Scroll 15: The First Quest II
Alaster stood motionless for a few seconds, fascinated by the surge of vigor still pulsing through his veins.
As he looked down at his hands, he noticed that the flow of mana within him now felt smoother, more docile. It was as if an invisible bottleneck inside his energy channels had suddenly been blown wide open.
— Definitely a level-up, — he told himself, internalizing the logic of this world. — Fatigue completely erased, energy container expanded. This is exactly how it would be expected to work in a world similar to a video game.
The silence that had taken hold of the meadow was so dense that only the whistling of the wind through the low-lying flowers broke the stillness. The morning sun was already climbing high in the sky, marking approximately 9:20 AM.
Its golden rays illuminated the landscape in perfect clarity: a beautiful grove dotted with ancient, thick-trunked trees, shrubs heavy with wild foliage, and an endless blanket of green vegetation and violet and yellow flowers dancing in the breeze.
The air still smelled of damp earth and fresh pollen, enveloping the scene in a vibrant, lifelike atmosphere.
Alaster slowly turned on his high boots, shaking off a few petals that had clung to the leather, and found himself face-to-face with the girls. All five of them were staring at him intently, frozen in their respective positions.
Deinderatrix walked over to the massive ice sword still buried in the ground, looking down at it with intense curiosity. In her head, panic and confusion whirled incessantly:
«This is impossible... The structural density is perfect; there are no air bubbles, which means his visualization was flawless. A Rank [A] mage needs at least five seconds of concentration and a three-verse chant to manifest something of this caliber! How can a Level 1 achieve a perfect ice icicle?»
However, she chose to bite her lip and keep her chaotic thoughts to herself, limiting herself to watching the ice with wide-open eyes.
Liena, for her part, visually examined the monster's remains while she sheathed her dagger with a mechanical movement.
«This is lethal. He created two of them and used the first one only as a distraction. Elves really are full of surprises, or perhaps this elf in particular,» the halfling scout evaluated internally, keeping her face serious.
Mirage stared fixedly at Alaster's figure. Seeing how well the tight white cotton shirt she had lent him fit, her mind disconnected from the danger and became tinged with subtle, romantic notes.
She recalled fondly how he had looked at her in their house, treating her with a gentleness uncommon toward her kind. He had even allowed her to climb onto his shoulders without so much as a frown.
«He respects me, miow...» the cat-girl thought with a sweet flutter in her heart.
Suddenly, the words of her older brother, the one who had sacrificed himself in the past so that she could keep living, echoed powerfully in her memory:
— One day, Mirage, a man will see how cute and kind you are, miow, and he will love you very much.
Returning to the present, Mirage couldn't help but imagine a life by the elf's side.
«He's only Level 2 now, but I don't mind at all, miow!» she told herself, feeling her cat ears grow warm.
«With magic like that, he'll surely be a tremendously powerful mage soon, miow! I just have to support him, love him a lot, look into his beautiful violet eyes every day, miow, and purr on his chest every afternoon while I wait for our little fish to fry in the kitchen, miow...»
Jinneth, who was attentive to everything, immediately noticed the disturbingly possessive look the cat-girl was throwing at the elf.
«What is up with that husband-stealing cat and my little Alaster?!» the baker complained internally, feeling a burst of jealousy.
With determination, Jinneth stepped forward and physically wedged herself between Alaster and Mirage, breaking the feline's line of sight.
In that moment, Jinneth and Mirage's gazes locked. No words were needed.
In a fraction of a second, a secret, tense conversation unfolded based on pure gestures—arched brows and narrowed eyes that only women could perfectly understand—silently but sharply marking territory.
Meanwhile, Alaster was lost in his own thoughts. He still felt the residual chill of his ice spikes floating in the air and the firmness of his feet on the damp earth.
As he recalled the trajectory of the projectiles, a simple thought crossed his mind:
«This is like cheating. I don't have to do difficult calculations, or correct for the wind, or even aim manually... the spikes just fly with pinpoint precision exactly where I want them to with just a thought. Magic is truly broken.»
Breaking the silence, Arya took a step forward. The elven archer kept her arms crossed beneath her bust, but the mocking expression from before had softened.
— Conceptual magic, — Arya said, locking her clear eyes on him. — You must be extremely familiar with the elements of water and ice to forgo chanting entirely. You're more impressive than I thought, silly elf.
Alaster, caught off guard, responded with a rather nervous-looking grimace.
«I don't know if that was a compliment or an insult,» he thought, scratching the back of his neck.
Seeing his reaction, the elven archer smiled radiantly, seemingly for no reason at all. Arya turned away to hide her amusement, thinking to herself:
«Why does this elf always make such goofy faces? It's not like I want to mock him, but he's really the only elf I know who isn't serious or conceited all the time. And his laughter isn't just out of courtesy or etiquette... he really is a strange guy.»
Liena cleared her throat, drawing everyone's attention to get back to the mission's pace.
— Alright, the sun is still rising and we have work to do. The ice spike is already melting. We need to collect the rabbits' materials before they ruin; the horns are valuable to alchemists, and the meat will sell well in the city.
Detrix, help Jinneth put the bodies into the wagon sacks. Alaster, since you've more than demonstrated you can defend yourself, I think it's safe for you to start looking for your herbs while we finish sweeping the area. We won't stray more than a hundred and fifty feet from you.
— Understood, — Alaster nodded.
The girls quickly scattered among the trees and shrubs to continue their tasks, with Jinneth making sure to walk close to Mirage to keep an eye on her.
