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19.07% Unbound Familiar / Chapter 136: Triki

Chapter 136: Triki

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Flashback :

Michael sits at the side of the group's makeshift camp while staring at the Book of Commoners in his hands. His Riki spirit was max level and he'd already received items from the roulette wheel. So all that was left to do was actually meet Riki himself, along with using his new Spirit slot to pick a new hero.

He breathes deeply and begins preparing himself for his talk with Riki, unsure if the thief/assassin would be like Slark or not. Hopefully, he'd be more understanding and adaptive to his new situation, as he struck Michael as the rational sort, but it wasn't anything concrete.

After a moment of affirming his determination, he opens Riki's page and watches as the picture of Riki the Stealth Assassin starts to animate. The tiefling-looking creature slowly blinks as he glances around the darkroom with both wariness and interest.

He stands and ignores the piles of gold in the corner of the room and slinks towards the window, examining the outside of this building he'd found himself in... He seemed to be in White Spire, yet the city before him contained none of it's trademark 'charm'. He couldn't hear or see any fighting, explosions, screams, or even angered yells of aggrieved shop owners... In fact, he couldn't see anyone...

White Spire looked like a ghost city, not like how it was yesterday night-... "Oh, I see." he mutters, his blue hand trailing through his short beard. "Gondar, I knew accepting a drink from you was folly, but I never thought that you would be foolhardy enough to take a contract on me... Well played." he says with a grin, determining that he'd died and this was his afterlife.

He'd been invited to White Spire by Gondar, the Bounty Hunter, for a job that'd supposedly make them both incredibly rich. Riki glances at the piles of gold in the corner of the room, it'd worked, but it seems that the job was only a secondary objective for Gondar, as Riki's bounty paid far more than anything they could steal from any vault.

Riki was superior to Gondar in almost every way, sneaking, assassination, subterfuge... But it seems one of his one weaknesses, Poisoncraft, had been the end of him. Perhaps he should have taken those lessons he'd been offered when he was younger?

Riki shakes his head and lets out a sigh, opening the window and leaning against it to get some fresh air, "So this is the afterlife? I was expecting a reunion with my family, but I suppose if Karma exists, this would be it." he mutters, remembering the day his family was betrayed and slaughtered, leaving him the only survivor. It'd been that day that turned him to such a life, one that suited his talents well but lacked the honour suited to his family name, one of the many reasons why he'd never used it.

Michael watched as the assassin rested against the window in thought, not really knowing how to introduce himself. He shakes his head and finally decides to just be blunt with it, "Hello Riki, I am Michael." he says, causing the tiefling's eyes to shoot upwards as he stares at the sky where Michael's face presumably sat.

...

"Oh no... If this is karma then I demand a retrial!" he exclaims while pointing at the giant face in the sky, "I did nothing deserving of being eaten by some devourer of worlds! Nor one as stupid-looking as that! I might be an assassin, but I still have standards!"

Michael wants to start his explanation but can't get a word in through Riki's babbling. "And 'Michael'? Who names a being like that Michael!? Certainly not himself, but if he did then perhaps such a simpletons name would be suited to it!"

...

With Riki not stopping his rant, Michael decides to just do this face to face with him, he knew the way the book presented him would give most heroes a bad impression... Unless they judged him as their god or something... He pushes his will into the picture, and pops into existence behind Riki, next to his pile of gold.

"Riki, I'm not some eater of worlds, please calm down so I can explain what's happening." he says placatingly.

Riki quickly turns around as two large daggers find their way into his hands, his eyes glaring hard at Michael, "What is there to explain!? I'm dead, so you must be some sort of grim reaper!?"

Michael shakes his head and slowly walks to the table and sits down, "It might seem weird but I'm not really the one controlling this place. Again, my name's Michael and I found this book called the Book of Commoners-" he starts, briefly explaining his and Riki's situation as the assassin listens contemplatively.

....

"So, I'm your prisoner and you're my warden, intentional or not." he states matter-of-factly, rubbing his beard in thought. "Is there a chance of escape, you think?" he questions, more to himself than to Michael.

Michael shrugs anyway, "Well, if Slark can't escape then I doubt you have any better chance."

Riki's eyes widen in amusement, "You've got that slimy fish locked up too? Ahahahaha! Now, isn't that truly ironic," he shakes his head at Michael curious look, "Whenever we worked together, he'd never stop bragging about escaping Dark Reef, as if I or my compatriots could give two caring thoughts for it. The braggart even did so to his victims, 'You ain't much compared to life in Dark Reef', or, 'There is a reason I'm feared in Dark Reef', as if those people could care less about his history as he butchered them. During those times I wondered if I just take his substantial bounty. Never got around to it I suppose." he says and Michael smirks as he earnestly listens to Riki talk shit about Slark. It seems they at least had their dislike of that fish in common.


