《Adventured》 Chapter one: Adventurers Card I slashed. I cut. I sliced, and still I was pushed back by the beast. My heart pounded in my chest like a drum, and my breath came sharp and hard, like a hail storm, filled with burning pain and the taste of blood. My knife slide from my sweat slickened grasp, leaving me with a single weapon. My trusty sword, iron and weak, sizzled at the touch of the monster. Slimes, everyone hates them, worse than rats. But they are a necessary evil when a grade G adventurer enters a lair. That would be me. Newly minted adventurer Graey Thorn without a single skill, stat grade, or magic to my name. Nice to meet you, now excuse me, I''m in the middle of something. The green blob of goo advanced, pushing me back. How far back I had left to go, I didn''t know but I could feel the wall was close even if I wasn''t touching it. Is this how it ends, digested by a pest? It was possible. Many adventurers don''t survive their first contact with the monsters. I could be one of them. Well, if that was going to happen I''d best go out fighting. I roared my anger, fear, and desperation into the dim cavern, surprising the blob. My second, or was it third?, wind came and powered my strikes. Goo flew out with each blow, splattering the stone, painting my skin with stinging points. Somewhere inside the goo was the nucleus, that is what I needed to get to, but I couldn¡¯t see it. So I was left with blind chance and excessive force. The blob diminished with each strike, the substance of its being torn away with my attacks, but it kept coming, pressing tighter against me, limiting my reach. And then it slammed into me using what remaining mass it had to knock me back. I stumbled and fell on my back, but kept hold of my sword. Ouch, my whole body ached with the force but I regained my feet, just in time to slash before the goo covered my face. My sword slid through goo and struck something. The slime shivered and then dissolved into motes of light. Music filled my senses, triumphant horns, and soft strings. The nucleus, a rock like ball, lay on the floor, a subtle glow to it. I stood, feeling victorious, adrenaline pounding through my veins. I made it. I survived my first encounter. I was an adventurer. The dream like change between life threatening combat and this gave it a sense of unreality, almost enough to make me forget what I had to do. Almost. I picked up my prize, it was soft and warm, unlike the stony look it had, and placed it in my pouch. It wasn''t worth much in coin, but it was my first drop. Proof of my adventurer status and hopefully a chance to replace my damaged equipment. Retrieving my lost weapon I bent, feeling twinges all along my side where I overextended in my short but fierce battle. The way out was close, it was only a new lair. Lairs were rarely larger than a single floor, a few rooms at most. I''d been attacked within moments of entering. It was a short battle but it was almost more than I could handle. But today I would get my proper adventurer card. I would get to upgrade my stats, maybe. Walking through the bramble woven tunnel I stepped into light. I shielded my eyes with my hand and looked around. It was the same as when I entered a short while ago. Just a hole in the hedge along the road that cut through the outlying farms. It was afternoon just, the sun shining brightly. Hot after the dimness of the lair. Hot enough to create shimmers over the bare dirt road. I set off to the town, my throat feeling dry, but the soft stone in my hand banishing all discomfort to a place in the back of my head. Cobbles replaced dirt soon enough, and I came to the market square which was always busy with adventurers coming and going from the guild. The adventurer¡¯s guild stood firm its grey stone facing looked imposing in such a small town, but there was a branch everywhere. I made my way through the milling crowds to the entrance, and looked up. The stone arch had an inscription: Adventure is around every corner. It certainly is. Crossing the threshold gave me relief from the heat of the day but the shift from light to dark again played havoc on my eyes, and I missed seeing the person heading right into me. ¡°Get out the way boy. Adventures are coming through,¡± a huge man in armour that shone announced before barrelling right into me. I was knocked aside like fly. The flagstones hurt, but my eyes were on the armoured guy, his armour was unique. And instantly recognisable as Blue the giant''s slayer. The only S grade adventurer currently active. My gaze followed him and his entourage out the open door of the guild branch and into the street where he quickly vanished. ¡°Are you okay?¡± A voice asked me. I turned back to see a hand at my level, clearly offering to help me up. I took it. ¡°Thanks, yeah I''m fine. That was Blue. What is he doing here?¡± ¡°Just talking to the branch manager. I don''t know what about.¡± ¡°Sorry. Who are you?¡± ¡°I''m Gisselle. I work here. We met earlier. I was the one that told you about the lair.¡± ¡°I''m really sorry. Of course, but I didn''t get your name.¡± ¡°Hardly surprising, you were too excited. You came back quickly; I take it you succeeded.¡± ¡°Sort of. I killed a slime. But I did not defeat the lair. It¡¯s still there.¡± Gisselle gestured and we walked over to the private booths near the back of the main floor. We sat down and she pulled something under the table and a drawer slide open from the top of the table near the wall. Inside it was a book. ¡°Do you have anything to prove you defeated the slime?¡± ¡°I have the nucleus if that counts?¡± ¡°That would do it. If you would pass it over, I will reimburse you for any lost equipment, this time. first mission only. And I will give you your Adventurer''s Card.¡± ¡°Finally. Will I get an upgrade straight away?¡± ¡°We shall see. You know it isn''t in my hands. Now the core, if you will.¡± I fished around in my small pouch, before pulling out the soft nucleus and placed it on the table. ¡°Good,¡± she said, and picked it up, examining it in the light coming through the windows. ¡°Green slime?¡± ¡°Yeah. Not very big, but it gave me a bit of trouble.¡± ¡°Hardly surprising. if it hadn''t you wouldn''t be here. The life of an adventurer is one of struggle. You need passion to activate the card.¡± She slid the core into the table which seemed to melt to accommodate it. A faint glow emanated from the table in response. She took my hand forcefully and pulled a knife that I didn''t know she had. The point drew blood from the tip of my finger. The ruby drop fell before I could respond, pulling my hand from her grasp. It landed on the blank pages of book. Absorbed into the yellow vellum in an instant. The glow of the table surged, condensing around the book. ¡°Prepare yourself for this. It may feel strange.¡± I''d heard stories about the moment that an adventurer was confirmed but nothing could have prepared me for it. My body tingled; first like pins and needles and then more, greater like my blood was shaking. The music from the lair filled my senses, louder and clearer than before. And then pain came. It was like acid boiling through my veins. Like fire in my head. And I was mute and motionless locked in position while mana ravaged me. Gisselle watched me closely, her eyes sharp. And then it left me, numb almost. ¡°That is done. No unusual events as far as I could see.¡± ¡°Does it always hurt?¡± ¡°Just the first time. Updating your card should be painless. Here you go.¡± She pressed into my limp hand a black metal plaque. A small red gem embedded in the corner twinkled at me in the streaming sunlight. I looked at it, unsure of what to do now that I finally had my adventurers card. It changed before my eyes, the black falling away to reveal silver underneath and words. Not the usual words either, but angular marks that I nonetheless could read. Adventurer Graey Thorn: Grade G Health: 10/10 Mana: 34/40 Strength: G-- Agility: G-- Constitution: G-- Intelligence: G-- Wisdom: G-- Dexterity: G-- Skills: Unknown Magic: Unknown ¡°I see you have figured out how to read it,¡± Gisselle comment as I was engrossed at seeing my life laid bare. Having every part of me reduced to a grade filled me with an irrational anger for a moment. ¡°You know, it¡¯s representative. None of the grades are perfect, just what it reads from you when your mana matrix is configured. That was the pain. It allows you to use the potions and drops of the monsters by making you compatible.¡± ¡°So I''m part monster?¡± ¡°No. don''t be silly. It only changes you a little bit, just enough to unlock your potential. You might have noticed that you don''t have an exp gauge, that''s because everyone is different. It might change as you advance.¡± ¡°Oh.¡± I couldn¡¯t take my eyes from the silvered card in my hands. It was everything I''d worked for for years. ¡°Advancement, we can discuss when you are ready. I have noted the equipment missing and a requisition is on your card. Show it to the blacksmith or the tailor to get yourself kitted out at our expense. I will warn you though, this is a one-time deal, don''t abuse it. That nucleus was worth a few coppers but that should be enough for you.¡± She stood to leave and got halfway to the counter at the back before shouting back. ¡°Congratulations, Adventurer.¡± I walked back to my lodgings in a daze. It was real. I was really an adventurer. Something that I had worked for for years. And it was mine now. The card had a weight to it, a sense of significance that gave it almost a mythical power in my mind. Having it in my hand was just too unreal. I turned my attention away from the warm silver metal and onto the road. Cobbled streets led through the main districts, not that there were many in such a small place, but anywhere that has an adventurer''s guild branch benefits. The changes that came upon my town once the branch established itself were almost enough to render it unrecognisable. But I wove my way through paths worn in my mind by years of walking them. Even though I no longer lived in the slums I still knew the place like the back of my hand, and no longer living there may have been a bit of a reach. I was on the edge. You have to be sixteen to become an adventurer. I was eighteen now; I needed to save up for registration and getting the basic kit. There are costs to everything and changing your lot in life is the most expensive. Running errands was the best a slum kid could hope for to earn a few coins, and I ran those errands as if my life depended on them. My lodging house was run down. Broken steps and faded paint over cracked wood greeted me as I walked up to the door. But it was cheap and the old lady who owned it was willing to take a chance on me, which was rare. I went up the creaking stairs to my room. It was small, and oddly shaped. Just a bed against one wall, narrow and uncomfortable, and a small table with a basin on it filled the room. But it was enough for me. I sat down on the bed, feeling the hay stuffed mattress give out a little more one me at the added pressure. It would need restuffing later. I had other things on my mind. Now that I was an adventurer, I needed to plan my development. Lots of different paths stood open to me now. I could be a crafter. Or an archer, or a mage. Or any of a million things, but they all cost money and time and I was on the clock. Just getting my card wasn''t enough. It would never be enough, it was just a step. My grandmother, before she died, didn''t want me to be an adventurer. But she died in poverty from a disease that magic could cure. If only an adventurer had been about to heal her I would still be with her. My grandfather, on the other hand, had been an adventurer when he was young, not a very successful one but he did well enough to buy some land and set him and his wife up. He died in his sleep a few years before my grandmother. Not that it made any difference. I grew up on stories of heroes. Of epic battles and conquering dungeons. Is it any wonder I was where I was? Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel. Planning the development of an adventurer was a tricky thing and I didn''t have access to many of the advantages that the fabled heroes and their children would, ones like Blue. I would just have to wing it. Much of the knowledge was suspect anyways. Too many factors to count. Character. Tendencies. Background. Things outside of the stats that the card revealed. Like Giselle said, it was representative. But who could put everything about someone into a little box called Strength or Skills? No one, not even the gods could do that without changing the very nature of reality. So no matter what the card said, it didn''t change anything, not just yet. Maybe once I had a few advancements under my belt that would be different. I still had to check out the blacksmith or the tailor for equipment but I came home because I needed to figure out which way to go. I pulled out my corroded sword and just stared at it. The little pits and streaks of rust on it marked my ascension as one of the blessed. For a long moment, I considered leaving it here. Keeping it as a memento, but that wouldn''t help me. Hanging onto something like a sword that I couldn¡¯t use would do nothing but hold me back, and I needed the replacements. I stood, took a deep breath and squared my shoulders and left the room carrying my card in one hand and sheathing my sword with the other. ¡°Boy, look where you are going. You near ran me down,¡± Granny lily said, her voice cracking with age. I looked up from my contemplations to see her right in front of me. Her wrinkled face split into a broad grin revealing missing teeth. ¡°So, you got your card? You''re an adventurer now?¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± ¡°Then you can help me fix this place up. It¡¯s not fit for a real adventurers. It will take some real coin to do right but it will be worth it, just you wait and see. We will do this properly.¡± ¡°Um, sure. How much coin are we talking?¡± ¡°Thousands of gold. But you are an adventurer. It shouldn''t take you long as long as you work hard. Get out there. You need to grade up¡± ¡°I haven¡¯t even decided my growth yet.¡± ¡°Time enough for that later. Go. Dinner will be ready when you get back.¡± Crazy old woman. She near pushed me out the door. The market square had all the facilities that the adventurers needed, but many of the best places were hidden, tucked away in the backstreets. I found myself wandering almost aimlessly through the tiny alleys and paths that crisscrossed the town. Here the cobbled were covered in mud and dirt. Less effort was spent keeping it clean, which made sense given the lack of traffic it would see but even the shop fronts showed the general lack of care. Peeling paint and dirty almost opaque windows hid wonders from the eyes of casual passers-by, but for those like me who lived here, we knew the secrets. Wallace¡¯s weapon¡¯s was where I get my first weapons from, and it only cost me a lot of hours of scut work, but it was worth it. I stepped through the door, pushing against the warped wood, and entered a smoky room. In the back a faint red glow illuminated the face of Wallace as he slaved over his forge. He was a big man, but most blacksmiths were. It wasn''t just physical. Wallace had a way about him that made even the toughest men submit. And he didn''t talk much. ¡°Wallace, I''ve come to get some replacement weapons. I''m an adventurer now.¡± The big man didn''t even grunt, he just looked at me. His eyes lingering on the state of my rough leather clothes, and my weapons. ¡°Slime eh?¡± ¡°Yeah, a green one.¡± ¡°Well, you have your card, so I''m assuming you got a free pass on starter kit. Let''s see it.¡± I handed it over without complaint, but with a question. ¡°You can read them? I thought they were unique to each adventurer.¡± ¡°Live long enough, you learn a few tricks.¡± He said, as he looked it over before passing it back. ¡°Well, you have a free pass on anything under a gold. You could have gone anywhere, but you chose here, so I¡¯m going to give you some free advice. The sword isn¡¯t for you.¡± Huh? My hand patted the hilt of the iron blade defensively in response. It had served me well enough, and I just needed training. ¡°All the heroes have swords.¡± Wallace shrugged and turned back to his to his work. ¡°Pick something out. I trust you enough to know you aren¡¯t going to scam me. Pick up your leathers from Jessie next door. She will measure you up.¡± I browsed through the equipment that was littered around the store. Racks covered in dust and soot filled with weapons lined all the walls, but nothing stood out to me. I picked up a sword the same shape and size of my current one but it had a shine to it: steel. It was lighter, and moved better as I shifted my grip a few times, trying out poses. A matching set of knives completed the weapon side of the deal. ¡°Thank you Wallace. See you soon.