ã€ŠDead End Guild Master: Unfinished Quests [Adventurer Slice of Life, 3x weekly updates]ã€‹


 Chapter 1: Post-Game+

    Quest Complete: Become a guild master.

    The flagship chapter of the Adventurers¡¯ Guild occupied a full city block at the heart of Hoseki, the kingdom¡¯s capital. The campus boasted a cavernous guild hall with space for 400 adventurers to sit and eat and still have room to dance between the tables. Two training buildings¨Cone specializing in weapons and one specializing in all things mana¨Cwere just a few steps from the back of the guild hall. The guild crafters had their own building as well, fully outfitted to produce whatever an adventurer might need, from top of the line armor to the most potent alchemical mixes known to the kingdom.

    White marble coated every structure on campus, a sheen of silver rippling beneath the stone, bringing life to every column and buttress. The best adventurers in the country called the Hoseki chapter home, and the top members were celebrated with murals and statues commemorating legendary battles and history-making feats of heroism. Though they had slain dragons and demon lords, those superhuman adventurers still looked to their Guild Master for guidance and direction.

    The Hoseki chapter had been led by a rare Platinum-ranked adventurer since its founding. Currently, two other Platinum-ranked adventurers reported to the Hoseki Guild Master, as well as several dozen Diamond-ranked and hundreds of Gold-ranked. Top adventurers, elite craftspeople, expert instruction in nearly all known classes, food and lodging for members, access to the most desirable quests¨Cthe Hoseki chapter was the pinnacle of the Adventurers¡¯ Guild greatness.

    Hans was as far from the Hoseki chapter as he could get, and the door was locked.

    He knocked. When nothing stirred within, he cupped his hands around his face to block the light as he peeked through dusty windows. The guild hall was empty. Whoever was supposed to open for the day hadn¡¯t bothered. Somewhere in there¨Cprobably covered in cobwebs¨Cwas his new apartment, his new home. His wagon-bruised body longed for that bed.

    New Quest: Find the key to the Gomi chapter of the Adventurers¡¯ Guild.

    That notification was imaginary, of course, a private game he played with himself to stay organized and motivated. With a slow, bass-filled sigh, Hans shouldered his rucksack, grabbed a leather handle on his monstrous footlocker¨Cwhich had wheels at one end, mercifully¨Cand headed into town for help.

    Veteran adventurers were never kind with their descriptions of Gomi. For years, Hans had heard about how the town was little more than hovels and shanties stranded in the wilderness, populated by the dregs of society who cared as little for decorum as they did for hygiene. They talked about how the town¡¯s sewage scent lingered in armor for weeks, and how the only tavern served stale bread to go with its skunked ale.

    The Gomi that Hans saw before him didn¡¯t match the rumors. The village was small, perhaps only a few hundred people in the town proper and as many farmers and hunters in the hills around it. Businesses and homes showed their age with peeling paint and loose mortar, but they were far from unlivable. Rather, they were battered by harsh winters and baked in blistering summer sun. Not hovels. Just showing their age.

    A dirt crossroads divided the middle of Gomi. One of those roads led back to Hoseki, eventually. Two led to areas suitable for farming, giving the far off field-workers a direct path to town. The final road pointed directly into the wilderness, a dense forest of scrubby, mountain-hardened trees that climbed partway up the Dead End Mountains.

    Beyond the treeline, the Dead End Mountain was a labyrinth of chasms and gorges with a year-round blanket of snow to hide natural pitfalls from unsuspecting hikers. Not that many people ever went up that high. The Dead End Mountains were famous for being colossally useless.

    No survey team ever found anything worth mining in its slopes. Treasure hunters came up empty. No signs of dungeons or lost settlements. Several groups of explorers had attempted to cross the Dead End Mountains, hoping to find riches on the other side. Many of them never returned. The parties who turned back described an unending mountainous landscape. Navigating twisting crags in a blizzard was slow, dangerous work that rapidly sapped morale and provisions, so they gave up. The one party who returned reported that after crossing 50 miles of mountain they came to the otherside: a desert wasteland bereft of life and plagued with sandstorms.

    As far as frontiers that interested adventurers and nations alike, the Dead End Mountains had nothing to offer, so Gomi stayed small, becoming little more than an obscure joke for the few adventurers who had even heard of it.

    Few locals were out and about Gomi that morning. Apparently, the town was at its busiest on weekends when the farmers and artisans in the surrounding hills came to sell their wares. That Tuesday morning, Hans saw a few children who ran at the sight of him and one old lady who gave him stink-eye so hard that Baba Yaga would have flinched. Otherwise, the town felt empty.

    Hans saw an open sign hanging in the window of the alchemist¡¯s shop. He pushed open the door to enter a room packed with bottles and brews and concoctions, the shelves seeming to lean in and over him as he carefully maneuvered his rucksack and footlocker through the store. He didn¡¯t want a few thousand gold of damages to a local business to be his first big introduction to the town.

    ¡°Hello?¡± Hans called when he found the counter at the back empty. Rushed footsteps came from the floor above. A moment later, a brunette with a blank expression¨Cor was she angry already?¨Cgreeted him.

    ¡°What can I do for you? Haven¡¯t seen an adventurer in a while, but I¡¯ve got everything you need for a crawl.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not an adventurer,¡± Hans began and then shook his head. ¡°I mean, I am, but it¡¯s not why I¡¯m here.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m afraid hair growth serum is an old wives¡¯ tale. If it existed, I¡¯d sell it to you.¡±

    Hans set a nervous hand on his receding hairline. ¡°What? No, no, no. I¡¯m the new Guild Master. Any idea who might have the key to the guild hall?¡±

    ¡°The new Guild Master? Wow. I don¡¯t think we have had a Diamond-ranked adventurer visit in decades, if ever, and you¡¯re here to stay?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m Gold-ranked, but I am here to stay.¡±

    ¡°Gold?¡± the alchemist popped an eyebrow. ¡°I thought only Diamond-ranked and above were permitted to be guild masters?¡±

    Wincing, Hans allowed his frustration to bubble and recede without incident. He loathed discussing his rank, yet he knew he would have to answer this exact question dozens of times over the next few days. Best to just get through it.

    ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s still the rule,¡± Hans said. ¡°The Gomi chapter has been without a guild master for a while now, and no Diamonds¡­ Uhh¡­ No Diamond-rankeds were available to take the position.¡±

    ¡°You mean none of the Diamond-rankeds wanted to move out to our little corner of nowhere.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s complicated.¡±

    The alchemist laughed. ¡°It¡¯s okay. We¡¯re used to being on our own out here. Anyway, Mayor Charlie has a key. His bakery is five doors down in that direction.¡±

    ¡°Thank you, kindly.¡±

    ¡°If he¡¯s not there, check City Hall and then the guard tower. He might be sorting through trade agreements or taking a guard shift.¡±

    ¡°The Mayor?¡±

    ¡°You bet. That¡¯s living in a small town for you. We have to be versatile.¡±

    Hans followed the alchemist¡¯s directions, stopping to facepalm when he was three doors away from her shop. He hadn¡¯t thought to introduce himself or to ask her name. Not a great start for ingratiating himself into the community.

    Thankfully, the Mayor was indeed at the bakery. A small wiry gentleman¨Cwho was either short for a human or tall for a halfling, Hans wasn¡¯t sure¨Cpulled a tray of freshly baked bread loaves from the oven, replacing them immediately with the next batch of dough. The Mayor looked up when Hans entered.

    ¡°Welcome to Gomi! Always great to see a new face in the merchant caravan, and you¡¯re in luck. I have a fresh batch of croissants that are just about cool enough to eat.¡± Without waiting for a reply, the gangly Mayor grabbed a croissant from the display case and wrapped it in paper.

    ¡°I¡¯m not a customer, actually.¡±

    ¡°Oh?¡± the Mayor said, deflating somewhat. ¡°What brings you in then?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m Hans. I¡¯m taking over the Guild Master position and was trying to track down the key.¡±

    The Mayor¡¯s disappointment evaporated instantly. ¡°The new Guild Master! We heard you were coming, but the journey here is long. What am I saying? You know that. You just did it!¡±

    Hans smiled and nodded.

    ¡°Here. Follow me, and I¡¯ll let you in,¡± the Mayor said, untying his apron. He looked over his shoulder and yelled to the back, ¡°I¡¯ve got to show the new Guild Master around town. Watch the oven for me?¡±

    ¡°Oh watch it yourself,¡± a raspy voice gruffed in reply.

    ¡°My wife,¡± the Mayor explained as he held the door open for Hans. ¡°We¡¯ve been in love for 40 years. She¡¯s wonderful.¡±

    ¡°She sounds lovely.¡±

    The mayor strolled back up the dirt street toward the guild hall, searching through a keyring larger than a door knocker. ¡°How was your trip? Not too eventful, I hope.¡±

    ¡°No real excitement. We heard gnolls a few nights before we got to Gomi, but that was it.¡±

    ¡°You came from Hoseki, right? That¡¯s a¡­ what is it¡­ three-month journey?¡±

    ¡°Close. Took me four because I hitched a ride with merchants. More stopping than if we rode straight through.¡±

    ¡°Ah yes, that¡¯s very true,¡± the Mayor said. He grinned at a key in his hand and returned his attention to Hans. ¡°Well, for what it¡¯s worth, we¡¯re all very excited to have you here. I know it¡¯s not the most glamorous posting, but hopefully you enjoy your time here before you rank up and move on.¡±

    ¡°Did the Guild send you a letter about my coming?¡±

    ¡°They did, and they explained the exception they made for rank. I don¡¯t mind that you¡¯re Gold-ranked. Might not be Diamond, but Gold is good enough for Gomi and definitely better than no guild master at all.¡±

    ¡°Thanks?¡±

    Approaching the guild hall from this direction gave Hans a fresh and more complete view of his new home chapter. From the outside, the hall was a touch bigger than the Mayor¡¯s bakery, but not by much. An apartment occupied the second floor while the guild itself operated on the first. Hans couldn¡¯t see any of it from the street, but it was clear the interior would be small. A sun-bleached wooden fence surrounded a yard next to the hall. Between broken slats of the brittle gray fence, Hans could see a dirt fighting pit and a few pieces of training equipment. Some of that equipment was losing a slow battle to nature, disappearing beneath weeds and long grass.

    The Mayor unlocked the door and went in first, moving toward the windows to open the blinds.

    Quest Complete: You gained access to the Gomi chapter of the Adventurers¡¯ Guild.

    The hall had looked better in the dark. From years of dungeon diving and living inn room to inn room, Hans had learned that there were two types of grime.

    The first kind of grime was what you found in a long forgotten room. The dust may be thick, but it¡¯s fluffy like snow, coating every surface and object evenly, resting undisturbed. This kind of grime was usually a good sign for an adventurer. Untouched grime meant that no one else had gotten there first and that no monsters were about.

    The second kind of grime was found in places that were simultaneously abandoned and inhabited. Instead of loose, almost poetic dust coating the scene, this kind of grime is sticky and gritty. Something with wet breath and sweaty hair mixed their oily filth into the natural dust of the room. Hoarders created the second kind of grime, and so did any humanoid monster, like goblins or trolls. The worst sources of this grime, however, were found primarily in cities.

    These sources were known as children.

    In the guild hall grime, Hans saw small finger prints and the dirty streaks left from a halfhearted attempt to wipe down tables and chairs. This hall might be able to fit 20 people if they were clever about it. They would need to fix up a few of the broken benches first, though. A small desk sat at the back of the room, covered in stacks of papers and ledgers. No fingermarks on these items but plenty of dust.

    New Quest: Clean the guild hall.

    A narrow door led to the back of the guild hall, a compact storage room with a steep set of stairs leading to the Guild Master¡¯s apartment. Hans poked through the shelves, hoping to find a stockpile of guild essentials. The rations he found were long spoiled. The training weapons were either broken or wrapped in greasy cloth that was still wet from a recent sparring session. And the only spare armor was a singular helmet that smelled of rat pee.

    No raw crafting materials. No alchemical ingredients. No emergency antidotes and healing potions. No usable loaner gear. Not even a rudimentary first aid kit.

    New Quest: Replenish basic adventuring provisions.

    New Quest: Acquire functional training equipment.

    New Quest: Acquire emergency essentials ¨C 6x healing potions, 6x potions of cure poison, 6x potions of cure disease, 3x potions of remove curse, 3x potions of cure petrification.

    New Quest: Acquire a basic first aid kit.

    The first kind of grime covered the studio apartment up the stairs. The Mayor followed Hans and began folding up the wide stretches of drop cloth draped over the room¡¯s furniture. Beneath the cloth and shielded from dust, the Mayor revealed a respectable bed and pillow, a small couch, a desk and chair, a half bookshelf, and a dresser.

    ¡°It¡¯s not fit for a king but it isn¡¯t all that bad,¡± the Mayor said, looking around as he clapped the dust off his hands.

    ¡°It¡¯s plenty for me.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s a key ring in your desk over there. It¡¯ll have a key to the front door, to your apartment door, to the guild lockbox, and to the gate outside. I¡¯ve got a stack of guild mail in my office to give you. I can drop that off for you later, if you like.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯d be great.¡±

    With an armful of folded dropcloths, the Mayor scanned the room one more time. Satisfied, he said, ¡°I¡¯ll leave you to get settled. If you need me, swing by the bakery.¡±

    Hans thanked him.

    A few steps down the stairs, the Mayor turned back. With his height, he was already eye-level with the floor. ¡°Try to give it a chance,¡± he said earnestly. ¡°We might not have the glitz of a big city, but there are good people here.¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t need to convince me. I¡¯m already here.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve been at this for a while. Every Guild Master we¡¯ve gotten has moved on as quickly as they could. One got right back on his horse and rode out of town when he saw the guild hall. You could help a lot of people by sticking around for even a few years.¡±

    ¡°Were they younger than me?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t like to presume, especially around adventurers. I don¡¯t understand the life extension stuff and don¡¯t want to make assumptions.¡±

    ¡°Well, I¡¯m as old as I look. Gold-rankers age the same as everyone else. It¡¯s the Diamonds who can live close to 200 years, but they¡¯re something more than human at that point.¡±

    ¡°Not something you wanted?¡±

    ¡°Something like that.¡±

    The Mayor nodded. ¡°Well, thank you for hearing me out. If you¡¯d like a hot meal for dinner, you¡¯re welcome to join my wife and me later.¡±

    With that, the Mayor officially departed, leaving Hans to explore his new home.

    It was a one room studio apartment. If he laid on the floor and stretched his arms out, he could nearly touch opposite walls at the same time. Consequently, the exploration was brief. Beyond a look under the bed and a quick check of his desk drawers, there wasn¡¯t anything else to see.

    He went back downstairs to retrieve his footlocker and hauled it up the difficult stairs, setting it next to his rucksack.

    First, he emptied his rucksack. He had alternated outfits on the journey, washing in rivers when inns weren¡¯t available. The tunic, pants, and socks in his rucksack definitely needed to be cleaned. He sniffed. Yeah, the clothes he was wearing needed cleaning as well. He tossed the dirty clothes aside and did a check of his gear. Everything was in order, but he would need a fresh tinderbox and a new rope before he left town again, whenever that might be.

    His footlocker wasn¡¯t much more exciting¨Ca few more changes of clothes, a pair of winter boots, a heavy jacket, a suit of studded leather armor, his sword, and a stack of books. His clothes, armor, and weapons were masterfully crafted but otherwise unremarkable. He had liberated a few magic trinkets in his time, but the suits of glistening armor coated in glowing runes weren¡¯t common until Diamond-ranked. Some Gold-rankers had enchanted gear. In most cases, they came from noble families and could afford to buy a higher tier of gear.

    If you wanted to find an impressive enchanted item yourself, you needed to be a Diamond-ranked to survive the monsters and dungeons guarding them.

    Of everything in the footlocker, he treasured his books the most. The leather corners of each cover were worn and frayed. The once colorful bindings were dulled by a brown coat of age, and the pages were the same, bent and yellowed and stained. All signs of a well-loved book.

    Most of the books were related to his profession. He had a bestiary of known creatures in the region, a guide to identifying alchemical ingredients in the wild, a primer on practical spellcasting for beginners, a handbook of guild policies and procedures, a guild-issued combat manual, two of his favorite novels, a journal, and a book that was thus far unfinished.

    That last book was his own. In his 20s, Hans had the idea to create a complete guide for training adventurers, so he started to collect and organize everything he learned as well as his observations from teaching students over the years. More than 10 years on, he estimated that the manuscript was a little over half complete. Now that he was all-but retired, he would have the time to finish the project.Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

    Hans organized his few belongings. His shelves and drawers were still mostly empty when he was done, but he found something deeply satisfying about having a dedicated place for his pants and a shelf for his books. For most of his life, he had lived out of his rucksack. Having a physical home was both novel and comforting.

    Without taking off his smelly clothes, he flopped onto the bed. Worn and battered from the road, he was asleep as soon as he closed his eyes.

    ***

    The familiar sound of wooden swords plonking against each other roused Hans from his slumber. He looked out his side window onto the fenced-in training yard and saw a teenage boy instructing three children. Each had a wooden sword in their hands, and the teen coached a boy and girl pair through a combination of attacks and blocks. He adjusted their footwork and critiqued their form, sometimes holding the wrist of one child to walk them through a movement. The third child had drifted off on their own and hacked at dandelions at the far side of the yard.

    The Hoseki chapter, which also served as the central headquarters for the organization as a whole, had no insight into what¨Cif anything¨Cwas active at the Gomi chapter. The guild master role had been empty for some time, and no one wanted the hassle of traveling all the way out there to check on it. Seeing a kids¡¯ class in action was a good sign. The Gomi chapter might be in rough shape, but it was doing some good at least.

    By design and by decree, the Adventurers¡¯ Guild operated as a not-for-profit and was quasi government affiliated, yet not controlled by the kingdom directly. Chapters provided essential services to locals at no or reduced charge. Monster-hunting was one such service, of course, but the more practical services were things like wild plant identification, magic item appraisal, escorts for merchants and travelers, and educational opportunities.

    That was part of the bargain between the Guild and the Kingdom. In exchange for offering their services to locals while also providing emergency aid in the event of an attack or other such disaster, the Guild had complete discretion over the management of dungeons, and adventurers would not be required to pay taxes on the treasures they might uncover, which made some upper-level adventurers incredibly wealthy.

    One opportunity offered to locals was to enroll their children in free combat training. Self-defense was useful for everyone, regardless of their professional aspirations, and learning to safely handle a weapon was always useful. A farmhand might never scale the palisades of an orc fort, but they might need to run off a goblin or a bandit to protect their families.

    Most guild chapters put junior or apprentice members¨Clike the teenage boy he watched teaching in the training yard¨Cin charge of teaching children, a practice that Hans loudly disagreed with.

    ¡°The kids are learning bad habits,¡± he had told his Guild Master in the Capital. ¡°The instructors mean well, but they¡¯re too green themselves.¡±

    ¡°So? It¡¯s a childrens¡¯ class. You want to put a top adventurer on babysitting duty?¡±

    ¡°If not that, then something,¡± Hans had replied. ¡°By the time they¡¯re old enough to take my class, they have a ton of bad habits that they have to unlearn before we can get to anything new. Wouldn¡¯t it be better to get them started with good habits? Solid fundamentals?¡±

    The Guild Master had laughed at that. Too few of the children ever pursued an adventuring career to justify a radical change in how the Guild operated. The classes were a government obligation. A chore. A box to be checked with as little effort as possible. The Guild would fulfill their side of the bargain, but they rarely went beyond the minimum.

    Joining the guild at 15 meant that Hans saw hundreds of adventurers come and go over the years. He watched, firsthand, as dozens of children in training grew up to become adventurers. One day, they were crying because a wooden blade rapped their knuckles. The next, they were heading out to raid a cockatrice nest with a party of professionals.

    In that time, he observed that the children who trained with expert instructors instead of junior guild members were consistently more skilled. The families that could afford private classes for their children did well, as did the noble families whose children were taught by knights and soldiers. Wealth would always be its own advantage, naturally, but he saw no reason to further widen that gap with lackluster guild classes.

    Eventually, Hans wore down his Guild Master. He wouldn¡¯t get paid for it, but if he felt strongly about training children, he was welcome to take over the program and do it himself.

    So he did, much to the surprise of nearly every senior Guild member.

    In addition to implementing his teaching philosophy, Hans kept the junior and apprentice instructors as assistants. Extra eyes were useful in a room full of small children swinging blunted swords, but that was only part of the motivation. In his mind, the young instructors also needed to learn. Their combat skills could always improve with guidance from an upper member. More importantly, however, they learned how to teach.

    After a few years, as children from the kids¡¯ class aged into formal professional training, the results of the philosophy were obvious to anyone who cared to look. Injury rates in training went down. Fewer children quit the program early. More children applied to become adventurers. And the chapter placed better in combat sporting events in all age groups.

    It worked. When he went to show his Guild Master his data and observations, he was shooed out of the room. ¡°We¡¯re three pages away from completing the Lost Codex, and you bother us with notes from your kids¡¯ class?¡±

    The Platinum-ranked Guild Master shut the door on Hans while the Diamond-rankers in the background cackled like bog witches.

    Oh, one of the kids outside was crying now.

    Hans brought his mind back to the present. When the child continued to bawl, vocalizing like a mortally wounded deer, Hans decided he best go check on the class. That was kind of his job now, after all.

    New Quest: Resolve the cause of the child¡¯s distress.

    Outside, a dark-skinned teenage boy with short curly hair knelt down to speak to a little blond boy, his green snot bubble inflating in time with the cadence of his howls of despair. A little blond girl watched calmy from nearby. They were brother and sister, Hans guessed as he compared faces. The youngest child was still off in the corner with their back to the class, cleaving the heads from dandelions like a mad king in a full court.

    All of the children, the teenage instructor included, wore the same kind of clothes: heavy duty peasant workwear passed down from their older siblings or older neighbors, faded from use and speckled with patches. Like Hans, these children likely didn¡¯t own much more than a second change of clothes. Unlike Hans, they were barefoot.

    A far cry from the Academy in Hoseki, he thought to himself.

    ¡°Is everything okay?¡± Hans asked, striding out of the guild hall and into the training yard.

    All of the children¨Cincluding the dandelion destroyer¨Cfroze as Hans approached. The crying boy forgot that he was upset and went quiet.

    ¡°Sounded like someone was hurt.¡±

    The teenage boy spoke up, timidly at first. ¡°We weren¡¯t doing nothing. We were just training.¡±

    ¡°Nobody is in trouble. I¡¯m Hans, the new Guild Master.¡±

    ¡°Really?!¡±

    ¡°Yep. I got here this morning. Anyway, what are you working on?¡±

    The children glanced between themselves nervously. The oldest boy spoke for them. ¡°It was, uh, a counter to an overhead attack. A soldier taught me.¡±

    Hans nodded. ¡°That¡¯s great. Show me?¡±

    A timid cough helped the boy to shake his reluctance but did little to calm his nerves. Hans borrowed a training sword while the boy set his stance and explained the scenario. His voice quivered. ¡°So you¡¯re going to attack me like this. Just a simple overhead strike. Straight ahead.¡±

    He let Hans slowly execute the attack, confirmed it was the right one, and asked Hans to repeat the movement.

    ¡°I¡¯m going to step in to block by raising my sword into this defensive position. See how I¡¯ve got the flat side¡­ umm¡­ sideways to intercept the blade? I¡¯m also getting myself under my sword to create a stronger blocking position.¡±

    The boy looked at Hans. When Hans didn¡¯t answer, just looked back at him, he nervously continued his instruction.

    ¡°So from this block, we have some cool options. Most of his torso is open. If I had a knife, I could attack with that. Knees, elbows, and maybe a kick might work too.¡±

    His head bobbing from side to side, Hans replayed the movement in his mind. After a moment of analysis, his attention returned to the class. ¡°That was some solid footwork and control,¡± Hans said. ¡°I can tell you¡¯ve been practicing a lot.¡±

    The boy blushed and tried to play off the compliment, ¡°Thank you.¡±

    ¡°It was all wrong.¡±

    All of the children inhaled, their eyes wide.

    Hans broke into laughter. ¡°I¡¯m just joking. I meant what I said about solid control, though. Can I suggest a different option?¡±

    The boy nodded.

    ¡°This is going to sound like the long way around, but I promise it will make sense in the end. Okay? One of the things we¡¯ll talk a lot about in these classes is strategy and how you choose what techniques to practice. To keep it simple, I call these ¡®rules.¡¯ They aren¡¯t rules like you have at home.¡± Hans pointed abruptly at the snot bubble child. ¡°Those are important too, so wash your hands!¡±

    The kids giggled.

    ¡°The rule I want to talk about today goes like this: ¡®Blocking is bad.¡¯¡± Bewildered expressions blanketed the class, but Hans continued. ¡°Blocking should be a last resort, something you do only because you have no other options. To be clear: I¡¯m not telling you to let someone stab you. Block if you have to. I¡¯m saying that there are better options you should consider before trying to block. Does that distinction make sense? Blocking is okay if you have to, but try other things first.¡±

    Hans saw nodding heads all around. Even the dandelion destroyer had wandered over and listened to the instruction. Seeing his face for the first time, Hans realized the boy was part orc. He had the hard angular features of an orc, but they were softened by his human heritage. His skin was a greenish tan, and two small tusks poked up from his lower jaw, overlapping his top lip.

    Perhaps a quarter orc? Maybe less? Hans knew it was rude to ask, and he winced at his own vocabulary. They called themselves ¡°tusks¡± or ¡°tusk-touched¡± regardless of how much or how little orc blood ran through their veins. Orcs were monsters. Tusks were people.

    ¡°This isn¡¯t a trick question, so answer honestly,¡± Hans said, his eyes locked with his oldest pupil. ¡°Do you think if I attacked you with all of my might that you¡¯d be able to block it?¡±

    The teenager shook his head with a hint of shame in his pursed lips.

    ¡°Don¡¯t be sad about that. I probably have 100 pounds on you, and I¡¯ve been training for a while. Also, that¡¯s a really powerful attack no matter who is doing it. It¡¯s supposed to be hard to stop, so don¡¯t feel bad about factors you can¡¯t control. The best thing you can do is to adapt.

    ¡°I say ¡®Blocking is bad¡¯ because I want your first options to be techniques that are almost always better answers than blocking. If I can dodge the attack, that¡¯s better than a block,¡± Hans demonstrated a quick and simple sidestep that put him outside of the boy¡¯s sword hand, leaving the boy¡¯s back partially exposed. ¡°I avoided the strike and didn¡¯t put my body through the strain of blocking. Trust me. Blocking hurts.¡±

    The children laughed at that too.

    ¡°What else might be better than blocking?¡±

    The dandelion destroyer raised his hand. Hans pointed at him. ¡°Running!¡± the child yelled.

    ¡°Well, you¡¯re technically correct. Let¡¯s say you can¡¯t run.¡±

    The teenage boy had his head down in thought. He lifted it cautiously and said, ¡°Parrying?¡±

    ¡°Why do you say that?¡±

    ¡°Because parrying redirects the attack. You¡¯re still defending but you move the energy instead of absorbing it.¡±

    ¡°Exactly. I want your first defensive choices to keep you mobile and out of unnecessary danger. When we¡¯re here sparring, you should focus on practicing good choices. Again, if you need to block, please block. In this training yard, though, we¡¯re working to build good habits so that when you¡¯re staring down an ogre with a wicked club, your dodge is on point because you aren¡¯t blocking that strike and getting away with it.¡±

    ¡°You fought an ogre?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve seen a few monsters in my day,¡± Hans said with a smirk. ¡°Let¡¯s practice more and maybe we¡¯ll do story time another class.¡±

    With the philosophy lesson over with, Hans taught his first kids class in Gomi. He showed the children the proper footwork for a sideways dodge, which included how they should position their sword for maximum efficiency and safety. Then he taught an inside parry and an outside parry, emphasizing when to choose each and what follow up attacks might go best with either form of parry.

    When the children seemed to grasp what they needed to practice, Hans gave the older boy¨Cwhose name he learned was Quentin¨Cextra attention, sprinkling in a few comments on why he teaches these techniques together. Quentin hardly spoke. He fixed his gaze on Hans¡¯ movements and nodded determinedly with each new idea.

    Hans had seen this type of child before, and he was thrilled to have met Quentin on his first day in Gomi. Quentin had the focus of a serious student. He was quick to step aside and let Hans teach, and his movements in training were deliberate and thoughtful. Every repetition was an opportunity to do a little bit better, to be critical of his form in order to improve it.

    A motivated student was far easier to teach, that¡¯s for sure, but Hans¡¯ excitement came from knowing how Quentin¡¯s progress would affect the other students. They would have someone they already knew to look up to, giving them an example to follow in their own training.

    Despite being soaked with sweat after an hour and a half of drills, all four children ran out of the training yard, bubbling about everything they had learned in class.

    Quest Complete: Resolve the cause of the child¡¯s distress.

    Not a bad first day. Not bad at all.

    A woman called. Hans turned to see the lady alchemist standing higher than the fence, likely on a box or barrel obscured by the fence itself. She waved Hans over. Without the distraction of tracking down a key, he noticed more about the lady alchemist. In the dim of her shop, Hans had guessed she was younger. Seeing her in the light, however, she had the refined beauty of a woman his age, though she hid most of herself beneath loose peasant clothes and a heavy leather apron.

    ¡°Brought you a gift,¡± she said and slung a stuffed leather bag over the fence. ¡°First aid kit. Thought you might need it.¡±

    Quest Complete: Acquire a basic first aid kit.

    ¡°We definitely do. What do I owe you?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s kind of what I wanted to talk to you about.¡±

    Hans gestured for her to continue.

    ¡°Since Gomi isn¡¯t big enough to warrant a guild alchemist, the Adventurers¡¯ Guild outsources to me. I do everything a guild alchemist would normally do.¡±

    ¡°Ingredient testing? Emergency treatments? Crisis planning?¡±

    ¡°Yep. All of it. It¡¯s still free for the town.¡±

    To Hans, that sounded like a pretty good deal for everyone. ¡°I appreciate you letting me know. I haven¡¯t dug into any of the records yet.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t thank me. I¡¯m being self-serving. The Mayor has been handling making sure my writs of guild credit get to me.¡±

    ¡°Ah, I see. Now that I¡¯m here, I¡¯ll be processing those for you.¡±

    ¡°Now you got it.¡±

    Hans laughed. He promised to do his best, and he assured her he wouldn¡¯t mind a reminder if he fell behind.

    ¡°Welcome to Gomi!¡± she said, as if she had delayed her acceptance of Hans until he confirmed that her pay was safe. ¡°I¡¯m Olza. Nice to meet you.¡±

    A sharp putrid scent tickled Hans¡¯ nose as the alchemist retreated. He sniffed his armpit.

    Oh gods, she could probably smell me.

    Cursing his own awkwardness, Hans gathered the wooden training swords and returned to the guild hall in search of a bath.

    ***

    Late that afternoon, as the setting sun draped the Dead End Mountains in reds and oranges, Hans heard a knock on the guild hall door. He looked up from his desk downstairs¨Cthe one previously covered in papers and books¨Cand called that the knocker could come in.

    Quentin sheepishly slinked into the guild hall with a cowskin bag over his shoulder.

    ¡°You don¡¯t need to knock to enter the guild hall,¡± Hans assured the boy. ¡°A guild hall is open to everyone. It¡¯s just as much yours as it is mine.¡±

    ¡°Yes, sir,¡± Quentin replied. The boy stopped in front of the desk and looked everywhere but at Hans.

    ¡°What¡¯s on your mind?¡±

    ¡°What do I have to do to be an adventurer?¡±

    Hans checked the time. He was due for dinner with Mayor Charlie and his wife soon, but not yet. ¡°Grab a chair. How old are you Quentin?¡±

    ¡°15 next month,¡± he answered as he tried wiping some dust from a stool before sitting down.

    ¡°Taking guild classes and practicing is a good start. How did you learn new things without a Guild Master?¡±

    Quentin explained that a Bronze-ranked adventurer lived in the forest outside of Gomi. Whenever he could, Quentin asked her to teach him swordplay, so he picked up some basics from her and supplemented those techniques with anything he could get a visiting merchant or soldier to show him.

    On the non-combat side of his adventuring skills, Olza held a plant identification seminar each spring, teaching alchemical safety. Children learned to identify local plants, when and how to harvest the worthwhile specimens, and what to avoid touching or eating. Quentin¡¯s father was a hunter, so he had also learned bushcraft and wilderness survival since he was a child.

    ¡°I think that¡¯s everything,¡± Quentin said. ¡°I know I¡¯m behind other kids my age but I¡¯ll do anything to catch up.¡±

    ¡°Why do you say you¡¯re behind?¡±

    ¡°The merchants say kids my age in Hoseki are already casting spells.¡±

    Hans sighed. ¡°Some kids your age are already casting spells. The vast majority of them can¡¯t, and I¡¯ve seen a lot of those kids¨Cthe ones who couldn¡¯t cast until they got older¨Cturn into top-notch adventurers.¡±

    ¡°Really?¡±

    ¡°Really. I¡¯d guess that you¡¯re actually ahead of the Capital kids in a lot of places. Alchemy lessons are usually given to adults, not children, so you¡¯ve got a head start there. For your practical survival skills, you might be more advanced than some of the adults. Very few places in the kingdom have access to a real wilderness like Gomi does.¡±

    Quentin nodded and stared at the ground, contemplating what he just heard. ¡°I still want to get better,¡± he said after a while.

    ¡°Keep coming to class, and speak up when you have questions. Once we get to know each other a little bit better, we¡¯ll do a side project designed for you.¡±

    The boy¡¯s enormous grin lightened the room. ¡°Can I ask a question now?¡±

    ¡°Sure.¡±

    ¡°No offense meant, sir, but I¡¯m confused about ranks. I thought guild masters were always Diamond-ranked.¡±

    Hearing that topic made Hans want to go upstairs and lock his apartment door. Forever. He did his best to hide his discomfort from Quentin, and began by saying, ¡°I know you¡¯ve heard all the ranks before, but we¡¯re going to start from the beginning. Listen carefully to how I describe each level because you¡¯ll have to teach these ranks to your students some day.¡±

    Quentin nodded excitedly.

    Hans explained that the guild had seven adult ranks and one child¨Cor ¡°junior¡±--rank. The progression went Apprentice, Iron, Bronze, Silver, Gold, Diamond, and Platinum. Every rank up through Gold was awarded by a Guild Master based on merit and was more akin to earning a medal than any sort of boost or upgrade, making that series of ranks potentially political rather than an objective measure of ability. Diamond and Platinum offered such benefits, but those ranks required more than a simple assessment of merit. Broadly speaking, the distinctions between the ranks broke down like this:

    Apprentice-Ranked ¨C These are green guild recruits. As green as you can get. They are at the beginning of their training and shadow an upper-ranked adventurer to learn the ropes without, you know, dying.

    Iron-Ranked ¨C Officially guild members, the Iron-ranked represents a grasp of the fundamentals of adventuring with limited field experience.

    Bronze-Ranked ¨C Irons who successfully complete guild quests can advance to Bronze. This rank isn¡¯t expected to be ¡°stronger¡± than the Iron-ranked. Using a skill would naturally improve it, so it¡¯s not that there is no personal advancement. It¡¯s more that the guild emphasizes getting smarter to move from Iron to Bronze.

    Silver-Ranked ¨C Starting with Silver, progression is measured mostly by accomplishments in the field. If a Bronze Ranked can consistently best Silver-level challenges, they get bumped up. Silver-level challenges tend to be creatures like trolls and ogres, large and dangerous but not master casters or tacticians.

    Gold Ranked ¨C If you pull your weight in a party capable of clearing Gold challenges, which includes most dungeon bosses, you can advance from Silver to Gold. For this rank, the Guild Master has the option to begin requiring additional tests before granting a promotion. In the hands of a friendly guild master, those tests are used as a teaching tool, giving an adventurer a reason to correct a hole in their skillset. A mean Guild Master can use a test to delay or punish a Silver they don¡¯t like.

    Diamond-Ranked ¨C At Diamond, adventurers can solo most dungeon bosses. Advancing to Diamond is usually the result of the adventurer receiving a boon from a god or unlocking an ability by defeating a rare and difficult enemy. This quest was assigned by the Hoseki chapter of the Adventurers¡¯ Guild, and Diamonds were not permitted to talk about what those quests entailed. Hans knew a few Diamonds who found neither, but they had found enchanted rings or other such trinkets that enhanced some or all of their attributes. The Guild Master¡¯s prerogative to require an additional test or challenge exists at this rank as well.

    Platinum-Ranked ¨C Only a King can grant this rank, though Guild Masters can recommend Diamonds they believe to be worthy, making the final rank a return to merit-based assessment. Most of the adventurers who reach this rank¨Cof which there are few¨Chave the power of a demi-god and have demonstrated that power with a grand accomplishment. Typically, the source of their power comes from an extension of what they acquired in the Diamond quest, but not always. One Platinum Hans knew felled a plague god to earn their rank. The current Guild Master for the Hoseki chapter repelled a demon invasion by himself to earn his Platinum promotion.

    ¡°Every guild master handles rank a little bit differently, so you might hear another guild master describe them in other ways,¡± Hans continued. ¡°As for my rank¡­ I¡¯ll be honest with you, Quentin. I didn¡¯t have what it takes to cross that chasm. Diamonds are special while Golds tend to be ¡®above average.¡¯¡±

    ¡°What held you back?¡±

    Geesh. This kid is fearless.

    ¡°I plateaued. I couldn¡¯t unlock whatever it is that makes Diamonds more than human. While I was trying, I stacked up a few injuries that never completely healed. Then, after a botched attempt to solo a dungeon boss to earn my Diamond promotion, my guild master banned me from trying again, and I went to work for the guild. They couldn¡¯t find a Diamond to fill this post, so I got to be the first Gold-ranked guild master.¡±

    Hans tried to make that sound like a privilege, but it was really a type of exile. They put a throwaway Guild Master in charge of a throwaway chapter.

    Quentin looked Hans up and down, as if making a new assessment or, perhaps, like he was searching for the injuries Hans mentioned. ¡°I want to get better. I want to be Gomi¡¯s first Diamond-ranked adventurer.¡±

    ¡°Can you come by tomorrow?¡±

    ¡°I have chores in the mornings but can be here at noon.¡±

    ¡°Great. Bring an extra broom.¡±

    ***

    Open Quests (Ordered from Old to New):

    Progress from Gold-ranked to Diamond-ranked.

    Mend the rift between Hans and Devon.

    Complete the manuscript for "The Next Generation: A Teaching Methodology for Training Adventurers."

    Clean the guild hall.

    Replenish basic adventuring provisions.

    Acquire functional training equipment.

    Acquire emergency essentials ¨C 6x healing potions, 6x potions of cure poison, 6x potions of cure disease, 3x potions of remove curse, 3x potions of cure petrification.

 Chapter 2: Old Save Files

    The morning after an uneventful dinner with Mayor Charlie¨Chis wife didn¡¯t join them¨CHans reviewed his mental quest list. The guild hall itself was in rough shape, and its administrative underbelly was worse. Each chapter was required to keep their own records, tracking how often the town used specific services, which the organization as a whole used to decide how to allocate resources. Those findings were also shared with the kingdom to demonstrate the value of the Adventurers¡¯ Guild.

    Part practical recordkeeping. Part political posturing.

    New Quest: Reestablish alchemical recordkeeping.

    The records for the Gomi Chapter ended with entries from 17 years ago. He hoped that Olza had kept a log of her contributions testing and identifying ingredients for townspeople. The big city chapters used those reports to identify shifts in supply and demand to decide when to raise or lower the cost of goods.

    Hans used them to identify teaching opportunities. If several townspeople asked for help identifying the same plant or testing the same ingredient, that gave shape to a gap in local knowledge. When people weren¡¯t sure what plants were safe to eat, dumb accidents usually followed.

    The folders for guild jobs¨Crequested, in-progress, complete, or abandoned¨Cwere each empty. Had this chapter ever managed quests? According to Mayor Charlie, the sole Bronze-ranked adventurer took care of the rare rat problem and occasional goblin nest, but he suspected that townspeople would ask the adventurer directly for help rather than go through the guild. Nobody saw a point in bothering with the paperwork.

    New Quest: Reestablish job-completion and monster-hunting recordkeeping.

    Again, these records would be helpful. In other cities, quest logs painted a pretty good picture of the threats and problems plaguing its people. If the records were reviewed and analyzed with regularity, guild chapters could identify trends in monster movements and sightings, a practice that uncovered more than a few nests that may have reached crisis proportions if they hadn¡¯t been discovered.

    Knowing the most common threats in the area would also help Hans build his lessons. Learning to fight a giant spider was different from learning to repel a band of feral orcs. If your hometown had problems with one or not the other, well, it was more useful to prepare for the most likely problem. Adventurers needed to know how to fight anything, but a local artisan just needed to get home safely at night.

    New Quest: Reestablish community education recordkeeping.

    Naturally, the chapter roster, financial records, and equipment inventory were just as incomplete as everything else.

    New Quest: Reestablish membership records, financial records, and inventory records.

    Real guild chapters had¨Cwait. This chapter was just as real as any other. Thinking like that wouldn¡¯t help anything.

    Active guild chapters had staff to manage operations, a resource that many Guild Masters abused to shirk their own responsibilities. Hans had no intention of running the Gomi chapter like that, but he was on his own for the foreseeable future. No team of administrators would appear to free his focus for bigger needs.

    Quentin came in from the training yard, covered in grass clippings. ¡°Can I finish after class?¡±

    Hans said that was fine and went outside to teach The Fundamentals of Hand to Hand Combat, expecting to see the same four children from the day before. Instead, the class had grown by three.

    Quentin was the oldest of the group, a full head taller than all of the other children but one. The dandelion destroying tusk-touched was back as well. He preferred to be called Gunther, and his older brother Kane joined him. Kane was Quentin¡¯s age but had the boost of tusk genetics to make him imposing even at a young age. The two blonde children from yesterday¨CHarry and Harriet¨Cwere back. Today, they brought their neighbors, Loddie and Chance. These two newcomers showed hints of orcish blood¨Ca green tint to their skin, sharp facial features, and tiny tusks.

    Hans made a mental note to talk to Mayor Charlie about Gomi¡¯s tusk-touched citizens. Tusks weren¡¯t exactly rare, but it was uncommon to see so many in one place.

    New Quest: Learn more about the citizens of Gomi.

    Two adult human men lingered behind the children against the fence. One wore the well-used chainmail of a town guard while the other wore the loose sunbleached workwear of a farmer. The farmer was twice the size of the guard and had the burly belly of a career countryboy. Hans wasn¡¯t sure if they were casual observers or were guardians of one of the children.

    ¡°Wow, lots of new faces,¡± Hans said, assessing his class. ¡°We¡¯ve got a lot of different ages and sizes here, and I bet different skill levels too.¡±

    A few small heads nodded timidly.

    ¡°We¡¯re going to start at the beginning so everyone has the same foundation. That will mean some review if you¡¯re more advanced, but I promise you¡¯ll learn something new about your old techniques too.¡±

    Seven children stared back.

    ¡°Let¡¯s warm up with a game. Pair up with someone close to your size, and draw a straight line in the dirt with your foot.¡± Hans drug the tip of his boot across the ground, etching a crude line about 10 feet long. ¡°Quentin, can I borrow you?¡±

    Quentin nodded and stepped out of the group.

    ¡°The goal of the game is to get your partner to step off of the line, so start with both feet on the line. As long as you have two feet on the line, you¡¯re in the game. With me so far?¡±

    The children nodded.

    ¡°The first thing Quentin and I do is to touch hands as a sign of respect. We might train hard, but that¡¯s all this is: training.¡± Hans and Quentin slapped hands. ¡°I¡¯m allowed to push, tug, and bump Quentin to knock him off balance. This isn¡¯t a fight, so no punching, slapping, and definitely no biting.¡±

    Hans gave Harry¨Cthe snot bubble enthusiast¨Cthe ¡°I¡¯m watching you¡± gesture. The children giggled.

    ¡°The first person to step off the line, loses. When that happens, reset and go again. If you haven¡¯t guessed already, you¡¯re going to reset a lot, and that¡¯s the point. Your goal isn¡¯t to win but to get better. Got it? Alright, pair off and let¡¯s get started.¡±

    As Hans walked around to encourage the children, he withheld the urge to coach and correct. Wanting to keep his focus on the class, he asked one of the two adults if they wouldn¡¯t mind being Kane¡¯s training partner. The guard agreed and took up his position at the far end of Kane¡¯s line.

    Some children stepped off their line as soon as they started. Some moved slowly, trying to poke and probe their training partners to feel out a weakness. Some were aggressive, relying on speed to snatch a wrist for a quick pull.

    Everyone wobbled.

    ¡°Everybody pause! Circle up,¡± Hans called. ¡°Did anyone notice anything that made it easier to keep your balance?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t lean too far forward.¡±

    Hans nodded.

    ¡°Don¡¯t get grabbed.¡±

    ¡°Also a good one,¡± Hans praised. ¡°What else?¡±

    Kane, the tusk-touched teen and older brother to Gunther, spoke up for the first time. ¡°Keep your weight low.¡±

    ¡°Very good! Show us what you mean.¡± Hans waved Kane to step forward to demonstrate, moving reluctantly and awkwardly, as if he hadn¡¯t yet mastered how to wrangle his orc-powered growth spurt.

    ¡°Umm. I bend my knees like this so my weight is lower.¡±

    Hans reached out and tugged one of Kane¡¯s wrists. Then he pushed shoulder, attempting to tip him backward. The tusk-touched shifted slightly each time, but his balance was never in danger. ¡°Very good, Kane. Now stand up straight for me.¡±

    Kane did as he was told, and Hans repeated his tugs and pushes. This time, the boy had to immediately step off his line to keep his balance. ¡°See how much of a difference a little positioning can make? I¡¯m bigger than Kane¨Cmaybe not for long¨Cand he could easily keep his balance when he had a good base. Let¡¯s go another round.

    ¡°This time, try to imagine you¡¯re a pillar. Sink your hips but keep everything in a vertical stack. If your shoulders are leaning out over your front foot, you¡¯re not in a good position.¡±

    Hans clapped and the class resumed. As he helped Gunther and Harriet with their foot positioning¨Ctheir instinct was to assume a track-runners stance, resting their weight on the toes of their back foot¨CHans watched the guard drill with Kane.

    The guard was getting frustrated. Kane was almost the same size as the much older guard, and he was immovable. As soon as he set his stance, no amount of pushing or pulling could break his balance. At the same time, the tusk teen¡¯s speed and strength easily bested the guard. He stepped off his line again and again and again.

    ¡°Okay, time! No need to circle up just yet. Raise your hand if you stepped off the line less than your opponent. Keyword is ¡®less.¡¯¡±

    A hand went up for each pair of training partners. The guard¡¯s sour demeanor locked his face into a scowl.

    ¡°Good! If you have your hand up, put that hand behind your back and grab your own belt.¡±

    ¡°What if I¡¯m not wearing a belt?¡± Chance, one of the tusk-touched newcomers asked.

    ¡°That¡¯s fine. Just grab the back of your pants. Everyone got that? Okay, if you had your hand up, you¡¯re only allowed to use one arm, and no switching. The arm you start with is the arm you end with.¡±

    The drills resumed, and as Hans intended, the children who ¡°lost¡± most of their rounds were now winning a few with their partners limited to one arm. The more advanced students still won several, but the restriction forced them to be craftier and more careful with their movements while providing the other students with a more level training field, enabling them to ¡°succeed¡± against a stronger opponent.

    Meanwhile, the guard made no such improvements. Kane knocked him off the line with nearly every push or pull.

    Hans called time and told the class to grab a drink of water before they continued with the rest of the lesson. He watched as they dug bottles out of their bags or took turns at the handpump just outside the fence. He saw some panting and sweat among the students, but no one looked exhausted or frustrated. Good.

    ¡°...dumbest drill I ever did see,¡± the guard whispered, unsuccessfully, to the adult farmhand against the fence. ¡°Figures the Capital would send us their rejects.¡±Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.

    The farmhand glanced over the guard¡¯s shoulder. The man already looked uncomfortable with the conversation, but when his eyes met Hans¡¯ he seemed to squirm. ¡°It¡¯s a childrens¡¯ class, Terry. Give the guy a chance.¡±

    ¡°I wouldn¡¯t let my kids waste their time here.¡±

    New Quest: Preserve class cohesion by diffusing conflict with the town guard.

    With a whistle, Hans called the class back, waving for them to circle around. They did as they were told, forming a loose semi circle in the middle of the training yard. ¡°Before we get out swords, I want to talk a bit about why we are training this way. My job is to prepare you to protect yourselves, your family, and your community. It¡¯s also my job to help you skip the obstacles that slowed me down when I was learning.

    ¡°Sometimes you¡¯re going to feel silly in this class. You¡¯re also going to mess up. A lot. If you feel uncoordinated and awkward when we¡¯re practicing something new, that¡¯s a good sign. That means you¡¯re starting to learn. Listen to this carefully: You¡¯re supposed to be bad at this. Everyone starts at zero and builds from there.¡±

    Loddie, Chance¡¯s older sister, blurted, ¡°Even Master Devontes?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ve heard of Devontes?¡± Hans looked at the faces around him and saw that they all knew the name of the Platinum hero.

    ¡°I heard they are making a new rank above Platinum just for him,¡± Loddie said. ¡°They say he¡¯s the best warrior to ever live.¡±

    ¡°Well, I guess I shouldn¡¯t be surprised Devontes has fans everywhere.¡±

    ¡°Have you met him?¡± Quentin asked.

    ¡°He came up in the same chapter I did. I was Silver when he was graduating to Iron. Got to see him rank up. And, you know what? He did this drill too.¡±

    ¡°Oh that¡¯s a load of troll turds,¡± the guard grumbled to himself but still loud enough for the rest of the class to hear.

    ¡°Do you have a question?¡± Hans asked.

    ¡°No questions. We should be sparring and drilling, with swords, not playing Patty Cake.¡± The challenge in his voice cast silence across the class and its observers. ¡°This crap won¡¯t help you in a real fight.¡±

    Hans sighed. ¡°That¡¯s fine. If you don¡¯t like the class, please step out of the training yard.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t think so.¡±

    ¡°I think so.¡±

    ¡°I challenge you to a duel. Prove you¡¯re not full of it.¡±

    ¡°No thanks,¡± Hans said, and turned his attention back to the class. He raised a hand to begin teaching but the guard cut in again.

    ¡°I said, ¡®I challenge you to a duel.¡¯¡±

    ¡°I heard you. The answer is ¡®no.¡¯¡±

    A flash of angry confusion crossed the guard¡¯s face. He stepped toward Hans. ¡°What? You got no honor? I knew the guild sent us a coward.¡±

    The levity that had built during the warm-up game faded as the children glanced back and forth between the two adults, unsure of what to do or who to listen to. The youngest of them seemed frightened, any confidence they had built during the drill waning quickly.

    ¡°Do you have any idea how often randoms in a town pick fights with adventurers?¡± Hans asked. ¡°If I¡¯m dishonoring myself or whatever, that¡¯s fine.¡±

    As far as how the guard imagined this confrontation would go, this reaction was not a possibility he had considered. He huffed and stomped. ¡°I insist! Duel me!¡±

    ¡°No thanks.¡±

    The guard¡¯s face reddened.

    ¡°You¡¯ve got two choices. You can leave, or you can attack the guy teaching a kids¡¯ class and see what happens. Hurry up and pick one so the rest of us can get back to training.¡±

    The farmer set a hand on the guard¡¯s shoulder. The guard recoiled away from it. With one more look of disgust for Hans, the guard spit and let the training yard gate slam behind him.

    Quest Complete: Preserve class cohesion by diffusing conflict with the town guard.

    ¡°Sorry for the interruption, everyone,¡± Hans said, returning his attention to the class. ¡°We¡¯re going to do a chase-and-return drill. That means one person attacks while the other person defends. Then you switch roles and go back and forth like that until I say stop.¡±

    Hans stepped back on his line in the dirt and showed the children how to step forward and backward with proper footwork, making a clean and crisp movement without compromising balance or exposing a vulnerability. They practiced that without swords first, one child advancing while the other retreated, and then they reversed it and shuffled their way back to the other end of the line. Soon, they added training swords to the equation.

    Then Hans taught a diagonal overhead strike, a cut aimed at the crease between a person¡¯s neck and shoulder, followed by a back-step parry for responding to the overhead slash. While he talked about the details of the strike, he emphasized footwork, teaching his students to step with an attack to keep the strong column body structure from their first drill intact. The parry was the same idea, but in reverse.

    When class ended, everyone was tired, but they followed Hans¡¯ direction for cleaning up without complaint. They wiped down the training weapons, picked up the pebbles that worked their way to the surface during training, and¨Cat Hans¡¯ insistence¨Cshook the hands of every student before departing.

    Quentin and Kane lingered, comparing techniques from the class and brainstorming counters and re-counters, while Gunther, Harry, and Harriet picked flowers along the edge of the fence.

    When Hans returned from stowing the training weapons in the guild hall, the farmhand stepped forward and introduced himself.

    ¡°I¡¯m Ed,¡± he said, his rough hand swallowing Hans¡¯ when they shook. ¡°I¡¯m sorry about Terry. Sometimes he cares a little too much, and he ends up with his foot in his mouth.¡±

    Hans thanked him but said not to worry. Most towns had four or five Terrys, and they traveled in packs. One grumpy townsperson on his first full day in Gomi was actually better than he expected.

    ¡°I appreciate you saying so, but I really do mean it. Gunther came home last night, and I¡¯ve never seen that kid so happy. About anything. All he could talk about was the class he took that day.¡±

    A warm smile lifted Hans¡¯ mood. ¡°That¡¯s great to hear,¡± he said, looking Ed over carefully, which meant a lot of looking up. Hans was by far the shorter of the two, but Ed was definitely a plain old human, making Hans¡¯ next question a cautious one: ¡°How do you know Gunther?¡±

    Ed looked Hans in the eye before unleashing a bass-filled chuckle. ¡°I¡¯m right next door to the Tribe. There¡¯s probably a property line somewhere but you wouldn¡¯t know it if you came by for a visit. Pretty much always a few tusk kids running around Uncle Ed¡¯s. Oh, that¡¯s me. I¡¯m Uncle Ed.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m still getting my bearings. Did you say ¡®Tribe?¡¯¡±

    ¡°Yeah. You know the tusk farms out toward the mountains?¡±

    When Hans¡¯ face showed no signs of understanding, Ed launched into the long explanation. On the outskirts of Gomi, a community of tusks ran a farm. At first, it was a single tusk-touched family building a life at the edge of civilization, finding peace in obscurity and isolation. That farm slowly became the refuge for tusks all over the country who wanted to be more than mutant oddities living as outsiders, enduring side-eye glances for the rest of their lives.

    As word spread¨Cand of those words, none had ever reached Hans¡¯ ears¨Cmore and more tusk-touched found their way to Gomi. The farm grew into a sort of co-op, expanding to add fields and cabins as needed. Now the size of the operation was comparable to the size of Gomi itself.

    ¡°How have I not heard of this?¡± Hans asked.

    ¡°Do you usually keep up with tusk-touched news?¡±

    ¡°Ah. That¡¯s a good point.¡±

    Quest Update: Learn more about the citizens of Gomi and the needs of the tusk-touched farm community.

    ¡°Kane and Gunther walked to Gomi alone from gods know where,¡± Ed explained. ¡°Kane was half the size he is now and carried Gunther most of the way. Lots of kids like that around Gomi.¡±

    ¡°This feels like something people would talk about. I don¡¯t think I¡¯ve ever heard of a tusk community. Every tusk I¡¯ve met was basically a professional loner.¡±

    Ed sighed. ¡°I don¡¯t think that was by choice.¡±

    Ah, yeah. That made sense.

    ¡°Maybe leave that out of your reports or whatever? Kids like Gunther and Kane¡­ Well, you know how people can be. They¡¯ve had it hard, and there¡¯s always been a fear that if word got out¡­ Someone with a vendetta against tusks could break up the Tribe.¡±

    Quest Update: Protect the citizens of Gomi and address the needs of the tusk-touched farm community.

    Hans said that he understood and promised to respect the privacy of the Tribe. All the Guild cared about was how many townspeople used guild services. Beyond that count, there was no distinction between human, halfing, dwarf, lizardman, elf, or tusk-touched. For the first time, Hans was thankful that standard procedure reduced everyone in their records to numbers on paper.

    Ed welcomed Hans to Gomi once again and left to walk Gunther and Kane home, Chance and Loddie joining them a ways down the road. The oldest, Kane, would make Ed look small in a few years. Still, the Uncle Ed moniker seemed to suit the big man. Gunther and Kane weren¡¯t the most rambunctious kids, but it was clear that they loved Ed and enjoyed his presence. The trio seemed to burst into laughter every few seconds, as if Ed was just a big kid himself. Chance and Loddie were less involved, but how they laughed along and kept close to the group suggested that they were likely just shy.

    When the road turned and took them out of sight, Hans took in his new home, enjoying the special kind of peace that came after a class concluded. Especially a kids¡¯ class.

    Hints of the coming summer heat were in the air. The wind felt a little tired, not the crisp breezes that were common when days started cool and warmed with the passing of the sun. The fragrance of wild flowers was all but gone, and the birds seemed to go quiet when the sun was at its highest, as if they were already avoiding summer heat. Hans would have liked to have seen more of the spring season in Gomi, when most plants were in bloom, but he¡¯d see it next year.

    If he was out and about in Hoseki at this time of day, he would have to push and elbow his way through dense crowds just to cross the road. In Gomi, the streets were empty, the town still and quiet.

    After one more deep inhale, Hans went back into the guild hall, finding Quentin at one of the tables, reading a book.

    ¡°This isn¡¯t a job, you know,¡± Hans said to the boy.

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°Trust me, I am thankful for all of your help, but you aren¡¯t an employee. You¡¯re allowed to have a life outside of the training.¡±

    ¡°I can leave. I don¡¯t mean to bother you.¡± Quentin shut his book and began to stand.

    ¡°No, no, no. I¡¯m glad you¡¯re here. I just don¡¯t want you to burn yourself out because you help out around here a lot. I know that, and it¡¯s only my second day.¡±

    Quentin stood uncomfortably in the awkward midway point between standing and sitting. His eyes darted like a nervous deer.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t mean to make you feel bad,¡± Hans explained. ¡°I¡¯ve seen more than a few Apprentices devote every second of their lives to training. They make amazing progress, but they sputter in the long run. It¡¯s a marathon, not a sprint, as they say.¡±

    Quentin nodded.

    Hans put a hand on the boy¡¯s shoulder and gently guided him back to his seat.

    Well, I read that one wrong.

    The first impression Hans had of Quentin was what others might call an overachiever, a young man who seemed to go above and beyond with every single effort. Overachiever never felt like a fair term for that kind of student to Hans. His take was that ¡°overachievers¡± were just hard workers who didn¡¯t know how to be successful and play it cool.

    That impression was wrong, Hans began to realize.

    Quentin was a hard worker, yes, but he wasn¡¯t working hard with ¡°being successful¡± as his main objective. This was a kid who found comfort in the guild, who felt the most like themselves when they were in the training yard or in the guild hall. Anywhere else, they were rudderless, permanently uncomfortable with their own existence. In short, Quentin wanted to find a place he belonged.

    Several students like Quentin had taken Hans¡¯ classes in his time with the guild, but his intimate understanding of their feelings came from personal experience. He understood Quentin because he was Quentin at one time in his life.

    Hans sat down at the desk in the corner of the hall and leafed through a dusty membership binder. The Gomi chapter produced very few adventurers in its lifetime, and the members he was reading about might not even still be alive. With the age of some of the entries, that was a certainty. Regardless of how old and outdated the files were, he had to get them in order for his own sanity.

    He looked up to see Quentin had resumed his focused study of basic potion-craft. ¡°So you¡¯re a fan of Devontes?¡± Hans asked.

    Quentin perked up immediately. ¡°I heard he won the Guild Games without ever drawing his sword. Is that true? Is it true that he bonded with a dragon to ascend Platinum? That¡¯s what I heard. Oh! I also heard he challenged an ettin chief to an arm wrestling match instead of a duel, and won.¡±

    Hans couldn¡¯t help but laugh at Quentin¡¯s unbridled enthusiasm as the boy rattled off every truth, half-truth, rumor, and outright myth ever spoken about the legendary Master Devontes.

    ¡°Did you really meet him?¡± Quentin asked.

    ¡°Yep. And, man, I can tell you some stories.¡±

    ***

    Open Quests (Ordered from Old to New):

    Progress from Gold-ranked to Diamond-ranked.

    Mend the rift between Hans and Devon.

    Complete the manuscript for "The Next Generation: A Teaching Methodology for Training Adventurers."

    Clean the guild hall.

    Replenish basic adventuring provisions.

    Acquire functional training equipment.

    Acquire emergency essentials ¨C 6x healing potions, 6x potions of cure poison, 6x potions of cure disease, 3x potions of remove curse, 3x potions of cure petrification.

    Reestablish alchemical recordkeeping.

    Reestablish job-completion and monster-hunting recordkeeping.

    Reestablish community education recordkeeping.

    Reestablish membership records, financial records, and inventory records.

    Protect the citizens of Gomi and address the needs of the tusk-touched farm community.

 Chapter 3: Misadventures

    Quentin begged to hear a story about Master Devontes. Hans obliged.

    ¡°I was with Devon, I mean Devontes, on his first quest as an Iron. I was Silver at the time.¡±

    With wonder sparkling in his eyes, Quentin listened intently as Hans set the scene.

    Devontes had just graduated from Apprentice to Iron, which meant he could take quests without supervision for the first time. The difficulty of Iron-ranked quests is appropriate for that level of adventurer, but appropriate doesn¡¯t mean safe. Dumb mistakes could be deadly in the most benign of scenarios, and the relative inexperience of Iron-rankers made them prone to poor decisions.

    At that point in his career, Devontes was an average adventurer. He was a diligent worker, sure, but nobody predicted he would go on to become a legend.

    Devontes¡¯ first Iron quest was to eliminate a nest of strangle goblins. Nobody was sure if strangle goblins and generic goblins were related, but they looked similar. Strangle goblins had long, thin limbs, like someone melted and stretched a regular goblin until their arms and legs were as long as Hans was tall. Stranglers were known for ambushing their prey, snatching them by surprise. While the disconcertingly long appendages crushed and choked the victim, the strangle goblin used its jagged teeth to hurry the process along.

    Master Devontes was a Paladin. Iron-ranked Devontes was a swordsman who knew a few basic spells.

    Normally, a party of Irons would clear a strangle goblin nest on their own with little trouble if they adhered to their training. This particular nest, however, was less than a mile from a natural spring of holy water. Alchemists paid handsomely for natural holy water, claiming that cleric-made holy water contained more impurities and had inconsistent potency.

    Water, unfortunately, is heavy. The spring was a dribble of water leaking from a cliffside that was only accessible on foot, via a narrow footpath. As good as the profit-potential of natural holy water looked on paper, most adventurers concluded that the profit wasn¡¯t enough to justify the hassle of lugging the liquid back to civilization.

    When Hans saw the strangle goblin quest come across the job board, he had an idea.

    He offered Devontes¡¯ party a bonus payment if they let Hans come along. While Devontes and friends took care of the strangle goblins, Hans would fill several waterskins with natural holy water. By the time the strangle goblins were eliminated, Hans would need the Irons¡¯ help to lug the water back to town. Under any other circumstances, a Silver-ranker joining the party for an Iron-ranked quest would be overkill.

    The Irons plus Hans made camp between the strangle goblin nest and the holy water spring. The next morning, they split to complete their respective quests.

    Hans could carry four waterskins at once if he tied them together and hung them from his neck like he was a pack mule. Determined to get his copper¡¯s worth from the Irons, he made five grueling trips to the spring and back, four skins per lap. On the fifth and final trip, he refreshed the campfire and savored not walking until Devontes returned.

    When the sun began to set without the Irons coming back to camp, Hans hiked out to the strangle goblin nest to see if the Irons ran into trouble.

    As Hans explained it, strangle goblins favored areas where ravines and cliff faces were plentiful, giving them several options for attacking their victims from above. This was one such nest, and Hans had no problem following the trail. The strangle goblins dragged their arms behind them when they walked, creating a distinctive pair of thin scrapes wherever they traveled. The Irons weren¡¯t light footed hikers either, so the process was less like a hunter assessing a faint game trail and more like a parent following a drizzle of powder sugar left by a toddler.

    Any whimsy Hans felt for the situation faded when he stepped into the strangle goblin nest. The cavern had the verticality to be prime real estate for the monsters, but that advantage wasn¡¯t enough for the goblins to survive whatever savaged their nest.

    Hans counted 11 strangle goblin corpses. Roughly. Many of the bodies were in too many pieces for him to be certain. Long claws had rent many of the goblins in half, which made him think that the interloper might be a bear. It wouldn¡¯t be the first time goblins moved into a grizzly¡¯s domain by mistake, but the other corpses told a different story. A few of the goblins had their arms and legs ripped from their bodies, like something enjoyed making them suffer.

    ¡°And the Irons?¡± Quentin asked.

    ¡°No sign of them at first, but I found their footprints in the blood toward the back of the nest and followed them.¡±

    Quentin leaned in, his concern for the party written on his face as the story continued.

    The footprints led deeper into the cave. Based on the tracks, the party was more curious than concerned. At first. Soon, their tracks went from the calm orderly trail of a party moving in formation to the frantic chaos of an unexpected battle. A new set of prints joined the fray, a four-toed foot the length of Hans¡¯ arm, three hooked claws at the front, one claw extending from its heel.

    The party hadn¡¯t been prepared for this foe. Hans couldn¡¯t be sure, but he suspected that at least two members of the party were seriously injured. The monster¡¯s claws had sprayed adventurer blood along the walls, and a thick puddle in one corner suggested someone had sat with a serious wound for part of the battle. The blood was still tacky, so the fight was recent.

    Still, he saw no sign of the party, so Hans continued deeper.

    The light of his torch caught the outline of a monstrous humanoid pressed against the cave wall ahead. Over 8 feet tall with growths¨Cfrom warts to bulbous tumors¨Ccoating its black skin, the beast¡¯s hands matched the ferocity of its feet. It had two six-fingered hands armed with claws like the talons of an eagle. Congealing gore slowly dripped from the claws onto the creature¡¯s bulbous stomach. Hans hoped it was inflated from gorging on strangle goblins and not Irons.

    ¡°Troll?¡± Quentin guessed.

    ¡°Close.¡±

    ¡°Wait, don¡¯t tell me.¡±

    ¡°You said black skin, right? And with that height¡­ Underdark troll?¡±

    ¡°Very good,¡± Hans praised. ¡°Most people don¡¯t figure it out.¡±

    ¡°Because it¡¯s rare to find them near the surface?¡±

    ¡°Precisely.¡±

    Hans resumed the story, describing how he crept down the hall. Carrying a torch made any attempt at stealth futile, but Hans wasn¡¯t trying to be sneaky. He was bracing for the vicious lunge of an underdark troll. A few feet away, Hans stepped in a puddle that seemed to surround the troll, making his last few footfalls a series of gentle splashes.

    The underdark troll didn¡¯t move. When Hans prodded it with the tip of his sword, the monster fell to the side, revealing a crude wooden barrier, which was not uncommon for goblin nests. The little hellspawns often built cells for prisoners, saving them for a later meal.

    Looking closely by torchlight, Hans found that the troll had several slash wounds and an uncountable number of stab wounds. The troll had bled out and died, which also explained the puddle.

    From the other side of the barricade, a soft voice whispered, ¡°Hans?¡±

    ¡°Devon? Are you okay?¡±

    ¡°We could use a healer, but we¡¯ll survive. Can you get us out?¡±

    With great effort, Hans rolled the troll away from the wooden barrier, revealing that it had died holding a door shut. The troll was too heavy and the party was too battered to force the door open.

    ¡°They actually killed the troll afterall?¡± Quentin asked. ¡°How did they end up in a goblin cell?¡±

    ¡°As you¡¯ve probably guessed, the troll was responsible for killing the strangle goblins, so they found the same aftermath that I did. They went deeper into the cave to investigate and walked right by the troll without realizing.¡±

    ¡°What? How? It¡¯s so big.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s one of the reasons caves are dangerous. Human eyes are rubbish in the dark, and it¡¯s too easy to underestimate a shadow. In torchlight, the black silhouette of a boulder and the black silhouette of a crouching troll aren¡¯t all that different.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t underdark trolls have a Silver-ranked requirement?¡±

    ¡°Normally. No one knew this troll was in the area, so a monster well beyond the party¡¯s skill level also had the advantage of surprise.¡±

    ¡°Master Devontes saved them?¡±

    Hans recounted the battle as he had heard it. When the underdark troll launched its sneak attack, it targeted the party¡¯s sorcerer first. Whether that was bad luck or a stroke of tactical genius on the part of the troll, taking the caster out of play meant the party had far fewer offensive options. If not having fire magic against a troll was bad enough, they also relied on the sorcerer to be the party¡¯s healer.

    The troll nearly disemboweled the sorcerer with one swipe of its claw. While Devontes and the party¡¯s ranger held the troll¡¯s attention, the party¡¯s rogue dragged the wounded sorcerer to safety. Because of where the troll set its trap, that meant going deeper into the cave. The goblin cell was empty, thankfully, so the rogue hid the sorcerer behind the barrier and worked to stop the bleeding.If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.

    Devontes and the ranger fought valiantly, but they were outmatched. For several long minutes, they dodged attack after attack, closing the distance to score quick cuts on the troll before retreating again. That careful but precarious dance went well for Devontes and the ranger, but their timing had to be perfect.

    The ranger stumbled for an instant, a misstep on a dark, uneven cavern floor, but the troll was too big and too fast. It hurled itself at the ranger, launching the human down the passage. By this time, the rogue had stabilized the sorcerer and was returning to aid his allies.

    The ranger¡¯s body smashed into the unsuspecting rogue. The attack broke most of the ranger¡¯s ribs as well as her arm, and the impact of the ranger crashing into the rogue snapped the rogue¡¯s ankle.

    Devontes didn¡¯t back down. He kept himself and his sword between the monster and his allies. While the wounded ranger and rogue crawled to join the sorcerer, Devontes danced between claw strikes. Adding two cuts each time the troll attacked¨Cone when the troll attacked and one when it retreated again.

    Little by little, however, the underdark troll closed on Devontes, forcing the warrior to give ground until his back was against the goblin cell. When Devontes positioned himself in the doorway, a last stand effort to keep the troll away from his friends, the troll did something Devontes did not expect: it closed the door.

    The troll trapped the party in the cell and leaned against the cell door to wait for the party to succumb to their wounds. Though the troll bled out first, it died against the door. Everyone in the cell was too weak to force it back open. They were stuck.

    ¡°Wow,¡± Quentin half¨Cwhispered. ¡°Wait. It was an underdark troll?¡±

    ¡°Correct.¡±

    ¡°I thought trolls regenerated through pretty much anything unless you use acid or fire.¡±

    Hans grinned. ¡°Very good. Most people don¡¯t catch that.¡±

    ¡°So the troll was still a threat?¡±

    ¡°Nah. As soon as I saw it was a troll, I jammed my torch in its mouth to be safe.¡±

    Quentin sat quietly, soaking in the story. ¡°Did you spend a lot of time with Master Devontes?¡±

    ¡°A bit.¡±

    ¡°Do you have more stories?¡±

    ¡°Maybe tomorrow. It¡¯s getting late.¡±

    ***

    With Quentin on his way home, Hans set aside the last of the guild records. On the one hand, he was grateful to be done reviewing them, but on the other hand, it had taken less than a day. He couldn¡¯t catch up on the chapter¡¯s history because there simply was none.

    If Olza had no records of guild alchemy services, he would need to talk to some longtime residents to get a sense of how much of what grew and where. With that foundation, the new records would refine that understanding over time. Maybe they¡¯d have a mostly accurate map of ingredients and their growth cycles in five years or so.

    Then there was the Bronze-ranked adventurer he had heard about. The right kind of adventurer would be an asset to the chapter, and the wrong kind of adventurer could undermine anything he attempted to build. Part of him daydreamed that this mysterious Bronze would appear with a stack of immaculately kept ledgers, but that was unlikely.

    Also a strange thing to fantasize about, as far as fantasies go.

    Adventurers weren¡¯t fond of writing essays everytime they finished a job. Guilds hired full time recordkeepers for just that reason.

    New Quest: Meet Gomi¡¯s only active adventurer.

    Hans glanced at the clock. He might be able to catch Olza and Charlie before it got dark. His mental quest list grew quickly, and he craved the dose of fulfillment he got from crossing something off of that list.

    ***

    Hans found Olza sitting on the doorstep of her shop with a bucket between her feet. Similar to husking corn, she stripped the exterior leaves and shoots off of a reed-like plant, setting the narrow fleshy interior to the side and dropping the rest into the bucket. When he got close, he saw that they were ghost reeds. That¡¯s what they were commonly known as, at least. They weren¡¯t actually haunted, but wind passing through a field of ghost reeds sounded like the soft moans of cursed souls.

    If ground into a paste, ghost reeds made for an effective binding material that formed the base of a variety of salves and ointments.

    ¡°Need to restock the first aid kit already?¡± Olza teased as Hans approached.

    ¡°Not yet, fortunately.¡± Hans chuckled. ¡°I¡¯ve been catching up on paperwork, and I was hoping you might have kept a record of your guild work. I hardly have anything for the last two decades.¡±

    Olza paused husking reeds for a moment, looking at the sky as she thought, then she went back to her work. ¡°I can help you with records for what I¡¯ve done, but I¡¯ve only been here 10 years. I can¡¯t help with anything before that.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not a problem. Whatever you have would be helpful.¡±

    ¡°Is it urgent? It might take me a few days to go through my notes and separate the guild work from my own. They¡¯re all logged together right now.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s also fine. I get the feeling that Gomi had¡­ low expectations for their chapter of the guild.¡±

    Olza nodded, tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear. ¡°We¡¯ve had Becky, and that¡¯s it. Been like that since I got here.¡±

    ¡°Becky?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, you know, Becky.¡±

    When Hans could only stare blankly back at Olza, she explained that Becky¨Cnot short for Rebecca, just Becky¨Cwas Gomi¡¯s Bronze-ranked adventurer. She took care of minor monster nuisances, like giant rats and the occasional gnoll hunting party. Mostly she gathered ingredients and animal pelts, the former she sold to Olza. Anything Olza didn¡¯t want joined the latter to be sold to the next merchant caravan.

    ¡°Can you give me directions? I¡¯d like to introduce myself.¡±

    ¡°Directions to¡­?¡±

    ¡°Becky¡¯s home.¡±

    ¡°Well, that¡¯s not really how Becky operates.¡±

    According to Olza, the location of Becky¡¯s home was unknown, if she even had one. The adventurer visited Gomi every other week or so and then melted back into the wilds surrounding the town. If she was needed urgently, Mayor Charlie could release one of the sparrows she left in his care. When the sparrow found her, she would know she was needed. In the time Olza had lived in Gomi, she could only recall one instance where the Mayor released a sparrow. A snake not commonly found in the region bit a child, and they needed Becky¡¯s help tracking down the ingredients for the antivenom.

    ¡°Homing sparrows?¡± Hans asked, mostly musing to himself. ¡°Is Becky a¨C¡±

    ¡°Druid.¡±

    Hans did his best to disguise his reaction. He failed.

    ¡°Not fond of druids?¡± Olza asked.

    ¡°I don¡¯t dislike druids,¡± Hans clarified. ¡°They just tend to be¡­ peculiar.¡±

    What Hans didn¡¯t say was that he briefly dated a druid in his younger years. The pair bonded over a shared love of the wilderness, but the relationship grew strained when Hans discovered that the druid and her cat had long discussions about Hans, his habits, and his qualities as a lover. That cat was always around, always watching. Hans couldn¡¯t come to terms with how uncomfortable that made him feel and broke it off.

    Druids weren¡¯t bad people by default, and Hans knew that. They were excellent additions to most adventuring parties and tended to be peaceful and soft spoken. Their deep connection to nature made them see the world differently from other classes, and that led to unique approaches to interpersonal communication.

    Olza didn¡¯t disagree. ¡°Becky¡¯s due for a delivery sometime this week,¡± she said. ¡°I can let her know you¡¯d like to talk to her.¡±

    Quest Update: Meet Becky the druid, Gomi¡¯s only active adventurer.

    Waiting was probably better than sending an emergency sparrow to find her. Nothing Hans wanted to talk to her about was urgent. ¡°That would be great, thank you.¡±

    ¡°Not a problem. She¡¯s a bit different, but she¡¯s been good to Gomi.¡±

    ¡°You said she was active when you got here?¡±

    ¡°Yep. I moved from Raven¡¯s Hollow, and she was one of the first people to welcome me.¡±

    Hans passed through Raven¡¯s Hollow, a community known for its vineyards and wineries, on his way to Gomi. A single town sat between Gomi and Raven¡¯s Hollow, so it was relatively close. Despite that proximity, Raven¡¯s Hollow was a metropolis compared to Gomi. By any other standard, it was a small, relatively forgettable town.

    ¡°What brought you to Gomi?¡± Hans asked.

    ¡°I liked it,¡± Olza replied simply. Hans waited for her to elaborate. She didn¡¯t.

    When he could endure the silence no longer, he said, ¡°I¡¯ll leave you to it,¡± and turned to depart.

    ¡°Wait!¡± Olza popped into her shop and emerged a few minutes later with a bottle of clear liquid, capped with a cork and sealed with wax. ¡°A gift. Welcome to Gomi.¡±

    Hans accepted the bottle and looked closely at the liquid inside.

    ¡°It¡¯s a kind of vodka,¡± Olza said. ¡°There¡¯s a tuber that grows up the mountains a bit that the locals call ¡®fool¡¯s root.¡¯ Above and below the surface, it resembles mandrake. The actual ¡®root¡¯ is much more like a potato, despite how it looks.¡±

    An alchemist distilling her own alcohol wasn¡¯t unusual. Half of the alchemists Hans met started their careers covertly making alcohol in their bedroom closets¨Clest their parents discover the operation. Needless to say, aspiring alchemists were popular figures among their teenage peers.

    ¡°How much does a bottle of this go for?¡± Hans asked.

    ¡°I don¡¯t sell it. I¡¯d need more fool¡¯s root than the mountains produce in a year to make it a proper business venture. Besides, the tusks brew a good beer. They¡¯ve got the booze covered for Gomi.¡±

    Quest Updated: Protect the citizens of Gomi and address the needs of the tusk-touched farm community. Bonus objective: Sample tusk-touched beer.

    ¡°I¡¯ll savor this bottle then,¡± Hans said. ¡°Thank you for the kindness.¡±

    With his immediate questions about Becky answered by Olza, he decided not to bother the Mayor. The sun was nearly set, and Charlie had already helped him a great deal.

    Returning to the solitude of his guild apartment was a welcome reprieve. For as much as his duties as a teacher and Guild Master required him to interact with people, extroversion was an active process for Hans, something that took focus and willpower to maintain.

    Like casting a spell, some adventurers had a natural affinity for magic. Where others would strain and concentrate to weave the most basic incantation, these adventurers manipulated magic effortlessly, as if spellcraft was a skill akin to walking or breathing.

    Hans was neither a natural spellcaster or a natural extrovert.

    He lit the wick on his desk lamp and opened his manuscript to a half-written page. Seeing the emptiness of the page, and knowing that the inch of paper beneath it was also blank, reminded Hans of his mental questlist.

    Open Quests (Ordered from Old to New):

    Progress from Gold-ranked to Diamond-ranked.

    Mend the rift between Hans and Devon.

    Complete the manuscript for "The Next Generation: A Teaching Methodology for Training Adventurers."

    Clean the guild hall.

    Replenish basic adventuring provisions.

    Acquire functional training equipment.

    Acquire emergency essentials ¨C 6x healing potions, 6x potions of cure poison, 6x potions of cure disease, 3x potions of remove curse, 3x potions of cure petrification.

    Reestablish alchemical recordkeeping.

    Reestablish job-completion and monster-hunting recordkeeping.

    Reestablish community education recordkeeping.

    Reestablish membership records, financial records, and inventory records.

    Protect the citizens of Gomi and address the needs of the tusk-touched farm community. Bonus objective: Sample tusk-touched beer.

    Meet Becky the druid, Gomi¡¯s only active adventurer.

    Though no one knew of this list but Hans, and though he had complete control of what he considered a ¡°quest¡± for his own purposes, he couldn¡¯t bring himself to cancel the first two. He thought on them for several quiet minutes, then shut his manuscript.

    He couldn¡¯t muster the willpower to do any more work. He reached for one of his two novels and read until he fell asleep in his desk chair.

 Chapter 4: Map Exploration

    Hans began his day with the rising of the sun. Tacking a ¡°be back in time to teach class¡± note to the front door, he set out in the direction of the tusk-touched farms, the same direction Uncle Ed had gone with Gunther and Kane after training the day before.

    Like most frontier towns, the land immediately surrounding Gomi had been clear-cut ages ago as a defensive measure. If someone wanted to attack, they would have to cross a sizable open field, giving the town time to rally their defenses. As far as Hans knew, Gomi had never endured a coordinated invasion. If they did, he was doubtful that Gomi¡¯s meager guard contingent could mount a meaningful defense.

    Though the interaction with the guard from the day before was fresh in his memory, his assessment came from practicality. A handful of guards were good for protecting townspeople from each other, but even the same number of Hoseki guards would struggle to defend Gomi. Aside from the limited manpower, Gomi had a single watchtower. No walls. No siege-ready defenses.

    The dirt road beneath Hans¡¯ feet rose and fell over gentle hills before entering the Gomi forest. Though the tree cover turned dense quickly, the road seemed well-used and maintained. He saw hand dug trenches strategically positioned to redirect runoff and passed a few potholes that had been stuffed with flat rocks to rebuild the grade, at least somewhat. At this hour, the woods still held a faint morning chill, but the birds flitting through the trees and making distant mating calls didn¡¯t seem to mind.

    After a half mile of walking through forest, the road opened into an expansive field. The road itself hugged the treeline, creating a clear division between forest and farmland. The farms themselves weren¡¯t as expansive as the commercial farms shipping goods all over the kingdom, but Hans counted the cabins and barns as he walked. Depending on how they managed the land, this part of Gomi was home to a dozen-or-so family farms of respectable sizes.

    Several distant figures worked the fields. Some ran a plow. Some pulled weeds threatening their sprouting crops. Some chopped wood at the treeline behind the farms, presumably stocking up for winter while also clearing room for more farmable land.

    He passed two or three farms before his presence was noticed.

    ¡°Guild Master Hans!¡± a child yelled. Hans followed the voice and spotted Gunther running toward him, the knees of his pants thick with dirt from kneeling in the fields.

    I didn¡¯t know Gunther was capable of such enthusiasm.

    In the two classes he taught with Gunther, the dandelion-destroying tusk child didn¡¯t even laugh out loud and rarely spoke. Seeing him so excited was a surprise, but it was heartening nonetheless.

    ¡°Good morning, Gunther.¡±

    ¡°Are you out hunting monsters? I can help!¡±

    ¡°No, not today. I¡¯m just going for a walk, getting to know my new home.¡±

    ¡°Is there still class today?¡±

    ¡°You bet.¡±

    A distant voice called for Gunther. Someone had noticed the boy¡¯s absence and wasn¡¯t about to let him get away with skipping chores. Gunther yelled in response, apologized to Guild Master Hans, and ran toward the voice. Hans followed at a walk, figuring he should take some of the blame for Gunther¡¯s getting distracted.

    Gunther¡¯s trail took Hans between spring barley fields. They wouldn¡¯t be harvested until late in the summer, but they were growing well. Hans knew that barley was one of the hardier crop types, and though his knowledge of farming was limited, he knew enough to be impressed. Growing anything in rocky mountain dirt was a challenge, but several years of fertilizer and careful crop rotation built up rich top soil. And the effort seemed to have paid off for the Tribe.

    In theory, many regions of the kingdom could become farmable with this process, but it was slow, grueling work. Few had the fortitude to endure multiple seasons of a poor harvest to reach the rewards. Those who did tended to do so out of necessity. They didn¡¯t have the resources to buy better land, but they did have families to feed.

    By the time Hans caught up to Gunther, he had passed several other crop types, which he guessed were corn and potatoes. The young tusk rejoined other children pulling weeds between the rows of seedlings. Some of the children were tusk-touched and some were human. Two tusk-touched men worked nearby, pulling rocks from the field and loading them into a wheelbarrow. Uncle Ed had made a quip about property lines not mattering much out here. Seeing multiple families working the land together told Hans that wasn¡¯t an accident. It took serious effort to foster collaboration at this scale.

    Hans overheard the end of a reprimand. One of the tusk-touched adults chided the boy for using a water break to hide from chores.

    ¡°That was my fault, actually,¡± Hans called with a wave. ¡°He was on his way back to you and I distracted him.¡±

    At first, the two tusk-touched men tensed at seeing a stranger approaching. Hans saw them shift and tighten their grips on their tools, like warriors reflexively reaching for their swords. One of them favored his orc heritage more than his human heritage, giving him tusks as long as Hans¡¯ pointer fingers and distinctive gray skin. The other orc favored his human heritage, making his orcish traits somewhat softer. Both men had the steely gaze of practiced skepticism. Someone got the drop on them once in their lives, and never again.

    ¡°That¡¯s Guild Master Hans!¡± Gunther yelled, popping back to a standing position while he waved and pointed at Hans.

    The tusk men visibly relaxed, for which Hans was thankful. Both had at least a foot of height on him, and they were certainly far stronger. He knew that from the visible size of their farm-built muscle and from having sparred with several tusk-touched adventurers. Despite their size, tusks did not lack agility. Facing a greatsword wielded with the snappy finesse of a rapier was a difficult puzzle to solve, even if the tusk was a lower rank. Gods help you if they get a grip on you.

    That was one of the strange things about how tusks were treated in the kingdom. The hateful citizens would never disparage a tusk to their face, but if there was an enemy to be defeated, they suddenly became prized allies, for the duration of the danger at least.

    Hans and the tusk with the stronger orcish features extended their hands at the same time and shook.

    Oh gods, my hand.

    ¡°Hans. Nice to meet you, sir.¡± He hoped he hid the pain in his voice.

    ¡°I¡¯m Galad,¡± the tusk said before pointing to the tusk next to him. ¡°This is Luther.¡±

    Much to Hans¡¯ relief, Luther did not close the distance to initiate a handshake.

    ¡°What can we do for you, Guild Master? Gunny and Kane sang your praises yesterday.¡±

    Hans looked around. No sign of Kane, but then again, he was much larger than the children weeding. He was likely working with adults elsewhere, given his stature.

    ¡°That¡¯s very nice of them,¡± Hans said. ¡°They¡¯ve been good students.¡±

    ¡°Really?¡± Galad asked with surprise. ¡°Even Gunny?¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s a little rambunctious, but he¡¯s been working hard.¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s a good kid and all, but he doesn¡¯t exactly stay focused. I can tell you without looking that he¡¯s found something else more interesting than weeds and isn¡¯t working.¡±

    Hans looked over Galad¡¯s shoulder. Gunther held a long slimy worm and watched it slink across his open palms.

    By Hans¡¯ expression, Galad knew he had called it correctly. ¡°Gunny!¡± he yelled without turning.

    ¡°I¡¯m weeding!¡±

    ¡°Yeah, okay.¡± Though Galad held a serious tone, his face betrayed the temptation to laugh at the boy¡¯s antics. ¡°What brings you out to the fields?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m new in town and wanted to be a good neighbor by coming by to say hello. I¡¯m getting the chapter going again, so if you end up needing the Guild for something, let me know.¡±

    ¡°Does that mean you¡¯re working with Becky?¡± Hans noticed Luther visibly shudder at the name as Galad spoke. ¡°Don¡¯t mind Luther. He¡¯s afraid of Becky.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve heard she¡¯s unique.¡±

    Galad guffawed with a bass only possible with vocal chords the length of cello strings. ¡°She¡¯s good people. Treats us well and comes when we need her.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ve not gotten to meet yet. My job is to support people like Becky, not replace them, so I suspect we¡¯ll be working together somewhat. She seems pretty independent.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re a sharp one, Guild Master. Some folks try to work against Becky¡¯s personality.¡± Galad paused, pointing a stealthy finger over his shoulder at Luther. ¡°Doesn¡¯t go well for them.¡±

    Hans nodded. ¡°Understood. We¡¯re on the verge of being gossips, and I¡¯m disrupting your work, but may I ask one more question?¡±If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.

    ¡°By all means.¡±

    ¡°How might one get their hands on your beer?¡±

    Galad flashed a toothy grin. ¡°Luther,¡± he said to his work partner. ¡°I¡¯m going to show the Guild Master the barn. Will only be a minute.¡±

    Luther nodded.

    ¡°Gunny, don¡¯t eat the worms. They¡¯re good for the soil, and do what Luther says, okay?¡±

    Gunther nodded to Galad and reluctantly returned his collection of worms to the dirt. Galad strode ahead, gesturing for Hans to follow. On their way to the barn, they exchanged small talk about Gomi. Apparently, Galad was one of the original founders of the Tribe¨Cthe unofficial name for the collective of tusk-touched¨Cbut certainly did not look his age. When Hans thought about it, he realized he had never seen an elderly tusk, or perhaps they aged so well that he simply didn¡¯t know he had.

    Pointing to the various fields as they passed, Galad described how the farm looked when he first moved to Gomi. This land had been one small clearing, barely enough room for a cabin and a garden. His brothers and sisters cleared acres of trees by themselves. The children would chop a tree down, and their tusk-touched father would drag it away while they began chopping at the next.

    Academically, Hans knew this was a common history for many farms, but looking out over the fields and the cabins tucked between them, he couldn¡¯t picture this land being wooded. They must have cleared a thousand trees or more, a mind boggling amount of work.

    ¡°The barn¡± as Galad called it, was actually three barns built near to one another. According to Galad, this was where they processed the barley, brewed the beer, and stored it in barrels and kegs.

    Each barn easily dwarfed any structure in town, the interiors of which were the equivalent of six Gomi chapter guild halls. The processing and storage barns were both nearly empty as the growing season had only begun. Galad led Hans into the brewing barn, which was dominated by three massive metal tanks, a surprising sight this far from Hoseki. Gomi must have an exceptionally skilled smith hidden in its hills, Hans wagered. Gomi must have an exceptionally skilled smith hidden in its hills, Hans wagered.

    New Quest: Meet the local blacksmith.

    ¡°We actually brew year-round if we can,¡± Galad explained as they walked by the towering tanks. ¡°We¡¯re trying to decide if we should add another tank or if we should grow something else. We¡¯re getting close to producing more hops than we can use.¡±

    Galad opened a cellar door and disappeared into the ground, emerging a moment later with a dark bottle in his hand. Hans noticed a wax seal on the cork similar to the bottle of vodka Olza had given him.

    ¡°You¡¯ll have to let me know what you think,¡± Galad said, passing the bottle. Suddenly, the tusk seemed nervous. ¡°We should also talk while we have privacy.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s on your mind?¡±

    ¡°I know we¡¯ve only just met, so it¡¯s a bit early for me to be asking a favor of you,¡± Galad paused, choosing his words carefully. ¡°It would mean a lot to us if you didn¡¯t tell the guild about our farm. I know that¡¯s a lot to ask of a Guild Master, but I still got to ask. We can pay you two gold a month for the kindness.¡±

    ¡°What? Wait. No. No, no, no. I didn¡¯t come by to shake you down.¡±

    ¡°Not suggesting that you were. Just speaking plainly for my brothers and sisters.¡±

    Hans opened and closed his mouth a few times before finally finding the right words. ¡°Also speaking plainly, I don¡¯t want your money. I need that to be clear. There¡¯s no wink-wink nudge-nudge hidden in that statement. Can we agree that part of our conversation is settled and move on to your other points?¡±

    Galad nodded.

    ¡°A Guild Master¡¯s job is to ¡®serve and advance their community.¡¯ That¡¯s word for word from the Adventurers¡¯ Guild charter. I know there are chapters out there that run themselves like businesses or political entities, but that¡¯s not what they were founded to do. What you described as asking for a favor is really just you asking to do my job.¡±

    Galad didn¡¯t reply. He held Hans¡¯ eyes and thought on the Guild Master¡¯s words while giving him space to continue.

    ¡°None of my reports have anything to do with who lives in Gomi. I¡¯m here to swing swords and go camping, not conduct a census.¡±

    ¡°Leave it to children to be the best judges of character,¡± Galad said with relief. ¡°My little brothers don¡¯t trust easy.¡±

    ¡°Gunther and Kane?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°I hope this isn¡¯t rude, but I had been told Gunther and Kane came to Gomi alone.¡±

    ¡°Ah. I see the confusion. All tusk-touched are brother and sister. In a way, we all have the same fathers.¡±

    Quest Update: Learn more about the citizens of Gomi. Bonus objective: Sample tusk-touched beer.

    ***

    Chance and Loddie didn¡¯t return for class that afternoon, leaving Quentin, Kane, Harry, Harriet, and Gunther. Though the class shrank, the audience grew. Uncle Ed was back to support Kane and Gunther, and five townspeople Hans didn¡¯t know joined him. The newcomers struck him as curious parents, but that was a guess.

    No member of the town guard was in attendance.

    The class began with the balance game, except this time Hans had the children rotate partners every few rounds, encouraging the larger in each pair to win through trickery, not size and strength. Next, the class reviewed the attack and parries they covered previously, drilling each over and over with chase-and-return drills. Then Hans taught two new attacks, a horizontal slash delivered with a fronthand or a backhand, as well as a simple parry to defend against one or the other.

    After a water break, Hans told the class that they were going to learn a new kind of training drill today.

    ¡°The same person will attack and the same person will defend until I tell you to switch. The attacker will use one of the three cuts we¡¯ve learned. Who can tell me what those are?¡±

    Harriet raised her hand. ¡°Down, right, and left.¡±

    ¡°Those might not be the technical names but we know what Harriet means, and she¡¯s right. Can someone show me the parries we learned to defend against each of those?¡±

    Every child raised their hand. Hans called on Gunther and directed Harriet to attack slowly with one of the three attacks for Gunther to parry. She cycled through each of the three attacks, and aside from a singular stumble, Gunther demonstrated the correct parries for each.

    ¡°Very good. Now we¡¯re going to make this more challenging. Harriet is going to pick one of the three attacks¨Cit can be any of the ones we learned¨Cand very slowly attack Gunther. And then Gunther will choose the correct parry.¡±

    Hans had the two demonstrate the drill. Gunther kept up at first, but after four blocks in a row he missed one. The tusk boy deflated, embarrassed to have messed up in front of the class.

    ¡°This drill is designed to make you mess up,¡± Hans said, not looking directly at Gunther but still making sure the boy was listening. ¡°In a fight, you have to make decisions very quickly, and this drill helps us practice how to do that. If you get one wrong, instead of feeling bad I want you to think about what you did wrong. Try to think about what you can do differently next time. I¡¯ll be around to help.¡±

    The class resumed with Quentin partnered with Harry. The much smaller and younger boy advanced on the older boy with the ferocity of a wolverine.

    ¡°Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Everybody stop!¡±

    Harry froze mid-swing. Quentin cautiously opened his eyes and relaxed his defense.

    ¡°I forgot a part. If your partner is messing up every repetition, slow down your attack. This is how we be good training partners. Slow down. Give each other the chance to practice.¡±

    The drills resumed, and Harry exercised more restraint. Hans stepped in to offer feedback and pointers where necessary, but soon he stood back and let the students train, interrupting only to have them rotate partners.

    When Hans glanced over at the audience against the fence, he saw that Mayor Charlie had joined the crowd, and they all talked amongst themselves, seeming to react and comment on what was happening in the class.

    ¡°Looks like chaos, right?¡± Hans asked as he approached.

    ¡°To be candid, we were wondering about that.¡±

    Hans looked back at the class. From a distance, the class was filled with hesitation and the occasional yelp from a strike delivered a little too quickly. Every so often, a pair would stop drilling completely to figure out a fix to something they found difficult.

    ¡°The traditional way to drill is to stand in a line and repeat the technique over and over until it¡¯s perfect. That¡¯s probably what you picture when you think of a combat class, right?¡±

    The group nodded.

    ¡°That kind of training is good for learning a technique, but here¡¯s the problem: What¡¯s next? The most common answer is sparring, right?¡±

    More head nods.

    ¡°There needs to be stages in between. Otherwise, you¡¯re only training at two extremes. Either you have no resistance or complete resistance. This drill is part of building those in-between stages. We¡¯re introducing just a little bit of chaos here, moving a bit closer to fully live sparring, but just enough. It¡¯s the walk between crawl and run.

    ¡°Learning to make decisions under pressure. That¡¯s part of what we¡¯re doing here. Make sense so far?¡±

    ¡°Yes¡­¡±

    ¡°The other benefit we get from this controlled chaos is variety. When we learn a technique the traditional way¨Cdrilling over and over¨Cwe think of ¡®perfect¡¯ as doing it the same way every time, right? But that¡¯s never what happens when you apply that technique live. Right now Quentin and Kane are drilling, but if I swapped in for Quentin, would Kane attack in the same way?¡±

    The group hesitated. ¡°Yes?¡±

    ¡°Really? Wouldn¡¯t he adjust his angle since I¡¯m bigger? What about how he manages distance? I¡¯m taller than Quentin, so my reach is longer. If Kane kept the same distance he used with Quentin, he¡¯d miss. For some reason, we expect trainees to make all of these adjustments on the fly. They end up learning this skill by accident in sparring when we should be teaching it deliberately.¡±

    After a long silence, Mayor Charlie spoke. ¡°You¡¯ve put quite a bit of thought into this. A lot of thought.¡±

    ¡°I promise that this method is better on all fronts. They will learn more quickly, they will retain more knowledge, they will perform better under pressure, and it¡¯s safer because the chaos is added gradually instead of abruptly.¡±

    ¡°I can¡¯t say that I have any arguments against your explanation,¡± the Mayor said, glancing over his shoulder. ¡°The kids seem to be enjoying it, and I can¡¯t think of another time where a newcomer thought so carefully about our town¡¯s needs. I¡¯m not sure everyone will be easily convinced, but I¡¯ll argue in your favor. The least we can do is try it your way.¡±

    ¡°Thank you, Mayor.¡±

    Hans wrapped up class after answering a few final questions from the children. As the children filed out of the training yard, Hans asked Quentin to wait. He had one more question before he could sample Gomi¡¯s finest beer.

    ¡°Do you have time to introduce me to the blacksmith tomorrow?¡±

    ***

    That night, Hans sat in his apartment with a book in his lap, a bottle in his hand, and a content smile on his face.

    Bonus Objective Complete: Sample tusk-touched beer.

    ***

    Open Quests (Ordered from Old to New):

    Progress from Gold-ranked to Diamond-ranked.

    Mend the rift between Hans and Devon.

    Complete the manuscript for "The Next Generation: A Teaching Methodology for Training Adventurers."

    Clean the guild hall.

    Replenish basic adventuring provisions.

    Acquire functional training equipment.

    Acquire emergency essentials ¨C 6x healing potions, 6x potions of cure poison, 6x potions of cure disease, 3x potions of remove curse, 3x potions of cure petrification.

    Reestablish alchemical recordkeeping.

    Reestablish job-completion and monster-hunting recordkeeping.

    Reestablish community education recordkeeping.

    Reestablish membership records, financial records, and inventory records.

    Learn more about the citizens of Gomi.

    Meet Becky the druid, Gomi¡¯s only active adventurer.

    Meet the local blacksmith.

 Chapter 5: New Town Shopping Trip

    Quentin arrived late in the morning, as he promised. Hans had pulled all of the shelves out of the guild storage room for a deep clean and was grateful for a break.

    In his travels, Hans had met the children of hunters before. If one of the parents wasn¡¯t in the picture, the children of hunters ended up largely raising themselves. Hunting trips can last for several days, and when hunters returned home, it was never for long. The pay for furs, skins, and venison was respectable, but a payday somehow never goes far enough when there are kids to clothe and feed.

    Though Quentin was relatively quiet about his homelife, Hans noted he would mention his father but never his mother. With a few thousand kids¡¯ classes under his belt, Hans had learned long ago to never assume anything about a child¡¯s homelife. On too many occasions he made the mistake of assuming the adult accompanying a child was a mother or father only to learn that their child¡¯s parents were long gone. Forcing an aunt or an uncle to politely explain to you that the giggly child in the corner swinging a wooden sword had endured horrific heartbreak.

    Hans didn¡¯t know where Quentin¡¯s mother might be. Whether or not he ever told Hans about her was entirely up to Quentin and entirely on his timeline.

    Gomi¡¯s blacksmith had a humble shop on the opposite edge of town, sharing a wall with the town fletcher. The forge, bellows, and anvil sat under an open-air pavilion. A lean but muscular man with a soot-covered leather apron hammered at a horseshoe, the bounce-back of the anvil putting an extra echo to every ping and tink. The bandana wrapped around his head was soaked with sweat, his long blond hair sticking to his forehead and neck.

    With his back to the street and the deafening noise of his work, the smith didn¡¯t notice his visitors for several seconds. He startled for a moment and smiled when he recognized Quentin.

    ¡°Good morning, Quentin,¡± the smith said. ¡°And you must be Hans. I¡¯ve heard a lot about you, Guild Master.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s always frightening to hear.¡±

    ¡°Perhaps in some cases. Harry and Harriet adored your classes. We used to have to beg them to practice, but now we have to make sure we hide all of the weapons to get them to bed at night.¡±

    ¡°You know Harry and¨C¡± The connection came to Hans. Two blond children, a blond adult smith¨Cit wasn¡¯t definitive science, of course, but it was a big hint that they may be related. Mercifully, the smith clarified for him.

    ¡°My wonderful children. Perfect kids. Never give me any trouble at all.¡± The smith held the strained, forced smile of a tired parent.

    Hans shook the smith¡¯s hand. He seemed to hesitate at first, on account of the grit on his hands, but the Guild Master gave him a nonchalant shrug to show he didn¡¯t care about some dirt.

    ¡°What brings you by my shop?¡±

    ¡°The chapter needs your skills. I¡¯ve got an idea of what I want, but two questions for you first. One: Do you accept guild credit?¡±

    The smith nodded.

    ¡°Excellent. Would it be a problem to combine the chapter¡¯s credit with my own in an order? We might order more than we have budget for, and I¡¯m fine covering the difference.¡±

    ¡°Shouldn¡¯t be a problem. Whatcha need?¡±

    Hans rattled off his list: 10 wooden training swords, 5 wooden bucklers, and 5 wooden targes¨Calso a type of round shield but larger than a buckler. Hans also mentioned he was in need of 5 training bows with a healthy supply of arrows with blunted tips, but he knew he¡¯d have to go next door to put that order in.

    ¡°No need to put two orders in,¡± the smith said. ¡°The Mrs. does the fletching. We can make it one order instead of two to simplify things.¡±

    ¡°That works for me.¡±

    ¡°Anything else on your list?¡±

    ¡°Quentin,¡± Hans said, addressing his pupil. ¡°What weapon would you like to learn next?¡±

    ¡°I get to pick?¡±

    ¡°Yep.¡±

    Quentin took a moment to think. ¡°What do you think would be best for me to learn?¡±

    ¡°Oh no you don¡¯t. You¡¯re not passing this one back to me. Don¡¯t worry about what¡¯s ¡®best¡¯ right now. What interests you?¡±

    ¡°Spear,¡± Quentin replied without hesitation.

    Hans smiled. ¡°Can we add two wooden spears to our order?¡±

    ¡°Certainly. Tell me, is a targes your shield of choice?¡±

    ¡°You mean like personally?¡±

    The smith nodded.

    ¡°It is, actually. But I prefer mine to be on the larger side. Your standard targes will be fine for the kids.¡±

    ¡°Understood. Give me a week at most. I¡¯ll let you know if we¡¯re done sooner.¡±

    Hans said that sounded great.

    ¡°It was great to meet you, Guild Master. Now, I have to kindly ask you to leave. Harry and Harriet are helping next door. If they see you¡¯re here they won¡¯t get any of their chores done.¡±

    Quest Completed: Meet the local blacksmith.

    Quest Update: Pick up training equipment from the smith when it is completed.

    As Hans and Quentin walked back toward the guild hall, the boy softly posed a question, ¡°Why?¡±

    ¡°Why what?¡± Hans asked in reply.

    ¡°Why ask me to pick what I learn next?¡±

    ¡°Why not?¡±

    ¡°...Because you¡¯re the teacher?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry. You¡¯ll still learn the fundamentals with everyone else. Adventuring is a long road, though, and it¡¯s easy to burnout training as hard as you do. Learning the spear is still a very practical thing, but I¡¯m more interested in it being fun for you to learn it.¡±

    ¡°Fun?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, you know, laughs and smiles and fuzzy feelings.¡±

    ¡°I know what fun is.¡±

    ¡°Just making sure.¡± Hans flashed a cheesy grin. ¡°A little bit of fun makes that long road much easier. Besides, you haven¡¯t picked a class yet, right? Trying new things will help with that too.¡±

    ¡°What class should I take?¡±

    The pair passed two town guards walking the opposite direction. The familiar guard of the two, Terry, locked hard eyes with Hans before ignoring him completely.

    Hans did a mental eyeroll and returned his attention to Quentin. ¡°I won¡¯t share an opinion until you at least have a general idea of the direction you want to take. I don¡¯t have to live with it. You do. It should be a choice you make for yourself, ultimately.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t want to be a Druid.¡±

    ¡°Why is that?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t think I¡¯d like living the way Becky does.¡±

    ¡°The Bronze-ranked Becky? Maybe hold your judgment on druids. I haven¡¯t met Becky yet, but I¡¯m getting the impression she isn¡¯t like the other druids I¡¯ve met. Oh, hey,¡± Hans said, putting a hand on Quentin¡¯s shoulder to stop him. ¡°Do you mind if I pop in to see Olza real quick? You don¡¯t have to come if you don¡¯t want to.¡±This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.

    ¡°I don¡¯t mind.¡±

    ¡°Great!¡±

    They found Olza at the back of her shop, pondering four graduated cylinders filled with varying shades of purple liquid. She stared at the liquids with her lips pursed and eyes narrowed, sometimes glancing down at her notes. She looked up when Hans and Quentin walked between her shelves.

    ¡°Haven¡¯t heard from Becky yet,¡± she said as they approached.

    ¡°I actually came to place an order,¡± Hans said, fishing a scrap of paper out of his pocket.

    Olza reviewed the list. ¡°I have most of this in stock right now. Cure petrification is simple enough, but cure curse will be a few days. That recipe has a few steps that require the ingredients to rest before the next stage.¡±

    ¡°Works for me. Guild credit is okay, right?¡±

    ¡°Yep. I¡¯ll pack these up now.¡±

    While Hans filled out a writ of guild credit, Olza walked along her shelves with a small box of straw, sliding vials and bottles into the makeshift cushion. She returned to the counter and did a final count of the box. ¡°6 healing potions, 6 potions of cure poison, and 6 potions of cure disease. I¡¯ll bring the others by when they are complete.¡±

    She slid the box to Hans at the same time she collected the writ. She glanced at it and held up her hand.

    ¡°Wait,¡± she said. ¡°This is from your personal guild credit, not the chapter¡¯s.¡±

    ¡°I know.¡±

    ¡°Oh. You¡¯re buying these yourself? Okay. No problem for me. Wanted to be sure.¡±

    Quest Update: Wait for Olza to deliver the rest of the potion order.

    When Hans turned to leave, Olza stopped him. ¡°Actually, could I get your opinion on something?¡± she asked.

    ¡°I have a lot of those.¡±

    Olza rolled her eyes and stepped into the back of her shop. She emerged with a dried flower blossom between her fingers. The petal shapes were akin to a lotus flower, and though the flower was dried, the petals retained a deep purple. ¡°Do you recognize this? Feel free to jump in if you know it also, Quentin.¡±

    Hans accepted the flower from Olza and looked it over while Quentin blushed. He gently rubbed a petal between his fingers. He sniffed the blossom as well as the base. He held the flower up to a window to see how light passed through it. ¡°Where did you find it?¡± he asked.

    ¡°Becky brought it in shortly after the first thaw. She found it up the mountain a little ways.¡±

    ¡°But didn¡¯t tell you where?¡±

    ¡°She did¡­ in her way. The first step of her directions was to take the north road out of town. The second step was to head northeast at the ¡®oak tree with the tired bark.¡¯¡±

    ¡°Tired bark?¡±

    Olza shrugged. ¡°Must be a Druid thing?¡±

    ¡°Hmm¡­¡± Hans said, continuing to twist and turn the flower to look at it from all angles. ¡°I¡¯m not well-versed in what ingredients look like when they¡¯re dried. It kind of reminds me of nightshade, but these leaves aren¡¯t right, and neither are the petals. Did you try asking the guild alchemist to identify it for you?¡±

    With an unenthused stare, Olza said, ¡°Thank you for that suggestion. You keep that sample if you want. Maybe inspiration will strike.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll let you know if I think of anything.¡±

    New Quest: Identify the unknown purple flower from Olza.

