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Chapter 338: Rich one second, Poor the next. [First Draft]
🕑 Added 2022-07-23 02:57:52 +0000 UTC<[Battle Frenzy (Minor)] inflicted on [Young Sunfang Dragon, Hestia Atsuko Kargryxmor]>
Deep breaths, deep breaths. Calm down my heart as best as possible. Need to get better at this. Better control if I want to prevent becoming alone one day.
My triple-colored flames were swirling around me like a slow twister. I had my eyes closed, but I could feel their warmth swirling around me. But, at the same time, I felt something pulsating through my veins and arteries. Energy, but also a primal desire for battle.
Yup, this was [Battle Frenzy] alright.
In the past, seeing this annoying abnormal status effect would have probably scared me, seeing as I could lose control and just hurt people around me. It happened once, no, thrice, where I simply lost full control of my body.
The first and second times, I lost complete control of myself and had to resort to my parallel minds to recover my lost memory. Those moments were after we finally left the Belzac forest and after Shiterno granted me his blessing. The third time was during the Griffonpeak attack, but I guessed I had matured enough to not lose consciousness there. Or, even worse, my greed, or wrath, to kill that demonkin wanted me to see him disappear before my very eyes.
The first signs of me wanting vengeance for Eshe’s death. Accepted and noted. But now, even thinking of the Yanderu Elusseuss or Eithalr made me angry. Revenge plots sure sucked ass.
As such, I needed to get stronger.
Kramps, Mother, and Neill already taught me the basics of my bloodline’s power and also how to fight like a dragon. The foundation was set, you could say. Now, it was time I developed them properly.
And the next step for me was to pass the Lust stage of the [Battle Frenzy] training.
“And, cool down.” Upon command, cold, shivering air enveloped my body, forcibly slowing down my heart rate to the point I could deactivate [Battle Frenzy] without any delays. With the training over, the flames around my body and the white highlights in my hair disappeared.
“Once again, such a short meditation session?” I groaned in dissatisfaction, wanting to train just a bit longer.
“Jeez, you’re too impatient. This is a long process, as I said.” Sis shook her head, looking annoyed at my comment. “Yes, you can finally use [Battle Frenzy] but it’s only the minor stage. The purpose of you gradually getting used to using that rage in our blood is to prepare you for Lust. You won’t advance to moderate, no; I’m helping you prepare yourself from embracing the hedonist inside you.”
Since I knew Klea’Hatma, the archdemon of lust, I knew full well what lust actually meant. The ultimate hedonist, to release every bit of your desire into the world to claim it all. It wasn’t like gluttony or greed, which were “need” and “want” respectively, but stimulation of your senses until you couldn’t take anymore. Full depravity, where you would act on any sort of whim, making you more like a wild card.
It is about fulfillment.
At least, that was what I understood from Klea’Hatma’s and Kramps’ description of the differences between the trifecta of desires: gluttony, lust, and greed.
“I agree! I needed more time!” Running towards us from the side, Rita in her humanized form looked at us with glistening eyes, holding onto her wooden slate. “You barely do your meditation practices! This is the first time I get to watch a whole session! I still need to document how all this even works with your blood and—”
“It’s final!” Neill shouted at both of us. “Haaa, Tasianna, I could really use some tea right now.”
“My apologies, Lady Fargryneill, but I still need to warm up the water.” Tasianna smiled wryly, pointing at our outdoor tea cooking setup, using my catalyst to heat up the water. “Maybe I should have taken up Muraina’s offer to use the guild’s kitchen. Well, what’s done is done. It should be ready in a moment.”
“Ha, maybe you're the impatient one, Neill. She just cooled me down, give her some time,” I joked, causing Neill to shrug before helping me up.
We were currently in the mage’s guild’s grounds in Griffonpeak, specifically at the training field they reserved for their university students. Mostly ‘cause the ones next to the guild’s building were preoccupied with other students. I kinda forgot how the guild had a whole plateau all for themselves and their university on Wintertalon mountain — the geographic location which gave Griffonpeak its name.