¡± ¡°I hope so boy, I truly do.¡± Wallace muttered. Walking out into sunlight again, I turned to Jessie¡¯s leather working store. It was literally right next door, and in almost equally bad repair. ¡°Graey, I was hoping to see you again. Such a nice young man. It does us folks good to see the young ones like you, always willing to lend a hand. What brings you to see me today anyways?¡± Jessie said as I stepped into the store. Her wide smile stretched her wrinkled face. She was old, really old. But she was a nice old lady who made some of the best leather armour in town. I worked here for a bit when Wallace was in one of his moods. ¡°I got my card. I¡¯m an adventurer now. They said I can get a set of equipment on them. But it¡¯s a one-time deal.¡± ¡°An adventurer already? I thought you had a ways to go yet. Are you ready for it?¡± ¡°I was born ready.¡± She laughed, but her worry shone through. Adventurers didn¡¯t tend to live long. Occupational hazard. ¡°Well then, let¡¯s get you kitted out in style. Come through the back and I¡¯ll measure you up.¡± She grabbed a length of knotted cord off her counter. It was her measuring cord, the knots tied at regular intervals along it to make measuring simple and quick. She never went far from it. I followed her through the beaded curtain into the back. It was here that all the magic happened, where leather was cut and sewn to create clothes and armours. ¡°Hop on the step and stand like we used to get the clients to,¡± she instructed. I did. My legs shoulder width apart, my back straight, and my arms held out to my sides. The cord darted around me, quick and simple like everything Jessie did. ¡°You have grown a touch in the shoulders. It must be all that fighting. All done, you can relax now.¡± I lowered my arms and turned to look at her. ¡°So what do you want?¡± ¡°That¡¯s the thing Jessie. I don¡¯t know. I¡¯m new, and I was hoping you would have a recommendation.¡± ¡°You haven¡¯t been an adventurer long enough to have a style so that opens up some options,¡± she mused. ¡°Maximum protection, of course, and minimum restriction. Could you show me the range of movement you use please? Shadow fight in front of the mirrors.¡± I lifted the step and moved it to the edge of the room, clearing a space, before drawing my sword. Turning to face the mirror I tried to act out the fight with the slime. Slashing and stabbing at thin air made me feel silly but it was for a good cause. I kept it up for a few moments, show casing the larger movements for Jessie. ¡°That should do. You need to work on your fighting. Your form is weak. But I can see potential. I have a few things made up that would suit you, but they are beyond the value of the guild pay out.¡± I winced before asking, ¡°how much beyond?¡± ¡°Enough that you probably can¡¯t cover the difference. I could make you something just for you, which would be better but even more expensive.¡± ¡°Is there nothing for me then?¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t say that. You are a good kid Graey, so if you will come back and lend a hand with things here a couple of times a week, I will get you what you need.¡± ¡°So I just need to help out like I did before?¡± ¡°Pretty much. But now that you are an adventurer, you may be able to learn some skills that are unique to adventurers. If you pick any up, I want to know. They may be useful here.¡± ¡°Oh. That sounds fair, more than fair. It¡¯s too much isn¡¯t it?¡± ¡°Probably, but I like you. I don¡¯t want to send you off in substandard gear and find out you died. So take it, and come back often. Okay?¡± ¡°Okay. I will do my best.¡± ¡°Just wait right here then while I fetch a few choices.¡± She pottered off toward the main floor, her back hunched as her age caught up with her. She was spry enough but I felt saddened that all the people I knew were old, except Gisselle, and would not be able to join me on my adventures. Jessie came back quickly with a set of armours on each arm. ¡°This one is for if you think you are going to take a beating. It''s thick enough to stop most low grade monster attacks. It even has slight resistance to acid, fire, and magic,¡± she said, holding up the one on the left. It was heavy, thick, and black. ¡°This one is lighter, it gives you enough protection but its limited to certain areas. You would have to learn to use it properly. I do think it will be worth it though.¡± This armour was grey. Thick plates of hardened leather covered areas over the chest, legs, forearm, and shoulder, the rest was supple and soft. I fell in love instantly. ¡°The grey one. Can I try it on?¡± Jessie laughed. ¡°Of course you can. It should fit near perfectly. It was a custom job for someone about your size, but they never came to collect it.¡± Oh. That didn¡¯t sound good. But their loss, my gain. I reached forward and took the proffered armour. The leather whispered against my fingers, subtle ripples in the surface not quite giving me enough to determine what animal the leather came from. ¡°How do I get it on?¡± ¡°Here,¡± she said, putting down the other set and showing me the hidden clasps that held the grey one together. ¡°This bit connects the jacket to the pants. You don¡¯t want a gap there. It¡¯s a target. Slide your arm in here, then your other. Sort out your pants before, but for now just get the jacket on. I don¡¯t have the boots but I can get Greg to send a set to you. No extra charge. You want the right fit of boots. Ill measure you up after this, but for now move around in it. Get a feel. It will be an adjustment.¡± I followed her instructions. Looking in the full length mirrors that surrounded the room, I saw me. The grey leather covered every inch except my face and my feet. Gauntlets clipped into the jacket. Thick ridges plated the gauntlets giving me another weapon if I needed it. My shoulders looked huge, but my slim frame carried the armour well. If anything I now looked like an adventurer. I looked serious, professional, and deadly. I looked real instead of a boy playing dress up. The pants where they attached to the jacket had small rings for a belt. I slide my sword belt through, shifting the angle for a quick draw. Once I was done Jessie clapped. ¡°You look good Graey. Now don¡¯t die in it. I¡¯m serious. You have to pay it off before you can die. So get going and come back to me, okay?¡± I smiled at the genuine concern in her voice. ¡°I will. Thank you.¡± ¡°You are very welcome. See you soon?¡± ¡°Yes. I will drop by every week.¡± She nodded and let me go. With my new armour I felt invincible. It was soft where it needed to be soft and hard where it needed to be hard. It was perfect. And it raised me even higher than most starter gear would. Although I had another debt to pay off, I was on my way. Chapter 2: Unskilled I fought the slime again. In my new gear. This time was different. My fear was still there; I could taste it thick in my throat but this time I felt more confidant. My sword danced, no it didn¡¯t. Dancing implies grace that I lacked but it did move more fluidly than before. The cuts went where they were supposed to and there was a lack of flailing. The slime glowed in the dim ever present light of the lair, its gelatinous body reflecting my distorted image back at me as I lunged for its centre. The goo slide off my blade without marring it, which let me relax into the tempo of the fight, some of my fear alleviated. My range of motion was hardly constrained at all in the armour and the added protection made me take more chances. As the slime tried to slam me again, I pushed my left hand into the slick substance of its being, reaching for its core. An extended tendril reached out to slap me away, but I blocked it with my sword. My reaching hand tightened around something slightly less squishy and the slime shuddered, going still as if stillness could save it. I pulled the core free and the slime dissolved into light, just like the first. But this time I could feel the mana from the lair infusing me. An exhilarating feeling that almost overpowered the sense of victory. The rush of energy filled my veins. And then another slime came into view, larger and greener than the previous. I put the core away and stepped into the fight. Eager and not at all scared now that I was buoyed by more power. I leapt into action, no longer holding back. My fist punched as my sword lunged. I stepped away as the slime swelled above me, it had to be seven foot tall. And then it came crashing down on me. I was slammed into the floor, as mass of goo weighing more than me suffocating me. I sunk into the flesh of the slime, its acid stinging my exposed skin, and my lungs burning for air. I closed my eyes as I went deeper. Moving by feel alone I was buffeted by blows from inside its body, its core moving around bashing into me. I lashed out with a fist blindly. It did nothing. My sword cut, but it was cutting through a substance thicker than water. It made no impression. This could be the end, I thought. My chest felt like it was bursting with the pressure of holding my breath, and then I felt it. The song of the lair. The mana of the lair was all around me in the body of the slime and in my own. Drums of war pounding in my head and chimes tinkled away as if in the distance. It surged through, my limbs strengthened and my mind quickened. There was no smart option, but giving up wasn¡¯t one either. I fought frantically, realising that if I didn¡¯t no help would come, and I would just passively accept defeat and death. That wasn¡¯t what I''d worked so hard for. This isn¡¯t the end of me. I smashed my gauntleted fist against the slime, its insides working hard but I felt the elastic surface from the inside and applied my blade. Cutting my way out from the inside I emerged into the light, and the slime fell apart behind me as I crawled away. The lair taunted me with victory music, and the rush of power from the conquered creature. Slime evaporated off my body, leaving no mark on the armour or the weapons but I could feel the burns on my face and neck. I turned to look over my loot, expecting another core, and was pleasantly surprised at what I found. A single core, larger than the other, and a blob of green goo. It wasn¡¯t much but given that it was only my second day it was enough. I looked briefly toward the distant entrance to the next room, and turned back to the exit. I wasn¡¯t ready for that. This was almost more than I could handle. No chance of me surviving the next room, just yet, but I would be back. I pocketed the loot and left. The guild accepted it and gave me coins, coppers but it was something tangible for my work. I could feel the skin on my face stinging all the way home as the wind brushed it. Hopefully it would be seen as a mark of survival instead of failure. But I couldn¡¯t control that so I did my best to put it from my mind as I walked strode through the streets of town. I saw people looking and children smiling. I was once that child. I idolise the adventurers that fought back the encroachment of the monster. Each lair defeated gained us another inch, and the war on the dungeons had been going on for millennia. Each life given to the fight was another child that could be born, and rare enough in lands cleared. But the kingdom was small, it was young, this part at least. Home was just as dilapidated. But with coins in my pouch I felt better about it. I could change it. ¡°Granny, are you about?¡± I called out once I entered the door. ¡°In the kitchen, Graey. What¡¯s the problem?¡± ¡°No problem. I have a few coins for you. You said you wanted to fix this place up.¡± I stepped through to the kitchen to see Granny stirring a pot over the battered iron stove, the smell rising from it reminded me that I hadn¡¯t eaten all day. ¡°It¡¯s just vegetable soup. Meat is getting expensive again. So we may have to tighten our belts this winter, but coin is always welcome.¡± ¡°I¡¯m sorry it¡¯s not more, but low grade drops aren¡¯t worth much.¡± ¡°You are just starting out. It¡¯s enough. Don¡¯t do anything stupid for me. I would miss you.¡± ¡°I will keep that in mind.¡± ¡°What happened to your face? It¡¯s all red.¡± ¡°Slime. It tried to eat me. I killed it, but it burnt me.¡± ¡°Sit at the table; I have something that may help with that.¡± I sat, there wasn¡¯t much else I could do, and looked around while Granny bustled round the small kitchen seeking whatever it was she was looking for. The place was cosy, in a very run down way. Wooden planks, warped by the years and the changes in temperature and moisture that afflicted kitchens, covered the dirt floor, a legacy of her husband, I assumed. The rack for the cookware that hung above the stove had seen better days, but then it all had. Better days would come again. I would make them. Granny brought a small earthenware pot over to the table, and stood over me. ¡°Look up,¡± she told me and then proceeded to smear thick greasy stuff all over the affected area. It was cold and stunk. ¡°Don¡¯t turn your nose up at this. My husband used to swear by it. Made me make it up every week for him, and he did just fine. I kept in the habit, it¡¯s not like it¡¯s expensive to make, and I can sell the odd jar to occasional adventurers. Better for you, in the long run, than filling up on potions. That stuff will kill you quick, if you go overboard.¡± The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.She turned my face this way and that trying to get every reddish part of my skin. Then she looked at me, gently, all I could do was look back. ¡°You will do, Graey, don¡¯t wash it off tonight. Now tell me about your adventure while I finish up cooking dinner.¡± ¡°Same place as before, that new lair outside of town. It¡¯s not been getting much attention. Gisselle put me on to it for my testing. All I¡¯ve seen there so far have been slimes, which is good. I don¡¯t have the skills yet for something more. I need to grade up, but I don¡¯t know how. Today I could have died. Yesterday, I could have too¡­¡± My words just evaporated as I realised just how out of my depth I was. Eventually I would be asked to do more than fight slimes when I felt like it. I could be called against an incursion or an army, or pretty much anything. ¡°It¡¯s only your second day, it will come. My husband was a mage; did you know that?¡± I shook my head. ¡°Well he was, not a great one, but he knew enough to get by. Before that he started like you, with nothing but a sword and a dream. He worked hard every day, step by step to make sure that he survived. When he retired we travelled for a bit, but we both wanted to come home, and neither of us were getting any younger. The magic kept us from having children but we were happy.¡± She stirred the pot, not looking at me, and I think, not really looking at the food either. I stood and took over the cooking while she took a moment to compose herself, she was tough, that was all it took, a moment. ¡°I can help you plan your development. There are ways that don¡¯t include the adventurer¡¯s guild. People have been using the quirks of this land for our advantage long before the guild was even a twinkle in the eye of its founder.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not sure I know what you mean. Isn¡¯t the only way to rank up with a card? And the only place that issues the cards are the guild?¡± ¡°No and yes. The cards aren¡¯t the truth. Or at least, all the truth. You do know that much?¡± ¡°They are representative. Its grades, and there is some wiggle room in each one.¡± ¡°Yes, and give me back the pot. Go get the bowls and cut some bread.¡± I did just that, quietly though, I didn¡¯t want to miss anything she said, by distracting her. As she was serving and we took out seats at the table she started talking again. ¡°I don¡¯t have a card. But I have Alchemy and Cooking as Skills.¡± ¡°How do you know without the card?¡± ¡°There are other ways. The church can scribe you if you make a hefty donation. But Skills aren¡¯t the only things to change. Eventually most people grade up in some areas. Even without fighting in the lairs and dungeons.¡± ¡°How does this help me though? I need to get stronger, slimes are almost beating me.¡± ¡°You can learn skills the old fashion way with practice and study. Same as you can grade up with exercise and work. It¡¯s not that complicated. You are an adventurer, you already have the mana channels, and it¡¯s just a matter of working with what you have. Look at Wallace and Jessie, they are both skilled in their areas, almost supernaturally so. They have Skills too. Wallace is likely an A grade in strength and Constitution. Jessie is the same in Dexterity and Intelligence. You are starting worse than many, but better than others, you have people willing to help you, willing to teach you, if you listen. Cultivate that weave of people; it will serve you better than any weapon. Now eat your soup and think about what I have said.