Alice getting tested
After our … scout flight and taking care of the biggest threat, we were having our lunch break, while we were also going over what monsters we should hunt.
Because the guild master, who had actually somehow gotten over the A-rank monster, asked for it, I let Alice take charge of deciding what monsters will be hunted. Apparently this was going to be a part of her rank-up exam.
“I think these monsters should be hunted.” Alice said, pointing out a few locations on the map, which Goblin Calligrapher had drawn before we began our break.
“Good. What do you think about these?” The GM asked.
“... are they? I don’t think they are a problem, right? They are quite far from any major roads and villages.” Alice answered.
“Correct. But think about this. What was here?”
“... there? The A-rank monster was there, right? But Brian took it down already, so why?”
“Exactly. The major monster which was calling that area its own has been defeated, what do you think will happen?”
“... I … I’m not sure.” Alice answered meekly.
“Other monsters will likely try to take over the control of that area. These orcs, these forest tigers, maybe even this imp group might head there. And that will result in a fight. What do you think will happen then?”
“Won’t they just kill each other? Or maybe one group will win and take over that area?” Alice theorized.
“Possibly, but one group also might retreat. And if these tigers retreat, where do you think they will end up?”
“... close to the road?”
“Correct.” The GM confirmed.
“So we should take them down?”
“No. Again, you are thinking too simply. The D-rank tigers are a smaller threat, their territory is already between the road and the area where the sword-horn lived and we have plenty of power available, so what do you think we should take down?”
“... the orcs then?”
“Yes. Now, what do you think will happen then?”
“... the tigers and the imps will fight for this area, right? And the tigers will win?”
“Yes. That is the likely outcome. And that would result in the tigers moving further away from the road, making the road safer.” The GM concluded.1
“... I see.” Alice said, as she wrote down a bunch of things into her green covered notebook.
From that point on, I let Alice take charge of the quest. Sure I was still flying Big Core, but that was all I did. Letting Alice point out the next points where we would go, and letting her take down the monsters, either solo, or with Ria and Paulina’s help. She did summon Getsu Fuhma to help her out one time, but that is still solo. Kind of.
Spoiler
None of the monsters stood too much of a chance. Even the C-rank orcs were quickly taken down by Alice and Ria. The two of them are really growing in power so quickly. I remember when we took on that orc hunting mission with Saber Fang. Back then, Alice’s spells really didn’t hurt them that much, but now she could pierce them with one dark spear. They might not die in one hit, depending on where the spear landed, but they still took major damage from each shot. So I guess you could say that she has enough power to pierce their defenses.
In total, she hunted 7 orcs, 9 imps, 5 forest deer and two C-rank snakes, called black snakes. Yes, they are in fact black in color. How did you guess? They are quite fast and have lethal poison, so getting bitten is extremely bad, unless you carry an antidote with you. Some call them the practice before fighting wyverns, as with wyverns you also have to look out for the poison, except that from wyverns it comes from the tail, not the fangs. And wyverns fly.
Also, after the first time, I made sure that Alice had to drag the corpses to the teleportation beam before I stored them in storage, just because she was “having it too easy”, according to the GM. Well, if she had a large magic bag, she could use that.
After our return trip, we got down from Big Core and drove Overdrive to the guild to recap the quest. Ria actually offered to ride on the roof of Overdrive to give Alice and Paulina more space, but the two of them said it was fine, so we were all inside. And at that point I would have just summoned a second one and let Ria and Paulina take that one.
At the guild, we were guided straight into the GM’s office. We got a few looks from the adventurers that had returned already, but nothing more than that.
“Now, first of all. Miss Watchman. I believe that you have the knowledge and power required of a C-rank adventurer.”
“T-thank you.”
“However, you seem to rely too much on Brian. You struggle to take command unless he orders you to. This in itself isn’t always a bad thing, as it doesn’t take away from your good qualities, but it might cause problems in emergencies, if you have to take command in an unexpected situation. And it is something you should work on, as you might not get approved to B-rank unless you can act as a party leader. But that isn’t an issue for now. I’ll fill up your paperwork and you can take it to one of the receptionists. They will update your guild card.”
