Joe laughed, “Yup. Just come back tonight to sleep. No more staying out all night. It isn’t healthy.”
Zilnek soured a bit at that but Kilniara slapped him on the shoulder and berated him a bit, “You have an entire day! Why are you whining?”
Zilnek’s sour look dropped quickly before he nodded and his smile returned.
“Want to come?” he asked Garnedell.
Garnedell nodded excitedly and turned to follow him out the door, however both stopped when Kilniara spoke up, “Zilnek. We need to speak a little.”
Zilnek seemed confused a bit but quickly nodded, agreeing to it easily, “OK, sister.”
Joe nodded, “Then, Garnedell and I will explore the city?”
Kilniara looked up at that, about to say something, even Zilnek seeming about to protest.
“What?” Joe asked, easily noticing the sibling’s reply.
“We… only need a short time,” Kilniara replied.
“I wanted to go explore with Garnedell,” Zilnek replied almost at the same time, running over Kilniara’s words.
“Oh. Ah…” Joe found himself a bit at a loss for words and turned to Garnedell, “And you?”
“I… will go with you, if you wish?”
Joe chuckled, “Do what you want. It’s all good.”
Garnedell’s smile was bright when he nodded before turning to Zilnek, “Then I will go with you.”
Zilnek’s smile was about as bright, “Nice!”
As they turned to go, Joe called out quickly, “How long will you take?”
Kilniara turned back around, “Maybe an hour… about?”
“Oh! Then… Garnedell, want to hang out until they return? Let’s meet back here in an hour, then we can split up again?”
Kilniara smiled at that, Zilnek nodding in agreement, and soon they headed out the door. Joe watched them go, then looked back to Garnedell, raising an eyebrow.
“Well… that happened.”
Garnedell nodded, looking at Joe with a serious expression, “Yes.”
Joe barely kept his snort of laughter in, not wishing to make fun of Garnedell as he stood, waving him out the door, “Let’s walk and talk.”
“OK.”
The wandered down the street for a bit before Joe began again, “Do you know why they are going out?”
Garnedell nodded, “It is… a family affair. They are remembering their parents, visiting their graves.”
Joe’s eyebrows rose, “Oh… right. That makes sense.”
Garendell nodded, “They have much to speak to their kin about. Much to tell.”
Joe opened his mouth to reply, then quickly shut it, really not certain how to reply without possibly sounding a bit offensive in some way. They walked together for a time before Joe remembered his mana points.
“Ooh! Garnedell. Guess what.”
Garnedell looked up at Joe with a smile, “What?”
“I have mana points.”
Garnedell’s eyes widened with shock, “Already?”
Uh… no… I alre… ok… let’s not shock him, “Yes.”
“You… are incredibly fast.”
Joe grinned, “Am I?”
Garnedell nodded, “To learn,” he dropped his voice to a whisper for a couple phrases before returning to full volume, “infusion in only weeks… days! Then gain your first point. That is quite impressive, Joe.”
“So... then what do you do with… uh… them.”
“Hmm… they are very useful for mana, magic, and spells.”
“Like what?”
“I… don’t know. I’m not a magician.”
Joe frowned, “You don’t … know of anything?”
“Only some rumors.”
Joe nodded, “Better than nothing… ooh…”
Joe’s thoughts were interrupted when he glanced over and noticed a beggar missing a leg, pointing at the woman, “Hey… what is … how is she missing a leg?”
Garnedell turned to look at the beggar and then blinked, “Uh… because she lost it? I would not know how.”
“No… I mean… Wouldn’t she naturally heal from hurt? Her HP should return her leg back, right? Like my back with the goblin king?”
Garnedell frowned, “But you are an eccentric. You have … many digits in your health.”
“So… she…?”
Garnedell seemed to understand at that, “Oh… her injury was too great for her health digits. She lost her leg, and then a small amount of it likely regrew before her health digits ran out and she was no longer able to regenerate her leg.”
“But her HP… health digits would regener… return.”
Garnedell shook his head, “Once the digits are lost, then the body cannot regrow and when the regrowth ends, the wound begins to seal itself, so blood and fluids will not be lost and the person’s life can be saved. Then the regrowth is lost.”
Oohh… I guess… that kind of makes sense… so, then… no one bleeds out… guess that’s one positive about the system? He frowned. But yeah… HP runs out, then the magic opts to seal the wound with the last of the HP… or… maybe the HP runs out and that’s when the mana ‘knows’ to seal the wound? The HP regenerates… seals off a bit of skin, regenerates, seals so more… keeps going? Until the amputation is complete? And with that… can’t really regrow the limbs, right? So…
“What if they cut off the limb again?”
Garnedell frowned at that, “Why?”
Joe blinked, “Uh… to let the regrowth begin again?”
“Um… I do not know what would happen. Um… But would you endure the pain tens… hundreds of times to repair the leg? Could you?”
Joe frowned at that, then frowned more when he realized that with most jobs, a person’s HP would barely hit maybe fifty if they were lucky. And… that’s not going to do… much? I had a hundred and fifty, and lost a huge chunk of it just to seal up an abdomen wound, without really any mass loss to the body… mostly just sealing things back up. But re-growing tissue, that…yeah… expensive…
“OK. That… maybe makes sense. Hmm…”
They fell into silence for a time until they passed the beggar and Joe then returned to their previous conversation, “So.. uh… then mana points?’
Garnedell looked up at Joe, then nodded, “Yes?”