¡± I did. She was on to something, if it was true. Not that it helped me right now, I didn¡¯t have the time to slack off in the lair, we needed the money more and more. Everywhere I looked I saw something else that would take money to fix. ¡°Is this a well-known thing? Because I¡¯ve never heard it mentioned.¡± ¡°You had your heart set on being an adventurer. You didn¡¯t even consider other paths. If I had told you before you got your card, you would never have given it the thought you are now. It¡¯s not the only method either but it¡¯s the safest. I will teach you some things about Alchemy, which should help your intelligence.¡± ¡°Do you know what each of the stats on my card actually mean? ¡°I don¡¯t know what stats you have on your card Graey. You likely have the basics so far, strength, agility and the like?¡± ¡°Yes. Strength, Agility, Constitution, Intelligence, dexterity, and wisdom.¡± ¡°They break down into Physical and Mental, generally, some have others but they are the normal ones, I don¡¯t know all this for a fact, but that is what Gerry, Gods rest his soul, told me. Physical ones are the simplest. Strength is actually how strong you are, how hard you hit, how much you can lift. Agility is a fancy name for speed, how fast you are, but it has crossover with dexterity, which is how good with your hands you are. Constitution is how healthy you are, how much damage you can take and how quickly you recover. The mental ones are a bit different. Intelligence is how clever you are, how many ideas you have, and the quality. It can be increased with education and experience easily enough. Wisdom is a hard one to pin down. Its connected to judgement, how quickly you choose the right choice for you.¡± ¡°Huh, that¡¯s more than I knew before. Does ranking up actually change anything? Would increasing my strength increase my muscles?¡± ¡°Some. It depends on a lot of things; there are some monstrous adventurers out there, grades A and S, that look exactly the same as they did at grade G. Others develop physically in response, they get larger and taller. You have to watch out for the mentally developed, they are leaps and bounds beyond you, and some of them gain strange skills and magics from it.¡± ¡°So there are actual changes, sometimes, and the clever ones are dangerous. Got it. I guess we will have to plan this out, but I can¡¯t stop hunting. We need the coin.¡± ¡°We do. But you will be better prepared. The coppers you gave me should last a few days, that¡¯s enough to get started if we don¡¯t slack off.¡± Chapter 3 In the dank basement of the house was something I didn¡¯t expect to see: an alchemy lab. It was just as worn as the rest of the house, which didn¡¯t fill me with any sort of confidence. Granny Lily stood over me as I ground herbs with a mortar and pestle at the workbench. ¡°This is for wounds; it will stop the bleeding. Make sure you grind it up nice and fine so that it mixes with the water. Finer than that.¡± Commentary like that was starting to fray my patience. I should be out hunting, not in a damp basement messing about with herbs. ¡°Don¡¯t roll your eyes, boy. This will help you far more than crawling around with the slimes. Nothing is free; this takes work just like anything else. But its worth it¡± ¡°Yes, Granny.¡± ¡°Do your part well and we can move on to more interesting things.¡± I kept at the herbs, trying to ignore the pungent fumes. The stone of the pestle ground the reddish plant into a blood red dust. The juice released was instantly absorbed back into the dust. ¡°That should do it. Now, add the water, a drop at a time. Once it thickens up to a paste we can see where we stand.¡± I took the small vial of purified water from the bench and started adding drops. ¡°Don¡¯t forget to keep grinding. It needs to mix. Do you have any control over your magic power?¡± ¡°Um, no. I don¡¯t know how to use it at all.¡± ¡°That would have helped, but we will make do without it.¡± ¡°Why would it have helped?¡± ¡°Pay attention to this, I will explain after. Be careful!¡± Granny shouted as the paste in the mortal began to smoulder. ¡°Slower with the water.¡± The blood red substance shimmered with heat, each drop of water fuelling the process, and steam rising from its bubbling surface. I held my breath at the noxious steam as it burnt at my eyes and delicate flesh inside my nose. Slowly the heat died down with each drop adding it again, but I maintained a pace that let the heat remain fairly constant. ¡°Stop. It doesn¡¯t need any more. Step back over here and let it settle.¡± I put down everything and stepped back. ¡°Magic power is what your card calls MP.¡± ¡°I thought it meant mana.¡± ¡°No that is something different but related. Mana gets converted in the body to magic. They are interchangeable but not the same thing. If you had control of your Magic, you would have been able to increase the potency of the blood paste. I will have to work out some exercises for you to gain the control needed. It makes our job harder, but nothing with you is ever easy.¡± ¡°Hey, I¡¯m not that difficult. Nothing is on fire or exploded.¡± ¡°That is true. It wasn¡¯t so simple when I was first learning Alchemy. You should have seen the messes I made. We can leave the paste overnight before bottling it. Congratulations, you have made your first alchemical product.¡± ¡°So, I should have the skill now?¡± ¡°No. It takes far more than that to be considered skilled. It¡¯s a start. You have a few days before you have to go hunting again. Go see Jessie, she might be able to help you with your other skills.¡± ¡°Is everything a skill?¡± I asked. It was something that had bugged me since granny brought it up. ¡°I don¡¯t know. I don¡¯t have a card. But I would say no. Even alchemy isn¡¯t a single skill, although it registers for adventurers as such. The gods decide.¡± ¡°You mean the gods are the ones that grant skills? I thought they would be too busy doing god stuff.¡± ¡°They rarely grant skills, although they can, I¡¯ve heard. What I mean is that what is recognised as a skill is up to the gods. They decide at what point someone has gained enough ability with something for it appear on their readings or the card. Enough of this, we have plenty of time to discuss this later. Go to Jessie¡¯s.¡± I went, relived to get out of the dim, damp basement filled with smells that turned my stomach. The day was bright, far brighter after the darkness, and I walked down the narrow paths to Jessie¡¯s enjoying the sun and wind. Even the pollen in the air was a welcome relief, even if it made my eyes puffy and my nose itch. Jessie¡¯s store was the same as always, although the window seemed slightly clearer than the other day. She must have cleaned. Inside was brighter, letting me see more and more of the details of the completed works. Fine leather armours on dummies shone with a lustre of quality that previously I never noticed. The window was so rarely cleaned. The light can damage the leather according to Jessie. So what prompted the change? ¡°Graey, you came already. I wasn¡¯t expecting you so soon; I thought you would be out hunting.¡± ¡°Granny Lily had me working on Alchemy.¡± ¡°Oh. She is trying to give you skills the hard way. It¡¯s so rare for an adventure to consider the old ways. Did she send you here?¡± ¡°Yes. She thinks you can help with other skills.¡± ¡°She is right. I could teach you a few things, but I think you owe me enough already right now. Maybe later when you have worked a bit of your debt off.¡± ¡°Why is the window cleaner? I thought you said the light damages the armour.¡± ¡°It can. But you inspired me. I¡¯ve been slowly giving up on getting more customers. All the cheap gear in the market place, it¡¯s hard to compete with that, but then you came along wanting something better. So I¡¯m thinking of redoing the store and getting back in business.¡± ¡°That can¡¯t be all. You never cared about money before.¡± ¡°I still don¡¯t. It¡¯s not that. But so many of the adventurers go out and never come back. We are going to need them, if what I¡¯m hearing is right.¡± ¡°What are you hearing?¡± ¡°That the appearance of lairs is on the rise. So many new ones that we don¡¯t have the man power to clear them out before they grow deeper. If its true we have a problem.¡± ¡°How is that a problem? There will be more, and better, loot in the deeper floors.¡± ¡°Graey, this land is only safe because we can push back the lairs. The mana they release is dangerous in high levels. Eventually the surface will start having mutated animals and spawn points for monsters. We need to keep fighting them back or we will lose this land.¡± ¡°Oh. Mana is dangerous?¡± ¡°Yes its dangerous. It changes people and things into monsters. Part of the reasons most adventurers work in parties is that they need to watch themselves. Too much time in a lair without getting rid of the mana they absorb can be fatal.¡± ¡°But isn¡¯t the mana the reason we can grade up?¡± ¡°Part of the reason. Granny is showing you other ways. Mana makes the changes easier, and lets you reach higher than is natural. But too much too soon is a serious problem. Children get sick if the levels of mana are too high, they can die as if poisoned.¡± ¡°Hmm, why don¡¯t people know this?¡± ¡°Ha, people do know, not everyone as its not been a problem for years, but people know. That¡¯s why there is an adventurer¡¯s guild, a mages guild. All most every profession that uses the nature of the mana to develop knows about the problems, and they fight it. You are only seeing the public face of it, the ones that fight the monsters, but the monsters are the least of it. Anyways, you are here to work, and just in time, if I¡¯m going to be having a grand reopening event. We have cleaning and arranging to do. You can start on the windows. I couldn¡¯t get at the worst of it.¡± Jessie smiled at my expression. Dismay must have crossed my face. ¡°Don¡¯t be so glum, I might be able to give you some advice or training later, but cleaning comes first. Take these.¡± She handed me a bucket and cloth. ¡°Fill it up with water; there is a touch of solvent in the cloth, so it should cut through that grime no problem. Don¡¯t touch the leathers with it. It will stain them.¡± I carried the bucket out the back door to the small well that served this area of town. The well itself was in good repair, brick and mortar, clearly looked after. Setting my arm to the winch I lowered the rope till it lost tension, then pulled it up. Pouring the water into my bucket and going back through, I set to work on the inside of the window, which involved climbing over a raised display to reach it. Grime and dust lay think on the glass, showing the years that it had sat here without notice. The solvent coated cloth cut through it with minimal effort, leaving a clear, shining surface I could see through. After numerous trips to empty and refill the bucket I finished the inside. Jessie came back just as I was finishing up. ¡°You done?¡± I nodded and opened my mouth to reply before she cut me off. ¡°Oh, just the inside. Well, you can take a break if you want. I was going to show you one of the tricks of leatherwork. I thought you would be finished by now.¡±This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report. ¡°I didn¡¯t think you wanted to show me anything until I had done more?¡± ¡°I need to do the work anyways; this saves me having to do it twice. Come back to the work room, it shouldn¡¯t take long and then you can clean the outside of the window.¡± I put down the cloth on the edge of the bucket and walked to the backroom with Jessie. She sat on a stool and showed me the hides on her work bench. ¡°This is the hide of the white wolf. They come from the third floor of the lair on the west of town. Its arctic themed as it¡¯s at the base of the mountains. The white wolf has a high resistance to cold and if treated right this hide can have the same properties,¡± Jessie explained with an expectant look. I guess she wanted me to think about it and ask some questions. She did have a habit of working like this. ¡°So, can all the properties of the animal be put into the leathers?¡± ¡°No, not all, but with the right skills and the right material most can be imbued. Wallace does similar with the weapons he makes. All the best items come from the dungeon monsters. They are the primary ingredients used in crafting. What do you think needs to be done to get the most out of the items?¡± I thought about it for a long moment, while gazing at the hide. It was white, even the skin without the fur was a pure white like snow. ¡°It needs to match the purpose. A war hammer with something that enhances its ability to cut wouldn¡¯t be very good.¡± ¡°A clumsy example, but yes, that is how it works. Properties such as cutting are not actually properties. The sharpness of a weapon is in how it is designed, not in what it is made of. Making a sharp hammer would be making an axe. In this case I¡¯m using the white wolf skin to make a jacket that will protect from the cold. The process that I use is magic.¡± ¡°You can use magic?¡± ¡°So can you. Most people can. That is how adventurers gain magic skills anyways. If you lack the potential, then you can¡¯t absorb mana. Few things can¡¯t absorb mana. Anyway, if you watch you might learn something.¡± Jessie proceeded to run her hands over the hide, sometimes tracing patterns over it and whispering. Her eyes stayed shut the whole time, and it didn¡¯t take long before a glimmer of light twinkled from her tracing. Before long a design was clearly visible on the hide, one of swooping lines and blocky shapes. ¡°There. Now all I have to do is sew the jacket to the specifications of the client. Did you learn anything?¡± ¡°You traced your hands in certain patterns and it lit up.¡± ¡°That isn¡¯t learning anything. You watched and just repeated what you saw. I know what it looks like, but what did you learn from watching me?¡± ¡°That¡­knowing the patterns is important?¡± Jessie sighed. ¡°Graey, you have a mind in there. Maybe it¡¯s my fault, I¡¯m not used to teaching something that I have known for so long. Yes, the patterns are important, but knowing them isn¡¯t. You have to feel the shape of things yourself. I know this is counter to everything you have learned about adventurer skills, but that¡¯s how it is if you want to gain a skill another way. Adventurers cheat. Skill books and memory imprints are short cuts, but they don¡¯t grant the same levels of ability. Say you learnt tailoring from a skill imprint that you bought of the guild; you wouldn¡¯t be as flexible or as skilled as me. I doubt you would even be able to make passable starter gear for a long time. It takes a lot of work even with imprints. They don¡¯t include everything. I¡¯m not going to teach you directly just yet, but I will when you have mastered some basic skills, such a magic manipulation. It¡¯s the foundation to all of our skills, and would serve you well.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t even know where to start with magic.¡± ¡°You will, give it a bit of time. It comes to all of us eventually, in our own ways. Don¡¯t cheat with a skill book. It will hobble your growth. Now, you have some cleaning to do.¡± With that Jessie turned back to her work and left me to mine. The inside of the window was finished, so I collected my bucket and started on the outside. The solvent did just as good a job on the outside as before, so much so that the dirt just seemed to fall away. As I was finishing up I heard a bell toll, low and loud. Jessie came running out as fast as she could. ¡°That was the alarm bell. Something is breaching the town warding. What are you doing standing there? Run to the market and find out what is going on, don¡¯t forget your weapons. It could be bad.