I went out the next day and went shopping. I did my best to not buy everything as I had a habit of just buying everything. Most of it was food. I want to have enough food for several or 1 prolonged [Silver Torrent]. I dodged another group of people that seemed to be interested in Nilah.
Hey Nilah can you be less cute? You're giving me a hard time. She gave me some mana.
That's not helping… Nilah had spent most of the day stealing mana from strangers. Maybe Nilah is not really an attack but more a trap. So cunning! Gramps is a genius!
I was chilling on a bench when I saw a familiar face.
Nilah attack! Nilah ran at this guy and took him down with a tackle. Surprisingly strong this little fox.
“What the! A small fox? Agnis what happened to you!” Vinny in human form picked up Nilah. He had short light green hair and a tough build. He did have a friendly face however. I’m over here you dumbass.
“Oh! You didn't turn into a small fox! How are you?” Shopping and avoiding humans that want to pet Nilah.
“So that's her name. She’s… stealing my mana… she’s not a living being, is she?” I took Nilah from Vinny and put her on my head. It’s a skill. I have something I need to discuss with you by the way, I’m glad I don't have to go all the way to Jubra.
“I was just heading toward the library, let's go there.” Oh, I might find a friend there. We arrived and I asked if they knew someone by the name of Gregory Sheru but it seems we missed him by a day. Apparently, he went to an archaeological site. He always liked old stuff. We found a quiet spot and I told him what happened to Boshi Town. I could see that Vinny got upset.
“They really don't care about those down here, do they?” He said as he slamemd his fist on the table which garnered the attention of everyone around us. I covered us in illusions to make this meeting a bit more... private.
Seems so and I hope this one here is a good countermeasure to those deities. I said as I played with Nilah.
“I wonder what the other Sarian deities are up to” Well one is sealed away and the rest is probably up to no good.
“Well, I wouldn't be able to eat that light-based miasma it would just corrupt me or at best give me a stomach ache.” Vinny showed his disgust, indicating that light mana might taste bad. Thought so, I thought at first that dragons were immune to mana corruption but it makes more sense that they're immune to the corruption of mana that they're affiliated to.
“Light dragons are so rare… maybe Nilah can do something?” I don't know if it's possible but there was a lot of mana there. I think a dragon is best.
“And are you sure you're fine? A close encounter with an angry goddess seems terrifying.” I'm fine now, I had to put myself to sleep for 3 months though.
“So that's why I couldn't find you. I don't know if you've heard but your girlfriend succeeded in her goal!” Yeah, I saw.
“Also, Kyle teamed up with a chick and seems to be hunting someone down. I don't know the specifics though. I just heard something when I registered to become an adventurer.” Ooh, I expected him to train at Silent Night by now. Maybe he found a girlfriend and thought 'screw this'. I hope he’s not hunting me down for revenge or something.
Vinny shook his head. “I would 100% hunt you down if you were responsible for everyone calling me Toxic Donkey…” So what role are you going for?
“I’m still undecided but leaning toward Unstoppable Beast. It is hard to control my magic to make sure I don't kill any humans so I don't think I can go for Crimson Eagle.” Yeah, humans are squishy. Mastering the sword might make it easier for me to deal with humans. Both assassination and my leylines are meant for killing or will kill.
“Swords were lethal weapons last time I checked…“ I can just land shallow cuts or hit with the back of the sword.
“Hmm well, you seem like a speed type so that should work, speed types don't pack much of a punch in general.” I have a solution for that! I put an ancient text on the table that I swiped from the time capsule weapon room. It is possible to make weapons that scale off your speed.
“Right because they needed to make you even more dangerous.” I want to also see if there is a way to make some of my skills do that so that they aren't necessarily tied to my magical attack which is stupid high or my physical attack which is almost non-existent.
“So, you want to tie it to your speed that's also stupidly high?” Yes!
“You make no sense… but good luck, as long as you don't end up fighting me, I don't care that much.” Anyways back to you being an adventurer, what is your goal?
Vinny crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair. He thought for a bit and then leaned forward. “Experience in general, being able to defend myself better but also with humans and other races. Gittrian is quite welcome but I wonder how this goes outside Gittrian.” Good luck to you too and greet the Toxic Donkey when you see him.
“I will, and you go find the Eternal Desertflower!” Did her adventurer's name also change?
“Yeah, it suits her from what you've told me. I just hope she doesn't stick her nose where it will get her killed.” I hope she stays away from that cult, they have ideals that align with her goals.
We talked a bit and Vinny had to go on a mission. Have fun as an adventurer!
“Thanks, you be careful, stay out of trouble.”
