"You spent literally half an hour cooking on the roof, but me taking a couple minutes to change is a problem?"
Ashton laughed a bit, and properly looked at Sam.
He had changed into his 'beginner gear'. Loose, wide, waist-high trousers that are tighter around the ankles. A tight shirt, some sturdy-looking boots, and thick gloves. The gloves seemed to be reinforces with hardened leather on the back of the hand and fingers, with leaving gaps to let Sam move his hand properly.
The gloves somehow didn't restrain Sam's hand at all, like they were made to perfectly fit his hand in every single way.
"Well, you're looking like a fighter, alright," Ashton said, looking Sam up and down.
"I guess? I'm actually a bit confused about why the 'beginner gear' is like this. It's not like this is what any sort of martial arts uniform looks like," Sam pointed out.
"Oh, yeah, I think the gear is, to some degree, supposed to fit the user. Though I think in part there's also influence from other people who had that class before. For example, my beginner gear had some butt-ugly robes that I wouldn't ever be caught wearing."
With a scoff, Sam walked past his friend and started heading toward the botanical gardens, "Never thought I'd hear you care so much about fashion."
Ashton followed behind him, shrugging, "Fashion is fun, what can I say? Oh, and stop for a second."
Sam raised his brow, turning toward his friend.
"What? Anything else we need to talk about? You already warned me about most of what you expect we'll find in the gardens."
"Well, yes, but just to make sure that we'll make it there just a little faster, and to help Poppy level up..." Ashton channelled the pixie, and quickly tagged Sam.
The fairy's ability had a small cooldown, which presented itself as a dense headache right behind Ashton's eye. He could push through it if he really needed to, but it would hurt like a bitch and could cause serious long-term damage. That was why he just used the ability on Sam. His speed stat was lower than Ashton's anyway, even though Sam had a higher starting point, so this brought them a little closer together, meaning that Ashton didn't have to slow down as much.
Sam looked down, seeing ethereal petals form on the ground around him. He flinched slightly as they briefly enveloped him, and stared at Ashton after a moment.
"What... was that?"
Ashton smiled and pushed his hand into the small material pouch hanging off his belt. He was just using it to stash some candies right now, one of which he quickly gave to Poppy. The pixie happily grabbed it and started munching on it. She really just started biting small chunks off the hard candy. Pixies had shockingly sharp teeth and strong jaws to match.
"It's a buff spell. It's just a 1 point speed buff, lasts around fifteen minutes. But it should last us until we're a bit into the gardens," Ashton said with a smile, "Let's get going then, yeah?"
"Uh... yeah, sure," Sam said surprised, though he was even more surprised when Ashton just started jogging down the street. Sam quickly ran after him, though he was actually quite struggling to keep up, "Dude, how are you so... how are you so fast? What is your speed stat?"
"Oh, it's fifteen."
"Damn, seriously?"
"Mhm."
"I'm only at twelve, what the hell?"
Ashton turned his head around, "Twelve? Must've gotten pretty unlucky, then."
"At least with speed. My power is fourteen already."
"Hah... Already caught up to me there just at level three. That's the great part of a physical class, I'm jealous."
With a scoff, Sam looked at his friend, "Then why don't you get one yourself? You said you should be close to fulfilling the requirements for the Staff Fighter class again, right?"
"Yeah, but I told you before, I can't get a second class yet. I need to focus on the growth of the summoner class. Once I've got the essentials down, maybe I'll consider it," Ashton explained, "What about you? Have you considered a second class?"
"I have. But... I'm not quite sure what I'm supposed to do exactly. Just boss people around?"
"No, no, just keep doing what you're doing right now. Help people, uplift them, lead them. Seriously, I've seen how you're acting around Calibur, you're gonna do great," Ashton encouraged Sam, though there was something that he wanted to ask this entire time. He figured he should wait, though. There was probably a reason for Sam's choices.
Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.
"Sure, if you say so." Sam didn't seem perfectly keen on the idea, but he knew that it was a good choice. "Just... I'm not exactly the head of the company, you know? I'm basically a step below him, but I'm not the head. And the blokes from the other companies in the building don't have reason to listen to what I say, either."
"They'll listen," Ashton said, looking over at Sam, "I'll make sure they do, and before the next quest starts, too."
"... What is the next quest going to be, by the way?"
Ashton smiled, "I've just got a guess, but it's probably going to relate to forming official new camps recognised by the system."
Sam frowned, "What? What do you mean?"
"Well, the council broke down society as we know it, so now they're going to rebuild it the way they like it. I'm going to explain more later, don't worry," Ashton said, but for now, there was something more important to focus on.
More specifically, the group of monsters currently in front of them. It was a group of lizardmen. Nothing particularly threatening, especially since Ashton and Sam were together now.
Though Sam was still hesitant, he made quick work of the monsters. However, just as Ashton thought, he was hesitant to actually finish the job. But Ashton wouldn't make it that easy for his friend. Simply put, Sam had to be the one to kill the monsters that he took out, there was no other way around it.
