"That was a quiet night, nothing really happened."
Commenting on his job, Manyvat Adruo handed his report to the nearbiest receptionist.
Taking the job of Night Watch may have seemed unfitting for Manyvat Adruo, considering his previous profession. However, as the Scribel Guard was present. He assumed that if nothing happens during the night, they would speak to each other and approach mundane topics which-- were important to him. For example, where are the shops? Just speaking with them will provide him with info-
“Hey, didn’t expect to see ya there!”
A voice which he recognised made its apparition. It was Paul, the man who guided him when he realised that he was far from home. A sigh escaped his mouth as the merchant shook his ‘guide’s hand.
“Nice to see you again, so quickly as well…I suppose you’re a guard?”
Replying positively to his question, both Paul and Manyvat shared what happened to both of them since the previous day. Barely anything, nonetheless it was all the topics they could find so far. In any case, while they kept an eye about the surroundings, Paul began asking questions as this time, he knew that Manyvat recollected his composure since he arrived here.
“So, since now it should be fine to ask questions, does anything feel different from your previous world?”
Gritting his teeth, the merchant wondered whether how he should reply. The manner Paul tried to probe into his life was-- odd. Something felt amiss about him overall, perhaps was it because he was the only one who asked when everybody seems to be used to otherworlders? Be it as it may, he just decided not to mind it and simply speak his mind.
“Mmmm, lot of stuff seems to be pretty out of place. First-- how is this city even stable when otherworlders keep coming out of the gates? Then, regarding the technology overalll… it seems less advanced but-- as I said, more stable? For examples, the roads seem to be well-maintained, unlike where I come from, the administration was awful.”
It is true that differences were significant. Such as-- this is only a city-state, it is not a country in a period of civil unrest. His native country was plenty different. If one day the authority is victim of a coup, that would not have been surprising. Whatever that is-- Paul stayed silent and waited for him to keep speaking.
“Suppose that’s about all. People seem to be about the same. More focused on their routine rather than anything else-- although, you want to hear details I guess? If that’s the case, give up on it. I do not wish to think about it.”
Likely because of the misdoings that led him to his demise, however, that is not something he should know. The ‘guard’ rolled his eyes and let out a sigh as he accepted the conclusion of this short discussion.
“Alright, alright, then to be fair, ask me some questions.”
Of course, that was a perfect opportunity to learn where the main shops of Scribel were. Thanks to this, he was able to know where he could buy and sell goods in the city. But not only that, prices of some products were now known to him. At least, the average range of price. There were also shopkeepers who accepted bargaining with the customers and some who did not. Shamefully, Paul never bothered with that kind of thing and thus never got to know.
“Mmmm, I suppose that’s your turn to ask a question. What you told me is quite useful!”
Since he was satisfied with what the basic information he received, he thought that replying to some questions would not be too troublesome.
“Alright… currently, right now, I am kind of a soldier. So that’s normal for me to accomplish this kind of job, but what about you? You… don’t look like the type to do that, do you?”
Was it that easy to notice? Or the clothes give him another vibe? That was likely the case. It would be more likely for him to be a thief, a mage or an assassin considering the clothes he had on him.
“In all honesty, I was a merchant. And no! Don’t make that face, I was a legitimate merchant who dealt with legal products. I never touched any forbidden goods or such… some of my friends fell because of that.”
The latter part of his last sentence was likely a lie. However there was no way to verify-- unless you can cross worlds. If someone knew it was a lie, then, Manyvat would try to capture him through any means and then seek for a way to return to his own world. There were likely leftovers of his deeds in his home country.
Of course, it was unlikely to happen. Whatever that is, after this short conversation, Adruo declared that it was time to put a stop to it.
“Let’s resume working and speak another time. Once it’s day-- unless we’re too tired to do so.”
Although Paul disagreed, he still understood that the merchant’s mind would not budge until he gets to know everything on his own. Thus, the soldier left after leaving some words of farewell.
“I will get going then. But, usually, if something happens, it’s something big. So unless there is something akin a huge bonfire, it is likely nothing’s going. To sum it up, you can rest at ease.”
Probably speaking on experience, the merchant nodded in understanding. Yet he stayed still and stared at the lands outside the city, wondering where those roads lead to. That would have been wise to question his… friend? No.
In any case, the night passed-by quietly and nothing happened. Everything was as still as painting, as if frozen in time. Shamefully, it seemed that Paul was now gone. Funnily enough, the ‘adventurer’ thought that they will meet soon. However, he hoped it would not be the case. As for why?
‘Once, it’s normal. Twice, it’s a coincidence. Thrice, it’s a conspiracy.’
If it does happen, that would be the third time Paul has some uncanny timing. In any case, time to go back to the guild.
OOC: Alriiiight, the "boring" start should be finished now, next quest should be more interesting now that I've an idea about what to do~
"Please refain from chit-chatting too much during the work, as one moment of distraction could mean the ambush of unknown force. However, seeing that you're a new-face, I'll let this slide for now."
Waking up as soon as the sun set, Liana got dressed and began cooking some food for the two elf siblings; one meal was large and hearty with lots of slow release energy ingredients mixed in, the other was light and fresh with fast release energy ingredients mixed in. Hearing movement from upstairs, Liana finished cleaning the kitchen before leaving the house. She still felt a little apprehensive about being in Hejlikka's presence and so compromised with her to cook the evening meals for the two siblings: one an evening meal for Julrik when he came back from working the day shift; the other a breakfast for Hejlikka who was getting ready for the night shift.
Stepping onto the street, Liana saw the sky showing gorgeous colours from the remnants of the sun's rays behind the city buildings. Smiling in content as the night made her feel energised, she walked towards the guild quest board to see what she could do for the night.
Glancing at the available quests, she pined for the Night Watch one but thought about Harrison's stubborn words and pushed the idea out of her mind with a sigh. Moving her eyes down the numerous quests, she noticed one with quite a few posters bearing crudely drawn pictures clumped beneath it:
"Missing children?" Liana was intrigued and believed this kind of thing could be considered as being hands on with helping the civilians. Feeling a little elated over this chance her gold eyes swept through the various posters and paused with a start as four particular ones entered her vision:
Closing her eyes in grief as snippets of a bloody memory flashed in her mind, Liana felt truly sorry for what she had done as well as sad that those families would never see their children again. Yes, she recognised the descriptions and locations of the boys on those posters as the ones she had ruthlessly drained in her blood frenzy. Feeling remorse wash over her over what she had done, she quickly looked at another, more obscure, poster and chose it as her task.
Looking at the information, Liana's heart hurt as she read the age of the child and how long she'd been missing. Although she didn't think there would be much good news with this, she still wanted to find a chance to offer closure to Agatha's family if she could. With that, she went to the receptionist desk to ask for directions to the market, as well as to get a signed note to help her ask people for information, before heading for Agatha's last known location.
Reaching the market, Liana thought she wouldn't get that many answers due to it being evening, however she was pleasantly surprised when she found out that Scribel City actually had a night market. Although, that rise in expectation was soon dashed as every vendor she spoke with said they'd never seen such a girl before, let alone know what a pangolin was.
Feeling despondent over having no success, Liana didn't know what to do except for her to try and find a possible route away from the market that the girl might have taken with the pangolin. Looking around, she decided to go down the street that had lots of food scraps all over the ground - where the building owners had just dumped their rubbish outside. Following the street, she saw a dark alleyway that had a few barrels filled with rotting food.
"..."
Thinking that the pangolin might have gone down there to scrounge for some food, thus Agatha following it, Liana decided to head down the dark alley to look for any possible clues. Reaching the end of the alley, she saw that it split in two directions on either side. Searching the area for anything, she heard some footsteps from the left alley and hid behind one of the barrels that was deep in shadows. As the sounds grew closer, she heard what seemed like a cloaked man and woman giggling together and most likely flirting with each other.
"Ahhn~! You're like, such a tease Hubert~!" The woman giggled.
"Hahaha, not as much as you are, mistress!" The man responded as the couple walked past the intersection and continued down the alley on the other side.
"Ah~! Call me that more~!" The woman ordered.
A clattering sound was heard as the man pushed the woman against the alley wall and deeply kissed her. In the heat of the moment the man began fondling his partner's very large chest while the woman moved her hand down his, before going lower. Making wet, sloppy kissing sounds and gasping for air - they eventually parted from one another, where the man finally responded: "Yes, my mistress."
The woman - whose back was now to Liana - giggled, causing her hood slightly move, revealing half-elf ears. She then started walking down the alley with the man's hand in her own, "I, like, trust the extractions of our little sacrifices have, like, been going well, right Hubert~?"
"Of course, mistress! The latest ones have been transported out of the city just this week."
The couple had moved out of earshot by that point and Liana wasn't sure what to do; should she continue searching for clues about Agatha and the pangolin, or follow the couple whose conversation topic was suspicious but not clear.
"..."
Biting her lip in frustration, Liana decided to follow the couple but made sure to wait for them to turn a corner before she moved down the alley.
***
After following the couple for two hours, Liana had ended up in the more affluent part of the city, with the half-elf woman unlocking the door to an expensive-looking house before pulling on the man's shirt and dragging him in while deep kissing him again. The door then promptly closed, leaving Liana outside in a dark alley. Staring at the house for a while, Liana was about to leave when she caught sight of a weird scaly creature poking its small head and long snout at the bottom of the window.
"...What is that thing...?" Not sure on what the creature was, she decided to risk going closer to the house so she could make a mental note of its features. Checking that there was no one around before leaving the alley, Liana quietly sneaked over to the house - trying her best to stay in the shadows.
Upon getting closer to the window, she could hear the sounds of heavy breathing and moans originating from inside - no doubt the couple were being...intimate right now. Blushing at the sounds, Liana felt shame when she recalled how Jasper must have done something, like that man was doing, to her that night. Clenching her fists in frustration over how weak and afraid she was of the incubus, she gritted her teeth and stared down the window.
The little creature looked so strange, yet also quite cute. Liana committed the image of the creature into her mind so she could find a possible description of it in the guild library she'd overheard some adventurers mention every now and then. Quietly leaving the area, Liana headed for the guild in haste so she could find out the creature's name as fast as possible.
After reaching the location of the library, Liana spent over three hours rifling through books and documents in order to try finding any description that matched the little creature's. Eventually, as dawn was beginning to approach, Liana found a description with a drawing next to it that matched her mental image perfectly: a pangolin.
Leaning back in the chair, Liana thought about the couple, about the part of their conversation she overheard, then about the pangolin that was in their house.
"..."
Not wishing to follow a false lead, Liana decided to end her investigation into the missing Agatha there for now. She didn't want to arouse the suspicion of that couple by knocking on their door and asking if they'd seen the little girl, as well as where they got the pangolin from. So, instead, she went to the receptionist desk and wrote her report - noting down the address of the house and the little features she managed to catch of the couple: a human male called Hubert who seemed to be in his 30's; a half-elf woman with a distinct speech pattern, flirty/lusty attitude and very large chest whose age couldn't be identified due to her race, although she sounded like a human woman in her early 20's.
Handing in the report, Liana rubbed the back of her neck as she instinctively felt the sun rising - feeling fatigue beginning to set in already. Once her report was evaluated, she made her way back to Hejlikka's house.
'First up, I experimented on what baits a tunnel worm to any given place at any given time. Suffice to say, but the dwarves didn't know the reason. Or rather, they were too busy with other things to learn about this reason, which is why I don't blame them for it. Also why I was outside the city running tests, since accidentally luring tunnel worms into the city itself would be kinda bad.
As for the results, it seems that tunnel worms usually didn't follow any schedule or whatnot, so one couldn't predict their appearance. But it also seemed that they had some preference for fresh blood---especially when large amounts of it are dumped onto the ground when they're nearby. And how to tell if they're nearby? Listen for the rumbling.
Ah, but there's got to be a better way to dispose of them, because their outer scale layers are really unfriendly to melee weapons. Pummeling the one that showed up to death took me ages, seriously.
Of course, since it wasn't in the mines, the kill didn't count towards quest completion, so I just took it's scales and went back to the city using a detour.
The material feels rather nice, too. I could make something new to wear with them.
Anyway, back to the report, the trip into the mines went better than I had thought. Between my experiments and nifty dwarven production, we figured out how to take down tunnel worms with minimal losses.
For a race working the forges, making something like tar wasn't difficult. Heck, with a forge and some coal, I could make it by myself. It wasn't rocket science.
So I repeated what I did the day prior using the blood of kobolds we happened across in the mines, and when the tunnel worm showed up we practically turned the area into a tar pit. Here my estimates paid off; the slippery and still fluid tar didn't allow the tunnel worm to make much progress through it, sticky as it was.
