Anxiety has been growing the last few days. Reina reached the 3rd Star as a Mage using the technique I received at the Academy, better than the one at school, but still bad compared to the system.
After three days of cultivating at night with her, I collected enough points to buy the system's basic manual.
Apparently joint cultivation with both techniques yields double points for both, while only my technique yields 100 points for me and nothing for her.
With the new manual I was able to break the 4th Star barrier as a Mage, stabilizing my cultivation on both Paths.
Another notable thing during this period was our euphoria. While other people experience days of euphoria that can cause errors in judgment, our euphoria only lasted a few hours each time we broke a barrier.
In addition to the week's notice, Reina had to work two more days until the restaurant found a replacement, which was a good thing, as there was no escort mission out of the city at the Adventurers' Guild.
Today the mission appeared and we can finally put the plan into action.
We packed everything for the trip and I locked the house with everything else inside, there was no way of knowing if we would ever return to Almage, but that house had sentimental importance. It was there that everything changed in our lives more than once.
The plan we made after the last twist needed some adjustments. Although we didn't change our initial idea of leaving the city so we could cultivate in peace, some adjustments needed to be made.
Teams of adventurers vary between three and six members, with some rare cases of duos and lone wolves. That's why Reina registered as a warrior with the Adventurers Guild, to balance it out I ended up registering as a Mage, so we formed an almost independent team.
Another measure we needed to take was the acquisition of equipment. Sturdy clothing that does not hinder mobility and weapons.
As a Warrior I would have several options to choose from, from daggers to gigantic war hammers. But as a Mage the options are few, among the most discreet are rings, but only a 2nd Circle Mage can wield one of them, bracelets can have larger mana stones and therefore require a 3rd Circle.
My options were limited to wands and staffs where the mana-conducting material acts in place of the stone. Thinking about the advantages and disadvantages, I ended up buying a White Oak Staff with Cold Iron reinforcement at the top end.
This staff is recommended for mages who stay very close to the action, the wood is resistant and combined with Cold Iron it is strong enough to withstand the impact of a beast of up to 2nd Circle.
As a mage I will focus on support, water, earth, wood, air and light. Reina in turn will focus on fire, metal, electricity and darkness. She cannot currently integrate the elements as a Warrior, but prior knowledge of them will likely help her learn or even create Middle and High Circle skills later.
After a lot of conversation taking into account how she wanted to be perceived as an adventurer, she ended up with two options: swords and saber.
While axes, maces, hammers and staves are perceived as brutal weapons they also have the problem of being slow, the damage caused by this type of weapon is generally perceived as more brutal whereas swords and sabers are perceived as more elegant weapons.
Spears and Halberds could be an option, but mobility and hand-to-hand combat are hampered. Daggers don't provide many defensive maneuvers, so sword sabers were the finalists.
One-handed swords work heavily with thrusts, while sabers are more focused on cutting, thrusts require more efficient preparation while cuts can also function as an impact tool.
So, in the end, sabers were the choice.
A saber with a blade approximately 35 inches long was the final choice, so she could better demonstrate the way she would like to be perceived as an Adventurer.
Upon arriving at the guild we saw the convoy we were going to escort. In addition to us, four more adventurers would be escorting us. An 8-Star Warrior, a 6-Star Mage and another Mage and a 4-star Warrior as our destination is the city of Quakan.
In Quakan we will be able to pick up new missions and cultivate, so after a few weeks we will move to the next city. The objective is to level up the city every few weeks so as not to arouse suspicion.
Quakan, our first stop, despite having the same level as Almage, is a bigger city with more opportunities.
We saluted the escort leader, the 8-Star Warrior, and got ready to travel. Rubens was an experienced adventurer who gave us confidence in this mission.
The payment for the mission, although not much, was enough to keep us in Quakan for a few weeks. Our planning did not include acquiring resources, but we still needed missions as training. Any money we can save during this period, we plan to invest in our equipment.
Reina would need light armor, preferably metallic and malleable. While I needed to find a mana stone to embed in my staff in the future.
The difference between the Mana Stones that we use for cultivation and the Mana Stones used to inlay weapons is that the inlay Stones have an element, that is, my spells of a certain element will be stronger.
As my role would be support, I should look for something like water or earth. Water is an element that provides control, is malleable and can be used for attack and defense. Earth provides control over the terrain, with high defensive power and offensive brutality.
At noon our convoy of four carriages continued on their way, the road was relatively safe, but we didn't know what we were about to meet. This would be the first adventure, both mine and Reina's. She had done some quests for the guild, but none of them as an adventurer, just as a support person.
Rubens and the 6-star Mage accompanied the train at the front, while we distributed ourselves along the carriages. Reina and I ended up in the penultimate carriage of the convoy.