Somehow, this quest has become even worse than before. But then again, that first version of the quest was pretty much a joke, considering that I could easily finish that in a night.' Soren thought to himself while holding his head with his left hand. But after holding his head for a bit, he noticed something peculiar about this quest and decided to ask:
"Ummm... Rohan? Can you explain why the rank has changed?"
"Easy. That is the current difficulty of this mission. Unlike before with the 10 wolf quest which could be easily completed in one night, hence the reason it was rank E, this one actually requires some knowledge of ecosystem itself. The reason why this is considered a borderline rank D quest, is that I have put a hidden condition, or bonus task you could say. If you don't complete that bonus task, it will just drop your grade of your test, but it isn't required. Also, aside from that bonus task, the way to grade you will remain the same as before, time, quality and condition." Rohan explained calmly the specifics of the mission.
"Alright, but why did you add the bonus condition?" Soren asked seriously.
"To test out your luck of course. Sometimes, you need things to be up to lady luck, otherwise this is nothing more than a repeat of your previous quest." Rohan explained with a grin on his face.
'Well, you certainly have made things easier for me.' Soren thought sarcastically to himself before he asked:
"So, can I safely assune that the quest has already started and from now, I have exactly 7 days to complete that quest. Am I right?" Soren wanted to confirm the way this quest would work.
"Of course. That is the way this quest will work. Oh, something final Soren and that isn't about your quest but, why are you wearing Matt's old helmet? It doesn't seem like you would have problems with protecting your head in battle and that thing can really limit your vision to the point of barely being able to see six feet in front of you." Rohan asked curiously.
"No reason. I just wanted some extra protection. Anyways, take care for now Rohan. Come on Lavenza, let's go." Soren lied through his teeth before he left hurriedly. After Soren left the building, Jay asked Rohan with an expression of disbelief:
"Honestly Rohan, did you really have to add that extra condition? Just 7 different species is already quite a hassle for D ranking adventurers and parties, so adding that little extra thing might have already turned this into an actual rank D or even C quest." Jay said angrily to Rohan.
"I just felt like making things slightly more complicated and besides, that extra condition was for 2 of the carcasses to be of a tier 2 monster, or he could try to bring down a rare and valuable monster, anyways he would probably have to go for that first condition regardless if he knew about that, regardless of the situation." Rohan explained casually with a hint of seriousness.
"You have issues Rohan." Jay answered back expressionlessly.
"I'll take that as a compliment." Rohan said happily.
...
Now that Soren and Lavenza had left the Adventurer's Guild, their next stop would be a library to gain information. Lots of information about the monsters, the history and some info on magic would definitely benefit the two of them. The problem for that now, was the fact that they didn't know the location of the library.
"Ummm... Excuse me sir, may I ask the location of the library?" Soren asked one of the passerby.
"Go down that road until you reach the Coral Garden park, after that take a turn to the left and keep going down that way until you see a big marble building on the right of the road with a garden of marble statues." The merman answered kindly.
"Thank you sir." Soren answered back before he left towards the road the man had pointed at.
As Soren was swimming down the road, the man was looking at him and said quietly:
"Intersting aura for a kid. Could be useful." After that, he disappeared from the streets like he was never there.
After some time passed, Soren and Lavenza made to the Coral Garden park and indeed, ut was similar to a park on Earth, but instead of trees or bushes, there were lots and lots of corals of all shapes, colors and sizes unlike the Coral Forest at the east of Crystalia City. After taking a sharp left turn and an extra five minutes of swimming, he finally made it to the library, or so he thought. The building in front of him was a marble building with a garden filled with statues, but the way the marble building looked like, it was more like some sort of temple rather than a library. Without other options for libraries, the only thing they could do was to enter the building itself.
"Wow, the outside might look like a temple, but the inside looks like one huge library." Soren said with a hint of suprise in his face. The inside of the building was an amazing sight to behold, lots of shelves where books were stored, tables and chairs where people where reading quietly, there even some people who were moving stacks of books around the place. After spending a couple of minutes letting the atmosphere to sink in, he went to one of the counters.
The person behind one of the counters saw Soren coming towards him with a sea serpent following him and said: "No pets can enter unsupervised."
The old and raspy female voice suprised Soren since the one who spoke looked like she was barely forty, but kept his composure and said seriously.: "She is under my supervision."
The woman took a look at the two of them before she started paying attention the papers on her desk, took out her hand and said: "500 Kus."
