Chapter 15: Troubles of the Expedition

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When we arrived at Roden I noticed something was odd. For the largest town in the region everyone sure looked gloomy and that wasn’t just the players. Even the NPCs were in a strange mood.

“You think something happened?” I ask the girl beside me

“Most likely. I’ll ask someone.”

Sylva walked off and approached a stall nearby and asked a merchant NPC.

“Excuse me, what seems to be happening in town?”

The merchant looked at Sylva with disbelief before answering the question.

“You haven’t heard miss? A few days ago the Commander Gil declared the city in a state of war. They’ve been sending troops to the north now.”

“War!? With another city?”

I interrogated him cutting his speech short. That made him look at me with displeasure but he answered me anyway.

“No, it seems monster hordes have been coming down the mountains and disrupting the trade route effort.”

“Trade route?” I was puzzled with what he meant

“Word is we established contact with a region to the north a few weeks back. Problem is the task force is constantly attacked by monsters delaying it.”

I suddenly realize what he meant. The expedition quest! From what he said it looks like the quest wasn’t over yet as they haven’t returned. Moreover they’re under pressure from monster armies!

“Is the expedition team fine?” Sylva asked as I was thinking to myself

“It’s a stalemate out there. Seems the largest group of those beasts are marching towards the soldier’s position in a couple of days.”

“I see... Thank you, sir.”

The merchant just silently nodded as we walked away from him. Sylva was still waiting for me to break the silence while watching me think.

“Sylva, I’m thinking of heading out there to help the quest players. Since Hime will be there I have to go as fast as possible.”

“I know.”

“Are you going to wait for us here? After all it seems the quest is harder than simple bounties....”

“You know, Haruki. Sometimes I wonder if you’re utterly brainless.” Sylva mercilessly said.

I admit that it was my fault though.

“.......Sylva, this is a personal matter. There’s really no need for you to go. It’s not like we’re separating ways.”

“It’s hardly personal Haruki. The quest seems essential for the game progress. I am merely trying to survive this game.” She said calmly

Even though she said that I knew that she just wanted to help. I was the one who suggested her to wait but truthfully I’m relieved she’s going to help. After all, we spent lots of battles together so I know her capabilities.

“Hahaha...... Thank you, Sylva” I say while my lips curl up forming a huge smile

“Let’s look for this Commander Gil shall we?” She replied

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After searching around the huge city we finally found the commander at the castle’s inner courtyard. We also weren’t the only players here. A bunch was gathered around looking tense while tending their gear.

“Halt! State your business traveler!” An NPC guard steps up to us

“Um, we’re here to see Commander Gil? We have business regarding the expedition.”

“I see. More volunteers eh? The Commander’s just up ahead.”

Finished dealing with us the guard stepped back to his post and let us through.

I looked for someone the Commander and instantly found him. His plate armor was a dark blue and had decorations all over it. He certainly looked like he was in charge.

“Excuse me, Commander Gil?”

“Hm? What do you want kid? I’m busy.” He was about to walk away but I stopped him

“Please wait! We’re here to join the ques- I mean troops to the north.”

“You’re here to volunteer? I’ll have to judge your abilities first...”

He turned our way and focused on us. Suddenly my status window had popped up in front of me! It seems that this quest had a level requirement and NPCs could access our status windows...

Status[quart=Name,level]Haruki,64 [/quart]TitleRookie Dragon Hunter[quart=Health,Mana]5160,6370 [/quart][quart=Strength,Dexterity]155,153 [/quart][quart=Vitality,Agility]143,209[/quart][quart=Endurance,Intelligence]97,108 [/quart][quart=Luck,Wisdom]20,147[/quart]

I also looked at the window and thought about my stats. Since I use most of my level up bonus stats on wisdom and intelligence they were steadily rising. The physical stats were also improving quickly thanks to my training and battles!

But there was also a problem there. Since my fighting style mainly uses dodges my endurance isn’t as high as the others. That made my HP rather lacking compared to the amount of mana I have. Well, At least I can keep using my skills with the large mana pool.

I don’t even know what luck does, so it had a low value ever since I began.....

Our levels were rising much faster than average players so we’re probably among the highest leveled for now. This is mostly because the ‘Bond of Trust’ Exp bonus and the fact we were practically grinding nonstop.

“Oho! It seems your much stronger than you look! To think you’ve killed dragonkind before!”

Huh? Even the title’s visible to NPCs?

“You two are fine! You will be of tremendous aid to us.”

It looks like some of the players also heard what Gil said and were looking at us curiously.

“Dragon? The one at Rygar?”

“Oh, They must be the players that wiped out Tyrne’s bounty quests!”

“what were they called? Neo age or something?”

“It’s Nero Argento. Looks like they’re looking to join the quest!”

“Hmm, That’s good I guess. We’ll need the best here.”

It seems that our fame even reached here. But doesn’t look like they’re too surprised about this. I guess high level players aren’t like usual ones.

“Oi, you two! The next group leaves tomorrow morning! Ask the details to the squad captain.” Gil told us

“Yes, sir!”

