Who am I?’
She had an epiphany.
Who is this creature, if not a mix of others it consumed?
From now on, she will live for herself.
She glanced around.
‘Eris has a nice ring to it’
And so that day, she became known as Eris.
Argent colored hair, and strangely piercing golden eyes, with a porcelain doll-like complexion.
No good. She stood out too much.
The adventurers guild has a restriction on age, banning everyone under the age of 10.
Unless, of course, you are proven to be a prodigy.
Recently, Eris overheard the rumors of a black market. She searched day in and day out and finally tracked it down.
The black market is where you can find the majority of specialized magic items and familiars. Most cities place restrictions on the exchange of magic items and familiars, with a strict vetting process. The black market is also where criminals offload their stolen goods. Anything can be bought and sold with the right price.
You have to know the right person.
The location changes and opens once a week to avoid the authorities.
Eris had gotten some materials from the direwolves she hunted.
Some pelts and monster cores, essential for leveling your familiars. “Familiars” are tamed intelligent beasts who naturally devour other beasts, eating their monster cores. The higher end familiars are all sold in the black market.
“I need a weak slime familiar, a few low grade MP recharge potions, and a decent rapier, unenchanted.”
Tamed slime monsters are quite rare. In the wild, they act as an easy experience source for novice adventurers, but also work to clean up the environment, consuming and absorbing waste. As such, they are quite rare due to being over hunted, and declared a protected species.
“Quite a high quality potion you got there…The quality of the pelts suggest sloppy butchering, and monster cores are of lower quality. I suppose I can do a trade.”
“And throw in a blindfold and some gloves.”
“Deal.”
“Pleasure doing business with you. I will be here next week, you can find me by following these directions. I hope to see you soon!”
He passes her a note.
At nightfall, cross the third alleyway, a left, a right, knock on the third bar. The password is “elderflower fields.”
With a polite nod, she left.
She consumed the slime.
[Basic magic sense obtained!]
[Unique racial trait : Predator obtained!]
[Basic passive regeneration obtained!]
Eris slips on her new leather gloves and ties the blindfold on.
She could now “see” her surroundings with magic sense, so she could hide her conspicuous eyes, which seemingly glow at night.
Lately, Eris has been relying too heavily on magic.
While the elven magic is useful, it mainly focuses on earth and water, leaving more to be desired with close combat.
While the dagger worked fine, it lacks range. The other weapons are a bit too heavy for her to carry.
Eris purchased a rapier. It has a nice sheen to it, and it was quite good quality, and the price isn’t too bad. 4 silver coins. Fortunately, she has just enough from doing odd jobs around the city.
She took some practice swings.
‘Good weight.’
“Recently, we bought a large supply of weapons from the Marquis family. Their second child has outgrown them, so they sold it to us at a relatively cheap price. Unfortunately, there are not many people looking to buy weapons made for children. Come back soon!”
In the wide city of Wesclim, there are many unscrupulous actors.
Money is hard to come by, with the weekly black market visit being unreliable.
She resided in a shack in the slums, offering basic protection from the elements and a sort of a base of operations where she could practice her magic control and sword skills.
Violence occurs daily. Muggings, murders, trafficking, loan sharking, you name it.
So she decided to teach them a lesson and relieve them (steal) of their burdens (wallets).
“Hey who is this brat?”
“???”
“…”
“Mphphm!!”
With a deadpan expression, she leaves them in a heap.
“I did all that for a couple of silver coins? This sucks!”
“Hey you back there, where’s your boss? Or else I’ll encase your head in a block of ice again.”
The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
Water magic is extremely versatile. Aside from just having access to water, it is possible to change the forms to suit your needs.
However, the creation of matter is very taxing on the body. It is much easier and simpler to manipulate the existing water in the atmosphere. Recently, the rainy season started, perfect for a water user like her.
‘Icicle spears! Icicle spears! Terraspike!!’
‘Oooh more wallets!’
Turns out the boss was just a small fry.
[Title obtained : The Enforcer]
Increased damage against enemies of the evil alignment. Slight resistance to dark magic and miasma.
She discarded her white cloak, which is worn and smeared with blood at this point.
Instead, Eris grabbed the more inconspicuous black from one of the body guards.
[Assassin’s cloak]
Lightweight, yet sturdy. Grants a slight stealth bonus, and defense against slashing attacks.
She used predation on the rest of the items, stripping the hideout clean.
Although she couldn’t use the long swords and heavier copper plated armor, she could still sell them.
Predation is a pretty special skill. It can absorb a certain amount of items into your body, acting as a sort of item storage.
She would rather not devour the bodies. She would be spotted instantly if she disguised as a wanted criminal.
‘Besides, their memories are probably disgusting’
Eris got a couple scrapes and nicks, but they will heal in time.
She gulped down a MP recovery potion.
Magic requires imagination.
When people chant the spell, they can “imagine” the spell’s effects, thereby spending mana and casting the spell.
However, Eris has a very, very strong mental image, from Michelle. Although Michelle couldn’t use magic, she had very vivid imagination of the war. As an unlikely survivor, she had the potential to become a very powerful mage, possibly a court mage.
Her legacy will now be written by Eris.
In blood.
Lately, Mina has been swamped with work at the guild.
Reports of increased monster attacks.
Reports of mysteriously empty hunting grounds,
with poorly butchered monsters.
Wanted criminals mysteriously found dead, grotesquely postured against the wall, slumped over with icicle spears and spikes made of earth skewering the bodies.
The blood had almost run dry.
Disturbing.
The air is suffocating, smelling of metal, with a chill that seemed to linger in your bones.
They were only discovered because of the bad smell. The ice acted as a sort of preservative.
Notably, the bodies were stripped of all belongings.
