The team walks through the portcullis and into the safety of the wall. Armor dissolves into Mana around all of them; flakes of [Salt] and [Earth] falling to the ground before disappearing all together.


    They ascend up the stairs to the residential wing, taking turns in the communal bathroom to wash Deadwoods dust and monster from their bodies, replacing sweaty under armor with functional cloths to head toward the dining area.


    Marco leads the way up the cafeteria and stands in the ever-present line and waits his turn. “I wonder what is being served for lunch.” Marco tries to crane his neck but can’t see anyone with a full plate, sighing he settles in to wait.


    The line moves fast, and soon the team is seated at a table with others, no four person tables available. Marco is happy to see that Coron is at his table, chatting excitedly with a familiar looking dwarf.


    “Hello Coron and Garreth! How are you both doing today?” Marco greets, sliding into the chair next to the older elf.


    “Things are going well! How do you know Garreth?” Coron says, turning to speak with Marco as he sits. Garreth echoes the sentiment around a mouth full of sandwich.


    “We interviewed him yesterday for our party. Coron meet Lucia Ebony, our new Rogue.” Marco introduces, Lucia bowing lightly at the elf.


    Marco takes a moment to examine his food, so wrapped up in the conversation that he hadn’t look yet. A slightly crusty roll hollowed out and filled with sliced grilled chicken, liver pate, mayonnaise, and various pickled vegetables. “There is also cucumber in here, so good. I love Banh Mi.” He thinks to himself


    He takes a huge bite of his sandwich, marveling at the explosion of flavors and textures. Crusty bread with tender chicken and crunchy acidic vegetables all brought together by the smooth liver pate. “Perfectly made Banh Mi.”


    “A pleasure to meet you Lucia of the Ebony Family,” Coron says, before taking a big bite of his vegetable sandwich, Marco sniffs and smiles to himself smelling a hint of lemongrass from the elf’s sandwich. “You’ve met Garreth but the other members of my new team are; Harold Sale our new Tank and Alya Lon, our healer.” The [Water] Healer nods in greeting, not seeming to be much for words.


    “Good to know that the sisters are putting the Tangle ingredient to good use.” Marco thinks. “Nice to meet both of you!” He greets the pair, “Have you ventured past the wall together yet?”


    “No, we have not,” Harold says in an extremely deep voice. The tall human Tank is handsome in a rugged sort of way with tanned skin, scruffy stubble that matches his naturally gray hair and offsets his dark eyes. “And before you ask, I am not super old, only one hundred and seven. If your bloodline remains attached to an element for long enough, it tends to change simple things like hair or eye colors.”


    “Interesting, I didn’t know Affinities could interact with the body like that.” Marco thinks before replying, “[Salt] Tank then?”


    “Indeed! A fellow [Salt] Affinity is rare in these lands, my family is from the borderlands between Eldermyst and The Floating Kingdoms” Harold says, in his deep bass rumble.


    “I am a Traveler actually, just appeared here on day nearly a month ago.” Marco says.


    “Fascinating, to have such a High Affinity right out of the gate is incredible. We should trade knowledge some time.” Harold rumbles. Marco nods, always happy to gain more knowledge about his spells and Affinity.


    “We are heading beyond the wall after midday meal,” says the gnomish woman, Alya in a slightly high-pitched voice. The three-foot-tall woman has deep blue hair streaked with various lighter blues, sapphire eyes and deeply tanned skin. “It will be our first foray as a group.”


    “We were discussing doing a Gold Rank job after the meal as well.” Shen supplies, finishing his sandwich and swigging some water. “Our group did a Silver job earlier this morning to make sure everyone meshed well together.”


    “Before we head to the satellite Guildhall, I’d like an hour or two to try and develop a new spell.” Marco requests, “I think it’ll end up being a mass debuff against Undead, slowing them and doing minor but constant damage.”


    Harold nods, “I have something similar, but it is more enchantment than active spell effect.” He says, “I can apply it to my manifested weapons.”


    “That is amazing, I hope to make mine a massive area spell.” Marco says.


    They chat companionably with the other team before bidding Coron and his team farewell and good luck with their mission. The teams go their separate ways with Marco headed to his bunk, to start his spell tests.


    Marco assumes his normal lotus position on the bed, focusing on the spell that he wishes to make. “Back home, a circle of salt is a ward against evil and magic. Hopefully I can use that intent to form a spell that slowly leaches magic from Undead.”


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    Marco takes continued deep breaths, cupping his hands together palm facing palm and focuses on what he wants to the spell to do. “Protection from magic, sapping strength from Undead creatures, and providing destruction of Undead creatures.”


    He repeats this mantra in his head over and over again while pushing [Salt] Mana into the space between his hands, it takes several tries before his even able to control the [Salt] between his hands enough to prevent it from forming a solid ball.


    Thirty minutes pass and Marco is on to the next step of spell creation, he pushes the intent into his small cloud of [Salt]. “Protection, Sapping, and Destruction.” is repeated over and over again and Marco tries to push those thoughts into his nascent spell, it immediately disrupts the formation and he has to start over.


    Again and again for another forty-five minutes he tries and fails to push the intent into the spell. Marco tries to change up his approach, spinning the [Salt] in his cupped hands while trying to infuse the intent works a touch better but still causes a failure. He slowly expands his hands and is shocked by the feeling of the [Salt] pulling in the intent before it expands to fill the barrack room and beyond.


