World Seed: Game Start (38 page)

“
Excuse
me, sir?” Yes, it turns out it was a he. “I’m
looking for something, and I was hoping you’d help me.”

Thankfully,
the alien understood my language. It would have been weird if it
didn’t, since it had a shop in the capital city. “Hmm?
Yes, what do you seek?” Its voice sounded like it was talking
through a fan, which made me chuckle inwardly.

“
Can
you show me a list of your pets? Specifically, any that are
reptilian, can fly, or both.” He looked a bit confused at my
remark, but shrugged his upper arms and tapped on the counter. A
moment later, a holographic list appeared, and he began inputting
commands. “We have a flying iguana, if that is what you are
looking for. Not a very popular pet, as they don’t have many
utility skills that are useful. If you’d rather, I can show you
our silkweaver bat. It is capable of producing a supply of silk
threads, so it is a bit more popular.”

While
that did sound interesting, it also sounded expensive. “Can I
take a look at the flying iguana? I never got the chance to see one
in the forest, and this is my first time in the capital.”

The
man gave another shrug, and led me through the store. On the way, I
saw various creatures, from two headed puppies to cats with angel
wings. I even saw a turtle that turned into a rock when we got too
close to its cage. I’ll be honest… I really wanted to
buy the two-headed puppy… It just looked too adorable.

Off
in the back of the store, with the ‘less popular’ pets,
the clerk showed me another cage, this one with a lone branch in it.
On the branch sat an iguana, with large fleshy wings. I briefly
activated my Aura Sight, and discovered that the cage was shielded
with a series of runes that prevented me from seeing the aura of the
creature inside. That made me a bit disappointed, until I saw the
price for the creature. They’re willing to selling it for five
silver? Even the puppy went for fifteen.

“
This
really must be an unwanted pet, huh?” I turned my head to ask
the clerk, who nodded his balloon head. The balloon head was being
very distracting every time I turned to look at him, so I did my best
to focus on the lizard.

“
That’s
right. Most animals in this store have the ability to use some kind
of utility ability or support magic. For instance, the stone turtle
is able to detect mineral veins, and absorb ores to strengthen its
shell. The angelcat is able to use very low level light magic to
illuminate a room. However, the flying iguana can’t do anything
like that. So, nobody wants to buy one. If we don’t sell it
soon, we’ll just have to release it outside the city.”

I
thought about that, and sighed. If it were the puppy, I’d have
bought it to save it from that fate. But the only thing I wanted this
lizard for were its tail and wings. “Don’t suppose you’d
let me have a few minutes with it before you do? I’m a druid,
and for various reasons, I need to study this animal to learn its
aura.”

The
man’s pitch black eyes widened a bit, but he nodded. “Alright,
but you’ll have to pay the standard fee. Any druid can study an
animal here if they pay two silver. Naturally, that’s two
silver per animal.”

I
nodded my head to him, and pulled out two silver. Then, after
thinking about it, I asked. “By chance, what is the special
ability of the two headed dog near the entrance?”

He
tilted his head sideways a moment, before it naturally gravitated
back upwards. I had the distinct feeling that if his body were any
lighter, he would float up into the air. “That’s a lesser
orthrus. Although they can be raised to become combat pets, their
magic is generally not strong enough to support someone. They’re
fire and water aligned, with one head having minor control of each
element. Unfortunately, that means their strength with those elements
is halved compared to their stronger counterpart races.”

I
suddenly wanted to buy the puppy even more… However, I simply
pulled out another two silver and handed it over. “I’d
like to study it as well, after I’m done with the lizard.”
Even if it was weak, fluffy, and adorable, it was still a magical
animal. And that meant I needed to study it…. for science.
Yes, for science. Not at all because I wanted to pet it. I’m
not Sharon.

Speak
of the devil, and she will send you a whisper. I received a message
from Sharon as soon as the clerk had opened the cage to let me study
the lizard. “Hey Falenel. I finally made it to the capital. Saw
your level increased a bit, so wanted to see if you had already moved
on yet?”

I
shook my head, replying as I sent my Mana Sense into the lizard,
reaching into the cage to grab it. Not only was it a useless pet, but
it was too lazy to avoid me. “No, was planning to later today,
but had some stuff to take care of first. Your training finish up
well enough?” I glanced to my contact list, and saw that she
had gained a couple of levels as well since we left, likely from the
same method I had.

“
Yeah…
Finally managed to make the grove big enough to fit everyone inside
me. Would you like to meet up?”

I
thought about it for a bit, but I had just spent four silver to study
a pair of animals. “I’m at the pet shop right now,
studying a couple of their pets. I warn you, though, there is
fluffiness here.”

After
that, she didn’t say anything, so I was able to quickly study
the flying iguana in peace. I had already memorized one set of wings,
and my ability to memorize things had improved greatly, so it only
took me ten minutes to finish up. In total, I copied its wings, tail,
and the tiny spines on its back. I felt like it’d be a nice
little addition.

“
Celeste?”
I spoke to my wrist after putting the iguana back.

“
Yesss?”
She asked in a drawn out voice, a grin plastered on her holographic
face.

“
You
know what to do, I take it?”

She
giggled lightly, nodding her head. “Operation dragonfly is a
go!” With that, her hologram vanished, and she brought up the
image in my Cybernetic eye of the compiled aura I had created before.
The four feathery wings were replaced by two large fleshy ones, the
wolf’s tail was replaced with that of the iguana, and the
spines were added all along its back. “Saving preset as baby
dragon. Estimated mana cost, five hundred and fifty.”

