Sprites are a species that loves and hates with equal clarity.
They resent strangers barging into their lives and territory, but once you earn their approval they meet you with boundless warmth.
Along the way, the adorable little creatures flew out front brimming with energy, darting through the trees and pointing out easy paths, never seeming to tire.
Though they’d only ...
After Alia finished speaking with the wolves, Gauss finally asked, “Well? Does it tie to our target?”
He’d noticed her expression; she must have squeezed out something useful.
“Possibly,” Alia said after a pause, then relayed what she’d gathered from the pack. As she spoke, she rubbed her temples. The wolves had treated her like a long-lost outlet, pouring out anxiety ...
After Gauss picked out a few commissions, he realized a number of Bronze-badge adventurers had clustered nearby.
Their eyes, like his a moment ago, were glued to the goblin-related postings.
“Boss, these look like they’re on the same route.”
“Man, these jobs are poor.”
“That’s how routine jobs are.”
“Barely pays for a meal.”
The Bron...
Serandur’s return wasn’t much later than they’d expected.
At dawn the next morning, he slipped back into his own room without a sound.
His return was as low-key as his departure—like he’d only stepped out for a morning walk. When Gauss found him, he was seated upright with his tail coiled beneath him on a simple mat in the middle of the room, cradling a silver statuette ...
“Eh? You’re back this early today?”
Passing by Gauss’s room and noticing the door ajar, Alia leaned in—and was surprised to find him still there at midday.
“Mm. Something unusual came up, so I didn’t take any new commissions.” Gauss set his book down and glanced toward the doorway.
These past few days his routine was: turn in the previous day’s commissions...
“A ‘non-public’ commission?”
A hint of hesitation crossed Gauss’s face.
From the elder’s tone, it seemed tied to his recent spree of goblin hunts.
So—a special commission related to goblins?
That, at least, piqued his interest. But…
Without knowing the specifics, he wasn’t about to say yes. Not even for a fat reward.
Yes, he was very g...
Gauss admitted he’d had a chance to stop the cloaked figure a moment ago.
But in situations like this, his instinct was not to get involved.
If a squad of rookie adventurers were in danger, or if it was clearly a case of bullying, he’d jump in without hesitation. In those brief seconds just now, though, he didn’t know who the parties were or what had happened, so the only se...
After the battle, the hollow fell quiet again.
A heavy reek of blood, laced with the acrid tang of urine, hung in the air. The morning sun slanted into the ravine, carving a few visible shafts of light. Fine dust still unsettled by the fighting rose and sank in the beams, making everything look oddly peaceful and serene.
Logger George, however, felt anything but calm. His temples ...
Even though they called it “rest,” there was still plenty to do.
For professional adventurers, these lulls between crises are the golden hours for digesting gains and leveling up, so you’re ready when the next disaster hits. Gauss and Alia both understood that.
Alia needed to learn the new spell Faerie Fire, keep honing Beast Form, build rapport with a few animal companions,...
Outside the cave, the sun was warm.
“Alright, last weapons check!”
The shield bearer apprentice Blake rapped his knuckles against the iron-rimmed wooden shield whose edges were a little worn. The dull thud gave him a sliver of comfort.
His family had scrimped and saved to buy this secondhand tower shield for him.
Every time he looked at it, Blake swore to himself...
It was three days later by the time Gauss and company made it back to town.
Dusty and spent, they stepped into Lincrown—familiar timbered buildings, thin cooking smoke curling from rooftops, people and livestock moving along the streets—and only then did the tension that had wound through them finally unwind. Real relief, from the inside out.
On paper, with two teams and sever...
Even though Gauss felt the hunger wasn’t his own, Alia had already offered. He wasn’t about to brush off her kindness.
“Thanks.” He tossed a few Goodberry into his mouth; their energy spread through him quickly. As expected, the hunger didn’t ease. The white egg kept broadcasting its need—and the feeling bled into him.
You want to…
He swallowed, staring at the...
Solin the dwarf let out a thunderous shout.
The booming voice instantly snapped everyone out of their giddy weapon-scavenging. Following his gaze, they realized that “enemies” had appeared all around them without anyone noticing—statues now staring them down like predators.
“Magitek constructs!!”
Well-read Nancy named them at once. These statue-like wardens were b...
The sky was a clear, vivid blue.
Trunks of every shape grew wild—twisted, arrow-straight, gray-green and furred over with moss. In the gaps where no trees stood, grass ran riot; wild celery, nettles, and thistles sprawled thick and rich.
Suddenly, crisp hoofbeats broke the forest hush—like a pebble tossed into a lake, sending ripples wide.
A party’s silhouettes slowly...
Solin, Nancy, and Elton each wore a different expression—but all three were, in their own way, impressed by Gauss’s display of power.
Nancy’s lips moved faintly as she studied him, thoughts hidden.
“Beautifully done, lad!” Solin boomed. He’d felt a stab of frustration at not finishing the demon-spawn himself, but it washed away fast. He strode up and thumped Gauss on t...
Time slipped by.
