Chapter 10: Skeletons

  The job paid 5 gold coins and there were 4 of us, but we all agreed that Mari deserved the extra piece even though we could have exchanged it for silver and split it evenly.

  Her job was consistently integral to the quest.

  “So what do you think? Would you want to join Half Stone?” Mari asked.

  I hadn't heard of it. “Half Stone?”

  “Yeah that's our party name. We half stones. I think we all agree that you were really helpful out there.”

  Jocelyn and Trey weren't ones to let thoughts like that out easily, so I took Mari’s word for it since neither of them were complaining.

  Still, did I want to join them? I might be able to hit Expert soon which means I could take higher tiered jobs that they aren't able to.

  At the same time, if I work with them, we may all become a higher tier together. I had already learned a fair deal from them just in our first quest.

  For that reason, (and maybe because I was slightly crushing on someone) I accepted her offer. “I’d love to.”

  She was giddy. “Great! Do you want to come pick out a new quest for later this week with us?”

  The four of us trotted over to the board.

  I saw Trey eyeing one down. I figured he wouldn't say anything no matter how bad he wanted it, so I took a look myself.

  It was a job hunting skeletons. Rated expert. 4 advanced adventurers seems like a pretty strong party to take on a higher tier. The guild allows it after all.

  “How about this one?” Mari and Jocelyn came over.

  “I think we can take on some skeletons.” Mari was enthusiastic as always, while Jocelyn was always cautious.

  “As long as we don't get greedy and are willing to injure them before targeting their stone, we should be fine.”

  I remembered my studies with Hilvire. Jocelyn was referring to the fact that injured enemies leak mana and therefore their stones are worth less.

  The guild is aware that adventurers may take battles poorly because of this fact, so they allow some leeway in mana to be lost and for you to still receive the full job payment.

  “Alright that settles it!” We all registered our cards to the job. “Meet back here on Friday at 8am.”

  Mari was still happy with our performance. “Great work everyone, sleep well.”

  A shower later, I was back in my room. Sam was holed up as always.

  “Hey, how was it?” Sam looked up from the thick binder.

  “Great! I made a gold coin.”

  “Oh nice work.”

  I pulled the vial of slime I collected for her. “I got you the slime too.”

  Sam’s eyes lit up. “Aww, thank you!” I set it on her cluttered desk since she looked cozy.

  Even though I hadn't used much mana, the slime hunting job was still a full day of hiking. It was something totally foreign to this body.

  I spent my 2 free days resting and checking out the guild’s garden. It was like returning home. A rejuvenation to my spirit.

  Unsurprisingly, the garden went unappreciated by those in the guild.

  The connection between mana and nature seems to be widely unknown in this world and even more so in the city.

  I imagine that in the guild, it may seem girly or weak to enjoy a garden or nature when in reality it's a fundamental part of magic.

  During my last visit, I came across someone laying in the dirt as I had always done.

  A single visitor was rare but seeing the garden being enjoyed so shamelessly was pleasing. It was a young man too!

  He spotted me. “Hi there.

  Do you like the garden too?”

  “Yeah. A lot.” Who was he? He didn't seem like an adventurer.

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  He sat up. “Have you been to the east garden of Sol? It's just as beautiful.”

  Sol? I already knew that my last name was common but I didn't know what for.

  “Sol? What's that?”

  He became more serious. I think he realized I was new to civilization but nevertheless he gave me a straight answer without judgement.

  “Sol is the God of Nature. She is one of the 5 Gods. Although unfortunately many don't believe in any of the Gods.”

  So the correlation between mana and nature is known, but it's seen as a fake religious sort of thing.

  This was really valuable. It probably meant there were people who could help me forge this gap.

  One last thing. “My last name is Sol.”

  He smiled brightly. “It's a common name. Your ancestors were probably followers.

  You should check out the shrine whether you believe it or not. You know, just to see what they were so interested in.”

  He was clearly a follower pitching me. It worked. Sadly it was getting late so it would have to wait until after my quest.

  “Thanks for letting me know, I had no idea. I'll check it out.” I smiled at him, genuinely glad for the information.

