The Realm Between: The Evil Within: A LitRPG Saga (Book 5), page 10
“No one has taken it yet,” Mel replied nonchalantly.
Azure noticed that the other two quests paid better, especially the Miscellaneous quest. But it was long, and he didn’t want to spend more than a day on a quest, nor did he particularly want to have to board another ship if he didn’t have to.
The goblin quest looked interesting, but with a difficulty of Very Hard, there was no way he was going to risk taking it on on his own. If he was dumb enough to do that, then he might as well take a Bounty quest.
“Do you ever get…” he hesitated, wondering if it was a stupid question, “Easy difficulty Bounty quests?”
“Sometimes. But they’re few and far between. Why? Do you want to see a Bounty, too?” Mel sounded annoyed.
“If you have an Easy one, I wouldn’t mind.” Azure immediately wanted to bite his tongue. He didn’t have time to take on a Bounty quest.
“I don’t,” Mel said dryly. “Now, which one do you want?” He tried to rush Azure along.
Bemoaning the fact that it didn’t pay as much as the other quests, Azure pulled the Hides for Clothes quest closer. “I think I’ll take this one.”
“Excellent.” Mel looked past Azure and immediately called, “Next!”
What an ass, Azure thought as he walked away.
When he was standing outside of The Adventurers Guild, Azure pulled up his World Map. He fully expected to see a location pinpointed or at least a few overlapping red circles, but there was no indication of where he should go to find the Kobold Hides.
I suppose she really doesn’t care where I get them from.
If Azure wanted to be really lazy, he could probably buy the hides from a merchant around town. After having sold a Kobold Hide in the past, he had a pretty good idea of how much they would cost, somewhere in the ballpark of 2 silver each. Buying them instead of hunting for them would put him 1 gold and 3 silver in the red. That was assuming he could even find enough for sale to fill his quota.
The only place where Azure knew that kobolds might be wandering around was outside of Flatbarrow. With so much time left in the day, it didn’t hurt to ride over there and see what he could find. As long as he was back by nightfall to check the tavern for his friends. This quest wasn’t particularly urgent anyway. If he didn’t complete it today, he could always finish it up tomorrow if Janine hadn’t returned yet.
With that in mind, Azure headed to Garion’s smithy to have his Loot Automizer Pendant repaired, then he left Squall’s End for Flatbarrow.
CHAPTER TEN
THE REALM – Day 98
For all the work he’d done trying to send the kobolds in the area a message, there were still plenty wandering about. Azure killed the first, a level 11 training kobold, before he even remembered to try casting his Summon Familiar spell.
He stood over the body and wove his hands in the intricate pattern needed to bring forth his familiar. Before him, he watched in wonder as the dirt and air and particles of blood from his own body formed together to create the small creature at his feet. Seeing its size before it had even taken shape made him fear it would be something weak. Whatever it was, it was black as pitch and only stood halfway up to his knee. After a moment, Azure began to recognize feathers, and within a matter of seconds, a crow squawked to life.
Well, that’s rather disappointing. He couldn’t help having wanted a giant cat or a dire wolf, something ferocious that would spark fear in the hearts of his foes, even if the creature couldn’t attack. Then again, something small and swift made more sense if the animal’s only purpose was to aid in his magic.
Azure mentally commanded the crow to fly up onto his shoulder. He turned his head to the side, gazing into the bird’s black eyes. It screeched loudly into his ear, at which he immediately told it to remain silent. The crow cocked its head to the side questioningly but didn’t make another sound.
“What should I call you?” Azure said to the bird only a second before the answer came to his mind. “Crowley. You will be Crowley from now on.”
The crow flapped its wings twice in response, causing Azure to shy away from it slightly. When it settled again, he activated his Analyze ability.
Name: Crowley
Race: Summon
Level: 5
Health: 25
Since it has Health, then I guess it can be killed. In one hit, by the looks of it. Should I ever use it for its intended purpose, I should probably keep it hidden in the trees.
For now, there was no fear of the summon dying. Azure wanted to save his remaining Mana for the ride back to Squall’s End. To do that without having to eat any Blue Mushrooms, he could only spend 20 more Mana, which was the equivalent of one buff, one summon, or two uses of Dirty Move. He wanted to avoid using magic, if at all possible.
Azure debated traveling with Crowley perched on his shoulder, but he realized that the next time he needed to draw his bow, the bird would have to fly away and would likely alert his enemies of his position, so Azure dismissed the crow to do as it pleased until ten minutes were up and it would disappear.
With that experiment over, he continued his hunt, keeping Stealthed as he went.
Throughout the day, he found four training kobolds traveling solo and the others moving in pairs. The ones off by themselves were much easier to dispatch, typically going down from one to two shots of his bow. Even when he missed the first time, they didn’t get very far.
In pairs, the kobolds provided a bit more of a challenge. Azure would take the first one down with his bow. Then the second one would either run away, sending him on a wild goose chase through the forest, or charge him and engage in melee. With so many levels below him, they didn’t stand a chance. What damage Azure sustained in close range combat was minimal, and he was able to kill ten kobolds before it got so late that he thought it best to head back.
