Chapter 119 – A date (Patreon)

I made my way to the temple first, wanting to get my stuff back. I kept my Sentinel badge in my bag, suddenly feeling covert. Master of Disguise Elaine here!

I had basically no trouble getting into my vault. To my surprise, there was a small mountain of coins.

I kept a poker face while the attendant was fussing around, guessing that I’d been getting paid while at Academy. That, or it was a promotion bonus.

Or Sentinels were paid stupid well and this was one day’s pay.

Either way, asking ‘why do I suddenly have so much money’ to the bank attendant wouldn’t get me any answers, and possibly asked ‘why do you not know why you have money? You sure this is your family’s vault?’

I poured my pouch full of coins, reclaiming my knife, pendant, dress, and bracelet. I had solid living quarters now, and I could keep stuff there.

A hop, skip, and jump later, I was at The Blue Harpoon, having dropped off some stuff and spare coins at my new home.

Julius, Kallisto, Maximus, and Artemis were all there, already seated at an outdoor table.

“To the woman of the hour!” Julius toasted me as I sat down.

I beamed back at him.

“To the man of the hour! Commander Julius!” I said, a wide grin on my face. I was still on the high of being promoted – me, a Sentinel – but I wasn’t about to forget who’d pinned the badge on my shirt.

“To Kallisto’s new wife!” Maximus toasted.

“And his kid!” Artemis.

“To your new school!” Kallisto said.

We all had something to celebrate, and the food came out soon after – I bet Artemis had been the one to order the same thing I’d gotten last time we were here.

We tucked in, sharing stories of our latest adventures.

Julius had promptly hired a healer to join their team, taking a bet on an apprentice who was close to graduating, promising him solid, but not amazing pay, but the chance to get experience and a reputation. He’d saved them a dozen times over, and Julius was feeling pleased with himself, having managed to find the right combination of price and experience.

The fact that it took so long for the first Ranger on his team to die meant they were never at risk of ‘cascading’, aka when the first Ranger dies, it’s easier for the second one to die, and so on.

Healer was now happy, had a wide variety of experience, money, and a reputation to try and start his own clinic. Granted, all that had come with a not insignificant risk of ‘dying horribly’, but the gamble paid off.

Kallisto only had eyes – and therefore memory – for his wife and new kid, and we heard endless stories about them, him gushing profusely over them in a way we’d never heard him before. It was sweet really.

Maximus had a most interesting round, with dozens of one-of-a-kind situations.

You know. Typical Ranger stuff.

“…anyways, we finally figured out what was happening. Two Classers, not one. They’d charge a gemstone, and stick it in a loaf of bread or something. Then the animal speaker would convince an animal – usually a bird – to bring it somewhere and would be allowed to ‘eat’ it as a result, promising unbelievable rewards for success and fantastical punishments for failure. Animals are dumb, they kept believing her. Bird would peck at the bread, crack the gemstone, and it would cause a massive explosion. Of course, the Classers were somewhere completely different – and visible – as a result. Always had an alibi.”

Maximus shook his head.

“It was unbelievable. Took us three weeks to properly hunt them down.”

There was a slow, but steady stream of people that passed our table, people just out for a walk, or going from A to B.

It was at that point that an absolute vision of a woman passed by our table. Long, straight, black hair, clear, pale white skin, bright red lipstick. She was wearing an elegant, simple red woman’s tunic, no ring on her left hand, and looked to be around my age. She moved with grace and beauty, and like everyone in Pallos, looked more than moderately fit.

She was so beautiful. She was so cool. She was so -

“Elaine. You alright?” Artemis asked, snapping my attention back to the here and now.

“Huh? What yeah I’m fine.” I said, a flush going over my face.

Kallisto was grinning at me like a maniac.

“I’d know that look anywhere! Elaine! Why did you never tell me you were interested in women? The adventures we could’ve had!”

I shot him a withering look.

“One. I was too busy trying to catch up and learn how to be a Ranger. Two, I was way too young!”

I muttered under my breath, but from the look on Kallisto’s face I knew he’d heard me anyways.

“Three, I’m interested in both, not just women…”

Everyone at the table had a wide grin on their face. Oh gods no. The teasing would be merciless.

“Well, go on, ask her out!” Kallisto said merrily.

