Adventurers Guild Adventurer's Guild - Receptionist Desk

Crooked Mountain - #SC1 - C-Ranked - Slay 10 Lightning wisps [ 200 G ]
Crooked Mountain - #GB2 - B-Ranked - Gather lightning essence from Crooked Mountain Castle [ 240 G | 1 x Lightning wisp in a bottle ]
Ash Plains - #SC1 - C-Ranked - Slay 3 Feral Werebeasts [ 180 G ]
Ash Plains - #SB1 - B-Ranked - Slay 3 Frost Spirits [ 270 G ]
Ash Plains - #SB2 - B-Ranked - Slay 3 Frost Giants [ 300 G ]
Ash Plains - #SB3 - B-Ranked - Slay 3 Fire Giants [ 300 G ]
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"Hmm....It's been a while? Maybe? I don't know. I just have this feeling that you are very different. I guess that's just my imagination? Meh, not really sure. Let me read the report.....Well, as expected. Your job is done efficiently. Here is 1490 G and the lightning wisp in a bottle for you. Take care now."

 

I entered the Guild Hall and proceeded towards the receptionist's desk. I took out my report and handed it in.

"Here is my report for these quests. I hope everything is in order."

• Delta Town - #GE1 - E-Ranked - Gather 10 Chickens [ 20 G |5 x Eggs ]
• Delta Town - #GE2 - E-Ranked - Clean Barnacles from hull [ 40 G]
• Delta Town - #GE3 - E-Ranked - Fish 5 Speedy Tunas [ 80G | 1 x Speedy Tuna Fillet ]
• Delta Town - #SE1 - E-Ranked - Slay 100 Rats [ 100 G ]
• Sandy Desert - #SE1 - E rank - Slay 25 Desert Jackal [ 50 G ]
• Sandy Desert - #SE2 - E rank - Slay 25 Desert Fox[ 50 G ]

Spoiler: Second Quest

Spoiler: Quest Report 01

The travel to Delta Town was swift but, as always, the shift of scenery from oh-so-blue sky into that of another sight was something I wasn’t used to. As I appeared on the opposite end of the portal from Aeternus, a cacophony of sound was what immediately greeted me. Business as usual, it seemed.

Before anything else, the first order of business was to look for rats. Considering this was a port town, pest control was sure to be a problem. I, for one, had no plans to waste a minute scouring the entire town for the little critters. Plus, it would save me a lot of time to just sneak in rat hunts in-between my other quests.

With that thought in mind, I took out 10 pieces of shikigami from my traveling pouch. Each piece of paper was four inches long and two inches wide. It was circular at the top, tapered down slightly from the bottom of the circle into sharp corners near the middle, then angled down to a point.

Spoiler: Shikigami

This was one of the rare occurrences where the usage of the technique wasn't much different from my old miko occupation. I sandwiched the thin pieces of paper in-between my palms as if in prayer and then charged it up with a simple command. That done, I opened my palms face up, shikigamis flat on my left hand and waited. Suddenly, the set glowed a dull blue and each piece of paper flew off in different directions. Even after they disappeared from my sight, I could still tell where each one was. This was a handy technique to use if one wanted to find something.

Why then didn't I use it to find that boulder in the Great Plains? Simple. I had no clue how that boulder looked like. If I had used the shikigami like I did now, they would have blindly stuck to any generic rock or boulder that would have resembled what I thought it would have looked like. In the end, I might have just ended up wasting the lot. After all, shikigamis could not be reused. The command I had given those 10 pieces of paper today was to look for nests of rat colonies. It was simple and straightforward which was why the activation was quick. If the objective was to look for a certain individual or if I needed to spy on someone, different procedures would have been required for the shikigami to work effectively.

With one problem out of the way, I headed for the port. After following some road signs, I reached the place quite quickly and headed straight for the town's office building that handled ship manifestos. From the information listed on the quest board, these were the people who requested for the hull cleaning job. Front desk directed me to a side office and inside was an old woman behind a very messy desk filled with documents and little knick knacks ranging from seashells, broken fish hooks, loops of fishing line, and copious amounts of sand dollars of different sizes.

I presented my Adventurer Guild card and she looked at the information with her beady eyes behind bottle thick glasses. "Levana, is it?"

"Yes, ma'am."

She returned my card hurriedly and started going through the papers on her desk in little jittery movements that reminded me of a chipmunk. The imagery oddly fit with the old lady being quite petite in size. "What are you here for?"

"Hull cleaning and speedy tuna fishing."

The woman cackled in laughter as if she just heard an inside joke. "It's a little late at the moment to go hull cleaning. Come back sunrise tomorrow. As for the fishing, there are three lined-up for today. Take your pick: Liem, Darris, or Ol' Owl."

I was sorely confused. "Um…well-"

"Quickly!" She cut me off as she threw papers up in the air at the same time. Oddly enough, she stood up and picked them back up again as they scattered everywhere. "Decide quickly! Liem, Darris, or Ol' Owl?"

I wanted to help her with the papers but decided against it. She might not appreciate the help what with her laughingly doing it herself. "Ol' Owl?" I ended up replying to her not knowing why I had to pick in the first place.

The old woman was on her way back to her tall chair but stopped to look at me after she heard my answer. With a sigh and a click of her tongue in disappointment, she climbed her cushioned seat and haphazardly put the papers down on her desk. I was very confused at this point as to what might have instigated her mood. The only explanation I got was, "It would have been interesting if you had picked Liem or Darris."

I didn't know who they were but I was glad I had picked Ol' Owl. The old woman started rumaging through her documents again and said, "Come back here on third bell for the fishing. You'll find Ol' Owl right at the third deck with his boat. You'll be going out to open sea for your speedy tunas."

"Thank you very much."

She snickered. As I was about to head out of her office, she called me right back making me hesitate by the door. When I turned to her, I saw that she was standing on her chair and she made a valiant effort as she swung her arm back and threw something in my direction. The throw wasn't meant to harm as the object flew in a graceful arc in the air. Absentmindedly, I reached up with a hand to catch it. A pale pink sand dollar greeted my eyes.

"For good luck and protection in the great seas!" Her grin was so huge and so happy that I couldn't help but return it. I bowed in thanks and went on my way.

---​

With hull cleaning and tuna fishing properly scheduled, I decided to proceed with the chicken gathering. It wasn't even noon yet so I wasn't in a hurry to go to my destination. It was only at that point that I took the time to take in my surroundings. It was a busy day in Delta Town. Then again, I doubt there were any calm ones what with this being a port town. So much importing and exporting of goods involved. With the amount of business traffic here, it wasn't odd to find an eclectic mix of people milling about. A caitsith, a dragoon, and even what looked like a lycanthrope to name a few.

Even with me taking my time, I reached my next destination quite quickly. After reporting in the commercial district, I was led by a teenager named Nell to the Western part of town where cobblestone met the sandy part of the desert. A little further away was the river and even from where we were standing, I could clearly see the line of where fresh water met ocean. I couldn't help but be fascinated by this.

"The free-roaming chickens are over there," said Nell suddenly catching my attention. He was pointing at a patch of greenery that seemed quite like an island surrounded by sand. "It's just a little cove. You can't see it from here but on the other side of that is actually connected to the river which explains the plants. The locals like propagating the chickens in this area because their meat tastes good from what they eat near the river. The main reason why we ask adventurers to gather them is because a few months back, jackals have been known to surprise us during gathering. Although we do have patrols going around the vicinity to make sure our animals are safe, we can't always be sure that a beast won't be able to sneak in somehow which is why town council decided it would be safer if adventurers were hired."

Nell handed me a wooden cage where I could store the chickens later. "Will I bring this back to your restaurant or are you going to come back to pick it up?" I asked.

He smiled. "I was planning to actually wait here if you don't mind. If I go back now, my parents will ask me to do some work which is just boring."

Aaaah to be a teenager again. I nodded but gave him a disapproving look. He merely sent me an impish smirk and walked towards a small hut where I see some armored people resting. Probably part of the town's local garrison. They wave the teenager over and the greetings were too practiced for it to be new. What a truant.

I head on over towards the greenery and soon enough, I found myself amidst some feathered companions. I've heard that this was a hit-or-miss kind of quest since nobody really knew what might happen in the midst of chicken gathering. One adventurer even claimed to have encountered a wyvern on his quest. Though I highly doubted the legibility of that story, it nonetheless was so farfetched it might as well have been the truth.

I half expected something exciting to happen but was somewhat disappointed that the most interesting thing that occurred was when one of the chickens turned to me in challenge. It had fluffed out quite magnificently into a huge ball of feathers meant to intimidate but I could only laugh. I felt too impressed by its character that I just ended up shooing it away hoping it would have longer days to live.

After half an hour catching chickens, I finally finished with the target number of 10 and went back for Nell. The wooden cage had two straps on one side allowing me to carry it on my back. Nell half-heartedly offered to carry it and just as I was about to say it was fine, one of the armored men slapped him hard on the back of his head.

"Ignore him. Give him the cage. It's the least he can do after avoiding his other responsibilities." The man smiled at me kindly. "I'm Kiev, his older brother."

Nell complained for a bit but he did end up carrying the cage. Kiev waved us goodbye and we walked back to the commercial district where their small family restaurant was. As thanks for the chickens, they offered a free lunch meal and I, of course, accepted. They placed me on a table near the door and Nell's mother was the one who served me food. Being that she was also the chef, I was a little embarrassed to be given this much attention but she was such a boisterous person that my worries about being a bother were pushed away.

Once I was done, Nell and his mother gave me a packed meal in earnest that I gratefully accepted. They both waved me goodbye and I felt myself smile at such a welcoming family. I had a few hours left before my tuna fishing so I might as well go for some rats for now.

---​

My first encounter with the rodents ended surprisingly fast. The rat colony one of my shikigamis found was located near the town's commercial district. Behind one of the older buildings in an area that was a little tricky to enter due to old, accumulated and decayed lumber, was where I ended up squeezing myself into. It was there that I managed to clear out a good 34 rats. With one swing of Soul Cleaver, I was able to take out 2 to 3, sometimes even 4 rats, with one pass.

I hadn't anticipated that it would be that fast and upon realizing that I might have wasted my shikigamis, I got a little irritated. This was only the first one of the 10 I sent out earlier and with just this, I've already killed quite a lot. What a blunder.

I quickly reported my kills to a local officer so that they'd be able to do a fast clean-up to avoid the possibility of sickness from spreading. Better safe than sorry. Afterwards, I headed back to port.

Being that I was a little early, I had thought that I would have to wait for Ol' Owl to arrive but I was wrong. With a nickname like Ol' Owl, I had imagined him to be an old eccentric like the woman I met at the port office. I was very wrong.

Ol' Owl, to put it simply, looked like a lumberjack. Height well over six feet, heavily bearded, healthy tan, and very brawny build. Also, there was nothing old about him. At most, maybe late 40s or early 50s. I hardly thought that qualified as old. Plus, in a very ironic twist, his voice was quite soft and gentle. A glaring contrast to his otherwise sturdy frame.

He introduced himself as Aulaust. He had grown up near the border of the East Barrier Mountains and Rainforest Vale and held a healthy dose of repect for rocky mountains and healthy greenery but his true love was the sea. It was at this point that a small head popped out from behind him. A little girl was shyly peeking at me.

Aulaust was smiling when he introduced me to his 9 year-old daughter. Rather, he sounded like he was smiling. I couldn't tell because of the beard. "This lil' nugget is Rayette. She's going to accompany us in our fishing expedition."

Surprised, I couldn't help but ask, "Is that safe?"

Instead of Aulaust, Rayette was the one who explained. "The area we will go to is too shallow for sea monsters but deep enough for speedy tuna. No problem."

With that very confident declaration, her father laughed and then we ushered on to their boat. It was big enough to have a deck a man of Aulaust's size could freely stand on plus it had good-sized storage area for fish. Surprisingly, the vessel had a small mana core engine to power it up. Those could get quite expensive and Aulaust clarified that he used to be a privateer. He had accumulated much during those days and was now well-off enough to have that on board.

It was on our journey to open sea that Rayette was the one who explained that her father was called Ol' Owl because some of the locals couldn't say his name right. The old lady from the port office who was apparently called, Mayhem Mary, was the one who started calling him by his now very popular monicker, Ol' Owl.

Rayette shared more stories but eventually, we reached a good distance out at sea where work beckoned. I actually felt dismayed when I told the father-daughter duo that I had little to no fishing experience but they were kind enough to tell me that I wasn't their first adventurer helper who had the same issue. Patiently, they taught me about the parts of the fishing rod, know-hows of bait and tackle, the do's and don'ts of open sea fishing, and proper timing to reel and pull in the big fish.

I was surprised we were using fishing rods to be honest. I thought we would be using nets for this. Aulaust pointed towards a harness I needed to use that was securely attached to the deck. Meanwhile, he didn't need any for support. His balance and strength must be legendary.

It was then that Rayette led me to do stretching exercises. It was a 10 minute workout that emphasized on legs, arms, and back. I was starting to get nervous. Would I really be able to catch those fish? Finally, with the stretching out of the way, I was harnessed and given a fishing rod.

Rayette, it seemed, was in charge of driving the vessel as we waited for the tuna to take our bait. The boat needed to be moving for the speedy tuna to show interest in our lures.

It didn't even take 5 minutes until the fish started biting. Aulaust managed to reel in one tuna effortlessly. It was a good 5 feet long. Rayette dutifully wrote down it's measurements and told me they needed to make sure that we only caught adult ones. Juveniles were sent back in.

At this point I was worried if I could catch even one. As if to prove my worry, the fish managed to escape with my bait. Two more of that and I was getting annoyed. Rayette proved to be a great cheerleader and kept on encouraging me.

Detemined to somehow succeed, I excused myself and put down the fishing rod. Taking out 3 talismans, I placed them on the floor around me. 12 o'clock, 4, and 8 positions, respectively. This time, I used mana.

My mother had explained that this technique I was about to use added to one's strength, perception, and agility. She was a master at this and used it often when she went hunting for demons with her long bow and arrows. This time, however, I set up the talismans so that, for every fish that bit at my bait, the boost will immediately take effect.

Rayette was engrossed with my actions and Aulaust was amused. Getting my fishing rod ready with bait, I took position and let loose the line. We waited with bated breath. Then, a tug at the line.

Immediately, the talismans glowed red and I waited a beat before I reeled in my catch. Sure enough, I felt a strong pull on the other end. The hook was caught. Rayette cheered and even her father stood watch and guided my timing. Pull, slacken the line, reel, lock, and rest. I was often reminded to get a feel for the fish's stamina and not fight it. Even Aulaust, with all his physical prowess, couldn't fight against pure muscle.

It took me nearly 20 minutes and a few near misses but finally, I caught my first tuna! Rayette was flush with happiness and Aulaust congratuled me on my first official catch. The tuna was a good 5 feet and 6 inches. I was immensely pleased by this and yet, at the same time, I was dreading the rest of my fishing quest. Even with the talisman's help, the task was so difficult! I could only imagine how tired I'd be tonight.

So, there we were the whole afternoon. By the time I reached my quota of 5 speedy tunas, I dropped the fishing rod and sat down on the deck with an exhausted sigh. Aulaust chuckled at my actions while his daughter approached me with a congratulatory air.

"You were great, Levana!" She said with a wide smile. "Some of the Adventurers were unable to finish this in one go. They had to come back the following day."

I was horrified at the thought of having to come back just to do this again. As it were, my limbs were killing me. Aulaust laughed at my expression. "Some actually do this with nets but they only do so when speedy tunas are at the peak of their season. Otherwise, we go about it in a more menial way. At least you didn't end up going with Liem or Darris."

My curiosity got the better of me. "Why? How do they do it?"

Father and daughter glanced at each other and said at the same time, "They dive in to catch them."

Did Mayhem Mary want me dead? That crazy bat. As if reading my mind, Aulaust laughed. "Mayhem Mary used to do it when she was younger. She practically started it. She must have been excited to find a woman who might do it too. She's been looking for a protege as I understand it."

I was shaking my head rejecting the thought. Again, Aulaust laughed. The rest of my time on the boat was spent leisurely as Rayette helped me dismantle my fishing rod. When we reached a dozen speedy tunas, all thanks to Aulaust's efforts of course, we finally headed back to port.

Our timing was impeccable since we reached the docks just as the sun was going down. I was in the process of tidying up our equipment when Rayette started waving at someone on the boardwalk. I looked up and to my surprise, there stood Kiev and Nell. Apparently, the surprise was mutual.

"You're the Adventurer who went with my dad?" Nell asked as his older brother, still in garrison uniform, helped Aulaust tie up the ship to harbor.

I jumped out of the boat and helped Rayette do the same. "It was either him or Liem and Darris."

"Aaaaaah." the two boys nodded in understanding.

"She's Levana!" Rayette suddenly cut in. "She caught five tunas today!"

"Woaaaah." Again, the brothers reacted in unison. Then, Nell added, "She also caught 10 chickens for us today."

At this, Rayette gave a heavy frown. "Chickens are stupid. Of course she caught those stupid animals."