    ¡°Are you going on a hunt soon?¡± Quentin asked as they stepped back onto the main street of Gomi. Hans had the box of potions tucked under his arm.

    Hans shook his head. ¡°Having a stash of potions in the guild hall is good for emergencies. Adventurers have a way of stumbling in after a tough fight and bleeding all over your clean floors.¡±

    ¡°...And they might die?¡±

    ¡°That too.¡±

    Without prompting, Quentin followed Hans into the training yard and helped him carry the now clean shelves back inside. The pair worked quietly until the third and last shelf slotted into place.

    Quest Complete: Clean the guild hall.

    New Quest: Keep the guild hall clean.

    As Hans stood in the guild hall, admiring the transformation, Quentin softly spoke. ¡°Mr. Hans,¡± he began.

    ¡°Just Hans is fine.¡±

    ¡°What class are you? Or is that rude?¡±

    ¡°A few folks might get prickly about that question, but any reasonable person won¡¯t. It¡¯s a reasonable thing to ask.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡±

    ¡°The best way to describe my class is ¡®Adventurer,¡¯ but I know that sounds silly.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know that one.¡±

    ¡°At the end of the day, a class is just a label. Let¡¯s look at it this way, what skills does a rogue learn?¡±

    ¡°Umm¡­ stealth, lockpicking, disarming traps¡­¡±

    ¡°Anything else?¡±

    ¡°I guess snooping and stealing?¡±

    ¡°Why do you say ¡®I guess?¡¯¡±

    ¡°Not all Rogues are pickpockets.¡±

    Hans smiled. ¡°Exactly. We call someone a ¡®Rogue¡¯ because it simplifies explaining their capabilities and what their role in a party would be, but you don¡¯t need to be a Rogue to learn to pick locks. One of the best lockpickers I ever met was actually a Black Mage.¡±

    ¡°Really?¡±

    ¡°Yeah. In between learning the spells that are common for Black Mages, giant fireballs and such, he picked locks as a hobby. He enjoyed the process and said it helped with his finger dexterity for casting.¡±

    Quentin nodded.

    ¡°Up through Silver, my abilities aligned pretty well with the Ranger class. When I hit Gold and realized I wasn¡¯t going any higher, I started to study everything I could. I wanted to understand the function of each class from the inside out even if I¡¯d never master those skills.¡±

    ¡°Why?¡±

    ¡°I need that knowledge to be an effective teacher. Most instructors only teach their favorite techniques, but it would be kind of silly for a guild chapter to train only Rangers, right? I¡¯m not a master Spearman by any stretch, but I can teach you the fundamentals of what a great Spearman does and how one thinks. If someone wants to become a master Spearman, I can¡¯t take them all the way there, but I can get them off to the right start.¡±

    ¡°I see.¡± Quentin had mostly retreated into his own mind at that point, which Hans knew to expect. In his short time with the boy, he learned that Quentin was a ponderer. He thought just as hard about answers as he did questions.

    ¡°I owe you for your help this morning. Mind if we step out to the yard? I¡¯d like to show you another option off of the overhead parry that I think you¡¯ll like. We can sneak that in before the kids get here.¡±

    ***

    Beyond Chance and Loddie returning to class¨Cbringing the total student count to 7¨Cno new faces appeared in class that day, child or adult. Uncle Ed had walked the tusk children to class, but instead of watching he sat outside of the fence, out of sight, and napped. Sowing season was a tiring time of year for a farmer.

    The class reviewed the material they had covered so far, giving Chance and Loddie the opportunity to catch up while everyone else got more practice. Aside from a few twists to the training games they played, this class was much the same as the last.

    That night, with the trill of crickets and a chorus of frogs to keep him company, Hans sat at his desk with Olza¡¯s flower.

    What are you?

    As expected, his condensed ingredient guide didn¡¯t have an entry matching the purple flower, even if he allowed for creative interpretations of what the leaves and petals may have looked like before they were preserved. Nothing came close.

    Olza would have checked her reference guides as well, so Hans wasn¡¯t expecting to find an easy explanation. Still, he felt it was best to follow the process from scratch, eliminating as many potential options as possible, starting with the easiest.

    Without access to more reference books¨C

    Should have thought of that sooner.

    New Quest: Assemble a chapter library.

    He needed to talk to Mayor Charlie about ordering some provisions from the next merchant caravan, so he made a mental note to make reference books part of that request.

    Bringing his mind back to the flower, he held it by the stem and absentmindedly rolled it back and forth between his fingers, slowly twirling the blossom.

    If we assume it¡¯s not in any reference guide, the next step would be to study and log its properties. It might be a mutation of a known species.

    But Olza was already doing that, judging by the graduated cylinders he saw in her shop earlier that day, not that Hans had the skillset to do the tests himself if she wasn¡¯t.

    The next step would be to bring it to the local guild chapter, which Olza technically did by showing him the blossom. That was a dead end also, obviously.

    Olza said Becky didn¡¯t know, so that step was out too. Druids may not be alchemy experts, but they know the nature in their domains better than anyone. Hans surmised that Becky had lived in Gomi for some time, if not her entire life. For the Druid to have never seen the blossom before, despite it growing in the middle of her home, was peculiar.

    We¡¯ve exhausted our local experts and local resources. Do I know anyone who might be able to help?

    Hans scrolled through his memories, trying to recall the name and face of every alchemist and herbalist he had met coming up in Hoseki. While the people he considered were experts in their fields, he couldn¡¯t recall any of them having a specialization or research interest that might apply to Olza¡¯s flower.

    Mazo might have an idea.

    Thinking of Mazo forced a deep, hesitant breath from Hans¡¯ lungs. She did more ingredient collection jobs than any other adventurer he knew, and she was willing to experiment with modified recipes and unusual components.

    Mazo was plenty nice to Hans, but she was a Blue Mage. That path of study attracted the most eccentric casters, and Mazo specifically never accepted money from another adventurer. She insisted on being paid in favors, help with whatever projects were exciting to her at the time. So far, doing favors for Mazo had put Hans in the path of a giant feral red slime, an elder fire elemental, and the meanest earth elemental he had ever seen.

    Thankfully, those were all separate incidents.

    She can¡¯t ask too much of me if I¡¯m all the way out here. Worth the risk.

    New Quest: Write a letter to Mazo for help with Olza¡¯s flower.

    How people felt about Blue Mages varied, from making others feel slightly uncomfortable to being avoided at all costs. This was also Olza¡¯s project. She should have a say before he sent a letter.

    Quest Update: Write a letter to Mazo for help with Olza¡¯s flower, after asking Olza¡¯s permission.

    ***

    <u>Open Quests (Ordered from Old to New):</u>

    Progress from Gold-ranked to Diamond-ranked.

    Mend the rift between Hans and Devon.

    Complete the manuscript for "The Next Generation: A Teaching Methodology for Training Adventurers."

    Replenish basic adventuring provisions.

    Pick up training equipment from the smith when it is completed.

    Wait for Olza to deliver the rest of the potion order.

    Reestablish alchemical recordkeeping.

    Reestablish job-completion and monster-hunting recordkeeping.

    Reestablish community education recordkeeping.

    Reestablish membership records, financial records, and inventory records.

    Learn more about the citizens of Gomi.

    Meet Becky the druid, Gomi¡¯s only active adventurer.

    Identify the unknown purple flower from Olza.

    Keep the guild hall clean.

    Assemble a chapter library.

    Write a letter to Mazo for help with Olza¡¯s flower, after asking Olza¡¯s permission.

 Chapter 6: New Party Member

    Hans stowed the old guild ledgers in the bottom drawer of the front desk. Age had not been kind to them, and they used outdated recordkeeping procedures. Over time, the Adventurers¡¯ Guild had refined what information they tracked and how they tracked it. The practice was a good one, Hans felt, because it kept the Guild at the forefront of acquiring new knowledge. Administrators hated it, though.

    With the old ledgers out of sight, Hans reached for a stack of new ledgers and labeled the first, ¡°Alchemy.¡± Inside, he used a straightedge to add a series of columns to the first page and then added labels for each.

    He input the first entry: Olza¡¯s flower, with a credit to Becky the Druid for discovering it.

    Quest Complete: Reestablish alchemical recordkeeping.

    He repeated a similar process with a ledger on community outreach. He transferred his loose notes from the few classes he had taught thus far, logging total attendance and the topic for each class.

    Quest Complete: Reestablish community education recordkeeping.

    Financial records next, recording what he bought with chapter funds. The Inventory and Membership ledgers went quickly as well. The guild had very little in storage, and the only member anyone knew of was Becky.

    Quest Complete: Reestablish membership records, financial records, and inventory records.

    He suspected Becky hadn¡¯t kept records of the jobs she did for the town or the monsters she encountered, but he would still ask regardless.

    Hans leaned back in his desk chair, smiling. Checking off his own personal quests felt damn good.

    ¡°Am I interrupting?¡± Mayor Charlie asked with only his head poked inside.

    ¡°Not at all,¡± Hans said, waving Charlie inside. ¡°Taking a moment to enjoy a simple pleasure is all.¡±

    ¡°Wise beyond your years to think that way,¡± Charlie replied.

    How much older is Charlie?

    Hans considered the small, wiry man before him. The man¡¯s hair was thin and wispy, but instead of gray, it was a distinctive chestnut brown. He had pronounced crows feet next to his eyes and the gnarled bony hands of a well-practiced artisan, but he tended to move and speak with a pep that made Hans feel tired. Today, the Mayor seemed to be more serious than usual, a marked difference from his enthusiasm on Hans¡¯ first day in town.

    ¡°I¡¯m glad you came by,¡± Hans said, offering Mayor Charlie a seat.

    ¡°Oh? What can I do for you?¡±

    ¡°You came to me. You go first.¡±

    Charlie tipped his head forward in thanks. ¡°Galad mentioned talking to you the other day,¡± he began.

    ¡°No secrets in Gomi.¡±

    ¡°There are plenty, we just don¡¯t keep them from each other.¡±

    ¡°Fair enough.¡±

    ¡°I thought I should check in and¡­¡± Charlie seemed to struggle with choosing his next words.

    ¡°Check in and see if I¡¯ll keep my promise to Galad?¡± Hans offered.

    ¡°Precisely,¡± Charlie answered and let the silence hang.

    Hans restated the same explanation he had given to Galad when they spoke in the barn, and he added more assurances. ¡°I understand your concerns, but I have to ask: Did something happen before me?¡±

    Charlie again left a long silence before answering. ¡°Are you old enough to remember the discovery of the Lemura Labyrinth?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s outside of Kirai. I wasn¡¯t born yet, but I know the history. Small town discovers a dungeon, transforms its economy overnight.¡±

    ¡°Kirai isn¡¯t as remote as Gomi, but it was an unremarkable small town off the beaten path, like Gomi. Galad¡¯s parents, gods rest their souls, were part of a tusk collective near Kirai. It started strong, but then the dungeon was found. You can probably fill in the rest.¡±

    ¡°Big influx of adventurers, and enough of them had a problem with tusks to tear down what they built.¡±

    The Mayor nodded. ¡°I mean no offense when I say this: You present two potential risks for Gomi. The first is that you¡¯re new here, and this is a place where new faces are rare. We know now that you¡¯re friendly and trustworthy, but you¡¯re also from the Capital. An innocuous line in a letter home could bring a great deal of suffering to Gomi, whether you meant it to or not.¡±

    Hans nodded. Those were pretty common¨Cand also fair¨Creasons to be skeptical of outsiders.

    ¡°The second risk is harder to articulate,¡± Charlie continued. ¡°It¡¯s clear to all of us that you are passionate about what you do. You want to build something and have an impact.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not following you on that one.¡±

    ¡°How should I say this? Driven people find success, and success attracts attention.¡±

    ¡°Ah.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s a strange thing to say we are worried you will do too good of a job, but¨C¡±

    The front door of the guild hall opened. Quentin was done with his morning chores and arrived for class early, as he had done since Hans arrived in Gomi.

    ¡°Good morning, Quentin,¡± Hans called. ¡°The Mayor and I are wrapping up some business.¡±

    Quentin understood the subtext. The boy grabbed Hans'' guild combat manual and stepped out to the training yard to study.

    Hans returned his attention to Mayor Charlie. ¡°There¡¯s a lot to take apart here, so I¡¯ll start with this: I have no intention or desire to cause trouble for anyone in Gomi. Anyone. Those are words I need to prove with actions, but right now, my word is what I can offer.¡±

    Charlie stayed stoically quiet.

    ¡°As part of keeping that promise, I welcome your help. Truly. I won¡¯t shirk my responsibilities to the chapter. That said, Galad already got me thinking about unintentional consequences and nothing I can think of looks like an immediate problem. To me. If this is how you always approach difficult conversations, I¡¯m betting we could resolve most things together that might come up.¡±

    The slight smile on Charlie¡¯s face said that he took Hans¡¯ words as a compliment.

    ¡°Fair to assume you looked into me before I got here?¡±

    Charlie shrugged.

    ¡°Doesn¡¯t offend me. What did you learn? And please, continue to be candid.¡±

    The Mayor weighed Hans¡¯ words, trying to gauge how direct he could be without offending the Guild Master. ¡°You were described as a ¡®has-been¡¯ adventurer with a respectable but unremarkable career. I know the Hoseki Chapter Guild Master barred you from trying for Diamond ever again. Some folks spoke highly of your teaching methods while others felt the extreme opposite. And your record is spotless.¡±

    That was kinder than Hans expected. ¡°Nobody commented on my future with the Guild?¡±

    ¡°It sounded like most saw the posting in Gomi as a punishment. Somewhere you could be out of the way and forgotten.¡±

    Though Hans knew the truth of those statements, they still stung. Until Mayor Charlie confirmed them, those had been simple suspicions. He was grateful for the clarity, but he was also sad to give up on the hope that, perhaps, he misjudged how leadership felt about him and he was more liked than he believed.

    Apparently, he had judged correctly.

    Until that point, Hans spoke with the practiced authority of an instructor, a Guild Master. After hearing what Charlie had learned, he felt that strength within him sputter. ¡°Gomi is my last go at it,¡± Hans said softly. ¡°I always wanted to be a Guild Master someday, and this is my last chance to make something of myself, to do something that matters. If this doesn¡¯t work out¡­ I¡¯m done with all of it. The easiest way for me to ruin this is to betray the people I¡¯m here to serve.¡±

    ¡°I think we understand each other. Thank you for listening to the worries of an old man.¡±

    Quest Complete: Learn more about the citizens of Gomi.

    New Quest: Grow the Gomi chapter without attracting outside attention.

    A faint screech reached Hans¡¯ ears, like a pig squealing in the distance.

    Quentin burst into the guild hall a moment later. ¡°Becky¡¯s back!¡±

    ***

    Outside the guildhouse, a large crowd, by Gomi standards at least, began to form around Becky and her mount. Hans chuckled to himself about what details the townsfolk had left out in their descriptions of Becky the Druid. Given how big those details were, it had to be an intentional prank.

    Becky was half Hans'' height but likely near to the same weight given her muscular bulk. Grays and whites streaked her otherwise black hair, pulled back into a braid that matched the braid in her beard.

    Becky was a dwarf.

    She wore the leathers and furs of someone who lived off the land and relished it, though her accessories were minimal given the heat. Most of her furs were stowed in her saddlebags, leaving her with a sleeveless leather top, perhaps of her own crafting, exposing her tanned arms. Her shoulders, biceps, and forearms were like individual boulders beaded together to form arms.The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

    She sat on the back of a warthog the size of a pony. The beast¡¯s flat head was half as long as it was tall, putting its snout a small dip away from touching the ground. Six tusks jutted out the sides of its mouth, the last pair an inch below its eyeline. Its scruffy fur was a mix of tan, mahogany, and oily black. Its hair was longest at the top of its head, as though it was growing the wild boar version of a mullet.

    In addition to Becky¡¯s full saddlebags, the boar also carried two deer, lashed on to the beast so they wouldn¡¯t fall. A bow and quiver hung on one side, and an axe hung on the other. The axe blade was unusual, like it was a compromise between a woodsman¡¯s axe and a battle axe. Its handle looked like it had been grown rather than been carved, a gracefully arching handle of dark gnarled wood.

    And the boar kept squealing.

    So Becky yelled over it.

    ¡°Howdy howdy, friends!¡± Becky swung her leg over the boar¡¯s back and slid to the ground, falling nearly four feet before her feet hit the ground. ¡°Where¡¯s Charlie? Someone tell him his deer is here.¡±

    Charlie waved. ¡°I hear ya, I hear ya.¡±

    ¡°Hey there, Mayor! You know you got a strange bald man following you?¡±

    Balding, not bald.

    The Mayor held up a hand like a presenter introducing a special guest. ¡°This is Hans. He¡¯s the new Guild Master.¡±

    Even the boar stopped squealing. Becky narrowed her eyes and walked purposefully toward Hans. He offered a handshake, but the dwarf simply circled, looking him up and down from every angle, while Hans stood frozen with his hand out.

    He spotted Olza leaning against her front door, watching the commotion. He desperately made eye contact, trying to send the message ¡°help me¡± from his mind to hers. Olza gave him a grin and shrugged.

    A hand like a bear¡¯s paw suddenly accepted the handshake.

    ¡°If anything happens to my people, you answer to me,¡± she said, using the handshake to pull Hans down to her eye level.

    Charlie set a gentle hand on Becky¡¯s arm. ¡°Galad and I put him through his paces already. He understands.¡±

    Becky held the handshake for a moment longer, her emerald green eyes boring into Hans¡¯ soul. ¡°Welcome to Gomi, boss!¡± Then she returned to her boar with a playful bounce in her step, starting to unpack her haul. Two saddlebags were stuffed with small burlap bags, which must have been herbs and other wild ingredients because Olza cheerily accepted them.

    ¡°Charlie!¡± Becky yell-talked. ¡°Come get your stinkin¡¯ deer before I take it back.¡±

    Charlie considered the deer. It was as large as he was.

    Right before Hans stepped forward to offer his help, Becky shouted, ¡°Mrs. Mayor! Your man needs you!¡± She was so loud, Hans half-expected to get a complaint from Hoseki about the noise.

    The bakery door opened, and a figure ducked to pass through before standing to her full height. The lady tusk made Galad look puny. Though she had some of the softness that comes with being a baker¡¯s wife¨Cand loving it¨Cher bulging muscles still made themselves known. Her arms were larger than Hans¡¯ thighs, and in shockingly few strides she was at the boar.

    In the sunlight, she had the distinctive features of a tusk-touched, but she still had a feminine softness to go with her sharp cheekbones, dominant nose, and pointy ears. With one hand, she threw one of the deer over her shoulders.

    ¡°Thank you, Becky,¡± the tusk¡¯s voice reverberated, sounding like the voice they used for giants and cyclops in children¡¯s plays. ¡°If you stay for dinner, come join us.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll be along in a minute sweetheart,¡± Charlie said to his wife. She bent over, kissed Mayor Charlie on the cheek, and headed back to her home in the bakery.

    Hans noticed the Mayor¡¯s gaze linger on his wife as she walked away. Lingering for an amount of time that would have been uncomfortable were the two not married. In that moment, Hans wished that he knew enough magic to erase the visual he conjured in his mind.

    Becky did another check of her bags. ¡°I think that¡¯s everything. The rest of this is going out to the Tribe.¡± The dwarf still yelled every word.

    ¡°As I was saying, Hans has some guild questions for you,¡± Charlie attempted.

    ¡°Keep your grubby hands off my gold,¡± she said, putting a hand on her axe, coupling it with a blood-curdling stare at Hans. ¡°I¡¯m just kidding you. Oh, your face. I¡¯ll remember that baby opossum face for the rest of my days.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s nice to meet you. It¡¯s nothing big, I¨C¡±

    ¡°Becki!¡± the dwarf yelled at her boar. ¡°What did I tell you about eating dirt? Don¡¯t you even think of lying to me.¡±

    While Becky and her boar stared each other down, Hans asked, ¡°Is your familiar¡¯s name Becky too?¡±

    ¡°Becki with an ¡®I.¡¯ We¡¯re sisters. Can¡¯t you see the resemblance?¡±

    And again, Hans simply couldn¡¯t find the words. His mouth opened and closed, but nothing came out. His brain was stuck.

    ¡°There you go again. Come on, ask your questions.¡±

    A plan finally formed in Hans¡¯ mind. ¡°Stop by the guild hall before you leave? Looks like you have other stops, and I have a kids¡¯ class to teach soon.¡±

    ¡°Oh nonsense. I¡¯ll come by and see the kids.¡±

    That wasn¡¯t the plan, but now it was.

    Quest Complete: Meet Becky the druid, Gomi¡¯s only active adventurer.

    ***

    As it often did, word spread quickly through Gomi that Becky and Becki were in town. The same seven kids from the day before returned for class, and they each bubbled at the sight of the dwarf Druid. Even Kane giggled at Becky¡¯s antics. Soon, there was a small crowd sitting against the training yard fence, watching the kids¡¯ class and Becky taking the kids¡¯ class.

    Meanwhile, Becki meandered through town, munching on weeds.

    To Becky¡¯s credit, she offered to be Quentin¡¯s training partner for drills since the class was an odd number, and she seemed to genuinely follow Hans¡¯ instruction. She was quiet when Hans spoke, but otherwise she talked through most of the class. Sometimes she complimented Quentin. Sometimes she hurled insults at the boy while giving him advice at the same time.

    ¡°You¡¯re stepping too wide. You¡¯re moving like a pregnant cow. Are you a pregnant cow, or are you an adventurer?¡±

    No matter how absurd the commentary, Quentin laughed with every exchange. Becky¡¯s personality may have been unorthodox, but the town¡¯s love for her¨Cas well as her love for the town¨Cwas clear. The loud dwarf was oddly charming.

    Sometime during the class, the prickly town guard had joined the crowd. Hans ignored his presence and began to wrap up for the day.

    ¡°Mind if I say something, boss?¡±

    Hans stepped back and gave Becky the floor.

    She addressed the students as well as the adults gathered to watch. ¡°I just met the Guild Master, so I can¡¯t tell you a lick about his character, but this man knows his swordplay. I¡¯ve been stabbing stuff for a while, and I learned like five new tips today. Kids, keep training with Hans and you¡¯ll be tougher than me or Becki.¡±

    Stepping back to join the students, Becky let Hans continue. ¡°Wow. Thank you for that, Becky. Those were very kind words.¡±

    Out of the corner of his eye, Hans noticed Gunther whispering in Becky¡¯s ear. Her face went dark. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, Boss. I need to say one more thing.¡±

    Hans stepped back, accepting that he had lost control of the class at this point, but the kids had never laughed so much when they trained. That was just as good for them as learning to fight, Hans thought.

    ¡°Terry! Is your dill pickle face here?¡±

    Hans didn¡¯t know what it meant to have a ¡°dill pickle¡± face, but based on the context, it was an insult.

    ¡°Terry! Where are you?¡± Becky stood on her tiptoes to see around the faces in the crowd.

    Terry raised his hand and stepped forward, sheepishly. ¡°I¡¯m here.¡±

    ¡°Hey, boss,¡± Becky said to Hans, motioning for him to come close so she could whisper. ¡°How about you and I spar? I¡¯ll give you hell but I know you¡¯ll win. I promise you, no one will question your ability again.¡±

    ¡°Sparring, not a duel.¡±

    ¡°Isn¡¯t that what I said?¡±

    Accepting the offer had its risks. His refusal to duel was a deliberate one, his attempt to instill in his students that they did not need to draw their swords every time a stranger hassled them. If Becky was sincere, sparring with her in front of the kids and the townspeople would be educational. He could talk about sparring etiquette and how to make sparring about training rather than fighting.

    If she had a temper, though¡­ Let¡¯s just say that more than a few duels began as friendly sparring matches, spinning out of control when an ego was damaged.

    ¡°Okay. I¡¯m game. We only have training swords, though. I take it you prefer your axe.¡±

    ¡°We can spar with more civilized weapons next time. Swords are good with me.¡±

    Hans opened his mouth to explain what was about to happen to the class.

    Becky beat him to it. ¡°Me and the Guild Master are going to fight! Just fooling. We¡¯re going to have a friendly match. I want you all to listen¨Cespecially you, Terry¨CI¡¯m going to give Hans my best. If he wins, it¡¯s because he¡¯s better. Got it?¡±

    Her eyes scanned the crowd, daring someone to question her honor. No one spoke.

    ¡°Thank you, Becky,¡± Hans said, before speaking to the students. ¡°Before we start, we need to talk about why we spar. Who wants to guess why we spar?¡±

    ¡°To win!¡± Gunther exclaimed with a little too much bloodlust in his voice.

    ¡°Kind of, and we¡¯ll talk about that in a second.¡±

    ¡°Practice!¡± Loddie answered.

    ¡°That¡¯s correct. This is practice to prepare us to fight. Becky and I are friends, so we are going to spar, not fight. That means neither of us gets mad if we lose, and it also means we look out for each other. We can¡¯t train or adventure if we¡¯re injured, so we need to spar with enough control that we keep each other healthy. We¡¯ll talk more about learning from sparring when we get that far in the curriculum.¡±

    Becky stood in her starting place, waiting for Hans to finish. As Hans took his place across from her, he noticed the dwarf adopt a loose fencer¡¯s stance. She bent her knees and held her sword out, pointing the tip at Hans. With her sword arm extended like it was, she wouldn¡¯t generate much power, which was what Hans expected from a dwarf, initially. Instead, she created more distance, sacrificing power for mobility.

    With her chosen stance, she could intercept attacks more quickly. Her attacks would likely be short and tight with an emphasis on thrusting attacks, he predicted.

    They began, and Hans saw immediately that his assessment was correct. Unfortunately, he underestimated her speed.

    The dwarf Druid was inside Hans¡¯ guard in a flash. Lacking the space and the time to parry or block, Hans avoided the initial flurry of thrusts with a series of dodges quick enough and small enough to match the rhythm of her attack. Becky advanced with every step, forcing Hans to give ground.

    Despite her swift strikes, her sword hit only air, her attacks always a fraction of a second too late, as if Hans could predict where her next strike would go. She never missed by much, but she still missed.

    In the midst of her flurry, Hans noticed the dwarf¡¯s weight sink, like springs starting to compress. The movement was subtle, but the shift in positioning was enough of a tell for Hans to set a trap.

    When Becky hurled herself forward with a powerful thrust, Hans slipped to the side and stepped toward Becky in one motion. He turned and watched the tip of the blade go by, as casually as he might step aside in a hallway to let someone pass. With Becky¡¯s arm extended, fully committed to her thrust, Hans wrapped his free arm around the dwarf¡¯s sword arm, turning to face the same direction as the dwarf, pinching her limb against his ribs.

    The technique locked her arm in place, the blade of her sword pointing at nothing as if Hans was standing behind her teaching her to attack, like a pool player teaching proper cue stick form by holding the players hands and doing the shot with them.

    With the butt of his sword, Hans gave a quick hammer strike to Becky¡¯s wrist, forcing the weapon from her hand.

    The fight was over in seconds.

    Hans let go of Becky¡¯s arm and picked up her sword, holding it by the wooden blade to give her the hilt. Becky accepted it with a smile and returned to her starting position.

    When Hans did the same, they restarted a moment later. Becky slid forward to thrust as she had in the first round, but as soon as Hans dodged she slid back. Instead of the loose fencer¡¯s stance, she assumed a more traditional soldier¡¯s guard, her sword angled upward, her every limb tight to her body.

    Hans taught the same stance because of its efficiency. The sword was in position for defense and offense, her body ready to respond without having to wind up.

    It was bait. She wanted him to chase her.

    He played along and pursued as if he hadn¡¯t noticed her leave her fencer¡¯s stance. Becky couldn¡¯t hide her grin as she attacked with a tight fronthand slash, bringing her sword across horizontally where the belly dancing Hans had used previously to dodge her thrusts would be useless.

    But Hans was ready. He slid backward, Becky¡¯s slash missing completely. As the strike traveled across his center line, he followed it with a parry, putting more energy into the failed strike and closing the distance behind it. When Becky stepped to recover her balance, Hans was there. He wrapped her arm again and knocked her sword to the ground.

    Becky stared at the wooden sword in the dirt and broke into a belly laugh. ¡°Terry!¡± she yelled. ¡°Probably best not pick a fight with the new Guild Master.¡±

    ***

    <u>Open Quests (Ordered from Old to New):</u>

    Progress from Gold-ranked to Diamond-ranked.

    Mend the rift between Hans and Devon.

    Complete the manuscript for "The Next Generation: A Teaching Methodology for Training Adventurers."

    Replenish basic adventuring provisions.

    Pick up training equipment from the smith when it is completed.

    Wait for Olza to deliver the rest of the potion order.

    Reestablish job-completion and monster-hunting recordkeeping.

    Identify the unknown purple flower from Olza.

    Keep the guild hall clean.

    Assemble a chapter library.

    Write a letter to Mazo for help with Olza¡¯s flower, after asking Olza¡¯s permission.

    Grow the Gomi chapter without attracting outside attention.

 Chapter 7: Food Buffs

    ¡°Hey Guild Master, can you pass those taters?¡± Becky asked.

    Hans sat at the dinner table of Mayor Charlie¡¯s apartment above the bakery. Larger than the guild apartment, the space had the humble character of a working class home built far from the comforts of a big city, but it was immaculately kept. The walls and ceilings were panels of stained wood sanded so smooth they felt soft. The floors were wood as well, smaller more delicate strips accented with yarn rugs as thick as a sailor¡¯s rope.

    Watercolors appearing to depict places around Gomi dotted the walls, and an easel sat in the corner with a half-finished painting of the Dead End Mountains as seen on the road going out of town.

    Galinda, Charlie¡¯s tusk-touched wife, was responsible for the carpentry and the watercolors. Her demeanor was gruff and her words were blunt, but seeing her and Charlie in the kitchen together was like watching any other happily married pair, though the stark size difference was still jarring at times.

    As it turned out, Galad was Galinda¡¯s brother. Despite what they say about small town folk all knowing each other, that discovery was a revelation for Hans, framing his conversations with Mayor Charlie in a new perspective. Charlie wasn¡¯t just protecting his citizens, he was protecting his family.

    And Hans hadn¡¯t forgotten how Galad described his connection with other tusks. He said they were all brothers and sisters, which meant Charlie had a lot of in-laws.

    Charlie¡¯s cooking was increasing Hans¡¯ admiration as well. With a bit of venison steak melting in his mouth¨Cfreshly butchered that day¨Che passed a plate of steaming potatoes to Becky the druid. An open bottle of fool¡¯s root vodka sat on the table between them. It was Hans¡¯ gift to the hosts, and it was nearly empty.

    ¡°I apologize for bringing business to the dinner table, but I¡¯m going to forget again if I don¡¯t ask,¡± Hans started. ¡°How do I go about ordering rations and books? Does that go through you like the mail or is that different?¡±

    ¡°Hmm,¡± Charlie said, his mouth full of steak. ¡°You can always talk to the next merchant caravan that visits about anything you like. I don¡¯t mind doing that for you as long as you don¡¯t give me grief about the price I negotiated.¡± A little bit of food shot across the table when Charlie laughed at his own words.

    ¡°I trust you.¡± Hans was surprised to hear himself say that. Had he grown that comfortable with Gomi in just a few days?

    ¡°Might need more of your touch with the books, though,¡± Charlie added. ¡°That¡¯s not a common order, and you¡¯ll probably want to source them from a few towns away at most, otherwise they won¡¯t be here before the snow.¡±

    ¡°Tough winters here?¡±

    The three people at the table laughed as if Hans had made a joke. When they saw Hans staring back at them blankly, they stopped.

    ¡°City boy is going to learn a lot about winter,¡± Becky said, still chuckling.

    ¡°We get a good bit of snow,¡± Charlie said.

    Becky nearly spit out her food. ¡°A good bit? Charles, we got to be straight with the Guild Master or he¡¯ll freeze to death in a snowdrift somewhere.¡±

    ¡°That bad?¡±

    ¡°Lots of snow,¡± Galinda said. ¡°Snow stacks up as tall as me.¡±

    Wait. Huh? No one told me that.

    Hans checked each face, looking for the tells of playful exaggeration. ¡°You¡¯re serious.¡±

    Everyone offered an ¡°mmhmm¡± with their mouths full of food.

    ¡°The Guild really didn¡¯t tell you anything at all, did they?¡± Charlie mused. ¡°Road into town is usually buried for two or three months. One bad winter it was five.¡±

    ¡°When you say buried, do you mean no merchant caravans?¡±

    ¡°Yep. No one coming or going at all. Except for one year when I was a boy. A mage made a wrong turn and didn¡¯t realize it until he had melted the whole road clear.¡±

    ¡°You better stock your pantry,¡± Becky said. Steak juice dribbled into her beard. ¡°Even the forest gets quiet. Hardly anything to hunt.¡±

    ¡°Speaking of hunting,¡± Hans said while his mind reeled from the significant lifestyle change on the horizon, ¡°I¡¯ve never met a Druid that hunts. They¡¯ve always been really protective of wildlife.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s easy. Nature has predators and prey. They¡¯re not predators.¡±

    Hans went to laugh and saw that Becky wasn¡¯t joking. She said it with the same matter-of-factness as if she had said ¡°I¡¯m a dwarf.¡± And she didn¡¯t elaborate, just went back to enjoying her food.

    ¡°Quentin was telling me you adventured with Master Devontes,¡± Charlie said.

    ¡°That¡¯s true.¡±

    ¡°Is he as much of a pretty boy as everyone says? He strikes me as a beautiful, beautiful man,¡± Becky said.

    ¡°He is a handsome individual, yes.¡±

    ¡°Was it just that one adventure with the underdark troll?¡±

    ¡°Wow, so Quentin told you the whole story,¡± Hans said, wiping his mouth with a napkin. ¡°We crossed paths quite a bit there for a while, in his early years. He hit Gold, and his career took off. Diamond within the year. Platinum six months after that. Adventurers like that don¡¯t slum it with the rest of us too often.¡±

    ¡°How was he in the early ranks?¡±

    Hans thought. ¡°I¡¯ve got a good one from when he was Iron, and it reminds me. I wanted to give you the heads up that I¡¯m sending a letter to an old colleague. Olza¡¯s got this flower she can¡¯t identify and I think she could help. Becky found it, originally, actually.¡±

    ¡°Master Devontes reminds you of a flower?¡± Galinda asked.

    ¡°Ha no, no. This colleague is in the story I¡¯m thinking of. I still need to talk to Olza about it, but thought you should be aware.¡±

    ¡°Thank you, lad,¡± Charlie answered. ¡°By your mentioning, I can tell you¡¯ve already given that letter some thought as far as Gomi is concerned. Please, we¡¯re eager to hear your story.¡±

    Charlie emptied the last of the vodka into his cup and retrieved a whisky bottle from his kitchen, setting it on the table for the group.

    ¡°I was Silver at the time, and so was the colleague I mentioned. Her name is Mazo,¡± Hans began. ¡°Mazo is a halfling Blue Mage.¡±

    ¡°Blue Mages are crazy,¡± Becky said with a potato stuck on her fork. Charlie and Galinda agreed.

    ¡°I take it you¡¯re all familiar with how a Blue Mage learns their spells?¡±

    In the world of spellcraft, Blue Mages were both notorious and incredibly rare, due to their high mortality rate. Unlike a Black or White Mage¨Cwizards who specialize in offensive magic and defensive or support magic, respectively¨CBlue Mages did not learn their primary spells from books. Instead, they ¡°captured¡± or ¡°learned¡± a monster¡¯s ability and used it for themselves.

    The most iconic Blue Mage became famous for his dragon¡¯s breath, equal in strength to a juvenile red dragon. For context, an elder dragon can torch a city block with a breath where a juvenile could only manage a single house.This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

    Relative to its family, juvenile dragon¡¯s breath is weak. Relative to what a person can usually manage with their abilities, juvenile dragon¡¯s breath had the power to win wars.

    Though scholars argued that Blue Mages had the greatest potential of all spellcasters, only 1 out of 1000 students of spellcraft took the Blue Mage path. Of those who did, half were dead in their first year.

    Learning a monster¡¯s ability required three elements: a monster, an incantation that begins the ritual, and an incantation of the Blue Mage¡¯s design, which they will use any time they cast that spell derived from the ability they just absorbed.

    Absorbed is the keyword.

    The catch to this process was that the Blue Mage had to experience the ability being used upon them. Therefore, to learn to breathe dragon¡¯s fire, for example, a Blue Mage had to survive dragon¡¯s fire without botching the ritual. Dying counts as botching, by the way. Hence the high mortality rate of Blue Mages.

    The only grace in this process was that whatever laws of nature governed the spell transfer process were loose in their definition of ¡°experiencing¡± an ability. Consequently, Blue Mages went to wild extremes to prepare to learn a spell, layering themselves with armor and protection spells. A few Blue Mages relied on debuffs as well, but anything that weakened their target also weakened the ability they wanted to learn, so that approach was relatively uncommon.

    ¡°Mazo wanted to learn what she called an ¡®earth smash.¡¯ Apparently, when an earth elemental slams the ground¨Cor an enemy¨Cwith both hands locked together, they¡¯re actually using an innate ability.¡±

    ¡°Interesting,¡± Charlie said.

    ¡°Mazo asked me if I would help her, and I was already planning to take two Irons out to this cave system near Hoseki. It¡¯s known for being an earth elemental hotspot. Good training for newbies.¡±

    One of those Irons was Master Devontes, and the other was the rogue from Hans¡¯ story about the troll. While Mazo and Hans set up the ritual, the Irons could get some practice against earth elementals. That was the idea, at least.

    Hans again emphasized that Mazo was a halfling. The average earth elemental could step on a halfling and not notice, making the ¡°experiencing the ability¡± part of the process particularly perilous for Mazo. Somehow, she had to absorb a blow that had the force to flatten a human rib cage.

    Mazo built a shield she called ¡°the snail shell.¡± It was shaped like an overturned metal pot, designed to completely cover her from all sides. The snail shell was the result of Mazo¡¯s experimentation with weaker monsters. If she put a wall between her and the attack, the ritual failed. If she was holding a shield, it didn¡¯t, so she kept building progressively bigger and bigger shields, resulting in the snail shell.

    Her theory was that since she could move the snail shell, it didn¡¯t trip the rule that solid walls did.

    Like most halflings, Mazo was not particularly muscular. She could lift the thick metal snail shell, but only for a few seconds at a time.

    ¡°You made Master Devontes carry that shield the whole way?¡± Becky asked.

    ¡°He wasn¡¯t ¡®Master¡¯ Devontes at the time, and the rogue helped.¡±

    With the Irons lugging the equipment, the rest of the plan could proceed. Due to her limited mobility in the snail shell, Mazo needed Hans to lure an earth elemental to her. From there, the halfling would get the monster¡¯s attention, and with any luck, its first move would be the ability she wanted. If it wasn¡¯t, and the snail shell was looking weak, Hans would step in and end the fight.

    If not end it, hold the elemental¡¯s attention long enough for Mazo to get out from under her shield.

    ¡°We slew 23 elementals on the first day,¡± Hans said. ¡°No new ability.¡±

    Luring a physical manifestation of an earth spirit was more difficult than they anticipated. Of the one earth elemental the party got to attack Mazo¨Call of the others kept their attention on Hans, only shifting when one of the Irons dealt damage¨Cit opened with a stomp. Hans chopped the earthen leg before it could descend on the snail shell.

    The party camped in the caverns that night so they could try again in the morning.

    ¡°It was Devon¡¯s turn to take watch, so the rest of us were asleep. Suddenly, I¡¯m waking up to Devon yelling for help. He was 17, so his voice was cracking every other word as he ran. I didn¡¯t know that a pile of dirt could look angry, but behind him was the angriest earth elemental I¡¯ve ever seen in my life. That thing was stalking down the hall like my dad when he caught me sneaking out.¡±

    The audience at the dinner table was transfixed.

    ¡°He ends up leading it past us. That thing stomped through camp and didn¡¯t care about anyone else. It was locked onto Devontes.¡±

    Mazo told the Iron to take it to the end of the hall and doubleback. She had a good feeling about this elemental, she said. Devontes argued with her all the way to the dead end and back, his voice squeaking the louder he needed to yell, but he did as he was told.

    While Devontes practiced running, Hans and the rogue helped Mazo into her snail shell and quickly cleared their camping gear from the elemental¡¯s path, what was left of their gear at least.

    When he made his return trip, instead of running past the snail shell as they had tried the day before, Devontes stopped right in front of it and turned to face the earth elemental.

    ¡°He stood right there as this thing is charging him. It raises its hands to earth smash Devontes, and the kid¨Cremember he¡¯s only Iron at this point¨Crolls backward over the shell. Backwards somersault right as the fists were coming down. The earth elemental hits the snail shell instead, missing him by a horse hair.¡±

    ¡°So the mage succeeded,¡± Galinda said.

    ¡°Yes, and we were excited. It was a gods awful morning hour, but we were celebrating. Devontes was a little off, though, like he was ashamed of something. He eventually tells us that the earth elemental didn¡¯t stumble across our camp.¡±

    ¡°What? Then where did it come from?¡± Becky asked.

    Hans smiled, his cheeks a little red from the liquor. ¡°When Young Master Devontes was on watch, he stepped away from camp to relieve himself.¡±

    Galinda broke into a cackle, pounding her hand on the table with delight. Becky and Charlie looked at her curiously.

    ¡°You don¡¯t get it?¡± Galinda asked. When Becky and Charlie shook their heads, ¡°He peed on the earth elemental. That¡¯s why it was so angry.¡±

    Becky laughed so hard potatoes came out of her nose.

    Quest Update: Pick up the guild provisions from the caravan after next.

    Quest Update: Prepare a booklist for Mayor Charlie.

    ***

    The warmth of summer hung in the night air as Hans staggered home. For a moment, he thought about knocking on Olza¡¯s door to tell her about his idea to write to Mazo, but then the sober part of his mind reminded him that the hour was late. He continued on, looking at the stars over the Dead End Mountains.

    If this falls apart, maybe I just see how far I can get.

    New Quest: Attempt to cross the Dead End Mountains.

    I shouldn¡¯t be thinking like that.

    Quest Abandoned: Attempt to cross the Dead End Mountains.

    Hans entered the guild hall and sat in the desk chair on the first floor, playing back the conversations of the night as he used a Create Water spell to fill a glass. He realized he enjoyed the company. He had fallen in with some good people, and laughing so much was a release he sorely needed.

    Then he recalled a specific part of their talk. ¡°Oh bugger.¡±

    New Quest: Prepare for winter.

    He knew that mountains had snow, but it occurred to him just then that he had never wintered in them. Hiked in them, hunted in them, camped in them, yes. But those were different from being snowed in for several months. As he thought about it, he was a bit naive to believe that all he¡¯d need for a mountain winter was a good pair of boots and a heavier coat.

    Thinking of being cut off from the rest of the kingdom for multiple months appealed to him. He hadn¡¯t realized it, but a part of him perpetually worried that he would run into someone he used to know, like a Guild official or an adventurer like Devontes. As improbable as that was this far from anywhere.

    If the roads were blocked, no one could bother him. For that entire period, he could be at complete peace. His mind was skilled at frothing the smallest of anxieties into a plague of worry, but even it couldn¡¯t argue with the logic in this case.

    Another realization slipped into place.

    If I¡¯m relieved by the idea of being cut off, I can¡¯t imagine how the Tribe feels.

    He thought of Gunther and Kane and their solo trek to reach Gomi. Two kids, running to safety. Then he thought of Galad and Galinda. Connecting some of the dots, he figured that Charlie¡¯s story about the tusks in Kirai had come directly from the Mayor¡¯s wife. Galad described himself as a founding member, and Hans knew that the two older founders of the Tribe had passed away. Those founders were Galad¡¯s and Galinda¡¯s parents.

    That founding pair was in Kirai. Galad and Galinda must have been children when that happened. The things they must have seen. The things they endured.

    Hans scolded himself for allowing his thoughts to get so grim. A sound outside distracted him, like a horse chewing and an old man¡¯s snoring combined. Standing to look out the window, he saw Becky passed out on Becki¡¯s back, face up, her mouth hanging open. Becki was wandering the town eating anything green, unbothered by her sleeping master.

    ¡°You two must do that a lot,¡± Hans chuckled to himself.

    He quietly wished he had more tusk beer and went to bed.

    Quest Update: Prepare for winter, and don¡¯t forget the beer.

    ***

    <u>Open Quests (Ordered from Old to New):</u>

    Progress from Gold-ranked to Diamond-ranked.

    Mend the rift with Devon.

    Complete the manuscript for "The Next Generation: A Teaching Methodology for Training Adventurers."

    Pick up the guild provisions from the caravan after next.

    Pick up training equipment from the smith when it is completed.

    Wait for Olza to deliver the rest of the potion order.

    Reestablish job-completion and monster-hunting recordkeeping.

    Identify the unknown purple flower from Olza.

    Keep the guild hall clean.

    Prepare a booklist for Mayor Charlie.

    Write a letter to Mazo for help with Olza¡¯s flower, after asking Olza¡¯s permission.

    Grow the Gomi chapter without attracting outside attention.

    Prepare for winter, and don¡¯t forget the beer.

 Chapter 8: Lingering Debuffs

    Hans woke with the sunrise, but not by choice. His daily routine ran automatically in his unconscious mind while his conscious mind begged him to stay in bed and to never drink again. For a moment, he convinced himself that borrowing a guild healing potion wouldn¡¯t hurt, but he decided against it. He filled a glass using the Create Water spell and sipped as he roused his mind from its slumber.

    He had two quests in mind that warranted shopping lists: A wish list of books for a new chapter library and a shopping list of the supplies and luxuries he would need for the winter.

    Nope. Not ready for that much thinking.

    His next best idea was to talk to Becky so that he could kickstart his records on completed jobs and monster sightings. Maybe she would be hungover and much less loud. Maybe. Hopefully.

    Probably not.

    Before Hans stepped out the door to track down the dwarf Druid, he paused. He went back for his glass of water and brought it with him.

    A Gomi morning was a relatively peaceful affair. For the most part, the streets were as empty as they usually were, but Hans could hear the distant echo of a hammer shaping metal and the smell of bread baking. In his search for Becky, Hans passed Gomi¡¯s City Hall, a small structure he had never entered. That morning, Luther had a barrel on a cart, and Mayor Charlie held open a large side door for the tusk to wheel through.

    That glimpse inside City Hall revealed that the small building was more of a town storage unit than a government meeting place. Hans guessed that Luther was delivering a barrel of beer to be sold to the next merchant caravan, likely one of the few barrels remaining from last year¡¯s harvest.

    Mayor Charlie waved weakly at Hans as he passed. ¡°We¡¯re too old,¡± he groaned. Ah, Hans wasn¡¯t the only one with a hangover.

    Hans raised his glass of water in greeting and continued on.

    Olza¡¯s shop wasn¡¯t open for business yet, but the alchemist was up, brooming dirt out her front door. She immediately recognized Hans¡¯ condition.

    ¡°Big night?¡± she asked with a sly grin.

    With great effort, Hans managed a nod.

    ¡°I¡¯d be richer than the king if I invented a cheap hangover cure.¡±

    ¡°Seen Becky?¡± Hans grunted.

    ¡°She left this morning.¡±

    No. No no no no no. No! ¡°Are you sure?¡±

    ¡°Certain. She stopped by earlier.¡±

    Active Quest: Reestablish job-completion and monster-hunting recordkeeping.

    Hans¡¯ head limply dropped backward, pointing his eyes to the sky. He was so close to crossing that quest off. So very close. Now it would be open for at least another week if not a month, depending on Becky¡¯s mood.

    Ultimately, having Becky¡¯s notes now versus later wasn¡¯t much of a difference as far as operating the chapter went. But he liked completing quests, and he hated when they lingered. The longer a quest remained incomplete, the more it bothered a part of his brain that thrived on that structure, on that hit of satisfaction he got from crossing it off.

    When Hans rolled his head forward again, Olza gave him a curious look, leaning on her broom to watch him suffer.

    ¡°Okay. Thanks,¡± he said. ¡°Your flower. I have a friend that might be able to help. Mind if I send her a sample?¡±

    ¡°By all means.¡±

    Quest Update: Write a letter to Mazo for help with Olza¡¯s flower.

    Better than nothing, I suppose.

    Hans lifted a hand¨Cbut not the rest of his arm¨Cand gave Olza a goodbye wave. She laughed as he walked away. As he meandered down the street, to nowhere in particular now that Becky was gone, he again reviewed his quest list.

    I need something I can complete right now.

    New Quest: Take a nap before kids¡¯ class.

    Perfect.

    ***

    Quest Complete: Take a nap before kids¡¯ class.

    Hans awoke, still feeling tired, but the nap had cured his headache. He thanked the gods. Teaching a kids¡¯ class with a hangover made for a long hour and a half. All the yelling. Their high-pitched kiddie voices. Wooden swords bouncing off of each other over and over.

    Not pleasant for the impaired.

    Part of him wished he could drop the class in a low-level dungeon and call that the lesson for the day, safely, of course. In spite of the brain fog, that gave him an idea: training aids for dungeons. Many years prior, he proposed building simulated dungeon and cavern hallways for adventurers to train in. His reasoning was that adapting tactics to the environment, linear close-quarters paths in this case, was a critical adventuring skill.

    Many Iron-ranked adventurers had been wounded or worse when their weapon caught on a dungeon wall in the midst of battle. That momentary delay exposed the adventurer to attacks, and it was a commonly made mistake. In his mind, adventurers should get as much practice preventing their deaths as they could in a place where making a mistake wasn¡¯t deadly.

    The Guild denied his proposal. The Hoseki chapter had the finest training facility in the kingdom, better than the royal family itself. The Guild Master believed their training was already the best of the best, so he was reluctant to begin a new renovation project to satisfy a Gold¡¯s hunch.

    Gomi¡¯s training yard was simpler: A mostly flat patch of dirt surrounded by a fence. He could build whatever he wanted.

    A rush of new ideas blasted through his fatigue. With new training aids, he could develop a whole new series of drills and games designed to build dungeon proficiency. He could even build several variations of the training aid to control the difficulty, easing students into honing new skills.

    If he was creative enough, he could potentially simulate uneven terrain as well. Tripping in the dark ended several adventuring careers each year as well. Though Hans was obsessed with the nuanced details of footwork, he had overlooked something until just then: The way he stepped in a dungeon was different from how he stepped in the training yard.Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.

    When he knew the terrain was flat, his feet barely left the ground when he moved. They slid from position to position, the minimal lift adding a slight boost to his speed. That was risky to do on a shadowy, uneven cavern floor. He decided to come back to the terrain problem later because every idea he had in that moment seemed too dangerous.

    Hans really didn¡¯t need an eight year-old breaking their ankle in his class. That wouldn¡¯t be fun for anyone.

    But the corridor idea, that he could get started on right away.

    New Quest: Design and build simulated dungeon corridors for training.

    New Quest: Design drills to practice specific dungeon corridor skills.

    New Quest: Brainstorm ideas for safe approaches to training on uneven terrain.

    Reinvigorated, Hans went out to the training yard to begin planning. He found Quentin rehearsing the material they had covered in class thus far.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t sleep through class, did I?¡± Hans asked.

    ¡°No¡­?¡± Quentin replied.

    ¡°Good.¡±

    At the back of the yard, farthest from the gate leading out onto the street, Hans measured with his footsteps, visualizing what he might build and how it would fit in the training yard.

    How wide is the average dungeon corridor? Does that research even exist?

    If it did, it would be in a big city library somewhere, which he would not have access to for the foreseeable future, if ever again. Gathering that data would give his manuscript an extra boost of credibility, so he didn¡¯t abandon the idea completely. There was nothing he could do about it at present.

    For now, though, he cycled through his memories of dungeon crawls, trying to estimate an average by feel. Dragging his toe in the dirt, he mapped out a corridor that was 5 feet wide, and another that was 10. Asking for Quentin¡¯s help, he again tried to visualize the space and what it would be like to spar in it, using the boy as another point of reference.

    ¡°What are we doing?¡± Quentin watched his Guild Master fight multiple imaginary battles, some where he was the foe, between the lines in the dirt.

    ¡°I have an idea for a dungeon training aid. Trying to figure it out.¡± Hans explained his idea and his reasoning to Quentin.

    ¡°So like two wooden walls to train between?¡±

    ¡°You make it sound simple.¡±

    ¡°...Isn¡¯t it?¡±

    Actually, Quentin was right. Setting a few posts and nailing down a few boards was easy enough. Judging by Galinda¡¯s home and the growth of the Tribe¡¯s farmland, Gomi had access to a mill or other such processing tool to turn logs into boards. Galinda or Charlie could probably point him in the right direction. If for some reason boards weren¡¯t available, he could use long logs buried vertically in a row like a palisade.

    Well, not like a palisade, that was basically the definition of a palisade.

    Always good to have a backup plan.

    Kids¡¯ class that day was a blur. He couldn¡¯t take his mind off of his dungeon training project. The students did their drills for the day, lots of review with a few new tweaks and challenges mixed in. As a reward, they ended class with a game of dodgeball. They didn¡¯t have balls, so they used rags tied tight with twine to form vague spherical shapes.

    They were soft. They had enough weight to be thrown. The kids had fun all the same. Well, there was a moment where Gunther and Harry both cried at the same time, but if they were going to aim a dodgeball at another person¡¯s crotch, they should have the presence of mind to protect their own.

    ***

    After class, a very sweaty Quentin came to see Hans in the guild hall.

    ¡°Umm¡­ Can I talk to you about something?¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s up?¡±

    Quentin stammered for a moment, trying to find the words. ¡°My dad¡­ He¡¯s been gone for a while. He¡¯s usually back by now.¡±

    A working parent coming home late was not unusual. However, a significant number of guild jobs were search and rescue missions, sparked by conversations like this one. Hans had gone on several such jobs himself, so many that he stopped thinking of them as rescues. Most of the time they ended up recovering bodies.

    With the expanse of the kingdom and the large distance between most towns, there was plenty of wilderness for someone to get lost in. Those same areas were breeding grounds for monsters and hideouts for bandits. The elements could be harsh enough, but having man-eating supernatural creatures hunting you didn¡¯t help your odds.

    ¡°Okay, Quentin. I¡¯m going to ask you a bunch of questions, but this is the important part: tell me when you aren¡¯t completely sure of an answer or if you don¡¯t have an answer at all. Information is crucial, and having a sense of what we know for certain can save a lot of time.¡±

    Quentin nodded.

    ¡°When did your dad leave to go hunt?¡±

    ¡°Eight days ago.¡±

    ¡°How long do his hunting trips usually last?¡±

    ¡°Three or four days this time of year. Little easier to find game in the spring.¡±

    ¡°Did he say how long he¡¯d be?¡±

    ¡°Three or four days.¡±

    ¡°Okay. Good. Has he come home late before, and what was the longest you waited?¡±

    ¡°Sometimes, but it¡¯s usually only an extra day or two. Longest was when a bad storm hit. He was five days late that time.¡±

    Hans paused to think. ¡°Do you know his hunting spots?¡±

    Quentin said he did.

    ¡°I¡¯m going to run down to talk to Mayor Charlie real quick,¡± Hans said, handing a pen and his personal journal to Quentin. ¡°Write down everything you can remember about those hunting spots. Start with the one he planned to use this trip.¡±

    While Quentin began scribbling furiously, Hans went down the street to the bakery.

    When he stepped inside, Charlie was sitting at the counter reading a book. ¡°I¡¯ll need a few more months to recover. No drinking for me tonight.¡± Then he caught Hans¡¯ look. ¡°What is it?¡±

    ¡°Quentin just told me he¡¯s worried about his dad. Wanted you to gut-check if we should be concerned.¡±

    ¡°The boy is very level headed for his age. How late is Roland?¡±

    How did I not think to ask his name? Out of practice, Hans, that¡¯s not good.

    ¡°Three or four days.¡±

    ¡°I see,¡± Charlie said, rubbing his chin. ¡°Were it any other child, I¡¯d say we should be slow to draw conclusions, but it¡¯s not like Quentin to cry wolf.¡±

    ¡°Okay. That¡¯s enough justification for me. We need to go out and check on Quentin¡¯s dad.¡±

    New Quest: Find Quentin¡¯s father.

    ¡°What do you need me to do?¡±

    ¡°First, send a sparrow to Becky. I don¡¯t know these woods at all. With her as a guide, we can cover ground more quickly. If you have a map of the area, I¡¯d love to borrow it, and I¡¯ll need some rations. I have everything else I need.¡±

    Charlie went to it without another word.

    As the Mayor stepped out the door, Galinda emerged from the kitchen. ¡°This feels bad,¡± she said.

    ¡°I have the same feeling.¡±

    ***

    Quentin stared at a page filled with ink, his brow furrowed.

    ¡°We sent a sparrow for Becky. Good news there is she couldn¡¯t have gone far, so my plan is to head out in the morning with her.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m coming. I can help.¡±

    ¡°I know you¡¯re good in the woods, but no. And this is not something we debate. It¡¯s best if we find your dad as quickly as we can. You¡¯re a tough kid, but moving quickly is more dangerous. You¡¯ll be ready soon, but not yet.¡±

    Quentin¡¯s lips parted, but he stopped himself. He said he understood.

    ¡°You¡¯re still an important part of this. Everything you¡¯re about to tell me about these hunting spots is going to save us a lot of time. After we go through everything you wrote down, I want you to head home. We need someone there in case he comes back.¡±

    Quentin nodded slightly.

    ¡°Are you okay by yourself? There¡¯s nothing weak about wanting some company.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll be fine.¡±

    ¡°Well, I¡¯m going to have people check in on you, so don¡¯t go stabbing anyone thinking they¡¯re a burglar.¡±

    The boy laughed.

    That¡¯s good. Laughter is a good sign.

    ***

    A soft tickle on Hans¡¯ chin pulled him from sleep late that night. It felt like the end of a horsetail touching his skin ever so lightly. He opened his eyes to see what time it was.

    ¡°Hey, boss.¡±

    Hans yelped and scrambled for a weapon or something to block with. And pants. He needed pants. His eyes adjusted, and he saw Becky, her eyes gleaming in the moonlight. That tickle he felt earlier was courtesy of her neatly braided beard, Hans realized. She smiled eagerly.

    ¡°What the fuck, Becky.¡±

    ¡°I got soft feet.¡±

    ¡°What are you doing here?¡±

    ¡°You sent a sparrow. Me and Becki came as quickly as we could.¡±

    ***

    <u>Open Quests (Ordered from Old to New):</u>

    Progress from Gold-ranked to Diamond-ranked.

    Mend the rift with Devon.

    Complete the manuscript for "The Next Generation: A Teaching Methodology for Training Adventurers."

    Pick up the guild provisions from the caravan after next.

    Pick up training equipment from the smith when it is completed.

    Wait for Olza to deliver the rest of the potion order.

    Reestablish job-completion and monster-hunting recordkeeping.

    Identify the unknown purple flower from Olza.

    Keep the guild hall clean.

    Prepare a booklist for Mayor Charlie.

    Write a letter to Mazo for help with Olza¡¯s flower.

    Grow the Gomi chapter without attracting outside attention.

    Prepare for winter, and don¡¯t forget the beer.

    Design and build simulated dungeon corridors for training.

    Design drills to practice specific dungeon corridor skills.

    Brainstorm ideas for safe approaches to training on uneven terrain.

    Find Quentin¡¯s father.

 Chapter 9: Time-Based Quests

    Hans, Becky, and Becki set out to find Roland with the barest hints of morning sunlight. Quentin wasn¡¯t present, which was a blessing in that Hans didn¡¯t need to convince him to stay behind all over again. On the other hand, the boy was just that, a boy. An extra word of assurance from Hans and Becky might have done him good.

    Regardless, the pair of adventurers left word with Mayor Charlie, and Hans tacked a note to the guild hall door to announce that classes were canceled for the immediate future.

    With the Becks in the lead, Hans could shift his focus to taking in his surroundings, learning the land and looking for clues instead of worrying about navigation. Plus, dwarves were built for a life underground, so they had good low-light vision, far better than a human¡¯s. At this hour, Hans would have walked face first into a low branch almost immediately were it not for Becky¡¯s help.

    The forest around Gomi was a patchwork of rolling hills, steep gullies, and sharp ravines. Moving farther away from town, the terrain continued that theme but steadily rose to meet the slopes of the Dead End Mountains, the rocks on the forest floor growing in size and quantity the closer to the mountain they came.

    Becky had recognized the hunting spots Quentin flagged, and she knew what path Roland would take to reach his most likely location, a path worn down by decades of game taking the same route through the forest. Roland¡¯s trail was several days old, and a rain shortly before Hans¡¯ arrival in Gomi didn¡¯t help to preserve any clues the hunter may have left behind. If Quentin hadn¡¯t known which hunting spot his father intended to use, choosing where to start the search would have been a complete guess.

    They traveled single file down the narrow trail with Becky at the front, Becki behind her, and Hans in the rear. According to Becky, Becki the giant warthog could ¡°sniff out a square of chocolate in an outhouse.¡± With some luck, Becki¡¯s enormous nose would pick up a scent when they found a fresher trail, and once the sun was fully up, Becky could summon a hawk to help scout. Druids might be strange at times, but they were invaluable party members. The advantages they had on their home turf made it seem like entire forests allied with Druids.

    In a way, Hans thought, they were allies in the truest sense.

    The party kept a pace just below a jog, moving as quickly as they could while still giving Becky time to search for clues. By foot at a normal walking pace, their destination was a little over a day away. With the time they were making, they would be at Roland¡¯s hunting spot by late evening.

    Hans broke the long silence. ¡°Can I ask you something?¡±

    ¡°Shoot, ask me anything you want, Guild Master,¡± Becky answered with only a slight glance over her shoulder.

    ¡°How many of these have you done?¡±

    ¡°Seven, and before you ask, two,¡± the dwarf said, her voice matter-of-fact yet tinged with sadness, like a military leader reading off casualties, putting on a strong face for the sake of the living.

    Her meaning was clear to Hans. Out of seven search and rescue missions, two of the missing were found alive. Even with the relatively few monsters in the Gomi forest, a mistake in the wilderness could easily spiral into crisis. A sprained ankle was a benign injury in most contexts, something you could resolve with rest and some strengthening exercises, but if that same injury occurred far from the nearest town, it could be a death sentence.

    Even if you could move, you were not in any condition to fight off a predator, monster or otherwise. Hunger, thirst, and hypothermia were the next threats, and plenty deadly on their own. Though they sounded less threatening, relative to say an orc raid, they claimed the lives of hundreds of adventurers and thousands of civilians.

    If the wound was serious, survival odds fell dramatically. Shock, blood loss, infection¨Cdying was easy, but that didn¡¯t lessen the guilt for people like Becky who recovered the bodies and returned them to loved ones.

    Hans knew better than to ask her to guess the odds for Roland.

    ¡°You?¡± Becky asked, returning the question.

    ¡°33 and eight.¡±

    Becky didn¡¯t answer, just nodded her head sagely.

    After another hour or so, Becky paused to summon a hawk. Instead of a living hawk from the forest, her spell conjured the spirit of a hawk, a sort of divine emissary for hawks in this world and the next. It had the speckled brown feathers of a normal hawk, but each time the bird shifted, a silver shimmer rippled across its body, faint enough that Hans thought it was a trick of the light at first. The hawk and Becky seemed to understand each other, her providing instructions and then seeming to reply to questions that Hans hadn¡¯t heard the hawk ask.

    The otherworldly bird took to the sky, and Hans caught glimpses of it between the trees from time to time. Visibility through the canopy to the ground was limited, but the hawk could survey more area and see more at once than someone walking below.

    In addition to their pace, the commitment to being focused on scanning the land intently with every step wore on Hans. That part of search and rescue had always been a challenge for him, having to maintain constant vigilance while the anxiety of missing something simmered beneath his skin.

    They reached the first hunting spot as the sun set. There was evidence that Roland had been here, but not enough to say how recently. They found his hunting blind, looking down over a small valley in the forest, providing the hunter an ideal vantage point for observing game. Near it was a fire pit with fresh ash. The area was clearly well-traveled by Roland, other hunters, and wildlife alike.

    ¡°We should camp here,¡± Hans suggested. ¡°We won¡¯t do any good tired in the dark.¡±

    Becky nodded while she scanned the woods. ¡°You make camp. I wanna take a loop.¡±

    That sounded fair to Hans.

    Becky slid the saddlebags off of Becki¡¯s back. The beast shook itself like a dog emerging from a lake, the thick meat around its round body swinging wildly side to side. While the Becks took their walk, Hans gathered firewood and kindling. A quick incantation with the appropriate gestures cast Create Fire. The campfire flipped from unlit to pleasantly burning in the span of a flicker.

    Hans sat by the fire, trying to decide if Becky would be offended if he dug into the jerky before she got back. As he reached for the bag, he heard a voice call out.

    ¡°Hans!¡±

    He jumped to his feet, grabbed his sword, and ran toward Becky¡¯s voice.

    The dwarf must have heard him tromping through leaves, because she yelled again to guide him to her. Hans found the Becks both kneeling to inspect¡­ well, he didn¡¯t know. He saw nothing but more leaves, rocks, and dirt. He squatted beside her, trying to see what she saw. The fading light didn¡¯t help.

    ¡°Boss, I need you to tell me if I¡¯m crazy.¡±

    ¡°What do you see?¡±

    ¡°It don¡¯t make sense.¡±

    ¡°Just tell me.¡±

    ¡°Tears. Like a watering can filled with tears drizzled out.¡±

    Looking at the ground, Hans couldn¡¯t see what Becky could see. ¡°Tears as in someone crying?¡±

    ¡°Yup.¡±

    Hans scratched his head. He didn¡¯t know where to begin with this particular puzzle. ¡°What leaves a line of tears?¡±

    ¡°Two lines. It¡¯s a pair.¡±

    Becky and Becki followed the two rivers of tears, inch by inch, until they came across a distinct bootprint. Becki pressed her nose into the dirt and took a deep inhale.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

    ¡°It¡¯s Roland.¡±

    The pair said little the rest of the night, both searching their memories for anything that might help. They couldn¡¯t think of a monster that made that kind of trail. They couldn¡¯t think of a spell that might make a human cry that much. And they couldn¡¯t decide if the two trails were made at once or if one came after the other. They ran parallel, so that suggested together, but neither possibility got them any closer to a plausible theory.

    The party struggled to sleep.

    The next morning, Hans and the Becks sat staring at coals, waiting for the minimum sunlight they would need to take up the trail. When it arrived, they took off. Becky resummoned her hawk companion and sent it to scout. The woods were still in deep shadow, not ideal for an aerial scout, but anything that increased their odds of spotting something important was worth doing at this point.

    As morning faded to blue sky, the trail changed.

    ¡°There¡¯s¡­ Eight tear pairs?¡± Becky said, pointing. A few of the trails were distinct enough that Hans could see them.

    ¡°What is going on here?¡±

    Becky released a long exhale, shaking her head. ¡°We have the trail for sure. That¡¯s something. But this is weird, Guild Master. What could be out here that you and me don¡¯t know? I mean, between my street smarts and your book smarts, not really a better duo.¡±

    Becki huffed.

    ¡°You know what I meant,¡± Becky told the warthog.

    ¡°Are there other tracks with Roland¡¯s? Other than the tears I mean.¡±

    Becky shook her head again. ¡°Nothing else that¡¯s touching the ground at least. They aren¡¯t even leaving a scent trail, whatever ¡®they¡¯ are.¡±

    ¡°Any sign of a struggle? A fight?¡±

    ¡°Nope. If Roland was resisting, there¡¯d be deeper tracks, places where his heels dug in or he slipped. What does it mean if...¡±

    ¡°What is it?¡±

    ¡°Roland¡¯s no slouch. He¡¯s a damn good woodsman. Not like him to leave any trail at all.¡±

    ¡°What does that mean?¡±

    ¡°More ¡®I don¡¯t knows.¡¯ Why is a skilled hunter walking like a dumb human? No offense.¡±

    Hans said he wasn¡¯t offended. With no other choices, they continued following the trail. Over the next ridge, they found more clues.

    The emaciated body of a moose lay in the leaves, its skin wrapped tightly around its bones. A few feet away, five turkeys were in a similar condition. At first glance, they looked like late-stage rot, months after everything but the skin had been stripped away. Except these corpses weren¡¯t months old. The moose¡¯s hide still glistened like it had just fallen. The turkey feathers were healthy and barely disturbed, even though their owners were very dead.

    After some poking and a little work with a knife, Hans and Becky reached the same conclusion. These animals were sucked dry. Dozens of monster species fed that way, from vampires to dire leeches. As they cycled through every possibility they could think of that could do this, none of their ideas matched. All of their guesses left distinct wounds somewhere. The corpses on the ground before them had no injuries whatsoever.

    ¡°Don¡¯t even smell,¡± Becky said, her nose practically touching the dead moose.

    They searched the area. The tear trails moved in circles, which Becky likened to the circles groups of deer or livestock made when they bedded down for the night. Though they still didn¡¯t know what they were tracking, their quarry looked as large as a small deer, or perhaps a pig. Becky pointed out an impression in the dirt that she said was where Roland sat.

    Sat, not laid. If the other animals slept when they rested, Roland hadn¡¯t. He sat in the same spot until the pack of mystery beasts moved on again, and he seemed to go with them.

    He was still alive, but his companions were hungry carnivores, or looked to be at least. Becky and Hans had more clues but were no closer to an answer.

    The day wore on. The trail was easy to follow, which meant they might be catching up, but any excitement they felt drained when more tracks joined Roland¡¯s. Becky identified a grizzly bear, and several large, bare footprints. Hans wanted her to be wrong¨Cbecause that combination didn¡¯t make any sense¨Cbut like Roland¡¯s tracks, these new tracks were casual and distinct.

    ¡°Becky¡­¡± Hans said, crouching next to a bare footprint twice the size of his own foot. He traced his finger around the outside edge. ¡°When was the last orc sighting in this area?¡±

    ¡°Beats me. I¡¯ve heard some old timers tell ghost stories about orcs in the mountains. I¡¯ve never seen one or signs of one in my lifetime.¡±

    Dwarves lived longer than humans. Much longer. ¡°How old are you, Becky?¡±

    ¡°Watch it, Guild Master. You can trust me that this isn¡¯t normal.¡±

    ¡°Are the orcs leaving the tears? Or the bear?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t look like it.¡±

    Orcs commonly took prisoners. Their prisoners didn¡¯t live long, and usually didn¡¯t want to by that point. A band of orcs jumping a hunter was a plausible story in many regions. Not the Dead End Mountains, though, and not with tracks like these.

    Hans reviewed what they knew. Roland was with a pair of tear trails, just him and whatever left the tears. Then they joined more pairs of trails near the moose and turkey corpses. The grizzly bear and orc footprints joined at least three miles after that.

    Becky retrieved her axe from Becki¡¯s saddlebags. No one had said anything to each other about it, but Hans realized his hand rested on the hilt of his sword. The puzzle made no more sense than it had when they began, but they knew for certain that at least some of the pieces involved were vicious beasts.

    A half-mile farther down the well-trodden trail, Becky¡¯s hawk swooped down to land on her hand. The Druid stared at the shimmering bird for a long minute, nodding her head like she was listening.

    ¡°Thank you, friend. Keep that beak clean, you hear?¡± The hawk blinked out of existence when Becky released the spell. ¡°Did you catch any of that?¡±

    ¡°No¡­¡±

    ¡°Group ahead. One grizzly, three orcs, a human, and nine creatures.¡±

    ¡°Creatures?¡±

    ¡°He didn¡¯t recognize them.¡±

    Should I be worried that the dimension-hopping bird didn¡¯t know the mystery enemy? Or was that an unfair expectation?

    Becky turned to Hans. ¡°Your show. What¡¯s next?¡±

    Hans crossed his arms. ¡°We need information. Thirteen against two could be trouble. The grizzly alone is a big enough problem without knowing what the other things are.¡±

    The next course of action was clear: Reconnaissance.

    Becky was by far the stealthier of the two, her Druid feet stepping over leaves without so much as a crinkle. The Guild Master wasn¡¯t that light footed, but he had snuck around his share of enemy camps in his day. Leaving Becki behind, the pair crept slowly for almost 100 yards, spotting the back of a gray-green, heavily scarred head through the brush.

    On his signal, they moved toward a dip in the terrain to secure a safe vantage point. With the dip, they could lie on their stomachs and peak over the hill to watch the group of monsters. If they were discovered, they could be out of sight in seconds. They would likely be pursued, of course, but breaking the line of sight right away would buy them time and potentially give them the upper hand.

    The technique was common in adventuring. Becky and Hans didn¡¯t need to speak to understand each other.

    They crawled up the gentle slope and got a look at the strange band of creatures.

    A trio of orcs, one with gray-green skin, two with greenish-yellow, sat on the ground. They had their heads in their hands, and they wept. An unbroken rhythm of sobs, all of their shoulders rising and falling as they cried into their palms. Roland sat nearby, almost facing Becky and Hans directly. He sat in the same position as the orcs, crying as hard as they were.

    Hans had never met Roland, so he didn¡¯t have a frame of reference, but Quentin¡¯s father looked weak. His black hair next to his usually dark skin was as stark as blood in milk. If it weren¡¯t for the monsters escorting him, Hans¡¯ first guess would have been that Roland was dehydrated and in active starvation, but that didn¡¯t explain the grizzly bear or why it was crying as well. The massive beast whimpered softly as if it was injured.

    A ring of ash-gray beasts the size of hogs surrounded the crying group. Their backs arched like a flea¡¯s, bringing their four legs together into an unnaturally close cluster. Their gray skin was a mass of wrinkles, warts, and crusty wax. The skin folds were numerous, as if its skeleton was four sizes too small for its flesh. Its spindly legs ended with cloven, webbed feet, and its head looked like an elephant¡¯s trunk cut off at the mouth.

    Lumps of skin partially obscured their black marble eyes, and every one of the nine gray creatures cried. They didn¡¯t sob like Roland or the orcs, though they looked just as sad and pathetic. Instead, the tears leaked from their eyes, running down their faces, and dripping to the ground. A few of the gray creatures had lay still long enough that the ground around them was damp. If the forest floor wasn¡¯t absorbing it, they would be in puddles of their own tears.

    A heavy sense of helplessness descended on Hans as he took in the scene. This rescue mission was a disaster, one more failure to add to the list. He had put so much effort into building his life, into improving himself, and it was all as pointless as this job. His biggest life goal was forever out of his reach, and his brothers and sisters at the Hoseki chapter wanted him gone.

    He was alone. He was always alone. He would always be alone.

    Becky shook Hans¡¯ shoulder. Hans looked at the dwarf. Becky touched her finger to Hans¡¯ cheek and pulled it away. It was wet. Hans was crying.

    When did I start crying?

    The Druid grabbed the back of Hans pants and drug him away from the gray pig-like blobs of flesh. She didn¡¯t let go until she was back with Becki, far enough from the monsters that they wouldn¡¯t be heard.

    And far enough away for Hans to collect himself before his bawling alerted the monsters.

    ***

    <u>Open Quests (Ordered from Old to New):</u>

    Progress from Gold-ranked to Diamond-ranked.

    Mend the rift with Devon.

    Complete the manuscript for "The Next Generation: A Teaching Methodology for Training Adventurers."

    Pick up the guild provisions from the caravan after next.

    Pick up training equipment from the smith when it is completed.

    Wait for Olza to deliver the rest of the potion order.

    Reestablish job-completion and monster-hunting recordkeeping.

    Identify the unknown purple flower from Olza.

    Keep the guild hall clean.

    Prepare a booklist for Mayor Charlie.

    Write a letter to Mazo for help with Olza¡¯s flower.

    Grow the Gomi chapter without attracting outside attention.

    Prepare for winter, and don¡¯t forget the beer.

    Design and build simulated dungeon corridors for training.

    Design drills to practice specific dungeon corridor skills.

    Brainstorm ideas for safe approaches to training on uneven terrain.

    Find Quentin¡¯s father.

 Chapter 10: Status Effects

    ¡°Holy crap,¡± Hans wheezed like he was breaking the surface of a lake, desperate for air. He focused on his breathing, counting slow inhales and slower exhales. ¡°Psionics?¡±

    Becky nodded, a finger twirling her braided beard. ¡°You looked like you broke your favorite toy.¡±

    Wiping the streams of tears from his cheeks, he looked at Becky¡¯s face. ¡°Did you cry?¡±

    ¡°Of course not. A grubby little squonk isn¡¯t going to get to Becky.¡±

    ¡°Squonk?¡±

    ¡°The gray pigs. At least, I think they¡¯re squonks. My granddaddy talked about how he had seen one as a kid. It became a little bit of a joke in the family, but he swore he had seen it. Some trappers came through one time, and they told him it was a squonk. I always thought they were just twisting him up for the fun of it.¡±

    Squonks were new to Hans, and he prided himself on his monster knowledge. He always preached the importance of studying to his students, arguing that even if you didn¡¯t expect to encounter a certain creature, you should still understand its strengths and weaknesses. Nature didn¡¯t follow the borders drawn on maps, and a monster could wander pretty far from their home hunting grounds.

    Knowing that they had the ability to manipulate emotions, however, unlocked the mystery. The squonks showed no indication of sensing the presence of the two adventurers, suggesting that their psionic ability wasn¡¯t a targeted attack. It appeared to affect an area around the squonks and may even be persistent, an ability that was always on rather than needing to be consciously activated.

    Dragons had a similar ability. Hans didn¡¯t understand why they needed it because they were scary enough already. Had that been a dragon, Hans would have felt the emotional distortion 50 yards away.

    The squonks must use their ability to hunt, and then drain the tears from their prey to feed, he thought. Hans wasn¡¯t entirely sure of the mechanics, but the habits fit. Spiders had a similar survival strategy, capturing and saving food for a later meal. Instead of a web, the squonks had their auras.

    If he was right about all of that, the mix-matched group of creatures would make sense. Well, some sense. Where did the orcs come from? Could the squonks have herded them from their homes or were orcs in the region for some reason?

    Important questions, to be sure, but questions for another time.

    ¡°You fight something like this in Hoseki, ever?¡± Becky asked.

    ¡°With the psionic effect? Yeah. I¡¯ve encountered a few. I¡¯d rather they just stab me in the thigh. My brain is like soup.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s my first time. How do we do this?¡±

    The best strategy was to roll into the battle hard and fast with enchanted armor and a White Mage to provide protective spells. The only upside to fighting a creature with those kinds of abilities was that they commonly had no other form of attack. Why would they? If they could brainwash any of their enemies, anything else was superfluous.

    Becky and Hans had neither enchanted armor or a skilled White Mage. Furthermore, Hans worried that Becky would overestimate herself. Resistant did not mean immune. Becky could potentially succumb to the effect with long enough exposure to it, and overconfidence would put all of them in danger.

    ¡°Your hawk. Sacred animal spirits would be immune, right?¡±

    ¡°Definitely. They don¡¯t actually have brains. Just spirit¡­ meat.¡±

    Hans broke down the plan: Becky would summon the hawk, its sole job being to ¡°attack¡± one of the adventurers if they began to bend to the squonk¡¯s hopelessness spell. Sharp pain or a sudden sensation was known to disturb psionic effects, if the enemy was weak enough that is.

    In addition to the hawk¡¯s reminders, Hans poured gravel into his boots and put them back on. He did the same to Becky¡¯s, though she hesitated to follow along. If they began to succumb, they could count on the squonks moving them. The rocks guaranteed sharp pains without conscious effort, unlike pricking yourself with a needle or slapping yourself in the face.

    While Becky fired her bow from a distance, Hans would charge the squonks, taking them down as quickly as he could. Keeping Becky away from the aura was a failsafe. That way, one of them would be aware enough to retreat to get reinforcements. Adventurers weren¡¯t shy about heroics, but the Guild advocated for adventurers to fall back and escape if their party couldn¡¯t be saved.

    That sounds cruel, but whatever bested those adventures would eventually find more victims. If everyone fell in battle, no one else would know about the seriousness of the threat until more people died.

    ¡°Let me stop you there,¡± Becky said. ¡°I¡¯m the best one to send in. I know it. You know it.¡±

    Hans opened his mouth to protest.

    ¡°Save your chivalry or Guild Master honor or whatever hullabaloo has you putting yourself up front. My brain lasts longer than yours. It makes more sense for you to keep the distance.¡±

    ¡°Can I borrow your bow?¡±

    ¡°You break it, you bought it.¡±

    After Hans agreed to switching positions with Becky, they had one more piece of the plan to hash out.

    ¡°What are we going to do when the bear and orcs wake up?¡± Hans asked.

    ¡°They wouldn¡¯t break out of it until the last squonk is down, right? When we get to the last one, we¡¯ll know if I¡¯m good enough to finish off the orcs while they boohoo. Then whack, last squonk goes down too.¡±

    That sounded like a good plan to Hans. If keeping him at a distance worked as they hoped, he could intervene with an arrow if Becky began to struggle, eliminating the final squonk and then moving in to address the bear and orcs as they came to.

    ¡°I¡¯m fine killing the orcs, but doing in the bear feels dirty,¡± Hans muttered, knowing it was necessary.

    ¡°Wait a minute, Boss. Give me a chance to calm the bear. She didn¡¯t ask for this.¡±

    ¡°If it comes after you, we¡¯re bringing it down.¡±

    ¡°Deal. Don¡¯t feel bad about those orcs. We can¡¯t capture ¡®em, and there¡¯s no talking them into not skinning us. They got hands and feet, but they¡¯re still monsters, if you get my meaning.¡±

    ¡°Trust me. I don¡¯t feel bad about the orcs. Roland is the priority.¡±

    ¡°Hell yeah.¡±

    Wanting to keep Becki safe, the dwarf told her warthog to wait where she was for the duration of the battle. Putting Becki in danger had too little upside, especially against an enemy she couldn¡¯t gore or headbutt before becoming its next meal. Becky and Hans would come back for her when it was done.

    They slowly sneaked toward the squonk herd, every step driving small sharp rocks into their feat. The two stayed together for the first three quarters of the approach. Behind cover, they pointed out where each planned to go. Hans, armed with Becky¡¯s bow and arrows, would circle uphill while the dwarf went to the opposite side, slightly downhill from the monsters but not by much.

    On his way to his position, Hans counted to 120. At 64, he settled behind a fallen log propped against a boulder, giving him a clear view of every creature below. The way the squonks had settled into their ruts put six of the nine much closer to where Becky would emerge. That helped him decide his attack.

    Not that he doubted his archery skills, but Hans selected a squonk pressed between two other squonks on Becky¡¯s side of the battlefield. On the very slight, miniscule chance that a stray breeze blew his arrow off course¨Cand not because of his own shortcomings, of course¨Che could reasonably hope to hit something.

    At 5, he stood and drew back on the bowstring.

    ¡­2 ¡­1.

    Thwack. The arrow hit the intended squonk. It pierced lower on the ribs than he liked¨Che had been aiming for just behind the shoulder¨Cbut the beast immediately unleashed a pig-like squeal mixed with the throaty rasp of a cat hiss. Becky and her axe descended on another squonk in an instant. Her blade buried into the shoulders of a squonk, the beast unleashing a short shriek before collapsing.Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

    Then the plan changed.

    Instead of the squonk ability persisting until the final squonk was eliminated, which was what Becky and Hans predicted, the ability cut off the moment the arrow found its mark. Later, Hans would reflect on this shift in the battle, pondering if the squonk¡¯s stopping their ability when threatened was part of their survival strategy. They were dragging around several dangerous monsters that might be handy in a fight, after all. If he was being pursued and could leave three orcs behind to fight for him while fled, he¡¯d feel good about his odds. Were he a squonk.

    Just as likely, however, was that the squonks were easily spooked and not very resilient, dropping the hopelessness field simply because they weren¡¯t capable of being scared and maintaining the ability.

    But, those thoughts came much later. When Hans saw three orc heads look up from their hands, blinking, the only thing he thought in that moment was a dozen curse words all announcing themselves at once.

    His hands, however, knew to attack. No point in hiding anymore, he stood and began nocking the next arrow, loosing it a second later.

    If the ability is down, we don¡¯t need to wipe them quickly.

    ¡°Get Roland!¡± Hans yelled. The frail looking hunter sat far too close to an increasingly alert grizzly bear. He was coming to, but escaping the mental manipulation didn¡¯t undo the damage of thirst and hunger. He would need help.

    Becky didn¡¯t hesitate or protest. She wrenched her axe from the skull of a squonk and grabbed the hunter, tucking him under her arm before running back the way she had come. The dwarf was out of sight as quickly as she had appeared, Roland gone with her.

    Four squonks, three orcs, and one grizzly bear remained. The remaining squonks bolted in different directions, fleeing into the brush. His first instinct was to pursue, but the orcs were standing now, and they were unhappy.

    Hans aimed at the closest orc, a greenish-yellow humanoid standing seven feet tall. Its body was wide, packed with scarred muscle. Its face was gnarled with fangs and tusks, like a sabertooth and a wild boar mashed together.

    The arrow flew at the monster.

    It grazed the top of its shoulder, faintly nicking the orc¡¯s monstrous traps before clattering to the ground somewhere beyond the battle. Oops. Enraged, the orc charged at Hans, its powerful legs and long stride covering distance in a flash even as it moved uphill.

    Hans put the next arrow in its chest. In the blink where the orc glanced down to see its wound and then return its full attention to Hans, the Guild Master closed the distance and attacked with an overhead slash, the same no-frills attack the kids had been drilling for the last week. His blade bit into the orc¡¯s neck, stopping when it buried itself in the monster¡¯s spinal cord. He pulled the sword free with smooth, expert finesse and continued to barrel down the hill.

    The remaining two orcs, one gray, the other a gunky green, squared up like wrestlers about to launch at their enemy, their knees bent, their oversized hands ready to twist limbs from their sockets.

    The gray orc suddenly cried out, thrown forward by a long swipe of the grizzly bear¡¯s claws. With one orc distracted by the bear, Hans moved to meet the charge of the other. Instead of continuing with his momentum as he did to his previous foe, Hans abruptly twisted into his stance, sliding to a stop several feet short of the orc. The orc hesitated at the sudden tempo change. Hans capitalized, shooting forward with a crisp thrust to the orc¡¯s stomach.

    The orc narrowly dodged, but it was off balance. It threw a looping strike, part overhand right, part attempt to scratch with its bent and chipped brown fingernails. Hans parried the punch as if it was a sword, slicing the orc¡¯s forearm and redirecting the blow. The wound was minor, hardly enough to win the fight, but it kept the orc on its heels.

    That was a strange feeling for an orc. Their kind were accustomed to controlling a fight with sheer ferocity, but this orc realized it was falling farther and farther behind. The adventurer had the advantage, and that advantage was growing.

    The orc raised its arm to block the next slash of the sword, but it was a feint. Hans front kicked the orc in the knee instead, hitting the orc¡¯s knee cap with the sole of his foot. If the orc was in its proper stance, it may have paused to laugh at the attempt, but it certainly wouldn¡¯t have been hurt. This orc, however, was out of position, his weight favoring one leg a little too much.

    The blow forced the orc¡¯s leg to straighten abruptly, bowing the leg backward against the joint. Staggering away in surprise and in pain, the orc found its footing. Hans slid forward, closing the distance in one smooth motion. At the very end of the slide, he thrust his sword forward, the tip punching through the orc¡¯s throat.

    Like most fights, all of this action played out over seconds. Though the time was brief, Hans, at one point, had the awareness of significant violence occurring nearby as well as the spraying of blood. As he pulled his sword free to take on his next foe, he found that the third orc had faired poorly against the bear. Most of the orc lay in a mangled heap on the ground. Most of it.

    The grizzly bear stalked closer to Hans, orc blood staining its paws and dripping from its snarling teeth. A Gold-ranked adventurer was perfectly capable of defeating a grizzly bear, such was the extent of their training, but it would probably hurt.

    Hans squared his stance and readied his attack.

    A brown blur slid between Hans and the grizzly. In a dusty blink, his view of the raging bear was replaced by the butt of a very tall, very large warthog. Becky jumped from her mount¡¯s back, landing directly in front of the grizzly bear.

    ¡°Hey! Mama Bear!¡± Becky yelled with her hands up. Her axe was strapped to Becki¡¯s back, not in her hand, Hans noticed. ¡°Stop. You¡¯re safe now.¡±

    The bear stepped forward as if to snap at the dwarf.

    ¡°No you don¡¯t!¡° The dwarf actually leaned toward the bear to bring her glare closer to the grizzly¡¯s eyes. ¡°Step back, and put your claws away.¡±

    The stare continued with no movement on either side. Then the grizzly bear turned away.

    ¡°Thank you, Mama Bear. Are you thirsty? Are you hurt? Let me help.¡±

    The Dwarf stepped toward the bear, moving more like a gentle caretaker than the force of nature that just shouted down a grizzly bear. She pulled a waterskin from Becki¡¯s saddlebags and let the bear drink from her hands, refilling them several times to quench the beast¡¯s thirst.

    Hans looked around. ¡°Becky¡­¡±

    ¡°Hmm?¡±

    ¡°Where is Roland?¡±

    ¡°I left him where we left Becki.¡±

    ¡°You left him?!¡±

    ¡°What? You wanted me to bring him back to the fight? Pssshhh.¡±

    The dwarf had a point. Hans and the Becks went back for Roland, and the grizzly bear came along. Having a grizzly bear follow him was both novel and unpleasant. The memory of the partial orc was still fresh in his mind. Each time he thought of the bear, he felt phantom claws raking down his back. The Becks, meanwhile, were as comfortable with the bear as they were with Hans.

    The bear stayed perfectly peaceful while Becky and Hans tended to the hunter. They tipped a Healing potion down his throat and encouraged him to sip at their water. After a few minutes, Roland seemed to be vaguely aware of himself again, but he didn¡¯t speak. Days in the hopelessness aura left damage that a healing potion couldn¡¯t reverse, yet another reason psionic monsters were especially heinous. He was alive at least.

    ¡°I saw five squonks back there,¡± Becky said to Hans.

    ¡°Yeah, four took off. I couldn¡¯t put them down fast enough.¡±

    Becky sucked on her mustache before saying, ¡°We should take care of the rest before they get too far.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯d have to split up if we did that. That¡¯s a big risk.¡±

    ¡°They didn¡¯t get to me at all. I¡¯ll be fine. We¡¯re wasting time.¡±

    Gold outranked Bronze, but this was a Druid¡¯s domain. If Becky was concerned, she had reason to be. The squonks were deceptively powerful. Since they and the orcs weren¡¯t known in this area, eliminating the first nine could keep the squonks from breeding and burrowing near Gomi. If they were especially lucky, those would be the only nine members of a rare monster species, eliminating it completely.

    No way of ever knowing that for sure, but there was a chance. If that chance paid off, many lives would be saved from the fate that almost befell Roland.

    ¡°Okay, but do me a favor,¡± Hans said. ¡°Can you summon your hawk and tell it to come get me if something happens to you?¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s still out from before. He¡¯s tracking squonks, but ya. I can do that for you, boss. Let¡¯s get you and Roland farther from the battle scene. Wolves and gnolls don¡¯t pass up an easy meal.¡±

    When Becky was satisfied with their new campsite, she scratched the bear¡¯s head and hopped on Becki¡¯s back, and the pair barreled out of camp back toward where they fought the squonks. The warthog¡¯s legs looked too small for its body, but the beast could compete with a horse in speed. In a few moments, Becky was out of sight.

    Hans started a fire and helped Roland into a bedroll while the grizzly bear snored softly. There was no sign of the hunter¡¯s equipment or supplies, but that was fine. He was alive. He still hadn¡¯t spoken, and he soon fell asleep. He seemed to be breathing normally when he did. That was a good sign.

    I wonder if he slept at all when the squonks took him. Has he been awake, crying all this time?

    With Roland safe and a fire to warm them both, Hans unlaced his boots and shook out the gravel. He hadn¡¯t needed the prickly pain after all, but he didn¡¯t regret being careful. He sat next to Roland, and the adrenaline dump caught up to him. Gods, he was tired, and Becky was still on the move.

    That¡¯s a tough Druid.

    He took a deep breath, enjoying the peace.

    Quest Update: Return Roland to Gomi Safely.

    New Quest: Eliminate the remaining four squonks.

    New Quest: Research squonks.

    New Quest: Investigate the presence of orcs near Gomi.

    ***

    <u>Open Quests (Ordered from Old to New):</u>

    Progress from Gold-ranked to Diamond-ranked.

    Mend the rift with Devon.

    Complete the manuscript for "The Next Generation: A Teaching Methodology for Training Adventurers."

    Pick up the guild provisions from the caravan after next.

    Pick up training equipment from the smith when it is completed.

    Wait for Olza to deliver the rest of the potion order.

    Reestablish job-completion and monster-hunting recordkeeping.

    Identify the unknown purple flower from Olza.

    Keep the guild hall clean.

    Prepare a booklist for Mayor Charlie.

    Write a letter to Mazo for help with Olza¡¯s flower.

    Grow the Gomi chapter without attracting outside attention.

    Prepare for winter, and don¡¯t forget the beer.

    Design and build simulated dungeon corridors for training.

    Design drills to practice specific dungeon corridor skills.

    Brainstorm ideas for safe approaches to training on uneven terrain.

    Return Roland to Gomi Safely.

    Eliminate the remaining four squonks.

    Research squonks.

    Investigate the presence of orcs near Gomi.

 Chapter 11: Save Point

    Becky didn¡¯t rejoin Hans and Roland until three days passed, and the bear had left the group sometime in the first night.

    When the dwarf didn¡¯t return to camp the first night after the battle, Hans wasn¡¯t surprised. The Druid was in her element and didn¡¯t need the comforts of a campsite the way he did.

    On the first day after the battle, Hans worried about Roland. The hunter would accept water and nibbles of food but still seemed confused and disoriented. He hadn¡¯t left his bedroll or stirred hardly at all. When the sun began to set and Becky hadn¡¯t arrived, Hans began to search the sky for a shimmering hawk.

    On the second day after the battle, Hans worried about Becky. The two had split up in a hurry, so there was no agreed-upon plan of what Hans should do next. Should he go look for her with Roland in tow? Should he take Roland back to Gomi and then come back for the Druid?

    Though he pretended there was a choice, he knew taking Roland home and then coming back to find Becky was the right move. As long as her status was unknown, Roland had to take priority. He definitely needed medical care where Becky could be perfectly healthy but delayed.

    On the third day, Hans prepped Roland for the journey back to Gomi. Fortunately, the hunter sat up under his own strength that morning and slowly chewed on a piece of jerky. He attempted to speak to Hans, but he could only manage painful wheezes. Days of sobbing brutalized his vocal cords, but he would answer questions and show he was listening with his head movements.

    Hans introduced himself and told him that Quentin was worried but safe. That seemed to put Roland at ease, but it didn¡¯t erase his distant, hollow stare.

    When midday passed that third day, Hans explained his plan to get him back to Gomi. It was easy to explain because it was short: carry Roland on his back for as long as he could, rest, and repeat until they reached Gomi. They would set out first thing in the morning.

    A few hours later, the Becks returned to camp with a squonk corpse tied to Becki¡¯s back. Hans hadn¡¯t heard them so much as break a twig as they approached. Seeing Becky made Roland smile for the first time since his rescue. The dwarf gave him a gentle hug.

    ¡°Got ¡®em,¡± Becky said, triumphant. ¡°Found the first two within the hour. Made me think it was going to be easy. The other two went in opposite directions. Little bastards.¡±

    Quest Complete: Eliminate the remaining four squonks.

    Becky sat next to Roland and started to ask him questions, but Hans interrupted her, explaining Roland¡¯s lost voice. Becky was more than happy to carry the conversation, and she got the hunter to smile a few more times before night fell. Hans and Becky rotated watch without incident and left at sunrise the next morning. The two adventurers stayed on foot, letting Roland ride Becki with the squonk tied immediately behind him.

    The return journey was slow, striking a delicate balance between getting Roland to safety as quickly as they could and not pushing him too hard too fast. At times, he was too weak to stay upright, so they would walk on either side of the warthog to keep Roland steady when the trail permitted.

    Three nights later, they arrived in Gomi.

    ***

    Quest Complete: Return Roland to Gomi Safely.

    A small crowd formed when Becky and Hans were spotted emerging from the treeline. The adventurers crossed the field to the town, still being mindful of Roland¡¯s ability to remain mounted, and were greeted by over a dozen relieved faces. Hans saw several townspeople he hadn¡¯t met, reminding him that he still had a great deal of work to do on the Gomi chapter of the Adventurers¡¯ Guild.

    But why think about that now?

    This is a good moment. Enjoy it while it¡¯s here.

    Quentin broke through the crowd and ran to his father. Roland¡¯s feet had barely touched the ground when his son wrapped his arms around his dad, squeezing tight. Two townspeople helped Roland keep his balance and escorted him to a nearby home. Hans noticed that Becki stayed close behind, as if ready to catch the hunter if he fell backward.

    Roland and Quentin lived outside of town, but one of the townspeople volunteered a spare room so that Roland¡¯s journey could be over sooner. The idea seemed spontaneous, inspired when someone joked that Roland still had a little ways to go before he was home. For the hunter¡¯s part, he didn¡¯t protest. In fact, he had done little more than nod or shake his head since he was rescued.

    With Roland delivered safely, Hans and Becky exhaled simultaneously, both recognizing the conclusion of a difficult job.

    ¡°Don¡¯t disappear on me, please,¡± Hans said. ¡°Debriefing this one is going to be interesting.¡±

    ¡°Sure, boss.¡±

    The Becks followed Hans to the guild hall to leave the squonk body with the Guild Master before disappearing somewhere to sleep. When the Becks were gone, Hans removed his class notice from the front door and sat at his desk. He too wanted sleep as well as a nice bath, but he wanted to record every detail he could recall before his memories aged and grew too stale.

    The dead squonk lay on one of the guild hall tables, and it was starting to stink. He didn¡¯t have the materials to preserve it, so he would need to study it as much as he could as soon as he could.

    But first. A bath.

    ***

    Later that night, several townspeople crowded into the guild hall to discuss Roland¡¯s disappearance and the creatures found with him, which included the orcs as well as the squonks.

    Galad and Galinda were present, joined by Mayor Charlie and Olza. Harry and Harriet¡¯s parents, the blacksmith and his wife the fletcher, took a seat next to two town guards. One of them was Terry, but his demeanor had softened. If anything, he looked a bit frightened by the strange cloven hooves sticking out from underneath the blanket near Hans. Uncle Ed slipped in a few minutes late, mouthing a silent ¡°sorry¡± as he found a seat.

    The group listened as Becky and Hans retold the story of their journey. For Hans, a town hall meeting like this wasn¡¯t unusual after a monster attack. A normal day for him was a crisis for civilians, so it was natural for people to be incredibly emotional in these discussions. Anger, fear, grief¨Cthere were a number of reasons a person might have an outburst. Gomi¡¯s citizens, however, sat quietly until Becky and Hans were done talking.

    Mayor Charlie raised his hand. ¡°I¡¯ve heard the squonk stories too. Been a while, but Becky¡¯s memory is accurate. Always sounded like a joke to me.¡±

    An oral record of the squonk was useful in that it hinted at the possibility of records or logs on squonks elsewhere in the kingdom. Others had seen it. Maybe one of them wrote about it. For now, though, Charlie¡¯s validation was enough to confirm that Becky and Hans hadn¡¯t lost their minds alongside Roland.

    ¡°Psionic creatures are incredibly rare,¡± Hans explained. ¡°The only methods I know to prevent that kind of influence require resources that we don¡¯t have and likely won¡¯t be able to get. The best way to protect ourselves for now is to encourage anyone traveling in the forest to tell us where they are going and when they plan to return. If someone is later than a day getting back, we send a search party.¡±

    The squonks were dangerous, but their approach to preserving their prey bought the town time if someone else went missing. A small comfort.

    Mayor Charlie agreed to spread the word. He and Hans would take point on maintaining the travel records for the time being.

    Olza volunteered to help Hans dissect the squonk corpse. Neither were experts in monster anatomy or the research of magical beasts, but they had the most knowledge of anyone else in town. If they could learn anything from the dead squonk before it got too putrid, it was worth a try.This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.

    At the same time, Becky and Becki volunteered to return to the forest right away. The Druid proposed exploring the broader area around where they found Roland, searching for signs of other squonks. If there were other squonks still out there, maybe she would catch their trail. While she searched, she would look for more clues as to the origin of the orcs they had found.

    ¡°We ain¡¯t ready for an orc attack,¡± Terry said. ¡°We don¡¯t got the men, and we don¡¯t got walls.¡±

    ¡°Right now, there is no reason to think Gomi is in danger of an orc attack,¡± Hans reassured Terry and the rest of the townspeople present. ¡°They were days away from town, pretty deep in the forest too.¡±

    ¡°Orcs are easy enough to find,¡± Becky added. ¡°If I spot a sign that more of them are running around out there, I¡¯ll doubletime back to town right away.¡±

    ¡°What do we tell the kids?¡± Galinda asked.

    ¡°The truth,¡± Galad replied. ¡°They¡¯ll have nightmares for weeks, but they¡¯ll be alert.¡±

    Hans had the feeling that the brother and sister were talking about the orcs specifically rather than the squonks, but he didn¡¯t prod any further.

    ¡°What else can we do?¡± Charlie asked.

    The Guild Master proposed sending letters to the three other towns that were in the direction of the squonks. They weren¡¯t ¡°close¡± to Gomi in any practical sense, but they were the next closest towns to where they fought the monsters. Maybe they had their own encounters or had noticed something strange that might help.

    When Charlie pointed out that the next caravan wasn¡¯t due for another two weeks, Galad suggested they send Luther on horseback to accelerate their timeline. The tusk-touched could be back to Gomi in a couple weeks. If they waited for the caravan, they wouldn¡¯t get a response for another four weeks after that when the caravan returned. Gathering information sooner rather than later seemed to appeal to everyone in the room.

    ¡°If Luther would do that, I think that¡¯s a good idea,¡± Hans said.

    ¡°He¡¯ll do it,¡± Galad said with certainty.

    Hans didn¡¯t argue. ¡°I¡¯ll write up a letter for him tonight, that way he can leave as soon as possible.¡±

    Mayor Charlie raised his hand again. ¡°Do we need to be concerned about these creatures attracting adventurers?¡±

    Hans leaned forward where he stood, resting both hands on a table. He addressed the group as a whole, saying, ¡°I get that you¡¯re all concerned for the safety of Gomi and that I¡¯m the new guy in the room. I swear to everyone here that I¡¯m concerned too. Every decision I¡¯m making comes after weighing the pros and cons.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re right. I¡¯m sorry,¡± Charlie said, sheepishly.

    ¡°It¡¯s fine. Like I said, I get it, and it was part of my planning. A single tusk-touched asking after a weird, largely unknown monster won¡¯t attract attention.¡±

    ¡°Okay. Very good.¡±

    With that, the meeting concluded. As the townspeople filed out, Becky and Galinda talked in the corner and Olza approached Hans. She set a cloth bag on his desk. It clinked softly. ¡°The rest of your order,¡± Olza said.

    Quest Complete: Wait for Olza to deliver the rest of the potion order.

    ¡°Thank you,¡± Hans said, setting the potions in a drawer for the time being. ¡°Your healing potions were a big help.¡±

    ¡°Do you have it in you to do the dissection tonight? I understand if you¡¯re tired.¡±

    ¡°I am tired, but that thing stinks. How should we do this?¡±

    ***

    Hans and Olza¡¯s investigation didn¡¯t yield anything useful. Oddly, the creature didn¡¯t have a stomach like most mammals. Olza hypothesized that the way they sucked their food dry didn¡¯t need stomach acid. The process itself broke the matter down to liquid. No digestion required, just absorption. While interesting, that detail didn¡¯t help protect Gomi. Someone more knowledgeable might have found something, but they had no way of knowing.

    On his way to the guild hall to retrieve a shovel, Luther waved him down. Hans didn¡¯t recognize him at first in the fading daylight.

    ¡°Galad says to get a letter from you,¡± Luther said, politely but bluntly.

    ¡°Yeah, sure. Come with me.¡±

    With Luther standing over his desk, Hans wrote the letter to be read to the other villages. The letter described the squonk¡¯s appearance and how they hunted. Though it wasn¡¯t a masterpiece, Hans sketched a rough depiction of the creature for the letter as well.

    ¡°Are you leaving now?¡± Hans asked.

    ¡°Early tomorrow.¡±

    Hans asked Luther if he could deliver a second letter. The towns Luther intended to visit saw merchants more frequently, and each had active Guild chapters. Not large, but active. He wrote a second letter, sealed with wax, and asked Luther to leave it with the first guild chapter he saw.

    Carrying another piece of paper didn¡¯t bother the tusk.

    ¡°Hey, listen,¡± Hans called after Luther as he reached for the door. ¡°Thank you for doing this. Really.¡±

    Luther inclined his head and shut the door behind him.

    Quest Update: Look for other sources pertaining to Squonks.

    Quest Complete: Write a letter to Mazo for help with Olza¡¯s flower.

    Minutes later, Hans had a burlap bag full of squonk parts slung over his back, the beast¡¯s juices soaking the rough fabric almost immediately.

    He took the remains to the treeline, away from the roads, and buried the bag between two pine trees he hoped he could recognize in the future. If they had reason to dig them back up, he needed to know where they were, and he chose a spot far from the town to avoid luring predators near the townsfolk. Several creatures could sniff out a corpse, even if it was buried.

    When Hans returned to the guild hall for the night, he found the Becks waiting for him.

    ¡°Want my monster reports?¡± the dwarf asked. ¡°I¡¯m heading out first thing.¡±

    Ignoring the temptation to put it off, he sat down with Becky, scribbling down her recollections as quickly as he could. A neat, clean, organized ledger would have been his preference, but beggars and choosers and whatnot. The Druid¡¯s recollection would have to do.

    None of what she described surprised Hans. Her list included the following and how often they were found:

    -Rats, Normal and Giant (Common)

    -Rabid Wolves (Rare)

    -Gnolls (Common but Easily Spooked and Rarely Near Town)

    -Kobolds (One Occurrence Decades Ago, Distant from Gomi)

    -Owlbears (Rare)

    -Goblins (Two Nests in 30 Years)

    -Mountain Trolls (Sighted Once)

    For a remote forest, the Gomi region was fairly safe, life-sucking squonks aside, of course. No bandits. No killer plants. No rampaging elementals. No crypts leaking undead. No dryads or leshens. No super-predators like wyverns or griffins. No orcs or other humanoids like ogres or cyclops. The usual remote-wilderness-people-eaters were all absent. Bear and moose probably caused more injuries than monsters.

    In Becky¡¯s mind, anything dangerous stuck to the mountains. An explosion of squonks would upend all of that, but for now, Gomi was an idyllic place to settle down.

    Quest Complete: Reestablish job-completion and monster-hunting recordkeeping.

    Before Becky left, she looked Hans in the eye and held his gaze for a long minute. ¡°Wanted to say, I¡¯m glad you¡¯re the Guild Master. Roland wouldn¡¯t have made it otherwise.¡± She shot a hand across Hans¡¯ desk.

    He gladly accepted the handshake. ¡°Means a lot. Gomi is lucky to have you.¡±

    ¡°Oh, I knew that.¡± Becky giggled and made her exit.

    The guild hall was quiet again, and an old mattress never felt so soft.

    ***

    Hans intended to sleep in but had no such luck. Since he was awake, he got to work maintaining his adventuring equipment. His sword needed to be cleaned, oiled, and sharpened. His leather armor needed to be cleaned and oiled as well, but he expected to need a few rounds of cleaning to get the rotten squonk smell out. Usually meticulous with upkeep for his gear, it was especially important he be thorough now. His sword and armor might sit for some time before he needed them again.

    He was in the midst of hanging his armor when the blacksmith came in, a crate of shields in his hands¨Chalf of them bucklers, half targes, and one custom larger targes for Hans. Harry and Harriet followed him in, their arms full of wooden training swords like they were carrying firewood.

    ¡°It was on my list to get down to see you,¡± Hans said.

    ¡°Nonsense. It¡¯s no trouble. Besides, these two wanted to see you.¡±

    Harriet slammed into Hans to give him a hug. Harry opted for a manly handshake.

    ¡°We¡¯re glad you¡¯re okay,¡± Harriet said.

    The blacksmith pulled the custom targes from the crate, scratching his chin nervously. Two inches wider in diameter than the others, the shield was still relatively maneuverable and the balance of the grip felt natural. Hans had gone through dozens of shields in his lifetime, and this was one of the finer wooden targes he ever handled.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t catch it until they were done¡­¡± The blacksmith said, referring to a painted scene of a stick figure Hans fighting a stick figure dragon. The bright primary colors and the simplistic style told him Harry and Harriet had done this.

    ¡°It¡¯s okay. I love it.¡± And he wasn¡¯t lying. He liked the idea of a childrens¡¯ painting leading the charge into a battle. Monsters wouldn¡¯t know what to make of it.

    Harry and Harriet beamed with pride.