Over the next few days, Gauss and the others first saw Andeni off. Watching her disappear at the end of the road, he felt a pang—who knew when they’d cross paths again.
On the fourth day, Gauss finally received Solin the dwarf’s call to depart. The two teams met up, left Lincrown, and set out along their planned route toward the ruin.
Their mounts wer...
Perhaps catching the doubt in Gauss’s eyes, the dwarf Solin realized how his words sounded and waved both hands fast.
“Hey, hey! Dragon lad, what’s that look for? I, Solin Shancopper, am a bona fide five-star adventurer—we only do legal work! I don’t go in for any funny business!”
He rushed to explain.
Beside him, the mage Nancy sighed. “This isn’t the place...
The adventurers’ hall was packed.
Lincrown’s Adventurers’ Guild was laid out much like Grayrock’s: two floors, with a broad posting area and public service counter in the center, and a second floor reserved for professionals.
Unlike Grayrock’s rough, utilitarian style, though, Lincrown’s hall was dotted with greenery—pots of plants everywhere, bright green vines cli...
Night blanketed the outskirts; a cold wind moved across the fields.
The column of evacuees trudged in silence, the mood so heavy you could hear only the shuffle of mixed footsteps and the muffled groans of the wounded.
Soldiers, cavalry, adventurers—and noncombatants like smiths, laborers, and merchants—every face was drawn with fatigue and gloom.
Gauss rode his chocobo...
Power like nothing he’d ever felt surged through Gauss’s body.
With the Ironscale Bloodline awakened, even his flesh seemed strengthened on every front.
“So this is… a dragon’s power?”
The text that had flashed a moment ago crossed his mind.
“Dragon” was a broad concept. In this world, dragons weren’t a single creature but an enormous, complex famil...
Andeni all but dragged Gauss into his room.
“Let me see it.”
She was practically buzzing with curiosity. Seeing her tip her head up, eyes shining with a hungry light, Gauss didn’t tease. He pulled the white mage’s staff—the former bone staff—out of his pouch.
“Whoaa—”
Andeni hurried closer. The staff was a little over half a meter long. Unlike the o...
Fortunately, the egg didn’t keep devouring his mana for long.
After sending a feeling of satisfaction, it went quiet again—as if falling asleep.
Gauss exhaled and stopped eating. He felt the lively thrum of mana inside him, rubbed his chin, and thought.
Sometimes, spending a bit of mana isn’t a bad thing; the process helps build class experience. Most of the time, the...
A fierce urge to claim it surged up in Gauss’s chest.
He didn’t know where the feeling came from, or why. He’d always thought of himself as calm. But now his heart hammered, and it felt like a voice kept prodding him to move.
“Don’t rush…”
He pressed a hand to his chest and drew a long breath, forcing himself to cool down.
“Gauss, are you okay?”
...
The clay Converts obeyed Gauss’s orders to the letter, hugging the trail of the real Convert that led the way, melding into the trees and slipping through the underground web of roots.
Along the route more Converts kept joining the moving line, as if summoned by some special presence, all hurrying the same way.
Through the shared link Gauss could roughly fix their position; even...
Because of a mysterious force, the Jade Forest stays evergreen year-round, though each season still has its subtle differences.
With spring giving way to summer, the land wore both spring’s green and early summer’s heat. After days of frequent rain, sunlight, moisture, and the forest’s vital mana braided together, driving a surge of growth in trees, underbrush, and ferns.
Ev...
Lincrown had been a lot livelier these last few days.
It took Gauss’s trio a while to find rooms—eventually they rented enough space in a four-story treehouse inn. After dropping their packs and paying for a bath on the first floor, the three stepped back out into the streets feeling fresh.
The town had grown into a dizzying maze for newcomers. Beyond the greenery and trees, t...
Dawn broke.
Grayrock Town woke from the night.
A thin mist still clung like gauze over stone houses and streets. The air was cool, tinged with the smell of cooking smoke.
Figures drifted along the lanes, already slipping into a new day’s bustle. Packhorses snorted, wagons rattled over flagstones with a rolling grumble. Leather-clad, weaponed adventurers yawned their way d...
They’d been on the road for hours.
Gauss still hadn’t quite shaken the melancholy of parting when the sky opened up on the ride back.
The rain came out of nowhere. A bank of leaden cloud swallowed the sun in an instant, and bean-sized drops slammed down without warning—sparse at first, then merging into a white curtain that hammered puddles into a crackling froth.
“...
The surging torrent of mana seemed to burst through an invisible sluice gate.
Power long held in reserve coursed again and again, scouring the channels within his body. The mana cup flared with bright white light.
Vmmm!
Centered on Gauss, a gust born of mana ripples suddenly rolled out. Blades of grass flattened; the once-gentle current of the stream broke into churning rip...
Gauss stood there for a long time, then let out a long breath.
He quietly took stock of the sweeping changes to his mind and body.
First, it was as if the whole world had been polished—everything was crisper, more transparent. He felt he could make out the veins in distant leaves, the sunlight refracting in dewdrops, the drift paths of dust motes in the air—every tiny detail l...