I left the library and went to the park to practice. Nilah was attracting a lot of attention. Hey Nilah, can you tone that cuteness down, I’m trying to practice here.
2 random human women appeared “Can I pet her?” She will steal your mana, just so you know,
“Ooh, what breed is it?”
“What does she eat?”
“Where did you get her?” Hey, can’t you see I’m practicing here? Nilah get them! I continued practicing while Nilah stole the mana of 2 women harassing me.
2 men in funny uniforms arrived. “Excuse me is this your pet?” Technically not…
“We are from the Gittrian Security and we’re investigating a case of a lot of citizens getting their mana stolen.” Stolen?! Unacceptable! Who would do that?! Can I help?
They pointed at Nilah. “We think that is the culprit.” Well, I warn them that she will do that but they still pet her just like those chicks. I pointed at the women who were cuddling and giving Nilah a hard time while getting their mana stolen.
“Can’t you keep your pet under control?” She’s not killing anyone or turning this whole city into a frozen wasteland so I think I have her under control pretty well.
“I will need you to control her better or come with us.”
“Officers can’t you see how cute she is?” The humans helped me out.
“She’s not harming us!” See they agree with me.
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“He still needs to come with us.” They tell you that you are wrong, what more do you need?
“We are convinced that you are a problem.” Hey, chicks you're seeing this right?
“Officers, it’s nothing really! We’re not using this mana anyways we just want to pet this cute thing.“
“He is disturbing the order.” Alright, how about this, they are disturbing my privacy by disturbing my alone time.
“I need you to still come with us.” Ugh, listen I know you are trying to do your job but to be honest you’re not doing it well, I have warned them, but you guys see what's going on, and look, they're still petting Nilah, and I can translate her behaviour for you, she doesn't like it that much, hey chicks can you leave her alone, please?
“Aww ok.” Nilah was finally released and jumped at me.
“Last warning, you’re coming with us!” I sighed. Ugh, fine. I followed the officers. I got brought in for a crime I didn't commit.
“So, your pet has caused 14 cases of mana depletion, we would like you to restrain it or not bring her into the city.”
“Where did you get it?” so many questions.
She didn't attack anyone, are you guys against self-defense? And I got her from my gramps. Now what is it that you want me to do?
“We will either confiscate her or you have to leave the city.” Alright, Nilah, we’re leaving, also you better make sure that the supplies I ordered will arrive at the correct place, also explain to Jerry why I can’t have an important conversation, also bring back some boats up the river.
“That is not our responsibility.” I tried to think of any reason why these people are so difficult. My initial response is to fight back but I think I did well so far. What they were asking was quite unreasonable. I’m not going to leave Nilah behind and I’m not leaving the city. So, what would be the scenario in which I get to keep Nilah and stay in the city?
“There is none.” Right with all due respect, you guys are unreasonable, you've wasted my time with nonsense. Goodbye.
“Then we will have to discipline you with force!” Oh, trust me you don't want to do that, your best shot is to solve this with words. They got some batons out.
Ugh, I guess Yttroz Industries will have to pull more gold out of my personal account.
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I walked around eating some self-made pineapple ice cream and shared some with Nilah. I did my best to ignore the smoke plume behind me and people running to see what happened. I made sure to use some illusions to make sure nobody would accurately recall that I was there. I tried, but they didn't want to listen. I will fess up to Jerry although he would probably find out it was me. I decided to stay low until tomorrow since I clearly can’t stay out of trouble.
This is your fault Nilah ignored me and kept eating ice cream. I went back to my room and did some more gaming. I had to pause halfway because Nilah was making a mess out of the place. Is this really just a magic skill?
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Nilah woke me up the next morning. Someone was at the door. Who is it? I opened the door and it was Jerry.
“What did you do this time?” He came in and I closed the door. I have no idea what you're talking about.
“The incident at the city guard office yesterday, you weren't involved in it, do you? Nobody could miraculously remember what happened. I only know 1 person that has strange things happen around him.” Uhh well… I explained what happened.
“Well, they were in the wrong but so were you!” You can subtract the costs from my personal stuff.
“I think this one is on them anyways, they will pay for it, now it’s time to do business right, you said you wanted to start a blacksmith workshop right? How about you have a partnership with us? We will do our utmost best to get the best materials to you as fast as we can and in exchange, we can put up specific commissions that will be exclusive to us. How about it?” Sure, I don't know how long it will take for me to get back into it but I think that's a good deal, it’s just… I’m not going to be a full-time blacksmith.
“That’s fine, you won't need materials when you're not blacksmithing right?” Jerry smiled and held out his hand. “We are expecting a lot from you.” I shook his hand. You are expecting too much from me, really.