¡± Questions bubbled up, ready to be asked but there was no time. Jessie was frantic. All around us doors opened and shop keepers and residents came out to see what was what. ¡°Get going, Graey, this is adventurer work,¡± Wallace rumbled, his eyes squinting in the bright light. I didn¡¯t need telling again. Dropping the bucket, I set off running to the market. My weapons and armour were already equipped; an adventurer goes nowhere without arms. The streets filled up quickly with concerned looking residents, enough of them that getting through became increasingly difficult. My breath came sharper as I ran, harder, but I pushed through that and the people. Not that many of them minded, I wasn¡¯t the only adventurer on their way to the market, just the newest. The bell sat at the top of the adventurer¡¯s guild in the market place. A fairly central location that let everyone hear it. A crowd of heavily armed people stood outside the guild waiting for news. I managed to reach the back, but I wasn¡¯t tall enough to see through the mass of bodies and steel. ¡°We have confirmed that the wards on the eastern side of town have been tested by a large concentration of goblins. We suspect that they come from an unknown lair very close to the edge of the wards. So far there has not been a breach, but it is just a matter of time. Adventurers, you know your role. You are to push them back and give the mages time to launch a counter attack. Keep them away from the wards, they will not be strong enough to repel them indefinitely,¡± a strong male voice shouted from the front of the mob. The group split in to parties, smaller groups of six members that were traditionally the limit of adventurer groups. Party dynamics meant that new adventurers were unlikely to get invited to join until they had proven themselves. I was left alone rather quickly, but I followed along behind, willing to do my part where I could. A grade G adventurer is no match for goblins, even a single goblin is a grade E, and that only increases when they work together. The east of town was less built up than the rest; it was here that the town faded into farm land. The wards were invisible, but nearly everyone could feel the moment that they passed through them. I felt it like a tingle on my skin as I cross the barrier that marked the end of human habitation. The farm land while important was not warded, it took up too much land to protect efficiently, although adventurer missions frequently went up to patrol the area for new lairs. I saw the parties split off into separate direction. The farmland surrounding mainly grew wheat and vegetables, although there were a few small pastures of animals; cows, and sheep. Nothing extravagant or out of the ordinary, but it was enough to keep the small town fed throughout the year, with occasional support from trade. The trade in monster parts was particularly lucrative, as the central cities didn¡¯t have lairs or dungeons anymore; they got cleared out as the cities were established. It¡¯s how humans managed to expand so far. Eventually our warding would be powerful enough to be enlarged, which prevented the formation of new lairs. We had a pattern of settling the frontiers, developing and then linking up with the older cities, then pushing out again. The cycle started anew every few hundred years. Through the scattered fences adventures dispersed, trying to find any sign of the goblins, and I was left standing on the road unsure what to do. My hand nervously checked my weapons, and the clasps on my armour. Everything seemed in place, but the quiet was starting to get at me. No one was talking. No animals moved. In the distance, the first adventurers seemed to move quicker, bring more parties closer. ¡°Oi, what are you doing?¡± A voice came from behind my left shoulder. I turned to see another adventurer standing there, a young woman, blond and in mismatched leather armour with an old bow. She was the owner of the voice. ¡°I¡¯m looking around,¡± I said. ¡°Why aren¡¯t you partied up?¡± ¡°Because I¡¯m a grade G, no one wants to party with a newbie.¡± ¡°Did you even ask?¡± ¡°Did you?¡± ¡°Well, that is neither here nor there. We can party, just the two of us.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know you, and your equipment is in rough shape.¡± ¡°Not all of us have coin to throw at things,¡± she said while casting her eye over my armour, in an almost hungry way. I couldn¡¯t blame her; my gear was a step above most of the normal G grade stuff. ¡°I didn¡¯t and don¡¯t have coin to throw at things. If you want to party I need to know your skills, and achievements.¡± ¡°Fine, I¡¯m grade G, same as you. I have an E-- rating on dexterity and agility. My weapon is the bow, and I have bow mastery grade G.¡± ¡°You have bow mastery already? What does it do?¡± ¡°I¡¯ve been training with the bow since I was small. It¡¯s a passive, just makes me hit a bit harder and more often with the bow. Doesn¡¯t cost anything either.¡± ¡°That is pretty impressive. In the interest of fair play I will tell you I have no skills, and all my stats are G--.¡± She gawped at me, just a little. ¡°How did you get that gear with stats like that?¡± ¡°Just lucky, I guess. Anyway, you still want to party up?¡± ¡°Not like there are a lot of options here. It¡¯s you, or no one.¡± ¡°Fine, here.¡± I held out my card to her. She tapped it with her hand and it glowed a gentle white. Adventurer Ilsa has invited you to party Accept/reject The words scrawled themselves over my card, and I pushed Accept. Invite accepted You have gained the group blessing of the gods You will be 5% more effective in any situation that suits the composition of your party Party composition: Adventurer Graey, close combat. Adventurer Ilsa, ranged. Situations favouring party: Pure combat, small engagements Huh, I didn¡¯t know about that, but I could feel the blessing as energy coating my skin, warm and almost eager. ¡°Party blessing?¡± I asked. ¡°Don¡¯t you know anything? There are reasons people party and it¡¯s not just convenience. The gods give blessings to aid our war against the dungeons. Come on, we should find some goblins to fight.¡± Going to the temple was definitly going on my list of things to-do. Together we set out toward the edge of the fields. The first parties were way way out of sight, and it appeared that they had found something by the constant rushing of people heading after them, but we stayed close and took care to look carefully. Lairs often formed in shadowed areas, and places that didn¡¯t see a lot of movement. So we looked in the dense foliage surrounding the farms. Trees dotted the landscape, and small hills gave plenty of places for a lair to hide. Ilsa was silent as we moved, her eyes focused in every shadow we could find. I did my best but I didn¡¯t have any lore craft in anything really. I was dead weight until we found something to fight. ¡°You could be looking too; you know?¡± ¡°I am, but I don¡¯t know that we will find anything this close to town. If it was here, then wouldn¡¯t the higher grades have found it by now?¡± ¡°Nah, they don¡¯t look for things, not like me. They are just running about hoping something jumps out so they can stab it in the face. Its here somewhere. Otherwise the wards wouldn¡¯t have been set off. Goblin incursions are normal, but the bell isn¡¯t. It would have just been a request in the guild hall to kill some goblins.¡± ¡°Okay, so why can¡¯t we find it?¡± ¡°It might help if you looked too. You have been in lairs, you should know how they feel, try to feel it.¡± Feel it? Well that was vague, but I was growing used to that after dealing with Lilly and Jessie. Closing my eyes, I tried to feel the lair. Bringing to mind the dark, and the cloying sense of mana, the closeness, and the foul taste that lingered on my tongue ever time, I took a deep breath, feeling my heart speed up in my chest at the fear my memories brought. The wind brushed my face bringing with it the stench of a lair and my senses latched on, feeling the mana breaking up in the sun, fading. I opened my eyes, turning into the wind, and said, ¡°There is something there.¡± My eyes widened as I saw where I was facing. The shadow of the farmhouse, right against the building was a deeper shadow, a hole. ¡°It¡¯s there.¡± ¡°Huh, I can see it now. Shouldn¡¯t take us long to get there, it¡¯s only a few hundred metres. Knew it would be close, but that doesn¡¯t look like a big entrance. I was expecting something more for goblins.¡± She sounded disappointed. ¡°Don¡¯t knock it, we are only two and we are grade G, we don¡¯t have much hope against goblins.¡± ¡°You never know, and it you carry on with that attitude I¡¯m going to shoot you. We can take a goblin; it¡¯s when they are in groups that it¡¯s going to be a problem. Get your game face on, we are going in.¡± She limbered up her tatty bow, and checked the string, checked her arrows were in reach before nodding to herself. I did my own check, drawing my sword and running through a few forms to loosen my shoulder. My knives sat in easy reach on my belt, but they were slid in and out of their sheaths, just to make sure. I looked over to Ilsa, who waited with obvious impatience, shifting from one foot to the other. ¡°Let¡¯s go then.¡± The lair entrance was just a hole in the earth, crumbling dirt and roots lined it and filled with darkness. But the unmistakeable feel of a lair emanated from it, hitting us both in the face. There was no obvious way in other than jumping. ¡°Jump on my mark,¡± Ilsa said. ¡°Hang on, how are we going to get out?¡± ¡°Worry about that afterwards. We have to shut this down to protect the town. That¡¯s our job, so jump.¡± Any words I could say dried on my tongue as I realised that worrying about the future wouldn¡¯t help, not if there was no town. The longer a lair is left the deeper and stronger it gets, it needed doing now.¡± ¡°Jump.¡± And I did. Chapter 4 Just like the slime lair, the transition between the normal world and the subterranean was palpable, like being suddenly underwater, that pressure on the skin. Mana coated us, thick and sticky, like the foul breath of a beast. The light changed from the bright sun light to the dim ever-present source less light of the lairs. We landed after dropping just a few feet, the shock going through my knees and into my spine. Dropping without knowing how big the drop is hurts. You can¡¯t prepare for it, so all the force goes through you. But we were intact, and in an empty room. It was small, only a few metres square, although not exactly square. Its walls were pressed dirt, not a stone could be seen, and the floor was dry. It could be worse. The hole we entered through had moved though. It was in the wall behind us, and the outside was visible through it, just a sheet of blue sky. It was weird, and unnerving how much lairs and the like could distort reality. Enough to set my hair on end, and give me shivers. ¡°Where are they?¡± Ilsa said, as she looked around the room. ¡°Not here, obviously, but I¡¯ll bet they are about. There are two exits to this room, there and there,¡± I said, pointing at the tunnel entrances. They were darker blots of shadow in the dimness. ¡°Then we should pick one. Which one?¡± ¡°Does it matter? We have no information on this lair; we only know there is one and that goblins came out of it.¡± ¡°Pick one. I made us jump, the least you can do is choose one.¡± ¡°Fine, the left one.¡± I don¡¯t know why I picked it; she put me on the spot, and maybe the lack of information just made me choose randomly. ¡°Good, you go first, I will cover you.¡± It was a good formation for a close combat fighter and a ranged, even if it felt like being a canary. I edged closer, my steps slow but measured. Nothing could be heard through the opening and the light didn¡¯t change, I had no clues as to what could be there. I tightened my grip on my sword, shifting my fingers and letting the sweat dry a touch. I should be used to this by now, the mana fuelling a shift in my emotions, making me hungry for combat but it still heated my blood and lent urgency to my movements. The tunnel was narrow, and short, more like a thick doorway than a tunnel, but it did break up the lair in to rooms. I kept my eyes wide to allow them to adjust to the light as I went from the tunnel to the next room. It occurred to me briefly that it was more than I managed in the slime lair, before I saw a goblin sleeping against the wall. But it was the only one, in a room that should be filled with them. It was right next to me, its breath disturbing the air enough to move my hair slightly with every inhalation. A C rank monster within range of my blade and defenceless. It had a club, a short lump of wood, next to it, but not in its hand. I took my chance, it was the best I could have hoped for, and drew my sword across the green throat, cutting deep enough to sever the windpipe. Blood gushed out coating my hand in gore, and the goblin woke up, flailing. It tried to scream but only gurgling could be heard, which set my mind at rest. I could feel its fear in the frantic movements, and put it out of its misery with a swift stab to the chest, twisting the blade to completely destroy the heart. Motes exploded from the body and quickly removed any evidence that I had slain a C grade monster with two strokes of my sword. The same music from the other lair played in my head, and I could feel the sudden boost from the beast¡¯s mana being absorbed into my system. I felt stronger and faster, which made sense, as speed and strength were the main stats I used. If I understood them correctly, which I may not. ¡°That was quick and bloody lucky. It shouldn¡¯t have been that easy.¡± ¡°No, it shouldn¡¯t. There is something wrong here.¡± ¡°Why would there only be a single sleeping guard?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know. But I don¡¯t think we came in the front entrance. That hole was too small to let many goblins through, and I didn¡¯t see any footprints. It was just a hole.¡± ¡°You might be right. Its close enough to set off the wards, and if there are goblins coming out of another entrance, it would explain why all the higher grades went further out.¡± ¡°If we go in any further, we are going to run into things we can¡¯t handle. We aren¡¯t strong enough for it.¡± ¡°You might not be, but I can snipe from a distance.¡± ¡°We are in a lair, and its cramped, you aren¡¯t going to be able to get far enough away before they are on you.¡± ¡°That¡¯s why I have you. You can distract them while I pepper them with arrows.¡± ¡°We didn¡¯t set up how to share the loot.¡± ¡°This was all your kill, you take it.¡± The loot in this case was more than the slime gave: a single green pointy ear and something small and metallic. I bent down to examine it, and found it was an etched disc, smaller than a copper coin, made of something that looked like silver. ¡°Have you ever seen anything like this?¡± ¡°It¡¯s a, huh, normally they are rougher and copper, but that¡¯s a warding. The mages will buy it off you right quick.¡± ¡°Is it useful to me?¡± ¡°Could be, you will have to get it assayed first, and then learn how to use it. Mages build their spells off their research on them, that¡¯s why they buy them.¡± I put away the disc and the ear, ignoring the squishiness of it in my hand, and turned back to the room. ¡°Where now? We could leave and report back rather than go further.¡± ¡°Where is your sense of adventure, Graey? We have to keep going till we can¡¯t; otherwise we may as well stay at home. I¡¯ve not even let off a shot yet.¡± ¡°Fine, onwards it is.¡± I went ahead just as agreed, looking for anything more to kill, goblins were known to be sneaky but stupid, they could be hiding round the corner for all we knew. The next room lay ahead, almost directly straight. The same sort of tunnel led to it, and I crept through, trying to be as quiet as possible. The first thing I noticed was the stench, quickly followed by the noise. Two goblins stood grunting at each other in front of a small hide covered hut built into the side of the room. These ones were clearly awake, and unhappy by the tone of their grunts. Small beady eyes glared at each other, and both had their clubs drawn. Leather armour, if it could be called that, covered their torsos, it was tatty, and ill fitting, looking like it had been patched together. Facing two at a time, awake, would be too much. I slowed my step and tried to back up, when an arrow whooshed over my shoulder, and hit the left goblin in the eye. It was dead before it hit the ground, and his friend looked angry. ¡°That was not a good move,¡± I said as I ran forward, sword up, to engage the green monster. ¡°Pft, it was fine, and now there is just one.¡± I swung to catch the raised club, and hit, my blade taking a chunk out of the wood. Instead the goblin punched me in the face, and I fell back disorientated. It hit hard, like being smashed in the face with a brick. I heard the twang of the bow, as shot after shot was launched, distracting the beast and letting me pull it together. Another fist was incoming, and I dogged, sliding round to cut at its side. The sharp blade went through the armour as if it wasn¡¯t even there, although the flesh was tougher.Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. More arrows flew, and I found myself flinching as one brushed my face. The distraction gave me plenty of openings, and I took advantage, cutting at joints to impair moment. Within moment the goblin was bleeding from a dozen cuts and several more arrows stood out from its body. If anything, it got fiercer, lashing out at me with the club, that I blocked, the blow sending shivers of pain through my wrist and elbow. Another arrow took it in the eye, like its friend. It was dead before it even knew. I stood panting, waiting for the bodies to disappear. The music swelling and more mana poured into my body, less powerful than the first goblin but lasting longer, probably because there were two. Ilsa came forwards ready to collect her reward. And the motes exploded into green energy, whirling around us for a moment blotting out sight of the room. ¡°Why is this happening?