This time, Jake was planning to make things easier for him since he had no idea what to expect in the future regarding the other missions and the boss of that dungeon. Jake called his crystal wolves and made them attack the iron golems from both sides since the tattoo guys were attacking them frontally.
They made ice spears run down on the battlefield, and the tattoo guys were smart enough to use lightning bolts to combo with them once they realized that they weren't enemies. Adding to that situation, Jake approached the enemies from behind and began to attack with his dark flames and Mana Blade.
You obtained 200 coins.
Your recovery increased by one point.
You obtained 200 coins.
Your recovery increased by one point.
…
Although it took a while, the iron golems were wiped out. Still, now he had to deal with some pissed tattooed guys…
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtJake made his crystal wolves move around and assume positions around him while they were resting. They would be able to react pretty fast if something happened. The only problem was that they were weaker than the tattooed guys and their numbers were smaller as well.
"You are the one who assisted us earlier, weren't you?" A woman who had short blonde air approached Jake and said. "My name is Myrna. We are grateful for your help."
Jake had noticed that, but aside from the tattoos, those guys also had tribal clothes that only covered a part of their bodies. It suited them with the tattoos, but it looked weird, considering that they were all mages. At least from Jake's perspective…
"No problem," Jake replied after crossing his arms. "It was convenient for me to help since your attack gave me the chance to infiltrate the dungeon."
"Your appearance… you must be one of those that call themselves Earthlings or humans," Myrna said. "Not a lot of you joined this large-scale war, but you people have already become quite famous…"
"Is that so?" Jake asked while shrugging. "Anyway, if you want to use the crystal to rescue your friends, feel free to do so. It would help a lot if you could cross the dungeon as soon as possible and let the monsters leave the place again."
Jake couldn't help but wonder what would happen to the crystal when people uses one of its functions and invaded the enemy's territory. Most likely, nothing much will happen until the owner of the crystal is killed, but it was hard to imagine that the crystal would operate like nothing was happening. Also, the crystal probably had some mana requirements to be used… it would be weird if it could spawn monsters like that without a cost.
"Aren't you here to defeat the enemy as well?" Myna asked. "You are also using the system, so you should know that the more the dungeon masters are left alone, the more troublesome they become."
"No, I don't know that… what can you tell me about it?" Jake asked.
Myrna looked suspiciously at Jake. Both of them felt a bit suspicious in that situation… Jake could tell that Myrna was someone from a species like humans that, for one reason or the other, were brought to that universe using the bodies of their alternate versions. Still, Jake couldn't understand how come all of them had such great magic potential and even that magical trait when they probably should have come from a normal world… unless, even in their real reality, they could use magic.
"What do you know about the situation?" Myrna asked.
Jake wondered if he should tell everything he knew… in the end, he didn't trust those guys. He didn't trust anyone considering that his own species was hunting him out of fear. Regardless, he was surrounded, and if things were going to end in a fight, he might as well make it start sooner. Hopefully, he will find a way to get their powers and turn the tide of the battle… still, Jake felt that he was getting ahead of himself.
"I see… We don't interact much with other species, but we understand now," Myrna said. "We managed to find the answers to many questions because of our traits. The others will have to wait a while for it."
Jake furrowed his eyebrows since the woman was basically saying nothing that could help him understand the situation. Fortunately, Myrna realized that and corrected herself to explain things in more detail.
"As you can see, we are from a magical species that has the ability to store more mana in our bodies than we are supposed to," Myrna said. "We can do that because we train and control our spirits daily."
Myrna was either naive or insane by revealing all that… there was a chance that spreading such information might not put her people in a bad spot. However, Jake, in her place, wouldn't reveal much about the human species, even if the chances of his words cause minimal problems to them, and he didn't have many reasons to be loyal to his people.
"To speed up the process of gathering mana, we use a certain skill, and one of the effects of that skill is that it lets us see our past," Myrna said. "We have full control over our memories and the memories of these Bodies."
"I see. I supposed that helped you all understand what is going on here," Jake said. "So, how is that connected to the dungeon masters?"
"... From their perspective, we aren't supposed to exist. We are like parasites from another universe," Myrna said.
"Parasites? I know that we aren't supposed to be here, but it isn't like we can ignore the fact that we can come here… this might give us the chance to prevent the same disaster in our universe," Jake said.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmIn fact, that was the reason that Jake assumed that they were there. The developers of the game probably managed to contact the current universe and learn some magic when they learned about the future that awaited them. Jake had no idea how they managed to combine technology and magic so soon, but that wasn't one of the most important things he had to consider now.
"You don't understand… by using our powers. We managed to see how things really ended…" Myrna said. "We all were defeated, and in the end, the universe was destroyed by a shadow that was sucking mana from all things. That was our real-life… once we learned about the rite of passage, something bothered us… once we came to check many worlds, we understood why… everything before the rite of passage was just a reality based on illusion."
At first, Jake didn't understand the meaning of those words, but he eventually got it… his life before the game was just a magical simulation of his real life… the life he started before becoming king Judas.
Jake wasn't sure if he should believe Myrna's story or if he should be surprised since it made a lot more sense than the thing about their bodies disappearing back there and then only their spirits being transported to that universe where they could the restored bodies of their alternative versions.
"You don't look convinced. I can't blame you…" Myrna said. "If someone were to tell me that the first few years of my second life were a lie, I wouldn't believe them without proof. However, you need to understand we checked our memories, and we confirmed that we basically had experienced the same memories twice. One before dying and before coming to this universe."
"... Who made us revive in this universe then?" Jake asked. "Why was our universe destroyed?"
"I don't know the answer to the first question… but I can assume that something powerful didn't want anyone to be able to wield mana. My species wasn't one of those that were fighting the real enemies," Myrna said. "Before dying, we were still trying to repel the dungeon masters that attacked our planet."
"... You should hurry up and save your friends," Jake said. "There is no telling what the dungeon masters might be planning."
"You don't look much stronger than us, but you are someone resourceful," Myrna said. "Still, I would like to ask for your help. In exchange for that, I will teach you our technique to recover mana faster and to check your past and confirm that by yourself."
Zenith: Increases your Mana Regeneration by five percent per level passively, and when it is active, increases your overall Mana Regeneration by five times.
Jake checked the skill that he had assumed that she was talking about. It was a pretty good skill, but he didn't mana that much. Aside from summoning his crystal wolves, Jake was pretty satisfied with his mana recovery rate. Still, the other effect of the skill truly seemed fascinating… the only downside was the fact that there were some things in his past that Jake wanted to forget.