n

n

n

" Hey Onyx can you tell what Avela is saying?

" Walker had been curious for a while but wasn't sure if there was actually a dialogue there yet.

n

" Sadly no brother, it is all mostly instinctual chatter. Her chirps basically translate in to; kill defend crush strong strong. She's much like a child, I'm sure the more we speak around her the more she will learn.

" This made a lot of sense, a baby could really only follow its natural desires after all.

n

"Ooooh nice job little Avela you did so well. Our little guardian, I can't wait for you to get big and strong!

" Coddling the little chick Elise threw out compliments, this would give the chick the proper drive to help in battle later on.

nWhile everyone fawned over Avela and Midnight's good will Walker saw the opportunity to check out what quests have been sent to them by Clara. He had neglected looking lately due to how busy the rabbit tribe had made the party, but with his determination ignited he opened up the system.

nThe list went on and on, Clara had really been working hard. She had not sent any gathering quests because she knew that by the time they returned someone else could easily have completed it. Taking gathering quests was just selfish and rude in this respect. Looking in to the slaying quests it was plain to see that some winter monsters had been causing trouble. The Plains were fairly easy to traverse unlike some other areas in the winter, thus many merchants would still make the trek. Coincidentally, migrating monsters ran in to them often causing problems. Three quests seemed to line up fairly nicely.

n' Quest: Slay snow imps

nA group of five snow imps have been sighted along the trade routes ambushing small merchant groups and running off with food. Slay them to maintain a safer merchant crossing.

nRequirements:

nSlay five snow imps

nRewards:

n40exp

n60G

nQuest; slay frost penguins

nTwo frost penguins have made a small stretch of the plains their nesting territory. Travelers that encounter them have been harmed and chased off.

nRequirements:

nSlay two frost penguins

nReward:

n20exp

n40G

nQuest: Snow golem menace

nSnow golems are an elemental monster often found in the mountains, one has traveled down in to the plains starting fights with any traveler. Defeat this pest to increase the safety of the area.

nRequirements:

nDefeat one snow golem

nRewards:

n80exp

n125G'

nThese three quests issued by the guild were all in line with the groups planned path of travel. The others Walker had ignored either required hunting down specific monsters to capture or adding time to their travel, both which he refused to do. The other bonus with these choices was that the party could fight two new monsters. The frost penguins were monsters often found in children's novels, the romantic idea that they mate for life paired with their ability to slide on the ice made them popular. Remove the romanticism and the frost penguin was much less lovable, it had a sharp icy beak that it used to pierce through tough defenses. Often it lived near the icy rivers flowing off mountains but in the winter it took advantage of the snow to look for a mate and hunt large amounts of prey. It had a very tough stomach and could eat just about any living thing, something that made it exceptionally annoying.

n

"Hey I am setting up some quests for us to do on our travel path, has anyone read up on snow golems before? All i know is that they normally live in the mountains and like to fight.

" Walker had yet to find information on one in the mansions library so asking the others was the best bet, who knew what they may have learned by chance. Not to mention Laurence may have battled in his prior travels.

n

"Wait Walker did you not hear about the one that wandered all the way to our kingdom last year?

" Surprisingly Gil was the one with an answer.

n

"Huh?

"

n

"You really didn't hear it, wow.

" of all the people who had not caught wind of the story Gil wouldn't have picked Walker, he himself had always been running around by the gates after all.

"Well last year there was a snow golem that wandered down the mountains, apparently some adventurers encountered it and ran because they couldn't beat it. Since snow golem's are barely sentient snowmen that absorbed too much water mana it followed them. The adventurers not realizing snow golem's only knew how to follow basic instincts to, well, fight and lead it right to the outer walls. Luckily that court magician was there, the woman with fire magic melted it to a puddle. Nobody was hurt but it was a big deal that one was all the way to the walls.

" He rambled off the story like it was everyday gossip.

n

"Well that was common gossip for those in the fields since a few farmers saw it lumbering through their resting fields but for the average person it wasn't that common.

" Remey was the one to stand up for Walker's lack of knowledge but they all suspected it was just her desire to mess with Gil.

n

"So it sounds like it is weak to fire, leader, do you think you can learn a faster fire magic attack? It may come in handy for this battle.

"

n' Daily quest: playing with fire

nRequirement:

nUsing elemental manipulation to teach yourself three fire magic skills.

nReward:

n 1 matk.'

n

"Su you're great! You just caused the daily quest for me today to get three more fire magic skills! And the reward is a magic attack point!

" Walker was practically bouncing as he shouted in glee. The daily quests had all been the same lately, revolving around helping the rabbit tribe. They hadn't even been worth mentioning they had been so mundane. Finally he had a good one.

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"Yes I got a good quest too! Midnight you're going down!

" Midnight growled in response to Remey's taunt, it would seem their daily quest was one where they would be competing.

n

"Sister says she dodge every punch you throw at her.

" Onyx translated the growl with ease. It sounds like the two would be doing some battle training.

n

"Hey Riley, let's give your demon boars a good workout. I need some pressure to work on a new skill.

" Gil barely dragged Riley in to the open plains. Riley didn't even have a chance to protest.

n

"Leader, I will need your help with my quest. I need to defend against your spells. My reward is weak resistance to fire, it will be invaluable to the party.

" Su had already gained a poison resistance and was not working on some fire resistance, she was slowly but surely going to become resistant to everything.

n

"Well Elise, it looks like we are taking a break to train...I swear i never can tell what will happen around all of you.

" with a sigh and a shake of his head Laurence started to set up a small resting camp. Luckily he had some tea he could boil up while he waited. As much as he wanted to reprimand them he knew that if these monsters were in their way they would battle them anyways, so it was better to accept quests and benefit more. Not to mention now they would have more strength to make it to their destination. Losing a little time was well worth the gain and further peace of mind.

nLaurence's words were lost to the wind as Walker had already started cutting down some of the tall grass around. He planned on making space for him to create a small fire to manipulate. After only a few moments Walker and Su had cut a sizable area, safe enough to start a fire without accidentally catching a large portion of the plains on fire, easily controlled and extinguished.

nHaving made a safe area Walker started a small fire, using his elemental manipulation he began to guide the fire. Last time he managed to learn a new spell he had condensed the fire, however, that led to a spell that took too long to create and to have an effect. It was also dangerous to use around an ally. His personal goal was to have spells that he could use around the party, the fear he had of accidentally harming those he cared for was ever present. One spell that haunted his dreams most was the mana desolation skill he had used, it had completely destroyed the mana system of a living creature, he was terrified what it would do to others.

nTaking a deep breath Walker began changing the shape of the flames, he couldn't create anything with fine details but interestingly enough he could make some rough shapes. Trying to force the flames to take on the shape of a small cat he could not help but giggle. Even Su joined in pretending to play with it, they were completely entranced for over an hour doing so.

n