(12) Two Important Characters Spell Risks And Rewards

Owen finished his meal. He placed his bowl near the other used bowls and walked towards the exit.

Tiduer happened to see Owen leave his spot.

"Hey, going somewhere?" Tiduer stood up from the floor and followed behind Owen.

"I'm just going to go and get some fresh air." Owen went on his way outside.

"Alright then…" Tiduer raised his hand on Owen's way out.

Some of Tiduer's students glanced at Owen before going back to what they're doing.

When Owen left the wooden house, he stood in the middle of the grass and felt the wind hit his face.

"If I reach Mysteriea, I can go to the Goldsteel Forge to buy good gear and find an alchemist for potions… the only problem is the scaled up world. The maps I remember might not be the same here." Owen then thought of Riang.

"That girl… she's part of the main storyline. If I get close enough to her, I can gain a potentially powerful ally. The only question is how will I convince her…" Owen didn't have that much knowledge of the entire storyline because he only finished about 15% of the game.

Apart from some snippets of lore from Rocky blabbering about it, that was all he knew.

He turned his head and saw the red haired Riang training by herself.

Owen decided to approach her.

"You must be Riang… I heard a few things from Tiduer about you." Owen sat down on the grass while Riang swung the wooden sword.

"What might have piqued your curiosity to learn about me?" Riang slashed the air as she practiced her stances. Her attitude towards Owen was indifferent.

"I could tell that you're special from the rest. After all, why did no one else probe my background except for you?" Owen watched her closely to see any changes in her expression.

Riang exhaled warm air from her mouth. She stopped practicing and stood up straight while facing Owen.

"You noticed?"

Owen responded with a simple shake of his head. "I just happened to find it strange why you know so much about Silmoun Kingdom... Let me guess, are you from there?"

Riang sat down.

She looked around to see if anyone was there before she talked.

"Is it important to you? If anything, I don't have to answer your questions." Riang wasn't going to easily expose anything to Owen.

"I wouldn't be so sure about that, Miss Beisena." Owen's tone wasn't meant to taunt her. In fact, he spoke quite calmly. It was just that the meaning of the words struck a chord within Riang's heart.

Her expression slowly crumbled.

"So you do know who I am.." She discreetly gathered soul energy in her left hand.

"Don't be so tense now, I'm here to ask you for help." Owen's question came in abruptly.

"?" Riang tilted her head slightly in confusion.

"What do you mean you're asking for help?" Riang initially thought that Owen was someone sent to assassinate her. But seeing how he was trying to negotiate says otherwise.

"Your mother is Thelem Beisena, the 2nd Commander of the Crimson Winged Eagle Infantry under Duchess Lophian. Am I correct?" Owen sat down in quite a relaxed posture while Riang was taking him very seriously.

She didn't hesitate to answer since the person before her seemed to have done their research. "Yes, but what does that have to do with you? What do you think you can achieve just by talking to me?"

"I want to help you go home." Owen stated his main intention.

Riang scoffed. "Go back home? Yeah right. You're saying we can travel from here to Silmoun Kingdom? That's a three month travel even with a dwarf wyvern. What makes you think it's any easier here on land?"

"That's why I need your cooperation. Help me settle down in Wiunlen and I will help you go back home in return." Owen moved his hand with his palm facing up.

Riang snapped back with a hint of frustration from her voice. "What do you think I've been trying to do all this time? If you don't understand what my situation is, I'll explain why your help isn't going to do anything."

"First of all, the bordering lands between the two kingdoms is dangerous for someone like me to cross. Not only that, unknown people are chasing me as we speak and it's a miracle that I'm even alive right now. And second, I've been on the run for the longest time as I make as much money to even get a firm foothold in this situation I'm in."

"All my resources that I have pooled aren't going to last long. So even if you help me, what difference does it make? Unless you're incredibly strong, you can't change anything."

Owen sat there silently.

It seems that she wasn't that easy to convince.

"Since you clearly know what situation you are in, why not take this chance that I'm giving you? Sure, you can look down on me all you want but…" Owen called out his inventory.

*Vhwoooshh….*

Riang was shocked by what she saw.

To her, it looked like Owen was pulling out a sword from thin air.

