Chapter 84 Yield

Ilea’s mind was swimming in the names of different beasts, insects and birds of prey when the class came to an end. She clutched the received encyclopedia of monsters, ready to compare some of the beasts to the ones mentioned in Magical Creatures which she had picked up in Salia.

She had certainly been lucky with receiving a healing skill so early on, and with how many beasts there were with some ability to paralyze, mind attack or poison you, she had lucked out with the Drakes. Though she also learned that someone like Eve would’ve had massive troubles against them as they’re apparently rather resistant to mind magic.

Influencers, as Liam had called Eve and Kyrian at the start of the lesson were apparently people with skills to slow down or poison enemies. Ilea wasn’t quite sure the word really fit but it was descriptive enough.

The class ended with Ilea asking about a Shredder, something the woman who had been seeking Liam a couple days ago in a bar in Viscera had talked about. Apparently it was a worm like creature with high abilities in wind magic, encircling the target and then attacking from all around with small wind blades to shred the target, as the name implied.

There was an entry in the encyclopedia which they looked through together. Liam asked them each about a general idea of their abilities and then made sure to explain a possible fight for each of them against the monster they talked about. Additionally he went into possibilities of facing them as a team, where Claire mentioned some things as well usually.

“Alright then, time’s up. We’ll be continuing tomorrow at the same time. As a last thing before you go though, the book I gave you is filled with rather common monsters. There are many many more we do not know out there and variations of the ones we know that have different abilities and strengths. Don’t get cocky when you see a monster. Evaluate it and take it seriously, levels matter but abilities matter more. Most important of all have someone have your back. If you came this far alone then count yourself lucky, most don’t.” Liam finished and closed his own copy of the monster encyclopedia.

The others nodded at his finishing sentence and watched him leave the room before they too got up. “Sooo, do you guys want to eat together later?” Eve asked with a bright smile.

“I can’t, will have to prepare for tomorrow. Some other time perhaps?” Claire said as she got up and went for the door. “I’m happy about the team though, so see you all tomorrow.” everyone said their goodbyes before the woman left.

“Sure, we can eat together. Kyrian you up for it?” Ilea said and looked to the man who seemed a little conflicted.

“Maybe, t...though later I have to train and learn.” he said.

“Sundown then? So you have a couple hours.” Eve said and Ilea nodded. Kyrian seemed ok with the idea as well and left.

“Ilea I...I have to confess something...” Eve said to Ilea when they were alone, preparing to leave as well. Ilea perked up and looked at the woman.

“You made those men murder each other and you creeped into my apartment?” she said and Eve scratched her head while looking downwards. Though a second later she looked at Ilea and smiled, clapping her hands together.

“Yes! Exactly that. I hope you’re not mad.” she said and to Ilea’s surprise, she wasn’t.

“The men I don’t care about but why did you come into my apartment? If there’s no good reason I’ll need a bit more than a simple apology...” Ilea said and looked at her coldly.

“You will think it ridiculous...” Eve said but continued at Ilea’s unrelenting gaze “I really like the art above your bed...and I wanted to...you know, steal it. But you woke up so I ran. Haha.” Eve said and Ilea just looked at her a little confused.

“The painting? There’s a painting?” she certainly remembered the beautiful ceiling but the painting above her bed was a little hazy. “Why not ask, you can have it if you like.” she said, which made the woman smile brightly.

“Really?! Really? That’s so nice of you! Thank you, can I get it now?” Eve asked.

“Yes yes, get it whenever. Though Eve...” she said, making the already turning woman stop and look at her. “If I find you in my apartment again uninvited, it’s gonna be your defenses we’ll be leveling in the next training session.” she said with a smile and noticed the woman gulping.

“O...of course Ilea. Won’t happen again. I’ll get it now though, that’s ok?” Eve said and Ilea nodded, watching the giggling girl’s back as she ran away.