But, we weren’t exactly here to make a spectacle of ourselves while I trained [Battle Frenzy]. Honestly, I would have preferred it if a crowd of mages and uni students was literally looking at us with stunned faces, as if we were some celebrities. Sure, everybody in Griffonpeak knew of me already but I haven’t even told Muraina Neill was my sister.
We were only here to pick up my [Crystal of the Divine System], but then Muraina, the Griffonpeak mage’s guildmaster, told us we had to wait due to some complications. She didn’t seem nervous or anything, so I said it was fine. To pass the time, Neill suggested we continued my training, so I obliged.
Gathering all these people around us was just an annoying coincidence.
In any case, a couple of minutes later, after Tasianna finished our tea, Muraina’s attendant informed us everything was ready and we could finally pick it up. Our group today was a bit more barebones than usual, only having Tasianna, Neill, and Rita with us. The others were still in Elyonda, either sunbathing or looking into any problems.
I wanted to join the latter group, but I had some pretty important things to do in Artorias today. Good thing my match today was pretty lackluster, leaving me enough energy for what was to come after our visit here.
“Welcome back, Lady Hestia. I do really, really apologize for sending you away,” Muraina, a noble lady from the Empire and Aleistunum mage, greeted us as we entered the building, looking a bit wearier than before. “I had some things to handle, and also Lady Thyra asked me to wait before handing you the crystal.”
“Konnichiwa~” Standing next to Muraina was my friend Thyra, waving her hand, instead of bowing. She spoke in Japanese, but it seemed Muraina didn’t react to it, meaning she was using it so often nobody really minded it.
“Thyra? Hold on, you’re the director of the royal academy, why are you here? The school day shouldn’t be over yet,” I asked her, surprised at her sudden appearance.
“Well, you don’t come over too often. We barely ever have the chance for some tea, with how you’re roaming the world, doing good,” Thyra argued, making me question if I really was doing enough good to get such praise. My bad luck usually ruined things. “Besides, Lady Muraina mentioned you had new companions following you! A human, and a dragonewt… with black and purple scales. Ehe.”
“Ah, my name is Rita! I’m not much of a mage, but I do very much love documenting events and information! Knowledge of the unknown guides us, eheh.” Rita made a pretty good impression on the two Istari followers, earning her a warm welcome before both drew their eyes to my sister.
Neill had a deadpan expression, shrugging her shoulders. With an exasperated voice, she spoke, “Fargryneill. Think whatever you want of me. Honestly, Hestia, you broke so many unnamed rules for the Adulthood Pilgrimage, you should be lucky you aren’t on one, right now.”
“Who’s supposed to punish me, anyways?” Neill waved her hand in dismissal, not replying. Instead, I smiled and shrugged my own shoulders. “Well, it’s always good to see you, Thyra, but if this is about teaching at the academy, I’m rejecting it once again. I don’t have much time until I have to go to the palace.”
“Oh, don’t worry. We already managed to hire a certified Aleistunum fire mage, who probably won’t be a problem seeing as he preaches more about Goddess Crustacia than doing his lessons. Complaints aplenty, but no threat to our students.”
I showed her a thumbs up, finding the image of a teacher giving a sermon during a fire magic lesson oddly interesting, but also unpleasant. If you were a follower of Danterno, the last you would want to do was listen to somebody preaching about another god. It sounded better than the last fire professor they had, though, who was such a Danterno zealot he egged a student into killing a noble, which caused his downfall into banditry.
With the pleasantries over, Muraina invited us all into her office. Seeing as this was a pretty costly transaction, we had to confirm everything was correct with the object. Wouldn’t want to use the crystal during a dungeon dive, only to find it didn’t work, right?
“Hmm?” When we entered the room, I noticed there was a near-empty cup of tea on the guest table, in addition to a crystal slate held up by small keyboard-like legs. “Uhm, is that yours? It looks interesting”
“Huh? O-Oh, how embarrassing.” Muraina clutched her head as she looked at the small mess on the table in exhaustion, before telling her attendant to clean it up and bring some fresh tea for everybody. “It was… business. The reason why I had you wait. Mhrm, if you want, you may appraise it. Certainly saves me time to explain it.”
