Chapter 26 – First Job
The guards gave us no problems when we exited the city. The copper Adventurer's badge was more than adequate to identify ourselves. I was considering how my "Occupation" in the system was now deemed to be Adventurer. I noticed that all 4 beastkin also had this role in the Occupation slot. I did not like how my friends would tend to idolize me. They would think of me as a paragon of justice, a hero of the masses, and an intrepid adventurer that would bring about equality. I did not know much about this world yet, but I knew that I was not able to fit the mold that it was trying to make for me. I insisted that my friends treat me just like any other friend and that I was nothing more than an immigrant. While they seemingly accepted my answer, I couldn't help but wonder if my request was being ignored in their hearts. Whatever the case, I was not afraid of hard work. It was time to give this world my 100%. First, we would accomplish both jobs before sundown. The job for finding healing plants was an F-Rank job. The job to take down the annoying boar was an E-Rank job. I fully expected that Midnight could likely take down the boar on his own, so I felt very little fear over this new assignment. One nice benefit was the fact that we could keep the boar for food afterwards if we showed the elderly man that owned the property the remains of the animal. As we approached the designated land, I could see rich corn fields in front of us...or whatever they call corn on Vando!
We met briefly with the old man that owned the land. He was a traditional farmer who grew corn and sold it in the market. Apparently, there were still farms outside the established greenhouse buildings. The gentleman was a dwarf with long gray hair and a white beard. He went by the name of Dhofit. I wasn't doing so great with pronouncing dwarven names but this one was simple enough. After we identified ourselves and our assignment, Mr. Dhofit showed us the edge of woods that bordered one of his gardens. He pointed out the area where the boar had eaten his crops, the fencing it damaged, and the land it dug up. It appeared that the boar was making itself at home. We walked into the woods carefully. I had my Presence Detection at level 2 and it was close to leveling up again. I was always using the skill at any given moment, and I purposefully used it on anything and everything. This was improving the skill rapidly. When I asked my companions about it, they said that the skill was quite rare. It was usually granted upon rogue and assassin types of builds. They did not understand how I had so many skills. Apparently, the average adventurer would live their life with only a handful of battle-type skills. Regular skills for everyday life such as cooking, cleaning, and hiking were common with most people but mage or fighting skills were extremely rare and took a ton of practice. To get the archery skill, a person would have to practice with a bow for years. And yet I learned archery by firing a single shot from the bow! I learned Sword Fighting Lv. 1 just by holding a sword in battle.
I considered this discrepancy. It appears that my Fast Learning was giving me a cheat towards the skills that I wanted in this life. My level 2 in Spear Fighting was already equivalent to most city guards. My Barrier Vision skill was immensely superior to any barrier mage. Here I was thinking that I was quite weak but apparently, I was already in the top 20%! Our fight with Monte had been eating at my self-confidence. I was assured by Midnight that Monte is one of the toughest shadow fighters in the world of Vando. The fact that we escaped was only due to a misunderstanding caused by the vine wrap skill that Bliss had exhibited. I was not looking to fight many people. Deep inside, however, I knew I would encounter Monte again. I took that danger very seriously. I had even considered staying in the city out of security. Based on the lizardman's ability to sneak through shadows, I did not expect even the city of Malduhr to keep him away from us. For that reason, I felt that Presence Detection was a very important skill to level up. As we treaded through the woods, I used my Analyze Vision. Engineer Vision only worked on man-made objects so I could only use that on our clothing and gear. Midnight was the only one in our group wearing leather armor. The rest of our group decided to wait to see what we could learn when learning blacksmithing with the Queen and her apprentices. It was an added risk that I didn't like but my increased barrier skill seemed to compensate for that to a degree. As long as I stayed close to the group, my barriers would protect everyone. Midnight liked to jump into the fray and finish off any opponents, so we insisted that he always wear armor.
About 10 minutes into the forest, my combination of Analyze and Botany and Herbalism helped me to identify green root. Once I found an area of them, it was an extremely common root that grew in a grove. We quickly collected over 30 of the roots into my storage. I asked if we should leave a few but apparently that was not necessary. Green roots would often sprout from the ground when there was a surplus of mana in the soil. Grass would naturally change into it. This made me curious about whether or not I could create an artificial green root farm.
"Could we not just empty our mana into grass and cause it to transform?" I asked the question with hope.
"How would you transfer mana into the grass? Do you have a skill that transfers mana? I've never heard of such an ability!" Lilly was quick to speak for the rest of the group. I contemplated her answer. I often heard of stories where mages were proficient at mana movement. I was wondering if this was possible or not. I tried imagining mana around me and imagined myself moving it around, but nothing happened.
"If I figure it out, you'll be the first people I share it with."