CREATORS' THOUGHTS
Niggross Niggross

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

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Chapter 137: Dis-agreemeets

Michael watches as Riki takes a seat on the opposite side of the table, his tail slowly moving side to side as if in interest, the assassin sits his elbow on the table and rests his cheek against his hand, "So, why have you come to visit me then? Apparently you've already received my abilities, and I assume you aren't just here for a social call."

Michael shrugs, "Well, I was actually looking for you to teach me what you know about weapons and other things your abilities don't provide. To be honest, I'm a bit shocked by how friendly you are compared to Slark... That guy killed me almost as soon as I dropped in." he mutters with a slight grimace at the memory of how quickly he'd died.

Riki thinks for a while before eventually grinning, "I suppose I could, but you'd have to be willing to do something for me once I deem you 'trained'."

Michael slowly nods, "As long as it's reasonable, just remember that there are limits to what I and the Book can do." he says, not wanting to get the assassin's hopes up. Riki was turning out to be a cool guy, despite how annoying he was to face in the actual game.

"That's fine, my request isn't anything physical per se, but we'll see if you're worthy of it or not. For now, don't you have some more souls to trap?" he asks and Michael nods.

Just before Michael's about to leave Riki's world though, he pauses in thought, "Say, you might actually know some of the people I'll be able to pick. Got any recommendations?"

Riki leans back, "Hmm, an interesting question. I'm not sure who meets the criteria to be a 'Hero' as you say, but I can make some good guesses. Despite how involved I was in my work, I helped maintain a large spy network in my downtime." he says with crossing his arms, "First and foremost, the people whose abilities would suit you the most would likely be... That Juggernaut fellow from the Isle of Masks, I think his skills would suit your current fighting style... If it could be called that." he says, knowing that Michael's current fighting style was a mishmash of his crappy skills, and overreliance on his Runes and Abilities.

He taps his chin, "There's that Plague God, Necro-something he calls himself, that's going city to city and destroying everything he finds... That aside, I imagine those followers of Selemene would be excellent picks, if you can't get the goddess herself."

Michael nods, "Juggernaut, Necrophos, Mirana and Luna... If I see them I'll consider it, thanks." he says, getting up from the table. "I'll be back soon to take those lessons, cya later, Riki."

Riki chuckles and gives a slight wave, "Oh, we'll if you return after the first lesson. I promise to push you harder than you thought possible."

Michael awakens back in the real world and grins, happy that he'd gained a cooperative teacher who seemed to actually care... Though, he wasn't sure if Riki was just playing him or not, he doubted it, but it was still a possibility.

He shakes his head and flips through the pages to his status, fingering the Spirit slot once he'd readied himself... Suddenly though, the book glows golden and levitates from his grasp, floating in front of him as it undergoes many changes.

Once the formerly large, plain book stop glowing, Michael catches it out of the air as the phenomenon stops, allowing him to examine its new look... The most immediately obvious thing was that the title of the book had changed, from 'Book of Commoners', to 'Book of Heroes'.

Michael didn't know how big the changes such a distinction made, but he imagined it was more than just allowing him to pick higher quality heroes. The book's cover remains black, but the title in written in a high-quality golden inscription, and the corners of the book were now decorated in gold gilding, making it look the part of a magical grimoire.

"It's heavy." he mutters, weighing it in his hands and feeling more than just its physical weight. He shakes his head and sits back on the stump before opening it, marvelling at the higher quality paper than before.

Without waiting another moment, he presses the Spirit slot and is presented with a full list of Hero-tier Heroes. Though, Michael is somewhat surprised by who is actually on the list.

Hero Tier :

Anti-Mage

Axe

Broodmother

Centaur Warrunner

Chen

Crystal Maiden

Disruptor

Drow Ranger

Legion Commander

Lifestealer

Lina

Lycan

Marci

Naga Siren

Nyx Assassin

Omniknight

Phantom Assassin

Skywrath Mage

Slardar

Treant Protector

Undying

Ursa

Viper

Wind Ranger

Winter Wyvern

Witch Doctor

...

If Michael thought he knew what made someone a 'hero' before, he certainly didn't now. He'd thought that those like Omniknight and Wind Runner were way more powerful than the other people listed here, the former as someone who could literally make people both magic and physically immune to damage, and the latter as she was supposedly a half-wind spirit or something, which should make her more powerful, right?

Regardless, he was happy to see some names come up in this tier than at later ones, as their abilities would be incredibly useful to him... Though, he also had to remind himself that their knowledge was also a factor. Someone like Witch Doctor who had relatively weak abilities would still be a veritable library of knowledge concerning medicine, magic, and other things. This was also applicable to Winter Wyvern, who he remembered as being the scholarly sort.

Regardless, he'd spend the time going through each and every one of them to determine the best picks. (Yes, this is gonna be another info dump for those of you who don't know the characters.)


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

JayJonnaJamison

Jack Allen

Faruk Ereng

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