"Wait a second... why are we walking normally?"
The rest look at me. Of course, how did I not think of it before? Sometimes having a very large spellbook isn't a good thing, is it? Makes you forget what Spells you have... I mean, I don't know if I have it, but... I should.
"Longstrider."
I focus the Spell on myself and take an experimental take a step... holy shit! Despite only making a single step, I ended up... uhm... about 3 meters away from where I started! It's like you teleport forward on every step!
"Kai... what was that?", asked Elaina.
"A Spell I just remembered I have. And also our new way of travel between points of interest."
Of course, Teleport would be better, but... Alaric wants to travel by feet to become "worthy" or something... moreover, I'd rather not use a high-level Spell unless absolutely necessary.
"Longstrider. Longstrider. Longstrider", I consecutively cast it on Alaric, Elaina and Boldwyn. "You will now move 3 meter forward with every step. Just... be careful. I don't know what happens if you end up in a wall as a result."
I could possibly stack it, but... then, it would probably become way less controllable. It's not speeding up time, but a direct distorting of space... maybe even cause and effect... or I am digging too deep into it. But for travel, it shall be better than Haste... wait... why not both?
"Haste. Haste. Haste. Haste."
I also apply Haste to all of us. Now not only we teleport 3 meters forward on each step, but also make steps faster! Kyle, you idiot, why didn't you think of it before?! We would already be in Freeholds with that!... maybe. I don't know how long it would've taken.
"Kai, I... sometimes I wonder, what the hell are you?!", Alaric said, bewildered.
"You can't wonder more than I do", I reply.
The three practice for some time. Looks like they aren't used to such a travelling method... can't blame them. I, however, adapt to it easier, apparently. Is it because it's my own Spell? Must be.
"So, you guys ready? We have entire world to cross."
"Yeah! That's amazing!"
"You said it, witch-girl... however, I can't help but wonder... why didn't you do that before?!", says Baldie.
"Didn't I tell you? I just remembered I have this Spell!"
To be fair, I wasn't even sure I do, but... I am not surprised. Sometimes I wish I had some ability to magically know all Spells I can cast in advance... but oh well. As we continue walking, I whip out the "borrowed" diary and write down:
-Longstrider: Makes target move 3 meters forward each time they take a step. I wonder if it works mid-air. Probably stackable with adding distance, but I don't want to risk assuming it bends space. Teleporting 3 meters forward on every step is much easier to control than teleporting 100 meters on every step. Incredibly useful for long travel if carriages or teleportation aren't an option.
Longstrider pays off! Just in 3 hours – which to outside world were just 1.5 hours due to Haste – we reach a small town. If it would be Earth, I would classify it as "very small village", but... from what I've seen so far, in this world, it can be classified as a town. Small wooden houses with straw rooftop... some of them were that small that I'd say they're 0.5 story buildings. There was obviously obligatory stone well in what I'd assume the middle of the village, and a huge tree. Oak, probably. In other words, the "RPG Fantasy Village Starter Pack"... feels so good to be back to criticizing after the Othburten! Now, Kyle, let's see if you're still good at fantasy clichés... I predict this village's name will be... "Oakhaven"!... or, maybe, "Mudbottom"!
"We already reached Iyakretzilutgl! This new Spell of yours works wonders, Kai!", Elaina smiles and laughed.
How is it called, again?... yeah, no, I ain't remembering, let alone pronouncing this name.
"How many 'awfully generic' villages are we to cross until we reach the border, again?", I ask.
"That's the last one. If we'll continue in this pace, I feel like we will leave Lumina tomorrow. Glad to have you!", Alaric answered and also smiled.
They look... happy. It warms my heart. Just a bit, though. Sigh... well then, let's unpack what we have here. The sun is going to set soon, so if we don't want to set a camp again, we'd rather look for an inn. Unfortunately, this village looks too small to even have one... I am already preparing for the worst. Of course, I can just make a camp by using Tiny Hut... hell, maybe it will even create a whole hut... but it's exactly because I don't know what it will create I want to have an option to not use it. A safe choice would nice to have.
