Skill Forge: Broken Extra Character

Chapter 227: Could Kiss You Right Now

"There's no harm in trying right?" Jett held the necklace and paused. He almost backed out until he caught Freya in the corner of his eye. That made him smile.l for some reason.

He let out a short breath and pushed his Aura into the necklace. His grin turned wild. 'Please work.'

The necklace reacted at once. A sharp pull dragged through his body as the item drained his Aura without warning. His legs weakened and his breath hitched for a moment. The flow kept pulling until almost nothing remained. By the time it stopped, his body felt light and unsteady.

"Alright, let's see if that worked." He steadied himself and checked the item again.

[Appraisal]

[(Necklace) Goddess Embrace]

[-50% buff for all holy magic skills

-20% increase in mana usage

-10% increase in Aura usage

-50% debuff on dark attributes and demonic energy

-Converts Mana to clear any kind of disease depending on the severity. (Sealed)

-Converts Aura to counter any status Ailment depending on the severity.

-Converts ?????? to ?????? (Sealed)

[Resurrection] When conditions are met, once a month, can use Resurrection on the user. Consumes 10 levels. (1/4) Currently sealed. Resets after usage.]

"Hmm. I don't see any difference. Don't tell me that wasn't enough." He scanned the text again. His eyes moved slower this time.

Then he caught it.

"Converts Aura to counter any status Ailment depending on the severity." He read the line out loud. "It is no longer sealed."

He grinned as he pictured how much boost he would get once everything opened.

"If Aura worked, let me try mana. It's an obvious choice at this point." He lifted his hand. Mana needed a spell as a channel, so he formed a small sphere of water above his palm. The necklace pulled at the mana in the spell the moment it formed. The sphere thinned fast, so he pushed more mana into it to keep it stable.

The pull grew stronger while his mana dropped until he felt lightheaded again. The glow from the necklace faded once it finished feeding on him.

"Let me check again. Should have worked though."

[Appraisal]

[(Necklace) Goddess Embrace]

[-50% buff for all holy magic skills

-20% increase in mana usage

-10% increase in Aura usage

-50% debuff on dark attributes and demonic energy

-Converts Mana to clear any kind of disease depending on the severity.

-Converts Aura to counter any status Ailment depending on the severity.

-Converts ?????? to ?????? (Sealed)

[Resurrection] When conditions are met, once a month, can use Resurrection on the user. Consumes 10 levels. (2/4) Currently sealed. Resets after usage.]

He gave a small, uneasy smile. A thought crept into his mind. 'Is this too easy? I feel like I'd get screwed over at this rate.'

It felt off. Items with power like this never advanced without cost and a smooth progress hinted at some kind of catch. It bothered him more the longer he stood there thinking about it but after a while he just brushed of wondering if he was just lucky.

'It might get harder from this point.'

Then another idea surfaced. There was one more energy source he had not tested.

'Lumix huh?' He sighed as another thought once again creeped in, 'I'm sure if it now, I'm definitely being screwed over. Whoever made this thing definitely had something else in mind and mine times out of ten, it's usually a BS condition.' Shivers went down his spine the more he thought about already weird conditions he knew about for previous items he came across and had already experienced before.

"Please don't be something mentally embarrassing." He pleaded to no one in particular.

With the warning signs he was giving himself, Jett hesitated. Lumix was risky one, it was still based on the unknown compared to Aura and Lumix and he knew that. He also knew he had no real choice if he wanted the final seal open and the only way to find out would be to try.

He took out a small portion of Lumix and let it float above his palm and proceeded to push it toward the necklace.

The reaction was instant and a bit unsettled.

The Lumix surged forward on its own, ignoring his control like it had a mind of its own unlike what happened with his Mana where it only acted based on his wishes. It poured into the necklace in a rapid stream. The pull was stronger than Aura or Mana. The necklace grew brighter each second.

"What's... going... on...?" Jett forced the words out as his body weakened. His vision blurred. His knees buckled as his grip on consciousness slipped.

He hit the ground but the Lumix kept rushing into the necklace without his command. Voices echoed around him, one voice cut through the noise, a familiar call from far away but he couldn't react at all.

