It was midmorning when we left the dungeon, I asked Nimir to check if that smell was nearby, of the rat familiars, but he shook his head. Although the area was covered in snow, he still could tell if a certain type of smell had been around, at least after six hours it had been there.
Once we got inside the guild, things didn’t look different there either, so we quickly went to trade the small mana cores. Once I put several bags filled with them, the receptionist looked at them for a while and blinked several times.
“I want to sell these and please confirm if it is enough to increase our rank.”
“Certainly, please wait for a few minutes.”
I nodded and then we went to sit at one of the empty tables in the guild. I looked at the board of the quests and there were a bunch of them looking for the ice scales, but not nearly enough to trade all of the ones we obtained. Perhaps we could strike a deal with some of the merchants and sell it directly for money. I didn’t want to keep going back and forth to the guild a bunch of times.
“Thank you for waiting, here is the price we will pay for the mana cores. You also have obtained enough points to upgrade your cards and receive twenty thousand extra mana core points.”
We received our silver ranked cards four Aqua coins and fifty Terra coins. I split it in half and then passed it to Nimir. Until now, I didn’t pay him anything, but it was about time for that to start.
“Eh? What is this?”
“Your share. Use it as you see fit.”
“Can’t you keep it?”
“Nope, you need to learn how to manage your own money as well.”
Nimir was learning math pretty fast, I thought that all those who were good at hand-to-hand combat would be muscle brains, but it seemed that my guess was wrong. In any case, my tone was resolute, so Nimir eventually accepted the money. It was a large amount, so he had no idea what to do with it.
After that, we picked some quests in the border and then went to look for the clients where we traded the materials for the proof of the completed quests. We did that a bunch of times over the day… I also waited for someone to offer me the chance to sell directly to them, but they didn't bring it. Since they didn't do it, I decided not to take my chances since I knew that doing that kind of business could make me be punished by the guild.
In mid-afternoon, we completed all the quests available for materials… There were others there, but it would require us to head to Ironcliff, we didn't have time for that.
“Now would be a great time to work on that combustion engine… still, I guess that can wait until we clear the next dungeon.”
Nimir looked at me in confusion while I muttered those words. Horses were used in these parts, but only where the path was clear… The main path to the next town was through Ironcliff and I didn't want to head there. While the train would make us move faster, I wanted to be sure that we wouldn't be tailed by walking on foot.
“Let's go buy food for the journey. I can store yours in my magic bag, so you don't have to worry about it.”
“... Okay.”
Leaving all the miscellaneous work to me wasn't fine at all, that was another aspect that he had to learn to be self-sufficient. In any case, just as one would expect, Nimir bought enough food for two weeks for him. Even though the trip to the next town wouldn't take more than a day. Getting out of shape in the middle of such a journey or inside the dungeon was difficult thanks to all the fighting and moving, but it wasn't impossible… not fighting at our best was a one-way ticket to the grave as well.
“Let's go, it doesn't look like it will snow for a while, so we need to use this chance to cover as much ground as possible.”
We headed to the western side of the settlement and soon disappeared between the trees and the snow of the area. I was a bit tired, but once the night came, I would feel a lot better, so it was fine.
Those three hours passed rather slowly since nothing happened and Nimir was completely silent… I wondered if it was because I told him to stay on guard for possible pursuers or any other reason. He might be a kid, but he was smart enough to know that I was training him to become as independent as possible… The next dungeon was supposed to be where we would split paths. He would be able to recover his sight to some extent and then I wouldn't have to take any chances of being found out and involving him in my messy situation. I had to stay in human territory for a while, but he didn't have to do so.
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
Several hours passed and even though it got dark, we kept moving. We didn't find any signs of monsters or pursuers, so we covered as much distance as possible. Eventually, the sound of Nimir's stomach growling made me decide that we needed a break. It should be around nine in the evening, after all.
There were only trees around and snow, so finding a shelter would be pretty hard unless we headed south. Still, my tent would be more than enough for that. It was a bit too small for two people, but Nimir was basically a child, so it would be fine. I also enchanted the tent for the night. The interior was pretty warm, but the durability would only make it last for two days.
“I will take the first watch, then you can take my place.”
I moved myself to sit in front of the entrance and then began to dismantle the parts of the giant salamander. I wanted to make a new weapon out of those bones, but I wondered if I should have another hand crossbow or if I should store it until I had another idea. It took a couple of hours, but eventually, I got the scale, skin and the bones of the monster. My hands were quite bloody, but I cleaned them in the snow.
