Syl

Chapter 93: Catching Up

"Okay, okay. Jokes aside, [Ice Magic] is impressive, and you're close to your next ascension point." Dewi said, faking an apology over his terrible pun.

"Yes. If I'm lucky, I hope to get [Lightning Magic] next."

Dewi whistled through his teeth, "You and me both... Probably one of the few ones that matches my fiery personality. Although I'll probably pick up [Water Magic] if [Lightning Magic] isn't on my list and hope it's there if I ever get to thirty."

I nodded along. I had already pieced this together from prior conversations without asking it directly, and this confirmed my theory that you couldn't control your choice of ascension perks. On one hand, it made sense; otherwise, you'd have everyone picking something crazy like Lightning affinity as soon as they reached level ten. While I could understand the Gods wanting to add an element of randomness to it, it only further dissuaded humans from picking race levels as they weren't even sure if they'd get what they wanted reaching those ascension milestones.

'I wonder if I should take notes of my thoughts to give to Gramp next time, although perhaps he's already reading them.'

"Please, no magic talk at the table," Whitney grumbled.

We continued to catch up and conversed about my promotion to Gold.

"It sucks we are seen as your sponsors. Otherwise, we could have done a dungeon together." Whitney lamented.

"Yeah, that would have been fun. Although no reason we can't do one together afterward." Roderick added, "But the guild needs proof that you can work on an impromptu team. There are huge expectations for Golds, such as getting recruited to repel nation-level threats."

"Are you going as a caster or a rogue?" Whitney asked.

"Caster, surely. You'd greatly impress your evaluators if you can get your [Ice Magic] up to a decent level beforehand." Dewi said.

"Lisa suggested I go as both, truly flexing my hybrid role."

"That's good advice, although I think you're leaning more heavily on magic right now, right?" Roderick asked.

"I bought some locks and puzzles to level up [Rogue Expertise], and I've also banked quite a lot of skill points."

"Good girl." Whitney grinned, "Perhaps we could do some [Perception] training. Hell, if your [Stealth] skill is high enough, you could even help me get some valuable experience."

"We've got to do some magic practice as well. I want to see what you've been tinkering with to have earned [Mana Conception] already."

"You're making me feel left out. The best I could offer is some first-aid training since you don't have a Holy affinity." The usually quiet Evan said with a chuckle.

"You can join me in feeling left out." Roderick laughed, "The best I could offer is some basic cooking or party leadership, and the latter could get her in trouble with whichever party she joins if she questions the party leader's judgment with my sensibilities."

"And the former could lead to her giving them food poisoning if she doesn't invest the points in it." Dewi joked.

"Yeah, I prefer eating rather than cooking. Also, I'm already potentially fulfilling two roles; adding more to my plate would make me stand out even more than I already am."

"Why wouldn't you want to stand out?" Dewi asked.

"All the attention can be a little grating... Especially all the stares."

"Right..." Evan nodded, "Elves are basically a mystery to most of us; I can't even imagine all the unwanted attention."

"And it's not like you can just hide your ears, that's gotta suck," Whitney said.

"Well, assuming you ever go to the capital, it should tone down a lot."

"I'll add it to my list of places to visit. Right after visiting the Dwarves and then Keld."

"That's quite the list of holiday destinations. It sounds like the adventurer life suits you well," Roderick said.

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"Definitely!" I cheered, raising my mug.

After finally retiring to my room, I wasn't ready for bed yet, so I pulled out all the puzzles and locks I had purchased and worked through them. I put the ones I couldn't solve aside and marked them while I devoured the ones I solved without issue. I'd planned to keep the hardest ones for repeated practice. Creating mimicked tools worked out spectacularly for lockpicking, as I could feel the sensation of the lock, and it gave an unforeseen bonus that real tools wouldn't.

When I woke up and finished my standard routine, I traveled downstairs and sat at a table, continuing my practice while waiting for Whitney to rise. The first-time bonus was no joke; I had even gained a level when Whitney finally came down. I theorized I was likely even getting some perfection bonuses thanks to the advantage of my unique tools.

Whitney nodded in approval of my technique after slowly recovering from her hangover with some food. The rest of the gang eventually came down, and Dewi grumbled about my choice of roguery over wizardry. I promised him some of my time tomorrow, which caused him to relent.

