My Servant System

"Been a long, long time since we were down here... this feels nostalgic, but at the same time... damn this acrid stench is not something I missed though, or this cloying, terrible heat!"

Jahi scrunched her nose and looked around the lava lake, taking in the all too familiar view that we had come to associate with everything Dungeon related thanks to its excellent learning potential for new and intermediate adventurers.

"The Sultanate isn't this bad, is it? Like your skin is being dried out completely no matter where you might be?"

Anput smiled wryly as she shook her head and answered "In some places it's worse. Remember, the Sultanate is open dunes of sand being baked by the sun constantly; funnily enough, you're lucky if the air is still and stagnant. If it's windy, you're getting battered by sand and subjected to even worse heat thanks to the grains clinging to your body and creating a sort of... blanket around your skin."

"In other words, it's going to be absolutely dreadful and I already hate it."

The thin layer of water around my body did little to keep me cool, and already I was beginning to yearn for the humidity of the Terracotta Grottos over this, despite usually viewing humidity as worse than raw heat; right now though, that was preferable, and I let out a huff as I added "Can we get these Magma Crabs or whatever they are already? I wanna go home."

"You sound like a child Kat~! Just bear with it for a bit, yeah? We wanted to stretch and let loose a little, remember? We can stop on the way back to the surface and let you have your way with a goblin. Sound good?"

I raised a brow at that, making Jahi raise a finger as she said "You know what I mean; stop being a hedonistic puppy now Kat...", with Anput chiming in to say "You'll be fine over in the Sultanate Kat, at least in the city; all the shade really alleviates the heat, and since you're a Water Mage you can always be hydrated, which is also a really big help."

"How are we really going to let loose with a bunch of crabs? One good smack and their shell breaks. Not really an engaging fight... and we can't smack them too hard because we need to keep their legs intact for the meal tonight. And really, you all wanted a 'seafood boil' that consisted of... primarily crab? No other fish or anything that you want to add? Couldn't I just do some kind of surf n turf style dinner instead?"

"Well obviously you need something else to go along with it, but that is something I already asked the kitchens to procure for us; shrimp and lobster from the Blizzard Duchy are relatively 'cheap', and Mom agreed that it would be worth it. Besides... did you want snake? Big cat? Doesn't really sound the most appealing, especially not when placed beside crab. Crab that comes pre seasoned too, I might add; they have a bit of heat to them thanks to their innate Fire Mana."

"Fine... but still, beating on some crabs isn't really much of a workout, is it? Were you planning on heading further in, or..? We aren't really... at level here anymore, and heading deeper isn't something I would advise without proper planning and-"

"I know, I know~! We'll just head to the gates and pick on any Spartoi that show up, or hope we can find ourselves a Magma Wyrm hiding inside the lake! Don't worry so much Kat~!"

Brushing off my concern like it was no big deal, Jahi tapped her fingers on the hilt of her great sword, which was resting on her shoulder and glimmering beautifully in the orange light of the Dungeon, its gold and silver surface radiating the importance of the piece compared to the rest of our weapons.

Leone's Estoc that she only had as a precaution, Anput with her morph-able metal rods that weren't of any high quality metal - it was still an alloy, but it wasn't an impressive one - and my Khopesh were all severely outclassed by the great sword that Jahi wielded, but when the golden Light Mana began to seep out of her palms and coil around her wrists, it made sense that she was given something as impressive as that blade.

Still, I wanted something of my own eventually, but still, for now we were all left with rather 'bland' weapons, though for Leone and I that wasn't entirely a problem, and for Anput it didn't matter since she could simply switch her style up to confuse her opponent, or have whatever made the most sense for the situation at hand.

"Alright, alright... c'mon, let's get to it. Hopefully they don't spoil by the time we return to the Palace."

Setting off down towards the black ash and sand laden shore of the magma lake, we looked around and made sure to give the other groups of adventurers wide berths to avoid any sort of situation with them, all whilst we kept our eyes peeled for the crimson and black shells of the crab monsters that we were hunting for.

"Their chitin will do wonders as armor too, especially for you and I, Leone. Not the strongest, nor the heaviest, but pretty good for what it is. Workable base too. If you get Kat to imbue it with Fire Mana enchantments, it could do even better."

Combining her twin rods, Anput created a long, heavy spear that she rested on her shoulder like Jahi, the Jackalkin scrunching her nose for a moment before simply lifting the bandana from her neck and securing it around her lower face to keep the worst of it out.

Mimicking her, I asked "It would take me some time, but if you want some enchanted armor I could make it for you, you know? I just need to know what you want and what materials I'm working with. Still think we should be looking at getting ourselves an actual set of personalized gear made sooner rather than later."

Everyone nodded at that, which only made me all the more confused as I asked "Then why haven't we? Just haven't wanted to work up from basic gear, or what? I mean we kinda have a set each, but..."

"All of it always boils down to time, Kat. We haven't had time to go through the usual set, and when we did have time... we weren't thinking about getting that gear. Hodgepodge sets made more sense since we were just starting out, but now? Ah, here we go."

Raising her blade, Jahi grasped the handle in both hands before cleaving downwards, slicing into the sand and revealing the thick chitinous shell of a crab, which she yanked out of the ground and kicked over to me.

Unsheathing my dagger, I began to slice off the legs and pry off the shell from the crab without any hesitation, not bothering to ask Jahi how she spotted the black shelled crab, and she kept talking like it was nothing at all.

"And honestly... when we do have time nowadays, I think we all know where that time goes... it's either physical training, magical training, studying, or relaxing. Even when we have time to pursue any interests outside of fighting, it isn't for long. If we managed our time better and got ourselves into a crunch, we could definitely manage it. I just haven't felt the need for it so far."

Kicking another crab over to me, Jahi looked around before turning to watch as I broke off the ten legs and tore off the shell, adding "I mean, our fights have been well handled and more about finesse than what we were armored with. What good does a high grade metal plate cuirass matter when the Fiend punching you will just scramble your insides no matter what? Or when the thing pukes on you, or launches bolts of compressed and supercharged mana at your skull?"

"We should still prepare for the normal battles anyways, especially if the world is slowly going into a chaotic period. Who knows who we might have to fight next? Hungry, greedy, desperate eyes will turn towards the stability of the Empire soon."

Leone accepted the legs from me and looked towards Anput as she tapped the edge of the shell, prompting Anput to sigh and rub the back of her neck as she said "Fine, I can try and churn out a set each if you want. I think I can really get a set and a half done this week if we want quality, so the other set and a half will need to wait for when we get to the Sultanate. We'll also need to go over the materials we have and come up with alloys and the like that make the most sense with the enchantments we want..."

"Oh boy, more prep work and studying. Fun. Well, better late than never right? Besides... I dunno; the whole 'world going into chaos' just feels like rubbish right now, but I have a feeling if I really say that with my whole chest right now, it'll come back to bite me in the ass."