlike with what he did against that Spearman, he wouldn't have to be point blank to have that work.

Michael considered this attack more of a 'Bird shot' than anything else. It lacked penetrating power but made up for it with it's range, as well as its Fire and Lightning elemental effects. In the end, his efforts earned him a new ability! :

[Basic Mana Manipulation] : Allows user more control over his magic, spells, and some abilities. Mana efficiency and control of power is inceased.

It was a great boon that'd enhance everything mana related, but it came with a few caveats... For one, some abilities didn't actually seem to use mana. When he tried to find the mana flow of Slark's abilities, such as Pounce, Essence Shift, and Shadow Dance, he was completely unable to.

The only one of Slark's abilities that actually used mana was Dark Pact. But after using it once, Michael decided that it was a 'last chance' spell... He shivers at the memory of when he'd actually cast it.

Flashback :

"Dark Pact!" he exclaims while cutting his thumb to finalize the spell. Michael feels his blood literally pulled from his body, but there's no indication that he'd actually lost any... The wound on his thumb immediately heals himself as a dark circle forms around him, following his movements as he continues to walk along the road.

Then, after a moment... It explodes! Causing a dark cloud of some acidic substance to envelope him. It burns away at his skin and flesh, making Michael feel as if he were on fire. "Arrgh!" he groans at the incredibly painful experience, but just as soon as it came, the cloud disappeared. Leaving him just standing on the road with a blank look on his face.

"Y-yeah... I'm not doing that again." he mutters while tentatively touching his face to check if it'd been melted off or not.

Flashback end :

He shakes his head, "Yeah, definitely a last chance spell. In the game it looked incredibly broken, allowing Slark to evade everything from Stuns, Silences, Roots, etc. It was likely the most powerful ability he had. But, in real life Michael would be forced to experience ungodly pain whenever he used it. How Slark endured using it hundreds of times within an hour? He had no idea.

Whatever the case, Michael was happy with his new gains, even if he'd found some negatives. Instead of continuing to dwell on whether or not picking Slark was the right idea, he decides to just listen to Rhasta's teaching and keep walking. Hopefully, he'd find a village at some point, while Shadow Dance did increase the time he could stay awake, it didn't mean his mental fatigue would fade with it.

"So Master Rhasta, why does your polymorph turn people into chickens? I know of another that uses frogs and pigs, so, is it an important distinction?"

Rhasta laughs, "Haha-he-he-ha! You see, there's actually an important reason for this!-" he starts and begins to explain that the results of a Polymorph are more based on the personality of the caster, than the victim... But, that's a story for another time, a story on how Rhasta developed the Polymorph spell.


CREATORS' THOUGHTS
Niggross Niggross

Hope you bois liked the chap, if I missed anything please let me know. Thanks!

If you like my content or want to read ahead please go to : https://www.p.atreon.com/Nagross, I'd appreciate it.

Also, thanks to my patrons for their support :

ShinAmazake

Kingsprovince

Nazlican Erdem

Shameful69

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Jack Allen

Faruk Ereng

Nathaniel Clayton

Chapter 71: Grandstand

Louise helps Henrietta to her seat as she hopelessly sits and holds her face in her hands. The Princess had just attended a meeting to discuss the latest attack on Antomiers... Henrietta had wanted to immediately declare war against the rebels of Albion, but her attempts were all rebuffed by the Council, more specifically, General Gramont and his cronies.

Apparently, the reason they were unable to take 'such drastic actions' against the rebels was that there was no solid proof that the rebels were actually responsible. As Gramont's words stated, 'We do not know if it was the rebels, or the Loyalists that are responsible'.

Of course, this was a blatant lie, if not that, a disregard of the truth... Communications between the Royal family and Tristain had been cut off for a while now. The rebels had taken over every port on Albion and hidden many spies in ports of other countries. This made it impossible to open up talks with whoever was remaining on the Loyalist side.

Henrietta had argued that Tristain still had an alliance with Albion, but General Gramont rebuffed her again, stating "Our agreement dictates that we assist one another against outside threats. The civil war is an internal one, thus, we have no cause for action!".

She'd looked for her mother to take control of the situation, but she continued allowing these clearly corrupt nobles to abuse their positions and allow their closest ally to slowly perish. Henrietta's insistence on helping Albion had actually become a point of contention, the council stating that her feelings for her childhood friend, Prince Wardes, was getting in the way of her duties.

