When I woke up in the morning, I meditated. Not really to think about something, or relax myself, or anything like that. It just felt strangely nice to spend a few minutes doing absolutely nothing.
I bet this is what it would be like to be a tree.
Once I opened my eyes I was greeted to the sun streaming directly in my face, and a notification that I was almost looking forward to.
Proficiency Gained Would You Like To Take The General Skill [Meditation]?
I kind of wanted to save that last slot for some more metamagic, but apparently most people only actually used a couple of General Slots for something related to their Path, and saved the rest for quality of life stuff. If you thought about it like that, then I could just take literally whatever I wanted and it probably wouldn’t really matter all that much.
Besides, if what Kaelan said was true, then Meditation might actually help me to improve Channel Mana and Breath Of Mana. It’s kind of like getting two birds with one… something or another. I’ll figure out the specifics later.
Regardless, I couldn’t see any reason that taking Meditation would be a bad idea, so I decided to go ahead and accept.
Skill Gained
Existing Proficiency Detected
Altering Level
General Skills MAX Walking 9 Breath Of Mana 2 Sense Danger 4 Channel Mana 6 Meditation 3
Now I’m finally done thinking about that problem.
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I distinctly remember, as I went to sleep the previous night, thinking something about being ready to continue my routine tomorrow (or today, I supposed).
When I arrived at the Training Fields the first thing that tipped me off that something was strange was the fact that Kaelan was at the entrance instead of our usual field. The second thing was that he was talking to a large individual wearing a distinctly eye-catching set of full plate armour.
It was near pitch black, with perhaps a hint of some other similarly dark colour when their shifting movements caused the light to bounce off in strange ways, and it seemed to be completely sealed, not allowing even a glimpse at any part beneath it.
But the things that captured the majority of my attention were the dozens of brutal spikes that seemed to stick out at every possible place. Most of them were in easily manoeuvrable places like the hands and feet, but there were even some around the waist and sticking up from the shoulders.
Why does their armour look like that? Do they think it looks cool?
During my observations, Kaelan had apparently noticed me and motioned for the armoured person to follow as he came to greet me. I couldn’t help but notice that the armour didn’t make a sound as its metal boots hit the ground with every step.
“Hey! Rob! Good to see you, this is another student that I've just started teaching. They’re here to take that bounty, so I’m gonna see if I can’t help him figure out a strategy for someone who seems specialised against mages,” Ah yeah, that one. Just talking about a prolific serial killer openly like that was a bit grim, so we’d taken to just referring to the bounty if we had something to say about it. It’s certainly better than just saying ‘the mage killer’.
The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.
“Greetings, I am the one called Absolute Render. It is a pleasure to meet another student of Zephyr.”
“Likewise. I guess you already know, but my name’s Robert Zeneki. Why is your armour covered in spikes?” Without missing a beat Absolute Render (What the hell is that name? I’m just gonna call them Render for now) responded.
“My Path is that of an unarmed Warrior, thus I use these spikes in order to pierce the hides of enemies resistant to blunt force. They also provide ample space whilst walking through crowded spaces.”
“Oh, that actually seems useful. Maybe I should get something like that… “ The three of us lapsed into silence for a few moments before Kaelan broke it.
“Well, it’s good that you showed up, Rob, because I’m gonna need to talk to you about something.”
“Hm? What is it?”
“Ah, the thing is I’m not sure that I’ll have tons of time to teach both you and Render over here on top of doing Jobs to make a living, so I’m gonna have to put out lessons on hold for now. Sorry if this is too sudden, but I’d like to help them out at soon as possible.”
“I see.” In truth, I wasn’t entirely sure what to think here. Kaelan had been helping me with magic for months now without asking for anything in return, and I’d already learned so much that I wouldn’t have been able to figure out on my own, but I’d gotten quite comfortable in this routine and it was going to suck to have to move out of it, “That’s fine,” I spoke simply instead of voicing any of my concerns.
Despite how conflicted I was internally, Kaelan looked relieved that I didn’t outwardly seem to mind, and said “That’s good. And hey, now you have time to get some practical experience too. You could probably handle anything on the first or second job board just fine, so maybe take some of those.”
