Azarinth Healer: Book Two - A LitRPG Adventure, page 10
“Sooo, do you guys want to eat together later?” Ilea asked, turning to the others with a smile.
“I can’t, I need to prepare for tomorrow, collate my notes, cross-reference a few things…” Claire responded, and while the activities sounded dull to Ilea, Claire talked of them as if she were about to embark on some grand adventure.
“Some other time, perhaps?” Claire added as she got up and made for the door. “See you all tomorrow.”
They said their goodbyes, and Claire hurried out.
“I wouldn’t mind,” Eve said.
Kyrian looked conflicted. “Maybe, t… though later I have to train and study. I must not fall behind.” He said the last sentence with no trace of a stutter.
“Sundown then? So you still have a couple hours of free time afterward?” Ilea suggested.
Kyrian nodded once to each of them, then left without another word. Ilea shifted in her chair to turn and look at Eve when they were alone.
“It was you, wasn’t it? The humming out in Ravenhall. When the two guys were attacking the girl.”
Eve looked at her, nothing in her expression giving anything away. She was perfectly calm, then smiled ever so slightly. “You’ll need to be more specific than that.”
“I need to what…?” Ilea said before she raised her eyebrows. Does she just hang around out there, looking for situations like that? “So it was you.”
“Potentially. Is that a problem?” Eve asked as she leaned back slightly, her demeanor casual.
“Was there no chance of bringing them to the guard?” Ilea asked.
Eve smirked, laughed, then stopped and raised her eyebrows. “Oh, you’re serious. And here I was, thinking you weren’t the youngest and most naïve one in this group. No, honey. The guard would’ve either let them go or killed them too. Are you noble-born?”
Ilea shook her head. “Healing Order, far away.”
“You’re a terrible liar,” Eve said instantly. “But whatever. Try it yourself if you want. Find a criminal, a rapist, a thief, a murderer, and bring them to the guard. Any guard. See what happens,” she said. “If you want something done, you have to do it yourself. And while we’re at it, while I can handle the antics of noble pricks like that Alymie spawn, you don’t seem quite that experienced. Be careful not to offend the wrong people. They do what they want.”
“Like you?”
Eve smiled. “Yes, more or less. Any problems with that?”
Ilea gave it a thought. She had killed quite a few people since coming to Elos. In some ways it was strange to wield the power that she did, to see how ruthless people were. She knew she had been privileged back on Earth, but that didn’t mean her entire outlook on morality had changed overnight now that she was here.
But did she have a problem with Eve’s actions? She found that she didn’t. Ilea would’ve interfered in Ravenhall had Eve not shown up. And she didn’t know what would’ve happened if she had.
“I don’t. Suppose we’re a team now though, so let me know if anything comes up. Can’t be perfectly safe to go around at night looking for encounters like that. And maybe I can try to find a different solution if I’m there.”
Eve’s eyes widened for a moment before her expression returned to the neutral one she’d had before. “I’ll consider it.”
Ilea had no idea if she would or not.
“Where are you from yourself?” Ilea asked instead.
“Lys. A small farming village near Myrefield,” Eve said, looking at Ilea for a few seconds. “I traveled around a lot, then decided to join the Hand.”
“Any specific reason?”
“Why did you join?” Eve asked instead of answering.
Ilea smiled. “Just seemed fun – and rational. I’ve been fighting alone for a while, and I suppose a team of capable people sounded like something nice to have around.”
“You and I are more similar than I thought,” Eve said and smiled back, resting her chin on her hand. “The Hand provides a lot of interesting and lucrative jobs. It’s way more stable and far-reaching than conventional adventuring guilds.”
“Fair. I’ll be interested to see the jobs they offer.”
“We’ll get there soon enough. If we don’t kill each other before that happens.” Eve stood up. “I’ll see you at sundown, then?”
“Sure,” Ilea said.