I
chuckled a bit at her comments, before moving back to the front of
the store. Once there, I saw that Sharon had already long since
arrived, and had her face plastered against the cage for the
angelcat. “I warned you that there was fluff.”

When
she heard me speak, she turned her head a bit to look, smiled, and
turned back to look at the cat. “It’s so cool… I
wish I could afford it… I wonder where they are born.”

“
No
idea, but you could probably find a job somewhere around here to get
the money to buy it. Though, wouldn’t you still need to get
both a male and a female one for your grove?”

She
thought about it for a second, and then shook her head. “Jarl
showed me how to separate my grove into different sections, that way
certain animals can live in it without fighting. I can’t do
anything about my wolves needing meat, but I can at least keep my
favorites safe.”

So
she essentially has two groves. Wonder how that works. “Well,
in that case, if you earn up some silver, you’ll be able to buy
your very own angelcat.” I smirked, before taking the flying
iguana back to the clerk, who walked off to put it back in its cage,
and then got the lesser orthrus out for me to study next. Naturally,
when she saw this, she looked at me confused. “You have to pay,
but you’re able to study the animals here to get their auras.
Most of them are magical animals, so I wanted to do this while I had
the chance.”

She
nodded her head slightly, but her eyes were more focused on the two
headed ball of fluff in my arms. Smirking, I held the puppy up and
studied it with my Mana Sense. It was absolutely necessary for me to
pet it behind its ears while I was doing this.

The
aura of the magical beast was surprisingly similar to that of a
normal wolf, with a few key differences. Most notably, the streaming
lights of mana were thicker. Also, I could sense a small part of the
aura in each of the two heads that was attuned to one of the
elements. I had spent enough time matching my own aura to both water
and fire to spot it in something else.

Following
the mana paths from the elemental sections of the aura throughout the
rest of the head, I nodded my head in satisfaction. With this, I
should be able to create breath weapons of any element for my tiny
dragon form. Maybe if it were a full grown magical beast, or a more
powerful species it would have been more difficult, but studying this
little guy’s aura was surprisingly easy.

About
fifteen minutes later, I was still petting the puppy and received a
message in my eye. You’ve already memorized the aura. I knew
that… Reluctantly, I went and gave the puppy back to the
clerk. When I did this, both of the puppy’s heads whined
pitifully at me, and I almost spent the last of my money to buy it
right there on the spot. However, I steeled myself and handed it
over. As I did so, I saw Sharon, no longer in front of the cages.

Instead,
she was standing next to the clerk, begging him to let her work in
the store. I chuckled a bit as I watched her wear him down until he
finally agreed to give her a part time job. Though, she was given
strict warnings not to use her druid magic to study the animals
without paying, since he had overheard our conversation about her
being a druid as well. Seeing her vigorously she nodded her head and
agreed to that condition made me smirk. Naturally, I knew that she
was only here for the animals, and would likely continue working
until she managed to buy both the lesser orthrus and the angelcat.
Leaning over, I tapped her on the shoulder to get her attention. “If
you refine some elemental seeds, the local enchanter will buy them
off of you.”

After
I said that, she smiled brightly and thanked me, since that meant she
had another source of income to speed up her inevitable purchases in
this pet shop. Part of me was glad I hadn’t taken her to the
store selling combat pets. They would likely be far more expensive,
and she would have to work much longer in order to buy one.

As
I went towards the starport to head up to the station and bid
farewell to this planet, a thought occurred to me. I finally have a
dragon(ish) form, but when am I going to get the chance to use it!? I
had no idea how long it would take before the ship that left from
X-23 would arrive at its destination. Do interstellar journeys take
hours, days, weeks maybe? I’d need to find that out once I got
up there!

Chapter 35: I’mma
Firin’ Mah LAZER!

As
I was walking towards the starport, I heard a light coughing sound
from my wrist. Looking down, I saw Celeste looking up to me
expectantly. “What is it..?”

“
Weapons.”
She said with a tiny grin, making me facepalm. How did I forget to
upgrade my weapons?

“
Don’t
suppose I can get away with saying that I didn’t think they
would let me take it with me?” I looked down to her with one
eye, the other still covered by my hand.

The
holographic girl snickered, shaking her head. “Nope!”
Afterwards, she pulled up another blue path for me to follow. “With
your Technomancy and Engineering abilities, I’m taking you to a
junkyard. It should be within your power to fix broken weapons, or
assemble the parts needed to make your own. Doing it this way would
be far cheaper than simply buying new weapons.”

I
couldn’t argue with that logic, so I nodded my head slightly.
“Alright. But, surely other people can do so just as easily.
Why is there even a junkyard?”

The
hologram smiled slightly at me. “I do not have all the
information needed to provide an adequate answer. However, the guide
indicates that any device sold at the weapon and power armor stores
can also be assembled with parts from the junkyard. Likely, any
weapons there have some defect or missing component, and its owner
thought it would be simply cheaper to buy a new one than to get it
repaired. However, if you combine the parts from two identical
weapons, you should be able to make up for any deficiencies.”

“
Fine,
fine, I get it. As long as there are people throwing things away,
there will need to be a place for it to end up. The island of lost
toys.” I chuckled slightly as I walked down the path. I didn’t
have much to worry about when it came to picking weapons. I mean, if
the battery wasn’t charged, I could fix it with my lightning,
or simply replace it with a Seed of Lightning. I might even be able
to replace other key parts to devices with similar objects to
increase their effects.