บท 32: Chapter Thirty-One: Fireballs and Roasted Nuts
"You get out here right now you little devil! I'm going to put the fear of Drake in you!" Drake roared, pointing his finger down as if calling out an animal that had made a mess.
"Unfortunately I am unable to acquiesce to your request, my dear gorilla. You could always try to punish me by hitting yourself. I don't recommend it though, looking through the past couple days it seems your head has taken a few too many blows already. So many so, that I'm beginning to worry for you," she teased, a sharp giggle filling Drake's ears.
Drake scowled. "Don't you dare use that reference against me! We aren't on a ship and this isn't a negotiation! Get out of my head, damn it!" Drake said.
"As I said, I cannot. Although it is fun teasing you, I do have to go over some things by going through your memory and taking stock of our situation. You have just made a class change, no? And you're a.. Oh.. That is interesting! You decided to go with the Dual Class combination, quite rare for a newly indoctrinated planet. Even more so for someone in the tutorial where you have to randomly get it," said Natto, Drake practically able to hear her smiling.
"What do you mean rare? People actually decide to go with this obnoxious bad luck of their own accord?" Drake asked.
"Hush, I will explain it later. It will take me a few minutes to make a proper skill plan and go over your memories, so just go over your stats or something for a minute like a good Mana Vessel," she said.
"Wha- Whatever. You're lucky I can't just pull you out of my head like Dumbledore pulling memories from his mind! Damn parasite!" Drake grumbled.
There was just a mental nod from Natto, as she went silent to do whatever she was doing inside Drake's head.
But Drake also wanted to go over his newly acquired stats and skill trees. He had been waiting for his headache to go away, and after his back and forth with the little snippy construct his head felt much better.
He pulled up his newly adjusted Status screen, seeing some new categories and texts.
[Drake Wallen]
[Race: Human]
Tutorial Alias [Shot]
[Elemental Miller] [Unique] Level 10
[Vitality] 204
[Strength] 258 (20)
[Dexterity] 200 (30 + 10% Base) +(40)
[Intelligence] 358
[Wisdom] 213
[Endurance] 130 (5)
[Free Points] 28
[Skills Branches]
Primary: Elementalist [F Rank] 0/5
Secondary: Shield Miller [F Rank] 0/5
Primary Sub-tree: Empty
Secondary Primary Stub-tree: Empty
Second Primary Sub-tree: Empty
Second Secondary Sub-tree: Empty
[Titles] First Blood, Two versus One, One vs Many, Monkey Slayer, Living on the Edge, Close Call, Dead Man Walking, Dual Class, Punching Up, Improbability, Rounded, Dog Hater, One Man Army, Dog Killer, Battle of Attrition.
Drake looked in wonder at the new parts of the window. He had gained some more percentage bonuses, but had not gained a new title. So he assumed it had to have been from his new Classes. He was also surprised by the other windows that seem to have not been populated.
Drake pulled out some skill stones and rolled them over in his hands, thinking of what to do. He eventually decided on just waiting until Natto was done with whatever she was doing, as she had felt like a well of information despite just being born, or hatched?
He shook his head, there was still so much he didn't know and he now seemed to have found someone to ask. But as they were doing who knows what inside his head, he had no choice but to wait.
Drake filled the time going over his new Classes, which gave much more detail when he inspected them individually.
Elementalist Proficiency 2 [F Rank] 0/5
A wielder of the four major elements.
Passives: +5% to Intelligence and out of combat mana gain. (+5% Wisdom)
Actives: School of Fire P2(0%), School of Water P2(0%), School of Wind P2(0%), School of Earth P2(0%)
He was happy to see that he was right and his new percentage effects were from his new Rare Classes. But he was interested in how many things there were to look at. He wasn't sure what the 0 out of 2 was. Just another question to add to the list for him to ask Natto when she was finished, Drake thought.
Then a mental nudge came from inside his head.
Drake looked around from instinct to see if something or someone had bumped him, even though he knew it was Natto. Could she hear him? If that was true he would have to find a way to separate his thoughts from her. Just another thing to work on in his long, long grocery list of things to do.
He began looking more in depth to his skills from the Main tree.
[School of Fire] Proficiency 2(0%)
The active ability set to control the magic school of fire. Your proficiency over fire is still early at this juncture, giving you only the basics of spells.
Spell: Fireball - "The fire of my heart, take form and sear my enemies. Fireball."
Basic single target spell. Deals fire damage in a 1 to 0.5 of Intelligence.
Small Mana Cost.
Spell: Fire Cloud - "The fire of my heart, disperse and set flame to the world. Fire Cloud."
Basic Area of Effect spell. Deals fire damage in a 1 to 0.25 of Intelligence.
Moderate Mana Cost.
"Now that's a lot to take in. And do the spells have to be so long? Memorizing these is going to feel like I'm back in school…" Drake whined.
"But I guess that's just how it has to be. It's called hard work for a reason…" Drake sighed.
He instantly recovered as he had some new spells to play with, and wanted to quickly test them out.
Drake closed his eyes, raised his arm and concentrated to remember the words.
"The fire of my heart, take form and sear my enemies. Fireball!"
Drake's eyes opened as he felt the familiar pull of mana from his body as it flowed into the red lit magic circle in front of him.
A head sized fireball bloomed to life from a small spark in his hand. Surprisingly the ball did not move, and only hovered on top of Drake's hand. Even more so was that he could feel the heat from the ball of flames but it did not hurt or burn. But he could distinctly tell it was very hot. Magic was a wonderful and wondrous thing, he thought. Earning him another mental nudge.
"What am I supposed to do with this?" Drake said, gazing at the hovering ball of fire. Then remembering he was inside a wooden shack.
