NOVEL NEXT Chapter LXXXIX Alien Adventurers
Arlie giggled when she spotted the young Liritian hide behind her friend. “Hiding behind your friend won’t help much. I can still see you, or did you forget how your stealth suit had no effect against my senses?”
There was some awkward shuffling, and then a familiar face shyly peaked out as her ears drooped. “..Wha...What are ...” The words kept getting stuck in her throat as she meekly tried to ask a question.
Arlie shook her head a little, she had managed to put together what the girl wanted to ask easily enough. It was so obvious that she did not even need her telepathy to know. “I had some business here. Some rather private business that I was in the middle of negotiating when you arrived.”
Then she turned to Misaki, “It seems we will have to finish our discussion at a later date. I’ll come back later to finish the discussion, as I do have some other business here to take care of. In the meantime, why don’t you show these adventurers to the guild, and then you can hurry home to have that discussion you promised.”
Misaki nodded and glanced over at the newcomers. Every single one was listed as level one with no class. Given where her gardens were located in her dungeon, they would be quickly overwhelmed without someone to help them. Sure they carried some powerful alien equipment, but she could tell that they were ill-equipped for the dangers here. Before she could say something Arlie suddenly declared, “Before I leave, you five should know something. You will have the opportunity to learn magic here. But like everything, it has its dark sides. Some branches of magic are even forbidden. One of the most infamous is Necromancy. A largely misunderstood branch that is mainly forbidden because of the consequences of misusing it. That, and its use is morally questionable. It was created by mortals seeking to cheat death, but all they ended up doing was creating a perverted form of life. Very few practice it here, but if you do encounter someone who does, report them to a temple. Any temple.”
Then she left. Her form shimmered in place for a moment, and then she was gone. It almost seemed like she had teleported. Misaki however had been paying attention and noticed that she was just moving extremely fast. Impossibly fast, she moved right through her dungeon at speeds Misaki never thought were possible. Her dungeon senses only ever registered Arlie when she slowed to change direction, otherwise she was practically invisible. She was barely able to detect her. Misaki had a feeling that if Arlie wanted to disappear completely, she could.
Turning her attention away from Arlie, she looked over the five Liritians. The timid one drew attention first, as Arlie seemed to know her. She was quite cute, at around a hundred and forty-five centimeters tall. Her face perfectly blended the features of a human with that of a cat, and the result was remarkably cute and adorable. Her nose was a cat-like snout with cat whiskers, but her mouth seemed fairly human-like. Her eyes were a vibrant golden color, but also seemed human-like. Her face was framed by shoulder-length brown and red hair. The way her ears drooped just made her look cuter.
She was wearing a simple white top that bared her shoulders, and it was thin enough that she could see that the young alien female had three pairs of boobs. None of them were particularly large but they were big enough to make distinct bumps on her shirt. Her runner’s legs were wrapped in a pair of sturdy, but simple looking brown pants with a hole for her tail. Other than the fur on her tail, and the hair on her head she seemed fairly hairless.
The Liritian she had been hiding behind, was a larger male. He had a decent height of about one hundred and eighty centimeters. His face was also a blend of cat and human, but the rougher mix of features came off as somewhat intimidating. He had some muscle, but not a lot. Just enough to show that he kept fit, but that was about it. He was dressed in a bodysuit that clung to him like a second skin, and wore a simple jacket over it, and clipped in a holster on his hip was an odd-looking sidearm. Her analyze skill told her that it was a compressed plasma pistol. It was a fairly powerful weapon for the area. It gave the man a three thousand point bonus to attack. A fact that made it stronger than most weapons she saw. Outside a few magical weapons carried by high-level individuals, and Milith’s talons which were apparently quite weak because she was just a young lordling.
Interestingly enough, the plasma weapon was treated as a magic weapon by the system and dealt elemental plasma damage. She was going to have to ask Arlie about that. She was not aware that there was such a thing as a plasma element. Not to mention, why was a futuristic energy weapon being treated as a magic weapon? That also meant it was a poor choice to bring into this dungeon, as all of her monsters had a straight-up 75% resistance to magic damage. With the exception of celestial magic, in addition to the extra defense they had towards attack from the demon skin trait. Any monster that had a resist stat of 750 or higher would be totally immune to the weapon, and she had several bosses that had fairly high resist stats. The dragon girl who was her second-floor boss had a stat of 250, but lacked the health to actually last long against that weapon. Being a dragon girl demon gave her some extra protection against attack both physical and magical along with high vitality. Her fifth-floor boss, also a dragon girl, had just past five hundred in the resist stat.
