CHAPTER 10.

The next morning, Amber picked up the fitted armor from the smith before meeting Thieney at the northern gate of the city. There, she met the team, or most of it. Everyone was pretty much ready to depart, already wearing their equipment. First was Thieney, their so-called tank, then there was a Healer named Emma, who was apparently close friends with Thieney, and then there was:

“Liz,” Amber nodded at her.

The woman’s eyes widened slightly, her golden hair being brushed by the wind. “I didn’t expect to see you here, Warrior.”

“Amber. My name is Amber,” she sighed. “No need to be so formal.”

The woman seemed to hesitate before ultimately nodding. “I understand, Ms Amber.”

Well, that’s progress at least. She shook her head slightly before noticing that Thieney was coming her way.

“I see you got the armor, it fits you I think. You look like a proper adventurer now.” He nodded.

Amber looked down at herself, she hadn’t bothered to pay it too much attention given she was in a rush, but it was rather nice. It had quite a lot of gaps, being lined with thick leather inside to allow for mobility. The armor mostly consisted of plates that protected her vital parts, having black leather elsewhere.

She tried to move in awkward positions and found that none of her movements were restricted, it also wasn’t stuffy or anything.

“It’s quite nice.” She smiled. “Thank you for the armor.”

“No worries, it’s the armor I used before I obtained my current class.” He nodded before reaching for his back-pocket. “Have these.”

Amber blinked receiving three tubes, they resembled test tubes and had swirling red liquid. Identify quickly told her what they were.

[Health Potion ⁠— Common Quality

An average health potion, it will heal deep cuts and mend bone fractures.]

“Huh, thank you. But don’t we have a Healer?”

“Well, there may be eventualities, also if you don’t use them you can keep them,” he said simply before speaking with a serious tone. “However, do not consume more than one per hour unless you want to end up bed-ridden for a week after the effect wears off.”

“Is that the poisoning you mentioned?” Amber raised her brow.

She got a solemn nod in response.

“Common Quality potions won’t kill you, but a High Quality potion might if you do that with it, so best to exercise caution at all times and build the habit.”

Amber nodded, taking the advice to heart. That said, if she had to choose between being bed-ridden and dying, she’d choose the former every time.

“And finally they’ve arrived.” Thieney looked at the distance.

There was a warrior in armor similar to Amber’s, he had no shield, the other person seemed to be an archer of some kind. Amber used Identify on them.

[Warrior. Lvl. 35]

[Archer. Lvl. 32]

Then she turned to look at Emma, the Healer, and Liz.

[Healer. Lvl. 28]

[Mage. Lvl. 31]

The team seemed rather capable to Amber, though this was her first time adventuring so she had no idea if it was good or not. The Healer being the lowest level kind of made sense to her? Maybe they got less experience? She wasn’t too sure. Finally, the other two people arrived.

The warrior was named Jaylon and the archer’s name was Lorsan. After brief introductions, Thieney explained why Amber was joining the investigation team, Lorsan seemed to not really care, but Jaylon seemed to have a problem with the fact that she wasn’t an established adventurer or anything.

“We can’t bring her along, she’s inexperienced, we might die trying to save her or she’ll bring unknown dangers to us,” he argued.

“Well, I trust her with my life,” Thieney said simply. “Liz does too, she even asked to join the team this morning because Amber was present.”

That is news to me. Amber looked at Liz who averted her gaze.

“So if you have a problem with it, then between you and Amber plus Liz, I think you should be the one going.”

The warrior’s eyes widened before he huffed towards the gate. The archer said nothing, Emma looked relieved while Liz just looked at the warrior in annoyance. Thieney seemed a bit disappointed? Amber couldn’t really tell, but she decided to talk to him anyway.

“You mentioned chemistry, but there is hardly any chemistry going on here.”

“I said between me and you.” He shook his head. “I also figured you could bond with Emma and Lorsan, Liz came out of nowhere but I wasn’t going to turn her down,” she explained.

“And Jay-whatever?” Amber asked.

Thieney closed his eyes. “Well, he was very insistent on wanting to join this mission so I acquiesced back at the guild this morning. He is casual acquaintances with me and Lorsan so I figured it wouldn’t be much of an issue. But I was wrong.”

“And you can’t force him to leave, I assume.”

He nodded.

Amber turned to look at the team waiting by the gates.

Hopefully it's not too annoying.

Shortly after they set off.

* * *

Hours passed as they traveled a road, following Thieney around. It was uneventful and the sun was now rising. There wasn’t much talk due to the tension in the air, and aside from awkwardness Amber actually didn’t mind it too much. Instead she just enjoyed herself in the ways that she could, mostly just observing nature.

It was rather interesting to her to see the strange-looking birds, or the occasional fox-like monster darting in the surroundings. Because well, Earth had none of that, and she didn’t hike all that often so it was a nice thing.

Hopefully everyone has moved on from my disappearance, Amber thought. If time is one to one, break probably already started.

