Book 1, Chapter 9: A Much Needed Rest

Alen woke up with a start, rising abruptly and looking around the room. It was familiar to him. The room was small, and white walls surrounded him. Around him, just like before, were soldiers on beds. There were a few glaring differences compared to his situation from a day ago however. The walls were shaking, and the sounds of battle and explosions rang out from the distance, audible even here. Multiple medics and nurses ran into the room, carrying wounded guards in a systematic manner.

There was a whole lot of groaning and whining, and the blood that stained the previously white sheets was a bit disturbing to see. He glanced around and spotted two familiar faces lying down on the beds beside him.

Now that he thought about it, he still didn’t know their names. He stood up from the bed and looked at them. Unconscious. These two probably weren’t waking up any time soon. He left the room, his wounds mostly healed and bandaged. The doctors and alchemists passing him paid him no heed, too busy tending to the steady stream of incapacitated men and women that flowed into the room.

He passed a hallway and noticed that although the room he was previously in was the same as before, this place was not the same barracks. Instead of the quarters and courtyard that were neatly placed, it was a continuous hallway that led forward, with the occasional stairwell and door that led somewhere else. Groups of soldiers passed him in a hurry, walking up the stairs and out the doors with an urgent alertness to their steps. A group passed him and Alen sighted a familiar face.

Xan raised an eyebrow at him. “You were brought in just a few hours ago. Unless you want to help out on the wall, I suggest you come back to the clinic. It’s going to be a long attack, and most of the buildings in the city are closed. Just ask the nurses if you need anything.”

He blinked and watched as the guard captain walked away, followed by a group of capable looking soldiers. Seeing that he had nowhere to go, Alen returned to the clinic where it was safe. He didn’t have to worry about vagina bats here. As for going outside and helping the military full of people more capable than him in defending the walls?

Fuck that.

Alen sat on a chair just beside his bed. Some dying dude would probably need that mattress more than he did. He opened up his status screen to see the changes to his stats.

Status:

Name: Alen

Race: Human

Type: Necrotic

Health: 82%

Stamina: 46%

Mana: 93%

Strength: 12

Dexterity: 13

Agility: 11

Constitution: 12

Vitality: 13

Resistance: 11

Intelligence: 18 (+)

Wisdom: 21 (+++)

Control: 22 (++)

Skills:

Mana Programming, Dominate Undead, Lesser Blightbolt, Lesser Undead Empowerment, Numb Senses, Summon Skeleton Minion

He grinned. These were good increases. He wasn’t too far off from his next threshold either, which was good. Seeing as how the fifth threshold was the absolute minimum requirement to joining the expedition, it really was a good idea to stay back here in the clinic and let the big boys handle their big boy problems.

He checked his messages. Damn, he missed a lot. He’d been ignoring it for a whole day now, considering his difficult circumstances, but it was stupid how long those fuckers could talk and still get shit done.

He opened up the Egg Chat. He didn’t really care about the public one at this point. He knew nobody there, and most people only talked about more things regarding this world in there. He didn’t want to spend his spare time worrying even more than he already did.

Egg Chat Room

Adam: i got so mr. miyagi’d by these elves man. Its kind of badass

Anne: Wha. Bernard and I are just on the road. His mentor told him to go around the surrounding villages and quote on quote ‘test his skill’.

Bernard: Hey man. making hoes and axes for villagers is hard. they order in fucking bulk and expect me to finish the orders in just a few days

Adam: shhhh, stfu. dude, you know how i was being taught how to dance a few days ago right?

Anne: Yeah?

Adam: they pulled some karate kid bullshit where all those moves were about fighting and shit. it’s cool as fuck.

Sam: MAGES

Sam: WALK

Sam: THEIR OWN

Adam: holy shit shut the fuck up sam

Sam: PATHS

James: Same dude.

Anne: Yo Sam, where are you at? You left the orc village right?

Sam: Yeah man. Some people visited the village and Orgha convinced them to have me take his place in escorting them around.

