Seeing how Guardon had nothing useful for them, Aumo and LisiA left to check out what quests were listed.

 

Watching the two walk away, Guardon stood there and heaved out a sigh. He had a feeling that they would most likely not get armor. After all, young people are now all going for the high-tech shields that cover their whole body these days over armor. They were cheap and effective, which was what made them so popular.

 

As Guardon watched the two approach the quest board, he followed them to see which quest they would pick.

 

"We're going to try a Difficulty 3 quest," said LisiA as she gently took a Difficulty 3 quest paper off the board after taking some time to find one.

 

"This board is really disorganized," said Aumo.

 

The quests weren't sorted by difficulty at all, they were randomly scattered around, and there was no way to really tell what difficulty the quests are other than the number printed on the top right corner of the paper.

 

"How do we accept the request?" asked LisiA.

 

"Keep the quest paper on you. They are made of a material that's hard to damage. When you are done, give in the proof of completion along with the quest paper," replied Guardon.

 

"Alright," said LisiA.

 

The quest that LisiA took asked to defeat 20 bats in a nearby cave outside of the city. The proof of completion would be the right wing of the bats. The reward would be 1 silver.

 

The way currency works hasn’t changed at all over the 130 years, only the design has changed. 1 mithril coin was equal to 100 gold coins, 1 gold is 100 silver, and 1 silver is 100 copper. The currency is accepted by all the countries on the continent, which made it simple to trade.

 

“The quest to defeat bats, huh,” said Guardon as he looked at the quest, “Do you two know where the cave is?”

 

“No,” said Aumo.

 

“Remember the gate we came in yesterday? It’s directly east of that gate. It’s a short walk there,” said Guardon.

 

“Okay,” replied Aumo.

 

“Before you do that though, do you actually have any form of protection?” asked Guardon.

 

The two might not buy armor, which is alright to a certain extent thanks to the alternatives, but they also didn’t have said alternatives.

 

“Uhhh,” Aumo didn’t really know how to reply. They could say that they were androids, but she was unsure what the consequences were. 

 

“Our clothes are enchanted,” said LisiA suddenly. Their clothes were made that morning out of mana. Seeing how convenient the function was, Aumo added a self-cleaning and self-repair function to the clothes she created for LisiA. It took a bit more mana than she would’ve liked, but her mana tank was already full after so much time passed.

 

LisiA then ripped a bit off the left sleeve of her blazer to demonstrate. The repair started almost immediately; the sleeve quickly repaired itself. The torn-off bit dissipated into the mana that was used to repair the sleeve.

 

“Well if you say so,” said Guardon, convinced. He had never seen clothes that could repair themselves, and that quickly at that.

 

“Now, if you would excuse us,” said LisiA. She and Aumo left the guild to complete the quest.

 

------------- 

 

As Aumo and LisiA exited the city, Aumo took one quick look at the weapons mounted on the walls before heading east with LisiA. They resembled the cannons that people used to use before the robots arrived in this world. At the same time, they didn’t as each weapon had 3 barrels and were made of fully metal.

 

It didn’t take long for the two to arrive at the cave, as it was only a 10 minute walk. 

 

The entrance of the cave was near the edge of the forest that spans miles along the east of the city. It was more of a giant hole in the floor than anything.

 

“This must be the cave?” said Aumo.

 

Aumo looked into the cave and spotted a very dark colored creature hanging on the ceiling of the cave where the light didn’t reach.

 

The people had conveniently constructed a staircase down to the cave, but they chose to not light up the way down. As Aumo and LisiA slowly descended the stairs, they saw that there were multiple creatures hanging on the ceiling of the cave. They were also quite big.

 

“These must be the bats,” said Aumo, “They’re pretty big.”

 

Perhaps due to the sound of footsteps as Aumo and LisiA got closer, the bats were all alerted. They all dropped down from the ceiling and prepared to repel the intruders. They sensed no life from the intruders, which was why it took them this long to react.

 

The bats in this cave aren’t usually this big and aggressive, but sometimes a group mutates, and they become aggressive. Whenever that happens, they become labeled as monsters and a quest to exterminate them is posted. 

 

Aumo and LisiA didn’t waste any time and immediately started firing out Air Slashes. All the bats, which numbered around 13, were quickly taken down, as the bats were much weaker than the orcs.

 

“Do these bats also have magic cores?” asked Aumo, as she started cutting off the right wings from the bats with a lower powered Air Slash.

 

“They’re labeled monsters because they start forming cores after they mutate,” explained LisiA.

 

“Then why don’t they use the cores as proof of completion?” asked Aumo.

 

 “They probably use body parts instead of cores for quests since identifying cores is hard,” said LisiA, “I have no idea what core was used to make me.”

 

“Whatever it is, it must be a really good core,” replied Aumo.

 

Unless from a strong monster, the core wouldn’t be able to hibernate for over a hundred years without external mana. 

 

After conversing for a while, the two eventually finished collecting the wings and cores.

 

“I think this is a good time to absorb the cores,” said Aumo after they exited the cave. They still had 2 orc cores, along with the 13 bat cores they just got.

 

“I’m using the 2 orc cores. We can sell 3 of the bat cores we got,” said Aumo.

 

“Okay, I’ll stand guard here then,” said LisiA after she took out the orc cores and handed them to Aumo.

 

Aumo sat down at the base of a tree and held the cores in her hands.

 

You have gained 70 EXP! You have leveled up!

 

“That’s a lot of EXP,” said Aumo, “But from 12 cores, it doesn’t feel like much.”

 

After Aumo finished up, Aumo and LisiA made their way back to the guild. 

 

“We should explore the city,” said Aumo on the way back.

 

“I agree,” said LisiA as the city came into view, “after we complete the quest.”

 

Other than the guild and the inn, the two didn’t really know anything else about the city. Since they’re staying for a while, it’s better if they know their way around. It was still barely late afternoon. Time really passes by slowly.

 

Status:

 

-----------------------------

Name: Aumo

Core Level:4

XP: 30/75

Status: Normal

HP: 2100/2100

MP: 921/1070(+30) 

MP Stored: 0

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Skills: Mana Manipulation, Mana Sight, Mana Sense, Mana Analysis, Levitation, Mana Vibration, Small Fireball, Ice Throw, Air Slash

Upgrades: None

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