New Fantasy World: Galeia-Chapter 67

Smiling, I turned around to face the jungle. "Let’s keep going, then."

We advanced through the jungle killing the beasts. Since my method was too flashy, it was decided that it’d be better if I just kill them quickly and move on to the next. I stored the bodies for Bonte to butcher later and the stalactites dimmed again at around eight.

We set camp and the Tigea worked on the corpses: skinning and butchering.

That night, Alyssa, Lapia, and Yolin kept watch in turns. I had a comfortable rest and visited my boys, the demons.

A few days of thinning the Uger population went by and we stopped when we found the nests. They were caves on the walls of the dungeon floor. Stronger beasts patrolled around them, and we retreated to let them repopulate. Extinction wasn’t necessary since the hides were useful for a lot of craftsmen, and we’d be fined if the Watchers found out. Not worth it.

We made camp and I took watch. Since the dungeon floor was mostly empty after our bloodthirsty quest, I sat down and read for a while. My eyes glowed and illuminated the pages. I thought back on the first nights I spent on this world and chuckled at the need to use a lamp.

I finished Kingdom Fall, the ending was pretty dark. The lovers of the Queen grew jealous of her giving too much attention to a man long dead. Turns out, it was the harem that killed Rinal at the beginning of the story because he had gotten the Queen pregnant ’too many times’. In her despair, she sentenced them all to death. They didn’t like that, so they killed the Queen. Truly a tragic tale.

Surprisingly, their species were never mentioned. Only eye color, voice, and height were described.

I shrugged it off and opened the book Lapia gave me.

After a few minutes of reading, a few things became clear. All skills could be improved to Rank 3. I only had three such skills. To do that, I would need to add something to the skill according to the book.

That was a little problematic. Some of my skills were useless. Shielded Thrust was similar to Coiling Attacks, they both gave me ’knowledge’ of parrying, blocking, and stuff.

The book said a warrior could improve a skill from rank 1 to rank 2 at level 15 of the skill. Then, from rank 2 to rank 3 at level 30 of the skill. A few examples were given, and Prevention was among them. It didn’t specify how to improve it, only that it was possible to affect enemies.

Pretty good book. Gives me something to work on before I get a fourth class.

Thankfully, no formulas were on the book, only exercises and simple stuff. I followed its instructions. Activating Prevention, I consciously tried ’reversing’ the effect of the skill.

Nothing happened.

How do I reverse a buff that grants resistance to slow? I rubbed my chin.

It should affect enemies, so it obviously doesn’t travel through the Bond. I closed my eyes and tried focusing on my warcries.

A pattern surrounded the knowledge of the skill. It was a little triangle with spikes. My figurative fingers went along the shape. I turned to the Auras. The pattern was a square and had semi-circles on the edges like a flower’s petals.

Is this the Rak’Math View? I remembered the thing Lapia taught me. Good thing it’s visual instead of numbers.

I fumbled around a little with the shapes.

Well, I should somehow make spikes on the square so it affects enemies as well. Hmm... The basis of a warcry is a field surrounding me that activates after shouting. So if I make the skill have a similar field through aura activation, it should work.

Carefully pinching every other half circle, I turned them into spikes while thinking of the field a warcry creates. I was left with a mix of the two after a while. I let go and it kept the shape. Then, I checked my skills and let out a satisfied hum.

Rank 3.

-Prevention, Lvl 50. [Aura] You are highly aware of the dangers of battle. You become increasingly resistant to slow, arrest, immobility, and effects that impede movement. While mounted, this effect is shared with your allies in (STR/2)m around you. You slow enemies (STR/5)m around you, and arrest those greatly below you in power. Spends E’er in accordance to the duration you intend to use.

The range increased... now it’s over two kilometers. Arrest? Like freeze? Cool.

I opened my eyes.

The women were standing in front of me, the men sat on a patch of grass working on the skins. The stalactites were bright.

"Back to the mortal realm?" Lapia raised an eyebrow.

I tilted my head. "Did I just jump forward through time?"

Alyssa giggled. "No, you were in deep meditation. It’s four in the afternoon."

Fuck.

"My bad. Shouldn’t have done that in the dungeon." I apologized.

Yolin nodded. "It’s okay. We cleared the beasts anyway."

Lapia sat next to me. "What did you advance?"

"Prevention." I stretched, nothing felt off. "Now I arrest enemies."

"Pretty useful." Yolin nodded. "And you did it in a single sitting."

I shrugged. "It was surprisingly easy."

"Tell me the details when we get back to the city." Lapia stood up. "I’d like to know how you went over it."

"Sure. You’re gonna laugh, though." I giggled.

"I bet." she grinned.

"Should we keep going?" Yolin asked. "We have a good amount of hides and ores."

"We did what we came here to do." Alyssa smiled.

"True." the Oni walked to me and caressed my cheek. "We should go, then."

She looked me with her sky blue eyes and I felt a little warmth spread inside me.

"If we move fast, we can leave the dungeon by nightfall." Alyssa walked to the tent.

The Satyr stood up. "Is Natasha alright?"

"All good." I gave him a thumbs up. "Was meditating for a while and lost track of time."

"Happened to me the first time." the scout chuckled. "Are we leaving?"

