Psychokinetic Eyeball Pulling

Chapter 64: A Little Help

“My lady, are you okay?” Leena whispered so that no one else could hear them.

“I’m fine,” Astrid said.

Calming down from the panic, she thought about the voice in more depth. The playful voice matched with the descriptions from the Title’s that she gained. If she added those together, then that meant that the realistic voice was indeed the System.

A System with sentience? I’ll need to go to the library and read up on it. It’s hard to believe. Astrid absentmindedly walked inside the General Store along with the others.

The shop was more like a warehouse. Many adventuring supplies lined it in the hundreds. The survival section held fire starting supplies, shelter making equipment, and water purification. Alongside them were survival rations that were tightly packed in an air-locked packaging to improve shelf life and in turn, protecting it against the elements.

Next up was the tool section. Everything ranging from pickaxes to seed dippers. After all, not all the missions were about killing. The Towns provided plenty of resources that they harvested in rotation as they plotted HMS Rebirth’s course around Ruitera.

As they walked to the next section, their eyes lit up. Weapons. The quartermaster hooked them up to the wall in the hundreds. There was a weapon for every fighting style imaginable, and they were all separated into the different stats that the Wayfarers specialised in.

Strength weapons menacingly hung from their hooks. Pieces of equipment like the two-handed hammer, swords, axes, and maces were just a few. Froderick and Josh couldn’t help themselves as they took one off the shelf. Josh held an axe and twirled it in his hands, as if it wasn’t a strength weapon, but for a dexterity user. While Froderick grabbed a two-handed sword. His large hands comfortably held the hefty weapon in his hands.

Astrid brought over a one-handed sword with her mind and lightly held the grip of the blade. A cool sense of familiarity made her feel bit better from the nagging thoughts in her mind.

She reminisced about her past. Often having to run through the training field with a sword in hand as she battled the other youths. She didn’t want to brag, alright; she did. Astrid was one of the most talented within her year and had even won the youths sword-fighting tournament.

She brandished the blade and got into the Sinwen sword fighting stance. It focused on aggression and a high number of quick successive attacks. It was designed to not give the opponent a chance to breathe, and one mistake could cause their downfall. But it was also a double-edged sword.

Astrid swung her sword multiple times, the air swished from her extra strength and dexterity stats. The longer she continued, the stronger and more disorderly her attacks became. She finished with a backhanded swing, then she stood straight with the sword’s blade travelling up the back of her arm.

“Do you miss it, my lady?” Leena said.

“I do.” Astrid admitted.

She still remembered the feeling of altering her body with matter control. The strength it brought was mesmerising. But even if she could recreate it, she doubted she would go back to using the sword. It was just impractical with her current skill set.

Wait… So does that mean powering my body with matter control scales off of intelligence not strength?

“Your moves are so elegant and fierce, Astrid,” Mina said. “I’ve never seen the Sinwen sword style before. It’s better than I could have ever imagined.”

“You should see my brother with the magic swordsman class,” Astrid said. “It is something to behold.”

“Hey Astrid,” Nick continued, “I heard that your eldest brother Tennyson doesn’t use a sword. Is it true?”

“It is,” Astrid said. “He uses a pair of large gauntlets to beat his opponents, although he’s usually stubborn and refuses to use his magic.”

“Uh, why?” Nick tilted his head.

“Because he’s a Sinwen,” Gloria said.

“Because he believes he needs nothing but his own body to beat his opponents.” Astrid set a glare at Gloria.

They then moved to the Dexterity section. It held weapons like daggers, curved blades, many types of bows, and even more unique weapons like claws or kamas. Mina was the only one interested in the section as her eyes immediately turned to the most expensive of them all. Her fingers stroked against the glossy wood of the bow’s limbs. Then she pinched the string.

“So high quality.” Mina nodded in satisfaction.

“After this mission, why don’t we buy you guys some higher tiered equipment?” Froderick said.

“If we can make enough,” Josh hoped.

“We should prioritise on getting Josh some better armour.” Mina let go of the bow’s string.

“The tank’s life is the most important,” Gloria agreed.

“Well who knows,” Astrid continued, “we might find some equipment down in the Town.”

“I wonder if there will be a dungeon?” Leena asked.

“That’s impossible?” Astrid said. “They have already scoured it from the bottom of the earthen tunnels, to the tip of the mountain tops.”

“You’re right, it’s just that strange things keep happening,” Leena said.

“That’s true, very strange.” Astrid grimaced as she brushed her hand over her eye.

Astrid wondered over to the last section, potions. They made the cheapest ones of a simple glass, and as the price increased, the bottle changed to a hardened crystal. She picked up one of the most expensive bottes; it was a health potion, but the liquid had another mixed within. It was hard to tell, but it looked like a viscous silver liquid that refused to blend with the normal red of a healing potion.