¡± I asked between gasps. She shrugged. It was different from before, but then I had never killed two in a row before. The motes flickered away, burning themselves out and leaving loot, a single ear, a copper warding, and a pouch. ¡°Huh, that is different. There isn¡¯t normally much usable stuff in loot. Beasts drop ingredients, and humanoids sometimes drop coins or resources, like metals and gems. Two wardings in a row...¡± Ilsa scratched her head before scooping it all up and securing it in her bag. ¡°We can split it later. I won¡¯t screw you, I can¡¯t. The party blessing doesn¡¯t allow me too. If I tried the gods would reward you and punish me.¡± ¡°Are the gods actually involved?¡± ¡°Sure, but they don¡¯t watch everything. My father taught me that the gods have servants that administer it all.¡± ¡°Hmm, makes sense. I need to visit the temple.¡± ¡°This really isn¡¯t the time to talk about it. We have to keep going.¡± ¡°It¡¯s getting harder, first one, then two, we don¡¯t know what is next.¡± ¡°Will you pull it together? We can¡¯t just run back as soon as it gets hard. The town is counting on us to do this. You must be feeling better already, the mana is pretty thick down here, should get some stat increases out of this too.¡± Now that she mentioned it the difference between the first room and this was obvious, the mana was stronger, easily three times thicker. I could feel it on my skin, like a layer of spider webs, pulling, and in my body. My lungs felt stronger, and it was like breathing through tar. ¡°One more, that is far as I¡¯m going. We aren¡¯t equipped or ready for this. I¡¯ve only ever gone to the first room of a lair.¡± ¡°I¡¯ve been to the second room, fought a bunch of rats, which didn¡¯t work too well with my bow, but that got me my skill. We have to push ourselves to get the results we want; doing the same thing over and over isn¡¯t going to get us a rank up. Anyway, we are going as far as we can. If we decide its more than we can handle, we can bail.¡± ¡°Okay, at least we are agreed on bailing on things if it gets too much.¡± I decided to check out the hut for anything lootable, I''d never seen a structure in a lair, although my experience was limited to slimes, and they didn¡¯t build anything, even if they did it wouldn¡¯t be in the first room which may as well be an entry hall. You don¡¯t put important things by the door, anyone could steal them. Even lairs followed that logic. The flap that served as the door was easily lifted out of the way. A fire pit sat in the middle of the small hut, illuminating in natural seeming light, which was a nice change to the lair-light. A small chest rested against the dirt wall. ¡°Ilsa, get in here. There is a chest.¡± I stepped out of the doorway to let her through. ¡°Huh, that¡¯s weird. Chests shouldn¡¯t be on the first floor.¡± ¡°Neither should goblins. Nor should an entrance be in so close to the town. We are collecting weird at the moment.¡± ¡°Chest mean they have been growing for a long time. There must have been contact before. We have to be careful here. Lairs with chests are bad news for G grades.¡± ¡°You do realise that I¡¯ve been saying this all along?¡± I pointed out. ¡°Shush, can you open it?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know. I¡¯m not a thief, so I have no lock picking skills.¡± ¡°Smash it, but be careful.¡± Careful smashing, right. I¡¯m sure that¡¯s a thing. Not a thing that I had much experience with, but yeah, a thing. I walked over and examined the chest. It was wood with metal banding to reinforce it, the lock looked sturdy enough, but it wasn¡¯t an integral part of it. Sliding out a dagger, I reversed it and tapped on the lock. It buckled but held. I hit it harder, sparks flaring from the metal. It broke. ¡°Yes!¡± ¡°Can you wait for me to open it before cheering?¡± ¡°It was encouragement. Don¡¯t be such a sour puss.¡± I ignored her as best I could and continued working on untangling the padlock from the chest. Hitting it mangled the loop, but I persevered and was rewarded as it clunked to the ground. Flicking the tab that secured the lid, I then lifted it. Inside was a murky blue crystal about the size of my fist, some bronze mail armour, and a bow. Scattered underneath this was a collection of coins and wardings, in silver and copper. ¡°Awesome. I want the bow and the mail; you can keep the rest if I can have them. What do you say?¡± ¡°They don¡¯t do me any good, so sure. But don¡¯t you want some coin too?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think the blessing is going to let me, we have to keep the loot fair, and the mail alone is probably worth more than the coins. With the bow as well, it¡¯s too much.¡± ¡°Oh, right. We can always see when we get back to town. Never know, these warding could be worth a fortune.¡± ¡°Even if they are, unassessed items don¡¯t count. I can judge the bow and the armour and think they are worth more. That¡¯s what counts unless we have an expert in the party. Don¡¯t you know anything?¡± ¡°Not been at this long, and don¡¯t really know anyone in the game.¡± ¡°That explains that then. My father and uncle were both adventurers, grade C. They taught me all sorts of things that seem useless, but right now are screaming at me.¡± We collected our spoils, the crystal giving me trouble as it was on the large side to go through the opening on my pouch. ¡°Last room, if things are too hot,¡± I reminded Ilsa as we got to the next tunnel. ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m with you on that. Like last time, you first, I will cover you.¡± I nodded, and set forwards, fear starting to crawl further up from my belly sending shivers of ice through me. There was nothing to prompt the fear. Other than the sick breath of mana pouring from the tunnel. It was thicker, and more, I couldn¡¯t put my finger on it, but this was even more different than the first two rooms. My feet slid over dirt, and my fingers tightened on my sword, and dagger. Sounds drifted through the opening, grunts and metallic screeching. That made me worried, more so than before. It sounded like a full scale battle was going on. Something wasn¡¯t right. ¡°Ilsa, we have a problem,¡± I whispered back. ¡°What? You are supposed to be sneaking, not talking.¡± ¡°There sounds like a war is going on in there.¡± ¡°Slip in and see, I¡¯ll back you up. If it all goes pear shaped, we hightail it out of here.¡± I nodded, and stepped forwards, far enough in that I could see what was going on. It was a mess; goblins ran around screaming, fighting adventurers. Spells clashed. Fire and ice struggling against each other. Walking into that wasn¡¯t happening; I was all ready to pull back when I was spotted. A single goblin, different to the others. He was slimmer, where the others were kind of stocky. Green skin, but paled to a green-grey and he carried a staff, and robes. His yellow eyes locked on to me, and he chanted. In goblin or whatever it was. A harsh, guttural language, that managed to sound kind of musical. In a very odd way. The chant built, even over the clash of fighting, into a song. He waved his staff around, and at the top a ball of energy formed. ¡°We have a mage here, Ilsa. Shoot him.¡± The twang of a bow fired behind me, and I ran forwards. No time to escape when an enemy had me in their sights. My legs pumped and the moment crystallised around me, as if everything froze. I saw the moment that the arrow sunk into flesh and the slow realisation of pain on the shaman¡¯s face. My blade was a fraction behind, cutting at the neck. I could feel the air thicken around me, resistance growing as my movement got faster. And then my sword bit into flesh, the strength behind it slicing clean through the shaman. The goblin didn¡¯t have a chance, and the world caught up. Everything sharpened and the sound rocked me. The shaman¡¯s body slid apart, top falling with a soft thud and the legs standing for a short moment longer. The motes came quickly this time, green and white, drifting up before evaporating. The energy flowed into me with a force that made me grit my teeth, every muscle tensing, and then fading to slightly less savage buzz. ¡°What was that?¡± Ilsa asked. ¡°What was what?¡± I said slowly. Talking felt hard as if my mouth was stuffed with fabric. ¡°That move, you suddenly went into super speed.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know, never happened before.¡± ¡°Might want to get your card updated when we get back, that looked like a skill to me.¡± ¡°Huh.¡± If it was, someone had some explaining to do. I''d never heard of skills manifesting like that. ¡°Why are you an adventurer? You don¡¯t know anything.¡± ¡°Something I wanted to do. It¡¯s hard getting information when no one thinks you can afford the card fee. Most thought I would give up before I saved enough, so they didn¡¯t tell me anything.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll explain later, but we have to pay attention to the battle. Collect the loot.¡± The motes revealed a larger collection of items. A pair of boots, the staff, and robe, and the now familiar, and expected, goblin ear. The larger items wouldn¡¯t fit in my pouch. I cast around while I recovered from whatever that was, before striking upon an idea. The robe quickly made a make shift bag tied to the end of the staff. It wasn¡¯t perfect but it would do for now. ¡°Gods, they are going for it. Look over there, more huts and fire pits. This is a goblin village. This shouldn¡¯t be on the first floor. This is fourth level stuff, at least. Most lairs never get deep enough for sapient humanoids. We clear them out before that. What is going on here?¡± I looked but only saw magic and fighting. Few of the goblins could put up a decent fight, and were cut down or burnt, or frozen and shattered. Mages chanted. Fighters fought, and archers shot. The gulf between their skills and mine yawned between us, but they kept the focus on them. I gripped my weapons hard, just in case, but it wasn¡¯t needed. The adventurers took out all resistance. For them to take this long they must have faced hundreds of goblins, or been really slow in finding the other entrance. The last goblin, a warrior larger than any of the others, died with a scream from a deep spear wound to the belly. The motes came, went, and the whole lair shivered. ¡°Out now, its vanquished. Gather your loot quick,¡± shouted the obvious leader of the adventurers. Even in the lair light his armour shone with blue and silver highlights. His spear was larger than him, and he wasn¡¯t small, standing head and shoulders above me. ¡°Kids, you wanna come with?¡± He called over the room. ¡°Sure,¡± Ilsa answered before I realised kids was addressed to us. I followed along, keeping an eye out, but one hand was holding the make shift bag and the other was on my sword. The party of adventurers, made a quick lap around the room, grabbing their drops and then all moved towards the distant tunnel. Not the one we came in. ¡°Graey, don¡¯t mention our loot. They might want a share,¡± Ilsa whispered to me as we got closer. ¡°Um, okay.¡± We tagged along through crumbling tunnels, and empty rooms, even the lair light was fading by the time we reached the exit portal. Stepping through brought relieve, the intense pressure of all the mana for so long made me feel sick. I hadn¡¯t while under but now, it was like shrugging off the winter, the first rays of sun on that day of spring when the snow melts. Chapter 5 We emerged into the farmlands, but not the same ones we entered. The farmhouse Ilsa and I came through was not even in sight. Here were different sorts of farms, orchards and vineyards, climbing the gentle hills. The entrance was tucked under a rock which a gnarled fruit tree grew on. Its roots twisted around the hole in the earth, forming a doorway of sorts. The adventurers made a camp a short distance away in an apple orchard. A rudimentary camp, but tents aren¡¯t really needed when you are within walking distance of town. It didn¡¯t take long to get a fire going and we all sat around it. They quickly found food and drink, water, bread, and jerky. ¡°You want some?¡± the leader offered. ¡°Yes please. Thank you,¡± I said before I could stop myself. The water was warm, but it was wet, which was the most important thing. The leader stood over me, watching, his blue eyes holding a question but being patient enough to wait. I finished, feeling a million times better. Thirst can creep up on you. ¡°So, what are you two doing out here? We didn¡¯t see you enter, and no one found it before us. You are Gs, if I don¡¯t miss my guess. You had no place there.¡± ¡°We came across it. Fought some goblins. There was another entrance closer to town. No one found it. Everyone was heading off here. Where have they gone off to?¡± ¡°They will have headed back to town once they realised that it was vanquished. But you haven¡¯t explained how you fought the goblins.¡± ¡°Lucky. You must have drawn most of them away. We came in the back door, and there were only a few. One was asleep. It was luck.¡± ¡°Well, if that¡¯s all there is to it. We vanquished the lair. We get the credit. We will give you a mention, because as far as I could see there were more rooms. The lair wouldn¡¯t have died if all the rooms hadn¡¯t been cleared.¡± ¡°That is fine. You saved us. We couldn¡¯t have taken out that mass of goblins.¡± The leader knelt down, his armour clanking, as he lowered himself to eye level. ¡°You did well enough for G¡¯s. You both new at this?¡± ¡°I am. It¡¯s been less than a week.¡± ¡°Not me. I¡¯m a legacy, and been doing this for months,¡± Ilsa chimed in, offended if I was to guess. ¡°Well, in that case I have some advice for you, Boy. Change your weapon. You are not made for the sword. Pick something else. It will take time, but better to work on a weapon that is suited to you than struggle with one that isn¡¯t. Take it or leave it. I saw you down there, and you have potential, for a G.¡± ¡°It¡¯s Graey, not boy. Thank you though, I do appreciate the advice.¡± That was twice now that someone had told me the sword wasn¡¯t for me. Both unsolicited, both from experienced older people. It brought to mind the unnatural feeling of holding my sword. I didn¡¯t have it with my knives. It was just with the longer sword. It always felt wrong. I put it down to inexperience but if what these guys were saying was right, then it was something else. ¡°I¡¯m Harold, this is my party. The mage is Timothy. The sneaky one is Cindy. The healer is Claire, and the big axe wielder is David. We are the best C grade party in town, the mighty Clearers.¡± ¡°Thanks again. We will leave you to it then,¡± Ilsa said, standing and preparing to go. ¡°You can come back with us if you want. There might be a few goblins lingering, although they should be weaker in the sun.¡± ¡°It¡¯s been a long day, and we just want to go home. It was a deep dive, and we are feeling it.¡± Harold laughed. ¡°Yeah, I remember those days. A walk in the sun will do you good. Be careful of any stragglers though, I don¡¯t want to come across your corpses on the road back.¡± Ilsa pulled me into standing, and tugged me away. Once out of earshot of the Mighty Clearers, she started talking. ¡°Did you know them? Why did he comment on your sword? What are you hiding?¡± Her blond hair caught in the breeze as she turned to look at me, her face hard with suspicion. ¡°I don¡¯t know them. Never met them before today. I seriously don¡¯t know why they helped out like they did. Seriously, I¡¯m not hiding anything, and my head is splitting.¡± I wasn¡¯t lying to get her to shut up. my head really did hurt. The bright sun burnt at my eyes, and the open sky pressed down on me. ¡°You really are new. Its dungeon sickness. We spent too long, and it was too deep, down there. Try not to worry about it, you will feel better soon. So, where do you live?¡± We talked about our lives, our families, or lack of them and the pain in my head lessened slowly. By the time we got within sight of the town, I was almost completely recovered. ¡°What made you want to be an adventurer? My choice was easy. My family wanted it. But you don¡¯t seem to have any reason.¡± I thought about it for a while, watching the grass blow in the wind, the bright green soothing the irritation of the question somewhat. ¡°You don¡¯t have to answer. I¡¯m just being nosy. But if we are going to party more then it¡¯s only fair that we know as much as we can about each other.