Troy cursed under his breath as he stepped out of the guild hall, the morning sun a sharp contrast to his current mood. “A whole week? Why does it take a week to get it ready?!” he grumbled aloud, kicking a stray rock as he walked down the street. Sure, he understood that chemical processes took a while, but shouldn’t magic help speed that up?
Troy continued to walk down the street for a bit longer, then rubbed his chin in contemplation. If it was going to take that long, maybe he could take on a few more quests to help cover the costs. He knew that the guild at least had clam farming, so it’d be interesting to see if they knew how to preserve the shells there. Though if he found a few pearls while digging around in them, that’d be a nice little bonus~
As Troy considered his options, a short tug suddenly made him look down. “Are we still doing another farming quest?” Alcydes asked. While his expression was still the same, his eyes were downcast at the possibility.
Troy winced at Alcydes’s disappointment, then thought it over. While the clam farming would’ve been nice, it wasn’t like he needed to go there. “How about this?” he offered, pointing a finger in the air, “If we find the guild to have quests that are in the same area, I’ll take a farming quest while you can protect me for your quest. That sound good to you?” Alcydes perked up at the idea, and gave a happy nod.
With the plan set, Troy and Alcydes walked towards the guild hall. However, as the two turned the corner, a sharp cough came from behind them.
“Excuse me,” a familiar gruff voice called out, “Could I talk to you for a moment, Troy?”
Troy stopped mid-step at the comment, and turned around to find Captain Ogir behind him, stern-faced as usual. “Oh. Hello, captain,” he said, wincing at his lame response while Alcydes grabbed his shortsword. He placed a calming hand on Alcydes’s shoulder, then asked Ogir, “What do you need to talk about? It isn’t about the… comment from yesterday, is it?”
Ogir’s lips thinned at the reminder, but shook his head. “No, it isn’t about that,” he refuted, then looked at Troy pointedly, “I actually wanted to talk to you, but you’ve been coming through from the west entrance every day, correct?” When Troy hesitantly nodded, he gave a nod of confirmation before he followed it up with, “In that case, I have to ask but what skills have you been using while you drive?”
Troy paused at the comment, then placed his hand on his guild tag. “Well, my camp is set up on high ground around some swamp turtles,” he admitted, rubbing his tag in embarrassment, “As such, I’ve been using my Obfuscate skill between there and town to keep them from jumping us.”
Ogir let out a noise at that, then pulled out a small scroll that wound back into itself. “Alright, that at least makes things easier for us,” he narrated as he jotted something down with a steel nub. Seeing Troy grow more nervous at the comment, Ogir immediately added, “Don’t worry, you’re not in trouble this time. It just helps fix a problem we’ve been noticing with our security sensors.”
Troy paused at the comment, then looked at the oruk captain and asked, “I’m not breaking it, am I?”
Orig snorted at that, then pocketed his scroll. “No, but it has been giving us problems with keeping it active,” he replied, “Every time you popped in, it messes up our sensor over the area and makes it all blurry. So we gotta go double-check, just to make sure a monster hasn’t wandered over.” As he returned his nub into his own tag, he questioned, “Just wondering, but how does your skill mess with them?”
Troy paused at the answer, then rubbed his neck sheepishly. “To be honest, I just activate it each time I travel around, so I don’t end up getting ambushed,” he admitted, then pulled his tag out. After going through his Skills page, he pulled up the skill and stated, “Alright, here’s the details for Obfuscate-”
Obfuscate
Rank: ✩✩✩✩ | Proficiency: Amateur
Type: Active | Cost: 10 MP/Minute
You generate an aura of mild energy,
disrupting unusual senses up to
[20] feet away from you.
Troy looked at the screen for several seconds before he finally frowned in thought. “That’s… a lot more vague than I expected,” he noted, wondering about the limits of it. Was it just sight, like he meant to use it? Hearing? Could it even affect stuff like faulty senses of taste, or even more abstract stuff?
“Yeah, you aren’t kidding,” Ogir commented, and Troy started at the oruk captain’s voice coming from over his shoulder. While Troy recovered from the shock, Ogir looked over the Skill’s menu for a few seconds, then looked at Troy with new interest. “If you don’t mind, would you be willing to come down to the guard station for some testing?” he requested, and pointed to his left to add, “It would help give some of the new hires practice against skills that affect their sensory skills.”