“Likes paintings I guess?...or did I unwittingly give away a priceless artifact...what ya think Aki?” she asked, finding herself the only person remaining in the room.

“I’m rather sure it’s just art. Then again there are many who would kill for art. You should be aware of that. She might be one of those people.” the dagger said, breaking his six hour silence.

Ilea grunted and walked towards the elevator. “What do you think of them?” she asked Aki as they descended towards Viscera.

“The noble is strong and experienced. As much if not more than you are in both. The rune mage has a lot of potential and will be invaluable for your team. The other two are interesting and certainly have as much if not more potential than you but they need time and training for their skills. But in time and if you manage not to kill each other, you might become quite the deadly group.” Aki analyzed and finished right when the elevator came to a stop.

“I feel the same...now what additional classes should I take...” Ilea asked as she walked towards the wall with the classes. Archery was there of course and she asked the person who seemed to be the attendant how to join a class. Apparently the first archery class had zero people attending and a teacher would have to be found first. The price depended on the teacher but it would likely not extend five to ten silvers per hour.

“I’ll join then, find me a teacher.” she said to the attendant before walking back to the wall. “Oh and class should be after the monster knowledge lesson I have every day.”

“Of course Miss Ilea.” the woman answered from the side, writing some things down.

“A lot of these seem interesting...hey woman, put me down for advanced healing and hand to hand combat five as well.” both were the highest available classes related to her abilities.

“Will do, both will need teachers as well but we should be able to find some until next week. After Archery class?” she asked and Ilea nodded. Some other people were walking up to the wall while she talked to the woman.

‘There’s nothing on other planes...lots of classes on summoning but I’m not sure that will help me in any way...’ she thought and decided to first seek out the library and perhaps an expert on the subject before randomly joining classes.

Ilea turned around and walked back to her apartment in Viscera, before jumping into bed and throwing Aki to the ceiling. The wall above her bed seemed a little bare, the painting that had decorated it was gone. “What other class should I take you think?” she asked the dagger.

“Hmm” Aki paused “You seem to like eating a lot.”

“An eating class, I’m not sure that exists.” she answered, her leather armor vanishing as she crawled under her blanket.

“You know very well what I mean.” the dagger replied.

“I don’t think they have cooking classes here.” she said.

“Go to Ravenhall then. Plenty of cooks who would be willing to teach for the right price. They way you spend money it doesn’t seem to bother you. How much do you have stored away anyway?” Aki asked.

“I’ll check it out maybe...though eating seems more fun than cooking. And I have enough...otherwise I’ll just sell you to Balduur.” that seemed to satisfy the dagger as no further reply came from the piece of metal.

“Let’s see how much the training today did already...” Ilea said and checked her notices she had ignored all day.

‘ding’ ‘Azarinth Hunter Sphere reaches 2nd lvl 20’

‘ding’ ‘Hunter’s Sight reaches lvl 3’

‘ding’ ‘Azarinth Perception reaches 2nd lvl 13’

‘ding’ ‘Shroud of Ash reaches 2nd lvl 3’

‘ding’ ‘Shroud of Ash reaches 2nd lvl 4’

‘ding’ ‘Ash Surge reaches lvl 11’

...

‘ding’ ‘Ash Surge reaches lvl 13’

‘ding’ ‘Body Heat Manipulation reaches lvl 2’

‘ding’ ‘Eyes of Ash reaches lvl 18’

‘ding’ ‘Mental Resistance reaches lvl 10’

…

‘ding’ ‘Mental Resistance reaches lvl 13’

‘ding’ ‘Lightning Resistance reaches lvl 10’

…

‘ding’ ‘Lightning Resistance reaches lvl 12’

‘ding’ ‘Mana Drain Resistance reaches lvl 3’

…

‘ding’ ‘Mana Drain Resistance reaches lvl 5’

‘ding’ ‘Health Drain Resistance reaches lvl 3’

…

‘ding’ ‘Health Drain Resistance reaches lvl 5’