Alaster ventured a bit deeper into the grove, finally finding himself alone in a small clearing surrounded by knee-high flowers.
The thrill of being in a real meadow, surrounded by five pretty girls and having experienced the adrenaline of leveling up for the first time, still had him a bit overwhelmed.
He looked at his hands in detail. His heart was pounding against his chest, and his fingers had a slight, subtle tremor due to the energy rush and the mana discharge.
He let out a breath, watching as a faint, icy mist dissipated under the warm 9:20 AM sun.
— I can't deny it... — he thought, contemplating his palms with a genuine smile. — Being a mage in a fantasy world that looks like it's straight out of a video game is fucking cool.
Remembering his true goal for this trip and the bills he would have to pay in the future, Alaster clenched his fist firmly, regaining his practical focus.
— Now I have to make money, — he said out loud to himself, observing the glints of medicinal plants in the undergrowth. — That quiet, peaceful life I want isn't going to pay for itself.
Taking advantage of the girls being occupied, Alaster decided it was the perfect time to check his stats. He closed his eyes and, using his mind, projected a clean, beautifully clear interface:
Spoiler
[STATUS]
Name: Alaster
Race: High Elf
Age: Hidden
Attribute: Space
Level: 2
[Stats]
Vitality: 120
Mana: 580
Stamina: 110
Strength: 8
Dexterity: 8
Resistance: 8
Intelligence: 30
Luck: 99
[Active Spells]
• Fire Arrow [Rank F]: Condenses fire mana into a fast projectile. High burn probability. [Cost: 10Mp].
• Ice Lance [Rank D]: Projects a sharp spike that freezes target fluids. Remains static until shot. [Cost: 15Mp].
[Passive Spells]
• Spatial Affinity: Decreases mana consumption and increases efficiency of space spells by 90%.
[collapse]
«It makes sense that as a mage, my Intelligence and Mana are what go up the most,» Alaster thought to himself, looking at his new numbers.
Satisfied with the status reading, Alaster decided to continue his search for moon herbs.
The morning sun continued to warm the meadow, raising the temperature pleasantly as the leftover dew from the night almost evaporated entirely from the leaves.
He walked with a steady step, venturing deeper into the undergrowth, crossing spots where the wild vegetation barely reached his knees.
Suddenly, his sharp eyes spotted a plant with a twisted stem and bluish leaves hidden under the shade of a shrub. Alaster approached carefully, planted his feet firmly on the damp earth, and crouched down to cut it from the root.
However, just before his fingers touched the stem, he felt a sudden, powerful force course through his entire body. It was like a jolt of static electricity that instantly improved his physical state.
— Eh? Did I level up again? — he thought, completely bewildered, as he straightened up abruptly. — But I haven't eliminated any enemies! Why am I gaining experience?
Using his enhanced elven senses, Alaster pricked up his ears and swept the environment with his gaze. In the distance, through the hissing of the wind and the rustling of the low grass, he spotted Jinneth.
The young baker had just eliminated a Horn Rabbit using her sword and was currently holding the monster by its long ears, doing little hops of joy in the middle of the field.
Alaster stood thinking for a second, listening to the hiss of the wind and the movement of the grass leaves...
— This is very strange... Wait, this is the effect of being in a 'party' in video games. Experience is shared... Now that I recall, Jinneth mentioned this to me once.
An amused smile formed on the elf's face as he watched Jinneth dancing so gracefully while swinging the rabbit—which was quite large—in such a funny way.
However, the girl's celebration was short-lived. Arya approached stealthily from behind her and gave her a smack on the back of the neck.
— You're getting blood everywhere, kid! — the elven archer snapped.
Jinneth rubbed her head, puffing out her cheeks in indignation.
— It's just some blood, Aunt Ary!
Arya looked at her with a warning in her eyes.
— Do you want to attract other monsters?
— There are only weak monsters below Level 6 here, — the girl retorted, puffing her cheeks out stubbornly again.
Arya looked at her with a warning and said sharply:
— Put that thing in the sack before...
The elf didn't finish the sentence. She looked in Alaster's direction, and he saw the elf's eyes go wide as saucers.
Alaster ducked by instinct; a huge blur passed far above the space where his head had been. He didn't have time to see what it was.
— Run! — Detrix and Liena screamed at the same time from their positions.
— Into the trees! Run toward the nearest grove, miow! — Mirage yelled.
Jinneth dropped the rabbit and started running in the opposite direction from Arya. Then she noticed she would be left alone, braked, skidded as she turned skillfully to follow the elf, and took off running with even more force.
Meanwhile, Alaster was running behind Liena. Despite the halfling scout's short stature, Alaster was impressed to see her running in front of him faster than her height should have allowed.
Alaster felt the weight of his body with every stride, the impact of his boots against the ground, and the buffet of a sudden gust of wind that almost knocked him over as something flew a few feet above him.
The violent displacement of air caused the branches of nearby shrubs to shake wildly, causing leaves to hit him in the face as he ran.
Making a superhuman effort, they managed to reach the edge of the grove, taking shelter under the dense canopy of trees.
Looking back toward the meadow they had just abandoned, they saw a huge creature over twenty feet long, with leathery scales and membranous wings that kicked up clouds of dust and vegetation.
Liena stopped beside him. Alaster looked at her and noticed her face beaded with sweat, strands of her red hair stuck to her forehead, and her blue eyes filled with the purest terror as she contemplated the scene.
— That is... — Liena stuttered, swallowing with difficulty. — A Wyvern?