The nap was as lovely as the previous one. Who would have guessed returning to nature felt so nice?
He stood up and stretched out, before going in town and towards the guild to wait for his friends.
Once there he sat back and relaxed, it was nice having such heavy pockets.
He reached into his right one and pulled the adventurer's card, he saw just how many skill points he has racked up, so he went to Luna(Sorry for the off-screen introduction, this is the receptionist girl) and asked. - "Morning, you know how i get skills?"
"Yeah, you redeem them with your skill points, though you need someone to teach you."
"Mhhm... Sorry imma go learn some."
"No problem, see you later."
And so he went to the closest mage in the guild and asked. "Hey, can you teach me some spells please, something very simple. I will compensate you, of course."
To which he immediately got an agreement, and so the girl asked him what he wants to learn, before giving him options. She explained what the spells did and he picked what sounded the most useful, like "Create Water" and "Create earth"
He looked at the now available skills on his card.
They are cheap anyways, so he redeemed them.
After a few second he bit on his thumb and murmured, "Create water!". The water flew from his finger.
"How refreshing." Svetislav gave a sigh of satisfaction as he stopped the spell.
"Thanks for the help."
He said to the mage, before going back to Luna.
"Thank you for the information."
"You are welcome. Anything else that i could help you with?"
"Nah, wanna keep me company till the others come?"
"Sure, i have nothing else to do anyways."
And so Svetislav hung around the reception desk for a while, till his friends came.
Aqua hung some flyer on the quest board and so they waited.
"Imma check up on them."
"Alright."
And so Svetislav went up to them, directly asking: "What's up?"
"We are waiting to get more party members."
"Why?"
"Because we can't deal with the monsters alone."
"Ain't i enough?"
"You are literally teaching us how to deal with it ourselves and watch us struggle."
"Indeed."
"That's why we need allies."
Svetislav nodded and went back to Luna.
"Anyways, where did we left off?"
After a few more minutes of unnecessary talking on a random subject, he went back to Kazuma and Aqua and sat with them for a bit.
Soon enough a voice was heard from behind, just as Kazuma felt bad about the fact that if he is surrounded by advanced classes he would feel like a loser.
"I saw your notice, calling for adventurers."
Kazuma and Aqua looked towards her.
"That we should meet is a fate chosen by this world. At last, my search for suitable companions has finally come to an end."
Svetislav turned to look at her, not out of curiosity, but to look at her weirdly for talking so dramatically.
The girl was posing with her staff, her cloak somehow flowing back even though they are in a closed off building.
"My name is Megumin, i am an archwizard who wield explosion, the most powerful, most feared, most deadly spell in all the land. Thus thou desire to align yourself with a power so fearsome, it's user has been shunned."
"Alright, i'm leaving yall to deal with this." - Svetislav stood up and just left, he wasn't going to sit there and listen to her monologuing about how great she was.
And so he left off towards the field.
When he arrived he laid on the grass and treated himself to some photosynthesis.
The sky was so beautiful, not entirely clouded, but also not too little.
Soon enough his 'comrades' came with the new addition, Svetislav waved them off, clearly a sign that allows them to do whatever they want and that he isn't joining any time soon.
His rest was going well till he heard the new girl chanting, and after that, BOOM!
One of the toads got incinerated from an explosion.
He sat up and looked at what happened - she had left a giant crater in the ground.
Not only that Aqua already got eaten.
"DOESN'T SHE HAVE ANY INSTINCTS OF PRESERVATION?!" Svetislav yelled at Kazuma.
At the end of this situation both Aqua and Megumin got eaten, but Megumin's reason is justified, she collapsed from spending too much mana. This is good, Svetislav wouldn't have to learn that the hard way.
Svetislav had a really funny dilemma, should he help out Kazuma, or let him deal with it.
Eh, he helped him yesterday, so nah. Svetislav laid back, until another toad approached him, in which case he had to roll away to evade it's attempt to eat him.
After that he ran towards the bushes to get one of the spears.
The frog tried to catch him with it's tongue, but he dodged it. By now it was second nature.
The combat experience had paid off.
Svetislav returned fire and instantly killed the toad with a precise head shot, one which he had practiced quite a lot in the past week.
He took his spear back from the toad's hesd and tossed it back in the bush.
After a bit of a struggle, Kazuma was able to get the girls out of this situation, in the process killing the toads.
"Took you long enough."
"Are you serious? Didn't even bother to help... Useless."
"Those tricks don't work on me." Svetislav replied with a smirk, knowing well that he had far more experience because he had fought more.
And so they went back in town, Aqua, of course, was crying and complaining about her stench.
