《Don't Worry, We Have The Best Supporter On Our Team》


 Prologue

    "Wow, I¡¯ve heard from rumors that the Academy was huge, but I didn¡¯t think it would be this huge.¡±


    Right at the front gate, she looked up at the grand gate before her, astonished. The gate was twenty-meters tall and ten meters wide.


    She looked around, students equipped themselves with weapons and apparels she had never seen before, chatting with their party or friends while entering the Academy, probably about their recent quests or strategies to tackle their next quests.


    She had a blonde-color hair, length up to her waist. She was equipped with a white witch hat, a white robe, a sling magic bag, and a staff.


    ¡°Excuse me. Is your name Alice? A young lady approached and asked Alice. She wore a pair of frameless spectacles, a double-breasted suit, a skirt at knee-length, and a pair of black shoes. Her hair was tied into a ponytail with a sapphire-blue ribbon, probably to prevent her hair from obstructing her view.


    ¡°Yes. Nice to meet you¡­umm.¡± Alice answered cheerfully, but abruptly halted as she was uncertain of the newcomer who approached her out of nowhere. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, but who are you?¡±


    ¡°Oh. Pardon me. Where are my manners? My name is Lysette, principal¡¯s assistant of Adventurer Academy.¡± She apologized and bowed slightly.


    Taken aback, Alice gestured to her that she doesn¡¯t have to apologize to her.


    Steering the conversation back to the topic, ¡°I was assigned by the principal to lead you to his office. If you have any inquiries, please, feel free to ask.¡±


    Along the way, Alice asked her about the Academy¡¯s foundation. At the same time, she noticed the silver badges she had seen on students¡¯ arm sleeve.


    The Adventurer Academy had no uniform for students. Students were free to wear their usual ensemble, but they had to wear an insignia.


    There were four kinds of insignias. The warrior insignia has a sword in front of a shield, the thief insignia has a pair of daggers forming a cross, the magician insignia has a book sling on a staff, and the archer insignia has a bow and arrow.


    Despite that the academy didn¡¯t implement the strict apparel regulation, except the fact that students must avoid public indecency, weapons were not permitted in classrooms. The weapons were to be stored in the school¡¯s weapon storeroom, and students had to fill in the paperwork whenever they store or withdraw their weapons from the faculty.


    The Academy¡¯s layout was like a maze. Every time they made a turn or two, Alice looked back, only to find a wall behind them.


    Alice was glad she didn¡¯t attempt to visit the Principal¡¯s office by herself. Although there were maps displayed on some walls occasionally, the maps were so detailed that one might take some time to comprehend.


    ¡°It seems you noticed the changes.¡± Lysette interrupted Alice¡¯s contemplation. ¡°It was the Academy¡¯s defense mechanism; it alters its body ¨C building¡¯s interior ¨C to prevent enemies attacking students, lecturers, and Principal. It will either lead the enemies back to the front entrance or trap in one place so that adventurers or lecturers will apprehend them.¡±


    She nodded.This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.


    Judging from Alice¡¯s expression, Lysette couldn¡¯t help but smile at how serious and excited she was.


    ¡°So, did you manage to settle the issue that delayed your journey?¡± Lysette asked because she was informed about her situation a week ago by letter.


    ¡°Yes. The villagers are safe and sound.¡± She assured.


    This wouldn¡¯t be possible without the help of other adventurers, who defend the villagers against the dire wolves.


    ¡°They destroyed about half of the crop fields¡­ luckily, they weren¡¯t a lot of casualties,but it will take a few days to restore the condition of the field with the help of alchemists.¡±


    In exchange for their services, the village chief offered them food supplies. Obviously, they would be happy to accept the offer, however, they had another problem that required their attention. A few members of their party stayed behind to mend the wounds and restoring the field back to its original condition, while the remaining members of the party went ahead as scout their targets.


    ¡°I see¡­ I¡¯m glad to know that the villagers are safe. Thank you for your assistance.¡± Lysette abruptly halted at the front of the door and produced a key from her hand.


    ¡°¡­!?¡± She was surprised. The key that Lysette was holding had just materialized from her hand just a moment ago. Curious, she scrutinized her hand, she noticed there was a gem embedded in the glove. ¡°Is that¡­?¡±


    ¡°Yes. This is the newly invented magic gloves by one of the Academy¡¯s students.¡± She replied her unfinished question while inserting the key to the keyhole. The key she was holding was no ordinary key. It had runes engraved all over it.


    The door was enchanted from the beginning, a type of defense magic where it can be bypassed only by a key with specific runes to bypass the runes in the keyhole to unlock the door.


    Click Click Click


    Multiple locks were unlocked in quick succession. When the sounds stopped, she turned the doorknob and opened the door.


    The room had a large wooden table, sculptured with detailed designs on every side of it; quill holder on the right-side corner, farther away from the occupant¡¯s point of perspective; four large bookshelves lined up at the west side of the room, and two couches facing each other with a low wooden table between them, placed in front of the office desk. However, the headmaster ¨C the principal ¨C was nowhere to be seen.


    ¡°Boo.¡± There came a voice beside Alice¡¯s right ear.


    Alice yelped, jumped and twisted her body away from the source of sound. She took out her staff that was strapped to her back. With a short incantation, three ice spears had formed around her, taking aim at the source of sound and ready to fire at will, but¡­


    ¡°Guh¡­!¡± Lysette punched the intruder in the gut.


    ¡°Lucius, how many times do I have to tell you to stop scaring our new students?¡±


    ¡°Come on¡­ Lysette¡­ you know as well as I do that I¡¯m not a big fan of having formal conversations with our students.¡±


    Lucius groaned in pain as he was bending down on both knees while hugging his stomach with both arms.


    Alice was shocked that Lucius was the headmaster of the school. He seemed to be in his early twenties; he had white hair and brown iris eyes. He wore a double-breasted suit, a long pair of trousers and black shoes.


    Come to think of it. Isn¡¯t Lysette about the same age as Lucius? Judging by their conversation, they must be close or a couple at best¡ª


    Lysette gave a sharp glare at Lucius. He felt tense and immediately took his job seriously.


    ¡°My name is Lucius, headmaster of Adventurer Academy. I¡¯m sure you¡¯ve met my assistant Lysette. You must be Alice?¡± He bowed theatrically, with his right hand close to his chest and the other straightened to his left.


    Alice replied to him with a bow. Then, she gave a proper introduction of herself, and report the conditions of the village that she and other adventurers had helped during her journey.


    The headmaster listened to every detail of her report. Once she¡¯s done, he had asked Lysette to give an orientation to Alice.


    ¡°Classes will begin next week. So, the first thing you have to do is consider the lists of available classes that might suit your needs.¡±


    She handed her documents, listed with every subject and schedules she needed.


    ¡°You have by night time to think about it. You don¡¯t have to worry about applying for an accommodation, we had prepared that for you, and that would be all for today.¡±


    Alice gave her thanks to Lysette and Lucius before making her way toward the exit.


    As she was about to reach for the doorknob, the headmaster called her. She turned around to look at him.


    ¡°Welcome to Adventurer Academy, Alice.¡±


    She returned his welcome with a smile and exited the room.

 Chapter 1.0, Guild Recruitment

    ¡°Hi. Would you be interested to join our guild? We have a vast collection of Grimoires that might pique your interest!¡±


    The guild recruitment took place during the first two weeks of the semester of the academy. Except, in Alice¡¯s case, many recruiters advanced toward her. Perhaps this was because of the presence of a rare Grimoire, poking out of her magic bag, slung over her left shoulder.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry. I¡¯m just here to explore the academy.¡± Alice answered, apologetically.


    One by one, the recruiters¡¯ offer got declined, as Alice was wandering around. However, more and more recruiters began to overstep their boundaries.


    Sensing something dreadful might happen, she gradually stepped up her pace. The recruiters gave chase while holding their pamphlets depicted of their guild activities and such.


    She took whichever path to avoid contact with other recruiters. As she turned a corner, she found an opened door.


    There was no time for her to make a decision, either she gets caught by recruiters and spends her entire day listening and deciding which guild to join or hide in a room from her pursuers, so she chose the latter.


    Upon entering the room, she closed the door shut and locked it. She leaned her back to the door, catching her breath.


    Once she calmed herself down, she looked around the room. On her right was a low-coffee table at the middle of two couches positioned across each other. On the other side of the room was lined up with three large bookshelves. In front of her, across the room, a boy sat in a window seat, holding a book in one hand, gazing at her with a confused expression.


    ¡°¡­May I help you?¡± He asked, confused about Alice¡¯s sudden appearance to his room.


    The boy wore a black trench coat, a black shirt, a pair of dark brown battle trousers and a pair of spectacles. He had straight black hair with bangs length up to slightly above his eyebrows and a pair of brown eyes.


    ¡°Sorry for intruding. I was being chased by recruiters. Would be okay for me to stay here for a while?¡±


    ¡°The name¡¯s Jayce. As for your question, sure. As long as I can continue reading my book,¡± he answered, resuming his reading session.


    She thought that she would be told to leave, but that didn¡¯t seem to be the case. He seemed to be looking forward to reading his book.


    She went to one of the bookshelves. Her eyes widened when she gazed at the contents of the bookshelves. Apparently, the bookshelves contained collections of rare grimoires and guides and documents of alchemy and blacksmithing.


    ¡°Sorry for bothering. How did you get these Grimoires?¡± She couldn¡¯t help to contain her curiosity.


    Grimoires can only be found in dungeons or lost temples; the price of one Grimoire was sufficed enough to purchase a guild house, including necessary utilities for adventurers to preserve their weapons and armors¡¯ conditions. To fully explore dungeons or lost temples, it required a party of six, at least. Most adventurers preferred to obtain them from exploration, rather than purchasing them.


    His answer, however, was not exactly what she had expected. ¡°I purchased most of them from traveling merchants, while the rest were from dungeon exploration. If you¡¯re interested, feel free to read anything that is available on the bookshelves. It may take a while for your pursuers to settle down.¡± He offered, without sparing a glance at her.


    He sure is focused when it comes to reading. She thought, knowing he did not expect any responses from her. She went over to one of the bookshelves containing the grimoires. She browsed through each and every one of them, and finally, she took one of them out. She brought the Grimoire she had chosen and sat on one of the couches across the room.


    She felt self-conscious at first. Thinking about the price he had paid to get his hand on this Grimoire. But she received his permission moments ago without any hesitation, at least. She shook her head lightly to ward off her hesitation, she returned her gaze to the Grimoire before her, placed on her lap.You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.


    As she slowly flipped the front cover of the book, the book suddenly came to live, multiple pages flipped by itself, then, abruptly came to a halt. Thinking the grimoire was attempting to inform her something, she looked at the pages before her. Suddenly, her head slightly swayed left and right, eyes felt heavy as a lead, then fell to the couch, and the world went dark.


    While reading his book, he gave a side glance to her, found her lying unconscious on the couch with a grimoire in her hand. He placed his bookmark and closed the book. He walked over to her and picked up the grimoire from her hand.


    ¡°Of all Grimoires I had in my possession, you¡¯ve picked this grimoire.¡± He sighed. Although it is too late to say his remark, as Alice can¡¯t hear him at all.


    ____________________


    She appeared in midair, surrounded by darkness, slowly descending to the ground beneath her. She took out her staff, ready to battle whatever was waiting for her from this point on.


    As she landed on the ground, she scanned her surroundings. She found herself standing at the entrance of this world¡ªthe Grimoire¡¯s world.


    Once she confirmed there were no monsters in her vicinity. She dropped her magic bag on the floor and began checking her bag for consumables. She had nine mana potions, twelve health potions, five antidotes each for paralysis, poisons, and petrifications.


    As she was checking her consumables, a silhouette appeared out of thin air right next to her.


    It¡¯s Jayce. This time, he had already equipped himself with a pair of obsidian scimitars, strapped by his waist. But what surprised her was why is Jayce here?


    He looked around his surroundings until his gaze met her¡¯s.


    Grimoires were different from books. They contained ancient glyphs, where they can only be read by magicians or readers who possessed the knowledge to decipher them. If a reader understood the contents, the reader¡¯s mind will be transported to the Grimoire¡¯s world, while their physical body in the real world will be seen as if they were unconscious. However, gaining a skill from a grimoire was no easy task, where the readers had to battle their way against dangerous monsters in the final room, where the ancient glyphs were located. There were two ways to leave this world; either at the entrance, or the room with the presences of the ancient glyphs.


    Although this may be the first time for Alice to visit this world, she knew the former, but not the latter information about dangerous monsters.


    ¡°So, do you still want to explore this world?¡± He asked, after explaining to her about Grimoire¡¯s world.


    She felt tensed. After knowing full well of the danger, they are going to face, she already knew the answer. ¡°We¡¯re adventurers, aren¡¯t we? We should explore the entire region of this world.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s what I like to hear.¡± He answered, smiling at her determination. ¡°Alright, I will be your vanguard. I will draw enemy attention towards me, while you will focus on providing support. Whether it will be a buff spell or attack spell to fend off monsters, be my guess. I will change my battle style depending on your approach.¡±


    She thought he would leave after he gave her a warning, but apparently, she was wrong. He had already made his decision after taking into consideration her current equipment, but¡­


    ¡°What about you?¡±


    ¡­ Instead, he chose to equip himself with light armors. He wore a thin armor breastplate, covering the upper half of his torso; a pair of armbraces, covering from his elbow to wrist; and a pair of greaves, covering from his knee to ankle.


    ¡°I will be focusing on speed so that I can switch between attacking monsters and protect¡±


    ¡°Protect?¡± She repeated.


    Despite his warning, she was sure enough that she can handle herself, as long as she kept herself a decent distance away from monsters. But the atmosphere around him became heavy, as his eyes narrowed.


    ¡°¡ªYou. I¡¯m the one who suggested to let you read any books available from the shelves, and this is the result. This is my fault for bringing you into this world,¡± said Jayce, with a split tone of seriousness and guilt.


    She turned bright red up all the way up to her ears, averted her gaze away from him.


    ¡°Ah¡­¡±


    He did not expect any responses from her, but he remembered something important. He leveled his right arm horizontally and closed his eyes.


    When Alice snapped back to reality, she looked up, gazing at his hand. His glove had some sort of a crystal embedded in it.


    After a moment of silence, a pair of gloves like Jayce¡¯s materialized in midair. He slowly opened his eyes and grabbed the new pair with his right hand. He walked towards Alice, offering the pair of gloves.


    ¡°What¡¯s this for?¡± She asked, feeling mystify from what she had just witnessed.


    ¡°Magic gloves: It¡¯s just like magic bags, but it also produces a shield around your body outline with the cost of user¡¯s mana, also known as mana shield. It will be your primary shield to protect yourself. When you equip those magic gloves, even though you will be protected by its shield, you¡¯re still able to feel pain, but not much as the shield will absorb some of the impacts.¡± He explained.


    She giggled. She felt as if he was a lecturer in Adventurer Academy. Although she couldn¡¯t help herself feel somewhat suspicious towards the magic gloves he just gave her moments ago. She knew that magic gloves only function to store items, weapons, and armors. But she had never heard of it possessed a defense mechanism. Just who is this guy? She thought. Of course, she didn¡¯t say it out loud, after he had decided to tag along with her in this world.


    ¡°Remember, whatever you do, do not draw their attention. Let¡¯s move.¡± He prompted, giving her a reminder of their chosen tactics. Technically, he was the one who decided their strategies, but Alice seemed to be fine with it.


    She equipped the magic gloves and followed after Jayce, into the depths of the Grimoire¡¯s world.

 Chapter 1.1, Guild Recruitment

    ¡°Haah!¡±


    He swung his right blade, diagonally-downward arc, into the goblin¡¯s thigh, bringing it to its knees, while parrying other goblin¡¯s blow with his other sword.


    The third monster, a Ratman, ten meters away, came rushing towards him, with its weapon held over its head. But¡­


    ¡°Let the chains of light bind its path, Snarling Chains!¡±


    Multiple chains appeared from the ground beneath Jayce¡¯s in-coming assailant and began entangling its target, rending it immobile.


    After finishing off his first monster, he kicked his other attacker and stabbed it in the chest. He shifted his gaze toward the ensnared monster, and walked toward it and end its life, swiftly.


    He swung his weapons to the air around him once, removing any blood stains hung on it, then sheathed them back of his waist. He shifted his eyes to her¡¯s.


    ¡°Thanks for the cover.¡±


    ¡°You''re welcome. So, what should we do about these?¡± She asked, pointing with her index finger towards the fallen monsters they had slain moments ago.


    Adventurers could only gain loots from monsters and treasure chests from dungeons. However, adventurers were not allowed to steal loots from other adventurers and non-adventurers, if they do so, they will be contemplated as rogues.


    ¡°You can take their loot if you want. As long as you can gain something might be useful for you. I will take leftovers¡­ Wait¡­ are you ok with extracting loots from corpses?¡± He asked, worry expression spread on his face.


    Guilt began crawling to the back of her mind. They may have formed a party, but he was the one who did all the work to defeat these monsters. She wasn¡¯t anxious about the smell, but rather, the eyes of the slain monsters. It felt as though they were staring at her, even though she was well aware that they were dead.


    ¡°You can obtain their items from them with the magic gloves that I gave you.¡±


    He questioned her about whether she could obtain her loot, with the pungent smells hung around the corpses. She was fine with the smell since she had handled quite a lot of acrid ingredients for alchemy. She was interested to know more about the extra functions of the magic gloves he had mentioned.


