After we got to the capital, we said see you later to Unika. I made sure she had a device to contact us, in case she wanted the job. It was a prototype emergency call device. Basically, I wanted to make something I could give my workers, and if they got into trouble, the device would automatically activate and alert HomeBase. It would have a tracker, would be able to put up a magic barrier and many other things, long enough that someone from HomeBase could go down and help them.
The version I gave Unika was still a work in progress. It was one you’d have to manually activate and it only had the tracking feature, nothing else. So if Unika wanted to get in contact, as she is the only one that has one of those devices, all she’d have to do is activate it, HomeBase would get the sign and we could send someone down to see/get her.
Our next stop was of course the adventurer’s guild. We were on a guild quest after all. And since we arrived there in my carriage, we got some extra looks. Though I’m not sure what is more eye-catching, me putting my carriage into Storage, or just Agunan. Agunan is pretty good in the whole gathering looks department. Then again, both do stack, causing us to gather even more attention.
Well, at least us getting attention had the effect of clearing a way for us, so that is a plus. We even got to walk directly to a free counter. After reporting about our completed quest, the receptionist went to see if the GM was available, and soon enough, we were back in the GM’s room.
“So, how was the dungeon? Did you find it interesting?” The GM asked.
“It was different to say the least. I’m more used to linear dungeons, compared to that maze.” I answered.
“It is somewhat unique, yes.” The GM agreed. “But there are others like it, so I hope you will keep going to different dungeons. But enough about that. Did you bring the rue moss?”
“Naturally. Here it is.” I brought the moss out from Storage.
“... I see. Less than I expected.”
“Well, you said bring what we can. We didn’t really grind for dungeon points. We only took care of the monsters that were in our way.” I admitted. “If you need more, I can get together a party that can go get more.”
“I will keep that in mind. But it is good to know that your group can get some of the most difficult to get ingredients in the matter of days. Did anything unusual happen? I heard something about sprites.”
“Yeah. I was going to talk about that. You see, there was a report about sprites in the dungeon. On our way down, we took care of them and saved a solo adventurer named Unika from them.” I decided to say that Unika was solo and I also lied about the sprites fate. I mean, officially both can be the truth, so why not.
“... so some did appear. That is a bit worrying. But I must thank you for taking care of them. Not all C-rankers can deal with sprites and I heard they were quite close to the surface.”
“Yeah. Area 2-4-4. But the dungeon guards and the guild personnel in the town did a good job at warning us about them, so you might want to give them some extra credit. We might have ignored the sprites if we didn’t know of them.”
“I’ll be sure to complement them on their exceptional skill at handling this situation. But back to why you are here. You completed the fighting tests and the quest I gave you, so I have no reason to not rank you up to A. Would you please hand over your guild cards?”
After our cards were updated, we talked a bit more with the GM, and then headed not home, but to the Sawyer capital manor. From there we will beam up to HomeBase. So after a quick visit to the Sawyer manor and catching Mariina up to speed, we headed home.
There, I quickly headed to my office, aka the Citadel Core room. I wanted to know more about Nel.
“We followed Miss Nel into a building near the wall dividing the noble’s district from the other areas, on the commoner side. We have been keeping an eye on the building, but no one has come out since Miss Nel entered.” Endy explained.
“Alright. Good to know. Is the building special in any way?”
“Not as far as we can see. It seems to be just a regular house, though I believe the location near the dividing wall might make it slightly more expensive than other houses.”
“... I see. So maybe Nel is a noble’s child that was disowned?” I quickly theorized.
“Would you like us to keep an eye on the house?” Endy asked. “What about sending a spy to check the house out?”
“... keep an eye on it, but let’s not send out spies. It isn’t that important.” I mean, just because Nel is some random rich kid, doesn’t mean that I’ll spy on her. Well, beyond a reasonable amount. “… but I guess you should make notes on all the people that enter or exit that building.” I added, because that much should be fine.
“As you command, Master.”
After that, it was time for training. I had some in the dungeon, but I have two new skills to test out, so practice it is.
