NOVEL NEXT Chapter 11
Shae
After tossing and turning for a long time, Shae had finally fallen asleep. When she awoke late the next morning, she didn’t feel rested.
She could feel the level-up notification from last night still there, so she took a look at what was new.
—
With great effort, you have increased your base Flow stat by 1, raising it up to 7.
Shae Williams
Level: 67
Points: 3
Body: 100
Dexterity: 101
Flow: 93
Health: 298 / 301
Stamina: 281 / 302
Mana: 286 / 286
Skills:
[Adaptation]
[Adaptation] Sub-skills:
[Acid]: 0.6%
[Earth]: 11.2%
[Fire]: 9.1%
[Healing]: Level 14
[Ice]: 2.9%
[Light]: 45.5%
[Lightning]: 37.8%
[Mental]: Level 7
[Pain]: Level 11
[Plant]: 53.0%
[Poison]: 1.1%
[Psychic]: 29.9%
NEW! [Sound]: 1.9%
[Space]: 18.6% (Main, change available.)
[Water]: 16.7%
—
[Sound Adaptation]: You were rattled, in more ways than one. But you survived, and came out stronger for it.
|
[Passive]: The disrupting effects of loud sounds will no longer be as effective on you.
|
[Active]: Decrease the volume of sounds in your immediate vicinity.
—
My sleep was so bad even my health decreased? Well, I certainly do feel like shit right now.
She put one point into each stat.
—
Body: 101
Dexterity: 102
Flow: 94
Health: 298 / 304
Stamina: 281 / 305
Mana: 286 / 289
—
Her strength had increased by a ludicrous amount since her time on Earth. She knew for a fact that she shatter a boulder now. The day she discovered that fact had been a fun one. But such a feat was only in places with low mana density, like Marlonn.
In a place with high mana density, she would basically be an ordinary person again, unable to shatter boulders. The idea of so much more potential in the world excited her.
Part of the reason the trading hub had formed in this area was that ordinary people didn’t need a high level just to travel. People who lived in high-density areas needed to hire strong escorts, as being outside city walls in those areas was a really quick and easy way to die.
Her body emitted a slight green glow as she cycled healing magic through it. Both to make herself feel better, and just to wake herself up faster.
Her lack of good rest hadn’t lowered her health much, but it was like a status condition in a game. She would feel like crap and wouldn’t heal or be able to move as quickly.
With a groan, Shae got up. The light streaming through the window was bright, meaning she had slept later than she normally did.
She hadn’t bought much food for herself since arriving at the Center. While they did have a shared kitchen people could use, they also had a canteen. What the canteen offered wasn’t anything special, but it wasn’t anything terrible, either. The kitchen was more for mercenaries stopping by who wanted to cook something between traveling.
She loaded up a tray with toast, eggs, and a kind of rice not found on Earth that was actually a fruit. Despite the canteen’s middling food, the fruit rice was rapidly becoming one of her favorite things to eat in the morning.
Her teammates were all sitting at a table, having apparently waited for her. Konial and Melo were having some kind of debate, Zena was reading, and Tria was sketching with a piece of charcoal.
She smiled and walked over to them.
“How are you doing?” Zena asked, closing her book.
“Didn’t sleep very well, but other than that I’m fine. I’ll get over it.” Changing the subject, Shae asked the group, “So what’s the plan now?”
Melo replied, “We talked about it a bit already, but were waiting for you before making any definite plans. In my case, I need to try to take higher-paying missions and be in places where I can do additional work outside of them.
|
“My own debt is close to being taken care of, actually, which will make dealing with my cousin’s easier.”
She nodded as she ate a mouthful of rice. “I need to save up for Victoria’s reshaping. And also get some new armor eventually, though that one isn’t immediately important. Other than that, I need to find a place with space mana I can practice with. It’ll get my sub-skill up faster.”
Tria had joined the Center with her own armor, but it wasn’t much better than the trainee sets. Of the five of them, only Melo had something decent.
Zena said, “You mentioned recently that you want to stay in this world. Is that still true after last night?”
She frowned and nodded. “Yeah, definitely. Last night was bad, but I’ll be okay. Even if I quit being a mercenary, staying on Tamyre would still be better for my mental health.”
Zena smiled and honestly said, “I’m glad. I would miss you.”
“I would miss you, too.”
