Chapter 283: Eve of Adventure

Chapter 283: Eve of Adventure

The weird space-time anomaly didn’t last longer than a few moments. The nature of the anomaly made it seem like it went on for much longer than it actually did, but once things returned to normal, everyone realized it had only been a few heartbeats. Reivyn turned to his sparring partner and gave a quick, shallow bow to the man.

“Thank you for the spar, but it’s time for us to head out,” Reivyn said.

“Sure, no problem,” the man replied. “If you want to continue in the future, you can find me here most early afternoons after lunch.”

“Thanks.”

Reivyn signaled to his father and Teilon. The other two nodded and the three of them replaced their borrowed practice gear.

“It will take a little time for them to get cleaned up,” Refix said. “Let’s take our time on the way back.”

“So would now be a good time to grab a quick drink?” Teilon piped up. “After what I just went through, I could really use one.”

Reivyn observed his friend. Teilon was pale and sweaty, much sweatier than the physical exercise he had gone through accounted for. True to his word, Refix had found him a sparring partner that used a variety of poisons.

Teilon didn’t have a very high Poison Resistance Skill, though, so his opponent only used some mildly uncomfortable concoctions during their match. Reivyn didn’t know exactly what the poisons did, but he could tell his friend was mostly just feeling terrible and not hurt or missing a lot of Health Points.

“Briefly rewarding yourself after self-improvement, in these situations, doesn’t count as ‘having fun,’” Refix nodded his head. “It’s alright to indulge yourself a little bit as long as you don’t go overboard and let yourself get carried away.”

“Sounds good to me!” Teilon immediately perked up. He still looked terrible, but at least his expression had brightened up.

The trio were still aware of Reivyn’s Divine Sense and the stipulation that he stay away until an appropriate time, so they headed to a different establishment to grab a quick drink. They just ducked into the closest tavern to the practice grounds they had used.

The nature of Adventurers, especially the older, more seasoned ones, meant there were always some people present in any drinking establishment open for business. The tavern wasn’t full by any means, but there were still a decent amount of people present drinking, eating, and socializing with each other despite the relatively early hour of the day.

The three weren’t going to spend an extended period of time or grab anything to eat, so they just sat at the bar directly.

“What’ll it be?” The barkeeper sidled over and asked Refix, the most mature looking one of the group.

“These two are lower-Tier, but they have high Stats,” Refix opened. “Do you have anything you’d recommend for, let’s say... low Tier 5, high Tier 4?”

“Of course!” The barkeeper exclaimed with a smile. “Even though most people that come through here are at least mid Tier 5, we keep stocked for the teetotallers. That should work just fine for the pair of young gentlemen.”

“Sounds good to me,” Reivyn nodded. “We’re not here to get drunk, after all.”

“Speak for yourself,” Teilon quipped with a smirk. Refix smacked him in the back of the head without looking. “Hey!” Teilon rubbed the back of his head as he shot a look of mock-hurt at Refix. Refix just quirked an eyebrow at his son’s friend. “I mean, yeah, not here to get drunk... right now.”

Refix rolled his eyes, but he couldn’t hide the quick tug at the corner of his lips from Reivyn’s perception.

“Make it three,” Refix said, putting some silver on the countertop. “It’s been a while since I’ve had anything strong, myself.”

“Coming right up!”

The barkeeper snagged three mugs from the shelf behind him and made his way to one of the smaller kegs. They were placed under the bar to be out of the way, but Reivyn could see them just fine. Each one was made from an aged wood that Reivyn didn’t recognize, but by the concentration of mana still lingering in the wood, he could place them as locally sourced Tier 5 materials. They didn’t look like the mundane wood all around the Outpost, though, so he suspected they were actually some type of wood natural treasure.

Not only were the kegs made from powerfully mana-infused wood, he could see symbols etched into the side with some sort of silvery-ink Reivyn assumed were enchantments. He could sense Mana flowing from the symbols into the wood of the mini barrels, and they flared briefly as the barkeeper used the taps to fill the three mugs.

A light golden liquid flowed into the mugs and settled with the perfect head sitting on the top. The barkeeper placed the three mugs in front of the three customers and swiped the silver coins. He pocketed the coins and copper change appeared in his hand. Refix waved him away as he made to place the coins in front of him. The barkeeper simply nodded with a smile and the coins disappeared into whatever storage device the man used for his currency.

The three men grabbed their mugs and clinked them together before taking a drink. Reivyn and Refix initially only took a sip to gauge the flavor, but Teilon went straight for a decent gulp. Reivyn had never known his friend to be much of a big drinker, but they had been apart for several years at this point. He didn’t act like someone who needed a drink, but he was definitely more experienced in the art of drinking than Reivyn.

