Chapter 41: Setting Up

It felt a little bit odd chasing after two kids through a forest completely nude…

I really can’t think how I would explain myself if I was confronted, but luckily I don’t think they caught on even after chasing them for a good while. The two kids have been running at a nice jog for close to 3 hours without breaking a sweat. Casually chatting even.

The more a followed the stronger the rumble of mana from a city became. It had to be maybe within eyesight if there weren’t any of these massive firs in the way.

“Oh, I think we reached the end of the forest…” I noticed their pace slow.

I slowed my steps also, a ways before a paved road cleared of any trees. Through the clearing, I could see where the treeline stopped and the road to the city began.

For obvious reasons I didn’t step out, I followed beside the stone walkway hiding among the trees all the way to where the trees stopped. I crouched and crawled on the ground below a fir to peak ahead. The two kids skipped as they finished the final kilometer to the city wall ahead.

It’s nowhere near the height or thickness of the walls the city of Laurent. I doubt even the giant lighting rod poking out from behind some of the buildings reached a quarter of the height.

As shitty as a fortress Laurent was to protect its people I had to praise the scale it failed at.

“Hyrideans?”

Greeting the two kids at the open gate was a man and a woman in casual clothes. The girl looked tiny picked up by the large man who swung around in a giant circle his face completely elated.

What, are the two kids missing? They didn’t seem lost…

The hyridean woman took the rabbit hyre and inspected it nodding her head in affirmation to the group gathered behind.

The simple clothes emphasizing the giant pair of bunny ears and tiny puffy tail on their lower backs sticking out form a slit on the back of their pants.

More and more people began to rush out from the homes nearby and offer them smiles along with words I couldn’t hear or make out from the distance.

“So many too…” All of the people that came out where hyrideans.

Not a single human.

Just where am I?

I’m definitely in any place within Scale Aligence. I doubt they would allow this many migrant to live among them. The shop owners I acquainted with in the dungeon told me just getting a license to do business in the SA was hard enough for them and there were stringent checks to make sure only the direct family of the business owner had taken residency.

I am either South, West, East, or very very North…

Wait, that’s anywhere.

After putting down the girl who had slain the rabbit hyre the two that had greeted them ushered them forward into the city. With them, the small crowd that reminded me a bit of a birthday party disappeared behind the walls.

So…do I just waltz in?

While I doubt I’ll be stoned for my appearance, I’m stark naked, I might be arrested. Regardless of what I do, I’ll draw attention.

Might as well act as if I’m actively looking for it.

The pelts I had kept to sell were rolled up completely raw. I tried my best fleshing the fur, but I never learned to tan.

I tied together the fur that covered the legs of the rabbit hyres on each side of my waist making a skirt to cover my front and rear bits. Then did the same for my chest except tying them by all fours to make an awful shirt for my chest and back. The cold ickiness of the rawhide felt odd, but it quickly raised to the heat of my body temperature and felt surprisingly okay. And lastly, I tied one into a hood over my head obscuring my hair and face.

With confident steps, I marched down the last stretch toward the unguarded gate looking like a savage born in the wild.

***

I…I think its working?

Everyone seemed to be averting their gaze or moved aside to avoid interacting with me.

I did read eccentric mages are quite common, maybe they think I’m one of those?

Even the guards didn’t bat an eye as they made their patrols past me. Like everyone else so far the guards where hyridean with bunny ears poking out from of their helmets, twitching and moving to follow sounds. The exception was their puffy tails where hidden beneath their armor.

The coat of arms they bared was unknown to me. The badges clasped on their large red scarfs featured a sigil of a red bunny on a gold background.

The city was much more village like that I thought. The modern amenities were there, like glowing signs and street lamps, but the aesthetic reminded me of the Italian countryside I visited on one of the many mandatory lavish ‘school trips’.

I wanted to explore a bit more but quickly I made my way to the adventurer guild as my shamelessness was running short. Like most cities, the guild was close to the entrance. The symbol of an octagon with an unfamiliar, to me, globe inside it telling me the large building under it was the guild.

