Chapter 17

"I'm glad to have all of you as part of the team. But from now on, all of you except for Jessica will be coming with us." Hearing my words, the group of newcomers nodded—everyone except Jessica, who seemed a bit surprised. I paid it no attention as I began handing out the tokens to the new members.

Richie received a weapon token, Jessica also got a weapon token, Richard got both armor tokens, and Ms. Cary received all the potion tokens. Each member received interesting or unique items.

"Isn't this a bit... much?" I looked over at Richie, shocked at the massive warhammer now grasped in his hands. It looked comically oversized, like a child holding a giant tool. The hammer was decorated with skulls and runes, seemingly painted in black.

"This thing's sweet!" Next, I glanced at Jessica, who was skillfully twirling a curved knife. The blade was pure stainless steel, while the handle was wrapped in a strange leather.

"Dang, this reminds me of that one movie set I was on," Richard remarked as a pure white gi and black shoes appeared around him, perfectly complementing his outfit.

"Oh, how interesting! So this can heal someone, and this can regenerate mana? What is mana? Does every human have it?" Lastly, Cary inspected her new items closely: three red health potions and one blue mana potion.

I gave the group time to get accustomed to their new items, watching as they completed their inspections and waited for further instructions.

"You all can chill and hang out with your senior members. Jessica, can we speak in the kitchen?" Surprised at her name being called, Jessica seemed a bit nervous, but seeing me head towards the kitchen, she had no choice but to follow.

"You're probably wondering why you're the only one staying behind," I said. Jessica nodded, clearly wanting to ask questions, but I signaled for her to wait as I continued.

"I need someone to stay here because this town is a bit... special." I then explained the events from the day before, much to Jessica's surprise. She asked many questions—questions I couldn't fully answer without revealing too much of my knowledge, but I did respond to a few.

"From what I gathered from the locals, they're called the Crystal Gems. They regularly fight monsters and protect the world. Given how casually the townsfolk spoke about them, they must be a regular presence." Jessica nodded at my words but had one last question.

"What do you want me to do while staying in town?" The question made me smile as I explained the real reason for our conversation.

"I want you to stay here to keep my dad safe while also monitoring and notifying me about anything the Crystal Gems do. Your skill would be perfect for it, and if you see a chance to snatch something magical, please do." My words left Jessica looking a bit shocked at my audacity in asking her to steal from beings—or rather, gems—who were multiple levels above us.

"Okay, just leave your number, and I'll contact you from a payphone until I get a proper phone." Understanding the importance of the task, there was no need to convince Jessica, whose eyes were filled with curiosity about the crystal gems.

'I hope this doesn't change the plot too much,' I thought, unaware that the plot would soon be the least of my worries.

"Here's 5k; it should be enough for you to live here comfortably. If you need anything, just send me a letter—I'll give you the address before we leave. Also, I might personally deliver some equipment to you, so keep that in mind." After saying this and getting a nod of understanding from Jessica, I watched her leave, pondering the future of this team. With a deep sigh, I opened the guild menu, noting that I needed just 1k more gold to level up the mission board, which would allow me to take on seven missions instead of six.

"This is going to be a long year," I muttered with another sigh as I exited the kitchen. I followed Jessica into the living room, where the newbies were chatting happily with everyone. Noticing Richie sitting alone in the corner, I decided to approach him, causing the boy to jump in fright at my sudden approach—a worrying sight, but not one that warranted overly intrusive questions.

"So, where are you from, Richie?" I asked, pulling up a stool to sit near the young man, who was trying to stutter out a response.

"Lo-loss An-gggeles, Ca-California," he finally managed. Though his response was a bit messy, I could understand him relatively well. Hearing that he was from California piqued my interest, as I never had the chance to go there in this or my past life.

"Is it a good place to live? I used to stay in Florida, so I wouldn't know." As we talked, Richie's voice grew more relaxed, his words becoming less of a stuttering mess. He even spoke a bit passionately about his hometown, though I noticed he avoided mentioning his school life, except for the fact that he was an exceptional student.

"Thanks, Richie. That was a fun conversation. I hope we can have more on the truck, but we've got to go now." Thirty minutes later, we finally stopped as I remembered we had to leave soon—a fact I shared with everyone, causing them to scramble to gather their things, including the newbies who quickly went out with Noah and Olivia to get some clothes.

After a bit, everyone was ready, and not wanting to waste any more time, we all piled into the truck. This time, Richard and Richie joined us in the back seat, with Ms. Cary taking the middle seat between Lily and Olivia in the actual car, telling the two girls a story about the time she was called to help excavate some cadavers.

"Wanna play cards?" Finding ourselves quickly bored on the road, I watched Noah pull out a deck of cards. But just as he was about to start, the car hit a small pothole, causing the cards to fly out of his hand, out of the truck, and into a patch of grass. Much to his clear sorrow, he groaned and buried his head in his knees, as we returned back to silence.

"Okay, let's take a break." An hour after Noah lost his cards, I decided the group could use a rest to stretch their legs, as the drive was taking longer than expected. Everyone was happy to oblige. We parked alongside the road and began taking things from our inventory, like food, devices, and even a blanket so we could relax on the grassy field.

'I could use some training,' I thought, lying on the blanket and gazing at the sky. My mind drifted to how I could strengthen myself. I soon concluded that I needed to train, but I felt a bit lost on how to start. Then a crazy idea popped into my head. I took Reinhardt's token out of my inventory.

