A few days have passed since we came to Jaytopia - That's what we call our land.
Shut up Patty.
Like I was saying, the last few days have passed by.
Before the first boarders come here, Jurea made us strengthen the fence separating our house, Emira's forge, and a couple acres of land from the rest of Jaytopia.
Making it a circle within circle basically.
Giving us plenty of privacy.
Emira hasn't stopped since we got back; she inlaid the capacity gem from Flora's ring into a pair of arm guards made from the bladepede's exoskeleton and leather.
Allowing her to easily store her staff, excess mana hearts, and potions.
Emira also showed Jurea something I'm not privy to - probably girl things - and gave her a capacity gem inlaid in her armor as well.
When I asked her where she got it, she said don't worry about it.
So, I ain't going to pry.
Oh, and Emira promised to teach me about the glyphs on the wall when she got time, which is today!
But before that, it's time to upgrade Thonie.
"How does this work?"
Emira, Thonie and I were behind our house.
I shrugged in response to her question.
"I normally just wing it."
Status.
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Name : Jamal Hendricks / no name monster
Level : 68 points available : 0
Pets : 2
Species : Akkedis/ human soul
Strength : 1,000
Intelligence : 300
Durability : 1,000
Energy : 1,087
Health : 1,200
Stamina : 706
Extra energy : 50
Luck : 134
Speed : 700
Agility : 1,000
Crafting: 1000
Special ability : adaptation
: forced conscription
: perfect mimic
: empath aura
: peerless regeneration
: excess energy
: acid shot
: webs
: spatial awareness
: dash
: polymorph
: thermal absorption
: mana clone
: transcendental traversal
Lesser abilities : perfect recall
: gastron mucus
: ample strength
------------------
I then hit the pet button.
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Level : 15
Species : Slagan
Strength : 900 +/-
Intelligence : 65 +/-
Durability : 100 +/-
Energy : 100 +/-
Health : 1200 +/-
Stamina : 350 +/-
Luck : 100 +/-
Speed : 100 +/-
Agility : 130 +/-
Evolution path : options available
------------------
------------------
Level : 1
Species : ogre spider
Strength : 400 +/-
Intelligence : 111 +/-
Durability : 100 +/-
Energy : 100 +/-
Health : 100 +/-
Stamina : 100 +/-
Luck : 100 +/-
Speed : 200 +/-
Agility : 160 +/-
Evolution path : unusable at this time.
------------------
I hit the evolution path of Thonie next.
A list of possible mutations appeared along with how much points they'd cost.
------------------
Scaled armor : 60 ^
------------------
Noxious gas : 80^
------------------
Razor scales : 100^
------------------
Venomous bite : 240^
------------------
Elemental breath : 1,000^
------------------
Paralysis field : 5,000^
------------------
Flight enabling membranes : 10,000^
------------------
And the list went on and on, the next more expensive than the last.
When I hit the arrow by the number the box would expand, and give a short description.
------------------
Scaled armor : 60°
Scales of the subject will harden and strengthened, providing the same amount of protection as a steel armor set.
------------------
Hey, Patty, what's this points thing?
< It is the energy used to mutate your pet. You can choose from the available list, or - if you can accurately picture how it would work - make your own mutations. >
So, my energy makes these points?
So, I have over a thousand points!
So, that means, I can only get a hundred points. Some of these things costs thousands of points!
Why you...
"What's going on?"
Emira was standing there waiting still.
"Nothing much, Patty is just being a miser. The cost of mutating her is just really expensive."
"Can I see... never mind. I see, you're right, there's very few options we can use at this time."
What! How can she see the list?
Then, can we also use her energy too?
Shut up Patty! That was a legitimate question.
"I think you should just use sixty of those points for toughening her scales, and save the rest for later. Also, you said you could move her stats around, correct?"
"Well, yeah."
"Good, take some from her strength stat and redistribute it to her intelligence stat."
"Um...no offense, but do you think that's a good idea? Making a giant snake monster smarter seems like the wrong thing to do, like Jurassic Park theme music starts playing bad."