"She's afraid of chickens," Nell explained offhandedly causing his sister to grow angry.

"Shut up you toad! At least I'm not afraid of the sea!"

"Are you crazy? They have monsters out there and most of which could probably eat you whole. My fear is very healthy."

Before Rayette could shout back, Kiev covered his siblings' mouths and turned seriously towards his brother. "We're here to help with the tuna. Get the cart."

With a shrug, Nell left. Kiev had to go back to his post after helping out with the fish. 7 of the tuna we caught were for their family restaurant and the 5 that I caught were for somebody else in the commercial district. Just as I thought that my time with this lively family had come to an end, I was invited to dine and spend the night at their place by Aulaust's wife, Taviya.

I didn't have the heart to say no plus Taviya had offered some healing balm used for sore muscles. Apparently, the harness in their boat was meant for her and everytime she went out to fish with her husband, her body would ache with exhaustion afterwards.

To cap off the day, I ended up snuggled quite comfortably under a warm blanket in their family's guestroom. Rayette was incredibly excited to have another lady in the house. She started demanding for a sister causing Aulaust to blush behind his thick beard and Taviya to send me an apologetic expression.

What an interesting way for the day to end.

Spoiler: Quest Report 02

I woke up quite early the following morning. With the family running a restaurant, nearly everybody in the household had already risen. Taviya had wanted to feed me breakfast but I declined so she ended up packing me a meal instead. With a thank you, I said my goodbyes and left for port.

Hull cleaning time. I reported in at the front desk of the port office and they directed me towards the bigger ships stationed at the dock. There were three other Adventurers there who seemed to be doing the same quest as I was. Sure enough, all four of us were given simple instructions, serious warnings, and then some tips to help with our jobs. After being given the necessary tools for the removal of barnacles, we headed for some moored ships in one area of the port.

We reached a huge vessel with its hull still slightly wet from being fresh out of water. The barnacles covering it were numerous and I doubted that one pass from the four of us would finish this.

"I only need you to clean up the front part," explained a staff member from the main office. "Different teams will be doing the rest. This ship is owned by a merchant family and isn't scheduled for sea in two months so we're good on time. You're the first batch for this vessel and we'd like for you to be finished by 9 in the morning."

We nodded in confirmation. The staff member left us to do our jobs. I volunteered for the scaffolding with 1 other adventurer and we went to work. Each one of us had our own set of cleaners. Small hammer and chisel, rubber brush, normal bristle brush, and a bucket of water. We had to be extra careful with the cleaning else we might damage the vessel. None of us could afford to pay for damages after all.

With the ship fresh out of the water, the barnacles were a slimy mess. Suddenly, a shout from the adventurers below. "These are disgusting! They're alive!"

I glanced down to see them shivering in disgust. My partner and I looked at the barnacles in front of us and, sure enough, they were very much alive and, occasionally, something would reach out from the hallow of the barnacle and return back inside. It was deeply disturbing.

Spoiler: Barnacle

The adventurer with me at the scaffolding was horrified. So was I. "They should be burned with hell fire!" With that declaration, my partner took out his hammer and chisel and dove in to work with vigor. I followed suit. We worked well in tandem. Him chipping away at the offending creatures and me brushing the remnants off with the steel brush. In the midst of this, I learned that his name was Riot and that he grew up in Frontier Village. This was his first quest as an Adventurer.

Time meandered along and it took them a solid 3 hours to finish cleaning off the barnacles on their part of the hull. With that done, we reported it to staff and went on our separate ways. The balm I had put on my sore muscles last night had helped but the constant raising of my arms and brushing off of hardened barnacles had left me exhausted. Finding a small park to rest in, I took out my packed meal and started to eat. Bah! Who cared about quests right now? The morning was still early so I decided to waste some time watching people pass by.

Even though I was adamant that I wanted to waste some time, I still up and left the park after finishing my packed food. It’s a little early for hunting out in the desert but I decided to have a go at it anyway. First, I went to the nearest outpost and asked where I was sure to find some jackals and/or foxes. The latter was easier to find. They were wily beasts who stayed close to human settlement since food was sure to be plentiful here. Desert jackals, meanwhile, didn’t usually go far from the river so if I kept the water close, I was sure to find some.

I went to go search for the desert jackals first. Heading for that patch of greenery where the chickens were, I proceeded further north in search of the scavengers. Being that I grew up in a temple that was isolated on top of a mountain and surrounded by thick woodland, tracking was one of the things taught to us as children. I knew how to read trails but the desert proved a little tricky to read. It took a little getting used to but eventually, I found prints that I could follow.

The cloak I had on felt extra heavy thanks to the heat of the sun and it didn’t help that its dark color made me pop-out against the shade of the pale sand. The only recourse was to be extra vigilant. It was then I remembered my talk with Elias at the tavern. This was the perfect opportunity to practice stealth wasn’t it?

Though I had been taught how to track animals, it was so that I could keep away from them. To hunt them down was another matter altogether. Taking a deep breath, I took out my daggers and made my treads extra careful. The set of footprints I was studying on the sand looked fresh owing to the fact that it was so clear to see. If it had been there longer, the wind would have covered a portion of it already.

As I continued to be vigilant in hunting my prey, I made sure to take note that I wasn’t being hunted in turn. It was no good being overly cautious on one thing and forget the rest. Finally, I caught site of the desert jackal. The poor animal was actually just minding its own business under a dried patch of shrubbery. Quieting my breathing, I approached it, weapons at the ready.

Suddenly, the desert jackal whipped its head towards my direction and immediately stood up with a threatening growl. I was surprised. What gave me away? It was then then I noticed the wind that was moving my cloak. It must have sensed me through smell! I forgot to stay downwind.

Without missing a beat, I used Soul Cleaver and managed to land a hit what with the animal being so close to me. It went down, tendons on one leg severed. Killing it afterwards was easy enough. How disappointing. That was a huge failure. Once I finished taking care of the corpse, I went in search for more to hunt.

---​

It wasn't until 2 hours later when I realized I had finally completed my desert jackal quest plus had aready killed 6 desert foxes along the way. My aim to employ stealth into my attacks to gain experience had pigeonholed my concentration that I've actually lost track of time. For every animal I took down, I learned more on proper hunting techniques and especially stealth. It was noon now and I was a little too far from Delta Town to make it back for a decent meal. Deciding to settle on rations, I headed back to civilization as I ate.

Along the way, I ignored any desert jackal I encountered and brought down any foxes unlucky enough to cross my path. It seemed the hot sun was on my side as it drew the foxes to water. I still thought it was odd for them to brave the heat though. In the end, I managed to get rid of another 5 desert foxes before I reached Delta Town.

Upon reaching civilization, I debated on whether or not I should go get a proper meal but decided against it in the end. I wanted to wrap up my hunting quests quickly before the sun was out. Sensing one of my shikigamis close by, I headed towards its direction. This time, I ended up in the residential area of the town. My shikigami was located inside a local's storehouse so I had to ask the owner's permission before going in. He readily agreed and was horrified when he saw the rat's nest inside the small building he owned. I had to be extra careful not to damage any of the property owner's stored items but I managed to do just fine in the end. This lot was a total of 23 rats. I helped the property owner to take out the dead rodents and while doing so, I found two precious stones tucked safely away where the rats' colony used to be.

When I showed it to the owner, he claimed not to know whose they were and declined on keeping it. I studied the stones and came to the realization that these could actually be turned into amulets. I asked the owner if I could clean myself up after having to handle the dead animals and he offered the well at the back of his house and even gave me a bar of soap to use. There, I thoroughly washed my hands as well as the precious stones that I found.

Before I could leave, he stopped me and gave me a small jar filled with tiny, multi-colored meringue. He was slightly embarrassed while handing me the sweets and explained that he worked at a bakery and that was the only thing he could think of giving me to show his gratitude with the rats. I smiled in thanks and left.

My next batch of rats were 28 in number. As I was in the middle of getting rid of them, I had a random idea of a skill that I wanted to try. The attempt was shoddy but the effect was promising. For almost a full second, I was able to summon spirits to cloak my presence in invisibility. However, the ignis used was shockingly plenty. I had to cut the casting prematurely since it wasn't a good idea to overestimate myself and end up dry of ignis which would cause me to lose consciousness. Fainting in the middle of a rat's colony was deadly.

The idea of a new skill made me immensely excited to try it but I knew that I had to wait for another day to test it out. As I was thinking this, I suddenly remembered a few instances with the jackals when I had experimented on my Smite skill. There were times when, instead of the sharp slash effect I was used to, it had turned into a heavy, blunt-force devastating blow. Perhaps I could also tweak that and add it to my line-up of attacks. At least with that one, there was no danger of practicing it against the rats with it being dependent on naturally occurring ignis and not the stored kind like the other one.

So, it was with a determined air that I greeted the next rat colony my shikigami found for me. It was these poor creatures that faced my eager attempts of practicing a new skill. Because of that, some of my attacks had turned quite clumsy but at least there was progress. By the end, another 32 rats were killed. I knew that I've gone far above the count for the quest but I could hardly leave the rat nest still occupied could I? At the back of my mind, I mourned all those wasted shikigamis I had used.

I returned to the desert to continue my fox hunt and even then, I persisted on trying out my new experimental skill. It was only after I finished the last kill of desert fox for my quest did I finally give my new move a name - Rend. It seemed fitting for something so devastating. A blunt-forced attack so strong it would cut the target in half. Ideally anyway. I was still unable to master something so new.

With all my quests done, I was ready to head back to Aeternus. Before that, however, I went to the family-run restaurant of the people I met yesterday who were kind enough to offer their home for me to stay in. Rayette was ecstatic while Taviya stepped out of the kitchen to invite me for another meal. I declined.

"I'm heading back to Aeternus. I just didn't feel right leaving without seeing you all again. My quests here were lively because of your family."

Rayette sighed at that. "That's too bad. I enjoyed your company, Levana. My brothers don't like the sea so much."

I understood why but refrained from saying it out loud. "Thank you, Rayette. I enjoyed your company too. You and your father also taught me so much about fishing."

Upon hearing that, she suddenly became excited. "Oh! Oh, I almost forgot! Wait right there!" She then ran inside.

We were standing in front of their restaurant so I didn't mind waiting for whatever it was that got her so jumpy. I spent the time talking to Taviya about the rising rat problem in town. A short while later, Aulaust made an appearance with his daughter trailing after him. He had something in his hand and he smiled when he looked at me.

"I was hoping you'd drop by again. Rayette and I thought it would be a good idea to give you this. It's far simpler than what we had on the boat but it does its job well."

He handed me a collapsible fishing rod. I was pleasantly surprised at this sudden gift. Taviya looked on in amusement. "They were both impressed by how you didn't complain while you were fishing yesterday. They said you showed promise."

The sudden feeling of happiness that came from hearing the compliment stunned me. Maybe I enjoyed myself more than I thought I did during that fishing expedition.

"I have a fishing rod just like it," boasted Rayette. "It's very easy to use."

Aulaust cut in. "I hope you don't feel this is too much. It's just a token of appreciation for helping our family yesterday. That includes the chickens."

I laughed at that. Glancing at the fishing rod in my hands, I then gave the three a smile. "I'm very happy to accept this though you really shouldn't have.""

Taviya brushed my comment aside with a snort. "Think nothing of it. We enjoyed having you over. Whenever you're in town do feel free to come by for a visit."

After assuring them that I would, indeed, visit them again, I finally left with a wave of goodbye and headed to the teleportation portal that would lead me back to Aeternus. Despite enjoying my time here, I was quite eager to return to the floating city. Still, it wouldn't be bad to visit this place once in a while. For now, back to HQ.

Additional acquired items:

1. Sand dollar
2. 2 precious stones
3. Jar of multi-colored meringue
4. Fishing rod

@brasca123

[OOC]: I need to learn how to cut down on word count. Making these reports gets tiring . [/OOC]

 

Delta Town - #GE1 - E-Ranked - Gather 10 Chickens [ 20 G |5 x Eggs ]
Delta Town - #GE2 - E-Ranked - Clean Barnacles from hull [ 40 G]
Delta Town - #GE3 - E-Ranked - Fish 5 Speedy Tunas [ 80G | 1 x Speedy Tuna Fillet ]
Delta Town - #SE1 - E-Ranked - Slay 100 Rats [ 100 G ]
Sandy Desert - #SE1 - E rank - Slay 25 Desert Jackal [ 50 G ]
Sandy Desert - #SE2 - E rank - Slay 25 Desert Fox[ 50 G ]
==========================================================================
Welcome back Levana-chan!

Let's see here... A man on his fourties? And human at that? This is quite unusual, most don't live that long, no wonder people call him Ol' Owl.

I do have to wonder why do you think that is not being old though? I don't honestly remember ever meeting a human on their fourties, this place you came from is quite a mysterious one!

Nice that you were able to become friends with them though, it's always nice to make bonds with other people!

Everything seems to be in order, so please receive those 340G, 5 Eggs and 1 Speedy Tuna Fillet!

Take care now, good luck on your future quests!

(( The picture of the shikigamis is broken, and don't worry too much about 6k words, I made one with 12k before, and one of my party quests got 15k, just try to have fun while writing it! \(^^)/ ))

 

Great Plain - #SE1 - E-Ranked - Slay 20 Slimes [ 50 G ]
Great Plain - #GD1 - D-Ranked - Gather 5 Rainbow Slime Gel [ 120G | 1 x Rainbow Gel ]
Great Plain - #GD2 - D-Ranked - Gather 10 Nectar [ 120 G | 1 x Butterfly Honey ]
Great Plain - #SE2 - E-Ranked - Slay 10 Goblins [ 50 G ]
Great Plain - #SE3 - E-Ranked - Slay 15 Orcs [ 50 G ]
Great Plain - #SD3 - D-Ranked - Slay 5 Orc Leaders [ 100 G ]

Spoiler: Pancake Angels First Quest Together

Spoiler: Of Slimes and Flowers

Dawn. That period of time just before twilight.
Twilight. That period of time just before sunrise.
Sunrise. The beginning of a new day.

Frontier Village - Dawn
The first pink hued rays of sunrise appear through the clouds. It scatters across the sky as the hues changed to orange and then red, slowly bringing warmth back into the air. This breathtaking sight is witnessed by the few that wake up to prepare for work before light illuminates the skies. All is silent at this time, as the world slowly wakes up from its slumber.

Three girls are seen arriving through the Teleportation Gates in the Frontier Village, each girl has the same accessory. A belt which shines in the light as they move, the ever so gentle tinkling of music could be heard with their every step. From the distance one could see that all three had their individual charm. One could not pinpoint what that charm was, not unless they were to come forward for a closer look. If they did...most likely...no most certainly their expectations would be shattered. These girls were adventurers, and when were adventurers ever normal?

A collective silence settles over the three as they brush off the dirt from their clothes. This would be their first battle quest together. Early morning excitement was in full force and they were eager to start the day.

The eldest? of the girls looked out towards the grasslands with determination. "We will show them! The B.E.J.A...eh P-P-Pan...eh...we need a group name that doesn't sound weird. My inspiring speech won't be inspiring anymore."

The second girl is seen having a whispered conversation with the...was that a dragon? Oh my...well she was having a whispered conversation with her dragon. Occasionally the dragon would stare at the other two girls before looking back at his master. He nods a few times before settling down on her shoulder.

The youngest...well it didn't take much effort to determine that she was the youngest. Boundless energy and that height. Don't mention the height, it will get you nowhere. She looks towards the eldest girl before going back to tug at the sleeves of the second girl, being careful not to disturb the dragon.

They nod at each other before smiling and walking over to the eldest of the group. It seems that was their leader...what an odd group. It definitely will be an eventful day, they could just feel it.

*****
Blanc P.O.V.
"Slimes are our first monster...they are rather slow and curious creatures, so it wouldn't be too much trouble for us." (Elyn)

Tugging them both by the sleeves, Jibs leads the way. "Come on then! This way, this way! I want to cut them up quickly so we can do the next quest."

"Well sleepy slimes are easy to handle, although they do look rather cute. Especially Ria..." Blanc sighs as she thinks of Biel's cute slime.

The atmosphere turns slightly chilly at her words and Elyn is quick to diffuse the sudden rise in tension. "Ahh look Blanc! These slime are ugly and green nothing like cute Ria~! Unn let's get started then."

"Yeah come on, the day is getting old and so am I. This will be our first battle group formation then, hopefully nothing goes wrong..." Jibs then readies her stance. "Wind cut my enemies, Wind Cutter!"

whoosh whoosh

In an instant 4 slimes are killed. Hey that is an achievement! On the first try too~!

Elyn wanted to try and use her dagger again, Blanc heard that she only recently learnt how to properly use it...well no better time to polish ones skills than in a much safer environment.

stab stab stab

Three down nice work...although that much force is not needed...should we tell her......na.

Blanc takes out her fan and steps towards the slimes, weaving between them with quick steps. The fine sharp edge of the fan pierces through the membrane of its transparent body hitting it's core.