At that point, Henrietta couldn't bear it anymore and left the war room, for fear of her emotions getting the better of her and making her do something stupid... Like, behead that greedy, corrupt Gramont!

Louise wasn't unaffected by everything either, as the news they received also included mentions of her 'False Familiar', which stated that Michael had burnt down a large portion of the city prior to the terrorist attack. She didn't believe it for one second, as Michael was just a fifteen year old who'd be unwillingly forced into this world by her. He was younger than her! Yet they continue to pile on random crimes under his name.

She refused to believe that her familiar was the one responsible for the fire... Even if there was reportedly large orange snakes that matched the colour of her familiar's peculiar magic. It was very likely just lies to ruin her reputation further, indirectly harming the Princess as well due to their close relationship.

Louise sits beside Henrietta and wraps an arm around her shoulder, "Henri, don't worry... I'm sure we can fix this somehow."

Henrietta shakes her head, "No... There is nothing we can do. The Council refuse to act, and even if they do eventually decide to assist Albion, it'll be too late to save Prince Wales... I think that they are going to allow the country to destroy itself, before claiming the territory for Tristain..." she explains, knowing that Tristain would be in the best position for it, as well have the best cause due to the Albion royalties relationship with Tristain.

Louise frowns, her hatred of the council growing the more she learns of them. From her short time observing the meetings, it was very clear that each member had their own goals that they unashamedly pursue, even at the detriment of the kingdom as a whole. "P-perhaps you could dispatch some men secretly to assist Prince Wales?"

Henrietta shakes her head, "No... Any presence of the Tristain military in Albion would cause Gallia and Germania to start probing our territory. Antomiers was also our only city that had Airships capable of reaching Albion, without it, we'd need to use another country's to reach Albion..." she states, and it was obvious to both of them that sending your military into another country would only end in disaster, both politically and militarily.

Henrietta rests her head against Louise as a stray tear trails down her cheek, "M-my mother... She has opened talks with Germania... She intends to marry me to Emperor Albrecht III of Germania." she admits, spitting her to-be-husband's name with venom. The man had gained a reputation for being cruel during the elective period to decide the Emperor. He'd allegedly imprisoned any potentially harmful rival, while threatening their families.

Not to mention the fact that he was far, far older than she was. The only reason Albrecht was even agreeing to such a union was because of his interest in her. Tristain had nothing else to offer aside from her hand. It was with this understanding that her mother disregarded her wishes and proposed such a marriage anyway.

"N-no... Her Majesty would never do such a thing!" Louise stutters out, unwilling to believe that the Queen would be so uncaring.

Henrietta shakes her head, "It's true... There's nothing that can be done, but... Before it is made official I need to get a message to Prince Wales. I am going to send Sir Wardes to deliver it." she states, inwardly grimacing at Louise's scowl.

"Him!?" Louise quickly retorts, having made clear her dislike of the man many times... She and Wardes had been engaged at one point, but after hearing of her lack of magic, he'd broken it off and started a relationship with some lower Baroness.

She was tempted to announce her status as a void mage to rub it into his face of course, but Henrietta absolutely refused to allow such a thing. For very obvious reasons.

Henrietta nods, "Despite your dislike of Sir Wardes, he has proven himself to be very capable and loyal throughout the years he has served the crown. If anyone was suitable for such a task, it would be him... And before you ask, no, I will not allow you to carry the letter." she preemptively states, knowing that Louise was willing to throw herself into a fire if Henrietta truly asked for it.

"Hnnnn-n-n-n... Very well, Princess." Louise moodily says, crossing her arms and slouching in her chair.

Henrietta can only smile at her friend's antics, her previously depressive state improving minutely. "Let's forget politics for now... Why don't we head into town, just you and I?"

Louise's mini tantrum instantly ends as she brightly smiles, "Yes, Princess!"


CREATORS' THOUGHTS
Niggross Niggross

Hope you bois liked the chap, if I missed anything please let me know. Thanks!

Also, thanks to my patrons for their support :

ShinAmazake

Kingsprovince

Nazlican Erdem

Shameful69

JayJonnaJamison

Jack Allen

Faruk Ereng

Nathaniel Clayton

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