Syl

Chapter 121: Harpy Nest

I promptly showed Trixie the [Manhunter] emblem; she stared at it momentarily before chuckling. "That hardly makes you an enemy of humanity, Syl; stop being so dramatic."

"Even if I'm being a little paranoid, surely this isn't a good thing? I'd certainly distrust someone if they had this emblem." I retorted, my voice betraying a touch of anxiety.

"Just don't equip it then unless it's your only emblem?"

"Aren't there ways to detect emblems? I have one that specifically says it's immune from identification."

Trixie's nose scrunched up as she pondered. "There are... But it would require a really powerful artifact, class, or emblem. Reading someone else's profile isn't just something anyone can do. Maybe royalty?"

I gave a dark, halfhearted chuckle, "If they could read my profile, I think I'd have more to worry about than just my emblem."

"Exactly! You're much more likely to encounter someone with either a lie detector skill or a truth spell. They'd probably just ask you if you had any illegal emblems or something, but even that is a bit of a stretch even for your endless paranoia."

"What makes you say that?"

"Well, I mean, the races aren't exactly peaceful; if you were in the military, a bounty hunter, or even a bandit slayer, you'd inevitably earn that emblem, so I doubt it's actually illegal. As long as you aren't secretly dabbling in something like Necromancy, I think you're fine regarding their morals."

I thanked Trixie for her explanation and looked around the room to see if there was anything else noteworthy. Embedded slightly below the floor was something that gave off the soft glow of mana, so I quickly melted a path to it with some tendrils. I found a transparent geode of glowing grey crystal, so I threw out a quick [Appraisal].

"Floatstone?"

"How else do you think this island is up here?" Trixie answered. "Drop it from high up."

I lifted the strange rock with a tendril and let go, but it just sat in place instead of falling. Trixie poked the rock, and I saw her siphon some of its mana. The rock started to drift slowly downwards.

"See. The entire base of the island is absolutely jampacked of the stuff. It can grow if you stick it in the ground and overfeed it mana. It's pretty valuable, but you need a ton of it to do anything useful."

"Great, maybe I'll harvest some when it's time to leave."

"Just don't take too much, or you'll drop the island."

I looked at her in horror, but she only giggled. I couldn't find anything else of value or note, so we left the cave sneakily. We slowly flew up higher while I tried to spot another one of the harpy caves.

I also tried out [Glacial Aura] to pass the time while searching, and just like Trixie had informed me, I could now visibly see the range of my mana aura, which was a pretty impressive radius around me. I noted it seemed to be centered around my core, which made me wonder if I could cast it from a [Sub-Core] and then position it in a tendril to artificially move the aura.

"I'd suggest you finish your other spells before you start trying to tinker with a custom aura; the difficulty for those is an entirely new level," Trixie said.

"How hard are we talking? I've brute forced a custom spell before I even had [Mana Conception], and while it was painful, it was worth it."

"I've never successfully modified one," Trixie replied honestly, a tiny amount of what felt like shame bleeding through, "But... I'll give you the advice I was given. Rather than modify the spell directly, take it apart until you only have the aura component remaining."

"Thanks for the tip. Honestly, this is very impressive, and other than [Fireball] and mass casting, I felt like I've lacked a good area of effect option."

"Just be warned that you must actively select targets to be considered an ally. Otherwise, the aura will affect them unless they are in your party, then the system automatically assists you."

"Wait... Shit, does that mean I'm hurting you?" I quickly realized, but Trixie giggled before I could turn off the spell.

"Yup. Although you're just feeding me rather than hurting me. But feel free to mentally target me as an ally as practice. Remember, you need to do this each time outside of a party, and there is a limit based on your mental aptitude and [Multitasking] skill."

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It hardly took any effort and could be summed up as simply thinking aloud that she was my ally. Trixie did say I could even generalize and say things like, "That group over there is my ally," but it was risky if I wasn't entirely sure of my mental capability.

"Although as fun as this is, I need to focus on my [Water Magic] now if I want to get it to five before I reach level twenty."

"Yeah, but that's a basic magic; it should hardly be any effort. Spam some spells, and you'll be done in no time."

After searching and searching, I finally found what looked like some rocks with noticeable claw marks; getting closer, I discovered some broken and stray feathers, which led to finding a cave entrance hidden behind some false foliage.

"I think I found their home," I informed Trixie, and I received a notification as if in agreement.

Before entering, I cast [Permeable] a few times on Trixie, which caused her to raise a confused eye. "Thanks for the snack?"

"Just trying to sneak in some extra experience."

Trixie giggled, spreading her arms wide. "Feel free!"