    [Salt Circle] finishes forming and Marco beams a smile, and then nearly jumps a foot when he hears Ben’s voice from the bed next to his.


    “That is a very well-formed spell, Marco! You have a serious talent for Mana.” Ben says, matching Marco’s smile. “Did you manage to get all three pieces of intent into the spell?”


    “Yes! It should protect from magic, sap strength from Undead creatures and begin to degrade them in its area of effect; which seems to be quite large.” Marco says standing and stretching, quite stiff from his nearly two hours of sitting. “Let’s get the group together and see if we can’t rustle up a Gold Job.”


    Ben smiles and nods, leading the way toward Shen and Lucia. Marco and Ben join up with the rest of their party and make their way to the satellite Guildhall, quickly finding the Gold Rank job board and see what’s available.


    *Ping* Gold Rank Jobs Available:


    <ol>


    <li> Devil’s Dead Dungeon Clear (0/1)</li>


    <li> Knight’s Spotted (0/1)</li>


    <li> Ingredient Delivery: Stinging Nettle (0/1lb), Cursebreaker Carrot (0/1lb), Hen of the Woods Mushrooms (0/1lb)</li>


    </ol>


    Marco wants to accept the third option so badly it hurts; he manages to restrain himself and they all agree that the second option is best. Marco mentally picks the second option and they make their way back to the portcullis and Gatekeeper Renee, who raises the gate for them and allows them through with wishes of good luck.


    They quickly race through the gray forest, exactly the same as this morning, crunchy grass and the occasional patrol of lesser undead creatures. The party makes quick work of the monsters and continues their sprint through the woods, quickly finding the Knight in the distance.


    “Yeah, it is a large skeleton but it doesn’t look that scary.” Marco thinks to himself, preparing bolts and shots to be launched. The party repeats the same strategy as earlier with Ben starting off combat with a [Focused Beam] that lances across the distance, only leaving wisps of smoke on the skeletal monster.


    The monster whips around toward them, a roar coming from its skull and a full suit of icy plate armor forms around the monster. “Oh, that looks much scarier.”


    The team waits for the monster to begin its charge, waiting until it’s within forty feet to start their alpha strike, just like the fight earlier today bolts, beams, and [Fireball] flash across the distance to pummel the Knight clad in icy plate.


    “[Water] Knight! Expect whips or something similar!” Ben calls over the sounds of the spells detonating against the monster.


    “Heard!” Marco calls out, not even realizing he has reverted back to kitchen callbacks in combat. He smiles and continues to sling [Salt Shots] at the Knight, shattering chunks of its armor off but it quickly repairs itself. “Lucia! See if you can get a [Fire] debuff to stick.”


    “Going in!” The Rogue calls back, stepping backward into her shadow and out into the Knight’s. She doesn’t bother with the [Cloud of Darkness] as it didn’t seem to hinder the Brute at all but made it harder to for her teammates to aim. She strikes mid-calf, about as high as can reach with her short weapons and the icy armor their starts to melt before refreezing soon after. Lucia strikes a dozen times in quick succession with her dual weapons, every strike causing some of the armor to melt a little bit more before it freezes once again. “Debuffs won’t stick!”


    Marco watches in horror as Lucia tries to step into her shadow but is kicked by the Knight, sending the small woman into a tree across the battlefield. “Ben! Lucia took a huge hit.” Marco cups his hands together and casts his new spell [Salt Circle], pulling his hands apart quickly, the [Salt] expands to fill the battlefield and beyond, the magic starts to eat at the skeleton below the armor. The Knight stumbles slightly, catching itself but roaring in pain at the [Salt] Mana eating at it.


    Ben sparkles with [Light], his speed increases by several orders of magnitude, [Lightspeed], flashing across the distance and appearing by Lucia’s crumbled form. Ben glows with [Rejuvenation] and Lucia stirs, her wounds closing and bruises fading.


    Shen manages to recapture the Knight’s attention with earthshattering blows with his [Hammer of Granite]. The huge monster staggers under the repeated blows as it loses huge chunks of his armor, a [Water] whip snakes out and slams in the Tank’s [Earthen Armor] pushing him back several steps.


    Marco targets the creature’s head with [Salt Strikes], distracting the monster temporarily as the icy helmet shatters and [Salt] crystals dig into the skull, carving lines into the bone and reaching for the green orb within.


    The Knight moves backward, tripping over a well-placed [Rampart], and fails to catch itself, falling to the ground with a crash and the sound of shattering ice. The team redoubles their castings, dozens of [Salt Shots] shatter armor and allow [Dark Slashes] to rip apart ribs and [Salt Bolts] to drill through the skull toward the orb of [Cursed] Mana within.


    One final blow from [Hammer of Granite], enlarged by Shen’s magic ends the Knight’s struggle.


    *Ping* Knight Slain (1/1)


    Congratulation on completing your Gold Ranked Adventurer Job.


    Rewards for Regular Completion:


    -Ten Gold Per Party Member


    -Mana Purification Ritual


    “Interesting rewards, I wonder what the Mana Purification Ritual is used for. Maybe it helps if you get touched by [Curse] Mana.” Marco thinks to himself, deciding to hold off on the ritual until later.