I blushed, shaking my head.

“No way. A guy would be easy. I’d just walk right up, smile, and ask. A girl though? She’s so cool. So beautiful. I have no idea if she’d even be interested.” I said, shifting uncomfortably.

Artemis started laughing her ass off, while Maximus started to choke, pounding his chest.

“You ok?” I asked, and he nodded.

Julius coughed.

“Kallisto, given your talents, and recent marriage, you have a mission.” He said, pointing a fork at him.

“Get Elaine a date with her.” He said, pointing to the lady.

“But-“ I tried to protest.

“No buts! This is coming from your Commander. Our Elaine’s all grown up! She was a great wingman for you Kallisto, least you can do is return the favor!” He said, the second part directed at Kallisto.

Artemis threw a nut at him. Good ammo that.

I threw a nut at Julius.

Kallisto jerked his head in the direction the lady had gone down the street.

“Come on. We’ve got our marching orders. Let’s go!” He said, grabbing my hand and pulling me along.

Damn Kallisto and his beefy physical stats! Damn my lack of physical stats! That’s why he was able to pull me around!

I sighed to myself as we went through the streets. I was lying to myself and I knew it. I wanted to meet up with her. I wasn’t resisting at all, heck, I was moving my feet as quickly as I could.

She was visible, the woman in the red dress, and we caught up to her.

I stopped moving my feet, fidgeting behind Kallisto, heart beating like a drum. Holy shit. Oh my gods. We were doing this.

I sent a quick prayer to the moon goddesses for help. They seemed like the right ones to ask.

Why did none of my Ranger Academy lessons cover romance!? Why didn’t Night teach me how to approach a woman, instead of how to properly cut down a tree!?

I blinked, and suddenly-

“Jaclyn.” She practically purred, offering her hand. She had such incredibly piercing grey eyes!

“Elaine.” I said shyly, taking and shaking it.

She eyed me up and down, and I suddenly felt self-conscious. Why hadn’t I worked on getting [Pretty]higher!?

“Why don’t we meet tomorrow evening, and get to know each other a little better, mmm?” She asked, nervously licking her lips with a slim, delicate motion.

I nodded, like a bobblehead shaken too hard.

“Out-outside The Blue Harpoon?” I asked, desperately casting my mind around for a place that wasn’t Ranger Headquarters.

She thought for a moment, then leaned over and whispered in my ear.

“Sure.”

And that one word sent a tingling thrill through my entire body.

She turned and walked away, and Kallisto and I headed back. I gave him a HUGE HUG. The BIGGEST ONE EVER.

How the hell had he pulled that off!? Twenty seconds of me not paying attention, being too worried and overthinking everything, of missing whatever dozen words or so Kallisto had said, and she was asking me out! I needed to respec into a pure charisma build or something.

“You’re the BEST Kalliso!” I said, trying – and failing – to keep my giddy happiness out of my voice, crashing down from the stress and adrenaline high I’d just been on. Asking someone out for the first time – or rather, as it turned out, somehow being asked out – was quite the thrill, an experience unlike any I’d had before.

I was very conveniently forgetting all the men who’d asked me out before. I’d just been entirely uninterested in them, mostly due to the situation and whatever age gap there was. And they weren’t that interesting, frankly.

I felt like skipping and humming on the way back, and screw it! Today had been perfect! I hummed and skipped and twirled my way back, to where the remaining three were at the table.

Artemis gave me a silly grin.

“Went well did it?”

“Yup!” I said, mindlessly eating the mango-coated food, barely noticing that it was mango. “I have a date! Tomorrow evening!” I said, all excited.

“Think she’d like a mango? I should get her a mango. Everyone loves mangos.”

I continued blathering on, to the amused looks I was being shot from everyone else. I didn’t notice the teasing at all.

I had some idea of how Kallisto felt.

=

I woke up the next morning at what would be 4th gong, out of sheer habit. I had a few days off, at least until the great big ‘here’s more behind the curtain stuff’ meeting. Once the Hell Months started, I’d participate in that somewhat, and once Academy got going, then I’d have real work.

Bless that little break they gave everyone, even if the vacation time was abysmal. Two, three weeks every two years? We needed a union. I’d have to talk with Ocean about it. Sounded like his domain.

