Chapter 8

"You two are silver rank, right?"

Alice, "Yes, but don't worry. We won't pick a silver mission, you should start slow." She takes a look at the board. "Oh, how about this one. A beginner mission, escort a wood wagon from the forest to the town.

The town is under going construction right now, so we'll get a lot of these sorts of commissions. Seems like a good place to start, wouldn't you agree?"

Gravel, "Nahh, let's pick something more exciting. Black hound extermination!" As she slams the board and looks back at us eagerly, with a smile a little too big for her face.

Alice, "That's a bit too dangerous. This is his first commission."

Gravel, "Ahhh, c'mon! That's why it needs to be memorable. He's at the right level to take it. Plus, he took that hit from the alpha head on and walked away from it like nothing happened. It'll be fineeee."

"Can I even take that commission? It's over my rank."

Alice, "Well, so long as we go with you it'll be fine, but..."

Gravel, "It'll be fineeee. If anything happens, we can take care of it. They're just hounds."

"Well, I'm not oppose to it. I have killed hounds before."

Alice, "Hmm... well... ok.. sure. But stay behind us, ok?"

"You don't have to worry about that. I don't intend to go to the front lines. But first, I'll need an instrument."

Alice, "What kind of instrument?"

"Something like a guitar preferably."

Alice, "Geetar?"

Gravel, "What the hec's a geetar?"

I guess they don't have it here.

"It's an instrument with 6 strings, it looks like this." As I try to air draw in front of them, but I quickly realize it's pointless. I'll need to show them the real thing for them to get it.

Alice, "Hmm... well, I don't know what a geetar is, but we could probably find you something if we walked around town a bit."

"Yeah. Excuse me for a bit."

I broke off from them for a bit to try and see if I could make anything with my Fabrication skill.

Once you reach a high enough level in Blacksmith skill and Alchemy skill, you unlock the Fabrication skill. It allows you to use mana to convert materials into there base components and magically store them for later use.

On the blacksmith side you can use it to enchant, upgrade or create equipment, so long as you have the required blueprints and materials.

It's what is used to make my bow and arrow back when I first got here.

On the alchemy side you can use it to create potions and other magical items and consumables, so long as you have the recipe and materials.

My current component points should be pretty high.

Component Amount

Plant 100 000pt

Metal 95 678pt

Animal 97 782pt

Magical 85 457pt

Yeah, I have a lot, but it seems like I still can't make it.

Darn... Even though I know roughly how a guitar is made, it looks like I won't be able to make anything unless I have the actual in game blueprints.

I thought since this is a new world and all, that things might be different. But I guess it's not going to come to me that easily.

I went back to the other two and we took a little stroll around town. It didn't take long for us to come across an instrument shop.

It was a nice little shop on the big street, made mostly of dark wood. It looks very rustic and old timy from the outside, gives you kind of nostalgic feeling. Like grandpa's getaway home in the countryside.

As we step inside, it is equally as rustic. The floor is a wood of lighter color, and the smell of this wood is one that I've never encountered before, yet it feels very... calming.

Then an old man walks out. His skin wrinkled and his hair grey, and balding. He's wearing a leather apron on top of a green shirt.

"Mornin, welcome ta Sound o Wind. How may I help ya?" He puts both his hands on the desk and slightly leans on it.

Alice, "We're looking for an instrument. A geetar?"

"Hmm... never heard of it. But if yer lookin for an instrument then you've come ta the right place. Take a look round, see if there's anything ya like, or describe what yer lookin fer. I might be able ta help."

"We'll take a look around, thank you."

Gravel, "Ouuu! What about this, I've seen people make some awesome sounds with this." As she picks up what looks to be a violin.

I don't know what it is exactly, but she clearly doesn't know how to hold it.

"That there's a vielle, ya can make some mighty fine tunes with it, am sure."

"It looks like a good instrument, but.. not what I'm looking for. I need something smaller."

Alice, "How about this?" She holds up a flute and inspects it. "It's small enough that you can keep it anywhere."

"Emmm...I'd like to be able to talk while playing it."

We checked around the shop a bit more, and thought we didn't manage to find anything that looks like a guitar, we did find a lyre.

"Owner, how much for this?"

"Ahhh, a lyre, pluck them strings and ye be singin the song of spring as they say. Good choice! That one'll be 50silver!"

"Do you have a sturdier one? It's going to be taking quite a beating where it's going."

"That I do have." And he walks to take something from the shelf at the back. His gate weak, yet lively. He's old, he's gotta be in his 80s at least, but it looks like he hasn't given up yet.

He stagers a bit, but Alice helps him, walking him the rest of the way.

He reaches his hand deep into the back of the shelf and out comes a lyre made of dark brown almost black wood with lighter patterns that almost look like marble.

Each side is a beautiful spiral of dark and light as it reflex the light shone on to it.

"This here's a lyre made with Black Lyke. Tough wood, and it carries sound pretty well. Give it a try." He hands the lyre to me.

This is my first time holding a lyre, but it feels familiar, like I've done it before. No doubt thanks to my Bard skill.

I started to pluck the strings and to my surprise, the song comes out very well. Never thought I'd be able to play that well, let alone on an instrument I've never held before, and this lyre feels really solid to the touch. This thing will definitely last.

The spirals on each side also fits your hand perfectly. Looks like it was designed to do so.

Function and fashion. I like it.

"How much is this one?"

"That one's made of Black Lyke wood, and the craftsmanship is beautiful, too. It'll cost ya 2gold."

Alice, "2gold?!"

"It's hard ta get Black Lyke wood around these parts, you girls should know."

I hand the man his 2gold coins.

Alice, "Well, looks like you've made your decision. But it's not what you were looking for right? Will it work?"

"I've never played a lyre before, so it'll take some getting used to. But it should be fine."

Gravel, "Pfff... it's fine. Not like you're gonna use it in a fight anyway. Now let's get ta huntin. Those hounds ain't gonna exterminate themselves."

"Actually, I was going to use it... in the fight."

Alice, "Wait, you were serious?"

Gravel, "Your joking right? What are you gonna do? Sing them to sleep."

"Well... I could probably do that too. But don't worry, if things don't turn out well, I can always just switch to my bow."

Alice, "Well... this commission isn't that dangerous, so I guess we could try. If anything comes up, Gravel and I should be able to handle it." She looks to Gravel.

Gravel smiles, and gives her a slight nod.

"Alright. Thanks. I won't hold you guys back."

And so, I went on my first mission as an adventurer in another world with Alice and Gravel. This is gonna be fun. Hehe.