Rare - Level 50 - Health potion: Common ingredients for a health potion have been fused with an Eblottain plant. Widely known for their incredible healing properties, but they are rarely found. The healing liquid is bottled within a hardened crystalline flask that is capable of withstanding harsh impacts, and lacquered with a heat resisting enchantment.

She glanced at the price tag that was attached to the bottle. Five gold pieces.

“That’s cheap, isn’t it?” Astrid said.

Nick craned his neck as he gazed at the price. His eyes widened. “Cheap? Are you crazy?”

“Five gold pieces is enough to feed my entire family for an entire year," Nick said. "And that’s feasting every day.”

“Is that so?” Astrid said. “I’ve never really had to use money. Leena has always done that stuff for me.”

“Oh, nobles.” Leena sighed.

“Agreed.” Nick nodded.

“Whatever. Let’s just buy everything we need and get out of here.” Astrid said, “I still have errands to run.”

“Errands? Is that the first time you’ve ever said that?” Gloria joked.

“Oh, like you’re one to talk,” Astrid said.

Astrid and the others left the shop with their hands full. Nick, Josh, and Mina had to rely on their Wayfarer’s wage to buy the items. While Astrid still had money left over from previous missions.

Before the mission, I need to pick up the items I won. Well, Freya won in the auction. That’s if they weren’t stolen, although the auction would give us our money back if that’s the case. Astrid thought about the debt that she had accrued from Freya, although she had said that it was nothing to worry about. It didn’t sit right with Astrid if she didn’t pay it back.

I’m going to be busy from now on, aren't I? Well, Astrid preferred it that way. After all, wasn’t debt just another challenge to overcome?

Astrid said goodbye to the others and headed over to the auction house. Astrid and Leena walked through the farmer’s field that was busy being restored by hundreds of Crop and Farming Class users. The air was ripe with nature magic as it tingled her senses like heightened hay-fever.

She quickly formed a bubble of matter around her head, just like with how she removed water from the air bubble in the ocean. However, the nature mana was many times thinner than water or even air.

Using Psych Domain to the maximum, she concentrated on the surrounding mana and forced it out of her bubble. Taking a renewed breath, she glanced at Leena. She seemed unaffected by the mana as she casually strolled forward.

Must be good to have a lot of constitution. She wasn’t upset. Astrid had her own way of handling things.

“My lady.” One Farming Class users bowed, his eyes glancing at her bright golden hair and the Sinwen badge pinned to her chest.

“You don’t need to bow to me,” Astrid said. “What’s your name?”

Astrid paid attention to his face and posture. The dark bags under his eye looked more like heavy baggage as they blended in with the dirt on his face. His clothes were torn, most likely from the thorn bushes that acted as a natural wall from predators like the birds hovering in the sky. A dense layer of dirt was packed under his nails.

“Oh–I’m Emir Lynch, my lady, not someone worthy of gathering your attention.” He held his hands together.

“What are you saying?” Astrid frowned.

Emir panicked, thinking that he had done something wrong. Before he could speak, Astrid interrupted him.

“You and the others are the lifeblood of this ship–of humanity.” Astrid grabbed hold of his dirty hands. “Without all of your hard work, we would have starved centuries ago. You have my thanks, sincerely.”

“M–my lady,” Tears formed from the corner of his eyes before he forced them back. “Thank you.”

The others had also stopped working. They were battered and exhausted, yet they worked tirelessly to provide them all with food and provisions. Where the nobles would simply hoard most of it into storage, in case someone attacked them once more.

Astrid nodded to the others as she left. Her face was grim and thoughts were swirling within her head.

“My lady?”

“I can no longer sit idly, can I?” Astrid said. “Not after seeing them like that. Return to the Sinwen manor and order the guards to help at the fields.”

“But–”

“Or I’ll kick up a fuss,” Astrid interrupted.

“Yes, my lady.” Leena grinned. “Right away.”

I did not know they were so understaffed. Astrid thought as she watched Leena retreat into the distance.

Astrid stood in front of the auction house. Enormous metal pipes lay in formation, all interconnected as the vast frame surrounded the building. It looked like they were not only repairing the damage done but also improving upon their previous design. To Astrid, a building was a building and such displays of wealth were boring. Maybe the Wayfaring life was already getting to her.

She walked past the white marbled fountains and into the gilded hall of the auction house. Most of the inside had already been repaired, the holes and craters from attacks filled in with haste as not to shake their image.

All Astrid cared about was her Psychokinetic ring, and the Ghostwalker sword that was soon to be in her hands.