And of course, though he was hesitant and nervous, in the end, Sam did go through with it. It was a rather brutal sight, though. Frankly, unarmed combat wasn't exactly the easiest way to kill, at least not at these low levels. And Sam wasn't unaware of that when he made his choice. In a weirdly turned-around way, it might have been the reason.
Ashton figured that Sam thought, if he had to kill anyway, he should do it with his own two hands. Sure, he might be taking that a bit too literal, but Ashton knew that Sam thought about this thoroughly.
After finishing the fight, the pair continued onward. And it didn't take long until they arrived at the botanical gardens. Frankly, it was unrecognizable compared to just yesterday when Ashton was last here.
"I've been asking people to come by here while they were out working to get their class," Sam looked around, "They told me about it. Seriously, this looks far worse than I ever could have thought."
"Hm? I think it actually looks quite beautiful," Ashton pointed out, smiling as he looked at the jungle stretching out before him. The flesh-eating plants, the wriggling vines, the buzzing insects hiding in the thicket.
Ashton called out the Backpacker, asking for a bottle of distilled water, with some extra magic stones mixed in, as well as a box of food that he had prepared. He had fully unsummoned the elementals for a while earlier, just to let them rest a bit. While an elemental was unsummoned, their consciousness was returned to the veil. The veil was also where the consciousness for construct summons came from, just a different place. Elementals were from the part of the veil facing toward the material realm, while constructs were from the part facing away. The more abstract, conceptual part.
Due to their abstract nature, the consciousness of construct summons couldn't quite persist without the physical form they were linked to, which is why they were constantly in the material realm once 'constructed'. But elementals were already individuals long before they were summoned. And they, well... they simply needed a bit of privacy. Some peace and quiet to let their minds breathe.
Time didn't quite pass the same way for elementals in the veil, so even just an hour or two was usually enough to fully calm down again. It was like them recharging their social battery, basically.
But now, Ashton summoned the undine and the wisp again. And just in the nick of time, a wonderful little message appeared in front of Ashton.
[Skill | Summoning - Level 6 -> Summoning - Level 7]
"Wonderful," Ashton dismissed the message, and then twisted his eyes up, "Poppy, sorry, but would you mind going back into my vessel?"
Immediately, the sound of small bells rang out as the pixie was complaining to Ashton, "I know, I know, but listen. Those things in there are extremely good at snatching up small, flying things."
Again, the bells rang out, though in a weirdly stuttering way. And so, the small fairy disappeared inside of Ashton's vessel.
"So I guess we can go inside now?" Sam asked, and Ashton quickly nodded. He quickly started channelling the undine, controlling as much water as he could. Letting some of his mana pulse into his staff, Ashton quickly started channelling the water through it, and started spinning his staff around as a test. The water shot through the space around him.
The water pierced through some nearby leaves, but it... didn't quite cut through them the way Ashton wanted. The water was thin, sure, but it was following the exact same path as the front, the base. Before, Ashton would spin that base around rapidly to try and make it whip, but that wasn't quite possible with the staff like this.
"That's new," Sam let out surprised, and Ashton quickly nodded.
"Just figured out how to do this earlier at the school," he explained with a smile, "But it's not working quite as well with the undine's water yet..."
For a moment, Sam kept watching as Ashton kept spinning the staff around, and then asked a simple question, "How do you decide which end of the staff you use to control that water?"
"That's... a good question. I guess it's mostly... the direction of the mana pattern," Ashton explained, hesitating slightly. He stared at his staff as it kept spinning, and then pulsed a small bit of mana into it. With that single precise pulse, the pattern flipped around, and the water started being controlled through the other end of the staff.
The sudden change was too fast for the water to fully keep up with, and Ashton instinctively told it to stay in place instead of shooting straight toward the spot it 'should' be at. It was fair spike in how straining it was, though. Right then, it was stuck in place and spun around, whipping the water more rapidly than Ashton could ever do it by just flicking his wrist. And the base of the water was stuck in place for a moment until Ashton let it follow the base again.
It was a split second, really, but that was an absolute pain in the ass to do. With some practice, and a few more level-ups of the channelling skill, it should be a bit easier to use.
"Well, I guess it works for now," Ashton whispered, and Sam just stared at him.
"Did you just figure out something new right now?"
"Mhm."
"Fuckin' hell," Sam scoffed, "Whatever, just make sure not to hit me with that, yeah?"
"I'll try."
Sam stopped walking and immediately turned back around, "Seriously. Do not hit me with that, that looks like it's gonna hurt like a bitch."
[Currently Available Milestones]
[+3 Chapters | 35 Reviews | 23/35]
[+3 Chapters | 300 Ratings | 211/300]
[+3 Chapters | 400 Favourites | 351/400]
[+2 Chapters | 2000 Followers | 1713/2000]
[Current [Bonus Chapters] in queue... [9 Chapters]]
! There, you will find 15 Chapters ahead of Schedule!