Getting chased in a world without a jeep just screams horror movie 'good idea'.
Something I pride myself in avoiding.
"I don't know what a Jurassic Park is, but yes, I am sure. All of her strength will mean nothing if a monster attacks her mind."
Yeah, this definitely won't come back to bite me.
"Sure."
I converted my energy into points, brought the hardening scales mutation, then I took two hundred from her strength stat and put it into her intelligence."
------------------
Level : 15 Points: 48
Species : Slagan
Strength : 700 +/-
Intelligence : 265 +/-
Durability : 100 +/-
Energy : 100 +/-
Health : 1200 +/-
Stamina : 350 +/-
Luck : 100 +/-
Speed : 100 +/-
Agility : 130 +/-
Evolution path : options available
------------------
I then put the rest of the points into her intelligence stat as well.
------------------
Level : 15 Points: 0
Species : Slagan
Strength : 700 +/-
Intelligence : 313 +/-
Durability : 100 +/-
Energy : 100 +/-
Health : 1200 +/-
Stamina : 350 +/-
Luck : 100 +/-
Speed : 100 +/-
Agility : 130 +/-
Evolution path : options available
------------------
Nothing much changed on Thonie, except that her scales grew darker.
"Well, now that we finished that, it's time you taught me about the glyphs on the wall."
"What about him, will he be alright on his own."
She was pointing at the new spider monster I tamed, which is currently devouring a rat Emira had.
"Yeah, should be."
She shrugged and motioned for me to follow her to her forge, which I did.
Once inside she grabbed a couple of wooden boards and a knife.
She placed them on a table in front of herself.
"First thing you need to understand about glyphs is the fact that you can't make any mistakes while drawing them. One wrong line and it blows up in your face, literally."
After seeing me nod my head, she continued while starting to draw on the wood with the knife.
"Always finish the line you are on, no stopping and starting up again. Always have the complete glyph in your mind, if one detail is wrong..."
"Boom?"
She nodded, the continued with the carving.
When she finished, a beautiful glyph was carved onto the board.
The kind you'd see in some important person's tomb or whatever.
She pointed at it.
"Touch it."
Without hesitation, I did, and received a nasty shock.
"What the fuck?! That shocked me!"
I glared at Emira, while sucking on my finger.
"Exactly.
You didn't question what I said, you just did it.
You thought this couldn't be dangerous because it's just writing, but this more dangerous than regular magic."
Considering my numb arm I can gather that just fine.
"There are better ways to get your point across without resorting to electrocution."
"I've yet to come across one. Now,"
She held the knife out to me.
"Would you like to try?"
I pushed the knife away, and grabbed a blank board.
"I want to try something."
I went and grabbed a mana potion and downed it, then I used my crafting stat to etch out the glyph.
The result was a perfect copy of Emira's.
"You can already do this with crafting magic?"
I can just barely register the surprise on her face.
I gently put the board down to avoid getting shocked again.
"Yeah, I have a lesser ability that allows me to memorize everything. It makes doing things like this easier."
She nodded, then picked up a steel shield.
"That makes things easier, we can skip a few lessons then. Enchanting an object is different than just placing a glyph on it.
To enchant an object you have to infuse magic completely into it, whereas a glyph you just slap on it.
An enchanted object is a passive ability - whether it's healing you or setting your enemy on fire - it will do magic on its own, glyphs however need a catalyst.
Either when it gets hit, or mana gets pumped into it. Yes?"
I had raised my hand to ask a question.
"Can you teach me how to enchant too?"
"No, it's way more complicated than glyphs, and I don't feel like going through that with you. Hire someone else.
Now, unlike enchanting - where it doesn't matter - you have to pay attention to the type of material that you put your glyphs on.
A wooden shield capable of spewing fire sounds amazing in theory, but if any of the flames touch the wood your enemy will be laughing while you burn.
Electricity travels well through metal, have something in between the metal and the person wielding it."
That reminds me!
"Hey, can I ask you another question?"
"You just did, but go ahead, ask away."
"A while ago I used my crafting stat to make a sword into a spear, but when I tried to do it to a piece of armor nothing happened."
