princess Zena of Zendor

Waking up, under a different unknown roof, is probably not conducive to a good mood. Neither is sleeping fully clothed, which I did again tonight. Even worse is the fact that some of the others in the room snored. Not enough to wake me, but more than enough to annoy me. Even the fact that there are others in the room is bad enough. Sitting up, I can FEEL how bad the air is. Falling down the ladder is just the icing on the cake at this point. Robes are definitely not ideal for climbing ladders. The only good thing so far is that I’m immune to fall damage. Standing back up, I come face to face with someone. “Bad day, huh?” she says with an amused expression. Intensifying my grimace, I grumble the reply “Toilet now, talk later” and walk out of the room. At least I don’t have to wait for the toilet to become vacant, but oh god, the smell. While thinking if it’s worth it to hold it until I find somewhere better, I remember that I have magic. Casting ‘cleanse’ on the entire bathroom fixes the issue at the cost of nearly a quarter of my mana. The other woman that seems to have followed me out of the room, simply stares at me. Locking the door behind, I take care of my business. I still avoid the cloth that seems to be the equivalent of toilet paper, even though it is now properly clean thanks to my magic. Since this robe has already annoyed me, I simply magic it away. Since I am in too bad a mood to look for a perfect outfit for the day, I simply put back on Zena’s original outfit. 

When I leave, the other woman is still standing there. I ignore her, since I assume she is waiting for the toilet, but quickly notice that she is following. As I sit down at one of the tables in the now mostly empty common room, she decides to sit opposed to me with a smile and start a conversation

“Hi, I’m Jo, a recent graduate of the academy. Couldn’t help noticing you using some very complicated spells, and since skilled mages are almost always swimming in money, I was wondering why you were staying in this dingy place.”

Staring at her, she does indeed have more mana than Jools, not that that is saying much. If I had to guess, she has about half as much mana as a player who completed the tutorial. Seeing as she is at the very least polite, I’ll join in the conversation, after I have parched my throat. I create a mana glass and fill it with clean water and drink it. Then I let the glass chatter in the typical fashion, which I have to admit is quite beautiful. At this she stares wide eyed at me and exclaims “That wasn’t even a spell!? How did you do that!?”

Looking at her with an expression that hopefully conveys my displeasure of her loud voice while answering “That was a cup made of mana. It’s basic mana manipulation. I filled it with water from my inventory. As to why we are staying at this dingy place, we arrived late yesterday and this was the first place we found that offered a bed. Also, do all graduates have as much mana as you?” I add in a question to guide the conversation away from myself, since I don't really feel like talking about me. And she happily takes the bait.

“Nope, I have more than the average graduate, though not by as much as I would like.” she answers with a smile.

“That’s hardly any though. All the ones I know that graduated the academy had approximately twice as much as you when graduating.” I add on, conveying my experience with new players. It also acted as a way to dampen her mood a little, though that might have been a tad too petty, as her smile quickly fades. Regretting my last word, I add on “Don’t worry though, the less mana you have, the faster your power grows.” It’s true, or at least it was in the game. I left out the fact that having less mana is strictly worse than having more. Her smile came back when hearing that, though not quite to the same level as before.

“So, how much did you have when you graduated?” she asks me.

“I never graduated.” I respond simply, no longer trying to steer the conversation.

“You flunked? But you use such complex magic, and even your basic mana manipulation is leagues above the professors?”

“No, you misunderstand, I never attended.” I state, slightly amused at the misunderstanding.

“I thought the academy was the only place that taught magic?” she continues.

“Maybe it’s the only institution that teaches magic, and to my understanding, they only teach you the basics to get you started on your journey.” I explain using my combined knowledge from both George and Zena. 

Digging into my unsaid statement, she asks “How did you learn then?”

I don’t know how to answer that. Zena’s memories don't go far enough back to her first use of magic, which presumably happened under the tutelage of a royal mage in Zendor, and when George created her character, he simply selected the option to use magic. Going with my assumption I state “It's possible to learn from a skilled individual.” As soon as those words leave my mouth, I realize my mistake.