Troy hummed in thought, then he frowned at Ogir’s offer. “Well, I would, but I don’t feel like getting tossed around,” he commented, earning a wince from the oruk captain, “After all, I wouldn’t want to muddy any problems for your spearmen. Especially if they’re quick to fire off attacks.”
Ogir drew a sharp breath through gritted teeth, then gave Troy a chagrined glance. “Look - I’ll admit that I… over-reacted to your unintended insult,” he grudgingly admitted, then told the skeptical human, “However, this is something I really need the rookies to get practice for this rather than an attack on the village. Hell, I’ll even get it registered as a Porcelain quest for you. Complete with a 12-jhode payment.”
Troy mulled the offer over, bouncing the idea around. While it wasn’t the worst pay, especially to all the krams he was getting, he was still upset over being shoved to the ground and accosted when he had first arrived. After he thought it over more, he looked at Alcydes for his thoughts on the deal. When the elven kid shook his hand in a wavy motion, Troy turned back to Ogir and responded, “Twelve’s too low. Make it fifteen, and you’ve got a deal.”
“Fifteen?!” Ogir bellowed out, hands coming up in protest. When Troy stood steadfast though, he finally sighed and said, “I can’t do that, but I can give you thirteen and a two-star Skill to go with your shield. Would that be acceptable?”
Troy hummed in thought, and finally gave a slow nod. “I suppose that can work, but I’ll need to talk it over with my partner here first,” he told the oruk captain, then spun around to face Alcydes. “So, I know we were planning to tackle a quest together, but I think that this takes some priority over that,” Troy calmly told the elven kid, then asked him, “Do you think you’ll be able to do a quest solo?”
Alcydes rolled his eyes at the comment, then lightly smacked Troy in the thigh. Of course, with Alcydes being two ranks higher, this meant the blow made Troy stumble a few feet back before he finally stopped. “I’ll be fine,” he told Troy, a tinge of amused exasperation seeping into his voice.
Troy chuckled slightly at the reminder, then walked back over to him. “Alright, I suppose you bring up a point,” he said, then ruffled Alcydes’s hair as he added, “Maybe take a safer quest than hunting boars, though?” Alcydes snorted at the reminder but gave a short nod before he pulled his hood up.
With the decision made, Troy finally turned to Ogir, and held his wrists up in faked surrender. “Alright, captain - You can take me in now,” he joked, earning a short bark of laughter from the oruk. Troy looked back at Alcydes one last time, then followed Ogir down the road to the guard’s base.
----------------------------------------
Alcydes watched as Troy walked away from him, the human’s figure growing further as he went. When Troy vanished from sight with the oruk captain, Alcydes let out a slow breath and stretched his body. He appreciated that Troy was willing to go around with him, but there was only so much he could do following the man around. He needed some proper hunting by himself! After some last stretches, Alcydes sprinted away from Troy and towards the guild hall.
With him not being burdened with a following companion, Alcydes darted through the streets at a high rush. The boy’s smaller stature let him sneak through the legs of passing shoppers, and after some tight squeezes, Alcydes found himself in front of the guild again.
Alcydes waited for the dwarves ahead of him to enter, then pushed his way through the door. After a momentary look around, Alcydes walked up to the first open counter space in time for a blonde oruk to man the position.
“Hello, and welcome to the Shallowcoast guild hall,” the male receptionist recited, then looked down at Alcydes skeptically, “Can I help you with something?”
Alcydes held up his guild tag, then pushed it towards the oruk. “Looking for a quick quest. Aiming for low Charcoal or high Porcelain,” he told the man, then pushed it up to the panel. The receptionist gave him another look, then held it up to the guild’s section. The oruk’s eyes widened when it showed Alcydes’s Charcoal ranking but fell back into a professional stance.
“Alright, your rank is confirmed,” the oruk said, then opened the list of quests as he told Alcydes, “Let me see what quests are available to you.” Alcydes shifted from foot to foot as the man began to scroll through the listed quests. As the receptionist began to look details over though, Alcydes froze when he heard a deep, boisterous laugh come from behind him.
Alcydes looked behind him, only to freeze at the sight of the party from yesterday standing up from their table. “Alright, Maxwell, so where are we hunting for the beasties today?” A wide, muscular dwarf asked the blonde bard, “Trudge through the marshes? Shooting stormhawks in the mountainsides?”