Before we started our training, Whitney took me to a few of the smiths outside the guild, where I could purchase a few extra locks and puzzles. Then she explained how we would be training, which sounded like a more intense game of hide and seek. We would be using rooftops and alleyways to sneak up on one another and try to steal a small bell tied to the back of our belts. As a handicap, Whitney had to steal two bells from me. The goal was to train [Perception], [Vanish], and [Rogue Expertise] all at once.

While Whitney wouldn't gain much experience in [Stealth] due to my low level in [Perception], my high levels in [Vanish] would help her with [Perception], which was her real goal. It was becoming challenging for her to train it reliably in this region, as she would need to seek out more dangerous monsters.

Our rogue battle was undoubtedly interesting, and I had to admit I was finding it fun. Although Whitney had a mischievous streak that was making itself apparent in her flaunting skills, she would often poke my side or give me small pinches before absolutely vanishing. When I finally caught her unaware, I returned this cheeky endeavor by giving her a poke with a cold but not dangerous level of [Cryo Slime]. She yelped in surprise, causing a bunch of unaware civilians to stare at her outburst, and her face flushed red. My prank had clearly gone too far as she chased me with a malevolent glare.

"That armor is very nice. It's actually making me have to work to notice you." During our lunch break, Whitney commented, "I might need to consider getting myself something with the enchantment."

"With how hard it already is for me to detect you, I can't say I think you need the extra help," I replied honestly.

"Yeah, but some monsters have some weird, extraordinary senses. It never hurts to be extra careful; I actually have a skill to minimize my smell, as it's one of the most common ways for monsters to detect you."

"Let me guess, air affinity?"

"Yeah. Otherwise, I would have recommended it to you, although, to be honest, if not for your armor, I would swear you have no scent at all, and even that's extremely hard for me to pick out unless I'm right up against you."

'We slimes are probably the cleanest things ever, and since I can spotlessly clean my armor by giving it a dissolving slime bath, I bet nothing could be cleaner,' I thought to myself.

We continued our training game until late into the evening when I suddenly failed to spot Whitney a single time. Even trying to use [Thermal Vision] gave me nothing; it was like she didn't exist at all. After numerous defeats, she finally revealed that she had been hiding her cards a little and that, like me, she also had an upgraded version of [Stealth] called [Shadow Stealth].

"It's a bit more conditional than yours. As long as I'm in shadows or the cover of darkness, I get massive boosts to stealth, and it practically eliminates my presence."

"Eliminating your presence is certainly a good way to describe it."

"Unfortunately, I can't turn it off now, so let's finish this with some traps," Whitney suggested, and I nodded.

This was where I learned that Whitney had some trapmaking skills. She set up some relatively harmless traps for me to train with in disarming and spotting. Once she was satisfied with my progress, she led me to her room, where she pulled out a large storage bag and an ornate gilded chest.

"This is the reason most dungeon groups fail," Whitney said while gesturing to the chest.

"Is this a metaphor for greed or something?" I asked.

"Ha! That's a good one. Why don't you examine this one closely? But do not open it."

I carefully examined it, and after some intense concentration, I finally noticed some oddities along the chest opening and hinges.

"I think it's trapped?" I asked expectantly, pointing out my two observations.

"Correct, and this is how we Rogues earn our keep in dungeons." Whitney said with a smile, "The dungeons will prey on our natural greed and expectation of riches and often trap chests; it's your duty to identify them and either disarm them or determine if it is safe to bring the chest along with if it's too difficult to disarm yourself."

"Rather nasty and insidious," I commented.

"They really can be, so it pays to be safe rather than sorry. This one used to release poison gas, but I've removed the canister, so it's good for practice since it rearms itself upon closing." She explained, giving a pat on the chest lid, "I've unfortunately long outgrown it, so I'm probably going to donate it to the guild so Tabitha can have any aspiring rogues train with it."

Whitney was a great person, willing to share knowledge and help her fellow adventurers. I hoped I'd be able to find a monster with the [Eagle Vision] trait she wanted on the floating island, then show it to her and hopefully repay some of her generosity. I at least offered to buy her dinner and drinks for now; it was the least I could do for such a kind person.

She spent the last moments of the evening giving me a thorough rundown on spotting and disarming the traps for the chest. While I didn't gain any skill levels despite her tutoring bonus, I felt I was on the verge of achieving another in both very shortly.

Today was a great day.