Envy drowsily stepped out into the streets, holding her equipment in a bundle in front of her. She remembered dozing off after feeding, which was strange in itself, because her guard was rarely let down for that to happen. She stumbled a bit as the laces on her boots were untied.
“Are you feeling alright? You aren’t usually this bed-headed in the morning, in fact you wake up before me.”
“I’m fine… I slept well.” she mumbled back.
Exill frowned as he tried to tease the larger tangles out of her hair while she tied her boots. The Vampire was usually up and finished with her warmup by the time he woke up. There was a lot to do today, and he had a premonition Luna would be stepping out of the Clinic shortly to give him another earful.
“Let’s hurry, I want to drop by the pawn store before we go to the Labyrinth.”
The two rubbed sleep from their eyes as they navigated the back alleys of Ark. Soon, they arrived at the grandiose store and were welcomed in, greeted by the sight of various items on display. ‘Oh yes, it hasn’t sold yet!’ Exill hurried to a glass cabinet where he had last spotted the item he came for, then relaxed to look around for other interesting equipment that could be of use to him and his companion.
Equipment Price Enchantment [Vampiric Spear] 1400D VIT Absorb [Wizard Ring] 1200D EXP Plus, Magic Plus [Healer’s Wand] 900D Magic Plus [Weakening Shortsword] 800D Weaken [Stalwart Buckler] 700D Damage Resistance+
Exill sidled over to Envy who was examining a shortsword that had a weakening enchantment. The price tag showed 800 Denars.
“How much have you saved up so far?”
“Enough.” The Vampire glanced at him with apprehension painting her amber eyes. He had previously said that the money she earnt would be hers… but she had been reneged on countless times to trust unbound words.
Exill nodded, he had intended to offer her a small loan if she didn’t have enough funds. Her sword had become noticeably thinner as the hard tempered edge had been worn away. It would only continue to accelerate from there.
“I’ve got what I need, tell me if you need more time to decide.”
Envy looked longingly at the sword for a few more seconds, before finally returning it to the stand. There were more important things to spend money on.
Confused, but not willing to question her motives, Exill turned around and approached the counter. Laying down the gold coin he had earned as an advance on top of two silver coins, he purchased the [Wizard Ring].
There were only six days left until the duel and he was eager to boost his levels until the very last moment. The [Wizard Ring] would serve the dual purpose of boosting the EXP gain rate from 16x to 32x with a 2% chance to unlock magic.
Exill remembered Savta’s lesson, what seemed like an eternity ago, where she explained that one in fifty people could cast magic with the aid of enchanted tools. ‘If this doesn’t work, I can always grab another item to stack the enchantments like I’m doing for EXP.’ He mentally prepared himself for failure, knowing the chances of success on the first try was slim.
They walked the short distance to the Labyrinth and soon entered the interstitial area under the Tower. Exill checked his Card while Envy was adjusting her leather armour. The blue bar that denoted his mana had increased by 50%! It just went to show how low his baseline starting mana had been, It used to be a quarter of the length of his Vitality bar but was now a third of its length. This gave him a bright idea.
“Hold on Envy, give me a minute.” He walked away from the waiting Vampire and temporarily assigned [Scientist] as an active job. Using [Measure], he examined the Card, but was quickly disappointed by the results.
[https://i.ibb.co/DGcSdmr/Exill-CH67.png]
‘I forgot I couldn’t measure anything below one centimetre yet.’ Once again, he lamented the UI/UX designer of the Card for making the data so obtuse. One thing had changed though, he was able to see Envy’s stats as a bar graph in his minds eye. Perhaps it was because [Planeswalker] had levelled sufficiently or it was thanks to the acquisition of [Scientist], either way, he hadn’t checked his party member stats in a long time.
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[https://i.ibb.co/MGtkGd6/Envy-CH67.png]
‘How are we still similar in strength?’ he huffed. Either her starting base stats were significantly higher or there was something about Vampires that made them stronger. The only key difference he could spot was her higher magic resistance.
Returning to Envy, he double checked her straps and indicated they were good to go. Before entering the portal, he asked the question burning in his mind, knowing full well she was likely to tease him for it.
“Are vampires naturally stronger than the other races?”
“No, you just need to wake up early and exercise like me.” She flicked him on the forehead and leapt into the abyss.
‘I knew she was going to twist it into an insult!’ Exill grit his teeth and followed after her. However the implication of her statement wasn't lost on him. ‘I’ve been overly reliant on the System to increase my stats. Of course exercise and training are also viable methods of increasing my strength.’
He took point and ventured into a grassy cavern and was immediately disappointed to discover five rats foraging amidst the dirt. They were the smaller cousin of plague rats, coming up to his knees, featuring a glossy brown coat. The Guild refused to purchase their meat and the only thing of questionable value was their hide – and he was in no mood to skin five rats today.
