Aura - Buffs and Debuffs

Aura reacted with a sigh again.

As she exhaled, a sickeningly sweet fragrance filled the air. It was different from Albedo’s, a syrupy aroma that seemed to cling somehow. Recalling her powers, Momonga took a step back.

“Oh! I’m sorry, Lord Momonga!” Realizing what had happened, Aura flapped her arms around to clear the air.

One of Aura’s passive skills as a beast tamer was the ability to use both buffs and debuffs at the same time. The effects drifted into the air on her breath and could have a radius of dozens of feet to a hundred or more—using an additional skill could make the range unbelievably huge.

In Yggdrasil, buff and debuff icons would pop up so players understood clearly when they were in effect, but in their current situation, they problematically did not.

“Umm, it’s okay now. I turned it off!”

“Oh...”

“But Lord Momonga, you’re undead, so psychic stuff shouldn’t have any effect on you.”

That’s the way it had been in Yggdrasil. Psychic abilities had neither good nor bad effects on the undead.

“...Was I in range just now?”

“Urk.” Aura scrunched up her shoulders in fear of the coming rebuke. Even Mare shrank a bit.

“...I’m not angry, Aura,” Momonga said as kindly as he could. “Relax. Did you think you could affect me with a skill you weren’t even using seriously? I’m just asking if I was in range or not.”

“Got it! Uh, you were in range.” From Aura’s voice, filled with relief, Momonga realized how terrible and awe-inspiring he was to her.

A prickling pressure assailed him under his clothes in the area where his stomach would have been if he’d had one. What if I endup weaker because of this? The thought of it made him want to run away at full speed.

“And what was the effect?”

“Uh, I think the one from just now was...yes, fear.”

“Hmm...” He didn’t feel fear. In Yggdrasil, friendly fire had been disabled, so players couldn’t harm members of their guild or other teammates. Here, however, there was a high possibility that that had changed; he knew it would be good to confirm one way or the other right away.

“I thought it used to be the case that your powers couldn’t have any negative effects on people in the same guil— Group.”

“Huh?” Aura’s blank expression was matched by Mare. Momonga gathered that it hadn’t been the case.

“Must have been my imagination?”

“Yes, but I can control the range of the effects at will, so maybe that’s how you misunderstood?”

***

Volume 1, Chapter 2