Not really knowing what to do with myself, I found breakfast – free for Sentinels inside our HQ – and around 7thgong I was in the living room, watching as everyone filed in one at a time.

Well, everyone not on assignment.

Naturally, Night led the meeting.

“Welcome Dawn. I can not tell you how pleased I am with your progress, and that you have made it here, joining the rest of us.” He said, in his usual slow fashion.

[*Ding!* Congratulations! [Sentinel’s Superiority] has reached level 191!]

Woohoo! Doing Sentinel-things got Sentinel levels! I doubted I’d get many more for attending meetings, but hey. Novel stuff seemed to give a lot of bonus experience. Or repeating stuff had diminishing returns. One of those anyways.

I sat up straight. Being the center of attention of all the Sentinels? Child’s play. It’d happened a hundred times – well, closer to six hundred times – over the last two years.

A date though? [Recollection of a Distant Life] was very helpfully reminding me that I’d never gone on a date in my last life, and this was my first one.

Ever.

Barring having been on a date right before I died and the memory was stripped, I mused to myself.

I mentally shook my head, bringing myself back to the meeting. Yikes I was jaded, if I could just lose focus like that in front of all the Sentinels.

“We will be outfitting you with a standard set of gems, along with acquiring you a set of your own. Moonstone and Sunstone are the Celestial and Radiance gems, and are fortunately quite cheap. On that note, your [Phases of the Moon] is going to be added to our standard bag of tricks. While we have several gemstones that in combination can produce the same effect, we don’t have a Classer in our organization that can reliably produce a related skill, in a gemstone so cheap.”

There were more than a few happy noises at that announcement, mostly coming from the “Tier two” Sentinels, the more combat-happy ones. Extra-loud from Magic, who relied hard on gemstones.

“Potions, armor, Arcanite, and inscriptions will also be provided. Now, I will confess, you are the first dedicated healing Sentinel we’ve ever had. We’ve had a few regenerators in our time, but not healing on the scale like you can do. Think about it. Is there anything that would make your life easier, boost your skills further?” Night asked.

“The ability to make the moons come out whenever I wanted?” I asked, somewhat flippantly, after a moment of thought.

Magic started laughing, while Sky facepalmed.

“That is sadly beyond our capabilities for now.” Night said with a straight face. “Do let us know if anything else occurs to you as an idea.”

“I mean, a boatload of Arcanite, but I assume that’s a given?” I said.

“We do outfit most mages with a large amount of Arcanite, yes. I suspect you might even end up desiring it as much as Destruction does. I caution you not to grow reliant on it, for it is the doom of many mages when they wake up one day, and it’s gone.”

Night gave me a significant look, and with a nervous gulp I remembered my duel against Kerberos, where I’d nearly made the same mistake of thinking I had unlimited mana when I no longer did.

“With that being said. I declare a week of vacation for everyone except Dawn. You are entirely free to do as you wish.” Night pronounced, and there was a great shuddering, a destroyed chair, as the room evacuated, all the Sentinels pushing their superhuman stats to the max to enjoy every last second of time.

I blinked. Night couldn’t have cleared the room faster if he tried. A disaster of epic magnitude would’ve had a slower exit.

“With my apologies Dawn. You need to learn the basics and fundamentals of how we operate, as well as getting properly outfitted. Fundamentally, I believe you will end up on slightly fewer missions than the average Sentinel, although you might handle higher body counts – or be doing your best to reduce them at the very least.” Night said.

I saluted, hand over chest.

“Now come. Over here is where we keep basic potions stocked – although you might want a few additional ones…” Night said, giving me a more in-depth tour of what I was mentally calling ‘the Sentinel Armory’, a series of rooms located inside the suite where all manner of gems, weapons, armor, potions, inscriptions, and more were located.

“Quick question.” I asked, as Night was showing me the frankly staggering array of weapons we had, none of which I could use well. I was a short sword and spear woman. Maximus would’ve been in heaven though.

“Clearly more people than just us have access to these rooms, right?” I said.