“Ahhhhh, that hits the spot,” Teilon said with a dramatic sigh. He wiped the bit of foam clinging to his upper lip as he set the mug back on the countertop.

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“Wait, what?”

Ameliyn laughed at his reaction before explaining the full process to him. Reivyn sat in silence for several more moments, contemplating the activation method.

“Why would anyone ever do that?” He finally asked, puzzled.

“Well... it’s the way to do it?” Ameliyn said. “I’m not sure what to tell you. It’s the necessary steps.”

“No, I mean the first person to do it. Why would the first person who did it do it? What could possibly have been going through their mind to think, ‘this will work.’”

“Oh! That’s simple. They were told to.”

Reivyn quirked an eyebrow at his mother.

“The first person to do it was told to do it? How does that work?”

“Not everything is guess-work,” Ameliyn said. “You know that high Level priests can communicate with the Ascended beings they worship, and you know about the Akashic Record. Knowledge exists outside of the normal channels.

“We don’t know if it was a divine revelation from an Ascended being or if it was just a fundamental truth of the world, but the first people to do it asked the question and received the answer. It’s as simple as that.”

“Yeah, sounds simple,” Reivyn rolled his eyes. “What do you mean ‘fundamental truth?’”

“The Akashic Record is a perfect example,” Refix interjected. “It contains information about the world, objects, creatures, even the System itself, and you can access it with your Skill. That information exists even if it isn’t written down anywhere.

“Powerful beings can look at it directly. Ascended beings are the prime example. We know that Akashic Records of different lineages contain different types and amounts of information, so we can speculate that it depends on the specialty of the person. Basically they understand a subject so much they master the very fabric of truth of that subject.

“That’s just for inherently understanding a fundamental truth. There are other ways, too. Some high-Tier Classes have divination abilities. They can seek out partial answers to specific questions. Like they might be able to get the process of advancing Bloodlines without understanding the underlying principles involved.

“There might be other Classes that arrive at the same answer through different means, too. Maybe there’s a Class somewhere out there that focuses on enhancing people’s bodies or something and they got a Class Skill that showed them the way.” Refix shrugged. “We don’t know the details, just that it’s the way most weird or complicated things were figured out.”

“Really? Most things?” Reivyn was skeptical. “Then why is there so much research being conducted and why aren’t they using divination or petitioning the churches for the answers?”

Refix shrugged.

“Don’t know. It hasn’t been used in a long time. About the same amount of time that it’s been difficult for people to Ascend. Whatever caused the change in Ascension has also interfered with talking to Ascended beings and using divination outside of the Akashic Record.”

“Well... alright, then,” Reivyn said after a moment. “I’m getting hungry with all this food in front of me, so I guess I’ll go ahead and eat.”

Kefira had never stopped eating during the entire conversation. She wasn’t eating fast or without manners, but she was eating at a consistent pace. Teilon and Kimberly had prepared their own plates and were talking to each other in whispers. Serilla sat in silence with a finished plate on the table in front of her. Ameliyn likewise had remnants of a finished meal in front of her.

Reivyn and Refix apportioned themselves servings of the various dishes on the table and started eating as well.

“It’s a bit too late in the day to start our expedition, so we’ll go first thing in the morning,” Refix said between bites. “We’ve all already done some form of training or other today, too, so I suggest we have a break for the rest of the day. Just be sure to be in bed at a decent time to get well-rested. We’re going to leave the Outpost at dawn.”

“Sounds good, boss,” Teilon said, quickly looking up from his conversation with Kimberly. The others around the table nodded in agreement.

Reivyn and Refix quickly finished their meal, but Kefira was still steadily filling her stomach. Reivyn continued to sit with her and Serilla at the table. Refix and Ameliyn got up when Refix finished to go do their own thing, and they were quickly followed by Teilon and Kimberly.

The Party disbanded into three separate groups for the rest of the day. Kefira eventually finished replenishing her energy, and Reivyn and Serilla stayed with her. They spent the rest of the day just lazily relaxing. Kefira wasn’t really in the mood for doing anything other than lounging with Reivyn by her side, and Reivyn was perfectly happy to accompany her. Serilla, obviously, would stick to Kefira.

Everyone made it back to their rooms in a timely manner and spent another night in a comfy bed for the last time in a while. The next day would see them out on another adventure, sourcing materials for their own Bloodline, racking up Life Experience, and Skill and Class Levels.