NOVEL NEXT 2.51-Collective Questing
"So sigil, huh?" Was all Avan had in mind at the end of his reading sessions. He had read the other books as well, and even added one for novice blacksmiths, but he couldn't get his mind off the formations and the vaguely mentioned powerful sigils.
Jen just smiled as she heard Avan absentmindedly talking to himself again, and then looked straight ahead again.
In front of the two, on the central town hall square of Tria, a group of performers had set up and was in the process of performing tricks of all kinds for all the onlookers.
Something like a prankster was running around playing tricks with the other performers and some children, while two others were standing behind playing two instruments and providing a melodramatic background for the show. An already gray-haired woman played a harp while an older man played along on a pan flute in perfect harmony with her.
When Avan arrived with Jen, they both stood behind the crowd with a sweet snack on a skewer and watched the spectacle like everyone else, careful not to spill any of the dripping syrup that threatened to drip down the warm baked goods.
The prankster had just finished and a small bunch of children ran laughing back to their respective parents. As one entertainer stepped back, the next one came out, who had been waiting patiently in the background and was the only one who had not yet taken part in any activities.
And immediately it became clear to all spectators why the slenderly built middle-aged man had held back so far, as he pulled a small wand out of his sleeves and immediately formed strands of mana as he began to recite an incantation.
To the amazement of all involved, the man suddenly pulled another wand from his other sleeve and began a second simultaneous incantation, something only trained mages could do. A golden flickering flame formed with the same scheme in front of the second wand and then also flew upward in small feats, while here too another mana strand seemed to remain connected to the wand.
"Huh? What's the mana strand for...?" Avan muttered. "...For permanent control of the spell?"
*Right... There might not be anyone else with that cheat power like me as a dungeon and a whole sphere of influence, which allows me to control all my spells around smoothly!* Then it just dawned on him when he realized that he himself never needed a steady mana strand to control his flying forms!
The mage masterfully bounced the golden fireball through the air, formed it into a bird that flew through the purple ring of fire, and then worked both spells simultaneously to send it into the air in a fabulous fireworks display with a shower of sparks as the final shot. This performance was repeated several times with loud enthusiastic exclamations from the audience with different colors, shapes and fireworks explosions at the end, and was beautiful to watch as Avan thought. Jen, too, had a childlike sparkle in her eyes as she watched the performance, seemingly reminiscing about her own memories.
Suddenly, a brief smile slid across Avan's face when, out of the corner of his eye, he saw a woman standing in the crowd with her young daughter holding her hand, while an extremely happy-looking man had his arm around her and was cuddling the woman.
Jen only noticed the reaction because she had just looked at Avan's face herself for the umpteenth time. "What is it?" Avan looked at her briefly in surprise, then smiled again. "Nothing, just a happy reunited family apparently." Came his reply. The woman with her daughter had remarkable similarities to one of the bandit captives Avan had freed the previous night.
When the first round of the show was brought to a climax by the older duo's mood-setting music, and then the group ran around with their hats to collect money, Avan and Jen walked on. Jen had been about to say something when she watched, silent and satisfied, as a silver piece whizzed from Avan's hand between the spectators and landed in the hat of a young actress, much to her surprise.
The evening went on as before, and after the group had talked about tomorrow and eaten their fill, everyone went to sleep to be ready for the first rays of sunshine the next morning.
Jen had walked past Avan in a bright red state and quickly slipped into her own room, where the two had spent the previous night together, and he himself walked past the door to his own room, smirking quietly.
The next morning was uneventful and the four of them quickly wolfed down their food and then grabbed their backpacks, which were mostly empty so they could bring back the crystals, and marched off to the southern city gate where the meeting point was.
In fact, they were one of the last participants to arrive, which was all thanks to Patris the glutton who had ordered a second portion of breakfast for himself.
A man stood in front of the 20 or so adventurers gathered, a lady helper at his side. "Good, it seems that everyone has arrived and we can start the short briefing. Anyone who doesn't show up now is out of luck."
"Some may already know me, some may not. My name is Bertram Stenson, and I am the vice leader of the local adventurer's guild here in Tria. I'm the designated leader and in charge of this seasonal harvest quest."
"Here are some things to keep in mind as we march off together. The seriousness of the crystals and the monsters..." He continued, and Avan listened intently as the correct way to harvest mana crystals was discussed. When Avan heard that you had to have some mana control to harvest as much as possible without breaking, he almost cried inside when he thought back to his own crude mining method in the Akkalon dungeon and how much he had wasted.
The explanations continued with the local monsters that could be found around the "Red" battlefield, as the area with the magical storms was colloquially known, where thousands of years ago something like two gods had had a final battle and where the magic in this region is still going crazy today. But this in turn led to the constantly growing mana crystals around it, which were harvested again and again. There were up to a meter high crystal lizards, smaller crystal elementals, crystal golems and sometimes harpies to find around.
It was also urgently and insistently pointed out not to venture too far into the interior of the zone, no matter how promisingly large and pure the crystals were that could be found inside, since no one had ever made it out alive.
The crystals themselves were evaluated at the end of the joint quest back here in Tria according to purity and size and paid for accordingly. The concentrated collection of crystalized mana was used for all sorts of magical purposes from everyday things like magical street lamps to rune formations or even area of effect incantations used in massive battles!
In broad summary, Avan felt that everyone should walk around in small groups, not venture too far into the zone, and at the same time beware of magical phenomena and smaller monster varieties. And after the vice leader finished his short briefing, the several hours long march towards the magic crystal zone, or the "red" battlefield, began.