“Master Udon?”

Huh? Where am I? I managed to open my eyes, my right eye was still sore but it didn’t seem to be swollen. My body still felt broken though, any movement I made felt like I was just going to drop dead by the pain.

*Gradual Healing Mastery: 6/10

“M-Miko?”

I tried to look around, I knew where I was, I was back in the room at the Inn. Did Miko bring me all this way? I remember her limping though.

“Master Udon, try not to talk, you’ve been severely injured, you need to rest.”

Miko pushed my head back down on the pillow keeping me still.

“You should never have sent your party into the forest at your level”

Whose voice was that? I felt someone sit on the bed, that voice did sound familiar.

“Even if you are a new player you need to know your limits or you’ll end up dead, this was a close call, I didn’t think you’d pull through.”

I managed to turn my head to see the elf receptionist with her palms over my body, what was she doing?

“Master Udon, Sylf is using her recovery magic on you, she’s a high level mage that is why you’ve healed so quickly, she saw me carrying you when we got to town and ran to help us, she’s the reason you’re still alive.”

Miko put her hand on my shoulder, I think she was crying, damn it! I’m so weak!

“Wheres Vnaa?”

Was Vnaa the one that cast that Pit fall spell?

“She’s asleep on the bed over there, we need to have a chat about her,”

Miko pointed to the sleeping fluffy caterpillar curled up on the bed like a cat.

“Sylf, I’ll pay for your services, I can handle the rest myself.”

I didn’t need to owe someone a favour, with my current experiences in this world, no one would go out there way to help someone else without wanting something in return.

“Will you shut it!”

Sylf stopped her healing and flicked my forehead and then went back to healing me

“Ow”

That hurt quite a bit, I looked back at the ceiling, how long am I going to be out of commission for?

“I’m sorry Sylf, Master Udon is a nice person but it takes a while to get used to him and he is quite rude”

Miko smiled at Sylf and apologised on my behalf…I never told you to do that! And stop calling me rude!

“Don’t worry Miko, I can tell Udon is a nice person, I don’t know many players that would not only spare the life of a Floor Guardian but to invite them into their party and look after them, it is unheard of”

Wait? Did Miko tell her who she was?

“Huh!?”

Miko looked as surprised as I was, so she didn’t tell her.

“You see, us elves are all born with Dungeon Ore surrounding us, although we don’t get the same bestowed gift as that cute little creature over there, we are bestowed with a slightly weaker gift, we are able to sense Floor Guardians as well as many other aspects of the Dungeon.”

“Why didn’t you report us? Or try and steal Miko’s power then?”

“I’m not that type of person, and besides, when I first saw you, even though you were covered in monster blood, that crystal clear Gem you have made me very suspicious of you, so even if I did want to report you, I needed to see how dangerous you were first.”

So she did see my Gem after all.

“Miko, we need to get out of here”

She wanted something, and she saw my Gem.

“Master Udon?”

“Settle down, you’ll be healed up enough to go walking around tomorrow but I wouldn’t fight monsters yet.”

Sylf seemed as calm as ever, was she really as strong as she acts.

“Miko, do you understand why Udon has sever trust issue?”

What the hell was Sylf blabbering about now?

“No, I don’t, his been like this from the day I met him”

Miko looked down at me with a worried expression.

“Interesting, it’s getting fairly late, how about you go and get some sleep, I’ll finish up my healing and be out of here soon.”

Miko gave Sylf a nod and left the room into the closest we used as a change room.

“I don’t know why you have been summoned here, but, you need to explain to Miko why your trust issues are this bad, I have sensed what you have been through in this world and the world you are from, you are quite the strong character, but you will only get weaker if you bottle it all up.”

Sylf was starting to really get on my nerve, she sensed what I have been through? She knew I was a summoned as well, she might have some information as to why I’m here though.

“I can handle it by myself, do you know who summoned me?”

I gave Sylf a stern reply, but she just shook her head and let out a sigh

“You are so stubborn, I don’t know why you were summoned, there all done, you should be able to walk, not fight, walk, tomorrow.”

Sylf stood up and walked out the room, Miko came back in and hoped into her bed and cuddled with Vnaa, I managed to fall asleep quickly, I was still exhausted.

“Master Udon, what did you want to do today?”

Miko sat across from me as we ate some Uccoli fruit for breakfast on our beds.

“Did Vnaa incant that magic?”

Miko did say we needed to talk about Vnaa

“Yes, she spoke in the common tongue, I thought it was strange but Sylf told me that all familiars should be able to speak the common tongue eventually”

So Vnaa will be able to speak soon…That’s going to get annoying real quick.

“Master Udon? Are you thinking something rude?”

Huh!? Damn Miko, she watches me to closely!

“How about we head to the market, Vnaa looks tired still, is she ok?”

Vnaa had been asleep the whole time since I woke up.

“Yeah, she used all of her mana when she incanted the spell, it might take her a while to get some MP back because she’s only level 4.”

