It was 5 in the morning, and the gloomy sky made for an unsettling environment as breakfast was served.The plate of bacon was freshly cooked, and Vince began immediately double fisting.Reggie sat next to him, wrapping several pieces of bacon around a sausage link as steaming hot coffee was poured into each person’s cup by the Demon-Dragonborn waitress.


    “I feel fine now, I just don’t get what happened.Did you manage to get ahold of Luther?” Bryn asked.Before they went their separate ways upon their arrival in Dregmoor, Luther had given them the name of the village he was working in, a town an hour east of Dregmoor named Marshall.While the pair recoveredover the previous week, they had asked Reggie to travel to Marshall and ask Luther if he had any information regarding the situation with Jordan’s peculiar skill.


    6:00 pm


    As frustrating as that was for him, curiosity was the more overwhelming feeling.If Bryn did not have an Adventurer’s Boon, he could not use skills.This was not something that was up for debate, it was simply the core concept that allows skills to exist in the first place.While neither of them had extensive knowledge on peculiar skills, they knew enough that whatever the skill was should still require a Boon.


    Jordan had mostly gotten used to the overwhelming smell of meat, demons were carnivores after all.Though as Jordan was hit by the aroma of 4 different kinds of animals simultaneously, he found himself craving vegetables for the first time in his life.


    Should we be taking advice from this man at all?” Bryn asked looking over at Jordan.The meat sweats were pouring down his face, and the tips of his pointed ears were red as Jordan finished his 2nd plate.This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.


    Bryn shook his head as he looked back over at Reggie, who continued to speak.


    He said all peculiar skills have unique activation requirements and are incredibly powerful, but transferring them between people is unheard of as far as he knows.I adventured myself for a few years, and I’ve never heard of a skill being transferable, let alone a peculiar one.”Reggie said.


    Thanks for trying, I’ll have to just wait to look into it until I get back to Zyphtal.”Bryn said, the disappointment in his voice obvious.While he recovered from the fight just fine, his curiosity over the situation was killing him.Dregmoor didn’t have nearly the same resources for research, and forgetting about this until he went back home was a frustrating conclusion to come to for Bryn.


    The pair invited Vince to the diner since the 4 of them were the only adventurers in town, but there was clearly still tension from the previous incident.“When I was in Zyphtal before I came back home, I was in a party with a fighter that could use the Swift Hand Skill.”Vince said quietly.


    That skill was one of the first that Rangers are able to use, and is exclusive to them and Gunslingers.A fighter using that skill shouldn’t have been possible, no matter what level of experience they have.


    His confidence had clearly been damaged, and Bryn felt a twinge of guilt until Jordan broke the silence with a loud belch.


    Thanks for that info Vince, are you coming back to Zyphtal anytime soon?” Jordan asked as he dabbed his forehead with a napkin. Vince looked caught off guard by this question, hesitating for a moment before answering.


    If you feel like coming back by the time we leave, you should join our party.” Jordan said, grabbing a toothpick and going to town as he spoke.Vince looked flabbergasted, stuttering as he attempted to respond.


    You messed up before, but you clearly care about doing the right thing and you can acknowledge when you make mistakes.A cleric is a versatile support class, so in the context of an adventuring party that you have chemistry with, what you do is really important.Hey Bryn we should head out, it’s almost time to do patrols.” Jordan said, slipping out of the booth and grabbing his equipment.Bryn nodded and thanked Reggie and Vince for their time, the latter still trying to process Jordan’s comment and continuing to stutter.Reggie smiled as he patted Vince on the shoulder and waved goodbye to the party.As they departed the diner, the minimal amount of light Dregmoor received broke through the sky.


    As they made their way to the patrol checkpoints, the duo discussed the events of the previous week. “So you still can’t remember anything?” Jordan asked as he examined the footprints on the southern road.This path led to the bandit’s fortress outside of town, and the traps Bryn had placed hadn’t been activated yet.


    I don’t remember anything until after I woke up in my room.” Bryn said.Jordan had carried Bryn back to town, bringing that fact up at every possible opportunity.Though he had been injured severely himself, the look in Bryn’s eyes after the toads had been killed encouraged Jordan to prioritize getting his friend to safety.


    Once they had rested for a couple days, the pair returned to the area the toads had taken residence in and exterminated the rest of the pack.The experience they gained from the previous fights, along with the environmental knowledge gained from Nature’s Credit, made finishing the pack an easy hour of work for the two.


    For the past 6 months, Dregmoor had been terrorized at least once a week when the gang decided to get drunk and cause chaos.Many people had been assaulted and robbed, with the townsfolk living in terror as they didn’t have the manpower to fight back.Jordan and Bryn were prioritizing them next, as the plant overgrowth was still manageable through consistent trimming.


    While the monsters they had faced up to this point provided their own sets of challenges, a group of 50 plus people with Adventurer’s Boons were a different animal.Even the lower level abilities of fighters, wizards, and the other more traditionally powerfulclasses were enough to intimidate Jordan to this day.


    He recognized it as a pair of Den Wire Boxes, a magical device Bryn had purchased in Zyphtal.Once activated, a steel wire reinforced with den shoots out and connects the boxes.As he searched the area for a place to set up the trap, he looked up and saw Bryn was already moving on to drawing a second circle.


    As he placed one of the boxes by a bush on the side of the road, he noticed a familiar smell.Looking closely at the ground, a small amount of blue powder lay scattered by the bush.The smell was memorable to Jordan, the thought of a smoking gun in a desert dungeon flashing in his mind.