¡± ¡°You have a point,¡± I admitted, and she did. Trust is vital for anything where you are counting on others. ¡°My mother used to tell me stories. Of heroes. Of monsters. All I ever wanted was to be one of those heroes. I know it¡¯s stupid and childish. But it captured my imagination. When my mother died, I took it hard. So many adventurers have healing skills. They could have saved her. I could have if I''d just been quicker. I know I can¡¯t change that now, but I wish I could. Instead I¡¯m going to do what I can to make up for it. Being an adventurer is a step on that road.¡± ¡°Oh, man, I didn¡¯t realise it was a sore subject.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not. It was a long time ago, and I¡¯m over it. But you asked why I wanted to be one, and I told you.¡± I shrugged it off. It didn¡¯t hurt to talk about, not any more. If anything it was like probing a missing tooth with your tongue, painless but the gap is still there, would always be there. ¡°Okay. Well, we just split the loot and then we can go our separate ways. If you want to party again, hit me up. I¡¯m normally around the western woods. There are some sweet lairs, small, single levels. We can practice, and maybe grade up together. I heard that parties that grade up together get bigger blessings. My uncle doesn¡¯t know if it¡¯s true, but it might be worth finding out.¡± ¡°We will see. I have some things to do before I can think about more adventuring. It¡¯s been difficult today.¡± ¡°Not every G grade can say they defeated goblins. It¡¯s something to be proud of.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not arguing that. Just that it was more than we could handle on our own. If the Clearers hadn¡¯t been there we would have been in serious trouble.¡± ¡°Stop borrowing trouble. We made it. Got some decent loot out of it too.¡±The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation. Our conversation filled up the time it took to get back to town. No goblins accosted us on our way, which was good, because while the headache faded the screaming in my muscles had grown. By the time we reached the guild house I was covered in sweat and shivering, like I had a fever. The guild was busy, people milling about trading in their drops and collecting small missions. Gisselle stood behind the counter at the back, marking a large blackboard with chalk. What she was writing was beyond me. I couldn¡¯t read. The thing with the card is part of the nature of the magic. She saw me making my way through the people, slowly, and raised her hand to wave. ¡°Graey, you look rough. Did you go after the goblins?¡± ¡°Yes. I didn¡¯t see you though.¡± ¡°I was here. I caught the announcement. But I had to organise things here. If I¡¯d known you would be caught up in it, I would have warned you not to. G¡¯s are exempt from calls.¡± ¡°Wish I¡¯d known that before. It would have saved me the trouble. But I have some drops to trade in.¡± I pulled out the ears and the crystal from my pouch. ¡°Let¡¯s have a look. I take it you are wanting to check your card too?¡± ¡°Updating would be good. It¡¯s been a long day.¡± ¡°Goblin ears, decent grade too,¡± she said, placing the ears on a silver scale behind the counter. ¡°What is this?¡± ¡°Dunno.¡± ¡°It¡¯s a crystal, I know that much. But it¡¯s too big. Most of them are thumb sized.¡± She lifted the fist-sized stone up to the light. ¡°Clear too. I don¡¯t know how much I can offer for this. I¡¯ve never seen on this big.¡± ¡°Is there anyone here that would know?¡± ¡°Hang on.¡± She ran off towards the back of the building, through a wooden door and emerged a moment later with an old man. He was stooped and wrinkled; a grey robe covered his skinny form. ¡°What? What is this?¡± He said, his voice wavering. ¡°A crystal, sir,¡± Gisselle said. ¡°I can see that girl, I¡¯m old not blind. How did a G get this? Did you steal it boy?¡± He accused me. His blue eyes, clear and sharp, focused intently on my face. ¡°No sir. I don¡¯t steal. I found it in the goblin lair.¡± ¡°Humph. Come with me, pick up your loot, and follow Gisselle to my office.¡± I collected my loot, squishy ears, and all, and walked around the counter, through the wooden part that Gisselle raised. Ilsa followed along behind. The office was nice, brilliantly lit by glowing mage lights trapped behind glass, and covered in wood panelling. A large desk dominated the room, behind which a padded chair sat. The old man sat with agonising slowness, taking care of his joints by the look of it. With Gisselle, Ilsa and I on the other side of the desk the room seemed small, confining even with the light. ¡°Let me see the crystal again.¡± ¡°Yes, Master Kerril,¡± Gisselle said, gesturing to me to put it in front of him. In the bright mage light the blue gem glowed, refracting and scintillating shapes all over the walls. Master Kerril drew a metal device out of his desk. It was made of bronze, and covered in markings, pieces of glass and knobs for adjusting. He examined the crystal carefully with the device, looking through the lens and twiddling the knobs. After a short while of silence he leaned back in his chair and looked at us. ¡°This is a Mana crystal, or a Lair heart. Tell me how you found it?¡± I told him about the other entrance to the lair and the chest. The shaman goblins. I told him everything I could think of with Ilsa adding bits her and there. ¡°This shouldn¡¯t have been there. And you shouldn¡¯t have found it. This is most disturbing. Lair hearts are not common, not at this size at least. Most are small; as I¡¯m sure Gisselle has told you. The guild will pay you seven gold coins for it, as well as your silence.¡± I was feeling less and less well as the meeting went on, the confined space felt like it pressed on me. My breathing was getting harder and my mind was muddled, but seven gold was a lot of gold. More than a Grade B could earn in a month. For me it was more than I dreamed of being able to earn for a long time. ¡°Done. What about the rest of the loot?¡± ¡°Bring it out and I will look at it. Quickly though I don¡¯t have all day.¡± It seemed whatever good will I bought by selling the Lair heart didn¡¯t extend to politeness. But then again, I''d never seen Master Kerril before. ¡°We don¡¯t deal in wardings. Go ask the mages. The staff and the robe, again we don¡¯t deal with. Monster parts are easy to handle; I will give you an additional five silvers for the goblin ears. If that is all you have, you can be on your way. Gisselle will pay you before you leave. But if you come across anything interesting, bring it to me first.¡± I nodded. It seemed in my best interest to bring interesting things to him. ¡°If that is all, then I look forward to doing more business in with you in the future.¡± That was a dismissal if ever I heard one. And I was glad to be dismissed the room was hot and growing increasingly stuffy with the bodies in. I followed Gisselle out to the front and found a booth. We all sat. ¡°That was different,¡± Ilsa laughed. ¡°I didn¡¯t expect to get called through the back. Good job that I still think my weapon is worth more, or you would have to pay me.¡± ¡°If you are ready Graey, I will take your card and update it for you.¡± ¡°Sure, that¡¯s part of why we came.¡± I handed over my card to Gisselle who brought the book out from the booth again. ¡°You haven¡¯t been updated before. This time doesn¡¯t hurt. Just place your hand over the book and we will see what happens.¡± The book, the same one from before as far as I could tell, had blank pages. There wasn¡¯t even the angular script of the card in it. Whatever it did, it was more than a book. I placed my hand on the open page, feeling the thick vellum, warm, soft, and expectant on my skin. I don¡¯t know where expectant came from but once my hand settled on the page it heated up. Not just warm but hot, and my blood quickened in my veins in response. The sickness vanished in an instant, drained out of me, and I could feel my muscles tightening. But there was no pain. Then it stopped and the page went back to being a page, although not quite as blank. Gisselle lay my card on the page, and the words scrawled there ran into the metal of the card until the gem in the corner flashed. ¡°Here, you can read it while I do Ilsa, wasn¡¯t it?¡± I took the card back, and focused on the words. Adventurer Graey Thorn: Grade G Health: 34/12 MP: 90/90 Strength: E-- Agility: E+ Constitution: E+ Intelligence: G++ Wisdom: G+ Dexterity: F Skills: Tailoring: Novice The making of clothes and armours using thread and needle. Various processes are involved in this group of skills. Alchemy: Novice The refining of medicinal/magical products through alchemical processes, from herbs and other ingredients. Many processes are involved in this group of skills Combat skills: Frozen Moment: Novice. In the heat of the moment allows the owner to increase their perception and movement speed. Short bursts. Over use will damage the user. Situational activation. Magic: Magic manipulation precursor: Novice. User has developed a sense of magic/mana. Manipulation is beyond the limits of this skill, but can be evolved with practice and dedication This was beyond expectations. I had progress in all of my stats, huge progress in some, less in others, and I had skills. Not just Frozen moment which was amazing, and would be better if I could control it, but crafting skills. According to Jessie and Lily I shouldn¡¯t have them yet. I also seemed to have the start of magic manipulation. None of this was quite enough to grade up yet, but it was close. Just a little bit more progress in a couple of other stats and I would be eligible for E grade. Which was a huge jump. A smiled threatened to split my face with its force as Gisselle finished up with Ilsa. ¡°Good news, I take it. Well done Graey, and you too Ilsa. A little more work and we will be able to grade you up. Here is your coin, Graey. Ilsa if you want to stay we can look at your loot. I¡¯m sorry we didn¡¯t cover it while dealing with everything else. I find it best to keep these matters separate. You wouldn¡¯t believe the number of adventurers that get confused about who¡¯s is what when it comes time to cash in.¡± ¡°No problem,¡± Ilsa said before turning to me. ¡°How much did you improve?¡± ¡°A lot, way more than I should have. How about you?¡± ¡°Same. I have to cash in, but I will be about. You still look pretty wiped out, go get some rest.¡± ¡°Thanks. Later then,¡± I said and stood, grabbing the remaining loot and leaving. Outside, I made my way through the market, surprisingly feeling better about the day. A few hours in a lair and the sunlight seemed remarkable, as if it was cleansing the taint from me. I still had to check in with Jessie, no matter how much I wanted to go home and rest. It wouldn¡¯t do to have her worried about me. So I took a turn that led me to her shop. She was in the back working on the wolf pelt. But she stopped as soon as she heard the bell. Her head poked round the corner to see who it was. ¡°You made it then. I can smell it on you. How did it go?¡± ¡°It was a bit rougher than I¡¯ve faced before. Goblins are nasty and it was close near the end. But I¡¯m unharmed, and I¡¯ve made progress with my stats. I even have skills now.¡± ¡°Really? You shouldn¡¯t have. Its too soon.¡± ¡°That¡¯s what I thought. You and Lilly have both been telling me that it takes a lot of work to gain skills. But I have alchemy and tailoring.¡± ¡°Did you come across any skill books? I warned you they would stunt your growth.¡± ¡°No, there was nothing like that. I just got my card updated and there they are. I even have magic manipulation precursor.¡± ¡°Strange. We have only just started work on that. I need to think on this. Come back tomorrow or the day after. You look beat, take the time to rest and get used to the changes.¡± ¡°Just didn¡¯t want you worrying about me.¡± ¡°That¡¯s sweet, and says a lot about you. Thank you. Now go home. I will be fine without you for a couple of days.¡± She all but pushed me out of the store. Chapter 6 Lilly was at home, bustling round the kitchen cleaning and generally distracting herself. I found her mopping the floor. The water in the bucket was clean. Too clean for the floor to have needed mopping. ¡°You came home. I was worried for a while there. Jessie sent a boy to let me know that you ran for the bell. Don¡¯t scare me like that.¡± I stood in the doorway of the kitchen, watching the tension ease out of her. ¡°I¡¯m sorry you were worried. It¡¯s been a busy day,¡± I said after a moment. ¡°Have a seat. You look worn out. I will make tea.¡± I put down the robe and staff on the table, and took a seat, letting the comfort of home remind me that nothing had really changed. All the way back I felt disconnected, as if my world had been rocked, but just being here in this run down home put that to rest. The chipped mug put in front of me brought fragrant steam to my nose, clearing the lingering goblin stench. My hands wrapped around it almost of their own accord, taking the comforting heat into them. ¡°Tell me what happened?¡± Granny Lilly asked. I couldn¡¯t refuse her, and it wasn¡¯t all bad. So I did. She sat there listening, nodding along in places. Then she stopped me when I mentioned my headache and generally feeling ill. ¡°You are talking about a dungeon sickness. It¡¯s the mana, but it shouldn¡¯t have happened. You only went to the first floor?¡± ¡°There only was one. We couldn¡¯t find another and the lair shook when we cleared the first floor.¡± ¡°Something is off. Dungeon sickness doesn¡¯t happen in an afternoon in a single floor lair. You¡¯d need to be there for days, or be deeper.¡± ¡°It felt wrong, Lilly. Each room the pressure grew. It was as if we did go deeper with each room.¡± ¡°Huh. This is something to think about. Nothing about this is sitting right. There shouldn¡¯t have been a goblin lair undetected so close to the town. It should have had multiple floors; goblins don¡¯t spawn on the first level. This heart was too big for the type of lair. And you got sick. Did anyone else?¡± ¡°No it was just me. Ilsa was fine. The Clearers mentioned dungeon sickness and so did Ilsa. The sun helped.¡± ¡°Of course it did. Mana breaks down in the sun. You took a dose that was too big. You don¡¯t have the resistance yet. But that will come, most new adventurers get sick a few times. It just part of the life. You mentioned going to the guild. Did you grade up?¡± ¡°Well, not quite. Came close. My Strength, Constitution, and Agility are all E. Dexterity is F. And my Intelligence and Wisdom are both G+. I even have skills.¡± ¡°Skills should take longer, but I guess we shouldn¡¯t complain. You do know your stats don¡¯t reflect your actual physical ability just yet?¡± ¡°I noticed that I haven¡¯t changed, just grades on the card.¡± ¡°Yes. That is it. You will but even the gods aren¡¯t going to change the simple rules of biology for you. Changes take time, and work. You have pushed hard enough to increase your grades but food and rest are needed now. We can work on your skills tomorrow. But right now, I¡¯m going to feed you and send you to sleep off your sickness.¡± She got up and readied the stove. It looked like I was going to be eating eggs. ¡°Why is everyone being so weird about the lair? I don¡¯t understand the problem.¡± ¡°You know the lairs and dungeons are caused by one of the gods?¡± ¡°No. I thought it was just how it is.¡± ¡°Looks like tomorrow you are going to the temple. You need to hear this from a priest.¡± ¡°Why can¡¯t you tell me?¡± ¡°Because it¡¯s been a long time since I heard it and might miss something out. But this is why everyone is being weird, as you put it, about the lair. Something is not right about this. It breaks too many of the rules.¡± ¡°Before you herd me to bed, I have something to give you.¡± I reached into my pouch and pulled out the coin, the gold glittering brightly in my hand. ¡°What?¡± She said, turning back from the stove. Her eyes caught the gleaming treasure in my palm. ¡°How did you get gold? Is it real?¡± ¡°I sold the heart at the guild. Master Kerril paid top price for it. Is this enough to fix this place up a bit?¡± ¡°More than enough. And more than I dreamed you would be able to pull in for a long time. I will get started on it while you eat.