Slowly but surely I start collecting the corpses and piling them up in the center of the clearing. Shara and Grant make quick work of the ears then go on to loot the bodies themselves. For a moment I wonder if the goblin’s weapons might be worth anything, but that idea is quickly dismissed when I pick one up to examine it. If I had to describe it, it would be the medieval version of a prison shank. It is literally a sorta sharp stone haphazardly tied by some fibers to a small stick, overall barely holding itself together. I throw the garbage away and get back to hauling corpses back to the clearing. After I move the last of the corpses into the clearing I take stock of how many we killed. In total I count about thirteen corpses, ten of which have already been searched and de eared. I think our request only needed five sets, so we pulled just over double what was required, plus whatever the goblins themselves are holding onto. Then I hear Grant callout in surprise from overtop of the corpse he is working on.

“Are you kidding me, how the hell did the little buggers get a hold of one of these?” Grant says.

I look over to see Grant standing up and holding out a small blue vial.

Mana Potion

Wow, I’ve only seen one of those once before and I’m pretty sure goblins are not supposed to have it.

“That’s a mana potion right? What the hell are goblins doing with a mana potion?” I ask.

“Yes, and they probably stole it off the corpse of a previous victim. As you saw before, goblins are not to be messed with ill preparedly. Here Nina you take it, you can use it to help with Alex’s leg later.” Grant says.

“Oh um, sure.” I say

I walk over and take the small vial from grant, then put it in my sack for safe keeping. Before I can turn to walk away Grant grabs me by the arm and leans in close to whisper in my ear.

“Hey, I know you don’t know much but you need to be very careful. Light and life magics are one of the rarest combinations and considered holy by the church. I don’t blame you for not saying anything, you probably didn’t even know. Just be careful around Shara, she may have stopped attending church after her parents died but she is still very religious. I don’t think she is taking the idea of you being outside the church very well.” Grant says.

“Thanks for the heads up, do I need to watch out for her?” I ask.

“I don’t think so, me and Alex will deal with her. But I just wanted to give you a heads up, some people won't care, some will instantly try to hand you over to the church.” Grant says.

He pulls back and starts speaking at a normal volume again.

“Most groups talk and learn each other's skills and spells before going out. we didn’t do that because we expected to only be doing small stuff with you temporarily. We were just surprised is all, dont worry about it.” Grant says.

I look over and see Shara has her back to us, I hope Grant and Alex can keep her in check. But how long will they do that? Only until I finish healing Alex? What about after that? I have a sneaking suspicion that once I finish Alex’s leg up Shara is going to go play tattle tale with the church. She comes across to me as the type to whine about things she doesn't like or agree with. Great, just more shit to deal with. I think I’ll change my plans then, fix Alex’s leg up quick and get the hell out of town. Best not give whoever wants to make trouble more time to do it.

While we were talking Shara had finished up another goblin and was one the second to last one, while Grant started to work on the final one. Hopefully soon we can get the hell out of here because I want to get back and experiment with my plants. Even if I don’t skip town immediately after fixing Alex’s leg, something tells me I wanna stay the hell away from this group. Alex is a backstabbing spaz and Shara is fanatical bitch, supposedly. Grant seems pretty decent and I haven't met Durin yet, hopefully he will be a decent fellow.

I look over and see Shara has finished up, and is still giving me some side eye. Grant is still shaking down the last goblin but it should only be another minute or two.

After sitting around for what felt like ages Grant finally stood up and affirmed that we are good to go, so we all filed back into a line and headed off towards what I assume was town. I managed to lose track of which direction town was in the mess that was escaping and fighting the goblins. I can already tell I’m going to be amazing at this.

The walk back was thankfully quiet, a little too quiet actually. Neither Shara nor Grant said a word the entire trip back, only looking around to make sure we didn't get jumped again. Finally after about an hour of walking we hit the fields surrounding town. About ten minutes after that we made it to the gate, where the guards just waved us in despite the fact I personally look like I just jumped out of a brutal slasher movie. I’m still covered head to toe in goblin blood and it’s starting to smell. Grant says there is a well behind the hunter building I can use to wash up. Just don’t drink the water, apparently it will make you very sick if you don’t boil it, go figure.

Walking down the main street for a bit we finally come up to the hunter building lodge thing, is it a lodge or just a building? I think it qualifies more as a lodge, but I don’t think anyone sleeps there, only partying it up at night and getting their shit together in the morning. But to my surprise instead of going in the front doors Grant stops and takes his sack off his back.

