206. Cleaning Up

General Skill [Racial Skill: Partial Mortality] has leveled up!

[Racial Skill: Partial Mortality - Lvl. 4] -> [Racial Skill: Partial Mortality - Lvl. 5]!

Experience is awarded for the leveling of a General Skill!

“Huh.”

The date with Nolan tired me out, and I was finished with my midterms, so just for tonight, I gave myself a brief reprieve. That didn’t mean I’d go to sleep. Sleep wasn’t very relaxing. Instead, I left the dorm and headed for Wimborne despite my drowsiness, wandering around the city for the night. Unfortunately, it seemed that most Humans were asleep.

I stopped by one of the only open stalls, cocking my head.

“Do you guys sell any crabs here? Or, um, shrimps maybe?”

“Sorry, Miss, we only got fish ‘ere.”

“Aw. Are there any shops here that sell more than just fish?”

The [Fisher] shook his head.

“Most of the markets are closed right now, Miss. And we’re not Cyclopes who have their night markets or wet markets, full of all kinds of seafood. The coast here is shallow compared to their cities. We gotta sell what we can sell.”

“And that’s… fish?”

I wrinkled my nose. He shrugged.

“It is most of what we can catch without going too far out.”

It was a shame. I really wanted to try eating a crab without it being coated in that tasteless sauce. Maybe even bite into it completely raw, just to get the sense of what it tasted like without any of the gross artificial flavors Humans liked to add.

I left the market street, heading for the Adventurers Guild. There was a place I needed to go to during the upcoming week. I had a short period of time where I didn’t need to study as much, since I just completed my midterms. So, it was best that I headed to the Rainforest of Monsters as soon as possible to acquire an Enigmatic Heart. After all, it was necessary if I really wanted to create a Potion of Regeneration.

The receptionist at the Adventurers Guild barely glanced up as I sauntered in. It took me a moment to grab his attention.

“Hello? Hello! I’m here to ask a question!”

“Hm?”

He put down a book, lazily meeting my gaze.

“Did you need something, Miss—”

“It’s Salvos.”

I spoke simply, raising my chin slightly, and waiting for him to recognize my name in awe. He just nodded.

“Alright, Ms Salvos. Did you need something?”

I blinked. I scratched the back of my head.

“Um, do you not know me?”

“You’re an adventurer who needs something important for your important quest to help someone important, which is important enough for you to come here in the middle of this important night. Yeah, I know your kind.”

“What?”

I sputtered.

“No! That’s not it at all! It’s about—”

“Yeah, yeah, get on with it already, Miss. I don’t care which small lord or lady you’re helping with in your quest. Just ”

I glowered. I wanted to be nice. But this guy was a jerk! So, I slammed my adventurer’s badge down onto the table.

“Here.”

“Hm?”

He paused. His eyes widened.

“Wait, this badge is—”

A few heads turned. The Adventurers Guild wasn’t crowded, but there were still a handful of adventurers gathered here. Their eyes were caught by the glinting metal. The badge of a Diamond Ranked adventurer.

My badge.

There were a few gasps and whispers. I bared my teeth, leaning forward.

“Now, Mr Receptionist, will you be so kind as to actually listen to me? Or are you going to keep being rude?”

He gulped.

“U-uh, what did you need, Ms Salvos?”

—--

The Adventurers Guild of Wimborne didn’t have too much information on the Rainforest of Monsters. That was because the Rainforest of Monsters was too far away from Shedos, located all the way down to the southwest of the Human lands. I could probably cover that distance on a good day of flying, but I wanted to learn more about this dangerous place before going into it.

I learned from the Plaguelands. I had known very little about the Plaguelands, even with Daniel and Edithe’s guidance and what little cursory research I did beforehand. I thought that was enough, but when I was getting chased around by angry Kobolds for reasons that eluded me and attacked by a Lich that was obsessed with its dead lover, I realized that maybe I should be a bit more thorough to know what the greatest threats were in a single location.

The Adventurers Guild of Wimborne offered me what they knew, and suggested that I inquire more about the Rainforest of Monsters once I was in the country of Odra. It was a small country towards the south of the Sunmere Republic, bordering the Rainforest of Monsters… in a sense. They actually bordered an expansive flatland which went on for a hundred miles before the terrain would even shift into that of a jungle.

Odra was the leading nation in charge of the Alterian League, so they should have been able to tell me a lot more than what I learned here, considering that that league was in charge of repelling monster hordes from the Rainforest of Monsters.

Regardless, what I learned from my trip to Wimborne was that Humans were rude unless they had something to respect or fear. Oh, also, that the Rainforest of Monsters was far larger than the Plaguelands. But unlike the Plaguelands, it wasn’t just a single dangerous place. There were some parts of the Rainforest of Monsters that were populated with monsters barely at Level 10. The problem was that some of the deeper areas of the Rainforest of Monsters were filled with Level 100 creatures lurking with the keen intelligence an undead would never have.

Also, while Skeletons and Zombies— the undead that made up the bulk of the Plaguelands— were swarm monsters, many of the monsters in the Rainforest of Monsters were not swarm monsters. They’d be more equivalent to a Ghoul. But Ghouls, like every other undead, only had a single Class or Subspecies.

Apparently, certain rare Species of monsters underwent the same change that Humans would undergo at Level 100— they’d unlock a second Class. Or in the case of monsters, they’d get a second Subspecies. Centinels were one of such monsters. At Level 100, they’d become so grotesquely deformed due to having two Subspecies instead of just one.

I wanted to get a second Subspecies, if I was being honest, just to see what it’d give me. But us Demons got a Class at Level 100, in addition to their Subspecies. And I wasn’t unhappy with my Class. It had a very cool name. I just wanted another Subspecies as well.

Maybe I can unlock a second Subspecies at Level 200? Or maybe Level 150!

I returned to my Lair, transforming out of my [Partial Mortality] to refresh myself and clear myself from my need to sleep. I didn’t study, instead just sifting through the things I had, taking inventory of everything I kept in my Lair.

I had a lot of books which I still hadn’t read, taken from the [Cultists] I killed. I’d been meaning to dig into them, but many of them espoused the same things about Regnorex and how amazing he was. It was hard even finding a book that departed from that standard doctrine— one which delved into the procedure behind Demon summoning. And I’d read all of those at this point.

There were other things I owned. Old artifacts which I took off the corpses or treasures I uncovered. Many of them were worthless. Like this Amulet of Blood Extraction. It apparently was useful for drawing the blood out of the sacrifice used in summoning rituals.

I’d never need that. I just kept it in my Lair.

There were other trinkets and objects which I pulled out of my bags. They were dusty, untouched by me for months or even years. I began organizing them, making my Lair look nice, because I wanted to have a nice Lair.

I paused as I grabbed an object from deep inside one of my sacks.

“What’s this?”

[Dreaded Goblet: High Grade Equipment - Used in rituals to call upon the wisdom of the Old Gods.]

“Huh. Oh, what do I do with this?”

I remembered getting this back just before I fought Zix in a duel. I didn’t think too much about it, but what did it mean by the wisdom of the Old Gods? I was curious. However, I didn’t have any rituals to carry out. Well, I did have a lot of books on how to carry out rituals…

I’d take a look into it next time.

For now, I finished making my Lair look nice and tidy as the sun rose. I crossed my arms, satisfied.

“That’s good. Maybe I’ll show Saffron my Lair some time.”

I still had a week of classes ahead of me. And then once it was all finished, I’d finally get the last ingredient I needed for my Potion of Regeneration.