Another good deal

Carol and Duran could only do as Lian said and started to test the manuals. It turns out that Carol's Purple Crown was really related to poison. After she tried to transform the Star Energy into a poison skill called Silent Obstruction, she found it a very easy thing to do. "Does that mean I have Poison Affinity?"

Jaruo, who was also in the room, nodded, saying, "Most likely. Using one's affinity is always very easy. The problem is using another element you don't have an affinity with. Just so you know, even Level Three Star Energy Warriors rarely try to learn to use other elements because they know it'll turn out into something too weak to compare with their elemental affinity. Let alone those at Level Two and below."

Carol didn't quite like it. "But why Poison Affinity? That makes no sense. I'm not a bad person!"

Jaruo laughed in response, telling her, "Hahaha! Bad? Good? Who cares about that? We're born with our own affinities. It has nothing to do with choice. No one really understands why it happens. Some people tried to do different variations of babies. For example, trying to use a Fire Element Affinity mother and father to see if all their children would have Fire Affinity as well. Well, it turns out that it didn't work. The babies usually were born with the same random affinity as everyone else."

Lian, Duran, and Carol sighed after hearing that. "Of course, they were born with different affinities. Our bodies' cells carry on the genetic information going back thousands of generations. Although the first ancestor's genetic trace will dilute with time, they still exist. Simply using two people with Fire Element Affinity and hoping their children will have the same thing is ridiculously idiotic."

"Ge-Genetoki? What is that?" Naturally, Jaruo had no idea what Lian's group was talking about.

Lian made it simpler, explaining to him, "What you need to understand is that, at most, there's a bigger chance of their children being born with the same affinity. However, if affinity follows the same rules that we learned back in our world, then it's to be expected that not all of them will have the same affinity. For example, two boys born to the same parents won't look exactly the same, right?"

Jaruo understood that, at least. "Oh! Now that you say that, I have to admit it makes sense. What do you call this phenomenon back in your world, then? I want to hear more about this genetoki thing you talked about."

"It's called genetics. As for the name of this phenomenon, we call it genetic variability," replied Carol as she worked on her Star Energy manual.

Carol then looked at Lian, asking, "Can I test this Poison attack in you? It says that it's only used to obstruct one's Star Energy Channels after enough is accumulated. However, the poison will clear itself after some time and should be no risk."

"Then test it on me," said Duran. "Lian doesn't seem to have our problem with the control of Star Energy. It's better if we don't stop his progress."

Lian nodded. "Thanks, Duran. I also want to test a few things today."

"Is that so? Then wait for us to head out of the city first," replied a voice coming from the room's entrance. It was Tuly. He finally finished his business with Grisa. "I don't want you to suddenly attract everyone's attention once again. Since we're going after the Coral Bear, we might as well test your thoughts on the way."

Grisa appeared right after. "He's right. The Coral Bear will provide us with quite a lot of money. In fact, we're thinking about asking Brolen for another target while we're at it so that we can test Tuly's Level Three power as well."

"Oh! Well, it's a good thing I thought of the same idea," said Brolen, who just so happened to open the residence's front door.

Tuly narrowed his eyes in response. "Did I let you enter?"

Brolen shrugged his shoulders, saying, "Don't forget we're still business partners. Anyway, I heard about your Level Up. Immediately, I knew that I could entrust you with a slightly harder job, but it would also pay twice as much as the Coral Bear."

Tuly decided to let Brolen's trespassing slip after that. "Fine, what's this deal about?"

Brolen smiled in response. "The second job you'll get is to provide protection to a client of mine as he retrieves a certain item in the Ostalas Forest."

"Ostalas Forest?" Tuly found it weird. "Do you need protection for such a place?"

Jaruo whispered to Lian's group what kind of place Ostalas Forest was. 'Simply put, it's a den of Star Energy Creatures, even more so than the place we found you. However, they're mostly Level One and Level Two Creatures. Level Three ones are quite rare. That's why it's confusing.'

Indeed, that's what Tuly said. "For Ostalas Forest, you could simply ask any small group with a single Level Two Star Energy Warrior, and they should be able to provide enough support."

Brolen shrugged his shoulders in response. "The problem is not the protectors' strength but how much I can trust them. We might not like each other that much, but I at least know that your mercenary group always finishes the job given to them. You're the ones best suited for this job. Besides, since it's an easier job and pays twice what the Coral Bear does, you should have no reason to refuse, right?"

Everyone there knew that Brolen wasn't exactly the type to be trusted. However, the payment definitely caught their attention. "Fine! The Coral Bear is also in Ostalas, so if your client doesn't mind doing a small detour for us to get it as well, I don't mind being his bodyguard. Of course, make it clear to your client that it doesn't mean I'm going to die for him. If things go south, I'll leave him behind."

Brolen smiled in response. "That's another good deal, then."