Summon Nature Spirit was quite easy to get a hang of. I mean, all I have to do is activate the skill while I hold something plant-based, and it will act as a catalyst to summon a nature spirit. Though the larger the plant I have is, the higher the chance the greater spirit responds to my call. And since I can actually hold living plants in my Storage, as long as they are in a state they can be moved in like a flower in a flowerpot, I might look into getting a small tree or something that I can hold in Storage for the nature spirits.
Spirit Magic on the other hand was a completely different beast. It relied on the pseudo spirits that are born whenever attribute magic is used. In short, Spirit Magic makes them, and then the pseudo spirits make magic. It is basically the reverse of how attribute magic is used where a person uses magic, and that magic births pseudo spirits. Spirit Magic was still an absolutely amazing skill, as I could basically use any attribute of magic with it, even if I have no affinity to any attribute. So in short, while it is slower than normal attribute magic, it is an absolute cheat skill.
And because of my two Summon Spirit skills, I can make it even better, as I can use Spirit Magic with the spirits I summon with my other skills. I have already been able to ask them for their help, but Spirit Magic makes it even more efficient, as I give the spirits mana to use for the spells. This helps them cast more spells and more powerful spells, before they lose their form in this world and return to the spirit world.
Of course being on HomeBase also meant that I got to play around with Draconic Magic again. It is pretty much my favorite, as it relies on not chants, but on Mana Control, instincts and your will. It just felt… correct to me. Why chant your spells when you can force the spells to be what you want them to be? Sure I’m not that good at it yet, but I’ll get there. I also added an extra step to my Draconic skill training. Well, in truth it was more like training a second skill, well third really, at the same time. That being Advanced Summoning Magic. I mean, I already train with one or two dragons, why not add a third? And having Himeśaila train with me might power her up as well, so that could be useful.
After today’s lesson, I asked Lady Janina’s permission to Level Up my Draconic skill. Lady Janina quickly shot it down and made me train extra hard instead, forcing me to have a double long training session.
After that, it was break time. A much needed break at that. And for that, I got to act as a test subject. Kind of.
You see, one of the things Nudy had begun teaching my other maids is how to take care of a person, including massages. And for that, they needed people to practice on. And after training both magic and Draconic Body, I was more than willing to lay face down on a table and let a few maids massage my body with some massage oils.
Spoiler [collapse]Though the part I didn’t predict was Alice and Lua interrupting our session, kicking out Molly and Cina, and massaging me themselves. Well, not that I’m complaining. I’ll just order Agunan and Ria to be test subjects for the maids massages, while I enjoy the one by my two definitely not jealous girlfriends. … or are they my fiances, since I gave them those bracelets? I feel like yes. I mean, I did promise to marry them, so absolutely yes.
I really want to make rings for them now. I’ll need to practice with Dark Sage so that I’ll be able to make magic stones all on my own. I did promise the two that I would, and I will.
The next day, we had a few things on the agenda. First was all my paperwork, even if I don’t have that much of it. But I did learn something interesting from Endy.
“... no one has come out or gone in?” I confirmed.
“Yes. After Miss Nel entered the building yesterday morning, no one has come in or out. Also, we have been scanning the capital for Miss Nel, but we haven’t spotted her anywhere.” Endy explained.
“... could she be injured?”
“I believe Lady Lucia did use a Scan spell on her, so she should be fine. And if she wasn’t, why would she not look for treatment?”
“... I guess money. But then again, she did pay Unika quite a bit of money, so I don’t think that would be a problem. So maybe Nel is working on something?”
“I believe she did get some alchemy materials from the dungeon, didn’t she?” Endy asked.
“Yeah, the carrots. I think they were used for a night vision potion.”
“Perhaps she is brewing that potion, so she is held up in her house?” Endy suggested.
“So a banished child of a noble that works as an alchemist, who still gets money from somewhere. Sounds almost like a light novel.”
“Our assumption could also be wrong. If she was an alchemist, why wouldn’t she have customers?”
“Maybe she sells her stuff somewhere?” I guessed. “Well, let’s just keep the surveillance up. When she exits, we will know. But I’ll get going now. I’ll need to go pick up Mariina before the lesson on Soul Magic.”