“I wonder what she’ll do before then,” Ilea murmured, now the only one remaining in the classroom. “What do you think?” she asked as she unsheathed Aki and got up to close the door. She was sure people would throw her out if they needed the room.
“I think she is the one I saw in your room two nights past,” the dagger said, breaking his six-hour silence.
Ilea raised her eyebrows. “Are you sure?”
“No. Her abilities are confusing to my perception. Your team is capable, though it’s true that you might have issues working together.”
“I wouldn’t be too surprised if it was her, though I don’t really know why. Have I made any enemies? She would’ve attacked me already, wouldn’t she?”
“Who knows. I don’t think she’s after you specifically, but you should keep your guard up.”
“I’m doing that anyway. There are so many powerful people here.”
“You are? Like drinking ale and sleeping more than you need to? Offending nobility? Asking people to attack you with all their magical power so that you can level up your defenses?”
“You can stop.”
“I don’t have to continue because you won’t listen anyway,” Aki said.
Ilea smiled. “First reasonable thing you said.”
She got up and left the room before walking toward the elevator. “What do you think of them otherwise?” she asked Aki as they descended toward Viscera.
“The noble is strong and experienced. As much as you, if not more so. The rune mage has a lot of book knowledge and potential, so she will be invaluable to your team. The other two are interesting. Their magic is already quite rare, I believe. Just be wary of the illusionist. They all need time and training. If you manage not to kill each other, you might become quite the deadly group,” Aki finished right as the elevator came to a stop.
“I feel the same. Now then, what additional classes should I take?” Ilea asked as she walked toward the official Shadow’s Hand building near the elevators. Inside, she found benches and chairs for people to wait and attendants directly conversing with the members. She noticed more people here were wearing the Hand’s black armor, wisps of shadow emanating from the fabric and metal. All of them were above her level, many only showing question marks.
She was quickly shown to one of the counters, where an old woman answered her questions. Archery was there, of course, and she asked the elderly woman how to join a class.
Apparently, there were zero people attending the basic archery class, so a teacher would have to be found first. The price would depend on the teacher, but it would likely not extend beyond a few silvers per hour.
“I’ll join then, please find me a teacher,” Ilea said to the attendant after leaving her name and team number. “Oh, and the class should be after the Monster Knowledge lesson I have every day.”
“Of course, dear, that can be arranged,” the woman answered, writing some things down.
Ilea returned to reviewing the list. “A lot of these seem interesting… hey, lesson woman, put me down for Advanced Healing and Hand-to-Hand Combat 5 as well.” Both were the highest available classes related to her abilities.
“Will do, dear. The name’s Shawna, by the way. Both will need teachers as well, but we should be able to find some by next week. Shall we schedule these after Archery?” she asked, and Ilea nodded.
There’s nothing on other planes or other worlds. Lots of classes on summoning, but I’m not sure that will help me in any way…
Ilea decided to seek out the library and perhaps an expert on the subject before randomly joining more classes. Having made enough selections, she nodded again to Shawna and turned around to walk back to her apartment. It was a short journey, and she was soon jumping into bed and throwing Aki at the ceiling.
“What other classes do you think I should take?” she asked the dagger.
“Hmm.” Aki paused. “Well, you seem to like eating a lot.”
“An eating class? I’m not sure that exists,” she answered, her leather armor vanishing as she crawled under her blanket.
“You know very well what I mean.”
“I don’t think I’m particularly interested in cooking lessons.”
“She just wants to eat, not to cook,” the dagger murmured.
“You’re not wrong. Let’s see what the training today did,” Ilea said, checking the notifications she had ignored for most of the day.