    The blacksmith stepped outside and came back, a wooden spear in each hand. ¡°Almost forgot these,¡± he said, leaning them carefully in a corner.

    ¡°Is there class today?¡± Harry asked.

    ¡°You bet.¡±

    The blacksmith mouthed a sincere ¡°thank you¡± to Hans as he herded his children back out the door.

    This Guild Master gig isn¡¯t bad at all.

    Quest Complete: Pick up training equipment from the smith when it is completed.

    ***

    <u>Open Quests (Ordered from Old to New):</u>

    Progress from Gold-ranked to Diamond-ranked.

    Mend the rift with Devon.

    Complete the manuscript for "The Next Generation: A Teaching Methodology for Training Adventurers."

    Pick up the guild provisions from the caravan after next.

    Identify the unknown purple flower from Olza.

    Keep the guild hall clean.

    Prepare a booklist for Mayor Charlie.

    Grow the Gomi chapter without attracting outside attention.

    Prepare for winter, and don¡¯t forget the beer.

    Design and build simulated dungeon corridors for training.

    Design drills to practice specific dungeon corridor skills.

    Brainstorm ideas for safe approaches to training on uneven terrain.

    Look for other sources pertaining to squonks.

    Investigate the presence of orcs near Gomi.

 Chapter 12: Penalties

    Quentin missed class the next three days, which was to be expected. His family had been through a lot. Taking time to be with his dad was the right thing for him to do.

    When Roland began talking normally again, Quentin would leave his father¡¯s side for class and return right after. The hunter could eat and drink on his own, but he was still weak. None of the damage appeared to be permanent, so he mostly needed time for his body to finish mending itself.

    His mind was a different matter. Roland seemed to be stuck in slow-motion, like every interaction took conscious effort. He smiled sometimes, but he would often lose focus and drift into silence. Hans had visited, and the hunter stopped talking halfway through a sentence to stare at the corner of the room.

    I should have thought to call for a healer when we sent Luther out.

    Healers¨CWhite Mages who specialized in treating wounds¨Cwere common in any sizable village, but psionic damage was more complex than a broken bone. The closest city that might have a Healer of the right caliber was six towns away. Hans¡¯ personal savings likely wouldn¡¯t be enough to cover the cost. Roland and Quentin almost certainly didn¡¯t have the money either.

    ¡°It¡¯s early yet,¡± Olza said when Hans vented his frustration to her. ¡°The real Roland is in there. Give it time.¡± He knew she was right.

    When Hans finished griping, he explained the kind of concoction he wanted to make. ¡°Sudden pain can break a psionic hold, so maybe we could make a potion that causes a sharp pain in predictable intervals?¡±

    ¡°What ingredients are you thinking?¡±

    ¡°Some kind of poison, I assume.¡±

    Olza looked at Hans in disbelief. ¡°Your idea is to poison yourself.¡±

    ¡°Just a little.¡±

    The alchemist vetoed using any kinds of poison. In addition to the risk, repeat uses could build a tolerance, making the potion less effective over time. Olza promised to think on it and shooed Hans out of her shop so he could get to his kids¡¯ class for the day.

    With their new training gear, the children could begin to incorporate shield work into their training, a skill that Hans believed to be essential for every adventurer, regardless of the class they choose.

    ¡°A shield is one of your most versatile tools,¡± he began, addressing a gaggle of children sitting in the dirt of the training yard. ¡°They are good for blocking, but how do we feel about blocking?¡±

    ¡°Blocking is bad!¡± the children yelled back.

    ¡°That¡¯s right. Just because you have a shield doesn¡¯t mean you should try to block every hit. Not only might you fight something too big for the shield, blocking against another person is tiring. If Miss Becky swung an axe at me, it¡¯s going to hurt even if it hits my shield.¡±

    Hans explained that his biggest argument for training shields is that ranged attacks were always a challenge for an adventurer. Dodging an arrow wasn¡¯t practical for most adventurers, but they could get a shield in its path with a little bit of awareness.

    ¡°Swinging a giant war hammer looks cool, but it leaves you exposed. Learn to play it safe before you start taking those kinds of risks.¡±

    Passing out the bucklers first, he taught the children how to cinch their own shields with one hand because help wouldn¡¯t always be available. Where a buckler was typically held by a handle like a pot lid, Hans insisted they strap it to their arms to build habits useful for larger shields. He showed them how to hold the small shield and then talked about how footwork was important with shields as well.

    They started with the buckler not just because it was lighter than the larger targes. He wanted them to learn with small shields first so they could develop good positional habits. Whenever it was possible, it was ideal for the shield to take a blow at its center, spreading the force across the shield, into the shield arm, and eventually down into the rear foot of their stance. The farther from center a strike was, the more likely it was to glance off and hit you anyway.

    Furthermore, glancing blows were more difficult to anticipate and predict. Proper shield positioning was essential to controlling a fight and staying safe.

    The buckler forced them to be accurate. They couldn¡¯t cheese a block with a larger surface area. The larger shields had their place, Hans explained, but bucklers were good for tight dungeons and good for training. A targes would be in their hands eventually, but not today.

    Once the children had their stances mostly correct, they began a drill where one partner slowly executed the strikes they knew while their partner would block with their shield or parry with their sword.

    ¡°Take your time and pay attention to how it feels to block with one or another. When does it feel better to use the buckler? When does it feel better to use the sword?¡±

    The children quickly picked up that a strike coming at your buckler side was awkward if parried with a sword. And vice versa. Carrying both a sword and shield divided them in half. Before, they only had to pay attention to moving their sword. With the shield in play, they had to see their opponent¡¯s attack, decide which parts of their body to move, and then get themselves there before they got cut up.

    The first few shield classes were always the hardest. There was always a lot of crying.

    And so it was in Gomi. Gunther, Harry, Harriet, Chance, and Loddie all broke into tears at least once when a wooden sword banged an elbow or bounced off bare knuckles. The children didn¡¯t know it, but that experience was a sort of training in its own right, but Hans never said that out loud. Ever. Parents, it turns out, weren¡¯t keen on pain being a learning tool.

    Real pain, like that of an injury or wound, was not the intent, nor was deliberately causing harm. However, the children needed to learn to work through bumps and bruises. Those were inevitable in training, and it would only get more challenging as they went on.

    Hans didn¡¯t consider pain a relevant part of training until he took lessons from a Rogue early in his adventuring career. He wanted to learn knife-fighting, knife-on-knife as well as unarmed-vs-knife.

    The Rogue opened the lesson by saying, ¡°The first lesson of knife fighting is accepting that you are going to get cut. Always, so start thinking now about fighting through it so you can win before you bleed out.¡±

    When they sparred, Hans felt how true that first lesson was. His fantasy of becoming untouchable in a knife fight dissolved beneath hundreds of cuts. Not real cuts, fortunately. They used wooden training knives, but Hans knew what every mistake meant. He would have been cut to ribbons if the knives were real.Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

    He heard the Rogue¡¯s voice anytime someone complained about getting banged up by wooden swords. His words on the matter were gentler than the Rogue¡¯s, but the intent was the same.

    Hans ended the class by teaching the students how to redirect an attack with their shield instead of absorbing the impact, likening it to the parrying techniques they had been practicing with their swords. Their coordination needed practice, but they understood what they needed to do and why. That was the important part right now.

    When class wrapped up, he noticed Kane lingering at the back of the training yard, looking at the sticks laid down to frame out the dungeon corridor Hans intended to build. Hans asked him if he had any questions, but the teen tusk said no, thanked Hans for the class, and left.

    ***

    The next morning, Hans awoke to the sound of shovels breaking ground. Out his apartment window, he saw a dozen tusk-touched men and women in the training yard. Several had shovels, and the others pulled posts and boards from the back of a wagon, carrying them toward the tusks with shovels to stack a pile of materials.

    Hans stared for a long minute, his recently woken brain staggering and stumbling to make sense of what he saw.

    Then one of the tusks set a post into the ground, and he understood.

    They¡¯re building a dungeon corridor.

    When the tusks saw Hans approaching, Galad waved. ¡°Glad you¡¯re here. How tall you want this?¡±

    ¡°Why are you doing this?¡±

    ¡°Kane convinced us.¡± Galad pointed a thumb to the tusk teen, who looked small for the first time. Hans wasn¡¯t used to seeing Kane surrounded by full grown tusk-touched adults.

    ¡°Quentin helped,¡± Kane answered.

    ¡°I¡­ Wow.¡± Hans¡¯ brain broke again. ¡°You don¡¯t have to do this.¡±

    Galad walked to Kane and put a hand on his shoulder. ¡°Kane here thinks he¡¯ll be able to take me in 5 years. He needs all the help he can get.¡±

    Kane smiled and looked at his feet.

    ¡°Seriously, Guild Master. How tall?¡±

    The original design called for eight-foot tall walls. He wanted the barriers high enough that weapons wouldn¡¯t pop out over the top edge and injure someone by accident. Kids were unpredictable and made rash choices. With enough enthusiasm, those wooden swords became missiles.

    Looking around, or up rather, at the tusks working around him, Hans had a thought. ¡°Any chance you guys would give it a try?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m a little old for the kids class,¡± Galad said. ¡°Don¡¯t think I¡¯ll be dungeon crawling anytime soon.¡±

    ¡°I was thinking of adding an adult class a few days a week.¡±

    Galad raised an eyebrow.

    ¡°You won¡¯t be fighting in a dungeon. That¡¯s fair. But you¡¯ve never been in a fight indoors? Will you always be in a wide open space? Some parts of the barn looked like they got pretty tight.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll think about it.¡±

    ¡°Invitation is open to everyone,¡± Hans said loud enough for the whole yard to hear him. Then he turned his attention back to Galad. ¡°If the Tribe is going to use this we should probably make it ten feet.¡±

    Galad laughed and got back to work.

    ***

    Quest Complete: Design and build simulated dungeon corridors for training.

    The tusks worked with such smooth unity. Every set of hands was moving the project forward at every moment. They worked so efficiently that the faux dungeon walls were complete before noon. Eight posts in total, and then several lengths of milled timber nailed to those.

    The tusks who hadn¡¯t met Hans introduced themselves and thanked him for being good to their little brothers and little sisters before they left. Soon, the training yard was empty again, leaving Hans to gaze upon the majesty of a new training aid.

    It¡¯s so beautiful.

    Quentin came up beside him. Hans realized he had been standing there for some time, but Hans¡¯ mind was too wrapped up in the possibilities the two wooden walls created.

    He wrapped an arm around Quentin¡¯s shoulders. ¡°Thank you for this.¡±

    ¡°It was Kane¡¯s idea.¡±

    ¡°Yeah well, he said the same thing. Whoever is responsible, I hope all of them know I am grateful.¡±

    The boy blushed.

    ¡°Can you grab us two swords? We need to try it out.¡±

    With Quentin¡¯s help, Hans thought about what dungeon-specific skills he should teach and what drills he could design for them. Soon, he was recreating various combat scenarios with Quentin, starting to feel out what it was like to train in the corridor.

    Some of the skills were obvious:

    -Combat with limited arm mobility on either side

    -Fighting from back against wall

    -Fighting an opponent with their back against the wall

    -Escape being pinned against the wall

    -Get back to standing when downed

    -Defending when downed

    With where the kids were in the curriculum, he¡¯d be lucky to cover all of that in the next six months. Only yesterday they held a shield for the first time. Right now, using it at all was challenging enough without restricting the space.

    But his mind kept thinking. If those were the basics, then more advanced skills would include:

    -Closing on a ranged opponent

    -Reacting to a pincer attack

    -Fighting out of a corner

    -Weapon-specific tactics (spears, halberds, flails, axes)

    -Fighting alongside allies

    Already Hans wished that the corridor was longer. More than two pairs would find it difficult to train in here at once, but if he didn¡¯t restrain himself, his next corridor extension might include a few trap pits. Because that only made sense if they were recreating a dungeon environment, but the serious part of him knew that pits were a step too far, even for him.

    He would have to think on these skills a bit more to decide how best to teach them. Gunther entering the training yard, whistling off key, reminded Hans he had a class to teach. He had plenty of time to¨C

    ¡°Gunther¡­ why is your pocket full of worms?¡±

    ***

    After the squonk encounter, even a kids¡¯ class felt peaceful. The next several days of lessons blurred together. They were still training with bucklers and had started incorporating follow up attacks as well. The youngest children did their best, but they were still very much children. A lot of what they were learning wouldn¡¯t show its value until they were in their teens.

    Like Kane and Quentin. Those two drilled together constantly, despite their height difference and weight difference. Kane was almost the size of an adult human, and he still had several years of growth ahead.

    A rain rolled in and lingered for a few days, reminding Hans that he needed to plan for winter. All of their training space was outdoors. What would they do when the temperature dropped? The space in the guild hall definitely wouldn¡¯t work, and he couldn¡¯t think of any larger buildings in Gomi.

    New Quest: Design a winter curriculum.

    Attendance would probably dip when the snows came, he thought, but he could still be useful and available. In his experience, mountain dwellers were more accepting of snow than the citizens living in more temperate climates. What Hoseki considered a winter emergency was just another day in Gomi. The town wouldn¡¯t be perpetually buried, he hoped, and there would certainly be a good bit of downtime for the kids.

    Thinking of Gomi in the winter revealed a mistake in his planning. He had considered what he would need to be comfortable and fed, but he recently returned from a deep wilderness rescue job. He needed to be prepared to do the same in the winter.

    ¡°Sorry Quentin, I can¡¯t go find your dad. I don¡¯t have the right shoes,¡± he imagined himself saying. He could never deny a request like that. It¡¯d be less shameful to head out there and freeze to death.

    New Quest: Acquire winter adventuring gear.

    The list filled quickly, from snowshoes to ice picks, from thick gloves to a new cloak. In many ways, it would be like buying a whole new set of adventuring gear. Nearly every item needed a thicker more resilient version for the winter months. Boots. Pants. Shirts. Even his sheath needed the right care to keep his sword from freezing in place.

    A few things he might be able to commission with a local craftsman. Gomi¡¯s blacksmith could probably handle forging a pair of ice picks and a batch of pitons. He might be able to find a seamstress as well. He kept working through his list, identifying what he could source locally and what would need ordered.

    Gods, this is going to be expensive.

    ***

    <u>Open Quests (Ordered from Old to New):</u>

    Progress from Gold-ranked to Diamond-ranked.

    Mend the rift with Devon.

    Complete the manuscript for "The Next Generation: A Teaching Methodology for Training Adventurers."

    Pick up the guild provisions from the caravan after next.

    Identify the unknown purple flower from Olza.

    Keep the guild hall clean.

    Prepare a booklist for Mayor Charlie.

    Grow the Gomi chapter without attracting outside attention.

    Prepare for winter, and don¡¯t forget the beer.

    Design drills to practice specific dungeon corridor skills.

    Brainstorm ideas for safe approaches to training on uneven terrain.

    Look for other sources pertaining to squonks.

    Investigate the presence of orcs near Gomi.

    Design a winter curriculum.

    Acquire winter adventuring gear.

 Chapter 13: Load Times

    Luther returned with the merchant caravan, almost a full two weeks after Roland¡¯s rescue. For the distance he was asked to cover, he made good time. In Hoseki, the kingdom¡¯s capital, information moved quickly. Most messages were returned within days rather than weeks, and having something ordered from the next town over was a simple transaction that ended with the goods on your doorstep.

    Gomi¡¯s geography added days and days of delays for anything to reach or leave the mountain town. Though Luther was quick according to the locals who knew the roads, two weeks felt like a lifetime to wait for updates on a psionic monster infestation. All he could do was sit in the guild hall while squonks could be out there feeding and breeding.

    The experience was maddening and unavoidable. For as long as he lived in Gomi, he would have to live at Gomi¡¯s pace, the long roads and difficult terrain a fact of life.

    Before Luther shared what he learned, the tusk needed to stable his horse on the Tribe farms. The caravan handed him a few silvers for taking watch shifts on their way, and Luther trotted back out of town.

    Hans had no problem waiting for Luther. He needed to speak to the merchants anyway.

    The caravan was far more prepared for winter than Hans. Knowing that the roads would be blocked soon, the merchants brought several assortments of winter clothing. If they didn¡¯t have the correct size or a specific item, the merchants noted the request, took a few measurements, and promised to have it ready for the next shipment.

    He set aside his last bit of guild credit so he could pay for the items when they arrived. Otherwise, he was out of money, and his credit didn¡¯t renew until the fall. He could be thrifty if he needed to be. Finding an odd job around Gomi was unlikely, but he could also feed himself. He could take a few days off of his guild duties and maybe bag a deer. With some salt and smoke, he¡¯d have some of his winter food needs met.

    Thinking of going hunting reminded Hans of Roland, Quentin¡¯s father. The hunter was almost back to his old self now. He had recovered enough that he could move back to his own home with his son, and more of the pep and wit that townspeople called ¡°the real Roland¡± showed itself each day.

    Drawing a bow, however, would be beyond him for a while longer. He had a great deal of muscle to rebuild, and the process needed time. Predicting Roland¡¯s greatest concern, nearly the entire town promised to share some of their pantry with the hunter and his son, so they needn¡¯t worry about hunting right now. They would have plenty of food for the winter.

    Accepting charity seemed difficult for Roland. Hunters tended to be independent and self-reliant. Being weak and vulnerable¨Cand others knowing it¨Cchallenged him to put Quentin before his ego. He knew the right choice. That didn¡¯t make it easy.

    Roland insisted on being present for the next squonk meeting. Hans tried to dissuade him, but he didn¡¯t yield.

    The blacksmith and his fletcher wife weren¡¯t in attendance, nor was Galinda. Becky hadn¡¯t been back to town yet, so she was absent as well. That left Hans, Charlie, Roland, Uncle Ed, Terry the guard, and Galad¨Cwho returned with Luther. As soon as the tusks arrived, Luther handed three envelopes bearing the Adventurers¡¯ Guild crest to Hans.

    Luther wasn¡¯t much for public speaking, but he recounted what he learned as best he could.

    The three towns the tusk visited were roughly northeast from Gomi, sharing borders with the land where the squonks were found. If Becky¡¯s theory that the squonks migrated into Gomi¡¯s woods was correct, they would have had to come from the areas near those three towns.

    No one Luther spoke to in the first town had heard of a squonk or recognized the description. He even deliberately sought out some of the older citizens to see if they recalled any stories or tall-tales that had to do with squonks. They didn¡¯t know anything about the crying monster, but they did know about the orcs.

    Apparently, adventurers from the second town pursued an orc raiding party a few days prior, the chase taking them toward Gomi, broadly speaking. The Guild Master of that first town¡¯s chapter confirmed the story in his letter to Hans. That Guild Master suggested that perhaps the few orcs Hans found had evaded the adventurers.

    Before he went onto the next town, Luther asked for Hans¡¯ letter to be mailed. When the guild desk saw who it was addressed to, they said that Mazo had passed through as recently as three weeks ago. They didn¡¯t know the specifics of her travel plans, but they had heard where she planned to summer: Natsu.

    That¡¯s close, he thought. Wow. I must be adjusting to Gomi when a four-week ride sounds ¡°close¡± to me.

    He might receive a response before winter. The last he had heard, the halfling Blue Mage was on the opposite side of the kingdom, hunting gazers, a Diamond-level monster notorious for its one central eye surrounded by dozens of stalks, each bearing a smaller eye at its end. They shot lasers, and they could cast Petrification.

    But Mazo wasn¡¯t interested in adding those abilities to her repertoire. She wanted another of the gazer¡¯s unique gifts: its ability to hover indefinitely.

    The problem: Blue Mages learned from enduring an attack. Hovering in place was not an attack, so Mazo began experimenting, looking for a way to adapt her blue magic to absorb different kinds of abilities. The research moved slowly. Gazers were rare monsters, much to everyone¡¯s relief but Mazo¡¯s. She needed test subjects.

    Hans wondered if she ever figured it out. Maybe she would mention it in her letter to him.

    When Luther moved on to recounting his experience with the next town in line, he hesitated. He pointed to the letter from that chapter¡¯s Guild Master and said, ¡°He said everything you needed was in here.¡±

    The letter was brief, reading, ¡°Stay out of my territory. Don¡¯t waste my time again.¡± The letter was signed by the local Guild Master. Reading that outloud to his new hometown made him wish he had opened the letter in private. Guild chapters were competitive, but sharing information about potential threats was part of the Adventurers¡¯ Guild day-to-day responsibility to the citizens of the kingdom. That¡¯s how it was supposed to work, at least.

    No one spoke when he finished. The people in the room knew enough about the Guild to know that this refusal was an intentional insult. A Diamond-ranked putting a Gold-ranked in their place.

    Luther mercifully continued his story. Though the chapter was a bust, the tavern was not.

    ¡°Convenient,¡± Galad said, suppressing a smirk.

    Luther smiled and shrugged.

    ¡°I confirmed the orc raid. Same thing the other Guild Master had said. Get this: at least two adventurers were reprimanded for letting a few get away.¡±

    ¡°At least we know the actual raiding party was quite far from here,¡± Charlie offered. Everyone agreed.

    ¡°One more thing: Two people were missing. Blamed the orcs, but then I got to the last town. Three of their people were missing too.¡±

    The tusk leaned back, proud of his investigation. He basked while the others reached the same conclusion he had: Those people weren¡¯t missing because of orcs. They were missing because they stumbled upon a squonk, most likely.

    The third Guild Master was more receptive than the second. He copied the notes Hans provided with great interest. So far, no one had unearthed any leads for the missing people. The longer he took to find an answer, the more his people would question their safety, so he was grateful for any kind of lead that might help.

    He left Luther in his office while he fetched two more people. When the Guild Master returned, the chapter¡¯s librarian and a Silver-ranked dwarf joined the meeting.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

    Luther retold the story of how Gomi discovered squonks.

    ¡°The librarian recognized the name but not from any bestiary,¡± Luther explained. ¡°He knew it from a children¡¯s story.¡±

    When Hans opened the letter from this final Guild Master, he found a set of pages transcribed from their archives. Skimming through the children¡¯s story, he grimaced. The story followed three sisters who constantly cried over every inconvenience. They cried so often that the squonks smelled their tears and came to collect them and take them away. One of the sisters stops herself from crying and escapes, but her sisters were never seen again.

    Aside from that singular story, they were not aware of any other mentions of squonks, fictional or otherwise. None of the adventurers Luther spoke to recognized it either. They did however see orcs moving through their territory. The band was gone before the Guild could rally a force large enough, but Luther pointed out that the timeline matched their other information.

    The three orcs who fell to Hans and Becky were hundreds of miles from home.

    Roland spoke for the first time. ¡°They didn¡¯t come that far on purpose. That¡¯s good.¡±

    The room agreed.

    ¡°If Becky doesn¡¯t find anything, we can sheath our swords for the time being,¡± Hans said. ¡°Orcs are far from here, and we have no evidence of a squonk nest. We still saw them though, so a little extra caution wouldn¡¯t hurt.¡±

    That satisfied the townspeople for now and the meeting dispersed.

    Quest Complete: Investigate the presence of orcs near Gomi.

    Quest Update: Learn the results of Becky¡¯s squonk search.

    ***

    Olza found Hans writing on the blank pages of a thick, leatherbound book. She twisted her neck to read upside down. ¡°What is ¡®Versatile Simplicity?¡¯¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s a teaching principle I have.¡±

    The alchemist waited.

    ¡°Do you want me to keep going?¡±

    She nodded.

    ¡°Promise to stop me if I go on too long?¡±

    ¡°Promise.¡±

    Hans explained that decision-making won fights. In a battle, an adventurer has to calculate hundreds of variables under deadly circumstances. An inch too far, a second too late, and the fight is over, so a battle requires mental speed and extreme precision, both in assessing the problem and in responding to it.

    His job, as he saw it, was to train decision-making like any other skill, lots of practice and lots of drills. Early in his meditations on teaching, he sparred and swapped techniques with a visiting adventurer who specialized in the quarterstaff. Any round the adventurer won against Hans¨Cyes, there were several, but Hans won a few as well¨Cended with the same finish. Even after Hans learned to expect it.

    No matter what, the adventurer concluded an attack combination with an upward strike, the quarterstaff equivalent of an uppercut. The blow took Hans off of his feet twice and chipped his tooth.

    Why am I spending so much time telling her about how badly I lost?

    When Hans remarked on it, the adventurer replied, ¡°Means less I have to remember, and that particular movement has a few dozen different setups. I still come across a new one every once in a while.¡±

    That changed how Hans thought about practice.

    ¡°For the sake of simplicity, let¡¯s say you learn 10 techniques to become a complete fighter,¡± Hans said to Olza.

    ¡°Okay¡­¡±

    ¡°What if then another fighter comes along and finds a way to solve all of the same problems with 7 techniques instead of 10. Is that an improvement?¡±

    Olza nodded.

    ¡°Why?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s easier to decide with fewer options.¡±

    ¡°Exactly, but there¡¯s more to it. Let¡¯s say these fighters get 100 practice repetitions a day. The fighter who needs 10 techniques can practice each one 10 times where the fighter who needs only 7 can practice each of his techniques 14 times.¡±

    ¡°Ohhh, I see. When you say it, it seems obvious.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not the first person to have this idea, but I think I¡¯m the first to base a training methodology around it.¡±

    Hans believed that what a student eliminated was just as impactful as what they practiced. The quarterstaff fighter from his story discarded techniques that didn¡¯t lead to his favorite finish. If he had two different blocks that addressed the same attack, he chose the block with the shortest distance to his favorite strike.

    That didn¡¯t mean that every technique immediately led to a devastating blow to an opponent¡¯s chin. Instead, he aimed to keep the steps between him and the finish as minimal as possible so he was never far from his favorite attack. He made his style stronger through reduction, not addition.

    ¡°That¡¯s the philosophy, and I applied it to my fundamentals curriculum. With beginners, especially, I teach as few techniques as possible. For the advanced students, they have to learn to critique their own style and cut the waste. Fighters do this intuitively to some degree, but we get more out of it if we can do it intentionally and consistently.¡±

    ¡°Geez, Hans. Are you sure Guild Master is the right spot for you? You sound like an academic.¡±

    ¡°Can¡¯t I be both? Anyway, sorry for getting carried away there. What brings you by?¡±

    ¡°An update on our flower mystery.¡±

    Hans sat up to listen more closely.

    ¡°I couldn¡¯t find an alchemy ingredient with a similar composition, so I had the idea to expand the search to spell reagents.¡±

    She¡¯s clever.

    ¡°Are you familiar with rose silk?¡±

    He shook his head.

    ¡°It¡¯s a foundational component in several summoning spells as well as a few mending spells,¡± Olza said, confirming her knowledge matched Hans¡¯.

    ¡°What does that tell us about the flower?¡±

    ¡°Rose silk is used for creating and shaping types of matter, basically. If you need a spell to conclude with something physical, rose silk is usually one of the components. The purple flower has the same kind of fibers, except far far more dense. 10 to 1 or more.¡±

    Discovering a ¡°better¡± ingredient in alchemy or spellcasting pushed the art further, making potions more effective and spells more powerful. Innovation and invention often followed shortly behind. For an alchemist, making that kind of discovery cemented their legacy.

    ¡°Olzas,¡± Hans said, proposing a name for the flower.

    ¡°Becky found it, technically.¡±

    ¡°Well, Becky would probably name it Beckee or something. You discovered its potential, and ¡®Olzas¡¯ sounds better.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re not calling them that.¡±

    The flower needed further study. Sharing characteristics with rose silk was promising, but swapping the purple flowers in for a spell reagent could be catastrophic. Olza needed to learn about the rest of the petal before graduating to more serious tests. She likened it to picking raspberries. If you know the thorns are there, filling a bucket with the sweet fruits when they¡¯re in season is easy. If you don¡¯t know the thorns are there, you¡¯ll figure that out the hard way.

    Hans thought that was a good analogy, but it wasn¡¯t quite right. Pricking your finger on a thorn might draw a drop of blood. Mixing the wrong spell components for a summoning spell might release an infernal champion who transforms your entire town to glass.

    Regardless if the purple flower was a world-ending ingredient, Olzas sounded like a good name for flowers to him.

    ***

    Mayor Charlie dropped an envelope to Hans. A letter from the Adventurers¡¯ Guild had been mixed into Gomi¡¯s mail from the caravan by mistake.

    Hans broke the wax seal.

    Oh, not from the Guild, via the Guild.

    Hans,

    Congratulations on the new posting. Not how you wanted it to happen, I know, but if anyone can make the most of it, it¡¯s you.

    We¡¯re coming up on six months of incorporating your drills into our classes. It was challenging at first, but the results are undeniable. We¡¯re moving through material faster than ever, and we¡¯ve even won a few tournaments.

    At the Iron levels. For now. I¡¯m looking forward to seeing where those Irons are in a few years. I think I understand what you meant about students passing you. I can see that they¡¯re already outpacing what I was capable of at that rank. Won¡¯t be long.

    Send me more chapters when you finish them, please. I hope you change your mind and get this published.

    -Theneesa

    Guild Master

    Mikata Chapter

    Hans reread the letter five times before setting it down. He felt a sense of pride soaked in melancholy. A Diamond-ranked Guild Master was using his methods and getting great results. Those same methods contributed to his exile, and those methods weren¡¯t enough to move himself up one more rank.

    Thankfully, Charlie delivered the letter when the kids¡¯ class was long-finished. Had it arrived earlier in the morning, Hans may not have had the will to teach.

    Gomi was supposed to be a forgotten town for forgotten people, but a letter could come from anywhere to remind him of everything he left behind. Theneesa used his work as he intended, to give adventurers a greater chance of survival, but the impact he sought could be even larger.

    It all came back to teaching. Better-trained adventurers meant fewer casualties and more rank promotions. More skilled adventurers would lead to an improvement in job completion rates. Improved job completion rates meant that problems were solved more quickly and more effectively. The sooner a problem like a monster nest was solved, the less pain innocent people would have to endure.

    Teaching. Learning. So much good was possible, especially if that good was applied across the full scope of the Adventurers¡¯ Guild and its many chapters.

    You tried that already.

    Though the sun was still up, Hans locked the door to the guild hall and went to bed.

    ***

    <u>Open Quests (Ordered from Old to New):</u>

    Progress from Gold-ranked to Diamond-ranked.

    Mend the rift with Devon.

    Complete the manuscript for "The Next Generation: A Teaching Methodology for Training Adventurers."

    Pick up the guild provisions from the caravan after next.

    Identify the unknown purple flower from Olza.

    Keep the guild hall clean.

    Prepare a booklist for Mayor Charlie.

    Grow the Gomi chapter without attracting outside attention.

    Prepare for winter, and don¡¯t forget the beer.

    Design drills to practice specific dungeon corridor skills.

    Brainstorm ideas for safe approaches to training on uneven terrain.

    Learn the results of Becky¡¯s squonk search.

    Design a winter curriculum.

    Acquire winter adventuring gear.

 Chapter 14: Classic Sewer Quest

    Quest Failed: Keep the guild hall clean.

    A downpour burst from a light gray sky, right in the midst of kids¡¯ class. Hans and five children ran into the guild hall for shelter. In the brief chaos of fleeing cold raindrops, he overlooked a potential consequence.

    The children tracked mud and water from the training yard onto the guild hall floors. Somewhere between the training yard and the guild hall, Harry and Chance dipped their hands in a puddle, dripping brown slop into the benches and tables. Quentin, one of the most responsible children Hans had ever known, sat on a bench, bouncing his heel off the floorboards to shake mud off of his boots.

    Somehow, there was even mud on the ceiling.

    Children defy physics.

    Hans grabbed a few towels from his upstairs apartment and tried to wipe up what he could. The war had already been lost, but he could contain the damages. Maybe.

    New Quest: Clean the guild hall.

    ¡°What do we do now?¡± Harriet asked. The tiny blonde child had begun yell-talking recently. Hans worried Becky was having too much of an influence on this town.

    Out the window, the rain hadn¡¯t slowed. ¡°I think that¡¯s it for class today,¡± Hans answered. ¡°Even if it stopped, the training yard will be a mess.¡±

    ¡°Awwwwww.¡±

    ¡°Sorry. Maybe it¡¯ll clear for tomorrow.¡±

    Quentin raised his hand.

    ¡°Yes, Quentin?¡±

    ¡°Can you tell us a story? Maybe the one about the pee elemental?¡±

    ¡°The what now?¡±

    ¡°The pee elemental. Galinda was talking about it.¡± Every child giggled.

    ¡°It was about peeing on an elemental, not an elemental made from pee.¡± They giggled even more. ¡°How about a different story?¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡±

    Hans thought for a minute. ¡°I¡¯ve been thinking about an old friend of mine. Her name is Theneesa. Today, she¡¯s the Diamond-ranked Guild Master of the Mikata chapter, but I¡¯ve known her since she was a Junior member.¡± For the youngest ones, Hans reiterated that Junior was the kids rank that came before Apprentice. Everyone in the class that day was a Junior member.

    ¡°What class is she?¡± Loddie asked.

    ¡°She was a White Mage for a while, but I don¡¯t know if that¡¯s still accurate.¡±

    Early in Theneesa¡¯s training, she showed an affinity for white magic, a broad category of defensive and support spells. White Mages healed the injured and provided protections and buffs during battle. As she progressed through Silver, Theneesa began to look for ways to contribute more in battle. She didn¡¯t have the raw power of a Black Mage, so going on the offensive with lightning bolts and ice arrows was not her forte and probably would never be.

    However, White Mages had a different kind of strength: They were well-practiced in maintaining a consistent output of mana over a long period of time. The best protection spells were active spells, meaning they required ongoing concentration to maintain. After a battle, the challenge was similar: Everyone needed to be healed, and pausing to rest when wounds were open could put a party at risk.

    ¡°Theneesa learned to cast with a sword or spear in her hand. By Gold, she could cast support magic without interruption and fight on the frontline.¡±

    The children knew enough about magic to know that was impressive.

    ¡°She was Silver in this story, so not quite the Diamond she is now. Theneesa is a few inches taller than me. Stronger. She uses a tower shield, a spear, and platemail blended with chainmail.¡±

    Harry raised his hand. ¡°What¡¯s a tower shield?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s a large rectangular shield,¡± Hans said, tracing an invisible rectangle around his body. ¡°They are big and heavy, but they cover a lot of surface area. That¡¯s really good if your enemy uses a lot of arrows.¡±

    Theneesa and her party of Silvers took a job to investigate disappearances in a particular district of Hoseki. Locals reported five people missing over three days, and one woman claimed to have seen her boyfriend dragged into the sewer by a ¡°hairy shadow.¡± Hiding in sewers was a popular monster hobby, which made the attacks unsurprising but no less tragic. Normally, the problem was no more than giant rats or the occasional lost goblin.

    In most cases, sewer runs were for Irons and Bronzes. For this job, the woman who lost her boyfriend was wealthy, and the Guild upgraded the rank requirement to ¡°provide a special level of service¡± to one of Hoseki¡¯s elite. Theneesa¡¯s party leader was a savvy Bard, so as soon as this wealthy woman entered the guild hall, her eyes red with tears, he worked his way over to the job board. He claimed the job before the quest manager could pin it up.

    A big payday, an easy job, and a connection to a wealthy benefactor¨CThis was an ideal scenario for a profit-minded adventurer. Competition to claim it would have been fierce, but the Bard had finished his signature before anyone else knew the job existed.

    The group of Silvers made for the sewers right away, starting where the woman witnessed the attack.

    ¡°Does anyone know what¡¯s in sewers?¡±

    ¡°Poop!¡± Chance yelled.

    ¡°Okay. I deserved that. I meant how they¡¯re built. They¡¯re caves made from brick, essentially, so kind of like a dungeon. And it''s dark, wet, and¡­ smelly.¡±

    The children giggled again.

    Whatever the monster was, it lacked the intelligence to cover its trail. After less than an hour, they found handprints and fingernail scratches on the wall. Bits of clothing here. The shreds of a boot over there. And down the middle: a long muddy path painted over cobblestone bricks from dragging food back to its den, over and over.

    Winding through the sewers by torchlight, they found a narrow fissure in the side of the brick tunnel, like something had ripped bricks from mortar with its bare hands. The party¡¯s dwarven ranger took a look with his low-light vision and said that the crack led to a round dirt room. Much of it was clawed out by hand, but one side of the room looked like a partially finished sewer tunnel. The party guessed it had been abandoned and walled off, a common practice in cities as large and as old as Hoseki.

    The dwarf believed he saw a humanoid figure moving within. Its size and proportions didn¡¯t match a human¡¯s, and its form was blurred by long, hanging shadows. His low-light vision couldn¡¯t tell him more without a closer look.

    Without talking, the Bard signaled for the party to take formation. The dwarf Ranger went through first, followed by Theneesa, who had to leave her shield on the other side of the fissure because it wouldn¡¯t fit, taking only her spear. Then the Bard, and finally the party¡¯s Black Mage went through.

    The beast¡¯s first instinct was to flee, splashing through its muddy den to the far wall. Only then did it seem to realize it had nowhere to go. The sole way in was the entrance the adventurers used and now stood in front of.

    The party mistook the creature¡¯s attempt to flee as a sign that it was weak.

    It wasn¡¯t.

    A moment later, the figure of a man with gorilla shoulders charged the party. Long matted red hair draped from its body into dreadlocks two feet long. The combination of features made it look like a bodybuilder melting like candle wax, imposing and otherworldly. Sewage ran down its hair as it tackled the dwarf.This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

    The beast howled in pain, and so did the dwarf. In another swift motion, the monster leapt away from the party.

    Hans paused to check on his audience. The children stared wide-eyed, barely blinking as their imaginations put them in the story.

    ¡°The monster had bit between the dwarf¡¯s armor, into his neck,¡± Hans said. ¡°The injury was serious, but the dwarf kept saying that he wounded it in return, holding up his bloody sword to prove it.¡±

    When the monster lunged, it had impaled itself along the way.

    The Bard began to strum his lute, using music notes for incantations like wizard¡¯s used words. A wall of golden force crossed the room between the party and the beast, and the wall advanced toward the beast as the tempo of the song increased.

    The wall, with its brilliant light, made the sewer den as bright as midday.

    The party caught a glimpse of the sword wound dealt by the ranger, but then it was gone. The red hair of the creature twisted like thousands of snakes curling around the wound, filling and then covering it. With its missing piece of abdomen repaired, it howled again, revealing a mouth of teeth jutting in every direction, like a board a child covered with nails to learn how to use a hammer. Its green eyes drooped like runny eggs and flared with rage.

    The bard and the black mage used spells to keep the creature at a distance while Theneesa healed the ranger, but the fight wasn¡¯t going well. The monster punched through the golden wall in two strikes, shattering the magic barrier with its sheer force of will. The beast staggered again as a sharp blade of air shot from the bard¡¯s lute strings.

    The spell carved a vertical slice down its shoulder, cutting so deep that part of the monster¡¯s body separated and leaned to the side. A mortal injury for most living things, the beast¡¯s red hair went to work and the body reformed.

    ¡°Fall back!¡± the Bard yelled.

    Retreating from the den was a dangerous proposition because of the narrow exit. The Bard dragged the dwarven Ranger to the fissure, while Theneesa stood with the wizard to hold off the monster.

    They failed.

    The red beast shoulder checked the Bard and the Ranger against the edge of the fissure before they could slip through. A spear pierced its thigh. A glowing blue stone punched through its ribs.

    And it healed again.

    ¡°What should the party do in this situation?¡± Hans asked the kids.

    ¡°Run!¡± Harriot said.

    ¡°Okay, good, but how do you run from something faster than you?¡±

    The children thought harder.

    ¡°Kill it!¡± Chance yelled.

    ¡°They tried that. It¡¯s not working.¡±

    ¡°Stop it from following you?¡± Quentin guessed.

    ¡°Very good, Quentin.¡±

    Hans didn¡¯t expect the children to guess how the party achieved that, so he resumed the story.

    Theneesa and the Black Mage did their best to delay the monster, but the party barely survived every blurred pounce and charge. They needed to escape, or this would be their last job. Each member of the party knew this intuitively. No words were spoken, and the party began to get one member out of the room at a time.

    They were battered and mauled for the effort but eventually moved every member but Theneesa to the other side.

    Since the monster felt pain, Theneesa had given up on killing it, focusing instead on slowing it. Her spear thrusts were like cobra strikes, in and out in sharp bites. The monster would regenerate after each one, but pain bought the party time.

    One spear thrust went through its stomach, and it grabbed the spear with both hands, yanking it back out of itself, the red locks of hair closing the hole immediately.

    Theneesa had an idea. Instead of a quick attack and retreat like she had been doing, she rammed the spear through the monster¡¯s chest, burying the shaft halfway through the mass of wet, howling hair.

    ¡°Then she healed it,¡± Hans said.

    The children gasped.

    The monster¡¯s body healed around the spear. The beast grabbed the shaft and started to yank it loose, stopping to shriek in pain. Enraged, it ran toward Theneesa, its teeth bared. The spear in its chest tipped forward, catching in the mud. The sudden stop elicited another howl as the beast bounced against the force and fell to the side.

    That was all the time Theneesa needed to get through the fissure.

    The beast attempted to pursue, but everytime it hurled itself at the opening in the wall, the spear caught on the sides. Growing angrier and angrier, howling with pain from each attempt, the monster threw itself at the hole again and again. The party heard the hollow knock of the spear slamming into brick as they retreated, the beast in the sewer not intelligent enough to thread the spear through the crack to escape.

    ¡°They came back to the Guild in rough shape,¡± Hans said. ¡°Myself and a few other Golds went down to clean up. Sure enough, it was still banging against the sewer wall with Theneesa¡¯s spear stuck in its chest.¡±

    ¡°How¡¯d you kill it?¡± Quentin asked.

    ¡°One of the Golds was a Black Mage, and a pretty good one. He incinerated it with a fireball. That thing was so hot, the mud Theneesa had fought in was baked dry. Not much left of the monster, either.¡±

    ¡°So you never found out what it was?¡± Quentin asked.

    ¡°I got a look before it was put down. It was a ¡®meddybemps howler,¡¯¡± Hans said. When he saw that the children were only more confused, he added, ¡°It¡¯s like a swamp yeti.¡±

    Several miles upriver, a giant serpent nest had hatched a fresh clutch, driving monsters and animals alike to look for new hunting grounds. The howler ended up in the sewers, as improbable as that might have been.

    ¡°Alright. Looks like the rain is slowing down. You can stay as long as you like, but we¡¯re over class time. Don¡¯t want to worry anyone waiting for you.¡±

    When the last child went through the door, Hans took in the mud and dirt splattered over every surface of the guild hall. He sighed and went to get a mop and some rags.

    Quest Complete: Clean the guild hall.

    New Quest: Implement a new shoe policy to keep muddy footwear at the door.

    ***

    A steady, unending drizzle lingered for the following day. Hans waited at the guild hall to let children know class was canceled, but no one came. Even Quentin knew to stay home on account of the weather.

    With no classes to teach and Theneesa¡¯s recent letter on his mind, he fetched his incomplete manuscript. The Mikata Guild Master had said his methods worked, and she wanted more. Hans was reluctant at first, his resentment toward the Adventurers¡¯ Guild discouraging him from putting that much effort into helping the Guild grow, especially when they already rejected the effort, resoundingly.

    But that wasn¡¯t fair to Theneesa. She had never been unkind to Hans, and he knew how hard she took it when a member of her chapter fell on a job. She had the same goal as him: Get more adventurers home safely.

    I bet she¡¯d be interested in training dungeon tactics.

    Hans¡¯ dungeon corridor experiments were going well. He wasn¡¯t content with a few of the drills, and several of them he scrapped outright when what seemed brilliant in his mind fell apart in actual practice.

    The first step to learning dungeon corridor tactics, from Hans¡¯ perspective, was to hone the student¡¯s awareness of their space, with nearly every skill that followed hinging on that first one. Essentially, they had to keep track of where the walls were at all times, otherwise they might attempt a technique at the wrong moment.

    To start, he had students take the drills they did in the yard and had them drill in the corridor instead. Same drills, but now they had to pay closer attention to their positioning and the path of their sword swing. Unlike other beginner drills, Hans encouraged the students to improvise if the ¡°best¡± answer for an attack was impossible because of the walls. If they improvised when the ¡°best¡± answer was perfectly possible, Hans stopped them to review the mistake.

    Next, he put one student on offense and the other on defense. If the student on offense moved, the defender was responsible for adjusting, and they weren¡¯t allowed to force their partner to do the same. Essentially, one student stalked the other around the corridor as they drilled strikes, parries, and shield work. The chasing student would try to circle the other into a wall throughout the drill to force their partner to adapt.

    Then they switched.

    Some of the concepts were too advanced for children, Hans realized. His more elaborate drills required more focus and presence of mind than one could reasonably expect from an eight year-old, which is to say they failed spectacularly.

    In some cases, those same drills could still be useful for training adults, but none of the adults in town had taken him up on an adult combat class. For now, those drills would live in his notebook.

    Hans finished detailing his last exercise for training students to recover their footing if they were downed in a dungeon and began a small paragraph on how parrying skills were critical for creating the space one needed to stand during a fight. He encouraged instructors to incorporate grappling techniques into dungeon training as well. If an adventurer was disarmed or pinned to the ground, they needed techniques for freeing themselves.

    Quest Complete: Design drills to practice specific dungeon corridor skills.

    The front door of the guild hall burst open.

    ¡°Hey Boss! I¡¯m home!¡± Becky the druid stomped in, her leather and furs soaked from the rain. Before Hans could reply, she was behind him, reading over his shoulder. ¡°I like your doodles.¡±

    ¡°They¡¯re not¨C I mean, welcome back Becky.¡±

    ¡°No sign of the evil cry babies. We looked real hard.¡± When Becky said ¡°we,¡± she was referring to herself and her warthog familiar, Becki.

    Quest Complete: Learn the results of Becky¡¯s squonk search.

    ¡°Did find these again, though. You and Olza are still interested in them, right?¡±

    Becky set a bushel of the unidentified purple flowers on the table, and Hans noticed that many of them still had clumps of dirt on their roots.

    Dirt¡­

    Hans looked down at the mud caked on Becky¡¯s boots.

    Quest Failed: Implement a new shoe policy to keep muddy footwear at the door.

    ***

    <u>Open Quests (Ordered from Old to New):</u>

    Progress from Gold-ranked to Diamond-ranked.

    Mend the rift with Devon.

    Complete the manuscript for "The Next Generation: A Teaching Methodology for Training Adventurers."

    Pick up the guild provisions from the caravan after next.

    Identify the unknown purple flower from Olza.

    Prepare a booklist for Mayor Charlie.

    Grow the Gomi chapter without attracting outside attention.

    Prepare for winter, and don¡¯t forget the beer.

    Brainstorm ideas for safe approaches to training on uneven terrain.

    Design a winter curriculum.

    Acquire winter adventuring gear.

 Chapter 15: Item Identification

    ¡°I brought you more Olzas,¡± Becky said, strolling to the back of Olza¡¯s alchemy shop.

    ¡°More what?¡± Olza replied, confused.

    Becky poured the purple flowers onto the counter. ¡°Hans said you named these Olzas.¡±

    ¡°No, I did not!¡± the alchemist said forcefully, making sure that the Guild Master chuckling around the corner could hear her.

    ¡°It¡¯s a good name,¡± Hans said, joining the conversation.

    Olza rolled her eyes and asked Becky where she found them.

    ¡°Same spot. Fresh bloom too.¡±

    The alchemist asked the Druid several questions about the flowers, mostly pertaining to potential differences between the first batch of flowers Becky saw and this one. Nothing stood out. They were the same size and color as before. They grew in the same specific area too, little more than a patch at the edge of the mountains.

    Olza sighed. ¡°I guess new information was too much to ask.¡±

    Wrinkling her face, Becky added, ¡°Well, the flowers are near where we found the squonks. Didn¡¯t make the connection until I was coming home on the same trail Hans and me used.¡±

    ¡°How near?¡± Hans asked.

    ¡°Half a day from where we camped with Roland the first night. Give or take.¡±

    ¡°Do you think there¡¯s a connection?¡± Olza asked, posing the question to both adventurers. They shrugged.

    ¡°It¡¯s a big forest,¡± Hans said. ¡°Lots of stuff is nearby. The only thing I see that they have in common is that they are unusual. I¡¯m not saying to discount it completely, but we should be careful about rushing to conclusions.¡±

    ¡°Can you take me to the flowers?¡± Olza asked.

    ¡°I don¡¯t think that¡¯s a¨C¡±

    ¡°Of course!¡± Becky said.

    ¡°Let¡¯s back up. We don¡¯t know if the squonks and the flower are connected, but that doesn¡¯t change that we just saved a lifelong hunter from monsters in that area.¡±

    Olza thought. ¡°You¡¯ve never escorted an alchemist or a mage while they gathered reagents?¡±

    ¡°Well, yeah. But those were guild jobs.¡±

    ¡°Okay. I want to post a job with the guild.¡±

    Hans stared at her, mouth open.

    ¡°Got you there, boss,¡± Becky said.

    ***

    Becky wanted to leave right away, but Olza had potions to finish. She was in the midst of brewing four strength potions to fulfill an order from the merchant caravan. The obvious benefit of the potion didn¡¯t come easily, though. The ingredients were expensive, and brewing a single strength potion took more than 13 days of steps and stages.

    If she left immediately, she¡¯d waste the ingredients and her profit potential.

    Despite the rain, Becky didn¡¯t want to wait in town. She said big cities made her feel trapped, and Hans didn¡¯t argue with her definition of big city. Promising to return when the strength potions were complete, she and Becki trotted back into the forest, unbothered by the rain.

    Olza used the time to conduct more experiments, putting the fresh delivery to use immediately. She intended to pursue the similarities between rose silk and the purple flowers. That research direction might not pan out, but it was a direction nonetheless. The only one she had.

    Lacking expertise in spells, she enlisted Hans¡¯ assistance in choosing spell components to test against the purple flowers. The characteristics of those components were in her reference books, so she could compare her flower¡¯s reactions to what had been recorded, with a focus on summoning spell reagents.

    Essentially, if a spell called for rose silk and another five ingredients, Olza combined the rose silk and one of the other ingredients to observe the reaction. Emphasis on one. That was the safest way to research an unknown component with the limited equipment and resources of a town like Gomi. One known ingredient against the unknown, in very small quantities.

    The flowers were most reactive to the ingredients used for infernal summoning¨Cchanging colors, producing smoke, all minor reactions. To a neophyte, that might sound significant, but they had only explored a fraction of several hundred known components, so it was too early to draw a conclusion. They might discover that the flower was equally reactive in healing spells and illusion magic with more tests.

    ¡°Should we look at mending spell components also? That school is adjacent to summoning, right?¡± Hans asked Olza.

    ¡°Couldn¡¯t hurt. What¡¯s the first spell in the school of mending?¡±

    Hans flipped through one of the books he had brought to Gomi, a guide to beginner spellcasting. ¡°Create Stone. Soil, quartz shard, rose silk.¡±

    ¡°Soil determines the spell¡¯s element, right?¡± Olza asked.

    ¡°Yeah, for Create Water it¡¯s the same except soil is swapped for water.¡±

    ¡°I wish alchemy worked like casting. I¡¯d love to get good enough to make potions without ingredients.¡±

    ¡°Casters might not need the component crutch for those early spells for long, but the higher tiers still do. It¡¯s not quite as unfair as you make it sound.¡±

    Spellcasting required mana manipulation, shaping and directing the force to create spells. Mana was delicate and precise, capable of miraculous results if channeled in the correct ways. In theory, a mage could cast any spell with their will alone, bending mana with their mind and spirit to create the desired effect.

    That required an immense amount of control, but that difficulty could be reduced with incantations, physical gestures, and spell components. A guild mage once explained it to Hans like this: words and hand movements were like giving finely crafted paintbrushes to an artist. The improved tools made it easier to achieve the lines and gradients they desired. Working without them was like fingerpainting, clumsy and crude and awkward. It was possible to achieve the same effect with fingers rather than brushes, but it was radically more difficult.

    Spell components were even more helpful, like a cookie cutter for a baker. The baker could trim intricate shapes by hand, but stamping the template into dough was fast, easy, and consistent. In this analogy, the dough was mana, shapeless but highly malleable. The ingredients were the cookie cutter, premade templates for types of mana effects.

    Hans wasn¡¯t a mage, but he selected a dozen or so basic spells to master when he was a young adventurer. His natural affinity for magic and the depth of his mana pool were limited, but with practice he learned to use spells like Create Water and Create Fire with gestures and incantations only. He could also use spells like Giant¡¯s Voice (a voice amplification spell), Find North (pointed the caster to true north), and Create Food (a versatile spell capable of all sorts of foods in the hands of a mage; Hans could summon bread).If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

    He lacked the skill to use them in combat, but they proved their usefulness in job after job despite that limitation. Never having to worry about water or food enabled him to be more aggressive on a hunt, saving him trips back to civilization for supplies.

    Hans scolded himself for not sharing those comparisons and explanations during his retelling of Theneesa¡¯s encounter with the meddybemps howler. That distraction, yelling at himself within his mind, almost cost him.

    Olza took a pinch of quartz and sprinkled a few grains into a beaker with ground purple petals at the bottom. When the first grain landed, the glass of the beaker exploded outward with the boom of a thunderclap.

    Slowly rising from ducking behind the counter, Hans and Olza looked to where the beaker used to be. In its place sat a piece of obsidian as large as a cob of corn, jagged and glistening. Shards of glass embedded themselves into the walls, ceiling, and shelves of Olza¡¯s shop. Aside from those fragments, the beaker was gone.

    ¡°I¡¯ll put the flowers away in case you have quartz on your fingers.¡±

    Olza stared at her fingertips. ¡°Okay.¡± She stood very still.

    Hans removed the flowers first, sealing them in a glass jar. Unprepared petals shouldn¡¯t be reactive based on the tests they had done thus far, but that reaction was too potent to risk it. Next, Olza inspected the counter top, looking for any leftover speck of ground petal or quartz that might make another thunderclap. Hans checked her work and found nothing also.

    ¡°Ideas?¡± Hans asked, still not brave enough to touch the obsidian.

    The alchemist shook her head. Her face was pale.

    Seeing her in shock, Hans quietly studied the obsidian until Olza was ready to talk.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know what this reaction means.¡±

    ¡°Me neither.¡±

    ¡°I know that I¡¯m intrigued.¡± Olza smiled.

    Quest Update: Finish studying the purple flower without exploding.

    ***

    When Becky returned, she asked two questions: Could she have one of the strength potions, and could they repeat the experiment so she could see?

    Olza said no to both.

    ¡°Had to try,¡± Becky clucked to herself.

    In the time that Becky was away, the rain had stopped, and the weather looked like it would stay clear for their journey out to where the flowers grew. They would be away when the next caravan arrived, so Hans left instructions with Mayor Charlie to have his items stowed in the guild hall with the provisions he ordered. He left behind the guild credit he owed the merchants as well.

    The hike out would take two days, and they had supplies to stay for five before they had to come back to town to restock. They weren¡¯t sure what they would find, and Olza wanted time to conduct studies in the field. The alchemist had recovered from her near-miss, but she knew to be cautious. No need to rush anything unnecessarily. No need to test dangerous ingredients anywhere near Gomi.

    Hans was still against heading into squonk territory with a civilian, but Becky assured him that she hadn¡¯t seen any sign of the weeping gray horrors.

    She also added, ¡°Not even smelled gnoll piss in over a month.¡±

    With several boxes of supplies and testing equipment strapped to Becki¡¯s back, they set out to the flower patch with the druid in the lead.

    Walking the same trail for the third time was good for Hans¡¯ familiarity with the land around Gomi. There was a lot of it to explore, and learning one route well was a good start. Summer was beginning to wane, but the heat was still oppressive and relentless. Hans found himself giving thanks for every small breeze and every spot of shadow, even if the escape from the heat was fleeting.

    The first time Hans took this trail, he half-jogged while scanning intently to find signs of Roland. It was tiring and left little room for conversation. The return journey wasn¡¯t as focused, but the group still needed to move quickly, and casual banter when one party member barely clung to life didn¡¯t feel appropriate.

    On this journey, Olza pointed out various plants and fungi to Hans, and the party exchanged anecdotes and questions, learning more about each other to pass the time.

    When Hans noticed that Becky and Olza both seemed reluctant to dig too deeply into their pasts, he realized he felt the same. To spare them all more discomfort, he changed the subject back to the purple flowers.

    ¡°If we¡¯re lucky, we¡¯ll have a letter from Mazo waiting for us when we get back,¡± he said. ¡°She¡¯s not an alchemist by trade, but she has done more unusual experiments with spell components than anyone else I know.¡±

    ¡°Unusual?¡± Olza asked.

    ¡°When she was in Hoseki, she had ideas for how to advance blue magic. Since learning abilities from monsters was so dangerous, she spent a lot of time looking for ways to ¡®neutralize¡¯ the effects of a spell without stopping the spell itself.¡±

    Becky knew that Blue Mages needed to experience a monster¡¯s ability to learn it. ¡°Wouldn¡¯t a stronger protection spell do the same thing?¡± she asked.

    Hans compared protection spells to armor. Like physical materials, protection spells had a limit to what they could stop and how much force they could endure. The protection spell had to be as strong as or stronger than an attack to withstand it, magical or physical. At a certain point on the monster power scale, only the grandmasters of protection spells had a chance of surviving an attack. Even then, the known height of protection spells could never endure the breath of an elder dragon or the attack of another creature at that level.

    Plate armor could deflect an arrow, but a ballista bolt would punch right through.

    Mazo¡¯s idea was to nullify characteristics of the spell instead of trying to endure them. For the dragon¡¯s breath example, she wanted to ¡°turn off¡± the part of the spell that made the fire burn skin, but not completely. It just didn¡¯t need to burn her. As long as it burned everything else, she was happy.

    ¡°Wow,¡± Olza said, impressed. ¡°Did she get it to work?¡±

    ¡°Nope,¡± Hans said, ¡°But she got a few publications out of it. If you want someone to think outside the box with spell components, though, I can¡¯t think of anyone better than Mazo.¡±

    ¡°I dated a Blue Mage for a bit,¡± Becky shared without prompting.

    ¡°Want to tell us some stories?¡± Olza asked.

    ¡°No,¡± Becky replied.

    That¡¯s probably for the best, Hans thought, trying to imagine what dating Becky would be like.

    When the conversation fell flat, no one bothered to revive it. They seemed content with moving through Gomi¡¯s forest, taking in the sights, sounds, and smells of a mountain wilderness trending toward fall.

    Soon, they made camp for the night. The peaceful journey led to a peaceful evening by the campfire. Tired from the hike, conversation within the party was limited, but they each seemed comfortable with silent companionship. Olza boiled vegetables and smoked venison to make a stew, and the three sat around the fire slurping at the broth and poking soft carrots with their forks.

    Becky volunteered for the first watch. She would alternate with Hans until the morning. Olza offered to take a shift, but the Druid and the Guild Master insisted that keeping watch was their job. As the client, Olza should enjoy her rest.

    Some time later, a distant howl roused Hans from his sleep. He sat up to find Becky facing away from the fire, her axe across her lap.

    Without turning, she said, ¡°Gnolls. Sounds like they are across the valley.¡±

    ¡°How far is that?¡±

    ¡°Day or two, depending.¡±

    ¡°I thought you said¨C¡±

    ¡°I said I hadn¡¯t seen ¡®em. I didn¡¯t say they were extinct.¡±

    That was fair.

    When Becky rotated off of watch, she fell asleep immediately, her head resting on Becki¡¯s belly. Hans didn¡¯t have the sensitive ears of a Druid, but by his estimate, the gnolls weren¡¯t moving toward them. Like a wolfpack, a pack of gnolls was capable of great violence, but like their wolf brethren, gnolls were opportunists. They might snatch a moose calf lagging behind a herd, but they would never attack a herd head-on.

    Food was plentiful in summer months, so hearing gnolls howl was not a sign of immediate danger for Hans¡¯ party. If they heard the same howls in the depths of winter, however, they would be readying themselves for a fight instead of waiting quietly.

    The howls continued on the second night. They were closer than before, but Becky said that alone was not cause for alarm. She heard no signs that they were moving toward the party, and the tone of their howls was social rather than predatory. They were seeking companionship, not food.

    To Hans, every gnoll howl sounded the same, the bay of a wolf mixed with the haunting moan of a human in pain. He had to trust that Becky could tell the difference.

    Olza¡¯s sleep that night was more restless than before, her eyes darting awake at particularly loud gnoll calls before closing them again. Hans found himself doing the same when he wasn¡¯t on watch. When he was, he kept his mind awake and engaged by reviewing his knowledge of gnolls, especially with regard to how gnolls hunted.

    He found that the mental exercises made him more alert, as if the watch process was active rather than passive. Whether that was actually the case didn¡¯t matter to Hans. He had learned the trick from an older adventurer when he was Iron-ranked. When he found that it kept him awake and aware, he continued the practice.

    Seemed to help Devon too.

    Hans shook his head and went back to reciting gnoll knowledge. He couldn¡¯t let the past distract him while he was on watch.

    Later the next morning, as they closed on their destination, Becky raised a hand.

    ¡°I smell gnolls,¡± she said.

    ***

    <u>Open Quests (Ordered from Old to New):</u>

    Progress from Gold-ranked to Diamond-ranked.

    Mend the rift with Devon.

    Complete the manuscript for "The Next Generation: A Teaching Methodology for Training Adventurers."

    Pick up the guild provisions from the caravan after next.

    Identify the unknown purple flower from Olza.

    Prepare a booklist for Mayor Charlie.

    Grow the Gomi chapter without attracting outside attention.

    Prepare for winter, and don¡¯t forget the beer.

    Brainstorm ideas for safe approaches to training on uneven terrain.

    Design a winter curriculum.

    Acquire winter adventuring gear.

 Chapter 16: Random Encounters

    Heeding Becky¡¯s warning, the party moved slowly toward the location of the flower patch, which was still well out of sight. The elevation had trended upward for the last day and a half of their journey, but now it became proper mountain terrain, the group moving across steep slopes coated in rocks and boulders that rolled down the mountain eons ago.

    As the party climbed, the forest grew less dense. The rocky soil prevented all but the hardiest of plants from growing, thinning the woods to a few lean, scrubby trees and patches of coarse, tough grass.

    Gnolls had the intelligence of feral children. They weren¡¯t capable of complex strategies, but their pack tactics were organized enough to understand the advantage of higher ground. If the gnolls attacked now, they would use the terrain against the party. Sharp claws and teeth were a given, but if gnolls happened upon a weapon like a sword or club, they were happy to use it.

    Becky stayed in the lead, and Hans took the rear. Olza traveled alongside Becki in the middle. The warthog¡¯s size and girth acted as a moving wall, providing near complete protection to the alchemist on one side. If the battle went poorly, Olza would hop on Becki¡¯s back and flee. Becki disliked that plan most of all, because it meant abandoning her master, but the Druid insisted it was their smartest option. When the beast continued to protest, Becky whispered assurances into Becki¡¯s ear, promising that she would stay safe without her familiar by her side.

    The party advanced cautiously until the Druid whispered, ¡°We¡¯re here.¡±

    In his mind, Hans had pictured the purple flowers growing in the middle of a meadow surrounded by trees, like a fairy circle or a dryad¡¯s garden lit by golden sun. When Becky pointed to where the flowers grew, Hans saw only rock and the occasional weed. If the druid had not joined them as a guide, he never would have thought that this was the origin of the mysterious blossoms.

    Olza waited with Becki while the two adventurers circled the perimeter. The gnolls had been here, their footprints and refuse obvious to Hans. If he had somehow overlooked those signs, he wouldn¡¯t have missed the potent ammonia of animal urine. Gnolls were highly territorial, after all.

    When the party regrouped, Becky¡¯s face wrinkled in thought. ¡°They¡¯re gone. These tracks are all a few days old.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s bothering you then?¡± Hans asked.

    ¡°They left in a hurry. The whole pack bolted in the same direction together, like they were running from something.¡±

    ¡°What made them run?¡±

    ¡°Beats me, boss. But we¡¯re alone here if Miss Olza wants to begin her work.¡±

    The alchemist nodded, following Becky to where she first found the strange flowers.

    Becky described a dense patch of purple flowers growing through the mountain rocks, and she defined the outer edge by memory. The flowers weren¡¯t here now, but Becky¡¯s recollection seemed reliable anytime it involved nature.

    While Becky and Olza scoured the rocks for anything noteworthy, Hans measured the flower patch with his steps. If the druid¡¯s memory was accurate, the flower patch had been about ten feet wide and thirty feet deep, the length climbing up the mountain slope like a road or path.

    When Becky and Olza neared the far end of the patch up the slope, they called Hans over. The pair crouched around a pile of rocks when he arrived.

    ¡°What is it?¡±

    Olza pointed to a stem holding a small, dried blossom, like it had withered rapidly in place. Nestled in the rocks, the flower wasn¡¯t visible unless he stood directly over it. When Becki arrived to inspect the small flower, the warthog alerted, squealing and hopping on its front legs.

    ¡°Where?¡± Becky asked her familiar.

    Becky knelt back down near the flower and ran a finger over one of the rocks. When she held it up, a faint light gray powder covered her fingertips. The dwarf sniffed it and then investigated around where she found the powder.

    ¡°These are gnoll ashes,¡± she said finally. ¡°Just a sprinkling. A full grown gnoll leaves behind more ash than this.¡±

    When Hans adjusted his eyes, tracing the outline that Becky indicated, he saw that it crudely matched a gnoll¡¯s size and body shape.

    ¡°Why would someone scatter gnoll ashes like this?¡± Becky asked. ¡°What do you think, Hans?¡±

    Hans rubbed the ash between his fingers and sniffed. He frowned and studied the ground again. He sat down, staring at the blank patch of stone.

    ¡°Boss?¡±

    ¡°I know how this sounds, but I¡¯m just saying what I see. This looks like the remains of a Disintegration spell.¡±

    Becky and Olza gasped.

    ¡°That can¡¯t be right,¡± the dwarf said. ¡°Nothing anywhere near Gomi can do that.¡±

    Hans added, ¡°Nothing in the kingdom, for that matter.¡±

    ¡°But you¡¯ve seen residue like this? In person?¡± Olza asked.

    ¡°Devon¨CDevontes cleared a lich cabal deep in the frontier. One of his party tripped a trap. This was what was left.¡±

    ¡°You fought liches?¡± Becky asked with wonder.

    Laughing, Hans answered, ¡°No. Devontes and his party of Platinums did. I was part of the team that searched and cataloged the site when they were done. The outline was easier to see on a flat dungeon floor, but it was like this.¡±

    ¡°Sh-should we be worried?¡± Olza asked, color draining from her face.

    After surveying their surroundings, Hans replied, ¡°We should be cautious. That spell is beyond most Platinum mages even. The trap Devontes¡¯ party found was the most complex piece of engineering I¡¯ve ever seen. Far beyond me, and it only had one charge. It¡¯s hard to imagine something capable of that out here.¡±

    ¡°Yet¡­¡± Olza said, looking at the faint outline of what used to be a gnoll.

    New Quest: Study the purple flower without disintegrating.

    ¡°Becky and I will do another perimeter search, a bit wider this time,¡± Hans said. ¡°Are you okay here with Becki?¡±

    Olza nodded.

    When they returned, spending the better part of an hour and finding nothing more than the tracks of fleeing gnolls, they found the alchemist sitting on a large stone, sketching in her notebook. ¡°I found something weird,¡± Olza said when she saw Becky and Hans approaching.

    ¡°Fits the theme of the day,¡± Hans said.

    ¡°I haven¡¯t touched or moved the flower, but look closely at the stem.¡±If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.

    Becky and Hans took turns lying on the ground, putting their eyes as close to the stem as they could without disturbing the dry flower. The stem of the flower had small indents on opposite sides.

    Before Hans could ask what they might be, Becky said, ¡°Teeth marks.¡±

    ¡°That was my guess too,¡± Olza said excitedly. ¡°And look at how the ash lines up with it.¡± She showed them her notebook. The outline of the gnoll aligned with the flower in such a way that the gnoll¡¯s snout appeared to touch the flower.

    Hans checked the drawing against the ash outline. She was right. It wasn¡¯t obvious when the lines were faint, but the snout seemed to end at the flower.

    ¡°Are you guys saying the gnoll bit the flower and disintegrated?¡±

    Nodding, Olza said, ¡°Yes, before it could bite through.¡±

    ¡°Makes me nervous to be picking them again,¡± Becky said, holding her hands behind her back.

    None of them had an explanation for how Becky could safely pick the flowers but a gnoll attempting to eat a blossom triggered a disintegration spell. They were, however, more sure of what made the pack flee in such a frenzy. If one of Hans¡¯ friends suddenly dissolved out of existence before his eyes, he would run too.

    ¡°Olza,¡± Hans began. ¡°This is your job, so it¡¯s up to you what we do next. We didn¡¯t find any signs of immediate danger, except for the flower, of course. Do you want to stay or do you want to head back?¡±

    ¡°Stay,¡± she answered without hesitation.

    ¡°I¡¯ll get camp going,¡± Becky offered, hiking back down the mountain to find a flatter, and with some luck, softer surface to settle on. At first, Hans was impressed by Becky¡¯s eagerness, but then he realized that making camp took the dwarf well away from the flower. He didn¡¯t fault her for wanting some distance between her and instant death.

    While Olza drew the dried flower from multiple angles, careful not to disturb it, Hans searched the patch again, looking for any flowers hidden as well as the first. He found none, and when he looked beyond the perimeter Becky had defined, the results were the same. This appeared to be the last flower of what Becky described as a ¡°blanket of purple.¡±

    The sun was nearly set when he finished. Olza wanted to continue, but she couldn¡¯t without light, so she followed Hans to the camp below.

    Too tired to cook, they shared jerky and conjured bread courtesy of Hans. The dwarf Druid seemed distracted, her face long and her eyes distant as she paced. She hardly spoke, and when she finally sat, she seemed hypnotized by the fire. Her only movements were the slow chewing of her jerky.

    ¡°You okay, Becky?¡± Hans asked.

    She sighed. ¡°That spell, it isn¡¯t fair.¡±

    ¡°What do you mean?¡±

    ¡°You said it killed a Platinum, right? Instantly. All of that training, all of that power¡­ it didn¡¯t matter. Something will put me down someday, but I better get the chance to fight it. Whatever kills me should have to earn it.¡±

    Hans nodded to show his understanding. He didn¡¯t have any words to comfort her.

    He allowed Becky several quiet minutes to continue speaking. When she didn¡¯t, he turned his attention to Olza and asked her plans for tomorrow.

    ¡°I can run a few tests without touching it but not many,¡± the alchemist answered. ¡°Then we have to decide if we try picking it or not.¡±

    ¡°Bad idea,¡± Becky grunted.

    ¡°You picked plenty of them before. You¡¯re still here.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, and I want to keep on being here. I¡¯m just as much meat as that gnoll, so whatever luck saved me but killed it¡­ Well, I don¡¯t see the point of pushing it.¡±

    ¡°I know,¡± Olza said with understanding. ¡°I¡¯m still thinking about it.¡±

    Hans added wood to the fire after a few hours of quiet reflection. The moon had been overhead for some time now, but no one in the group seemed interested in sleeping. Except for Becki. The warthog snored, waking up only when her farts were loud enough.

    As he settled again, Becky asked, ¡°You really fought liches in the frontier? I can''t get my head around it.¡±

    Hans shook his head. ¡°Platinums and Diamonds did the fighting. Us Golds were just very durable squires at that point. Our only job was to support the upper ranks.¡±

    ¡°Why go so far outside the kingdom to hunt?¡±

    ¡°My Guild Master convinced the royal family that the cabal could build an army and invade.¡±

    ¡°That wasn¡¯t true?¡± Becky asked, catching the stiffness of Hans¡¯ voice.

    ¡°I mean, it could have been true. We spent more time discussing treasure than we did defending the kingdom, though. The Platinums had a line on an artifact, and the Guild Master wanted it for the Guild collection.¡±

    ¡°Did they find it?¡±

    A memory flickered to life in his mind. He saw himself standing in Devontes¡¯ tent after the dungeon run. They argued about whether or not the artifact should be brought back to the kingdom, but Devontes wouldn¡¯t tell Hans exactly what they recovered or what the Guild planned to do with it. When Hans insisted that they discuss it, Devontes told him to leave.

    ¡°This is Platinum business. You¡¯re excused.¡±

    When the memory passed, he answered Becky: ¡°Above my paygrade.¡±

    ***

    For the next two days, Olza conducted every test she could that did not disturb the flower. She took soil samples at various points where Becky said the flowers had grown. She collected rock samples. She gathered samples of the weeds growing in the vicinity. And she scraped up what little of the gnoll ash lingered before the wind dispersed it completely.

    Hans played the part of assistant while Becky and Becki ranged around the campsite. Though her supplies were limited, Olza¡¯s work was extensive and exhaustive. The testing process was long and laborious and yielded nothing remarkable. Nor did the Becks¡¯ scouting.

    On the morning of the third day, Olza said, ¡°I think this is our last day. We can head back tomorrow.¡±

    The alchemist went on to explain that she wanted to try harvesting the flower. The two adventurers discouraged it, but Olza insisted. She had been studying the flower from the day Becky dropped the first batch at her shop months ago, and in that time she had learned little. She knew that it had properties in common with rose silk and that combining it with quartz produced a strange reaction. And she had just recently learned the flower may have a disintegration ability.

    Despite those developments, her understanding of the flower hadn¡¯t progressed beyond her handful of disjointed observations. She knew what she had seen, but she couldn¡¯t explain the how or the why of the reactions. She needed more data.

    ¡°If there¡¯s a flower growing in our woods with a disintegration ability, we need to know,¡± Olza argued. ¡°If they are anywhere else near Gomi, one of the kids could stumble on it.¡±

    Becky¡¯s interest in bothering the flower hadn¡¯t changed, but she admitted Olza had a point. The more they understood the potential danger, the better their chances of protecting Gomi from it.

    New Quest: Successfully harvest the purple flower.

    The adventurers watched from a distance as Olza put her plan in action. Starting near the flower, she unraveled a 100 yard spool of string, keeping it as straight as she could as she went deeper into the forest. When all of the string was free of the spool, she returned to the flower and threaded a simple loop at that end. With the loop wide and loose, she carefully set it down around the flower, surrounding the plant with string without touching it.

    Hans found a vantage point farther up the mountain where he could safely observe the flower while Becky and Olza walked to the other end of the string. A few minutes later, the string shifted across the ground, beginning to tense. The ripple flowed slowly down the line until it gently cinched the loop around the stem of the flower.

    The string pulled softly. The flower¡¯s roots resisted at first but not for long. Hans watched as the flower emerged from the dirt, and then it was gone. Its body transformed into a puff of smoke, as faint as a spark finding its place on kindling, and was no more.

    The empty string pulled across the ground until Becky and Olza heard Hans yelling to stop.

    The party inspected the area where the flower had been, finding nothing new or noteworthy. The flower left no residue or trail, and its movement from where it grew didn¡¯t have any visible effect on anything nearby.

    Quest Failed: Successfully harvest the purple flower.

    Quest Complete: Study the purple flower without disintegrating.

    Disheartened, they set to breaking down the campsite, preparing to leave at first light the following morning. Before joining Hans and Olza, Becky hung a few animal skulls from stakes she drove into the ground. She hoped hunter superstitions would keep people away from this area until they knew more.

    When they had packed what they could, Hans pushed together a pile of kindling while Becky went to get more firewood. When the dwarf returned, a sparrow landed on her shoulder as she dropped the fuel. The sparrow hopped about on Becky¡¯s shoulder, chirping and flicking its wings, its head twisting side to side with each motion.

    The sparrow flew away. Becky turned a concerned face to Hans and Olza. ¡°Mayor says three adventurers are in Gomi. One¡¯s a Diamond.¡±

    New Quest: Learn the identities of the visiting adventurers as well as their intentions.

    ***

    <u>Open Quests (Ordered from Old to New):</u>

    Progress from Gold-ranked to Diamond-ranked.

    Mend the rift with Devon.

    Complete the manuscript for "The Next Generation: A Teaching Methodology for Training Adventurers."

    Pick up the guild provisions from the caravan after next.

    Identify the unknown purple flower from Olza.

    Prepare a booklist for Mayor Charlie.

    Grow the Gomi chapter without attracting outside attention.

    Prepare for winter, and don¡¯t forget the beer.

    Brainstorm ideas for safe approaches to training on uneven terrain.

    Design a winter curriculum.

    Acquire winter adventuring gear.

    Learn the identities and intentions of the visiting adventurers.

 Chapter 17: Unread Messages

    Mayor Charlie¡¯s sparrow didn¡¯t explicitly say that Gomi was in danger, and Becky insisted he would have were that the case. According to the Druid, the message expressed concern. Nothing else.

    ¡°Couldn¡¯t he have said more?¡± Hans asked.

    ¡°Hans, it¡¯s a sparrow. How much you think those little cuties can remember?¡± Becky retorted.

    The Guild Master didn¡¯t know much about the memory spans of sparrows. He did know, however, that Becky and Charlie decided upon the sparrow system together. If Gomi was in danger, Charlie would know what to put in the message for Becky to understand.

    Their conversation about the sparrow reminded him of how quickly Becky had returned when the search for Roland began. Charlie had sent a sparrow for her then, and she arrived in the middle of the night, prepared to depart again as soon as they could.

    Hans asked what the sparrow said in that message.

    ¡°Roland is missing.¡±

    And that was all the druid had needed to hear. She broke camp immediately and rode Becki hard to get to Gomi as swiftly as possible to help search for the hunter.

    Regardless of how urgent this new message may or may not have been, the party tried to keep an accelerated pace. Olza was a good sport but wasn¡¯t an adventurer, and Becki was weighed down by alchemy supplies and equipment, so the party couldn¡¯t move with the same kind of speed as they did during the Roland rescue. They could, however, walk quickly, make camp late, and break camp earlier the next morning.

    On the way back to Gomi, Hans asked Becky and Olza about visiting adventurers. The highest rank Becky could recall was a party of Silvers chasing a vampire. The town had lived in terror for months, expecting to be snatched in the night to be a snack for the monster, until a caravan delivered a message. The vampire had been slain, and its final location was nowhere near Gomi. The adventurers left shortly after.

    That was decades before Olza moved to town. The highest rank she could recall was a single drunk Silver who arrived as part of a merchant escort. He was well beyond his prime¨Cno offense to Hans¨Cand other than a close encounter with Galinda, hadn¡¯t caused any trouble or shown any interest in Gomi. Any rank above Silver was too expensive for a merchant caravan.

    Two Golds and a Diamond¡­

    His best guess was that one of the Guild Masters Luther spoke to on his journey to research the squonks had decided a direct conversation was warranted. Perhaps they encountered a squonk recently? They might also make the journey if an orc warband was on the move again. A good Guild Master would warn neighboring chapters if that was the case.

    But the sparrow didn¡¯t mention orcs or squonks. It mentioned the number and rank of adventurers. Period. If Charlie was afraid of a monster attack, surely he would have mentioned that specifically.

    The message seemed to gnaw at everyone¡¯s mind but Becki¡¯s. By the time they sat around the fire that first night of their return journey, Hans was all but certain that the adventurers had come for him. Plenty of Gold and Diamond-ranked adventurers disliked him, but he couldn¡¯t think of a dispute grave enough to motivate three upper ranks to travel all the way to Gomi.

    Beyond his rift with Devon, the worst offense he could think of was when he argued with a Diamond about how to expose Irons to new challenges. The Diamond insisted that ¡°sink or swim¡± produced the strongest adventurers. If Irons perished trying to push to Bronze, while tragic as it was, their deaths were ultimately good for the Guild. Culling the weak gave the strong more room to grow.

    Hans told him, ¡°You might be a Diamond adventurer, but you¡¯re a shit person.¡±

    He got his nose broken for that one. Had the argument occurred anywhere but a Guild Administration meeting, there wouldn¡¯t have been enough upper-ranked adventurers to hold back the Diamond. A broken nose was the best outcome Hans could have asked for, all things considered.

    Yeah, that was the most reasonable explanation. The Diamond heard Hans was posted in Gomi and found an excuse to be nearby. Upper ranks often prattled on about the respect they deserved, so Hans¡¯ sleight wouldn¡¯t be easily forgotten.

    He was almost certain that the grudge wouldn¡¯t go as far as murder.

    When Hans opened his mouth to share his revelation with Becky and Olza, he was surprised to hear Olza speak first.

    ¡°I think they¡¯re here for me,¡± Olza said.

    ¡°I was just thinkin¡¯ that they were probably here for me,¡± Becky added.

    Wait. What?

    Becky went first. ¡°Haven¡¯t seen my uncles and aunts. Last time I did, they told me if I decided to be an adventurer they would come to Gomi and drag me back with them.¡±

    ¡°How long has it been?¡± Olza asked.

    ¡°Few hundred years,¡± Becky answered. ¡°Bound to catch up with me eventually.¡±

    That sounded improbable to Hans, but he didn¡¯t say so. Telling that little bit of her story seemed to cause her great distress. Becki came over and nuzzled her master to offer comfort.

    ¡°I was engaged to Diamond-ranked once,¡± Olza began. ¡°I moved to Gomi to get away from him.¡±

    The Diamond was a Black Mage. Hans vaguely recalled his name, but he couldn¡¯t remember more than that. Having spent years managing and studying Guild records, he had likely read the name on a report but never met the mage in person.

    As Olza told it, the two bonded over a love of science when the Black Mage was Gold-ranked. They took long trips to seek out exotic ingredients to study, and the money he made from adventuring gave them a comfortable lifestyle. When the mage neared Diamond, Olza began to notice a shift in his personality. He barred her from having male friends or male customers and insisted that he conduct all business on her behalf. Not long after he hit Diamond, she began to fear for her safety. One night, she packed her things and left a note that said she was moving to Hoseki and begged the Diamond not to follow.

    And then she moved to Gomi, hoping she¡¯d be far away when the Diamond realized he had been tricked. Olza was her grandmother¡¯s name, so she made it her own on the off chance a merchant told a story about a lady alchemist in Gomi to the wrong adventurer. When she didn¡¯t volunteer her previous name, neither Becky nor Hans asked.Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.

    When the two women looked to Hans for his story, he shrugged. ¡°I ran my mouth more than I should have in my younger years¡­ and probably in my older years too.¡±

    ¡°Well, out with it, Guild Master,¡± Becky demanded.

    ¡°There¡¯s not much to tell.¡±

    ¡°So it¡¯ll be quick. Tell it.¡±

    ¡°It was just guild politics. It¡¯s nothing special, and I¡¯d have to spend half an hour catching you up on the context for it to make sense. I promise, every word of it is boring.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t buy it,¡± Becky answered while Olza nodded her agreement. ¡°I¡¯ll try again after our next bottle of fool¡¯s root.¡±

    Hearing the name of the vodka made Hans nauseous. ¡°Please don¡¯t.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ll be coming into town early tomorrow evening if we keep it up,¡± Becky said. ¡°Guess we¡¯ll find out for sure then.¡±

    ***

    Hans didn¡¯t sleep much that night, including the hours he wasn¡¯t on watch. By the time the sun started to rise, he had thought of another seven upper-ranked adventurers that strongly disliked him. Most of the conflicts didn¡¯t warrant a trip to Gomi just to beat on Hans, though. He knew that logically, but his imagination was stronger. If he looked at any memory long enough, he could twist it into a nightmare, discovering ¡°new¡± details, like the flicker of a facial expression or the double meaning of an innocuous statement.

    Judging by Becky and Olza¡¯s demeanor, they spent the night doing the same. They moved as if they knew the gallows waited for them down the hall.

    A few hours into their hike, a distant rumble reached their ears. The sound was so soft, so far off, that even Becky asked, ¡°Was that thunder?¡±

    Everyone looked to the sky. Aside from the odd wisp of white cloud, they saw only brilliant sapphire blue. No sign of a storm.

    ¡°Doesn¡¯t smell like rain,¡± Becky said. Becki snorted her agreement.

    They waited for the thunder to return. When it didn¡¯t, they continued on toward Gomi.

    Another mile down the trail, the thunder came again.

    ¡°Must be moving toward us,¡± Olza guessed.

    Becky didn¡¯t reply. She screwed up her face and looked at the sky, still blue.

    This time, the party paused for only a minute before continuing. If it was thunder, they wanted to be home before the rain came.

    Several claps echoed in succession, each with a flash bright enough to leave the adventurers blinking in broad daylight.

    The party exchanged glances, each expressing cautious curiosity. They seemed to be asking, ¡°Should we be concerned?¡± but no member of the group was willing to raise the alarm over thunder and lightning, regardless of how unusual its presence seemed. They walked more briskly, not saying a word to each other.

    The forest stayed quiet for another hour, and the sky was still blue.

    A pillar of glowing green fire shot into the sky, visible through the forest canopy as it punched toward the clouds. Judging the perspective was difficult. Hans couldn¡¯t definitively say how large the column of twisting flame had been, but it was undoubtedly large. For it to be visible, it had to be.

    ¡°That came from Gomi,¡± Becky said.

    New Quest: Protect Gomi.

    The Druid jumped on to Becki¡¯s back, sitting on top of Olza¡¯s gear. She looked back at Hans and Olza.

    ¡°Go!¡± Olza said. ¡°I know the way.¡±

    Becky nodded and clicked her tongue. The warthog disappeared down the trail, the stomping of her hooves lingering long after she was out of sight. Hans turned to follow but paused.

    ¡°Don¡¯t rush into town,¡± Hans told Olza. ¡°Stay out of sight until you¡¯re sure it¡¯s safe.¡±

    Olza nodded.

    The Guild Master ran down the trail behind Becky. He hadn¡¯t kept up his endurance the way he should have, he began to realize. Once he was a full-time teacher, staying in dungeon-run shape didn¡¯t seem as critical. Now, as his lungs clawed at the air and his legs burned and cramped, he regretted being lazy, for wallowing when he should have been training.

    What did he tell his students to do in moments like these, when you needed to push beyond your physical limits?

    Set your mind to work on something else. Let your subconscious move your legs.

    The fire. Where had he seen it before? It was familiar.

    He cycled through every fire-based spell he knew. It was so big, though. What kind of mage could cast a spell like that? What spell variation turned the fire green?

    Maybe it¡¯s not a mage. Mages aren¡¯t the only sources of fire magic. What creatures are known for fire magic?

    Dragons. No, there wasn¡¯t a dragon he knew of that used green fire. Green dragon fire was still fire, despite the creative license some storytellers had taken over the years.

    Fire elemental. Again, fire is green. Upper tiers of fire elemental could burn blue, and blue wasn¡¯t green.

    Flame spirit? Chimera? Fire giant? Hell hound? Djinni? Fire mephit?

    No. Poison mephit! He saw a poison mephit use fire like that once. He had expected the little flying demon to be fast but frail. Instead, he came around the corner to a deluge of green fire careening down the corridor. Hans had stepped back under cover just in time for the flames to roar by. His arm closest to the fire erupted in flames, but a mage in the party covered it with ice before it could melt his skin. That didn¡¯t save his armor though.

    Poison mephit was the only explanation that matched, but that didn¡¯t make sense. How would a poison mephit get to Gomi? Why would it want to get to Gomi? His party had hiked underground for four days to find a mephit lair, so deep that he began to question if he had passed from the physical plane to the infernal plane.

    Did one of the mephits escape? Were mephits capable of holding a grudge? Had one of them come to Gomi to get revenge on Hans?

    As improbable as it sounded, the evidence had been there for his eyes to see. That was a poison mephit ability. He was sure of it.

    Run faster. Run faster, damn it.

    The sky erupted again, but not with fire. Arcs of red lightning shot up from the ground into the sky and lingered, like a tree of electricity whose branches changed in blinks. The tree grew and grew, seeming to singe the few white clouds into nothingness as the lightning arced and bounced across the sky.

    Poison mephits can¡¯t do that.

    ¡°Air elemental?¡±

    He had seen air elementals use lightning in a similar matter. Where most people thought of lightning as a fleeting force that came and went in a moment, air elementals manipulated electricity as though it had mass. He saw an air elemental fill a cavern with that kind of lightning, creating an electric buffer all around it.

    He had seen air elementals fight like that, yes, but he never saw an air elemental use fire magic. Separately, his explanations were outlandish, but the facts matched. Seen together¡­ Why would an air elemental and a poison mephit attack together?

    He was nearing Gomi now. He¡¯d know soon enough.

    The yells of adults and children cut through the sound of his own gasping breaths. He imagined the kids¡¯ class facing down an enraged air elemental with wooden swords and wooden bucklers, while a poison mephit circled overhead, cackling.

    Hans burst from the treeline to see the clearing between him and Gomi filled with townspeople. Even the Tribe was there in force. Over a hundred people stood in the field, not counting the kids who ran around screaming.

    ¡­and they were laughing. And clapping. And drinking?

    Becky turned around. ¡°Hans! Your friends are amazing!¡±

    ***

    Open Quests (Ordered from Old to New):

    Progress from Gold-ranked to Diamond-ranked.

    Mend the rift with Devon.

    Complete the manuscript for "The Next Generation: A Teaching Methodology for Training Adventurers."

    Pick up the guild provisions from the caravan after next.

    Identify the unknown purple flower from Olza.

    Prepare a booklist for Mayor Charlie.

    Grow the Gomi chapter without attracting outside attention.

    Prepare for winter, and don¡¯t forget the beer.

    Brainstorm ideas for safe approaches to training on uneven terrain.

    Design a winter curriculum.

    Acquire winter adventuring gear.

    Learn the identities of the visiting adventurers as well as their intentions.

    Protect Gomi.

 Chapter 18: Old Party Members

    Hans bent over, his hands on his knees, wheezing. He tried repeatedly to ask Becky to explain, but his lungs refused to pause long enough for the words to leave his lips. While he fought for air, his eyes surveyed the field between Gomi and the treeline.

    This wasn¡¯t an attack. It was some kind of festival.

    Children played tag, chasing each other through throngs of townspeople, most with cups or bottles in their hands. A group of tusks stacked wood for a bonfire while Galad and Uncle Ed stood in front of a spit with their arms crossed, watching a whole pig cook over a smaller fire. Closer to the town, he saw Mayor Charlie and his wife Galinda sitting on a blanket in the grass, talking with Roland and a few other townspeople.

    The curious looks Hans got compounded as more of the crowd noticed his arrival. They were perplexed by the gasping Guild Master and his sweat-soaked clothes.

    The Becks gave him the same look as everyone else. ¡°You okay, boss?¡±

    ¡°Becky¡­ What¡­ is¡­ this?¡±

    ¡°We missed most of the show but not all of it!¡±

    The crowd parted, and a halfling flanked by two lizardmen approached. The halfling had gray curly hair, coiled so tightly that her hair surrounded her head like a Renaissance halo. She wore the expensive but practical clothes of a traveling merchant. A fine purple cotton shirt with a crisp collar was tucked into her dark brown riding pants, reinforced at the knees with finely stitched leather. The halfling may have been three feet tall, but only barely.

    The lizardmen behind the halfling rivaled the size of Galad and Glinda, their bodies covered with scales of varying whites, browns, and tans. Two rows of spiky protrusions began at either eye and ran down their neck to connect somewhere Hans couldn¡¯t see. Their eyes had the texture of wood grain that had been stained and polished to a shine, and their toothy mouths stretched outward beneath a rounded gecko nose.

    They each wore leather pants with a sword on their hip but were shirtless and barefoot otherwise.

    ¡°You¡¯re out of shape,¡± Mazo said, standing eye-level to the doubled over, wheezing guild master.

    ¡°Mazo?¡± He recognized the lizardmen as well. ¡°Thuz and Izz? I don¡¯t¡­ I don¡¯t understand.¡±

    ¡°Got your letter and thought we¡¯d stop by,¡± Mazo said cheerfully. ¡°We came in with the merchants, and you had the nerve to be out on a job instead of greeting us.¡±

    Quest Abandoned: Protect Gomi.

    Quest Complete: Learn the identities of the visiting adventurers as well as their intentions.

    Olza came out of the forest behind Hans. She shared some of his surprise, but by the look on the alchemist¡¯s face, she had deduced there was no danger far sooner than Hans.

    ¡°Guild Master Hans!¡± Gunther, Harry, Harriet, Chance, and Loddie swarmed him, all talking at once about all of the amazing things Mazo had shown them. ¡°You missed all of the magic!¡±

    For her part, Mazo shrugged. ¡°The kids asked for a show, and I guess it kind of turned into a party,¡± the halfling said, looking around at festivities.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t expect you to see me in person.¡±

    The halfling shrugged. ¡°I was curious, and I was only a few weeks away.¡±

    Galad approached, wiping pork grease on his pants. A new problem became apparent to Hans, one he hadn¡¯t expected to deal with for a long time, if ever.

    Quest Failed: Grow the Gomi chapter without attracting outside attention.

    Seeing the shock on Hans face, the tusk held up his hands. ¡°It¡¯s already worked out,¡± he said, reassuringly. ¡°Galinda recognized Mazo from your stories. The two hit it off pretty quickly.¡±

    Hans looked back to the halfling to see a giant smile covering most of her face.

    ¡°She bought out what we had left from last season and placed an order for more,¡± Galad continued, referring to the beer brewed and sold by the Tribe. ¡°The kids won¡¯t leave her alone.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t mind,¡± Mazo said. ¡°They all wanted to show me what they learned in class. You¡¯ve got a sharp batch of pupils.¡±

    The children beamed proudly from the praise. ¡°Can you show us another spell Miss Mazo?¡± Loddie asked with more sweetness than Hans had ever seen from the girl before.

    Before Hans could interrupt, Mazo replied, ¡°Does anyone know what an earth elemental is?¡±

    Every tiny head nodded.

    ¡°Okay, clear me a path to the woods, and I¡¯ll show you one more.¡±

    ¡°Mazo, you don¡¯t have¨C¡±

    ¡°Shush.¡±

    The five children ran back into the crowd of townspeople, shouting that Mazo was going to demonstrate another ability. Though they weren¡¯t as brash about it, the adults seemed just as excited to see more magic. They did as the children instructed, clearing a direct path to the treeline. With everyone safely out of the way, Mazo cracked her neck.

    The halfling spoke several words in a language Hans didn¡¯t know. As she did, she lifted both hands over her head, locking one hand into the other with a fist. When the last word left her lips, she smashed her hands down into the ground.

    A wave of force flattened the grass outward in the shape of a cone followed by a boom like Hans was sitting inside a kickdrum. With the explosion of sound came a rupture in the earth, dirt and rock as wide as a horse¨Cmuch larger than the halfling who cast the spell¨Crose from the ground and shot forward into the forest, felling several trees before dissipating completely.

    The gathered crowd cheered and applauded as the last crashes of trees fell to quiet.

    Terry the town guard appeared next to Hans to offer the Guild Master a mug of beer. ¡°Glad I picked a fight with you instead of her,¡± he said. Hans couldn¡¯t help but laugh.

    ***

    The party continued into the night. The bonfire blazed, providing a welcome hedge against the chill of mountain air. Many of the townspeople had retired for the evening, taking all of the children but Quentin and Kane with them. Those that remained sat upwind of the bonfire smoke, talking amongst each other and swapping stories.

    Mazo and her lizardmen escorts were the focus of everyone¡¯s attention, naturally, but Mayor Charlie couldn¡¯t resist including Hans.

    ¡°You were saying earlier you were an Apprentice when Hans was,¡± Charlie said to Mazo, ¡°What was he like back then?¡±

    ¡°We don¡¯t need to do that,¡± Hans injected.

    Mazo gave Hans a wave but ignored him otherwise. ¡°I¡¯m sure I can think of something¡­¡±

    ¡°The story about the dock rats is a good one,¡± Thuz the lizardman said, his voice deep and scratchy.

    ¡°Please no,¡± Hans said.

    Mazo smiled. ¡°That is a good one. Okay, so we had been Irons for a few months, and we took a job at this fishing town. They had a big network of docks and warehouses, and a giant rat infestation had taken over one of them. They wanted us to clean them out before it could spread.¡±

    Hans sat quietly, his face in his hands.

    Izz the lizardman patted the Gomi Guild Master on the back comfortingly.

    ¡°Our party at the time was me, Hans, and a rogue named Gret. We had a Black Mage, but there was a disagreement over an inn room bill and¡­ yeah, different story entirely. We usually wouldn¡¯t have taken a job with only three of us, but it was rats. Newbie stuff.¡±This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

    Mazo described their target warehouse as a converted ship launch large enough for a war galleon. When their party saw it, it was subdivided into a few offices with three separate warehouse spaces for each, making it akin to multiple warehouses packed into one. One of the inner warehouses was unrented for several years, so the assumption was that the giant rats nested there and expanded outward to claim the entire structure.

    According to Mazo, the most challenging part of a giant rat job was making sure you cleared the site completely. Pest control jobs were common enough that the Guild offered a sort of warranty. If the infestation came back within two months, the adventurer had to return to finish the job. If they didn¡¯t, the Guild docked what they earned from the infestation job out of whatever reward money they earned next.

    Being thorough was a good fit for their party, if Hans¡¯ analytical habits weren¡¯t apparent to the citizens of Gomi yet.

    Ahead of the job, Hans pulled blueprints from the town archives and planned their path through the warehouse.

    ¡°Hans was always very meticulous,¡± Mazo said. ¡°No matter what the job was, Hans spent at least a day in the library prepping for every possible scenario. Sometimes the longest part of a job was the Hans pre-dungeon meeting.¡±

    ¡°It wasn¡¯t that bad.¡±

    The lizardmen groaned.

    Olza glanced over at Izz and Thuz. ¡°Did you adventure with Hans?¡±

    Both shook their heads. Izz answered, ¡°We were his students. He was¡­ insistent about prepping.¡±

    ¡°Fanatically obsessed,¡± Thuz added.

    ¡°In his defense,¡± Mazo cut in, ¡°It saved us more than a few times. By the time we were Silver, none of us would head out without the Hans prep session. For this trip, though¡­ Hans wouldn¡¯t stop talking about this monster museum he read about and insisted we visit together.¡±

    The museum boasted an extensive collection of preserved and taxidermied monsters, many of them rarely seen by adventurers let alone the general public. According to the article Hans found about the museum, several of the specimens were thought to be extinct, making the museum the only place they could be seen, ever again. For someone like Hans, seeing the creatures in person that he had only read about was exciting.

    ¡°He kept saying how much of an advantage we would have,¡± Mazo said. ¡°He thought seeing the stuffed monsters would make us better prepared for the real thing, but we all know Hans just wanted to visit the museum and didn¡¯t want to go alone.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not true!¡± Hans said, but no one around the bonfire did anything but laugh at his resistance.

    ¡°The day we get to town, he makes us go straight from dropping our gear at the inn to the monster museum. He was so worried it would close early, and we¡¯d miss it, so we follow Hans through town while he tries to read a map. We get lost a few times but finally arrive at the museum.

    ¡°And it¡¯s closed. Been closed for years, actually. A fish market took its place, so Hans is just on his knees in front of a pile of fish guts, completely heartbroken. One of the guys working the stalls says that locals hated the museum. Thought it was a tourist trap. Me and Gret, well, we gave Hans a really hard time about it.¡±

    ¡°Still are,¡± Hans added.

    Mazo shushed the Guild Master and continued.

    With the museum trip off the itinerary, they started the job early, but much of the warehouse interior stayed in shadow despite the clear, sunny sky. The subdivision was ramshackle at best, so the few windows the warehouse had offered little help. They used an oil lamp instead of a torch, on account of the inventory inside, but otherwise moved with the same care they would in a dungeon. Hans had already confirmed with the tenants that there was nothing explosive or hazardous stored inside, but they still didn¡¯t want to catch the building on fire.

    The adventure began as they expected, going room by room and area by area to eliminate the dog-sized rats. Hack. Slash. Stab. The usual for giant rat hunting.

    ¡°We were about a third of the way through, and we were starting to move into the darkest parts of the warehouse. Then Gret tells us to stop and listen. It was soft, but we heard it too.¡±

    The sound Mazo described hearing that day was like chair legs dragging across a bar floor, a strained moan with the visceral undertone of nails on a chalkboard. The noise repeated as they ventured deeper into the warehouse but had no set cadence. The scraping could persist for almost a minute, not be heard for several more, and then return with one sharp burst before going quiet again. Sometimes, the thud of falling objects and furniture joined it as well.

    Giant rats aren¡¯t particularly stealthy once they¡¯ve claimed a domain, so hearing odd noises in an infested warehouse is not unusual. The consistency of the sound made it strange, though, the same chair-drag groan every time they heard it.

    They fought through the first warehouse section and pushed through the second. In the second section, the rats had chewed into crates of fine dishware, spilling plates and cups across the ground, most of them shattered into thousands of porcelain pieces. Fighting on top of the shards wasn¡¯t particularly challenging, but it was slippery at times, for the adventurers and for the giant rats.

    The dragging sound, though, was much louder, barely muffled by the next warehouse wall. They were closing in on the mystery.

    ¡°We get to the back of the second section, and we find how the rats got into the other warehouse areas,¡± Mazo said. ¡°There was a hole in the wooden wall the size of a barn door, part chewed, part broken.¡± The halfling gestured that the door was big. Izz joined her since her arms weren¡¯t nearly long enough to represent a barn door.

    The hole in question connected the fine dishware section to the third and final area, the unrented portion of the warehouse where the adventurers believed the giant rats first nested.

    ¡°As we walk up to the hole, trying to decide if we go in that way or go around to use the main door, that sound comes again, and it¡¯s loud. Whatever it was, it was big, like ¡®is something dragging a broken horse carriage?¡¯ big.¡±

    The party, comprised of two humans and a halfling, didn¡¯t have a party member with low light-vision, and since it was a building someone owned¨Cand wanted to continue owning when the job was done¨Cthey couldn¡¯t do the adventurer trick of tossing a torch ahead to see if there was any danger.

    Hans was the most durable of the party, so he stepped through first to scout, with Mazo and Gret following close behind.

    ¡°Gret has one foot through the hole and the dragging comes so loud it hurts my ears. Then comes Hans, sprinting like his tail¡¯s on fire, screaming in this high-pitched voice.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not how it happened,¡± Hans said, interrupting.

    Mazo ignored him and continued. ¡°He¡¯s yelling ¡®Ogopogo! Ogopogo!¡¯ He grabs Gret as he runs back into the dishware section and pulls me and him all the way back where we first came into the warehouse. The entire time he is just yelling, ¡®Ogopogo! Ogopogo!¡¯ Gret and I had no clue what that word meant.¡±

    Though Hans argued that they should go get reinforcements, Mazo calmed him enough to learn that an ogopogo was a giant serpent. She hadn¡¯t heard of it because it was native to a jungle region beyond the kingdom¡¯s borders. The monster could grow up to 30 feet long and could spit venom so potent it melted through wood like acid. Small ogopogos were Bronze-ranked threats while the fully grown adults could push into Silver, depending on their size.

    ¡°Gret and I had never heard of an ogopogo, but Hans is the brains of the group so he gives us a rundown on how to fight this monster native to an area hundreds of miles away. He said it wasn¡¯t as fast as it should have been, so he guessed it was sick or wounded already.¡±

    Once Hans had collected himself, the party returned to the hole in the wall. They entered using breach tactics, Mazo ready with a lightning ability she stole from a type of electric lizard, Gret ready with his bow, and Hans with his sword and shield.

    Their entry wasn¡¯t quiet, and the rats swarmed in numbers far greater than the other sections. Gret switched to a rapier and joined Hans in poking and stabbing every brown blur in sight. Mazo had more luck. The rats, now starting to crawl on top of each other to get to the adventurers, bunched up nicely for a surge of magical electricity to arc through.

    Hans scanned the room over and over, looking for the ogopogo in the darkness. After 30 dead rats or so, the screeching scrape noise filled the room and vibrated the floor. Unlike before, the sound didn¡¯t rest. Whatever made the noise approached quickly.

    ¡°Remember, this thing could be Silver-ranked, and we¡¯re Irons. I thought for sure Hans was seeing things, but hearing it move won me over to his panic. I have this ability to shoot barbs I got from a dire porcupine, so I dump my mana into the dark, spraying anything in the direction of the noise.¡±

    A swarm of rats screeched and flooded out of the darkness into the light of their lamps, most of them half-dead from porcupine quills. The party cut them down with ease, but they didn¡¯t hear the ogopogo anymore. No dragging, no friction of a giant snake thrashing from a wound.

    ¡°Hans goes, ¡®I see it!¡¯ and creeps ahead. We followed a few paces behind, ready to face an angry acid-spitting behemoth. I see Hans kick a green body at the edge of my lamplight. He pauses, then turns around, speedwalking to me and Gret, saying, ¡®Yep. Job¡¯s over. We can go.¡¯¡±

    Mazo wasn¡¯t about to let a few rats or worse, an ogopogo, slip away. Despite Hans¡¯ insistence that they leave, she moved forward and shined her lamp on the green corpse.

    The body of an adult ogopogo lay on the ground. Portions of it look deflated, like whole pieces were removed from the inside without disturbing the skin outside. Oddly, the snake wasn¡¯t bleeding. Gret lifted a flap of snakeskin with his rapier and pointed out that giant rats had been inside the snake. Any blood they saw was from them, not the snake.

    Walking to the tailend of the ogopogo, Mazo saw that the bottom third of the snake was attached to a display stand as large as a garden shed and built from heavy wood. Beyond the display stand, the halfling could see a zig-zag of gouges in the floor where the display stand had traveled, pulled along by the rats nesting inside.

    ¡°There¡¯s even a plaque on the display. It said who donated the ogopogo and when. Hans, our fearless party leader, was ready to call in the big swords over a stuffed animal.¡±

    The townspeople around the bonfire broke into laughter.

    ¡°I technically wasn¡¯t wrong,¡± Hans said, attempting to defend himself.

    Thuz, speaking to everyone but Hans, said, ¡°He makes this argument everytime Miss Mazo tells this story. It never works.¡±

    ¡°At least you kind of got to visit the museum after all?¡± Olza added, triggering a new wave of good natured laughter.

    ***

    Open Quests (Ordered from Old to New):

    Progress from Gold-ranked to Diamond-ranked.

    Mend the rift with Devon.

    Complete the manuscript for "The Next Generation: A Teaching Methodology for Training Adventurers."

    Pick up the guild provisions from the caravan after next.

    Identify the unknown purple flower from Olza.

    Prepare a booklist for Mayor Charlie.

    Prepare for winter, and don¡¯t forget the beer.

    Brainstorm ideas for safe approaches to training on uneven terrain.

    Design a winter curriculum.

    Acquire winter adventuring gear.

 Chapter 19: Strategy Guide

    Exceptionally late in the following morning, the Gomi chapter of the Adventurers¡¯ Guild hosted another town hall with Mazo¡¯s party attending as guests. Becky, Hans, and Olza recounted their adventure, sharing where they found the flower and that they believed the flower disintegrated the gnoll.

    While squonks and orcs were still on everyone¡¯s minds, discussing the nature of the flower was part of keeping the town safe. If they kept the discovery a total secret, an innocent hunter or hiker could meet a surprising and definitive end. Worse, that innocent could be a child.

    Galinda and Charlie had briefed Mazo on the squonks prior to Hans returning to town. The Blue Mage hadn¡¯t seen or heard of a creature with that description, but she was disappointed she didn¡¯t have the chance to steal its aura of hopelessness ability. Hans tried to discourage her from complaining too loudly about that. A victim of that aura might not appreciate it.

    Hans explained why he had contacted Mazo about the flower and asked the halfling to share what she knew, if anything.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know much about what it¡¯s capable of, but I have seen it,¡± Mazo said. ¡°I only had the one and used it when I was on my blood alchemy kick.¡±

    Olza raised an eyebrow.

    ¡°Oh no no no. That makes it sound so devious. I was watering plants with my blood to form a bond, hoping I could use the growth in my projects.¡±

    Everyone but the lizardmen stared at her, mystified.

    ¡°What? It¡¯s an old earth mage spell, from the old days. Like binding a familiar but with plants. It¡¯s not weird. I swear.¡±

    Waving a hand to get the halfling¡¯s attention, Hans asked, ¡°Mazo, where did you find the purple flower?¡±

    ¡°I saw a single blossom at Reavers¡¯ Rest. I didn¡¯t disintegrate though.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s a dungeon, long ways from here,¡± Thuz clarified.

    ¡°Was a dungeon,¡± Izz corrected.

    Mazo saw the confused looks of the townspeople. Hans gestured for her to go ahead and explain.

    ¡°Reavers¡¯ Rest was an island dungeon. Before anyone knew about the dungeon, it was a popular place for pirates to swap stories and do business. Then one of them found the dungeon, and they all got eaten by hodags.¡±

    Hans jumped in to explain that a hodag has the body of a hairless panther with horns running from its tail up to its neck. Its head had two horns, similar in shape to a bull, and attached to a flat-faced oversized head. Its mouth could chomp a human skull with ease.

