Jaylin stared at his temporary guild member acceptance sheet, and decisively crumpled it up and threw it in the trash.
When they walked all the way back to the guild, those other three extras acted like they were in the middle of the battlefield.
Sanatis and Zaleis weren’t on the best terms, and ‘Elric’ had been glaring at him the entire way there. Jaylin had no interest in the depths of Sanatis’ secret. Dragons had never been a topic of interest for him. Large lizards, is all they are. He’d learned from past experience how much dragons tend to exaggerate things.
Dragons tend to foster a sense of...overzealous patriotism, in their children. Anything done in the name of Dragon-kind will automatically turn into the greatest act of heroism, become exaggerated beyond belief and will be turned into a legendary epic meant for the history books. It’s easy to become disappointed when hanging around them in person. Jaylin was no exception to this.
So, when Zaleis and Sanatis were talking in the forest, he simply ignored them.
Exilis, however, was curious and listened in.
For reasons Jaylin would never understand, he relayed the whole thing back to him.
Thus, Jaylin payed no attention to the suspicious gazes covering him the whole walk back, and was instead listening to Exilis.
He considered ignoring him, but it’s quite hard to ignore someone when they’re speaking directly to your brain, and he wouldn’t resort to more drastic measures to shut his sword up.
Apparently Sanatis was sent on a mission by the snake goddess.
Though she didn’t tell the snake goddess part to Zaleis, Exilis guessed pretty easily.
Immortals receive god titles through prophecies after they reach the level of mastery in any subject or skill, but they’ve also started personally, or ‘unofficially’ in a way, bestowing them if an immortal creates a large enough clan.
Many immortals who wanted god title flocked to different species to create a clan and take the position of their god. They promised the animals more intelligence, mana, and power, with the condition that they would give them a portion of their power after they got stronger.
And thus, the alternate way to become a god was born.
Jaylin had heard of the Snake Goddess before. She was one of the few humans who turned into immortals after they died. She drew quite a lot of attention for adopting snakes as her subjects. Snakes had previously been under the reign of the Reptile God, and her taking them from him could be seen as an act of aggression towards him. The reptile god, as someone with many, many, followers in his clan, luckily didn’t mind the loss of a few scaly ropes.
She was the odd one out as an ascended mortal as well. Mortals who’ve become Immortals throw away their old lives, and anyone in them, in search of power. The snake goddess on the other hand, turned her children and their lovers into her followers. Her newly, half-snake children were then bestowed the highest positions in her clan and were granted immortality.
She was respected by many for her protective mother character, contrary to most ascended mortals that were disdained because of their greed for power.
Snakes became their own clan, and then lived separately from other reptiles. That was pretty much where Jaylin stopped hearing of her.
Apparently, the Snake Goddess accepted dragons into her clan. With the death of a majority of gods, many species were left without gods to follow. This wasn’t that important to most animals, but the elders of their species started loosing their elevated levels of intelligence, and the ability to take human form. Frightened, the godless elders ran to the reptile god, who took them in.
It was at this point that the dragons left the reptile god’s1Basically Animal God at this point. rule.
The dragon race were already quite annoyed at being treated with the same importance of a bunch of other reptiles, the other animals were the last straw for them. The dragons were incredibly picky in choosing their new god. They didn’t want one too weak, nor one with so many followers that they wouldn’t care for them.
Eventually the Snake Goddess held out her hand to them, which they accepted gratefully. Many races have tried to join the Snake Goddess’ clan because of her strangely caring nature towards the snakes, but were rejected in the end. The Dragons hadn’t even bothered to try.
After the dragons were accepted into her clan, her children, or their wives, now incredibly powerful elders of the clan, accepted the dragon bloodline and gave birth to dragon eggs, forming a bond between the two races.
The eggs were cared for very well and eventually hatched into dragon whelps. There where no abnormalities save for one.
