Dusk let out a sigh as Dawn rubbed her eyes.
Even after spending half day of exploring the city and listening to an old man ramble, another day at the medical tent left exhaustion once again permeating their souls the next morning.
“I’m glad we decided to stay here.” Dusk sipped his juice as he glanced around the inn’s interior.
“We would die if we slept there too.”
Even still, they had trouble sleeping the last two nights because of the incident back at the medical tents. And the strangest part? Dawn had woken up in the middle of the night while Dusk continued to dream. An incredibly strange and disorienting experience for sure.
Worse still, it sort of implied that they really had become two people at some point, even if they still sort of felt like only one.
“At least the pay is decent,” Dawn mumbled between bites of the hard bread.
“Better than performing.”
“Not as fun though.”
“Not fun at all, more like.”
Money – the only saving grace. They had made a little over a thousand Gil from the past two days despite only contributing an Uncommon healing skill. And with such a steady income source now, they couldn’t help but want to splurge a little. More specifically, they wanted to buy essences to upgrade their kit.
Not just their healing skills – they wanted to improve their entire decks. They were done moping around aimlessly, stuck only reacting to emergencies. They wanted to be more proactive now.
So that they wouldn’t be dragged around by others again. So that they would get to decide their own fate, for once.
And they already had, yesterday, but it warranted repeating, because they didn’t want to let themselves even consider chickening out again.
The decision? They would become rift hunters for real. No more doubt, or double-guessing themselves. They were going to become rift hunters, no matter what.
They wouldn’t even need a party for it. Two would be enough for a party, right?
Well, frankly speaking, part of them felt that it might not be possible but… They still wanted to try. Maybe they could ask the Archivist two decks could make a full party.
“Think they’re gonna be in today?”
“Dunno. They might have gone underground too.”
“Should we look for them?”
“Maybe.”
Now, they could try to craft without the Archivist’s help like always, but decided to be smarter about it this time. With how the rift subjugation had slowed down to a crawl thanks to Golden Oath, they had no reason to rush. After all, they only got one chance when building their decks. So unless they wanted to be stuck with terrible skills or having to immolate their wallets to pay for card removal, waiting to consult the Archivist was the smart move.
They finished their breakfast, waved goodbye to the inn lady, and promptly left.
As was becoming their routine at this point, they first visited Layna’s shop to say hi and get something for lunch later, then beelined straight for the Archivist’s place.
To their surprise, it was open this time.
The twins paused, then grinned and gleefully entered. They immediately spotted the spriggan behind their white desk and approached them.
“Hello!”
“Good morning!”
“Ah. Familiar faces. Welcome.”
“We thought you would be gone today too!”
“We visited yesterday, but you were gone…”
“Mmm. Subjugation help. Not needed anymore.”
“Oh, really?”
“Because they’re slowing it all down now, right?”
“Indeed. The rift is to be. Kept active. Valuable essences. Come from it.”
“But isn’t that dangerous?”
“It is. Alas. We have no say in such matters.”
The twins grimaced, reminded of their reality.
“Now. How can I help?”
“Right! So, we wanted to buy some essences!” They brightened, pushing away the dark thoughts.
“Essences. What kind?”
“Well, we also kinda wanted advice on that?”
“We’re trying to shore up our decks, but don’t know what’s good.”
“Advice. I can provide. For a fee.”
“Um, right. How much?”
Instead of answering, the person-shaped mass of branches pulled out a little flier listing consultation prices.
‘Single skill consultation - 100 Gil’
‘Overall deck consultation - 250 Gil’
‘Party deck consultation - 800 Gil’
The twins winced at the cost.
“What’s the difference between those two?” Dawn pointed at the latter two options.
“Advice on building a deck. First to fit the individual. Second to fit your party. Not just yourself.”
“Oh, huh…”
“Would we have to pay twice for both of us?”
“No. One payment for the party.”
They frowned and exchanged a glance.
Would that be worth it? Eight hundred Gil was a lot…
But if they wanted to become actual rift hunters, this would definitely be worth it, wouldn’t it?
“…Alright. We’ll take the party deck consultation.”
The spriggan nodded, pulled out their card and held it up.
With only a tiny grimace, Dawn brought out her own money card, tapped it against theirs, and mumbled, “Transferring eight hundred Gil.”
The numbers shifted and the spriggan drew back their card to look at it.
With a nod, the Archivist stood up and walked to the front door to flip the sign to ‘closed’.
“Follow me.”
They made their way to a door behind the counter and opened it to reveal a cozy little room with yet more bookshelves but also a table with several chairs around it, and a small roof window letting a thin beam of light in.
