The night passes without much of anything happening. I finally start on the next two crystals that Rayke sent me, the ones with the next part of my enchanting training on them. I end up going to sleep a few hours after midnight, and as expected, Daniel wakes me up just before the sun rises. Thankfully, I estimated the amount of sleep I would get correctly and feel refreshed enough in the morning.
I can feel the amount of mana accumulated inside my body starting to put pressure on me again for the first time since I got my new trait, [Mana-Body Synchronization]. It reaches deeper into me than before and can support my body far better, allowing me to boost with more mana than I've been able to. While we go through our morning routine, I cycle mana around my body, testing how well it responds now.
During our morning meal, bear steaks again because it’s either that or deer jerky, I notice a person entering my spatial perception field outside the city. After just a second of watching them, I notice it’s Merrick and warn the others. A few seconds later I open a portal in front of him and in front of the three of us.
“Thanks for the lift!” Merrick says as he steps through the portal, his face is as friendly as ever. His eyes scan over me, stopping for a moment at my missing left hand before moving on to the others. “[Self-Made Space Mage], [Sunlight Barbarian], and [Iron Mine Foreman]. Interesting. Can’t say I’ve ever seen any of those classes before.” His eyes settle on Daniel. “Well, not for combatants at least.”
Daniel just shrugs as he gives his response. “Eh, it was the best fit for what I needed.”
“Good, I’m glad you didn’t pass it up because of the name. One of the best close-range fighters I know chose a class called [Bone Setter Specialist]. It’s supposed to be a medical or healer class, but she did not use it to heal.” Merrick's face shifts like he just remembered something particularly horrific but snaps back to his normal expression just as fast. “Speaking of healers, Stella has taken to her skills nearly as well as you guys have. She might even be able to give you a hand with that, Ray.” He says this while pointing at my missing hand. Nobody laughs. “Tough crowd.”
“Don’t quit your day job, Merrick.” Daniel says, getting a chuckle from me and Merrick. Corvax looks confused, probably not getting the Earth joke.
“So, what are you here for this time? Going to ‘teach’ us some more?” I ask.
“Bah, you’ve learned more in your time here than you ever could have been taught. Plus, you’re all so fascinating. I want to see what you’ll do on your own, and the [System] likes that more too, I think.”
“What do you mean the [System] likes it? Is it sentient?” I ask.
“I don’t think so, but I also don’t think about it very often, so I’m probably not the one to ask. But it does tend to give better rewards to those who are original, or at least unique. And what could be more original than you guys, who have nearly no knowledge of the [System]? Everything you do is because you guys discovered it somewhere and learned how to do it, not because someone held your hand through it. Everyone's path to power is different, and too much outside help can taint that.”
“So we’re just supposed to make everything from scratch, so to speak?” Daniel asks.
“Yes and no. I’ve taken plenty of ideas from other people or beasts or whatever it may be, but I’ve always adapted them to fit me better and made them my own. I developed my own fighting style, as each of you are already starting to do. My advice is this: don't take any unwarranted advice, and trust your instinct. And also don’t go around telling people your abilities and stats and stuff, obviously.”
“Don’t you want to know what we got from our classes?” Corvax asks, clearly willing to tell the man who saved his family and led them to safety.
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“Nah, I can guess for the most part. And I’ll see you all in action soon enough, but that’s not what I came here for. I came to tell you guys that you have about two weeks until the expedition camp packs up and leaves. I’ll come by to get you guys then, but in the meantime I need each of you to get used to your new abilities. Work on your skills, really get into them, and get to know them to the point you can even use them while sleeping. You guys are up against some pretty tough initiates, especially those from the Empire of Harran, but I believe in you.”
“Wait, what do you mean up against? It’s not necessarily us vs. them, is it?” I ask, slightly worried.
“Who knows? Four planets have never been initiated at the same time before. I couldn’t even find any references for more than one planet at a time in Barad's library. Well, Morah couldn’t, and then she told me.”
“God, I hope it’s not some big battle royale for us initiates. But if it is, my money is on Corvax’s people.” Daniel adds with a straight face.
