172 - Investigation

Convincing the guards to let her through the gates of Oldwater proved even more annoying than the previous times. People simply didn’t cross the mud wastes alone, even less so at night. Still, they couldn’t deny that Alexandra was indeed there and had passed through the town on two occasions without causing trouble. Besides, they didn’t mind the few mud elemental sources she slipped into their hands.

The town was as she remembered it: dusty and hostile. For a trading post in the center of the basin, the people living there were incredibly wary of foreigners.

Near the gates, Alexandra found several guides preparing crossings through the mud wastes. She asked a few questions, but it soon became clear that none of them had seen Zeynep recently.

She walked further inside town toward the inn she and her friends had stayed at when they first arrived in the basin. The same woman she remembered from last time sat at the counter, looking bored. The inn was empty as ever.

“What do you want?” she asked, barely looking up at Alexandra.

“Have you seen a hunter from Balrum recently?”

“Yes. Many.”

Alexandra coughed. “She’s Gold-rank. Named Zeynep.”

The woman raised an eyebrow. “What if I did?”

“I’d appreciate it if you told me.”

The innkeeper looked into Alexandra’s eyes. “Order first.”

“Really?” Alexandra rolled her eyes.

“I don’t run a charity. Order or scram. You’re bothering my customers.”

Alexandra scanned the empty room. “There’s no one here.”

The woman didn’t answer.

“Fine,” Alexandra said, putting coins on the counter. “I’ll take a beer—” She stopped. No. She couldn’t risk Beer Resistance leveling up. “I’ll take whatever you have that’s not beer.”

“We only serve beer.”

“Just take the fucking money and tell me about Zeynep,” Alexandra snapped.

The innkeeper exhaled. “Rude.” She pocketed the money. “I heard she was in town a few weeks ago. Maybe a month or two, actually.”

Alexandra winced. That lined up with the time she met Zeynep in the caravan from Oldwater to Balrum after teleporting to the basin.

Useless.

“Anything else?”

The innkeeper shrugged. “How am I supposed to know? I don’t usually serve Golds here.”

Or anyone at all, Alexandra thought. She kept the remark for herself.

“Could you point me to anyone who would know?”

“Yes. But you still haven’t ordered. I have an establishment to run, you know.”

Alexandra gritted her teeth and put more coins on the counter. Why did I come here?

“The guides that take people through the mud wastes know best about the comings and goings from Balrum,” the innkeeper said.

Alexandra bit the inside of her cheek to stop herself from cursing at the woman. “Thank you.”

Leaving the inn, she walked back toward the gates, thinking of her next move. It seemed like Zeynep hadn’t returned to Oldwater. This wasn’t too surprising, as she wouldn’t have dallied here in the first place. At least, it eliminated the possibility that she’d met with misfortune in the mud wastes.

Had something gone wrong in her hunt?

Alexandra didn’t want to believe it. Zeynep was Gold, and even if Alexandra was stronger than her rank would let on, stone elementals had become almost trivial for her to kill. Zeynep was experienced in hunting them too. Still, she could have encountered another threat.

When she reached the place where guides gathered near the gates, Alexandra spotted a familiar face she hadn’t seen earlier.

“Oren,” she called as she stepped toward the guide who had overseen her first trip through the mud wastes.

“Alexandra? What happened to your hair? They’re glowing,” Oren said, laughing as he made to embrace her.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

Alexandra returned the hug.

“It’s just a skill,” she lied.

“A mighty skill, indeed. Perhaps you want to cross to Balrum again? I’m leaving tomorrow.”

She shook her head. “I’m looking for Zeynep. Have you seen her by chance?”

“Not since last time. Why?”

“She’s missing. She was hunting in the stone fields, but never came back.”

Oren frowned. “That’s not good. Not good at all. Is the council aware?”

She nodded. “I’m here on behalf of her cousin, Torak.”

“Councillor Torak? I’m surprised he hired you.”

“He didn’t. Not exactly. Zeynep’s a friend. I had to come.”

“I get it,” Oren said, his frown not subsiding. “As far as I know, Zeynep hasn’t been in Oldwater for a while. If she was hunting in the stone fields…”

“Any idea where she could be?”

“It’s…” He paused. “I don’t think the stone elementals could have gotten her. The mountains north of the stone fields are notoriously dangerous, but she’s not dumb enough to go there. There’s a Platinum elemental who lives there, a solar elemental.”