The whelp Sanatis carried with her was born with a mana deficiency. It’s mana was insufficient to keep it alive for long. All of the whelps were needed to complete the Dragons acceptance into the clan. Unfortunately, the Snake Goddess was occupied in taking care of the other whelps and her three daughters were weak after giving birth, and her two sons were occupied taking care of their wives who had just given birth as well.
The Snake Goddess planed on finding one of her clan members to take the whelp to a mana rich location. But the dragon’s birthplace was very remote island and she was running out of time. This was when she met Sanatis.
Sanatis revealed herself to be a Forest Druid, which was the nice way immortals call a half human half plant.
The druids are a sparse race. They hardly ever meet another of their kind, and the only thing they usually know about other druids is that they’re all part of the Plant God’s clan. The Plant God is dead, but the plants that make up the majority of his clan aren’t affected by this.
The reason the Plant God isn’t one of the major gods despite his massive clan is because the little he has to do with the plant’s survival. All he really had to do was put the plants in a habitat and give them the ability to survive in it. The plants paid this back with yearly installments of mana, which, considering the amount of mana most plants use and absorb, isn’t much. His death did have an effect on the druids in his clan though. The druids, without the help of the plant god, have begun losing power recently. druids are a naturally powerful race, and that’s why they’ve survived so long. They’re losing power quickly and no gods were willing accept them because of their low mana output.
Sanatis agreed to the goddess’ request, but only if she would consider accepting the druids as part of her clan. The Snake Goddess was then left with two pending races to join her clan, a nearly dead whelp, and a silly little Druid to save it.
Sanatis came to Inzoscape in the hope that the city itself would be enough. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough mana for the little whelp. Getting desperate, she began seeking for a specific mana rich area, or as they’re better known as, Oasis’. Oasis’ are incredibly rare. She joined a guild in the hopes of getting a quest that led her to one. After going to the Hollowed Forest, one of the hardest D-level quests, she realized that the time it would take her to become an influential member that would have access to quests with an oasis was far too long.
When they arrived at the guild office, Sanatis part with them, saying she would search on her own, and dashed off.
Although Jaylin was somewhat curious as to why the Snake Goddess accepted dragons into her clan, due to his own rules for himself, he wasn’t able to act on that curiosity without prompting from Sanatis, which she gave none of as she ran down the street.
Zaleis and ‘Elric’ stood at the door while Jaylin went inside and received his temporary member certificate. When he walked out, they handed him a small silk pouch filled with coins similar to the ones Zaleis used to pay for the suspension rail tickets, and left.
Oh, but they didn’t forget to leave a: “We expect you to stay silent on our matters.”
And now Jaylin was here. Bag o’ money in his left hand, and newly crumpled guild certificate in the trash to his right.
...
Well that was a waste of time. Next idea?
Exilis was silent for a moment
...nope.
...
What do you mean, nope?
I mean I don’t have any other ideas.
Really?
Well, for young teens, being part of a guild and adventuring is the most exciting job they can imagine.
Oh.
... Jaylin was silent.
Sooo...what do are we going to do?
Asked Exilis.
...
Jaylin shrugged.
...
Exilis sighed.
Jaylin was walking near a brick wall in darkened streets of Inzoscape, bouncing the silk pouch in his hand.
This is the old currency of the Edaris continent. They used to use it a lot, but they’ve pivoted to using their I.D cards to pay somewhat recently. According to my understanding, the amount in the bag is quite large. With that in mind I would recommend not showing it off so obviously.
Jaylin held the pouch in his outstretched hand.
Do you really believe someone will be able to steal it from me?
Exilis looked at the people walking on the street. They were either eyeing the bag covetously, or glaring at Jaylin.
It’s just... quite uncomfortable, don’t ya’ think?
Oh.
Exilis was about to respond with his seventieth sigh of the day when a man emerged from the alley in front of them. He stared at Jaylin like he just spotted his prey, his eyes flashing a cautious glint. The passerby’s who’d been eyeing Jaylin sped off at the sight of him.
Exilis muttered something in an expectant tone.
