The next day, I headed back to the Adventurers Guild to take on another three quests. Hatsu decided not to come with me today as he wanted to rest. After all, he still is a cub so he needs all the rest he can get to become stronger plus it seems as though he had taken a liking to my parents. Likewise, my parents seemed to enjoy his company and his fluffy white fur. Before I left, they were stroking him as if he were a precious gem. I hate to admit it but he is one. Dammit, Hatsu! His cuteness is a sin! Moving on, according to the System, all the quests are around similar difficulty except the last three so if I continue at this rate, I can complete all the quest in two months tops maybe less. Walking over to the holographic billboard I compare the quests list to the [Hundred Quest] list. Since my strength had increased threefold and I have an abundant number of skills, I decided that I would take some easy monster hunting quest to test them out. After scrolling through the board quests for a couple of minutes, I found three that were suitable.
[Quest Name: Slime Cores]
[Description: Gather ten slime cores, the don't need to be intact. Rather the more destroyed, the better.]
[Time Limit: 7 days]
[Rewards: 800 Kalas, Skill: [Taijitsu]]
[Quest Name: Collect Weapons]
[Description: Collect the fragmented weapons of twenty goblins]
[Time Limit: 4 days]
[Rewards: Wolfang Dagger (Silver Rank), 1500 kalas]
[Quest Name: Black Dogs]
[Description: Collect two fangs from a Black Dog any additional fangs would be much appreciated]
[Time Limit: 6 days]
[Rewards: 1200 Kalas with an additional 100 Kalas per extra fang, 1x Level to Armor of choice]
Satisfied with my choices, I storm out of the building and head to the outskirts of Shorelock. The crowd today seemed bigger than yesterday so I had to wait to exit the city. While waiting, I was met with a familiar face. A short, violet haired girl holding a silver winged bow stood about four people in front of me. A leather quiver of arrows was placed at the side of her waist with each arrow decorated with golden feathers at their fletchings. It was Ray.
"Ray!" I called out cupping my hands over my mouth.
Ray spins around on her heel her face filled with shock and delight.
"You made it out alive!" She hollered speed walking towards me.
"Of course," I smirked, "how are the others?"
"They're fine but they'll need a day more before they can be discharged. Luckily, my mana meridians were still intact so I was able to recover in a day." She replies giving me a thumb up.
"That's great. So what are you doing out here?" I tilted my head.
"The doctor told me to get some exercise to recover faster and the simplest way was to take on a short quest. It shouldn't take too long. I'm only going after slimes today." She said pointed to the vast green homogeneous forest.
"What a coincidence!" I exclaimed, "I'm also hunting slimes as well."
"I thought you were a healer?" She cocked her head in confusion.
"Healer is my main class but you haven't forgotten that I was a spearman prior to being a healer." I pointed out. Suddenly the System sent a notification.
[User Status will be updated. Adding [Spearman] to Classes]
Her eyes widened with surprise.
"I completely forgot! Why did you change to healer from a spearman? It'd be nice to have another midrange fighter?"
"Long story short, parents..." I chuckled.
>>>
Prior to attending the Magic Academy, it had always been my dream to become a spearman like my grandfather but my parents wanted me to become a healer. Adhering to their wishes, I became one despite not exactly liking the class but I still trained with a spear in my spare time with my grandfather and learned a few 'survival tricks' from him. However, the last time I touched a spear was before I graduated from the Magic Academy so I might be a little rusty.
>>>
"I know, why don't we hunt the slimes together, it would go faster if there is two of us!" She clasped her hands together.
"Sounds good to me." I nodded.
"I know slime requesters request for different parts of the slime so which part are you after?" She asked.
"I'm going for the cores," I answered making a ring with my thumb and pointer finger.
"Lucky," she sighed, "I'm going for their ectoplasm. How many do you need?"
"Only ten but more is preferable," I replied.
"What's up with your luck? I need twenty kilograms of slime ectoplasm so I need to kill forty slimes but the pay is pretty good so I took the quest." She cried with jealousy.
"Don't you need gloves to collect the ectoplasm?" I asked.
"Your right! I completely forgot about it!" She panicked as she scrambled to open her storage space.
I open my storage space and hand her a pair of green rubber gloves. Then let out a heavy sigh.
"You guys are so forgetful at times. You remember the big things but forget the seemingly trivial things that are just as important. What would you guys do without me?"
"A lot of bad things. We would have died a long time ago if you weren't there remembering all the stuff." She admits, "speaking of which, I have a thank you gift for you."
She opens up her storage and pulls out an object wrapped with a white cloth.
"Huh? Are you sure about this?" I ask with a flustered expression.
"It's nothing much. Plus, I planned to give it to you when you joined the party. Unfortunately, I forgot until now."
"That was three months ago Ray. At least use your planner a little bit." I spat.
"Sorry, sorry!" She lets out a nervous laugh.
Unraveling the cloth she reveals a long object with a sharp tip. A spear! It was a spear!
"Why are you giving this to me?"
"As I said, it's a thank you gift. Now, hurry up and open it." Ray grins lightly punching me in the shoulder.
"Okay, I will."
Taking a better look at the spear, I found that its the wooden staff was decorated with transparent mana engravings and a red tassel. Its sharp silver tip shone in the morning sun as it stood a head above me.
"You're going to need it if you want to defeat some slimes." She winked.
"Thank you." I smiled not knowing what to say.
Suddenly the System rang out.
