Complete Eastern Brisshal Enter, wolf of Eternal Darkness!

[Lucille Fer]

《 The Wolf of Eternal Darkness cometh! 》

Turning her head toward Cleo sharply when the other woman spoke, Lucille listened attentively before snapping herself back into position and doing just as she was told. Sure enough, the menu did open up on her palm, and along with it, all of the options that she could ever want. "AHA!" Finally conquering the last obstacle in her way to absolute power, the girl would fiddle with the UI for a good while before she managed to arrive at the masteries menu.

Looking them over for a moment, she would soon grin and start clicking the air. "This one! Ah, this one, too! AND THIS ONE!" It didn't take long before all three of her starting slots were filled up. And as they did, something a bit unusual happened. The moment she closed her menu and confirmed the choice, several black markings would appear on her body and start spreading before glowing with an otherworldly red hue.

Little did the girls know that it was an effect resulting from combining the passive effects of Metamorph with the Black magic mastery. "AMAZING! I already feel stronger, and I didn't even try them out, hahaha! You have the black wolf's gratitude, human!" She turned around and showed Cleo a thumbs up.

@Cleo Looker

 

[Cleo Looker]

And now she was just going to stand here and watch Lucille picking her masteries by tapping the air in front of her, now that she finally knew how to open her menu. There was no way in the world that this day was real and she did not need to deal with this. And yet, she stood there and watched as Lucille picked her three masteries and closed her menu, though when the menu was clsoed, a bunch of black markings appeared on Lucille's body and began to glow with a red hue or something.

Woo. I feel so blessed to have your gratitude.

Cleo rolled her eyes, before she hummed. She had no clue which masteries Lucille had picked, but those black markings seemed ominous enough that she was starting to believe that she was dealing with somebody that had picked a tabboo magic or something like that.

So then, I suppose next on your agenda is trying out your new skills, yes?

@Lucille Fer

 

[Lucille Fer]

《 The Wolf of Eternal Darkness cometh! 》

Because Cleo was still sticking around and also gave positive feedback on things, Lucille figured that the lupine's amazingness must have genuinely enchanted the other woman. But that aside, it was undoubtedly helpful to have her around now that the girl was figuring out how some of the systems actually worked. Her masteries were now in place, and she was ready to venture out! Or was she? Lucille placed her hands on her hips when skills were mentioned and nodded.

"HELL YES!" And then she remained in her position for several seconds, grinning widely before speaking up again. "How do I use them?" Honestly, there probably should have been a tutorial of some kind. Prompts explaining how to do things, maybe an annoying fairy that would whisper sweet secrets to her? Instead, she had to rely on another player. At least it was clear that the other player in question was also immensely enjoying this process and was eager to see Lucille succeed in her new life.

@Cleo Looker

 

[Cleo Looker]

Cleo looked at Lucille for multiple seconds, really truly watched the girl as she expected Lucille to suddenly unleash a spell or a skill, standing there with her hands on her hips and crying out her satisfaction to the world. So certain she had been that a bolt of magic or a slash was coming her wat soon, that Cleo nearly fell over when the girl asked how she used her skills, rubbing her forehead as she thought back to how things had been for her when she'd first logged into the game.

Okay then, guess I'll be your tutorial guide. Since this is your first time playing, you'll be playing with action assist on. That's the system that helps new players perform their skills, by kind've piloting your body for you.

Cleo casually projected another spear, using it to draw a diagram in the dirt. There were two stick figures with wolf ears and tails. On one diagram, there was a speech bubble and a clock, whilst on the other diagram, the wolf stick figure was slashing at something with a set of claws.

Action assist is activated by calling out the name of a skill or spell, some basic ones you'll be able to find under your masteries currently. When you call out the name, the system starts the process of using them, moving your body into the correct positions and executing any movements and attacks.

She poked the tip of her spear against the image of a clock she'd drawn.

Though be careful. There's some delay between using a skill with action assist and getting control of your body back. Another downside is that action assist doesn't do super well at combining masteries, so the skills you'll be able to perform with it are pretty basic.

@Lucille Fer

 

[Lucille Fer]

《 The Wolf of Eternal Darkness cometh! 》

"Didn't you say you were a newbie guide person?" The wolf girl recalled part of Cleo's introduction, so why was the other woman making such a big deal out of this when it seemed like her job? Regardless, Lucille's eyes followed the tip of the summoned spear like she was a cat following a red dot created by a laser pointer. And though she would normally object to her depiction in the dirt not being grand enough, she was too focused on the 'skills' part.

