In the end, a day passed, and Reidar decided the best thing to do would be to tackle the first quest. The reason was simple; he was not currently prepared to try the Sunken turbine quest. That required him to have skills that would allow him to summon aquatic creatures, or at least something capable of swimming and diving, hopefully to fight in the waters.

When Martin left, Reidar checked Morv'axil's goods, and he finally got why nobody in Havenwood had one. If that didn't explain the reason in its totality, then it did so partially.

Morv'axil had few summoning skills, and those he had were extremely expensive.

<I need to get more survival points.>

It was ridiculous for someone like Reidar, who had at least 5-6 times the amount of survival points than the average survivors had, but that was the sad reality.

<I thought they were supposed to be connected to whatever intergalactic trade channel these guys had.> Reidar thought, referring to the thalassari vendor in Havenwood.

He wasn't wrong; it was just that each vendor could choose what to sell and what to buy.

The Thalassari vendors came to Earth for the sake of helping humans survive the great changes that the planet and their lives were facing, but the core of the matter was that they were still merchants, and as such, they had the right to choose what to provide to their unwilling customers.

That was exactly what Morv'axil did, and, based on what Reidar understood of the thalassari man, a large part of it was because of his peculiar personality.

Morv'axil's attire was... excessive. While Keth'moran back in Three Lakes hadn't exactly dressed like any human Reidar had ever seen, there'd been a practical merchant's sensibility to his appearance.

Morv'axil, instead, seemed to bask in the flashy. He looked like an eccentric even among his own kind, at least in Reidar's opinion. The man also suspected this personal flamboyance translated directly into his trade practices.

While standing there the previous day and scrolling through the vendor's interface when he went back to the vendor once Martin left, the idea solidified.

Morv'axil clearly favored the exotic and the bizarre. To Reidar, whose entire reality had been overturned, concepts like 'normal' were relative; summoning a squad of skeletal soldiers was weird from his point of view.

But even he could tell the merchant's skills were strange. Morv'axil's offerings were just… different.

They weren't just powerful; they were peculiar, often with strange activation requirements or unpredictable secondary effects. The man himself had practically bragged about specializing in rarities and anomalies.

So, it wasn't that the people here lacked the aptitude or will to learn Summoning Skills, it was that they were either too weird and unreliable by the point of view of someone who didn't use them or saw them in action before, or they were expensive.

It was economics. Keth'moran had offered foundational, practical summoning skills—reliable, if expensive.

Morv'axil's products were either absent or buried under a mountain of Survival Points, priced as the rare curiosities he so cherished.

The basic gear was available, as likely mandated by whatever merchant code the Thalassari joining the allied worlds followed, but anything truly useful for building a summoner's arsenal was locked behind a paywall only someone who'd single-handedly cleared a city of monsters could hope to breach.

Of course, it was different for Reidar, but as for the people of Havenwood, who were fighting a defensive war, relying on tools that an eccentric collector decided were was just a risk too great to take.

Reidar was at the gate at that point, ready to leave.

When a familiar voice cut through the morning air just as Reidar's boot crossed the threshold of Havenwood's main gate.

"Miller."

He turned. Lena stood there, her expression as serious as it had been the previous day when they first met. She wasn't alone.

Three others followed her, with relaxed postures that made the guards nearby subtly tense.

Reidar observed them. There was a mountain of a man with an assessing gaze that contrasted with his bulk. His size suggested immense physical power.

There was a woman whose stillness was more unnerving than a monster. Her hands were near a collection of blades.

A third figure, not as large as the other but certainly shredded, carried a massive Zweihänder with an ease that defied its weight.

"Did you talk to Martin perhaps?" Reidar knew Martin would ask his elites to join in, at least to reap some of the benefits that would otherwise go to Reidar only. It was just that this woman disturbed him in a way even monsters couldn't.

"We talked," she said without wasting time in pleasantries. "My team and I decided to come with you. We've already accepted the quarry quest from Morv'axil."

Reidar's eyebrows lifted. "I was under the impression I would handle this alone, since Martin said you failed in clearing the quarry already."

Lena gave him a chilling look.

"The quarry isn't a place for solo work," the large man rumbled. "Even for someone who cleared a monster horde alone." He offered a slight, almost imperceptible nod.

"And who might you be?" Reidar asked.

"Jorik Malden, mage."

"Mage?"

Lena nodded. "First impressions are usually wrong. Don't think just because he looks like the younger brother of the moon he is all muscles and no brain."

The woman with the blades didn't speak, but Reidar could swear she was studying all his micro-expressions. Lena provided the introduction.

"She is Lysa Creen, by the way, and the other man, the one with the sword, is Torren Vahl."

"A pleasure to meet you."

The man with the great sword gave a confident smirk. "I heard you put on quite a show at the wall," Torren said. "Let's see if you can keep up when the terrain's not in your favor."

"The terrain is never in my favor," Reidar said. Then he turned to Lena. This wasn't a request; it was a statement. It wasn't that he didn't appreciate the help, but for Reidar, Martin's elite looked more like babysitters, observers of the sort, rather than help, and that made Reidar wonder why Martin wanted to keep a close eye on him.

Sure, seeing what Reidar could do in more complex situations than the previous day was certainly one of the reasons, but at the same time, if Havenwood was really at war with someone, and not just something, it might also be because they suspected he was implicated.

<What the fuck…> He sighed. <I just came here, plus I agreed to help Martin do whatever he needs to, and he is already treating me like shit.>

But the quest rewards would be useful, too useful for Reidar, who was bound to cross thousands of kilometers to reach his family, and who needed as much C.L.A.S.P. and survival points as he could.

"I wasn't expecting to be on a committee," Reidar said, keeping his tone light though his mind raced. "But if you've already signed on, I'm not turning down experienced hands. Just know I work with my own methods."

"We've received word of your methods," Lena said, her gaze flicking toward the eastern wall, where the scars of the recent battle were still fresh.

"That's why we're here. The quarry's a different kind of fight. Tight spaces, blind corners. Your creatures will be useful, but you won't be able to unleash a large army in such spaces."

"Then I suppose we're a team," Reidar said, his smile not quite reaching his eyes, and his eyes betraying a hint of annoyance.

<As soon as I get these quests done, I'm getting the fuck out of here….>

Lena didn't make things easier either, given her character. Besides, Reidar felt threatened.

These folks were way higher level than him, and if they wanted to, they could probably take him out. He wasn't exactly strong or quick—most of his points had gone straight into A.C.U.M.E.N.

These guys looked like they'd put all their points into S.H.I.E.L.D. and F.L.A.I.R.—at least Torren, Lysa, and Lena herself.

Jorik could be trouble too. No doubt he had skills Reidar hadn't even bought, since he'd focused on summons. But that didn't make them any weaker.

Regardless, at least for the sake of a fruitful and peaceful cooperation, he extended a hand toward the forest path. "After you. You know the way better than I do."

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