After going back to the guild and trading some of the mana cores for twenty Terra coins, we split the money evenly and then headed to the inn to have dinner. I checked my gear and then went to bed.
When I woke up, with a fresh mind, I had a good idea… the materials of the boss of the frost lizards would make for a great bag. I couldn’t make one, but I could trade some of the materials with the merchants in the town who could make it for me and then I would enchant them.
‘Yeah, that would work… the chances of failure will decrease by a large margin and I'd be able to try Arcane Transference a bunch of times until I understand the enchantment.’
It wasn't within my plans, but perhaps I really should get the leatherworker class. Making those magic bags myself will make me look less suspicious. Besides, having a lot of them would be easier that way too.
I considered that while we were having breakfast. Since Nimir had the misinformation ring with him now, we didn't have to stay cooped in the room all the time. He looked a bit uncomfortable, but he had to get used to it. To work on trauma, one has to fight against it by experiencing some levels of it. There is also the thing that some antidotes are made of poison. We didn’t live in a world where we could afford to avoid all unpleasant things.
“What are our plans for today?”
I stopped to think for a moment, if we hurry up, we can reach the second section in half a day. However, doing any real exploring in that part will make us stay in the dungeon for the night. It was better to do as much exploring as necessary done in a single run and then go for the boss in the next one.
“We will explore until the fifteenth floor and then return. We will take a day off after that. We will use the day off to trade the materials for the rewards in the quests board.”
“Alright.”
That seemed like a plan, but then I noticed that something was off… the atmosphere in the entrance of the inn was a bit weird. Some groups of people were whispering among each other. That immediately put me on guard… I always thought that we would be fine inside a town or city, but I couldn’t negate the possibility of a fight breaking there.
“They are talking about an avalanche that happened close to the border with the Aeloria Dominion.”
“The elves' territory? Well, they mess with the weather a lot, after all…”
“It also seems that some new monsters appeared in the area and they are planning to check it since it could be the arrival of a new dungeon.”
I gulped when I heard that… a new dungeon. All the dungeons that appeared in the last few decades always granted combat classes. I only have a few of them, but they increased my fighting abilities by a large margin… each of them.
Still, a new dungeon always brings a lot of people and a lot of trouble too since those groups see each other as competition. However, depending on the depth of the dungeon, the classes that would be granted would make up for it, more than a little bit.
“That kind of information will soon spread and most people here will move to the dungeon… this will be convenient for us.”
“Don't you want to check it?”
“No, too dangerous. We would draw a lot of attention with a small party and we don't want to be somewhere with too many people on edge all the time.”
The only downside was the fact that I was heading in that direction originally… I wanted to move close to the border for a while because the people there would be more cautious of invasions than anything else. They would be wary of spies too, but not one with the adventure card… possibly.
Regardless, while people wanted to keep that information under wraps for as long as possible, as soon as we left the inn, we found out that the town was already a bit less lively than usual. Some merchants and their caravans were heading West… the direction where the new dungeon was supposed to be. Their information network was pretty good.
At the same time, we found some guards along the way and they seemed more on edge than usual… the reasons for it were obvious. The adventurers would leave as well and soon the people they were looking for would have better chances to escape.
Nimir seemed more tense than usual since the town looked more moody as well, it was probably because the guards were annoyed at the adventurers and he was sensitive to that kind of feeling thanks to his instincts.
“I am going to write some scrolls for a while so that you can focus on the snow golems. I bought a lot of paper as well yesterday, so it would be a waste not to use it.”
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“Do we need scrolls to clear the dungeon?”
“It is just an experiment, it might come in handy, though.”
The paper for scrolls was a bit different than the usual paper. They are of better quality since they are made using some magic trees and that helps the magic in the scroll flow better. It is also possible to write scrolls on a monster’s leather. When the scroll maker is decent, that makes the scroll possible to use more than once, but it isn’t as easy to carry.
When we got inside the dungeon, I began to write down the scrolls while Nimir fought the snow golems… writing it was easy with my current dexterity and mana regeneration. For starters, I made some with the Camouflage skill. It consumed mana, so it was technically a spell. The only thing I had to do was to write down the important information using magic words while Scroll Crafting was active.
You received 10 experience points.
Camouflage Scroll (Common)
When activated, the scroll can make the user stay semi-invisible for ten seconds.