Name: Ilea Spears

Unspent statpoints: 0

Unspent 3rd tier skill points [Azarinth First Hunter]: 0

Class 1: Azarinth First Hunter – lvl 201

- Active: Destruction – 2nd lvl 20

- Active: Hunter Recovery – 2nd lvl 20

- Active: State of Azarinth – 2nd lvl 20

- Active: Blink – 3rd lvl 1

- Active: Azarinth Hunter Sphere – 2nd lvl 20

- Passive: Body of the First Hunter – 2nd lvl 14

- Passive: Azarinth Fighting – 2nd lvl 20

- Passive: Hunter’s Sight – lvl 3

- Passive: Azarinth Perception – 2nd lvl 13

- Passive: Azarinth Reversal – lvl 17

Class 2: Ash Wielder – lvl 194

- Active: Shroud of Ash – 2nd lvl 4

- Active: Form of Ember – 2nd lvl 11

- Active: Ash Surge – lvl 13

- Active: Body Heat Manipulation – lvl 2

- Active: Wave of Ember – 2nd lvl 1

- Passive: Ash and Ember Manipulation – lvl 16

- Passive: Ashen Wings – lvl 13

- Passive: Eyes of Ash – lvl 18

- Passive: Body of Ash – lvl 18

- Passive: Ashen Warrior – lvl 13

General Skills:

- Elos Standard language - lvl 5

- Identify - lvl 7

- Meditation – lvl 2nd 14

- Poison Resistance – lvl 17

- Heat Resistance – lvl 17

- Pain Tolerance – 2nd lvl 4

- Mental Resistance – lvl 13

- Fear Resistance – lvl 1

- Water Resistance – lvl 6

- Wind Resistance – lvl 5

- Lightning Resistance – lvl 12

- Ice Resistance – lvl 7

- Crystal Resistance – lvl 6

- Earth Magic Resistance – lvl 5

- Arcane Magic Resistance – lvl 6

- Corrosion Resistance – lvl 8

- Light Magic Resistance – lvl 2

- Mist Magic Resistance – lvl 1

- Curse Resistance – lvl 4

- Mana Drain Resistance – lvl 5

- Health Drain Resistance – lvl 5

Status:

Vitality: 575

Endurance: 285

Strength 211

Dexterity 350

Intelligence 500

Wisdom 305

Health: 5750/5750

Stamina: 2842/2850

Mana: 3047/3050

‘One hell of a yield. And luckily no level up for Ash Wielder yet. I hope I can get the skills high enough for the lvl 200 change to be good… if there even is one. Another question for the library...’ she thought and decided it was a good time to eat. Summoning her leather armor again, she left the apartment for Ravenhall and then found her spot outside the city again.

“Didn’t you plan to eat with the others?” Aki asked while she was chewing on the bread and meat she had summoned. The suns were still up, illuminating the city of Ravenhall a couple kilometers away.

“This is pre eating Aki. And yes I’ll meet them to eat later… Wait, we didn’t specify a place.” she said and laughed. “Sadly Claire couldn’t come, I’m sure she wouldn’t have forgotten.”

Ilea finished her meal and enjoyed the sight before she sprouted her wings and decided to fly around the mountains for a while. It didn’t seem like a bad idea to familiarize herself with the surroundings of the city she’d be staying in for a couple months at least.

The higher parts, including Ravenhall were covered in snow, of course this time of the year that was even the case in the plains below. Dawntree, Salia and Riverwatch had been covered as well. Ilea quickly found that as with the wilderness outside Riverwatch, there were awfully few people out here.

Not a single soul could be seen a couple kilometers away from Riverwatch. She landed on a cliff side overlooking the sea and enjoying the view and quiet when she heard silent steps behind her. They were still quite far away but she turned to find a tiger like creature advancing on her. Upon its discovery, the creature lifted itself from its crouched position and growled at her, showing long teeth.

Ilea checked its level and found it to be quite a lot below her own.

