[Quest: Vengeance] Complete
[Generating Random Reward]
For once it didn't bring Cain to the spinning wheels, but casually created the reward in the background. This was how most people got their rewards, but Cain had rarely experienced it, and the feeling was a bit strange after getting used to being able to spin the wheel.
[Reward Generated] Bottle of Awakening Pills
Cain had absolutely no idea what that was supposed to be, so he was going to have to check the description before he could make any sort of use of this reward. But the best part was the experience, not the random items.
[Bonus Experience Granted]
[Core Integration 16 Percent Complete]
Now that was more like it. He just had to get this Dragon core working and he was out of this strange world. At the rate that they were going, it wouldn't actually take him that long at all. He just needed a bit of the Laughing God's luck to find fortunate situations so that he could earn enough quest reward experience to keep the rate of growth up.
Now that he had his experience calculated, Cain looked over the reward item and found that it really was an odd thing. It looked like the system was giving him things that existed in this world, instead of things that were useful to him, like they used to.
Perhaps there was a range on how far from an item it duplicated for a quest reward he could be? Or perhaps these were more useful to normal people of this world, just not him.
[Awakening Pill] Strengthens a partially formed Core to improve the user's strength and increase their chance of an Awakening of Spirit Rank or lower.
Totally useless to Cain and Luna, but to 90 percent of the people that he met, they were likely very valuable.
"They left their cooking implements behind, so you might as well all come to eat. I can guarantee that the food is safe, I have tested it myself." Cain called over to the group in the cave, which brought Luna running. Luna would turn down a lot of things in life if she was more interested in something else, but Cain had never known her to miss a meal.
The ladies looked more than a little nervous as Cain sipped his tea and smiled.
"It's actually quite good, the poison doesn't even have a flavor. But I'm not that easy to poison." Cain told them.
Luna stuck out her hand and put a gloating look on her face. "See, I told you he knew that you'd poisoned them all. He just didn't care because it's really hard to poison him. Come here and eat, then you can pay up."
That was enough to bring them all out from behind the man from the Divine Light Sect with bowls in hand.
"Friend Cain, I should tell you that I am not headed back toward my Sect at this time. I cannot lead these ladies back home." The dragonkin informed him.
"You didn't honestly think I would make them go back, did you? They can go wherever they want for all I care. I might not know everything about this world, but I do know that a young cultivator's loyalty to their Sect is only as deep as their robes until they have learned the Sect's secret techniques." Cain informed him, making the Dragonkin chuckle.
"You might be easier to get along with than most. If you keep on the path that you came from, they will think you're fulfilling the request, for at least the first few days. I doubt that they will care to come to check on the girls though, not with three of their Elders dead.
They don't bother to teach them anything useful, to begin with, they just keep them around as domestic help, hoping that they will be fed a few crumbs of knowledge." The dragonkin told Cain with a disinterested look back toward where their sect probably was.
"That's good news. Luna likes having people to talk to. How do you ladies feel about hunting magical creatures?" Cain asked.
"We actually don't even have weapons. But other than that, we have picked up enough of the combat style now that we should be able to do it as long as they're not awakened beasts." One of the girls told Cain proudly.
"Excellent. Luna can teach you more, and I will give you some swords or something later. Maybe clubs. What do you even train with in your Sect? The Elders didn't have time to really fight back."
"Mostly the staff. The Elders are stingy with metal weapons, they only give them to the better class of disciples, so we all train with wooden weapons, mostly staves because they're easy to make.
"Oh, can we make them some good staves? I haven't had a chance to show our new friend Draco my handwriting." Luna suggested.
That clearly wasn't his name, Cain was looking right at his status screen, but the man didn't object, so that must be how he introduced himself.
"Alright, we can do that. Everyone, go and get a stick suitable to be a staff. I don't have any good stuff in my storage." Cain instructed.
"I have a collection in the cave that I was using for decorative carvings. Hardwood branches about two meters long, and sized to be firmly held in a small hand, right? There should be at least four of them." Draco said, pointing back toward the entrance.
