“Shall we fight then?”
Kilniara stared up at him, not having resolved the issue as easily as he did, although that wasn’t exactly fair, he realized, as he’d wrestled with this over several days. He stared at her and this time was able to offer a better smile, if still subtly bitter. Tears still fell from her eyes and she finally nodded, but with sad regret and turned away. Their fight after was half-hearted and ultimately failed as Kilniara withdrew and Joe fought alone, seeking solace in the mindless fights struggling to forget.
When he did hit level twenty eight, he fled back to lunch as an excuse to escape and quickly called an end to their fighting before sitting down for lunch. Joe also ended up receiving another two off blue messages regarding individuals who’d joined Mimir but Joe ignored them, leaving them to the side to deal with later until passing out their meals.
He passed around the food he’d purchased from the street markets on the way in this morning and all four enjoyed their meals, the two boys jumping into a boisterous conversation while Joe returned to the strange messages he had received.
As the one before, the third one also showed a common ‘everyman’ in average clothing and a detailed face. I guess I could recognize him if I knew him or saw him. Joe closed the last message and flipped open the second only to squint a bit with some consideration. As before, the figure was basically just a stylized humanoid form, but this time it was certainly different, showing a simple white robe like form that draped the entire body and was tied at the waise with some form of belt. It almost … I … if this were back home, I would say that was a monk’s attire. What’s the difference? Joe’s thoughts pondered the meaning of it, not understanding why this individual showed a unique form while the other two were wearing just basic clothing. Hmm… question for Kukurnal, I guess?
Joe only spent a couple minutes studying the new messages before shoving them to the side, but leaving them still available as he wanted to show Kukurnal later. Once he dealt with the message, he jumped right into the other three’s conversation and spent the rest of lunch in enjoyable camaraderie.
After lunch, he set them on their forms once again, only spending a short amount of time guiding them before sweeping through the floor and wiping out the goblins, taking about an hour and a half to finish his climb to level thirty before taking them straight down to the third floor to start fighting the snows. He didn’t need to give them any rest as he’d called for them to rest after their forms for about twenty minutes while he finished up the last of his twenty ninth level.
This time, the other three performed much better, slicing their way through the snows with excellent team work, Kilniara angrily slapping the enemy with forceful hits. Even the one time a snow began its freeze wave attack, all three reacted remarkably well, easily able to find who it was targeting and then freeing the other two up to smash the snow easily enough.
It was after that that Joe received a friendly visitor with some advice, “Uh… sir, May I offer… speak with you?”
“Sure. What’s up?”
“I’m sorry to bother you, but it is not wise to attack a snow while it is using its magic attack.”
“Hmm? Why?”
The other person froze up a bit before looking at him and ducking their head, “The snow… if you destabilize its core or spell while it is casting, it may simply explode, freezing all around it as it’s magic wildly expands.”
Joe thoughtfully hinted in his reply, “Hm… and what if you do not infuse your weapon?”
The man opened his mouth for a quick reply before stopping quickly and looking closely at the three pelting away at the snow before looking back at Joe and thinking deeply, “I’m… not certain.”
“Does infusion disturb or destabilize monster cores and spells?”
“Most certainly, it seems to be known such things are true.”
“It certainly harms the monster deeply and more quickly.”
“Yes! It does.”
“Then how would a weapon without infusion cause destabilization.”
“I… am not certain.”
“Then likely the only destabilization would be of the spell failing. If a spell fails, does it fail catastrophically?”
“What do you mean?”
“Does a spell … can a magician cast a spell but make a mistake and cause the spell to explode in disaster and destroy the magician or the people around him?”
“Oh, then… no. I’ve never heard of a magician failing to their destruction.”
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“Even if they are harmed while casting a spell?”
“Casting… Oh! Uh… I understand. No. The spell does not collapse in such a manner.”
“Do humans fight each other with infused weapons?”
“Oh, yes! Of course they would if…”
Joe interrupted him with a comment, “Then it would be likely that a mage had been attacked with an infused weapon but if none have ever exploded from their spells, then it is unlikely the spells would fail in such a way. It must be the core destabilizing while using a spell.”
The man said nothing for a moment before nodding excitedly and nodding deeply before offering a half bow, “Thank you so much for teaching me!”
“Oh! Don’t take this for fact. I’m not certain this is true! Please be careful.”
“All things are dangerous. You still chose to offer help. Much thanks for your teaching!”
“Ah! Well… my thanks to you for advising me. I will let my students know.”
The other man quickly bowed before walking away and Joe watched him walk away for a few moments before looking towards his other three again. So… because of infused attacks? Probably? Well, I’ll let them know after this one, I guess.
