My Parasite Skill System - Chapter 222

‘Listen, listen, listen!’

That same angry voice from before? It came crashing itself onto myself super-heavily.

I was just as if stomped upon.

I opened back my eyes.

I saw the golden sheets of silk fly away.

I stretched an arm, trying to fight their flight.

But no can do. They flew away.

Out of the blue, I was now standing.

“I wouldn’t become the King,” I suddenly say, catching even myself off-guard. “Not for now. Not before long. Very long.” And my voice died down, too, just like the wind, and everything else in existence.

Everything else in existence, yeah. The wind did disappear. The voice did disappear. And everything else in existence … was bound to disappear.

But not right away. Before that, they all grew faces and arms. The very long, high, and thick pine trees did. They grew eyes, mouths, noses, and hands. All of which was watching me from above.

The branch-like arms were crossed. The dry mouths arched down. The noses sharp, thorn-like. And the carved eyes … as deep as stern and scornful.

I looked at them with aversion and mistrust. I knew it to be the right thing to do.

They stood there, rooted in the wild, judging me. All of them!

My eyes could always shoot right, left, or front; they were here, intently glaring at me.

And then I heard a voice again. ‘They’re here.’ A voice I never heard before. One of the trees had spoken. ‘They’re here,’ it said. ‘They’re finally here.’ That was right. That tree had spoken against me. It was vague, but I knew it.

Sketchy dream, right? But all of it had to make sense.

–That other mysterious, angry voice called again: ‘These ones’re bad, too! They’re another story–but they’re just the same! Bad, stinky, smelly, vile, wicked … and wrong, wrong, wrong; all the same! All ungrateful!’

This voice spoke of the trees. It wasn’t clear at all. It didn’t seem to be, for real. But still, I knew. To my mind and blurry yet not-flawed understanding, that was as clear as daylight.

I didn’t understand. But the ‘all ungrateful’ part echoed through my mind.

–’But I’m with you, Skill. … I’ll be your friend … and you’ll be mine…’ Did I overhear shyness and hesitation? ‘You’ll be the King. Of everything. And you’ll be with me.’

My clear and not-flawed-in-the-least understanding of all this? Don’t make me laugh; ‘course it was flawed. What was that angry–no, real soft, by now, voice about? I didn’t understand.

–But all of this? It was the ancient narration. It was the story.

And so the Elina’s voice spoke. And so the Elina’s voice would speak more.

Of course this was about the old tale!

The story (and lesson) of the snotty child, the monster, and … wait for it, the heroes!

As this was told, images came to me, illustrating everything. I saw and understood.

Emerald Calendar – centuries ago.

Somewhere in the ridiculously vast and broad world lied a land. A bright, green, happy land.

–The little piece of land where everything began.

Bright was the land, yeah. It was bright like a thousand suns. And not only in its mountains and trees and skies and clouds, no. It was brighter than that. It was bright by its peaceful people, by its peaceful cattle, and by its peaceful harmony.

And green!–it was green, too, the land. Green, green, green, you might ask, however? What in the world even is green, ‘Uncle’?

It was green, living, vigorous, and spirited. The land was. And it appeared so. In so many aspects. The many folks were strong and full of life–you would see them work real hard and real good during the day, sweating sweats and bloods as they were!–and … wait for it; dance as energetically and willingly during the night among themselves! Sweating not only sweats–but joy, fun, and also strength for the incoming next day!

Vigorous and spirited! This was one happy land! Did the princess’ voice say. Oh so beautiful was the land, really!

–In this beautiful magnificent land; there was you.

That child whom everyone knew as the little punky punk!

It was lying, angry, bad and nasty with the other kids, carefree and dummy, not using its head, behaving real bad, and last but not least, snotty, snotty, and snotty.

Now, now, now… That was bad, now, wasn’t it?!

Yeah, there was that one little child. And that child was bad. As bad as could be … and the snottiest lil’ piece of human one had ever seen.

And you don’t like snot, do you???

That child was bad news.

It always had been.

Of course the child was. Didn’t even obey Uncle.

The child had parents. But the child was as bad as snotty, remember? It didn’t listen to anyone.

Hm. And just like this, the monster was drawn in.

Peace was peace. But tribulations were tribulations. Of course life was full of tests!

That peaceful town of mighty, kind folks? It was well, very well.

That was the truth, yeah. … Or maybe not the entire truth. Not the most truthful truth ever. Yes. On the edges of that bright, happy, and green land; there was a forest.

And, that forest, wasn’t it that town’s total opposite?

Somber, gloomy, sad, and dry woods. No words nor illustrations would better fit this forest’s plain and simple description than these mere ugly words.