Still, if the aim was sticky fluid alone I would have gone for the easier alternative, like rubber sap. Picking tar was because 1) I didn't find any rubber sap in Gelderholm, and 2)...tar was extremely flammable. Especially if the component was coal, which was found aplenty in the dwarven city.
So, to finish it off I threw a tar bomb into it's maw, followed by several firebombs, after one of the brave fellows baited it to open it's maw and roar. Internal explosion was followed by internal bleeding, in turn followed by blood loss and rigor mortis. In fact, I think it was still alive when we started skinning it's scales and stuffing them into a sack.
After that we sealed up the holes the tunnel worm made, as well as a few more holes that must have been dug out long ago, and...well, the dwarves are even lazier than I am, to be honest. They just filled the whole thing with mortar and left it to dry by itself. And if monsters fell into the mortar solution while it was still drying, they'd become part of the fill as well.
But yeah, besides the one I baited, it didn't seem like the area was very infested with tunnel worms. We poked around for a while, but most of the holes we discovered were from a while back. So after we filled them up, we left.
...I kinda wanted to hunt more, but it feels like bullying so I'll stop. Maybe if I still needed material for my new outfit. Mhm. It's decided then.'
Iris must be able to cast at least 2 magic spells.
At the discovery of the late, I have confirmed that Lady Iris is able to sense mana. With that info I firmly believe that Lady Iris is capable of such magic arts but alas for I do not have the knowledge to teach her as such.
Teaching her may be of a challenge and so I will not be a stinge in terms of monetary rewards, for I understand the value of knowledge and service.
May whoever take upon this task find success in the endeavor.
OOC Note: If any player chooses this quest then they must know how Iris speaks and reacts to people.(Which is not a whole lot if I'll be blunt, and that is an understatement. Feel free to check on her quest references to get a feel.)
Report - Solet' Luna
"I'll only ask you once, Miss Iris. Are you sure about learning magic from me, even though it might bring you indirect dangers?" I looked at the little girl in front of me as I asked for her confirmation. From first glance, this girl reminded me of that little girl, named Letianna. The two shared some similarity yet also possessed almost the opposite personality.
"Yes... For Reival..." After her consent, I slowly smiled as I lightly touched her palm, looking for a certain pulse and trying to determine her potential and talent for various types of magic. Maybe it was because of my new, somewhat more intimidating appearance that made her shivered, or just that she was really shy. Anyway, I was surprised at how compatible her body and Mana was.
In comparison, take Letianna, who I thought was talented in the art of sorcery. Her body allowed Mana to flow like a river, somewhat slow but extremely steady. However, this girl, Miss Iris, was akin to a rainstorm. Her body could absorb and dilute Mana as easy as drinking and breathing. Of course, there seemed to be a downside as she was slow in her comprehension and reaction. Maybe it was the nature of things, or just that her mind matured way slower than average.
Luckily, the girl had already awakened her sense of Mana, or else I won't come to take this quest. Her talent seemed to be compatible with most of the magic I knew, however, seeing that she was really slow in her learning and calculating— I decided to teach her one of the most basic yet board type of magic, Light Magic, specifically the Crystal Magic.
Crystal Magic, one of the most unorthodox classes of magic. Rumoured to be created by a supreme yet lazy genius, the magic required almost no calculation to be taken but needed extreme amounts of Mana to cast, and the skill required to manipulate this magic was excessively complex, making only the genius of the geniuses edible for mastering it. Due to its impossibly complex nature, only the top-tier mages could forcefully calculate its variables, while other geniuses relied on their instinct. It was indeed the magic exclusive for the privileged.
On principle, if one could follow their instinct flawlessly, they would be able to forcefully control light in the surrounding, making it concentrated or diffused, creating invisible rays of destructive heat or impossibly complex crystalized maze that reflected everything onto the enemy, disturbing their senses. At the higher point of the magic, the myth had it that they controlled the fabric of reality and bent the world to their desire, extinguish all light in the world, extend space towards infinity— Ah, I'm getting out of topic.
As I showed her the fundamental spell of Light Magic, I created a wisp of faint light at the tip of my finger and explained some knowledge to her. At first, the girl could do nothing except shaking her head, indicating that she could not understand a thing. So, I changed my method from explaining to letting her feel the change herself.
After telling her to close her eyes, I went to stand behind her and grabbed both of her hands gently, using my Mana to infiltrate her body. OF course, the body tried to resist the foreign Mana, but, as I told her to slowly relax and let go of everything, she began to ease her mind and body, allowing me to take control of her Mana circulation.
"Remember this feeling, and observe it closely with your mind." I forcefully dragged her Mana to the tip of her finger, and through my manipulation, they concentrated and imploded, creating a faint, soft glow that radiated warm heat outwards. It was the easiest Mana Manipulation I had ever done, and that's counting all of my experience as a sorceress from both this world and the previous world. This girl was simply a Mana's favourite daughter.
"I want... to... try." After a few repeated attempts, Miss Iris spoke up, so I slowly moved out and retracted my Mana. Not surprisingly, she closed her eyes, and a few moments later, a glowing orb of light manifested at her fingertip. However, when I asked her to do it at a different fingertip, she shook her head again. I seemed that she could only mimic, but not innovate.
In the end, I tried teaching her some more different ways of activating Light Magic. When it was at dawn, she managed to comfortably and flawlessly create glowing orb in her immediate surrounding. It was tiring, but it was worth it. The easiest part of Light Magic, to others, had become the hardest part for this genius, due to her imperfect comprehension.
As for the next spell, I taught her how to create crystalized Mana, the most fundamental spell of Crystal Magic. This one was hard for me but easy for her. It seemed that reading the flow of Mana in her surrounding was her expertise, as she closed her eyes and let her soul guided her, she could create a crystal mirror at ease, even better than I could at the same age as her.
Seeing that it was already dark, I told her to keep practising to remember and familiarize herself with the feeling, as she could not study in an ordinary way, meaning that if she could not get that feeling down into her soul and instinct, then she would not be able to cast it as fast as she could, wasting her potential. Her path was not that part of endless study, but endless familiarization.
"Thank... you... miss..." She thanked me, and walked aimlessly towards the Tavern. It seemed that other than Lancer Reival, she never really had any companion. Well, the path to the peak had always been lonely.
Also, Lancer Reival, when you're reading this report, remembered to tell her to not carelessly followed everyone's words around when they said to do it for you. If I had any ill intention, I could've caused her Mana circulation to backfire and kill her from the inside out at that moment, so please tell her to be more careful.
It would be tragic if my student died in such an embarrassing way, and even more so if her talent never got to mature and shine upon this world.
OOC: @Euka I chose Crystal Magic and Light Magic because of your Azure Witch in the backstory by the way. Glad to be a path of her legendary ascension!
After roaming through the guild's office, I was pleasantly surprised to see that there seemed to be no leftover reports awaiting appraisal. Everyone seems to be working hard at helping one another.
Or at least that's what I thought at first... Until I saw one in the middle of the pile of appraised reports that I was sorting through that did not have any stamp showing it had been appraised... And after asking around to see if anyone had actually appraised it and forgot to give it the stamp, I found out that was not the case.
... This guild still has a long way to go in improving its organization, I pray The Goddess will help them, now let's see what this one is about.
Report - Solet' Luna
Picking up the quest regarding the Spire Reef, I immediately began journeying to the Prisoner's Knoll. To be honest, I just missed the dirty and chaotic atmosphere of the pirate world. It reminded me of my previous life. Although the scent of the slum was vomit-inducing and murky, it would help me relax, as if I went back to the simple time when I used to live as a homeless after escaping the first witch hunt. No future, no impending danger, and no goal. I sometimes wondered what would happen if I never came out of that place, and live the rest of my life as an ordinary person.
"The Spire Reef, huh? Miss Luna, with your current standing, I could only offer you a few hints—" Recalling the information I bought from the Merchant Guild using the privilege of the Golden Card, I found out that there was indeed the existence of shamans and witches. However, their number was low due to various reasons. One of them was that the mortality rate of exploring the ocean was high, and one accidental encounter with strong sea creatures could mean the end of one's career.
Speaking about sea creatures, the Branch Leader did hint to me that something strange might be going on within the Spire Reef. The rise of Seven Pirate Kings was not as clear as the history recorded, and many contradictions could be found when digging a little deeper. Their reach, although seemed shallow, would not be as short as we thought about. After all, the Spire Reef did not descend into lawless state despite not having the local authority, at least the above-ground authority.
The journey towards the Spire Reed was as uneventful as it could be. It seemed that the bandits feared the pirates very much. They would never come near my new appearance, which resembled a female pirate. Of course, some of the brave ones, or rather the foolish ones, approached me, but, when I showed my ice magic and killed one of them, the others quickly escaped, making me unable to get all of them. In the end, I tried to search for the Skull Coin, but it seemed that the coin was quite rare, as I was unable to get any. It seemed that I got lucky the previous time.
After entering the Spire Reef, I immediately went to one of the taverns to eardrop some of the news regarding the current situation of the sea. It seemed that the sea was somewhat unstable at the moment, with the sighting of the Kraken, the mysterious sea creature with the appearance of the gigantic squid-like tentacles coiling around its unknown true body. This beast was hailed as one of the Kings of the Black Sea. Only the pirate ships under the direct order of the Pirate Kings could survive against its mighty assault.
That's right, the name of the sea was the Black Sea, coming from its unusual phenomenon when, during an unpredictable period, a strange mist would engulf a part of the sea, making that part of the sea turned black, even the seawater below the mist was not an exception. Inside the Black Storm, many unexplained wonders were reportedly spotted, like finding various sunken ships voyaged around as if they had not sunken yet.
"Wha' did ye jus' say t' me? Huh? Jus' a mama's sprog 'n ye still wants t' die?" An angry shout disrupted my train of thought, making me gaze at the origin of the shout. A giant of a man was standing in front of another figure who was holding a bottle of rum. Both of them were undoubtedly drunk, and it seemed like things were starting to get interesting from this point.
"Says I 'move yer fat arse away, ye're blockin' me view'. Wha' are ye goin' t' do? Slap me wit' that slow hand o' yers?" The giant man, angered to the point of reddening, flipped the table and punched the rum-holding man. In that instant, the tavern trembled in excitement like the sound of cheering and swearing echoed inside it. Various men and women were drawn by the atmosphere and vented out their emotions, descending into random fistfights all around.
I, somewhat excited, tried to remain calm and watched the progress of the fight. However, even if I did not intend to do anything, one of the fighting men fell in front of me, knocking my table and my precious drink down. The drink spilt over to the person near me, making them angry and shouted at both me and the fallen man. The chaos of the situation had infected the whole tavern, and now, everyone was fighting in excitement and delight.
"Walk th' plank!! How dare ye dirty me good stuff?!" Seeing that the fight was inevitable, I stood up and kicked the chair towards the man, hitting him on his knee and punched his stomach. Although my body was not as strong as that of a Paladin, with the strengthening of the Elemental Body as well as the training of Solet, I could somewhat rival in raw power with the strong muscle of the pirates. In one punch, the man cried out in pain and dropped onto the floor.
"Yeah— This is fun!" Unconsciously mumbling to myself, I decided to test the limit of my current body, which got somewhat stronger since the day I completed the E Rank Exam. Well, the better my performance was, the more likely my future plan would succeed.
However, after fighting with a few more guys, I realised something. The pirates, even though they were just lowly lackeys, possessed a super durable body, especially some that had their tattoos glowed when they got hit, or just when they attacked. From my estimation, if a group of ordinary pirates were to raid the Scribel City, we would take at least twice amounts of city guards to repel them off. Compared to the peaceful Scribel City, the Spire Reef was a lot more dangerous and chaotic, making the overall strength of the people here a lot better than from the City.
"Wee beauty... ye're a fast one, aren't ye? Well, unlucky fer ye, darin' t' mess wit' us th' Sea Snail!" Somehow, I found myself getting ganked on by a group of pirates. It seemed that I had beaten their comrades too hard, and they had come to get revenge.
After fighting for a whole half an hour, I could hardly endure a group fight. The strong booze also dealt me a blow, making my mind somewhat blurry. My body, sored and tired, should not be over-exhausted right now. Even more, I could feel that the chaos was about to end, as a lot of time had passed already, and the local leader would come in to calm things down now.
"Five of you, let see how strong my sorcery is now..." I raised my hand and created a cold air at the tip of my finger. The air blew outwards, blowing my bandana out and revealing my long, slivery-blue hair. They danced along with the wind as if they were mimicking the motion of the wave, slow and elegant.
