Chapter 4: First Job
In a town not far from Magnolia, Shiki could be seen sitting on a table opposite an elderly couple.
"T-Thank you, wizard of Fairy Tail..." The old man started the conversation, a sorrowful expression on his face, "Our house and field was taken over by these bandits a few days ago, and we hope you can kick the bandits out, please!" The elderly couple lowered their heads, pleading for Shiki to defeat the bandits.
"Of course, it's what I'm here for!" Shiki said with a smile.
"Thank you, young man..." The old lady spoke up, "This place means a lot to me and my husband... If you can truly help us out, we'll reward you with more than just the 200,000J" She said.
"I'll do what I can" Shiki stated, full of confidence and conviction before standing up and asking the couple, "So, where's your house exactly?"
"Over there" The old man pointed to a big house with a massive field quite isolated and far from the town, "It's away from the town, making it a quiet and peaceful place for me and my wife to live"
And so, Shiki ran over to the place, ready to defeat the bandits.
.
.
.
Arriving outside the house, Shiki watched as a group of about 10 bandits was outside, whilst he assumed the rest were inside the house - though he didn't know the actual number of bandits he had to fight.
"Hahaha! This place is awesome!" One of the bandits laughed
"Yeah! Let's just retire and stay here for their rest of our lives!" Another said.
"We still need to get money, food, water, and other essentials. We can never stop being bandits"
"Oh, yeah"
Shiki, overhearing the talk, realised they fortunately hadn't noticed him sneaking up towards them.
He looked around and noticed a group of 5 of them huddling close together, a smile appearing on his face, 'Perfect!'
As he got close enough, a pop-up appeared in front of him
[The new quest 'Bandit Subjugation' has been automatically received!]
He opened the new quest for more information.
[Sub-Quest: Bandit Subjugation]
[As a temporary wizard of Fairy Tail, it is your job to complete your mission and defeat the bandits, allowing for the poor elderly couple to get their house back]
[Objective: Defeat the 20 Bandits (0/20)]
[Difficulty: E]
[Rewards: 200,000J + ??? + x1 Blank Card or ???]
'Hoh...?' Shiki raised his eyebrow in joy as he looked at the blank card reward, 'Those question marks are interesting though, I wonder what they are'
He, however, snapped out of it as he turned his attention back to the jumbled bandits. He observed them closely and noticed they had no weapons in hand, but they may have something in their pockets or on standby.
'My magic and control is quite weak right now, so the most I can do right now is...'
Shiki inhaled a lot if hair, puffing his cheeks out as he felt his mana overload inside his mouth.
'Ice Dragon's Bellow!' Shiki exhaled the bundle of mana, releasing a large black blizzard of cold air and ice from his mouth, which headed towards the 5 bandits at a quick speed.
"Eh?-" The bandit's were able to see it coming in time, but unfortunately their bodies were unable to move as the attack hit them, sending them flying away as they screamed in pain and agony.
"Whoops" Shiki couldn't help but wince as he looked at the linear hole his attack left on the field, "Haa... that sure used up quite a bit of my mana, though..." He muttered, 'I guess 40 isn't a lot... I'll focus on that if I get any more points-'
As he thought of getting more points, a few system pop-ups appeared once again.
[Secret Quest Completed!]
[Secret Quest: Defeat your first enemy with magic]
[Reward: 50 Distributional Points and +10 Magic]
[Level Up!]
[Secret Quest Completed!]
[Secret Quest: Level Up for the first time]
[Reward: All Stats +10]
Level: 1 (Exp: 0/100%) -> Level: 2 (Exp: 4.2/100%)
Strength: 10 -> 21
Dexterity: 10 -> 21
Magic: 40 -> 61
Endurance: 10 -> 21
Distributional Points: 0 -> 60
'39 Points on Magic, the rest split between the other 3'
Level: 2 (Exp: 4.2/100%)
Strength: 28
Dexterity: 28
Magic: 100
Endurance: 28
Distributional Points: 0
After levelling up, he felt his depleted mana from the Bellow return, and any tiredness disappear.
'So, a level up recovers all my mana and stamina, and I get 10 Distributional points and 1 point in every stat. Good to know' He calculated with a smirk
"Who the fuck are you?!" One of the other 5 bandits shouted full of spite, pulling out a knife from his pocket, "You're dead!"
"Fuck him up!" Another one said, pulling out a wooden bat with nails and barbed wire on it.
The other 3 pulled out a knife, a metal bat, and an axe.
