I officially hate carriage rides now. Worse than car rides or bus rides or riding in a fucking mini van if you’re a tall person.
Why the fuck are they so goddam bouncy? The road is making my tits bounce like it’s a swimming episode in an anime. I’m defying physics here!
Why can’t the roads be just smooth? There’s a pebble or a fucking rock every five seconds! Driving me crazy!
There’s nothing to fucking do either! I miss technology…
I’ve learnt all my goddamn spell books and I even checked the rings in the morning, but they weren’t enchanted at all. Just normal fucking rings. Hella disappointing. I want magical items! Not money or decorative items! I’m not at that point yet!
UGH!!!
I really thought that since me and Paris had that little emotional support moment last night that we’d be chatting all day and time would fly.
But no.
We did talk all morning, but we’re still on the road and he’s napping. I’m here just staring outside upholding my head with my hand and looking mean whenever there’s a slight bump in our path. I think we’re almost there, but I’m not going to ask Nephele again about the ETA.
I lean back and cross my legs. It’s absolutely astonishing that I can cross them actually. Before this I had to fear whether or not I’d pop one of my nuts, but honestly, I think it’s a bone structure thing. Crossing my legs is actually quite comfortable.
But, right, what I originally wanted to do was check out that notebook that I was given. I reach into my pack and take it out.
It’s just a simple black notebook, no title on it. I’m guessing it’s tied to each individual. So under the assumption that I might lose it or just drop it and forget about, it will hopefully teleport back to me or something. But let’s just open it up for now.
Pretty small all things considered. Just a few pages.
It lists all the stats I have. From Arcane Knowledge to Riding. My Appearance is at 100, guessing that’s the max. It’s a bit different from the old UI, but at least I don’t have to worry about my appearance, right?
Hmmm….
My Climbing is at 3.
Yeah…expected that…
I think it’s got most of my things down. What about my riding? Ah…
It’s just zero…
That’s not the best…
But at least I have a reference for my capabilities. That’s nice.
I close the notebook and transfer it to my inventory directly. Best to keep it there.
Now what to do? I can’t just shoot stuff out of the carriage for fun. I guess I could plan what I do in Scrya? But that’s a relatively simple thing. Head into the rich areas and find myself a shop to buy spell books. Probably sell those rings as well if I have time.
I could dump the ones I don’t need anymore. After that we meet the queen and her daughters. I’m partially curious how that’s going to turn out. I don’t remember much about their personalities. One thing I do know is that supposedly the sisters are total opposites.
But I’m not going to try and get on their bad sides. If I meet them that is. That brings up a good point. They aren’t technically NPCs anymore. I can’t just walk into the palace and find them. I think I’ll the leave the asking for an audience stuff to Neph or Paris. They're more experienced in this stuff than me.
That guild of hers has people in high places. Wonder if she’ll introduce me to any. Start building up my own network.
Should I join a guild in the future? Or like one of those magic academies? I am technically a young adult so I shouldn’t have any problem in applying. It might be fun. Those places are usually in the more diverse parts of the world. Like the Obsidian Sky Falls and the Nuex Coast.
I’d need an actual world map to see how far they are. Not that I know anything about mapping…
I just sigh. I need to learn so much. From basic horse riding to navigating a map. At least I have a start on alchemy.
I need to enter the True Man’s World, heh.
True Elf’s World in this case.
If I get any degree of actual magical power and I fight like a Titan or something I’m screaming Jojo references hehe.
I feel myself smile as I stare out the window. I can actually live out my dreams in this world to some degree.
I think I’m nervous about leaving. Entering this world already gave me enough anxiety. Exploring it might double the amount. I wonder how my one night stand and the prince are doing. I oddly miss them. Naoko as well. Freedom Fighter monk must be having a fun time.
Maybe one day I’ll be back to that country. But laying low after the prison exploded is a good move at the moment. Wonder how long that was. Time might pass different. I didn’t consider how there are new time zones as well. Everything is so complicated..
Lot of thoughts popping into my head right now. Like, is Achilles and Herakles fighting together on the front lines? That would be a cool sight to see. Those are the more positive and fantastical thoughts…
I glance over to Paris, whose still asleep. I wonder what he can do. He doesn’t look like much of a fighter. Maybe he’s good with a bow. I won’t get to find out anyways. He’ll be staying safe and sound in the royal palace. I’d actually like to keep his guard’s promise.
