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23. Broom Handle in Another World
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"Believe it or not, there's a few different ways to use it, but you can actually use it very similarly to the teleportation magic you just performed. When something has a soul, you can enter your own shadow and come out theirs. It's very good for getting close for... usually not so great deeds..." explained Maynard as she looked up at Wexel who's shadow was nearest, "Just... try it."
I turned and looked at where she was looking and it was the feet of Wexel where his shadow laid. I then looked down at my small circular shadow below me. I began feeling for the inside of whatever it might be that touches dark magic. All I felt was a twinge in my head around my horns as I seeped downward into the ground.
In that instant, there was a glass crack and a cry of shock as I came up by Wexel's feet. Maynard stood stunned. Her crystal glasses had cracked and fallen off her face, "S."
Maynard's hands shook as she picked up my adventurer card from her desk, "I'm uh, going to enchant your card. No one can know of this. I mean... it's unheard of and impossible that no one would even believe it. But I have a little work around, just between us," she said holding the card up for Lyra to see.
The main six elemental symbols were there with the 'S' over them. The S affinity over the whole element typically meant a mastery of the subsets of magic within as well from what she said earlier. Maynard then double tapped the card and now only wind showed an 'S' on it.
"So, we'll be lying?" asked Bea.
"I wouldn't look at it that way. People will become very suspicious if they see all the elements in S Rank. They will think it's fake. They could stop trusting your party or not hire you for jobs just because of it. But this way it'll only appear that he has one element. I will leave this enchantment on and link it to you Lyra. So, if you double tap an element on the card it will switch to that one and turn it 'S' instead." Maynard explained, handing it to her as it glowed to her touch.
"I see. and then if a really hard job requires a certain element that we don't have between our party we can switch it so Duc can fulfill the role," said Lyra double tapping fire and watching the 'S' move.
"Exactly."
"Sounds like an easy enough thing to keep to ourselves," laughed Bea.
"Aye, won't hear nothing from me," Wexel nodded.
"Well, for now… I guess this is goodbye as you have a quest already," Maynard said as she walked back to her desk and sat down.
"Oh, thank you for all your help," expressed Lyra with admiration.
"Well, you can tell your father he can own me one," said Maynard with a wink.
"Wait, you? You know?" said Lyra confused.
"Almost immediately. You'd think the hundreds of years he's been alive would have loosened him up a little bit, but not when it comes to you," Maynard let out a slight chuckle and waved goodbye to the group, even nodding at me to go ahead.
*It seems for now my path is to continue on as I have for now. It still feels like the adventure’s just beginning, but it's actually been going on since I've been here. Years. Guess it's just a matter of what comes next…*
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Lyra, Bea, and Wexel gathered their things from the rooms they were staying in and we all met back in the guild hall ready to venture forth. It was time to learn about this mysterious new quest we were supposed to be going on. All that I had learned so far was that a collector in one of the human territories has been waiting for minotaur parts for some years now to complete a project he's been working on. When word spread of a party that had conquered and beat one they apparently put in for us to be the ones to deliver the parts.
We stood back in line where we had just some weeks ago started our journey into our first now conquered dungeon with the same guild representative, Flueve, whose name I only just learned, but he was the guy that dubbed us 'Dungeon Party 6731' before heading to Albian and Balrung's Keep. The group stepped up to the service desk as he leaned forward and smiled.
"Ah, the dungeon conquerers. Here for the details on your requested job?"
"Yes." said Lyra stepping forward to take the lead, "I was told we were requested."
"Ah, yes. By Markus Blimmer. He is some sort of scientist or so he says, and he's always had in a request to acquire the minotaur's parts if it were ever beaten. He's had that request in for many, many years..." laughed Flueve as he looked through some documents, "Basically, he's willing to make a top dollar donation to our guild and he thinks the party that beat it should obviously get the credit and learning that you are a newer party as well, he thinks you'll work extra hard to see this job through."
"Okay, that makes sense," said Bea, scratching her head.
"Well," continued Flueve, "Think of it as something special. Obviously with your proficiency and affinity rankings you guys got to move up and skip a whole party rank from F to D, which is very uncommon for only one accomplishment. But the more jobs you get under your belt, the more prolific you're going to be. You don't want to be a one hit wonder, you want to be infamous but in a good way! Right?"
"Yes, of course!" interjected Lyra letting her determination be known. She looked to Bea and Wexel who nodded in agreement as well.
"Well, I have a good memory and if I recall right when you first approached me you wanted to come up with your party name. You can officially do that now!" smiled Flueve, "However, The Mavericks as you wanted, is already taken."
"Oh, well, shoot," said Lyra pondering.
"How bout The Slayers?" questioned Bea.
Flueve momentarily checked documents, "Sorry, already taken."
"Uh, the uh, shield bashers," Wexel spoke up.
"What? Come on." Bea coughed, rejecting the name.
"Taken anyways I'm afraid."
*I can see where this is going...*
The group kept bouncing ideas off of one another shouting out random names like 'Killer Queens" and "Axe Blades" and "Elven Light" to simpler things like just items; "Broom Handle," "Bucket," "Forking Chair," and so many more, but no matter what they said it seemed to be taken already. It reminded me of trying to come up with a username back in my old world.
I sighed out a small honking quack looking down and then up. Lyra was staring at me.
"What about, 'The Quack Pack'?" she asked. Bea and Wexel looked stunned but amused at the name and turned to Flueve.
"It's... not taken," he said to his own surprise, "Looks like you're The Quack Pack now."
“Quack?” I said, shocked myself.
"Thank the gods that's over with," said Wexel who seemed to have enough himself and sat down on the ground, “On with the job details.”
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End Part 23
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Author's Notes #11:
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When I set out on this writing journey, I never really knew what I wanted. Of course it doesn't hurt to dream big and wish that someday this could see some sort of comic adaptation or animation adaptation. But at the end of the day I would just take a fan. Just someone who generally and genuinely enjoys this little story about a duck in a larger than life world. I think to get this far and see this message, you've obviously got to be one haha.
I think as I round out the ending of this volume it's really going to push me into more world building and stepping out into what I want for the future of this series. No, I don't want it to go on forever, but I do want to have fun with it and I do want to see it go to some different places just to see if I can. This whole project has been a challenge to myself from day one and sometimes I surprise even myself to see how far I've come. Now to see how far I can go!
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Duck Fact #11:
While Walt Disney's Donald Duck premiered first at 1934, Warner Brothers' Daffy Duck, who debuted in 1937, was crowned the most important pop culture duck of all time. But again in retrospect, Donald has appeared in over 150 cartoon projects whereas Daffy has only been in 130. And of course, even after almost 100 years, both are still extremely well known. Both of them will continue to be in more things throughout and past your or my's lifetime. It really is crazy how some things stand the test of time!
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