Chapter 155

The Angel Express - 8:47 PM

“Finally done,” I said, releasing a breath as I looked at the stack of letters on the table I was sitting at. They took up the whole surface and even some of a second table I had pulled closer.

[[Patron Quest Complete!]]

Congratulations, Ant. With this, all of your homework is now complete.

Which means I don’t have to send you to detention and you don’t have to get educated, or whatever it was you said.

Reward: 600 points.

“Sheesh, if you don’t want to flirt with me then that’s absolutely fine,” I teased, looking up at the ceiling. “But I also think that this shy side of yours is endearing. I get it; fighter, not a lover. Being physical is hard, but it’s still easier for you. I’m sorry I’m not able to reach you now, but you best believe there’s nowhere else I’d rather be.”

[[Patron Message]]

You know you don’t have to apologize. This has been a great experience for me, and I’m glad I get to spend so much time with you. I really am.

It’s just as you said, it’s a lot harder for me to be flirty than it is to be physically intimate. That simply requires me to jump into things, and honestly it feels really good. But flirting needs a lot more thought, and then I’m wondering if I’m just going to embarrass myself, or how you’ll react to it.

I mean, I’ve seen how men are before. Send them a clearly shameful photo and they’ll recklessly complete a whole 100 point dungeon in your honor. That kind of stuff is easy.

But flirting is harder. Plus, it’s much easier for you. All you have to do is say something and it’s out there for, usually, only me to hear. But you’ve got an entire record of my messages. I have to think about it and what if you don’t receive it well? Then I’m overthinking and it’s an issue and I’m already doing it again.

It’s much easier to just send a clearly shameful photo.

Though, speaking of sending you things, I should be able to send you the gauntlet tomorrow. I’ll be done purifying it by then.

Sincerely,

Sara

P.S. I suppose you should at least know that I find you very handsome.

“Sara, it is really, truly okay,” I said with a soft smile. “Flirting isn’t a requirement for a relationship, trust me. I am happy with you being you, and I’m happy knowing that you think I’m handsome. It’s just a whole lot of fun to tease you. That said, I’ll stop if you want me to. The last thing I want is for my pure hearted maiden to be uncomfortable.”

Leaning back, I snapped open the dining car’s menu and ordered myself a hot chocolate. “Also, thank you for letting me know about the gauntlet. I already have my Warmind gloves, but I’m sure it’ll come in handy for someone. Your hard work is appreciated.”

[[Patron Message]]

Of course you’d bring up my pure heart now of all times.

I don’t know about hard work, but thank you.

And you can tease me. Under most circumstances I find your antics to be charming, I’m just not very confident in this area. Which is a strange feeling for me, as I am usually very confident when it comes to most things in my life. I suppose you just live in a special gray area.

Though, that’s enough out of me. How are you feeling? You’ve been holding yourself together well since the Uuska fight. Is Regression Imbalance over?

Sincerely,

Sara

I couldn’t help my smile as I thought about ramping it up, but decided against it. There was a point where charming could very easily give way to annoying, and that was one of the last things I wanted to do.

My smile slipped as I thought about her question. “Maybe,” I told her hesitantly. “The Uuska was one thing, but the most powerful enemy I've fought since then was the Pharaoh and I already knew that fighting him alone without destroying his organs was a bad choice. I had to flee from him a few times before because I thought I could take it without weakening him first. Those were definitely what I would call learning experiences.”

Taking a sip of hot chocolate, I continued. “I think I have fighting against people out of my system, at least. Dueling Jeff was fun, but it wasn’t enough to make me go off the deep end. Not like Thomas or Father Alexander’s thugs, and certainly not like, well, anyone in the Chaos Cup. And, don’t get me wrong, I’m expecting great things from him. I know he’s talented, but I’m able to keep it more under control now.

“In conclusion… Maybe?” I asked more than said. “This is the longest it’s ever lasted, and I’m trying my best to keep a lid on my emotions. It’s getting easier, though, and-“

A yawn from the sleeper car caught my attention, and I turned to see Ashley standing in the open doorway. The Monstersmith appeared rather frazzled, and was already wearing her work clothes for the day. She rubbed her eyes before stretching.