"... I happen to know advanced spatial storage magic. If that doesn't show my qualifications to help, I don't know what will. That's why I need your help to settle down here for a while and gain some strength and enough items to defend myself." Owen's attitude towards her was truly genuine. This made it a bit hard for Riang to reject his offer.

He also added, "I can store lots of supplies with me. I'm sure you can see the importance of my ability."

She held her chin as he thought.

"Fine, but you must find a job and earn money for yourself, understand? Of course, I'll be sheltering you with what I have for now. Is that a deal?" Riang extended her right hand forward for a handshake.

In her mind, she was 40% confident that she could return to her kingdom. Now that Owen, someone with spatial magic was going to help her, she calculated that her chances would be around 65%.

That is how highly spatial magic is regarded here. The ability to store a lot of supplies without the need to physically carry them is such an amazing thing to be able to do.

*Vhoom...*

==========

[Level 57 Quest: Escort Riang Beisena]

Objective: Help Riang return to her mother in Silmoun Kingdom alive.

Failure Condition: Riang's death, or if she returns with grievous injuries.

Consequence For Failure: Possible death.

Reward: +45,000 EXP, +30 Attribute Points, +2 Skill Points, +1 Perk Upgrade Point, +2,500 Gold Coins.]

==========

The panel appeared in front of Owen, further igniting his will to help Riang.

"Deal." Owen shook her hand with a grin.

He then stood up and stored the sword back into his inventory. Again, it looked like it disappeared into nothing for Riang.

Riang also stood up. She then said, "I'll let you sleep at my place for the night. I managed to rent a small room for myself because I run errands around the town to earn enough for myself."

"Quite hardworking I see… That wasn't a trait I was expecting from you." Owen joked.

"My mother is a knight. As her daughter, I cannot disappoint her. What's a little work going to do?" Riang felt a little smug from her statement.

"But before we do anything, I need to finish my training here first… Can you wait?"

Owen gave her a reassuring smile. "Of course."

After hearing his words, Riang left to go somewhere else to train.

"..."

Owen yawned. He stretched his arms as he slowly laid down on the grass.

"Gaining a character's trust is harder now since this world has changed. It's not like I can level up my social skills, hehe.." Owen snickered.

As Owen was laying down, someone approached him with a question.

"Can I ask what you were talking about with Riang?" Oslan, Tiduer's weakest student, sat next to Owen.

It was unknown how long he was listening to their conversation.

Not paying him that much attention, Owen replied indifferently with his eyes closed, "It's got nothing to do with you."

Oslan wasn't swayed by Owen's tone. "So it's something important then…" Oslan sat cross-legged while holding a wooden training sword. "How did you learn storage magic?"

Owen opened his eyes to take one glance at Oslan.

[Oslan Leifra - Level 3] (Main Storyline Character)

[Affiliation - N/A]

[Skills - Unavailable] (You do not have the necessary detection skill/s to view the following information.)

Owen quickly sat up and looked at the name tag closely. This startled Oslan quite a bit.

"Another main storyline character?? What the hell?" Owen could tell that he was somehow related to whatever would happen to Riang in the future. Judging from his interest in her and his personality that didn't fit someone of his age, he was definitely going to be involved in some way.

This made Owen think deeply. The timeframe of the story didn't match up from what he remembered playing.

His expression lit upon realizing something. There was another character in Riang's backstory.

What occurred in the original storyline was, Thelem Beisena saw her daughter die in front of her. The name of the daughter wasn't shown in the original game unless you do some digging from books and random NPC interactions. We now know that she is Riang.

The death of Thelem's daughter sent her on a quest for revenge. She ended up killing the organization higher-ups who plotted against her, but it turned out to be a fail safe scheme from the Ardlew Kingdom. What she actually killed were innocent Ardlewan citizens while she was under an illusion.

It's a bit convoluted, but that's just the gist of it.

The Ardlew Kingdom abandoned the quest for Riang's blood because for unknown reasons, it was then revealed that they were going for Thelem's special blood now. And with her crime, they now had the justification to imprison her and take as much pure blood as they wanted.

The Silmoun Kingdom had to oblige unless they wanted to start a war from a simple conflict.

The reason why Riang no longer became a target for them was because she saved Oslan's life from an accident by infusing her blood origin into him. Making him a very powerful and important character later in the storyline. Blood origin infusion will be explained later.