“I - yes. Thank you. I’ll do my best in the future.”
“Now, as for you.” The GM said as he turned his gaze to me.
I purposefully made a face, trying to have that ‘What, Me?’ look.
“Don’t make that face. You know exactly what I mean. … hah. What am I to do with you?”
“Nothing.” I offered.
“Nothing? How can I just ignore what happened?”
“Question, did anyone know about the sword-horn bull? Probably not, right? Just based on the fact that you didn’t know of it. So if no one knew about it, why do you have to report about it?”
“... haaah. Fine. I’ll see if there will be any reports coming in. But note that if any do, I will be reporting this to the higher ups.”
“That’s not what I actually meant. I meant that you should just report what happened to the higher ups as I know you have to do that. And just not tell anyone else anything, assuming that no one knows about it to begin with.” I explained. “That way, there will be no rumors going around about it, right? People will just assume that you were able to force yourself to observe us, like your assistant tried. Sometimes not telling people the truth is for the best.”
“Hmm. I suppose you have a point. But what about the corpse of that monster? Don’t you want to sell it?”
“I could, but I kind of want to keep it for an experiment. At least some parts of it. And I kind of feel like I should give the monster core to a certain noble because of the core he let me use.” Yeah I know. An A-rank core isn’t really a replacement for an S-rank core, but at least it can be a placeholder, until I find an S-rank monster.
“Are you sure?” Paulina asked. “That thing is worth a lot of money.”
“About keeping all of it, or giving the core to Christina?” I asked. “Well, I could sell some of it, but I’d at least keep the core and the hide. As I said, I want the core for your sister and the hide for my own experiments.” To be specific, for the forge project. If I do make a forge in a space isolated factory room, I’ll need materials. And A-rank monster hide should be great for that. I can make my own version of what is being made for Ria and I.
“Well, I won’t tell you what to do with your monster corpse.” The GM said. “But even if you do have … what did you call it? Inventory? Won’t it go bad?”
“It might, it might not. I’m willing to take that chance.” I answered vaguely.
“... if you change your mind, we will be happy to negotiate a price for it.” The GM offered. “Now off with you, before you break my sense of reality any more.”
I got up and we all left the room.
“See you later.”
After that, we quickly visited the receptionist, so she could update Alice’s card to C-rank. Then we sold all of the monsters she hunted. In total, she got 101 gold coins for them. A good chunk of money. She gave me 25 gold for transport and butchery fees, Ria 15 gold for her help dealing with the snakes and orcs. And Paulina 10 gold for her part in hunting the orcs.
I have to say, it really isn’t worth it to hunt B-rank monsters. They just aren’t worth the threat level they have. I guess the quest reward for them is higher, so maybe that will make up for it, but the materials just aren’t worth the increased risk factor.
Next stop before returning home was the armor store. We had gotten that letter yesterday and I even asked the maids to write up a response, so we had to visit.
“Welcome. Oh, it's you. And Lady Paulina. Welcome.” The female dwarf was holding down the front of the store. “Miss, how has the cloak been serving you?” She asked Alice, referring to the mage’s cloak she bought from here previously. Well technically I paid for it, but anyway. Alice should now have money, so I could ask her to pay me back, but I kind of want to find out if she realizes herself that she should do that.
“I really like it. It's really nice.” Alice answered.
“Glad to hear it has been serving you well.” The dwarf said, walking to us and taking a good look at the cloak. “Hmm. Minor damage only. Good. Have you fought anything strong after you got it?”
“We did fight a hydra a few days ago.” Alice answered.
“A hydra? You are the ones that took it down?2 I didn’t know you were of that high of a rank. I would have recommended something more than that had I known.”
“Do you have something like that?” Alice asked, likely feeling the burn from all of that money she has earned from both today and the hydra.
“No, not on hand. It would have to be a custom order.” The dwarf answered.
“Okay. Then I’ll keep this for now. I was also thinking of visiting that other store you recommended.” Alice said.
“Be sure to tell them Atrea sent you.” The dwarf lady, possibly named Atrea, reminded her.