"Milady, show mercy!" Witnessing the strange bluish shade engulfing the surrounding area around me, the pirates slowly back away. When they realised that there were icicles formed on their equipment and swords, their face turned pale as the cold air made their body trembling. They asked for forgiveness even though I hadn't done anything of significant yet. It seemed that sorcery and magic were feared by ordinary people, making me somewhat curious about the general standing of the witches and shamans inside the Spire Reef.
"Shut yer gibberish 'n stop yer trouble! Anyone fightin' more will walk th' plank!" A loud shout caused everyone to stop their action and looked at the broken doors of the tavern. There, a group of tattoos-filled pirates stood in front of a somewhat pale man holding a smoking pipe in his hand. Although his build was smaller than the rest of his crew, his face, filled with various scars, looked a lot more terrifying than his crews. One black eyepatch on his face, as well as an artificial dark-wood arm filled with many strange symbols. It must be sorcery-powered arm!
"Now, now, everyone relaxes... For the sake of me, shouldn't you all be friendly and kind to one another?" Although his voice did not have any hint of threat, the rest of the pirates inside the tavern trembled as they showed a fake smile, agreeing to one another as if they were best friends. It seemed that this man was kind outside but ruthless to the bone from the inside.
"Everyone, please allow me to have some time with this lady... It seems that she has something to say with me." His smile, wicked to the bone, caused everyone not from his group to stand up and bid farewell to each other before strolling out of the tavern in an orderly manner. The strange scene was out of my expectation, as the man pointed his hand towards me and signalled for me to come to him.
"Milady, may I have the honour to know your name?" His bow, uniform and polite, gave him the air of aristocracy. If not for the scars, no one would believe that he was indeed a captain of a strong crew. He knew that I was a magic user, probably watching me when I was displaying my ice magic. Well, it was my plan all along, joining a decent crew wasn't easy, but if one had a decent ability, then it was the matter of time to place a place you wanted.
"Sire, this one named Luna, was merely a travelling witch, trying to collect relics and knowledge regarding the great truth of Tonia." I spoke with my mystical voice, making my disposition somewhat dreamy and mysterious. However, it was the truth that I wished to unearth the great truth about Tonia, just not now, and would probably take a long time to actually begin doing so.
"Such a lady of quality and intellect! Madam Luna, would you bestow me the courage to receive your grace? Our Misty Puppeteer lacked a great beauty like Miss, and we are more than delighted to have your blessing on our ship." The man did not beat around the bush and give me a direct invitation, to my surprise.
"Sire, it would be my intention to serve you." After a moment of consideration, I thought about everything and concluded that I should be taking this offer. After all, the other party had some urgency that required the assistance of a witch. If not, the captain would never try to tempt me with his relics and wealth. So, this opportunity must be grasped, as it might never present itself again.
Looking at the scarred face of the captain, I thought about something and kneeled down, placing my hand on my chest and used my ice magic to create a complex symbol embedded on it. A moon-like design emerged from my backhand and glowed in pale blue as if I had signed a contract and swore a vow.
"This lowly witch, named Luna, shall serve her benefactor and never betray the Misty Puppeteer, for the Lord shall watch over her—" Holding the hand of the captain, I brought it closer and gently kissed his backhand, before channelling my ice power to create a barrier-like field that radiated cold wind. The scene looked holy and mystical, and I was sure that everyone would be under the impression of the higher power.
"Good, good, good! Witch Luna, you're now a part of our family! With your magnificent display of loyalty and power, I'll hereby grant you the position of Second Mate." A whisper of surprise exploded after the captain said his piece. From my little knowledge purchased from the Merchant Guild, Second Mate, although placed higher in the hierarchy than the Quartermaster, actually had lower authority than the Quartermaster, but, for a newcomer to actually have the position immediately, it would be surprising for many.
"Then, let us escort Madam Luna to visit our lovely beauty. All Hand Hoy!" In contrast to his gentle expression to me, the captain turned into a different beast when dealing with his crewmembers. It seemed that his ruthless side was the one operating the ship and controlling the orders of the ship.
"Aye, cap'n!" Along the way, I listened to the conversation of the crewmembers. I found out that the Captain, before having me, had one witch on board, and after a tragic misplan, the captain lost one of his arm and the witch, resulting in the current situation where he could not find any witch or shaman to fill in the rank. After all, the witches were not common, and most would already have been snatched by other crews.
The Captain, Sir Borik Lochton, was a fallen noble from a faraway land. Although he never told anyone where his kingdom was, everyone knew that he entered this land as a homeless person who got sent to the Spire Reef from the remote ocean, getting thrown away alongside many wreckages after his ship got hit by a storm.
As a captain, he possessed a strong leader disposition and was well-versed in the art of persuasion, navigation, and fleet battlement. Rivalled by the strong crew called the Poisonous Rustlers, they had fought multiple times, and most of the times, the Misty Puppeteer would emerge victoriously. If not for the loss of their Second Mate witch, the Poisonous Rustlers would never suppress them.
"Madam Luna, here's your room, as the position of the Second Mate, you would have everything at your fingertip, if you desire, even cabin boys and girls are not off-limit." One of the female mates escorted me to my room before leaving with such a sensual remark. It seemed that slaves and the escapees were used as cabin boys and girls.
The room, although old, was in a strangely perfect condition. The wooden floor and the walls had the sea-like scent embedded onto them, but their texture was still passable, on the account that the ship had been used for years. The belonging of the previous witch, including various relics and potions, was still on the table and the shelves. I guessed that the captain wished to reward me with these things as a way to tempt me to work hard for him.
On the desk, I found a worn-out book of ritual. Inside it was various tidbits of tattoo arts and sea sorcery, which was new and novel to me. The detail inside this book was precious, making me reaffirmed my quest in developing some fame in this Spire Reef. After all, if I was strong enough, the spy that Guildmaster sent here would find his way to contact me. I didn't know why, but the Guildmaster seemed to never be there when I wanted to ask him about the feature of the spy... Well, locating the spy and handing the device was not my main objective anyway.
As I used the Misty Puppeteer as my base, I continued to study the book of ritual and occasionally helped out with the fleet battle. Due to the nature of my elemental sorcery, the sea body became my domain of destruction. I caused rain and small-scaled storm to overthrow the balance of the battle and secured swift, thunderous victory for my Misty Puppeteer Ship. As a result, some of the booties were prepared specially for me, including various relics and gems. The disapproving gaze of the old mates turned into fear and admiration.
As for tattoo art, I had tried a little. Although I could only do some basic enhancement, the mates were joyous beyond words as they begged me to help them become stronger. The enhancement included some physical strengthening, endurance strengthening, mental strengthening, and explosive speed. Every time one activated their non-passive tattoo, they would feel exhausted afterwards. The tattoo would drain their vitality and boost their combat power for a moment.
The way of life for pirates was simple yet risky. Most of the time, their jobs were raiding the merchant ships and demanded protection fees. Usually, the merchants would obediently hand over the fee and we would let them go. After all, fighting against the merchants were not wise, making an enemy with no long-term benefits in mind was not the way to live. Of course, when they resist, we just needed to threaten them with some kills and plundered, and they would accept their fate. Only the most insane of them would fight to the death with us, usually, those who tried to defy us would fall very quickly, the merchant ship would never be able to compare to the pirate ship.
If nothing strange happened, I only needed to supervise the raid with the captain and the higher-up of the Misty Puppeteer. Just my presence alone brought courage to our mates and despair to the enemies.
The silvery sea-like hair that fluttered and resonated with the wave of the Black Sea. The golden eyes that radiated the fury of the god of the sea. With one wave of her hand, the sea trembled and froze in her presence, bringing countless storms and blizzards to annihilate fleets of mortals who dared stood before her. The Silvery Witch of the Black Sea, or Blizzard Witch, as they called me.
Of course, bringing countless storms with a wave of one hand was just some nonsense they exaggerated. Fury of the sea god radiated from my eyes? Well, just some rumours turned myths. If I could do all that, then I would already conquer the Spire Reef for my own purpose.
Nevertheless, the power of the sea witches was no small deal. Although my sorcery seemed grander in scale, their trickery was a lot more mysterious and hidden than I expected. Ability to kill someone with just one strand of their hair? That was one of the tricks of the shamans. Drop someone dead by uttering one word? A powerful witch could really do that. Their existence made me wondered about the true power of the Seven Pirate Kings who ruled over this chaotic state.
During my stay, I once encounter a real witch, named Worm Mistress. She was interested in my way of sorcery and tried to capture me for her own research. As a result, we fought for a bit before retreating to each other's respective base, knowing that our power was somewhat equal. The wounds that witch inflicted would reek of worms and maggots, and became insanely hard to heal up, even with Solet's holy magic and the guild's healing potions. Of course, my ice magic also inflicted great trouble to her, making her Mana circulation stagnant and unstable.
In the end, we came to reconcile and ask for methods to heal back up, in exchange for our strong trade partner relationship. Although she did not say anything, that Worm Mistress seemed to be interested in not just my art, but also my figure. She had hinted several times that if I wished so, she would spend a night with me. The people around here were surely fierce in their pursuit of pleasure.
The day we battled against the Poisonous Rustlers was the day I tried to use the worm-infested spell Worm Mistress told me. The result, I could create one undead-like being by using one Corpse Worm to drill into a corpse and control their movement. Of course, their mobility and power would decrease more than half, but the mental defence of the Poisonous Rustlers was shattered like a thin layer of glass against a cannonball. To battle against the force that resurrected their teammate against them? The mates quickly surrendered or fled into the sea by jumping the plank.
Corpse Worm, although mystical, was extremely hard to nurture. Even with my resource and knowledge, I could only successfully nurture only one of them during the ten days period. Its cost-effect ratio was not optimal, but the experiment could be considered a success, so I would not complain too much.
The days passed rather quickly, and soon, months had already gone by. During the time I spent researching the secret of tattoo art, we encountered many setbacks, including various sea creature battles and the deadly phenomenon of the Black Sea. When the misty thickened, I witnessed a majestic wat between two great fleets, glowing in greenish light. The pirate fleets of unknown origin against the armies of sentient sea creatures. The scale of the battle was out of the world, shocking even me, who witnessed the collapse of a country and the war between the believers' of the Lord and the Magus Council.
When witnessing the battle, it was as if the sky was collapsing and the ocean was sinking. Although the impact of the battle was all fake and mental, many of the ordinary mates had a heart attack and died by the sheer mental pressure the illusionary battle had on them. After the battle, I tried to find the news regarding the sentient sea creatures. It was around this time that the Worm Mistress sent me an invitation to join the yearly Witch and Shaman Conference.
Supervised by the powerful witches and shamans within the Spire Reef, they formed a formidable group of interest that used their collective power to pressure and negotiate with the Seven Pirate Kings. As I was never its member, the Worm Mistress specifically had to invite me with her quota as a voucher.
When arrived, I was greeted with the sight I had never seen before. An island raised from the sea when the time was right, filled with various races wearing countless strange accessories. Everyone within the island was magic-user, and they exchanged knowledge and relics as if they were shopping in a market. Compared to them, I could only see myself as the middle-tier of the power level here, and I could not be compared to the powerhouses that supervised the security of the place.
It was in here that I learnt about the secret treaty originated from the ancient time. Before the Seven Pirate Kings rose to prominent, the Spire Reef was under the supreme regime of some kind of city lord. The lord, titled Great Treasurer, had countless artefacts under his commands and had Thirteen Guardians as his most trust aids. His reign was unshakeable, and if not for the sea-shattering battle against another regime, the Underwater Kingdom, the Seven Pirate Kings would never come to the rule of the Spire Reef.
After the battle, the Great Treasurer disappeared, many assumed that he died, but some also told that the lord has just struggled in a sealing formation of the Underwater Kingdom. His Thirteen Guardians, only seven survived to resume his regime, becoming the Seven Pirate Kings of today. This was the reason why the Pirate Kings had unshakeable trust in each other, and would never openly fight each other to death.
At first, I also thought that this was merely a tale of deception and fable. However, after knowing that there was a great artefact capable of repelling the Kraken residing inside the Spire Reef, I wasn't so sure anymore. After all, it shouldn't be possible with just the power of the Seven Pirate Kings to threaten the King of the Black Sea itself.
Even after his supposed death, no one could find the secret vault of the Great Treasurer. Maybe the Pirate Kings had already taken care of them, or they too were searching for the unimaginable wealth. Rumour had it that the city lord had scattered countless clues throughout the Spire Reef's ancient architecture.
