Chapter 75 - Going to the Adventurer’s Building

Once the old man had finished demonstrating all the fun things the suit could do, and informing me of its qualities, I sat amazed. "Wow. Hard to believe you did all that in a little over 6 hours."

He shakes his head. "Hour and a half. Then ten minutes for the 'sheath,' and the rest for the weapon."

I felt my jaw drop. "How…"

He gives me a girly wink, leaning on his short cane in order to kick his leg back. Taisha, behind him, also mocks— I mean, copies his pose. "Trade secret! Maybe if you became my Apprentice.."

Before he can finish, I'm already heading for the door, waving my hand back over my head. "No thanks, gotta go."

He holds his hand out pleadingly. "Wait!"

But I'm already out the door, heading back to the 'under construction' area of the town while I slip my clothes over my armor. My plan now was to find Eniyala and Lynsel.

Double checking I have my other belongings in my Inventory, and readjusting the handle, which I had moved to be perfectly vertical on the back of my right shoulder. I gave Panko's side a little scratch with my pointer finger, then resume walking.

A few minutes pass, and I observe the Mana around me with wonder. I was finally becoming used to the constant information flowing in my eye, and could even ignore it for the most part.

But man, it sure made things prettier sometimes.

I finally make it to an open square, which had mostly been reconstructed. The square itself hadn't retained much damage; it was mostly intact, aside from the rubble that had caused some cracks and dents from destroyed buildings surrounding it. Fixing up one of these buildings by passing up numerous materials is a girl, the waves of azure collected up into a singular point — a ponytail. Several chains stretch from two or three fingers, holding the materials for her and lifting them up to the roof, or through open windows on the first or second floor.

"I will never be able to comprehend how you can focus on that many things at once," I note as I walk up to her. She scoffs. "Yeah, I don't understand how or why you do half the things you do, but that doesn't stop you, now does it?"

I give her a cheeky smile, feigning innocence. "What could you mean? I'm the most rational and logical person you'll ever meet."

"Oh? Is that the new way to say 'incredibly stupid?'" She teases.

Knowing I've lost, I hang my head in defeat. "OMG, how'd you know," I reply monotonously.

"What's an Oh em gee? Some Reincarnate thing again?"

"Yup. Don't worry about it."

Despite having abbreviations in text, it seems that 'oh my Gods' was not a common phrase.

With a vibrate in my pocket, I pull out my phone to see a text from Espin. 'Speak of the devil…'

{Espin: hiii! I havent been able to see u yet to say hello and check on u. we need to hang out soon and catch up. btw theres someone at the administration building here 4 u}

{Klum: ya, sure. be there soon.}

I put my phone away, turning to Eniyala, who is passing off the last of the material. "Is Lynsel helping out too or something?"

She nods. "Yeah, why?"

"Espin texted me. I gotta head to the Adventurer's Building. Grab him and meet me there."

She rolls her eyes at me. "Yes, oh dear Master. Shall I fetch you a cup of tea as well?"

I wave her comment off. "Yeah, yeah, sarcastic ass. Get on with it."

She sticks out her tongue at me, and I return the gesture before leaving.

I didn't mind all the walking I was doing, since it was helping refresh my body after the resting period it had been in, and it was a much smaller town compared to the larger city of Galeise.

Now that I think about it, my body DID heal abnormally fast whenever I took a lot of damage. It wouldn't heal past a certain amount unless healing magic or medicine was used… but wasn't that still strange?

Opening my Statscreen, I gape in alarm at the scene in front of me.

[You have 44 unread notifications.]
[Would the user like to read the notifications? Y/N]
[Due to corruption of the Statscreen, the Tutorial will be reinstated.]

"What the fuck?!" I said, gathering a few looks. I give the people walking past an awkward smile before clicking [Y]. As I read through the messages of a fight I don't remember, I stare at the steady decline of the messages into random characters. "Shit…"

[User has defeated their first Demon!
This achievement forcefully rose one or more stats.
+2 STR, +2 INT]
[User has defeated their first Lesser Demon!
This achievement forcefully rose one or more stats.
+1 AGI, +1 MAG, +1 DEX]

Ding!

"Oh, no," I groan as I see the message that pops up next.

<The Tutorial has returned! Conditions were met, and now it is here to stay!>
<The Tutorial is touched that the user was so heartbroken about Tutorial's leaving began talking to user's self in hysteria.>

"I definitely didn't miss you. You were just useless."

<The Tutorial is hurt by the user's made up statements. Ouch!>

"Shut up."

<The Tutorial doesn't have a mute function.>

I just roll my eyes, swiping the message away, and all the others with my hand.

"Let's check my Stats, I guess," I mutter as I scroll down.

