The bar was much less crowded when we went this time. It was just a few people and the barkeeper.
"Well, if it isn't the two violent cuties!" The man behind the bar exclaimed. Of course, he was talking about Tim and me; our last time here was eventful, to say the least. I rolled my eyes at him.
"It's not my fault that your client base is rude," I responded.
"Oh, I see! The alchemist boy is a brave one." He grinned at me. "I've heard you've had a rough time of it lately? Almost dying again. People will start talking if you don't start proving yourself to be more useful." My friends were about to step in to defend me, but I stopped them and laughed.
"It's good to see you again, honestly." He smiled a genuine smile at me this time. I knew guys like him, and to him, the whole world was a joke. 'You can't take someone like that seriously.'
"Likewise, young man." He passed me a beer in a wooden mug. "On the house as a thank you for letting me have my fun." The barkeeper laughed one more time before turning to my friends to take their orders. It was a fun night, and it honestly helped to take my mind off of the fact that I'd be back in the forest fighting again tomorrow.
I had two drinks in total that night. We didn't have a whole lot of money, so I decided I'd open a tab with the barkeeper. The man was glad to help me with that as it guaranteed a return customer. It was close to midnight when we left the establishment, having eaten and laughed and just enjoyed celebrating our successes. It was time for sleep, though. We had to be rested enough to fight the next day.
I woke up earlier than the others like I usually did and came out to work on my Daysprinkle. My skill allowed me to help it grow another inch, and it had a couple of small leaves on it now. I was happy when the breeze hit it, and I could finally hear a small clinking of the leaves when they brush up against each other.
"Well, at least you sound happy," I said quietly, talking to the plant.
"You aren't going crazy, are you?" I was surprised to find Grace standing behind me. Her voice made me jump a little. "Sorry! I didn't mean to startle you. I just heard you talk to the little thing." I shook my head at her.
"No, it's ok, and no, I'm not going crazy." I chuckled a little in amusement at the idea. 'This whole world is crazy, so how could I be?' "I've just learned recently that not all plants are just plants. Sometimes they're people too." Grace recalled my story about the dryad and understood.
"You think we're going to have a plant person walking around here soon?" I shrugged.
"I don't know about soon; she doesn't want to grow for me just yet. I figured if I started talking to her, she'd want to come out of her shell a little more." As if to tell me it was happy with my words, the little plant clinked a little louder so that crazy could hear.
"It's like little windchimes!" She then bent down to have a closer look. "You are a cute one, aren't you?" She said to the little sprout.
"Now who's the one that's going crazy?" I asked, Grace just rolled her eyes at me in response.
"Are you ready for today?" I honestly didn't know for sure, but I didn't let her know that. Instead, I just gave her a big smile and said.
"Yup, let's kill some monsters!" The others were waking up now and getting ready. A couple of hours later, and I found myself back at Goblins Reach; we weren't far from where the incident had taken place. It wasn't hard to get back into the swing of things, honestly. Aside from the Great Goblins, the two lower-class goblins weren't presenting us with much of a challenge anymore. It was hard to think about, but it was actually getting a little boring fighting these things.
I was glad to be back out though, I was worried that I would lock up if I saw another monster, but it seems that I was doing ok against the goblins and hobgoblins. It might be a different story if another big guy shows up, but I was just going to hope that it doesn't happen. I was actually getting a lot better at getting in close to monsters and using my electric alchemy skill. I had the knife from my last time out, so I was helping a little with the melee damage as well as alchemic support.
We kept hunting until the sun went well passed its apex. None of us had phones or watches anymore, so we had to use the sun as a time measurement. It was just lucky that this world we were on had similar days to our homeworld. We went to the Guild to turn in our items and shop around a little. When we got there, however, the Guild was a lot more active than usual. People were talking excitedly, and there were long lines for shops that provided weapons and armor, as well as those that specialized in spellcraft.
I noticed Sean over in a corner surrounded by young adventurers clamoring to talk to the manager.
"Now hold on! I know you have a lot of questions, but you're going to have to go to the information desk to get them answered. I am not associated with the test itself and, therefore, cannot help you in this matter!" The group slowly dissipated and headed towards the help desk. We walked up to sean, and when he saw us, he gave a wry smile and rubbed the back of his head nervously. "Not you guys too! I really don't have any more information about the test."
"What test?" Derek asked him. The manager blinked in surprise.
"You haven't heard? It's coming close to the tag advancement test; it's just in about a week? Don't tell me you haven't begun preparing for it?" I remembered him telling us about the test a while back; it was supposed to allow adventurers to prove that they'd gotten strong enough to take on more difficult jobs. Grace was the one to answer, though.
"I'm sorry we've been a little busy lately. This is the first we're hearing about it." Sean nodded his head and looked at me, apologetically.
"Yes, I did hear about your unfortunate mishap. How are you doing?"
"I'm alright now; we just got back from doing a little hunting actually." Sean was happy to hear that I was doing well and asked me about the Master. I told him that she was doing fine, but I recently met another one of her apprentices.
"You mean Roman." The young man rolled his eyes at the name, which caused me to laugh.
"I feel the same way. Anyway, can you tell us anything about this test?" Sean shook his head.
