Syl

Chapter 146: Forced Vacation

Everyone was eagerly examining the materials. Luke was trying to catalog everything, Thern was inspecting the quality, Whitney was testing the sharpness of some of the claws, and Lisa looked like she was trying to ponder something.

"Any materials you planning on keeping or having crafted?" Luke asked.

"Hmm... Not really. The only thing I want to keep is the alicorn horn." I pointed out. "So everything else is up for grabs."

Thern looked like he had sucked on a lemon as he glared at the unicorn horns. "I wish I had bloody Light affinity..."

"You could always hire her to hunt something for you. I'm sure there are many appropriate monsters when you go home." Lisa mentioned.

"Aye... That's a good idea." Thern agreed.

It took a while, and there were some questions about the monsters and how it was to fight them. Luke and Lisa looked almost relieved that some of the parts weren't in absolutely pristine and perfect condition. I felt the need to defend myself and pointed out how they would've been without the griffon's horrendous crash landing. Lisa was especially happy that I had killed a Harpy Queen.

"As impressive as all of this is, that might be your greatest long-term accomplishment. The roads and routes wherever Glimmerock is currently floating will be much safer without a Harpy Queen capturing men." Lisa said. "We might need to set up some sort of annual quest to encourage people to try to reach and explore Glimmerock. Letting monsters spawn in such large quantities unpruned is especially dangerous..."

"Maybe encourage the nobles to invest in a small airship?" Whitney suggested. "I'm sure they'd be greatly tempted by the monsters it spawns. I mean... Did anyone know it spawned unicorns?"

"Not from the records I've read..." Thern said, scratching his beard. "Harpies and griffins were a known and the usual stuff you'd find on a floating island. But it seems this one has become rather Fae-ish, for whatever reason."

"Well, maybe a certain elf can tell one of them about her recent adventures," Lisa said with a suggestive wink.

"Johnathan?" I asked with a frown.

"He's asked when you're returning nonstop. I don't know what you did to him on your dinner date." Lisa chuckled.

"I didn't know you were dating someone..." Whitney said, looking slightly offended. I wasn't sure why.

"It was one dinner. He made it a request. Otherwise, he wouldn't sell me a white slime core." I pointed out.

Lisa chuckled, joining in. "I can vouch for that; sorry for teasing. Johnathan was looking to gain more influence and thought being seen in the company of an elf would help his business."

Whitney looked slightly relieved at that and nodded her head. Weird.

We finished up and left the room. Luke and Lisa said they might have to auction most of the stuff off unless they could devise another solution. I made sure to tell them I was in no rush. I headed off with Whitney, and we shared a pleasant evening at the inn, where I was coerced into retelling my story again over food and drink.

I would've thought I should rush to the dungeon, but instead, I was told to spend a few days unwinding and relaxing. I spent a day shopping and chatting with Whitney, buying far too many clothes as usual.

We also stopped by the guild, where I requested a chance to swap my classes privately.

"Could I not just buy one of these crystals?" I wondered aloud.

"You could... But if it's not linked to a city, it won't work. They are quite expensive and heavily regulated. Not to mention, as soon as you left the city walls, it would cease to function unless you returned." Luke explained.

It sounded like there was more there, but frankly, I didn't care at the time. As soon as I heard I couldn't just carry the crystal around with me as I adventured, I lost interest. Whitney wished me luck, and I was given a crystal to make my choices.

I hadn't expected it, and nobody warned me, but when I swapped classes like that, I felt my Mana plummet. Yet, on the flip side, I felt like my mind had sped up abruptly, and my perception of the world slightly slowed down. Was this the effect of having an absurdly high agility? Just an absolutely immense amount of speed and reaction time. I pulled out my alicorn horn and flourished it with unnatural speed and precision.

'Weird how swapping to Enchanter didn't affect me this much... This is certainly interesting.' I wondered before looking over my new skills.

While I usually accepted any upgrade immediately, I was slightly concerned after [Evasion] became [Tranquil Flow] and lost some more generic usability. So, I made sure to look over the two skills first.

Adds bonus damage to attacks on unaware or defenseless targets, scaling with skill level.

This bonus damage partially ignores most forms of mitigation and resistance if executed from stealth.>

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Adds bonus damage to attacks on unaware or defenseless targets, greatly scaling with skill level.

This bonus damage moderately ignores most forms of mitigation and resistance if executed from stealth.