The twins followed them inside and sat down at the gesture of a branched hand. Their host then tapped the lamp on the table, causing it to light up, before getting seated themselves.
“Party. You two? Or others?”
“Um, just us two right now.”
“Don’t know if anyone would want us anyway.”
Rather, they just didn’t want to be healing slaves for someone else again.
“Hmm. Decks. Show me.”
This was going to get uncomfortable, they knew. It was like getting naked in front of your doctor so they could properly check your vitals and treat you properly. Unpleasant, but they had to do it if they wanted the doctor’s help.
Both twins brought out their entire decks… except [Soul Split], because they still refused to show those cards to anyone.
The wooden person looked over the cards humming and hemming for a while before nodding to themselves.
“Party. Rift hunters?”
“Yeah, we want to become rift hunters.”
“But we’re not sure if we can do it with just the two of us…”
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
“Two is a party. Three is a crowd. You can be rift hunters. With just two.”
“Really?”
“Yes. You boy–” The spriggan looked at Dusk, causing them to realize that they had never introduced themselves.
“Uh, right. I’m Dusk!”
“And I’m Dawn!”
“Medrelyn.” They nodded. “Dusk. You can be tank. Front line.”
“Yeah, we thought about that too. Tank with the shawl and use flail as the weapon, right?”
“But the shawl didn’t help much against the… the Glass Tyrant, I think it was called?”
“Very Rare defence skill. Epic enemy. Not enough.”
“Urk… Makes sense.”
“For a weaker enemy. More effective.” Medrelyn pointed at [Transfrogify]. “Crowd control. Essential for tank. But self-curse can be fatal.”
“So it’s useless.”
“Not useless. Decent base. Can be upgraded.”
The twins perked up as their host reached into one of the shelves and pulled out two Very Rare essences.
◆Imbalance◆
The art depicted empty scales, a ghostly hand tipping the left side lower.
◆Confusion◆
A face with swirly lines for eyes and a wavy mouth. Small birds fluttered around their head for some reason.
“Upgrade with these. Get Frog Hex. Epic. No more self curse. More disorientation on foe.”
The twins eyed the essences.
“That sounds great, but…”
“How much would these two cost?”
“Imbalance. Four thousand Gil. Confusion. Seven thousand Gil.”
The twins winced.
“Uh… Yeah. That’s a bit too pricey for us.”
For now, at least.
“Unfortunate. But there are others. Price range?”
“Umm… we could probably afford to spend around… seven thousand at most right now.”
“Just for this? Or in total?”
“In total.”
The spriggan’s branches moved to cover the top half of their black orbs.
“Too little. Any new essences?”
“Since last time? Well…”
Dawn pulled out the Shatter essence they’d gotten from the Glass Tyrant. Then after a moment of hesitation, they also manifested two pairs of essences they had gotten from the triage – ◆Command◆ and ◆Compassion◆.
The latter had glossy dark blue rims and identical art of two featureless figures hugging.
The spriggan paused.
“Person essences.”
The twins winced.
“Y-Yeah… It’s…”
“You helped with healing.”
“We did,” Dusk murmured, uncomfortable with how easily the Archivist was able to tell.
“Commendable. Will you use them?”
The twins looked at each other, hesitant at first. Then they reminded themselves of their past, of constantly running and hiding, always powerless to do anything else.
They had already used dead people’s essences in their skills. Both for [Transfrogify] and of course [Soul Split]. And since these essences came from people whose entire parties had been wiped out… Well, even if they wanted to return them, they had to keep them.
They still felt bad to even hold these, but… surely they would be forgiven if they became proper rift hunters and carried on the legacy of the fallen, right?
“Yeah. We will.”
“Very well.” The Archivist nodded, then pointed at a Compassion essence. “Good mod for [Healing Touch]. Another for completion. ◆Restore◆ for more potency. Or–” He pointed at ◆Snipe◆. “This. For longer range.”
Huh. They hadn’t even thought about using ◆Snipe◆ to upgrade their healing skills.
“Hmm…”
“What would be better?”
“One and one. Dawn. Skirmisher role? Long-range healing is better. Dusk. More potency for self healing.”
“Oh, makes sense.”
“Skirmisher?”
“Battlefield disruption. Invisibility. Distraction and ambush.”
“Right, right, yeah! Okay, I kinda like that!”
It fit surprisingly well with what they wanted to do as a party anyway. Moreover, if they had to go to a triage ever again, having Dusk have a more potent healing skill would help a ton. The catkin they had gotten the ◆Compassion◆ from would surely be happy they used their essence for healing, wouldn’t they?