"I don't really know that much about what it will entail; I never got the chance to take it. But I do recommend your entire group getting some better gear." He looked us up and down, noticing how damaged our weapons and armor were. Some of us didn't even have anything that could really be considered armor. "It looks like you have been neglecting yourselves. You need to start investing in your own safety." It was just like him to try to look out for adventurers like ourselves; it was his job after all.
We looked at ourselves and began to notice what he meant. Our clothes were torn in places from wounds that we'd taken, and none of us knew how to sew.
"I guess that's what we're going to have to do with today's haul then," Grace said to the group. "He's right; if we don't start getting ourselves together, we're going to get hurt or worse." She looked directly at me when she said this. "Are you guys ok living off of swineberries for a little while?" The group agreed with what she said and decided to look at armor and weapons today.
We said our goodbye's to Sean and headed to sell our haul for the day. It had gotten to a point where we were coming in with close to sixty goblin parts. It was truly getting too easy to fight those monsters, and we still were always running behind on money. We were going to have to discuss how to move forward and start fighting stronger enemies.
But for now, it was time to shop. We all made our way to the long line waiting to see the armorer. 'I guess everyone is trying to prepare for the test.
"Hey, are we going to take the test?" I asked Grace.
"Well, I guess it's up to you guys, I am, though. It only comes around twice a year, so if we can pass it the first time, it'll be great for making money." I agreed.
"Do you think that we're ready, though? I only know three spells." Laura asked us.
"I agree Sarah and I are in the same boat. We practice a lot, but we still don't know that much about our jobs." Derek spoke, and Sarah agreed with him.
"Yeah, I guess so, I'm just saying that we should try, though. I only know a few skills myself after all, but there's not really a penalty if we fail the test. Just won't be able to take it again for another six months." Grace explained.
"I guess that makes sense," Laura said pensively. We were getting closer to the front of the line.
"So, what kind of armor are you going to get?" Tim leaned over and asked me.
"Probably a leather cuirass, and some greaves. I have to be able to move around to fight the way I want to." Tim nodded his head understanding the reasoning behind my choices. "What about you?" He already had a response ready.
"Light chain mail, and some steel thigh highs if I have money saved up. Having some extra armor will keep Grace from having to defend me so much so she can do more damage out front." That was an awesome idea. We got to the front of the line and were finally able to start browsing. I walked around and asked one of the shop keepers where the leather pieces were.
They were a little farther back, so I went to look. I took some boxes off the shelves and were careful when handling their contents. I found exactly what I needed quickly and decided to keep looking around. It was only a few minutes ago when I found a box in that section labeled. "Alchemist." I put down the items that I had already chosen and picked up the box.
'I wonder what kind of armor they sell for an alchemist?' I opened the box, and inside I found a soft black leather robe, a pair of leather boots, and a tool belt. Each item had pockets and slots where I could only assume they kept potions. On the back of the robe was a big alchemic sigil that I hadn't seen before. I recognized a couple of the components in it, though, as electrical alchemy. I didn't understand some of the others, though, because I wasn't well-practiced in anything but growth alchemy.
I looked at the price and discovered that it was well within my price range. I couldn't pass up an opportunity like this. I put back the items that I'd already chosen in exchange for this robe set. When I placed the box on the counter to pay for it, the shop keeper was surprised.
"Well, an alchemist! We don't have too many of you in these parts, you know." I did know. The others in my group went to lessons with at least fifteen to thirty people in their classes. I just recently found out that I wasn't my Master's only current student. I paid the woman and went to the dressing room to put on my new armor. It fit me pretty decently, and I was happy that I no longer had to worry about dropping any of my seeds or potions. I had so many pockets and slots I could probably carry well over triple the number of items I had been able to previously.
Wearing something like this, I felt like it was a real level up. 'I wish level ups were a thing in this world.' I chuckled to myself, thinking about how much easier this place would be if it was like a video game. The more I used my skills, the stronger I become. It wasn't like that here though; you had to think about what you've been taught and actually make plans to use it effectively. Strength came from knowledge and experience.
I met the others outside the shop and took not of how good everyone looked. Derek had thin scale armor on which was tough but flexible. Sarah was dressed head to tow in greens and browns. She was a scout, so she thought that the camo approach would allow her to be more effective. Laura was wearing a new purple robe and a breastplate.
Grace was now fully outfitted with a steel cuirass, bracers, metal boots, and a helmet. I was surprised to see that it didn't look bulky on her either; it was actually pretty well fitted. Tim, who was the last person I looked at, had exchanged his white robe for a black one. I could see the metal boots, but not the chainmail he'd talked about getting.
"Where's the chainmail?" I asked; Tim then pulled down his shirt a little so I could see the shimmer of metal underneath his robe.
"And what about you? Can you move in that?" He asked me, and I took a few test swings with my arms and legs.
"Yeah, I should be good." I turned to the rest of the group as they were talking amongst each other. "You all look awesome!" I said. We were finally starting to look like real adventurers. The excitement that the group was feeling was almost palpable.
"Weapons next?" Derek asked, and so we moved on to the next shop. We'd definitely have to work hard tomorrow to replace all of the money that we'd spent today.