Adventurers Guild Adventurer's Guild - Receptionist Desk

Discussion in 'Roleplaying Games' started by shad12ow, Aug 25, 2016.

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  1. AliceShiki

    AliceShiki 『Ms. Tree』『Magical Girl of Love and Justice』

    Joined:
    Apr 27, 2016
    Messages:
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    Reading List:
    Link
    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 - #GD1 - D-Ranked – Mine 5 Mithril Ore [ 60G | 1 x Mithril Ingot]
    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 ]
    =====================================================================
    Welcome back Hubo-kun!

    Seems like you learned quite a good method of mining huh? Great job! Keep on doing your best!

    As a reward for clearing those quests, you'll get 420G, 1 Mithril Ingor, as well as 1 Refined Crystal for each of the 4 elements.

    Take care now, hope you can keep up the good job! \(^^)/
    -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    OOC: Try to separate the paragraphs a bit more, like what I just did above, it makes for an easier read.

    Good job with the quests though! Hope you had fun with it! \(^^)/
     
    Tang Tang, Clown333 and shad12ow like this.
  2. Tang Tang

    Tang Tang Well-Known Member

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    Reading List:
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    Rainforest Vale - #SD1 - D-Ranked - Slay 5 Treants [ 100 G ]
    Rainforest Vale - #SD2 - D-Ranked - Slay 25 Poisonous Snake [ 120 G ]
    Rainforest Vale - #SD3 - D-Ranked - Slay 15 Poisonous Leeches [ 120 G ]
    Rainforest Vale - #SD4 - D-Ranked - Slay 5 Giant Nightcrawler [ 120 G ]
    Rainforest Vale - #SC1 - C-Ranked - Slay 3 Alraune [ 190 G ]
    Rainforest Vale - #SC2 - C-Ranked - Slay 5 Harpies [ 220 G ]

    Solo


    @brasca123

    As Promised at the end of Morian Raid, Erlathan Valdi welcoming Dayuh at his headquarter. His profession as a Realm Protector held a high honor in Elf Society. His job is protecting royalties of Oakenlake City. Most of Erlathan task is guarding the palace in time of peace, but in the situation like Morian Raid, he is also tasked to securing area around the forest from enemies or on other situation is to protecting Oakenlake Kingdom from invader. Realm Protectors are only taking order directly from the Elven King, Not anyone have privilege to use or mobilize Realm Protector Legion.

    Erlathan Valdi is one of many captains in Realm Protector Legion. Therefore, he had some degree of authority to let Dayuh meet with The Ancient Treant. Moreover, Erlathan is quite interested with Dayuh creature companion, Loto. It is a very rare occasions that a Treant following someone that is not a pure elf blood. Even that’s happened, usually there are special circumstances involved.

    Dayuh made a military standard salute at Erlathan said, “My name is Dayuh, it is my honor to meet you Sir Erlathan. And also I thank you for this valuable chance.”

    Erlathan is pleased with Dayuh attitude and replied Dayuh salute, “No hassle, you contribution in escorting our villager into safety that’s make you recognized by us. And also, it is me that interested with your little friend Loto. We Realm Protector even tough not on allied term with the Treant, but we at one time cooperating each other to protect our forest against common enemies. So, I respect people like you that can gain a treant loyalty.”

    “Thank you Sir Erlathan. Dayuh is my first companion since eighteen years ago. Now, he is my only family.” Replied Dayuh emotionally. He remembers the first time Loto awaken and remember the day he separated from his Mother.

    Sensing change of mood, Erlathan continue his conversation, “Anyway, the appointed time with The Ancient One is already near. Follow me…”

    Dayuh being led by Erlathan arrived at the forest entrance. Erlathan greets Realm Protector that currently guarding the entrance. After few words, the guards let them in and they go straight to where Erlathan The Ancient Treant live.

    Before meeting the ancient Ancient Treant Sage, Dayuh think that an Elder Treant is big enough as they can have heigh until ten meters tall. But shockingly, this Ancient Treant Sage more than four times that big Elder Treant size. Dayuh and Loto stood stupidly in awe.

    Erlathan is reporting to The Ancient Treant Sage about Loto. Then The Ancient huge face turned to Loto and Dayuh. “So, what is your name Child?” Ask The Ancient to Dayuh.

    “Eh? Ah… Greetings The Ancient One, my name is Dayuh Ashface. And this is my companion Loto.” Unexpected to be asked Dayuh stammered on introducing himself and Loto.

    The Ancient One smiled warmly seeing Dayuh reaction. “Relax child, I’m only an old tree. No need to be afraid… So, tell me your story before I examine Loto.” Ask The Ancient One again to Dayuh.

    This time Dayuh answered more fluently telling their story from beginning until now. Even after skipping some unimportant parts, Dayuh took a whole one hours narrating their story. The Ancient patiently hearing from beginning until the end, asking few question here and there but didn’t interrupt his story flow. After Dayuh story ended there is a slight pause and silent between Dayuh and The Ancient One.

    Soon after, The Ancient One broke the silence. “…. What an interesting story.” said The Ancient One while looks pondering on something. “Now, let me examine our little friend Loto.” The Ancient using his vines tapping Loto Forehead and tiny light glows between Loto forehead and The Ancient One vine tip. “hmm… hmm… oh? hmm…” The ancient murmured to himself. Not long after, The Ancient withdraws his vine from Loto.

    “This child is a bit special. I’m feeling residual mana that similar to man-eating plant. His growth is also a bit forced. Therefore, he deviated a little from what suppose to be. But don’t worry, I can purify that mana and for deviation it’s not necessarily a bad thing.”

    “I thank you The Ancient One.” Dayuh expressed his Gratitude. Then he continue, “if I may ask, where is Loto origin? Because it’s may lead to my father where about.”

    The Ancient One answered in vague, “Loto is from faraway land. Not from this continent that I’m sure of…. But from where exactly, I feel ashamed I can’t answer that one question for you, child…”

    Dayuh feel unsure, he is happy that at least now he knows that Loto origin is not from this continent, but at the same time he at lost where outside this continent is? So he can only thanking The Ancient One for his information.

    Loto who stay still until now abruptly come to Dayuh and gesturing he want to take something at Dayuh bag. With his vine Loto take out all several tens of fruits that he took from the raid before. And hand it all to The Ancient One.

    “Ooh.. theasa are Elder Treant Fruit-Of-Origin, and uncorrupted one at that… you have done a great deed to us Loto child. This fruit is the essence of live from Elder Treant. This fruit seed after germinated can grew into new uncorrupted Treant. By planting this seeds, it is same as giving them a second life. But before this seed can be planted, let me help you to germinate these fruit. But, I need a month time more or less just to germinate one seed. Meanwhile, you can wait at the city. Erlathan, escort our little friends back...”

    After that, they had few more conversation before escorted back to the city. On the way to the city, Erlathan said he will notify Dayuh as soon as The Ancient One finished germinating the fruit. Dayuh also ask Erlathan where he can buy wind related skill books in the city and then Erlathan show Merlin Books Store, the biggest skill-books store in Oakenlake, so Dayuh can find any book he had in mind.

    At the skill-book shop, Dayuh get [Wind Blade] and [Wind Rune] skill books with discount by Erlathan recommendation. They separate after Dayuh bought skill books and he told Erlathan that he need to report back at the guild whilst waiting for The Ancient One. At night, Dayuh quickly learn that two spells in his room before going back to Floating City of Aeternus.
    As The Ancient Treant said to Dayuh that is to germinate all seed-of-origins he need time roughly one month. Dayuh calculated that he can use that time frame going back to the adventurer guild for reporting and taking new quests for him. He feels the need to further temper his strength after participating on the Morian raid.

    One day later, Dayuh embarked to Frontier village trough friendly Tengu Tribe while passing East Barrier Mountain Range. Fortunately, the road is maintained and patrolled regularly so Dayuh didn't meet any threatening danger on the way back to Frontier Village and afterward goes straight to Adventurer Guild HQ.

    At the receptionist, Kiky told Dayuh that the guild master had announced reward from previous Morian raid. Apparently, Dayuh got enough qualifications for promotion of D-Ranked adventurer. And she saying congratulatory to Dayuh for his promotion.

    Hearing this good news Dayuh happily let out small exclamation and made a fist. Kiky then ask if Dayuh interested looking for D and C rank quest for his next work now that he is qualified for taking more dangerous quest. Then, Dayuh specifically asked about Rainforest Vale quest and taking maximum limit quest amount considering the travel distance.

    Kiky also told Dayuh that he got Rainbow Leafs as additional reward. That leafs can be exchanged on dark merchant stall on the guild. After receiving two hundred plus leaves, Dayuh come to dark merchant stall and exchanging it with three evolution seeds and a skill book. He plans to ask someone to preparing these seeds before he can use it on his creatures. For the skill book, Dayuh got lucky and learned a projectile throwing skill named ‘scattering leaves technique’.

    Afterwards, Dayuh stop by the tavern and meeting his friends chatting for a while. At the tavern Dayuh also meet Miss Biel, from their conversation Miss Biel told him that she has her own slime ranch. She told Dayuh the Rainbow Slimes on her ranch is very docile, unlike the one in the wild. Dayuh very interested in Rainbow slimes as their true element is still unknown. In fact, many of rainbow slime related subject is still unknown. After few more conversations, Miss Biel agreed to give Dayuh one of her newborn Rainbow Slime. Dayuh is very delighted and expressing his gratitude toward Miss Biel. Finished chatting with his friends, he is leaving guild building to the market resupply his necessities and then take a detour to stop by at Kael Village.

    Kael Village has been changed much close to their original state. Many wooden houses had been repaired. And many Lizardmen hatchlings had turned up to young Lizardmen. Especially the batch that Dayuh infused with mana at last time has grown to young adults and seems having more potential than their peers. Pleased to the infused effects, with Lizardmen parent consent Dayuh to infused his mana on all other eggs available. This mana infusing techniques is already experimented by Dayuh long way back since he is still a scientist at the academy. After many successful experimentation of the techniques, Dayuh learned and called this mana-infusing-techniques as [promote growth] skill that only possible because of his [soul sigil] and [compression] skill.

    Dayuh also gift Lizardmen trough Kael his two iron axes with [anti rust] glyph and a halberd with [light weight] glyph. The weapons are handed to Lizardmen fighters that most proficient handling these kinds of weapons for optimal effect. And for Kael, Dayuh gift him his Thorn Beetle Shield engraved with [wind glyph]. Again, Lizardmen feeling gratitude towards Dayuh and their affection with Dayuh increased.

    The reason why Dayuh so kind to the Lizardmen is he wants to forge a solid relationship with them as he is an outsider. He didn’t want only relying Kael to gain Kael kin respect. He knew very well, that respect and trust is earned not gifted. He need to be sincere to have their sincerity back to him. And from their reaction, Dayuh knew he is on the right track.

    Kael is given a task by Dayuh to build a nice home for his newborn rainbow slime. Then Kael with his Lizardmen builders starts to construct an environment imitated rainbow slime habitat at an open area near a house designated to Dayuh.

    Meanwhile, Dayuh made soul sigil with this newborn Rainbow Slime and named her Sei. Gently, Dayuh use [promote growth] to Sei making her grow into young-adult slime. “Well, at least now you can protect yourself better Sei.” dayuh told Sei while caressing her.

    After spending two day at the village, Sei home is yet to complete so Dayuh decided to take Sei with him. He, with Sei who hangs on top of his head, and Loto continued his trip straight to Oakenlake Capital City.

    To make his trip optimal, Dayuh training on the way to Oakenlake. He perfecting his understanding on new spells and projectile throwing skill by hunting low-ranked monster he met and also pondering ancient glyph scroll content. Sei is also being trained to fight by Dayuh everytime they met low leveled monster or forest animal.

    ....
    Only two weeks left until germination completed. At the Oakenlake Capital City Dayuh met with Guard Captain Eldire. He asking information about the creatures he needs to slay in his quest and also for the maps of rainforest vale. Eldire give Dayuh detailed information about Poisonous Snakes, Poisonous Leeches, Treant, Giant Nightcrawler, Alraune, and Harpies. Especially for Alraune, Eldire gave him warning about they being nemesis of men and suggested that he hire women mercenary or bring one of Eldire women subordinate to help. Eldire is willing to help Dayuh because Alraune also existence that Oakenlake wants to do population control of.

    Dayuh and Eldire separate after he got the map from Eldire. Dayuh made preparation for poisonous creature buying antidote needed for their poison. For safety reasons, Dayuh memorize marked area where Alraune has been seen.

    First, Dayuh and Loto went to Treant territory. Since Loto evolved to Rank-D creature Loto inherited Man-Eating Plant physical resistance. Therefore, Dayuh make Loto walk in front of him so Loto can receive any attack that coming from their front. While Sei hide in Dayuh bag for her safety in this quests.

    The Rainforest is proven quite dangerous, just as they walk into the forest they got ambushed by poisonous snake that jump from a tree trying to bite Dayuh. the snake seems to ignoring Loto, maybe because his thick bark, maybe because he is a Treant. Fortunately, poisonous snake is often hunting alone. With Dayuh’s [wind blade] and Loto’s [ensnare] they easily defeated the snake. Then they met and slay several (four) more snakes before meet first Treant. The Treant, although having large build, but like the snake, they often found alone. The tricky part is to distinguish them from normal tree.

    Dayuh is almost caught off guard when a tree beside him suddenly moved and attacking Loto with its branch. Turn out that the tree is a Treant. Loto with physical resistance-up didn’t get fatal damage from that attack. Quickly, Dayuh cast [healing wind] and [haste] to Loto. Loto and the treant on the other side begin their brawl intensely. Loto using his small and agile body evade most of Treant attack that is thrown at him. Being support from behind, Dayuh casts [Wind Blade] and severing both of Treant ‘hand’. Without both of it limbs, the Treant not a threat anymore and got defeated by them. He loot Treant branch that can be used as a spear body for Kael Lizardmens.

    Dayuh then continue searching for other Treant and slay five more poisonous snakes. When he meet second Treant he can recognize the Treant from normal tree. So he planted two [Wind Rune] on the ground and use Loto vines to lure it there. As the result, two [Wind Rune] explode below its ‘leg’ make it fell and in the end killed by Dayuh [wind blade].

    Third, Fourth, and fifth Treant is also killed by similar manner. Dayuh likes to use trap to caught his enemies off guard and using that opportunity to strike their weak points. By the time dayuh killed fifth Treant, he also already kill twenty snakes.

    With that, Dayuh Treant quest is done. Now he moves to watery part of rain forest to find Poisonous Leeches. Poisonous Leech is reported having one meter tall body and up to three meters long. With that build, Poisonous Leech has few predators on the water. He remembered Eldire tips to fight Poisonous Leech on the ground because their movement will significantly slower. Better if he has some salt to spread as that is Poisonous Leech weakness.

    Dayuh now arrived at swamp area of Rainforest Vale. He patiently waits for Poisonous Leech going up on the ground. For that, he make a lure with live wild deer he caught just an hour ago. The deer is tied to a tree near swamp. Between the deer and swamp edge, Dayuh already laid four [wind rune] for trap and spreading some salt. Ten minutes later, two Poisonous Leeches emerge from swamp locking their attention on the deer. When Poisonous Leeches at above four [wind rune], Dayuh detonated all four at the same time, making one of leeches flipped over and other one got stuck on the hole created by the explosions. Quickly dayuh and Loto rush in and bashing Poisonous Leech head until it died. Subsequently, Loto attacking the other one that just manage climb off that hole by thrusting his vines while Dayuh casting [wind blade] and sliced its head.

    By surprise, poisonous snake pounced at Dayuh and successfully bite his legs. Dayuh feeling sudden pain on his leg taking a glance below and found a snake biting his leg. He called for Loto help while using his staff bashing at snake head. Loto who not far from Dayuh stretch his vines wrapping snake body and squeeze it hard until all its bones broke and died.

    With wound on his leg, Dayuh taking the deer and move to safer location to treat his wound. He took antidote powder and smear it on bite wound then took another antidote potion and drink it. Afterward, he cast [healing wind] to hasting his regeneration and meditating. Subsequently, Loto guard watch Dayuh while he is recuperating. After full two hours, Dayuh wound is closed tough it not healed perfectly. Dayuh then using his Glyph to buff them before continue his hunt.

    Learning from his mistake before, Dayuh seach and killing Poisonous Snake that on his surround. He got around six snakes that lurking in the area, so he will not get ambushed again by snakes…. at least for some time. Dayuh then continue his hunt with Loto. Spreading several [wind rune] spell for trap, he is readying himself with [wind blade]. The next fourteen Poisonous Leeches is either killed by [wind rune], [wind blade], or Loto vines. After Dayuh slain his fifteen Poisonous Leeches the sky is getting dark, he call it a day and then return to Oakenlake City to rest.


    …. The second day of hunt – Giant Worms and Harpies….

    Dayuh checking his wound and found it already healed. Today he planned to hunt Giant Nightcrawler dan Harpies. Knowing his lack of power, he bought several bomb to covering his weakness. After make sure marking their area on the maps, Dayuh set off to Oakenlake south.

    At the clearing nineteen kilometers south of Oakenlake where Giant Nightcrawlers are rumored live. Dayuh and Loto is searching for Giant Nightcrawler holes. They found there are ten hole in that area and demolish nine of that hole leaving only one that still open. Nightcrawler is nocturnal creature that hunts and eats almost anything that can fit their mouth. So it is quite save at the morning like this to set up traps to lure them outside their territory below ground. Diligently, Dayuh set up dozens of [wind rune] until past noon.

    Shortly after all the preparation is done, Dayuh light wet bush and grass at the Nightcrawler cave entrance. Using his wind mana, he blew out the smoke to fill cave inside. 5 minutes, 10 minutes, 20 minutes… After he waited around one hour the ground trembled, five Nightcrawler come out one by one from their cave. The first Nightcrawler that come out got blasted by numerous [wind rune] that Dayuh planted before. The second and third Nightcrawler got severely injured by the same fashion and the four and fifth Nightcrawler got lightly injured.

    At the same time the last Nightcrawler come out, Loto throws all bombs to the Nightcrawlers focusing from most injured first. While dayuh cast [wind blade] to them repeatedly from their hiding spot and drink mana potion when he feel his mana pool almost half gone. With that act they manage killing two Nightcrawlers and leaving the other two with heavy wounds.

    The last two Nightcrawlers already noticed them and charging toward their location. Dayuh cast [wind shield] and [haste] to Loto whom move forward covering for Dayuh. Using his poisonous thorn on his vines, Loto slowly weaken already wounded Nightcrawlers while Dayuh throws [wind blade] as supports. A few moments later, the last Nightcrawler died bleed out from its wound. Exhausted, Dayuh is healing loto then meditating after looting Nightcrawlers corpse.

    Dayuh and Loto are taking their time to recover their stamina and mana until sunset. At night, they move with cautious to marked Harpies territory. Harpies usually made their nest at cliff walls and there are two or three harpies on each nest. Dayuh slowly search from upside the cliff for a remote nest so he can fight them in small group at a time.

    After careful search, Dayuh found a nest that relatively far from other Harpy nests. Fortunately, most of the harpies are sleeping at the night. Therefore Dayuh can get close to Harpies nest undetected. Loto is spreading his [Paralyze Spore] and let the wind carried spores to three Harpies below. Dayuh watched patiently to make sure the spores are being inhaled by the harpies. A moment later, Dayuh ready to throw [wind blade] but waiting for Loto using his vine whips to wake the harpies.

    The harpies awaken by Loto whip then angrily flown to their aggressor above. But they feel weird while on the air. Their wings feel heavy and their bird brain can’t command their limb to move properly. Then they fall to the ground near their aggressor. ‘What a bad luck’, they think…

    Dayuh and Loto seeing their effort being paid is happily receiving fallen Harpies. Loto is swiftly ensnaring all three Harpies with his poison-thorn-vines making them more difficult to move. Meanwhile Dayuh is casting [wind blade] then joining Loto attacks the harpies with his staff. With the help of paralyze spore and poison thorn effect, Dayuh and Loto successfully pinning down the harpies and beating them until the end. Then they looted Harpies talons and cores after the battle.

    While Dayuh looting Harpies corpse, there are three other harpies that flying above them. One of the harpies seems currently carrying an unconscious person with her. The three Harpies noticing Dayuh and corpses of their their kin are angry and diving to Dayuh. Harpy that carrying a person is put that person in the ground before joining her friend to attack Dayuh.

    Loto realized that three harpies charging at them warns Dayuh and stretch his Vines to disturb Harpies flight. Dayuh do quick thinking and told Loto to take cover at the forest. While they ran, dayuh cast [haste] and drank mana and healing potions. The Harpies make maneuver on air and using their talon attacking Loto vines that hindered their charge.

    Soon after, Dayuh and Loto managed to get into the forest. The Harpies then responded by cast [wind slash] cutting many trees so they can fly to Dayuh location. Many spell being casted by the harpies and Dayuh stubbornly keep taking cover on the trees to slowly depleted the Harpies mana. Meanwhile, Loto spreading his paralyze spore to the air.

    Because of their anger, the harpies are late to realize that they inhaled paralyze spore. Quickly, they come to the ground ignoring many trees that hindered their flight and started a melee fight.

    Dayuh seeing the harpies decided to fight melee is give wind shield to both of them. He also give [healing wind] to Loto and preparing his [wind blade] to be released at any moment. He still take cover behind a tree leaving Loto in the open take the aggro from the harpies.

    Loto is fighting bravely against three semi-paralyzed Harpies. Being defensive, Loto gave poison damage to the harpies on each graze his thorn made. Slowly, the poison taken toll to their body, spores paralyze effect also become clearly seen. From behind, [wind blade] slashing the harpies and wounded their wings make them even harder to fly. And soon, the melee fight is move on the ground as the three harpies can’t fly anymore. Their movements on the ground is very awkward, it seems harpies not fluent fighting on the ground. Fighting on the ground is spelled death to the Harpies and in a while Dayuh and Loto finished them all cleanly.

