Throughout the walk, Leo observed reconstruction going on even into the evening. It made sense, the people here didn’t exactly have the luxury of going to stay in a hotel during a crisis like this. Some of the townsfolk’s homes got it much worse than others - Leo couldn’t help but think back to the buildings that the darkling matriarch smashed through in its rampage. In some cases people were literally building the roof back over their heads. Leo didn’t know how the weather would fare in the coming days, but he hoped most of the people working on their homes would be able to avoid any rain.
True to her word, Kazato led Leo to an impressive villa, the building itself took up as much space as Sir Verakith’s home and backyard training area combined, and if Leo saw correctly, it also had a notable amount of open space of its own on the lot. Kazato wasted no time heading for the entrance and pulling out a key to open the door. Leo followed after, having long since lost the opportunity he might have had to act on cold feet.
They entered the villa, and Leo found a foyer and sitting room with lavish furniture, though it looked like the couches and chairs hadn’t seen much use. Immediately, the smell of something cooking hit his nose. Like a chain reaction, Leo’s stomach growled, reminding him that he hadn’t had anything to eat since he woke up earlier in the day. Somehow, he managed to go the entire day, even through the light training they had at Sir Verakith’s without noticing. It likely had something to do with Leo raising his Fortitude soon after he woke up - or at least he had to guess.
“Well, we have good timing it seems.” Kazato said, a smile on her face after hearing Leo’s stomach, and seeing his surprise. “We should be able to find her in the kitchen, but she probably heard me opening the door…”
“Since when were you one for bringing guests home?” Leo heard Hayumi’s voice from further in, and only seconds later she rounded a corner into the foyer. She locked onto him immediately, Leo noticed her tails wave behind her in different directions. “Ah, you’ve brought a very special guest indeed, and a hungry one at that.” After she spoke, Leo cleared his throat to distract from a rising flush to his cheeks. She did have really good hearing. “So, what brings you to my humble abode this evening? Have you given some thought to my offer? Or perhaps you’ve come to be fed by the sound of your stomach.”
Alright, she was definitely screwing with him. Not the worst reaction Leo could have hoped for though. “Fed and housed for the night, if you’re feeling so magnanimous.” He replied. “Figured it'd be better for me to take up space here rather than hold an inn room from some poor dock worker who got their house destroyed. But while I’m here, there were some things I wanted to talk about concerning the offer.”
Hayumi blinked, and then brought her hand up to her face, covering her mouth with her knuckles and doing little to hide a smile. “Well, a room for the night and some food is certainly doable. I just hope you’ll remember my generosity during our discussion. Given you have come for a discussion, though, I suppose you haven’t made up your mind?”
“Not quite. Leo said. “I’ve just realized what I’m going to need if I want to continue on the path I’ve chosen for myself, and, since you seem to really want me on board, whether or not you’ll be able to provide them.”
“I think you’ll find you’ll want for little under my employ - but let’s not begin these talks on an empty stomach. Fortunately for you, when Kazato didn’t come back right away I decided to cook a fair bit of food on the chance that she’d gotten into some strenuous activity.” Hayumi beckoned the two of them to follow, and they made their way to a sizable kitchen, and Leo finally saw the source of the oddly familiar smell. Hayumi had cooked a huge amount of fried rice, and wasted no time serving it in wooden bowls and leading the two of them over to a dining room with a long table that looked like it was made to entertain far more guests than this villa has ever had since Hayumi owned it.
Thankfully, Hayumi seemed content to let Leo eat before getting into any serious topics. She and Kazato filled the silence by talking about Sir Verakith and the beginning steps of the Stormcloud Saber Art. Leo should have used the time to properly gather his thoughts and figure out what he should say, but the food caught his attention more than he anticipated. He couldn’t recall the last time he had something so incredibly similar to something he had back home. The rice was a type he’d never seen before, the meat had a very similar taste to chicken but with a texture closer to beef, and the vegetables had similar tastes and textures to ones he’d had, but the colors were all off. With all of that in mind, if he didn’t stare at it long enough, he could have mistaken it for something he’d ordered from a food stall or a friend’s home cooked meal back on Earth.
“I’m glad you’re enjoying my cooking.” Hayumi’s voice snapped him out of his introspection. Leo glanced down to find his bowl nearly empty.
“I guess I was hungrier than I thought.” Leo replied with a shrug. “Being unconscious for a whole day will do that though.”
“Well, now that you’ve hopefully had your fill, I must say you’ve made me dreadfully curious.” Hayumi leaned forward, her chin resting on her hands as she spoke. “You’ve said that there are things you wish to know if I can provide, do tell.”