Alexandra knew that too. Medh made no secret of the few spots hosting high-level elementals in the hopes that his supplier would decide to hunt one. Even if they didn’t, it was a good idea for the trader to keep his hunters away from such a dangerous beast.

Oren snapped his fingers.

“What is it?” Alexandra asked.

“Just a guess, but she might have gone up to the pass.”

There were few roads leading in and out of the Gray Basin. Since the entire region was surrounded by tall peaks, only a few passes were developed into roads. One of them was located between Izrum and the territory of the solar elemental in the north.

“Why would she go there?” Alexandra asked.

“I don’t know,” Oren said. “But unless she went to Izrum, which I doubt, I don’t see where else she could travel to from the stone fields without passing through here. I’m sorry I can’t be of more help.”

Alexandra thanked Oren and walked toward the gate on the other side of Oldwater. Perhaps it wasn’t the most concrete lead, but it was better than walking the stone fields aimlessly.

A shame Tracking is useless. If I could home in on Zeynep…

She left the town behind her along with the guards who were just as happy to see her leave as she was. She followed the dried-up river bed and only stopped when she reached the place she and Zeynep had parted ways weeks earlier.

“As expected, there are no traces left.”

It had been too long, and as a Gold-rank hunter, Zeynep wasn’t one to leave easy tracks to follow in the first place.

“Sense anything, Speck?”

“No. Sorry.”

“No worries. I can’t see shit either.”

Reaching the pass by nightfall wasn’t going to be possible. Even if she could keep running through the night, Alexandra wasn’t at the level where she could forgo sleep entirely. For that reason, she decided to take a break, complete her daily quest, and get a bit of sleep before setting off again. She was in a rush to get to Zeynep, but she wouldn’t be able to solve whatever was holding the Gold-rank back if she collapsed from exhaustion.

She opened her journal.

Quest Journal

Daily Reset: 06:00 | Streak: 145 Days | 10% All Stats, 10% Skill experience

Next Milestone: 250 Days

Daily Quests:

• Curse yourself (0/1)

With her skillset, the quest was trivial. All she had to do was use Inflict Weakness on herself. Or she could use Dark Bolt in conjunction with Life Curse. The curse would be random, but with a little control over her power, it wouldn’t be strong enough to cause a problem, and she was confident in cleansing it.

The two skills had been cornerstones of her build since the beginning, but Alexandra was slowly walking away from them. Still, they were among her highest-level skills, both sitting at level thirteen.

Abandoning them felt like a waste.

Dark Bolt was a powerful spell. Outside of elementals, corrupting lifeforce would always be useful in a fight. As for Life Curse, it was even better, especially if she could get hold of more lifeforce-based skills.

On the other hand, she was busy enough with her other skills. There were only so many hours to practice every day. With her goal to hunt a solar elemental, she was better served working on her Solar Affinity.

Perhaps she could return to curses later.

“Speaking of curses, I wonder why I was never offered more Warlock skills,” she whispered.

Inflict Weakness, Dark Bolt, Life Curse, and Drain Life all came from the class she played in Lone World Online. She had initially expected to unlock more skills from that path, but aside from Summon Lesser Fiend—which she wasn’t planning on completing anytime soon—no new skill quest came up.

Maybe that was the limiting factor. That, or she had to upgrade her existing skills. Or something else. It wasn’t like the gods explained anything when they summoned her.

“Anyway, might as well practice.”

Unlike Inflict Weakness, Dark Bolt and Life Curse were not capped at the maximum level, so she used them for her daily.

You are suffering from the curse of buccal awareness.

“Fuck this shit.”

“Language,” Speck warned.

“I’d like to see you with that damned curse.”

Alexandra was suddenly extremely aware of everything happening inside her mouth. Her tongue felt too large. It pressed against the roof of her mouth. Saliva pooled under it, thick and impossible to ignore. Swallowing only made her aware of the muscles doing it and the drool flowing slowly down her throat. Her teeth ground against each other like nails on a blackboard. Every breath dragged air inside, drying the tip of her tongue.

“Why do I always get surprised?” she muttered, and immediately regretted opening her mouth to do it.

“You're. Doing. It. To. Yourself,” Speck said.

“I'm aware.” She licked her lips. “Shut up.”

“Mean.”

She swallowed again. Wrong.

“Fuck.”

It took her minutes to cleanse the curse. Minutes that felt like an eternity.

Curse yourself (1/1) -> Quest Completed: +10 exp, +1 INT

Daily Quest Streak: 145 -> 146