Once the girls were back in the cavern picking out weapons, Cain decided to ask Draco a few questions.
"Do the others know about your unique heritage? Or is this world too particular to be told?"
Draco shook his head. "No, even with the obvious nickname they don't have a clue. They wouldn't respond well either, so I would prefer you not mention it. Clearly, we can't talk about what you are, the humans freak out at the very mention."
Cain nodded. "I'm glad we're on the same page, fellow human cultivator."
That made them both laugh because the entire sentence was a lie. Neither were humans or cultivators, and they didn't even know each other's true forms and appearances, so even calling each other fellows was a stretch.
It didn't take them long to return with their chosen sticks and start peeling the bark to smooth them out with small knives. They kept them in a pouch at their waist, so they likely didn't have anything as fancy as a storage ring, which would be a small annoyance, but at least staves were also useful as walking sticks.
Luna had picked a shorter one, given her height, just a bit taller than she was, the same as the others had chosen, and more slender. She had studied a few combat styles that used staves while they were preparing in the Library, so she should do alright. If nothing else, she could summon and Merge with a Monk-type fighter and let them guide her actions.
The summons couldn't actually move the body, but if you focused on them you could mimic what they wanted fairly easily.
Luna likely hadn't learned that trick yet, but the Oath Breaker would show her soon enough, they always had fun new ideas on how a fight should go, and they were experts with most forms of weapons, despite rarely using them when they were summoned.
Draco and Cain only watched intently and sipped on a fruit juice cocktail, provided by Cain, as the Acolytes and Luna made their staves and showed them to Cain, who took out a wood carving tool from his inventory and placed the first one on his lap. All he had to do was to engrave a few runes on it to improve strength so it wouldn't break and then decide on what additional abilities they might need.
"What Element does your fighting style use?" Cain asked the acolyte who had handed him her staff.
"We all use Lightning. It's the easiest to work with for beginners." She explained.
So lightning and strength runes, so they could channel more power through the weapons without worry. It was a total of fifteen runes and took all of ten seconds to write on the staff, then charge with energy.
"Luna, you should be able to do this one right? They're all in a vertical row since it's a staff, just the two words." Cain asked, and Luna nodded, carefully drawing the runes on the staff before she carved them, so she didn't make mistakes.
"You know, an artificer is a valued sort of person in this world. How did you end up wandering alone with a little girl?" Draco asked as Cain finished enhancing the weapons.
"She really is my daughter. We stepped through a portal on our homeworld and then realized that it was a one-way trip. There was no opening on this side, so we're a bit stuck.
Now, we're going to build up strength until I am satisfied with our progress, then find a way back home, or to another world where we could safely travel and enjoy a few more adventures." Cain explained, leaving out anything resembling actual details.
"That happens. I was thrown here by a spell, and the Divine Light Sect took me in after seeing my potential. You should look us up if you need some time to relax." Draco suggested.
"We met Master Moon and the Sect Master back in the city in the valley. I managed to cure the injury that Old Moon had taken as well, so expect him to be a bit more energetic the next time you see him." Cain laughed.
Draco wasn't heading to the sect, which meant that he was likely heading into the valley and would find out for himself soon enough that the old Innkeeper was in much better condition than he was a few days ago.
"I bet Little Moon isn't happy about that. He works her hard enough as is. Giving him more energy to keep up with her might actually make her break." Draco laughed.
The acolytes looked horrified, but Cain waved off their concerns. "He's actually training her, and she's doing quite well, but Master Moon is the sort of person who doesn't believe in idle time. Now that he's healthy again he stopped taking afternoon naps, so there isn't a moment of peace around the Inn where he isn't doing something."
"An old busybody. I know the sort." The lightest-haired of the acolytes agreed. Cain would almost call her hair color strawberry blonde, but it seemed to be more orange than anything and he wasn't sure if it was the light or a bad bleach job.
"Now, go try out your new weapons. They should be able to take a fair beating once you channel a bit of energy into them." Cain ordered, sending the girls scampering into the clearing to practice as soon as their bowls were empty.
