Syl

Chapter 92: Aftermath

Slowly, Odark regained consciousness. He clambered to his feet, dirt falling from his torso, and looked to see that his arm had regrown. Their underground cavern was eerily quiet, and he looked around at the massacre. Despite being healed, his body felt sluggish, a clear sign of low mana, so he activated [Blood Conversion] to burn vitality into mana and then nearly collapsed.

"Shit... I'm still infected by whatever she did to me."

He didn't understand what power she had used against him, but it drastically interfered with his [Regenerate] trait. He had dumped almost all of his trait points into improving the skill when he got it and then relentlessly trained it whenever possible, and it was currently sitting at level eight. But despite that, the poison stopped him. He cut a small gash into his arm and noticed his normal purplish blood was oozing a blackish substance.

He had thought himself invincible, [Blood Magic] combined with [Regenerate] created what he thought was an exploit to infinite mana, and never in his wildest ruminations did he ever consider something could directly stop his regeneration trait.

"I even confirmed that fire and cauterizing the wound wouldn't majorly interfere with my regeneration. What the hell did she do to me?" He asked himself. It was one of the first things he checked to ensure he didn't end up like the famous Hydra story he could vaguely recall.

He started walking towards his hut to grab his few possessions and scarce food supply. He threw all of it into the storage bag he was given, looted from a dead adventurer. He considered going to the butcher room and claiming what was there, but he knew the source of that meat - humans. It was a line he still had yet to cross due to the brief flashes of memory he still had of his past dull and ordinary life and his family that he couldn't even recall the faces of anymore.

"What the hell was she? [Identify] said she was an elf, but surely elves don't have scales, regeneration, and fire breathing. Even if this is a fantasy world, that's far too unbelievable. She even admitted to not really being an elf, so it must be some counter to [Identify], just like she countered my [Regenerate]." He started to question and ponder out loud. He always had better luck piecing things together when he used rubberducking.

He continued to throw whatever he could salvage into the bag, then started to head towards the exit. He looked back at the home he had helped create with feelings of regret and guilt. He wanted to vomit but managed to hold it back. Thoughts of revenge briefly entered his mind, but he dismissed it when he recalled Syl's genuine threat.

"Sounds like an excellent way to become charcoal. Salamander, huh? I'm guessing that's the fantasy version, not the amphibian. She's like an amalgamation of multiple things; I said chameleon because she hid her scales, and axolotl would explain regeneration, salamander for fire, and then she had poison, too. Something like a Komodo dragon or Gila monster?"

He sighed and started heading north. While he was upset at losing his family, if you could even call it that, at the moment, all he cared about was surviving another day. He knew south would lead to the city, and she had warned him that the adventurers were out for blood. He deeply regretted his decision, and ever since being reborn into this world, he felt like he had made one mistake after another. He had chosen the orcs because he knew they would have had his back and continued to look up to him, even if they disagreed with his morality. Syl was an unknown factor, and he had no assurances that she wouldn't just leave him to live or die by himself, so he had thought the orcs a safer option, but he had severely underestimated her.

"Hindsight is a bitch... I lost a possible ally because I was worried about being isolated, and now I'm truly alone."

"So? What do you think?" I asked Luke as I exited the room and showed off my newly donned armor.

"Amazing!" Luke exclaimed, eyes wide. "The best armor I've ever seen was made of Mythril, and this is my first time seeing Draconic armor."

"Lesser Draconic." I corrected.

"Even lesser Draconic is superior, in my opinion," Luke said, frowning slightly at my nitpick. "Mythril is probably slightly more durable, and they are both relatively equal in weight, but you'd lose out on the flexibility, and being from a monster, it has much higher natural mana retention."

"Mana retention... Right. I got a skill for that."

"Yes, that is one of the main benefits of getting enchanted equipment. You can strengthen the enchantment by reinforcing it with your mana, and it should prevent hostile mana from affecting it until it overpowers your own."

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I trickled my mana into the armor itself, and after overcoming a small barrier, it suddenly drank in my mana like parched earth. I had to assume the barrier was either Thern's mana or the crafters, who were likely testing the armor before finalizing the product. Finally, I had found a use for [Mana Infusion] other than when I pretended to be an elemental.

"I have got to thank Thern for this," I said proudly.

"You'll have to come tomorrow. Today's his day off."

"Huh... I wonder what he does on his days off."

"Mister Thern usually goes on some small quests. He says fighting monsters gets his blood pumping after sitting still for so long reading and enchanting."