“How much is the ◆Restore◆?”
“One thousand two hundred Gil.”
Still pricey, but much better than the earlier essences the spriggan had suggested.
“Alright… Let’s say we take it. What about the rest of our decks?”
The Archivist nodded and put the ◆Restore◆ card on the table to the side.
“Dawn needs mobility. Dusk needs a weapon.”
“I have a weapon!”
“[Tricky Flail] is not reliable. A toggle skill is preferable.”
Dusk frowned.
“Oh, we heard about that. A skill crafted with ◆Weapon◆ as the base?”
“Indeed. A simple blade is good. A flail is better. Can be merged with [Tricky Flail] later.”
“That sounds–”
“Wait, you can merge skills?!”
“Indeed. One as the base. One as the mod. An essence as second mod. Same rarity. Same purpose or shape. Can’t merge passive and active.”
“Huh…”
“We had no clue about that.”
“Wait, but if it’s gonna be a toggle, can we still merge it with an active skill?”
“Yes. Toggle can be merged. With anything.”
“Neat!”
To think they could have learned all this stuff just by asking an Archivist. It made them feel stupid now. Although to be fair, they had spent quite the sum on this consultation.
“Alright, I guess making a flail would be good. How can I make one? With ◆Crush◆ and ◆Extension◆ again?”
“One type. Yes. Another. ◆Mace◆ and ◆Chain◆. Other combinations possible. Unusual ones.”
“Hmm… So which would be cheaper to make if we were to buy the essences…?” Dawn gave the branch person an innocent look.
They didn’t seem very impressed.
“◆Mace◆ and ◆Chain◆,” they replied, deadpan.
“How much for those and ◆Weapon◆?”
“Nine hundred Gil.”
“Huh? That’s… cheap.”
In response to that, the spriggan pulled out the three essences in question. They all had a dull green rim, marking them as Uncommon essences.
“Ah, makes sense.”
“We’ll take those then!”
With a nod, the Archivist stacked the essences on top of ◆Restore◆.
“Last necessity. Dawn’s mobility.”
“Right. Well, I can climb and run pretty fast already.”
“Good. But not enough.”
Dawn pouted.
Medrelyn responded by manifesting three Rare essences.
◆Form◆, ◆Leap◆, and ◆Glide◆.
“Form as base. Creates [Feather’s Grace]. Stronger jump. Slower fall.”
“Ooh! I like that! That sounds perfect!”
“How much for these?”
“Six thousand five hundred Gil for these three.”
The twins grimaced. If they added all the other essences they wanted to buy, that would put them almost at zero Gil again. They could still sell some essences but…
“Are there any cheaper options?”
“Passive. Only Very Rare and higher. Active. You have four already. Do you want a fifth?”
“Ugh… Not really…”
They didn’t want to deal with the whole discarding and drawing thing. Adding another way to go insane and die to go with [Soul Split] sounded like a terrible idea.
“Alright, we’ll take it. This better be worth it!”
“[Feather’s Grace]. Staple mobility skill.”
“Yeah, yeah… So, uh. What else? Can I upgrade my [Tricky Trail] into something?”
“Although, we don’t have much money left to spare…”
“Possible. Many options. Your preference. More distraction? More firepower? Something else?”
“I…”
They thought back on their fight with the Glass Tyrant and how impotent all their attacks felt.
“More firepower!”
“For sure!”
After all, even with all the mobility and defence in the world, they could hardly call themselves rift hunters if they couldn’t kill any monsters, could they?
The spriggan nodded and gestured at the essences that still lay in front of them.
“Add ◆Barrage◆ and ◆Shatter◆. [Tricky Mael]. Large area. Indiscriminate damage.”
“Umm…”
As fun as that sounded, they didn’t want to accidentally kill themselves using the skill.
“Or. Add ◆Barrage◆ and ◆Snipe◆. [Tricky Hail]. Long-range barrage. Less damage.”
“Okay! I think I like that better! Thanks!”
The Archivist nodded.
“Other questions?”
The twins paused to think about it for a moment.
“Well, I still have space for an active skill. What should I aim for?”
“Defence buff. Attention amplifier. Self-damage redirection. Either works for a tank.”
“Any specific suggestions?”
The spriggan nodded and brought out a whole bunch of essences before they began explaining their various combinations and what they thought would work best for Dusk.
By the time they left the shop, they felt more confident than ever before – so much so that they headed straight for the Hunter’s Guild rather than going underground to the medical tents.
They just hoped the registration wouldn’t be as complicated in this city…
