Crystalline Horn (Apprentice) - A naturally formed mana conduit harvested from the mutated Shardhorn beast. The horn's lattice structure is composed of condensed ambient mana hardened into a crystalline material, making it incredibly sturdy, stable, and responsive to magic. When refined properly, it can serve as an Apprentice grade focus for staves and wands. Due to its neutrality in origin, it can be attuned to any elemental affinity - though at lower efficacy than a naturally attuned focus.
As the System previously mentioned, this was quite the product for mages like him. He tried to course mana through the horn, and like his staff, Olek felt no resistance whatsoever. I can just tell this item could sell like hotcakes… I wonder how rare these Shardhorns are?
Being a student of business not just in education but life philosophy – he sensed some extreme value from the horn, but it came down to one question, how much of this resource was available out there? If there were hundreds of Shardhorns roaming the forest, then it would be a worthless item, as any good mage will be able to kill these beasts by themselves in no time.
Of course, he could still use his positioning as an early adapter to sell them before it's revealed they're not that rare… but something about that felt boring and more than that – scummy.
But if these beasts were limited in number, the scarcity factor would increase the value of these horns exponentially, with little to no wiggle room with its price elasticity, those who possessed one could name its price.
However, it was too early to really know for certain.
The main thing that caught his eye was its neutrality in nature, being able to attune to any element. Now, he'd found an ice elemental flower, so if he were to guess, magical items usually had a natural elemental affinity. And ever since looking at it, he'd thought of an issue with his elemental affinity.
What on Earth does a space attuned item look like, and where the hell would I even find one?
Space seemed like a tricky element, the fact is humans can't even use it in most cases – so would the market even possess space attuned foci and the like? And if so, would the cost not be astronomical?
This increased the value of this horn on a personal level. "Hey… do you think anyone would mind if I kept one for myself?" He asked Isaac, still looking at the horn.
Isaac let out a singular laugh, "You're kidding, right? Have it, it's clear its of better use in your hands as the magician anyway."
Olek raised an eyebrow, "Wouldn't you find good use out of it? You use magic at the core too."
Isaac held his chin, "Well, about that. I've been watching you cast and comparing it to how my magic works and to me, it seems the two work differently. My skills like Healing Magic and Sanitize scale with the wisdom stat, whilst intelligence is important for MP, it doesn't seem to be the core of my power. I see you focus on the outcome of your spell, whereas mine is pre-determined, and I'm merely calling on the power, like the result is coming from somewhere else. I think it's also the reason I wasn't given a focus, like you did." He said, gesturing over to his mace and shield.
"From where?" Olek cocked his head.
"Where indeed. I don't know, but when I cast these spells although I feel like I'm the cause, it feels like borrowing… it's hard to explain, sorry." He shrugged.
Olek scratched his cheek, "Interesting… My magic relies on me shaping the mana, I don't understand it too much myself, but it's rooted in my own efforts."
Isaac nodded. "Mn, now, you don't worry yourself about keeping that horn, you'll need it more than the rest of us. Hell, if you find a use for the second, have it. Were ignorant of the worth anyway." The blond chuckled.
His gaze wandered to the butchered carcass before him, neatly arranged meats laid upon the hides of the Shardhorns. "We better save those rations, right? They'll keep longer than this meat, so it's better to use this stuff first. How about an entire leg of goat each? Go wild to celebrate our first battle." Isaac smiled as he said that.
Olek chuckled, "Fuck it, why not. It'll go bad before we can eat it all anyway."
"Tell that to Marcus, he looks like he could eat a goat to himself." Isaac joined in the laughter.
Meanwhile, the search for tinder was going well, Carla had come back with quite the haul of dry woods that would burn up nicely, one of the only benefits of the sweltering heat during the day. Marcus was done making the firepit, with hand picked rocks and he even dragged some fallen trees to sit down on outside the warehouse. Carla laid down the tinder, "There! I helped." She huffed.
"What are you complaining about? Everybody should do their bit, and since you couldn't stand the noises of dissecting the goat, you had to help get the fire ready, legally." Marcus joked.
Shivers went down her back, "Eurgh, don't make me think about it you're making me gag."
"Wuss." Marcus shook his head, taking out the flint and steel from his satchel and starting to kindle a fire.
"Tsk." She clicked her tongue and marched into the warehouse, "Hey! We're done out here. Marcus is just lighting the fire." She called for the other two.
Olek looked over his shoulder, "Right. Coming- Carla, how hungry are you?"
She snorted, "Is that even a question? I'm not just hungry, I'm hangry, feed me till I'm stuffed like a pig."
"Glutton." He commented.
She looked exasperated, "Hey, you asked!"
"Hehe, I know."
"I'll kill you!"
"I'm afraid you might miss again; someone might need to save you."
"Bastard!"