At this point in time Elyn's familiar is forgotten as he keeps watch over the girls at the edge of the grassy plains. Elyn only told him to stay put and be alert but he seems to take it a bit too seriously. It would rather cute really, not that anyone would voice this out loud.

Looking at each other for a split second they nod and move forward...we'll try to move forward together to finish annihilating the remaining slime. Elyn wobbles a bit trying to match Blanc's movements and Jibs is too eager in using her magic that 3 more slimes get destroyed before they get into formation.

"Ehehe whoops..." (Jibs)

"We just need more time to adjust to moving as a team, doing more quests together should make our bond grow stronger." (Blanc)

"Uun, before you know it we will be the ultimate glass cannon." (Elyn)

"Glass cannons sound pretty Elyn. I wonder if we can decorate it..." Blanc gets distracted and looks up at the clouds.

"Come on we're wasting time, let's go finish them and move on!" Jibs says impatiently as she moves in line with Blanc and Elyn.

Shaking those thoughts from her head, Blanc readies her stance again and signals the other two to follow her lead.

One, two, three.

swoosh swoosh

stab stab

whish whish

They move as one and finish off the remaining slimes quickly, leaving no space empty and with minimal bumps against each other. However small, it was still an improvement. Their first mock battle the night before was too painful to mention. Somehow at the end of their quick training session they had gotten all their limbs tangled together.

Blanc counts the deflated slimes and tally them to be just over 20, luckily no goo got on her clothes. It was still so early and the green didn't look nice at all.

"Well for our first official dance together, it wasn't that bad. Don't know why the others back at Aeternus were so skeptical. We will definitely get back in one piece~!" (Blanc)

"I am glad to be able to use my dagger, much easier to use on slime as it just glides through. Not like that last time..." (Elyn)

"Yess~ We finished this quest and in record time too, alright moving on the the next one. Gathering rainbow slime gel."

The day was going better than planned.

*****
Jibs P.O.V.
After killing the ordinary slimes Jibs ,Blanc and Elyn walked further into the Great Plains to find some rainbow slime to compete the next part of their quest.They didn't have to walk very far before spotting a few...actually it was a lot of rainbow slimes. The rainbow slimes were gathered around a crystal structure, it was giving off a faint blue glow. Jibs wondered if it had magical properties...

"Wow I didn't expect we would find rainbow slimes so easily." Blanc says with astonishment in her voice.

"Indeed." Elyn nods.

"................"

Noticing there was a missing reply, both of them were confused and turned to look at Jibs for her response. As expected she had gone off somewhere...again. They looked at each other and smiled in exasperation before looking around for Jibs. An exclamation was heard near the slimes and they both looked over in surprise. Jibs had decided to play around with the slimes.

"Ahahhaa you're so cute, I'll give you a hug!"

The rainbow slimes were jumping on top of her and basically playing with her. Seeing this both Elyn and Blanc sighed before going over to her.

"Jibs, I see that you made friends with the rainbow slimes."

Hearing Blanc's voice Jibs turns around and looks at Blanc smiling up at her.

"Yeah, I did!" (Jibs)

"Ah I remember now, Blanc didn't you say that Biel told you that we don't need..." Elyns gestures to the rainbow slime before lowering her voice. "To kill the rainbow slimes to get their gel?"

"K-k-kill?" Jibs exclaims loudly while hugging the rainbow slime.

"Yes, that is true. Fufufu I had to confirm with Biel just in case. She owns a Slime Farm so it was the obvious thing to do...and the fact that I don't think I would be able to...harm them. Ria was too cute..." (Blanc)

"That is a relief then~ Okay! What do we do then Blanc? Elyn?" Jibs looks at them both questioningly before looking back down at the rainbow slimes gathered around her. They were all changing colour at a rapid rate...it looked like they were trying to communicate with the three girls.

"Just give them a little mana and water, Biel said they would produce gel for us after receiving it." (Elyn)

Jibs nods and she turns to the slimes and produces a little mana to give to the slimes. While she is doing this Blanc and Elyn take water out from their Item Boxes and pour it out for the slimes.

Seeing this, the slimes gather around the three girls even more and start absorbing the mana and water. After they had finished, something was left behind. It was the gel, and it was more than enough to complete the quest.

"Wow! So many! Thank you slimes! " Jib said while hugging the slimes and putting all the gel into her Item Box.

"Alright, with this complete we can head over to do the next quest." Blanc said as she got up and bushed dirt off her dress.

"Yes Blanc we should go collect the Nectar now. Come Jibs we should go." (Elyn)

"Awwwww....really? Bye bye slimes." Jibs said while walking away. She was a bit sad to part ways with the cute slime but they had to go.

The slimes understood they were leaving and bounced up and down in response. They changed colours again rapidly to show their appreciation. It was also their way of saying good bye.

*****
Elyn P.O.V.
“….Goodness me…..” (Elyn)

I let out a sigh after that last task. Why, you might ask? Some part was because I felt a bit sad leaving those cute looking rainbow slimes. Another part is that I was a bit tired after manipulating so much mana for them. I never thought that gathering those for the rainbow slimes will be so much work. I guess that’s just how it is, right? At least I learn once again that I should never underestimate the quest posted in the Guild’s Board. I should have known that the difference in reward is something to be suspicious off. I mean, just look at that! The reward of getting 5 gels is more than twice the reward for hunting normal slimes. If that is then each rainbow slime gel worth about….10 slimes. It’s all worth the effort, I think….Uuuuu

Suddenly I heard a soft growl from my side. I glanced at saw a very familiar pair of jade green eyes looking at me. He growled a bit more and then rubbed his head to my cheek. To be honest, it’s kind of nice since his scale is quite soft due to him being just a dragonling. I guess that’s how Jade showed his worried at me…..Okay, I named him Jade because the first thing that came into my mind when I see his eyes was jade. I have a bad naming sense, that’s just how I am.

“I’m okay, Jade.” (Elyn)

After that, I smiled to him. I also patted his head a bit, making let out a pleasant growl. He then gestured with his head toward my two companions. They all looked at me with a warm look on their eyes.

“I-I’m fine now. Sorry for being like that.”

“It’s fine. We understand that you need some rest after that. Don’t worry~!” (Blanc)

“Yeah! But you do need to train some more, Elyn,” said Jibs with a smile. “If that is enough to tire you, you will not be able to do much in the future, you know?”

“…Uuuu…y-you’re right.” (Elyn)

I slapped my own cheeks slightly to increase my mood. I can’t be like this forever! I need to work harder!

“Okay! So what is next? Nectar, right?” (Elyn)

The two nodded as I asked that. But there is something that I’m not sure about. Nectar of what? I mean, there are a lot of source to pick from. I guess….the rarer the better? As I was wondering about that, I felt my sleeves being tugged by something. I looked and saw it was Jade biting onto my sleeves while flying. Before I could ask what’s the matter, he released my sleeves and then started flying toward the forest. Huh?

“I think he is trying to tell you something?” (Blanc)

“Maybe he knows where to find it. Yes! That must be it!” (Jibs)

“Really? I mean we ne-Wait! Jibs! Wait!” (Elyn)

Before I could finish my sentence, Jibs was already running to chase after Jade. I was going to ask Blanc but she just tapped my shoulder once and then gestured toward them. A sigh came out of my mouth as I realized that I had no other choice. With that, the two of us quickly chased after them.

“…What’s that?” (Elyn)

“So beautiful~!” (Blanc)

“Wah! So many flowers! Hahahaha!” (Jibs)

Yes, so many flowers. It seems that Jade led the three of us to a field filled with a lot of flowers. He just floated on the middle of the field looking at me, while letting out a growl as he gestured towards the flowers with his head. I guess he knew where to find them as he is an earth dragon, right?

“I guess this way we can just harvest the nectar from all of these?” (Elyn)

“Yup~! We can do that. This really saves us from having to search for a place.” (Blanc)

“Jade, you’re wonderful!” (Jibs)

Jibs then started to pet Jade’s head with vigor, making him growl a bit. Was that a growl of pleasure or a growl of displeasure? I don't know. Oh, he flew toward me and perched himself on top of my shoulder. And…he’s glaring at Jibs.

“Aw, he is shy! Hehehehe!” (Jibs)

“Don’t scare him too much, Jibs.” (Blanc)

“Hehehe. Whoops!” (Jibs)

“Here, have some snacks. As our thanks, Jade.” (Blanc)

I saw Blanc take out some fruit from her item box and offer it to him. Jade looked at the sweet first and then looked at me, as if asking “Is it fine?” to me. I smiled at that and then placed my hand on top of his head and started petting him.

“Go on, you deserve that, Jade.” (Elyn)

He then flew toward Blanc’s hand and then took the fruit with his hands and then flew back to my shoulder. A small growl came out as he started eating the fruit. I guess he’s happy? I hope.

“Okay, everyone~! Let’s collect these and we’ll be done with yet another job~!” (Blanc)

“Yay! Let’s do it!” (Jibs)

“Y-Yay!” (Elyn)

The three of us took out a bottle to collect the nectar and then went to three different part of the field. I scrapped some of the nectar from the flowers one by one and put them inside the bottle. It took us a while to finally fill 10 bottles, but it’s all worth the effort. At least we don’t have to spend time to search for a good place. I need to treat Jade with some more fruit when we get back to the city.

Spoiler: Goblins, Orcs and their leaders

Further into the forest we go.

Elyn P.O.V.
The sound of rustling could be heard around us. The scent of the forest filled the air around us. It would be a good and relaxing scene if not for the greenish looking humanoid creatures in front of us. Wearing crude outfits and also wielding crude weaponry, they are the infamous goblins. Although their height is not more than the height of an average teenage human, they are very dangerous. Known to kill their prey in a barbaric way and kidnapping women to their lair to breed. They are a constant menace to the extent that The Guild always put up that request. And no matter how many of my fellow adventurers take up quests to exterminate them, more always popped up. That kind of resilience made me worry. Is this quest fitting for us E-Rank adventurers?

“So…there are 10 of them. I can see some with bows and arrows.” (Blanc)

“Ugh! That’s annoying. I hate dealing with long range attack.” (Jibs)

“….I’m bad dealing with any kind of attack…” (Elyn)

The three of us are currently hiding a bit far from them, behind some thick shrubbery and tree on top of a hill. I floated the three of us along the way to avoid us stepping on some branches that can alert them. This way, we can move around with ease while observing them.

“This is too many to deal with all at once.” (Blanc)

“Eeh? We can’t?” (Jibs)

“We can’t. We will get surrounded by them. And chances are they know the surrounding terrain well.” (Elyn)

“Ugh! That will make it worse!” (Jibs)

“Hmm….we can either bait them one by one, or…..I’m not really sure.” (Blanc)

I could see even the usually calm Blanc was frowning while thinking of how to deal with that. I could also sense that Jibs was a bit impatient with that. I guess I understand. This is our first time fighting together. We will need to be careful as we don’t know if we can match each others rhythm. Even when we have slain some simple slimes we were a bit out of synch. So…..Think Elyn….think….

“Ah!” (Elyn)

“W-Wah!? What is it!?” (Jibs)

Jibs quickly pulled out her katana and looking around in panic. Thankfully Blanc calmed her down and looked at me.

“Don’t surprise us like that, Elyn.” (Blanc)

“Y-Yes. S-Sorry. “ (Elyn)

I bowed my head to apologize quickly. But then I looked back to them with a serious expression.

“I have a plan. It’s like this.” (Elyn)

I observed the goblins movement for a while. From their looks, it seemed that they were coming back from a hunt or something since I saw a few of them carry a corpse of some animal with them. This is good. Why? Because from what I read, they tend to lost their vigilance a bit after a successful hunt. Of course, I can’t really know how successful they are since I can’t really judge a goblin’s expression.

“Okay….I hope this works.” (Elyn)

I pulled out my Grimoire of Blizzard and then quickly transfer some mana into it. I could sense that it reacts much better than before. The mana flow is much smoother and the amount I needed to start the process is not as much as before. I guess my training paid off.

“Freezing wind that affects everything, give me foundation for my feet.”

I could feel the mana forming into ice magic fast. I then point my hand onto the planned area near the goblin. Maintaining the flow without making the circle obvious to them is quite hard. Slowly but surely, the magic circle starts forming on the soil around them. I manipulate them in such a way that they are getting more mana than usual.

“S-Slowly now……Now! Ice Block!”

All of a sudden, the circle started glowing brightly. The goblins starting to get alerted and they let out a growl. But it was too late. In a split second, ice blocks sprouted from those circle, trapping them inside. But this is not the end. I have one more spell planned for them.

“Freezing wind that knows no bound, assist me and stop them on their ground.“

I called out a different chant and then targeted a few of the panicking goblins in the back. They were too busy panicking that they didn’t notice that mana started to crawl around them, forming another magic circle.

”Freezing Wind!”

In an instance, chilling wind blows from the magic circle and then engulf them immediately. The unfortunate goblins turned into a block of ice. At least 2 of them were turned into that. Just as planned, that made the other goblin tried to break the ice to help their comrade. I’m sorry, but they are dead since the spell froze the entire body completely. Unless they can break the ice –which is harder than normal rock- in a few seconds, they are surely dead.

All of a sudden, two figures leap from the tree around the ice circle. A flash came over the goblins and instantly after that I could see two goblins were either sliced or stabbed. Yes, those two were my partners, Blanc and Jibs. They waited for my spell and then they went to attack them. The sudden magic attack and sudden melee attack managed to deal with 4 goblins, meaning that the two girls need to deal with 6 more…..I hope they can do it.

After that, I couldn’t do anything more except shooting some Fire Pellet at the goblins each time they tried to surround them. Since the two managed to deal with the bow users first, I am safe in my position. There’s no way any of them can at-

“GAH!!!”

I was pushed to my side. Since I was focusing on the battle in front of me, I didn’t notice that something attacked me. And it was….Jade? Huh? Why is Jade attacking me?....No…he pushed me aside. That’s right. But he is not facing me. He is facing….Orc!? I-I’m surrounded!?

“H-How….I d-didn’t no-GURGH!!!!”

Suddenly I was kicked by one of them. I flew toward the tree near me, making a loud sound of impact and, of course, hurting my whole body. I looked up weakly only to see a big green hand grabbing my whole body as it lifted me with ease.

“R-Rele-*wheeze*-ase me….”

I could only plead weakly, which only earned me a snort from the large green humanoid monster. It looked at me with a devious grin…O-Oh, no….Help…Blanc….Jibs….Jade….Anyone….

*****
Jibs P.O.V.
Jibs and Blanc were fighting the remaining goblins before hearing a roar come from Jade the dragon. Jibs took a peek at Elyn while still maintaining caution towards the goblins she was currently fighting. Raising her katana to block any attacks she turned to see Elyn being held by an orc and it was about to crush her.

But before it could the Jade used dragon breath on the orc making it drop Elyn before he was punched by the orc and sent flying straight towards Jibs and Blanc.

Jibs finally caught up to the situation and reacted with quick reflexes thanks to Aika's body enhancement.

"Jade! Elyn!!" (Jibs)

Hearing Jibs shout, Blanc turned around after killing a goblin to see Elyn on the ground and Jibs jumping up to catch Jade.

"Elyn?! Ugly..Oh no, Orcs!?" (Blanc)

Seeing that there were 5 orcs and 2 orc leaders near Elyn on the ground she could guess what happened. Blanc immediately tried to go over to Elyn but was only blocked by the goblins.

"Tch.."

Blanc audibly clicked her tongue and started to finish exterminating the remaining goblins. She was relieved to see that Jibs caught Jade before he hit the ground.

"Jade! Stay strong!" (Jibs)

Seeing the dragon injured she casted heal but it wasn't enough. Looking towards Elyn who was still on the ground Jibs saw that she was about to be stamped by the orc's feet.

"Ice pierce my enemies. Ice Arrows!"

5 arrows hit the orc immediately killing it but there were more orcs just near Elyn. Making a split second decision Jibs shouted out.

"Aika! I Summon you, come!"

As she summoned Aika, a magic circle appeared on the ground and girl with 2 katanas came out from it.

"Hai! Ojou! What do you need me to do!" (Aika)

"Protect Elyn!" (Jibs)

"Roger!" (Aika)

Aika leapt forward and stood in front of Elyn, killing 2 orcs swiftly as she moved into position. The orc leader was angry at his subordinates being killed and tried to punch Aika but the result of that was him getting his head sliced off. The other orc leader was obviously more skilled than the first and engaged in a sword battle with Aika with the help of its enchanted sword which even a mana blade couldn't slice through.

Blanc finally killed the last of the goblins and went over to Jibs.

"Jibs! Is Elyn okay?!" (Blanc)

"Yeah, she's still on the ground, though!" (Jibs)

"Okay, I'll head over there to pick her up. Meanwhile, try to help Jade!" (Blanc)

After she said that Blanc immediately sprinted over to Elyn, bypassing where Aika is battling with an orc leader. So Jibs focused her whole attention on casting heal on the injured dragon. She was so focused that she did not realize 10 orcs and 3 orc leaders coming up from within the forest behind her.

Noticing that the light from the sun was suddenly gone, she looked up only to find an orc smiling gruesomely down at her.

