For two days I stayed at the Hunter's Fangs guild for the skills of a hunter. They were basic skills but mostly related to game hunting. Most of this was related to hunting weapons and skills such as skinning and butchering. They were pretty easy to learn but some needed time to recollect. Surprisingly Chiron's memories appeared while I was being taught fundamentals of hunting. Most of them being when I was Achilles' teacher. It was me teaching him basics such as when using hunting spears and bows. There was also times that I had to teach him how to skin and tan leather. But in the end he never took it that much to heart on economical skills. They were more of an occasional reference rather than something useful.
Yet for it be relearned again after centuries feels like a breath of fresh air. After a bit of deliberation it looked like the combat skills were the one thing that I had trouble with. I tried to practice but there wasn't that much time between the training schedules. But luckily I was able to get a few skills recorded in my scribe. It was a stroke of luck but they were recorded with some of them being restored in my the bios of my past life. However the only problem left was the nightmares. The more I slept it was a split dream decision between having memories of Yomi or wars. In other words dreaming being trapped in hell or being killed constantly in your dreams by the wars you have been. But it would always end the same way. In a building full of dead guys being shot all over. I would most of the time wake up screaming at the middle of the night or even in the middle of the morning.
It was already an hour past midnight and again I had another nightmare in being trapped in the underworld. I was screaming loud again as I was feeling all of the parts of my body. I was in one piece and relieved. There I took some water from the faucet and poured it over my head. There was really no way to relax. In the end I went down to make myself occupied until sunrise. As if I wanted to go to sleep if I wanted to dream like that again. There the power was shot again. So I decided to light a candle from my bag and go downstairs. It was there that I find Oliver eating a midnight snack downstairs. "You doing alright? You were having those dreams again?" He asked me. All I can do was nod reluctantly as it was kinda embarrassing to reply. "It's alright, everybody has their own demons." He assured.
My hands were stuck at my mug of coffee. The caffeine from my drink didn't help with my sleep but the aroma made me relax. "Was it always this hard when dealing with this mysticism?" I asked. At first he looked confused but eventually knew what I was saying. "So… you're still not used with magic being part of the equation?" Oliver asked. I gave a big sigh. I didn't know how to pat it out but all I could do was recollect my thoughts. "Even if I can do magic now, I'm still at odds of its own factors." I told the man. "At which parts?" He asked.
"It's after effects."
"Is that so..."
The man then has something catches her eyes. It was a pile of junk in a box. Inside happened to be a broken game console. He then gives me an example. "Remember in an RPG there are skills that provide great power but have a drawback?" He asked me.
"Like Berserk?" I wanted to confirm.
"Exactly. It gives you a lot of attack power but lessens defense in return."
"I don't see how this connects?"
Oliver then brings two glasses on the table with water in them. One was red and the other one was green. She puts them in front of me and shows me a discussion. "Let's say you have a spell that cures a person but in exchange you lose something. This would be your health." He told me. As an example he pours the red cup's contents to the green, leaving a little. "It would be the same with regular casting that causes mind down but some spells would require a bit of extra." he told me.
"So anything magic and mystic stuff has a drawback?" I asked out of confirmation.
"Yes. Even with recollection of past memories makes the mind go under even more stress than it occurred at the time it originated. It may not require magic at all. It's something you need to bare with." the man clarified.
"So most likely my past lives may bring the end of me." I concluded.
I looked at the stuffed bear at the corner. It was far taller than the ones at the ground. The average size of a bear was nine to ten feet. This was around twelve. Chills came across my spine as there would have been a possibility that I would be dead in a matter of days. Even if my past memories would help me, there's no telling whether or not that my body would be much like when I dueled with Oliver. In the end, my state would be nothing more like Jello. For all I know I would be able to slay the boss but the underlings would be able to pick me off once I was weak. "Relax. Your initiation request is just a bear. This was caught at the northern parts of the Laputa." He assures me, "The ones you will get are most likely smaller. With my teaching, you would for sure get it."
He wasn't wrong. The guildmaster of Hunter's Fangs himself to teach me. Some of these skills were mostly utilitarian such as stealth, butchering, and camping but most of these I was aware of. The rest were how to use a bow. He was a good teacher and kinda owe him with all the patience he had with me.
All I got was enough to recovered some information about Chiron. My bios of my past lives updated with some of the skills. But to my surprise, Chiron had a lot of skills. In order to encode these skills I had relearn them again without any idea of what they are. Despite how some of these skills were simple, I was pretty thankful that I was able to learn a few. It kinda created a completionist vibe that kept me occupied. It was rather ironic that my source of lack of sleep was what kept me sane for so long.
Morning was when I needed to complete the rest of my request. There were five days left till my quest expires. Oliver had little words to say. All I can see him do was carving some symbols at some wood. While eating some canned beans and leftovers bread in the hall when I came across something that caught my attention. There was an owl outside the door. It was brown and scruffy, which kinda reminded me of Richard. In Harry Potter fashion it had a letter on its mouth. Turns out my hunch was right. The owl was Richard's and he wanted me to meet him at Tetra. I went back to eating breakfast and burned the letter with an ignite spell. The only problem was that the bird didn't want to go away. The bird had puppy dog eyes for some reason. I guess it wanted a tip. Across the room a small mouse was eating a few bread crumbs from the floor. It gave me the idea to throw a knife. The knife managed to hit its target. I took the dead rat and put it in front of the owl. The bird then snatched it in a quick manner and flew away.