"I see, I see." She nodded to herself as she opened up the menu again and started reading. A short moment later, she would close the UI and lift both of her hands into the air with a grin. "VOYAGE OF NULL!!" As she screamed the skill name, something akin to a dark portal opened up above her, and countless chains of black magic started shooting out as if someone had fired them from a harpoon. Piercing slime after slime, it didn't take long before the rest of the creatures was completely annihilated and the clearing now housed only the two girls.

Once all was done and the dark magic evaporated, Lucille would take a moment before pumping her fists. "AWESOME!!"

 

[Cleo Looker]

I said I help newbies out. I don't typically act like the tutorial for people, no.

Cleo watched, before zoning out as the girl opened her menu and read through something, idly focusing on making small, minute changes to the spear that she had used to draw with, such as shortening the shaft, or curling the blade, or blunting the tip, just gradually practicing her ability to modify an existing projection whilst Lucille read through the stuff she had and picked something to test out.

And when the girl finally did test something, screaming out the name of the skill, a dark portal opened up above the girl and a bunch of chains of darkness surged out to impale the weak slimes, confirming to Cleo the fact that Lucille had selected Dark Magic. It was pretty interesting for a beginner skill, though Cleo was sure it only looked so effective because it had been used against such weak targets.

Did you feel the way your body was frozen in that pose whilst the skill was active and for a little bit afterwards? That's the downside to the action assist system.

@Lucille Fer

 

[Lucille Fer]

《 The Wolf of Eternal Darkness cometh! 》

It almost took the girl a bit to process what Cleo had said, mostly due to how she was thinking about the skill until now. "Hum? Oh, I thought I was in shock because of how cool that ability was!" She would say it rather casually and even make a V shape with her fingers afterward. To Cleo, all of this might have seemed not very interesting, but to Lucille, who had never played any video game at all, experiencing such a realistic display of magic was absolutely astonishing. Not to mention that her inner rebel was delighted straight to the moon because she just did something forbidden, and if her parents knew, she'd be disowned.

"If that was the skill, then yeah, I guess I felt it?" She considered casting the ability again, but there were no more slimes to target, so it seemed a little pointless to do so. "The other masteries didn't really have any skills to use. It was kinda weird. I definitely picked them, but the list was empty." That was her second issue, making her scratch behind one of her ears in confusion. Naturally, it was because martial arts was focused on physical attacks rather than predetermined skills, and metamorph was outputting only passives for the time being.

@Cleo Looker

 

[Cleo Looker]

Well, the girl hadn't noticed the fact that she strictly hadn't been able to move her own body for a few seconds, attributing it to being in shock rather than any kind of system restriction. Cleo could remember the first time she'd used magic though. It had left her in awe too, so it wasn't like she was totally oblivious to the things that Lucille was mentally going through. She did have to wonder if Lucille had read through her masteries enough to know that Dark Magic was seen as something tabboo and forbidden amongst the Landers?

Did she even know what Landers were?

Though hearing that the other masteries didn't have any skills to use, Cleo hummed, frowning in thought as she wondered just why that was. Nearly every mastery came with a skill, aside from Alters, as far as she was aware now, at least. She hadn't researched every master yet, but she'd still put a lot of thought into it.

That is pretty odd, yes. Which masteries did you select? Knowing that might help me figure out why only your Dark Magic had any skills that were available for you to use. To my knowledge, I know Alters don't come with any skills.

@Lucille Fer

 

[Lucille Fer]

《 The Wolf of Eternal Darkness cometh! 》

"Alters? No clue what that is, but I picked meta-morb and martial arts! Fufu, I bet this body could go into a ring with any real-world martial artist and kick their bu-ass! YEAH!" She replied as energetically as ever. In fact, while Cleo was busy thinking or explaining away, she would go ahead and try throwing a few punches in the air just to practice.

It was actually right then that the girl felt it and stopped abruptly, almost tripping over her own legs. "WHA- I FELT IT! It was like my body was moving on its own, super weird!" As she explained, the poor wolf girl would look over her entire body as if she was looking for something that was wrong with her.

"Muh—not sure I like that. What if I want to change direction or throw a ball of black magic in the middle…" There was something in the back of her mind about Cleo mentioning that auto-assist was bad at combining things together, but it wasn't like she could do much with that information anyway.

@Cleo Looker

 

[Cleo Looker]

Oh no. Well, it was a little too early to deal with this. Also, was it just her, or had Lucille had to force herself to use cruder language just there? She was certain that Lucille had been about to say 'butt' before correcting herself to say 'ass' instead. Great. The girl wasn't only super energetic, but she was actively trying to make herself cruder and worse.

