Blood and Sand

When Carl listened to what Polemos said and what he was looking for he smiled.

"Sure the supplies will be the normal cost, and the info is no cost this time, as the information is actually about who that messenger's master is. Alyan."

When Polemos heard who the messenger's master was, his head throbbed in pain as he rubbed his temple to help soothe the pain and groaned with a huge sigh through his nose.

"Hmphhhhh, you have got to be kidding me, really? Thanks Carl, I'll gladly take the information and what about the monster nest. Which one is the best suited for a challenge, I want to try for an Elite nest." Polemos just shook his head and sighed.

"You alright there, Polemos?"

"Well yeah I'm good but do you remember what I told you when we first met? Because if you do, Alyan and I have blood between us." Polemos smiled and shrugged his shoulders at the same time.

"I do and what did you do to him?" Carl asked?

"Nothing."

"Really?"

"Well I thought at one time that it was because I looked better looking than him and that I was just weak but, I honestly don't have any idea why. I'm an orphan of the tribe but also an outsider, my eyes are the best proof for that. Other than the first two ideas I had, I got no clue." Polemos had no reason to lie to Carl as Carl was always honest with him.

"Well that's not that rare but still rare. And for the information he was just promoted as the new Hunting Captain for the tribe's second hunting team, just because he thinks he's a hot shot means that he's entitled to a discount. Brat needs to learn their place." Carl grunted near the end.

"And for the monster nest then I would recommend the Red Horned Bearded Lizard. Careful with them though as they are pretty fierce and normally travel in packs of two and three's, and if you see one with five, run as one of them is a Special Elite. But their scales and claws are worth some good silver and can make some good equipment." Carl replied

Polemos grinned not only because the monster nest was the same, as the two other followers on the note, it was also because the red horned bearded lizards would be a fun challenge. Until Carl asked about his current Mana Stage.

"What's your current Mana stage by the way."

"Intermediate Acolyte stage five, why?" Polemos was a little confused.

"Nothing just like I said if you see one that's in a group of five then just run. I'll be back with your supplies and by the way your special harpoon arrived just the other day and the blacksmith had a message saying: 'it was a lot of fun making this, if you have any other requests I would appreciate the challenge.' I'll also include a book that has the information of the beasts and monsters around the tribe that the tribe was able to get." Carl said as he started to head to go and go get the supplies and his new harpoon that Polemos would need for the hunt.

As Polemos was waiting for Carl to return with his supplies and new equipment he smiled a bright smile. The harpoon was an idea he had to change up his fishing style and also be useful in a fight as the design for the harpoon was able to attach to his belt with at least 7.5 meters of a thick rope. The design for the bladed end was as long as a person's forearm with two back hooks.

"Wow I can't believe Carl was able to find someone to make it, that's awesome! I wonder what rank he was able to make it. And it looks like I should head over to that nest as soon as possible, let's just head out after the fishing competition with Elder Spear. I wonder if I can get some armor from the lizards also. That would be nice." Polemos spoke to himself with an ever present smile on his face, as he waited what felt like twenty minutes before Carl was back with the supplies and harpoon.

"If you were wondering about the rank of the harpoon, it's a True Acolyte stage nine advanced piece, so it's a very well made piece and will cost ya a little more than I suggested, but will compensate with the lizard scales and claws as payment. And for the supplies and books on the monsters that'll be about 955 silver coins." Carl said as he placed the book and what looked like a necklace on top of it.

"Gods Carl, are you trying to bleed me dry? That's almost all of my money. I was trying to save up as much as I could, now it's almost all gone. Wait, is that a storage necklace?"

Polemos was hurt as he just had a little over a gold coin worth of silver saved up, then when he noticed the necklace it made sense as that was what made it so expensive.

'Man now I'm only down to just 100 silver damn, well let's hope that the lizards are worth what Carl said.' Polemos sighed in his head as he handed over the silvers.

"Ya it is, it is one of the lowest types with only a 5x5 storage but with what you'll need, it'll be more than enough and was the only one left that I had. Plus the notes in this book will help you when you want to go hunting." Carl replied with a laugh and smiled as his small bells attached to his beard made some noise also. Which was weird as they never made that noise before when Polemos talked to Carl.

"I can hear your bells finally, wait why can I hear your bells?" Polemos asked as he grabbed the inscribed animal fanged necklace, and put it around his neck and put the book into the necklace. Then he clipped the long rope to his belt from his new harpoon and then placed it in a custom sheath.

"Oh ya can hear' em there what's called 'death bells' all it does is allow those who've killed before to give them notice that death is watching them. That's actually a good thing apparently, as I've never heard them before nor have they rung for me just wearing them cause they went well with the beard." Carl laughed then went back to his ledger.

"Good luck Polemos, don't go dying on me, you're my best customer."

"Well that's a little weird but, ok. Thanks Carl and don't worry I've been training for something like this, and don't worry you'll get your claws and scales and do you think when I get those scales, that blacksmith you found do you think he could make me some armor, a helm, arm guards, and some boots with them? And can he make the armor like this?" Polemos pulled out a piece of paper from his bag with a detailed description of what lamellar armor was like.

"I can definitely try but, like the harpoon it'll cost ya'."

"No problem, see yeah Carl."

Polemos waved as he left the tent. When he left the tent he transferred what was in the necklace to his bag as the necklace was for the claws and scales of the lizards, the only thing he didn't transfer was the notebook about the beast/monster nests as that had some important information. Polemos even wondered how Carl was able to get this type of information?

"Maybe I should ask when I get back, another one for the journal. I'll look at that notebook when I get to my tent then, look at that 'common' ranked spell for mana because when I read it the first time and then six other times it still made no sense but, maybe after I practiced with the other three it'll be different." Polemos pondered the rest of the way to his tent.

When Polemos made it to his tent he put his bag down and put the ashes of Ellios into the iron chest, grabbed some of his fish then proceeded to make his lunch and look over the two books; the first book was all about the nests near and around the tribe and all the information such as, weaknesses, habits, even down to the food some would eat. Plus it even had the strength of the monsters also.

"Well no wonder Carl said that Gods, they're perfect just right at my level! I wonder if they know their level well since they are a part of Alyans group they should know, but I could be wrong. Well this is very helpful alright let's look at that mana attribute spell book." Polemos grinned when he brought out the book.

It wasn't until the two moons were in the night sky that Polemos was able to finally pull himself away from the book with a very weird look in his royal purple eyes.

"What in the God's name? I knew this wasn't a bloody common ranked spell, hell it's a technique and a very powerful one too, how did Carl not notice that, damn? I won't be able to properly use this until I'm stronger but with the knowledge in this book maybe I could apply some of the information into the other spells. But let's just put it in the necklace for now. Shit the moons are out, well I should get some sleep, got myself a busy day in the sand in the morning."

Polemos shook his head while he had that devilish smile on his face as the moons shone, their light upon the massive desert.