There’s another bump in the road. God I hate it! Every slight bump makes my fucking tits bounce like a goddamn basketball.
I glance out the window again onto the road. Hmm. Not dirt, that looks like a proper road if you feel me. Are we close? That’s pretty good if we are. Need to work up the courage to speak with a vendor. I stretch my arms and lay back. Most important thing on my shopping list is more summon spells.
Hopefully they will have a pack summon, and hopefully a few elemental summon spells. Oh, and maybe a golem summon. I should also try and diversify my attack spells. I’ve got lightning and fire. Something with ice and maybe a necromantic spell should add more punch to my arsenal.
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I can leave utility spells to a minimum for the moment I think. I don’t think I’ll be in a situation where I’ll need something overly specific, but we are headed to the capital. Overly specific stuff should be most of the selection besides general spells.
Trading in the spell books I used should save quite a bit of money as well.
A shiver runs down my spine for a split second. I did see a man get decapitated before we met Paris.
I gulp.
Don’t think I’ll be forgetting that anytime soon. I just rub my head. Real world death is unnerving..
How many more times can I cast Calm before I get numb to seeing death? I feel like I might be cheating my own mind.
I shake my head and just focus out the window, I need to get my mind off of it, but look at what we have here. Those are buildings I see. It seems like we’ve made it to the outskirts. Only a few more minutes then, layout designs are pretty good and simple in Highlander.
Unless heavy traffic is a thing that exists in fantasy worlds.
I knock on the carriage wall behind me and Nephele pulls open a little window.
“Yes, we are here. It shouldn’t take long to reach the palace.” She says
“Could you drop me off in the palace district markets? I don’t think we’re in a hurry.” I request of her
“If you wish.” She says closing the little window
Some little city exploring should be fun I think. Wait, no, ugh, I need to deal with the royal stuff first, I promised.
I lean back and just stare at the ceiling of the carriage.
I exhale a small bit.
What do I want to do with myself? What opportunities am I willing and wanting to pursue? I can’t just go with the whole “More magic! More power! Happy!” shtick, I’d get burned out fast.
I close my eyes for a second and just try and visualize myself. But I’m not able to. I can’t get my own image right.
I feel the carriage come to a stop and open my eyes. I can deal with that later.
The little window gets pulled open and Nephele comes into view.
“Don’t get lost. I’ll meet you at the palace.” She says
I give her a nod with a light smile and grab my stuff then get out of the carriage.
The sun is bright as it was in the morning. Hate the heat. I’m a cold weather kind of person.
I close the carriage door and Nephele heads off. I turn myself around and woah.
The markets are filled to the brim with people. I think all humans, well, probably all humans. I can probably get by without getting noticed much. Lots of Pure Amazonians as well. So tall jesus….
Guess I should start my shopping. But before that. I take a glance around and there it is. The palace. Right on top of a hill. And there’s the temple to Ares and the temple to Artemis. It’s honestly a beautiful place.
A historians dream to see ancient Greece, even if it is a fantastical version of it. A plethora of colors making everything appear filled with life. Let’s just hope the people aren’t dicks, not that I plan on making friends much.
I start making my way towards the crowd and eventually merge into it. It’s a bit hard to see where I’m going since most of these women are nearly seven feet tall, you'd be surprised to know that this isn't the only place where this height is common, world's pretty diverse with height. But luckily it doesn’t take me long till I find where I’m going.
That symbol there is a strophalos. That means my kind of shop!
I manage to get out of the crowd and make my way towards it. I do glance around and do see a few eyes staring at me, but nothing seemingly problematic. At least not in my opinion.
I enter the shop and the smell of books hit me. Mmm. Nice, calming, exquisite, bountiful.
Huge selection. Green flags everywhere.
I take a few steps into the shop and look for the vendor, but she doesn’t seem to be anywhere. Oh well.
Time to shop!
I rub my hands together and move to the closest shelf and start scanning each shelf for a spell book that I want.
And right there I see what I’m looking for. I reach out and grab five spell books. I think I read the writing on them right.
We’ve got Summon Pack, absolute win. Summon Spirit Warrior, basically a better Summon Skeleton in a sense. Summon Stone Golem for when I need a tank and some heavy damage dealing. Summon Spirit of Life, a remote healing spell basically, I won’t be able to heal people too far away from me. Finally we have Summon Fire Elemental, nice, nice.
