As we made our way through the city gates, a part of me hated the new feeling of emptiness my coin pouch had on my side. I rolled my shoulder and felt a bit better, my bag now resting inside the cloak that was wrapped around my shoulders. Afimaril and Straun had insisted on waiting by the gate for Sena as we headed inside, saying our goodbyes.
"Please tell me I'm not the only one that felt a bit weird traveling and chatting with the people who tried to kill us?"
We all nodded along as Jax poked his head out through the inside of my cloak, my left side suddenly heavy.
"Got to hand it to you Hallowcreek, best purchase yet, though it needs a light, its dark in here."
"Well would you like to walk in the heat then?"
I asked, already regretting my decision to do this as Jax shook his head and pulled his snout back in, the weight gone now that he wasn't hanging out. I turned to Kaelen who held the Quest for the Salamander.
"From the looks of it, this quest has been commissioned by the Stonewright Smithy. Plus, we need someone to see about finding lunch, and head to the guild to make the report on Ymer."
At that last comment, we all stood, eyeing each other for a moment of silence as we exchanged looks. I felt my mouth get dry as I anticipated movement.
"Nose goes!"
We all yelled. Moving as fast as we could. There was a moment of silence as Thalia turned around confused, her hands by her side, as Liora stood silently, her hand caught in her pocket as she stared into a nearby wall, a look of shame on her face and a single tear rolling down her cheek. I walked over and placed a hand on Liora's shoulder as I passed. A feeling of almost cruel excitement bubbling in me, as Jax, Will, and I all said in a mocking tone.
"Enjoy the lines."
Thalia and Liora both dropped to their knees like they had been shot as the rest of us continued on in victory. As we walked Selene looked around as Kaelen said.
"I'll grab us a table, meet back here in 30 minutes or so?"
I nodded as Selene looked around, as if trying to avoid the confrontation to meet the employer. We walked in silence for a moment as I glanced up at Selene. I quickly made a list and handed it to her. She looked down at it confused as I said.
"These are some herbs we need for your medicine as well as in general. See if you can find a shop that sells herbs and stuff while Jax and I see about meeting the employer."
Selene gave me a relieved smile and nodded, walking away as she read the list to herself. I turned back as Jax jumped out of the cloak and started to walk alongside me. It took a minute, but I saw the sign for the forge down the road as we walked. As we did, I pulled out the book and began to flip the pages open. While at first, I had thought it would show me a training method or something, instead the book seemed to contain a blueprint for a device called a revolution core.
It was apparently supposed to be used to circulate energy like a second heart designed only for energy. However, to make it you needed to gather materials. Looking over the recipe's it even showed ways to upgrade the item, but for now I stuck to the starting build section. Flipping to it I made a mental note of the required materials.
1 square ft of titanhide
5 ft of crystal spider silk
1 Heartstone
2 ingots glowsteel
And 5 pieces of Aetherbark
"Some of these parts seem a bit above our pay grade."
Will said in my head. I glanced over at the Titan hide and Heartstone. The Heartstone alone was a C rank item, and while Titan hide wasn't the most sought-after thing, acquiring it would still be expensive, it was a B rank material after all.
"Everything starts with baby steps, for now let's see what this quest is looking like."
I mumbled as we approached the door to the Stonewright smithy. Stepping inside the room was decorated in a plethora of weapons of all kinds. Behind the counter a human woman wore an apron and goggle like glasses that she flipped us as we entered.
"Welcome to the smithy, are you here for the quest or for gear?"
"The quest, we heard you had a salamander problem?"
Jax said, looking around at the various pieces of equipment around us. The girl nodded before gesturing for us to follow her. We made our way to the back of the shop where we saw what looked to be a large metal doorway. Through the glass we could see what looked to be a group of 3 to 4 Salamanders, walking around on piles of charcoal.
They resembled regular lizards, their body's having a red and orange tint to them that almost looked like their scales were small embers floating off a campfire. They were not very big, no larger than Jax as their footprints left small burning ember spots where they walked. However, to my surprise no fire ignited.
"We sealed the room, so they burned through the oxygen within, but they didn't exactly need to breathe, so we were at a bit of a stalemate. They can't burn my pile, and I can't get them out. If you could handle it for me, the reward is still the same."
I nodded and turned back to the woman.
"Happy to, is it alright with you if we gather our members before we head in, our group split up because he had to make a report to the guild about an attack from another adventurer."
The woman raised her eyebrow as she looked at us. A twinge of curiosity on her face as I waited in anticipation.
"If it's not too much trouble then do you mind letting me in on what happened?"
"Step one complete, with the bait set, now we just reel her in!"
Will said excitedly despite the fact I felt a bit weird at doing this. I reached into my bag and pulled out the book.
"Sure, but if it's not too much trouble from you could you look this over in exchange? I'm no good with blueprints and I figured a blacksmith would know what they are looking at better."
The woman took a moment before she nodded. Handing over the blueprint I explained our meeting with Ymer and his cohort. It took a bit, but around halfway through she seemed to be finished with the booklet and looked up. Finishing the story, I glanced down at the book.
"Yikes, sounds like a bad day. Anyways, I took a look at your revolution core blueprint, and I have to say, I can make it, but honestly it might not be what you want."
I looked at her confused as she said.
"This thing would basically serve as a second heart, but instead of blood it would circulate Aether, not energy, Raw Aether. Some people have constitutions for it and can handle it just fine, but not everyone, hell most start to go into Aether Flux."
I was a bit surprised to hear the term Aether Flux as Jax stepped forward.
"What's Aether flux?"
"Well basically your body is adapted to a certain purity of energy for everything it does class wise. Aether flux is basically what happens when your body is not used to tainted energy inside of itself, and because of that it causes excruciating pain, and can even kill you."
I paled a bit at that when I looked to Jax who gave me an expression I could only assume mirrored my own.
"Is there no way to build up a tolerance, like taking a poison over and over again to get better at handling it?"
I asked taking the booklet back.
"I mean I guess, but you would need a way to ingest raw Aether, so unless you have an Aetheric Condenser then you're out of luck."
Hearing that an idea sparked on my face as Jax and I started to leave the smithy, Will and I were in my head discussing at length what it would mean and how it could work when Jax bumped my leg. I looked down, expecting him to be worried or ask about the book. However instead he was laying on his side panting rapidly as he wheezed.
"C-C-Cloak please."
I rolled my eyes as I opened the brown cloak and he dove right in, a contented sigh escaping from inside. I continued walking making my way over to where we had agreed to meet everyone as I sat down to wait. She had said I would need something like an Aetheric Condenser if I wanted to start building up a resistance.
For most that's a term nobody has ever heard of, however an Aetheric condenser is a device that Alchemists without the class use to make liquid crystal. Pulling out a vial I held my finger out as I drained the mana, the liquid crystal slowly pouring into the vial. My grandfather had said herbs were needed to direct the effect of a potion because otherwise it was basically like drinking salt water, unhelpful and would just make you gag.
However Liquid Crystal Consolidation wasn't a skill that made liquid crystal from mana, it was more of a condensation type arrangement where the Aether in the air would pool and liquify. So before I could regret my choice I pinched my nose and downed the Vial of liquid crystal. My body was racked in a feeling of pain as the system window appeared.
You have used skill Liquid Crystal Consolidation(E)
You have used item Liquid crystal Vial(E)
You have ingested liquid Aether, your body is attempting to purify it.
Your body has failed, the Aether runs rampant.
You are under the effect of Aether Flux
You have developed a Flaw: Arcane Allergy(D)