Syl

Chapter 68: Leaving Town

After grabbing all our supplies, we headed back to the inn for a farewell party, although I found out that the rest of Roderick's team would also be coming to defend the rear caravans, so it wasn't really goodbye yet. There was plenty of drinking, and they convinced me to partake in the fiery beverage. I only relented since I had my partial fire immunity.

After the party, I fooled around with my mimicry. I wasn't going to be able to use it much while on this caravan, unfortunately, as I needed to keep up my disguise for a bit longer. I enjoyed the company, and they were fun to be around helpful, and genuinely kind individuals, but I craved being unrestrained.

For my adventurer disguise, I was happy being basically a pure elf, as it had the most benefits, but there was one trait I wanted from the human profile.

Greatly increase the speed and ease of learning new traits and skills.

This trait has no levels.>

It took a bit of trial and error, and I had to identify myself a few times till I had enough human parts, but my profile still showed my race as an elf. I had high hopes for [Untapped Potential], especially if it worked together with [Prodigy].

<>

Receive extra experience towards improving traits and skills.

My final adventurer loadout was the following:

Elves are deeply in tune with their body and naturally highly agile and dexterous.

Improves reaction speed, agility, and dexterity scaling with trait level.

Prohibits the traits [Enhanced Vitality] or [Enhanced Strength].

One of the chosen paths, the elven archer is to be feared, and their talent with a bow is unparalleled.

Bows will receive a proficiency bonus to accuracy and damage based on trait level.

This trait can be activated to mark any visible weak points, and ranged attacks against them will inflict bonus damage based on trait level.

As a mystical race with a unique history and enshrouded in mystery non-elves are affected by a minor charm condition when interacting with an elf.

The charm success rate scales with trait level but is always restricted to minor effects, such as making the elf seem more presentable, their words more enticing, and their appearance more attractive.

As the guardians of nature and to represent their heritage, all elves can communicate with plants and non-magical animals.

The level of understanding and the willingness to offer aid is based on trait level.

[Mana Sight LV 6]

[Enhanced Agility LV 6]

[Lowlight Vision]

[Untapped Potential]

I had tried to copy [Mana Well] or [Enhanced Intellect], but both were unavailable. It looks like the fused trait [Soul Mastery] prevented me from doing so. Strangely, I could copy [Enhanced Agility] despite it being somewhat baked into [Elven Reflexes]. I thought I'd keep it for now and see if I noticed any difference.

[Lowlight Vision] was unranked, so potentially, I would be unable to earn it from what Dewi had said, but I thought I'd still try. I threw my leftover trait budget into [Nature Commune] just in case someone asked me to speak to a plant or something to prove I'm an elf. I would have liked to have grabbed [Thick Skin] from hobgoblins, but it was highly noticeable and would ruin my built-up disguise.

'Once I've gotten some more practice with custom spells, I'll probably keep some points in reserve for things like [Enhanced Fangs], then channel it through a [Psuedopod] and pretend it is [Water Magic].'

Before I went to bed, I made sure to spend [Slime Conversion] and deposit away the slime. My storage felt rather full when I realized I still had an absurd amount of water stored away from my magic practice.

'I guess I can't blame Gramps for being forgetful, as I'm guilty myself.'

I woke up to my two newest [Sub-Cores] leveling up together. I was eager for them to catch up and then finally all progress together.

'As great as it is to have more of them, I think I might have gone a little overboard. I probably should hold back on more and focus on quality. I'm sure Alpha is dying to reach level five.'

I went downstairs and received a bear hug from Trevor when saying my farewells and thanking him for my room and food. His strength was frightening, and if not for [Mana Reinforcement], I think he might have splattered me. He even gave me a bunch of extra food for the trip, as Kurt had told him I had a storage bag with preservation, and lamented how I had turned our dungeon trip into a picnic.

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I decided to head to the guild as that was our meeting spot, and besides Tabitha, there was nobody else there yet. We chatted a bit, and she offered some advice for once I get my Silver rank, as it seemed she had full confidence in me.

"Since you have stealth and plenty of hunting experience, I'd suggest extermination quests. They give you a target with a general location, and you head out and kill them. If you combine that with your harvesting potential, you can double dip on income since you'll be paid for the job done and your resources."

"How does the guild keep track of my kills?"

"If it's a quest you've officially accepted, your necklace will keep a tally. If it's something you've killed without a quest, then you can bring back a body part from the monster. Most adventurers don't bother harvesting from weak monsters, so they usually cut off an ear as proof."

"That's certainly convenient."

"Yeah, we really need to thank our predecessors who keep requesting more features. I shudder to think of having to investigate false quest claims."

Tabitha demonstrated by giving me my escort quest.

"Once you reach Kaerlin, you ask the merchant to confirm the quest completion, and your necklace will register it."

