Adrian had a lot of questions about how the Record worked, or even how it was incepted. His main doubts were the true effects of the [Stats] and what they meant. Adrian knew that [Celeratio] made him faster, but mainly his body. He thought a bit faster, but that was mostly from the time perception effect. Questions were killing him, so he asked Aby and Dale.

“Do you feel anything strange thanks to your stats?” Adrian asked straightly.

“Something strange you say?” Aby stopped walking and rested her weight on her staff. “My [Procesa] makes me think faster, I guess. Everything becomes slower when I meditate. Also, my aura is like a mathematical equation that I must solve to cast it, but it is nothing complicated. It’s like feeling like the world is a problem and everything can be solved with math. Exactly like that blackjack scene from The Hangover. Do you know that movie?”

“No, it doesn’t ring any bell” Adrian told as he listened to the fantastic point of view that Aby had. “As for me, I just see things slower, even light. Nothing fancy like you, but it’s cool. We can talk while we move.” Adrian started walking and so did the rest.

“You can see light moving?” Aby asked Adrian.

“Well, technically yes. But no.” He responded ambiguously. “I can see that light is moving ‘slower`, I just watch `faster`, if you catch me.”

“Yeah,” Aby said, she didn’t catch Adrian’s joke, “What about you, Dale?”

“Now I feel basic” Dale said without context. “I don’t feel anything like you too. I only have a cool [Skill]. I don’t see fate as [The Fool’s Wheel of Fortune] suggests. It would be nice, tho.”

“Maybe your view of the world hasn’t changed.” Adrian added. “But you are our trump card.”

“Even then, I prefer if I don’t trigger the skill.” Dale commented.

“No one wants it.” Aby agreed with him.

The trio continued walking for ten minutes until they saw a mantis. Dale wanted to fight, but Adrian whispered him that was useless danger. Because of their previous talk, Dale couldn’t do anything but agree. Adrian rushed to the monster and insta-killed with a combination of [Assassinate] and [Fast Stab] before he was noticed.

“Huh?” Adrian mumbled. “I only have 99% contribution, why’s that?”

Adrian found his answer when he saw the devilish grin on Aby’s face. “I activated my accuracy aura.” She confessed while laughing.

“And that’s how you carry the supports.” Dale commented and Adrian sighed. “By the way, how much is left?”

“I don’t know” Adrian responded. “I already should be there walking.”

“Damm your speed.” Dale said jokingly.

“Damm your immortality.” Adrian followed his game.

The conversation died out fast and the small group continued their march in silence. A quarter of an hour was enough to reach Czecheri. In this time period, Adrian realized that he couldn’t change time perception while around his group or he wouldn’t understand anything if they talked to him. That meant one thing: waiting.

Adrian grunted in his mind once they reached Czecheri’s main gate queue. Maybe because it was early in the morning, but thankfully there weren’t a lot of people. Adrian and the rest entered directly once he showed his guild identification. The guards asked Aby and Dale to remove their cloak’s hood, which they had no problem with.

“Wow,” Dale exclaimed once they entered the city. “Everything looks like shit!” He commented with grace.

“What did you expect?” Adrian asked him. He walked in front of the group, going towards the guild. “It’s a medieval town. Didn’t you pay attention to your history class?”

“No.” He told with ease. “But that’s another matter. Shouldn’t everything look nicer if they got magic?”

“Perhaps,” Adrian commented as he looked at a man who was sitting at an alley, he showed grave signs of malnutrition. “But we know nothing about this world. It does get better at the plaza.”

“At least they could make the main entrance less demeaning.” Aby said and then got closer to Adrian, just in case.

Aby and Dale accelerated their pace a bit after they noticed the aspect of Czecheri. To Adrian, that only meant that they would arrive at the guild faster.

“Oh,” Aby watched at the lively scene of the plaza. “It did get better.” She especially looked at the beautiful stone fountain in the middle of the square. Aby felt like a tourist in some European city.

“Let’s go,” Adrian told them so they stopped contemplating the place. “The guild building is right in front of us.”

Thanks to being morning, there were a lot of adventurers looking at the quest board, but the desk queue was empty except two citizens. There was only one desk open at the moment, so they would have to wait a bit. The officer at the desk was the same as yesterday. Adrian could understand why she was so grumpy.

“Hello there!” Adrian told the female officer once it was his turn.

“Oh… it’s you again.” Adrian thought she would be more amicable since the day just started, but no, she was still herself.

“Yeah, I am me. It’s a chronic illness that involves me being myself. A weird one, eh.” Adrian joked and he could clearly see the woman’s soul going out of her body. “I am here to register these two.” Adrian pointed at his companions.

“Would you like them to take a starter quest?” She asked monotonously.

“There’s none.” She said. “But I don’t care. Here, takes this quest that nobody wants, and I will register both of them.” The officer slipped a quest paper to Adrian.

Exterminate the [Archimantis Homicida] lair

An increase in the population of the mantises has been acknowledged. Clean the lair of the monsters and a guild officer will inspect the place briefly after this paper is delivered back

Reward: 1 silver and 50 copper

The reward was so good than Adrian thought there was a big catch between those lines. “Okay, what’s the catch.”

“Straight to the point I see.” The officer said. “Do you know how mantises reproduce?” Adrian shook his head in negation. “Male mantises need to rape female ones, so they don’t get killed. This means that if the male fails, he will be killed. That was alright to the guild, but recently, male mantises stopped dying as often as they did before.”

“That’s all?” Adrian asked after she stopped without any more information.

“Well, no.” She responded. “Because male mantises stopped dying, there are more mantises and the lair is probably full of old corpses and young mantises. Not a good place to do your delving.”

“Do you have an estimate of how many mantises are?” Adrian asked her once again.

“In total? Millions. In that lair? Probably thirty.” She responded. “You need to know that there are only newborn mantises in the lair, so all of them will be level one. Think the lair as a mating spot and not a residence. [Archimantis Homicida] are socially awkward, so they prefer to stay in small groups at most once they’re adults.” She finished and then looked at Adrian’s eyes. “Are you going to take that quest?”

“Maybe,” Adrian added. “Can I take an extermination quest and combine them?”

“It’s fine for me.” She gave Adrian the lair quest and pointed the quest board. “Next!”

Adrian and the group went to the quest board and picked up the same quest as Adrian’s first one, the only difference is that the reward increased by 5 copper since the last one.

“Are you ready to do some home cleaning?” Adrian asked Aby and Dale.

“No!” Both responded the same, one with repulse and the other one with enthusiasm.