"Heh..." Shiki snickered, triggering the bandits.
"THE FUCK ARE YOU LAUGHING AT?!"
The bandits idiotically charged at him together, quite close to one another which caused Shiki to laugh.
'Ice God's Bellow!' He released another bellow, sending the 5 bandits flying effortlessly.
[Sub-Quest: Bandit Subjugation]
[Objective: Defeat the 20 Bandits (10/20)]
'This is meant to be an E rank difficulty quest...? Either I'm stronger than I thought, or I overestimated this quest' Shiki thought cockily after defeating mere fodder bandits, 'After raising my magic stat to 100, my Bellow spell only depleted about... I'd say 1/8 of my mana, which is still quite a bit since it wasn't even full power...' He sighed, slightly unsatisfied with his current magic's quantity and quality, 'It's fine, though, I just need to get more and more points in my magic.'
Having defeated the bandits on the outside, Shiki slowly walked over to the house to defeat the remaining half for his quest.
- Meanwhile, in the house that the bandits took over -
"B-Boss!!" A fearful bandit shouted on all fours towards a shadowed figure.
"...Lower your tone" The mysterious figure ordered, showing off his evident authority over the bandits.
"Y-yes, boss..." The bandit said in a shaky voice at a moderate volume.
"Speak" The boss commanded.
"T-There's a w-wizard... from Fairy Tail! He's heading inside now-" The bandit announced with worry in his eyes, when suddenly he got cut off by his body levitating, "B-Boss...?" His eyes starting to water in pain as he felt his throat tightening.
"You came here, shitting yourself, crying out of fear... over a mere MAGE?!" The boss raised his voice, his arm stretched out in the direction of the floating bandit.
"K-Kagh.. c-can'-t... b-bre-kagh-the..." The bandit gagged and choked, tears falling down his face profusely as he flailed his arms and legs in an attempt to break free.
"I have no need for a useless subordinate" The boss stated, his voice returning its prior calm tone, "Die."
The boss clenched his hand together into a fist, causing the bandit's end as his body fell lifeless, a handprint on his neck so big and strong that some blood had managed to be drawn.
- Back to Shiki -
'Hm?' Shiki raised his eyebrow as he watched the quest number rise from 10 to 11, 'That's... odd' He thought momentarily, before shrugging it off and opening the door to the house to see 2 bandits jumping at him with knives in hand.
With a swipe of his hand, using inspiration from Silver Fullbuster's move, the 2 bandits were encased in black ice instantly raising the number from 11 to 13.
'Haa... Okay, that's off limits for now until I have more points in my magic stat' Shiki noted, realising that over half of his mana was now depleted from that move, which he now labelled as "Ice God's Incarceration"
He looked around the room and realised there was no other bandits, so he ran up the stairs leading to the next floor.
This house had 4 floors, if you were including the ground floor that you enter in, so he figured that there would be a pair of bandits minimum per floor.
Before entering the floor, Shiki took some time to think about his mana reserves, 'I've used about 65% of my mana so far. There's 3 floors left including this one, so I should be careful about how I use my mana from now on...' He then looked at his exp bar to see it was at over 45%, 'I might be lucky and level up to regain my mana though'
Suddenly, another pop-up appeared
['Ice God Slayer Magic': Level 1 -> 2]
Shiki was glad for the level up, but he didn't think much of it and closed it before running up the remaining stairs to the second floor.
And, as expected, as he arrived on the second floor there were another pair of bandits that charged at him with no hesitation, weapons in hand.
Shiki decided to take this moment as an opportunity to experiment his physical stats.
"HAHH!" One of the bandits cried out, sending a downward slash with his knife towards Shiki's right shoulder.
The bandits were quite slow due to being a normal, non-magic human. Because of this, Shiki's eyes were able to easily follow where the knife was going.
But when it came to his actual body, it was fortunate enough to dodge it but not completely as his shirt ripped and scratched from the top all the way down to the bottom.
"Tch" Shiki kissed his teeth, ripping apart the torn part of his shirt and throwing it away to reveal his right-side of his lean body, 'My eyes were able to react, but my body's still quite slower than I'd want it to be...'
"Hahaha!" The bandit that slashed his shirt laughed, jumping back to allow his bandit friend to send a swing towards Shiki's left ribs with his metal bat, "How'dya like that?!"
Not wanting to take a hit to the ribs from a metal bat, Shiki raised his left arm after watching the trajectory of the swing, freezing it with his black ice at the last minute and shattering it.