  “Of course, no problem. If you visit gardens then you are already aware of Sol’s power.”

  I met the rest of Half Stone at the door, beaten by them all again.

  We walked and talked strategy just as before.

  Jocelyn reminded us of the monster. “Slimes act purely off instinct, but Skeletons are classified as semi-intelligent. So be careful of their tactics even if they seem simple.

  They sometimes wield weapons and armour they find from adventurers. Their blades will probably be blunt but you can't count on that either.

  We only need to kill 6, take their stones, and one femur from each.

  We can keep the same formation as last time.”

  Nobody had any complaints. It seemed simple enough.

  We were a bit more comfortable battling with each other after the slimes.

  The walk was more silent than previously but we entered confidently. During the battle, I could even see it in Trey.

  He was using more mana and taking stronger shots.

  Mari deflected the slow-moving blows of sword-wielding skeletons and Trey finished them off.

  The ones without swords almost seemed more dangerous since they were lighter and lunged at our frontliner.

  With Jocelyn closer to Mari, she was able to take riskier shots while Trey may have been scared of hitting an ally from his distance.

  I focused on killing forest slimes before they surrounded us so the rest of the party could focus on the skeletons.

  This world was the fantasy I had always dreamed of in my past life, but it has so many differences too.

  Enemies like goblins are actually very high level monsters since they are intelligent.

  The power curve here is high, but it ramps up slowly.

  Another thing is that deaths in the guild weren't uncommon, sure, but with all the countermeasures put into place, it's difficult to be reckless and take a job you can't handle.

  Everything is reviewed for safety.

  Another difference is the simple fact that it's all real. It's realistic.

  There weren’t any dangerous mean guys at the guild giving me a hard time when I first walked in. In fact they all purposely ignored me even when Lionel was making a big scene.

  Another way this world is realistic is the lack of surprise.

  In any anime I've seen, a simple quest to kill slimes would turn into the king slime showing up and it being near impossible to defeat.

  Again, the guild would know if something like that was anywhere near here.

  The final way this world is realistic is the uncertainty of life.

  In my past life I died to something as simple as a driver running a red light while I was heading home from work just like any other day.

  Accidents happen.

  You can do everything right and fate will still laugh.

  This was the first time I realized this world ran off these same principles.

  While the 3 of them were already dealing with a skeleton, a second one emerged from a cave. It started to move towards the side of the preoccupied Mari.

  Seeing that Mari was going to be attacked from two different angles, Jocelyn charged forward, clipping her bow to her side and grabbing her dagger.

  She was prepared to catch it at short range before it reached Mari, then they could regroup later once one of them was defeated.

  There wasn't time to bow down the skeleton, so she made the right decision.

  Trey had a different idea. He was the strongest of the group after all.

  He had only been holding back because of his fear of hitting allies, but since we were all working so well together, his hits were only getting stronger.

  Trey recognized the situation too, but his solution was to manipulate an earth spell strong enough to kill the skeleton in one hit, avoiding the break in the formation.

  The boulder connected with the skeleton.

  It would have worked had Jocelyn picked up on his growing confidence which would have clued her into the fact that Trey would make a split second decision like she did.

  Jocelyn’s solution would have worked had Trey done as he always did and been scared to fire.

  In reality, neither did.

  The skeleton was struck but Jocelyn was caught in it.

  The boulder pushed them into a wall, and crushed them.

  Jocelyn’s legs slid out from under the rock while her torso plopped forward, resting on it.

  The impact painted the light rock dark.

  Mari finished her skeleton off in anger.

  *

  None of us were ones to scream. We just stood there in shock.

  It was clear that there was nothing that could be done. A single miscommunication and Jocelyn was split in two.

  It wasn't surprising that Trey was the most disturbed out of us. His exact fear had been confirmed.

  If anything, it was the fact that he was getting over his fear which caused it in the first place.

  His eyes were wide under his thick bangs. He took a step back. And walked away.

  I didn't say anything. I didn't stop him.

  Mari did. “Trey! Wait!”

  But he had already cast rock walls, preventing her from approaching.