“Lady Muraina, please, you should at least act a bit more involved in all of this. Stress or not, you are meeting with a princess. Then again, if you don’t mind, then I wouldn’t say no to this chance to see how this [Transmission Slate] works.”
Transmission Slate?
“Oooh, ooh! Do you mean, this is the slate the technology guild of Aleistunum’s capital has been developing? I heard it wasn’t even close to being finished yet!” Rita expressed, being giddy with Thyra.
“It shouldn’t be! This has to be a prototype or something. The dwarves of Ankor-Nazta might be the forerunner of the evolution of manatech, but the mages of Aleistunum lead the world in the advancement of spells, enchantments, and alchemy!”
Certainly putting them on a pedestal there. Mana Eyes.
<Transmission Slate: An enchanted magic item used to transmit long-distance information to another transmission slate or crystal by displaying words written with mana.
Enchantments: [Long-Range Mana Transfer] [Vessel Acquisition: Water] [Vessel Acquisition: Wind]>
Words? So, it can’t transmit images, huh? Kinda curious what Muraina talked about, but that’s none of my business. Hmm?
After appraising the item, I looked back up, ready to sit down, only for Thyra and Muraina to look at me with anticipation, whereas Rita was completely engrossed by the object. Looking over at Rita, who had already sat down, and Tasianna, all they could do was shrug to my confusion.
“Uh, did I do something wrong?” I asked.
“Nothing. We are just curious what your opinion on it is, Lady Hestia,” Muraina egged me onto something, but I wasn’t sure what she meant.
“Opinion? Well, I would like to see how it works but that is about it.”
Thyra raised an eyebrow at my reply. “Do you have no idea on how to improve it? I thought you would, considering your inventive nature. You were the one to create such an impressive feat of the arcane by creating your [Room] and also a teleportation method using those runes!”
“Just because I had an idea on how to make something doesn’t mean I can figure out new things like a genius! I create things I need, and that demands time!” From culinary to custom spells to my concert plans, everything required time, which was why my schedule was always filled to the brim. Even making my grenades required me to take some time to do them, as I couldn’t mass-produce hundreds in a few hours.
“Here!” Muraina gestured for me to sit next to her for a moment, preparing to write something on the slate. “As those two mentioned, Aleistunum has been trying to create a new method for long-distance communication, as manatech birds leaves a lot to be desired in that aspect. It could break down during the trip, leaving both parties unaware. This is why we need this to work. It could revolutionize communication for the whole world! Imagine being able to speak with an acquaintance on the other side of the continent!”
“… Sounds like a job for space-time. It would make everything easier that way,” I mindlessly commented, only for Neill, of all people, to chime in.
“I don’t think that is feasible, Hestia. Don’t forget, void-touched people are rare, and if Aleistunum had such a mage, they wouldn’t be having any problems at all thinking of such a method. However, if something like that were to work, I could imagine it being pretty useful for all sorts of… things.”
“Yes, that is correct, Lady Fargryneill!” Thyra agreed, irritating Neill as it seemed those two could already guess Neill was my sister. The black scales being iconic for a Kargryxmor dragon were too easy to deduce. It also didn’t help that we were acting pretty close.
“We can’t rely on space-time magic, or would you want to help us create possibly thousands of these items, Lady Hestia?” Muraina asked with a smirk, to which I shook my hand. With a chuckle she then began to write on the slate with her mana pen. “Words written on this slate stay on them unless we erase or send them out. Once I am finished, I pour my mana into it, activating the enchantments inside.”
The slate shone blue for a second before the words “I am testing its function” slowly dissipated into the air, disappearing completely from us. After what seemed like two minutes, a message came, saying “-aina, ans…ut the drago…”
“ ‘Drago?’” I eyed Muraina with suspicion.