Rather than give a dramatic response like yesterday though, Maxwell gave him a sharp look and hissed, “Not today, Farvi.” When the man looked around cautiously, Alcydes focused his hearing on the party as they all leaned into a tight circle. The man gave one last glance around, then Alcydes overheard him whisper, “Just grab some heavy boots and protective wards, then we’ll be hiking out to the Saltmarsh Isle.”
This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.
The now-named Farvi gave a short nod, and as the group stood up, Alcydes turned back to the receptionist to find the oruk waiting patiently. “So, what kind of quests are you looking for?” the oruk asked, and began to list off the options, “I’ve got hunting quests for hoarding quail, marsh boars, skullhead trout…”
Alcydes glanced over at Maxwell’s party, then asked, “Do you have any near Saltmarsh Isle?”
----------------------------------------
Troy looked up at waiting guards hesitantly, then glanced over at Ogir with trepidation. “Are you sure that this is the best way to test this?” he asked, hefting up the wooden shield in a loose form of defense, “I have to admit that I’m not the best when it comes to melee combat like this.”
“It’s just a training exercise. You’ll be fine,” Ogir dismissed, then turned to the ten men and women armed with varying weapons. With a twirl of his spear, Ogir slammed it down on the ground to gain their attention. “Alright, maggots, listen up!” he bellowed, and even Troy turned to look at him, “As you likely know, we’ve been dealing with some problems in the city’s sensor system over the last week. This has also led me to discover most of you aren’t used to fighting without sensory skills!”
Several guards winced at the comment, and Ogir looked them over before he pointed at Troy. “Lucky for us though, the adventurer who gave us the technical problem will be helping you scrubs fix that,” he stated, then waved his spear at the group, “Each one of you will be going up against him to deal with the backlash of your effects being disturbed.” He looked around the group, then pointed at a brown-haired elf that was scratching his chest. “Sigyr! You’ll be up first!”
The elf visibly jumped at the demand, but quickly ran out onto the sparring ring. “Sir, yes, sir!” Sigyr belted out, then pulled out a mace from his waistline. He spun it around in the air, then finally pointed it at Troy. “Hope you’re ready for some heavy bruising,” he taunted, then focused his eyes on Troy.
“Somehow, I don’t think you can tell who’s getting the bruising,” Troy shot back, and drew in on himself to keep his belly protected by his shield.
Ogir looked between the two, then backed out of the ring. “Alright then,” he declared as he raised his hand, “On my declaration, we begin. The winner is determined by being knocked prone or out of the ring. Understood?” He glanced at them one last time, then dropped his arm down with a swish of his arm.
At the declaration, Sigyr immediately began to run towards Troy with his mace held high. “This will be quick - [Show Faults]!” Sigyr declared, and his eyes began to glow an ethereal white.
“[Obfuscate]!” Troy immediately responded, and a faint ripple spread out from him. While the effect was barely visible to Troy’s eyes, Sigyr stumbled at the Skill’s activation. The elf’s run descended into an unsteady jog, and Troy immediately ran forwards before he swung the shield at head height. The elf only took one more step further before the blow made him drop to the ground. Troy clumsily spun his spear around in one hand, but as he swung down at the prone Sigyr, a hand grabbed the falling polearm.
“That’s enough,” Ogir told Troy, then let the spear go as he declared, “Sigyr is unable to battle! Troy is the victor!” As Troy let out a breath, the Skill fading out of effect, Ogir looked around the group and asked, “So, can any of you tell me what Sigyr did to mess up?”
“Ooh, ooh!” A dark-haired dwarf lady in plate armor called out with a massive grin, “He talked shit, and ate the ground big time?”
A wave of laughter rose from the side at the comment, and Ogir smirked before he shook his head. “No, I’m afraid that getting the gods’ ire isn’t the right answer,” he stated, then looked around expectantly, “Can anyone else give me an answer?”
The group looked between each other for a few seconds, before a pale human raised his hands. “Is it that he charged in with the skill active despite knowing it wouldn’t work on it?” he suggested, his hand weighed down by the heavy gauntlet he was wearing.
Ogir pointed at the man only to waggle his hand. “You’re mostly right, but I’m looking for a specific answer,” he responded, and looked around for any response. After waiting a bit longer, Ogir sighed before he finally pointed at Troy. “The main mistake he made wasn’t adapting to the poor situation,” he finally explained, and held a finger up in a discerning manner, “When it comes to monsters, practically one in four species will have a way to disrupt skills. Just in the surrounding area alone, the vampire eels tend to siphon away healing skills during their feeding, while elder swamp turtles can liquify the ground around it to limit movement. And let’s not forget the coastrat invasion of the last dry Page’s Summer.”