"So... is there any place for us to sleep here?", I ask.
They all look at me in confusion... again! What did I say wrong now?
"How would we know? We never were here", explains Alaric.
Fair point.
"Moreover, even if there is... we have a problem...", says Elaina, looking away.
"Ye, what's that?", Boldwyn looks at her.
"We're almost out of money... and provision... we lost most of it during the fight in Othburten..."
We all look at her dumb-struck. For the first time, we are all as stunned as one another.
"Uhh... it's a village in a fantasy world", I say with a shrug. "Surely there's a ton of 'kill 10 rats' and 'collect 20 bear asses' side-quests we can do for money."
They glance at me again. Of course, they don't know what a "side-quest" is, or why do people collect bear asses for them.
"What I mean is, surely there is some kind of, I don't know, mission board, where adventurers can take on some... missions, to do something for citizens, to gain some money, right?", I explain.
"Oh, right! In the Elder Oak there's a questboard!", says Elaina, as light returns to her eyes.
As light returned to her eyes, it left mine. It's... it's even called "quests"?! Are they for real?! Maybe using Spare the Dying on myself when I was stabbed was a bad idea, huh... but oh well, it's a little bit too late to complain about surviving. Fine, let's do some fetching quests... just you wait, bear asses.
We go that huge tree. Apparently, it's hollow inside. Is it, like, a huge building in the shape of a tree? I think any tree on Earth would just wither and die out if it had a huge hall in it. Either way, there it was. About 3 by 3 meters wooden board. For such a small village, there's a surprising number of adventurers here. And it seems like they're all arguing with some elderly-looking man near the board... what's that with fantasy villages and old men anyways?!
"Where are all the quests, grams?!", said a low, masculine voice.
"Yeah, pops, the bloody hell is it?!", said a higher-pitched, feminine voice.
"We came here to get some money, and you dare disappoint us?!", said someone else.
Huh? Quests are... gone? I focus my sight on the board and... goodness gracious! There's, indeed, not a single piece of paper there! It's perfectly clean, aside from numerous scratches of various depth. I look at Elaina.
"Is it normal that there are no quests whatsoever?"
She looked at me like I'm some kind of idiot.
"It's simply impossible. Mathematically, logically, and physically!", she said. "There are about 300 people in Iyakretzilutgl, and usually, every single one of them wants something, sometimes putting multiple quests!"
"It's as healer-boy says", said Boldwyn who was standing on shoulder of some adventurer without them even realizing it. "Board's empty."
Now it was Baldie who got "you are an idiot" stare from both Elaina and Alaric.
"Love it or hate it, it's simply true."
I nod towards the commotion that is only getting lower. I can hear steel being pulled from sheaths... with the most Hollywood-like sound effect. Screams get louder and louder.
"We need to stop the upcoming bloodshed!", screamed Alaric, somehow quickly getting his sword from back scabbard.
"Calm Emotions", I mutter.
The yelling that had been blasting my eardrums to the smithereens a moment ago stopped, and blades went back to their sheathes. Except for Alaric. I mentally made him an exception of this Spell, so that he would look funny. As the crowd, almost forgetting about questboard and the old man, dissipates, it's just Alaric with his sword drawn, ready to fight an enemy that doesn't even exist anymore. Instead, our hero just looks at others in confusion, before removing his weapon.
"Wh-what just happened?", he asks awkwardly.
"Umm, mister elder, can I ask what is going on? Where are all the quests? And what was the reason for this barely avoided battle?", asks our witch.
The old man, whose eyes I can't even see, slowly turns to her. His body trembles, and I'm not sure if it's from fear for his life, or from old age. I'd give him estimate of 90-year-old, so it may be the latter. He says... something? I can't hear it. His voice is as weak as stale wind. Great. Just great.
"I see... so it's a singular person who takes all the quests each midnight...", Elaina said.
