Book 2: Chapter 4: Limited MP and Dwarven Adventuring Rules

Book 2: Chapter 4: Limited MP and Dwarven Adventuring Rules

Lone held the blue mana orb curiously as he asked himself, "So, do I just will it like with the communication orb?"

Filling his mind with thoughts of triggering the sphere and funnelling its stored power into himself, Lone was pleasantly surprised to see that he was right. He was then immediately regretful of his very vague thoughts.

Energy flowed into him like a flood. His veins turned bright blue and glowed under his skin as they bulged, threatening to burst. His entire body cramped up and it took all of his strength to uncoil his fingers from the ball in his palm, saving himself from pulling even more MP into his body.

The mana orb clattered to the floor, startling Soph who was napping at his side on their bed. "What's happening?!" She jumped up in fear and looked around before noticing Lone's condition. "Lone! Are you okay?! I, uh, don't think veins are meant to be th-that blue! Why is there mana in them?!"

"I tried to use the mana orb," Lone explained briefly as his eyes unfocused. A blue screen had appeared before them.

Warning! The host has tried to force MP into their mana organs while their MP has been sealed by the Unique skill [Creation Magic]. The host is now able to use MP temporarily (for 4-minutes and 58-seconds) but doing so will greatly lengthen the seal duration. (Extension on seal duration will vary depending on how much MP the host uses and depending on what tier of spells the host casts.)

Lone scratched his head in mild frustration. "I guess bypassing unique skill restrictions isn't as easy of a thing to do as I'd hoped."The inaugural upload of this chapter took place via N0v3l-B1n.

"Hmm?" Soph tilted her head to the side in confusion as she snuggled up to a few of Lone's black and blue-tipped tails. Hearing him speaking so calmly worked wonders on reducing her panic.

He smiled wryly and explained, "I can forcefully use MP but it'll lengthen the seal. Pretty pointless, really. I mean, I could use that to heal myself if I'm on death's doorstep but otherwise, waiting for the timer to expire would make more sense than forcing the issue."

Speaking of the seal duration timer, Lone summoned it since he wasn't quite sure how much longer he needed to wait until he could use magic once more.

Remaining duration of MP seal: 7,105 hours, 42-minutes and 29-seconds.

"So it's been almost 4-months already..." Lone muttered. He leaned down, resting his back on the bed and he then pulled Soph in for a hug. "I was in that castle's dungeons for quite a while, huh?"

Soph nodded as she buried her face in his chest and wrapped herself up in his fluffy limbs. "Mmm. I was asleep for just as long..."

"... We've both been through a lot," Lone mumbled. "Well, here's to a peaceful break to help unwind, huh?"

Soph smiled as she looked up into Lone's eyes. "Mmm! I'm happy. Hopefully, people here are kinder than in Milindo... I, uh, I know they don't respect humans much here but I'll behave as best as I can so I don't get mistreated like you did in that stupid kingdom!"

Lone had enough to worry about as it was already, Soph felt. Getting concerned over her wellbeing would just be one more problem to add to the list. If she could avoid that then she would.

His lack of sleep greatly weighed on her mind. If she was able to help him in any way whatsoever then doing so would be her top priority.

Lone raised an eyebrow as he felt the weight on his stomach increase by a decent amount. "Your adult form?"

Soph blushed as she felt her clothes tighten thanks to her bigger body size. "Let's, em, have some fun?"

"Haha, sure, let's," Lone answered as his friendly smile slowly turned carnal.

The following morning Lone sighed as he got up. "3-hours and a light nightmare..."

He glanced down at Soph who lay at his side in her 20-year-old adult form, fully nude. Leaning down he kissed her head softly. "With you by my side at least I can get a bit of sleep, huh? Better than trying and failing repeatedly like in the dungeons... Love truly is wondrous..."

He gave Kyuubi a quick belly rub since she was snoozing in Soph's arm. He then went to have a bath.

