The Homeseeker: Elemental Adventurer LitRPG [Isekai] (Series Complete!)

Rep and Zalan did not barter when it came to purchasing Zalan a new tunic. Zalan could tell they were severely overcharged by the way the salesman's eyes widened when they accepted the first price. Between their substantial fortunes gathered from the Castle Docrun, a completely new outfit free of bloodstains didn't even make a dent in their remaining funds. Zalan didn't have enough greed in him to care about being overcharged.

They stood at the edge of the city. Zalan could see the world roll upward at a distance. Flat, soddy earth became a singular fold of igneous. Zalan had never seen anything like it before.

"Is that the volcano?" Zalan asked.

"Indeed. It should not take us more than two more Belt of Bolt jumps to arrive. But do not proceed too quickly without me. There are pockets of molten earth. And do not forget that your Artifact will certainly degrade before mine," Rep reminded him.

"Yeah, I got it. And… Rep, I'm sorry about that yesterday, I didn't mean to go off and fight on my own. I know you were just looking out, but I…" Zalan trailed, ashamed and embarrassed. He knew the reason, but didn't want to admit it aloud. He needed to prove to himself that he wasn't totally impotent.

"I took no offense, Zalan. You have nothing to apologize for," Rep assured him.

"Thanks," Zalan said, relieved.

Once more, he found himself grateful to be in Rep's company. He'd met many people in the realm, but he had what may have been the most patient person in existence as his guide. Zalan never felt belittled in his presence. Perhaps overly protected, but never spoken down. And Rep always seemed to put Zalan before himself. He never truly understood why, but he was more than thankful for it.

"You good to go?" Zalan asked, his hand hovering over his Belt of Bolt.

"Yes, let us make haste," Rep said boldly. "We will have you a new Elemental Power before sundown. And I will teach you everything there is to know of Elemental Fire!"

Zalan grinned in excitement. He nodded and activated his Artifact, warping forward. Rep followed close behind. They reappeared hundreds of feet away, leaving the town behind on the horizon. When Zalan returned to normal speed, he heard a shriek followed by someone drawing a blade. He heard scrambling, but had no idea what was going on. Before he could gather information about his surroundings, Zalan saw a sword pointed at his neck.

"Disarm yourself, thief!" a young woman ordered nervously.

Rep appeared next to him and she shrieked louder. Zalan finally got a good look at her. She was young, maybe her later teenage years. She held her sword with a shivering arm, like she wasn't used to battle. Zalan raised a curious eyebrow, considering that she may have been just as likely to stab him on accident as on purpose. Rep's eyes grew wide as he got a hold of the situation.

"Back off or he dies!" the girl screamed at Rep.

"Calm down, Jade. We are not a threat, I assure you," Rep said.

"How do you know my name?" She pointed the sword closer to Zalan's neck. It pricked him, threatening to draw blood.

Zalan felt surprisingly nonchalant about the weapon pointed at him. He wasn't convinced that she would actually hurt him. But something more was fueling his indifference. He wasn't afraid of dying at the moment. If anything, it would help ease the series of burdens he was feeling. No more life meant no more of life's problems. Zalan shook the thought away as fast as it arrived. He didn't want to fall down that dark trail of thoughts.

"We met your mother, Urelia. In fact, she asked for us to ask the Flame Elemental about you," Rep said. "You are her spitting image, you know."

Jade's arms stopped shaking at the mention of her mother. She looked slightly mortified at what she had threatened to do to Zalan, but did not immediately back down.

"Where did you meet my mother?" Jade challenged.

"Atop the walls of the city," Rep answered patiently.

"Was she alone?" Jade asked.

"No, she had someone named Cam with her. She seemed very worried about you, and Cam was trying to calm her down," Rep said respectfully.

Jade breathed with relief and lowered her sword, returning it to its sheath.

"Apologies, I had to be certain you knew her. I was a bit scared when you appeared from nowhere," she admitted.

"Completely understandable," Rep nodded.

"Belt of Bolt," Zalan offered as an explanation to Jade, pointing to the Artifact. Jade eyed it, seeming familiar with its use.

