A few days had passed since the 'Wave' battle in the Vale. I wish I could say it had been an unstressful and relaxing down time but for an Adept Mage like myself, I could hardly take a break. Much of each day was spent using my Holy magic to heal the many affected by the undead siege. Of course, I volunteered such services but even I underestimated just how many people had been affected in the town proper.
Between all the healing and resurrection spells needed for the Vale knights, a good amount of time was set aside for the rest of the populace. During this - I think I got roped into healing others who might have been otherwise just sick, but I wasn't going to quarrel over the happenstance.
Still it seemed all these little feats had garnered me a little infamy, and this was despite all the precautions the Guildmaster took to limit the amount of witnesses to my spellcasting. I had to don a disguise that gave me this dark saint caricature and with the rumors of my performance during the 'Wave' battle, I was being called "Seijin-sama" or 'Holy Man' by the masses.
But this was the first day since that fateful night that I roused awake to my own body's time. The three mornings prior I had a more hectic schedule from morning to midnight being ferried to and fro various places in town. It was mostly from the guild hall to the barracks that served as the house wing for the Knights' order then back, and sometimes being taken to another large center where the injured had been congregated.
Then having to wear that cloaked outfit with the mask, day in and out, was really stuffy and being ushered around in secret gave my body this skittish tick. It was like a caged experience that taxed the mind, but I knew my services were needed so I bit my tongue and carried on.
However, today I woke up without any pressing need for the use of my spells. Alot of this was due to my work load being near done, as last night I finished resurrecting the last of the knights who fell against the undead horde. [Revifify] seemed to work without issue, just as long as I had mana and a corpse in proximity. Although I don't know its full capabilities without gaming it out, which I really can't do without resorting to grave robbing. Well, maybe things are better left unknown.
I stretched out my body across the bed, working out those non-existent little kinks out. Even four days into this new world and I still haven't gotten used to the new shape of my body. And it wasn't just because I was taller than before. It was like being acutely aware of the entire shape of my physique. From the tension in my muscles to even the heat of my body from head to toe, it was a most unnatural feeling I still could not get used to.
Perhaps it had something to do with how my physical form in this new world had something my old body didn't - mana. During that first night when I was resurrecting her fellow knights, Elisha was hovering at my side and stressing me not "to overdo it". Apparently the dark elf was worried about me suffering something called 'mana exhaustion' - a condition she described as close to one having a physical stroke. But instead of being caused by irregular blood pressures impacting the brain in some way, this was more of a magical sub-affliction due to a sharp loss in a body's mana store.
This would explain how I felt woozy after the battle with the Element Skull. My MP had been nearly depleted in that battle twice over. However, it seems my [High Speed Mana Regen] passive helps stave off such worries since I only needed to pause in-between my resurrection casts for my MP to catch up enough. Or just channel my [Meditate] skill to outright recharge my mana bar. Of course, I really couldn't detail that out to Elisha and the knight commander, Marcus, who were all in a worry over my repeated castings. Instead I could only blush to Elisha's pretty gaze as I explained I would bear her worry in mind and pace myself.
But feeling a little more rejuvenated after that little stretch, I got up out of bed and walked over to the small dresser in the room's far side. It was mostly bear as this was a guest chamber and I kept most everything in my possession in my Ring of Stored Space, but atop it was a potted plant, a thin book I couldn't read, and what looked to be a weathered scroll. The latter was actually something in this world known as the Everyday Use scroll.
This was an item craft containing five common-level spells for maintenance purposes, one of which I intended to use now, [Bubble Fresh]. It was normally a simple cleaning spell used to wash soiled objects like dirty rugs or clothing, but I was using it as a substitute to avoid taking a bath directly. While my guest chamber had an easy to use privy, it did not directly have a working shower or bathtub. Instead the 'bathing' process was a more lengthy setup in gathering water - or using a magic stone - to fill the copper stall and then use scented oils or the heating pit to make the bath more enjoyable.