She waved her hand, trying to make it seem like she wasn’t at fault. “You are becoming known, Lady Hestia. I didn’t mention you anywhere, but they probably assumed the crystal would be for you. After all, you are a registered member of the guild, correct? Anybody can see your documents.”
I guess that is correct.
“Pfft!” Neill let out a short chortle before slapping her face, shaking her head in disappointment. I didn’t need to read her mind to know she was thinking “you show your information to everybody, readily.”
“Aleistunum is curious about this new Kargryxmor, you see?” Muraina stated, making me think she was talking about me just a moment ago with some mage. “But, it is nothing you must worry about. However, you’ve seen how it works now. How do you find it?”
She pointed at the slate with the sentence and its unfinished words. There were hints of mana alluding to them, but the letters were broken up like ancient text. I could see why this thing was a prototype. Despite the speed the message was delivered — considering the person on the other side must be in Aleistunum, which was two countries away from Artorias — the messages sent were inaccurate.
“This would make it hard to get detailed messages, but it’s fast,” I relayed my feedback to her.
“Fast indeed, but as you could read from the enchantments, it transmits the words written through both the air and water, in this case the water droplets in the air. If we were to use it in a dry area like the great Evida desert, it wouldn’t work at all.” I nodded to her assessment, agreeing with such a weakness. “The researchers also made one that uses both air and light as the vessel of transportation, but not only is it extremely slow during the night but the messages are even harder to decipher. The moonlight isn’t enough.”
They really gave it some thought, huh?
“What about using dungeon core shards? Considering what you can do with a [Crystal of the Divine System] and how System messages are a constant companion to all of us, it should be possible, no?” I suggested, but Muraina shook her head.
“The cost would be ludicrous, Lady Hestia. You will know once you read the receipt.”
“Oh that’s right, Miss Saori did tell me something about it when she made the commission,” Tasianna spoke up. “She told me she almost fainted after she read the full price and even felt like puking while signing the contract.”
“Urgh!” I flinched back, stunned by the implications. Healing Saori reacting so badly to the cost was horrifying me, anxious what the cost would be.
“I-In any case, as I said, I can’t think of any improvements for your inventions just like that. If you want my help, then please compensate me like any normal mage,” I told Muraina, who nodded and said “Of course.”
Although interesting, I still found it not as important to talk to for now. Besides, I didn’t know much about how Earth’s phones and radio really worked. I had some knowledge, but not enough to translate those ideas into Peolynca’s magic system. At the very least, I had to ask somebody tech-savvy like Daichi to explain these things to me first before I could do anything.
With that out of the way, we all calmed down and took our seats. Muraina’s attendants brought in tea for everybody while she readied the contract, receipt, and also the item in question. She showed us an ornamented chest, something you would put your most prized jewelry in, before opening it, revealing a pearl-like crystal ball sitting on a red cushion.
Oooh!
<Crystal of the Divine System: An alchemical item created by melting a dungeon core into a condensed crystalline ball of mana. By performing a ritual in dedication to all six Origin Gods, this item is once again granted its Divine System functions to be used as a service.
Services offered: Job System, Tamer System, Quest creation>
““Woah.”” Tasianna and I stared at the crystal.
“Hiehie, I am glad you like it, Lady Hestia. The wait must have been worth it,” Muraina stated and we nodded. “This is still a newly made crystal, so the three functions you see it has are the base ones every crystal starts with. If you wish to add additional functions, like ID creation, you will have to speak with the necessary officials. By linking your crystal to another one, you can obtain these services.”
I nodded, glad to hear I could have more things to do on this thing. After all, Aurora was finally rich enough to get our own Job changing machine! We could finally grind without worrying about paying money or even ending our trip earlier than we wanted!
“Go on, try it. Make sure it works, Lady Hestia,” Muraina offered me and I took it immediately.
Rubbing my hands at getting a new toy, I placed my hands on the crystal. Mana poured out from my hands as I asked it to open the Job panel. Glowing for a moment, in the next, a blue panel appeared before me, displaying all my available Jobs.