Once more, Amber wondered how her acquaintances and distant friends would react to her current life. Maybe they’d tell her to break a leg literally, but the most likely reaction would be horror. If she was honest, should they somehow find out her predicament, she didn’t expect them to understand. Her mother hardly understood her obsession with running years ago, but then again, most people didn’t understand.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Still, I’m sure that if everyone knew, they’d eventually accept that I’m happier this way.

In the end, she was happier in Vir.

She smiled, looking ahead only to see a bush with rather familiar berries. Osthus Berries to be precise. She immediately went off the road and towards the bush, much to everyone’s confusion.

The healer immediately spoke up. “Don’t⁠—”

“It’s fine,” the annoying warrior interrupted. “Let her find out the consequences.” She had already forgotten his name by now.

The poison? Amber found it confusing, it was pretty much free Toxin Resistance levels, but she supposed she didn’t mind.

She picked all of the berries she could find before she returned to following the group. Emma immediately approached from behind but before she could say anything, Amber began to eat. The woman seemed stunned before she hurriedly spoke.

“Let me heal you⁠—”

“It’s fine, useful for Toxin Resistance, besides they taste nice,” she explained.

“You are eating them deliberately?” the healer asked in shock.

“Yeah, of course. Do you want some?”

She shook her head in response. Liz seemed amused, Thieney just nodded, the archer seemed curious and asked for one, but the warrior? He snorted in annoyance. After a couple of minutes of walking, the archer, Lorsan, finally decided to eat his berry.

“It’s pretty good but I can feel my throat constricting, it will probably asphyxiate me in a few minutes,” he said simply. “But I can commend your unconventional training methods. Emma, do you think you could heal me?”

The healer approached and touched his back with her hand as a small golden light appeared. The archer just nodded and after a few seconds she moved away.

“Waste of mana,” the warrior snorted.

“It’s fine, as a magic user I have a skill to drastically recover mana out of battle. I assume that’s the case with Emma too,” Liz said.

Emma nodded in response and was met with a displeased grunt.

Is he just out to get me or what? Amber wondered.

* * *

In the end, I can’t stop thinking about it.

Amber was thinking about Liz, more specifically what she had said about recovering mana. Because well, if mana could just be wasted, couldn’t Amber gain Magical Resistance at last? Training it would probably be annoying but she needed to at least have the base one. Besides, she also wondered how it felt to be blasted by magic.

And so, she made her decision.

“Hey Liz.”

“Yeah?” the woman turned, confused. “What is it?”

“I was wondering if you could hit me with your magic until I gained Magical Resistance, given you’ll probably get your mana back by the time we get there.”

“We are pretty close at this point, but I think it won’t be a problem,” Liz agreed. “Do you want to take off your armor or…?”

And the warrior strode up to them, looking at Liz. “Why are you even indulging her recklessness? We should focus on the mission at hand. Also, what if you injure her too much?”

“I’ll probably be fine, we can try very weak magic at first.” Amber waved her hand dismissively before glaring at the warrior. “What the fuck is your problem anyway? It’s clear I’m not going to recklessly die given my level.”

“My problem is that you will get us fucking killed because you clearly have never been to a dungeon. You are probably way too used to fighting monsters. What if we get attacked by bandits? Do you know how to deal with human opponents? Do you know how to disarm traps?”

“I guess not?” Amber raised her brow. “I don’t see how that will get you all killed though⁠—”

“My point is your lack of general experience, you are way too laid back,” he scowled. “So I think I’ll teach you a damn lesson myself.”

“A lesson?”

The man took numerous steps back, the whole group was watching them now. And then, he unsheathed his sword.

“Fight me, Amber. If you win I’ll leave you the fuck alone, but if you lose then you’ll return back to Laria and gain some proper adventuring experience.”

Amber blinked.

Thieney stepped forward. “This is just a bad idea.”

“Why not?” The warrior whose name Amber had forgotten asked. “We have Emma, a healer on standby. Plus, Amber hasn’t refused.”

Amber took a breath before reassuring her companion. “Thieney, it’ll be fine.”

I wonder how the Curse of Laceration affects other people. There was a healer present, so Amber wasn’t too worried about going too far or anything. She was actually looking forward to it. After all, she was about to find out how she compared to the average warrior. Her class was very rare as Ax’thra liked to emphasize, so how would it compare with a more normal one?

I want to see.

Amber smiled and drew the Sword of all Mortals, Emma stood tensely, Thieney shook his head and Liz’s eyes widened for a moment.

“Wait, that sword is Enchanted⁠—”

“You better put up a good fight!” The warrior rushed, swinging her sword at her.

Amber blocked and felt her arms tremble from the impact, Cursed Momentum became active and the man’s eyes narrowed.

“I suppose you should be able to do at least this much.”

She smiled, and allowed the man to do all his attacks.