“Yes, but only four. The head of Potions, Gemstones, Inscriptions, and Armory are granted access. Anything else they can simply communicate the problem to the relevant authority, and get the proper response from them. I do not know if Ocean mentioned it, but you were nearly made the head of Healing, a new branch. A combination of the organization needed to make that happen, your combat prowess, your usefulness in the field vs your relatively limited use at HQ, and the, quite frankly, terrible organizational skills you demonstrated at Academy made us choose a more, ah, standard path for you.”

I hadn’t thought my organizational skills had been that bad, but then again, Night was talking about heading up a major department in the Rangers. Which my organizational skills were notup to at all.

Before I knew it, it was lunch, and Night was yawning.

“Right, see you tomorrow morning, more of the same.” He said. “I’m off to bed.”

I saluted – him being the boss made it more than appropriate – and suddenly, I was free, with a whole day in front of me to worry over my date later tonight!!!

Ok, breathe in, breathe out. I was the bloody Dawn Sentinel. No date could stop me!

Although, what if those voices had been right? What if she found out that I was a Sentinel, and it scared her off? Knew that I’d killed, and didn’t want someone with blood on their hands?

My stomach was doing flip-flops, the butterflies inside throwing a rave.

Ok, think. Plan. Execute. This was like getting ready to slay a monster, or diagnosing a patient before healing them. This was the same as any other problem, and I’d been trained how to handle problems.

The Problem: I wanted Jaclyn to like me, and I wanted our date to go well.

What could I control: Myself. My equipment. My planning.

Right then.

I was totally going to wear my dress, the one that I could imbue elements into. It was fancy, fun, and simply perfect.

Bracelet and pendant were in. Knife?

Knife was in. It was pretty standard, and it’d be given to me when I was a kid. I wasn’t about to reject it.

Right. That’s what I currently had. What else could I use?

Cosmetics. I had absolutely none.

Something for my hair. Again with the “not having anything.”

My hair was pixie-short again, the Frontlines having been terrible for hair. However, I’d slowly been letting it grow out, and now that I was a Sentinel, I could consider going for long hair. I liked my hair long.

Other resources: A huge pile of coins.

Today’s mission: Go out into town, buy cosmetics, get something for my hair, possibly get a little gift of some sort.

Potential obstacles: Thieves, like the one that had stymied my attempt to get tons of scrolls.

Additional goals: Maybe new sandals? My current ones were, putting it nicely, very practical and had many miles on them. I could get something new and shiny.

If I had time.

Right! Order of operations time!

I should bring my dress with me. One of the [Beauticians] must have a way to change.

I should scout out the location and the surrounding area, and work from there.

I nodded to myself. Right. I had a plan. Let’s execute it.

I grabbed one of the larger pouches – more like a courier’s bag – and carefully folded my dress into it. I left HQ, and started off by scouting the scene of the future battle date. Knowing the terrain was important. Geography impacted history, history impacted politics, and-

I shook my head. Nope. Those lessons were going to be completely useless here. Focus.

I made my way through down, back to the restaurant. Along the way, all the people eyeing me up yesterday and today finally paid off.

[*Ding!* Congratulations! [Vigilant] has reached level 199!]

A good omen! Everything was coming up Elaine!

Right, The Blue Harpoon was with a bunch of other restaurants, and there were merchants nearby, selling food. It was in a nicer-but-not-the-nicest district, and there were a number of high-end stores in the area. They weren’t the best in the capital, but they were pretty good.

A quick mental calculus of added cost vs added improvement to appearance, vs extra travel time to potentially reduce or remove said added appearance, was done, and I settled on nearby stores.

I swung by the food vendors, and picked up a dozen mangos, coins changing hands. I tried to have a nice afternoon snack of only six mangos, enjoying the sun on my face as I ate on a bench in a little park.

Darn butterflies were going to ruin everything.

I kept the remaining six for later, excited to share the sweet nectar of mango with Jaclyn.

I moved the name over my tongue.

Jaclyn.

My first date!

I kicked my feet happily at the thought.

I stopped my imagination from going on a runaway train of “what-ifs” and “laters”.

Right. I still had hours to go, but I was going to start getting ready now.

I washed my face off, then went to the [Cobbler] to get myself a new, fancy pair of sandals. After much browsing and hemming and hawing over it, I got a simple, sturdy, comfortable pair, that didn’t look like it had hundreds of miles of wear on them, that made me look and feel [Pretty].