_____________________________________________________________________
Weekly Job Change Limit: 1/3
Previous Jobs: [Caster], [Mage], [Fighter], [Cleric], [Brawler], [Spearman], [Aggravator], [Taunter], [Freelancer], ]Earth Mage], [Wind Mage], [Holy Mage], [Space-Time Mage], [Healer], ]Synergist], [Ravager], [Scout], [Worker], [Scale-Dust User], [Crimson-Scaled Dreadgiver], [Hellblade], [Infernal Hellblade], [White Pyromancer], [Spearwielder], [Sky Lancer], [Dragoon Whelpling], [Incandescent Blaze], [Corrosive Pyromancer], [Virulent Corrosion]
Jobs:
Main: [Scout]
Secondary: [Worker]
Unique: Not Unlocked
_____________________________________________________________________
Available Jobs
[Adventurer] [Pyromancer] [Terra Sorcerer] [Aeromancer] [Storm Sorcerer] [Lava Mage] [Lightning Mage] [Sacred Sorcerer] [Magus] [Priestess] [Shrine Maiden] [Warrior Priestess] [Mage Guild Initiate] [Flame Lancer] [Berserker] [Gladiator] [Toxic Blader] [Pugilist] [Flying Fighter] [Bard] [Rogue] [Woodworker] [Stoneworker] [Inventor] [Academic] [Dragonkin Fighter] [Noble] [Usurper] [Hatchling Tyrant] [Champion of Aurena] [Crimson Saintess] [Idol]
_____________________________________________________________________
“Ooooh! Nice!” I clapped my hands in excitement, taking in the joy of the item working! It functions exactly as any other crystal I used up till this point.
“Oh, look there, your medal for taking the first step into [Battle Frenzy]: [Hatchling Tyrant],” Neill pointed out, tapping on the Job in question.
“True! … But where is my [Dragoon] Job? I’ve been training with my glaive for a long time now, where is it?” I felt exasperated, as if my efforts weren’t being rewarded.
“… You do know dragoons are knights, right? Just like the [Knight] Job, you need to get knighted first.” Neill’s truth hurt me even further!
But, still…
_____________________________________________________________________
Job: Hatchling Tyrant
Requirements: Bloodline of Kargryxmor, the Black Tyrant of the Skies, Path of Gluttony Unlocked, [Territory Release], [Scale Manipulation]
Acquisition Benefits: All Stats Increase, All draconic racial skills proficiency
Main Job Benefits: [Tyrant’s Aura Lv. 10] [All-Damage Enhancement Lv. 5]
_____________________________________________________________________
All? Like in everything that can be considered racial skills? Hold on, isn’t that stupidly broken?!
From a single Job, I would be able to gain quite a lot of power if it could help level up those very draconic skills. If we exclude [White Flames] and [Corrosive Fire], since they were made from Shiterno’s influence, taking this Job now would benefit six skills in total. That alone would be better than most Jobs.
As such the question was if I should take it now or wait for later? Very likely, I would be able to gain more racial skills once I evolved into an A rank. In addition to that, they would most likely be even harder to level up if I wasn’t scared to use my skill points. Aside from certain skills Aurena had blocked, I could level up most of my draconic skills. It was just that I preferred using SP reactively, instead of proactively as using them during a fight could turn the tides in a matter of seconds.
And there was also another problem that stopped me from actually looking at this as an investment for the future. The incoming battle and also how I needed to fulfill certain requirements to evolve into an A rank. Aside from age, the others were to reach level ten in [Dreadflame Dragon], [Hellblade Dragon], [Solar Core], and [Royal Presence].
Not only did this Job have two pretty useful Job skills in [Tyrant Aura Lv. 10] and [All-Damage Enhancement Lv. 5], increasing my power even further, there was also a clear lack of advanced Jobs for [Crimson-Scaled Dreadgiver], [Infernal Hellblade], Incandescent Blaze], and [Virulent Corrosion]. It seemed I had reached the peak for them after gaining the ability to buy the mutation skills.
