So much information… this made it nine skill options pending for him, with one Blade Dancer skill, one Brute Steel skill, one Golden Alchemist Skill, two General skills, and two Frost Skill options. There’s also his class option. Rue had to blink several times to close away the blaring notification. They almost blinded him, especially in such a dimly lit place. He will deal with this later.
First things first.
Rue tried to find Benedict. He saw the man crouching with a knife in his hand. His stump was wrapped with a white cloth that stopped any blood from flowing. Beside him is Cel, whose antler glowed with white light. That light transferred to Benedict's stump, no doubt a healing spell.
He stood menacingly, glaring at the lioness, who was bloated in her stomach. Yomi helped Benedict up, and his bloodlust is obvious. He stepped close to the lioness, hand clenching the knife.
Cel, with a sudden burst of power, stood on his six legs. Shielding the lioness from Benedict.
‘Please, at least until the birth,’ Cel spoke to their mind.
That made him miss a step, eyes still calculating.
Yuuki and Rita watched from the sideline, both of them eyeing Benedict, unsure of what the Rogue would do.
The man's murderous gaze, however, did not stop; he shrugged Yomi off. “Move away.”
“Benedict,” Rue called out. And he was briefly chilled by the stare. Before realizing he shouldn't be. “The lioness will die anyway, the quest already said so.”
“It will?”
“I told the whole group before, not long after we met.”
Benedict mulled this, and he let out a sigh. “That is a shame. I planned to help it with its birth, not kill it.”
“You are?’ Rue blinked. Not believing him.
“I'm a doctor, remember? Move stag.” Benedict pushed Cel lightly. Cel, in a surprising move to him, stepped away, allowing Benedict to kneel and examine the lioness.
The lioness growled, her breathing heaved in weak, grumbling hiccups. She tried to lift her paw, but eventually too weak to do so.
Rue settled on one knee, watching Benedict examining the lioness' bloated stomach with his hands.
‘Human, you said she is not going to survive’
Cel said straight to his brain. The stag kept staring at him, clearly wishing for it to be a lie.
‘That man wouldn't hear our thoughts. I made sure of it.’
‘I'm sorry, Cel. But she really will die.’
‘But why?’ He insisted.
A wail of small cries cut through their conversation. Benedict pulled a small cub's body, blanketed by its mother's blood. The cub is full of flesh with its first cry.
“Here, hold it. I'd rather not leave him in this rough ground.” Benedict handed over the small lion to him.
Rue took him, feeling his slimy body, and his cries doubled. The lion is not bigger than his palm, so small and fragile. Yet, full of life.
(Surviving Cubs: 1)
(Lioness Health: 5%)
“This wound…” Benedict brushed over part of the Lion's skin. Nearby, where his finger just passed, was a deep raking sword wound. Blood still flowed from the Lioness' body. Cel quickly got down and began healing with his glowing antler.
‘The Hob is about to kill her the moment I arrive. I fought all of them and was winning. That is, until I told her that I killed Gufam, in the arena' Cel said.
“You’re winning? Against all of them?” Rue blinked, not sure what to think about that.
“Why would you tell her, in that kind of situation?” Benedict grunted. He shoved both of his hands into the Lioness, pulling another cub, which wails in his hand. “Here, hurry.” Yuuki took the cub.
‘Perhaps, that is not wise,’ Cel admitted.
Benedict kept working; he was about to pull another cub. Rue noticed there would be many more cubs than he initially thought. He laid down his blue, tattered cloak and put the first cub on it.
“There will be a lot more,” Benedict muttered. “Yomi, can you get Eve here?” He asked the HuGoblin.
“Yes! Of course!” Yomi said eagerly. He asked Rita if she wanted to come, but Rita just shook her head; they might need an item from her. Yomi took off running out of the cave. The Hugoblin will be the best choice to get help quickly.
“Another one,” Rue took the cub, laying it on his robe. Now, four cubs with their limbs pushing against each other lay there. “It’s a good thing this place is warm,” Benedict said as he pulled another cub.