Bernard: am I literally the only one here with a stable source of income?

Alen: I earn about ten silver every two days.

Bernard: Fuck you.

Sam: Whoa man chill.

Adam: what kind of shit have you been doing anyways alen? you’ve been dead for days

Sam: Team never on.

Anne: Alen. Tell us dude. We got you.

He updated them on his situation and got a torrent of replies that was a mixture of anger at his income, jealousy at how badass undead assaulting a city sounded, and jokes about him probably spending the last few days in some sort of red light district. Alen nodded at the general lack of concern shown after he described nearly dying multiple times in one day. Yup, these were his friends alright.

The sound of a bed creaking to his left caught his attention as he raised his head. On the bed adjacent to him, the white haired elf had sat up, rubbing her forehead.

“Yo,” He said simply, continuing to talk to his friends through the blue screens.

She looked around and let out a relieved sigh when she saw that none of the three of them had died. Roland was still fast asleep on his bed. It was understandable, as he’d handled most front line combat out of the three of them. With the exception of the bear of course, that thing was a fucking tank. She looked at the young man who seemed to be fiddling with the system. “We’re in the city, right?”

“Yeah,” He nodded. “Cuck got us in.”

“Cuck?”

“My undead chicken. It pressed the button you were talking about,” Alen said, waving away the screen in front of him and looking at the busy nurses around him. Yeah, he was definitely not asking for food in this situation. He pulled up his bag which was set down beside his bed and took out a small wooden container. He opened it and took a bite of some of the spicy chicken jerky. He extended it out to her. “Want some?”

Eilynn took a piece out from the container and bit into it. She tilted her head as she chewed. “This is really good. Did you make this?”

“I wish,” He said, swallowing a bite. “Some guy in the city square owns a shop that dries and preserves meat. It’s fucking amazing how good he can make these.”

They continued to eat in silence, but Alen quickly noticed the quickly emptying wooden container. He glanced at Eilynn and saw her devouring the meat. He frowned and tried to pull the box out of her reach. She gripped it with her hand and kept it in place. Fuck, she was stronger than him.

“What are you doing?” Alen pulled at the container again.

She took another piece of meat and bit into it, grinning at him. “The gods preach of sharing one’s blessings with another.”

“Fuck you,” He pulled at the container a bit more, but gave up eventually, sighing and just taking some of the meat to eat for himself. It was kind of like when he ate fries with his sister back home. Two people racing to eat more of the fries on the table before the other person managed to guzzle down the rest. It was a welcome feeling.

Alen was eventually able to time his consumption properly, managing to pluck the last piece from the box. He bit into it and laughed. Amateur. He had years of experience.

The elf clicked her tongue and leaned against the wall behind her bed. “Thanks,” She muttered, though it sounded more like a complaint.

He raised an eyebrow at her. How could she still be complaining after eating about half of a whole container? Those usually lasted him a day with no problem. He sighed and brought out a second container, handing it to her. He had another sack of chicken being processed right now anyways. Of course, she began to eat again as if nothing happened. Alen gave her a look. “You know, you’re eating large portions of my limited food supply and you still haven’t introduced yourself,” He said.

“I haven’t?” She asked.

“Neither of you have.”

She set down the container and pointed to herself. “My name is Eilynn, but I prefer you call me Lynn instead, it rolls off the tongue quite nicely and speaking of which…” She said, taking a bite, and pointing at the warrior on the other bed as she chewed. “Tha’ guy,” She swallowed. “That guy’s Roland.”

“I don’t suppose he eats as much as you do?”

“How rude. Elves biologically have larger and more efficient stomachs than humans, so we can eat and live without food for longer you know? It’s a blessing,” She said.

Alen scratched his head. “You guys have the word ‘biologically’ here?”

Lynn tilted her head. “Yes? Why would you… wait, are you a new arrival?”

“I am, yeah,” He nodded, standing up from the bed.

“Should’ve guessed as much. You have that country hick look on your face at all times,” She said, grinning. “Where’re you going?”

