Chapter 4.5 - Qualifier’s Party
I returned to the preparation room, the few hits I had taken only amounted to a few bruises and a deep cut into the upper underarm of my sword arm. I hadn’t even realized I got hit there, a little to the side and it would have pierced straight through my ribs and into my chest.
I came very close to losing and didn’t even realize. I can’t help but feel respect for Beyoi when I remember the match, he went easy on me.
He let me win.
I had trained with Beyoi. He was one of the people that followed me around, he was far more skilled than me and I knew it. So obviously I was confused when I won so easily, but looking over my wounds after the match. He had left cuts on every one of my weak points and every place I left an opening.
I have no doubt that he could even use Spear Skills.
I’m not exactly happy about it, but I’ll accept this gift Beyoi, you crazy person.
I noticed during the match that my armour felt strange, maybe I made a better fit the last time I repaired it? I’m not sure, but it felt easier to move in and a lot more comfortable.
They patched me up with a quick healing spell after making sure I didn’t have any broken bones. The combatant for the next match walked in. It was Valencil, one of the people that usually sit at my table during lunch. I think he was one of Nemun’s friends.
I had gotten back into my armour, it hadn’t taken any damage that really needs to be repaired. I was able to repair within a few seconds of casting manipulate.
“Nice work out there Knife.”
Valencil said to me hefting the long slab of iron he calls a sword.
“Thanks, win and I’ll see you in the King’s Tournament.”
He laughed weakly.
“I won’t look forwards to that, especially after watching your previous matches. To gritty and too much of a drawn out struggle for me. If I fight defensively you’ll overpower me with magic. If I fight aggressively you’ll match me and create an opening for you to finish me with magic. I guess what they say is true. Those who work the hardest, reap the greatest rewards. Though of course you do sometimes get a lucky slacker every so often.”
“Oh, and I suppose you’re that lucky slacker?”
“I wouldn’t say that, I work very hard.”
Valencil says with a wide grin.
*Sigh~* Yeah, you work hard. Cats and dogs work hard sleeping all day as well.
-
“Shushen and the others will probably want to have a party to congratulate you and the others being qualified. We’ll come get you when all of us have finished our matches.”
I sighed heavily again… This isn’t the time to have a party, we’ve only qualified. We also have matches tomorrow, it would be in everyone’s best interest to get some sleep.
I sound like an old man…
“Okay sounds good.”
I replied in defiance to myself.
I left shortly after, he had a match he had to go to and I didn’t want to stick around to see who died horribly. At least not this time.
I don’t like watching friends die, or anyone actually, but it’s unbearable when it’s someone I know.
On my way back to the inn I was staying at. I dumped my tattered clothes from the day before in a small alley between two houses, I don’t mind littering, but I do feel bad about it.
That is kind of a contradiction isn’t it?
None the less, I dumped my clothes there and went to the market, there were a lot of people moving about as one would expect from a busy market.
I say a lot of people, but I mean there are around 10 people that aren’t shop keepers or merchants, within five meters of me at any moment.
Not really as crowded as any kind of shopping centre from my first life. Though where I lived there wasn’t really that many people left and not many of them went to the supermarket during the week because of work and school.
Rather than buy something, I went to look at the prices of items at different shops and stalls. I could probably make a living running a magic shop, so checking the prices is important. Though I do realize that it’ll have to wait until after Shushen’s eventual adventure that all typical heroes have in literature and historical texts.
It’s better to learn my trade now so that I can appreciate my ‘happily ever after’ when the hero fulfils his task.
A nice peaceful retirement is what I can look forwards to and then… back to business after that.
At most of the stalls an average quality regeneration potion is on average 3 Silver taper. The average cost of ingredients for the creation of a regeneration potion is 1 Silver Taper and 1 Iron Stick. Meaning there is on average a gain of 1 Silver taper and 7 Iron Sticks.