The snotty child, playing (and rampaging) alone, went and got nearby the forest’s grim borders.

That was a bad thing to do, now.

In the forest? Everyone knew! There was the monster.

Coming that near to the borders on this side of the town really wasn’t something people casually did. But that child was different. The child didn’t pay attention. Bad and nasty.

The borders were forbidden to anyone. That didn’t prevent this. Child went out of his way and plunged into the forest.

There, in the dark and gloomy place, it got eaten by the monster.

That was what would happen to bad children, now, insisted Uncle.

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“I– … I’m sorry!” hesitantly cried out the child.

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–Though not so much! Right before that child really would be lost and utterly plunged within these stinky woods–the heroes came right up and saved him.

Stricken by fear, the child regretted its previous ways. The child denied them and was ready to change! The heroes came right along with that!

The heroes were eight. Beautiful, bright, strong, and green–just like the town’s people. That was quite natural. The resemblance was. Weren’t the heroes from among these good people, hmm?

They were leaders as well as heroes. And saviors, too. The ones on whom you counted. The ones who helped, rushing and rescuing!

Before the monster could snatch away the snotty child and devour it … booh!–the heroes struck!

–In the meantime, I appeared back there, right in front of these ridiculously broad and dark wild woods.

The sheets of light, golden silk had just been blown away. My hand still was stretched towards the distance where they had gone.

All of the trees that priorly faced me, though? They weren’t to be spotted anymore.

And very soon, my hand was brought down. It was well-resigned about what it intended to accomplish. It initially stretched out so it could get a grip on those … three command-what?

The reason as to why it was stretched out in the first place completely slipped my mind, by now.

Forgotten was that which was previous.

All I knew was that I was resigned. But as I didn’t know what even for was I feeling this way, it also quickly slipped my foggy, dreaming(?) mind.

All I knew was that I was resigned. And that the mighty and hearty people would come to rescue me.

Why though?

A hand was placed on my shoulder. It was firm, strong, and warm.

Yes, the heroes came right up to the child. Word was, the child was in danger. And word also was, the child wasn’t so snotty anymore. I’m serious.

And as that warm hand squeezed my shoulder, a hero spoke, ‘Not so much snotty anymore, aren’t we?? You’re here and you’re fine! I’m Shop. And I’ll save your ass, heh-heh!’

That voice was just like the hand–young, firm, and unwavering.

As it spoke still, telling me I shouldn’t worry now that he and his friends are here, the hero embraced me with his arms, lifted me up, and carried me away from the entrance of this dark, ghostly-ancient forest.

And that was it. Apparently, the child wasn’t so snotty anymore. It was now well-behaved. In so many aspects, yup. So many aspects that talking about it would only drag this further inconsistently in useless praises.

Walking past us–the child and the hero–were the seven other heroes. Or no, only six. The last of them actually tagged along with the carrying hero.

They walked steady and proud, properly aligning each step in front of the other.

And going like this, they went behind my back, doing away with the forest’s monster.

As the monster was slain, it cried and yelped and shrieked.

At last, it was to be dealt with.

But among the cries, yelps, and shrieks, it calmly spoke the following words: ‘I made you for this!’ it addressed itself to me. ‘Falsehood – that game, you’ll beat it, right? You have to fight your way through it. You’re only starting; there’s so much you haven’t seen! It promises to be long–very, very long!… but you’ll be the–––

The monster spoke as if teasingly as it was beaten under dozens of blows. Only I seemed to understand these words … of complaint?

‘–––the King! They say that’s what you get to do, playing games, after all … tee-hee!’

At that moment, that angry voice from before–the one which spoke only very little, from time to time–struck me as totally different. It was a feminine kind of voice. Now, I would remember the sound of it … and later …

–The hero Shop was taking me away in a princess carry.

To me, his neck was exposed.

Oh how divine was the fragrance that came out of it!

Oh!–ring!

❮ Bit the neck. 0/1 ❯

Bringing up my teeth, climbing up his shoulder, my throat gulped–without missing a beat, I thrust my teeth at the young human’s neck, hoping to–––oh, but I woke up.

Oop.

I’d just bitten my tongue!

Another day had risen.

And this dream?

What to even think of it?

Was it so serious?

Had to do with the System, after all!

–To all this, my answer was simple. I forgot. Thorough and thorough. Someday, I’d remember it.

For now, all that mattered was, another day had risen.

How long was that sleep?

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Ring!

❮ Main Quest – Let the Player hear the ancient story –and reflect upon it. 1/1 ❯

❮ ‘What lies behind the story…?’ – Main Quest … ❯

❮ Main Quest – Become the King. 0/1 ❯