Thankfully the Guildmaster handed me one of these scrolls upon my offhanded comment of wanting some cleaning supplies. After some experimentation after a long day of work, I joyously found I could use its [Bubble Fresh] to make myself so to say... squeaky clean. Now it did have the minor drawback of needing mana and a caster class to trigger its use but since I easily met those conditions, that was a nonissue to me.
Apparently these scrolls were quite expensive so I never considered it my own possession, thus I kept it separate from the few things I did own and in open view should Andrek want it returned. And since this particular scroll was made with a high grade of inscription (magical text) and on some form of weathered hide, it had nearly unlimited usage barring some cooldown periods. I found it a very nifty item to have.
The only other drawback to this [Bubble Fresh] spell was it washed everything upon me when casting it with my own person set as the target. Something I found out the hard way when I 'bathed' myself the first time and was drenched head to toe by the spell's effect. While my robe and leggings weren't sopping wet, it was damp enough to have that uncomfortable feel upon your skin. And that feeling was worse within my boots and loincloth.
I was still self-conscious of undressing completely in this bedroom chamber, so I moved into the more seculded privy to undo my undergarment. Again I could only scoff at my naked and chiseled body. It even felt like voyeurism staring at these endowed loins.
Setting the loincloth aside, I held the scroll in my hands out and afar to speak "[Bubble Fresh]" aloud and felt the magic of it wash across my entire body. It was almost like being submerged in thick foam only for the effect to fade two seconds later. All that was behind was a damp feeling across my skin and a salty breeze on the tip of my nose.
Unfortunately this scroll had no 'drying' magic imbued within it, so I had to do this the old fashioned way with the thick rag I used as a makeshift towel. It barely took a simple wipedown to mop up the excess before I felt physically refreshed to start the day. Granted I probably wasn't any cleaner now than when I woke up, since I used the scroll shortly before going to sleep, but the more modern habits are a hard thing to shake off.
Putting back on my loincloth and then dressing into my starter robe, leggings, boots, and ring, I exited the privy a minute later all geared up save my weapon. I put the Everyday Use scroll back on the small dresser in the bedroom and made to leave the guest chamber. I could already tell I woke into a late morning hour due to the candlelight of the hallways being dimmed out with the natural light of outside coming through the small arch windows above.
The Guildmaster must have let me sleep in, which isn't all too surprising since he explained late last night my workload was pretty much done with the Temple being able to handle the remainder from here on out. Apparently all the secrecy of me being ferried about was done in part not just to hide my true identity from becoming public knowledge but to prevent the town's priest order, headed by the Bishop, from being direct witnesses to my Holy abilities.
"The less they truly know, the better." I could almost hear Andrek's mantra in my head from all the times it was whispered in my ear. Granted - they likely do know with all the rumors about but with most of my healing being directed by Andrek and the knights themselves, the Bishop was kept out of the proverbial loop.
I was a bit surprised to see the guild hall being nearly jam-packed when I entered its foyered expanse. One of the reasons was because the sounds normally associated with large crowds didn't precede them. I could see people were speaking, but everyone was hushed for some reason and facing one direction, towards a corner setup for the guild administrators to speak to the room at large. It wasn't anything too fancy, just a raised platform with a podium.
It looked like the Guildmaster was about to give a speech of some sort as he was talking with a few of the hostesses, one of which was Genifer. She had come back to work the day after the 'Wave' battle, explaining that her parents were quick to move her brother out to the family estate in the countryside to better spend the recovery period away from the toils surely to come within the Vale's walls. It was also through the cute redhead that I was learning of the various gossip spreading about me in town.
But because of everyone's attention being preoccupied, I was able to walk around without much of a hassle. I made my way towards the far wall next to the back station. I wanted to stand here simply because it was closer in proximity to the podium corner and far enough away from the main body in the room's center. Andrek noticed my coming and nodded to me as I made my way to that back position. This caused his niece to turn her head where she flashed me a quick smile before resuming her end of the conversation with their group.