Svtislav, wasn't bothered at all.
Kazuma tried to make him carry Megumin, but he refused.
The walk was mostly quiet, until Megumin said something, probably out of desire to break the silence.
"I don't know if you knew, but the inside of a frog is both sticky and cozy."
"Thanks, i can die happy now." - Kazuma said sarcastically, thinking for a second before looking over his shoulder. - "You are banned from using explosion again, unless it's an emergency. From now on stick to less apocalyptic magic, got it?"
"That's not possible. (Why not? - Kazuma quickly replied.) Explosion magic is the only kind i can use. I don't know how to cast other spells."
"Seriously?"
"Seriously."
"You want to be unique?" - Svetislav asked.
"YES!" - Megumin instantly turned to him.
"Yeah, i can respect that."
"Bro, you aren't even acting like you are in the party, why are you encouraging."
"Chill, i'm just joining the conversation."
After a second of silence Kazuma had a solution.
"So we will head to the guild, split the reward and then everyone on their way." - He said.
"All i want to do is use my explosion spell, if i can do that, i don't need a share of the reward. But for the cost of a meal and basic necessities you can have the power of an arch wizard. Just give me a permanent spot in the party and i'm all yours." - Megumin replied, holding onto him.
Kazuma immediately tried to pry her off.
"No, i couldn't. A person with your potential is going to be wasted on small time amateurs like us."
"I don't care if you are amateurs. I might be an advanced class, but i'm still only level six!" - Megumin hung on for dear life as Kazuma spun around.
"Yo, Kazuma."
"WHAT?!"
"She does have a strong one-shot spell, might be useful, cuz i'm not always helping you deal with problems."
"I don't care!"
"Please, don't leave me here. Please, i will do anything!"
In the distance three girls was this display of... something?
And immediately called Kazuma a creep, cuz of the whole toad goo situation.
"Yeah, i'm not getting negative rep, cuz of you." - Svetislav immediately turned forward and walked away, just to not be put in a category with Kazuma.
But the problem was quickly solved as Kazuma was pressured into accepting, just to shut her up, so she doesn't ruin his image some more.
And so walking resumed for the group, everyone to the baths, after which it was dinner time.
Svetislav had money to spend, so this time he treated himself to a beer along with his food.
He also witnessed Kazuma's first pay from a quest.
With nothing more to be done for the day, he headed out to the the same spot he slept at the other days.
Another good rest. Compared to the cold stone ground this is more bearable for him.
The winds weren't a problem, the cloak protected him from the cold.
The time passed, he was safe, except for the few bugs landing on him, but that wasn't that much of a bother.
And soon the sun rose again, Svetislav woke up as the first ray hit his face.
With a yawn and a stretch he sat up, after which he stood up and headed towards the guild to reclaim himself fully from sleepiness, by sitting at one of the tables just trying to stay awake.
Other adventurers came in, then after some time Aqua, then Megumin, whom he sat next to, because Aqua was performing party tricks on the second floor, which was more of a platform.
He actually watched the show, it wasn't anything that impressive, he didn't see why the other adventurers liked it so much to the point of cheering. Though her last trick before Kazuma came in caught his eye.
The pot on her head, which had nothing prior to her speaking the word "sprout", had a plant in it, which gree fully in the matter of seconds.
Svetislav turned to the bar and thought for a bit, what if he made his own variation, this was probably transforming mana directly into nutrients for the flower... He looked at his adventurer's card and on the possible skills that he could acquire was one he didn't recognize. It held the name "Growth".
"Boot leg or not, this would be useful... What if i made it so fruits and vegetables grew in the matter of seconds." - This quick growth reminded him of the unrealistic crop system Minecraft had, though the idea was charming... If it were implemented in real life, he could probably make a fortune.
He spent the 1 point for the learning of his first artificial-spell. The feeling was like non other, unlike the feeling he got when he redeemed his points for "Create Water" or "Create Earth".
Kazuma approached them, sat for a bit and looked at his own adventurer's card.
Then he asked: "Hey, Megumin, do you know how i learn new skills?"
"You need to find someone who can teach you those. The spell will appear on the card."
"So, if i wanted to learn explosion magic you can teach me?"
Suddenly when she heard that, she stopped eating her meal and leaned towards him with enthusiasm. The issue was Svetislav was between the two, so he decided to stand up and let Kazuma sit on his place, because them talking through him wasn't the nicest experience.
Kazuma shut her enthusiasm, telling her to calm down... kiddo.
Which she took personally, but she didn't retaliate, so she continued eating her meal in her depressed way.
At that moment a woman approached Kazuma, saying: "There you are. We couldn't finish our talk yesterday, because you said you were drunk and felt ill. So again, can i join your party, please?"
