Donis was sitting a little lost inside the carriage with Striga. They were on their way to the nearest office for the Royal Informants, which conveniently was only a 3 hour carriage ride away in a nearby town called Bonn. Bonn was situated just outside of the swamp, giving the locals a much needed break from the drab of the swamp.He didn"t really know what to make of it all. Striga had been awfully quiet, which both helped Donis"s mentality as he didn"t have to constantly hear her G.o.dawful accent, and it also confused him. Striga had always seemed headstrong and knew what to do. It came with the territory of being a captain of the [Monster Specialists].
The journey was shorter than Donis expected, only taking 2 hours instead of the 3. Striga had hired a carriage with leveled up Droveries, the normal ones being kept at level 10, while these ones were level 20. It increased their stamina and strength tremendously, but it also cost more since the upkeep of a higher level Droverie also cost more.
Bonn wasn"t a quaint town, it was a bustling city. There was actual colour to the place! The people wore varied colours, the buildings were shades of washed out colours, but colours nonetheless. Donis never thought he"d even care about such things.
As they drove into the heart of the city, Striga seemed to lighten up a little, pointing out the common spots for drinks and the best street food, even so far as going to explain some of the more interesting stories that carried here there.
"That"s where Jimmy and I first fought 12 drunkards! What a night! We must have cleaned that entire street with their beaten bodies hahah," she laughed as she pointed at a random looking alleyway.
"Alright, I get it, you and Jimmy are a perfect couple," sighed Donis.
Strigas laughter immediately stopped. A chilling silence befell the carriage. Donis looked away from the windows of the carriage and back to Striga. She wore a broken smile, inching ever closer towards Donis.
"Hmm, lad. I wonder where you got the idea that the two of us are a thing?" laughed Striga. Her laugh was like listening to broken gla.s.s trying to tear up Donis himself.
"Uh well.. uh.. the two of ye? At the headquarters? I thought.." panicked Donis.
"Yes, you thought. Lets leave the thinking for the adults shall we? If you ever speak to Jimmy about being together with me, I"ll f.u.c.king cut your b.a.l.l.s off, and no potion will save them," Striga spoke gratingly.
"Yes ma"am. I"m sorry Striga."
"Good lad. We"re here," said Striga as a bright tone came back to her voice.
The carriage stopped in front a dark grey cathedral-like building. It had spires reaching pretty high into the sky, a metal fence all around the perimeter of the gardens that surrounded it. It looked less like an information agency, and more like a palace for a very wealthy merchant, or some sort of n.o.bility.
The green fields of gra.s.s and gorgeous gardens surrounding the building stood out like sore thumbs in the middle of the city. Cobblestone streets littered with rubbish, beggars on the corners peddling for change. There were drunks roaming the streets even during the day, yet they never interacting with the common public.
They seemed to be a cla.s.s of their own, clearly better off than even the nicer families in Vorinar. Clothes reminded Donis of some hybrid time between of the Victorian era, and a 1950"s gentlemens club. Prim and proper b.u.t.toned up vests, with nice brimmed hats, flowing dresses that enhanced the litheness of the female form, and amped up their bosoms.
After having a gander around, the duo started towards the building itself. A hint of unease surrounded Donis"s mind, but the straight and powerful steps of Striga kept his mind focused on the hurdle ahead. Just what is this Allfather, what does it have to do with the Dragonfury Combat Job, is it because of the corrupted memories? All of these questions pervaded Donis"s mind.
Yet he couldn"t linger on them for long, as the gate had opened and they were let inside by the kind looking stewardess. The Royal Informants looked closer to a bank teller than anything else. People behind magically enhanced gla.s.s, which was made to resists most types of magic, which spoke to people in one on one scenarios.
Donis couldn"t hear what they were saying because the gla.s.s also had another Enchantment, [Hush]. It isolated sounds into a bubble. The people within could only hear their conversation and no other sound, the people outside of it couldn"t hear theirs at all either. While [Hush] normally has a disadvantage, it"s mitigated by the fact that the place is heavily guarded by both magical means and human resources.