"Wahh! Light barrier!" (Jibs)

She quickly cast a barrier but with the strong hit from the orcs club against her barrier it immediately broke. Jibs was hit by the full force of the club and her body bounced a few times on the ground with Jade wrapped protectively in her arms.

*****
Blanc P.O.V.
Blanc arrived at Elyn's side just as Aika finished off the orc leader. Seeing the initial threat was dealt with, Aika stood guard while Blanc checked over Elyn's injuries.

Giving her a quick once over, Blanc was relieved to find Elyn was still conscious. The injuries could be treated later, they had to quickly get moving and exterminate the remaining monsters.

Blanc carefully helped Elyn sit up by propping her up in her arms. Incoherent mumbling could be heard from Elyn as she gasped in pain. "Don't w-worry a-ab-about me Blanc, J-J-Jibs.."

Thump thump gahh!

That sounded li-like Jibs! They both look across the clearing towards the sound and see Jibs hit the ground painfully. She was rolled up trying to protect Jade and took the full force of the impact.

Quickly turning her head to look at Aika, Blanc noted that she made no move to help her summoner. Aika did look rather worried though but she stayed with Elyn to protect her from danger.

Feeling a light tug at her sleeves, Blanc looked down at Elyn. Understanding flitted through her eyes before she moved Elyn into a better position in her arms so her back was leaning against Blanc

“Freezing wind that affects everything, give me foundation for my feet.”

“A-alright...Now! Ice Block!”

Elyn put up an ice wall blocking the orcs path before coughing violently. The cough shook her entire body and blood suddenly came out. Blanc remained calm at the sight of blood but her fingers trembled a little. She did not have time to be scared, she must block it out. Blanc steeled her nerves and gestured towards Aika to take over. Aika nodded and picked Elyn up gently.

"Elyn is in a fragile state and her left arm is broken. Jibs has also suffered injuries, are you able to lead us to another clearing?" Blanc continues on as she sees Aika nod.

"The ideal place would be somewhere with enough coverage but has a small opening for them to pass through. This way we can lure the rest of the orcs and orc leaders into a less favorable position. If all goes to plan we can catch them by surprise. We look like weak human girls to them at the moment. Let's use that to our advantage."

"Yes, you can count on me. Don't worry...just... please be gentle with Ojou." (Aika)

Blanc smiles reassuringly at her before swiftly moving towards Jibs and Jade, her movements became even lighter and more agile as the charm of the flower belt and heart circle came into effect.

Ignoring the pounding on the ice by the orcs, Blanc bent down and picked up Jibs and Jade and held them in her embrace. Looking at Aika she nodded once before following her further into the forest. Due to their speed, they quickly made it into another clearing further up the river. Moving quickly the three that were injured were put down and Aika stood guard in front of them.

Blanc scanned the surroundings before coming to a conclusion. She turned back to look at Elyn and Jibs and as relieved to find them still conscious.

Their situation did not look good with Elyn coughing blood due to mana depletion and Jibs being wounded quite badly. Only Blanc is in her best condition with light scratches along her arms.

Touching Jibs gently on the head, Blanc slowly coaxes her to relax her grip on Jade. Jibs fingers were stiff but she managed to release her hold and slowly sit up. Jade was still a bit dazed, but when he noticed Elyn with blood splattered across her front he immediately tried to go to her side. He didn't make it far before toppling over. Seeing this Blanc picked up him gently and let him rest by Elyn's side.

"Don't move around too much Jade, it isn't good for you nor is it good for Elyn. She will be fine, I can promise you that." (Blanc)

Jade snorts softly before snuggling against Elyn's right side careful not to bump her left arm. His image had already taken a hit, these two girls were slowly growing on him. And he felt that they could be trusted with his owner...especially with what had happened today.

"B-Blanc.." Elyn coughs slowly before settling down again. "Is Jibs..."

Patting Elyn on the head softly Blanc nods, "Do not worry, Jibs is going to be fine. Isn't that right Jibs?"

"...Y-yes" *cough cough* "I mean yes! I am perfectly fine Elyn, a few bruises didn't kill anyone. Nothing will stop me from exterminating those troublesome orcs."

Blanc didn't comment on the blood seen on both her partners and just squeezed her hands into tight fists. The pain from her fingernails was not felt, it was deep enough that it would sting but not deep enough that it would draw blood. Slowly releasing her grip she gave a reassuring smile to them both and stood up.

"We need to lure the enemy and defeat them bit by bit," Blanc stated as she also pulled Jibs gently up from the ground. "Avoiding being surrounded on all sides would be the best option. Their estimated time of arrival is 10-15 minutes, this also depends on how fresh the scent of blood left behind is."

"So it will be just the two of us then. I will take care of the orcs, Blanc. There is still enough mana in me for one or two more blasts. The orc leaders on the other hand..." (Jibs)

"...mm they need to be dealt with too, the chaos from the orcs should distract them long enough for my to deal the final blow. All three at the same time might be dangerous...but I will try. Hitting the vital points is essential for the one strike rule." Blanc furrows her brow as she organizes her thoughts.

"I can s-s-still..." Elyn coughs again before looking determinedly at the other two. "I can do one more spell before complete depletion...L-Let me... "

Jibs and Blanc look at Elyn with worry before turning to look at each other. They come to a conclusion and nod.

"I will use two ice spells to deter them and stop the orcs from moving. Elyn, can you do one fire spell? Arrows will be the best to shoot the orcs down, that way Blanc can finish off the rest of them." (Jibs)

"Y-y-yes I can. Don't w-w-worry." (Elyn)

Jade looks worriedly at Elyn before turning to the other two and nodding. It seems he also wants us to quickly finish this battle.

Grumbling can be heard in the distance, coming closer...and closer...until the outlines of the orcs are seen through the foliage.

"It seems the entire group has come. We are one so do not fear." (Blanc)

"We are one and will not hesitate." (Jibs)

"We are one and together we shall go towards victory." (Elyn)

Moving out from behind the bushes, Blanc readies her stance and waits for the girls to strike. She will be the bait and direct their attention to focus on her. No more harm will come to Elyn and Jibs, not on her watch.

"O fire that will strike down my foe, appear and shoot them down."

"Fire Arrow go forth!" After sending forth her spell, Elyn coughs up more blood and nearly loses consciousness. It is only the warmth of Jade and the trust she had in her partners that kept her grounded. Her strike shot through the sky scorching the 4 orcs that got struck in its path.

The orcs are angered, they do not see where the spell was cast from. They only see the lone figure in the clearing waiting for death. With anger clouding their judgment an orc leader charges forward with the remaining 6 orcs.

Blanc sees them coming and stares at them not making a sound. Elyn did wonderfully and she believed in Jibs to react fast enough to prevent any harm.

"Pierce the enemies who stand in our way! Spicis Glaciem!"

The ground glows around the orcs and ice spikes come out of the ground impaling them. Only 4 orcs were impaled as the other 2 avoided the spikes and tried to continue forward. The orc leader was very unlucky and actually got impaled in the stomach. He ripped the spike out and continue on forward before he could move any closer, he fell to the ground.

"Ah, so that is where the weak point is...well the neck usually is very weak. Didn't think one cut would go through. The sharpness of my fan even astounds me!" Blanc twirls around again and slices through the necks of the other 2 orcs who didn't get impaled by the ice. Not a drop of blood is spilled.

Sensing something rushing towards her Blanc slides back narrowly missing two clubs that were aimed at her head.

The other 2 orc leaders had arrived at the scene.

clank

Grunting is heard from the orc leaders as they move forward again to finish her off. Blanc slips under the clubs and moves behind the orc on the left to slice its neck. She manages to pierce through the skin but is thrown back by the other orc and hits the tree. Blanc doesn't let go of her fan and tries to get up ignoring the pain.

A shout is heard from Jibs who was waiting for the right moment. "No, you don't! Freeze them! Frost nova!" The two orc leaders are frozen in their movements are the spell takes effect.

Seeing her chance Blanc moves forward and appear behind both orcs in a flash. Her speed greatly enhanced by the charms she received as rewards in the Oakenlake Reconstruction efforts. A light tinkling sound is heard as she slices across their necks not giving them any time to try and break free.

Gurk

Omph

Blanc collapses onto the ground just as the heads of the orc leaders fall to the ground. The adrenaline had worn off and she starts to shake. Aika appears from behind the foliage carrying Elyn. Jibs rushes forward as well with Jade in her arms.

"Blanc! We did it!" Jibs shouts happily, she jumps and remembers too late she was still injured and nearly falls over due to the pain. "Ouch...eheh that was a bad idea."

"P-p-please put me down Aika..." (Elyn)

Aika sets Elyn gently down on the ground beside the other two and starts to check the surroundings just in case any other threats are nearby.

Using her right arm, Elyn hugs Blanc and Jibs before passing out. Blanc tremors slowly stop before she gains control of her body again. She hugs them both to show her appreciation, Blanc was thankful that they were all alive and relatively safe...even if injuries were sustained.

"I wonder what our next quest will bring us. Teamwork has slowly but surely fallen into place, with time we can take on the world." Blanc then notices that both Jibs and Elyn had fallen asleep in her arms. She winces in pain as she tries to support their body weight. It seems her ribs were bruised...or broken...

She didn't want to alarm the girls so thought it was best to keep quiet about it. Feeling the skin around her ribs she gently touched the bruises before quickly snatching her hand back. It was broken.

Blanc looks up at Aika and she understood immediately, nodding to Blanc she gently wakes up the girls, Blanc takes out some chocolate from her Item Box and shares it with the girls to get their energy levels up. With the quests completed, it was time to head back to Aeternus.

*****
Frontier Village near the Teleportation Gate - Dusk
Finally, they will go back to Aeternus. The day felt unbelievably long. Too long. A hot bath was all they wanted.

"I am thankful to have you both by my side." (Elyn)

"Me too! It was...interesting. I haven't had this much action in a while!" (Jibs)

"I find that hard to believe Jibs, you are too energetic. But I am also happy to have you both as partners." Blanc smiles at them both. "We will grow stronger together, one day we will be unstoppable!"

cough cough cough

All three of them cough at the same time at this statement. The pain was settling in. It hurt.

Jade and Aika just looked at each other and sighed. The three girls were too enthusiastic. They needed to learn their limits.

The sun had already set and only the soft rays of red could be seen as night sets in. A breeze gently rushes through the Frontier Village as the girls walk through the Teleportation Gate. The soft tinkling of their belts are heard, signaling the end of a successful day.

Spoiler: Preview

Three Adventurers step through the Teleportation Gate and head down the streets towards The Guild. If one was to listen closely a rather interesting conversation can be heard.

"We forgot to name our team again..." (Blanc)

"Hmm, you don't like Pancake Angels?" (Jibs)

"I think it's rather cute!" (Elyn)

"It doesn't sound fearsome enough." Blanc sighs as she tries to think of a unique name that fit them. "Ah, we should combine our names then. Something like B.E.J.A."

"...what is that?" Jibs asks as curiously.

"Hmm..... I don't know either. Grimoire, Blade, and Fan? Fanblade Grimoire?" (Elyn)

"...maybe we should do this some other time...ah we finally made it to The Guild." (Blanc)

Elyn mumbles something that is not heard by the rest of the group. "G-g-glass cannon..." It gets lost in the wind as they walk through the door towards the receptionist desk.

Maybe they will come up with a suitable name the next time they decide to have a group meeting.

Spoiler: Read this for the interaction.

Aeternus - The Guild: Carm's Receptionist Desk
Three girls slowly walk through the receptionist doors leaning onto each other for support. One looks like she was thrown off a cliff...multiple times. One looks like she took multiple trips towards the ground...her arm was also bent at a weird angle. And one looks like...hey she looked rather ok...although she was pressing her stomach gently...so she must be hungry then.

"Big brother we are back from our quest~ See I told you we would come back in one piece, isn't that right girls?"

The other girls smiles up at Carm before learning against Blanc again. Blanc winces slightly before covering it up with a smile. She places the report into his tray before leading Elyn and Jibs back out.

"...I think we should rest up at the Inn before going to the Tavern. And clean up. I think my rib...eh no I am fine hehe..."

They stumble away under the worried eyes of Jade and Aika. Hopefully a healer was available at the Inn. Or even a first aid kit...

Here is the quest report completed with @Jibs @Zerith

@Carm

 

Great Plain - #SE1 - E-Ranked - Slay 20 Slimes [ 50 G ]
Great Plain - #GD1 - D-Ranked - Gather 5 Rainbow Slime Gel [ 120G | 1 x Rainbow Gel ]
Great Plain - #GD2 - D-Ranked - Gather 10 Nectar [ 120 G | 1 x Butterfly Honey ]
Great Plain - #SE2 - E-Ranked - Slay 10 Goblins [ 50 G ]
Great Plain - #SE3 - E-Ranked - Slay 15 Orcs [ 50 G ]
Great Plain - #SD3 - D-Ranked - Slay 5 Orc Leaders [ 100 G ]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
*sees the obviously injured girls*
*sigh*
They didn't even bother to take their reward.
*sends Lucky after them with their rewards and a note*

~Dear girls,
Take better care of yourselves next time, if you need to, fail.
Lucky here is giving you your 490 G As well as your Butterfly Honey and Rainbow gel.
You three better not let me see yourselves do any strenuous activities otherwise, you will get it.


~With Worry
Carm

OOC:
OMG I"M SO SORRY LITTLE SIS!
I'm still not checking alerts due to business, I only went to see my watched threads...
orz
Your big brother is extremely sorry.
Also, since when we're we siblings in AG?
Also, you three are sooooo cute!
*glomps the three of them*

 

Ash Plains - #SB3 - B-Ranked - Slay 3 Fire Giants [ 300 G ]

HI~ KA~ RIII~ ❤❤❤ ~ (~^^)~
*glomp*

here my report~ ^^

Spoiler: Seeing the Result of the Training

Today me, Wee and Alb are going to do some quests.

Wee and Alb have been training hard together with Eun to learn how to control their bodies better since they had gained humanoid form, and from the looks, they also learned some things about martial arts from Eun.

So we are out to see the results of their training, and maybe get some good materials for crafting too.


So after passing through the guild, we leisurely make out way to the ash plains, our plan is to go test their strength again some giants, patrol the sea in search for pirate ships and on our way back pass in the sand desert and maybe get some ants bodies to trade with the Arachnies since their silk is really good material.


We keep chitchatting as we fly, as I know most of the patrol routes if the Giants after entering the mind of some their generals, we won't need to blindly try to find them.

Alb: teehee~
Bi~ you know? I got a really beautiful set of plushies of you and everyone~

Biel: ehh~?
Plushies of me?

Alb: *Giggles* yes~ it's super cute~

Biel: n-no way~! There is no way a plushie of me is cute... *Blush*

Wee: hahaha.
Bi, you are super cute right now.

Alb: yes~ she is right Nee-chan~?

Biel: stoopu~
You two~ *blushing*
I will smack you if you continue~ >////<

Alb/wee: Hahahah~
No~! Don't smack us~ hahaha

Laughing the two girls start to fly faster trying to escape the blushing priestess.



Wee: aww Bi.
You didn't need to hit us... We were just playing a bit...

Said the Black haired girl while rubbing her head.

Biel: muu~
You two are much cuter than me~

Said the pouting priestess.
And Alb instantly started to become bright red and fidget.

Wee that also started to blush and look away said:

Wee: B-but it was a g-good purchase....

Biel: well, it must have been... If I knew there was a places selling it... I would also go buy....


Wee: yeah... It was really a good finding I hope to-

Noticing that Biel's expression had changed the girls immediately get alerted and stop talking.

Biel could talk with mind messages but as other would not be able to, she chose to help the girls get used to signals, and made some signal.

Which meant that there was a small patrol of fire giants after the rock formation in the horizon.

Both nod their heads and speed up while raising up to the clouds.

They soon get closer and see 8 Fire Giants walking in formation through a road near the rocks.
There was 3 at front, 1 in each side, 2 at the back and
The last at the center.

Alb's body shine with a faint light for a mere instant indicating that she reinforced her body, then she started to fly at full speed in their direction.

While Wee circle them before starting her own Rasante with a slower speed than Alb.

After reaching a certain speed Alb closes her wings around her body and her speed increase even more, and then like a bullet she collides against the chest of the giant at the center of the formation.

Which makes him hit the ground and be dragged till they hit the rocks creating a trail and a crater...

Confused and surprised by the sudden fall of something the Giants turn to look at the crater, but it's then that Wee arrives behind the giant that was in the rear of the formation.

Using her bladed wing to behead it, and then using her tail movement she spins frontwards, and land with her feet on the face of the Giants in the middle of the 3 front guards, making him fall.

One of the other two giants that were near tried to punch her from behind, but she makes a backward summersault, using the Giants arm as a base she uses her hands to give the final push to jump over the Giants's head.

As she lands she kicks the back of the Giants's knee making him kneel, and then extending her right wind and curving herself diagonally to the left while spinning her body, she performs a wide sweep with her wing cutting the Giants's head.