Once per day per skill level, you can trigger an [Assassination] attack that deals 2x+0.1x per level. If the target is aware of you, the bonus damage is reduced by half.

If you defeat an enemy in a single attack while they are completely unaware, bonus experience will be awarded.>

'Yeah... That's a no-brainer upgrade.' I chuckled and immediately accepted it.

I was happy to see the usual "greatly scaling" and pleasantly surprised to see "partially ignores" upgrade to "moderately ignores". That wasn't even considering the special [Assassination] attacks, which would deal almost triple damage and bonus experience for one-shot kills.

And there was another prompt waiting for me.

'Exchange? Not upgrade?' I wondered at the different wording and examined the two skills before deciding.

Helps the user hide their presence, greatly scaling with skill level.

Obscures the user's Lifeforce and Mana while the skill is active.>

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

Helps the user hide their presence, greatly scaling with skill level.

When the user is within a shadow, darkness, or twilight, their presence is extremely reduced, and Lifeforce, Heat, and Mana are obscured.>

[Shadow Stealth] had the potential to be better, but [Vanish] was more aligned with me, and I didn't want to lose the ability to obscure my Mana. I had to hope that if I discovered the advancement of Shadowcaster, I'd eventually get a suitable upgrade for [Vanish]. I also worried that [Shadow Stealth] wouldn't work well with [Magical Subterfuge].

Happy with my decisions, I made another swap. The world returned to its usual pace, and I lost the extreme grace, dexterity, and speed I had just gained.

I shuddered when I saw the skill. I knew it was coming, and even though I mentally prepared myself, it still gave me a feeling of dread.

Form a bond with a willing monster. Accepting the bond cannot be forced by any means.

The monster will receive the [Bonded Companion] emblem, a requirement for future companion-related skills to function.

Your [Bonded Companion] is always treated as a Party member to you. You may only have one [Bonded Companion].

If the monster lacks basic intelligence and language capabilities, it will receive an initial mental improvement and the [Universal Language] skill to facilitate communication between the two individuals.

The bond lets both individuals know one another's health status and allows greater cooperation as their bond grows. As the bond grows, further bonuses will be given.

A [Bonded Companion] still has free will; however, [Order] commands can be given to give temporary situational bonuses in extreme circumstances. The [Bonded Companion] only gains these circumstantial bonuses if it agrees with the [Order]; otherwise, it can attempt to resist with its Willpower against your own, and depending on the severity, a permanent bond penalty will be applied.

This skill has no levels.>

Your [Bonded Companion] receives additional skill experience when you are training them and minor additional experience for kills earned together.

Bonuses experience scales with skill level and bond level.>

I felt a little sad reading both of these skills... If the circumstances had been different, I would have had an extremely fruitful and prosperous relationship with Sylthaeryn. [Order] must have been what she had done to me, and even the skill description hinted at not using them lightly. A permanent bond penalty certainly sounded bad.

I bought the skill. I wanted to know if I could tame another slime or something else. It was only a single point, and I certainly had them to spare. After that, I promptly swapped back to my original class and felt my magical might return.

Afterward, Whitney and I chatted about my brief moments as an Assassin, and she agreed with my choice to keep [Vanish]. We both chatted at length about how big of an upgrade [Assassinate] was compared to [Sneak Attack].

Two letters and a familiar-looking box awaited me when I returned to my room. The first letter was from Johnathan soliciting my presence for dinner the next day, and the second letter was from Lisa telling me about the request and offering a borrowed dress and outfit. She also hinted at me mentioning unicorns and the island in great detail and requested me to meet her the day after. It sounded like it was time to get my two white slime cores, and I was most eager.

Whitney was upset about me going to dinner with some noble but cheered when she saw me in Lisa's dress. She lamented not having a self-repair and size-altering fancy dress of her own, and I found myself regretting not being able to just do it for her. I could probably buy one and enchant it secretly, but I worried about what sort of paper trail that might leave.

Dinner with Johnathan was... Interesting. His attitude was completely different as I had expected. It was strange being able to see two sides of the same person due to my shape-shifting nature. As per Lisa's request, I made sure to embellish my time on Glimmerock as much as possible, and at times, I swear I could see Johnathan's eyes filling with gold coins. Finally, it came time for him to offer me my cores. I was so excited, even though it wouldn't be anything new.