"That explains why he quit his enchanting job and joined the guild." I chuckled.

Luke returned to his duties after confirming that I no longer needed his help. I decided to head towards the crafting section and start buying one of everything for mimicry purposes. The crafters were confused but wouldn't complain about a paying customer. I purchased various sets of adventuring equipment, from robes to leathers to even some plate armor. I also asked every smith and metalworker if they had any puzzles or locks and bought one from each of them. A few were curious, while the higher-level ones gave a knowing smile.

After that and avoiding recruiting adventuring parties, I finally headed toward the inn. Upon entering, I noticed a loud group of familiar faces seated at a table.

"Never again! That was the most boring experience of my life." Dewi said, taking a long swig of his drink.

"Boring, but the pay was good, at least." Whitney chuckled.

I approached the table and smiled, "Good to see you're finally back."

"There's our wandering elf!" Whitney said happily.

"You've certainly been busy. Is that enchanted armor you're wearing?" Roderick asked curiously.

"Yeah, I had a quest to kill a salamander, and Thern and Luke convinced me to have it made into a set of armor."

"Ah! I wanted to do that quest..." Dewi complained, "It would have been an epic battle of fire versus fire!"

"Sorry, Dewi, but I think that thing was outright immune to fire." I chuckled, "I had a tough time even fighting it with [Water Magic], which I was told was its weakness."

"Well, not with that attitude. I'm sure I could have found a way," Dewi grumbled.

"I'm sorry. He's annoyed that he hasn't gotten to explode anything for days." Roderick apologized.

I chuckled and joined the group for their late lunch.

"So, what have you been up to?" Whitney asked curiously, "I can see you've progressed rapidly as usual."

"While you were gone, I cleaned out a mine of spiders, elementals, and the salamander. After that, I took on a quest to kill a plant horror, which led to me finding an underground orc burrow and killing their chieftain."

My brief explanation clearly was insufficient, and soon after, I was pressed to give more details. I entertained the group by providing a more detailed retelling of the events and what happened. Obviously, I glossed over anything slime-related and avoided mentioning Odark.

"Now that is the adventurer's life," Roderick said enviously.

"Regretting your future desk job before it's even started?" I teased.

"You've been hanging around Lisa too much," Roderick said with a chuckle.

"So, where have you been?" I asked.

"Destroying an entire smuggling ring," Whitney said with a grin. "Remember those bandits that attacked us on the way here?"

I nodded, and Whitney continued the story.

"Well, it turns out there's been a substantial uptick in banditry, but only in the south as if they are targeting only this one trade route."

"But, not only was it this one route, but only specific merchants as well," Roderick added.

"That's suspicious," I commented.

"Indeed. Which is why we investigated and uncovered a large smuggling operation for mana potions," Whitney continued.

"It was so boring!" Dewi interrupted, "The single moment of fun I had was burning down their hideout..."

"Other than the battle against the leader and his goons, it was probably something Whitney should have done alone, to be fair..." Evan pointed out.

"So? What happened?" I asked.

"Well, a particular family from our hometown wanted to monopolize the trade. If you weren't distributing through them, you'd find your goods stolen and sold on the black market." Roderick continued.

"It was a long job, but we managed to find their hideout, claim a lot of incriminating evidence, and destroy their operation." Whitney grinned. "These guys will be returning home, but I'll be sticking around to finalize some more details and eventually heading towards the capital to investigate further under an official request from the Merchants Guild."

"Yeah, Whitney has entered the big leagues with this request," Evan said, and Roderick nodded along.

"Congratulations! I hope you'll let me buy a round of drinks to celebrate?"

"Gladly!" Whitney beamed, and Roderick placed the order.

"Wait, when did you become a Sorcerer?" Dewi suddenly blurted out.

"Ha! I was waiting for you to notice, but you kept sulking." Whitney mocked.

"I wanted to see if I was missing out on anything from a pure caster class, but I plan to swap back."

"No," Dewi said, frowning. "Well, you can, but at least get Sorcerer to ten before you do. Trust me on this."

"Alright. I'm guessing you're going to be cryptic again about it."

"Of course. Why ruin the surprise?" He grinned, "So, did you get anything cool from Sorcerer?"

"So far, the best thing I got was [Mana Conception]."

"So early? You must really be tinkering with your spells a lot." Dewi said, rubbing his chin.

"I also got this," I said, casting [Icicle] above my open palm.

"Now that is cool!" Dewi said with a grin, "Pun, fully intended!"

Everyone at the table groaned.