‘ding’ Azarinth Hunter Sphere reaches 2nd lvl 20
‘ding’ Hunter’s Sight reaches lvl 3
‘ding’ Azarinth Perception reaches 2nd lvl 13
‘ding’ Shroud of Ash reaches 2nd lvl 3
‘ding’ Shroud of Ash reaches 2nd lvl 4
‘ding’ Ash Surge reaches lvl 11
…
‘ding’ Ash Surge reaches lvl 13
‘ding’ Body Heat Manipulation reaches lvl 2
‘ding’ Eyes of Ash reaches lvl 18
‘ding’ Mental Resistance reaches lvl 9
…
‘ding’ Mental Resistance reaches lvl 13
‘ding’ Lightning Resistance reaches lvl 10
…
‘ding’ Lightning Resistance reaches lvl 12
‘ding’ Mana Drain Resistance reaches lvl 3
…
‘ding’ Mana Drain Resistance reaches lvl 5
‘ding’ Health Drain Resistance reaches lvl 3
…
‘ding’ Health Drain Resistance reaches lvl 5
With that done, she moved on to check her current status.
Name: Ilea Spears
Unspent stat points: 0
Unspent 3rd tier skill points [Azarinth First Hunter]: 0
Class 1: Azarinth First Hunter – lvl 201
- Active: Destruction – 2nd lvl 20
- Active: Hunter Recovery – 2nd lvl 20
- Active: State of Azarinth – 2nd lvl 20
- Active: Blink – 3rd lvl 1
- Active: Azarinth Hunter Sphere – 2nd lvl 20
- Passive: Body of the First Hunter – 2nd lvl 14
- Passive: Azarinth Fighting – 2nd lvl 20
- Passive: Hunter’s Sight – lvl 3
- Passive: Azarinth Perception – 2nd lvl 13
- Passive: Azarinth Reversal – lvl 17
Class 2: Ash Wielder – lvl 194
- Active: Shroud of Ash – 2nd lvl 4
- Active: Form of Ember – 2nd lvl 11
- Active: Ash Surge – lvl 13
- Active: Body Heat Manipulation – lvl 2
- Active: Wave of Ember – 2nd lvl 1
- Passive: Ash and Ember Manipulation – lvl 16
- Passive: Ashen Wings – lvl 13
- Passive: Eyes of Ash – lvl 18
- Passive: Body of Ash – lvl 18
- Passive: Ashen Warrior – lvl 13
General Skills:
- Elos Standard language – lvl 5
- Identify – lvl 7
- Meditation – 2nd lvl 14
- Poison Resistance – lvl 17
- Heat Resistance – lvl 17
- Pain Tolerance – 2nd lvl 3
- Mental Resistance – lvl 13
- Fear Resistance – lvl 1
- Water Resistance – lvl 5
- Wind Resistance – lvl 4
- Lightning Resistance – lvl 12
- Ice Resistance – lvl 7
- Crystal Resistance – lvl 6
- Earth Magic Resistance – lvl 4
- Arcane Magic Resistance – lvl 5
- Corrosion Resistance – lvl 3
- Light Magic Resistance – lvl 2
- Mist Magic Resistance – lvl 1
- Curse Resistance – lvl 4
- Mana Drain Resistance – lvl 5
- Health Drain Resistance – lvl 5
Status:
Vitality: 575
Endurance: 223
Strength: 137
Dexterity: 168
Intelligence: 536
Wisdom: 529
Health: 5750/5750
Stamina: 2111/2230
Mana: 5047/5290
One hell of a yield. And luckily no level-up for Ash Wielder yet. I hope I can get the skills high enough for the lvl 200 change to be good… if there even is one. Another question for the library…
Ilea decided it was a good time to eat, partially to celebrate the excellent progress she’d made. Summoning her leather armor again, she left the apartment for Ravenhall and found her usual spot outside the city.
“Didn’t you plan to eat with the others?” Aki asked while Ilea was chewing on some bread and meat she had summoned. The suns were still up, illuminating the city of Ravenhall a couple of kilometers away.
“This is pre-eating, Aki. And yes, I’ll meet them to eat again later… Wait, we didn’t specify a place!” she said with a laugh. “A shame Claire couldn’t come. I’m sure she wouldn’t have forgotten.”