As a wave of grumbles rose up at the reminder, Troy turned towards Ogir in curiosity. “Page’s Summer?” He asked in low tones, unsure of when that actually was.
“Season where the spring leads to the summer solstice, precedes the Warrior’s Summer,” Ogir quickly responded, then turned his focus back on his subordinates, “Anyways, the point I’m trying to make is that you can have your skills turned against you. That’s why I’m having you test your skills in a controlled setting rather than be jumped out on patrol.”
He looked around for the guards, and as they started to comprehend what he was saying, he pointed at the red-haired dwarf. “Anyways, since you seem intent on jesting, Pali, how about you put your spitfire to good use? You’re up next!” Ogir told her, then threw the still-insensate Sigyr over his shoulder.
As snickers rose from the other guards, Pali stepped past the exiting Ogir and hefted her padded warhammer up. “Alright then, rookie,” she commented as she centered herself, “Let’s see if you can pull the same trick twice!”
Troy lifted up his shield again and looked over at Ogir for the start. When the hand dropped down with a sharp fall, Troy immediately stepped back and activated his mana. “[Obfuscate]!” he declared, and the effect immediately rippled out from him again.
However, while Sigyr had been quick to fall victim, Pali simply stood still and finally grinned. “Alright, I can see how that would mess Sigyr up,” she commented, then held her hammer high as she stated, “But let’s see how you can take it when it’s sent back! [Toppling Tremor]!” Her hammer struck down the ground like a thunderclap, and the ground visibly rippled from the impact.
Troy flinched at the attack rushing towards him and jumped up when the attack drew near. While he managed to avoid the tremor, the whistling air was the only warning he got before Pali’s hammer slammed into his midriff. Even with the padding covering it, the blow hit like a truck and sent Troy flying several feet. Troy hit the ground with a thud and stabbed his spear into the ground to stop himself. The sudden drop in speed made his fingers be pressed against the polished wooden hilt, but Troy barely managed to keep hold.
Now on one knee, Troy looked up at the charging Pali and placed his hand on the coil of rope on his waist. “[Ranged Control - Rope]!” he barked, and the mana rushed down the thread before he flung it at the approaching dwarf.
While the bundle covered most of the space around him, Pali easily side-stepped the main bundle. “Sorry, but you’ll have to be more careful than that!” she mocked and held her hammer overhead. However, as she swung downwards, her whole body was pulled forward, and she fell down. Pali let out a shriek at her impact and tried to turn her head. However, when she felt something pull at her hair, she let go of her hammer only to grab two handfuls of rope wrapped with her braid.
“I’m sorry, what was that?” Troy said, holding his hand steady to keep the woven rope safely threaded between her hair and the hammer. As Pali tried to pull it out, Troy clenched his hand and the remaining length wrapped around her limbs until she was trussed up like a Christmas ham. When the dwarven guard finally fell over, Troy looked over at Ogir and asked, “Could you call it there? I don’t think she’ll be breaking out from there.”
Ogir let out a snort at the comment but didn’t protest as he held up a hand. “The round’s over!” he declared, and gave Troy a short nod. At the signal, Troy immediately recoiled his rope, and took a few steps back before he deactivated both Skills. When the crash of lost Mana hit him, Troy dropped down on his ass with shaky legs. As he took greedy gulps from his water bottle, Troy only hoped that Alcydes was having an easier time on his quest…
----------------------------------------
Alcydes leapt from branch to branch as he ran through the treetops, his childish figure barely shaking the wood as he ventured closer to the river. As he looked around, his hand came down to his sword at the distant roar of a beast. After a few seconds, Alcydes finally continued his furtive travels. He continued to jump across several trees to avoid being spotted, only to freeze when he saw his targeted prey.
Standing over the riverbank, a sleek gray bird half his height struck the ground as it circled the fish carcass on the ground. While it was still untouched by scars or molted feathers, Alcydes could tell the ‘coastrat’, or plunder petrel, was a fully-grown adult. Its deep-orange beak let out a raspy squawk in triumph, and it smacked the rotting fish head until it splattered open. It looked around for any hidden beast or trap, its wings spread wide in a challenge. When nothing responded at all however, it finally closed its wingspan and began to feast.
