9. A name and riches.

After filling more water in the stew, Alex put the pot in the fireplace and pushed some of the embers under it.

Then he looked at Kagami and spoke.

Well, I think it would be best if we made something of a schedule or trainings plan.

I want to take at least a few hours every day to learn to fight, at least as well as possible, without a sparring partner.

But the rest of the day is free to learn those magic skills and common knowledge. What do you think?

It sounds good to me, but you should first look at the rest of what is in your backpack. There are some things that you can use for your learning.

Then I should better tell you about your gear; there are some particularities you should be aware of.

And finally, we should think about what to tell people why you are here. As I said, elves are not a common sight on this continent.

Ok, that sounds reasonable.

Alex answered and started to empty the backpack.

First, he got a second mantle, the same as the other, but much thicker. After that, there were three books, which, from their titles, were about Beasts and plants of the north, and a rule book oft he A.S.S..

They would really come in handy. He stopped for a short time to look at the writing. It was a strange feeling, to see a completely foreign alphabet for the first time and still be able to read it.

The next two, well things, were puzzling. Two nearly identical black, perhaps obsidian, boards, about 50 cm long, 10 cm wide and 2 cm thick. They were both artfully engraved with lines and a complicated cuneiform font, everything inlaid with a strange metal.

The strangest thing was he could read it. Even if it made no sense to him.

Kagamis voice broke him out of his wonder.

Those are really a treasure!

I have no idea how Karneol got his hand on them, but you better make sure that no one ever sees them.

What is this?

And why can I read this, whatever it is?

These two are genuine Darkelf Artifacts. And that means they are unbelievably old.

The enchantments on it are in the original Darkelves language, and you can read them because you got this language put in your brains at the same time as Common.

Think of them as the next best thing to those Skill books from those stories, you told me about.

They don't give you a skill without doing the work for yourself, but if you lay on one of them, and go into Dreamtrance, it is as if you had a teacher.

But don't expect too much from them. You are a brand new Darkelf and have no experience with your Dream trance, so you will not remember much of the learning at first.

What do they teach?

He asked.

This one teaches the basics of fighting, armed and unarmed, the other one is about Enchanting and Ritual magic.

The second one you should put away for now. At least until you are comfortable with your Class and all. But I know that Karneol gave it to you, because you have the knowledge of the Darkelf language. It's much better for the purpose of Enchanting and Rituals, as everything you could learn in this world.

But really, don't show them anybody; just their age would make them a treasure a lot of people would kill for.

Alex nodded and put them aside.

The last thing he pulled out of the backpack was a very heavy strongbox. Opening it, it was filled with small leather bags and some kind of medallion that was about palm-sized and had a chain to hang around the neck.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

Taking one of the bags, it was heavy, he opened it and found it full of coins.

As he let some of them fall on his palm, Kagami said.

Well, I told you that Karneol gave you enough money, so you wouldn’t need of anything for a while.

Those you have right now are Essenzsilver coins. An alloy of silver and Essenzkrystalls.

All in all, there are coins worth a little more than 6000 Gold coins in there, and that is more than a journeyman Crafter will earn in 10 years.

Oh, wow!

Yes, it's a lot!

But I don't think that someone like Karneol really thinks much about the worth of money.

But more important, take out the medallion.

He did so and looked at it.

It was formed like a shield, made of copper with a bronze rim. On the front were the initials A.S.S. in common, a Sword and a tree.

On the back was a rectangle of perhaps steel, it had a slight red shimmer, so it might be something else. On that rectangle were engraved figure 15 and the name, Alexandra Bloodthorn Willow Daughter.

That is your A.S.S. badge.

It is a legal form of ID, so it is matched to your Aura. That means, that everybody with an Aura sense Skill can check, that it is really yours.

The 15 is your contribution points balance, which is very low, but you are a beginner, so that's normal.

I hope you are happy with the name, but as you must tell people, that you are a Nymph, it has to be like that.

Dryads always call themselves after their tree, and you would naturally be called after your mother.

The copper badge means that you can't take missions on your own, but the bronze rim says you can go on missions with a team, that is at least all bronze.

That is because you can heal, and that is somewhat rare.

