Deacon sat outside, strumming his guitar and acting as a bug repellant while I took a nap on some hay in one of the animal stalls. Where the animals were, I had no idea, but free ‘mattress’ and it only smelled like crap. The stall itself was actually pretty clean. I also had my bedroll that I pulled out of the Spatial Closet.

  Apparently, it was such a good idea that when I woke up, I saw the other three having taken up various stalls, with Sarah and the bowman sharing one and missing their clothes. I’d have felt bad for Tingle, but he looked rather peaceful when I checked in on him… though he was still in his armor which had to be uncomfortable.

  When I got outside, the light was starting to spread across the land, and Deacon was playing something soothing and melodic. “Morning.” He said, without looking up from his instrument, looking at the fret to make sure his fingers were moving properly.

  “How’s the hand?” I asked, sipping from my flask. He raised an eyebrow but didn’t comment on the drinking.

  “The fingers are still stiff, and building callouses is never fun. It’s going well though.” He replied.

  “Couldn’t you wear gloves?”

  “Sure, but it’d sound like ass.” He huffed out an amused puff of air.

  I shrugged and took a seat on the ground next to him. He’d gotten a chair, probably from the office, and was sitting in it. “Need a break?”

  Deacon paused in his playing, looking around. “I think we need to change locations. They aren’t flying near here anymore. It’s been quiet for about three hours, and I am barely using any energy keeping the song going.”

  I stared at him and then looked around. The body of the giant boss was still there, but there were relatively few insects visible in the air. Now that I noticed, even the screaming had quieted. “Weird. Did they learn to avoid us?”

  “Probably the pheremones of all the dead. The boss especially gives off ‘Do Not Enter’ signals, but it’s subtle enough you have to look for it.” He shrugged, “Shouldn’t be too hard to find more though.”

  We sat in silence for a while before I asked, “What are we going to do about the big bug?”

  “I can dissolve it, but there might be some useful material. I don’t have any harvesting skills, though.” Deacon admitted.

  I poked at the dirt. Any grass had long been eaten by the cicadas. “Would it be worth it to try and get one?”

  “Probably. I’d wait till that bow guy wakes up though. He might have some skills with that. Maybe he’ll show you if you pay him.” He shrugged and changed melodies, still relaxing, but it sounded hopeful.

  I listened, and felt some tension loosen in me. The kind of thing that only released when you were truly relaxed. “You’re pretty good at that.”

  “You don’t go through the bard class without picking up a few mental skills. It’s not exactly an aura skill, which is why you aren’t blocking it.” He explained calmly.

  I stiffened as I checked, and I still had my own aura shielding me, a shell surrounding me. The music seemed to flow past it, though and when I turned on Mana Sense, it looked concentric spheres of mana were flowing out of him. Even as I paid attention, I felt it slip through my aura. “That’s… unsettling.”

  “But beneficial.” He said, continuing to play. I turned off Mana Sense, since I could also sense the mana from the decay spreading through the air, bypassing me and creating a shell around us. I could also sense mana from the corpses on the ground, the ground itself, the barn… it was a little overwhelming.

  I shook my head, and Deacon chuckled, “You need to practice with Mana Sense. Keeping it on will help the more magic you encounter.”

  “There’s just… a lot.” I said.

  “Turn it down then. You can restrict it to certain senses. I only use hearing and can tune it out if I don’t need it.” He explained. “Lot’s of people stick with sight, though. One person used smell, and he said no matter how much cologne I wore, he could smell the decay mana around me.”

  “...did it smell bad?” I asked, curious.

  “Like a graveyard of bodies exposed to the sun next to a swamp.” He said with a laugh, “For some reason, he still stuck around for six months before moving on to a guard with a high physical. Something about stamina, though I figured he just got tired of the stench.”

  “Why not pick a different sense?” I asked, frowning. “It can’t be that hard to change.”

  “Probably not, but the magic in Octavia was all based on sound and it, supposedly, let him smell music. Weird guy, but I still miss him.” He sighed with regret, and his melody took on a nostalgic feel. “I wonder how he’s doing.”

  I shrugged, “Happily married?”

  Deacon barked out a laugh and actually stopped playing for a moment. “Nah, the guy was a bit of a manwhore. Dancers were all like that. The flexibility was a bonus, but they usually think they’re better than musicians because of how much they have to work their bodies.”

  A snort of laughter escaped me despite myself. “You’re not shy about that kind of thing, are you?”

  “Nope!” He said confidently and went back to strumming the guitar. “Unfortuantely, I’m too emotionally intelligent to stay in most relationships. There’s always more people out there, no reason to stick with an abusive asshole.”

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  There was a story there, but I didn’t want to pry anymore. “Well, do you know when everyone laid down?”

  “Sarah and Byran started going at it as soon as they thought you and Tingle were asleep. Tingle was up for another hour, talking with me because the other two were rather loud.” He nonchalantly said. “I’d wake them up in another hour or so.”

  So, we sat, talking about nothing really while the day came out fully. It was always interesting the kinds of long shadows the core made as it lit the world. Sometimes they looked rather threatening, but most of the time lights were placed in the city to keep the dark at bay. I wonder how expensive it is to keep the city lit all the time.

  I went and woke up the adventurers with a loud knock on one of the stable walls. It took everyone a few minutes to get ready. No one had anything resembling normal food, so we all shared jerky and bread, mine being particularly dry since I hadn’t stored the bread in a container inside my storage skill.