    Dayuh is checking the man that carried by the harpies before. Fortunately, he is still alive. The man is an elf and from his outfit it seems he is a merchant. Then he carried the man with him. But before he going back to the city, Dayuh made Loto climb down to the harpy nest and found three harpy eggs. After that, Dayuh and Loto going back to the city and treated the person who later knew his name is Gaillard…


    …. The third day of hunt - Alraune Temptation….

    Yesterday, Dayuh and Loto manage to rescue a Gaillard from the harpies. He told him that an Alraune tempted his merchant caravan party into their demise.

    Many of the man became her victims, while the woman are killed by them. Gaillard is the last man that yet embraced by the Alraune. At that time, the harpies are assaulting the Alraune and stealing her nectar along with Gaillard. Before Gaillard unconscious, he saw that still three more Alraune in that area.

    Gaillard is begging Dayuh to help him avenge his friends and employees and promised him handsome rewards and even willing to make a contract for the request.

    Dayuh readily accept Gaillard request because he also required for hunting Alraune by the guild. And for the rewards, he didn't give much tough of it. He is parted with Gaillard who still recuperating in the inn.

    Dayuh came to meet with Eldire at the city guard headquarters. He explains what Gaillard experienced and told that he need help to hunt this three Alraune. In response of that incident, Eldire gladly assign his three female city guard to help Dayuh securing the road area from Alraune because after all protecting citizen are their job.

    Three city guards that join with Dayuh each have profession as Fire Elemental Mage, Guardian, and Archer. Including Dayuh and Loto, they are forming five-man party. After briefly discussed about formation and making preparations, they move out to the Alraunes said location.

    ....

    Dayuh party arrived at the location that Gaillard told Dayuh. There is a trace of caravans going out the road into the bushes. Not far from the road, they found Gaillard caravan left alone untouched. It seems no one found Gaillard caravan yet.

    Preparing to battle at any moment, Dayuh paint glyphs to all party members and also buffed them with [haste] and [wind shield] for Guardian and Loto at the front. Dayuh especially hoping that his focus glyph can prevent Alraunes skills from affecting him, or least, lessen their skill effects.

    Dayuh positioned himself at the very back of party formation to prevent him affected by Alraunes skills too fast. Within twenty minutes of walking distance from the road, the party met three Alraunes who currently enjoying their 'male meal'.

    Dayuh party is immediately taking cover behind trees and shrubs. For opening attack the elementalist cast multiple fire arrows. Subsequently, the Guardian and Loto move forward to the nearest Alraune. While the Archer shooting her arrow repeatedly for cover and Dayuh recast [wind shield] to Guardian and Loto.

    The nearest Alraune is having burnt injuries all over her vines when she tried to block fire arrows and also many arrows stuck on her vines making half of her vines not usable. She came out from her petals displaying angry face and tried to make men that she holding as a cover. Fortunately, this Alraune is not good at moving around as she is don’t have true legs and using vines to move her flower lower body. So she is on defensive mode receiving our aggressive attack and in slowly died burned by Elementalist Fire.

    Loto from beginning is taking position between our party and the other two Alraune. He is using [taking root] to make his vines more durable. Relying on his physical resistance and vines, Loto is covering his party by blocking all Alraune attacks. Occasionally he received [wind shield] and [healing wind] from Dayuh.

    Divide and conquer, that is tactic they use now. By isolating one Alraune from other two, they can concentrate to kill it with three people. While one is got the role as a wall that isolating the Alraune, and the last one acting as support to heal and giving shield so the wall stay solid.

    The second Alraune also being sealed by the party is giving up from mighty of fire element, her nemesis, and her weakness.

    But, no one realize that Dayuh support being sluggish as the time passes. Dayuh even with all the precaution he can think of, he still got affected by Alraune temptation. His lower body is burning and he can’t think clearly. ‘this is bad’ he tough to himself. But afterward, his mind goes blank and his vision gone dark.

    Loto who is attacking the last Alruane with the rest of the party got confused, his master should be already casted [healing wind] to him but the support didn’t happen. When he looks back, he saw Dayuh with red face is walks in staggered manner toward Alraune. After careful inspection, Dayuh eyes seem full of lust fixedly stared at Alraune.

    Seeing Dayuh losing control of himself, Loto swiftly ensnaring Dayuh so he can’t get closer to the Alraune. But, Dayuh after being ensnared is berserk swinging his staff, struggling, and roar randomly.

    The other party member hearing Dayuh roars knew that Dayuh fallen to Alraune temptation. Then, they are attacking Alraune more aggressively. They pour all their big skill into the attack to quickly ended the battle and soon after the last Alraune died pierced by the archer arrow.

    Dayuh is still losing his rationale struggling weakly in Loto vines. The party members looting Alraunes remains and then take Dayuh to infirmary to get treated.

    ….

    Dayuh awake and find himself at a unfamiliar room. After collecting his last memories he knew he got screw up by Alraune temptation and feeling very embarrassed. Looking at his surrounding, he noticed Loto shadow at the window guarding his room. Then Dayuh woke and approach Loto. “Thanks buddy, sorry I lost to myself at the battle. Where is the other party member?” said Dayuh to Loto.

    Loto saw that Dayuh already conscious and healthy feeling relieved and hugs Dayuh. Then he pointing to city guard headquarters direction after hearing Dayuh question.

    Soon after, they arrived at Eldire Office. Eldire is comforting dayuh after seeing Dayuh awkward expressions. Almost no true men are immune to Alraune temptations even if it is Eldire himself. Eldire also told dayuh that he already been reported by his guards about their battle. He also tell Dayuh that two male who is founded with Alraune now is save in the infirmary where Dayuh woke up before. Dayuh refused the Alraune loot after seeing the content which is Alraune nectar, he can’t bear remembering Alraune smell for now. Eldire then give thanks to Dayuh effort on securing the road from Alraunes before seeing them off.

    After reporting with Eldire, Dayuh go to inn where Gaillard and told him that the Alraune had been slain. Two people from Gaillard caravan are alive and now at the infirmary. Also, His caravan still there untouched. Hearing that information Gaillard is very happy and quickly ran to the infirmary to see his companion.

    Satisfied with the progress, Dayuh is back to his Inn with Loto and rest for the day.

    ….
    Two weeks has passed after Dayuh last hunts. During that time Dayuh knew that Gaillard main profession actually a blacksmith. Then as the reward Dayuh ask Gaillard to make him spears with treant branch and spiked mace with poisonous leeches and nightcrawler teeth that he loots. Of course Gaillard accept dayuh request and made him five spears, and five spiked mace within less than two weeks time. The rest of the time he spent on studying the glyph scroll and occasionally met with Eldire or Erlathan.

    On the seventeen days after the last hunts, Erlathan come to Dayuh bringing news about seeds that The Ancient One currently germinate. Erlathan said that the seed already successfully germinated and also told that Dayuh neet to meet with The Ancient One now. Then Dayuh, Loto, and Erlathan go to the forest meeting The Ancient One.

    At The Ancient One place…

    “Respectfully greetings The Ancient One. I’ve brought Dayuh and Loto with me.” Say Erlathan to The Ancient One.

    “Good good, Dayuh, Loto, your seed is already germinated. Please take good care of these seeds.” The Ancient One handed a germinated Elder Treant Seeds to Dayuh carefully.

    “Thank you The Ancient One… If you permit it, I want to plant the rest of these seeds here. I only take this one with me.” Dayuh has long ago decided to plant the seeds in this forest because he can’t take care all of the seeds. Even more, if he is planting the seeds on some random ground unguarded. He feels like his effort is useless if the seeds not grow properly. He know it’s just his ego, but he want to see the fruit of his effort. So, he decided that the best place for these seeds is here right beside The Ancient One.

    Dayuh took the germinated seed from The Ancient Treant then he gave the other 35 seeds to the treant.

    “Ho ho ho.. that also will do… i will guide them and never let them astray. They will be our youngest family. Thank you Dayuh.” The Ancient One seems happy with Dayuh decision. After short pause, he’s saying “It will be unfair if you just left after doing good deed to us. Let me reward you a little Dayuh…. Erlathan told me that you learn about Glyph and I happen know one or two Glyphs.”

    The Ancient One stretch his ‘his hand’ and touch Dayuh forehead. A series of memories and information are invading Dayuh mind. Dayuh still stood digesting all the information he got for sometimes after The Ancient One finished memory transfer. At last, Dayuh is opening his eyes. After he reorganize his new memories, two new glyphs, [Nature Glyph] and [Mana Gathering Glyph] appearing in his mind. Dayuh is feeling surprised and happy that he has new Glyph to use and experiment with. “Ancient One, this gift is have significant meaning to me. Truly, thank you…” with this two glyphs he can do cross reverence when study the ancient scroll and maybe he can make some progress on understanding scroll content.

    “No problem child… Oh, if you came across objects that can act as their fertilizer, please do collect them and bring it to us. We shall reward you accordingly.” The Ancient One added before send them off.



    In the morning the next day, Dayuh, Loto, and Sei departing from Oakenlake Capital City back to Adventurer Guild Headquarter to report his quest completions. But halfway to their destination, Dayuh change his plans and heading to Kael Village.

    On Kael Village, Dayuh saw that Sei home already completed so he ask Sei to propagate as Sei got enough experience and power to grow from last quests. Dayuh is also preparing his three Harpies Eggs to be hatched. But first, he tasked Kael to build Harpy nest on Dayuh house flat roof.

    Dayuh find a good place to plant the last elder treant seed. After carefull consideration, Dayuh decided to plant it near village chief (Kael) House so the treant can protect Kael village from its center. Before planting the seeds, Dayuh made few preparations and for that he needs several mana crystal to engrave. Looks like he need to gather it on a quest. While waiting for Harpy nest to be completed, Dayuh is going back to the Aertenus to report his quest completion and search for mining quest.
    • Poisonous Snake Skin x 15
    • Poisonous Snake Gall x 13
    • Treant Branch x 5
    • Poisonous Leech Teeth x 15
    • Poisonous Leech Poison Sack x 15
    • Nightcrawlers teeth x 5
    • Nightcrawlers hard shell x 5
    1. Harpies; https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/72/86/60/728660ffbc51a27561549c12eb8c4c67.jpg
    2. Alraune: https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-dO4JcG04...wTeOGNX9KKc/s1600/castlevania+flower+girl.jpg
    3. Nightcrawler: http://oi45.tinypic.com/nmkgwh.jpg
    4. Poisonous Snake: https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/564x/7f/30/96/7f3096b216054cf47f704f990ceca9d0.jpg
    5. Poisonous Leeches: https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/b9/51/79/b95179ac7c18893ca47b62f37d46cdc1.jpg
    6. Tyrant Ent: https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/564x/31/7f/38/317f38f465a44eba03ebcc6bf711a872.jpg
    7. [Wind Blade] – Attacking enemies with a blade of wind. Stronger and using more mana than [wind cut] spell.
    8. [Wind Rune] – Cast a nearby surface, it explodes dealing wind damage when enemies come near or can detonated manually. Chance for enemies to be flung away based on enemies weight and resistance power.
    9. [Promote Growth] – infusing mana to a seed, egg, hatchling, or any newborn baby to hasten their growth. This skill only effective until the target reached young-adult stage. The mana infused and it’s effect is varied between creature races. The stronger or the longer creature natural growth equivalent to more mana needed to show same effects.
    10. Learing Glyph from The Ancient One:
    11. [Nature Glyph] : Make object that is engraved resistant to Nature magic/mana. And in some cases can absorb that mana.
    12. [Mana Gathering Glyph]: Make mana gathered more easily on the object with this Glyph.
    13. Received a Rainbow Slime from Miss Biel
    14. Making Soul Sigil with rainbow slime and named her Sei.
    15. Learning ‘scattering leaves technique’ from dark merchant stall skill book.
    16. Buy three evolution seeds from dark merchant stall.
    17. Gaillard the merchant made 5 spear, 3 spiked mace for Dayuh.
    18. Located Ancient Treant Sage [The Ancient One] at the restricted forest near Oakenlake Capital City.
    19. Discovered ‘Realm Protector’ profession. Which is, a elf guardian with a guardian treant as his/her partner that mainly using nature magic. One of elite squadron of Oakenlake Kingdom.
    20. Kael built a house just outside of Kael Village as requested by Dayuh himself.
    21. Dayuh made home for Sei and Harpy Eggs at Dayuh House area.
    22. Sei is propagated into two rainbow slime, (Sei) and (Sei2). Later (Sei2) will multiplied on Kael Village.

    Change Log:
    - Treant Protector changed into - Realm Protector (or may known by different names), is a elite troops that protect kingdom royalties.
    - 36 germinated seeds became 1 germinated seed and 35 un-germinated seed that handed to The Ancient Treant. so in the future the ancient treant had 35 elder treants that follow him.
    - the change happen on part 1 and part 4

    @brasca123
     
  3. selkie

    selkie [kuragehime] [jellyfish lover] [swish swish]

    Joined:
    Nov 2, 2016
    Messages:
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    Reading List:
    Link
    Great Plain - #SE1 - E-Ranked - Slay 20 Slimes [ 50 G ]
    Great Plain - #GE1 - E-Ranked – Gather 10 Moonlight Flower & 10 Healing Plants [ 50G | 1 x Rejuvenation Potion ]
    Great Plain - #GE2 - E-Ranked – Gather 3 Moonlight Water [ 50G | 1 x Bottled Purified Moonlight Water]
    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 - #GD3 - D-Ranked - Gather 5 Flower seeds [ 80 G | 1 x Butterfly Flower ]

    @LittleFox21


    Noon, Floating City of Aeternus, Guild Hall

    After losing so badly against the chickens on her last failed quest, Selkie decided it would probably be a good idea to pick something easy this time around. It would be a terrible blow to her self-confidence if she showed up at the receptionist’s desk having failed quests twice in a row… that was basically unheard of, right?

    The seal maiden sighed.

    To be safe, it was best to focus on easy quests.

    Despite staring a the Quest Board for over two hours and cross-referencing her “Encycopledia of Fantastic Land-World Beasts and Where To Find Them” book, there didn’t seem to be any monster weaker than a chicken! The only thing that came close was The Slime, which was supposed to be the classic level 1 beginner adventurer opponent, except they were rated slightly stronger than the Domesticated Chicken. This is what the encyclopedia entry said about The Slime:

    The Slime is an amorphous, shapeless, brainless, gooey creature best represented by the original Classic Slime. Classic Slimes are shiny onion-shaped monsters with a huge face that can come in a variety of colors. Instead of just slithering to get around, they often bounce for quicker movement. They are typically weak, but certain slimes, such as massive ones, ones made of special materials, or ones that are immune to damage, can be quite dangerous and deadly.

    There are hundreds of slime species including black puddings, ochre jellies, gray ooze, slithering trackers, green slime, rainbow slime, and slime-oids. All are amorphous except slime-oids. Most of the amorphous slimes attack people by dissolving their flesh and either absorbing their fluids or eating them. Slime-oids are human beings who have been devoured and replaced by slime substance.

    With a serious look on her face, Selkie gravely sat down at one of the tables in the Guild Hall as she grimly contemplated the fact that clearly, these “Slimes” were carnivorous (scary!). It would be a very pitiful story if she got eaten by a slime (RIP) on her third day while adventuring the Land-World. The encyclopedia insisted that The Slime was a very easy monster, but Selkie wasn’t sure if she believed it, especially since she lost against the Domesticated Chicken already.

    ...was it too risky…?

    But if she never took any risks, she’d be as useless as a barnacle forever!

    It was such a nerve-racking decision! Selkie massaged her temples and pulled at her hair in stressful exasperation. She didn’t want to be useless, but she also didn’t want to be defeated again! Monsters in the Land-World were truly so terrifying! Even the weakest of them were so powerful!

    In the end, after several long hours of painful deliberation, Selkie decided the safest option would be to observe slimes in the wild first before accepting the quest. This way, she could evaluate for herself whether they were too strong or not. If it seemed like Slimes were manageable opponents, then she could come back tomorrow to accept the quest.

    Since the she didn’t want to walk out of the Guild Hall empty-handed, she decided to accept one quest about Moonlight Flowers for now because it seemed straightforward and simple.

    The only issue was that she didn’t know anything about Moonlight Flowers or Healing Plants, and her Illustrated Encyclopedia that she obtained from the Mermaid Capital had no information on botany or plants. But this wasn’t too big of a problem, because after awkwardly asking around a little bit, Selkie found out a new Library had just opened in the Floating City of Aeternus.

    If she visited it, perhaps she could learn some information about how to identify these plants.

    Well, it was time to set off on a new adventure!


    * * *​


    “Eto… is anyone home?”

    Selkie knocked on the door to be polite. The Library was wide open, but the circulation desk was empty. As far she she could tell, even though the furnishings looked brand-new, it was deserted. Most of the book shelves were empty and there weren’t any visitors or guests. There were dozens of half-unpacked cardboard boxes scattered across the floor and many loose papers strewn all over the place, and even some empty takeout boxes and junk food littered here and there. In short, it was a disastrous mess.

    It was definitely not what what she was expecting.

    On the way, she had asked some local residents for directions, but nobody seemed to know there even was a new Library in the neighborhood. At a certain point, Selkie was beginning to wonder if the receptionist had lied to her about the existence of this elusive new “Library”, but sure enough, she did find it eventually -- sandwiched awkwardly between a bakery, a deli meat shop, and a cheese shop.

    “E-excuse me?”

    Selkie poked her head into the back room because she was hoping to find a librarian. She didn’t know how library cards or things like that worked here in the Land-World, so she figured it would probably be a good idea to ask. Besides, everything was too messy for her to find things by herself.

    “Zzzzzzzzzz… *snore* Zzzzzzzzzzz*

    “...”

    “Zzzzzzzzzz… *snore* Zzzzzzzzzzz*

    “...Um…”

    In the back room, there was a black-haired human girl sleeping on the ground. The hard floor looked extremely uncomfortable to Selkie, but the girl had a satisfied look on her face as she rolled onto her side and pulled some more newspapers to cover herself. Her hair was extremely disheveled and messy, and she was using a small stack of books as a pillow and a piece of cardboard as a futon.

    As for the room itself, it was at least a hundred times worse than than the main lobby of the library. So many wrinkly papers and books were littered everywhere that Selkie could barely see the ground. In addition, the curtains were pulled shut and the room was dim.

    Was this the librarian?

    The librarian is a homeless hobo?!

    “E-excuse me, ma’am? Are you alright?”

    Selkie tiptoed around the islands of scattered safe spots to the girl’s side and gently shook her shoulder.

    “Uwu… what time is it?” The sleepyhead murmured, “It’s still bright outside.”

    “Uh, three o’clock in the afternoon?”

    “It’s too early~ Come back in a couple hours.”

    Three o’clock was too early?! What kind of person said three o’clock was too early?

    “Um, the door was open and I thought the the library sign said, ‘OPEN’. I was hoping to get some help finding a book if it isn’t too much of a bother...”

    “Tch, I forgot.” The black-haired girl crossly pulled herself up to a sitting position and rubbed her eyes. “It’s all that bear-person at the Adventurer’s Guild’s fault. He said that if there was going to be a new Library affiliated with the Guild, it had to be open during regular normal-people hours. If it were up to me though, we’d be open from 7pm to 7am.”

    “W-why the strange hours?”

    “Eh? Haven’t you ever met a hikikomorineet before?”

    “I’m sorry, I’m new to the Land-World. I’ve never heard of the species called the Hikikomorineet before.”

    “Heh. Well, we are a reclusive kind that favors indoor activities. Our skin is hyper-sensitive to sunlight and we’ll suffer a meltdown if we are forced to go outside during the day.”

    “Doesn’t that just mean you’re a vampire?”

    “Don’t be silly. I’m just an ordinary human girl.”

    “O-okay…”

    The mysterious girl finally pulled herself up to her feet and stood up. She dusted herself off and introduced herself.

    “I am the person called Yuzu. I live here. How can I help you?”

    “Um, I’m Selkie. I’m looking for maybe a book about plants? I’d like to learn some more about Moonlight Flowers and Healing Plants.”

    “Ah, I see. The E-rank quest, isn’t it? That’s a popular one. We get a lot of those. As for the book… hmm… it should be this one.”

    Yuzu rummaged around a tossed a thick vellum-bound book at Selkie without looking.

    Selkie nearly fell on her face trying to catch it because it was a terrible toss on the librarian’s part, and it nearly landed with a splat on the floor. Shouldn’t she be more gentle with library property?!

    “U-um… thank you.”

    Selkie took a look at the cover. It was very elegantly made, and much of it was embroidered with golden thread. This must be a very valuable book.

    She opened it next, expecting to see a dense wall of tiny text. Selkie loved books, you know? Whenever she visited the Mermaid Capital, the best part was always the massive collection of books their library had. She loved the black ink and the smell of old books. You could almost feel the amount of love and time and energy the author put into writing it.

    The first page was blank.

    Oh, so this must be one of those pages reserved for the dedication, Selkie thought.

    She flipped to the next page, and the next page, and the next page. At that point, Selkie’s brow furrowed and she flipped through all of the pages in the book.

    They were all blank!

    There must be some kind of mistake. Selkie turned around to ask the librarian Yuzu about this, but before she could open her mouth, she was greeted with a horrific scream.

    “My candles! I don’t have any left! This is horrible! My worst nightmare!” The black-haired girl looked as pale as a ghost as she furiously opened one empty drawer after another. “How am I going to write, let alone read tonight without any candles!? I won’t survive the night! I knew I should have never agreed to being transported to another world!! The gods are so cruel. First they took away my computer, then it was my refrigerator, and now I can’t even read books!”

    “......”

    “Total despair~”

    “Can’t you just go buy some candles?” Selkie ventured, trying to be helpful.

    Yuzu’s eyes brightened up.

    “Really?! You’ll go buy some for me?!”

    “I was saying you could go buy some yourself…”

    Yuzu looked shattered.

    “Guh, but hikikomorineets can’t go outside…”

    “...”

    Selkie decided this Yuzu person was a little strange, and chose to change topics.

    “Anyways, I think there’s been some kind of mistake. This book you gave me is completely empty. Isn’t there another copy lying around somewhere?”

    “Oh, of course it’s blank.” Yuzu responded while wiping her eyes, “Nothing’s been written in it yet. We’ve just opened.”

