Book 1: Chapter 56: Spiders and Talks Of Crude Magic

Book 1: Chapter 56: Spiders and Talks Of Crude Magic

"Hmm..." Lone stroked his chin in thought as he and Sophie looked over one of the quest boards at The Adventurer's Guild. "None of those monsters are very magical in nature... Anything on your side of the board?"

Soph unpinned two requests and showed them to Lone. "This one is to kill a Lesser Hydra, but only S-rankers or above can take the quest on, so maybe we shouldnt bother? Uh, this one here though is to wipe out a colony of Manasilk Spiders. There are no requirements on it since it's urgent, but the notice does say that the recommended adventurer should be a silver plate or an A-ranker."

"Perfect. Put the Lesser Hydra one back since we can't even legally claim it, but we'll do that spider one," Lone said excitedly. As much as I want to test Mental Destruction on a powerful creature, a Hydra could have multiple minds so yeah, not gonna fuck with that.

He made a mental note of the Lesser Hydras reported location though to avoid it. After that, he and Soph headed to the kind receptionist from two days ago since the man was actually on duty today.

There was a bit of a line unlike yesterday, so after 20 minutes of waiting, the two of them were finally seen to.

"Ah, Mister Immortus and Miss Vladimirovich. It's good to see you both again. How can I help you on this fine afternoon?" the man politely asked with a lovely smile spread across his lips.

"Hi," Lone replied in a friendly manner as he passed the Manasilk Spider quest notice to the receptionist. "We'd like to take on this quest."

"Of course. Let's see here..." the employee adjusted his glasses and then frowned after reading the details written upon the piece of parchment. "Are you sure you wish to take on this quest? I can't rightly stop you since it is a quest with no acceptance requirements, but I feel it would certainly be unwise to attempt exterminating a colony of Manasilk Spiders at your personal ranks."

A few other adventurers heard what the staff member had said and they all chuckled or outright mocked Lone and Sophie for being stupid.

Since they were a fairly common pest for the surroundings regions, it was basic knowledge that Manasilk Spiders werent to be underestimated.

Just one could easily kill an entire group of C-ranker if they were caught with their trousers around their ankles.

Lone knew this too. Hed done his research of the dangerous critters and he was confident he, Soph, and Sophie, could deal with them given their unique talents.

Trying not to mind the ridicule of their peers, Lone shook his head. "No, we'll be taking on this quest. If we're confident in anything, it's our ability to run away."

Still frowning, the employee pulled open a drawer from behind him and then placed two sheets of paper on the desk. After doing that, he opened a second drawer and took out a list of sorts.

He wrote down Lone and Sophie's names then passed his quill over to Lone. "Please sign these waivers which state that The Adventurer's Guild holds no responsibility should you die on this quest, as you have been adequately warned by a member of staff."

Lone was a bit shocked at how advanced the paperwork here actually was. 'First the agreement of no responsibility during a duel, now a far more formal one here for a pretty dangerous quest? Well, at least it's a serious organisation.'

He nodded and signed one of the forms before he said, "My companion is blind. Is it okay for me to sign in her place?"

"So that's why Ive never seen her open her eyes... I assumed it was an odd sensing-based martial skill she was practising. But then how-, no, it doesn't matter. Of course, sir. So long as she consents, I have no issue with you signing on her behalf," the employee politely replied.

"Mmm, its fine," Soph happily replied with a blooming smile.

The receptionist smiled back then gave Lone a bit of helpful information. "The forest that the Manasilk Spiders can be found in is 17 miles due north of here, close to the country's northern border. They are rather weak to fire but burning down the entire forest is not an option since the lumber is a valuable resource for the county in which the forest belongs. Also, whatever you do, please do not directly engage should you run into the colony's queen. If you insist on fighting her, only do so when she is asleep and make sure to employ any possible tricks and dirty tactics you can. Your lives matter more than your honour."

Ill raise me glass to that! one of the guilds adventurers and a prospective bar patron cheered.

Several more men and woman chuckled as they raised their drinks in celebrations.

Heh. Nice atmosphere, this place. Way less discrimination than anywhere else thus far. Id much rather be called an idiot when it looks like Im being stupid than being made fun of for my tails and ears, Lone commented internally.