  At least the whiskey softened it when I took a swig. I ran out by the end of breakfast, though, which was a shame.

  “So, Byran. Do you think that big bug has anything valuable?” I asked when we’d all finished.

  He frowned, looking towards it. “Maybe a core? Some bugs have a crystal in them that can sell for a lot. It’s only the bigger ones, though.”

  “Wait, would that mean the other four might have them too?” I asked, looking between them all.

  “Maybe?” Byran said, “Did you want me to check them and see?”

  “Can you show me, actually? Its a skill I’ve been meaning to pick up.” I asked. “I can pay for it.”

  “Dani… It is Dani right?” I nodded and he continued, “You helped us out, and I’m pretty sure we’d be dead without you. I’ll teach it to you for free.”

  I smiled, “Nah, how about we split the loot back at the guild? I’m sure they’ll take anything we find.” It wasn’t like I was hurting for crystals at the moment. The only reason I was holding off on maxing Sneak was wanting to keep more crystals on hand. I wasn’t able to hold crystals when I maxed out Outdoorsman, after all.

  There was a little more discussion, but eventually Byran showed me what to look for on the desiccated bodies of one of the four ‘guard’ bugs. Sure enough, digging through it’s guts, I found a crystal about the size of my fist. I had to go through two more before I got the Harvest skill.

  Harvest

  You made a kill, and want to actually make use of it’s parts. Get more loot from your kills based on a combination of your perception and dexterity. You are using this skill on a creature, right?

  Tier 0: You are a little more confident on separating valuables from offal. Gain the Harvest Logbook feature.

  The logbook was pretty simple, it kept track of what you’ve harvested and showed the various loot I’d recovered from that type of creature. It was useful, but only if I made a habit of this. Considering how messy it was, I planned to get some kind of cleaning enchanted item before committing to that idea.

  The big guy had a stone the size of my head and it shone with an inner light that shone even in the daylight. “That’s… a boss core.” Byran said in awe.

  I blinked, not understanding. Deacon was the one to explain, “Bosses often contain magical cores that carry innate magic, usually enchantments or affinities for certain spells.”

  “So… an enchanting material?” I prompted. At the nods, I looked at everyone, “Anyone an enchanter?” A bunch of heads shaking, “Then hopefully it fetches a good price.”

  “It should.” Deacon confirmed. “Even a bad one is worth a couple thousand. It’s why so many people die trying to kill bosses.”

  Tingle let out an appreciative whistle, “Then we should probably get back with it. I certainly don’t want to be lugging around something worth that much.”

  “I’m planning to stay out for a while longer.” I let him know. “I want to get a few more kills to try and get enough money for better equipment.”

  They all looked between each other before Sarah smiled nervously, “Did you want to keep it with you then…?”

  I looked at Deacon, “No, I think we can trust them. What do you think Deacon?”

  He shrugged, “Tingle is honest enough. I think you can trust him to get it into your account at the guild.”

  I smiled at the adventurers. “Take the other four crystals too. They don’t convert directly into crystals.” I knew because I’d tried to absorb one.

  We parted ways, the adventurers heading back to the road, and Deacon and I heading further out. It didn’t take long to find a place full of more bugs. I made judicious use of Gravity Field and my kill count rose steadily. The 3,180 turned into 3,500.

  Then 4,000.

  Then 4,500.

  Finally, around 5,000 I stopped, and smiled as another Title Token was rewarded. All of the extra crystals had gone towards my bank, including an expansion. It would take me a while to fill 256,000, even if I kept up with the event, and even with the expansion, I still had a little over 80,000. I likely had more than enough for the Tonfas, and whatever tiny things I wanted to spend on.

  It was nearing night time by the time we started down the road, and neither of us wanted to be out another day. We’d had another meal of jerky and bread, but since I was holding all the supplies, Deacon hadn’t been happy about the dried out bread. Especially since I only had a small canteen full of water to share between us.

  We both agreed I needed to be better prepared if we do something like this again.

  We actually got to the gates before they closed for the night and we made it back to the manor with plenty of time. The first thing we both did was get something to drink before I went hunting for Calmar to get an update on my friends. They were supposed to be transferred yesterday.

  When I found him, though, he looked grim. “Cal?”

  He jumped a little when he heard me, “Dani! You’re back?”

  “Yea, we had a rough fight last night so we rested before heading back. Where’s Elayne and the rest?” I asked, curious. “I didn’t see them anywhere.”

  His face shifted, looking more than a little uncomfortable. “Well… since you were still gone, the transfer happened as scheduled. Elias reached out and pulled a few strings to get them set up for an extended stay, and I filed a petition to take charge of their debt…”

  I felt a but coming and motioned for him to continue.

  Gulping, he looked towards the door, “Someone hit the transfer carriage.”

  “What?!” I shouted, slamming my hands on his desk. “What happened?!”

  “Three guards dead. Two injured enough to need medical attention. Elayne and Zaion were recovered, apparently they took out four of the attackers.” He grabbed a sheet of paper and looked at it. “Elayne ripped one guy’s arm off and beat him to death with it.”

  “And Zaion probably ripped all the water out of another. Guy is terrifying.” I shuddered.

  “Uh… yea, actually. One of the dead guards…” He frowned. “Paige went missing during it all, though. There were signs of a struggle.”

  I went pale, “What?”

  “She’s gone. Guards couldn’t pick up a trail, the people who grabbed her were found dead in an alley.” He handed me the paper. “I’m sorry.”

  I took it and read the report.