    “...What’s the use of giving me this book if it’s blank then?”

    “Eh? But you asked for the book on plants. Later on, you can come back here and use your Library Card to write or edit an article based on sights you’ve seen on your adventures.”

    “I thought library cards were for borrowing books, not writing in them.”

    Selkie sighed, slightly exasperated by how useless this was.

    “Okay, fine. Whatever,” Selkie spoke. “If I wanted to learn about Moonlight Flowers or Healing Plants, what should I do?”

    “Visit the Tavern, or try visiting all the other libraries and bookstores in the city to see if they still have books rescued from the Old Adventurer’s City after it was destroyed. I can’t guarantee that they’ll have what you’re looking for though. Honestly, it’s best to ask a friend.”

    “I see… I don’t have any friends though.”

    “Or you can ask the librarian.”

    “Eh? You?”

    “I am the state Library!”

    Selkie blinked.

    “Just kidding. Sorry, I just wanted to try out that line. Did you know that Emperor Palpatine’s line in Star Wars Episode III is derived from Louis IV’s famous address to the French parliament? Fascinating historical connection, isn’t it? My favorite line though is the quote about how liberty dies with thunderous applause.”

    Selkie was absolutely lost. Yuzu patted her on the head in sympathy and decided to stop it with the weird tangents.

    “The most straightforward place to find Moonlight Flowers is near Moonlight Lake.”

    “Moonlight Lake,” Selkie repeated.

    Even though she acknowledged this, Selkie still had no idea where this Moonlight Lake was supposed to be. Yuzu seemed to read her mind though, and the black-haired girl continued in her explanation.

    “Did you know there are actually two Moonlight Lakes? The old one used to be located in Verdant Forest, but it was renamed to Autumn Lake for unknown reasons, possibly because the quest was moved to the Great Plains. The new one is in the East Barrier Mountains (which, honestly, isn’t in the Great Plains either, but whatever *shrugs*), and you can get to it by following the southeastern tributary of the Great Plain River. If you ask me, you should be able to gather flowers from either location, though the Autumn Lake site is currently marked with a ‘Danger Zone.’”

    Yuzu pulled out a map from the shelves and pointed out both marked positions on the map.

    “Moonlight flowers glow at night, and they prefer shade. Generally speaking they grow in places with concentrated magical energy.”

    Selkie nodded her head resolutely, wishing now that she had some scratch paper or something to write all of these notes down with. Even though this Yuzu person was weird, she seemed to be very knowledgeable.

    “As for Healing Plants, they are sweet smelling, and they grow in many more places, though they are indigenous to the Great Plains. If I were you, I would go the Alchemist’s shop and buy one or two Healing Grass, and bring it along with you so you can compare the scent.”

    “Understood. Thank you very much. This is exactly what I was looking for.”

    The silver-haired seal maiden was about to turn around and leave, but suddenly a strong grip clasped her hands. Selkie tried pulling away, but those fingers were clamped on very tightly.

    Selkie turned back, and sure enough, Yuzu was clinging onto her hands for dear life with puppy-dug eyes.

    Her grip was much stronger than expected for someone of her stature.

    “But m-my candles…?” Yuzu whimpered.

    The seal maiden’s eyes went wide and she was speechless. But before she could say anything, a spark suddenly lit in the black-haired girl’s eyes, and she jumped up and down while shaking Selkie’s hand energetically.

    “Actually, I have a better idea! Since you’re going to Moonlight Lake already, why don’t you bring me back some Moonlight Water? I have a moon stone already, so if I use the two of them together, they can serve as a lava lamp! This way I won’t need candles anymore!”

    Selkie watched as the librarian Yuzu went from gloomy to ecstatic one second to the next. She was nearly positive that this strange girl was bipolar and crazy.

    That said, she was kind of endearing in her odd kind of way. Besides, Yuzu had helped her already. If the quest really was on the way, then it shouldn’t be much trouble at all. If anything, it made sense to take an additional quest for herself too. She remembered that Moonlight Water was one of the other E-ranked quests for the Great Plains.

    “Okay, I’ll do it. How many do you want?”

    “One bottle will last a month, so six would be a perfect supply. Oh, and it has to be crystal bottles. They conduct mana and light the best.”

    Selkie stopped her her tracks and stared.

    “...Are you going to give me money to buy the bottles for you? They sound awfully expensive. I was thinking of just using cheap waterskins for my own quest.”

    “I don’t have any money.” Yuzu said matter-of-factly.

    Selkie was about to say something rude, but after hesitating for a moment, Selkie decided against it and just sighed.

    Hikikomorineets really were such a troublesome species.

    Maybe it was a bad idea to get involved with them…


    * * *​


    Evening, Floating City of Aeternus, Local Inn

    After an afternoon of running errands, including nearly 300G on various supplies (which was most of her money), Selkie collapsed on the bed in a local inn. She felt absolutely spent after the demanding day.

    Thankfully, she had an Item Box that could store everything, otherwise she might have passed out from all the shopping bags she would be carrying. Selkie couldn’t quite comprehend how other girls got so much energy and stamina for shopping. For her, her feet were just sore!

    Selkie went to the bathroom and turned on the faucet.

    Hot water!

    Selkie nearly jumped back from surprise.

    Only rich people in the Kingdom of Seals could afford to bath in hot water. She was surprised that even ordinary human inn’s had running hot water. Humans really were amazing. Though she supposed it made sense, because there was nothing to use as fuel to heat a bath in the middle of the ocean that she called home. The Land-World, on the other hand, had wood everywhere.

    The silver-haired girl had a mischievous glint in her eyes.

    The room at the Inn that she purchased didn’t come with a bath… but Selkie considered herself to be the resourceful kind of girl.

    She went to her Item Box and hauled a large cauldron out of it.

    Why did she buy a cauldron from the alchemy shop? Well, it was for the librarian Yuzu that she met earlier. Rather than buying six crystal bottles, Selkie figured it was cheaper to buy one bottle to serve as the crystal bottle lamp, and then use a cauldron to store the extra refills of moonlight water.

    Hey, there was nothing wrong with being frugal, right?

    Anyways, since the cauldron wasn’t being used right now, she might as well use it for a bath!

    Selkie absentmindedly used her water bending abilities to siphon the hot water away from the faucet to fill her cauldron.

    It took around fifteen minutes before it filled to the brim.

    With a satisfied look, Selkie took off her clothes and dove into that little piece of steamy heaven.

    Ahh…. exactly what she needed right now…..


    * * *​


    Morning, Day 2, En-Route to Moonlight Lake

    Incidentally, the next morning, while Selkie was checking out of the Local Inn, she overheard a dispute between the manager and a wealthy-looking customer about how all the hot water was used up last night.

    ...Oops… That wasn’t a coincidence, right?

    Anyways, Selkie escaped from the scene and took the teleport gate to Frontier Town.

    Without much difficulty, Selkie found her way to the river. For her, it was faster to swim than walk or even hire a carriage.

    After making a quick check that all of her belongings were securely attached (and there were no prying onlookers), Selkie slipped into the water and butterfly-kicked under the surface, accelerating herself with her water manipulation abilities.

    She was actually even faster in her seal form, but Selkie had a lot of things to carry this time, so it was a better idea to stay in her human form so she didn’t lose anything by accident.

    The Great Plain River, by the way, was indeed really plain.

    It didn’t have anything interesting like rapids or waterfalls or gorges. It pretty much stayed slow and dull through most of the trip.

    That wasn’t the official name of the river, by the way. Selkie had asked several people what it was called, but nobody seemed to know (weird, right?). She settled on “Great Plain River” because it was the biggest river that went through the Great Plains Region, and also, after swimming through it, she resolutely decided it was the most boring river she had ever swum through in her entire life.


    * * *​


    Noon, Day 2, Near the Ruins of Adventurer’s City

    Selkie stopped for lunch just before the river forked. Not far away was the old ruins of the Adventurer’s City, and far up above in the sky was the Floating City.

    The weather was sunny and the scenery was beautiful.

    She took out her lunch from her Item Box and nibbled on a sandwich and some fruit while she leaned against on the rocks for her picnic. This was one nice thing about the Item Box; even though Selkie had been swimming the entire day, everything stayed dry inside dimensional storage. It was far better than having soggy bread.

    Selkie stretched and gave a large yawn after she felt full from her meal.

    She laid down on the grass and watched the clouds go by, with crickets singing in the background.

    It was so peaceful.

    Maybe the Land-World wasn’t so bad after all.

    Selkie closed her eyes for several moments, but she felt something squishy touch her hands.

    Something squishy and warm.

    The seal maiden’s eyes snapped opened and she sat up, and found herself face-to-face with a pink slime.

    It was presently sitting on top of the leftovers of her sandwich while absentmindedly eating(?) (absorbing? digesting?) it.

    Their eyes met for several moments, but the pink slime didn’t really seem alarmed, and it carried on digesting its lunch as if Selkie wasn’t even there. It didn’t say anything, but it had a serious look in its eyes that Selkie could almost imagine meant:

    “What? I’m busy eating. Talk to me later.”

    “Sorry,” Selkie couldn’t help but apologize out loud.

    Eh? Why was she apologizing? Wasn’t this her lunch?

    Selkie averted her eyes away from the slime because somehow she felt like it was impolite to watch someone eating. Instead, she fixed her gaze on the little eddies in the river as the current ran close to shore. Then she looked up at the Castle in the Sky and pretended not to pay any attention to the slime, but in reality, all of her ears were tuned to the pink slime that was eating her leftovers right beside her.

    *munch* *munch* *munch*

    *munch* *munch* *munch*

    ...It was actually kind of cute, Selkie thought.

    Fifteen minutes passed as Selkie’s fingers played mindlessly with the blades of grass in front of her as she listened to the Pink Slime slowly digest its meal. It was close enough that she could feel its warmth radiating from it. On that matter, she didn’t expect that Slimes were warm to touch in the first place -- was this just an anomaly? Most slime species were cold, weren’t they?

    Soon enough, the sound of munching stopped, and the slime finished its meal. Selkie turned to look at the pinkish blob, and again, their eyes met.

    Rather impulsively, Selkie extended a hand to pat the slime.

    She didn’t know what drove her to do this, but before she knew it, she was running her fingers across the smooth, soft, and squishy surface of the pink slime. It was warm to touch and it felt very nice. The pink slime shuddered slightly under Selkie’s patting, and after several minutes, it abruptly gave a hop and bounded away.

    “Ah…” Selkie sounded disappointed.

    But her disappointment didn’t last for long, because moments later, the pink slime came hopping back. It leaped up and down in front of her.

    “You want me to follow you?”

    The slime didn’t respond, and it continued jumping up and down.

    She wasn’t sure whether that counted as a yes or no, but she decided to go along with it for now.

    Selkie pulled herself up to her feet, and right away the Slime started hopping away. Selkie followed it for several minutes before the pink glob came to a rest near a sweet-smelling grove of plants. It settled on top of a yellow-ish looking flower slightly further away and started munching on it.

    “Aren’t these…” Selkie took the Healing Grass that she bought from the Alchemist’s shop as a reference, and compared the two. They were an exact match.

    The silver-haired girl was slightly dumbfounded, but later, with a smile on her face, she knelt down and started gathering them. There were only 7 healing plants here in this patch, but it was better than nothing.

    A short while later, Selkie wiped the sweat away from her forehead and put away the grass in her Item Box. She stood and gave a little bow to the Pink Slime, who was still nomming on the yellow flower from earlier.

    “Thank you, Slime-chan. I didn’t know very much about your species before, but you’ve been very kind to me.”

    Selkie took out the Speedy Tuna Fillet from her Item Box and placed it on the ground.

    “Please have this.”

    The Pink Slime didn’t make any verbal or visible sign of acknowledgement, but somehow Selkie had a feeling it was happy (she wasn’t imagining it ...probably...). This made her feel slightly fuzzy and warm on the inside.

    It seemed like she had more affinity with slimes that she expected.

    As for whether Selkie thought she could successfully exterminate a slime or not……

    No, no way. It was out of the question.

    Selkie shook her head rigorously as she walked back to the river.

    There was no way she could possibly take the E-ranked slime-slaying quest.

    Slimes were way too cute.


    * * *​


    Evening, Day 2, Moonlight Lake

    It was nightfall by the time Selkie made it to Moonlight Lake.

    The second half of her journey had been an upstream trek against the current, so she had to work a little harder to make good time. However, the trip passed without any incidents.

    When Selkie finished putting together a nesting spot on the rocks, the moon was already high in the sky. The air was chilly because they were fairly high up in the foothills of the mountains, but stars were crystal clear. It was the perfect weather for star gazing.

    She didn’t have very much time to spare though, and Selkie spent most of the first part of the evening searching for Moonlight Flowers glowing with dim light.

    It took some time, but eventually she found everything that she needed.

    Then Selkie hauled the cauldron out of the Item Box, but when she removed the lid, she was quite surprised to find that that the water in the cauldron from yesterday at the Inn was still quite warm.

    Could it be that the dimensional storage of the Item Box was a pretty good heat insulator? Or was it just the cauldron’s properties?

    Well, Selkie certainly didn’t have any complaints, and she decided to take a bath in the cauldron again. Out in the open air, the beautiful scenery of Moonlight Lake practically glittered in the moonlight. It was kind of like being at an luxurious onsen -- she had never been at a hot spring before, but hey, she could dream, right?

    Maybe one day, when she had more money… and actual friends, she’d go.

    Selkie lowered her face under the surface of the bath until only her eyes were above the water level. In the setting of the cold mountain air, lots of steam rose from the surface of the bath, and everything looked foggy to her. However, her surroundings were quiet and peaceful, and Selkie felt truly fortunate to be able to relax like this two nights in a row.

    Being kicked out of her village to search for missing seals wasn’t nearly as bad as she thought it was going to be.

    If only her old best friend could see this, too. She really liked the stars, and Selkie was positive they had never seen the night sky as clearly as this before. Out here, they shined like crystals, vibrant and radiant shards in the sky. Selkie could imagine the way her friend would beam and laugh while pointing out the Milky Way, Altair, and Vega if she were here.

    Selkie grew slightly melancholy when she thought about her best friend.

    Well, in some ways she technically wasn’t really her best friend anymore.

    The gloomy remembrances hovered like a rain cloud.

    She had been effectively disowned by her village. Even the people whom she thought was her friends voted unanimously to send her as tribute to satisfy the Queen’s decree. Every village in the Seal-Folk Kingdom was mandated to send one seal at the minimum to investigate the missing seals in the Land-World.

    And it wasn’t the first time this had happened in the past, either. Everyone knew that the Human Kingdom had been capturing seals and selling them on the black market for centuries. For some reason though, the Queen always insisted on sending an investigative expedition each time a major disappearance happened every few years.

    Since she was born, the Mandate had happened maybe once or twice in her memories.

    Everyone knew that those who were sent away, never, ever came back.

    They were as good as dead.

    Their names were carved on a Monument. After that, in the seal villages, nobody spoke of them again.

    For an exiled seal, this is what it meant to go on a Adventure in the Land-World.

    It meant a certain degree of loneliness, a certain degree of emptiness. To lose your name and heritage, to chart uncharted territory, to give up “Home” and embrace the void and the vastness of this world. Out here, alone in the mountains, Selkie could feel it.

    She felt small.

    Everything was so vast.

    The mountains were so vast. The lake was so beautiful. The silence was so pervasive.

    It was so intimidating.

    Where her journey in the Land-World would take her, Selkie had no idea.

    She’d most likely never be able to go home again..

    Maybe she’d never find any kind of home again.

    She had very little money, no friends, and very little of anything at all.

    Maybe she’d die, or starve, or be imprisoned by cruel humans from the Holy Empire of Man.

    Maybe she’d wither away alone, far far away from the ocean, bereft of anything warm or familiar.

    Selkie breathed deeply and closed her eyes.

    Positive thoughts.

    Think positive thoughts.

    At times like these, it was best to live in the moment, and take everything in. It was better to absorb it all, and burn the impression of this moment into her memories. The scenery truly was beautiful, and Selkie wanted to be grateful for it.

    The Present was beautiful, and it would be a waste if she let the moment slip by while dwelling on the aches of the past or the uncertainties of the future.


    * * *​


    Noon, Day 3, En-Route to Frontier Town

    In the end, Selkie stayed in the bath until the water became lukewarm. Then she refilled the cauldron with Moonlight Water as well as Yuzu’s crystal bottle and her waterskins. With that, the quest could be considered done, and Selkie went to bed feeling tranquil.

    She woke early the next morning and started her return journey in the river.

    Around noon, she stopped for lunch again near the ruins of old Adventurer’s City.

    Much to her surprise, Selkie encountered the same Pink Slime there again, except this time there were two of them.

    “Oh, you brought one of your friends this time?” Selkie remarked as they went through a similar routine as the previous day.

    The second slime was blue, and unlike the pink one, it wasn’t warm to touch.

    Well, they were both docile enough, and after Selkie fed them two of her random fish that she obtained from Delta Town, Selkie followed the slimes while they grazed until she found the remaining Healing Grass that she needed.

    “This isn’t your boyfriend, is it?” Selkie asked the Pink Slime before she left.

    However, the Pink Slime, like always, didn’t even respond in the slightest and continued chewing on its food with a focused look on its cute face. Honestly, they were a bit like jellyfish. No matter what you said to them, they never react, which was kind of nice it’s own way.

    “Huh? A kuudere, are you? You’re sure you’re not dating?”

    Still no response from the slime.

    Selkie gave a wry smile.

    “Well, I hope you get along with your friend. Try not to fight too much.”

    And with that, Selkie was on her way.


    * * *​


    Evening, Day 3, Floating City of Aeternus, Library

    Selkie made it back to Aeternus around midnight. She went straight to the library because she knew that the Hikikomorineet would definitely be awake at this hour.

    When she walked in though, she did not expect to be confronted by drama immediately though.

    “You! Selkie-chan! Thank goodness you’re back!” Yuzu shot up and nearly tackled Selkie as soon as she entered the back room.

    “Ugu!”

    The black-haired librarian was way stronger than she looked.

    “There’s an emergency and I need your help!”

    “H-huh? But I just came back!”

    “Never mind that for now! You can rest later! This is a life-or-death emergency!”

    “E-eh?! Life-or-death?”

    “Yes! I need you to bring back a bottle of nectar. You’ll find it in the giant beehives in Verdant Forest. If you go now, you might make it back just barely in time, but you need to hurry! Time is slipping away!”

    “E-eh?! H-hold on?!”

    “Selkie-chan, are we friends or not? Friends count on each other, right?”

    “F-friends?!”

    “Here, I have an antique teleport gate in my closet wardrobe. Not many people know this, but it leads directly to one of the few surviving teleport gates in the ruins of the Old Adventurer’s City. I was really lucky to get my hands on it!”

    Yuzu pulled Selkie’s hands and brought her to Yuzu’s closet. She used her free hand to pull open the knob, leaving the wardrobe door wide open.

    “Ah wait!” Selkie cried out, “I’ll go! I’ll definitely help out and I’ll go in a second, but hold on a moment!”

    The silver-haired maiden, a little ruffled from the the fast-paced reunion, hurriedly pulled out her Item Box and withdrew the crystal bottle filled with Moonlight Water as well as the cauldron. She she placed them down and met Yuzu’s eyes.

    “These are for you,” Selkie smiled slightly. “...for a friend.”

    The word seemed strange and unfamiliar on Selkie’s tongue. She wasn’t fully sure if her heart was fully ready to call someone that word, but the librarian had said it first. It couldn’t hurt to exercise saying a little word like that, right?

    Yuzu seemed a little at loss for a moment, but a bright smile lightened up her face.

    “Yes, friends.”

    She laughed and helped Selkie into the wardrobe.

    “I’ll be waiting for you. Be safe.”


    * * *​


    Overnight, Day 4, En-Route to Verdant Forest

    Nobody had tested that antique teleport gate in a long time.

    Selkie could tell, because as soon as her senses came to her, she was in the midst of a goblin camp in the middle of the ruins of the Old Adventurer’s City. Nobody told her the teleport gate was presently occupied by a small goblin settlement.

    Uh…

    It was time to run!

    And indeed, Selkie spent most of the early hours of the morning being chased around the ruins of the Old Adventurer’s City. She used her magic to smack a couple goblins in the face with some small pellets of water, but they weren’t the kind of thing that could do much damage. At best, they were a stinging nuisance and good as a distraction.

    Anyhow, by the time dawn cracked over the horizon, somehow Selkie made her way out of that goblin-infested hell hole.

    At that point, the seal-maiden was seriously exhausted and completely wiped! She hadn’t slept at all. Was it really such an urgent emergency that Yuzu needed her to leave immediately? If she had waited until morning to leave via Frontier Town, she only would have gotten here by lunchtime.

    Panting, Selkie collapsed onto the grass to catch her breath.

    She sprawled backwards so she was looking up at the sky, which was starting to glow rosy colors from the rising sun.

    Suddenly, a warm squishy pink thing plopped heavily onto her face.

    !!!

    Selkie picked the squishy thing up in her hands and placed it on her belly.

    “You again,” Selkie said simply.

    She took a look around her, and this time there were three slimes accompanying the pink slime today. They were blue (not-the-boyfriend), red, and yellow.

    “You sure have a lot of friends,” Selkie told the Pink Slime.

    Her pulse still beating quickly from the chase, Selkie rolled to her side and pulled out her Item Box. She paused for a moment to think. She only had a three fish remaining, and there were four slimes, so maybe it was a better idea to feed them something else.

    In the end, Selkie decided to take out her seaweed snacks, and she gave one to each slime.

    “Sorry I don’t have more.” She gave a quiet laugh, “I’m a poor beginner adventurer. You guys are nice though, so I don’t mind sharing with you, even if I don’t have much. I don’t really know why, but when you’re around, I feel a little less homesick, somehow.”

    She closed her eyes briefly.

    She was sleepless and tired.

    “Is that why you have so many friends? Would it get too lonely otherwise?”

    Selkie remarked essentially rhetorically, not even expecting a response.

    As usual, the Pink Slime didn’t react even the slightest.

    Selkie smiled.

    “It’s nice to have people I can count on.”