Alcydes stared intently at the feasting seabird for several seconds, then slowly drew his blade. With how focused the bird ravened, he was able to lift the blade high while his body prepared to pounce. When the petrel dug into the fish again, Alcydes leapt from the branches and hissed, “[Executioner’s Drop].” The whistling air from his drop accelerating was the only warning the petrel got before his blade cleaved the bird in two.
The boy looked down at the bird’s corpse dispassionately, then pulled out his guild tag. As the kill was stored away though, his head snapped to the north when he heard a tree fall. Alcydes quickly put his tag back on, then jumped back into the treetops towards the direction.
His gaze traveled across the lower forested ground as he rushed ahead, only to pause when he spotted the flash of an activated Skill. Alcydes crouched down as a wave of energy rushed outwards, and he bit down on his lip in momentary hesitance. When a second tree fell over though, he grabbed his cloak and murmured, “[Smeared Form].” His body blurred before his very eyes, turning from a defined figure to a loose haze, and Alcydes’s body was hidden under the foliage. With his body hidden, Alcydes leapt forward to the edge of the clearing and cautiously looked out into the clearing.
The slash of a steel sword cleaved several vines from the trees, and a brown-haired dwarf looked it over before he looked over to Maxwell. “Alright, I think that this is enough widow’s veil for the quest,” the dwarf said, and faced the man with his fellow adventurers, “What did you want to talk about?”
The man in question looked up from his handful of plants and tossed it on a loose pile before he sat down on the fallen trunk. “It has to do with that Brick-rank adventurer from yesterday,” Maxwell stated, and looked down at the ground in confusion. Alcydes grabbed his sword at the revelation, but the man looked at his comrades before he corrected, “No, not like that! I don’t think he’ll be a threat!”
The woman let out a huff at that, and brushed her silver locks out of her eyes. “Why are you so focused on him, then?” she huffed dismissively, and placed a hand on her staff, “He’s only a Brick-Rank. He can’t even scratch us!”
“It’s not that, Irvyn,” Maxwell stated, then ran a hand through his hair as he looked up at the sky, “It’s just that with the comment he made… I know I was drunk at the time, but I’m pretty sure that… That he’s another Star Hero, like me.”
The other adventurers visibly started at this and looked amongst themselves before Favri raised his hand. “Are you sure about that, boss?” he asked, looking around in concern, “I mean, he didn’t seem to have the raw… power that you do.”
“I know that, Favri!” Maxwell shot back, and covered his eyes with one hand, “But the joke about hamsters and elderberries… It’s an iconic quote from one of Earth’s best comedies! He has to know it, especially with that shitty accent he put on!”
Favri nodded along, then let out a low whistle that Alcydes could hear in the treetops. “So what should we do, then?” he asked Maxwell, “Just leave him be? Keep an eye on him? You’re already on the guard’s list for bothering him last night.”
Maxwell let out a scream of frustration and swung his iron club down on the fallen tree. “That’s just it! I don’t fucking know!” Maxwell spat out as splinters flew everywhere, “I can’t talk to him, because he hates my guts. I can’t challenge him because I’ll look like an asshole to the guild. I can’t even go on a quest with him since he’s two ranks below me!” The furious man heavily panted as he glared down at his wooden victim, his face beet red.
When the blonde began to calm down, the brown-haired dwarf finally coughed in his hand. “You know, with the migration coming up soon, he’s bound to rank up to Porcelain or Charcoal pretty quickly,” he pointed out. As Maxwell looked at him, he then added, “So all you gotta do is wait until he gets to Charcoal Rank, then you can interact with him again.”
Maxwell tilted his head at the suggestion, then finally nodded. “Yeah, I suppose that can work, especially if he’s aiming for the top too,” he mused, then gave a thankful nod to the dwarf, “I’ll be sure to keep that in mind, Haksa.”
As the talking died down, turning into general discussion, Alcydes let out a slow breath and darted away from the group. While the focus didn’t seem to be on Troy, the fact the Star Hero seemed so torn about him was a big concern. So he’d have to be wary of what tricks this Maxwell might pull to test Troy for his unknown goals…
A sharp caw made Alcydes freeze, and he spotted a plunder petrel waddle across the muddy shore mere feet away. With his body still blurred by [Smeared Form], Alcydes jumped from the branches to over the bird, then lined his blade downwards before he calmly declared, “[Executioner’s Drop].”