Growth Hero 2

by Brent Tyman

  “Yes, my magic is secondary to my Strength training. I also had a shield in my homeland, but a Malophas destroyed it before I came here,” she replied.

  “If we have time, we can see about getting you a shield. It might take a while for them to hand out the infinite storage pouches, with so many of us,” I said.

  Clarissa’s sudden grin nearly split her face, as if she’d just found a really rare or expensive piece of loot or something. She batted her eyelashes at me and she pointed down to my belt.

  “Handsome, check your Clan Storage, will you?”

  I raised an eyebrow at her antics but shrugged as I took a look at my Clan Management Screen. The familiar red background appeared behind the text.

  Clan Name: Augere

  Current Members: 4

  Clan Coin: 54,503

  Clan Storage Slots: 7 Available… 3 In Use

  Clan Messages: 0

  My Clan Coin balance reminded me that it used to have an extra digit to it, at least for the brief time that I’d had the coin we’d gotten for the Glower Serpent’s scale. Even so, the two gold coins I had remaining from that totaled twenty thousand copper, which was what this screen displayed.

  That was still the most significant chunk of wealth I had gotten. The past few days had generated over fourteen thousand coin from our grinding, and I noticed that most of that had come from the Wolves’ and Turtles’ loot, which seemed to go for a good chunk more than the monsters before it. I still had the other Glower Serpent’s scale, which I’d started to consider my emergency savings.

  I was paying three silver or three hundred copper a night at the Golden Bear. I didn’t really use most of their facilities, like the hot spring, but the difference between that inn and a place like the Windy Wolf was like night and day.

  Even if it cost a lot… We made more than enough each day in the Dungeon to cover the cost, and the place had grown on me. Not to mention, Aurielle really liked the Golden Bear. It seemed she was comfortable with that kind of luxury from how she’d taken it in stride.

  This was just something I’d picked up on and found rather interesting, as the beauty remained rather close-lipped about her upbringing with the Seers.

  Hey, wait a minute…

  Seven storage slots available, only three in use?

  The Titan loot alone was three pieces of its ore, plus the remaining Glower Serpent scale, and I still had that Demon horn sitting around. There should be at least five pieces of loot in here. I was pretty sure any regular loot I had placed in here temporarily, such as the Wolf pelts from our journey back to Tringall, had been sold off already.

  What was going on?

  I quickly pulled up the Clan Storage directly and read through what was inside.

  Glower Serpent Scale

  Condition - Excellent

  May be used for armor crafting material or for potion making material

  Demon Horn - Dropped from the Demon Junatak

  Condition - Excellent

  May be used for weapon or armor crafting material

  Tifflanium Shield - Crafted by Tavin the Armor Smith

  Condition - Excellent

  May be used for weapon or armor crafting material

  “Uhh, Clarissa… What happened to the Titan ores?”

  “Oh! I told you, handsome, it’s a surprise,” Clarissa said quickly. “But I have a surprise for Aurielle, too. Would you please take it out?”

  She must mean the Tifflanium shield I had never seen before. I’d let it go, for now, but I was very much interested in following up on what she had planned for the Titan ores.

  I took the shield out of storage and marveled at the magic at work here. Whether this pouch created a portal to another dimension or used some other form of magic, I always found myself amazed at how objects appeared as they went into or came out of the pouch.

  For Clarissa’s shield, it came out of the storage as a round disc about the size of my palm, and I watched as the shield swiftly grew until it reached its true size. It was almost like when I pulled an object out of Clan storage, it had undefined edges—like something halfway between a liquid and a solid—before forming into the appropriate, solid shape.

  I held the Tifflanium shield by its edge and was impressed with how light it was. That was probably mostly my Strength at play, but even gripped between my armored fingers, it felt quite solid. The shiny white surface reflected the sunlight effortlessly.

  “Isn’t it pretty? It’s a shield I got just for Aurielle, made from the same material as Alex’s armor. I think it would suit our newest Clan member very well.”

