Her Love Interest seemed very interested in her and not in a professional way His hands always would linger just slightly longer than they needed during the scenes and he would very obviously check her ass out when she walked away from him
In a clinical way she derived a small satisfaction from this and was able to distract herself from Vivian’s exhausting games After all she worked very hard daily to cultivate the physique she had Diet and exercise and more exercise and supplements
But it did not feel glamorous or beautiful It just felt
Felt like she was coming down from a high a very long one fed to her by her star struck parents who were constantly out at parties talking about how proud they were of Lyra enjoying their imagined piece of the pie
Strangely Lyra found herself spending more time with one of the men who worked as a sound grip drawn by his even keeled temperament and relative lack interest in fawning over her because she was in movies a grizzled man named Mr Hoss and was able to stomach the bloated special effects and the over the top script But Lyra wondered if she would ever act in a movie again They started to seem so empty from the inside
Not that she could get acting out of her system not now not after so long Her relationships were a series of masks which only had one thing in common That she was beautiful seen
But she didn’t know what existed under the masks Although perversely Lyra had begun to hope that what was deep down wasn’t so beautiful after all
Then the system came
In a detached manner she watched her male love interest who had stared so longingly at her ass get his intestines ripped out by 3 wolverines Sam Hoss had dragged her and the nearby Kal Vivian and Ellaine away and managed to get them all into the truck Then they drove out of there hoping for a piece of sanity
Lyra carefully read the notifications She had never played games but she recognized some of their qualities in these which was exceedingly strange The next day still on the run they had crashed and had been subsequently saved by the man who would change her life although Lyra didn’t notice anything in particular about him at the time
Only later at Randidly’s suggestion did Sam drive to that small valley with the squabbling teens and the deserted hut
Then one night against Sam’s suggestion that they stay hidden because their identities might cause trouble Lyra wandered away and saw a figure standing alone on a stump in the dark She had crept forward to get a better look at the weirdo who was raising his hands above his head
Then equally slowly he lowered them pointing at a tree across the clearing A bolt of blue energy shot forward smashing into the tree burning away some bark The dazzling bolt of energy remained burned into her wide eyes forever etched on her retinas
A notification popped up
Congratulations You have unlocked the Path of Wonder 0/10 Although it is a strange path your feet itch and in your heart you know there lies your destiny
Of course that figure was Randidly
Over the course of the next day Sam had taught them what little they had learned about skills from Randidly and Lyra had gone off in the woods and practiced endlessly getting the Physical Fitness Dancing Singing and Acting skills high enough that she could finish off the Path with her PP Then she received another notification
Congratulations You have completed the the Path of Wonder Although your eyes see more than that your heart yearns As you continue to climb higher following your path you only find more wonders that lure you deeper You walk quickly into the deepening night unafraid of its mysteries You have learned the skill Eyes of Wonder Lvl 1 Mana +50 Mana Regeneration +5 Wisdom +10
Eyes of Wonder Lvl 1 See the truth and beauty in all things As Skill Level rises your gaze shall grow more discerning
Lyra went back to the camp and noticed that she could now see auras around people Soft colors about them Sam’s was a deep purple Vivian was a mustard yellow Kal pink Ellaine a mauve
Then she sought out Randidly once more and as she watched him produce large orbs that exploded with force she opened her Eyes of Wonder For a long time she had hesitated afraid of what she would see but she shouldn’t have He burned emerald in her vision a deep green of the forest The aura around him pulsed shrinking visibly as he used his magic but seemed to grow more intense at its core all the while
It was forest green with flashes of light green the color of warm grass in summer and golden too like the gaze of a wild beast It pulsed evenly like a heartbeat and it seemed to come alive under her vision As she looked more directly at him she saw the dozens of strange formations within the aura strange shapes that the energy flowed The were mesmerizing and complex but Lyra couldn’t get enough of them For whatever reason she felt very strongly that these shapes were him told in dozens of simple truths about himself
They flowed together continuous and multifarious and endless smoothly transitioning into the next
It was beautiful It took her breath away
Although the youth was rather plain by Hollywood standards his gaze was direct and strong and he blazed with an aura that kept Lyra enthralled all night
The next day when he had surprised her by coming to their camp to speak to Sam she had dumbly blurted out the first thing that had come to her mind
it looked like fireworks
Huh The man who would be Ghosthound glanced at her seemingly shocked to find her there
Lyra gestured awkwardly for the first time in her life tongue tied After all she wasn’t sure at all what sort of mask she should wear around this strange man who burned emerald in her vision
Fireworks You were doing magic earlier right Lyra said pictured the way his aura would gather and burst to produce the spells he made Then she looked down at her own hands She had worn herself ragged finishing the Newbie Path and earned the skill Mana Bolt but her own aura was colorless to her eyes And exceedingly small Mine don’t look like that at all
To demonstrate Lyra shot her own pathetic Mana Bolt hitting a nearby tree
Your skill level is just low As you raise it and your Intelligence it will get stronger and brighter Randidly responded his voice brusque Lyra nodded doing her best to hide her embarrassed blush in the shadow of her hood
This asshole
In the present Lyra opened her eyes Gathering her energy she began to condense her strongest move using the volatile violent energy in her chest scraping the well of her body clean
Their relationship continued like that Lyra struggling every waking hour to impress this beautiful emerald man Randidly gazing at her with mild eyes like everything she managed every spell and trick she learned to practiced incessantly with was only just enough for him to acknowledge her
Even after she realized those shapes she saw were the skills he could use and she began to try and imitate them creating her own resulting in some fascinating results she didn’t know how to bring it up with him His gaze stopped her dead filling her with anxiety
She quickly learned that mild gaze was just how he dealt with people but that only drove Lyra more insane and she made up snide nicknames and poked at him and mocked him wishing for something Some change in that mild look some proof that she wasn’t working so tirelessly every day every night for nothing
Wishing for some indication he viewed her differently than everyone else
For some indication that she was
Shaking her head with an uncharacteristically sad smile Lyra pictured Randidly the day he had left As he grew stronger so did the dominance of his aura growing larger and more multifarious taking aspects of all of his choices paths and skills
And also Randidly had obtained the beautiful pulsing heart of violet energy from his battle with the sphinx It was similar to the strange veins of energy that others would get when obtaining a class but his was different in a way that Lyra couldn’t quite discern Whereas others had small tributaries flowing through them polluted somehow Randidly had a pure spring