Team up

Leo sighed as he took the slime staff out, understanding that she knew it already.

"I was hoping you wouldn't find out."

He pulled the slime staff from his inventory and placed it on the desk for her to see.

"Could you at least give me the scrolls before telling anyone?"

"Hmm... but it will cost you!"

The clerk answered while preparing the scrolls in the storage room.

"How much exactly?"

His entire balance was barely enough to cover the scrolls, leaving him with little to spare.

'Don't you have another quest that would reward me with some gold?'

Leo sighed loudly, thinking what else he could give her...

[Inventory]

[500x Kobold Skin]

[24x Iluminite Ore]

[1x Pygmy Necklace]

'Maybe she really likes Kobold skin...'

The short girl stood on the stool.

"I think that's everything..."

She placed the ingredients on the desk and pulled out her wand, channeling magic through it.

poof

With a single cast, all 10 scrolls transformed into sealed enchantments, each marked with the emblem of a summoner.

"6 000 coins for the scrolls."

He placed a sack with that amount on her desk and waited to hear what the extra payment she mentioned earlier was.

But instead, the short clerk walked over to him and grabbed his arm.

"On your knees! And get your staff out."

'Oh god, what did I get myself into...'

|Maybe it's just weird phrasing?|

Of course, he hoped this was the case as he knelt on the ground, slime staff in hand.

Snap

She took a picture of them together.

"From now on you are my customer, you can't visit other enchanters. Nice to meet you Leo, I'm Aurora!"

Aurora extended her hand with a wide smirk on her face.

"I might even throw in a few enchantments for free here and there if you help me."

As she began introducing herself, Leo grabbed her hand and stood up, patting the dirt off of his jeans.

"So can I get the money back for those?"

He waved the enchantment scrolls in his hand, hoping to save some money.

"Nope, I need them. You've got 15 seconds before I upload it~"

Leo ran for it, hoping to get to the Tower before anyone stopped him.

"I'm taking this!"

On his way out he grabbed a cloak off of a clothes rack.

The short girl skipped around her store, filled with excitement about scoring such an amazing deal.

Is the only person with a Celestial-grade class having an exclusive contract in her store a good thing? No, that's like a dream come true.

Click

Just like that, the picture of Aurora and Leo became a hot topic on Birder, reaching 500 thousand impressions in minutes.

People on the pavement of the district stared at him intently, piecing together who they were looking at.

"Hello! Can you stop for a moment?"

A recruiter tried to stop him.

"We are trying to form a team and you would be perf..."

[New Quest!]

[Reach the Tower within 1 hour]

[59:59/1:00:00]

[Reward: 12-hour XP booster (shared)]

"No, sorry I'm not interested."

One hour was not a lot of time, if he wanted to get the reward, he had to get moving fast.

News spread way faster than he could comprehend.

The crowds which formed inside the Tower earlier were now flowing into the plaza in front of the entrance.

"I need to get to the Tower faster!"

Leo blurted out loudly.

[25:21/1:00:00]

He ran out of breath, stopping by an electronics store to catch his breath.

Luckily this road was pretty empty now.

'Thanks.'

Thanks to taking the cloak earlier, he could now disguise himself.

After collecting some air he continued running.

"Well Jessie, you won't know until you try am I right?"

A TV broadcast played on the store's display right behind him.

A crowd of recruiters flooded the street like a tsunami, searching for the summoner.

'Shit, they found us!'

"Exactly James. I hope all of you are also preparing for New Year's Eve in two days! Anyway, I saw..."

The hosts of the broadcast went on to talk about another topic.

[2:12/1:00:00]

Leo finally made it onto the plaza.

There was no way he could reach the entrance in such a short amount of time.

One crowd in front, one behind.

[Unbound Market]

[Search: Stamina potion]

[Successfully bought 2 stamina potions for 500 gold]

Right away he took one of them out and drank it in one go, feeling his energy coming back.

If he was to make it on time, he had to do something drastic.

[6 hour cooldown applied]

"I am the summoner!"

He shouted, grabbing everyone's attention as they tried to match the picture to his covered face.

Now that he had their attention, he jumped into the crowd.

Woosh

Leo put the cloak on someone else, changing them into a target for others.

"There he is! Go catch him!"

A few people began grabbing the innocent bystander.

Others quickly joined in and a small quarrel turned into chaos.

"Tell me how you got the class!"

"No don't tell him! Tell me!"

"Join my team!"

Screams and arguments filled the air, allowing Leo to slip through. Going as fast as he could while the time ticked down.

[07/1:00:00]

[06/1:00:00]

Leo's leg was grabbed by one of the people who had caught on.

'I'm not going to make it!'

Grab

Someone from inside pulled him through the doors.

[Quest completed!]

[Reward: 12-hour XP booster (shared)]

"You sure are bad at not grabbing attention. You know?"

Her long red curly hair was the thing that caught his attention the most.

The person who helped him was none other than the woman with gauntlets, who had changed quite a bit in just this one day.

"You are a lifesaver uh...."

He wasn't too sure if she told him her name or not, but that was the perfect time to check.

[Mind Archive]

[Status: Unbound]

[Nyssa Choi - Level 5]

[Gold 7 820]

[Class: Brawler]

[XP 23/812]

[HP 380/380]

[Strength: 5 (+2)]

[Agility: 3]

[Stamina: 4 (+1)]

[Abilities]

[Tectonic Shatter]

[Mother Earth]

"...Nyssa, right?!"

Leo snapped his fingers to make it look like he just recalled what her name was. A cheeky grin on his face.

"Wow, you must have seen the news then right? I don't recall telling you my name."

She didn't find it as cool as he did.

But she continued anyway, helping him stand up and run out of the forest, pulling him by the hand.

"You will become part of my team as a payback for making everyone so interested in me!"

Nyssa looked back with her eyes closed and a smile from ear to ear. Her hair flew freely in the wind.

[Nyssa has invited you to join her party]

[Yes] [No]