“Here Shara, can you go turn everything in except the roots? I know a guy we can sell the roots to for extra money. I’m going to show Nina the well.” Grant says.

“Alright fine, I’ll meet you inside.” Shara says as she takes the bag.

She gives me one more glance before turning and heading inside. Grant motions for me to follow him down a side alley that looks like it goes around the back of the building. At the end of the alley is indeed a small courtyard at the back of the building near the center of which is a large well with a few buckets hanging down into and off the side. Grant grabs one and tosses it into the well and I do the same.

I have trouble pulling the water up at first, the bucket is heavy and constantly bumping off the side, causing most of the liquid to spill out before making it back to the top. Finally I get a bucket that is still three fourths of the way full up to the top. Grant meanwhile has just been standing next to me holding his completely full bucket while chuckling to himself. Before I can tell him off he speaks first.

“You really don’t have much life experience do you?” He asks.

“Well, I could probably cook for myself but that's really about it.” I say.

“Yea that’s a good skill to have. If you have any questions feel free to ask me, I know how it feels to not know things.”

“Oh really, how so?”

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

“I was raised in an orphanage in the capital as a child, I didn’t learn how to draw water until I was almost an adult. When I came of age I decided to become a hunter, immediately got shipped out here because of my low level and no class at the time. That was twelve years ago, I found out right quick that I didn’t know jack from squat and had to learn the hard way. Durin’s experiences were similar but I’ll let him tell you his life story when you meet. Again if you don’t know something you can ask me or Durin, we won’t judge.”

“Thanks, since your offering could you tell me what the elements are? I have some ideas but I'm not a hundred percent on everything.”

“Alright, that’s fair, even some veterans don’t have the elements down pat. I like to think of it as two sets of four and the odd one out. First you have the prime elements that make up the world we live in. Earth, fire, water, and air, water and fire don’t mix and neither do air and earth, but otherwise you can throw the remaining three together without issue. Second are the abstract elements, they give the world the idea of what it is. Light, dark, life, and death, as you can imagine life and death don’t mix and neither do light and dark. Then there is the odd one out, except I can’t remember the name, it was really weird, something like spatile, or spatdale.”

“Do you mean spatial?” I ask.

“Yea, that one is the rarest. I only heard about it because I’ve read the guide book, never seen anyone with it much less use it. Spatial gives our world depth, the prime elements give it foundation, and the abstract elements give it concept.”

“That’s an interesting take on how the world is built.”

“Yea well, that’s what the church has said for forever and I don’t think anyone has disputed it. Here, wash yourself up.” Grant says while pushing his bucket to me.

I put down my own bucket, take off my sack and lay it off to the side where it won’t get covered in blood water, then I take the bucket and pour it over my head. Immediately regret that decision as the cold water washes over me. I almost squeak as I jump in place and drop my bucket. As I reach for my bucket cursing every expletive I can find about the water being cold I notice Grant off the side laughing at me.

“Carefull, it’s cold.” He says.

No shit jackass, I already figured that out but thanks for the heads up. I take the second bucket but this time instead of just pouring it over myself I try to clean off the spots I missed with my first attempt at a wash. By the time I’ve cleaned all the blood off my clothes are completely soaked and I am also dripping wet. On the plus side, it’s slightly warm today so my clothing will dry off quicker.

“Good, now you don’t look like you borrowed your clothing from a monster victim. Let's head inside and meet up with Shara and Alex.” Grant says.

I nod my head and grab my sack, throwing it onto my back. Walking back out of the alley we head around the front and into the building. I see Alex and Shara waiting for us at one of the tables near the door. Walking up to them they seem to be in the middle of an argument.

“No Shara, we can’t do that, we have a deal with her.” Alex says.

“You know I’m right, someone like her can’t rot away in a place like this.” Shara says.

“Enough Shara, she can make her own decisions. Speaking of, Hey Nina, how’s it going?” Alex asks once he notices me walking up. Shara for her part looks like she just ate a dead mouse.

Before I can respond to Alex’s question Shara gets up with an angry humph and storms out.

“Damn it, Grant make sure she doesn’t do anything stupid please.” Alex says.

“Yea, I got it.” Grant says as he turns and follows Shara out the door.

“Is she going to be a problem?” I ask Alex.