Unexpectedly, the bathtubs in the Rusty Sprocket were steamforged tools. Not only did they have temperature regulating faucets like modern-Earth bathtubs but they also massaged the user while they relaxed in them. Truly innovative, Lone thought.

Once the dwarf in front of Lone's group had successfully registered his quest and barged past them to presumably fulfil whatever it was he was now tasked with doing, the receptionist stared right into Lone's pupils.

It was a female dwarf but she had unnaturally icy eyes. "Ach. A fookin' non-dwarf... Gae us a second tae switch tae ma neutral accent an' vocabul'ry, aye?"

'Oh? They do that here? That's relieving. I thought she was upset that I'm not a dwarf for a petty and racist reason but it just turns out its the local policy in this guildhall to try to be more legible for those not used to the dwarven accent,' Lone thought. 'An understandable frustration to have to flip that mental switch. Trust only a dwarf though to voice it so frankly though, haha. I guess I won't mention how I can understand them perfectly as it does grate on the ears a bit.'

A few moments passed before the receptionist spoke again and said, "How can I help you today? I can see your plates but I don't see a quest form. Do you have a question for me, perhaps?"

"Yes, thank you. I'd just like to ask if there's any local etiquette that we should follow while we accept quests here," Lone explained. "This is our first time in a dwarven stronghold and we really like the place, so while we're here we don't want to step on any toes unnecessarily."

"That's a rare question," the receptionist said in surprise.

"I'm sure. A very near and dear friend of mine is a dwarf, you see. He's a real piece of work but he's a good man, so I want to respect his mother culture while I'm visiting his people," Lone said.

"Oh? Someone from the krieg?" she asked.

Lone shook his head. "I'm afraid not. I don't know where he's from exactly just that he isn't from Krieg Moor. He is a Stone Dwarf though."

"Shame. I know most everyone in this city thanks to my job. It would be nice to meet a top-sider dwarf. Rarely do they come back home after leaving unless they had a damned good reason to leave. Local... customs and whatnot," the lady sighed. "Anyway, adventurer etiquette, yeah?"

She pointed a thumb at the men with mining picks on their backs as she said, "Most jobs here are about that; mining. Don't take them. It's not viewed very well when an outsider 'steals' a job that a krieg-born should be doing. Apart from that, don't be too much of a pushover and you'll do fine."

"It's that simple?" Lone asked.

The woman shrugged. "We're not complicated people most of the time. People post quests to get shit done, do it and you're already a better adventurer than most other lazy idiots. Like I said, no mining and keep your back straight. That's all, sonny."

"Huh... Thank you," Lone replied with a smile. "I was also wondering what the minimum requirements were for forming an adventurer group?"

"Simple, that. You need at least five members and the leader has to be a silver plate at a minimum. All groups represent the guild, after all. Can't have some useless rabble relying on our organisation's power. Groups tend to get privileges in countries where the guild is widely accepted and welcomed on account of them usually being a bunch of reliable 'problem solvers', you see," the employee explained.

"Ah, that makes things a lot clearer, thank you." Lone nodded politely towards the woman then led Soph and Breena to the quest boards.

"Uh, I'll swap to Sophie. She's good at finding useful quests," Soph said before her attitude became cold. "What are we looking for, exactly? Stray cats stuck on pipes we assume since you wish for a relaxed experience," she teased.

"Heh, sure, that would work. Anything normal with at least a half-decent reward. Maybe something that would help us develop skills like building or hand-on assistance," Lone answered with a chuckle.

Sophie nodded curtly and then left his side to investigate the other boards.

Lone looked down at Breena and asked, "You don't seem comfortable."

He's noticed her gaze flickered from the floor to the many adventurers in the hall with an anxious expression thus he raised the topic.

"... There are a lot of people here..." Breena mumbled back.

"You can return to the inn if you'd prefer. I'll happily escort you back once Sophie and I have chosen out a quest," Lone suggested.

Breena was tempted but she steeled herself and shook her head. "I... I need to get stronger too. Developing skills takes effort."

Lone smiled. "Well then, welcome to the team. Let's find a quest, shall we?"