    Selkie folded her arms and pulled the Pink Slime closer to her chest like it was a pillow.

    “Hey, Slime-chan? If I take a short nap, will you wake me up in an hour? Let me know if anything interesting happens?”

    There was no response, except for the sensation of the Pink Slime trying to wiggle its way out of her embrace. It was a comforting warmth, and Selkie dozed her way off for a quick rest as the sun slowly climbed higher above the sea of golden grass that swayed in the gentle breeze.


    * * *​


    Morning, Day 4, Verdant Forest

    Looming trees and dark shade, beckoning yet uncanny.

    Selkie clenched her fists tightly and entered. This was her first time in a forest, and frankly it made her feel nervous to be in such an enclosed and overgrown space. She was much more comfortable in the Plains, where the sky was endless and the grass stretched to the horizon. It was very similar to the ocean, actually. The forest, on the other hand, was very different and restricted.

    She felt uneasy unable to see the sky over her head.

    Selkie hesitated only several steps past the boundary.

    She wasn’t sure she could do this. She felt her newly-discovered claustrophobia freezing her feet. Every hair and instinct on her body said it wasn’t a good idea to go any further. In the ocean, she was at home, and she was safe. There, Selkie ruled and rode the waves.

    Here, she was alone, lost, and vulnerable.

    The silver-haired girl took a deep breath and closed her eyes for a moment.

    She shook her head.

    No, no.

    No, she couldn’t do it.

    She was a fish out of the water. Selkie knew herself well enough to be realistic. First she’d get lost, then she’d panic, exhaust her water supplies, and she’d be stuck in the forest after nightfall when all sorts of dangerous beasts roamed. Selkie wasn’t even that strong. This wasn’t possible. Definitely not possible.

    Certainly not alone.

    It was impossible with no bodies of water in sight for miles.

    Selkie’s eyes snapped open as she turned around and walked back the way she came.

    However, there was determination in her eyes.

    She wasn’t giving up yet.

    It was true she couldn’t do this alone.

    However, the answer to this was simply to make sure she didn’t do this quest alone.

    After making it out of the forest, Selkie looked up to the sky, where the Floating City drifted in the distance up in the clouds. Somewhere up there, Yuzu was counting on her. She didn’t know exactly for what, but Yuzu was waiting for her. Yuzu believed in her. Her Friend asked her because she held trust for her.

    At least, she thought the librarian was her friend… probably.

    Selkie scanned the grass around her with eyes, trying to search for a certain someone.

    Ah, there it was.

    The girl squatted down on the grass beside that ubiquitous pink slime. It was munching on some tubers in the soil.

    “Hey there,” Selkie said simply, rubbing the warm slime on its head. “Is it okay if I ask for a favor?”

    She knew she probably looked silly, talking to a slime, but Selkie didn’t care.

    The slime continued chewing on its food, as usual.

    “Is it alright if you come along with me into the Forest? This onee-chan isn’t brave enough to go by herself. But if you’re around, I think I’ll have the confidence.”

    It didn’t protest when Selkie lifted the pink slime and cradled it in her arms.

    She smiled as it simply kept on nomming on its food.

    Selkie knew she was being absurd. Having one little slime with her wasn’t going to change anything. She was still as weak as she was before. It didn’t change the fact she still wasn’t strong enough to defeat a chicken. She was probably still going to get lost. Most likely, she’d still encounter some scary monster and get seriously hurt while fighting it.

    It didn’t make any rational sense for her to continue this quest.

    But friendship could lead people to do irrational things.

    And Selkie was fine with that.

    She turned around, and without the slightest hesitation in her footsteps, she advanced into the depths of Verdant Forest. Her course was straight. If she deviated at all or lost track of the direction, she’d have trouble finding her way out again, but Selkie wasn’t afraid.

    She wasn’t alone this time.


    * * *​


    Unknown Time, Day 4, Verdant Forest

    The foliage was dense enough that it wasn’t possible to see the sun. As such, Selkie had no idea how much time had passed. It felt like hours, but honestly, who could possibly know?

    The Pink Slime had finished its food long ago, and it was getting restless and wiggly in Selkie’s arms. She ended up feeding it two of her remaining fish, but before long, she exhausted that too.

    Everything was unfamiliar to her. The trees, the plants, the scenery; just about everything. If she spent time trying to look them all up in her Encyclopedia, she could probably spend all day here.

    Selkie stumbled on an exposed root in the ground and fought to regain her balance.

    “Ah…”

    The Pink Slime slipped out of her arms and it started hopping away.

    The silver-haired seal maiden clenched her fists as she made the split second decision whether to pursue the slime or stay on the trail. If she left the straight course she was going on, she wouldn’t be able to find her way back out of the Forest.

    Voices appeared in Selkie’s head as she debated with her own conscience.

    Do you trust your friend? Do you trust that slime?

    Don’t lie to yourself. It’s just a mindless slime that simply likes food. It doesn’t even like you that much in particular. Has it ever responded to you properly?

    It led me to the healing grass before.

    Healing grass is a dime a dozen in the plains. Slimes like magical plants, and if you followed any old slime for long enough, you’d find some healing plants eventually.

    I thought we had some kind of special connection.

    It’s your imagination. You’re projecting your feelings onto a non-sentient beast that everyone knows has the brain of a jellyfish.

    Do I trust my feelings? Or do I trust my common sense?

    If you follow that slime and end up lost, you’ll be wandering in this forest for weeks. You don’t have friends. You don’t have family. No one will come looking for you. You’ll get eaten by the wolves out here.

    But there’s Yuzu the Librarian...

    We both know she’s taking advantage of you. She a Hikikomorineet that wouldn’t lift a finger if you didn’t come back.

    But...

    Selkie closed her eyes and silenced the voices in her head.

    She made her decision.

    Selkie leaped off her trail and chased after the Pink Slime.

    Maybe she would regret this, but she wanted to believe. She wanted to have faith, even if there was so little to believe in. If she didn’t make it out of this, then so be it. This was something Selkie was willing to accept.

    She felt a tight knot in her chest suddenly as she ran.

    Maybe she wanted to believe so badly because she wanted others -- like her best friend -- to believe in her.

    Even though they didn’t back then.

    Even though her neighbors were probably doing the most rational, sensible thing, to vote her as the unwilling tribute, since Selkie’s father whom she’s never met was supposedly a human fisherman.

    It was objective. It was democratic. It made sense. Selkie understood that perfectly.

    But why couldn’t they believe?

    Why was it so irrational to believe, sometimes?

    Selkie wiped the corners of her eyes as she concentrated on following that little slime, focusing on not tripping on any brambles or protruding rocks while running. That little pink blob was much faster than Selkie had ever imagined.

    Ah… and why was she crying?

    It didn’t make any sense, and it was terrible timing. Rationally speaking, Selkie didn’t think she felt sad, and she was positive they weren’t happy tears either. They kind of came from nowhere, and Selkie didn’t understand herself well enough to know why she was reacting this way.

    Privately, she chided herself for making no sense.

    Why did the tears always come at the most inconvenient times?

    Selkie fought against the tears that dribbled down her cheeks and managed the slightest smile.

    She believed.

    Even if there was no reason to believe, she believed.

    As she reaffirmed this, her sprint broke out into a wide clearing in the forest.


    * * *​


    Noon, Day 4, Verdant Forest, Giant Hornet Nest

    Selkie saw the Pink Slime, straight ahead, under what looked like a giant flower. It was chewing on… was that Giant Flower Seeds?

    That aside, the more urgent issue was that this clearing looked like a imminent warzone.

    There were maybe hundreds of Giant Hornets flying around and buzzing everywhere. There were so many that it was practically a dark cloud of insects, and Selkie immediately had cold shivers run down her spine.

    In the background, there were plenty of giant beehives -- these must have been the things that Yuzu mentioned that contained nectar.

    But this was crazy!

    There was no way she would be able to get close to any of those with some many Giant Hornets flying around. They looked extremely agitated and aggressive, too.

    Suddenly, in the corner of her vision, she saw one furious-looking Giant Hornet making a beeline for the Pink Slime, who was innocently sitting there munching away at a Giant Flower Seed in the corner.

    “Slime-chan!” Selkie cried out, alarmed.

    She drew a liter of water from the large waterskin that she carried on her back, and hastily shot it at the Giant Hornet to intercept it from its course. The blob of water accelerated and struck the insect exactly on target. On impact, it stunned the hornet and sent it tumbling to the ground, twitching. Several seconds later, it rolled to its legs and tried flapping its wings, but it was unable to get airborne again because its wings were waterlogged.

    The Giant Hornet looked angrier than before and it spun around on the ground, glaring at Selkie.

    Selkie didn’t stop in her tracks though. She ran to the Pink Slime’s side and picked it up in her arms again.

    This wasn’t worth it. There were too many hornets. Selkie only carried 10L of water in her pouch, and she already spent a tenth of it to knock one Giant Hornet out of the air. It would hardly take minutes before she ran out of water, and then she be absolutely helpless.

    Selkie spun around, just in time to see the grounded Giant Hornet begin charging at her like a raging bear. Behind it, she could see the entire hive mobilizing into the air. It seemed like they had angered the entire nest.

    The silver-haired girl shot another pellet of water at the Giant Hornet’s face and quickly retreated back into the woods with the slime in her hands. They had to run, fast. Selkie knew the odds weren’t optimistic, since obviously they could fly faster than she could run. However, she didn’t have a choice right now.

    Ducking under a low-hanging branch, Selkie scrambled through the forest undergrowth, breathing heavily. Her thoughts were racing, as she tried to figure out what she could possibly do to save them both. The adreneline pulsed through her blood, and Selkie could barely feel it when the thorns on bramble vines raked at her skin.

    As long as she could find water… they could get out of this… probably.

    The buzz of a Giant Hornet catching up came too close for comfort, and Selkie shot it out of the sky.

    Seven shots remaining.

    Left? Right? Forward? Selkie had no idea which way to run. Everything looked the same to her, and Selkie wasn’t even sure there was water to be found anywhere.

    Deep inside, Selkie remembered from Yuzu’s map that the nearest body of water was Autumn Lake (who knew what direction that was?), but that entire area was marked as a danger zone. Also it was probably very far away.

    Firing two more heavy slugs of water at more hornets that was immediately on their tail, Selkie hugged the Pink Slime tightly to her chest and vaulted over a giant dead log, her heart racing. It didn’t look good. The main body of the hive had already essentially caught up, and she doubted they’d be able to run any further.

    Selkie folded her knees to the ground and learned her head back against the mossy side of a fallen giant sequoia tree, which served as extremely poor cover for now, and she closed her eyes momentarily.

    She was going to die, wasn’t she?

    They were completely cornered.

    Selkie summoned the remaining water from her water skin, and she circulated them in the air as five floating bluish orbs. These were her final lifelines.

    At this point, she was only delaying the inevitable.

    That moment, a small gentle hop in her lap distracted her racing thoughts.

    Selkie glanced down at the Pink Slime on her thighs. Reflexively, she brought a hand to pat it, and she rubbed the warm fluffy ball softly.

    “Even now, you’re not afraid?” Selkie murmured.

    The Pink Slime was, as always, wordless. It only met Selkie’s eyes, and it looked very calm. If anything, it looked as deadpan and untroubled as it always did.

    She gave a slightly bitter smile.

    “It was really nice knowing you. I don’t have any regrets. Though…”

    Selkie rubbed its cute head and she exhaled.

    “I’m sorry for dragging you into my mess.”

    The seal maiden felt like she reached the closure she needed, and she felt better after saying that. Who knew if the slime could actually understand her at all, but at least Selkie felt better about herself. It was her own silly fault that she was such a sentimental mess.

    In her hands, Selkie suddenly felt something slimy in her palms.

    She looked down, and the Pink Slime was coughing up something gooey into her hands.

    This was… Rainbow Slime Gel?

    What was that for? The Pink Slime wasn’t even a Rainbow Slime (at least, Selkie had assumed).

    Selkie quizzically looked at her little slime friend, and after it finished regurgitating a small mound of gel, it burped.

    “Uh… thank you?”

    Selkie wasn’t sure if she understood, but for now she’d think of it as a gift. As out-of-place as it was, it did make her feel a little happy on the inside though. Her spirit felt light. Even though she was cornered and the specter of death was looming above her, Selkie didn’t feel afraid. She played with the gel in her fingers, and Selkie felt tranquil.

    At that point, the Pink Slime jumped up and used Selkie’s head as a stepping stone before it hopped back over dead sequoia tree back in the direction they had come from.

    Alarmed, Selkie rolled to her knees and called after the slime.

    “Where are you going?! That way is...”

    Selkie’s eyes widened as she saw an enormous dark cloud of giant insects rapidly approaching like a tsunami wave.

    The only thing separating her and the massive haze of Giant Hornets was one little pink slime.

    “You’re kidding me…”

    The Pink Slime didn’t even slow down. It kept hopping forward at a steady leisurely pace.

    “I can’t watch this,” Selkie whispered painfully, and closed her eyes.

    But no squeak of a distressed slime came.

    Selkie slowly opened her eyes, and she was beholden to the absurd scene of hundreds of green slimes raining from the sky. Hundreds upon hundreds. They smashed into the enormous charging armada of Giant Hornets like a green meteorite shower.

    And her pink slime kept lackadaisically hopping forward as dozens of green slimes and hornets went tumbling to the ground by the second.

    Tumbling~ Raining~ Tumbling~

    “No way…”

    That Pink Slime can’t somehow be involved with this, right?

    Later on, Selkie would ask Yuzu about this incredible event, and Yuzu would explain to her that this was actually ordinary behavior of Green Tree Slimes. Apparently, Green Tree Slimes were highly territorial, and if they perceived their colony as threatened, they could take on some of the most dangerous creatures in Verdant Forest.

    Upon hearing this, Selkie wasn’t entirely convinced though.

    In her mind, she was fully convinced that somehow her little cute Pink Slime had something to do with this miraculous event.

    But at times like these, it’s impossible to reconcile science and pure faith.

    But honestly, whichever it was, it didn’t matter, because her friend was safe.

    And that was the only thing that mattered.


    * * *​


    Selkie vaulted over the the sequoia tree and rushed to follow the Pink Slime.

    She dodged falling slimes and the odd Giant Hornet stinger, but she wasn’t afraid.

    Almost every few seconds, Selkie felt her heart skip a beat as she spotted a Giant Hornet charging at her little slime friend. It didn’t even flinch or attempt to dodge, and it kept lumbering on forward completely oblivious to the battle going on around it. Several times, Selkie had to fling a water bullet to ward away an assailant that was inches away from blowing her little pink friend to smitherins with a giant stinger.

    At this point, Selkie was nearly positive that her Pink Slime was a total jellyfish-brained idiot.

    If she wasn’t there, it would have died five times over.

    That cute pinkish blob had no sense of self-preservation whatsoever.

    It was like it somehow knew everything was going to turn out just fine even if it kept lumbering onward.

    Actually, if you thought about it that way, did that make the Pink Slime some kind of genious?

    Frankly, Selkie had no idea what to think. Genious slime? Jellyfish-brained? Honestly whichever it was, she didn’t care. It was still her precious traveling companion no matter which it was.

    Selkie slowed down as they returned to the clearing with the giant beehives. Slimes and Giant Hornets were still clashing around them like fireworks, but there was enough commotion going on that Selkie didn’t feel like they were imminent danger.

    The Pink Slime hopped its way back under the Giant Flower where one of its seeds previously laid half-eaten from earlier. It landed on top of the Giant Seed with a satisfied plop, and it resumed munching on its interrupted meal.

    Selkie wiped her eyes with her sleeves and ran to the Pink Slime, immediately wrapping her arms around with a tight hug.

    “You stupid baka slime,” she whispered, her eyes welling and puffy. “Don’t you ever dare do that again. I thought I lost you!”

    She squeezed tightly, and the Pink Slime wiggled in her arms.

    “No,” Selkie retorted sternly. “I’m not letting go. No way.”

    She nuzzled against the soft, fluffy, and warm little monster.

    Her cheeks were caked with dried tears, and she probably looked like a total mess, but Selkie didn’t care.

    To her, this was happiness, and she didn’t care what anyone else thought.


    * * *​


    Afternoon, Day 4, Verdant Forest, Giant Hornet Nest

    The battle between Green Tree Slimes vs. Giant Hornets ended up as a total rout for the insect faction.

    The former Giant Hornet nest was presently crawling with the occupying green slimes, which were presently munching on everything remotely edible. Selkie wasn’t sure if she imagined it, but she could swear that she maybe saw a festive glint in their eyes (though they were otherwise equally as stoic as her pink Slime-chan).

    After all, included in the spoils of war was nearly two dozen Giant Beehives that were filled with a boatload of Nectar, as well as plenty of Giant Flowers for everyone.

    The Green Slime species were true gluttons though, and Selkie had to struggle in order to barely collect just 5 Flower Seeds and the Nectar required for the quest.

    Since she had spent all of her water in the previous few hours, she even filled up her large waterskin with the sweet Nectar, since she had completely run out of other bottles and miscellaneous containers.

    It didn’t take very long for everything to get eaten, which at that point Selkie soon found herself surrounded by countless Green Tree Slimes swarming at her feet, apparently curious about this seal-maiden stranger.

    Selkie laughed as they crawled over her because they were ticklish, but otherwise they were completely harmless.

    She quite liked these slimes.

    While she struggled to free her hands, she glanced over at the Pink Slime, who was some distance away with its own large entourage. If she had to guess, they were probably having a heartwarming conversation of some sorts.

    Selkie inched onto her feet, and with great difficulty (there were slimes all over her, after all), got out her Item Box. From inside, she took out everything that she had left that she didn’t otherwise need for a quest. From bits of sandwhich, seaweed, cheese, to random pieces of scrap paper, Selkie left these for the massive crowd of green slimes that were crawling around her legs.

    It wasn’t much at all, but it was the most she could give.

    Somehow, she had the vague sense that slimes were a species that really liked to exchange gifts.

    This wasn’t anything backed by empirical evidence or anything -- it was just vague intuition that Selkie had in her chest. If possible, she wanted to be able to express her thanks on their terms.

    Selkie bowed slightly. Then, she struggled to make her way to the side of the Pink Slime.

    When she got there, she knelt down on the grass.

    At that moment, her Pink Slime, including all the slimes in the entourage, looked up at her simultaneously.

    That really took Selkie by surprise.

    Normally, the Pink Slime had always ignored her. Whenever she said anything or did anything, even the Pink Slime barely ever made the slightest motion of acknowledgment. It never affirmed, but it also never protested. It was just like Selkie wasn’t even there. Yuzu would later tell her that this is normal -- slimes have among some of the poorest intellectual capacities of all monsters in the World (they didn’t have brains) -- they really were the jellyfish of the Land-World.

    However, the fact that the slimes actually stopped in the middle of what they were doing in order to look at her, this was truly unusual.

    Selkie even felt a little flustered.

    “I-I w-wanted to thank you all again. All of you.” Selkie stammered.

    She bowed her head suddenly as the slimes continued to stare wordlessly at her.

    “You saved me. I don’t know how I could ever repay you.”

    Selkie raised her eyes slowly and brought her gaze to the Pink Slime, who looked emotionless and stoic as usual. Selkie gave a small smile and reached out with her hand to rub it on its head.

    “You especially, little one. You have so many friends that you can count on, it never ceases to amaze me. I think I will always be jealous.”

    Selkie searched for words to say, but nothing came out.

    After much difficulty, her whispered hoarsely, like something was caught in her throat:

    “I-I’ll… miss… you a lot.”

    She continued while stroking its warm, soft surface.

    “You have such a good home here. So many nice friends, wonderful family... I don’t think I could live with a good conscious if I took you away from all of this... so please… Slime-chan… treasure this. Treasure everything that you have in front of you, because it is very precious.”

    Selkie went quiet again.

    Her throat was dry, and she felt hot.

    If she stayed any longer, she felt like she would cry again.

    “I… I guess this goodbye, then.”

    Selkie stood up abruptly. She couldn’t bear to keep drawing this out for much longer.

    Quickly turning around, she suddenly felt the hem of her sealskin catch on something. A thought flashed in Selkie’s head, and she wheeled back around.

    Could it be…?

    But her face went pale immediately afterwards when she saw what it was.

    No way…

    No… no… no… no!

    The blood completely drained from Selkie’s face.

    “...”

    The Pink Slime had decided to make a snack out of Selkie’s Item Box.

    With a gulp, it swallowed the entire thing whole, and gave a satisfied burp.

    “You stupid baka slime!!!” Selkie cried out.

    She felt her sullen mood do a complete 180-turn.

    “You can’t eat that!! Spit it out right now! Spit it out right this instant you useless fat piece of jelly!”

    But as exasperated and distraught as she felt, a smile returned to Selkie’s face. It was like magic. Just one little thing, and she could already feel the brightness returning to her life.

    Even if it was a pain, that was what friends were for, after all.

    Probably.


    * * *​


    Epilogue, Floating City of Aeternus, Library


    “So what happened after that?” Yuzu asked as she poured a spoonful of mysterious powder into a blender.

    They were in the kitchen in the Library in the Floating City of Aeternus.

    As for why there is a kitchen in the Library? Well, that is a story for another time.

    Selkie gave a gentle smile as she stroked the pink slime that presently sat in her lap.

    “Well, this little glutton refused to spit it out. No matter what I said, I never saw that Item Box ever again.”

    “Uh-huh. So basically you ended up failing all of your quests and losing all of your money.”

    “Right.”

    Selkie said this, but she didn’t seem upset at all. If anything, she even looked happy.

    “There must be some way to get it out, you know?” Yuzu remarked.

    “No way,” Selkie vehemently and flatly refused.

    Then, she followed up with an explanation: “I did ask the receptionist later, and they did say they probably did have a method to extract it, but it would probably destroy Slime-chan in the process. So of course I objected. They’re still haven’t informed me whether they’ll issue another Item Box to me though.”

    The silver-haired seal maiden pouted as Yuzu patted her gently on the head.

    “I’m sure it’ll work out just fine. I do think it’s odd that it ate your Item Box though. Most slimes don’t like eating inorganic things.”