The tank nodded. "We have completed the bounties."

They stored the skins and walked to their tent.

We packed and left the clearing. Bonte and Bromisnar joined me on top of Sonya. Alyssa and Lapia sat with Yolin on Pochi. Quickly moving through the jungle, we left the fifteenth floor.

When we reached the tenth foor, I was surprised to see a few boulders between trees and bushes. Too few to get their ores, however.

The labyrinth levels were empty, no Walas to be seen. Yolin opened the doors every time, and we made quick progress on our mounts.

I looked back to the dungeon. Dunno what I expected. My level is stupidly high. Had a lot of fun, though. A smile formed on my face.

We reached the dungeon entrance and the doors opened on their own. A Watcher was waiting for us.

"Tax, please." he produced a linen bag and approached us.

Coins were tossed, and he nodded when he saw my golden piece.

"Thank you very much, you may leave." he gave us a tiny bow.

We crossed the gate into the city. Poles kept the road from plunging into darkness.

"Let’s go to Henga’s." Yolin guided the formation. "We’ll celebrate at Horace’s."

I patted Sonya’s neck and she followed the big dog.

A few minutes later we stopped at a smithy. It had ’Henga’s Hammer & Buru’s Threads’ on a plaque above the front door.

I followed Bromisnar inside as he took out the bounty document. I had all the ores, hides, and meat in my storage, after all.

The space was a comfy store, a lot of weapons and leather armor were displayed on the walls.

"Good evening." he respectfully called. "We’ve finished the bounty for ores and hides."

A few pans clattered as someone approached.

"So fast!" a booming female voice said back.

A Dwarf showed up. She was wearing an apron and her hair was pitch black.

[Ferk Dwarf, Lvl 203 Blacksmith]

Why am I not surprised?

She looked at me and smiled. "Lady Natasha, welcome. My name is Henga, please come in."

So news spread already? I sighed.

We followed her into the building and stopped in a room with a scale in the middle of it. It wasn’t big enough for the amount of ores we had collected.

"Well?" she urged me towards the scale. "Drop them in."

I nodded and walked to it. An ore materialized in my hand and I let it fall into the scale’s bowl.

My eyes widened when the ore shrunk to the size of a pebble when it entered the plate.

"This is amazing!" I blurted out.

The two chuckled and I put all the ores inside.

A total of five tonnes of ores sat on the bowl. The mechanism’s workings escaped me, and I stared at it in wonder.

"That’d be five hundred gold coins..." the Dwarf chuckled. "This will last me a few years."

"We went at it pretty efficiently." Bromisnar chuckled.

"With a Halve, I’m sure." the short woman gave me a smile. "And the hides?"

I nodded. "I have them with me. We’d need another one of those." I pointed at the scale.

"Follow me." she nodded.

We did and stopped at yet another room with a scale. I repeated the process and the hides shrunk on the bowl.

"I’ll send a letter tonight letting you know of the final reward." she nodded. "My hubby will be happy with this."

I smiled.

"That would be acceptable." the Satyr chuckled. "I’m staying at Urdis’."

"I know her." she nodded again. "Thank you very much for your service."

"Have a good night." I turned and left the smithy.

The performer followed, and we relayed the information to the rest of the party. Bonte was especially happy with the amount of gold.

We made our way to the tavern and had a relaxed celebration. The Tigea got drunk and Bromisnar had to take him home early.

We said our goodbyes and us women went to our love nest.

When we reached the inn, the clerk, Dasiso, greeted us with a complicated expression.

"You received mail, Natasha." he offered me three envelopes.

"Huh?" I tilted my head. "I don’t know anybody, though."

"You’ll see." he had a serious face.

Okay?

I took them and we went up to our room.

Once inside, Lapia turned the lights on and I sat down on the living room.

I looked at the first one and scowled. It had a royal stamp, a red ship and pickax.

Shit. I cursed. Kingdom, of course.

I opened it and cringed further.

Your Excellency Natasha, it is of my utmost honor to extend this missive. I must apologize for reaching Your Excellency with a request, instead of an invitation. My Royal Father, Gordon Igne Lumin IV is plagued by a dark spell. I beseech Your Excellency to please aid us in our time of need. If you would be so kind, please come to Paarjo. I beg Your Excellency to make haste, my Royal Father does not have much time left.

Ronald Igne Lumin II

I let out a long sigh, then looked at the next letter. It had a very beautiful H stamped on it. The character was half silver, and half gold. I gulped and opened it.

Sup’, little sister. I heard of your birth through the newspaper. Lady Dabark did a number on you to spread the interview through all countries of Leks. It was easy to find you, however, which is good.

I write this letter to ask you if you could please solve the little problem they have over at Lumin Kingdom if you’re still in Mountroad. I’m too far away, and Yulianna is the one who specializes in that kind of shit. Surprise surprise, she’s nowhere to be found. I’ll be sure to reward you as a big sister should. WINK WINK.

Hoping we properly meet in the future,

Nilenna Atarka.

I took a deep breath. I knew I shouldn’t have done that interview! I sighed.

Looking at the next envelope, a deeper sigh escaped me. It had a skull on it.

Be warned, Halve scum, we do not need you in the world anymore. The hunt has begun.

And that was it.