She can... understand him? Is she lip-reading him? Or using some magic?... or does she simply make up what he says?
The elder nodded... wait, she actually does understand him?!
They proceeded to talk for quite some time, while I, Boldwyn and Alaric were standing near one of the two "exits" from this huge tree. It was a hollow space that pierced the tree through, so you could enter and exit it on both west and east... it has to be some magical construct, a tree can't be like that. In a meantime, I have finished writing a new Spell I just discovered:
-Calm Emotions: Calms people in area around me. Range unknown. People seem to just forget about the thing that caused them to get angry. I can make people exceptions from that with a thought. Doesn't seem to work on myself.
Finally, our little wizard came up to us.
"So, that's what happened... For about 10 days at this point, each night, at roughly midnight, some adventurer named Allen comes and takes all the quests. Since in this village all quests put up by villagers need to be accepted, they are only put on the board by 11 PM. In other words, unless we wait for quests to be put up... well, we have no chance of getting one. I suggest we just go the capital and get some money there. Villagers don't plan to stop it, because, well... that man also does every single quest he accepts before the sun rises."
At that exact time, my stomach buzzed in disagreement. Come to think of it, there was some Spell allowing to create food in D&D, wasn't there?...
"Why does that guy even do that?! People here may have quite a lot of money to give to adventurers who do their chores, but... do every single quest, every single day and even do them all in 1 night?! It makes no sense!"
Boldwyn was furious. Strange. Out of all people, I didn't expect him to be like that. But as for his question, I think I have an answer...
"He's grinding", I say with a sigh.
"What?", asks Alaric.
"Back in my world, we have a word for repetitive, time-consuming tasks someone performs to earn miniscule rewards. That word is 'grind'", I explain.
"Just like a job!", said Boldwyn and laughed.
"Yeah, kinda? But 'grind' usually refers to videogames."
"Refers to... what?", asked Elaina.
Right. They have no idea what it is. But it doesn't matter.
"Uhhh, forget it. What's more important is that... such behavior isn't common for this world, right?"
"Yes. Never heard someone do anything like that", Alaric answered and shrugged.
Heh. Well if it isn't just perfect... I walk up to the old man and ask him:
"We can also put our own quests on the board, right?"
He says... something. Damn in, I already forgot he talks as loud a mute.
"Just nod or shake your head, okay?"
He nods.
"Can we put up our own quests?"
He nods again.
"Do we just need to write them down and pin them there?"
He shakes his head.
"Do we need to get them approved first?"
He nods. It gets annoying.
"Where do we do that?"
He, with slight pride on his face, points to himself. I can see why people got angry around that guy... well, no matter. I need to meet that Allen guy.
"Hey, guys, I know there aren't any quests, but... we will need to wait until tomorrow to depart. I'll get us a place to sleep in, no worries", I say to the other three and get to drafting my own quest.
At 11 PM, my quest saying "To Allen. Meet me at the hills east from this village. Come as soon as you can after finding this message. Reward: EXP" got onto the board. People looked at me with confusion reading it. Of course they don't know what EXP is. But if Allen is who I think he is – another person from Earth, or at least from a similar world – he would know what it is. I want to talk to him if that's the case. Maybe he knows how can I return. As to cover the problem of having no roof above our heads, I decide to use Tiny Hut. I go the hill I mentioned in my own quest, with Alaric, Elaina and Boldwyn following behind me. Well then...
"Leomund's Tiny Hut!"
Nothing happens. Alright, it's also sometimes called just "Tiny Hut"... Let's try that.
"Tiny Hut!"
The ground rumbles as if during an earthquake. Stone walls erupt from beneath the grown, creating... a huge mansion!... yeah, in hindsight, I should've known. Can't say I'm surprised, either. It was pretty expected outcome of a Spell called "Tiny Hut", given how all my previous Spells turned out to be. As my party, minus Boldwyn who already got used to it, look at it in surprise, I whip out "my" diary and write down:
-Tiny Hut: Creates a 2-story mansion. From the sight of it, it's over 1000 square meters. Maybe around 1500.
