novelraw Chapter 122 – Status Before Journey
Chapter 122 – Status Before Journey
After the dragon family finally left, the rest of the day sank into a quiet that felt almost unreal, like the world was giving us permission to breathe again.
Len and I ended up outside our wooden home, standing on the open grassland where the wind ran soft and steady. The afternoon sun was low and honey-gold, stretching our shadows long across the field. Fallen leaves lay scattered like leftover embers from autumn, and the air carried that warm, earthy scent that made my chest loosen without me realizing.
Len stood a few steps in front of me, silver hair catching the light, golden eyes calm and intent. Even when she looked relaxed, she always had that sharpness in her posture, like a blade resting in a sheath.
She did not just explain her skills. She showed them.
Her feet slid over the grass in quick, unreal steps. For a heartbeat, she was there, then the air shimmered and she was somewhere else. Firelight flickered around her ankles, and thin traces of radiance clung to her movements like silk threads, flashing every time she changed direction.
"This is Flamelight Footwork."
She pivoted, then burst past me in a blur, close enough that the heat brushed my skin.
"The fire aura creates feints. See the flicker? It ruins the opponent’s sense of where I will move next. Then the light aura guides my real path."
I watched closely, trying to catch the trick, trying to predict her next step.
But I failed.
She stopped and turned back with a teasing curve to her lips.
"Your eyes still cannot follow me, can they?"
“Not even a little…”
Len laughed softly, then lifted her sword.
"You will try it later. Now I will show you Pyrolume Swordcraft’s basic form."
Flames crawled along the blade’s edge, not wild, not reckless, but controlled like ink on a brush. She moved through a sequence of strikes, each one smooth and deliberate, carving arcs of fire through the air. At the end of every motion, light snapped bright for an instant.
"This blends fire’s force with light’s speed. I can control the tempo. I can change rhythm, bait counters, and overwhelm enemies who cannot keep up."
I nodded, completely absorbed. I even pulled up her status window and checked the descriptions, telling myself that understanding the text would make the practice easier.
⟬ Flamelight Footwork ⟭
⟨Lv. 10⟩
Users weave a mesmerizing tapestry of fire and light to outmaneuver their adversaries. Flamelight Footwork offers a strategic advantage, enabling users to evade confrontation and engage foes on their terms. It also enhances the user’s affinity and control over both fire and light aura.
⟬ Pyrolume Swordcraft ⟭
⟨Lv. 10⟩
Embodied within Pyrolume Swordcraft is the fusion of fire’s fierce intensity and the swiftness of light itself. Each stroke becomes a harmony of destruction and elegance, a battle-dance of fire and brilliance. The swordsmanship also strengthens the user’s command over both elemental auras.
After reading it all, I gave Len’s footwork and sword technique a shot… and failed repeatedly.
My feet tangled, my posture collapsed, and my aura control turned into a mess. I attempted to split fire and light between different parts of my body while also channeling them into the sword, and my focus simply could not hold all those threads at once. The moment I tried to correct one mistake, everything else slipped.
I failed again. And again.
Len never mocked me.
Each time I stumbled, she came closer, corrected my stance, adjusted my breathing, and walked me through the sequence like it was the most natural thing in the world.
Eventually she let out a small chuckle, like she finally accepted the obvious.
"Alright, alright. Let’s start from the beginning. Aura control first."
So we sat on the grass, facing each other. Her fingers guided the flow with warm, careful touches, and her voice stayed gentle but firm, the kind that left no room for doubt. The wind kept moving, the light kept shifting, and time slipped away quickly.
—————
By the time the sun sank and the sky turned silver under moonlight, we ate a simple dinner and returned to our bedroom. Under the covers, curled together, the world outside faded to silence.
I glanced at the status window hovering above her.
"By the way, your stats went up a little after all that training. Want me to adjust them now?"
Len turned her head, golden eyes gleaming with that trusting ease she only gave me.
"Yes, please."
"Alright then… Status Manipulation."
With her permission, I activated the skill and began redistributing her stats carefully, moving each point like it mattered, because it did. I took my time, making sure the balance fit her fighting style.
