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Published at 26th of October 2022 07:35:32 AM


Chapter 76

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“Wait, is getting one Job so much of a difference?!” I asked, shocked at this revelation.

“I have only acquired two Jobs. [Mage], which is my current one, and [Caster], which is a prerequisite for the former. Each Job has a separate level which allows you to gain certain stats depending on your specific Job. I apologize for not informing you about this earlier, Lady Hestia,” Tasianna apologized with a bow while walking beside me. “Coincidentally, my [Mage] is max leveled, so I do require a Job change.”

“That is unfortunate, Miss Tasianna, ha ha ha,” agreeing with Tasianna’s statement, Mister Kushlek’zar laughed merrily beside me. “Lady Hestia, do you remember seeing ‘Job Skills’ and ‘Job Spells’ in my status board? Certain advanced Jobs give you skills and spells as long as you have it as your ‘Main Job.’”

“Mister Kushlek’zar, please, don’t imitate Tasianna. You don’t have to address me like that. I’m fine if you were to drop the ‘Lady’ party,” I insisted with exasperation. “Still … that does make me a bit envious.”

It felt like two or three hours had passed since we departed east from Carine village. We were traveling towards the location where we found Lorena, trying to use the clues she left during her chase to find the bandits. She ran without thinking of anything, so if we followed the tracks, we might find the enemy.

… Now, of course, all of this sounded wonderful. However, it still astounded me how my party bonded with the saurians so quickly. I mean, Mister Kushlek’zar did just drop the fact he knew I was a dragon out of nowhere. You would think we would end up in a fight, but the heated argument ended as quickly as dousing a fire with water.

See, my battle instincts immediately flared up once I heard his words, prompting me to prepare ten magic circles at point blank. Although I didn’t mean to, [Spark Flame Veil] activated due to my agitation, causing the surroundings to literally burn up from all the spark flames. The people around me couldn’t come closer, threatened by my zone of explosive scales.

Although it looked like I was blazing to fight, I actually wanted to run away from them. I saw those guy’s stats, so I knew that my current dragonewt form wouldn’t cut it if they were to fight me all at once. My stats were inferior and I felt an instinctual fear from Mister Kushlek’zar.

Not only was this guy an experienced magician with skills I’d never heard before but he was also a water mage. One of my biggest elemental weaknesses.

If we were to go up against him three versus one, I believed we could defeat him. Well, I wasn’t 100% sure since I’d never met a proper mage before. How would he fight us? It was too risky and I kinda did make a promise with Lorena to help her out, so I had to somehow wing the bandit subjugation. Wouldn’t be good if he slayed me like a monster hunter now.

Pretty impulsive, right? Well, that was exactly what Saori told me after Mister Kushlek’zar explained to us they had no ill intentions and were actually pretty elated to meet a dragon. In fact, their race, the saurians, considered levianewts and dragonewts as very, very indirect cousins due to their racial god Xohulotel.

A so called “ryuukoatl” or something like that. This ancestral god of the saurians was a “true dragonkin,” a creature at the same ranking as a dragon or leviathan. This massive serpent monster flew through the skies, bestowing the jungle where the saurians came from with bountiful blessings, until it one day disappeared. Apparently, that was when he ascended to godhood and became a subordinate god for Plesia.

Now, if I took their “true dragonkin” talk seriously then this Xohulotel couldn’t be a normal serpent. If you looked at Earth’s mythology on dragons then shouldn’t there be quite a few who fit this description?

There were the North European wyrm, lindwurm, and amphiptere, the Chinese Long, and the Japanese Ryuu. Even the Aztez’s quetzalcoatl. Upon another explanation, Mister Kushlek’zar explained they were feathered, skybound leviathans in a sense. There were plenty of them on the continent the saurians were born on. They lived amongst them, even if the majority were illmooded bullies.

Regardless, all that mattered was that the saurians weren’t our enemies. I had to quickly apologize to them as it would have felt too inappropriate if I hadn't.

