As Noah's eyes opened he was met with the roof of a house, but unlike the house he had passed out in this house was fully intact. It also wasn't his house either judging by how much it didn't look like a shitty shack.
Noah sat up and looked around, it was dark out but he could make out some items in the room. The room had furniture which was better than his house and it had a nice unbroken window.
his vision drifted towards his arm and saw there was something wrapped around it. Curiously he slightly lifted the edge of the wrap to see that his arm was still pitch black, burnt from his earlier encounter. But then something different happened.
a mist started to emanate from where he had lifted the wrap. Then mist shot out like gas shooting out of a leaking pipe.
As the mist entered his lungs, causing a large amount of pain to radiate through his entire body. Noah froze in shock for a second then quickly tightened the wrap around his arm.
he felt around his body to notice that his armor was not on. It had been replaced with a simple tunic and pants held up at the waist by a ragged rope.
he froze for a second then found his face going a little red in embarrassment at the thought of someone changing his clothes.
Noah looked at what he was on. It seemed to be a bed. Just big enough for him to lay on. Noah looked at the bed then sighed, he then turned to his side and let his bare feet touch the floor. As he got up he started the process of summoning his armor.
His gaze wandered to the window and out of curiosity he made his way to it. As he arrived the familiar feeling of his armor wrapped around his body. He then reached up and took off his helmet, placing it on the window still. The wrap that was on his arm disappeared for a second then reappeared in a flash of white sparks.
Noah noticed the sparks and instantly knew what this meant.
'O its a memory'
On the subject of memories, Noah had remembered that he did receive a memory from that awakened tyrant. he leaned on the window sill and opened his runes, his gaze finding a new memory in his collection
Memory Name : (Orion's Message)
Rank: Awaken
Memory Tier : V
Memory type : weapon
Memory Description : ( Orion was a hunter, he used many weapons but this was his favorite. It pierced the hearts of his prey and his prey kept his belly full, but Orion forgot an old adage of hunting. When hunting, always be wary of being the prey. This message was lost to Orion and when he found himself cornered he made a deal which cost him everything.)
So he made a deal and turned into that, His mind flash to the fuck ugly giant. Noah trying to get the memory out of his head moved his gaze to the enchantment. They were pretty simple, enhanced durability and enhanced piercing which made Noah believe it was another spear
The fourth and final enchantment was pretty interesting. It was called (keen eye), When it was summoned it could passively make a person's eyesight better allowing for a better vision from afar or up close. eyesight could be further increased with the use of essence. The second part wasn't as important because of the small little fact that he couldn't use essence yet but the passive ability was a massive boon.
Noah rushed over to the last empty weapon slot and slotted it in. The spell then announced the destruction of a memory and he instantly tried to summon it.
Noah happily waited ten seconds for his weapon to materialize in front of him. Once it materialized it landed in Noah's hands and caused him to fall slightly forwards.
'Heavy'
As his eye met the new addition to his arsenal he was greatly disappointed. He whispered to himself in disbelief
"This has to be some cruel joke"
It was a bow. That's right the man who had been newly forced to become lefthanded was just handed a bow as his reward. Noah took a deep breath trying to suppress his rage. Begrudgingly he started to examine the bow.
It was a large bow, maybe about 7 or 8 feet tall. It was way taller than Noah. The bow was made of a nice polished wood and the ends of the bow were fitted with steel. The string which was supposed to be a thin wire was as thick as a rope. Noah laid the bow on the wall and opened his hand, summoning the arrows.
The arrows were pretty large, about 4 to 5 feet in length, and like the bow nicely made. They were smooth almost as if they were built for long range sniping. They were also about 2 times the diameter of regular arrows and the head of the arrow did not look like a conventional arrow. It was a smooth spike that looked to be made to make it more aerodynamic.
This bow did not look like a hunters weapon, it was more suited to being a giant slayer.
he smirked to himself
'Or an oni slayer'
Noah chuckled to himself, proud of his stupid joke.