“Checking out what a ghost city looks like,” Alen motioned outside and paused. “…Are you coming?”

She smiled and stood up, before she walked past him, slapping him lightly on the shoulder to motion him forward as she looked back. “Come on. Let’s go get something to drink. I know a few stands that stay open even during an attack.”

“What about Roland?”

“Judging from those injuries, he won’t be waking up until night time at the very least,” She said, shrugging. “Either way, I can bet you the pay on those drinks that he’ll head straight to the wall after he wakes up. He’s been harping on about wanting to see an attack since I met him a few days ago.”

Alen sighed and followed behind her almost reluctantly. He probably wouldn’t get drugged, raped, and sold to slavery by following her anyways.

Would he?

The city wasn’t as dead as Alen expected. People were running left and right, trying to complete daily tasks as soon as possible before going into their homes and locking the doors tight. The amount of clicks he heard from one of the doors was enough for one to think it was guarding some sort of royal treasury. From the direction of the Com-House, mercenaries flowed out of the building, headed to the wall with papers in their hands. Alen assumed they were going to help out.

He took a sip from the juice in his hands and grinned. It tasted just like a banana milkshake, but with a cool, minty aftertaste. It even had small bits of fruits and berries in it, giving him a burst of flavor whenever he bit into one.

The elf in front of him finished handing some coin to the woman and waved goodbye to her. She was most definitely a regular at this stall. Alen felt the coin pouch in his pocket and sighed. At least Lynn decided to pay for his drink. Well, she did eat a lot of his food, so he guessed it was even.

“Let’s go to the Com-House,” He said. “I’ll turn in a request real quick.”

“Yeah, me too,” She distractedly said, trailing behind him while looking around and taking the occasional sip from the drink in her hands.

They chatted idly, passing hurried citizens and locked houses. It felt weird to Alen, walking with someone like this. It used to feel so natural, having someone to talk with. He really had been too stressed over the past two weeks. He only realized now how much he missed the company, due to how foreign it felt now. There was always that feeling of distance whenever he talked with Conrad and the rest of the soldiers. Lynn and Roland were the only two people near his age that he’d talked to in person since arriving here.

Speaking of which, how old were these two? Roland had a full beard, but his face was way too young to be anywhere hear his thirties.

“Lynn.”

“What? I’m not paying for another drink. These things cost a fortune.”

“Fucking cheapskate,” He told her. “Anyways, how old are you and Roland? Elves are supposed to live for like, forever, right?”

“Ah,” She grinned. “You got lucky with me. Elves usually stop aging by twenty years old, but we only live for about five hundred years. I’m nineteen this year. As for Roland, I don’t know, twenty-four? Five, maybe?”

“I wouldn’t call myself lucky,” He said. “Elves are supposedly wiser the older they are, right? I finally understand now though, considering that you were that deep in the forest during night time. Not very wise,”

She laughed. “Coming from the guy that led both me and Roland into two dead ends in one day.”

“I mean, I got you out, so I win this entire exchange.”

Eilynn shook her head and motioned in front of them. “We’re here,” She said, pointing to the large Commissions House in front of them as she tossed her drink’s thin container into a bin from a fairly impressive distance.

He glanced at the bin. “Do elves have to aim for everything they do?”

“Shut up and appreciate how beautifully that cup flew into that bin instead,” She pushed open the doors and Alen followed her in. The inside was as neat and orderly as ever, the only difference being the smaller amount of people inside. Most were probably at the walls, trying to pass thresholds and earn some extra coin. Alen walked up to the silver-haired man on the counter and greeted him.

“I’m here to turn in a commission, Sander,” Alen pulled out his card and pushed it along the table towards the man. “Three of those basic subjugations, and uh, one for clearing out a section of the forest.”

Sander checked the card and passed him a pouch full of coin. “This is only for the subjugation. We’ll put the pay for the Clear Commission inside your account as soon as the lumberjacks confirm that part of the forest is safe to harvest wood from.”

