Chapter 20

  Snake World? Here We Come!

  “Good. Now, looking around, I have to say, Holy Ruined city, Bat-winged rabbit girl!”-Iluna

  “Was that on purpose?!”

  “I wonder.”-Iluna

  “I feel like I'm missing something. Like I'm witnessing a joke where I lack the proper context to get the punchline.”-Alura

  “Get used to it, dear. It took me years living with my beloved Traveler wife to even get that reference.”-Iluna

  “You were married? Where and when can we meet her?!”-Alura

  “Unless you're an excellent necromancer, you can't. She's been dead for quite some time. I was the ambassador to the all female country of Gynosdistaff and found my soul-mate. We wed, she got very, very pregnant. By me. No, don't ask. Even I don't understand it. And it gets even stranger in the all male country of Androphallusca. At least Gynosdistaff has women, and they give birth like women everywhere else! Nobody outside of Androphallusca knows how they reproduce, and the natives aren't talking.” Iluna says before taking a deep breath. “Anyway. I was called away from our home for a mission three days away by horseback. I came back, a week later, to find her dead, gruesomely murdered, womb ripped open, child missing, with that smug, sanctimonious, hypocritical asshole Frandoh standing over her body, writ for my arrest in hand, charging me, me with the crime. When his base, here, is over a week away from where my wife and I lived by the fastest coach.”

  “That sounds sketchy as hell!”-Alura

  “Quite. It gets worse when it turns out that he was the fucking judge during my trial, no jury, and had absolute authority to determine what procedures, evidence, witnesses, etc. were appropriate or not. Anything deemed 'inappropriate' would just be summarily burned. Long story short, I was convicted, sentenced to 'orientation corrective therapy' and... well, you know how you found me, Jade. By the way, what happened to that fanatic?”

  “Dead. Fool thought he could kick me down the stairs with impunity while I was trying to rescue Alura from Deokk and his army. The son of a bitch held up Duke Deokk, who illegally slave raids other nations, including his own, as righteousness incarnate and set the ledger providing evidence of human trafficking alight, and threatened to do the same to Allura. I torched him, so he sees how it feels to be 'purged by holy flame' like he so loved to profess. He didn't like it. Especially when I showed him I can make a copy of the ledger any time I wish.”

  “Hahaha! Oh, how I wish I could have seen that! Sadly, I may never know who killed my beloved and what happened to our child, but if I ever find out, mark my words, there will be a reckoning.”-Iluna.

  “And we'll be glad to help you, Iluna! I can call you Iluna, right?!”-Alura

  “Of course, dear.”-Iluna

  “Provided we survive this and we get the chance, let's raid Frandoh's office together, or maybe, just maybe, we'll find what we need while investigating the guys in the ledger we got from the Deokk mine.”

  “Sounds like a plan.”-Iluna.

  “Jade, before I pick my next class, I've got an observation for you to chew on. Now don't get me wrong. I am grateful for the swanky leather armor you made me, and these daggers aren't bad either. I also know Iluna's a warrior type profession, so she definitely gets the heavy armor while I, with my assassin class, am stuck with leathers, but the instant she joins the party, she's dressed up to the nines in mythril plate, gauntlets, and leggings, gets not one but two strength enhancing enchantments, and gets the real swanky spider-silk under-weave. That kind of thing can make a girl insanely jealous. Care to explain yourself?”- Alura

  “Alura, I get where you're coming from, but I really gave you the best equipment I could! All I had were broken scraps of cloth I found on long-dead corpses in a mine on my way to the camp where I found you! You know I didn't get any fancy enchantment blueprints until after we cleared that mine camp! I could upgrade your daggers to adamantium right now, I have that much, at least, but I'm getting an error message that I don't have enough MP to 'deck you out to the nines' right now, or I'd swap your equipment out where we now stand.”

  Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

  Alura crosses her arms before going “Uh-huh. Sure.”

  Shared Status: Jade> MP 300/3000. Required to upgrade Alura's equipment to silk-threaded mithril, 2500 MP.

  “Wait. Silk-threaded with mithril? Damn. You do go all out! Okay. I'll forgive you if you upgrade my gear immediately once you have all the MP and materials you need.”-Alura

  “Immediately? Are you sure?”