"Well, would you like to stay here for the night?", I say with a smug smile.
"So you...", Alaric starts, stuttering. "You could... just do that?! All the time?! And we wouldn't have to spend a single piece of silver on it?!"
Oh, so THAT was his concern, not me being able to do it!... actually, yeah, I guess they stopped being surprised either.
"And not only we could save our money", exclaimed Elaina, "but we also could get comfortable manor each time we need it! I-I could've gotten proper rest! But you just... didn't!"
I... really do need to come with an excuse, huh...
"Look, look, guys, I can't exactly use it in a city. It would just destroy other houses!", I say.
"Oh, please! We had at least 2 times we needed to set up a camp!", said Alaric.
"I didn't even know I could use this Spell!"
"Oh, but now you know!", this time it was Boldwyn.
"Guilty..."
I am not fighting this 1 versus 3...
We open the door and enter the mansion. It doesn't seem to have a keyhole, but it can be closed from inside with a bar. It's a very comfortable manor, I'd kill to live in such a place back on Earth!... on the other hand, it has no electricity and definitely no internet, so... maybe I'll pass. There aren't any people here.
"Are there also some servants you can summon? Given you are a 'lord of a manor' now and all", Elaina's voice was dripping with sarcasm.
Oh, she's mocking me?! Just you wait, Witch-Hat! Never did I think this Spell will be useful!
"Summon Celestial."
In pillars of light, 3 angels descended from the sky again. They all entered the mansion and bowed their heads.
"We are here to aid you, servant of the light", one of them said.
"Uhm... Kai, who are these freaks?", whispered Elaina on my ear.
"I don't know their names, but I they're angels, I just summoned them", I replied in full voice.
Angels looked insulted and disgusted.
"Just you know, mortal! Our names are Ga-"
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, I don't care. Keep them for yourself, Angel B."
"A-angel B?...", he replied.
"Yeah. You're Angel A, Angel B and Angel C. Welcome to my little estate that, I hope, will be gone by tomorrow morning. You're here to cook food and do laundry."
The honorable, powerful and holy beings of celestial realm looked at me with disappointment, sadness and even more disgust than before. Well, it's the life we live in. You may be the holiest and purest person out there, but you WILL be at beck-and-call for enterprisers.
For the first time on our journey, we had a room for each of us, our clothes were being washed, and we probably had a nice evening meal!... speaking of that... as I was sitting on a soft bed in my room, Angel C approached me with humble reverence and said:
"Servant of the light, we must inform you that we cannot prepare food, as this place holds no ingredients."
Right. I guess Tiny Hut only creates the building itself with all of its furniture, not the food in... whatever the alternative of a fridge is in a medieval mansion. Now if only there was some D&D Spell that could create food and drink... such as...
"Create Food and Drink."
Countless foodstuffs spawned into existence, rapidly filling the whole room and pressing Angel C and me against a wall... Kyle, you... should really experiment outside first...
"D-dispel?"
I only targeted some of pieces of foods, so there was something left, as the majority of the food disappeared into nothingness. Me and the angel fell to our knees as the mass that just almost killed us vanished.
"H-harmony Adept, what was it?", asked the angel.
"It's a Spell I just learned I can use... I see there is some meat, bread and fruits left, can you please make something with them?"
He sighed.
"Your will is my law."
He took what was left of that food eruption, and left the room. I took the diary and continued writing:
-Create Food and Drink: Creates a vast amount of different kinds of food. In fact, it creates such a vast amount that using it in enclosed space is dangerous. I wonder can I harm people by using it twice in a building... well, without killing myself.
Finally, angels cooked some dinner – that was just magnificent, I have to give it to them – and my allies went to bed... I got up. Since I didn't have my clothes of this world – they were still wet after angels did the laundry – I had my Earth clothes on me. It was a few minutes after midnight, according to a huge ugly mechanical clock that was hanging on a wall of my room. I left the mansion and stood outside.