“Please teach me magic.” She says, with a bit more volume than necessary.

“Sure, why not” Jools says from behind me, choosing the worst possible time to interject.

Turning around, I glare with intense annoyance at him, before gesturing to a free chair and turning back at my definitely not apprentice and saying nothing as my mind kick into gear. Having a local of the world with us would help us, and her having recently graduated from the academy would mean that she should be fairly on top of world news. 

Deciding on a plan of action I answer “Maybe, it depends. Jools, go and get yourself a bedroll or something similar and meet me back here afterwards. We need to leave as early as possible.”

“Can you give me the money for it then?” he questions back, apparently not feeling like accessing his inventory.

“No. Use your own. And you should probably get a money pouch if you don’t feel like accessing your inventory.” I say as I cast the focus up spell on him, with only a little more than the minimum mana.

He just sighs and proceeds to take out some gold coins individually, a piece of fabric and a piece of roasted meat. Seeing that he plans to eat breakfast, I hand him a glass of water.

Ignoring Jools, I turn my attention back to Jo. “We are leaving town as early as possible to hunt a monster. If you can keep up, I will teach you some of the magic I know.” I can’t simply give her a free pass, lest she becomes a liability to us.

“What spell did you cast on him? I couldn’t understand it at all. Is he a mage as well since he can access the inventory? He doesn’t look like a mage. Also what monster are you hunting? Do I need to prepare a bedroll as well?” She starts talking enthusiastically. 

“Slow down please. To start with, no he’s not a mage. He can access his inventory by himself, but he struggles a lot with it. The spell I cast on him helps him do it.” and before I can continue my answers she asks a new question.

“You can do that? The academy taught that you can’t make somebody better at magic by using magic on them.”

“You can really use magic to make someone better at magic. Once the spell wears off, he’ll be just as bad. Though accessing the inventory at all is impressive from a warrior like him.”

“So what is the monster we are hunting?” she once again asks.

“Don’t say we, as it is still undecided that you are joining us. The monster is an abomination.”

As I say the word ‘abomination’ she freezes up and her eyes widens.

“Getting cold feets are we?” I tease her, bringing her back to reality.

“Wait, seriously? The academy taught us to just run away if we encounter one of those and get help if it’s heading towards something important.”

“Yes, seriously. We are the kind of people you ask for help. It’s a small one that’s headed towards this city, which is kinda why we are rushing to get ready. You will probably need a bedroll or a tent or at the very least some warm clothes.”

“I’ll do it.” she says with determination in her eyes. Feeling a little worried about her I answer back.

“No, you absolutely are not engaging the abomination. My requirement was that you can keep up with our travel speed, not that you can fight abominations. Because I know you’ll die if we do not protect us. No, you'll just observe from a safe distance. Honestly, I kinda doubt that you can keep up. Do you know mana thruster? Because I use an equivalent spell almost continuously when traveling.”

“Of course I know mana thruster, I hate it. How can you stand using that?”

“I said equivalent. The one I use is better, it doesn’t kick me.”

“Oh, right. Was that the one you used to jump up into bed yesterday?”

Thinking for a moment, I remember the conversation that I refused to engage in. “Yes, that was it.”

“That was so complex. Mana swirled through your entire body, before suddenly lurching in the opposite direction to you jumped. Can you teach it to me?”

“Maybe, but you should probably start with some of the less complex versions.”

We continued discussing the specifics of thrusting spells until Jools returns with a bedroll over his shoulder. Apparently he left at some point without me noticing. I was absentmindedly feeding mana to the glass the entire time. As soon as I noticed, I let it shatter. Seeing us deeply engaged in a conversation about magic, Jools says “Wow, I was not actually expecting you to take my answer seriously. Especially since I’m not really involved in the repercussions. Anyways, I’m here now, should we leave?”

 

Kamba

Here is the chapter I said might happen today, though apparently it was hijacked by Jo. She unilaterally decided to push back the hunt by at least a chapter.