    ¡°Lift your hand and aim it towards the corpse. Close your eyes and focus on the body. The gloves will react and inspect every possible retrievable item; it will display and appraised those items in your mind. Of course, the details and conditions will be displayed in your mind, depending on your knowledge.¡±


    He gestured her to give it a go.


    She aimed her target with her open hand, as if to tell them to stop, closed her eyes and focused. As she relaxed her breathing, items began to display in her mind, along with the details.


    ¡°I see them. So, how do I select them¡­?¡± She asked for further guidance while maintaining her focus, beads of sweat broke out of her temple.


    ¡°¡­ Use your mind to bring those items you need towards you. That way, the selected items will be stored in your magic gloves¡¯ inventory. With enough practice, you can do this without closing your eye. All it takes is your imagination.¡±


    She gave it a try. It was difficult for a little while, she managed to obtain the items she wanted. She made a note in the back of her mind to practice using magic gloves during her free-time. Once she¡¯s done with all three monsters, she let Jayce took his turn to gather anything that attracts his attention.


    As expected, it didn¡¯t take long for him to gather everything he needed.


    ¡°Shall we move on?¡± He asked.


    They continued their exploration with extreme caution. Jayce, at the front, expanded his senses to detect any nearby monsters on his right, left, above, bottom and ahead of him; while Alice watched his back, watching over his blind spot.


    As they journeyed further, they¡¯ve found treasure chests contained weapons, armors, ores, and silver coins.


    As Alice approached the next chest, Jayce pulled Alice¡¯s arm back towards him.


    ¡°Whoa¡­!¡±


    ¡°Get back!¡±


    As he pulled Alice back, the treasure chest came to life. Its mouth produced teeth along its metal frame; its legs, thin metal spikes pierced out of its body frame, scrambling on the floor to get up.


    ¡°It¡¯s a pretender. Careful with its claws.¡± He alerted, putting himself in a defensive stance.


    ¡°Understood.¡± She jumped further back, extending the distance between her and pretender.


    Since it was agile and lacks defense, Alice casts agility buff and defense spells on Jayce.


    ¡°Thanks, Alice.¡± He cried, dodging and deflecting blows from the pretender.


    As the pretender swung one of its legs ¡ª acting as a claw ¡ª toward Jayce, he found the right moment to parry its strike.


    ¡°Resonate!¡± He shouted, swung his sword as hard as he can, as he parried his attacker.Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.


    The pretender staggered, its claw vibrated uncontrollably and fell back by a few steps.


    Without a moment of hesitation, he sprinted towards the staggered monsters. He jumped, twisting his body in midair, and sliced the monster in half, delivering the final blow.


    Once they finished searching the room, where they had found a pretender lay waiting for them. They went to the next room, and had, finally, reached the final door of the Grimoire¡¯s world. As Jayce had explained earlier before their exploration, there will be a monster guarding the ancient glyphs.


    ¡°Check your consumables. Please ensure that you have sufficed mana for this battle.¡± He said, making sure Alice is prepared.


    They sat on the floor of the hallway, before the final door, taking this time to get a breathing room.


    Alice took out and drank a few mana potions from her magic bag. The mana potions she had were quite bitter. Nevertheless, she can¡¯t get used to drinking it. She had tried some ways to make it sweet, but she wasn¡¯t able to find the right ingredient to do the job. Shaking her head slightly, as though it removes the lingering bitterness from her palette. She took out a few ailment potions and stored them in her magic gloves so that she can take out the consumables she needed the most for an emergency.


    Jayce sat down next to Alice; he unsheathed his weapons and placed them on the floor before him. He inspected their conditions, thinking of which whetstone should he use for this ace-session. After a deep thought process, he snapped his fingers, he withdrew an aqua-colored whetstone from his magic gloves and began sharpening his blades.


    Puzzled, she peered at Jayce¡¯s whetstone. ¡°Aren¡¯t whetstones supposed to be gray in color?¡± She asked while sorting out the potions in her inventory of both magic bag and gloves.


    ¡°Oh, this? It was gray in color. The reason why it looks like this was because of alchemy. I¡¯ve changed its property to a specific quality for these scimitars. Normal whetstones don¡¯t work well with them.¡± He replied, sharpening his blades gracefully.


    ¡°Is your mana shield still active?¡± This time, he¡¯s asking the question.


    ¡°Yes.¡± She nodded. ¡°Although there are some fragments of my shield were lost due to the battles we had.¡± She said, examined over her body.


    Only the bearers of the magic gloves were able to check their mana shield¡¯s condition.


    ¡°I see.¡± Checking his weapon¡¯s condition, as he hung one of them in the air to inspect it clearly. ¡°You can restore your shield with your mana. Use your imagination to patch it up.¡± Once he¡¯s done sharpening, he sheathed them and stood up to stretch his body, perhaps it was because of sitting on a hard floor, with his legs folded.


    ¡°Now, then.¡± He continued, his hand extended to Alice, offer to lift her up. ¡°Ready to conquer the final obstacle of this world?¡± He smiled.


    Together, they pushed the final door opened.


    To her surprise, the size of the room is like an open circular arena, enough grounds for them to distance each other for a long-range combat.


    What lies ahead of them was a beast, waiting for its challengers to arrive. But¡­


    ¡°Is that a chimera¡­?¡± She asked, quietly.


    ¡°Yes. It seems to be¡­¡±


    ¡­It was asleep. It has a head of a lion, a snake head at the tip of its tail, and a goat head attached to its neck.


    Wait, is that mean we can just sneak past the chimera, and read the ancient glyphs, then exit this world? She thought. But then¡­


    ¡°Heeeeeeyyy, Chima!¡± He shouted, casually walking towards the sleeping beast, with his hands folded in front of his mouth to amplify his voice.


    Alice¡¯s face turned pale from this spectacle she had just witnessed. What is he doing?! He¡¯s waving the death flag! She thought.


    The lion¡¯s eyes slowly opened, blinked a few times; its eyes gazed upon the source of commotion that disturbed its slumber. It lets out a yawn, before standing up.


    ¡°Is that you, Jayce?¡± It asked.


    ¡°It speaks?!¡± She gasped.


    Ignoring Alice, he gave the chimera his reply, bowed deeply. ¡°Sorry for disturbing your nap, Chima.¡±


    ¡°You don¡¯t have to apologize,¡± Chima said, shaking its head ¡ª lion head. ¡°I¡¯m just doing my job as a guardian of this world.¡± It then brought the right topic to their current situation. ¡°How did you end up here anyway? I thought you¡¯ve cleared this world a few years ago. I don¡¯t see any reason for you...¡±


    It abruptly halted his sentence as its gaze met Alice¡¯s.


    ¡°¡­I see.¡± It sighed.


    ¡°Glad you knew the answer. I don¡¯t have to explain the situation¡± He remarked. ¡°So, ready to fight, Chima?¡± He asked, twisting his lips into a grin.


    ¡°You asked for it, kid. I won¡¯t hold back,¡± said Chima.


    He nodded, jumped backward, away from Chima, brandished his blades. Instead of a defensive stance, he shifted himself into an offensive stance.


    Meanwhile, Alice, still bewildered by how they held their conversation, casually, snapped out of it, and clenched her staff. She began her incantation to cast defensive buff spells onto Jayce.


    ¡°Raaaaaaaaawwwrrr!¡± There was the signal given by Chima to begin their battle.


    Jayce circled himself around Chima to get its attention, but¡­


    ¡°I will not fall for your tricks again, Jayce!¡± It growled.


    Instead of attacking Jayce, it charged towards Alice.


    She didn¡¯t foresee this, but its claws were already upon her, she won¡¯t make it. She held out her hands to shield herself.


    ¡ªClang


    She didn¡¯t feel anything; she slowly opened her eyes. To her amazement, the claws were about a hair¡¯s breadth away from her eyes. Her eyes widened, sweat broke out from her temple, and her legs almost gave way.


    ¡°Phew. I did not expect you to attack my supporter first.¡± He chuckled. His scimitars, clashed with Chima¡¯s claw, held him back. ¡°Guess I don¡¯t have to hold back anymore.¡± He declared, his eyes turning silver.


    Chima, sensing unpleasant atmosphere formed around Jayce, fell back immediately, only to find an arrow struck into one of its hind legs.


    ¡°What?!¡± gasped Chima.


    ¡°Switching magic circuit to mid-range combat: Arcane archer!¡± He shouted, standing in front of Alice to shield her from Chima, wielding an obsidian bow in his left hand, while holding a magic arrow in his right hand, taking aim.


    If Chima didn¡¯t fall back, Jayce would have stabbed one of its eyes with his magic arrow.


    "Alice, can you heal my arms with your magic? They are currently numb. Ha-ha.¡± He requested, calmly.


    ¡°S-s-sure.¡± She nodded, timidly, and began her incantation to heal his arms.


    Once she finished her incantation, his arms felt lighter. He gave a few swings with his blades; he nodded in satisfaction, then immediately kicked off the ground, and headed towards Chima, magic arrow nocked to its bowstring.


    Its goat head casted thunder spells to obstruct his movement, but he did not give Chima a fraction of a second to keep him at bay, his shots landed to both of its forelegs and its chest. It wasn¡¯t long before he had closed in the distance between him and Chima. The snake¡ªthe tail of the chimera¡ªspits out purplish gases from its mouth¡ªmiasma.


    Miasma was an S class ailment spell; it infects the target with poison and paralysis. Its ailments can¡¯t be removed by normal potions, as it has special properties. Even the ingredients for the cure are extremely rare and costly.


    ¡°¡ªChains!¡± She shouted, chains appeared from the ground, and entangled the snake¡¯s head, keeping its head still.


    ¡°Archer¡¯s skill: Side-step.¡± He circled around Chima, barely avoiding the miasma, and shot a magic arrow to the snake¡¯s head, and another to the goat¡¯s head, interrupted its incantation.


    Strange, does Chima doesn¡¯t feel any pain at all? She thought while keeping her binds in check.


    ¡°It¡¯s over.¡± He announced his victory, before he snapped his fingers.


    Sparks came to live from every magic arrow that had met their mark.


    ¡°Rrraaaaaaaaaaaaaaawwwwwwwwwwwwrrrrrrrrrrrr!¡± It agonized.


    Its eyes rolled back and fell unconscious.


    His shoulder heaved up and down, slowly, clearly exhausted from the battle. He turned his gaze towards Alice. ¡°Alice. I¡¯m really sorry for asking this, but, can you heal Chima? I think I went overboard this time.¡± He inquired, scratching the back of his head, smiled awkwardly.

 Chapter 1.2, Guild Recruitment

    ¡°Can¡¯t believe you beat me again.¡± Chima laughed, while Alice was healing its wounds.


    ¡°Well, that was still a close battle, compared to last time.¡± He replied, casually.


    ¡°Sorry for wasting your mana to heal me, Alice.¡±


    ¡°Oh, no¡­ It¡¯s fine. I¡¯m sure Jayce has his reason.¡±


    She went to mend Chima¡¯s wound without asking Jayce for a reason. But the fact that Jayce conversing with Chima as if they were friends. Except for the serious battle between them where they almost killed each other in the process. Either way, they went back to their casual conversation.


    ¡°Oh-ho. Even though you¡¯ve just met him?¡±


    ¡°Wait, how¡­?¡±


    ¡°I can tell by your scent. Pardon me for being rude, I assumed you¡¯re Jayce¡¯s new partner?¡±


    ¡°Nope,¡± he interrupted, ¡°We¡¯re just forming a party to explore and obtain ancient glyphs in this world, temporarily, at least.¡±


    ¡°I see. Both of you will now have my permission to enter the next room, where the ancient glyphs lie.¡±


    Once Alice finished healing Chima, it bowed to her, thanking her for mending its wounds. She responded with a bow, with her hands held onto the hems of her robe.


    As they headed to the next room, they waved their goodbyes to Chima.


    They had found the ancient glyphs, carved onto the wall across the room from them. Jayce reassured her that the room does not possess any traps. She went ahead and began deciphering the ancient glyphs.


    As she did so, the ancient glyphs illuminated drifted in the air and entered her chest. Incantations of the newfound spell formed in the back of her mind, miasma.


    She blinked a few times, and looked at Jayce, leaning to one of the walls with his back.


    ¡°Seems you¡¯re done. Ready to head home?¡±


    She nodded, and they went to a portal that was built on the floor.


    ____________________


    Alice opened her eyes, finding herself that she had returned back in reality, but for some reason, she felt as though she was lying on a hard cushion. She looked what lies beneath her only to find she was sitting atop of Jayce.


    Jayce, still asleep on the floor next to the couch that she had occupied. She covered her mouth to avoid screaming and swiftly removed herself away from him.


    She returned the grimoire, she had borrowed, back to the bookshelf.


    ¡°Phew, we made it out.¡±


    She startled and looked behind. Jayce had awakened from his slumber on the floor and stretched his arms and legs to remove the strains.


    As he did his stretch routine, their door suddenly opened. A man with white hair, wearing a double-breasted suit, entered. ¡°Jayce, I¡¯ve brought all the ores and herbs that you¡¯ve requested.¡±


    ¡°Lucius, you do realize that you can send familiars to deliver them to me, right?¡± He jabbed.


    ¡°Is it wrong to see my own son at this hour?¡±


    Jayce narrowed his eyes. ¡°Correction: adopted son.¡±


    Lucius pretended not to notice his glare. ¡°Anyway, I¡¯m here to inform you that you will be relocating to a new accommodation. This time, it is an apartment.¡±


    ¡°What?! I did not make any such request.¡± He protested.


    Jayce had been living in a small house located at the outskirt of the Academy, keeping his research and skills as secrets from everyone. Due to the sudden announcement from his guardian¡ªLucius¡ªit was going to be difficult to move his research materials and equipment to his apartment, subtly.


    Ignoring Jayce, Lucius noticed Alice¡¯s presence and continued his attack on Jayce, verbally. ¡°Alice, sorry for not noticing your presence. I see that you¡¯ve met your new roommate.¡±


    ¡°Eh?¡± They exclaimed.


    They exchanged glances, then looked back at Lucius. ¡°Headmaster, wouldn¡¯t it be unwise for me to live under the same roof with an opposite sex?¡± Alice retorted, aware that this would violate the academy¡¯s rule.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, Alice, Jayce may look mysterious on the outside, but rest assured, he is a kindhearted person. And here are the keys to your room and your student ID.¡± Lucius reassured his authority, as a headmaster of this academy.


    ¡°Then what about my things? I need a few days to move them to the apartment.¡±


    Lucius, however, had already set his request in motion. ¡°I had already summoned a few golems to help out moving your things.¡±


    Summoning familiar was a common technique to every adventurer. The familiars¡¯ nature reflected in their master¡¯s personality, and they also represent as their spirit animals. There were cases where adventurers were unable to summon their own familiar, so they are required to form a contract with familiars they had encountered during their journey if they wish to do so.


    Both Alice and Jayce knew they had nothing left to retort.


    ¡°Headmaster.¡± She asked, keeping the conversation formal.If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.


    ¡°Please, call me Lucius.¡± He suggested.


    Alice hesitated for a moment. It was not because that he was her roommate''s guardian, but, rather, he was also the headmaster of this academy.


    Silence slowly crept the room, she decided to address him by his name. ¡°Lucius, I had finished filling the application for the classes, so I was wondering if it is okay for me to submit it to you right now.¡±


    ¡°Certainly, I will make sure your application goes through the faculty.¡±


    She gave the application papers to Lucius. Lucius, however, brought his lips close to her ear. ¡°Please take care of Jayce.¡±


    Before Alice was going to question him, he immediately walked out of the room, leaving Jayce and Alice alone again.


    They exchanged glances, then looked away. The situation was getting awkward, and the first person to break that silence was¡­


    ¡°Nice to meet you, Alice, I will be your roommate for three years from now, I think.¡± He welcomed, smiled wryly.


    ____________________


    It was late afternoon¡ª5.00 pm¡ªAlice and Jayce found their apartment.


    It wasn¡¯t that difficult as their apartment unit was part of a forty-story building with numbers assigned to each unit, while the private training rooms were in the underground section of the dormitory. The private training rooms were available at all time to every adventurer, and the entire internal surface of the room was sturdy and sound-proof.


    Fortunately, with the advancement of magic application, there was an elevator system in this building, so they don¡¯t have to walk up forty flights of stairs. But most adventurers preferred to walk up the stairs to improve their endurance and physical physique.


    Their accommodation was surprisingly large for a dormitory room. It has a bathroom, a large kitchen, a large dining table for six, a room containing the necessary tools and equipment for blacksmithing, and two bedrooms. Each bedroom had an alchemy table, a large study table, a wooden chair, a single-sized bed, a large closet, a small cabinet and two large bookshelves.


    ¡°Sooo¡­Which room would you prefer?¡±


    There wasn¡¯t much difference, as the bedrooms had the same furniture arrangement and they are next to each other. She thought about letting Jayce pick the room first, but knowing him¡ªduring the period of teaming up with him in Grimoire¡¯s world¡ªhe would probably refuse, so she decided to pick the room on the right.


    Jayce lifted his bag on the floor to his shoulder, then entered his room on the left, and started to unpack his contents from his bag.


    Alice entered her room and did the same.


    After unpacking their things, Jayce suggested Alice to take a bath, while he will prepare and cook dinner for two.


