As their ritual came to an end and their contracts were set Ember and Jasmine went back to the city. Only now they sported new ink on their necks, though it wasn't ink but magic. The sun began to set as they set off from the forest.
Back at the tavern Ian had retreated to hus room with Arrow. The bird had leveled up a but during the whole skeleton army thing. He was now level 20.
Ian turned to the bird and began speaking.
"Arrow, you can move your mana right? And it has a darkness affinity?"
The hawk turned to him confused at the question before nodding twice.
"Ok great! From now on whenever you're not in battle or scouting out places I want you to train. You're going to move your darkness mana and use it to cover your body. Make sure to try to condense it as much as you can."
Ian began to train Arrow in earnest with the ultimate goal of crating a dark mantle around the bird. The hawk didn't make much progress but things take time. When he eventually succeeded in creating the shell it would be even more worth it.
With that settled Ian decided to log off for the night. Tomorrow he would retrieve his new dagger from Gordon. He was excited just thinking of the possibilities.
After that the party would meet up and decide their next steps. It was still too early for the volcanic dungeon, they were too weak. Now they had to leave and find something new.
For now there was no use thinking about it. Tomorrow the party would decide, for tonight Ian was just gonna have some dinner. He took off his headset before slowly sitting up.
He let out a sigh before stretching out his arms. Slowly Ian got up from bed and headed down to the kitchen. There his sister turned to him.
"Haven't seen you in a while."
He looked at her with a smile.
"I got caught up in the game. Shit went down in more ways than one, I couldn't get off."
Emma turned to her brother with a confused expression.
"Is that game really so fun? For you to spend days locked in that room."
Ian's eyes sparkled as he spoke with excitement.
"It really is! You know I thought it was overhyped before, but after actually playing it? Its worth spending every second in it."
"Is that so?"
She still didn't seem convinced, Emma wasn't the most interested in games.
"If you tried it you would know. Save up some birthday money or asn mom and dad for it. I promise you'll have fun."
"Maybe. I don't know, I don't game like that."
She turned away from him and headed back up to her room. Seemingly unconvinced of Freuth's appeal. Ian didn't give her a second thought, he was hungry.
Ian looked for some leftovers but found nothing good in the fridge. In the end he pures himself a bowl of cereal and called it. The bowl was gone in 5 minutes and Ian headed straight to bed. It took some time for him to fall asleep, but once he did he slept like a log.
Ian's eyes blinked open as sunlight seeped into his room from a window. He groggily got up and headed to the bathroom. Ian took a quick shower and brushed his teeth before getting a banana for breakfast.
After scorfing that down, Ian quickly put on his headset and lay in his bed. Back in 'The Knight's Rest' Ian Nightgale stirred awake. He prepped his gear before heading down to see if the others had logged on.
On the ground floor he was met with Jasmine. Only she looked way different than before. A beautiful vine and branch pattern green tattoo covered her neck. She turned to him with a smile.
"Hey Ian. Like the new ink? I formed a contract with a tree spirit."
Ian looked at her with wide eyes, captivated by her otherworldly look.
"Yeah it's cool... You look good."
"Whoa! What happened to you?!"
A brash boice echoed from above them. Ty was coming down the stairs when he saw Jasmine's new look.
She turned to him with a bright smile.
"Cool right?"
The three of them sat down and waited for their last and newest member. Luckily they didn't have to wait long. After five minutes Desmond came down the stairs, he had also rented a room here for convenience sake.
He quickly joined them at the table before turning to Jasmine.
"Cool tattoo, I like it."
She smiled at the compliment.
"Thanks Desmond."
Ian looked around the table, the party they built was looking pretty good. Everyone was friends and they worked well together. Desmond was new but with time he would fit in seamlessly.
"It's time for a new challenge. Anyone have any idwas?"
Hus serious question got the attention of everyone at the table. Their expressions became contemplative as they each fromed an answer.
Ty was the first to speak.
"Let's just go into the volcanic dungeon! With all four of us, it sill go way better than when I did it solo."
Ian turned to him before shaking his head.
"I think it's too early for that. Sure we have more people but I think all of us have to be silver level before we try to go into that dungeon."
Jasmine quickly nodded and gave an alternative.
"We could always just saty here. The area around Canopy City is abut weak but it's enough to geg us to silver level."
From ghe side Desmond spoke up.
"That's no fun though, I say we go south. There's a port city there, Amberport City. It's a pretty big trade center. There has to be a hood wuest for us there."
Ian turned to the fox with a thoughtful expression.
"That actually sounds good. Anyone have issues going south?"
Jasmine and Ty both shook their heads. With that their course of action was decided. After they settle their affairs here in Canopy City they would head out to Amberport.
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Chapter 30! Thus upcoming but should be pretty fun. I have some rhings I want to explore here so hopefully it turns out well. New settings and new characters coming soon.