I already know the answer, and it’s yes. But if Alex answers that he can deal with her I might be able to hold it against him later when she causes trouble.

“No, she’s just stubborn is all. We’ll keep her from causing trouble so don’t worry about her.” Alex says.

“So, how does the leg feel?” I ask him.

“A lot better but I still need the crutch to get around.”

“Well today we might be able to fix that. Grant found this on a goblin today.” I say as I pull the little blue vial out of my sack.

“No shit, how the hell did a goblin get a hold of an expensive potion like that?”

“Grant thinks it robbed some poor fool who got killed, either way our gain.”

“Yea, oh hey make sure you don’t drink it all at once. There is probably close to five thousand mana in that potion so if you portion it out carefully you get more out of it.”

“Good to know, anything else I should know about potions?”

“Yea, don’t drink too much in a short time span or you'll get very sick. Not that any of us are rich enough for that.” Alex chuckles

I bend down and start work on Alex’s leg, slowly but surely it’s coming back to full form. I keep going until I get that familiar feeling and sure enough my mana is at zero.

Mana: 0/2958

Alright lets try this potion out. I carefully pull the top off, which actually is harder to get off than you would think. Alex said this contains about five thousand mana so half should get me close to full. Carefully I take a sip from the small vial, only to have a putrid taste assault my mouth. It tastes like someone tried to make a soup with week old gym socks and still messed it up. I immediately gag, thankfully I don’t have anything in my mouth since I swallowed it all but I would have definitely spit it if I did. Atleast my mana is almost full again

Mana: 2651/2958

“Does it taste bad or something?” Alex asks.

“Tastes horrible, how the hell do you people drink these?” I ask.

“Strange, tastes sweet to me. I don’t think I’ve ever heard of someone disliking a mana potion’s taste that much before.”

I don’t entertain his line of thought, I simply return to fixing up his leg. Alex’s leg is looking a lot more like a normal leg, I keep my focus up to keep the process going until I run out of mana again. I’m seriously debating not finishing this potion and putting this off till tomorrow, but I manage to convince myself it’s only one more shot and I’ll be closer to finishing my end of the bargain. I steel myself for the mistake I know I’m about to make but I’m doing it anyway. I pinch my nose, throw my head back, dump the rest of the contents into the back of my throat and swallow immediately. The taste is just as bad the second time, causing me to gag, except this time I almost lost my lunch too but managed to keep it down.

“You ok? There is no way that potion is that bad.” Alex says.

“Yea, I'm fine. And if I ever have to drink one of those again, someone is just going to have to die instead.” I say.

Alex is looking at me like I’m crazy but I ignore him and go back to fixing his leg with the remaining mana I gained from the potion. No way in hell that thing wasn’t spoiled or something.

Mana: 2246/2958

I keep the spell up on Alex’s leg, but I can feel it starting to build some resistance. It’s like it doesn’t want to go any further, or can’t. I wonder if healing exhaustion is a thing? It makes sense, the body can't keep up with all the activity. But you would think that magic would solve that problem. Just to be sure I pause my healing and check Alex over with Triag. The skill tells me that the leg is mostly finished, just some remaining bits which are the hard parts. That might explain why I felt more resistance, who the hell knows, this thing doesn’t come with an instruction manual.

I dump the last of my mana into the leg and call it a day. From my calculations, which are horrible because I am bad at math, I should be able to finish up his leg tomorrow morning. That's good because I feel like I need to get the hell away from this group, well Alex and Shara specifically. Funny, birds of a feather flock together, or something like that. Grant seems pretty cool and I haven't met Durin yet. Maybe I’ll talk with Grant every once in a while, assuming I don’t have to skip town because of Shara’s bullshit.

“Alright that's it for today, keep off it and I think I’ll be able to finish it tomorrow.” I say.

“Really, that was faster than I expected. I’ll keep using my cane, meet up back here tomorrow morning?” Alex asks.

“Yea, tomorrow morning sounds good. See you later.” I say.

Alex replies with his own goodbye as I turn and head out the door. I’m a little impatient, I have the rest of the day but I want to get back and start experimenting. Something about the goblin encounter got me all hyped up. I seem to have a good time killing things back there, maybe I should look into that, I didn’t used to be this violent. Well I’ll deal with it when I get back to camp. Reminds me, I never got my share of the money. Shara bolted before we could talk about it. Bitch better have my money tomorrow.