Inflame (The Completionist Chronicles Book 6) by Dakota Krout (best romantic novels in english TXT) 📕

by adventuring and provide for the war effort at a distance. There would always be loot; war was synonymous with profit, but the fact of the matter was that he could’ve gotten the same crafting materials from ore that he could from refined gear. He sighed as he placed his hand on the Dandy Lion and let his mana surge.

Item: Guardian (Elven).

Reduction value: 134 Unique aspects, Special (Anima) 100, 122 Rare aspects, 683 Uncommon aspects, 1,884 Common aspects, 5,684 Damaged aspects, 6,166 Trash aspects.

Reduction cost: 625 mana per second.

After canceling all effects and getting back to full mana, Joe began the process of reducing the Guardian. He lit up with dark lines and had to resist the temptation to activate Essence Cycle. There was no need to blow his head off right now. One second passed, three… Joe sank to a knee just before the fourth second, and the rest of the Guardian rotted away into a pile of unusable mush. He looked over the aspects gained, smiling softly as his mana deprivation headache started to pass. “Got almost ninety-five percent of it!”

Aspects gathered

Trash: 9,491

Damaged: 8,771

Common: 6,341

Uncommon: 4,911

Rare: 1,134

Special: 100 (Zombified). 100 (Anima).

Unique: 326

Artifact: 0

Legendary: 0

Mythical: 0

“Oh? I got all the Special?” Joe stared at the Special Anima that he had just gained, but it didn’t give him any hints as to why it hadn’t depleted by going into standard storage. “Anima has something to do with being animated, right? As in ‘living’?”

“Time for us to go!” Havoc’s orders weren’t just for Joe; they were for everyone that had joined in on the expedition. “This place is building up, so get out of the way! Your Officers are working on respawns. Make sure we don’t miss even a single Dwarf! Look for your friends tomorrow; today, you need to set up a defensive perimeter!”

Joe was already walking away and had decided that he needed to hide from the world for a while. Havoc saw him going, but said nothing to stop him: the human was at least moving in the correct direction for safety. He also knew that seeing combat like this could change people, in ways large and small. The Dwarf mulled it over and decided to give the human some room, but also make sure he would come back. “Joe! When we get back to the city, I will distribute your quest rewards immediately. We'll also go over what you have earned from me, and from this mission.”

Though he hesitated, Joe didn’t turn back, simply thanking the Dwarf and continuing on his way. As he walked along the demolished path that the Legion had left in its wake, Joe decided that he needed to take a detour. He got off the beaten path and strolled into the forest within the fort’s area of influence—which was slowly wilting away—simply to take in all the greenery and colors of the woods.

*Meow*!

A sharp sound reached his ears, and Joe’s eyes slowly turned to spot the source. “Was that a cat? Why would there be a cat out here?”

He moved faster, knowing that a domestic animal wouldn’t have a chance at survival if they met a monster. “Here, kitty kitty!”

Joe stopped himself from calling out again, knowing that he shouldn’t be giving away his position like that. The meow came again, more frantically, along with hissing and the unmistakable sound of spells and combat. Joe burst through the last bit of foliage and ground to a halt. “What the-?”

A cave opening descended at a sharp angle into the ground, almost more of a hole in the forest than anything else. Standing at the edge of the—either hole or sharp-angled tunnel—were several broken and bloody Elves that were fighting a housecat. The Elves were shouting something, but their words were mostly unintelligible to him; only a few insults were in a language that he could understand.

“Move, foul thing! When the pheasant and the turkey fight each other, it’s the hunter who benefits!” Joe was mostly certain that this insult was actually a plea, but it didn’t matter to him. When he saw an arrow pin the cat to the ground, all he could see was red.

“Mend!” Joe’s first target was the cat; then he released a Dark Lightning Strike, triggering his bonus. A second bolt came down on their heads, but both bounced off various mana barriers and jumped at the Elf that had shot the cat. His tackle took the Elf to the ground, but again did no damage through the shielding. Perceiving that an aggressor was in their midst, the Elves switched targets and bombarded Joe with their various attacks. Joe winced as he realized that he hadn’t refreshed his shell before leaving on his own.

“Ow!”

“What was that?”

Exquisite Shell: 921/2346.

Skill increase: Dark Lightning Strike (Apprentice V).

Joe smiled as he tried to choke the Elf; his Retaliation of Shadows was slapping the Elves with each attack they sent his way. The smile vanished when he realized that he was in a bad position. If they could have used their most powerful attacks, he wouldn’t have lasted very long at all; luckily, he was rolling around with one of their own. Joe would have been far more surprised if they hadn’t hesitated, but it would have at least justified the war in his mind.

He wanted so badly to see them as brutal attackers that cared nothing for friend or foe alike. It would have been so easy to hate them if they were monsters through and through.

“Hold! Stop; we need to get Elvis and get out of here. Havoc is almost certainly still looking for survivors.” A shining face dominated Joe’s field of view, then a telekinetic hand wrapped around him and lifted him into the air. It wasn’t attacking him, so the Elf didn’t get slapped. Joe stared at the golden skin of the Elf keeping him in the air, activating Intrusive Scan.

Elfwyn Searinglight

Highest stat: Intelligence

Ongoing effect-

*Slap*.

Exquisite Shell: 683/2346.

Joe’s head rocked back as a second mana-made hand was formed and hit