As its body fall the third giant approach do a downward slash with its sword, wee dodge to the side, and lower her stance while seizing the opportunity to pass under it's legs and claw which ends up cutting off some of its toes.

But she doesn't stop running as her Target is the Giants that is still getting up.
She curves her body a little to avoid the awkward stab of the giant and pounce at his neck using her claws to rip half of it.

She then turns to the Giants that is limping away from her and then rush at his direction.

The giant slashes sideways trying to hit her legs, but Wee jump, and use his sword as stepping stone to make a summersault, and hit the Giant's head with her tail ending its life.




While Wee was fighting, the 2 side guards and the last rear guard giants went to the crater and saw Alb walking out of it.

The right guard giant is the first to arrive and tries to thrust Alb using his spear.
Alb uses her hand to swerving the spear to pass through her side, dash forward and make a palm strike hitting the Giants side, which ends not only breaking his ribs but also throwing him a few meter back.

Rear guard giant, arrive doing a downward sweep with it's bludgeon, and Alb makes a half step to the side dodging it.


And then the left guard giant on her left performing a diagonally slash with it's sword.
Alb spins her body and hit the side of the sword with her wing redirecting it, as her tail hit the rear guard giant's head as a mace crushing it.


As the left guard giant is now wide open for her, punch his side, making him curve, and then strike his head with a uppercut, which smashes its jaw and destroys the ligament of the brain with the spine that exists at its cervix.


Alb then dashes to the last giant and knee his head as he tries to get up killing it.

Biel then decent and take the bodies into her shadow while smiling.

Biel: Alb, Wee great work~
You two got really good at fighting now ^^

Wee: hehe
We are warming up.

Wee says while clearly looking embarrassed.
As Alb is fidgeting while looking to the ground.


Biel laughs a bit knowing that what she said was partially true since neither used magic besides on Albs first attack.

Biel: well let's go back to Aeternus and go to the sea
Hahaha.

 

Ash Plains - #SB3 - B-Ranked - Slay 3 Fire Giants [ 300 G ]
==============================================
Welcome back Mama! That was quite fast!

So you took Wee-chan and Alb-chan with you to play? No wonder I couldn't find them at home earlier... Oh well, everything went well! Glad you all had fun together!

The reward will be of 300G Mama! Take care now!!

 

Biel: *giggles*
we just went out a bit~ ^^

Wee: ooh Hii.
we sorry for that, we wanted to see how much stronger we got.
hahaha


Alb: *hug*
Hii~<3

 

Delta Town - #GD1 - D-Ranked - Gather 10 Lumber [ 100 G | 3 x Wooden Plank]
Gallant Mine - #GE1 - E-Ranked – Mine 5 Ice Crystal [ 80G | 1 x Refined Ice Crystal ]
Gallant Mine - #GE2 - E-Ranked – Mine 5 Wind Crystal [ 80G | 1 x Refined Wind Crystal]
Gallant Mine - #GD2 - D-Ranked – Mine 3 Fire Crystals [ 100G | 1 x Refined Fire Crystal ]
Gallant Mine - #GD3 - D-Ranked – Mine 3 Earth Crystals [ 100G | 1 x Refined Earth Crystal ]

Spoiler: Quest #2

After finishing my last quest, I realized that it wasn't a good idea to have just those dolls with me, so I wanted a big doll to help Hina out!

I checked through my materials and realized I didn't have enough to make a whole new big doll though, I needed to get some new ones, specially wood, since I had only enough to make a few more small dolls right now!

Deciding on that, I looked through the quest board to see if there were any quests I could use to get the materials for my new doll, the first one that popped for my eyes was the lumber one, since I will need the wood for sure! And... Oh, refined crystals? It's not everyday that we can find those, I better guarantee getting them! You never know when you need those after all!

This pretty much got all the quests I can get, there is also this one about water spiders that I could use for getting silk, but it goes above my limit, so I'll pass on that.

Though it wouldn't hurt to get the silk anyway, even without the quest, so I'll do just that!

Going through the receptionist's desk and having my request granted, I went to the portal towards Delta Town and decided to ask around for information.

The doll approached the nearest guild staff that was manning the teleport gate to get information.

"If you would excuse me, I would like to ask about some information related to the locations of water spiders as well as places in which I can find lumber for harvesting."

"Water Spiders? Those can easily be found near the sewers, as for the lumber, the main reason there is a quest for it, is because delta town is a desert town, it's not easy to get lumber in the first place, so we expect adventurers to bring it from other regions and bring it here."

"I see, it seems I need to go towards a farther away place then, I thank you for the information, I will be leaving now."

Hina bowed to the man in front of her and started walking towards the sewers.

After arriving at the nearby areas, she started searching for the spiders, it didn't take long to see the clutter of webs awaiting for pray.

Yosh! This is exactly what I needed, I hope the spiders won't mind me getting the webs for myself!

The dolls on Hina's waist started to move, the ones with swords started to cut the web into pieces, while the ones that usually had the spear and shield went to collect the pieces and put them unto the item box. The archer dolls kept the bow in hand for any necessity.

Before long, a few spiders crawled towards their position to protect the nest, which were shot down by the archer dolls with arrows on their eyes, which pierced until their brains.

The process continued smoothly until it was judged that enough silk was gathered, which led the dolls to retreat to Hina's waist and her leaving the region.

Yay! Easier than expected! Silk caught, next is lumber.

Any forest should work for that, so let's take the guild's airship to verdant forest.

Hina walked towards the teleport gate and went back to aeternus, on it, she entered the airship and told her destination, which was promptly accepted by the driver which dropped her off on verdant forest, he said he would wait until she was done to bring her back later.

Once Hina got off, she went a bit deep into the forest and started moving her dolls.

The sword ones started cutting tress down, it was a slow process due to the size of the swords, but it went by without any unusual occurrence, the dolls stopped after getting enough trees for 14 lumber, stored them on the item box, and then went back to her waist.

After it was done, the doll boarded the airship and went back to aeternus, proceeding to take another one towards the gallant mine.

Arriving there, the same procedure was taken, the driver would wait until she was done, and then take her back, Hina left and started searching for the crystals.

I wonder if there is any way of finding the crystals other than by eyesight? I don't have any detection skill, so this might take a while... Is that a miner? Let's go ask for information!

Approaching the man with a pickaxe that was hitting some rocks, the doll started talking.

"I am sorry for bothering you in the middle of your work, but if it's not a problem, I would like to ask for some information."

The man turned towards Hina with a tired face, he seemed to scowl after seeing her.

"Another adventurer is it? Why don't those folks ever get the information in their own guild before they set out!? And what's up with this 'take everyone that applies' policy!? Why is there a child now one!?

This guild is just fishy I tell you."
"I apologize, I did not mean to cause you trouble, if I am getting in the way, I will leave and search for it on my own."
"Meh, whatever, I already stopped anyway, what do you need kid?"
"Thank you for your time, I would appreciate if you could tell me the way towards the elemental crystals on this cave, for I need them for my quest."
"Elemental crystals? There is no mystery in that, just follow this path" He pointed towards one of the many caves on the mine "If you feel cold, you're near the ice ones, if hot, the fire ones, if there is a breeze, you're near the wind ones, and the air will be heavy near the earth ones."
"I see, this is information is indeed very helpful, once again, I thank you very much for your time, I will be going now."

The doll made a polite bow and then moved in the direction she was pointed.

How rude! He could've been a bit nicer in saying all that!

I was asking for information though, so I'm in no place to complain, well, no use worrying about that rude fellow! Let's just get this mining done with, Hina!

Before much walking was done, a split on the path was found, and the doll halted her progress.

That guy... He said nothing about splits! Which way should I-

Oh, it's kinda chilly over there... Ice crystals maybe? Let's take a look, Hina!

After moving a few meters, a light blue glow was seen, the surroundings got colder with each step towards it, but it didn't stop the doll that quickly approached it.

As she got closer, crystals with the same color as the glow were seen on the walls, ceiling and floor of the cave.

Brrrrr, you really have it easy Hina, not feeling cold surely making things a lot easier!

Let's get this done with and get out of this place!

The small dolls started moving, the ones with spear and shield let their shields on Hina's waist and moved close to the crystals, once they got there, they held their spear with both hands and started stabbing the base of the the crystals, slowly making them fall, which were picked up by the sword wielding ones, that had left their swords on Hina's waist, and then brought to the item box.

Once 7 of those were gotten, Hina left this part of the cave and followed the other path on the split.

This led to similar results as before, another split that led to wind crystals this time, mine, back to main path, split, fire crystals, mine, back, split, and lastly to the earth crystals.

The wind ones also had 7 of them mined, the fire and earth crystals had only 5 mined since the amount required was smaller.

On each of those, Rika voiced a different complain, such as: "This breeze makes it hard to stay in place!", "Too hot!", "It's hard to breath with this environment!"

Once the last crystals were taken, the doll returned to the airship and arrived at aeternus.

[ Nothing worth noting, though I had some trouble in coming up with what to write on simple gathering, I might have to add something else to it on future endeavors. ]

@Carm

 

Delta Town - #GD1 - D-Ranked - Gather 10 Lumber [ 100 G | 3 x Wooden Plank]
Gallant Mine - #GE1 - E-Ranked – Mine 5 Ice Crystal [ 80G | 1 x Refined Ice Crystal ]
Gallant Mine - #GE2 - E-Ranked – Mine 5 Wind Crystal [ 80G | 1 x Refined Wind Crystal]
Gallant Mine - #GD2 - D-Ranked – Mine 3 Fire Crystals [ 100G | 1 x Refined Fire Crystal ]
Gallant Mine - #GD3 - D-Ranked – Mine 3 Earth Crystals [ 100G | 1 x Refined Earth Crystal ]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
You seem to have a thing with shooting things in the eye, don't you Hina?
Well, whatever is most efficient I guess.
Thank you for collecting those items for us, here's your reward of 460 gold.
3 Wooden planks, a refined ice crystal, a refined wind crystal, a refined fire crystal, and a refined earth crystal.
Have fun, and until next time.

 

I got back to Aeternus quite late but I made a point to head to the Receptionist's Desk before heading to the Tavern. I approached the receiving area with exhaustion.

"Good evening to you. I l'm here to make a report."

• Rainforest Vale - #SD2 - D-Ranked - Slay 25 Poisonous Snake [ 120 G ]
• Rainforest Vale - #SD4 - D-Ranked - Slay 5 Giant Nightcrawler [ 120 G
• Rainforest Vale - #SD3 - D-Ranked - Slay 15 Poisonous Leeches [ 120 G ]

Spoiler: Third Quest

Spoiler: Quest Report #01

Though the main reason for taking these three quests were for its monetary reward, I had to confess that there was a hidden motive. Despite the dangers of Rainforest Vale, it reminded me of the woodlands back home. In fact, even the sense of danger was here but the feel of Rainforest Vale was not as sinister.

Upon arriving, it didn't take me long to adjust to the thick greenery. Although the humidity here was thicker than the forest I grew up in, it wasn't so bad that I'd get exhausted from it. Dehydration was one of the main causes of death in places like this but I was familiar enough with the environment that it didn't pose as a problem.

I had my right dagger at the ready in case I encountered any dangerous animals. My fire attribute gem, Flint of Oya, slotted in for added insurance. I didn't use my weapon on the plants because doing so would just damage the blade. They were for fighting, not hacking at plant life. Machetes were used for that.

Besides, it was never ideal to cut at these small branches and vines. That was just leaving a trail behind. Any decent tracker could count minutes and direction from a broken twig. Who knew if I was alone in here? Some people could be opportunists. I wasn't leaving it to chance.

When I was younger, the temple held competitions called 'Fox Hunt.' The monicker came from the fact that two of the beast guardians of our temple were kitsune and the two made sure to keep the settlement hidden from unwanted visitors. The main goal in Fox Hunt was to let the junior generation out into a cordoned off area of the forest to test their ability to stay hidden. One had to use cunning and whatever little knowledge they retained from the strict training that was given about survival in the forest. Of course, one of the most important lessons was how not to leave a trail.

That meant being cautious of where you stepped, being mindful of the terrain, making sure not to leave markers like torn cloth, not breaking plant life, keeping track of the weather, so on and so forth.

It was a very hard lesson. Humans were the interlopers. We were always reminded that the forest would always be against us because we didn't belong. So it was never a wise decision to fight against it. One didn't have to cut their way through woodlands. One just need to know where to go.

Of course, Rainforest Vale was no different. There was no place I was more sure of than being inside a forest. Unconsciously, my feet knew where to go so that no tread could be seen. Any branch or leaf blocking my way was carefully pushed aside, thistles expertly avoided, and rocks covered with moss completely eluded. It seemed like such a monotonous affair but I honestly enjoyed myself.

Before I left Aetenus, I had asked to see their encyclopedia for plants. Each region had their own sets of herbs so I wanted to double-check if my knowledge coincided with actual fact. Thankfully, it did.

Thanks to that, I foraged on the side. I now had a small clump of healing herbs, anti-itch plant sap, small pouch of insect-repellant seeds, three canisters of thin leaves I could use for tea, and some sweet berries I could snack on.

It was during one of my foraging escapades that I came across a giant nightcrawler. These creatures were so harmful to plant life that the very sight of it irritated me to no end. I didn't want to approach it. I heard that these pests actually moved fast and if it chanced a bite, it would never let go even in death. One had to pry it off carefully or risk tearing off a good chunk of flesh. I didn't know if that was true but I didn't want to risk it. I might have gotten my animals confused but one fact remianed: I needed to kill this thing.

Before it could even notice my presence, I slashed a Soul Cleaver towards it, mindful of not creating too big a swing in case I damaged my surroundings. It hit close to its head. The injury was enough to hurt but not enough to weaken. The giant nightcrawler wriggled in pain and I was surprised at the angry screech it made. I didn't expect the disturbing sound. The added Burn effect from my gem aggravated it further.

Again, I repeated Soul Cleaver a few more times before it could even think to lunge at me. When it had gotten obviously weaker and slower from its accumulated injuries, I darted closer, raised my arm high and slashed down with Rend. The giant nightcrawler was cut clean in half. When the two halves still continued to squirm, I cut it into more pieces until I was sure it was dead.

I glanced around and was incredibly pleased with myself for not causing too much of a mess, all things considered. I debated on whether or not I would bury the remains of the animal and decided against it. I saw traces of rodents nearby. They could deal with this themselves. It wouldn't take them long for something of this size.

It only took me another 5 minutes of walking until I saw another giant nightcrawler. I was mildly surprised. For a creature this big, I didn't think they'd want to share the area. It took another second until I saw two more. Curious now, I peeked on the other side of a tree and there were more of them lazing about.

How strange. It was at that moment that I noticed a certain plant among the fray growing in abundance. I knew what that was. It was used for anodyne. The effects were strong and immediate. However, one had to be knowledgable before ingesting any. If consumed event a little too much, a person could easily overdose. Seeing these giant nightcrawlers so lethargic, I supposed they were currently intoxicated.

The sight before me was so silly. One…three……eight…..I counted at least fifteen of them that were barely moving and a few more that seemed to be in the process of eating more plants.

How ridiculous. I didn't even have to do any special moves to kill the lot. Sure enough I finished off four in quick succession. While I was at it, I looked for some untainted plants they missed and broke off some leaves, leaving the main stem intact. I gave the giant nightcrawlers one final derisive glance and went on my way.

That was the highlight of my whole quest. My encounter with the snakes were uneventful since just a slash or two of Soul Cleaver dealt with them quickly. That didn't mean I wasn't careful. They were poisonous after all. Three of the snakes I killed had beautiful colored patterns so I decided to skin them for their leather. When I was sure I cleaned them well, I wrapped them up with some big leaves and put them away for safe keeping.

Next were the leeches. They were disgusting. Not only did they leave a trail of mucus everywhere they went to, they also smelled rather rotten. Probably due to their potent poison. I wondered why they needed it. Considering their size, they were rather fast so to have poison in their arsenal seemed overkill.

This was one quest I didn't enjoy. Not to say the others were great. At least I felt I could learn a thing or two from them. This one though was a real chore.

Like what I did with the giant nightcrawlers, I slashed a Slow Cleaver at them until they became weak enough for me to get close to. Unlike with the giant nightcrawlers where I controlled the power of my swings, I didn't do so now. I made sure each slash I directed towards the poisonous leeches would cut deep. Add to that the Burn damage and I found myself quite sadistically pleased with their pain.

In time, I did manage to kill 15 poisonous leeches but I felt so drained afterwards. No amount of temptation from the forest would make me want to stay here overnight. I needed a good bed, clean sheets, and even a hearty meal at the tavern before anything else.

With my dagger still ready in case of emergencies, I headed back to human civilization.

Additional acquired items:

+ a small clump of healing herbs
+ anti-itch plant sap
+ small pouch of insect-repellant seeds
+ three canisters of thin leaves I could use for tea
+ some sweet berries I could snack on
+ strong pain killers
+ snake leather

@brasca123

 

Rainforest Vale - #SD2 - D-Ranked - Slay 25 Poisonous Snake [ 120 G ]
Rainforest Vale - #SD4 - D-Ranked - Slay 5 Giant Nightcrawler [ 120 G
Rainforest Vale - #SD3 - D-Ranked - Slay 15 Poisonous Leeches [ 120 G ]
==============================================================
Welcome back Levana-chan!