I hate to say it, but I agree with Daniel. Corvax’s race, the Traxi, do seem to be pretty superior to humans in the strength category. And the arms category. And the already having some kind of power category.
“I doubt it comes to that. Our purpose here is supposed to be to learn magic and the [System] and then bring that back to our own planets. Making us kill each other is like the opposite of that.” I say.
“That makes sense. That’s probably why Morah also told me that.” Merrick says nonchalantly.
I send mana into [Concentration], using it on myself to push certain emotions toward the back of my mind, mostly annoyance and irritation. I feel a slight calmness settle on my mind, causing my ability to think to become slightly more clear and logical.
“So two weeks, and then we leave?” I ask, creating a vague schedule in my mind to get the most out of these next two weeks.
“Mhm,” Merrick responds with a full mouth. He has taken a pastry out from somewhere and is now eating it. He didn’t even bring any for us this time. “They will go straight to the expedition camp, but I have a job for you, Ray.”
“Why does Ray get all the fun [Quests] and the rest of us get nothing?” Daniel blurts out.
“Because none of you will be able to smuggle things into Barad like Ray will be able to.” Merrick responds matter-of-factly.
“Why am I smuggling things into a city that your family runs?”
“Because I can’t do it myself, obviously. It’ll be easy. You just need another one of those storage thingies, the shittier bag of holding you made. Make a bigger one, and put some kind of protection or obscuring field on it. That should be good enough to get into Barad.”
“And what will I be smuggling?”
“Bones mostly, some slightly restricted alchemical ingredients and reagents, and a few brains and hearts at most. Maybe some kind of crystal or two. I'll have more details for you in two weeks. Just have the item ready by then.”
“Fine, but I better be getting paid. And I have the right to say no. I’m not going to smuggle drugs or people.”
Merrick chuckles. “Of course you're getting paid, Ray. Who smuggles for free? What a ridiculous idea. And I’m sure you’ll be fine with the items.”
I push more mana into [Concentration], feeling the skill level up as I forcibly keep myself calm. He must have some kind of skill or trait that lets him be so annoying all the time. I should check his class now that I have [Inspect].
[Level ?? Void Fiend]
Huh, I can't see his level. I wonder if that's because his level is too high or if he’s hiding it somehow. And that class, [Void Fiend], sounds like some kind of monster, not a class for a person.
“Well, if there's nothing else from the rest of you, I’ll be taking my leave now.” Merrick says as he starts moving towards the door. He turns around to look at me just before he leaves. “Actually, can you…?”
“Fine, which direction?” I answer before he can finish the question.
“That way, as far as you can.” He points out into the forest.
I stretch my spatial perception field as far as I can in that direction and open up a portal there and in front of Merrick. He steps through the portal, but right before I close it, he takes off the small bag he is wearing and chucks it through the portal.
“Almost forgot that.” He says right as the portal closes.
“He is a good friend, I think, but he is very annoying and aggravating at times.” Corvax says, and I can't help but agree.
“I don’t know whether I should thank him or try to punch him half the time.” I say.
“To him, they are both the same, I think.” Daniel adds.
I let out an exaggerated sigh as I let my [Concentration] lessen. “Anyway, let’s check what’s in the bag.”
Daniel takes the bag off the floor and removes all of the contents. The first thing is a few small paper-wrapped packages with a note on one of them. “You guys stink like shit.” Unwrapping it, I see it’s a bar of some kind of floral soap. The note gets a laugh from all of us, who absolutely do stink like shit. There are a few glass vials of spices, salt, pepper, cayenne, rosemary, and a few that I’m certain are not native to Earth. Whatever they are, they are very welcome after days of only eating deer jerky and unseasoned meat.
The last thing the bag contains is a bottle of some kind of dark liquor. Daniel takes a small sip and says it tastes like bourbon. All of it gets put away, except for the soap, and we head down to the stream where we’ve been collecting water to finally get clean.
After returning from our bath, where we also washed all of our clothes, we start to make some kind of game plan for the next two weeks. We decide on doing mostly individual training, with all three of us going out to fight something together every few days. We already know we work pretty well together. Now it’s time to work on our individual styles and get acquainted with our new abilities.