'Isn't the best way to improve to face someone better?' I questioned myself. Seeing everyone relaxing, I walked a bit away before summoning Reinhardt. Once summoned, he looked around, seemingly expecting to find himself on a battlefield. But seeing the peaceful surroundings and everyone chilling nearby, he seemed perplexed.

"Why did you summon me?" he asked. The question didn't require much explanation. I took out my axe and spoke, though I would soon come to regret my next words.

"Training." And train I did. I spent the next 10 minutes sparring with Reinhardt, followed by 20 minutes of him explaining the basics of wielding an axe. Most of it I understood or already did instinctively, but the worst was yet to come. I found myself dueling Reinhardt, who planted me on my butt every single time, leaving a new bruise on my face each time. His words, though harsh, were meant to teach.

"Too slow."

"Too obvious."

"You fight like an animal—foolish, headstrong, with little to no foresight."

Each critique stung, but I had to cut our training session short as we needed to leave. Before Reinhardt unsummoned himself, I introduced him to the group. He offered them some advice, which they all took seriously, especially after I mentioned that his original level was 131.

Overall, everyone was happy, so we loaded back up into the truck to finish the journey back to the farm. The drive took quite a while, but we still arrived before the sun began to set. Hopping out of the truck, we started walking in, finding everything mostly as we had left it. However, not seeing the old man or Miguel's dad immediately put us on high alert.

"DAD!"

"GRANDPA!"

They both called out, seeming a bit worried. Knowing it wasn't a great idea to split up, we spent the next 15 minutes wandering around the farm. At some point, we heard what sounded like wood being smashed from a part of the farm, so we headed in that direction.

"SIT!"

What we saw was jaw-dropping. In our view was Alejandro standing before a towering wolf-like creature with two horns and a mixture of teal colors, with coral spots across its body.

[Water Yeti (Ocean Jasper): Lv 83] 

Seeing the creature, now identified as a corrupted gem, I was surprised to find it playing joyfully with Alejandro, who continued to give it commands, which it seemed to follow happily.

"Alejandro! Come on, boy, teach it how to attack!"

Suddenly hearing a familiar voice, we turned to see Old Man Dew, a bottle of moonshine in hand, sitting on a log as he yelled at Alejandro.

"It's aggressive enough; the last thing it needs is a ringmaster," Alejandro mumbled under his breath, seeming prepared to continue training the beast. But at this point, he finally noticed us, and he appeared visibly surprised.

"Welcome back. How was your vacation?" Alejandro's greeting went unanswered as we all took a moment to look at the giant gem, which was panting like a loyal dog.

"Forget our vacation, Dad—where did you get that... thing?" Miguel was the first to speak, pointing at the gem, which tilted its head at being pointed at.

"Do you want the long version or the short version?" Alejandro's question left us confused, but we quickly decided on the long version. We all settled in, everyone except Alejandro and me taking a seat a bit away from the gem, which lay lazily on the ground. Alejandro then gave us a brief rundown of how his current situation came to be.

"So, it was the day after you all left. Dew and I were going around the farm, completing all the chores, when we heard the screech again. It caused us to panic, but before I could start running, my skill's passive effect kicked in. As you know, after the skill reached level 3, I can now understand the surface emotions of other creatures." Nodding at Alejandro's words, we quickly found ourselves engrossed in the story as he continued.

"I was left in confusion, though, as the voice screaming 'I'm scared' was being transmitted to me from the same direction as the screech. It caused my steps to halt as I, admittedly foolishly, ran in the opposite direction. Old Man Dew followed, continuously asking what was wrong, but my ears were too full of the voice to hear anything else." My interest was honestly piqued at this point, as the idea that Alejandro could hear the voice of a corrupted creature could prove extremely useful. But not wanting to interrupt, I saved my question until the end.

"So there I was, running. I even left the farm and entered the nearby forest, where I found this big girl clawing at trees and boulders, sharpening her claws. But as she came into view, the voice coming from her grew louder, filling my mind with screams of fear and worry." The story was now getting to the crucial part, and the group leaned in, their interest peaking.

"It noticed my presence almost immediately, but to my surprise, it didn't attack. I took this chance to transmit feelings of calmness and peace, which proved pretty effective as it became mostly docile. However, I do have to do this regularly, or the voices will return, causing it to go wild." Finally understanding how he tamed the gem, we all looked over at the creature, which stared back at us as we stared at it.

"Well, don't just sit there—let's go have something to eat! You all must be exhausted!" Old Man Dew walked over, having not heard the conversation, and wrapped his arms around Noah's and Richie's necks, causing the two young men to nearly fall over in surprise. Seeing his grandpa drunk, Noah sighed as we all, including the corrupted gem, went to the house to eat. Alejandro did the cooking, and since he cooked, he even made an extra portion for the corrupted gem, which ate its food happily.

"This world is full of surprises" I thought as I ate quietly watching Cary taking the chance to examine the docile gem creature as she talked to Alejandro, While this was a happening I noticed the dudes having started a game of Monopoly while the girls were relaxing on there phones.

"I quite like this"

- - - - - - 

Wow I did not expect that I would have Alejandro befriend the creature.

It was originally supposed to be a epic battle with a weaker curropted gem but I had a sudden change of plans and instead made it friend.

Just to let everyone know I do not plan for any of this and just type what ever first comes to mind