  “For me?” Aurielle almost squeaked, as if not believing what she was hearing. “I couldn’t possibly…”

  “You had better, Alex doesn’t use shields and I find them too bulky. I remember you let slip about your shield during my lovely tour of the Academy and I bought this one to replace it,” Clarissa said, wagging a finger.

  “Ahh, it didn’t come cheap. Clarissa took me with her to the armor smith,” Anny said. “We spent a… a lot of time looking for shields that matched Aurielle’s armor.”

  Huh, Clarissa was one step ahead of us already. This saved us a trip to grab Aurielle a shield, and she’d found a great quality one, too, that Aurielle was sure to love.

  I offered the shield to Aurielle with a smile, and she stared at it for a long time in awe before tentatively reaching out to accept it.

  “Thank you… truly,” she murmured, almost too quietly to hear.

  “Aren’t I just the best Clan Officer, handsome?” Clarissa asked, offering me a wink.

  Clarissa was certainly one heck of a woman and was turning out to be a surprisingly effective Clan officer.

  “Even I must admit, this was very well done, Clarissa,” Juliana congratulated her.

  Clarissa's grin grew even wider.

  “It seems that your party is in order, then,” Karl commented.

  “That shield is even bigger than Daiver’s. Then again, he usually forgets to pull his off his back,” Kesara said.

  “Oi! There are times when I require a free arm, and the maximum amount of maneuverability,” Daiver retorted.

  “Somehow, I doubt that,” Kesara drawled before turning back to me. “Thank the Gods Juliana assigned Karl the lead and not Daiver. We wouldn’t get past the first floor with him in charge.”

  “Why shouldn’t I be in charge? Karl is a Count’s son, while my father is a respectable Duke. It’s only natural I possess more innate leadership skills, thanks to my impeccable lineage,” Daiver protested.

  Kesara and Daiver broke out into an argument, which didn’t surprise me. I mostly tuned them out to give my attention to Aurielle, who was sill marveling at her new shield.

  “Is there anything else you need, Aurielle?” I asked.

  She shook her head. “No, you have provided most excellently for everything I need.” She straightened her shoulders and bowed to Clarissa before turning back to me. “I swear to bear this gift honorably and use it to fight our Clan’s foes to the best of my ability.”

  If Aurielle did that, every monster that crossed our path might end up with an Ethereal Spear through them, unless she really was as good at melee as she claimed. We’d spent most of our time these past few days relying almost exclusively on our magic to level those stats up. I guess I’d just have to wait and see how she fought with her new shield and that artifact sword.

  I was intrigued and looked forward to seeing just how amazing she was at melee.

  “Someone is coming,” Anny said, and we all looked to see a red-uniformed Sovereignty student heading our way. He held a piece of parchment and his belt was covered in pouches.

  “This must be the student volunteer with an infinite storage pouch for our loot,” Juliana said.

  “That was fast,” I said.

  “Perhaps they wish to ensure my Lady has everything she needs as soon as possible,” Vencia suggested.

  Either way, it seemed we’d still have to wait
for everyone to get their pouches before the tournament could start. I knew we’d push through this first round with ease. We had to.

  Although, I still wondered…

  What in the blazes had Clarissa done with those Titan ores?

  20

  Since the first floor of the Dungeon had so many entrances, the headmaster and his staff had every group evenly spaced out amongst a few of them. That did mean that Juliana’s retinue had to leave us to go to their assigned entrance, but I was sure that they would do well in this first round, too.

  Luckily, we’d been assigned the entrance that I typically used to enter the Dungeon. I already had a few spots in mind to start off with for the Rats and itched to get going.

  “Oh Gods,” Clarissa hissed, her eyes glaring daggers. “You really are participating.”

  In front of Clarissa was the familiar and very beautiful Stephania. She wore a blend of her Academy dress with a few leather straps over her limbs. Her hair was tied back into a ponytail and she sported a rather long yet thin sword on her back.

  Clearly, Stephania intended to take this tournament seriously.