The fight ended quickly enough with the three doing quite well and destroying the snow before it could unleash its freeze breath. Zilnek was the one who ended up being targeted by the snow and sprinted away from the snow as soon as he noticed, putting a healthy distance between them while Garnedell and Kilniara pounded on the snow. Kilniara did well enough, but Garnedell was the one that did the most damage and ended up killing it quickly, using the techniques he’d learned from watching Joe coring slimes to kill them. Garnedell slashed away massive chunks of the snow before punching in at the slightly visible core just revealed from one of his massive smashes.
Garnedell stabbed with the end of his staff and pushed straight through the body of the snow attempting to push it through the entire body and out the back side more in a hard push than an actual damage thrust. The core popped out of the other side, tumbling through the air before falling to the ground in a tumble as the core seemed to desperately pull in the last flecks of snow it could to surround itself, even while the snow continued its last ditch freeze breath.
Garnedell scrambled forward, diving for the core and began whipping the snow off the core as fast as possible. It only took a few moments for the core to finally be free of any snow and then neutralized, with Garendell’s excited shouts and leaps brought the attention of the whole room even as he held the core high in the air excitedly.
Joe sighed, realizing he couldn’t hide this core now. He called Garnedell over, “Nice job! Really good job.”
All three cheered each other and gave high fives. Where did they… oh! Joe shook his head as he realized he’d probably infected this world with the ‘high five’ just because of his interaction with them. He wondered how long it would take for it to spread around the globe. Joe shook his head, clearing his thoughts. Not the time.
“Good job! Now everyone here knows we got a core,” Joe spoke with a bit of heat in his voice.
All three suddenly stopped and glanced around, heads bouncing between sheepish focus on their toes and side glances to take in the crowd of people around them. All three seemed annoyed at themselves but Kilniara stepped forward before speaking firmly, if with a bit of worry.
“But, we have no need to fear. You… no one would touch you.”
Joe snorted, shaking his head, “If you think there is no one who could touch me… you are too naïve. But, you are right. Anyone who would want a simple single core wouldn’t be able to take it from us, but… do not think I am invincible. Besides, do you think one man can stand against the governm… clans? It’s always best to just be wise.”
All three nodded their heads quickly, Garnedell replying first, “Yes. You’re right.”
Joe nodded before waving the issue away, “It’s fine. You are young. You will learn. Anyway, back to the fight. I’ll watch out for you. You keep fighting for the rest of the day. If you get tired of the snows, let me know and we can start back with the mukfrogs and goblins. You guys are pretty well trained on the goblins and can fight them well. Mukfrogs are a bit easier but you should be able to handle them as well. Even the snows, you are doing well now. All you need is a bit more time to get used to fighting mukfrogs and snows. So, starting tomorrow, you can choose what we fight in the afternoon; goblins, mukfrogs, or snows. Alright?”
All three smiled and nodded, excitement bubbling up in them as a subtle bouncing on toes before Joe smiled and nodded his head to the next snow, “Alright, alright! Just go.”
The other three shouted out yesses and excitedly pounced on their next prey while Joe tossed the snow core in the air a few times before tucking it into one of his backpack pockets. The other three continued their fighting while Joe stayed with them, protecting them from their increasingly fewer mistakes and also pulling in other snows to sometimes distract them. They did well ending their afternoon quickly enough and Joe was soon returning to the inn with the other three.
Garnedell drifted back from Kilniara and Zilnek to settle in beside Joe and spoke to him quietly, “We need to go back to the room and speak.”
“You can’t speak here?”
Garendell glanced around before quieting even more, “Too many people.”
Joe became silent in thought but then simply nodded and continued in silence, concern twisting through his thoughts. Garnedell also remained silent, and while Kilniara and Zilnek both chatted with each other easily enough, they soon became aware of the other two’s silence and glanced between one another before also falling silent.
The last few steps to the inn were passed in awkward silence but Joe was completely unaware as his thoughts continued roiling and Garnedell didn’t seem concerned with the other’s discomfort. Zilnek and Kilniara remained silent out of respect for the other two until they made it to the door of their room and Joe suddenly became aware of where they were.
“Uh… Kilniara. Why don’t you wash first, then us boys will go.”
Kilniara nodded, replying quietly, “Yes, Joe.”
Joe suddenly became aware of Zilnek’s and Kilniara’s caution and he quickly looked at them before shaking his head with a chuckle, “Relax, you two. I don’t know what’s going on and everything’s fine. Garnedell just needs to speak with me. I don’t know why,” Joe looked to Garendell with a meaningful gaze before continuing, “but he just wants to speak with me alone. Don’t worry. You two are fine.”
Kilniara calmed visibly at that, tension crumbling from her if not the hidden pain. This was followed almost immediately by Zilnek a few moments later. Kilniara nodded and walked through the door with Zilnek nodding when Kilniara had stepped through. He looked between both of them before turning to Garnedell and whispering quietly.
“Are you OK?”