Delve

	Total	Base	Modifier
Health	200	200	0 | 0%
H.Regen Stolen novel; please report.	100/day	100/day	0 | 0%
Stamina	200	200	0 | 0%
S.Regen	100/day	100/day	0 | 0%
Mana	200	200	0 | 0%
M.Regen	32/hr	30/hr	-1/hr | 10%

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Movement Speed	10
Perception	10

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<p align="left" style="margin-bottom: 0; font-style: normal"><strong><span style="background-image: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial">Resistances</span></strong></p>
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Heat	Cold	Light	Dark
1 | 0%	1 | 0%	1 | 0%	1 | 0%
Force	Arcane	Mental	Chemical
1 | 0%	1 | 0%	1 | 0%	1 | 0%

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Satisfied at the improvement in his skills and finally ready to get on his way, Rain strapped on his boots, grabbed his things, and headed out to the quest hall to see if there was anything appropriate for his level today.

When he reached the board, he saw that there was actually something posted on the very bottom row. It had a 10 Tel reward, which had him excited, but he couldn't determine much else from the posting. The icon was a pair of clasped hands.

Bringing it over to Gus, he handed it to him and waited hopefully. Gus looked at the paper, then at Rain, seeming to consider. Eventually, he shrugged and motioned for Rain to follow. He led Rain to a room with a table like the one he had been brought to on his first day. Gus told him to wait there and left.

After about 5 minutes of waiting, Rain started getting bored and pulled out his language notes. Another fifteen minutes or so passed and Rain was starting to wonder if Gus had forgotten about him when he saw his head poke in the room. Seeing that Rain was still there, he came in, three people following him. Two women and a man took seats at the table, Rain hurriedly tucking away his notes and the ration bar he had been using to strengthen his jaw.

Gus's head was turned towards the others and he was saying something to them. Rain caught his name and the word 'slime' in there, so he guessed Gus was telling them a bit about his exploits. The lead woman looked a bit unimpressed, but her two younger colleagues were just looking at him respectfully. All three were wearing thick clothing and high boots and the young man in the back was carrying three shovels. They clearly weren't adventurers, just normal workers it seemed.

Eventually, Gus turned to Rain and attempted to explain what the quest entailed. After another five minutes of discussion, Rain finally reached the understanding that it was a sort of escort quest. These three needed to do something down in the sewer and Rain was to protect them. Nodding, he said, "Yes, I protect. Kill slime."

Well, at least it is something I know I can kill. I just wish I could do something… else. I might as well just start sleeping in the sewers like some sort of troll if this keeps up.

Gus nodded, handing him the quest slip and stood to leave the room.

"Wait," said the senior worker. Rain looked at her questioningly. "How <something> kill slimes?" she asked, Rain guessing at her meaning. That is a reasonable question I guess. If I was hiring someone to protect me, I'd want to know that they were up to the task.

Rain stood, eyeing the room. Seeing that there was enough space, he stood and motioned for the others to stay seated. He walked over to the side of the room furthest away from them, turned, and activated refrigeration without extending the range. The sudden blast of cold caused a wave of cold air to wash over Gus and the workers, but the ring of frost condensing from the moisture in the air stopped short of them at the two-meter radius of the skill.

The two younger workers seemed startled at this. The senior worker and Gus took it more in stride, though Gus did look at him a bit curiously. Maybe he doesn't recognize the skill? Auras probably aren't that popular. The mana cost on refrigerate is crushing. Deactivating the aura, Rain walked back over to the group. The woman nodded to Gus, who turned to Rain and handed him the quest slip before leaving the room.

Turning to the senior worker, Rain pointed at himself. "Rain."

"Vanna," the senior worker replied. Then, pointing at the two younger workers she identified the woman as Yott and the young man with the shovels as Tarny. She then motioned at him to follow and led the way from the room and out of the guild. She took them to the sewer entrance and started descending without waiting to see if the others were following. When she reached the bottom, she instructed Yott to light a torch. While Yott extracted a torch from her pack and lit it, Rain looked around. He was pleased to see that the area still looked pretty clean from his last purification. The stone was wet, but no longer stained.

In short order they set off upstream, Rain leading and watching for slimes as the others followed. Vanna directed him down a side passage he had seen yesterday but not investigated. There was a smaller channel cut in the center of this passage feeding into the main waterway, but it was dry. The day before he had just jumped over it to continue down the main tunnel as this one didn't have any torches in it. He thought he remembered that there had been a trickle of water flowing in the channel the day before, but now the stone wasn't even damp.

They traveled up the sloping passage for a little while before Rain heard the telltale sound of slimes approaching. Holding up a hand, he motioned for the others to stay back. He moved forward, seeing the forms of two slimes as they entered the torchlight. Looking back he confirmed that nobody had followed him. Satisfied that he wouldn't inadvertently hurt his allies with his aura, he moved in to engage the slimes.