"Ow!"
***
About half hour later they had a roaring fire, and four entire goat legs crackling over it, fat dripping off the bone, causing the fire to flare periodically.
They were sat down, chatting about the day's events.
Marcus turned to Olek, "So, Mana Bolt. It seems strong; how many times can you fire it before you're out of juice?"
"Before? Around twelve times, but after levelling up I can shoot around fifteen of those bad boys if I'm not using any other skill, costs 10MP per use and I've got 150MP." Olek said.
"150MP?" Isaac asked incredulously, "I've only got 110 and that's after levelling up... does that mean you have more intelligence than me?"
Olek shrugged, "I guess? Doesn't really matter though, Cleric's main stat is Wisdom like you said earlier."
"Yeah, that's true... but you must have been pretty smart in university, what did you do?" Isaac asked.
"Business." He said flatly.
Isaac looked at him and laughed, "Never mind then, your brains were wasted."
"Hey, Business can be tough, it's less about complexity and more about a managerial mindset which most lack, the amount of shit we have to write is crazy." Carla rebutted.
Olek put an arm on her shoulder, "Carla, you're talking to a med student, don't talk about Business being hard, we wouldn't last an assessment in their course."
Marcus raised an eyebrow, "What's wrong with Business?"
Isaac put his hands up, "Nothing is wrong with Business as a subject, it's just famous for being an easy subject, and someone with Olek's intelligence probably could be doing more with their education. So why did you choose it?"
He frowned. "Money. I've been studying Business for as long as it was available because I've always wanted to start my own business and make it out of poverty for me and my family."
At the word family, all their faces dropped of their previous jovial spirit.
They all had family. Family that was going into the exact same situation as themselves, they could only pray for their safety upon returning to the new world.
"Right… Family." Carla said, crestfallen. "Do you think their okay? I'm worried about mine… my Dad's not in the best health – but my big brother is there with them." She brought her knees up to her chest.
Olek sighed, "I've got faith. My Dad has got me and my Mum through tough times all my life… I'm just hoping he can wait a bit longer for me to retire him." He changed to a soft smile and rubbed her back, "The only thing you can do Carla is believe in them, they'll want to live to the end of this just to see you. That's plenty motivation."
"Mm… My family's mostly in the medical profession – besides my uncle. So, I'd be willing to bet they chose Cleric, same as me. They're competent, I don't think they'll crumble." Isaac said, clearly, he'd already thought about it.
"I'd uh… rather not talk about my family." Marcus said, his face awkward.
Olek nodded, "Got it."
"Let's change the topic, shall we? I'm not a fan of getting sentimental." He suggested.
Around that fire, the four talked about life. Although they had chemistry, they didn't really know anything about each other – except for Carla and Olek. Over some good food, a drink of water from their limited supply, they got to know each other a little better. They'd experienced a lot in such a short period of time with these folk, Olek couldn't help but feel a sense of camaraderie with them, he had a hunch it was going to be like this for a few days.
Turns out, Isaac was the heir of a private healthcare company, he was studying medicine and gaining experience so that one day he'd fit into the rest of his family. His Uncle Robert was the only oddball who preferred his life of owning a butcher to practicing the medical arts, apparently Isaac had quite a close relationship to his uncle who was his only escape from familial pressure. Isaac expressed a sense of grief, knowing that his entire life plan that he was close to achieving had been flipped on its head, but also a sense of purpose, knowing that soon, he'll be needed more than anyone else to save lives.
Marcus was the oldest of the bunch, 27 years old, and the only one with military experience. He'd served in the Finnish Defence Forces; he was conscripted like most are but decided to stay past his mandatory service. It was his goal to join the special forces, the Utti Jaeger Regiment, but he failed the training and stayed as a regular soldier in the defence force until deciding to take up instructing. He'd only had a year's experience of instructing before the Mana Accord ruined everything.
"Ughh," Marcus groaned as he rubbed his stomach, having eaten a whole leg of meat and an extra piece, "I'm stuffed. Listen, due to the nature of our situation, I think the best course of action is that we take turns watching as the others sleep."
Everybody had tired looks in their eyes, especially Olek, Carla, and Isaac – with this being the most physical activity they'd done in a while, Olek and Isaac especially as they were more suited to being behind a computer than out trekking miles in the wilderness.
But despite his weariness, Olek felt this was a good opportunity. He still had high reserves of mana and after a couple of hours he had recovered quite a bit.
[ MP: 135/150 ]
Since coming here to the tutorial, he hadn't explored magic as much as he'd like to, and with his conviction to keep his affinity hidden – at least for the time being – he was eager to delve into it a bit deeper. I've got the highest aptitude possible, and an ultrarare element where no-one is likely going to be able to mentor me in.
With that in mind, he sighed, "I'm willing to take the first watch… how should we split it?"