  “Yeah. I... Wait a minute! Are you being cheeky right now? You know full well what I mean! Just make sure not to strip me naked in public or anything of the sort! Especially in battle. Speaking of which...” -Alura

  System Notice: Available classes. Hedge Mage, Alchemist, Squire.

  “Wow a lot fewer choices than last time. Let's look at Squire real quick.”-Alura

  Squire: Unlock Requirements, be recognized by a high-ranking [Knight] class or sub-class as a subordinate. STR+2, CON+5, gained skill [Equipment Repair], requirement for gaining the [Knight] class. Requires uttering an oath of servitude to a [Knight] and their kingdom. Breaking this oath without good reason carries substantial penalties.

  Warning: Choosing this class will cause the loss of all previous classes aside from [Priest] and related sub-classes, losing all the associated levels.

  “Yeowch! Losing 29 levels? And that's just the first downside? Oh hell no! And that's not even considering how my [Dungeon Boss] might would fare. And since we're expecting combat any moment, Alchemist is right out. I don't need any handicaps, thank you very much! That leaves only one choice. System, I'd like [Hedge Mage], please.”-Alura

  Hedge Mage selected. INT+5, DEX+3, LUK MAX. By observation, you have learned [Basic Dark Magic], [Basic Earth Magic]. [Basic Lightning Magic], [Basic Light Magic], [Basic Ice Magic], [Basic Necromancy], [Basic Decay Magic], [Basic Healing Magic], [Basic Attribute Free Magic].

  “Sorry to interrupt your upgrades, but here they come!”-Iluna

  “Suzie! Ricardo! Where Are you?!”

  “We're here!”-Suzie and Ricardo

  “Were you aware that an Erinyes is in your group, Jade?”-Iluna

  “Jade, Boss, why are you bringing a paladin into our little club here? You know our actions aren't going to be on the straight and narrow.”-Suzie

  “What I know is that we need all the help we can get right now, can't afford to be choosy, and here comes the enemy!”

  As the last of the city residents who wasn't in a shielded building, like the embassy dies, a portal opens right in the heart of town square and reptilian creatures of all shapes and sizes begin pouring out; some crawled on four legs, some more, some shambled on two legs as if humanoid, some fly with leathery wings, but the vast majority of them are serpentine in form and function.

  Those that could fly or climb immediately tried to get at Jade, Suzie, Alura, and Iluna while the rest began to siege the building, trying the force their way in.

  “Here, everyone except Alura, who can't use bows, take a bow and arrows for your ranged attacks.”

  Jade uses his blueprints of bows and arrows to make the best quality bows he can for everyone.

  “Sorry, Alura. If only I had a crossbow blueprint for you...”

  “Hmm? What. I was just toying with my [Basic Ice Magic] for a bit, trying to figure it out before I have to fight with it.” Alura looks down at what's in her hands. “Oh. A crossbow made of ice. Huh. Looks cool, literally, but it would probably break the first time I fired it.”

  “Allow me.”

  Blueprint: Ice Crossbow acquired. Convert to Wooden Crossbow blueprint with mithril silk-threaded drawstring? Yes/No

  “Yes, System. Here, Alura. The highest quality crossbow. Going by your performance just now, you can probably load it with ammunition of whatever magical element you wish as long as you have sufficient MP.”

  “Okay. Now THAT is cool. Let's see what a [Decay Magic] bolt does!”-Alura

  She fires one such bolt at the nearest of the winged reptiles, hitting it in the head with her [Target vitals] assassin ability, killing it instantly. Everyone sees the poor thing disintegrate to nothing in seconds.

  System Notice: Draconian blueprint acquired. Overflow MP from Allura received. MP 575/3000

  “And that's pretty damn awesome! What made you decide to try [Decay Magic]?”

  “Well, I was running low on MP and the description said I'd recover MP when the magic completely finished the decay process, so I figured 'Why not?' but now I'm seeing a downside.” Alura says as she presents the crossbow to Jade, showing massive wear and tear. “Seems the [Decay] bolts quickly degrade whatever is used to fire them.”

  “Fortunately, I have plenty of the materials needed to fix this, so it's an easy fix. Probably best to use that particular bolt sparingly, and keep in mind elemental compatibility. For example, trying a fire bolt with a wooden crossbow...”

  “Yeah. I hear ya, Jade.”-Alura