Chapter Fifteen: Wasted On Lore
1831 Words
After her meal, Breca and I parted momentarily; while I got my card readings, she met up with the rest of the raid group.
Hopefully, this is not the part where she decides to leave me behind.
It was near seven p.m.
Dwali and I were in Pool Borough fields, a grassland park that made my senses tingle.
We were at the beginning of Autumn, a wonderfully cold season where everything mirrors my soul.
Well, less dramatically, it also meant that heavy rains would soon begin, a phenomenon that was marvellous in the real world; however, each season brought its own supernatural misery in-game.
Still, each time a strong breeze whooshed past us, the rustling of the grass would echo its message. It was soothing, to say the least. The winds here in the lowland were warmer than those of the highland based academy.
“Here, this is a fake card,” Dwali said as she ransacked her leather bag, “It automatically says that you are an F-class adventurer, but once I input your skills, the highest level the card can give is D because I want you, kids, to stay safe. So, you know what that means, right? You only have access to quests ranging between D to F level.”
“Place your hand on this orb. I need to see which areas to level up on the card.”
“What do you mean?” I asked as she placed a UV coloured crystal, with too many chiselled angles to be entirely accepted as spherical, before me.
“I mean your class, your elemental control if you identify as a mage, you know, the basics.” She clarified.
“Doesn’t the card do that automatically?”
“No, It does not…because it's fake…did we lose each other somewhere?”
“No, no.” I shook my head. “So, how many uses does the card have?”
“Three scans by the association, even less if it’s a high ranking scanner used by the top guilds.”
Even less, got it.
I placed my hand above the crystal, and instantly it glowed a dark green that I had only ever seen in the mirror, but slowly the colour dulled to a deep black. Suddenly, without warning, the crystal turned potently white then grew lecherously hot such that even without direct contact, I could feel its searing warmth.
“Holy f**k!! Let go!!” the woman yelled, and I did.
Well, my hand barely touched the crystal. However, I am not about to question a person whose hand seared like bacon under the weight of the crystal’s exothermic reaction.
As quickly and coordinated as one in agony could, Dwali placed a small bag over the glowing crystal then dropped it to the grass around us; seconds later, a muffled booming sound erupted from the bag covering the crystal and as if on cue, thick smoke pooled out of it.
“Holy mother of fucckk!!” she cursed as she held her wrist tightly. “Near burnt my hand to a crisp!!”
It took only a second for me to notice pink and seared flesh peeking from the black of her gloved hand and even shorter for the aroma of blood to surround us.
“Boy…you’ve got…you’ve got a potty mouth,” I said.
“Oh, do I?” She asked through gritted teeth, “Do I have a potty mouth?”
Her tone was so harsh that I instantly shook my head at her rhetorical question.
“f**k! A little heads up when you feel like a power crystal is not draining your… oh…I don’t know power!?” Dwali continued in-between deep breaths.
“I... You asked me to touch it and-,” I tried to excuse myself, but she interrupted.
“What do you mean I asked you to touch it? Do you not know the basics of power crystals?”
“Only the legit ones!!”
“HEY! Don’t rip on my business; I am doing you a favour here!”
“Okay! Okay!” I waved my hands in mock surrender.
“Do you know how expensive these crystals are?” she proceeded, hunched over protectively around her wounded hand as she tried desperately to soothe it. “Fuuck me!”
“Alright, alright, how about this! I can give you fifteen gold if you get me a power orb from the Aboriginal spiders in the-.”
“No way! Fifteen gold for those devils?” Breca said from behind me, holding a baguette in one hand.
“Hey, your partner here fired my hands.”
“Yeah…but aren’t you supposed to use gloves when you operate the crystal?”
“I-,”
“As long as the answer is not ‘no’, you can't sue or guilt trip us.” Breca interrupted as though used to Dwali’s antics.
“She is right.” I joined, “I kinda…don’t wanna do that.”
“Nye nyish nywit. Nye Nyenye…nyo nyanna nyu nyat.” She mocked, “Do you even hear yourself?”
“Okay…Alright,” I chuckled, “that, uh, that will do…opinion withdrawn.”
“What happened?” Breca asked as she pressed her hand supportively on my back.
“She exploded the crystal.”
“She what?” Breca turned to face me.
“And seared my f*****g hand as well but let's focus on the money cow right now. I need compensation for my crystal.”
