A lot gains for a bath
After Jay and Bulma had calmed down a bit, she filled the other tub in the room so they could clean themselves.
While they were cuddling in the bath together and relaxing, Jay was recalling the last hour and she was back to tracing his muscle outlines.
Of course they had gone at it once again shortly after they had washed each other for the first time. It was a really intense session and even Jay was closing in on the limits of his stamina.
Glad they at least didn't use the tub that time, the two entered the warm bath afterwards.
As everything good has to end some time, Jay left the bathhouse late at night and strolled leisurely back to the inn.
Sneaking through the dining hall and up to his room he was glad once he laid down on the hay stuffed bed.
Though he was quite tired after his nightly endeavor, Jay had to check on his log first. It showed quite some gains, but the most significant thing was his level up. Scrolling up to when he initiated his liaison with Bulma Jay read through the texts displayed.
***
Level up!
You reached level 18
***
***
Skill level up:
[Persuasion LVL 3]
***
***
Skill integrated:
(Arithmetic LVL 2)
***
***
Skill level up:
[Night skills LVL 7]
***
***
Skill integrated:
(Lust inducement LVL 3)
***
The long awaited level up was finally there. Jay had initially hoped to reach it on his excursion the day before, but he only had reached maximum level with his Sorcerer job. That was something he had to take care of the next day and ask Stoutmantle to use their job-changing crystal.
Concentrating back on the main topic at hand he was glad that at least this night, he had banged himself to the next level.
What more he even got his Night skills to level up, but he was sure that happened due to integrating a pretty high level from Bulma.
He thought that way because of the really powerful skill he integrated from her together with her night skills.
(Lust inducement) enabled him to make others horny upon touch. That would make things easier for his plan to collect skills wherever he could. That combined with his looks and the absurd Charm status made him nearly irresistible.
The other skill he got from her were a boost to his calculation abilities that had been way better than what most in this world could do anyways. With this one being of not much use to him, Jay went the last notification he got.
His [Persuasion] leveled up to three thanks to hers and gave him yet another reason to convince others or get inside some girls pants.
With a wide smile on his face, Jay drifted off into a comfy sleep that night.
He only woke up after a couple of hours when he heard a loud knock on the door, followed by hissed "Ouch!".
Without opening the door Jay knew it was Sybill due to her voice. Standing up an walking over the two step towards the door, Jay opened it with sleepy eyes. What he saw there was the small Archer with disheveled hair, rubbing her temples.
As he stood in the door bare chested, her eyes still wandered over his overly toned torso until she pulled her eyes up to his and blushed.
"Morning, had a good sleep?" J.
"Ouch.... no so loud please.... good morning." S.
"Then why didn't you sleep any longer?" J.
"haa... the breakfast... we're going to miss it if we sleep any longer!" S.
Her hangover seemed to be nothing to scoff at, so Jay turned around and fetched his shirt while shaking his head to her sometimes incomprehensible thoughts.
Descending the stairs together, Jay and Sybill found themselves a comfy table near the fireplace.
They sat there for a while without talking and were watching the warming fire.
Jay had understood she wanted to tell him something but wasn't going to ask her directly. After receiving their simple but tasty meals, Sybill finally broke the silence.
"You know... I had told you that I would leave. I just wanted to have a last meal with you as I was already drunk yesterday..." S.
"I thought as much, but I'm really happy you thought of me. Have you packed your belongings already?" J.
"Yes. At least as good as I could. Do you know how long you'll stay here?" S.
"A few days at most I guess, then I'll go to Millshire and from there I don't know... Why?" J.
"Oh, nothing...." S.
"Come on..." J.
"I just thought we might come back here after our hunt and meet up again! There, happy?" S.
"Hehe, yes. I really am." J.
"Tsk..." S.
"I wish you a good hunt out there, but please be careful. And remember your promise!" J.
"Yeah, I'll do that. You think we'll meet again?" S.
"Who knows...? But I sure hope so." J.
After their late breakfast, Jay escorted Sybill to the southern Gate and saw her off together with the Saldemas as she traveled along the main road.
She would take a few side roads to the east later and meet up with her friend.
Somehow Jay was glad he did no longer have to worry about the complicated Archer any longer, but at the same time he had come to like her wild, stoic and jumpy nature.
He really hoped they would meet again some time.
The moment she got out of sight, Jay excused himself from the Saldemas and went towards the tower in the center of the city. He wanted to learn what Captain Stoutmantle's next actions would be and get back to hunting bandits fast.
The Matter about his Sorcerer Job was something he had to take care of as well.
With quick steps he arrived at the garrison in no time and had already been awaited by Gyran Stoutmantle.
After explaining his thoughts and discussing it for a short while, Jay learned that the Captain had planned to free Saldema's farm. His reason was, it was the northern most farm the bandits had managed to occupy and enabled them to attack Eldrin Forest directly. That was something that had to be prevented at any cost.
The problem he was facing was that he was missing some hands.
While the Saldema's farm had to be freed fast, Stoutmatle had already begun planning a big raid on Alexston's Farmstead. The leader had been set as well and it would consist of over thirty capable soldiers.
Considering that some patrols were still needed to guard the farms in the south and rescue the people living there, the Captain had only a small unit of soldiers left if he didn't want to thin out the defense of Sentinel.
Jay even opted to go and free the Saldema's farm alone, but Gyran called him crazy for that and explained to send three men with him.
The last thing they talked about was Jay's request to use the job changing room. Stoutmatle instantly accepted and even congratulated on leveling up his Job.
But the next moment he had an apologetic look on his face as he explained they only had a grade one Crystal in the garrison.
