It wasn't an unpleasant experience altogether. The wagon that is. Adam found it tolerable as they traversed the county roads around Belfort, before merging into the king’s road around midday. It may have been a little bumpy, but it was faster than walking, and it saved his calf muscles.
Adam looked through the books as they traveled. One was a sort of merchant’s primer on job professions. What sort of markets they worked for. Starting items and basic first products, along with an overview of what types of products those professions produced.
The other was more interesting to Adam, and it talked about the history of classes. How they came to be, or if they were passed down by historic orders like the Holy Church of Solis. Which was responsible for the creation of most of the priests and paladins in the kingdom.
It even touched on more obscure classes like something called a Dragoon, which seemed to be a beast tamer adjacent class, mixed with the warrior class. Where the tamer rode a mount or beast into battle, but often the tamer would dismount, and fight separately along with the animal. Using a spear or halberd style weapon, instead of a bow as was common with beast tamers being a hunter class.
Another class caught Adam's eye as he flipped through the pages. A production class, akin to engineers or enchanters, capable of producing as its end product, artifacts.
The Artificer.
Adam's mind was immediately drawn to his artifact. The Veil Shaper. He placed his hand to his face, only feeling his flesh and hard bone beneath, with the item in its hidden mode.
Reading on, the book mentioned the last artificer living over three hundred years ago. How the class was the ultimate culmination of the mortal race’s drive to achieve. Creating with their own hands, the things bequeathed by monsters of nightmare, demi-beings, and gods. Of weapons and armor of unimaginable power, like the sword Celeste which slipped through Adam's fingers in the tower. It had to have been at least legendary in quality. To devices and constructs, one name standing out to Adam. A Spawner. Said to create items from nothing. He couldn't help but think of his own ability. Was it related? Or just a turn of fate, where a process happened to reflect the functions of its system.
With nothing else to do for the ride and during camp but read, and pet Iggy. Adam finished both books cover to cover.
“Thank you,” Adam said to the driver as the wagon rode off. Getting a wave in return as the man got the horses going again.
He had been dropped off at the start of the morning on the third day, just off the main road, at the fork to the county road of Forest’s Rest. It was about nine miles to the village according to the sign. Iggy stretched and looked in the direction of the village, which was a tree-line extending as far as Adam could see from left to right, and then looked at Adam.
“What it's not that far, like three hours tops,” Adam said, attempting to soothe the animal.
Iggy just stared at him.
“Fine,” said Adam, digging into his pack. They had finished the small bundle of food Ms. Margery had packed them during breakfast that morning, and Adam flung a dried meat strip in Iggy's direction. The cat expertly caught it and devoured it in one gulp.
“And that's all you're getting until we get to the village.”
And small village was an accurate term. Adam counted maybe fifty buildings clustered around a “T” shaped road that ended at a wooden gate and two guard towers leading into a large forest. A forest which had quickly grown in size on the horizon as Adam and Iggy approached.
There were a few people in the street. A few more came out to gawk at him, before returning inside. If Adam ever met the city coordinator he'd have a talk with them about Forest’s Rest’s welcoming demeanor.
“I'm here for your request from the adventurers guild,” Adam called out as he wrapped his knuckles on a wooden door. The same type of wood swinging from the roof with a picture of a mortar and pestle on it.
He opened the door and called out again. A waft of scents, assaulting his nose. Not all terrible. Some were sweet, but others were sour. Some spicy, god that was weird. And others almost bland. None of them particularly appetizing though.
“Yes dear what can I do for you,” called a voice from inside.
Adam stepped inside. “I’m from the adventurers guild, I'm here about your request for green herbs.”
“Oh yes my request,” said an elderly woman in a light green robe. Her white hair braided into a long ponytail. “Have you brought the herbs dear?”
“No not yet I only just arrived,” Adam said apologetically, bowing his head slightly.
“Oh no worries then dear, you can collect them from the forest.”
“Yes I plan too, was there anything else you needed from me before I depart, ma'am?”
“Oh no dear, but perhaps I have something you need. This is an alchemist’s shop after all.”
“Perhaps so,” Adam replied with a smile and a nod. Merchants, unbelievable.
But she was right. Adam looked over her stock and bought two medicinal balms, an antidote, and a stamina restoring potion. The balms were more after battle care, then the immediate restoration a potion offered. But Adam wanted to support the old woman. And the town probably didn't see an influx of fresh money very often.