    “Yeah, he’s a total glutton. He eats basically everything. I have this theory that he’s warm because maybe he ate a fire crystal a long time ago in the past.”

    “He?” Yuzu asked quizzically.

    “Oh yeah, I decided that Slime-chan was male.”

    “...Most slimes don’t have genders you know? Besides, it’s pink.”

    “I know. But after spending some time with him, I just had this feeling he was kind of male-ish.”

    “Shouldn’t it be Slime-kun then?”

    “Slime-chan is a cuter name.”

    Yuzu sighed and smiled privately to herself as she returned to stirring crushed Ice Crystals into the blender. She pressed a button, and it hummed as it chopped up the contents inside.

    Suddenly, Selkie spoke up with a question.

    “By the way, what kind of emergency was the Nectar for, anyways?”

    “This.”

    The blender stopped running, and Yuzu picked it up and poured the concoction into two large glasses. She placed one right in front of Selkie. The Pink Slime eyed it hungrily.

    “Venti Green Tea Frappuccino, four pumps of matcha, half sugar, with whip.”

    “...a what?”

    “Something unbelievably delicious. Better than the best ice cream you can find in Adventurer’s City.”

    Selkie was quiet for a moment, then she exploded.

    “You sent me to hell and back?!!! For this thing?!!!!”

    Yuzu an impenetrable tight smile on her poker face.

    “Ahaha….. haha… hah…… I’m busted… but it turned okay, right?”

    “I nearly died!!!!!”

    “Eh? But since it’s you, it should be fine. You have plot armor you know?”

    “I don’t care about plot armor or whatever the hell that is! Give me my money back!!! Do you realize how mortifying it is to report to the Guild Receptionist that I failed all of my quests?! I’m completely broke now!!”

    As Selkie fumed, she took a sip from her glass and coughed immediately.

    “Bleh!” She exclaimed. “It’s way too bitter!”

    “Eh? Really? You think so? I thought it needed more matcha.”

    “No thank you! Please make mine sappy and fluffy and sweet next time!”

    “I thought it was already too sappy…”

    “This matcha stuff tastes terrible! I hate matcha!”

    Yuzu sighed, and she started cleaning the blender.

    Well, maybe next time, she’d make something better.

    It probably wasn’t a good idea to bully protagonist-chan too much.

    But at least for tonight, another chapter had been finished.

    Even if it was meandering and messy and oddly shaped, it was still something she could call her own.

    After Yuzu hung up glasses that she washed in the sink, she returned to the study room and found Selkie sound asleep and curled up on a sofa, the Pink Slime tangled warmly in her arms.

    The black-haired girl took a long look, and pulled a blanket up over the seal maiden's shoulders.

    "Goodnight," she whispered. "Sorry for putting you through something so self-indulgent and tasteless. I'll make it up to you, I promise."

    Then she turned off the lights.

    Quests:
    Great Plain - #SE1 - E-Ranked - Slay 20 Slimes [ 50 G ]
    • Status: Failed. Slimes are too cute.
    Great Plain - #GE1 - E-Ranked – Gather 10 Moonlight Flower & 10 Healing Plants [ 50G | 1 x Rejuvenation Potion ]
    • Status: Failed. My pet slime ate it all.
    Great Plain - #GE2 - E-Ranked – Gather 3 Moonlight Water [ 50G | 1 x Bottled Purified Moonlight Water]
    • Status: Failed. My pet slime ate it all (though there still might be some extra lying around at Yuzu’s place).
    Great Plain - #GD1 - D-Ranked - Gather 5 Rainbow Slime Gel [ 120G | 1 x Rainbow Gel ]
    • Status: Failed. Obtained only [1/5] Rainbow Slime Gel
    Great Plain - #GD2 - D-Ranked - Gather 10 Nectar [ 120 G | 1 x Butterfly Honey ]
    • Status: Failed. My pet slime ate it all.
    Great Plain - #GD3 - D-Ranked - Gather 5 Flower seeds [ 80 G | 1 x Butterfly Flower ]
    • Status: Failed. My pet slime ate it all.

    Inventory:
    • Item Box - lost (and everything in it)
    • Money - lost (now 0G)
    • Gained a Pink Slime pet
    • Gained 1x Rainbow Slime Gel
    • Gained a cauldron (currently lent to the NPC Yuzu)
     
    Last edited: Dec 29, 2016
  4. AliceShiki

    AliceShiki 『Ms. Tree』『Magical Girl of Love and Justice』

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    It looks good now! \(^^)/
     
    Tang Tang likes this.
  5. AliceShiki

    AliceShiki 『Ms. Tree』『Magical Girl of Love and Justice』

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    <.<
    >.>

    There were no Teleport Gates back in the days of the Adventurer's City! >.<

    They were made when we created Aeternus!

    Maybe Yuzu-chan (*giggles*) got something that actually just teleports you to the city? Maybe somebody made something like that to easily go to the city in times of need...



    And uhn... Sorry for your loss, I hope you can do better next time...

    I'll leave it to Onee-chan, but I'm pretty sure we can give you a new item box at the very least, ganbatte Selkie-chan, don't let this one time discourage you!
     
    Carm, Bielt and selkie like this.
  6. selkie

    selkie [kuragehime] [jellyfish lover] [swish swish]

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    >.>
    <.<

    OTL

    Reacchi used a teleport gate on her first quest, but I guess that counts as non-canon. XDDD Oh well!
     
    Bielt likes this.
  7. Bielt

    Bielt 『Planets Eater』『The Sin of Animosity』

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    Hahaha~

    The teleport gates were made by shadow or me~

    There are some few things in the old quests that are not exactly matching the lore~ ^^
     
  8. LittleFox21

    LittleFox21 The Soon-to-be famous Nyatsune

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    =======================================================
    Great Plain - #SE1 - E-Ranked - Slay 20 Slimes [ 50 G ]
    Great Plain - #GE1 - E-Ranked – Gather 10 Moonlight Flower & 10 Healing Plants [ 50G | 1 x Rejuvenation Potion ]
    Great Plain - #GE2 - E-Ranked – Gather 3 Moonlight Water [ 50G | 1 x Bottled Purified Moonlight Water]
    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 - #GD3 - D-Ranked - Gather 5 Flower seeds [ 80 G | 1 x Butterfly Flower ]
    ========================================================
    ...
    .....
    ...........
    erm. maybe we should ask some tamers to get that poring spit out your item box, deri....
    or maybe i can help, deri. but you must bring that slime here first deriyo?
    i don't know which poring ate your item box so...
     
    Bielt and selkie like this.
  9. Blackhole32

    Blackhole32 Well-Known Member

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    Great Plain - #SE5 - E-Ranked - Slay 15 Kobolds [ 100 G ]
    Great Plain - #SD5 - D-Ranked - Slay 1 Kobold Leader [ 120 G ]
    Great Plain - #SD6 - D-Ranked - Slay 10 Wild Crows [ 100 G ]
    Great Plain - #SD7 - D-Ranked - Slay 5 Bandits [ 150 G ]
    Great Plain - #SE2 - E-Ranked - Slay 10 Goblins [ 50 G ]
    Great Plain - #SE3 - E-Ranked - Slay 15 Orcs [ 50 G ]

    Solo

    @brasca123

    ________________________________________________________

    “Granted, good luck on your first quest Xeir-chan! Take care!”

    A girl in cute magical girl’s uniform spoke in cheerful tone. She’s a receptionist in the adventurer’s guild that Xeir asked for her registration and start her life as an adventurer once again.

    “Thank you”

    She replied. After she gathered some information about where she is at the tavern and around the town, she found that this realm has many similarities to many universes she used to visited. First, this is the [Floating City of Aeturnus], the town where the main adventurer’s guild is located. As far as she can see, there’s only clouds far from the town. That’s mean this curtain island is a flying island like the name implies.

    Further investigation at the Library of Aeturnus made her learned that the floating city is actually built not long ago after the destruction of the old [Adventurer City]. Realizing that this realm isn’t very kind to its dwellers, one of the fastest and riskiest way to gain money for living is, like the others, being an adventurer.

    ‘Now… that should be the teleportation complex’


    After walking for some distance from the HQ, she found a luxury gate with the sign [Delta Town] on the gate and she entered into the void with no hesitation and appeared on other side with no difficulties, she’ve done it for many times now.

    Her destination is the [Great Plain] outside the town. It is the plain which many creatures and tribes are dwells, including her today’s target; Kobolds, Goblins and Orcs. Kobold and Goblin Tribes won’t be a problem, but the Orcs might be. She saw on the old map before the destruction of adventurer city back in the library and found the [Orc Lands] on the map. Even though there’s a quest to exterminate the orcs in the plains but the nation of Orcs is also there, won’t it be a war if the Guild continue to exterminate the Orcs? The Orc Tribes might be connected to the Orc Lands by the cave complex in the [Great East Barrier Mountain] too…

    ‘That won’t be any problem now it seems, the war might already began, too’

    Arrived the plain. The young girl came in conclusion, she will continue the quest and gain some money for her new life here, the consequences will be the guild’s responsibilities, not hers.

    ‘So… whatever you’ve done to bother the folks, don’t take it personally! Here I come, Kobolds!’

    Her first target is the Kobold Tribes. She looked at the sky and calculated the times, there should be enough time for her to finish the quest in one day.

    ‘Still, what am I? Am I a human?’

    Xeir stopped as she just remembered, she might be in this shape but her race is oftenly changes to one after another when she was reincarnated. The most frequent one is being an Oni, which is excel in pure strength.

    Smack!

    A tree was carved in and left with a hole on its trunk after Xeir tried to punch it with bare hand. The power input is totally not normal for humans but still rather weak for the race specialized in strength. If an oni was to do this, the tree should be blew away in one hit.

    ‘... Still an oni it seems… but way too weak from the last time, I don’t even feel any horns sprouting on my forehead though. I should train for more strength if I were to fight greater foes… hmm?’

    Her eyes caught four figures from far away leading this way with some speed. Looks like her act was attracted someone. Xeir looked up the tree and find a spot to hide. When she found a branch that looks sturdy enough, she quickly jumped on it.

    ‘Yep, the flexibility is still fine… now let’s see who my guests are’

    Not to wait for a long time, the four appeared. They’re in leather armor with a bull skull protecting their head. Their long lizard-like snout and short stature with overall appearance is somewhat resembled the dogs indicating that they’re definitely not human being.

    ‘A patrolling team of kobold? Their village must be nearby… did I punched the tree that loud?’

    As they came closer, their stance began to be more cautious. Bone spear in their hands is pointing forward as they were searching for intruders. They inspected the hole on the tree for a moment and chatted with themselves in the language Xeir doesn’t understand. After they found nothing around the place, they began to return to the path they were.

    Xeir’s punch isn’t actually very loud, but in the tranquil atmosphere of the plain plus the hearing abilities of the Kobolds drew the patrol group in very easily. When she thought they might returning to their village, which is also one of her quest to exterminate them, she decided to tail the targets back to their home.

    Not for so long, a camp consists about fifty members of Kobolds appeared. It’s location is near a small river and inside the same forest of the tree that she just tested her ability on. It was not a village as she was thought but rather a hunting camp.

    The four entered the camp and reported to a Kobold. That Kobold is wearing different armor than the rest, it was a in chainmail armor with a metal plate that could be iron. It was the leader of this pack.

    Xeir successfully sneaked into the camp undetected. She hided behind one of the tent and peeked to the activities inside through a hole. There’re six injured Kobolds laying on the floor with a medic turning its back to her direction.

    ‘Fresh injuries… did they fought something recently? So that’s why they’re so cautious’

    She moved to observe the whole camp. The situation of the Kobolds looked dire, There’re only 18 out of 54 including the leader and medics that still has strength to move around. Most injuries are slashing wounds, inflicted by sharp object.

    She can’t lose her guard now, there might be some battles going on here and this camp could be one of many camps… or just the only one left. Whatever made them into this bad situation might return anytime, could she handle it herself alone?

    Caw! Caw! Caw!

    Suddenly, the Kobolds panicked as the sounds of many crows appeared. From inside the forest, a black cloud was formed and heading toward the camp. It’s coming with high speed and could be easily seen from afar, they’re crows, giant crows.

    ‘One of my objective… but this is way too many! Tactical retreat commenced!’

    Xeir had a wry smile when she saw the whole flock, over hundreds of crow are blocking the light of the sun. She can’t resist to wonder what the hell did there guys do to the crows.

    When she’s going to run, a Kobold went out of the tent in panic and accidentally ran into her. When it realized there’s another intruder, it shouted to the escaping fellow comrades and charged at her at the same time.

    “Goddamnit! Mind your own busi- Ouch! That’s hurt!”

    The spear in the Kobold’s hand pierced through her sleeve and scratch her arm when she evade in surprised. There’s no blood coming out and the Kobold that aimed for the heart was surprised instead, it was like it hit a hard leather armor.

    This was another speciality of the onis, their skin is very hard and strong even the females. Their muscle might looks the same as human but far more stronger. It’d take up to twenty humans to match up against a young oni.

    Responded to the attack, Xeir grabbed the spear and pulled it suddenly, she used another hand to grab the the Kobold who was also pulled by its spear by neck and with a little effort, she broke it easily and threw the once-alive Kobold out of the way.

    “It’s my damn suit you know...?”

    [​IMG]

    She murmured at the corpse and look upon the sky again. The crows are even closer by now. The Kobolds, however, did not run anymore. They charged into Xeir like it’s the last day of their life… which could be true if they were to fight those flock again.

    “Given up your lives? Come, I’ll finish you all before the flock came!”

    Xeir had totally forgotten about retreating and she joined the fray with a little smile on her face. She then recklessly charged into the pack.

    And then they avoided and passed Xier without any contact…

    “...”

    “Huh??”

    Caw!

    The black flock had finally arrived. Cold sweat ran through her back. No need to think anymore, she followed the Kobolds with full speed. Compared to Kobolds who are a lot smaller than humans, they can’t run away from a ‘Human’ who chased them with full speed.

    “You stupid dogs dare to use me as a bait!? Very well, don’t die before me then!”

    Blood thristed, xeir caught up with the Kobolds in no time. The already panicked Kobolds are even more terrified. Three carts the pack brought along were abandoned on spot and the rest are just tried all their might to flee.

    “Caught you”

    Screeeth!??

    A kobold screamed in fear when it was gripped by the young girl. Then she suddenly threw it up toward the flock with high speed.

    Aaaahhh!!
    Caw!?


    It collided with two crows and all of them fell down to the ground. The gravity and the force by an oni took all of their life when they hit the ground. Xeir repeated this step over and over, almost every kobolds were thrown into the flock. No mercy was spared for them.

    There’s only one left, it’s their leader. The leader kobold was surprisingly agile and fast for their kinds. It ran inside a cave and gone into the darkness inside. The young girl who followed it inside can’t see any trace left.

    ‘Tch… just one more… at least, it’s already 17 confirmed kills and additional 8 crows … I need two more’

    The flock is still outside and she can easily hear their sounds. Just throwing kobolds to them won’t break the entire flock, those who fell are just unlucky enough to be hit by such a small object like kobolds. Their common size is almost the same as a child, that’s proven how strong an oni is.

    ‘... ah? When did I grew my horns?’

    She just noticed something on her forehead. Two sharp black horn appeared to be stuck in her skull, her ears are also pointier.

    ‘Looks like I’ve become a proper oni now’

    Satisfied with current strength, she decided to advance deeper in the cave.
    “Grrr… where in the world is that lizard-dog!” dog dog dog dog...

    Echoing the large cave, Xeir complained loudly. This cave is deeper than she thought. The light is lacking and there’s only darkness here. If she did not found an unlit torch from a skeleton near the entrance, she’d lost in this cave complex.

    The skeleton she found is unmistakably a former human and an adventurer one too. It wore a very tattered leather clothes. There’s a broken knife in its hand too. Other than that, the only useable item she found is the torch that’s currently in her hand.

    After walking for an hour or more, she still find nothing. She really wondered just how deep this cave is? Then she realized something…

    ‘Wait… if the cave is this deep… could it be that I’m in the Great East Barrier Mountains ?’

    Wry smile ran through her face. If she was really in that mountain, then this cave might lead her into the orc nation too. She don’t want to have a problem with orcs there right now.

    ‘I must hurry up and find it’

    She continued her way. The humidity inside the cave increased as she gone deeper. Eventually, a faint sound of water falling can be heard, also the talking of some creatures.

    As she changed her stance to be more cautious and blew the fire on the torch away, she can see faint light from afar. Xeir sneaked in and closing her distance from the light source. A small water pond appeared before her, there’re also some figures here too.

    ‘Green bulky folks… they might be orcs’

    She thought. Those figures are walking on two legs, resembling humans but taller and have more muscle. Their green skin and huge fangs are by no mean the human’s. They’re orcs, a creature specialized in physical strength and barbaric nature according to common knowledge from many worlds she visited.

    She quickly hide behind some rocks and tried to peek from the edge. A group of four, their equipment is just some clothes and some decoration bones or something, their strong muscle can be seen clearly. From this angle, they might be on par with an oni, like her.

    ‘Strange… they seems to be very strong for being E ranked target… not to mention that the objective of the quest is also exterminate 15 kinds of them... ‘

    She tried to make something out, this is certainly strange for an E rank quest, then she realized that there’s another kind of orc, a lot weaker than goblins. This must be the wrong kind the guild needs.

    ‘I must go, for now… wait’

    When she’s going to leave, she saw a body nearby one of the orc. It’s the kobold pack leader she’s trying to find, appeared dead to her. It seems that the leader found its dead end here after all.

    ‘... Dang, I really don’t want to get on bad term with them this soon… maybe I can negotiate with them? But what can I offer... ‘

    After came this far, she really don’t want to find another pack of kobold to attack, it’d be too troublesome.

    Ssh!

    “Don’t move. Get out of the shadow, now”

    Cold iron touched her nape, made her reacted by showing her hands above her head. She can sense the killing intent coming from the speaker. There’s another orc standing behind her, the fifth of the group.

    “... Ehh, easy, I’m not your enemy here”

    “We can talk later. Go to the pond”

    It commanded. She almost counterattack the orc if it didn’t start talking to her. Seems like she can communicate with them to some extent.

    The orc pushed her to the group on the side of the lake. They looked at her with a little surprised and drew their weapons.

    “I’ve found another intruder”

    “Good work. What about your report?”

    The orc who looks older than the rest came closer, examining Xeir with his eyes.

    “The crows are here, elder. There’re many corpses in front of this cave. Kobolds were dead along with some crows, they were dropped to death. I still can’t find the summoner though”

    “Kobolds did it?”

    He was talking about the dead crows.

    “No, elder. It’s like they were hit by blunt object and fell. I suspected the object in question are the kobolds themselves”

    These orcs are talking like a proper human and their face is more human-like too. Still, in Xeir’s thought, they probably not half-orcs too. There’re many orc breeds in her experience, some speaking in barbaric tone like ‘WAAAGH!! I da ork!’ or some non-understandable language.

    When she was thinking about the content that’s so familiar to her, the elder looked at her with some doubt.

    “You don’t happen to know something about this right?”

    “Ehh… I’m the one who threw them”

    When heard that, the elder smiled and laugh.

    “HAHAHAHA! Such a method to kill! You demons never disappoint me”

    “... I’m not a demon, though”

    She retorted quietly, the oni may be akin to the demon kinds, but she thought her current race is closer to that of orcs or giants.

    “What’re you doing here eh? Came to claim this garbage?”

    He pointed at the corpse of the kobold pack leader with his thumb. He seems to know everything.

    “Yes… can I?”

    “Hah! Then you must fight for it! You’re a warrior right? Show us your strength! Krasz, be her opponent! The rule is, who fell on knees first will lose!”

    The orc who found her nodded in consent. He walked from behind her and lead her to wider area. The other orcs also followed, being audience of this fight.

    “Here, we begin”

    Krasz said in non-interesting tone and changed his stance. He didn’t wore any weapon, just bare hands. He clenched his fist and moved it to protect his ribs, liver and head. Two eyes stared at her undistracted. One foot stepped front and one on the side.

    “... I’ll enjoy it anyway. Krasz, right? I’m Xeir”

    Xeir smiled. it was such a long time since she has any match with someone else. She changed her stance to prepare to fight too.

    The orc acted first. He suddenly lowered himself and sprinted with high speed. His aim is the chin of the small oni in front of him. When he was about to hit her chin with his fist, she grabbed his wrist first.

    Xeir, who successfully grabbed Krasz’s wrist, forcefully pulled him to the ground. Unfortunately, Krasz isn’t an easy opponent. He used his palm to push the ground and his feet to support it, then used the hand that was grabbed to throw the girl to the air instead with sheer force.

    The girl body is light enough for an orc, she was thrown very easy if she lose her stance and can’t exert her full strength without suitable stance. She quickly let go of the orc’s wrist and try to create some distance in the air.

    ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ they’re fighting in such a very random style …’ ‘ ‘ ‘

    That’s what the orc audiences have in their mind.

    Krasz didn’t miss this opportunity, he quickly regain his stance and kick the oni in midair. When Xeir saw that coming, she used her arm to block her side before the kick reached and successfully protected. Still, the force pushed her to the side and hit the wall of the cave hard, embed her in the rock.

    ‘She’s done for’

    That’s what they thought. But betrayed what they’re thinking, the girl smiled. Krasz stared at her with sharp eyes while she jumped out an oni-shaped hole in the wall. She standed on ground and recompose her stance again. This time, her hands are high to the level of her eyes. Elbow spreaded, left hand on front guard while the other is closer to her head. Left leg on front and the right on the back.

    The orc attacked again. He quickly close in distance and aimed his punch at her face.

    Thud!

    Dull sound of collision between two arms echoed through the cave. Xeir had successfully guarded and fend that hand off with her arm. The next punch came in no time and she guarded it again. Krasz increased his speed, faster and faster and Xeir had always blocked it all off too.

    “ ” ” “Hoo~!” ” ” ”

    The orcs eyes were widen in excitement. When the orc makes a sweep attack, the oni jumped. When the oni delivers a direct punch, it was blocked. There’s still no one received any attack yet.