"Wha-" The shocked bandit couldn't help but widen his eyes, but unfortunately he lost his consciousness in the next second as Shiki sent a strong right hook to his head.
"Bob!" The bandit with the knife shouted, running to his friend's unconscious body, "You... I'LL KILL YOU!" He declared, running at Shiki with his knife swinging all over the place, his anger having clouded his mind.
"Nah" Shiki said, shaking his head as he produced a small black ice spike, piercing the bandit's legs.
"AHHH!" The bandit screamed, falling to the floor as he looked at his bloody, now crippled legs with horror in his eyes, "A-Ahh..." He screamed for a few more seconds before losing consciousness similar to his bandit friend.
Shiki smiled in joy as he watched his exp raise to over 60%, and his bandit counter reach 15.
"5 more, then I get a blank card!" Feeling motivated, Shiki ran up the next flight of stairs impatiently.
After arriving at the third floor, Shiki defeated another 2 bandits with some struggle as he didn't have much mana left and he was starting to get tired. But his exp bar was now over 80% and the counter was 17.
"Haa... the final floor" He dragged his feet up the stairs, only being able to stand due to adrenaline.
His body had a few cuts and bruises, but other than the initial pain from getting them it didn't hurt that much.
Taking one final step, Shiki had finally arrived in the boss room.
"So... this is the wizard that defeated my man, ay?" Shiki looked ahead to see a seated figure sitting in the dark, "You look weak... yet my men still couldn't defeat 1 guy, how pathetic" The boss scoffed, unimpressed with both his henchmen and Shiki himself, much to his annoyance.
Beside the boss was another 2 bandits. Shiki noted that they did, to be fair, appear to be a little stronger than the previous ones in terms of size and muscle.
Unfortunately, due to the boss hiding in the darkness, it was unclear what his build was like except for his deep, husky voice which gave the impression to Shiki that it must be quite a big man, similar to the 2 bandits right now.
"Rick. Ross" The boss spoke, "Deal with the annoying pest" He ordered with a wave of his hand.
"Yes boss!" The burly bandits stepped forward, a greatsword in the hand of one and a double-bladed battle axe in the other's.
'Okay... I'd be lying if I said that isn't intimidating' Shiki thought with a gulp, watching 'Rick' and 'Ross' walk ever so slowly towards him.
As the bandits approached closer and closer, Shiki was able to see them in full view which caused his body to shake a little in fear. The two bald bandits were about 8ft tall and had bulging muscles with cuts all over their body.
'I'm fucked...' Shiki thought, looking up at the smirking behemoths.
"Brother, would you like to have at him first?" The bandit holding the greatsword asked the other, his weapon resting on his shoulder cockily.
"Sure, I'll squash this ant in no time" The bandit with the battle axe snickered, urging his brother to step back a few metres, "Give us some space" He said.
The greatsword bandit stood not too far in front of the boss, planting his greatsword into the floor to lean on it.
"Give us a show, brother Ross! Hahaha!" The greatsword brother, now identified as 'Rick', cheered with a wheezy laugh.
"Enough games. Deal with the nuisance already" The boss ordered sternly, causing Ross to slash his massive axe towards Shiki's neck.
Instinctively, he ducked under the slash, snapping out of it as instead of shaking in fear it was now adrenaline once more.
'That was... really slow' He concluded, jumping back weakly, 'Damn it... if I wasn't so tired and only have about 20% of my mana left over, I'd probably be able to beat him easily...'
"Hoh? You actually dodged that, I'll give you some credit" Ross 'complimented', giving Shiki a quick round of applause, "Playtime's over though" He said, his face turning serious as he dashed at Shiki at a faster speed than before.
'That wasn't his full speed!' Shiki widened his eyes in realisation.
"Die!" Ross shouted as he appeared in front of Shiki, swinging his axe diagonally towards his chest.
"Fuck!" Shiki screamed, as blood dripped down his body from a relatively deep slash across his chest.
He had tried his best to dodge with what little stamina he had left, as all he was able to do was step back. He had managed to avoid being sliced in half, but at the cost of blood gushing from his chest as he knelt on one knee, breathing heavily as he felt his vision blur.
"This battle's over. The ant is finished" Ross stated with a blank expression, placing his axe on his back as he turned around, about to walk to his brother's side when
'Fuck it, I just hope this gamble pays off!' Shiki prayed, biting the bottom of his lip hard enough to draw blood as he concentrated his mana on his hand which he placed on the floor he was kneeling on.