To my surprise, I found the sentient sea creatures within the Conference. Their body, resembled a mixture of humanoid being and fish, was filled with tough scales and mucus-like substance. The most obvious features about them were the fin-like organ they used to travel under the sea and breathe underwater. They were not just one race, but a collective of many. Naga, Merfolk, Siren and many more. Most of them were female-dominant races, and they were very beautiful to behold. Of course, as if it was tradition, they were extra aggressive in their pursuit of happiness and sexual satisfaction.
I asked them if I could travel to their underwater kingdom, but sadly, I needed to have the ability to breathe underwater or some kinds of potions to help me first. They said that their kiss could help me breathe underwater for a period of time, but, I still did not have any purpose to visit the kingdom at the moment, so I politely declined their goodwill.
"Madam Luna, a scallywag tried t' trespass into our Misty Puppeteer 'n claimed t' know ye." After I came back from the conference, I could feel my coins depleting and resource fading. There were many interesting things I wished to buy, but their price also reflected their precious worth. In the end, I could only get some of the low-quality good to experiment with.
"Hm... Well, let him in then." After I replied to the mate, I went into my room to prepare myself. It had been so long since someone came to visit me. The life of the pirates was too addicting. I almost forgot that I had two more identities.
Before long, a man was forced onto his knees before me. A handsome fellow who dressed nothing like a pirate. His face fluttered and somewhat nervous, tried to look at my appearance and thought about something. He seemed to want to talk about something, but with the presence of the mates behind him, he dared not.
Looking at his suspicious expression, I almost giggled as I ordered the mates to go out for a bit. Only then did the man slowly stood up, fearing that he had mistaken my identity.
"... Miss Luna, are you really Miss Luna?" The man, trembling and soaking in sweat, tried to ascertain my identity. Well, the detail of my appearance should be outdated by now. After months of sailing the high sea, my pale skin colour had turned tanned somewhat. Even my plain clothing also changed into various silvery accessories. Compared to my previous self, this appearance was a lot more revealing and mystical, and also a lot more pirate-y, not like the previous vibe.
"As far as I know, there is only one Luna in the Spire Reef." Playing with my new staff, I answered in a relaxed manner, making the man eased himself somewhat.
"Luna, the E-ranked adventurer, the Merchant Guild's member— You're that Luna? The pale, elegant, lady who danced with ice sorcery? The lady who took the quest to go to the Spire Reef months ago?"
"That's right. That's me. It's been a while since someone called me an adventurer. So, you're the secret agent of that Guild Master?" hearing my words, the man finally exhaled a sigh of relief before pulling out a weird-looking device.
"Well, here you go. Anything else?" Handing my part of the device to him, I watched as the two-part connected and become a whole. The special communication device was born at this moment. However, even after completing his objective, the man seemed to want to speak something.
"— Miss Luna, I thought that you are an elegant person who values righteous above all else... Then, if I am to ask you about the rumour surrounding your title, the Blizzard Witch. Is it all true?"
"Of course some of them are exaggerated, but they are somewhat within the truth."
"— How is it possible, Miss Luna? I thought that you would never join those filthy pirates and robbed the merchants, not to mention killing an entire crew of people, falling ships and experimenting with the dead!" It seemed that the sentence took the man most of his courage, as he shrank back and closed his eyes in fear of seeing my anger.
"... Agent, it seems that our priority is simply not aligned. Don't be too naive, young man. The world is a cruel place, and in order to achieve my goal, I must harden my mind and be ruthless. What give you the right to lecture me? I could really make you walk the plank if I truly desire. However, as a regard to your service to the Adventure Guild, as well as a goodwill to the Guild Master, I'll let this slide. I still don't want my friends to come after me." Knocking my staff against the floor, a cold wind pushed the agent out of the room. After that, I could hear his inaudible shout as the mates dragged him out.
"Adventure Guild... Guess it's time to go back." Thinking back, I started to get somewhat emotional. Miss Nene, Miss Vicious, Miss Felicia, that little slime girl, her name was Okarin if I remembered correctly. Many faces floated into her mind, making her mouth widened a little, a hint of joy appeared on her face. If she didn't have the ambitious goal beyond all of this, she would also wish to have this peaceful circle of friends for the rest of her life.
After settling everything, I packed all the needed stuff up and placed my magic scroll in the hand of the captain Borik. I left one of my ice symbol in the room and told the mates about my temporary leave. If possible, I would come back again. However, for now, I had already gained enough, and it's time to report back.
Looking at the sky, I remained in a daze, thinking about the peaceful time in this world. Compared to the constant death-inducing stress in the previous world, I felt at ease.
"Well, miss Luna, you certainly went through quite a bit in your time at the Spire Reef.
"I can't say I approve of you joining a pirate's crew, and even threatening one of the guild's workers, but... Nonetheless, you certainly cleared your task appropriately.
"All I'll tell you, is to stay true to your beliefs and hold them deep to your heart. The gods will watch over you for as long as you do that.
Scribel City relies on civilians to maintain public order.
Please report sightings of suspicious people, monsters, and other concerning intel.
The guild will assemble a task force to investigate and tackle the threat.
Rewards:
Points: 50 EXP
Money: 0-30 G
Other: n/a
Vesper woke up early in the morning since he didn't take up any night watch last night. He reported to the guild building and took the duty being in the task force. He wants to train his sword skills through the task force duty since they catch a few big fishes.
He had his guild uniform on today for the task and Qi Ming ready for usage. Vesper patrolled the city starting with more crowded areas like the Market Square and found it relatively peaceful. Then he continued on to the slums. The Slums to a good area to patrol since there's always a lot going on there. Surprisingly there was nothing much there though he had to be careful of pickpocket though.
As Vesper patrolled the house district, a man rushed past him in a hurry, bumping into his shoulder in the progress. He turned his head to look at the running man who looks flustered and panicked. Soon he catch sight of several rushing silhouette among the rooftops and shadows of alleyways. Usually, Vesper wouldn't have notice so fast and precise, but this is a quiet neighborhood with hardly anyone outside, especially at this hour.
He followed them until they stopped in a inconspicuous place at the southern end of the district. A group of people in uniform surrounded someone and spoke in low tones. Wanting to get closer to hear what they were saying, Vesper decided to change into his miniature beast form. Soon in his place is a small light blue bird with tiny wings and tail feathers. His head feathers are like 3 tiny sprouts on his head. At the moment, Vesper looks like a young fledgling.
He flew closer and settled down on a nearby clothing line, listening on with a curious expression. The person they were questioning seems like a man of status as he wore expensive clothing. The group of chasers all had a insignia with a golden rose on them. They seems to be the Gold Rose Syndicate he's read about in the quest reports. What are they doing here?
"Yah! We are the one that put you in this position," one of the chaser said. "Yet you failed to get what we want? Should we tell leader you didn't get a bit of information again? What are you spending your time on??"
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," the chased man said. "They really are just too tight on this stuff."
"We put you to work at the treasury for a reason yet you're not doing your job?" Another chaser scoffed.
"Give me more time, I promise!"
"Eat this." Said the chaser, tossing him a bright blue pill. The panicking man did as he's told and the chaser continued.
"This is poison. If you don't get it by next month, you know what will happen."
"Ahh??"
At this point, Vesper heard enough and quickly flew away from the scene. He should report back now and tell the guild what he saw.
Ice Mage Vesper - Level 2
Gender
Male
Race
Luan
Level
2 [410/600]
Age
19
Class
Ice Elementalist
Money
526 Gold
Appearance
Personality
Vesper is positive and proud youth like most of his kins. He's also rather two faced, showing a positive to people who he just met or hardly knows and shows his friends and family a rather annoyingly arrogant person. He's adaptive and can read situations and knows when to retreat, a useful survival skill.
Backstory
Vesper, a name that means the Evening Star, is born of the Luan Race. A bird race with similarities to the phoenix and born with the innate ability to control ice.
He grew up loving music which he occasionally use to control beasts and puppets with his white jade flute. A form of puppeting from his homeland. As a member of his race, Vesper is exceptional with the ice element.
Skills/Inventory
Inventory
Description
Skill
Description
Spatial Ring
A ring with a miniature space use for storage
Ice Manipulation
The ability to control and manipulate ice to his very imagination
Qi Ming
Qi Ming is the Chinese word for Vesper. It's a long sword with a passive sword spirit inside which hangs a jade tassel.
Music Puppeting
Using musical instruments channeled with mana to control beasts and puppets
Frost Bow
Created using ice and his own True Blood Essence which contained the purest of ice energy
Archery Proficiency
Exceptional ability with the bow and arrow
White Jade Flute
A long horizontal flute made of white jade which hang a jade tassel
Divine Sense
An all purpose soul like part of all human, just some knows it's existence some don't. It can be a spatial storage, the size depend on your mental powers. It can also be used for out of body travels, communicate search your surroundings, and if you have the ability, invade other's minds. (Action not recommended as it can result in fatal injuries if your divine sense is attacked in the progress)
Flying Sword
Mainly used as an aerial transportation tool, it can be also used to attack enemies in form of flying swords. Attack moves are controlled by user's soul, divine sense, spiritual energy or mana power.
Report - Solet' Luna
"I'll only ask you once, Miss Iris. Are you sure about learning magic from me, even though it might bring you indirect dangers?" I looked at the little girl in front of me as I asked for her confirmation. From first glance, this girl reminded me of that little girl, named Letianna. The two shared some similarity yet also possessed almost the opposite personality.
"Yes... For Reival..." After her consent, I slowly smiled as I lightly touched her palm, looking for a certain pulse and trying to determine her potential and talent for various types of magic. Maybe it was because of my new, somewhat more intimidating appearance that made her shivered, or just that she was really shy. Anyway, I was surprised at how compatible her body and Mana was.
In comparison, take Letianna, who I thought was talented in the art of sorcery. Her body allowed Mana to flow like a river, somewhat slow but extremely steady. However, this girl, Miss Iris, was akin to a rainstorm. Her body could absorb and dilute Mana as easy as drinking and breathing. Of course, there seemed to be a downside as she was slow in her comprehension and reaction. Maybe it was the nature of things, or just that her mind matured way slower than average.
Luckily, the girl had already awakened her sense of Mana, or else I won't come to take this quest. Her talent seemed to be compatible with most of the magic I knew, however, seeing that she was really slow in her learning and calculating— I decided to teach her one of the most basic yet board type of magic, Light Magic, specifically the Crystal Magic.
Crystal Magic, one of the most unorthodox classes of magic. Rumoured to be created by a supreme yet lazy genius, the magic required almost no calculation to be taken but needed extreme amounts of Mana to cast, and the skill required to manipulate this magic was excessively complex, making only the genius of the geniuses edible for mastering it. Due to its impossibly complex nature, only the top-tier mages could forcefully calculate its variables, while other geniuses relied on their instinct. It was indeed the magic exclusive for the privileged.
On principle, if one could follow their instinct flawlessly, they would be able to forcefully control light in the surrounding, making it concentrated or diffused, creating invisible rays of destructive heat or impossibly complex crystalized maze that reflected everything onto the enemy, disturbing their senses. At the higher point of the magic, the myth had it that they controlled the fabric of reality and bent the world to their desire, extinguish all light in the world, extend space towards infinity— Ah, I'm getting out of topic.
As I showed her the fundamental spell of Light Magic, I created a wisp of faint light at the tip of my finger and explained some knowledge to her. At first, the girl could do nothing except shaking her head, indicating that she could not understand a thing. So, I changed my method from explaining to letting her feel the change herself.
After telling her to close her eyes, I went to stand behind her and grabbed both of her hands gently, using my Mana to infiltrate her body. OF course, the body tried to resist the foreign Mana, but, as I told her to slowly relax and let go of everything, she began to ease her mind and body, allowing me to take control of her Mana circulation.
"Remember this feeling, and observe it closely with your mind." I forcefully dragged her Mana to the tip of her finger, and through my manipulation, they concentrated and imploded, creating a faint, soft glow that radiated warm heat outwards. It was the easiest Mana Manipulation I had ever done, and that's counting all of my experience as a sorceress from both this world and the previous world. This girl was simply a Mana's favourite daughter.
"I want... to... try." After a few repeated attempts, Miss Iris spoke up, so I slowly moved out and retracted my Mana. Not surprisingly, she closed her eyes, and a few moments later, a glowing orb of light manifested at her fingertip. However, when I asked her to do it at a different fingertip, she shook her head again. I seemed that she could only mimic, but not innovate.
In the end, I tried teaching her some more different ways of activating Light Magic. When it was at dawn, she managed to comfortably and flawlessly create glowing orb in her immediate surrounding. It was tiring, but it was worth it. The easiest part of Light Magic, to others, had become the hardest part for this genius, due to her imperfect comprehension.
