NOVEL WEB Chapter 20
“No, I don't see any invisible undead, but that is an excellent point you made Arthur. I will begin creating a spell that detects the living and undead the moment I can.” Lycus smiled and shook Arthur’s hand. “I will be sure to give you credit for coming up with the idea.”
“You could solve the issue at its roots by not speaking of classified information in public.” Lyra wasn’t all that keen to let the behavior that Lycus displayed slide.
“Why does everyone always bother me about that? I took all the necessary precautions!”
“You wouldn’t need to if you kept your mouth shut!”
The argument between the siblings was getting louder and even the few people who were walking past were starting to look at the commotion.
“Why don’t we take this somewhere private where you two can scream your lungs out to your heart's content.” Arthur attempted to defuse the situation and was met with some success.
“Fine but when we return home I am telling father about this.” Lyra got the last hit in clearly annoying Lycus. “Now why don’t we get something to eat, it's about dinner time now.” Lyra's suggestion was agreed upon by everyone and they made their way to the tavern that the mercenaries in the expedition waited in earlier.
The tavern had a sign outside the door that read: The Free Parrot Bar. Underneath were the words: Parrots drink for free.
‘What is a parrot?’ Arthur had not heard of that word before. ‘Is it a civilized species that aren't all that numerous around here. That must be the case because why else would they drink for free, there must not be all that many around here making it not all that expensive and something they can offer.’
The three sat at one of the empty tables and soon a waitress walked over and gave each of them a menu. Arthur looked at the options that were listed along with their respective prices. There were ten options in total on the “dinner menu” but one stuck out to Arthur.
“What is a burrito?” Arthur looked to Lyra and Lycus for their input.
“You want a burrito? They are quite good here.” Lycus smiled at Arthur's choice. Burritos were something he also liked eating.
“A burrito is basically food wrapped around in a bread thing that most people I know call a wrap. They can have all sorts of things on them, but I find the ones with rice and chicken are the best.”
“Well in that case I think I will be having the rice and chicken burrito.” Arthur thought it sounded quite good and it wasn’t all that expensive, only three copper pieces each.
Lyra chose to have a tomato soup and Lycus chose a spicy burrito that had beef and rice instead of chicken.
After about ten or so minutes their food arrived and Lycus paid the waitress and gave her a little extra in what he called a “tip”. It wasn’t much, just an extra silver piece but the woman was quite happy, so much so that she gave him a small bow before she left.
The food was quite good, it made the soup that was eaten while Arthur was a part of the expedition taste like dirt. ‘I am definitely eating here tomorrow, and the day after, and the day after that…’
“How does it taste?”
“Incredible.” Arthur said between mouthfuls of his burrito.
“That much is clear by how fast you are eating.” Lyra chuckled at Arthur eating like this was his first time eating.
When all the three had all finished their food Lyra and Lycus waved goodbye to Arthur. Arthur ended up renting a room for the night from the front desk where an older human man was sitting. The room itself wasn’t all that much to write home about, only costing ten copper pieces which Arthur needed to break a silver piece to pay for which are worth twenty copper pieces, leaving Arthur with ten copper pieces in change.
The room had a nice bed (nice compared to the one he had during the expedition), a dresser, and a chest at the end of the bed to place his things in. The door thankfully had a lock mechanism that locked the door from the inside of the room so Arthur wouldn’t need to worry about anyone picking the lock.
There was also a window overlooking a small area that had a few rocks and some plants growing in. It wasn’t large enough to be called a field but it was larger than he would have expected in a city. ‘One would think that there would be something built there to take advantage of the high traffic area. Perhaps it's simply not a priority for them, or they like nature.’
Arthur didn’t spend much more time thinking about why a piece of land was left empty, his only thoughts were on what his plan was for tomorrow.
‘I think after breakfast I will go to the mages guild branch here and see if I can join and if I have time I will see if I can join the mercenaries guild as well. I also have a few points left to distribute.’
/- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -\
Name : Arthur
Level 10
Exp : 7800
Next Level at : 8000
Mana : 30/30
Class : The All Knowing
Class Bonuses :
Advanced Learning
Photographic memory
Jack of All Trades
Attributes :
Strength 15
Dexterity 30
Vitality 20
Constitution 15
Intellect 30
Perception 10
Charisma 10
Arcane 20
Faith 10 (Locked)
Devotion 10 (Locked)
Available points : 20
Skills :
Block Level 9
Long Blades Level 10
Polearms Level 12
Unarmed Level 23
Wrestling Level 20
Heavy Armour 7
Throwing Level 0
Mana Manipulation Level 21
Hydromancy Level 10
Geomancy Level 17
Tactics - Level 5
Leadership Level 5
Sneaking Level 1
Assassination Level 0
Running Level 3
Scavenging Level 0
Cooking Level 6
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‘Twenty points, now what should I spend them on.’ Arthur took a moment to look over his stats and how things would have played out when he fought Saturio if he had them there..
‘With higher constitution I wouldn't have been hurt so much when he ended up crushing my arms or when I tried to trip him. I don’t think it would be a poor investment even if in the future I use magic more than martial weapons.’
/- - - - - -\
Constitution 30
Available points :5
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‘Now what to do with these last five. Charisma is a definite no right now, I don’t need to convince people of anything or get discounts with my current savings. That leaves strength, vitality, perception, and arcane.’
If Arthur could have all four he most definitely would have taken them all but unfortunately consuming a demon soul only gave him two thousand exp. It was still a very large number compared to the measly fifty he got from a single goblin, but Arthur would have liked more.
‘As far as I can tell perception would be useful regardless if I use magic or martial weapons, I will be more accurate than before. I could have even killed that goblin commander instead of just wounding him.’
Arthur went ahead with his decision and placed the last five points into perception.
/- - - - - -\
Perception 15
Available points :0
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Arthur took out the raw iron spear that Citro had given him for quickly disarming the goblin commander and took a seat on the bed. ‘Should I use a spear instead of a longsword? My current polearms skill is higher than my long blade skill. Spears also have the advantage in reach and are far easier to use compared to a sword, they are probably the most effective weapon in the history of war because of how simple they are to use and how easy it is to teach. But the sword I have is of much higher quality than the spear, if I wanted to match it I would need to either buy one or learn to make one myself.’
Arthur laid back into the bed resting his head on a pillow. ‘I don’t have the time to learn to make one for now since I am learning magic, so I would need to buy one. But that leads to the problem of where to buy it and how much would it even cost. For the time being I will just use the longsword and if I find something better I will inquire about its price.’
Arthur returned the spear to his dimensional bag and tried to get comfortable in the bed while he still wore his armour. Strangely enough Arthu had somewhat gotten used to wearing his armour while he slept, he would curl up like an armadillo with its protective shell keeping it safe from any threats that would try and strike while it slept, although Arthur did not know what an armadillo was.
The next morning Arthur woke up and looked out the window, he still had about four ‘hours’ before it would be noon. Cassia taught Arthur about things like how to tell the time of the day based only on the sun and how there were twelve months and each month had twenty eight days. He quickly made his way downstairs to have something to eat and found that the breakfast menu had something called a breakfast burrito that cost four copper. The burrito contained something called bacon, eggs, and a few different vegetables. Arthur ordered three and placed two into his dimensional bag for later, making his total twelve copper coins. Arthur once again needed to get some change back from spending a silver coin and he gave the waitress five copper coins as a tip like he had seen Lycus do the day before, the waitress herself seemed quite happy with it.
Arthur left the tavern after enjoying the taste of the breakfast burrito to find the local branch of the mages guild. He did need to ask for directions a few times and even needed to consult a map that was placed in a small intersecting area with a statue of a human male wearing chainmail riding a large four legged creature. The creature had both its front legs off the ground.
Eventually Arthur found the mages guild, the building was three stories tall and took up a fair bit of space but if the number of people going in and out was any sign it was more than making up for its value. The people ranged from simple towns folk to wealthy mages that Arthur recognized by the robes that Lyra, Cassia, and even Calavia wore as well.
Arthur walked through the mages guild entrance and immediately found himself in a line. Several people of different races, sizes and ages were moving through.