It could be a territorial dispute between gangs, which happens quite frequently in the slums.
Princess Anastasia enacted a decree to station guards in the slums, but it received widespread pushback from the nobles.
“Why should we protect these filthy drug-peddling slum rats?”
And thus the decree was repealed.
With a groan, Mina went back to work.
‘I hate dealing with adventurers. I should just resign and work as an adventurer…Clerks get no respect.’
Mina used to be a C-ranked adventurer.
Believing that a desk job would be more cushy and safer, she jumped at the opportunity.
She is a witch doctor.
Possessing the ability of appraisal, healing, and debuffing, Mina is the perfect clerk.
She believed that she would have a stable income, but the working conditions are terrible.
They are frequently overworked with short breaks.
Clerks are also not allowed to participate in quests, unless the guild mandated a subjugation order.
In actuality, the income is actually worse.
She is fuming but not many adventurer teams are looking for a witch doctor.
A black mage would be better at debuffing.
A priest would have much better support magic.
Combined with their low defenses, it is a fickle class to play.
At the coming of age ceremony, all her friends got much better classes.
Swordmaster.
Divinator.
Assassin.
Paladin.
The list goes on.
They formed the A rank adventurer team of “Jetwing,” named after that time they subjugated a wyvern, an A rank monster.
Mina felt as though she was not of much help.
Perhaps they let her join out of pity, but now she is too embarrassed to ask for her spot back.
“Hello?”
“Ah! Sorry, who are you looking for? Where are your parents?”
“…”
‘Weird, she thought. Could she be an adventurer? That can’t be it…She looks too youn-‘
“4 sacks of lesser direwolf claws, as proof of subjugation. I would like to be specially registered as an adventurer.”
Mina looks down at the bags.
[Appraisal]
Then at the kid.
“My name is Eris.”
“My name is… Mina.”
“…”
“I will talk to the guildmaster, hold on a minute.”
Mina briskly walked away.
“Guildmaster Enzo,” she said with a bow. “I think we found ourselves the culprit of the murders.”
“At such a young age,” he murmurs.
“The bigger issue is that I can’t see her race and stats. I could only see her title.”
“Interesting…I think she could be a half elf. I can feel elven mana, and that necklace is quite interesting too. Go ahead and tell her to come back in a week to take an assessment. Until then, issue her a temporary adventurer’s card.”
“From today, you are a temporary E rank adventurer Mina. Please pour some of your mana into orb as identification.”
This confirms their suspicions.
‘Elven and human mana.”
“Your card has been issued. You can choose to take quests equal or lower to your rank, or you can choose to work together with other adventurers for a higher rank quest.”
Mina explained the rules to her.
No fighting unless in designated areas.
Disputes are settled by the guild.
“aaand of course no crimes.”
The adventurers card can be used as communication between adventurers, and as identification.
“Here are 8 silver coins and 8 copper coins for the claws.”
Lesser direwolves are usually not a big issue, but they could be dangerous to fight against alone. Although they are not the most intelligent, they still tend to hunt in groups.
“Excuse me, where can I find a blacksmith? I need to repair my gear.”
Although she hadn’t been using her dagger much, it has sentimental value.
“Would you like a map? You seem new around here. We are selling them for 3 copper coins each.”
“Deal.”
Eris exits.
‘What could she be fighting for at such a young age?’
“I wish you luck!” Mina yelled.
She probably couldn’t hear her at this point, but she made a mental note to buy her a good luck charm the next time she visited.
‘How I wish I could be a newly fledged adventurer.’
She has a nostalgic smile on her face, with her chin on her hand.
Snap snap.
“Hey hey this is the proof of completion for my quest.”
‘Back to work.’
Mina clucked her tongue in disapproval.
Baern’s family has been working at this smithy for generations.
From grandfather to father. From father to son.
Until it is passed to Baern .
You can say he is a bit of a prodigy.
He was praised for his works, making very high quality pieces of equipment.
However, he has a bad attitude.
Some people just don’t appreciate the craft.
Lately, he hadn’t been getting any business.
But he doesn’t mind.
‘Peace and quiet, just me and my hammer.’
“Hello? Is anyone here? I need to make a request.”
The blacksmith appears dilapidated, so Eris wasn’t sure if the map was accurate.
Elves normally dislike and chastise dwarves for their craft, claiming that it is “unnatural.”
This made Thorkinn immediately on edge.
“How can I help?” he said tensely.
“My.. dagger. And some light armor appropriate for my size please.”
‘Huh, she is actually quite different from other elves. Just a child…She must’ve lost her parents to the war.’
“I will give you a discount. 2 copper coins for the repair, and 3 silver coins for light armor.”
She glanced around.
“The weapons on display seem to emit mana.”
Red, blue, green, and brown mana swirl around the workshop.
“So you’ve noticed eh? These are some of my works. I’m a runesmith. I can engrave runes on weapons and armor, but it’ll cost ya.”
“Is weight reduction on the armor and piercing on the rapier possible?”
“Of course! Seeing as your rapier is not enchanted, it should only take a minute. But the armor request will take longer. You may pick it up later this week. 5 gold coins total.”
‘That’s almost all my gold…’
She poured out the bag at the counter.
‘What’s a brat carrying that much money? Is she perhaps a noble? Not possible, elven nobles are typically snobby and taught to respect nature and despise dwarves from a young age…’
“I will be back with your rapier in a moment.”
[Appraisal]
A drop of sweat rolled down his face.
‘Oh my goddess.’
Click.
What appears to be an ordinary rapier seemed to detach from its sheath, revealing a beautiful blade with an uncannily sharp edge.
A small, black sword insignia outlined in crimson red could be seemingly manifested on the bottom of the sword guard, starting to glow a dim, sky blue hue.