Indigo Elf

Ch. 8

Ch. 8

Arlen

It was early morning, so early that the sun had barely risen above the horizon and the streets were still deserted. Once again, I was practicing spells, albeit this time very quietly as to not wake Helen. I had learned very early on that the fox girl was feisty in the mornings, another  thing I had learned very quickly since arriving in this world was that I hated walking, and buying a mount of any kind, at the moment, would cost me an arm, a leg, and my very soul. Since I hated walking and was too poor to buy a mount, I decided that I would try and create a spell that would cost little MP and make it easier for me to get around.

Since this was a fantasy world, I was determined to create something just as awesome as some of the things I'd read about. I chuckled evilly to myself as I pictured myself riding around on top of some badass wolf.

"You're so creepy," Casper muttered as he shivered quietly, "Are you sure you're not doing something evil over there?"

I gasped in surprise, not knowing that he was awake and watching me. I blushed furiously and scooted over next to him.

"I'm not creating any malicious spells!" I huffed quietly as I flipped through some pages, pausing on the section of water magic, "I want to create a sort of mount, something that I can use instead of walking."

Casper snorted, "So lazy."

I rolled my eyes and giggled.

I had so many ideas swirling around in my head, but they all took too much mana or were too crazy. I relayed this problem to Casper and his eyes lit up as he thought of an idea.

"I've seen some low-level Casters get around using clouds. Since they're able to use them, I assume they cost little to no magic points. Try it!"

My face lit up with excitement and I quickly stood up, opting to stand in the middle of the living room. I furrowed my eyebrows as I tried to mimic what I did when I produced flame for the first time, only this time, with my mind plagued with thoughts of clouds. Closing my eyes, I pictured a white and fluffy cloud forming into a chair under me. My eyes flew open in alarm when I no longer felt Helen's soft carpet underneath my feet. I quickly looked around, squealing happily when I realized that I was floating in mid-air, comfortably sitting in the softest chair I'd ever encountered.

The chair swayed dangerously and I shrieked loudly as I tried to steady myself. Casper stood up, laughing loudly as he watched me struggle to get the cloud under control.

"Just calm down and think of the chair as a pair of legs taking you where you want to go."

Nodding, I took a couple of deep breaths and slowly flew around the room. Within seconds, maneuvering around the small apartment became so much easier. I was having so much fun that I didn't even see a furious Helen standing in the middle of the hallway. I stopped and stared down the hallway at the angry woman in horror. She growled softly and swiftly equipped her bow, nocking an arrow.

"RETREAT!" Casper screamed. Jumping up, he bounded towards the door and I followed quickly behind him on my new floating chair. We flew down the stairs, dodging the arrows Helen angrily shot at us and ran down the road towards the Adventurer's Hall. The sound of a door slamming shut alerted us that Helen had retreated back inside.

I laughed loudly, clutching my stomach as I turned towards Casper, "I had no idea you were so afraid of Helen!"

Casper huffed and went to swat me, but I expertly dodged him. Maneuvering around was so much easier with my new floating chair.

"You were running for your life too! I've never seen an elf's ears get so white from fear!"

I giggled and followed him to the adventurer's hall that was just opening; I then paused, noticing that we were outside half dressed.

"We need to put on some clothes!"

Seeming to just notice that he was shirtless, Casper trotted behind a random building and pulled a cotton shirt out of his storage as well as some sweatpants for me. I definitely need to do some more quests so I can buy some suitable clothing! I shimmied into the sweatpants and tightened the drawstrings before gratefully accepting a pair of shoes from him. I, once again, looked like a slob, and I then made another vow to use my earnings from this quest to buy an outfit or two.

As we approached the male employee who was opening the establishment turned and smiled at us.

"Hello adventurers, we have some new quests in today, so feel free to come and take a look!"

We nodded in his direction and walked inside. When I came to the adventurer's bar with Helen, the place was packed and full of people, now, it was empty and smelled of cleaning supplies. It seemed like a completely different place from yesterday.

"Since Helen is waking the dead with her snores, do you want to accept some easy quests? You can level up and sell the items you get."

"I thought I was supposed to be training in the forest today?"

Casper nodded and handed me the quest sheets, "Yea, but these won't take long. We'll be done by the time she decides to join us."

With a nod, I jumped out of my chair and it disappeared into my inventory. Although that maggrit quest was absolutely disgusting, it paid well, and since Helen had kicked us out without breakfast, I was feeling very hungry.

"How about we eat first?" I hummed, "I can't train on an empty stomach!"

I jogged over to the bar and placed my order for a bowl of ramen and some fruit juice. Casper joined me and after we ate, we were on our way to our first quest location.

"This time, we're only collecting killer plants. They're used to make medicine, but of course, they aren't going to sit still and allow themselves to be killed, so, we have bust our butts getting them."

I hummed and followed Casper as he led me to the forest, the same forest where I met Helen for the first time. I shivered as the memory of the murderous siren resurfaced and I made a mental note to stay away from the pink river. I followed Casper quietly in my chair, opting to look at the beauty of the forest again than to talk. The place was truly beautiful, and I was still amazed at how the grass lit up where Casper walked.

"Killer plants are very weak, and can be easily killed by just about everything, but if we destroy them, we won't be able to harvest them. Only cut their roots and only that, nothing else. Oh, and don't be swayed by their cute faces," Casper explained as we walked.

I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion. Plants with faces? I couldn't help but think that a plant with a face was more than a little creepy.

"I guess plants with faces are a hell of a lot better than maggrits. God, I never want to see another maggrit again."

Casper chuckled and took off in a gallop towards a hidden path that I hadn't noticed. It was covered by pink flowers and other large shrubs. I gasped in surprise and quickly followed after him. The path led up a pretty steep hill, and I was once again glad that I was sitting on a chair made of clouds instead of trying to climb. As we got closer to the top, I noticed that there were more and more plants that seemed to shield the path even more. I flew higher into the air and broke through the shrubbery, startled when I found myself floating above a purple lake with warm steam rising from it. I gasped and looked for Casper who seemed to be waking through the water without any discomfort.

"Get down here!" Casper shouted up at me. I sighed, the last thing I wanted was to get wet, especially in water that looked extremely hot, but if Casper could handle it, maybe I could as well. I slowly descended towards the surface of the pond and stuck my foot into the water, testing the temperature. I prepared myself to be scalded but was baffled to discover that the water was nice and cool. I turned to Casper to see him already smirking at me. I shook my head and hopped out of my beloved chair, watching sadly as it disappeared into my storage. I grimaced as I felt the water soak into my clothing. This should definitely be fun.

_Gieo_