Duskbound

Velik was three hours out from town and well away from the deep wood when he finally got that level up he'd been waiting for. It came from killing a group of worgs that he'd specifically targeted as practice for [Phalanx].

[You have slain a bristle fur worg (level 12).]

[You have been awarded 1 decarma.]

[You have advanced to level 31. +2 Physical, +1 Mental, +2 free points.]

For the first time in the last few years, he hesitated over where to slot those two free points. With his new skill, mental had suddenly become much more important, but he was confident that he could manage three of the ghostly spears with his current stats and a bit of practice. Increasing the skill's rank would help as well. What he wasn't sure of was whether he could ever form more than three spears at a time without increasing his mystic, or if they'd get more durable as the skill grew.

Much to his annoyance, he'd found that the skill-crafted spears couldn't do more than distract high-level opponents. They just weren't strong enough to pierce the hides and scales of deep wood monsters, which was an unexpected problem. It didn't make [Phalanx] worthless, but it did sharply limit its viability as an offensive skill if it couldn't actually hurt the monsters he needed to use it against.

So, with some trepidation, Velik put the two free points into mystic and reviewed his status.

[Name: Velik]

[Race: Human (Duskbound)]

[Class: The Black Fang]

[Level: 31]

[Physical: 99(+8)]

[Mental: 54(+2)]

[Mystical: 24]

[Free Points: 0]

[Decarma: 1247]

[Skills:]

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[Apex Hunter (Rank 1)]

[Spear Warden (Rank 6)]

[Kinetic Charge (Rank 3)]

[Phalanx (Rank 1)]

[Gear:]

[Blood Seeker(+5Ph)]

[Hunter's Cowl(+2Me)]

[Stalker's Boots(+3Ph)]

[Champion's Seed (Balzarinth)]

[Champion's Seed (Ultgith)]

He'd always regretted the points he'd put into mystic, but now, they no longer felt wasted. If anything, he wished he'd put a few more into the stat over the last few months when the monster population had exploded and he'd started rapidly gaining levels. He was still hopeful that enough practice and a few ranks with the new skill would fix the issue, but some extra points in mystic certainly wouldn't hurt.

The sun was just peeking over the tops of the trees when Velik walked into the Raven's Nest. He'd spotted signs that Torwin and his apprentice had returned south a few days ago, and, lacking a better idea of where to find them, had decided to return to the inn where he'd last run into the man. If nothing else, he could probably leave a message that he wanted to talk with the innkeeper.

Fortune was with him once again. Torwin was sitting at a table, shoveling his breakfast into his mouth and washing it down with a mug of some sort of beer. Next to him, Jensen was slumped over with his head on his arms and his eyes closed. He let out a soft groan when a shaft of sunlight passed across his face from the open door.

"Well, if it isn't Mr. Black Fang himself," Torwin said. "Didn't think I'd be seeing you again so soon."

"Things didn't go according to plan," Velik admitted.

"Couldn't get the compass to work?"

"No." He fished it out of his pocket and set it down on the table. "Broke it fighting a champion elite."

"No, you didn't," Jensen said, raising his head to scowl at Velik. "Maybe running away from a champion elite. That I'd believe."

Velik regarded him silently for a moment, then turned his attention back to Torwin. "I was hoping you knew a way to fix it"

The old man laughed. "Me? No. I'm good at finding things and killing them. Jensen would have a better idea than me."

Jensen leaned forward and scooped the compass up to examine it. A single look was all it took to have him shaking his head. "Well outside my skill set. Even if it was something you bought from an artificer instead of the system store, I still wouldn't be able to help. I'd guess a professional restoration would probably run you two to three thousand decarmas."

That was still cheaper than buying a new one, but Velik had no idea where to even find someone with the ability to repair it. More importantly, he didn't have nearly that much money, nor did he want to waste however long it would take to travel to wherever he needed to go and wait for the work to be done. It would probably be faster to just resume killing monsters in the deep wood, though it was fairly obvious that he needed to spend another week or so around the frontier's border thinning the monster populations back down before he went north again.

Maybe I can salvage something from this though. These two will go back to wherever they came from eventually. They could probably turn a profit on this thing once it's repaired, and I could use the decarmas today.