  “Please behave, Clarissa,” Juliana said. “We must present ourselves with the dignity befitting heirs.”

  “Exactly right,” Stephania said as she turned to greet us. “Perhaps it is fitting all of us start in the same entrance. A pleasure to see you again, Alex.”

  Surrounding her were what I assumed must be her retinue, given their blue uniformed attire. I recognized some of these students from the Grand Assembly, but one oddity I did notice was that the guy Aurielle had knocked out wasn’t here.

  Juliana evidently noticed this as well.

  “May I inquire about… I have forgotten his name already, my apologies. I see that he isn’t present with you.” Juliana said.

  Stephania looked away and tsked, as if something else was annoying her.

  “Ruhano was healed, yet my father wormed his way into my affairs and kicked Ruhano out of our Clan. He assigned some soldier in his place.”

  “Such a tragedy, yet I can’t help but think it fitting retribution for raising a hand against me,” Clarissa drawled and Stephania rounded on her.

  “Ruhano is hot headed and sometimes does ill-advised things, but we had all developed a very effective party together. For all of this to be ripped away for a tiny slight… My father was too harsh,” Stephania said.

  She proceeded to smack both ends of her fists together in frustration and that reminded me of how Clarissa had recognized it was her in the Dungeon.

  “Is assigning a seasoned soldier not more beneficial to your efforts?” Juliana asked, as she tapped her chin in thought. “One would think a veteran would have higher stats than this Ruhano.”

  The soldier in question stepped forward. As far as I could see, he didn’t seem much different from any other soldier I had seen from Yunissa. He had brown hair, cut short, and a slightly crooked nose, with a pointy chin.

  His body was encased in blue dyed plate armor, which revealed very little of him other than his face. He had a sword sheathed at his hip, and that was the only weapon I could see.

  “I assure you that I come from amongst the highest skilled fighters of Clan Yunissa, and will be a major boon to My Lady’s efforts,” he said in a gruff voice.

  His eyes turned to me, and I think he was trying to assess my capabilities. I hadn’t noticed much of a difference in my appearance as my stats had increased, especially in my Strength stat. My muscles didn’t bulk up or anything. I doubted he could glean much about me without a fight.

  “Oliver is perfectly capable, and I’m sure we will grab the top spot in this first stage of the tournament,” Stephania assured us, eliciting a snort from Clarissa.

  “We will see about that,” Clarissa said. “I doubt you will even qualify for the second stage, unless you steal a spot—what with the heir of Yunissa being such a thief and all.”

  I thought Clarissa had gotten over losing that artifact, but she went right back to her old ways. It was clear that putting Stephania and Clarissa right next to each other was only going to lead to an argument.

  And... I was right.

  As I let the women do their thing, Oliver stepped a tad closer to me and stretched out his hand.

  “I have heard of you, Alex Augere. While many of my Yunissan peers do not look favorably on the other two nations, I know a formidable man when I see one. May the best of us advance.”

  Huh, at least he didn’t think I was slim, or anything weird like that.

  Seeing no malice in his eyes, I shook his armored hand with my own and raised an eyebrow when he hissed in pain. His arm wobbled in place and he immediately backed away, gripping his shoulder.

  “Huh, you alright?” I asked, and he winced but nodded.

  “My apologies. A strange occurrence happened at the border and I sustained an injury that will not heal from magic,” Oliver admitted.

  That seemed to garner Aurielle’s interest, for some reason.

  “How did you sustain this injury?” She asked, almost demanded in a sense.

  Oliver tilted his head. “A fellow soldier attacked me during a patrol before fleeing. The cut from his sword was deep but healing magic does not affect it and I must wait for it to heal naturally. Even so, the discomfort troubles me to this day, but only flairs up when significant force is applied—like Alex’s surprisingly forceful handshake.”

  “And what of this soldier?” Aurielle insisted, her eyes almost lighting up with her gaze’s intensity. “What did he look like? Did you see his face?”

