章節 2: Confidence
"Ignys, are you ready?" asked a girl clad in some kind of robe.
"Almost, just doing my final checks," responded Ignys.
When Ignys joined the adventurers guild, he had trouble finding a group to join.
It was mostly because he did not have enough experience yet.
However, after looking around the adventurers guild headquarters in his city, he found a couple of other newbies who were looking to take on a quest as well.
They accepted him into their group, and it was quite well balanced in the end.
Ignys was the group's main shield.
Ignys had quite a strong build, and all of it was thanks to his grandfather.
His grandpa once told Ignys that if he wanted to be a barkeeper, he should train a lot and look muscular and intimidating, that way, people would think twice about starting trouble in the bar.
Despite Ignys looking like a thug, he couldn't act like one, in actuality, he was quite the softie.
Ignys' equipment was mostly second-hand and stuff he could get at a discount, he didn't want to spend too much money on it.
Besides, their first quest was quite an easy one.
They were supposed to venture out to the golden caverns.
Despite its name, there was no gold there to be found.
A strong mana-dense crystal could be found there which was helpful in making magic concoctions.
The reward per crystal was fifty silver coins, which was quite a lot.
The economy of the Uholon kingdom had three different types of currencies.
Gold coins, silver coins, and copper coins.
Copper coins usually were used in small purchases, such as a drink in a tavern.
Silver coins were used in bigger transactions, such as equipment.
Meanwhile, gold coins were used for significant transactions such as houses, bills, and rare exclusive resources.
Every hundred copper coins were equal to one silver coin, and every hundred silver coins were equivalent to a gold coin.
For example, the shield Ignys bought cost him twenty-five silver coins.
A drink at an ordinary tavern ranged from fifteen up to forty copper coins.
The reward per crystal may have been fifty silver coins, but Ignys was also traveling with some other people, so the money had to be split.
Ignys had three other people with him.
There was Sophie, the girl who played the role of the group's support and healer.
She had a strong affinity for nature magic, she was comparable to a druid.
There was Varyx, he was the group's primary offense.
He had a couple of sword skills but nothing spectacular.
Varyx wielded a longsword as it was his comfort weapon.
And finally, there was Adora.
Adora was the group's spellcaster.
She wore what appeared to be a long robe and she was the woman who approached Ignys, asking him if he was ready.
Adora never really showed her face, Ignys had only caught a glimpse of it once.
She also didn't tend to speak a lot, and only spoke if she needed something or if it was necessary.
Whenever she spoke, she spoke in a dignified tone.
Adora had a couple of affinities, but she was the strongest with her water affinity.
After checking his equipment Ignys called out.
"Alright, ready!"
Varyx rallied everyone up.
"Alright, we are ready for departure and listen up! We are heading out to the golden caverns in the outerlands, it is only twenty-five kilometers deep in the outerlands and the threat is relatively low. We will have two rest stops on our way there. Our goal is one gold per person, so eight crystals in total. The total money earned will be split evenly between everyone. If combat is encountered Ignys will take the front and take the hits, distracting the monster. If needed, Sophie can summon vines to hold you by your ankles Ignys, that way you stand sturdier, but I doubt that would be needed for you. Sophie will then cast physical enhancement on me so I can move in while the monster is distracted. Adora will pester the monster from the opposite side I am attacking from with low-cost spells like ice shards. Ignys, if the monster loses interest in you, you move in from the front and attack it, that way it is getting assaulted from all three sides. If someone gets injured back up and move closer to Sophie so she can heal you. Do we understand!?"
All three responded with a yes, sir! As they started moving out towards the outerlands.
Luckily for them, Leopold city was quite close to the outerlands.
Leopold was the name of the first human who managed to get to the core of the outerlands and return alive.
The outer lands were simply said absolutely massive, one would have to venture thousands of kilometers in order to reach the core of the outerlands.
However, there were some shortcuts to take, such as scattered magical ruins with teleport contractions in them.
It was unknown from who or what the ruins were, but some teleports led closer to the core.
There were also a lot of speed-enhancing skills to hasten the time it took to arrive to the core.
Luckily for Ignys and his group, they weren't even going somewhere remotely close to the core.
They were going to an area of the outerlands named the primal canyon.
Most monsters that lived in the primal canyon were mutated beasts affected by the mana flow in the area.
Due to the area being a canyon, the mana would be forced to flow through a tight area, making it very pure.
In the canyon was the cavern that Ignys and his group was looking for, where the crystals grew.
After walking for two hours straight, Ignys' group encountered their first monster, which appeared to be a mutated boar-like creature with tusks.
"Remember the plan!" yelled Varyx as Ignys moved to the front.
The boar acted on its instincts and attacked Ignys.
Ignys tensed up his muscles and held his big shield in front of him, waiting for the impact.
The boar hit the shield and continued attacking Ignys, but Ignys barely faltered.
Like planned, Varyx moved in from the side and slashed at the creature, instantly killing it.
The group cheered at getting the confirmation that they could do this, that they could be an adventurer, and all their doubts about not being good enough vanished, replaced with confidence.
The group cheered for a while except for Adora, who just quietly watched.
After a while, the group continued moving forward.
After walking for thirty more minutes, the group heard a heavy roar.
Most of the group ignored it since roars and stuff were common in the primal canyon, but Adora visibly tensed up as they moved on.
Twenty minutes later they arrived at the golden caverns and quickly entered.
The group went down the cave together and weirdly enough, Adora sparked up a conversation.
"Say, why did all of you choose the adventurer's profession?"
Varyx looked at Adora and started laughing out loud.
"Honestly, why ask such a stupid question Adora? We are all here for the money of course! Why else would we risk our lives and enter such a place like this? Right, Ignys?"
Varyx looked towards Ignys for confirmation.
"Well, to be honest, yeah. I am also only here for the money..."
Sophie responded the same way as Ignys did.
"Right." said Adora.
After walking for a while Ignys and his group arrived in a small room filled with a couple of crystals.
In total, there were three.
Everyone sighed.
"So little? I expected at least some more..." said Sophie in disappointment.
"It's whatever, still one gold coin and fifty silver, let's go get them." said Varyx.
Varyx, Adora, and Sophie walked toward the crystals in order to pick them up.
However, Ignys noticed something.
He walked towards a wall and noticed that it was off.
He didn't know how to explain it, it just didn't look natural.
It was also extremely thin.
Ignys held his shield in front of him and shield bashed into the wall, breaking it.
Ignys fell to the ground as his group turned around.
"Ignys, you dumb fu-"
Varyx stopped speaking halfway through his sentence.
Everyone's mouth dropped as the dust cleared, and a room full of crystals was revealed.
"Ignys, you absolute genius!" yelled Sophie as she hugged him.
At least twenty crystals were growing in the room.
"How did you know there were crystals behind that wall?" asked Adora.
"I don't know, the wall seemed kinda weird and thin, someone probably used earth magic to construct a small wall in order to come back for the crystals later, they probably already had their bags loaded and couldn't carry anymore," said Ignys as he started picking up crystals.
The group continued picking up crystals until they had twenty-four crystals.
Each person carried six crystals with them when they left the cavern.
"This is great! Now we all have three gold coins!" said Varyx.
"I never expected adventuring to be this profitable..." said Ignys
The group kept walking forward until they heard a weird gurgling sound behind them.
"Sophie stop making that so-"
Ignys turned around and almost fell to his feet.
Behind him stood a starved panther-like monster with three spiked tails, and next to it laid the bloodied and heavily injured body of Sophie.
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