We were sitting around our <Home’s> dinner table, and Svilran had just finished running Elma through everything that happened and the nature of Dorthaunzee’s existence... She didn’t do the best job of explaining my powers, but she conveyed how scary I was.

“Wow,” Elma said as she reclined in her seat. “That was... unexpected.” She smirked at me. “Though, I must say... A power like that? It’s worthy of your station.”

“Oh stop, you’ll make me blush,” I joked back.

“Would you mind showing it to me sometime?”

“No. Not really♪”

Elma pouted. “Well, that’s not very fair.” 

Svilran clapped and got our attention. “Alright, everyone. We caught Elma up. Now, we should officially finish up her first Mission by doing this!”

Svilran made a screen appear for all of us to read.

***

After-Mission Report

Hero: Elma

Merit Earned (Completion): 50

Rest Days Earned: 2 days

Hero Hub

Hero Multiplier: 1x

E-Rank Mission Reward: 50 

Bonus: 0

Total: 50

***

“So, to summarize, Elma earned 50 Points of Heroic Merit. At the moment, we have no facilities that can make use of it, so we have no way to interact with this currency. Also, all Auxiliary Missions will give 50 points of Heroic Merit at base. Next, for the Hero Hub, when it says ‘50,’ it means we received 50 points for ALL of our categories. Build, Resource, etcetera.”

“Wow!” I almost fell out of my seat. “That’s great! With just one Mission, we can do so much!”

“Don’t get too excited, Fainn. I think the system is like that because of how long it takes to complete missions. We’ll probably be back to a bottleneck in a few days.”

I groaned. “God, please, no. We’ll have to be smart with what we do...” I glanced over at Elma and smirked. “Still, we owe you. You did great... You also got stuff, huh?”

“I did,” Elma said, tucking her hair behind her ear. “I’m quite happy with a lot of what I got—“

Before Elma could pull out her possessions, Svilran stopped her. “Don’t worry, dear. We have a Menu that will just tell us the critical information.” Svilran brought it up once more for all of us to read.

***

Claimed Possessions Report

Common Daggers x6

Common Dagger Holster

Rare Jeweled Dagger

Rare Staff of the Initiate

Ultra Rare Blueprint

...

***

“Huh?” Elma sounded feeble. “A blueprint? But I brought back one of the treasures the group let me keep...”

“Oh, Elma, I’m sorry,” Svilran said. “That treasure was probably illegal. We can’t claim items that are too entangled with the world. It seems, however, that you’re given this blueprint as compensation.”

“That’s not all,” I said, looking at the Build Menu. “We just unlocked a new kind of Building. The Ultra Rare <World Treasure Workshop>.”

Svilran opened her version of the menu and was astounded. “Oh my... This is quite involved...” She looked at me and nervously chuckled. “I guess this is a goal we can work towards...”

“Yeah...”

To put it simply, this workshop would allow us to use a blueprint to create the accessory described. The catch that we could read right now was that we would need specific resources in order to create the pieces.

“It looks like once we have this, we’ll open up a whole new crafting system... It also looks that by unlocking the Ultra Rare version, we got the lesser rarities too... We’ve got the Rare <Accessory Workshop> and the rare <Gadgateer Workshop>. So, just like the UR, we can use resources to build stuff...”

“Fainn, I have a feeling there’s going to be more to it once we build it.”

“I completely agree.” I smiled at Elma. “What a fruitful mission, huh?”

Elma nibbled on the piece of watermelon we had out. “Certainly, and in more ways than one...” Elma rubbed her wrist. “There were many auxiliary chambers we found... One of them had a rare treasure that helped unlock someone’s magic potential.”

“Is that why your mana was surging? With the bats?” I asked.

Elma looked at me, surprised. “You saw that?”

“Yeah!” I replied. Next to me, Dorthaunzee made expressive gestures as if she was mimicking the surging magic. “I was blown away!” I continued. “It’s so cool that you really gained something from that Mission.”

Elma giggled and nodded. “Yes. I gained a little more control over my magic and became acquainted with some reserves I didn’t realize I had... What’s very relieving is that it doesn’t impair my day-to-day living. I was a little worried I would make you all ill faster than usual, but I was able to stay with the party without too much trouble.”

“Well, I, for one, am feeling well,” I said.

“Yeah,” Svilran followed. “I wouldn’t worry about the plants in the Hero Hub, either. I don’t think you’ll be hurting them any time soon!”

Elma smiled softly. “I’m glad... Hey, Dorthaunzee?”

Dorthaunzee perked up and smiled with her eyes.

Elma picked up the staff she had placed down next to her seat and handed it to Dorth. “Do you want this? I’m not really a staff-type.”

Dorthaunzee’s eyes lit up. If Elma was connected by shroom, she would have felt that unreal joy. Dorth nodded many times and excitedly received the staff. The lantern over her head glowed brighter for the entire time Dorthaunzee rubbed her cheeks against the staff.

“Oh, well, that’s cute,” Elma said, hiding her mouth.

“So, Elma, what’s the plan?” I asked. “You earned two rest days. We’ve got a ton of melons waiting for you.”

She shot me a charming smile. “I’m sure.” And then she loosened up as she fiddled with the watermelon rind. “I would like to take a small break, and then I want to go and foil that assassination.”

“Oh!” Svilran chirped. “I recall that Mission. Let me bring it up.”

“You think you can handle it?” I asked.

“I’m pretty sure I can. I got a good sense of my capabilities from my previous Mission. With these parameters and my previous knowledge, I think I can do it.” She took a breath and looked me straight in the eyes. “I can save the Hero.”

“I love the confidence.” My heart was buzzing just from seeing this strong woman. “Is this you? Or is Svilran helping you?”

“I pray with all my heart that it’s me.”

I closed my eyes as I took a sip of water. “I hope for the same.”

“F-Fainn,” Svilran whimpered.

I cracked an eye open and glanced at her. “What’s up?”

She looked at me, as pale as a ghost. “That Mission has a timer now.”

“Huh?” I asked. 

Elma shot up from her seat, her eyes fixed on Svilran. She was way ahead of me in understanding what was going to happen.

Svilran gulped. “Fainn, that Hero is going to die within three hours...”

Sebas_Guzman

Author notes! We're starting a new episode next time! Woo! It's actually funny. The next bit kind of felt like a climax. Well, hope you enjoy it! What will happen with assassination?! Will Elma succeed?!

Next time, we also find out about a new function.