“You talking to your sky friend?” she asked, yawning again.

“Patron,” I gently corrected as I started pushing the letters into my inventory. “But yes, we were having a lovely chat.”

“Must be nice,” Ashley replied before squinting at the newest edition to the dining car decorations. It was set up next to the guild board, and she pointed at it in confusion. “What’s this?”

“That’s the rank 5 benefit, the trophy case,” I answered, standing up with my mug to join her as she inspected it. “Different things inside give different daily buffs. You can only choose one, but it lasts for the whole day. The only one that’s off limits to everyone except me, for obvious reasons, is the one at the top.”

I sipped my hot chocolate as I looked at the trophy case with pride. There were only a few things inside so far, but it was still nice to see the work we had done on display, even if it was only for us to see.

At the bottom of the case was the Pharaoh’s skull, cut off at the neck. It was smaller when on display, and was still wrapped up in linen. “Go ahead and tap the glass in front of them, and you’ll see,” I said, doing the same to the skull. A screen popped up in front of me.

[[Sol Ligatus Display Case]]

You have selected The Skull of the Pharaoh.

Hunter: Anthony Franklin.

Choosing this buff will grant you a 10% boost in a stat of your choice. Would you like to choose this buff?

Yes

No

Hitting No, I watched her reach out for a set of fangs situated in the middle of the case. These were from the Duchess, which Kayla had saved, and was a powerful trophy that increased healing effects by 25%. A single gold coin rested near it, and I recognized the visage of the Elf named Hao. This one was for Ashley, and I had asked Jamie to set it inside specifically for her. It gave the Monstersmith a 20% boost to points when the items she made were put to use.

Non-combat classes didn’t rely on monster slaying or questing to get stronger, though there was nothing stopping them from  doing so. Instead, they gained experience when they finished specific actions. Someone with a merchant class gained more points selling and procuring goods, a chef would gain points when people ate their food, and craft workers gained points when their goods were put to use.

It did provide diminishing returns, of course. I was fairly certain that Ashley was only gaining a few points every time I used the Vambrace of Wires to take down a monster at this point, but back when I first got it she had been raking in the points. The fact that she had so many customers from the Chaos Cup had been a huge boon to her, not that she would admit it.

“And, of course, yours just has to be most prominent, doesn’t it?” Ashley asked as she tapped on the glass protecting the coin. With a nod of her head, she backed away from the case. “Is that even legal? You didn’t get it here.”

“Yeah, it does,” I confirmed with a grin, looking at the item on top. “And that’s the great thing about this guild perk. Doesn’t matter if you got something from outside of Pittsburgh, so long as it’s worthy of being displayed.”

The item wasn’t actually in the case, but above it, unprotected unlike the rest. The golden trophy was short, squat, and molded in the shape of Merder Stadium. A plaque near the bottom indicated that Team Warmonger was the winner, and was won by its sole member, the Warmonger, and his manager, Howard Cooper.

Reaching up, I touched the trophy.

[[Sol Ligatus Display Case]]

You have selected The Chaos Cup 1st Place Trophy.

Hunter: Anthony Franklin.

Choosing this buff will grant you a 5% boost to all of your stats. Would you like to choose this buff?

Yes

No

I was done for the night, but hit Yes regardless. “This’ll get better after we win the next tournament,” I explained. “And it’ll work for the others in the guild, since they’ll be participating. Kayla as our manager, and Jeff and Jamie as fellow fighters.”

“Counting your chickens before they hatch, aren’t you?” she scoffed. I smirked and looked at her. “Yeah, yeah, you be smug. The moment you lose, I’m going to enjoy watching that damn smirk get wiped off your face.”

“You and me both, Ashley,” I said, nodding as I took another sip and returned to the table. I pulled out a chair for her.

The Monstersmith took one more look at the case before joining me, swiping open the dining car’s menu. “When’s that supposed to be? The tournament, I mean.”

I shrugged. “Sometime later. Probably not between the second and third scenario, but maybe between the third and fourth, or fifth and sixth.”

“And did… Sara tell you that?” Ashley asked, her eyes flicking to the ceiling.

“Sara is a knower of many things, but even she can only speculate on stuff like what the administrators are planning,” I answered with a shrug.