“Now then. To what you came here for.” She said, walking back behind the counter. She then opened a large closet and pulled out two leather jackets. Well, it is actually armor, not a jacket, but it does look like a jacket. “Miss, you first.” She said, looking at Ria.
Ria took a step forward and tried on her armor.
“... alright. This is good. The sleeves are just a bit too tight. We’ll have to loosen them up when we install the metal plates. That will also give some more space for the gauntlets…” She said, as she was looking at Ria. “Move your arms around a bit. See how it feels.”
She did as instructed, moving a bit and throwing a few punches.
“Does anything feel off? Anything too tight?” Atrea asked.
“No. It is loose, rather than tight.” Ria answered.
“Good to hear. But it should feel just a bit loose at the moment, as it will get a bit tighter as the metal parts get added.” Atrea said. “But it does seem to fit you nicely, so we can just keep going.” She said, and helped Ria take off the jacket. “Now, your turn sir.”
I took my turn to try on my ‘jacket’.
“Hmm. Yes. It seems to fit just fine.” Atrea said as she was taking a look. “Move around a bit, try how it feels.”
I did as ordered and swung my arms around a bit. The armor didn’t limit my movements basically at all, so that is great. I thought it was perfect, until I ran into a little problem.
“... I can’t roll up my sleeve.” I said, as I tried to clear my terminal so I could activate my duel disk. The leather was a bit thick, so rolling it wasn’t easy.
“Your sleeve? Why… oh? That thing your terminal turns into. I’m so sorry. I forgot to consider it as you didn’t have it out when I measured you.” Atrea apologized when she realized the mistake we made. I can’t really even blame her, as I should have considered it myself when she measured me. “How should we deal with that?”
“We could just cut off that part of the sleeve?” I offered, recalling how my noble’s clothing will actually only have elbow length left sleeve, so my terminal will be visible for all to see.
“That will simply not do. Please give me a moment. I’ll …”
Our final choice for the fix was to cut a slit into the sleeve which my duel disk could extend out from. That way, I could both have a full sleeve protecting me, while also being able to bring out my duel disk when I need it. It would affect the defense a bit, but my terminal under said sleeve should make up for it.
“I think we will have them finished in just about a week. I’ll be seeing you then.” Atrea saw us off.
We returned to the manor and made our report there as well. I was quickly questioned about the A-rank bull, but as soon as I showed him the monster core from it, Tahlia had dismantled the monster btw, he believed that I was telling the truth. He offered to buy the core from me, but I just told him that I was planning on giving it to Christina to make up for the one used in my dungeon.
Alice also got her reward card. Dark Blade. She actually wanted Dark Blade the Dragon Knight, but I told her it would be useless for her without Dark Blade, so she agreed to get it first.
Spoiler
Also, in case you were wondering, I’m not actually going to give her a toploader Polymerization. When she has all the parts for the summon, I’ll either give her a one-time use Poly, or just let her borrow a toploader Poly. They have the effect outside of my monsters, so I don’t want Alice to have one. Not because I don’t trust her, but because I wouldn’t trust anyone with that power.
After that, the rest of the day was practice time. Magic practice with Cosmo Queen, telekinesis practice with Paulina, Ria was working hard on both controlling blood iron and Vampiric Body Modification with Grimson and Scarlet Scourge, and Alice was working hard with Mana, trying to learn a new spell. All around, all of us were trying to get stronger.
Well, I’m not. I’m just having fun. I highly doubt that I’ll ever be able to exceed the power of my most powerful summons, so I’ll just focus on utility techniques instead of straight power.
But still, I should practice swordsmanship again. Maybe tomorrow can be a combat practice day. Ria can learn some punching techniques from one of my monsters, while I practice with the sword. We didn’t have anything planned for tomorrow, so yeah.
Of course, the day ended with level ups. That is the norm, right. For myself, I got one more level into Mana Control. I really think I might need it for learning Space Magic, so yeah. Just one more, then tomorrow can be Unity. For Ria, I leveled up Unarmed Combat Technique.
