In what had become a familiar thing for him over the past month, Leo caught the smell of cooking coming from Hayumi’s villa. This time, however, the strong aroma of it caught him by surprise. As if she’d cooked a massive amount of some kind of fish in a short time, larger than she usually cared to, even for the three of them. As they neared the door, he glanced toward Kazato and gave her a confused look.
“Oh, I recognize this smell.” She said with a smile. “It’s something she usually cooks when she’s in a good mood. She must have found something she’s been looking for.” Without skipping a beat, or pausing to explain, Kazato walked right up to the door and went inside, leaving Leo’s only option to follow her and find out for himself.
To his surprise, when he reached the kitchen he saw that Hayumi didn’t have an overly large amount of food prepared. Enough for the three of them, surely, but it meant that the smell originated entirely from three plates of stir fry she’d prepared that had some kind of fish with a particularly dark red meat. “You two seem lively this evening.” Hayumi said, turning to face them. “Did that knight decide to go light on your training for today, or have you had some sort of breakthrough?”
“Things have been coming along for me- so much so that I don’t think I need to stick around for the training anymore. Speaking of which, we have something we want to talk to you about. Leo, since you proposed this venture I think you ought to be the one to explain.”
“Yeah, sure, but before that, I’m very curious.” Leo said, gesturing to the food. “Feels like I smelled that from halfway across Normouth.”
“Oh, I’m sure.” Hayumi said with a chuckle, then reached for one of the plates, and a set of utensils to hand to Leo. “The meat here is vicrah - river leviathans from Enkonai. Their unique constitution gives the meat an invigorating effect, but also its strong odor. Come to think of it, some of their other parts might be useful to you, Leo, but they’re much more costly than the meat on the Labors’ market.”
“There’s someone selling just the leviathan meat in the Labors’s shop?” Leo asked, taking the plate and starting to gather some of the food to take a bite.
“Of course. It’s certainly more of a leisure purchase than the others, but you can find just about anything if you know where to look. Those who moderate the shop are fairly lax concerning what you can sell, as long as it is perfectly clear what is being sold.”
As Hayumi spoke, and the three of them began to move to the dining room to set their plates down and eat properly, Leo finally took a bite of the food, and his eyes widened. The vicrah had a strong flavor - as strong as its odor implied, but Leo also felt alert, awake, and full of energy. The fatigue from the day’s earlier training washed away. Like taking multiple shots of espresso and having the effects hit him all at once. “You weren’t kidding. Kazato said you’ve cooked this before, did something happen?”
“Why yes,” Hayumi said. Once they all settled down, she reached into a pocket and pulled out a couple of things. One looked to be a pointed piece of metal, almost like a spearhead. She had to unwrap the second object from a bundle of cloth, a deep blue and oddly moist orb, that seemed to have some sort of liquid inside. “I’ve spent most of the month that you two have spent training looking for these. If you have the mana, I’d ask that you Combine them together.”
“Sure.” Leo took the items, noting how cold and heavy the bolt felt in his hand. He wanted to ask about them, but he supposed it didn’t exactly matter when he’d be able to replicate the final result anyway. With his will and a thought, he Combined the two items and waited for the result.
You have created a B-Rank item for the first time! Achievement Reward: B-Rank Unrestricted Karma
Tideshard Amplifier (B-Rank)
A focus with the coalesced power of waves. Amplifies Water-based abilities. If used too many times in rapid succession, it will shatter. Repairs itself over time.
The first thing he noticed was a sharp decline in his mana - well over half of it to create the B-rank item. Since he’d raised his intuition, he’d gotten a much better sense for that kind of thing without having to even open up his status window. It neared the limits of what he could actually create so far with Combine without a lucky critical. “An amplifier for Water?” He said, handing the newly created item back to Hayumi.
“It has its uses, it will simply stay with me for the moment, but when the time comes I will make wonderful use of it.”
That reminded Leo, as he went back to digging into the stir fry and feeling the slight fatigue from spending so much mana at once wash away with a single mouthful, that he hadn’t actually Appraised Hayumi since the first time when they were in the woods. His rank had been too low to get anything but her rank, but maybe he’d actually get something this time.
[Warning! The difference in rank is too high! Some information is restricted.]
Name:
Hayumi Aiza
Class
Mirage Weaver
Element
Fire, Aether
Total Rank
A+
“You’re staring.” Hayumi said, with a knowing look.
Leo swallowed hard. He still couldn’t see her stats, but her Intuition had to be absurdly high. Just how it was when he Appraised her the first time. “You’re imagining things. Anyway, Layne’s inviting you to a dungeon delve.” Quickly changing the subject, Leo went onto explain the details of the dungeon he’d learned from Layne. Hayumi listened with rapt attention, though she continuously turned over the recently obtained Tideshard Amplifier in one hand.
Once he finished, Hayumi leaned back in her seat, finally sliding the amplifier into her sleeve. “That Layne is an interesting one. You said that he’d been searching for the keys to unlock this dungeon? Knowledge of such things doesn't come easy. I have to wonder just how he found out about them to begin with, or what he wants from them.”
“I have no clue either way.” Leo replied. “But aren’t you curious to find out?”