¡± She turned back to stir the eggs, before they burnt. She served me up a big plate of scrambled eggs and left me after I took my first bite. They were hot and filling, if not exactly tasty. I left my plate in the sink, and went up to bed. I did feel rough, tired and worn thin in ways that I wasn¡¯t used to. But I couldn¡¯t sleep. The mystery of the lair that everyone went on about confused me and spun around in my head. What could it be that scared everyone? Was it something really bad coming for us? It was more than I knew but I would have to find out. There were many more capable but few were so directly involved. The lingering sickness filled my muscles with energy, twitching and aching. My head throbbed with not pain, but something and my eyes danced behind my eyelids, threating to open. But eventually I drifted into something enough like sleep that I lost track of the time. I could feel the mana seeping out of my body, slowly leaching away. It was like blood leaving drop by drop taking with it my energy. It hung in the air around me, tainted with anger and violence, like the goblins. If anything it felt like I was back in the lair, minus the music, whatever caused that. Each drop sizzled in my flesh, changing me, and I could feel it like worms beneath my skin, wriggling, consuming, and leaving me altered and weak. The diffuse light of the cloudy sky drifted through my window, grey and bleak. It matched the mood that hung over me with the sickness and taint of my recent experience. I forced myself to get up and move, even when my head spun at every moment. Standing took more effort than it should have, but I was faster, just a touch. My reactions felt smoother and sharper, each on crisp as I compensated for the unexpected speed and landed in a heap. Note to self: be careful when stats increase. This must be what Lily was on about, it taking time to get used to it. While I was faster, it wasn¡¯t natural. That should ease as I got used to it. Much like when I went through a growth spurt and had to deal with what felt like an extra inch of height overnight. Man, that was rough and I was clumsy for a long while as everything felt both further away and closer to match the increased distance from the ground and the longer limbs. Picking myself up with more care I tried to assess how much I had changed. Physically I looked the same. Young, slim, and far too frail for the task of adventuring. Inside my head I could feel something hovering under my skin, diffuse and murky. That must have been the mana, or was that magic now that it was in my body? It hung in lines, if I was imaginative, along my limbs, through my core and up my spine. Slight tremors in the diffuse stuff matched the movements that I made. A pulse as I moved an arm or a leg. Something less as I moved a finger. Maybe it was just for large movements. Agility was speed and Dexterity was finesse, maybe. So it would follow that an increase in my Agility only affected larger movements. I was stronger too. But that was harder to feel. I felt lighter as if the weight of me was less strain. I guess, I would find out when I trained, that¡¯s when any increases would shine through better than this awkward assessment with nothing to measure it against. I tried to put it out of mind for now as I recalled that I was supposed to go to the temple today and hopefully find out what was with all the weirdness. And I was really going to have to figure out something else to call it rather than weirdness. Not the most easily explained term. But then none of this was easily explained. Once I was down stairs I noticed that there were people in the house. Work people by the looks of their rough clothes. I must have been foggier than I thought to miss the sounds of hammers and saws while I was upstairs. Thankfully, I wasn¡¯t going to outside the warding today, where the same fogginess could get me killed. Lilly was in the kitchen, small though it was, directing the teams of workers through what I could only guess was the foreman. ¡°I want this wall knocking down and the new stove placing against the new wall about three feet beyond this one. We have the space to really expand and we will. Oh, Graey,¡± She called me as she noticed me standing in the door way. ¡°Don¡¯t mind the mess. I made some breakfast for you. It will be cold. Sorry about that but the stove is out of action for a little while. You slept longer than I expected. How do you like the changes?¡±If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. I took a moment to consider the changes. Everything was covered in a layer of dust and sawdust so it made it hard to make out. But men were pulling up floorboards and replacing them. Others worked on the walls, stripping the panelling and plaster to expose the bare bricks that made up all the homes in this part of town. I caught glimmers of magic in the hands of some of the workers, doing¡­ something. ¡°Looks good. What is actually changing?¡± ¡°Well, my husband, Gods rest his soul, drew up some plans to make this a perfect place to teach and train adventurers. Unfortunately, those plans never got put to use other than some basics. So, eventually, when everything is done, we will have a training area for combat, a full kitchen, a workshop for crafts, a library for mages, a fully stocked alchemy lab and apothecary bench. An enchanters desk and so much more. This place has all the arcane workings to be great, he saw to that before we retired. It was a dream of his, and mine to train the next generation to fight the war better than any that has gone before. You are going to be the start of that, Graey.¡± I blinked. That was a lot, with a corresponding cost. A few gold coins would get it started but the library alone would cost several thousand. ¡°I know its going to be expensive and I cant expect you to provide everything, but we can get started and prioritise what we need first. So its going to be kitchens and the combat area first and the rest will come as we get more funds.¡± ¡°Its more than I ever expected. I guess, I lucked out when you took me in.¡± Lily beamed at the compliment. ¡°That you did. More than you knew. And I got lucky finding you. I had given up on this before you came along. Now, eat your breakfast. You have to get to the temple today.¡± I nodded and grabbed the covered bowl that lily passed me. It was nothing special, some cold hard boiled eggs and some toasted bread, but it settled my stomach and calmed the muddle in my head. It was welcome even if it was cold. The temple didn¡¯t dominate the centre of town like I heard it did in others. Here we had the main guilds in the square. It was tucked out of the way just behind the adventure¡¯s guild in a small, unimposing white stone building. I don¡¯t really know what I was expecting but I was disappointed nonetheless. Walking through the peeling wooden doors I was struck by how much light streamed in through the glass window in the celling. Okay, this was more like it. I stepped through thick golden light, in stark contrast to the cloudy weather. Magic? Or something less common? I didn¡¯t know but it was nice and warm, comforting like being wrapped in the arms of my mother before she died. I was at peace here. And distracted. So distracted that the arrival of a priestess by my side went unnoticed until she spoke. ¡°Takes everyone like that the first time. This is your first time here, isn¡¯t it? She asked. I could do nothing more than nod, struck dumb by the shock of her being so close. Tearing my attention away from the comforting light I looked to her. She was young, like so was I but with her it was more than just age. She felt young. Her voice vibrated with compassion and humour. Her pale green eyes glowed with reflected light and a gentle smile hung upon her face, giving her dimples. Her blonde hair was severely tied up in a tight tail but strands escaped to dangle in her face, catching the corner of her mouth. ¡°Good. It¡¯s been ages since I¡¯ve been able to welcome someone new. You have the look of an adventurer and we just don¡¯t get many of them as they are so busy fighting the war or glorying in their gods given strength.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not just gods given though. They work for it,¡± I said. ¡°Well, that is their point, but it is given by the gods to fight the dungeons spread. Otherwise they would be stuck at mortal levels of strength. There would be no breaking stone with their bare hands or calling down lighting for them if that was the case now, would it?¡± ¡°I guess not. Although I have heard that magic is a natural talent. So even without the gods and the status cards we could work to get spells.¡± ¡°Pish. That talent comes from the gods. Let me tell you a story, and you can decide for yourself.¡± I thought about it for a moment. This is what I came here for, and it would be rude to just ignore her. ¡°Okay.¡± ¡°Great. Let¡¯s take a seat then and I will tell you a story they don¡¯t tell baby adventurer¡¯s.¡± She gestured to the pews that were arranged in lines on either side of the room. They had seen better days, like everything here, I noticed as I sat down and felt rough patches where the varnish had peeled off, or been picked by bored members of the congregation, if there even were any. ¡°Right, back when this world was made, the gods each had a role. One made the seas and one the land and one the sky. Another made the plants, and another the animals. Another made thinking beings, the elves and the dwarfs and the orcs and the men. Each had a role. Except one. They were jealous of the creations of the others so they cast their jealousy down on the peoples of this world. They made mana. And with mana everything changed. The gentle peoples of this world were struck down with sickness. Animals and plants changed into monsters and certain areas spawned more and more of these monsters. The gods saw what the other had done and despaired for their creations suffered, but even though they were many they had not the power to undo what was done. They created, they changed, they could not destroy unless it was together. So they sentenced the other to remain trapped in the core of their creation. Together they bound them with chains of light and stone, and they remain there to this day. But this binding is the source of mana, and why it gets thicker and stronger the deeper within a dungeon or lair you go. The other seeks to escape. With their dungeons they dig deeper and deeper, each layer getting closer to their prison. Knowing that a prison wasn¡¯t enough, the gods wrought more changes upon this world and us. They gave us the power to absorb the mana and use it for our own purposes. They made the sunlight destroy mana to prevent sickness. They gave us skills and strengths to fight against the creep and claim the land back for ourselves. And they gave us their blessing in the home that we can do what they cannot. Since then they have not been seen or heard from but we can feel them in the touch of light or in the strength of each other as we stand in parties fighting.¡± She looked at me expectantly. I didn¡¯t really have anything to say to the story just yet. It was interested and something that I hadn¡¯t really heard all in one place. There were a few mentions of what the dungeons were or why we could upgrade our stats but it was nothing like this and my first instinct was to dismiss all of it. It just sounded too neat and tidy to be true. As if the first priests needed someone to blame for the dungeons and mana sickness back before we figured out warding. But enough rang true with things like the party blessing that I couldn¡¯t do that. ¡°So the dungeons are the other god¡¯s attempts to free themselves?¡± I asked. ¡°You don¡¯t believe it?¡± My scepticism must have bled through. ¡°I didn¡¯t say that. I honestly have no idea why there are lairs and dungeons. It just seems odd that they start on the surface and get deeper. Wouldn¡¯t they start at the bottom and work up?¡± She smiled at that. ¡°I asked the same question. I was told that there is a reason for that. That they need to connect to the surface first because of the changes the gods made. That the path the mana takes needs to have an escape before it can cut deeper. It¡¯s not in the pooling of the mana but its flow that the path is made. Like lightning, we can only see the path from the sky to the earth but the first comes from the earth to the sky.¡± I guess, that made sense in a way. It was something I would need to think on, but it didn¡¯t really help me with the current issues. ¡°Okay. So how about if I told you that I was in a lair that only had one floor but each room felt deeper than the next?¡± ¡°I would say you are lying. But someone else came this morning about the goblin lair. I thought they were lying or mistaken, so I sent them away. Now that you have said the same thing, I feel I own her an apology.¡± ¡°Can you tell me about the party blessing, please?¡± ¡°The gods love us and wish us to do well but are limited in what they can do to aid us. One of our greatest strengths is the ability to work together. We need to from the moment we are born. Just as creating life takes more than a single person, our best qualities come through when working with others, for others. The party blessing is the epitome of this, a grace given to those that work together, and to guide them in working better together. It is stronger for those that work in small groups and for long periods of time. Just as you grow closer to your team mates, the blessing grows, giving greater bonuses to your effort. For those that work in large groups the blessing is more varied, giving flexibility equal to the composition of the party.¡± ¡°Right, so working with the same people over and over again gives more. But working with larger groups changes what the blessing gives?¡± ¡°Yes and no. I¡¯m just a junior priestess. I don¡¯t have a huge amount of experience with parties. I know what I have been taught. The temple has its own party blessing as all priests work as one to help in the war against the other god. We get good bonuses to learning related skills and to intelligence and faith stats. What an adventurer would get depends on the party composition and even beyond that what each member brings to the team. If you had lots of skills and experience you might get a wider variety of bonuses or great bonuses in a few areas. Its complex.¡± ¡°I thought it might be. Thank you for your help. I have one more question, well two.¡± ¡°Feel free to ask. It¡¯s what we are here for, after all.¡± My first one is what is your name? I feel incredibly rude for having such a long conversation with you without knowing. I¡¯m Graey Thorn by the way.¡± ¡°Oh. I¡¯m sorry. I was so excited to be able to tell the story to someone new. It must have slipped my mind. Nice to meet you Graey, I¡¯m Cynthia Foundling.¡± She met my gaze at the mention of her surname. An orphan, likely left in the care of the temple. If they did such things. She would find no pity from me, I had my own issues. ¡°And my second question is learning skills and readings performed here. I¡¯ve heard and experienced that it is possible to learn skills and upgrade stats without an adventurer¡¯s card. Also that learning them properly confers greater advantages. Could you tell me anything about it?¡± ¡°That is even more complex than the blessing. The gods acknowledge a certain level of skill and give an extra something to products of it as well as the bearer. While the same is given to those skills learned through the use of a skill book, it is not of the same quality. The gods reward hard work. The upgraded stats come from the skills themselves. Certain skills lending themselves to such traits. For instance, blacksmithing involves lifting a hammer all day, in the heat, so stats such as Strength and Constitution would naturally increase. That is about the limits of my knowledge on the matter. Someone higher in the faith may be able to tell you more, but they are difficult to arrange to see.¡± It made sense. Far more sense than I would have thought, given that it was cloaked in the faith in gods that hadn¡¯t been seen since the dawn of life. But before the adventurer¡¯s guild it was likely the temples that guided adventurers. ¡°Thank you, Cynthia. I¡¯m sorry to have disturbed your day and will leave you in peace now.¡± ¡°You are always welcome here, Graey. Please do come again. As you can see, its quiet here, and there isn¡¯t too much to do.