I adopted a sulky pose with my arms crossed and leaning with my back to the wall as I waited for this meeting to get underway. The room at large did not have to wait much longer as the Guildmaster soon broke off to the podium three minutes later, many papers in hand and a small pouch, with two hostesses trailing him. One of them was Moni, a very demure dogkin woman I was introduced to a couple days ago who was Andrek's head assistant. In fact - Monika (or Moni for short) was the only demihuman receptionist employed here at this Explorers Guild, and I got the feeling there was more to her relationship with the Guildmaster than what met the eye. The rest were young and cute human girls.
Genifer came to stand by my side, giving me a playful bump as she took up a similar posture to myself.
"Good morning there, Seijin-sama," she teased in the quietest of tones.
I narrowed my eye but bowed my head to greet her with a smile in return then asked in a low voice as to not be overheard, "Is it okay for me to be here?" With all the people around, I guess I was still a little nervous.
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The redhead gave me a shrewd smile and nodded, alleviating the little tension that gripped me with then saying, "Everyone is here for the tallies," but before I could even question what Genifer meant by that, the Guildmaster gruff voice echoed throughout the hall. His voice being carried was clearly by some magical design as I looked about in confusion to finding its source.
This too was explained off by Genifer, "That corner is enchanted with an echo chamber, able to boost any spoken word to be heard through the foyer here." She must have found my reaction to it amusing enough as she was still giggling at my cluelessness. One day I hope I can atleast stop being surprised at every little thing that caught me offguard.
“Before we start discussing out any protective measures for the Vale, I’d like to pass out some of the discretionary rewards.” Andrek must have been reading what came next off one of the sheets because it was a bunch of names plus money values. First was, “Roland Ross... one gold, twelve silver.”
The person who was named, a rather burly individual with a bushy beard walked up to collect his purse. He looked quite proud of himself as he pocketed a wooden tab of all things. Probably some sort of marker to be turned in somewhere else. Then the next name was called and so forth.
I finally realized what was happening and why the guild hall was packed to the brim - it was the doling out of coin for all the salvages gained off the 'Wave' battle. I did not get to see any of this firsthand and only heard snippets about it from Andrek's conversations with the knights as I was busy doing my 'healing' thing.
A gamer would know it as looting, but here it wasn't done through some windowed interface. Neither did these items drop outright. Instead, people had to harvest the corpses or use special spells or skills to convert a monster's corpse into more desirable objects.
The object most gained this time around was a reagent called Bone Dust, one simply gotten by torching an undead corpse. Granted it did not always yield the result, instead you could get useless ash, but it was a desirable enough item where many guilds had their members assisting in the cleanup efforts on the town's western front. Now all the items gained ultimately went to the guilds, since the Vale Knights claimed the lion's share of the 'Wave' kills, but the members here were now getting a tallied fee for their part in the service.
But sometimes even a monster core - some type of crystallized heart - could be found, though I heard not many of these were obtained after the battle, despite there being the many and many thousands of undead killed during this 'Wave'. Although the Guildmaster did tell me two nights ago a rather large fragment of such was pulled off the Element Skull, and the knights were offering me a 20% flat value on its value in addition to the collection they were putting together for my assistance in the Vale's defense.
I tried explaining to them not to worry about giving me some unduly payment and that the 20% was more than enough, but their lord commander Marcus waved off those concerns explaining it was the least they could do to render me some form of payment for all the resurrections I had freely given them. The old knight then complained how he wished he could do more.
The Guildmaster was now twenty names down the list. Some looked a bit grouchy that they did not take in as much as the first recipient. After all, Roland got a gold coin plus a handful of silver while the rest were pulling in 60-70 silver dollars on average. However considering how even 90 silver dollars would be considered a quarter of a worker class's yearly income, none of the receivers were making their complaints known over a few days work.