Soren realised that he had to pay to enter the library and decided to pay her with 5 copper coins before he moved past the counter. Just as he moving past the counter, he decided to ask: "May I ask where any history books, magi books or encyclopedias are?"
"The woman didn't bother lifting her head and said monotonously: "History books, first floor, hall D, magic books, second floor, hall B, encyclopedias, secind floor, hall C."
"Thank you miss." Soren said seriously before he left.
After Soren left the counter with Lavenza, the woman said to herself: "Finally back on my peace and quiet."
The first objective for Soren was to look for history books, so he can have a better grasp on the history of Crystalia City, as well as the story behind the events of Lavenza's birth, since he had lots of questions, like the reason Laventhign was at the garrison, the events thay led to its fall and even the undead leviathan was a big flag for questions.
"For now, let's start with the founders Lavenza. There should be a few books about them." Soren said with a low voice, but Lavenza answered a bit loudly:
"Kyuu~."
"Shhhh... Quiet Lavenza, it's a library and in libraries, we need to be quiet." Soren said quietly while closing Lavenza's mouth. Lavenza nodded and didn't make much noise. Their first location was hall D at the first floor. That place was pretty much Soren's way to get answers on Lavenza's story and any extra little details on the founders as well.
After reaching hall D in the first floor, the first course of action was to search for any potentially useful history books to help Soren. Anything that wasn't from the founding period, it was pretty much non-existant for Soren. 'The Golden Wars Period 768-775, no. Golden Fall 775-778, not that. 2nd era of tranquility 546-698, boring. Founding Era 475-482, here we go now.' Soren thought to himself while looking through quite a few titles on the bookshelves before he found the book we wanted.
"Crystalia City. Currently, this place is considered as one of the 3 major locations where the Merman race resides, but how did this come to be in the first place? As your writer and host, I would like to share you my story of me witnessing the founding of Crystalia City itself." This was the first sentence at the first page of the book. Soren felt a surge of excitement while he was reading that and continued reading the book itself.
"The four founders of Crystalia City. Daren, the unshakable. He was a master crafter and builder with over 100 apprentices and experts under his belt. He was the one responsible for building every house, shop, stall and even some of the more important buildings like the Sea Hall of Judgement, the Sea God's Temple and even the Azure Gallery, home to many books and pieces of art. It is said even that even to this day, his apprentices are still building through their own apprentices so his work and crafy can continue through the generations. He was also the most stubborn of the four, capable of even going against the gods, should things not go his way.
Kris, the mastermind. The first govenor of Crystalia City, during the days of its founding, he had established himself as the most appropriate one for running this city, due to his great decision making, his sharp eye for detail and his meticulous planning, that allowed him to become the first govenor. Before, he was only an illegitimate son of a baron, but with extremely huge amounts of effort and exceptional talent, he managed to become a force to be reckoned with and one of the most powerful govenors that the seas had ever known and very few could even have a chance at matching his talent.
Laventhign, the White Beauty of the sea. Before she stepped at these lands, she was known as a great monster, a Leviathan to be exact, capable of flattening cities with only a fraction of her power. But after finding her fated one, she became one of the mermen and wished to live with them. Unfortunately, the merman race who had a huge hate for Leviathans at the time, they couldn't accept them, hence she and her fated one couldn't establish themselves at any of the existing cities and had to establish their own city where they could live together. Although she was a Leviathan, she was a master of light magic, capable of not only sending every kind of undead to the other side, but she could also empower armies of up to myriads* of soldiers, with only a flick of a wrist.
Quan, the Black Beast of the sea. The second son of duke Asterius Longinus and a master of the sword and magic. A warrior unlike anyone this world has ever seen. Capable of slicing enemies with Sword Aura by the age of 18, mastering the strongest spells from the essence of water and darkness by the age of 20, capturing the heart of one of the strongest sea creatures and making that creature his fated one by the age of 25 and even besting the 7 Sin Generals of the Scourge all by himself at the age of 27. He was truly known as the Black Beast of the Sea, capable of standing against everything. Unfortunately, he met his equal match when he fought against the leader of the Scourge and ultimately, lost his life before scarring that vile leader with a mark that he would never forget.
Those were the 4 founders of Crystalia City and this is their great legend of founding Crystalia City."
This was the first chapter of the book that Soren was reading and he felt like he was slightly tearing up while reading that and before wiping his tears, he said:
"This will be one hell of story."