“Mind the wolves dear, they've been more active lately. And try not to bother the elves.”
“I'm sorry, the what?”
~~~~~
How he had made it all of the way to the border of the forest. The beginning of his very first job. Before someone had mentioned elves of all things, was beyond Adam.
The sun beat down on him, more than one would expect with the tree coverage. Adam was still fuming as he walked along a path that led into the forest. Birds chirped and Iggy eyed the trees, her predatory eyes sweeping the foliage as she lurked around. Slinking in and out of bushes at will. Adam wasn't too concerned about losing her as she never wandered further then his Sense could detect her.
He scanned the underbrush as they walked deeper, his eyes scanning the different types of vegetation. As of yet there was no sign of a single green herb. Given that it was the main ingredient in medicinal balm, the first health restorative item an alchemist could make, it would seem to track that the item should be common. If worse came to worse Adam figured he could just make them with his ability. But he was here for the experience.
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It was maybe noon based on the sun’s position through the leaves when Adam stopped and heaved himself onto a large rock. Iggy had nabbed and eaten a hare on their jaunt. Yet that didn't stop her from lining up before Adam as he dug through his pack.
“You must be a growing girl,” Adam said to the cat as he tossed her another dried meat strip. “Or an insatiable opportunist.”
Iggy ignored him.
Something crossed into the fringes of Adam's Sense range, a moment before Iggy’s snapped in its direction.
“What is it girl, trouble?”
Iggy lowered herself onto her haunches and bared her teeth. Several more beings joined the first, they all began to head toward Adam and Iggy’s position.
“I guess so,” Adam said, drawing his dagger and standing beside Iggy.
It didn't take long to reach them. Three wolves burst from the trees and onto the road. They were large, their shoulders standing at the height of a man's waist. Fur bristling as they snarled, their yellow eyes forming into slits.
In this world though size was irrelevant, level and stats were what mattered. Adam could see that they were level 2 and 3. Their stats, while expressing average growth, were specialized in strength and agility, with their intelligence being 1 and a wisdom stat of 0. They'd be weak to magic without any extra resistances, but also their stats made them deadly to casters of equivalent level if they got close.
However none of that mattered to Adam after seeing them. For he wasn't just a caster, and none of them were close to him in stats.
“Wind Cutter!” Adam yelled, extending his hand at the lead level 3 wolf. A near invisible curved blade of wind shot from Adam's hand. A shimmer of moving air was the only indicator that something was coming. It connected with the wolf’s neck decapitating the monster.
[Critical Hit]
Surprise gripped the other two wolves, as the stronger monster was dispatched before their eyes. Their unconscious action was hesitation enough. Iggy was next to the one on the right, appearing mere moments later to rake her claws across the wolf’s side, tearing it open and killing the beast. She didn't stop, lunging at the second wolf and batting its clawed front leg away as it tried to attack her back. Her teeth sinking into the animals neck and viciously jerking it sideways, tearing her teeth free.
Adam checked the cooldown on Wind Cutter, it still had 6 seconds left of its 10 second cooldown. How anti-climatic. The wolves were just the same level as those basic ants he'd fought though. It couldn't be helped. And Adam wasn't about to complain.
He walked over to the corpses, somehow there was 11 copper on the ground. Run your pockets for me lads he thought. According to the merchant book he should be able to break the monsters down with his Skinning skill to acquire leather. It also would allow him to potentially salvage items like claws, hides, and tails. All of which could be sold for varied reasons and uses.
Adam shook his head. No while he was curious to try it he wasn't here for this. It was already midday and his job progress was absolutely zero. Gerard had also promised to get him teachers for his professions, and Belfort had several hunting industries at the market.
Besides, it didn't seem like he'd get the chance to try anyway. As several more blips appeared at the edge of his Sense. He gripped his dagger and set off through the trees and undergrowth on a collision course.
The wolves were getting stronger as Adam made his way deeper into the forest. The first few groups had been level 2 to 4 basic Forest Wolf monsters. Now they were level 5 to 7 packs with a level 9 or 10 Alpha Forest Wolf leading them.
Adam clobbered a wolf away with his dagger hitting it with the flat of the blade for increased blunt damage. He could feel the monster’s ribs crack under the blow as it tumbled away from him yelping. “Wind Blast!” Another went flying but was still alive.
Wind Cutter was on cooldown as Adam dodged a third wolf, its sharp teeth passing close to his neck. Warm stinking breath filled his nostrils. It was so close. He lashed out with his foot, kicking it in the side on instinct.