Potions are being sold for more than double the price, this is because there is a far higher demand for potions than can be produced with the few learned apothecaries.
With this I can safely say that for now, potions are a very profitable market.
I couldn’t find one magical weapon or suit of magical armour anywhere. It seems there are only ever made especially for the person and not mass-produced. This is most likely because of the complexity of the techniques, and needless to say that it looks bad if your magical armour or magical sword explodes on the person you’re making it for. So it seems that production of magical weapons and armour is a rarity.
However I did hear that the nobles often sell magical weapons and armour to one another and they even have an auction for magical items. Apparently in the auctions, hundreds of Gold Marks are passed around like grains of sand.
So it seems I could live a very pleasant life rolling in money, which actually doesn’t sound too bad.
Though having a pleasant life doesn’t necessarily mean it will be a long life.
I returned to the Inn when the sun began to set.
The Inn is called ‘Silver Spear’. I’m sure it sounds more fitting in whatever language the inn’s sign is written in. However reading the translations, I can only say that it sounds really lame.
When I walked in the Old lady from earlier in the day waved to me while calling me over. I walked over to her.
There were two children that appeared to be around 7 years old.
“Are these your grandchildren?”
The old woman smiled before nodding.
“Yep, children of my child, my greatest joy and accomplishment.”
That’s some deep shit she’s saying right there… but I don’t care, I’ve never had children and never plan too. Although I like children, I’d really rather not, especially considering my current constitution, or rather condition, or should I say body. Haah~
I sighed audibly by accident, but the old lady didn’t seem to mind.
I took off my helmet which I had been wearing because it’s a pain to carry it around, not to mention I feel strange carrying it around when I’m wearing the rest of my armour.
“So I take it the three of you watched my match.”
I assumed they did because they recognized me in my armour. Actually pretty much everyone in the bar recognized me in my armour, they all visibly seemed respect me to some extent or at the least I could see some kind of recognition is their eyes.
“That spear guy was awesome! But you won by making water appear out of nothing!”
A small girl, one of the children, both of which being female, said excitedly.
They make it sound like they were watching a kids show, though I suppose the only real difference is the amount of detail…
“I’m glad you enjoyed it.”
I said flatly without enthusiasm, they didn’t react other than continuing to be happy little beans.
“Would you eat with us again?”
I didn’t have a reason not to.
“Sure.”
I sat down and placed my helmet on the table in front of me before waving to one of the member of the inn’s staff that is in charge of serving the food.
He came over and took our orders, I asked for the stew like I always do. Stew is always a safe choice, usually tends to be good.
I mean it’s really hard to mess up stew, I’d be surprised if I somehow was unfortunate enough to eat a bad stew.
As impossible as an existence that might seem to me.
“The stew please.”
I turned to the old lady and her grandchildren.
“What do you want?”
The old lady smiled and answered for the three of them.
“We will have the stew as well.”
The staff member then walked off to get it, it seems they always have some stew on the simmer.
While we waited I stared at the old woman’s vibrantly glowing pale blue eyes. I say I stared, but my head was actually facing towards the direction opposite the table from me, where the children were sitting. They were fidgeting a bit, though I suppose most young children don’t like to sit still.
At first I had thought the Old woman’s hair was white from old age. But looking closer, she only appears to be in her mid-thirties.
It was only now that I realized that she had this appearance, she had been resurrected an innumerable amount of times.
We didn’t talk much after that. The 4 of us simply ate and then I left and went up to my room and slept.
However as I got up to leave the old lady grabbed my hand.
I turned to her.
“Thank you, I will repay you for this honour.”
Then she released my hand. I was a bit weirded out, only slightly more than I already was by whatever her religion was.
But I went along with it.
“No problem, it was just sharing a meal.”
It’s just a meal, no reason to go all weird on me.
I forced a smiled and then went to my room. I took off my clothes and laid on my bed, facing the ceiling I just stared at it. Though when I stare at something, I am actually staring at everything around me at the same time and in such detail as it goes down to the microscopic level.