Thankfully, building up the courage to dissolve that awkward situation wasn’t too bad. What awaited me afterwards was far worse—Saori’s scolding.

Verdammt nochmal, she gets scarier and scarier, the stronger she gets. Still, she’s right, I really should tone down my impulsiveness to avoid misunderstandings like with the wyverns…

“Haaaa…” I sighed in exasperation as I reflected on my behavior.

Noticing this, both Tasianna and Mister Kushlek’zar turned their heads, prompting the latter to ask me with curiosity, “Hmm? Is something the matter?”

“Ah, sorry about that. I was just thinking about what happened before. It's still irking me that you saw through my [Identity Blocker] so easily,” I complained to the elder scale.

I mean, [Identity Blocker] was level ten. TEN! It wasn’t the level that annoyed me, but the fact that my 1750 SP investment was completely fucking useless! I couldn’t level anymore, meaning I couldn’t earn more SP, until I evolve. This wouldn’t have been a big loss when I was still a level down.

“Hmm? I believe I explained everything to you, correct?” Mister Kushlek’zar stated with a finger on his chin. “About how [Identity Blocker] was a skill suited for the hectic field of battle, while its use will deteriorate once everything calms down. If I would have fought you, it would have taken me a few minutes to realize your true nature, Lady Dragoness, and in a fight to the death, every second is precious.”

“However, in that case, wouldn’t it be better to just completely hide your whole status board? It would be a contest between your [Identify] and my [Identity Blocker],” I argued back.

“Correct, Hestia. That is [Identity Blocker]’s true usage. Information is key and every second that you have to work without knowing what your opponent is planning is perilous. Besides sensitive titles or unique skills, only custom spells or abilities are worth hiding," Mister Kushlek’zar explained. “That is why, Miss Dragoness, I suggest that you and your companions issue an ID, post haste. If possible, get yourselves ones that allow you to hide certain information on them. Ahh, the wonders of Altrust’s technology astound me every time I hear about them.”

After Mister Kushlek’zar correctly identified me as a dragon, he also did the same with Tasianna, exposing that she wasn’t a wind elf. While there wasn’t much evidence for him to prove Saori was also a shapeshifter, he still was suspicious about it.

Asking him how he guessed it, he explained to me he had three reasons that pretty much confirmed his hypothesis.

First, it was something only a mage would be able to identify, and that would be my lack of [Mana Control], [Arcane Mind], and [Arcane Corruption Resistance]. Pretty embarrassing of me to forget this fact, but it was checkmate from the start here. All those skills were fused into [Draconic Magics].

[Mana Control] was needed to move your mana through your body, [Arcane Mind] allowed you to learn spells, and some sort of [Arcane Corruption Resistance] was something beginners like Saori always got after they started using magic to level up their skills. Without these, most people couldn’t become fully-fledged mages.

The second reason was my lack of “claws” and “fangs” skills. As I had the superior versions [Draconic Claws] and [Draconic Fangs], I couldn’t exactly show them as they, obviously, sounded pretty dragon-like.

Grazlahta, the green carnotaurus-looking saurian, mentioned how dangerous my claws looked. It would have been weird if I hadn’t use them once in my life yet, considering I looked 15. I would have gained the skills as I grew up.

And the last reason was that my job was “None.” Jobs were a natural part of life in Peolynca, as even farmers like Lorena had gained one or two over their lives naturally. Quests could give you experience or you could just kill a farm animal here or there, which meant even non-combatants could level up. As such, a 15-year-old like me having so many high-level skills without a Job was beyond suspicious.

Maybe it was possible or not, but Mister Kushlek’zar, a 76-year-old man, had never heard or seen something like this happen before. In fact, the moment you got your Job, you couldn’t remove it back to “None.” You could only switch them around.

He explained to me that humanoids like him depended on the Job system to level their skills up faster. Changing Jobs not only granted skill proficiency but also stat increases. Pretty nifty, right? For a monster, evolution handled all of it, but a dragonewt couldn’t evolve.