The snakelike woman then stated what she would need going forward, which wasn’t much in comparison. “I’ll also need new armor at some point. Other than that, I’m fine.”
Konial shrugged. “As long as I can have fun, I don’t care. I’m still in debt, too, though.”
Beer and brawls, got it.
“What about you, Tria?”
Tria continued working on her sketch. It was of a view from a rooftop garden looking down at a busy street.
That’s really good. I’m glad she stopped hiding her love for art. What kind of people would push her away for that?
“Tria?” Zena repeated.
Shae nudged her with her elbow.
Tria looked up and asked, “Hm? What is it?”
“We were asking what needs you’ll have in the future,” Zena explained.
“Oh, sorry! I want to travel and see a whole lot of different things. Oh yeah, and new armor, too. I still just have the trainee set."
Shae suggested, “Unless anyone has a specific destination they’d like to go to, maybe we should just start with some missions here instead of immediately setting off for somewhere?”
Melo nodded. “That sounds good. And we can take longer missions now that we don’t have training and studying to do.”
“We should still do those things, though. Obviously, I don't mean spending nearly all our time doing them like we have been, but it would be bad to neglect those things."
“Of course.”
Zena added, “I’d like to move out of the dorms soon. Even if it’s cheaper for members to stay here instead of an inn, the rooms here are cheap and kind of claustrophobic.”
Shae added, “I agree with that. I think we should find somewhere we’re all okay with staying.”
Melo replied, “I’m just fine with staying at the Center. I’m only here when I have to be, anyway. As long as we all know where we can find each other, it shouldn’t matter too much.”
“There is that, but sleeping on a decent bed can really help you feel better. Half the reason I slept like crap last night was the mattress.”
“Hmm…” he muttered in consideration.
Once Shae had finished eating, they all left to find a better place to stay. While they did still have two weeks of free rooms, all of them were feeling the need for something better.
In the end, they settled on the inn Shae had nearly stayed at when she first arrived in Marlonn three and a half months ago.
Melo nearly didn’t take a room, but after Konial reminded him they could share a room with multiple beds, he relented. They weren’t pressuring Melo to move out of the dorms if he really didn’t want to, though.
With those two sharing a room, Shae, Zena and Tria also took another room with two beds. Shae and Zena would be sharing one of them.
The rooms were smaller than what a hotel on Earth hotel room might have. Unlike one of those rooms, this one didn’t a kitchen or a TV.
Shae hadn’t watched much TV on Earth, and even after having been away for so long, she still didn’t miss it. Her parents had been obsessed, though, and had kept conservative new stations blasting at pretty much all hours of the day. It had been hellish.
After getting their rooms, they went back to the Center to see what missions were available. Melo looked grumpy, though. Apparently, he had laid on the inn’s bed as a test of its comfort and fallen asleep almost immediately.
Shae chuckled in amusement.
He definitely doesn’t want to stay in the dorms now.
Missions were controlled by the staff. When a mercenary came in looking to take one, they had to talk to a clerk, who would then show them what was available.
It would be further sorted by what the mercenary was capable of, their track record, and what they were specifically looking for, if anything. Like how Shae regularly checked if there was anything relating to space magic or how Melo sorted things by the reward amounts. So far, there had been nothing for her.
Melo had gone up to the counter by himself, as the team trusted him to get whatever was best for them as a group.
He came back with a sheet of paper in his hand, having made a decision.
He sat at the table with them and began explaining, “There’s a farm about a day’s trip by carriage from Marlonn. Their livestock is being eaten by a bear.
|
“Going by the paw prints, it’s about four meters113'1" tall. It uses water magic and is estimated to be in the 70 to 100 Level range.
|
“It’s also smart enough to not attack when there are people around.”
Level estimations were often vague, especially as the monsters became more powerful. Other than the possibility of them being able to hide their mana increasing, there’s also the fact that fewer people can get close to it.
Heh, it’s a water bear. I wonder if there are tardigrade monsters? Does a bear even need to eat entire cows or whatever? Wait, it’s a magic monster bear, so apparently, yes.
Shae said, “Sounds good to me.”
Everyone else agreed, so they left to take care of any errands that needed to be done. That included maintenance on their gear, travel food, notifying the innkeeper of their departure and other small things.
Melo also went to make sure they had transport for tomorrow, which would probably result in them getting a little extra money acting as escorts.