Metamorph and Martial Arts. Metamorph lets you shapeshift your body into various things, such as allowing you to make your claws change shape or size. And martial arts is pretty self-explanatory, at least, I hope.

Then they she was caught off guard by Lucille shouting, having apparently finally felt the downsides of the action assist system. It had the agent smirking as she briefly debated telling Lucille that she'd just have to deal with the action assist system, but eventually her good nature won out, realizing that Lucille would stand a better chance at surviving if she could grow as strong as possible.

And here we come to the crux of the issue. The action assist system really sucks at chaining together skills, or combining skills and spells. If you open your menu, you can turn it off and do everything manually. It's harder to cast magic without action assist, because you have to get a feeling for what it feels like to use magic.

@Lucille Fer

 

[Lucille Fer]

《 The Wolf of Eternal Darkness cometh! 》

Listening to the explanation of metamorph, Lucille nodded along. "Yeah, that's what I thought! It doesn't seem like I can do much in the way of changing, though." The claws she already had were from a trait she selected during her character creation - Agonizing savagery. She figured that if she picked that kind of mastery, she could make those claws even more deadly. But as alter masteries only affected other masteries, she currently lacked what was needed for a change like that. Thus, the only thing that got affected was her black magic, now displayed in the glowing tattoos all over her body.

Then came the explanation of just how flawed the assist system was. The moment Cleo mentioned that the function could be turned off, Lucille wasted no time and dove into her menu to find where she could do just that. Once accomplished, she would quickly move her hands together, wrists touching each other and palms open. "SUPER DARKNESS BEAM!!" Figuring that she could now do her own stuff with the assist off, she shouted a name of a skill that she did not have.

While an orb of black magic did form between her open palms, it did not fire off as a laser the way she expected. Instead, it just kind of exploded in the girl's face. However, she was unharmed, and, instead, her hands were now coated in black energy that extended her claws. "Oh? OOOOOOH!!"

@Cleo Looker

 

[Cleo Looker]

Well that does make sense, you have only just selected it and I imagine shapeshifting is quite the complex thing to learn how to do.

Her own Evoke had something to do with transformations, less so that Metamorph of course, but even with less complexity it was still very difficult to figure out how to make it work. The brain wasn't really all that well adapted to adapting to large changes in the body, such as with Cleo's attempts to create arcanamancy limbs in her Evoke form and control them, so that she could throw more spears at once.

Though she watched as Lucille scrambled to turn her action assist system off, before bringing her hands together and trying to fire a beam of energy. Of course, it didn't work, because without action assist, words no longer dictated what a skill or ability did. Instead, it seemed to extend the girl's claws with dark energy. Cleo whipped up her spear, creating another diagram in the dirt, depicting a stick figure wolf-girl and a speech bubble that was crossed out, then a picture of a brain.

Without action assist, the words you speak aren't really very important. As you just found out, even though you shouted for a beam, instead you got a claw enhancement. The key to using skills and spells without action assist is focus and feeling, knowing how to make the magic bend to your will and knowing all the motions and stances and stuff used with your martial arts.

@Lucille Fer

 

[Lucille Fer]

《 The Wolf of Eternal Darkness cometh! 》

"I'm sure I'll be able to do it soon enough!" The girl certainly did not lack in confidence. At least as far as this world went, anyway. Though she didn't exactly plan on transforming her whole body, so perhaps that would make things easier for her. It was hard to say where the girl's limits were until she actually tried.

What she was far more interested in right now were cool moves. "WRONG! Giving your move a cool name and then shouting it will put you in the right mindset to pull it off!" She then somewhat reprimanded Cleo for underplaying the importance of having cool spell names. Of course, Lucille did not know if what she said would actually work. But ever since she got herself a phone and a laptop, she managed to occasionally get a sneak peek at a movie or an anime episode, where it did indeed always work!

As far as actually knowing how to use what and when that was something the wolf girl would learn with time and practice. Claws of darkness would do for the time being.

@Cleo Looker

 

[Cleo Looker]

Right. Of course.

She wasn't sure exactly what Lucille had planned with Metamorph, if she had anything planned at all, but Cleo knew for sure that it would be a headache and she wasn't about to be the one that had to deal with it. In fact, she might have finally found a player she was going to do her utmost best to avoid running into, unless the girl did genuinely, desperately need her help.

And of course, she should have expected that the girl would decide that giving a move a name and shouting that name would be something that was important. Sure. Don't listen to the expert that had been playing this game for longer. Cleo sighed. God, dealing with roleplayers was just beginning to be the worst experience she'd ever had on the job. It was like trying to arrest people mid-performance at the theater or something like that.