"Let me guess, the sword was iron, and the armor was steel?"
I nodded, letting her know she was right.
"Yeah, you're probably only attuned to organic material, and steel is an alloy."
"What?! I thought I could craft anything, like you."
She gave me a weird look.
"Do you think every Dalian uses crafting magic?"
"Um... Yeah, I thought that it's your people's racial ability."
"Yeah, it is, but not every Dalian has it. And in those that do, there are variances. We're not all blacksmiths, you realize that, don't you?"
If I were to be honest, I'd have to say that I did believe they were all blacksmiths.
But lies are the foundation of any healthy relationship.
Shut up Patty.
"Of course, there's doctors, craftspeople, and what have you."
I don't know of she bought what I was selling, but she decided to move on anyway.
"As I was saying, we specialize.
I myself am horrible at anything organic. Rocks, metal, or crystal I'm amazing, but give me leather or thread I couldn't do anything with it. Of course, some Dalians are exceptional, I've heard of some who magic all materials, and some who would bend the very ground to their will."
"So, does that mean..."
"Hey, the first boarders are here, along with the broad I convinced y'all to hire."
Flora came into the forge, interrupting yet again.
The lady Flora's referring to is a friend of Geoff.
Because her husband died, and she can't pay the rent, she was getting evicted from her home, and for some unfathomable reason Flora hired her and offered for her to stay here.
The rest of us didn't care, but this just doesn't sound like Flora at all.
The helping someone down on their luck doesn't pay, and that's all Flora thinks about.
"Okay, we'll be there shortly, before you go I want to show you something."
I grabbed my board and held it out to her.
"Touch this."
Shut up Patty.
"Why would I touch an active electric glyph?"
She looked my like I am an idiot.
Shut up Patty.
"You know about glyphs?!"
She pointed at herself.
"Genius, remember?"
"Why didn't you tell me about them then?!"
"Why would I?"
"Why would you?! Because I can think of dozens of times glyphs could have saved our lives!"
"You actually believe that glyphs are better than magic?"
"Well, they don't use your own energy pool, you don't have to talk to use them, and you can turn anything - anything! - into a weapon. They're the ultimate magic!"
Instead of answering she took a few steps back out the doorway.
She pointed at the sky, and started to incoherently move her finger around.
After ten seconds, she pressed the air she was waving her finger in.
The air glowed in the pattern of a glyph, and a spout of flame shot into the air.
"You can turn the air into a weapon! Why haven't you done that before?!"
"You really don't see the problem?"
"No!"
"Even for someone as gifted as me it took ten seconds to form one glyph, what enemy would wait ten whole seconds before attacking? And what if you're facing an enemy that absorbs the ambient mana in the air? What if in your mad dash to save yourself you make a mistake, and it blows up in your face? Whereas,"
She pointed at the sky again.
"{Fire ball}."
A fire-ball shot into the sky, dissipating after a while.
"A spell takes less than a second to form, relies on your own mana pool, and - as long as you know what you're doing - won't horribly blow-up in your face."
Well, when she puts it like that...
Shut up Patty!
"If you don't use it, why even learn it?"
"It's knowledge, and all knowledge is power. If you want to use it, go ahead, I don't care.
Anyway, you go deal with our new hire, while I go deal with the people actually paying us."
"Why are sending me? I'm a monster in her opinion, probably."
"I don't care, I've already done my good deed by hiring her, do what you will."
She left, and I - after putting the board down, and waving at Emira - followed.
As we made our way to Jaytopia proper, my newest tame ran up to me and started following as well.
I knew I should've gone with Jurea and Eric on that small quest, but I just had to learn new magic.
Now, I'm going to be stuck babysitting.
As we came out of the gate, I saw a group of maybe fifty people with varying amounts of luggage.
Most were already talking when we got there.
A small dude with wavy brown hair walked up to Flora to shake her hand.
"You were not lying, that wall is amazing! Not to mention these buildings! How did y'all build all of this so quickly?"
She had on her fake-ass smile to greet them.