Unfortunately, he didn’t meet his quota. After using his Loot Automizer Pendant on nine of the kobolds and butchering the tenth himself, he ended up with the following loot.
Kobold Fang
Item Class: Common
Quality: Average
Weight: 0.3 kg
Uses: Crafting.
Kobold Pelt
Quantity: 2
Item Class: Common
Quality: Poor
Weight: 3.5 kg
Uses: Crafting.
Kobold Phalanges
Quantity: 5
Item Class: Common
Quality: Average
Weight: 0.1 kg
Uses: Crafting.
Brick of Crude Bronze
Item Class: Common
Quality: Average
Weight: 1.0 kg
Uses: Smelting.
Kobold Hide
Item Class: Common
Quality: Average
Weight: 2.5 kg
Uses: Crafting.
Kobold Pelt
Quantity: 3
Item Class: Common
Quality: Good
Weight: 3.5 kg
Uses: Crafting.
If he wanted to get this over faster, Azure would need to buy the rest of the hides to complete his quest from the merchants in town, but until he met up with Janine or the deadline on the quest approached, there was no need to rush.
Azure returned to Squall’s End, arriving after the merchants had already packed up for the night. With nothing else to do, he stopped by the inn to purchase another night’s stay, then headed to the tavern for dinner and to wait for his friends.
It was another long boring night with no one showing up but Uden. Once more, Azure worked to avoid him, leaving as soon as the half-imp arrived and then diverting to knock on the door to Janine’s room before returning to his own.
In the morning, he went back to the blacksmith to have the durability on his Loot Automizer Pendant renewed again. Then he sold his wares, aside from the Kobold Hide, for 9 silver and 1 copper. It was a meager haul, but some coin was better than none.
Worried that he might be cursed with another boring night, Azure then headed to Zach’s stall and bought all the alchemy supplies he had for making Potions of Minor Healing for 2 gold, 8 silver, and 8 copper.
You have received the following items:
Empty Vial
Quantity: 79
Item Class: Common
Quality: Average
Weight: 0 kg
Uses: Alchemy Component
Red Mushroom
Quantity: 62
Uses: Alchemy component, Restores +10 HP if eaten
Garlic
Quantity: 19
Uses: Alchemy component, Restores +15 HP if eaten
Then Azure returned to Flatbarrow to rinse and repeat.
It was another long day of slaughter. Counting on his Loot Automizer Pendant only gave Azure nine chances to acquire the hides that he needed, and that just wasn’t going to happen in a day.
Frustrated with his progress, Azure butchered the first kobold he killed, trying specifically to loot its hide. There was a marked difference between the pelts and the hides. While the pelts were still covered with tufts of fur, the hides were stripped clean and looked processed and ready to be made into clothing. Azure wasn’t sure how he was supposed to accomplish this.
Dismantling the kobold produced the typical items.
Kobold Fang
Item Class: Common
Quality: Average
Weight: 0.3 kg
Uses: Crafting.
Kobold Pelt
Item Class: Common
Quality: Good
Weight: 3.5 kg
Uses: Crafting.
Kobold Phalanges
Item Class: Common
Quality: Average
Weight: 0.1 kg
Uses: Crafting.
Azure took the pelt and stripped it of the tufts of fur. It still didn’t look like the hide in his inventory, but bringing up the item details showed that it had, in fact, changed.
Ruined Kobold Pelt
Item Class: Common
Quality: Poor
Weight: 2.5 kg
Uses: Crafting.
“Well, shit.” Azure tossed his Black Dagger down, the blade sticking in the dirt. He definitely wouldn’t be getting a hide this way. There must be something that he needed to do to the pelt to turn it into a hide—a skill that Azure didn’t yet possess. The only thing he could hope for was that his Loot Automizer Pendant would do the work for him. As it was, he was beginning to think he’d be better off just buying the hides in town. Otherwise, this might take the entire six days allowed to complete the quest, if not more.
Whatever the case, Azure was in it for the long haul. If he didn’t get many hides today, he might admit defeat and spend tomorrow in town shopping for the rest.
The kobolds seemed a lot more spread out than the prior day. Also, there were more traveling solo, which Azure liked. On his very next kill, he received a level-up notification.
Congratulations! You are now Level 17! Your base stats have been boosted. You have earned 3 points to assign to your characteristics. Please note that adding points to some characteristics (Vitality, Intelligence, and Strength) will further boost your base stats. You may also advance any 1 skill of your choosing by 1 level.
With such weak enemies around, Azure didn’t bother taking the time to allocate his points or see what skills could be leveled. It was something he could spend time on when he returned to Squall’s End. For now, he wanted to kill eight more kobolds and see how many hides he could collect. There was no point in killing more than nine if he couldn’t craft the hides on his own.
Having fewer enemies to slay made for a shorter day. Battle went much as it had the day before, with Azure relying primarily on his bow with the exception of the one kobold who was brave enough to face him in close combat.