But in this instance I mean staring at the ceiling as in point my eyes that way without blinking.
*tap* *tap* *tap*
I heard a knocking on my window.
Oh right, we were going to have a party…
I got out of bed, the bed is out of site of the window, but anyone off the bed would be seen clearly from the window.
So when I got up, the tapping stopped abruptly.
I looked at the window, Shushen was there looking in.
I slowly looked down at myself, I was naked and then I looked back at him.
Ah this is what they calling being peeped on, I see. I don’t blame you Shushen, I have a certain appreciation for the curvature of a woman’s muscles on their female bone structure as well.
I’m kidding, I know that this wasn’t what he intended to do, though I am curious what compelled him to climb onto the roof and knock on the window. Normal people would knock on the door. I always had a suspicion, but I think that perhaps Shushen is a strange one.
I think this discrepancy in his upbringing may be the result of my interference, because I am clearly an anomaly that a normal child wouldn’t have to deal with. Normally in a novel this would either be the point in which the heroine would mercilessly beat the hero bloody or she gets annoyingly happy and starts acting gross as the hero freaks out.
I see no merit in this, however this is an act normally considered to be wrong and not a morally ambiguous action.
Though I have to say that ledge does worry me, it didn’t seem like it should be able to maintain his weight for long. Perhaps it’s made from a stronger type of wood then I’d thought, or it’s been reinforced with magic. Hmm, no that is highly unlikely, I doubt the owner of the inn could afford that.
Not that I’m saying the inn looks shabby. This inn just doesn’t seem to get enough business to support big spending from the inn keeper.
I wonder if I could make clothes out of mana… that will have to be something I try.
Which reminds me, the pigmentation loss in the hair of those that have been resurrected frequently is very interesting. I wonder how it works. No actually, if it was a loss of pigments in the hair, then the hair would become translucent. The hair turns white, so it must be a mutation brought on by continuous resurrections, if I was a scientist I could probably fix that with the assistance of mana.
The bread we had with the stew today was annoyingly moist and soft. I should bring my own bread next time so I can make sure it’s dry and hard.
What was that equation I was working on to turn lightning javelin into an electric current again?
< --/-/-- >
While I was very successfully escaping reality like I was on a spaceship heading for Saturn, Shushen continued to stare at me and I continued to stare back.
His face was bright red, but he didn’t turn away. You’re supposed to turn away when you look at something you’re not supposed to Shushen.
He continued to stare, his eyes wide like he was staring at endless mounds of gold piled up in front of him until the part of the roof he was standing on broke as I had guessed it would.
I returned around about that time from my reality vacation, I swear I almost solved the equation that would explain life the universe and everything, but then I realize it was just 42 and got angry.
I decided to check what happened to him after I got clothed.
This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.
I put on some simple clothes, just a shirt and pants, pretty much just what I was wearing all day.
I then proceeded to the window and opened it. I stuck my head out the window and looked down at Shushen or rather where he fell.
It seems he ran away after falling. That was a pretty good retreat if I do say so myself. He took a good long look and then ran when he got his chance, I didn’t want to do this.
But I think someone needed to get hit and that someone was-
“SHUUUUSHEEEENNN!!!!!!!!!!”
I roared into the city night like I was yelling insults at my sworn enemy on the other side of a battle field.
“I ask of the earth to grant me the power from the earth. I ask that it gives me strength, a strength beyond simple power. A strength that bends and yet remains strong. I ask for the strength of steel. I am steel, the unbroken, all will bend to my might and none shall pierce my skin, [Steel Body]”
“The wind that dances, frolics and prances, dashes and hastens, I ask that you join me, come dance with me in battle, to fel my foes and smash their toes, I ask of the wind, to lend me its hand to join me in a dance. [Wind Dance]”
I strengthened my body and jumped out the window which was too small for me to get through, smashing the window frame and shattering the glass. I dropped to the ground and landed on my feet.
