Insania slowly got up and dusted herself, although it isn't noticeable she was sweating buckets underneath her fur.... Which begs her to question, what does Beastkin body odor smell like? Shaking her head she put such nasty thoughts behind her and went to the Alchemy Shop.
She went in the shop and that same woman greeted her but this time she had a different tone compared to yesterday.
"Oh... good morning, your concoctions are at the back, Please wait a moment."
Insania looked around the store and found out that the pots and potions displayed are actually fakes or more commonly termed as, Byproducts of the real working concoctions. Insania waited and saw the woman carrying a bag full of yellowish Pots.
*Ting you have received 10 Zwifruit Poison Pot.*
Insania held one of the items and scanned it.
*Ting
Zwifruit Poison Pot
Item Rarity: Uncommon(X)
Item Type: (Instant effect)Pot
Effects: Gives any item a [Poison(III)] debuff that lasts for a minute while chipping away 2 Durability for every second.(Applicable to all items)
Note: This Poison Pot only works if applied internally, if it is outside the skin, fur or hide then the [Poison(III)] wont kick in.*
Nodding in satisfaction Insania stored it in her bag, she went out and roamed the streets again. Due to not feeling hungry at all, she just looked at the stores windows and sometimes even going inside to ask for the prices but nothing caught her eye at the moment and its better to buy accessories at a human kingdom where Jewelers are plentiful anyways. She didn't find the necessity to buy food so she just went back to the training field to practice her swings.
While on the way she saw humans? Insania counted at the very least 10 humans, 8 men and 2 women, she then concluded that they're a mercenary group with their attires but its actually very strange to see a human Mercenary team inside a Beastkin city, considering how dangerous it is.
Using [Conceal] she approached a little to eavesdrop their conversation, mercenaries won't go in this deep unless there's a very high priority escort mission, so Insania wanted to maybe hitch a ride, although her chances are slim, considering that humans and beastkins clash a lot, she may have a chance if she uses her feminine charms on one of them. She finally got close enough to hear their discussion.
"Are you sure this guys legit?"
"Im not sure"
"We've been stuck here for so long its driving me mad!"
"I don't know about you guys but we need this job." The humans huddled up and whispered, their voices were barely audible to Insania due to how low their whispers were.
"How can we trust him though? He sounds too shady to be authentic" One female chirped.
"We have no choice Lainey, Escorting him may be our only way out of this godforsaken city, without getting attacked." An man carrying a bow said, after his allies have quietened down he continued.
"Its settled, we'll meet near the fountain by tomorrow morning, be sure to be there." They all nodded and dispersed. Insania had a gist of what's happening. They were probably stuck here in this city due to a job and couldn't find a way out. They are all young and their average levels range from 28-34 and the highest one is level 34 which is an Elite Archer(Tier2).
If they grouped up together and step a foot outside, then they will get ambushed almost instantly. If she can gather this much information, then the predatory eyes and ears of her fellow beastkin would obviously catch a whiff of this.
Insania planned on following them tommorow and if they end up getting ambushed, she will help them. Who knows... they might even bring her with them. She went back to the training field and saw Jackus along with another cloaked beastkin carrying a bow.
"Heeey Jackus, care to introduce me to your new little friend? I'm Insania by the way..." Insania the extrovert that she is, instantly beamed after getting close to the field.
"Hmmp" The beastkin didn't answer and looked displeased. Scrutinizing the cloaked beastkin Insania instantly knew he was a she, a Panthera Tigris.
She was visually shorter than Insania, considering the large hunky body of most Beastkin males, the body of females is very laughable. There are no buff and muscular females, but there are some very thin and sleek male beastkins.
"Come now introduce yourself"
"Grrrr..... I'm Diyalnr, Nice to meet you Insania." She reluctantly complied.
"So ? What are you planning now Jackus?" Looking towards Jackus, Insania had a scary sheen in her eyes.
"You misunderstood my intentions Insania, I never meant for the three of us to share a bed. Just like you she wanted to spar with me, and remembering that I accepted you, I couldn't possibly reject her offers."
"Oh please spare me the bullcr*p" Insania spat and pointed her sword at Diyalnr.
"Spar with me first, if you win. I'll call it a day and not cock-block you and Jackus." Diyalnr just kept silent and held out her paw.
"I take that as a yes.." Insania walked a couple meters backwards and draws her blades. Although this is her first time fighting as a Fencer, she is an Archer herself as well as a dodgeball mvp state champion for 3 years. Dodging arrows shouldn't be that hard.
Diyalnr took off her cloak, revealing her slim figure. Jackus didn't butt in their feud and just stood as a referee. "In 3 you can start the duel."