"What if he refuses to?"

"It very rarely happens, but if it does go straight to the guild and report it. We take contract breaches very seriously, and a merchant would be stupid to get blacklisted from posting quests."

I thanked Tabitha for all the advice as we waited for the others to slowly arrive. Roderick was next, and the three of us casually chatted. I learned that Roderick was engaged, and his fiancée wanted him to stop risking his life. Which was why he wanted to take over as Guild Master as one of the highest leveled adventurers in the entire town. I got a few pointers for the escort quest as well.

"Wandering monsters are unlikely, as they tend to avoid large groups. Our main threat will be bandits, which you are to kill on sight." Roderick explained.

"I'm a bit surprised you didn't mention capturing them."

"No. The laws are very strict with banditry. If you did capture any, then they would be executed immediately. Bandits won't hesitate to kill you, so you shouldn't hold back."

"There are sometimes nobles who post quests to capture a bandit leader or deserter so they can make a public execution. But I'd advise against taking those quests with your set of skills." Tabitha added.

Once everyone arrived, we needed to head towards the northern gate to meet with the caravan. Before that, I was approached by Kurt and Tabitha.

"Guess this is goodbye for now. Good luck, Syl. If you need to contact me for advice or questions feel free to reach out through a guild branch. Although any guild staff should be willing to answer your questions, especially once you're officially Silver rank." Tabitha said and gave me a big hug.

"Thanks for the help, Tabitha. I'm glad you put up with all my questions."

"Hey, it's the least I can do. I'm going to get a big raise once you reach Silver."

Kurt looked at me and gave a cheesy grin and thumbs up, "I'll catch up and meet you out in the world, Syl! Once I'm Silver, I'm heading out. Try to leave some monsters for me to kill."

I laughed and gave him a hearty pat on the shoulder, "I'll tell them to look out for Dualblade Kurt."

"Damn right!"

The group laughed and also said their farewells. It was a three-day trip, and the group would likely stay in Kaerlin for a bit before returning. When I enquired what we were protecting, I could only groan at the response - slime and mana potions.

The merchant was a portly-looking man named Darius. He was well-mannered and seemed excited by having his caravan protected by Roderick and a rare elven adventurer. If I had my chimeric evolution before joining the guild, I could have created an amalgam disguise for myself and avoided a lot of attention.

'Well, I can always do that when interacting outside the guild.'

"Are bandits really going to want to steal slime?" I asked Roderick, who was seated next to me on one of the wagons.

There were four carriages, with ours at the front. Whitney and Dewi occupied the rear carriage. Evan, being a healer, shared one with one of the merchants in the center. Roderick was handling the horse since I had no experience handling animals.

"You'd be surprised, lass. Mana potions can get pricey if they are high quality. More mana means more healing, more spells, more everything. Nobles have their kids chug the things like water so that they can raise their magic skills."

I nodded at the explanation and made sure to keep watch. Perhaps I'd gain some experience with [Perception]?

"Keep your eye out, but I don't think we will see anything till tomorrow. Too close to town. So you can relax a bit." Roderick said.

It was boring, so I had plenty of time to practice [Mana Manipulation] while looking around. The occasional conversation with Roderick was welcome, and I was looking forward to camp tonight when I could discuss some magic with Dewi.

"So why are you out and about, if you don't mind me asking?"

I couldn't be honest here, but Gramps' suggestion did resonate with me, "I want to explore the world and fight a ton of interesting monsters. Learning more about magic seems interesting, so I might visit the guild that Dewi keeps going on about. I also want to go see the Dwarven Empire."

"That's quite the bucket list you've got there. Sounds like being an adventurer is the ticket to all of that. If you do visit the dwarves, a quick way to get into their good books is to offer them a good drink. The stronger, the better."

"Thanks. I appreciate all the advice you and your group have given me."

"I can't speak for the others, but I like raising new adventurers. It's why when I got asked to dial back on the adventuring, I knew raising the next generation would be my new goal."

"Like Kurt and myself?"

"Yeah, Kurt's getting there. Lad's certainly got the determination. I'd have him join our team officially if we weren't disbanding. Feels like a disservice to have him join only for a few months."

"That's a shame. Your group works well together."

"Yeah, but when we got together, we knew we all had greater ambitions than being adventurers in a small town. Dewi wants to join the Mages Guild as if that wasn't obvious. Evan's being recruited by one of the larger temples and wants to spread the healing around. Whitney's plan is private, so you'll have to ask her."

The rest of the day was uneventful, as Roderick had expected. We stopped to make camp. After showing me the supplies Tabitha had purchased for me, Roderick taught me the basics of setting up the small tent. I then had the group explain how they usually did watch rotations during the night to avoid ambushes.

'Well, when I'm solo, I'll just melt a hole to hide in. Much safer than all this.'