As for the next spell, I taught her how to create crystalized Mana, the most fundamental spell of Crystal Magic. This one was hard for me but easy for her. It seemed that reading the flow of Mana in her surrounding was her expertise, as she closed her eyes and let her soul guided her, she could create a crystal mirror at ease, even better than I could at the same age as her.
Seeing that it was already dark, I told her to keep practising to remember and familiarize herself with the feeling, as she could not study in an ordinary way, meaning that if she could not get that feeling down into her soul and instinct, then she would not be able to cast it as fast as she could, wasting her potential. Her path was not that part of endless study, but endless familiarization.
"Thank... you... miss..." She thanked me, and walked aimlessly towards the Tavern. It seemed that other than Lancer Reival, she never really had any companion. Well, the path to the peak had always been lonely.
Also, Lancer Reival, when you're reading this report, remembered to tell her to not carelessly followed everyone's words around when they said to do it for you. If I had any ill intention, I could've caused her Mana circulation to backfire and kill her from the inside out at that moment, so please tell her to be more careful.
It would be tragic if my student died in such an embarrassing way, and even more so if her talent never got to mature and shine upon this world.
OOC: @Euka I chose Crystal Magic and Light Magic because of your Azure Witch in the backstory by the way. Glad to be a path of her legendary ascension!
I offer my utmost gratitude for the education of such magic arts to Iris, along with your gentle benevolence. I shall heed your warning and lecture her with utmost certainty, I pray that that she comprehends the reason behind it all. The Rewards are yours as promised.
With my mind still occupied due to the imperfect results last quest, I choose a quest without the intricacies of human interaction - killing dire wolves. A quest that should prove as simple to complete as it sounds. And as I am not stupid enough to fight a 60kg wolf without giving myself an advantage, I buy 5 yards of rope in the market before I proceed to the northern forest.
Now, while I could try to find the dire wolves, that could simply put me in a bad spot. So I am going to prepare a trap for them. And what better way to bait bloodthirsty creatures than with fresh blood? I use the rope I bought to make 2 simple leg snare traps before searching for an easily climbable tree.
After finding a good spot I prepare the traps and let some of my fake blood, which closely mimics the blood of real humans, drip on the ground, splat a few more droplets around, and climb up the tree. Then I wait, relaxedly leaning onto the tree as I lie on a thick branch. Merely 31 minutes later, a pack of dire wolves approaches, greedily searching for the source of the bloody smell. One isn't careful and ends up caught in my trap, getting dragged up into the air. The rest of the pack scatters, warily eyeing the area before trying to help the caught wolf - but to no avail. After a few minutes of futile struggle they flee.
I jump down from my tree, transmute my bar of iron and wooden stick into a spear, and kill the helpless dire wolf, then take down the trap and skin it. As the smell of the blood of another of their species would drown out the smell of my blood and keep away other dire wolves, I bury the corpse and skin in a shallow hole before going to another location and do the same setup as last time and start waiting again. This time, it is a single dire wolf. I don't even wait for it to fall for the trap and simply jump down on it, driving my spear deep into its back and mounting it. It tries to throw my off while I cling on, stabbing my spear into it again and again until it drops dead. I then proceed to once again skin it and bury the corpse and skin at the same location as the first one before going to the river to clean myself and my clothes from the blood and smell that comes with it.
Once that is done I simply repeat the same process, this time attracting a pack of 4 dire wolves - though it goes very much the same as the first time. With the third dire wolf killed, I skin it, collect the other two pelts, and carry the freshest corpse with me back to the town while leaving the other corpses out as food for whatever is hungry.
On my way back I gift the dire wolf corpse to a butcher and, back at the guild, hand in the 3 pelts as well as my report.
Somewhere in the forest, there is a spring that glows under the light of the full moon.
Supposedly, this water has improved healing properties.
The guild would like you acquire some for our stockpile.
Beware — it can be dangerous outside at night.
Rewards:
Points: 160 EXP
Money: 25 G
Other: n/a
> > >
Zorion came into the guild and sat down, he placed 5 bottles of moonlight water on the counter. Then... in a soft dulcet tone he relayed his experience.
Even though his body was fundamentally different from before, the wounds he suffered after he took the potion remained. Finding healing waters would be a great boon for him.
Zorion recalled the night of his failed quest the moon was high; meant a full moon was approaching if not already here.
Northern forest again. So soon. He was hesitant to return there but time and opportunity gave him no other choice, it was the perfect time to seek the Moonlight Water.
He had to go.
It had been less than a week since that night of horror, part of him wanted to do nothing but to crawl into a whole and die. But he had a voice now, amongst all the pain and misery of life, there was light.
So he sought to persevere, to quest even to the gates of hell. Be strong, so he could speak, to use his voice and tell people his stories.
In the afternoon, he stealthy scouted the forest, he avoided danger and hid from predators. Eventually he located a handful of possible springs scattered in several locations.
Fortunately, none were near the clearing of the faerie dragon and it appeared to be sleeping peacefully in its nest, the nest that Zorion dared not intrude upon, and had keep his distance.
Once evening approached, Zorion climbed the tallest tree he could find, attaining the optimum vantage point. As the moon cast its light on the forest, he saw the spring that glowed.
The spring was not one the Zorion expected, it was a moderately sized basin of water that flowed out to merge with the stream of Slimcreek, on the surface there was no obvious intake. The water had come from a fracture in the water vein beneath the basin.
Zorion recalled the report in the library about mana glow stones found if the riverbed, perhaps the water filter through the mana influenced materials working with the moonlight was the cause of the healing properties.
Water, he found himself instinctively understanding the nature of waters, the weight, the content. Zorion’s instinct exposed water to him as though one could tell the shades of colour. Perhaps, this too was part of being a Triton.
Once he filled a dozen bottles of Moonlight water, he surrendered to the nagging urge to swim and dive.
Stripping off his gear, he dived deep into the basin, the water cleansed his body and healed his wounds. And as if whatever weight held down his mind was lessened ever so slightly.
Needn't to breathe, he unfettered of his sense of self and sunk to the bottom of the basin, sleeping, relaxing, listing the voice of the water until dawn.
If You See Something, Say Something [Evaluation Needed]
Sponsor: Adventurer's Guild
Location: Scribel Region
Required Level: 1
Objectives:
Observe something suspicious or noteworthy.
Report your findings to the guild.
Scribel City relies on civilians to maintain public order.
Please report sightings of suspicious people, monsters, and other concerning intel.
The guild will assemble a task force to investigate and tackle the threat.
Rewards:
Points: 50 EXP
Money: 0-30 G
Other: n/a
Vesper woke up early in the morning since he didn't take up any night watch last night. He reported to the guild building and took the duty being in the task force. He wants to train his sword skills through the task force duty since they catch a few big fishes.
He had his guild uniform on today for the task and Qi Ming ready for usage. Vesper patrolled the city starting with more crowded areas like the Market Square and found it relatively peaceful. Then he continued on to the slums. The Slums to a good area to patrol since there's always a lot going on there. Surprisingly there was nothing much there though he had to be careful of pickpocket though.
As Vesper patrolled the house district, a man rushed past him in a hurry, bumping into his shoulder in the progress. He turned his head to look at the running man who looks flustered and panicked. Soon he catch sight of several rushing silhouette among the rooftops and shadows of alleyways. Usually, Vesper wouldn't have notice so fast and precise, but this is a quiet neighborhood with hardly anyone outside, especially at this hour.
He followed them until they stopped in a inconspicuous place at the southern end of the district. A group of people in uniform surrounded someone and spoke in low tones. Wanting to get closer to hear what they were saying, Vesper decided to change into his miniature beast form. Soon in his place is a small light blue bird with tiny wings and tail feathers. His head feathers are like 3 tiny sprouts on his head. At the moment, Vesper looks like a young fledgling.
He flew closer and settled down on a nearby clothing line, listening on with a curious expression. The person they were questioning seems like a man of status as he wore expensive clothing. The group of chasers all had a insignia with a golden rose on them. They seems to be the Gold Rose Syndicate he's read about in the quest reports. What are they doing here?
"Yah! We are the one that put you in this position," one of the chaser said. "Yet you failed to get what we want? Should we tell leader you didn't get a bit of information again? What are you spending your time on??"
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," the chased man said. "They really are just too tight on this stuff."
"We put you to work at the treasury for a reason yet you're not doing your job?" Another chaser scoffed.
"Give me more time, I promise!"
"Eat this." Said the chaser, tossing him a bright blue pill. The panicking man did as he's told and the chaser continued.
"This is poison. If you don't get it by next month, you know what will happen."
"Ahh??"
At this point, Vesper heard enough and quickly flew away from the scene. He should report back now and tell the guild what he saw.
Ice Mage Vesper - Level 2
Gender
Male
Race
Luan
Level
2 [410/600]
Age
19
Class
Ice Elementalist
Money
526 Gold
Appearance
Personality
Vesper is positive and proud youth like most of his kins. He's also rather two faced, showing a positive to people who he just met or hardly knows and shows his friends and family a rather annoyingly arrogant person. He's adaptive and can read situations and knows when to retreat, a useful survival skill.
Backstory
Vesper, a name that means the Evening Star, is born of the Luan Race. A bird race with similarities to the phoenix and born with the innate ability to control ice.
He grew up loving music which he occasionally use to control beasts and puppets with his white jade flute. A form of puppeting from his homeland. As a member of his race, Vesper is exceptional with the ice element.
Skills/Inventory
Inventory
Description
Skill
Description
Spatial Ring
A ring with a miniature space use for storage
Ice Manipulation
The ability to control and manipulate ice to his very imagination
Qi Ming
Qi Ming is the Chinese word for Vesper. It's a long sword with a passive sword spirit inside which hangs a jade tassel.
Music Puppeting
Using musical instruments channeled with mana to control beasts and puppets
Frost Bow
Created using ice and his own True Blood Essence which contained the purest of ice energy
Archery Proficiency
Exceptional ability with the bow and arrow
White Jade Flute
A long horizontal flute made of white jade which hang a jade tassel
Divine Sense
An all purpose soul like part of all human, just some knows it's existence some don't. It can be a spatial storage, the size depend on your mental powers. It can also be used for out of body travels, communicate search your surroundings, and if you have the ability, invade other's minds. (Action not recommended as it can result in fatal injuries if your divine sense is attacked in the progress)
Flying Sword
Mainly used as an aerial transportation tool, it can be also used to attack enemies in form of flying swords. Attack moves are controlled by user's soul, divine sense, spiritual energy or mana power.
"So the Golden Rose Syndicate is involved in extortion as well. The amount of criminal activity they do in Scribel City really is worrisome. Good job on not being noticed, however, your beast form still seems rather conspicuous. Someone might try to capture you, thinking that you are a rare bird. Anyway, well done. Here is your reward."
Somewhere in the forest, there is a spring that glows under the light of the full moon.
Supposedly, this water has improved healing properties.
The guild would like you acquire some for our stockpile.
Beware — it can be dangerous outside at night.
Rewards:
Points: 160 EXP
Money: 25 G
Other: n/a
> > >
Zorion came into the guild and sat down, he placed 5 bottles of moonlight water on the counter. Then... in a soft dulcet tone he relayed his experience.
Even though his body was fundamentally different from before, the wounds he suffered after he took the potion remained. Finding healing waters would be a great boon for him.
Zorion recalled the night of his failed quest, the moon was hight, meant a full moon was approaching if not already here.
Northern forest again. So soon. He was hesitant to return there but time and opportunity gave him no other choice, it was the perfect time to seek the Moonlight Water.
He had to go.
It had been less than a week since that night of horror, part of him wanted to do nothing but to crawl into a whole and die. But he had a voice now, amongst all the pain and misery of life, there was light.
So he sought to persevere, to quest even to the gates of hell. Be strong, so he could speak, to use his voice and tell people his stories.
In the afternoon, he stealthy scouted the forest, he avoided danger and hid from predators. Eventually he located a handful of possible springs scattered in several locations.
Fortunately, none were near the clearing of the faerie dragon and it appeared to be sleeping peacefully in its nest, the nest that Zorion dared not intrude upon, and had keep his distance.
Once evening approached, Zorion climbed the tallest tree he could find, attaining the optimum vantage point. As the moon cast its light on the forest, he saw the spring that glowed.
The spring was not one the Zorion expected, it was a moderately sized basin of water that flowed out to merge with the stream of Slimcreek, on the surface there was no obvious intake. The water had come from a fracture in the water vein beneath the basin.
Zorion recalled the report in the library about mana glow stones found if the riverbed, perhaps the water filter through the mana influenced materials working with the moonlight was the cause of the healing properties.
Water, he found himself instinctively understanding the nature of waters, the weight, the content. Zorion’s instinct exposed water to him as though one could tell the shades of colour. Perhaps, this too was part of being a Triton.
