Chapter 468: Shifting Horizons

Needless to say, after all the nonsense I had gotten up to, the others seemed almost mundane by comparison. It wasn't their fault; it was just hard to compare to all the crazy adventures I had in the quest for more slime cores, saving annoying crabs, or all the weirdness around the elves.

After the matter in Southbrook was settled, Roderick ended up moving to Kaerlin with his wife. While he still wanted to help raise the next generation of adventurers, Kaerlin was the better spot to do so, as Southbrook had become weirdly too peaceful. The goblins were gone and had shown no sign of respawning, and the fights between the various kings of the forest were mundane by comparison.

I wonder if Garz's evolution has put a sort of limit on the goblins in the area? Hopefully he stays in hiding; otherwise, if an emergency quest is triggered, I might be the one to show up and stop them.

Tabitha had decided to follow Roderick for similar reasons; it was just too quiet here, and not many people needed a handler in such a small town. Even with her taking on multiple adventurers, she was pretty much bored out of her mind, so she turned to Kaerlin. Her parents weren't dependent on her or anything, so nothing tied her down to the little slime town.

"Speaking of which… I'm looking for a handler. With my new tag, I can get quests sent to me remotely."

Tabitha blinked in surprise, then shook her head at me. "No way, I'm not qualified to be a diamond rank handler!"

"But I'm worried other handlers would send me a bunch of useless quests. I could trust you to send me only ones that actually sounded interesting to me. Either unique or rare monsters, or something slime core related."

"That doesn't sound too bad…" Tabitha admitted. "But I still think you'd be better off with a professional. You can just reject any annoying quests they send you."

"But I don't want to spend too much time rejecting things. I'd rather know the quests I'm getting are something worth investigating."

"Why not try it?" Kurt asked.

"I… Don't really want to move to the Capital," Tabitha answered.

Kurt grinned and pointed to himself. "I was just thinking I needed to move up in the world, so it'll be great for both of us!"

To my surprise, Kurt's sudden declaration seemed to have genuinely changed Tabitha's mind. I certainly hadn't expected her reason for wanting to stay in Kaerlin to be related to him.

Weren't they at each other's throats all the time?

"You can also do the work in Kaerlin," Lisa pointed out. "Just that the information and quests available won't be as good. We focus more on local issues, whereas the Capital is equipped to receive quests across the nation. You could have them relayed to Kaerlin, but you'd basically be working with antiquated technology."

"You'd really enjoy Keaburg, Tabitha," Whitney encouraged. "There are so many more shops, restaurants, and everything else. Plus the guild's library and staff are the best of the best."

"Gee, I'm sorry for running such a backwater operation," Lisa replied sarcastically before taking a drink. She pouted slightly, but it was still clear she was joking.

"Don't worry, I'll be sticking around still. I can't exactly raise newbies in somewhere as big as Keaburg," Roderick said reassuringly.

"If you don't like it, I can teleport you back, so you don't have to worry about that," I promised.

"Having a dimensional mage as a friend sounds like cheating," Lisa replied. "You'd be stupid not to take this opportunity if it's so risk-free. Not to mention the salary you'd get as Syl's handler. Heck, if you don't want it, maybe I should take it?"

"What about Kaerlin?" Roderick asked.

Lisa giggled. "I'll leave it to you."

"I feel like you're using Kaerlin to threaten me if I don't take it," Tabitha sighed. "Well,"

"Damn, there goes my easy life away from paperwork…" Lisa moaned.

"I can offer you a vacation in the Capital, if you'd like?" I suggested. "I'm sure you've earned a few days off to celebrate the sights, and then I can just drop you back."

"Tempting…" Whitney murmured.

"We should all go to the Capital after this!" Whitney proposed.

"It's not a bad idea. I'm sure Luther would be more than happy to accommodate it," Evan agreed.

With partial agreements all around, it sounded like I was bringing everyone back to Keaburgs after this, with some potentially staying. I was more than happy to show favoritism to my old friends now that I was in a position of power, as while they didn't know it, they had been there for me when I was at my weakest and most ignorant.