It did take me over four days to get back to 0.

“I want some magic books, do you think we can find some at the market?”

I need to learn more spells if I want to get stronger.

“Yes, Sylf told me about the top stores in the market, we should be able to grab a fair amount, the special shop is Ice Magic Crystals”

That doesn’t help us, no one in our party has an attribute for ice magic.

“We have 5 Bronze Bear Coins and 4 Silver Shark Coins, that should be enough for some items but I do want to sell or trade some of our current items”

After the extra night and most likely two more nights here which will cost us 4 more Bronze Bear Coins, we need to get some more money quick.

“Sounds like a plan, shall we get going?”

Miko stood up excited, and headed to the door, I followed slowly, it still hurt to even move.

We made our way to the market which was just behind the Inn we were staying at, it was split up into two parts, on the other side of the big pond in the middle of the town was the more expensive market and on our side was cheaper, Sylf said the items we should look for were better on the cheaper side.

“Hero Keychains? Miko what is this?”

I stopped by a stall and looked at all the different weapon keychains, I had been meaning to asks what a hero weapon is but hadn’t got around to it.

“They are Hero Weapon Keychains, a hero weapon is a ghost weapon that has the physical part of the main section of its designated weapon, so if the Hero Weapon is a Sword, the hilt of the sword is the actual hero weapon and when you imbue the weapon with materials the ‘ghost weapon’ appears from the hilt, the blade is formed by the materials you used to create it, although it is called a ghost weapon the blade is a solid blade, but it can change if you change its materials. Each hero has a skill that lets them imbue the materials into the main part of their weapon with their blacksmithing skill, if you don’t have a hero weapon you won’t have that skill, since most hero’s don’t like to do the blacksmithing work, they only use a weapon copy when they let their hero weapon absorb an already made weapon. Every floor that has monsters roaming around has a designated hero weapon, the weapon grants the hero more power by boosting their attributes, the weapon even doubles the stats of a hero when they are own the designated weapon floor, it is believed the heroes weapons want the heroes to stay on the floor and protect it, but the heroes just travel the dungeon. A heroes weapon normally has a symbol on it, I believe it’s called the Leviathan Crest, but no one knows why they are here or who created them and how they choose their wielder.”

Leviathan…it must just be a coincidence thats all, surly that horrible company hasn’t followed me to another world.

“The magic book stall is over here Master Udon”

Miko directed me to another stall nearby, this one was a walk in stall, like a small library. It had books stacked on each side of the U shaped shelves, each was categorised into the attribute and then into the rarity of the spells, most of them were only Spirit spells but I did see some Atone and even 1 heroic but it was an Ice book.

“Over here Master Udon”

Miko picked up three books, all were Shadow spirits magic books. I opened one and it looked quite hard to understand but this was the only way I could learn, I had levelled up 7 times and hadn’t learnt any new spells except that Practitioner spell that almost killed me.

“Did you want any books Miko?”

I asked, she was browsing through the light Magic section, I wonder if there is a skill that allows you to create a new spell?

“Umm, I might get this one if its ok”

Miko picked up an Atone Light Magic Book

“Excuse me, how much for these four books?”

The stall owner was an old goat demi-human fellow, he wore a red robe that had a light purple stole coming down to his feet, the scarves that graduates wear. He wore circular glasses and had his goatee tied up on his chin, he seemed to have a nasty burn on his left arm.

“For you, 1 Silver Shark Coin”

The old Goat said, 1 Silver Shark Coin thats quite cheap, is something wrong with these books?

“Why so cheap? You trying to pull one over in us? Are these ineffective?”

“No my dear boy, not many players come and visit my stall anymore, and I can see you have the ability to learn magic through the old fashion way, it would be against my soul to not let you have those books”

Hmmm, that seemed a little weird but I can handle that.

“Ok, here, 1 Silver Shark Coin, and take this”

I handed him the coin along with an Aloe Vera Herb.

“Thank you Sir, but what is this?”

The old goat looked at the herb, did he really not know what it was?

“It’s an Aloe Vera Herb, snap it in half and rub the oil on that burn of yours, it should heal in a day or two”

“Oh no Sir, this is far too much in exchange for those books”

What was he on about now? It was a low level herb found anywhere on the first floor.

“I don’t want to owe you anything, so take it, if you don’t trust me pass me your arm”

I grabbed the old goats arms and gently rubbed to Aloe Vera Oil on his burn. Within a matter of minutes his burn was almost completely healed, that must have been that Basic First Aid Skill’s effect.

*Basic First Aid Mastery: 1/10

“How is this possible!?”

The old goat looked at his burn disappear, did he not know about skills?

“It’s just the basic first aid skill, nothing special, we’re even now”

I grabbed to books off Miko and put them into my bag.

“But Sir, are you sure you want to waste the skill on me?”

The old Goat still unsure of what had happened seemed to want me to take something else.

“Waste? I used it as a trade for the books I just purchased, do you not have this skill?”