⟦ STATUS WINDOW ⟧
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Name: Selena Calytrix
Age: 400
Race: Aethralunian
Title:Otherworlder, Engineer Master, Magic Artisan, The Pioneer of Aethralunians
State:Normal
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
⟬ Essence ⟭
Mana: 4278/4278
Aura: 4278/4278
Vitality: 4278
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
⟬ Attributes ⟭
Strength: 4278
Magic Power:4278
Mental Power:4278
Agility: 4278
Dexterity: 4278
Magic Resistance: 4278
Mental Resistance: 4278
Status Points: 0
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
⟬ Element Affinity ⟭
Light, Fire, Heavenfire, Dark, Hellfire
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
⟬ Skills ⟭
— Active —
Attack:
Elemental Ball, Elemental Blade, Blazeburst Nova, Cinderstorm Fury, Divine Emberstorm
Defend:
Elemental Barrier, Eclipsis Gloweave, Serenilum Halo
Buff:
Vulcanshroud Emberwalk, Scorchbrand Pyromancy, Astral Pyreweaving
Recovery:
Great Heal (9), Area Great Heal (3), Great Purification (8), Area Great Purification (2), Sacrosanct Pyrelume
Mix:
Daybreak Emanation, Celestial Emberflare, Heavenfire Luminaegis
Others:
Appraisal (9), Element Manipulation, Aurora Radiance, Clean
— Passive —
Footwork:
Breeze Footwork (10), Flamelight Footwork (10), Luminiferno Steps (10), Ignistride (10), Solar Emberdance (10)
Swordsmanship:
Pyrolume Swordcraft (10), Solarflare Swordmastery (10), Solar Blazeblade (10)
Others:
Language Comprehension, Parallel Thinking (10), Mana Detection (10), Eternal Youth Illusion
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
⟬ Other Information ⟭
Trust: Exceeds the maximum
Note: You need the target’s consent to manipulate the target's status.
Note: The target is connected with Immortal Bonds
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Then I paused.
"Huh?"
Len shifted closer, her voice soft and sweet.
"Hmm? What is it, darling? Something wrong?"
"No, nothing serious. There is a new title here."
Then she replied like it was an unimportant thing.
"Oh, that, The Pioneer of Aethralunians, right? I noticed it while you were napping earlier. Azadia said it was a blessing from Libertas. Kinda cool, but I don’t really see the point. There are just the two of us, after all."
Curious, I tapped it and read.
⟬ The Pioneer of Aethralunians ⟭
An exclusive title bestowed upon the visionary who led their race into the transcendent realm of Aethralunians. As the harbinger of unity and transformation, the bearer of this title stands as a beacon of hope and development for their people.
Effect: The bearer can sense the presence of other Aethralunians across vast distances and teleport instantly to their location.
My breath caught.
"Whoa. This is actually amazing."
Len tilted her head, silver hair sliding over her shoulder.
"You think so? It feels wasted on me, is it not? We are always together. I don’t need to sense you from far away."
We are always together.
She said it casually, like it was as ordinary as the air, but it hit me like a quiet vow. That no matter where we went, she had no intention of being apart. As if the idea of us being separated didn’t even exist in her mind.
I let out a small laugh, more to hide how much that warmed me than because it was funny.
"I have not told you my goals, have I?"
Her gaze sharpened as I continued.
"I don’t just want to travel and save slaves. There are souls inside us, people who once lived. If we find them vessels, they can live again. They want to walk this world with us, as immortals."
Len blinked slowly, absorbing every word without interrupting.
"And one day, I want to create a country. A place for them. A place for us. A home where peace is not just a fantasy."
For a moment she looked stunned, like she was trying to decide if she heard me right. Then her expression softened into something bright and warm.
She asked, half teasing, half serious.
"So that means we will be king and queen?"
"If that is something you want too. Would it make you happy?"
Len smiled wider, then reached up and brushed her fingers against my cheek, slow and tender.
"If it is your dream, then I will support it. Honestly, being queen was my last dream in my past life. I did not think I would ever get a second chance. But if it is with you... I believe we can make it real."
The words settled in my chest like a steady weight that kept me from drifting. I smiled back at her.
"It is a long-term goal. It might take decades before we are anywhere close. For now, I want to live simply. Explore, help people, and be an adventurer."
"I will follow you wherever you go, darling,"
I pulled her closer until her forehead nearly touched mine.
"Thank you."
My eyes flicked back to her list of titles. Besides the Pioneer of Aethralunians, there were three others. One was Otherworlder, which I also had. The remaining two had a theme that felt like creation, like building something from nothing.
⟬ Engineer Master ⟭
A title bestowed upon those who have mastered the art of crafting magical tools. With unmatched expertise and boundless innovation, the bearer is recognized as a true artisan, celebrated for their intricate designs and brilliant inventions.
Effect: Enhances the efficiency, potency, and overall performance of magic tools created by the bearer.
⟬ Magic Artisan ⟭
Awarded to those who have taken their first steps in developing unique magical techniques. These individuals are seen as pioneers in magical creation, blending personal insight with raw magical potential.
Effect: Slightly reduces the mana and aura consumption when activating the bearer’s original skills.
Then Len spoke again, voice light, curiosity sparkling.
"By the way, darling. I still don’t know your real status."
"Oh, right. I guess I never showed you the whole thing. Give me a second."