Who am I kidding, he probably did it on purpose so he could beat up some ambitious robber.
Exilis silently lit a candle for the future victim in front of them.
Seeing everyone gone, the man dashed at Jaylin with practiced skill. He held a dagger in his right hand, ready to stab at any moment, as his left hand stretched out towards the money pouch.
Jaylin sidestepped and the man went shooting past, nearly falling face first into the cement.
Before he could fall, Jaylin used his empty hand to grab him. Pulling him up by his hair, he slammed the man’s face into the brick wall.
“Ack!” The man was temporarily stunned at the how scary such a soft youth could be.
The man’s forehead was pressed against the wall, his arms dangling by his side.
The man tried to elbow him with his right hand, but Jaylin, dropping the money pouch, caught his wrist in a tight grip.
The man had a strengthening spell infused charm in his back pocket. No street gangster would carry such an expensive item.
Jaylin slammed the man’s head against the wall for the second time and spoke calmly. “Who sent you?”
“Agh-No one!”
‘Crack’
A quick snap, Jaylin broke the man’s wrist.
“AHHHH!!!...kah...I said, no one!” The man shouted in pain, still shocked that such a harmless looking boy could be so deadly.
He made one last struggle, trying to hit Jaylin again, except with his left arm.
Jaylin expected the movement, and quickly kneed him in the elbow.
His arm bent in a weird direction, the man screamed hoarsely before finally speaking.
“O-OKAY!!! I-It was a guy-hi-his name started with a Z, He-he said he was from the Lenova family!”
Hoh?
That extra?
The man sobbed in pain. “D-don’t kill me!”
“I’m not a murderer.”
Exilis: CoUgH.
“But the medical bills will certainly be expensive.”
Jaylin slammed the man against the wall once more and he slumped down onto the sidewalk, unconscious.
Jaylin backed away with a sigh, picking up the bag of coins.
He stared at the pouch for a moment and spoke aloud, “Why give me the money if you’re just going to take it back?”
It’s not that useful anyway. The majority of people who use it, if they aren’t in the older generation, have gotten it through illegal means. It won’t be accepted in a large variety of shops, and establishments, not to mention that they might call the police on you if they see it.
Oh. Well that’s good to know.
He tossed the useless money near the man’s body, and walked off.
Jaylin sat in the coffee shop from before, sipping some coffee.
Contrary to the daytime, where the shop was quite deserted, the night brought some strange characters to the place. Some suspicious suited men whispered to each other in a secluded corner.
Jaylin felt that a coffee shop wasn’t the best place to talk about such things, but who was he to judge, anyway. Perhaps the coffee shop just had a strange charm to the heinous criminals out there.
Master, I’m beginning to think that you’re the problem.
Why is that?
Hm. Well, just this morning you found me getting robbed by a Corrupted Mana Cult, Went on a quest with a man with two souls who may or may not be against the Lenova family, and met a fucking. Druid. I’ve never seen a Druid, and you know how old I am? I’m what? Like, half your age?
Corrupted mana is nothing new, dual souls are nothing new, druids aren’t unique to this era either. Nothing entertaining. They were simply coincidences.
Coincidence? More like plo-Before Exilis got the chance to speak the cursed phrase, there was a crash coming from the criminal’s table.
A buff guy shouted angrily as he picked the red headed younger man opposite him and crushed him against the table.
“Dare to waste my time?! You’ve got a lot of confidence, bastard!”
The young man lay in pain on top of all of the table debris, and stammered fearfully as he tried to sit up.
“M-Mister, Mister, we can w-work this out, right?”
”PAH! A mere lackey of the Striped Devils dares to not only meet with me in the first place, but tries to scam me too!? You take the money we gave you, or you die here!”
The buff guy placed the barrel of a gun on the young man’s skull.
Exilis spoke up, pointing out the most insignificant part of the whole situation, Striped...Devils...Interesting name.
Indeed.
Jaylin said dismissively, leaving Exilis to cringe by his lonesome.