The baths were next, a solid, full-body scouring, rubbing my body clean to within an inch of its life. I was going to practically sparkle.

Alright, the [Beautician] was next. I found a store, and went in.

“Hi! How can we help you?” The woman behind the counter cheerfully asked me.

“Wellllll…” I said, drawing it out. “I have a date tonight!” I exclaimed, letting the happiness leak out. Might have been a bit of a Radiance glow as well.

“Oh my goodness! How exciting!” She said, showing as much excitement as I was feeling. “And let me guess. You want some help for the big event?”

I did my best woodpecker impression.

“Alrighty! Well, it’ll be a rod, before the cosmetic price is factored in. Is that ok?”

Pricey!

“Sure. However, no lead or mercury cosmetics. Is that ok?”

“Sure, but that limits us quite a bit. Can I ask why?”

Whoops. I’d managed to put my foot in it. This was going to be all sorts of awkward.

“Please don’t get mad. They’re a slow, slow poison. I’m a healer, and I can’t handle them.” I said, closing my eyes, waiting for the inevitable anger.

She just laughed at me.

“I don’t know where that rumor came from! Lead’s perfectly fine, we’ve used it for decades! But sure, we can skip it if you’d like.”

Close one! I wasn’t going to argue with them. We could both quietly think the other one was a lunatic, and I wasn’t going to go on a one-woman crusade against the entire cosmetics industry, not when I wanted their help badly.

“Last question! Do you have one or more appearance skills? And if so, which one? [Beautiful], [Sexy], [Pretty], [Attractive], [Lovely], [Gorgeous], [Exquisite], [Splendid], [Fabulous], [Fine-looking], [Jade Beauty], [Eye-Catching], [Good-looking], [Cute], [Ravishing], [Stunning], [Resplendent], [Dashing], [Mesmerizing], [Alluring], [Imposing] or any of the other ones?”

I blinked. I hadn’t even realized how many there were… and the System was busy offering them all to me.

Ooooh the things I could do with eight appearance skills.

… The number of people that’d bug me with eight appearance skills. I’d stick with [Pretty].

“[Pretty]!” I said, happy it was near the top of the list.

“Great! Our [Pretty] expert is with someone else. You can wait a bit to see her, or you can see someone else.”

I glanced at the sun. Plenty left.

“I’ll wait!” I said.

I waited, and ended up with the [Pretty]expert in no time.

“[Pretty] right?” She asked.

“Yeah!”

“Ok cool! I’m Albina – nice to meet you! Light touches then – [Pretty] works best when just a touch is applied.”

“I heard you have a big date tonight!” Albina said, all happy and excited for me.

“Yeah!”

“Come, sit, sit! New person, old person, tell me all about them.”

“Well, so, I kinda, maybe, possibly, saw them yesterday, and well, asked them out. Kinda. Well, she ended up asking me out. Um. Yeah.” I said, fumbling the entire thing horribly.

“Ha! I remember my first date.” She said fondly, starting to bustle around me. “Why, it was a lovely autumn evening, and…”

I sat there patiently while she did her thing, chattering away happily.

“Oh, do you want longer hair? I assume you want it short, but…”

“Wait, you can grow out hair!?” I exclaimed.

“Yup! Costs extra, but it’s a skill of mine!” Albina told me, picking up strands of hair and putting it down.

“Fuck! Why didn’t anyone tell me! I’d have gotten it grown out weeks ago!” I cried out.

She suddenly looked sad, patting my shoulder.

“I dunno what you did to get way over level 220, 230 at your age, but you clearly didn’t spend a lot of time in towns.”

I felt a pang of sadness go through me at that. She was right. I’d ditched anything remotely resembling a normal life years ago, when I ran away from home.

I closed my eyes, breathing in, breathing out, resetting myself mentally.

“Ran away at 14. Bunch of time in the wilderness.” I said, all of it true. I don’t know why I was suddenly being cagey about being a Ranger – no, a Sentinel. Maybe I just wanted to feel somewhat normal, a typical woman for a day.

“Why don’t we go for shoulder blade length? I can give it some subtle curls, really bring your eyes out.” She suggested.

“Sure!”

The [Pretty] expert did her work, and it was amazing.