“Don’t worry about ruining their hide, let’s just rush to the next cavern.” What he was suggesting was a massacre for the sake of experience and brevity. Nodding to his companion, they charged forward as one. The Witchdoctor aimed for the group of three while the Vampire sprinted towards the remainder. For enemies such as these, tactics didn’t matter, a far cry from his spearman assessment back in Camp A.
Exill charged forward and plunged his spear into the mouth of the first rat, killing it instantly. Loosening his grip to one hand, he pivoted to kick the jaw of the next lunging rat, causing it to step back in pain. This bought him precious few seconds to free his spear and poke the two scuttling monsters with lightning fast successive thrusts – causing them to bleed and retreat.
By this time, Envy had dispatched two of her own and quickly came over to dispatch one of the two Exill was facing. Just like that, they eliminated five rats in under a minute.
“I think we can salvage the hide of the first one I faced, how about you?”
“Mn, you told me to go all out.” Envy shrugged, gesturing to the lacerated foes behind her, their pelt all ruined.
Sighing heavily, Exill crouched before his first kill and began the arduous process of disassembly.
***
Luna was cleaning the breakfast dishes when she heard a knocking sound at the front door. She was still flustered from her morning clash with Exill, and the fact that he had left without doing the dishes, or bidding her goodbye further raised her temper.
She huffed as she climbed downstairs, loose threads of pale golden hair clinging to her face as she wiped her sudsy hands on the apron. She yanked open the door to find Timeus the Weaver holding a crate of bandages and gauze.
‘Oh, it’s Tuesday.’
She tried to grab the crate, but Timeus gently shooed her away with his coarse hands while balancing the crate through the doorway.
“You will get your delicate hands dirty ma’am; I know my way to the storage cellar.”
“Why are you acting so strange, I’m too young to be called ma’am!”
Timeus shot her a friendly grin as he easily heaved the crate on his broad shoulders and went down to the dark cellar. Luna followed him with her wand aglow when she heard a loud thump and saw him slip and fall down the last few stairs. She hurried downstairs to see him groaning in pain, the crate of linen intact on his knees.
“You big oaf! I always worried something like this would happen, come with me upstairs.” She struggled to lift the heavy crate off his lap and lit the way as Timeus limped back upstairs. Soon he was lying on his belly in the examination room.
“Where did you hurt yourself?”
“I think I pulled a muscle; it hurts when I move.”
Luna lifted the wincing man’s shirt and channelled healing magic, focusing it on his lower back muscles and spine. Timeus felt her soft palm on the small of his back and gave an involuntary shiver.
He remembered the time he had scraped his knees when he was ten years old while playing with Luna. She had taken her grandmother’s salve from a dress pocket and gently applied the ointment with her small fingers, taking care to blow on it as her Nana often did. The core memory was still vivid in his mind. After all, it was the moment he had fallen hopelessly in love with this gentle kind woman.
“Does that feel better now?”
“Yes ma’am – I mean Luna, I feel good as new.”
“How is your papa doing, does he still have that nasty cough?”
“Yes… it won’t go away, but at least he seems to be sleeping better now.”
Luna frowned, the fact that it hadn’t gone away since he was treated two months ago meant it was serious. The Weaver family wasn’t rich, but she would have been happy to treat them for free as they had been childhood friends from a very young age.
“Bring your papa here next time you hear? I don’t want you worrying about fees between friends.”
“Thank you Luna, it means a lot to me… but are you doing alright? You seem unusually on edge…” Timeus had attended Old Savta’s funeral and seen how distraught Luna had been. She appeared better for a while, but the maiden appeared strangely tense when he knocked on the door this morning.
“It’s you, you big oaf. How can I relax when you’re carelessly falling over and hurting yourself!” She exhaled, her expression growing complicated, “It’s also Exill, I-I don’t even know anymore. One moment he can brighten my day effortlessly, while on others… I just want to punch that smug man-whore’s face!”
Timeus blinked.
They had always been comfortable around each other, but it was the first time he had heard such obscenities coming from her soft lips. On closer observation – Luna had changed. She was no longer the kind gentle girl, there was an edge to her now.
“I heard... he is a playboy that fondles women and enjoys ripping their clothes off... that he also keeps a sex slave... why do you put up with such a man?”
Timeus' heart sank as her gaze softened in memory. How could he not recognise that look? Not when he felt the same way every time he laid eyes on her. He looked hastily away and searched for a reason to leave.
“Ah! I really am a big oaf. I need to deliver a shipment to the Tailor’s down at fifth street. Thank you so much for healing my back and I promise to bring dad here on the morrow.”
Excusing himself, Timeus quickly got up and left the Clinic. His heart ached too much to look back at the concerned maiden standing in her doorway.
Watching her old friend leave with a sinking heart, Luna gently closed the door and climbed the stairs to finish the dishes.