Once he filled a dozen bottles of Moonlight water, he surrendered to the nagging urge to swim and dive.
Stripping off his gear, he dived deep into the basin, the water cleansed his body and healed his wounds. And as if whatever weight held down his mind was lessened ever so slightly.
Needn't to breathe, he unfettered of his sense of self and sunk to the bottom of the basin, sleeping, relaxing, listing the voice of the water until dawn.
"It seems like there were no problems, and you made good use of the water. However, keep in mind that taking quests while not in your optimal condition simply means that you are more likely to fail and get injured even more. It's not like Scribel has no healers. But I can't argue with the result, so well done. Here is your reward."
The Scribel City Sewers are notorious for being invested with various critters.
Overgrown giant rats are a concern because they can spread disease.
While not too dangerous, they are agile and difficult to catch. Rewards:
Reciful want to vent out some stress.... So Reciful shall murder some insignificant filthy sewer vermins~
Quest Report details
A fragile little girl with black hair. Have been chasing giant rats for quite awhile now, but due to her awkward movement it seems the rats is just making fun her. Playing her around.
The rats which clearly mocking the little girl, decide to lure the Pitiful little girl in the dark sewer & make her their meal.
The Giant rats, gleefully lead the little girl to sewer & making her follow them deep within the complicated tunnels. Snickering, Upon the little girl stupidity... They decided to play a game of torturing her, their food & eat her when she is in agony. The Sadistic rats couldn't wait anymore & finally ambushed the little girl attacking her. But when they finally take their move the black haired weak looking little girl is nowhere to be seen......... & Thus the rats nightmare begins.
+++++
There is 4 Giant rats in total at the start, but they multiplied, when they entered the sewers becoming 24 in total.
The rats were confused by the girl sudden disapperance.....then Suddenly.
*Squeakk!?*
A fellow Rat make a startled noise...but when the rats look at the noise direction... Their fellow rat is no longer there...
*Squeak!?**Squeakk!!!??*
then, two more rats followed, but just like the first one.... The 2 rats vanish seemingly into thin air... Leaving nothing behind.
From the original 24 in number, now there are only 21. Feeling a sense of eerieness, the remaining rats became cautious...they clearly felt something isn't right.
But since the sewer is their territory, they still have a sense of dominance keeping them from being terrified,... Then from 21 awhile ago.... They became 18 in number.. 3 more rats vanish this time without a sound at all.
Something really is wrong- as they can't no longer feigned ignorance... As a cold shiver envelopes them, feeling a sense of dread to the unknown... They decided to retreat... Only to find out 4 fellow rats behind the group is being shallowed by the shadows inside the sewer,
"........"
many hideous black Tentacles warping the 4 rats body & countless demonic shadow arms. emerges in the shadow slowly crushing & dragging their fellow rat inside Evil looking shadow. Their eyes is filled by extreme terror, as they see black tendrils entered the rats mouth preventing them from making noise at all.
Seeing this is happening just behind them... The rat get stun in shock, fear, & dread... Sheer terror rules them making them unable to move at all.
"Oh?....Ehe~ Ehehehe~ Reciful get caught~... Ahhh~ hide & seek is over~.... its game of tag now? ...heh ehehehe & Reciful is the 'It'....sooo run before Reciful eats everyone~"
A multiple voice of a little girls echo throughout the entire tunnel, all saying the same words. While the voice contain not a single bit of malice.... Yet for the rats, it felt like its the devil itself speaking.
" So you better run in~....one~...two~.... Three~.......game starts~ " *Crush*
The remaining rat only came back to sense when they heard something breaking... Apparently The shadow monster crushed the bone of their 4 captured rat members...
They run as fast as they could with all they got... As a maddening fear rules the body, mind & soul of the rats.
*Slash**Slash* two rats get cut in the face by a blade shaped Tentacle... Collapsing on the floor spurting blood.
*Pierce**stabs**Pierce* as 3 rats get skewered by a multiple black Tentacle that emerges from the shadows peircing their ears, eyes, mouth, Nose, Neck, genitals, & stomach... Making a blood puddel below.
As they run the massacre continue, as well as they slowly lose sanity in fear.
From 24 then 18, to 15, to 10 all down to 4 rats only came back alive in the entrance of sewer... Think that they escape the nightmare.
Before the rat could even step outside the sewer & celebrate surviving the onslaught. In the sewer entrance, A little girl can be seen, this 4 rat knew well that visage who currently standing there casually blocking their way out.
" Oh~... Its that OG(original) 4 rats that play with Reciful in the start~ isn't it~... Amazing~ "
The little girl speaks to them smiling Innocently as the afternoon sun, behind the little girl casted her shadow making it big enough overshadowing them.
" But~.... Why the hurry?~...let play more~... Ehe eheheh~ the game of tag is not over yet?.. you know~ "
The voice... This voice! they knew it sooo well! its that voice!!.. The same voice of the black Devil in the sewers!! The voice that induce madness!!
The 4 rats tried to run, as they felt there brain snaps & their sanity breaks. Only to find out they cannot. As countless thread like black tendrils emerges from the little girl shadows warping them in place.
Then the little girl takes out a Woodcutting Axe from her own shadow holding it in two hands.
" You see~....Reciful is a Adventurer~... Adventurer must have weapons right?~... But Reciful have none, so Reciful borrow this one!!~... Somehow Reciful really likes to chop thing's! Cuz its fun~.... Buuuut~ you see~ ...you know~... Reciful is having a hard time~.... Reciful needs practice~... A lot of practice~ "
The monstrosity in a shape of a girl.. Reciful looks at them Innocently as she slowly steps towards the incapacitated trembling giant rats in her shadow.
" So~...will you help Reciful practice?~... You cant say no you know?~ "
Reciful cutely tilted her head side ways all while dragging the cutting axe in the floor with her left hand.
The last thing the 4 rats saw is the true form of the being before them.....
countless blood red eyes & monstrous mouth within shadow all grinning in glee at them... As the Wooden cutting Axe slowly turn them to a unrecognized chunks of flesh... Seems the rats were very unlucky today.
24x sewer giant rats tail collected.... Body of the giants rat? Disposed(eaten).
Reciful want to vent out some stress.... So Reciful shall murder some insignificant filthy sewer vermins~
Quest Report details
A fragile little girl with black hair. Have been chasing giant rats for quite awhile now, but due to her awkward movement it seems the rats is just making fun her. Playing her around.
The rats which clearly mocking the little girl, decide to lure the Pitiful little girl in the dark sewer & make her their meal.
The Giant rats, gleefully lead the little girl to sewer & making her follow them deep within the complicated tunnels. Snickering, Upon the little girl stupidity... They decided to play a game of torturing her, their food & eat her when she is in agony. The Sadistic rats couldn't wait anymore & finally ambushed the little girl attacking her. But when they finally take their move the black haired weak looking little girl is nowhere to be seen......... & Thus the rats nightmare begins.
+++++
There is 4 Giant rats in total at the start, but they multiplied, when they entered the sewers becoming 24 in total.
The rats were confused by the girl sudden disapperance.....then Suddenly.
*Squeakk!?*
A fellow Rat make a startled noise...but when the rats look at the noise direction... Their fellow rat is no longer there...
*Squeak!?**Squeakk!!!??*
then, two more rats followed, but just like the first one.... The 2 rats vanish seemingly into thin air... Leaving nothing behind.
From the original 24 in number, now there are only 21. Feeling a sense of eerieness, the remaining rats became cautious...they clearly felt something isn't right.
But since the sewer is their territory, they still have a sense of dominance keeping them from being terrified,... Then from 21 awhile ago.... They became 18 in number.. 3 more rats vanish this time without a sound at all.
Something really is wrong- as they can't no longer feigned ignorance... As a cold shiver envelopes them, feeling a sense of dread to the unknown... They decided to retreat... Only to find out 4 fellow rats behind the group is being shallowed by the shadows inside the sewer,
"........"
many hideous black Tentacles warping the 4 rats body & countless demonic shadow arms. emerges in the shadow slowly crushing & dragging their fellow rat inside Evil looking shadow. Their eyes is filled by extreme terror, as they see black tendrils entered the rats mouth preventing them from making noise at all.
Seeing this is happening just behind them... The rat get stun in shock, fear, & dread... Sheer terror rules them making them unable to move at all.
"Oh?....Ehe~ Ehehehe~ Reciful get caught~... Ahhh~ hide & seek is over~.... its game of tag now? ...heh ehehehe & Reciful is the 'It'....sooo run before Reciful eats everyone~"
A multiple voice of a little girls echo throughout the entire tunnel, all saying the same words. While the voice contain not a single bit of malice.... Yet for the rats, it felt like its the devil itself speaking.
" So you better run in~....one~...two~.... Three~.......game starts~ " *Crush*
The remaining rat only came back to sense when they heard something breaking... Apparently The shadow monster crushed the bone of their 4 captured rat members...
They run as fast as they could with all they got... As a maddening fear rules the body, mind & soul of the rats.
*Slash**Slash* two rats get cut in the face by a blade shaped Tentacle... Collapsing on the floor spurting blood.
*Pierce**stabs**Pierce* as 3 rats get skewered by a multiple black Tentacle that emerges from the shadows peircing their ears, eyes, mouth, Nose, Neck, genitals, & stomach... Making a blood puddel below.
As they run the massacre continue, as well as they slowly lose sanity in fear.
From 24 then 18, to 15, to 10 all down to 4 rats only came back alive in the entrance of sewer... Think that they escape the nightmare.
Before the rat could even step outside the sewer & celebrate surviving the onslaught. In the sewer entrance, A little girl can be seen, this 4 rat knew well that visage who currently standing there casually blocking their way out.
" Oh~... Its that OG(original) 4 rats that play with Reciful in the start~ isn't it~... Amazing~ "
The little girl speaks to them smiling Innocently as the afternoon sun, behind the little girl casted her shadow making it big enough overshadowing them.
" But~.... Why the hurry?~...let play more~... Ehe eheheh~ the game of tag is not over yet?.. you know~ "
The voice... This voice! they knew it sooo well! its that voice!!.. The same voice of the black Devil in the sewers!! The voice that induce madness!!
The 4 rats tried to run, as they felt there brain snaps & their sanity breaks. Only to find out they cannot. As countless thread like black tendrils emerges from the little girl shadows warping them in place.
Then the little girl takes out a Woodcutting Axe from her own shadow holding it in two hands.
" You see~....Reciful is a Adventurer~... Adventurer must have weapons right?~... But Reciful have none, so Reciful borrow this one!!~... Somehow Reciful really likes to chop thing's! Cuz its fun~.... Buuuut~ you see~ ...you know~... Reciful is having a hard time~.... Reciful needs practice~... A lot of practice~ "
The monstrosity in a shape of a girl.. Reciful looks at them Innocently as she slowly steps towards the incapacitated trembling giant rats in her shadow.
" So~...will you help Reciful practice?~... You cant say no you know?~ "
Reciful cutely tilted her head side ways all while dragging the cutting axe in the floor with her left hand.
The last thing the 4 rats saw is the true form of the being before them.....
countless blood red eyes & monstrous mouth within shadow all grinning in glee at them... As the Wooden cutting Axe slowly turn them to a unrecognized chunks of flesh... Seems were very unlucky today.
24x sewer giant rats tail collected.... Body of the giants rat? Disposed(eaten).
"It seems like you managed to complete the quest without any problems, excellent. Also, you seem to be quite a lot stronger than you look, but don't hesitate to ask others should you need help. I'm always willing to help, for example. But that's your choice. Well done with the quest. Here is your reward."
Goblins are one of the weakest monsters. However, they can be extremely dangerous in numbers.They have been known to kill travelers and overconfident adventurers.Do not underestimate the goblins. They are a deadly threat.It is ill-advised to taken on more than a few at once. Rewards:
The removal of goblins small green menaces from the surroundings of Scribel city seems like an admirable cause I believe I shall go and do it the removal of xenos and magical beings from the ecosystem is a logical and good idea. Well I wonder if they are anything like the Grendars who were subsidiary species to the orks. It was theorised that they were fungal beings that grew from the ground and grew in size the more they fought. Anyway back on topic time to go and kill goblins!
Part 2.333.214.1, status report. The Daemon is active again activating main defence protocols. Summoning part Prime.
Part Prime, Status. I have been summoned. Activating anti-daemon protocols. The daemon is being extremely active caution in current activities recommended.