He tried to answer but the sound never left his throat. Everything faded into darkness. And worst of all, there was a new notification from the necklace but he was too drained to notice.

*****

His eyes opened again, almost as fast as they had shut. He was no longer outside. He was inside a quiet room.

A weight pressed against his leg but he managed to sit up and looked down.

Freya slept by his feet. Her head rested against the edge of the bed. Her hair fell across the blanket in long waves. The soft light in the room caught the strands and made them shine. Her face looked calm and warm, almost peaceful. The sight made heat rise in his cheeks before he could stop it.

"How long was I out?" Jett pressed his hand to his face. This was the final day and he had no time to waste. None of them did, plus, everyone was counting on him.

"An hour." A calm but familiar voice answered beside him. "After you passed out, we moved you here before any guards noticed. We couldn't even sense much Mana or Aura inside you anymore so we were all worried but don't worry you have Marcella to thank for the one you can feel right now."

'That's true, I do feel a bit of it inside. If I could make a guess then I'd say... 40% of what I originally had.' He got lost in thought for a moment but then he turned toward the voice even though he already recognized it. "Elora...?"

She had been leaning on the wall the whole to do he wasn't able to see her, for some reason he couldn't help but notice that she initially hid her presence to avoid his perception. But then again he was more thankful that all he did was stare at Freya, would've been bad if he mistakenly did something weird.

She stepped closer and placed her palm on his forehead before he could say more. "You sure know how to make us worry."

Her face ended up close to his causing her hair to brush his shoulder. Her breath touched his cheek.

Jett froze. His thoughts scattered. 'Its cold. Wait... Too close, she's too close.'

He couldn't turn away and so the heat on his face rose. Multiple thoughts ram through his head at once, 'She looks cute like this. Wait, focus. Why is she here? Elora isn't supposed to be this gentle. Wasn't she a battle junkie. This feels weird, did I change something by mistake?'

For Freya, it made sense to him. They shared a room so maybe she was just looking out for her roommate. Maybe. But Elora was a different story. She never acted like this. She rarely showed concern, not even for Aiden.

'He'd probably get jealous of he knew where her sisterly lover was being used right now.'

'Did something change?' Jett racked his head for the exact moment he might have done something that changed her personality, straying away from the original book.

*****

Elora watched them. Her eyes narrowed as if she tracked every small movement. A slow smile formed on her lips. It looked proud, almost smug like she just won a battle of something of the sort.

She leaned closer, lost in her own thoughts. Her voice came out soft before blurting out, "I could kiss you right now."

Jett jerked back. "Huh?"

His mind blanked. His face turned bright red. 'No way I heard that right.'

"What did you say?" His voice cracked a little.

Elora's eyes widened. Her face burned red the instant she realized what she had said.

"Ahh..., kick," she blurted out, tripping over her own tongue. "I could kick you right now. You know, if you didn't want to wake up soon. Hahaha." She stood at once.

"Since you are awake, I will leave now." She rushed to the door. "Later!" The door slammed behind her.

'I know what I heard,' Jett stared at it the door. His face stayed hot. 'So cute. Why am I thinking that? She acted strange. Still cute. Arrgh.'

"...You are awake." Freya spoke from where his leg was. She hadmanaged to bring him back to reality. "Are you okay?"

"Oh, me? I am fine." His voice sounded messy. He didn't know if she saw anything. "You don't have to wor..."

Freya grabbed his face before he finished. She tilted his head toward the light and checked his eyes like a nurse. "You don't look sick. What happened?" Her palm rested on his forehead. She leaned in even closer.

Jett's mind jumped. 'Again? Twice in one day?' He panicked and leaned back too far causing him to fall off the side of the bed, then he scrambled up, and pointed at the door.

"We should get going. They must be waiting for us." His words rushed together as he walked toward the exit.

He slipped out of the room in a hurry.

Freya stayed on the bed. Her face burned red. She stared at the spot where he had been.

"Could... C... Could kiss you right now?" She pressed a pillow over her face and screamed into it, "Eloraaaaaaaa."

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Hehehe, I don't know how far I'll be able to take this charade.

But thanks for reading.

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