I could officially say I hated the alpha asshole. Pendragon wasn’t much better either. Whenever I asked a question they would force me to work out the solution myself. Ginger was the one that gave me the hints I needed to answer my own questions. Even then, those two would cut her off before she said too much.
Still, I managed to kill another three of the creatures by the time Liam finally called a halt to my ‘flailing around’ as he called it. The fact that none of the creatures dealt any more damage than the first did made me all the more grateful for my dress.
Who would have thought I would be the one saying that? I mean, it wasn’t that long ago that I fought against the very idea of wearing a skirt, let alone a dress. Yet here I was, not only willing to wear a dress but being thankful for the damned thing.
The alpha’s voice broke me out of my mind and back to what he was saying. “I think you have killed enough for now.” While I couldn’t agree with the wolf, my muscles were practically begging me for a reprieve. “What types of missions are there in the guild?”
“Hunting and gathering.” Those two came out of my mouth without much thought as the rest of my mind tried to think if there were any other mission types.
He didn’t wait long before stating, “There are also escort, guard, and even delivery quests. Some of which don’t require you to even leave a city.” Where was he going with this? “Which is what you will be limited to until I decide otherwise.”
Yeah, that wasn’t happening. The guy was already pushing my boundaries by demanding I take someone with me whenever I left. He sure as hell wasn’t going to limit where I could go even with an escort. “Yeah, no…”
His glare shut me up as he continued. “Everyone should have a basic understanding of the area they are going to be in. What hazards exist? What kinds of creatures one might find in the area? Water? Food? These are questions you need to have answers for before even setting out.”
“I can carry my food and water with me.” I interrupted him. “As for the rest, were you not the ones that told me to not trust any information I am handed? If that is the case then how will I know the answers without first visiting the location and finding out for myself?” My voice had continued to rise through my little tirade until I was practically yelling at him.
My chest slightly heaved while he simply lifted an eyebrow and asked, “Are you done?” Thankfully, he didn’t comment as I rolled my eyes. “Just because you cannot trust the information does not mean you should just not gather anything you can. In fact, you should find out anything and everything, just be prepared for everything to be wrong or go to shit the moment you arrive.” Okay, that made a bit of sense. “As for your food and water. Sure, you can carry quite a bit but what if you run out? What if something happens and your food is spoiled or you run out of potions? Do you have the knowledge to find safe food? Clean water? Basic healing compounds?”
He didn’t stop his lecture. “There will be times that you are on a long-term quest. One that has you out for weeks at a time. While you can carry quite a bit, especially with the larger bags, but there are still limits to how much you can bring with you. Any good adventurer is going to know how to do a little bit of everything. This does not mean you need to know everything. There are specialists for that. You just need to know enough to get you to the nearest specialist.”
As Liam’s lecture finally ended, I found myself agreeing, albeit reluctantly, with him. “Where do you suggest I start?” I asked.
He looked ready to say something when Ginger furrowed her brows and asked, “This is a dumb question, but do you have the Identification skill? Or even any analysis-based skill?” Of course there was a skill for identifying things.
My eyes closed and I took a deep breath as I shook my head. Even with my eyes closed, I could hear the annoyed exasperation in Liam’s voice. “Buy one.” Mentally, I called up the skill shop and clicked on the filter page. Instead of filtering it by magic, I searched for analysis skills. The list was surprisingly long.
Skill Selection
Skill
Point Cost
Item Identification
2
Plant Identification
2
Environment Identification
2
Appraise Item
5
Appraise Armor
2
Appraise Weapon
2
Arcane Analysis
10
Alchemical Analysis
5
Mana Tracing
2
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.
Spell Identification
5
Monster Identification
2
Language Analysis
2
Dimensional Analysis
150
Material Analysis
20
Temporal Analysis
#$a2*w3!
…
…
My mind hurt just trying to think about the differences between some of these and why one would need them. Sure, I had a few points saved up from all the leveling I had done when Xander had saved me, but that didn’t mean I wanted to waste it all. Finally, I simply asked the question “Um…what is the difference between each of these?”
The guys looked a bit annoyed that I didn’t just pick one and move on. Ginger smacked Pendragon on the arm as she spoke. “You both know that there are categories to those skills.” Her head turned to me as she answered my question. “There are a number of categories. Honestly, the most basic overview has the skills split up by what they analyze. From arcane to creature to even the world itself. Item Identification, which is something everyone should get, allows one to analyze any item in their hand.”
“And that is different from Appraise Item how?”
“Appraisal skills are more for market and quality. Other than that, those skills don’t give all that much information.” So it was a skill for merchants. “But there are also times that simply identification isn’t all that useful. Anything magic or alchemical in nature requires that the magic itself needs to be checked.”
“Just get the identification skills,” Liam spoke as though he found my lack of knowledge annoying. “That is if you have the points.” I rolled my eyes and bought the five skills. One of which I felt I should already have.