Jaylin stared at the red-headed man, who despite his pallid complexion and horrified expression, had not a hint of panic in his eyes, hidden behind his cracked glasses. “S-Sir! I swear! It was my boss who told me to lower the price! I c-can go and tell him you won’t accep-!”
“YOU’LL TAKE THE MONEY AND DO THE SHIPMENT PROPERLY OR I’LL PUT AN END TO YOU UPSTARTS AS SOON AS-”
‘Sluurp’
The intense atmosphere was shattered by a loud slurping sound that echoed through the empty coffee shop.
Jaylin looked down at his cup.
Ah. It seems I’ve run out of coffee.
Oof.
Was Exilis’ only response.
Jaylin looked up at the group of suited people staring at him. He slid his empty coffee cup to the side and leaned against the table. With a slight wave of his hand, he spoke.
“Continue.”
The buff guy looked enraged for a moment, staring at the innocent and naive boy sitting alone at the table. He looked towards one of his henchmen questioningly.
“How long has he been there?!”
The henchman flinched at his boss’ angry look and shrugged.
“I-I don’t know boss...”
The buff guy walked over to Jaylin considering killing him. He signaled his henchmen to make sure the red headed man didn’t escape. In a place he couldn’t see, the red head lost his scared expression and looked at Jaylin with curiosity.
The buff guy knew he couldn’t kill Jaylin, the kids parents would probably catch onto his disappearance. It was better to leave no chance of danger. He would threaten the youth, and get his men to kidnap him and kill him later. They needed to make sure his death didn’t get traced back to the coffee shop.
The buff guy slammed his hand on Jaylin table, knocking over the empty coffee cup.
“You keep quiet kid, and you can leave alive”
How does one respond in this situation?
He asked Exilis.
You should probably agree-Wait. Nonono, I have a good idea. Exilis snickered mischievously. I’ll tell you what to say.
...I get the feeling I shouldn’t listen to you.
Oh cmon’~ Not like they can hurt you anyway.
Jaylin sighed. Fine.
”You gonna keep ignoring me brat?! Don’t think you can escape alive if you piss me off!”
Following Exilis’ directions, Jaylin glanced down for a few seconds before he turned and looked the buff guy straight in the eye.
The face off lasted a while. Just as the buff guy was wondering whether the kid was frozen in fear, Jaylin spoke.
“Your fly is open.”
The words didn’t mean anything to Jaylin, but the buff guy was clearly angry. His eyebrow twitched and a vein bulged on his forehead.
“You fucking...”
“Pfft-HAHAHAHAHAHAHAhahaha-he just-hahahahaha! Gods, you got some guts, kid! Haha!”
The ted head’s panicked mask finally cracked as he burst into laughter.
“You bastard! What are you laughing at-”
Turning around, the buff man froze as he saw the young man clutching his stomach, laughing hysterically. What shocked him was the henchmen that had been holding him up were dead on the ground, Low grade ice arrows pierced through their hearts.
“Y-you...how?”
The young man held out two fingers, the blue glow of mana turning into a sharp spear like arrow.
‘Ziu’
The arrow sliced through the air, stopping just between the buff man’s eye’s. He stumbled back and fell, but the arrow hovered in place, simply aiming downward back at his nose bridge. The buff man felt his nose bridge grow hot, as if the arrow had a laser aimed at him.
“I-I...what...? H-how...”
“Hah. Well, see Mr. Lesinan, I don’t really like it when people call us ‘upstarts’ ya know? We work hard and all, and your prices weren’t enough to support my cadre. I don’t mistreat my people, got it? So...you know what you’re going to do now?”
The mana arrow flew right before Lesinan’s eyes and he froze up
“I-I-You can take the money! All of it! I-I’ll pay more later! Just don’t kill-”
“Oh no, Mr. Lesinan. You’ll be paying with your blood.”
“wait!-”
The arrow shot through his skull, and he sat frozen for a while, before he collapsed to the ground.
