When Kindle finds themselves in the town of Farentz a few hours later, it's still early morning, the sun yet to fully rise. They wander about and admire the rustic architecture of it all as town guards pass by with only a glance to the odd stranger, as if they're used to the type, or at least expectant of it.
The cobble roads are a lot lighter and cleaner than the dark stone of the dungeon with the same namesake, and the wood and brick constructions along each side of the road intruige Kindle with their variety, with some wearing signs, and others using curtains to block their windows.
It's nice, peaceful even. Though Kindle can assume entering one would be trouble, their curiosity of the contents within each structure grows with each step. In one particular part of town, however, a few people sleep between buildings, clothes ragged and dirty.
About an hour of exploring every bit of the town's exterior later, the people within some of the buildings begin to exit and head elsewhere. Some head to shops, others hopping on carriages, and many within an inn pile out in groups, armed and armored. Dungeon Divers, presumably.
It's after a while of exploring and overhearing things that Kindle learns about currency. Postings on a "Job Board" requesting pelts and parts from beasts within the Farentz Woods with "REWARD: 10 CIL" or similar on the bottom, some a lot simpler than others, watching someone place a few odd pieces down and being given something in kind, it doesn't take much for Kindle to assume CIL is a way people trade for things they want.
And Kindle has no CIL.
Luckily, Kindle also doesn't have any immediate needs. Food and sleep are not a thing a skeleton can experience, and the only real necessity they have is not dying. Still, many of the things the people are using and carrying, such as their satchels, their finer clothing, their better armor, their books, and more greatly interest Kindle, and leads to their next direction of finding a way to get money.
With nothing to trade with, Kindle doesn't assume going into a shop will help. But the Job Board they saw earlier had requests and payments, so they head towards where they say it last.
Of course, the instead get lost, and find themself back in the area with the people wearing ragged clothing. One of them is sitting out of the way but visible to anyone on the road with a cloth holding a few CIL in front of them as he bows and begs, theit unkempt brown facial hair covering much of the bottom half of his face.
A bit further down sits another odd building, with a few small people playing in the yard in the back, and dressed women supervising them. They aren't as dirty, a bit more cleaned up, and their clothing a bit nicer than the ones begging and hiding in alleys.
Unsure of what to make of the sights, Kindle decides to move on, trying to find the Job Board again. When they do finally locate it, they read through a few of them and try to find something they could handle.
"COLLECT FIVE DIRE WOLF CORPSES, PELTS INTACT. REWARD: 5 CIL"
"COLLECT ONE HUNDRED OOZE CORES. REWARD: 10 CIL"
"COLLECT TEN FRESH DIRE BOAR CORPSES FOR BUTCHERING. REWARD: 5 CIL"
Of course, Kindle assumed that Oozes must be the easiest, since the value of the resource requested is a lot cheaper than the rest. So they grab the post and rip it off like the others had before, and march off in the direction of the trees in the distance.
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
With Kindle's luck, however, the first thing they find isn't an Ooze, but a few Dire Wolves. Beneath the canopy of the woodland trees, five of them now circle Kindle. The panic settling in soon subsides, however, when Kindle uses ///World Eye/// and finds the strongest of them is only a LV. 6, with the others being below LV. 5.
When the first lunges, it's split in two by Kindle's sword, blood flung by the momentum of it's lunge splattering on Kindle's cloak as the two halves fall before even reaching them. They don't need to be careful and cautious when they already know their opponent and are aware of the fact it is not strong enough. With ///World Eye///, Kindle doesn't have to fear being underprepared when facing an unexpected enemy.
The other Dire Wolves don't follow the other, stepping back now that one if their own was slain so quickly. When Kindle takes a step forward, they sprint off. Kindle doesn't follow, seeing no need to. They're here for Ooze cores, and if the Dire Wolves don't intend to keep bothering them, they have no reason to kill
[NOTICE: DIRE WOLF SLAIN]
[+5 XP; 135/2100 XP]
When Kindle does find an Ooze it's larger than expected. About half the size of an adult Human, surrounded by a sort of transparent membrane, with a massive, solid core within. The dark core has muddy tendrils protruding from it, swimming within the thick, green liquid inside at the same time as it slugs around the forest, the slime it secretes lathering on the grass and roots it touches, though not harming them.