"Trade secret, but I do want to welcome all of you to Dungeon town!"
Dungeon town? What happened to Jaytopia?
It's perfect!
A bald guy with a grizzly beard stepped up.
"The only problem I have is with your slaves, this one refused to help us."
He is pointing at the bull beastman that chose the name Rake for himself.
I don't know what it is with beastfolk and their naming sense, first Eric now Rake.
Shut up Patty.
Now, back to this blowhard.
Flora must have seen my face because she stepped between me, and that guy before I ripped him a new one.
"Actually there are no slaves here, we heard paid employees do better work, but I do apologize for any confusion we may have caused."
She walked up to him and put her arm on his back.
"In fact, why don't I pay this beastman to take your bags and get you settled in a room. Here."
Flora passed Rake a gold coin.
I would be impressed by her good nature.
If I hadn't seen her reach into his money pouch to steal a couple of gold coins, to pay Rake one coin.
Crisis avoided, I guess.
She went back to the guy she was originally talking to.
"Have you thought about the other thing we talked about?"
"Yes, I have. If I'm being completely honest, my boss told me not to trust you. But after seeing this place I want in. Here."
He passed her a big money pouch.
"You've made the right decision, the returns on this deal will be at least a thousand fold."
"How long till I start to see the returns?"
"Depends, investment is like a fine wine, the longer you hold out the better it will be."
"So, how long will that be?"
"Don't sweat the small stuff, in a couple of years you'll be a hundred times richer than the baron."
"Wow, really?!"
She started leading him away.
That poor fool.
"Yup, and the only reason I included you in on this deal is because I like you."
"Gee, thanks."
"What can I say, I'm a bleeding heart."
There's no way that's going to end well.
I looked away from that train wreck and saw Geoff standing with an old lady and a little biracial kid.
When I say biracial I mean half human and half... something else, he has small antlers growing from his head.
I walked up to them.
"Hello, Geoff."
They both looked at me.
Him with recognition, and her with a little fear.
Which, to be fair, is expected.
"Oh, hello. Don't worry Mary, this is the tame I told you about. Where is Jurea?"
So her name is Mary.
"She isn't here at the moment, but I'll help you."
It was Mary that responded to me.
"You really are intelligent."
I must've made a face because she immediately followed up with an apology.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean it like that! It's just weird that a monster as intelligent as you appear to be would be tamed, normally intelligent monsters like witches or vampires resist taming efforts and kill the would be beastmaster. Never mind me however, I just want to say thanks for this. I just can't believe y'all are paying me two silvers a week!"
"If it isn't good enough, I could ask them to give you more."
I have no idea how much inn workers make, and Flora is a cheapskate, are we underpaying people?
"No, no, it's more than enough, I'm even getting a free room!"
"Yes, about that. Please follow me."
Geoff picked up a pretty large chest.
"Is that all you have with you?"
I thought she was coming from a house, she should have more stuff.
"Well, I'm only getting a room, so I only packed the essentials for me and this little guy."
I went and grabbed the chest from Geoff with one hand, it pays to be nonhuman sometimes.
I led them to a small two-story house, that we - meaning Emira - built when we heard she was coming with a small kid.
And man did she build it fast.
First Rake and a few other guys smoothed out the ground, then they poured concrete, Emira fast hardened it with magic, they put up the framework, set up a hypocaust, put up the walls, finished up the inside, and all of this was done in two days!
Magic is awesome!
"All of this... is for us?!"
She gasped out.
"Yeah, so if you have more stuff, you can go get it."
"Thank you, seriously thank you!"
The beginnings of tears were forming in her eyes.
It's just a house.
"Well, if you need anything, just ask."
I waved and started walking away.
"Um... I don't think this little fella wants to go."
I looked at Geoff to see that the spider monster was gripping his leg and not letting go.
"Come on little guy."
It kept hugging his leg.
It ignored me! I thought pets have to listen to their masters?!
"I'm sorry, it's a new tame."
I reached down and pulled it off him.
It turned around, bit me, and went straight back to grabbing Geoff.
Ow! I can't believe this SOB bit me!
