The message popped up in front of Ashton's eyes.
"The hell is that star about?" he asked, not exactly sure what it was supposed to mean. Was it just that it was a special specimen of that species? Ashton had never seen this type of system message before the day, so he was only guessing. Well, the orc was also worth almost twice as much as a regular orc, so it was very likely to be just that.
To be sure, though, Ashton was going to thoroughly check this orc to see if it had anything special on it. He placed his hands onto his hips and took a deep breath.
"So? Guardian, I'm done. You know what to do."
He just had to wait for a moment or two until the message he was waiting for came.
[You have completed the [Bonus Quest - Save Drakewood Primary School]! You have been awarded 2000 Coins! Choose your reward item]
Ashton smiled, dismissing the list of items that was popping up under the notification. He would take a look and make the choice later when he had the leisure to.
With a groan, Ashton looked down at the bodies surrounding him, "Fuck, I really need to contract a gatherer."
He asked the Backpacker for a knife, and once he had it in his hand just got started immediately. Since the speed stat also affected things like dexterity, Ashton was able to get the magic stones out a lot faster than before. The magic stones of the garden's goblins were quickly taken out, and then Ashton focused on the big fish. The orc.
He flipped it over, as difficult as that was, and then tried to take the knife to its chest. It felt like he was cutting into it with a completely blunt blade. Even in death, this guy's skin was ridiculously tough. He had to basically saw through the flesh for a while.
[[Guardian of the Innocent] is asking why you are still here]
[[Observer in the Veil] tells the Guardian not to bother and that you do this every time]
[[Executor of the End] admires your dedication to gathering]
"Mhm, dedication. Let's just call it that," Ashton sighed, looking over to the side. The backpacker was standing there with the phone in their hand, tapping away, "Hey, are there any new interesting posts in the community?"
The backpacker quickly nodded their head, and came trotting over to Ashton. They turned the screen over to him, trying to show him a post from a user named 'Pendragon' explaining the way that classes worked.
"Huh, that's the username that Sam usually goes with. I guess he decided to go that route after all. Not a bad idea." Ashton smiled, glad to see what his friend was trying to do. Frankly, if he had known that the community was going to be a thing, he would have considered this as well. "Maybe I should write a basic system guide for Sam that he can put online. Probably better if it comes from him anyway."
Ashton figured that leaving the overall public stuff to Sam would be best. Sure, Summoner was also technically a class that required leadership ability, but in a much different way than dealing with... people. Sam was far better at that.
He knew what to say and when to say it. He actually had the organisational skills to take care of a large group of people. And most importantly, Sam was charismatic as hell. It was almost impossible to dislike him. Actually, Sam made sure of that almost obsessively, he hated to be disliked. Though that was something he had to figure out if he wanted to be a true leader in this world.
Either way, while Ashton wanted to help people, he wasn't in a position to be tied down to one place. If he wanted to grow in power, he had to travel around, gather materials, and help take down things like dungeons.
So having Sam be the guy that was helping all those people with guides would be a much better plan, even if Ashton was the one providing those guides to him. Not like anyone else had to know about that.
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"As long as that shadow bastard leaves him alone, it's all good," Ashton sighed, still looking at the screen while cutting apart the orc, "Oh, and uhm... We'll need to figure out the battery stuff."
There was a message that had popped up on the screen. A warning. '5% Battery remaining'.
The backpacker turned the screen around, and immediately started panicking, looking down at the phone, then back at Ashton, and then back at the phone. They were basically stuck in a loop for a while.
"Hey, hey, calm down, it's fine. There should be a relatively easy way to charge a phone. Here, give me that for a second," Ashton said, and the Backpacker did so without hesitation.
He dismissed the warning message and tapped around on the screen, trying to find any more functions that seemed off.
"Hm, I can't see anything..." he muttered, absent-mindedly picking up the goblins' magic stones next to him, "Could you grab me the different magic stone bags already? We'll figure it out, I promise."
The backpacker nodded, but the moment that Ashton grabbed the small crystals, a new message appeared on the screen.