Oslan was the one who helped her try to return to the Silmoun Kingdom. Riang's blood origin helped create a special type of blood within his body called the "Lion Headed Minotaur Bloodline."

It happened to awaken because it was revealed that some time back in Oslan's ancestry, he had the blood of a Bull Beastman and a Lion Beastman. However, their lineage was slowly replaced by humans until the beast bloodline was hidden deep within their descendants.

The Beisena Blood is so coveted by others because of its ability to draw out soul energy by using the small crystals in the blood. Once these crimson crystals are expended, they can grow back within the user's body by eating and resting.

If Owen were to feel Riang's pulse right now, he would be able to feel small grains running through her veins.

The Beisena Blood was a way to speed up soul energy regeneration and even increase the soul energy reserves in one's body. And what's more was that the Beisena Blood can be stored easily. It's a cheap way to mass produce soul energy potions to regain one's magic reserves if it was drained during battle.

The reason why Riang's blood origin infusion was so much of a big deal was because blood origin is the main reason why she could produce the crimson crystals within her blood. Without half of her blood origin, Riang's ability to create the crimson crystals would be severely weakened permanently. Not only that, they would also be low quality.

The Ardlew Kingdom wouldn't settle for such low quality produce, so Thelem became the target.

So basically, Owen was in a time period where Thelem wasn't being used as livestock and Riang was still alive.

Saving Thelem in the original game will cause her to infuse all of her blood origin to the player out of gratitude. She will die out of exhaustion and this will also incur the hostility of the Ardlew Kingdom towards the player.

Now, what would happen if Owen were to save Riang and safely return her to Thelem? This would change the beginning parts of the storyline, but not to the point that it would be unrecognizable.

After all, this was an introductory story for the new players of the game. So since it didn't affect future events much, what could one gain from this?

That was something that Owen wanted to know as well. His instincts were telling him that the rewards he would receive is immense.

He smiled widely. Owen looked at Oslan like he was looking at a pile of treasure.

Turns out, the fierce long haired man that appeared to have a lion's mane, wielding a thick longsword in the future would be this scrawny little kid.

It feels a bit off for Owen to see.

Oslan felt goosebumps seeing Owen look at him. "I- I'm sorry I asked.."

"No, no… it's actually fine." Owen's demeanor towards Oslan became more pleasant. "To answer your question, I didn't learn it. I gained the ability to use it."

"Eh? How?" Oslan was confused. High level magic was this easily inherited?

"I don't even know… when I was born in this world, I already had it." Owen shrugged and appeared as if he truly didn't know. And somehow, he wasn't completely lying this time.

"Oh…" Oslan knew that it was either Owen wasn't willing to tell him, or he truly didn't know.

Oslan leaned on the former.

"And to answer your question, I'm trying to help Riang return to her home in Silmoun Kingdom." Owen watched Oslan carefully to see how he would react.

"What?? She came from Silmoun Kingdom? I thought she was a native here in the Eslahai Kingdom…" Oslan felt that his knowledge of Riang was flipped now over.

'Oh right, this is the Eslahai Kingdom… I can't believe I forgot that.' Owen took a mental note. He previously didn't know what kingdom he was currently in, so he did not dare claim he lived somewhere nearby.

Owen coughed. "Yes, you heard that right. And I am here to help her get back."

Oslan looked downcast. "Oh, that's the case…"

Owen saw that Oslan seemed to be sad over the news of Riang returning to her home. "You seem to be gloomy about that. Why? Do you like her? That's why you can't bear to see her leave, isn't it?" Owen said teasingly.

Oslan's face reddened. "T- That's not.. uhm... that's not true…" Oslan covered his face out of embarrassment.

"Your face says otherwise." Owen laughed. But when he saw that Oslan was even more embarrassed, he knew that he had to stop.

"Alright, I'll be honest with you… I actually want to ask for your help too." Owen's tone turned quite more serious than how it was earlier. It shifted the mood quite a bit.

Oslan regained his composure.

"My help? What do you need?" Oslan wasn't sure why Owen asked him for help. He couldn't recall anything he had that was valuable.

"Before I answer that, do you have any family members here?" Owen raised his hand to his shoulder's level with his palm facing up.

Oslan wasn't expecting that kind of question.

"Not anymore… My parents died because of bandits.." Oslan seemed to be unaffected by it from how he casually delivered his words.