[*Ding!* Congratulations! [Pretty] has reached level 133!]

[*Ding!* Congratulations! [Pretty] has reached level 134!]

“Would you believe I leveled twice.” I said, changing into my amazing dress.

“Oooh! Yay!” She said. “My record’s three time, but never on someone so high level! I also got a level from you.”

She paused, blinking.

“Two levels from you.”

I laughed.

“My [Pretty] level isn’t all that high.”

“Yeah, well, you’re something special. I got a main class level, which I got one recently. I’ve had three people since then, and I leveled off of you. Twice.”

I got my dress settled, practicing flowing Celestial through it, the starry sky showing on the dress, tiny little comet-illusions going off of it.

I was feeling very [Pretty]. I had a little twirl, feeling the weight of my new hair doing strange things.

It was one thing to slowly grow out hair. It was quite another to suddenly have a bunch.

Eh. Albina had been so nice, and why not, it wasn’t every day I could pull this off. There was a chance I’d become famous soon, and my anonymity would vanish.

I paid her, left her a nice tip, then at the end, paused as I was on my way out the door.

“All your levels might have been because I’m Sentinel Dawn.” I said, winking at her, then leaving. One two, and from right outside the store, I heard her-

“Oh my god we just had a Sentinel in the store!! She was a woman!!”

Oooh this could be fun.

………………………….

The sun was setting, and I found a spot to hang out near The Blue Harpoon. Pouch was full, and well-guarded. Mangos acquired. I was darn [Pretty].

My heart was pounding.

My belly was doing flip-flops.

I had an invasion of butterflies in my stomach.

Sweaty palms, short breath, and a tight chest. I kept pulsing [Phases of the Moon] through me, and I seriously considered ‘blacklisting’ ‘first date nerves’ on [Center of the Galaxy].

I didn’t, mostly because it was non-combat, and because if I turned off every inconvenient emotion, I wouldn’t be human anymore. No, I’d ride the emotional rollercoaster, and enjoy it, as much as I could.

I froze, as a thought crashed over me like a thunderbolt.

What if Jaclyn didn’t like [Pretty] girls? What if her style was more masculine?

Bah. I was [Pretty], and she’d take me as I was.

Oh goddesses I hope she’d take me as I was. The thought was… pleasant.

What if she changed her mind? What if she stood me up? What if she…

Round and round my thoughts went, self-doubt rising.

The sun set, and the moons rose, voyeurs to my first date. I shook my fist at them, only to hear a high, clear laugh.

“Jaclyn!” I said, jumping.

“Not a fan?” She asked, nodding up.

I shook my head.

“Not at all. Here! A mango! I love em!” I said, handing her one of my precious ambrosia made fruit.

She gave it a casual look, putting it into her bag.

“Thank you! Want to go for a walk?” She asked.

She wanted to walk! She didn’t want to just politely let me know she wasn’t interested!

“Of course! Your dress is so nice!” I said, falling in step beside her. She was about a head taller than me, and it was nice.

“Thanks!” She said.

My high went down like three notches when she didn’t return the compliment.

“Want to get something to eat?” I asked, figuring this was safe territory.

She glanced at me, eyeing me up and down hungrily. She hesitated, then bent over to whisper in my ear.

“I’d love a little snack later.”

Did she mean…?

My high went right back to 10/10, then proceeded to break that and end up at a solid 13/10.

“I’m very tasty.” I said, trying to flirt back. She smiled at me as she drew back up to her full height.

“I hope so!” She said, winking.

I felt bold enough to grab her hand, and wow, she must have a lot of physical stats. I checked her out with [Identify].

[Artisan]

Like 130 or so? Was that typical for someone of her age? Did Artisans have a lot of strength? Depended what type I guess.

Even mentally I was babbling.

I suddenly realized – I had no idea what was normal. I’d been handling Classers, guards, high-level people in cities, but didn’t have that great of a barometer for normal.

“How old are you?” I decided to make some idle conversation. Got a sour look in return.

“Older than I’d like to admit!” She cheerfully told me.

Alright, alright. Hint taken.

This date was feeling strange. She was showing interest – a lot of interest – but only sometimes, and was being cagey about personal things. Like what she actually did. “Worked in the family business” was as vague as possible.