Considering the situation, I should probably also consider these Jobs now.
_____________________________________________________________________
Job: Champion of Aurena
Requirements: A blessing from Goddess Aurena
Acquisition Benefits: All Stats Increase, All holy elemental and Goddess of Light-based skill proficiency
Main Job Benefits: [Holy Demon Slayer] [Humanity’s Foe Slayer] [Demonic Influence Resistance Lv. 5] [Light Element Enhancement] [All-Damage Enhancement Lv. 3]
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
Job: Crimson Saintess
Requirements: A blessing from Goddess Aurena
Acquisition Benefits: Health Increase, Mana Increase, Intelligence Increase, Wisdom Increase, Title [Crimson Saintess]
Main Job Benefits: [Holy Demon Slayer] [Dragon’s Foe Slayer] [Demonic Influence Resistance Lv. 5]
Main Job Spell: [Crimson Angel] [Crimson Dawn]
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
Job: Idol
Requirements: [Idol]
Acquisition Benefits: Mana Increase, [Idol] Proficiency, +2 Spell song slots
Main Job Benefits: [Acoustic Power Lv. 5] [Bardic Cadenza] [Musical Crescendo] [Heavenly Performance]
_____________________________________________________________________
<Holy Demon Slayer: Increases all damage against demonic forces. Healing magic will turn into damage towards demonic forces>
<Humanity’s Foe Slayer: Deals increase damage towards any race or nationality considered an enemy by 75% of the world’s humans. Enemy: Demonkin, Carmaniate, Grimgarians>
<Dragon’s Foe Slayer: Deals increase damage towards any race of nationality considered an enemy by 50% of the world’s dragons. Enemy: None>
Yikes, hatred-based skills, huh? Feels a bit weird coming from the Goddess of Light, but I guessed as a champion, you have to protect the ones you must defend.
<Demonic Influence Resistance: Decreases the effectiveness of demonic temptations and Sin-based attacks>
<Light Element Enhancement: Blesses the owner of this skill with holy light, vastly increasing damage towards anything demonic and dark element based. Increases healing received>
<Acoustic Power: Increases acoustic and sound-based attacks and increases the natural range they travel>
<Bardic Cadenza: A skill focusing on the bard’s musical abilities. Activates once a spell song is used, increasing the effects of the song’s effect as long as the bard only uses songs as a means of attack, defense, and support>
<Musical Crescendo: A skill that applies additional effects the longer the bard continues playing any kind of spell songs. Escalation depended on [Music Resonation] and the length being played. Minor: Increases bard’s stats by 5%. Moderate: Shares the full effects of all buffs on the bard without reaching Major. Major: Songs travel through mana, bypassing any silence fields or sound protection areas.>
<Heavenly Performance: An idol’s voice and body are their most prized possession during a performance for the world to hear and see! The art itself is reward enough!>
… Hello? Scammed? What is the skill’s effects? Hello? Aurena? What?
It was clear this was another skill Aurena had personally made just for me, and it showed as some of that joking side of hers showed in the description. What exactly did this skill do? I really had no idea and it really made me want to take the Job just to know!
Well, sadly, I can only take one more Job this week, since I already spent two usages for [Worker] and [Scout]. I didn’t know if something would happen this week, since my tournament matches were over. Tomorrow was just a rest day and also my concert, so maybe taking [Idol] would be good?
Then again, who knew when those grimgarians would attack? We didn’t know anything and it felt like we were on the backpedal ‘cause of that. A lack of information for an impending siege or assault felt scary… It was so much better when we knew when the enemy would attack in Estralia, so we all managed to set up plenty of traps, to the point they were only able to survive ‘cause of that walking plot armor Warbringer of Wrath.
Hmm, what should I take? For combat, [Hatchling Tyrant] and [Champion of Aurena] seem like the best, just because they can increase my skills. [Crimson Saintess] is cringe. I don’t want a title like that… Lastly, [Idol] seems like a pure supportive Job.