"You are headed to the volcano, then?" Jade asked Rep.

"Indeed. I suspect we will be there in a moment. The base is not far, we need only activate our belts once more," Rep nodded.

"Do not waste your Artifacts' uses. The Elemental is gone," Jade said, sounding upset.

"Gone?" Zalan repeated.

"Did the volcano erupt?" Rep asked seriously.

"No, it simply stopped appearing. I went to the volcano. I tried to call out for the creature, but it never appeared. Several hours I tried, to no avail," Jade said. "My mother told me to turn around and try again. She said that Flame Elemental is never disinterested in a challenger. She refused to let me back in town! But I know this will be fruitless. A waste of my time to grant me nothing but more disappointment."

Rep and Zalan looked at one another, not certain whether to take her words at face value. Zalan was trying to cling to the idea that she might be a liar like Rep suggested the day before. She sounded too sincere for Zalan to dismiss her words.

"We will go ahead of you and try to get the Elemental to appear," Rep said. "When you arrive, I can tell you the exact spot it normally delivers its challenges from."

"I already know the spot. Mother described it to me in a very detailed manner. The creature should appear to grant its challenge next to the rocks that look somewhat like a cat," Jade replied.

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Rep faltered slightly.

"That is… correct." Rep sounded surprised that she knew. "But perhaps you saw another formation that you assumed was the correct one?"

Jade scoffed skeptically.

"It is rather difficult to miss. I know what a cat looks like," she said.

"Couldn't it be the case that the Elemental just didn't show up for you? That happens sometimes, right?" Zalan asked.

"Not with this Elemental," Rep said. Jade nodded with him.

Zalan felt nervous about his own chances.

"Let us go," Rep said. "We will tell you if we find anything of interest."

"I will meet you there," Jade said, waving and continuing her walk toward the volcano.

Judging by her speed, Zalan doubted they would meet there. The Belt of Bolt covered so much distance in such a small amount of time. Zalan could complete the challenge and go home and Jade could still only be halfway there. The only chance they would see one another again would be in the case that their Artifacts degraded at the volcano.

With a quick wave, Zalan activated his Belt of Bolt and warped to the base of the volcano. Rep appeared next to him. They looked up at the massive formation of earth.

It was like a mountain towering over them. Zalan had to crane his neck all the way back to see the top of the darkened earth. He breathed in significantly warmer sulfuric air, the temperature at the volcano being higher than the area surrounding it. Smoke lazily climbed out of the top, indicating to Zalan that it was an active volcano. Rep looked up at it with an interesting squint in his eye, then back to Zalan.

"It looks exactly like I remember," Rep said, a hint of something caught in his voice.

"You okay?" Zalan asked.

"Yes, I just remembered that Fran and I took on this Elemental challenge together," Rep said, clearing his throat.

Zalan looked back up the volcano. He wondered what Fran was like before she had Elemental Power. Was she always as fiery before she had an element broiling within her? Perhaps the only thing that mattered was that she was alive.

"This way," Rep said. "The Elemental is fond of a particular point."

Rep and Zalan walked for a while around the uneven base of the active volcano. Though Zalan didn't feel any unbearable heat emanating directly from the volcano, he felt the aura of potential coming off of it. At any given moment, it could erupt and obliterate anything in the area. Or maybe the Elemental would decide to migrate and make the eruption happen even sooner than nature intended. From what little Zalan knew about volcanoes, the Homeseeker would take too long to get them out of the radius of the eruption. But their Belt of Bolt might be enough to outrun it.

Rep stopped in front of an oddly shaped boulder with two spikes at the top end. Without it even needing to be pointed out, Zalan thought they looked somewhat like cat ears. Someone even scratched lines in the face of the boulder, giving it a look of whiskers on the face of the stone cat. Looking at the rock, Zalan thought that Jade was right. This would be a pretty hard landmark to miss. Zalan looked to Rep for confirmation. Rep nodded encouragingly.

Zalan took a moment to brace himself. He had seen two Elementals before, and they both made him lose his nerve in different ways. He would try to be ready for this one. He inhaled deeply.