This little rascal has forgotten who its master is!
Looks like barbecue spider is on the menu tonight!
I'll show him... wait, he's forgotten who's his master.
"I'm so sorry about this, can you tell Jurea I don't want her tame."
Geoff said, a little panic creeping into his voice.
I just smiled.
"Don't worry about it, my master was looking to sell the little para... tame. It's a Mid-rank monster."
"Wow! Jurea is really selling a Mid-rank? How much would she want for it?!"
"How much gold do you have on you?"
His face fell a little.
"I only got a couple hundred silver. Oh, well, not meant to be I guess."
"No, that's perfect."
"But this is a Mid-rank tame..."
"No buts, she'd want you to have it."
I reached out and grabbed his shoulder.
Patty, transfer my spider pet to him.
Just do it, you're my voice, not hers!
I felt a surge of electricity, and Geoff jumped back when he got shocked.
"It's yours now, no returns."
I started walking away before they question any of this.
"What about the silver?"
"Just give it Mary!"
I ran away a little faster, one XP parasite burden gone.
As I was running, I heard them talking.
"Wow, their party is a lot nicer than the rumors would have you believe. First they let us stay here for free, then give you a Mid-rank for basically free!"
"Just goes to show you can't believe everything you hear."
_______________________
"You did what?!"
"Calm down Flora! He helped us before, he deserves it."
"Is he smarter than I thought?"
Flora mumbled.
"What was that?"
"Nothing! I hope you realize you just made rescuing those bandits a complete waste of time!"
Currently, we are in our house's den.
All of us are here including Lyra, Jurea and Eric ran into her at the adventurers guild.
She asked them to bring her to us because she wanted to ask us something.
She didn't get to ask however because Flora decided to overreact when I gleefully told them I got rid of that XP parasite.
"We have a guest, we should at least hear her out. Lyra there was something you wanted to discuss?"
Using someone as a human-shield is not my proudest moment, but necessary.
I saw a vein pop-up on Flora's forehead, but she said nothing.
Lyra came forward and put a map on the table.
It's a crude map of the empire.
"Wow, this a really good map."
I looked over to see if Jurea was serious, shockingly she is.
"Thanks."
"How much did you pay for it?"
"Only twenty gold."
For this she paid twenty gold, for this?!
Some landmarks are misproportioned, there are glaring mistakes where the pen slipped, and it doesn't even show distance!
"Well, anyway, what I wanted to ask was if y'all could escort me to the capital?"
She was pointing at a spot on the map on the east side of the inland sea.
"The capital? Why do you want to go there?"
Eric asked Lyra, but it was Jurea who answered.
"She wants to go to the tournament, right?"
Lyra nodded.
"I wish to sell there."
"What's this tournament y'all are talking about?"
Flora looked up from the map with a gleam in her eye to answer me.
"It's a tournament that happens every five years, the strongest in the empire and beyond come to compete and win the Emperess' favor."
"What good is a favor? I'd rather money."
"It means a prize, normally a really expensive prize. Dolt."
"Oh, I rescind my question then."
"So, you want us to take you instead of hiring actually guards?"
"The last time I hired someone else they robbed and tried to kill me. Whereas y'all not only saved me, but guarded me down to the third set."
"But why do you even need a guard? You're the one who killed the bladepede."
I asked.
"With y'all help, and bandits can be more dangerous than monsters."
"Okay, but..."
"Enough prattle, we'll do it."
Flora said, rudely interrupting me.
"Again, with you choosing for all of us! We are a party, which means we decide things as group!"
She gave me an exasperated look.
"It's the only logical choice.
We need more coin than we could make in ten years in less than a year, so our only option is to escort her and join the tournament to win the prize.
So, forgive me for skipping the unnecessary steps of you coming to the realization that I am obviously right."
I looked at both Jurea and Eric - who both nodded in agreement - then back to Flora.
"Fine. When do we leave?"
"In three days."
So, we are finally going to see the world outside of Saltwater.
I should probably be worried, but after facing two bears - and other stuff - I don't think I can be surprised by anything else.