The Earth Online

13 The Professional Collector Status

After leaving the store filled with calming wind chimes and ocean wave sounds, the little assembly line of theirs headed straight to the northwestern part of the city center.

After a couple of blocks of just following Thaleos, they finally reached an igloo-like structure. It looked like it was made from dry ice, which appeared to be impossible since the weather in Lagash was quite hot.

They took a closer look at the structure and carefully observed its ice-like material.

“Interesting, it seems like each block is made up of tightly compressed mana,” Haya said, as he noticed the typical blue mist emanating from the structure.

From the outside, it looked so tiny, and they questioned how it was possible for their bulky frames to even fit inside the blocked shelter.

They still attempted to go inside and was surprised to find out that, similar to the whole red tower itself, it expanded on the inside.

Similar to the interior of his psychiatric clinic in Ellis Town, Thaleos headed straight to the ‘receptionist’s’ desk, and immediately asked the female elf, “How do I achieve the Collector status?” 

“Straight to the point, I like it. Most humans don’t have a backbone and take like forever before asking their concern.” The elf responded as she crinkled her nose in bemusement.

“I mean, I could see why.” Kedrick huskily said, while attempting to flirt with the golden-haired pixie.

“Cute, but no. Anyways,” The pixie said as she instantly rejected Kedrick’s flirting attempts, making Haya swallow his laughter. After giving him a side-eye glare, Kedrick responded,

“’ Aight. I respect that.” The female elf gave him one final look, and then faced Thaleos,

“Anyways, for you to achieve the Professional Collector Status, you just need to,” She paused while scrolling through the projected screen in front of her,

“Wait, looks like you’ve already hunted Eastern Fire Sprites and Ninkilim Rats. Wow, great job!” She beamed at him in full excitement,

“Seems like she’s cheering for humans, odd,” Haya whispered under his breath.

“Not really, I’m just a sucker for supporting the underdogs.” She enthusiastically replied.

“Since you’ve killed those creatures, you can now apply for the Collector Status. If your friends want to, as well, you all just need to show me one of the weapons that you used in the fight. After that, I can just register you guys right in our system.” Her red eyes boring straight into their souls.

Fortunately, they all brought at least one of their daggers from the fight — an arrangement they all agreed on, to make sure that they’re always prepared for fights and sneak attacks.

“Great, just give me a couple of minutes. By the way, my name’s Aela, and I’m a Spirit Mage, under the Mage profession. Better remember it, since we’ll be seeing each other a lot. I mean, that is, if you want to become professional collectors.” She softly declared, to which Kedrick excitedly replied to with an enthusiastic damn right.

“Thought you were a priest, isn’t this unbecoming of a sacred profession?” Haya dryly questioned, while hiding his smirk.

“Exactly, like I’m into spirituality and spirit mages.” He smugly retorted while slowly stressing out the last word.

Thaleos just shook his head in entertainment, as his two friends’ banter kept him grounded to reality.

Aela just rolled her red eyes at Kedrick’s remark and proceeded to bring their daggers to one of the incubator-like machines.

While waiting, the three of them just observed their surroundings. They’ve noticed how the interior of the buildings and houses in Lagash seemed like a fascinating mix of tribal art and urban architecture.

Compared to Earth’s typical brutish and minimalist aesthetic, Lagash seemed to have a perfect mix of futuristic and tribalistic features. Most structures were made up of mana-condensed bricks and futuristic walls, but still had interesting looking plants and creature pelts splayed around the room.

“Alrighty! Everything’s good to go, you guys are now officially considered as Collectors. As collectors, you can integrate this specialization in your own profession. For example, in Haya’s case, as a Berserker, he can collect souls using soul gems. These are usually scatted around the quest locations.” The islandic man intently listened and relied on his sensitive and well-trained analytical skills to form his own Berserker strategy.

“Similar to that, you, Beast Tamer, can also collect warrior familiars.” She claimed in a matter-of-fact tone. As Kedrick expectantly looked at her, she just gave a small smirk and whispered,

“I’m sure you can figure that one out, Spiritual Priest.” Contrary to the expected whiny reaction of the gentle giant, he nodded agreeably. This surprised the elf, but not to the extent of egging him on some more.

“Just to confirm, to heighten our Collecting Skills, we just need to identify, collect, peel, or my anything we find valuable, correct?” Thaleos asked as he redirected the conversation back to the matter at hand.