I move forward closely observing the shelves of books, not really finding much besides the bare bones basic spells which I’m not in the mood for, but right there I see a nice one. I reach up and pull out the spell book and we’ve got Ice Ring. Good, good.
Basically summons a flat ring of ice around my body and expands itself away from the caster, great for dealing with multiple opponents and it has some pretty good additional effects.
Those right there look like Necromancy books. I honestly didn’t think they’d be selling them out in the open, necromancy has always been more taboo in the magic scene for obvious reasons. But let’s see what we have there.
Hands of Hunger, that’s a good one. Pick a target, summon a bunch of skeletal hands to grab the target’s feet, deals necrotic damage and keeps them immobile until they can escape it. Shroud of Bones? Didn’t expect that one. To simplify it, it acts like a shield, but also deals damage to anyone hostile that gets close, makes me resistant to certain kinds of damage. It’s like a sort of stand if that makes sense.
I skip along the many rows of books looking for more stuff to get. A shame I can’t buy it all, even all this might be too much. Here I thought having all that gold would keep me rich forever. Magic is like gacha honestly. The good and addicting kind.
Is that Bubble and Cleanse? I’m not passing up on those two. Bubble is a good substitute for underwater breathing spells and Cleanse is for cleaning dirt of stuff among other things, really simple spells, but I think I’ll settle with all these. Ten new spells, damn. Should be fun learning these. Going to be thrilling when I can use them.
Now to find the vendor because these books are surprisingly heavy, and I don’t know how much more strength I’ve got in me. You know I am somewhat tempted to steal these since I don’t see the vendor. Would I be a bad person if I did so?
I mean I think so, but I’ve never done anything like a Thief/Mage build. No, no. Let’s not steal. Not now. I make my way to what I think is the counter and place all the books down. The place is oddly quiet. I glance behind myself to look at the door. This isn’t a trap, is it? Or like a haunted place or something?
I doubt it, but I should keep my guard up. Turning back to the books I suddenly jump back and gasp at the sight of a woman standing behind the counter.
Fuck you! Jesus, fucking, christ! That scared the shit out of me!
I take a few moments to catch my breath and straighten myself out. How the fuck do I even initiate a fucking conversation right now? Asshole scared the shit out of me.
“Are you really an Elf?” she asks
I just nod.
“W-Why?”
“How did you get here?” she just ignores my question, alright
“Washed up..” I say
“Are you leaving the island?”
I nod again.
She stares at me for a little before her eyes go to the books I’ve placed on the counter. She starts looking them over one by one before looking back to me.
“Do you have any spell books you wish to trade in?”
I pull out all the ones I have and place them down. She goes through them one by one like the other batch and then looks back to me.
“Five hundred drachma.” I’m guessing that’s the price with the discount
More than I expected for some reason. I take out the money though without any word and hand it to her. She takes the books I traded in and places them below the counter. I take the new ones and transfer them to my inventory.
I give her a little bow and thank her. As I straighten myself out I see that she’s disappeared from behind the counter. Creepy. I can’t even remember her face that well suddenly.
Right, that’s my cue to leave.
I head back to the door and start to open it when the one thing that I hoped wouldn’t pop into my head. An actual shielding spell for physical attacks would be good. Now, do I go back or just leave and buy one later? I don’t plan on getting into much shit, but still...
I close my eyes and think. Goddammit I don’t want to deal with that creepy woman. She feels like the kind of creep that would want to keep my bathwater close to herself as she sleeps. Fine…having that kind of spell would help.
I open my eyes back up, but I’m not in the markets or the store. My eyes dart around as I try and figure out where I am. The giant marble palace gives it away.
I shiver, it was one of those kind of stores. They’re so fucking creepy. Once you’ve purchased something and leave you get teleported to wherever you were planning on heading next in the city. I just rub my arms. Ack, I hate it!
Makes me wonder how the actual teleportation spell is now..
Ugh, I might throw up, shit is disorienting…
“Ynnessa.” I hear Nephele’s voice call to me
I turn around to see her, Paris not with her.
“Is everything alright?” she asks me "You arrived sooner than expected."
“Yeah, yeah. Just a bit tired. Where’s Paris?” I ask
“Inside, we should hurry as well.” She says
"Hurry?" I ask
"I was told that we would need to enter as well." she explains
Alright I guess. I just nod.
Let’s get this over with as well