“You were going to tell me about some rumors?”
“Ah… of mana points. Yes. I know very little, only that mana points can be grown, somehow, manipulating them in some way to cause them to be… more… stronger? I do not know more than that.”
“Huh… Ok… that sounds… pretty cool… interesting?” Sounds like… what I’m doing with my weirdness… stuffing them, squishing them, playing with the mana walls and stretching them… then… I should probably find all the ways I could manipulate the points… see all the ways I can… do things to them. Joe’s mind began to wander, his thoughts going over mana points and everything he could do, lost in his thoughts for a time. He was enjoying his inner thoughts when a shout came from the crowd around them and Joe quickly looked over in surprise before dismissing the shout. That, however, returned his awareness to where he was and he looked down to see Garnedell walking quietly and contentedly by his side. Joe hid his embarrassment and turned his thoughts back to Garnedell. Come on, idiot… back to helping the kid. That’s why I’m here.
“So… uh... Is everything going good?”
“Yes. All is well.”
Joe nodded, relieved at Garnedell’s easy acceptance of his absent mindedness, “I’m glad. So… remember what we talked about yesterday?”
Garnedell stared at him a bit before suddenly nodding as he remembered, “Yes, Joe.”
Joe nodded, “Then… I want to make sure I am doing well by you. So… do you have any ideas? Or suggestions?”
Garnedell paused for a bit, thinking deeply before he shook his head, “No, Joe. All is going well. I am quite happy.”
Joe grinned at that, “Then… maybe we can have a regular time to meet?”
Garnedell actually looked at him with surprise at that, but seemed a bit excited by it, “I… that … I would really like that.”
“Good. Then.. maybe once or twice a week? At least?”
Garnedell nodded eagerly, “That would be wonderful!”
Joe chuckled, “If we do more, that’s fine as well, but I want to make sure we are meeting at least … once? Twice?”
Garnedell looked at him eagerly, thinking carefully before finally responding, “Twice?”
“Do you want twice?”
Garnedell’s grin grew a bit more, “Please?”
“Then … good. At least twice. So… for our next meeting… in… a couple days?”
Garnedell nodded eagerly, “Ok.”
Joe smiled, “Then you have homework. Think of about what you want from this apprenticeship and from the talks. We’ll talk and make a decision.”
Garnedell’s smile fell a bit and Joe caught it, “What?”
“Is it… a time of talking?”
“For this, at least. Why? Did you also want to do something?”
“Training!”
“Training? Oh! Nice! Yeah. That’s exactly the kind of thing I want to talk about. So, make sure we talk about it… at the next meeting. Think of everything… not just talking.”
Garnedell’s eager grin returned with even greater strength and he nodded excitedly, “Ok!”
Joe chuckled, “We can talk about training for a bit today, if you want.”
Garnedell quickly and eagerly began questioning Joe, asking both about development as well as questioning about Joe’s techniques and tactics. They conversation went for some time, and their hour quickly evaporated with the engaging topic. After a time, Garnedell quickly paused and turned to Joe.
“I think an hour has passed. We should return.”
Joe considered before nodding, “Sure. It might be a good idea.”
They turned around and began walking back, the conversation hitting a lull that Joe took the opportunity to ask Garnedell some more information.
“So… have you thought about… commoner?”
Garnedell tensed up, looking at Joe with a frowning grimace, “I… Joe. Commoner is not…”
Joe nodded, “I know. But I promise. You will grow very quickly. You will not be commoner long.”
Garnedell looked at Joe, sighing but said nothing.
Joe considered for a bit then tried again, “Garnedell. How quickly did you grow your adventurer at the beginning?”
“About… one every day… until five… then much slower.”
Joe nodded, “And Zilnek… how much is he growing th… his?”
Garnedell glanced up at him then around them when Joe almost said the job name before releasing his tension with a sigh. It took him a bit to remember the question but answered it quickly enough, if with a bit of confusion.
“Maybe… once per day?”
Joe smiled, “Once the first day, twice… almost three times the second day… and twice more the third. Then once the day after. Six times in three days.”
Garnedell’s eyes widened at that, then he grinned, “You say… I would… do the same?”
Joe’s grin widened further, “Show me your status quick?
Garnedell’s grin grew and he smiled brightly, “OK!”
He quickly flipped up his status then made it available for Joe to see, flipping to his current status page.
“Ah… no… the main page, please.”
Garnedell flipped it back quickly enough and looked up at Joe with excitement.
Status
Blessings
Current Job
Available Jobs
Current Skills
All Skills
Log
Garnedell
Status
Physical Resistances
Magical Resistances
HP
48.00
Physical:
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Wind
16.00
SP
48.00
Piercing
16.00
Water
16.00
MP
16.00
Crushing
16.00
Earth
0.00
Attack
32.00
Slashing
16.00
Fire
16.00
Defense
32.00
Ice
16.00
Magic
16.00
Gravity
0.00
Magic Defense
16.00
Magnetic
0.00
Strength
72.00
Light
0.00
Dexterity
32.00
Shadow
0.00
Agility
32.00
Space
0.00
Speed
32.00
Spirit
0.00
Endurance
64.00
Mental
0.00
IQ
16.00
Sound
0.00
Wisdom
16.00
Electricity
0.00
Learning
15.00
Luck
0.00
Joe looked at his learning and then hid his grimace, although it was still better than nothing. Right… paint a good picture! Time to be a good salesman.