    ¡°Most of the island is gone now. The cause is disputed somewhat, but most of the research we¡¯ve seen suggests a blown dungeon core¨Cthat¡¯s the ¡®force¡¯ that can create monsters in dungeons. If the monsters come back regularly, then there¡¯s a dungeon core around.¡±

    Dungeon cores were incredibly rare occurrences. Only three had ever been discovered, and none of them were accessible for study. The vast majority of dungeon crawls took place in fortresses or lairs or caves populated by monsters not from dungeon cores, creatures who bred and spread the old fashioned way. When a dungeon core was found, it was a major economic boon if managed carefully, but it was also a persistent risk to anyone living nearby.

    Lemura Labyrinth, the dungeon that drove Galad, Galinda, and their parents to Gomi, was the result of a dungeon core.

    The Reavers¡¯ Rest dungeon core, Mazo explained, became a hotly debated topic because any evidence of why the core detonated was vaporized along with the island. Two parties of adventurers were believed to be in the dungeon at the time, leaving some to theorize that one of the adventurers attacked the dungeon core directly. No one actually knew if it was possible to destroy a dungeon core because none had been studied to any meaningful degree.

    Other theories included an overload of whatever powered dungeon cores or the dungeon core dying of old age, but no one knew what made dungeon cores ¡°alive¡± or if dungeon cores aged in the way that other organisms aged.

    Regardless, the detonation of the Reavers¡¯ Rest dungeon core took the known count from three to two.

    ¡°Oh gods, I sent Hans on a tangent,¡± Mazo said, teasing the Guild Master. ¡°I found one of your purple flowers at Reavers¡¯ Rest, or rather, where Reavers¡¯ Rest used to be.¡±

    Olza perked up. ¡°What does that tell us?¡±

    Mazo shrugged. ¡°Does the flower follow a mass casualty event? Maybe it needs a ton of energy to germinate a seed? Did hodags have something to do with it? It didn¡¯t help me with what I was looking for. That¡¯s all I know for sure.¡±

    ¡°Any ideas, boss?¡± Becky asked Hans.

    Hans scratched his beard. ¡°It¡¯s another data point. Not an answer, but we know a little bit more than we did before.¡±

    ¡°Hmm¡­¡±

    ¡°Mazo, absolutely not,¡± Hans said.

    ¡°It was just an idea,¡± Mazo replied innocently.

    Olza looked around. Izz noticed her curiosity. The lizardman leaned forward and said, ¡°Miss Mazo is proposing that she eat the flower to absorb the Disintegration spell.¡±

    Mazo shrugged. ¡°My personal hobbies aside, do you want my advice?¡±

    ¡°Please,¡± Mayor Charlie said.

    ¡°Keeping quiet was a good idea. Watch where they grow and see if you can learn any more. Doesn¡¯t sound like they are likely to be found by anyone else. I can do some discreet research and let you know if I find anything.¡±

    Mayor Charlie nodded. ¡°We would be very grateful,¡± he said, inclining his head.

    ***

    When the rest of the townspeople left the guild hall, Olza and Becky stayed behind to talk to Hans and the Mazo entourage.

    ¡°Disintegration¡­ Ah. That would be a real treasure,¡± Mazo daydreamed.

    ¡°You have to be pushing Platinum. Do you really need more spells?¡± Hans asked.

    ¡°I¡¯ll never be Platinum,¡± Mazo scoffed. ¡°The royal family needs you to kiss a bunch of rings and run their personal errands before they grant that.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯d say no to the king?¡± Becky asked.

    ¡°Nobody wants anything to do with a Blue Mage until they can win wars. If he wants me to be an attack dog, he can try and make me.¡±

    Mazo knew what Hans had long suspected: Her arsenal of monster abilities made her one of the strongest mages alive, if not the strongest outright. The spectacle she put on so casually for the people of Gomi could have put down an army, and there were no other Blue Mages above Silver in the Guild. The halfling was the only one crazy enough and smart enough to take blue magery as far as she had.

    ¡°I¡¯d like to brag,¡± Mazo said. ¡°Thuz and Izz are the only ones who know about this, but I think I¡¯m close to cracking learning non-attack spells.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s huge,¡± Hans said.

    ¡°It¡¯s a clever design,¡± Thuz said. ¡°It will be a nice break from the shell.¡±If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.

    ¡°You still use that?¡±

    Mazo nodded proudly. ¡°I¡¯ve made some adjustments to the shell since you¡¯ve seen it. I have a bit more coin than we did when we were younger. Makes it easier.¡±

    ¡°Seriously, Mazo,¡± Hans said. ¡°What didn¡¯t you say in the meeting?¡±

    The halfling paused. ¡°Several things. Umm¡­¡±

    Hans assured her that he trusted Becky and Olza like party members.

    The halfling paused and then nodded. ¡°The Guild is getting reports of orcs massing near the frontier border, but it¡¯s a bit more than an orc raid¡­ I¡¯m just going to say it outright: Tusk-touched are joining the orcs. We don¡¯t know why.¡±

    ¡°That don¡¯t¡­¡± Becky stammered. ¡°You¡¯re sure?¡±

    ¡°Only a few reports so far, but we all know how people can get. Might be wise to be extra careful with the Tribe for now. This place is pretty special. Worth protecting.¡±

    ¡°You think someone would come for the Tribe?¡± Olza asked.

    Mazo frowned. ¡°I think it¡¯s more that certain people will use it as an excuse. Evil people can get scared people to do stupid things.¡±

    ¡°As it is now,¡± Hans said, trying to reassure the room, ¡°This news is troubling, but we have to remember that Gomi hasn¡¯t been exposed. Being careful, like Mazo said, is a good idea. Panic isn¡¯t.¡±

    New Quest: Talk to the Tribe about the potential threat and contingency plans.

    The halfling agreed. ¡°I don¡¯t know how¨C Umm.. I¡¯ll be direct on the next item. Devon is lobbying for the Guild to drop any Guild Masters below Diamond.¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°I know. I¡¯m sorry.¡±

    Becky raised a hand. ¡°When you say Devon, do you mean Master Devontes? The hunky Platinum adventurer?¡±

    Thuz and Izz nodded.

    ¡°Why would Master Devontes care about Gold-ranked Guild Masters?¡± Olza asked.

    Mazo looked back and forth between Hans and the Gomi townspeople. ¡°They don¡¯t know?¡±

    Hans shook his head.

    ¡°Hans trained Devon, Apprentice through Diamond. Hans built Master Devontes.¡±

    ¡°No, I didn¡¯t.¡±

    ¡°He never takes any credit,¡± Mazo said to Becky and Olza. ¡°Izz? Thuz? Am I exaggerating?¡±

    The lizardmen shook their heads and almost in unison said, ¡°Built us too.¡±

    ¡°Half the Diamonds in the Guild trained under Hans,¡± Mazo added. ¡°Master Devontes would still be Devon if he came up in any other chapter.¡±

    ¡°Why didn¡¯t you tell us?¡± Olza asked.

    Hans shrugged. ¡°She¡¯s exaggerating.¡±

    The halfling said she didn¡¯t know more about Devon¡¯s crusade but would write if she heard anything. The last item on her list was to ask Hans a favor: She needed his help breaking through her research challenge. Mazo wanted to become the world¡¯s first ¡°Purple Mage.¡±

    New Quest: Help Mazo with her Purple Mage project.

    ***

    To learn a monster¡¯s ability, a Blue Mage had to experience¨Calso known as not dying to¨Cthe ability they wanted to learn. While the monster attacked, the Blue Mage performed the ritual that made Blue Mages possible, capturing the monster¡¯s ability and linking it to an incantation of the caster¡¯s choice.

    Aside from the extreme danger of allowing a monster to attack you, Blue Mages had another weakness: They could only learn attacks. All of the unusual abilities monsters used to hide or heal or protect themselves were out of reach, which infuriated Mazo. Her magic put her so close to a completely unexplored area of magery, but no one had ever pushed the class to that level.

    In fact, the magery community decided long ago it was not possible and then went back to ignoring Blue Mages as best they could.

    For Mazo¡¯s part, she had been attacking this problem for the last decade with no progress.

    ¡°I have two potential solutions to test,¡± Mazo said. ¡°The first is to use a Polymorph spell. I polymorph into the creature, use its ability, and since I¡¯m using it on me, I learn it permanently¡­ in theory.¡±

    Which had significant weaknesses. While a skilled mage could copy any living creature with Polymorph, no one but the masters of Polymorph could duplicate the target creature¡¯s abilities, but even then it had limits. Most casters didn¡¯t go as far as to copy anything beyond the physical appearance of a creature. Mimicking even low-level creature abilities, like an electric lizard, was on par with the difficulty of assuming the body of a dragon with no abilities.

    No mage Hans or Mazo had ever heard of had advanced far enough to Polymorph into the largest monsters and keep their abilities.

    Mazo was not above learning a new spell, but she would need many years before she could start experimenting with mimicking abilities via Polymorph. Worse yet, she didn¡¯t know if that plan would work, so she could devote herself to training Polymorph to the degree she needed only to find the plan was a bust.

    For that reason, Mazo disliked the Polymorph plan.

    ¡°Don¡¯t freak out about this next one, but my other idea is to use a Mind Swap spell to put me in the monster. I use their ability, learn it, and swap back.¡±

    Hans rubbed the bridge of his nose.

    The plan had multiple problems that Hans could see. To start, the Mind Swap spell was taboo for obvious reasons, and no known mage in history had cast it. The only confirmed practitioners of Mind Swap came from high-level psionic monsters, many of which were native to the infernal plane. One particular creature used Mind Swap on its victim, set into motion killing itself in its new body, and then swapped back right before the victim expired.

    To test this idea, Mazo would need to hunt down one of these psionic monsters and use her blue magery to learn Mind Swap. That was dangerous, and not just for Mazo, but for humanity. The halfling was a walking arsenal of overpowered abilities, and mind swapping with the monster could give the monster access to her abilities, potentially. If that monster kept her from re-swapping, it could have her spells permanently.

    ¡°A fair concern,¡± Mazo admitted, ¡°but remember I choose my incantations. All of my spells are cast in a language of my design. The monster wouldn¡¯t have that.¡±

    A small comfort for watching a monster run off a cliff in your friend¡¯s body.

    The halfling started to describe a plan involving a chain of mind swaps to keep the monster from ever using Mazo¡¯s body, but Hans raised a hand.

    ¡°That¡¯s a lot of risk when we don¡¯t know if it¡¯s possible to learn non-offensive abilities from monsters,¡± Hans said.

    ¡°I know!¡± Mazo shouted. ¡°That¡¯s why I need your help. I haven¡¯t been able to solve that. I thought I was close with the gazers, but none of them survived the vivisection.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not even going to ask.¡±

    ¡°Very wise, Mr. Hans,¡± Thuz said with Izz nodding, a distant look of shock and horror in his eyes.

    The Guild Master scratched his chin. ¡°I¡¯m going to need more than the day to think on this. If you haven¡¯t cracked it, I¡¯m not sure how much help I can be.¡±

    ¡°You see things differently,¡± Mazo replied. ¡°If there¡¯s a connection somewhere I missed, you¡¯re the most likely to find it.¡±

    Hans face shifted with a realization. ¡°Have you looked at area of effect spells?¡±

    The halfling raised an eyebrow. ¡°Defensively?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°Same problem. It only affects the monster¡¯s allies.¡±

    ¡°So become an ally?¡±

    Mazo¡¯s eyes went wide. ¡°We could charm it and then get it to use its ability!¡±

    ¡°I know that shortens the list of what you can learn by a lot, but maybe it¡¯s a start?¡±

    She nodded enthusiastically, already deep in thought.

    ¡°If we can¡¯t get that work, that might be a sign the problem is deeper than just having to experience it.¡±

    Quest Complete: Help Mazo with her Purple Mage project.

    ¡°And in much less time,¡± Mazo agreed. ¡°May I write you with our results?¡±

    Hans thought on that. ¡°I¡¯ve made a promise to not attract attention to Gomi. A bunch of guild mail between you and I might draw someone¡¯s curiosity. It might be slower overall, but if you didn¡¯t mind using the caravans, we could exchange letters that way.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s quite the delay on getting a response back, but I suppose it will give us both something to look forward to in the winter.¡±

    ¡°Oh, we aren¡¯t getting any mail here in the winter. The snow blocks the road.¡±

    Thuz and Izz both shuddered. Lizardmen despised cold weather of any kind on account of being reptilian. Few ever left their desert or jungle homes because of the cold. A chill wind was enough to convince many lizardmen to turn back, making adventurers like Mazo¡¯s attendants rare. Though the two Golds were adventurers, they still avoided the cold whenever they could.

    ¡°You must really want to be a Guild Master to put up with that.¡±

    ¡°I do.¡±

    Mazo gave Hans a sad smile that said she was supportive but worried what this path may do to her friend. She shared that she and the lizardmen planned to depart the following morning. When Hans protested that they hadn¡¯t spent much time together, the halfling reminded him she spent a few days in Gomi waiting for him to return from his job. She had appointments to keep and had to be on her way.

    Hans understood. Such was the nature of befriending adventurers. They were always on the move, making every meeting and fellowship a fleeting moment. That was true for training adventurers as well. If Hans did his job as an instructor well, the students he grew to love would eventually leave. They always did.

    Now that he was retired from adventuring, he felt like a pebble in a stream, watching the waters of life rush by.

    ***

    Open Quests (Ordered from Old to New):

    Progress from Gold-ranked to Diamond-ranked.

    Mend the rift with Devon.

    Complete the manuscript for "The Next Generation: A Teaching Methodology for Training Adventurers."

    Pick up the guild provisions from the caravan after next.

    Identify the unknown purple flower from Olza.

    Prepare a booklist for Mayor Charlie.

    Prepare for winter, and don¡¯t forget the beer.

    Brainstorm ideas for safe approaches to training on uneven terrain.

    Design a winter curriculum.

    Acquire winter adventuring gear.

    Talk to the Tribe about the potential threat and contingency plans.

 Chapter 20: Unpatched Exploits

    A small crowd gathered to bid farewell to Mazo, Izz, and Thuz. The lizardmen hitched a clydesdale to a wagon, making the halfling look comically small in comparison to the oversized workhorse. As she exchanged hugs and handshakes with townspeople, Hans crept around the back of the wagon. The lizardmen smiled, knowing what interested him.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t show you the new shell!¡± Mazo said.

    The halfling joined Hans at the wagon, using an incantation he didn¡¯t recognize to release the lock on the heavy wooden door. Mazo stepped to the side and watched the door slowly lower until it formed a ramp up into the back of the wagon. There, tied down to the floor with ropes, was a gleaming silver shell large enough for Mazo to stand inside. Several gems encrusted the spiral of the shell with runic script running between them.

    Hans wasn¡¯t an expert spellcaster by any stretch, but even he could feel the power radiating off of the strange metal shield.

    ¡°You really leaned into the shell nickname, huh?¡± Hans asked, inspecting the item closely.

    ¡°We¡¯ve actually found that shape is more efficient for enchantments, so it works out in two ways,¡± she replied, grinning.

    The shell had to survive the attack of the most difficult monsters to serve Mazo¡¯s purposes, so in addition to the thick metal of the shell, the enchantments added more armor reinforcements and magic resistance. In addition to the defensive capabilities, the shell could also turn invisible on the halfling¡¯s command, solving the problem of her being completely blind in the midst of an encounter.

    Thuz and Izz had convinced her to make the investment. Tricking a monster into attacking the shell was increasingly difficult as Mazo pursued higher and higher tiers of abilities. Those monsters were far smarter than an earth elemental and able to identify what was a threat and what was not.

    A halfling hiding under the shell, even if it was Mazo, was not much of a threat. If the shell turned invisible, Mazo could present herself as a target and even cast a few spells with her line of sight restored.

    Hans estimated the shell was worth more in gold than many noble families had in assets. Enchantments were costly, putting them out of reach of most adventurers unless they were fortunate enough to find an enchanted item while out on a job. As the world¡¯s strongest Blue Mage, Mazo could take the biggest contracts and complete them handily. The Guild Master winced, thinking about his empty bank account compared to the halfling.

    She earned every copper. Stop feeling bad for yourself.

    ¡°If you think of other upgrades that might be useful, write me right away,¡± Mazo requested of Hans. ¡°I¡¯m trying to find a mage with enough skill to do a levitation enchantment. Thuz and Izz always complain about how heavy it is.¡±

    Imagining having to lug the shell deep into a dungeon made Hans¡¯ lower back ache. Thuz and Izz were strong¨Cmost lizardmen were naturally strong¨Cbut that journey would be exhausting.

    While the lizardmen closed the wagon back up and did their final check of their horse¡¯s tack and their own equipment, Mazo gave Hans a hug. He bent down so she wasn¡¯t hugging his knees.

    ¡°I worry about you,¡± she said softly so no one else could hear. ¡°I may be far away, but I don¡¯t mind making the trip if you need me.¡±

    ¡°Thank you. Please be safe out there. Well, I take that back. If you get jumped by bandits, try not to destroy the whole forest. People around here kind of like it.¡±

    Mazo laughed and agreed. Minutes later, the wagon rolled down the road with townspeople waving their goodbyes. Hans waited until the halfling and the lizardmen were out of sight before he returned to the guild hall. The surprise visit happening right at the end of a job meant that he had a lot to catch up on. Between the purple flower and hosting Mazo, he hadn¡¯t truly sat down to rest since before the excursion.

    Inside the guild hall, Hans found boxes and crates containing what he assumed were his items from the caravan. A trunk wrapped in crisp red leather caught his eye. He was certain he neither ordered nor could afford the container itself, let alone what might be inside of it.

    I hope Charlie didn¡¯t spend my credit on something expensive by accident.

    The trunk was surprisingly heavy as he wrestled it down from the stack of provisions. He flipped the latch and lifted the lid.

    Hans,

    I know the face you¡¯re making right now. I also know all of the arguments you would have made if I tried to give this to you in person.

    We thought you might like to have more reading material way out here.

    The books are a gift. The gold isn¡¯t. You have helped me so much over the years, and did more for me on this brief visit. If you won¡¯t spend it on yourself, do something nice for the kiddos.

    Thuz and Izz picked out the books. They miss you. I do too.

    Don¡¯t die.

    -Mazo

    As Hans read, he caught himself making the face Mazo predicted: a mix of guilt and shame. He wasn¡¯t worthy of this degree of kindness and would have fought against accepting the gift for hours. He wiped water from his eyes, grateful that no one else was in the guild hall to witness his emotional moment.

    The pouch Mazo mentioned sat on top of the books. A quick visual estimate had him choking on his own breath. If he was right, he held around 100 gold coins, an incredible amount of wealth for him. Since he was a Gold and not a Diamond, he was paid 1 gold per month for managing the Gomi chapter¨Ca rule they invented for him since he was the only Gold guild master in all of the Adventurers¡¯ Guild. The Diamonds running other chapters got 20.

    He set the gold aside and scanned the spines of the books. Each tome was bound with leather etched with gold and silver inlays. They even smelled new, like one of the high end bookstores in Hoseki.

    The trunk contained the following books:

    -Another book on magery for beginners, written by a different author with a different method from the book Hans already had.

    -A tome covering the main Lesser and Mid-tier spells.

    -An alchemy book containing only the recipes developed in the last five years.

    -An expanded bestiary with color images of each creature.

    -A guide to bushcraft for the northwest region of the kingdom (where Gomi was located).

    -Sixteen Ways to Defend a Walled City by K.J. Parker.

    -Three Years Underground, the account of an expedition gone wrong, written by the lone survivor.If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

    -From the Field, a collection of essays written by various adventurers, recounting unusual jobs with the kind of detail only another adventurer would appreciate.

    The last book in the row had his name on the spine. He raised an eyebrow and looked more closely to confirm he wasn¡¯t misreading or hallucinating. The spine read: The Next Generation: A Teaching Methodology for Training Adventurers. His manuscript title.

    He pulled the book from the trunk and flipped open the cover. Inside, Mazo had left another message: ¡°Finish this someday.¡±

    As he turned the pages, he found that Mazo took her copies of the manuscript draft and had them transcribed in beautiful cursive and formatted like a proper book.

    He felt the water in his eyes again.

    He looked through the book more closely and confirmed that these pages were from early drafts, easily picking out where had made significant changes in later versions. Still, the book had the mesmerizing presence of the adventurer books he grew up reading. And the words inside were his.

    The empty space was also his. The back of half of the book was nothing but blank pages, the parts of the book he had yet to write.

    Resting on one of the hall benches, he sat with the book, his book, feeling the fine leather with his fingertips as thoughts about Mazo, the Adventurers¡¯ Guild, Devontes, and his own mountain of shortcomings raced through his mind. His motivation to finish the manuscript disappeared when his dreams of reaching Diamond died¨Ca fact he rarely admitted to himself let alone anyone else.

    Quest Abandoned: Prepare a booklist for Mayor Charlie.

    Quentin is going to love these books, he thought to himself as he set the trunk full of books aside¨Cfull except for his book. That he stashed in a desk drawer where others wouldn¡¯t stumble across it.

    Back in the storage room, he sifted through the remaining unopened boxes and crates. He found his winter gear as well as smoked, dried, and canned foods for him to enjoy when the Gomi snows cut him off from the rest of the world. He felt the material of his cloak and the lining of his boots. If these didn¡¯t get him through the winter, he wasn¡¯t sure what else would.

    Quest Complete: Pick up the guild provisions from the caravan after next.

    Quest Complete: Acquire winter adventuring gear.

    Quest Updated: Don¡¯t forget the beer!

    Speaking of beer, he needed to talk with the Tribe about Mazo¡¯s warning. The orc attacks and rebelling tusks happened far from Gomi, three months by wagon, at least. The distance was a comfort for now, but Hans knew that war had a way of rippling across the kingdom. For the average townsperson, that might mean a shortage of certain items or a disruption in their travel and trading routes, but tusks joining orcs was a new kind of wrinkle.

    Part of him rationalized that the tusks who switched sides were outliers, a few people with warped ideas of right and wrong, perhaps spurned by the way the kingdom treated their kind. The rest of him knew that the average civilian wasn¡¯t interested in nuance. Even if they were outliers and not part of a new trend, the truth might not matter. Fear was easier.

    Fear was always easier.

    ***

    Hans stood in front of his largest kids¡¯ class yet. His usual seven were in attendance, joined by four new children. One was Terry¡¯s daughter, a shy twelve year old girl with red hair and freckled skin. The most he heard of her voice were timid ¡°mmhmms¡± when she answered a question, which was fine. She paid attention in class and did her best to follow directions.

    How did Terry end up with a daughter this nice? To Terry¡¯s credit, the guard was friendlier to Hans now, but he was still ornery.

    The class had started to use the exterior of the faux dungeon corridor as well as the interior, making the most of every side of every wall as the class grew. Pausing their warm up drills, Hans called all of the children into a circle.

    ¡°Before we start something new, let¡¯s review the rules we¡¯ve learned so far. Who remembers our rules?¡± The children all raised their hands. ¡°Oh good, let¡¯s test you. What rules have we learned?¡±

    ¡°Blocking is bad!¡± half the children yelled in near-unison.

    ¡°That was an easy one. We¡¯ve talked about that a lot.¡±

    ¡°Never reach!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s a good one. We never want to overextend when we attack. If you¡¯re leaning forward, your balance is bad and your power is bad. What else?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t pick your nose!¡±

    Hans laughed. ¡°That¡¯s a class rule, yes, but let¡¯s stick to combat rules.¡±

    ¡°Simple, not fancy!¡±

    ¡°Well done. Well done. Every move we make should be the simplest solution available. Who wants to tell me why?¡±

    Kane raised his hand. ¡°Simple attacks are more direct, and they¡¯re more efficient.¡±

    ¡°Excellent, Kane. Everyone, Kane is exactly correct. Wasted movement can expose you to more attacks. That doesn¡¯t mean a ¡®simple¡¯ attack is always the best answer. We want to take the simplest option available for the problem, but the fundamentals are often the best choice. Okay, one more. I¡¯ll give you a hint: It¡¯s the newest one.¡±

    The class murmured to each other, every child thinking hard.

    ¡°Mobility is good,¡± Gunther guessed.

    Hans wobbled his head side to side. ¡°That¡¯s close enough. The rule is ¡®mobility over everything.¡¯ Who can remind us what that means?¡±

    Quentin answered this time. ¡°Unless our lives are in danger, we shouldn¡¯t go for an attack if it puts us in a bad position. Staying mobile is safer, and if you¡¯re mobile, you probably have more options.¡±

    The boy¡¯s answer was almost word for word what Hans had said when he first introduced the rule. ¡°That¡¯s correct!¡± Hans praised. ¡°We¡¯re going to do something you¡¯ve all been asking for. Can anyone guess what that is?¡±

    Almost the whole class answered, ¡°Spar!¡±

    Children are always so bloodthirsty.

    ¡°Before I explain how we¡¯re going to do this, I¡¯m going to add another rule: ¡®Always protect your training partner.¡¯ If someone gets hurt, they might have to miss a lot of class. That¡¯s not good for them, and it¡¯s bad for you because now you have fewer people to practice with. Also, you probably don¡¯t want to get hurt either. If you are good to your training partners, they will be good to you. Everyone understand?¡±

    Heads nodded enthusiastically.

    ¡°I¡¯m proud of everyone for working so hard to learn. Here¡¯s how we¡¯re going to do sparring.¡±

    Since many of the children had never sparred before, Hans matched two students together, instructing them to start at half speed, so no one should be swinging their hardest. While two students sparred, the rest of the class would watch, and if they did as they were instructed, try to learn from their classmates. During the short sparring session, Hans provided commentary to the watching students, pointing out things they should notice, and he gave both of the sparring students coaching as well.

    With limited protective equipment, the students were instructed to only aim below the shoulder. In Hans¡¯ experience, that didn¡¯t prevent every injury. After all, children are uncoordinated and still developing. With the wooden swords and the slower speed, which Hans strictly enforced, the worst any child should get is a bloody nose or a black eye.

    Hopefully.

    Gunther had been the most aggressive, charging at Harry as soon as Hans started the match. Hans rushed forward yelling, ¡°No no no no! Gunther, slow down. Harry isn¡¯t a basilisk. Well, he might look like one, but he isn¡¯t.¡±

    The children all giggled¨Cincluding Harry¨Cand Gunther corrected himself. He needed reminding on a few occasions, but that was normal.

    As he expected, many of the children moved in stutters, hesitant and lacking confidence or shirking and recoiling at the prospect of getting hit with a sword. Sparring was different from their drills, but those drills prepared them for this step. They had spent many classes practicing how to choose what techniques to use and responding to the techniques of their opponents. The kids didn¡¯t know that, of course, but their brains and bodies would take over with some practice.

    Harriot took a wooden sword to the point of her elbow and cried for a few minutes, but she was otherwise uninjured and nodded as Hans talked to her. Hans knew that pain was only part of the reaction. Getting hit was scary, and he made sure to explain to the class that being afraid is normal. He also shared that he had cried during sparring, telling the children that the last time he and Mazo sparred he bawled like a newborn baby.

    That was a slight exaggeration, but the story worked as intended. Harriot was less embarrassed, and her classmates didn¡¯t judge her for crying.

    To reward the children for a great class, they spent the last 10 minutes playing dodgeball. Hans couldn¡¯t prove it, but he was certain there was collusion among the children to target him.

    As the kids made their ways home, he asked Kane and Quentin if they had another 30 minutes to train. Not knowing why the Guild Master asked them to stay didn¡¯t matter. Excitement gleamed in their eyes.

    ***

    Open Quests (Ordered from Old to New):

    Progress from Gold-ranked to Diamond-ranked.

    Mend the rift with Devon.

    Complete the manuscript for "The Next Generation: A Teaching Methodology for Training Adventurers."

    Identify the unknown purple flower from Olza.

    Don¡¯t forget the beer.

    Brainstorm ideas for safe approaches to training on uneven terrain.

    Design a winter curriculum.

    Talk to the Tribe about the potential threat and contingency plans.

 Chapter 21: Tutorial Mode

    ¡°What am I going to do?¡± Gunther whined as Kane and Quentin felt out the wooden training spears with playful thrusts and swings.

    ¡°Do you like monsters?¡± Hans asked.

    Gunther nodded as if the answer was obvious.

    ¡°Miss Mazo gave us a bunch of books, and one of them is a bestiary. Would you like to read it?¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡±

    ¡°How is your reading?¡±

    ¡°Galad makes us study a lot. I can read okay.¡±

    ¡°Excellent,¡± Hans said, looking at Gunthers dirty hands. ¡°I¡¯ll get you the book to read, but promise me you will wipe your hands and be careful with the pages. We only have one copy, and we don¡¯t want Miss Mazo to feel bad when she comes back and sees how we treated her gift.¡±

    Knowing that Gunther¡¯s agreement was no guarantee for the book¡¯s safety, Hans fetched the bestiary as well as a towel, wiping the young tusk¡¯s hands himself before setting the child up at one of the tables in the guild hall.

    Returning to the training yard, he started to teach the art of the spear to his two oldest students.

    He began by explaining that all of the rules they had learned with the sword and shield still applied with the spear. However, every weapon had its strengths and its weaknesses. A good adventurer took the time to understand their weapon so they could be as effective as possible.

    The obvious strength of the spear was its reach. They could strike from a distance, a significant advantage against an opponent using a shorter weapon. That strength, however, was also the spear¡¯s weakness.

    ¡°Think like a cobra,¡± Hans said, pantomiming a snake. ¡°Strike quickly and then get back to position. If you get lazy and leave your spear extended, this could happen.¡±

    He motioned for Quentin to slow thrust at him. Hans parried the spear aside and stepped in, putting the tip of the spear far behind him and leaving Quentin defenseless to whatever attack Hans wanted to use. As soon as an opponent got ¡°inside¡± of the spear range, the spearman was in trouble.

    They started with proper thrusting form, the most common attack they would use with the spear. Kane and Quentin drilled it individually at first, striking nothing but air while Hans adjusted and tweaked hand positioning and footwork. Once their form was significantly better, he handed Quentin a sword.

    Kane would thrust, taking a penetration step forward as he did. Quentin would slide back and parry the spear with the sword. Then they switched.

    ¡°When you start to spar, your spearhead should always be in motion. Make your opponent afraid to step into your range and keep them guessing. Just like a snake bobbing and weaving until they finally bite.¡±

    With that explanation, he had them repeat the drill, but this time the spear holder would try to fake out their partner, keeping their spear retracted but threatening to strike all over. When they did attack, their partner would have to react quickly with a parry and a backstep.

    The older boys went home tired, but as they left the training yard, they talked energetically about what else they could do with a spear and what they might learn next.

    Meanwhile, Gunther had done as he was asked. When Hans went into the guild hall to let him know his brother was heading home, he found the boy pinching page corners with the tips of his fingers, like he was holding the end of a spiderleg, turning the page with the care of a surgeon.

    Hans thanked him for being so respectful of the book.

    Gunther closed the tome. ¡°Harry doesn¡¯t look like a basilisk at all, Mr. Hans.¡±

    ***

    Hans sat at his guild hall desk, staring at the pouch of gold Mazo left him. Olza roused him from his thoughts.

    ¡°You okay?¡± she asked.

    ¡°How many more caravans will we get this year? Before the snow I mean.¡±

    She thought on the question before answering. ¡°I¡¯d guess at least 3. Maybe 4 if the winter is mild, but it would need to be really mild for the merchants to make the trip. They got snowed in one year, and it was a small crisis for everyone involved¨Cthe merchants were stuck, and Gomi had several more people and animals to feed and house until the pass cleared.¡±

    The Guild Master nodded, his eyes returning to the pouch.

    ¡°What¡¯s on your mind?¡± Olza pressed.

    ¡°Mazo left me some money. I¡¯m trying to decide what I should get for the chapter that could be here in time for winter.¡±

    Sitting on a bench near the desk, the alchemist timidly asked an awkward question. ¡°I noticed you bought a lot of things for the chapter with your own money, but it also seems like you don¡¯t have a lot¡­¡±

    The Guild Master nodded, answering Olza with no chagrin or discomfort. He didn¡¯t have a problem being open and honest, but the question still hadn¡¯t come.

    ¡°Aren¡¯t Gold-ranked adventurers usually pretty rich?¡±

    Hans chuckled. ¡°Usually. I put all of my savings into an investment that didn¡¯t work out. By then, I wasn¡¯t taking jobs anymore, so making it back wasn¡¯t really possible.¡±

    Olza asked what the investment was, eliciting a deep breath from the adventurer.

    ¡°Adventurer Academy. I got the idea to open a training facility separate from the Hoseki chapter, something that would be open to anyone who wanted to learn how to protect themselves and also give me a place to offer private lessons.¡±

    ¡°It didn¡¯t work?¡±

    ¡°Utter disaster. I picked up a few regulars, but not enough to pay Hoseki rent. Several people¨Cnon-adventurers, regular cityfolk¨Ctold me that they didn¡¯t see the point of training with a Gold-ranked when they could take lessons from a retired Diamond-ranked someplace else.¡±

    Between the upfront costs of equipment and his monthly expenses, he burned through the money he earned adventuring, and he never came close to breaking even let alone making a profit. With no other options, he broke the lease and paid the penalty. If he kept holding out, he wouldn¡¯t have had the funds to pay off what he would owe the landlord.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry,¡± Olza said.

    ¡°Don¡¯t be. I learned my lesson, and I don¡¯t live a fancy life. My Guild salary covered the necessities, so I wasn¡¯t homeless or anything.¡±

    ¡°Still. I don¡¯t get why no one would take classes from you. I don¡¯t know how to use a sword, but everyone here has been pretty impressed.¡±

    ¡°Students would rather train at a facility with a Diamond-ranked adventurer on the sign, even if that adventurer left Silvers or lower to teach most of the classes.¡± Hans shrugged.

    Changing the subject, Olza asked what they should do next with their purple flower mystery. Hans wanted to ask Becky to visit where they had found the disintegrated gnoll with more regularity. It wouldn¡¯t be fair to demand that of her, though. He didn¡¯t know what they were, but Becky had other interests in the forest. Still, he could ask nonetheless.

    ¡°Maybe we¡¯ll get lucky and catch them sprouting, but that¡¯s my best idea so far. I¡¯ve been thinking on what we could do without access to a library, and I¡¯m still trying to figure that out. Do you have any ideas?¡±

    The alchemist coughed an uncomfortable laugh. ¡°I was thinking of doing more experiments.¡±

    ¡°You want to poke the flower that explodes into obsidian and can disintegrate a victim with a touch?¡±

    ¡°...Yes.¡±

    ¡°Sounds like fun.¡±

    New Quest: Help Olza design new experiments for the purple flower.

    ***Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

    ¡°What can I do for you, Guild Master?¡± Galad asked, moving a pile of dirty clothes from one of two chairs at his kitchen table.

    The tusk-touched lived in a humble cabin with only a partial wall between his living area and his bed. For someone so well-respected in the Tribe hierarchy, he didn¡¯t seem to use that position for his own gain. He couldn¡¯t imagine any of the leaders in Hoseki choosing to live this humbly. Even the most ethical leaders enjoyed several benefits from their stations.

    But not Galad. Hans respected him even more for that.

    Hans sat down. ¡°I wanted to talk to you about the news Mazo shared.¡±

    ¡°The tusks joining the orcs?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°Are you worried we are going to turn on you?¡±

    Hans sighed. ¡°I understand the hesitancy, but please don¡¯t assume the worst of me.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re right,¡± Galad said, sitting down across from Hans. ¡°You have been very good to Gomi. Distrust is a habit, and we shouldn¡¯t apply that to you.¡±

    ¡°Thank you. I came here to get your perspective. The Tribe has carved out their own corner of the world, and it¡¯s clear everyone worries a lot about something going wrong.¡±

    Galad nodded.

    ¡°What¡¯s the plan if something does go wrong?¡±

    He tapped a finger on the tip of a lower tusk with the same unconscious habit as a dwarf might stroke their beard. ¡°I suppose our focus has been on keeping things from going wrong.¡±

    ¡°But if it does?¡±

    ¡°I have to admit, that¡¯s not something we talked about. I think most of us assumed we¡¯d just move on to someplace else.¡±

    ¡°And leave behind all of this?¡± Hans gestured out the window to the farmlands and cabins that made up the Tribe.

    Galad shrugged. ¡°It seems like an obvious oversight now, but I¡¯m ashamed to say that we aren¡¯t prepared. Why do you ask?¡±

    ¡°So I can contribute.¡±

    The tusk stared at the Guild Master for a long minute, pondering the topic and sizing up the human sitting at his table. ¡°Speak your mind.¡±

    Hans asked how tusks heard about the Tribe in the first place. For a well-guarded secret, several families had found their way to Gomi to enjoy the peace Galad¡¯s parents had worked so hard to build. If kids like Kane and Gunther were walking halfway across the kingdom, they had to have heard about the Tribe from someone.

    ¡°Not everyone stays here permanently. Just like any other town, people come and people go. I¡¯d say that the people we help tell other tusks about us.¡±

    ¡°How many more tusks could you take in before you exceeded your supplies? Especially in the winter.¡±

    Leaning forward, his elbow on the tables, Galad towered over Hans. He narrowed his eyes, looking down at the Guild Master. He was part perplexed and part curious as to where his guest was taking this conversation. ¡°Educated guess? 15, maybe 20 if we ration carefully. Living on those edges is scary, though. A really bad winter can be deadly if your supplies are only ¡®just enough.¡¯¡±

    ¡°If you could take in more, would you?¡±

    Galad answered without hesitation. ¡°Of course.¡±

    Reaching for his belt, Hans untied a pouch and set it on the table. ¡°Mazo left the Tribe a gift. Could you use it to help more tusks?¡±

    With only a glance at the pouch, and no movement otherwise, the tusk asked, ¡°What is the gift?¡±

    ¡°Ten gold.¡±

    The tusk sat stone-still, his gaze boring into Hans. ¡°That¡¯s a cruel joke.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not a joke. The pouch is full and the count is right.¡±

    Even then, Galad didn¡¯t move. Hans recognized this type. The tusk-touched and his family spent so much of their lives protecting themselves as well as their brothers and sisters that genuine kindness seemed like an impossibility. No outsider was this nice, and if they were, it was a cruel trick that ended with suffering.

    ¡°I understand that we have three or four caravans left before the winter. We can place an order with the next one, and get an expanded stock the month after. I know, I know, Gomi spending that much gold would be suspicious in its own way. It was pointed out to me that people expect Gold-ranked adventurers to be rich, so I can be your smokescreen.¡±

    The tusk sat back and tapped his fingers on the table, continuing to hold eye contact like an alpha wolf assessing a rival. ¡°We would need to build more shelter. Much more.¡±

    Hans let Galad continue thinking.

    ¡°With the right supplies and enough sunny days for building, we could maybe do as many as 30 or 40¡­¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t expect you to make this decision now. Like I said, this is a gift for the Tribe from Mazo. She was very taken with her reception here. We have a couple weeks before the next caravan, so think on it. I also don¡¯t have any illusions of my knowing what¡¯s best for your family. Whatever you decide, I¡¯ll respect. If you do decide to take many more in, I¡¯d like to help.¡±

    Pushing his chair back to stand, Hans extended his hand. Galad shook it slowly, as though his thoughts were so heavy that he could move his arm no faster. ¡°You have been good to us in your time here, but I can¡¯t say I understand you.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s my ploy to get more people in my classes.¡±

    That got Galad to break. The tusk laughed, nodding his approval. ¡°We¡¯ll talk again soon.¡±

    Quest Update: Await Galad¡¯s response to your offer to help.

    ***

    Flipping through the new bestiary, Hans looked for any plant-type monsters that had anything in common with the purple flowers. While he was brooming the guild hall one morning it occurred to him that perhaps they were dealing with a strange mutation of a known species. If that were true, knowing its relative could reveal new insights.

    As he went from entry to entry, nothing stuck out. Many of the plant-type monsters built on the survival tactics of venus flytraps and pitcher plants, catching prey to ¡°digest¡± into nutrients. A great many were closer to plant spirits, but those behaved vaguely like humanoids, like ents and dryads. Those kinds of monsters had a range of demeanors, some being friendly, some being bloodthirsty. And then there was another category of plant monsters, various types of vines that strangled, lashed, poisoned, captured, or lured their victims.

    Seeing the entry on the bobcat banyan made him pause. Normal banyan trees had the unique trait of growing more roots and trunks from their branches, making an elder banyan tree a town-square sized network of branches and trunks, like a tree had been dipped in chocolate, its offshoots the various streams of liquid brown melting toward the ground.

    He and Devon fought a bobcat banyan at one point. The thought brought a nostalgic smile to Hans¡¯ face. The bobcat banyan killed creatures that neared its root system, using their bodies as fertilizer to continue expanding. To create those bodies, the offshoots that dangled down to the ground all around the core of the banyan could disconnect from their uppermost points, becoming flailing tentacles rising out of the ground. Those tentacles had a row of claws running several inches down from the top that resembled bobcat claws.

    That was the story people told, at least. To Hans they seemed more like highly developed thorns, but nobody had asked him before naming the monster.

    This particular bobcat banyan waited to attack until the adventurers were within its network of branches. The pair were looking for exotic reagents in the most tropical region of a southern kingdom. Because they were so dense with life, rainforests were more dangerous than an average forest like Gomi¡¯s, but not by much. Two adventurers of Silver and Gold-ranked were more than sufficient to harvest some seeds and bark.

    They made the mistake of pushing into the evening on their journey, wanting to cover just a little more ground before they camped. The pair wandered into the range of a bobcat banyan without realizing and fell into an ambush.

    ¡°Why are plants mean?!¡± Devon had yelled when one of the banyan claws sliced his arm.

    For some reason, and maybe it was the long day, Hans could not stop laughing at that question. He sliced through woody tentacles with tears in his eyes, wheezing to catch his breath between guffaws. The size of the monster kept attackers away from its core, and since the core could be deeper within its house-sized trunk, chopping through the banyan could take days, even without the tentacles thrashing relentlessly protecting themselves.

    So, they fought their way beyond the bobcat banyan¡¯s range, and Hans doubled over, his hands on his knees.

    ¡°It wasn¡¯t that funny,¡± Devon said like a child reacting to a bad dad joke.

    ¡°Mean plants?¡± Hans managed to say with some seriousness, cracking before he finished the ¡®s¡¯ in plants.

    ¡°I¡¯m just saying. We have neutral plants that don¡¯t do anything to humans, and then we have evil plants that eat humans. Are there friendly plants out there somewhere? Like could I be friends with a plant?¡±

    Holding up a hand, Hans desperately begged Devon to stop. He needed to breathe, but every look at Devon¡¯s face sent him back into hysterics.

    Gomi didn¡¯t have monsters like the bobcat banyan. Thinking of Gomi brought Hans¡¯ mind back to the present, which included the news that Devon was lobbying to have him removed from Guild Master. That doused his momentary revelry, driving him to despair.

    What would he do if he was removed from the Gomi chapter? He couldn¡¯t imagine returning to Hoseki. Getting fired from this post¨Ca job that no one else wanted to do or had done for years¨Cwould be the ultimate embarrassment. Seeing the faces of the people who thought the worst of him, the hints of glee in their eyes when they learned that he had failed spectacularly. Again.

    Going back wasn¡¯t an option. Relocating to another small town with an active chapter could yield him a job teaching, enough to shelter and feed him with reasonable comfort, but the echo of happenings in Hoseki were heard far from the capital. Even Theneesa, a former student and now Guild Master of the Mikita chapter, would be difficult to face.

    The job of a teacher, in his mind, was to lead students farther than he was able to go. If they could skip the obstacles that slowed his progress, they could do more in less time. What took Hans 100 days to learn, he could teach in 50. That was in part from his training methods, but the result largely came from being open about his mistakes as a young adventurer. If Hans tripped on a particular root, he could warn those coming after him. Simple on its face, but incredibly valuable over years and years of learning.

    Seeing a student reach heights that he could not was deeply rewarding and hauntingly heartbreaking. He was so proud of Theneesa for reaching Diamond. She overcame so many challenges and never stopped working, a model student and a model adventurer. Yet, he resented her for succeeding where he failed and then leaving him behind to pursue her own dreams.

    They always left. That was part of the job.

    But shit was it harder when the people he lifted up punched back down at him.

    Hans set aside the book and went upstairs to his apartment, ready to be done with this day.

    New Quest: Create a plan for what to do if you are removed from the Gomi chapter.

    ***

    Open Quests (Ordered from Old to New):

    Progress from Gold-ranked to Diamond-ranked.

    Mend the rift with Devon.

    Complete the manuscript for "The Next Generation: A Teaching Methodology for Training Adventurers."

    Identify the unknown purple flower from Olza.

    Don¡¯t forget the beer!

    Brainstorm ideas for safe approaches to training on uneven terrain.

    Design a winter curriculum.

    Await Galad¡¯s response to your offer to help.

    Create a plan for what to do if you are removed from the Gomi chapter.

 Chapter 22: New Quest System

    Hans spent a few afternoons visiting with the residents of Gomi, one home at a time. For those who he had not met formally, he introduced himself and explained that he was looking to make a list of chores and wish list projects, small jobs that needed doing but somehow got drowned out by more urgent needs. Those tasks ranged from chopping down a dead tree to repainting a chicken coop, from pulling weeds to mucking stalls.

    Back at the guild hall, he dusted off the old job notice board and rehung it in the main common area. Next, he tacked on several scraps of paper, each listing a location, a task, and a point value. Once a dozen or so of those were hung, he finished the board with a written explanation of how points could be redeemed.

    Stepping back with his hands on his hips, Hans smiled proudly at his little project. His handwriting could be better, but there was no helping that.

    New Quest: Explain the new quest board to the kids¡¯ class.

    ***

    ¡°Adventurers are motivated by a lot of different things,¡± Hans explained to the kids class seated on the benches of the guild hall, ¡°but the best adventurers I¡¯ve met put community first.¡±

    Harriot blurted, ¡°Like Master Devontes?¡±

    Doing his best to hide his wince, Hans answered, ¡°Yes, like Master Devontes. Adventuring is still hard work and can be very risky, though, so it¡¯s okay to do good and get paid for it. That¡¯s why we have a new job board.¡±

    Stepping aside to give the children a clear view of the board, he explained that every piece of paper represented a job that a Gomi citizen needed help completing. While a few of the jobs had an age requirement, most of the notices on the board could be taken and completed by any student.

    They were allowed to take one job at a time, and if they brought the notice back with a signature from the townsperson who requested it, they earned points. Those could be redeemed for progressively larger treats from Charlie¡¯s bakery, with some flexibility to account for individual tastes.

    Hans had to suppress a grin when he saw the children lean forward in unison at the mention of earning a pastry or a whole pie if they saved enough points.

    ¡°There are a few rules we have to follow. First, you¡¯re not allowed to take a job posted by your own family. I¡¯m not going to give you points for doing your own chores.¡± He gave the children a mock scowl.

    They giggled, and judging by a few flashes of disappointment, several children had intended on pursuing that scheme.

    ¡°Please tell me when you take a job. You¡¯re not full blown adventurers yet, so I¡¯d like to know what everyone is working on. Lastly, be respectful to the person who posted the job. Show up for your job at a reasonable hour, and be courteous to them and their belongings. You don¡¯t get points if I hear you were rude or cut corners. Everyone understand?¡±

    The class nodded.

    Stepping farther aside for his own safety, Hans told the kids they could look at the board. ¡°I¡¯ll add more jobs when I get them, so take a look at the board when you come to class if you want to earn more points.¡±

    Every child selected a job, from the oldest to the youngest. Hans made a note of who selected what and waited to see how his experiment would play out.

    Quest Complete: Explain the new quest board to the kids¡¯ class.

    ***

    Three days after his visit to Galad, Mayor Charlie invited Hans to join him for dinner. He hadn¡¯t said it directly, but Hans surmised that the topic of the night would be his proposal to the Tribe.

    Sitting down at the familiar dining table in Charlie and Galinda¡¯s apartment, the Guild Master happily accepted a stein of beer, fresh from the barn. Summer was beginning to wane, and the Tribe sold casks by the wagon to the merchants each time they made their monthly visit. Whether it was superstition or tradition, Hans wasn¡¯t sure, but the Tribe kept the first batch of the season for themselves and Gomi, making it a small honor to be offered that particular stein.

    ¡°How is your job board going?¡± Charlie asked. ¡°I¡¯ve already handed out three cookies to your young adventurers, so I imagine well.¡±

    Hans wobbled his head side to side. ¡°It¡¯s a strong start. We¡¯ll see if they stay motivated beyond this first burst.¡±

    The Mayor nodded. ¡°This is true. This is true.¡±

    ¡°Paying Gunther for chores might get us into trouble later,¡± Galad joked as he joined Hans, Charlie, and Galinda at the table.

    For most of the meal, the group bantered about small things, like Mazo¡¯s visit or some of Becky¡¯s more memorable antics¨Clike the time she adopted five orphaned raccoons and brought them to town. While she slept one night, the mischievous creatures burgled half the neighborhood, making off with several snacks.

    As conversation shifted to dessert, Galinda looked around at the other three people at her table. ¡°Why are we not talking about what we met to talk about?¡± she asked.

    Charlie gently rubbed his wife¡¯s back. ¡°You¡¯re right. We¡¯ve been avoiding the subject. Galad, would you like to begin?¡±

    ¡°We think we can take in 40 more tusks,¡± Galad said bluntly, ¡°and we¡¯d like your opinion on our plan.¡±

    He estimated that they could accommodate that many tusks if they built two more barns to function as dormitories. The Tribe would do their best to make them comfortable, so the accommodations wouldn¡¯t be painfully spartan, but they would be somewhat minimalist. After the winter, they would build proper homes for everyone who wanted to stay. For their current timeline, the dormitory approach was their best chance at having enough space to shelter everyone.

    If they had any overflow, most of the tusk families were happy to host a guest or two, depending on what their own resources allowed.

    The finality of the way Galad spoke surprised Hans. The Tribe had decided they would take in as many tusk refugees as they could¨Cand quite quickly, apparently¨Cso now the challenge was logistics.

    Quest Update: Help refine the plan to take in more tusks.

    ¡°We know that we need to let our brothers and sisters know that they are welcome in Gomi.¡±

    Mayor Charlie cut in, saying, ¡°I should add that we are aware of the risks.¡±

    ¡°But they are acceptable to help other tusks,¡± Galinda said, completing her husband¡¯s thought.

    Hans leaned back to think. ¡°So we need to tell as many tusks as we can that they are safe here while also protecting the anonymity we have now. Yeah, that¡¯s a tricky contradiction.¡±

    The other three people gave him time to think, filling the silence with mouthfuls of food and refills of their drinks. When Hans shared his perspective, they were ready to listen.

    The plan he laid out began with him sending letters to the handful of Guild Masters he trusted without question. He would use a standard courier service instead of guild mail to avoid attracting attention from the Adventurers¡¯ Guild. Though the tusk population in most towns was low, it was rarely zero, so each of his friends would have access to people they may be able to help. Their discretion was Gomi¡¯s shield.

    His next suggestions were more complicated and hinged on using Osare, the next closest town, as a source of misdirection.

    ¡°We should pick a few strong but discreet tusks to send out to the nearest towns. Any place we¡¯re sure that our people and our new people will have enough time to get back to Gomi before the snow.¡±Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

    Heads around the table nodded along, listening.

    ¡°To give us an extra layer of protection, we don¡¯t tell anyone that their final destination is Gomi. Instead, we tell them we¡¯re meeting in Osare and leaving from there. On our way out of Osare, we make it known the group is going to Raven¡¯s Hollow and leave town in that direction.¡±

    Galad smiled, amused by what he knew was coming next.

    ¡°There¡¯s a road that goes around Osare. Well, probably more of a wide trail than a proper road, but it¡¯s not well-traveled. We can take everyone back to Gomi while anyone in Osare would say we went in the opposite direction, to Raven¡¯s Hollow.¡±

    The table agreed the plan was elaborate but could not fault the logic. ¡°I¡¯ll have Luther recruit four more to go with him.¡±

    A camp of migrating tusks would attract attention no matter what, much of that attention being simple curiosity and gossip fodder with the potential for a hateful reaction. With four of their people on the road, they could keep at least one person posted in Osare while the others shuttled groups to Gomi using the alternative route. As odd as it was to consider it a blessing, the people who disliked tusks usually did so passively. If tusks came to town and moved on, they likely wouldn¡¯t care to cause the Tribe trouble.

    Galad clapped his hands together. ¡°Then we are agreed?¡±

    The table said that they were.

    ¡°Excellent. Let¡¯s get to work.¡±

    Quest Update: Purchase supplies for tusk refugees.

    ***

    ¡°You want how many mattresses on the next shipment?¡± a potbellied merchant with one long gold chain earring asked.

    ¡°Forty. I¡¯ve got all the quantities on the list.¡±

    The merchant scratched his collarbone, re-reading the list in his hand. ¡°What could you need all of this for? This is almost the size of all of our other orders combined.¡±

    Hans shrugged innocently. ¡°You know how it is with adventurers. We have more money than we know what to do with, so I came up with some projects for myself.¡±

    ¡°What project involves 40 mattresses, 40 blankets, 40 winter cloaks, 500 pounds of rice, 500 pounds of beans, and ¡®40 assorted works of fiction and nonfiction for all ages?¡¯¡±

    ¡°The mattresses are for a training idea I have. I need books for the chapter, and everything else is for a winter survival course I plan to teach.¡±

    The merchant considered Hans for a moment and looked back at the paper he held, reading it yet again. ¡°And you¡¯re paying in gold out of your own pocket?¡±

    ¡°Including the rush fee I think you should charge me. I appreciate your flexibility, and I¡¯d like to ask that you don¡¯t share that I am wealthy with anyone else. I¡¯d rather not deal with the attention.¡±

    That raised the merchant¡¯s eyebrow. ¡°You¡¯re telling me to charge you more?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s correct. If you can protect my identity and be discreet, I¡¯ll gladly place all of my future orders through you. How much did you say that was going to be?¡± Hans made a show of opening his pouch wide, giving the merchant a clear view of the 90 gold he carried.

    Predictably, the salesman couldn¡¯t agree quickly enough, grabbing Hans¡¯ hand from where it hung at his side to seal the deal with a shake. ¡°5 gold, 50 silvers for all that you asked with the rush. Want me to procure anything else for you, Mr. Hans?¡±

    ¡°If you didn¡¯t mind waiting for a moment, I can think of a few things. I¡¯ll need to grab my colleague first.¡±

    The merchant was happy to wait. A short while later, Hans returned with Olza, stepping aside as the alchemist rattled off a list of ingredients that the potbellied man furiously transcribed into his ledger. Everything she requested was for curing various diseases and for brewing various strengths of healing potions. If a bad flu cut through the new Tribe dormitory, the consequences could be tragic. These extra supplies guarded against that.

    Hans passed another 2 gold to the merchant to account for the alchemy supplies. The man shook his hand again and promised that he would be a reliable long term partner for Gomi¡¯s Guild Master. In that spirit, he was more than happy to deliver Hans¡¯ letters to the courier in Osare along the way.

    Quest Complete: Purchase supplies for tusk refugees.

    Before returning to the guild hall, Hans had a new thought, and he had a little more than 82 gold in his pocket to blow through.

    A brief walk later, Hans arrived at the blacksmith¡¯s forge. Harry and Harriot¡¯s father was hard at work forging nails. Based on the materials nearby, he planned to make several hundred of them.

    Ah. Galad placed an order for their new barn builds.

    ¡°Guild Master, welcome. Will more of your adventurer friends be visiting soon?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t expect any,¡± Hans chuckled in reply. ¡°I¡¯d like to place an order.¡±

    The blacksmith whistled. ¡°I¡¯m popular today. Are you in a hurry?¡±

    ¡°Not particularly. As long as it¡¯s ready before winter, I¡¯ll be happy.¡± Then Hans listed what he wanted to order.

    The blacksmith¡¯s eyes bulged. ¡°You¡¯re serious?¡±

    Hans said that he was.

    ¡°Gods. Are you building an army? Hang on, let me write this down,¡± the blacksmith said, patting his apron for a pencil. He found it behind his ears and started repeating Hans¡¯ order. ¡°10 longswords. 20 spears. 20 targes. 10 longbows. 400 arrows¡­ did I miss anything?¡±

    ¡°Just what I owe you.¡±

    The blacksmith slowly exhaled as he calculated the job in his mind. ¡°I don¡¯t know how I could do all of this for less than 21 gold, and probably 50 silvers I¡¯m sorry to say.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s fine.¡± Hans dropped 22 gold on the table and went on his way. The blacksmith stared at the gold wide-eyed. The Guild Master was nearly out of sight when the blacksmith remembered to say goodbye. Hans waved back.

    Buying weapons was not part of the plan he and Galad had agreed upon, largely because Hans never raised the topic. His habit of obsessively preparing for challenges that might lie ahead told him that a town full of refugees fleeing persecution might need to defend itself. That outcome was unlikely¨Cas there was no strategic value to be gained by conquering Gomi¨Cbut he had no other use for the gold Mazo left.

    If they needed weapons and didn¡¯t have them, Hans would never forgive himself.

    Lost in his thoughts, Hans was nearly at his desk in the guild hall when he realized Becky was in the room. He startled and grabbed his heart.

    ¡°I¡¯m pretty sneaky for a dwarf, eh boss?¡±

    ¡°Hello, Becky.¡±

    ¡°Got a minute? I need to show you something you¡¯ll want to see.¡±

    His curiosity piqued, Hans followed Becky around the back of the guild house and across the field to the treeline, well away from any of the roads going in or out of Gomi. A few yards into the forest, Becki snorted a greeting and stood from where she slept. A blanket sat next to her, covering a pile of lumps the size of a small pony.

    Becky leaned against her familiar. ¡°Best to just lift the blanket. I wouldn¡¯t be able to explain it if I tried.¡±

    Grabbing the corner of the blanket, Hans tossed it to the side.

    The partially rotted corpse of¡­ something lay in the leaves. As a single entity the anatomy didn¡¯t make sense. If he looked at the left side in isolation, the beast resembled a squonk. If he did the same with the right side, he saw a gnoll, twisted and compressed like a bent accordion for the rib cages to align, but still distinctly a gnoll.

    ¡°Did you kill it?¡±

    Becky shook her head. ¡°Found it dead fifteen yards or so from the flowers. Was maybe two days old.¡±

    The more he studied the corpse, the more Hans was convinced his initial assessment was accurate, as unlikely it seemed. The squonk half was distinct. The gnoll half had been distorted to connect the two very different body sizes.

    Hans poked at the division between the two with a stick. ¡°I don¡¯t see any stitches.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s that mean?¡±

    ¡°It looks like a natural chimera. I think only four or five of those have ever been recorded, and they were all deep into the frontier.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s an unnatural chimera?¡±

    ¡°A few mages over the years have conducted some disturbing experiments. With the right healing magic, creatures can be combined. Those are more common, but still very rare.¡±

    ¡°If this is a natural chimera, how was it formed?¡±

    Shrugging, Hans replied, ¡°We don¡¯t know. I¡¯ve seen a few scholars argue that wild magic is the cause, but even less is understood about wild magic than is known about chimeras.¡±

    At first, the proximity of the squonk attacks to the purple flowers could be waved away as a coincidence. Becky¡¯s finding this body so near to the flowers, and the fact that it combined a squonk with a gnoll, the monster the flower apparently disintegrated¡­ well, the events seemed to be connected. Arguing otherwise was increasingly difficult.

    ¡°Would you be up for a job?¡± Hans asked the Druid.

    ¡°You know my answer.¡±

    ¡°Depends on the job, right. I¡¯d like you to find a place to observe the flower patch, safely and from a distance. That might be the only way we learn something more definitive.¡±

    Becky hemmed and hawed. ¡°I don¡¯t know. I¡¯m on board for doing favors for the town, but I¡¯d need at least a gold to camp there for a month.¡±

    ¡°Done.¡± Hans tossed a gold coin to the dwarf.

    ¡°Bollocks,¡± Becky said, catching the coin. ¡°I should have asked for more.¡±

    New Quest: Collect Becky¡¯s report on the flower stakeout.

    While Becky began the journey back to where the purple flowers bloomed, Hans updated Olza on the latest discovery. She knew little about chimeras, but she agreed that the new development was disturbing.

    Very disturbing.

    ***

    Open Quests (Ordered from Old to New):

    Progress from Gold-ranked to Diamond-ranked.

    Mend the rift with Devon.

    Complete the manuscript for "The Next Generation: A Teaching Methodology for Training Adventurers."

    Identify the unknown purple flower from Olza.

    Don¡¯t forget the beer!

    Brainstorm ideas for safe approaches to training on uneven terrain.

    Design a winter curriculum.

    Create a plan for what to do if you are removed from the Gomi chapter.

    Collect Becky¡¯s report on the flower stakeout.

 Chapter 23: Backup Character Sheet

    Hans couldn¡¯t sleep. A light rain pattered on the roof of the guild hall as he swung his legs out of bed, rubbing his eyes. He was so tired he hurt, and yet he could not rest. Devon was half a kingdom away, at least, but after hearing Mazo¡¯s story, he expected the Platinum-ranked adventurer to show up at any moment to officially eject Hans from the Adventurers¡¯ Guild.

    That was outlandish, but so was Devon bothering to lobby against Hans at all. What was the point? What was there to be gained? The answer he had was spite. Pure spite.

    His restlessness reminded him of one of his open quests.

    Active Quest: Create a plan for what to do if you are removed from the Gomi chapter.

    He had pondered the question on occasion before, most deeply on his first night drinking with Becky, Galinda, and Charlie. When he began imagining the worst possible scenarios, he scolded himself for inventing ghosts to fear. Now, at whatever time of night or morning it was, the threat didn¡¯t seem imaginary.

    Unfurling a map of the kingdom, he looked at where he would go, where he could go. This exercise was nothing new, and he knew what answers he would find, but still, he traced the many roads and considered the many villages and towns.

    Every one of those options brought him closer to Hoseki, a prospect that twisted his stomach and bubbled a hint of bile up his throat.

    I can¡¯t go back. I can¡¯t do it.

    His only viable choices were moving to one of the two countries bordering his own¨Cone led by lizardmen and one by dwarves¨Cor to pick a direction and head into the frontier. As much as he wouldn¡¯t mind living in either of those places, the Adventurers¡¯ Guild had been working to expand its reach beyond its current borders, and had been making headway.

    If each country didn¡¯t have four or five new chapters of the Guild before the New Year, Hans would be surprised.

    That left the frontier. Ambitious¨Cor reckless, depending on who was asked¨Ctraders sometimes ventured into the frontier to procure exotic goods, selling them in the kingdom for a handsome profit. Those traders spoke of far-flung villages living behind stone walls and palisades, always in danger of a monster raid. Disgraced upper-ranked adventurers were rumored to settle in these kinds of places, earning their keep by defending the citizens.

    On the few trips he had taken into the frontier with his party, he learned that towns appeared and disappeared with tragic frequency. When he was on his most recent journey, three of four of the towns they had identified on their route were gone by the time he arrived. In all cases, they were beaten down to ruins and dappled with the remains of people not lucky enough to escape.

    What would I even do in the frontier? Stake out a homestead and become a farmer?

    Hans shook his head as an old idea resurfaced. He could head into the Dead End Mountains, and perhaps find a place to settle on the other side, if he made it that far. Reports from half-starved explorers had been wrong before. Maybe the other side of the mountains was all beautiful green prairie instead of a desolate desert.

    But then what?

    Hans shut the map, crossing his arms on his apartment desk to rest his head.

    ***

    ¡°Welcome to the first adult class,¡± Hans said to Galad, Galinda, Uncle Ed, and four other residents from in and around Gomi, men and women. Terry the guard did not attend. ¡°I know many of you have trained before, so there¡¯s a good chance I¡¯ll teach something differently than how you learned it previously. When that happens, I¡¯m not saying your original instructor was wrong. I¡¯m simply showing you a different approach, and I¡¯d like you to try it my way while you¡¯re drilling. You can do whatever you want when you spar.¡±

    Everyone nodded.

    ¡°We¡¯re starting with the sword. If you can use a sword, you can make just about any vaguely sword-shaped weapon work if you¡¯re forced to. The mechanics of a mace have a lot in common with slashing with a sword. The mechanics of thrusting a spear have a lot in common with a sword thrust. Hell, you can make a sturdy stick work if you had to. All of those weapons have their own nuances, but my goal is to maximize your chances of success. Learning the sword as your base is the best way to do that.

    ¡°Most of you have seen how I teach the kids¡¯ class. The training methods will be the same but with less crying. Hopefully.¡±

    The class chuckled.

    As the lesson progressed, Hans could see which townspeople had handled a weapon and who hadn¡¯t. Not surprisingly, Galad and Galinda were the most competent. From what Hans knew of their parents, those skills were likely honed by cruel necessity.

    Seeing either of them swing a sword reminded him how important his first rule was: Blocking is bad. If they hit his shield with their full strength, his forearm might crack. Having sparred with tusks plenty of times in his younger days, he knew they were strong, fast, and cunning, as if they had an inborn ¡°battle sense¡± that no other race had.

    Part way into the drills for the day, Hans noticed Quentin and Kane peeking over the fence.

    ¡°If you act like adults, you can take the adult class. Deal?¡±

    The boys nodded immediately. Hans told them to grab a training sword and join the drills. None of the adults minded, many of them greeting the children excitedly in between tired breaths.

    After a few minutes of observation, he called for a pause in drills but didn¡¯t ask the class to circle up. ¡°In kids¡¯ classes, my challenge is keeping the class serious enough that they get their work in. For adults, the problem is the opposite. Us old farts take training too seriously. Don¡¯t be afraid to laugh with your training partners. Don¡¯t be hard on yourself if you make a mistake. Focus is good. But we think better if we associate combat with mental calm¡­ Also it makes training less boring.¡±

    The class worked through the same beginner curriculum as the kids¡¯ class, starting with basic strikes, basic parries, and their relevant footwork. For the students who hadn¡¯t trained before, these lessons built the foundation critical for Hans¡¯ teaching method. For those who had experience, Hans used the lesson to evaluate their form and technique, gaining a sense of how much they knew and how technical they were in a fight.

    Galad and his sister Galinda had a habit of adopting a wide stance to enhance the strength of their strikes. Though the blows were stronger, their foot placement reduced their mobility. They couldn¡¯t adjust to a counterattack as quickly as they should, and they were on the cusp of being off balance. The correct feint or counter could overextend their stance, putting them at even more risk.

    Uncle Ed listened intently and had a farmer¡¯s athleticism. He lacked confidence, however, every step and movement riddled with uncertainty and hesitation. That was also not unusual. Much of combat relied on decisive action, but decisiveness did not come naturally to most people, especially when their lives were in danger.

    The other townspeople were typical beginners. A few learned things more quickly than the others, but they all made the same kinds of common beginner mistakes. Hans came around often to tweak footwork and adjust grips, tightening their technique with each repetition.Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.

    As class wound down, Hans asked his students to circle up again.

    ¡°I don¡¯t make adults wait to spar the way I do with kids,¡± Hans explained. ¡° But I care just as much about keeping everyone here safe and healthy. The tradition is that any new student spars with me first. If they¡¯re an asshole, I figure that out before they thump on a beginner and hurt someone.

    ¡°No one is obligated to spar today. If you¡¯re not comfortable with it, waiting isn¡¯t a problem. If you¡¯re curious but are worried about your safety, sparring with me will be safe and slow.

    ¡°This is the warning: I¡¯ll match your intensity. With anyone else, I decide how you spar. With me, you can go as hard as you want as long as you¡¯re comfortable with me doing the same.¡±

    With his spiel out of the way, he asked who wanted to spar.

    Galinda raised her hand before anyone else. Hans invited her out to the middle of the training yard. Shaking the tusk¡¯s hand reminded the Guild Master of how much larger she was than him. Far taller and far stronger, he prepared for her to be far faster as well.

    When their match began, Galinda darted forward, her long legs and practiced footwork closing the distance while she launched a series of strikes. Hans slipped the first three and parried the next two. On the last parry, he stepped to the side to create an angle, temporarily halting his opponent¡¯s relentless forward progress.

    Without delay, he countered, sending swift but powerless strikes at the tusk, forcing her to defend even if the danger was minimal. For Galinda, the frequency of Hans¡¯ attacks was like fighting a swarm of bees. No matter how much she swatted, new threats buzzed into action to continue the assault.

    Frustrated, Galinda launched a sweeping horizontal slash, her naturally long reach helping her sword cover an immense amount of space with its blade. Hans slid backward, just out of the range of the sword¡¯s tip, and shot back in as soon as it had passed. Because of her emotion, she overcommitted, taking her strike too wide for her to properly defend.

    Hans thumped the back of her sword arm elbow with his sword. Where most human opponents would have lost their sword to that attack, Galinda¡¯s grip was strong. She whipped her elbow backward, aiming for Hans¡¯ ribs, but the Guild Master was too close to be in danger. With his body already against her arm, her attempt at an elbow strike became an aggressive but awkward shove.

    Adjusting his feet to keep his balance, Hans brought his pommel down on Galinda¡¯s forearm, but it was a feint. When she braced to resist the same disarm attempt again, he used his pommel to hold her arm in place as he brought his knee up.

    Galinda¡¯s sword fell to the dirt, but she kept fighting. The tusk-touched woman grabbed his sword arm with both hands. Instead of resisting her attempts to grapple, he capitalized on them. He ducked under one of her arms, pulling it over his shoulder as he turned his back and bucked his hips. With that motion, he used her grip against her. Had she let go, she wouldn¡¯t have flown over Hans¡¯ shoulder¨Cher feet pointing straight up at the sky at the peak of the arc. She landed on her back in the dirt.

    Her body produced an audible thud when she hit the ground, freezing her face in confused anger.

    Galinda¡¯s piercing tusk eyes looked up at the Guild Master from the ground. Then she howled with laughter.

    ¡°You¡¯re not even sweating,¡± she said as she stood, dusting herself off. ¡°If you were born a tusk, you would be unstoppable.¡±

    Hans accepted Galinda¡¯s compliment, even if it was unorthodox.

    Most of the other adults chose to spar, Galad and Uncle Ed among them. Other than his match with Galad, most of the sparring was slow and calm, the person across from Hans a complete neophyte who needed more room to think about their next move. For Galad¡¯s part, he adhered to more traditional swordplay than his sister, but the match ended with the tusk¡¯s sword in the dirt and his hands up in surrender.

    When class formally came to a close, many of the students lingered to talk amongst themselves, exchanging bits of small town gossip. Those conversations stopped when Quentin asked a question.

    ¡°If you¡¯re that good in a fight, what¡¯s Mazo like?¡± he asked.

    ¡°The gaps between Gold and Diamond, and then Diamond to Platinum are larger than most people realize.¡±

    ¡°What do you mean?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re a Junior member. That puts four whole ranks between me and you. Think about that gap. You¡¯ve trained for a few years, but I¡¯ve been training for more than twenty. There¡¯s a lot of distance between where your knowledge is and where mine is, right?¡±

    Quentin agreed.

    ¡°You¡¯re closer to me in strength than I am to Mazo. Diamonds are that far beyond Golds. If Mazo and I arm wrestle, I have a chance at winning. If she¡¯s allowed to use her abilities, I¡¯m done. I¡¯d be lucky to close the distance before she ended it.¡±

    Uncle Ed whistled at the comparison. Quentin and Kane¡¯s eyes went big as they looked their Guild Master up and down. Hans had just sparred the entire adult class. He never got hit. He didn¡¯t sweat or breathe heavily. Every match seemed trivial.

    Yet Mazo would find defeating Hans just as trivial. It was difficult to fathom.

    ¡°Mazo could probably earn Platinum if she wanted to, but let me blow your minds a little bit more. If Devontes and Mazo fought, she wouldn¡¯t land a single hit.¡±

    ¡°You exaggerate,¡± Galad said, almost pleading for that to be true.

    Hans shook his head. ¡°There are more levels to this than most people ever see. Sparring someone like that is more than humbling. The helplessness that you feel in those kinds of battles¡­ A lot of adventurers struggle to come to terms with that when it happens to them, especially if they thought highly of themselves before.¡±

    The hour wasn¡¯t incredibly late, but the days were growing shorter as fall edged out the summer. Hans dismissed everyone so they could return home before the sun set.

    ***

    The next morning, Hans walked out to the Tribe farmland to check on construction progress. The first of the two barns was framed and walled. A crew of tusks and humans worked on completing the roof while another prepared the site for the second barn, clearing the land and digging a foundation to anchor the wall.

    The speed of the build astounded Hans, but he shouldn¡¯t have been surprised. The Tribe was committed to their goals, and they didn¡¯t tolerate half measures or ¡°good enough.¡±

    Galad called down from the barn roof, ¡°Welcome, Guild Master. What can we do for you?¡±

    Hans yelled back, ¡°Just stopping by. Need anything?¡±

    Shaking his head, the tusk replied, ¡°We should have the roof on before the first new family arrives. The next barn shouldn¡¯t take too long either.¡±

    Leaving Galad to return to his work, Hans looked inside the incomplete barn. Again, he was reminded that ¡°barn¡± was mostly Tribe slang. Inside, yet another crew of Gomi citizens laid down a subfloor and slopped mortar between stones to build chimneys, two on each wall with one in the middle of the structure. He noticed the interior walls were packed with mud and straw, the more complete side of the structure covering that insulation with another layer of wood.

    The Tribe understood how harsh winter could be, and they didn¡¯t cut corners on keeping their people warm.

    Before he returned to Gomi, Hans collected a few more quests for his job board. Many of the people he spoke to, particularly the elderly, thanked Hans for encouraging the town¡¯s children to help their neighbors. The only grumbling he heard came from parents, but that was mostly in jest as they complained about their kids doing more guild chores than home chores.

    On his way out of town, a young tusk adult pulled up alongside Hans in a wagon. Four kegs sat behind the tusk, roped into place.

    ¡°Galad says to give you a ride back to town.¡±

    ¡°You sure?¡±

    ¡°Yep. I¡¯ve got a delivery to make.¡±

    ¡°Where to?¡± Hans asked as he climbed up to join the driver on the front bench.

    ¡°This is your beer. Courtesy of the Tribe.¡±

    Hans looked back at the kegs again. ¡°This better not be a joke.¡±

    The tusk laughed and clicked his tongue to get the donkeys moving again. As he had promised, he left the kegs with Hans, helping the puny human wrestle them inside the guild hall and into the back storage room.

    Before he left, he asked, ¡°Need anything else, Mr. Hans?¡±

    ¡°Hmm¡­ I should probably hide these from Becky.¡±

    ¡°Yes, yes you should.¡±

    Quest Complete: Don¡¯t forget the beer!

    ***

    Open Quests (Ordered from Old to New):

    Progress from Gold-ranked to Diamond-ranked.

    Mend the rift with Devon.

    Complete the manuscript for "The Next Generation: A Teaching Methodology for Training Adventurers."

    Identify the unknown purple flower from Olza.

    Brainstorm ideas for safe approaches to training on uneven terrain.

    Design a winter curriculum.

    Create a plan for what to do if you are removed from the Gomi chapter.

    Collect Becky¡¯s report on the flower stakeout.

 Chapter 24: New Player Onboarding

    Though the idea of refugees summoned visions of masses of people fleeing a conflict in most people¡¯s minds, tusks were uncommon and rarely lived in groups. Dwarves in a predominantly human town, for example, might unofficially form a ¡°dwarf town,¡± a neighborhood where dwarves and their businesses congregated. The same was true of halflings and lizardmen. That didn¡¯t happen with tusks. Most towns wouldn¡¯t allow it.

    Given that reality, no one in Gomi expected tusks to descend in droves.

    The first tusk refugees arrived a few days after the merchants delivered Hans¡¯ order, the one he had placed on behalf of the Tribe. The first barn was complete¨Cincluding beds and blankets and simple free-standing closets for personal belongings. The second barn was not far behind.

    Luther escorted a mother and daughter into town. The mother was more wiry than Galinda, seeming to favor her human heritage more in her body with her strongest orc traits in her face. Her daughter, who was perhaps five years old, must have had a human father. She had the jawline and teeth of a tusk, but her other facial features were much softer than her mother¡¯s.

    The daughter held her mom¡¯s hand while the mom carried a single backpack. Other than that and the clothes they wore, they had no other belongings.

    Hans poked his head out of the guild hall when he heard Galinda fussing over the young girl, complimenting her on her cute tusks and asking if she liked pastries. Galinda had already taken the bag from the mother, and Mayor Charlie knelt next to the daughter with a bag opened toward her.

    Hesitant at first, she reached in and pulled out a flaky croissant. When the girl wasn¡¯t looking, he passed the bag to the mother. She tried to refuse, but Charlie insisted, saying they were welcome to save the rest for later.

    The two newcomers were clearly tired from their journey and overwhelmed by the few Gomi residents who stepped outside to greet them, so Hans decided he would introduce himself when they had settled and had a chance to rest.

    With Luther in the lead, Charlie and Galinda escorted Gomi¡¯s newest citizens to their new home with the Tribe.

    Watching them go, Hans experienced that sense of deep fulfillment of knowing he played a small part in helping someone. It wasn¡¯t personal joy but rather being happy for someone else¡¯s good fortune. He remembered how he felt when he saw his apartment in the Gomi guild hall. It wasn¡¯t much, but it was a home. It was his. Finding that after feeling unmoored for years brought him great comfort.

    He couldn¡¯t imagine how that would feel for someone¨Clike the mother and daughter about to disappear into the Gomi forest with their guides¨Cwho scraped to survive and lived in fear of their neighbors.

    In that moment, Hans knew that this was home. He didn¡¯t want to leave.

    Quest Update: Protect your place in Gomi and maintain control of the Gomi chapter.

    ***

    Galad and Luther visited Hans in the guild hall later that day, a few minutes before kids¡¯ class was set to begin. While the children invented their own games in the training yard, the three adults sat inside, talking. When Hans asked if they should wait for Mayor Charlie and Galinda, Galad said that they would be briefed later. For now, the pair was doting over the new arrivals, helping to get them settled and comfortable.

    ¡°I¡¯m riding out right after this,¡± Luther stated. ¡°Galad said to share my news with you before I did.¡±

    ¡°I appreciate that.¡±

    ¡°The two we brought today hadn¡¯t heard of the war with the orcs. They were renting a room and got kicked out when humans wanted to rent instead.¡±

    Hans nodded. They had already agreed that they would take any tusk refugees, even those not directly concerned or affected by the orc attacks.

    ¡°News of the conflict has just barely reached Raven¡¯s Hollow. Most of the citizens I spoke to didn¡¯t know anything about it. I did find two traveling adventurers who had just come from Hoseki. According to them, the conflict is still far off for most of the kingdom, but the reports of tusks defecting to join the orcs have continued.¡±

    ¡°There goes our hope that it was just a strange rumor.¡±

    Galad agreed, glumly.

    ¡°The way they described it¡­¡± Luther said, trying to find the right words. ¡°It was like the tusks changed personalities, becoming aggressive and ferocious. Apparently one of the defectors was a librarian. Spent every morning reading books to children. Then he ran off and joined the orcs.¡±

    With that, Luther added that he expected at least a dozen or so more refugees, based on the conversations he had had with tusks as he went town to town. They all asked where this promised safe haven was located, and they didn¡¯t argue when Luther declined to tell them. They understood the value of keeping the Tribe farmland off of kingdom maps.

    When Luther stood to leave, Hans noticed his sword and scabbard had hints of rust. He asked to see it, finding chips in the blade when he drew the sword. Frowning, he held up a finger to ask Luther to wait before disappearing into the guild storage room.

    Hans returned with one of his new swords from Gomi¡¯s blacksmith and held it out for Luther.

    ¡°What¡¯s this?¡± the tusk asked.

    ¡°It¡¯s a sword,¡± Hans said, smiling.

    Luther rolled his eyes. ¡°I mean why are you giving me this? It looks new.¡±

    ¡°It is. If you died because your sword blade was too dull, it would be embarrassing for all of us.¡±

    Galad and Luther laughed. When Galad nodded his approval to Luther, the tusk took the gift, bowing to express his thanks. He left to begin his ride back to Osare.

    When Luther had gone, Galad said, ¡°I¡¯m surprised the guild has that kind of equipment.¡±

    ¡°Not much point in teaching people to use a sword if no one has one when they need it.¡±

    ***

    Hans flipped through his new bestiary, rereading the entries on chimeras and gnolls over and over, hoping a new insight would magically form from the limited descriptions. The books Mazo had left him were of excellent quality in all respects, but they were written as quick reference field guides. Adventurers didn¡¯t need to read the musings of scholars and researchers. They just needed to know how to protect themselves. That¡¯s how most people thought of it at least.

    He longed for a library like those found in the capital.

    Roland entered with a full burlap bag over his shoulder, setting it on one of the tables in the guild hall.

    ¡°Are you tired of people asking how you¡¯re feeling?¡± Hans asked.

    The hunter nodded, chuckling softly. ¡°I know it comes from kindness, but yes. For you, though, I¡¯m doing better. I still don¡¯t quite feel like myself, but I can hunt again.¡±

    Pointing to the bag, Roland explained it was full of smoked and salted venison, an entire deer¡¯s worth. He said he wanted Hans to eat well during the winter, and wanted to do what he could to repay the Guild Master for all that he had done for him and Quentin.

    Though his immediate reaction was to resist the gift, Hans had met people like Roland before. He was strong minded and prided himself on being independent and self-sufficient. If he offered a gift, he meant it with all sincerity and wouldn¡¯t be talked out of giving it.Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.

    Hans thanked the hunter, shaking his hand.

    Before Roland left, Hans called after him. ¡°I forgot I had a question for you. We¡¯ve been doing this job board for the kids, and we got a request to clear a giant rat nest for one of the farmers. I was thinking of inviting Quentin and Kane, if that was okay with you.¡±

    Roland thought. ¡°You¡¯ll be with him the whole time?¡±

    ¡°Yes, sir.¡±

    ¡°Then I have no qualms. I¡¯m sure he¡¯d be excited.¡±

    ***

    Hans, Quentin, and Kane stood on the porch of a Gomi farmhouse, looking at a barn¨Ca proper barn, not a fancy tusk barn¨Cacross a cornfield. Quentin wore leather armor he borrowed from his father. Kane was supposed to borrow Hans¡¯ armor, but it was too small for the tusk-touched. He ended up wearing Galinda¡¯s. It was baggy in places, and the belt could almost wrap around Kane twice, but it didn¡¯t impede Kane¡¯s movement in any way.

    ¡°Tuck your pants into your boots,¡± Hans instructed. ¡°If you¡¯re hunting something you know attacks low, you need to take extra care to protect your legs. It sounds silly, but it¡¯s easier for a monster to drag you away by your pant legs than your boots.¡±

    The children did as they were told.

    ¡°Based on what you read in the bestiary, how should we do this?¡±

    Quentin and Kane shrugged. ¡°We thought you¡¯d tell us,¡± Kane said.

    Shaking his head, Hans said, ¡°Nope. This is your job. I¡¯m here to make sure nothing goes wrong, but otherwise, the real work is for you and Quentin.¡±

    Quentin and Kane looked at one another and began sharing ideas with each other. The Guild Master stood nearby, listening but not contributing.

    In a few minutes, they had a plan. They would enter through the large barn door and mostly shut it behind them. They wanted a compromise between closing off a big escape route for the rats and locking themselves inside with the monsters. With the door cracked, rats could not escape as easily, and the teens had a way to fallback if anything went wrong.

    Nodding as he listened to the plan, Hans asked, ¡°What if the rats have another way out? How are you going to keep them from escaping?¡±

    Quentin thought. ¡°Should one of us keep watch outside while the other goes inside?¡±

    ¡°In almost all situations, splitting the party is a bad idea. Adventurers work in groups because there is safety in numbers. If you split up, you lose that.¡±

    ¡°Could we block off their other exits?¡±

    Hans nodded proudly. ¡°Very good. Let¡¯s get to it!¡±

    Keeping a distance¨Cbut not so far that he couldn¡¯t quickly intervene¨CHans watched Quentin and Kane walk the perimeter of the barn, finding a tunnel the rats had dug under the exterior wall. Kane borrowed several pieces of chopped firewood from a nearby pile and stuffed the hole. The wooden blockade wouldn¡¯t last long against motivated rats, but it would hopefully last long enough for the job.

    Kane and Quentin entered the barn first with Hans close behind.

    Before their eyes could adjust to the dim interior, they heard the distinctive scratchy pitter patters of rats scurrying across wood and burrowing through straw. The barn was a standard two-story design, the upper loft reserved for storing hay bales and the bottom half lined with stalls for the front half of the barn. The back half of the barn looked like storage for animal feed, farm tools, and empty barrels.

    They checked the stalls first, taking turns for who went in and who stayed near the stall door to protect their flank and prevent the escape of fleeing rats.

    On the last stall, it was Quentin¡¯s turn to go inside. A moment after he stepped over the threshold, he unleashed a childish squeal, like someone had snuck up on him as a joke. Quentin must have recovered, though, because he emerged soon after with blood on his sword.

    One rat was digging a burrow in the stall, and Quentin dispatched it with a quick thrust, once he had collected himself, of course.

    And Kane was jealous.

    The real nest was at the back of the barn, buried beneath a pile of rotting hay and straw. When Kane reached down to brush some of the hay away, the pile erupted like a giant rat volcano.

    Five giant rats, each the size of a pig, shot out of the pile with strands of hay and straw in their matted black fur. They squealed and hissed. Two were unlucky enough to run into Quentin and Kane as soon as they emerged from their hiding places. They growled and bared beaver-like teeth. The other three attempted to flee, content to sacrifice their friends in the process.

    Like Hans taught them, Kane and Quentin squatted low to put their shields in better position to block the charge of a giant rat. Also like Hans had instructed, they opened with a thrust, attempting to use the charging monsters¡¯ rage against them.

    Kane¡¯s sword drove into his rat, the creature writhing and screeching but still trying to bite. With the monster impaled on his sword, the tusk teen opted to bring the rat near to his feet for a fast but gory stomp. That wasn¡¯t a move Hans had taught, but the Guild Master was pleased with the improvisation.

    Meanwhile, Quentin¡¯s rat dodged the thrust and dove forward to bite his ankle. The rat had barely closed its teeth around Quentin¡¯s shin when the boy¡¯s shield came down on top of its neck with a dull chop. The blow stunned the rat, and Quentin chopped its head off with a slash.

    ¡°By the plow!¡± Quentin called, pointing to where two giant rats sniffed at the wall, looking for a way out.

    When the boys moved in, staying side by side with their shields and swords ready, both rats turned and launched themselves at Quentin¡¯s face. He got his shield up in time, but the weight of both rats bouncing off his targes caused him to stumble. Kane moved in, killing one of the stunned rats with a quick thrust to its midsection while Quentin recovered and finished off the other with two hacking slashes.

    ¡°We should check the nest to be sure,¡± Kane suggested. Quentin agreed, and the two used their shields to push aside straw and hay.

    As they neared the corner of the barn, Kane¡¯s shield hit something soft. He called out and stepped back, a rat twice the size of the previous four skittered forward to attack. Half thrusting as a feint, Kane forced the rat to hesitate while Quentin attacked from the side, managing to slice into the rat¡¯s shoulder.

    Turning its attention to Quentin to retaliate, the rat inadvertently exposed its other flank to Kane, who ran the rat through the ribs. Quentin did the same from his side. When it was dead, the two looked around, panting.

    ¡°They were way faster than I expected,¡± Quentin huffed.

    Hans, without moving from his vantage point by the stalls, said, ¡°Monsters are always faster than you expect. Make it a habit to assume that, every time.¡±

    Kane poked the largest rat with his foot. ¡°This guy was big.¡±

    ¡°Girl,¡± Hans corrected. ¡°Looks like she was pregnant. Would have been three times as many this time tomorrow.¡±

    ¡°Really?¡± Kane asked, grimacing.

    Hans nodded.

    Quentin and Kane poked around the back half of the barn, looking for any other rats that might be hiding. They climbed the ladder to the hay loft and checked there, finding no new signs of rats there either. When they came back to the ground floor, Hans was in the same place, waiting for them.

    ¡°What¡¯d we learn?¡±

    ¡°Besides block the exits and monsters are fast?¡± Kane asked.

    Hans chuckled. ¡°Yes, besides that.¡±

    ¡°The big one was easier than the small ones.¡±

    ¡°Why?¡±

    ¡°Well, when it went after Quentin, it was easy for me to capitalize. And the same for him when it went after me.¡±

    Staying quiet, Hans gave his students time to continue thinking.

    ¡°We weren¡¯t ready for them to run every direction like that,¡± Quentin said.

    ¡°What would you do differently?¡±

    Quentin walked over to the pile of hay and looked around. ¡°We came in side by side, but maybe we could have tried coming in at 90 degree angles. That might have kept them together.¡±

    ¡°Anything else?¡±

    The boys thought, eventually shrugging. ¡°I can¡¯t think of anything else we could have tried to stop the two that ran,¡± Quentin said.

    ¡°Three.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Kane asked.

    Hans reached around the corner of the stall next to him and pulled out the body of a giant rat. Its smashed head bore a bootprint. ¡°Five rats came out of the nest. This one ran for the door.¡±

    Kane and Quentin deflated.

    ¡°No, don¡¯t do that. You two did really well. Better than most beginners, I¡¯d say. The lesson here is to practice your battlefield awareness. When you¡¯re being attacked, it¡¯s natural to get tunnel vision, focusing only on the thing trying to bite you, but as you learned with the mama rat, focusing too much on one target leaves you vulnerable to the others. A more aggressive monster would have attacked you from behind instead of trying to bolt.¡±

    ¡°How do you keep track of so much at once?¡± Quentin asked.

    ¡°That¡¯s why we spend so much time drilling. With enough practice, you¡¯ll need to think less about where you need to put your sword. Eventually, individual attacks and parries will be automatic, freeing your mind to think more about strategy.¡±

    The two students said they understood.

    ¡°Seriously, though. That was good work. Let¡¯s go tell the client the job is done, and I¡¯ll show you how to properly clean your swords.¡±

    ***

    Open Quests (Ordered from Old to New):

    Progress from Gold-ranked to Diamond-ranked.

    Mend the rift with Devon.

    Complete the manuscript for "The Next Generation: A Teaching Methodology for Training Adventurers."

    Identify the unknown purple flower from Olza.

    Brainstorm ideas for safe approaches to training on uneven terrain.

    Design a winter curriculum.

    Protect your place in Gomi and maintain control of the Gomi chapter.

    Collect Becky¡¯s report on the flower stakeout.

 Chapter 25: Spawn Camping

    Becky returned to Gomi when the snowcaps of the Dead End Mountains began to spread farther down its slopes and the forest changed from a canopy of green to shades of red, yellow, and orange. Hans found that he needed a long sleeve shirt, at least, to keep out the chill most days. The Druid needed no such comforts, riding into town on Becki¡¯s back with her intimidating dwarven arms and shoulders bare.

    Hans saw a blanket-wrapped body strapped to the back of the warthog, and he got the feeling that meant bad news.

    ¡°Hope you¡¯re jonesing for something weird, boss,¡± Becky said, coming to a stop in front of the guild hall. She lifted a corner of the blanket to show Hans her find.

    Again, the monster looked like a cross between a squonk and a gnoll, but instead of dividing the two species down the middle like their first specimen, this chimera had three squonk legs and one front gnoll paw. Patches of dark brown fur blotted its back, making it look like it suffered from a terrible case of mange. Its face was the most deformed with a partial gnoll snout and an upper fourth of its head missing, like someone had sliced diagonally from the crown of the head to the top of its other ear. There was no space for an eye to grow on that side, and the other eye was fogged like it was blind. But the missing monster pieces weren''t wounds, they just hadn¡¯t grown.

    ¡°Told you,¡± Becky said, standing back with her arms crossed. ¡°Should I save my report for the next town hall?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t think we need to do anything that formal yet,¡± Hans replied. ¡°The threat hasn¡¯t worsened, and we don¡¯t have anything definitive to report. Well, unless you do and you¡¯re just keeping me in suspense.¡±

    ¡°No, you¡¯re spot on as usual. I watched the flower patch like you asked. Took two weeks, and I woke up to a small field of purple flowers. They grew overnight. No seedlings or sprouts. One day it was rocks, the next it was flowers.

    ¡°As for this handsome devil,¡± Becky continued, pointing at the chimera on Becki¡¯s back. ¡°I found it yesterday morning. The flowers thinned out while I was asleep, and this guy dragged himself from the middle out. Was dead before it got out of the patch.¡±

    Making sure he understood, Hans asked follow-up questions. Curiously, there was no trail into the flower patch. It was as if the chimera was dropped in the midst of the purple blossoms, crawled a few paces, and then died. Becky confirmed that the situation was as unusual as it sounded. She waited a few more days to see if anything else might happen, but all she observed was the flowers changing again.

    One morning, the blossoms were gone without leaving a single petal behind, so Becky packed up the mutant beast and came back to Gomi.

    ¡°Whatcha thinking?¡± Becky asked.

    ¡°Can you keep what I say between us? I don¡¯t want to scare anyone by guessing at causes.¡±

    The Druid promised to keep their conversation a secret.

    ¡°I got really into researching other planes for a bit a few years back,¡± Hans began. ¡°The short version is that some planes are easier to access from specific points in our world, like an overlap. There was an infernal connection like this, and demons came through in a constant stream, like they had broken down a door or something. Took a crew of Diamond mages to seal it off again.¡±

    ¡°I see why you¡¯re worried about scarin¡¯ people. That¡¯s scary as shit.¡±

    ¡°Yeah. It definitely is. Only a few cases have been recorded though, so that¡¯s probably not what we¡¯re dealing with, but that¡¯s the best explanation I have for why it seemed to appear from nowhere and die.¡±

    ¡°So the flowers are a sign there¡¯s one of these planar overlaps?¡±

    Hans shrugged. ¡°Maybe? Like I said, links between planes are incredibly rare, and all the cases I read about had monsters pouring through like it was an invasion. The one-every-few-weeks pacing is really odd.¡±

    ¡°Want me to stake it out some more?¡±

    The Guild Master thought about that, staying quiet so long that Becky glanced around uncomfortably. ¡°No, I don¡¯t think so, but I am worried an actual threat could appear or come through or whatever is happening. Can I ask you to surround the patch with traps, or would that put too much wildlife in danger?¡±

    ¡°Nah. I have a spell that lets me basically leave a note for critters if I need to. I¡¯ll make sure they know to stay away from that area.¡±

    ¡°Interesting. I didn¡¯t know Druids had a spell like that.¡±

    ¡°Most don¡¯t. It¡¯s something I worked out myself.¡±

    Impressed, Hans added, ¡°I think that¡¯s the best we could do for now. It doesn¡¯t make sense to keep you locked down to one place, and I can¡¯t imagine you enjoy it either.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s the most awful thing. Makes me feel caged.¡±

    ¡°Beyond the traps, maybe swing by occasionally if it makes sense to?¡±

    Becky said that she would, and she said she could use her spirit hawk to check on the site from afar. The spell did have a range limit, but it was several miles, giving her a wide radius of where she could be far from the flower patch yet still keep tabs on it.

    He took one more look at the squonk-gnoll hybrid and was glad to know it would be buried soon. Seeing this would give most of the kids in Gomi nightmares. It might even give him nightmares.

    Quest Complete: Collect Becky¡¯s report on the flower stakeout.

    New Quest: Find a practical solution for a planar leak. Bonus Objective: Find a solution that uses only resources available in Gomi.

    ***

    Rain came more frequently now, and Hans knew that rain would soon be snow. As yet another day of classes was canceled, he set to work on his winter curriculum. Galad had mentioned to him that he intended to push as many of the new tusk children to guild classes as possible. He hoped it would help them make friends and cut down on the isolation that usually came with winter. Hans agreed, and he wanted their experience to be perfect.

    He knew, broadly, what he planned to teach, but how to teach it was a critical question. Not only did his lessons need to be educational, they needed to be entertaining enough to satiate a room of children locked indoors for a long winter.

    On his list of material to cover was basic spellcraft, monster identification, Guild history, and fundamental bushcraft.

    That last item would require him to gather materials now as finding them beneath a few feet of snow would be difficult. For that reason, he considered cutting it from the winter curriculum. Those kinds of skills were easiest to teach outside where they would actually be used, that was the same for topics like identifying and harvesting ingredients, and learning to read tracks and trails. You could do a little studying behind a desk, but the real learning put dirt under your fingernails.This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

    Guild history was easy. Kids loved stories about adventurers and battles and magic. He could do that handily without a lesson plan.

    Monster identification would also be relatively easy for holding the class¡¯s attention. In previous posts, Hans devised a process where he taught about a batch of monsters¨Cwhat they looked like, how big they were, where they were found, what they ate, what their tracks looked like, what abilities they had, and any habits that made them memorable or distinct from other monsters. Then he would tell a story featuring one of those monsters, and challenge the kids to identify the creature based on clues in the story. Even Hans had fun with those lessons.

    Teaching children basic spellcraft was hard. Always. Though hand movements and incantations were part of casting a spell, a huge portion of the cast was driven by how the mage ¡°moved¡± mana, which happened entirely within the caster. In a combat class, Hans could help a struggling student by watching their form and giving them advice about what to change. There wasn¡¯t a ¡°hold your arm higher¡± equivalent for spellcasting. Not that he knew of at least.

    He could describe how it felt to move mana, the tricks he used to improve, and the tips he gathered from more experienced mages. From there, success or failure was up to the student and their willingness to practice.

    Adults were easily frustrated. Kids doubly so. An hour of sitting mostly still and failing over and over wore on even the best students.

    If he was lucky, a few of the children would be able to cast Create Water by the end of the winter, with supervision to stay within the kingdom¡¯s laws about children practicing magic. He had searched for teaching aids, ways to slowly ramp-up the difficulty while keeping the student motivated, but was unsuccessful. If such techniques existed, no mage was willing to share.

    Quest Complete: Design a winter curriculum.

    Ramp-up the difficulty¡­

    Hans had an idea. For months, he mulled how to safely train students to fight on uneven terrain and made no meaningful progress. Every variation he considered had a high risk of injury. Since injured students couldn¡¯t train, that was unacceptable, but not every instructor would agree.

    When Hans was focused on improving his hand to hand skills¨Cboxing, kickboxing, and grappling¨Che spent a good bit of time with adventurers who had chosen the Monk class. One of their training tools was a course of posts buried at varying heights with spaces in between. Their tops were never larger than a diameter of 12 inches. Several posts wide, students would start at one end of the course and travel to the other, trying to improve their speed with each run, each step launching them to the next post.

    Once students were advanced enough, they sparred on the posts, having to keep track of both their feet and an opponent.

    Watching Silver and Gold Monks dance expertly from post to post while throwing kicks and blocking punches was mesmerizing. As cool as it looked though, Hans saw plenty of injuries. In one week, two Apprentices and one Iron broke their jaws when they slipped and fell on the posts. The next week, a Silver broke their arm.

    The instructors who believed in survival of the fittest saw no problem with that. For Hans, he believed it was the instructor¡¯s job to make their students fit. Putting the survival part first seemed backward to him.

    He once visited a school for Rogues that stretched a fishing net a few inches above the ground and had their students spar, forcing them to step carefully to avoid tripping. That method was safer than the posts, but it still broke a few ankles, more than Hans was willing to accept.

    In another facility, he saw a patio paved with bricks, but the height of each varied. Sometimes the difference between two bricks was less than an inch. Other times, it was a 12 inch drop from the highest brick to the next nearest brick. That one had the same problem as the posts and the net, and falling on brick was brutal. Hans heard teeth scratch against stone, and he vowed to avoid hearing that sound ever again.

    But ramps might be the right compromise. He could modify a section of the training yard with small, gradual hills with enough of a grade that students would know when they made a mistake, but not so steep that making a mistake broke a bone or split a lip. That method might even be safe enough for a kids¡¯ class, but he¡¯d test it on adults first.

    For a moment, he thought about grabbing a shovel and getting started right away. But it was still raining. With a sigh, he settled for sketching the concept instead.

    Quest Complete: Brainstorm ideas for safe approaches to training on uneven terrain.

    New Quest: Expand the Gomi training area to include ramps for footwork drills.

    ***

    The next refugees arrived in back-to-back groups of three. One group was all children, with the oldest being a girl who looked about Gunther¡¯s age. She held the hands of her two brothers. One was so young he was still learning to speak. The other group was a trio of tusk teens, all boys. None of the children in either batch had parents. Their parents had either dumped them on the street or passed away unexpectedly, leaving the kids to make their own way.

    The group after that had seven tusks, two families who traveled together. Luther had stayed behind in Osare, but the tusk who guided those families to Gomi seemed to think more groups of this size would be following shortly.

    Mayor Charlie found Hans in the alchemist shop, talking with Olza about teaching a basic potion as part of the winter curriculum. A jar of dried purple blossoms sat on the counter between them.

    ¡°The rumors are growing,¡± Charlie announced dejectedly. ¡°It¡¯s sounding like tusks defecting to join the orcs isn¡¯t a story cooked up by bastards with big mouths.¡±

    Hans and Olza frowned. They both had hoped that part of the problem wasn¡¯t true as well.

    ¡°There have been a few pogroms nearest to the fighting. I don¡¯t know specifics, but they were certainly bloody. I don¡¯t understand these city folk. If you¡¯re afraid your neighbor might turn against you, why give them more reasons to?¡± The Mayor shook his head.

    ¡°We¡¯ve helped a lot of people already,¡± Olza offered. ¡°And we¡¯ll get to help more.¡±

    ¡°I know. I¡¯m upset about the people we won¡¯t get to help.¡±

    Neither Hans nor Olza could argue against that feeling.

    ¡°Anyway,¡± Charlie said, ¡°I wanted to update you two. I¡¯ll let you get back to your work.¡±

    When the Mayor had gone, Olza stared at the door. ¡°I don¡¯t understand how or why tusks are defecting. I¡¯ve never met a tusk who felt anything less but unbridled loathing for orcs.¡±

    ¡°Same,¡± Hans said. ¡°I met a Bronze tusk once who filed off his tusks, by hand. Himself. He hated that he had monster blood in his veins and didn¡¯t want to see signs of it in the mirror.¡±

    Olza grimaced. The two sat in quiet for a moment. Sighing, Olza returned her attention to their discussion of the purple flower. ¡°Okay. The connection between planes is an interesting theory, but I¡¯m not aware of any ingredients or mixtures that have extra-planar traits or effects. That doesn¡¯t mean the flower doesn¡¯t have those traits. We just don¡¯t have anything to compare them to.¡±

    ¡°Of course not,¡± Hans grumbled. ¡°Why would any of this be easy?¡±

    ¡°Sorry.¡±

    ¡°No, don¡¯t be. I¡¯m just complaining. If you think of anything, let me know?¡±

    She nodded.

    ***

    A letter arrived with what could be the second to last caravan Gomi would see until spring. Snow hadn¡¯t arrived yet, but the townspeople said winter ¡°felt¡± close. All Hans could feel was that it was cold, and he wasn¡¯t looking forward to it being colder.

    He opened the letter in private.

    Hans,

    I¡¯ve sent a few packages to you. I hope they arrive before winter.

    The orc attacks are getting worse. These aren¡¯t greedy raiding parties. These are soldiers following orders with sophisticated tactics. Word is they travel with orc mages as well. I don¡¯t mean one out of 10,000 like you¡¯d expect. I mean two to three in each unit.

    The defectors¡­ it¡¯s like they suddenly turned feral. A few of them are low level adventurers with good reputations and well-liked by all accounts. One of them had an adopted human daughter and a steady business. He left all of that behind overnight.

    You should also know that D is gathering support to have you removed. I didn¡¯t think he¡¯d find it, but he has high-ranked backers. I¡¯ll do what I can.

    Be careful.

    -Theneesa

    The letter had arrived with the caravan rather than guild mail, but Theneesa still obscured her meanings just in case. When she said ¡°packages,¡± she meant tusks. When she said, D, she meant Devontes, the Platinum-ranked adventurer and Hans¡¯ former pupil.

    Hans hoped the tusks made it before winter, and he hoped Devon didn¡¯t.

    ***

    Open Quests (Ordered from Old to New):

    Progress from Gold-ranked to Diamond-ranked.

    Mend the rift with Devon.

    Complete the manuscript for "The Next Generation: A Teaching Methodology for Training Adventurers."

    Identify the unknown purple flower from Olza.

    Protect your place in Gomi and maintain control of the Gomi chapter.

    Find a practical solution for a planar leak. Bonus Objective: Find a solution that uses only resources available in Gomi.

    Expand the Gomi training area to include ramps for footwork drills.

 Chapter 26: Seasonal Content

    Quentin and Kane were happy to have finished another session of spear training. The rain came more and more frequently, making the training yard largely unusable for long stretches of time. Hans wondered if he could hire the Tribe to build him a barn to bring the training yard indoors, then he wondered if he would still have any gold left by then to fund that project.

    Probably not.

    ¡°Mr. Hans?¡± Kane asked as he returned his training spear to the guild hall.

    ¡°What¡¯s up?¡±

    For the first time since Hans arrived in Gomi, the muscular tusk teen seemed nervous. ¡°People seem real anxious about the orc war. Gunny and the other kids are getting scared. Are we safe?¡±

    Kane¡¯s question was like a punch to the stomach. ¡°That¡¯s a complex question,¡± Hans said. ¡°Do you have time to sit for a minute?¡±

    Kane nodded. ¡°Can Quentin stay?¡± The human teen had lingered at the edge of the conversation, trying not to be rude. He seemed proud that Kane wanted him present.

    ¡°Of course.¡±

    With Kane and Quentin on one side of a guild table and Hans on the other, the Guild Master wrestled with how to be honest with his students while not fueling their fear. They were still kids, and he wanted them to have as much of a childhood as possible.

    At the same time, Kane was more mature than many adults. He never talked about it, but he and Gunther escaped a bad situation, with Kane taking on the role of guardian for the younger tusk. There was no protecting him from the cruelty of the world at this point. He had already lived it.

    Quentin might not have walked half the kingdom alone, but he hadn¡¯t lived a privileged life either. His mom passed when he was young, and his father was a hunter, leaving Quentin to largely raise himself while his dad kept them sheltered and fed. Were it not for Quentin¡¯s independence, his father would have died in the woods to the squonks.

    ¡°There is a lot we don¡¯t know,¡± Hans began. ¡°We know that orcs are attacking the kingdom, and we know that some tusk-touched have joined them. We also know that this is happening on the opposite side of the country. We don¡¯t know how many tusks have defected, and we don¡¯t know why. We also don¡¯t know how long the war will last. Those are the facts we have. Would you like to hear how I interpret those facts?¡±

    The boys nodded.

    ¡°Remember that the rest of this is guesswork. A single piece of new information could invalidate all of this, and there is no guarantee I¡¯m right. That¡¯s a good habit for adventurers to have: separating fact from interpretation. Anyway.¡±

    Hans paused to consider Kane and Quentin once more before continuing.

    ¡°I have a feeling there is more to the tusk defections than we know. In the time it takes for that to get figured, people are lashing out. Fear and hatred seem to work in pairs that way. The tusks closest to the war are having a difficult time, and there is real danger for them, but you knew that from taking in new neighbors.¡±

    The teens stayed still, listening.

    ¡°Gomi has been safe for the Tribe for a while now, and we¡¯re working to keep it that way. Right now, there is no immediate threat to Gomi. Everything we¡¯re doing is so it can stay that way.¡±

    ¡°What if the war comes here?¡± Kane asked.

    ¡°War can take many different forms, so that¡¯s a hard question to answer. I do know this for a fact: I¡¯ve visited a lot of towns in my career, and I¡¯ve never seen a town more committed to protecting each other than Gomi. I mean that.¡±

    ¡°Thank you, Mr. Hans,¡± Quentin said.

    ¡°If you need me, come see me. I¡¯m not going anywhere.¡±

    ***

    The Tribe organized a fall festival, a traditional last hurrah before winter and a way to welcome their new brothers and sisters. 31 tusks in total had migrated to Gomi. That number wasn¡¯t world-changing, but it was for the families who now had beds to sleep in and no fear of going hungry or freezing to death during the winter.

    None of them had known Theneesa, though, giving Hans hope that more might arrive before the pass was blocked.

    The party took place in front of the barns that made up the Tribe brewery operation and now two new dormitories. Two bonfires built to the size of teepees burned in the midst of what was almost the entire population of Gomi. They wore wool sweaters and jackets, enjoying the juxtaposition of a blazing fire warming their faces while a cold wind nipped at their backs.

    Each nursed a mug of beer from one of several barrels set aside for tonight¡¯s festivities, and they occasionally passed a bottle of whiskey or vodka when the mood felt right.

    Hans stood near Becky on the outside edge of the crowd, enjoying his beer while Becky and Becki alternated burping. He realized that in the dark with harsh shadows from the fires, he couldn¡¯t see who was who, who was a newcomer and who was a lifer. They were all shadows flickering in and out of a joyful crowd. Without faces, there was no division. All Hans could see was a town of people sharing joy with each other.

    A whistle and a yell went out on the other side of a bonfire. As the crowd got quiet, Hans shifted to the side to see what everyone was looking at.

    Galad bounded to the top of a stack of barrels, adding two vertical barrels of elevation to his already daunting height. He motioned for quiet, and the crowd obliged ¨C except for a gaggle of tusk children who had kept playing, completely oblivious to anything that wasn¡¯t their game of kickball.

