A couple hours later, I was walking through the gates into the village surprised to find the party had ended. 'Man, Ariel works fast.' I thought, as I walked by one of the previously empty training halls which was now packed to the gills. Curious, I decided to sneak in and listen.
"Yes, you can do that too if you want. Elder Carlos was in the area, and decided that it was about time that you all stopped partying and started training. So he graciously gave a demonstration of his abilities to motivate you all!"
Sneaking back out, I noticed that a group of guards were escorting one of the trainers away from another training hall as he was shouting, "But my boss ordered me to do it!"
Shaking my head, I couldn't believe how quickly these people move when they decide to do something. It's none of my business now anyway, the only reason I even knew about the events is my shit luck. At least I'm pretty sure I didn't embarrass myself too badly. Remembering the voice of that seductress, I shuddered and sent a big mental hug to Patrice. She saved my ass today, multiple times.
Entering the Adventurer's Guild, I found that the party had ceased and the guy who was originally standing next to the door to the member's area had moved behind the registration booth. 'Guess that's one less thing I need to deal with.' I thought as I pushed open the door to the member's area.
"Where is that asshole?" Beth's voice echoed down the stairwell, "He goes and invites us to come to this shit hole and go adventuring, but he doesn't even bother to respond! Not to mention that bitch from downstairs, she's lucky someone else dealt with her first or I'd have chopped her to pieces!"
"I'm sure he has a reason for being impossible to reach." Connor said as he turned to glare at me as I walked up the stairs, "Right, asshole?"
I started laughing, the dark undercurrents of politics and betrayal washing away as my friends glared at me. 'God, I needed this.' I thought to myself.
"I was killing a Goblin Nest, got a little busy." I said, choosing not to share what had happened to them for now. Maybe when we're alone.
A loud clanging came from behind me, and Rick walked up the stairs covered from head to toe in shining metal armor that must've weighed a ton. Every step he took, the wood floor of the room shook and moaned in protest.
Grinning, I couldn't help but say, "It's the white knight, but his pony seems to have gotten lost again."
"Shut it, asshole!" He shouted back at me.
My smile just got wider, and I said, "I missed you guys."
"So, ready to go have some fun?" Beth asked, rubbing her hands together in glee.
I shook my head and said, "I have to turn in a mission and a bit of loot, just give me a minute and I'll be ready."
With nothing better to do, the three of them followed me into a room set aside for delivering loot. Carefully I laid out 21 Goblin Shaman's Staffs, 42 Steel Maces, 186 Steel Daggers, 82 Steel Swords, and 1 Massive Steel Battleaxe. To go with that, I turned in several hundred pairs of goblin ears.
"A bit he says, A BIT!" Beth was exclaiming in jealousy. "Why couldn't you have just waited for us? The battle must've been epic! How'd you do it?"
So, I spent the next half an hour telling them about Patrice and the Defense of the Light. Beth looked bored at the thought of getting someone else to help you fight while Connor looked impressed, and Rick's Eyes started shining.
"You mean, I could contract a spirit and make it wear this damned armor while I goof off?"
I started laughing, "I don't think it works that way." I said, but his eyes kept shining as possibilities crossed his mind. "How'd it go with the monastery anyway?"
Rick grinned, "It was crazy! Apparently, it's a really powerful group that avoids Holy City because of it's hypocrisy. I had to take this crazy trial where they put us under various illusions. The first one made us fight against our heart-demons, and almost everyone failed after that. The second made us live a super long life and judged our actions during it to see if they conform with the beliefs of God's Judgement. The final one was similar to yours, they put a brand on my soul and man was that painful."
I suddenly remembered the old man who asked about me about submitting my Grandfather to God's Judgment. 'I hope he's OK.' I thought to myself.
"Alright!" Alex had entered the room to go over my loot, and I could see him nearly faint at the mention of 'God's Judgment' and him getting a brand. "So, here is 1 energy stone for completing the mission. I took the other as payment for the bag." He looked at me to confirm as I grabbed the energy stone, and I nodded for him to go on. "There are 838 pairs of goblin ears, meaning a total of 8 gold and 38 silver. Now, for the weapons I can offer 2 energy stones for all of them, and 5 for the spiritual battleaxe by itself."
At the mention of a spiritual battleaxe, Beth's eyes went wide in surprise and she snatched it up from the table and begun swinging it around in glee. Turning to me, she used her puppy dog eyes. I never stood a chance, "We'll be keeping the battleaxe, I'll take the rest now."
Alex nodded his head, grabbing my bag of holding he left, coming back a minute later and handing it to me. Opening it, I found 8 gold and 38 silver along with 2 energy stones, taking a gold I handed it to Alex and said, "Interest for loaning me the bag."
Connor's eyes bugged out a bit when he saw me giving Alex a gold coin. "Do you know how valuable those are? I can get a new technique for one of those!"
Shrugging, I gave him all the Gold and said, "I got lucky, Gold doesn't mean anything to me anymore. Storm's Refuge only forces me to search for things that'll cost Energy Stones."
While Connor and I were talking, Beth had run to the mission area and started going over each one. We walked over to join her, and Rick pointed at one. "Lets take the Kobold mission, I've always wanted to fight a Drake."
Nodding, Beth ripped it off the wall and grabbed the Goblin Lord mission too, "This one just got upgraded to 20 Energy Stones, we have to take it."
"What about the dungeon ones?" Connor asked as he perused the entries.
"I think we should at least reach the 4th level of Body Refining first." Beth said, thinking about it seriously. "I'm almost there, and I know if Sam focuses on it a bit he'll catch up cause he's a cheater! How about you guys?"
"I already broke through." Connor said, smiling at our looks of surprise. "I passed a test and earned some nice rewards, they helped out."
"I'll be there by the end of the week." Rick said
Beth nodded and said. "Let's go wreck some havoc! We should tell Sarah, Matt, and Gunthur about the dungeon, we should start getting used to fighting with them."
"Why?" I asked, totally confused.
"There's another Safe Zone near Rafta that has a 10 person dungeon with a max level of peak body refining, with them we're 7 which should be enough for us to clear it."
We all nodded, and Beth took the mission scripts to the lovely receptionist Monica. "Can you register us as a team?"
"Sure, what'll your team name be?" Monica smiled professionally at her.
"The Decapitators!" She called out happily.
"Hell no!" Rick yelled out, "We'll be the Holy Monsters!"
Snorting I said, "I think Thunder is the perfect name."
Connor just shook his head and smiled at the receptionist saying, "We'll be the..."