“Yeah, I guess I’ll do that. Are you gonna start with Render right now?”
“Yup, good luck with your job hunting. We’ll probably end up seeing each other pretty often in the Job Hall if you take enough jobs, but if you ever want to say hi just come over here at our usual times, yeah?”
“Alright, see ya. Good luck with your lessons, Render. I’ll be off I guess.”
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It had been quite some time, but I still remembered where the Job Hall was so I got there in just a few minutes. I suppose it didn’t hurt that it was literally visible from the Centre, but I chose to believe that I’d gotten better at navigating the city.
The inside was more crowded than when I was last here, but not so much that I’d have any trouble getting to the board I wanted. If only I could remember which one it was…
Which ones did Kaelan say I could handle? The first and second, I think.
So I ended up looking at the requests on the second board, noting that it was much more sparse than the first one, although the jobs seemed to be worth a lot more money.
Destroy a rampant Golem- 40 copper
Hunt a Dire Wolf- 35 copper
Clean out a cistern- 50 copper
That last one seems a little out of place, just how bad is it?
Most of these jobs didn’t seem too difficult, although I didn’t have much experience to judge since my combat experience consists of countless rats and a single wolf. After scanning most of the board, one of the jobs in particular stuck out to me, so I took it down and read it more thoroughly.
Slay a Giant Slime, estimated level around 10
It’s been terrorising my farm for weeks now, and I’ve had enough. Please come to my farm west of Ironhold as soon as possible if you’re willing to help. You’ll be able to recognise it by the melted crops.
I’m willing to pay 60 coppers to get rid of this thing, but we can negotiate if you end up having trouble with it.
I stuck the piece of paper back on the board, only then realising that I just tore it off and damaged it at the top, before heading out of the Job Hall and looking around.
In the months I’d been in the city, I hadn’t exactly had much of a reason to leave. I mean, everything I needed was nearby and after the first job I hadn’t taken any others, so why should I be expected to even leave the more organised centre anyway?
What I’m trying to say is that I had no idea where I should be going to get out of the city. If there were multiple checkpoints, and I needed to head west anyway, my best bet would probably be to head west until I saw something that looked like the checkpoint I went through to get in.
Unfortunately, nothing is ever quite so easy and I ended up wandering for hours, and actually asking someone for help a few times towards the end, before I found the west gate.
Just like the last time, there was a small line to get in, but getting out required no such fuss. I didn’t even have to speak to the guard as I left, just being allowed to walk right past with nothing more than a nod, so at least I wouldn’t be delayed by that.
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The sun was still high in the sky as I began walking down the road, keeping an eye out in either direction for any half melted fields or giant slimes, but I knew that I wouldn’t really come across them any time soon.
I was fairly certain that the Guards would deal with any monsters that were close enough to the city for them to keep their buffs, and if they couldn’t handle it then the Guard Captain would. Even I could figure out that that meant the farm must have been relatively far away.
At least it’s good for levelling up Walking.
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Finally, after roughly half an hour of walking, I found the edge of a wheat field that looked to have been harvested in a single diagonal line for whatever reason. A closer inspection revealed that there wasn’t even a blade of grass left in the path, which I could now only assume must have been left by the Slime.
Man, how big is this thing? This path is like two metres wide!
There didn’t seem to be an official entrance nearby so, not wanting to waste any time, I decided to just follow the path of barren dirt until I came across either the slime or the farmer that posted the request.
I was slightly worried that the slime was on the other side of the presumably massive field, but after walking just a few metres I noticed that the path significantly widened out. In fact, it looked like the Slime had decided to carve a massive circular clearing out of the crop, leaving an area at least 20 or 30 metres across completely devoid of any plantlife.
And in the centre of that circle, laying like a pile of sludge, was a 4 metres tall greenish yellow slime. It was slowly vibrating, and for some reason I got the impression that it was sleeping. I guess that might come from the crystalline core floating inside of it that slowly pulsed like a bizarre heartbeat.
It looks like I’d found the slime.