    ¡°Hey!¡± Galad yelled. ¡°You kids are worse than the drunks!¡±

    Everyone laughed, including the kids, who went quiet soon after.

    ¡°Thank you all for being here tonight as we initiate¡­ I mean ingratiate¨C¡± Galad paused, his sly grin visible even in the dark. The crowd laughed and wooped. ¡°Our new brothers and sisters!¡±

    Cheering erupted.

    Galad shifted to a more serious tone. ¡°We are blessed to have you with us. Each and every one of you. Your Gomi brothers and sisters are glad you could come home.¡±

    The crowd clapped.

    ¡°My father started this tradition. When he gave this speech, he would say that ¡®a fall festival prepares us for the winter because it reminds us how strong we are together. Knowing that strength makes a hard winter far easier because you know you are not alone.¡¯

    ¡°I remember the first time I heard him say that, at the first fall festival. We were no greater than a fourth of the crowd here today. The woods were closer and the fields were shallower. The homes that dot our view were far fewer. For our new brothers and sisters, I want you to remember the Tribe lands as you see them today. A few years from now, you¡¯ll get to feel what I¡¯m feeling right now.Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.

    ¡°My family has grown, and I had the privilege of being a part of that, of getting to contribute with my own hard work. It¡¯s an indescribable feeling, and as I look around at our older¨CI mean, more experienced¨Cfriends,¡± Galad said, pausing to let the crowd react to his joke, ¡°I know they feel it too. Yeah, I see their heads nodding. We are here today because of what they built and how they treated each other. Without them, we wouldn¡¯t be able to grow.

    ¡°So seeing all of our new brothers and sisters like this, it satisfies our dream of one day being able to help someone else the way that someone helped us. And that feeling has made it possible for us to thrive because this only works¨C¡± Galad spread his arms to indicate the community ¡°¨CIf you share the same dream. There is only one way to repay the Tribe for its kindness, and that is to pass that kindness on to the next tusk.¡±

    A long chorus of claps and cheers ensued.

    ¡°Oh. We also like the excuse to drink beer. Get back to it!¡±

    Galad raised a stein and hopped down from the barrels as the members of the crowd resumed their conversations.

    ¡°Uhh, Guild Master? You okay?¡± Becky leaned forward to get a better look at Hans¡¯ gaping mouth.

    ¡°That was a hell of a speech,¡± Hans said, closing his mouth to whistle. ¡°Even I¡¯m inspired.¡±

    New Quest: Do something amazing!

    Becky snorted. ¡°He gets it from his parents. You would have loved them.¡±

    With a gentle tip, Hans splashed some beer in the grass. ¡°Yeah, sounds like I would have.¡±

    ***

    Hans did his best to mingle. Though the party was for the newly arrived tusks, they weren¡¯t much newer to town than he was. He had met most of the crowd in passing, but he genuinely knew very few of them.

    A growing adult class had helped with that already, and now as he moved through the groups of people talking, one of his students would occasionally pull him in for introductions, saying things like ¡°this is the guy who kicks my ass twice a week¡± and then offer Hans a shot, which he had to accept, obviously. Refusing a gift would be rude.

    He didn¡¯t get to meet all of the new tusks, but he spoke with a great many of them. He let them know the Guild was there to help and that they were always welcome. If they had children under their charge, he made sure to let them know about the kids¡¯ class as well. Free to all.

    As he made his rounds, he learned that Luther volunteered to winter in Osare. When the other tusks made their final escorts to Gomi, he wanted to be on the other side of the snow to meet the tusks who didn¡¯t make it in time. According to Mayor Charlie, Luther said doing anything else would be like abandoning them.

    Luther didn¡¯t speak much when he was around, but Hans¡¯ respect for the tusk grew more each day. He somehow made selflessness look macho and cool. As Hans thought more about his interactions with Luther, he realized the tusk never hesitated to contribute, even though Gomi had asked a lot of him the last few months.

    The Gomi standard is high. Damn.

    When Becky stood on her familiar¡¯s back and chugged a small cask of beer, all the while the warthog ran a circle around the bonfire, Hans decided it was time to leave. He had drunk too much already.

    Pulling the Hoseki Goodbye, which was the act of leaving a party quietly instead of saying goodbye to everyone, Hans began walking down the road back toward Gomi, the bonfires at his back. He was just beyond the fire light when a pair of footsteps padded up behind him.

    ¡°You know it¡¯s dangerous to be in the woods at night by yourself,¡± Olza said, slowing to walk with him. ¡°You should have asked an adult first.¡±

    Hans chuckled, quieting again to enjoy the sounds of a fall night.

    ¡°Galad really makes you think, doesn¡¯t he? When I first moved here, I thought the Tribe was some kind of cult because nobody is that nice, but Galad is. Don¡¯t get me wrong, he can fight. Him and Luther had an argument a few years back and you would not believe the sounds their fists made when they hit each other. But he is nice. I¡¯ve never seen him do anything for his own benefit. Ever. Doesn¡¯t that sound impossible?¡±

    Hans nodded.

    ¡°It made me rethink a lot of things. And then there¡¯s Charlie and Galinda, who¡¯re even sweeter than Galad. Did you know that Charlie¡¯s bakery used to be the town tavern? Nobody bothered going once they could buy Tribe beer, so Charlie took it over and now he spends his Mayor salary on baked goods that he mostly gives away.¡± Olza turned to look into Hans¡¯ eyes.

    Hans stared back.

    ¡°I don¡¯t need to be a big city alchemist to be content. I like my quiet life here where I can practice my craft and help nice people. Then, in the winter, I can cozy up and read as much as I want. It¡¯s so peaceful. Do you feel that too? Doesn¡¯t this place make you feel something you¡¯ve never felt before?¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    ¡°Hans?¡±

    ¡°Hmmmm?¡±

    ¡°Did you hear me?¡±

    ¡°Drunk.¡±

    ¡°¡®Drunk?¡¯ That¡¯s your answer? Just ¡®drunk?¡¯¡±

    Hans nodded. ¡°Drunk.¡±

    Olza rolled her eyes, sighing. ¡°Let¡¯s get you home safe.¡±

    ***

    New Quest: Go back in time and beat up Past Hans for what he did to us.

    The cold crispness of morning infiltrated the guild hall. For a moment, before he wrestled his eyelids open, Hans thought he might be camping, half-expecting to see dew beaded on the canvas of his tent and adventuring gear.

    The only dew he found was what had leaked from his mouth onto the table.

    Oh gods, my neck.

    He had slept face down on his cheek, though for how long he wasn¡¯t sure. Straightening his posture to look ahead instead of sideways felt like bending a rope soaked in concrete. The smallest adjustment triggered a cascade of cracking and creaking. A blanket he hadn¡¯t noticed before slid from his shoulders, falling to the floor as he sat up.

    The vague memory of accepting a new quest bobbed to the surface of his thoughts as they sloshed back and forth in his skull.

    Active Quest: Do something amazing!

    Oh. Don¡¯t yell. Why are we yelling?

    Whatever he had intended with that quest, it wasn¡¯t happening today. Or tomorrow.

    The door to the guild hall opened. Hans tried to turn to see who had entered, but he failed. The concrete in his bones seemed to reform the moment he stopped moving.

    ¡°I brought you some tea,¡± he heard Olza¡¯s voice say. A large clay mug appeared on the table in front of him. The smell of green tea rode the steam rising from the cup.

    ¡°How are you that awake this early?¡±

    A hand gently patted Hans on the back. ¡°It¡¯s almost noon. Quentin already let everyone know kids¡¯ lessons for the day are canceled.¡±

    ¡°That kid¡¯s a class act.¡± He thanked Olza profusely for the tea and wrapped his hands around the mug, enjoying the heat as he sipped.

    ¡°We started to worry about you when we saw you accepting shots.¡±

    ¡°Seemed like it¡¯d be rude to say no.¡±

    ¡°The smart thing would have been to say no,¡± Olza said, laughing. ¡°That tradition is fine for tusks, but even Becky wouldn¡¯t have accepted most of those.¡±

    Hans grumbled about the timing Olza chose for sharing this information. Last night would have been better.

    ¡°More men have died drinking against tusks than have died fighting them,¡± she said with seriousness.

    Am I going to die?

    He thought about the thumping in his head.

    No. Just suffer.

    ¡°I think you made a good impression, though. I heard some of the newer kids talking about training with you.¡±

    Oh. Wow. That¡¯s really good news.

    Quest Abandoned: Go back in time and beat up Past Hans for what he did to us.

    In his mind, he said, ¡°Thank you for telling me. It¡¯s hard for me to tell if people are actually happy to talk to me or if they are just being nice.¡±

    Somehow, his face was back on the table, making every word after ¡°Thank you¡± unintelligible to Olza.

    She patted Hans on the head. ¡°Try to get some rest. And a bath.¡±

    ***

    Open Quests (Ordered from Old to New):

    Progress from Gold-ranked to Diamond-ranked.

    Mend the rift with Devon.

    Complete the manuscript for "The Next Generation: A Teaching Methodology for Training Adventurers."

    Identify the unknown purple flower from Olza.

    Protect your place in Gomi and maintain control of the Gomi chapter.

    Find a practical solution for a planar leak. Bonus Objective: Find a solution that uses only resources available in Gomi.

    Expand the Gomi training area to include ramps for footwork drills.

    Do something amazing!

 Chapter 27: Monster Manual

    Hans couldn¡¯t believe how many children were in the guild hall. Between the Gomi children he had been teaching and the eleven tusk-touched children who had recently arrived, only one empty bench remained. When he learned that he was taking over the Gomi chapter and heard how small the town was, he imagined that seven or eight children in a single class would be a huge success.

    Now there were 21.

    ¡°If we get any more nice days, we¡¯ll train outside again, but we might not get to do that until next year,¡± Hans explained to the children. ¡°Until then, we¡¯ll have class in here. For today¡¯s lesson, you all get to choose what we learn about. Your first option is how to properly fill out job requisition and completion forms so the Guild can more easily log your work.

    ¡°...Or we can talk about monsters.¡±

    Choosing was easy for the class. ¡°Monsters!¡±

    ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s what I wanted to learn about too,¡± Hans said, smiling as he flipped to a specific entry in his bestiary. ¡°Who here has heard of a snallygaster?¡±

    One of the new tusk children raised her hand. ¡°They live in the mountains and eat children!¡±

    ¡°They don¡¯t specifically target children, but they do live in the mountains.¡±

    Hans held up the open bestiary, showing the class an illustration of a bird with the scaled tail and legs of a lizard. Its ostrich-like neck stretched and curled, looking longer than the rest of the creature¡¯s body, ending with a beak that looked dangerously sharp. Tentacles half the length of the monster¡¯s neck ringed its head like a lion¡¯s mane. And it had wings.

    ¡°Snallygasters tend to live alone. A male and female will briefly nest together, but as soon as the eggs are laid, the mother chases the father off, presumably to prevent the male from killing its own children when they hatch. Females tend to be as large as or larger than a horse, with most males being smaller.¡±

    Continuing the lesson, Hans explained that the snallygaster used its tentacles to attach itself to its prey. While the suction cups held on, the beak rapidly carved a wound in its victim, a motion that he described as similar to the needle in a pedal-powered sewing machine.

    When he saw a few faces trade curiosity for fear, he assured the children that snallygasters lived far from Gomi, and even the people who lived close to their native habitat saw them only occasionally. They preferred mountains in tropical or near-tropical climates, building nests high up on the sides of cliffs in the areas least accessible to people. For the most part, they fed on goats and deer.

    ¡°Here¡¯s a challenge, and don¡¯t answer right away: If you had to hunt a snallygaster, how would you do it? You¡¯re allowed to ask me as many questions as you like, and for our newest students, I know this is your first class. I still want you to guess with us. It¡¯s okay if one of your ideas doesn¡¯t work. A lot of my ideas haven¡¯t worked.¡±

    The new students seemed to relax, and the class began quietly thinking of how they would hunt a snallygaster.

    Quentin was the first to raise his hand, asking, ¡°Does it have any special abilities?¡±

    Hans smiled. That was a good question. ¡°Only its tentacle attack.¡±

    A few seconds later, Kane asked, ¡°Is it nocturnal?¡±

    ¡°Nope. only hunts in daylight.¡±

    ¡°When does it have its babies?¡± Loddie asked.

    ¡°Before I answer that, tell me why you asked that question?¡±

    Loddie hesitated but eventually got the words out. ¡°Animals are meaner when they have babies.¡±

    Praising Loddie for clever thinking, Hans added that if it was early in the mating season, that could mean fighting two snallygasters instead of one.

    ¡°Does it have tough skin?¡±

    ¡°It has scales all over its body, even under its feathers. They are most vulnerable to piercing weapons and pretty resistant to slashing weapons.¡±

    ¡°What rank is it?¡±

    ¡°Males are Bronze and females are Silver. Telling which is which from the ground while they¡¯re flying is tough, though. If snallygasters are reported to the guild for eating farm animals or travelers, they typically set the job at Silver because of that.¡±

    ¡°How do we fight it if it can fly?¡± Gunther asked.

    ¡°That¡¯s for you to figure out.¡± Hans grinned.

    The children talked amongst themselves, comparing ideas and debating which methods would be best. Leaning back in his chair, Hans listened in, happy to hear that the experienced students were asking the right kinds of questions and encouraged to hear the new students participating and being outwardly curious about the lesson.

    When the room began to quiet, Hans took that to mean the class was done planning. Starting with the youngest students first, he listened to plan after plan. As was to be expected, the first several answers were more fantastical than practical, the kids proposing things like giant fireballs or advanced lightning magic.

    The nature of the answers shifted significantly when it was Gunther¡¯s turn to answer. ¡°Umm¡­ me, Quentin, Chance, and Kane formed a party.¡±

    A few students complained that wasn¡¯t fair, but Hans calmed them down, saying that they were never asked to hunt alone. Many adventurers thought that way, to their detriment. The sooner an adventurer thought in terms of ¡°we¡± instead of ¡°I,¡± the more their chances of success improved.

    Gunther did his best to explain their party¡¯s plan. When he began to struggle, Hans let the other members fill in the gaps. Though the pieces came out of order, the party¡¯s full plan started with a cow staked near the nest to lure the snallygaster to the ground. When the monster landed, they would throw nets over it, half the party holding it down with ropes, the other half moving in for the kill.

    Gently critiquing their plan, Hans suggested they avoid pitting their strength against a monster, ever. The snallygaster wasn¡¯t the largest creature, but it was likely far more powerful than they realized, making it unlikely that they could hold it down. The safer approach was to assume that the monster was stronger than the party, always.

    His next concern was the bait. Sometimes, bait was the best choice. The drawback, however, was that the rest of the plan hinged on the monster choosing to take it. Monsters often didn¡¯t pursue bait, as many of them were smart enough to be skeptical of a free meal. Additionally, adventurers had few options for keeping other monsters away from the bait. Snaring the wrong creature was a real possibility, presenting a whole new host of problems. Big problems if that monster outranked the adventurers¡¯ initial target.

    ¡°Everyone was very creative with their ideas. I¡¯m proud of all of you. I have one more question: Why did no one attack at night?¡±Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

    Umms and uhhs moved through the class. ¡°You said it was active during the day,¡± Kane said.

    ¡°Exactly, so at night we can be pretty sure of where the snallygaster will be.¡±

    ¡°Isn¡¯t killing something sleeping dishonorable?¡± one of the new students asked.

    Smiling, Hans said, ¡°The only goals that matter are finishing the job and bringing the party home safely. I¡¯d rather attack a monster in its sleep than fight it head on.¡±

    To wrap up class, Hans told the story of his party¡¯s encounter with a female snallygaster. At the time, he was Silver and traveled with Mazo the halfling Blue Mage, Gret the human Rogue, and Boden the dwarf Spearman. The most difficult part of the hunt, according to Hans, was finding the snallygaster¡¯s nest in a maze of uncharted mountain crags and cliffs.

    Once they found the nest, the party journeyed around to the backside of the same mountain as the nest, and hiked to the top, camping a few dozen yards from the summit.

    ¡°Gret had been studying trapmaking and alchemy, so he brought along a device that would explode on impact. The plan was to drop the device on the nest from above while the snallygaster was asleep, so we waited until night and snuck into position.

    ¡°Before anyone asks, no, I won¡¯t show you how to make Gret¡¯s device.¡±

    ¡°Awwwwwwww!¡±

    Chuckling, Hans continued. ¡°Gret took his time lining up the drop by moonlight alone. If his device hit even a small rock on the way down, it would miss the nest entirely, so it had to be perfect.

    ¡°When Gret was satisfied, he dropped the device, without bothering to tell the rest of us. By the time we figured out why our Rogue was taking cover, the whole mountain shook. A huge swath of the rockface where we stood cracked and fell away, catapulting down the mountainside. Once the ground stopped shaking, which took a while, we took a look at the damage.

    ¡°The snallygaster was gone. Gret¡¯s explosion either vaporized it or the small avalanche buried it. Either way, there was nothing left of the beast or the nest, which meant we had nothing to turn in to complete the job. We gave Gret a hard time about that one for a long while.¡±

    The children sat still, enraptured by the story, hoping to hear more. ¡°Do you still go on adventures?¡± Harry asked eventually.

    Shaking his head, Hans said that he only went out if he had to. After a career of collecting injuries big and small, he felt he was a liability in a party of Golds. He couldn¡¯t fight like he used to, and he was more prone to getting hurt again, which also put the rest of the party in danger.

    ¡°Don¡¯t adventurers have healing spells?¡±

    ¡°Yeah!¡± Harriot added to her brother¡¯s question. ¡°And healing potions!¡±

    ¡°Spells and potions can be pretty miraculous. They have saved a lot of lives, but the idea that they heal someone completely is a misconception. Whatever needed the healing won¡¯t heal perfectly. In fact, it¡¯s a little bit weaker after each heal. If it¡¯s a serious injury, like a broken bone or worse, it can actually heal incorrectly if you aren¡¯t careful.¡±

    In some popular stories, the hero fought through grave injuries with a healer at their back, stitching them back together as they charged ahead despite the seriousness of their wounds. Hans said that was pure fantasy. Not only could healers not work that quickly, the hero would be a hobbling mess if they managed to survive.

    ¡°Okay. That¡¯s all for class today. Remember, Miss Mazo sent us another delivery of books. If you¡¯d like to borrow one to read, sign it out with me and bring it back in one piece.¡±

    Mazo had indirectly supplied the books Hans mentioned. The Guild Master used the gold she left him to order a few kid-friendly storybooks, figuring that might help beat back the winter doldrums when they came. He had asked the merchant for 40 but got 12, which was fine. Children¡¯s books could be hard to find.

    Outside, the steady rain was now mixed with small flakes of snow. The ground was still too warm yet for it to accumulate, but that would happen soon enough.

    Hans hoped the tusks Theneesa sent would arrive in time.

    ***

    The last caravan of the season came and went. They didn¡¯t bring more tusks with them, but they did give Hans a wax-sealed envelope emblazoned with the Adventurers¡¯ Guild crest. Two more tusks had arrived since the fall festival, but neither of them knew Theneesa. Luther¡¯s volunteering to wait in Osare over the winter was a small relief¨Cat least the tusks wouldn¡¯t be stuck there alone and unsure of what to do next¨Cbut he worried for all of their safety.

    If tensions continued to rise, they would be stuck on the wrong side of the snow, and no one from Gomi would even know they needed help until the thaw.

    Back at the guild hall, Hans sat down to read the letter.

    Guild Master Hans,

    This letter is sent to inform you that a formal complaint has been lodged against you by a senior member of the Adventurers¡¯ Guild. The grievance alleges that you are unfit to be a leader within the Guild. We take these complaints seriously, and we endeavor to address the grievance with the utmost fairness and consideration.

    In light of kingdom-wide conflicts, we are postponing the hearing on this matter. We intend to return to this matter when the war is complete.

    There is no action for you to take at this time.

    Adventurers¡¯ Guild

    Hoseki Chapter

    No name was signed to the letter. There was only an official stamp.

    After rereading the letter twice more, Hans set it down with a sigh and rubbed his face. He knew that the ¡°senior member¡± was most likely Devon. Mazo and Theneesa had said as much with the information they shared. How much support he had from other officials was unclear. With Devon¡¯s popularity, Hans couldn¡¯t convince himself that the Platinum lacked allies.

    A delay was better than the immediate end to his place in Gomi, but he could still feel the guillotine blade hovering above him. That awareness kept him on edge. He was growing to love it here, and it could be taken away from him at any moment with a pen stroke hundreds of miles away.

    ***

    Later that day, Hans visited Olza¡¯s shop to ask after her progress on designing new experiments for the purple flower. When he arrived, the sign on her door was flipped to close. Confused because they had agreed to meet at this time, he tried the handle. The door was unlocked.

    Sticking his head inside, he meant to call for Olza to see if she was home, but he heard soft sobs before words could leave his mouth.

    ¡°Olza? It¡¯s Hans. Are you okay?¡±

    Listening as he stepped quietly, he saw Olza¡¯s feet sticking out of the doorway behind her counter. He came around the corner, finding her leaning sideways against the wall of her lab, her head between her knees, her arms wrapped around her shins.

    ¡°Hey,¡± Hans said softly as he knelt, ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡±

    ¡°He found me.¡± Olza held up a letter for Hans, keeping her head down.

    Addressed to a ¡°Rita,¡± the letter was signed by a Diamond-ranked adventurer, the one Olza dated in Raven¡¯s Hollow and escaped by moving to Gomi. He wrote as if they were still madly in love and that her disappearance was the kind of ¡°confusion that often distracted beautiful women.¡± According to the note, he intended to ¡°retrieve¡± her before winter, taking her back ¡°home¡± to Raven¡¯s Hollow.

    The words creeped into Hans like some kind of verbal ick. He suspected it was exponentially worse for Olza.

    ¡°It¡¯s looking like he won¡¯t beat the snow,¡± Hans offered.

    ¡°That¡¯s worse. I don¡¯t want to spend all winter knowing he is waiting on the other side.¡±

    That was fair. Hans felt the same about his Guild hearing. ¡°Would you like me to sit with you or would you rather be alone right now?¡±

    Olza scooted over for Hans. ¡°I cursed myself by blabbering to you about how much I liked it here.¡±

    ¡°What do you mean?¡±

    ¡°At the fall festival, when we walked back together.¡±

    Hans stared at her.

    ¡°You don¡¯t remember, do you?¡±

    ¡°Bits and pieces.¡±

    She wiped her eyes enough for Hans to see her roll them.

    ¡°Can I do anything?¡± Hans asked.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know. I don¡¯t think so. I don¡¯t know what I¡¯ll do if he comes.¡±

    ¡°Could probably just let Galinda know and that¡¯d be the end of him.¡±

    That got the alchemist to laugh. If she could still do that, that was a good sign.

    ¡°And that damn flower!¡± Olza stood. ¡°I¡¯m fine. Sorry. I just had a moment. How about you? Are you okay? You look distracted.¡±

    ¡°Me? No, I¡¯m fine. Never been better.¡±

    ***

    Open Quests (Ordered from Old to New):

    Progress from Gold-ranked to Diamond-ranked.

    Mend the rift with Devon.

    Complete the manuscript for "The Next Generation: A Teaching Methodology for Training Adventurers."

    Identify the unknown purple flower from Olza.

    Protect your place in Gomi and maintain control of the Gomi chapter.

    Find a practical solution for a planar leak. Bonus Objective: Find a solution that uses only resources available in Gomi.

    Expand the Gomi training area to include ramps for footwork drills.

    Do something amazing!

 Chapter 28: Solo Quests

    Mayor Charlie and his wife Galinda invited Hans over for dinner to celebrate the first official snow of the season.

    The flurries began early that morning, covering the naked branches and muddy ground of the Gomi forest with two inches of fluffy white snow. By the time Hans left the guild hall to walk to Charlie and Galinda¡¯s, he had to trudge through sixteen inches of undisturbed powder. It was just him and the crunch crunch of snow beneath his boots. The town was always quiet, but seeing and hearing no one¡¯s footsteps but his own made this corner of the world seem more isolated than ever.

    He paused halfway to his destination and looked around at his home and then up at the sky, a spectacle of white flakes drifting downward endlessly. He felt the frozen air enter his lungs, blowing back out as warm fog. The burst of hot breath Hans pushed into the world disappeared as quickly as it came, and the stillness of the season returned.

    Being alone has never felt so freeing.

    A whole winter to himself. Aside from the occasional kids¡¯ class, he could kick back in his apartment and read with a beer in his hand. For months. And it felt glorious.

    Even guild mail can¡¯t bother me here.

    Charlie met Hans at the door and escorted him upstairs for dinner. Galinda stood in their kitchen, stirring a pot of chili. A few bottles of spices¨Call different sizes and shades of red flakes¨Csat on the counter next to her. For the first time, he wondered if the tusk propensity for spicy foods was equal to their tolerance for alcohol.

    He really really hoped not.

    A steaming pile of fresh rolls sat in a bowl under a towel on the table with a plate of butter nearby. Charlie poured the three of them a finger of whisky and helped his wife ladle three generous bowls before everyone settled at the dining room table. The chili¡¯s smell had a tomato sweetness layered over the gamey smokiness of ground venison. Coming up from under those fragrances, as if the ingredient itself intentionally planned an ambush, was the kind of tingly spiciness that made Hans¡¯ mouth water.

    ¡°This is a bit of a tradition for us,¡± Charlie said. ¡°Our first night in Gomi together was actually the first snow of the season, and Galinda made us chili. We¡¯ve done it every year since.¡±

    ¡°It smells amazing,¡± Hans said.

    ¡°If it¡¯s too spicy, learn to like it,¡± Galinda said, bluntly.

    The spiciness was bearable for Hans, just enough to make his nose run with embarrassing consistency, but fine otherwise. The flavors of the meat and beans and canned tomatoes were distinct yet unified, and Hans wondered how much the taste would change when the leftover chili sat and soaked in its own juices for a night.

    ¡°How will you spend your first Gomi winter?¡± Charlie asked.

    ¡°Reading and writing. I¡¯m looking forward to it, actually.¡±

    Charlie nodded approvingly. ¡°The winter is easiest when you find a way to enjoy it. I was worried a Hoseki boy might have a bad go of it. City folk tend to.¡±

    ¡°The capital felt suffocating by the time I left. I don¡¯t miss it.¡±

    ¡°Years back, a different Guild Master traveled out of town in the fall and conveniently missed the last caravan to town. Spent the entire winter somewhere else. He got fired for that.¡±

    ¡°You thought I would do that?¡±

    ¡°Not once we got to know you.¡±

    ¡°Yeah,¡± Galinda said, agreeing. ¡°We expected you to be a jerk.¡±

    Hans laughed. Wanting to change the subject, he asked about Galinda¡¯s parents, referencing the speech Galad had given at the festival.

    ¡°I have never met someone stronger than mom and dad. Charlie comes closest.¡± When the tusk put a hand on her short husband¡¯s thigh, Hans saw that her hand covered it completely. ¡°When the dungeon opened in Kirai, they were one of the first inside.¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t know your parents were adventurers.¡±

    ¡°They weren¡¯t. They were desperate for work and knew that dungeon loot sold easy, so they went in as soon as they could. By the time they came out, the town had started a curfew for tusks. They didn¡¯t know that, since they were underground when the announcement went out, but the guards didn¡¯t care. They arrested both of them on their way back home to me and Galad.¡±

    ¡°That must have been pretty scary for you guys, being so young.¡±

    ¡°Maybe Galad was scared. I wasn¡¯t.¡±

    Hans laughed. Charlie and Galinda didn¡¯t.

    While the Guild Master coughed awkwardly, Galinda continued her story. ¡°They locked my parents in separate cells. When my mom told the jailer she had kids at home, he spit and said that the rats will be cleaned up soon enough. He laughed when she tried to argue with him, and kept joking about stomping rats under his foot.¡±

    Charlie held one of Galinda¡¯s hands with both of his.

    ¡°Mom ripped the jail door out of the wall. Surprised dad as much as it surprised the guard. He used to say it was like she became a full orc to protect her kids. That bastard guard, the one who spit, she threw him into the bars of dad¡¯s cell. He said that parts of the guard went through the bars.¡±

    ¡°Eesh,¡± Hans said without thinking. The visual of a guard squished through jail cell bars like peanut butter through a fork filled his mind.

    ¡°They fought their way out. Smashing every dumb guard that came between them and us kids. When they finally got home, adventurers were at our door, pounding and yelling for us to come out. Galad and me didn¡¯t see that fight, but we heard it. Saw the pieces after too.¡±

    ¡°And you left that night, just like that? Left everything?¡±

    ¡°Had to. Even the dungeon loot. It was locked up with their gear when they got nabbed. We drank rain water and ate wild onions for days. But mom and dad, they never broke. They never showed they were afraid.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s a heck of a story,¡± Hans said, genuinely astonished.

    ¡°We had just started courting,¡± Charlie said, ¡°and then one morning she was just gone.¡±

    ¡°You didn¡¯t know they were going to Gomi?¡±

    ¡°Not a clue. They didn¡¯t even know they were going to Gomi, so I had to find a tusk family that didn¡¯t want to be found if I wanted to see my love again. We were just teenagers, but I knew I had to find her. That¡¯s a whole other story, though.¡±

    ¡°Sounds like it would be a good one,¡± Hans offered.The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

    Charlie smiled and raised his glass to say thank you.

    ¡°Did anyone come looking for your parents? They were fugitives, right?¡±

    Galinda shrugged. ¡°Didn¡¯t wait around to see wanted posters.¡±

    ¡°The fighting got bad that night,¡± Charlie added, since he had still been in town to witness it. ¡°A lot of the guard towers burned along with any place a tusk might have lived. It was almost a week before the city lifted lockdown. Might be that all that hubbub did them some favors, and no one knew to go looking.¡±

    Hans tried to imagine fleeing through the wilderness while having to take care of two children. Well, they were young teenagers, like Kane, but that was still too young for war in his mind. He had lived his life chasing dangerous encounters, and yet he had never experienced a danger like Galinda¡¯s family faced.

    ¡°Well, it means a lot that you would trust me with this story. I promise to keep it in confidence.¡±

    ¡°If you didn¡¯t, I would crush you.¡±

    Hans¡¯ eyes went wide. Charlie chuckled. ¡°Now now, dear, best not to scare our guest with that kind of joke.¡±

    ¡°I wasn¡¯t joking.¡±

    ¡°Anyway,¡± Charlie interjected, ¡°Might I ask you about a piece of town business? At the risk of mixing business with pleasure.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯d expect nothing less,¡± Hans teased.

    ¡°I suppose I do have a habit of thinking only of business.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s really fine, what¡¯s on your mind?¡±

    After taking a sip of his whisky, Charlie asked, ¡°What do we do if a Diamond-ranked adventurer comes for Olza?¡±

    ¡°So she¡¯s told you.¡±

    The Mayor nodded.

    ¡°We crush,¡± Galinda proposed.

    Hans sputtered an uncomfortable laugh. ¡°The Guild gives chapter Guild Masters full authority over adventurers in their territory, so even though he outranks me, I technically have the final say. It¡¯s the same way if a Platinum spends time in a town with a Diamond Guild Master. What the Guild Master says goes.¡±

    ¡°Will that be enough, though?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know this Diamond, so I can¡¯t say for certain. Most adventurers put their careers ahead of love interests, so if he thinks that¡¯s in danger, he should listen.¡±

    Galinda leaned forward. ¡°Charlie wants to know what we do if the Diamond fights.¡±

    ¡°Ah,¡± Hans said, wiping his mouth with a napkin. ¡°I¡¯m not saying it¡¯s impossible, but a Diamond hasn¡¯t cracked like that in my lifetime. If that happened and we couldn¡¯t put him down, the Guild will. They don¡¯t tolerate adventurers who hurt innocent people.¡±

    ¡°I see.¡±

    ¡°Do you really think he would come?¡± Hans asked.

    Charlie shrugged. ¡°I know that Olza doesn¡¯t scare easy, and she¡¯s scared.¡±

    ¡°We will crush him for Olza if he comes,¡± Galinda said, as casually as she asked for Hans to pass the butter.

    ***

    The rest of the meal was more lighthearted. Galinda showed Hans her most recent paintings, two new landscapes and a portrait of Charlie, all in water colors. The bright pigments and soft pastels captured the feeling of her subjects as much as they captured the physical details. Even the portrait of Charlie seemed to celebrate the wisdom that came with his wrinkles and the light that came from his goofy grin.

    Hans had to admit, yet again, that he had misjudged Galinda. Her gruff demeanor disguised the kind heart of an artist. She had been one of the first people to greet any of the new tusk arrivals, and she immediately looked after them in the way Kane looked after Gunther. Galinda could undoubtedly repeat the jail-cell cheesegrater from the story about her mother, but when she looked at Charlie or one of the tusks, her eyes were full of love.

    By the time Hans bid Charlie and Galinda goodnight, the snow was piled to his knees. The tracks he made on his way to dinner were nearly filled, and judging by the smooth snow all around him, no one had ventured out that night but him. He took his time walking home, enjoying the novelty of deep snow, something he hadn¡¯t experienced for many years.

    His mind meandered through his quests as he debated how seriously he should take the concern for the Diamond coming for Olza. Jilted men were capable of terrible things, and a Diamond ranking was a measure of power, not a measure of character. Plenty of awful people had become successful, famous adventurers.

    He would never say this out loud to anyone, but he was unconcerned with having to deal with a Diamond, in or out of combat. A lifetime in the guild made Diamonds feel less extraordinary than they seemed when he was an Apprentice. They were powerful, sure, but they were mortal. At this point, he thought of them the way he thought of rare monsters. On paper, they had all of the advantages in combat, but if he was smart enough and had a little bit of luck, he had a good chance at coming out on top.

    Hells, Devon was Platinum when I whooped on him.

    Then again, his life had only gotten harder after that. Pushing those memories from his mind, he thought about his four most pressing quests instead:

    Active Quest: Identify the unknown purple flower from Olza.

    Active Quest: Protect your place in Gomi and maintain control of the Gomi chapter.

    Active Quest: Find a practical solution for a planar leak. Bonus Objective: Find a solution that uses only resources available in Gomi.

    Active Quest: Do something amazing!

    He debated canceling the last one, but he kind of liked it even if he couldn¡¯t remember what he had in mind when he started it. The more important question was whether he should plan for a fight with a Diamond and whatever entourage he traveled with.

    No, that¡¯s not right. The most important question is what do we do if the flower patch starts belching demon soldiers.

    Gret¡¯s explosive device came to mind. Hans wasn¡¯t capable of casting a spell powerful enough to destroy or seal a rift, but perhaps Olza¡¯s alchemical skills could make up the difference. Curiously, planar manipulation spells shared similar roots as spells Cleric used, like Turn Undead or Banish Curse. A few scholars believed that was because both required tapping into abilities usually reserved for divine beings.

    Perhaps they could use a creative potion mix to dispel or shut the rift? Olza didn¡¯t know of any recipes for that, and it would have to be a really strong potion, whatever it was. It was the only viable idea he had, as long of a shot as it was. He¡¯d have to keep thinking on that route while brainstorming for others.

    Seeing Olza¡¯s light on in her apartment, Hans debated stopping to talk with her. The purple flowers would be a good excuse to check on her.

    New Quest: Convince Olza to call the purple flowers ¡°Polzas.¡±

    That¡¯s brilliant, he thought, complimenting himself. She had vetoed calling them Olzas, but Polzas was a much better name. He wasn¡¯t sure why he thought of that just now, but he was pleased with himself nonetheless.

    Deciding against bothering the alchemist late in the evening, he continued trudging through the snow. Barely lifting his feet, his shins carved two long lines as they kicked through the deepening powder. With his new winter boots, he felt the texture of the snow and none of the cold.

    He stopped outside the guild hall, taking time to appreciate seeing it covered in white for the first time. He wanted to burn the details into his mind. He wanted to be able to remember it clearly if he wasn¡¯t here again this time next year. He hoped he would be. He really hoped.

    The wood in his apartment¡¯s fireplace had burned down to coals. With a few fresh logs and a Create Fire spell, the hearth sprang back to life. The humble studio warmed quickly. When the heat pushed past comfort, he cracked one of his windows, realizing how much he enjoyed listening to the winter silence. Not bothering with a lamp, he laid down on his couch, looking up at the shadows dancing on the ceiling, feeling the occasional brisk touch of an outside breeze before the fire beat it back again.

    Each time he realized how content he was in Gomi, the same quest flashed in his mind.

    Active Quest: Protect your place in Gomi and maintain control of the Gomi chapter.

    He wanted to enjoy the moment, but his mind kept asking what he would do if all this came to an end. Nothing bad happened yet, but his heart tightened as if it had. He couldn¡¯t help it.

    I always do this when I drink. I need to cut back.

    ¡°Or¡­¡±

    Hans braved the cold of the downstairs to visit his stash of Tribe beer. He tapped the first keg a few days back. With a flip of the tab, he filled a mostly clean clay coffee mug and went back upstairs with foam in his mustache and a smile on his face. When he was an Apprentice, he looked down on the old timers who were quick to reach for a drink. He thought of it as a weakness, a crutch adventurers used when all of their hard-earned abilities couldn¡¯t overcome loneliness or guilt or shame.

    Turning his couch to face the fire, he pulled his beer close and knew that his younger self had been right.

    ***

    Open Quests (Ordered from Old to New):

    Progress from Gold-ranked to Diamond-ranked.

    Mend the rift with Devon.

    Complete the manuscript for "The Next Generation: A Teaching Methodology for Training Adventurers."

    Identify the unknown purple flower from Olza.

    Protect your place in Gomi and maintain control of the Gomi chapter.

    Find a practical solution for a planar leak. Bonus Objective: Find a solution that uses only resources available in Gomi.

    Expand the Gomi training area to include ramps for footwork drills.

    Do something amazing!

    Convince Olza to call the purple flowers ¡°Polzas.¡±

 Chapter 29: Emergency Quest

    Heavy pounding on the downstairs door woke Hans. A little more than a week into winter, the snows had stopped for a day or two, but they returned with new ferocity. When the wind blew the wrong way, a snowdrift piled up in front of the front door, taller than the doorframe. He shoveled it twice a day sometimes to keep from being completely snowed in.

    As he wrapped a blanket around himself and went downstairs¨Cimmediately regretting his choice to do so barefoot¨Che thought that perhaps he should leave the snow next time. If the door was blocked, no one could bother him at whatever awful hour this was.

    Hans opened the door.

    ¡°Kane?¡±

    The teen stood on the doorstep, his tusk skin almost as pale as the snow. ¡°Gunther¡¯s missing. Another kid too.¡±

    ¡°Come inside. I¡¯ll be quick.¡±

    Hans dressed as swiftly as he could, piling on layers of warm gear and wrapping himself in his winter cloak. He thought about taking the time to put on his armor but decided against it, grabbing only his sword and a torch. When people came to adventurers for help with missing people, they had usually checked all around town first. If the kids hadn¡¯t been found yet, chances were they were out in the wilderness somewhere. Why they were out in the wilderness mattered but not as much right now. What mattered most was getting to them before the cold or a monster did.

    ¡°We should send a sparrow for Becky,¡± Hans said as the two stepped outside, the Guild Master pausing to light his torch with Create Fire.

    ¡°Galad is with Mayor Charlie now. He told me to get you and take you to the Tribe as quickly as I could.¡±

    The pair broke into a jog, retracing the footsteps the tusks made traveling from the Tribe lands to Hans and Charlie. Based on the footprints, at least one other person had been with Galad and Kane. He guessed they belonged to Uncle Ed, which made sense. He couldn¡¯t imagine the farmer sitting idle while Gunther was missing.

    On the way, Kane explained that Gunther and one of the new tusk children were missing. From Kane¡¯s description, Hans recognized the child as the girl he saw early in the fall, one of the first two tusks to migrate to Gomi. Her and her mother had been so scared then. How terrible that they felt that way again so soon.

    The Tribe had already found the childrens¡¯ tracks, but no one was confident enough in their abilities to follow them into the forest in the middle of the night. Hans knew immediately where the trail entered the woods because it was surrounded by several tusk adults, each carrying a lamp or a torch.

    ¡°Let Hans through!¡± Kane yelled.

    The crowd parted, one of the tusk women pointing to two sets of footprints. The prints were undoubtedly both from children, one pair much smaller than the other. Holding the torch close to the ground, Hans surmised that the girl went first and Gunther followed. Her prints had a little more fresh snow than Gunther¡¯s. Not by much, but enough that it was clear they hadn¡¯t left together.

    I wish Becky was here.

    ¡°This is the kids, for sure,¡± Hans said. ¡°I¡¯m going after them. I want everyone to wait here for Becky. Show her this trail, and tell her I promised to leave her easy tracks to follow.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m coming,¡± Kane said.

    ¡°No. We aren¡¯t arguing this. We need to move faster than the cold. Understood?¡±

    Kane nodded, reluctantly.

    Hans half-jogged into the forest, moving as quickly as he could while looking for tracks by torchlight. The deeper he went, the more he was sure Gunther intentionally broke branches and kicked snow to make himself easy to follow, or perhaps to make it easier for him to find his way back. Either way, the kid was clever.

    He wound his way through the woods, the twists and bends suggesting that the first tracks¨Cthe girl¡¯s¨Cbelonged to someone who didn¡¯t know their way. That may have been a blessing. Every hesitation and accidental doubleback gave Gunther more time to catch up. By extension, that bought Hans more time as well.

    His celebration was short-lived. A pack of pawprints came in from another direction, intersecting Gunther¡¯s. The tracks were a mess. All Hans knew is that there were several, and they circled this area, excited or anxious, before taking up the kids¡¯ trail. Though the tracks were shaped like wolf paws, they had a prominent heel print and were sunk far too deep to be from wolves. These tracks were akin to that of a humanoid.

    Gnolls.

    Shit. Shit. Shit.

    Pushing to move faster, he saw from the gnoll prints that they decided something similar, their lazy trot breaking into a run, a chase. The pursuit churned the snow, an easy path to follow at speed.

    Hans ran down a gully, splashed over a small creek, and ran up the steep embankment on the opposite side. He jumped over fallen trees with trunks almost as wide as he was tall. He pushed through brambles and briars as they clawed at his legs and arms. He ducked low branches and ran across the tops of large stones to keep the deepest areas of snow from slowing his progress.

    When he heard the low baritone of canine growls mixed with the steady crunching footsteps of a predator circling prey in the winter, he broke into a sprint. Down another gully and up the other side, he found Gunther as he crested the hill.

    The young tusk held a broken wooden sword in his left hand. His right arm hung limply at his side, blood trickling out of teeth marks to drip in the snow. He had pants and boots and a loose summer shirt. No jacket or cloak. Behind him, wrapped in fabric, a small girl sat in the snow, weeping.

    One gnoll lay dead not far from Hans, the other half of Gunther¡¯s sword in its gut. Another gnoll limped away, dragging a bloodied leg and gushing from another wound Hans couldn¡¯t see. He could only see the beast leaking dark liquid onto white snow.

    Five remained, circling the two tusk children. Two of the gnolls carried clubs while the others snapped and snarled, content to use their viscous teeth to finish their hunt. Gunther kept himself between the gnolls and the girl at all times, shaking from cold and from fear as he circled with the gnolls.

    The first gnoll to die never saw the blade that cleaved its head from its shoulders. The second caught a glimpse of steel moving in moonlight, turning in time to look Hans in the eye as a sword drove into its belly. It snarled and half heartedly snapped to bite the human¡¯s neck but was too far gone to be a threat.

    The Guild Master turned as one of the three remaining gnolls lunged at him, soaring through the air like a pouncing wolf. With his free hand pressed into the flat of his blade, Hans kept the gnoll¡¯s yellow teeth away from his face. Riding the momentum, he allowed himself to fall backward, but instead of landing on his back, he kept going, rolling over his shoulder.

    The tumble lasted barely a blink, and Hans landed on the gnoll, straddling its chest like a schoolyard bully. His free hand still braced against the flat of his sword, he slammed down like a baker leaning into a rolling pin. The sharp motion raked through the gnoll¡¯s mouth, breaking teeth before it broke the gnoll¡¯s jaw and cracked its skull.

    Before he could stand, a gnoll club came down at his head. A swift flick of his sword parried it to the side. As the surprised monster fell forward, off balance from overcommitting to its strike, Hans ran it through. The final gnoll saw that it was outmatched, abandoning its attack to spin and flee.The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

    Hans¡¯ hand shot out, grabbing the wolf man¡¯s ankle, the sudden yank dropping it face first into the snow. With a quick twist, he turned to the side to let his previous kill fall off his sword. The last gnoll still attempted to scurry, scraping and pawing to find footing on frozen ground. Hans jumped onto its back, hearing gnoll bones crunch beneath him, and stabbed the base of the monster¡¯s neck with a quick thrust.

    Hopping to his feet, Hans circled, searching the trees for any enemies he might have missed.

    ¡°Gunther?! Are you okay?¡±

    ¡°...Yes¡­¡± he managed, his teeth chattering.

    ¡°Do you see anymore?¡±

    ¡°No. That was all of them.¡±

    Rotating to do one more scan, Hans raced to the children, wrapping his cloak around the inconsolable girl before stripping off a thick wool sweater and giving it to Gunther. The tusk happily accepted but seemed miffed by the too-long sleeves hanging from his hands.

    ¡°You didn¡¯t tell me you were borrowing a training sword,¡± Hans said, picking the girl up to carry her.

    Gunther shrugged, sleeves dangling.

    ¡°Well, you did good.¡± Glancing at the two dead gnolls, he added, ¡°Really damn good. But we¡¯re not home. Are you okay to move?¡±

    The tusk nodded.

    ¡°Drink this. It tastes like ogre toes, so drink it quick.¡± Hans handed Gunther a healing potion for his injured arm. For the first time, he saw the young tusk think something was gross. ¡°Stay close to me. We need to get her warm as soon as we can. You too. We need to hurry.¡±

    Running through the woods carrying a child was challenging, but Hans did his best to press the pace as he retraced his trail. The little girl, who was shivering a moment ago, was now very still.

    ¡°Hey! Stay awake. Stay awake. We¡¯re almost there.¡±

    The path back felt four times as long as the journey in, but he kept moving. Gunther huffed as he chased behind the adult but managed to keep up. When they emerged from the treeline, several tusks wrapped the girl in blankets and took her from Hans, racing toward the nearest cabin with a roaring fire.

    Uncle Ed stepped forward and took off his coat to give to Gunther. ¡°What were you thinking?! Do you know how dangerous that was?¡± The farmer asked the young tusk.

    ¡°I saw her in the snow¡­ She seemed scared, and she ran into the woods. I knew she¡¯d freeze, and Galad said to help our brothers and sisters when they need us.¡±

    The bluster Uncle Ed had prepared for this conversation deflated. ¡°Come on. Lots of folks are worried about you, and we need to get you warm.¡± Looking to Hans. ¡°You should come too. Warm up before you head back. I¡¯ve got a fire going.¡±

    That sounded nice to Hans.

    Soon, Hans and Gunther both sat on pillows on the floor, wrapped in heavy wool blankets while Uncle Ed¡¯s fire warmed their bones. Kane brought them both hot cocoa and sat in a chair nearby, keeping close to his little brother but maintaining his usual quiet demeanor. He hadn¡¯t said a word to Gunther since he returned. Coming close to losing Gunther had scared Kane. Deeply.

    The young tusk bounced rapidly from topic to topic, often forgetting he was meant to be telling a story. Eventually, Hans assembled the full story from the pieces Gunther shared.

    Earlier that night, Gunther heard a noise out his window. When he looked, he saw the tusk girl walking by, whispering to herself and crying. For some reason, she moved toward the forest, walked in the field in a circle, and then continued into the dark. At first, Gunther went outside to ask her what she was doing, but by the time he got out of bed and found his boots, he saw a glimpse of her back before she disappeared into the treeline.

    He had a choice. He could go get help and risk losing her, or he could go after her and make it easy for help to follow. As he bolted toward the forest, he pounded on Kane¡¯s window as he went by, a fact his brother didn¡¯t remember. For Kane¡¯s part, he awoke suddenly and realized Gunther was gone, triggering the events that led to his knocking on the guild hall to get Hans.

    ¡°I did what you said, Mr. Hans,¡± Gunther began when his cocoa was half empty. ¡°I kept moving and whacked them when they tried to get close. The one jumped and I stabbed him and then another one jumped so I stabbed him too.¡±

    It wasn¡¯t the most technical description of putting training to use, but the tusk¡¯s practice had clearly paid off even if he couldn¡¯t describe it well. ¡°I¡¯m proud of you, and I¡¯m proud of you too, Kane.¡±

    ¡°Me? Why?¡±

    ¡°You thought as quickly as your brother. If you had waited, this would have gone different. It¡¯s also clear you¡¯ve rubbed off on Gunther. Not a lot of kids would be that brave if they hadn¡¯t learned it somewhere.¡±

    Hans spared a glance over his shoulder. He saw Uncle Ed beaming with pride. The Guild Master offered him a nod. They both knew Uncle Ed played a large part in Kane and Gunther¡¯s life, so he deserved credit for the boys¡¯ good deeds as well. He would never accept it, of course, so a nod would have to do.

    ¡°Is she going to be okay? She was really scared,¡± Gunther asked.

    ¡°I think so,¡± Hans said. ¡°She might need to rest for a while before we can see her, though.¡±

    Gunther nodded, agreeing that made sense.

    ¡°Mr. Hans?¡±

    ¡°Yes?¡±

    ¡°How did you get so good? The wolf boys couldn¡¯t even touch you.¡±

    Glancing around nervously, Hans said that Gunther was being creative with his storytelling.

    ¡°No I¡¯m not! There were five of them left and Mr. Hans was like ¡®swoosh¡¯ and then was like ¡®whack¡¯ and blood was spraying everywhere and he was SO fast!¡±

    ¡°I think you¡¯re overselling me a bit, but thank you.¡±

    Gunther looked at his brother and Uncle Ed and yelled, ¡°It was amazing!¡±

    Quest Complete: Do something amazing!

    Yeah, that has to count. Kids can be hard to impress.

    ¡°Alright, Gunther. I¡¯m glad you¡¯re okay, but you should rest too. Also, you owe me a new sword.¡±

    ***

    Galad waited for Hans outside of Uncle Ed¡¯s house, unbothered by the cold. He asked if he could walk to Gomi with the Guild Master. Hans obliged.

    ¡°Did she say anything to you?¡± Galad asked.

    ¡°Not a word,¡± Hans said. ¡°She was in shock.¡±

    ¡°She told her mother bad men and orcs were coming for her. They were taunting her in her dreams. When she heard them coming, she ran into the forest.¡±

    ¡°Poor kid.¡±

    Galad agreed. ¡°She talked like she didn¡¯t have a choice, like she had to leave. Her mother said she wasn¡¯t acting like herself.¡±

    Childhood rarely survived horrific conflict. The tusk children had been outcasts in their towns even when times were good. Gomi wasn¡¯t an awful place to live, but moving to nowhere because no other community wanted you took any comforting doubts away. You can¡¯t rationalize that ¡°not everyone¡± hates you for having orc blood when your exile is all but an official decree.

    ¡°I don¡¯t think it¡¯s anything, but other new arrivals have talked about their kids having nightmares. I definitely had my share of them when we first came here, but the squonks and all¡­¡±

    ¡°Understood. As far as we know, squonks don¡¯t affect dreams. Monsters that can are very very rare. I don¡¯t blame you for being concerned, though.¡±

    Nodding, Galad replied, ¡°I figured as much. Oddly, having a monster to blame would actually be easier. The best we can do otherwise is to be supportive and comforting.¡±

    ¡°I feel that way about most problems. When I¡¯m on a job, I know exactly what I need to do. Most of life isn¡¯t like that. I have to ask, though. Has Gomi always been this strange?¡±

    The tusk chuckled. ¡°Only since you got here.¡±

    New Quest: Find ways to support new tusks in their transition to life in Gomi.

    ***

    With thoughts of a warm bed filling his mind as the sun began to rise, Hans saw Becki sleeping outside the guild hall and knew his blankets would have to wait. Inside the guild hall, Becky sat at one of the tables, flipping through the guild¡¯s bestiary. Her already stocky build was exaggerated by several layers of furs from various woodland creatures.

    ¡°Becky, I¡¯m sorry you came all this way. We found the kids.¡±

    Becky shrugged. ¡°That¡¯s the best kind of bad news an adventurer can get,¡± she said chuckling. ¡°I needed to come back anyhow.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s up?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s hard to explain, but winter didn¡¯t come to the flower patch.¡±

    ***

    Open Quests (Ordered from Old to New):

    Progress from Gold-ranked to Diamond-ranked.

    Mend the rift with Devon.

    Complete the manuscript for "The Next Generation: A Teaching Methodology for Training Adventurers."

    Identify the unknown purple flower from Olza.

    Protect your place in Gomi and maintain control of the Gomi chapter.

    Find a practical solution for a planar leak. Bonus Objective: Find a solution that uses only resources available in Gomi.

    Expand the Gomi training area to include ramps for footwork drills.

    Convince Olza to call the purple flowers ¡°Polzas.¡±

    Find ways to support new tusks in their transition to life in Gomi.

 Chapter 30: Former Party Members

    Becky and Hans made the hike to where the Polzas grew at the base of the Dead End Mountains. With several feet of snow on the ground, walking down what Becky said was the trail¨CHans couldn¡¯t tell whatsoever¨Cwas like trying to walk in waist-high water. The powder resisted every step, tiring him far quicker than he anticipated.

    The Becks, however, had no such trouble. Becky and Becki could both walk on snow. On as in on top of. They didn¡¯t even leave footprints. Hans asked if he could ride Becki for a bit of a break, but Becky insisted the Druid magic that made snow-walking possible would be nullified if he tried.

    A small part of Hans believed Becky wasn¡¯t telling the truth. She got too much enjoyment out of his struggling.

    The merchant hadn¡¯t stiffed him on quality at least. His winter apparel had him sweating despite the snow, so he opened his cloak wide to try to balance his own temperature. Becky said he looked like some kind of fanciful hero with his cape dragging behind him on top of the snow. Hans had to admit it did look kind of funny, like it was permanently billowing behind him in a dramatic breeze. Every hour or so Becky would forget about the joke, look over, and begin giggling to herself again.

    When the Polzas came into view, Hans understood what Becky meant about winter not coming for the flower patch. Winter surrounded it the same way snow surrounded his boots, yet the perimeter of the patch was as stark as an ink drawing. Inside of that perimeter, lush green grass poked up through the rocky terrain. No flowers were blooming, but he had no problem believing that they could grow inside of the anomaly.

    ¡°Is it warm?¡±

    Becky scoffed. ¡°Like I¡¯d know. You think I¡¯m touching any part of that? No way. Not me. I don¡¯t need to be disintegrated.¡±

    Arguing against someone¡¯s right to not want to be disintegrated was hard to do, so Hans walked around the area lacking snow. He kicked a boot-toe full of powder into the rocks and knelt to watch.

    ¡°It¡¯s melting¡­¡± He leaned forward and carefully set his hand on one of the rocks surrounded by grass.

    ¡°Oh!¡± Becky yelled.

    Hans jumped backward. ¡°What?! What is it?!¡±

    ¡°I was surprised you touched it.¡±

    ¡°You mean nothing¡­ You didn¡¯t see anything bad happen?¡±

    She shook her head. ¡°You¡¯re the one being jumpy.¡±

    With a deep sigh, Hans got back to his feet and knelt again. The rock felt warm. The sensation was faint enough that he wouldn¡¯t¨Cand hadn¡¯t¨Cnoticed it in the summer. However, he didn¡¯t feel a pocket of permanent spring, a possibility he half-entertained because of his planar overlap theory. The rock was just not as cold as the ground around it, having enough warmth to be above freezing, but barely. He checked a few more, reaching into the patch while his feet stayed planted in snow outside the perimeter. Those rocks were the same as the others.

    A vision of Gomi rooftops sprang to mind. Some spots had bare patches from heat rising up from inside. When he was a child, a carpenter told him that melted snow on a roof meant the insulation was done poorly, especially if it was an isolated square. If snow melted on a roof, they knew that part needed work. This wasn¡¯t a rooftop, though.

    ¡°I think we should dig,¡± he announced.

    ¡°We aren¡¯t digging. You can dig, but I aint.¡±

    Hans sighed. ¡°I suppose I can¡¯t make you.¡±

    ¡°Of course you can¡¯t.¡±

    I don¡¯t have a shovel.

    ¡°I don¡¯t have a shovel,¡± he said to Becky.

    ¡°Let me check my butt. Nope, I don¡¯t have a shovel either.¡±

    Raising two hands to beg for peace, Hans said, ¡°I promise not to make you shovel or give you a hard time about not wanting to shovel.¡±

    ¡°Thank you. Still don¡¯t got a shovel.¡±

    Nodding, Hans scraped at the dirt under the rocks with just his hands. The soil was thick with gravel, but the stones were small enough that a shovel could still get through. The top layer, at least. A slab of solid rock could be a few inches below the surface and he wouldn¡¯t know until he was stomping around cursing about there being a slab of solid rock a few inches below the surface.

    Could a planar overlap warm the ground like this? He had no idea. His instinct said that no, they could not, but that might not be based on anything other than his wanting an easier mystery to solve. He couldn¡¯t recall any specific reading that made him feel that way, however. A simple method could reveal if a source of the heat was beneath the ground, so in a way, he didn¡¯t have a choice. He hated digging, but he loved chasing a mystery.

    New Quest: Identify the source of the heat melting the Polza snow.

    New Quest: Dig beneath the surface of the Polzas.

    I may have to dig a while.

    ¡°Becky, how are you with building shelters? Like a small cabin?¡±

    She returned the question with one of her own, wanting to know why he was asking.

    ¡°I¡¯m thinking about digging. If there¡¯s something to find, might take a few days at least.¡± Hans looked at the stretch of the flower patch. ¡°Or a lot longer,¡± he added.

    ¡°You know it¡¯s winter, right? I don¡¯t know how I feel about leaving a city boy out here by himself.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not a¨C Okay. What if we got me a sparrow? That way if I¡¯m in trouble I can let you know.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll pay two gold.¡±

    ¡°Done.¡±

    ***

    Hans returned to the guild hall and began planning for the dig. He¡¯d pack a few extra waterskins. Having seen adventurers unknowingly suffer dehydration in subzero temperatures, he knew basic supplies were critical. No convenient river flowed near the Polzas, but he could melt snow throughout the day to refill the skins and cast Create Water if he needed.

    Rations were a must, which made him think that he could, perhaps, take the beer.

    One of the waterskins maybe¡­

    No, that was not a practical idea. Lugging a keg through the woods was off the table, and waterskins were for water. He¡¯d never get the taste of beer out of it even if it only held beer the one time.

    New Quest: Procure a bottle of fool¡¯s root vodka from Olza.

    He would need a shovel and a pick. The guild shovel would probably be fine, but he wanted a backup. A broken shovel two days from town would be infuriating if another wasn¡¯t on hand. He would need to talk to the blacksmith about a pickaxe also. Hans was almost certain he saw one for sale there when last he visited. If he was wrong, one should be easy enough to have made.

    When he reached the point of his planning where he considered potential risks and how to address them, his pencil stopped moving. Without knowing the source of the area¡¯s strange power, his only options for reducing risk were high-level spells and high-level items capable of guarding against a wide range of effects and threats. Neither of which he had, and neither of which he could procure anywhere near Gomi. Magic strong enough to resist or reflect a disintegration spell would be hard to find in Hoseki, where the world¡¯s best mages tended to live, and hiring one to cast the protection would be outrageously expensive.

    Nullifying specific spells was cheaper, but that required knowing what he was facing. He had been thinking about that since they found the gnoll dust near the flowers and hadn¡¯t made progress. If any knowledge of Polzas existed, it was likely lost in a major city at a research institution of some sort. Anything more well known would have made its knowledge into the Adventurers¡¯ Guild. He certainly had never heard of a plant capable of casting such a powerful spell.If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.

    Disintegration risks aside, if the planar overlap hypothesis still played out, he could wake up one morning to a world-ending demon looking in through his cabin window. That seemed unlikely, given that the monsters they found ¡°coming through¡± could barely breathe on their own, but he was nonetheless happy that Becky had convinced him to build the cabin a distance from the patch.

    At one point, Hans had suggested building on the warmth to make his stay more pleasant. The Druid told him he was dumber than the dirt he wanted to dig and insisted it be farther away. She had been right, he admitted after thinking more about it, but she didn¡¯t need to know that.

    New Quest: Alarm the perimeter of the Polza patch.

    Now that was something Becky hadn¡¯t thought of. The Druid had slept through all of the previous monster arrivals, so at best an alarm system made him more likely to witness the portal opening. At worst it gave him a few extra seconds to button his fly and get his sword.

    Hans laughed to himself. A moment ago he lamented not having access to legendary enchanted artifacts to protect himself and the next he was proud of realizing he could tie scrap metal and bottles to string for an alarm. For several minutes, he challenged himself to think of what else he might do to better prepare himself. As cool as homemade alarms were, they wouldn¡¯t keep him from getting eaten.

    What might come through the portal?

    The number of planes was potentially infinite, each with wildly varying qualities. A demon could come through, but a spirit or an elemental were just as likely. And the varieties went on from there, spanning every element and school of magic. A silver sword would be the most reasonable backup plan, giving him an edge over undead and other abominations known to cross planes, but he couldn¡¯t afford one for himself and doubted Gomi had the silver to forge one.

    What could be underground?

    A story about ancient dragons burying themselves in river beds to hibernate sprang to mind. He scolded his overactive imagination and tried to think of real alternatives. Plenty of monsters burrowed, but none of their habits matched the Polza patch. They were far too small or were unlikely to have ever set foot in this part of the world. Several species of desert monster might grow large enough to account for the size of the Polza patch, but none of them could survive winter temperatures.

    Asking a mage who specializes in earth magic would be the safest and fastest way to do the dig.

    Oh, would it now? What earth wizard lives near Gomi? What earth wizard would take a job digging holes? His best idea was to write Mazo, and he wouldn¡¯t do that. That was far too much to ask of a friend who had already been appallingly generous. The length of the trip alone was reason enough not to bother the halfling.

    Other than packing potions, the only other option he had was to not dig at all. He was too curious to entertain that, though, so that path had never been under consideration.

    The sun wasn¡¯t exactly out, on account of the snow, but daylight was strong enough that he figured Olza would be open.

    Quest Complete: Procure a bottle of fool¡¯s root vodka from Olza.

    Olza was slightly skeptical of Hans¡¯ plan.

    ¡°You¡¯re out of your mind,¡± she said. ¡°If you don¡¯t freeze to death a grizzly will eat you.¡±

    He hadn¡¯t thought about bears. ¡°I¡¯m sure Becky could just¡­ ask them not to? We did make friends with that one bear, you know.¡±

    ¡°What if we need you here?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll be a sparrow away.¡±

    She narrowed her eyes. ¡°That¡¯s a long ways away.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m here to help, yes, but I can¡¯t put the rest of my work on hold. Especially not when we think the flower patch is sending monsters into our woods, or trying to. This is me being proactive.¡±

    ¡°Then why do you look so excited?¡±

    Hans shrugged. ¡°I love my work. So what?¡±

    Knowing the argument was lost, she asked him when he intended to leave.

    ¡°It will be several days at least. Becky is getting the site setup. I¡¯ll head up when she comes and gets me. I¡¯d get lost in those woods pretty easy otherwise, I think.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not making me feel better.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯ll be fine. Well, I¡¯ll leave you to your work. If you need anything, come give me a knock.¡±

    ¡°Actually¡­ You read a lot right?¡±

    Hans said that was true.

    ¡°Are you reading tonight? Mind if I sit with you for an hour or so?¡± Olza tried to ask it casually, but her eyes betrayed that she was upset. They shifted nervously as the last word left her mouth.

    ¡°Not at all. I probably won¡¯t hear the knock so just come up.¡±

    She seemed relieved. ¡°Thank you.¡±

    ***

    Hans leaned back in his desk chair, his feet up, reading a copy of Vereth¡¯s Vanity, a biography of a Platinum-ranked adventurer who mixed the stealth of a Rogue with the precision of an Archer, downing powerful beasts with one draw. From stealth, he would line up the perfect shot, which could take hours at times, and loose a single arrow. Sometimes it slipped between scales at the perfect angle, or through a crease in armor, or at the exact moment the creature twisted in just the right way that the arrow could slip through layers of bones without touching any of them, the arrow not stopping until it reached the heart.

    Every story followed more or less the same formula, but Hans found it entertaining. The author was a former party member of Vereth¡¯s, and sometimes it seemed like he wrote the book as an excuse to rag on the Archer¡¯s obsession with fashion. Vereth would make impossible kills and then blow the reward money on high-end clothes and gear, hence the vanity.

    Olza lay on the couch in front of the fire, her head on an armrest. The Philosophical Alchemist was in her hands, and she turned each page like she hungered for the next. She tried to explain to Hans what it was about, some theory of magical reagents driving the morality of the universe, but it was beyond him.

    They exchanged a few words when she first arrived, but soon they sat in silence, each reading their book. The night passed with the steady sounds of crackling fire and turning pages. Occasionally the winter wind howled against a window, or Hans¡¯ chair would creak when his legs started falling asleep.

    When Hans got up to put a new log on the fire, Olza asked if he needed help. He waved her back to her seat. As he adjusted the placement with a cast iron poker, Olza said, ¡°Thanks for this. It¡¯s nice to have company.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, it is. Isn¡¯t it?¡± He hadn¡¯t considered it until her question, but he did find it comforting to have another person near him. The same solitude he treasured may have felt suffocating at times.

    Maybe that¡¯s part of Gomi¡¯s charm, being cut off from the rest of the world was better if you liked who you were cut off with.

    Geez. Now who is getting philosophical?

    A third of a log later, Olza spoke again. ¡°Are you alright?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, this chair is more comfortable than it looks.¡±

    Olza chuckled. ¡°No, that¡¯s not what I meant. You seemed pretty upset when Mazo told you about Devontes. If you don¡¯t want to talk about it, I understand, but I¡¯ve been worrying.¡±

    ¡°Hmm.¡±

    ¡°Sorry. I shouldn¡¯t have said anything.¡±

    Hans looked up from his book. ¡°It¡¯s okay.¡±

    She sat in the quiet, giving him as much time as he might need.

    ¡°Devon started taking classes from me when he was twelve. That kid never made the same mistake twice. No exaggeration. I mean ever. As soon as you corrected something, that was it. You never saw it again. By the time he became an Apprentice, Bronze adventurers avoided sparring with him. They were still way stronger than Devon, but he outskilled them.¡±

    Hans leaned farther back, looking up at the ceiling.

    ¡°He learned so quickly. I¡¯d like to think it was my teaching, but it was all Devon. He trained and studied relentlessly. I knew when he got Iron he¡¯d pass me up, probably quickly. When he hit Gold, I was at Gold, but we weren¡¯t equals. He was already sprinting to Diamond while I floundered.

    ¡°You know he became a Paladin, right?¡±

    Olza nodded.

    ¡°Paladins are for fairytales. Before Devon, the last Paladin was a few hundred years ago, and whether or not he was a ¡®real¡¯ Paladin is contentious at best. When Devon told me a deity offered him a Paladin pact, I said it was a bad idea.

    ¡°¡®Gods don¡¯t just hand out boons,¡¯ I told him. I mean, when was the last time a god spoke to mortals? Ages. Most don¡¯t even have names, and that made me even more concerned: the deity wouldn¡¯t tell Devon who or what he was.¡±

    ¡°And he was going to pledge himself to a deity he didn¡¯t know?¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s an argument to be made about hiding names, if you believe the stories about fae. The deity had preemptively explained the absence of a name for just that reason. Devon believed it. A few months later, he swore the oath and was gifted his Paladin abilities. We didn¡¯t talk much after that. There¡¯s more, but it¡¯s a lot of guild politics and such.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry,¡± Olza said.

    ¡°Yeah, me too.¡±

    ¡°So he wants to remove you over a grudge?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s complicated.¡±

    The alchemist nodded and quietly returned to reading her book, but her thoughts were elsewhere. Every story she ever heard celebrated Master Devontes as a paragon of virtue, and his deeds seemed to confirm that. What was Hans not telling her?

    She looked over the top of the couch to see Hans staring at the floor, his book open and forgotten on his lap.

    ¡°I should get home before my fire dies completely. Thank you for having me over, Hans.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t mention it.¡±

    ¡°Well, goodnight.¡±

    ¡°Goodnight.¡±

    Hans never looked up. When Olza looked back at the apartment from the street, she thought she saw Hans¡¯ shadow still seated in the same chair, staring at the floor.

    ***

    Open Quests (Ordered from Old to New):

    Progress from Gold-ranked to Diamond-ranked.

    Mend the rift with Devon.

    Complete the manuscript for "The Next Generation: A Teaching Methodology for Training Adventurers."

    Identify the unknown purple flower from Olza.

    Protect your place in Gomi and maintain control of the Gomi chapter.

    Find a practical solution for a planar leak. Bonus Objective: Find a solution that uses only resources available in Gomi.

    Expand the Gomi training area to include ramps for footwork drills.

    Convince Olza to call the purple flowers ¡°Polzas.¡±

    Find ways to support new tusks in their transition to life in Gomi.

    Identify the source of the heat melting the Polza snow.

    Prepare to excavate the Polza site.

    Dig beneath the surface of the Polzas.

    Alarm the perimeter of the Polza patch.

 Chapter 31: Field Research

    ¡°You and Kane are in charge while I¡¯m gone,¡± Hans said to the two boys. ¡°Here are the keys to the storage room and the front door.¡±

    He set a key ring on the desk.

    ¡°You both know how much responsibility this is, so I won¡¯t give you the ¡®take it seriously¡¯ lecture. You¡¯re both capable, and I trust you.¡±

    The boys stood a little straighter.

    ¡°I mean it. I¡¯m proud of you both. I made some monster flashcards for a game you can play with the kids, and feel free to review the herbs we¡¯ve covered. If there¡¯s an emergency, there are potions and weapons in the back. Last thing: I need you two to make me a promise.¡±

    They each raised an eyebrow.

    ¡°Promise me you won¡¯t be reckless. Adventurers need to be alive to help people, so a big part of the job is understanding when a risk is pointless. You¡¯re welcome to pitch in when you¡¯re needed, but no running off into the woods by yourselves or anything like that. Get a sparrow, and let Charlie or Galad make the calls. You promise?¡±

    ¡°We promise.¡±

    ¡°Good. Those are powerful words. Never forget that.¡±

    The children beamed with pride.

    With guild duties accounted for, Hans stopped at the blacksmith to collect his new pickaxe. When he was there, he realized he should pick up a woodsman¡¯s axe as well, thankful to find the smith had one to sell. The head just needed to be mounted to a handle, a brief and simple process for a craftsman. Hans might need lumber to reinforce the sides of his dig site to avoid cave-ins, so he was relieved that he was able to get the axe despite his initial oversight. Hans hoped he wouldn¡¯t actually need it, because if he did, he would have to move a lot of dirt without finding anything.

    The tools were well made, but he wasn¡¯t looking forward to carrying them to the Polza patch. The blacksmith told him he was looney for trying to dig in this weather but accepted the coppers all the same.

    Becki helped carry some of the supplies. Apparently carrying baggage didn¡¯t nullify the ability that allowed her to walk on snow. He thought he saw Becky smirking when he mentioned that observation.

    The cabin she built for Hans was surprisingly cozy, and he wondered if the Druid lived in something similar. He didn¡¯t bother to ask because he knew she wouldn¡¯t say. No one knew where she lived, if she had a permanent residence at all. Hans did know, however, that he could trust the cabin to keep him warm. Bushcraft had its own kind of elegance. A trained eye could see the craftsmanship and creativity that went into building a shelter. Becky was good. Very good.

    With some axe work, she had modified a series of 6 to 8 inch wide logs, linking them together at strong perpendicular angles, and then she packed the walls with mud and grass, inside and outside. The interior was compact with barely enough room for Hans to lie down. If he stood, he had to hunch to avoid bumping into his thatched ceiling. That was by design, though. The larger the shelter, the more heat it needed and the more surface area that could bleed that heat. A good shelter was big enough and no larger.

    A small fireplace made from rocks connected to a clay chimney, directing smoke through the wall and out of the cabin. For the bed, Becky built a small raised platform from wrist-thick branches, bound together with twine. Keeping Hans off the cold ground and away from water that might leak in was critical. A wet bedroll or wet clothes were a death sentence in the winter. The platform was a simple way to guard against the danger.

    The shelter was small, but Hans didn¡¯t doubt that it would be warm. Compared to some of the camping he had done, this cabin was decadently luxurious.

    After she helped Hans string the alarm cans around the perimeter of the Polza patch, Becky and Becki set off to take care of ¡®pressing business,¡¯ but they promised to stick closer to Gomi in case they were needed. The dwarf was usually vocal when she wanted something known, so the fact that she was intentionally vague about everything else was enough of a hint for Hans. He didn¡¯t ask. He thanked her for her help and wished her luck.

    ***

    ¡°Digging is so¡­¡± Hans chewed a few curses. ¡°...stupid.¡±

    The good news was he hadn¡¯t disintegrated yet. The bad news was he had moved four Becky¡¯s worth of dirt without finding anything interesting. The task was simple, but it was slow, dull, and tiring. Every bit of progress made the project more difficult, forcing him to lift his shovel higher and higher to toss dirt clear of the dig.

    He had planned to need seven days at most to complete his investigation, convincing himself that anything warming that much soil would not be far from the surface, but he also knew he was capable of rationalizing anything if it meant an adventure. Realistically, he could dig for weeks and not find anything. He hated every shovel of dirt but was excited to be chasing a mystery, so he resolved to keep pushing.

    Having taken part in a few digs, Hans knew this project would take effort. He underestimated, however, how much help a small army of Apprentices with shovels really was, which the guild often recruited for such projects. He could probably figure out a way to disguise shoveling as some kind of practice drill to get the kids¡¯ class out here¡­

    And his mind meandered onward from thought to thought to pass the time, keeping his attention on his inner monologue instead of the burning in his muscles and the ache in his knees. He wrote much of his book on training adventurers like this, mentally drafting pages many times over before putting them to paper, taking advantage of long hikes or quiet hours on watch. Currently, he debated how much dungeon theory to incorporate into his manuscript as much of it wasn¡¯t supported by drills.

    Skills like fighting in tight spaces had a direct tie-in to combat skills, and as he found with the wooden corridor in his training yard, could be incorporated into lessons fairly easily. Searching for traps was another life-saving skill, but he didn¡¯t have a good way to train that beyond escorting adventurers through a dungeon while pointing out what to look for. That worked okay, but he disliked that the next step was those adventurers practicing those skills in a live dungeon. With so much of his philosophy on learning reliant on safely forcing mistakes, he felt there should be at least one middle step¨CA way to train trap awareness safely but under mostly realistic conditions.

    The best idea he had for that drill was to booby trap the neighborhood with safe-er traps for the kids to discover. If they missed one, they wouldn¡¯t die, and Hans would have a teachable moment. The adult townspeople were unlikely to share his enthusiasm for that style of teachable moment, especially when they were the ones faceplanting from a tripwire or rubbing their heads after stumbling under a ¡°safe¡± deadfall.

    New Quest: Design a system for training dungeon awareness.

    Excellent. Another quest I¡¯ll never complete.

    ***

    Hans awoke to the sound of scratching. Faint, distant, and soft like the rustling of paper. He lay still, listening. The sound was coming from the direction of the dig site, yet none of the alarm cans had made noise, which meant nothing had gone in or out of the Polza patch.

    That¡¯s an interpretation, not a fact, he reminded himself. Maybe it avoided the alarms somehow. Best not to assume without laying eyes on the source.

    He quietly grabbed his sword and crept from the cabin to the dig site, the scratching growing as he drew closer.

    Crouching behind a boulder, he tried to relax his eyes as he took in the darkness of the patch, letting his gaze linger so that he might discern the smallest shift of movement in the black. He could see the cans hanging still on their strings, but he couldn¡¯t see any creatures nearby. The longer he sat, the more certain he was that the noise was coming from inside of the Polza patch, though he couldn¡¯t see where.The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

    Sword drawn, he stepped over the alarm strings without disturbing them. Movement came from the pit he had dug, and the sound he followed was distinct and clear. Whatever was making those noises, was in the pit.

    Before he braved looking over the edge with a lit torch, he sat in the darkness for a moment longer, scanning his surroundings for threats. Gnolls usually wouldn¡¯t attack a human, but this was winter when food was harder to come by. As he saw with Gunther, gnolls were more willing to risk hunting people this time of year. He didn¡¯t want to get caught in an ambush.

    He saw no threats or heard any other noises beyond the scratching in the hole. His hole.

    Kneeling at the edge, still not poking his head over, he counted to three and cast Create Fire on his torch. At the same time, he looked over the side with his sword ready to strike. The flash of fire coming into existence startled the beast at the bottom of the pit, but all it could manage was a faint whine and the barest hints of panicked scurrying.

    It could hardly move at all, actually. This chimera had five legs, three sticking out its round back at odd angles as if they were meant to be arms or wings instead. Of the two legs that looked functional, only one moved. It pawed at the side of the pit over and over, not making any real progress toward escaping, its movements little more than muscle spasms.

    It didn¡¯t have a neck, and its head sat sunken between what should be its shoulders, its black eyes and mouth¨Cnarrower than the spout on a water jug¨Ctwitching slightly. If he looked closely enough, he could convince himself that some pieces were from gnoll anatomy and others from squonk, but more than anything it looked like a potato with misplaced legs.

    He needed to kill the chimera as soon as possible. Having no way of knowing what threat the creature posed, he wouldn¡¯t feel safe investigating the area otherwise. Hans was fairly certain that this wasn¡¯t a monster that relied on trickery, like a siren luring sailors to rocks with its song and its beauty, but better safe than dead.

    But it¡¯s down there¡­

    Climbing down into the pit with the monster was a bad idea. His sword was just out of reach, even if he lay on his stomach and tried stabbing at it that way. Maybe he could spear it with a shovel or use the pickaxe like a giant throwing axe.

    Oh gross. Then he¡¯d need to get the dead thing out of the pit. Lifting the monster over his head and tossing it up and out was out of the question. With a sigh, he admitted to himself he would need to tie a rope around it and get it out that way. He would have to kill it where it was. That was the only option.

    For now, it just needed to be dead.

    Settling on the shovel approach, since he had two, he approximated where the creature¡¯s neck or spine might be, and drove the shovel down into the pit with both hands. The tip of the tool pierced flesh and the creature went limp.

    Retrieving the body could wait until morning. He had more immediate questions to answer.

    Inspecting the area around the dig site under torchlight, the soft, loose dirt made tracks easy for Hans to spot. His own boot prints were all around, but other than what he thought might be opossum tracks, he didn¡¯t see any sign of the monster having moved around the pit or falling in. Checking two more times, he was certain. He could find no evidence of the creature traveling into or out of the Polza patch, or traveling anywhere but in the pit itself for that matter.

    Is the planar overlap underground somehow? I¡¯ve never heard of that. Did I start digging in the perfect spot to trap it when it came through, by pure dumb luck?

    The answer was definitely ¡°no¡± to dumb luck. Finding the chimera in his freshly dug hole meant something. It had to, yet he had no idea what that meaning might be. Any other time, he would be satisfied with simple coincidence as an explanation. A monster fell in a hole, big deal. But this¡­ This whole Polza investigation made his head hurt.

    After one more lap around the perimeter, making certain no potential threats lingered nearby, Hans went back to bed.

    ***

    The next morning, the chimera corpse was where he¡¯d left it. Poking it once more to be sure it was dead, he climbed into the hole and wrestled a rope around its body. Moving dead weight, especially 250 pounds of it or so, was awkward and tiring, but eventually he cinched a sturdy knot and got to work dragging it up and out of the hole.

    Longing for a pulley, Hans was grateful his dig had sloped walls, even if they were steep. That made hauling the corpse up one handful of rope at a time a little bit easier. Regardless, the Guild Master cursed repeatedly, collapsing on to his butt in a sweaty heap as soon as the chimera rested on the surface. If another strange monster decided to appear in his dig site, he was tempted to bury it and head back to Gomi instead of repeating this process over again.

    After a few more minutes of self-loathing, Hans dragged the chimera away from the Polza patch and far from his cabin, intending to bury it later that day. For now, he didn¡¯t want to attract scavengers or predators to his location. The more he thought about it, though, he really didn¡¯t want to add more digging to his task list. Perhaps he would burn the body instead.

    Back in the pit, Hans loosened hard, rocky soil with his pickaxe. Once he had dug through a layer of clay, every shovelful of dirt after that was a hard earned victory. As he neared a depth of ten feet, he began to debate where his cutoff point should be. The charm of chasing a mystery could only last so long, and he was far enough below the ground to make getting dirt out of the hole a whole new, tiring challenge.

    With his inner voice arguing against itself, exploring the pros and cons of swinging the pickaxe one more time, the tool pinged off of another rock, as it had done countless times that day. In this case, however, the rock he struck fell away, into the ground, leaving behind a small dark crack in the earth. More bits of dirt and gravel trickled away, expanding the gap.

    Recognizing he had made a potentially fatal error in judgment, Hans scrambled to get out of the pit, scolding himself for not accounting for cave-ins from below. Had he been standing in a slightly different place just then, he might have fallen into the crack, which could be three feet deep or thirty feet deep. Finding out on the way down was not his preferred method.

    After climbing out to collect his climbing gear, Hans roped himself off to a tree and returned to the pit.

    Stepping cautiously, he knelt down and brushed at the corner of the crack, which was now four feet long and six inches across. More dirt and stone fell away, and the pieces grew in size. Wiggling at a bit of rock at the lip of the expanding hole, he pulled away a rock far different from the others he had seen during his dig.

    The size of a loaf of bread, this rock had flat sides and the dark gray shade of cement mixed with cinders. As he turned it over in his hands and brushed it off, he began to doubt that this was a rock.

    It was a brick.

    On its own, finding a brick buried somewhere wasn¡¯t that remarkable. All sorts of beings were capable of fashioning materials like this, and those beings had walked the land for millenia. A cabin or a home could have existed in this area at one point, and the march of time slowly buried the object Hans now held.

    And then he pulled up another brick.

    His heart beginning to race, Hans double checked his tie-off and cast Create Fire near the crack. The flash of light reflected off of a smooth wall before going dark again. His excitement overriding his judgment, he worked furiously to expand the crack. A few pickaxe swings later, half of the pit floor collapsed. Hans pressed himself against the pit wall to keep from falling in.

    Now wide enough for him to fit through, Hans again tugged on his rope¨Ccouldn¡¯t be too sure¨Cand leaned close to the opening. Lighting a torch this time, he waved it around the immediate interior of the crack before dropping it. The flame fell several feet and hit a cavern floor. Though Hans had found clear signs of intentional construction in the bricks, at least part of the area below was a narrow, naturally occurring cave. And the floor of the cave was closer to him than he expected.

    Thankful that none of his students were around to accuse him of being reckless, he pulled out enough slack to lower himself down, releasing one handful of rope at a time.

    The descent lasting less than a minute, Hans crouched in a narrow passageway that was part cavern, part stone brick wall. The juxtaposition reminded him of the meddybemps howler lair Theneesa¡¯s party had found so long ago. In that job, an unfinished sewer wall blended with a creature-dug burrow.

    The passage dead-ended at the downhill end of the Polza patch, if his approximations of where he was relative to the surface were correct. In the other direction, it continued, but Hans wasn¡¯t sure how far. The walls were close enough that he couldn¡¯t fully extend his arms, and the ceiling low enough that he couldn¡¯t stand upright, making him feel like he was walking while trying to tie his shoe at the same time. With the tight space, even a subtle turn in the passage obscured most of what might lie deeper.

    The youthful excitement of discovering something new heightened his senses and sent his heart racing. For a moment, he felt like he was Iron again, about to head into a dungeon for his first crawl as an official adventurer.

    But you¡¯re not Iron. You¡¯re Gold and a Guild Master. You¡¯re no good to Gomi if you die alone in a cave.

    Quest Complete: Dig beneath the surface of the Polzas.

    New Quest: Plan an expedition into the Polza caves.

    ***

    Open Quests (Ordered from Old to New):

    Progress from Gold-ranked to Diamond-ranked.

    Mend the rift with Devon.

    Complete the manuscript for "The Next Generation: A Teaching Methodology for Training Adventurers."

    Identify the unknown purple flower from Olza.

    Protect your place in Gomi and maintain control of the Gomi chapter.

    Find a practical solution for a planar leak. Bonus Objective: Find a solution that uses only resources available in Gomi.

    Expand the Gomi training area to include ramps for footwork drills.

    Convince Olza to call the purple flowers ¡°Polzas.¡±

    Find ways to support new tusks in their transition to life in Gomi.

    Identify the source of the heat melting the Polza snow.

    Design a system for training dungeon awareness.

    Plan an expedition into the Polza caves.

 Chapter 32: Dungeon Fundamentals

    ¡°I don¡¯t like the idea of sending away our only two adventurers,¡± Charlie said.

    The Mayor, Becky, Galad, and Olza sat with Hans in the guild hall, having just heard his report on the Polza dig and his intention to explore the caves.

    ¡°That¡¯s why I think Becky should stay,¡± Hans clarified.

    Becky punched in the shoulder. ¡°You¡¯re the smartest dumbass I¡¯ve ever met,¡± the lady dwarf said to Hans. ¡°If this has anything to do with squonks, you need me. If that human brain turns to soup, you¡¯re no good to anyone.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m going too,¡± Olza interjected.

    Charlie and Hans dropped their respective heads in their hands simultaneously. Without sitting back up, Charlie raised a hand toward the Guild Master, indicating that he should go ahead and explain why he and Hans were upset.

    ¡°You¡¯re too important to the town,¡± Hans said. ¡°Risking you puts almost everyone in danger. If a disease hits, we need you here.¡±

    ¡°I love Gomi, but my business is my own. I¡¯ve been researching Polzas the longest, making me the best resource you have for research and fact finding.¡±

    Quest Complete: Convince Olza to call the purple flowers ¡°Polzas.¡±

    Olza looked at the St. Bernard smile that appeared on Hans¡¯ face at the mention of ¡°Polzas.¡± ¡°Shut up,¡± she said to the Guild Master.

    The door to the guild hall opened and closed. After some stomping to shake the snow from his boots, Roland joined the meeting. ¡°I heard you might have found something new about the squonks.¡±

    Charlie groaned audibly. ¡°Are you here to volunteer as well?¡± he asked Roland.

    The hunter said that he was.

    Galad patted the Mayor¡¯s back, saying, ¡°Hans is right that this needs doing. We¡¯re not going to find an option that is completely safe on all fronts.¡±

    The Mayor nodded. ¡°I know you¡¯re right. I just don¡¯t like that we have to put so many of our people at risk.¡±

    ¡°Hans and Becky know what they¡¯re doing.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re right. You¡¯re right.¡± The Mayor sat back, crossing his arms.

    With a little more debate, the group agreed that the party investigating the cave would consist of Becky, Hans, Roland, and Olza. Quentin¡¯s dad might not have been a ranked adventurer, but he had expert survival skills and was comfortable with a weapon. Olza¡¯s alchemy expertise could be critical, but lacking combat skills, she would be limited to support¨Csuch as first aid between battles¨Cif there were any battles.

    Charlie and Galad stayed to listen to the party¡¯s planning so someone in town was aware of the party¡¯s movements and intentions while they were away.

    Hans talked the group through preparation. Each member needed to carry two sets of supplies: The items they would need to hike out to the Polza cave and establish a basecamp, and the items they would need for the crawl itself. He talked about those as separate sets because of the compact nature of the passage he found. Most of what would be helpful to have at camp simply wouldn¡¯t fit through the tunnels.

    Therefore, the party needed to use smaller backpacks and be very selective about what to bring into the cave and what to leave at camp. At a minimum, they would need to carry rations, water, a bedroll, emergency potions, personal first aid supplies, and several torches. If they could manage it, Hans also wanted each member to have their own climbing equipment as it was not unusual for caves to have steep rock faces and deep descents. Unfortunately, climbing supplies could not be easily purchased in Gomi, so they may have to share some gear regardless.

    All of the equipment they carried beyond those essentials was up to the individual. For Hans, that meant a sword, a buckler, and a knife for protection, accounting for the narrow combat area. He would also pack chalk and a spool of twine, both for charting their trail to make sure they could find their way back. Normally the chalk was sufficient, but tight, twisty caverns had a way of disorienting even the most seasoned adventurers. If they weren¡¯t careful, they could walk in circles until they starved to death. It happened to adventurers before.

    Becky would have her axe, a small machete, and a few logs for firewood. Olza would have a long knife she borrowed from Galad and a select batch of testing supplies. Roland would have a shortsword as well as his bow and quiver. They may not ever have the space to use a bow, but if they did, they would be happy they brought it.

    Next, Hans would walk them through¨C

    ¡°Mazo wasn¡¯t kidding about the Hans prep meetings,¡± Olza joked, rubbing her temples. ¡°How long is the agenda?¡±

    Hans gaped at Olza for a moment. He coughed and answered, ¡°Just monsters and group tactics. May I?¡±

    Olza nodded sheepishly.

    For monsters, the biggest known threat was squonks because of their hopelessness aura. Gnolls weren¡¯t likely to be underground, but they could encounter them on the journey in and seemed to be connected with the Polzas in some way, so it was best to be prepared. The chimeras hadn¡¯t posed any real threat thus far, but each one they saw was different, so underestimating them was unwise.

    Then there were the usual cave and dungeon dangers: goblins, trolls, giant rats, earth elementals, and the occasional venomous snake. A sealed cavern was unlikely to have any humanoids, but then again, there could be another entrance they didn¡¯t know about.

    For as long as they needed to move-single file, Hans would be at the front to scout for traps and so he¡¯d be the most likely to deal with a threat first. Becky would follow behind, her main priority being protecting Olza. Then the alchemist followed the dwarf, and Roland brought up the rear. Making a small digression, Hans explained how excited he was to have a hunter in the back. Guarding the rear was an odd skill to develop and also one of the most common shortfalls in adventurers. Attacks from behind were rare in linear spaces, so about the time an adventurer got complacent was when they got jumped.

    Roland seemed mildly uncomfortable with the extra attention.

    ¡°At any rate, if we find a passage wide enough for us to have two in front, we¡¯ll go 2, 1, 1. Me and Becky upfront, Olza in the middle, and Roland, well, you know.¡±

    ¡°Any questions?¡±

    Three pairs of wide eyes stared back.

    ¡°Great. We¡¯ll leave at first-light tomorrow.¡±

    Quest Updated: Complete an expedition into the Polza caves.

    ***

    The hardest part about descending into the cavern was leaving Becki at the surface. The warthog whimpered as she watched Becky disappear into the pit. Though the parting was sad, especially for Becky, the party had a small bit of good fortune: the Polzas had blossomed again. No one was excited about walking over Disintegration flowers, but Hans went first and survived.If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.

    When they got to the edge of the pit, they saw that the roots of the flowers ran down the side of the hole and into the crack Hans opened. The roots were thin and stringy, but the direction of their growth was undeniable. By the time his feet touched the cave floor, Hans buzzed with anticipation. They had to be getting close to something.

    ¡°I feel like a piece of corn,¡± Becky said, looking down the tunnel. She was fine with the low ceiling, but the narrow passages weren¡¯t forgiving to dwarf proportions.

    ¡°Aren¡¯t dwarves at home underground?¡± Roland asked.

    She scoffed. ¡°Don¡¯t be stereotyping. You get it, right? You know the trees are better.¡±

    Roland admitted that he did. The cave walls felt like they were actively squeezing him.

    The party assumed their formation. Becky chalked as they traveled while Olza unspooled the twine.

    When Roland asked what the symbols she drew meant, Hans answered. Adventurers were taught to mark every turn as well as every 50 paces. Having a reference for distance helped prevent what was colloquially known as ¡°the circles,¡± a psychological phenomenon where long periods of working only by torchlight disoriented and confused a party. With just a little bit of doubt and confusion, they could lose all confidence in what they did or did not recognize, taking them round and round.

    As the first in the formation, Hans watched for traps and made a mental map of their journey, giving the party a backup guide if a clever monster scrubbed their chalk. Usually, the second in line did physical mapping with pencil and paper while the third did the chalking, freeing the adventurers in first and last to watch for threats. Becky and Hans were the only trained adventurers in this party, though, so they split duties.

    ¡°That was very thorough,¡± Roland said, dryly. ¡°Thank you.¡±

    The roots lined the cavern ceiling for 150 paces and then began to spiral, as if the roots were water circling a drain. Down the walls, across the floor, and up the other side, but always leading the party forward.

    When the party came to a junction, they unanimously agreed to follow the roots. The decision came so naturally that Hans stopped the group, checking to see if they were under some kind of psionic affect. After some discussion, they agreed they weren¡¯t, or if they were, it was so good they couldn¡¯t tell.

    I hate psionics. So much.

    ¡°Temps gone up two degrees,¡± Becky mused.

    ¡°What?¡± Olza asked.

    ¡°Temperature. It¡¯s two degrees warmer.¡±

    That¡¯s a good sign we¡¯re on the right trail.

    But that trail was long.

    After a while, Hans asked, ¡°How many paces, Becky?¡±

    ¡°1207¡­ 1208¡­ 1209¡­¡±

    ¡°Okay. I get it.¡±

    Hans stopped walking.

    ¡°Are those dwarf paces or human paces?¡±

    Becky shoved him back forward. ¡°You think you¡¯re so funny, Guild Master.¡±

    The party passed through three more cave junctions, allowing the roots to decide their direction.

    ¡°Hold,¡± Hans said, lifting his hand. ¡°This seems significant.¡±

    The party squished together to look over Hans as he knelt to study the floor. With a line as stark as the snowline around the Polza patch, the cave became a hallway. The floor, ceiling, and walls were made from the same blackish gray stone that Hans found in the pit. These were mortared together, solid and strong. He had no way of guessing how old the structure might be, but it was certainly in good condition.

    This part at least.

    Scouting the immediate hallway, which ended with a T split, Hans inspected for traps. He looked left and right at the ways they might go and came back to the party. He suggested they rest to fill their bellies and clear their minds. Feeling warm enough, they forewent the fire and shared rations, each sitting on the ground against the hallway walls.

    Chewing on some bread he conjured, Hans opened his journal and started sketching with a pencil.

    ¡°What are you working on there?¡± Roland asked, whispering. Lowering their voices decreased the chances of something down the hall hearing them.

    Hans spun the journal around, revealing a partial sketch of the path they took through the caves. ¡°I like to put as much down as I can while it¡¯s fresh. Someone typically does the drawing as we go, so usually these notes are for things like observations or reminders or anything that seemed interesting enough to write down.¡±

    ¡°Theories about¡­ this?¡± the hunter asked, gesturing to their surroundings.

    ¡°Still too early to say,¡± he replied. ¡°From what I read about the Dead End Mountains, there isn¡¯t supposed to be anything like this here, and it was buried, so we know it¡¯s at least a little older than recorded history, but that¡¯s not as impressive as it sounds.¡±

    ¡°What do you mean?¡±

    ¡°There was a lot of history before we started tracking ours. Apparently, quite a lot. It¡¯s kind of intimidating.¡±

    Becky leaned over to join the conversation. ¡°My pap would say some things are meant to be forgotten, and he¡¯d say it all spooky like that too.¡±

    ¡°Any of the local stories mention anything like this?¡± Hans asked, looking between Becky, Roland, and Olza.

    Roland and Olza shook their heads. Becky scratched her beard.

    ¡°No underground castles come to mind,¡± Becky said. ¡°Plenty of weird stories, though.¡±

    ¡°Like what?¡± Olza asked, unable to hide her curious smile.

    ¡°My pap used to say that the snow at the top of the Dead End Mountains has only ever melted once in the whole of Gomi¡¯s history, and his papi was there to see it,¡± Becky said. ¡°A summer day arrived in the middle of winter. The sun was so bright and hot that the entire forest steamed, but that¡¯s not the freaky part. The snow caps melted.¡±

    She paused for dramatic effect.

    ¡°Underneath that snow we see every day is the skull of a titan with one giant eye. The Dead End Mountains are his bones and the bones of his enemies.¡±

    ¡°Gods, Becky,¡± Hans sighed. ¡°I thought you had a real story.¡±

    ¡°It is real. My pap wouldn¡¯t lie.¡±

    ¡°You know, you¡¯re right. It¡¯s not my place to question our elders.¡±

    Becky huffed slightly but seemed satisfied. Meanwhile, Hans had an idea.

    New Quest: Research the history and legends of the Dead End Mountains.

    Twenty minutes or so later, Hans motioned it was time to move. As Hans stood, Roland put a hand on his wrist.

    ¡°Do you think squonks are ahead?¡±

    Hans shrugged, sadly. ¡°I don¡¯t have any idea, to be honest.¡±

    ¡°I see.¡±

    ¡°If this gets to be too much for you, we can go back. There¡¯s no shame in that.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m just hoping¡­ I¡¯m just hoping we find the rest of me.¡±

    Setting a hand on each of Roland¡¯s shoulders to force eye contact, Hans said, ¡°The only part of you that isn¡¯t here right now is back at home worrying about you.¡±

    Roland nodded, embarrassed.

    ¡°An old adventurer I used to know told me once that every monster we kill has to be killed twice, once with our swords and once with our minds. And he¡¯d say, ¡®I always wished my mind was as strong as my sword. Too many of my kills escaped their second deaths.¡¯ Even when he was retired, hardly able to walk, he¡¯d always be at the guild hall after a bad job, the kind of job that makes you sit quiet and still for hours after. He¡¯d always come and offer that same advice.¡±

    ¡°Did it help?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know. I guess it¡¯s made me pay more attention. The monster you don¡¯t see is the one that gets you, as they say, so at least I see them now.¡±

    Hans gave Roland a moment and then patted his shoulders.

    Now that they were in constructed corridors, they had the space to adopt a 2-1-1 formation, though Becky lagged a step behind Hans, an adventuring technique for keeping two party members from tripping the same trap. That extra step gave the spotter a crucial additional second to stop their allies from moving forward.

    The roots bent to the right, so the party went to the right, Hans casting a curious glance down the unexplored hall, seeing only shadows. The corridor continued forward, the roots spiraling from floor to wall to ceiling as they had in the caves, but otherwise, the hall was featureless. They saw no doors or adjoining hallways. They moved in their pocket of torchlight down, feeling as if they were simply standing in place as the world around them never changed.

    Then Olza sniffled.

    ¡°Olza,¡± Roland asked, ¡°are you crying?¡±

    ***

    Open Quests (Ordered from Old to New):

    Progress from Gold-ranked to Diamond-ranked.

    Mend the rift with Devon.

    Complete the manuscript for "The Next Generation: A Teaching Methodology for Training Adventurers."

    Identify the unknown purple flower from Olza.

    Protect your place in Gomi and maintain control of the Gomi chapter.

    Find a practical solution for a planar leak. Bonus Objective: Find a solution that uses only resources available in Gomi.

    Expand the Gomi training area to include ramps for footwork drills.

    Find ways to support new tusks in their transition to life in Gomi.

    Identify the source of the heat melting the Polza snow.

    Design a system for training dungeon awareness.

    Complete an expedition into the Polza caves.

    Research the history and legends of the Dead End Mountains.

 Chapter 33: Saving Throws

    Hans remembered it so clearly.

    He sat in his small, windowless office off the main hallway of the Hoseki training facility. It smelled like old gym mats and still had racks mounted to the wall to hold mops and brooms from when it was a closet.

    Devontes sat across from him. Twenty one years old and a Gold-ranked adventurer, the boy had already become a part of Adventurers¡¯ Guild history, reaching Gold in record time and at the youngest age ever. In battle, he had taken to wearing silver plate mail with inlaid gold filigree, a gift from the royals to celebrate his remarkable achievements. Today, he was in a fine yellow silk shirt with fashionable black pants and polished boots. Were it not for his stature and presence, he could have passed for nobility.

    ¡°I thought you¡¯d be happy for me,¡± Devon said to Hans. ¡°I¡¯d be the first Paladin in what, six hundred years? This is everything we¡¯ve worked for.¡±

    ¡°No, we worked to make you a skilled adventurer. Paladin was never in the plan.¡±

    ¡°Because the opportunity is that good! We couldn¡¯t even imagine it!¡±

    Hans shook his head, leaning forward on his creaky desk. ¡°You need to think very hard about this choice. A Paladin¡¯s oath is a serious thing. There¡¯s no changing your mind or having a bad day. You have to follow the oath, always, or you suffer.¡±

    ¡°You know I know that.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s part of what worries me. You¡¯re not acting like it.¡±

    ¡°You always talk about adventurers doing good. What could do more good than a Paladin? With those kinds of gifts, I¡¯d be able to do so much more.¡±

    Hitting his desk with a closed fist, Hans cursed. ¡°Wake up! Devon, you¡¯re an incredible talent, a once in a generation kind of talent. That means people want to use you. They can¡¯t do what you can, so they will find ways to get you to do it for them. Gods included.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t believe this,¡± Devon spit, his chair bouncing off of Hans¡¯ office door when he stood. ¡°I already talked to the Guild Master and a few of the Platinums. They think it¡¯s a divine blessing for our kingdom. But you know what? They said you wouldn¡¯t support it. You just don¡¯t want me to pass you.¡±

    ¡°You passed me a year ago!¡± Hans said. ¡°I¡¯m trying to look out for you.¡±

    A voice from outside the office, muffled by the closed door, said, ¡°Olza, are you crying?¡±

    Devon pointed a finger down at Hans. ¡°Stay away from me. If you bother me again¨C¡±

    A stinging pain arced across Hans¡¯ cheek. He blinked, trying to recover, but the office flickered, its walls blinking between his bare office in Hoseki to a dark corridor lit only by a torchlight, with a lady dwarf winding up to slap him again.

    ¡°Hans!¡± Becky yelled. ¡°You old piece of shit! Get it together!¡± She slapped him again.

    ¡°I¡­ Wha¡­ My head.¡± Hans rubbed his eyes, finding his cheeks soaked with tears.

    Becky unfolded a piece of paper and held it in front of his eyes. ¡°Read it!¡± she commanded.

    You¡¯re under psionics. It isn¡¯t real. Get it together. -Hans

    That was his handwriting¡­

    ¡°Olza¡¯s gone too!¡± Roland yelled to Becky as the alchemist sank to the stone floor, weeping softly.

    Digging into her bag, Becky pulled out a few cans she had liberated from Hans¡¯ alarm wire. ¡°Help me with this,¡± she said to the hunter.

    Roland took one end of the rope and helped Becky wrap it around Hans¡¯ waist, tying it, and then doing the same to Olza, tethering the two together.

    ¡°Are you doing alright?¡± Becky asked Roland.

    ¡°I don¡¯t feel it. Anything.¡±

    ¡°Me neither.¡±

    Finally, they tied the rope around Roland¡¯s waist as well. Roland insisted they do it just to be safe. With a hurried pace, Becky dragged her other three party members behind her, retreating back the direction they had come. Roland tried to steady Hans and Olza as best he could.

    After a few minutes, Hans and Olza began to rally. They were far enough from the aura now.

    ¡°That was¡­ That was¡­¡± Olza struggled. ¡°I never want to feel that again.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re okay now. It was just in your mind,¡± Roland said, sitting beside her. ¡°You¡¯re safe. You¡¯re with friends.¡±

    Turning to him, fresh tears filled Olza¡¯s eyes. ¡°You were in that for¡­ days? Oh, Roland. I¡¯m so sorry.¡± She threw her arms around him, squeezing him tight. ¡°I¡¯m so sorry you went through that.¡±

    Several minutes later, Hans looked around at his party members and asked, ¡°Are we ready to talk? If anyone needs more time, none of us mind. Take as much as you need.¡±

    Everyone said that they were ready.

    ¡°The squonks we found had a range of twenty to thirty feet, give or take,¡± Hans explained. ¡°Even if these ones are stronger somehow, it¡¯s close, or they are close, depending. We need to deal with them as quickly as we can.¡±

    Becky tightened the grip on her axe.

    ¡°Becky is in the lead. Roland, you¡¯ll back her up. Olza and I will follow for as long as we can. If we know it¡¯s happening, we might be able to resist it.¡±

    ¡°What do we do if you can¡¯t?¡±

    ¡°That will be your call,¡± Hans said, nodding his head toward the dwarf. ¡°If your gut says run, do it. If your gut says keep hunting, do it. If you end up hunting while we¡¯re out, don¡¯t wait for us. Go chop the thing and then come back for us.¡±

    The dwarf glanced at the floor, seemingly replaying the plan in her mind, her head bobbing along.

    ¡°Give me one extra minute, though. I have an idea.¡±

    ***

    With Becky and Roland in the lead, Hans and Olza did their best to keep up. The Guild Master had a waterskin stuffed in his pants for emergencies. Or so he said.

    When the party entered the hopelessness aura, Hans felt it press down on him. Fighting it was like trying to keep his eyes open on a long wagon ride. Like the weight of sleep, he could shrug off the hopelessness for an instant but then it pressed right back. He tried to count his steps, but he quickly realized the only thing he could think about was holding back that weight.

    He felt tears beginning to pool in his eyes, and he wasn¡¯t sure if he could resist much longer.

    Hans squeezed the waterskin, shooting cold water down the front of his pants.

    Reality rushed back, like curtains ripped open. He risked a look back at Olza, though she couldn¡¯t go far tied-off to Hans. She was deep in concentration, her eyes closed completely as she repeated a soft mantra. He couldn¡¯t make out the words. Looking ahead, he saw Becky and Roland cut a sharp left, disappearing into a shadow on the wall.Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

    But they were so small, so far away.

    How far have we gone?

    After his second blast of the waterskin and closing in on his third, the weight vanished. Down the hall, Hans heard the familiar sound of a blade cleaving into flesh, followed by the raspy hiss of a frightened squonk. Hurrying Olza as much as she could manage, he rushed down the hall to catch up with Becky and Roland.

    He found the left they had taken, which was actually a crossroads of sorts. It had been difficult to see from a distance in the dark. Hans noticed the roots turned to the right. Going left and toward Becky instead, the hallway ended abruptly with a small chamber with a doorway but no door.

    Two squonks were dead in the chamber, but the Druid and the hunter seemed more interested in the room around them. Fearing this was another psionic effect, Hans yelled and ran to retrieve them. When he entered the chamber, he saw what had held their attention. The entire room was wrapped in the thin roots of the Polzas, the stone masonry barely visible beneath.

    ¡°Boss, look at this,¡± Becky said after a moment. ¡°Roland spotted it.¡± The dwarf knelt and pointed to the back leg of one of the squonks. One of the Polza roots had grown into¨Cor out of, perhaps¨Cthe monster¡¯s leg.

    When Hans touched where they connected, he couldn¡¯t feel a division between beast and root. He had seen vines and arrows pierce flesh before, where the object ended and the flesh began was easy to discern, but here, it was like the skin of the squonk gradually faded to a woody root.

    ¡°Were these squonks grown?¡± Hans asked to the room, but mostly he was thinking out loud to himself.

    Roland involuntarily shivered at the thought.

    Becky looked back down the hallway, in the direction the roots ran. ¡°Might be a good idea to keep moving. I don¡¯t think we should camp in here.¡±

    The party agreed.

    The dwarf saw the waterskin in the front of Hans¡¯ pants, as well as the water that had soaked into the crotch of pants. ¡°Should probably do those kinds of things in private,¡± Becky said.

    ***

    The spiral growth pattern of the roots continued down the hall as they had been for much of the dungeon, but the spiral expanded. Instead of a trail of roots circling and circling the corridor, the trail widened over time. Eventually, the entire hallway was coated from floor to ceiling in roots, their continuing swirl becoming both mesmerizing and disorienting.

    Chalking the walls was impossible here, on account of the roots, and Olza dropped the twine sometime during the battle with the squonks. Luckily, their path had been relatively linear, so finding their way back to the twine by memory alone shouldn¡¯t be all that difficult. Though navigation was important, the party¡¯s minds thought more about the noticeably rising temperature.

    On one of his early expeditions, Hans¡¯ party had come across a magma chamber deep underground. They never saw the molten rock, but they felt its impossible heat and could hear it churning on the other side of the cave wall. The deep underground could be unstable in places, and intelligent hell spawn were happy to use magma to attack unsuspecting adventurers.

    The hallway with the roots wasn¡¯t warming the way the magma had, which he found comforting. Hans¡¯ best guess was that their depth in the mountains was responsible for the heat, but that wouldn¡¯t explain the temperature all the way back in the Polza patch, or why it would rise so starkly in a brief distance, forcing the party to pull at their cloaks and collars for relief.

    As they neared the end of the root-covered corridor, they saw a faint purple light leaking through a vertical fissure. No door, no chambers, no other hallways, just a glowing crack. Every root in the hallway funneled through the hole, giving the crack¡¯s edges a blurry quality in the darkness. Moving closer, the gap was larger than Hans expected. At its widest points, the fissure was roughly as large as a doorway. Getting through should not be challenging, Hans thought.