Either way, the important part, especially with magic, is familiarity. Really focus on what it feels like to have the magic touching your skin. Really focus on how it feels moving inside of you when you cast a certain spell or activate a certain skill. Learn to mimic, recreate and modify those feelings and you can create basically any spell or skill you can think of.

@Lucille Fer

 

[Lucille Fer]

《 The Wolf of Eternal Darkness cometh! 》

Well, that was that then. Cleo's explanations were pretty damn good, so even someone like Lucille managed to grasp the basics quickly. The darkness on her hands would slowly dissipate before those very hands would come to rest at the girl's hips. "Mhm! It makes perfect sense! Hehe, I can't wait to get practicing~!" Given what all had already happened and just how smitten the girl was with this game, she'd probably spend every moment playing. Or, well, whenever she actually could without being scolded by her parents because she was doing something other than practicing the choir or preparing homework for her History of Christianity class.

"However!" Suddenly the girl exclaimed. "These rags only seem to get in the way. My dearest Guide, how can I acquire an attire more befitting this form?!" Trying to come across a bit more regal than before, Lucille tried to make her speech more boisterous as well. Thankfully she opted not to use any Latin words that would likely make communicating all the more difficult. That said, the request at least meant that they'd get a move on again, and Cleo was that much closer to ridding herself of the lupine.

@Cleo Looker

 

[Cleo Looker]

Well at the very least, her future as a teacher or tutorial guide wasn't in question, if she'd somehow managed to make Lucille understand what she was talking about, though she could understand the excitement to practice and get to learning how to do all the cool stuff, considering that Cleo had basically rushed to grow in strength as quickly as possible. It made sense to want to learn how to get as strong as possible as quickly as possible. If the girl was going to ask her how to train, Cleo would be happy to answer that.

The question about clothes, however, wasn't quite one that she had been prepared for and not one that she'd really figured out an answer for. Or at least, not an answer that she thought Lucille would be happy with, though she would give it a decent go.

Well, you can head to one of the towns and try to buy some. Alternatively, occasionally armor drops rarely from monsters, or you can craft your own clothes from materials you find or that drop from monsters.

@Lucille Fer

 

[Lucille Fer]

《 The Wolf of Eternal Darkness cometh! 》

Crafting and monster drops were a bit out of the question at the moment, seeing how the girl could not craft anything this early into the game, and fighting hoards of monsters might not have been the best course of action yet. That left the city, which was a destination Lucille should probably know regardless of her plans. It was a safe zone where many players gathered, after all. For Cleo, that would be a chance to drop her off and let someone else pick her up and deal with whatever else the wolf girl would demand.

"Very well! My most esteemed Guide, be my envoy and lead me to the town where my adventure can finally begin!" She would extend her hand toward Cleo, though neither of them expected that it would be taken. The crimson lancer seemed to be keeping distance as was already, so the idea of them suddenly getting so close was somewhat doubtful. But at least the gesture still had the idea behind it. 'Let us go, my friend!'

@Cleo Looker

 

[Cleo Looker]

Whilst it would have been fun to watch the girl try in vain to craft something out of these slimes, Cleo by no means wanted to actually see the wolf girl wearing clothes that were made out of nothing but slime. Probably. It was a nice looking avatar and all, but it was probably just some edgy kid or teenager underneath all of the digital skin and bone. More importantly, however, was the fact that the city would be an incredible place for her to offload this particular newbie and go about her day. She really needed to mentally recharge, after this.

Yeah of course! Let us be off and get you to the city so you can get acquainted with everybody.

She didn't even blink at taking the girl's hand, though, not seeing much point in declining the gesture and causing any more drama between them. What were just a few moments of handholding going to do, anyway?

@Lucille Fer

 

[Lucille Fer]

《 The Wolf of Eternal Darkness cometh! 》

The offer was accepted, and Lucille now had a solid destination to reach. Not only that, she would get to be somewhere where she could purchase actual gear and get adventuring. It was quite exciting, even making the lupine's tail wag from side to side without the girl noticing. "Splendid! Then let us—" She really, truly did not expect Cleo to take her hand. It was the kind of gesture one could see in a movie, maybe when a prince beckoned a princess after he rescued her? She would take his hand elegantly and then let go after a few moments, but Cleo proper squeezed and held Lucille's hand. "—go toward our destiny?"

Still, guide was a guide. And seeing the strength disparity between them anyway, the crimson lancer would be able to almost drag the dark wolf of eternal darkness toward their destination. She wasn't about to complain since she initiated this whole thing. No, instead, she would take in all the sights as they would move through the woods, then eventually into the open fields and toward the major city. What a lovely meeting this was, from start to end!

@Cleo Looker