    It wasn¡¯t unusual for male adventurers able to cook nowadays. Cooking was an essential skill for every adventurer to survive in a wild environment.


    Alice gracefully accepted his offer and went to the bath.


    Jayce looked into his magic gloves for useful ingredients for their dinner. The ingredients he had found were onions, mushrooms, leeks, full medium sized chicken, four eggs, herb, rice and green tea leaves.


    After taking some time into consideration, he decided to make a full course meal dinner.


    ¡°Have to take note to restock my ingredients,¡± Muttered Jayce.


    After taking a bath, Alice wore her night; it consists of a white short-sleeved top and a white short pair of trousers.


    As she came out of the bathroom, assortment of dishes layout on the dinner table.


    ¡°I¡­ did not expect to be a full course meal, dinner for you.¡± She began.


    ¡°Well, this is your first time coming to this academy, and not to mention, your first accommodation in your Academy life, so might as well go all out occasionally.¡± He went to one of the dining chairs and pull it out, offering her a seat.


    She accepted his offer and sat down. He then pushed the chair gently and went to sit on the chair across from her¡¯s.


    ¡°So, what do you have in store for us?¡±


    ¡°We have some white rice, onion soup, pan-fried eggs with chopped mushrooms and leeks, baked chicken wings with herbs, and a complimentary drink of green tea¡ª¡±


    Suddenly, Alice¡¯s stomach growled, she looked down, flustered.


    Jayce pretended he didn¡¯t hear that. ¡°Well, the food¡¯s getting cold. Let¡¯s eat.¡± He insisted, didn¡¯t want to keep her starving any longer.


    They both sat down on the dining chairs and started to eat their dinner.


    Alice didn¡¯t know where to begin.


    Sensing that Alice was in the pinch. ¡°You can start with the onion soup, then the eggs, chicken, and rice together. Overall, you don¡¯t have to worry about table manners. I don¡¯t really mind about it,¡±


    Alice felt relieved, and they both resumed their dinner in silence.


    After finishing dinner and washing the dishes, Jayce asked her a question. ¡°I don¡¯t mean to be rude, but how can you casually eat the food that I just cooked knowing that we had just met? Including the time we had spent in the Grimoire¡¯s world, and not to mention, we are living in the same apartment unit.¡±


    That question didn¡¯t even cross her mind, except for the latter. ¡°I didn¡¯t sense any malicious intent from you the moment we met, so I trust you.¡±


    ¡°I see.¡± He folded his arms, leaning back to the dining chair.


    ¡°Anyway, what¡¯s with your fighting style? You were a thief class, as suggested by your twin blades, but you¡¯ve suddenly switched to an archer class.¡± This time, it was her turn to ask a question.


    He brought his gaze toward his sheathed scimitars and brought them up on the dining table. ¡°To answer your question, my vocation is neither a thief class nor an archer class¡­¡±


    ¡°Huh¡­?¡± She tilted her head.


    ¡°Alice, are you aware of magic circuits?¡± Instead, he replied with a question.


    ¡°Yes. A magic circuit is a crucial part of an adventurer¡¯s body system. It allows us to perform spells and skills related to their respective class.¡±


    ¡°Correct. Now, what is your magic circuit based on, and what can you do?¡±


    ¡°Magician. I can perform offensive spells, defensive spells, curses and cure ailments.¡±


    ¡°Now that you¡¯ve understood about magic circuits. To answer your question, I have four magic circuits¡ª¡°


    As she was about to take a sip of her green tea, her hands abruptly came to a halt. ¡°¡ªEh?¡±


    ¡°Eeehhhhhh?!¡± She stood, eyes widened, both hands on the table.


    ¡°You don¡¯t have to be that surprised.¡± He sighed. ¡°Yes. I have twenty-four different combinations of fighting style. As for the weapons¡­¡± He held them up and brought both hilts together. The runes on both blades illuminated, and they combined into a bow. ¡°¡­This was done with isolation gravity magic rune, engraved on the bottom hilt of each blade. For the bowstring, it was made of mana, activated by small runes embedded at the tip of the blades, the same property as magic arrows.¡±


    The weapons that Jayce possessed were a pair of black obsidian scimitars. Each blade was strangely curved. Most short swords, in the market, were made and sold to adventurers were linear.


    ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡°Ah¡­ The magic arrows I¡¯ve used were produced from a magic circle, drawn on my right magic glove.¡± He set his bow down on the table, and show his right hand to her.


    The magic circle was drawn with white strings, but¡­


    ¡°¡­The string used to draw that magic circle is not made of normal string. And I do not want to get that into too much detail. Anything else?¡±


    He disconnected the links between the scimitars and sheathed them, and sat down back to his chair, resumed drinking his green tea.


    ¡°Are you in a guild? How many members are there?¡±


    ¡°Yes, and none.¡±


    ¡°None? But why?¡± She can¡¯t help it, considering the vast collection of books and grimoire, and his skills she had witnessed, students will be willing to join his guild.


    ¡°I casted a cloaking spell on the entrance of my guild room. I only recruit adventurers who are able to see and enter the guild room.¡± He refilled his cup with more green tea and took another sip.


    ¡°If that¡¯s the case,¡± She steered her gaze right into his eyes, serious expression across her face. ¡°I would like to apply to join your guild.¡±


    ¡°You may, but on one condition.¡±


    ¡°That is¡­?¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t tell anyone about my magic circuit. That¡¯s my only condition.¡±


    ¡°Deal.¡± She didn¡¯t leave a fraction of a second to decide; she extended her hand towards him.


    He took her hand, his hand was strangely warm, perhaps it was because of the green tea, and shook it gently.


    ¡°Welcome to my guild: The Liberators. And also, welcome to Adventurer¡¯s Academy. Hope I won¡¯t hold you back.¡± He welcomed.


    ¡°Thank you for having me, and please take care of me.¡±

 Chapter 2.0, Gearing up

    It was the second week of the semester and classes will begin in session next week. Most students took this time to take a break after having a long journey to the Academy, but Alice had no intention to skip her morning training.


    As She was getting herself ready, there came three gentle knocks on her door.


    ¡°I¡¯m coming,¡±


    She responded to her calling as she made her way to her door and opened it, only to find a boy about her age.


    It was Jayce; he wore a black T-shirt, a pair of black spectacles, and a pair of black trousers.


    Is he going to have morning training, too?


    ¡°Good morning, Alice. I hope I¡¯m not interrupting your sleep,¡± He greeted apologetically.


    ¡°Oh, no, it¡¯s fine. I was just getting ready for my morning training.¡±


    Although they¡¯d just met one day ago, it was his second nature to treat her formally.


    But she began to wonder: what could be the reason for him to wake up 6.00 am in the morning?


    ¡°In that case, may I join your morning training? We can hold our discussion while training.¡± He suggested.


    Her agility training was straightforward¡ªon second thought, it was rather extreme for a normal person. The objective was to run fifty laps around the school¡¯s perimeter. Alice decided to increase the intensity of her training regimen to raise her agility, due to her recent battle.


    After two laps, she broke out the silence with a question. ¡°So, what do you want to talk about?¡± Sure, she could have waited for him to speak since he was the one who looked for her, but¡ª


    ¡°Sorry. I was thinking about something else just now.¡±


    With her reminder, he immediately pulled himself together to bring the topic between them.


    ¡°I wanted to talk about yesterday.¡±


    ¡°What about it?¡±


    Although she knew where this conversation was going, she can¡¯t help herself to anticipate his next words. Is he going to decline my application to join his guild?


    It was true that most guilds were interested to recruit her during her first visit of the Academy. But during those events, she knew they were lying.


    Anyway, back to the current state of her situation, she steeled her mind, doing her best to keep her composure.


    ¡°Are you sure you want to join my guild?¡± He asked.


    She can¡¯t make out of his expression as he was still facing forward, but his tone was a mixture of seriousness and concern. In her mind, she breathed out a sigh of relief. A thought occurred to her that what made him asked this question instead of declining her application?


    A guild was meant to build trust and bond among members. As for the funds to improve club¡¯s utilities and Research and Development, students were encouraged to complete quests of their own choice.


    During Jayce¡¯s experience, he rarely got recruited as a temporary party member for quests¡ªmostly due to his cloaking spell. However, there were some parties required his assistance. Deep down, he knew they were just using him for their benefits. Despite that, he used those opportunities to hone his skills.


    From what she had seen in his guild room, he did possess a huge variety of grimoires and books regarding alchemy and blacksmithing. The strange part was that there were no presences of any anvil or alchemy table in the guild room.


    Then where did he create his weapons then? She then realized that Jayce was waiting for her answer. She shook her head to keep her mind rationale and gave her answer, her eyes spoke of determination, ¡°Yes.¡±


    He was slightly taken aback by her unexpected answer, but whatever decision she had chosen, he had to respect it. Now that he had received her answer from his end, he moved on to the next topic. ¡°Alright, I will handle the applications for you. Now, about your apparel¡ª¡±


    ¡°What about it?¡± She asked quizzically.


    Yesterday, Alice and Jayce had battled against a chimera. During the battle, he analyzed both her mental and physical state. With that, he explained his opinions about her performance and equipment.


    In terms of throughput, she could prepare and execute spells in at an impressively short amount of time. Her apparels, however, were not suited for close quarter combat as it lacks maneuverability and defense capabilities, and not a single enhancement applied to them.


    ¡°That¡¯s why I recommend you getting a new set of apparels.¡±


    During their battle with Chima-, the name of the chimera they had fought, she wasn¡¯t able to defend herself when its claws closed its distance in a fraction of a second. Her eyes could barely trace its movement. She contemplated this battle further until she reached a conclusion.


    ¡°I will switch out my apparels but¡­¡±


    ¡°But?¡± He repeated.


    ¡°My hat stays. But the problem is that I never thought of the designs yet.¡±


    Alice¡¯s hat was gifted by her parents when she reached the age of fifteen. It was a tradition for every adventurer to create either an item or equipment as a blessing to their student. Because of that, she treated it as a good luck charm and a reminder of her masters, which in this case, her parents.


    ¡°As for the designs, I¡¯ve already drawn the schematics, last night.¡±


    Hearing that, she asked him for further details, but he kept this as a surprise.


    She puffed out her cheeks. He was about to burst into laughter, but he was sure that she will convey her anger toward him even further if he did. He cleared his throat and continue.


    ¡°I will submit your application to the faculty. After that, I¡¯m going out for grocery shopping.¡±


    ¡°Can I come along? I always wanted to visit the capital.¡± She asked, her eyes gleamed with sparkles.


    ¡°I don¡¯t mind, as long I don¡¯t stand out too much. Don¡¯t forget to get your equipment, you might need them.¡±


    ¡°Why?¡±


    ¡°Some adventurers in the capital might be interested to fight you. Don¡¯t worry about getting injuries, the magic gloves will protect you. The battle can be initiated if both adventurers agree to battle and equipped with either magic gloves or bags. The shield¡¯s capacity varies depending on the bearer¡¯s mana and magic gloves themselves. If one of the adventurer¡¯s mana shield can no longer be replenished, that adventurer loses. There are two types of battle, the first is a friendly sparring between both parties. The other involves both adventurers placing their bets and winner takes all. Are there any particular items you¡¯re looking for?¡±


    It wasn¡¯t uncommon for adventurers battling each other in public. Battles such as these can be held either in the academy¡¯s arena or the capital¡¯s Coliseum. The former required permission from the Academy¡¯s faculty, while the latter required permission from any one of the receptionists from the capital¡¯s guild headquarter.


    For the Academy, only students and lecturers could spectate the battle. The capital¡¯s arena, however, had an entry cost depending on the spectators¡¯ status.


    ¡°I would like to replenish my potions and some ingredients for alchemy.¡±


    ¡°I know the place.¡±


    ____________________Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    The merchant district was loud and lively. Merchants were promoting their goods, customers attempted to haggle with merchants over specific items, and couriers ran around with goods in hands.


    Alice outfitted herself with her usual white robe, a staff, a white witch hat, a pair of magic gloves, and sling her magic bag over her left shoulder. Jayce equipped himself a black long coat; a pair of magic gloves; a pair of armbraces; a thin armor breastplate, covering his upper torso, and a pair of obsidian scimitars, sheathed and holstered at the back of his waist.


    ¡°I need five red apples, ten potatoes, one bundle of carrots, three small bags of all spices and two small bags of dried mushrooms.¡± He made his requests to the merchant slowly, making sure she heard everything.


    The merchant deftly gathered every ingredient he had requested in order and packed them into a few paper bags.


    ¡°Here you go, that would be two silver coins and thirty-five copper coins.¡±


    She named the price as she handed out the ingredients to him. He paid the merchant and received his order.


    ¡°My, my, Jayce, is that your girlfriend?¡± asked the elderly saleswoman.


    ¡°Oh, no, we¡¯re just friends.¡± He waved his hand to brush off her assumption.


    ¡°Such a shame. You two look like a couple from my point of view,¡± she added.


    Jayce continued to deny her presumptions, but when he turned to look at Alice, her eyes were downcast with reddened cheeks.


    ¡°Is everything alright?¡± He asked, looking calm, but his tone was an evidence of concern.


    ¡°Oh, my.¡± The saleswoman interjected, a hand placed on her cheek.


    ¡°I-It¡¯s nothing, let¡¯s move on,¡± prompted Alice as she moved ahead to another store.


    After they settled their business, he gave the saleswoman his thanks and hurried to her side, guiding her to his personal favorite alchemy shop.


    The alchemy shop had a large wooden sign hanging overhead written ¡°Nora¡¯s Cauldron.¡± Large display glass showing specimens in glass jars such as dried herbs, lizard tails, dried fish scales, mountain rock salts and the list goes on.


    ¡°Welcome to Nora¡¯s Cauldron, how can I help you?¡±


    As they entered the shop, they were greeted by a young girl. She wore a purple robe and a witch hat. She had red eyes, straight, black, waist-length hair, and a beautiful complexion. Her height was about the same as theirs.


    Maybe she¡¯s a student working as a part-time saleswoman?


    ¡°Hey, Nora. Did you manage to get the ingredients I¡¯ve ordered?¡± asked Jayce as he entered the shop after Alice.


    Nora? This is the owner of the shop?! But she looks like a sixteen-year-old girl! She almost blurted it out loud. This was the second time she met a young-looking person.


    ¡°Sorry, Jayce. I had a lot of requests came in before you. But they will be ready by next week.¡± She answered apologetically.


    ¡°That¡¯s fine, I can wait. For now, I¡¯m not your customer for today. She is.¡± Jayce indicated Alice with his right thumb.


    Nora immediately came close to her, and shake her hand with both of hers. ¡°Nice to meet you! I¡¯m Nora, owner of Nora¡¯s Cauldron.¡± She introduced herself, although not in a professional matter.


    ¡°I¡¯m Alice, nice to meet your acquaintance.¡± She decided to use a formal approach, thinking that she might be older than what her appearances might suggest.


    ¡°You don¡¯t have to be formal with me. We¡¯re adventurers, after all. We treat each other equally, no matter what our age may be.¡± She reassured, reading her expression like an open book.


    She took another step closer to her, close enough to make a whisper in her ear, inaudible to Jayce. ¡°Say, what¡¯s your relationship with Jayce?¡±


    Does everyone really think we¡¯re couples?


    From an outsider¡¯s perspective, they looked like a couple. Jayce was a kind of guy who, for most people, be the one who would ask her out for a date. Sure, he looked like an average teenager with no special status, but he was the one who¡¯s doing the shopping and giving her a tour around the capital.


    Before Alice gave her a response, Nora continued, ¡°I¡¯m only kidding. Back to business. What ingredients were you looking for?¡± Keeping her pride as the owner of her shop, she wouldn¡¯t want to dissuade her from any further.


    ¡°I need five bundles of herbs, ten blue beetles, five yellow herbs, three void salts, three fire herbs, a pack of herb seeds, ten small vials with corks, and three vials of snake¡¯s venom.¡±


    Nora mentally noted down the ingredients. ¡°Got it, feel free to browse around the shop while I go get your order.¡± She turned around and withdrew back to the storage room.


    Jayce went to sit in a nearby chair, then materialize a book from his magic gloves and began reading.


    Given by Nora¡¯s suggestion, Alice went to browse around.


    ¡°Frogs, eyes of newt, Griffin¡¯s talons, wyvern scales, goblin toes, rainbow fish scales, Phoenix feathers? This shop does have all kinds of ingredients you really need.¡± She muttered to herself.


    Jayce answered her remark while reading his book. ¡°She is, after all, one of the best magicians in this area. She knew every location of all sorts of ingredients you seek.¡±


    She wasn¡¯t expecting anyone to answer her, but that assertion did surprise her.


    ¡°What do you mean ¡®in this area¡¯? I¡¯m the best magician in the world!¡± She proclaimed as she came out of the storage room with an opened crate containing Alice¡¯s requested ingredients.


    ¡°Since when?¡± asked Jayce.


    ¡°Why you¡­!¡± With a slight gesture, multiple glowing orbs surrounded Jayce, spirit magic. The spirits had different colors: red, green, and blue. Just a single glance at them sent a chill down of her spine.


    Spirit magic was one of the lost magic; only a handful of adventurers could execute it if one of the conditions are fulfilled. In Nora¡¯s case, one of the conditions she had fulfilled was that she had the ability to perceive spirits.


