Fragments

Scene 22

When the light from teleportation faded away, Ryudo stood slightly off the road in front of a village. Behind the village was a mountain. And on top of that mountain was the goddess tower rising high into the sky. Jeff pointed to the village. "Let's rest there for the night."

"I don't think going up the mountain at night would be a good idea." Ryudo agreed. If they ran into any monsters up there, fighting them at night wouldn't be fun. They passed a sign welcoming them to Burg as they entered the village. After getting a room at the inn, Ryudo decided to take a walk.

Jeff declined to join him. He said his back was bothering him. Jeff said that even though he had been blessed with a long life by Granas, he hadn't escaped all of the attacks of old age. Ryudo placed his hand on the hilt of his sword. It was a standard issue sword that a first-year soldier got.

Hive had given it to him to replace the sword he had blown up. Ryudo decided to see if Burg had a weapon shop. Maybe they had a better sword for sale than an ordinary short sword. When he got there, he found the shop keep cleaning. The shop keep welcomed Ryudo to look around.

The selection wasn't too bad for a village. He found one he liked and paid for it by selling his old one and paying the difference. He felt better having a better-crafted sword. He would probably replace it once he got back to the holy city, but until then, it should work for him. As long as he didn't have to use explosive stab anytime soon.

After getting his new sword he also stopped by the item shop to see what they had. As well as stock up if need be. He wasn't used to having a mage with him. So, he kept a lot of potions on hand for healing hp and ethers on hand for recovering mp.

Being low on HP and unable to use sword skills because you had no MP wasn't a fun time. When Ryudo returned to the inn, he found Jeff in the common room. "How was your walk," asked Jeff. "It was good," replied Ryudo. "I got a better sword at the shop."

"I felt a little nervous with that last one. I thought it might break fighting a level 1 giant rat." Jeff laughed. "Well, if you hadn't blown up your last sword, then you wouldn't have that problem." "Hey, it was either that or get mauled by a war wolf."

"And I wasn't in the mood to get ripped outside the gym." Jeff chuckled. The two friends sat talking until the sunset, and they decided to call it a night.

The next morning

Ryudo was up before the sun. that happened sometimes. He would wake up and not be able to get back to sleep. So he decided to get some sword practice in. he got dressed and headed to the backyard of the inn.

Once there, he used a spell he had learned when he first started fighting with a sword. It summoned a humanoid golem for him to spare with. It was useless for anything else but it helped him to have a partner. The golem was only as skilled as the one summoning it. But its skill level could be adjusted.

Ryudo set it to one level below his and started the match. After a time he became aware he had some people watching him. After he finished his current match, he dismissed the golem. He turned around to see the crowd dispersing, but Jeff stayed. "That's a useful spell," said Jeff. Ryudo nodded.

"I told you I can use some magic. This spell wasn't hard to learn. Most mercs do so they have a sparring partner." Jeff nodded. "You're still sure about this?"

"You really intend to take the trial of the goddess in order to help xama?" "Yes," replied Ryudo. "Unless Granas has changed his mind." "I prayed to him this morning," said Jeff. "He says he still needs to think on this."

Ryudo felt his ire rise a little bit but pushed it down. "Let's get ready to go," said Ryudo. "I don't want to run out of time." Jeff agreed with that. The two got ready and headed toward the mountain and the tower.