It was another day in Magnolia, but this day wasn't as pretty as the previous one. Kerii could see rain clouds rolling in. She had no doubt that it was probably going to rain some time later in the day. If Kerii wanted to take on a quest, now would be the perfect time so that she could get it done as soon as possible before it started to rain, just in case she had to go outside for it. She could always take a request that would most likely have her be inside the whole time, but you could never know.

After getting dressed, brushing her hair, brushing her teeth, taking a shower, drying her hair, etc. she was all ready to set out on another job. She left the inn and set off towards the request board, whose location she'd mastered by now, along with other important places in Magnolia such as Kardia Cathedral and the Mag Drug Magic Shop. Well, the last one wasn't as important, but it was still a useful place to know about, especially since the owner of it, Khalash, often put out requests for everyone to take. Kerii actually wouldn't be surprised if she did end up taking a request from him, especially after what happened with the licorice root. She would love it if she could have another one of those to see if it made her feel any different again, but she wouldn't go asking for it. If Khalash wanted to give her another one, he would.

When Kerii approached the request board, she took a look at every job there was to offer. There weren't as many as the previous day, but there were still a good number to choose from. And, not to her surprise, she found one that Khalash put out. Apparently he needed help testing a shield. Kerii looked up at the clouds. The rain would probably be coming in a couple hours or so. She highly doubted that testing a shield would even take one hour to do, so it seemed like a good option for her. Yes, she would be taking that one. With her mind set on it, Kerii took the quest and rushed off towards the Mag Drug Magic Shop.

She really didn't need to hurry. The shop wasn't too far away, but she did want to get the job over with as soon as possible. Maybe if she was lucky she would be able to have spare time to take yet another one before the rain started. She supposed it depended on how it went though. She's done quests that she thought wouldn't take a long time, but ended up taking over an hour. But testing a shield? She couldn't possibly see how that would take a lot of time, unless she had to be sent out to get someone with some special weapon to use against the shield or maybe having to go brew a special potion that would normally corrode a shield. Who knows.

Kerii reached the Mag Drug Magic Shop and entered. She went up to see Khalash and said that she could help him test his shield. He smiled and said for her to follow him to the back of his shop, and so she did. They went through a back door and into a relatively empty and spacious room. The only items visible were various weapons, shields, and pieces of armor that Khalash probably either collected or made. He went over and picked up a shield. It looked new and didn't have a scratch on it. It must have been freshly made, which was probably why Khalash was so eager to test it out.

"Here, take this," he said, handing Kerii the shield. "I'm going to cast a few fire spells at the shield, okay?" Kerii nodded her hand in understanding. "Great! If I made the shield correctly, then it will withstand every single attack I throw at you. If I didn't... then I'm sorry." Kerii raised the shield and tensed up. She really hoped that the result wasn't the later of what Khalash had said. The old man cast a few fireballs, each one dissipating with a loud puff as it slammed against the shield. Luckily, the shield didn't break under the pressure. "Come, show me the shield. Bring it to me," Khalash said, clearly eager (and a bit anxious) to see how his shield did. After a close examination, a wide smile spread across his face as he saw that his shield had nothing but a few charred marks that could be easily washed off. He put the shield on his arm and asked Kerii if she could test out the shield's strength now. Kerii raised her eyebrows. She wasn't a very strong mage when it came to anything that involved inflicting damage, neither physically nor magically. In fact, she was the exact opposite of that. She focused on healing, not fighting, so she assumed that Khalash was about to be very disappointed by what she was about to do.

Kerii threw the hardest punch she could at the shield. Admittedly it wasn't much, only enough to cause bruises that weren't even deep on someone's flesh. It certainly wasn't anywhere near powerful enough to cause a dent in a shield, even if it was a mediocre one. "Really? That's it?" Khalash said, sounding disappointed. "Sorry, I'm a healer," she responded. Khalash shrugged. "I guess I could understand that, but you need to toughen up, especially if you're going to be healing on a battle field. You could be the best healer in the whole world, but if you can't defend yourself, how do you expect to be able to heal anyone?" He had a point, but it wasn't anything Kerii hasn't thought of before. "I know, I know. I'm working on it. I'll train. I just wanted to get some quests done first." Khalash shrugged again. "Well, thanks for testing the shield. Here's your reward as promised." He handed Kerii some jewels and she stowed them away in her wallet. "Thank you," Kerii said before leaving. Khalash was right though. If she wanted to be a successful mage, she needed to get stronger.

WC: 1038/1000