23. Errands

23. Errands

In Morgana's world, healing magic was one of the poorest-understood branches of the arcane, despite being one of the most well-researched. The intricacies of the human body and indeed most life required extremely precise spells for specific injuries, and using the wrong one, too powerful, or too weak could cause a condition to deteriorate. Sometimes significantly. Therefore, healing mages tended to only be healing mages; it took a lifetime of study to approach competency in that subfield.

Morgana, naturally, had a vague idea of how healing magic worked, being a curious mind who had studied all the elements at some point or another, but she would never apply that knowledge to another human except in the most dire of circumstances, having accepted death as the only alternative. It was that delicate of a skill.

Of course, the Grand Architect of the System had designed simple remedies that worked practically as a panacea. Morgana marveled at the unassuming white cloth bandage Vesper taped onto her nose. The girl let out a groan of satisfaction, gently massaging what should have been a tender, injured spot.

"Ahh," Vesper sighed. "Man, that's nice."

"It really works on anything?" Morgana asked.

"Small injuries, but yeah," Vesper said. "Just gotta get it on there quick enough. Probably lost a good portion of its efficiency in the time it took to get here. But still," she said, making another inappropriate groaning noise as she rubbed at her nose. "It feels so good."

"Won't do much of anything for a serious injury," Flint said. "Those bandages are rated for cuts and bruises. We'd need healing potions for something worse."

Potions were a bit outside of their budget, though. But that they even had items that could heal anything was crazy to Morgana.

"What's it feel like?" she asked, watching the [Thief] continue to scrunch her nose around. "Does it have a numbing effect?"

"Yep. And it's warm. Like a fuzzy heat. Can feel it working."

"Amazing. And so cheap, too."

Vesper raised her eyebrows. "Hardly cheap."

"Compared to where I'm from?" Morgana protested. "We don't even have items as effective as that. Not in such a generalized form." Somehow, Morgana was more impressed by these bandages than even the spatial workings within the dungeon. How in the world had the Architect created a spell that could heal anything? Absurd.

"Really?" Vesper asked. "That's surprising. I thought your magic was way ahead of ours."

Morgana shrugged. Her knowledge was; but several applications weren't, apparently. And especially in this field. "Healing magic is difficult," she said. "To put it lightly. I dabbled briefly out of curiosity, and it gave me a whole new respect for healing mages."

"Huh. So there is something you can't do?"

"There's plenty I can't."

Vesper considered this. "How would you even get healing mana, anyway? Is that what it's called?"

Morgana looked around the general store; they were alone. She doubted anyone would pay much attention to their conversations anyway, but she should still be aware of how loudly she was speaking when the topic was literal foreign-world concepts. That could draw attention, and not the good kind.

"Most healing magic uses the life element," Morgana said. "Not a 'healing element.' There's a few reliable ways to harvest it. Typically collection plates are set up in hospitals that passively generate it." She grimaced. "Along with decay, disease, and death mana. Also—"

"Death mana?"

Morgana paused. "Yes."

"What kind of spells would that make?"

"Dangerous ones. It's a restricted substance."

"It's an investment in your career," the man continued. "And this is the cheapest it'll ever be, so I recommend you get one now."

Vesper's expression morphed into skepticism. "I've never heard of anything like that before. And I figure I would've."

"It's new," the man replied easily. "The latest innovation from the capital. All of the biggest dungeon towns have one by now, and Quarrygate is the most recent to receive an edition." He shared an understanding smile. "It's no scam, Miss, I assure you."

Vesper hesitated. By her reaction, Morgana guessed it was at least a plausible explanation.

Morgana had no idea whether this man was telling the truth, but the concept was at least fascinating. A compendium of knowledge on the various threats of a dungeon, and a growing one at that? Updated whenever new information was added?

She was also fascinated, like with all things, how the book itself worked. The spell designs required. There were a number of ways for quick transmission of data in Morgana's world, but mana of all types were expensive, so it wasn't a convenience afforded to normal people.

Though she guessed adventurers weren't normal people either; they had greater means than most.

"How much?" Vesper asked, eying the stack of books.

"Our entries are still in the work of being expanded, with how recently this dungeon opened, so the price is appropriately modest, considering its lack of completeness. Twenty-five gold."

Vesper made a sort of choking noise. Even Morgana winced, and she had only a vague idea of what currency was worth in this world.

"Twenty-five gold?" Vesper demanded. "That's modest to you?"

By that reaction alone, the man realized she and Vesper were low-level adventurers. Some of the interest on his face faded, knowing he wouldn't make a sale. He wasn't so rude as to outright dismiss them, though. Probably because of his follow-up.

"Of course, such a bleeding-edge innovation is expensive to produce," he said in a conciliatory tone. "And costs must be recouped. It's not something everyone can afford, especially at the lower levels. But if you can, it's an investment that will pay dividends down the road, often in terms of your own health." With that, his sales pitch ended—he already knew they didn't have the means to buy one even if they wanted to. "That said, we're also looking for contributors."

"Contributors?"

"Though the first few floors are mostly filled out, any first-hand accounts of monsters, areas, traps, and so on will be compensated appropriately, especially if novel. The Dungeon Encyclopedia is a collaborative and growing effort, after all. We need your help."

Morgana and Vesper shared another look. They both knew they didn't have much to offer despite their two trips into the dungeon, because any 'detailed information' about monsters was impossible to unearth when Morgana had been blowing them up in a single hit each. Even the boss encounter might not be worth much when sold as information, because they had no idea what its attack patterns or abilities were. Again, Morgana had just locked it down and killed it before they'd learned anything about it. And she didn't want to have to explain that to this man—or provide dubious information that might later cause another team to suffer.

"What if we wanted to buy a single floor's worth of information?" Vesper asked. "Instead of the whole book. Could we do that?"

"I'm afraid not, Miss."

"Seriously?"

The man shrugged, his cordiality fading by the moment. Though not necessarily growing rude. "The Encyclopedia is an all-or-nothing investment. A necessity of its design."

The interaction tapered off there. Vesper asked to take a peek inside the compendium, but, sensing she wasn't a valid customer, and probably suspecting Vesper just wanted to steal what information about the second floor she could, he declined even that. Morgana wasn't fully certain the encyclopedia was legitimate, but seeing how he was set up in broad daylight in the center of the adventuring hub, it probably was. Either way, they wouldn't be getting their hands on one.

"Sheesh..." Vesper said as they walked away. "That thing would be killer useful. Twenty-five gold though? Ridiculous."

"I wonder how thorough its entries are," Morgana commented. "Probably not very. I have to figure hiring contributors for the deeper floors would be prohibitively difficult." If she had to guess, it was more an item meant for mid-rank adventurers—neither those too low or too high.

Vesper shrugged. "Gonna have to stick with word of mouth, I guess. Still have to chat people up and see if they'd be willing to help the newbies out. It could happen. Especially for the first few floors. It's not like those are kept under lock and key. Everyone at a certain level has been through them."

Turning a corner, they identified their next destination for their item-selling errands. A bell rang overhead to announce their entry. Vesper took a breath and plastered on a smile, readying herself for another bartering session.