I had kept my true elements and skills hidden, not because I distrusted her, but because I simply forgot I was still hiding them.
With a small breath, I deactivated the illusion cloaking my status and projected the real one for her only.
⟦ Status Window ⟧
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Name:Freed
Age:
12Race:Aethralunian
Title:Otherworlder, The Pioneer of Aethralunians
State:Normal
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
⟬ Essence ⟭
Chaos:1575/1575
Mana:4185/4185
Aura:4003/4003
Vitality:2875
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
⟬ Attributes ⟭
Strength:2738
Magic Power:5027
Mental Power:4683
Agility:3026
Dexterity:2310
Magic Resistance:5843
Mental Resistance: 5348
Status Points:60
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
⟬ Element Affinity ⟭
Light, Dark, Fire, Wind, Water, Heavenfire, Hellfire, Space
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
⟬ Skills ⟭
— Active —
Offensive:
Elemental Ball, Elemental Blade
Buff:
Silent Fury
Recovery:
Heal (1), Area Heal (1), Purify (1), Area Purification (1)
Mix:
Daybreak Emanation, Celestial Emberflare, Heavenfire Luminaegis
Others:
Appraisal (10), Element Manipulation, Clean, Short Teleportation(5), Immortal Bonds
— Passive —
Footwork:
Breeze Footwork (7)
Others:
Language Comprehension, Parallel Thinking (6)
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
⟬ Innate Talents ⟭
Immortal, Double Natural Growth Rate, Status Manipulation, Elementalist, Learning Acceleration
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Len leaned in, eyes scanning line after line.
"Hmm... the element you used against Ig. Was that space? It felt like a fusion of dark and light."
"Yeah. I unlocked it after about six months of training. You could probably get it too if you want."
"Mhm, it will be super useful for making a magic bag."
"A magic bag?"
"Mhm. They store things in another dimension, so naturally they use the space element."
She said like she was explaining something every child should know.
"I have never seen a monster with space affinity, though. So I had to rely on dark and light magic stones instead."
I blinked. "Wait, so you can make magic tools using mana alone? I thought you needed magic stones for everything."
Len chuckled quietly.
"Magic stones are just containers. They hold mana with specific elemental properties. I extract the mana and use it to craft tools or activate effects. But if you have the right element and control, you can skip the stones and use your own mana. With magic circles, the effects can be made permanent. Then mana stones become more like batteries."
I muttered, honestly impressed. "You really are a genius with this stuff."
She smiled and her gaze returned to my skill list.
"Next, you have recovery skills too. You should level them up. Once they hit level 10, they will evolve into much better versions, like mine."
I scratched my cheek.
"Yeah, I picked them up recently, but I have not really had a chance to level them. Honestly... I felt like a total lunatic for even thinking about hurting myself just to grind healing. So I stopped forcing it."
It was true. Healing skills were useful, but training them alone felt wrong in a way that stuck in my throat.
"It is fine. I can hurt myself and let you practice healing on me."
"What? No."
I shut it down so fast my voice cracked. Len snickered, obviously entertained.
"It is really fine though..."
I narrowed my eyes, torn between knowing she was joking and fearing she was not.
She continued anyway, unfazed.
"When Heal hits level 10, it evolves into Great Heal. Area Heal becomes Area Great Heal. Purify becomes Great Purification, and Area Purify becomes Area Great Purification."
She said it like skill evolution was a casual brewing tea.
⟬ Heal ⟭
⟨Lv. 1⟩
A basic recovery spell that channels restorative mana to heal wounds and replenish vitality. Effectiveness improves as the skill levels up, restoring more health over time.
⟬ Area Heal ⟭
⟨Lv. 1⟩
A recovery spell that heals multiple targets within a certain area. Healing is slightly less potent when spread across many, but strengthens with each level.
⟬ Purify ⟭
⟨Lv. 1⟩
A cleansing spell that uses light energy to dispel curses and dark influences from a single target. Higher levels enhance its power to purify stronger, more malicious effects.
⟬ Area Purify ⟭
⟨Lv. 1⟩
A purification skill that targets multiple individuals within an area, removing curses and corruptive energies. Less concentrated but grows more reliable with higher levels.
Her gaze shifted again.
"Next is Silent Fury. Hmm... so this is the one that messed with your aura control earlier, right?"
I replied quietly.
"Yeah. I accidentally triggered it right after the bandits... killed my parents."
Len’s expression softened. The playful edge in her eyes dimmed, replaced by something steadier, something that understood pain without making it awkward.
Then, completely deadpan, she spoke.
"Alright. So if you ever lose control again, I will just kiss you to calm you down."
"Eh?"
I blinked, caught completely off guard. For a second, I did not know whether to laugh or panic. It sounded ridiculous, but somehow… the idea didn’t seem entirely impossible either.