    ¡°Come on, let¡¯s not fight here.¡± She slid in between them, trying to defuse the situation. Nora¡¯s spirits were ready to fire off at any moment, while Jayce was still sitting in his chair, casually reading his book. Knowing Jayce¡¯s ability and Nora¡¯s title, they might end up destroying Nora¡¯s shop and any nearby buildings.


    Nora understood what she¡¯d meant, so she immediately called off her spirits and turned her gaze toward Alice. She returned to her usual cheerful expression, bringing the issue to a close.


    ¡°You¡¯re right. I shouldn¡¯t waste my mana on this guy. Here are all the ingredients you had requested. Is there anything else you require?¡±


    She placed the opened crate on her counter between them.


    ¡°Yes. I require four phoenix feathers and that would be all.¡±


    ¡°That would be two gold coins, seven silver coins, and forty copper coins. That¡¯s the normal price. But since you¡¯re Jayce¡¯s friend and not to mention you are buying ingredients in bulk, the price will be one gold coin and fifty silver coins.¡±


    Alice was fine with the initial cost; she had earned quite an amount from her expedition with Jayce to the Grimoire¡¯s world. When she attempted to pay Nora at full price, Nora kept insisting her to pay at the discounted price.


    ¡°Here¡¯s your fifty silver coins in change. Thank you, for your patronage. Now that our business is settled, would you like to join me for a cup of tea?¡±


    ¡°Sorry, Nora, I have to bring her somewhere else. There is something that needs to be done by today.¡±


    However, that wasn''t sufficed enough to stop her. ¡°Don¡¯t be silly. I¡¯m sure she has time, right, Alice?¡± She said as she turned her gaze toward her.


    Alice gave a side glance to Jayce, asking whether it would be fine to stay a bit longer.


    ¡°Yeah¡­ I guess we can stay a bit longer.¡± He sighed.


    ¡°Oh, so you are dating her.¡± She teased further.


    ¡°No.¡± He responded as he withdrew his book again from his magic gloves.


    Nora went up the stairs to prepare their afternoon tea. Her entire shop was her home; it was a two-story house, where the ground floor was her shop, while the above was her home.


    ¡°You can come up too, you know. Don¡¯t worry about my shop. My familiar will handle everything here.¡±


    As she climbed up the stairs midway, she beckoned Alice to join her.


    ¡°Familiar?¡± She asked.


    She looked around the shop, in search of the familiar she spoke of. Strangely, she didn¡¯t see it anywhere, then where could it be?


    ¡°Looking for me, nyan?¡± Suddenly, a floating figure made an appearance in front of her.


    ¡°Whoa!¡± She stumbled back by two steps, almost fell to the floor on her rear end.


    ¡°Come now. You don¡¯t have to be that surprised since you hung out with Jayce for only a day. Surely you had met with familiars with the ability to communicate with humans like you.¡±


    The familiar, you guessed it, was a cat-like form, but¡­


    ¡°You¡¯re¡­ flying¡­?¡± She pointed it out.


    It was floating in midair, without any physical part of it to support that fact. It had a short white fur, red eyes, and four tails. Its eyes exhibited gentleness. Anyway, back to reality, it¡¯s flying!


    ¡°Hello, my name¡¯s Snow. Nora¡¯s familiar.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m Alice, nice to meet you.¡± She introduced herself with a bow.


    She flew around Alice in one smooth motion, examining her mana closely. Once she finished, she went back to her post at the main counter of the shop.


    ¡°Now that both you know each other. Shall we head up?¡± prompted Nora. Alice bowed slightly to Snow to excuse herself and climbed up the stairs.


    Alice and Nora had their tea break in one of her guest rooms. Probably meant for negotiation between her and her clients. The room was filled with varieties of plants, vines stretched throughout the wooden supports, placed on each side of the walls. She recognized some plants, but what interest her the most was the surrounding air was refreshing and soothing.


    ¡°My apology on behalf of my familiar. She didn¡¯t mean any harm.¡± She began, taking a sip of herbal tea she had prepared.


    ¡°Oh no. It¡¯s fine. I¡¯m sure Snow doesn¡¯t mean any harm.¡± During her recent encounter with Snow, she didn¡¯t sense any malicious intent as she was looking for her.


    At some point in their conversation, they reached to a topic about her and Jayce. ¡°So, how did you meet Jayce? Not many people notice his presence,¡± she asked, curious about their relationship.


    ¡°I met him at his guild room yesterday. Although that happened by coincidence.¡±


    ¡°Oh¡­¡± She leaned back in her chair, a mischievous smile appeared on her face. ¡°I would love to hear more about it.¡±


    Alice explained to her about her recent adventure with Jayce in the grimoire world, their battle against a chimera, and how he had offered to give her a tour around the capital, recommending the shops that can supply her necessities.


    And so, they resumed their talk with Nora telling her about herself. To her surprise, Nora was apparently a three hundred years old witch. She possessed the title of ¡°Witch of Mysteria.¡± She earned her title through exploration and gathering rare ingredients, and utilize them to research and development of lost magic and items.


    There were a few witches left in this world, so it was difficult for the alchemists in their current generation to continue their magic research. Despite that there were a few witches, they had assisted a lot of adventurers during their journey and they respect them for that, so no matter what happens to the witches, the adventurers will support them, knowing they had no intention to harm anyone.


    As they were approaching the end of their conversation. Nora stood up. ¡°Thank you for your time to join my tea break, Alice. You have to go now; your boyfriend is waiting for you downstairs.¡± She chaffed.


    After knowing her nature, she didn¡¯t seem to mind about it. ¡°Thank you for your hard work and service, Nora.¡± She waved her hand and took her leave.


    Looking through the window, Jayce and Alice left the shop, silence returned once again to the guest room.


    ¡°Alice, I hope you can save him.¡± She muttered.

 Chapter 2.1, Gearing up

    ¡°Umm¡­ Are we in the right place?¡±


    It was late afternoon. Alice and Jayce stood at the front of the best, from Jayce¡¯s perspective, a tailor shop in the merchant district. The shop, just like Nora¡¯s, had a display glass, displaying a few selected, best dresses. But what held her back was¡­


    ¡°Yes. This is the place.¡±


    The price tags that were placed on their designated clothing. They were ranged from 100 gold coins to 200 gold coins. Alice¡¯s face went pale as her eyes laid on them. She agreed that he will get a new ensemble for her, but he didn¡¯t mention anything about having it crafted by a high-class shop like this.


    ¡°But¡­¡±


    Without giving her a chance to retort, Jayce entered the boutique shop with Alice in tow.


    ¡°Welcome. How I may be at your service?¡± A tailor, who seemed to be the owner of the shop, approached them and welcomed them as they entered his shop.


    The shop had displayed varieties of apparel onto their mannequins, materials rolled into cylinders and stored in wooden cabinets.


    ¡°Yes, I would like to make a custom order for her.¡±


    ¡°Certainly, my apprentice will take her measurements.¡±


    He called his apprentice over. The apprentice arrived without a moment¡¯s delay. She gave a slight bow to them, with her right hand placed on her chest.


    ¡°Please do the measurements for this young lady over here.¡± He asked politely.


    She nodded. ¡°Certainly, right this way, ma¡¯am.¡± She gestured to Alice to follow her to a private changing room.


    ¡°Jayce, is this alright? I mean¡­ custom-made apparels are costly.¡± She turned to Jayce in askance.


    For weapons, armors, and apparels, custom orders were usually cost at least ten times more than the price of goods displayed for sale. The reason was that they had to undergo sophisticated procedures and requires rare materials.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, Alice. The guild will pay the cost.¡±


    That statement made Alice even more anxious. By guild, he meant that the funds he had built up by himself. She tried to make an argument with Jayce to save the guild¡¯s funds. However, he didn¡¯t seem to yield to her arguments.


    Alice resigned herself and went ahead to the measurement room with the tailor. The measurement process didn¡¯t take a lot of time, she deftly measured every specific part of the body. To her, despite that she was an apprentice, she definitely will be a great tailor.


    ¡°I need you to follow this design. Further details are written in this schematic. As for the material, it needs to be able to provide a warming or cooling effect depending on the bearer¡¯s surrounding temperature.¡±


    Once the tailor took the required measurements, they went out of the measuring room. Jayce was having a discussion with the tailor, giving an explanation or two regarding the design of the ensemble. A schematic was placed on the counter between them.


    Knowing who the bearer was, the tailor turned his gaze toward her. ¡°Any color preference for your design, ma¡¯am?¡±


    ¡°White, please.¡±


    ¡°As you wish. The entire cost of the custom order would be thirty gold coins. But since the product is not finished, you have to pay ten gold coins as a deposit for this order, then make a full payment when it is done, or make a full payment.¡±


    ¡°I will pay at full price. Can you send the finished product to this address?¡± He wrote down their address to a small piece of paper on the counter.


    ¡°Certainly, we will ensure that the product will reach to this address safely.¡±


    Jayce handed eighty gold coins to the tailor. The tailor and his apprentice gave another bow, thanking them for their patronage.


    ____________________


    ¡°So, what do you think of the capital? Hope I don¡¯t bore you,¡± asked Jayce.


    ¡°I like it here. It¡¯s fun, lively, and peaceful, and, no, you¡¯ve been a great help but I have to ask...¡±


    Just as Alice was about to ask him a question, she stopped mid-sentence. Her eyes suddenly gleamed with sparkles.


    Jayce was wondering what stopped her. He followed her gaze; her eyes were drawn to a caf¨¦. Waiters and waitresses bringing out desserts to customers.


    ¡°Do you want to try that caf¨¦?¡± He can¡¯t help but smiled at her expression as she glances toward the caf¨¦.


    ¡°Yes!¡± She answered immediately without leaving a fraction of a second.


    They obediently followed the butler to their allotted table. The table was made of wood, detailed with a fine craftsmanship. As the butler was about to assist Alice to take a seat, Jayce had walked silently and swiftly around the waiter to offer his assistance to Alice.


    Once they settled in, the butler gave each of them a menu and stood by, ready to take orders. Jayce told him that they will call him when they are ready. With that, the butler gave a bow and went off to serve other customers who required his service.This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.


    Alice browsed through the menu excitedly. The menu listed a huge variety of cake and teas she had never seen before. Some pages even had pictures of specific cakes, with a sign of recommendation by the caf¨¦¡¯s patissier.


    The butler who served them earlier arrived at their table and asked whether they are ready to order.


    Alice had a difficult time to decide which cake to order. Feeling conflicted, she decided to order a slice of Black Forest cake which was at the top of the recommendation list and a cup of black tea, while Jayce ordered a slice of white chocolate cake and a cup of green.


    ¡°So, what is it that you want to ask me?¡± asked Jayce, reminding her about the question she was about to ask a few moments earlier.


    ¡°I don¡¯t really mean to be rude. I¡¯m really thankful for everything you did for me¡­ but why did you help me?¡±


    She was genuinely grateful for everything he did for her. At the same time, she felt guilty that he¡¯d spent a huge sum of coins for the custom-made apparels for her.


    ¡°It¡¯s for your own protection. Besides, you¡¯re the first member to join my guild. Only a handful of adventurers were able to see through my cloaking spell.¡± He leaned back in his chair, arms folded, but his eyes suggest concern otherwise.


    Curious, as she was about to speak, the butler came back with all the orders they had made on a silver platter.


    ¡°A slice of black forest cake for you, my lady. A slice of white chocolate for you, sir. And two cups of tea. Is there anything else would you like to order?¡±


    ¡°That would be all, thank you.¡± He answered, sensing that she no longer required any service and thanked him for his service.


    ¡°Understood, sir.¡± He gave another slight bow before taking his leave.


    ¡°That doesn¡¯t matter for now. Let¡¯s enjoy our tea break.¡± Jayce ended their conversation, clearly trying to avoid going any further into their current topic.


    Alice began to wonder what she had done to make Jayce worry about her. After noting his choice of words, she grew suspicious that he was hiding something from her. But, she doesn¡¯t want to ruin the mood on this occasion.


    Both of them began indulging their food in silence. What a way to make an awkward situation for Alice. She thought to herself.


    ¡°Do you want to come with me to Capital¡¯s guild headquarter? ¡­You can choose not to come if you don¡¯t feel like it.¡±


    Jayce felt the awkward air between them, so he attempted to cheer her up.


    ¡°¡­I don¡¯t mind, I always wanted to see what the headquarter looks like.¡± She didn¡¯t expect him to speak during their meal. Although, she clearly understood that he was just trying to cheer her up at this point. If he really was not ready to tell her, then she will have to wait for the appropriate time.


    ____________________


    The Capital¡¯s guild headquarter, also known as HQ, was huge; it looked like a mansion from the outside. Adventurers gathered around in their respective groups. Some were discussing their tactics regarding their quest, while other parties celebrated for completing their quest.


    Alice, admiring the fine details sculptured on the entire building. She was beginning to lean towards the word ¡°library¡± would be more appropriate to describe HQ.


    When she was about to speak out her thoughts, Jayce had already made his way to the entrance of the building.


    ¡°H-hey!¡± She went after Jayce into the building.


    The ground floor of the building was spacious. There were four billboards hung on the wall on the far left, while the remaining space was covered with open lounges, where adventurers can wait for their party members, or sometimes buying or selling information to info-brokers.


    The main operation of the Capital¡¯s guild headquarter took place on the floor above them. Workers ran around their offices, bringing documents to their analyst, who were responsible to declare whether the requests were legitimately based on the evidence they had gathered. Of course, information related to their requests will be gathered by their scouters.


    ¡°I¡¯m going to look for a quest for us. Feel free to look around.¡± He suggested, walking toward one of the billboards.


    Alice looked around and found nothing intriguing. Mostly due to her feeling out of place as other adventurers and the receptionists were busy with their work. Feeling that she doesn¡¯t want to attract unwanted attention, she went to one of the billboards.


    The quests that were listed on the quest boards were arranged in the manner of the ranking system from S to D. The rewards, however, varied depending on the clients, and the higher the rank, the higher the reward values and risks.


    However, there was also a strict rule by the government that adventurers can only accept one quest at a time. Based on the adventurer rank, they can accept quests one rank above, their respective rank, or one rank below. This rule was implemented so that there will be enough quests available to every adventurer.


    Alice went to browse a D rank quest board which was on the far right of the billboards. The quests were essentially for beginners; they were focused on gathering herbs or ores instead of hunting monsters.


    ¡°How about this quest?¡±


    The moment she was about to move on to C rank quest board, Jayce approached her with a paper in his hand.


    She took the paper and read it. Wanted, bandit leader at the outskirt of the moon village, committed crimes of theft and kidnapping.


    ¡°Can you handle it?¡±


    It was a C rank quest. She hadn¡¯t built enough confidence to be able to have an actual fight against humans with her life on the line. Sure, she did learn some non-lethal spells to take down her enemies, but that will also ruin the whole mission as their target was responsible for the kidnapping, and there was a high possibility that there will be hostages at their camp.


    Despite all that, she had to save them.


    ¡°Very well. We should register ourselves for this quest at the reception. We will head out to Moon village tomorrow after your equipment arrives.¡±


    They ascended to another floor with one of the spiral staircases that were at the far corner of the floor, away and across from the entrance.


    For new adventurers, their initial rank will be D. In order to get promoted to their next rank, they had to complete ten quests above their rank or thirty quests of their respective rank. Completing a quest below their rank will not provide any contribution to their ranking. The adventurer¡¯s ID can only be registered by receptionists in the Capital¡¯s guild headquarter. Not only their rank was displayed on their ID, their ID also showed their class, rank, skills, and stats. Adventurer ID was made to analyze their physical and mental prowess, and to promote awareness to their owners when it comes to their capabilities.


    After Alice listened to the receptionist¡¯s explanation, she gave a blank card to her. Later, she was instructed to infuse some mana into the blank card.


    As she did so, a string, emitting a faint white glow, appeared from the center of the blank card; it gracefully wove through the blank card with her mana, dancing through the air.


    Once the string stopped reacting any further, she examined her first Capital Adventurer ID:


    Name: Alice


    Gender: Female


    Class: Magician


    Rank: D


    Skills: Ice Shots, Snarling Chains, Miasma¡­


    And the list went on. Then, she gave her ID to the receptionist, along with Jayce¡¯s ID to register for their quest.


    There were two types of IDs, the Academy¡¯s student ID, and Capital adventurer¡¯s ID. Most adventurers called Academy¡¯s student ID card, SID; while Capital adventurer¡¯s ID card is called CAD. SID can be used to register Academy''s quest, ranking system, and education purposes. CAD was mainly used for government-related quests, social status, and their own ranking system. Meaning, they were meant to be used in different situations.


    She examined both IDs, checking their rank and name. She then took out a large logbook and began writing their details. They were officially accepted their first quest. With the registration concluded, the receptionist wished them a best of luck.

 Chapter 2.2, Gearing up

    The next day, they were back in their apartment unit.


    Alice was preparing every necessary consumable item she can with every ingredient she had bought from Nora. She wasn¡¯t sure when will her new ensemble arrive at their doorstep. She felt excited and nervous. She shook her head, she had to be prepared this time.


    As she was about to resume her work, there came a sound of a few soft knocks on the door behind her.


    ¡°You can come in.¡± She permitted.


    Jayce entered her room, with the goods that she had requested earlier.


    ¡°Here are the pots that you need to grow your herbs. So what are you making?¡± He asked, setting the pots down to where Alice had indicated with her index fingers.


