* * *
Kukurnal stood and offered his greetings to Joe as he left. He waited until well after the eccentric had gone and he’d returned to the private hallways of his temple before he allowed the frown to form on his face. What… should I do… what should I do?
* * *
Gwenvair waited beside the dungeon entrance with a nervous energy that she had not felt in a long time. Normally, others waited upon her and not her on others. Despite that, she knew the fearful trepidation that came with waiting for other powers. It didn’t help that her mother had planned for a test for Joe, her mother now a bit more suspicious.
However, this feeling of nervous tension felt a bit different as it was tinged with a healthy dose of eager excitement. She didn’t know why, but she knew Joe hadn’t lied; that the man really could interpret the system status. She’d been polite with his claims before as there was no need to offend the man with the common knowledge he was willing to share. She knew her own titles, if not the exact details. But... She looked up and around, seeking for them even as she found herself spending effort and time restraining herself from anxiously seeking out the group instead of waiting in fearful boredom. It was strange yet thrilling, even intoxicating.
When she heard Kilniara’s cry of excitement, her eyes searched excitedly though the crowd for him, but did not find him. A second cry helped to find her but she found him missing and her trill of excitement was replaced by a spike of concern. Her mind muddled, she almost missed Kilniara’s excited greeting.
“Gwenvair! You came. I’m so happy you are here.”
“Ah! Of course,” Gwenvair stumbled, her thoughts unable to continue but her conversational gaffe was politely ignored by Kilniara as she rapidly turned to a happy conversation continued from the day before.
Gwenvair found herself using her skills to placate annoying sycophants and her mouth began replying without thought even as she subtly began glancing around for Joe whenever Kilniara wasn’t looking at her.
Suddenly, Kilniara made a statement that required Gwenvair’s attention, “He’s not here.”
“Ah… I see.. what?!”
“He’s not here, yet,” Kilniara glanced at her with a smile, a smile that appeared to be genuinely amused and pleasant.
Gwenvair began to panic, her thought’s spinning out of control as she struggled to find a response, “Uh… I … um… I’m … you…”
Kilniara giggled and shook her head, ending her panic, “Relax. He will be here soon.”
Gwenvair, however, didn’t feel her panic subside, “Ah… um, I was… only hoping to gain more … uh… train… training!”
Kilniara nodded, “He will train all of us well, do not worry.”
Gwenvair quickly nodded, relief flooding through her as she truly did not wish to destroy Kilniara’s trust. Gwenvair found the girl truly enjoyable and the strange experience of gaining friend who didn’t have an agenda… or… doesn’t seem like she has an agenda? It’s just so nice to be … relaxed… to not always worry about others’ taking advantage…
Gwenvair’s relief was enough to relax her and she turned back to focus on Kilniara, now beginning to truly engage in the conversation. He’s coming soon. That realization was enough and she fell into gossipy giggling conversation with Kilniara, the first time she’d ever experienced such without the typical catty backbiting that destroyed friendships among clanners.
* * *
Joe stalked back to the beginner’s dungeon, frustration slamming his feet to the floor as he stomped his way down the streets. Kukurnal hadn’t been able to offer anything meaningful even though he listed a series of combat techniques to add mana to combat. Some of it put the mana in the weapon itself, some surrounded and sometimes extended the weapon. Other’s added odd effects to the weapon which seemed to be exactly the same as surrounding the weapon with mana, but somehow, it was different as Kukurnal insisted it was different. Joe didn’t argue too much beyond that and listened to the rest, which included mana techniques that were used on bodies, both one’s own, others, and enemies. The mana could surround a body, go into a body, or become ‘sticky’ somehow which usually involved being put on the user’s body who then punched or hit another and the mana would stick to the other. The more Joe listened, the more that the use of mana seemed both incredibly varied but still followed a basic set of principles. When Joe brought the idea up, Kukurnal again insisted that such things weren’t applicable or true and said that they were all too different to be classified that way.
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Despite that, Joe still took the time to make sure to make a list of all the techniques Kukurnal mentioned, writing it down carefully to keep track of the list of techniques. When Joe asked for more information, Kukurnal ultimately ended up saying that all he had were basically the names and a general description of each. Kukurnal pointed out that almost all these were skills specific to various jobs and that if Joe wanted to know more, he would have to seek out those jobs, which Kukurnal was willing to tell Joe. Joe quickly jotted down the jobs, as a new job was always welcomed, although it was less important now with the available jobs screen on his status.
Their conversation ended shortly after that, although the two enjoyed another couple minutes of small talk in which Kukurnal promised to stop by more often now that he knew that it was acceptable for him to come by more often. Joe and Kukurnal bid their farewells and Joe headed out, moving on to the dungeon. Now he had a lot of worries which Joe had no idea on how to defend. What could anyone do if blocking a punch would end up infecting the arm with some kind of mana ‘poison’ or whatever it was.