Alen nodded and took out ten silver coins from the pouch, before handing the rest back to the man. “Put these into my account as well. Oh, and is there a fee for withdrawing cash from your branches in other cities?”

“There are none.”

He nodded and thanked Sander, leaving the counter and sitting on one of the cushioned chairs near the entrance.

Eventually, he heard steps going his direction and looked up to find Eilynn. “You done?” He asked.

“Yeah, but all the money I earned flowed back into the guild anyways.”

“What, why?”

She waved her hand to the side. “I paid the fee for dropping out of the expedition. After that experience, I don’t like the idea of going deeper into the forest. I want to improve my skills and practice a bit more before I try doing something as dangerous as that again,” She said, mimicking the motion of drawing a bow and releasing an arrow with a smile.

“Fair enough,” Alen said, looking out the windows to see a setting sun that bathed the surroundings in an orange light. He stood up and dusted his pants off. “It’s about time I fuck off back to my inn.”

Lynn nodded. “I doubt they’ll let us in the clinic again. I’ll miss that bed.”

“I know, right? I wish my inn’s beds were those comfortable.”

They laughed and the elf started to fiddle with something in front of her. It looked like she was looking at blue screens. They were invisible to Alen though. “Are you in a party?” Lynn asked.

“No fucking way, those are a thing?” Alen gaped, looking on as the elf sighed.

Initializing…

You have received an invite to join Lynn’s Party!

Warning, mana distribution is set to: semi-shared. You may leave the party at any time. You will join this party’s chat room if you accept.

Accept

Refuse

Alen grinned and immediately pressed accept. “You better not leech off my XP.”

Eilynn grinned back. “I’m assuming that’s what you call the mana we get from killing monsters, right? A larger portion goes to the person that lands the last hit, so I’ll make sure to snipe all of yours from afar.”

He laughed. “Fucking try me.”

The elf smiled and left, pushing open the doors and stepping out. She looked back. “I’ll buy you another drink if you reach your fifth threshold before I do.”

“Deal,” Alen said, and with that, she left. He walked out of the Com-House and returned to his inn, making extra sure all his things were still there. Even entry into the place was hard, as he had to wait for the innkeeper to unlatch all the locks in the back door, where he was let in. In his room, he had an extra bag, more of the jerky, some spare clothes, and waterskins. As for the important stuff, like his phone and earphones, they were safely stored inside his personal storage space in the Com-House. It’d cost him a bit of money to retrieve them, but the security was very much worth it.

He decided to have a look at the public chat room for once, but quickly closed it after seeing that there was some sort of argument. People in arguments say stupid shit, and that argument looked especially tense just from the three to four messages he read. He wasn’t really in the mood to listen to that kind of stupid shit.

As for the other kind of stupid shit, he looked at the chat room that had his friends in it, but it looked like they were all busy. It seemed like Sam hadn’t figured out how to make a notepad using the system either, as he was sending messages in the chat as a way of storing information about what he was learning. The way Sam handled magic was… pretty vague to him. It had a lot of self-made terms Sam probably made to make the way he used his magic more concrete.

Alen shrugged and told him about the notepad he managed to create as he munched on some chicken jerky. He kind of missed steak. And food that wasn’t chicken jerky, for that matter.

Beggars couldn’t be choosers though, he told himself. After telling Sam, Alen checked his screens and found that the system had used his format to create a chat bubble beside his first two, one aptly labeled Lynn’s Party Chat. He’d definitely find a way to change that into something he’d laugh at eventually.

Finally, as he finished his meal, he drank from one of the waterskins and lied down, glancing at the small amount of things in his room.

Alen decided to go shopping tomorrow. Not only did he need the break, he needed equipment as well. The whole mages not wearing armor sounded like bullshit in his opinion. He knew nothing about defensive spells, so he’d have to buy some leather armor at least. And some clothes that didn’t look like they came from a charity drive, along with an actual staff. From what he’d heard around the city in the past week, it could augment magic and make mana usage more efficient, something he desperately needed right now.