    She needed a few pots to grow some green herbs. Green herbs required at least three weeks to be fully grown. With luck, the herbs might turn out to be red herbs, but it had twenty percent chance to be produced from green herbs. Red herbs were the key ingredients to increase the potency of health potions and other kinds of potions, including poisons.


    ¡°Thank you. For now, I¡¯ve made five health potions, five mana potions, and three antidotes.¡±


    ¡°That would be enough for this quest since you will be providing support for this quest.¡± He suggested, twirling the vial he had picked up, containing the concoction, and analyzing its quality.


    Enough? We¡¯re up against a camp full of bandits.


    Suddenly, someone knocked on their door, it wasn¡¯t Jayce this time. Leaving Alice to resume her work, Jayce went to get the door, found himself greeted by a delivery man.


    ¡°A delivery for Jayce.¡± He greeted, tilting his cap downward slightly.


    ¡°That would be me.¡±


    The delivery man gave the package and asked for a signature on a document to declare the package was delivered.


    He signed the document, and the delivery man thanked him before he took his leave.


    ¡°It¡¯s best you open it. It¡¯s your new ensemble after all.¡±


    He brought the package to her and set the package to the top of her study table.


    Alice began to clean up her alchemy table as she had finished creating every potion she needed, storing her ingredients and potions to her magic gloves. As for Jayce, he left her room and closed the door.


    Alice was anxious; she was afraid whether the ensemble that Jayce had designed doesn¡¯t suit her at all. She reached out to the package. She was hesitant at first, but finally, she mustered her courage to open it.


    The apparels were arranged neatly in the package. She withdrew them one after another and lay them on her bed as if she was putting them on a mannequin. As she did so, she began to smile.


    The ensemble consisted of a hooded white short-sleeved dress, length up to her waist; a clear, transparent scarf; a hazel leather vest; a pair of hazel leather gloves; a pair of hazel shorts; and a pair of hazel long boots.


    She also found a paper inside the package¡ªit was the schematic that Jayce had given to the tailor yesterday. She was at lost for words, the schematic was written every single detail regarding the procedures, including the conditions required to fulfill in order to tailor these apparels.


    She went out of the room, a thought crossed her mind that Jayce had promised to apply enhancements to her new apparels. He was found sitting on one of the dining chairs and he stood up as he noticed her.


    ¡°So what do you think? I hope it doesn¡¯t make you feel uncomfortable.¡±


    ¡°I love it. I will treasure them.¡± She answered with a smile.


    For some reason, that smile seemed somewhat different from her usual smile that he had seen. Whatever the case, he was glad that she loved her new apparels.


    He extended his hand to her.


    ¡°So, may I have your permission to apply the enhancements to them?¡±


    Alice nodded and handed over her new apparels to Jayce.


    He placed them on his study table and brought her dress to his alchemy table. Alice peered over his right shoulder as he took out a blank card from one of the drawers from the alchemy table.The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    ¡°Never done an enhancement process before?¡±


    ¡°No, but why are you using a blank card? I¡¯ve thought enhancement process was done by using engraving tools and alchemy table?¡±


    The enhancement was usually done by marking runes onto apparels or weapons; it was a combination of both alchemy and blacksmithing skills. Most adventurers and alchemist refer that procedure as rune crafting. Marking runes with blacksmithing tools had to be done with precision and accuracy. One minute mistake will seize its function, so it needs to be done perfectly.


    ¡°Oh, this, you¡¯ll see.¡± He showed the blank card to her momentarily, then brought it back to her dress.


    He closed his eyes, removing every sense he had to heighten his concentration. Once he reached a point where he can¡¯t see, hear and feel, he slowly infused his mana to the blank card.


    To her surprise, instead of a string, the runes wove throughout the blank card.


    When the runes stopped forming, he then taps the card to her dress. The runes immediately scattered across her dress, revamping the properties of the dress to add additional augmentation without disrupting the original properties of the dress. The runes gave a faint glow and gradually dies down.


    ¡°One down. On to the next apparel¨C¡± He stood up, switching her dress over to her vest.


    ¡°Umm...¡±


    ¡°A new way to execute an enhancement process. It is the same process as creating your CID. Also, two enhancements were embedded in your dress.¡±


    ¡°Two? I thought that process results in one enhancement.¡±


    ¡°It depends on the size of the apparel. As for the enhancements, your dress has the ability to absorb any shock from any attacks by a medium margin and it¡¯s waterproof. Now, we need to enhance your vest.¡±


    Alice found it hard to believe that he had found an exploit on one of the government¡¯s alchemy methods. She knew he built his own hybrid weapon of scimitars and bow.


    Her vest and shorts were then enchanted with the same setup as her one-piece dress; long boots were applied with muffle enhancement; and cloaking enhancement on her scarf. As he handed over her apparels, he suggested her to change at her room.


    As she left his room, he moved on to the final apparel, her gloves. He gazed upon her gloves, thinking about suitable augments that might be useful for her. Of course, he was aware that she prefers a long-range approach rather than close range. After a long, deep thought, he had reached a conclusion for the augmentation.


    ¡°Alright, guess I have to use that¡­¡±


    ____________________


    After augmenting Alice¡¯s gloves, Jayce returned his attention back to his weapons at his disposal. ¡°Now, what kind of enhancements should I use for this quest?¡± He muttered to himself with a hand held onto his chin.


    Thinking back to the description of the quest, the strength of the bandit leader, security, and the surrounding environment of their camp were unknown to them.


    ¡°Guess we have to gather information from the Moon Village.¡±


    After collecting his thoughts, he returned his attention to craft runes onto his weapons and armor. Cloaking enhancement on his apparel, muffle enhancement for his boots, and hardening enhancements on his chest armor and arm braces. As for his weapons, they were good for now.


    ¡°So what do you think?¡± interrupted Alice as Jayce was applying enhancement on his armors.


    He turned his gaze to her, eyes widened. When he was designing her apparel last night, he told himself that he shouldn¡¯t be too nervous when it comes to his designs. To his amazement, despite he was the one who designed her ensemble, it really suits her.


    The new apparels that Alice was wearing were not meant for being a magician, the design was made as if it was a hybrid of thief, archer and magician classes. The apparel was designed to provide better maneuverability for the bearer. Fortunately, the materials used to create this set were well made, as expected from tailors¡¯ proficiency.


    ¡°Beautiful.¡± He answered blatantly.


    ¡°Thank you.¡± She replied with the crimson spread across her face.


    ¡°Although there is one more thing you need.¡± He handed her over a pair of gloves that were meant for her new ensemble.


    ¡°But¡­ do I need to replace these magic gloves you gave me yesterday?¡±


    ¡°Yes. These will be your new magic gloves.¡±


    ¡°Huh¡­?¡±


    ¡°Is something wrong?¡±


    She remembered yesterday¡¯s conversation with Lysette about magic gloves: This is the newly invented magic gloves by one of the Academy¡¯s students.


    Before she knew, the next word came out from her mouth. ¡°Are you the one who invented these magic gloves?¡±


    Without anything to hide, he nodded.


    He later confessed to her that he was also the very person who invented the blank card system, too. Although they were discovered by accident while he attempted to improve his arsenals and items with alchemy.


    She looked at him dubiously.


    ¡°So¡­ how did the government know about the blank card system?¡± She heard rumors a few years ago that the government officials had implemented the blank card system for Adventurer¡¯s IDs. Not to mention, that was three years ago, meaning that Jayce was twelve years old to discover the blank card system, but Jayce soon told her his reasons.


    ¡°I suggested it to them,¡± He grinned and continued, ¡°Only the IDs. I¡¯m not going to share about the enhancement process you had just witnessed to them. I¡¯m pretty sure that kind of information will change the economics of this country.¡±


    She later understood what he had meant. The government will use this purpose to gain incomes for themselves, and there will be risks when it comes to adventurers come to steal information and abuse its power.


    ¡°Before we head out, there is something I need to tell you.¡±


    She snapped back to reality as Jayce was about to tell her something important.


    ¡°Your new pair of gloves has the same enchantments as my gloves. You¡¯re now able to produce magic arrows as your close-range weapons. I don¡¯t want something happens to you like our last battle with Chima.¡±


    She was ready for that, but she felt embarrassed about it. But, what comes next was not what she had expected.


    ¡°It¡¯s okay.¡± He patted her head. ¡°You learn new things every day. If something happens to you, I will be there to protect you.¡±


    Instead of feeling guilty, her face reddened immediately and instinctively turned her back to him.


    He tilted his head, not sure whether he had upset her. He later noticed that they had to head out now.


    ¡°Anyway, we have to go. While the sun is still up, we should be arriving at Moon Village by 7.00 pm.¡±


    She equipped her new pair of magic gloves, and thus, they began their first quest.

 Chapter 3.0, Infiltration

    They arrived at the Moon village as planned. During their journey, they had met a few packs of wolves and protected a traveling merchant who was heading in the samedirection as they. As luck would have it, the merchant was keen to purchase their wolf skins in exchange for rations. Jayce, however, decided to trade their wolf skins for transportation to the Moon village as night was approaching.


    ¡°Here we are. Welcome to the Moon village,¡± said the merchant.


    Alice peered out of the carriage and looked where the merchant was pointing. Under the moonlight, the village seemed to be glimmering. The houses were mostly made of wood and cobblestones for chimneys; they may be flammable, but nowadays, builders had discovered a few countermeasures for that issue.


    They hopped off the coach and gave their thanks to the traveling merchant for the ride. The merchant returned the gesture and went along his journey to the next village.


    Jayce turned his attention to Alice. ¡°Before we meet our client, we should get something to eat.¡±


    Alice looked around the village. An inn and a bakery were just opened for business as the workers were displaying their signs. She was about to choose the bakery, but she had enough pastries during her journey to Adventurer Academy, so she resolved to dine at the inn.


    The inn¡¯s restaurant was empty. To be honest, it was just opened. It was a three-story building with a large open lounge at its rear, the ground floor was structured like a restaurant, the second and third floor served to accommodate weary tenants. Excluding the ground floor, each level could accommodate up to twenty people.


    The ground floor had dark wooden floorings and walls, four small-roundtables, five medium-sized round tables and a long counter, probably meant for a quick dine-in. Each of them could hold up to two, five and seven people, respectively.


    ¡°Welcome to the Lunar Inn, how may I help you?¡±


    As they got a place at one of the vacant small-roundtables by the window, a young waitress addressed them, ready to help.


    The waitress was dressed like a maid; her attire composed of a black dress, a white petticoat, a white pinafore, a black bow and a pair of white stockings. She had a pair of silver eyes and straight silver hair length up to her neck.


    ¡°What¡¯s today¡¯s special?¡± asked Jayce.


    ¡°Today¡¯s special is beef brisket with homemade goat cheese, mashed potatoes with truffles, grilled leeks, and luminous tea. Each set costs thirty silver coins. Would you be interested to order these?¡±


    Alice had visited a few inns during her journey to the Academy, but she barely had a chance to get a taste of their specialties, due to the time constraints and the village she had to mend.


    Jayce turned his attention toward Alice, waiting for any sign of response. She nodded, not because of the price, but how starving she was due to long hours of journey. And besides, she was eager to try their specialty dish.


    ¡°Two sets of special, please,¡± ordered Jayce. The waitress gave a bow and turned back to the kitchen.


    As Alice watched the waitress left, the waitress looked back over her shoulder. Without Jayce noticing, the waitress gave Alice a side wink at her, a sign of cheering her on. Alice responded her gesture by shaking her head. After taking in her silence justification, the waitress nodded and made her way to the kitchen.


    ¡°What is it, Alice?¡± asked Jayce.


    ¡°It¡¯s nothing,¡± she answered.


    The thought of the apparels he had gifted to her suddenly came to his mind. ¡°Is it about the enhancements that I applied to your apparels? I will teach you how to use them tomorrow morning.¡±


    He was partially right that she did, in fact, had no idea how to activate these enhancements. Her parents hadn¡¯t got a chance to guide her when it comes to enhancements due to their busy schedule.


    ¡°Alice¡­?¡±


    She snapped back to reality.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry. What were you saying?¡±


    Jayce began to worry about her mental state, so he moved along to the next topic, ¡°After we complete this quest, is there anything you want to do in this village? We¡¯re here, after all.¡±


    She gave some thought about it, ¡°Hmm¡­ I¡¯m not too sure. Any suggestion?¡± Her doubt was soon resolved as the waitress arrived with a specialty dish in each hand.


    ¡°How about ¡®Luminous Flower Sightseeing?¡¯ I¡¯ve heard that they will bloom in the next two days.¡± After placing the dishes for both of them on the table, she continued, ¡°¡­the flowers will bloom when the clock strikes midnight. The best spot for the sightseeing is at the tallest tree on the hill. You will see it when you get there. Enjoy your meal.¡± She took a bow and leave.


    ¡°Interested?¡± he asked.


    ¡°But do we have enough time to prepare for our upcoming classes?¡±


    ¡°Well, we have two days to prepare. I¡¯m sure that is enough,¡± he assured.


    She didn¡¯t sense any malicious intent from him, so she decided to trust him since he knew more about the academy than her.


    ¡°Now that your question has been answered. Let¡¯s enjoy our dinner. We have to meet the village chief before we can get some sleep,¡± said Jayce.If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    ____________________


    They went into the Village Chief¡¯s house. She welcomed them without any sign of hostile. Alice and Jayce greeted her, and she returned her¡¯s.


    The village chief¡¯s role was acting as a representative for his village, and handling any policies related to the government. In order to promote oneself to a village chief, they had to fulfill three conditions. They had to be born from their respective village and they were able to communicate with spirits and chosen by them.


    However, only a handful of people had the ability to grasp spirits¡¯ presence and wield its power. But the government¡¯s alchemist had yet to figure out this phenomenon. Some say that it was the spirits choose their masters. Spirits also held a vast amount of knowledge from many years of observation of the village advancement, including every meeting that her predecessors took part.


    ¡°You don¡¯t have to be formal toward me. You must be here to defeat the bandit leader,¡± she began. Her status held the same rank as the Government officials. During the time when she was appointed as the village chief of Moon Village, she studied etiquettes and the system ran by the government from the spirits themselves.


    Since she had given them the permission to be informal, Jayce asked a few questions. ¡°Is there anything you might know about this bandit leader?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ve heard rumors that he wields a large two-handed sword. Strong enough to destroy any weapons his opponents wield.¡±


    ¡°Are there any other information we should be aware of?¡± asked Alice. Surprised, Jayce didn¡¯t expect her to ask the village chief a question, but he decided to keep quiet and listen.


    Her eyes went dark, worry expression formed on her face. ¡°They have kidnapped my people as prisoners. I know the quest inquires defeating the bandit leader, but, please, save my people, too.¡± Regardless of how much training she had undergone to keep her mind rationale, she wasn¡¯t able to ward off the uneasiness that crept on her, after she had received a message from the bandit leader a few days ago.


    Sensing the distress coming her, Jayce intervened. ¡°That¡¯s all we need to know. Thank you for the information. We will prioritize the safety of your people first.¡±


    The village chief believed him, the determination she noticed within his eyes, but deep down... But it would be rude to pry into his personal life any further. Forgetting about that, she made a gesture to allow them to take their leave. They gave a slight bow to her before taking their leave, thanking her for her kindness and the villagers¡¯ hospitality.


    There was an outdoor hot spring at the back of the inn. Each bath, two baths in total, of the hot spring was small, you could fit about ten people in each bath. Alice was relaxing in the hot spring, gazing the full moon under the clear night sky. She began to wonder about the phenomenon she had heard from the traveling merchant earlier: the full moon will never be hindered by clouds during the night of the Moon village.


    Could it be that the spirits who protected this village cause it? She thought.


    She shook her head, realizing that it''s impossible for a spirit to have a huge amount of mana to influence this kind of phenomenon. Theoretically, no amount of mana would allow a caster to develop this miracle.


    As time passed, the aches and pains from her feet were healed with the effects of the hot spring. She let out a sigh of relief and slightly immerse herself further into the spring water.


    The cost of entry per person for a hot spring was twenty silvers coins per person, but the innkeeper offered a discount to them¡ªmost probably due to mistaking them as a couple. Alice and Jayce did attempt to object the innkeeper¡¯s proclaim, but in the end, each of them paid ten silver coins to the innkeeper.


    Sensing a little dizzy, she stood up and got to the changing room. She dried herself with the bath towel provided by one of the helpers of the inn, then switched out her bathrobe back to her usual apparel. As soon as she slid a magic glove to her hand, she felt something was watching her. She turned her gaze toward the forest, but nothing was there.


    ____________________


    She came back to their room. Yes, their room. Due to lack of vacancy, the only room available for them was a single room. As the name suggested, the room had a single-size bed, a study table with a candle as the only source of light, and a chair.


    Fortunately, the floor was large enough for one person to sleep on it as the bed can only be occupied by one person. ¡°I will be sleeping on the floor,¡± said Jayce, knowing it might be weird for them to share the same bed.


    Without waiting for her response, Jayce materialized a mat and a pillow from his magic gloves and placed them on the floor. He adjusted himself around the mat. As he finally settled down, exhaustion crept over his body and slept soundly.


    Never thought he¡¯s that tired, thought Alice.


    Noticed the current time, she hit the bed early. Although she was tired, she was still unable to sleep. It wasn¡¯t because she was skittish, but rather she was nervous about her apparels¡¯ enhancement. What would happen if I don¡¯t execute them well? Will they cause a backfire? thought Alice.


