Chapter 467: Types of Shards?
A two-headed snake emerged; its body was around 5 metres long and about 2 metres wide. They had emerald green scales that occasionally switched between brown, similar to the colour of the trees.
It was also partially covered in blood and gore, most likely from the nearby monsters it had come across.
The two heads looked around. Due to the sound that had awoken it from its lovely home on top of a tree, it had decided to go out for a midnight snack, which it had managed to achieve.
It was previously about to return to its tree before feeling an imposing pressure fall upon its body; such a feeling sparked its interest, leading it to arrive here.
But, to think that it would find itself surrounded in a wide half-circle formation by four entities with varying strength... Put it off.
It ignored the humans and used both of its heads to keep watch on the Wendigo to the side and the Beetle on the other side, who gave it a cold look.
The Jungle Lord shot it a look of cold indifference as it clutched its spear.
The Beetle gave it a sadistic look as it licked its teeth, due to it having no lips.
The two-headed snake immediately turned around to leave, but was intercepted by the Jungle Lord, who lashed its right leg at it.
Holding back a tremendous amount of his strength, the Jungle Lord kicked it in the centre of the area they were in, causing it to land near Viesta before walking back to where he was previously.
Slowly getting up from the ground with a groggy flicker with its tongues, the two-headed snake found itself in grave danger. Blocked on all sides and surrounded... It can’t escape!
Wariness and caution flickered through its eyes as it eventually settled its gaze onto the human beside it, who had already flashed its gun towards the snake.
BANG!
With speed beyond what it could react, one of its heads had been blown off; blood of its brother splattering onto the remaining head’s face.
Lillian watched as the enraged once-two-headed snake rushed towards Viesta with its fangs out before being inevitably killed off.
This one was also a dud; no Shard.
They continued this cycle of using the Soundblaster to summon more enemies and killing them in hopes of a Shard.
While the number of enemies was slow at first, with continuous use of the Soundblaster, even their instincts faltered under the massive weight of their curiosity.
Some ran away, some stayed to devour the weaker monsters that might attempt to go find out what was happening, while the others went off to face whatever was causing the ruckus.
In the end, those who went to encounter the cause ultimately didn’t return.
’Viesta’s strong.’
Lillian continued to spectate Viesta’s consistent victories over the monsters; it had been an hour now. Most battles that Viesta fought had either ended with a single bullet hole or two; rarely ever more.
That wasn’t the most impressive thing, though Viesta had still managed to remain unscathed despite the number of enemies that she had already gone through. This was something that Lillian couldn’t help but respect.
Even she wasn’t this nimble or skilled when she was still a 1st Tier mage.
She still remembered when she struggled against that particular Catacomb Dweller back in the Catacomb. If her memories weren’t failing her more than they already were, she remembered that she didn’t come out of that battle unscathed.
Lillian knew about Viesta’s insecurity about her strength compared to the other main members of the Student Council. So, she decided to boost her ego and confidence a bit.
After all, what better way to boost your ego than consistently destroying your enemies and reining victory over them?
’Meh... That’s just my opinion, though.’
Lillian glanced to the side and towards a wall of trees that had been smashed through by something large.
A dozen minutes ago, she had sent the Beetle off alone for its lunch break, since it gets rather pissy if it didn’t get any whenever it was on the job. Lillian sighed, stepping back and dodging a splash of blood that landed in front of her.
Has Viesta still not received her Shard? She had counted that they had killed around a dozen and a half monsters already.
Lillian knew they were extremely rare, but...
’Why am I getting impatient? If it’s rare, it’s obviously going to take time.’
Slapping her cheeks a few times, Lillian knocked her impatience out of her head. And as she did that, her ears were met with a screeching yell from Viesta, who had her arms raised towards the sky.
The woman’s face was covered in sweat from all of her dodging, but it was worth it. All her efforts and the uncomfortable amount of sweat on her body were bearable for what she saw.
Standing over the corpse of what looked to be a large brown hawk, which had a metallic sheen to it, she stared into the sky, reading the system screen in the air.
[You have gained a Shard]
{The Jester had identified the completion of a requirement.}
{The Jester
had now unlocked the next feature of the system for you.}Viesta turned towards Lillian with a child-like and joyful smile as she yelled:
"LILLIAN! I got a Shard!"
"Oh! Really?! Show me, show me!"
Viesta nodded and willed for it to come out. She had been waiting for this chance for years and had studied the feeling to summon it for this very occasion.
Watching as Viesta summoned her Shard, Lillian widened her eyes as brown wings stretched out from Viesta’s back.
This... This was Viesta’s Shard!?
’Wings... Those types of Shards are incredibly rare!’
There were three types of Shards: Items, Monsters, and Features.
Features were essentially the body parts of the monster you killed! Allowing you to use them and their abilities.
The common items usually used by mages were the wings of monsters, but you could even acquire for yourselves a pair of arms, a third eye, or even... Rabbit ears...
Lillian held her chin for a bit as she imagined herself with them. They seemed rather endearing in her mind, but she couldn’t help but feel as though her dignity would take a hit if she wore them.
’But anyway, they’re still less rarer than Monster Shards, but rare nonetheless!’
They were also wings, which added more to their value!
"W-woah... This is my Shard?" Viesta looked at her wings with sparkling eyes, akin to a child getting their birthday gift, "It seems I got quite lucky to receive a Feature Shard!"
Viesta tried to move them around. Unfortunately, the Jester didn’t give instruction manuals for these types of things, so she unsurprisingly failed her first attempt.
Viesta rubbed the back of her head with an exasperated sigh, failing to move them more than just a twitch. She then turned to Lillian for her opinion.
"What are your opinions on them, Lillian? Do you think these could be better than a regular Shard? These wings feel quite metallic, so they can act as shields, can’t they—?" Right as Viesta was about to fall into a scholar’s muttering, she found Lillian’s current expression rather odd.
Lillian’s eyes shook, not because of Viesta’s wings, but because of what she had just heard... The Jester had whispered into her ears, and it was...
...
About the Beetle...