“I, what?” Layne looked as if he couldn’t comprehend what Leo just said.
“Well, if you’ve been clearing those other dungeons by yourself, it shouldn’t be that much of a problem to let me tag along for this one, right? Or what, does clearing them yourself get you more Karma?”
“Technically yes.” Layne answered, to Leo’s surprise. “But I don’t need the Karma it would give at this rank. I’m sorry, I know this is something we discussed, I just didn’t think you’d volunteer yourself for something like this.”
“I’ve been in the dream world bootcamp for a month now, and Hayumi’s gone far enough to basically kill me in the process. I know what I’m in for if I go out into the wild.”
“I suppose so.” Layne said. “I’m not trying to stop you, and you’re right. I was planning on getting a group together for this dungeon. I’m more interested in what I’ll find at the end, anyway. I’m just still reeling from having the thing I’d lost most of my leads on just showing up right in front of me like this.” He turned and went back to the map, leaning over and steadying himself with his hands on the table. “I can bring you along just fine. I’ll have to see who else I can bring on short notice…”
“Is this dungeon D-rank, like the others?” Leo asked. “Also, how big of a group were you thinking of?”
“C, and probably not larger than six or seven. Any more than that and they’ll start penalizing the amount of Karma they’d give you for clearing it.” Layne replied, without looking away from the map.
“Makes sense, guess it wouldn’t be very heroic if you just went around and cleared every quest with a small army.”
“Sometimes it’s necessary, like with the Eldritch Titan and the Darklings, but you’re right otherwise. The gods don’t want too many Laborers to focus on one area, since it leaves others open for the outsiders to move in.”
“Not that I’ll be leading an army any time soon, but noted.” Leo said. “As far as other people then, what about Rize and Axilya? I’m sure they’ll appreciate the invite.” He proposed. “And you’re more than welcome to say no, but we could probably get Kazato and Hayumi in on it. On the topic of that - I’ll probably have to tell them where I’m going, too.”
At that, Layne stood and turned to face Leo, with an expression that Leo couldn’t read. “Right, you did start working for her. Have you heard anything about what she wants you and Kazato for?”
“No clue, only thing she’s told either of us is that she wants talented people and it’ll involve going back to her homeland.”
“Going back…?” Layne said, with a confused but thoughtful look. “I’ll be honest, I don’t want her knowing about most of what I’m doing, but I’ll be willing to let her come along for this. I don’t trust her, but I trust you and Kazato.”
“Well that’s reassuring.” Leo replied. “And yeah, our work agreement’s only verbal at the moment. I can’t thank her enough for the dream training, but I’m not exactly obligated to turn on you if she asks or something.” He shrugged, then went to change the subject. “I’ll talk to them about it later, but was it just me, or do you know something about Hayumi?”
“Only going off of what I’ve heard. I did a bit of digging after the attack. She’s very hard to get a handle on.” Layne said. “If I thought it was a bad idea to work with her outright, I would have told you so, but what I’m seeing from her is pretty different from what I’ve heard.”
“So, am I good to bring it up to the others? Most of us will be meeting up at Sir Verakith’s later today if you wanna talk to everyone except for Hayumi.”
“Sure, that’ll save me a lot of time.” Layne took a deep breath, and sighed, though this one felt like one of relief. “Aside from the obvious, the others are good people. I still think we should find a dedicated healer to avoid spending all of your time Mixing healing potions, but I can take care of that.”
“It’s probably because I haven’t met that many, but is finding trustworthy Laborers that much of a problem?” Leo had heard, from the far more experienced Layne during their initial training with Sir Verakith, that Laborers couldn’t kill each other. There was a mental block in place, but that was one that could be overcome with high Will according to Layne. Even still, being the cause of death for another Laborer, either directly or indirectly according to how the gods saw it, could cause the Laborers to receive bad Karma, and lose stats permanently.