He quickly kicked open the shack's door and exited, looking around to find a place to throw the bubbly sphere of intense flames. Not being able to decide, Drake ended with just throwing the fireball into the end of the tunnel.
He pitched the Fireball like a baseball at the tunnel wall. It left his hand with a small trail of fire behind it as it soared through the air. A second later colliding with the wall in a torrent of sparks and a small explosion of ensuing fire.
"Wow…. Now THAT, is what I think of when I think Magic!!!" He shouted. His hair slightly blowing backwards in the breeze of the small explosion. Feeling the slight heat on his face, as he smiled ear to ear at the aftermath of light and fire.
"What in the world are you doing out there!?" A voice suddenly asked from inside Drake's head.
"Oh? You don't know when you're inside my noggin?" asked Drake incredulously.
"It goes without saying I know what is going on. I'm asking what are, YOU doing. I said look at your stats, not go blow up half the Mines!" Natto said.
"Relax. I'm just fulfilling one of the things every adolescent boy dreams about," Drake grinned.
"Ugh. Can you be any more of a typical little boy trapped in an adult's body?" she admonished.
"Hey! I resent that. I totally agree with it, but I would like to state my displeasure in you pointing it out. Also I like it when things go boom, it brings me copious amounts of dopamine," Drake said.
Drake could feel Natto shake her head in some weird way.
"So are you finally done in there? I have a metric fuck ton worth of questions to ask," Drake said.
"I am for the most part done. But I would like to also go over some things," she said.
"Sure, just come on out," Drake said.
"I would like to also go over some things, civilly," she said again.
"Fine… just get out here," Drake said.
There was some hesitation before Natto answered. "Really…?"
"Yes, just hurry up," Drake answered.
"You promise not to hit me?" She asked.
"Oh my lord. Yes, what are you five? What do you want me to do, pinky promise?" Drake said.
"I was born literally minutes ago. And certainly. A pinky promise will suffice," she answered.
Drake placed a hand over his face. And tried to wipe away the exhaustion from it. "I pinky promise not to hit you. Satisfied?"
A moment later Drake felt a pull from his head much like when he felt the pull of mana leaving his body, as a small girl materialized on his shoulder.
The next moment, Drake brought his hand up to flick her square in the forehead, leaving a small red mark. And Natto quickly covered it with both her hands, tears forming in her eyes.
"You promised!!!" she shouted.
"I promised not to hit you. I never said I wouldn't flick your forehead gently." Drake chortled.
Natto removed her hands. Tears still on the sides of her eyes. A small bump forming in the center of her forehead, almost protruding enough to be called a horn.
"You call this gentle?!" She said, pointing at the lump.
Drake just chuckled at the still forming red lump on her head. And walked back into the shack with the pouting huffy Natto on his shoulder.
Once inside, Drake hopped onto the Foreman's bed so that he could sit down on something mildly comfortable.
Natto had calmed down, and dropped from his shoulder to the bed. Rubbing her forehead at the now receding bump. "I can still feel it…" She pouted.
"You'll be fine," Drake said.
"You're a brute! A Gorilla! A filthy weeb!!" she shouted.
"You're technically part me, remember? Absorbing my blood and all. So that makes you part me which makes you part weeb," Drake said, grinning.
She froze and her eyes became devoid of emotion as she fell on her hands.
"You're right… I am…" She said sullenly.
Drake laughed again. It was becoming more and more fun to tease the small construct.
"Well what did you want to say before I start bombarding you with questions?" Drake finally asked, almost laughing himself to tears.
Natto slightly recovered and held out a hand. "Monster cores. Gimmie," she said flatly.
"Don't have those," Drake said, shaking his head.
"What do you mean you don't have any?! I watched your memories, you have killed hundreds of F Rank monsters. Brutally I might add. There is certainly no way you have not acquired any!" she shouted.
"I've never had anything but skill stones drop from monsters." Drake said.
Natto's face paled and it was now her turn to wipe her face with her hand, trying to remove the exacerbation from it. "Of course they do not drop. You have to cut it out of the monsters. They are called a core for a reason. They are inside their bodies, duhhh."
Drake brought his hand up, his finger primed to deliver another flick. But Natto quickly recoiled, protecting her forehead with both hands.
"No one told me that, so I don't have any. There's plenty of bodies outside we can get them from later. What do you need them for?"
A small rumble was heard from Natto. Her face flushed a bit. "I'm hungry.. And! I need them to grow! I am still not F Grade, so I can only offer very limited assistance and information. Basic Skill suggestions, race information, bits about the tutorial."
"Well, it will be a bit to go outside, so you have enough information available to get me started on my skills right now?" Drake asked.
Natto nodded but looked down to rub her belly. It rumbling slightly louder this time.
"Good then you'll just have to wait. In the meantime.." Drake said. Looking through his inventory. "Here."
Drake pulled out a bag of roasted nuts that were still slightly steaming hot from his inventory, reminded that she was modeled after a red squirrel.
Natto's eyes sparked at the bag. Her hands immediately went up in a begging motion for the steaming food.
Drake took a single nut from the bag and placed it into her hand. And because of her size it was nearly half the width of her head.
She quickly began digging into the food, devouring it in a flash. Her hand shooting back up as if to ask for more.
Drake smiled as he held up another one, but didn't give it to her right away. "What do we say when we want something?" He said with a malicious sneer.
Her eyes thinned to small slits as she turned her head away. "I will not demean myself to the level of begging for a mere morsel of such insignificant value." She said, but her still shimmying hands and fingers told another story, as they moved closer to Drake.
Drake couldn't hold back a deep belly laugh as he dropped the piece into her hands, and placed the bag next to her.
"Ah man, that's good sauce." Drake said through gasps of air as he laughed.
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