"Flame Elemental!" Zalan boomed. "I seek your challenge!"

Rep and Zalan waited with bated breath. The seconds stretched by, both Rep and Zalan tense. While Elementals intimidated Zalan, he was a little concerned by the prolonged silence. He considered that it might be just as bad not to see one right now. If not worse.

"Elemental!" Zalan called louder. "I am here for your challenge!"

Again, they were met with silence, save for the ambient low noises of the volcano. The seconds turned to minutes. Zalan looked around in search. Rep bit the inside of his lip in thought.

"Am I doing it wrong?" Zalan asked.

"No, I do not believe so."

"You think it's because you're here and you already have Elemental Fire?" Zalan asked.

"No, the Flame Elemental appeared to Fran and me when Sir Kilile was in our presence. He had already gained his Elemental Power from the creature. It simply ignored his presence and only addressed Fran and myself. This is different… It is… I do not know what this is," Rep admitted.

Zalan looked down at his scarred wrist. He tapped his fingers together in thought, wanting to see if his stats were healed at all.

LEVEL: 08

STRENGTH: 08

WISDOM: 13

EXPERIENCE: 19

The point of his arm where ELEMENT would normally appear on his stats had been blotted out by a sickly purple scar. He frowned. His Wisdom was worthless when he didn't have an Element to back it up. All of that potential felt wasted so long as he was left without power. His Strength was several points below Wisdom. He regretted not having put more focus on his physical prowess, given that it couldn't be taken away from him. He ran his finger lightly over the scar on his stats.

"You think this is stopping it?" Zalan asked. "It won't show itself to someone without an Elemental stat?"

"No, I do not believe that is the case," Rep said, a little too quickly.

"You're trying to make me feel better," Zalan murmured.

"No. Something is wrong, Zalan. Something about the challenge itself. This creature of flame has been the most consistent in our understanding of Elementals. You challenge the Elemental at the base of the volcano, climb the volcano, and gain the power of fire. This has always been the case. Its existence was a guarantee for so many. As long as I have known it existed, this Elemental answers the calls it receives. But… not today. Perhaps Jade was telling her mother the truth. And while the scar on your arm is a real concern, this feels different."

"Then what do we do?"

Rep looked around the area in thought. He looked up and down the volcano a few times and weighed ideas in his head. He looked to Zalan, then back to the volcano. He stared at the cat rock and scratched his chin.

"The Elemental may have decided to change its location from which to grant challenges," Rep said.

"What does that mean?" Zalan asked.

"This formation is not the location we need to be in. We should search around the base a bit further," Rep suggested.

"A move like that wouldn't have caused an eruption? Does it not count as migrating?" Zalan asked.

"Not that I know of," Rep shrugged with uncertainty.

"All right, let's check around," Zalan agreed.

Rep and Zalan began to jog short distances. Whenever it felt like they were a good distance from the last point, Zalan would breathe deeply and call for the Flame Elemental's challenge. Each time he was met with nothing but growing dread. The Elemental was refusing to come out for some reason. They circumambulated halfway around the perimeter of the volcano before Rep stared up, craning his neck.

"I think we have to climb the volcano. It may be waiting at the top to issue challenges from there," Rep said.

"Are you sure?" Zalan asked. "I thought your first challenge was to climb the volcano with Fran. You want me to do your challenge just so I can get a challenge?"

"Your Storm Elemental had you drain blood before it issued you a challenge."

Zalan considered this, remembering that he spent what felt like ages spilling blood in dry desert for an Elemental he wasn't sure existed.

"What do you think changed the Elemental to issue a challenge like that?"

"It does not make sense to me that it would shift from one point of the volcano to another, only to issue the same challenge. It must have moved up. It is the best theory I have, anyway," Rep admitted.

Zalan looked down at the Belt of Bolt. He knew instinctively that he wouldn't be able to use it to run up the side of the volcano. The sensation of using it made it clear to him that it was intended for flat ground. He looked back up, watching the plume of ever-present smoke.

"Fine, let's climb a volcano," Zalan sighed.