He was planning everything in his head, he wanted to make sure that they could level up fast enough. This way, they can easily get the needed weapons to build up their stats.

“Correct. Bring anything you deem valuable, and I’ll appraise its worth. After you’ve collected a considerable number of valuable items, we’ll hire you as our professional collectors” Aela responded while retaining natural eye contact with Thaleos.

The muscular man nodded his head in satisfaction.

“Welcome to Nabu.”

~ ~ ~

“If we climb one more mountain, I swear to f*****g go—” Haya immediately cut off Kedrick just as he was about to finish his sentence.

“Shame on you, Father Kedrick. Using the gods’ names in vain.” This made Kedrick roll his eyes, and instantly replied in annoyance,

“Oh my god, Haya, let it go. Being a priest isn’t just limited to Christianity.” The islandic man bellowed in laughter and continued,

“Says the guy who just said ‘god.’ Words don’t lie, Father Kedrick.” Haya was having the time of his life teasing the hell out of Kedrick, making the other man grunt in frustration.

“T, I think Haya should’ve just stayed in the lab.” The umber-skinned man argued as he perched himself up on one of the rocky edges of Mount Nergal. Luckily for them, most red towers were placed in mountains and parks, so they didn’t have to hike back and forth.

“You’re right, Haya as a Berserker is, basically, just a very imaginative architect ruining the lives of engineers.” Thaleos chipped in with a certain gleam in his eyes, he was expecting his friends to laugh at his joke, but they just stared at him.

Thaleos, as big and bulky he is, blushed in embarrassment — which, then, made the other men blow up in laughter.

“I’m sorry,” Kedrick started while still in the midst of laughter, and continued, “I mean, don’t get me wrong, you can speak a mean speech, but you suck at telling jokes.” The gentle giant said while stressing out the last few words.

“Seriously, it has the same energy as my professors attempting to tell a ‘gen-z’ joke.” Haya seconded Kedrick’s opinion. Thaleos just snorted out in annoyance, and brotherly love.

They continued to entertain themselves with Thaleos’ attempts of humor throughout the whole trip, until they finally reached their target location.

“We’re finally here. Damn, these mountains will be the end of me.” Kedrick gasped out while sweating heavily due to the intense heat of the sun.

Upon looking around the area, it was basically an empty meadow, but it had this rock structure in the middle. It was rock slabs stacked on each other, and it had this little gem at the very top of it.

“Looks like a soul gem.” Haya pointed out in curiosity.

“It is a soul gem, a middle-tier one. It’s an emerald soul gem.” Thaleos explained as he remembered seeing James’ sketch about this specific soul gem.

“We have to be cautious though, I’m pretty sure that there are Cornish faeries here and more of the white rats.” Thaleos warned them in a stern tone, resulting in the two other men holding their breaths as they traversed through the meadow.

They steadily took out their weapons and prepared for the battle that was about to come. About half a meter away from the emerald soul gem, two Cornish faeries and five Ninkilim rats suddenly jumped out from their hiding spots.

The pair of spriggans immediately attacked them using their hunting bows and elemental magic. As one of them paused to mutter a spell, little tornadoes of leaves started swirling around them.

They felt like their skins were being slashed by the fast movement of the leaves. At the same time, the Ninkilim rats tried to scratch them with their long nails.

They spent the next few minutes just trying to fight through this little army of beasts. After what felt like forever, Thaleos was finally able to stab one of the Cornish faeries, as Haya destroyed the other one.

Kedrick took care of the remaining rats. Aside from the soul gem, there was also a dull bottle of potion hiding under it. The bearded man raised one of his eyebrows, as he remembered Ganuru’s advice about the Blood-Fighting Potion. He took it and hid it in his utility belt.

“Haya, that emerald soul gem belongs to you.” Thaleos quipped while staring at the islandic man with proud eyes. After Haya took the soul gem, he leveled up as a Berserker.

Thaleos was now a level 4 beast tamer, and Haya and Kedrick were now on the third level.

~ ~ ~

“Oh, great job!” Aela beamed in amazement. She started appraising all the slightly rare spriggan hearts and the Ninkilim rats’ red eyes. Then, she abruptly turned her head towards Haya’s direction and questioned,

“How about you, Haya, want to sell that soul gem?”