Insania hurriedly scanned her opponent to gauge out her stats.
*Ting Name: Diyalnr
Race: Beastkin(Panthera Tigris)
Class: Archer
Level: 24
Hitpoints: 130*
With only a 4 level difference, she felt that this wasn't so hard. Archers skills revolve around either movement enhancing skills, mana induced arrows or debuff induced arrows like [Numb-shot], [Blinding-shot], [Bind-shot], [Control-shot].
In under 3 seconds Insania has to figure out which set of skills her opponent has in her arsenal.
"1!"
Diyalnr didn't frolicked and rapidly shot arrows at Insania, alternating the normal arrows and the debuff induced ones. Insania didn't block the attacks but instead, with her superior movement speed, she zipped through the shots and dodge them one by one.
She didn't need to deflect, knowing how the stats works. Strength attribute will be used as the determining factor of who gets pushed backed when parrying physical projectiles. With Insania's measly 50 Strength, she couldn't afford to parry the arrows.
Insania felt the sudden Boost proc and she removed the distance almost instantly, this action made Diyalnr panicked and activate 2 different dash skills called [Enhanced steps], [Quick Reflex]
Diyalnr got away from Insania with the two dash skills. Grinning Insania knew that she's already low on Manapoints with those two skills alone. She rushed at her with more glee but she felt a prickling sensation in her left palm.
'The curse? F*** its stupid timing!' Insania threw her left sword, then she stood up and massaged the annoying pain she felt inside her palm.
Diyalnr didn't let this opportunity go and used her remaining mana to use a attack speed enhancement skill, the pain was slowly receding but Diyalnr still didn't land a single hit, due to Insania's bendy and erratic dodging movements... All thanks to her reaction speed and high Agility.
Diyalnr felt she was losing the spar, her arrows were finite, she can't pick up the scattered arrows all over the ground, that would slow her down considerably, allowing Insania to get close to her and land a strike, she didn't have any other weapons beside her bow, so if she got caught in close range she's doomed.
"Hahaha! I thought you'd put up a better fight than this!" Insania grinned nastily after the pain disappeared.. Sheathing her sword proved to be a hassle, she got down on all fours and bit her sword tightly gripping it with her teeth and dashed on all fours.
Insania wanted to use [Zap] but victory was already in her grasps thanks to another Boost Proc. She zoomed in on her and pounced, her sword was but a millimeter close to slashing her neck.
Diyalnr couldn't believe she lost, she gritted her teeth in frustration, she used all she's learned throughout the fight but it proved futile against her opponent.
The reason as to why Insania won is simply because Diyalnr was just inexperienced, she shot arrows as if she was facing a mob that charges straight towards its prey. Despite being 4 levels higher than Insania, Diyalnr didn't have the Physical passive boosts that Insania's got and the main reason as to why she lost was because of the speed advantage given by a single Boost proc. The 1% Boost rate is a godsend that quadruples her movement speed for two seconds when running down on all fours, easily removing the gap between them and pouncing at Diyalnr.
"Hey, Diyalnr stand up, if you cannot take one loss, how can you possibly hope to win." Insania uttered one of her favorite lines. The belief that all losses will soon become stepping stones for success, but somehow, Onille didn't get the success that he dreamed of when he was a kid, life spat at him in the face and he couldn't get in any good college. This thought made her angry and she couldn't help but spitefully blurt out.
"You never had a chance of winning anyways."
"Its not that she had no chance... She couldn't find a flaw in your assault.. Watching your fight was like watching the movements of a Master Fencer(Tier3)."
"Thank you, And Diyalnr I'm sorry for being harsh, I hope I can spar with you another time."
"Believe me, the next time I see you, you'll eat your words." She shook herself and walked away.
Without further ado, Insania first glared at Jackus and went to practice her swords strikes without looking at him for a full hour.
'What is wrong with me? ' she wondered.
Jackus didn't mind and just watched, he didn't comment anything, he looked to be in deep thought as he watched Insania. The day continued as Insania practiced her swings and spar with Jackus until finally something pleasant rung.
*Ting your [One-handed Sword Mastery] has risen by one*
Night was close and so Insania and Jackus bade each other farewell...
"I don't think we'll be able to spar again tomorrow Jackus, I've got something going on" Insania said in a morose tone, She really needed to get her equipments and then follow the Mercenary group, so this may be her last time seeing Jackus.
"What a coincidence, So do I..." Jackus shook his head, he didn't expect that the both of them were gonna be busy tomorrow.
"If, we ever meet each other again, would you like to go out?"
"What ?" Insania understood his intentions as clear as day, what he couldn't understand was the mixed feelings she had right now. So in order to hide her blushing face she used [Conceal] then logged out.