The security of the place astounded Donis. It was large men and women clad in enchanted gear. Peeking at their statuses, they were all level 80 or above, with gear that 3+ enchantments, but all identical. Clearly the security of the place is top notch, so they can be a little more lax with the [Hush] zones.
Donis and Striga waited in line for the Royal Informant desk to open up. Once their turn arrived, they both sat down and Striga opened up the channel for dialogue.
"So, ma"am, Donis and I, Striga, have come here to request some information, or to be pointed in the direction of someone who may know about a few topics,"
"h.e.l.lo dears, that seems to be a reasonable request, are you trading in favours or dealing with Erzi today?" asked the Informant.
"Favours?" asked Donis while looking at Striga.
"Uh, so, they"re like a merit system for the Royals. We do good deeds for them, do their jobs, we get paid in either Favours, or Erzi. Pros and Cons to both, but it"s like a specific currency for the Royals and their networks," said Striga.
"Ah, okay!" quieted down Donis.
"We"ll be trading in with Favours, and if I don"t have enough, Erzi will be fine too. The name is Striga Rubens, Captain of the Darkwater. His name is Donis Laurent, a student at the Vernaic Academy."
"Oh, Donis, you"re quite a way away from home aren"t you?" smiled the Informant. "Of course, Ms. Rubens. You currently have 367 Favours to cash in, and what may be the subject of your questions?"
"We need to know if Donis here advancing in his Combat Job turned out to be a bad thing. He ended up becoming half dragon. We also need to know about location tracking magic spells that deal with eyes. Also, what is the potential danger level for Donis if the eyes that belonged to the tracking spell belonged to the Allfather, Drakthiin," listed out Striga with an emotionless expression.
"Hmm, information regarding Combat Jobs is actually on hand info we have here. Draconification is well doc.u.mented so there is an almost discount on that one. Info on a specific spell may take extra resources. If anything has to do with Drakthiin, then it"s going to cost extra once again. Hmm. Adding everything together you"ll need 485 Favours to get all of the answers," smiled the Informant.
"Okay, how much in Erzi?" said Striga.
"About 4,900 Erzi," said the Informant tonelessly.
"s.h.i.t, I don"t have enough to cover it! I guess we"ll just ask the most important questions," sighed Striga.
"Wait Striga, I can pay for the whole thing, it"s okay, this is for me," whispered Donis.
"You can? 4,900 Erzi is a lot of money for anyone. It could buy you a nice place in the city here for a good few months," she whispered back.
"Yeah, it"s okay. I made plenty from my [Alchemy] side job!" fist pumped Donis.
"Okay, we"ll take all of it!" said Striga as Donis reached out and placed a small bag of 4,900 Erzi.
"Okay, so, Combat Jobs changing ones race isn"t the oddest thing, but having it so young is very odd, so nothing to worry about there. Draconification is a subset of [Monster Specialists] and their expertise. You will have to go and meet Dr. Gilbert, he"s well versed in the Limitations and Effects of Dragonification. He"s actually in Baoruin right now, if you hurry you may get to him quickly enough. Now, the tracking spell for the eyes may take a little while to figure out. If there"s any info you can give us on what it looked like, felt like, or anything else notable, please do, it"ll narrow down the search tremendously." Listed off the Informant.
"Now, if they do belong to Drakthiin there"s nothing any of us can do, but what I can let you know is that Gilbert is actually a Dragon Specialist. Your best bet is going to be talking to him. Though from what I can see in these files here," said the Informant, as they perused through a tablet that seemed to be projecting something for the viewer.
"Hmm, so, quest is to meet Dr Gilbert huh? Get the dragon info, and mash together a plan?" said Donis.
-[The Will of Dragons Quest]: Find and question Dr. Gilbert about Dragons and their origin.
Reward: [1.5% level EXP + +2 Stat boost to two primary stats.]
"Ooh, the questing system works even this way? Cool, now I know definitely I can just abuse the c.r.a.p out of this."
"Basically lad, basically. Why do you think we drink so much?" mumbled Striga.
"Cause you"re all alcoholics?"
"Stop hanging around Jimmy, please"