Would you like to charge the phone using Magic Stones? [Yes] | [No]
Ashton didn't even have to think about it, immediately tapping the 'yes' button under the message. The three magic small magic stones that he was holding fell apart in his hand, and the phone's battery went up by 31%.
"Okay. Smart, got it." Ashton smiled again, placing his hand onto the other magic stones he had gathered. He quickly charged the rest of the phone up and handed it back to the Backpacker. "That's easy enough. And makes... sense, I guess? I'm actually not sure, but who am I to complain?"
The backpacker looked at the phone happily, starting to tap around on it excitedly.
With the spirit happy, Ashton turned back to the orc. Its chest was finally open by now, but he definitely wouldn't be able to get through the ribs at all. He pushed his arm into the chest cavity and tried to clear a way to the heart. At the size that this stone would be at, it would all gather together in a small growth at the side of the heart. It was practically like some kind of tumour. IT was easy to find, really.
And then, going back in with the knife, he cut into that tumour and pulled out the magic stone. It was the largest one so far, to the point where it made Ashton wonder just how the hell the heart could keep beating like that.
It was far larger than a regular orc's magic stone. But even so, he placed it into the bag with the other orc stones. He would know which one this came from. If Ashton formed the right contracts later on or got his hands on the right magic item, he would be able to sort this all a bit more precisely.
He would be able to categorise the items properly. Back in Lumia, he was in charge of that as well, and he basically came up with his own version of the Dewey Decimal system for all potential materials and items.
"I just can't wait until I've got an actual base set up," Ashton whistled slightly as he got up. He walked inside, and picked out a few more goblins to collect magic stones from. Especially if they were going to be the best way to recharge a phone now, he could use this well. Maybe he could even sell magic stones to some people.
If you didn't know about it, no sane person was going to cut apart a monster to try and find these things. Over the course of the next few weeks, once the monsters' corpses were picked apart by scavengers, people would see the magic stones laying around. They would pick them up, and the ones with magical talents amongst them would figure out what they are and how they could be useful, and things would go from there.
For now, Ashton figured he might have spent a bit too much time on this. He did want to make sure that the school could be properly secured, so he made his way back outside, and then back onto the school property.
He got to the red door, and knocked on it loudly. It took just a second before he could hear someone unlocking the door and tearing it open. It was the headmaster, who had been clearly waiting this entire time, hoping that good news were going to come.
Before Ashton could even say anything, he was pulled inside and the door was locked.
"Are you okay? Did something go wrong?" The headmaster was clearly extremely anxious, but Ashton calmed him down quickly.
"I'm okay, I'm just here to let you know that I'm done. Send out this Rory guy and as many teachers as you can spare, we need to barricade the-"
"What?" the teacher stared at Ashton, "What do you mean, you're done?"
"I mean what I mean. I'm done. They're dead."
"You were out there for maybe two hours... You want me to believe that you took care of that mass of monsters?"
Ashton shrugged, "Yeah. Guardian, tell him."
Though the headmaster was still confused, his eyes focused on something else a moment later. A message from the Guardian, clearly. A moment later, the headmaster looked back at Ashton, as tears welled up in his eyes.
"This is so... incredible. Truly, I do not know how I could ever thank you," he said, taking off his glasses to wipe the tears out of his eyes, "I will send out everyone immediately."
"Great. Oh, and, uhm, Mister..."
The headmaster laughed, "Right, I'm sorry. In that whole mess, I must have forgotten. James Crombe. But please, no 'Mister', just call me James."
"Sure. James, then. Tell the teachers that, if they have a change of clothes, to maybe wear them. It's pretty messy out there, and we should clean up a bit before the kids can go out," Ashton explained, opening the red door again. "I'm going to keep watch and make sure no other monsters come here. Oh, and maybe update your post and say that someone's already come to help you, and that all the kids are safe, and all that. In case their parents are still alive and are worried."
A bit startled by the bluntness, the teacher nodded, "Of course! Yes, for sure!"
"Oh and this is awkward, but... what was your name again?, watching as James rushed down the hallway. As the door was pushed shut, Ashton quickly made his way to his main destination.
He had a little fairy to talk to.
[Notice: Bonus Chapters will be delayed for a short while]
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