“Right…” Leo’s mind raced. He took a deep breath and tried to mentally pull back everything he wanted to say into a mental space where he could keep track of it. “Magic training and someone to give me instructions in Archery are the first things that come to mind. Other than my skills, I’ve only been taught exactly one spell, and it's to light a small flame like a candle so I could light bombs easier. I don’t know how fast a learner I am when it comes to more complicated ones, but magic seems universally useful to learn.”
“That burst of water you used to fight the darkling matriarch wasn’t a spell?” Hayumi questioned.
“No. The short explanation it is that it’s the ability of a monster I fought that I mimicked by combining its parts with an Aether material. I could replicate it, but it’s going to build water toxicity to anyone who doesn’t have a water element.”
“My interest is piqued in that regard, but to answer your requests, I would certainly be able to teach you more about magic if you’re so inclined. It helps that you’ve already received some instruction. Archery is a bit tricker. I know the basics myself, but I don’t go out to practice my aim or anything of the sort. I could, however, teach you a spell that would allow you to conjure a bow. It’s fairly efficient to maintain if you’re using your own arrows, and I may be able to use the means that most Laborers are granted to find relevant materials.”
It took a moment for Leo to clock that that last bit likely meant ‘use the shop to find a guide,’ but he did find the prospect of being able to conjure his own bow and not having to maintain a real one appealing. “Alright, fair enough. This next one…how do I explain this? I- I’m not sure if you noticed during that whole ordeal with the darklings, but I’m not really a combatant. I mean, I guess I am now, but I wasn’t before I became a Laborer.”
“Really?” Kazato piped in. “Inexperienced, sure, but what about that martial art you said you’d been learning?”
“Recreational.” Leo responded “For sport, really. When I boxed there was always the chance to get seriously hurt and a very slim possibility of death, but I never fought to kill anyone, and I hadn’t killed anything larger than a mouse before I was brought here.”
“So am I to assume ‘combat experience’ is what you’re seeing from me with a preface like that?” Hayumi asked.
“Hit the nail on the head.” Leo replied, watching Hayumi’s ears flick as he continued. “Training is helping - I could feel the difference on the night Normouth was attacked from only a couple of weeks of training with Sir Verakith, but it’s not fast enough. We’re one day out from a disaster like this and-” He stopped himself from talking about Layne directly. He didn’t want to be the one spilling secrets. “-people, friends of mine are already moving. Going onto the next job, the next quest, and I’m still here. I’ve increased my stats and found a way to work with what I have as a Mixer, but honestly I don’t like my prospects if I stumble into another crazy situation like what just happened here a couple days ago - let alone regular quests for my rank.”
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“You’re more eager for fighting than most Mixer’s I’ve met.” Hayumi noted. The look she gave him changed, almost as if she wanted to size him up. “You could very well open a shop and stay well away from any fighting. I’ll confess, I certainly wanted you under my employ only for your Mixing abilities.”
“I guess I would be pretty safe if I had someone like you backing me.” Leo agreed. Zumra still had to defend his own shop, but would he if someone like Hayumi sponsored him? “At the end of the day, I don’t want to just sit back and manage a shop. I want to see more of Heom and wherever the wind takes me, and I don’t want to be a burden or have to hide behind anyone to do it, and the bombs are only gonna get me so far.”
Hayumi leaned back in her chair. Her expression changed again, but Leo found her hard to read at this stage. Leo just hoped that after all that, she’d actually be able to do something for him. He didn’t know what she could do, but he had to imagine that A rank laborers simply operated on a different scale from how much credits they could get from doing quests around their rank. Leo had seen cars and guns and other modern technology in the Labor’s shop for far more credits than he could possibly afford, so maybe Hayumi knew of some item or something she could buy in a section that Leo would never think to check.
After a few seconds of quiet contemplation, she spoke. “I acknowledge your resolve, Leo. I think I may have exactly what you’re looking for. Well and true combat experience that will allow you to hold your own against the many threats you might face. I will warn you, my solution would include everything short of death, with all of the pain that might entail, but no lasting effects other than potentially on your mind. Is that acceptable?”
“I suppose. I guess it depends on the method.”
“Lovely. Before I explain it, however, allow me to ask you a question. The one who helped you while you were unconscious, it was the Seer, right?” Hayumi said, and then grinned at Leo’s reaction. “Your expression says it all. Don’t worry, I don’t plan on interacting with her any more than I have to. If she prefers to hide in the shadows and watch instead of actually helping, that’s up to her. I’m more interested in her methods. While you were unconscious, she put you in a dream state to shield your mind from the gaze of the gods. I will admit, to do it to someone unwilling or unknowing takes fairly powerful magic. Otherwise, it is a magic I am familiar with, and much less strenuous with a willing participant.”