The woman that said that was a blond, armored lady with blue eyes. And behind her was a silver haired lady. Svetislav recognized her by the attire. He looked her up and down to confirm, the boots were the same attire.
"You can't, and that's final." - Kazuma immediately replied to the blondie.
The moment she heard that... she moaned...
Svetislav didn't like that at all.
"That's not how you do it Darkness. You will scare people away if you are that pushy."
So that blonde girl is Darkness.
"Who are you?" - Kazuma asked.
"My name is Chris, a thief, and also a friend to this poor thing. Just now i heard you wanted to learn some skills. How about i teach you some thieving? It's pretty useful around here."
"For real?
"Yeah. Just buy me a drink and i would be happy to teach you."
Svetislav hadn't spent the money she had given him, so he decided to slide into the situation, nudging Kazuma.
"Yo, wanna split the bill? I also want to learn some."
Kazuma immediately agreed, after all, he is spending less this way.
After Chris drank the beer they went to some alley, on the way there, Svetislav gave her 3k.
"Thanks for the gesture."
"You didn't have to double it, you know?" - She said, taking the coin pouch. She gave him a respectful glance for a second, before turning back to where they are walking.
Kazuma nudged Svetislav. - "Have you met her before?
"Yes." - Svetislav replied, not giving details on where, when and how.
With that Chris demonstrated a few of the skills she knows.
But one caught Svetislav's attention, Steal, she explained it's a random chance what you get, with better loot if your luck is good, but that part wasn't what interested him.
Svetislav spectated as she seemingly teleported Kazuma's coin pouch in her hand - this gave him a grand idea, there is no way for something to just teleport in the physical sense, so it must have transformed into something like information, moved, and then materialize again.
She moved forward to give the pouch back, but when Kazuma placed his hand under the it she pulled it back. - "How about a duel? I stole from you, now you steal from me. Whatever you take, you keep. Deal?"
Kazuma thought for a second before agreeing.
Darkness said that she shouldn't make him risk his money like that, and Chris replied. - "Adventuring comes with a risk."
Kazuma redeemed his skill points for the skills Chris just taught him, and then proceeded to use 'Steal' on her. What did he steal? Panties...
Svetislav looked at this display in disgust.
Not only that, but Kazuma celebrated, swinging them around in the air while laughing maniacally.
"Your parents failed you." - Svetislav moved to him and gave him a slap on back of his head.
"Aw, dude!?"
Before Kazuma can reply, Svetislav took the underwear with two fingers and gave it to Chris, before going in one of the corners of the strert and using Create Water to clean his hands.
Svetislav stood from his crouched position and looked at Chris, who were sobbing. - "Chris, everything is where it belongs, return him his money. He did steal from you, and he was probably going to keep them... Evident by that display..." Svetislav glared at Kazuma.
"What did i do?!"
Svetislav took a deep breath and continued explaining, turning towards Chris first. - "By returning you what is yours, i broke your agreement, therefore he also needs to get what's his returned."
"O-Ok..."
"I can't believe i'm acting like a dad... I should loosen up." - Svetislav thought to himself.
And so this whole situation was disclosed, they returned to the guild.
Where Aqua and Megumin were waiting for them.
Chris was sobbing, the whole way through, and Aqua commented on that.
Darkness came out and began explaining about what happened, every lady in the guild looked at Kazuma like they want him dead.
After that Aqua asked if they Kazuma learnt a new skill or if they were just horsing around.
Kazuma prepared to use 'Steal' in their general direction. Svetislav walked around him and slapped his wrist, before 'Steal' could go all the way through. - "After what happened - no."
They sat at a table and so blondie asked again to join his party. Kazuma refused again, before proceeding to say about their goal in defeating the devil king.
"Hey, we are the no-voice gang in this situation? I don't think you are planning to join, so wanna move to another table? I don't want to listen to this guys blabber about whatever." - Svetislav leaned forward onto the table and towards Chris.
"Sure." - She replied.
From there they began talking about stuff, a bit of an introduction. He also asked her about more details, like if the 'Steal' spell transforms items into another energy, which she confirms.
"Lovely." - Svetislav said, having the inspiration for his new idea: 'Astral Storage'.
After this they begun telling stories, about their past... Well mostly, Chris, because Svetislav was here for only 8 days.
!!But then, an alarm sounded. It called them for an emergency quest, and to gather at the front gate!!
Svetislav just followed after the others. Chris though, she moved towards an alley.
"Not going to fight with us?"
"Not my forte."
"Understood, see you sometime later then."
And with that Svetislav sped up to catch up with the others.