    Before Becky could insist on going first, Hans drew his sword and climbed up the lip of the gap, crouching to creep through.

    The purple light was stronger on the other side, but barely. It was still dim, like a fire burned down to coals, giving just enough light to make out the shapes in the room.

    The fissure opened into an octagonal room comparable to the size of the Tribe barns. The crack was six feet above the floor of the room, a more intricate version of the same masonry the party had walked over and by for the last several hours. Here, the room had an arch for every vertex of the octagon, and obsidian black stripes on the floor radiated out from the middle like sun rays. Thick bundles of roots accentuated those stripes, meeting in the middle at a fractured black cube. The roots plunged into the sides of the cube in dense clusters, two clusters a side.

    The cube was about the size of a blacksmith¡¯s forge, but its top half was missing, as though it were broken off. Looking around the room, though, Hans saw no debris and certainly not the ton or so of obsidian that would make up the rest of a cube that size.

    The purple hue came from the center of the cube, a small circular light.

    When Becky came behind him to enter the room, Hans held out his arm to stop her. Before they dropped down, they anchored a rope to a piton pounded into the hallway. The rope would make descending to the floor easier for the party, but more importantly, it would give them a better chance of escaping. Should they need to.

    Hans went first, opting to jump down so he wouldn¡¯t need to turn his back to the room. The impact didn¡¯t feel great on his joints, but it was the smarter play.

    Approaching the cube, Hans saw that the circle of light was actually a sphere, or used to be. Like the black cube, the sphere was broken, though the angle of its destruction seemed different from the cube¡¯s. It was like the cube had been struck twice, once to break the black rock, and once to break the sphere within.

    The sphere had a fragment of its smooth, perfectly round surface, but it was like one shard from a broken clay pot. Most of the sphere was gone.

    ¡°What is it?¡± Roland asked, staying several feet behind Hans.

    The Guild Master didn¡¯t answer, too enraptured by the riddle before him. He walked around the cube, careful not to step on the bundles of roots. Of the eight bundles connected to the cube¨Cone for each side of the octagonal room¨CHans found that the cluster they followed was unique from the rest. Where their roots had the deep browns of a healthy plant, the other seven were dead, dried to a sickly gray and coated in dust.

    When his eye followed the gray roots to their respective walls, they ended partway across the floor. There were no other fissures or cracks for the roots to escape through.

    ¡°Why isn¡¯t there a door?¡± Olza asked, looking around the room.

    She was right. Other than the hole they climbed through, the room had no other visible entrance or exit. No door. No stairs. No ladders.

    Without touching anything, Hans reached a palm toward the partial sphere.

    Quest Complete: Identify the source of the heat melting the Polza snow.

    ¡°The heat is coming from here,¡± Hans announced to the party. ¡°The roots must carry it somehow.¡±

    Hans looked around to see if any member of the party had something to add. In a moment of brief panic, he didn¡¯t see Becky, but he found her soon enough. She stood where they had come in, not climbing down to join the rest of the party.

    ¡°You okay, Becky?¡± Hans asked.

    ¡°Just watching our rear,¡± she replied.

    Even if fear kept her from entering the room¨Cwhich is what Hans suspected¨Cthere was no sense pointing it out. Having her at the entrance was a good failsafe, and she was right to be hesitant. They didn¡¯t know where they were or what they were looking at. This entire chamber could be an elaborate mimic.

    Probably not. Hans didn¡¯t know if mimics could get that big, but his point stood. Becky¡¯s reaction was reasonable, and it worked out to the party¡¯s benefit anyway.

    Olza came up beside Hans. The Guild Master had sheathed his sword and stood resting his chin in his hand. He stared at the purple orb, watching the light pulse faintly like a weak heartbeat. He hadn¡¯t noticed the light changing until he came close, soft as the flickers were.

    Hans cycled through his other senses, trying to learn about where he was, hoping to find more clues.

    The room didn¡¯t smell, which was peculiar. The halls they walked to reach this chamber held the distinct mustiness that came with being far underground where stale water seeped and fresh air couldn¡¯t reach. For this chamber, and this chamber only, not to smell was interesting, but he couldn¡¯t think of what that might point to for an explanation.

    The chamber was quiet and still. Save for the sounds of fabric and leather moving as Roland looked around, the only other things he could hear were his heartbeats and Olza¡¯s breaths, which were deliberately slow and forceful to calm her nerves.

    If he closed his eyes, he could feel a slight vibration, the kind one felt when near a powerful source of magic. The sensation was so slight, however, that he questioned if he was simply imagining it. Stress and exhaustion could be tainting his perception. Was the room shaking or was he?

    ¡°Do you know what that¡­¡± Olza began, whispering before pausing again to look around. ¡°...what this place is?¡±

    Hans thought about Galinda¡¯s story and what they had been through when the Lemura¡¯s Labyrinth was discovered. He thought about how much suffering the dungeon brought to Galad and Galinda and every other tusk who tried to make Kirai their home.

    ¡°This place is a problem for Gomi. A very big problem.¡±

    ***

    Open Quests (Ordered from Old to New):

    Progress from Gold-ranked to Diamond-ranked.

    Mend the rift with Devon.

    Complete the manuscript for "The Next Generation: A Teaching Methodology for Training Adventurers."

    Identify the unknown purple flower from Olza.

    Protect your place in Gomi and maintain control of the Gomi chapter.

    Find a practical solution for a planar leak. Bonus Objective: Find a solution that uses only resources available in Gomi.

    Expand the Gomi training area to include ramps for footwork drills.

    Find ways to support new tusks in their transition to life in Gomi.

    Design a system for training dungeon awareness.

    Complete an expedition into the Polza caves.

    Research the history and legends of the Dead End Mountains.

 Chapter 34: A New Chapter

    Quest Abandoned: Find a practical solution for a planar leak. Bonus Objective: Find a solution that uses only resources available in Gomi.

    The planar leak theory was a bust, that much was obvious. His new theory was more outlandish, but it accounted for all of the evidence they had gathered so far.

    ¡°What do you see?¡± he asked Olza, instead of answering her question.

    She sighed. When Hans didn¡¯t break his stare, his gaze never leaving the cube and the purple light, she answered. ¡°We followed the roots from the surface. There¡¯s no disputing they originate here. The Polzas¨CI mean the purple flowers¨Cgrow from here.¡±

    He smirked again at her calling the flowers Polzas but didn¡¯t gloat. ¡°And the heat comes from here also. Do you know of any plants that move heat?¡±

    Olza shook her head. ¡°Several varieties of plants produce heat. It¡¯s a side effect of them absorbing mana as well as water, sunlight, and nutrients in the soil. They don¡¯t move heat, though.¡±

    Hans nodded. ¡°I know how this sounds,¡± he began, ¡°but I think this a dungeon core.¡±

    Quest Complete: Identify the unknown purple flower from Olza.

    ¡°Stop fooling with us,¡± Becky called from her lookout point in the fissure. Druid hearing was impressive. ¡°What is it really?¡±

    ¡°No jokes. I¡¯m serious.¡±

    ¡°What are we waiting for? We gotta kill it.¡±

    Spinning around with a hand out, Hans yelled, ¡°No! Wait! You remember Mazo¡¯s story about Reavers¡¯ Rest. The entire island went up with the core.¡±

    Becky growled, her eyes on the roots at her feet, but she stayed her axe. ¡°Well, what do we do, boss?¡±

    Aside from not touching or destroying anything, Hans suggested they make their way back to the surface. Given the potential consequences of handling the core incorrectly, he suggested they put far more thought into any experiments or decisions that could disturb it. A rash choice could blow a hole in the Dead End Mountains, and aside from the danger that event would pose to Gomi, it would not go unnoticed. People would flock to the site from every corner of the kingdom to study and investigate.

    On their return journey to the surface, Becky improvised as many traps as she could with their limited supplies. She would make more when they reached basecamp. Anything they could do to keep squonks and chimeras from leaving the dungeon was worth the attempt.

    Quest Complete: Complete an expedition into the Polza caves.

    They didn¡¯t encounter creatures of any kind on the walk back. The core produced monsters very slowly, it seemed, which was a small blessing accompanying their colossal problem. The other cores Hans had read about were far more efficient, producing monsters at a pace that could overrun civilization if adventurers didn¡¯t cull the population regularly.

    Based on the appearances they knew about, the core was producing one to two monsters a month, but Hans knew that was mostly guesswork. The Polza patch had only been observed for a brief time. With the size of the Gomi forest, dozens could have escaped notice and they¡¯d have no idea.

    At the surface, the party spoke very little. They emerged in the late morning, having spent a full day and night underground without realizing. Roland disappeared into the forest and returned with three rabbits. In minutes, they were processed and roasting on a spit with wild herbs wrapped around them to add flavor.

    ¡°I¡¯m staying here,¡± Becky announced with a mouthful of rabbit. ¡°I owe it to the forest to keep anything from getting loose.¡±

    Leaving anyone alone didn¡¯t sit well with Hans, but when a Druid mentioned a debt or a duty to nature, he knew there was no changing their mind. Having an eye on the Polza patch wouldn¡¯t be the worst thing either.

    The rest of the group departed in the morning with Roland in the lead. They knew they should hurry, but their footsteps were heavy, like condemned prisoners approaching the gallows.

    ¡°Where do we go?¡± Roland asked, not looking back at Hans or Olza.

    ¡°What do you mean?¡± Hans replied.

    ¡°Quentin and me. We don¡¯t know anything but Gomi.¡±

    Olza posed a question of her own to Roland. ¡°You¡¯re that certain of the future?¡±

    ¡°Shouldn¡¯t I be? This place will be crawling with adventurers and soldiers as soon as word gets out. It¡¯s inevitable.¡±

    Hans urged everyone to resist assuming the worst, but that suggestion felt hollow, even to him. Roland was right. They all knew it. For Hans, the biggest discovery of his career would hurt people he cared about and potentially destroy their way of life.

    ***

    Galad, Galinda, and Charlie didn¡¯t speak when Hans finished his recounting of their exploration. They sat quietly, their eyes wide but vacant. He had seen this reaction over and over in his time as an adventurer. Parents made the same face when they learned they¡¯d never see their son or daughter again, that incomprehensible truth shattering what they knew of their lives. Shock. Horror. Grief.

    ¡°How is this happening again?¡± Galinda muttered, her voice the softest Hans had ever heard it. Charlie put a hand on her knee while Galad wrapped an arm around her, squeezing her close.

    ¡°I¡¯ve been giving this a lot of thought,¡± Galad began. ¡°Not the dungeon, but what we would do if the Tribe was in danger. A certain Guild Master pointed out that we didn¡¯t have a real plan if that happened. When that happened.¡±

    ¡°What do you propose?¡± Charlie asked.

    ¡°We fight. The adventurers can have the dungeon and the whole forest, but they don¡¯t get to take the Tribe. It¡¯s ours. We built it. We grew it.¡± He turned his head to address his sister directly, his arm still around her shoulders. ¡°When mom and dad ran, they didn¡¯t have a choice. The battle was lost before they knew it was happening. It¡¯s different here. We can prepare. I think they¡¯d want that.¡±

    Galinda nodded, sniffling softly. ¡°You¡¯re right. We should crush. That¡¯s best.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry about the position this puts you in,¡± Charlie said to Hans, sincerely. ¡°I know you¡¯re honor-bound to alert the guild. It would mean a lot to all of us if you could put that off as long as possible.¡±If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

    Mayor Charlie was right. His duty to the Adventurers¡¯ Guild compelled him to report the discovery. That had been his oath for over twenty years, and he had heard himself repeating it over and over on his way back to Gomi with Roland and Olza. He heard it in his younger voice, when his throat was softer and less worn. Taking that oath had defined the entirety of his adult life.

    ¡°He¡¯s correct,¡± Hans said after a minute. ¡°As Guild Master, I¡¯m obligated to tell the guild.¡±

    The rest of the room nodded, solemnly.

    ¡°I resign.¡±

    Quest Abandoned: Protect your place in Gomi and maintain control of the Gomi chapter.

    New Quest: Protect Gomi.

    ***

    Late that night, with a blizzard beginning to beat at his apartment window, Hans heard a knocking on the downstairs door. Putting down his book, he ran to the door, fearing a new crisis. He found Olza outside, hugging a book to her chest. She was little more than a foot from the doorway, but the flakes fell so thick that she was halfway invisible.

    ¡°Mind some company?¡±

    He said that he didn¡¯t and invited her in out of the cold. Aside from a few pleasantries, like offering her something to drink and asking if the fire was large enough, they sat and read quietly as they had done before. Olza was restless though, shifting her position and casting glances to Hans, sitting at his desk.

    ¡°Are you sure?¡± she asked, finally.

    ¡°Yes.¡± He knew she was asking about his resignation.

    ¡°We don¡¯t know each other very well, I get that, but being Guild Master¡­ It seemed very important to you.¡±

    ¡°It is.¡±

    She sat up, resting her elbows on the back of the couch to address Hans directly. ¡°You¡¯re throwing it away. Everyone in Gomi could be charged with treason. You know that right?¡±

    He closed his book, flexing his jaw as he thought. ¡°Gunther didn¡¯t hesitate. That kid ran into the dark with a wooden sword, and his face when I found him¡­ He was staring down five gnolls with a broken sword, not a lick of regret on his face. He was scared, but he was more determined than many adults I¡¯ve fought with.¡±

    Olza sat quietly, listening.

    ¡°Kane is more selfless than most Clerics and tougher than some Platinums. And Quentin, that boy is smart, really smart. He reminds me of Devon when he was that age. It¡¯s like finishing the first page of the book and knowing the rest of it is going to be one of the best things you¡¯ve ever read.

    ¡°I told someone once that unbreakable oaths were dangerous. I still believe that. Even if I was some legendary Platinum with all the friends in the world, I couldn¡¯t live with myself if I let those kids down. If I let Gomi down.¡±

    One of the logs on the fire burned through, cracking, the small shift kicking embers into the air.

    ¡°Resigning isn¡¯t a war-winning sacrifice,¡± Hans continued. ¡°It only buys us time.¡±

    ¡°Buys time for what?¡±

    Hans shrugged. ¡°If Galad will have me, I suppose I¡¯ll be training soldiers. I¡¯d much rather train adventurers, but it won¡¯t be all that different.¡±

    ¡°Thank you,¡± Olza said after a while. ¡°I¡¯m glad the guild sent you and not someone else.¡±

    ***

    Hours later, Hans walked Olza home, seeing the guild hall in a new light on his way back. A few months ago, he looked at this building as his fresh start, his gift from the gods. He might never run a chapter as large as Hoseki¡¯s, but he could still be a damned good Guild Master. As of today, he was officially squatting on guild property and had no rights to access or use anything inside. Though he didn¡¯t doubt his decision, he admitted to himself he was a failure and a traitor.

    He thought about the goals he had had.

    Active Quest: Progress from Gold-ranked to Diamond-ranked.

    Active Quest: Mend the rift with Devon.

    I¡¯m so weak, I can¡¯t cancel two imaginary quests.

    Holding a bottle up to the moonlight, he saw that he had a little less than half of his vodka left. That should be enough. He found a place on the couch, still warm from Olza lying on it, and leaned back. Tomorrow, he would begin designing drills for soldiers, but that quest could wait. For tonight, he would wallow. He would enjoy the snow while it lasted.

    ***

    I¡¯d rather train adventurers.

    Hans¡¯ eyes shot open. He leapt from his place on the couch, scrambling to find his boots and struggling to find the correct hole in his shirt. He failed several times and ultimately ended up wearing it backward. He didn¡¯t care, and he¡¯d rather not revisit that struggle right now. He pulled on his boots as he hopped to the front door of the guild, running out into the blizzard without a cloak or jacket, the snow stacked up to his chest.

    He didn¡¯t feel the cold night as he charged toward Olza¡¯s. He pounded on her door, bouncing with excitement to keep out the chill.

    ¡°Hans?¡± What are you-¡± Olza said through bleary eyes, her hair disheveled.

    ¡°Can I come in?¡±

    She blinked, looking at the odd man standing on her porch, covered in snow.

    ¡°Uhh yeah. Okay.¡± Once they were both inside, she asked if he felt okay.

    ¡°I need your advice.¡±

    ¡°Are you drunk?¡± She asked bluntly.

    ¡°Probably a little, but that¡¯s not important right now. Please.¡±

    She wrapped her robe more tightly and made an attempt to smooth her hair. Asking Hans if he was sober enough for Create Fire, he said he was, Olza pointed him at the pile of wood near the downstairs hearth. While he stacked the logs, she lit a Bunsen burner and set a small teapot over the flame. If she was going to listen to Hans rant and rave, she might as well be warm.

    ***

    ¡°Don¡¯t tell me you¡¯ve changed your mind,¡± Charlie said, delivering mugs of steaming coffee to the group crammed into his apartment.

    Galad, Galinda, Hans, and Olza accepted happily. Olza was especially grateful, having been kept awake all night by the ramblings of a Guild Master¨Cwell, a former Guild Master.

    ¡°No, nothing like that,¡± Hans said, fighting the urge to stand and pace. ¡°Bear with me. I have questions first. From what I know about all of you, I¡¯m betting you have answers already.¡±

    ¡°So, speak,¡± Galinda said.

    ¡°Galad, where would you train the Tribe?¡± Hans asked, turning his attention to the tusk.

    As he often did, Galad stared back, considering the man before him before opening his mouth. ¡°We have extra space in the second barn, places we didn¡¯t fill with tusks. We¡¯d make-do with that until spring. If we had enough materials, we¡¯d build a new barn then too. We need walls first, though.¡±

    Hans nodded, enthusiastically, eliciting curious looks from the unofficial Gomi council. Yesterday, the world as they knew it changed, and now he was giddy?

    ¡°And you? What were you planning?¡± he asked the Mayor.

    Skeptical but intrigued, the small man answered. ¡°I hoped I could convince you to delay formally resigning. That might keep the Adventurers¡¯ Guild from poking around. For however much time we could get. Meanwhile, we¡¯d stock up as much as we could, and I¡¯d reach out to a few old friends. Maybe one of them could help.¡±

    He asked Galinda the same question. As he expected, she only said, ¡°Crush.¡±

    Olza¡¯s answer was more open ended. ¡°I¡¯m staying,¡± she said resolutely. ¡°I¡¯ll help however I can.¡±

    Hans gave in. He began pacing, buzzing with energy despite the early hour. He tried to sip his coffee as he did, but when it splashed into his beard he decided it was best left on the table. ¡°Your plans all count on the dungeon core moving slowly, right?¡± Looking over the group, he realized not all of the plans fit that criteria. ¡°Aside from yours, Galinda.¡±

    The lady tusk smiled while the others nodded that Hans was right.

    ¡°So the longer the dungeon stays a secret, the better off Gomi will be. Yes?¡±

    They agreed with that as well.

    Hans couldn¡¯t help it. His face bore a gleaming, goofy grin. ¡°Don¡¯t you see? As long as the dungeon is a secret, Gomi¡¯s safe.¡±

    ¡°Yes¡­¡±

    ¡°Instead of training soldiers, we should train adventurers.¡±

    New Quest: Train Gomi adventurers to keep the dungeon at bay.

    ***

    Open Quests (Ordered from Old to New):

    Progress from Gold-ranked to Diamond-ranked.

    Mend the rift with Devon.

    Complete the manuscript for "The Next Generation: A Teaching Methodology for Training Adventurers."

    Expand the Gomi training area to include ramps for footwork drills.

    Design a system for training dungeon awareness.

    Research the history and legends of the Dead End Mountains.

    Protect Gomi.

    Train Gomi adventurers to keep the dungeon at bay.

 Part 2 -- Chapter 35: Previously On

    Discovering a dungeon core in the Dead End Mountains was a threat to Gomi on multiple fronts. While a dungeon endlessly spewing monsters into their backyard was not ideal, Gomi¡¯s fear was greater than monsters.

    People.

    Specifically, those prejudiced against tusks, which, unfortunately, represented a significant cross-section of the kingdom population. The dungeon core was likely to bring all manner of adventurers, speculators, and nobility to the region, all hoping to stake their claim before someone else. To them, the claim of the Tribe¨Cthe collective nickname of the tusk-touched commune built outside Gomi¨Cwas irrelevant.

    Worse yet, orcs invading from the frontier had reportedly inspired dozens of tusks to mutiny, to leave their lives in the kingdom to fight alongside full-blooded orcs. These orcs were not like the small groups of feral orcs the kingdom typically encountered. These orcs were organized, followed a chain of command, and deployed sophisticated battle tactics. That scared everyone, including the tusk-touched, and stoked old hatreds. Being a tusk grew more dangerous by the day.

    The Tribe opened its doors to tusks wanting to escape the violence, quietly shuttling tusk families of all ages and sizes to the Tribe farmlands. They would have shelter, food, and community and could stay as long they liked. Come spring, they would have homes of their own and land to work, if they wanted it. Most importantly, they didn¡¯t have to watch for the sideways glances of neighbors looking to run them out of town.

    Hans, who recently filled the open position at the local chapter of the Adventurers¡¯ Guild, had resigned just months later. And it was not because his star student lobbied for his removal¨Cbecause he had. He stayed behind as another citizen of Gomi, willing to do whatever he could to help protect the town. His Guild Master predecessors, on the other hand, saw no future for themselves in Gomi, and they couldn¡¯t leave town quickly enough.

    For Hans to do his part, he needed to complete a particular quest as soon as possible:

    Active Quest: Train Gomi adventurers to keep the dungeon at bay.

    Quests only existed in Hans¡¯ mind, of course, a way for him to organize and reach his goals. No one else could see them, and he didn¡¯t get any rewards or treasure for completing them beyond a hit of glorious dopamine. This quest, though, wasn¡¯t a run-of-the-mill guild job. The quest system was entirely imaginary, but the stakes were not.

    To protect Gomi, the town agreed on a plan: Control the dungeon in order to keep it secret, thrusting Hans back into the role of Guild Master to keep up appearances.

    Prior to the Gomi dungeon core, the most recent dungeon discovery was the Lemura¡¯s Labyrinth. 73 farmers perished in less than a day when the dungeon opened, spilling monsters onto the surface, but adventurers came by the wagonfull. Ostensibly, they were there to help, but really, most of them came for riches. The damage they wrought on the tusks was worse than the monsters.

    Right now, the beasts coming out of the Gomi dungeon were few. The squonks posed a unique challenge because of their hopelessness auras, but the dungeon core seemed to produce only one or two monsters a month. Some of those monsters were twisted chimeras who could hardly function, often dying just hours after their birth.

    If that spawn rate held, Hans would have plenty of time to train a crew of Gomi adventurers to monitor and cull the dungeon. He worried, however, that wishful thinking was clouding his judgment. With so little known about dungeon cores, he had no way of knowing how much time they truly had. Hopefully a lot but best to assume the opposite.

    Leafing through his partially complete manuscript, titled The Next Generation: A Teaching Methodology for Training Adventurers, Hans sought opportunities to condense and streamline a new curriculum, a new lesson structure with the express purpose of training effective adventurers as swiftly as possible. Gomi needed real adventurers, and Hans wouldn¡¯t accept putting people in the field who weren¡¯t prepared. Everything he cut now he once deemed essential when he previously streamlined his curriculum. Making cuts to an already lean, concise lesson plan felt dangerous.

    He was responsible for preparing and protecting this new wave of Gomi adventurers. If anyone died culling the dungeon, it would be his fault for not doing his part as their instructor.

    Adventurer education was traditionally quite broad. The world was big, and monsters were plentiful. To survive, adventurers needed to be adaptable to a variety of environments and challenges. One job might have them spelunking for rare mushrooms while the next job could be investigating a werewolf sighting in the countryside. But surprise, it¡¯s not a werewolf, it¡¯s a polymorphing cultist who worships dire wolves, and he¡¯s coming right at you. This exact moment.

    So figure it out.

    Initially, Hans could cut anything not immediately relevant to Gomi. If a reagent or a creature was not native to the area, it went into the ¡°later¡± pile. Desert survival? Jungle survival? No point. Gomi didn¡¯t have those. An encyclopedic knowledge of known monster species and variants? Probably the coolest part of his job but largely irrelevant right now.

    Gnolls were the most common monster threat in the Gomi forest. Orcs, goblins, and trolls were always good to study as those species often roamed far from their original homes. Wolves and dire wolves would be similar to fighting gnolls, and they were the most likely wild animals to pose a threat to locals.

    And finally, Gomi had squonks. He saved that one for last because he had no idea what to teach for a squonk lesson. His best strategy for resisting the hopelessness aura was pouring water down the front of his pants, and that hadn¡¯t worked all that well. Were it not for Becky and Roland, he would still be wandering the dungeon, out of his mind with sadness. He hoped he¡¯d come up with something by the time the first class of Apprentices was in the rotation. If they didn¡¯t have a plan for squonks, culling the dungeon would be much more dangerous, if not impossible.

    New Quest: Design the ultimate strategy for hunting squonks.

    Gods, this is going to be hard.

    The more Hans worked on a plan for how to keep the Gomi dungeon a secret, the more impossible it seemed. The scope of the challenge was so much bigger than training adventurers, and the scope seemed to grow the more deeply he thought about the problem and uncovered wrinkles and rough edges.

    If the Gomi dungeon core was like the others, the deeper levels could produce treasure. If that was the case for Gomi, the town would have another secret to keep. Otherwise, a nowhere town suddenly selling rare items by the wheelbarrow would surely raise suspicions. The flipside of that problem was that without a source of loot, explaining why several adventurers lived in Gomi permanently would be equally difficult.

    Supposing all of those problems were solved¨Cwhich was quite the supposition, even for Hans¨Can entire town had to keep a singular secret. One disgruntled citizen running their mouths, or even a child gushing to a merchant as children are wont to do, and the entire operation would collapse. No amount of optimism could make that seem feasible. Bad actors were inevitable, and well-intentioned people made mistakes.

    In theory, the dungeon could be a secret kept from Gomi as well as the world. Every offshoot of that line of thinking bothered him, though, deeply.

    If he couldn¡¯t be honest with every citizen, his remaining options felt more like bad conspiracies. A shadowy web of deception that kept all but the select few in blissful ignorance, believing outlandish lies that conveniently explained the adventurers, the monsters, and the loot. Having to keep that facade going at all times sounded soul-suckingly exhausting.

    I couldn¡¯t live the rest of my life lying to everyone every day.

    But that was it. He couldn¡¯t think of any other solutions.

    New Quest: Solve the town secret problem without being a conspiracy weirdo.

    He had a little less than three months to develop the complete solution and to learn as much about the dungeon core as he could. When the pass opened again, the problems from the outside world would compound the ones Gomi already had. In his mind, compromising on training adventurers and understanding the dungeon core was out of the question, yet how could he train adventurers in Gomi while also exploring the dungeon?

    Why do they have to be separate?

    If his training methods were efficient enough, he could take groups to the dungeon and train them there. While the trainees rested between classes, he could research the dungeon and the dungeon core. Assuming they devised a way to safely fight the squonks, that is. That plan still put Apprentices at risk, however. He couldn¡¯t say for certain that they could handle a dungeon monster so early in their training, not when they knew so little about what the dungeon core could do.

    Flipping back through his notes, Hans frowned. His thoughts went circles, and he had come no closer to addressing the biggest problems. The more he spiraled, the more he seemed to move away instead of toward a solution.

    ¡°Are you okay, Mr. Hans?¡± Quentin asked, sitting at one of the tables in the guild hall.

    Hans leaned back, shutting his journal and rubbing his eyes. ¡°We have so much to get done,¡± he said, ¡°and too many questions left to answer.¡±

    They avoided addressing the topic directly, lest someone overhear before a plan was decided. Despite his young age, Quentin knew about the dungeon. His father, Roland the hunter, had been the first squonk victim and was one of the original party members who discovered the dungeon core. Quentin had lived through the worst of the ordeal already. He stayed at his father¡¯s side while he recovered from days in the hopelessness aura, so the seriousness of the monsters was not lost on him. The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

    Roland wouldn¡¯t allow his son to go about life in ignorance when he could face the same monster and suffer the same fate. Were Quentin any other kid, Hans might worry, but Quentin was more mature than most adults.

    Careful, Hans, doesn¡¯t mean he¡¯s not still a kid. Let him be a kid.

    ¡°Can I help?¡± Quentin asked.

    Hans tapped his chin. ¡°Yes, actually. If something in there reminds you of squonks, tell me.¡±

    Quentin stared back.

    ¡°This isn¡¯t me trying to fool you with busy work. You have fresh eyes. Maybe an entry or note will stick out to you that didn¡¯t for me.¡±

    The boy¡¯s face scrunched up in thought.

    ¡°I¡¯m serious,¡± Hans insisted, and he was. ¡°When you get stuck in your research, try a new perspective. If you can¡¯t do that on your own, borrow someone else¡¯s. I¡¯m borrowing yours.¡±

    Nodding, Quentin agreed to help.

    The Guild Master¨Cwell, kind of not really the Guild Master, but nevermind that right now¨Cneeded to return to the dungeon, and he was certain it was for pragmatic purposes and not his inner child feeling gleeful about an adventure. The entire plan hinged upon controlling the growth of monsters, making exploration a priority. The more they understood, the better they could prepare.

    Very reasonable.

    ***

    ¡°Olza? What brings you out here?¡± Hans was surprised to see the alchemist in the Tribe¡¯s brewing barn, talking to Galad. The trek through the snow hadn¡¯t been easy for the Guild Master. Snow clumped around the edges of his pant legs and shirtsleeves, which began to melt as soon as he stepped inside. The warmth he built up beneath his jacket on the way over felt oppressive now that he was indoors.

    Meanwhile, Olza looked as though she hadn¡¯t been outside at all. Her navy blue overcoat didn¡¯t have a spec of snow, and her dark braid was perfectly bound, not a hair out of place. She was dry and cleanly put together, unlike the sweaty Hans. Most residents of Gomi appeared to Hans that way, as if they somehow glided along with the season, working with winter instead of against it.

    If there is a potion for snow walking that they¡¯re not telling me about, I swear¡­

    ¡°I wanted to talk to Galad before we left.¡±

    ¡°Left? Where are you two going?¡±

    ¡°No, ¡®we¡¯ as in you and me. We¡¯re heading back to the mountains, right?¡± Olza had just then decided what the cover name for the dungeon would be, as talking about it openly could spark a fire before they were ready to tend it.

    Hans disliked that he hadn¡¯t been the one to give the dungeon a codename. He was more upset he hadn¡¯t thought to, though. Stealing a glance to Galad, the large tusk smirked and shrugged. He knew better than to get involved.

    ¡°There¡¯s only one bed in the cabin,¡± Hans said. ¡°I hope you like sleeping outside.¡±

    ¡°Leave in the morning?¡±

    With a sigh, he replied, ¡°Yeah. Sure.¡±

    Bowing her head slightly to Galad, Olza said she was heading home to pack. Hans watched her feet for signs of snowwalking. Suspiciously, she shut the door behind her when she left, blocking his view.

    ¡°Olza¡¯s looking into a sleep medicine for the children. Nightmares have gotten bad enough that we have someone watch the doors all night so no one runs. Anyway, what can I do for you, Guild Master?¡± Galad asked.

    ¡°Well, as you¡¯ve heard,¡± Hans coughed, ¡°I¡¯m heading back to the mountains for a few days. I wanted to check in with you before I did.¡±

    ¡°Haven¡¯t given me much time.¡±

    ¡°Really? I¡¯d assume you already had the expansion planned down to the board.¡±

    The tusk chuckled. ¡°Don¡¯t forget the posts we need for the walls.¡±

    Hans laughed too. He had guessed correctly that the tusk would over prepare. They both knew they were kindred spirits in that respect.

    ¡°Construction is easy if you¡¯re willing to do the math,¡± Galad continued. ¡°The work is hard, but the planning is straightforward. I don¡¯t know how to tell the Tribe about all of this, though. I¡¯m stuck there.¡± Galad scratched one of his tusks.

    ¡°Yeah, me too.¡±

    ¡°They don¡¯t have a chapter on that in the guild manual?¡±

    ¡°Right. Would be nice if this was in the textbooks.¡±

    They agreed to let one another know if they had new ideas and to update each other on the progress made on other fronts. With only a few days having passed since Hans¡¯ party returned with news of the dungeon, Galad seemed to be as consumed with the problem as the Guild Master. Hans hoped the tusk had slept but wouldn¡¯t be surprised if he hadn¡¯t.

    Rearranging furniture for winter training was simple enough, Galad said. Making good on the Tribe¡¯s promise to build new homes for their new neighbors while also making the necessary expansions for defending their way of life¨Call of that came next. The Tribe couldn¡¯t surround all of the Tribe farms with a wall, however. In a world where they had the manpower to watch them¨Cwhich they didn¡¯t¨Cbuilding them by hand with their numbers could still take years.

    Planning where the wall should go meant deciding what to protect and what could be left behind. If they faced an attack, anything outside of the walls would likely be lost. Homes, sheds, crops¨Cbest to accept they wouldn¡¯t survive. The average townsperson knew that¡¯s how it worked during a war. Living to rebuild was more important, as painful as it might be.

    But Galad wasn¡¯t a general. He intended to surround the barns with walls. No personal homes would be inside. He reasoned that division bred contempt, and contempt poisoned communities. If Galad put his own home inside the walls, he would signal that everyone else was lesser than him in some way. His belongings were important enough to protect but not theirs.

    To survive together, Galad felt the challenge should be shared equally. Every building inside the walls would be owned by the Tribe, from the brewing barns to the dormitories. If they couldn¡¯t save every home, their priority would be how best to survive together, during and after an attack. That meant they needed cohesion and trust most of all.

    Somehow, Galad¡¯s moral justification for his defense strategy was also the most tactically sound to Hans. The tusk again impressed. Not a soldier or general himself, Hans too had worried about ¡°haves¡± and ¡°have nots.¡± That¡¯s how it happened when walls couldn¡¯t protect everyone equally. They never could, really, but Galad¡¯s solution put every person in the same kind of bed, under the same kind of roof, and with the same food to eat.

    ¡°Does your plan include a blacksmith?¡± Hans asked. ¡°And how about a hospital?¡±

    ¡°Explain.¡±

    ¡°The sieges I¡¯ve read about have lasted months or longer. We¡¯ll want the essentials inside the wall if we want to hold out.¡±

    Galad nodded. ¡°I hadn¡¯t considered that. I¡¯ve been thinking about food, weapons, and shelter.¡±

    ¡°And beer.¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°Think I didn¡¯t notice we¡¯d be protecting the beer with this plan?¡±

    The tusk laughed. ¡°It¡¯s good for morale.¡±

    Hans agreed, wholeheartedly.

    ***

    Becky still refused to pass through the fissure and enter the room with the dungeon core. She stood in the crack, six feet higher than the floor, watching Hans and Olza inspect the room again. Presently, they measured the octagonal walls. Next they logged the lengths of the eight roots, one for each wall. Those roots followed a straight and smooth obsidian line to a cube of the same material in the middle of the room, which they also measured.

    The cube was fractured, violently. At its center, the fragment of a sphere glowed a soft purple. Most of the core was missing, but the glassy curve of the lone shard was enough to hint at how the whole might look were it not damaged.

    ¡°We should collect root samples,¡± Olza said, squatting next to the only living root system. The other seven had died so long ago they had nearly turned to dust.

    ¡°Too risky,¡± Hans said.

    ¡°No, I¡¯ve been thinking about this. We had to walk on the roots to get here, so we know they aren¡¯t that fragile. Becky¡¯s picked a few dozen of the flowers, which is also breaking the roots, right?¡±

    Hans agreed those observations were correct.

    ¡°The adventurer paranoia is noble, but I know my craft. Let me work.¡±

    Finally agreeing, he couldn¡¯t help but wince when Olza used a knife to scrape the bark of a dead root into a vial, repeating the process with the living roots. She tried to do the same with the wall, but nothing came loose. She was bold, but she wasn¡¯t bold enough to take a chisel to the strange surface. Not yet.

    While Hans went brick by brick¨Cliterally¨Csearching for switches or buttons or compartments, Olza approached the core, leaning close but not touching it or the cube.

    ¡°I think the sphere changed,¡± she said.

    ¡°I already checked. No change.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re wrong.¡±

    Hans spun around. ¡°I swear I checked.¡±

    Olza pointed at the sphere. ¡°There was a small crack here last time.¡±

    Narrowing his eyes, Hans trudged to look at the core with Olza. ¡°I don¡¯t remember a crack,¡± he said, bending over.

    ¡°It was barely the size of a pinhead, but I remember it. Two roots to the right of the living, standing right here, looking at it just like this. It was there.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re joking. Smaller than a pinhead?¡± The unpolished center of the core was like the surface of a sandcastle, the smallest grains catching light and shadow to make the surface sparkle. Remembering a detail that small would be like tracking a grain of sand on the beach.

    ¡°It was there.¡±

    Looking up to Becky in her perch, the dwarf declined to get involved.

    Thinking on it, alchemists worked with precision to execute demandingly exact recipes. Olza was nothing if not professional. As the obsidian explosion showed him, when they dropped quartz on the purple flower to test its connection to the spell Create Earth, single grains mattered. If anyone would notice a single grain, or something nearly as small, it would be the alchemist instead of the retired adventurer.

    ¡°If you¡¯re right,¡± Hans began, ¡°what does that tell us?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s repairing itself.¡±

    ***

    Open Quests (Ordered from Old to New):

    Progress from Gold-ranked to Diamond-ranked.

    Mend the rift with Devon.

    Complete the manuscript for "The Next Generation: A Teaching Methodology for Training Adventurers."

    Expand the Gomi training area to include ramps for footwork drills.

    Design a system for training dungeon awareness.

    Research the history and legends of the Dead End Mountains.

    Protect Gomi.

    Train Gomi adventurers to keep the dungeon at bay.

    Design the ultimate strategy for hunting squonks.

    Solve the town secret problem without being a conspiracy weirdo.

 Chapter 36: Farming Mechanics

    Becky ran ahead to scout for squonks while Hans and Olza followed at a distance. The dungeon hallways were long, but they were simple and plain. The few corridors they had ignored on their first visit ended with empty rooms or uninteresting dead ends. Following the dwarf, even this far behind, was fairly easy with no real way to make a wrong turn.

    While Becky hunted, clearing the route to the surface, Hans and Olza talked about the dungeon core.

    ¡°If dungeon cores regenerated, the Reavers¡¯ Rest core would have come back, right?¡± Hans asked.

    ¡°Maybe it is? We were away from the dungeon, what, eight days? If that¡¯s the speed a core repairs, Reavers¡¯ Rest would be nowhere close to complete with that timeline.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s assuming it could also repair itself.¡±

    Olza wobbled her head side to side, thinking. ¡°That¡¯s a fair point. Who could say if dungeon cores all have the same abilities?¡±

    They heard Becky¡¯s footsteps approaching. Looking down the hall, a glow the size of a match head moved toward them. The light grew until Becky said, ¡°Just one. He¡¯s dead.¡±

    ***

    ¡°You said we¡¯d rotate who got the cabin,¡± Hans said, sitting by a fire at the surface basecamp.

    ¡°You made the tent smell weird,¡± Olza retorted. ¡°That breaks the deal.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re making that up.¡±

    ¡°Why would I make that up?¡±

    ¡°So you can keep the cabin.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s a baseless accusation that is, frankly, insulting.¡±

    Becky unleashed a sharp whistle. ¡°Hey, eggheads, I said I¡¯m heading out. Becki and I got errands.¡±

    ¡°Sorry, Becky,¡± Hans said, sincerely. ¡°Thank you for all of your help. I know sitting here watching a hole isn¡¯t fun.¡±

    Climbing on to Becki¡¯s back, the dwarf said, ¡°Needed doing, so I did. Happy to do my part, boss. I¡¯ll be back in the morning to take you back down.¡± The warthog jittered with joy. When the pair turned to leave camp, Hans thought he saw the familiar smiling at the prospect of stretching its legs with a run through the wilderness.

    The Becks galloped into the trees, running on top of the snow without disturbing a flake.

    ¡°Is she okay?¡± Olza asked when Becky was out of sight.

    Hans said she was. ¡°Staying in one place is tough for a Druid. She¡¯ll feel better tomorrow, but we do need to find a way to fight squonks without her. This routine isn¡¯t sustainable. For any of us.¡±

    ¡°Any progress?¡±

    The Guild Master shook his head.

    The two sat quietly by the fire, but the day had been long. Once they finished their smoked venison, they went to their respective bedrolls, Olza in the cabin and Hans in his tent outside, using the cabin as a windbreak. Though he complained about it constantly, he didn¡¯t mind sleeping in the tent for a while. It felt like being an Iron-ranked again. Nostalgia helped keep him warm.

    Becky assured Hans and Olza that they didn¡¯t need to take watch. She promised the gnolls would not be a threat. When they asked how she could be sure, she explained that the gnolls would know they were in her territory and leave. They didn¡¯t ask for more details on how territory boundaries were defined in this case. Hans had suspicions he didn¡¯t care to confirm.

    ¡°Hans¡­ Are you awake?¡± Olza whispered from within the cabin. Though it was somewhat insulated, the wall didn¡¯t muffle her voice. It was like she was sitting right outside his tent.

    ¡°You okay?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°Sooo¡­¡±

    ¡°I had an idea,¡± she said, finally. ¡°I didn¡¯t want to wake you if you were asleep.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s okay. I¡¯m up.¡± Hans said, lying on his back, looking up at the fabric of his tent.

    ¡°We talk about dungeon cores like they¡¯re monsters, but what if that¡¯s wrong?¡±

    Hans asked her to elaborate. Olza said that a dungeon core was classified as a monster. Despite being stationary, it had powerful abilities, seemed to actively defend its domain, and controlled a small army of minions. Those were all traits of powerful creatures, and the most dangerous excelled in all three areas. Capable of strategy and leadership, a monster with numerous underlings was the worst kind, so even though little was known about dungeon cores, they ended up in bestiaries and hunting guides.

    ¡°As a thought experiment, what if we classified it as a plant?¡± she asked.

    He was a fan of thought experiments. ¡°I¡¯m game. Catch me up on how far you¡¯ve taken it already?¡±

    ¡°Plants spread roots to gather more nutrients and to stabilize their position. If they didn¡¯t, a small breeze would send them halfway across the world. We already know we have roots here, right?¡±

    Hans agreed.

    ¡°The Polzas¨Cshut up, Hans¨Chave petals, but dungeons attract adventurers instead of bees. I don¡¯t know what the dungeon equivalent of pollination is, so we¡¯ll skip that for now. The dungeon core room is built like a seed, though. The outer shell provides protection to give the seed time to sprout, and the seed is dense with energy inside to help.¡±

    ¡°Damn. And a seed sprouts much in the way the core room did.¡± He pictured a thin green sprout breaking through the side of a seed when it germinated.

    ¡°Exactly!¡± Olza couldn¡¯t help shouting but quickly collected herself.

    ¡°That¡¯s a good thought experiment,¡± Hans said. ¡°What does that mean for your phantom healing crack?¡±

    Hans gave her time to reply.

    ¡°Olza?¡± he asked, louder this time.

    He heard grumbling from inside the cabin. ¡°You can do this by yourself if you want.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry. I was just playing around. I believe you about the crack. Promise.¡±

    With an audible sigh, Olza continued, ¡°It¡¯s growing? Maybe it¡¯s healing, like you said? I don¡¯t know.¡±

    ¡°No offense, but I hope you¡¯re wrong.¡±

    Hans was sure he heard Olza sit up abruptly in the cabin. ¡°Why would you say that?¡±

    ¡°Plant monsters are the worst. They¡¯re the most frustrating thing to hunt.¡±

    ¡°...But it doesn¡¯t move?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s more complicated than that!¡± Hans announced, clearly having made this argument before.

    Fighting a plant monster meant facing the ultimate home field advantage. They were underestimated constantly for the reason Olza mentioned: How could a monster that can¡¯t move be difficult to kill? A tree couldn¡¯t dodge an axe, after all. As a result, many plant monsters fed exceptionally well early in their lives. All those untrained locals and inexperienced adventurers strolling to their doom, oblivious to the real danger.

    ¡°By the time an experienced adventurer gets called in, chances are it¡¯s gotten pretty strong, and that sucks. Lumberjacking is not an easy profession, and that¡¯s when the tree isn¡¯t trying to eat you. Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

    ¡°And then if any monster is going to have some surprise ability, it¡¯s going to be a plant monster. There are so many variations and mutations. Since no one likes them, they don¡¯t get researched all that much.¡±

    ¡°Speaking from experience?¡± Olza goaded Hans.

    ¡°Yes!¡±

    The Guild Master launched into a story about a job where he, Mazo, and Gret brought along the lizardmen, Izz and Thuz. Hans, Gret, and Mazo were Gold-ranked at the time while Izz and Thuz were Bronze-ranked. Somehow a small town kid got their hands on a Ya-te-veo seed. Whether the child knew what it was when he planted it could never be determined as most timelines of the incident suggested he was eaten first.

    ¡°Picture the snakes clump up like a medusa, make those snakes anacondas, tie them all together by the tails, and then plant them. That¡¯s what a Ya-te-veo is like. It¡¯s like fighting giant snakes as tough as tree bark.¡±

    ¡°Fascinating,¡± Olza responded.

    The job took the party out to wine country to a quaint little town full of expensive inns booked year-round by nobles. That last fact they learned the hard way. After three days on the road, they looked forward to a soft bed, only to find that no rooms were available in the entire town. They ended up camping outside that town¡¯s chapter of the Adventurers¡¯ Guild.

    ¡°Mazo was livid,¡± Hans chuckled.

    The Ya-te-veo had been planted in the attic of a local wine merchant¡¯s house¨Cprobably the boy hiding it from his parents¨Cin a part of town packed with luxury homes and expensive condos. The plant had eaten the entire family of that first home, and spread into the houses on either side, breaking through windows to snatch new prey. Three adventurers put themselves on the menu before the local chapter requested help from Hoseki.

    The neighborhood had been evacuated by the time Hans¡¯ party arrived. A set of nervous town guards monitored the perimeter. For them, ¡®town guard¡¯ was supposed to be a cushy post where the most difficult arrest was the occasional rich drunk. The guards closest to the monster trembled, though they did their best to hide it.

    Presently, the Ya-te-veo was calm, looking like the houses had been overwhelmed by large, but harmless, vines. The small leaves on its appendages moved gently in the breeze, projecting an unnatural sense of peace. The guards told Hans that when the monster was active, the vines moved with the speed of whips and the force of battering rams. Most of the local guards took several steps away from the monster when the adventurers explained who they were. Knowing what the Ya-te-veo could do, the guards weren¡¯t taking chances if the adventurers poked at it.

    ¡°None of us had fought a Ya-te-veo before, but the guidebooks made it seem easy. They recommended destroying the ¡®trunk¡¯ near its base or burning it down, ideally with fire magic but any source of flame could work in a pinch. The entire ride out, we argued with Mazo. She insisted we let her scorch it to make things quick and easy, but townsfolk don¡¯t appreciate those kinds of tactics very much. They¡¯d prefer to have homes after the job was done.¡±

    Looking at the killer plant sprouting out windows and through holes in rooftops, Mazo started to laugh.

    The houses themselves were like armor for the Ya-te-veo. The trunk was inside, potentially in the attic if their intel was accurate. Getting a finishing strike would mean going inside, climbing the stairs, and chopping the trunk in half, all while anaconda-sized vines attacked from every direction. The halfling Blue Mage realized this the moment she laid eyes on the vines sprouting from the fancy home.

    ¡°Are you about to tell me you set fire to a town?¡± Olza asked, still speaking through the cabin wall with Hans lying in his tent outside.

    ¡°You¡¯re as bad as Mazo.¡±

    The alchemist giggled.

    ¡°We put it off for as long as we could, but protecting property would never come before my party¡¯s safety. I had to explain to the town alderman that our solution to the town¡¯s problem was to burn part of it down.¡±

    That conversation may have gone better if Mazo wasn¡¯t in the background singing happily to herself while she thumbed through her spellbook, trying to decide what monster¡¯s fire ability would be best for the situation. Hans coughed loudly, but instead of quieting, she asked Gret if he thought she should pick Demon¡¯s Fury or Liquid Fire, both spells she learned from a fire efrit.

    After a stream of assurances that they would do as little damage to the town as possible, which the alderman believed even less than Hans believed himself, the alderman agreed to follow Hans¡¯ advice. Rebuilding three or four homes was far better than risking more lives, but Hans understood the alderman¡¯s need to explore all of his options. That was his job, and Hans had his.

    Being careful not to bring water too close to the monster, the party helped the local fire brigade soak the buildings adjacent to the Ya-te-veo, which sat as still as a normal plant. It grew fastest eating creatures, but water would help it as well, so great efforts were taken to keep it dry.

    ¡°Remember how I said plant monsters could have some strange, undocumented mutations?¡±

    Olza said that she did.

    ¡°Good. Anyway, Mazo¡¯s Liquid Fire ability is like rain falling sideways, and the rain is lava.¡±

    A wall of fire droplets flew across the street and into the house with the Ya-te-veo. The monster immediately raged, flailing and smashing vines in all directions, searching for the source of the attack. Liquid Fire punched through walls and roof tiles like acid before catching fire inside the building. Meanwhile, the other party members stood by, watching for any deviation from the plan. If the fire spread out of control or if the Ya-te-veo had a longer reach than anticipated, they would step in to guard Mazo and limit damage to the town.

    ¡°We didn¡¯t need any of that, so we¡¯re watching the Ya-te-veo burn to death, and Gret points out that the smoke was an odd brown instead of gray or black. We didn¡¯t think much of it because all sorts of stuff changed the color of smoke and flames when they burned, and we had no idea what weird fabrics or chemicals were burning inside. We shrugged it off and let Mazo finish.¡±

    Izz was the first to notice the shift. ¡°Mr. Gret,¡± he said. ¡°Is something the matter?¡±

    The Rogue dropped his bow and stared at his hand, half a smile on his vacant face, his fingers moving slowly, one at a time.

    ¡°The alderman!¡± Thuz exclaimed as the town¡¯s leader fell backward. He landed sitting up, laughed playfully to himself about the sensation of falling, and then drew in the dirt with his finger.

    Other than the two lizardmen mages, every human, dwarf, and halfling in town fell into delirium.

    ¡°Apparently, this Ya-te-veo¨Cor maybe all of them, I don¡¯t know¨Creleased a psychoactive smoke when it burned.¡±

    Olza, trying to speak between laughter, asked, ¡°You¡¯re telling me you got a whole town high?¡±

    ¡°Whole place. Izz and Thuz were so mad. Lizardmen are immune and resistant to most poison and toxins, so they were fine. They said it was like taking care of a drunk friend except there were a few hundred of us.¡±

    ¡°Amazing.¡±

    ¡°Everyone was sober in 24 hours, and we reported our ¡®observation¡¯ to the chapter librarian when we got back to Hoseki. She suggested we not record the effect to keep people from pursuing or growing Ya-te-veo purely for the trip.

    ¡°Meanwhile, Mazo still insists that we¡¯d be richer than the king if we found a way to mass produce it. Thank gods she hasn¡¯t found any Ya-te-vao seeds.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m surprised she hasn¡¯t, from what little I saw of her.¡±

    ¡°The best part of the story,¡± Hans continued, ¡°is that Mazo found a new entry in her spellbook the next day. She was clearly tripping when she wrote it, but it was undoubtedly her handwriting. There was a whole big debate on how to test it, but eventually we figured out it makes the target sneeze.¡±

    ¡°Sneeze? That¡¯s it?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s it. And she has no idea where it came from or how she learned it. Complete blank.¡±

    Olza¡¯s laughter died down and then the two didn¡¯t speak for a long time. Thinking she fell asleep, Hans didn¡¯t say anything.

    After a while, she asked softly, ¡°Do you miss it? Adventuring?¡±

    ¡°Every day.¡±

    ***

    The next morning, Hans¡¯ spine had contoured itself to the bumpy ground and locked in place. Groaning and flopping like a fish, he got to his knees and crawled out of the tent. He no longer desired the nostalgia of roughing it like the old days. A light flurry had come in the night but not more than a dusting. Olza, meanwhile, looked well rested. She happily moved about camp to prep her bag for the day while a teapot hung over the fire, swaying softly in the occasional breeze.

    ¡°We¡¯ll need to do a bunch of these trips, huh?¡± Hans said, sitting on a log by the fire.

    ¡°Probably,¡± Olza said. She swapped fresh vials into her bag and stowed the previous samples safely in a box at basecamp.

    Looking around the Polza patch and out over the pit, which had a ladder now rather than a rope, Hans saw nothing but lumpy, rocky ground. He might have already found the flattest campsite available.

    Nope. Can¡¯t do it.

    ¡°We should build a proper cabin,¡± Hans said. ¡°Something big enough for a group. I think it will get a lot of use.¡±

    ¡°More for Galad to build?¡±

    ¡°I was hoping to find help from someone else. He doesn¡¯t need more to worry about. Hmm. We should build it on top of the pit now that I think about it.¡±

    Olza looked at the hole and back to Hans. ¡°That seems risky.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s why we need someone who knows building. If we can do it without the whole thing falling into the pit, it will disguise the dungeon pretty well.¡±

    The alchemist chuckled. ¡°Pretty rude awakening to have monsters show up for breakfast.¡±

    She was right. Sleeping on top of a dungeon was a bit daring, but the more he thought, the more hiding the dungeon entrance under something innocuous seemed wise. That building could also serve as a sort of gate, giving Gomi a way to guard who went in or what came out.

    I don¡¯t know anything about architecture.

    New Quest: Design a dungeon cabin.

    ***

    Open Quests (Ordered from Old to New):

    Progress from Gold-ranked to Diamond-ranked.

    Mend the rift with Devon.

    Complete the manuscript for "The Next Generation: A Teaching Methodology for Training Adventurers."

    Expand the Gomi training area to include ramps for footwork drills.

    Design a system for training dungeon awareness.

    Research the history and legends of the Dead End Mountains.

    Protect Gomi.

    Train Gomi adventurers to keep the dungeon at bay.

    Design the ultimate strategy for hunting squonks.

    Solve the town secret problem without being a conspiracy weirdo.

    Design a dungeon cabin.

 Chapter 37: Save Point

    Kane and Quentin sat in the guild hall. While Quentin continued to devour the bestiary, Kane had taken an interest in magery. He read from Hans¡¯ beginner guide to spellcasting, learning the foundational theory before the Guild Master was willing to help him cast. A wooden sword equivalent didn¡¯t exist for spells¨Cthat Hans was aware of¨Cso he insisted that students understand the full scope of the dangers before they practiced live spells.

    Skipping that step was like giving a child a sharp blade without instruction on how to handle it safely. And that sword could explode.

    Hans had thousands of analogies and metaphors for swordplay yet very few for magery.

    If any of the Gomi children were going to dive into serious spellcraft, he was glad Kane was going first. He would set a good example for responsible practice. Oftentimes, children respected the advice of an immediate peer more than the instructor, as counterintuitive as that sounded. That used to frustrate Hans, but his effectiveness as a teacher jumped when he encouraged it instead of fighting against it.

    Every student learned differently. The commonalities between those learning styles were like ears, noses, and mouths¨Ceveryone had them, but no two sets were exactly alike. Whether it reduced their nervousness or tapped into a more familiar communication style, Hans wasn¡¯t sure, but a younger child learning from an older child could propel a struggling student forward.

    Kane and Quentin had paid off several times over. In that respect, they were instructors themselves. They just didn¡¯t know it. More importantly, the students they helped didn¡¯t know it either. Come to think of it, Gunther¡¯s exploits had a similar effect, inspiring more children to take classes at the Adventurers¡¯ Guild.

    Kane and Quentin laughed quietly about the succubus entry in the bestiary, whispering so Hans wouldn¡¯t hear teenage boys doing what teenage boys often do. They tried to swallow their muffled ¡°teehees¡± when a tusk-touched woman entered the guild hall carrying a plate wrapped in paper.

    She looked familiar, but he couldn¡¯t recall her name. She had faint features of tusk in her face, but looked human otherwise, save for the yellow in her skin.

    ¡°Am I interrupting?¡± She asked, timidly.

    ¡°Not at all. What can I do for you?¡±

    She set the plate on his desk. ¡°We didn¡¯t have all of the right ingredients, but I baked you cookies. I know it¡¯s not much, but I wanted to thank you for what you did.¡±

    ¡°What did I do?¡±

    ¡°...Rescued my daughter from gnolls.¡±

    Smooth, Hans. Real smooth.

    ¡°Right, of course. Sorry.¡±

    The tusk blushed, her cheeks looking slightly orange as red pushed through her tusk skin. ¡°No, don¡¯t be. I¡¯m sure you¡¯re very busy.¡±

    ¡°How is she? If you don¡¯t mind my asking.¡±

    ¡°Depends on the day,¡± she replied with a deep, tired breath. ¡°She still has nightmares most nights. Seems like all of the kids do, but her days are generally better. She¡¯s made friends and is keeping to her lessons.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m really glad to hear that. I know you two have been through a lot.¡±

    She nodded that they had.

    ¡°Gomi has been really good to us, though. Everyone¡¯s been so nice. It feels like a dream.¡± She paused, as if giving Hans room to speak. When he didn¡¯t, she said, quickly, ¡°Well that was all. I hope you enjoy the cookies.¡±

    She turned on her heel and left the guild hall.

    Hans lifted a corner of the paper and pulled out a peanut butter cookie. With half a cookie in his mouth, Hans asked the boys, ¡°Anyone want a cookie?¡± He pushed the plate to the edge of his desk. When he looked up, he saw two wide-eyed faces staring back, their cheeks about to burst with laughter. ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°Is she your girlfriend?¡± Kane asked.

    ¡°He¡¯d probably remember his girlfriend¡¯s name,¡± Quentin added.

    Lifting his hands, Hans said, ¡°Whoa whoa whoa. Your imaginations are getting the best of you.¡±

    Kane¡¯s tusky grin grew. ¡°She definitely likes you. Her name is Tandis, by the way.¡±

    The Guild Master repeated the name mentally to himself.

    ¡°Do you remember our names?¡± Quentin teased.

    ¡°Listen here, wise guys,¡± Hans began. ¡°Names are a weakness for me. Always have been. I could remember a person¡¯s entire backstory but forget their names.¡±

    ¡°Really? You remember a whole bunch of other stuff most people would forget but not names?¡±

    ¡°A year or so after I started teaching in Hoseki, I had a new student join by the name of Frank. Great guy. Made a living as a painter, houses and furniture mostly. He never missed a class, he trained hard, and he was nice to the other students. But he was grumpy all the time. I¡¯d say ¡®Frank go drill with so-and-so¡¯ or ¡®Hey Frank, watch your hand positioning there.¡¯ He would do what I told him, but he always seemed mad about it.

    ¡°This went on for over six months. Then one day I ask Frank to pair off with another student and he looks at me and says, ¡®Mr. Hans, my name is Stephen.¡¯ I was so embarrassed.¡±

    Kane and Quentin laughed.

    ¡°She still likes you,¡± Kane said.

    Hans sighed. ¡°Even if she did¨Cand she doesn¡¯t¨Cit wouldn¡¯t matter. It¡¯s bad form. You two should remember that for when you¡¯re adults.¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    ¡°Her daughter takes classes here sometimes and may take them more often when the snow clears. I¡¯ve seen more than a few instructors date the mothers or fathers of their students. It never ends well, and it¡¯s unbelievably uncomfortable for the child, especially when the breakup hits. And definitely for the teacher too. As a rule, I don¡¯t entertain those ideas.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s a dumb rule,¡± Kane said.

    ¡°It¡¯s a good rule, and if the two of you are done bullying me, you can get back to reading.¡±

    Tandis baked a hell of a peanut butter cookie, though. The texture and flavor made each bite a delight.

    ¡°What about sirens?¡± Quentin asked, abruptly ending the silence a while later.

    ¡°Yes, I have a rule against dating sirens or any other monster.¡±

    Quentin said, seriously, ¡°No. I mean for the squonks.¡±

    Hans looked up to give the teen his full attention. ¡°Go on.¡±

    ¡°We used to have a dog for hunting. He would run real far sometimes, so my dad got a whistle. When you blew on it, it didn¡¯t make a noise, but my dad said it did. We just couldn¡¯t hear it. Dogs could though, so if the dog had wandered too far, he could use the whistle to call him home.¡±

    The Guild Master saw where Quentin¡¯s logic was going, but he restrained himself. It was Quentin¡¯s idea, and he should get to explain it before Hans gushed.

    ¡°I know sirens are way different from squonks, but what if a squonk¡¯s call is like a siren¡¯s and we just can¡¯t hear it?¡±

    New Quest: Test Quentin¡¯s siren-squonk theory.

    ¡°Well done, Quentin. Very well done.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not too much of a stretch?¡±

    Shaking his head, Hans replied, ¡°Any hypothesis will feel like that, at least a little bit. That¡¯s kind of the point of making a hypothesis. You looked at the data you had and asked, ¡®What if they connected like this?¡¯ It might not, but you don¡¯t know until you test it. Your hypothesis is easy enough to test.¡±

    ¡°Does that mean I get to come along?¡±

    ¡°No, but nice try.¡±

    ***

    ¡°What if there was a threshold, some sort of standard people met before we told them about the dungeon?¡± Olza asked. She had been reading on Hans¡¯ couch, which had become a frequent evening pastime for the two of them, when the idea struck.

    Hans looked up from his own book, thinking.

    ¡°Or is that the same problem as telling everybody but takes longer?¡± she added before Hans could answer.

    ¡°Yeah, you might be right. Any of those people could decide to tell.¡±

    ¡°It would also create a ¡®haves¡¯ and ¡®have nots¡¯ situation,¡± Hans said, remembering Galad¡¯s wisdom. ¡°Being left out doesn¡¯t feel great.¡±

    ¡°True. Very true. I¡¯ll keep thinking.¡±

    Asking her if she wanted a refill¨Cshe did¨CHans went downstairs to the storage room to refresh two mugs of Tribe beer. The question of how to manage the news of the dungeon had weighed on him from the day the hole to the dungeon opened. Keeping the discovery secret from the rest of the world made sense to prevent adventurers and other troublemakers from coming to Gomi, but Hans wasn¡¯t willing to lie to his neighbors for the rest of his life to keep that secret. Gomi needed to know. The people deserved that.This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.

    But how?

    He had repeated his reasoning over and over and had yet to find a solution.

    ¡°Did you decide what to tell the guild?¡± Olza asked as Hans returned, passing one of the mugs to her.

    ¡°About the dungeon?¡±

    ¡°No, about your resignation or fake-resignation or whatever it is.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s another unsolved problem,¡± Hans said, propping his feet back up on his desk. ¡°My annual report is due as soon as the snow clears, and I have no idea what the guild will do about Devon¡¯s complaint. Them removing me is a real possibility. Guild Masters have been removed before, but usually it¡¯s for something obviously terrible.¡±

    ¡°Did you do something terrible?¡± Olza¡¯s face changed as soon as the words left her mouth. ¡°I didn¡¯t mean it like that. I just meant¨C¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry. I know you didn¡¯t mean anything bad.¡±

    ¡°We can change the subject. It¡¯s none of my business.¡±

    ¡°I cheated his oath,¡± Hans said after a pause. He spoke as if moving his lips unburdened something heavy. ¡°Have we talked about Paladin oaths before?¡±

    ¡°A little bit maybe?¡±

    ¡°The oath is the link that gives Paladins power from their chosen deity, binding them together in a way. The Paladin is then obligated to follow their deities code or be punished for breaking their oath. Not a lot is recorded about what Paladin oaths entail because there haven¡¯t been very many, but it¡¯s believed that they are an incredibly advanced form of magic.¡±

    A deity visited Devontes, Hans explained, and offered him the powers of a Paladin. Olza already knew that gods and deities and the like didn¡¯t typically interact with mortals. These beings were known to exist, mostly through legends and relics discovered by adventurers, but their names were lost, as were the majority of their stories. The kingdom didn¡¯t have temples or churches, and few people prayed in the old way. If they did, it was to the ¡°gods¡± broadly.

    Devontes¡¯ patron deity never gave their name, citing their own safety among immortal beings, but provided a miracle to demonstrate both their power and goodwill.

    A small family of homesteaders was attacked by zombies and became zombies themselves. Where most magic would banish the undead to spare the mortal soul trapped within, this deity reversed the zombification entirely, a resurrection of sorts. Olza gasped at that, her work as an alchemist making her acutely aware that thousands of people over the ages had pursued such a remedy for zombification with no success.

    The miracle was confirmed by several mages and academics, but Hans still urged caution. Deals with gods were dangerous, especially one cloaked in secrecy. The Hoseki Guild Master and elder Platinums, however, called it a blessing and encouraged Devontes to make the oath.

    ¡°We stopped talking after that. We¡¯d interact if we had to for the guild, but otherwise, our friendship was over.¡±

    She winced.

    ¡°The oath took him to Diamond, and then when the king agreed to erect a statue to honor the deity, some monstrosity of Devon kneeling to pray, he moved to Platinum. I don¡¯t know the specifics, but my understanding was that the new rank accompanied new abilities.¡±

    As a Gold-ranked, Hans wasn¡¯t privy to such information, so he went on teaching his classes for the Guild. Some time after Devontes achieved Platinum, Hans was teaching a kids¡¯ class in the Hoseki training hall. Partway through the class, Devontes and his entourage entered and began sparring loudly at the other end of the building. Mostly they were making jokes and fooling around, though.

    ¡°First of all, Devon knew that was a pet peeve for me. Use the facilities, that¡¯s fine. I have no problem with that, but be respectful if a class is in session. It got to the point where I couldn¡¯t hear myself talking to my students, and these are kids, so they lost focus fast.¡±

    Hans approached the group¨Cfive Diamonds and Devontes as the only Platinum¨Cand asked for quiet. They nodded their heads and waved him away, going right back to their previous volume when he returned to the class. When Hans asked again, the Diamonds laughed at him.

    ¡°I can¡¯t remember the exact exchange, but when it was clear they weren¡¯t going to quiet down so I could teach, I made a wiseass remark about their technique being a bad example for the kids, so if they were going to be loud, could they at least put the swords away before the kids learned their bad habits. It was a dumb thing to do, but I did it.

    ¡°That didn¡¯t go over well, so the arguing got heated, there was lots of cursing. At one point, one of the Diamonds said they were learning from the world¡¯s strongest Platinum and that I should know my place.¡±

    ¡°You didn¡¯t¡­¡± Olza said with a faint gasp.

    Hans shrugged. ¡°I¡¯m not proud of it, but I made some remark about how I¡¯d kick Devon¡¯s ass on a level playing field and how he would never be brave enough to spar me, skill against skill, no Paladin abilities or other spells.¡±

    Olza¡¯s eye went big.

    Surrounded by his followers and watched by a few dozen children present for class, Devontes accepted the challenge. Seconds later, Hans held a blunted training sword and stood across from the Platinum Paladin who held one of the same. Unlike the wooden swords they used in Gomi, these were real swords with dull blades. They were less dangerous than a sharpened sword, but still plenty capable of maiming or killing someone.

    ¡°I know how much you like shortcuts,¡± Hans said to Devontes before the match. ¡°How do I know you won¡¯t cheat and use an ability without us knowing?¡±

    One of the entourage Diamonds yelled about daring to insult the integrity of a Paladin.

    Hans kept his eyes on his former student. ¡°I know you better than your goons do. What assurances do I have? I¡¯m happy to spar but dying to a fireball isn¡¯t on my agenda for at least another week.¡±

    Devon scowled and yelled for quiet. ¡°So you can¡¯t make excuses,¡± he said loud enough for all present to hear, ¡°I, Devontes the Paladin, swear on my Paladin oath to not use Paladin spells, abilities, or any other form of magic against Hans. Happy?¡±

    ¡°That works for me.¡±

    Even without his Paladin blessings, Devon moved far faster than many Platinums. Hans, mostly retired from adventuring and a Gold-ranked, couldn¡¯t hope to keep up. Instead, he relied on skill, experience, and his familiarity with Devon¡¯s fighting style. The vast majority of the Paladin¡¯s combat knowledge had come from Hans, and Hans had observed him training and fighting for years and years. If Devon was an actor performing a script, Hans was the writer who authored the script in the first place.

    He knew what came next. Always.

    Devon¡¯s first thrust, flying at Hans with the speed of an arrow, pierced only air as the Guild Master stepped and parried, circling to the outside while narrowly escaping harm. Devon threw a back elbow with his sword arm to rotate his body back into position. When Hans blocked the elbow with an arm, the force staggered him, and the Paladin immediately reversed direction to go from a back elbow to a slash.

    Again, just in time, Hans parried. As soon as his sword made contact with Devon¡¯s, he stepped closer, hooking the back of Devon¡¯s foot with his own. The Paladin didn¡¯t go to the ground, but the trip made him stumble and enraged him further.

    The attacks came faster and faster. Hans parried and dodged and blocked, relying more on his ability to predict Devon¡¯s next attack than his ability to read his opponent¡¯s movements in the moment. He didn¡¯t have the reaction speed and agility of the younger, more powerful adventurer. He had to move to defend the next attack before it began if he hoped to keep up.

    ¡°Devon¡¯s favorite technique was this kind of upward slash. It started low and came up on a diagonal, almost like an underhand toss. The problem with that attack is you have to rotate your hand to get the angle right for the sword, the thumb twists wide and exposes the pommel as well as the bottom of the hand. And he would always use it from his backfoot.¡±

    Olza looked at him, clearly not understanding the technical explanation.

    ¡°Your stance always has one foot forward. In this case, he had the foot on the side of his sword arm back and the other forward. The most important thing, though, is that I knew he had the habit, and that positioning meant the sword had to travel more distance than most sword attacks would. He got away with it because of his speed, but it was still a bad habit.¡±

    When Hans saw Devon¡¯s foot step back to set up the upward slash, the older adventurer was ready. With a quick slide forward, Hans blocked the pommel with his free hand. Too close to use his own sword effectively, Hans grappled. With the Paladin slightly off balance, Hans slammed his chest into Devon¡¯s while one of his legs laced between his opponent¡¯s legs and donkey-kicked backward. The force of the chest push, combined with the leg lace and the torque of Hans¡¯ upper body, dropped Devon to his back with a slam.

    Out of reflex, Hans twisted the elbow of Devon¡¯s sword arm, locked his wrist, and disarmed the sword.

    The room was still and quiet.

    ¡°Again,¡± Devon demanded as he stood, unarmed.

    ¡°No. I have a kids class to teach.¡±

    ¡°I said, ¡®again.¡¯ I¡¯m your superior now, remember?¡±

    ¡°Why? So I can drop you again in front of your friends?¡±

    Then Hans heard his femur shatter.

    ¡°This part is always hard to explain,¡± Hans said to Olza. ¡°I didn¡¯t see it happen. I was standing there one second, and then I blinked and I was on the ground with an all-new bend in my leg.¡±

    One of the witnesses described it as a ¡°teleport,¡± but with some asking around, Hans learned it was actually a Paladin ability that was so fast it looked like a teleport. In reality, it was a forward dash.

    In a way, Devon moved ¡°through¡± Hans¡¯ lead leg before ending the dash. The force of the impact snapped Hans¡¯ femur in an instant.

    ¡°Oh my gods,¡± Olza said softly. ¡°That¡¯s a terrible injury.¡±

    Hans nodded. ¡°I was in bed for three months and couldn¡¯t train for another five, but that¡¯s not the end of the story.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re going to tell me you fought Devon with a broken leg? Really?¡±

    ¡°No, nothing like that. I was in shock, just staring at the break, trying to decide if it was really happening or not. I heard screaming, and I had the thought that it was probably mine, but it wasn¡¯t. Devon was on the ground a few inches from me, howling in pain. I¡¯ve heard a lot of things experience pain, and the way he shrieked, it was the worst I¡¯d ever heard.¡±

    Then Hans¡¯ shock wore off, and he felt the pain of his break for the first time, descending into his own torrent of suffering. He didn¡¯t learn what happened to Devon until much later when the Hoseki Guild Master visited Hans in bed, his leg recently reset. Hans was half-delirious from the combination of pain relievers and the pain that even magic couldn¡¯t stop.

    ¡°He¡¯s standing over me, cursing me out. I¡¯d never seen him so mad. It was like he was possessed. He kept saying that I was a disgrace for tricking Devon and demanded I release Devon from his oath this instant.¡±

    ¡°From his Paladin oath?¡± Olza asked.

    Hans smiled with sadness. ¡°No, the oath he made to me. When he promised not to use his Paladin abilities against me, he didn¡¯t specify a time or duration. He didn¡¯t say ¡®for this match¡¯ or ¡®until the match is over.¡¯ He simply said he wouldn¡¯t use his power against me. Period. A lot of people think that it was something I did on purpose, some sneaky plan to spite Devon out of jealousy or some such nonsense. It wasn¡¯t. It just happened.¡±

    And the punishment for breaking a Paladin¡¯s oath was severe. Devon was in bed in agony for 24 hours, screaming as he had in the training room. The guild tried every potion, spell, and prayer they knew, but none of their resources could undo divine suffering. When the agony finally abated, Devon found that he no longer had his Paladin abilities, and they didn¡¯t return for six months. Had he killed Hans, Devon would have lost them completely and likely his life as well.

    ¡°You didn¡¯t free him of the oath?¡± Olza asked.

    Hans shook his head. ¡°I acted like an ass. It was my job to diffuse the situation and move on, but I let my mouth run. I was so angry with him, with everyone. I shouldn¡¯t have behaved the way I did, and I know that, but I didn¡¯t have that realization until well after my leg was healed. At the time, I was bitter, so I refused. That didn¡¯t help my standing with the guild very much.¡±

    ¡°Did you release the oath later?¡±

    ¡°No,¡± Hans said, ashamed. ¡°I know I should, but I can¡¯t. Part of me wants to argue how keeping the oath is the smart move for my survival if Devon wants revenge, but really I¡¯m still mad and still hurt by everything.¡±

    After that story, Hans and Olza didn¡¯t talk more that night. They sat in each other¡¯s presence, reading quietly. When Olza stood to leave, she saw Hans asleep at his desk, snoring. She draped a blanket over him and quietly returned home.

    ***

    Open Quests (Ordered from Old to New):

    Progress from Gold-ranked to Diamond-ranked.

    Mend the rift with Devon.

    Complete the manuscript for "The Next Generation: A Teaching Methodology for Training Adventurers."

    Expand the Gomi training area to include ramps for footwork drills.

    Design a system for training dungeon awareness.

    Research the history and legends of the Dead End Mountains.

    Protect Gomi.

    Train Gomi adventurers to keep the dungeon at bay.

    Design the ultimate strategy for hunting squonks.

    Solve the town secret problem without being a conspiracy weirdo.

    Design a dungeon cabin.

    Test Quentin¡¯s siren-squonk theory.

 Chapter 38: Base Building

    ¡°I wanted to talk with you all today about our mountain problem,¡± Mayor Charlie began, standing to address the guild hall, ¡°but I suppose Becky won¡¯t make it. We¡¯ve been emptying our brain bottles over this and no whiskey is coming out, if you catch my meaning.¡±

    Galinda said, ¡°Of course we do, my love.¡±

    Hans, Olza, Roland, and Galad nodded as if they did, even if they didn¡¯t.

    ¡°I don¡¯t have it all kicked just yet, but I might have the beginnings of something that might work. I think keeping Hans in the guild gives us good cover, but that¡¯s no good if they boot him anyway. No offense, Hans.¡±

    When the group looked at Hans, he said, ¡°I¡¯m fine. Please continue.¡±

    ¡°We should make keeping Hans a better deal than firin¡¯ him. If they¡¯re the ones who choose to keep him here, well, I think they¡¯re less likely to bother us later on.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s the better deal?¡± Hans asked.

    Charlie tried to suppress a smile but gave it a half-hearted effort. ¡°We say we heard about the petition, and we tell the guild Hans has been doing good adventuring work for us, and we don¡¯t want to lose him. So, instead of giving Hans the boot, we offer to take over paying his salary and still promise to send good guild numbers each year.¡±

    ¡°Would the guild go for that?¡± Olza asked Hans.

    ¡°He¡¯s right that it¡¯s a better deal for them. They save money and get clout for essentially nothing, and they¡¯re rid of me. If the post is filled, they don¡¯t have a reason to send anyone out here.¡±

    ¡°Like I said, I know it doesn¡¯t fix everything,¡± Charlie said.

    Galad assured the Mayor it was a worthwhile idea.

    ¡°We should decide on the rest soon,¡± Hans said. ¡°We can¡¯t start training folks until we can tell them why they need it.¡±

    No one disagreed, but no one had anything to add to Charlie¡¯s proposal either. Frustrated but hopeful, they adjourned. Roland lingered to talk to Hans.

    ¡°I¡¯ve been thinking about your cabin,¡± he began. ¡°I¡¯d like to build it for you. I¡¯m not a master carpenter, but I know enough to put up something sturdy. I have conditions, though.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m intrigued.¡±

    ¡°Let the boys come with me. Quentin and Kane. You and I both know they¡¯re going into that dungeon when they¡¯re able. It¡¯d be good for them to learn some skills and get to know the area.¡±

    Hans whistled. ¡°Have you played out this argument in your head already?¡±

    Roland chuckled and nodded.

    ¡°Do I win?¡±

    ¡°You do not.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not going to claim I know better than a father. If you think he¡¯s ready, I won¡¯t tell you you¡¯re wrong. I have my own conditions, though.¡±

    For Quentin and Kane to be allowed to join, they would have to swear to not enter the dungeon. Next, if Hans decided that it wasn¡¯t safe for them to be present anymore, for any reason, they would go back to Gomi. Immediately and with no disputes. Lastly, they were not permitted to leave camp at night.

    Roland felt those terms were fair.

    ¡°One last question,¡± Hans said, ¡°What are we going to tell Gunther?¡±

    ¡°Gunther already knows about the dungeon.¡±

    The Guild Master groaned. ¡°Quentin tells Kane, Kane tells Gunther?¡±

    Nodding, Roland said, ¡°You already suspected Kane knew?¡±

    ¡°Him and Quentin have gotten pretty close, so I can¡¯t say it surprises me. Kane¡¯s smart enough to figure it out on his own, and he would have eventually.¡±

    ¡°They¡¯ve grown more than their years, I¡¯m afraid,¡± Roland said. ¡°I wasn¡¯t there for Quentin as much as I should have been. That¡¯s what I saw with the squonks. Quentin alone, totally alone. If things are going to get hard around here like we think, he deserves a friend like Kane.¡±

    ¡°Gods, Roland. You just needed to convince me. You didn¡¯t need to wrench my heart.¡±

    The hunter laughed.

    ¡°You¡¯re not worried about Gunther?¡±

    Roland shook his head. ¡°He gets wild, but you saw how he is when it matters.¡±

    The hunter was right about that. The memory of coming upon Gunther in the winter woods at night sprang to mind. Two of seven gnolls were already dead or dying from a wooden training sword, and the ones that remained weren¡¯t rushing to get near the tusk again.

    If hiding the dungeon is going to work, I need to get used to these kinds of risks, and that¡¯s going to be hard.

    ***

    ¡°Hans, I¡¯m not building this,¡± Roland said, sitting across from Hans at a table in the guild hall. He put the Guild Master¡¯s proposed cabin plans back down.

    ¡°Why not?¡±

    ¡°You kid.¡±

    Hans pointed at the plans. ¡°This is a good design.¡±

    ¡°For starters, I¡¯m not building you a cabin with four bedrooms. You get one room. That¡¯s the design.¡±

    Frowning, Hans looked back down at his drawing. ¡°How many of the other elements can we incorporate into a single room cabin? I took my inspiration from dungeons, and I don¡¯t want to lose that.¡±

    The hunter scratched his head. ¡°I¡¯m not dragging a bathtub up there. If you want to haul it, fine. I can¡¯t build you tripwire crossbows. I think those are trapdoors over here. Also no. We¡¯re going to assume the moat was a joke and move past that. A porch would be nice but we¡¯re building in winter on a mountain, so also no.¡±

    ¡°Can we keep the secret passage?¡± Hans pointed to a bookshelf that hid the doorway to another room.

    ¡°No.¡±

    ¡°Wouldn¡¯t we want to disguise the dungeon entrance in case someone visits the cabin?

    Roland rubbed his head with both hands now, his eyes closed. ¡°Okay. The secret passage is actually justified. I don¡¯t have the skills, but I bet you Galinda could do it.¡±

    ¡°Really?¡±

    ¡°Definitely. She¡¯s sold a fair amount of furniture to the merchants for good coin.¡±

    Hans considered the plans. ¡°Don¡¯t tell her about the secret passage yet. I might think of something cooler than the bookshelf door.¡±

    New Quest: Pick a secret passage design for the cabin. Bonus Objective: Make it cooler than a bookshelf door.

    Chuckling, the hunter agreed to not spoil the surprise for Galinda until Hans had decided on a direction. The two agreed to head back to the dungeon in a few days, and Roland departed.

    Hans assumed the one room cabin with a trapdoor leading to the dungeon was the design they¡¯d use from the beginning, so he drew the map as a joke. Pointing out the secret passage was him pushing the bit, but now that it was an actual option, he was excited. Very excited. That excitement began to wane when he struggled to rise to his own challenge.

    Hiding a dungeon under a cabin posed more obstacles than he anticipated. The cabin needed to be livable, which meant no space could be wasted in the one-room building but still comfortable enough for long stays. Nothing made more sense than a trapdoor, for now. But in all seriousness, a convincing disguise for the entrance would be a necessity when they were regularly running the dungeon. The other known dungeons had ended up with small towns built around them because dungeon crawls were resource-intensive endeavors. The best treasures were found deep within, requiring great effort and planning to acquire safely. That translated to coin for merchants and craftspeople.

    Assuming the dungeon core grew to that point, of course. With its current rate of monster creation, they wouldn¡¯t need more than three or four people posted at the dungeon to keep it controlled.

    Active Quest: Design a dungeon cabin.

    With so many unanswered questions, he couldn¡¯t consider this quest complete. In fact, he realized he had a new question:Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.

    Am I hoping it becomes a full-fledged dungeon in my lifetime?

    These were difficult emotions for Hans.

    ***

    ¡°By law, you can¡¯t cast by yourselves until you¡¯re sixteen.¡±

    The guild hall full of children groaned with disappointment.

    ¡°Spellcraft can be extremely dangerous. Who here has tried to hold the leash of a dog bigger than you?¡±

    A few hands went up.

    ¡°And what happened?¡±

    ¡°Pulled me down and drug me in the mud,¡± one of the children said.

    Hans nodded. ¡°Same thing happened to me once. Magic can be like that if we aren¡¯t careful, and if it was our job to keep the dog from attacking the neighbors, then losing control is bad for us and the people we care about. Does everyone understand?¡±

    Several small heads bounced excitedly.

    ¡°If I hear you tried to cast a spell, you¡¯ll be in trouble with me. I¡¯ve kicked kids out of class permanently for being reckless.¡±

    The faces turned serious and frightened.

    With the warning speech thoroughly complete, Hans continued the lesson. Casting a spell was possible through mana manipulation, and there were four ways to accomplish that: Incantations, hand gestures, spell components, and the mage¡¯s will.

    Advanced mages could cast with will alone, but that was more difficult to accomplish as the spell complexity increased with each tier. Incantations, gestures, and components acted as casting aids, simplifying pieces of the spell so less work needed to be accomplished with will. In practice, most mages varied what aids they used based on preference and ability. Hans, for example, could cast his spells without spell reagents, but he still needed gestures and incantations.

    The kids¡¯ class was too young to cast, but they could begin to perfect their spell gestures. Though they were meant to make casting easier, the hand dexterity and manipulation required could be incredibly challenging. The bends and contortions had to be precise, and most were not intuitive.

    Hans taught the first three motions of Create Water and set the children to practicing. He walked between the benches in the guild hall to help and coach when one of the kids¡¯ struggled.

    These lessons never lasted very long. With swordplay, the banality of repetition could be hidden under the fun of hitting your friends with wooden sticks, but learning spellcraft meant hours of intense focus on small details. An eight-year-old could only handle so much of ¡°close, but your pinky is just a hair out of position.¡±

    ¡°Will we learn to cast spells like Miss Mazo?¡± Loddie, one of Hans¡¯ first students when he arrived in Gomi, asked from the back of the room.

    Oh, please no. I don¡¯t have the fortitude to train Blue Mages.

    ¡°Maybe we can ask her when she visits next,¡± Hans deflected.

    Olza arrived when the children¡¯s attention began to sputter. She had a satchel over her shoulder and two potted plants in her hands, both covered with cloth. Hans was thankful for her timing.

    Calling for the class¡¯s attention, he introduced Olza and her lesson and ceded the floor to her.

    ¡°Mr. Hans told me you were studying spellcraft today, which is a nice coincidence because alchemy and spellcraft are similar in a lot of ways. We still use mana in our work, but we do more with manipulating and processing components. That lets us do different things from spells, and unlike a spell, we can hand our potion to anyone to use.¡±

    The alchemist set a few bottles on the table in front of her and gently removed the cloth from the two pots, revealing tiny white flowers, their blossoms smaller than a copper piece. One pot had five or six of the flowers, while the other had several dozen, by Hans¡¯ estimate.

    ¡°Who knows what these are?¡± Olza asked the class.

    ¡°Starcups!¡± several children yelled without raising their hands.

    ¡°Very good. These are common in clearings around Gomi, and I¡¯ve been conducting a little experiment to keep me busy during the winter. We¡¯ll come back to that though.¡±

    Olza demonstrated picking a petal from a starcup in the less crowded pot, processing it with a mortar and pestle, and using a special spoon¨Cwith an absurdly small scoop, akin to the pin-head crack she claimed to see in the dungeon core¨Cshe measured out a dash of the ground petal. Given the size of the flower, the amount of material was already quite small, making this measurement incredibly precise. She deposited the material on a glass plate.

    She held up a bottle filled with yellowish white powder. ¡°This is sulfurous ash,¡± she told the class. ¡°This ingredient is usually found near volcanoes, so I had to place a special order for us to have it here in Gomi.¡±

    With a clean spoon the same size as the first, she measured out a pinch of the powder and held it over the ground starcup petal.

    ¡°Never mix ingredients you haven¡¯t researched first. Plenty of alchemists have blown up their labs and half a city block because they weren¡¯t being safe in their practice. I already know what this reaction does, and I¡¯ve been careful to use only a small amount.¡±

    The alchemist dropped the barest dusting of sulfurous ash onto the ground starcup petals and the mixture flashed, bright enough to leave everyone in the room blinking. Naturally, the children erupted in cheers at the reaction.

    ¡°Want to see another?¡± Olza asked, already knowing their answer. Once the class returned to their seats, she held up the other pot of starcups, the one overflowing with the small flowers. ¡°Miss Mazo told me about some earth magic tricks for growing plants. I can¡¯t cast spells, but alchemy requires mana, so I have a lot of practice injecting mana into a reaction.

    ¡°I planted both of these pots at the same time, so Miss Mazo¡¯s advice definitely helped them grow. Do you think that will change the reaction?¡±

    The students disagreed with one another, some certain it was the same and others equally certain it would be different.

    ¡°Then let¡¯s test it! Before I came here, I tried this in the safety of my lab with protective equipment. What I¡¯m doing here is not the way to test new ingredients, understood?¡±

    Heads nodded throughout the room.

    ¡°Good. So again, we are using a small amount. Let¡¯s see if it¡¯s different¡­¡±

    The new mixture flashed as well, but it was so bright that Hans needed several seconds for his vision to return to normal and longer for the circles floating in his eyes to fade. The kids were more excited about this reaction than the first, but they sat momentarily stunned for a few seconds before beginning their celebration.

    ¡°If anyone wants to learn alchemy, I¡¯m thinking about taking on an apprentice in the spring. If that¡¯s interesting to you, come talk to me. I¡¯ll tell you more about what my day to day work is like, so you can decide if you really want to apply.¡±

    Hans asked the children to thank Miss Olza for her demonstration. After a few questions¨Cmostly about what things exploded when mixed together¨Cclass concluded. Olza spoke with a few children who were too shy to ask their questions in front of the group, and soon they departed as well.

    As she situated her materials for the trip back to her shop, Hans said, ¡°I didn¡¯t know you had experiments going.¡±

    ¡°I do have a life outside of researching the mountain,¡± she replied with a grin. ¡°I try to always have at least one experiment in progress. Keeps me sharp.¡±

    ¡°What earth magic did Mazo put you up to? I¡¯m almost afraid to ask.¡±

    She looked around the corner to the guild hall door to make sure no children were present. ¡°Mazo and I got to talking about her alchemy adventures, and she couldn¡¯t answer questions I had about growth rate and potency changes from her methods. Hans, I¡¯m amazed she didn¡¯t flatten Hoseki. She did nothing by the book.¡±

    Chuckling, he said, ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s Mazo. Taking direct hits from the world¡¯s strongest monsters has warped her idea of ¡®dangerous.¡¯¡±

    ¡°One of her earth magic techniques is pretty simple. The mana piece of it is close to how an alchemist uses mana, so I was able to figure it out with her help. This was my first test.¡±

    ¡°I take it a brighter flash is a good sign?¡±

    Olza nodded enthusiastically. ¡°The test batch of starcups grew far better than the control, and you saw that the reaction was stronger. It¡¯s a promising start. Lots of testing to do yet though.¡±

    Hans scratched his beard. ¡°If the results are that good, wouldn¡¯t that spell be more popular?¡±

    She looked around again. ¡°According to Mazo, it¡¯s not well-known, and many people would frown upon the method. The technique requires my blood.¡±

    ¡°Olza,¡± Hans groaned. ¡°You¡¯re seriously playing with blood magic?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not blood magic. It¡¯s earth magic that requires blood. There is a difference.¡±

    ¡°Sure.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m serious!¡±

    ¡°If you say it¡¯s safe, I believe you, but please be careful. I¡¯ve read some awful things about blood magic gone wrong.¡±

    New Quest: Research blood magic.

    ***

    As soon as Olza left the guild hall, Hans grabbed the few books he owned on spellcraft and checked their indexes for entries about blood magic.

    The beginner primer on spellcraft might as well have just written ¡°No¡± on the one page it contained about blood magic. Other than listing dangers and warnings, it shared no actual information about that particular school of spellcraft.

    The guild¡¯s book on alchemy had ingredient entries for various types of blood, from animals to monsters, and a strongly worded caution to never use human blood in alchemy, ever. The author used words like ¡°barbaric,¡± ¡°unethical,¡± and ¡°beyond the pale.¡± Warnings aside, the book shared no information about its actual application.

    The only place he found any concrete information about blood magic was in his bestiary. A few high-level monsters were known to practice blood magic¨Cliches, hags, goblin shamans, and so on¨Cso while the bestiary didn¡¯t share how blood magic worked, it did share the potential effects of blood magic spells.

    Liches had been known to use blood magic to manipulate victims, from mind control to puppeteering. Allegedly targeting an entire noble family at one point, the lich turned their family bonds into a path for treachery. In another case, it was believed the spell of a lich ¡°boiled¡± the blood of an adventurer. Such a thing was difficult to confirm or study, but the party who witnessed it was deemed to be a reliable source.

    Hags typically used blood magic to increase the potency of curses, weaving the spell through their victim¡¯s circulatory system. Blood curses, according to the bestiary, were incredibly difficult to break because blood magic used the victim¡¯s own body to replenish the strength of the curse.

    Goblin shamans had been observed using blood magic gathered from ritual sacrifices to summon demons, but the average shaman used blood magic to enhance the strength of their minions. With blood, they could imbue a goblin with boosts to strength, speed, and several other buffing effects.

    He found nothing on blood magic being used with plants in any of his books.

    I have to keep Mazo away from Gomi. She¡¯s a bad influence.

    Quest Complete: Research blood magic.

    ***

    Open Quests (Ordered from Old to New):

    Progress from Gold-ranked to Diamond-ranked.

    Mend the rift with Devon.

    Complete the manuscript for "The Next Generation: A Teaching Methodology for Training Adventurers."

    Expand the Gomi training area to include ramps for footwork drills.

    Design a system for training dungeon awareness.

    Research the history and legends of the Dead End Mountains.

    Protect Gomi.

    Train Gomi adventurers to keep the dungeon at bay.

    Design the ultimate strategy for hunting squonks.

    Solve the town secret problem without being a conspiracy weirdo.

    Design a dungeon cabin.

    Test Quentin¡¯s siren-squonk theory.

    Pick a secret passage design for the cabin. Bonus Objective: Make it cooler than a bookshelf door.

 Chapter 39: Gathering

    Kane and Quentin stepped carefully around the Polza patch, giving the pit itself a wide berth. Their obvious curiosity for the dungeon was tempered by respect for the high potential of danger. Hans had expected the boys to be mature about the project from the beginning, but seeing it for himself was still a comfort.

    Becky hadn¡¯t arrived, so Olza got to work setting up basecamp instead of prepping for a crawl. Though they had a defense for the hopelessness aura to test, they wanted Becky¡¯s immunity nearby if it failed. Roland seemed to be immune as well, but exploring the dungeon further was not of interest to him. Besides, if Roland went down with them, the boys would be alone on the surface.

    Hans helped Roland measure out the space around the cabin. While the Guild Master stood awkwardly in one place holding the end of a string, the hunter scribbled in a notebook. At times, Roland seemed to argue with himself before recording the final decision.

    ¡°Dad,¡± Quentin said, looking around the rocky Polza patch. ¡°Where are the boards?¡±

    As if expecting that question, a grinning Roland pulled two axes out of his rucksack. ¡°Right here.¡±

    Kane understood the meaning before Quentin. The tusk teen moaned like he was in deep pain.

    ¡°We¡¯re chopping all the wood for the cabin?¡± Quentin asked.

    Roland nodded. ¡°Eventually. First we¡¯re building a shelter for us to camp in while we work on the cabin. We¡¯ll need 30 trees cut to twelve foot lengths. Look for ones about this size.¡± The hunter connected his hands like he choked an imaginary neck, fingertips to fingertips, thumb tip to thumb tip.

    To Kane and Quentin¡¯s credit, their complaints were short-lived. They set to work chopping down trees that met Roland¡¯s specifications.

    After the temporary shelter was complete, an A-frame design large enough for the three but small enough that heating it would be practical, they would begin on the cabin foundation. Roland planned to set posts to account for the slope, a tiring dig process but better than moving enough mountain dirt to make a flat piece of land. Luckily, the warmth from the dungeon core had kept the soil from freezing. Digging of any kind would have been impossible otherwise.

    The cabin blueprint was the simple one-room design Roland suggested to Hans. They could sleep four comfortably and up to eight if they didn¡¯t mind the close company. One room was easy to heat, and the structure was simple yet strong enough to endure wind and snow. Come spring, they could reevaluate and consider expanding the cabin into a larger building.

    This design would suffice for now. Secret passage planning could wait.

    Quest Update: Help Roland complete the cabin build.

    Hans helped Roland prepare the build site for the temporary shelter, clearing away brush and pruning lower branches that might get in their way. In a short time, the teens deposited four logs, thick enough to be sturdy but still narrow enough that one person could maneuver the weight. The Guild Master held each log in place while the hunter tied each end to a tree, eventually forming a rough square. From there, they could lay down the floor, and then every other log could function as both a wall and roof.

    Despite four sets of hands working on the shelter, they hadn¡¯t finished by sundown. One night in a tent wasn¡¯t so bad if it meant having a reliable shelter the next, provided a heavy snow didn¡¯t surprise them.

    Exhausted from the day¡¯s work, Kane and Quentin went to sleep as soon as their tents were up. Roland sat at the campfire with Hans and Olza, sipping at a cup of tea to wash down a gamey dinner, speaking softly as to not wake the boys.

    ¡°Hard to believe you¡¯re going to test an idea from my son,¡± Roland said. ¡°He¡¯s sharp, but most people wouldn¡¯t take advice from a kid, not at your rank.¡±

    ¡°Good ideas can come from anywhere,¡± Hans replied. ¡°I knew Quentin had been thinking about the squonks since you came home and figured he wouldn¡¯t stop. Thought maybe making it constructive would help him a little.¡±

    Roland approved. ¡°I appreciate you letting him come along. I have some time to catch up on, I¡¯d say.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re too hard on yourself,¡± Olza said. ¡°You¡¯re a good dad, and he loves you.¡±

    ¡°Thanks for saying that.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s true.¡±

    Active Quest: Research the history and legends of the Dead End Mountains.

    When the conversation lagged, Hans remembered one of his quests. Hunters were great sources of local lore and legends, in part because they often embraced superstitions to some degree, seeing patterns in nature after hours and hours in the trees. Like Roland, most hunters were born and raised in the woods their profession relied on, making them even better sources of information that might not make it into a textbook.

    ¡°Do either of you know any stories about the Dead End Mountains? Unsolved mysteries. Old wives tales. Those kinds of things.¡±

    ¡°Oh there¡¯s some good ones,¡± Roland said, poking at the fire.

    Olza perked up. ¡°Really? I haven¡¯t heard any.¡±

    ¡°Becky mentioned the mountains being titan bones,¡± Hans said.

    ¡°Everyone knows the mountains are titan bones,¡± Roland scoffed. ¡°How about what lies beyond the mountains?¡±

    Neither Hans nor Olza had heard such stories, not more than what the Guild recorded in their histories.

    ¡°The mountain merchant is a good one,¡± the hunter began. ¡°According to my dad and my pap, the mountain merchant visits the Dead End Mountains every one hundred years, and has done so from the rising of the mountains at the beginning of time.

    ¡°Coming from beyond the mountains, the merchant waits at a summit meeting spot for one day. If no one traded with him, he would leave and return after another hundred years.

    ¡°If you met the merchant, you would be given the opportunity to trade for a key. What you traded was up to you, and he would reject or deny the offer. The only hint the merchant has ever shared about what to offer is that it should be ¡®something his customers beyond the mountains would see as having unique value.¡¯ Were you successful, he would give you the key to a lost city hidden in the Dead End Mountains, full of treasure.

    ¡°Somewhere along the way, the location of the summit was lost, as was the day he was expected to arrive. Some folks believe the trade is already complete and a race of mountain people have lived hidden in the Dead End Mountains for centuries. Others say there¡¯s a clue in the forest to help you find the merchant, but you can only find it if you¡¯re lost.

    ¡°Regardless of what you believe, you should look at the mountain tops every day. If you don¡¯t, you might miss your chance to spot the merchant.¡±

    When Roland finished his story, he grinned.

    Olza asked, ¡°Who does the merchant trade with on the other side of the mountains?¡±

    The hunter shrugged.The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

    ¡°Are there stories about what¡¯s on the other side?¡± Hans asked.

    The stories didn¡¯t agree with each other, Roland shared. The adventurers who claimed to see it described it as a wasteland, a desert where dust storms never stopped. The guild supported that report as official fact, but Roland had heard stories of it being a paradise or a frozen ocean, a sea of stars at the edge of the earth or an entirely different world, a place nothing like the kingdom.

    Talk died out after that. The three at the campfire let their minds quietly accept that sleep was near. Hans smiled through the entirety of Roland¡¯s story and continued even now. He loved this part of adventuring, getting to hear stories that had never left one small place in the world. He had become something of a collector in that respect.

    Quest Update: Research the history and legends of the Dead End Mountains, more.

    Gomi had to be a treasure trove of wonderfully weird stories, and with a dungeon pit a few feet away, he suspected he might become a character in one of those stories someday.

    What an honor that would be.

    ***

    Hans was the first to wake, so he started on the fire. He was slightly concerned that Becky hadn¡¯t arrived yet, but Druids had their own perception of time. He pushed it from his mind and hung the kettle over the flames. Waiting for the water to boil, he surveyed the site.

    The temporary shelter would need another hour or two at the most. Having Kane and Quentin to fell trees was a big help, but if they were wielding axes, Hans was stuck with the shovel. Digging the pit had given him his fill of shoveling for a long while, but the cabin needed a foundation. Having an actual bed to sleep in would be quite the reward.

    But what next?

    Not sure where to start, he began drafting a wish list¨Ca more serious one this time¨Cof what functions a dungeon outpost should serve.

    Shelter and warmth were the foundation, but more shelter meant more mouths to feed, so they¡¯d need a cellar for food, maybe even a smokehouse so they could process and preserve game on site instead of having to drag it back to town. Sharing a single room with three other adventurers would eventually lead to friction. A little bit of leisure space would help that.

    An armory with some basic maintenance equipment would be a necessity. The less they had to hump weapons and armor back and forth from town, the better. An on-site blacksmith was a fantasy, but they could have enough on hand to make basic repairs. The same should probably be said of an infirmary. A serious wound wouldn¡¯t survive the hike to town, so they¡¯d need to stock an inventory of medical supplies and teach someone to use them.

    With so much time to pass, a space to train and a place to read would be nice as well. They sounded like luxuries, but sometimes luxuries were necessities when everything else was hard.

    For the cabin to be an effective cover, none of those things could be visible. How could they hide half a town of resources? No secret bookcase would be good enough to pull that off. The longer he stared at the pit, the more he realized that underground may be the most effective option.

    ¡°Why do you look so sad?¡± Olza asked, reaching for the kettle.

    ¡°I don¡¯t want to dig anymore.¡±

    ***

    Asking for Roland¡¯s help was a dumb idea. The hunter¡¯s standards were too high.

    ¡°Sorry, needs another foot and a half at least,¡± Roland said, looking down at what digging Hans had accomplished.

    Glumly, Hans returned to his work. In the background, he could hear Kane and Quentin holding a steady rhythm of chops. Roland had them looking for larger trees for the cabin build, and the boys decided working on the same tree was easier. From time to time, Roland would walk to where they were working to assess their technique. After a short evaluation, he¡¯d point out what they should do differently to drop the tree in a safe direction before returning to digging holes with Hans.

    To disrupt the monotony, Hans shared his cabin thoughts with Roland, from what he thought it needed to what concerned him.

    The hunter laughed.

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°No one is coming up here just to have a look. Build whatever you want.¡±

    And he was serious. If someone took the effort to find their way to this exact spot in the Dead End Mountains, the problem was likely bigger than a believable cabin could solve.

    ¡°I see your point,¡± Hans said with only a little huffing, ¡°You¡¯d really put it out in the open?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m just a backwoods guy. Who am I to say what¡¯s right for a big time adventurer retiring to the mountains?¡±

    ¡°Very funny.¡±

    Roland smiled. Hans thought the hunter was doing that more often, smiling. The weight he hadn¡¯t been able to shake since the hopelessness aura was lightening. It wasn¡¯t completely gone, but it seemed easier for him to carry in recent days. That was good news for Roland¡¯s son as well. Hans suspected that Quentin had played the largest part in that recovery, and the boy deserved for things to work out.

    ¡°What happens when Quentin becomes an Apprentice? How does that work?¡± Roland asked.

    ¡°When and not if?¡±

    ¡°We both know why I say that.¡±

    Hans laughed. Quentin¡¯s interest in adventuring was far stronger than mild curiosity. Anyone could see that. ¡°Apprentice is a more formal version of what he¡¯s doing now. Good bit of bookwork, a few written tests. There¡¯s a combat competency assessment as well. When the tests are done, he¡¯ll shadow Bronze-ranked and Silver-ranked adventurers on low rank jobs.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s that look like in Gomi?¡±

    ¡°...That¡¯s a good question. The practical experience will be tough to get because there just aren¡¯t a lot of jobs here. It¡¯s pretty important adventurers experience a variety of jobs at the low ranks when mistakes are less deadly.¡±

    The hunter sighed. ¡°I assumed that was the case, as much as I don¡¯t want it to be.¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s got some time to decide what he wants to do. If he does travel, I can make sure he¡¯s with a good chapter, the kind of people you¡¯d want him to be around.¡±

    ¡°I appreciate that.¡±

    ***

    Sliding the last post into place was not as triumphant as Hans had hoped. They shouldn¡¯t need to use shovels for any other part of the job, but he wasn¡¯t looking forward to hefting the logs Kane and Quentin had gathered. Dragging the logs out of the woods looked far worse than digging post holes, so Hans was grateful he had avoided lumberjack duties at least.

    Roland explained that they would do very little processing of the logs because they didn¡¯t have the tools or time, but he promised it would be airtight. The hunter was as good with a woodsman¡¯s axe as Hans was with a sword. Watching him build the temporary shelter was as entertaining as it was educational. Hans suspected the cabin total build would be more impressive than the precise modifications Roland made to any individual log.

    After trying and failing to argue that they should get a glass of fool¡¯s root, Kane and Quentin went to their bedrolls while Hans, Olza, and Roland spent another night around the fire.

    A tortured howl echoed up from the pit. Everyone tensed, each of them instinctively reaching for a weapon. A few breaths later, it came again.

    Becky had yet to arrive. The conundrum that had them waiting for Becky in the first place¨Ca shortage of squonk-resistant adventurers¨Cnow put them at risk. Going after the howl wasn¡¯t an option. Not only could a squonk claim one of them, the halls were trapped by the Druid for just this reason, to keep monsters from escaping the dungeon.

    Hans grabbed a few pieces of the chopped firewood and tossed them into the pit. He stepped into the darkness and emerged with a blanket from his tent, wrapping it around his shoulders.

    ¡°What are you doing?¡± Olza asked.

    ¡°Taking watch in the pit. I¡¯m not going in the dungeon. Just watching the door.¡±

    Once he reached the bottom, Hans gathered the firewood he dropped and built a fire, the opening of the pit overhead acting as a chimney. Putting his back to the fire and facing down the cavern that eventually became a dungeon, he crossed his legs and put his sword across his lap. With light behind him, his eyes had an easier time adjusting to the darkness.

    Three minutes passed.

    My damn knees. Oh gods.

    ***

    Open Quests (Ordered from Old to New):

    Progress from Gold-ranked to Diamond-ranked.

    Mend the rift with Devon.

    Complete the manuscript for "The Next Generation: A Teaching Methodology for Training Adventurers."

    Expand the Gomi training area to include ramps for footwork drills.

    Design a system for training dungeon awareness.

    Research the history and legends of the Dead End Mountains, more.

    Protect Gomi.

    Train Gomi adventurers to keep the dungeon at bay.

    Design the ultimate strategy for hunting squonks.

    Solve the town secret problem without being a conspiracy weirdo.

    Help Roland complete the cabin build.

    Test Quentin¡¯s siren-squonk theory.

    Pick a secret passage design for the cabin. Bonus Objective: Make it cooler than a bookshelf door.

 Chapter 40: Corporeal and Incorporeal

    The night on watch had been long, cold, and uneventful. Distant sounds of movement and pained groans echoed through the cavern from time to time, but nothing emerged from the dungeon. Hans had always been a ¡°better safe than sorry¡± kind of adventurer, though. Watching the exit was the right call regardless.

    ¡°Do you want some coffee?¡± Olza called down to Hans from the surface.

    ¡°Please. That would be amazing.¡±

    With the rest of the camp beginning to stir, Hans climbed the ladder to join Olza by the fire. A blanket of deep gray clouds lingered overhead, a warning of heavy snowfall to come. According to the locals, the winter thus far had been ¡°mild,¡± despite several feet of accumulation arriving near weekly. So when Roland looked at the sky and frowned, Hans began to worry.

    ¡°The heated build site will keep the cabin from getting buried,¡± Roland began, ¡°But a few extra feet of snow out there will make logging tough.¡± The hunter gestured to the forest surrounding them.

    ¡°What if we spent today logging, all four of us. That way if the snow gets us, we can at least work on the cabin.¡±

    ¡°Aye. I like that plan.¡±

    Kane and Quentin roused to the sounds of Hans and Roland alternating chops on a tree. Without fanfare, the boys returned to their work, selecting their own tree to fell.

    The first time Hans adventured with a proper woodsman, he learned that lumberjacking required a surprising amount of technique. On that day many years ago, he had watched as a much smaller human chewed through two trunks before Hans finished his first. Mirroring the woodsman¡¯s technique, Hans adjusted the angle of his chops to remove larger chunks with each swing, and he happily accepted coaching on how to read a tree and what to do in order to drop the tree in a certain direction.

    Hans already respected the danger presented by a one hundred-year-old tree falling¨Cmore than a few adventurers had been the victim of a surprise lean or break or deadfall. Watching an expert assess the shape, growth, and surroundings of a tree was a pleasure for Hans, always enjoying seeing a master practice their craft.

    Understanding the value of the hunter¡¯s experience, he was grateful Roland was present to recommend shifts in strategy to keep everyone safe and to keep one of their trees from getting hung on the branches of another, which would leave it precariously upright with no safe way to dislodge it.

    ¡°Should we be worried about Becky?¡± Hans asked Roland during one of their breaks.

    The hunter chewed his cheek before replying. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t say so. She probably just got caught up. She keeps busy.¡±

    ¡°Do you know with what? I¡¯m not versed in the private lives of Druids.¡±

    Roland laughed. ¡°I don¡¯t think many are. I¡¯ve seen her go to great lengths to heal a sick tree or to care for injured creatures. One time she yelled at me for interrupting her ¡®negotiation¡¯ with a moose.¡±

    ¡°What were they¨C¡±

    ¡°No idea. She was too grumpy to talk about it.¡±

    ¡°Sounds like Becky.¡±

    ¡°She sees herself as a sort of guardian or caretaker for Gomi¡¯s forest. I can¡¯t say I know what that entails, but I know she takes it seriously.¡±

    With the sun hidden, Hans couldn¡¯t quite estimate the time of day, but he knew he should get back to chopping. As he and Roland began working on their next tree, fluffy snowflakes fell. In minutes, snow surrounded Hans like a dense fog. When Roland yelled that the boys should return to camp, Hans was grateful to have the hunter present to guide them back.