"Oh uh, that wasn't what I was trying to know but… erm." Owen cleared his throat to shift the awkward aura away.

"What I want is for you to help me escort Riang back to Silmoun. Can you do that?" Owen finally answered Oslan's question.

This took the fifteen year old kid aback.

"What? What can I do? I've heard that the journey back would be treacherous. I'd be nothing more but dead weight." Oslan spoke about his concerns.

"That's true, but I am sure that if Riang told you that she was worried about being pursued by people who want nothing more than to capture her, you'd step up and proudly proclaim that you will help her return to her home." Owen clenched his fist as he spoke. Acting out the determination that Oslan would have for visual effects.

No need to be dramatic, but it helped.... somewhat?

His words seem to resonate deeply with Oslan.

But he remained quiet.

"There it is… the last push that he needs." Owen grinned without him seeing.

Oslan pushed out the words stuck in his throat. "But why would Riang do that..? I'm the weakest amongst all of us under Teacher Tiduer."

"But you didn't give up despite your peers laughing at you. You have an open mind and a spirit that perseveres through hardship. Plus, I know that Riang is the only person who talks to you." Owen answered while pointing out Oslan's good sides.

"You just got here, how did you know about those things?" Oslan thought about it for a few seconds and asked, "Did she tell you that?"

Thoughts rang in Owen's mind.

Owen wanted to say that it was painfully obvious. Instead, Owen nodded at him.

"Mhm." Owen lied as naturally as he breathed.

"I know it's abrupt, but you are the only one who I can trust with Riang that wouldn't hurt her. I admit, I cannot do it by myself. I need as many allies to guarantee her safety. So please, help me protect her." Owen's words directly pierced through Oslan's doubt.

Oslan used to be a listless kid who did anything that he could just to get by at life. But with what Owen told him, Oslan was now given some purpose.

Oslan nodded. "If that's the case then… I will help you."

Owen's smile crept up on his face. He didn't feel any guilt at all from tricking an emotionally confused teenager.

Wait, that sounded bad.

"Thank you… Now let's talk about the specifics later. It seems that you still have to train." Owen pointed at the other students getting ready to train once more.

"Oh, right." Oslan got up with his training sword in hand.

"Good luck." Owen waved his hand at him as he left.

Left alone sitting in the grass, Owen began to contemplate his next move after this. The only thing around him was the audible shouts of training and the wind.

He wasn't left alone for too long though.

"Owen? What are you doing all alone here?" Ezella's voice could be heard behind him.

Owen turned around and waved at her.

"I was just thinking about random things. Don't worry about me. This is one of the rare times where I get to rest and not worry about anything." Owen faced the river once again. Ignoring her.

Ezella stared at his left forearm with deep meaning.

"It must have been hard on you…"

Owen nodded. "It was."

"How did you do it?" Ezella placed her left hand on the side of her hip.

"Do what?" Owen gave her a simple glance.

"How did you go through all of that like it was nothing?" Ezella's gaze grew soft as she said that. "It's admirable, really… I can never wish to act the same if I were you."

Owen didn't view her words as something worth mentioning.

He was just responding because it would be good for his reputation.

"I didn't go through that kind of pain without scars. But then again, if I bawled my eyes out on the ground, I would be just waiting for my death. If I die, I want to die trying… I guess that's what went through my head at those times."

Although Owen didn't view them as true people, that didn't mean he couldn't speak out his true feelings from time to time.

He then narrowed his eyes.

'What am I doing? Why am I getting all sentimental with her? I don't give a damn if these people died in front of me right now.. After all, they're just fake. The real world is waiting for me.. I can't waste my time with these kinds of stuff.' Owen stopped paying any attention to Ezella.

But unexpectedly, Ezella sat next to Owen.

"Here, I'll teach you how to use soul energy… consider this as a gift." Ezella's tone was innocent and kind.

Her smile was like the warm comforting sunlight. She wanted to teach Owen magic because her way of cheering someone up was to give them a gift and it shows.

Ezella extended her hand forward and began explaining.

"So, from what I learned, soul energy is something like your main personality. It is reflected when you use magic and…" Ezella rambled on and on.

She kind of resembles Annie when she talks like this.

Owen's eyes narrowed.

"Hmmm… this spell could be useful in a tight situation… Why not play along?" Owen subconsciously became more attentive to her lesson without knowing it.