Now, I was a bit annoyed that these were the reasons for my failed disguise, but what infuriated me even further was the fact I sorta, kinda, maybe wasted my SP. Leaving [Identity Blocker Lv. 10] aside, didn’t the Job system literally mean I could level up lower tier skills by gaining certain Jobs? I understood they were necessary for my survival, but it felt like such a waste whenever I did a skill acquisition session!

… Fucking hell. Fucking hell. Verdammte Scheiße… I needed a moment, otherwise, I would explode here.

… ARGH, how much SP have I wasted, waaaaaaaaaaaaah!

“Anyways, anyways, so about the Job system … is it really that powerful as you made it to be?” While my inside screamed from my broken pride as a game, my outside kept the discussion going. This was a prime chance for me to gather information with somebody who could sympathize with my situation.

Nodding in confirmation, Mister Kushlek’zar began his explanation, “If evolution is what makes monsters into the indomitable beings that they are, then the Job system is what allows humanoid races to catch up to them. Stats, skill proficiency, and Job bonuses are what makes this system so important. A monster receiving the [Humanize] skill is rare, but seeing as you have a Job section in your Profile, you should be able to acquire one, young scale.”

“Mhmm,” I stared at him in wonder. “If that is true, then … doesn’t that mean that I can become even stronger without having to worry about evolving?”

“Ha ha ha, that is very much true, young scale,” Mister Kushlek’zar laughed merrily, finding joy in my excitement.

Enjoying how curious I was about it, the saurian continued laughing as he pulled out what seemed like a card from beneath his robes. Showing it to me, the first thing I thought was how much it resembled an ID card from Earth.

It was a cyan-colored card split into two sides. On the right side, you had his personal information like his name, level, Job, and age, while the left side was adorned by a beautiful emblem that depicted a trident jumping out of the ocean, piercing a fish in the sky.

From what I heard from Tasianna, an ID was a manatech like our party bracelets, a Peolyncian invention powered up by a mana battery to activate its System-like functions. Although I was unaware of how they were able to do it, I still found it pretty intriguing how you could fit anything into such a small, thin card.

I mean, this was a foreign technology in a world filled with mana and magic. Who wouldn’t want to know more about it? Although, maybe I shouldn’t reverse engineer it considering I had zero knowledge as an artificer—the official title people used for manatech engineers and manatechnicians.

“This is what an ID looks like. I will not pry on how and why your knowledge of society is so lacking. All you need to know is once you reach a town with access to a [Crystal of the Divine System], then you should issue IDs for all three of you. Your elven friend should know the importance.” Directing his eyes to Tasianna, Mister Kushlek’zar gave her a nod, signaling to her if she understood it. “I would recommend the town Firwood to the north of Carine Village. Friendly enough place. Has all the relevant global guilds, although, sadly, it doesn’t have a mages guild. Not good, since the kingdom forces mages to register themselves as a member.”

I didn’t exactly listen too intently since my curiosity was fully stolen away by how his ID’s emblem was changing form. It went from the trident to a bow and arrow and then into an owl. The first depicted his allegiance to the Tide Watchers, a sorta traveling warrior order from the levianewt country, Caedhul, the second his membership to the hunter’s guild, and the last belonged to the mage’s guild.

Driven by my want to learn, I reluctantly activated [Mana Eyes] for five seconds to grasp the mechanism of this object. What was revealed to me was well worth the headache I received from activating this taxing skill.

Once Mister Kushlek’zar’s mana flowed into the ID, the blue energy quickly joined together into one mana condensed area, most likely the mana battery, before being released in one direction like a river. Enveloping the emblem, the mana started to escape from the card as it activated the ID’s function, reforming it into a completely new emblem until all the mana was turned into small blue particles.

"Aside from my duty as a Tide Watcher, I am also members to the two adventurer guild— the hunter’s and mercenary’s,” Mister Kushlek’zar continued his explanation by also showing me the mercenary’s sword and axe emblem. “Mercs focus on dealings between humanoids, which include bounty hunting, caravan protection, or a simple hiring as an emergency shop clerk. Hunters specialized in monster hunting and material acquisition requests. Once you join either guild, you will officially be considered an ‘adventurer.’”

