Chapter 76: Storage Skills (1/2)

Ilea put her hood back and jumped on the bed, smiling at its softness. ‘So tomorrow is the evaluation. And then I’ll get a team and some education. Seems like I’m at the same point as I was in my previous life then.’ she thought and balled her hand into a fist ‘Just that I can punch holes in walls and survive the attacks of specialized magic death elves...’ she smiled and closed her eyes.

It had been a while since she had last slept. “Aki, wake me if anybody comes.” she said to the dagger and dozed off in a matter of minutes.

“Wake up!” came the call and Ilea’s eyes shot open, her buffs flaring to the max as she faintly perceived a person vanishing from the middle of the room, something was wrong with it them though. She quickly checked her belongings but found nothing wrong with them and nothing removed.

Ilea was sure that the person’s silhouette at least looked feminine as she used her Hunter’s Sight to check for and clues left behind. Though there was nothing...no new smell in the room and other than a very faint touch to the rug in the room there was nothing. Sadly whoever it was had touched the ground too faintly to leave any comprehensive track.

‘I’ll ask around I guess...’ she thought and jumped back to her bed. Nobody that looked familiar was in her sphere of perception.

“What did you see?” she asked Aki as she got up again and walked towards the windows. Though the place inside the mountain seemed small, there were enough people and merchants that it seemed just as busy as outside in the city proper.

“I immediately woke you as soon as I sensed someone. Whatever it was vanished at your waking before I saw something. I do not believe it was illusion magic though I also don’t think someone actually was in the room….it was something I’ve not sensed before...” Aki finished.

“Something you’ve not sensed before huh...well if anywhere I think we’re gonna find quite a bit of that here.” she said and walked back to the bed, sitting on its edge. “How long did I sleep?”

“One hour thirty two minutes and thirteen seconds.” Aki answered.

“You’re making that up aren’t you?” she said and twirled the dagger after unsheathing it.

“It was around one and a half hour...” he said and was promptly thrown into the wall.

“So you know how long an hour is now?” she asked as she made her armor vanish into her necklace. She was now standing in the room with only her underwear and necklace.

“I figured it out, yes. Why are you getting naked? I hope you’re not making good on the coitus comment.” Aki said and got a snort from the woman.

“I’m trying your thing...works with both armor and clothes right?” she asked and summoned the taleen clothes she had removed earlier. They appeared jumbled on top of her.

“You really are untalented. I’ve never heard of anybody having difficulties with that...just picture yourself dressed I guess.” Aki said from his position on the wall.

The clothes disappeared again and came back. The same thing happened though this time at least the chest piece appeared near the chest and not on her head like before. Ilea tried for the next half hour and finally figured it out. It wasn’t just about picturing the clothes on her but she had to think about the position of the arms, the legs, the hole for her heads and she had to picture the clothing stretched out and not jumbled. She was sure that people who had spatial storage either were told as much or they had to try just as long.

Next came the armor. Though it had more separate pieces and intricacies Ilea managed to summon it onto her body after just fifteen minutes of trying. The next step, combining the two and then switching between her leather armor and her taleen and elven combination occupied her for another half hour.

Aki looked on as his new wielder switched between armors in mere seconds. He didn’t actually know how long it took someone to learn to do that as all his previous wielders who had spacial storage items had already mastered this technique and likely long before they had found him.

A strange pride filled him as he watched his master, no, wielder put on her clothes. She was certainly different than all the others before her. The last human who had wielded him was doing so thousands of years ago and the man had discarded the dagger after realizing the new sword he had found was better for killing.

He watched the woman laugh as she switched clothes in front of the mirror and felt a warm sensation. ‘Perhaps she is the one.’ he thought as he still hung on the wall, piercing the stone of this ancient place.

“I’m getting good at this...” Ilea said and blinked to the wall where she removed Aki and put him in his sheath on her waist. She was wearing the light brown leather armor again and put up her cloak before she looked through the apartment again. ‘I like it. Though it’s not mine...’ she thought and unsheathed Aki again.

“Does it hurt or is it bad inside the necklace?” she asked and waited.

“No, it’s similar to a meditative state. Though I would prefer to stay outside if at all possible.” the dagger answered.

“That’s fine then, just for the toilet.” she said and made him vanish.

Her business done, she sheathed Aki again and left the apartment, locking it in the process. Walking down she realized that the apartment below hers was empty and seemed undisturbed. Her sphere wasn’t blocked by anything so she assumed others would see her just as well if they had the right abilities. Not that she cared deeply. Privacy wasn’t necessary but certainly welcome. She would get it in time.

She walked out into the street and looked around. Some people were playing music on different instruments while a beautiful voice was singing. One level further down, separated by two flights of stairs was a fountain and around it something akin to a main square. Across from her apartment was another house pretty much the same as hers. She could see half of what was going on inside, though at the moment it didn’t seem like anybody was there.

To the left were more stairs that led to the corridor and out into the Hand’s main building or what she assumed to be the main building. Some merchants were selling food up there but she decided to walk downwards and check out the square. Several people changed their behavior slightly as she approached though only two or three of them actually turned and looked at her. There were people on the ground playing a game of dice with a clawed insect in the middle of them. It reminded her of the scene with the cobras in some old movies she had watched.

They certainly looked different than whatever she had seen in the adventurer guild before. Just the gear alone showed that. Ilea didn’t approach anybody and just checked out the different stores that seemed more like luxury yard sale stands. At first the whole place didn’t seem very different from the Root but having a community based on higher leveled adventurers brought a certain amount of high society with it.

Though as luxury as it was, so were the prices. Magical items and monster parts were being sold in the square and Ilea quickly lost interest in the seemingly useless things. Though many an adventurer was bartering with the vendors. They certainly had a use but Ilea wasn’t into alchemy or building magical constructs, she was more about destroying them.

Perhaps there was a way to use them to improve her armor or maybe find a way to attack but she had quite some time to figure that out. ‘Six months I’m gonna be here...well maybe. I can leave at any time after all.’ she came to a stop another level further down, where the houses on either side were occupied by smiths.

She checked out some weapons but decided to move on. ‘That village Lorcan mentioned should be reachable in less than an hour from here...’ she had seen the name on her map and she really liked the man’s sword. Buying from another smith seemed to be ill advised before she even went to check out what the man had to offer.