After that, they continued their stories, and next up was Kurt, who had also followed Roderick and Tabitha to Kaerlin. I was surprised he had stayed in Southbrook for so long, since he had said he was going to rise rapidly, and it seemed to have limited his growth compared to my estimate. He basically conquered the undead dungeon and the forest, so the move came just in time, given all the peace.

The new city opened up plenty of doors to him, and he finally achieved his dream of reaching gold rank. His promotion was the most recent of everyone, achieved only last month, but he looked eager to solidify it and earn a proper name for himself. The Capital pretty much had a minimum rank of silver, so he'd have plenty more opportunities from the proposed move.

Since the Kaerlin bunch were on a roll, Lisa spoke next, though her story was the briefest of all. Not much had changed in her day-to-day, except they had to organize a lot more defenses whenever Glimmerock drifted near. The island had been spawning plenty of wild pegasi who would rampage and attack humans pretty much on sight, and attempts to cull the island had been met with harsh resistance.

"Well, I've got good news on that front; I actually took care of that," I replied to her shock.

"You went back?" Lisa asked curiously.

"I decided to teleport there to see what was going on. Some alicorns were causing a disturbance, and I took care of them."

"That's honestly a relief. I'll keep our defenses up for the next drift as a precaution, but you've done a great service for Kaerlin again," Lisa said with a smile.

"Hey, if they come back, send out an emergency quest, and I'll deal with them again and again until they stop. I almost feel like I have a grudge to settle against those insufferable horses now."

Next to speak was Dewi, who looked like he had been holding it in. He ranted and raved about all the new things he had learned at the Mages Guild, saying it had opened him to a whole new world of magic. At the same time, he'd managed to improve his Mana quality through rare items you could procure from the Mages Guild through merit, since they had legendary alchemists capable of brewing all sorts of elixirs and tonics.

The idea fascinated me, but with my Mana already maxed out, it was probably useless for me. I wondered if the elves also had such items, and if they did, I might be able to order one for Vee through Llewel or Aimon. I suspected Mother might have maxed out Vee's Mana purity through her evolutions without her knowing, since I'd never really seen her struggle much in that regard.

Dewi really wanted me to join the mages guild, although when I revealed that I had already broken through the constraints of my Mana Aura, he was slightly less excited about it. At the same time, I showed him frostfire, which nearly made him explode in rapturous jubilation.

Not only that, but since he was already vaguely familiar with [Flammable] and [Combust], I also showed him [Scorchlance] and [Conflagration Aura], which he was delighted to study on the spot. In fact, he was so delighted that he stopped talking and sat quietly in the corner while I maintained their framework through a pair of [Sub-Cores].

"Okay, your level of [Multicasting] was already frightening when we last saw you, but now it's getting ridiculous," Evan said, watching his close friend studying in quiet earnest probably for the first time ever.

"I had to for [Dimension Magic]," I explained. "To cast a basic teleport requires three consecutive spells, although I've thankfully refined that to a single spell now for personal usage. Even the portal we used to get here was made by combining two spells and a very special skill together."

"A stupidly special skill," Vee whined. "It's so unfair you can't share it with me…"

"Class restricted?" Lisa asked.

I nodded. "I always thought all skills were shareable, so I was surprised when it happened."

"For the most part, they are, at least at a basic level," Lisa explained. "When it comes to advanced classes and above, they tend to have a signature skill or two that are effectively the entire reason the class exists, so they are understandably restricted."

I nodded, though I wondered how that applied to spell versions, and I couldn't help but look at Dewi, completely absorbed in his study. I still had my pseudo version of [Elemental Shift], which could not only grant fake affinities but also boost existing ones. When Dewi upgraded to [Spell Weaving], I could try teaching him to make a fire core, which I was sure he would do anything to achieve.

Just the word more fire would probably make it his life goal. I've wanted to teach Vee one of my affinity cores, but she's just too stubborn to do it.

