Chương 10: Scrapmaws

It took Evan a moment to reorient himself the next morning, but the unfamiliar environment he found himself in quickly refreshed his memory. His muscles felt a little sore after a night on the ground, but otherwise he was in a good mood. Oliver must've woken up before him, because he'd already extinguished the campfire, and the sword that he'd taken off to sleep was once again fastened to his belt. They set off with the first rays of sunlight and had their breakfast—more sandwiches—on the go.

Fog was still hanging thick in the air, and birds were chirping their cheerful melodies as they followed the trails down the mountain into the valley below. The terrain was getting easier already, and they made good progress. Evan checked his map periodically.

It was much more interesting to look at now that he'd revealed a few square miles, and after they'd walked for about an hour and a half, he spotted a little white dot on the edge of the map, next to a small river flowing down from the mountain, with the tag [Silvercreek] next to it.

"I'm excited to see your hometown and meet your family and your friends," Evan said.

"Are they all mana users?" Oliver shook his head.

"No. I'm the only one in my family at the moment. As I told you, affinity crystals are very expensive. You can find them in the wilderness, especially in high mana places like those ruins, but that's super rare, and since high mana places also attract high-rank monsters, normal people usually don't go there. The explorer guild finds most of the crystals, so most people buy theirs from the guild."

"So how many people have crystals?" Evan asked.

"I've heard one in ten, but that number doesn't mean much. They're not distributed evenly." Evan got it.

"The rich people are buying all the crystals?"

"Yes, the lords buy most of them so they can give them to their family and household guards. And the guilds, of course. They find them, like the Explorers, or loot them from monsters they kill, like the Monster Hunters or the Guardians, so they control most of them. For us ordinary townsfolk it's more like… I don't know… one in a hundred? Me and the smith, Luther, are currently the only ones in my village. At least since Crispin, the mayor's son, left to go to the Academy in Stormhaven.

And since my brother died, but…" Oliver trailed off, and Evan could tell there was a story behind his brother's death he wasn't ready to tell yet. He quickly switched the subject to fill the awkward silence.

"So will I be able to sell those extra skill gems in your village? You mentioned they're quite valuable, and I could use a bit of a starting budget."

"Hm, maybe Luther will buy them. His slots are full until he ranks up, but he might use them for crafting. Are you sure you want to sell yours? You could always use them yourself once you rank up."

"I have a Gem of the Veil and another Gem of the Sword. What skills would they give me?"

"You can't really tell," Oliver said.

"You can guess, of course. A Gem of the Sword is going to give you a sword attack, and the veil one will most likely grant some kind of subterfuge ability. But what exactly you get depends on your affinity and random luck. Rarer gems will usually grant more powerful skills, but of course, what you consider powerful depends on how you intend to use your powers."

"Maybe I should hold on to them a little while longer, then," Evan said.

"At least until I figure out what kind of magic I want… or need." He took another look at his inventory while they walked. The terrain was almost completely flat now, although the steep mountain cliffs still framed both sides of the dirt road they were following. The scenic vista reminded Evan of the images Leah had shown him from her skiing vacation in Switzerland. He was curious to find out more about the area, the country, the continent, though.

Hopefully he'd be able to get his hands on a proper world map that showed him where exactly he was and how the rest of this world looked soon. Maybe that would even update the map from his interface. Silvercreek was still at least an hour away, so Evan was surprised when he spotted a house in the distance already. A lone wooden hut, sitting in a small clearing in the dense forest.

It looked weathered and slightly crooked, like the big bad wolf had made a serious attempt at blowing it over, but there was smoke coming from the chimney. That meant someone was living there.

"Whose house is this?" Evan asked Oliver, pointing at the little hut. It was surrounded by a wooden fence that looked just as rickety as the house itself, and a lot of plants that might have been a garden if someone took care of the weeding. Oliver scrunched his nose.

"That's Agatha's hut," he said.

"Don't stop. Keep going. Don't even look at it." Evan was surprised by his strong reaction. Oliver glanced at the house and ducked his head as if he was afraid just looking at it for too long might curse him.

"Who is Agatha?"

"She's… man, that's a long story, and I only know bits and pieces of it. She used to be a mana user. A really strong one. No one knows what rank she reached, but she was a pretty big deal until they severed her crystal connection."

"Severed her crystal connection? What does that mean?"

"Well, basically, they took away her magic and all her skills. It's a very complicated process. Only done in extreme cases."

"What did she do? Why did they do that to her?" Evan had only been connected to his affinity crystal for a little over a day, but the thought of someone cutting him off from the powers it had granted him made him shudder. The mere idea of doing that felt deeply wrong.

"I'm not sure," Oliver said reluctantly.

"I only heard rumors. Crispin said that—" His story was cut short by a bone-shattering screech.

"Help!" A woman was screaming for help, and it was coming from the hut in the clearing. Instinctively, Evan pulled out the kitchen knife and started running. Surprised, Oliver scrambled to keep pace.

"Hey, stop. Where are you going?"

"Didn't you hear? Someone cried for help."