'ICE GOD'S RETRIBUTION!'
The boss, feeling Shiki's strong mana, hurriedly shouted towards Ross, "DODGE!"
"Huh-" Ross was slow to react as he looked below him to see a massive black ice spike head towards his burly neck.
"BROTHER!" Rick cried, the phlegm in his throat making his voice hoarse as Ross' wet, red blood splattered all over the floor, and his headless body framed up high in front of him, "B-Brother...!" Rick walked over to his dead brother, his voice cracking as tears flooded his face.
"Haa... I like this feeling" Rick and the boss heard Shiki's familiar voice speak out, referring to his stamina and mana recovering after levelling up "Shame my body doesn't get healed"
"Y-You...!" Rick's bloodshot eyes pierced daggers into Shiki's body, grabbing hold of the hilt of his greatsword so hard the skin of his hand tore and it started bleeding, "I'Ll KiLl YoU!" He declared, running over to Shiki's smirking body.
"I'll do you a favour..." Shiki muttered, planting his foot forward once Rick was only a metre away, "By letting you join your brother in hell" 'Ice God's Retribution'
In a similar fashion to his brother, Rick's body had been pierced by a massive black ice spike, killing him instantly.
With the boss being the only one left, Shiki took this time to quickly open his pop-ups and skim read through them.
[Level Up] [Level Up] [Level Up]
[STATS]
Level: 2 (Exp: 4.2/100%) -> Level: 5 (Exp: 1.98/100%)
Strength: 28 -> 31
Dexterity: 28 -> 31
Magic: 100 -> 103
Endurance: 28 -> 31
Distributional Points: 0 -> 30
['Ice God Slayer Magic': Level 2 -> 5]
[Sub-Quest: Bandit Subjugation]
[Objective: Defeat the 20 Bandits (19/20)]
'19 on Endurance, 11 on Magic'
Magic: 114
Endurance: 50
"Well well well... it seems I underestimated you, I'll give you that" The boss said, pushing himself up off of his seat as his footsteps drew closer, "But let's see how you compare to me, shall we?"
'...' Shiki's mouth dropped as he looked at the boss reveal himself finally, 'I ain't gay, but this guy's hot, no homo'
The boss turned out to be a guy of similar height to himself, with long black hair and red eyes and pale skin. He had a glass of wine in his hand which he quickly drank before levitating it away carefully.
"Telekinesis, right?" Shiki asked, readying himself for a fight.
"Indeed" The boss held his arms out to the side, a prideful smile on his face, "I've gotta say... you're magic is certainly, interesting, to say the least"
He held one of him arms out in the direction of Shiki, "What do you say about joining me, as my right-hand man? You and I will be unstoppable, I can see it!"
Shiki looked at his held out arm for a few seconds, "Heh" He chuckled, confusing the boss who still had his arm held out.
"So-?" The boss was about to ask Shiki if he accepts the offer, but was cut off with a raise of his hand.
"Stop right there..." Shiki said, "If you say anymore, I won't be able to stop myself from laughing at your joke"
"Y-You...!" The boss had a vein popping on his forehead, "You think this is a joke?! I'll show you a joke!" He used his raised arm to control Shiki telekinetically by his throat, raising him up off of the floor.
"K-Kagh..." Shiki gagged, veins appearing on his neck as he watched the boss walk up to him with a smile.
"You know... you really should've accept my offer..." He snickered, "Otherwise you wouldn't have to die such a sad death-"
The boss, who was an arm's length away from Shiki, widened his eyes in shock once he saw Shiki dropping to the floor, his telekinesis no longer in effect.
"H-How!?" He stuttered, stepping back instinctively as Shiki walked closer.
"[Absolute Calculation]" Shiki answered, confusing the boss as he had no idea what that meant, "Not like you'd know what that is, though" He joked, a devilish smile appearing on his face as he watched the boss cower.
"Y-You..." The boss grit his teeth, before lowering himself and entering a dogeza position, "MERCY! I'll work under you! I'll do anything! Just spare me! I beg of you!" He begged.
"Hoh~? Anything?" Shiki asked, his interest gained in the boss' words. He walked over to the boss and sat on his back, resting his chin on his hand, "Explain"
"Y-Yes!" The boss cried, "I-If you let me live, I'll work for you! I-I'll do anything! Just let me live!"