As I just said, today was going to be our next installment of Soul Magic shenaniganz. Is it really even magic, I have no clue. But it does use mana, so it is kind of magic. Magical technique at least.
And as I promised Mariina earlier, she was going to join our lesson today. And for that, I was bringing her to HomeBase. So with that in mind, I beamed myself down to the Sawyer manor’s lawn.
“Mariina, you ready to go?” I asked, after a maid brought me to Mariina’s room in the Sawyer capital manor.
“Yes. I’ve been so looking forward to this.” Mariina responded.
As we left her room, she picked up a large bag holding … something, as well as her staff that had the magic stone that housed the earth spirit she had a contract with.
We quickly headed back outside and I called a beam down from HomeBase. Not that Mariina could see it. Maybe eventually she will have her own access ring. Or some other accessory, it doesn’t have to be a ring specifically.
“Alright. Up we go.” I said and brought us to HomeBase.
“... was that the same thing your ships use?” Mariina asked, after we appeared in a teleportation room on HomeBase.
“Based on it, yes. That one just limits who can see the teleportation beam.” I answered. “Come on. We better not keep Lady Janina waiting.”
“... Lady Janina?”
“I’ll introduce you. Come on. Let’s go.”
As we walked into the corridor and eventually outside, Mariina went through… emotions. Especially when she saw the outside, with the large magic circles that float in the air. You know, the ones responsible for keeping HomeBase floating, keeping the air here breathable, making sure it isn’t too cold, and of course the ones that keep this place invincible to observers on the ground.
“I… I didn’t think any other place could have magic circles like this.” Mariina muttered.
“I’m actually more surprised that the Sage’s tower is able to have them. Making one like that takes quite a bit of mana. Just projecting one circle takes more than 3000 mana per day.”
“... admitting that while you have… eight of them floating around this place.”
“Eight and plans for more.” I admitted.
“May I ask what they all do?”
“... sure, I guess. But I’ll explain that after our lesson. For now, we have a lesson to attend.”
After we got to the capital, we said see you later to Unika. I made sure she had a device to contact us, in case she wanted the job. It was a prototype emergency call device. Basically, I wanted to make something I could give my workers, and if they got into trouble, the device would automatically activate and alert HomeBase. It would have a tracker, would be able to put up a magic barrier and many other things, long enough that someone from HomeBase could go down and help them.
The version I gave Unika was still a work in progress. It was one you’d have to manually activate and it only had the tracking feature, nothing else. So if Unika wanted to get in contact, as she is the only one that has one of those devices, all she’d have to do is activate it, HomeBase would get the sign and we could send someone down to see/get her.
Our next stop was of course the adventurer’s guild. We were on a guild quest after all. And since we arrived there in my carriage, we got some extra looks. Though I’m not sure what is more eye-catching, me putting my carriage into Storage, or just Agunan. Agunan is pretty good in the whole gathering looks department. Then again, both do stack, causing us to gather even more attention.
Well, at least us getting attention had the effect of clearing a way for us, so that is a plus. We even got to walk directly to a free counter. After reporting about our completed quest, the receptionist went to see if the GM was available, and soon enough, we were back in the GM’s room.
“So, how was the dungeon? Did you find it interesting?” The GM asked.
“It was different to say the least. I’m more used to linear dungeons, compared to that maze.” I answered.
“It is somewhat unique, yes.” The GM agreed. “But there are others like it, so I hope you will keep going to different dungeons. But enough about that. Did you bring the rue moss?”
“Naturally. Here it is.” I brought the moss out from Storage.
“... I see. Less than I expected.”
“Well, you said bring what we can. We didn’t really grind for dungeon points. We only took care of the monsters that were in our way.” I admitted. “If you need more, I can get together a party that can go get more.”
“I will keep that in mind. But it is good to know that your group can get some of the most difficult to get ingredients in the matter of days. Did anything unusual happen? I heard something about sprites.”