Part of me wondered if putting my friends in experiments was a bad idea, but I figured at the end of the day they would relish the benefits. Kurt could be one of my first testers of the slime dungeon, and now Dewi was another candidate.

Evan spoke next, and his story was short, too. He had spent most of his time working for the temple, although to my surprise he was actually sent to Dhoggurum during the catastrophe to provide relief. That earned him enough merit to receive what he described as an "honorary gold rank," though he felt he didn't really deserve it.

From his perspective, his adventuring days were almost entirely behind him, and he spent most of his time focused on charity. Vee was a bit blunt and asked him outright why he did so much, and he revealed it was one of the most reliable ways to advance through healing and holy magic. Virtuous deeds would accumulate, and the next time you received an ascendance, or a skill revelation from your class, you would be granted additional options.

Huh… Is that why I've not really been offered a healing class despite having [Healing Magic]? I don't have enough accumulated virtue?

I wasn't really planning on becoming a healer, but creating a new persona for that task wasn't out of the question. If I did, I would probably use Evan as a base template when deciding what type of personality to go with, although another part of me wondered if just throwing overpowered [Heal Slime] was the better solution.

Lastly, there was Whitney, and she was arguably the busiest bee of the bunch. I was already vaguely familiar with her activities based on our past and earlier conversations, but now she was going into more detail where she could. She had infiltrated several smuggling dens and recovered plenty of supplies, but then took it a step further and also started infiltrating noble houses to look for incriminating evidence.

She had gone from simple trap-disarming rogue to monster assassin to, now, some kind of noble-toppling spy, and it was honestly quite a wild level of job-changing. Like Evan, her gold promotion didn't come from the usual monster-slaying, dungeon-conquering path, and she seemed to have mixed feelings about it, too.

Of course we all praised her deeds, which seemed much grander than just defeating monsters, and as Vee ceremoniously put it, "sometimes the real monsters are people," which earned nods of approval from both Evan and Lisa. Still, it was clear she missed her simpler adventuring days despite all her accolades.

"Maybe while you are all in Keaburg, you should do a dungeon together for old times' sake," Lisa suggested.

"Not a bad idea," Roderick admitted. "Although we will have to selfishly leave Syl out of it, or she might defeat it all on her own."

"Hey, don't worry about me, I'm a bit sick of dungeons and labyrinths after all the time I've spent in them. The last two especially took way too long."

"Ugh… Don't remind me," Vee groaned.

Even though it helped her achieve her current evolution, getting stuck in that small time loop wasn't fun. Plus, I imagined Vee was still not too happy about the explosive finale I had orchestrated, even though it had secured us a relatively trouble-free victory.

"Speaking of which… I have something for you, Syl," Whitney said, searching through her storage pouch.

"Oh! I do too," Dewi suddenly exclaimed, finally breaking his gaze to reach into his own.

Roderick chuckled and shook his head. "I'm betting we all have something," he said, then reached into his own pouch.

"Aww… You guys didn't need to get me anything."

"Nonsense, you're a diamond rank now, so you might as well take it as a congratulations present," Roderick insisted.

Whitney was the first to start, and the first to find what she was looking for. She smiled smugly as she hid it in her hand before confidently placing it on the table. "Well, if you're being stubborn, I can take this back."

Two purple slime cores sat on the table, and I couldn't stop my eyes from widening in shock. Dewi was next and placed a relatively large red slime core next to Whitney's pair.

"N-now… Let's not be hasty!" I replied, staring longingly at the delicious cores on display.

"Well, your tune changed awfully quickly," Lisa snickered.

"It looks like the way to Syl's heart is still slime cores," Roderick chuckled, adding a green slime core to the mix.

"I'm glad I asked for this then," Evan said, placing a cracked silver core onto the table.

None of these were new cores, but that didn't matter to me at all. Every slime core was free proficiency experience towards my two fused traits, and no matter how small the amount, I would never complain about that.

This feels like my birthday. I could even say the two purple cores are the traditional poisoned cake!