Dismissed by the commander we started looking around and found the person we were looking for.

“Captain!”

“Ah, the new volunteers. Here to ask about the task?”

“That’s correct sir.” Sylva answered politely

“Good. As you know we’re leaving tomorrow morning! The main force and returning expedition is camped about 2 days from here. Problem is that the monster hordes been following them from the far north! If we don’t crush them the city could be attacked.”

Quest: Reinforcing the Expedition

Roden’s expedition force has successfully contacted the region north of here. To establish a safe route they must eliminate the monsters that have descended from the mountain range. You must relieve the exhausted group and defeat the threat to the city!

Quest Clear: Monster horde eliminated or routed

Difficulty: B+

Confirming the quest information I asked about the enemy troops.

“I heard that the monster’s main troops are already marching? Is this true?”

“Unfortunately yes. That’s why we’re leaving tomorrow. We should arrive just as the battle starts!”

“I see.... Than we should go and prepare ourselves.”

“Uh-huh. Make sure you’re ready by tomorrow!”

Bowing towards the captain Sylva and I returned to the city streets and found a restaurant to rest for a while. It’ll be a good idea to discuss our plans first.

“So what do you think Sylva?”

“The quest’s pretty simple. The only problem is we don’t know much about the enemy troops.”

“Hmm, I hope they turn out to be weak mobs....”

“If that were the case the best players of Roden wouldn’t have much trouble.” Sylva shot down my thoughts

“Aaaah, Can’t I at least hope for it.... Fuuh, I hope she’s alright.....”

Sylva didn’t say anything like ‘it’ll be alright’ or ‘I’m sure she is’. We both knew that there was a possibility that she’s already.......

No! Gotta stay positive here!

“So, anyway.. Do we need to prepare anything important?”

“Probably just some potions and basic stuff. A day’s not enough to do anything worthwhile.”

“Hm maybe I should just train for a while.”

“That so? Well then I’ll buy the potions and head to the castle first then.”

“Yeah, thanks.”

Shortly after we talked the food we ordered arrived. Since we had a whole lot of gold it was a pretty luxurious meal.

Ending our break we split up as I headed towards the city training grounds.

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I wonder what I should train? I don’t see any problems with my melee since lightning blade’s nearly at advanced level and my strength should be on par with pure warriors.

The only thing I can manage to think of is my rather weak magic. Compared to mages like Sylva my damage output is somewhat lacking.

Yep! Looks like I’m training magic today!

Getting ready, I started to focus mana and channel it into my palms as usual. Static sparks started to form and my hands were covered in lightning.

I cast lightning bolts at some dummies to hone my skill usage. Skill proficiency doesn’t increase in training grounds but the practice is useful.

For several hours I tried various stuff out and repeated them as soon as my mana was replenished. I used lightning movement and practiced moving around while imagining a battle in my head.

I practiced lightning arc numerous times while experimenting on it. Looks like I could use it even while I was moving around... That’ll help whittle down enemy HP steadily even when I’m dodging attacks!

I even tried increasing the amount of mana I use in my skills but it still fails. For a whole month I still haven’t further increased lightning resistance which limited my flexibility a lot.

Talk about a double edged sword!

Every time I try to unleash more powerful magic it ends up damaging me and ruining my concentration. Not only that I can’t use magic as my main tool because the mana cost was just too much!

Maybe I’m doing something wrong? Magic user players don’t waste as much mana as I do.... Of course they use staffs but I still felt something was missing.

I started thinking about it for a while and just decided to keep trying.

This time I pictured my mana forming into lightning from my body and focused on the image. I started to breath slowly and let mana flow from the tips of my fingers.

Holding them steady I started to do some fast movements while keeping my mana output level.

Moving around the ground it would look like I was practicing some sort of kung-fu with chi visible.....

After an hour of doing this I was interrupted by a game window floating in my face.

You have created a new skill through practice!

Magic Mastery (Beginner) lv. 1

A skill that every magic user has knowledge of. The user will be much more attuned to the flow of mana and will be able to master basic magic spells.

1% magic damage ; 0.5% mana reduction cost

My eyes were blinking rapidly at my newfound skill.

This is it! This is what I was missing!

The most basic skills for magic users.... It’s not surprising that I didn’t have it until now. Players usually have NPCs teach them skills that are basic for them. Considering I didn’t really focus on magic it’s no wonder I just learned this skill!

The damage increase and mana reduction doesn’t really affect much but if I keep raising its level it’ll be indispensible.

Even better it seems that the damage increase will stack with lightning affinity. If both those skills keep leveling up I’ll probably have much more magic damage than before.

Hm, but I guess this means if I start trying any other element it’ll just be wasted since my affinity skill makes up for my subpar intelligence.

Huhu, but that’s fine. With this I’ll be using magic more properly in the future...

With my sword skills and lightning mastery I’m already a capable battlemage!

Smiling to myself I notice that black skies had already covered the city. Time for me to regroup with Sylva then.

Closing the information window, I walked towards the castle while promising myself to use magic more to increase the skill proficiency faster.

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