Chapter 35: Power Leveling

Chapter 35: Power Leveling

I took the stairs three at a time as I raced to the lounge Bob suggested. It took a while even after I made it to the third floor because it was hidden from view in the back. I ducked under a rope barring entry to the quest board and found a small room hidden off to the side. Several women looked up as I entered the tiny area.

“This is a private lounge,” one of the women roared when she saw me. “No men are allowed back here.”

“You’re Oliver, right?” Leila asked from the largest seat in the center of the room. “We were just talking about…”

“Where’s Leslie?” I asked, cutting her off.

“Oliver?” Leslie’s voice spoke softly from behind me. “What are you doing here?”

I turned to find her standing there out of breath. “I was looking for you. What happened?”

Leslie’s armor was in tatters with several gashes in the thick leather chest plate. It was also covered in dirt, which I thought was odd due to Miss Spencer’s enchantments. The rest of the women all wore armor so clean that it looked brand new.

“The training is really hard,” was all Leslie could say as she hung her head.

I looked back and forth between Leslie and Leila, wondering if my disgust was etched on my face. “This looks more like bullying than actual training.”

Leslie’s eyes widened at the accusation and she shook her head rapidly. “No no no no! That’s not what this is.”

“Bullying?” Leila asked in a low voice that dripped with venom and made the hair on my arm stand on end. “Have you ever gone adventuring, Boy? Proper adventuring, not the shenanigans you got up to with the slimes but true, risk your life, adventuring with a group of people that you have to trust your life with. You need to find perspective before jumping to conclusions. I think it would be best if you leave for now. You’re upsetting the girls.”

I traded a glance with Leslie and could tell she felt uncomfortable with the scene I’d just caused. Sucking in a deep breath, I swallowed my pride and bowed my head to Leila. “Please forgive my ignorance. Do you mind if I borrow Leslie for a bit?”

Leila nodded to Leslie and I felt the tension break. She grabbed my wrist and said, “Come on,” before tugging me out of the room

Several of the women muttered loudly as we beat a hasty retreat. Leslie didn’t say anything as we left the guild hall. In the elevator, she ignored the attendance and mashed a button marked “B.”

“Are you going to kill me now?” I joked, wondering if the guild had something similar in the basement to the Tinkerer’s guild.

She glared at me, making me wonder just how badly I’d screwed up. “Don’t tempt me. Do you realize how hard it is to be in a group with a black mark? I’d appreciate it if you don’t mess this up for me.”

“Why are you the only one all beat up?” I asked, unable to contain my frustration on her behalf.

Leslie sighed, flapping her arms up and down in exasperation. “That’s because they were power-leveling me.”

“What’s that?” I asked, not having heard the words used together before.

Just then the elevator door dinged and popped open. Leslie took my hand and dragged me out of it and down a dark corridor, lit only by faint red lights at distant intervals. She only explained when we were well out of earshot of the elevator. “A group like Leila’s are all high-level adventurers. Much higher level than you or me. While It’s impossible to bring me up to their level, they can help by letting me fight powerful monsters all on my own.”

“Isn’t that dangerous?” I asked, worried she’d bitten off more than she could chew.

Leslie shook her head, stopping to open a door. “It’s totally safe. With their help, I can fight monsters that would normally eat me alive. They get its attention and then I shoot it with arrows from a distance.”

“Why do you have to do it that way?” I asked, thinking it was still far too dangerous. “I know you say it’s safe but you still got hurt. Don’t even try to tell me that whatever made those holes didn’t hurt you.”

She grimaced, tracing the holes in her tunic. “Okay, fine, it hurt but that’s part of adventuring. There’s always some risk out there. This was a very controlled risk, and I had a healer with me the entire time. See! No scars, err, I mean don’t look at me.”

Leslie turned away when she realized the cut on her tunic was right over her chest. Of course, I did look but that wasn’t what I was looking at.

Damaged Leather Training Jersey

Grade: D

Defense: 1

Created by: Wanderlou

Info: Use glue and stitching to repair or create an Arcane Circle to apply a temporary fix. The use of both techniques in tandem is recommended.

“I think I can fix it,” I said as I looked up to see her blushing face. “At least temporarily.”

She blinked in confusion for a few seconds before stammering, “Uh, oh. Well, okay. Turn around.”

I wasn’t sure what she was doing as she spun me around but then I heard shuffling and realized she was taking the tunic off.

“Uh, wait,” I gasped. “I still need to figure something out to make the circle.

Fortunately, we were in a closet filled with cleaning supplies. I checked a few shelves before Leslie tossed me a can of something.

“Oil?” I asked before shrugging. I could make it work.

I set to work on the first Arcane Circle while Leslie continued taking her clothes off behind me. It was strange how much work a simple tunic took. Then she started handing me her clothes and I realized she wanted me to clean all of it.