[Swordmouth Tiger – lvl 143]

Liam’s words still rang freshly in her mind as she prepared to face the beast. Though she doubted it had any capacity of hurting her seriously. There was enough space to fight on the platform. If she would come to any danger, she’d simply blink or fly away.

“Do you really want to do this?” she asked the tiger, who only growled at her more. “I’m gonna stay here and enjoy the view. Go back to your cave.” she said, looking behind the beast to find an opening in the mountain side. Ilea turned around to face the sea, though as expected the tiger took it as its opportunity to strike.

The cat rushed her and pounced at an incredibly high speed. Not yet at Ilea’s level with all her buffs but certainly close enough. She whirled around and moved her torso while blocking the beast’s paw with her arm. The claws bounced off the suddenly appearing black armor and Ilea grabbed the hind leg of the creature before throwing it back towards the cave.

It bounced a couple times, one of the bounces was accompanied by a crack that Ilea only picked up with her enhanced hearing. Both her Sphere and State of Azarinth told her of the creature’s injury before it had even landed.

She looked at the creature as it slowly got up again and slipped on an obviously broken leg. “Stop it.” she said but the cat advanced again, this time it seemed a little unsure though and circled her slowly. Another pounce and Ilea stopped the monster in its tracks, grabbing both its outstretched paws with her hands before headbutting it on its snout.

No skills were used with the attack and the monster was thrown back again. Ilea watched it through her sphere as she summoned her encyclopedia to look for the beast. ‘Swordmouth tiger...here you are.’ she thought and turned the page to the beast’s entry.

...usually resides in a cave or somewhere else dark and shaded. Avoids conflict at all cost and even allows trespassers. Ignore but do not show your back to it. It’s high speed can be dangerous to even higher leveled adventurers….. warning, do not get close if you see any kittens, highly aggressive when nursing….

‘Interesting...so maybe there are baby cats somewhere...’ Ilea thought and smirked at the beast. “Are you hiding snacks from me?” she asked and advanced towards the growling and still disoriented monster.

She walked right past it and towards the cave. Entering, she found what she had been looking for rather quickly. There were four sleeping kittens and Ilea couldn’t help but aww as she saw them with her own eyes. They were beautiful, sporting the same striped white fur as their mother, who had apparently found her orientation again, advancing at the highest speed possible towards Ilea.

She simply stood there before turning around and stopping the cat again. “Compared to the Basilisk, you haven’t killed any of the people I was traveling with...” she whispered as her healing mana flowed into the creature, mending its broken bone and bruised head. The beast stared at her angrily before Ilea threw her towards her kittens, soft enough for the cat to land safely between Ilea and its young.

It growled at her again before she slowly walked out of the cave, stopping again on the platform overlooking the sea. It was a nice place. The cliff side was rocky and several hundred meters high, below were rocky edges sprouting from the waves. With her sphere she saw the frozen ponds reached deep into the ground below.

The suns were slowly setting on the horizon as Ilea turned around to look at the tiger who was standing defiantly at the edge of its cave. Ilea smiled and waved at it before her wings sprouted again and she flew backwards, looking at the rather sizable ledge on the cliff and the small cave where it met the mountain. ‘I like this place...’ she thought before she landed again.

On a whim Ilea activated Blink’s 3rd tier ability. Perhaps not the most thought out action but she had to try it at some point. She liked the view, it was far enough from any settlement she could find to not be bothered, except someone was specifically looking for her. And finally, it reminded her of a now seemingly far away place and the many vacations that had led her there. A place on earth and near the sea. Though this time she felt much more safe so close to the water, with her wings and teleportation ability. She breathed out and touched the ground before her, the magic instinctively leaving her body.

‘You have set the destination for Blink. You may change the destination again in six months.’

Ilea got up again from her crouched position and smiled towards the tiger still looking at her. ‘Just need some nice tables and a mini fridge.’ she thought before she flew away again.