If nothing else he could use each arrow as a sort of pocket dagger, using them to pin enemies to the ground and opening them up for a killing blow.
He then rested the arrow near the bow.
His gaze drifted back to the window and as he stared out he saw the familiar sight of blight castle. Looking down he could also see the outskirts below near the gate of the castle. With his enhanced eye sight he could even see his house.
His gaze then drifted to the dark city. The large plume of smoke had fully dissipated, leading Noah to believe that he'd been out for at least a day. Noah then tried to summon his spear. In about 10 seconds the spear materialized and to Noah's joy the spear had been repaired to its former glory.
'At least I didn't lose this'
He then dismissed his spear and removed his Lamp from his hip. He stared longingly and then an idea popped into his mind. He then whispered into the lamp "Donum novo ferrenti lucernam" Noah made sure to pause between each word to see the reaction of the lamp, but to his shugrin nothing happened.
He tried again "Bella tua gloriam bestiae sub umbra ferant" he did notice a small flicker when he said umbra, but he chalked that up to being the same as the lamp's name. He set the Umbral Lamp down on the window sill as his gaze moved back to his runes.
Finally he went down to his aspect ability and his eye locked on to the one box that was still blank. The AUX in his aspect ability. He had tried to fill that slot with weapons, armor, trinkets and tools but nothing had worked so far. He had a few ideas on what could be stored there but nothing concrete yet.
Noah sighed and allow his rune to fade causing his eyes to wander back to the bow he had sat down
'Now what to do with this?'
He could give it to one of Effie's cohort, but honestly he didn't think any of them could use it. Savannah looked too small, leandro didn't use a bow, and effie who looked to be the only one strong enough for the bow had the same problem as leandro.
And the fact that he couldn't give it to someone as a memory was also quite worrying and could raise some questions about his aspect that he'd rather not answer.
Noah sighed and turned towards the door.
Walking towards the door the umbral Lamp dissolved and reappeared on his hip firmly attaching to his waist.
Once there he could hear a faint conversation going on through it. He opened the door and stepped out into the hall. Following the sound he found himself in a living room of sorts and there, slightly off the right of the room was Effie and her cohort.
They were sitting at a table, seemingly enjoying a hardy meal. As Noah entered the room he was seen by none other than Effie.
"Well well well look who finally woke up"
Noah smiled and replied
"Hello"
He paused for a second then continued
"Where am I?"
Leandro responded next
" This is our cohort's house"
"You all live together?'
Noah got three nods in reply. Effie then smiled and said in a cheerful tone.
" well don't just stand their like a dumbass, get over here"
He walked over to the table sitting next to Effie and across from Leandro and Savannah. He picked up a small plate and picked up some meat . He awkwardly held the utensil in his non-dominant hand.
After a bit of eating Noah asked " so how long was I out for?"
Leandro responded " about 2 days" he paused for a moment then asked back " how's your arm doing?"
Noah answered joking" O you know still attached" then his tone shifted to one of melancholy and he put his utensil down and grabbed his disabled arm "but it's probably paralyzed" he then set his arm on the table which got a small flinch from everyone on the table.
Effie, who was closest in distance to him, covered her mouth and nose and look at the arm like it was some kind of bioweapon.( which in hindsight it technically was) Noah gave a perplexed look, but Effie instantly answered his look with a question of her own.
"Is it still doing the whole gas thing?"
It took a few seconds for the gears to tick in his mind. He then snickered a little and a smile appeared on his face.
" di… did you guys get gassed?"
Effie responded quickly and at a fast paste she explained.
"Gods Yes, we didn't notice it at first but after a few seconds of carrying you I got hit with that shit and man did it hurt. We eventually found out it was coming from your arm so Savannah wrapped it and we were able to take you back to this house. We then hired a private healer, which by the way you owe us for, to help heal you. The healer did his thing and help out your chest but he decided to, with out our knowledge removed the fucking bandage."