… But, there really is no question which one I should take.
I will take [Champion of Aurena] as my Main Job.
I was her Champion, and had to finally signify this to the world.
<Individual [Sunfang Dragonewt, Hestia Atsuko Kargryxmor] has switched her Main Job to [Champion of Aurena]>
<Main Job benefits have been updated due to Job change>
<Champion of Aurena Level: 0/50>
<Job Skill gained: [Holy Demon Slayer] [Humanity’s Foe Slayer] [Demonic Influence Resistance Lv. 5] [Light Element Enhancement] [All-Damage Enhancement Lv. 3]>
<Multiple proficiency requirements fulfilled. [Venerated Saintess Lv. 4] [Sacred Magic Lv. 8] [Sacred Resistance Lv. 6] gained>
<Spell gained: [Heaven’s Sword]>
“Puuhaaaaa!” I nearly choked on my own spit. “LEVEL 50?!”
The higher a Job’s max level, the more advanced it was. That meant, it required more experience per level, similar to how leveling up as a B rank was faaaaar harder than during my time as a C rank. But at the same time, it required me to get 50 levels to max it?! How did I get myself into this?!
When I explained my shock to everybody, all of them except for Tasianna and Rita could only shrug to my plight. They told me this was normal for experienced adventurers. The more advanced a Job, the more benefits it gave with every level, but as it demanded a lot of experience to grow it, it pushed people to take on harder Quests to challenge themselves.
Still, I couldn’t really say I regret taking it. It would just turn into a long term training plan. Besides, it level up my [Sacred Magic] so I could finally use another high tier sacred spell! [Heaven’s Sword]; it sounds exactly what you would expect from a fantasy game.
I have the power of God and Anime on my side now! In a sense.
“Marvelous!” Muraina clapped her hands. “It is great that it is working well. Aleistunum certified quality! However, if it does somehow act out of order, you will have a three months warranty on any issues not intentionally done to it! The guild will fix it themselves.”
And now it was time. The fun part was over, now it was time for the money thing, but honestly, Saori usually overreacted whenever it came to our finances. She was a penny pincher, for good reason, but still pretty frugal. It was without a doubt expensive, but it probably wasn’t so much anyways.
“Here you go.” Muraina handed me the contract and recipe with a smile. “Saori and Ellaine already looked over the contract itself, and the one you got is the very same one. You will only have to sign it to state the item has been safely delivered to you. Please, make sure everything is correct.”
“Alright!”
Okay, let’s go parallel minds. Blah blah blah, Aleistunum commission, blah blah blah. Mhm, dungeon core shards, crystal, money, and mage’s guild. Muraina and Aurora… Yeah. Seems alright, I guess?
I gave the contract a quick look over using my parallel minds, finding this thing actually pretty hard to read. Actually, it was as difficult as the papers I signed during the conference I had with King Drangleic and the Dukes. Jeez, one year of living in this world wasn’t enough to fully learn this damn language.
Okay, receipt. Let’s see— O-Oh okay, two small goldite coins just for the mage’s guild alone? What? Why is— Hold on, five LARGE SILVITES FOR THE TRANSPORTATION OF THE DUNGEON SHARDS?! That’s 50k Davi just to transport those stupid shards?! What— Okay, okay, just calm down.
I took in a deep breath.
Alright, alright, they did say this is expensive, but it can’t get— TWO LARGE GOLDITES FOR THE STUPID ALCHEMIST! Wh-What?! T-T-Two million davi, gone like that?! No, you gotte be kidding me! This is just the third field. How much does this crap cost anyways?! Da fu—
…
My face froze up, eyes staring down on the two digit words with both trepidation and hollowness. My mouth was agape, slightly trembling as I pushed myself to read the number.
2… 2…
…
26 Large goldites, two small goldites, and 2 Large silvites.
… 26,220,000 Davi.
“Cuek!”
Boom.
“Lady Hestia!”
“S-Sis?!”