I repeated the process a dozen times before finally entering the cave. I was half expecting a guard, but none of my senses detected anything living behind the curtain of foliage. I pushed it aside to enter, unleashing a jingling noise echoing into the cave.

"Oh, that's rather clever." Trixie pointed out, and I saw bits of bone and metal behind and attached to the curtain arranged like a makeshift windchime alarm.

Since sneaking was out, assuming they heard the racket, I shifted into a harpy and had all my cores cast [Arcane Armor] as added protection. I also confirmed that the dragon scales were compatible with harpies, adding another to the growing dragon breeding list. I briefly wondered if I should be offended or grateful that there weren't any dragon slimes. Although I could change that if I managed to find one to eat.

Trixie kept giggling in my head as we approached, although she was invisible again. I could overhear voices talking ahead, so they must have assumed it was more likely to be one of their own if they weren't on high alert.

"What is that idiot prince thinking. His idiot subjects have completely ruined our breeding cycle."

"I do not know, Mother, we can't even find the great tree."

"And his subjects continue to fly around, attacking wildly."

"At least that will bring us more food. But we are at risk if I don't have more daughters."

"We've tried, Mother... But the humans are far too wary; the skies are riddled with arrows and magic when we approach."

"Even our usual distractions like the griffins seem to be missing. Something strange is going on."

"So frustrating... I have gone far too long without a good husband; they break far too easily."

The chatter was wild, and Trixie just kept laughing and laughing, although she had somehow lowered her mental voice so that there was more ambiance to their conversation. Inside the cave, it could only be described as a giant nest. It honestly looked like one massive fire hazard, and I had to restrain my inner Dewi so that I did not just toss a fireball into the group.

I saw three other harpies of similar low levels and one much larger harpy. I had to do a doubletake when I spotted her, as she was massive compared to the others, and I wondered how she even fit inside the cave. While the other harpies seemed to vaguely represent different birds like eagles, hawks, or even ravens, when I saw this one, all I could think of was a fat turkey.

Shaman seemed to be the monster equivalent of Mage, so she wasn't that advanced and likely was missing a prerequisite to get her intermediate caster class, but regardless, she had evolved. I knew I had been burned by overconfidence before, but it felt a little hard to be threatened by her.

"Daughter, why have you left your post?" The large harpy demanded.

I quickly ordered [Permeable] to be cast on everyone. Meanwhile, I tried my best [Acting]. "Mother, I spotted many horses approaching; I came for help."

"That royal bastard! I'll pluck his feathers and remove his horn!" She screeched. "Go, daughters, kill them, and then we will deal with the prince."

I followed the three after copying their little bow to the queen. Once we burst out of the cave, I began my preparations. Flying without my [Enchanted Wings] trait felt terrible, and I was ready to slot it in as soon as the battle started. I called them to wait, and they paused mid-flight, staring at me in anticipation.

"What is it, sister?"

"I just wanted to discuss strategy before we fight the horses."

"Who are you pretending to be the smart one? Ha!"

"Yeah, you weren't even smart enough to bring your spear. Stupid Skree."

I rapidly ordered a [Torrent] spell cast above each of them, aimed downwards, as I didn't feel that [Water Orb] would be enough. I wanted to empower and compress the spells, but the harpies were getting antsy, so I prematurely fired them off. None of them sensed the impending spells, and when the violent flood of water struck each of them, they were rapidly sent plunging into the ground. I also fired six [Water Orbs], two each, after them. I wasn't sure if my spells or gravity finished the job, but there were three kill notifications almost immediately.

"Sheesh. That was pretty brutal." Trixie commented. "You seem to keep forgetting that they are fragile and going for overkill."

"I thought [Water Orb] wouldn't be enough, and I was also worried that my water spells wouldn't have enough killing power."

"I mean... Kinda? I've certainly seen some very powerful water spells throughout my day. Although, in your case, unless you are fighting something inherently fire-based, you'd likely be better off using water to boost ice and lightning spells."

"Soak them and then freeze them?"

"Exactly! But obviously, stick to water for now. I don't think Miss Fatty Bird will cause you much trouble. I'm surprised you even bothered luring the other three out of here."

"Seemed right in the heat of the moment," I replied with a shrug.

I collected my spoils, not wanting to waste the potential slime mass, and then started heading back towards the cave to deal with the queen. Trixie revealed herself so I could cast [Permeable] on her a few times, as we both seemed hopeful that I'd hit both milestones together.

"What does this spell even do? I've never seen it before." She asked.

"It gives Water weakness debuff. I've got one for each of my elements."

Trixie smiled brightly, "I think you will love the surprise at level twenty."

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