    The Polza patch may have been heated from beneath by dungeon roots, but it didn¡¯t produce nearly enough to negate the blizzard rolling down the mountain. Roland and the boys retreated to their A-frame shelter while Hans and Olza ducked into the small cabin Becky had built. The space was cramped, forcing Hans to sit in the corner with his knees pulled in while Olza sat on her bedroll.

    ¡°Should we be worried about the pit?¡± Olza asked.

    Hans shook his head. ¡°We¡¯re all awake, and Roland has an eyeline to it. If something crawls out into this, we should hear it if Roland doesn¡¯t see it first.¡±

    Having spent the previous night awake on watch, the Guild Master fell asleep shortly after he sat. Olza didn¡¯t disturb him.

    ***

    Olza was reading a book when one of Hans¡¯ own snores woke him. ¡°Sorry. Didn¡¯t mean to pass out like that.¡±

    The alchemist shrugged. ¡°What else would you do?¡±

    ¡°Good point.¡±

    Silence brought the passing of time to a crawl.

    Hans was bored. ¡°What made you choose alchemist over herbalist?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s a contentious topic,¡± Olza answered. ¡°Alchemists use mana. Herbalists don¡¯t. Herbalists talk a lot about the purity of nature, and you¡¯ll meet plenty who look down on alchemy because they think it twists the natural order. Alchemists are just as petty, though. Most of them dismiss herbalists.¡±

    ¡°Where do you fall?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t care much, to be honest. Alchemy has so much more potential for exploration, and that¡¯s interesting for me. I don¡¯t have anything against herbalists, though. I¡¯ve learned a lot from the few I¡¯ve met.¡±

    ¡°Do you get that feeling of exploration in Gomi? Finding new ingredients must be frustrating.¡±

    ¡°Can be, but I only have one or two projects going at a time. I can usually get what I want from the caravan without much bother. Except ectoplasm. I¡¯ve never been able to afford it.¡±

    ¡°If you can even find it,¡± Hans added, knowing that ingredient was exceptionally rare.

    ¡°Exactly.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s a pain to collect it and a pain to transport it.¡± Finding ectoplasm meant seeking out ghosts, which were uncommon. If an adventurer was fortunate enough to find ectoplasm after a ghost was banished¨Conly the most tortured ghosts were likely to leave the material behind¨Cbottling it required an eyedropper and mythical levels of patience.

    Then, if you accidentally exposed it to sunlight, the ectoplasm dissolved.

    ¡°You¡¯ve taken ectoplasm jobs?¡± Olza asked.

    Hans had indeed, though the primary focus of most jobs was to address a haunting or a zombie outbreak or some other such spooky incident. Finding ectoplasm was optional¨Cand unlikely¨Cbut would radically increase the job¡¯s payout if they could secure a sample.

    ¡°The only sample I ever recovered was on this zombie farm animal job,¡± Hans mused, ¡°and we lost most of it in the transfer. Good coin though.¡±

    ¡°Zombie farm animals? Now you have to tell the story.¡±

    Chuckling, Hans agreed. Stories were good for passing the time.

    When a family hadn¡¯t visited town in a few weeks, a concerned citizen went out to the family¡¯s rural dairy farm to check on them. As soon as the citizen saw a herd of undead cows moving aimlessly through a field¨Ctheir tails still swishing despite exposed ribs and decaying, empty eyes¨Cthey turned back and alerted the Adventurers¡¯ Guild.

    ¡°Rule number one of a zombie job,¡± Hans said, ¡°is to contain the outbreak.¡±

    ¡°Wouldn¡¯t rule number one be ¡®don¡¯t get bit?¡¯¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s the first rule of fighting zombies.¡±

    ¡°Ah, of course.¡±

    Upon arriving, Hans¡¯ party¨Chimself, Mazo, Gret, and Devon¨Cwas pleased to find that the townspeople proactively posted lookouts around the farm. Usually, that would be a dangerous job, but a zombie outbreak occurring inside of a fenced-in property was much safer than most outbreaks. Hans proposed going field by field, paddock by paddock, clearing the zombie animals. Traveling in a circle, they could end in the middle of the property at the family farmhouse. Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators!

    The cows were first.

    Forty cows posed an odd tactical dilemma. At a certain quantity, nearly any animal was dangerous, zombified versions more so. Killing them all from behind the safety of the fence would have been the best option, but Gret refused to fire forty arrows while the rest of the party sat and watched. No one would agree to collect his arrows for him, and when he suggested his share be increased, the party descended into bickering.

    Devon called for peace and proposed that Mazo use one of her area of effect abilities while Gret was on standby to clean up the runners. He and Hans would handle any that might threaten the mage or the archer. The party agreed.

    As Hans and Devon moved into position, the Guild Master whispered to his student, ¡°Thank you. I was dreading scrubbing guts out of my armor.¡±

    ¡°Me too. I hate finding dead critter in my hair.¡±

    Hans agreed. The two secretly fist-bumped over cleverly avoiding combat duties for the zombie bovines.

    The herd of dairy cows died in a spray of flying gravel. Gret loosed two arrows in quick succession to take care of the stragglers. The pigpen tactics were similar, as were the chicken coops. They debated preserving the chicken coop, but they agreed a zombie chicken coop was unlikely to have much resale value, so it got blasted as well.

    The bull presented a problem. He stood at the far end of the field, in a pasture separate from the rest of the herd. At this distance, he was little more than a blurry shadow, and neither Gret nor Mazo would climb the fence to get within range. Their new plan was for Devon to get the bull¡¯s attention and lure him to the rest of the party.

    ¡°You want me to do what?¡± Devon asked.

    ¡°Who insisted that all of us race last week?¡± Mazo said with incredulity, pointing to her halfling legs and Devon¡¯s human legs.

    ¡°You did prove you¡¯re the fastest. I think the words you used were ¡®objectively faster?¡¯ I¡¯m sure they were because you reminded us as recently as this morning.¡± Hans chimed in, piling onto Devon.

    Gret kept to the outside of the group, hoping no one would notice him and remember his Rogue-ish agility.

    ¡°I disagree with your premise that the results of a foot race are applicable here,¡± Devon said confidently. ¡°Luring bulls is a completely different skill.¡±

    The halfling stared up at the dashing young warrior.

    ¡°Okay, fine. Someone hold my shield and give me a minute. I¡¯m not racing a bull in platemail.¡±

    When the zombie bull was a pile of cinders with horns, Devon accused Mazo of withholding her spell to tease him, but she insisted she had attacked as soon as she was able. The friendly dispute continued for some time while Devon re-equipped his gear.

    Clearing the farmhouse was quick work, but Hans and Devon couldn¡¯t weasel out of that task. Houses were tight quarters, so armored melee experts were the obvious solution. No one inside escaped the infection. The adventurers put down four zombies with no trouble or surprises. After checking the rest of the house, including the basement and attic, they took a deep breath. This job had been deceptively long, and they were grateful it was over.

    ¡°Uhh, guys,¡± Hans said, referring to a page in his notebook. ¡°There are five family members.¡±

    Mazo unleashed a flurry of halfling curses.

    ¡°Maybe they weren¡¯t home? Vacationing in the next town over, perhaps?¡± Devon offered.

    ¡°We have to do another pass. I don¡¯t want to either, but we have to.¡±

    Begrudging no one but their awful luck, the party canvassed the farm, starting with the barn. They hadn¡¯t found any creatures in it before, just bales of hay and battered farm equipment. On this pass, they moved the bales of hay, poked piles of straw, and dusted the floor looking for a hidden cellar. Zombies could sometimes stumble into an odd place and trap themselves, but they found no such zombies here.

    They stood in front of the barn, surveying the rest of the farm, trying to decide where to search next.

    ¡°Should we check the grain silo?¡± Devon asked, pointing to the metal tube casting a long shadow on the barn.

    Mazo looked at the hatch at the bottom, the access point for retrieving how ever much grain might be needed. ¡°I don¡¯t think a zombie could get in here.¡±

    ¡°No, they¡¯d get in from the top.¡±

    The party looked at him curiously.

    ¡°I¡¯m serious. Falling in a full silo is like quicksand. It¡¯s deadly in most cases.¡±

    Hans considered his student, hands on his hips. ¡°Where do you learn something like that?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know. I just learned it somewhere.¡±

    ¡°What an awful way to go.¡± The party agreed.

    Devon walked around the silo, listening. When he had circled back around to the party, he pounded a fist on the side of the structure. Then he put his ear against the silo. ¡°There¡¯s something in here!¡±

    ¡°Be serious,¡± Mazo said.

    ¡°Bet me.¡±

    The halfling narrowed her eyes. ¡°Fine. I¡¯ll slag it.¡±

    ¡°No!¡± Devon threw up his hands. ¡°Then you¡¯ll say we can¡¯t tell who was right and who was wrong. No way.¡±

    Hans and Gret laughed.

    ¡°Okay. You¡¯re right, I can hear it,¡± Mazo admitted. The halfling began an ability but stopped suddenly.

    A voice from the silo shouted, ¡°Please!¡±

    ¡°Olza, this ghost was a weird one,¡± Hans said, leaning forward in the humid cabin. ¡°We were looking straight ahead, but the ghost made it look like we were looking down into the silo. The farmer¡¯s face was in the middle, staring at us like we were standing over him. The grain around him faded out around the edges and kept moving like he was perpetually sinking.¡±

    ¡°Like you were watching him drown in the grain?¡±

    ¡°Yes, but weirder. Talking to him while he drowned in the grain.¡±

    Olza grimaced. ¡°What did he say?¡±

    ¡°This long story about a bad deal with the fae for riches or a harvest or something like that. There was a girl and some kind of trade where he¡¯d take her love and give it to the fae, but when he went to her, she said she never loved him. He couldn¡¯t hold up his end of the deal, so he got cursed.¡±

    While the ghost continued droning its tale, Mazo asked Hans if her memory was correct: Could a ghost be bound to a body that¡¯s also zombified? Hans said yes. Then she stepped back and readied a fire spell that dropped a pillar of flame down from the sky, like a faucet of fire was opened in the heavens.

    Olza interjected, ¡°Wait. Aren¡¯t grain silos highly flammable?¡±

    ¡°You know,¡± Hans said, struggling to repress his annoyance. ¡°Every time I tell this story, at least one person says that like it¡¯s common knowledge.¡±

    ¡°It is.¡±

    ¡°It isn¡¯t.¡±

    ¡°Sorry, Hans.¡±

    Putting his face in his hands, Hans said, ¡°Well nobody in our party knew that, okay? So you already know the ending.¡±

    ¡°The silo exploded.¡±

    ¡°Oh did it,¡± Hans said. ¡°We were fine, and Devon was right. The missing family member was inside. Best we can figure is he was cursed, and it may have been that the whole family got cursed too, but his story made it sound like he was first. Our patient zero drowned in the grain, went zombie, and then the grain was fed to every animal and family member in some form or another, spreading the affliction.¡±

    ¡°They should teach you guys that kind of stuff in your classes or whatever. Farm safety is important.¡±

    The Guild Master glared at the alchemist.

    She laughed.

    ¡°Are there embarrassing alchemist stories?¡±

    Olza thought. ¡°None that involve me.¡± She grinned.

    ¡°Anyway. The sun was down by the time the fire died out. We found the ectoplasm where the silo used to be.¡±

    ¡°How much did you get for it?¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t want to know, but it was a lot.¡±

    ***

    Roland waved as Becky and Becki trotted over the freshly fallen snow. The blizzard had stopped with a few hours of daylight remaining, so the group had gone back to working on the cabin to salvage what they could of the day. The Druid stopped a few feet away from the construction and leaned forward, framing her head between Becki¡¯s warthog ears.

    ¡°Hey Becky,¡± Hans said. ¡°I was worried you went to see the merchant.¡±

    ¡°Roland!¡± Becky yelled. The hunter snickered behind a pile of logs. ¡°You keep that creepy shit away from me, Hans.¡±

    ¡°He put me up to it.¡±

    She slid off of Becki¡¯s back, scowling the whole way. The dwarf walked around the cabin, inspecting the foundation and the beginnings of the floor. Deciding how to handle the trapdoor was more challenging than Hans and Roland had expected. The initial approach was to lay the floor, and then cut the opening. When they learned how difficult it was to saw through logs pressed tightly together, Hans and Roland had to tear out several pieces of the floor and try again.

    They cut the logs to size, accounting for a gap for the trapdoor, and relaid the floor. Roland recommended asking the tribe to mill floorboards to lay over the logs. Hiding a door in smooth wood would be easier than hiding one in a raw, bumpy floor.

    ¡°Not bad,¡± Becky said. ¡°Thought you¡¯d be farther along, though.¡±

    Roland almost retorted, but he saw the dwarf watching to see if he took the bait. He restrained himself.

    ¡°Everything okay?¡± Hans asked. ¡°I started to get worried.¡±

    ¡°Why wouldn¡¯t it be?¡±

    Accepting he wouldn¡¯t learn her secrets today, Hans simply nodded. ¡°Well, it¡¯s good to see you. We might have a solution to the squonk aura and need your help to test it.¡±

    ***

    Open Quests (Ordered from Old to New):

    Progress from Gold-ranked to Diamond-ranked.

    Mend the rift with Devon.

    Complete the manuscript for "The Next Generation: A Teaching Methodology for Training Adventurers."

    Expand the Gomi training area to include ramps for footwork drills.

    Design a system for training dungeon awareness.

    Research the history and legends of the Dead End Mountains, more.

    Protect Gomi.

    Train Gomi adventurers to keep the dungeon at bay.

    Design the ultimate strategy for hunting squonks.

    Solve the town secret problem without being a conspiracy weirdo.

    Help Roland complete the cabin build.

    Test Quentin¡¯s siren-squonk theory.

    Pick a secret passage design for the cabin. Bonus Objective: Make it cooler than a bookshelf door.

 Chapter 41: Accessory Slot

    ¡°They have a wax base to make them malleable. Don¡¯t push them too deep.¡± Olza handed Hans two grape-sized pieces of a squishy yet fluffy material. He watched as she demonstrated stuffing her ears with the oddly springy substance and then did the same with his.

    The world went quiet. The earplugs didn¡¯t eliminate all sound completely, though. He¡¯d certainly hear the clash of swords if it were close enough, but otherwise, all he could hear was his own heartbeat, echoing ominously in his plugged ears.

    The effect disoriented Hans at first. Until then, he hadn¡¯t appreciated how much he relied on his sense of hearing in a dungeon. Now that it was gone, he felt separated from the world in some way, and losing even one tool for detecting danger was unnerving.

    One of Hans¡¯ old instructors had lost his hearing, and he described the experience as ¡°tragically isolating.¡± As his world went quiet, he had fewer conversations, and he missed out on the social moments that appeared spontaneously when friends gathered. By the time a joke or topic was explained to him, the moment was long past. After a few years of that, he drifted away from most everyone in his life.

    If Hans could understand that feeling after just a few minutes without hearing, he struggled to imagine decades of that disconnect. The grumpy old adventurers in Hoseki suddenly made more sense.

    Becky led while Hans and Olza followed. On their way toward the room that grew squonks, they happened across a partial gnoll.

    The monster had the head, arms, and most of the chest of a gnoll, but that was all. No lower extremities of any kind, and not because they were severed. Instead of wounds, the gnoll seemed to have stopped growing, like a half-finished drawing.

    Like the chimeras they had found previously, this gnoll appeared to have died on its own after crawling down the dungeon hallways with only its claws pulling it along. Hans had no way of being totally sure, but he suspected this was the source of the noise he stayed on watch for.

    ¡°The dungeon must be struggling to grow monsters for some reason,¡± Hans observed.

    When he looked up, Olza pointed at her ears and mouthed, ¡°I can¡¯t hear you.¡±

    Oh. Right.

    Hans made a mental note to revisit the conversation topside.

    The walk was long, but eventually Becky pointed to a familiar T in the dungeon corridors. To the left was a chamber coated in roots. Any time they had found squonks down here, they seemed to originate in that room. If Quentin¡¯s siren hypothesis was correct, Hans should be able to walk in and chop up the squonks in complete safety. Stepping away from the dwarf to conduct that test was harder for Hans than he expected, however. His body instinctively resisted, not wanting to experience the hopelessness aura again.

    Willing his feet to move, he turned the corner with his sword drawn.

    The two squonks sleeping in the chamber stirred as Hans approached. They looked up at him with tears streaming down their gray, wrinkled faces. For a second, they seemed unbothered by the adventurer, but two steps later their eyes went wide as they realized this was not another victim. By the time they thought to scurry, they were both dead.

    Quest Complete: Test Quentin¡¯s siren-squonk theory.

    That kid has brains, that¡¯s for sure.

    Wearing earplugs the entire time he was in the dungeon was not ideal, but it beat gravel in his boots or getting lost in the psionic effect. He returned to Becky and Olza with a thumbs up. Olza clapped excitedly. An effective protection against the squonks meant more dungeon access for research. In the long-term, they would need to explore a squonk defense that didn¡¯t sacrifice hearing. That was a given for Hans.

    Though the initial test was complete, he still had an important quest on his mind:

    Active Quest: Design the ultimate strategy for hunting squonks.

    If this dungeon grew to the size of the Lemura¡¯s Labyrinth, for example, the party would need to wear earplugs for a full month¨Ctwo weeks to the bottom, and two weeks back to the top. The more Hans thought about it, the more his ears itched.

    As they neared the dungeon core, Becky held up a hand to signal a stop. She pointed to a passage that broke off to the right of the main hallway. Hans confirmed her suspicion: That turn wasn¡¯t here when they first mapped the dungeon. Not long ago, this was just another section of wall.

    The dungeon was growing.

    With the core ahead, they turned down the new corridor. After a dozen yards, they came to a set of double wooden doors.

    Well, it was meant to be a set of double wooden doors, but there was only one. It was closed, but the space where the other door should have been was empty, despite the stone doorframe and the hinges for the missing door being intact.

    Passing the door, the hallway ended with an incomplete staircase. Various portions of steps were missing. In one place, three full steps were absent, creating a precarious gap before the staircase stopped at a rough rock wall.

    Doubling back, they climbed into the octagonal chamber holding the dungeon core. Nothing obvious had changed there, but if the core was growing one grain of sand at a time as Olza suggested, that wasn¡¯t surprising. While she sat in front of the core with a sketchpad, Hans sat against the wall, directly below the fissure they used to enter. Becky still refused to go through, so she waited in the hall.

    To pass the time, Hans flipped through his notes. He tried to do that with regularity no matter what the job or project, often finding a new thought or insight that he hadn¡¯t considered when he first scribbled an idea. The fresh perspective of reading old notes had long ago proved its value to Hans, and he incorporated it into his teaching as well. Forcing students to revisit a technique months later often sparked new growth, noticeable enough that the students themselves were surprised by what they remembered and what they now saw after several additional months of training.

    At the very beginning of the notebook, the first page, Hans read the list he wrote prior to his move to Gomi. Several items were crossed off due to weight¨Cthe majority of his book collection, for example¨Cmaking the final list relatively short. At the bottom, he had left himself a note:

    Put the Academy behind you. Seize the new opportunity.

    For a brief moment, memories of sitting in his empty Hoseki facility each night, hoping someone would show up for a class, filled his mind. He thought of the signs he made and the fliers he commissioned¨CTrain with Hans! Gold-Ranked Adventurer, Experienced Teacher. And he remembered finding those fliers in the Adventurers¡¯ Guild, crumpled and defaced.

    Put it behind you.

    Months in Gomi flew by with each turn of a page. Purple flowers. Squonks. Orcs. Dungeon wall training ads. The Polza patch. The orc conflict on the other side of the kingdom. Sketches of footwork training aids. The dungeon core. Thoughts on how to hide the dungeon from the Adventurers¡¯ Guild. Cabin plans and ideas.

    Olza waved her hand in front of Hans¡¯ face to get his attention. He saw her look up at Becky and say something he couldn¡¯t hear.

    The alchemist removed an earplug and motioned for Hans to do the same. Taking this risk was the only way they could talk, further proving earplugs were not a long-term fix for fighting squonks.Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.

    ¡°I¡¯ve collected everything I can without touching it,¡± Olza said.

    ¡°Say it was safe to touch, what other tests would you run?¡±

    ¡°Temperature, resonance, conductivity, some rough estimates on density.¡±

    Hans thought. ¡°Hey Becky, how far from basecamp would you say we are?¡±

    ¡°Pushing three miles, I¡¯d say.¡±

    ¡°The Reavers¡¯ Rest dungeon destroyed an island,¡± Hans said, thinking aloud. ¡°Wasn¡¯t a very big island though. If this core exploded with the same force, would definitely be some earthquakes since we¡¯re underground¡­¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re considering it?¡± Olza asked.

    The Guild Master nodded. ¡°I¡¯m fine blowing myself up, but I don¡¯t want to put the two of you at risk or our people on the surface.¡±

    ¡°Think about your own butt, not mine,¡± Becky said from the fissure above. ¡°If you and Olza think it¡¯s worth trying, I¡¯m willing to stay.¡±

    Hans began to feel the most dangerous emotion an adventurer could experience: curiosity. He looked at Olza.

    ¡°I¡¯m fine risking it,¡± she assured him. ¡°My guess would be that dungeons are pretty durable, so dungeon cores should be the same. Otherwise, a spider or centipede could get in here and blow it up.¡±

    Her argument was sound. He agreed they could try it on the condition that Becky and Olza watched from the fissure. If they needed to flee, that was the safer place for them to start. With some grumbling, they agreed.

    His heart raced as he approached the core, glowing a soft purple from within the fractured black cube. Starting with the black cube, he set the tip of his finger against the surface and slowly continued lowering his hand until his palm was flat against the side. The surface felt warm and had the faintest hint of vibration, but otherwise, nothing notable happened.

    Here goes¡­

    He lowered his finger onto the dungeon core. As soon as his skin touched, he yanked his hand away, cursing. Blood dripped from his fingertip.

    ¡°I¡¯m an idiot,¡± Hans said.

    ¡°Are you okay?¡± Olza yelled.

    ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m fine. I didn¡¯t think about it being sharp.¡±

    ¡°Hey boss,¡± Becky called. ¡°The light is stronger.¡±

    Hans looked at the core. ¡°Are you sure? Looks the same to me.¡±

    ¡°I keep telling you, dwarf eyes are better than yours.¡±

    Nothing and no one exploded, at least. All of that buildup and concern for a touch seemed silly in retrospect, but cautious adventurers were safe adventurers. Giving Olza the all-clear to climb down, he stared at the dungeon core, thinking.

    Becky unleashed a short, sharp whistle. ¡°Movement,¡± she said, turning to face the hallway.

    Hans stuffed the wax back into his ears and shimmied up the rope as quickly as he could. Not surprisingly, the Druid indicated the movement came from down the hall, the only way it could have come, really. Advancing side by side, they carefully moved down the corridor with their weapons drawn. Becky had her axe with the handle fashioned from a gnarled root, and Hans had his sword.

    Three full grown gnolls emerged from the newest passageway, the one with the half door and incomplete stairs. The gnolls Hans had seen on the surface had dark brown fur, a year-round camouflage for a life in the forest. These gnolls had black fur, and unlike the one he saw earlier, they were whole.

    Taking a step ahead of Becky, Hans put himself in position to draw the attention of the two gnolls in front. This was another dungeon crawling tactic taught by the Adventurers¡¯ Guild, and Becky recognized it immediately. Instead of two people standing perfectly side by side to block a path, this small shift often gave the second adventurer an opening to attack.

    A moment of focus on Hans was all the dwarf needed to bury an axe in one of the gnolls¡¯ chests.

    They repeated the tactic, but this time Becky advanced ahead. Seeing the new threat split the attention of the gnoll immediately in front of Hans. The gnoll stole a glance at the dwarf. A simple thrust put it down before it could look back at Hans. The final gnoll stepped backward, snarling. When the adventurers continued to advance, it turned and ran.

    Hans went to chase, but Becky caught him with her arm. The dwarf stepped forward and threw her axe down the hall. The blade bit into the beast¡¯s spine, and the gnoll fell forward with a wet thwomp. While Becky recovered her weapon, Hans scanned for more threats. They appeared to be alone again, but they revisited the new corridor to be sure.

    Though the gnolls had undoubtedly come from that direction, they saw nothing different or out of place on the second visit.

    Satisfied, they collected Olza and ventured back to the surface.

    ***

    They emerged into a winter night, a soft but steady snow falling on the build site. While they were in the dungeon, Roland and the boys had framed the walls and the roof of the cabin. Placing and insulating the logs for the walls would be simple enough, but it would also be tiring. They needed a lot of materials, which meant more tree chopping and much more wrestling logs into position.

    Roland sat by the fire. Hans assumed Kane and Quentin were already asleep.

    ¡°How¡¯d it go?¡± the hunter asked.

    They recounted the experience and described the gnolls. Neither Roland nor Becky had ever seen a gnoll with black fur, but if that was meaningful, they couldn¡¯t say why. Roland also agreed that three gnolls was a significant number in terms of potential danger. They weren¡¯t a problem for a Gold-ranked and Bronze-ranked, but an untrained person would have fallen. If that pack was not a one-time occurrence, the dungeon definitely needed to be monitored.

    Taking no chances, Hans, Becky, and Roland rotated watch for the night. Hans went first, sitting between the fire and the incomplete cabin.

    A part of the Guild Master hoped the dungeon would keep growing, and grow more quickly. Being the first to explore such a place was a kind of privilege, but that was the kid in him. Adult Hans knew that an increase in dungeon activity made Gomi¡¯s predicament more urgent. They needed to tell the town so they could begin training adventurers. The less training time they allowed for, the more likely someone would get hurt in the dungeon. Or worse: Outside of the dungeon.

    New Quest: Update Gomi about dungeon developments and push to begin adventurer training.

    To occupy himself, Hans tried to name places adventurers specifically avoided, hoping to spark an idea for how they tell the townspeople about the dungeon. That way, if someone leaked, some might be less motivated to see if it was true or not.

    Swamps. Inconvenient, smelly, ruined clothing and gear, difficult to navigate.

    Deserts. Kind of the same reasoning as the swamp: doing anything in a desert was simply unpleasant.

    The frontier. Dangerous, unpredictable. Then again, those were also the qualities that attracted more daring adventurers.

    Small towns. Limited supplies, not enough work, poor tavern selection.

    Abandoned mines. Unstable. Surprise cave-ins. Outdated maps.

    Hans¡¯ Adventurer Academy. Because, well, Hans.

    Hans chuckled to himself at the last one. He didn¡¯t laugh about his failures often, but if someone else had made that same joke, he would have had to applaud their humor.

    Continuing that line of thinking, adventurers also avoided:

    Guard stations.

    Beginner classes.

    Kids¡¯ classes.

    Town Halls.

    Dry taverns.

    Dry towns.

    Royal ceremonies.

    Noble families.

    Romantic commitment.

    Laundry.

    Taxes.

    ¡°You okay, Hans?¡± Becky asked. ¡°You¡¯ve got a big smile on your face.¡±

    ¡°Just enjoying my own jokes.¡±

    ***

    Open Quests (Ordered from Old to New):

    Progress from Gold-ranked to Diamond-ranked.

    Mend the rift with Devon.

    Complete the manuscript for "The Next Generation: A Teaching Methodology for Training Adventurers."

    Expand the Gomi training area to include ramps for footwork drills.

    Design a system for training dungeon awareness.

    Research the history and legends of the Dead End Mountains, more.

    Protect Gomi.

    Train Gomi adventurers to keep the dungeon at bay.

    Design the ultimate strategy for hunting squonks.

    Solve the town secret problem without being a conspiracy weirdo.

    Help Roland complete the cabin build.

    Pick a secret passage design for the cabin. Bonus Objective: Make it cooler than a bookshelf door.

    Update Gomi about dungeon developments and push to begin adventurer training.

 Chapter 42: Dungeon Tycoon

    Quentin nearly floated away; he was so excited. When Hans shared that his siren hypothesis had worked on the squonks, the boy couldn¡¯t stop grinning.

    ¡°If you get more ideas,¡± Hans said, ¡°Don¡¯t be shy to share them.¡±

    Quentin nodded. Kane, standing a few paces behind Quentin, smiled as well. He was proud of his friend. Both were inspired by the development and set to work felling trees with renewed vigor. At first, Hans planned to help Roland set the cabin logs, but Becky insisted¨Cand proved¨Cthat she was stronger than Hans.

    While the hunter and the dwarf built up the walls, Hans and Olza gathered clay and dry leaves to insulate the walls. Straw would have been preferred, but the leaves would do just fine for their purposes. When one wall was set, they began slapping the mixture between and around the logs, trying to fill any crack or gap that might leak heat.

    They did the same for the other walls, the floor, and the roof. With so many hands at work, the cabin exterior was complete a day and a half later.

    The structure wasn¡¯t large, but it was sufficient. As soon as they stacked stone around the foundation, the dungeon entrance would be completely obscured.

    Roland volunteered for himself and the boys to stay behind. He would watch the dungeon entrance and build a fireplace from the mountain stone. For their part, Kane and Quentin were slack jawed when they realized their next job would be lugging rocks to the cabin. And to their credit, they didn¡¯t complain, at least not in front of Hans.

    Quest Complete: Help Roland complete the cabin build.

    Hans, Becky, and Olza departed for Gomi.

    ***

    ¡°This one¡¯s me!¡± Becky held up a watercolor of a dwarf sitting on a pig. She had an axe and a beard and a big smile.

    While Hans was gone, Galinda must have held a watercoloring lesson for the kids because when he came back to the Guild Hall, he found nearly a dozen pieces hung all around. They featured the style typical of children, though he had a few guesses which were done by the older children, based on technique and composition.

    ¡°Here¡¯s you!¡± The painting Becky pointed to featured a small man with a sword running from a giant green snake as large as the paper. The face of the snake suggested it was vicious. Hans¡¯ face, on the other hand, was open-mouth screaming.

    Who told them about the ogopogo?

    The other paintings featured various people and places around Gomi, in every season. Someone painted Galinda and Charlie, and someone else did Galad.

    Knowing that the guild hall still served a use in his absence warmed his trail-frozen heart, but he wished he had thought of art classes. Hans wasn¡¯t anywhere near as skilled as Galinda, so he definitely shouldn¡¯t teach it, but some basic drawing lessons would be incredibly useful. Adventurers often drew maps and sketched plants or monsters, and it was the kind of learning that children didn¡¯t realize was learning. Playing with paints or pencils was plain fun.

    When next he had an hour to fill, he could sit here and try to guess who made which picture. The kids might get a kick out of that too.

    Going straight to bed tempted him, but he had to delay for a few more hours. He desperately needed a bath, and then he needed to meet with Galad, Charlie, Galinda, and Becky. The dungeon was officially growing aggressive monsters. They needed to know, and Gomi needed to train.

    ***

    Everyone frowned, an odd juxtaposition with the bright and cheerful children¡¯s drawings surrounding them in the guild hall.

    ¡°We need to start training right away,¡± Hans insisted.

    ¡°We know, Hans,¡± Galad said, ¡°None of us wants to wait.¡±

    ¡°We don¡¯t want to lie,¡± Galinda added while Charlie nodded.

    Becky stroked her braided beard. ¡°Seems we all agree on that.¡±

    Hans nodded. ¡°Becky has a point. If none of us wants to lie, we can just take it off the table completely. That narrows our options down a little bit.¡±

    ¡°Doesn¡¯t make our remaining options look better, though.¡± Galad rubbed the bridge of his nose. ¡°If we tell everyone, our fear of someone leaking the dungeon outside Gomi is unavoidable. We have to accept that too.¡±

    Everyone agreed with that as well.

    The room sat in silence for several minutes. Hans looked around at the goofy pictures. He knew he had to protect this place. He had to protect these people. He was building a life here. No one else wanted him, but Gomi did.

    ¡°What if we tell everyone about the dungeon?¡± Hans asked.

    ¡°We don¡¯t have time to joke,¡± Galad said.

    ¡°I¡¯m serious. Gomi isn¡¯t a secret, right? It¡¯s on the map. It pays taxes. Merchants visit. Yet the Tribe has avoided any notice or discovery.¡±

    Charlie made a ¡°please go on¡± gesture.

    ¡°People know about Gomi, but that doesn¡¯t matter because they don¡¯t care. They know we¡¯re here and have no desire to visit. When I opened my academy in Hoseki, I blew a bunch of money on fliers, but nobody came. That¡¯s the same thing. People knew it was there, and they knew they didn¡¯t want to see it.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s kind of sad, Hans,¡± Becky said. Heads nodded.

    ¡°No, stop. That¡¯s not the point. We tell everyone about it, but we make it entirely unappealing. Hear me out: ¡®Hans¡¯ Dungeon Training Academy: Complete with Hans¡¯ Ultimate Training Dungeon.¡¯¡±

    The plan was simple. Well, no. The plan was outrageous and convoluted. When the snow cleared, Hans explained, they would send the letter Charlie proposed to the Adventurers¡¯ Guild, detailing their willingness to pay Hans out of Gomi¡¯s coffers if the Guild agreed to let Hans keep his position. At the same time, Hans would announce his brand new training facility to every chapter of the guild. Galinda immediately volunteered to design the fliers. Making art that was intentionally terrible appealed to her, and these fliers definitely needed to be awful.

    With enough bad marketing on top of Hans¡¯ less than stellar reputation, they could tell everyone about the dungeon¨Cnot in full detail, of course¨Cand convince them it wasn¡¯t worth visiting.

    For a moment, Hans thought about how he actually wanted¨Cand fully intended¨Cto build a training dungeon. He already had a corridor and plans for more training aids¡­ That wasn¡¯t important right now.

    Charlie suggested they put an outrageous fee on the flier for good measure. Becky suggested they emphasize Hans¡¯ Gold ranking. Galad proposed they include a note that the schedule varies because of Hans¡¯ injuries, and ¡®no refunds¡¯ if that interrupted or affected their experience in any way.

    ¡°I wish this wasn¡¯t so easy for you guys,¡± Hans joked.

    With a believable and very public cover, they could tell the people of Gomi the truth. They¡¯d ask them to keep it a secret still, but when someone did leak it, they would sound unhinged. Who would ever believe that the dungeon from the cheesy fliers was an actual dungeon, complete with dungeon core?

    Gods, that¡¯s thin. So very thin.

    But it was all they had, so it would have to do.

    Quest Complete: Update Gomi about dungeon developments and push to begin adventurer training.

    Quest Update: Solve the town secret problem without being a total conspiracy weirdo.

    Quest Complete: Solve the town secret problem without being a total conspiracy weirdo.

    New Quest: Figure out how to launder dungeon loot.

    ***

    The town crammed into one of the dormitory barns on the Tribe lands. Aside from the odd spouse who stayed behind to watch their children, every household was present. They looked between one another, whispering questions and guesses, quieting when Charlie lifted his arms. Rather, Galinda lifted her arms to alert everyone that Charlie was lifting his. The lady tusk smiled down at the love of her life.

    Charlie addressed the townspeople gathered that evening.Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

    ¡°Thank you, everyone, for being here tonight. Before I officially begin, I need to do something we¡¯ve not done before. All of you know we don¡¯t draw attention to the Tribe. They are our family and our neighbors, and we believe that people who don¡¯t love Gomi like we do shouldn¡¯t get to mess it up.¡±

    Much of the crowd clapped, mixing in a few cheers.

    ¡°Those of you who have recently arrived, I must ask you a kindness. Our promise to shelter and feed you is not in danger, and none of us here will think less of you, but for this topic, for the sake of Gomi, we have to be guarded. If you are unsure or have already decided you intend to move on, we love you no less, but we do need to have this talk without you.¡±

    Murmurs rippled through the townsfolk.

    ¡°This isn¡¯t a trick or a cruel joke. I promise. We were able to shelter so many because of how we run our town. We ask this of you so that we can survive to do this for others.¡±

    Four tusks and two humans Hans didn¡¯t recognize sheepishly exited. Galad stood at the door to see them off, repeating Charlie¡¯s message in his own words, and then checking with each person individually to make sure they knew they were still welcome.

    That¡¯s really smart, actually. Wow.

    Leaving like that must have been uncomfortable for those six, so Galad was there to catch them. He gave them a more personal conversation where they could ask questions to better understand the caution and directly address any concerns. One tusk asked how much time he had to clear out his bed in the dormitory, and Galad immediately put his hands on the tusk¡¯s shoulders.

    ¡°Brother, look at me,¡± Galad began, ¡°Are you familiar with missions in the military? Small group of soldiers with a specific objective that no other unit knows? Every soldier in the army isn¡¯t given the entire plan because it puts the operation at risk. It¡¯s accepted, and they call it smart. Do you agree with that practice?¡±

    The tusk nodded nervously.

    ¡°That¡¯s what this is. It¡¯s just safer for all of us. If you change your mind and want to stay, we¡¯ll loop you in.¡±

    The six people Galad spoke to left looking relieved and grateful.

    I should just follow Galad around and learn from him. With anyone else but Charlie or Galad talking to the town, that could have gotten messy.

    Yeah. I¡¯m in the right place.

    Once the crowd settled again, Charlie resumed.

    ¡°We have news that represents a threat to our way of life in Gomi, but before I share specifics, let me say that we also have a solution. It will be tough, but we see a way through, so please hold any concerns until we¡¯ve explained. Fair?¡±

    The crowd nodded, but many townspeople were wide-eyed and a few were pale after hearing that preamble.

    Charlie told the town that a dungeon had been found at the foot of the mountains. That dungeon threatened Gomi with monsters from within and adventurers from without. To deal with the monsters, he proposed they train their own adventurers. To keep outside adventurers away, he proposed they advertise a dungeon so terrible that no one would want to visit Gomi.

    Most everyone seemed perplexed about that idea, whispering to one another.

    Seeing this, Charlie told a detailed story of how Hans opened a training facility in Hoseki and that no one came to classes because nobody wanted to train with a Gold-ranked instructor. He revealed that the venture had been such a colossal failure that Hans¡¯ adventurer fortune was lost, leaving him destitute. To further emphasize Hans¡¯ lack of appeal, he read the letter the Guild sent about Hans¡¯ potential removal.

    ¡°If we put Hans¡¯ name on the dungeon, nobody will want to come to Gomi ever again.¡±

    Hans wasn¡¯t sure he liked how quickly everyone agreed with the logic.

    One person raised a hand and suggested that they submit fake reviews to town papers. If they got printed, they would further convince people that Hans¡¯ Ultimate Training Dungeon was awful. Another suggested the town make sure to complain about Hans in front of the merchants to drive word-of-mouth rumors. A final person added that they should arm any of Gomi¡¯s traveling citizens with fresh stories about how bad the Academy was.

    When the room had settled again, Charlie continued, ¡°We debated for many hours how best to handle this, but we all agreed that our neighbors deserved to know the truth. If someone spreads this conversation beyond this room, it puts all of us at risk. We felt keeping your trust was worth that risk.¡±

    Clapping erupted again. Charlie quieted the crowd and invited Hans to the front to speak.

    ¡°You all were a little too quick to go with the ¡®Hans sucks¡¯ plan,¡± Hans said with a smirk.

    The crowd laughed. He laughed with them.

    ¡°As Charlie said, we need to train adventurers. This doesn¡¯t change any of the classes we are doing now. You don¡¯t have to become an adventurer if you train. Kids, adults, whatever Charlie is, you¡¯re still welcome.¡±

    Charlie laughed the loudest at that and gave Hans a nod as the crowd calmed.

    Hans explained that becoming a Gomi adventurer was like helping the Tribe to brew and sell beer. No one was obligated to do either, but if you spent your time helping in those ways instead of growing or hunting your own food, you¡¯d be taken care of. Just like every other worker was taken care of. He spoke openly about the dangers of adventuring, including the possibility of death. He also made sure everyone understood that managing the dungeon would mean regular postings at the dungeon entrance, likely for several days or weeks at a time.

    He talked about a story he heard, about how Gomi had a few exceptional growing seasons when the rest of the kingdom faced droughts. As a result, beer was harder to come by for many taverns, so the Tribe made a greater profit. All of that profit went into the Tribe coffers, and they voted as a group how to spend it. The bulk of it went toward medicinal supplies, repairing or replacing farm equipment, and a batch of new books to share amongst themselves.

    The dungeon would work the same way. All of the profit would be reinvested in Gomi with the direction and approval of its citizens.

    ¡°Let me be absolutely clear,¡± Hans said. ¡°Listen closely now: adventurers aren¡¯t entitled to more because they are adventurers. You¡¯ll get the same pay as the brewery folk. We¡¯ll provide the equipment and the training, so you won¡¯t have to do that from your pocket. Does everyone understand what I¡¯m saying? Only volunteer to be an adventurer because it¡¯s what you want to do. Nobody can cry about how hard it is later.¡±

    That got more laughs.

    Hans said they would start training tomorrow, but Gomi wouldn¡¯t ask for a firm commitment from anyone for seven days. Whether they started training and realized it wasn¡¯t for them, or they decided on the seventh day they wanted to join even if they hadn¡¯t attended any training sessions so far, the decision to commit was theirs. So give the choice time and thought.

    Charlie returned to his spot in the front, saying he would take general questions for as long as it took to answer every one. After that, Hans would answer questions from anyone wanting to know more about the adventuring option.

    Some of the questions they got included:

    ¡°What if monsters escape the dungeon?¡±

    In addition to guarding the dungeon at all times, they planned to build failsafes into their security. If one gate failed, for example, the monsters would need to get through a second if not a third. For additional protection, they intended to build a wall around Gomi and another around the barns on the Tribe lands. If they needed protection for any reason, monster or otherwise, they would have a place to go and their own gates to close.

    ¡°What if adventurers come anyway?¡±

    They would see the Gomi guild hall and would be welcome to train with Hans as long as they¡¯d like. Unless the adventurers had specific knowledge of the dungeon, continuing to let Gomi be Gomi was least likely to raise suspicions. With enough talk about the snow and complaints about the town¡¯s lack of beer, the adventurers would move on. If they came at all in the first place.

    ¡°Are there squonks in the woods right now?¡±

    Becky¡¯s scouting suggested that no, there weren¡¯t any squonks in the forest. The squonks that escaped previously were killed by Becky and Hans, and neither Becky, Hans, or any of Gomi¡¯s hunters had reported seeing any hint of wild squonks. Caution was still advised.

    ¡°Do I have to live in Gomi forever?¡±

    Of course not. No one signed their life away with this plan. If anyone decided to move on, that was their business, and they¡¯d always be welcome back. Gomi would ask, of course, that they keep the dungeon in confidence. If the truth slipped out of anyone¡¯s mouth by mistake, the public knowledge of Hans¡¯ Ultimate Training Dungeon would give them an out. When they said dungeon, they didn¡¯t mean a real dungeon. They meant Hans¡¯ prop dungeon in the training yard.

    ¡°Will travel in and out of Gomi be restricted?¡±

    Not at all. Prior to the dungeon discovery, any tusk who left Gomi was asked to give a different hometown if anyone wanted to know where they were from. 100 Gomi tusks could be traveling the kingdom, but no one would connect them to Gomi if everyone did their part. That plan hadn¡¯t changed, and it had worked well thus far. Over the years, a few tusks left to study at university but returned home to Gomi without issue, for example. Conflicts weren¡¯t as tense then, but the world might return to sanity in time.

    ¡°What if the dungeon plan doesn¡¯t work?¡±

    Gomi would do everything it could to maintain peace and autonomy. If that didn¡¯t work, the choice would be the one they always would have had if something went bad, dungeon or not: fight or flee.

    ¡°How are we going to sell the dungeon loot?¡±

    That part of the plan was a work in progress, and ideas were welcome.

    ¡°What happens if enchanted weapons are found, or an extremely rare item is found?¡±

    The current answer was still a proposal the town needed to review and agree on. That proposal suggested the town keep anything that could be used to protect adventurers or Gomi. Magic weapons and the like would be stored in a town armory and loaned to adventurers as needed. If they needed to defend Gomi, that same armory would be used to arm as many people as they could with exceptional gear. Hans cautioned everyone not to get too excited because finding those kinds of items was incredibly rare. Even if they got all of the loot from the dungeon for the next ten years, they¡¯d likely only have seven or eight items to loan.

    They were more likely to come across smaller enchantments or rare ingredients. In both cases, if Gomi could use it, the town would keep it. Anything that Gomi couldn¡¯t use would be sold as discussed.

    The questions continued about this or that nuance, but the biggest concerns seemed thoroughly addressed, to Hans at least.

    As much of the crowd filed out of the barn, talking amongst themselves, Hans prepared to answer questions from prospective adventurers.

    ***

    Open Quests (Ordered from Old to New):

    Progress from Gold-ranked to Diamond-ranked.

    Mend the rift with Devon.

    Complete the manuscript for "The Next Generation: A Teaching Methodology for Training Adventurers."

    Expand the Gomi training area to include ramps for footwork drills.

    Design a system for training dungeon awareness.

    Research the history and legends of the Dead End Mountains, more.

    Protect Gomi.

    Train Gomi adventurers to keep the dungeon at bay.

    Design the ultimate strategy for hunting squonks.

    Pick a secret passage design for the cabin. Bonus Objective: Make it cooler than a bookshelf door.

    Figure out how to launder dungeon loot.

 Chapter 43: Charisma Check

    Eleven people stayed behind. Hans had hoped for more, wanting a roster large enough to rotate teams in and out of the dungeon with room for sick days, but he decided to stay hopeful. Seven days was a long time in the winter. Others might change their minds and volunteer.

    Of those who stayed, three were human and eight were tusks, a mixture of male and female for both races. Almost all of them were newcomers to Gomi, which didn¡¯t surprise Hans. Adventuring often appealed to people who didn¡¯t feel settled or who wanted a way to contribute without being locked into a traditional career. Many of the best adventurers Hans had met came from difficult circumstances. Abusive parents. Broken families. Poverty. War. Plenty of adventurers came from stable backgrounds, of course, but Hans was certain he was right about the trend.

    Two faces did surprise Hans, however. One was Terry the guard. The first time he met Hans was when he tried to publicly embarrass the Guild Master during a kids¡¯ class. The two were cordial now, but still, Terry? Really?

    The other face belonged to Tandis, the mother tusk who brought Hans cookies to express her gratitude. As soon as she left, Kane and Quentin wouldn¡¯t stop talking about how she liked Hans.

    The Guild Master took his place in front.

    ¡°This part will work the same way as what we just did,¡± Hans began. ¡°Ask me anything. I¡¯ll stay long enough to answer every question. If you think of a question later or don¡¯t want to ask in front of everyone, pull me aside after or visit me at the guild hall. Please don¡¯t come too early, though.¡±

    The group chuckled. Hands went up immediately, and Hans answered questions.

    ¡°What classes are we allowed to pick?¡±

    Hans would not impose class restrictions. Find what you like to do, get good at it, and go adventuring. If they ended up with eleven healers, well, someone would have to suck it up and learn to swing a sword. They¡¯d still be a healer. Just with a sword. Stabbing things.

    ¡°Will there be ranks?¡±

    Probably of some kind, but that was not decided. Gomi¡¯s situation didn¡¯t match the way the Adventurers¡¯ Guild traditionally assessed ranks, so Hans wasn¡¯t sure how to address that yet. Mostly, ranks would be used to keep people safe. Restricting areas of a dungeon by estimated difficulty was a standard adventurer practice, and they would use that here as well in some form. That approach saved the less experienced from stumbling into a fight they could never win while keeping the higher ranks from wasting their time on weaker monsters¨Cand thus taking work away from lower ranks.

    ¡°What will being stationed at the dungeon be like?¡±

    If they could get the numbers, Hans wanted to have at least three separate parties. At any time, one party would be in the dungeon, one party would guard the entrance, and one party would get time off. When the party of crawlers returned from an expedition, the party guarding the entrance would begin theirs. The party recovering from a recent dive would soon be relieved by the third team for time off. The rotation sounded complicated, but it was designed to not only guard the dungeon twenty-four seven but also to give everyone plenty of rest.

    A party waiting to go down would always have a few days in the cabin to rest from the trek to the entrance. By the time the crawling party came up, the party waiting would be fresh. And so on.

    Guarding the gate was serious but also not expected to be strenuous. The crawlers clearing the dungeon would keep most anything from reaching the surface, but if something did, the guards would be there. For the most part, though, the guards could rest and relax.

    As for the crawls themselves, Hans admitted little was known about the dungeon. The size and composition of the dungeon would have a big effect on the length and difficulty of crawls, but those were all unknowns at present. He suggested they assume the worst so they could be pleasantly surprised if it was easier.

    ¡°What if someone gets hurt?¡±

    First aid and basic field medicine would be part of their training. Everyone would know how to clean wounds and how to stitch them. Hans would also teach setting broken bones, treating dislocations, caring for burns, and addressing poisons or venoms. If it could happen in the dungeon, they would know how to treat it. That approach had a limit if circumstances were dire, obviously, but no one would be helpless if they needed to treat themselves or a party member. The staging point at the dungeon entrance would also be stocked with medicinal supplies and the guards on duty there could assist as well.

    That said, adventuring was a rough profession. Anyone considering that lifepath should be aware that injuries were inevitable. Training could do a lot to prevent them, and they would receive that training, but when you swing swords for a living, you¡¯re going to cut.

    ¡°How will enchanted weapons and armor be distributed?¡±

    Hans laughed. First of all, no one should get their hopes up, repeating his earlier sentiment. Dungeons can produce magic items, yes, but the other known dungeons never produced more than three magic item finds in a year, and they often went several years with no magic item finds at all. They would find a magic item in the Gomi dungeon, eventually, but they would never have enough to gear every adventurer in rare items.

    When they did have magic items to loan, Hans would decide how and when they were used based on where they would do the most good. Those items also would never leave the dungeon or cabin. If an adventurer had a magic item for a crawl, they would return it to the armory as soon as they exited the dungeon so that the next party down could use it, provided the item had the durability and energy to do so.

    No one would ever take a magic item home.

    ¡°What if I change my mind?¡±

    No one would ever be forced to enter the dungeon. Treating adventurers like soldiers got people hurt or killed. If an adventurer decided they needed to leave the life behind, doing so was not shameful or dishonorable. Party members should never have to doubt the resolve of their allies, so handling the situation any other way helped no one.

    That said, adventuring would get hard, and everyone would want to quit at one point. Whoever decided to become an adventurer should do so with the best of intentions as well as the understanding that this path would challenge them. Adventurers needed the grit to endure bad jobs.

    ¡°How will we train mages?¡±

    Hans agreed that was a weakness in the plan. Gomi didn¡¯t have any mages, and the Guild Master was only capable of teaching the most basic of fundamentals. Any volunteer wanting to pursue magery should be willing to teach themselves after Hans reached the end of his knowledge. He had a few ideas for fixing the mage problem, but they were works in progress.

    ¡°Can we use our own gear?¡±

    With approval, yes. Hans wouldn¡¯t let anyone go into the dungeon with equipment that did not meet his standards or was inappropriate for their dungeon.

    ¡°Can we do jobs outside of Gomi?¡±

    That was an unknown. Assuming they had the numbers to have parties travel for jobs outside of Gomi, Hans was unsure how they would do that without blowing their cover. Submitting a dozen new adventurer records to the Hoseki chapter would garner attention. If not right away, then when he started submitting rank promotions. He was open to ideas for solving that problem because he had no desire to tie down adventurers.

    After a few lighter questions about training times and clarifications of answers from previous questions, Hans¡¯ night finally came to a close.

    ¡°Mr. Hans?¡±

    Not completely closed, apparently.If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.

    Hans turned to find Tandis standing behind him, rocking on her heels nervously. As much as he liked her cookies, dating the parent of a student was still not an option. That could never change.

    ¡°Hey Tandis. Listen. I¡¯m flattered, and you¡¯re great, but I can¡¯t. I can¡¯t date a parent of one of my students.¡±

    Her mouth dropped, and her back straightened with surprise. She seemed sweet, and she was beautiful, but a man had to have his code. No matter what, he needed to stick to his.

    Tandis blinked rapidly for a moment and said, ¡°No, Mr. Hans.¡± She shook her head and coughed. ¡°I¡¯m not asking you out.¡±

    I am going to kill Kane and Quentin.

    New Quest: REVENGE!

    Hans stammered, searching desperately for a way to recover and finding none.

    ¡°I came to submit my application for quartermaster.¡±

    That confused Hans more.

    ¡°You¡¯re going to need a quartermaster,¡± she began. ¡°I managed a tavern with a stable for a few years. Had to keep the kitchen stocked but not overstocked because then food spoils. Stocking too little meant the tavern ran out of food to sell. Also not good. Our food never spoiled, and every customer got fed. I did all of that for the stables too, and managed staff for both.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not sure¨C¡±

    ¡°You need someone to make sure the cabin is stocked. Food, weapons, medicine, all of that. You¡¯ll also have equipment to keep track of and adventurers to schedule. You need a quartermaster, and it should be me.¡±

    She was right. The more she spoke, the more Hans recognized he had underestimated the true scope of the dungeon plan. That many adventurers would need a lot of management, and a supply shortage could put them in danger. But he had no idea how to estimate how much food to stock in the cabin. Tracking that and the equipment with everything else he was responsible for¡­

    ¡°You¡¯re hired,¡± Hans said.

    Tandis suppressed a squeal and hugged the Guild Master.

    ***

    ¡°You¡¯re sure it¡¯s not too late?¡± Olza asked.

    Hans passed a mug of beer to the alchemist. ¡°I¡¯m going to be up for a while yet, anyhow.¡±

    She thanked him for the drink. ¡°Are you really okay with this plan? It will be hard to go anywhere else in the kingdom after this.¡±

    ¡°Because my reputation will be ruined?¡±

    She nodded.

    ¡°I ruined that before I came to Gomi, and that part of the plan was my idea. Nobody forced me into it.¡±

    ¡°Still.¡±

    Taking a moment to sip from his mug, Hans replied, ¡°Want to hear my backup plans? For if Gomi didn¡¯t pan out for me. I had a couple.¡±

    She raised an eyebrow.

    ¡°My top two choices were trying to cross the Dead End Mountains or heading into the frontier. Just keep going as long as I could.¡±

    ¡°Really?¡±

    ¡°Yes. I¡¯m that melodramatic.¡± Hans laughed. ¡°If this works though, I get to do everything I¡¯ve wanted to do as a teacher. And our own dungeon? That¡¯s something even Platinums don¡¯t get to experience.¡±

    ¡°Not going to be great for book sales,¡± Olza teased.

    Hans nearly spit out his beer. ¡°You¡¯re right. I¡¯ll sell one copy instead of two.¡± His face changed suddenly, recalling a moment from earlier in the evening. ¡°You won¡¯t believe what those little shits Kane and Quentin did to me.¡±

    Olza needed several minutes to recover after Hans told her about his awkward moment with Tandis.

    When she could breathe again, their conversation shifted to the events of the night. The town¡¯s cover story was ludicrous on its face, which no one could deny. The town¡¯s response was as good as it could have been. With at least two months of winter left, the relatively calm people they saw tonight had plenty of time to stew. Someone was bound to panic, eventually. Anything less would be miraculous.

    As their discussion waned, they settled into companionable quiet. Olza read a book, and Hans sat at his desk, working up plans and task lists for properly preparing adventurers and running the dungeon operation. The average Apprentice needed anywhere from a year to two years to reach Iron-ranked, the minimum for taking jobs unsupervised. Meanwhile, Gomi¡¯s adventurers needed to be dungeon-ready in months.

    What will we do if the dungeon creates a Diamond-ranked monster or higher?

    Hans would be the first into the meat-grinder if that happened. If fortune smiled on Gomi, the dungeon would continue to develop at its current, glacial pace. A few gnolls and squonks every couple days was manageable, even with a team of Apprentice-ranked adventurers.

    ¡°Have you thought about the gnolls we found?¡± the Guild Master asked.

    ¡°I haven¡¯t stopped,¡± the alchemist admitted.

    ¡°Theories?¡±

    Olza looked up from her book. ¡°Yes. A security response or a coincidence. I thought maybe it used your lifeforce to grow the gnolls so quickly, but that¡¯s not it. You didn¡¯t experience any kind of life or mana drain when you touched the core, so there wasn¡¯t an energy transfer.¡±

    ¡°The core protecting itself makes sense. I¡¯ve heard academics argue that¡¯s all a dungeon is: a highly complex organism trying to protect and feed itself, just like any other monster.¡±

    ¡°I want to do more experiments, as soon as we can,¡± Olza said, the prospect of more tests giving her a surge of enthusiasm. She popped up and leaned over the back of a couch to face Hans. ¡°I almost don¡¯t care if I might get blown up. I know that¡¯s bad, but there¡¯s so much to learn.¡±

    ¡°Like what?¡±

    ¡°Is the response the same no matter who touches the core? What if two people touch the core at once? Does it matter what touches the core? For example, what if a creature touched it instead? Does that reaction happen every time? Will it vary for any reason? Does the temperature or mana output change during the reaction? Is it possible to observe the dungeon growing monsters? If so, imagine the experiments we could do there too!¡±

    Hans waved for Olza to calm down. ¡°Okay, okay. How do you have so much energy this late?¡±

    ¡°Science inspires me.¡±

    ¡°Does it bother you that you won¡¯t get to share your research?¡±

    Her eyes dimmed and her smile weakened. ¡°A little. I came to Gomi to disappear, which I forget sometimes. Anytime I start thinking of becoming a famous alchemist, I remember that I¡¯d rather be safe, and I¡¯d rather Gomi be safe. That¡¯s how it was even before the dungeon.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m struggling with it,¡± Hans admitted. ¡°What if we learn something that could help people? Do we keep it a secret even then?¡±

    ¡°What answers have you found so far?¡±

    He shrugged. ¡°The guild talks about the chapters sharing openly to lift each other up, but that¡¯s not what happens. Everyone keeps their best intel within the chapter. A lot of Guild Masters consider it a betrayal if their students train with anyone outside their home chapter, for example.¡±

    ¡°Really?¡±

    ¡°Too much money up for grabs, I guess. Adventurers need information. Hiding it gets people killed, and I still believe that, but how do I square putting the people here in danger with sharing what we learn?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± Olza said softly.

    ¡°Me neither.¡±

    And what adventurer wouldn¡¯t want to be celebrated?

    The Hoseki Guild Master used to say that working for the Adventurers¡¯ Guild was the best way to get out of adventuring. Running a chapter was more time behind a desk rather than a shield, but that was the job: Work in the background to protect and support your adventurers. If a Guild Master had the largest impact working in the background of a chapter, would working in the background of a town, of a kingdom, of a dungeon make that impact even greater?

    New Quest: Find a way to share new knowledge without putting Gomi at risk.

    As much as Hans wanted to return to the dungeon right away to learn more, he was needed in Gomi. Olza, Becky, and Roland would have to continue studying the core without him. The town needed to monitor the dungeon anyhow, even if that meant less fun for him.

    But still.

    ¡°If you could try to save the cool stuff for when I¡¯m there, that¡¯d be great.¡±

    Olza laughed. ¡°I¡¯ll try.¡±

    ***

    Open Quests (Ordered from Old to New):

    Progress from Gold-ranked to Diamond-ranked.

    Mend the rift with Devon.

    Complete the manuscript for "The Next Generation: A Teaching Methodology for Training Adventurers."

    Expand the Gomi training area to include ramps for footwork drills.

    Design a system for training dungeon awareness.

    Research the history and legends of the Dead End Mountains, more.

    Protect Gomi.

    Train Gomi adventurers to keep the dungeon at bay.

    Design the ultimate strategy for hunting squonks.

    Pick a secret passage design for the cabin. Bonus Objective: Make it cooler than a bookshelf door.

    Figure out how to launder dungeon loot.

    REVENGE!

    Find a way to share new knowledge without putting Gomi at risk.

 Chapter 44: Tutorials

    With three feet of snow on the ground, the guild training yard was not an option. The Tribe had prepared for more refugee tusks than they received, leaving a handful of unused beds in one of the barn dormitories. In the little space they could create, only two pairs of students could drill at any time. The rest waited against the wall for their turns to rotate in.

    The cramped quarters were not ideal, but Hans had taught like this dozens of times. Most small towns didn¡¯t have indoor training facilities, so if he was guest instructing at a small chapter, canceling on account of rain wasn¡¯t an option. They would drag the furniture out of a guild hall if they had to. Otherwise, the only Gold-rank their village might see in years would have to leave without teaching anything.

    Of the eleven people who stayed behind the night before to ask about adventuring, one was Tandis who volunteered to be quartermaster. Of the ten townspeople interested in adventuring, seven came to the first training session. If he was a traveling armor salesman, he¡¯d probably be happy with that conversion rate. When he needed at least three adventuring parties for his dungeon plan to work, seven was eleven short.

    ¡°Adventuring is about adaptation,¡± Hans said to the class. ¡°A typical Apprentice curriculum is broad for that reason. Half the time when you take a hunting job, you end up facing something different from what the job says. Why? Scared people aren¡¯t expert witnesses, and they definitely aren¡¯t monster scholars. If you can¡¯t figure that out on the fly, you get eaten.

    ¡°I promise you that I can teach any of you to be great adventurers, but that¡¯s not what we are doing here. This training is specific to our challenges in Gomi. If it doesn¡¯t hunt or grow here, we¡¯re skipping it. If a weapon isn¡¯t ideal for Gomi conditions, we¡¯re skipping it. Instead of teaching you every party position, we¡¯ll teach you one based on the class you choose, and that¡¯s the position you¡¯ll own for the foreseeable future.

    ¡°We¡¯ll cover everything eventually. Just don¡¯t go running off to fight something we haven¡¯t trained for. If you die, you¡¯ll be in our gear and it¡¯ll be ruined. That gets expensive.¡±

    The group chuckled.

    ¡°Keep that sense of humor. This job gets hard. You¡¯ll need to laugh to get through the worst of it.¡±

    If Hans¡¯ curriculum was a pie, this abridged curriculum was a small slice. He could press the pace somewhat, but he couldn¡¯t lower his standards. Sending an incompetent adventurer into a dungeon was sending them to their deaths. For Hans, the curriculum started in the same place for adults as it did for children¨Csword fundamentals that built into shield work.

    Later that day, after he taught a kids¡¯ class about identifying monster tracks, he taught another class to his first batch of Gomi Apprentices¨Cemergency wound triage. Thus far, gnolls were the primary danger of the dungeon, which made bites and scratches likely. Puncture wounds and fist-sized chunks of flesh going missing were equally distressing problems for different reasons.

    Optimistically, he would be escorting small groups to fight dungeon gnolls in six weeks or so.

    Gods, there¡¯s so much work to do.

    ***

    The next day, the new adventurer class had five students. That number dipped to four on the worst day, but by the final day of the cutoff, six students committed to being adventurers. And Terry was one of them. Hans found himself rooting for the guard more and more.

    Other than Terry, the other trainees were tusks¨Ctwo women and three men. Tandis attended as well. Though she wouldn¡¯t be an adventurer, she needed to understand how adventurers operated and what they needed. Hans hadn¡¯t thought of it like that, but when Tandis explained her reasoning, he agreed, so she attended all the same classes the Apprentices did.

    Instead of sword drills, they spent the day¡¯s session discussing the roles and skills of the major classes. Hans emphasized that classes were not as rigid as many people thought. They were a way to easily understand an adventurers¡¯ role in a party. Ultimately, an adventurer could study and practice anything they wanted, but they should be careful about what they prioritize in the long run. Specialists had a higher ceiling than generalists. Years of training and repetition added up that way.

    Terry was the oldest of them. He went first and said he wanted to be a Ranger. His father had been a hunter, so he knew the forest. He was an okay swordsman, but recognized he could improve. He was about as good with a bow as well. Rangers could play a number of roles, but he assumed he¡¯d be a frontliner given their numbers.

    A female tusk with a build more akin to a human than orc also wanted to be a Ranger. Her name was Yotuli, and she preferred a style that kept her up front. Hans got the impression she wasn¡¯t a complete novice, and he expected she would end up being more of a pure fighter in the long run. That was just a hunch though. Plenty of students had surprised him with their trajectory, so who knew?

    The other female tusk was a middle ground between Galinda¡¯s bulk and Yotuli¡¯s in terms of musculature, but she was taller than both of them. She introduced herself as Chisel, and she had an interest in white magic. She emphasized that she still ¡°wanted to do some killing,¡± which Hans could respect. A healer who wasn¡¯t instantly helpless when a monster looked at them was a good asset.

    The next face reminded Hans of Luther. He hadn¡¯t thought of Luther in a few days, he realized. He wondered how the tusk was doing on the other side of the mountain pass. Hopefully the season slowed the war enough that everyone got a reprieve and Luther could rest easy.

    At any rate, Sven was wiry for a tusk, so much so that he fit the Rogue stereotype perfectly. Even his tusks seemed extra suspicious. He could neither confirm nor deny having previous, unsanctioned Rogue experience. He did request, however, that he be exempt from any jobs involving spiders.

    Honronk was an average build for a tusk, like a bodybuilder human, but his skin was a dark gray and had the sheen of onyx. Hans had never seen anything like it. The tusk spoke softly, and the only two words he spoke were ¡°Black Mage.¡±

    Direct. Decisive. That worked for Hans.

    The last tusk to speak could have been full-blooded orc. His skin a hunter green, he dwarfed even Galad. He was barely an inch taller than the Tribe¡¯s unofficial leader, but he was wide. Any normal person going after the tusk would need at least three other people backing them up. His name was Buru, and his first option was Ranger, but since there were already two, he asked if Druid would work.

    ¡°Where do you see yourself fitting into nature?¡± Hans asked.

    ¡°Carnivore,¡± he said simply.

    ¡°You and Becky will hit it off.¡±

    This has the makings of a solid party.

    ***

    Becky relieved Roland, Kane, and Quentin from watch at the Polza cabin. The construction was done¨Cfireplace included¨Cand rest was well-deserved. They had spent the better part of two weeks sleeping through snowstorms and doing hard labor.

    Charlie and Galad worked on organizing a team to haul four mattresses from Gomi to the cabin. The same team would bring carpentry and woodworking tools¨Cthe minimum necessary because tools were heavy¨Cto finish the cabin interior, including the furniture, the trapdoor, and the front door. Hans wanted to be involved, but his days were all back-to-back classes.

    When Kane and Quentin returned, he began teaching an extra combat class in the morning just for them. They were committing to the chapter, so it was only right that the chapter commit to them in return. Gunther came to observe on occasion as well. They would have been welcome with the Apprentices if they had the space. Most days, though, the boys lingered to watch, and Hans often borrowed them for demonstrations. They were regulars in the Apprentice classes at the guild hall as well.

    He loved to teach, but Hans was not having the winter he imagined. Looking at the snow out his apartment window was far more appealing than hiking in it to get to and from the Tribe each morning. Walking through a winter wonderland lost its limited novelty halfway through the first trip.

    His days got longer when the Apprentices reached the point where they needed class-specific instruction. Instead of preparing one general class, he had to prepare five different lessons to account for each party member¡¯s unique path. The mages, Chisel and Honronk, were the toughest to prep for on account of Hans¡¯ limited spellcraft expertise. Luckily, they had a little bit of knowledge already.

    Chisel grew up in an orphanage run by an old White Mage. She didn¡¯t remember her rank, but she could hear her treating townspeople through the wall in the girls dormitory. Chisel could recite the incantations for spells like Cure Poison, Lesser Heal, and Lesser Sleep with perfect pronunciation, but she had no knowledge of spell gestures or mana manipulation.This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work.

    Honronk stole a spell from a mage shop when he was a kid and practiced it obsessively. Now he could cast Prism almost at will, generating a blinding wall of opaque rainbow light. Anyone on his side could see through it, but anyone on the opposite side¨Cpresumably an enemy¨Csaw only dazzling colors.

    Buru would break-off to train with Becky directly at some point in the future, but for now, a Druid could benefit from spellcraft training. Buru, however, didn¡¯t have the previous experience that Chisel and Honronk did, but they all seemed supportive of each other regardless.

    Magery students, more than any other class, needed the self-discipline to practice alone for long hours. Chisel and Honronk already showed that they were capable of that, but Hans still saw spellcraft as a major chapter weakness. Becoming an advanced mage in Gomi was likely impossible with their current resources.

    New Quest: Address the deficiency of magery education in the Gomi chapter.

    Hans taught Chisel, Honronk, and Buru how to read spell manuals. Spell gestures were intricate and counterintuitive, so the explanation for the gesture accompanying a simple spell like Create Water could span several pages. Every finger position was painstakingly represented and accompanied by a description of the movements that had the complexity of a calculus problem. Learning to read that notation made self-instruction much easier, but it was like parsing a new language.

    Terry and Yotuli, the Apprentice Rangers, worked with Olza to learn herbal poultices and field remedies for infections and various illnesses. Kane and Quentin joined them. Eventually, the Rangers would train tracking and bushcraft more extensively, but for now, they were frontliners. If the party¡¯s healer, Chisel, was injured, other members needed to be able to step in. At the same time, a frontliner sometimes got separated from the rest of the group in a battle. Watching yourself bleed out because the party healer was pinned down too far away was a sad, and potentially avoidable, way to die.

    Partway into his apology that the chapter didn¡¯t have Rogue tools¨Clike lockpicks¨CSven interrupted Hans and revealed he brought his own. Hans didn¡¯t want to know why he had them already, so he dove into essential Rogue skills instead of asking questions. For most parties, Rogues primarily picked locks and disabled traps. Their dexterity and stealth also made them good scouts. They didn¡¯t know what the Polza dungeon might become, but having a Rogue versed in all manner of traps was never a bad idea.

    The townspeople donated spare locks to the effort, giving Sven an assortment of styles and difficulties to practice with. Hans understood the basic mechanics of lockpicking, but Sven¡¯s skill was far beyond his own. He gave Sven a book on traps for him to study their construction and the best practices for disabling them. Every party member needed to learn to spot traps, but Sven would be the sole expert in taking them apart.

    An old quest came to Hans¡¯ mind:

    Active Quest: Design a system for training dungeon awareness.

    Feeling physical pain, he knew that quest wasn¡¯t enough for Gomi¡¯s present situation, so he added another.

    New Quest: Acquire the tools and knowledge to train trap disarming safely.

    By the time Hans wrapped lessons on any given day, he had trouble talking coherently. The focus he needed to be an effective teacher drained him, and the pace of the training bruised his body, but he couldn¡¯t remember the last time he had this much fun.

    ***

    One day, when the Apprentice class at the guild hall concluded, Hans forced himself into the cold to walk down to Olza¡¯s shop. He had nothing against talking to Olza, but the warmth and solitude of his apartment called to him. He knew, however, that as soon as he entered that apartment, he wouldn¡¯t leave until the next day.

    ¡°I was hoping to ask a favor,¡± Hans said, standing in the doorway of Olza¡¯s small lab at the back of her shop. ¡°Can I put your herbal poultice and remedy lessons in my book? I¡¯d credit you, of course. I mean, I could write it myself, but I learned a couple tricks from eavesdropping on your lessons that I think adventurers should know.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, of course.¡±

    ¡°Really?¡±

    ¡°Why are you so surprised?¡± Olza asked, looking up from an alchemist¡¯s microscope.

    ¡°It feels like it¡¯s a lot to ask.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not.¡±

    Hans shifted awkwardly. The favor sounded much larger to him than it did to Olza, and he found himself wanting to convince her not to help out of fairness for her. He began to form such an argument when he saw two new pots of starcup blossoms. One set of flowers had longer stems. The other had larger petals.

    ¡°More experiments?¡± Hans asked.

    She straightened. ¡°You¡¯d laugh at me.¡±

    ¡°What? Why would I do that?¡±

    Olza turned to the Guild Master. ¡°I¡¯m testing an idea I had for Mazo¡¯s earth magic.¡±

    ¡°Mazo¡¯s blood magic, you mean.¡±

    ¡°Earth, thank you.¡± She took a deep breath and reached for the pot of the long-stemmed starcups. ¡°The starcups you saw in the kids¡¯ classes produced a stronger reaction, right?¡±

    Hans nodded.

    ¡°The ritual has to be repeated as the plant grows. The starcups you saw had been through four. These have been through four as well.¡± Olza indicated the long-stemmed starcups. ¡°During the second ritual, I wondered if longer stems would affect a recipe. The next morning, they had grown ? of an inch.¡±

    ¡°Is that a lot?¡±

    ¡°Daily growth is usually less than 1/16. So I tried it again in the fourth ritual. Same result.¡±

    ¡°Are you saying it listened to you somehow?¡±

    Olza shrugged. She wasn¡¯t ready to commit to an explanation yet, but when a similar experiment worked on the other pot of starcups¨Cthe one with larger petals¨Cshe started to suspect something along those lines. Hans asked her how much thought she had given to potential applications.

    ¡°If results are consistent, increasing potency and volume of ingredients seems like a clear benefit. That¡¯s not as simple as it sounds though. Recipes are precise and delicate, so a more potent version of a component isn¡¯t a quick swap, and who¡¯s to say if growing four of something instead of one wouldn¡¯t produce something less potent. Still promising though.¡±

    ¡°If this is so promising, why aren¡¯t more alchemists doing it? I¡¯m still hung up on that.¡±

    ¡°Besides the taboo?¡± Olza asked. ¡°It¡¯s exhausting. If you asked me to start a third pot and keep the other two, I couldn¡¯t do it.¡±

    ¡°How far can you take that control?¡±

    She laughed. ¡°These are experiments two and three, so give me some time.¡±

    Hans agreed that was fair. He got too excited sometimes. ¡°Can I give you two potential ideas that you probably already thought of?¡±

    She waved for him to go ahead.

    ¡°Antivenom and Lesser Healing Potions¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m intrigued. Go on.¡±

    ¡°I think improving those two would do the most good,¡± Hans said, deep in thought. ¡°Snake bites are a death sentence in small villages¨C¡±

    ¡°Because antivenom is typically specific to the snake.¡±

    ¡°Exactly! It¡¯s hard to make as well. Even a small improvement would save a lot of lives.¡±

    Olza crossed her hands behind her head. ¡°I¡¯m stumped on the Lesser Healing Potion.¡±

    ¡°This one is more of a stretch, but healing potions are too expensive for the average person. If your research can make them cheaper to produce, or if your alternative makes the current tier of Lesser Healing Potions less desirable, a drop in price would give more people access.¡±

    ¡°You sound like an idealist, Hans.¡±

    The Guild Master shook his head. ¡°Active imagination.¡±

    When the alchemist put the starcup pots aside, she reached for a set of beakers as well as her mortar and pestle. Hans asked her if she meant to start another project at this late hour.

    ¡°More Sleep Potions. The nightmares are getting worse.¡±

    ¡°Is it still just the tusk kids?¡±

    She said that it was. They came more frequently and with greater strength. At first, she thought they were the echoes of trauma, but these dreams made every child who had them want to run. The guards watching the dormitory doors for runaways were shockingly busy in recent nights.

    Going over her recipes and textbooks several times, she couldn¡¯t find a potential solution, especially one whose ingredients were available in Gomi in the midst of winter isolation. With a glint of desperation in her eyes she asked Hans if he had any new thoughts on the possible cause or potential treatments. Sadly he did not.

    I haven¡¯t been working on that problem as hard as I should.

    New Quest: Draft possible explanations for the nightmares plaguing tusk children.

    His quest list was getting troublingly long. It began to feel overwhelming.

    ***

    Open Quests (Ordered from Old to New):

    Progress from Gold-ranked to Diamond-ranked.

    Mend the rift with Devon.

    Complete the manuscript for "The Next Generation: A Teaching Methodology for Training Adventurers."

    Expand the Gomi training area to include ramps for footwork drills.

    Design a system for training dungeon awareness.

    Research the history and legends of the Dead End Mountains, more.

    Protect Gomi.

    Train Gomi adventurers to keep the dungeon at bay.

    Design the ultimate strategy for hunting squonks.

    Pick a secret passage design for the cabin. Bonus Objective: Make it cooler than a bookshelf door.

    Figure out how to launder dungeon loot.

    REVENGE!

    Find a way to share new knowledge without putting Gomi at risk.

    Address the deficiency of magery education in the Gomi chapter.

    Acquire the tools and knowledge to train trap disarming safely.

    Draft possible explanations for the nightmares plaguing tusk children.

 Chapter 45: Softlocked

    Chisel threw her wooden sword to the ground and spiked her shield right after, leaving a dent shaped like a wagon rut in the dormitory floor. Yotuli, her drilling partner at the time, slowly stepped away from the White Mage Apprentice as she raged.

    ¡°I¡¯m so sick of these blasted swords,¡± she said. ¡°This is stupid. A waste of time.¡±

    Buru took a step toward Chisel to comfort her, but Hans discretely waved him off.

    ¡°I¡¯m done. I¡¯m so done.¡± Chisel stormed out the dormitory front door, slamming it behind her.

    The Guild Master told the rest of the class to return to their drills while he chased Chisel into the snow. He followed stomped footprints around the back of the building, finding the Apprentice squatting in the snow, her forehead between her knees. She hadn¡¯t stopped to collect her jacket, so she wore only her light training attire. Steam billowed off her long body.

    Hans sat next to her but didn¡¯t speak.

    After several minutes of silence, Chisel spoke, her head still down. ¡°Well?¡±

    ¡°Hmm?¡± Hans replied.

    ¡°Aren¡¯t you going to say something?¡±

    ¡°Would you like me to?¡±

    Chisel lifted her head, her anger temporarily laced with confusion.

    Hans smiled back.

    ¡°I¡¯m not getting it. I¡¯m the worst in the room, by far, and what does a White Mage need a sword for anyway? This whole idea is stupid.¡±

    The Guild Master didn¡¯t move or reply. He looked casually across the field of snow at the Gomi forest, its trees topped in white like painted clouds fallen from the sky. Winter had less leisure time than he anticipated, but the scenery caught his breath anew with every sunrise. Even now, the rays of a golden sun reflected off the snow as though it were a sea of diamonds.

    ¡°Master Hans?¡±

    ¡°Mr. Hans is fine if you insist on the title,¡± Hans said. ¡°Just Hans is fine too.¡±

    ¡°Aren¡¯t you upset with me?¡±

    ¡°Not really. Every adventurer throws a tantrum in training at least once in their careers. Probably more than once.¡± Hans explained when an intense desire to succeed met frustration the reaction was often explosive. The worst adventurers took that anger out on their training partners. Chisel had enough self-awareness to express her rage without trashing the world and people around her.

    ¡°I¡¯m the worst in the class,¡± she muttered.

    ¡°At swordplay? Probably.¡±

    The tusk choked on her words. ¡°Has anyone told you that you give the best pep talks?¡±

    ¡°Ranking yourself against your training partners will always mess with your confidence. I know that sounds like cheap fortune teller wisdom, but the way we learn isn¡¯t ¡®Every student starts at A and then travels to B.¡¯¡±

    Hans drew a diagonal line in the snow to represent growth on a line graph. The line started at zero on the left, and hit the top height on the right. He explained that most students thought progress worked like that line, but the reality was different.

    The next line Hans drew zigged and zagged, rising and falling, sometimes running horizontal for long stretches before continuing to rise again.

    ¡°Real learning looks like this,¡± he said. ¡°We find some lessons easier to grasp than others, and then there are places where we get stuck on something difficult. We can also have a bad day, a bad week, or a bad month. You keep training regardless, but despite the effort you put in, you feel worse.¡±

    Chisel nodded.

    ¡°I have had this conversation thousands of times. Frustration is natural. We all feel it. But as soon as I draw these dumb lines, you realize that you expected the straight line but deep down you know that the wibbly-wobbly line matches everything you¡¯ve ever learned. You also know that if you put your version of this line against someone else¡¯s, the highs and lows won¡¯t line up very often, if ever.¡±

    The tusk agreed again.

    ¡°The good news: What you¡¯re going through is normal. The bad news: It¡¯s going to get worse the longer you train.¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡± Chisel reacted. ¡°What do you mean? Won¡¯t I be better?¡±

    ¡°Getting better is more difficult the longer you train. One of my plateaus lasted a year and a half,¡± Hans said. ¡°I was totally stuck. Every training session was miserable, and I started to get depressed.¡±

    ¡°Really?¡±

    ¡°This Diamond-ranked lizardman was staying in Hoseki for a while, and he loved his bastard sword. The way he switched from a two-handed grip to a single-handed grip and back¡­ I couldn¡¯t figure it out, and he¡¯d end every match with the same disarm. Every. Damn. Time.¡±

    ¡°For a year and a half?¡±

    ¡°Yep. I was out of my mind happy when I got the timing down and could counter. Know what happened next?¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    Hans chuckled softly. ¡°He had a recounter for when the disarm failed, and he was good at it, but I had never gotten far enough to know that. As soon as I celebrated beating the disarm, I started eating elbows while he kicked my feet out from under me. I had a bloody nose for three months straight.¡±

    ¡°This talk makes my motivation feel like that line,¡± Chisel said, pointing to the zigzag in the snow.

    ¡°Pep talks don¡¯t work, so I don¡¯t give them,¡± Hans said. ¡°If I got you all excited and thinking positive out here, it¡¯s going to hurt even more when you go back in and make the same mistake right away. It¡¯s my job to help you understand the obstacle. Getting past it is still going to suck.¡±

    Chisel looked at her feet, reflecting on the conversation.

    ¡°We should get back inside. Yotuli will grab some innocent kid to beat on if we leave her by herself too long.¡±

    ***

    Hans passed the mashed sweet potatoes across the table to Sven. The Rogue heaped three generous spoonfuls onto his plate and handed the dish to Buru.

    The six Apprentices, as well as Hans, Kane, and Quentin, sat in the guild hall, sharing a late evening dinner. Everyone at the table winced slightly as small movements disturbed tired, aching muscles. If they stayed still for any length of time, their backs and joints stiffened. Bending them again triggered soft grunts and groans.

    ¡°Buru,¡± Hans began, ¡°What made you want to be a Druid?¡±

    The large tusk hunched awkwardly over the table. The distance his fork had to travel from his plate to his mouth was twice as long as everyone else¡¯s, except for Chisel¡¯s. ¡°My family worked the grounds for a noble family when I was young. I liked the garden.¡±

    The Guild Master waited for Buru to elaborate, to continue the story, but he didn¡¯t.

    ¡°I worked for a noble family as well,¡± Sven added, speaking through a mouthful of sweet potato. ¡°Shoveled stalls every day for seven years.¡±

    ¡°Horses are nice too,¡± Buru said.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t even get to pet a horse. That whole time. If I was awake, my hands were wrapped around a shovel.¡±

    Buru frowned. ¡°That is a sad story.¡±

    ¡°Nah,¡± Sven said, countering with a wide grin. ¡°There¡¯s a happy ending. One of the noble daughters took a liking to me, so I had good company until I¨C¡± The Rogue paused to look at Hans, as if remembering who was listening. ¡°Ahem. Until I came into some money and left town.¡±

    Yotuli leaned forward to look around Buru to see the other end of the table where Terry, Kane, and Quentin sat. ¡°Must have been pretty nice to grow up here.¡±

    Terry and Quentin froze. ¡°Quentin and I are lifers,¡± Terry answered. ¡°Kane and his brother walked here, what, four or five years ago now?¡±

    Kane nodded.

    The Apprentice Ranger covered her mouth. ¡°Sorry. I don¡¯t think before I talk.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not bothered,¡± Kane said simply between forkfuls of porkchop.

    ¡°I heard your little brother killed a pack of gnolls,¡± Yotuli said, trying to change the subject. This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

    Honronk, his dark gray skin making him look like a living shadow, muttered, ¡°Filthy beasts.¡±

    Kane finished chewing before he answered. ¡°Killed two with a wooden sword,¡± he said. ¡°Gunny is the tougher brother by a mile.¡±

    ¡°I think that race is a lot closer than you think,¡± Chisel said.

    The tusk teen shook his head. ¡°When we were walking here¡­ I wanted to give up. More than once. Gunny never did. He always knew we¡¯d get there and never doubted it.¡±

    After a pause, Chisel said that every person at the table was probably tougher than they thought. They wouldn¡¯t be in the room otherwise.

    ¡°Hear hear,¡± Hans cheered.

    ¡°I am curious,¡± Sven said, looking at Hans, ¡°How did a Gold-ranked get Guild Master? Don¡¯t you have to be a Diamond?¡±

    Hans explained that the circumstances were complicated, but the guild made an exception for him.

    ¡°What happens when we need a Diamond-ranked to train us? Or will that never be an option for us?¡± Sven glanced down the table at Kane and Quentin when they coughed loudly. ¡°What? That¡¯s not a weird question. I mean, you¡¯re great Hans, but we have to train with Diamonds to reach Diamond, right?¡±

    The Guild Master poked his fork through green beans, one at a time, his eyes locked on his plate. ¡°We¡¯ll figure it out when we get there.¡±

    ¡°Do you have someone in mind?¡± Sven pressed.

    ¡°Sven,¡± Honronk said, bumping the Rogue with his elbow.

    ¡°What?¡±

    Hans forced a smile. ¡°It¡¯s fine. Really. I¡¯m not offended.¡±

    Chisel interjected. ¡°The way you¡¯re saying it makes it sound like Hans is a bad teacher.¡±

    ¡°No, it doesn¡¯t!¡± Sven argued. ¡°A Gold is a Gold. A Diamond is a Diamond. How is that offensive?¡±

    Terry helped himself to more green beans. ¡°Ever hear of Master Devontes?¡±

    ¡°Of course,¡± Sven answered. ¡°Who hasn¡¯t?¡±

    ¡°A Diamond and two Golds visited us last fall.¡± Terry frowned at the beans he spilled on the table. ¡°The Diamond was a Blue Mage. I¡¯ve never seen that kind of magic. I don¡¯t even know how to describe it other than that if she wanted to end the world, I believe she could.¡±

    ¡°Okay¡­¡±

    ¡°They told us Mr. Hans ¡®built¡¯ Master Devontes. That¡¯s how they said it. Built.¡±

    Nobody keeps secrets in this town.

    Sven¡¯s mouth drifted open, his fork frozen inches from his lips.

    ¡°Is that true?¡± Yotuli asked Hans.

    ¡°It¡¯s an exaggeration,¡± the Guild Master said.

    The table fell into uncomfortable silence. For several minutes, the only noise in the guild hall was the tink of forks on plates and the soft grind of chewing. Sven hadn¡¯t looked up in some time.

    Buru proposed a new subject. ¡°What kind of squirrels does Gomi got?¡±

    ***

    Hans heard a knocking on the doorframe at the bottom of his apartment stairs. Unsure of the hour, he had gotten lost in taking notes about Apprentice training and filled a full page with follow-up questions he wanted to answer in the coming days.

    ¡°Yes?¡± Hans asked loudly.

    ¡°It¡¯s Sven,¡± a voice from downstairs called. ¡°I don¡¯t mean to bother, but I saw the light on and hoped you were awake.¡±

    ¡°Sure. Come on up.¡±

    The Rogue stopped at the top of the stairs.

    ¡°Not much seating,¡± Hans said, apologetic. ¡°You can have the couch if you want. Wait. Did I forget to lock the front door?¡±

    ¡°No.¡±

    ¡°Oh good, I¨C¡± Hans closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Freaking Rogues! ¡°What can I do for you?¡±

    ¡°I came to apologize. I disrespected you and insulted you with how I acted. Gomi is giving all of us a clean slate. I shouldn¡¯t be a jerk to the people helping me.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s fine.¡±

    ¡°No, sir. It¡¯s not. I tried to Apprentice when I was younger and got laughed out of the guild hall. But Gomi¡­ Galad asked me two questions when I got here. What¡¯s my name and was I hungry. That¡¯s it. Then he gave me a bed and clean clothes. I¡¯ve been to towns that won¡¯t serve me a pint without grilling me about why I¡¯m there and what I¡¯m up to.

    ¡°And you were even easier. You asked if any of us wanted to train to be adventurers. Yes or no. From hearing the brothers and sisters talk these last few months, I think I¡¯m starting to get it. Going in on you for being Gold¡­ I wasn¡¯t giving you the same chance you gave me.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, and I promise to pay my lips more mind.¡±

    ¡°Sven, thank you, but it¡¯s okay. I¡¯ve had that conversation dozens of times. It doesn¡¯t bother me.¡±

    Active Quest: Progress from Gold-ranked to Diamond-ranked.

    Doesn¡¯t bother you, huh?

    Sven opened his mouth to protest, but Hans moved faster. ¡°Want a beer before you hike back?¡±

    The Rogue nodded. Minutes later, Sven had a mug of beer in his hand. He sipped it respectfully, savoring each drop.

    ¡°The Guild didn¡¯t send me to Gomi because they loved me,¡± Hans said. ¡°You¡¯re giving me a chance just as much as I¡¯m giving you one. Like you said, clean slate.¡±

    ¡°Interesting.¡±

    ¡°This is awkward for both of us. I¡¯d rather talk about training.¡± Sven agreed.

    Hans asked Sven what style of Rogue he pictured becoming. Did he plan to lean more toward Burglar or more toward Treasure Hunter? Sven answered that, historically, he leaned closer to Burglar. Just how closely¨Cboth opted not to discuss. The tusk had assumed adventurers almost universally went the Treasure Hunter path because it was more useful for adventuring.

    Not so, the Guild Master said. In a dungeon environment, Treasure Hunter would likely get the most use, but for the broader scope of adventuring, Burglar had a great deal of utility. Gret, the Rogue who partied with Hans for most of his career, had stealthed ahead of their group on several occasions. Sometimes for recon. Sometimes to set up a distraction. Sometimes for him to kill everything in their sleep.

    The Rogue may or may not have entered a few taverns to erase a particularly large tab, but that was extracurricular.

    ¡°Gret still opened locks and disarmed traps, but he didn¡¯t let his other skills from before adventuring go to waste. I¡¯ve noticed though that it¡¯s tough for the Treasure Hunter types to adjust to infiltration. It takes a certain kind of nerve to walk through an enemy camp by yourself. That¡¯s hard to teach.¡±

    Sven kept quiet.

    ¡°Listen, I¡¯ve been around for a bit. The best Rogues I ever met were street kids. If they didn¡¯t lift a few coins now and then, they didn¡¯t eat.¡±

    The tusk nodded, his eyes unfocused, like Hans words spun a memory to life in his mind.

    ¡°Are you hungry?¡± Hans asked.

    ¡°Me? No.¡±

    ¡°Then we¡¯re square. Get home and rest. We¡¯ve got training tomorrow, and I better not find you dead in a snowdrift.¡±

    The Rogue smiled, finished his beer, and bid farewell. Hans followed Sven out, pausing to inspect the front door lock, the one Sven had no problem picking. The Guild Master frowned.

    Guess I should get deadbolts.

    ¡°Deadbolts won¡¯t help,¡± Sven said, patting Hans on the back. ¡°I¡¯ll knock from now on. Rogue¡¯s honor.¡±

    ***

    ¡°I¡¯m failing,¡± Honronk said, staying after a guild hall lecture to speak with Hans. ¡°Chisel is close to learning her third spell. I only have the one I came with.¡±

    This was the most Honronk had ever spoken in Hans¡¯ presence. The Guild Master mentally prepared his ¡°look at the squiggly lines¡± speech¨Cone of his favorites¨Cbut Honronk¡¯s dilemma differed from Chisel¡¯s. The White Mage didn¡¯t find swordplay frustrating until several lessons in. She made plenty of progress prior to that, and no doubt would do so after.

    In the case of Honronk¡¯s study of magery, the Apprentice Black Mage hadn¡¯t had a single new success despite beginning his training knowing an Illusion spell. He never missed a class. He practiced as hard as everyone else, and probably practiced at night by himself, if Hans read him right. A little bit of failure was a powerful teaching tool. A great deal of failure could crush an adventurer¡¯s spirit beyond repair.

    Telling Honronk to just keep studying would be another failure¨Che sought help and failed to find it. Hans could make the argument that failing in that way was the most painful of all. Few things hurt worse than reaching your hand out for help and finding nothing but cold air.

    The Guild Master thought, disappearing into his mind for so long that Honronk thought that perhaps he should leave quietly. Coming to life abruptly, Hans stood and stepped over to the guild bookshelf, pulling a tome of spells from its place.

    ¡°Is Prism in this one?¡± Hans asked. Honronk nodded. ¡°What page?¡±

    ¡°627.¡±

    Yeah, he¡¯s definitely not slacking on his studies.

    Hans skimmed over the notes on casting Prism and then began searching the book for another spell. When he found it, he flipped back and forth between that spell and Prism, comparing incantations and gestures. The effort took several minutes, but after double checking his work, Hans was satisfied.

    ¡°We¡¯ve already talked about how I am very much not a mage,¡± Hans began. ¡°But I got this idea from the best mage I know. She took on two Apprentices, and to expand their repertoire of spells, she looked at each school of magic and found the spells that had the most in common. For instance, certain incantations appear in multiple spells. So if a student learned that phrase, they were practicing pieces of several other spells at the same time.

    ¡°Izz and Thuz¨Cthose were the Apprentices¨Cdidn¡¯t do this exercise until Silver, but I think we should try it here.¡±

    Passing the book to Honronk, he asked the Black Mage Apprentice to compare the Nightsight spell to Prism. Nightsight was a low level illusion spell, and Hans suspected that since Prism also manipulated light, they would have gestures and incantations in common. Honronk confirmed Hans had been correct.

    ¡°If I was a real magery teacher, you wouldn¡¯t be stuck like this. I¡¯m sorry about that. My thought here is that teaching is about building on knowledge, but throwing you at the beginner curriculum didn¡¯t do that. It ignored the knowledge you already had. I¡¯m hoping this approach puts your Prism practice to better use.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll do my best.¡±

    ***

    Open Quests (Ordered from Old to New):

    Progress from Gold-ranked to Diamond-ranked.

    Mend the rift with Devon.

    Complete the manuscript for "The Next Generation: A Teaching Methodology for Training Adventurers."

    Expand the Gomi training area to include ramps for footwork drills.

    Design a system for training dungeon awareness.

    Research the history and legends of the Dead End Mountains, more.

    Protect Gomi.

    Train Gomi adventurers to keep the dungeon at bay.

    Design the ultimate strategy for hunting squonks.

    Pick a secret passage design for the cabin. Bonus Objective: Make it cooler than a bookshelf door.

    Find a partner to move dungeon loot efficiently.

    REVENGE!

    Find a way to share new knowledge without putting Gomi at risk.

    Address the deficiency of magery education in the Gomi chapter.

    Acquire the tools and knowledge to train trap disarming safely.

    Draft possible explanations for the nightmares plaguing tusk children.

    Investigate the altered dungeon corridor.

 Chapter 46: Unlocking a Class

    Now that the town knew about the dungeon, Hans, Becky, and Roland were no longer the only guards in rotation. A squonk attack was still a serious danger, though. If orcs had been crushed by the hopelessness aura, tusks were likely vulnerable as well, though it would be convenient if they had the natural resistance that dwarves seemed to have. As long as the squonks were around, the entire group posted at the dungeon could come under attack and never know.

    To keep from sacrificing a cabin full of innocent folk, a guard using Olza¡¯s earwax kept watch partway into the dungeon at all times. If they spotted enemies of any kind, they tugged on a long rope borrowed from Hans¡¯ old perimeter alarm, alerting the others with the rattle of cans. If they were right about the range of the hopelessness aura, the warning would reach the guards topside first. Then they could wax up and join the fight.

    Accounting for squonks turned the simplest tasks into hours of precautions and workarounds. They were harmless otherwise. Any member of the kids¡¯ class could kill one if the hopelessness aura wasn¡¯t a factor, making all of the caution feel silly and overblown¨Ceven if it wasn¡¯t.

    And Hans hadn¡¯t been able to return to the dungeon. He hadn¡¯t even seen the completed, furnished cabin. Every day for the last few weeks was packed with lessons, meetings, and planning sessions. At night, he prepared for the next day, sometimes falling asleep at his desk.

    Having a rare free hour, Hans added sections on class-specific training to his manuscript, The Next Generation: A Teaching Methodology for Training Adventurers. Preparing Gomi¡¯s newest adventurers made him think more deeply about his approach to teaching. The Apprentices had barely begun, so it was far too early to draw conclusions, but he felt optimistic about the evolution of his methods.

    ¡°Boss? Hey, boss.¡± Becky snapped her stubby dwarf fingers in front of Hans¡¯ face.

    He startled. ¡°Hi, sorry. Got lost in my thoughts.¡±

    ¡°What do you want me to teach my Apprentice? I¡¯ve never trained an Apprentice.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know what Druids need to know, but I can help you decide what to teach.¡±

    Becky pulled a seat up next to Hans¡¯ desk to listen. He suggested she consider two questions:

    <ol>

    <li> What had the most utility?</li>

    <li> What connected to the highest number of related skills?</li>

    </ol>

    For example, Hans taught parrying early because knowledge of proper parrying technique could help students more readily grasp shield work. Learning to parry with a sword also helped them to learn mobility, how to identify an opponent¡¯s intention, and how to work with the energy of an attack instead of against.

    At the same time, an adventurer would parry thousands of attacks over the course of their career. The same was true of the shield. Furthermore, the consequences of being bad at a skill like parrying were severe. All of those factors made parrying a high-utility skill.

    The dwarf tugged on her beard and stared at Hans with one bushy eyebrow raised. ¡°Shit, Hans. I don¡¯t need a thesis.¡±

    Hans sighed. ¡°Teach them the stuff that¡¯s most likely to keep them alive.¡±

    ¡°Could have skipped to that at the start.¡± Becky leaned over his desk, stealing a look at his draft pages and open notebooks. ¡°Ever consider you think too hard about this stuff?¡± she asked as she picked up a notebook and looked at it more closely.

    ¡°You¡¯re not the first to ask me that.¡±

    Becky frowned. ¡°Who told you about the hallway?¡±

    He didn¡¯t know what she meant.

    ¡°You have a drawing of it here.¡± She flipped the notebook toward Hans. ¡°One of the dungeon hallways changed. It got lumpy exactly like this.¡± She pointed to a drawing of a footwork training aid Hans had designed but not yet tested.

    An extension of his dungeon corridor training ideas, Hans had realized that the weakness of traditional footwork training was that it assumed a perfectly flat surface. For the majority of jobs, adventurers had to navigate rocks or ruts or roots, but those challenges weren''t part of practice.

    His solution: Build a series of ramps, like small rolling hills, from the dirt in the training yard. The constant changes in height and slope would help students learn to adapt more intuitively to their terrain. In theory. He hadn¡¯t gotten to test it. Yet Becky saw it in the dungeon, or something like it, at least.

    ¡°When you say ¡®exactly,¡¯¡± Hans began, ¡°What does that mean to you?¡±

    Becky blinked. ¡°What else would exactly mean?¡±

    ¡°A dungeon hallway looks exactly like my drawing?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s what I said.¡±

    New Quest: Investigate the altered dungeon corridor.

    Now his desire to return to the dungeon was even greater.

    A gust of cold spread across the guild hall and then cutoff as soon as Kane closed the door. He and Quentin stomped the snow from their boots and greeted Hans and Becky. Seeing Chisel and Honronk learning magery had further stoked Kane¡¯s interest in the topic. The tusk was in the guild hall for hours each day, reading and practicing. Kane would have Create Water down any day now. Hans wondered how long he could delay him from trying spells on his own.

    Quentin continued his study of monsters¨Canatomy, habits, tactical considerations. He seemed to take after Hans in that respect, devouring page after page with an impressive level of retention. The Guild Master thought highly of his own recall, and Quentin¡¯s was better.

    Hans remembered one of his active quests.

    Active Quest: REVENGE!

    He was still sore about Kane and Quentin convincing him that Tandis was romantically interested. In all likelihood, the boys had done what boys did as a matter of tradition: misunderstand women. That left Hans no less embarrassed, however.

    Taking revenge on children was difficult to do with maturity, he realized. Every time he thought of a prank or a scare, he would decide his idea was too cruel and abandon it. Seeing them study so diligently almost made him trash the quest entirely. Almost. He wasn¡¯t ready to give up yet.

    One of his other ideas, a non-revenge idea, was a good one.

    ¡°Quentin, Kane,¡± Hans began, ¡°You know about the nightmares the kids are having?¡±

    Kane nodded. ¡°Gunny is starting to have them.¡±

    ¡°Really? When?¡±

    ¡°Few days ago. He¡¯s acting tough, but he¡¯s scared.¡±

    I missed it. I should have asked more questions about the nightmares weeks ago.

    ¡°You don¡¯t have to deal with that alone, you know,¡± Hans said. ¡°If you need help, let me or Uncle Ed know, okay?¡±

    Kane said he would.

    ¡°Giving you two the squonk riddle paid off. This problem isn¡¯t as straightforward as fighting a specific monster, but maybe you¡¯ll see something here too. Any ideas of what¡¯s causing it or why it¡¯s happening, I don¡¯t care how weird, let me know.¡±

    The boys accepted the challenge.

    ¡°I forgot,¡± Kane said. ¡°Galad said to ask you to see him when you could.¡±

    ¡°When did he ask that?¡±

    ¡°Before I came here.¡±You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

    Becky laughed. ¡°When else would it have been, Hans?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re all mean people.¡±

    ***

    Hans stood with Galad in one of the Tribe barns. This building stored kegs and barrels that would be sold to the merchant caravans in the spring. A special order for Mazo was buried in there somewhere as well. The last visit he made to this barn, early in his arrival to Gomi, it was mostly empty. Now he couldn¡¯t count how many barrels were between him and the back wall. When he thought about it, Hans realized he had never seen so much beer before. It was beautiful.

    ¡°Say this dungeon grows to be like the others,¡± Galad began, ¡°How much loot will we have to move?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s a messy answer.¡±

    ¡°Walk me through it.¡±

    Hans tried to mentally organize what he knew about dungeons and their treasures. Enchanted weapons and armor may be extremely rare, but other types of valuables might not be. An unusual ingredient could grow in a dungeon, or one of the monsters could have a useful horn or organ to harvest. The gear worn by a dungeon¡¯s higher level monsters might not be magic but could be made from a valuable material or adorned with gold and gems. Some adventurers went as far as to loot furniture, as odd as it sounded.

    The Reavers¡¯ Rest dungeon grew a throne in its boss room. If it wasn¡¯t destroyed in the battle¨Cand it often was¨Ca collector would pay good money to own that throne. The wood was intricately carved with beasts and words no one could identify or translate. The seat and back had ornate cushions made from an unknown fur and were stuffed with goose down.

    Some believed the fur belonged to a now extinct animal, forgotten to time but not by the dungeon. If the rumors were true, only five thrones were recovered successfully, and now that the Reavers¡¯ Rest dungeon was destroyed, they were even more valuable.

    Galad rubbed his chin. ¡°How many dungeon items are small enough to fit in a barrel?¡±

    ¡°Well, most of them, I¡¯d say¡­ Oh!¡±

    The tusk grinned. ¡°I don¡¯t like the idea of trusting a merchant to move wares on our behalf. Puts them too close to the source. Maybe we consider running our own wagons. I¡¯m thinking we smuggle everything out with beer shipments and unload it a town or two away from Gomi. We¡¯d get a better price for the beer, and we wouldn¡¯t have to worry about a merchant getting curious.¡±

    Galad¡¯s plan was simple but elegant.

    ¡°I¡¯ve been thinking about this problem too,¡± Hans said. ¡°I started at the other end, though. We shouldn¡¯t try to sell individual items. It¡¯s time consuming and puts curious buyers near to our people. With the right dealer, we sell an entire haul in one transaction and let them do the legwork to move it. That works well with your wagon idea.¡±

    Galad nodded, smiling at the momentum of their planning. ¡°A dealer having new inventory wouldn¡¯t seem unusual. A single tusk selling barrels of dungeon items would. We¡¯d take a hit selling in bulk, but you¡¯re right. Moving it quickly protects us more.¡±

    Finding a trustworthy partner would be difficult. They both knew that and were unsure how they would find such a person. Another puzzle to solve. Regardless of that partner¡¯s trustworthiness, the Tribe would be wise to disguise their own identities to obfuscate the origins of the loot. No partner should be able to connect the goods with Gomi in any way.

    Quest Update: Find a partner to move dungeon loot efficiently.

    ¡°Does the guild teach smuggling?¡± Galad asked with a chuckle.

    ¡°We will soon.¡±

    ***

    Hans¡¯ quest system betrayed him. Quests were meant to be motivating and rewarding, a clear measure of progress reaped from effort. Looking at his quest list now, nearly all of them were long-term projects. If they weren¡¯t, they were goals he couldn¡¯t pursue until the snow melted.

    Like this one:

    Active Quest: Address the deficiency of magery education in the Gomi chapter.

    He wasn¡¯t going to stumbleupon a first-rate magery instructor in the forest one day. The only real option he had was to order every magery book he could afford and wait for the pass to clear so they could be delivered. In the very long-term, Gomi would need to sponsor one or two people to attend a proper university or academy to learn the way most mages do, in a classroom surrounded by experts. They could then bring that knowledge back to Gomi.

    I wonder if that will be Kane someday. If the kingdom becomes safe for tusks again, that is.

    ¡°Hans, do you have a minute?¡± Tandis asked. While the Apprentices worked on their individual projects, she worked up supply lists and thought through potential scenarios they might face.

    ¡°What¡¯s up?¡±

    ¡°Should we be preserving squonk parts to sell in the spring?¡±

    The Guild Master sat up straighter. ¡°That¡¯s a good question. Should we?¡±

    ¡°They¡¯re rare monsters. Maybe someone would want to study them?¡±

    ¡°Plan it out. See what you think.¡±

    Hans didn¡¯t know the first thing about quartermastery, so he and Tandis learned together. While the Guild Master¡¯s adventuring knowledge helped Tandis decide what to stock, he wasn¡¯t much use when she started estimating monthly nutrition or water needs. He was of no use at all when the topic was any more complex than that. She had the advantage of having managed businesses before, so while she taught Hans what she knew, he encouraged her to thought-experiment her way through these early stages, anticipating that any answer Tandis reached would be more informed than his.

    Two hours into those thought experiments, Hans knew he was holding her back and told her to continue without having to drag him along.

    ¡°We shouldn¡¯t sell squonks,¡± she said after a time, drawing a line through the entry in her notes. ¡°They¡¯re too rare. That could make people curious.¡±

    ¡°I agree with that logic.¡±

    Quentin leaned over to join the conversation. ¡°Can I help?¡±

    Right then, it occurred to Hans that he hadn¡¯t given Kane and Quentin as much support as he would have liked. All the kids, really. Training the Apprentices had consumed so much of his focus. He made a mental note to think on what responsibilities he could entrust to Quentin. But there was so much to do for the Apprentices.

    His head spun.

    ¡°Pretty stuffy in here, Hans.¡± Becky appeared at his desk. Behind her, the Apprentices whispered softly. They had never seen the dwarf Druid in person before.

    Oh, she¡¯s here for Buru. That¡¯s today. Right.

    ¡°Everyone,¡± Hans said, standing, ¡°I¡¯m pleased to introduce you to Becky, Bronze-ranked adventurer.¡±

    The Apprentices greeted her.

    The dwarf sized up the Apprentices. ¡°You should know, I¡¯ve never done this before. But no one loves these forests more than me.¡±

    Becky made eye contact with each of the adventurers.

    ¡°Hans, I¡¯m ready to pick my Apprentice.¡±

    ¡°Becky, no¨C¡±

    ¡°Let me focus,¡± Becky barked.

    The Guild Master had lost control. He sat, defeated, while Becky circled the Apprentices, squinting at each one. Hans was sure he heard Terry whisper to the others something about staying still and not making direct eye contact. Becky sniffed Honronk. He flinched.

    ¡°I wish I could say this was difficult,¡± Becky said. She stopped in front of Buru. ¡°The forest calls for you.¡±

    Neither the tusk nor the dwarf uttered a word after that. Buru inclined his head and followed Becky out of the guild hall. Silence remained a long while after the door slammed shut, the people left in the room glancing between each other.

    ¡°Kane, Quentin,¡± Hans said, ¡°She¡¯ll be back in a week to take you two next. Give you a taste of what Druid life is like.¡±

    ¡°Next week?¡± Quentin asked.

    ¡°Yep. I asked her to give you the deep experience.¡±

    Hans explained that they would first complete the ceremonial mud baptism and then they would shake hands with a bull moose, assuming they convinced the moose of their worthiness with a powerful strut. To avoid confusion, Hans clarified that Kane and Quentin would do the strutting. Then they¡¯d learn to howl at the moon.

    Kane and Quentin both swallowed.

    Quest Complete: REVENGE!

    ¡°I¡¯m joking.¡±

    The boys finally breathed.

    The Apprentice class concluded with no additional dramatics. When Hans lifted his eyes from his notes again, the sun was down and the room was empty. The hearth burned low, in danger of dying completely. He couldn¡¯t remember Tandis or the boys leaving. Slowly, he became aware of a throbbing in his temple, like a wrench tightening a bolt behind his eye.

