Chapter -2147483634 (Crash)

  Awareness returned to Ada slowly, and she once again could feel that her body had been destroyed. Her arms were both missing, and she could feel that some of her magnetite sand had been fused into the earthen crater she now found herself within.

  Ada forced mana into [Reconstruction] as fast as it would accept it. Training with the rangers had allowed her to feel how the restorative mana flowed within her body, allowing her to direct efforts to restore different parts with priority over a general “fix everything”. [Metal Manipulation] allowed her to sense different sources of metals around her, giving her a sort of external proprioception, and she could feel the metallic sand that used to be connected to her body being drawn in toward her as her body rapidly restored itself.

  It wasn’t enough. The impact had generated enough heat to cook off a significant amount of the oxygen locked within the magnetite, reducing its total volume. Ada swore internally, then had an epiphany. [Reconstruction] returned her body to an idealized state, so all she needed to do was idealize herself as a smaller person. She tried visualizing herself as a much shorter 162 cm. The total reduction of volume felt like enough for a fully formed body with the material available. Ada mentally confirmed the image and waited as her body rapidly conformed itself to the new, shorter ideal.

  Once she felt [Reconstruction] had ceased consuming her mana, Ada rose to a crouched position, one hand balled into a fist placed on the ground for stability. She looked around for the object that had collided with her, only to find an armored figure standing a few paces away, looking down at her with crossed arms. A feminine voice called out, “You survived, then. Fascinating.”

  Ada charged the armored woman.

  She’d lost her sword and shield, and the armor had been used to restore her body. She was once again naked and unarmed, but she hadn’t let that stop her when facing the goblins and wasn’t letting it stop her now. With a thought, her skin shifted from bare skin to a dull black hardened articulated steel plate.

  

  [*ding!* Congratulations! [Blademage Armor] has leveled up! 43 -> 49!]

  She conjured a familiar high carbon steel bastard sword, applied a thin layer of tungsten across the edge, and then forced mana into [Spell Cutter] as fast as it would accept it.

  

  [*ding!* Congratulations! [Metal Conjuration] has leveled up! 29 -> 32!]

  [*ding!* Congratulations! [Spellforge] has leveled up! 39 -> 41!]

  [*ding!* Congratulations! [Metal Manipulation] has leveled up! 33 -> 37!]

  [*ding!* Congratulations! [Spell Cutter] has leveled up! 1 -> 9!]

  Ada closed the distance to her target in moments. Starting from the fool guard, she performed a strike at the left inner thigh, relying on her greater reach to maintain distance. Shifting to a one-handed ochs guard, the enraged woman conjured a half dozen darts and launched them at the armored face of her opponent.

  The other woman danced back out of Ada’s strike range and nimbly avoided each of the projectiles. She then drew her sword and leveled it at the now shorter woman.

  “Very well.”

  The blademage didn’t wait to give the other woman any time to prepare, thrusting straight for her neck. The attack was parried. Ada turned the momentum into a slash which was deftly dodged, the woman twisting her body in a way Ada would have sworn was unnatural.

  This proceeded for several exchanges. Strike, parry, slash, dodge, riposte. The woman with the shorter gladius style blade unable to get inside Ada’s superior reach, and Ada unable to connect with any of her attacks. At some point, Ada noticed the somewhat familiar looking badge on the woman’s armor, the eagle looking nearly identical to the one she’d been given by Marcus. This one, however, had a sunburst motif behind the eagle, which gave Ada pause. While she was distracted, the object of her confusion darted forward and plunged her sword into Ada’s chest, penetrating nearly a full centimeter before slamming to a stop and becoming lodged in place. Ada looked up, meeting the woman’s eyes, and grinned. She released her offhand from the hilt of her sword and swiftly grabbed hold of the gladius.

  Ada spoke one word.

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  “Mine.”

  Her eyes glowed with a metallic sheen for a moment as she took control of the steel within the gladius and commanded it to flow into her body. She’d tried that trick on a few of the rangers after Lucius had explained the concept a few days previously. He’d briefly been a metal mage in his second class before evolving it into mirror, but he said it was hard to pull off, especially if the opponent had any kind of weapon reinforcement skills. Ada had tried, but her magic control and skill levels hadn’t been up to the challenge against anyone with one of those weapon reinforcement skills. That was apparently not an issue in this case, as the two women both stared down at the short sword as it rapidly dissolved starting at the hilt and progressing to the tip, disappearing into the wound on Ada’s chest which sealed itself as soon as the sword was gone.

  

  [*ding!* Congratulations! [Metal Manipulation] has leveled up! 37 -> 41!]

  The other woman stood there, looking at her hand still holding the hilt from her gladius. This was interrupted, however, when Ada reached up with one foot, placed it against the woman’s chest, and heaved, attempting to shove the other woman away.

  That, however, did not happen. Instead, Ada felt her weight increase by a massive amount, and she was the one who fell to the ground, unable to move.