Seems like you have been working pretty hard! Good job on getting rid of them!

The Rainforest is quite a nice place! One of my mothers actually owns it, so I go there for a few trips from time to time, it's pretty fun!

Your reward will be of 360G! Take care now!

 

@brasca123
Jean walks into the adventurer guild with a medical mask on and had listless eyes. He approaches the desk and pulls out a cube with a button. Pressing the button, a pile of papers pops out. "My apologizes for the wait, Hikari-san. My cold became burden my body too much." He coughed a few times while speaking, waiting for a reply.

Great Plain - #SE3 - E-Ranked - Slay 15 Orcs [ 50 G ]
Great Plain - #SE4 - E-Ranked - Slay 5 Boar Warriors. [ 70 G ]
Great Plain - #SE5 - E-Ranked - Slay 15 Kobolds [ 100 G ]

Spoiler: Episode 1 - Great Plains Panic

Now was the perfect time for Jean to approach the 4-man group of kobolds, each of them held a spear in hand. He clutches the hilt of his sword, Ebony Wind, as he makes his way inch by inch towards them. As he got to about 10 feet behind them, the sun’s light broke through the cloud of darkness, ending what little time he had.

The one farthest from him notice him and shouts out to the others. Not good! He thought and quickly draws his sword and swings it in a horizontal arc, unleashing a deep green wave of wind towards the Kobolds. Just then the three of them noticed Jean but could only witness his attack as it slices them in two while the one that shouted ducked in time to avoid it.

The Kobold wasn’t scared, no it was filled with such rage as it rushes to him, stomping on the ground. It’s menacing spear thrusts at him with the intent to kill. Jean managed to dodge it with the split of a hair and felt sweat drop as he saw the spear cut a hole through his coat.

Kobold proceeded to bum rush him with strikes from its spear, each time Jean evaded its attack but gradually started to feel exhausted. He had to take a risk, otherwise he will end up like the forgotten, cold and alone.

There! He thought as the spear came aiming for his head and he slashes the fingers off of the Kobold, making it drop its spear. He then cuts it in two using the same move that killed it’s comrades, its horrified eyes was the last thing it could express before it died.

Winded, he puts his sword in the ground and rests his head against it, trying to catch his breath. “I... I.. thought. This would be easy.” He mutters in between breathing, his back drench in sweat from all the fighting he had to do today.

After catching his breath, he pulls out a cloth and wipes the blood off the sword. All along the face of the blade had runes etched into it, allowing mana to be stored in it. Originally the rune stance could only hold 50 mp but it was modified by his friend Albert Walwick to hold about 100 mp, making it far greater than the amount before.

Still, Albert couldn’t modify the number of spells on the orb key which stores the spells as sequences of various circles. So, he had to make due with having only two spells, Wind Strike and Overflow. With Wind Strike it allowed him to send a torrent of wind that can slash most enemies as long as they are not rock type variety. On the other hand, Overflow gave him the ability to send a small amount of mana stored in the rune stance to anyone or anything within 25 feet of him.

He thought about filling up the sword with more mana since he is left with two chances of using wind strike. But with the all the hunting he did today, 16 kobolds, 8 orcs, and 2 boar warriors; he couldn’t see himself hunting anymore today.

Taking out a knife, he cuts the fingers off from the other Kobolds that didn’t have theirs cut off. Afterwards he places them into the item box he was given. Now that he thought about it, he wasn’t exactly told what to bring back to the adventurer guild as proof.

Why did he think a finger would be good enough again? Maybe its because ears are typically easy to slice through and too thin while an entire hand would just be dumb. No, he thought that a finger would be the hardest thing to detached from a humanoid monster body.

Wait a second, he thought as he felt inspired. Wouldn’t it be better for me to gouge out the monster eyes instead of cutting the fingers? He puts the knife away in the item the box and strokes his beard. Nah, it’s too late now with the number of fingers I already collected from the other monsters. Besides, I’m sure the receptionist will understand.

A sigh escapes from his lips, he always thinks things too deeply. His thinking has constantly gotten him trouble in the past. So, he shakes his head trying to get rid of his thoughts completely and focused on the journey back to Frontier Village.

As his feet took him a good long hour closer to Frontier village, he suddenly felt the vibrations of mana in the air moving like strings on a violin. They kept vibrating until his vision became pure white. All around him was a cloud of fog as dense as the muddy water, he couldn’t even make out more than 10 feet in front of him. He bit his lower lip not liking the situation.

Pulling out Ebony Wind, he sent a wind strike through the fog. His eyes widens as he saw the wind wave vanish in thin air. This is clearly the work of a highly-advanced mage or worse, an elemental spirit. He shudders at the thought of an elemental spirit, never wanting to experience that crimson day again.

Sending out some mana he felt that the fog covered more than he could feel out. Even if he was afraid, he has no choice in the matter but to continue to head eastward for Frontier village. All other directions was not a safe choice.

The deeper he went, the more wet it felt against the veil of fog. Then he heard a crackling roaring sound coming from his right, a bright yellow color ran towards him and he shoots his hands up forming a crystal-clear wall barrier. The barrier protected him from the lighting strike but 3 more came right after that one, scattering the barrier like broken glass.

He grits his teeth as he heard another lighting strike coming at him and pulls out his blade. One shot he thought as he gathers mana on the main body of the sword and swings the blade’s back side against the lighting strike, sparks flew and the lighting strike bounces back to its owner.

His left hand shakes a little while holding the hilt and he places his right hand on his left, steadying the sword. He rushes towards the direction the lighting strike was bounce back to and faced a Skull Masked man with black robes.

Jean sends a slash directed towards Skull Mask and he blocks with grace. They began to exchange a fury of blows, feeling each other out.

Jean noticed that the way the guy moved was very similar to his own school of Sword-Dancing, rhythmic and graceful. The biggest difference between the two was that Skull Mask had far more skill than him.

This guy must have created the fog as part of his domain, geez; Jean thought the more they exchanged, the more he was sure Skull Mask was the culprit. Just like before, he was becoming exhausted with each move the sword had to block.

Not good He thought and shouted “Brother please, we are from the same school. Let us not settle this with violence, I’m sure there is-” His voice was cut off as he felt the killing intent from Skull Mask pressured and intensify with the coming sword slash.

The edge of his blade turns into a maroon red and the sword from Skull Mask was blocked in its path, a grinding sound was made when the swords impacted and the tip from Skull Mask’s blade was cut off.

At that moment, Skull Mask pulls out a short sword and came at Jean’s chest, not prepared for the sudden attack. A deep cut was made near his waist as he was stabbed by it. Jean gritted his teeth, feeling the pain and kicks the man in the groin.

The man screamed feeling more in pain than Jean did, at least one of his jewels was safe, for now. Jean then kicks the man and knocks him out and held out his sword over the man’s head. The feeling was there, a maddening desire to kill but would it be alright? Would it make the blood go away?

He places the sword back in its sheath, the mist in the Great Plains clears up revealing a river and a group of hooded people. Before he could utter a word, a red slash cuts into his chest and he topples over, falling next to Skull Mask.

A woman with long red hair steps on his fresh wounds, he screamed in agony from the pain. “R-Ren..why?” He stammers out a sentence, knowing the true identity of the mystery woman named Ren Tohari.

“Aww, does little hawkie want pain?” She picks up her foot and stomps down on his chest, he screams in pain again. A red glow flowed from the mana pulse around Jean’s neck, indicating he was low on mana. “Ah~ Jean’s out of mana too? What to do, kill you or leave you to die?”

“Come on, stop messing around and kill him. We don’t have all day!” One of men wearing a bunny mask said while the other one checks up on Skull Mask.

“Agh! Let me savor this, Rufus!” She yells at the man who shouted at her.

“He knows my name, you fool!” Bunny Mask spoke.

“it’s not like it will matter.” She said and swings her sword down.

A card with a blue spiral on it blocks the blade’s path from hitting its target, the sheer force of the card pushed her back from killing him. “Darn it! Not you, Albert!”

A magician with a brown coat and glowing cards smiles as he vanishes and re-appears in front of Jean. “Kept you waiting!” He threw out some more cards that transform into monsters and attacks the masked group.

“Presents to you and your love.” He shouted, proud of the phrase he came up with and then picks up Jean and places him on his shoulder.

She grits her teeth and knocks away the tiger demon in front of her and tries to attack him. Just then, a woman with short black hair and red gauntlets stops her in her tracks by throwing a straight punch at Ren.

“Da- Lydia!!!!” She screamed as she was sent flying through the air to be never heard from again...at least for now.

“oh, you improved!” Albert said happily as they escape both escape away from the group of masked people. He then pulls out a metal box and crushes it, a giant magical circle appears below him.

Lydia clings onto Albert’s arm and they teleported away from the Great Plains.

Spoiler: Episode 2 - Interlude

A feeling of tiredness wraps around his body, his eyes opens and sees a room with a fireplace. The outside window of the room shows darkness.

“You’re awake, thank goodness. Did you know you slept for 5 days? Albert was really worried about you.” Lydia softly spoke and hands him a cup of a tea.

Jean takes the cup and holds it in his hands, his eyes not meeting hers the whole time. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean for us to meet again like this.”

She places her hands on his face and have him look directly into her eyes. “Listen, we are not mad at you…even though the way you left was kind of crappy.”

“I’m not strong like you guys. I couldn’t…I could not have my days being grey, when Sayuri is out there somewhere.”

“I understand but next time let us know when you leave. Otherwise, I’m going to hear Albert whine about it every-day..its gets tiring.” She mutters the last sentence.

Albert slams the door open. “Did someone say my name!?” He shouted with energy.

“It’s nothing dear! We were just talking about how Ottomar-sensi adopted a puppy.” Lydia response to Albert’s question changing the subject.

“….” Albert eyes Lydia a bit and then Jean, his face brightens. “I tell you the last thing Ottomar-sensi needed is a puppy. It wrecked the food department’s storage and caused the art students to become lazy.”

“I saw you playing with him.” Lydia brushes her hair from her eyes.

“I-I wasn’t playing with the puppy! I was...doing research!”

“uh-huh, is that your excuse for the neko maid incident too?”

“I was collateral damage, okay! It wasn’t my fault Mathias-sensi didn’t know when to stop!”

“Then why you egg him on?”

“…..” Silence filled the room. Then Albert fishes out of his pocket a bag of treats and hands it to her.

Lydia grabs the treats and eats a few of them while saying “I’m not a dog, you can’t make me forget with just treats alone!” She happily gobbles them down.

Sweat drops from Albert, he didn’t want to put his hidden trump card down. “okay…how about I get you Yuki-Style clothes?”

“Close”

“uh…and pamper you in bed?”

“Try again.”

“Fine, I’ll let you have my cards.” Albert said and hands over his precious deck of mana infused cards with a pained look on his face. Each card from the deck either carried a monster illustration or some of runic lettering on it.

She takes the cards and stashes them in her bag. “Negotiations over!”

“Do I still have to get you the clothes as well?”

“Yes!” She said with an evil grin. Albert face became pained, knowing the amount of money he was going to lose.

“I see you guys are doing fine with marriage life and all.” Jean cuts in after having drank most of his tea already.

“As happy as can be.” Albert took a seat next to the bed Jean lies in. “You took a nasty cut, hawk. You have to thank your lucky stars I was around to save you. Remember when you are back in the academy to buy some of that chef’s ice cream, you know the expansive one on the menu.”

Jean lightly laughs from a fond memory. “Right, I suppose I have to get it for the both of you.”

“Yes and don’t be stingy about the sprinkles, the more the better!” Lydia said with energy.

“So, what are you guys doing out so far west?”

“Getting supplies for some rare-earth materials, the ones needed for blue paint. The university is trying to make blue great again? Or was it elegant? I don’t remember the slogan anymore. It was something that the headmaster came up with.” Albert sips some tea of his own.

“Oh. What about Ren? Did you knew she was going to be at the plains?”

“We heard some really dumb rumors that Ren needs money for one of her stupid toys.” Lydia spoke after she finished the treats, licking her fingers.

“Yeah. Let’s not talk about it anymore. So, what have you been up to lately? Were you able to find Sayuri?” Albert said poking at the one question that hasn’t left Jean’s mind for years.

What could Jean say? That he couldn’t find any clues relating to Sayuri in the past 2 years? That he lost his money over stupid gambles for information? Or all the other harsh events that happened in the past year?

He had to say something, anything would do. “I’m doing fine. Things have been a bit slow but I’m managing my time well. Oh, if you ever get to Aeternus City, you should stop by Miki-sama’s clothes shop: Lazy Clothes.”

“Lazy clothes, really? And here I thought I was bad with names.” Albert replied and then looks at Lydia’s sparkling eyes. “well, we can stop by in the next few months. For now, make do with this new sword.” He hands over a silver blade sword with yellow rune etchings.

It was similar in design to Jean’s current weapon, sharp and long with a thin curve. What set this apart from Jean’s current sword was the rune stance can hold up to 200 mp and hold up to 4 spells, far greater than Ebony Wind.

“I call it the Emperor’s Crown.” He said feeling quite accomplished from naming the sword. “ I already switched out the spells you had in Ebony Wind and placed it in Emperor’s Crown. Now praise me, brother!”

“Haha. You always make fine work.”

“Let’s get drunk!”

“Okay!”

They drunk various amount of alcohol through the night, re-telling old memories and silly rumors that were happening at the art university.

The sun began to rise and Jean awoke again but this time on a bar stool with a cup of alcohol to his right and the two of his friends sleeping on both of his side. He tips toes away from them and went towards the south of Frontier Village.

When he left the tavern, it was just Lydia and Albert alone.

Lydia spies out of the corner of her eye, Albert still awake but pretending not to be.

“You didn’t tell him.” She said in a soft voice.

“What? I’m sure he’s fine. He will figure it out eventually?”

“Ottomar-sensi is going to get mad at you again.”

“…..”

Spoiler: Episode 3 - Great Plains and Back Again

The journey to the south was met with a leisure stroll, the clear weather was perfect for the view but not for him. This time though, he wants to take the direct approach with monsters to test out Emperor’s Crown.

He stalks the river for a while and sets his eyes on a group of orcs totaling 4. The green-skins were big and bulky, and each held a sharp axe in hand. Some of them had small throwing axes on their waist.

The group was fighting over a pig with a size as big as a full-grown adult. They couldn’t decide how to share it and kept arguing about who did the most damage to it.

Lucky for Jean, Albert fully charge the sword with mana to use. For now, he didn’t have to worry about what type of spells he could unleash.

He griped the hilt of his sword and swings it down in a horizontal arc, wind bursting out and slices the orcs in half with ease.

Huh. This feels weird. Jean thought as he looks at Emperor’s Crown. Normally, it should have been done with the second strike but with this, it can slice them through once. Did Albert make the spell more powerful? No, that can’t be it. I guess I’m going to have ask him once he’s in town.

Jean carries out the usual ritual of gathering proof of his kills. Still, it bothered him because the sword had the same shape and nothing else felt different about the consumption of the spell and neither did it activate any differently.

“3 orcs and 3 boar warriors to go. Maybe I can make it back to the guild before the day ends.” He mutters to himself and cleaned up the mess he caused again.

He hunted for a good 5 hours before he could finally stop hunting for his quests. Jean counted the fingers again in his item box. “16 kobolds, 15 orcs, and 5 boar warriors. I wonder if having one more monster killed would get me a reward.”

He saw the sun slowly drift over the near-by mountains. “I guess it’s time to head back now”.

Jean first headed back to Frontier village and then to Aeternus City. The first thing he smelled was the fresh jam sandwich bread from a near-by stand. He took out a few coins and paid for the bread, eating it on his way to the adventure guild.

Walking to the guild, he saw great vibrant colors of red and white, people offering food and deserts. It turns out he came back just in time for the Valentine festivities. He felt tempted to stray away from his path but knew he should first turn in his report to the guild.

When he arrived in the guild hall, he saw a notice about a poem contest going on. He looked at the other poems that was already submitted for the contest and the one he liked the most was Blanc’s poem:

It grows unexpectedly,
it grows willingly,
it blooms on it’s own accord
Reaching further towards the sky,
Stretching to its limits
Wanting to be free of its chains
The chains of uncertainty and sadness
As years pass
As time moves on
It will remember what once was
it will remember what could have been
If only the shackles of time
was more forgiving.

He wondered if he could even write a great poem like Blanc’s, after all its been so long since he submitted a poem. He wondered, if the people in the dead poetic society still remembers his lengthy love poems he wrote for Sayuri.

Shaking his head, he shakes the thoughts away and picks up a pen in his hand. What to do? Talk about his longing for Sayuri? Talk about how much he misses her and how he stays up late at night waiting for her to say hello to him?

His finger taps the table in thought for a good long while, then he thought the feeling he only wanted to express was his love for her and nothing else. All the sorrow and sadness can be left for another day to write, today he just wants to say I love you.