¡± I waved my goodbye and left. I had much to think about. Chapter 7 The increase in my strength and speed became more noticeable as I walked through the streets. If anything there seemed to be a synergy between the two. I felt lighter on my feet which fed into being quicker. I would have to experiment with my combat to see how much translated but added speed would increase the force of my strikes as well as how many. I could see how developing stats became almost an obsession for many adventurers, it was a heady feeling and I had barely even started. For once it was nice to feel like I actually made progress. I had a grade for each stat to physically measure my development. Which while nice left me with harder decision to make. I still had no idea what style of adventurer I wished to become, and with such quick advancement the question became more pressing. No one could invest the time in developing in every direction, it became counterproductive especially when I could form a party to cover any deficits or to multiply the amount of force we could bring to bear. It looked like learning skills, which I felt wasn¡¯t a waste of my time, but less important than actually fighting, was going to be vital to augment my stats. I still didn¡¯t know if it was an actual grade increase or something like the party blessing boosting my original stat. Either would be good, but a blessing could serve me better. It wouldn¡¯t increase my grade but it would grow as I did. Or would it increase my grade? There was so much I just didn¡¯t know, and I had no one to ask for all the details because everyone seemed to have a different piece of the puzzle. Someone somewhere must know it all. The mages seemed like a good bet, and I did have things to sell to them, the wardings, the robe, and the staff. But mages were known for being stuck up. Most G grade adventurers didn¡¯t come across magic items as they were higher grade drops, so few ever had any dealings with mages. No G grade was ever a mage. It was too early in an adventurer¡¯s career to develop more than basic magic, and more than the basics was needed to be considered a mage. I had caught on to hints of a rivalry between the adventurers and the mages, not that there was all that much difference between the two. Both were technically adventurers, just mages thought better of themselves due to the sort of fighting they did. I guess wielding the powers of creation and destruction by strength of will would inflate someone¡¯s sense of self-importance. Pretty much any adventurer would agree on one point: Mages were arseholes. That inescapable fact would make asking the obvious choices difficult. All I could do was try. That couldn¡¯t hurt, right? Walking through the great doors of the mages guild I was struck by how bright and gaudy it was. The places gleamed with wood, stone and metal, all polished to mirror brightness. The light came from globes hanging from shining silver chains.The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. It was the most impressive building I had seen, which wasn¡¯t saying all that much. So impressive that I instantly felt dirty and small for sullying the place with my presence. But I soldiered on and stepped forward to the large desk at the front of the hall, at which sat a young man. He was thin and sported a feeble attempt at facial hair that I¡¯m sure everyone kept telling him would grow in, and clearly hadn¡¯t. He was also asleep. ¡°Excuse me,¡± I said. The young mage, for that was all he could really be in his robe and beard, started. ¡°What? I¡¯m awake,¡± he asserted loudly to a very empty room, except for me. ¡°I can see that. Now that you are awake, I was wondering if you could help me.¡± ¡°Hang on.¡± He looked at me while rubbing his eyes. ¡°I¡¯ve never seen you before. Who are you, and what are you doing here? ¡°I have some questions, and some drops to sell.¡± ¡°Seriously? You can¡¯t be old enough to be more than a F grade. Anything of that level the Adventurers will take.¡± ¡°I was told to come here by Master Kerril of the Adventurer¡¯s guild to dispose of some of the loot gained from the goblin lair.¡± ¡°Huh. Well, I guess that makes some sense. Sending an errand boy to do the grunt work while the higher grades deal with the monsters,¡± he declared, seemingly satisfied with his interpretation. I had no desire to correct him, not if his mistaken assumption got me what I want. ¡°I don¡¯t really handle that. I will have to summon one of the appraisers to view the drops. And they don¡¯t really like being summoned at the best of time. So you better have something good to show them.¡± ¡°I have some things, but you know how it goes. I can¡¯t tell if they are great or junk without them being appraised,¡± I said with a deliberate shrug. It earned me a smirk from the mage boy. ¡°Just hang around a bit, someone will be through to have a look shortly. So, were you a part of the goblin drama, or just running errands? ¡°Well, you know the bell rang. So I was out there doing what I could. But I¡¯m new so there wasn¡¯t much for someone like me to do.¡± ¡°Yeah, I was out there too. Mages are always called out for things like that. Shame I didn¡¯t get to face any goblins. I could have done with the experience. But I levelled up barriers and warding, so it wasn¡¯t for nothing.¡± I opened my mouth to ask about wardings but before the words came out I heard footsteps on the stone floor. Turning my head, I could see what must have been the appraiser coming from the back of the hall. She was tall, in a tight fitting red dress with long sleeves. It looked like some odd cross between dress and robe. ¡°Jensen, you called for an appraisal.¡± ¡°Yes, magister Violet. This young man has been sent by the adventurer¡¯s guild to have some of the goblin loot inspected.¡± Her sharp, green eyes fell on me before Jensen had even finished talking. ¡°Very well. Come with me and we will examine what you have,¡± magister Violet said as she turned and headed back the way she came. I looked over at Jensen who was gesturing that I should follow her, and quickly by the frantic movement. Left with little else to do, I hurried to catch up with her. Man, she was fast. We wove through a warren of low corridors and twisting turns till we reached a plain wooden door that Violet opened with a wave of her arm. ¡°Do not touch anything in here. Place your items on the table and keep your hands to yourself. Do you understand?¡± ¡°Of course. There are just a few items. A staff, a robe, and several wardings.¡± ¡°Let¡¯s have a look then shall we?¡± Chapter 8 I was rewarded with a very surprised Violet as I poured out a small pile of silver and copper wardings, and her eyes grew even larger as I placed the robe and staff on top. ¡°That is quite an impressive haul for a G grade. This all came from the goblin lair, you say?¡± She asked after a long moment. ¡°Actually, I haven¡¯t said anything about that, but yes.¡± ¡°Are you sure? Even at a glance this is most irregular loot for a goblin to drop. The staff alone should be several grades higher. Magic foci are almost exclusively C grade at least.¡± ¡°I am very sure. Most of it wasn¡¯t specifically dropped by the goblins but was recovered from a chest inside the lair.¡± ¡°Interesting. I had heard that the whole event was abnormal, but I didn¡¯t expect it to be to this level. Is there anything you can tell me while I examine the items?¡± ¡°I honestly don¡¯t know enough to know what would be best to tell you. There were goblins. The lair didn¡¯t have levels. I came out with sickness after an afternoon inside. There were buildings, well tents inside the lair.¡± ¡°All of which are out of the ordinary. Thank you. I assume that you are curious about the process of appraisal judging by how you keep blinking at me. Tell me, do you have any form of magic sight?¡± ¡°Not exactly. I do have an awareness. This whole place sets my skin itching.¡± ¡°I thought as much. Well, that might suffice to give you a sense of what is going on. Bear in mind that I am doing this only because you provided me with valuable information and have followed my command to the letter. Plus, I like being about to share my knowledge. This staff has a sense of power about it, correct?¡± ¡°Yes. Not that much but something.¡± ¡°Good. It does have a weak force to it. But then so do many of the items here. Wardings are simple, we just follow the pattern and the effect is produced. They are where the majority of spell patterns come from and are very useful in research although they have their uses in the field if one is developed in the right ways. But items with their own force have to be examined carefully. The materials they are made from, the markings, or lack, and the craftsmanship are all important. The ability to appraise comes mainly from lore. The more you know the more you can identify. This staff has a nice smooth varnish, and is made of a wood that doesn¡¯t grow anywhere near here. It appears to be an elven variety. The markings seem to correspond with focus and extension as expected. And that appears to be enough.¡± She was right. Even to my sense the muted feeling that came from it resolved into something far more clearly defined. Staff of elven focus This staff concentrates the power of the magic user allowing for greater range and strength at lower ranges. +200 feet to range of long distance casting. +20% to power of short range casting. Requirements: magic usage, utility or combat. Grade E and above in intellect. The info box came up on my card as I focused on the feelings. It was a very good item especially for someone like me to get their hands on. But I didn¡¯t have magic, as yet so it was currently useless. ¡°So is that all it takes? A bit of focus and some lore?¡± ¡°Is that all it takes?¡± She mocked. ¡°Lore is incredibly difficult to gain at high enough levels to be useful in identifying drops of this grade. For simple things like basic herbalism you could get enough aptitude in a few weeks of studying, or a few months in the field. But items take years of practice, of seeing many different types. Apprentice appraisers often have to work with masters for years to gain the abilities to see even the simplest details, and for something like this they wouldn¡¯t see much beyond the name, if that.¡± ¡°I¡¯m sorry. I didn¡¯t mean to offend. It¡¯s just something that I haven¡¯t had occasion to look into as yet. I didn¡¯t really expect to need anything appraising for a long time.¡± ¡°Well, no harm done, but many would refuse to look over the other items for the lack of appreciation. Lucky for you, I am curious about all of this, so I will over look it.¡± Thank you. I didn¡¯t realise that lore was so essential.¡± ¡°It is essential for all aspects of skills. The different areas of lore can take lifetimes to master, and no one, not since the grand sage back in the first age of the gods mastered them all. Even the common trades require specific knowledge. I¡¯m surprised that you haven¡¯t got any grades in an area of lore yet. The lower levels are normally fairly simple to gain.¡±Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings. ¡°Well, I haven¡¯t been an adventurer for long, and I have been focusing on my physical skills as they seem a better bet to staying alive.¡± ¡°I can¡¯t disagree with you there. Not for someone at your grade, but it might be worth it to expand your horizons a bit. You still have to plan your development properly. Lore will help you do that.¡± ¡°That is something I have been considering; The direction of my development. It is¡­. not an easy thing to decide.¡± ¡°For many, it is. You cant change what you are naturally inclined for and fighting against your nature results in stunted growth and subpar results. Most mages have certain traits that lead them into making the correct choices for them. Warriors have it slightly harder as they must choose styles, weapons, and of course, they are limited by the teachers they have available. My advice is, find what you like, and are good at and push it further.¡± ¡°Thank you. That is actually the problem. Im mediocre is a few areas. My weapon skills are passable but I keep getting told to change my weapon.¡± ¡°Then do so. You are young enough. Anyways, we still have the robe to look at and the wardings.¡± The slight detour of conversation had distracted me from what I came here for, and fuelled the already whiling haze of thoughts about what I was going to do next, but Violet quickly took control back and focused on the robe. ¡°Silk, no. Spider, no. Light steel, it can¡¯t be. Magic, of course. Protection. Yes, there we go.¡± As before the information came up on my card as I focused on the changed feeling from the robe. Light robe of steel A protective robe made of light steel, a material made of solid light. This rare material forms on high mountains in the north where the stars bathe rocks in their radiant light. Increased defence against darkness aligned magic and attacks. Increased defence against physical attack. Damage reduction of Grade C and below. Damage immunity up to grade G Special option: Shining light Casts a holy based light buff that increases speed of party by 5%. One use per encounter. Restricted to magic users. Wow. A special option. I didn¡¯t know a lot but even I knew that items with options were rare and expensive. Even the restriction of magic users was light, a single spell or skill that used magic would be enough to qualify. ¡°This is pretty special; you know that right?¡± Violet asked. ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s a very good item.¡± ¡°Good, then I will just go through the wardings and we can discuss price.¡± I nodded as violet ran her fingers through the pile of wardings, sorting them into stacks of different materials. Silver on one side and copper on the other. ¡°These are pretty standard. A few simple defensive charms that anyone could use if they have basic magic control. This one though,¡± She held up a bright silver one slightly larger than the others. ¡°Is something else. I¡¯ve never seen it before, so I would like to personally buy it from you.¡± ¡°What is the difference between you personally buying it and the mages buying it?¡± ¡°Well, I will give you a better price, obviously. The guild has a price list that is way below what the items are worth but just as the adventurers, do we buy pretty much anything. Other than that, it¡¯s a more personal relationship. If you give me first refusal on any interesting drops I can provide you with more than just coin. I could offer advice, training, spells, potentially more depending on a variety of factors. I see that your equipment is custom made, probably not exactly right for you, but far superior to anything that is available at your grade anywhere else. So following that you already have relationships with crafters. This would be along similar lines, I expect.¡± ¡°Ah.¡± I said as I thought. She was proposing a very interesting arrangement that could benefit me greatly, if I could provide the drops that she was after. But the goblins were an anomaly and I couldn¡¯t count on more of them to supply me with items. ¡°I have no problems with such a relationship, magister Violet. But I can¡¯t promise that I will have drops of this quality again, I am only a grade G after all.¡± ¡°Bah. Right now you are. This is not a short term arrangement. You should consider yourself lucky that I even offered. I can¡¯t remember the last time a grade G even entered this building. My colleagues prefer to wait until someone has survived the first few grades before they take an interest. Life expectancy being what it is and all. I prefer to be proactive. Maybe my guidance will help you survive and a long term relationship benefits everyone.¡± ¡°It can¡¯t hurt.¡± ¡°Excellent. Now we will just sign the contract, and discuss the price for these items, and what you may wish to keep or sell. Then I will see about giving you something more tailored to you, in terms of development.¡± She bustled around the room grabbing a sheet of parchment and a quill before writing quite a lot and then handed it to me. ¡°Um, I can¡¯t read.¡± ¡°Oh. That presents a problem as I cannot have you sign a contract where you are unaware of the specifics. If you are willing to come back tomorrow we can sort that out then, I may have a way around it. But you do have to learn to read. Any attempt at developing into a magic user or tactical fighter will be stymied by a lack of education.¡± ¡°I can come back tomorrow, to sign the contract. And I am aware of my lack in this regard. It is something that I do plan on correcting as soon as possible. Is there any chance we can complete the sale of items without the contract for today?¡± Of course. Well, for the items to the Mages we can. For the other thing we can do it tomorrow. I want it clearly in writing so that there are no misunderstandings on either side. For all the items except the silver warding, I can give you twenty-four gold and seven silvers. I will warn you that you could find a better price elsewhere, if you can find a buyer. But our we will buy everything with no quibbles.¡± ¡°That is perfect. As much as I would like to keep the items, I have no use for them, nor anyone that can use them. I will take the gold.¡± ¡°Excellent. Take this,¡± she handed me a slip of paper. ¡°Out to Jensen at the front desk. He will ensure that you get your coin. It was a pleasure doing business with you, and I will see you tomorrow.¡± I knew a dismissal when I heard it. Years of working around the town for those that looked down on those of us that grew up in the slums had more than taught me to hear the tones in all their varied shades, from contempt to polite. I did as I was bid and left the sparkling building a great deal richer than I started. But despite the fact that Violet was civil, and even helpful, I could see why adventurers thought they were arseholes.