"Darkvision".
Now I could see my surroundings clearly. Cold night wind brushed my hair... it was a bit too cold for my tastes. I guess I got used to heavy clothes I used to wear in this world. But not much I can do. I doubt there's a D&D Spell that can create clothes, and I already tried fire creation and it didn't work. No matter. If that Allen guy is indeed from Earth, he will be here any minute now...
...or will he? Now that I think of it, if he likes to live here, he may avoid making contact with others who got transported to this world. But I also may be simply overthinking it... man, trying to understand people who unironically grind in the noob village is hard. I was never good in psychology, especially when it comes to people with different mindsets. Not every single problem in life can be solved with Hold Person, I guess.
But I was lucky. A cloaked figure appeared in front of me... I couldn't even see how he approached. He wasn't here a moment ago, and now, he stands about 10 meters away from me. I hadn't heard a single footfall... oh, you've gotta be kidding me!
The figure that appeared was less of a person and more of a collection of edgy tropes given physical form. He wore some kind of traditional robes... I assume, Japanese or Chinese, but in palette of black, charcoal and, somehow, even even darker black. There are also some symbols on his robes that, if I am to guess correctly, mean nothing. His long, silky pale hair defied gravity at the tips, and one of his eyes was its, I'd assume, natural dark brown, while the other was bright-red and glowed with some kind of silver flame. Huh, I guess he keeps a lot of sands under his table.
I just complained about the night being chilly, but around that guy air is good 10 degrees colder. Of course it is. He is so cool that even air around him grows cooler. And fallen red leaves – that appeared out of nowhere in a season that seems like summer – swirl at his feet in a perfect, dramatic radius. There was also some kind of dark aura with dark red outline that I could barely see... never saw this Super Saiyan form, but go off, I guess...
For fuck's sake. That's a living edgy teenager's DeviantArt OC... and I, unfortunately, need his help.
"Uhhh, Hi?", I said and waved my hand. "You're that Allen guy, right?"
"Wǒ bù shì Àilún. Shì 「Ài Lún」."
...
What? Uhhh, from my limited knowledge of how it sounds, I assume it is... Chinese? I've watched enough anime, k-dramas and donghua to be able to tell the difference between Chinese, Korean, and Japanese.
Ok, how do I put it... it's terrible! Not only looking at the guy makes me want to vomit, but I can't even speak with him normally! Uhm... okay...
"Comprehend Languages."
With this, I should be able to know what he's saying. So, I try again.
"Uhm, Allen... what exactly you've been doing around these parts?"
"Shǒuxiān, wǒ shuōle, shì 「Ài Lún」. Zhìyú nǐ de wèntí, wǒ zài shuā jīngyànzhí hé jīnbì, wèile biàn qiáng."
...uhuh. Alright. I guess Comprehend Languages either simply doesn't work, or only works on languages of this world... in other words, it simply doesn't work. Amazing.
"Don't you speak common languages of this world? Hell, no, can you speak English?!", I ask in desperation.
"I can", he answers in perfectly fine English.
HE CAN!
"Wǒ zhǐshì dānchún bù xiǎng shuō nàxiē dīděng yǔyán", he added.
Oh, god! Can you stop being edgy?! I am just trying to ask you a thing or two!
Suddenly, the mood shifted. He covered his normal eye with a palm of his hand, and the fire emanating from his other eye grew... hotter, I'd assume? At least it got more intense. He said, in much lower voice than before:
"Wǒ tīng shuōguò nǐ de nénglì."
Pause.
"Wǒ hěn qīngchu nǐ méiyǒu jīngyànzhí, dàn wǒ xiǎng yǔ nǐ yī zhàn. Huòxǔ, nǐ néng gěi wǒ yī chǎng xiàngyàng de tiǎozhàn."
I have no idea what the hell did he say. But one thing was clear from the vibes alone: we are going to fight.