“... Even without the gloves and the tent, I am not that bothered by the cold.”
I wondered if it was because of my blood… after seeing Nimir transforming and becoming that strong, I wondered why I only had the weaknesses of the vampires. I didn't hear anything that said that half-humans only had the weaknesses of their other halves.
Name: Regulus Dawnshield
Race: Dhampir
Health: 70/70
Regen: 0.1 per hour
Mana: 130/130 (0/1400)
Regen: 3.7 per minute (0/3400) (1.1)
Stamina: 150/150 (0/1600)
Regen: 3.0 per minute (0/3100)
Dexterity: 86 (0/5400) 1.6x
Spirit: 05 (0/600)
Movement Speed: 8.2 (0/3700)
Stamina Conservation: 0.2 (0/2000)
Traits: Minor Weakness to Sunlight, Minor Sensitivity to Holy Magic, Minor Aversion to Silver
Classes: Archer, Explorer, Scribe, Fletcher, Mystic Tattoist, Bowyer, Hunter, Enchanter, Dual Wielder, Merchant, Bolt Crafter
Aptitudes: Precision Training, Master of Exploration, Master of Record Keeping, Master of Archery Craft, Arcane Artist, Master of Bowcraft, Unseen Hunter, Arcane Craftsmanship, Swift Strikes, Master of Trade, Precision Engineering
Experience: 2218
I checked my parameters and nodded in satisfaction… not bad for two weeks' worth of work. Grinding inside a dungeon was still better than grinding making bows. Still, it was thanks to the bow grinding that I was able to make such decent crossbows that allowed the second type of grinding.
In the end, Nimir tried really hard and managed to wake up at five in the morning. It would take one hour until the area around us cleared up, so I decided to rest for two or three hours. Today, we were going to reach the next town, after all. I could do that much if the work was only walking.
Still, I learned my lesson… I had to improve my movement speed… relying on the trains all the time was too costly and limited too since they only showed up two or three times a day in certain towns and cities.
After walking up and having breakfast, we soon began to move again. Eating just fruits was a bit boring, but even though we didn't find any signs of people following us, it was better to be safe than sorry. Besides, it was only for a couple of meals, so we could endure that for the moment. Nothing says that we would always have the chance to have warm meals as well all the time, so it was better to be used to it.
In the end, we managed to reach the next town a bit after lunchtime… the terrain that we crossed wasn't half bad, after all. The monsters didn't get in our way. I guessed that they had been cleaned out in this area because the people already had too much to worry about by living close to the border.
The town was walled, but it wasn't a fortress-like Iron Cliff, it was probably because there weren't many floating islands around and the ones that could be seen were pretty small. Further East, one could find the Elves' territory and the cold would give way to the warmth of their forests. It wasn't natural, though. People say that the elves control the weather to make their whole territory warm and green and some people say that thanks to that, that area in the human territory was always cold and covered in snow.
“This place is the Arlian town… it also has another Chimeric dungeon. On the last floor, you will get a skill that will allow you to detect people and their movements with precision.”
“Okay…”
Nimir didn't look that pumped, probably because he was too used to relying on his instincts. In any case, the eastern gate of the town was open and while it had ten guards there, they didn't stop us. The town looked like a smaller version of Ironcliff… the only difference that I could see was that they had some more archers on the walls, even though this area wasn't supposed to be receiving that many attacks.
“Let's look for an inn where we can get some warm food.”
“Okay!”
It was a bit early for dinner, but we needed to rest a bit more, after all. We might have to clear the dungeon in one run as well, so it was better to increase our chances of success.
We began to look for an inn and I decided to look at the shops too, but they were already closed in the middle of the afternoon. As if that wasn't enough, we found some groups of guards marching around the area… they stared at us for a while, but soon they ignored us when their identification didn't reveal anything.
“It looks like something happened here… just our luck.”
Nimir kept his head down… he probably assumed that he was the cause of it. Still, that was nonsensical. His Jinx Hex couldn't possibly make such a thing happen beforehand just because he was heading in the same direction.
“Relax, you aren't the cause and no one here knows who you are.”
“... I sense the smell of people like me here.”
“Half-beastkin?”
“No… people who depend on trash to survive.”
I squinted my eyes when I heard that… after looking around for a bit, I noticed that this town had a sewer system. It looked like people who were being looked for by the guards were living below the city for whatever reason. I had to investigate the matter in order to avoid getting involved.