The straw that broke the camel’s back. Just seeing the price itself was enough to knock me out. I fainted with my eyes open, at least allowing my parallel minds to see what was going on.
‘Yup, and I kinda want to fall down, too,’ Manager Mind commented, looking pale and sick. “… That’s 81% of our total money. Not to mention, we had to pay about 3% of our total funds for something at the pier yesterday. That’s 84% of our Davi gone, just like that. Gone, Poof… I want to puke.”
“Oi, what have you done to my sister?!” In the meantime while my body was kinda unconscious, Neill shot up from her seat, black flames around her fist as she threatened Thyra and Muraina.
“W-Wait, hold on! We didn’t do anything, Princess Fargryneill!” Thyra tried to calm her in a panic. “There is a reason why people borrow crystals and don’t just straight up buy them! Especially if they have to buy the shards themselves. Read the receipt!”
“Oh, really? Huh? Do you really think I would believe something like that? Huh? If this is some sorta trap then I’ll— 26 LARGE GOLDITES! Cueeeek!” Neill almost reeled back, but managed to compose herself. “T-T-That’s an entire fortune! Enough to cover up a small to medium sized cavern in gold! H-How can you— Cuek! Urghk!”
Boom.
Another dragon defeated.
“… Oh dear.” Tasianna mumbled.
And that was how I learned the real reason why people had to borrow these things. Even if organizations like the adventurer’s or mage’s guild could afford to buy crystals for their individual guilds, it was less expensive to just borrow them from rich mages.
This was the reason. You could become bankrupt pretty easily.
I didn’t know how long I was actually unconscious, but it was still long enough for everybody to get worried. In the end, with tears in my eyes, I signed the contract and acquired the crystal.
Bam, bam, baaaaaaam… Yay, happy acquisition music. Oh goodness…
As planned, I also spent some more money to buy manatech tablets, used by attendants to note down information for their masters. I bought two with one manatech pen. One tablet was for Tasianna, while the tablet and pen duo was for master. In total, it cost me 5% of our money.
90%. Gone. Poof. We were rich at the start of this morning, now, we would have to build it up again. I honestly hoped Amelia’s shop will have a ton of success so we can earn this money back.
In the future, I need to have Tasianna and Ellaine create these stuff. Would save us so much money.
Comments
Well Aurena did say she wanted to make Hestia also her saintess, right? Means, preaching about her, lol.
Imp
At last, the Orb makes its appearance. Tis time to start pondering the orb! Drat! I had bet that Crimson Saintess had come from Danterno. Its from Aurena. Would not have guessed! I have the power of anime on my side! Very cute line! Well, you know what they say, Hestia. Easy come, easy go. The money keeps rolling out from every side. ♪
Diego Rossi
Thanks for the chapter. Always nice to start the day reading them. would have preferred it if a crowd of mages and uni students was literally looking at us -> wasn't Healing Saori reacting so badly to the cost was horrifying me, -> Hearing In addition to that, they would most likely be even harder to level up if I wasn’t scared to use my skill points. - Your original phrase is unwieldy, think if it would be better to change it. "And there was also another problem that stopped me from actually looking at this as an investment for the future. The incoming battle and also how I needed to fulfill certain requirements to evolve into an A rank. Aside from age, the others were to reach level ten in [Dreadflame Dragon], [Hellblade Dragon], [Solar Core], and [Royal Presence]. Not only did this Job have two pretty useful Job skills in [Tyrant Aura Lv. 10] and [All-Damage Enhancement Lv. 5], increasing my power even further, there was also a clear lack of advanced Jobs for [Crimson-Scaled Dreadgiver], [Infernal Hellblade], Incandescent Blaze], and [Virulent Corrosion]. It seemed I had reached the peak for them after gaining the ability to buy the mutation skills." - Again, the text does its job, but it would benefit from some polishing. The first paragraph doesn't flow well into the second. It is like two parallel minds were following two different lines of thought about the same argument. She being Hestia that is possible, but it doesn't seem what you are doing here.