“Yeah. I was going to talk about that. You see, there was a report about sprites in the dungeon. On our way down, we took care of them and saved a solo adventurer named Unika from them.” I decided to say that Unika was solo and I also lied about the sprites fate. I mean, officially both can be the truth, so why not.
“... so some did appear. That is a bit worrying. But I must thank you for taking care of them. Not all C-rankers can deal with sprites and I heard they were quite close to the surface.”
“Yeah. Area 2-4-4. But the dungeon guards and the guild personnel in the town did a good job at warning us about them, so you might want to give them some extra credit. We might have ignored the sprites if we didn’t know of them.”
“I’ll be sure to complement them on their exceptional skill at handling this situation. But back to why you are here. You completed the fighting tests and the quest I gave you, so I have no reason to not rank you up to A. Would you please hand over your guild cards?”
After our cards were updated, we talked a bit more with the GM, and then headed not home, but to the Sawyer capital manor. From there we will beam up to HomeBase. So after a quick visit to the Sawyer manor and catching Mariina up to speed, we headed home.
There, I quickly headed to my office, aka the Citadel Core room. I wanted to know more about Nel.
“We followed Miss Nel into a building near the wall dividing the noble’s district from the other areas, on the commoner side. We have been keeping an eye on the building, but no one has come out since Miss Nel entered.” Endy explained.
“Alright. Good to know. Is the building special in any way?”
“Not as far as we can see. It seems to be just a regular house, though I believe the location near the dividing wall might make it slightly more expensive than other houses.”
“... I see. So maybe Nel is a noble’s child that was disowned?” I quickly theorized.
“Would you like us to keep an eye on the house?” Endy asked. “What about sending a spy to check the house out?”
“... keep an eye on it, but let’s not send out spies. It isn’t that important.” I mean, just because Nel is some random rich kid, doesn’t mean that I’ll spy on her. Well, beyond a reasonable amount. “… but I guess you should make notes on all the people that enter or exit that building.” I added, because that much should be fine.
“As you command, Master.”
After that, it was time for training. I had some in the dungeon, but I have two new skills to test out, so practice it is.
Summon Nature Spirit was quite easy to get a hang of. I mean, all I have to do is activate the skill while I hold something plant-based, and it will act as a catalyst to summon a nature spirit. Though the larger the plant I have is, the higher the chance the greater spirit responds to my call. And since I can actually hold living plants in my Storage, as long as they are in a state they can be moved in like a flower in a flowerpot, I might look into getting a small tree or something that I can hold in Storage for the nature spirits.
Spirit Magic on the other hand was a completely different beast. It relied on the pseudo spirits that are born whenever attribute magic is used. In short, Spirit Magic makes them, and then the pseudo spirits make magic. It is basically the reverse of how attribute magic is used where a person uses magic, and that magic births pseudo spirits. Spirit Magic was still an absolutely amazing skill, as I could basically use any attribute of magic with it, even if I have no affinity to any attribute. So in short, while it is slower than normal attribute magic, it is an absolute cheat skill.
And because of my two Summon Spirit skills, I can make it even better, as I can use Spirit Magic with the spirits I summon with my other skills. I have already been able to ask them for their help, but Spirit Magic makes it even more efficient, as I give the spirits mana to use for the spells. This helps them cast more spells and more powerful spells, before they lose their form in this world and return to the spirit world.
Of course being on HomeBase also meant that I got to play around with Draconic Magic again. It is pretty much my favorite, as it relies on not chants, but on Mana Control, instincts and your will. It just felt… correct to me. Why chant your spells when you can force the spells to be what you want them to be? Sure I’m not that good at it yet, but I’ll get there. I also added an extra step to my Draconic skill training. Well, in truth it was more like training a second skill, well third really, at the same time. That being Advanced Summoning Magic. I mean, I already train with one or two dragons, why not add a third? And having Himeśaila train with me might power her up as well, so that could be useful.
After today’s lesson, I asked Lady Janina’s permission to Level Up my Draconic skill. Lady Janina quickly shot it down and made me train extra hard instead, forcing me to have a double long training session.
After that, it was break time. A much needed break at that. And for that, I got to act as a test subject. Kind of.
