With free time on your hands, you find a tavern, only for the woman manning the bar to tell you that the only meat they have is fish.

Well, meat is meat. You drop a silver for some fish and potatoes.

Looks pretty empty here, only one other person in the tavern and it's a dirty, disheveled man downing drink after drink.


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Sanoa: "I'm sure there's a way to hijack tendrils to signal for them to break all at once, but I don't have any real experience against Captivate other than what I tried on you. There are probably other methods floating around out there.

Reapers, they're spirits created by some branch of the Ruhe long ago to stop self-replicating spells and spirits, mainly because of the large-scale spells that were cast using self-replication techniques. Almost no one knows the exact conditions that need to be met for a spirit to be destroyed by a reaper, but there are a few we know. A spirit or spell that lacks a negation field or possesses self-replication, AND is not connected to a pinch or a negation-wielding spirit, can be targeted by a reaper. Constructs are safe. Magic artifacts are also safe, since they don't actually have a spell, but are a form of gate.

All natural spirits that we know of have a negation field. Insects and plants, while it's possible to use direct magic on most of them, all possess at least a very minor negation field that doesn't really do much. I think the reapers' targeting conditions are dependent on spirit tiers, but I don't really have any evidence."


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Byrnolf: "Sure, backups are always good to have. I don't see anything wrong with the turtle spirit so far, seems docile enough. Losing the physical turtle brain might've stripped it of its natural aggression."

The doll's grip on the shelf slips and the body clatters to the floor. It struggles to its feet again, grabbing on to whatever furniture it can reach.


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You go outside and look for a tree.

Being in a city, that's actually a bit hard. You have to leave Monk behind and head out into the "country", where you find a sturdy looking tree to ram yourself in a few times.

Takes, quite a few times, but you think you figure out how to Brace for Impact.

So much for having an enjoyable evening. At least the fish is not bad.

>Ask the barmaid how much for a room. Proceed to try and sweettalk my way into getting a free/discounted room.

"Pretty nice little bar you have here. Fish was quite good, too. But then... Everything tastes better when you're served by a pretty girl."

>Wink.

"I'm Sei. Working as a soldier for the Lord. You?"




WHAT HAVE YOU TURNED ME INTO KARK ;_;

Looks like with a single tendril, your maximum range is... Huge. Can probably cover a decently sized battlefield. Two tendrils cuts the range down in half, three to a third. Seems like easy math.

With three, your range is about the size of the Heartstone facility, so it's not shabby.


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You skip out on asking for a room and jump straight to the sweettalk! She's somewhat short and looks like she could throw some mean slugs. Dirty blonde hair in a messy bun, and the shades of sleep deprivation under her eyes.

Barmaid: "Jasmine."

Drunkard: "Everyone just calls her Jazz. Hope that one arm of yours is strong 'cause she's a handful."

He lets out a chuckle as a wet rag flies into his face with a slap, letting it fall to the counter before downing the rest of his mug.

Jazz: "So what's with the missing arm? Didn't get a chance to grow it back yet?"


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You approach the doll. It doesn't lash out or try to bite you, so you give it some support by holding its torso up a bit, allowing it to stand a bit better.

The doll stares right at you, silent and expressionless. Well, its face wasn't rigged for expressions so that much is expected.

Byrnolf: "I think it likes you!"

Jazz: "Keeps it out of my face, and the food."

You get a glass mug of ale in your hand.

Jazz: "So, you're a soldier? How's that work?"


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A hundred inch-long needles materialize in a ring around you. It's still a drain on mana, but their total mass is small enough that it isn't a major drain. It seems like the actual forming speed isn't any faster than if you were to make a single chunk of AM of the same mass, so that's another thing to figure out.

Sanoa: "About your past, or memory loss? Though, the answer would be no for both.

Do you think we've known each other before, or something?"


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Byrnolf: "That was to be expected. I mean, that's the entire reason we're getting Emiel. The lord probably just wanted to make sure you could actually do the thing when the time came to it, and it looks like you can do it fine.

Maybe we should like, polish up this doll if we're going to keep it around."


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You apply a single Focus Punch to the tree, though you don't put any stamina into it so it's really like a regular punch.

Took off some bark, but that's about it. Living trees are pretty tough things.

>Slide enough coin to pay for the ale across the counter, take a drink. Not just a sip, but not enough at once to seem like a drunk, either.

"Oh, you know, mercenary things. Roam the country, search for a conflict, get hired by one side, win the war for them, and so on. Fighting's rough, but finding a battle is the tiring part. For instance, I've just marched here all the way from Imum!"

>Another swig, sigh a small "Aaaah~" of satisfaction.

"Anyways, I needed somewhere to unwind after all the walking, and this place seemed cozy. So tell me, maybe you have a room for rent? I'm just dying to take off these sweaty clothes and change into something more... Comfortable."

>Look her in the eyes and smile.



And by "something more comfortable", Sei means her recently acquired armor, because that's literally all the clothes she owns. Being a mercenary is suffering. ;_;