And the rewards continued until about every head in this foyer had been given a monetary value. Turns out only one other person among the some fifty extra got a gold coin but only three silver in comparison to the former's twelve. So it turned out the first one called won this looters' battle.
I wish I could say when my turn was, but I knew beforehand I wasn't going to get even a dime in this little public arena. The night after the 'Wave', Andrek literally pulled me aside to tell me as much-
"Our options are rather limited... to compensate you, you know, for all these services." Again I tried to explain like I did with the knight commander that I wasn't looking to "strike it rich" here. But it is difficult trying to argue your case with a senior.
"Still," I could still picture Andrek's downcast expression as he explained. "It is not our fancy to take advantage..." and I had to cut off the rest of his verbal defense saying that it was "fine" and that I "volunteered" in the first place. I only added that any reward they felt needed to give me could be deducted from the tab I already owed them.
I then tried to laugh it off with a smile, but the old uncle gave me a bear hug that cracked my shoulder blade. And how he managed to do this with a single arm was a testament to his strength.
His voice echoing now brought me back to the fore, "... and again, we thank you all for your tidy service. But do try not to spend all those coins at once." That got a few chuckles from the crowd as the Guildmaster continued on-
"So now that all the purses have been handed out, we need to talk about this new threat to our region. And of course... I'm referring to the dungeon that recently spawned in the Vale." It was like all sound ceased save for Andrek's voice. "Our trackers have just located it. Half a day's ride into the valley, nestled within the Saltstone Mines. Entrance is shaped like an ancient burial mound.”
There was alot of "oohing" amongst the crowd. I still didn't know much about this new world, but I did learn that the valley the Guildmaster was referring to was likely the Great Range which is a landscape of small mountains north and some west of the Vale. And half a day's ride into it had to be some considerable distance in miles. Also it appears this range was a wild habitat full of monsters and uncivilized life.
“Can we confirm that this dungeon is full of undead, like the Wave?” This came from a rather chubby man with long braided hair.
"We cannot," was Andrek's simple answer. "Our scouts were under orders not to chance its depths."
"What of the location itself. Will it be navigable?" I couldn't make out which of the members asked this.
"From the current intel we have, it appears so at first glance..." Andrek paused a bit, perhaps thinking of the appropriate phrase to word it, "The scouts noted there was some displacement in the area, but the knights are still undecided upon establishing a forward camp. And certainly this guild does not have the means to guarantee any of your safety into those parts yonder."
There was a bit of mumbling to this announcement. In other words, the Guildmaster was saying even traversing to the dungeon's entrance would be a risky enough venture.
“Will you be sending out a proper scouting team to better map out the locale,” a woman's voice came from the front.
Andrek nodded in turn and answered, "But not for a few more days. The reason being they will join with the first set of delvers, who should be arriving today or tomorrow." To that there was some groaning.
"Does that mean the dungeon's already been booked?" A heavy set dogkin with a heavier mustache stood up from his seat to voice his question with mild annoyance.
"Negative," the Guildmaster shot back immediately, sounding almost offended. "No guild has yet to claim it. It's been only three days... but I doubt our branch has the capability to enforce any rights over it." I think they are talking about 'raiding' rights here.
Andrek continued, "The first team hails from our Quatar branch. Bora-sama is sending over one of his more experienced hunting parties by way of Explorer. Apparently they have many A-class and S-class subjugations under their belt and are willing to help serve as our vanguard." All the nagging of lost rights stopped in an instant and with an even cooler tone the Guildmaster added, "You guys are more than welcome to form parties and try joining with."
It was like all excitement in the room died at once. The reality was - outside the order of Knights here in the Vale, few guilds had members that could take on such a dangerous task. It was like that 'eyes bigger than your stomach' idiom. All members present suddenly had no desire for some untold riches to be found in some dark and decrepit dungeon.
That was everyone but me. But it wasn't because I suddenly felt 'heroic' or compelled to do so in some duty to protect others. No, mine was born more out of a necessity and fueled by a newfound self-confidence in my class skills.