    ¡°Can¡¯t sleep?¡± asked Jayce. Still lay on the mat, he turned his body to his side, his perspective toward Alice.


    She startled, she thought he was asleep. ¡°Yeah. I can¡¯t bear the nervous and excitement building up in me, right now.¡±


    Understanding her condition, he stood up from his sleeping mat and went over to her. As she was about to rise from her bed, he held his hand up, telling her to stay put. He crouched down next to her bed and asked her to close her eyes. He then placed his hand on her closed eyes.


    ¡°I know this is kinda weird, but please bear with me. Try talking to me. Any topic will do,¡± said Jayce.


    She closed her eyes, darkness spread over her vision. For some reason, she felt terrified but not as terrifying as had thought as she could feel the warmth coming from his hand, a proof of his existence stood at her side. She began with a story of how she always wanted to be an adventurer.


    During her childhood, she was kidnapped by rogues. They sent a message to her family, asking for a ransom. She was scared, this was the first time she experiences this situation. She overheard that the leader of the kidnappers told them that under any circumstances to not hurt her.


    Not before long, they heard a knock on their door. The rogues raised their weapons, ready to fight whoever was at the door, but there was no further response after that.


    ¡°Must be the wind¡ª¡±


    Before one of the rogues finished his sentence, multiple arrows came flying in through the walls, meeting their mark on every rogue present in the room. After they felled down unconscious, a man entered the room, approaching Alice slowly. She attempted to tell the intruder to stay back, but her mouth was covered with cloth, so he could barely understand her.


    The man told her that he was sent by her father to save her. She felt relieved after hearing that, but she didn¡¯t know whether he was telling the truth.


    Anticipating her thought process, the man brought out a silver dagger and handed it over to her. She was shocked by this development, and she was told that if she didn¡¯t take his words for it then use this dagger to defend yourself from him. She was hesitant at first when she reached out for the dagger, but she accepted a dagger from him, nevertheless.


    After the man brought her back to her family, they gave their thanks to him. She never got a chance to ask him for his name. Even if she did, she was pretty sure he wouldn¡¯t answer her question. She later asked her parents about him, but all she knew was that they asked an adventurer to save her, that¡¯s all.


    ¡°That¡¯s one interesting story. Wait. Did you give back¡ª¡± Before he finished his sentence, he realized Alice was already asleep. He shrugged to himself and smiled. Before he went back to sleep, he thanked her for her hard work.

 Chapter 3.1, Infiltration

    As the morning light pierced through the glass window, Alice felt the warmth crept through her body. She opened her eyes and rise up, stretching her arms and legs, then looked around her. Jayce was nowhere to be found, but she found a bag and a note on the study table. She got off her bed and sat on a chair to read the note.


    Dear Alice,


    I will be out for a while to browse through the ores and ingredients available in this village. I will be back soon by the time you read this note. I will be teaching you about enhancements when I get back to you. Your breakfast is in the bag, placed on the study table.


    Your partner,


    Jayce


    She placed down the note and examined the bag. The bag had three bread rolls, a small bottle of fruit jam and a bottle of cold milk. Feeling hungry, she began indulging her breakfast.


    The fruit jam seemed to be different from any bakery she had visited. As for the milk, it was surprisingly cold for this environment.


    Nowadays people were still experiencing difficulty when it comes to preserving their food resources. Blacksmiths pointed out that it was possible to build a system to meet that requirement, but they had yet to find suitable materials and schematics. Although magicians were able to cast ice magic to cool down objects, they still had to expend their mana.


    After she finished eating her breakfast, she stored the fruit jam and an empty bottle into her magic gloves. Since Jayce wasn¡¯t back yet, she withdrew her Grimoire and placed them on her study table and began reading.


    Alice had learned a few spells from her Grimoire, but she felt she needed to revise on a certain spell she might need for this quest. Her Grimoire was different from others, it had the ability to record every spell she had learned. Not only that, the languages written in the Grimoire can only be read by her. She was, after all, the rightful owner as it chose its master. She flipped pages to pages, trying to find a specific spell. Finally, she found the spell she was looking for and immediately took a mental note of understanding the foundation and nature of this spell. As she finished reading her Grimoire, she heard a click from the door.


    ¡°I¡¯m back. You ready?¡± asked Jayce.


    ¡°Welcome back. Yes, I¡¯m ready.¡±


    She closed her Grimoire and store it back to her magic gloves. Jayce went out of the room to give her some time to change. Once changed, she went out of the room and looked back, ensuring they don¡¯t leave anything behind.


    They traveled further south of the village, finding a suitable environment with large amounts of foliage. The purpose of this choice was to teach Alice how to use the stealth enhancements applied to her apparel by Jayce.


    He explained a few rules to her, turning this training into a game. It was like a game of tag, but the hunter had to touch their target¡¯s back without being noticed. However, if the target caught a glimpse of you, you lose. She nodded to his proposal.


    To activate the enhancement effects, the bearer had to imbue their mana to the runes applied to your apparels. However, each enhancement had their own nature. Stealth based enhancement requires patience and a sense of calm of the bearer. It sounded easy, but when it comes to escaping from enemies, the bearer had to recollect their thoughts zealously in order to activate their enhancement.


    ¡°Any questions?¡± he asked.


    She shook her head. They decided that Jayce will be the hunter this time, to demonstrate how the enhancements worked in a field. As Jayce ventured deep into the forest, Alice mentally counted to ten.


    When the game started, she immediately heightened her senses. No signs of movement, sounds or even presences. She was well aware that this training will not hurt both of them, but the feeling she had was different¡ªfear. She kept looking left, right, front, back and above. Still no sign of Jayce, her senses gradually became dull. At that very moment, a hand grabbed her left shoulder. She instinctively jumped away from it and looked to find out the person who was grabbing her was Jayce.


    ¡°Sorry. Are you ok?¡±


    He apologized to her for scaring her like that. His concern was about hurting her, mentally.


    She took a few deep breaths, she wasn¡¯t expecting the enchantments would be that effective. She understood how it feels like to be hunted, she switched roles with Jayce.


    After some time passed, she activated her muffle enhancement. Keeping her mental state stable, she jumped once and landed on leaves and branches, not a single sound heard.


    ¡°It worked,¡± she murmured.


    She darted toward his location while keeping her muffle enhancement active. At the same time, she began infusing her mana to camouflage enhancement, visualizing that she was part of the surroundings. It was difficult to activate two enhancements at once, they required more concentration than she has thought.


    Halfway to his location, her mind finally became stable. She felt the sensation that she was linked with her surroundings. Postponing her excitement to the near future, she brought her focus back to their training.


    Her eyes became wide when she found her target¡ªwho was found casually sleeping beside one of the trees. She didn¡¯t doubt his action, doing so might deactivate her enhancements. She circled around his position, slowly approaching his back, ready to tackle. As her hand was about one centimeter away from his left shoulder, his right hand suddenly grabbed her hand.


    ¡°That was fun,¡± said Jayce, covering his mouth with his left hand as he was yawning. He released her hand and stood up, stretching his arms and legs.Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators!


    Was he asleep? thought Alice


    ¡°How did you know that I was about to tag you?¡± she asked.


    ¡°I don¡¯t.¡±


    She was about to say ¡°Interesting¡± but instead¡­ ¡°What do you mean you don¡¯t know?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s exactly what I just said.¡± He stated it, flatly.


    ¡°Then what about your hand grabbing my hand?¡±


    ¡°Oh, you mean that. My body usually moves unconsciously as if it protects me.¡±


    Again, she found these hard to believe. But after everything she went through with him in the past three days, she was sure he had his reason. Although she never got the chance to spook him, she knew she would have plenty of chances in their future. She now looked down, flustered by what she had scarcely remembered.


    Jayce turned his gaze at her over his shoulder, imagining that she might be disturbed due to the side effects of using enhancement for the foremost time. But just to make sure, he set his hand along her frontal bone and put his other hand to his brow.


    Her face flushed even further, she was at a loss of speech. Her blood temperature was rising.


    ¡°Are you having a fever? You should get back to the inn.¡±


    ¡°No, I¡¯m fine. What¡¯s next?¡±


    He took another good look at her for a moment and then nodded. ¡°If you say so. Before we head out, there¡¯s one more thing you should know.¡±


    ¡°That is?¡± She asked quizzically.


    He indicated her pair of magic gloves with this index finger. Her magic gloves were able to manifest any types of magic arrows or daggers for close-range combat. She attempted to trace the rune he mentioned specifically and found that the rune was crafted in the palm of her hand. Knowing the rune¡¯s location was all she needed to know.


    ____________________


    The camp wasn¡¯t what they had in mind¡ª it was more like of a fortress. Not exactly a fortress, that would be exaggerating, surrounding the camp was ten-meter tall wooden walls and eight-metre tall and six-metre wide wooden gate as the only entrance to the premise.


    ¡°Let¡¯s see. One archer each on both watchtowers, two swordsmen guarding the prisoners, four swordsmen at the entrance of a large tent, five bandits holding up by what it looks like a weapons barrack and ten bandits patrolling the entire camp. Security is tight. We will have to make our move at nightfall, so let¡¯s find a good spot to take a break,¡± said Jayce, removing his enchanted monocle from his eye and gave it to Alice.


    Alice was curious about the enchanted monocle he was wearing just now. Jayce handed it to her and she equipped it on her right eye. Infusing her mana into the monocle''s runes, she gazed on the camp. Her eyesight became blurry momentarily, then the sight of the camp became clear as if she was just a few metres away.


    They were currently at three hundred metres away from the camp, standing on one of the sturdy branches of the tallest tree they had found. Jayce put on his usual black pair of spectacles and sat down next to her, scanning the entire forest and, of course, a large bandit camp at an open area.


    Alice continued analyzing the camp at her pace, hoping to find an opening to infiltrate their camp. She thought about using long-range magic to take down all the bandits, then enter the camp from the front gate to save the prisoners, but that will likely attract attention and their security might increase dramatically.


    They knew that they had two hours before nightfall. Jayce took out his book and started reading. Alice tilted her head slightly, analyzing his odd action.


    He later withdrew a belt from his magic gloves and handed them over to Alice. ¡°Here. Use this to tie yourself to a tree before you sleep, to prevent from falling.¡± She felt embarrassed about being a burden to him for assisting her. She accepted his offered belt and began tying herself to the tree branch. Instead of reading a book, she decided to take a nap, to prepare herself both mentally and physically for their upcoming battle.


    8.00 pm, the time to infiltrate the bandit camp has come. However, Jayce had a hard time waking up Alice, who was still sleeping on the tree branch.


    He sighed.


    Feeling there weren¡¯t any other options, he focused on creating two separate spells, one on each hand. One hand materialized a form of a water droplet and the other causes the surrounding air to be chilly. He cooled down the water droplet, close to its freezing point, then pours that single cooled water droplet to her forehead.


    It was effective. Well, too effective for Alice as her entire shook vigorously. She rubbed her eyes to steer off the fatigue that hung over her. Once she was ready, they moved from tree to tree, toward the bandit camp. Fifty metres away from the camp. He switched his usual pair of spectacles with his monocle, scanning the camp.


    ¡°Good, the security seems to be lax. Here¡¯s the plan¡­¡±


    ¡°Plan? We¡¯re looking at a fortress with one entrance. How are we going to infiltrate the camp without being noticed?¡± interrupted Alice.


    ¡°¡­You¡¯ll see. Back to the strategy, I will infiltrate the camp and you will provide support from here and inform me of their activity, if necessary. I will also open the gate for the prisoners to escape. Should the bandits harm any hostages, knock them out. I¡¯m sure all the bandits equipped themselves with magic gloves. Any questions?¡±


    ¡°Wait, how am I going to communicate with you while I¡¯m here?¡± asked Alice.


    ¡°You will communicate with me like this.¡±She heard his voice, but he didn¡¯t move his lips or anything. She looked around to see whether this was due to nearby enemies¡¯ spell.


    ¡°Relax. It¡¯s me, Jayce. I¡¯m talking to you with my mind,¡± he reassured.


    ¡°Okay, so how do I talk to you with my mind?¡±


    He reminded her the necklace that he gave during their recent expedition in the Grimoire World. Not only that it possessed a rune that wards off the poisonous miasma, it also had a rune that allowed her to communicate with Jayce. The only drawback to this rune was that both bearers had the same rune on their equipment and both bearers had seen and met each other.


    ¡°Think of the person you want to contact and imbue your mana to the necklace.¡±


    She nodded to his explanation. She began infusing her mana into the communication rune, imagining every single feature of him. His black hair, black eyes, his pair of spectacles, his¡ª


    ¡°You sure take your time,¡± he teased, placing his hands on his waist.


    ¡°What do you mean?! I¡ª¡± she paused, then continued. ¡°I did it!¡±


    He held onto his head with both hands due to her loud voice, mentally. He blinked a few times to recover from the noises in his head. She bowed multiple times to apologize to him. He told her he was fine. He knew that this was her first time using telepathy enhancement, so it¡¯s no surprise she was that excited. Besides, she reminded him of the time when he tested this rune.


    ¡°Before I head off, you need a guardian,¡± said Jayce, without using telepathy enhancement this time.


    Before Alice was about to ask him about ¡°guardian¡±, he already began the incantation of his summoning spell.


    ¡°O Goddess of the Moon, Selene, as your child, hear my prayers, lend me your strength to banish all evils that lay before me, Noir!¡±


    A wolf appeared out of thin air before Alice. At first glance, it looked like a normal wolf as it had black fur with hints of silver fur, but what made it different from the rest of the wolves she had encountered was its majestic and gentle pair of emerald eyes. Other than that, it was equipped with a pair of daggers, one on each shoulder; and equipped with black armors, covering its vital spots.


    ¡°Alice, meet Noir. He will be your guardian¡ªWait don¡¯t! He doesn¡¯t like¡ª¡±


    Despite its appearance, Alice couldn¡¯t resist the temptation to hug Noir. Jayce stood there dumbfounded, surprised that Noir, for the first time, didn¡¯t show slight hostility toward Alice. Up until now, Noir had never trusted anyone but him. As Alice hugging and petting Noir, he wagged his tail quickly.


    ¡°Now that we¡¯re all set. Are you ready?¡± He brought his attention back to their task, trying to not get sidetracked.


    Both Noir and Alice nodded.


    When in the world did Noir is in sync with her? thought Jayce.

 Chapter 3.2 Infiltration

    It was a quiet night. No intruders had dared to set foot in their territory. He looked at the starry sky, enjoying the view from the watchtower. Then there came a sound behind him. He took arms and looked behind, only to find his comrade, holding two cups of hot soups, one in each hand. He breathed a sigh of relief and received a cup from him. His comrade reminded him that his shift had ended. He thanked him for the soup and moved out of the watchtower.


    The new occupant of the watchtower placed his cup on a small table. He positioned a chair to his liking and sat down, watching the north side of the camp. He took a sip of his drink. As he took a sip, he saw a strange flash from a distance. He immediately stood up and squinted his eyes, focusing on the source of light.


    An object flew by and pierced into one of the pillars that linked between the roof and the floor. He turned to look at the object, the object was a throwing knife.


    As he pondered over where the knife was coming from, a mysterious black figure appeared out of thin air next to the throwing knife. Instinctively, he reached out for his blade, but it was too late.


    The intruder was agile. He wrapped around his neck, choking him. The grappled tried to break free from his grasp but failed to do so, and he fell unconscious.


    The intruder slowly laid down his victim to the ground. He went over to one of the pillars of the watchtower to retrieve his throwing knife.


    ¡°I¡¯m in. Any activities on the camp?¡± said Jayce, utilizing his telepathy enchantment.


    ¡°what was that?! You just threw a knife at one of the watchtowers and disappeared next to me. Not to mention that¡¯s fifty metres!¡±


    Jayce couldn¡¯t spare a moment to explain everything to her, not while he was deep in enemy territory. Although, he could barely imagine Alice sat on the tree branch, fifty metres outside of the camp, pouting her side cheeks and sulking.


    ¡°I will explain everything later. For now, our top priority is the prisoners¡¯ safety. Take down any enemies that I marked and wait for my signal.¡±


    Taking Jayce¡¯s words, Alice returned her attention to the task at hand. She scanned the entire camp with the enchanted monocle that Jayce had lent to her a few moments ago.


    ¡°For now, the bandits¡¯ activity is normal. The prisoners are located twenty metre east of your position. Two bandits guarding them and another five bandits are in your path.¡±


    ¡°Thanks for the update. On my way to the objective.¡±


    He slid his throwing knife back to his sleeve and activated his stealth enhancements. He took a peek below the watchtower and found himself a guard below the watchtower.


    He checked his surroundings again, making sure no one else except Alice was watching his location. At the right moment, he leaped off the watchtower and landed on the bandit below him. He slammed the bandits head first to the grassland with his gauntlet.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, you¡¯re in the clear,¡± said Alice, keeping an eye on his surroundings.


    Without a moment to waste, he hid the unconscious bandit to one of the nearby tents. He took a nearby rope and tied the bandit, and placed him into one of the empty crates.


    He kept his stealth enchantments active, moving from tent to tent as cover. Alice did a great job at providing directions to avoid contact with the enemies. She took into account every possible movement made by the bandits. He was glad that he¡¯d made a right decision to went off by himself.


