Syl

Chapter 145: Friendly Interrogation

Entering the Adventurer's Guild while chatting with Whitney, I noticed a few cheers and jeers as people who clearly recognized me saw that I had returned. There were some murmurings about my "strange new class" and people pointing out my high level. I noticed Luke rushing to meet us.

"Luke!" I said cheerily.

"It's good to see you back, Miss Syl. Master Lisa wants you to report to her office immediately, please." Luke replied with a bizarre blend of concern and relief.

Others must have overheard it, and immediately, the rumor mill got to work. Was she in trouble? Did she accomplish something? Is it an interrogation about her strange class? And all other whispers flooded the hall. I tried to ignore all of it as best as possible.

Whitney said she'd talk to me afterward after making me promise I wouldn't suddenly run off again and left with Luke, so I was alone heading towards Lisa's office. While climbing up the staircase, I saw Thern peek his head out of the library.

"Well, look who finally decided to show up!" He sounded gruff and upset but soon cracked a wide grin and gave a full belly laugh.

"Sorry for missing our arrangement, Thern... I spent a lot longer on Glimmerock than I expected." I explained. It was half-true.

"I can't wait to see all the bits and bobs you've undoubtedly brought back," Thern said, nodding. "You're lucky that I've made some arrangements; assuming you don't spend a month in the dungeon, you're supposed to go clear!"

"So the offer still stands?" I asked hopefully.

"Aye. I argued it wasn't safe to transport the new furnace heart by regular means and got authorization for something... Special." Thern said, giving a big wink. "It's too bad you didn't come back sooner; I would have loved to have shown some of your materials to a friend. No doubt you've brought some ripe for enchanting."

"And here I thought your only friend was at the bottom of a mug." Lisa suddenly replied, causing us all to flinch. You could almost feel the crackling of thunder in her eyes.

Thern laughed. "Better not keep her waiting; she's got a shocking temper."

"Good thing I've got a sparkly personality." I countered, giving my own sparkling demonstration of Lightning Mana.

Thern backed up, howling with laughter. "Bloody hell, keep that away from my beard!"

I couldn't help but grin, and Lisa even chuckled at that.

"You've certainly opened up a lot more," Lisa commented.

"Aye. You've definitely come out of your shell since I last saw you. A lot less stiff. Nothing like the thrill of adventure, ey?"

I paused. Had I? I spent a lot of time with Trixie and regularly joined in with her antics. Had she opened me up? Was I that easily influenced by the people around me? I also spent a long time interacting with people as Sylvester...

"Absolutely," I replied.

"Well, let's head to my office to get your official report," Lisa said, and I followed after telling Thern we could chat later.

As I sat down, I wondered if this would be an interrogation or a pleasant conversation. But her secretary brought some drinks and snacks immediately to set the mood.

"So. Welcome back; I take it you did manage to get onto the floating island?"

"I did," I replied and began retelling my account.

From griffons to elementals to eventually fighting pegasi. I decided against any mention of Trixie; the pixie was my friend, and she was utterly terrified of being captured by humans again. I didn't mention the ghouls either, as I had no proof of killing them. I mentioned fighting pegasi and unicorns and eventually discovering the prince. When I mentioned finding an alicorn, Lisa was actually startled; they must have been extremely rare.

I mentioned that once I dealt with the unicorns and the alicorn, the pegasi seemed lost and distracted, and I took out the ones I could. I had thought she might question me, but it seemed like she would hold back questions until the end. I finally mentioned dealing with the harpies, as I had kept proof of them. I mentioned the other monsters I had fought and ultimately came across and harvested a yellow slime. I secretly withdrew Epsilon as proof of my yellow slime core, ensuring it was wrapped in a thin slime layer to hide my engravings. Obviously, I had to keep Epsilon touching my hands at all costs.

Lisa was tapping away at her desk in thought. "So it seems you were accidentally responsible for the wild pegasi attack."

"I'm sorry... I had no idea. Was it bad?" I asked.

"No casualties, thankfully, quite a few injured, but nothing career-ending. It also brought some unexpected resources to the city. That's not to say it was a good thing, but from what you described, it could have been much worse."

"I'm not sure I follow. Worse, how?"

"Well, this alicorn was clearly their leader; imagine if it decided to make a coordinated attack. The pegasi were all wild and uncontrolled. Small blessings."

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I nodded.

"So while we can't really reward you for it, at least you won't be punished. Assuming you have proof?"

I pulled out the alicorn horn and placed it on the table, withdrawing a unicorn horn as well for comparison.

"Well. Proof doesn't get more real than that." Lisa chuckled.

"I've got quite a lot of others, harpy ears too, but I'm sure you wouldn't like those on your desk."

Lisa breathed in deeply before nodding. "Yes. Please don't ruin my desk. If your harvests are as plentiful and high-quality as usual, you might put our branch in debt..."

I chuckled before taking back my two horns. "Well. I'm open to negotiations; everything is up for grabs except the alicorn horn. I have its hide and wings, too."

"Bloody hell. I can't even imagine what a robe or armor made out of alicorn hide would do for a cleric." Lisa shook her head in disbelief. "I do have some questions."

"I'll answer freely as long as it's not too invasive."

Lisa nodded. "How did you get up on the island? I recall your original plan was to tame a griffin, but considering you didn't come back with one, I assume that plan didn't work... Or it met a tragic end?"

I knew this question was coming up, and thankfully, I had put together a plausible and demonstrable excuse. My original plan was to say the griffin died, and I returned to the surface by splashing down in a bubble spell or something similar. But, thanks to [Arcane Magic], I now had a slightly less insane-sounding excuse.