"Hmm..." Shiki contemplated for a moment, before standing back up and saying "Alright, from now on, you'll be my underling then" He said, walking away from the 'boss' with his back turned to him.
"...Sir yes sir!"
"Eh?" Shiki turned around in shock to see the boy bowing to him, "You're not gonna, like, attack me while I have my back turned to you or something cliche like that?" He asked genuinely.
"No...?" The boss-turned-underling raised his eyebrow in confusion, "That would be stupid of me, I don't wanna die early. I'm only 18 for crying out loud" The boy revealed.
"Eh? You're 18?!" Shiki exclaimed in shock, "And you're the leader of a bandit group?!"
"Well, yes but no?" The boy mused, earning a glare from Shiki which said 'Explain', "I defeated the previous leader of this group with my telekinesis magic, and by the rule of this bandit group: Whoever defeats the leader becomes the leader. So I became the leader, like, a few months ago"
"So why'd you decide to take over this house from an elderly couple!?" Shiki asked, these new facts confusing him.
"Because they're an old pair of bastards!" The boy said, his voice full of spite and anger, "My mother was in the hospital because of an curable illness. My dad's business began to skyrocket and we were soon to be able to pay for the cure, but then those bastards made my business bankrupt and caused my mother to die!" The boy clenched his fists, drawing some blood from them which dripped onto the floor he stood on, "Then, because of the loss of both my mother and the business, my dad killed himself! So I decided to take revenge this way!" He shouted, his eyes bloodshot.
"..." Shiki's mouth was wide open, "And here I thought I couldn't possibly be more shocked..." He mumbled inaudibly, before shaking his head and walking over to the boy, patting his shoulder, "It's alright... uh, what IS your name, exactly?"
"Raizel" He answered, "You?"
"Shiki, nice to meet you, Raizel" The two then shook hands.
"So... what now?" Raizel asked.
"Um..." Shiki hummed to himself as he thought of something before finally ending up with: "Oo! Okay! So, what do you think of being a guild master?" He asked with a thumbs-up.
"Eh?" Raizel looked at him in confusion, "How can I do that? I don't even know the requirements to create a Legal Magic Guild!"
"I think all you really need is a guild building, a logo, a few members, and to be approved by the council" Shiki said, unsure himself but his answer seemed to make sense.
"Other than the members, I don't have anything else. Do you know how much it costs to buy a building!?" Raizel questioned.
"Who says you have to buy a building?" Shiki smirked.
"What do you-" Raizel asked, but watched where Shiki's eyes went as a smile appeared on his face, "Ah... I like that idea- No... I LOVE it!"
.
.
.
"You actually cleared out the bandits?!" The old man asked, slamming the table in joy with a massive smile on his face when he saw the heads of Rick and Ross in a bag, "Good job, Fairy Tail wizard! Here's the money!" He pulled out a bag of money, placing it on the table.
'Ah, there we are. I was wondering why the quest wasn't finishing' Shiki smiled, looking at the pop-up in front of him.
[Sub-Quest Complete!]
[Sub-Quest: Bandit Subjugation]
[As a temporary wizard of Fairy Tail, it is your job to complete your mission and defeat the bandits, allowing for the poor elderly couple to get their house back]
[Objective: Defeat the 20 Bandits (20/20)]
[Difficulty: E]
[Rewards: 200,000J + ??? + x1 Blank Card or ???]
The 200,000J reward was given, now Shiki waited patiently for the woman's reward as she put her hand in her bag before revealing a blue and white lacrima.
[Reward: ??? -> Ice Dragon's Lacrima]
[Item (One-Time Use)]
[Name: Ice Dragon's Lacrima]
[Rank: S]
[Description: A rare and extremely expensive Lacrima made from the processed heart of an ice dragon. Gives an individual artificial 'Ice Dragon Slayer Magic' when implanted into their body]
'Oh my...' Shiki widened his eyes in surprise, putting the lacrima away, 'I've just thought of a good idea' he smirked, watching the elderly couple walk away back to 'their' home.
Now, for the final reward.
[User must now make a choice]
[Reward: x1 Blank Card or ???]
[??? ->]
Looking at the revealed award, Shiki's mouth gaped open in surprise, his body shaking in excitement.
[Reward: x1 Blank Card or Full Counter (Magic)]
-----
A/N: Poll - Blank Card or Full Counter (Magic - it won't be EXACTLY the same as Meliodas', but there will be some differences made)
Thanks for reading
Hope you enjoyed
Any suggestions/questions here