Alice getting tested
After our … scout flight and taking care of the biggest threat, we were having our lunch break, while we were also going over what monsters we should hunt.
Because the guild master, who had actually somehow gotten over the A-rank monster, asked for it, I let Alice take charge of deciding what monsters will be hunted. Apparently this was going to be a part of her rank-up exam.
“I think these monsters should be hunted.” Alice said, pointing out a few locations on the map, which Goblin Calligrapher had drawn before we began our break.
“Good. What do you think about these?” The GM asked.
“... are they? I don’t think they are a problem, right? They are quite far from any major roads and villages.” Alice answered.
“Correct. But think about this. What was here?”
“... there? The A-rank monster was there, right? But Brian took it down already, so why?”
“Exactly. The major monster which was calling that area its own has been defeated, what do you think will happen?”
“... I … I’m not sure.” Alice answered meekly.
“Other monsters will likely try to take over the control of that area. These orcs, these forest tigers, maybe even this imp group might head there. And that will result in a fight. What do you think will happen then?”
“Won’t they just kill each other? Or maybe one group will win and take over that area?” Alice theorized.
“Possibly, but one group also might retreat. And if these tigers retreat, where do you think they will end up?”
“... close to the road?”
“Correct.” The GM confirmed.
“So we should take them down?”
“No. Again, you are thinking too simply. The D-rank tigers are a smaller threat, their territory is already between the road and the area where the sword-horn lived and we have plenty of power available, so what do you think we should take down?”
“... the orcs then?”
“Yes. Now, what do you think will happen then?”
“... the tigers and the imps will fight for this area, right? And the tigers will win?”
“Yes. That is the likely outcome. And that would result in the tigers moving further away from the road, making the road safer.” The GM concluded.1
“... I see.” Alice said, as she wrote down a bunch of things into her green covered notebook.
From that point on, I let Alice take charge of the quest. Sure I was still flying Big Core, but that was all I did. Letting Alice point out the next points where we would go, and letting her take down the monsters, either solo, or with Ria and Paulina’s help. She did summon Getsu Fuhma to help her out one time, but that is still solo. Kind of.
Spoiler
None of the monsters stood too much of a chance. Even the C-rank orcs were quickly taken down by Alice and Ria. The two of them are really growing in power so quickly. I remember when we took on that orc hunting mission with Saber Fang. Back then, Alice’s spells really didn’t hurt them that much, but now she could pierce them with one dark spear. They might not die in one hit, depending on where the spear landed, but they still took major damage from each shot. So I guess you could say that she has enough power to pierce their defenses.
In total, she hunted 7 orcs, 9 imps, 5 forest deer and two C-rank snakes, called black snakes. Yes, they are in fact black in color. How did you guess? They are quite fast and have lethal poison, so getting bitten is extremely bad, unless you carry an antidote with you. Some call them the practice before fighting wyverns, as with wyverns you also have to look out for the poison, except that from wyverns it comes from the tail, not the fangs. And wyverns fly.
Also, after the first time, I made sure that Alice had to drag the corpses to the teleportation beam before I stored them in storage, just because she was “having it too easy”, according to the GM. Well, if she had a large magic bag, she could use that.
After our return trip, we got down from Big Core and drove Overdrive to the guild to recap the quest. Ria actually offered to ride on the roof of Overdrive to give Alice and Paulina more space, but the two of them said it was fine, so we were all inside. And at that point I would have just summoned a second one and let Ria and Paulina take that one.
At the guild, we were guided straight into the GM’s office. We got a few looks from the adventurers that had returned already, but nothing more than that.
“Now, first of all. Miss Watchman. I believe that you have the knowledge and power required of a C-rank adventurer.”
“T-thank you.”
“However, you seem to rely too much on Brian. You struggle to take command unless he orders you to. This in itself isn’t always a bad thing, as it doesn’t take away from your good qualities, but it might cause problems in emergencies, if you have to take command in an unexpected situation. And it is something you should work on, as you might not get approved to B-rank unless you can act as a party leader. But that isn’t an issue for now. I’ll fill up your paperwork and you can take it to one of the receptionists. They will update your guild card.”