    The tiredness has accumulated in Krasz’s body. When the time has passed, the one who has higher endurance will survive. In this case, it seems the smaller one has more energy.

    ‘A gap!’

    Finally, when Krasz’s attacks got duller, it was Xeir’s chance to counter attack him. She use her smaller figure as an advantage and slide through his punch to his back. Before the orc even react, she delivered a final blow with her elbow.

    BOOOOM!!

    A sound of air exploded from the impact and loudly echoing through the entire cave. The power is more than everyone can think about. It’s because of her speciality, the [ Inner Force Manipulation ]. The mechanic of this ability is to accumulate any force run through her body, force control the flow of that force to not lose its strength and not to harm herself. She was received many attacks from Krasz and waiting for just this moment to finish him off.

    The orc’s eyes turned white and fell on the ground, unconsciousness. On his back, his green skin turned black and emitted burning smell.

    “... Ah! Sorry! I overdid it!”

    When she realized she just beat her opponent without power limit, she panicky ran into him and quickly check if he’s still breathing. When she saw his chest is still moving and there’s still air ran from his nose, she sighed in relieved.

    “T… The winner is the demon!”

    An orc beside announced the winner after he forgot his breath for a moment after seeing an unforeseen scene like this, They never thought ‘That’ Krasz would fall to his opponent like this. It was just a moment before the loud cheer came out of the rest of orcs.

    “HAHAHA!... Really…Never thought you’d be this strong… even Krasz fell for you! As a promise, you can do whatever you want to that”

    The elder laugh out loud as point at the kobold pack leader. She almost forgot her objective to the fight if the elder didn’t reminded her.

    “Thank you, elder. I’m really sorry about your tribe member”

    “What are you saying? He’s really tough, y’know? After just some days, he’ll be fine and all!”

    “Ahaha… you orcs are always this strong?”

    Xeir admitted that her opponent is really strong. If not for her higher endurance, she’d fall on the ground in the place of him. Now he’s being held by three orcs and was dragged inside a tent.

    “No, he’s the strongest I’ve known. He may be the strongest orc too”

    The elder’s reply made her relieved. At least she won’t have much hard time to deal with them.

    “Hey, elder. Can I learn about your tribe? You guys seems different from what’ve expected for orcs”

    She blatantly asked the elder orc.

    “Call me Agronak. My tribe is just a wandering tribe, nothing to learn. Also, don’t count us as one those nasty folks from the main lands! They’ve nothing to do with us, kay?”

    “By your ‘main lands’ … you mean the Orc Lands?”

    “Yes”

    “You’re not from there?”

    “Of cause not! Their aggressive expansionist minds are making me want to kick a dragon’s ass! They even invade the weakling humans for no reason!”

    So this group is not from the Orcs Lands, that’s what she just learned. There seems to be wars between humans or the guild against the orcs from Orc Lands too and these fellow are valued their honor the most and can’t accept the way their fellow race acted.

    “By the way, are you orcs have different species? Like the orc who’s a lot weaker, having grey skin, having low intellect, something?”

    “You spouting non sense things again. Grey orc? What in the world is that? And they’re even weaker and dumb? Hahahah! That’d be the most hilarious thing I’ve heard for ages. You sure you’re not mistaken them for a goblin?”

    It seems this world is not having the species of orcs like in the Middle Earth. There’s just only stereotypical orcs here. Also, when the elder mention the goblin. She realized that she didn’t hunt any goblin till this moment.

    “Another thing, you knows about what’s happening outside, right? From what you’ve talked with Krasz, they seems to be related to a summoner?”

    “Hah, he’s just a dumbass who don’t know what object is cursed or not. He’s found a book that totally looked cursed and he open it without even thinking! Now he had possessed by a random mad summoner! No… A necromancer if I have to correct it. Those crows are his minion and they’re hunting for weak beings to make an army for god knows reason!”

    Zombies, Undeads, Jiangxi or whatever those walking corpses are called, is a basic thing almost every fantasy or sci-fi realms would have. One of her parallel self even turned into a mindless zombie once before she was forced-possess and gain full control over that body.

    “I see… If he’s raising corpse then It’s necessary to stop him before there’s more casualties…”

    “Corpses? No, his minions are still alive but just brainwashed”

    ‘Eh… and I thought you said he’s a necromancer…’

    She retorted in her mind and wanted to give him a facepalm…

    “OK, thank you Agronak. I’ll leave this place now”

    “Yeah yeah… Demon, your name is Xeir right?”

    “... Agronak, I’m an oni. Not a demon”

    He baffled by xeir’s words. He reply with full of confusion.

    “Hah? You’re not a demon? And you have horns like those demons have? And what is an oni anyway?”

    “Nevermind. I’ll get going now”

    She didn’t answer anything else and continued her way out of the cave with a body of the kobold leader in her hand.

    “... What a strange fellow”
    ‘... the injured kobolds are gone, only corpses here’

    When she returned to the plain, all three carts which used to contain the injured kobolds are empty. The corpses of 17 kobolds and 8 crows she killed were still where it is.

    ‘Welp, good for me’

    She began to collect the corpse back to the cart and realized, these corpses will be very reek when time passes. She decided to cut only the ears instead with…

    ‘Wait.. I don’t have any sharp object… OK, one day won’t hurt me that much, I’ll leave them like this then. I wonder If I can sell these’

    She tried to think how to prevent the decomposition of the corpses, then she realized that she received a gift from a little white haired fox-kin receptionist girl named Dancchi. Inside her pocket is a little box with no decoration, it’s the [ Item Box ]

    ‘Calling someone who’s just a little shorter than me a little girl is… Damn, whatever dimensions I’ve went to, I never start with a height beyond 153cm… OK, stop! You will grow some day Xeir! Have a hope!’

    Stopped her loop depression about her height, she opened the box and tried to put a dead kobold in. Suddenly, the corpse was sucked in and disappeared in the little box. It seems this box’s function is similar to those magical storage box she known.

    After storing all 18 kobolds including the leader and 8 crows, she began to calculate her strength once again. If she were to fight head-on with the black flock plus more enemies she don’t even know how much, she won’t make it by just herself alone without any tools or traps or whatever. She’s not a one-man army… or at least for now in this realm.

    ‘I’ll have to complete my objective first and report the guild about summoner then’

    Came in conclusion, she walked back to the forest. The forest she headed is where the kobold once have a camp. When she arrived, the camp is already emptied and nobody’s here. She examined the camp for a bit and grabbed any suitable weapon she’d find.

    Forget about the magic staves, she can’t use magic. She grabbed a sturdy enough bow and every arrow she found in the camp, two daggers and a sword. She didn’t see any useable curative items and there are no food left.

    ‘twenty-eight arrows, no crossbow… Is the gun was invented? I wonder If I should start being an inventor or a blacksmith in this realm…’

    Xeir’s currently unemployed. Her job and class is not currently classified. She will have to find a proper job in this realm one day to live too.

    She thought of some plan. She’ll only need two more crows, fifteen orcs, ten goblins and five bandits… That’s a lot. She should found every targets on the plain but she suspected that some of them has already brainwashed in this forest by the summoner.

    The oni jumped up the tree and moved along the branches, looking for her objectives. She then found a black figure on a tree in no time.

    ‘A crow, a big one. It might be one of the flock’

    She hided her presence behind the leaves, trying to lower her profile as possible and then, she pull her bow out and steadily aimed at the crow’s head.

    Pssh!
    Caw!


    When she released the string, the arrow pierced through the air and hit the crow in it’s eye socket, killed it instantly.

    ‘The speed is not fast enough… yeah, what did I hoped for a bow made by kobolds?

    She quickly descend to the ground, retrieved the corpse, and return to the tree. She silently moved to another target. She can’t use old arrow as it’s already broken.

    ‘Three… OK, I’ll just kill all of them’

    She saw more crows on the three. This time, she planned to kill all of them in one shot. She picked three arrows and tried to copy a move that a certain elf used.

    Psuuh!!
    Caw!
    Cah!
    Cah!


    ‘Ahh… dang, the power is not enough… I should know that and I still do it… hah...hah…’

    The strength of the arrows are divided by three as she used three arrows at once. A bow made by kobold didn’t design to support that much power. Two hit the target but didn’t kill them, the last one just completely missed.

    She kept her bow and sprinted out the branch and reached the uninjured crow. Before it can even scream, she twisted its head, killed it.

    Ca--
    Sshu!


    Two daggers were thrown to the other two crows and pierced through their brain, two more kill, those daggers were broken in the process too.

    Xeir retrieved all crows inside the box and continued to stalk the forest, ignoring more crows as she had completed her objective, ten plus two confirmed kills of wild crows.

    Finally, she found the goblins. Grey skin, small like a child, ugly face. They’re the impression of what stereotypical goblins are. She decided to came down the three and hide in the bush, using close combat stealthing tactics.

    One by one, she grabbed the straying goblin from the group and silently kill them and store them in the box. She noticed that theses goblins and also those crows are all white eyes, they have no pupils.

    ‘This must be a sign if someone is brainwashed’

    She continued to kill every single of the group until there are only five of them left, they became suspicious and was about to run to alert the others.

    “No need to run, you’re already dead at this point”

    The goblins didn’t listen to any of Xeir’s word and trying to run, but the oni won’t let that happen, she moved quickly and snapped every goblins neck, completely exterminated the group.

    ‘Alright, one quest down for sixteen goblins’

    She still have twenty-four arrows left. She reserved them for killing the crows only. Xeir continued her way inside the forest and eventually found a big group of goblins and orcs, all of them are white-eyed. The orcs here are wearing the same attire as the ones she found in the cave, they might be from the same tribe. Even if Agronak didn’t tell her more detail about the rest of the tribe, she can make something up from this scene.

    ‘...If I found the summoner, I might be able to help theses guys, I think’

    She backed off from that area and went deeper to the forest. She might not really have to care about those orcs but it was her habit, helping someone even if they did not asked for is what she do to maintain her humanity.

    ‘Still… this summoner is really hard to find…’

    Xeir forgot about reporting to the guild completely and just went on her way. The sun is setting, the forest is darker and darker, but she still not found an orc that could be a summoner.

    She sighed, maybe, she won’t be able finished the quest in one day. She should go back and finish those orcs off, she felt sorry for Agronak though. And when she’s going back…

    Grrrrrr...

    Growling noises came from her back. When she turned back her head, an orc are already here.

    “Eh… hi?”

    BAM!

    With a heavy slam of the hammer in its hand, her cover was blown away. Xier evaded it and counter attacked it with a punch in the heart. When it received the hit, blood are spitted out and died immediately.

    OOooooOOoooo!!!

    “This is bad!”

    Orcs war cry arose. They’re coming toward her with high speed. Xeir quickly store the fallen orc in her box and began to run with full speed. The orcs, goblins and also the crows appeared in every direction.

    “Aaahhh outta my way!”

    She punched everything trying to block her way and blown it away with panic force. If it was an orc, she will go directly at it and kill it, and store it. Repeating beating whatever approached her, she had enough orcs in her box.

    Huff.. Huff…

    She began to panting faster. The tiredness when she fought Krasz didn’t got away easily in one day and she has fighting almost for an entire day, even an oni can be tired off.

    As the objective of exterminate the orcs had finished, she stopped fighting and focused on escaping only. She tried to run through the gap of the trees to increase some distance from the enemies, but the trees here are not that narrow, it’s not very effective.

    ‘Think… think of something…. Ah!’

    With an idea popped out, she quickly turn and climb a big rock. When she’s on top of it, she jumped to the back and… completely disappeared.

    The horde of brainwashed monsters had arrived and stopped. They’ve lost their target and tried to search the area, but whatever how hard they tried they did not found the intruder anywhere. A little time had passed, the horde cancelled the chase and went back to the forest.

    When they’ve completely gone, on the back of the same rock, Xeir suddenly appeared out of blue.

    ‘Eighteen orcs in the storage huh…’

    She thought of something not really related to the chase. Xeir looked at the ground and picked her item box up, kept it in her pocket, where it was.

    In actuality, she went nowhere but in her own item box. She opened it and put herself in the box as an emergency escape and lower the threat until she’s sure it’s safe.

    She looked at the sky, it’s already dark. She hoped she’s not late for reporting her duty to the guild. Xeir casually walked through the forest until she found the plain again. She looked around for a moment to find the direction and headed to the delta town.

    Walking for some moment, she finally found the road. She walking along it slowly in darkness as she’s really tired out.

    “Hey~ Brother. What are you dooooing here on such a time like disss”

    “Yes, what’re you doing here alone? Mind paying for your ‘Saftiness’ ahaha!”

    And she found these annoyance… she’s getting more and more irritated and don’t even care about what they’re saying. She ignored them and just passed them.

    “Hoy! We’re talking to you. Bastard! You dare to ignore us? Put all your belonging here and we will forgive you”

    “Yes! Do as the boss’s said!”

    “Do it! Now!”

    “...”

    All of them unsheathed their weapons and point at her. They circled her and completely blocked her way. Their intention was as clear as the sky during the day, they’re just some cheap bandits on highways. She still ignored them and headed to a tree nearby.

    “Kill hi--”

    Boink!
    Ahhh!!


    All bandits flew high to the sky and hit the ground hard, they’re all went unconcious. Xeir was irritated enough, she pulled up the tree and mercilessly strike all of them before the boss even command his henchmen. When she came up to them and checked, there are five of them.

    “Considered it’s your bad luck to decided to rob me… now, to jail we off”

    She almost forgot that she have to deal with the bandits too. If they did not showed up, she might really report the quest with an objective unfinished. She also has to try to concentrate and control the force within her too to turn her appearance back to normal human, she did not want to attract more unwanted trouble.

    After a moment, her horns disappeared and her pointy-ears turned back to normal. With all this was settled, she dragged the five together to the guild with her. She arrived the Delta Town and go straight to the teleportation gate, went back to Aeturnus.

    “I’m sorry for reporting late, I’ve come”

    She approached the receptionist at the HQ.
     
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  10. AliceShiki

    AliceShiki 『Ms. Tree』『Magical Girl of Love and Justice』

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    Great Plain - #SE5 - E-Ranked - Slay 15 Kobolds [ 100 G ]
    Great Plain - #SD5 - D-Ranked - Slay 1 Kobold Leader [ 120 G ]
    Great Plain - #SD6 - D-Ranked - Slay 10 Wild Crows [ 100 G ]
    Great Plain - #SD7 - D-Ranked - Slay 5 Bandits [ 150 G ]
    Great Plain - #SE2 - E-Ranked - Slay 10 Goblins [ 50 G ]
    Great Plain - #SE3 - E-Ranked - Slay 15 Orcs [ 50 G ]
    ====================================================
    Welcome back Xeir-chan, you seem to be doing well!

    A necromancer you say? And that brainwashes people at that? Quite a troublesome guy, specially because Agronak said he was thinking of making a war... Hopefully it won't turn into anything big, we just came out of a huge war after all... Well, if he comes, we'll deal with it somehow though!

    At any rate, congratulations on completing your first quests! Everything seems to be in order, so please take 470G as your reward for completing them.

    Take care now! Good luck on your future quests!

    ((Nice character! And you write quite well, was a very interesting read, looking forward to your next quests! \(^^)/ ))
     
    Last edited: Dec 30, 2016
  11. mangaling

    mangaling Less than average

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    Great Plain - #GE1 - E-Ranked – Gather 10 Moonlight Flower & 10 Healing Plants [ 50G | 1 x Rejuvenation Potion ]

    Yeahhh... finally got my Adventure Guild Card!
    Time to choose a quest...Let's see...where's the quest board? Looks left and right, left and right. Turned around and looked around again. Hmmm... I'll just walk around and hopefully find it...
    After a while...huh? I'm back here again. Take a step back... Ouch! Look behind...
    ......
    So here's the Quest Board. Okie, what is there to choose? Wow so many!? Let do it the usual way.
    Eeny, meeny, miny, moe,
    Catch a tiger by the toe.
    If he hollers, let him go,
    Eeny, meeny, miny, moe.

    Gather Moonlight Flower and Healing Plants. Waaa... so lucky such an easy one. This is it! My big break. *-*
    I skipped up to the Receptionist. O.O
    A cute white kitty cat on the girl's shoulder. Such fluffy fur. Wonder if I could pet it? It must be soft.
    Wait, back to business.
    "Hello?"
    The braided Magical girl had a friendly smile.
    "I would like to do this quest by myself"
    "Granted, good luck on your first quest Miss-chan! Hope you do well on it!" Hikari said.
    A scary looking guy stood nearby, he said: "Miss-chan?.....well...not the strangest name we have here. Carry on...."
    But I didn't hear him as I was ecstatic about doing my first quest.
    "Yeahhh... Let's go..." I cried out in joy. I skipped out happily.
    Umph... I missed a step and tripped again. I pushed up my glasses and march on.
    ________________________________________________________
    A while later...

    I walked back into the tavern to find Hikari and her cute kitty.
    "Hiiiiii Hikari, I forgot something...."
    A beautiful lady with silky blonde hair answered me instead.
    "Hi~what is it that you miss miss~?"
    Um, does she know me? No maybe it just that people call female stranger miss. Ah well doesn't matter.
    I regained my thoughts and felt embarrassed as I asked.
    "Umm... where do I find the ... what was it again? The Moonlight flower or the healing thingy"
    The scary guy from earlier pop out. From what I gathered he is the guildmaster. Why does our guildmaster have to look so dark and scary...
    "They are found on many field across the Great Plain. Here, a sample." Guildmaster Shadow answered and gave a bag filled with Moonlight Flower and Healing Plant. "The moonlight ones are usually found near a lake or something. Do your best. Oh, this might help.A small freebie for a newcomer. Good luck."
    He also handed over two bottles. I was overcame with fright and stammered out. "Ummmm.... Thank... thank you Guild...master Shadow."
    I took the stuff and pocketed it and ran out before I could hear all of what Guildmaster Shadow said. Guildmaster is nice but looks too scary.
    o>.<o

    ________________________________________________________________
    After aimlessly running for a while, I reached a portal. I step through the portal...
    Finally I begin my quest after a ... a ... delayed start?
    Now I know what the Moonlight Flower and Healing plants looks like and got two unknown potion from the kind but scary Guildmaster.
    And I need to get to Great Plain's fields and lakes. Let's see where I teleported to. I glanced around and noticed the sandy pavement through a small vilage under some huge rock and a small lake with a yellowish sandy shore. Behind The lake was a rocky mountain. After scanning my surrrounding, I thought,'it really lacks the greenery if this is the Great Plains.'
    Well, since the portal sent me straight to the lake, it makes my quest a lot easier. Let's see Moonlight flowers, they must definitely bloom during the night. Since it's still daylight, I'll go look for the Healing Plant.
    After leaving the village, I hiked out of the mountain valley to find the fields guildmaster was talking about. After I got out of the valley, the sight before me shocked me.
    Wow, so much sand. Like a vast sea of sands. No wonder this is called the Great Plain. Such great amount of plain old sand. No field of greenery though. Wait, maybe the Guildmaster meant fields of sand...
    T.T
    This is like finding a needle in a haystack. No, worst. A teardrop in an ocean.
    Let's see what the Healing Plant look like. Just when I took out the bag of sample, a large gust of wind swept by. Causing me to be blinded by some sand.
    "AARGHHH....it hurts" I let go of the bag and took off my glasses to rub my eyes and tried to blinked few times. "I can't see!"
    I slipped on the bag I dropped and tumbled down the hill of sand..."WAAAAA...."

    ________________________________________________________________

    "Ugh..." when I woke up again, I found myself in looking at a blurry screen of beige. I felt around for my glasses. Once I touched my familiar glasses I put it on. Huh? A ceiling? I'm in a house! I sat up immediately and saw a villager smiling at me. After talking with her for a while, I found out she found me on the way back from hunting in desert at the edge of the mountain valley.
    She had just finishing bandaging my head and tidied up the first aid stuff into a bag. That's when I noticed something green in the bag.
    "What is that?"
    "That is some plants used for healing. Very useful for bleeding and medicine making." My eyes widened in shock. I hurriedly asked if I could have some. I took out the potions the guildmaster gave and ask to those exchange with the potions. She looked at me strangely and saw the determination in my eyes, she finally agreed.
    That very night, I crept out of the hut deep in the middle of the night. I reached the lake near the village. It was pretty dark. With the help of the moon, I saw my surrounding clearly. I scanned around the lakeside. There wasn't many greenery in the first place so there's not much to search for the Moonlight Flower. I just grabbed whatever was blooming since I have lost the Moonlight Flower Sample.
    Time to get back

    NOTE: Gather random flower from wrong place

    @brasca123
     
    Last edited: Dec 30, 2016
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  12. AliceShiki

    AliceShiki 『Ms. Tree』『Magical Girl of Love and Justice』

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    Great Plain - #GE1 - E-Ranked – Gather 10 Moonlight Flower & 10 Healing Plants [ 50G | 1 x Rejuvenation Potion ]
    ========================================
    Welcome back Miss-chan!

    What are you looking at... Oh, Lily-chan? You can play with her just fine! *pats the kitty's head* She loves playing around and is not shy at strangers at all!

    Hummm... Let's see... You got the Healing Plants right, but... I'm sorry, I think you accidentally got the teleport to Delta Town instead of the Frontier Village... The Healing Plants are right, but... You didn't bring the Moonlight Flowers properly, those flowers are typical to the desert region, and we can easily get more of those without much need to worry since they're caught so close to Delta Town...

    I'm sorry, but you only completed half of the request, I'm afraid I can't consider this a completed mission... Please try again next time Miss-chan, don't give up and try your best, I have good expectations from you!

    (( Your report is pretty funny! Way to go! \(^^)/

    You got Mama's hair color wrong though! She is blond! Not orange haired! >.<

    ... The pic can be a bit misleading though.))
     
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  13. mangaling

    mangaling Less than average

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    *pats Lily's head* I went to the wrong place? ??