The city had a warm vibe, the well-worn masonry of the buildings filled me with a sense of calm. Paired with the clean streets and sweet summery air from the surrounding firs, it was a nice place.

I walked through the adventurer guild’s front door. Inside there a few people sparsely filling the many benches and tables available. Cool air poured from the ac vents and the high ceiling stopped any conversations from reaching very far.

I bet sound deadening enchantments were applied to the stone when they built it.

I did gain some glances from some of the parties, but nothing out of the ordinary from just sizing up others or scouting for talent. Maybe, no one really cared and had their own things to do than worry about some weird guy wrapped in raw pelts.

I walked up to one of the open receptionists.

“Welcome to the AG in Civieto, what can I assist you with?” The young man greeted me with a bright smile.

Civieto…?

Doesn’t ring a bell at all.

“I need access to a private room to conduct guild trades without the use of a MAGI.”

“Oh, you speak our mother hyre tongue?”

Uhhh?

My mind jolted at the realization I’ve understood the kid's words and the conversations on the streets of the cities in perfect clarity.

The fact that Eurval wasn’t translating completely went over my head, it had become something so natural I didn’t see anything wrong with having understood them.

The guild receptionist’s face fell in thought for a moment as lights appeared in his eyes then nod his head.

“Ahem, sorry. I shouldn’t have asked. Now, if you’ll follow me I’ll lead you to an open one.”

“No, no it's fine.”

The guild did everything they could to ensure the happiness of its members. I could easily not be registered, but the thought of offending me was worse than just letting a stranger in. Besides if not registered none of the services actually work.

I followed behind the fair skinned, but brown bunny eared man as he led me down a hallway with many doors. Each had a bronze plaque above each door, some glowing a soft white others dark.

“Room 17, is a single person room is this okay? Or would you like a larger one?”

“This is fine.”

“Very well adventurer. My name is Fra, if you need anything feel free to message me through the station inside or see me at the front. As always privacy and anonymity is our policy, complete isolation of each room is guaranteed by the guild.”

After his words, Fra gave a short bow his long ears almost brushing against my face.

I nod my head in return and stepped into the room closing the door behind me.

I can speak it too?

The words came out so naturally too, like I’ve spoken it all my life. My mind translating it without even consciously trying.

Mother hyre tongue…

Unseen effects from the ‘reckless’ way I absorb hyre essence orbs was the only answer I could come up with. Eurval’s override had probably stopped me from noticing.

I walked towards the desk causing a dance of lights to appear forming into a screen in front of me. No physical keyboard or mouse everything was controlled by the two of them being projected in front of me.

—Tap.Tap.Tap.

Using my mother hyre tongue. I quickly logged into Lucid’s, my, account.

[Adventurer Name: Lucid Gracile (Edit)

Status: Missing in action (Edit)

Rank: C

Position:

Contribution Points: 50,017,323 (Redeem)

Account History Page 1 of 1:

Participation in the Tole Forest Dungeon Emergency (AT(Amateur Team))- 5,000

Hyre Killing Operation Team AT Per Hyre Slain - 12,323

Participation in the Tole Forest Dungeon Emergency(Slayer of The Dungeon Keeper) - 50,000,000

Rank Upgrade - F to C ]

“FIFTY MILLION!”

“HOLY SHIT, HOLY FUCK”

I had gone in expecting the points I gained for the eggs I killed.

Just converting it into scales would make me rich. Of course, I won’t do that since contribution points can’t be bought back.

I hopped in place re-reading the transaction posting over and over again making sure I read all the zeros correct. I pressed on the ‘Redeem’ bottom sending me to the guild’s own marketplace.

From essence orbs to legendary grade materials found from dungeons. Even exclusive one-off suits of armors of expert grade where found here. The most important thing…

Everything was cheap!

Relative to the number of points I had. Two million for a master ranked suit of armor, twenty million for a heroic ranked bow, and half a billion for a legendary ranked spear.

…

Okay, not everything.

“Some things have a shipping delay of a day too…”

Unlike Laurent, this place must be a ways away from the main city.

Being in a private room I threw off the pelts and continued to browse through the guilds inventory. First I needed a bow, then armor, then spells, and finally clothes and underwear.