"It took a while, but I managed to procure another white slime core," Johnathan said proudly. "I had to summon the might of the Merchant's Guild to have a wonderful magical tool enchanted to replace this one."

'Only one?' I thought curiously. I had made two of those refrigerator eggs.

"I'm most grateful, although if you have more, I'd be willing to purchase them too?"

Johnathan looked like he was about to say something but instead gave a toothy smile before making a script change. "Don't worry, Syl, I'm sure I'll come across another one sooner or later, and then we can share each other's company again."

'Bastard is holding out on me to secure another dinner date...' I thought grumpily.

Sadly, I couldn't act on my Sylvester knowledge and just had to purchase the one white slime core graciously. The rest of the dinner wasn't worth mentioning, and when I got back to my room, I ate the delicious core.

Trait [Cryo Slime] gained.

Trait [Slime Density] gained.>

'Now that is a big level jump!' I thought happily.

[Morph Slime] had been stuck at seven since my Chimeric evolution, and my latest meal had finally pushed it over the edge. Being a combined skill, it must progress much slower since it was [Shape Slime] and [Slime Density] wrapped into one skill. At least, that was the only reason I could think of. I practiced a bit of [Rune Tracing] in the evening, which was now part of my evening before-bed rituals, and wondered what Lisa wanted to chat about...

I cleaned Lisa's dress with the power of slime! Some part of me wondered if Lisa gave me a different one this time because she wanted to borrow my cleaning services again. After having a casual breakfast with Whitney, we headed towards the guild. Luke strangely told me to head towards a small enclosed training room rather than Lisa's office, and Whitney was unfortunately not allowed to follow.

"Syl, I hope the evening was pleasant?" Lisa asked, wearing a lot more casual clothes than I had ever seen her in before.

"It was alright... I think he's sold on trying to get access to unicorns, so at least that was positive." I handed her the box. "Here's the dress back; thanks for letting me borrow it."

Lisa opened it up, and I caught a very satisfied smile on her face before she closed it. "No problem at all, any time."

"So what's the meeting about? And why not in your office?" I asked.

"I have a proposition for you. I had to get permission first, which took longer than expected... But I finally got approval yesterday. If you accept it, the guild wins, I win, and you win. It also has the added bonus of potentially solving your transportation issue, assuming you weren't just bragging about your near-endless Mana." Lisa said.

"I'm listening..." I said, unable to hide my curiosity.

"In exchange for some of the materials you brought, I have been authorized to show you one of my skills. It's one I think you'll really like." Lisa said, waggling her eyebrows.

"You needed permission to show me one of your skills?" I asked, extremely confused.

"Yes. In addition, you'll need to swear to the guild that you won't share it with anyone else unless you request authorization."

"Why...?" I said, feeling very confused. "Whitney mentioned people hoarding skills and traits... Honestly, I don't really like the idea."

Lisa smiled sadly. "I understand your frustration. But it's in the interest of safety as well. Imagine giving a young adventurer a powerful skill he or she didn't really earn or wasn't ready for. They might feel invincible and head to an early grave. Or worse, use it for shameful purposes."

I sighed reluctantly. "I suppose."

"The skill I want to give you is from my advanced class... So I needed permission to share it. I could easily give you [Lightning Magic] because... Well, if I'm completely honest, I didn't believe you'd get Lightning Affinity." Lisa chuckled. "But you could easily swap to Sorcerer or something and get the skill; I just saved you some time and effort once you were qualified."

Seeing my interest raised, Lisa continued. "Some concerns were raised, but after your accomplishments and when I mentioned the significant contributions you could offer us, I convinced the pencil pushers. So, what do you say?"

I nodded and smiled. "I swear to the Adventurer's Guild not to share your skill without receiving authorization."

I half expected some notification or something or for Lisa to make me repeat it while she used some [Guild Master] emblem ability, but instead, she just nodded and smiled.

"Good! I'm trusting you, so have a look at this bad boy!" She said excitedly.

I held my breath in anticipation as she held out her hand, revealing the skill.

Move a distance with lightning-fast speed, even in midair. However, the final destination must be on the ground, or the user will suffer significant internal lightning damage.

A thunderous discharge is released at each point of arrival, scaling with skill level, and can be willingly reduced but not entirely negated.

Skill level determines Mana efficiency, maximum chained usage, and distance traveled.>