"That was Agatha. We really shouldn't go there, Evan."

"But she needs help." Oliver grabbed his arm.

"Didn't you listen to what I just told you? She's not a good person. I'm not sure what she's done, but it must've been something really bad if they severed her."

"I don't care what she's done in the past, Oliver. I'm not going to walk by when someone is screaming for help." He shook Oliver's hand off and started running again. Behind him, Oliver let out a long sigh and ran after him. Evan crossed the distance surprisingly fast. He was running at his peak high school track pace and wondered if his new status as a mana user had something to do with that. The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

The woman, Agatha, was still screaming at the top of her lungs when Evan barreled through the wooden door, knife in hand. She went silent right away, and the fear on her old, wrinkly face morphed into a surprised expression.

"Who are you?"

"My name is Evan. I heard you scream for help, so I came running." Agatha raised her eyebrows, looking pleased.

"How very noble. I didn't expect anyone to really come." Oliver came skidding through the door, sword drawn and out of breath.

"Agatha, what happened? Why did you call for help?"

"Ah, little Oliver Detreyo. Haven't seen you in a while." Oliver averted his gaze, looking uncomfortable.

"I was busy. Really busy. With farm stuff." Agatha scoffed.

"No, you were not. Your father told you to stay away from me, did he not?"

"You can talk this out later," Evan said impatiently.

"Tell us how we can help you first." Agatha focused her attention back on him. She studied him for a moment, lips pursed.

"You're a mana user," she stated.

"But you don't look familiar, and I'm familiar with all mana users in this region."

"I'm… I'm not from here."

"Yeah, I figured that much, boy," Agatha said.

"I'm old, not demented. But very well, keep your secrets. I have to admit, I do like the way you look. Like a proper hero. Are you a hero?"

"Uh… I'm trying?"

"Good enough. Go down into my root cellar and be heroic, if you will." She pointed at an open hatch in the floor, between the wooden floorboards. A narrow stairway descended downward into the darkness. Oliver peeked over the edge and scrunched his nose.

"Smells terrible. What's down there?"

"Scrapmaws," Agatha said.

"Lots of them. I can deal with one or two, even at my age, but there's at least a dozen down there." Evan looked down into the dark hole, but saw nothing. He searched for Oliver's gaze.

"Are Scrapmaws dangerous?"

"Not really, no. They're technically monsters, but more vermin than anything else."

"Okay, sounds good. Let's clear the cellar out then." Despite Oliver's previous warning, he could tell Agatha wasn't really dangerous. He could tell from the way Oliver was showing discomfort, not fear. The woman was probably just one of those strange old ladies with a lot of acid in their words who had a knack for driving people crazy. Some folks lost their filter in old age. He'd dealt with plenty of old ladies like this in his job.

Agatha might be a little rough with social skills, but she had a problem and Evan could fix it, so he would fix it. Oliver was less enthusiastic, but relented.

"Okay, fine. We'll earn a bit of experience at least, I guess. Do you have a light, Agatha? It's pitch black down there."

"I do, yes. Wait a moment." She scuttled away to the corner where a small kitchenette with a fireplace and a washing basin was, and started rummaging around in a drawer. Finally, she pulled out a perfectly round orb of frosted glass and handed it to Evan. Evan inspected it and found similar runes to the ones on Oliver's lighter and a small opening, maybe an inch long. He shifted it from one hand to the other, but had no idea what to do with it.

"How do I turn it on?" Oliver leaned over his shoulder to take a look.

"It needs a mana stone. Agatha, hand us a mana stone."

"I don't have any." Oliver groaned.

"Are you serious?"

"I don't go to the village market very often, Oliver Detreyo. I have everything I need here, and people stare at me whenever I go to the village. This snotty girl, Paul's daughter, even spat at me once." Evan gave her an empathetic look.

"I'm sorry that happened to you, Agatha. I have some mana stones. Just give me a second." Oliver shook his head, as if he couldn't believe Evan was still willing to help the prickly old woman, while he pulled a mana stone from his inventory. This was the first time he'd removed one from his inventory. They had the same size as the hole in the orb and looked pretty. Like glass filled with rainbow goo, swirling around inside, like in a lava lamp.

"It goes into this slot, yes?" Agatha looked up at him, one eyebrow raised.

"Are you simple-minded?"

"He's just not from around here," Oliver said quickly.

"He's from very, very far away. Yes, Evan, just slide it in." Evan followed the instructions, and a moment later the orb started emitting a soft white light, enough to engulf all three of them in its glow. To his surprise, it lifted off his palm and started hovering over his left shoulder. Oliver's eyes followed the glowing ball, his expression surprised.

"Woah, I had no idea a light orb could do that." Agatha shrugged.

"It's a more advanced model than you can buy around here. I got it when I was…" She paused, and Evan spotted a flash of pain cross her face just for a split second.

"Well, I got it a long time ago. It's useful, isn't it? It will hover over your head no matter where you go. Keeps your hands free." Evan looked up at the glowing ball above his head.

"And the mana stones power it? I thought you used those mana stones as currency?"