“She knows a lot, huh?”

I watched as a wistful look overtook her face, and politely coughed into my hand. She snapped back, and I recognized the opportunity. “If there’s something you want to ask, I don’t mind getting an answer for you.”

For a moment, Ashley looked like she wanted to say something, but soon scowled and started looking through the menu. I knew what she wanted to ask, and it wasn’t easy. It was better to be worried then find out terrible information about your home, after all.

Still, the seed was planted, and I knew she’d ask about her daughter and Boston eventually. It was going to be a heartbreaking discussion, but I was thankful I didn’t have to pretend to be a psychic this time around. Having Sara “answer” her question meant that the information was coming from a better source. After all, my girlfriend was already supposedly providing everyone with directions through the Pitt, so her credibility was only growing.

“Are you the one who’s been replacing my water bottles and food?” she finally asked instead.

“Yeah, you’re working really hard and I want you to take care of yourself.”

“More like you need me to stay healthy so I can make more shit, right?”

I gave her a comforting smile. “You know I don’t feel that way about you,” I replied. “Like I said, work as much as you want, or as little as you want. I’m just sincerely glad that we were able to get you away from Merder Stadium.”

Ashley let out a little growl, but sighed when a plate full of steak, onions, and a baked potato appeared in front of her. That was her go-to meal, I knew. “I’m working on your stupid chainsaw,” she offered as she cut into the meat.

“I appreciate that,” I said. “How’s it going?”

She took a bite of her food before answering. “It was going easy enough, but I wasn’t happy with it at first,” Ashley answered. “The material from the Tuskgutter Ghost would break too easily if you used it on anything corporeal. Which, it’s a chainsaw, why would you only want to use it on ghosts?”

“You found a workaround, then?” I asked despite knowing the answer.

“I did. I made caps for the tusk out of dragon’s bone,” she said proudly. “At first I was worried that it wouldn’t do what it was supposed to, but I was focusing too hard on one aspect. After all, the only reason why you asked me to use the tusk was because it can damage ghosts, right? So the dragon bone didn’t matter. The bone will go through anything corporeal while its core, the tusk, hurts what the bone can’t touch.”

I couldn’t help but smile as Ashley put her fork and knife down and started becoming more animated. “It’s perfect, now, hitting both worlds. I thought about using the scales instead of the bone, which would give it a little more damage and light on fire, but the resource cost would be too high. Plus, dragon scales are better for armor than weapons, which is the opposite for the bones.

“Now, don’t get me wrong, this is still going to be a costly piece of machinery when it comes to running it,” she said, picking up her fork just so she can point it at me. “It’s not an every fight kind of tool unless you have some kind of monstrously large resource pool. Seeing as it’s you, maybe, but I’m warning you ahead of time to be frugal just in case.”

“I appreciate the warning, Ashley,” I said. “And I’m really looking forward to using it. I’ve got a greenhouse to visit tomorrow, so it very well may come in handy.”

The Monstersmith blinked. “Alright, just so we’re clear,” she said before returning to her meal. “Should be done by the time you wake up. Then, I’m going to work on Jamie’s damn shield.”

“The gold one, right? Are you planning on using the scales for that?”

Ashley nodded. “Yup. I think that, with a bit of finagling, I could get it to reflect both fire and necrotic damage in addition to the untyped mirrored damage.”

“That’s going to be fantastic for Jamie,” I praised. “We’re lucky you decided to stay with us for Pittsburgh.”

“Damn right,” she said, though her heart wasn’t in it. Pausing, she stood up and took her plate. “I’m going to go eat in the workshop. If I don’t see you, then have a good night, I guess.”

“You too, Ashley. I’ll be off to bed myself now,” I said, drinking the rest of my hot chocolate and setting the mug down on the table. It disappeared as I stood. “Good night to you as well.”

“Alright,” was all she said before nodding and disappearing back to her lair.

[[Patron Message]]

I think she’s warming up to you.

Anyway, I’m glad you’re feeling like yourself. Sleep well tonight, okay?

Sincerely,

Sara

“I do feel more like myself,” I said with a smile as I headed back to my room for a good night’s rest. “Good night, Sara.”