Keep in mind that I had been using my Mana Sense to identify spells as they were being cast. Yet I didn’t have the skill Spell Identification? That made no sense. The skill's effect offered the only clue as to why. “You can identify a spell from sight or feel. No more guessing based on the element.” It almost seemed as if the system was poking at my method of identification. Sure, I had been guessing as to what spell was aimed at me but I was usually right, right?
Reluctantly, I dropped the subject and focused on Liam. The guy didn’t hesitate to throw something at me. I caught it and found myself looking at a rock. Confused, I asked, “What’s this?”
“You tell me.”
There would be no point in yelling at the annoying wolf. Not when he had taken time out of his day to come with us and help train me. With a sigh, I focused on the rock. It took a bit of work but a window popped up.
Item:
Rock
Use:
Can be thrown?
Description:
What do you know, it’s a rock.
I grumbled as I chucked it up the hill. Whoever made this system either had one sick sense of humor or simply didn’t care because sometimes the information it gave was just annoying. This time it was also fucking useless. I didn’t need some stupid system to tell me what I knew the minute I had the thing in my hand.
“Is it edible?” I couldn’t tell if his question was serious or not so I just looked at him as if he was crazy. Which, let’s be honest, he probably was. Liam waited a moment before chuckling and pointing at a plant. The plant crawled between, over, and under various rocks as it looked to get nutrients while also keeping its leaves exposed to the sun. “What is that plant?” As I stood up with the plant between my fingers, I noticed that he suddenly had a huge grin. It took one look at the information to understand why.
Item:
Poison Ivy
Use:
Can be used as an irritant and in some inks.
Description:
Poisonous form of Ivy that can be found in quite a few places. It is well known to cause itching upon contact with bare skin.
“And that is why you don’t just touch anything you come across.” He chuckled. “It is best to try and identify anything and everything before you pick it up as a light rash is the least worrisome thing that can happen.”
“What worse? Other than death I mean.” I asked though I was pretty sure I didn’t want to know.
“Curses, triggers, neurotoxins, and pretty much anything else that we humans have put into any movie or game,” Pendragon answered while Ginger passed me a wet rag from her inventory. Judging by the suds on the edges, she had prepared the rag before coming out. Almost as if she knew what was going to happen.
For the next hour, the three of them walked me through the area. At first, they taught me how to identify and use the skills but, as time passed, Liam worked in a bit of sense training. Was I all that good at figuring out what plants were nearby by smell alone? Nope. But that didn’t mean I didn’t try. It didn’t help that my legs and stomach kept cramping up on me.
It wasn’t just cramps either. A dull throbbing and a feeling of a low fire flickered in my center. Every once in a while, the heat would pulse out. Sending a wave of warmth through my body only to fade as quickly. It wasn’t painful and I could mostly ignore it, but it was annoying and distracting.
To distract myself from the pain, I tried to think of other things. The only ones that worked were thoughts of Xander. Questions about where he was and what he was doing kept flitting through my head. One such question kept coming back up. If he was here, would I be in so much pain?
I was about to break down and ask the asshole what was going on when a wolf sprinted toward us. My Chisa Katana was out and swinging at the creature before I even registered that I had moved. The creature didn’t so much as flinch as my blade cut through the air toward its neck. Not when its focus seemed to be entirely on Liam.
A moment before my blade reached the wolf’s fur, Liam grabbed my wrist, stopping me. It was a good thing too because the wolf’s body twisted and contorted. Standing there, panting up a storm, stood a very naked woman. Something about how close she was had me on edge.
“An Oracle has been killed,” she started. After taking a breath, she continued, “By another Oracle. You have been ordered to return to the tower for a meeting between all the heads.” I don’t know why, but I suddenly felt the need to kill this woman for being so close to Liam while wearing nothing. The very thought caught me off guard and I turned to walk away. I wasn’t going to go far or anything, I just knew that I had to take a second to catch my breath while these two talked.
Unfortunately for me, Liam’s hand still gripped mine and it wouldn’t let go. “Thank you for the information. We will return shortly.” Dismissed, the woman bowed before shifting and running back the way she came. “Let us go back. You can eat something while I deal with this.”
That was all the guy said as he let me go and stripped. It took too much effort to pry my eyes off his body for my liking. However, a moment after I did, his furry nose pressed against my hand. His wolf’s low, rumbling voice caused my arm to vibrate as he spoke. “Let’s go.”
A sudden surge of glee at the thought of running had me moving away from him. “Give me a moment to shift.”
The wolf’s giant head shook. “No time. Just get on.” My lower lip started to move outward into a pout when the fucker’s body gracefully flowed around me. If I didn’t know that there were at least a couple of bones in the guy’s body, I would have thought he was made of some sort of fluid.
Without warning, he slipped between my legs and lifted me onto his back. Instinctively, my hands grabbed onto his scruff. He didn’t even make sure I was secure before he took off. The world blurred around us as he made for the tunnel and the gate beyond.