He activated refrigeration and waded in, freezing and killing the slimes without any trouble and learning what a 'dingaling' was as the bright tone chimed to announce the death of the monsters. Vanna seemed to be reassured at this, and the others looked excited, chattering to each other and beaming.

First time seeing an adventurer in action?

Rain switched to purify and started cleaning away the decaying slimes to look for Tel. He thought the white aura was a little bit stronger at rank two, shining brighter and removing the slime a bit faster. As pleased as he was with this, it was nothing compared to the reaction of the workers. The discovery that he could evaporate slime and leave the stone spotless had made them unreasonably excited, even the more experienced Vanna giving him an awed look.

Rain's mood was further boosted when he saw that both of the slimes had left a Tel behind as the goo evaporated. He collected them, adding them to his vial and then deactivating his aura. Checking his mana bar, he saw that he was at around half full, and thus good to continue. He motioned to the workers to follow and continued up the tunnel.

Eventually, the passageway ended and Rain saw why the shovels would be needed. There was a large backup of gunk blocking the channel as it passed under a wall. There was another pile over to the side of the tunnel, suggesting that it had been dug out before and since become blocked again. Yott stuck her torch into a sconce and Tarny passed out the shovels. They made to start working, but Rain held up a hand to stop them.

I want to try something...

Walking to the blockage, he activated purify at full range to catch all of it. He watched in satisfaction as the gunk started to evaporate and disappear into the air. The pace was slow though, and the blockage was pretty big. I'll run out of mana before I even make a dent in that. Damn. Oh well. I'll help them clean up after they clear it. He motioned to the others, canceling his aura.

"Sorry, mana," he said, getting out of their way so they could work. He walked over to where the torch was mounted in the wall and purified himself a place to sit down and rest. The workers looked a little disappointed but set about clearing the blockage without complaint. By the time they had cleared most of it, Rain's mana was significantly recovered.

Yott broke through the block with a thrust of her shovel, and Rain looked up as she yelped at the tide of slimy water that gushed through the gap. Vanna reacted quickly, jumping clear of the channel. The others weren't fast enough, getting drenched as the pressure behind the barrier punched through and the slurry of sludge and water started washing them down the channel.

Quickly, Rain jumped to his feet and grabbed for Yott's arm, catching her hand and hauling on it as hard as he could to help her out of the channel. Thankfully, it wasn't more than waist deep and he was able to get her up over the edge, though not before she was covered from head to toe.

Tarny wasn't as lucky, getting washed down the tunnel by the tide of filth. Vanna sprinted after him, catching up as he managed to wedge himself in the channel. Before he lost his grip, she hauled him out and laid him panting on the side of the channel. The three of them watched as the torrent of dirty water continued unabated.

Rain wasted no time activating purification. He had personally experienced being covered head to toe in sludge and wouldn't wish the experience on his worst enemy. The watery slurry seemed to be less resistant to the purification than the solid blockage had been, and within a few minutes, only the memory of the filth remained.

The workers thanked him profusely, Tarny even going so far as to give Rain an awkwardly enthusiastic hug. Once everyone had calmed down, they started walking back down the tunnel and by the time they reached the main waterway the flow had decreased to a slow, steady stream. There were no further incidents and Rain's mana was back to full again by the time the party returned to the guild. The three workers followed Rain to the counter. Gus wasn't there, but Vanna took care of relating the tale, the guild attendant marking down some notes in the ledger before handing Rain his ten Tel.

The workers thanked Rain again and left, leaving him with a free afternoon. He walked over to the board. There were no more quests suitable for his level, so he found himself at a loss for what to do.

I guess I'll train. Good on money for the moment, though I could use a drink and a meal. Oh, I should buy a waterskin or something. Sewer water everywhere, but not a drop to drink.

Rain wandered over to the tavern, splurging a bit and buying half a roast chicken and a flagon of beer to wash it down. This cost him a whole Tel, seeming to be the going rate for a meal at the establishment. It wasn't like he could read the menu, so he was somewhat at the mercy of the staff as to what he got.

The chicken was delicious and he could see himself spending all of his money here if he wasn't careful. He also purchased another four ration bars and tucked them away in his pack, promising himself that he would use them up before paying for another proper meal. All said and done, he was feeling quite rich with 10 Tel and four copper in his pocket.

Training time. Humm, can't exactly train refrigerate in here, so purify it is.

He activated the aura, extending it and leaving it on as he walked over to the bar to return his plate. This caused a little bit of a stir in the room, but the commotion died down as it became clear that he wasn't about to set the building on fire.

Man, I don't even want to think about the immolate aura. If it is anything like refrigerate, I could accidentally burn down the whole city. Maybe that is why people outside the guild reacted so strongly when I used this?

Rain's mana ticked down steadily. He kept an eye on it as he left the room, scrubbing his way down the hallway as he headed for the bathroom. He was halfway there when he stopped suddenly.

I... don't have to go anymore. I had to go before I left the tavern, and now I... don't. Don't tell me purify works on.…

Rain stood in the hallway, stunned as his mind struggled to process his latest revelation.

Best. Spell. Ever.