Here I thought I would have to sell these furs to scrape by for some clothes or a really cheap bow…

[Crow’s Wings Bow (Used)

Type: Growth

Grade: Expert

Rank: Master

Enchantments (14/14)

7/14 Were used to add a homing effect to any arrow shot from this bow.

7/14 Were used to increase the distance traveled and reduce affliction drop off of any arrow shot from the bow

Points: 1.8m

Snow Duchess’s Embrace (New)

Type: Growth

Grade: Expert

Rank: Master

Enchantments (0/15)

Note: All arrows gain a freezing effect.

Points: 4.34m

Branch Of The Immortal Manzanita Tree Bow (New)

Type: Growth

Grade: Expert

Rank: Heroic

Enchantments (0/19)

Notes: Earth-based essence orbs used for enchantments are rated for half their input load.

Points: 17.13m]

I scrolled further out of curiosity to the first legendary ranked bow.

[Drop of Air (New)

Type: Growth

Grade: Amateur

Rank: Legendary

Enchantments(0/219)

Notes: Increases the power of magic used to pierce

Reduces affliction drop off substantially.

This bow offers a tremendous increase in strength to all wind-based magic the bow wielder uses.

Defected bow this sale is final.

Points: 39.1m]

[ATTENTION: All enchantment slots and possibilities are estimates revealed through divination. ]

So many beautiful bows.

Each one was one of a kind from the smooth dark red bark of the manzanita wood to the almost invisible bow made literally of air.

Tch.

I clicked my tongue seeing what I couldn’t have.

There was much more than I needed to get. I was completely on my own with no backup from the resources Rook or Laurent had for me. I had to get more than just a weapon.

The Crow’s Wings seemed decent, but a homing effect could be added into the magic arrow itself. Still, I would have to buy the schematics of such a function and try it implement myself instead of having a bow do it for me…

The affliction drop off was pretty useless for me who wasn’t an extremely long ranged bowman…

Which meant I would have to enchant the bow myself.

The cost to enchant was the cost of the essence orbs from a hyre that had an affinity to an effect I wanted plus the cost to buy the enchantment spell or have someone make it. Along with the higher price of an unenchanted bow.

I couldn't make a decision so I began to gather things I did need.

[Redeem 200 points for “Ormicks 6th Graders Guide to Magic?

Redeem 2000 points for “Ormicks 7th Graders Guide to Magic?

Redeem 7500 points for “Headwind’s Book of Adventuring Magic?”

Redeem 400 points for “AG Basics Storage Ring?”]

I clicked yes and asked for physical copies to be delivered along with the storage ring to this room.

This was good enough for now. It would be a waste to use more points on materials I could gain if I joined another academy. Usually, the minimum was a 7th-grade understanding. The other book would be for my travels and adventuring to regain back my strength to be accepted into a martial and magic school or academy.

Now for the armor.

I changed the search terms and filters on the guild terminal.

[Root of The Immortal Manzanita Tree, Light Armor (New)

Type: Growth

Grade: Expert

Rank: Master

Enchantments (0/19)

Notes: Earth-based essence orbs used for enchantments are rated for half their input load.

High resistance to fire based magic.

Can be charged with mana to release a massive cocoon of roots in a small area around the wearer. Spell needs to be charged with ~1,340,000 AM of mana per cast.

Points: 3.03m

Moonlit Silk Of Midnight Mulberry, Cloth Armor (New)

Type: Growth

Grade: Expert

Rank: Master

Enchantments (0/23)

Notes: When moonlight touches the armor bolsters magic and physical resistances significantly.

Ability to blend into shadows at the cost of a continuous feed of mana. Consumes ~8000 AM.

Points: 4.59m

Pinnacle’s Death Tungsten, Plate Armor (New)

Type: Growth

Grade: Expert

Rank: Master

Enchantments (0/29)

Notes: High resistance to magic and physical attacks. The growth of the armor’s abilities is increased greatly when a living being is slain by its wearer.

Points: 6.78m]

Each of these armors was on par with Eugene’s spectral lion armor. While the conversion to any currency is 1:1 the comparable values are much different.

Now all I had to do was decide.