Using ///World Eye///, the Ooze is LV. 4, and it seems that it was able to kill enough to get that XP through it's ///Fluid Form (F)/// and ///Acidic Biology (F)/// Traits.
[///FLUID FORM (F)///: ABLE TO ALTER SHAPE TO A DEGREE, AND CREATE OPENING IN BODY'S OUTER LAYER. (SPECIES TRAIT)]
[///ACIDIC BIOLOGY (F)///: INTERNAL FLUIDS ARE ACIDIC. RESISTANT TO F-RANK ACIDS. (SPECIES TRAIT)]
Knowing better than to meet the Ooze head on, Kindle instead casts a simple "Mana Bolt" spell, tuning it to be sharp enough to pierce the membrane, aims from their position behind some trees, and fires the Mana Bolt at the Ooze. The Ooze doesn't react externally fast enough, or at all really, the impact shredding a large hold in it's membrane, and it's acids pouring out onto the grass, immediately burning and killing the plantlife it touches while the Ooze deflates and wriggles helplessly.
[NOTICE: OOZE SLAIN]
[+5 XP; 140/2100 XP]
The transparent green of the mass quickly drains color until it's a lifeless, glassy grey wrap around the core with twitching tendrils. Kindle doesn't yet approach, realizing they'll have to try to grab the core through the puddle of acid and not burn their apparel enough to leave holes showing their bones. A problem, indeed. It takes a few minutes for Kindle to think of a solution, even trying to pick up the membrane with a tree branch they cut down only to have the branch burn at the acid puddle it's stuck in, but they soon get an idea.
By using a "Gust" spell to roll the core and membrane away from the acid puddle, which proved surprisingly difficult due to the unexpected weight, Kindle was able to use a "Wash" spell to clean the acid away with water. Still not keen on accidentally burning their clothing, they still use the branch to tear the membrane and push the Ooze core towards themself, and wash it again for safe measure.
When they finally pick it up, they realize that carrying around a hundred of these is actually something they didn't prepare for at all. It's about the size of their own skull, so a hundred of them would require a wagon at the very least. Even so, they bring it with them.
[NOTICE: OOZE SLAIN]
[+5 XP; 380/2100 XP]
Kindle finds a different solution to carrying around all the Ooze cores. They made the next Ooze membrane into a sack by not cutting it open aside from the initial Mana Bolt, washed it thoroughly, and began dragging it around and putting Ooze cores in it. The Ooze membrane is strong, not strong enough to withstand Kindle's kind of Mana Bolt, but strong enough to not snag and break on roots, bushes, branches and such, and big enough to carry plenty of Ooze cores. The weight is a bit much, but Kindle's Strength stat is high enough to handle lugging it around.
[NOTICE: OOZE SLAIN]
[+5 XP; 535/2100 XP]
With a total of one hundred Ooze cores no in their possession collected over the course of three days, Kindle begins their return to the town of Farentz.
Unfortunately, Kindle is as bad with directions as ever, and instead ends up dragging the membrane sack of Ooze cores and themself straight into a bandit camp.
NAME: KINDLE
SPECIES: LESSER SKELETON SPELLSWORD
SEX: N/A
XP: 535/2100
AP: 0
HP: 280/280
MP: 280/280
SP: 280/280
CON: 14
AGI: 14
DEX: 14
PER: 14
INT: 14
SIMPLE ARCANIST (F)
SIMPLE SWORDSMAN (F)
SIMPLE SPELLSWORD (F)
///BIOLOGICAL IMMORTALITY///
///WORLD EYE///
///UNIFIED FORM (F)///
///HEROIC POTENTIAL (F)///
///UNDEAD DOMINANCE (F)///
///INSTINCTIVE CHANNELING (F)///
///NATURAL ARCANIST (F)///
///NATURAL SWORDMAN (F)///