I pushed my ‘creeping tendrils’ to their limit and spotted him running down an alley way. Shushen wasn’t affected by my ‘sight’ anymore because he’d experienced it all of his life. I was only able to affect him with it again for the first few years after ‘mana sight’ ungraded to ‘Creeping tendrils’ and ‘Creeping feelers’.
Spotting him I ran directly towards him, a house was in the way but I jumped and cleared the roof, landing on top of it just barely.
“SHUUUUSHEEEEENNNN!!!!!”
I roared at the night again in an uncontrollable rage.
I started running on the roof tops, jumping from roof to roof as I ran after him. Shushen was surprisingly fast for a dead man.
I caught up to him after jumping three houses. Shushen noticed me when I landed on the house next to him, the roof tile crunched under the impact of my landing.
I opened my inventory and equipped my sword.
My ‘Shitty ornamental sword’ appeared in my hand, I drew it and dropped the scabbard. The scabbard disappeared after falling from the roof.
It seems things that are mine from my personal space cease to exist and return to my inventory once they get a certain distance from me.
So bringing arrows from there would be pointless, that’s good to know.
Shushen panicked and tripped over his own legs.
“I I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to-“
I jumped down from the roof and landed without effort.
“Listen Knife, just calm down. I did mean for that to happen, please just-“
I brought up my sword and swung it at his head, fully intending to decapitate him. He ducked under it and my swing took out most of the wall of the building that he had been leaning against.
Shushen scrambled on the ground away from me.
“Holy shit!”
He sputtered as he got up and started running again.
“YOU BETTER RUN!!!!!!!!!”
I yelled as I ran after him, my sword raised.
“Knife, please, we’re going to have a party, let’s just let this go-“
“SHUT UP!!!!”
“I COMMAND LIGHT, SCORCH THIS BLIGHT!!!!! [SMITE]”
I used a spell I had been testing, it was based off a shortened version of ‘wind cutter’. I hadn’t tested this version yet. It went off, but there was a backlash.
Shushen was struck by a beam of light from my hand, however I was also enveloped in light and burned. I haven’t yet perfected the equation so that it also target me and most of the power dissipated before it hits the target, I actually got the worst of it.
I fell into a roll, but rolled back into standing. My sword at the ready. Shushen was slowly getting up a bit away from me.
I ran over to him and swing my sword down at him. He jumped out of the way however. I wasn’t in my right mind so sword techniques had completely seemed unimportant to me.
The ground shot up when I struck the ground, creating a small crater.
Shushen used this to run away, however it didn’t affect me because I could see through the dirt that was kicked up.
I ran straight at him and tried to kick him over, however he moved at the last moment and I kicked in someone’s back door, the wood folding until my kick.
We ran into the main street, there were still people walking around at this time, it was only early in the night. All the people stopped at stared at us as I swung my sword at Shushen clumsily.
“I’m sorry Knife, please just stop.”
I swung at him again, he moved away at the last moment, my sword simply swinging through the empty air.
“Knife, I’m sorry, please.”
We continued like this until my enhancement spells ran out and I became tired.
Shushen and I were heaving heavily, I was only standing because I was leaning on my sword.
I could swing my sword anymore, so all I could do was sling insults.
“You fucking shitty fucker, I’ll cut off your fucking head!”
Shushen frowned.
“What the hell? I’m sorry, how many times do I have to apologize?”
“The fuck? Shut your facial orifice before I fill it with your own excrement and then cut off your fucking shitty fucker head!”
“I’m sorry, just stop already, I’m sorry!”
“Shut the fuck up Shushen!”
Shushen groaned and looked down at the ground.
He let down his guard which gave me my chance, I struck his head with my fist and he fell to the ground with a dull thud.
Shushen passed out right there and then.
“HOW THE FUCK DO YOU LIKE THAT YOU LITTLE SHIT????”
I screamed insult at him until I was satisfied and had calmed down.