    The moment they got closer to the bandit camp for reconnaissance, he had sensed something disturbing from the middle of the camp, so he chose to enter the camp by himself.


    He arrived at his location. The prisoners¡¯ conditions looked dire. They seemed to be fed, but the bandits might have fed them rotten foods. Feeling disgusted by their actions, he kept his emotions in check, he had to keep his mind rationale in these situations.


    ¡°By any chance, you could cast a spell that isolates and muffles any sounds in a certain area? If so, can you cast that spell around the hostages¡¯ cages and the two bandits guarding them?¡± asked Jayce.


    He knew she heard him so he waited. If she couldn¡¯t cast that spell, she would have declined his request a while ago and he would have taken another approach. While waiting, he unsheathed his blades, checking their conditions. He began to wonder whether these scimitars will suffice to take down the bandit leader. That is if their plan failed and he had no choice but to face the bandit leader.Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.


    ¡°The barrier is now active, you have one minute,¡± said Alice, after completing her long incantation.


    Without holding back, he sprinted toward the guards, holding one throwing knife and his blade. One of the guards, farther away from him, noticed him. He unsheathed his sword and called out his comrade, but the comrade wasn¡¯t able to hear anything from him.


    Jayce threw a knife toward him and swung his blade to his closest target, who was unaware of the situation.


    One down.


    The last bandit deflected his throwing knife with his sword. The throwing knife gave Jayce enough time to close the distance, and he gave an upward diagonal swing, destroying the shield that the magic gloves provided. With that, both bandits had fallen unconscious.


    As he approaches one of the cages, he placed a finger to his lips, gesturing to the prisoners to be quiet. ¡°I¡¯m here to help,¡± he reassured the prisoners. The prisoners nodded.


    He searched the bandits¡¯ body, looking for a key. At last, he found it and quickly unlock the cages. He told them to stay close and keep themselves out of sight from the bandits.


    ¡°Alice, What¡¯s the security status on the gate lever?¡±


    ¡°Hold on, I¡¯m moving to another location to get a better view,¡± responded Alice while jumping from tree to tree.


    Jayce took another look at every prisoner at presence. Every single one of them looked ill, but they were still able to walk. As he scanned them, he found himself a prisoner with a bandage covering his eyesight.


    Strangely, the bandage was clean, must be a new prisoner perhaps. Either way, he had to help him out. He approached the blind prisoner, offering him a hand to lift him up. However, the blind prisoner declined his offer.


    ¡°I may be blind, but I can handle myself,¡± said the blind prisoner.


    ¡°My apologies. My name is Jayce. We¡¯re here to help. What is your name?¡± said Jayce.


    ¡°Aiden. So, are we ready to get out of this place?¡±


    When Jayce was about to ask Aiden a question, he received an update from Alice. ¡°Jayce, there are four guards around the gate lever. Two guards on the top platform watching outside the perimeter while the other two guards guarding close to the lever. Any plans?¡±


    ¡°Any sign of our target?¡±


    ¡°Not yet.¡±


    He thanked Alice for the update and resumed his conversation with Aiden. ¡°Sorry about that. I just received an update from my partner. Apparently, there are four guards guarding the gate control. I will open the path for everyone. So¡ª¡±


    ¡°Let me help,¡± Aiden interjected.


    ¡°You¡¯re unarmed. I wouldn¡¯t risk having¡ª¡±


    ¡°I won¡¯t cause any burden to you and your partner. You have my word.¡± His tone was filled with determination.


    Jayce pondered for a moment, thinking every possibility how Aiden will help them out. He reached a conclusion. ¡°Okay. If you want to help, there¡¯s only one condition. If I told you to run, you run. Understood?¡±


    Aiden nodded to his condition.


    With Alice¡¯s information and navigation, Jayce, Aiden, and the prisoners reached into one of the tents that seemed to be the food storage, located five tents away from the gate. Jayce, Aiden, and a few able prisoners took and distributed the food from the storage to the prisoners.


    The prisoners were joyed when they received their proper meals. While they were eating, Jayce withdrew and distributed a few medicines from his magic gloves to prisoners who required immediate treatment.


    The prisoners were about to speak, but Jayce gestured them not to speak as they were still in poor health conditions. He wouldn¡¯t take any chances to worsen their conditions. He told the prisoners to stay in the tent, while he and Aiden will head to the gate.


    Ten metres away, Jayce and Aiden waited for the right moment. Jayce had asked Alice to cast sound-isolation magic around the upper level and make a distraction around the guards guarding the lower part of the gate. After isolating the sounds around them, she then cast an illusion spell to the bandits.


    To the bandits¡¯ perception, they heard someone knocking at their gate. When the bandits turned their gaze toward the gate, Jayce and Aiden immediately sprinted toward the bandits. Jayce knocked a bandit out-conscious with a choke-hold, while Aiden did the same. After knocking them unconscious, they dragged and hid their bodies in a nearby tent.


    Jayce turned back to check on Aiden, who was nowhere to be seen. Where did he go? thought Jayce. He quickly scanned his surroundings, trying to locate Aiden¡¯s position.


    When he caught on Aiden in his field of vision, his eyes went wide, nervousness descended upon him as his pray his action will not jeopardize their quest. Instead of taking the stairs, he was climbing the wooden frames that act as a support of the gate platform. Despite his physical physique, he climbed up efficiently and silently, finding and making use of every possible foothold that suits him.


    Jayce¡¯s eyes turned silver to analyze Aiden¡¯s apparels, from top to bottom, he didn¡¯t have a single enhancement applied to his apparels, which led him to believe that Aiden relied solely on strength alone. He began to grow suspicious of Aiden. Is he¡­?


    Meanwhile, Jayce¡¯s target was about to turn his gaze at Aiden. Jayce quickly activated his muffle enhancements and sprinted toward his target, unsheathing an obsidian scimitar with his right hand. Instead of using chokehold technique, he used his momentum to kick the back of his target¡¯s knee, bringing his target down to his knee and struck his head with the pommel of this weapon.


    Thankfully, no sound was made from both Aiden and Jayce¡¯s target. They moved on, looking for the winch to open the gate. The winch was massive, about one metre across, and it took both Jayce and Aiden to operate it.


    When the gate was finally opened, one of the prisoners, who saw the gate opening, informed the other prisoners. With that, they ran out of the camp with the possible speed they could muster. However, the sound of the opening gate brought attention to the bandits.


    As the last prisoner exited from the camp, Jayce turned his gaze toward Aiden, ¡°Aiden, thank you for your helping the prisoners to escape, but it would be my best interest for you to get yourself out of here, too.¡±


    Upon hearing that, Aiden¡¯s eyes became narrow, ¡°No, I should be the one thanking you. Also, I¡¯m not leaving without my gears.¡±


    ¡°This is not the time¡ª,¡± he retorted, but there came a war cry. They looked further south. There was a massive figure wielding a greatsword and other bandits followed behind him, weapons ready.

 Chapter 3.3 Infiltration

    ¡°This is bad,¡± she muttered under her breath.


    Noir, up until now from the Jayce¡¯s summons, stood beside Alice and kept watch about their position hadn¡¯t made a single sound to indicate any intruder in their vicinity.


    Alice later asked Noir for an advice, but it kept its eyes and ears focused on their surroundings.


    ¡°Guess you were able to communicate with Jayce, then,¡± she concluded.


    She returned her attention back to the camp. Her mind began racing, thinking every possibility from this point onward. The first possibility was that Jayce and the other prisoners escaped from the camp, avoiding the fight against the bandit leader. The second was Jayce stayed behind to hold off the bandits so that the prisoners could escape. The third was something happened to Jayce during his attempt to open the gate. But the third possibility was very unlikely, he wouldn¡¯t go down that easily, she thought.


    At her current position, she couldn¡¯t get a clear vision of what was happening in the camp, so she circled around the camp to the west, jumping from branch to branch with Noir following behind her.


    Up until now, the reason she could cast spells to specific positions was due to Jayce¡¯s information. Jayce might not be able to communicate with her telepathically while fighting against bandits and keeping his enchantments active.


    When Alice and Noir reached their destination, she equipped and activated the enchanted monocle, her right eye searched around the upper platform of the entrance of the camp until she located Jayce and a blindfolded stranger that seemed to be one of the prisoners whom he had rescued. Wait¡­ Why is this guy blindfolded, she wondered. But Jayce¡¯s expression was serious as he was gazing toward the south. She followed their gaze and soon found out why.


    On the south side of the camp, there was a large build man carrying a greatsword and placed it on his shoulder, approaching toward Jayce¡¯s location. The large figure seemed to be the bandit leader as there were about twenty or so bandits following him, brandished themselves with swords.


    ¡°Jayce, I will cast a few buff spells for you,¡± said Alice through their telepathy enhancement.


    ¡°Thank you. But can you cast your spells onto Aiden who¡¯s standing next to me? He hasn¡¯t equipped his proper gear at the moment,¡± he requested.


    So the blindfolded person next to Jayce was Aiden. Either way, the safety of prisoners came first, so she cast her spells upon Aiden.


    The amount of mana required to cast a spell to the caster¡¯s target depended on the distance between them. The further the distance between the caster and the target, more mana will be required. As for Alice, she had to bear the burden of casting multiple spells to support her friends.


    After casting her spells, Jayce asked a question, ¡°Alice, by any chance you know the location of the weapon storage?¡±


    She understood what he had meant, the weapon he asked was referring to Aiden¡¯s. Aiden was attempting to assist them in their quest for an unknown reason.


    She scanned the camp from her position and found a tent with an opened drape. With her monocle, she could see a variety of weapons stored within. ¡°The weapon storage is on the east side of the camp, look for a tent with an open entrance, you will able to see it,¡± she began.


    ¡°Understood,¡± he replied.


    Jayce later relayed the information Alice had provided to Aiden. From her enchanted monocle, Aiden nodded to Jayce and sprinted off to the location she had mentioned.


    ¡°Alice, we¡¯re going to have to fight the bandits until Aiden comes back with his gears. Do your best to provide support. Don¡¯t push yourself too hard to avoid mana deficiency. Understand?¡± He commanded.


    She gave him her affirmation. With that, she took out two mana potions from her magic gloves and drank them. Once she replenished her mana, she began her incantation to cast buff spells to Jayce.


    ____________________


    Jayce felt the power surging within him. He kept his eyes on the bandit leader, who was about fifty metres away from his position, walking leisurely toward him. He jumped down from the platform and landed gracefully to the ground, and walked toward the bandit leader.


    Once they were about ten metres apart, the bandit leader broke out the silence between them: ¡°So, you¡¯re the one who dares to enter my territory and release my prisoners. Do you have a death wish, boy?!¡±


    Jayce let out a sigh, thinking about how they had reached to this situation. Never mind that, he looked up toward the bandit leader and said, ¡°I don¡¯t have any intention to get killed by the likes of you.¡± He grinned toward the bandit leader.


    The bandit felt angry and pointed his greatsword toward Jayce, who had yet to draw his weapons. Jayce felt a killing intent coming from his foe. This guy meant business, he thought.


    Meanwhile, Alice began to tremble, not that she was there, to begin with. She began to worry about Jayce more than herself. How could a pair of scimitars be able to beat a greatsword that was able to break any weapons it lay upon? If the information they had gathered from the village chief was true, and Jayce¡¯s weapons broke... No, she had to believe in Jayce. He chose to stay behind and got to have a reason behind it.


    ¡°Alice, focus your offense on any other bandits who attempt to go after the prisoners. Don¡¯t let them leave the camp and don¡¯t kill them.¡±This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.


    He wasn¡¯t expecting any response from Alice, he knew she heard him clearly. He drew his pair of obsidian scimitars and took his stance, his left blade, held in a backhand manner, positioned by his waist while the right was lifted over his right shoulder.


    Without any words spoken, the bandits rushed toward the gate, leaving the battle against Jayce to the bandit leader. They, too, had faith in their bandit leader to settle their business.


    One by one, the bandits were taken down by Alice¡¯s attack spell, but there were a few bandits evaded her barrage of spells approaching the gate.


    ¡°!¡±


    Jayce sensed something slipped passed the bandits. He turned to look while keeping the bandit¡¯s leader presence in mind so that he wouldn¡¯t strike him unaware.


    There was a silhouette, clad in dark gray clothing and scarf, equipped himself with a pair of silver gauntlet blades, taking down five bandits in one swift motion. His action alone left other bandits around him stunned.


    ¡°Well that was quick, I thought it will take some time for you to look for your gear,¡± said Jayce.


    ¡°You know, it¡¯s hard to look for my gear when I¡¯m blind,¡± replied Aiden, retracting his blade gauntlets. ¡°At least you and your partner gave me the location of the weapon storage. Anyway, I will handle with these guys. I will help you when I¡¯m done with them.¡±


    As Aiden declared his assurance, the bandits turned their attention from the escapees to him. He brought all his concentration to his sense of hearing. Within seconds, he envisioned his surrounding, twenty metres in radius. Based on every single information he could hear, the slightest movement or the sound of the wind was sufficient enough for him to picture his surroundings. Fifteen bandits left. There might be reinforcements to assist the bandits, but whoever they are, Aiden and Alice will take them down.


    He didn¡¯t bother to take his stance. He just stood there, waiting for his bandits¡¯ next action. Earlier, he had heard a few bandits knocked down. Definitely not by Jayce, he thought, that means there was someone outside of the camp providing support. Oh well, I¡¯m just going to assume that they are Jayce¡¯s comrades.


    With that contemplation concluded, the edge of his lips curved up slightly and he provoked his assailants. ¡°Come at me with everything you got. I will take all of you down unless you¡¯re too afraid to fight a blind adventurer.¡±


    Seven bandits rushed toward Aiden with their swords. He listened to the flow of the wind, flowing by the swords and the bandits, each produced unique frequency at every possible position in his hearing range. Three bandits positioned their swords for an overhead attack, two bandits went for a horizontal strike and remaining focused on the lunge attack.


    When a particular sound was heard, he began to move toward the opening between a pair of bandits. One of them was attempting an overhead strike while the other was a horizontal strike. At the same time, his blades extended below his gauntlets and he swung his blades to their necks. Fortunately, they were also equipped with magic gloves, so they were pushed back away from their assailants and knocked unconscious.


    But he didn¡¯t stop there. Once he was out of the circle, he turned to his right, aiming for the third bandit. The next target immediately changed his stance and swung his sword toward Aiden, but it was too late, Aiden swung his weapon to his torso, enough strength to push him further away than the first two bandits, not enough to knock him unconscious.


    As he turned his attention to the other bandits, all he heard was groaning. Turned out that the other bandits were knocked down by their supporter from outside the camp. He silently thanked whoever helped him and moved on to the next group of bandits.


    ____________________


    ¡°Now that no one will disturb us, may I ask: what¡¯s your name?¡± asked Jayce.


    ¡°My name is Axton.¡±


    The foe that stood before Jayce lowered his greatsword and balanced his center of gravity. He¡¯s going for an upward diagonal slash, huh? thought Jayce, as he analyzed his stance.


    He even reminded himself about the leader¡¯s weapon from the village chief: the weapon he wielded destroys anything it contacts. Should Jayce risk using his scimitars? Surely everyone around him would voice out that he shouldn¡¯t engage that kind of weapon. But deep down, he wanted to test out the durability of his main weapons.


    The bandit leader shouted. He activated a warrior skill: Shoulder Charge to close the distance between them and swung his greatsword upward.


    Instinctively, Jayce raised both of his blades, forming an X shape, to block the blow while activating its hardening enchantment. The strike was heavy; it almost twist and break his wrist, so he adjusted his wrist and use it the momentum to distance himself away from the bandit leader.


    After landing away from the bandit leader, Jayce quickly checked his weapon¡¯s condition. So far they were fine, but he had a feeling that they will not last for long. Not yet, he told himself.


    He returned his attention to the bandit leader. This time, Jayce sprinted toward the Axton. Just when Jayce was in his range, he voiced out to activate his skill, ¡°Thief skill: Reversal!¡± The Reversal was a basic skill that allowed the user to immediately circle around their target. Unlike the Side-step skill he had used against Chima the chimera, this skill was far superior, but¡­


    Once Jayce was behind Axton, he had to time it well to stop at the right position, or fall due to the failure of balancing the user¡¯s center of gravity. Once he was behind him, he shifted his pair of blades in position for the next skill.


    ¡°Thief skill: Elusion strike!¡±


    He made an upward cross strike, then downward to lift himself up in the air. While in midair, he gave a barrage of horizontal strikes with his blades, chipping away the mana shield that kept producing after every strike he landed.


    Sensing something was off, he finished his skill with a downward strike with both blades to keep himself in midair.


    Axton unleashed another skill: Warrior skill: Reversal Slash. Jayce took the strike head-on with his blades. If he hadn¡¯t done that, the greatsword would have landed on his side.


    ¡°You¡¯re pretty resilient, aren¡¯t you?¡± asked Jayce after he landed pass a tent.


    ¡°Ha-ha-ha! Not bad for a young adventurer! Finally, a worthy opponent about my level!¡± he proclaimed.


    Jayce narrowed his eyes. His brute strength and skill with the greatsword were not to be overlooked. He had to be careful from this point onward.


    ¡°About your level?¡± asked Jayce.


    Without a word, the bandit leader took his stance. He lifted his greatsword with both hands, right hand positioned horizontally and toward the back, while the left hand was positioned vertically. He positioned his right foot to the back and the left foot on the front. He steadied his breath, ready to charge.