Using his Loot Automizer Pendant on the remaining nine kobolds produced the following loot.
Kobold Fang
Quantity: 5
Item Class: Common
Quality: Average
Weight: 0.3 kg
Uses: Crafting
Kobold Phalanges
Quantity: 2
Item Class: Common
Quality: Average
Weight: 0.1 kg
Uses: Crafting
Kobold Pelt
Quantity: 2
Item Class: Common
Quality: Good
Weight: 3.5 kg
Uses: Crafting
No hides at all.
Azure was beyond frustrated, cursing the quest as he rode back to Squall’s End. His only solace was in the fact that he had leveled up again. He wasn’t so happy about that as much as he was that it meant Janine should have reached level 15 by now. If she wasn’t there already, she should be close. That meant they probably wouldn’t even have to take another Bounty quest. Whatever monsters they encountered on their way to Finborh should be enough to do the trick. No more waiting for Lonnell. All Azure needed to do now was find Janine, and they could be on their way.
With that in mind, he spent the rest of the afternoon scouring Squall’s End for the rest of the kobold hides he needed to complete his quest. There was no point in setting out again.
He found what he needed from one of the traveling merchants and bought the nine hides for 1 gold and 8 silver. Then he sold the rest of his wares for 3 gold, 8 silver, and 9 copper, giving him a profit of 2 gold and 9 silver.
With a few slivers of light left, Azure headed to The Adventurers Guild, hoping he could turn the quest in before they closed, but the E line was six people deep, which meant that he probably wouldn’t make it on time, so he headed to the blacksmith instead to have his Loot Automizer Pendant repaired a final time.
“Do you think you could teach me how to fix this myself?” Azure asked as he watched over Garion’s shoulder.
Whatever the blacksmith was doing didn’t seem too complex. He filed down a bit of the pendant here and banged on it with his hammer there. Of course, Azure couldn’t see the intricacies of his work, but still.
Once the pendant was repaired, the blacksmith handed it back to him with a large inhale of breath. “I’m afraid you’d have to be pretty advanced in jewelry crafting to be able to repair something like this. Magical items are more complex than simple pieces that have nothing but monetary value.
“Also, I’m not qualified to teach jewelry crafting. You’d have to go to Noseon for that.”
Azure took the pendant and looked it over. “I don’t want to learn jewelry crafting. I just want to learn how to fix this particular pendant.”
Garion shook his head. “You have to have a certain level in jewelry crafting to be able to do it. Until you learn jewelry crafting and level the skill up, there’d be no point in even trying.”
That was disappointing, but Azure supposed it didn’t matter much in the grand scheme of things. Once he was traveling with Janine, he wouldn’t need to use the pendant thanks to her bestiary book. If he busted it out at all, it would likely be due to laziness. The pendant was a convenience, not a necessity.
“Well, thanks for your help...and the information.” He raised the pendant to the blacksmith before taking his leave.
With nothing left to do, Azure went to the inn to purchase another night’s stay. Hopefully, this would be his last in Squall’s End. Then he retired to his room, sitting on the bed to pull up his character sheet.
Name: Azure
Race: Human
Level: 17, 47% of the way to next level
Health: 420 / 370 (430)
Mana: 130 / 400 (460)
Stamina: 330 / 340 (420)
Vitality: 20 (6)
Intelligence: 23 (6)
Strength: 17 (8)
Agility: 14 (5)
Dexterity: 15 (6)
Charisma: 11 (5)
Luck: 15 (2)
Skills: Archery Lvl 10; 45% of the way to next level
Stealth Lvl 4; 50% of the way to next level
Analyze Lvl 12; 87% of the way to next level
Cooking Lvl 7; 64% of the way to next level
Alchemy Lvl 8; 86% of the way to next level
Foraging Lvl 12; 72% of the way to next level
One-Handed Weapons Lvl 9; 58% of the way to next level
Tracking Lvl 2; 85% of the way to next level
Two-Handed Weapons Lvl 6; 77% of the way to next level
Fishing Lvl 3; 0% of the way to next level
Drinking Lvl 2; 55% of the way to next level
Land Magic Lvl 3; 80% of the way to next level
Enchanting Lvl 5; 74% of the way to next level
Languages: Common Tongue, Sprite, Goblin-Tongue, Elvish, Cheoksum
Adventurer Rank: E
Running out of Mana continued to be a problem, so he placed two characteristic points into Intelligence and one into Vitality. Looking at his sheet now, it seemed like he was more geared toward being a mage than anything else. That kind of bothered him, but he did enjoy the safety of being physically distanced from his enemies.
Next, Azure turned his attention to his skills. There was still nothing close to leveling up, so he decided to hold his skill leveling ability back yet again.
Closing his character sheet, Azure settled on the floor and pulled out his mortar and pestle. For the next two and a half hours, he crushed and mixed ingredients together to make Potions of Minor Healing, leveling up his Alchemy skill once and producing thirty potions of various qualities.
Congratulations! The skill: Alchemy has reached Level 9. There are many uses for potions. Hone this skill to heal yourself in battle and thwart your enemies!