“It’s harder than you might think.” Layne moved to sit in the chair by the table that held the map, slumping and glancing up at the ceiling. “Some are focusing on advancing and hogging the Karma or other rewards to themselves, some want to catch the eye of the gods or high rankers, some are just focused on survival and won’t think twice to leave you behind the second things get even a little perilous. That doesn’t even factor in envy, jealousy, hatred…You won’t see that much of it too early, most E and D-rankers are only trying to get by. Despite that, though, you’ll start seeing how human people really are the closer they get to godhood.”
Leo stared at Layne, as he seemed to lose himself in thought. Just what had this guy seen in only a year of being a Laborer. Then again, Leo hadn’t actually asked Hayumi, but just the variety of monsters and humanoid things she had to pull out of her memories made Leo think she might have similar stories to tell, though she had a much brighter outlook on it all.
After a moment, Layne glanced back over to Leo and cleared his throat. “Don’t let me keep you. I’ll have to switch gears now that I don’t have to look for the last sigil. I’ll meet everyone at Sir Verakith’s later on.”
More and more, Leo wanted to ask Layne about his past, but he didn’t think they knew each other well enough just yet. “I’ll just bounce, then. Thanks for agreeing to my moderately unreasonable request.”
Layne only replied with a grunt, giving Leo the signal to make his way out. He had a couple of hours to kill before everyone usually met up at Sir Verakith’s, so remembering Layne saying something about heading into a high altitude, mountainous area, he decided to go into Normouth’s market looking for a thick winter coat. He could have bought one from the Labors shop - he could even find some modern looking ones if he got very specific, but as time passed he found that he didn’t mind the look and feel of the clothes he’d found in Heom.
Among other things, wearing the clothes he’d bought in Normouth rather than his original shirt and jeans helped keep his mind off the fact that he’d been plucked from Earth and, according to Layne, wouldn’t be able to go back for a quite a while. At least he could eventually return, his lack of real attachments aside.
A couple hours of walking around and he had his new coat. Thick and brown with white fur around the collar and the sleeves. He tried it on and felt like he’d start sweating in it in Heom’s late spring air, so he figured it’d probably keep him warm in the mountains. It cost him a couple hundred credits, which fell in the form of coins in the shopkeeper’s hands - what Leo had to imagine was Ashar’s local currency.
Coat in hand, or rather in Storage, he made his way to Sir Verakith’s. Assuming everyone agreed, he’d take the opportunity to ask them what else he’d want to buy to prepare for the trip. He he could feel his excitement actively growing the more he thought about it, but he knew he probably needed to curb his enthusiasm for something that would likely be a glorified camping trip until they got to the dungeon, but he also felt relieved that he’d stop being idle as he’d felt the past couple of weeks. He felt as if he stayed like this for too long, he’d stumble into another impending disaster like the darkling horde again.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.
Soon enough, he made his way to Sir Verakith’s, and the thundering noise coming from the knight’s backyard let him know that it was lively as ever. Kazato had managed to learn the basic movements of the Stormcloud Saber art and all of its forms, and after thirty days, she’d gotten thunder and lightning to appear on all but the final move, the Collapsing Sword Dance. Considering Layne trained for two weeks just to learn that move, and only gained the ability to produce lightning from it after leaving for Dumatha, Leo found that astounding, but Kazato considered it par for the course as far as Sword Saints went.
“So how many of these styles do you know, other than the one you’re learning?” Leo asked during a break. He’d let everyone know that he had something to talk about with them so they didn’t leave immediately when they were done for the day, but the discussion would probably disrupt the training itself too much.
“Two. The Golden Vein art and the Azure Wave. Styles aligned with Earth and Water.” Kazato answered. “One of the things Hayumi is looking into for me are masters of styles aligned with other elements. When we first spoke to Layne after the attack on Normouth, it just so happened that he’d been part of the group tending to you when we found him.” Kazato shrugged. “Unfortunately, I think I’ll have to look for another style aligned with air to match the description you gave when you described ‘boxing’. What was it again?”
“Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee.” Leo replied. “Don’t worry about it too much, though.” After glancing around to make sure that Sir Verakith wasn’t nearby, he leaned in and spoke quietly. “We all know that the sword is only a backup weapon for me at this point, anyway.”