    Jayce imbued his mana to the hardening enchantments of his gauntlets and blades. As predicted, the bandit leader charged at him with a lunge attack, but this strike was a lot faster than his first. Jayce lifted both blades to shield himself, taking the hit from the bandit leader. It sent him further away from the bandit leader by forty meters. He kept himself balance when his boots landed on the grassland, leaving a trail and sending dirt and grass in the air.


    Once he stopped, he did another check on his weapons. Just as he had thought, the blades were now blunt after receiving three strikes from the greatsword. Not only that, his arms felt numb and heavy, even with the hardening enchantments from his gauntlets. Guess I have no choice but to use that, he thought.


    ¡°!¡±


    There came an explosion occurred between Jayce and the bandit leader. A third party? But the question would be: Is it a friend or a foe?

 Chapter 3.4 Infiltration

    This is bad. Jayce is being pushed back, thought Alice.


    Alice was providing as much support as she could for Aiden, the blind adventurer, clad in gray apparels, to protect the escaping prisoners. The bandits kept appearing out of their tents in the camp. Struggling, she did her utmost best manage her mana well, including her mana potions as she had two mana potions left.


    As she prepared another long-range spell: Ice Lance, for every Ice Lance she manifested, they were thinly shaped for higher firepower and speed as to not give the bandits a chance to evade. Once she completed her projectiles, she immediately fired them off to her targets.


    Judging from Aiden¡¯s action, he seemed to have the same idea as Alice¡¯s as he was picking up his pace, taking down every bandit he could hear. Thanks to that, all the bandits were taken down.


    Without a moment to waste, she prepared another spell to heal Jayce, but she later heard a sound of the tree branches rustling behind her. She immediately disengaged her incantation and turned to look toward the source of the sound.


    ¡°Who¡¯s there?¡±


    There was no response. Noir unsheathed a dagger from its arm, ready to strike if the intruder was an enemy. Deactivating the monocle¡¯s enchantment, Alice squinted her eyes. There was a silhouette slowly approaching them from one of the tree branches.


    Alice¡¯s eyes went wide and began, ¡°I¡¯ve seen you before. You¡¯re the waitress who served us in the inn. Irene?¡±


    ¡°Glad you remember my name, and sorry for startling you. I¡¯ve heard from the village chief that you were going to save the prisoners, so I thought I might as well take this chance to help out. But for now, consider me as a fellow adventurer instead of a waitress,¡± replied Irene.


    Alice didn¡¯t sense anything malicious from her words, so she was confident that she had a good intention behind her purpose. She called Noir to stand-down and it did as she said.


    Instead of a maid outfit, Irene was wearing light-weight gear of dark-silver top-apparel, hazel brown shorts, a brown back-quiver slung on her right shoulder, and a well detailed wooden bow in her hand. For some reason, the bow in her hand somehow gave out an odd aura when a moonlight shone upon it.


    ¡°So, what¡¯s the current situation?¡± asked Irene.


    Alice was brought her senses back by that question. She later explained her partner¡¯s predicament and another comrade, Aiden, decided to assist them to fight off against the bandits.


    Irene nodded in affirmation along her explanation, with a hand on her chin, then she asked the next question.


    ¡°So your boyfriend is now alone and currently fighting the bandit leader. Where is the bandit leader?¡± asked Irene.


    ¡°He¡¯s not my boyfriend,¡± she retorted and continued, ¡°The bandit leader was on the south side of the camp.¡± She pointed her finger in the direction of the bandit leader. Of course, she could see it clearly due to the monocle¡¯s enchantment. She came to realize that and offered the monocle to Irene.


    ¡°It¡¯s fine. I could see it clearly,¡± she reassured.


    Normally, no matter how much training an adventurer undergoes to increase one¡¯s eyesight, they could never have a clear vision from that distance between Alice and the bandit leader. Therefore, Alice reached one conclusion about Irene¡¯s statement.


    ¡°Your incredible eyesight is your passive skill, right?¡± asked Alice.


    ¡°Right on target,¡± she confirmed. ¡°Now then, let¡¯s help them defeat the bandit leader.¡± She reminded Alice of the task at hand.


    As she nocked an arrow to her bow, she began her incantation. ¡°O goddess of the forest, Aria, hear my call, let your wind guide my arrow to strike the hearts of the enemies from afar.¡± The arrow on her bow began to shrouded by the wind around them.


    From Alice¡¯s perspective, she saw a spirit approach Irene¡¯s bow and imbued its power to the arrow. When the arrow was fully shrouded in the wind, Irene fired her arrow straight at the point between Jayce and the bandit leader. When the arrow landed, there was an explosion, sending dirt and grasses in the air, leaving a crater where it had landed. She was hoping this shot will provide an opportunity for Jayce to retreat, based on Jayce¡¯s action and condition.


    Alice stood there, dumbfounded. Isn¡¯t that a little too extreme? she wondered. She equipped the monocle back and scanned the area where the arrow landed. The bandit leader was stunned by the sudden explosion, while Jayce sheathed his obsidian weapons back to his waist and retreated to the east of the camp.


    When the explosion subsides, Alice¡¯s eye went wide. The arrow that just landed and created a crater was still fine, despite that it was just a normal arrow. She then turned her attention to Irene, who was now breathing unsteadily.


    ¡°Are you okay? You don¡¯t seem to be looking too good.¡± Alice couldn¡¯t help but worry about her, despite that this was her second encounter with Irene.


    ¡°I-I¡¯m fine,¡± answered Irene.


    Turned out that Irene¡¯s contract with the spirit of the forest was that she could only fire two spirits-imbued arrows a day. If she cast more than twice, she will experience mana-deficiency, fell unconscious, and it could take a few days to recover.


    She continued. ¡°If the situation calls for it, I will¡ª"


    ¡°No,¡± Alice interjected, ¡°I will not let that happen.¡±


    Alice couldn¡¯t stand on watching her comrades experiencing this kind of burden. She extended her hand toward Irene. ¡°Irene, I have an idea. I¡¯m not sure whether it will work, but can you trust me?¡±


    Irene had no idea what Alice had in mind. She didn¡¯t have enough time to contemplate this matter, so she decided. ¡°Alright, let¡¯s hear it.¡±


    ____________________


    ¡°Let¡¯s see. Judging on the explosion from earlier, the third party must be a friend to provide an opportunity for me to retreat, and I have about three minutes to prepare before the bandit leader finds me,¡± Jayce muttered under his breath, hiding in one of the tents he found.


    He reminded himself of the condition of his obsidian blades from this fight. He mentally took note of restocking his enchanted whetstones when he returns back to his apartment.


    Enough of that, he had two and a half minutes to prepare. He undid his waist belt that was carrying his sheathed them and store it to his magic gloves. He later browsed through his magic gloves for a certain weapon.


    A sheathed weapon he was looking for materialized in the air above his hands. He gave a few test swings with his right hand alone. It was a light, but not good enough. He closed his eyes, tracing and calibrating the runes that were applied to his withdrawn weapon with his mana. He took out and equipped a sheath belt for his new weapon.


    ¡°!¡±


    Suddenly, he heard a sound coming from the other side of the tent. He took his defensive stance, his right hand gripped on its handle, toward the presence he had just sensed.If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.


    ¡°Whoa! It¡¯s me.¡±


    He recognized that voice; it¡¯s Aiden.


    ¡°We just finished taking care of the bandits. I came to regroup with you to take down the ban¡­ What¡¯s with the new sword¡­?¡± He stopped mid-sentence as he heard a different sound coming from Jayce¡¯s new weapon then continued. ¡°Never mind, let¡¯s take this guy down.¡±


    ¡°I know,¡± Jayce responded.


    ¡°I was wondering whether both of you ran off somewhere and never came back, but it seems I was wrong,¡± said Braxton, who was standing in the middle of the camp.


    As Jayce and Aiden moved toward their target. Jayce warned Aiden to avoid getting hit by his greatsword and focus on evasion and strike, if possible. Aiden nodded along with his battle strategy, and at the same time, he took out a bottle from his magic gloves.


    The size of the bottle was similar to Alice¡¯s potion bottle but slightly smaller. He activated one of the blade gauntlets and poured the bottle¡¯s content to his blade, disengage his blade, and repeat the entire procedure to the other blade.


    The smell of the thick liquid he had poured wafted through the air. Judging by the smell, Jayce concluded that it was poison; the majority of the poison seemed to be coming from a snake he remembered somewhere in the mountain he had explored five years ago, while the remaining component seemed to be a coating agent. That explained the battle Aiden had engaged in.


    Even though poisons were meant to kill people or animals from the inside, mana shields will also be disintegrated over time during physical contact with poisons over time. The rate of degradation of mana shield depended on the potency of the poison. Jayce was impressed by Aiden¡¯s poison, but something was strange about his formula.


    ¡°Let¡¯s go,¡± prompted Jayce.


    ¡°Understood.¡±


    Aiden darted toward the bandit leader, blades stretched out under his gauntlet. He swung his blades at the bandit leader¡¯s thigh, but they hit nothing but air. Feeling there was no resistance coming from his blades, he listened for his presence.


    ¡°Crap! Jayce!¡± he shouted as he looked back.


    Jayce didn¡¯t need his warning as the bandit leader was right in front of him, with his greatsword swung at him from the side. As the greatsword was a few centimetres away from Jayce¡¯s head, he focused on the inner workings of his magic circuit.


    ¡°Switching magic circuit to close-range combat: Mirage Blader!¡±


    The greatsword, which was just about a hair¡¯s breadth away from Jayce¡¯s head, was deflected upward by his weapon. Braxton eyed at his new weapon.


    Jayce was wielding a longsword, about one metre in length. It wasn¡¯t any longsword he had seen in his entire life; it was entirely made of glass, reflecting the moonlight to give off an enigma aura, and the handle was wrapped with black leather.


    Just a moment ago, Jayce didn¡¯t unsheathe his longsword when the bandit leader charged at him instead of Aiden. In the middle of the Braxton¡¯s contemplation, Jayce gave an answer to him, ¡°Mirage Blader skill: Quickdraw.¡±


    Braxton had never heard of that skill before, but he wouldn¡¯t want to get defeated by Jayce. He brought all his strength to his greatsword to swing downward again.


    This time, Jayce didn¡¯t have time to prepare another strike with his longsword. That was the drawback of his longsword. He knew the consequences of this blade, but he gambled his life for this chance to happen, so he smiled.


    Boom


    There came a sonic boom from the greatsword. It wasn¡¯t some sort of effect of the greatsword¡¯s runes since it doesn¡¯t have any other runes crafted on it, aside from hardening enchantment. It was due to a grayish-blue arrow struck true to the greatsword¡¯s side, deflecting it off course and landed right next to Jayce.


    Jayce took this opportunity to distance himself from Braxton. ¡°I¡¯m impressed that you figured out the Magic Arrow: Shockwave from the magic gloves I gave you.¡±


    ¡°You could have told me earlier! You could have gotten yourself killed!¡± she lamented.


    It was true that his approach to teaching was dangerous. Because of their recent battle in Grimoire¡¯s world, this was all to train her to keep herself rationale when either her comrades or she was in a pinch. He silently told himself that he would have to apologize to her for this later.


    Jayce swiftly adjusted his longsword for an overhead diagonal slash. He deactivated the longsword¡¯s rune when it reaches the initial position. He focused all his strength onto his legs and dashed forward.


    As he swung his longsword for a horizontal slash, he gradually imbued his mana to the runes, causing the weapon slowly getting heavier and stronger, sending the bandit leader flying to the East. But that wasn¡¯t enough.


    ¡°Aiden!¡± shouted Jayce.


    ¡°You got it!¡± Aiden lowered his stance and took off toward the flying bandit leader. ¡°Assassin skill: Armor Break!¡±


    His eyes traced for the weakest point of the bandit leader¡¯s mana shield and struck it, resulting his entire mana shield to crumble, but the bandit leader was still conscious.


    ¡°Tch,¡± Aiden clicked his tongue.


    The bandit leader recovered in midair and prepared his next stance when he landed on the grassland. Not sparing any moment for the leader, Irene shot another three more shockwave arrows around the bandit leader, producing a cloud of grass and dirt to hinder his vision, while Alice launched five Ice Lances to deter his path.


    He swung his greatsword around him to destroy whatever lay around him. Angry expression formed on his face as he focused on his enemies. Aiden was there, but Jayce was nowhere to be seen.


    ¡°Where are you looking at?¡± came a voice behind him.


    He immediately swung his greatsword toward the source of sound with a Reversal Slash. At last, his greatsword landed to Jayce¡¯s side, but¡­


    ¡°I said: Where are you looking at?¡± he repeated.


    Braxton looked down, Jayce¡¯s hand was on the handle of his sheathed longsword. Impossible! he thought. He knew he had hit him just now, he felt it. He then remembered his statement earlier: ¡°Switching magic circuit to close-range combat: Mirage Blader!¡±


    He later closed his eyes and said, ¡°Well fought.¡±


    Jayce pushed his longsword out slightly with his left thumb and cast another Quickdraw from his longsword, ending the battle as the bandit leader tumbled down before him.


    ____________________


    ¡°What are you thinking?!¡± The magician-archer adventurer vented her anger toward Jayce when they regrouped at the bandit camp.


    Jayce attempted to apologize, but that wasn¡¯t enough. She resumed her lecture to give Jayce an earful. Aiden and Irene listened and waited for their conversation to end, but it seemed that it will take some time to settle down.


    Once Alice settled down, Jayce apologizes to her once more. He knew this might happen, but at the same time, she shouldn¡¯t be that worried when she had already known his unique magic circuit. Realizing he was still wielding his longsword, he put it back in its sheath and deposited it into his magic gloves, leaving him unarmed.


    Alice and Jayce then heard someone groaning. They turned their gaze to Aiden and Irene. Aiden was found to be lying down on the ground, clutching at his head with both hands. Irene''s hand turned beet-red after hitting Aiden in the head.


    ¡°Who told you to go the bandit camp alone?¡± she asked.


    ¡°I can¡¯t just sit around when our people are suffering,¡± he retorted as he stood up, rubbing his head with his hand. ¡°Besides, we beat the bandit leader didn¡¯t we?¡±


    For some reason, Alice felt a D¨¦j¨¤ vu when she witnessed that scene. Irene acknowledged the fact they did indeed defeat the bandit leader for kidnapping their people, which was requested by the village chief, but they didn¡¯t officially register themselves for that quest, so the reward will be handed over to Alice and Jayce instead. At least, they rescued their people, that was all it matters to Irene and Aiden.


    ¡°If you¡¯re wondering about the reward. We will split it evenly.¡± Jayce began.


    He made that decision because he owed them for not only defending the Moon Villagers but also his life. There were multiple death scenarios he had already anticipated if they didn¡¯t choose the right approach.


    Aiden and Irene were at a lost of words. They didn¡¯t expect Jayce¡¯s statement. They waved their hands to decline his offer, but then, Alice asked them a question.


    ¡°Irene, what¡¯s your relationship with Aiden?¡± She couldn¡¯t help but ask due to the way they treated each other.


    ¡°We¡¯re childhood friends. My parents used to work together with his parents for a certain quest. That¡¯s how I get to know him,¡± she answered her question nonchalantly.


    Upon hearing that, Alice clasped both of her hands together and her eyes began to glimmer. Jayce didn¡¯t want to make this situation weird between them, so he clapped his hands to gather their attention. ¡°I hate to interrupt, but shall we resume our discussion elsewhere?¡±


    ¡°Wait a minute. What should we do about these guys?¡± asked Alice, pointing her finger at a group of unconscious bandits they had defeated.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it,¡± he answered, pulling out every throwing knife he had hidden in his sleeves. He then carefully placed them in a well-coordinated manner, forming a perfect circle at the closest open area he could find.


    The knives he positioned had already been imbued with mana. Later, he activated one of the runes crafted on his weapons, the runes emanated a blue glow and each of them produced a string and extended toward to other runes, forming a magic circle as they threaded through the air.


    He began a short incantation. A few seconds later, a portal was created before them. Golems came out of the portal and then carried every unconscious bandit they could find and brought them back to the portal.


    One of the golems approached Jayce, and Jayce gave a summary of their quest completion. ¡°Tell them: Alice, Aiden, Irene and I completed this quest.¡±


    The golem nodded after listening intently to Jayce and returned to the portal along with the others.


    Now that the camp was free from bandits, Jayce started heading back to the Moon Village. He looked back over his shoulder to his comrades.


    ¡°Let¡¯s head back to the Moon Village and get some rest.¡±


    He didn¡¯t wait for a response, he was really tired after all the fight they had today. Alice and others followed after Jayce, leaving the camp as they had completed their quest.

 An update from Nobodies17

    Dear readers,


    To those who were wondering whether I''m no longer writing or not. I''ve been really busy with my life. Of course, I''m still writing at my own pace and editing to the point I feel comfortable to post them online. To those who weren''t satisfied with my story, I''m sorry, I guess my story does not align with your interest.


    Anyway. Another important update is that I have moved from RoyalRoad to Wattpad. The title will be slightly different: "Don''t worry, we have the best supporter on our team [Original]".Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.


    The reason behind this decision was that I preferred the user interface in Wattpad where the readers can point out potential mistakes in specific sections of the story and they can easily resume reading from where they left.


    Again. I sincerely apologize for the lack of communication and update from my side as you already know, situations that require my attention.


    Yours sincerely,


    Nobodies17