  “I’m afraid I did not see much of anything. This patrol was in the dead of night, and I only glimpsed his blue armor as he ran. He ended both of the men from my patrol who went after him,” Oliver said.

  He shook his head with a sigh.

  “This isn’t the first time we’ve had reports of our own men attacking our patrols, but it’s been increasing exponentially, of late. I can’t say any more.”

  Aurielle crossed her arms with a frown and looked away, deep in thought.

  Oliver opened and closed his armored fist a few times. “Your Strength is just as the rumors say. I hope we can put it to the test soon.” Oliver bowed for a moment before stepping back to rejoin the rest of Stephania’s retinue.

  Unfortunately, both she and Clarissa were still very much involved in an argument over that artifact.

  “This Oliver’s injuries reminded me of something,” Aurielle murmured from my side. “I hope I did not speak out of turn.”

  “Ha,” I laughed. “Nah, it’s all fine. He’s not what I expected from a Yunissan soldier, though.”

  “Uhh,” Anny said. “I don’t understand how he is going to fight with that injury. Won’t it hold him back?”

  “Did he not say that he only felt its pain against significant force? I believe Alex’s strength would qualify as such,” Juliana said before looking thoughtful all of a sudden.

  “What’s the matter?” I asked her.

  “It is nothing…” she started before shaking her head. “Well, I visited my father yesterday before returning to the Academy. He seemed very agitated and asked me if anything suspicious had happened.”

  “Huh,” I said. “That’s pretty opened ended right there. Did he clarify what he meant by ‘suspicious’?”

  “He wished to know if I had noticed any oddities in the soldiers at the Academy, troop movements, strange behavior, or anything like that,” Juliana replied. “He did not elaborate any further, just shooed me away. At first, I thought he was just being paranoid about the outcome of the Tournament. Now? Now, I am not so sure.”

  “It reminded me of reports from my homeland,” Aurielle said as she took a deep breath. “Similar events transpired before the succession war reared its head… though I am unsure if there is any connection or if it is just a coincidence.”

  The first thing that came to mind was that this could all just be things that normally happened before full-blown hosti
lities between nations really kicked off. Heck, the tournament was pretty much happening because the nations couldn’t agree about who would get Tringall, in the end.

  I honestly wasn’t that well versed in stuff like this, but something told me that there was more to all this than just coincidence. Maybe it was my years of playing RPG’s, giving me some insight.

  With how strange this world could be, it was something I really should keep in mind.

  A booming voice reverberated in the air, causing everyone to immediately stop their chatter.

  “The Tringall tournament will begin in short order!” The headmaster’s voice announced as it seemed to travel in all directions.

  “We shall see if your claims hold up, Clarissa Vos Hoganna,” Stephania said as she turned to me. “And I would very much like to see how you perform in the first stage, Alex. Unlike Clarissa here, I will treat you like an honorable opponent—may the best of us win.”

  Huh, Oliver had said that too. Was it a Yunissan saying or something?

  “Yeah, good luck. See you in the Dungeon,” I said, nodding.

  Stephania let out a small smile before turning away with the rest of her retinue.

  Clarissa came back to us with crossed arms and a scowl on her face. “Ugh! I tried to convince her to give the artifact back, but she wouldn’t budge,” she whined.

  “She already said she gave it to her father. It is unbecoming to press the issue much further,” Juliana said.

  “In true Hoganna spirit, I refuse to give up so easily,” Clarissa grinned. “Besides, that artifact was as good as ours when they all abandoned it. It must be truly important if she gave it to her father.”

  “Let us keep our focus on the tournament for now,” Juliana said, and the rest of us nodded.

  It didn’t take long at all for the headmaster’s booming voice to come roaring back, this time with a very loud command.

  “Begin!”

  With a rumble, everyone raced towards their Dungeon entrances at incredible speed. I managed to spot several figures using their Speed similarly to Anny’s own, blurring towards the Dungeon. Only a select few managed to actually get inside the Dungeon before the entrances were clogged with Academy students and adventurers.