The sword and tree simply state, that you are a fighter and healer.

As the stew was already hot again, Alex put the badge around his neck and everything he didn't need right now in his backpack.

Well, at least I know now, that I don´t have to rush anything, and take my time finding out what I whant to do.

You said you wanted to tell me about my gear, and something about getting myself a backstory. I think you can start with the first while I eat.

It sounds good to me.

As I told you, everything is high quality, but not in such a way, that people should notice how high the quality is. All your clothes and bags are Steelspidersilk, and while Spidersilk is known here, and expensive, Steelspidersilk is not. But as long as no one is trying to cut it, they shouldn't see a difference. It's very resistant to slicing and piecing damage, and together with your harder bones, you are much more armored than you seem.

The sword is some kind of tooth, and it was furthermore infused with part oft he power Karneol took from you, which is why it has that green stuff in its blade. It is also why you feel it like you do, and if it's not one of you but not far away, you should be able to sense at least its direction.

But most importantly, you can never give them to an enchanter or an excellent crafter. They would feel that they are something more.

You see, they are enchanted, kind of, at least. They are not normally enchanted, but Karneol did some Mambo Jumbo Miracles with them.

All the clothes are selfcleaning and repaire themself, through having contact with your Aura.

And the sword repairs itself if you fill it with your Aura.

But don't worry; a Crafter would need to try working on them to understand that there is something. So, if you want to have them enchanted on top or that, you must do it yourself or find an Enchanter you can trust with your life.

Lastly, the knife of Dryadwood.

It is formed by a Dryad from her own tree. It's proof of kinship to every other Dryad; don't worry, the Dryad it is from is an old friend of Karneol, and it's a full adoption. So, if you ever meet her, you are fine.

But she is not in this world, so that is not a problem for now.

Important are two things.

First, it drinks blood and repairs itself with it, which is simply because it's from the wood of a Bloodthorn Willow.

Second, it replaces the need for a Lootritual.

As I told you, with a Loot ritual, you can get Essenzkristalls from the bodies of awakened Lifeforms. This knife does the same. You must simply trust it in a dead body, and fill the hilt with your Mana, just as with the Firestone, and the knife does the rest.

When it gets enough for a crystal, the blossom on the hilt opens and gives the crystal free.

But while these Firestones work for anyone, the knife will only work with your Mana.

So that´s about it.

Do you have questions?

Wow, ok! No not really.

I´m just happy about what I´ve got.

I mean, thinking that this Karneol guy could have just killed me or put me here without all that stuff, I would have been happy with just half of it.

But what about the backstory?

Should I just tell people I`m from the other continent and the wanderlust has got me?

He Looked at Kagami who after thinking a bit shook her head and said,

It's not that easy, I’m afraid.

You see, all the ships that make the journey to the other continent and back, are of the Tradingclans. So at least they could easily find out that you are lying.

And a lone Halfelf that suddenly turnes up would them have looking at their records for sure.

And the last eleven ships that made the journey was nearly a hundred years ago.

And nobody would think you are old enough, that you were on it, or that you were conceived at that time.

Perhaps some shipwreck story, and that you were strandet here in the north.

We could take another of those story clichés. We simply say it was a fuckup at a teleportation ritual and I landed here by accident.

He said laughing.

Well, not impossible, but you couldn´t be from the other continent. Manadensety is way to low in this world for teleportation.

You would need to come from a world of the second, or better, the third treshold. It could happen, and as a newly awakend you would not be harmed by the much lower Manadensety here.

Of course, surviving such an accident is a chance of one in a billion. It will make some people very interested in you.

On the other hand, that is true for you being the only Nymph around, too.

Alex thought about it for a while, then he said grinning.

I think we should be as noticable as possible!

If I am the newest sensation everybody in town speaks about, it would be obvious if I suddenly disappeared. That will stop the most attempts right away.

So, on the plan for the following days is, that we think about an absolutely fantastic story of the world that I come from, and perhaps how I can get noticed even more.

You mean, if you can´t be unnoticeable, go in the other direction hard?

Kagami started grinning mischievously, too.

I like it! Might bring problems, but I think most of them we would have either way.