“So you’d put me in a dream, the same way she did?” Leo asked.
“Indeed I would. And to help seal this deal, I’ll let you experience it for a few nights, no questions asked or further obligations. You yourself said that you should take at least a day or two to decide. If what I can provide proves to be what you’re seeking, then we can negotiate further from there.”
“That’s very generous of you.” Leo said. “Are my abilities as a Mixer really in that high demand?”
“For the few things I do need a Mixer’s talents for, I supposed I could just pay for them” Hayumi replied. “But you’ve done some things I’ve seen no other Mixer do. I’m looking for skilled individuals to cultivate their talents. I’ve no desire to reveal the reason now, but I’ll at least tell you that it’ll involve a great endeavor for which I will need the strength of many to achieve, and it will involve returning to my homeland.”
“That’s about as much as she’s told me, for what it’s worth.” Kazato said. “In any case, I can vouch for the dreaming.”
Leo took a moment to consider. He first wondered what he’d be able to get out of just dreaming, but he recalled the seer’s dream - and how it felt less like a dream and more like him just being conscious but in a different space, and how he remembered every moment of it. Hayumi could use the dream to get him some combat experience without actually threatening his life, then he couldn’t pass up the opportunity.
“I’ll give it a try. What do I need to do?”
“Sleep, mostly.” Hayumi said with a smirk. “I could knock you out with magic, but let’s actually get you settled in a room first.”
After finishing his food, and washing up afterward, Leo settled down in an unused room in the villa that Hayumi led him to. She cast one spell to clean up any dust that had accumulated in the blink of an eye, and then cast another spell on him. One that didn’t have an immediate effect but she explained that it would connect him to her dream and cause him to wake up when he appeared there. He took her word for it, and settled into the bed after she left.
He thought that, with the whole situation involving the dream, he might end up stalling, trying to sleep but being unable to due to nervousness. Fortunately for him, he was out cold basically as soon as his head hit the pillow. Something about him finding this sleeping arrangement much more comfortable than his inn, and likely sparring he did get up to at Sir Verakith’s hitting him at that moment the same way that his hunger hit him as soon as he smelled food.
He remembered closing his eyes on the pillow and having the feeling of it replaced with something hard and cold. Opening his eyes again, he found himself on the ground - in a place he recognized. The main square of Normouth, where they fought the darkling matriarch.
“Here we are again. In a sense. Just before it was destroyed in the fight, I thought this place would be a wonderful place to cast my more destructive spells if not for all the people that are usually here.” Hayumi’s voice drew Leo to look behind him, and she stood, leaning against the side of a building.
“I guess so.” Leo said as he stood. The look of the square at night brought Leo back to his memory of the siege just before the matriarch showed up. If not for the lack of scratches, cracks, and destroyed buildings, it seemed as if Hayumi just plucked him up while he slept and dropped him in the middle of the square. “Hardly feels like a dream.”
“That is the intent.” Hayumi replied. “Now, you should be able to act as if you would in the waking world. Draw your weapon and make whatever preparations you need, we’re going to get started.”
Name:
Leonell Bolden
Stats
Title
Equalizer
Fortitude: D- (2/10)
Class
Mixer
Reflex: E (8/10)
Element
-
Intellect: E (0/10)
Total Rank
D
Intuition: C- (0/10)
Status
Health 100% Mana 100%
Will: E (0/10)
Skills
Combine, Auto-Loot, Appraise, Storage, Replicate, Inoculation, Soul Harvest
Luck: D (5/10)
Skill: Combine
Mix different raw materials into a new item. You choose the shape of the form. Final form is affected by rank and element of materials.
Store Combine results into a mental guidebook that grows based on Intellect rank.
Skill: Auto-Loot (Mixer)
Automatically separates mixable materials from slain creatures. If the [Storage] skill is active, automatically places loot into storage space.
Skill: Appraise (Mixer)
Look at a creature or material and gain information on them. Information includes: Rank, Element, Class, Statuses, Titles. May have difficulty appraising creatures of higher rank, or creatures hidden by another skill or effect. Skill effect boosted by Intuition Rank.
Skill: Storage (Mixer)
Creates an inter-dimensional storage space that only you can access. Storage increases with Total Rank
Skill: Replicate
Create an item that you have previously created using materials of a similar element. Final product will be lowered one rank due to Replication.
Skill: Inoculation
Ignore Toxicity gained from items created with the Combine skill.
Skill: Soul Harvest
By using Mana, automatically create Aether materials from slain creatures when you use the Auto-Loot skill.