The creature skidded away, digging its claws into the earth. It bared its teeth and howled at him in response. [Effect Resisted]
Adam kicked off with his back foot closing the gap in an instant. The tip of his dagger coming down atop the wolf’s skull. It pierced the hard bone, easily driving the animal’s head down against the dirt. It was dead.
Iggy was doing work too. She'd killed three wolves and was staring down the alpha. It was hurt, at about half life. It jumped at her.
“Wind Cutter!”
A trail of blood exploded from the alpha wolf’s front leg as the severed appendage tumbled away. The wolf crashing into the ground as it landed with one fewer limb. Iggy seized it by the back of the neck and tore.
The wolf shook free and leaped back. It's HP now down to 5%. It was bleeding profusely around the neck, and missing a leg. Iggy leapt in to finish it. Lifting its head back the alpha howled.
Two wolves appeared from seemingly nowhere. Erupting from the ground or shadows to sink their teeth into Iggy. One gripping her back leg in its mouth and the other her front. They slammed her down into the hard earth. The alpha lunged at her, its mouth open.
“No!” Adam yelled. Diving between them and blocking the wolf’s bite with his dagger. It rattled around in the beast’s mouth breaking some of its teeth as Adam pushed with all his might to throw the creature off.
He felled the wolf holding Iggy's back leg with wind blast and rammed his dagger under the front wolf’s chin, the tip poking out of the top of its head. He whirled on the alpha but it was dead. Either succumbed to its wounds or from the force of Adam's shove.
Iggy was down to two thirds of her life and was bleeding. She hissed at the alpha’s corpse. Obviously annoyed at how the creature had treated her. Its summoning ability had caught them both off guard. It could have been much worse for the cat.
“Here drink this,” Adam said, tipping a potion into the cat’s mouth. Her health was back, and Adam quickly applied a bandage which removed the bleed debuff.
“We’ll have to watch out for the alpha version of the wolves,” he told her.
She nuzzled his hand and stood.
Adam took stock of the bloody scene. Wolf bodies were strewn about. It was rather gruesome. Yet somehow Adam had grown used to it. Did that make him a monster too? It was a philosophical question for another time as he spied a green leafed plant beneath a bush.
[Green Herb]
Adam knelt beside it, unsure of what to do. His hand moved toward it then stopped. It felt right but he had never done anything like this before. He thought of his foraging profession and focused on the plant. He felt at ease as he gripped the base of the plant and pulled up.
[You have acquired Green Herb x 1]
Well that was one down. Just nine more to go.
It was approaching sunset. Adam had maybe an hour of light left as he tucked another green herb into his pack bringing his total up to 6. He realized he wasn't exactly sure how far into the forest he had traveled. The general direction back to the village was off to his left. If he could make it back before nightfall though seemed questionable.
“I might have messed up Iggy,” he said to the cat. She regarded him with a swish of her tail. “We could probably get back if we ran and chugged stamina potions.”
Iggy stretched out on a rock and turned over away from him. That seemed like a no. And while she may be fine sleeping outside on a rock. Adam had brought nothing in the way of shelter or camping equipment. His original plan was to find the herbs quickly while staying near enough to the village. Neither of those outcomes had happened. Adam was about to dig around in his pack for more food when a woman’s voice cut through the forest calling for help.
He slung the pack over his shoulder and started running in the direction of the voice. It was maybe a foolish decision, were evil forest spirits who led men to their deaths a thing? Maybe a monster that mimicked speech or similar. But even so he wanted to help.
Adam and Iggy jumped through a stand of trees as an arrow took a leaping wolf in the eye. Several more lay dead as the monster hit the ground to join them.
“Entangle!” Thick roots sprang forth from the earth to wrap around another wolf’s legs securing the creature in place. Another arrow pierced its side followed swiftly by a second. Pitching the monster over onto its side, dead.
In the middle of the carnage was a tall woman, with long hair as white as moonlight, braided into a ponytail much like the alchemist woman back in the village. Her movements were fluid and practiced. The time between arrow release and notching another was quicker than a sword draw. Adam checked her with his artifact.
Her name was Tarasynora'Ralororis, an elf. She was a Level 9 Ranger. With Rank B proficiencies in Bow and Nature magic. And—
Adam paused for a moment rereading the skill again.
Rank S Death Magic.