You see, one of the things Nudy had begun teaching my other maids is how to take care of a person, including massages. And for that, they needed people to practice on. And after training both magic and Draconic Body, I was more than willing to lay face down on a table and let a few maids massage my body with some massage oils.
Spoiler [collapse]Though the part I didn’t predict was Alice and Lua interrupting our session, kicking out Molly and Cina, and massaging me themselves. Well, not that I’m complaining. I’ll just order Agunan and Ria to be test subjects for the maids massages, while I enjoy the one by my two definitely not jealous girlfriends. … or are they my fiances, since I gave them those bracelets? I feel like yes. I mean, I did promise to marry them, so absolutely yes.
I really want to make rings for them now. I’ll need to practice with Dark Sage so that I’ll be able to make magic stones all on my own. I did promise the two that I would, and I will.
The next day, we had a few things on the agenda. First was all my paperwork, even if I don’t have that much of it. But I did learn something interesting from Endy.
“... no one has come out or gone in?” I confirmed.
“Yes. After Miss Nel entered the building yesterday morning, no one has come in or out. Also, we have been scanning the capital for Miss Nel, but we haven’t spotted her anywhere.” Endy explained.
“... could she be injured?”
“I believe Lady Lucia did use a Scan spell on her, so she should be fine. And if she wasn’t, why would she not look for treatment?”
“... I guess money. But then again, she did pay Unika quite a bit of money, so I don’t think that would be a problem. So maybe Nel is working on something?”
“I believe she did get some alchemy materials from the dungeon, didn’t she?” Endy asked.
“Yeah, the carrots. I think they were used for a night vision potion.”
“Perhaps she is brewing that potion, so she is held up in her house?” Endy suggested.
“So a banished child of a noble that works as an alchemist, who still gets money from somewhere. Sounds almost like a light novel.”
“Our assumption could also be wrong. If she was an alchemist, why wouldn’t she have customers?”
“Maybe she sells her stuff somewhere?” I guessed. “Well, let’s just keep the surveillance up. When she exits, we will know. But I’ll get going now. I’ll need to go pick up Mariina before the lesson on Soul Magic.”
As I just said, today was going to be our next installment of Soul Magic shenaniganz. Is it really even magic, I have no clue. But it does use mana, so it is kind of magic. Magical technique at least.
And as I promised Mariina earlier, she was going to join our lesson today. And for that, I was bringing her to HomeBase. So with that in mind, I beamed myself down to the Sawyer manor’s lawn.
“Mariina, you ready to go?” I asked, after a maid brought me to Mariina’s room in the Sawyer capital manor.
“Yes. I’ve been so looking forward to this.” Mariina responded.
As we left her room, she picked up a large bag holding … something, as well as her staff that had the magic stone that housed the earth spirit she had a contract with.
We quickly headed back outside and I called a beam down from HomeBase. Not that Mariina could see it. Maybe eventually she will have her own access ring. Or some other accessory, it doesn’t have to be a ring specifically.
“Alright. Up we go.” I said and brought us to HomeBase.
“... was that the same thing your ships use?” Mariina asked, after we appeared in a teleportation room on HomeBase.
“Based on it, yes. That one just limits who can see the teleportation beam.” I answered. “Come on. We better not keep Lady Janina waiting.”
“... Lady Janina?”
“I’ll introduce you. Come on. Let’s go.”
As we walked into the corridor and eventually outside, Mariina went through… emotions. Especially when she saw the outside, with the large magic circles that float in the air. You know, the ones responsible for keeping HomeBase floating, keeping the air here breathable, making sure it isn’t too cold, and of course the ones that keep this place invincible to observers on the ground.
“I… I didn’t think any other place could have magic circles like this.” Mariina muttered.
“I’m actually more surprised that the Sage’s tower is able to have them. Making one like that takes quite a bit of mana. Just projecting one circle takes more than 3000 mana per day.”
“... admitting that while you have… eight of them floating around this place.”
“Eight and plans for more.” I admitted.
“May I ask what they all do?”
“... sure, I guess. But I’ll explain that after our lesson. For now, we have a lesson to attend.”