“I am, I can’t deny that.” Hayumi said, giving him a wide grin. “And you’ve caught me in a good mood, especially after that successful combination. It would also be a good way to see the results of your training in a controlled environment. Tell me, what rank is he?”
Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.
“B minus.” Leo said, though not before a brief pause. He didn’t know how much Layne cared about keeping his own rank a secret.
“That explains a bit.” Hayumi said. “I’d wondered when he showed up at the conclusion of that battle. That does bring me some assurance. With the party you’ve assembled, the ranks skew closer to D than the estimated rank of the dungeon. Having someone else around closer to my rank makes me feel better on the off chance that any unexpected variables arise.”
Leo thought back to his tutorial dungeon. With a C-rank boss despite it being a D-rank dungeon, with Leo himself being E-rank at the time. She had a point. Still, Leo didn’t have to mention at all that Layne had only been D-rank when they first met, nor was Leo completely sure Layne was even B-rank when he killed the Matriarch. From all Leo had seen so far, rising up that high in ranks wasn’t normal.
“So, that seems like a yes.” Kazato said. She’d been quiet for most of the conversation, but as Leo glanced over, he noticed her nearly empty plate. “Will you be joining us for the planning then?”
“Of course.” Hayumi leaned forward, beginning to pay her own plate of food more attention. “I am also curious who Layne plans to find to fulfill the role of healer. It might be an opportunity for scouting, if anything. Enough about that for now, though. Any more and we’ll find our food frigid.”
They finished eating their food, and Leo found the effect of the vicrah fascinating. Almost like an energy drink, except he didn’t feel any more awake and hyper. It helped to ease the fatigue of the training from earlier in the day and helped him feel rested. He’d definitely have to see if he could make anything out of a larger sample of meat whenever Hayumi felt like buying some from the labor’s shop. Presently, all of Leo’s credits would probably go to supplies for the trip, making sure he had a solid stockpile of bombs, arrows, and the like, and a backlog of raw materials that he could use to make new items on the road. They’d lose access to the shop once they got too far away from civilization, so he had to prepare.
Food done, Kazato turned in for the night after they all took their plates to the kitchen to clean, leaving Hayumi and Leo in the hall before they’d turn to go to their respective rooms.
“Ah, since we’re about to go afield, perhaps we should lighten up on your training. It seems you’ve been doing fairly well, but I honestly couldn’t tell you if the repeated dreams would have any effect on your waking self while we were delving. We’ve already seen that death in your dreams has an effect on its own.”
With the example she gave, Leo didn’t have much of anything to disagree with. “If you think we should. I’m definitely better off than I was when we started, but honestly I don’t know how well all of this has actually prepared me for actually fighting again.”
“It has prepared you plenty. Finely honed, masterful combat skills will take much longer to develop than thirty short days, but from what I’ve seen, you’ve been able to cultivate something rather wonderful to close the gap.”
“I have?”
“You haven’t noticed? Honestly, it was starting to get a bit difficult putting up things against you without starting to throw large waves at you all at once, or put you up against things far beyond your rank. As we progressed, I found you started slaying your conjured foes with startling efficiency. It took a bit for me to realize, but you appraised every enemy you fought, yes?” At Leo’s nod, Hayumi continued. “Of course. You could see their elements, and subsequently create something to counter them. You’ve developed an envious amount of versatility.”
“Oh, thanks. It started from some advice I got from Layne, but I’ve been collecting more formulas to work with especially since I can’t make new things while I’m dreaming.”
“I can see a grand version of you in the future. Like most Laborers, your creations are somewhat limited by your rank, but in the future? Constantly rising to the occasion with an answer to any problem. The smart Laborer would have similar contingencies, but not every Laborer has access to the Appraise skill. I haven’t said it as much as I probably should have been, but I am quite glad you’ve accepted my proposal.”
“Grand, huh?” Other than mild embarrassment for the praise, Hayumi’s words brought him back to the conversation with the god who brought him into the Labors to begin with. Before he got too concerned with his own thoughts, he noticed that Hayumi was staring this time. “I’m glad too. Here’s to continuing fruitful partnership.” He said, and then cleared his throat. “If there isn’t anything else, guess I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Indeed. Good night.” With a wave, Hayumi took off toward her own room, and Leo found his way to his.
The last thing on the agenda before he slept, finding out where to put the B-rank Karma he got from making the Tideshard Amplifier. After weighing his options, he decided to put it in Will, since it would result in the rank going up immediately to E+.
With that done, he slept, and dreamt. Not the incredibly lucid dreams brought on by Hayumi, but a swirl of brief moments and images, an unmanipulated dream. He didn’t remember much when he woke up the next morning, but as he might have expected, he dreamed only of fighting, the sound of his bombs going off, and the pained cries of creatures he’d fought throughout the month.
Maybe it was for the best that he didn’t continue his dream training, like Hayumi suggested.
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+ (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.
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), Tideshard Amplifier (B) Bombs | Fire, Frost, Lightning, Shrapnel, Poison (C) Spells | Candlewick, Spectral Bow (E) Potions | Healing, Mana, Restoration, Deepbreath (C) -