Jaylin stared at the pooling blood near Lesinan’s head. Jaylin could faintly hear the young man begin speaking to him, something about his guts, whatever that had to do with it. Jaylin couldn’t help but feel that the man’s way of killing was a tad bit inefficient.
I’m suprised he didn’t get killed why he was talking.
Jaylin nodded slightly, agreeing with Exilis’ statement. But he had to give the man credit. To make use of such a weak spell to kill someone. Quite impressive.
The young man, who introduced himself as Ren, noticed Jaylin not paying attention in the slightest.
“hey.”
Jaylin turned his head towards Ren, who had his arms hidden within the pockets of his brown jacket, a cheeky grin plastered on his face. Though you might not be able to tell, Jaylin had the basic understanding of common etiquette. Well, at the very least, he knew it wasn’t very polite to ignore someone. He usually didn’t take the time to be polite, but Ren didn’t seem to have any bad intentions.
“Sorry” Empty words, but Jaylin continued. “I wasn’t listening, could you repeat yourself?”
“...”
Ren was quiet for a moment. “You’ve really got balls of steel kid.”
“actually-”
Master, that’s not necessary.
Oh.
Jaylin stopped speaking.
Ren pretended like nothing happened and continued.“I‘ll shorten my speech for you. Join the Striped Devils. I like you kid. You got potential.” Although Ren looked calm, Jaylin could hear a faint desperation in his voice.
Exilis.
Yeah?
What do they do? The Striped Devils.
They’re a smuggling syndicate. They make money carrying illegal goods. Mostly mana crystals and potions. Though the industry isn’t the most reputable, they still have many connections and live with little fear of being arrested. They blocked out any other smugglers within Inzoscape and became the sole reliable place to get things smuggled through Inzoscape. They’re trusted by many organizations, including that corrupted mana cult.
Sounds boring. Doing the same thing over and over.
...Mn.
Although he was often astounded by Jaylin’s perception of boring, he should expect it by now.
Jaylin was somewhat of an adventure extremist.
He viewed the human race like an ant colony. No one wants to watch ants all day. He like to see the big leaps in progress, the new stuff. After all, Jaylin could destroy mana. Though he had a strange aversion to doing so, perhaps because it liked him, he would’ve done it if he really wanted to stay awake all these centuries. But he didn’t. He slept because he was bored.
So he would wait for a while, then wake up to a new world. He would seek out the strongest people, the newest experiences, the strangest advancements, anything of the like.
Then he would lose interest again.
Jaylin despised this feeling of boredom. The thought of boredom was so aversive to him, Exilis was surprised Jaylin didn’t go crazy picking fights to entertain himself.
Jaylin was holding himself back. He wouldn’t act unless prompted by someone else, so he would have an excuse for going against his own rules.
He seemed like a soft youth who never took the initiative to do wrong, but he was simply waiting. Waiting for someone to flip that switch.
Jaylin claimed that he enjoyed finding the strongest, strangest and most eccentric of people because he enjoyed it. Exilis could see it now. Jaylin sought those people, because they were the most likely to give him the opportunity to entertain himself.
They would be the ones who would provoke him.
They would be the ones who would give him that excuse.
Though he had never seen the man truly angry, Exilis felt immeasurable fear at the thought of Jaylin’s patience running out.
Jaylin was a very patient person. He was naturally curious, and naturally aggressive. He could wait endless periods of time to find entertainment, and as long as the result lived up to his expectations, he would be fine. He would move on to the next experience.
Jaylin would be, and had been doing this, forever.
If only it stopped there.
Exilis had a bad feeling. A bad feeling that he hated. It was a reminder of all of his horrible memories. The bad feeling that was never wrong.
Exilis could feel that Jaylin was excited about something.
The man had done something, he was waiting for something, and his expectations for this thing were growing every moment he remained alive.
Exilis had a bad feeling.
A bad feeling that Jaylin would end up disappointed beyond belief.
He had a bad feeling, that at that moment, he would face the man’s true rage.
A rage that could consume everything once given the chance.