It was already time to go. Daybreak came and it was already time to go. I then could hear a fake cough coming from Oliver. "So you're going already?" He asked. "Yeah, thanks for the lessons." I answered.
"Don't mention it. I can tell you are skilled but remember to be careful. The bears here aren't those of Terra."
He then tossed something at me. I was barely able to catch it. Looking at the item, was rather intrigued. It looked like an arrowhead with some volcanic glass. But there was some symbols carved on the glass. "What are these?" I asked. "Runes. Think of it as protection on the way of your journey." Oliver told me.
I kinda felt guilty accepting the gift but I tied it on some string and put it around me like a necklace. "What do these runes mean?" I asked. "Nothing much. Just something I made." He told me.
"Even when I was teaching you about proper stance and bow grip you ended up being even stiffer than usual." The man told me off.
"It can't be helped… I'm just not used to people touching me..." I replied rather reluctantly.
Oliver then turns around and takes small steps. "Honestly! No wonder Richard makes fun of you being a virgin after so many past lives." Oliver said out loud. "It's not like that at all!" I shouted all red.
"Uhuh… I would understand it a bit better if you had a problem under there." He said playfully.
"There's nothing wrong with my dick and you know it!" I shouted out of embarrassment.
The man then patted me on the back. "Relax kid. Just a joke amongst men." He said. Oliver then walks me out the door. "Mika was one of the best Hunters in my guild." Oliver says, "You better be worth the skill for them to bring you here. That jackass, Samson. He's vouching for you so don't disappoint him." Those words rang in my head. Yet a memory triggered. I didn't know what it was but it was just a few people at the horizon but couldn't pick it up. But before I can get the full image, Oliver slaps my ass. "Better get going now, you're losing daylight." He said as he hands me a paper bag.
Soon after I was on my way to the Tetra gate. Just around the exit I find Richard chewing on some wheat at one of the fields near the road. The guy soon notices me and attempts to wave at me. But before he can do that, Richard looked surprised to see me. But to be honest I was unaware of something. People were giggling behind my back and staring at me. But Richard saw what was wrong. "You got a note stuck at your butt." He told me.
I took a feel of my rear and felt paper stuck at it. The note read 'cherry boy' with a cherry drawing at it. Richard was trying to hold his laughter at the wall. "Can we move on?" I replied out of rhetorical fashion. Yeah… Oliver slapped a note at my ass. But in return he did buy me some roasted chestnuts from the bag he gave me. Despite my embarrassing moment I got some chestnuts out of it.
Along the way we approached the gate and showed our guild cards. The guard looked them up a little then allowed us to pass. Once the two of us were out, Richard lead me to another location. It was much like The Chicago Area we past a few weeks back but there were surprisingly different. The place was full of worn-out buildings and was terraformed to much like prairie from the streets to the interiors of the buildings. Some of the locations were a fusion of brick and metal. The buildings looked far more abandoned even the HAP. Rust had already established at the beams to the point that some it had eaten sections of the beam. Some of the moss even had to grow even a decade before it could even reach a story high. All of this could say was these urban ruins I am standing on have been like this overtime but aged even further once it arrived here. There was even tall grass growing through the concrete as well. It looked like ages passed but judging by the man-made structures, it only appeared a few years. Chicago came a year before ours at East LA so this might have came a few years ago.
Richard then tosses me a few maps a few maps of various location in and outside of Cletus. "Where are we exactly?" I asked. "We're at the southern side of Detroit...well what came here, that is." He then gives me a form. It was a green slip of paper with some directions and a small checkbox. "Anyways the short version is that you need to get a piece of the bear you hunted and give it as proof." Richard instructs me, "The quest ends when the bill here tells you pass your request when an 'x' appears in the checkbox."
"What's gonna happen now?" I asked.
"I'll be leaving you here. From here on you are on your own. Whatever happens will be is in your hands now." He replied.
It was just like that the man left me out there in the wilderness. I had a total of five days till the request was over. All that was in the was green sheet of paper. I kept it in my pack for safekeeping just in case. This bag was all I had now. It had spare clothes, supplies, and ammunition. The weapons that I had now were on my gear. I used the Reference spell to copy the maps into my scribe. With that I was able to know where I was. The scribe can be also useful in terms of navigation. It works like a GPS as long as you have the sources for it. Think of it as a world map from sandbox games.
According to the my scribe I was in the border of the outskirts of the Detroit area and a long way at the outskirts of Cletus. I was pretty lucky that I used the Reference spell to copy all the books Rebecca gave me over the years. Now my Scribe works as an ultimate survival guide. The only problem was that now my scribe was too big that it eliminates my opportunity for stealth. It was practically the size of an encyclopedia and I still had to scan over pages just to find the reference. Basically reading this made me a sitting duck. My Scribe fades as I cast it away for now. From the training that I got from the Hunter's Fangs, the best thing I can do for now is to stay hidden and keep moving forward.