A food vendor was selling strips of seasoned roasted beef, a small crackling fire dimly lighting up his stand. I was feeling a bit peckish, so I stopped and looked.

“Could you get that one?” Jaclyn asked, pointing to an unseasoned one at the end.

I shrugged, not really having any dog in the game. “Sure! Do you want one?”

“Nah, I’m good.”

A quick negotiation later, and we were continuing to walk through the streets, making small talk. Things were getting somewhat better, I polished off my snack, and soon we were near the park.

“Walk in the park with me?” Jaclyn asked, a glint of mischief in her voice promising maybe doing a bit more than walking.

“Yeah!” I said.

The moons were out in full force, and they were reflected red in her eyes. Goddesses, her eyes. They were so beautiful. So charming.

Heck, she might even have something like [Charming Eyes]. I wanted to get lost in them. I wanted to swim in them.

We made our way through the park somewhat, getting to a little, private grassy hill. She turned, and, hesitating a moment, leaned down to kiss me.

My heart was going to explode out of my chest with how fast it was beating, an entire drumline furiously beating.

She was going to kiss me!!!!!!

I tilted my head back, feeling her strong arms around me, her soft body pressing into me, strawberry lips pressing on mine.

I gave a happy squeal, lifting one foot up behind me as I pressed back, kissing her with fervor, with joy, with happiness, a rush of emotion coursing through my body. She stepped back a moment, and I was in love. Totally, utterly in love.

She leaned forward again, kissing me again, one hand in my air, firmly pressing my head to hers, one on my back, holding me against her. I wrapped my arms up and under her armpits, securing myself as I was slightly bent over backwards. I let out a soft moan as our lips met again, only to feel her tongue starting to invade my mouth.

I let it, feeling it explore my mouth, wrapping around my tongue. It stayed a moment, our kiss extending further and further, then it was my turn to try to be bold. I stuck my tongue in her mouth, exploring a bit, only for-

“Ouch!” I cried out, pulling back.

“Muh toung.” I said, having my tongue hanging out of my mouth, tingling sensation going over it. “owww.”

“Oh let me see that.” She said, sounding excited.

I obediently stuck my tongue out at her, giving her flirty eyes in the process. She locked eyes with me, her red eyes still reflecting the moons, the moons behind her glowing. I wanted to flip them off… but maybe I was ok with them seeing everything.

She sucked on my tongue for a moment, then gave me another deep kiss, one I happily reciprocated. She tugged at the shoulder of my dress, still shimmering Celestial, and I let her reveal a shoulder.

I didn’t want to go too far tonight, but I was totally game for making out. Maybe some light petting.

She broke the kiss off, then slowly came in again, holding me tighter than ever, aiming to kiss my neck, start trailing kissing down my body and-

[Vigilant] went nuts.

[*Ding!* Congratulations! [Vigilant] has reached level 200!]

[*Ding!* Would you like to merge [Vigilant] and [Reflexes] into [Bullet Time]?]

I reflexively hit yes, and the world slowed around me, giving me time to think, to process. I still moved at the same speed, but I thought and could think so much faster – invaluable with Radiance and near-instant-cast spells.

The pieces of the puzzle came together with a click.

Pale skin.

Only seen at night.

Hypnotizing, captivating eyes. That one might just be me.

Licking her lips, eyeing me like I was meat.

Sharp things in her mouth – fangs.

Eyes red even though the moons were behind her. Reflections didn’t work that way.

Disliked seasoning – more specifically, the garlic.

Not eating any other food. Mango heretic! Never dating anyone who dislikes mangos again.

Making sure she had a nice, solid grip on me. Physical stats far beyond what her level suggested she should have, especially with the [Artisan] tag.

And a class, offered to me a lifetime ago.

[Apprentice Vampire Hunter].

Jaclyn was a bloody vampire, and I’d all but gift-wrapped myself and delivered myself to her. Hells, you could argue with all the effort I put into being [Pretty] today, that I had gift-wrapped myself.

And neatly delivered myself into a private, secluded location so she could have, in her own words, a little snack.

I’d even called myself tasty. Yikes.

It wasn’t enough, it wasn’t proof. I didn’t want today’s date to end, I didn’t want to believe, to have my feelings come crashing down around me.

