Adam rubbed his temple in frustration. “Why do you always choose the obviously shady quests?”

“Because she’s an idiot,” Tina answered for her, “with no sense of danger.”

Solina scoffed and rolled her eyes. “Oh please, I always think a hundred steps ahead! Listen, this quest is just to do surveillance and report back! Easy-peasy man! And guess who’s really good at sneaky stuff?” She kept pointing back and forth between herself and I. “Right? Right? You guys don’t even have to do anything! It’s easy coin!”

They both sat, wordless, and stared at Solina. I could tell they were considering her proposition after seeing first-hand how my Camouflage and Conceal spells worked. “Okay, look, slightest sign of danger, and we’re out of there. Understand? Go get supplies and regroup here at noon.”

“Yes!” Solina put a fist up in victory.

We split up afterward; Solina, Adam, and I went to the Warrior Guild because Adam needed arrows and Solina was contemplating getting a spare pair of daggers. She ogled at a pair and Adam stocked up on a few bowstrings and arrows.

Hey, grimoire. Is there stuff I could do to help them with weapons? The book fidgeted a bit, because it knew I didn’t want it floating up and flying about in front of strangers, so I took it out. It opened up its information on enchanting. Enchanting, huh? This world is such a video-game. I laughed internally and had a read through the pages. Hmm, so I can use either MP or HP as resources for enchanting. The enchantment effects were mainly for increased effectiveness for what the item already served to do, and for durability. Hmm, so sharp stuff cuts easier, blunt things hit harder. So, do arrows pierce easier? Wait, do I need to enchant each arrow?

The book did a little dance, to which I thought was the same as shaking one’s head. The page turned to a special enchantment for weapons that had a limited supply of attacks like bows and crossbows. User can create arrows using mana as a resource. Hmm, not bad. I enchant the quiver, huh? Alright.

I got their attention and dragged them to a secluded area of the guild. Adam gave me his quiver like I asked and I put the enchantment on it using my mana. Then, I tested it myself. Standard arrows materialized in the quiver. Whoa! That’s pretty cool. Alright, what if I power the enchantment with more mana? So, I did just that, and tested it again. This time, it took much less mana to summon the arrows into the quiver, and the arrows were black this time as well.

I grew even more intrigued. With Enchanting and Synthesis, I could be rich in this world. I sank 100,000 MP into the power of the enchantment, then did the same for his bow.

When I looked at my status, I found that my mana regenerated stupendously fast. My regeneration rate was exactly 1% MP per second. So full mana in just under two minutes…The mana cost for even the most demanding spells didn’t go above 500,000. Well, can’t complain, I guess.

“Here,” I gave Adam the quiver, “try inputting mana into it.”

He shrugged and did as I said. As the black arrows appeared, his eyes almost popped out. “Astounding!” He stored them in an extra quiver he had and tried again, and the same result came about. “This is amazing! Thank you, Deidre!”

“Of course. What about you, Lina?” I asked.

She nodded enthusiastically like a child. “Yes, please, ma’am!”

I chuckled; she truly was a joy to be around. I found that 100,000 MP per enchantment was a good spot, so I did that for both her daggers and increased their durability and sharpness. “Be careful with them!” I scolded her when she grabbed them away in excitement. “Forget buying supplies. Just make a list for me, okay?”

Solina’s eyes watered and she sniffled. “Thank you, Mommy!”

Adam clicked his tongue. “What a fucking drama queen. Come on, let’s go get Tina.”

We pulled up at the Wizard Guild and Solina alone entered. According to Adam, they didn’t take kindly to warriors entering their grounds because they saw warriors as messy, unruly barbarians, and they felt that they were better than the Warrior Guild. But Solina’s pushiness and obliviousness was somewhat infamous, so her appearance in their guild building wasn’t exactly rare. Basically, wizards gave up on the subtle jabs at Solina because she just didn’t get it.

Tina didn’t take very long to get her stuff, so we set out in the afternoon to go deep south to village called Swenrai Village. This was a black quest because it bordered close to another country and therefore could be national-level. According to Solina, national-level quests were the most common black quests, and also the easiest. If the government wanted manpower for fighting or conflict, then they’d send knights and soldiers, not adventurers.

After our arduous journey on steed through many forests, a bit of swamps, and rocky tundra, we finally made out the mountains that led to Swenrai Village.

What we saw was a strange dark mist floating about. A horrid stench soaked the air and burned our noses. There was, a strange creature there. By no means was its appearance the striking feature, but instead the dismal feeling of doom. It wasn’t super apparent, but the longer you stared at it, the more it felt like positivity, hope, and your very chance of survival plummeted.

Adam bit down on his hand, built up the nerve, and put his hand on Tina’s mouth to shut her up. “Deidre, put Lina to sleep, now! We have to get out of here!”

Looking at the girl, I could see she was sweating bullets, frozen by fear. I did as Adam instructed and cast Sopor on her, then we retreated in the guise of my stealth spells.

“What was that thing?” I asked when we got far enough away. Its skin was black like coal and there was a tattoo of green fangs on its body. Its leather wings were haunting, and the way it stood as it glared at the corpses of the villagers was disturbing.

Adam swallowed after some deep breaths. “That, was a demon.”