Three weeks passed in the blink of an eye as Exill focused on his clinic duties. He trained skills that could be increased from the comfort of a chair and saw impressive gains over the period.
Job Level Healer 6 >> 12 Witchdoctor 21 >> 23 Scientist 2 >> 6 Diviner 9 >> 12 Scribe 1 >> 7
He dearly regretted the loss of the sturdy training boots that had been crushed alongside his legs. The experience multiplier had fallen from 32x to 16x otherwise his level gains would have been more impressive.
While Exill was inspecting the Card, Luna sat at the edge of his bed, injecting mana into the tips of his toes. She leaned tiredly against the bed post; dark circles visible under her blue eyes.
“I told you not to push-”
“It’s done.”
The healer cut him off as she stated the completion of his recovery. Luna had been burning the candle at both ends while Exill was unconscious. Now that he was helping with clinic duties, her rate of depletion had decreased, but not to the point where it allowed her to recover.
Wriggling his toes, he confirmed their completeness, apart from the lack of toenails. The miracle of magic was before his eyes, and it made him giddy to think he could take his preparations to the next step. With some trepidation, he brought up a sensitive topic, “Hey Luna, can you advance me-”
“No, I will not allow you to buy weapons, or train in the Labyrinth again.” Luna cut him off abruptly and her eyes were exhausted but pleading, “Exill please! I did not spend the past weeks nursing you back to health, only to see you die. If you have any respect left for me, I want you to forfeit that duel and let the slave go.” She turned her head away in obvious distaste, “You’ve done enough for her, and besides, there are worse fates than living as the concubine of a noble.”
Unclenching his fist, he let is frustration go.
His friend didn’t know the promise he had made, or the sacrifice that Envy was willing to go through, and was understandably upset that he was risking life and limb for a mere slave.
‘Why are women so difficult?’ he wondered bitterly, conflicted by a swirl of emotions. On one hand he understood she was just caring for him, but on the other, he didn’t appreciate being controlled in this fashion. Complicating all this was his deep gratitude towards her for saving his life.
“Okay, I won’t bring it up anymore. Now, let’s get you to bed.” Sweeping strands of golden hair from her clammy forehead, Exill lifted the delicate maiden in his arms. She was spent, and he resolved to better support her once the duel was over. Heart aching at how light she had become, he carried her to her room and let the healer sleep.
Exill climbed up the attic to check on Envy. It was growing late, and she hadn’t fed yet. “Are you awake?” he called out in a low voice.
“… Mm?” a feeble groan wafted out in response.
He fumbled around for the lantern and turned it on at the lowest setting. The Vampire was laying on her back with the fully healed arm draped over her forehead. Her scarlet hair splayed out like a crimson halo.
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“Was it busy tonight?”
“Mn.” She grunted while turning away, mildly annoyed by his pestering. She was working afternoons and evenings as a waitress in Sundry Inn. It was draining work, especially for someone as socially outgoing and chatty as Envy. What didn’t help was that the job paid only eight Denars a day.
He lay by her side, idly playing with a length of her hair as she fed. There were two days left till the duel and he still needed a weapon. With only 600 Denars left there wasn’t much he could do.
Luna had forbidden him from entering the Labyrinth and refused to advance him any more money – limiting his options severely. It was clear she wanted him to forfeit. Exill felt stifled by her restrictions yet couldn’t help but empathise with her.
Working within limitations, there were two options open to him. Crafting his own spear or purchasing from a military surplus store. With no desire to revisit Ham and his smithy, he resolved to visit Central Market the next morning.
***
The next morning, Exill cursed as he squatted in front a dusty bin of knives, poking through their contents. This was the second military surplus vendor he had visited, and all the spears were either junk or the trader wanted more than its market value. He was poking around in the knives bin on the off chance that a loose spearhead made its way there by mistake.
Sweeping long hair from his eyes, Exill stood up and stretched his cramped legs. Over the past month, his permanently tousled brown hair had grown to a point where it tickled his nose, but not long enough to tie back. Luna kept teasing how cute he would look with a bowl cut.
“…I’ll just take this.”
He settled for a standard leaf bladed spear with a shaft made of spriggan wood, much like the one he had lost to the Behemoth. Trying to haggle down the price, he asked to bundle a brass knuckle protector with the spear for 100 Denars.
Satisfied with the purchase, he decided to stretch his legs, wandering over to the antiquities section nearby. There were always interesting oddities to be found here and was a good source of second-hand items. It was where he had picked up those cursed divination bones after all. He browsed the stalls holding his coin purse tight against pickpockets. The space between stalls was tight and he was frequently getting jostled by other customers.
‘Oh, what is this?’ Exill approached an oversized brass dial that was missing its cover. It looked familiar somehow.
“A keen eye young man! Are you interested in becoming a [Navigator] some day?”
Exill picked the accumulator up, instantly remembering where he had last seen one, albeit in much better shape. The lead caravan driver of the refugee group had leaned heavily on this device to forewarn against Aberrations and track how far they had travelled that day.
From what he understood, the world of Enui lacked a global magnetic field, much like the planet Mars back home. This made compasses useless, and meant [Navigators] used the accumulator as a multi-purpose navigational aid and portable sundial – whose secondary purpose was to detect Aberrations.
He glanced at the stall keeper for permission before channelling mana into the device, causing the smaller, pearlescent dial to spin lazily around several times before coming to rest, pointing to his left.
[Ping!]
“Oh, you know how to use it? It isn’t broken if that’s what you be worried about. You can clearly see it’s pointing towards the Labyrinth. We’ll be in big trouble if there are any Aberrations around here!” The wizened Vendor wheezed as he chuckled. He then flashed several fingers in sequence, “Only 150 Denar for you, my friend.”
The shrewd seller eagerly waited for an answer, but the young man stood transfixed, staring at the inert accumulator as if in shock. Suspecting he was about to do a runner, the stall keeper snatched the device back.
Exill just turned away from the stall and walked to a quiet corner in the market to summon the Card, inspecting the new job he had attained. Its detection range wasn’t impressive, amounting to a little less than the short width of a city block.
Job Navigator Level 1 Description Arcane- Tier I Active Skill [Sense] detect Aberrations within a 75m (250ft) radius. Increased sensitivity and range (scales with level)
What had stunned him earlier was the understanding achieved with [Scientist]’s measuring ability.
The dial had imperceptibly slowed down as it pointed to him, before it was inexorably drawn to the gravitational equivalent of a black hole that was the Labyrinth Tower a kilometre away.