    I failed T.T
     
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  14. Tang Tang

    Tang Tang Well-Known Member

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    Desert Mine - #GD1 - D-Ranked – Mine 5 Mithril Ore [ 60G | 1 x Mithril Ingot]
    Desert Mine - #GD2 - D-Ranked – Mine 3 Fire Crystals [ 100G | 1 x Refined Fire Crystal ]
    Desert Mine - #GD3 - D-Ranked – Mine 3 Earth Crystals [ 100G | 1 x Refined Earth Crystal ]
    Desert Mine - #GD6 - D-Ranked – Mine 50 Stone [ 60G | 20x Stone Slab]
    Desert Mine - #GC1 - C-Ranked - Mine 5 Orichalcum Ore [ 200G | 1 x Orichalcum Ingot ]
    Desert Mine - #EC1 - C-Ranked - Find Rare Ore [0 G | 1 x Random Ore]

    Solo

    @shad12ow

    Quest 6: Mining Spree!

    …. At Kael Village….

    The Lizzardmen are doing their daily activities. Adult lizardmen are gone hunting, while the young is being trained by one of their senior. The mothers do either their house work, watch their eggs, or worshiping their totem.

    I just arrived from my short trip to Adventurer Guild. Several mining related quests I had taken back then because I need to get earth crystals for the elder treant seed that I planted beside my house. At first I want to get nature crystal but according to guild staff, nature crystal are very rare even close to a legend. So, after few suggestion, I’ll substitute nature crystal with earth crystal that more common. Beside to find earth crystal, I took other mining quests that maybe I will need it at later time.

    Hmm… this time I will do quest with Loto, Kael, and Sei. Kael mount will be useful for transporting our luggage and quest items. The four of us begin our journey to desert mine. We need to go to Frontier Village and teleported to Floating City of Aeterus first. After that, we are teleported again to Desert Village.

    Desert Mine is located at northwest of Desert Village and North of Ant Nest. I need to avoid the ant nest, never provoke a swarm of ants it will never ended nicely. Fortunately, there is already established road to the Desert Mine for transporting ore or other mineral stones. Of course we use that road so we can arrive faster and saver while using the road.

    On the way to the Mine we encounter few monsters but not on level that can threatened our lives and they became my training subject for projectile technique. For the projectile I use long needle that smeared by Loto poison or paralyzing spore. The technique itself are satisfactory, it allows the trajectory of my needle unpredictable. It can be straight, curved, semi-circle, or even change its course in the air. The downside is this technique can’t be mastered easily. My estimation is I need full one year if I want to truly mastered this technique. For now, having my accuracy rising and few curved move is already my limit.

    Back to our journey, we are arrived at Desert Mine. Like the name implied, this Mine is in the middle of desert. The structure of this mine mainly formed by solid red stones so the mine are save if used in normal mining activity.

    Due to a long exploitation, some parts of the mine are already exhausted of ore deposit and abandoned. In that abandoned parts, often filled with monsters that made that area as their home, or home of their prey. So, miner get updated map every once in a while so they not accidentally enter monsters nest.

    I already have a newest map in my hand. Even though this map is not detailed enough, but it still help me to roughly guess where I need to mine. Stone ore is the most common as it literally almost anywhere. Second most common is fire and earth crystal as in this area there are many concentrated fire and earth mana leading to creation of many earth and fire crystal deposits. The third is mithril as they can be found on silver deposit on a tiny amount if the miner is lucky. And the fourth, the rarest, is orichalcum.

    I planned a route before we are entering the cave. The route is find stone, earth crystals, fire crystals, mithril, and orichalcum. I avoid abandoned cave as far as possible just to be safe. ‘yep, safety first especially on new/foreign region to me….’

    I already ask around before entering the cave. They said the monster varied around desert fox, desert jackal, desert lizardmen, and so on. But in the cave, I think there are different monster that live below ground. That makes my imagination running wild… *shivers* I have a bad feeling about this. Or maybe I am just too cautious of new foreign environment.

    ‘hah… my bad habit acting up again.’ I am the type of person that need to in control of ‘adequate’ information about something if I want to take action or decision about that something. If I don’t have enough information I will became flustered or hesitated. In short, I hate (afraid of) failures. Even my experience makes me learn to made peace of this habit, but still, deep inside it still there. So, sometimes it can kick in, resurface and messing my mind.

    But again, oh well, now I’m with my companions, I’m not alone anymore. There’s my companion that can share my burden, my mistakes. At least, if it come to worst, I won’t die alone. ‘yosh… Stop thinking. Start action! Time to mine some f*ck*ng crystal!’

    With that, I, Loto, Kael, Rhino, and Sei make our first step to the darkness…

    With light crystal lamp I rented back at the guild as our light source, we are going straight to earth crystal deposit area as it nearest from the entrance. At first I’m still extra cautious but then after a while apparently I adapted quickly and getting calmer. In the cave I met several desert hare and jackal. We swiftly cleaned them off with Loto and Kael at the front, me and Sei in the middle, and Rhino is behind me. Loto and Kael combination is proven fatal to low leveled monsters we met. Loto is restricting enemy move with his vines, and Kael with his spear swiftly attacking while constantly moving. I myself just giving them support spells and practicing my projectile throwing technique.

    I, Loto, and Kael are each holding a pickaxe and mining the crystals extra careful. The mining process itself is a bit chaotic as we never had experience on mining. Even after I read the manual and ask about how to do proper mining, I still need some training adaptation to do it properly. But, fortunately, with three people (?) doing the job, the mining is still done with adequate pace. After three long hours, we manage to get nine earth crystals and found twenty stone ores and place it on a bag that Rhino carried. Fortunately the cave passage is as wide as three time Rhino size.

    Next destination, we go to fire crystals deposit. The deposit is quite deep almost near lava vein as I can feel the heat increased by much. In here we are mining as fast as we could because of the unbearable heat. After two hours we get five fire crystals and another thirty of stone ore, it looks like our mining efficiency increase by tiny amount. We also meet a group or miner that happen is searching for fire crystals like us. Tough, they a bit shocked looking at us (1 man, 1 lizardmen, 1 treant, 1 slime, and 1 rampaging rhino) an unusual party of creatures… oh, talking about slime… Sei is currently not doing any job, just cheering at us while ‘eating’/dissolving any tiny chipped crystal from our brute mining method. Sei is happy, so I guess she will be okay…

    Now we are searching for Mithril and Orichalcum… This two ore location is not shown on the map. But for what I heard, at least for mithril I can try my luck on silver deposits near this place. Hmm… what mithril looks like again? I’m taking out my note about mithril characteristic and figure.

    At the designated silver ore, we try to mine mithril. But, after two hour we got no mithril ore. It seems the rumor isn’t true. Don’t want to give up, I search around silver deposits area for mithril.

    Suddenly, cracking sound heard from the floor. Cracks appear from the floor below Rhino spreading fast to all of us and the collapsed. ‘aaaaa!’ I screamed as I fall.

    It was a short fall. I checked myself and found some minor bruises, nothing dangerous. Afterward, I look around for my companion, Loto, Kael, Sei, and Rhino all seems fine too. But just to be sure, I cast [healing wind] to all of us.

    We still in the area trying to assess the situation were in. The ceiling that collapsed is five meters height. We can’t climb up especially for Rhino who have four legs. And this is a dead end, but there is one cave passage that leads to unknown place. I tried to look at the map but this part of cave is unwritten in the map. I can go up and leave the cave, but I can’t bear knowing Rhino is left behind. I also tried to give [feather weight] to Rhino, but he is too heavy and partly because my mastery of the spell not high enough.

    The last attempt is using wind. I feel flow of the wind is also toward the passage, it means at the end of this passage is an open space at least I probably can lead us to leaving this cave.

    Before we going we move to that passage, we search around this dead end. ‘ah, there is a skeleton in the corner!’ how spooky, a skeleton wearing what it used to be miner outfit. But on the contrary, there are no mining tools around the skeleton. His left hand is holding a beast skin and his right hand holding a short knife. ‘How strange…’, by the position he died leaning behind a large rock that slit big enough to fit a person, I think he trying to hide from something. ‘Better prepared for the worst…’ and then I cast buffs, and write glyph to us.

    I took the beast skin and look at its surface. ‘oh?!’ I exclaimed seeing the drawing on beast skin. It’s a map! Let’s see…. The maps is detailed enough to spot an exit not too far from here. Also, the map has a mark saying ‘unknown ore’. And that marked place is near from our place (the map is also marked the skeleton place) now. Besides, the way out is happens in line with the way out.

    Then I see dead person bag seem bulging with something. I reach my hand to pick whatever inside that bag. I feel a rough and cold sensation when I grab one of the bag content. After it got out I realize that is a mithril ore! Pleasantly surprised, I take out all that bag content and found that there are another four mithril ore and five orichalcum ore along with five iron ore.

    ‘Come on guys, let’s move!’ I urge my fear away as I convince myself that I still with my companions in this situation. The sooner I get out from this place the saver I will be. So, I push myself to move.

    At the marked area, we once again begin our mining spree for another hour. We got a piece of ore that we can’t identify because it got stuck on various minerals in a big chunk. Other than that, here is not much anything we got at that place. Instead, a big centipede came to us lurking from shades.

    The first to notice is Sei who is doing nothing on Loto head. Then we got alerted by Sei and assume our battle formation. Kael is swiftly charging at the centipede with his short spear and shield. Loto [take root] and use his vines as support. Rhino from behind is waiting for opportunity to charge at centipede. And I cast support magic and occasionally sent [wind blade] to the centipede. The battle didn’t last long as our cooperation overwhelm the centipede.

    But as soon as we defeated the centipede, we feel another centipede come closer to us so we retreated in hurry to the exit. While we are running, I’m placing [wind runes] to hinder their advance. The [wind rune] explode every now and then allowing us to gain distance from the centipedes. After a while we got to the exit at one of abandoned cave passage. And we going back straight to the guild to report the centipede sighting to warn other miners.


    Loot:
    Earth Crystal x 9
    Stone x 50
    Fire Crystal x 5
    Mithril ore x 5
    Orichalcum ore x 5
    Silver ore x 10
    Iron ore x 5
    Rare ore x 1

    Note:
    1. sighting of centipede monsters in the abandoned part of mine
     
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  15. FuRen

    FuRen [Lime]

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    Great Plain - #GE1 - E-Ranked – Gather 10 Moonlight Flower & 10 Healing Plants [ 50G | 1 x Rejuvenation Potion ]
    Great Plain - #GE2 - E-Ranked – Gather 3 Moonlight Water [ 50G | 1 x Bottled Purified Moonlight Water]

    Alone.
    @LittleFox21
    Arriving at Frontier Village through the teleportation portal, I quietly looked around and walked out of the town, into the Great Plain.

    This time, I am not doing quests simply for earning money, but to collect materials for that Potion Recipe I was forced onto.

    When I thought of it once again, I could not help but smile wryly. Even though the person who forced this onto me never gave away their identity, I could make a guess of who it might be. And out of the list of people, 'she' is the only one who would force this kind of thing onto me...

    But I decided to not think much of it and follow her will since it has never been too much of a demerit to me.

    With those thoughts I hurriedly moved towards the Moonlight Lake.

    * * *​

    When I arrived at the Moonlight Lake, the sun is still shining brightly in the sky. Seeing this, I decided to look for Moonlight Flowers and Healing Plants for the quests as I await for night to come.

    But as I crouched and prepared myself to start, out of the corner of my eye, I saw a shadow moving about in the darkness. Blinking my eyes, I tried my best to sharpen my sight so that I could locate and maybe identify the shadow. But no matter what I tried, I cannot seem to see or even find the shadow, bringing me to the conclusion that whatever that shadow actually was, it has already went away and disappeared.

    It was at that moment when a sound suddenly came from my side, causing me to instinctively jump away in a startled manner as I drew out my blade while sweeping my eyes towards where the sound was from.

    "Nyaa~"

    When the voice registered into my head, I finally noticed a Cat with jet-black fur sitting there as it stared at me with its gem-like eyes.

    Seeing this, I sighed in relief and approached the cat. But when I was a few steps away from it, the cat suddenly turned around and ran into the forest. When I thought of the horrible fate it would face inside the monster infested forest. As a fellow beast I could not help but become fearful for it. So with those thoughts, I hurriedly ran into the forest, chasing after the cat.

    As I proceeded deeper into the forest, a weird feeling started to rise within my heart, but I still decided to keep on proceeding forward.

    Unsure of how much time have passed, I suddenly saw a patch of clearing illuminated by the Moonlight, as I approached it, I could see a silhouette of a cat lying there on the clearing. Assuming that it was the cat I saw before, I increased my speed as I quickly moved towards the clearing.

    But when I finally stepped into the clearing, I halted my steps as I quietly stared at the scene before me.

    There, I could see the cat which I saw before, but because of the illumination of the moonlight, I realized that its fur is not jet-black, instead, it was actually a dark shade of violet. But currently, it is lying silently on the ground, just like an inanimate corpse.

    But the body of the cat is not the only thing I saw there. Next to it, I could also see a cat quietly sitting there with its tail waving around, looking at me with its gem-like, violet eyes, just like the cat I saw before. But unlike the other cat, this one has a hazy, corporeal body.

    Seeing them, I reached a certain conclusion in my head, but I dare not to assume if it is true or not.

    Unfortunately, before I could do anything to confirm my conclusion, the cat, which I assumed as a spirit, suddenly turned around and walked away, and before I could even let out a sound, its already corporeal body slowly turned even more hazy with every step until it fully disappeared.

    At a lost, I could only stare at the place where the cat spirit disappeared. But then the potion recipe once again appeared in my mind, reminding me of one of the materials it required.

    Heart Blood of a Black Cat.

    It could not be a coincidence right? I thought silently as I glared up to the sky. But after a few moments, I looked back down, for I knew that there is no use to be suspicious of them.

    With that thought, I silently glanced towards the cat corpse for a moment before finally decided to approach it.

    When I examined the corpse of the cat, I saw that the corpse has no wounds or blood on its body, making me even more sure of my assumption.

    Finished examining the corpse, I drew out my Tanto and proceeded to cut out the heart from the corpse before storing it inside my Item Box, but because of my poor proficiency for corpse dissecting, the rest of the corpse was quite bloody, causing my to groan at the sight of it.

    But to show my gratitude, I made a small grave in the middle of the clearing and buried the corpse there.

    Finished with that, I cast a sweeping glance around for one last time before walking out of the clearing and towards the Moonlight Lake.

    Fortunately, I managed to arrive right when the moon has arrived atop the lake, so I hurriedly took out 3 vials I have prepared beforehand and filled it with water from the lake.

    Finished with that, I decided to return to the guild, but as I was on the way back, I felt as if I was forgetting something, unfortunately, I could not remember what it was that I had forgotten, so I decided to ignore it and return to the guild.
     
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  16. LittleFox21

    LittleFox21 The Soon-to-be famous Nyatsune

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    ================================================
    Great Plain - #GE1 - E-Ranked – Gather 10 Moonlight Flower & 10 Healing Plants [ 50G | 1 x Rejuvenation Potion ]
    Great Plain - #GE2 - E-Ranked – Gather 3 Moonlight Water [ 50G | 1 x Bottled Purified Moonlight Water]
    ================================================
    yes, yes, deri.
    what you forgot was to collect moonlight flowers and healing plants deriyo.
    unfortunately you failed, deri.
    but i'm surprised, deriyo.
    never thought you have the heart to bisect a cute cat deri!
    anyway, your rewards are 50G and x1 purified moonlight water deri~
    be careful to not forget your missions again derizo!
     
  17. mangaling

    mangaling Less than average

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    Delta Town - #GE1 - E-Ranked - Gather 10 Chickens [ 20 G |5 x Eggs ]
    Delta Town - #GE2 - E-Ranked - Clean Barnacles from hull [ 40 G]

    by meself
    Sadly I failed my first quest T.T
    I took the wrong portal...Oh well, got to move on.
    My next quests gather 10 Chickens and Clean Barnacles from hull in Delta Town.
    I know I'm a bit ... eh... clumsy? So this time I took 2 quest that way I'll completely at least one if there's no major accident... Like being blinded by sand and tumble into the world of unconsciousness...
    After Hikari's encouragement and advice and a moment of wanting to steal Lily away, did I leave the guild.
    After a quick trip to the portal and double and triple checked my portal to Delta Town.
    Blink and I'm already in Delta Town.
    What first?
    To the dock to clean barnacle or gather some chickens?
    Let's see... to gather some chickens, I need a cage or a bag to hold it. Also need some feed and water for them so they don't die before I return to the guild...Don't have any of those ...
    Alright to the dock!

    After wandering around for a long, long, long while I felt like I got lost... I'm sure the dock is nearby. I'll just take this long, long stroll as information gathering. I watch the bustling streets, the seller and buyer busily bargaining the price of goods, stray and tamed dogs barking and playing chase, some wandering chickens, kids playing tag and beautiful mural on--- WANDERING CHICKENS!!!
    WAAAAA
    So cute <3 The gorgeous feathers in a wonderful variety of colours. The elegant beak. Proudly strutting around as it search for some seeds or passing time. I can't capture these beautiful and innocent chickens. It is a crime. I can't do it.
    But I have to for the quest...If I capture them, my conscious will be tormented. T.T
    Wait, I can invite the chickens to go back to the guild with me. I must provide them top quality corns, comfy bed and a carriage to transport them... But I don't the money or resource. I crouched down near an empty alley and distressingly put my hands on my butterfly. I'll have to think of something else or I could admit defeat and fail yet another quests. Hold on... what do the guild need the chickens for? Hmm... for eggs, since they will give some eggs as reward, but what if it a male chicken? It can't lay eggs.
    O.O
    It can't be they want to kill the chickens! Noooo... I can't capture the chicken and suffer this fate.... What to do... what to do...

    Some locals were giving me strange looks. One stepped forward and asked, "Are ya ok?"

    "Um... I... I'm lost. Where is the... dock?" I took down my hands and looked up. Seeing a crowd has suddenly gathered around me, I stuttered out some plausible reason for me crouching down and looking so out of place. An embarrassed flush has crept up from my neck to my cheeks.

    Hearing my reply the locals started to disperse, some had amusing face, others had pity. I took a closer look at the man who has kindly stepped out to help. He wore a slightly wore-out sailor clothes with a bandanna tied over his curly brown locks.
    "I'll take ya there, since I'm on the way there." He gave me an assuring look and lead the way. "What are ya going to the harbor for?"

    I jumped up to follow him through the busy crowd. "Um...I'm ... an adventurer. I got a quest"

    "I see. So ya like Prythy. I think it was a week or so ago, she helped out Captain Koun and his bunch. Cleaning the hull. Why don ya help me? My girl need a good wash."

    My eyes sparkled and I agreed immediately. Soon we arrived to our destination. His ship wasn't very big so it won't take few days but it also wasn't the smallest. I started to work on scraping the barnacles off as Captain cleaned the deck. Captain said to call him Captain for now. And if we're fated to meet again he'll tell me his name. He said he say this to every stranger he met for the first time. He believes there's no point giving your name to someone you only meet once and never see again. Is that logical?

    We had great craic even though we are working til our arms are jelly. I had ask Captain why he doesn't have any crew member. He gave me a simple 'I don know'. It seems like every guy he recruited always runs away as soon as they reach the shore. Then he quickly changed the topic. When I told him about my first quest, he chuckled. But when he heard my current quest dilemma he bowed over laughing. What is funny? Capturing innocent chicken and killing them is bad. His only advice was there's always an innocent bunch and a bad bunch. I didn't get what he meant.

    Soon sunset arrived and my hull cleaning was done. Captain gave me a big net and some tins of squishy worm and bid me farewell.

    I strolled around the outskirt of Delta Town. It wasn't as busy as earlier on or the marketplace. Capturing chicken dilemma still haven't be solved. The night sky has turned slightly dark. Sun nearly down.

    I had made up my mind. I'll give up capturing the chicken. I don't have anything to cage them nor do I want to capture those lovely creatures.

    I turned around and tried to find my way to the portal. I seem to got lost again and it is a lot darker, every turn I make I seem to be at the same place. Sandy stone walls and dark gloomy path. Eerie quiet atmosphere. No one in sight.

    Suddenly I heard a rustle around the corner and a childish wail. I ran and turned...
    In such a rush I did not notice there was a stair right around the corner... so... you know...I fell yet again. But this time was more painful as I tumbled down the stair and not sand...

    When I regained my wits, I put on my fallen glasses and the sight before me shocked me.

    A dog-sized chicken was bullying a boy who seem to be around 4 years old. That chicken had very black feathers and in the night its beak look sharp like a hawk's talon.It looked like a demonized chicken in the dark. It continuously strut around the kid and peck him every few minutes. Like it was a thug demanding money from the schoolkids.

    Angered by the thuggish chicken's action, I grabbed my shoe and stood up and aimed. I threw my weapon with all my strength at that bully.
    But sadly the shoe landed few inches from the chicken as it had jumped out of the way. The chicken seem to be stunned for a second by an unknown disturbance. It looked at the child once and then charged toward me. Uh oh...

    I grabbed whatever I could and threw it at the chicken. Stones, twigs, leaves...When it nearly reached me my last weapon caught the chicken. The net Captain gave me. Now the bully is trapped, I sighed out in relief...
    I hurried over to the child. Just the limbs were slightly injured. Luckily he fisted his hands and covered his eyes as he cried. O r he would definitely be blind by the peck. I calmed the child and tried to help him find his way home. I didn't forget to carry the netted chicken over my shoulders.

    When I finally returned the kid to his parents, that was when it hit me. So that's what Captain meant. So I went on search for nine more rogue to add to my net.

    NOTE:
    Received Net.
    Received few Tin of worms.

    @brasca123
     
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  18. AliceShiki

    AliceShiki 『Ms. Tree』『Magical Girl of Love and Justice』

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    Delta Town - #GE1 - E-Ranked - Gather 10 Chickens [ 20 G |5 x Eggs ]
    Delta Town - #GE2 - E-Ranked - Clean Barnacles from hull [ 40 G]
    ======================================================
    Welcome back Miss-chan!

    Good to see that you were more careful this time and used the right portal!

    Well... I honestly always thought that the idea of gathering chickens was to help the farmers near Delta Town, as they aren't used to the desertic environment, so they constantly end up running away trying to find some place better... Which generally ends with them dead, as there is desert all around, but I'm glad you found those kinds of crazy chickens... I wonder if there is some sort of sickness involved with it? We might need to check it up later...