She decided she would have to give them some advice. The next two she looked over were clearly a set of female twins about her height and they looked identical. They were slim and wore bodysuits that did little to really hide their figure. Each also had a pistol on their hip of the same type and model as the man. They were both about a hundred and thirty centimeters in height, with cute heartshaped faces. They just looked so cuddly, and she wanted to corrupt them both.
The last member was a lanky man. He stood out in that he was not wearing a bodysuit just like the timid one. Instead he was wearing some plain clothes and a grey coat. She wasn’t sure with the alien features, but it seemed he was staring at the spot that Arlie had vacated with a look of disappointment on his rough blended face. Noticing that she asked, “Disappointed about something?”
He let out a breath, and said in a sad tone, “I just lost the perfect opportunity.” then he paused, and changed tracks when he continued, “I guess I should introduce myself. I am Xici, my area of focus is xeno culture studies, and a chance to talk with a Solean Lord would have been perfect for studying their culture. It is not easy to study such an ancient culture with as few relics as we have.”
“I guess not. Maybe you will get lucky and have a second chance to ask. In the meantime, I should show you the route to town.”
Xici stared at the empty spot and nodded, “I hope you are right and I do. The path to town would be appreciated though. Along with insights on any local dangers.”
Misaki swung a palm out to indicate a path, and said, “It would be nice if the rest of you introduced yourselves. As for town, it is this way, and about local dangers, “You are in the middle of my dungeon, I am the avatar of the dungeon. Right now, you are my guests, and I suggest you don’t do anything to change that. None of you are prepared to face a dungeon. Sure those plasma pistols of yours are strong weapons, but they are ill suited for use against demons, dragons, certain species of slime, and other creatures with high magic defenses. I would suggest that after your visit to the guild you five find a trainer. Someone who can get you a few levels, and a class. Not to mention teach you how to use more effective weapons, and at least one of you should learn magic. Otherwise even with those powerful weapons, you will have a hard time here.”
The timid girl stepped forward a bit, and introduced herself before asking a question, “I’m, uh, Xatili, and I was uh, wondering. What are you talking about? Uh, Class? Levels?”
Misaki sighed, “I guess none of you know anything about games. This world has a game like system that governs it. Try thinking status in your mind, a window should appear in your vision. Not that it says much. It will give you a decent idea of how strong you are, and all of you are level one with rather weak stats. Although a couple of you have decent skill levels to make up for that. Just not enough. I’m afraid that without your weapons you would struggle on my first floor, and even with them I can’t guarantee your success. In fact I suspect the traps would get you.”
“I take it, that you don’t think we can hold our own here,” said the man in the bodysuit.
She looked him over, “No, I think you will be just fine. After some training. Getting to level ten should be easy enough, and a class would give you the ability to hold your own against the more common overworld monsters. Especially since your race seems to have good base stats.”
He chuckled, “Fair enough. New worlds are dangerous when you aren’t equipped to face the local dangers. Before I forget, I should introduce myself. I am Senxali, and the twins are Ilix, and Marix.”
Misaki paused, she was starting to notice a pattern with their names. Then before she could say something, one of the alien twins, she wasn’t sure which, spoke up, “Do you know of any illnesses we should be worried about?”
Misaki looked back at her, and said, “Not really. Disease seems to be rare in these parts. I do know of a few, but none local. Most of them are mentioned in books and catalogues I have read. I wouldn’t worry, but if you want any real info, I would look around town. The temples might be a good place to ask. They offer healing as one of their services, and healing magic is more effective the more you know about the body, and any ailments it might be afflicted with. The priests should know a thing or two about illnesses.”
The twin sighed, “Are all the healers connected to the temples?”
Misaki shook her head, “No. There are healers attached to the mage guilds as well. A few even work for the various adventurers guilds. I suggested the temples because they tend to be friendlier, charge less, and more willing to answer questions. Although they are more likely to try and convert you to their faith.”
“I guess we will check a temple out then.” said the twin. After that she led them in silence through her halls. Thankfully without any incident.
When they entered the guild, there was only one receptionist on duty, and then Misaki noticed someone familiar was seated at a chair near the desk. It was Steven. She remembered him as he had dominated one of her demons. As she recalled, he also ended up getting his sister pregnant at the time, and was setting up shop in town as a trainer. Being a trainer was a wise choice as it would allow him to support his pregnant sister and soon to be born child at lower risk than being an active adventurer. It was quite the stroke of luck that a trainer was here. Now she could just introduce them to him, after having them register for the benefits.
He smiled as he saw them come in, and came over. “Hello. I had an odd encounter a few minutes ago. I take it the five young men and women with you are the people I was told need some special training?”