He writes out the following lines for the poem submitted to the adventure guild:

It’s not the beauty that made me fall for you, cutie.
It’s the warm feeling I get when we are in a storm together.
It’s a feeling that doesn’t flatter no matter where we are at.

Your smile always attacks my fragile heart, I thought of it as a magical art.
You’re smarter than me, yet that startles me.
Cause you always put up with my own immaturity.
That I start to feel a sense of security
Hence, I hope you never find out I’m not wise
Cause I’m just a dope who adores you honey.

I don’t need the money when I got you.
All I need is the witty you that makes you so pretty,
Your lovely sunny smile,
Your fluffy hair in the early mornings
Your fruity voice that leaves me no choice to love you.

Jean submits the poem to the desk and looks around for receptionist he met, Hikari. But he couldn’t find her at the desk. Maybe she’s on break right now. He thought and looks around the adventurer guild, feeling out of place from the unfamiliar faces.

I’ll come back again tomorrow for sure. He thought and exits the inn to head back to the Lazy Clothes to rest. For the next few weeks, he became sick with a really terrible cold and wasn’t able to turn in the report until now.

(OOC: 3,817 words. Part 1 of the first arc of my character. By the way, we are not allow to swear on these forums, correct?

Furthermore, I tweak my character's spells for the sword. Instead of having my flame strike, I switched it out for a wind strike. I thought that would be better and thought it would be okay since I have yet to write out any reports or have the character interact with other characters in the guild.

Also summary spoiler, don't read until finish reading report episodes.)

Spoiler: Quick Summary

Episode 1:

• Killed about 16 kobolds, 8 orcs, and 2 boar warriors for the whole day.
• Talks about the mechanics of using his sword.
• Introduce side character, Albert Walwick
• Introduce side character Lydia.
• Introduce side character Ren.

Episode 2:

• Establish Jean's true goal of looking for Sayuri.
• Jean was asleep for 5 days due to injuries.
• Mention the Neko maid cafe incident, puppy adopted by Ottomar-sensi.
• Mention about Jean's current employment of working for Lazy clothes.
• Jean obtains a new sword that replaces his current sword and new sword called Emperor's Crown.

Episode 3:

• The sword works wonders.
• He is able to finish with 16 kobolds, 15 orcs, and 5 boar warriors.
• Jean arrives back in Aeternus City during the Valentine festivities and submitted a poem.
• Also, he favors Blanc's poem.
• Finally, he became sick and wasn't able to turn in the report until now.

 

Delta Town - #SD1 - D-Ranked - Slay 10 Water Spiders [ 100 G ]
Delta Town - #SD2 - D-Ranked - Slay 5 Flesh Leeches [ 130 G ]
Delta Town - #SD2 - D-Ranked - Slay 5 Sea snakes [ 120 G ]
solo

Spoiler: Quest Report

"Oh, you're up. Whatcha doing?"

Pumpkin walked on me as I was preoccupied in making something on the magic table, holding a cup of coffee as she gently leans upon my chair.

"Nothing much, I just thought I'll make a new weapon."

I answered apathetically without looking at her as I continued my work. During our last quest, I was seriously contemplating on how both our character would overlap, and how I wanted to change class into a [Fist Fighter]. That was the reason why I wanted a new weapon.

The weapon I am currently making is a stiff wooden, horizontally arced bracer placed on top of the hand, past the wrist towards the end just before the finger bone. It was strapped by two leather belt by the back of the wood. Its top was lined by single metal plating meant to protect the wood. Before the fingers, connected by a small bar encased by a spring, is a curved rectangular metal ingot resembling a knucks. On top of the knucks was 5 metallic spheres buried evenly. It was even installed by a small gimmick. Below the metal plating of the bracer were a large number of vials. It was made that way so that when the knuckles would receive an impact, the spring would bring the knucks down and shatter a vial, therefore letting me use [Bound Catalyst].

“Gahh!”

I scratched my head furiously for making a practically useless weapon. That feeling when you know you are going in a direction which is dead end. Pumpkin smiled wryly as if saying “I feel you.”

“Wait isn’t it fine if I just use enchant on you? Like, needing a kiss from a princess before a fight to power up?”

“Heck no.”

I scoffed at the person disgusted. Just what are you making a virgin do? Well, a suspendible piston-like knucks and bullet cases coming out from impact, making it brass too would make it very steampunk, so cool… well, I’m not really that a…

“Well, I’m not really that against it. After we got beaten by a boss monster, we could just combine our power by doing fusion stuff right? Equip Pumpkin; my eye is your eye, my tooth is your tooth, and my powaahh…”

“Shut up!”

Pumpkin raised her hands and legs together along with a shout. Down girl, you’ll spill the coffee. Hah~ Why does this girl always know what I was thinking? And here I thought it was a nice live-in romcom setting.

“Haa~”

The chair clattered as I stood up dejected. I walked towards a shelf at the corner of the room. By the way, I moved my Magic Table from the basement towards the store that acted as my house.

The shelf was about two meter tall which is about as tall as Pumkin. It was more orderly than the ones at the basement. Surrounded by a trunky walls and wooden floors, along with the scent of wood with sun seeping through from gaps of the window and ceiling towards the floor, it was your regular cozy morning spend by someone who was recently married. I approached the corner of the shelf and picked up a potion. It was the pink cloudy potion that gave birth to Pumpkin. That’s right. Pumpkin was an [Ice Cabbage] who was brought to life by this potion.

A few days ago, during the time when I was crafting for offensive consumables to fight off the rank-D boss monster, [Kobold Leader], I accidentally created two of this potion called [Bestowal Potion]. It was made by my skill [Bestowal] which is what I received along with [Extract]. [Extract] was a skill derived from [Ingredients Absorption] when you use the skill on multiple objects that had a common characteristic. Thus, [Extract] skill is to simply release the extracted characteristics outside. [Bestowal] was derived from [Extract], [Amplify], and probably [Morph Form] and more, when using the skill [Extract] along with [Amplify], the extracted volume would be amplified by tenfold in volume, however the poison was an extracted quality, making it an external characteristic, therefore needing an extracted source, fulfilling that condition, it squeezed out poison from my body as another source and due to the instantness of the process, it somehow swept my skill along, [Morph Form], which is residing in the same body, with me as the base. That process turned into a skill with a godlike name, [Bestowal].

The ghost like faces I saw when I released the extracts towards a flask was the bestowed element. I remember dividing it into five flasks with three turning out a [Diluted Concentrated Poison] and the other two a [Bestowal Potion]. By the way, [Bestowal] let’s you grant any of your skill on its default setting to any objects. So [Morph Form] would be applied without any set basis. The knowledge to set that, no one knows. Also, the chances I can create another one like that is close to zero due to debugging. Humans, unlike machine, are not capable of making the same mistake twice. However, the body is only capable of coping up with things they knew and anticipated. Just like the mess with [Extract] and [Amplify]. So right now, as a coping mechanism, I can’t even use [Amplify] anymore when I use [Extract].

However, a potion capable of granting life to objects is something anyone should not have, so I decided to seal it for good and make it a family heirloom or something. I open a drawer below the shelf and brought out a box.

[I don’t really want to halfass my own legendary box; I think I’ll go shop for another.]

I closed the shelf and put on the cloak hanging over the rack and went out of the store. Pumpkin also followed suit as if it was natural. Well, we were planning on buying matching earrings for [Telepathy] so this is just fine.

The sun was up.

. . .

We decided to visit a blacksmith shop first. We felt like we really need to have proper equipment. Pumpkin did not forget to bring her weapon along with my handmade gauntlet.

“Tinker Swords? Unusual yet common.”

Yes, the sign plastered in front indeed was [Tinker Swords] which was for some reason reminded me of a sculpture of a guy sitting with a finger on its chin.

The shop was made of brick, a single window at the side and a door. It was elevated by a concrete floor formed like a stair. The roof was also made of brick with smoker rising up directly from atop the chimney.

We entered the shop together and were greeted by a wide, muscular, short man at the counter.

“Oh, welcome. You can look at any weapon as much as you want, however, no testing. If it’s appraisal, just bring the weapon towards the counter.”

Well, most weapon around were all his personal high class creations, however we currently have no need for those. We approached …

“Leyta, this short swords connected with a thread! So cool! Can we buy this?”

……I approached the counter alone because Pumpkin was too busy looking at the weapons. I decided to show the blacksmith the gauntlet. He started examining it after he put on his monoscopic monocle.

“Did you get this from a blacksmith? Let’s see, the wood is low quality, it is compressed badly. There’s no leather lacing. The metal is halfassly attached, the screws are unaligned. And thinking of working with two materials when you can’t even properly work on one, what a useless blacksmith… What is this? A huge gap in between? Hmm, like a cartridge that shoots out cylinders, with a rubber band? Also, there’s no hole in front. A suspendible knuckles? The impact would be mitigated because of the spring, spring? The spring huh…… Gahhhhhhhhhhhhhh! I don’t get it.”

I did it! I made a blacksmith lose composure. Well, I supposed I have to tell him that I made that myself.

“It’s an unfinished product, so I want to make it usable without the mechanism, aside from the knuckle, I don’t want to compromise that.”

“What is that condensing attitude!? What are you telling me? You made this yourself!?”

“U-uhm, yeah.”

The blacksmith slapped the table and leaned towards me with blood shot eyes. S-scary, angry passionate people are really scary. Well, I was secretly enjoying the situation, so I think he got the right to.

“I am an [Apothecary], I cater poisons mostly. Truth be told, I became an adventurer recently. You see, I was using cheap knife before but I think I’m more suited using my hands… I also do not want to be the same as that girl.”

“Don’t call me ‘that’.”

The person in question, was already sitting in reverse on a small chair in the corner hugging the back of the chair, she was pouting at the sudden stranger mention. The small man, or rather, the blacksmith leaks a small laugh and grabbed a rough paper on his side along with a long charcoal with a pointed tip.

“Write your request in that paper. You want the knuckles to function like a piston, right? I’ll remake it for you.”

“So you know?”

“I am a blacksmith after all, and that is an interesting concept. I’ll make you the prototype, I will modify it if you find it hard to use. By the way, what is this called? Iron Fist?”

“…Iron Fists seems fine. Anyway, can that be done soon? I need to do some quest myself. Oh, by the way is it possible to make a small metallic chest that can contain small and fragile objects without getting damaged?”

“…For storing heirlooms or legendary equipment or something, right? Unfortunately, metal is a bad choice, I’ll probably tell my fellow craftsmen about your request. What kind of item is it? Oh, by the way, I’m charging you 355G for the Iron Fist including the order priority. Expect it in three hours.”

I looked around as I finished writing my demands. I didn’t notice Pumpkin was already greeting the other guest. Well, he got other customers so I probably should end it here. I stood up my chair and quickly brought out my hand.

“Thank you very much, I’ll be back later.”

The blacksmith wiped his hands and shook mine. We went out the store as she calls his daughter to tend with the request to work at the smithy. The next stop would be an [Accessory Shop].

The main road leading to the commerce district was already crowded with people. But I really don’t like crowded places. I think Pumpkin also agrees with me since she’s basically my carbon copy. Well, we won’t die from it so we should head to a more crowded shop with ready to go accessories so that we can end this fast; the bigger the shop, the easier we could find what we need.

We ended up a moderately crowded store with moderately priced item meant for women. We quietly browsed the section where there are a lot of small accessory, such as necklace, rings and, of course, earrings.

“Hey~ I think this will do.”

Pumpkin called and showed me a set of earrings. It was silver porcelain based with the latch acting as a cover, glazed by dental white to make it look like pearl article. Ah, by the way, Pumpkin would be the one making the [Telepathic Earring] by using her [Skill Bind] skill. Just like her talismans, by just inserting blood into an object, she could activate and maintain the skill of the catalyst by using her own mana, unlike my [Bound Catalyst] where I need a steady supply of catalyst like blood and other parts. I can also give skills to items but in my case it would either be [Bound Catalyst] itself instead of the skill. The catalyst this time was I tiny bit of [Kobold Leader’s Blood] with its [Telepathy] skill.

“Excuse me, we’d like this. Can I have two more of this?”

Pumpkin decided to call the nearest store clerk. The store clerk immediately went our way to check the product.

“Oh, a girl indeed, you noticed?”

“Hehe, I guess.”

This girl! She’s playing dumb. Well, I did the same before too. I remember that guy telling me to reach Rank-D. Well, hang in there, girl. Really, who does she take after?

“This earring is called [Chameleon Pearl], a rare article that changes color to the color of the liquid stored inside. Haa~ because it is plain, no one wanted it, but pretty much it is able to compliment any kind of clothing to make an impression. Light color for a cute feel and a deep, darker color for a more obsessive, striking feel, 30G each. What color do you want? We could also provide a color along with the purchase.”

“Ah, no thanks, I’ve already decided what to put in. I’ll take this.”

She brought 3 [Chameleon Pearl] towards the counter and handed over 90g. The next stop would be the [Adventurer Guild], well; we decided to postpone it and headed to a park to sleep instead. I didn’t really sleep yesterday so I was tired for the day.

About 4 hours later, we went back to [Tinker Swords] to pick up my gauntlet. The daughter of the blacksmith, who was about 15 yr old, was the one tending the counter.

“Is your father still inside?”

“Ah, no, he just went to see Auntie to see a costumer’s request, He said a top secret.”

“…did he leave a glove like weapon behind?”

“Ah! That strange weapon was your order?”

The daughter immediately asserted and brought out the [Iron Fist]. It was a somewhat different from what I bought before; the side was made of metal instead of wood and is now rounded and there are no more parts sticking out. The stitch line on the flat overlay metal is now very well ordered. The quality of the metal was gray tinted and looked much rougher and less glossy. The leather belt was now replaced by jacked fingerless gloves. 5 cm below the wrist was a separate leather bracer with large shoelaces meant to keep the iron fist in place, it was black in color. The Iron Fist was directly connected to the arm so everything above the wrist can move freely. The knucks is styled similarly but with a rougher and somewhat heavier feel, it was also shorter. It can even be brought up like a lever, or vice versa. Well, my weapon now had a feel of mass of heavy iron. I tried equipping the fingerless glove first. It was somewhat tight and rough. Lodge in the Iron Fist on top of my arm and pass the leather bracer through the gaps below the Iron Fist and equipped!

I thought for sure that it’d look a bit bigger but it only occupied the top of the hand and its rim just traced the side of my arm. The knucks also seemed smaller enough to perfectly fit my arm because the rounded edge did not actually reach the tip of my finger bone. Along with my light crafting garment, a hakama pants and a modified burned white single-sleeve kimono below a leather vest, it can only mean be seen as one thing,

“Wow, looks strong… and very apothecary, the disparity between the long-sleeved left and sleeveless right fits you well.”

I did think that my garment already suited me even without the iron fist. So it was actually the gauntlet which fitted in place. Well, if Pumpkin, my other half, thought it’s good, then it definitely is.

“I take back what I said, you look so cool. Oh right, father said to leave your payment here, 355g.”

[I must get used to this soon.]

My arms feel numbed and heavy. I took out 355g and handed it to the kid. Pumpkin hassled me on the way back to also buy her a new weapon and outfit until we finally reach our shop. She sat at the chair I was using when I made the fail version of the iron fist. I handed a single vial of [Kobold Leader’s Blood]. Pumpkin took it and started pouring the contents towards the [Chameleon Pearl] earrings. The earring turned dark red.

“[Skill Bind]: [Telepathy]. Here it’s done. I’ll call it [Lycoris Ear].”

“Oh, I like it.”

She placed a single [Lycoris Ear] on my hand. Well then, let’s test it, [Telepathy].

“Oi~ Pumpkin, kikoeru?”

“Kikoeru da~”

…looks like it’s a success. I pierced my ear with the earring, with this, were all set.

Time: Past afternoon, Destination: [Delta Town]

. . .

Now I’m back at the [Delta Town]. Let’s not get our senses malfunction this time. Well, I have Pumpkin this time so it’s probably all right.

“Water Spiders 10, Flesh Leeches 5, Sea Snake 5"

Pumpkin was walking behind me while reading the quest papers. Well, with those monsters I don’t think I would be able to use my gauntlet.

Water Spiders are a meter long spider that stands on top water. Usually light brown. They are lighter in color compared to the spiders you could see on ground. They don’t have any aggressive tendencies on fisherman passing on boat, however, when they see a fisherman submerge anything on the water they will attack and suck out blood. It is also big enough to get you in its middle and strong enough not to be pinned, not to mention hunted on such extreme condition when you are limited on boat. There are two kinds of request given to hunt them. One would be commissioning a number of adventurers every month to patrol on a bigger boat. It is less risky once the spider get’s on board since they come only in numbers easily overwhelmed by the adventurers. The other is providing a small boat to adventurers and hunt any excess [Water Spider] that was born after the month has passed, since they have low maturity span, they could lay a large number of eggs in about a week which would turn mature every end of the month. Well, it is also a great material for shields because of its slippery carapace. Also, they don’t have much blood because their overall mass, buoyancy, would increase, so they need the blood of other marine animal on sea to recover lost cells and operate gross functions.