Now five on his robe.
Each crying as their first declaration of life..
Memory from the distant past blinked alive inside of him.
When he was only five, he was in a hospital observing a doctor who had grown up in the same orphanage as him.
“Amazing, isn’t he?” a voice whispered. Steward Joan was a frail old man who always wore a kind smile for the children and for Rue as well. But that day, his smile curved a bit into his eyes; this one felt more than genuine – like he was proud. Standing behind a glass wall to watch the doctor who had just delivered the baby, he asked, “What do you think, Rue?” while looking down at him, who was struggling on his tiptoes to get a glimpse of the baby.
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Joan laughed and lifted him up high. However, Rue's eyes didn't go to Rudolph, the red-haired doctor who had been his predecessor. Instead, his mind went to the babies—they were under glass in some kind of machine.
“What are they doing?” Rue pointed, tilting his head.
“I’m not sure either,” Joan admitted.
“Why is Steward Sistine there? Talking with the mother?” Rue then pointed at the women, who were draped in a shawl of all gods.
“Why, they would be your brothers and sisters soon enough.”
“Why?”
“The mother is not surviving, Rue,” Joan said regretfully. “And the father also passed away due to an unfortunate incident three months ago. Their close relative doesn’t want to take the children, especially since hearing about the quintuplet.”
“Huh,” Rue huffed as steward Joan let him down. The door opened, and Radolph drew a heavy breath the moment he closed the door again. “Tough work?” Rue asked.
Rudolph let out a chuckle and ruffled his head. “You could say so, kid.”
Then the doctor changed his tone from somber to cheerful. “Well, what do you think? Interested in being a doctor? In another twelve years or so, I can put a reccomen-“
“No,” Rue cut him off.
Rudolph raised an eyebrow.
“I don’t want a job where people's lives are in my hands, I’m not an idiot.” Rue crossed his arms stubbornly. “I would rather have a boring job, so I could do anything I wanted when I get home.”
“Rue…” Joan's eyes twitched.
“Are you really five?” Rudolph crouched and pinched his cheek.
“Yes, and I’m smarter than you,” He spoke incoherently.
“Please ignore this one, Rudolph,” Joan said. Ruffling Rue's hair roughly. “It's just a children's phase.”
“No. No,” Rudolph chuckled, pushing his glasses up. He then looked back at a blaring green, shiny letter that read ‘Emergency’. “Maybe he is the smart one. But, Rue. Like it or not, problems will come hunting you down in your life, whether you seek them or not.”
“How so?”
“I believe there’s some almighty god that got bored if someone lived without any problems. So they threw one at us,” Rudolph explained.
“Aren’t you supposed to be a doctor? A man of science?”
“Exactly!” Rudolph smiled. “Hence, I get a free shot at insulting god.”
“Rudolph!” Joan warned him, but Rue noticed the smile on Joan's face was still there. Like he missed this. They have been taught to pray to the all-god. Basically, every god out there in various religions should be prayed to and respected. It’s a pain in the ass in Rue's opinion. The prayer can take a whole month each year! Madness!
“But, I just wanted to live a life full of boredom,” Rue whined, trying to puff his cheek to get Rudolph's pinching finger off his cheek.
“Steward Joan, what have you been teaching the kids now?”
“I swear it's only this one, Rudolph.”
“Well, still be careful of what you wish for, Rue. God can be extremely bored, too. And who knows what they would do.”
Quest Complete.
(Quest: Promise Between the Damned}
(A lioness is about to give birth in a dangerous area nearby. Because of her wound, the act of giving birth will be her last. Ensure as many cubs survive as possible.)
(Reward: Frost Skill option for two surviving cubs)
(Reward: Lion of the Morning Class Change Scroll (Unique) for three surviving cubs)
(Reward: One Lion of the Morning Skill choice for the next skill option)
(Reward: Frost Chest (Uncommon) for each surviving cubs)
(Reward: Lion Mane Cloak (Rare) for all surviving cubs)
(Surviving Cubs: 6)
(Lioness Health: 0%)
The lioness drew her last breath. Rue could watch the way her flesh heaved up for the last time, and enter eerily calmed and silent. No one spoke except for the wails of the cubs, like they had just noticed the death of their mother.
