Chapter 36: Alarm Bells Ringing
The next morning started predictably, far too early in the morning, but not because they were feeling energetic. Instead, the family woke up to one of the neighbours ringing the alarm bell, signalling that monsters had made it past the forest and were in the fields.
Wiz had been so excited last night that he had slept in his armour, and the banging of him getting out of bed woke Dominic, who was sleeping on a futon cushion near the fireplace in the main room.
"Get up, they need us out there. None of the nearby farms have fighters at them, they’re all younger families." He insisted.
"Alright, I’m getting up, just give me a minute." Dominic sighed, then pulled his robes over his head and began working on equipping his armour.
His own armour was Uncommon Quality, the same as Wiz’s, but it had all formed with a small amount of [Spell Haste] and [Spell Damage] thanks to the Swiftness Forge Rune that he had learned and a bit of luck. If it had been all mana on hit, he likely would have traded it to Bella and tried again when he got home, as his primary attack didn’t burn through his mana pool at all.
Eventually, he would get a gem or a Magitech Orb that would give him a regularly used spell that needed mana, but that day hadn’t come yet, so Dominic was still working with what he had been born with.
It didn’t take them long to get ready, with Bella helping Dominic and Dominic fastening Bella’s armour buckles. The warning bells were still ringing when they burst out the door, chasing after Wiz, who was already running toward the next farm out toward the forest.
"Damn, that boy can run." Dominic complained, wishing that his dragon side had given him supernatural strength and endurance instead of catlike agility and a pretty face.
Especially the face. That had gotten him into more dangerous situations than anything else, even more often than his hobby of digging through damaged and malfunctioning magitech parts looking for treasure.