Tainted Sewages - 4

The rain got heavier with thunder chim in here and there.

"From the info you gave me before, can I concludes that we only need to clear all the mobs inside to finish the quest?"

"I honestly don't know. If the spell Cleanse for clearing the negative condition then what is the use of Purification?"

"How would I know that. It's my first-time 'diving' and I've been here only for a few days."

We move further into the smelly sewage. each step was carefully taken so that we wouldn't fall. The deeper we went the faster we get infected with Disease, thankfully it starts with a Level 1 that can be resolved with one Cleanse spell. And the rate I get infected seems faster than Rudy.

I think we are already 20 meters deep and our moving speed was so slow, like a snail in a snail track. While the puppet he summoned always trip awkwardly in a few steps after their last tripping place.

"Hey, what is the use of those puppets of yours standing in front of us? They only slow us down, like extra baggage you carry with but you don't really need to go to a trip with and after you've had arrived home you realized that you didn't even use the baggage you've been carried with you all along your trip. So, don't be like an excited mid-school kid on their first trip."

"I plan to make them tank for us. They are almost unkillable as long as their body is not destroyed. There is condition though, at most the damage can't be more than 40% and later I can fix them with mana or I can command them to heal themselves by consuming the mana inside their body and woods as the other material."

"But we didn't encounter one yet."

It's weird that we don't encounter any mobs even after walking this far. Maybe it's because of our number that scares or make them wary. Previously I got attack by rat not far from the entrance but now, none show their existence to us yet.

Then, an idea struck me.

"Hey, can you aim your Purification spell to the ground? Our job is to clean the sewage, right? Then, why is the only requirement for the quest is only cleanse and purification? If cleanse is for removing the negative status, purification probably to purified the place."

"Good idea bro, you were pretty smart"

After praising my idea he went on and aim his spell the ground. Once the effect of the spell is gone, he squats down and touches the ground with his bare hands.

"It's still slippery because of the moss but my appraisal found no traces of disease in the moss. So, it's probably safe to assume that the purification spell is for this."

I heard him mumbling while crouching down and staring at the ground seriously. His body looks kind of awkward like that though. How many kilos is that body holds?

"Unsummon your puppets or make them stand at the entrance. Our numbers made them hesitate to attack us. It's better for them to attack us rather than us searching for each mob to kill."

"Really? Bro, maybe it's faster if we just use a scrubbing tool to clean the path for us to explore or at least make the path less slippery."

I don't know if that would be a good idea until we try it. But, we need to go back to town to buy the brush in this weather and the time it will take to go back and forth. Is the thing that I would want to cut the most. Efficiency is the key if we want to get another quest like this from that beast tamer, Instructor Bob. It is reckless yes. But, recklessness is something anyone or most people will take if the condition is forcing them to.

I told him my concern and he replied with his grinning face, "I know a person that can do that for us. With a little bit of fee of course."

"Then call that person. Is that person tight-lipped?"

"OK! Probably? I met him while he's in a difficult situation and I helped him. He won't betray us and I know his big-sister as well. His big-sis is dope. She's a beauty and kind person."

"Are you interested in her or something?"

I didn't listen to his reasoning and keep looking around after he unsummon his puppets. Sure enough, I can see a pair of red spots in the darkness at the edge of the light from the light orb spell. Because we aren't walking and the owner who can control the orb still talking with his friend who will bring the stuff for cleaning the floor.

Call me skeptical if you will but I don't even know if it would work. Still, it's better to try and fail rather than feel sorry because not trying at all.

From the corner of my eyes, I can see him grinning ear to ear. He looks idiotic but evil at the same time. By his expression, I know that the person he's calling is agreed.

"Move on."

Urging him to begin walking but this time I walk in the front. He was the one who told me to consider my attribute point distribution carefully but he, himself put most of his point into force to increase his mana pool. What a man!

The rats I saw before still didn't get closer but back-off carefully at the edge where the light didn't reach. After all, an orb of light can only illuminate a ten-meter area in diameter, which means a five-meter is the farthest the orb can illumine.

"Rudy the ailments strikes up again. What about your status?"

"I only been infected a few minutes ago while calling Ace so I don't clear it yet. And Ace is the man I told you-"

"I know! You don't need to clarify that for me. It's not even five minutes we talk about him and you think I forgot about it already? I feel like you've been looking down at me lately."

Though I only know him less than a week ago, probably more, anyway, it felt like I know him since a forever already. Life really is full of surprise. I- who I thought won't be able to trust anyone other than grandpa and Ev, would trust this dubious fatso.

Casting Cleanse on me three times then he cast one for himself.

Ohh! So there is a special effect after one being cast by Cleanse as well. I think I start to forget that this is inside the game. I suppose the special effect can only be seen from a third-person view.

Twenty minutes later, with our not snail-pace speed, we still didn't get attack by any mobs. The place is quiet if I extract the noise from the outside, it shouldn't be like this. Nevertheless, we're moving carefully and steady. And Rudy's friend message come in said he's in the entrance of the sewage at the moment. Drench in a cold rain, probably.

When we got near the entrance I can see a man drench in the rain without even trying to get himself some shade from the rain. The man wore a navy blue robe with no accessories. It looks plain like mine, except, mine is black while he's in blue while drenched in rain.

I wonder if his robe can function as raincoats as well?

"Hi Ace, why are you standing there not coming in? And how much do I owe you?"

"25 copper."

"Thanks. Your big sis is a priest right?"

"Yeah? Why?"

I hear them talking for a while without trying to interrupt them until he tried to introduce me. With me getting dragged into the somewhat useless conversation; from my point of view. I can't be a jerk and not adding here and there. Honestly, the guy looks completely uninterested in this conversation but he still listening because his sister was included in the topic.

"Ping!'

I heard a sound of message coming in and check. It was from Rudy. I don't even know how he can write this while chatting so casually without me noticing. In his message, he asks me if we can let his sister join us in our conquest.

"What conquest? Just get to the point." I replied.

This time I look at his hands' movement carefully and I can only see his right hand doing a little motion and stuff in his back while talking with the man called Ace.

A minute later he replied my message.

"With my mana alone we probably won't finish this quest in a day and that doesn't include the time monster attacking us and us trying to kill them for EP. EP is nice no matter how small it is."

"Make sense. Now, tell me your real reason and no distraction."

"They are in need of money. Both of them collect any pennies they can get to pay the bill their little sister needs. They only had each other to rely on and… I'll tell you in detail later."

"Okay, you can make her or them help us. Be sure to get the deal straight before continue and stuff. A penny no matter how small it was is important for them and with their current condition, I'm sure they won't trust people easily. But, they will grab the rope no matter how fragile it is. And their needs are urgent so you can rise it into 20-35% or we can just make it 20% as the base and then we can raise it base on her performance."

After sending him my message I felt like writing in this game with my fully functioning body was pretty easy.

Once again I take a closer look into the man in a blue robe. His robe doesn't stick to his body so I assume it may works as a raincoat as well. The contrasting look of them shaking hands is kind of weird. One is standing in the rain, while the other one is taking cover below a building structure, separate by waterfall made by heavy rainfall; their handshake creating a kind of laminar flow is pretty spectacular, it's like a deal made from the dark side and the light side. A shady deal I would say.

Still, is he that wary of us that he won't go take a cover inside? I know that Rudy the fatso looks suspicious and me doubling his suspicious with my attire entirely in black while standing in the dark place with only a golden orb as the light source. But, with us standing close near the entrance should make us more visible because of the light from the sky. Is he afraid of getting ambush by us perhaps?

Before leaving I can see him nodding toward me and I replied with a nod as well. Its basic courtesy isn't?