So, this is how our party will get money while traveling around, huh? Nice. This should help Saori and me naturalize ourselves into this world.

“I suggest you join one of them, as they provide official ID registrations. Once we finish this Quest, you will probably receive some money, but you will need even more if you wish to stay in a town or city.” Finally finished, Mister Kushlek’zar placed his ID back into his pocket and gave me a smile.

“Thank you very much, Mister Kushlek’zar. That was really informative,” I said with genuine gratitude. “Although, the first emblem on your ID … You told me that’s your Tide Watcher badge, right? What exactly do you do?”

“Oh, you mean the trident one? Imagine this. The trident flying out of the water represents how the members of this group would wander away from the realm of the Depth Goddess to travel the world to bring justice. Piercing the fish is a symbol of us performing this justice by any means possible," he explained. "To be more specific, we are the sister order of the Depth’s Guards, the primary faction of Plesia’s warrior order. While we travel the world’s continents, the Depth’s Guard protects her land and people in Caedhul and the oceans. Ha ha ha, saurian members are rare, I might say, since most are levianewts, nagas, or merfolks— Oh, I think your wolfkin friend is calling for us to hurry up.

As we were talking, we eventually reached the site where we found Lorena. Led by Saori’s nose, we made it back here at a good pace without needing to hurry up as we did this morning. Compared to us, the saurians had to carry around all their equipment, which included their cooking and camping tools. Although I suggested to them I could store everything in my storage, they refused.

They explained this was all part of their traditions, especially the giant crocodile-looking saurian, named Akasht, who felt threatened by me. It was his job to act as the pack mule and he took pride in being able to carry all the luggage of his fellow companions.

The saurians also explained that rushing the rescue Quest was unnecessary, arguing how the threat of winter would prevent any large-scale mobilizations from people like bandits. It was already hard to prepare winter rations for ordinary folk, but it was even harder for lawless people as they had to gather and hunt for a large community of backstabbers and belligerent fighters.

Mister Kushlek’zar said, “Most of these men only have respect for their leader while having little loyalty towards the group. Winter is harsh and every man must fight for himself.” According to him, it was normal for whole groups of bandits to fight over supplies, so it was very unlikely that a smart leader would relocate and risk desertion.

Saori argued with, “What about the kidnapped?” and “Shouldn’t they be aware that they are hunted?” but Mister Kushlek’zar quickly shot those down, too.

“As much as it pains me, the Tide Watchers cannot save everybody. We have our own duties and responsibilities so our safety must come first. Besides, I personally do not believe our targets will move any time soon. You remember the mercenary group Chief Colwyn mentioned? I have little faith the bandits hadn’t taken any casualties.”

Haste makes waste, as my dance instructor always told me. Sure, I promised Lorena but falling into a trap wasn't worth it. I could only hope Mister Kushlek’zar was correct with his assumption.

“Good work, Saori,” I told my friend. “I know we were here just this morning, but it’s still awesome that you found it in these woods. Your sense of smell must have gotten better, right?”

“Yeah, the more days pass, the better I get at detecting one scent among thousands. My new body is still growing, after all,” Saori replied, proudly tapping her nose. “Although, that meant being in the village was a bit tiring. You understand, right?”

Grimacing, I nodded my head in agreement. “The stink … well, I guess without a proper irrigation system, they had to throw the poop and pee somewhere. I’d just wish they’d dug a hole like when we do our ‘business.’”

I had a pretty well-developed nose but Saori’s was even better, seeing as she had [Primal Senses] and the body of a cadejo, a giant wolf monster. Although it was unpleasant due to how stinky Carine village was, we couldn’t do anything else but endure it.

I mean, we had to, uh, smell each other after our “business,” after all. It also didn’t help that nearly all of Saori’s body was covered in fur. The amount of times she had to ask Tasianna for water in a single day to clean herself was baffling.

Ahhh, having a good sense of smell is such a curse.