[Notice: You have received the Spear: [Halgrid] (Bronze Rank) from Ray Levine]
[[Ghostwood] staff is reacting to [Halgrid]! Would you like to fuse the weapons together?]
They can fuse? Well, of course, I'll say yes!
I pressed the confirm button with my mind.
"Wha! What's going on with [Halgrid]?" Ray exclaimed backing away from me.
I look down at [Halgrid] to find it glowing an orange hue. Suddenly, surrounding bystanders began averting their attention towards Ray and I. One second. Two seconds. Three seconds. Four seconds. Five seconds. The glow intensified. Six seconds. Seven seconds. Eight seconds. Nine seconds. Ten seconds passed before the light dissipated. In my hands, I found a wooden wand the size of a 30cm ruler engraved with [Halgrid] transparent engravings and embedded with [Ghostwood] red mana crystal at the handle.
"Is that an absorption weapon?" The crowd mummers.
[Congratulations! You have fused [Halgrid] and [Ghostwood] together to form the Wand [Cyrst] (Silver Rank)]
[Basic Information: [Cryst] is similar to the red sash on the Silver Knight Armor as it is an absorption weapon. Using a bit of mana, [Cryst] can be turned into the weapons it fused with!]
[Suitable weapons to fuse with [Cryst]: Staff, Spear, Wand]
[Since this is the Owner's first time fusing a weapon, the System will give additional rewards]
[You have obtained: 1x level to [Silver Knight Armor] and [Basic Spearmanship] Skill [Lv.1]]
"What happened?" Ray asked with an astonished look on her face.
"I'm not sure, I'm just about as dumbfounded as you are. But I think one of my weapons decided to fuse with [Halgrid] due to similar compatibility." I explained what I thought.
Absorption weapons are not rare, in fact, they're quite common; however, even the ones that are Iron Rank cost an arm and a leg to afford. A Green-Rank absorption weapon can cost up to 30000 Kalas! Each absorption weapon has a different ability for example, some can only absorb the skills of others or some can only absorb weapons of a similar class. [Cryst] is the type that can absorb weapons of similar class and transform it into the absorbed weapon.
"Wow, getting an absorption weapon, what a shocker!" Ray commented as we leave the safety of the city walls.
"It's kind of hard to process this. I can't believe it!" I stuttered.
"That doesn't matter. The weapon may be important but it's the wielder who wields it that can determine how good the weapon truly is." She pointed at [Cryst] in its wand form.
"I won't disagree with you on that point."
"Now then," she began, "how about we start running. I know that we both want to complete these quests as fast as possible."
"Fine by me." I shrugged, "let's head northwest. It's a sure-fire direction to head if we want a quick encounter with any monsters."
Stretching her arms briefly, Ray faces the northwest direction and bolts off at top speed. On the other hand, I attempt to go at the same pace as her but I'm falling behind with every second that passes. As expected of a Silver Ranked Adventurer, her control and speed are beyond stronger than mine despite having the Hero Game System.
After running on the main trail for a few minutes, Ray makes a sharp left off the path and into the dark forest, leaping onto a thick tree branch. Following her, I transfer a small amount of many to my legs, leaping onto an adjacent tree branch. Seeing that I have caught up, we begin jumping from tree to tree like monkeys.
[[Intermediate Mana Control] Skill has leveled up to [Lv.2]]
[All stats increase by 1]
Sweet. Due to exerting myself on this little excursion, my [Mana Control] Skill has leveled up! If I continue at this pace, I could potentially raise the skill to Level 4. Yet even with this small increase, Ray was still ahead of me. It would take me a few months to catch up to geniuses like her and Savior.
"You getting tired there?" Ray smirks tilting her head back as she leaps off the tree branch into an open area surrounded by the trees covered with moss.
"No, I'm fine." I hollered twenty meters away.
Landing in the open area, I feel the soft moss cushion my landing when suddenly, I felt a chill running down my spine. Next thing I knew, Ray stopped walking around in the open area. Her eyes shone a violet hue and she glances up at me, who's eyes also began to glow a small green hue. In this world, if a person's eyes begin to glow, that can only mean one thing, something was approaching, something dangerous.
"You feel it, right?" She asks with a worried look on her face.
"Yeah," I replied in a concerned tone.
"Get close," Ray ordered as she readies her bow with an arrow pulling the drawstring back slightly.
At the same time, I inject a bit of mana, turning [Cryst] into its spear form.
"Kekekekeke." Goes a mischievous laugh from not so far in the forest.
"Kekekekeke," Goes another louder mischievous laugh. No, sinister.
Back to back, I sense Ray trembling a little. Despite being a Silver Ranked Adventurer, she might not be able to get through this alone. My palms sweat with fear brandishing my spear.
"They're coming," Ray whispers.
Ten meters. Nine meters. Eight meters. Seven meters. Six meters Five meters. The laughs got louder. Four meters. The sound of them amplified. Three meters. I could feel Ray's panicked breathing brushing my ear. Two meters. The chills became even sharper, colder, my hands trembled. One meter. Sweat trickled down my spine and I almost lost grip of [Cryst]. Zero. A figure, no, figures appeared from the forest. Small green creatures with glowing yellow snake-slit eyes glared at us intensely. They surrounded us from every angle holding their dull, cracked, weapons in a half-drunken manner, drool flowing like a waterfall coating the ground in a sticky, rotten, viscous liquid. It was even black! At that moment, deja vu hit me like a brick. We both knew what they were.
Goblins!