Ilea finished her meal and enjoyed the sight before she sprouted her wings and decided to fly around the nearby mountains for a while. It didn’t seem like a bad idea to familiarize herself with the surroundings of the city that she’d be staying in for a couple of months at least.
The higher areas, including Ravenhall, were covered in snow. Of course, at this time of the year, that was the case even for the plains below. Dawntree, Salia, and Riverwatch were covered as well.
Ilea quickly found that, as with the wilderness outside of Riverwatch, there were awfully few people out here. Not a single soul could be seen more than a couple kilometers away from Ravenhall.
She had landed on a cliffside overlooking the sea and was enjoying the quiet when she heard nearly silent steps some distance behind her. She turned to find a tiger-like creature advancing on her. Upon being discovered, the creature raised itself from its crouched position and growled at her, revealing long, serrated teeth.
Ilea checked its level and found it to be quite a long way below her own.
[Swordmouth Tiger – lvl 143]
Liam’s words rang freshly in her mind as she prepared to face the beast, though she doubted it had any capacity to hurt her seriously. There was enough space to fight on the clifftop, and if there was any real danger, she’d simply blink or fly away.
“Do you really want to do this?” she asked the tiger, who only growled at her again, louder this time. “I’m going to stay here and enjoy the view. Go back to your cave,” she said, looking behind the beast to see an opening in the mountainside. Ilea turned around to face the sea, and, as she’d expected, the tiger took this as its opportunity to strike.
The cat rushed her and pounced at an incredibly high speed. The pace was not on Ilea’s level with all her buffs active, but certainly close enough. She whirled around and moved her torso while blocking the beast’s paw with her arm. Its claws bounced off her black armor, which apparated onto her body, and Ilea grabbed the creature’s hind leg before throwing it back toward the cave.
It hit the ground a few times, and one of the bounces was accompanied by a crack that Ilea only picked up with her enhanced hearing. Both her sphere and State of Azarinth told her of the creature’s injury before it had even come to a halt.
She looked at the creature as it slowly got up again and slipped on an obviously broken leg. “Come on, stop it,” she said, but the cat advanced again. This time it seemed a little unsure and circled her slowly.
Another pounce and Ilea stopped the monster in its tracks, grabbing both its outstretched paws with her hands before headbutting it on its snout. She didn’t use any skills with the attack, and the monster was simply thrown back again.
Ilea watched it through her sphere as she summoned her encyclopedia to look for the creature. She flew up as the tiger tried to get at her again, quickly getting out of its range.
Swordmouth tiger… here you are, she thought. Usually resides in a cave or somewhere else dark and shaded. Avoids conflict at all costs and even allows trespassers into its territory. Ignore as a low threat, but do not show your back to it. Its high speed can be dangerous even to higher-leveled adventurers. Warning: do not get close if you see any cubs. It is highly aggressive when nursing…
Interesting, so maybe there are baby cats somewhere… Ilea thought, and she smirked at the beast.
“Are you hiding snacks from me?” she asked, advancing back down toward the growling and still disoriented monster.
“You want to eat its spawn?” Aki asked from her belt.
“I’m joking, little dagger,” Ilea answered drily. “I just ate, didn’t I?”
She flew right over it and toward the cave. On entering, she found what she had been looking for rather quickly. When she saw the four sleeping kittens, Ilea couldn’t help but give a soft ‘aww.’ They were beautiful, sporting the same striped white fur as their mother.
The tiger had apparently found her bearings again, and Ilea sensed with her sphere that it was advancing at the highest speed possible toward her. She simply stood where she was before turning around and catching the cat in a grip like iron.
“Unlike the Basilisk, you haven’t killed any of the people I was traveling with…” she whispered as her healing mana flowed into the creature, mending its broken bone and bruised head. The beast stared at her angrily before Ilea threw her toward her kittens, though softly enough for the cat to land safely between Ilea and its young.