“I - yes. Thank you. I’ll do my best in the future.”
“Now, as for you.” The GM said as he turned his gaze to me.
I purposefully made a face, trying to have that ‘What, Me?’ look.
“Don’t make that face. You know exactly what I mean. … hah. What am I to do with you?”
“Nothing.” I offered.
“Nothing? How can I just ignore what happened?”
“Question, did anyone know about the sword-horn bull? Probably not, right? Just based on the fact that you didn’t know of it. So if no one knew about it, why do you have to report about it?”
“... haaah. Fine. I’ll see if there will be any reports coming in. But note that if any do, I will be reporting this to the higher ups.”
“That’s not what I actually meant. I meant that you should just report what happened to the higher ups as I know you have to do that. And just not tell anyone else anything, assuming that no one knows about it to begin with.” I explained. “That way, there will be no rumors going around about it, right? People will just assume that you were able to force yourself to observe us, like your assistant tried. Sometimes not telling people the truth is for the best.”
“Hmm. I suppose you have a point. But what about the corpse of that monster? Don’t you want to sell it?”
“I could, but I kind of want to keep it for an experiment. At least some parts of it. And I kind of feel like I should give the monster core to a certain noble because of the core he let me use.” Yeah I know. An A-rank core isn’t really a replacement for an S-rank core, but at least it can be a placeholder, until I find an S-rank monster.
“Are you sure?” Paulina asked. “That thing is worth a lot of money.”
“About keeping all of it, or giving the core to Christina?” I asked. “Well, I could sell some of it, but I’d at least keep the core and the hide. As I said, I want the core for your sister and the hide for my own experiments.” To be specific, for the forge project. If I do make a forge in a space isolated factory room, I’ll need materials. And A-rank monster hide should be great for that. I can make my own version of what is being made for Ria and I.
“Well, I won’t tell you what to do with your monster corpse.” The GM said. “But even if you do have … what did you call it? Inventory? Won’t it go bad?”
“It might, it might not. I’m willing to take that chance.” I answered vaguely.
“... if you change your mind, we will be happy to negotiate a price for it.” The GM offered. “Now off with you, before you break my sense of reality any more.”
I got up and we all left the room.
“See you later.”
After that, we quickly visited the receptionist, so she could update Alice’s card to C-rank. Then we sold all of the monsters she hunted. In total, she got 101 gold coins for them. A good chunk of money. She gave me 25 gold for transport and butchery fees, Ria 15 gold for her help dealing with the snakes and orcs. And Paulina 10 gold for her part in hunting the orcs.
I have to say, it really isn’t worth it to hunt B-rank monsters. They just aren’t worth the threat level they have. I guess the quest reward for them is higher, so maybe that will make up for it, but the materials just aren’t worth the increased risk factor.
Next stop before returning home was the armor store. We had gotten that letter yesterday and I even asked the maids to write up a response, so we had to visit.
“Welcome. Oh, it's you. And Lady Paulina. Welcome.” The female dwarf was holding down the front of the store. “Miss, how has the cloak been serving you?” She asked Alice, referring to the mage’s cloak she bought from here previously. Well technically I paid for it, but anyway. Alice should now have money, so I could ask her to pay me back, but I kind of want to find out if she realizes herself that she should do that.
“I really like it. It's really nice.” Alice answered.
“Glad to hear it has been serving you well.” The dwarf said, walking to us and taking a good look at the cloak. “Hmm. Minor damage only. Good. Have you fought anything strong after you got it?”
“We did fight a hydra a few days ago.” Alice answered.
“A hydra? You are the ones that took it down?2 I didn’t know you were of that high of a rank. I would have recommended something more than that had I known.”
“Do you have something like that?” Alice asked, likely feeling the burn from all of that money she has earned from both today and the hydra.
“No, not on hand. It would have to be a custom order.” The dwarf answered.
“Okay. Then I’ll keep this for now. I was also thinking of visiting that other store you recommended.” Alice said.
“Be sure to tell them Atrea sent you.” The dwarf lady, possibly named Atrea, reminded her.
