8 Turning In Quests

Armed with new knowledge and powers the first thing I did upon closing in on my home, the Silver Xana was close my eyes and allow the more useful version of the mini-map I possessed to fill my vision. It only took a second of my eyes being closed to allow the thing to overtake the darkness underneath my eyelids.

The minimap revealed a good chunk of the town that surrounded me. Everything on the ground level of the town was suddenly exposed to me, and I was able to learn a lot about the residents of the town.

I knew next to nothing about the town I was living in. In fairness, my consciousness has existed in a physical body for less than a day but still. My tremorsense allowed me to learn a lot at once.

This town was inhabited by less than four dozen humanoids. Around forty-five circles were situated throughout the town. Something I mentally marked for future investigation was the existence of a single crescent on the minimap and when I clicked it I learned that a type of creature called an elf lived in the town. Its name was Goras. That was the only unexpected entry on the minimap.

I opened the door leading into the Silver Xana and immediately strode into my place of residence. As I did so I proudly had the sheets of paper that I had taken with me in my hands and was arrogantly showing them off.

The papers were glowing, something they had begun to do when I had acquired the necessary items in the necessary numbers to successfully complete the quest I was undertaking. They kept glowing, radiating a soft blue glow, even after I gently placed them in front of Isadora. The receptionist grinned at me and she looked positively delighted to have gotten the items she had asked for.

She opened one of the shelves the desk she sat had contained and pulled out a pink bag. She opened the bag and began to count money until she had exactly enough for my reward. She counted approximately 15 escudos, thick silver coins.

"Five escudos per woke-root, and you brought me all three. How excellent!" She said, happy to push forward the reward, the gleaming coins, she had prepared for me. I smiled and examined the coins she had given me. They were coins made of silver, with crosses emblazoned on either side of them.

When I reached forward and touched them, they vanished before my very eyes. This made my eyes open wide in alarm, but the system reached out and informed me of the true nature of what had just happened.

[Althos, relax. We just unlocked your inventory ability. This is one ability everyone has to make life more convenient. It creates a tiny pocket-dimension wherein you can store your items. Mortals have a limited amount of space they can fill and a limited amount of weight they can sustain, but you don't. You are not burdened like they are.] It told me.

I was grateful for the explanation but my curiosity was piqued by something about this. I immediately questioned the system. "If you knew about this, why didn't you tell me about it when I put the paper where Isadora drew the plants in my scarf?" I asked, speaking to the system mentally.

I heard a mechanical giggle and the system immediately responded to me. [Because you looked funny with the paper in your scarf. We liked the visuals so we kept the ability a secret.] The system explained. Mentally I frowned and sighed at the system, but I allowed it to have its fun and didn't complain.

Isadora waved her hand over the paper and the thing began to disgorge the woke-roots. She examined them briefly and smiled after finding the things to her satisfaction. She turned to me and began to speak.

"Oh Althos, these are perfect! Thank you so much, with this I'll be able to sit down and begin making caffeine potions which we'll need if anyone without magic wants to explore the forest." She told me, beginning to explain why she had requested the plants in the first place.

"This is around the time of year that some of Comillas younger people begin to try and explore the forest, which is good and neat. The problem stems from sleeping serpents. And I don't mean a vague sort of sleeping serpent, I mean what we locals call 'sleeping serpents', which are a type of snake that causes those they bite to fall asleep." Isadora explained, thinking about the snakes.

"By using these plants," She said, gesturing to the things that now took up a significant part of her desk. "I can create potions that people can drink and use to wake up quickly." She told me before flashing me a brilliant smile.

I smiled back at her, intrigued by the idea of those meeting and maybe even taming some of those snakes. "I'll have to check those things out on the minimap the next time I visit the forest." I realized, eager to learn more about assorted status conditions. I was also interested in the potions Isadora could apparently make, and I made that clear to her with my next statement.

"Hey Isadora, could I help you make those potions the next time you make them? I'd love to help out and learn about alchemy." I told her, the word "alchemy" appearing in my mind mysteriously right before I finished speaking. She was shocked at my question but also quite happy and responded to my question within a second.

"Sure! I'd be happy to teach you about alchemy. You strike me as the sort who'd enjoy brewing potions." She said, giving me another brilliant smile.

"I would like to be!" I told her, happily. The thought of being able to use the forest's plants to brew medicine and help people was something I was quite excited by, and I suspected that that had to do with the influence of the healing subdomain on me as a person.

While I thought about that Isadora walked out from behind the desk she spent a lot of her time behind and motioned for me to follow her. "It's time for us to go pay Mateo a visit. His home isn't far." She told me, before once again gesturing for me to follow her.

I began to follow after her, and for the first time, I got to see her outside of the Silver Xana once she opened the door and stepped through it. As she did so she also opened her arms wide and sighed luxuriously the second she felt the cool breeze on her skin.

"Oh Althos, this is so nice!" She muttered, happily. She was in front of me but I could hear the smile on her lips. She and I were walking away from the inn and towards a nearby house about five minutes away. I knew this from when I checked my not-so-mini map minutes ago and learned where Mateo was.

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We came to a stop outside of the entrance to a small house made of locally harvested wood. The house was a sleek black color, and I quite liked the aesthetic choices of whoever designed it. Isadora politely knocked on the door, and within a matter of moments the thing was pulled inward and a face emerged from within the house.

Mateo, at least according to my mini-map peered through the open door and smiled when he saw Isadora. "Oh hey, cousin! I see you brought me some company." The broad-faced man said, eagerly when he noticed Isadora and me ready to greet him. She laughed and nodded as the man stepped aside and ushered us into his home.

When we were both inside the house Mateo swung the door closed, and turned to face us. He was a tall individual with brown skin and jet black hair. He had long, muscular limbs and stood taller than I did.

"So cousin, do you have some good news for me?" Mateo asked, glancing at me curiously but not paying me much mind. Isadora happily nodded at her cousin before pulling out the remaining quest-request form she had on her and handing it to him. He quickly noticed that the form was glowing and his eyes lit up. He turned to me and began to study me more thoroughly.

I felt his eyes on my form and chuckled. I moved towards him and extended my hand in his direction. He grabbed my hand and pulled me into a bear hug. He was a strong, and evidently quite a passionate man.

"Oh man, you are a real life-saver! Those protus plants you brought me... I'll be able to cook so many meals with them." He revealed, before beginning to chat with both his cousin and myself. As he began to explain why he had filled out the quest-request form.