“Is that so?” He took out a dagger that I recognized. “We bought this dagger 2 years ago; it was sold in Ainahs. It was in high demand but we managed to get our hands on one. It looks like a normal dagger but it's 40% lighter and stronger. While not the peak of blacksmithing, it's impressive work, even more since the creator was 14 years old when he created it.” He looked at me. Well, I haven't touched a hammer or felt the heat of a forge since then so I might be completely shit at it.
“I doubt it and even if that’s the case, we still think it’s important to show our good will toward you. I already said it back in Boshi Town, we will support your blacksmithing needs. All the materials that you have requested have been successfully delivered to dock 12. We are still handling the paperwork but that should be done in about 2 hours, after which you should be able to depart without issues.” He walked to the door and opened it. “Try to stay out of trouble.” He stepped through the door and paused. “Do you by any chance know the Eternal Desertflower?” Yes, I do, why?
“Hmm interesting, no it’s nothing, stay out of trouble.” He closed the door and left. What was that about?
Nilah! Did you eat my snacks again? You gluttonous vixen! I cleaned up the room and put the now-asleep Nilah on my head. This little fox surely was training my balance. She was quite light so she would fall off my head if I didn't keep my head straight. I headed down and saw someone I didn’t want to see.
I swear, can't you just chill in other cities?! I tried to run but Nilah almost fell off my head and I got dogpiled by 2 Golden Angels while trying to catch Nilah.
“Right, let’s see what strange afflictions you have this time.” Oh, come on you can't expect me to have something new every time you see me.
“Well, there is only one way to figure out, bring him up.” Hey fellow adventurers? Do you see this? It's kidnapping! Why doesn't anyone help me?! I got carried to a place I hoped to never see again.
“I see that you've picked up a cute companion. Is it an alien too?” Will you be happy if I say yes? Nilah curled up in my arms, it seems she didn't like Healerguy and I don't blame her.
“I have never seen that type of fox before.” It's a magic skill. Healerguy dropped his pen.
“Excuse me?” You dropped your pen.
“What did you say she was?” Ehhm, now what was it, I can’t seem to remember!
“I know that you don't have brain damage, your memory can't be this bad!” Why are you so nosy! I said she is a magic skill, not an animal or monster or anything else.
“Fascinating, you always come with interesting afflictions, but now you brought a strange lifeform.” Eh, wait she’s alive?
“I have no clue but it looks like it, well it’s time for your check-up. Get him guys.” He pointed at me and some unfamiliar chicks came at me. Hey you're not using me as a subject to teach new Golden Angels, are you?
“Hmm, I wonder, I can’t seem to remember.” Ugh, Healerguy you suck!
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“Strangely healthy as always, it does seem you had recent exposure to a lot of light mana. What little mana you have left is slightly shifted into light. Since light and dark don't appear in people’s mana balance this is easy to find out. For the rest… completely healthy and everything is normal except you have seemed to have lost weight… “ So, can I go now?
“You can go… We can’t get any readings from Nilah… She doesn't give off mana just like you. I will discover your secret one day!” Good luck with that, cya.
I was wondering how I was supposed to kill time before I had to leave but Healerguy solved the problem for me. I had 30 minutes before I could go so, I slowly started to walk toward the dock. I arrived on time and indicated that I would be taking all 5 boats with me. Whoever was in charge here for today started asking difficult questions but I said I would be fine. I hopped on the foremost boat and had the 4 others in a line behind me. I connected to the air leyline currents and used [Water Dragon Dance]. All the boats were getting pulled by a dragon now. This was surprisingly easy. I left the docks and slowly went upstream the river. I started to pick up speed after I left the gate.
Once I was clear from the gate and I confirmed that there were no boats in front of me I made all the dragons use [Waterfall]. The scenery zipped past. I had to steer the dragons a bit but most of the leyline currents were following the river. I went way faster than any boat that went downstream. Anyone that I passed looked surprised. I spotted the first boat with a water user going upstream. I zipped past him. I had been playing video games for the last two days and I had to curb the urge of leaving banana peels behind or throwing colored shells. I could see Girai in the distance when the sun started to set. I would probably before the day is over or just past midnight. I could speed up but I don't know if these boats can take it. Another full moon. Is this going to become a problem? I tried to avoid looking at the full moon. Nilah started to glow and get colder though.
Nilah please don’t do anything stupid… I picked her up and hid her under my shirt away from the moonlight. I sped up a bit and made it just past midnight. Most people were already asleep. I teleported all my stuff to my house and left the boats with the village materials on the part of the river where the boats arriving from Gittrian get moored and unloaded. I then teleported to my old new house to avoid looking at the moonlight. I can't have myself bust all my tails out here or Nilah freezing the whole village.