Upon inquiring, Jay learned that the grades of the Crystals explained the Job tiers they would enable to choose from. A grade one Crystal only had access to tier one and two Jobs, while a second grade was for second and third tier Jobs.
That was the reason the Captain was apologetic, as Jay already had a second tier job and would be able to choose the corresponding third tier by then. But it only played into Jay's cards as he had already decided to stray away from the path of magic for a bit and bolster up his stealth and archery a bit.
Arriving at the small chamber on the second floor of the tower, Jay entered alone.
The crystal placed on a simple chair in some kind of metallic stand looked pitiful in comparison to the ones Jay had seen until then. Crossing the short distance after closing the door, Jay grabbed the stone and like always, a screen appeared in front of his face.
*Available Jobs*
| Hunter || Scout || Summoner |
| Fighter || Warrior || Brawler |
Though he was unsure when or why he qualified himself for the summoner Job, Jay had already decided to go for scout this time. It would enable him to display his combat prowess without making up a story to cover for it.
* Job changed*
| Sorcerer |
to
| Scout |
***
Job: Scout
Status adjusted
New Skills available:
[Stalking LVL 1 → LVL 2]
***
Like most of the time, Jay directly clicked on the new Job the moment it got displayed. He somehow knew it would have granted more skills, like [Dagger] or [Bow], if he hadn't already integrated them.
As Stalking had leveled up as well, Jay thought about if other skills got a boost as well, but the notification only showed those with level change.
Dismissing those thoughts, he turned around and left the room.
Gyran Stoutmantle who had been waiting for him outside the job-changing room didn't even ask him which Job he chose and respected Jay's privacy.
While walking down the stairs with, he got informed by the Captain that they found some weak spots on the Harvesters:
It was magic!
Due to it being magical constructs made of cheap materials, they became pretty fragile to magic attacks.
They still held some magic resistance and quite some hit points though.
Some engineers found out that much by dismantling one, what was only possible thanks to Jay's information, so the Captain credited it to Jay as well.
In front of the tower, the two finally met the three soldiers that would go to the Saldemas farm with Jay. Two of them looked like the typical Protectors he had seen everywhere in Sentinel.
Korelor was a sturdy built man of about Jay's height. His long blonde hair bound to a ponytail and the wild beard made him look kind of nordic. That got accentuated even more by the mail armor he wore under the Protectors tabbard.
Next to him, holding the reins of two horses stood the slightly smaller Weaver. He wore the same armor as Korelor, but his graying shoulder long hair made him look kind of wild. With a nod he greeted Jay after saluting to Stoutmantle.
The only one that seemed to not mind the greeting much was Galiaan, who was already seated on his horse.
His lithe figure under the leather armor told his role in the team instantly. He was the scout of the group and would check on the farm before they initiated a attack.
Greeting them all after Captain Stoutmantle introduced them to Jay and explained to them that it had been him that brought in the information about the farms, Jay joined the small group. The three soldiers got slightly shocked when Jay summoned his horse and saddled up, but not so much as to not follow him.
The small attack force would travel fast, scout out the perimeters of the farm and erase any threat they encountered, as long as it was withing their capabilities.
On their way along the main road, they held some small conversations, but nothing serious. The soldiers mostly asked about Jay's previous fights or things related to the farm they were going to.
Only Weaver pressed for answers how a youth like Jay could be counted as fighter against the bandits.
Without encountering any problems and stopping only for a short break to let the horses rest, the group reached the furthest fields after a few hours. Jay was still not used to long hours in the saddle, so his dismounting brought a few smiles to the soldiers faces.
From then on the leisure part of the trip was over.
Galiaan took the vanguard and scouted the outer perimeters. After only a few minutes he found the first patrol and gave sign to the rest of his group.
Jay took out his bow and walked up to him. Knocking an arrow at the same time as the Scout, the two bandits patrolling the fields went down with a arrow to the head each.
The same thing repeated for two more times until the group reached the field where the Harvesters were working on at that time.
As they saw the monstrous machines for the first time, the soldiers were slightly dumbfounded.
Jay explained what he knew about the constructs and how to fight them best. Of course they weren't happy to hear magic was their weak point as none of them had the ability to cast spells.
What was even worse than their compatibility to the Harvesters was that some more bandits lingered around between them. Making a plan to engage the fight, it was decided that Jay would take on the harvester as he already fought one and the others would help him while blocking off any bandits entering the fight.
Just like that they rushed for the closest construct and Jay opened the fight with a fire charged Wingblade stabbing in the torso, then gaining some distance again.
Korelor had already locked on a bandit that was closing in from the side. Intercepting the shady man at the same time as Jay gave a well placed punch to the head like part of the Harvester, the group already split up.
That distribution only grew as Galiaan spotted another bandit that saw the fight and was about to call in one more Harvester. Quick witted like he was, he notified Weaver that was watching with disbelief how the youth he made fun of mangled the colossus in front of him.
The soldier rushed over to the second bandit and engaged a fight, but said women had already called over another Harvester.
To their luck, Jay had just destroyed the other machine and ran over to fight the second one.
The moment he got within reach, the colossal construct threw its clawed hand at Jay. Only due to his absurd stats and inhuman reflexes did he manage to dodge the attack.
Another sweep followed with the hooked second limb. Jay ducked down and had it miss by a small margin. All this time he studied the massive torso of the Harvester.
The moment it raised its arms to smash them down on Jay, latter stood still while watching the monstrosity intensely.
Jay didn't even blink as the massive limbs fell down onto him. He kept staring at the Harvester like hypnotized...
And the next second, the fight was over...