“Well, it’s good that you’ve learned it, all the same.” Before they could continue the conversation, Sir Verakith came back into his backyard, along with Layne, who’d just arrived.
“Don’t mind me, everyone.” Layne said. “I’ve just come to pay my respects, and talk to you about something if Leo hasn’t already.”
Despite that, Sir Verakith roped Layne into sparring with Kazato (as he seemed to be the only one among them who could, other than Sir Verakith himself), until their usual ending time near sunset. Their usual training for the day completed, the knight went back inside his own house to get himself a drink.
“Alright, spill.” Axilya said, as everyone gathered close. “I’ve been curious since Leo showed up about what you had to say.”
Leo let Layne lead, as the operation in general belonged to him, and Layne described it in slightly more detail than he did with Leo. A C-rank dungeon delve in the mountain range west of Dumatha, though Layne suspected the difficulty of the dungeon would be closer to B-Rank, given the fact that he needed to find keys from four other dungeons to even open it. It piqued everyone’s interest, and Axilya’s surprise when Leo told her that the dungeon she led Leo through for his tutorial was one of the dungeons Layne had been looking to clear.
“Damn, I had no idea. I was more concerned with getting everyone through alive to even think about the place’s history.” Axilya replied. “But if you’re offering, I’ve got nothing better to do. I was starting to wonder whether or not I’d need to go to another country or even a new world soon. All the quests around my rank seem to have dried up after that attack.”
“I’ll have to check with Hayumi of course, but I’ve learned well enough all of the forms of the Stormcloud Saber art.” Kazato said. “Perhaps some practical experience will help me master them faster.”
“I’m not entirely sure my own sword technique is refined enough to not be burdensome, but if you’re offering I would be glad to join you.”
“Sounds like you’re all in.” Leo said, then looked to Layne. “I guess that means we’ll all meet up at Zumra’s later to figure out everything we’ll need.”
“Sounds like you kids are all leaving soon.” Sir Verakith said, as he emerged back into his own backyard with a half-full glass in hand. “Finally, something to get you all out of my hair and back on the field.”
“Oh, right.” Leo turned to face the knight. “I’m not sure about everyone else, but I don’t even know if I’ll be coming back to Normouth right away after this.”
“Yeah, yeah. I already know. You laborers are a bunch of world-hopping vagabonds most of the time.” Sir Verakith said, taking a generous gulp of his drink. “Still, you kids are diligent at least. ‘Specially you. I don’t know what other training you’ve been getting up to, but if you can keep up with it without running yourself ragged I’d say you might be a half-decent swordsman.”
That was about as much of a compliment as Leo thought he’d get. “Thank you for everything, Sir Verakith. I seriously can’t imagine where I’d be right now without your training.”
“Sure. You guys brought along some pretty good drinks, too. My cellar hasn’t been this full in years. I might actually have to start sharing.”
Everyone else said their own farewells with the knight as training wrapped up for the night, and they all found themselves outside his home, getting ready to go their separate ways. They agreed to meet at Zumra’s, and Leo started making his way back to Hayumi’s place with Kazato.
“Alright then. Time to see what our boss actually thinks about this.”
Name:
Leonell Bolden
Stats
Title
Equalizer
Fortitude: D- (2/10)
Class
Mixer
Reflex: E+ (0/10)
Element
-
Intellect: E (0/10)
Total Rank
D
Intuition: C- (0/10)
Status
Health 100% Mana 100%
Will: E (2/10)
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.
Arsenal (Highest Rank) Arrows | Fire, Frost, Shock, Metal, Splintering (C) Creature Abilities | Aqua Cannon, Stoneskin (C) Oils | Ashblood, Freezing, Electrifying, Sharpening, Poisonous, Blackening (C) Misc | Witchlight (C) Bombs | Fire, Frost, Lightning, Shrapnel, Poison (C) Spells | Candlewick, Spectral Bow (E) Potions | Healing, Mana, Restoration, Deepbreath (C) -