I then checked if he was alive, thankfully he was.
I would have felt bad if I’d been the cause of failing my quest.
I grabbed Shushen arm and heaved him onto my shoulder and began carrying him like a sack of flour.
I already knew where the others were having a party, they hadn’t told me, but I spotted it while we were running around the city.
I walked there, when I eventually showed up they all seemed worried.
“What happened, why were you chasing Shushen?”
I smiled.
“Oh he peeped on me changing so I was going to kill him, however I eventually decided I’d just hit his head a few times until he passed out. I’d feel bad if he died, but it would be fine if he turned into a vegetable.”
They looked at me weirdly.
“Why would someone turn into a vegetable?”
At that I simply smiled and threw Shushen onto a table before saying.
“Very easily and tragically and you can’t even make soup from them because it’d be wrong to eat them.”
They didn’t get what I meant. I knew that, but I just didn’t care.
“Well never mind that come on let’s celebrate you and the other qualifying!”
I sat at the table and enjoyed that party.
I had four mugs of whatever this alcohol stuff we were drinking was called and became completely drunk.
That was around that part were I no long remembered anything that happened that night.
I woke up in my bed back at the inn.
I felt like shit, but it doesn’t seem like anything happened.
Today is the first day of the kind tournament.
From here it’s all for the reputation.
I threw back the sheets and got up, my clothes were on the ground, normally I put the clothes I’d worn the previous day in my bag after cleaning them with magic.
I shrug and pick them up.
I clean them using some basic spells before taking out some new clothes for myself and put them on.
After that I drank a regeneration potion and felt refreshed.
Feeling refreshed I looked around my room to see if anything else was out of place.
The chest was at the foot of the bed, nothing wrong there. The shelf had nothing on it, nothing wrong there either. My bed had nothing on it other than my blankets, just how I like my bed to be in the morning after I wake up.
I looked back at the floor.
Why is Shushen on my floor? He’s still unconscious and he’s fully clothed, so that’s good.
I nod to myself and then leave the room.
Nope, nothing wrong there, I must of throw him on the ground after coming back. Too lazy to take him back to the Royal Academy grounds.
I had breakfast and then went to the Staging ground stadium.
Everything was fine.
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Authors notes,
Hey, yeah sorry about the short, filler like type chapter.
While I was moving I actually ruined the cartilage in my knee while I was moving a dresser. I went to the hospital a few times for that, seems I'm going to have issues with it for the rest of my life since the join is pretty much mostly just bone against bone now or something, though I'm exaggerating slightly because it's such a massive pain in the arse.
The only thing I know is that my knee now swells at random and I have a constant burning sensation in it and it really sucks.
Also it just all around hurts to walk on it, but enough of me complaining.
I suppose if anything I can just be happy I didn't ruin my back.
This is what I get for trying to save money.
Anyway, I hope this half chapter tides you over until I finish chapter 5. This was actually going to be the start of chapter 5, but it's really more of a side story in my opinion.
Thanks to Zeratul for proofreading for me.
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Stats
Spoiler :
Rank F | CreatorUseless Shady of Life and DeathNAMEKnifelim Blindsight (Aneir)RACEGreen ElfLevel25Health2770Mana4345Strength79 (44) +20%Intelligence129 (84) +2%Agility71 (47)Mind98 (65)Endurance45 (30)Luck47 (31)Charisma44 (29)SKILLSWell Rested (Passive)Strangeness (Passive)Suspicious (Passive)Berserker (Passive)Sore Shoulder (Passive)Slap-Slap-Palm Arts (Martial)Push the Limit (Passive)Transcend the LimitBlind (Oulosc)(Curse)Creeping FeelersCreeping TendrilsContact Reading (Metra)Understand Speech (Metra)Dampen PainSteadfastMoney:167120MaP | 4 Gold Marks, 5 Silver Tapers, 2 Bronze JotsRank Points:11912RP
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