Luckily, he hadn’t ended up in any situation like that yet and he’d… wait! The snow on the fourth level… that weird thing that left my arm and shoulder numb and … pseudo paralyzed for a good couple weeks… was that a mana intrusion of some kind or something like that? Joe’s thought’s whirled as he considered this then became a bit concerned as he worried if he had to get healing of some kind for his arm and shoulder.
His arm, by now, felt completely normal but he still felt some concern and decided to have it checked out when he went back that night with a job change. Regardless, he snapped back from his thoughts when he came up to the beginner’s dungeon. His eyes quickly flitted along the line looking for his friends but didn’t find them, he jogged to the outer gate to look in to see if they’d made it through the outer gate but again found no one. He grunted, assuming they’d already made it into the dungeon and Joe turned back to the end of the line and settled into wait.
It took a bit longer than normal, the line already having grown from early morning but Joe wasn’t too concerned as he spent the time once again practicing his mana emission and point control until he made it in. When he got the safe zone, the four found him quickly and jumped up, obviously bored and excited to start the day, which they did. And as usual, the corner was unused and ready for them and they set up once again for the day, all four settling into a variety of pairs.
When noon came around, they headed out of the dungeon and to one of the guilds for lunch. On the way to the guild, Gwenvair said she needed a moment and spoke to a guard at the dungeon entrance before quickly jogging up to join them.
“Joe? If I may?”
Joe turned to Gwenvair, facing her, but she simply settled in with them and motioned that they could continue to walk so he did so, speaking with her as they moved.
“Yes?”
“I have… a request if you would be willing?”
Joe nodded, “Sure?”
“My family has a guard of importance to us, but sadly he has lost track of his growth levels. It is rather difficult for him to not know his level of growth. Would you be willing to inform us of it?”
Joe thought nothing of it and simply nodded his head, “Sure. When can I help you?”
“Today? Would that be OK?”
“Uh. Sure? Where?”
“I could have the guard meet us at the guild hall where we eat? After our meal?”
Joe shrugged, “Sure. That’s fine.”
Gwenvair smiled, “Thank you so much. It is a great help for our clan.”
Joe grinned, “You help us… me a lot, so…”
Gwenvair said nothing but nodded with a smile and their conversation ended. Kilniara quickly took over and the two were soon chattering with one another and Joe fell silent, allowing them their time. Garnedell and Zilnek were enjoying their conversation as well, so he didn’t want to interrupt theirs.
The meal had them all come back together again, the conversation enjoyable and a bit more generic although Kilniara did pull Gwenvair aside for some more private conversations so he ended up joining the two guys, chatting about a variety of things.
About the end of their meal, Gwenvair suddenly broke off her conversation with Kilniara and waved back towards the door. Joe turned around, his back being towards the door, to see a man in a guard’s colors, if not so much a uniform, who came up to stand before Joe. The man stood just about a half a head shorter than Joe and had a shield on his left hand and a sword in a sheath on his belt. He came forward before saluting Gwenvair then bowing to Joe quite deeply. Joe stifled his discomfort and simply accepted it.
“Hello,” Joe offered.
The guard quickly replied back, “Greetings, great eccentric. I was told you would be able to help.”
Joe grinned, “I’ll try. We’ll see. What can I do for you?”
The guard bowed again, a quick head bob, and continued, “I have… forgotten the number of my levels. I was hoping to know where I was, if it is possible?”
Joe shrugged, “Sure. Could you show me your status?”
The man opened his status, and it turned out to be the light red of combat jobs and Joe quickly had the man swap over to his current job page before offering him the information he needed.
“You are a level twenty seven spearman, it seems.”
The man grinned before he turned to look at Gwenvair, “Thank you, First in Line for Matriarch. He was of immense help.”
Gwenvair smiled at his happiness while also seeming to be a bit giddy in her response, “I am glad you now know.”
The man then turned and left, heading back out. Joe found the whole event rather interesting, if not a little odd, but it was a simple request and a simple resolution so he thought nothing of it.
After their meal, they headed out and Kilniara told Joe that she would take the afternoon with Gwenvair. Joe hid his grin of happiness at her independence and nodded.
“Sure. I can have a boy’s afternoon out.”
Kilniara grinned cheekily, “Sounds like fun.”
Joe rolled his eyes, “Of course.”
The two girls waved and took off and Joe turned to the two guys, “So. What do you want to do?”
Zilnek quickly called out a suggestion, “The brothels!”
Joe hid his grimace as he turned to Zilnek, “I’ll not be going, but you can if you want.”
Zilnek’s grin grew, “Then we’ll see you later! Garnedell, let’s go!”
Garnedell looked between the two before grinning and turning to chase after Zilnek. Joe kept his face neutral while also struggling with his own modern sensibilities. After everyone had left, he sighed and turned towards the crafters district.
“Hope I can find the carpenter.”