With this, he nodded to himself and went to sleep.

Operation Get A Long, Hard, Rod would start tomorrow.

Alen stood in front of the closed shops and cursed. “Shit.”

From beyond the wall, the muffled booms of the cannons continued to sweep through the still quieter than normal city. The attack still wasn’t over, apparently. Well, it looked like Operation Get A Long, Hard, Rod was a no-go for today.

He’d gone over to the market to confirm, and as he was told, the shops were still closed due to the attack. He asked around, and was told that some attacks could even last as long as half a week. Alen wondered just how much undead were in that massive forest to be able to go in at such numbers for so long. He stood around the square for a moment, agonizing over what to do next. Alen decided to go on a walk.

It was kind of lonely, actually. He underestimated how desolate a city full of locked doors could feel like. He could feel stares on him as he walked past the residential district, and the occasional hurried citizen didn’t do much to ease how dead the city felt.

Eventually, Alen stumbled into an area of the city he’d never entered before, and just as he was about to leave, he spotted a building with its doors still open.

The building was large, with multiple dome-like rooftops poking out. It was painted in the colors white and royal blue, and looked very majestic on the outside. It kind of looked like a cathedral, but the feeling was different. More quiet and reserved. He approached and found that it was relatively deserted on the inside, noting the sign that he passed by the entrance:

Draenys Public Library.

Alen spotted a person sitting by a table near the entrance and figured that it was the librarian by the formal attire the woman wore. He approached her, and she looked to be in her forties, with her brown hair tied in a bun. She saw him and raised her head, a mild expression of surprise on her face.

“This is a surprise,” She said. “Is the attack over already?”

Alen blinked, then shook his head. “Nah, it isn’t. I was just walking around the city and saw that this building was still open. Am I uh, allowed to stay here?”

She smiled. “Of course. Even with the threat of flying undead passing through the blockade and entering the city, our library doesn’t close its doors. The pursuit of knowledge must never be hindered,” She said. “I am Nirah, you are?”

“Alen,” He said, shaking the hand that she had extended. “Do you have any books on the basic principles of magic or something along those lines? Some books about this continent… Talaria, was it? Yeah, Talaria, would be good as well. Just basic information and notable places and landmarks.”

The woman nodded. “The ones on magic are on the second floor, on the seventeenth shelf to the right after that staircase,” She pointed at the stairwell behind her that led upwards and continued. “As for information about Talaria and the territories inside of it, they can be found there.”

Noting her directions, Alen went to work and walked around the library, finding himself lost in the shelves. He’d always been fond of places like libraries. They served as tiny escapes for him, made him lost in the mazes of bookshelves full of novels he’d read and the perpetual silence that floated about. He’d only really wandered about in his old school’s library, as the nearest library from his home was miles away with the exception of the one at school.

This place was a whole different level compared to that one. For the first time in his life, Alen truly felt lost within the library. He didn’t even doubt for a second that he was definitely lost. He couldn’t even see the entrance anymore.

He grinned and continued walking about, a feeling of peace and nostalgia lighting up inside of him. Eventually, after minutes of wandering, he found the books he was looking for.

He grabbed a few about the continent he found interesting. Afterwards, he waddled up the staircase with about three or so books under his arms. Finding a lone table near a window, he set the books down and went to the magic section. Magic Theory Vol. 1, Magic Stones, Schools of Magic, A Study on Mana Type Attunement…

There were almost too many. No, there were too many, and Alen found happiness in that fact. He had a lot of reading to do.

Sitting down on his table, he flipped open one of the books on the Talaria Continent and began reading. Words streamed by his eyes as the time trickled by, the book handwritten in beautiful writing that seemed to tell a story of its own. It spoke of the deserts to the north, the forest cities of the elves, and the settlements carved into entire mountains where the orcs and dwarves engaged in a rivalry for their love of smithing, and the sprawling cities of the humans’ territories. Those were just a few of the hundreds of sentient races he’d seen mentioned throughout the books as well. There truly was so much to learn about this world.