I spent almost 6 hours looking around for even a sign of goblins in the nearby hills to the city, anyway my foot was acting up again and that was an annoyance the fucking daemon has stirred again I'm sure of it. Oh there goes my senses again always going off to the sex and lust when the daemons active. The first sign of goblins I found was a small group of 4, well that's one to many goblins I guess but at least it isn't a group of 2 which would be an annoyance yes. I begin following their extraordinarily messy tracks these goblins really don't seem to be all that troublesome what with how much destruction they leave on their trail hopefully no one else found them first. Back on the daemon side of things it's of course started by making my foot heat up and the heat slowly spreads all over my body from their weakening as it goes further away from the purple parts though the purple seems to be spreading again. Better get this over quickly.
Another 30 minutes have passed the purples spread all the way up to my left knee and somethings going on with my left eye again, it flickers open every so often and I have to try and keep it shut the pleasurable feeling is so good. Anyway I've found the goblins they seem to have fallen asleep time for me to act than quickly I slowly loaded my crossbow and than holding my dagger up. Well well well time for some easy prey. As I set up the first shot I begin to feel the tingles all over my body anyway I took the first shot than threw my dagger at a second goblin and landed the bolt directly into the goblins left eye the dagger spinning into the second goblins throat and than I passed out.
Part Prime, Status report. Main part is in critical condition and in danger at this moment. Recovery protocols activation necessary. Daemon has left body temporarily. Area of daemon infliction being recovered and cleansed whilst daemon is away? Repair status impossible. Regrettable. The Prime part than returns to it's many other duties.
Waking up I see the two goblins one looming over my now naked body well great. The other cowed by the tree. Slowly I let more information flood into my body from my surroundings.
Assertion:There is now a purple goblin standing over my body.
Conclusion: The daemon has tainted this goblin in some way and is using it for it's own purposes.
Assertion: My body is currently restrained by vines which seem to be of a purple nature.
Conclusion: The Daemon wants to perform actions to my body with the goblin for some reason.
Assertion: The goblin is stroking my breasts and the pleasurable sensation is increasing.
Conclusion: Destruction of goblin necessary.
Assertion: The vines are to strong to break.
Conclusion: Must get the other goblin to interfere with whatever the daemon is planning.
Assertion: Goblin is cowering only because of fear.
Conclusion: The goblin must no longer fear the other for successful interruption of the Daemons plots.
Slowly I begin to try and get the attention of the goblin through some means whatever I can do that will not stir the daemon to much it seems to be working as the goblin is coming closer. It raises it's hammer above it's head. Yes yes and than brings it sideways into the daemon inflicted goblin as the goblin dies it's body begins to combust and the blood goes everywhere the purple blood of the daemon. Soaking into my body. Bloody annoying that. The blood that lands on the other goblin begins to steam and burn it's body making it recoil and land on the floor a black mist seeps out of the remains of the other and whispers, "Annoyance girl that took a while for me to build up sufficient power but nevertheless my goal will be achieved one way or the other! For the glory of the God of Excess. HAHAHA." I begin struggling to rip the vines which are now withering away in to get up well now that my quest is done time to return to Scribel.
If any line is marked "part ##:" then it is not actually part of the quest report and is more so world building of the character. Further anything in the notes isn't necessarily known to the guild either.
Slumber Bees are a rare species of giant bees found in North Scribel Forest.
Their pollen has powerful sedative properties, and is used to incapacitate prey.
Travelers who accidentally stumble across a hive often... are never heard from again.
Presumably they get stung to death when they're knocked out.
Royal jelly collected from the giant queen's hive has potent regenerative capabilities.
When Felicia applied for this quest, she was weirdly stared at by the part-elven receptionist who was looking over her application. Her silver-grey eyes held a mixture of envy and hatred, as well as the tiniest tinge of respect and longing. Just as she was handed back her approval for the quest and was about to move away, she suddenly spoke from behind her.
"How are you, like, so strong? When you're like, a woman, like me? You're also like, not bad looking too, so like, why do you push yourself towards such a like, dangerous path?" Although everything about her emitted hostility, her words weren't that bad the more Felicia thought about them.
"Because I have a kingdom to avenge." She replied after a pause, looking her straight in the eye.
After some minor shock, flicking her well-maintained silver bob, she scoffed. "Hmph, you're like, one of those otherworlders huh? You know there's like, no way to return to your old world, so like, how are you going to like, avenge whatever kingdom you're from?"
"Just because there's no known way now, doesn't mean there won't be in the future." She explained further, not particularly offended by her prying words. Afterall, it was very true. Her ambition was surely impossible, everyone knew that. But she stuck by it regardless, because if she didn't, she would lose herself.
After staring her down, seemingly searching for some sign of hesitation, she slunk back into her seat in defeat. Her mood dampened, she shooed Felicia away with her quest approval. Fixing her heavy make-up with the help of a hand mirror, she grumbled. "There's no way I can compete with that..."
OOC: (@Nahrenne I wanted to try fleshing out Imelda's personality a little more, I hope that's fine with you! Let me know if you want me to make any changes~)
After borrowing a relatively flimsy face mask from the local medical hall, Felicia set out for the inner regions of the northern scribel forests. This time, she was absolutely adamant on Sable not joining her, instead leaving her out in the fields to hunt/play by herself. Afterall, if Sable was sedated, she couldn't exactly just pick her up and run, she was way too big for that!
Since Slumber Bees, much less a Slumber Bee Hive, were so rarely seen, she assumed they must be rather deep in the reaches of the northern forests. After walking for hours, occasionally taking down dire wolves and carnivorous plants along the way, she finally came across a giant bee. Unfortunately, it didn't seem to be a Slumber Bee, as it didn't try to spread it's pollen at all, instead just charging at her recklessly with its stinger. Retaliating with her blade and burning it to death, Felicia simply continued on her trip north.
As a gentle but jarring buzzing reached her ears, she slowly entered a more stealthy position and spied on the source of the noise. A giant bee, absolutely covered in glittery, mesmerizing pollen, slowly made its rounds on the carnivorous flowers that littered this portion of the forest. Tailing it carefully, which was relatively easy due to its constant buzzing, she followed it back to its hive as evening set. Wary of the pollen that drifted behind it, she remained diagonal to it's travel as she stalked it.
The hive itself was a giant monstrosity, and she was only seeing the tip of the iceberg. It seemed that this particular hive was built in a crater/ravine of some sort, hence most of it was deep underground despite the bees themselves not having much digging capacity. As she watched the flow of bee traffic, with each of them moving methodically into and out of certain tunnels, she gradually came to an understanding of how they worked. Some tunnels were specifically for entering and exiting, some seemed to be specific depositories and some were not entered at all. Perhaps those led to the queen's chambers or her personal depository of pollen? Felicia shuddered at the thought, she prayed she wouldn't meet her. Unfortunately, her mission required jelly from the said queen, so she could only pray she would enter the right tunnel.
As the sun went down, leaving the forest cloaked in an eerie darkness, Felicia made her move. Silently, after checking that all of the bees were asleep due to the utter absence of buzzing, she entered one of the dark tunnels that the bees refrained from entering. Immediately, she was greeted with a terribly fearsome sight. The slumbering giant that was the queen heaved ominously in the darkness, clearly asleep, yet still incredibly intimidating with its presence and jarring stripes. Cautiously, Felicia retreated, wiping the sweat that unknowingly formed on her brow, and entered another tunnel.
Fortunately, this one was the correct one, or at least one of the correct ones, as there was a multitude of tunnels that seemed to lead here. Felicia was surprised by the gigantic size of the honeycomb lined along the chamber's walls, each standing more than five times her own height. The reason Felicia could guess that this was the queen's depository chambers was because of the utter lack of jelly/honey. Each honeycomb layer was sparse, worse still was that they were filled from the top to the bottom, meaning that Felicia wasn't able to reach a single one from her current height!
After locating the lowest jelly slot, she slowly formed a thin ladder-like structure out of ice so that she could climb up to it. Summoning so much ice, and with enough density that it would be able to hold her weight took its toll on her, as she began perspiring as soon as the ladder was formed. Uneventfully, she reached the top of the ladder and scooped out a bottle's worth of Slumber Queen Jelly. Since the quest only required one bottle to be handed in, and she barely hindered the amount of jelly within the slot, she took out another bottle to fill for herself. Such a potent jelly could be the difference between life and death in the future!
With a smile, she began trekking back to Scribel, completely unaware of the danger that was following her from behind...
It was only after she began feeling a bit drowsy that she realized something was off. Initially, she thought it was just some residue of pollen from the hive, but since the feeling was growing stronger and stronger by the second, she immediately realized that she was in a very dangerous situation. She had no idea how the giant bee or perhaps even bees were following her so silently, drifting pollen in the air breeze towards her, but she had no time to contemplate. Dashing towards where she remembered a cavern to be in, she threw herself into its depths before succumbing to the Slumber Bee Pollen, hoping that the bees wouldn't be able to break down and enter the cave, and that there were no beasts in the cavern able to kill her...
---
Hours later, when a sunny morning rose in the skies, Felicia awoke with Sable curled up around her protectively, her feathers and talons soaked in blood. Shocked, Felicia hurriedly assessed and treated her companion's injuries with too many questions swirling in her head, though with a vague idea of what could have happened whilst she slept. Silently, she hugged her adorable companion who slowly stirred awake from her actions. Thanking her a thousand times over in her mind, the pair made their way back to Scribel, the bottles of jelly still fully intact on her person.
TL;DR: Slayed a giant bee that wasn't a slumber bee, found a slumber bee and followed it back to its hive, spend a while analyzing the hive and it's organization, entered the hive at night and accidentally entered the queen's chambers, found the queen's depository and collected two jars worth of slumber queen jelly(kept one for herself), left the hive without knowing she was being tailed, after inhaling the pollen threw herself into the depths of a cavern before being utterly sedated, awoke with a bloody Sable by her side, returned to Scribel with jelly bottle intact.
Note: There is a penalty for losing/breaking the cart.
Are you afraid of the forest? Monsters and goblins lurk in its depths.
Yet the city runs on firewood, and somebody needs to go chop trees.
Are you courageous enough to risk the dangers? Rewards:
Guild Employee A(female): Are really sure about this quest Reciful-chan.....its a pretty boring quest? Are you sure?
*Nods head*
Guild Employee A(Onee-san): The reward is small you know? Even though its more troublesome than a subjugation request... Moreover your a l-l-little girl! Reciful-chan..a loli!!..... W-w-what if you got lost?.. What I'm I gonna do!! If your Kidnapped or crying alone in sadness or Something!!....Onee-san is worried for Reciful-chan... I might lock you on My room a-a-and O-O-Onee-san will be yours alone forever!!! Haah~ haaah~ haaah~ (heavy breathing)
Reciful Ignored the Yandere lolicon Guild Employee A & proceed to her quest.
Quest Report:
Reciful decided to chop trees! In the forest!
Reciful already vent Stress & frustration by murdering some sewer rats awhile ago, so this time, Reciful shall relax in the Nature & murder some trees this time!!
Reciful go towards the north forest where the trees are.
The guild have many spare tree Cutting Axes but they said few used it, cause it not really popular for Adventurer... The axe were all old & rusty.
In the way Reciful saw some fairies they are small insect like Humanoid weak world spirits.. humans cannot see them.. but Reciful can!..... Ahh~ they run away~.... apparently they Hate Reciful, they always run away from Reciful screaming "d-don't eat me I'm not tasty!!" Or "Its the Evil Girl!! Run!!" or "Plhs d-d-don't kwill me!! " how rude~.... only the Black fairy like Reciful but they are taciturn bunch~
While pushing a Empty wooden cart Reciful finally found the trees! Lets chop!
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Murdering trees are hard! & Not fun, but swinging Axe is soooo fun Reciful like to axe things.
The Axe might get destroyed since its in bad shape & Reciful don't want that cause Reciful like this Axe.. A lot!
The Axe can't even make any cut on the tree the axe si sooooo rusty & blunt!.
So Reciful use [Shape shifting skill] transforming My Arms & Hair back to a black tendrils then reshaped it to a hard jagged blade teeth's... A saw! Slowly moving it sideways until it chop down the tree Then Reciful much easily cut more tree!
After a whole day Reciful murdered 13 trees ... Is it enough? The cart can't hold the logs if the cart get hurt the receptionist will scold Reciful...scary! So Reciful use [Tenebrous skill] to manipulate darkness & put all the tree logs in Reciful own shadow as a storage for the logs for now!
Eh!? Why no monster attack Reciful?... Reciful have a skill called [Chaos Whisperer skill] Reciful simply Whispered to the subconsciousness of the Goblins, Slime, Bandits, A boar & A wolf that came near Reciful.
Reciful keep suggesting to their subconsciousness that "Nothing is interesting here so walk away in somewhere more dangerous " until they lose interest & walks away
and so Reciful collected 13 Tree logs! Is it enough?