As Andrek began to discuss of managerial tasks on matters relating to the dungeon spawn - like providing havens and services to those braving the dungeon itself - I again brought up my [Character Panel]:
Name: Rikku
Race: Erudite, age 17
Class List
lv.30 Adept Mage
+ Upcast (16%)
Stats
Strength - 129, Vitality - 129, Agility - 129, Dexterity - 129, Magicka - 144, Spirit - 129, Luck - 10
Skillset
- Holy Magic: 13, - Arcane Magic: 13, Scan +insight, Phoenix Heart, Meditation rank 3/3
Feats
Bonus Roll: 99, Skill Gainer, Reset, XP Division 1/5 1/4 1/3, XP+ 10%, Wizard's Grace, Spell Mastery rank 8/10, High Speed Mana Regen, War Caster rank 3/3, Spell Sniper rank 4/10
Titles
n/a
I didn't do too much with my build after the battle with the Element Skull. Backtracking to lv.28, I was able to gain the Arcane [Blink] spell for a single Skill Point spent. [Blink] was a 3-ranked short-ranged teleportation maneuver that had a nifty utility effect to break any 'control' effect upon its user when used. Its first bonus rank would increase its range distance by 10 yards (to a max 30) while the second added some sort of 'jump' mechanic to it. I didn't bother with these and so afterwards, I was left with 36 points to spend.
I thought about pushing more Skill Points into uping several of my abilities like [Magic Arrow] or [Holy Aura] but didn't feel any real need to commit into them yet. [Magic Arrow] was still fine as a triple hitter spell and [Holy Aura]'s bonus ranks would only increase the 'warding' mechanic added to it.
And none of the other spells in my [Class Settings] tab felt worth nabbing. Another reason I didn't feel the need to learn more elemental magics in my Arcane tree was due to how the few attack spells I had now were judged by others - awestruck. Everyone was just as baffled with my Arcane castings as they were by my Holy affinity. Plus many of the spells to be gained had target area effects instead of being single target casts.
Instead I invested my points into two more Arcane sub-features of War Caster and Spell Sniper. War Caster improved the 'focus' capability of all my spellcasts and cost 9 skill points to put at rank 3/3. Spell Sniper basically doubled the range of my attack spells and improved on their accuracy and critical capacity. So like Spell Mastery, it was well worth its 2 point startup plus 2 for each of the extra ranks taken. This dropped my point counter from 36 to 19.
Yet the experiences I had on my first day here in this new world made me realize that despite my overall level compared to others, I was already a top class spellcaster. Knowing this did strike my ego a bit, but I had a couple more reasons for wanting to enter this dungeon.
First was already having the Guildmaster's permission and backing in doing so. That night after the 'Wave', I brought up the topic to him and tried to make my intentions known in a roundabout manner. Honestly, I thought I would have to spend atleast a few days trying to sell the merits of me dungeon diving (so to say) but instead the old uncle was very open to the idea upon that first request. Instead I was given numerous options that ended with the team Guildmaster Bora was sending being my primary escort. Apparently they were three experienced monster hunters whose melee capabilities should compliment my own magical skillset.
The second reason was a personal one - trying to figure out my own circumstances here in this new world. It was the RPG World video game that brought me here after all, and the Lore within its dungeon system was based on a Game of Gods. Perhaps the Vale dungeon here could provide a clue as to how and why my isekai came about. A new journal entry was added in the [World] tab about the undead 'Wave', so it was my only lead forward.
I soon came out of my reverie with that goal in mind. The Guildmaster continued to speak of the task management being setup by the town guilds to curtail any attrition that might be brought about by the dungeon's existence. It seems dungeon spawns were treated as these little isolated economies while active, barring some disastrous outcome that will allow it to mature into the countryside. This is why Andrek was stressing while their guilds may not be able to outright vanquish it, they could still work towards helping others do so and reap in those benefits.
But unbeknownst to all, an unforseen complication was about to enter this guild's front door.