At the same time, I wasn’t about to become dinner.

I threw up a small [Veil]around my neck, and time resumed its normal speed, hearing a small pair of clinks as she hit the [Veil] around my neck.

“Jaclyn… there’s no chance you’re a vampire is there?”

She pulled back and hissed at me, lips drawn back, revealing a pair of sharp fangs, and suddenly the gentle strength on my arms turned crushing, bones breaking under her formidable grasp.

My heart broke at the same time my arms did, my first crush (fine second), my first romance ruthlessly destroyed, a lie the entire time. [Bullet Time] activated again, time slowing.

Fuuuuuuuuccccccckkkkkkk [Bullet Time] was awful for getting injured. I was feeling every bit of my bone stress, then break and shatter, one piece after another as her grip tightened, muscles flexing as she went for more moves.

I couldn’t bring myself to perform lethal shots, not when it wasn’t absolutely needed, not when I had so many levels on her. Not when we’d been making out literally 5 seconds ago. A thin, [Blaze]– powered beam of Radiance shot from me, drilling through her right shoulder, then her left, burning through muscle and bone and ligaments, shoulder sockets destroyed, her arms becoming useless before they could finish trying to rip my arms off.

She screamed, a high, inhuman noise, and [Bullet Time] ended, the threat to my life gone as she ran, scattering like the wind, arms held limply at her side. She left me heaving, tears streaming down my face as I cursed, healing myself back up with [Phases]

[*Ding!* Congratulations! [Bullet Time] has reached level 189!]

Why!? Why had this gone so badly!? The first time I put myself out there, and the person was an inhuman vampire who just wanted to eat me!

[*Ding!* Congratulations! [Center of the Galaxy] has reached level 235!]

My heart was lead, in my sandals, and I fled, crying, back to headquarters, ignoring the guards asking me if everything was ok. I made it back to my room, and holed up in my bed, blankets around me, wallowing in my sadness, despair, and self-pity.

I really, really needed a mopey, angsty set of music right now to listen to.

I must’ve spent a really long time crying and moping, because there was a knock on my door.

“Dawn?” Night’s voice came from the other side of the door. “Are you alright? It is past time for our meeting, and it is not like you to be late.”

Ug. Responsibility. I was still in my dress, tears having wrecked my makeup horribly.

“Fine, be right out.” I said, wiping my face – I’d need to launder this dress later, or pay someone to do it for me – and opened the door.

To Night.

Great avoider of sunlight.

Pale skin and red eyes.

Who’d I’d never seen eat.

“Fuck!” I screamed, slamming the door shut. “You’re also a vampire!!”

[Bullet Time] How else can you dodge bullets? When your life is in mortal peril, sense the attack and your perception will speed up, giving you the time to think about your actions. Increased perception increase, total length of time increased per level. -64 mana regen.

[Name: Elaine]

[Age: 18]

[Mana: 50400/50400]

[Mana Regen: 45234   (+3360.72)]

Stats

[Free Stats: 8]

[Strength: 236]

[Dexterity: 203]

[Vitality: 560]

[Speed: 480]

[Mana: 5040]

[Mana Regeneration: 5092 (+1435.944)]

[Magic Power: 4636 (+46591.8)]

[Magic Control: 4636 (+46591.8)]

[Class 1: [Constellation of the Healer - Celestial:   Lv 240]]

[Celestial Affinity: 240]

[Warmth of the sun: 198]

[Medicine: 202]

[Center of the Galaxy: 235]

[Phases of the Moon: 240]

[Moonlight: 240]

[Veil of the Aurora: 212]

[Vastness   of the Stars: 139]

[Class 2: [Ranger-Mage - Radiance: Lv 180]]

[Radiance Affinity: 180]

[Radiance Resistance: 180]

[Radiance Conjuration: 180]

[Radiance Manipulation: 180]

[Sun-Kissed: 141]

[Blaze: 180]

[Talaria: 160]

[Nova: 180]

[Class 3: Locked]

General Skills

[Identify: 136]

[Recollection of a Distant Life: 159]

[Pretty: 134]

[Bullet Time: 189]

[Oath of Elaine to Lyra: 201]

[Sentinel's Superiority: 190]

[: ]

[Learning: 212]