    At any rate, you did a good job with all that! Your rewards from all that will be of 60G and 5 eggs, take care now!

    "Nya nya!" *snuggles on her leg*

    Seems like Lily-chan is also happy you're back! Teehee, keep up the good job Miss-chan! \(^^)/
     
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  19. Blackhole32

    Blackhole32 Well-Known Member

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    [ Edited, Changed the quest list, I copied the wrong one before =A= ]

    Gallant Mine - #SE1 - E-Ranked – Slay 5 Snow Goblin [ 80G ]
    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 - #GD1 - D-Ranked – Mine 5 Mithril Ore [ 60G | 1 x Mithril Ingot]
    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 ]

    Solo

    @brasca123

    “Granted, good luck Xeir-chan!”

    “Thank you, Hikari”

    The same receptionist said to her after she’s accepting new quests. The summoner might be a major problem but she had already reported to the guild, there is nothing she can do now for this moment. For an oni, even for the strong one, fighting an army alone unarmed is not what one can easily do without any injuries. She’s thinking about making a weapon durable enough for her to fully exert her strength.

    ‘What weapon should I make then… let’s see… I should make close range weapon first, a sword maybe? Then what type… Well, I’ll choose what I use mostly then’

    What she used the most, other than any energy type weapons or guns or projectiles, are swords and knives. With her current strength, she can wield any big sword with no much effort. The type of sword she mostly use has the characteristic of thin yet sharp blade and could cut anything with technique and sheer force, focusing on agility and mastery.

    ‘I need many… A big one to cut bigger foes, a small one to use on limited area… but If I have to store them in my item box, I wouldn’t switch in time when I need to… Well, just like always, strap them all to my waist’

    That’s why she decided to take a quests about mining material this time. She actually needed the most durable metal to make her weapon but her rank in the guild doesn’t provided that, she need to go through ranking first.

    ‘Mithril would be enough for now… Odachi first, maybe?’

    Odachi, a type of tachi but bigger. It’s not commonly used as it’s too big for someone to handle it, but it suits an oni like her. Its curved blade is good for slicing, its length is extremely long, even longer than her height and it’s heavy. Normally she wouldn’t choose this as her weapon if there’s no big monsters around there.

    She would go for zweihander too but it’s not really suit her style that much. A rapier is a no for her, it’s too thin and focused on stabbing, she usually broke it if she’s an oni or giant or dragon or whatever with high strength.

    Other than sword, she also thinks of blunt weapon like warhammer or a pillar… or dual shields. Warhammers are great and the latter two may sounds stupid but they’re very fearsome. Pillars are very intimidating and can even break a neck of a dragon. The dual shields is to equipping two great square shields on two hands and used it as both offensive and defensive, it’ll make the user like they’re a walking fortress, but it’s still very absurd.

    ‘But I always have a problem drawing it if I don’t have anything to help me, not even that, I have to fight in quite limited area too… but as an oni, knives would be meaningless if my physical strength is superior... ‘

    Oni’s physics is of cause stronger than humans. The purpose of having a knife is mostly for assassination or when engaging in hand to hand combat, but body is also a kind of weapon and sometimes, even more deadly. Having a very strong body means having a very strong weapon, it’s not necessary for having a weaker weapon.

    Still, if she was to face a very strong foe and her pure physical power wasn’t enough, knives would be came in handy in close combat. For now, the most durable material she is able to access is the mithril. A mithril knife can’t cut a dragon’s scale for sure. So, the topic about making knife is now dismissed, for now.

    ‘Sigh… As I though, a normal kanana, that’s it’

    Decided what to make, Xeir continued her way to the great plain once again. Followed the map, she started to run at full speed to her destination, [ North Mountains ]. It’s of cause a mountain situated in northeast of the plain, the Great East Barrier Mountains, it seems the North Mountains is the same place, according to the map.

    Ignoring the monsters around, she run and run nonstop. The reason for her to run is, to improve her endurance. Her task is just mining the ores and exterminate some goblins, she didn’t need much stamina for that. She should not waste her time.

    ‘... No… I underestimated it… it’s further than I thought…’

    After running for a whole day… an oni used all its energy and collapsed on the plain. Xeir never thought that the distance from Delta Town to the mountain would be this far. The Great Plain is indeed great as its name. According to the map, the plain is even larger than a nation… Who she does she think she is? how does she simply run across the continent?

    ‘... Double the training!’

    And with that, she decided to pick a big random rock and carry with her, running to the end of the world….



    Really… this girl…

    ***​

    The [ Gallant Mine ], a mine situated in the north mountain. The mine is made on an opening of the mountain, it was used to mine for rare materials for making equipment for adventurers. Also, the novice adventurers would sent here to collect the materials and fend off some monsters for the miners, which is themselves.

    “Sigh, such a boring day”

    A young adventurer sighed loudly while sipping a cup of hot chocolate. The adventurer is in thick coat with a goggle and earmuffs. The long golden blonde hair flows when the icy cold wind passes, making the owner of that hair shiver in cold.

    She’s an ordinary adventurer of the guild who was joined not too long ago. To climb the ranks, she has to do the gathering or extermination quests of her rank, E-rank.

    When she accepted the quest, she has stuck at some point and can do nothing but camping. She could go back to the town, but she wouldn’t have enough money for staying in an inn and will be sleeping on side road…

    She pull her pouch of coins and shook it upside-down… nothing came out, the tear started to drop.

    “O goddess of fortune… please help this poor girl! I’m broookkeeee~!”

    And she started to pray and cry…

    Thud!

    “Eh?”

    The adventurer responded to the sound, she turned her head and found an object buried in the snow. It was a rock, big enough to cover an entire body of a human.

    “Wah... “

    Let out a surprised voice, she drew her knife. This rock, wasn’t here before. Her instinct tells her to run… but, something is telling her otherwise. With a gulp, the young adventurer closing in distant to that rock and slowly used her knife to poke it, and the rock twitched.

    “Gyaaaaaaa~!!! I r soawiii~!”

    With her tongue twisted, she let out a scream and non-understandable words. The girl ran inside her tent and used her blanket as a cover, shivering. After a little time passed, she opened her eyes, nothing is coming.

    “...eh…”

    Letting out a stupid noise, she slowly showed her face from the tent. The adventurer found that the rock is still where it is, she gulped once again. The girl trying to look at the rock better as she tried to close in again.

    Mmmm….

    With a little movement of the rock and a sound of lightly snore, she frighten once again. Steeling herself, she sneaked in with her knife in her hand and tried to examine. As she getting closer, the snoring sound is also louder, too. When she reached the rock, she decided to look under it.

    “Wait… a person!?”

    She was dumbfounded by what she found under the rock, it’s a person. That person is rather small compared to average adventurer’s height and is now currently snoring with somewhat happy face on it… Who is this?

    “H.. hey! Are you OK? Hey! Wake up!... Wake up!”

    The adventurer try to wake that person up but whether she rapidly shake or even kick, this person is not even have a sign of waking up.

    “Wait… if I…”

    Then she has an idea… what if this person won’t even woken up anymore? How about… a little ‘borrow’ from this body?

    “Is this… O Goddess! Thank you! O Fortuna! I finally have money~!”

    ***​

    A little while ago before the event at the Gallant Mine. The oni, Xeir, has been running for more than four days. While running, she also carry a big rock the size more than herself with her. To break the strength limit, this is one of the fastest method to train. It wasn’t accomplishable for human, though.

    “A… Little… Further!”

    With heavy panting, Xeir is climbing up the mountains with difficulty. Her lungs burned up, her muscle stiffen, her throat dried out and her energy is long gone. It was just like when newbie athletes has to push themselves and build their muscle by running all days nights.

    These process has to be continuously done day by day for the result to be clearly seen. After this, she would have to train daily too.

    “I’m… ar…i”

    Thud!

    When she saw the opening of the mountain that is certainly the Gallant Mine, her already out-of-energy body is collapsed and the rock she carried with her, without anything to carry it, fell on the girl’s body with a thud.

    ‘I’m… gonna sleep for bit…’

    She muttered, then slip through her dreamland right after it, snoring happily.

    And, not so long after she could finally rest, this happened.

    Puff!

    “PFF!!! Cough! Cough! Argh… wh-… what the hell!?”

    Boom!

    Icy cold sensation suddenly attacked her. She could felt that she was almost suffocated by water… or snow. She choked with watery eyes for a while before she can catch her breath.

    “Wha hwah wha….”

    “... What?”

    Before Xeir’s eyes is a girl in thick coat. The shock was clearly drawn on her face, like she’s just see a ghost.

    “Hey, could you kindly te---”

    “How did you do that!! Please, please tell me~!”

    Cut through her word, the girl leaned closed at her so sudden that she almost gave her a punch. Xeir could almost see the stars shining brightly in her eyes.

    “S- Stop! What’s with your enthusiasm!? Oi! I said stop!!”

    Xeir tried to fend off the girl with her hand, but she has no more strength left.

    “I mean that! How did you throw that rock so easy! You’re a human, right!? An adventurer, right? Please, teach me~!”

    Apparently, when she was thrown off the rock she carried along the way away when she was woken up.

    “I said calm down! Oi! I just arrived! Can you please leave me alone!?”

    ‘D...darn… I don’t have much energy left’

    “Not until you reveal your secret~!”

    “What!? What is wr… argh… I’m n… I… mmm…”

    Drowsiness attacked once again and forcing her to slipped into her wonder land once more…

    “Wait! Nooo~! You know how hard to wake you up!? Hey!... jeez…”

    The adventurer looked around for awhile and decided to drag Xeir into her tent... Excitement took all her fear away and ignited her childish side instead…

    ***​

    Later that night, the adventurer girl is in front of a bonfire, grilling two sticks of meat. These are her last supply she has. Beside her is a body in thick thicket, snoring soundly with mouth open.

    Actually, when she met this stranger, she was thinking about stealing the money and left the body out cold, but when she tried to find, no coins pouch or wallet or anything that could carry money could be found, the only thing she found is the Item Box. She can’t open others item box if she’s not the owner, thinking about using it as a hostage (?) and force the owner to open it is impossible too, she doesn’t has the ability to break it.

    ‘And he’s alive under that rock too…’

    She sighed, If she has to fight someone strong enough for not being flattened by such a big rock, she wouldn't be able to win. So… she ended up helping the stranger instead. She tried to use the snow in the area to drop inside the stranger but it’s not working much… so she turned the stranger’s head into a snowman, and ‘he’ woke up… then went sleep again.

    ‘He must be insanely strong! There’s no sign for him to be other race than human too. That’s mean, I still have a way to improve myself!’

    The adventurer smile brightly. An ordinary human like her is not as strong as the other race. Even the receptionist are not human and insanely strong. She also wanted to be as strong as them one day.

    When she saw the stranger this day, she was really shocked when the rock was thrown away so easily with just a surprise reaction. She estimated the this stranger would be strong but not to this extent. That’s why, she wants to learn the secret of this power.

    She continued grilling her meat until it’s well done and pick one stick, eating it with tears… she forgot about reserving a stick for tomorrow, but with an excitement, she also grill the other stick by habit.

    ‘I must finish my quest here… but I can’t fight those goblins with just my knife… If only my sword hadn’t broken…’

    She picked a used-to-be sword from her stash. There’s only the handle and a little piece of iron stuck to it. Thinking back what she had done when she’s arrived, she gave a blank stare to the air…

    ‘Why did I used my sword to mine an ore… ah.. Ha...ha…’

    Suddenly, high pitched noises was emerged from the darkness. The adventurer’s eyes were widen and she swallowed all the meat, readied her fighting stance.

    ‘T- They’re even more than last night…’

    From the sound, there could be more than five. Every nights, there will be an attack from the native monster. Mostly are snow goblins but there’s sometimes a snow golem would walk pass here too… it’s her fortunate that she didn’t encountered it yet.

    She tried to use the light from the bonfire to spot the enemies. Goblins can see in the dark, It’d be disadvantaged if she lose her light source.

    Suddenly, a goblin came out from the darkness with a screech. The adventurer barely avoided it and used her knife to slash its body, cutting its hand. The goblin was about to scream but the girl cut its throat in time, killing it.

    More goblins approached the camp and attacked the adventurer. She began to sweat as she tried to avoid and fend off the foes. If it was just one or two, it wouldn’t be a problem, but there are four in front of her now.

    Smack!

    Surprised by the sound, she looked at her back. Two goblins was hung high from the ground by two hands. Their face was carved in and disembodied, like it was crushed by heavy force.

    Well, it’s actually a heavy force… The stranger who should’ve sleeping is now holding two goblins in her hands.

    “H- hey! You’ve wo--- kyaa!!”

    Responded to her voice, the stranger threw the goblins at her direction. She barely cowered down and avoided being hit by the goblin successfully.

    Screeeesch!

    The goblins behind her didn’t see that coming and three were hit by two of their kinds. With a sound of heavy stomp, the stranger ran to the only one left with high speed and grabbed its head before it can react.

    Bam!

    The stranger slammed the head of the goblin to the ground, not only that the stranger pull its head along the ground, crushing its skull, killing it while leaving a trail behind. Later, the stranger threw the corpse of the snow goblin to the goblin that’s trying to stand and break its neck.

    The last goblin that attacked the camp is, when it’s totally lost here, ran away inside the mine.

    “...Amazing…”

    The adventurer girl was astonished. While she’s struggle to kill a goblin, this person just join the fray and brutally killed them all…

    “Thank you! … now, please teach me how to get strong!”

    “...”

    Thud!

    “Ah?”

    Not even responded to her, the small figure of the stranger fell to the ground and snored…

    ‘Don’t … don’t tell me he’s still sleeping!!?’

    Yep, that stranger is still sleeping…

    ***​

    “You mean… There’s really a teleportation complex near here!?”

    Xeir’s shocked. When she had woken up from the dream, she found that she’s in a camp made by an adventurer. After asking for some detail, she learned that this adventurer is named Isiria, a novice adventurer from the guild who coincidentally making a quest in this mountain.

    Asking why there’s no other adventurers around, she found that she’s on the opposite side from the usual path. This path is not popular as it’s really hard to get here and the monsters here are not eliminated entirely from the adventurers. Hence, there’s a lot of them around here to harm the newbies.

    But there’s a merit. The ore on this side of the mountain is still rich, ones can easily find the ores all around as they’re not yet mined. That’s why Isiria, who’s taking a gamble, was stuck here…

    She’s trying to find a good spot to mine the ores but she accidently broke her sword along the way and has only a knife with her. With her determination, she’s trying to get near the ores once again but the monsters here are more than she could handle. When she’s waiting for an opportunity, she found a big rock that suddenly appeared, that’s Xeir.

    And when Isiria asked why did she was buried under a rock, she replied with the truth that she used the rock as a training when she ran from Delta Town to the mine.

    To this point, Isiria widen her eyes and asked why did she has to run from the Delta Town, she showed the girl the map she has, and told her that there’s a teleportation portal in Frontier Village on the plain, which is nearer to the mine, too.

    “And I ran from the desert to the plain and to the mountain for four days…”

    Xeir has a blank stare at the sky when she learned that her map is outdated… she was even asked how did she got this map too… how could she say that she ‘accidentally’ borrowed it from the library in Aeturnus.

    “Now, can you tell me how to be strong like you? Please?

    “This again… sigh, well, you can train yourself by breaking you limit over and over. You can do 100 push-ups, 100 sits-up, 100 squats and 10 kilometers running, every single day, if you don’t mind to lose all your hair.

    Isiria dropped her jaws.

    “And you can also being a reincarnator, gaining cheat-like abilities, finding cursed grimoires, being an overlord, being a student of a master, being a maid… forget the last part”

    “B- but… that’s a bit…”

    Xeir shook her head

    “There’s no easy way to gain cheat-like ability other than you cheating the system itself. You know? There’s a lot humans in the guild that is stronger than me too, it’s just they’re not mentioning themselves much. Also, I’m not even a human, I’m an Oni… a giant-like creature for you humans. My physical abilities is not something you can gain being a human through nothing but training, no secrets at all”

    ‘Still… most of them aren’t humans, actually…’

    She lectured the adventurer who she just met for a while. Well… actually, human have many potential possibilities and can even ascend to another race. She just wanted to let Isiria think a bit more and push her forward.

    “That’s it, don’t forget about eating proper food too… Also… If I’m corrected, now you’re broke, right? I’ll help you with that”

    “...! Really!?”

    “Yes, why not? We’re all adventurers from the same guild anyway”

    “T- Thank you!”

    After a little preparation, they advanced inside the mine. In the mine is of cause a lot of monsters. There’re a lot of goblins here and there and everywhere till Xeir has to frown, this is more than she expected.

    They have to take a narrow way to where there are not much goblins around and clear the way. She can heard some of mining activities on the other side too, she hoped this won’t attract much monsters here.

    “So… what kind of ore you need?” asked Xeir.

    “Fire crystals, Earth crystals, Ice crystal, Wind crystal and Mithril ores”

    Isiria said while searching for ores, as far as she can see, there’s enough for to do this quest for a long time.

    “I see… That’s the same as mine but I included slaying goblins too… Well, I’ve slain some on the way here and already stored it so it’s done”

    She said and find the rock that reflects in in colors. The iron ores are mostly rusted by oxidation reaction so they will be mostly red. For mithrils, maybe they’ll look like silver ore? She’s not really sure so…

    Boom!

    “Wha!”

    With a surprised voice of Isiria, Xeir just used her bare hand punched the wall of rock, blew them it pieces but not much.

    “Aw… That’s… pretty hurt…”

    She shook her hand in the air. When she’s in human form, she won’t have as much strength as oni form. When she punched the wall, she just hurt her hand.

    ‘Well… concentrate on energy… circulate… compress…’

    She lead the energy within her body to be concentrated at her hand. Her hand’s temperature is heating up and the flame has started to form. It was a reddish black flame…

    ‘This flame’s color sure is embarrassing… why can’t it be in normal color…’

    While thinking unnecessary things, Isiria is quite panicked.

    “Your… your hand is burning! What happened! Are you alright!”

    “Shhh!! Keep quiet, they will come if you’re too loud”

    “... Didn’t you breaking rocks is also loud?”

    “Yes it is, but it’s quite different from speech… still, they will come anyway”

    When she finished concentrating her energy, she placed her hand on the wall.

    ‘Release’

    Crack!

    Suddenly, flame from her hand traveled through the cracks of the rock in lines and cut them out of the wall, fallen into ground. What she just did is to combine the strength of the oni and her Inner Force Manipulation skill to make this work. She compress the strength on her hand and let the force separate the rocks from the wall by increasing the space between cracks.

    “Hmm… a lot of ore… that shiny one might be Mithril then”

    “I’ll help”

    Isiria run and gathered the scattered stone to one place. There are a lot of normal stones too and there’re some with material. What she found is what could be mithril ores seven each, irons, copper, some ore that’s looks just brown or blue. Those colored ore emitted some sort of energy different from each color… these might be elemental crystal embed to the rock.

    Both of them repeated this steps for many times. Isiria being a lookout and fend off some goblins while Xeir is busy. Xeir will use her force to separate the ores. This keep going on until they got all what they wanted.

    “11 Mithril ores, 17 ice crystals, 13 wind crystals, 6 fire crystals, 8 earth crystals and many rocks”

    Xeir summarized. Isiria picked only her part she needed to finish the quest and let Xeir has the rest as she’s the one worked more than her and even helping her collect these ore. At first, Xeir was about giving the rest to the other party too, but if the girl asked her about this herself, not accept it is a but rude.

    “That’s about it… do you need anything else?”

    “No, this is already a lot, thank you! Also, you can use the teleportation portal at the Frontier Village to go back, don’t run to Delta Town again”

    Isaria said with a chuckle. Xeir is also shrugged.

    “You don’t come?”

    “I have something to do first, like packing these tent, you can go ahead”

    “If you said that then, welp, seeya”

    Xeir waved her hand and turned back while Isiria is also waved back. She has a feeling that she’ll meet her once again somewhere… but not in near future. And… the girl seems to somehow still misunderstood something about her too, she didn’t sure what is it.

    After came out of the mine and went off to Frontier Village according to new map. Not many hour passed, she has arrived to the town and quickly find the teleportation complex. When she found it, she entered it and appeared to the other side, Aeturnus.

    “Sigh… I’m back”

    She sighed with a little relief and continued her way to the HQ, reporting in the succession of the quest.
     
    Last edited: Jan 3, 2017
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  20. shad12ow

    shad12ow 『Semi-Offline』

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    Desert Mine - #GD1 - D-Ranked – Mine 5 Mithril Ore [ 60G | 1 x Mithril Ingot]
    Desert Mine - #GD2 - D-Ranked – Mine 3 Fire Crystals [ 100G | 1 x Refined Fire Crystal ]
    Desert Mine - #GD3 - D-Ranked – Mine 3 Earth Crystals [ 100G | 1 x Refined Earth Crystal ]
    Desert Mine - #GD6 - D-Ranked – Mine 50 Stone [ 60G | 20x Stone Slab]
    Desert Mine - #GC1 - C-Ranked - Mine 5 Orichalcum Ore [ 200G | 1 x Orichalcum Ingot ]
    Desert Mine - #EC1 - C-Ranked - Find Rare Ore [0 G | 1 x Random Ore]
    =================================================================================
    "Hmm....okay, the crystals looked good, albeit a bit dirtied. Not a problem. The ores are....a bit on the impure side. Once again, not a problem. Stone are....well...stone. What can I say? They're stone. Overall, good job. Ah, you also have rare ore? Okay, let me work on that."
    *snaps fingers. A small spider came creeping toward the ore with a specialized tools*
    "While we wait for the result, let me finish the reward for you. So here is 520 G and also the crystals other thing. And-"
    *the spider tugs Shadow's sleeve and then left a small piece of paper*
    "The result is in~ Let's see...hmm...Gold? Really? But alas, in a very impure form. Here you go~ Take care now~ Oh, thank you for the report of the centipede. We will look into it again if there are similar case. If not, it might be just a stray monster. But a warning will still be issued nonetheless. Good job!"
    OOC: Sorry for being late!!! I have no excuse!
     
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