Noah snicker turned into a full blown laugh as Effie continued " And you could imagine with the amount of gas that had built up, it blew up and turned the entire house into a goddamn gas chamber." for a straight two minutes afterward Effie continued on her tirade.
Noah looked over to Leandro and Savannah. The former was nodding along confirming that what Effie was saying was true. The latter had her hand over her mouth and was having the same reaction that Noah was having previously.
Effie ended her tirade out of breath which had caused Noah to laugh even more.
Noah catching his breath wiped a tears that had formed in his eyes and with a smile said " yeah sorry about that"
Then Noah abruptly changed the topic " hey Savannah can I buy this wrap off of you."
Effie respond playfully "Wow already trying to take things huh"
Noah responded back " hey I can take this wrap off right now and hand it back to you no problem… if thats what you really want "
Effie jokingly begged " please don't, i'll do anything you say old man"
"Old!?"he then put his hand on his chest " How dare you, i'll have you know i'm a young and spirited 25 years old thank you very much"
"25, bro your ancient"
"Ancient!?"
Effie smiling nodded her head" yup"
Noah jokingly laid the back of his hand on his forehead and leaned back slightly as vision drifting towards the ceiling" how could you say this, honestly you hurt this very young man's feelings"
Effie laugh a little and respond " whatever you say faker"
Noah turned back to savannah " seriously though how much would it cost"
Savannah thought for a second then stuck up 5 fingers. Noah then stuck out his hand and summoned a small brown pouch and reached in and took out five soul shards and handed them to savannah.
Savannah then grabbed his hand and sent the memory over, but as the memory was being sent over Noah realized that the memory on his arm would shortly disappear. Reacting fast Noah simply resummoned the memory before it had a chance to disappear.
he then turned to Leandro " while on the subject of money, how much do I owe you for the healer?"
Leandro paused for a second then answered " around 30"
Noah was surprised " damn, really? Thats pretty expensive"
Effie add" we were short on time so we just grabbed the first person we could find"
"O well that il do it" Noah then took out the rest of the soul shards that he had just earned as down payment for the mission. Noah was a little bitter to be parting with the soul shards he had just earned, but he knew that this was a small price to pay to live another day.
As he finished up his food he got up to leave not wanting to overstay his welcome,but he was stopped by Effie " Hey faker why don't you stay the night"
"Really?"
"Yeah I mean it's already late and you have already crash here for two days, whats one more"
"O will if your offering I woundn't mind sleeping in an actual bed"
Noah turned around and sat back down at the table at which point leandro had something to say " oh yeah before I forget the king, you know Gunlug, he has asked for you"
Noah was surprised " really me?"
Leandro responded in a matter of fact tone" well not you specifically he wanted to see the mercenary survivors."
"Any idea what for?"
Then effie interjected " It's probably to recruit new pathfinders. You guys survived, thereby proving that you're strong. So you know free elite soldiers and all that."
"Ah… fuck"
Noah didn't think he'd ever have to meet with the king. I mean he never really had a reason to, but now he had all because of a job he was forced to take.
Effie chucked a little "hey Its not all bad I mean we get paid a good amount to serve the city"
Noah flash a faint smile "Yeah at least it not all bad and luckily I woke up in time to meet him"
Leandro cringed a little " technically you were supposed to meet him a day after the mission, but you were unconscious. So you get the undivided attention of the king"
And the icing on the cake, he had to meet with this tyrant alone. Noah took a deep breath in and with a straight face responded " ya don't say?" he then loudly exhaled "shit."
Effie then put her arm around Noah's shoulder " hey don't be so down, the worst that can happen is that you piss him off and he kills you"
Noah's head swiftly turned towards Effie " You are not helping!"
The entire table laughed at their antics, Noah just leaned back on his chair and looked down to the flickering blue fire of his lamp and thought 'a meeting with the king huh. This is gonna be a shit show.'