[Name: Klum]
[Age: 18]
[Lv: 19]
[EXP: 3420/32000]
[Class: Sword Saint's Disciple]
[Health: 67/67]
[Mana: 116/116]
[Stamina: 67/67]

STR: 19 MAG: 16
AGI: 34 DEX: 21
VIT: 10 INT: 30
Free Stat(s): 6

ACC: 26 <Skill(s) ready to upgrade>
DEF: 13 (+ 12/19) <— <Armor Rating>
POW: 21

[Skills: Klum's Reincarnation (Unfound), Sword Saint's Sigil (Unfound), Disciple's Mastery (Legendary)… {see more}]

[Spells unavailable]

"Dang, look at Tutorial being useful," I ponder amusedly, looking at the two messages by my Accuracy and Defense. I tap on the one by Accuracy, and I hear a small 'ding!'

[Requirements have been met. Critical Sight was upgraded to Critical Sight+.]

"Oooh. Nice," I coo at the newly upgraded Skill, checking its description.

[Critical Sight+ (Ultra Rare Active Skill): When activated, the user may choose a specific spot upon a target to place a Critical Mark. Upon hitting a Critical Mark, Atk will do 500% Dmg. (Max targets: 2 — Max Critical Mark per target: 2)
(Note: Second Mark will be placed randomly)
Cost: None — Duration: None — Cooldown: None]

"Woah, cool," I say. I swipe out of it, happy with the upgrade, to finally get a good look at this new Skill I had.

[Storming Moon Style (Ultra Rare Passive Skill): This Skill remains active at all times. As long as the user is utilizing the footwork, swordplay, or something connected to the style, Movement Speed and Attack Speed are increased 20%.]

"Shit. Guess it was worth it."

I don't have time to look at more, as the unharmed Adventurer's Building looms over me.

"I wonder who's waiting for me?" I muse, racking my brain. Anyone I knew could have found me by now, so…

"At least I don't have to worry about Gaslion right now… Dunno what's up his ass, other than demons or something," I grumble, opening the doors. Espin sees me immediately and waves brightly, calling me over.

"Klum! Over here!"

I stroll over, glancing over to the bar. Azello, who is unsurprisingly there, keeps his head down when he hears my name, refusing to make any eye contact. I smirk, turning my attention back to Espin.

The orange fruit colored hair of the girl bounces around as she clicks a button, and she leaps under the sliding window separating her and the line of desks next to her from the lobby. She flies forward, wrapping her arms around my shoulders to hug me, and my heel catches as I fall back, causing us both to tumble to the floor.

Espin's hair hangs around her face, curling inwards by its tips as she stares at me with wide, watery eyes. "When I heard you went toe to toe against a demon, I thought you were done for. But one of my sources let me know earlier this morning of you walking about, so I had to text you!! Also, this little girl came in asking about you."

"I'm completely fine, but do you think you could get off…? I'm already losing feeling in my arm."

"Oh! Sorry," she says in embarrassment as she scrambles off, sitting gently crisscrossed as she peers at me. "So, little girl? Was she blond? I might have already seen her," I ask, cracking my neck out.

"No, I wouldn't say I'm blond," a deep feminine voice says from behind me, with a strong tone.

I turn to see a woman, no taller than 5 feet, standing behind me with her hands on her hips. She is indeed not blond, though it is the strangest dirty blond I have ever seen, with each streak in her hair reflecting a different shade of brown or golden hair, mixed throughout. It is long and straight, running down just below her chest. Her face is small and round, and her dark brown eyes glare daggers at me. Her arms and legs seem tight and well-built, filling the simple brown pants and short-sleeve red shirt she's wearing well, and straps sit bound tight just below her shoulders, and just below her knees. 'She's even got menacing black boots on. And is that a thigh gap—'

"Where are you looking?"

"Nothing, ma'am! Is there something I can help you with??"

She glares for a second more before sighing, crouching down to be level with me. She opens those hardened looking brown eyes to lock eye contact with me as she speaks her next sentence.

"You're the Sword Saint, right?"

"H-huh?"

She scoffs, grabbing my right forearm and lifting it up. "I saw it at the tournament. And here it is right here."

I look in alarm to see a small wisp of smoke rising from the middle of my forearm. The sigil has burned into my armor so intensely there's now a hole in my sleeve, revealing the deep engraving on the forearm plate. On my last armor, it was faint and hard to see, but as if to spite me, the engraving is a deep black in the soft purple of the armor. 'The fuck…'

In the back of my head, I hear Alyphia's girlish giggle. 'Now they will know he is mine!'

'I swear to Luzieni…'

'You mean me!'

'…'

She doesn't wait for my response as her presence suddenly fades, and I'm left alone with the girl, who shakes my arm roughly once. "So?"

"Uh… What do you want?"

She lets my arm go, leaning back to her prior position. "Let me join you guys."

"…Huh? Why?"

In response, she simply pulls up her left sleeve. Etched into the side of her shoulder is a pentagonal shield, tip pointing downwards. Behind it is a circle, with points on the left and right sides.

Just like my sigil.

"I'm the Tank Saint," she says simply.