Anyway, Saori was able to detect remnants of Lorena’s scent around the area and managed to find a trail, which matched the vague directions Lorena gave us. They weren’t detailed enough for us to work with, so having Saori’s nose on our side was a godsend.

We continued as far as we could until the sky started to become orange. Knowing full well going any further today was foolish, all of us agreed on making camp for the night.

After taking out our cooking tools and a few ingredients we started preparing dinner, while the saurians prepared the tents. Luckily for us, Akasht carried an extra tent large enough for the three of us. No need to sleep under the stars tonight.

With the cooking finished, we began serving both warm tea and stew with meat kebab to everybody. Interesting to note, Tasianna was acting quite cheerful around the saurians, finding joy in the fact every single one of them was a follower of Plesia. Compared to her attitude with Lorena and the villagers, I could only say it was night and day

After filling a stone bow far larger than myself with stew, I carried it over to Akasht, the huge crocodile saurian.

… It probably would be weird to hear me have such a huge bowl ready to be used, huh? Well, I was curious if I could eat from it in my dragon form, but that, unfortunately, wasn’t as effective as just eating it as a dragonewt.

Anyway, interested in starting a conversation with him, I grinned widely, to emphasize my cuteness, before handing him his dinner. “Hey, Mister Akasht? Here is your stew. I hope you like it~”

“Tha … nk you … Mi … ss Dra … gon,” he thanked me slowly with a deep, bellowing voice. "… Mhmmm, gragk escliel saotl, higrm gomak es, shevak.”

Unable to understand what he just said, I could only tilt my head in confusion, however, that didn’t last long as one of the carnotaurus saurians came to help out. "Hey, young scale. He said, 'Mhmmm, this meal is nice, you are a good cook, Miss Dragon’ and I have to agree! ‘Cause this stuff is better than what Kush can make, ha!”

“Uhm, oh, Krim-Slak, right? Thank you for translating that for me,” I greeted the red saurian. “Is what he just said in your language?”

“Kri, young scale. Sarcosilians like Akasht are as intelligent as any other saurians, but unfortunately, they don’t sound too smart because their throat can’t pronounce Common tongue words. That’s why he speaks ‘Aelulash’ with us. It’s easier for him,” the elder scale explained to me with a full mouth, continuously consuming more stew despite speaking with me.

Ew.

“‘Aelulash?’ Is that your native tongue?” I asked, ignoring how disgusting his eating habits were.

“Kri, it’s the language of the continent we came from. As you might have heard from Kush, we aren’t Altrust natives,” Krim-lak stated, dropping his spoon and emptying his stew in one gulp. “We saurians come from over the oceans of the Goddess, from a jungle-filled place we call ‘Aelozonia.’ Giant trees filled with bountiful harvests of fruits and critters. Large lizard monsters roaming the earth called dinosaurs. Not to mention, bastard ryuukoatls making life even harder since we have to treat them like kings and queens. Ahhh, that is life, young scale, hahaha!”

I really had no idea if he liked his old life or not.

“Ha, but seeing how culturally and technologically different our two continents are was worth leaving it. We only got over to Altrust because a Caedhulen expedition team found our spawn-elders there and didn’t just kill them off, ahhahaha!”

Slamming his tail on the ground, Krim-Slak continued with a merry laugh, “You know, I gotta thank your wolfkin friend. After Kush became an official priest for the Depths Guards, he lost his touch as a hunter and tracker. Even as a Tide Watcher, he’s still too rusty, so Saori really helped us out here.”

“Oh, I did wonder why his evasion and tracking skills were so high, despite being a mage. Then again, that’s the same thing for me,” I remarked with a confused frown. “Oh yeah, I wanted to ask you about your race, Krim-Slak. Mister Kushlek’zar is a ‘Raptosilian’ and Mister Akasht is a ‘Sarcosilian,’ right?”

“Urgh, come on young scale, you could call me ‘mister,’ too. Or at least ‘elder scale’. Anything to show I’m older than you,” Krim-Slak requested with a sad expression, looking like he was joking a bit.

