Chapter 208 Negotiation (2)
"What 's wrong?" Lana asked while smirking. "Did the cat get your tongue? Our guild master is awesome, right? Usually, no one would try to share this type of item with outsiders."
"It is, and I am surprised," Jake said. "But I also know that eventually, I will find items like these in the shop or as loot, so he only did a small favor. Nevertheless, I suppose it is worth telling what happened inside the dungeon. Tell him not to get used to this and his roundabout ways still are pissing me off. Just like you, but I suppose it is waste of time to tell you that."
Saying things out loud made Jake get a new perspective on those events. He probably could have escaped after a few minutes. An innate skill was what stopped the system from working, but it couldn't work for that long. If someone could talk directly to his mind, then it wouldn't be weird for the criminals to have some with Clairvoyance as well. The more Jake thought about it, the more he realized that the enemies had too many cards to use, and yet, they played by ear. Why?
"They sure have some troublesome skills…" Lana said. "Do you recognize those skills, Julian? You don't have to give us much details about the fight that you had before, but we might decrease the number of possible targets with this. Frederick must have a list with the skills that the enemies have, so we should try to complete it."
"We were attacked by three guys… One of them could become invisible and ambush us at night," Julian said. "One of the others could regenerate from wounds insanely fast, and the last one could send images to our heads to stop us from doing anything.:
"Their powers don't look that special, someone with good senses could have noticed the ambush," Jake said. "Destroying the head and the heart of the second guy would have solved the problem that was the second guy and a skill that causes damage over time would have stopped the mage that was using illusions."
"Jake… They were just kids…" Louise said.
"I am sure that using that excuse would have saved their lives…" Jake said while shrugging.
Louise couldn't answer to Jake's sarcasm. Despite everything, he had a point. No amount of excuses or logic would save people from the terrorists. Only power, knowledge and preparation would. In any case, after a while, the group left because they had to clear the dungeon, and they weren't enjoying the weather that much. Jake forgot to tell them that things won't be warmer inside the dungeon and that the boss could become a problem if it were someone like Vare. Still, if they work together, they should pull it off…
It took a while, but eventually, Jake's alchemy reached level ten. He received the notification saying that he could make mana potions now… although he had decided to move once he reached that milestone, he decided to keep making some mana potions. They needed at least one hour to dissolve and become ordinary potions, so Jake couldn't just make them during the missions. He could. Still, it would be even more reckless than his norm.
"I suppose I can make something like a container using wood and my flames to store the liquid and drink using a tube during fights, but both of them could be damaged," Jake thought. "I should think of a better solution."
Frederick could easily manipulate Earth magic, so he probably could mass produce glass as well, but the idea of owing him a favor made Jake feel nauseous. It seemed that Jake just had to reuse his bottles for the time being.
Before long, Jake noticed that the sun was setting… He ended up staying making potions for longer than he had planned. Fortunately, that had been a fun experience, so it wasn't that bad. He also gained some status points in the alchemist class and the alchemy skill. While Jake was allocating those new points, someone knocked on his door… That couldn't be it… His instincts should have warned him if someone had approached.
"It is us, Jake," Louise said.
Jake facepalmed, but he decided to stay quiet. Perhaps they will leave if they think that he isn't there. Even they wouldn't enter his home while he was away…
"You know that Louise can feel magic presences now, right?" Lana asked. "Pretending not to be inside is useless."
Jake sighed… Perhaps that was his punishment for taking things too easily two days in a row. He already could imagine why they were bothering him… The cold was too much for them, and the dungeon and the area were worse at night.
"... you guys… How stupid can you all be?" Jake asked when he opened his door.
Those dumbassed were just using some cloaks that fight the cold… They didn't have a single layer of the pelt of the Grizzlies around. He could understand that those would get in Karina and Julian's fighting style, but the other two didn't have to move a lot. Nevertheless, as one would expect, they were completely blue due to the cold. It wouldn't be weird if they die due to hypothermia anytime soon.
Jake sighed again after ordering them to enter, and then he gave them some pelts that he had. Usually, Jake wouldn't use the chimney, even though he had built one. That was because he wanted to level up his cold Resistance even while he sleeps. In any case, using his dark flames, he turned some wood that was lying around into charcoal and made it burn with normal fire on the chimney.
"I only have one bed and I won't give or share it with anyone, so sleep on the floor in silence… Absolute silence," Jake added.
"Ah, I feel alive again…" Lana said. "Do you have some coffee, Jake?"
Jake sighed and decided to stay quiet. Answering Lana even with a snarky remark wasn't worth the hassle…