Durability: 01/01
It took me five minutes to write it down since I was being careful… overall, it wasn’t half bad considering that it consumed less mana than activating the skill by the same amount. Still, I had to remain cautious since I needed to learn the effects of increased rank on the scroll. Having more uses, or lasting for a while longer would make it a lot more valuable.
‘The issue is the cost of the paper, the ink, and my time being spent doing all this… Well, it is better than using my own mana in case of emergency.’
I made a bunch of other scrolls, but I failed every single time to make them with better rarity ranks. I wondered if my level of skill was the one determining that. It could be the level of Scroll Crafting or even Camouflage, but then again… I was able to make decent bows while the skill was at level one… the materials that Ovelia gave me could be the cause of it as well.
Even if I got carried away, there was no point in worrying about that. I just kept making the scrolls for a while. They were all of common rarity… eventually, I leveled up the skill and kept going, but nothing changed.
‘Ugh, so freaking annoying…’
I decided to change the type of scroll and when I activated Scroll Crafting again after deciding to use the Fire Enchantment, the knowledge appeared in my head. While I was doing that, I wondered if using those scrolls would grant me experience for the skills I had.
You received 40 experience points.
Flames Enchantment Scroll (Uncommon)
When activated, the scroll can make the user enchant an item with the power of flames for one hour.
Durability: 01/01
That confirmed that the level of the real skill could also determine the quality of the scrolls… Enchanting Touch was at level ten, after all. Regardless, making that one cost me twenty minutes… it wasn’t that efficient if my sole goal was to experience it for myself. Still, that kind of enchantment could be popular.
‘I don’t think I have seen scrolls like that being sold… probably because few people have the Enchanter class and those who have it, wouldn’t try to sell for cheap or would find it annoying to sell for adventurers.’
I decided to use Market Analysis on the scrolls. The camouflage scroll was supposed to be worth two Terra coins, while the paper and ink cost around one Terra coin and twenty Breeze coins. All in all, it meant that I could earn sixteen Breeze coins per minute by making them… and two points of experience as well.
The Flames Enchantment Scroll also granted me two points of experience per minute, but while I used two Terra coins worthy of materials, I could profit from four Terra coins, so I could earn thirty Breeze coins per minute. Who said that math was useless? Math is just annoying, as an engineer, I couldn’t deny that.
‘I should write this down to use as reference later…’
That really hit home… how combat classes were valuable. It made me feel really itchy… to go to the new dungeon as soon as possible and get more power. I put those thoughts aside when I noticed that we were about to reach the boss chamber of the first section and Nimir didn’t have the chance to pause.
“Sorry, I will take care of things for a while, you can rest now. I suppose we can take a break for lunch first.”
“I am fine.”
While he said that, his movements were a bit sluggish… Even if the fights were easy, doing that nonstop for several hours was still tiring. In any case, I ignored his words and then prepared lunch while thinking about the future.
Although I said that to Nimir, I really couldn’t keep running away forever… avoiding or ignoring such golden chances would only make me waste time. I was pretty far away from the territory of the family, so the chances of something going wrong were low. If something happened, I had to make good use of my adaptability.
Hiding my eyes with glasses as possible, keeping my head shaved easily, and pretending to be a dual wielder… all those things would help me keep my identity hidden. I had to be more proactive and less fearful of failure.
“Regulus, what do you think of this?”
“... I told you not to use that name.”
“I can tell that no one is around.”
“Getting overconfident, aren’t we?”
Nimir passed me a potion… it had a light blue liquid inside. When I used Identification, I confirmed that it was a potion that decreased the effects of cold weather and ice-related attacks. It was pretty useful for a region like that. In any case, I didn’t even see him making that.
“Not bad… you can make some money by making potions like this. It even lasts for one hour.”
“I will make them for myself. I will use them to clear dungeons and get stronger.”
“That is also a good way to make things more efficient.”
A battle alchemist was a pretty rare thing… while Nimir’s fighting style didn’t agree much with it, he could become pretty good with the help of potions like that, even if he didn’t find a party. Still, I wished that he had the chance to join one at least for a while… it would put me more at ease.
He might not want to follow that path since he was hated and shunned for so long, though. The best chance for that to happen was if he decided to leave Bastion… perhaps I could convince him to head to the Kingdom of Talimor somehow…