“No, I have an artificial-Gem see”

The old goat showed me his Guild Bracelet, it looked like a plastic version of my own Gem, but his bracelet was better than mine.

“I don’t see a crest? What Guild are you in?”

I looked over his bracelet and couldn’t see any crest.

“We aren’t allowed in Guilds Sir, only those with actual Guild Gems get accepted into Guilds, and people like me are far to weak to go out and level up so we are stuck with the trade skill that is granted to us by the Artificial Gem”

Hmm, thats some useful information, those who didn’t have a Gem at birth could get an artificial one which gave them one trade, but the guilds wouldn’t accept them.

“That’s letting some quite capable people to go unnoticed if you ask me”

I mumbled to myself turning to Miko to see if she knew any of this, Miko nodded her head and looked a little frustrated.

“We are even, no need to go on about it”

I told the old Goat one more time and headed down the market.

“That was so nice of you Master Udon”

Miko walked next to me, she had that big smile again, it seemed like all her worry or whatever it was she had this morning had disappeared.

“Are there books about levelling up your Mastery for trade skills?”

I asked Miko, if you thought about it, it would be useful to create your own weapons.

“There are, but they only help to a certain level, the rest you need to learn from experience”

Seems fair to me, but if it cut half the work down and told you what to do, it sounded pretty easy.

“Do you know where to find them?”

“Sylf said a stall like that should be around here…There it is”

Miko pointed to a stall just down the path, it was similar to the stall we were just at, U shaped with the books categorised into each trade.

“Lets see, I think I’ll grab the overview of each Trade book, so thats 20, a fair amount, but it would be good to get the basics under my wing”

I went over to the stall owner…

“Umm, aren’t you that exact same Goat Demi-Human we just bought the magic books from?”

They looked exactly the same but this one had a brown rob with a black stole coming down the front.

“Oh, you bought some books off my twin brother, how kind”

So they were twins then, hmm, is it the same person?

“Master Udon, don’t worry, they are different this man is level 15 while the other was only a level 12”

“Yes, I’m a little stronger than my brother but his magic is stronger than mine…are you looking at buying all those books!?”

Almost the same reaction the other goat had, was it that strange to buy books here?

“Yes, how much would this all be?”

“Umm, 20 books, 2 Silver Shark Coins sound good?”

Again, thats quite cheap, but, I wasn’t going to complain.

“Ah brother, I see you are buying some books off him as well Sir, may I ask a favour of you?”

It was the other goat that I bought the magic books off, so they were actual twins, I didn’t really believe it until now, even if Miko said they were different level, I still didn’t trust that bee.

“Depends on the favour and what you’ll give me for it”

I’m not doing charity work.

“Master Udon?”

Miko looked at me a little disappointed, she needs to toughen up.

“Can you heal my brothers burn like you did mine, we received them a little while ago when we were practicing our fire magic.”

Thats all he wanted?

“Your burn is complexity gone brother? How is that possible?”

“This young man used the basic first aid skill and healed me with an Aloe Vera Herb”

“Really? But his a player, is he not?”

“Yes, I’m a player, I can help you if you drop the price by a Silver Shark Coin”

That would leave me with 2 Silver Shark Coins left.

“If you healed my brothers burn completely and you can do the same for me, then of course”

The other Twin Goat put his arm out to me and I applied the Aloe Vera Oil over the burn, and in a matter of minutes it was completely healed.

*Basic First Aid Mastery: 2/10

Thats levelling up fairly quick, I wonder what that upgrades to?

“Wow! It actually worked, thank you Sir”

The Goat twins seemed happy, I didn’t care, I took my books and carried them, I might need a bigger bag.

“Master Udon, I know you don’t want to hear it, but those Goat Demi-Humans where very gracious of what you done for them”

Miko smiled at me, a look of adore came across her.

“Whatever, do you want to grab a bite to eat? We need a bigger bag”

“Sure, Sylf said there was a yummy fruit stall around the corner, I can buy another bag if you want? Vnaa could carry the small hemp bag, I’m sure she wouldn’t mind, she’d be happy to help”

Vnaa carrying a bag? We carried Vnaa everywhere so wouldn’t it just be us carrying Vnaa while she held the bag?

“Over there Master Udon”

Miko pointed to a cart full of weird yellow and brown beans, they looked like a bean bun.

“What are these?”

I took a bite of one, it tasted like vanilla.

“They’re called Karluo, they are a refreshing fruit with a unique taste”

Miko handed the stall owner 2 Bronze Bear Coins and bit into her own.

“They taste good, I can see why Sylf told you about them”

I finished my Karluo off when I saw a familiar face.

“Hey Miko, can you bring these back to the room and check on Vnaa, if you have some time try and sell our items and get yourself a bag”

I handed Miko the books and started walking off.

“Where are you going Master Udon?”

Miko called out but nodded her head.

“Just checking on something, I’ll meet you back in the room.”