  The mysterious woman then called out with a seemingly amused lilt to her voice, “As fun as this spar has been, who are you? You fight like I’d expect from someone at least level 200 with two warrior classes, but you identify as a mage around level 128. You’re clearly trained, but I don’t recognize that fighting style at all.”

  “Seems like something you should have figured out before crashing into my head,” said Ada in return.

  “Eh, I don't really care that much. I was sent out here to deal with a missing Legion cohort, and you were the only thing moving around. I was bored, and you were the only thing in the camp I could see moving around,” the woman said, shrugging. “Besides, you haven't answered my question. Identify yourself. I won't ask again.”

  Ada managed to grunt out a response, “Ada, Ranger Auxiliary, Team 13. Who the fuck are you?”

  “Sentinel Gravity. You’re an Auxiliary? Fine, whatever. What is the situation, and where is the rest of your team?”

  “I don’t know. I was undergoing a class advancement, and when I came out from that, I was several miles away from here, the rest of the team was missing, I was decapitated, and some fucking assholes had nailed my body to a tree.”

  The sentinel narrowed her eyes at Ada. “Decap.. no, you survived that impact, and I watched you restore your body just now, so I suppose I can believe that. Are you some sort of scout? Tracker? How did you find this place? This isn’t exactly on the road, and I couldn’t see any obvious trails leading here.”

  “Scout? Ha. No, I’ve been fixing equipment. As for how I found this encampment, I have a skill that tells me roughly where one of the rangers is located as long as she is still alive. It brought me here, and she's over there somewhere.” Ada pointed.

  “Great. If I let you up, are you going to attack me again, or are you going to behave?”

  “You attacked first, and I couldn’t see your badge.”

  “Going to keep bringing that up? Alright, fine, I won’t attack you if you don’t attack me. I want my sword back, too.”

  Ada felt the extra weight holding her down vanish, and she sat up. “I’ll give your sword back if you can get me a new tunic. I’m getting real fucking tired of constantly waking up naked without another naked woman with me.”

  “Ha, I have to agree with you there,” said the woman who had identified herself as Gravity. “Alright, wait there.” She looked around for a moment, then headed into the nearest tent, emerging a short time later, holding a folded bundle of plain white cloth, which she tossed down to Ada. “Put that on, then I want my sword.”

  Ada unfolded the bundle, discovering it to be a plain white tunic. She stood as she put it on, and discovered that it fit her quite well, covering her legs all the way to just below her knees. “Huh, I always wondered what it was like to have clothes just fit. Anyway, hand over that hilt.”

  Gravity tossed the wooden grip over, which Ada caught deftly. She looked the other woman dead in the eyes, then opened her mouth and spit a one kilogram lump of steel into her other hand. Maintaining eye contact, Ada then brought her two hands together, touching the wood to the steel lump. The steel then flowed like a liquid, running up the hollow tube of the sword grip, forming a pommel on one end, then shaping itself into the shape of a standard military issue gladius. Ada had improved the alloy, of course, her Magic Control had grown enough with her most recent class advancement that she could easily split the graphite apart and spread it evenly through the material. Utilizing [Spellforge], Ada also adjusted the metallic crystalline structure into a tempered martensite form. The forming complete, she then pinched the edge between two fingers, drawing the length of the blade down, sharpening the edge. This was repeated on the obverse side. Ada nodded at the completed weapon, then flipped it around and handed it over, hilt first.

  

  [*ding!* Congratulations! [Metal Manipulation] has leveled up! 37 -> 39!]

  [*ding!* Congratulations! [Spellforge] has leveled up! 39 -> 42!]

  [*ding!* Congratulations! [Rapid Reforge] has leveled up! 24 -> 27!]

  “Here, it’s better than your old sword. I fixed up the alloy so that it’ll hold an edge better and stand up to more abuse before showing damage. I could improve the design, but that should be pretty close to what you had, more or less.”

  Gravity gave the weapon a few practice swings, feeling the balance. “Huh, feels pretty good. Did you pick up a smith class for your second?”

  “Nope, just unlocked it and it’s sitting at 8. Are you satisfied now? Can we go find my girlfriend?”

  Please give me feedback! I want to know what you think!

  Based on the world from the original work by Selkie Myth

  On Royal Road:

  

  You can also find all of the Beneath the Dragoneye Moons volumes on Kindle Unlimited and Audible:

  

  1 - Oathbound Healer -

  2 - Adventures in the Argo -

  3 - Ranger's Dawn -

  4 - Beyond the Wall -

  5 - Moonveiled Journeys -

  6 - Immortal Moments -

  7 - Return to Remus -

  8 - New Horizons -

  9 - Gladiator Gauntlet -

  10 - Under Ashen Skies -

  11 - Mandate of Heaven -

  12 - The Phoenix Peaks -

  13 - Moonfall -