I want to see what he can do. Amber thought. First, he did a feint, which she caught switching the grip on her sword and deflected. The man advanced, his sword glinting in an orange light as he swung down. She blocked it, feeling the attack’s power be higher than ever. But it wasn’t something that impressed her, the man finally took a step back and stomped.

The ground shattered and Amber blinked seeing a notification.

[You have resisted Stomp’s status effect due to Supernatural Nullification.]

That was supernatural? Amber wondered as the man stepped forward with a shining sword, his attack speed nearly twice as fast but she just smiled. She had seen enough. Now, she was going to attack.

With a smile, she used Cursed Stomp. The ground shattered and the man’s eyes widened before he yelped. The leather parts of his armor were torn while the metal ones received scratches all over.

Amber dashed forward with Body Bash, and swung upon the man who managed to block the sword through gritted teeth. The two weapons clashed and a second later, the man yelped again as a gash was torn on his leg. The man yelped, and screamed as an aura enveloped him. He deflected her sword, and pushed back, the injuries seemingly not debilitating him as much.

Amber grinned feeling an increase of strength from the man too, she wondered if to use Curse Battery, but it might’ve been a bit too much. So instead, she focused on blocking, wondering how long she could build Cursed Momentum for.

She focused on blocking and as the minutes passed, the warrior wasn’t able to land a single attack, for some reason he wasn’t able to use his other skills during the use of it? At least he didn’t.

And at about the six minutes mark, the aura wore off and the man collapsed on the ground kneeling through gritted teeth. Amber smiled and she kicked ⁠— she felt her boot crack some bones as the man was thrown back a meter, clearly unconscious.

“And it’s over.” Amber smiled. “That was pretty fun.”

So that’s how I compare? She felt happy about the results. While the skills the warrior had were interesting, she actually really liked her class and how it worked. It almost felt like magic even though none of her skills were actually magical except for Cursed Stomp.

Emma was already tending to the fallen man in a hurry, Thieney seemed to be in shock but Liz was the first one to approach, her tone odd.

“I knew you were strong given what I heard from the adventurers in the caravan,” she said. “But I never thought you were this strong.”

Amber shrugged. “I didn’t know how strong I was compared to a normal warrior, though I’m sure there are other people my level that could very easily defeat me.”

There is always a 9 year old better than you. Amber inwardly nodded to herself.

“It’s still really damn impressive,” Liz said. “I’ve seen a lot of rare classes and nothing like this. No wonder you were able to kill the Simia Insani pack so easily.”

Amber felt a bit awkward, but instead of doing that she decided to take a page from Ax’thra the Primordial Spirit’s book.

“That is true, I’m pretty damn impressive.”

Liz blinked and then chuckled. “I have a question for you.”

“Before that.” Amber met her gaze. “How did you know my weapon was Enchanted Grade? Did you Identify it?”

The woman laughed. “One cannot use Identify on objects being wielded by someone. So no, I could just see the mana flowing through the weapon.”

Amber nodded at the response and the woman smiled at her.

“So, for my question: Amber, what’s your class?”

Amber blinked before grinning. “Wouldn’t you like to know?”

Liz nodded. “I would, yes.”

She blinked looking at the smiling blonde mage. “Huh…”

The woman ate an Osthus Berry in response and moved to check on the fallen warrior. After a few moments, Amber supposed she should do the same. So, now the entire team was gathered around the man.

It took a couple of minutes, but eventually the man was healed and began to cough before waking up. He sat upright and turned only to see Amber and the man immediately blanched.

“I-I’m sorry for doubting you. I-I⁠—”

“It’s fine, let’s just forget about this,” Amber sighed.

The man nodded, he seemed almost… fearful? She didn’t know how she felt about that, so she backed off and let the man recover. The healer, Emma, looked slightly tired, something that Amber didn’t expect. So a healer cannot heal all that much? It probably had to do with her level, but it was something to keep in mind.

Finally, after a couple of minutes, Thieney nodded once the team was ready to depart.

“Let’s go to the dungeon, it’s less than an hour from here.”

* * *

A hoarse laugh echoed in a dimly lit room. Ruk had once been a normal man, a normal adventurer, a normal summoner but now? Now he had changed. He had been reborn. His once human arm was now partly red, as if an infection was spreading, but he knew that it was a blessing. A blessing given to him by someone.

He didn’t know where that person had acquired it from, but he had called himself Oracle, and he had but a single request in return for power.

“Help me destroy the City of Laria, for it shall be our base to start a new era.”

As soon as Ruk saw the Staff of Demons he pledged his loyalty and engaged in a soul binding contract. And now, he had access to power he never had before. He laughed, twirling his staff.

“Summon.”

Multiple harrowing spell circles appeared, a sickly purple light illuminated the room as a dozen of undead warriors and archers rose from the ground. Then he turned at a corpse filled area of the room, there were about a hundred Dark Hounds present. The mana density in the dungeon was perfect, and now with the essence of the dead monsters he could finally begin.

“It is time to begin the summoning ritual.”

Rok smiled before speaking in a whisper.

“It is time to summon a demon.”