Reciful wonder if Reciful can keep the Old rusty cutting Axe? Reciful will take care of it! Please!!!
As a senior officer, you are a deeply respected member of the City Guard.Please teach the next generation of guardsmen and guardswomen.Your practical experience would be invaluable on the training field. Rewards:
Report - Solet' Luna
Solet told me that he wished to obtain greater strength to not lose out on me. So, after debating for a while, we decided to go to the City Guard Training Camp again. However, this time, we're going in as the senior officer, and Solet would be in charge of training new recruits while exchanging battle experience with other strong city guard members.
Without any unexpected changes, we easily got accepted after they learnt about how Solet used to defeat the city guards single-handedly. The City Guard Captain, Lord Wiscard Bruhn, personally came to see us after knowing that Solet was back. This man was as strong as ever, however, even if he hid some trump cards beneath that gentle face, I was still confident in defeating him one-on-one.
In the camp, Solet told me he loved training new recruits using his personal training schedule. However, judging from the expressions of the recruits when seeing him, it seemed that he had concocted a hellish training method again. Well, he was too diligent and possess inhuman endurance, making him one of the top Paladins within the country of our previous world.
After a week, the trainees started to get into shape, and Solet finally began to teach them the true way of fighting, by sparring with them and beat them up repeatedly. At first, the session ended with everyone lying on the ground while Solet only used his hands and moved only one step at a time. He seemed like a monster after sparring with other strong guards and gained some enlightenment while I wasn't looking.
Well, as expected of a prodigy. Even though he only fought once with Boris, the E-ranked adventurer, he had already gained some insight and tried to incorporate Boris' techniques into his own style. Now, even though he was still far from his previous peak, he could manage to stand ground against the City Guard Captain. I reckoned that if he was really serious, he might be able to force Lord Wiscard to give his all.
During the month of hellish training, Solet had managed to defeat 5 opponents who were just a little bit weaker than the Captain himself. He seemed to improve at an alarming rate that I could not help but felt a strange sense of pride. My love would only stand above everyone else so that he could be with me when I remained at the peak of the world.
Now, onto the interesting yet concerning news. During our stay, I went to obtain some information regarding the surrounding of Scribel City, and, to my surprise, it seemed that the previously slumbering Slime Horde had started to move again. Unfortunately, the direction it approached was directly at us, Scribel City.
Before we left the City Guard Training Camp, Captain himself was preparing his formation to go scout out the Slime Horde. We could only hope that he came back safely.
The time of chaos might be arriving soon. I'll try to see if I could confirm this piece of information.
Scribel City relies on civilians to maintain public order.
Please report sightings of suspicious people, monsters, and other concerning intel.
The guild will assemble a task force to investigate and tackle the threat. Rewards:
Benji had submitted his report in the form of 50 detailed sketches depicting his findings. Though it is unneeded, a transcribed narrative is still attached, just in case for inexperienced evaluators.
During his nightly return from his Night Watch rounds, Benji had noticed something scrawled among the church walls. At first, it was considered to be no more than some simple vandalism from local hooligans.
However, at coming days, these scrawls have become more frequent and have been showing up in more areas than previously suspected. Not only on church walls, but also on public forums, bulletin boards, and even in some books in the Library.
Benji had found and detailed over 50 variations of such vandalisms, sprawled over Scribel City and its properties.
The vandalism itself is in a form of an icon. It is unsure whether the icon is of magical ritual or satanic, but as of far, it had shown no other properties besides annoyance and minor destruction to the environment. It bears no resemblance to any cult not organisations known to date.
This is an accurate, 1-to-1 recreation of the icons vandalising Scribel City's properties, provided by Benji himself using Unlimited Graphite Works. It is advised that the evaluator should take measures of precautions, just in case the icon contains unknown, harmful anomaly.
It is advised that such icons should be studied, and instances of it be monitored.
Attached:
A leather book containing 50 pages of quest reports in the form of detailed sketches
Search the Blood Fields near the lake at twilight.
Collect 1 Blood Flower.
Do not lure any enemies back to the city.
Note: Limit 1 quest per week
Poison. It's everywhere. You've seen it turn limbs purple and rot flesh from inside.Ordinary antidotes aren't the most effective against Bloodbane venom.In the Blood Fields, there is one flower only grows in the toxic earth.It blooms at twilight and is extremely rare to find.If you can find one, it might save someone's life. Rewards:
- Vicious, G.G.---Just kidding. Even I have standards and that's just way too short to qualify as a report. But still, I did find the flower. It's missing a petal, but that's because I ate it, and boy am I glad that I did.
See, I was already on the way back to Gelderholm anyway and night had just fallen, so I figured I'd do a little searching before I popped back into the city proper. Started at one end of the Blood Fields, ran all the way to the other end and timed myself while doing so. Then ran back and paused at the rough halfway mark---the centre of the fields.
Like, I dunno if it always works like this, but when you got stuff needed to be found and a place to find it, the rarer stuff always seems to be found closer to the centre. So I did just that and started in the middle.
Now the inhabitants were a tad tricky batch, gotta admit. And as one would expect, all of them had some pretty nasty poison to hunt and protect themselves with. But as with the case when the food chain isn't always one-way, each type of monster seemed to keep to an unseen territory. By paying some close attention, it's not too difficult to avoid getting into unnecessary fights.
Now, how did I find the flowers? A little critter led me to them, and I'm not even kidding. Tiny blue thing basically guided me every step of the way.
And if you ask me why the little creature did that, I honestly have no concrete answer, because befriending animals isn't my thing. I do have a theory that might hold water, though; so I might have previously talked about an ex-colleague of mine, who was basically an expert in poisons---a good girl by all means, just be careful not to carelessly touch her stuff...anyway, she was real fond of those tiny fellas. Poison dart frogs if I remember the name correctly.
Anyway, I did help out once or twice when she was at the healer's for a checkup and stuff, so I did make some contact with those tiny creatures. Got poisoned a fair bunch too, but since I'm still alive to write this report, no harm done. I'm also guessing that the little treat I gave the little fella gave me some points in his book, because it then jumped on m...y bat. Thank god, and better hope I remember to wipe the handle clean later.
But yeah, there's a problem. I already turned in the pretty-intact Bloodbane Blossom (boy, that's a mouthful) to the dwarves and warned them about it as well, but to keep things short---
It's not a cure. It's just deadlier poison.
Now, from what I've been told, the Bloodbane venom is rather fast acting and induces a fatal response mere hours after it has entered the body, giving a victim just about enough time to write a will and make peace with the world. It travels through the body real quickly, and once it gets to the heart, they're gone.
The flower? It takes all those things and makes it worse. I'm not too worried about poison myself so I popped a petal of it in my mouth to chew it over, and found myself in need of fresh water immediately after. Stronger poisons always leave a kick in my mouth, and this one tasted like a habanero.
To give it some credit, however, the Bloodbane Blossom does indeed 'cure' Bloodbane Venom in a way. The stronger toxin eradicates the weaker one, and spreads itself throughout the victim's body. It's a very slow acting one, so instead of dying shortly to Bloodbane venom, the victim dies about three to six months later from the flower's own toxin. But then again, I guess that it technically counts as allowing Bloodbane victims to live a bit longer, which is why I warned the dwarves about it before passing the flower over to them.
Whether to use it or not is up to those unfortunate souls suffering from Bloodbane Venom. I can only hope that they don't suffer too much in their final moments, because my colleague was right about this: it's too cruel to die of agony from deadly poison.'
The Witch's 'Assistant' Part III (Once Per Person)
Sponsor: Black Witch Shiori Location: Scribel City Outskirts, Shiori's House Required Level: 2 Objectives:
Mix random potions to create a new potion.
Drink it.
(Optional) Try not to die.
Description: So, Shiori's been running some tests on the potions Shiori currently has, and Shiori's been out of ideas on what new potions to make recently...then an idea struck Shiori! Potion making is an art, and having fresh perspectives could do wonders! Therefore! Shiori will provide you with raw ingredients and guide you through the brewing process, so just let loose and make what you want! Oh, you'll have to test it too, by the way.
Rewards:
Gold: 40 G
The Black Witch's Approval (Potion): Random buff! The Black Witch appreciates your assistance, even if she might not show it.
QUEST REPORT (APPRAISED) Quest Report (37)
Name: Felicia El Freliti Level: 9 (7580/9000) Quest: The Witch's 'Assistant' Part III Evaluation:
Created a poison potion that makes victim shrink to half their size and fall into a deep sleep. Currently unknown if it's effects are temporary or not, but Felicia is desperately praying that it is!
**********
Purely out of curiosity, Felicia took on this quest to catch a glimpse of what potion-making was all about. Afterall, it was quite fascinating, what with all the feats that could be created just from some strange liquids. As she made her way towards the outskirts of the city, idly reading the rest of the quest description as she walked, she slowly came to regret her lack of preparation for this quest...
To be honest, all she read was the 'The Witch's Assistant' title and the low-level requirement before she applied for it, having no idea she just signed herself up for a human experiment! As she paled whilst reading, she slapped herself mentally before bracing herself at the quaint home that was Shiori's house.
After being excitedly and cutely welcomed by the little witch, Felicia was generously given an array of ingredients, a couple of words of wisdom and instruction, before being completely left to her own devices with Shiori watching innocently on the side. With a sigh, she picked up a few of the items stored in jars and boxes around her, trying to judge what may be poisonous and what may taste okay in a potion. Afterall, she had no idea what the hell she was doing, hence the only thing she could really try and control was the taste.
Picking up a small star-shaped golden leaf, a dark-blue berry resembling a cherry, the yolk of a rainbow-coloured egg, a stalk of twin flowers, powdered mana glowstone and a small vial of a pink liquid, she courageously placed them on the edge of the cauldron in front of her.
Well, might as well have some fun I guess.
She thought to herself quietly, deciding to throw all her hesitation away and just have some fun with the potion-making process. If she died, she died right? It's not like hesitating at this point would do anything beneficial for her.
Dicing up the golden leaf and the weird berry after removing its seed, she ground the two together into a weird sticky mush using a pestle and mortar before throwing it into the cauldron. The water almost immediately shifted colour and viscosity, clearly not a good sign, but there was no going back at this point. Taking a brush, she coated the stalk of twin flowers in the thick yolk of the egg, before rolling it around in the powdered mana glowstone so that it all stuck onto the stalk. After throwing the powdered stalk in at the same time as the weird frothing pink liquid, the cauldron visibly started shaking and bubbling aggressively.
Ah, I'm so dead arn't I.
Felicia thought to herself with a dead gaze, staring emotionlessly at the chaotic pot in front of her. Looking over her shoulder, she could see Shiori literally drooling with excitement, her eyes shining with an earnest curiosity. It seemed that whatever she had created was something new and/or strange for her sponsor, which was both a good and bad sign.
With a wry smile, Felicia brought the ladle to her lips for a sip.
Immediately, she was hit with a wave of nausea, fatigue and pain, as her body suddenly stopped responding to her and started writhing about uncontrollably. At a speed visible to the naked eye, her limbs quickly began shrinking, whilst the taste of iron crawled up her throat. Coughing up blood and paling quickly, her body was wracked with an awful pain threatening to tear her apart, but strangely enough it didn't seem to be related to her shrinking. Although the change in her body itself didn't hurt, the feeling of having her limbs changing size and shape was too strange and uncomfortable to even explain.
For a moment, she panicked, wondering if she was going to keep shrinking forever, but she abruptly stopped when she reached the height of a child. Despite still retaining her adult features, she was now, weirdly enough, the size of a child. Collapsing to the floor, she continued heaving and throwing up blood as the wave of fatigue continued to grow in her consciousness, causing her to quickly fall into a deep sleep and black out.
---
Waking up a little while later on the sofa, Shiori smiled excitedly as she skipped over after realizing she was awake.
"Wow~ Felicia-chan you're really amazing to still be alive after all that~" She hummed excitedly with her hands resting beneath her chin.
"Shiori didn't want to spoil the surprise, but Shiori doesn't think you knew that all the ingredients you chose were lethal poisons~ Hee hee, you're really brave ne~" She teased with an evil smile.
Despite still being pale and faint from the poisonous mixture, Felicia quickly thanked Shiori for her time, gathered up her clothes and left in a hurry. She didn't feel safe with that demon around. Although most of what she wore didn't fit her anymore, the torn dress she wore fortunately still fitted her well-enough, now reaching just below the ankle and being a bit baggy on her arms and shoulders. Gah, she can still remember the powdery but slimy texture of that potion. She shivered just recalling its taste, she doubted she'd ever be able to drink anything grey-coloured ever again...