He read and read, silently enjoying his time in the gigantic library, the tenseness in his shoulders that he hadn’t noticed were there slowly fading away as only the sounds of flipping pages entered his ears. The entire place smelled of paper and books, and gave off a profoundly peaceful atmosphere.

There was a light smile on his face as he read about basic principles in magic. Apparently, even though mages had to find their own ways in the world, there were some techniques almost all mages could use. Meditating in order to siphon mana from the air, infusing one’s magic into items to let out effects, and surprisingly, the effects of having a spirit familiar, and much more. Alen was surprised at how little he really knew. How was he going to contract a familiar with his magic system? Siphon mana from the air to increase regeneration?

Alen definitely had to try those out as soon as he had the chance. He was definitely gunning for a badass familiar as soon as he figured out how the whole thing worked.

He set down the book and was about to open the one about Magic Stones when a ding interrupted him. He opened his status screen and saw that there were a few messages in his new party’s chat. It honestly kind of surprised him how the elf managed to make a chat. Now that he thought about it, he hadn’t even looked at it once.

As soon as he opened it, instead of the usual chat screen, he heard voices in his head as a small blue screen with an icon in the center popped up in front of him.

“Ah, he’s here,” A man’s voice said. He recognized it as Roland’s voice.

Next, the voice of the elf he’d walked around the city with yesterday rang out. “Alen, where were you? We’ve been trying to send messages through for hours now. Roland and I are taking a break from helping out on the walls.”

Alen shook his head and tried responding, but his words obviously weren’t going through. Lynn’s voice rang out in his head again. “Oh, you’re probably figuring out how to respond, right? I had to teach Roland this morning as well. Just hold down the button on the system’s screen and speak normally.”

He did as told and spoke. “You guys are farming XP without me? I can’t believe you’re that stingy with your money, Lynn. It’s just juice.”

“What’s XP?” Roland said.

He heard Lynn’s voice in his head again, a sigh audible. “It’s what he calls the mana we assimilate from monsters. Anyway, you want to come with us for lunch?”

“Is Roland paying?”

Before the warrior could respond, Lynn’s voice rang out quickly, cutting him off. “Yes! Roland is definitely treating us.”

Alen could already picture the glares the two were probably sending at each other in person right now. After a moment, he heard Roland speak. “Fine. I’ll pay for both of yours just this once. I owe you both my life on multiple occasions anyways.”

Alen let out a cheer and sent a message of his own. “Just tell me where you guys are headed and I’ll catch up. Also, how are you sending voice messages through the system, Lynn?”

Eilynn let out an ‘oh’ and spoke. “I didn’t figure it out. There are some merchants in major cities that have mages who specialize in mental magic hired. I paid for one to guide me through the process of making this communication channel, but as per the contract, any memory of how to do so were erased from my mind. They take these secrets pretty seriously.”

He nodded. Well, either Sam could figure it out, or they’d have to pay to add a voice function to their chat. As if reading his thoughts, Lynn spoke again.

“Ah, and this system only works within a certain distance, and increasing it costs more money. We won’t have to worry about the distance right now though,” She said.

Roland’s voice rang out in his head. “We’re headed to the restaurant first. It’s near the main street. What do you want us to order for you?”

“Do they have steak?”

“Roasted venison.”

Alen nodded, grinning. “Aight. Take that, then. I’ll see you guys there.”

With that, he stood up from his chair and set down the books, stretching his arms outward as he yawned. He felt good today; relaxed. He went down the stairs and waved goodbye at the middle aged lady in the library, walking out into the paved stone road with a lightness to his steps.

A rest every now and then wasn’t bad, he thought to himself, feeling that the silent surroundings around him didn’t feel all that oppressive anymore as he headed to where the people he’d recently met were.

It felt good to him, thinking those thoughts.

Alen smiled and walked forward on the stone path, one step at a time.