The other day, we finished talking about our plans with Blake's parents. Since Garret himself was a former adventurer, he was very delighted about our announcement. He said good things about being free to do what you want, sleeping outside in the wilderness, and looking for treasures in dungeons and ruins. Contrary to my parents, Blake's dad seems to cheer him on.
But... the thing I remembered was Garret whispering to me "My son, even though he is reliable, he's still inexperienced. Please take care of him." thinking about it, makes it hard for me to sleep. Why do our parents like setting us up? I get that Blake and I were close, but still...
For the whole month of winter. We've prepared for our journey. Food, money, and equipment. Since traveling during winter is a no-go for us younguns, we just decided to go when it's spring.
After some time... spring came. Both of our parents see us off.
"Both of you take care!" [Steven]
"Remember to always send letters." [Michelle]
"Thank you, father... mother..." [Angelica]
"Be careful out there." [Aurea]
"Come back here famous!" [Garret]
"Heheh I'll try dad, thanks, mom." [Blake]
We then set out for our journey. The duration is about four months, for the nearest city of Cagban.
For some reason, they say that horses were expensive. I haven't seen any in the village, maybe perhaps because we lived in a rural area? So we had to walk, that's what made it take so long. If we had transport it can probably be as short as a month.
For our journey, we traveled light because it would only hinder our movement if we were over-encumbered. Oh, I wish there was no weight limit lol.
Every day, we move from dawn till dusk, while exterminating a few monsters along the way. Those that we've killed for the day become our meal to save our supply, you wouldn't think that you can actually carry about four months' worth of food right?
At night Blake and I slept beside each other, one guard while the other slept. But Blake, stayed awake most of the time, and I kind of felt sorry for him.
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Once in a while he'll yawn due to lack of sleep, I asked him to let me switch, but he just said: "I wouldn't be able to see your sleeping face." I elbowed him in the stomach. He better not do anything weird while I was sleeping.
In 2 1/2 months, our food supplies ran out, so we hunted for food. I should've bought more seasonings for this, the taste of monster meat is crappy but still edible. When I thought about it, traveling is hard, games only make it look easy. I wonder if we collect monster parts can we sell them to make money or use them for weapon upgrades and maybe get some pokke points {1} while we're at it.
But since we didn't know what part would sell, we just abandoned the idea... In the third month, we managed to get a lift from a traveling merchant, whose route is also Cagban. The old man agreed to give us a free ride if we protected his cart.
I was right that with transport it was faster, it only took a week instead of a month to get to the city from where we were. Well, I think we can go with that strategy, if we weren't able to buy transport for ourselves, then we'll just tag along with people who had them and guard them for free.
At the entrance, before we part from the merchant.
"Wait! Miss!" [Merchant]
"Hmn?" [Angelica]
He put his hand on my shoulder while giving me something that looks like a rock.
"Umm... may I ask what is this?" [Angelica]
"That's a magic crystal imbued with the water element. Haven't you seen one before?" [Merchant]
This is a crystal? But it looks like a normal rock to me though...
"I cannot take something like this..." [Angelica]
"I-Its alright, think of it as thanks." [Merchant]
"But... how do I use this?" [Angelica]
"Hand it over." [Merchant]
I gave him the magic crystal. He pointed at a clear field and concentrated after that water gushed out.
"W-wow..." [Angelica]
"To use it, you just have to concentrate." [Merchant]
"But my magic capacity is low..." [Angelica]
"Hahah don't worry about it, magic crystals have their own energy storage. Although its use is only limited, it will recharge on its own." [Merchant]
"What about the magic? I still haven't learned water magic." [Angelica]
"Magic crystals, start out with no magic at all. In order for them to have magic, they should first have to be imbued." [Merchant]
"Imbued?" [Angelica]
"Like people putting magic onto the crystal, but for now, it can only retain one particular magic and that magic cannot be changed nor removed." [Merchant]
"Oh! I see!" [Angelica]
"This technology is still in its infancy, so only a few people use it." [Merchant]
I can use this to supplement my low magic capacity. Such a wonderful piece of technology!
"I'll be setting up shop in this city, if you have time you can drop by and I'll teach you more about it." [Merchant]
"Thank you! What is your name good sir?" [Angelica]
"Jose, well then goodbye." [Jose]
"Again, thank you very much!" [Angelica]
"Hahah! With pleasure!" [Jose]
I bowed to him as he walked away. Then he handed something to Blake, it looked like a potion bottle. After whispering something to Blake, he refused to accept it with a red face. Hmm... what could that potion be?
References
{1} Pokke Points, is a point/cash system in Monster Hunter