Info: Arcane Circles can be stacked by embedding lesser ones inside of the primary one.

Your Research skill has increased: +1 (13)

I smiled at the fact that research was starting to happen unbidden by me. I also liked that I could do two rituals for the price of one but it also meant that the internal Arcane Circle had to be much smaller and therefore easier to make a mistake. Unless I made the outer one bigger, that was, but that meant starting over and I didn’t feel like it. By the time I was done, there was a pile of dirty clothes next to me. Some of the undergarments had blood caked onto them.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” I asked, placing the armored tunic in the circle.

“I’m fine,” she said, her voice tinged with annoyance that I kept asking. “If you want to be the friend of an adventurer, you’re going to have to get used to injuries from time to time. It goes with the territory.”

I digested that information as I fed mana to the ritual. A double ritual was interesting for a variety of reasons. For starters, it took a lot more mana. The tunic drained me completely whereas I felt like I could do three of four rituals in a row normally with no problem. Then there was the way it worked. All of the muck and debris flowed into the gash as the tunic drew on the environment around itself to repair the damage.

Temporarily Repaired Leather Training Jersey

Grade: D

Defense: 5

Created by: Evans

You have gained 100 experience points.

“This is just temporary,” I explained, realizing the item now had my name stamped on it. “You’ll probably want to have it looked at or it might come undone when you don’t want it to.”

“Um, okay,” came her gentle voice from behind me, all sense of aggravation gone. “Thanks.”

“I’m going to find a way to make you stronger armor,” I said, feeling an urgency to protect my friend. “The best armor so you won’t get hurt anymore.”

I’d just placed the next item into the circle as I felt her press herself against my back. “Thank you, Oliver. You’re my only friend.”

A mix of emotions flooded through me at that moment; pride at being considered the friend of such an amazing person, awkward elation that a naked girl was pressing herself against my back, and a sudden cunning idea of how to get mana for the next ritual. I activated Mana Link and heard Leslie grunt as power passed between us at every point where her body touched mine. It was more than enough to give me a serious boost and power the ritual. Leslie slid down my back and slumped to the floor.

You have gained 100 experience points.

“Leslie!” I said, quickly taking the repaired undershirt out of the circle before turning to check on her.

“I said don’t turn around,” she said, covering herself and rolling over to face away from me. “A little warning would be appreciated next time you do that. That knocked the wind out of me.”

“Sorry,” I mumbled, busying myself with the next piece of clothing to hide my blush.

Outside of her armor and shirt which were damaged, the rest of her clothing was just dirty and much easier to clean. Leslie didn’t say much after that but I could tell she’d gotten up and started putting on clothes as I cleaned them.

“How did you get dirty?” I asked, wondering if Miss Spencer’s enchantments had somehow failed. “I thought the slimes were the exception.”

“I thought so too,” she replied. “Apparently the grime on the upper floors of the dungeon is higher level too. “Leila told me to bring a second pair of clothes from now on.”

I gave her a few minutes to get dressed after finishing the last of them before turning to face her again. “So, how do you like being in Leila’s group?”

For the first time that night, she smiled. It was positively radiant. “It’s lovely, just like I dreamed it would be. I have you to thank for it, you know. If you hadn’t caught her eye and then stood up to her, I doubt she would have noticed me.”

“Nonsense,” I said, feeling awkward. “You’re plenty awesome all on your own.”

She punched my shoulder and then kissed my cheek. “Aw, thanks, Oliver.”

“So, what are you going to do now?” I asked, not sure why I was asking. It was late and I needed to get home.

For her part, Leslie at least looked remorseful. “I have to go back upstairs. Leila wants to go over how I did today and make plans for how I can do better tomorrow.”

I smiled, trying to be reassuring. “That’s great! You’re going to be a super adventurer before you know it.”

She gave me a quick hug and then ran off toward the stairs. I started for the elevator before remembering I promised to look for delivery quests.

After picking up a dozen new parcels for the orphans to deliver, I made my way back home. I entered Miss Havasu’s office triumphantly, clutching a wad of cold hard cash in my hands. Her expression lit up when she saw it.

“Well now!” She exclaimed. “I see you’ve been busy today. I didn’t expect you to come back with more than coins.”

I nodded enthusiastically. “That’s right. I made four dollars.”

“F-f-four dollars?” She asked incredulously. “You didn’t do anything illegal, did you?”

I shook my head. “Nope. It just turns out that they have little use for our money, so the exchange rate is favorable.”

I didn’t tell her exactly how favorable. Miss Havasu could be remarkably greedy when she saw the opportunity. She dismissed me after I handed over the money. I prepared a plate of leftovers in the kitchen and made my way upstairs.

Beth caught me before I made it to my room. I followed her onto the roof, expecting Sam and Gordon to be there again. Instead, it was just her.

“Are you okay, Oliver?” She asked, her brow furrowed in concern.