Out of thin air, six blue chests appeared. Falling on the ground with a thump of wood against stone. Above one of them is a scroll that looked like they have been dumped into a bucket of red paint.
And lastly, replacing the cloak Rue had worn. A red, soft, and extravagantly decorated cloak appeared around him; the next moment, he found himself wearing the cloak. An embodiment of a golden lion with white wings carved in the middle. It tells a story of how the lion had killed a hundred Pegasus, which lay bloody on the bottom of the cloak. Rue could feel the fur around his neck, nestling him with an incredible warmth that made him let out a soft sigh.
Not only this, he now has an extra three Frost skill options and one Lion of the Morning skill option. Adding his skill option to twelve if he does not count the choices from killing the three brothers.
Lion Mane Cloak (Rare) – You have saved the Lion of the morning. This cloak is crafted as an embodiment of the lion's defensive capability. Its mane will warm and give you extra perception. The Lion Mane Cloak is especially strong against water and ice-based attacks – reflecting on his battle against the Bearer of Frost, Cel of the Stag. Perception + 100
“What…” Rue's head shot up as he read the description. He looked at Cel, who probably did not know anything about this. The Stag is mourning the Lioness' death silently, with its antlers close to her body.
Rue looked at the cubs. Yuuki, Rita, and Benedict were taking care of them. Yuuki played with one that tried to scratch her finger.
Which one?
He shook his head. What would he do even if he found out? He almost forgot Cel had lived a long life that undoubtedly would shame some of the history books he had read.
Then, suddenly, a muffled echo. Rita cried as she pet one of the cubs.
“I will disappear soon,” Rita said.
“What?”
“The system confirmed it just now. It even gave us a countdown... 10 minutes. Rita's hand moved to her sash, and she took it off. Her dress fell down. “Rue, you should take this…” she handed the sash.
“Goblin!” Yuuki lurched, pulling her dress up to cover her body. ”What are you…”
“What does it matter anymore! Everything is fake. Me and Cel too,” she looked at the stag who raised his head.
‘Indeed, I have the same countdown as you,’ The stag confirmed.
Rita gritted her teeth. “We’re just made to help you guys.”
“That’s not-“ That’s not true. Is what Rue wanted to say. But, he had the suspicion even since he met her. Rue clenched his fist. He should have told her earlier. But would that even help?
“So much is fake…” A voice echoed. Rue looked at Benedict, who shook his head, and his eyes widened. This is not Benedict's voice. “But, your souls are very real. You might be born out of my will. You might not be the real Rita, but you’re still real.”
Cel, the past Cel, has been grieving the Lioness glow with an astral wisp of magic flowing around him like a dancer.
‘What is this?’ Cel asked their mind. But, he soon answered his own second. ‘Ah, I see what's happening.’ The stag's voice sounded somber. ‘I have done my job then, thank you humans.’
In an explosion of blue light, Ice crept through the cave, circling and engulfing everything in glowing blue. The dark cave has turned into a shining, luminescent, crystalline color of the sea.
In place of the stag stood a humanoid creature.
He was made of ice, a hood of crystal covering his head, and his antlers of ice shot up from the hood.
The creature turned, and Rue saw a face with two huge blank eyes and no lips. His body is thin and lither. There’s no sign of bone around his limbs – but still, it managed to stand on two legs and two hands.
Yet, Rue knew this was what he wanted.
“It’s been a while. I see you've done well,” The current Cel said.
“That’s an understatement.”
“You surpassed my trial. Now it's time for you to truly take the first step of PermaFrost.”
[Class Option]
Frost Wizard (Rare)
Frost Swordman (Uncommon)
Frost Mage (Uncommon)
Frost Light Bringer (Mystic)
Frost Necromancer (Legendary)
Frost Mage Knight (Legendary)