Sorry, Krim-Slak, but you lost most of my respect by speaking with your mouth full. I felt the spit hitting me, I justified myself, staying silent to signal the red saurian that I wouldn’t budge.

“Urgh … anyways, to answer your question, me and Grazlahta are ‘Carnosilians.’ Raptorsilian, carnosilian, and sarcosilian are the three saurian races. All of us have our own roles in saurian society,” he explained. “Raptosilians like Kush are responsible for hunting small fry and being priests for our God Xohulotel. Carnosilians like me are builders and heavy-duty artisans, although, don’t you dare underestimate us in a battle, girl, we fight with the ferocity of Aelozonia’s monster-infested jungles.”

Roaring out a war cry, Krim-Slak flaunted his muscle and power, releasing a blood-chilling aura as he stared at me with a bestial focus. While I knew he wasn’t serious about it, it was still incredibly intimidating and suffocating when another predator glared at you with unrestrained bloodthirst, baring his dinosaur fangs right in front of my face.

I couldn’t do anything but ready my claws and return his glare with a burning gaze, commanding him to back off by heating up the air around me.

“… Gooooood, I like those warrior eyes of yours, Hestia. You don’t need to fight but don’t show weakness in front of others when they challenge you. Mercs, hell, adventurers in general are rough. Most can’t even read. Age, appearance, and a general aura of professionality. Some can read the mood, but others are idiots, dragoness. They see a young beastmen girl, they will think you an easy target since it's hard to enforce the law in the wilds. Treat them like animals.” Krim-Slak tapped my shoulders with a menacing, but kind, grin.

Was that his way to give me a tip? Hmm … I guess this does serve as a warning. Better not drop my guard even if Firwood is a good place to start.

“Anyway, back to where I left off. The last are the sarcosilians, like Akasht over there,” he pointed at the slow eating hulk. “Transporters during peace, but unstoppable juggernauts during war. That’s why he didn’t agree with letting you carry his stuff. Those big guys take pride in being able to carry anything and everything. It’s even more meaningful when they carry the stuff of the priests they are assigned to guard.”

“Huh, you mean, Mister Kushlek’zar?” I asked, pointing at the elder scale mage who was merrily talking with Saori and Tasianna about cooking and tea making.

Nodding, Krim-slak continued, “Yeah, sarcosilians find the most joy if they are assigned to a raptorsilian priest, as we believe that serving a priest is akin to serving Plesia and Xohulotel. We carnosilians and sarcosilians aren’t the best mages, you see.”

“That so?” Understanding the situation, I turned towards Akasht who finished enjoying his meal. “I’m really sorry about what I suggested back then, Mister Akasht. I didn’t know your circumstances.”

“It … is … alright, Mi … ss Drago … n,” he growled slowly with a nod. “I carry … your stuff … if you … wa … nt.”

Allowing him to carry the massive stone bowl, I told him to put it next to the cauldron so I could give him a second serving. As I was about to follow the big guy, Krim-slak spoke to me, asking me for a favor, “Yo, young scale, if you get the chance after this Quest, do us old scales a favor and teach Kush this recipe. Guy isn’t the best cook and he tries his best to recreate Aelozonian dishes but without our continent’s spices, it ain’t gonna cut it. Save our tongues, young scale.”

Showing him a wry smile, all I could do was to slightly nod to his request, I’ll just leave this to Saori, I thought.

After filling Akasht’s bowl up, Mister Kushlek’zar suddenly called out for me to come to him. Sitting myself down on the cold ground, I waited for the elder scale to speak.

“Now, Hestia, I would first like to give my thanks for an impeccable dinner. ‘Never is a dinner dull, when one shares it with others’ especially when it can warm one up during these cold nights,” Mister Kushlek’zar started. “And now to the second part…as you’ve requested from me, let this old mage further your magic education.”

AbyssRaven She started out by teaching herself how to use magic, then learned some basics from Tasianna, but now? Now, she just met an actual mage. Let us go into the finer details of the magic system.

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