"No griffin taming, unfortunately, and I can even do a quick demonstration," I replied.

Lisa nodded, and I stood up, quickly casting [Aegis] lying horizontally, stepping on it before casting another, and continuing my large strides while the original disappeared. I kept making new ones as I strolled around her room off the ground; I was grateful she had a tall ceiling. Finally, I started stepping towards the floor again and smiled.

"Okay. I don't know whether to call you a genius or insane. One wrong step, and we'd be cleaning you off the ground. Or what if you run out of mana?"

"I hate to brag, but running out of mana is quite a rarity for me nowadays, and as long as I don't try to keep [Aegis] apparated for too long, it costs almost nothing."

Lisa chuckled but nodded in acceptance. "Thern is going to be slightly upset about your lack of flight; he was expecting you to just pop over to the dungeon and back."

I winced. Obviously, I could fly and literally pop over and back, but now I have contradicted that excuse. Lisa was tapping her desk in thought.

"Well, perhaps we will find another way to get you there quickly. I'll sleep on it. Worse case, you hire a really expensive horse, feed it some potions, and tell Thern to wait a bit."

"If I had [Wind Step], I'd just use that to get there," I said with a self-deprecating chuckle.

"No Air affinity, but you were lucky enough to get Ice and now Lightning." Lisa pointed out.

"Yup. I've got [Lightning Magic] and everything." I replied positively, showing a small casting of [Ball Lightning] in the palm of my hand.

Lisa chuckled. "Just be careful not to wear too much metal when practicing, or you might shock yourself."

I nodded in agreement, letting the spell fade without casting.

"So. Your new class, what are you willing to share about it?" Lisa asked. "You're welcome to refuse, but as Guild Master, if I don't at least formally ask, I could get in some hot water. I've never heard of it before, so I assume it's quite rare."

"I can't tell what conditions I met to acquire it... But I'm willing to give a little info."

"Honestly, anything at all to give the pencil pushers." Lisa sighed.

"It's an advanced mage class focusing on elemental magic in particular. Think Pyromancer, Hydromancer, and Cryomancer all wrapped into one."

"What about Geomancer, Aeromancer, and Electromancer?" Lisa asked curiously.

"It's called Electromancer... Seriously?" I questioned, and Lisa nodded, suppressing a light giggle. "Alright, well, to answer your question, yes, it includes those, but I don't have Air or Earth affinity."

"Yet. I'm assuming?"

"Fingers crossed."

"It sounds remarkable. I'm a bit sad you've abandoned a hybrid class, but it sounds almost like you've found something beyond that." She paused, then shrugged. "A hexa class?"

"No idea. But I'm enjoying it so far; I've never felt stronger."

"I'll bet. It's your first advanced class, so you'll gain amazing attributes."

"Speaking of which... I previously qualified for Assassin, and I was thinking of dipping in to see if I could get a useful skill or two before immediately swapping back. Any reason not to?"

"Now that you've already stepped into advanced classes, not really... How much do you know about cumulative levels?" Lisa asked.

"First I'm hearing of it, to be honest."

Lisa nodded as if expecting that response. "It's a bit hard to quantify, but your class levels per rank add up together. All your beginner classes add up to a number, your intermediate add up to another, and your advanced another."

'Sounds kind of like how my monster evolution levels used to add up to my elf level.' I thought to myself before giving a nod of understanding.

"Your cumulative levels make it harder to level up. Dip your toes into too many classes, and you might find yourself struggling harder than your peers to progress further."

"How bad is it?"

"Honestly, no idea. It's not like people have worked it out to a science. Supposedly, it differs from person to person, too. The more spiritual people even call it, the weight your soul can carry." Lisa paused for a dramatic effect on that bombshell before chuckling. "I just use common sense and don't invest a bunch of levels in a class I'm not interested in."

"So... Good idea or bad idea to dip into Assassin?"

"I'd say go for it. It's one level, and you were already a Rogue Mage hybrid. Maybe it will make the upgrade of Shadowcaster appear sooner to you, or maybe some Elementalist Assassin, who knows? At a minimum, you'll get an upgrade to [Sneak Attack]." Lisa said with a wink.

I nodded. Trixie had already hinted that there was a skill called [Assassinate], so it made perfect sense. I also wanted to dip into Monster Tamer; knowing what skills it had might give me more opportunities for reasonable excuses.

We chatted for a bit more before Lisa said I should go to one of the harvest rooms and dump my goods. Then, she would join me with Thern and Luke to catalog it.

I started dumping my goods on various tables, ensuring the alicorn parts were away from the unicorn or pegasi. I stacked the harpy ears in one corner, then placed all the griffin bits in another. I only had a few ice elemental cores, most of which didn't survive my explosive detonations. At least they weren't melting, oddly enough. Sadly, I had no proof of the wind elementals, cloud, or even my victory over the undine. Not that I was going to tell anyone about that fight.

When the gang arrived and entered the room, I noticed Whitney had joined them. Their astonishment at my newest collection was priceless.

"Bloody hell! This is even crazier than your salamander hunt!" Thern shouted as he stared around the room.

Lisa was more reserved in her astonishment, "I almost feel like she killed more pegasi solo than the adventurers and guards..."

Whitney was silent, her mouth wide as if trying to catch flies.

Luke gave a tired chuckle. "She was gone for so long... I honestly expected more."

"There would have been more... Sadly, they couldn't be harvested... Damned elementals." I said bitterly.