"We do," Oliver said.

"But you also need them to fuel magical objects like lamps, or showers, or buses."

"You have buses? Mana-stone-operated buses?"

"Where else would the energy come from?" Evan quickly thought about introducing Agatha and Oliver to the idea of the combustion engine, but decided against it. Maybe it was better if Agatha didn't know exactly how far away his home was. Oliver had circumvented the topic; that told Evan it might be a good idea to keep it under wraps for now and not reveal his world traveler status to anyone else.

"Anyway, this will work great. Are you ready, Oliver?" Oliver gave him a determined nod.

"Let's go down there." They climbed down the stairs and found themselves in a damp root cellar. No proper walls or floor, just a roughly square space dug into the earth. The ceiling was so low there were only a few inches of headspace, and the walls were lined with wooden shelves holding all kinds of jars, flasks, and cans. Oliver had been right. It smelled terrible, and as soon as Evan made a step forward, he identified the source of the rancid smell.

He'd thought the Spinebacks were ugly, but compared to those Scrapmaws, the little hedgehog monsters would win a beauty contest. Evan flinched back as three rat-like creatures emerged from the darkness, each one about the size of a chihuahua. Their pale, naked bodies looked scaly, like they were covered in scabs, and their oversized teeth were sharp and yellow. Numerous red eyes locked onto him.

"Urgh," was all Evan could mutter before they went to work. There wasn't any finesse or skill in what they did with the Scrapmaws. No clever tactics like when they'd fought the golem. They just started slashing, hacking, and poking blindly at every monster that came within reach. Evan slammed his knife into the creature closest to him, and it died with a pathetic screech. He was still pulling his knife out of the body when another one attacked him.

It jumped to a surprising height and sank its teeth into his shoulder.

"Ouch!" Evan yelled. He grabbed the Scrapmaw by the neck and pulled it away. It took a piece of his flesh with it and immediately tried to bite his hand. He dropped it like a hot potato. It landed on its feet and tried to scurry away, but Evan caught its tail under his foot, pinning it down, and sliced its head off with his knife. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed two red dots in the darkness where the shelves were.

He whipped around just in time as another Scrapmaw launched itself from the top of the shelves, flying straight at his face. In an instinctive reaction, his arm snapped up, and he sliced the Scrapmaw in half mid-flight. Next to him, Oliver swung his sword in a semicircle and managed to kill two Scrapmaws at once. One of the creatures was sneaking up on Oliver from behind, jumping at his back and biting down on his shoulder. Evan ripped it away by the tail and stabbed it in the stomach.

He wished he still had his sword. If he had a longer weapon, he wouldn't have to get so close to the disgusting naked rat-creatures. Oliver rolled his shoulders and groaned in pain.

"Damn, these teeth are pretty sharp."

"Yeah, one got a bite out of my shoulder." Oliver let his gaze wander across the cellar, littered with dead Scrapmaws.

"Do you think we got them all?" Evan noticed a tiny alert sign in the upper right corner of his vision. Puzzled, he opened his interface and found a new quest. [Quest: Clear the Cellar] Agatha Tyodadi has asked you to take care of the Scrapmaw infestation in her root cellar. Scrapmaws killed: 6/8 Reward: 30 mana stones, 30 experience points, glow orb (2)]"My quest log says there're two of them left. Let's take a closer look at the shelves." They started searching the shelves from bottom to top.

One of the leftover Scrapmaws made itself known quickly. It snapped at Evan's hand when he moved aside a heavy glass jar. He stabbed it twice with his knife, then threw it on the ground with the others. The last one took longer to find. They searched for several minutes before they finally found it, deep asleep in a sack full of grain. Oliver took care of it by throwing it on the ground and stomping on it. [You have killed 8 Scrapmaws] [You have earned 24 experience points.] [You have looted 64 coin gems.] [Quest"Clear the Cellar" completed] [You received 15 experience points] [You received 15 mana stones] [You received glow orb (1)]"Did you get one of the orbs as well?" Evan asked.

"The quest promised two, but I only got one."

"Yes, I got one too."

"Ah, so the quest rewards get split evenly, I guess?"

"Appears so," Oliver said.

"I've never been in a party with someone else, to be honest, but I guess that's how it works." Agatha called them from the top of the stairs.

"I don't hear any more squeaking. Are you boys done?"

"Yes, we're done, Agatha," Evan replied.

"Good. Wait, let me get my sack." Moments later, she reappeared at the top of the stairs, a large jute sack in hand.

"Put them in here. I'll pay you three mana stones for every dead Scrapmaw." Evan was surprised to hear that she was willing to pay them. Hadn't she just said she had no money?

"Just three mana stones?" Oliver asked.

"You're cheapskating us, Agatha."

"Oh, stop complaining. I'm sure you already looted a bunch of mana stones and I'm just an old, poor woman, I don't have many stones to spare."

"Really? Everyone in the village says you sleep on huge crates filled to the brim with mana stones."

"That's my retirement fund, boy. But fine, fine. Clean up those corpses, and I'll throw in a free lunch."