"I don't have the time to get it repaired now," he said. "Would you be interested in buying it cheap? Once you get it repaired, it'd be a steal."

"How cheap are we talking?" Torwin asked.

"I paid ten thousand from the system store. If you bought it for two and it cost three to fix, you'd effectively be getting it at half off just for the hassle of taking it with you when you leave."

"I already have one," Jensen said. He pulled a duplicate of Velik's damaged mana compass out and set it on the table. "Exact same one, actually."

"And I don't need one. I've got a skill for it, though admittedly the range is rather limited compared to what the compass can do. If I'm ever doing a job where I do need one, I can just sign one out of the guild armory, anyway."

"Well," Velik said with an unhappy sigh. "I guess I wasted your time. Sorry."

"No, I wouldn't say it was wasted," Torwin said. "How about having a seat and getting a meal? I'd like to ask you a bit about what you found out there, if you don't mind."

"I have work to do."

"I'm sure it can wait twenty minutes. You've got to eat sometime anyway."

"I really don't—"

"Did you really break this thing fighting a champion on your own?" Jensen interrupted.

Why does it matter? "Yes."

"And it wasn't in the dungeon? I mean, we were there, and besides, the dungeon's dead, anyway. So, it was a wild champion elite."

"I… guess so." I've never even heard of a wild champion elite.

"Those are supposed to take whole teams to kill," Jensen said. "Maybe Torwin could do it by himself because he's a high level with a rare class, but for you to do it… Well, there's an easy way to tell. If you killed it, you'd have the champion seed."

"What's your point?"

"Obviously, that champion seeds are valuable. If you have one, you could sell it. If it's a high enough level, it might be worth more than the compass itself."

Do I need this thing? I've got two of them anyway, and besides, they were only important because they had Chalin's name on them. They don't even say that anymore, so they're not doing anything but sitting in a pouch now. But still… something about this…

"What are they used for?" Velik asked.

"You mean, besides to grow a new champion?"

"I doubt anyone wants to make more monsters."

"You'd be surprised," Torwin said dryly. "But no, he means that champion seeds have other uses. Alchemists love them. Enchanters sometimes use them for their mana holding properties. Certain classes can even consume them directly to gain permanent power increases, mostly along the druid lines."

Velik's mind immediately went to Sildra. What would happen if she took one of these? He pushed that thought aside and said, "I've got a level 35 and 33 seed. How much are those worth?"

"Enough to trade for a mana compass," Jensen said eagerly. He started to push the compass across the table, but stopped when Torwin's hand came down on his arm.

"Let's not cheat the boy just because he doesn't know the value of what he's selling. Either of those seeds is worth thirty or forty thousand decarmas to the right buyer, neither of which is us. However, I need to return to Cravel for a few days. I expect to be gone for about a week with travel time, and I would be willing to take one or both seeds with me, along with your broken compass. I'll sell them for you, get the compass fixed, and bring it back, provided you trust me to do so."

It wasn't a difficult decision. As it currently stood, none of those things were useful to him. He could run down to the city himself, maybe even make it as fast as Torwin himself implied he'd travel, but when he got there, he wouldn't have the first clue who to talk to about fencing the seeds or repairing the compass.

If Torwin cheated him, he would be out a huge amount of theoretical decarmas, but wouldn't actually be any worse off in the real world. It would also be a good test of the two hunters' ethics. If Velik was going to be dealing with them while they were here, he'd prefer to know where they all stood with each other. Torwin seemed trustworthy, but there was no telling what was really going on in his head.

Decision made, Velik pulled the two seeds out of the leather pouch that hung off his belt and set them on the table next to the broken compass. Then he gestured to the intact one and said, "I'd like to borrow this while you're gone, if that's alright with you."

"A bit of collateral, huh?" Torwin muttered. "Fair enough."

Jensen, who'd been staring slack-jawed at the two seeds, snapped his head around to look at his master. "Being a bit free with things that aren't yours, aren't you?"

"You weren't using it anyway," Torwin said unrepentantly. "Besides, we both know it's barely pocket change for you."

Pocket change? It was ten thousand decarmas. There's no way a guy that weak collected so much that it was bought on a whim.

Jensen snorted. "Fine, he can take it. But in return, I am going to sleep in."