Tempest sat still for a while contemplating the name for her young pack, "Hmm, I think Nightshade works just fine," Tempest said just as Soren and Skadi emerge from the shaft. The two of them looked at the wreckage wrought by Tempest who appeared wholly unhurt. "Whoa, this is a ton of damage. Looks like you had no trouble dealing with the smugglers," Soren noted while examining the surrounding area.
"Yea I'm fine I just have loads to tell you!"
Tempest went on to tell him about all her changes including that she turned someone else and that the guy is capable but definitely a beta wolf so he follows the alphas orders. The three of them shared their changes, though, Skadi was the most obvious with her arms apart from Soren without his transformation skill active.
"Here I have something for you," said Soren handing her the ring, "Since you don't have regen I thought this could be very helpful to you."
Tempest thanked the two of them sincerely, she had been wanting to try out her new abilities sooner rather than later.
[Assimilate]
The ring began to break down; all the luster in the metal left, it's glow dimmed, the ring itself began to crumble into nothingness. Once the ring had disappeared completely Tempest received two more notifications.
<[Assimilate] cooldown 29:23:58:45>
'That is some cooldown,' thought Tempest though she could understand that she acquired a permanent new ability by taking the magic off the ring and making it her own. The three had left the fort and began to head back to Bulwark Keep the border city walking casually, "There's about a week left till the full moon how should we handle that?" Tempest asked the group.
"Lets go grab those chains we used to hold down the chimera we can use those to prevent you from hurting anyone." Soren suggested.
"Ok, is there enough chain for a second lycan? I don't want the beta's first turning to be by himself."
"That's fair, and yes there should be, lets stop by that cave and get what we need. We probably should have gotten those chains earlier since it's an expensive new alloy that Irene made anyway."
They turned from their current course and started walking toward the cave. After a couple hours of walking they were able to get to the cave without any problems and retrieved the chains. On their way out, however, A giant falcon had swooped down and perched itself on a large rock outside the cave. The girls immediately got into a battle stance but Soren talked them down quickly, "Wait there's something attached to the bird." He walked up and opened up a circular leather document case that was strapped to the back of the bird. Once he was able to open the case and get the document out, which was a rolled up piece of parchment, the bird took flight and left the three standing there confused. "I suppose we should read whatever is on here," said Soren.
Hello Soren, its Bruno of Twilight Dragon Guild. I wanted to thank you for sending that wonderful alchemist to our guild I know I had never gotten a chance to thank you. I did not write to you solely to thank you, however. This letter is an official guild recall, the guild tournament has been decided and it will be held in the capital ten days from now. Please bring your companions so we can make them official members, and be ready for another guild test so we can upgrade your statuses. I will hold a promotion ceremony for the three of you so we can register you in the C rank tournament. I think we will do well enough in the other brackets but it is important to show the other guilds the power of our younger generation of adventurers. The winner of the C ranked tournament will get 1500 gold pieces, and the publicity will bring more talent to our guild. I hope to see you three shortly.
Best Regards
GuildMaster Twilight Dragon Bruno
Soren finished reading the letter aloud and a smile spread across the faces of the two girls. They were excited to see how they compared to members of the other guilds. "Well, lets not wait," Soren said enthusiastically, "You two want to see something cool?" The two nodded and Soren removed his scythe Devourer and swiped at the open air while saying, "Illyria." A rip in space appeared where he used the scythe. The rip was slashed diagonally and roughly six feet in size. The rip began to widen and stretch until it reached a full oval shape eight feet high and five feet in width. The girls had their mouths ajar, "You guys go through the portal first, it should take us directly to the outskirts of the city...I hope," said Soren.
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"You hope?!" Tempest questioned voicing her concern.
"First time using the ability."
Skadi went right through the portal while Tempest palmed her forehead in frustration, but after a minute or so Skadi had stuck her head back through, "We are right on the outskirts of the city just inside the forest. It will probably be only a fifteen minute walk from here to the front gates." Tempest opened her mouth again to say something but it was lost so she closed it again and walked through the portal after Skadi, once Tempest had completely gone through Soren entered the portal. A strange sensation engulfed him, like being forcibly dragged forward by some unforeseen force, the feeling really unsettling his stomach. Once he stepped onto the dirt path on the outskirts of the forest in Illyria the portal sealed shut behind him. "Ugh that was much stranger than I anticipated," Soren said as the two girls nodded both still trying to rid themselves of the sensation, Skadi having a rougher time with since she essentially went twice. They navigated through the city to reach the Twilight Dragon Guild, which now had a beautifully designed sign with no graffiti or busted windows, and entered. The guild was a stark contrast to the last time Soren set foot inside. An enclosed fire pit surrounded by a circular lounge that sported coffee tables in front of some of the benches. The benches were a deep mahogany color and carved into the wood was a depiction of dragons dancing through the air with each other. The coffee tables were made out of marble to match the floors. The west wall now had an official quest board which prior to the last time he was here was adorned with a multitude of quest ranging from D ranked quests to A ranked quests. Most of the quests had to do with gathering alchemic ingredients since the majority of the guilds money comes from the high quality potions produced here. There was still monster subjugations and bandit capturing but more than 80% of the quests had to do with herb and other various ingredients. Soren couldn't help himself, he went to look at some of the A ranked quests just to see what the difference in difficultly level is between the two and read:
Alchemic Ingredient in Dire Need!
In need of no less than 10 vampire fangs for high quality potion!
Pay will be no less than 100 gold per fang and fang must come
from no less than that of the noble ranking for further details see...
Soren stopped reading there, he was incredibly interested in seeing how strong vampires were and what crazy potion could be made from their fangs. Unfortunately due to the guild rules, he would have to raise his rank to at least B before being able to take on that quest because you can only challenge a quest that is either one up or one down from your current rank. Since Tempest, Skadi, and himself are being evaluated for C rank, for example, they will only be able to commission for B or D rank quests. If you steal a higher ranked quest, even if you complete it, there will be a guild penalty and a fine for double the bounty of the quest from losses incurred. While Soren was deep in thought a huge, muscled red forearm and hand entered into view, and turning to see who grabbed the vampire quest Soren had to look up to see him. There was a twelve foot tall man with a barbarian build taking the vampire quest. Soren was unable to help himself [Inspect].
"Hey there, you three must be the noobies I've heard so much about. Name's Crovax, though you probably already know, since you don't know it's impolite to Inspect someone without their consent."
"Uhhh sorry, I had no idea that others can even tell you do inspect them," Soren retorted.
"Most don't, but there's a skill for it. I'd just be careful in the future."
"I appreciate your guidance."
Crovax went to the receptionist to activate the official quest when the three of them regroup and headed for the guild master's office. After knocking a familiar voice beckoned them inside and Bruno was beaming. "Oh welcome! It's great to see you guys, if I had known you were right outside the city I wouldn't of bothered sending a falcon to you. Otherwise you wouldn't of gotten here so quickly."
"Greetings Guild Master," the three said in unison.
"Soren, you have brought in an amazing alchemist and two wonderful new additions to our guild. Since they have been with you a while I make the promotion to C rank for the three of you, congratulations. Also, since you've done everything I've ask for and more here is a little incentive pay for you, just need you to sign your name saying that you've received it."
Soren signed his name after reading his earnings receipt and his eyes grew a bit wide after seeing the figure.
500 gold.