Drunk layabouts. If you have the time to waste your coin on our imported drinks, then you should be spending that time getting stronger or by doing quests. Theres no end to the menial tasks, the employee muttered as he shook his head wryly.

He then picked up the quest notice and handed it back to Lone. "Please return the notice to the board as it is not an exclusive quest, so more than one person or a single team can accept it. Also, please be careful. Run the moment you think that you are in danger. The guild loses enough hopeful youths every month as it is already. I don't want to be inadvertently responsible for the deaths of two more."

A fireball quickly whizzed past several trees before it slammed onto the head of a blue-striped spider that was easily the same size as Lone's mini-fridge which was sat in the corner of his apartment back in Scotland.

Or, at least, that was where he'd last left it, but that was months ago now, so it could rightly be anywhere for all he knew.

Congratulations! The host's active fire magic skill [Crude Fireball] has levelled up! It is now Intermediate Level 6.

Congratulations! The host's active fire magic skill [Crude Fireball] has levelled up! It is now Intermediate Level 7.

Congratulations! The host's active fire magic skill [Crude Fireball] has levelled up! It is now Intermediate Level 8.

Congratulations! The host's active fire magic skill [Crude Fireball] has levelled up! It is now Intermediate Level 9.

Congratulations! The host's active fire magic skill [Crude Fireball] has levelled up! It is now Intermediate Level 10.

Congratulations! The host's active fire magic skill [Crude Fireball] has levelled up! It is now Advanced Level 1.

Lone quickly stored the now-dead spider's corpse as he dismissed the rest of his notification log, mainly the updated information of the skill.

He rushed to Sophie's side and asked, "How many?"

"16 are heading over here," she very calmly replied, but she failed to hide the slight hints of anxiety and fear that were leaking out from her expression.

"Okay. We're done for today. Teleport us out of this forest and into a place big and stable enough for our fort and an Illusionary Dome," Lone ordered.

Sophie gave him no sass and immediately did as she was told. Over a dozen teleports later, the two of them were standing in some nearby abandoned farmlands.

Not minding the state of the untilled soil and trusting Sophie's judgement, Lone brought their personal fort out from his Dimensional Storage.

"I wonder if I can store something massive like that colosseum? Heh. It'd be funny to see the reactions of those racists if the entire fuckin building disappeared mid-fight. I would be using it, so maybe its possible" Lone entertained himself with such thoughts as he used what was left of his MP to create an Illusionary Dome.

Congratulations! The host's active illusion magic skill [Illusionary Dome] has levelled up! It is now Intermediate Level 3.

"Oh, a level-up. That's rare for this skill nowadays," Lone noted. A moment passed in silence, which confused him, so he spun around to look at Sophie. "Why're you not telling me to stop talking to my-... Are you shaking?"

Trembling lightly in her armour, Sophie didn't answer, and she just walked into the Illusionary Dome. Naturally, Lone followed her.

"Wait, are you scared of spiders or something?" Lone asked as he caught up to her.

A big frown covered the girl's face. "Yes, we are. Most insects do not bother us, but spiders... During our time when we were imprisoned by The Templars, in our lonely little cave, many spiders crawled all over our body, bit us, made nests out of our hair, covered us in webs... So yes, we are scared of spiders. Laugh all you wish, but first, help us out of our armour. Forget the foot massage. We wish to swap with Soph and sleep," she said as she took her helmet off and roughly shoved it into Lone's hands.

Storing the helmet, he didn't make fun of her, instead, Lone smiled warmly. "That might be the girliest thing you've ever said. Well, ignoring the whole imprisonment and nest thing, but scared of spiders, huh? That's really cute."

"Is that so?" Sophie's expression worsened. "We do not think it to be. Regardless, please help us out of our armour."

"Sure," Lone replied instantly and got to work. "Still don't want that massage? I'm perfectly happy to try my hand at giving you one. I do have the Massage Mastery skill, after all"

Sophie's cheeks turned red as she ultimately sighed. "Fine. You win. We want it. We did not expect you to understand us, in truth Our mood is already a bit better now."

'I guess I'll leave checking the rank ups I skipped over and my status until later.' Lone smirked. "Great, maybe I'll get a new skill out of it?" he teased. "That, or just level up Massage Mastery."