“Before that…” Breca said, “Since she shattered the crystal, it means she is at least above D level, right?” Breca asked.
“Yes, and to measure that, I’d need to make a crystal with the eyes of a dragon and I…I am not about to hunt a dragon when a wyvern can pummel my ass.” She said, “Sorry kid, you have to either stick with the card, that when scanned because I haven’t ‘logged’ anything in, will directly read F with no skills or wait until you are eighteen then have it done professionally by the guilds that have access to such technology.”
“I’ll settle.” I shrugged, “I guess I am a natural-born porter, right?”
“Hey, wait,” I turned suddenly to Dwali, “the scent of blood is gone.”
“Oh, right! I'm half druid, so…” she showed her hands lime green glow as the burn wounds receded into her being.
Both Breca and I eyed the dwarf who looked, nothing like a halfling.
“You f*****g d***s! I am a halfling.”
“I didn’t …I didn’t say anything.”
“I didn’t either.” Breca joined.
“Whatever.” She grumbled, “Alright, kids, I am too sober for the night. Let's talk compensation.”
“Since you are not willing to hunt the spiders, I’ll need fifty gold.”
“Fif-,” Breca began then sighed, “Fine, fine. Do you have that in your person?”
She turned to me.
“Aha! My time to shine!” I smiled then searched for the coins in mention.
When the transaction was over, perhaps out of guilt for extorting us, Dwali offered me a piece of old parchment.
“I got this from an old chest in the woods.” She said as she stuffed the material in my hand, “At least I've given you something today other than a dud card, right?”
Dwali gave us one last wink, then left both Breca and me in the park with the promise of coming to collect the favour once we ‘make it big’.
*
“We should get going as well,” I said.
“I guess.” She turned her gaze to the parchment but said nothing.
“Do- do you want to see what it is?”
“N-no, no, of course not.” She cleared her throat then began walking to our destination, “I asked the rest of the guys to narrow down a quest so, we should go.”
“It’s some sort of treasure map,” I said as I folded the parchment into its original position. “One that has been studied to death.”
Her ears perked shamelessly at my explanation.
“She is a merchant, so her giving you the map means it yielded nothing on her end.”
“Aww…you don’t believe in goodwill?”
“Goodwill? You realize that she has practically scammed us into paying more than her asking price?”
Her asking prince was thirty thousand florins.
So thirty gold.
God damn…Breca is right…and we still owe her a damn favour.
Still, let's keep the outing positive.
“Aww, boo!” I smiled, “Puppies and rainbows, darling.”
“Urgh…” Breca rolled her eyes then bit into her baguette. “Want some bread?”
“Uh, no? Won't you get heartburn?”
“I’m carb-loading, don’t regret not taking my offer later, okay?”
“Ooh, I’ll try my best.”
Without further communication, I followed Breca.
Shit, I have no reflecting skill on the card. What if the officials mandating quests disallow my entry to wherever we are headed?
*
*
*
“Hey! Brecs!” a young boy waved to us as soon as we arrived.
The meetup location, Pool Borough Exit, West road. A road that leads to the deep dark forest often dressing peasant children’s nighttime tales, coupled with strange morals such as, ‘Never stare at mirrors before bedtime’ or ‘always knock twice on wooden doors.’
The voice owner had a nice mix of light brown and blue hair with brown eyes. He wore a wizard robe and held a staff that glowed purple in his hand.
“Brecs!” the boy smiled, “Where are we headed this time?”
“Yeah, Brecs, where are we headed?” I teased in the tone that the young man used.
“Don’t call me that.”
“Eyy, are you on a mission to break my heart? My lady, you succeed flawlessly.” I dramatized.
“No fancy talk either.” She whispered harshly to me, “These people aren’t nobles.”
“Gotcha!” I winked.
*
*
*
“His name is Alden.” Breca introduced as soon as he grew nearer, “He is the mage of the group and a water healer.”
“Hiya!” a chipper girl with cat ears and a swirling tail popped up from behind the mage, “I’m Kat. Get it?”
She pointed to her ears.
“Her name is Erica.” Breca interrupted.
“Gah! Brecs!!”
“But we all call her Kat, so you should as well.”
“Noted.”
“Where is Ruben?” Breca asked Kat.
“He’s with Wreigner. They are narrowing down the quests.”
Wreigner?
Is that not the western male lead’s name?
- Writer