Flesh Leeches are a thumb long leeches. It is red in color. It could move in water and stick to any bait laid. During high tide, a very few numbers would be swept at where the sea water could reach. It has digestive enzymes capable of melting human skin coated around its body. It can detect harm and explode spreading digestive enzymes around. Naturally, the enzymes will cool down after 3 hours if exposed to air and they also die in 3 days if they stay on land. It was hunted for its acidic nature and a valuable material for [Meltdown], a firework capable of melting anything caught up inside its large radius.

Sea Snakes can be around twice an arm width snake that its average length is 7 meters. They’re colors varied like fishes but they are very poisonous. They are as fast and as strong as the snake on ground, but they can only be hunted in the water since they stayed in water most of their lives. They can be aggressive and bite on sight. But they definitely are harmless towards the fishermen. They are hunted for their venom.

We went towards the port and borrowed a boat. We told the man what we are hunting and he provided us with a cloth and a long stick.

“If you follow that side, you can see a canal that cultivates [Flesh Leeches], however, you must be careful not to agitate them, take only what you can.”

The port town has a cultivation lake shaped by a dome to protect fishes and only allows single passage towards the sea. If one would hunt monsters they would just go outside the dome from here or ride a ship there. However, [Flesh Leeches] can only be found inside the cultivation lake.

The boat provided was a slightly big raft with only an affixed metal container for storage, no chairs, and a cloth tied on a post. It is floored by a thick wood overlay on top of the big logs rowed by a flat rectangular oar.

We stepped on the raft and were struck by a shaky feeling of being pulled along the waves. It was hard to maintain balance so we grabbed the long post. Well, we’ll get anywhere with this so we started rowing it towards the canal.

“Oh, it’s really moving.”

“Oh. Someone’s having fun, move Pumpkin.”

Well, we did fight for the oar along the way and finally reached the canal. The canal which was about half meter wide was submerged in the water about head length. I immediately brought out the long stick given by the man we got the boat from and tied the cloth. We then plunged the cloth inside the canal, and then throw the cloth directly at the metal container.

““Phew.””

T-that was close. Leeches was rank-D for a reason. Because it can melt your skin in 3 minutes after exposure and since it is liquid, it can slide down the skin, if you wipe it with cloth, it will also spread out. It was hunt able by anyone but it is definitely a very dangerous creature. Well, it’s time to pluck it out one by one.

“Pumpkin, hand me the stick. And distance yourself.”

We opened the container slowly while standing up. I pick the [Flesh Leeches] with a stick. My heart was beating fast as I was about to put it in the jar but Pumpkin lined up 10 jars at the other side of the raft.

“Nice assist, Pumpkin.”

I rubbed one of them at the mouth of the jar. And just like before, as if walking in a tightrope, I did the same slowly for nine more. I put my stick lastly on the cloth and throw it on the sea. Phew~ mission success. Danger level B! We closed the jar and resumed rowing the boat towards the opening.

It was already nearing sundown. The sky now has a tint of orange. The sea was spread very widely and the land seems to be very far across the shore. The spiders are on top of the water rocking along the waves. Rowing towards them, we drop pieces of bread towards the sea and a group of 2 spiders jump towards us.

“[Reflex Counter]! [Harden]!”

“[Cut]”

I smashed a [Boar Warrior’s Blood] vial in my hand and reflexively punched the stomach of the [Water Spider], Pumpkin sidestepped and brought her dagger down towards the neck of the spider. Another spider jumped at Pumpkin’s side, but with a slight wave of her dagger, it was cleanly bisected.

“Hmph. 7 more to go.”

She flicked her dagger and smugly spoke. Damn, if I could only wipe away that smug face. Never mind, let’s finish this. I rowed the boat towards the center of four spiders. Well, if she falls off it’d be the end of her. I dropped a piece of bread. Four spiders moved agilely in water as they close in towards the raft.

“[Leap]”

She picked another talisman. And jumped in towards the spider and sliced it. She used another [Leap] on the sea surface, and leaping towards the other spider... the one that was not lured I mean, leaving the other 3 who was closing to me, who dropped the bread. I was not able to cast any skills aside from turning on the [Lycoris Ear].

“Damn, Pumpkin come back here!”

“Deal with that yourself. I already know what you’re planning anyway.”

“Gah!”

I shouted and started pummeling the one in front and swept my fist towards the one closing at the back. The other one immediately moved towards the back, so I stomped the raft. The Spider jumped on instinct as the raft rocked and I welcomed it with an uppercut. Pumpkin returned dragging 3 bodies along.

“You really are cool, Master.”

“Haa~”

I sighed in resignation and squatted on the raft. Damn! I’m really jealous. She can activate it as long as she wanted along with other skills as long as she her mana permits, even continuously using single action skill, unlike me that needed to break vials to reactivate.

“So? where’s next?”

Pumpkin inquired. I brought out the map and compass. Top-right from the map, was encircled in red, which is southwest from here. From what I heard it was a coral family which houses a number of fishes along with a few snakes lurking. It was already night time, a perfect opportunity to hunt snakes because of their nocturnal nature. We ate cold hard rye bread and resumed rowing. A few minutes later, we arrived. I submerged my hands to wait for the snake to take bait. That is another risky part of hunting [Sea Snake], is to submerge a part of your body. Due to their cold-blooded disposition, they can tell whether it’s an actual part or not, so one always bring along [Antidote] since even someone with a [Resistance] would die since they are in the middle of the sea, and experts would just take out their hands when one is about to bite. Naturally, like fishing, it might take a while.

“Haa. I’m spent. My first time on a boat really tired me out.”

“Hmm. wasn’t that because you were just playing around?”

“That too.”

Well, exhaustion yourself because of playing around probably is impossible for me before. Well, probably because I have this companion now. Haha, well, there’s one thing I’m mistaken about her though. No matter how much I say that she’s my carbon copy, she definitely inherited her nature as an [Ice Cabbage].

An [Ice Cabbage], at the peak of maturity, has magic power proportional to the vessel, which is the cabbage, now that she is [Human], she inherited that magic power also proportional to her new bigger vessel. So she has magic at the peak of what humans can achieve, which no one has ever been yet. So she’s stronger than me, stronger than anyone in terms of magic power. Even my skills; [Still Hide], [Morph Form], and [Bound Catalyst], turned into magically propelled skill; [Spectral], [Spatial Summon], and [Skill Bind], also because the presence of [Magic Affinity] skill. Well, we’ve only ever tried [Skill Bind] so we’ll leave the others for later I guess. I can't use magic by the way.

“Master, they’ve come out. 11 of them.”

“Yes. They’re probably aware of us now.”

I take out my hands out of the water, put my hands in my [Satchel] and bring out a single vial of [Jackal’s Blood].

“[Bound Catalyst], [Night Vision]!”

“[Night Vision]!”

Pumpkin, with her talisman, chanted the same thing as me. Before I submerged my hand, Pumpkin used [Alert] taken from [Large Desert Mouse’s Blood]. That’s why she was able to detect the large swarm of [Sea Snake]. Thick snakes jumped out on top of the raft. Because of the [Night Vision], we can see them clearly and was able to fend them midair. I grabbed them and put inside container, while Pumpkin bisected the head and put it in the container. She got 7 as she used both [Alert] and [Night Vision], while I got only 4 alive ones. She opened the container and sliced the head of the snakes and cut the body then squeezed it inside a few jars. Well, they just need the venom sack so there’s no use for the body… at least, for the quest.

We rowed back to the coast and return to [Tinker Swords] and bought Pumpkin a 2 new daggers for 230g, we went back to store afterwards and sleep. The morning after, we went to the adventurer’s guild to complete the quest.

Spoiler: List of Loot

-675g
[Sea Snake’s Meat] * 20 Jars
[Flesh Leech’s Acid] * 5 Jars
[Water Spider’s Blood] * 4 Flasks

G'morn, I'm back. I guess I properly explained myself this time.
@brasca123

(OOC: Even I did not expect this format)

 

Great Plain - #SE3 - E-Ranked - Slay 15 Orcs [ 50 G ]
Great Plain - #SD7 - D-Ranked - Slay 5 Bandits [ 150 G ]
Great Plain - #GE2 - E-Ranked – Gather 3 Moonlight Water [ 50G | 1 x Bottled Purified Moonlight Water]

Spoiler: First Tests

First tests

After picking a few requests that should be suitable, I return to the receptionist.

"As a test of my current spells, I will start with easy tasks." and present the three that I've chosen.

"Granted, good luck on your first quests!" I nod in appreciation and leave, heading to the frontier village using a Teleport Gate. Quite interesting, this spatial magic. Sadly I'm unable to steal, or understand, how that works.

When I leave the Gate, it is night. Total silence and stillness all around. Should be the perfect time to be ambushed by bandits out there. Now, make myself look more innocent. I cram my hat into the item box and smear some dirt on my robe, hands and face, suppress my smirk and widen my eyes a little. There, all done. Couldn't do this as a man, good thing I currently have this gender.

With insecure steps, I slowly leave the village, tense. I suppose that is how I look like, I actually hate walking slowly. Feels like I am not doing any progress or trying. Keep up the act, Sentina. You don't want to startle them.

After a few hours of walking, I finally am getting surrounded by some bandits. Acting scared, I look up at the moon and shiver due to the cold wind. The second part was no act, but should help me look weak anyway.

Seeing me look so frail, the badly hidden bandits leave the bushes they were crouching in until now and encircle me. "What is a frail young lady like you doing here, at this time?" Says a person that looks arrogant. Their leader? Well, I guess leading six others around can be considered an achievement. He should be a bit stronger than the others.

Now that they are this close to me, they won't be able to escape. Pointing my ring Vein at the seemingly-leader, I recite its name. "Vein." Pointing my other ring, Pain, at the closest bandit, I also recite its name. "Pain."

Test subject A, leader, begins bleeding from all orifices and collapses silently. Subject B begins screaming and throws himself at the ground, rolling around in a panic. Sorry, that won't help you. Test one complete. Result: Effective. Good job me.

Looking at the remaining five bandits, I smirk. "Pain Bullets." With my command, dozens of Pain Bullets form and begin to pelt my targets. Now, all the remaining bandits are screaming in pain. "Weaken. Weaken. Weaken! Weaken! WEAKEN!" With me recasting weaken again and again, they soon only have enough strength to groan quietly while lying on the ground.

Now that they are all incapacitated, I take out my Shameless Magecraft Compilation. I have a lot of spells to test, and five test subjects. This will take a while.

...

Good, I'm finished! I leave the gruesome scene behind and begin travelling towards the Moonlight Lake. Perhaps I will also meet enough orcs on my way. After I take a few steps, the first few rays of daylight shine directly in my face. "****, not my eyes." It really is too bright. Why can't the world be dim all day, like the inside of a lab? Prevents depression my ***, it is only annoying! Who told me to go outside more often? *******! While cursing loudly, I stumble forwards while protecting my eyes with my hands, trying to keep as much sunlight as possible away from them.

After a few hours of suffering, my eyes finally adjust to the light. Finally. And I seem to have somewhat strayed from my path, towards the east. I can see the mountain pass before me, and a group of orcs. Should be, dunno, about twenty. They sure are awfully tall and muscular. I point Vein towards the closest orc. "Vein." It doesn't seem to have much effect? Perhaps their veins are stronger... wait, this is bad! "Martial Projection: Drilling" I use the fast movement to retreat and gain some more distance. The orcs are rushing towards me, seemingly unstoppable like a stampede.

"Burning stomach." I have stopped really pronouncing my spells are are just hissing them out. This one seems to have more of an effect. Good. Time for some crowd control. I spread my arms and cast the classic spell. "Pain Bullets!" The orcs flinch, but that's it. Ineffective. That sucks.

I don't have that many other spells... oh right. Neurotoxins. Grinning, I cast it. "Neurotoxins; Paralysis." A barely visible mist envelops the charging orcs, and they drop down one after the other. They really are paralysed, right? I better cast weaken on all of them. At once, should be possible. Will just take more energy and concentration... "Weaken." Wait a minute, does this also weaken their resistance to Vein Burst? I can't wait to try! While being careful to not inhale any of the poison, I continue weakening them and then commence my experiment.

...

The result: Yes, it does. Also, repeated weaken and paralysis together lead to a heart stroke. Should have expected that, I guess. Now, onwards to the Moonlight Lake. Perhaps there even are some interesting phenomena to observe. Leaving behind a heap of orc corpses I travel southwards, in the shadow of the mountains. I still don't like the sun.

...

Evening, I finally manage to climb up the mountains and reach the lake. After quietly gathering the moonlight water, I just sit on the ground and look down upon the landscape. Time to review my results.

• Need more offensive power
  
  
• This place seems to be good for inspiration. Will attempt to understand Feng Shui here later.

​

I nod to myself once and return to the adventurers' guild, then hand in my report, still stained with the dirt I got from partially rolling down the mountain slope. I also don't like the mountains.

Note: I don't like the sun or the mountains. And will have to steal create a few more spells.

@brasca123

 

Great Plain - #SE3 - E-Ranked - Slay 15 Orcs [ 50 G ]
Great Plain - #SE4 - E-Ranked - Slay 5 Boar Warriors. [ 70 G ]
Great Plain - #SE5 - E-Ranked - Slay 15 Kobolds [ 100 G ]
==================
Welcome back Jean-kun!

I'm afraid I can't give any additional rewards for killing more than what we ask for, since that would incentive mass killing, which would trouble the environmental balance.

I'm glad you could meet your friends and survived this trouble! Hope you don't meet those dangerous people again!

And no worries about the cold, you can take as long as necessary to deliver your reports.

Your reward will be of 220G, take care now! Good luck on future quests!

(( Swearing is fine overall, at least on reports, don't know about the rest of the forums.

The changes are also not a problem, it's your character after all!

And nice report! Looking forward to the future ones! ))

 

Delta Town - #SD1 - D-Ranked - Slay 10 Water Spiders [ 100 G ]

Delta Town - #SD2 - D-Ranked - Slay 5 Flesh Leeches [ 130 G ]

Delta Town - #SD2 - D-Ranked - Slay 5 Sea snakes [ 120 G ]
====================
Welcome back Leyta-kun!

Seems like you're doing pretty well together with Pumpkin-chan! Good thing your relationship is going nicely!

The reward for your quests will be of 350G, take care now!

(( This one was really fun to read! Good job!! Hope you keep on making nice reports like this one! ))

 

Great Plain - #SE3 - E-Ranked - Slay 15 Orcs [ 50 G ]

Great Plain - #SD7 - D-Ranked - Slay 5 Bandits [ 150 G ]

Great Plain - #GE2 - E-Ranked – Gather 3 Moonlight Water [ 50G | 1 x Bottled Purified Moonlight Water]
=======================
Welcome back Tina-chan!

Glad to know your experiments are going well! Keep up the good job!

Your reward for those quests will be of 250G and a bottle of Purified Moonlight Water.

That will be all! I hope your next quests go as well as this one!

 

Great Plain - #SE3 - E-Ranked - Slay 15 Orcs [ 50 G ]
Great Plain - #SE4 - E-Ranked - Slay 5 Boar Warriors. [ 70 G ]
Great Plain - #SE5 - E-Ranked - Slay 15 Kobolds [ 100 G ],

Spoiler: Quest Report

~~Space walking~~ hmm it seems like i cant recite a spell uh... my vocal folds aren't in a good state...well at least my words are understandable...«uh?...kobolds...» ehh?? why are kobolds near a town??...hey guards make your job!!, well this is convenient for me so its alright..whatever...«[Soul incorporation]...moon knife...6...target..lock...*clank*» OK~~well now..put this in the item box and...perfect.
~~Space Searching~~ «*Splurk* *Clank* *Arghhh*... » Ok~~ 15/15...now Boar warriors uh...this isn't animal abuse right....whatever... «[Unlimited Doll Creator]...Black Crow...search orcs...Boar warriors too..» «[Unlimited Doll Creator]...Battle Marionette...Time to hunt...»
~~Massacre scene space~~«Fu~~~...the last...tired...than expected...» I need take a little break but its getting dark...uhm....sorry...
«[Life Transfer]-[Absorb]....ahh..i hate this skill...but its necessary, thank you very much grass »

ohm i want to report my quest...its alright with this?

@brasca123

 

(( Well... It kinda is, but it's nicer if you put some more detail into it... Doesn't need to have any epic battles or supper accurate descriptions, but making it a small short story is nicer...

I'll accept it anyway though, but try to make it a bit longer for the next one! >.< ))

Great Plain - #SE3 - E-Ranked - Slay 15 Orcs [ 50 G ]
Great Plain - #SE4 - E-Ranked - Slay 5 Boar Warriors. [ 70 G ]
Great Plain - #SE5 - E-Ranked - Slay 15 Kobolds [ 100 G ]
=================================================
Welcome back Crau-chan!

Seems like you made short work of them!

Your reward will be of 220G!

Keep up the good job! Good luck on your future quests!