Len chuckled at my reaction and moved on before I could recover.
"Alright, next up... Immortal Bonds. Let’s see…"
She leaned closer, eyes narrowing as she read the long explanation. Her face changed by degrees, from curiosity, to disbelief, to outrage.
"Whoa, this thing has a novel-length description!"
Then she suddenly blurted it out, voice loud enough to bounce off the wooden walls.
"Wait, what the hell is this? Is this not way too overpowered? Hey, Azadia. Why did I not get something like this from Libertas even though I am an otherworlder too? This is so unfair!"
She actually pouted, glaring upward like the goddess was hovering above our ceiling.
【I don’t know. I don’t have the authority to access your information. But maybe you got some incredible innate talents instead?】
Aza replied in her usual calm tone, far too composed for someone being yelled at.
Len sighed.
"Mine are mostly about crafting magic tools, creating original skills, and understanding magic circles. It feels... ordinary."
That was the first time I had heard her say it plainly. I could not appraise innate talents, so I had never known the full shape of what she carried.
【Those talents are exceptional, you know? Any magic tool you create will outperform the same tool made by a dwarf, even if you both use identical materials and techniques. Unless your method is worse than theirs.】
【And your ability to develop original skills. In this era, you might be the only person who can do that easily. Most others would need hundreds of years to achieve the same.】
【Your enhanced understanding of magic circles probably supports both your crafting and skill development. It is all interconnected.】
Len went still. Her eyes widened just a little.
"Hmm... when you put it that way, I guess they do sound pretty amazing."
【Exactly. Goddess Libertas granted each of you what you desired the most. My master wished for a long, enjoyable life surrounded by family. That is why he received Immortal Bonds and talents that accelerate growth. You, on the other hand, probably wished to become a top-tier magic researcher and toolmaker.】
"Well, yeah... that is true… But I also wished to be an elf. Why did She reincarnate me as a half-elf instead?"
【At that time, you didn’t fully understand the burden of living a long life. So She chose to make you a half-elf instead, to spare you from that pain, while still giving you a longer lifespan than a human.】
Len fell quiet, the teasing slipping away.
"...Yeah. Watching my master grow old and die... that was painful."
Her gaze shifted to me, and her voice turned soft.
"But is it not going to be the same for darling?"
【No. He already understood the cost of immortality. He read enough fantasy novels to know what he was getting into.】
Len looked at me like she was searching for something true behind my face.
"Is that true, darling?"
I smiled, small but steady.
"Yeah. I was surprised at first, but I accepted it quickly. I lived a short, miserable life before. So now I want this one to be long and happy. I want it to be my reward... for enduring everything I went through back then."
She held my gaze, then finally smiled back, softer than before.
"...I see."
Len shook off the heaviness with a quick breath and returned to scanning my skills.
"Oh, you have a Clean skill too?"
"Yeah. Cleaning this house manually was just too much of a pain.”
"Fufu. I know, right?"
⟬ Clean ⟭
A basic utility skill that allows the user to instantly remove dirt, dust, and grime from objects, people, or surroundings using mana.
She kept going.
"And the last skill I am not familiar with is... Short Teleportation?"
"It is a skill I gained after acquiring the space element," I explained.
⟬ Short Teleportation ⟭
⟨Lv. 5⟩
A versatile skill that allows the user to instantly transport themselves to a nearby location within their line of sight. With a focused gaze and a mental command, the user can blink across short distances in the span of an instant, arriving at their chosen destination with incredible speed.
As the skill level increases, so does the range and efficiency of teleportation.
Current maximum distance: 50 meters.
Len’s eyes brightened instantly.
"Wow... that will be super useful in combat. Why bother learning footwork when you can just teleport behind your opponent?"
I chuckled at her reaction, then replied with childish reason back.
"Because I still want to learn your footwork, teleportation is cool, but it does not have the same elegance. Footwork feels like an art."
Len laughed lightly.
"Alright, alright. I will teach you everything."
I added. "Also, I can only teleport myself, that’s why you should learn it too."
"Don’t worry, I will. I already have a few ideas for original magic once I get the space element."
"I am looking forward to seeing what you come up with."
Len giggled, the sound soft, sleepy, and close. Her eyelids grew heavier with each breath, like her body was finally letting go of the day.
In the quiet, I reached up and brushed her hair behind her ear.
"Good night," I murmured.
"Mhm... good night. I love you, darling," she whispered, her fingers finding mine under the blanket and lacing with practiced ease, like she had done it a thousand times.
"I love you too."
A comfortable silence settled over the room, broken only by the gentle rustle of the blanket as we nestled in.
Too tired to say more, we let the soft rhythm of our breathing lull us to sleep, wrapped in the shared warmth of the bed and each other.