“Now then. To what you came here for.” She said, walking back behind the counter. She then opened a large closet and pulled out two leather jackets. Well, it is actually armor, not a jacket, but it does look like a jacket. “Miss, you first.” She said, looking at Ria.
Ria took a step forward and tried on her armor.
“... alright. This is good. The sleeves are just a bit too tight. We’ll have to loosen them up when we install the metal plates. That will also give some more space for the gauntlets…” She said, as she was looking at Ria. “Move your arms around a bit. See how it feels.”
She did as instructed, moving a bit and throwing a few punches.
“Does anything feel off? Anything too tight?” Atrea asked.
“No. It is loose, rather than tight.” Ria answered.
“Good to hear. But it should feel just a bit loose at the moment, as it will get a bit tighter as the metal parts get added.” Atrea said. “But it does seem to fit you nicely, so we can just keep going.” She said, and helped Ria take off the jacket. “Now, your turn sir.”
I took my turn to try on my ‘jacket’.
“Hmm. Yes. It seems to fit just fine.” Atrea said as she was taking a look. “Move around a bit, try how it feels.”
I did as ordered and swung my arms around a bit. The armor didn’t limit my movements basically at all, so that is great. I thought it was perfect, until I ran into a little problem.
“... I can’t roll up my sleeve.” I said, as I tried to clear my terminal so I could activate my duel disk. The leather was a bit thick, so rolling it wasn’t easy.
“Your sleeve? Why… oh? That thing your terminal turns into. I’m so sorry. I forgot to consider it as you didn’t have it out when I measured you.” Atrea apologized when she realized the mistake we made. I can’t really even blame her, as I should have considered it myself when she measured me. “How should we deal with that?”
“We could just cut off that part of the sleeve?” I offered, recalling how my noble’s clothing will actually only have elbow length left sleeve, so my terminal will be visible for all to see.
“That will simply not do. Please give me a moment. I’ll …”
Our final choice for the fix was to cut a slit into the sleeve which my duel disk could extend out from. That way, I could both have a full sleeve protecting me, while also being able to bring out my duel disk when I need it. It would affect the defense a bit, but my terminal under said sleeve should make up for it.
“I think we will have them finished in just about a week. I’ll be seeing you then.” Atrea saw us off.
We returned to the manor and made our report there as well. I was quickly questioned about the A-rank bull, but as soon as I showed him the monster core from it, Tahlia had dismantled the monster btw, he believed that I was telling the truth. He offered to buy the core from me, but I just told him that I was planning on giving it to Christina to make up for the one used in my dungeon.
Alice also got her reward card. Dark Blade. She actually wanted Dark Blade the Dragon Knight, but I told her it would be useless for her without Dark Blade, so she agreed to get it first.
Spoiler
Also, in case you were wondering, I’m not actually going to give her a toploader Polymerization. When she has all the parts for the summon, I’ll either give her a one-time use Poly, or just let her borrow a toploader Poly. They have the effect outside of my monsters, so I don’t want Alice to have one. Not because I don’t trust her, but because I wouldn’t trust anyone with that power.
After that, the rest of the day was practice time. Magic practice with Cosmo Queen, telekinesis practice with Paulina, Ria was working hard on both controlling blood iron and Vampiric Body Modification with Grimson and Scarlet Scourge, and Alice was working hard with Mana, trying to learn a new spell. All around, all of us were trying to get stronger.
Well, I’m not. I’m just having fun. I highly doubt that I’ll ever be able to exceed the power of my most powerful summons, so I’ll just focus on utility techniques instead of straight power.
But still, I should practice swordsmanship again. Maybe tomorrow can be a combat practice day. Ria can learn some punching techniques from one of my monsters, while I practice with the sword. We didn’t have anything planned for tomorrow, so yeah.
Of course, the day ended with level ups. That is the norm, right. For myself, I got one more level into Mana Control. I really think I might need it for learning Space Magic, so yeah. Just one more, then tomorrow can be Unity. For Ria, I leveled up Unarmed Combat Technique.