    ¡°What time is it?¡±

    The walls didn¡¯t answer.

    With a grunt, he rose from his desk and fought through stiff hips to climb the stairs. He considered sitting on the couch in front of the fire to see how much more he could get done. Thinking better of it, he fell face first into his bed.

    ***

    Open Quests (Ordered from Old to New):

    Progress from Gold-ranked to Diamond-ranked.

    Mend the rift with Devon.

    Complete the manuscript for "The Next Generation: A Teaching Methodology for Training Adventurers."

    Expand the Gomi training area to include ramps for footwork drills.

    Design a system for training dungeon awareness.

    Research the history and legends of the Dead End Mountains, more.

    Protect Gomi.

    Train Gomi adventurers to keep the dungeon at bay.

    Design the ultimate strategy for hunting squonks.

    Pick a secret passage design for the cabin. Bonus Objective: Make it cooler than a bookshelf door.

    Find a partner to move dungeon loot efficiently.

    Find a way to share new knowledge without putting Gomi at risk.

    Address the deficiency of magery education in the Gomi chapter.

    Acquire the tools and knowledge to train trap disarming safely.

    Draft possible explanations for the nightmares plaguing tusk children.

    Investigate the altered dungeon corridor.

 Chapter 47: Disease Damage

    By the time Hans reached the barn for morning training, he felt his focus wobble. The weight of a brick pressed into his sinuses, and his body radiated the humidity of a wet summer.

    Uncle Ed stepped out of the barn before Hans could go in.

    ¡°Hans? Hey, wait.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m fine,¡± Hans said. ¡°Just tired.¡±

    ¡°No, you¡¯re worse than that. Turn around, I¡¯m walking you home.¡±

    Hans protested in his mind, a lengthy tirade about his commitment to teaching that doubled as a boast for his own durability, but he didn¡¯t have the strength to resist when Uncle Ed spun him back toward Gomi. In the snow, the walk from Gomi to the Tribe farms took about 30 minutes, yet Hans blinked and he was sitting on his bed in his apartment.

    ¡°I¡¯ll let folks know classes are canceled for a few days,¡± Uncle Ed said.

    Hans argued and moved to stand. The farmer held him in place with the strength of his pointer finger. Hans could not overcome Uncle Ed¡¯s unimaginable power. While Hans groaned something that vaguely resembled words, the farmer put a new log on the fire and set two more by the hearth within easy reach for Hans.

    ¡°You should get most of the day out of that one,¡± he told Hans. ¡°You need to sleep, and if you¡¯re awake, drink water.¡±

    The Guild Master felt the soft gust of his head hitting the pillow.

    Then black.

    ***

    ¡°Hans. Hey. Hans.¡± Olza gently shook Hans¡¯ shoulder. ¡°Drink this. All in one go.¡±

    Hans pushed the potion away from his mouth. ¡°Tolerance. Won¡¯t work.¡±

    ¡°Really?¡±

    The Guild Master nodded.

    ¡°I guess adventuring would take you to some gross places. How many Cure Disease did you drink a year, roughly? Five?¡±

    He pointed his finger up.

    ¡°Eight? Ten? Hans, not more than ten. Twelve?¡±

    Hans grunted a yes.

    ¡°You know better. That¡¯s outright irresponsible.¡±

    A cup of water pressed into Hans¡¯ lips and tipped gently. As it pulled away, he said, ¡°Had to be at my best for my party. Can¡¯t let a sniffle be what gets us wiped.¡±

    Olza shook her head. ¡°There¡¯s a flu going around. I filled three orders just this morning. Take it seriously and get your rest.¡±

    ¡°Yes, m¡¯am. I¡¯ll stay in bed. Could you pass me my notebook?¡±

    The alchemist stood and dragged Hans¡¯ desk farther away from his bed. Where he might have been able to lean over and grab an item from the edge before, he would now have to get up and venture across the room. ¡°No,¡± Olza said.

    ¡°You¡¯re a monster.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll come back over when I wrap up my work. If I see you¡¯ve been doing anything but resting, I¡¯ll open the taps on your last two kegs and let them flow.¡±

    ¡°You wouldn¡¯t.¡±

    Olza suppressed a smirk. ¡°Try me, Guild Master.¡±

    ***

    He blinked and Olza was back with a dark purple jar and a fragrant loaf of bread.

    ¡°Charlie and Galinda sent this over,¡± she said. ¡°It¡¯s fresh, and this is blackberry jam. Maybe try eating some bread and see how that feels?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m fine, really. You don¡¯t have to wait on me like this.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re not fine,¡± Olza retorted. ¡°Friends help friends. That¡¯s how it works.¡±

    ¡°Thank you.¡±

    She patted Hans on the shoulder. ¡°Of course. I¡¯ll keep you company for a bit, if that¡¯s okay.¡±

    He nodded.

    Pulling Hans¡¯ desk chair nearer to the bed, Olza sat with a book in her lap. ¡°My mom used to tell me stories when I was sick. She used to say that good stories were as good for the body as they were for the soul.¡± She asked if Hans wanted to hear a story.

    He agreed.

    Leaning forward, Olza pursed her lips with thought. ¡°I have a good one. Did anyone in town tell you about the rhubarb standoff?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t think so.¡±

    ¡°This is my favorite Charlie and Galinda story. The bakery was active at this point, and Charlie gave most of the goods away from the very first day. You knew all of that, but it¡¯s important to the story because Galinda¡¯s favorite food, no contest, is rhubarb pie.

    ¡°They got into a giant fight, like Luther would say he heard them fighting all the way out on the Tribe farmland. That big. Apparently, the fight centered around a nude portrait.¡±

    Hans choked on his bread. Several coughs later, his airway was clear, and Olza¡¯s eyes told him she was not joking.

    ¡°Galinda painted the portrait. Charlie was the subject.¡±

    While Hans lamented his inability to control his imagination, Olza continued the story, saying how the Tribe hosted a community art show that spring, and Galinda planned and organized the whole thing. The community art show was a regular part of Gomi life, but instead of yearly, it happened on a loose timing of every two or three years. If Olza¡¯s math was correct, this story happened during the third installment of the show.

    Charlie had always been supportive, but Galinda liked having her arms around the whole of the event, so the Mayor didn¡¯t need to do much other than spread the word and attend the event himself to show his support.

    Galinda was quite proud of that tasteful portrait, but the husband and wife still disputed whether Galinda had the express permission from her husband to submit that particular piece to the show. She maintained she asked, and he said yes. Charlie insisted he would not have agreed to it knowingly and must have been tricked.

    The Mayor learned of its inclusion on the day of the art show, when he walked into a busy barn. He scanned, searching for Galinda¡¯s work, and then someone stepped to the side. He saw it. He saw himself. All of himself.

    ¡°Charlie walks up to the portrait, takes it off the wall, and walks out. Doesn¡¯t say anything, but his face was redder than a cherry. The fight was bad enough that Galinda went to stay with Galad. Then Charlie did the unthinkable: he refused to give her rhubarb pie until she came home.¡±

    The Mayor baked nothing but rhubarb pie for over two weeks. The whole town smelled like fresh baked pie, and Charlie was so committed to making his statement that he started going door to door asking anyone with canned rhubarb to share with him.

    He gave away every single slice every single day. Some say every citizen in Gomi got a piece of rhubarb pie that year, and the feud went long enough that saying so didn¡¯t feel like an exaggeration. Then one day, as they neared a third week of daily rhubarb pie, Charlie overheard two kids talking about how many coppers they had collected from Galinda.Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.

    ¡°She was sending kids in every day to get her a slice of pie. Every day for the entire feud. When Charlie figures this out, he sends the next kid home with a letter asking Galinda to come home.¡±

    ¡°That story was disgustingly cute,¡± Hans said.

    Olza agreed. ¡°They¡¯re so sweet to each other. It¡¯s nice to see that kind of love in the world.¡±

    Hans thought that was a nice observation.

    ¡°I¡¯ll tell Galinda you want to see the painting,¡± Olza said.

    ***

    Time swirled for Hans. Every flutter of his eyelids repeated the sensation of having woken from a nap, unsure if he had been asleep for five minutes or five hours. His bedsheets felt like a bedroll left out in the rain, every layer of fabric sticking to his skin. His flesh ached.

    He rolled his head to look around his apartment. Snowflakes fluttered against his window, the deep darkness of a Gomi night behind them. His desk chair was empty. Looking to his couch, he saw familiar dark hair flowing over the armrest.

    Calling to Olza, he said, ¡°Golthththa¡­¡±

    She sat up. ¡°You need water.¡±

    With some help, Hans tipped forward while Olza packed pillows behind him. He leaned back. An exhausting effort for a small amount of movement.

    ¡°You¡¯ve been out of it. When you feel up to it, you should take a bath.¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s been a few days. You¡¯re pretty ripe.¡±

    Hans attempted to sniff himself, but no air moved through his nose. Given the other context clues, he didn¡¯t doubt Olza¡¯s assessment.

    She pulled a thermometer from Hans¡¯ mouth.

    When did she put that there?

    ¡°I think you broke your fever,¡± she said, reading the temperature. ¡°Take your time, though. Don¡¯t rush it.¡±

    Giving himself several minutes to gather his senses, he eventually asked, ¡°How long has it been?¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s the last thing you remember?¡±

    ¡°Umm,¡± Hans said, thinking. His face fell. ¡°Naked Charlie.¡±

    Olza forced her lips shut to stifle a laugh. ¡°That was two days ago.¡±

    The Guild Master groaned.

    ¡°You did this to yourself. You work too much.¡±

    He couldn¡¯t formulate an argument, but he could eat. A piece of toast slathered in jam sat on his nightstand. Its age was unknown to the Guild Master, but he cared not. His body seemed to rejoice the moment the sweet but sour flavor of blackberries tingled his taste buds. He wanted to eat more quickly, but he lacked the strength to hold his hand to his mouth indefinitely. Every bite was a biceps curl powered by will alone.

    ¡°What have the Apprentices been doing?¡±

    The alchemist sighed. ¡°We had a bet on how long it would take you to ask a question like that.¡± She sat in his desk chair beside the bed. ¡°Everything is fine, but there have been some developments.¡±

    ¡°Tell me, please.¡±

    ¡°Again, nothing bad has happened and no one is hurt. The dungeon grew more gnolls. It was five every few days last I heard.¡±

    Hans bolted upright. ¡°The Apprentices are in the dungeon?!¡±

    Olza pressed him back down into his pillows. ¡°No one is in the dungeon alone. Becky is with them, and she¡¯s looking out for them. She was sure it¡¯s what you would have done and made the call.¡±

    ¡°What I would have done?¡±

    Doing her best to restate Becky¡¯s reasoning, Olza explained that the Druid said that Hans would want the most prepared people watching the dungeon. The Apprentices weren¡¯t at the Iron-ranked level yet¨Cas they had been training for only a brief period¨Cbut they had more training than the town guards posted in the cabin. They were the best choice in a bad situation.

    The Guild Master agreed with the reasoning. That helped Hans relax.

    Becky was right about the Apprentices, and with the dwarf there to lead them, they could handle a few gnolls. The more he worked with the Druid, the more he suspected her true rank was a high Silver, well beyond her current Bronze. Being so far from the founding chapter often meant adventurers like her were a rank or two below what they probably should have been.

    When Hans settled, Olza continued her update. With the Apprentices at the cabin, Tandis began to marshal a long-term stock of supplies as well as the manpower to drag it up the mountain trail. Using a conservative estimate of how long before the Apprentices needed a restock, she prepped two timelines: one where Hans had recovered in time to resume leading the operation, and one where he had not and they would have to function without him.

    Another plan that is much smarter than what I could have devised.

    Gomi had survived a few days without Hans. While being the town¡¯s lone hero had a storybook quality that he found appealing, people were making good decisions without his intervention. Even better, his influence on those people had been relatively brief. He couldn¡¯t take credit for the good sense they already had, but it spoke to how far they could go.

    ¡°Thank you for telling me,¡± Hans said, sincerely.

    ¡°You¡¯re not going to do something stupid?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll rest.¡±

    Olza approved.

    ¡°Can I ask a favor?¡± Hans asked, slyly.

    She narrowed her eyes. ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°Can I see the plans Tandis is working on? Just see. That¡¯s all.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll see what I can do.¡± She sighed.

    ***

    We¡¯re lucky to have Tandis. So very lucky.

    Hans had mustered the strength to move from his bed to his desk. He felt vaguely human again, but he had quite a bit more recovery time ahead. The dungeon called to him. He should be with his students. He wanted to see how the dungeon had grown. Sitting still was difficult for an adventurer. Retired adventurer. Whatever.

    Tandis¡¯ plan was thorough. She accounted for twelve months of guarding the dungeon, planning for just-in-time restocks and season-specific gear. The only suggestion Hans added was to include training swords and shields in the next shipment of supplies. Adventurers were guarding the dungeon from now on, so if their training was to continue, it would have to happen at the cabin.

    That would take him away from the guild hall indefinitely, which meant canceling kids¡¯ classes. Olza was right. He had to prioritize his focus and save some projects for another day. Kane and Quentin could run a few review sessions in his absence, and maybe Galinda would be open to teaching more art classes.

    Olza wasn¡¯t in the room, so Hans was free to retrieve a few books from his shelf. He had a particular quest on his mind.

    Active Quest: Draft possible explanations for the nightmares plaguing tusk children.

    If he could make headway on even a single theory, he could leave his thoughts with Charlie and Galad. Olza would likely have input also, but Hans assumed she would want to visit the dungeon again as well.

    What did they know about the nightmares already?

    Only tusk children were affected. Whether or not they were longtime residents or new arrivals didn¡¯t seem to matter. When a child had a nightmare, they were compelled to run, presumably into the woods but that part was conjecture. Where the children intended to go¨Cif there was a destination involved at all¨Cwasn¡¯t known.

    The nightmares happened every night and had been for weeks now. If they had a root cause beyond the collective trauma of surviving as a tusk in the kingdom, the source was either persistent or was reactivated each night.

    An area of effect ability, like the squonk hopelessness aura, has a range limit.

    All of the tusk children lived on the Tribe farmlands, so all of the nightmares happened there. Would a child sleeping in Gomi be affected by nightmares? If they weren¡¯t, then the source of the nightmares must be localized to the Tribe farm.

    In that case, they might be dealing with a haunting, a cursed item, a very sneaky monster, or a mage casting a curse with regularity. As awful as any one of those might be, they were solvable, especially if the search area was finite.

    If the child still had nightmares¡­ Hans wasn¡¯t sure what source had the range and the power to affect so many individuals across a great distance.

    Is it unethical to have a tusk child sleep in Gomi to see if they still had nightmares?

    The answer felt like yes, most experiments conducted on children were in that category by default, but they needed a lead, any lead. And the only danger was the child having another nightmare, which would happen on the Tribe farmlands regardless.

    Quest Update: Test possible explanations for the nightmares plaguing tusk children.

    Maybe Galinda and Charlie could host a sleepover for Gunther?

    ***

    Open Quests (Ordered from Old to New):

    Progress from Gold-ranked to Diamond-ranked.

    Mend the rift with Devon.

    Complete the manuscript for "The Next Generation: A Teaching Methodology for Training Adventurers."

    Expand the Gomi training area to include ramps for footwork drills.

    Design a system for training dungeon awareness.

    Research the history and legends of the Dead End Mountains, more.

    Protect Gomi.

    Train Gomi adventurers to keep the dungeon at bay.

    Design the ultimate strategy for hunting squonks.

    Pick a secret passage design for the cabin. Bonus Objective: Make it cooler than a bookshelf door.

    Find a partner to move dungeon loot efficiently.

    Find a way to share new knowledge without putting Gomi at risk.

    Address the deficiency of magery education in the Gomi chapter.

    Acquire the tools and knowledge to train trap disarming safely.

    Test possible explanations for the nightmares plaguing tusk children.

    Investigate the altered dungeon corridor.

 Chapter 48: Level Grinding

    Hans, Tandis, and Olza readied their gear alongside six Gomi citizens, an even split of tusks and humans. Those six were volunteers, their bags stuffed to bursting with provisions to stock the cabin. If Tandis calculated correctly¨Cand Hans was certain she did¨Cthey wouldn¡¯t need another shipment for at least a month, at which point they would move a much larger stockpile to the cabin.

    Given the weight they carried, talk of building a proper road gained traction. Mayor Charlie was against it at first, as he believed building an easy-to-follow road was not a wise way to hide a secret location. Galinda pointed out that, if their plan worked, no visitors would be suspicious or curious about one dirt road among many. Charlie felt that reasoning was sound and withdrew his complete disagreement. The road was still a risk, but one wagon could accomplish what would take six Gomi citizens on foot. The road might reduce travel time to and from the cabin as well.

    Tandis was adamant the road was a necessity.

    They had time to argue, though. They could chop down trees just fine in the snow, but clearing the stumps was another matter. A tree¡¯s roots were a challenge under ideal conditions. In frozen ground, they were nearly indestructible. Building the road would wait until spring no matter what was decided.

    ¡°Hans,¡± Charlie said. Hans turned to see the Mayor huffing as he pulled his little legs through fresh powder. When he was close enough, he spoke softly to the Guild Master. ¡°The boy had a nightmare.¡±

    Quest Update: Research non-localized abilities capable of causing nightmares in tusk children.

    The Mayor nodded his agreement as Hans cursed. Though he hadn¡¯t explained his rationale in detail to Charlie, he had shared that the absence of a nightmare was the ¡°better¡± result.

    Half the heft of Hans¡¯ bag were the books he wanted to bring. He had gone through them several times already, but another couple reads wouldn¡¯t hurt, especially with no library within three days of Gomi. He could think of nowhere else to look for answers.

    ¡°Is Gunther okay?¡± Hans asked.

    Charlie waved away the concern. ¡°Strong boy. We¡¯ll keep an eye on him, and I hear he likes chocolate chip cookies.¡±

    Cookies were not on Tandis¡¯ supply list.

    Beer wasn¡¯t either!

    Carrying beer to the cabin through snow would be impossible. In that moment, he had no doubt that building a road was the most strategically sound, and perhaps most strategically important, choice the town could make.

    ***

    The smell had physical mass, pushing Hans away from the door the second he opened it. Seven adventurers in a single room, their many days of sweat simmering under the heavy heat of the hearth, produced a memorable odor. From a lifetime spent in training rooms and on the road chasing jobs, he knew the fragrance well. He didn¡¯t enjoy it.

    Olza promptly retreated from the door, leaving to claim the first shelter Becky had built for the dungeon, the hasty bushcraft version of a small cabin. She needed no additional motivation to have her own room away from the stench of adventurers, even if she had to tend the fire herself.

    The Apprentices and Becky cheered when they saw Hans in the doorway flanked by Gomi citizens carrying several rucksacks full of fresh supplies. Wanting to give the Gomi volunteers a reprieve from the weather, the adventurers climbed down into the pit and gathered where the cave transitioned into dungeon corridor. Buru had to crouch slightly to keep his head from scraping across the ceiling. Chisel did the same.

    ¡°Catch me up,¡± Hans said to the group.

    Becky stepped forward to offer a report. ¡°We put down twelve gnolls total. Dungeon grows them every other day, and they always come from that same hallway.¡±

    The hallway Becky identified was the newer passage that branched off near the dungeon core, where they had first seen the gnolls with black fur.

    ¡°The Apprentices pulled their weight. Followed orders, kept to tactics. Terry got bit, though. Nothing serious, but he bled a little. It was in the first encounter. Some confusion in the party is all.¡±

    Hans looked at Terry, the town guard turned adventurer. Terry shrugged, a bandage wrapped around his right forearm. The others were a little dirty, but no one else appeared to be injured.

    ¡°Done the huntin¡¯ by the book, like you¡¯d want. Only thing different was we rotated who used the wax.¡±

    While that sounded like they shared earplugs among each other¨Ca thought that immediately made Hans¡¯ ear itch from the inside¨Cwhat Becky meant was that two of the six Apprentices had wax in their ears at any given time, protecting them from the squonks¡¯ aura. The remaining members could hear and react to Becky¡¯s coaching. The system wasn¡¯t perfect, but if Becky needed to shout a warning, someone needed to hear it. After all, she couldn¡¯t jump in front of the party and signal that their formation was off in the middle of a battle.

    Hans shook the Druid¡¯s hand. ¡°You did good, Becky.¡±

    ¡°I know.¡±

    The group had little else to share in their debrief as life at the dungeon entrance was uneventful otherwise. When the gnolls and squonks were cleared, they rotated guard duty and passed the time in the cabin. Chisel and Honronk took advantage of the breaks to practice their spellcraft. Chisel was close to mastering Cure Poison, and Honronk had broken through his mental block. He could now cast Nightsight and Summon Light. The Summon Light spell created an orb of light that followed the caster. The Black Mage had improvements yet to make, though. Currently, his orb fizzled back to darkness in under a minute.

    Chisel followed the typical progression of a White Mage, at least as far as Hans understood it. Honronk, meanwhile, charted his own path. Light manipulation and Illusion magic in general came much later in the typical Black Mage curriculum. They didn¡¯t have anyone to teach that curriculum, so if they wanted Honronk to advance, they had to accept progress wherever they could find it.

    Honronk¡¯s spirits were up at least. Hans hoped he could continue teaching himself until the snow melted, at which point he intended to send a letter to Mazo, asking her advice. He would also place a book order with the merchants to stock every spell guide he could afford.

    Buru had also used his spare time to practice his new Druid magic. Neither Buru nor Becky would discuss what that training entailed as it never happened in view of the other adventurers. All of Buru¡¯s lessons happened outside. Despite the mystery, Hans was happy to hear Buru¡¯s skills were developing. At his current pace, Becky predicted Buru could earn his familiar by the summer.

    As Rangers, Terry and Yotuli had little to do with their downtime. Sven faced a similar challenge as a Rogue. The three read as much as they could before their focus failed. Terry whittled a boar figurine for his daughter while Yotuli and Sven played cards, if one of them wasn¡¯t on watch that is.

    Their last point of business was what happened next. Now that Hans had arrived, Becky would be relieved of her duties, and he would take over managing guard rotations as well as the resumption of their training. For today, they would make camp outside to let the volunteers enjoy the cabin before their return trip began the next morning. The temporary shelter Roland had built for himself, Quentin, and Kane was still in good condition. They could sort it out amongst themselves who got the shelter and who used the tents.

    When Hans dismissed the adventurers, he cast a longing glance deeper into the dungeon. He wanted to investigate the corridors Becky had told him about, the ones that reminded her of his footwork training diagrams.

    You¡¯re the grownup. Responsibilities first.

    Hans turned to follow the Apprentices to the surface but found Terry had lingered behind the rest. He looked distressed.

    ¡°Can I talk to you?¡± Terry asked.

    ¡°What¡¯s on your mind?¡± In his head, Hans guessed that the gnoll bite shook the Apprentice. Those early injuries did that often.

    ¡°I¡¯m falling behind the rest of the group. My body just can¡¯t keep up with theirs. I guess age is setting in.¡± Terry was thirty-five, a full eight years older than the next oldest member.

    ¡°You¡¯re seeing how Yotuli fights and worried you can¡¯t match it?¡±

    That was correct, Terry said.

    ¡°She¡¯s twenty-two. I¡¯m sorry, Terry, you¡¯re not going to fight like a twenty-two year-old.¡±

    Terry nodded, casting his eyes down to his feet.

    ¡°That¡¯s not shameful. Yotuli¡¯s style can¡¯t be your style. The jacket doesn¡¯t fit, so to speak, because it¡¯s the wrong jacket. You need to fight like Terry, the thirty-five year-old. That¡¯s a lesson I screwed up myself. I can¡¯t move like I could in my twenties, but into my thirties I didn¡¯t want to admit that. Fighting like you¡¯re twenty when you¡¯re actually thirty is like using tools wrong¡­ and then everything hurts.¡±If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

    ¡°How would I go about fixing that?¡±

    ¡°Matching your style to your body? The opposite of Yotuli, to be honest. She never stops moving. Fast. Springy. You and I don¡¯t get to fight like that. There¡¯s still room for making your style your own, but think more like a predator stalking prey. It¡¯s not slow. It¡¯s methodical. It¡¯s not conservative. It¡¯s efficient. You¡¯re heavy on your feet until you aren¡¯t. Does that make sense?¡±

    The former guard scratched his beard and ran a hand through his hair. ¡°I think so. If I do that, I won¡¯t slow everyone down?¡±

    Hans argued it would be the opposite. The party would be stronger. Not only would Terry feel more effective, but style variations within a party were preferred. Their styles would match up to enemies in different ways, giving the party one of the most valuable resources of all: options. Every combat choice had its tactical pros and cons. A monster that Yotuli struggled with might be one that Terry found easy to manage, or vice versa.

    ¡°You¡¯ll need time to adjust, so don¡¯t be surprised if the next few sessions are a struggle. Give it two or three weeks, though. I bet you¡¯ll feel better about it by then.¡±

    Terry thanked Hans for the advice and followed the Apprentices up the ladder to the cabin.

    They¡¯re hitting the right challenges and asking the right questions.

    Hans smiled.

    ***

    Sven and Yotuli jogged ahead with wax in their ears. They cleared the squonk room and waited for the rest of the party to catch up. A little ways farther in and they would encounter the next three gnolls, but Hans held the Apprentices back.

    The party was too large for this dungeon. The hallways were too narrow and the enemies too few. Working a six-person formation was good practice, but with only five gnolls spawning every other day, that left most of the group with nothing to do but watch. They needed a better system. For today, though, they would clear the gnolls as a group. While Olza studied the dungeon core, the Apprentices could run corridor combat drills.

    ¡°Yotuli, I asked Terry to try a different approach today, so pay extra attention to your position. It can be easy to get too far ahead. Honronk, use Prism as the gnolls close the distance. Terry and Yotuli, account for Prism with your timing.¡±

    ¡°How?¡± Yotuli asked.

    Hans shrugged. ¡°You¡¯ll think of something. As for you three,¡± he said, addressing Buru, Chisel, and Sven, ¡°I know there¡¯s nothing for you to do. We¡¯ll change-up training after today so this doesn¡¯t happen again.¡±

    Terry, Yotuli, and Honronk moved down the corridor as a unit, the Rangers in front, the Black Mage behind. The rest of the group, which included Hans and Olza, followed at a distance.

    When the front three neared the turnoff where the three gnolls spawned, they paused several feet from the corner. Terry knocked on his shield, a hollow percussion that carried down the long, vacant hallways of the half-grown dungeon. Hans hadn¡¯t taught the adventurers about luring and manipulating monsters, so Terry either came up with this himself, or he learned it from Becky.

    Either way, they were thinking.

    Two gnolls stepped into the torchlight, still several paces from the two Rangers in the frontline. Terry and Yotuli waited, holding their formation. The wolfmen snarled and snapped at the air, but the adventurers didn¡¯t move. Yotuli feinted a charging step forward, starting and stopping her momentum in one sudden motion.

    The abrupt movement startled and angered the gnolls. They charged down the hallway to face the Rangers. Three feet from the range of Terry and Yotuli¡¯s swords, a wall of rainbow color appeared between the adventurers and the monsters. Everyone on the adventurer side could see through the semi-transparent spell surface, like they saw through a veil that shimmered as it took on every shade in the color wheel.

    The gnolls, however, saw a bright opaque surface appear suddenly in their path. They dug their heels, attempting to stop their forward momentum, the sound of dog nails clattering against stone echoing through the dungeon. Sliding toward the Prism wall, neither gnoll saw the swords shoot through the curtain of color and pierce the soft flesh right beneath their sternums.

    The beasts gasped weakly as they fell forward, dead before their corpses hit the floor.

    As the Prism wall timed out, Terry said, ¡°Still one more. Keep formation.¡±

    The three adventurers stepped over their dead enemies and continued down the corridor. Safely turning a corner in a dungeon was a practiced skill, individually as well as for the group overall. Coordination was key, and Hans had taught none of it yet. Becky might have, so the party was either going to demonstrate what they had learned or how well they could improvise.

    A few paces from the corner, Terry held up a hand to signal a stop. He continued to move forward, Yotuli trailing behind with stealthy footsteps. At the corner, Terry paused, and his head bobbed as he silently counted down from three.

    Leading with his shield, Terry made a sharp turn, pivoting ninety degrees as if on a hinge. The moment he crossed the line to see down the hallway, a blur of black fur lunged at the Apprentice. The beast thudded against Terry¡¯s shield, and the rattling of teeth and claws against wood filled the hall.

    And then it was over. Yotuli easily flanked the gnoll, putting it down with a simple, but quick, thrust.

    ¡°Wow,¡± Hans said, ¡°It¡¯s clear you¡¯ve all been training hard. That was well executed.¡±

    The three adventurers beamed from the praise.

    Training on the gnolls had been good for the Apprentices, but he would need to devise a way to vary their training, and soon. Ideally, they¡¯d find a pack of wolves or some other quadruped that would force the Apprentices to deal with threats lower to the ground and to respond to attacks from odd angles. A camahueto would be the perfect training creature, Hans thought. Ranging from large dog to pony in size, a camahueto resembled a bald yak with an oversized unicorn horn growing from its forehead, hooking upward from a wide base like a rhinoceros horn. Camahuetos were tough but simple creatures. Good Apprentice fodder.

    That was one of the weaknesses of adventurer training in general. Monsters came in all shapes and sizes along with an uncountable number of potential abilities. Out in the training yard, adventurers trained exclusively against people. The only way for an adventurer to train against monsters was to fight them in the field.

    The Apprentices would be well beyond the challenge of a camahueto by the time they could travel to fight one, unfortunately.

    ¡°The dungeon is still growing, so resist the temptation to get complacent,¡± Hans continued, scolding himself as well for allowing his mind to wander. ¡°If you¡¯re in a dungeon, assume that you are always in danger. Stay on guard.¡±

    Terry volunteered to take squonk watch, stuffing wax into his ears and taking a position several dozen yards back toward the dungeon entrance where he could warn the party well ahead of the hopelessness aura. Sven took watch of the gnoll hallway while the remaining adventurers broke for a light lunch: Jerky and bread.

    Escorting Olza to the dungeon core, Hans finally saw the unusual hallway Becky told him about.

    ¡°What happened to the floor?¡± Olza asked, looking at a surface that resembled choppy water in a storm, frozen in time.

    Hans knelt and ran his hands over the uneven floor. ¡°I drew a hallway like this a while back. It was an idea I had for training dungeon footwork.¡±

    ¡°That is odd that the floor would be similar.¡±

    ¡°Not similar, Olza. This is the drawing exactly.¡±

    The alchemist sighed. ¡°Mysteries seem to follow in your wake. Not answers. Just mysteries.¡±

    The Guild Master shrugged as he stood. ¡°Yeah. I don¡¯t know what to make of this either.¡±

    As the pair continued toward the dungeon core, crossing the wavy, uneven corridor, Hans couldn¡¯t help but mime a few sword drills to feel out the terrain. He tried a simple chase drill, then an angle drill¨Ca circling sidestep around an opponent. The floor worked as intended, forcing him to feel and consider his footing as he moved.

    I love it.

    Quest Complete: Investigate the altered dungeon corridor.

    When the snow cleared, adding this tool to the training yard was top of his list.

    When Hans and Olza reached the fissure, Olza lowered herself into the dungeon core room while Hans stayed in the crack. The Guild Master didn¡¯t have any new data to seek or ideas to test, so he was fine being closer to the potential danger of the larger dungeon. The Apprentices were handling themselves well, but he still wanted to be nearby.

    Settling in for a few hours of watching dungeon walls, he jumped when Olza called for him seconds after her feet hit the floor. When he called back to ask what she needed, she didn¡¯t reply. He could see her just fine, though. She stood near the dungeon core, her back to Hans.

    Hans shimmied down the rope and came up next to Olza. ¡°Are you okay?¡±

    She pointed at the dungeon core, bringing Hans¡¯ attention to the jagged top of the broken sphere. A small smooth crystal, like a tiny pearl, sat amongst the uncountable number of sharp edges.

    ¡°Yeah, I¡¯d say that dot is new. I think even I¡¯d remember that detail.¡±

    ¡°Are you intentionally daft?¡± When she saw by his face that he was not intentionally daft, she frowned and turned back to the core. ¡°Where did you touch the core on our last visit?¡±

    Whaaaaaaaaaaaaa¨C

    ¡°That was the spot. Is that dot dungeon core material or is something on the dungeon core?¡± Hans asked.

    ¡°Without taking a chisel to it, I can¡¯t be sure. It does seem consistent with the rest of the core material though.¡±

    Unconsciously Hans began to pace, nearly tripping on one of the dead root bundles.

    ¡°What does it mean that blood helped the core grow?¡±

    ¡°I have some guesses,¡± Olza answered.

    ***

    Open Quests (Ordered from Old to New):

    Progress from Gold-ranked to Diamond-ranked.

    Mend the rift with Devon.

    Complete the manuscript for "The Next Generation: A Teaching Methodology for Training Adventurers."

    Expand the Gomi training area to include ramps for footwork drills.

    Design a system for training dungeon awareness.

    Research the history and legends of the Dead End Mountains, more.

    Protect Gomi.

    Train Gomi adventurers to keep the dungeon at bay.

    Design the ultimate strategy for hunting squonks.

    Pick a secret passage design for the cabin. Bonus Objective: Make it cooler than a bookshelf door.

    Find a partner to move dungeon loot efficiently.

    Find a way to share new knowledge without putting Gomi at risk.

    Address the deficiency of magery education in the Gomi chapter.

    Acquire the tools and knowledge to train trap disarming safely.

    Research non-localized abilities capable of causing nightmares in tusk children.

 Chapter 49: Spawn Rate

    New Quest: Learn more about the dungeon core.

    Olza¡¯s top hypothesis at the moment was that dungeon cores had unique relationships either with mana or with what some would call ¡°lifeforce,¡± a non-scientific way to quantify the vitality of a living creature. Hans pricking his finger on the core must have given the core access to a new energy source, or perhaps the blood itself provided that energy.

    Hans shared previously that when he touched the core he felt no sensation of being drained in any manner. His mana awareness was nowhere near as attuned as a mage¡¯s would be, but if a monster suddenly robbed him of it, he believed he¡¯d notice. He didn¡¯t feel his own power shift in any way at any point.

    While that observation eliminated one hypothesis, it spawned another.

    ¡°Could it feed on pain?¡± Olza asked.

    He had heard a similar idea before. One paper he read argued that dungeon cores fed on misery, making the dungeon itself a sort of misery farm for the core. The author suggested that to create the way it does, a dungeon core needed a power source, and that was the only constant in the life of a dungeon, the misery it generated. As it was with all dungeon research, however, the paper was not much more than an opinion piece. No one had studied an actual dungeon core, ever.

    ¡°Would be easy enough to test,¡± Hans offered.

    ¡°Should we?¡±

    The pair knew that both of them desperately wanted to experiment on the dungeon core, but neither wanted to be the one to suggest an irresponsible choice. The first time Hans touched the broken sphere, three gnolls immediately attacked the party, a reaction he believed was a security measure of sorts for the core. A reasonable person would expect a similar response from a creature that felt threatened.

    Hans asked Sven to retrieve Terry from his post. When all Apprentices were present, Hans explained that a new batch of gnolls might attack and that the party should be ready. They adopted a six-person formation that put the Rangers in front again, but placed the Rogue immediately behind but between them. Sven could now loose an arrow down the hall without leaving the cover of two Rangers and their shields. The Druid and two mages stood a few paces behind Sven.

    Three gnolls posed a small challenge to a three-person party, as Hans had recently witnessed, but the Guild Master preferred to be overprepared.

    When the Apprentices were in position, Hans returned to Olza. For this experiment, they changed one variable. Hans would prick his finger, just deep enough for a single drop of red to leak out. Then he¡¯d drip it onto the dungeon core. By not touching the core directly, they hoped to determine for certain if the core drained something from Hans or not. If they got the same reaction, his touch was likely not that important. If the reaction changed¨Cor didn¡¯t happen at all¨Cthey would have more reason to explore various forms of vampirism and related spells.

    Olza stepped back, perhaps instinctively. Hans drew his knife and poked the back of his pointer finger, between two knuckles. A hole in a fingertip would make the rest of the day uncomfortable. Nicking the back of a finger wasn¡¯t pleasant, but the wound was simpler to manage.

    Holding his hand over the core, he turned his wrist to let a drop of blood free.

    Instead of one drop falling, he watched as two drops too many escaped his finger, already too late to act.

    ¡°Sorry,¡± he whispered.

    Before Olza could reprimand him, he heard the deep bellow of Buru¡¯s usually soft voice. ¡°Three gnolls coming. Two unknowns approaching from the distance.¡±

    Hans wedged wax into his ears as a precaution and climbed the rope out of the dungeon core room. In that small amount of time, three gnolls with black fur closed the distance on the Apprentices. The wolfman farthest ahead fell face first when an arrow pierced his eye. Honronk cast Prism between the Rangers and the other two charging monsters, repeating the tactic from earlier.

    Like before, Terry and Yotuli used the cover of the spell to deliver quick thrusts to the confused gnolls.

    Buru spoke again. ¡°Two unknowns still approaching. Three new unknowns behind those.¡±

    Chisel yelled for the party to reset their formation as the sound of galloping hooves on cobblestone drew near. Gnolls didn¡¯t have hooves.

    ¡°It¡¯s not gnolls,¡± Buru called from behind the Apprentices. Hans couldn¡¯t hear the Druid on account of the wax in his ears, but he believed he had read his lips correctly.

    Terry and Yotuli bent their knees and lowered their hips, making themselves compact and solid behind their shields. Sven had an arrow ready to draw.

    ¡°Two unicorn cows!¡± Honronk shouted.

    Sven turned to regard the Black Mage. ¡°Be serious, brother.¡±

    Hans barked at Sven, ¡°Forward!¡±

    When the Rogue returned his attention to the corridor, its length disappearing into a pinprick in the far distant dark, two beasts shaped like small bulls with a single horn each entered the torchlight, galloping hard toward the party with their heads down.

    Sven hastily nocked an arrow but fumbled the draw. He reached for another arrow as his first clattered to the floor.

    Buru twirled a vine at his side, the length and motion looking like that of a traditional slingshot. When Sven dropped his arrow, Buru opened his hand, sending the vine hurtling over Terry¡¯s shoulder and down the hall. The vine hit the front left knee of the lead monster and immediately wrapped around both front legs like a bolo. The monster tipped forward, its face dragging across the stone floor as it fought to break the vine.

    The other monster closed, its head down, its horn as wide as a wizard hat at its base. Sven¡¯s arrow glanced off the horn, drawing a small amount of blood above one of the monster¡¯s eyes. The beast didn¡¯t slow or flinch.

    ¡°Honronk, Prism!¡± Yotuli shouted from the front.

    ¡°No mana,¡± the tusk responded flatly.

    And then the monster galloped through the Apprentices, knocking Terry and Yotuli to the side. The beast¡¯s shoulder bounced Sven into the wall as it passed. The three apprentices in the rear¨CBuru, Chisel, and Honronk¨Ctook advantage of the extra seconds the frontline didn¡¯t have. They threw themselves clear to let the monster blast by.

    That¡¯s a camahueto¡­

    Though the Guild Master was directly ahead, the monster slid to a stop, spun around, and launched into a return charge. The backline was unguarded.

    ¡°Shields in front!¡± Hans yelled.

    Buru hurled a vine at the remaining camahueto as it gained speed. The vine hit high on the monster¡¯s shoulder and wrapped around a lone leg, doing little to hinder its charge.

    Yotuli pushed through her party and ran ahead, stopping in the middle of the hall with her shield up. The camahueto dipped its head to aim its horn, but with its attention fixated on the shield, the beast didn¡¯t notice the tusk Ranger shift her weight so she could pivot to the side. The side of the monster¡¯s face scraped across the wooden shield as it barreled by. The point of a sword found its ribs at the same time, the beast¡¯s forward motion dragging a long, bloody slice down its side.

    When the monster stumbled, Yotuli and Buru were on it with their swords. Several stabs past dead, Hans coached, ¡°Get the other!¡±

    Terry ran several paces to where the other camahueto thrashed, trying to break free of its restraints. It was nearly free when Terry¡¯s sword bit halfway through the monster¡¯s stocky neck.

    Chisel knelt next to Sven. The Rogue slumped against the wall, his nose leaking and his eyes glazed. He was alive, but he was injured.Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.

    ¡°Cover me!¡± Chisel called. ¡°Buru! Are the last three approaching?¡±

    The Druid froze to listen. ¡°Yes, gnolls I think, but they are far.¡±

    The warm light of Lesser Heal washed over Sven. As the Rogue regained awareness, he groaned from the pain. He wasn¡¯t going to die, but he also wasn¡¯t popping to his feet to rejoin the fight right away.

    ¡°What do we do?¡± Chisel asked Hans as he approached, doing his own check of Sven¡¯s status and risking removing one of his ear plugs.

    ¡°What do you think you should do?¡± the Guild Master answered.

    Chisel half-hissed when she grumbled, ¡°You¡¯re really doing that now?¡±

    ¡°We wait,¡± Honronk suggested.

    Yotuli nodded. ¡°I agree. We have line of sight and we¡¯re together.¡± The Ranger looked deeper into the dungeon, toward the dungeon core. ¡°Not much room for a retreat, though.¡±

    ¡°Closer,¡± Buru said, still listening for enemies.

    The Rangers reformed their front line and advanced down the hall a dozen yards. If another monster charged through, bunching together would work against them.

    ¡°Three gnolls!¡± Honronk announced.

    Terry searched that darkness ahead, seeing nothing but shadow. ¡°Guessing doesn¡¯t help!¡±

    A gnoll, running on all-fours like a wolf, bounded out of the darkness, sprinting at the party. Behind it, two upright gnolls followed, each carrying a club.

    Gnolls with weapons? That¡¯s new.

    The length of the corridor provided ample time to prepare. Terry stepped in front of Yotuli, putting himself between her and the gnolls. ¡°I¡¯ll slow it down!¡±

    Terry bashed his shield into the side of the wolfman¡¯s head. Part parry, part strike, the force of the charge bounced Terry sideways. The impact was far from soft, but the Ranger deflected the worst of it. The gnoll was a different story. He slammed into the brick.

    The gnoll¡¯s footing slipped for a moment, giving Yotuli an opening. Just when the gnoll was clear of Terry¡¯s shield, a sword carved down its neck.

    ¡°Ahead!¡± Honronk warned as he stepped forward, putting the tip of his sword in the first gnoll¡¯s skull, giving the Rangers precious seconds to reset.

    Clubs bounced off of shields as both gnolls met the Rangers. Their immediate charge halted, the gnolls prodded for openings in the adventures¡¯ defenses. A stone the size of a plum embedded itself into the head of the gnoll attacking Yotuli, making a sound like the wet, meaty crunch of a smashed crab. The tusk Ranger didn¡¯t hesitate. She thrust a sword through its neck and spun, bringing a slash across the knee of the remaining gnoll harassing Terry.

    He too didn¡¯t hesitate. The instant the gnoll glanced away to see what attacked him, Terry¡¯s sword slid between its ribs.

    ¡°No more approaching,¡± Buru said.

    Every Apprentice collapsed to the floor, gasping for air. Their adrenaline crashed, and their muscles and joints reminded them of the abuse they had just endured. A moment ago, the fire of combat fueled their every movement. With that flame gone, they could barely stand. A battle that blurred by in seconds left them exhausted.

    ¡°Anyone wounded?¡± Hans asked, approaching the limp Apprentices.

    ¡°Chisel got me,¡± Sven said. ¡°I¡¯m fine.¡±

    The Guild Master scanned the rest of the group. They would all be sore in the morning, but they were whole. When desperate gasps for air slowed to heavy but calm breathing, Hans asked, ¡°What did you learn?¡±

    ¡°Sven doubted me,¡± Honronk said in his monotone, matter-of-fact voice.

    ¡°You said they were ¡®unicorn cows¡¯ before you could even see them. Who would take that seriously?¡± Sven asked.

    ¡°I would.¡±

    Hans intervened. ¡°Communication is critical. The rule is ¡®no joking in or about combat.¡¯ We don¡¯t have time to question our allies. You need to be able to trust in what each other says without having to think, so everyone, right now, commit to following the rule.¡±

    The Guild Master pointed to his ear.

    The Apprentices rolled their eyes, and drawled in near unison, ¡°No joking in combat.¡±

    ¡°Also, Honronk can cast Nightsight, so he could see the enemies before anyone else.¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t know that,¡± Sven said.

    ¡°Besides trusting in what your party members say, you need to learn each other¡¯s strengths and weaknesses. Sounds like Honronk didn¡¯t mention Nightsight to anyone else. That¡¯s too good of a tool to keep from your party. In that same vein, the party seemed surprised that Honronk couldn¡¯t cast Prism again.¡±

    The Black Mage nodded.

    ¡°Fighting the unicorn cows was much different from gnolls,¡± Yotuli said, absentmindedly kicking the ribs of a dead monster.

    ¡°They¡¯re called camahuetos,¡± Hans said. ¡°What should you have done differently against them?¡±

    Terry rubbed his neck. ¡°Blocking them head on was a mistake. Sven got the worst of it, but any of us could have gotten gored.¡± When Hans didn¡¯t respond, Terry realized the Guild Master expected his answer to continue.

    Chisel interjected, ¡°Save spells like Prism if we can.¡±

    Terry agreed. ¡°Yeah, that. We should probably develop a few tactics for those kind of situations. Get us a quick way to call a change so everyone can be prepared.¡±

    ¡°If I didn¡¯t choke, arrows would have helped,¡± Sven said, glumly.

    ¡°The formation you all used to set up the shot was pretty smart,¡± Hans said. ¡°Why didn¡¯t you incorporate Buru¡¯s ranged ability?¡±

    No one had an answer.

    ¡°That¡¯s something to think more about. I¡¯m betting you have more options there than you might realize. Between the vine spell and the rock spell, you have more possibilities.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t have a rock spell,¡± Buru said.

    ¡°But you¨C¡±

    ¡°Threw a rock. Not cast.¡±

    Before Hans could mentally recover, Chisel raised her hand. ¡°I was basically useless the whole time,¡± she said.

    ¡°White Mage is a tough class in the early days. You have a few offensive options to learn, like Lesser Sleep, but you¡¯ll really shine with buffs and debuffs. Even then, though, you have to be careful with your mana. If you need to heal a friend but can¡¯t¡­ That¡¯s a tough memory to live with.¡±

    Hans asked if anyone else had observations or questions to share.

    Sven began, ¡°Where did the commahees¨C¡±

    ¡°Camahuetos,¡± Hans corrected.

    ¡°Where did the camahuetos come from? We¡¯ve never seen them down here, and it¡¯s not like they have a lot of places to hide.¡±

    ¡°They typically live near the mouths of rivers, right where it empties into an ocean or sea. They¡¯re common if you go to one of the southern kingdoms where there¡¯s more prairie.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s fine and all, but why were they here?¡±

    Olza called from the fissure, ¡°That¡¯s my fault. I ran an experiment. I¡¯m sorry.¡±

    The Apprentices told her not to worry. They insisted they were fine.

    ¡°I¡¯m ready to head back after we get the horns,¡± Olza said. ¡°They¡¯re good for medicines.¡±

    ¡°We just got here,¡± Hans said.

    ¡°I have enough data for now,¡± she said, holding eye contact with the Guild Master. ¡°We can go.¡±

    Buru sawed through the camahueto horns with his bucknife and the party departed.

    The return to the surface was uneventful. With wax in his ears, Hans scouted ahead to eliminate the squonks they would encounter. Then they made quick work of the last two gnolls. Otherwise, they faced no more foes and encountered no additional threats. Back at the cabin, Hans instructed the Apprentices to clean their gear before they rested. They grumbled but did as they were told. Tandis passed out rags and whetstones, then she offered to make soup. The Apprentices happily accepted.

    Volunteering to take first watch, Hans descended into the pit once more to monitor the dungeon entrance so the Apprentices could rest. He knew Olza wanted to talk, but he wasn¡¯t ready to.

    Every step of their walk back to the surface, Hans thought about the camahuetos, but his complete disbelief kept him from pondering anything meaningful. He deflected off the idea like a bee hitting a window, aware that there was progress to be made but blocked by an incomprehensible force.

    Now, as he sat alone at the entrance to the Gomi dungeon, his mind settled.

    What have I done?

    ***

    Open Quests (Ordered from Old to New):

    Progress from Gold-ranked to Diamond-ranked.

    Mend the rift with Devon.

    Complete the manuscript for "The Next Generation: A Teaching Methodology for Training Adventurers."

    Expand the Gomi training area to include ramps for footwork drills.

    Design a system for training dungeon awareness.

    Research the history and legends of the Dead End Mountains, more.

    Protect Gomi.

    Train Gomi adventurers to keep the dungeon at bay.

    Design the ultimate strategy for hunting squonks.

    Pick a secret passage design for the cabin. Bonus Objective: Make it cooler than a bookshelf door.

    Find a partner to move dungeon loot efficiently.

    Find a way to share new knowledge without putting Gomi at risk.

    Address the deficiency of magery education in the Gomi chapter.

    Acquire the tools and knowledge to train trap disarming safely.

    Research non-localized abilities capable of causing nightmares in tusk children.

    Learn more about the dungeon core.

 Chapter 50: Unit Tactics

    Chisel relieved Hans of his post. The White Mage was tired from the expedition, but she insisted the others deserved rest more than she did. Too tired to argue, he wished her the best. When he emerged in the cabin, coming up through the trapdoor in the floor, he found everyone had gone to sleep except Honronk, who sat cross-legged by the fire, writing in a journal.

    The cabin was already too small. They had a stack of food and supplies piled in one corner. They had four beds for six adventurers, not including Hans, Tandis, and Olza. Tandis, Buru, and Honronk had their bedrolls spread on the floor, and the cabin could perhaps fit one more, but there would scarcely be a space to step.

    Rest was essential. Tired adventurers made mistakes, and this job would be challenging enough. At the very least, everyone should have a proper bed, including Tandis.

    Actually, she shouldn¡¯t have to be away from her daughter. If the dungeon is under control, why couldn¡¯t she join her? She isn¡¯t going into the dungeon after all.

    Quest Update: Rethink the approach to the dungeon cabin. Bonus Objective: Pick a secret passage cooler than a bookshelf door.

    The Black Mage dipped his head toward the Guild Master, not wanting to wake the others, and went back to writing. Hans shut the cabin door behind him.

    Gods, it¡¯s cold.

    A foot of snow had fallen while they were underground, and the mountain wind cut through him like the blade of a sword. As he approached his tent, he realized he didn¡¯t have a fire. Sleeping through this night without one would be miserable, if not deadly, so he begrudgingly retrieved a few of the chopped logs stacked against the cabin.

    He debated how best to start the fire. The Create Fire spell would be sufficient, but the wind could snuff it out before it caught. His tired mind working slowly, he circled the logs, looking for the best position to use his body as a windbreak.

    ¡°Hans,¡± a voice whispered.

    He startled, jumping slightly. ¡°Gods, Olza. Don¡¯t do that.¡±

    ¡°Sorry. I have a fire going.¡±

    The shelter Olza occupied was meant for a single person. With Olza¡¯s bedroll against one wall, Hans could sit against the opposite wall but couldn¡¯t extend his legs. Sitting sleeping up but protected from the elements was more appealing than the alternative, though. His knees would complain, but he accepted that fate.

    ¡°Surprised you¡¯re still up,¡± Hans said as he settled into his corner of Olza¡¯s shelter.

    ¡°I might not sleep again for weeks.¡±

    ¡°Yeah¡­ That was something.¡±

    Olza looked like she was about to burst. ¡°We made those monsters,¡± she said, struggling to keep to a whisper. ¡°It happened the same way the first time. Blood, then monsters.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s weirder than that.¡±

    ¡°What could be weirder than growing monsters with blood?¡±

    The words stuck in Hans¡¯ throat. They didn¡¯t make sense to put in order and say aloud. ¡°The camahuetos were my idea. I thought about them a few minutes before. I was worried about¨C¡±

    ¡°That sounds like a coincidence to me.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s also the hallway, the one with the uneven floor. I was reading my teaching notes before we touched the core. Right before.¡±

    She sat back, stunned. The convenience of coincidence couldn¡¯t be stretched that far. The reality, though, was too strange to accept. Finding a dungeon core was odd enough, but now a retired adventurer claimed to influence the dungeon core.

    ¡°The core is like the starcups,¡± she said, mostly to herself. Hans asked her to speak up. ¡°The Earth magic Mazo showed me. I could give plants ¡®suggestions¡¯ with it. If the dungeon core is a kind of plant¡­¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s compelling, Miss Olza.¡±

    The Alchemist rolled her eyes at his use of ¡°miss.¡± ¡°If we see new growth on the core when we go back down, that¡¯s more evidence toward the theory.¡±

    Hans agreed. Then his quest list scrolled through his mind, and he remembered how much work was yet undone. Lately, closing one quest unlocked two more. Even now, he wanted to head back to the core and run more experiments. How far could his influence over the core go? What happened if he used more than drops of blood? When the core fully matured, what would change? What long-term consequences would there be, if any, for Hans¡¯ meddling?

    ¡°We need to be careful with our tests,¡± Hans said. ¡°The Apprentices aren¡¯t ready for bigger challenges.¡±

    ¡°Ah. Yes. Someone has to fight the monsters we grow.¡±

    Olza commented on how well the Apprentices seemed to do. Nodding, Hans shared he was optimistic. Gomi needed more than six adventurers, but six was better than zero, and six was all they could support right now anyway. If they had more than six, where would they have put them?

    A tug on his arm disrupted his daydreaming. ¡°Hans. Hans. Hey. We left with two camahuetos horns. Two. All the way out here. If influencing the core is possible¡­ Imagine the medicines we could make.¡±

    The implications flooding Hans¡¯ mind had, until that moment, dwelled on how many people would suffer if he erred. Gomi¡¯s existence was at stake, after all. But the dungeon being an active source of good? That would be a pleasant change of pace for a Guild Master and a blessing to the people of Gomi.

    ¡°What other ingredients would you want?¡±

    ¡°Several slime species are useful in alchemy.¡±

    ¡°No.¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°No slimes.¡±

    The alchemist scoffed.

    ¡°If you want to hunt them, then I don¡¯t mind. Me? Nope. They ruin weapons. Anything they touch gets sticky and stays sticky no matter how many times you wash it. And some varieties can be incredibly dangerous, but they can look just like the harmless pest types.¡±

    Olza surrendered. ¡°Okay. No slimes.¡±

    ¡°You know¡­ I thought of the camahuetos because I thought they would be good for the Apprentices. The warped floor too. How much could we influence the dungeon as a structure?¡±

    ¡°You can¡¯t tell me experiments are suspended indefinitely and then ask a question like that.¡±

    Hans sighed. He too found it difficult to restrain his excitement. ¡°The sooner the Apprentices are up to speed, the sooner we can run more tests. We could do that faster if there weren¡¯t those damn squonks.¡±

    ¡°You know¡­¡± Olza began but paused. ¡°We¡¯ve only talked about the core in additive terms. Could it subtract elements as well?¡±

    In his excitement, Hans bounced his head off of the low ceiling of the shelter. Rubbing his head while Olza chuckled, he said, ¡°We could ¡®turn off¡¯ the squonks. Possibly. We need to test that as soon as we can.¡±

    The two stayed in the shelter together, but their thoughts went their separate ways. Olza lay back on her bedroll and Hans fidgeted in his corner. Over the course of their friendship, they had grown accustomed to sharing silence. Conversation was not a requirement for companionship, after all.

    When Olza fell asleep, Hans found that he could not. Dozens of new possibilities swirled in his mind, and he wanted to explore them all.

    Quest Update: Test the limits of the dungeon core connection.

    ***

    Other than standing guard at the entrance, Hans gave the Apprentices the day to recover. While Buru ventured outdoors to practice however Druids practiced, the rest of the group struggled to adapt to the close quarters living conditions. Chisel and Honronk had the idea to use part of the dungeon for their leisure and study time. They took two of the sitting logs by the fire on the surface and brought them into the pit.Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

    They did break a ladder rung in the process, but Honronk repaired it right away.

    The dungeon halls weren¡¯t much larger than the cabin, but they could stretch their legs and pass the time without feeling the breath of the adventurer next to them. For the mages, that meant enough quiet to focus on their studies.

    Honronk¡¯s latest project was to learn how to cast Nightsight on others, not just himself. The advantages of the spell were clear in their last encounters, and he felt those advantages would grow if the entire party could have Nightsight. Otherwise, most of the spell was the same, but targeting a living being was new to the Black Mage. His favorite spell, Prism, was more akin to an area of effect spell, so he had no experience with the mechanics of directing magic in that way.

    Chisel decided she didn¡¯t like having to watch a battle with no way to contribute. If she wanted to continue building on her base of White Magic, however, her offensive spell options were limited. She settled on completing her study of Lesser Sleep and then planned to learn the spell Repel, which enchanted a party member¡¯s weapon and shield to provide additional protection. With Repel active, a shield block had a ¡°bounce back¡± effect, throwing energy back into the enemy. A parry with a weapon did the same, imbuing the movement with more reactivity.

    When she asked Hans what he thought of the spell choice, he approved. He said that for the attacker, the spell felt like hitting an anvil for the first time. Chisel had never used an anvil, so Hans explained that anvils were designed to ¡°return¡± the energy of a hammer swing. If a hammer bounced back, the smith needed to expend less effort, a benefit that added up over a lifetime of forging.

    In combat, the effect made it easier for the defender to handle strong opponents, and the sudden burst of energy throwing an enemy¡¯s sword arm wide in an odd direction created confusion and exposed weaknesses. The spell could not, however, compensate for the defender. If a particular blow would shatter a shield, that wouldn¡¯t change regardless of the spell.

    Though she was excited about the Sleep spell¡¯s potential, Chisel would need a week or more of practice before she could cast it consistently in combat. Then she could work on Repel. Honronk would likely need a little less time for his Nightsight project, but he still had plenty to practice. In the meantime, the Apprentices had other training to do.

    The morning after their rest day, Hans brought the Apprentices into the dungeon, instructing them to bring training weapons as well. Olza and Tandis stayed topside in the cabin. The alchemist taught the new quartermaster techniques for making herbal ointments and salves that might be useful to adventurers.

    In the front hallway, the first corridor of the dungeon proper, Hans drilled formation and movement drills with the Apprentices, focusing on addressing their struggles with the camahuetos.

    ¡°As adventurers, we are rarely stronger than the enemies we face. That¡¯s why we have the ¡®Blocking is bad¡¯ rule. We¡¯d prefer to avoid it, but the party may need to break formation. If that happens, you¡¯re better off having a plan than trying to sort through the chaos. Otherwise, you get an experience like Sven¡¯s.¡±

    The party chuckled. The Rogue looked sour.

    ¡°Here¡¯s the thing: Sven was where he was supposed to be. He was being a team player. The frontline had to change tactics, and nobody told Sven, so he took the hit for the party¡¯s shortcomings.¡±

    Shame washed across the Apprentices who laughed moments ago.

    ¡°Stop that,¡± Hans said. ¡°You¡¯re not being disciplined. We¡¯re doing the work to keep it from happening again. To begin, huddle up and come up with a plan for charging camahuetos. When you have one you like, tell me.¡±

    ***

    ¡°Prism first,¡± Honronk said.

    ¡°Tell me more,¡± Hans encouraged.

    ¡°The light should stop the charge and give us cover,¡± Buru added.

    ¡°What if Prism is unavailable?¡±

    Chisel raised her hand. ¡°I can start calling from the backline. I can see over Terry and Yotuli, and I won¡¯t usually be attacking, so I can pay more attention.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s good. Increases everyone¡¯s awareness and lets you act earlier. What¡¯s next?¡±

    Yotuli answered, ¡°Ranged attacks from Buru and Sven. Kill them before they reach us or slow them down.¡±

    ¡°If the monster is still charging,¡± Terry began, ¡°hopefully we already knew about it from Chisel¡¯s call. Whether that happened or not, Yotu and I gotta call the dodge to give everyone else time to move.¡±

    Sven raised his hand next. ¡°The backline needs to keep tabs on the warriors. No matter if we hear the call or not, we should be prepared to follow their shields.¡± When Hans asked him to explain his meaning, he continued, saying, ¡°Terry¡¯s shield is my shield too. If he dodges, I better dodge with him, otherwise¡­¡± The Rogue threw up his hands.

    Satisfied with their answers, Hans set the party to drilling. They rehearsed dividing down the middle to let an enemy charge between them, and they rehearsed favoring one side over the other. Their plan broke down when they had to reset their formation. If the enemy was now ¡°behind¡± the party, the Rangers needed to get by four other adventurers to reclaim the frontline, and that had to happen before the monster¡¯s next attack.

    If the enemy had numbers, however, one Ranger needed to stay in position to guard the party from the original direction while the other Ranger had to move positions quickly.

    Each time the party tried, they bumped into one another or tripped over each other¡¯s feet. The corridor was cramped, and navigating around the mountain that was Buru made the transition more challenging.

    Hans let them struggle for a few minutes. As the instructor, he could easily provide the correct answer, but learning the correct answer was only a fraction of the lesson. He felt it was important for a party to learn to problem solve, so this training session was as much about honing that skill as it was about formations and positions.

    Independent of any coaching, the party decided that Yotuli should switch positions before Terry. She was more agile and, therefore, could weave between the party more quickly. While Terry covered Yotuli¡¯s transition, his next job was to decide if he should follow or remain to protect his current line. If more enemies approached, he stayed. If there were no such enemies, he followed Yotuli.

    The party needed to synchronize their movements. First, all party members would default to moving toward the closest wall if they needed to let someone through. The intent of that tactic was to simplify predicting an ally¡¯s next move, and it also kept swords and shields where they were most useful. A Ranger pinned against a wall was a waste of a warrior. Yotuli moving down the middle preserved her range of motion.

    If a party member needed someone to move counter to that rule, they had to call it. A simple ¡°Left!¡± or ¡°Right!¡± was sufficient warning for an approach from behind. If the approach was from the front, they would use the same shouts with a small complication: Right and left were different for two people facing one another. To solve for that, the orientation of right and left would always default to the person being commanded.

    Lastly, the Rangers needed to communicate their final positions. Anytime Yotuli needed to travel to the back of the party to guard that flank, she would yell, ¡°Line!¡± If Terry followed, he would repeat the call, taking the same route as Yotuli to make the switch. If instead Terry called ¡°Pincer!¡± the party would know they faced threats from two sides and that Terry was not following Yotuli.

    Any party member could call Pincer if they were the first to spot the threat, but the Rangers and Chisel would call it most often. The Rangers had eyes on the front, and Chisel could watch for enemies approaching their rear during combat.

    The Pincer formation was slightly more complicated, and not just because of the Rangers changing positions. Sven would join Terry at the front while Buru would join Yotuli. Chisel and Honronk stayed in the middle and were responsible for picking their next attacks. No matter what, the middle line would have to favor one side over another for at least a moment, so they had the freedom to decide where to start.

    ¡°I have to watch the front and the back in our normal formation?¡± Chisel asked Hans.

    ¡°Yes. Depending on the circumstances, you might move through the dungeon with a Ranger in front and a Ranger at the back¨Cbecause Sven would be up front watching for traps¨Cbut in a battle where your frontline is occupied, one of your jobs is to watch for surprises.¡±

    ¡°White Mage isn¡¯t as boring as I thought.¡±

    Hans laughed. ¡°Yeah, not at all.¡±

    The final call Hans taught that day was ¡°Break!¡± If the party needed to seek cover immediately for any reason, that call was the warning. Ideally, it would be used sparingly as their other options were more controlled and predictable.

    For the next hour, the party practiced reacting to calls and moving in unison with their front line. They still stumbled at times, but the mistakes were less frequent and less dire. Soon, they moved like a proper team. Their synchronization could still improve, but that would come with time as they learned to work with one another.

    To end that day¡¯s training, Hans gave the party one more challenge: ¡°Which two party members should have the earwax for the next hunt?¡±

    Chisel volunteered, arguing that as the White Mage, she had fewer calls to react to but had a lot of calls to make. She needed her hearing less than anyone else.

    Hans agreed with that logic. He asked to hear the party¡¯s second choice.

    ¡°Yotuli,¡± Honronk said.

    ¡°What¡¯s your reasoning?¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s fast.¡±

    Hans knew the tusk wasn¡¯t intentionally difficult with his communication style, but that didn¡¯t make it any less so. ¡°Would anyone like to expand on Honronk¡¯s thought?¡±

    Yotuli raised her hand this time. ¡°It¡¯s like with Chisel. I¡¯m making more calls than the others, and because Terry is out front and less mobile, the only information he gets about what else is happening comes from the rest of us.¡±

    ¡°¡®Less mobile,¡¯¡± Buru said, squatting awkwardly to elbow Terry.

    ¡°Nope. I¡¯m more efficient,¡± the former guard retorted.

    Interrupting the joshing, Hans had a final announcement: ¡°If drills go well tomorrow, we¡¯re going into the dungeon right after, so get your heads right. This run is going to push you because you may have to run the dungeon twice.¡±

    ***

    Open Quests (Ordered from Old to New):

    Progress from Gold-ranked to Diamond-ranked.

    Mend the rift with Devon.

    Complete the manuscript for "The Next Generation: A Teaching Methodology for Training Adventurers."

    Expand the Gomi training area to include ramps for footwork drills.

    Design a system for training dungeon awareness.

    Research the history and legends of the Dead End Mountains, more.

    Protect Gomi.

    Train Gomi adventurers to keep the dungeon at bay.

    Design the ultimate strategy for hunting squonks.

    Rethink the approach to the dungeon cabin. Bonus Objective: Pick a secret passage cooler than a bookshelf door.

    Find a partner to move dungeon loot efficiently.

    Find a way to share new knowledge without putting Gomi at risk.

    Address the deficiency of magery education in the Gomi chapter.

    Acquire the tools and knowledge to train trap disarming safely.

    Research non-localized abilities capable of causing nightmares in tusk children.

    Test the limits of the dungeon core connection.

 Chapter 51: Blow On the Cartridge

    ¡°I¡¯ll coach when I need to, but mostly I¡¯m just a lifeguard,¡± Hans said to his group of Apprentices. ¡°You should treat this as a real crawl where you won¡¯t have my help.¡±

    The adventurers nodded.

    ¡°Excellent. Crawl starts now.¡±

    ¡°Why do I feel so electrified?¡± Olza quietly asked Hans.

    With a grin, he answered, ¡°Adventure!¡±

    The Apprentices moved into formation: Two Rangers in front, a Rogue directly behind, then both Mages, and the Druid at the rear. That gave them Honronk¡¯s Nightsight eyes facing forward, and Buru¡¯s Druid ears listening backward. In battle, Chisel would lend her eyes as well.

    The party made those choices without input from Hans, a fact that filled him with heart-fluttering pride.

    Honronk called out the gnolls before anyone else in the party could see them. The monsters bared their teeth as soon as torchlight reached their shadow-like fur. Two gnolls with weapons¨Cone a club, the other a rusty, pitted sword¨Cstood side by side in the hall. A third gnoll stood behind, mostly obscured by his companions.

    ¡°Sword, please!¡± Terry called. That told Sven to prioritize the gnoll with the blade over the other targets.

    But Sven didn¡¯t fire because the gnolls didn¡¯t move. The beasts stood their ground, waiting.

    For a moment, the Apprentices hesitated, surprised their attackers hadn¡¯t closed the distance for them. When Terry and Yotuli advanced, their swords and shields at the ready, the rest of the party knew to follow.

    With about fifteen yards remaining, Sven called, ¡°Arrow!¡±

    The Rangers stopped and lowered their stances, still as gravestones. Sven launched an arrow at the gnoll with the sword. Its shoulder ripped backward from the arrow, bursting through its shoulder blade. The gnoll didn¡¯t so much as stagger before its snarl turned into an angry bark. It charged.

    ¡°Vine!¡± One of Buru¡¯s bolo-like plants spun over the Rangers¡¯ heads and wrapped the neck of the bladed gnoll.

    Seeing an opening, Yotuli cleared the distance in one shuffle of her feet, landing to execute a thrust with her momentum behind her. The gnoll clawed the vine at its throat and didn¡¯t see the sword that pierced its stomach.

    Hans smiled when he saw that Terry had followed Yotuli forward, moving to provide support and ready to intervene if Yotuli needed to retreat.

    After watching its companion fall, the gnoll with the club stood stunned, now doubting the wisdom of picking this fight. The third gnoll that was out of sight before pushed by its cowardly companion, and the party saw that the third gnoll was, in fact, armed. With a hatchet.

    As the enraged wolfman leaped over its dead ally, swinging the hatchet down with fury, Yotuli set her feet. With textbook finesse, she deflected the axe with a shield parry and used the power of her outward motion to quicken the thrust that followed. Between the gnoll¡¯s weight flying forward and the force of her thrust, the gnoll fell onto the sword and sank until it could go no farther, her hilt catching on its ribs.

    While the Ranger had succeeded in outwitting her opponent, she had not considered the steps that came after. A gnoll a head and half taller than Yotuli continued traveling forward until it crashed into her, knocking her to the ground. Sven stabbed it in the neck for good measure.

    Meanwhile, the gnoll with the club had turned on Terry, but the monster¡¯s indecision doomed it from the start. Terry was already crouched low, his sword arcing into the outside of the gnoll¡¯s knee. The creature buckled to that side, and Terry helped it along with a bash of his shield. Finally, Terry stabbed downward to kill the gnoll.

    The Guild Master clapped. The Apprentices smiled briefly and nodded to one another, but they were soon back in formation, setting aside their celebrations for a safer time.

    The squonks died as easily as usual with Chisel and Yotuli briefly breaking from the party to resolve the hopelessness aura. Their encounter with the camahuetos was anticlimactic compared to their battle just days before when the unicorn yaks nearly killed Sven. Prism blunted their charge, then arrows and vines targeted one while the Rangers ganged up on the other. It seemed trivial. Harvesting the horns felt more demanding than the fight to get them.

    But the battle must have been loud because they expected to face two gnolls next¨Cbased on how the dungeon seemed to grow monsters. Instead of two gnolls, they faced five. Only two had clubs, and none had swords.

    For the first time that day, Hans¡¯ hand went to his hilt. The Apprentices hadn¡¯t prepped for a challenge like this.

    ¡°No Prism,¡± Honronk stated to remind the party of his cooldown.

    As a group, the party seemed to share the same instinct. They stopped, keeping their distance while Buru and Sven tried to reduce enemy numbers from afar. When they finally clashed, Sven supported Terry and Yotuli. The Rangers got scratched up pretty good, but none of the claws had dug deep. Otherwise, the party was healthy when the fight ended.

    Hans exhaled and offered another clap. Olza clapped too, though she bounced and wiggled with more enthusiasm than the Guild Master.

    The Apprentices returned to formation to search what remained of the dungeon. As they expected, no other monsters were found. Outside the fissure to the dungeon core, the group stopped for lunch.

    While they ate, Hans briefed them on what came next.

    ¡°We have reason to believe we can influence the dungeon,¡± Hans said to gaping mouths, many full of half-chewed food. ¡°If our experiment goes as we predict, everything you just fought will regrow. Don¡¯t assume you know what you¡¯ll fight next. Yesterday we saw it add a completely new type of monster. Any questions?¡±

    ¡°Yeah,¡± Sven said, raising his hand. ¡°What the fuck?¡±

    The Apprentices laughed but nodded agreement.

    Yotuli took over. ¡°We¡¯re one of the first people in a dungeon. It¡¯s a secret dungeon. Then we got to see a dungeon core in person. Now we¡¯re manipulating a dungeon?¡±

    The Guild Master resisted bouncing with joy. Barely. ¡°Yes, adventurers. So rest, but don¡¯t release your focus. We never know if a dungeon is truly clear, so always assume it isn¡¯t.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ve heard that rule,¡± Honronk joked, oddly enough.

    ¡°Yes, yes. Eat, rest. I¡¯ll warn you before the experiment.¡±

    In the room with the dungeon core, Olza confirmed that Hans¡¯ blood seemed to boost the core¡¯s growth. The surface had several small buttons of new sphere material, each where blood had landed. That seemed indisputable. Hans felt the temptation to leak an irresponsible amount of blood on the core, but he didn¡¯t verbalize it. Nor did he act on it.

    ¡°Do you want to do the honors this time?¡± Hans asked.

    Olza shook her head. ¡°I thought about that. I don¡¯t think we should change any other variables right now. I also got to thinking that we amend today¡¯s experiment.¡±

    ¡°How so?¡±

    ¡°When you test ¡®turning off¡¯ the squonks, maybe think about replacing them instead?¡±Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.

    ¡°...With what?¡±

    ¡°A demon.¡±

    In his head, Hans screamed, ¡°Are you out of your mind?!¡± In reality, he stood motionless, his eyes wide.

    ¡°An imp would be sufficient.¡±

    Hans managed a scoff. ¡°Oh, is that all?¡±

    The alchemist explained that imp blood could be used to make Magic Resistance potions. When Hans didn¡¯t make the connection, she continued. If the nightmares plaguing the tusk children were the result of a spell, Magic Resistance should temporarily relieve it. They had already ruled out curses as the source with a Cure Curse potion. Barring a high-tier caster, the potion would have undone a curse for certain. A Magic Resistance potion might answer the same question but for spells.

    She had eliminated it as an option early in their research because she didn¡¯t have demon blood and had no reasonable expectation of acquiring it in the winter. But was adding imps to the dungeon too big of a risk?

    Provided they grew the imps Hans was familiar with¨Cif ever a surprising monster arrived when another was expected, demons would surely be involved¨Cthe Apprentices would have to contend with a spellcasting flying demon. The size of toddlers and with similar durability, imps relied on agility and distance to avoid harm while attacking with various spells.

    Alone, an imp was a mere nuisance. If imps were behind a row of gnolls or camahuetos, they would be deadly, as most spellcasters safe from harm were.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know, Olza,¡± Hans said, his hand over his mouth. ¡°That¡¯s a jump, for sure.¡±

    ¡°Maybe you could lead instead?¡±

    The Guild Master looked at Olza with incredulity. ¡°It¡¯s not that simple.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re right. I¡¯m sorry. That wasn¡¯t fair to ask you.¡±

    Hans wobbled his head. ¡°They¡¯re capable, but they haven¡¯t learned it yet. Flying monsters and spellcasting monsters are unique challenges separately. Together¡­ Mistakes get expensive.¡±

    The kids have been suffering every night for nearly the whole winter. What misery for anyone to endure, let alone children.

    ¡°They signed up to protect Gomi,¡± Hans said about the Apprentices after a pause, ¡°They would be right to be upset if they didn¡¯t get a say.¡±

    Not to mention it¡¯s a really good idea, potential dangers aside.

    The pair returned to the adventurers waiting in the hallway. Buru stood watch, while Yotuli slept and the others sipped at waterskins. The party roused when they saw Hans and Olza approach with serious faces. The Guild Master explained Olza¡¯s Magic Resistance idea and the potential for the dungeon to grow imps, if they wanted it to. He detailed the various dangers they posed and described the kinds of injuries they might receive.

    ¡°I¡¯m for it,¡± Terry said. Every other Apprentice nodded. The party unanimously agreed.

    ¡°That quick?¡±

    ¡°Tandis¡¯ little girl is suffering,¡± Chisel said. ¡°If you say we can do it, we should do it. That¡¯s our job.¡±

    Another round of nods rippled through the party.

    ¡°Alright then. Here¡¯s how you do this.¡±

    ***

    Two flaming arrows shattered into sparks of orange mana when they hit the Rangers¡¯ shields. Buru and Sven responded with their ranged attacks. Two stringy creatures with dark purple flesh hovered near the ceiling at the back of the squonk room, deftly dodging the arrow and the vine that flew at them. Though their wings beat, their pace and strength didn¡¯t match the weight of their bodies, giving them an otherworldly, ominous presence.

    They were in the squonk room, and there weren¡¯t any squonks.

    When the two imps conjured more arrows, Honronk cast Prism. The wall of rainbow light didn¡¯t block the attacks, but their distance from the hellspawn was enough that the Rangers could dodge or block with relative safety. More importantly, the imps couldn¡¯t see through the Prism. The Rangers advanced, stopping to crouch on their side of the wall of light. At the same time, Buru and Sven readied their next attack.

    Prism timed-out. The demons dodged the next arrow and vine, but they didn¡¯t notice the Rangers. Terry and Yotuli jumped to lengthen the reach of their thrusts, both imps sticking to the ends of their swords like fondue fruit. They shrieked and scratched. When Terry saw blue fire forming in his imp¡¯s mouth, he smashed the monster off the wall. Yotuli liked the idea, but used the floor instead.

    And then Olza taught them how to properly collect imp blood. Sven did not enjoy the process, but Buru liked the idea of the imps being used to serve a greater purpose.

    Quest Complete: Design the ultimate strategy for hunting squonks.

    With that battle, they killed two imps where two squonks used to grow. While his fix wasn¡¯t a hunting strategy, it did make Gomi and its adventurers much safer.

    That counts.

    Quest Update: Test structural suggestions for the next dungeon core experiment.

    The imps posed a new kind of threat in the dungeon, but they were better than squonks. Hans restrained his giddiness, knowing they had more dungeon yet left to search, but he was certain the squonks were gone for good. He felt that knowledge the way he could feel the cobblestone floor beneath his feet.

    Even better, the Apprentices handled the imps expertly, which was praiseworthy, but they didn¡¯t solve the puzzle themselves. Hans gave them the answer for their safety, bypassing what they might have learned by pondering and discussing the problem on their own. They could make up for it later, but to do that Hans had to acknowledge and remember what he skipped.

    Back on the surface, Hans debated how to get Olza back to town swiftly to mix the Magic Resistance potions. She could make the trip alone, but anyone but a Druid would be foolish to travel unaccompanied in this season. One strong snowstorm was enough to be a traveler¡¯s last. He wished Becky was here.

    ¡°I could send for Becky,¡± Buru said.

    ¡°Really? How?¡±

    ¡°The first thing she taught me was how to talk with sparrows.¡±

    If Becky and Becki could take Olza back to Gomi, she could test the Magic Resistance potion in days rather than in weeks. Prepping the potion would take time, but the sooner that clock started, the better for the children.

    Though they would provide temporary relief, if they worked at all, the potions were not a long-term solution. A child would need two a day, a quantity Olza couldn¡¯t hope to fill. Not to mention what the potential side effects of long-term use might be. The potion may not be the final fix, but it could provide an important clue.

    Buru returned in minutes to say it was done. Hans didn¡¯t know what the progression cadence was like for Druids, but the tusk seemed like a quick study. He¡¯d have to ask Becky.

    As much as he wanted to come along with Olza to witness the test, Hans had only just arrived at the cabin. The Apprentices needed instruction, so his own curiosity would have to wait. He could pass the time thinking about what either conclusion¨Cwhether the nightmares were caused by a spell or not¨Cwould mean for Gomi. That was almost like being present for the test twice.

    Almost.

    Before Hans left the cabin, Sven asked, ¡°What rank would these encounters be?¡±

    ¡°Iron. If the imps bunch up with something else, could be Bronze.¡±

    ¡°Look at us already talking about taking on a Bronze-ranked encounter.¡± Sven celebrated while Honronk shook his head.

    The Black Mage Apprentice said, ¡°Don¡¯t overestimate.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re both right,¡± Hans said. ¡°You should be proud of yourselves for today. Truthfully. You all did excellent work. But don¡¯t get cocky.¡±

    Hans had hoped Becky would arrive in time for Olza to depart that day, allowing the Guild Master to reclaim his private shelter that night. Instead, he roughed it in the A-frame shelter one more time. The Druid would likely arrive in the morning to take Olza to town, at which point Hans would resume training the Apprentices. He decided they needed to improve to the point that they could run the dungeon in teams of three. If they were too slow to achieve that, they would not be able to rotate adventurers out for days off.

    The Apprentices had already seen more true dungeon time than most Bronze-ranks. They couldn¡¯t keep the pace going forever.

    Quest Update: Learn the results of Olza¡¯s potion test and continue researching non-localized abilities capable of causing nightmares in tusk children.

    ***

    Open Quests (Ordered from Old to New):

    Progress from Gold-ranked to Diamond-ranked.

    Mend the rift with Devon.

    Complete the manuscript for "The Next Generation: A Teaching Methodology for Training Adventurers."

    Expand the Gomi training area to include ramps for footwork drills.

    Design a system for training dungeon awareness.

    Research the history and legends of the Dead End Mountains, more.

    Protect Gomi.

    Train Gomi adventurers to keep the dungeon at bay.

    Rethink the approach to the dungeon cabin. Bonus Objective: Pick a secret passage cooler than a bookshelf door.

    Find a partner to move dungeon loot efficiently.

    Find a way to share new knowledge without putting Gomi at risk.

    Address the deficiency of magery education in the Gomi chapter.

    Acquire the tools and knowledge to train trap disarming safely.

    Learn the results of Olza¡¯s potion test and continue researching non-localized abilities capable of causing nightmares in tusk children.

    Test structural suggestions for the next dungeon core experiment.

 Chapter 52: Strats

    Drills and dungeon runs. Gnolls, camahuetos, and imps. Again, and again, and again. Hans put wax in his ears for the first three laps to be sure the squonk problem was truly resolved. From there, they continued combat drills when the dungeon needed time to regrow, and then put their new techniques to practice on the next dungeon run.

    Hans had never had students with so much field experience. The speed with which the Apprentices learned to fight the dungeon monsters quickly made encounters simple mechanical repetition. To keep them learning, he had the Apprentices try different roles in the party, giving everyone a glimpse into what their allies experience in a battle. Even the mages took up a sword and shield to experience the frontline, though they didn¡¯t stay long.

    Eleven days after Becky and Olza returned to Gomi, a sparrow rapped its beak against the cabin door. Buru answered, listened, and thanked the bird.

    ¡°Sparrow says ¡®Potion worked,¡¯¡± Buru announced.

    The cabin sat silent when Buru finished speaking.

    Quest Update: Continue researching non-localized spells capable of causing nightmares in tusk children.

    ¡°What do we do now?¡± Tandis asked, breaking the silence.

    ¡°Identify the spell,¡± Hans said, his mind racing but finding no destination.

    ¡°How do we do that?¡± Chisel asked.

    Hans sighed. ¡°We go Dispel by Dispel until something works. Process of elimination, but without a high-level mage or a stocked library¡­ That will be hard with the spells we have.¡±

    ¡°Because we have so few?¡± Honronk asked.

    Hans nodded.

    ¡°Shorter list,¡± Honronk said, continuing a moment later when the rest of the group looked at him with confusion. ¡°Short is easy.¡±

    The Guild Master was surprised that Honronk played the optimist and that he agreed with him. Depending on the spell, Hans may be able to get by with reagents as a big crutch, but that was likely too optimistic. They had to have the ingredients first. Next they would have to be willing to accept that most or all would be ¡°burned¡± when Hans bumbled the incantation and failed the spell. That was a costly endeavor in light of the broad spectrum of spells they would need to test.

    With the unofficial group meeting concluded, Hans lingered in the cabin to make himself available for questions on their ongoing studies. When he was first planning how training would work in the cabin, he believed he could use the downtime between dungeon runs to cover textbook material, but he abandoned that idea two days in. Combat drills, guard duty, and crawls in perpetuity was already too much to ask of the Apprentices. Everyone but Honronk had started to take semi-regular solo walks when weather permitted, their only real opportunity to have solitude.

    Honronk read and studied endlessly. He wasn¡¯t cold or particularly anti-social. That was just how he spent his free time. Hans had to force him to rest his hands, expressing genuine concern for the potential damage over practicing spell gestures might cause.

    Several hours after the sparrow, Honronk asked Hans, ¡°Should we be practicing the runic script?¡± The Apprentice Black Mage referred to the strange lettering included with every spell entry.

    ¡°Well, I¡¯ve never seen it taught to non-enchanters. A few of the dangerous ones are good to know for traps, but it¡¯s basically a different language with its own set of rules. I tried to pick it up on my own but surrendered.¡±

    The dark gray tusk nodded by the firelight. ¡°Is it useful?¡±

    Hans said that it was but for more specific purposes. If a mage wanted to create a spell scroll¨Cessentially a ¡°pre-cast¡± spell¨Cor wanted to work with enchantments, whether it was for items or places, they needed to learn to read and write with runic script and be competent users of the spell they intended to imbue into that script.

    A few mages made a comfortable living by repeating the same enchantment for a low-level, but still useful, spell. One might specialize in Nightsight helmets and another might specialize in imbuing staves with Light, and then produce nothing but that item for the rest of their careers. Though mages always denied it, they had been accused of fixing the market on several occasions, all the mages allegedly agreeing to keep prices high and inventory low. Under that system, enchanting three or four items a year was quite lucrative, giving the mage the capital and the free time to pursue personal projects.

    The tusk looked down at his notebook and back up at Hans. ¡°But is it useful?¡±

    Sighing, Hans replied, ¡°If that¡¯s what you want to do, it¡¯s incredibly useful. I¡¯ve never seen an adventurer double-up on their studies like that, though. The material is dense, and it¡¯s just as challenging as your first specialization, and your first specialization requires all of your energy and focus to begin with.¡±

    ¡°I see.¡±

    ¡°There should be a few pages on it in the Beginner Spellcraft book if you want to check it out.¡±

    Sven caught Hans¡¯ attention and asked, ¡°What should I be doing now? I¡¯ve read this four times.¡± He indicated the manual on traps Hans had given him.

    ¡°Could I borrow that next, actually?¡± Terry asked.

    The Rogue tossed it to the Ranger. ¡°What for?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m walking first. I¡¯d like to pitch-in on looking for trips. Selfishly.¡±

    ¡°Good news,¡± Hans said. ¡°We¡¯re working on that tomorrow.¡±

    ***

    At the start of the next crawl, Hans made two announcements.

    From now on, Hans would add ¡°traps¡± to the dungeon, but he asked the Apprentices to temper their expectations. He added details throughout the dungeon that would be out of place, a simulation of hidden trap triggers, but he had limited materials to work with. The training was for Sven, primarily, but everyone was instructed to participate even if they weren¡¯t answering out loud.

    Quest Update: Refine a system for training dungeon awareness.

    For the second, he said that they would begin transitioning to three-person teams for dungeon crawls. He knew that the non-stop schedule was burning them out, and getting them comfortable with that structure was the only solution he could see. The Apprentices didn¡¯t have any alternatives to offer, but they didn¡¯t seem concerned about the change. They were close to that already. Though they had six in their party, in any given fight at least three of them did little more than watch.

    They knew that was true, but the extra support was there if they needed it. That absence would be felt, but rest would be felt too when they could halve their party size.

    Sweet, sweet rest.

    The first version of Hans¡¯ trap training program was crude and embarrassingly simplistic, but it was a start. He used a nail stuck to the wall with some clay to represent a trip-wire. He broke one of the bricks he pulled out of the pit and used a thin flat piece to represent a pressure plate. With some chalk, he drew a faint outline to represent a trapdoor. And he used crushed cinders to represent murder holes in the walls.

    The whole exercise reminded the Guild Master of the paintings the Gomi children left hanging around the guild hall and how many of them were better than what he managed to execute in the dungeon. Hopefully the effort would help, even if it was just a little.

    Sven spotted the pressure plate easily. A rock in an empty corridor was difficult to disguise. He spotted the nail easily as well. The trapdoor outline elicited some giggles from the Apprentices, and Sven argued that the cinder spots looked nothing like murder holes. After that, Buru offered to help Hans hide the traps. He felt he could use the task to practice his natural camouflage techniques.

    Fortunately, the shift to a three-person party went smoothly. Terry, Sven, and Honronk formed one party while Yotuli, Buru, and Chisel formed the other. Balancing skill sets after the obvious choice to split the Rangers was simple enough.This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

    Both of the parties stumbled early on, but that was when the other party members were still present to offer backup. By the time they split, every encounter was a success. Hans insisted, every crawl, that they be on their guard. The dungeon core had grown new monsters itself in the past, and they had no way of predicting if or when that could happen again.

    Any crawl could be the one that served up a nasty surprise.

    But maintaining that sense of caution was difficult, even for Hans. They started stacking camahueto horns outside of the cabin, and they ran out of containers for imp blood days ago. Every time they added a new pair of horns to the stack, Hans¡¯ concern over their plans to launder dungeon loot grew. No matter where they sold them, it was a suspiciously large quantity. Any valuable reagent in that quantity would be unusual, actually.

    On some days, he felt certain that their plan to keep the dungeon a secret would work and that progress was promising. On other days, like when he stood in the snow pondering the small mountain of horns, their plan was an obvious sham that could never keep the Adventurers¡¯ Guild and the kingdom at large from taking over.

    By the time the first resupply arrived, the three-person parties finished their crawls efficiently and safely. The size of the dungeon meant almost a day of hiking each time, but no one had been injured or made a tactical error. At worst, Hans figured, he¡¯d be the fourth party member if one was needed.

    Getting the Apprentices rest was important enough that he considered running the dungeon alone. The Apprentices would forget what they were saying halfway through sentences. They would go without blinking too long. They would take a little bit more time each day to climb out of their bedrolls. The Apprentices put on a good face, but Hans could see them fraying.

    The Apprentices drew lots, and Terry, Sven, and Honronk won. No one begrudged them for going home first. Tandis offered to stay to organize the new supplies, but Hans forced her to return to Gomi. She needed rest as much as any of them, and he saw no reason to keep her from her daughter for an extra two weeks.

    Once the adventurers and the restock team departed, the one-room cabin felt downright palatial. Hans kept to the smaller shelter to give the Apprentices time away from their instructor. As much as he would have liked every session to run according to plan, friction was inevitable, especially with how much time they spent with one another. In truth, they annoyed Hans sometimes as well.

    He learned long ago that conflict within parties was unavoidable. Instead of ignoring the friction or stewing in it, he taught adventurers to give each party member space, to resolve any active problem, and to let the small stuff slide. Instructors needed to do that with their students as well, space being especially important in that particular dynamic.

    An instructor Hans met once told him, ¡°Don¡¯t be friends with your students.¡± Too many parts of training adventurers required you to do what was best for them and not what made them¨Cor you¨Chappy.

    Hans always found that advice to be callous, but the longer he taught, the more he understood why an instructor could feel that way. Devon had refused his advice, and their relationship died in the same moment. An endless chain of friends moving on to better things or coming to despise you would make anyone bitter and jaded. Students always left. Always.

    He tried to find a middle ground that was genuine and approachable with a professional amount of distance. That was best for him and for his students.

    It was also lonely.

    ***

    After drills one day, Yotuli stopped Hans at the ladder out of the pit.

    ¡°Can we talk? No optimism. No cushion.¡±

    He said okay.

    ¡°Will we fix the nightmares? Truly?¡± she asked, her eyes flat and her back rigid, like she braced for the worst.

    ¡°We have a lot of spells to test, and no mages at a level to cast them. That¡¯s¡­ Not easy to solve.¡±

    ¡°That many spells cause nightmares in children?¡±

    Of the spells Hans knew, academically at least, he identified the following as potential culprits: Fear, Charm, Confusion, Taunt, a couple Suggestion spells, a few dozen Illusion spells, and a variation of Astral Projection he read about one time. He knew that Olza tried Cure Curse potions on the children, but he didn¡¯t know enough about curses to say if that meant all curses forever or if they had edge cases and technicalities to address.

    ¡°Is there anything I could do?¡± Yotuli asked.

    ¡°You mean beside cull the dungeon for eight weeks straight?¡±

    ¡°We have our own time to use if we want.¡±

    Yotuli was welcome to read any of the books in the cabin, but Hans warned her that the likelihood of finding an answer was low. Not because she didn¡¯t know magery but because their research runway was so limited. If anything, she said, it would give her something to do, even if it ultimately went nowhere. He could empathize.

    If Quentin could figure out the squonks, maybe Yotuli would break the case of the nightmares wide open, so might as well try.

    ***

    ¡°Why would anyone want to be a wizard?¡± Yotuli asked in the cabin to no one in particular.

    Chisel expressed that she had been asking herself the same question since she volunteered to be the party¡¯s White Mage.

    After a laugh, Hans asked, ¡°Which part got you?¡±

    ¡°Besides the few thousand pages to read and memorize? Half the entry for each spell is cautions and warnings. Lesser Sleep: ¡®Miscasting on one¡¯s self or a human or halfing can result in a temporary or permanent coma for the target of the spell.¡¯ Illusory Scene: ¡®Visual hallucinations may become persistent.¡¯¡±

    ¡°The risks of bending the universe to your will.¡±

    Yotuli turned to Buru. ¡°Is Druid magic like this?¡±

    Buru shrugged. ¡°If you are good to nature, she will lend you her strength.¡±

    ¡°How do you do that?¡±

    ¡°Hard to explain,¡± Buru answered and didn¡¯t continue.

    Yotuli physically recoiled at a new discovery. ¡°I¡¯m changing my question. Why would anyone learn summoning? ¡®Pacts with any being from the infernal plane are discouraged, and under no circumstances should one summon any demon or devil varieties of Bronze-ranked or higher as they are known to exploit open wounds for possession and attack quickly.¡¯ Eesh.¡±

    Hans nodded. ¡°Intelligent evil is a strange enemy. They¡¯ll humble you with twisted creativity.¡±

    ¡°Will our dungeon have monsters like that?¡±

    ¡°I have no idea. We don¡¯t know enough about dungeons.¡±

    Yotuli closed the tome. ¡°Is it weird that I¡¯m sad we might never fight something of that level? I mean, that sounds terrifying, but I¡¯m curious too.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re talking like a true adventurer.¡±

    Chisel asked why Yotuli believed they might never have that chance.

    ¡°We won¡¯t ever adventure outside of Gomi,¡± Yotuli answered. ¡°Our rank will be unknown, and no chapter will let us through the door after the war.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not so bad,¡± Buru said. ¡°I like it here.¡±

    ¡°We do too,¡± Chisel responded.

    Yotuli agreed with Chisel. ¡°It¡¯s not about not liking Gomi. It¡¯s hard to feel yourself getting better but know you can¡¯t take it anywhere.¡±

    Reluctantly, Hans said that Yotuli¡¯s fear could become reality. He believed adventurers, perhaps more than anyone, needed practical and objective information, not a sanded-down version that was more palatable but less accurate. Despite that belief, adventurers were still people, and bad news was no less painful just because being direct was smarter tactically.

    Could was not the same as would. That was important because the war could end in a way that also opened the kingdom up to tusks again. If that sounded too fanciful, Hans could also devise a way to register them under a different chapter, giving them a real rank and access to jobs outside of Gomi. That was definitely a ¡°could¡± because of the complexity and variables involved, not to mention it would require a significant amount of crime on top of all the other crime he already had planned.

    Somehow, Hans¡¯ dream of being a Guild Master had morphed into an elaborate web of illegal activities that continued to expand each day. Laundering, smuggling, fraud, tax evasion, forgery, treason¨CThe Gomi chapter had made a hard pivot in operating procedure because of the dungeon core.

    Furthermore, his current Apprentices were accessories to each of those crimes, if not equally as guilty as Hans due to the nature of their roles in the dungeon scheme. No one was innocent by this point, and everyone knew what they risked by participating, but was it worthwhile to press their hand and expose everyone in Gomi to even more risk just to take outside jobs? Hans verbalized those thoughts to the adventurers.

    ¡°I wouldn¡¯t want my adventure to hurt anyone here,¡± Yotuli said. ¡°But I¡¯m also fine doing the crime instead of being the accessory to it.¡±

    Chisel and Buru agreed without hesitation.

    ¡°Let¡¯s get everyone to Iron before we start making other plans,¡± Hans said.

    ***

    Open Quests (Ordered from Old to New):

    Progress from Gold-ranked to Diamond-ranked.

    Mend the rift with Devon.

    Complete the manuscript for "The Next Generation: A Teaching Methodology for Training Adventurers."

    Expand the Gomi training area to include ramps for footwork drills.

    Refine a system for training dungeon awareness.

    Research the history and legends of the Dead End Mountains, more.

    Protect Gomi.

    Train Gomi adventurers to keep the dungeon at bay.

    Rethink the approach to the dungeon cabin. Bonus Objective: Pick a secret passage cooler than a bookshelf door.

    Find a partner to move dungeon loot efficiently.

    Find a way to share new knowledge without putting Gomi at risk.

    Address the deficiency of magery education in the Gomi chapter.

    Acquire the tools and knowledge to train trap disarming safely.

    Continue researching non-localized spells capable of causing nightmares in tusk children.

    Test structural suggestions for the next dungeon core experiment.

 Chapter 53: Item Duping

    Hans stayed at the cabin with the adventurers when Terry, Sven, and Honronk returned from their two-week rest to rotate the current party out. Becky hadn¡¯t returned to the cabin since her last visit, and he didn¡¯t want to leave Apprentices by themselves yet. The cold days that were somehow short and long at the same time wore on him as much as it did the Apprentices, but they were making the bigger sacrifice. He could sleep on a bedroll for a while longer for their sake.

    ¡°Things are good back home,¡± Terry told Hans. ¡°Little strange, us kind of being celebrities or something like that, but no one is sick or going hungry.¡±

    ¡°The dreams?¡±

    Terry sighed. ¡°They¡¯re strong as ever, I hate to say. Wanted to be more positive, though.¡±

    Honronk set a small pouch in front of Hans. ¡°Four casts of Dispel Charm.¡±

    That meant Honronk and Olza had looked through a list of Dispel variants, and they had enough reagents for Dispel Charm. And no others. They were missing only one reagent for several, but they couldn¡¯t place an order for them for a while yet. Hans looked at the pouch and realized how much work it represented. Before he learned to Dispel Charm, he had to learn the basic Charm spell first, which would burn a few of the ingredients in the pouch. A small glimmer of good fortune: They had extras of those components, but only enough for five attempts before their possible Dispel Charm casts decreased as well.

    ¡°Sir,¡± Honronk began. Before Hans could contest that title, the tusk continued, ¡°I¡¯d like to do this, if you¡¯ll let me.¡±

    ¡°I take it you¡¯ve given this a lot of thought?¡±

    Honronk nodded. ¡°Yes.¡±

    That meant no need to warn the tusk that Charm was from a different school than the Illusion spells he had been practicing¨Call new incantations and gestures to learn, in other words. Losing dungeon-specific training time wasn¡¯t ideal for any Apprentice, but the dungeon was stable. Charm could be useful in combat, so he still gained some adventuring benefit there. Hans¡¯ hands were out of practice and borderline arthritic, making Honronk the better choice on that front as well.

    Hans approved.

    ¡°Thank you,¡± Honronk said and set to work studying right away.

    In his mind, the Guild Master knew that the challenge Honronk had ahead was beyond his current ability but was not technically impossible. Honronk seemed hopeful, and was more likely to succeed, given his own skill level and the momentum of his self-study.

    When Honronk settled into his usual place by the fire, sitting cross legged with a spellbook in his lap, Sven approached Hans. ¡°Talked to the smith and borrowed a few tools. He taught me a few things I¡¯d like to practice if that¡¯s okay.¡±

    Hans didn¡¯t know what Sven was talking about.

    ¡°Making traps. Might be the long way around, but I figure that will help me learn to disarm them too.¡±

    ¡°Did any of you actually take time to rest?¡± Hans said, looking around. Everyone shrugged as if it hadn¡¯t been so bad. ¡°Don¡¯t push too hard. No shame in letting yourself recover from hard work.¡±

    The party insisted they were fine, so Hans didn¡¯t belabor the issue, letting the adults be adults.

    Quest Abandoned: Acquire the tools and knowledge to train trap disarming safely.

    The Rogue wasn¡¯t wrong that learning to make traps in order to later learn how to disarm them was ¡°the long way around.¡± Sure, he needed to learn the anatomy of traps, that much overlapped in the middle ground between trap building and trap disarming. The technique and knowledge to make traps from scratch, however, covered more crafting knowledge than a Treasure Hunter needed. Similarly, the techniques for safely disarming a live trap accounted for a set of variables not shared in the creation of traps.

    Dungeon traps were often hidden, which made them each two traps in one. The unsuspecting adventurers were one group of victims, but Treasure Hunters specifically were the second group. Safely accessing the parts of the trap needed for the disarm when they were intentionally obscured and covered with misdirects¨Call by torchlight¨Cwas an obstacle course that allowed for one attempt, and one attempt only.

    Long way or not, the alternative was to make no progress at all.

    With the down time, Hans had many spare hours to ponder future plans for the dungeon operation. He made progress on the cabin redesign, but it was beginning to look more like the Hoseki chapter campus. After weeks at the dungeon, he was convinced they needed the following: a dormitory similar in size to one of the Tribe barns, an armory, a pantry, a common area, and smaller private quarters for when someone¡¯s child or spouse was staying at the cabin.

    He felt particularly strong about that last point, but the build was already looking overly ambitious. To fit everything he wanted, they¡¯d need as much space as two barns. At least. Imagining the construction this far from town, his plan drifted into the region of ¡°likely impossible.¡± Barns went up quickly when half the tribe with their best tools worked on it together. The current cabin used short floorboards¨Cbarely two feet long¨Cbecause they were the most practical option for small handsaws, the largest tool that was practical to hump up to the cabin.

    Building a structure as big as the barn all the way out here would take a long time, if they could do it all.

    Twelve-year-old Hans would have been in utter disbelief that present Hans was still stumped by how best to disguise the dungeon entrance itself. They couldn¡¯t suspend dungeon runs if an outsider¨Csuch as someone from the Adventurers¡¯ Guild¨Cwas poking around. If they stayed for any length of time, they would notice adventurer parties appearing or disappearing at odd intervals.

    He had an idea for two secret passages, though. They only needed a secret passage if an outsider was present. Otherwise, funneling adventurers through overengineered theatrics was unnecessary. If the cover was needed, they would conceal the convenient entrance and send parties off campus to a hidden tunnel which doubled back to the dungeon entrance. Completely underground.

    ¡­That they¡¯d have to dig themselves.

    We¡¯re on a mountain. None of that is possible.

    Quest Update: Talk to Roland or Galad about the campus idea. Bonus Objective: Pick a secret passage cooler than a bookshelf door.

    ***

    ¡°With Lesser Sleep, we¡¯re fine on our own,¡± Chisel said. ¡°We can run it blindfolded.¡±

    Hans wasn¡¯t convinced. ¡°The dungeon is still growing. It could be different tomorrow.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re wasted here. Rotate out. Take a break.¡±

    A real bed¡­

    Chisel was right. He had to admit it. If the other team felt as confident about their ability to run the dungeon without Hans¡¯ supervision, a trip home would be lovely. Sponge baths¨Crag baths, really¨Cin the middle of winter were an unpleasant necessity out here. To be actually clean? What a dream.

    A proper bath¡­

    ¡°If they agree, I¡¯ll take a cycle off.¡±

    ***

    The quest board had seen happier days, but the drawings tacked to it were good stand-ins until the weather broke and the town came back to life. The row of tiny pots along the windowsill told Hans that Olza had kept the kids busy with activities and lessons. Specs of green sprouts were just beginning to poke through the soil. He guessed they would be starcups, but that was only because Olza hadn¡¯t mentioned growing any other plants recently.

    On the way back to town, Chisel made Hans promise to wait at least a day until running classes again. Looking around the guild hall, he was grateful she had planted the idea in his mind. He was tempted by the empty benches, wanting to see them full of people learning. But he was tired. So tired.

    The next morning, he slept in. When he meandered downstairs, strongly considering a morning beer, he found a basket of pastries from Charlie and Galinda. They smelled fresh, and they reminded him that Charlie also had a key to the guild hall. If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.

    The Gomi chapter¡¯s security is atrocious.

    Bringing the basket with him, he treated himself to another bath.

    A few hours later, Olza came up the stairs with books in her arms. Hans was halfway through a book about a group of adventurers who were lost underground for three years. Reading something other than a guide, textbook, or tome felt like a vacation, but his notebook sat nearby, making compelling arguments about why he should get back to work.

    ¡°Is it too soon for dungeon core talk?¡± she asked.

    Hans heard his notebook laugh maniacally.

    I need more sleep.

    ¡°I don¡¯t mind,¡± Hans answered.

    Olza shared a list of new monsters to spawn in the dungeon for alchemical ingredients. The camahueto horns could get ten silvers per horn, which came out to two gold, eighty silvers for what they had collected so far. The imp blood was worth sixteen gold in total, and that was with the party running out of containers halfway through their rotation at the cabin. Hans also undersold how much the Apprentices spilled by accident, so profit potential was likely closer to twenty gold for a full rotation with enough storage and efficient collection techniques.

    An Adventurers¡¯ Guild chapter Guild Master earned a salary of twenty gold per month, except for Hans. Since he was a Gold-ranked, he got one gold per month, and that was enough for a comfortable life in most towns. Twenty gold per month was equal to nobility. One hundred gold per month was high nobility, the kind of small fortune that funded a fully staffed country estate. Meanwhile, a humble town like Gomi might get a hundred gold in taxes per year.

    Our distributor will take a big cut, but still. Gomi is going to be well off.

    Prior to learning the dungeon core could be influenced, the earning potential of the dungeon was limited to a rare magic item and the chance that, perhaps, one of the monsters would have an eye or feather that alchemists happily paid for. That wasn¡¯t guaranteed, nor was the value of that ingredient, if they found one.

    ¡°If we can choose whatever monsters we want for the dungeon,¡± Olza began, ¡°we can solve every financial problem in Gomi. In a few months.¡±

    ¡°What would you recommend?¡±

    Olza read from her notebook. ¡°Geode geckos, most slime varieties, cockatrice chickens, cave crawlers, ghosts, poison goliath toads, and any elemental except air.¡±

    Hans glared at Olza. ¡°It¡¯s my first day back. Really?¡±

    ¡°Okay, fine. No slimes.¡±

    ¡°And no ghosts. Elementals are doable, but they wreck weapons. Geode geckos are tricky, but they might work. Cockatrice chickens? Hard no. Petrification monsters are too risky. Cave crawlers soon. Anything with a goliath classification is a ways away for the Apprentices, but eventually it would be manageable. What kind of ingredients are we talking?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯d like to dispute the elementals. If we can pick anything¨Cand we don¡¯t know if we can¨Cwe could grow diamond elementals. Ground diamond is in hundreds of recipes but it¡¯s so hard to get sometimes. Not to mention the chance of a jewelable diamond. Lots of profit in a small package.¡±

    The most popular tactic to use on diamond elementals was percussive force spells and blunted weapons, preferably war hammers. The trick was timing the spells and the strikes to create a sort of resonance in the diamond elemental that made it brittle. Plenty of adventurers figured it out eventually, but getting it wrong in the meantime was painful.

    The Apprentices would need to be Silver or so to have the best odds.

    ¡°We have some time before diamond elementals are going to be an option, skill wise. You make a good argument though. What would you get from geode geckos?¡±

    ¡°They grow their crystals with an oil they secrete. A bottle of that is worth two weeks of imp blood in terms of brewing potions. From what I understand, it¡¯s easy to rupture the sack in battle, so that¡¯s part of what makes it valuable. But there¡¯s more use for us here right now: Sleep potions for the children. There¡¯s a variant recipe where we¡¯d actually have enough for everyone.¡±

    That was another consideration entirely. They would need to go to four member groups to manage a creature that size, roughly as large as a Clydesdale horse. But the camaheutos had grown in pairs, as did the imps. Two geode geckos would be a problem, especially in narrow corridors. The Apprentices would agree with the risk if he asked, but their judgment wasn¡¯t objective when the kids were involved. Hans would have to take on that responsibility for their sakes.

    Olza was right, though. Once the Apprentices reached the right proficiency level, the loot potential from ingredients alone was beyond substantial. The Lemura¡¯s Labyrinth had over a hundred types of monsters roaming its halls on a fresh cycle. If they could fill their own dungeon with a hundred high-value creatures, Gomi would make a lot of gold.

    ¡°That¡¯s a problematic amount of gold,¡± Hans said. ¡°Very problematic.¡± Gomi could have enough capital to be its own kingdom, if they could move the inventory that is.

    ¡°And dangerous,¡± Olza added.

    ¡°Too much to hide and too tempting for even good people.¡± Hans rubbed his face, already tired from having another new problem to address. ¡°We could choose not to grow the dungeon that way. Fewer ingredients, fewer problems.¡±

    ¡°I thought of that,¡± Olza replied. ¡°Rare reagents are profitable, sure, but they can also help a lot of people. Like you told me a ways back, lowering the costs of something as small as Lesser Healing potions would be good for everyone.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re back in the same corner. Is it more right to protect our people here and pass on the chance to help people outside of Gomi, or is it more right to risk our people here to help more people outside of Gomi?¡±

    The alchemist shrugged. ¡°We have had a lot of questions like that recently.¡±

    As for questions they could answer in the immediate future, Hans agreed geode geckos were worth considering. He was convinced of their value but was unsure of the risks and how to manage them. They knew too little about the dungeon core to be able to say for certain what would happen with any given experiment. The next suggestion they gave the core could result in ten new monsters for all they knew, radically shifting the difficulty of an average run for the Apprentices.

    New Quest: Harvest oil sacs from geode geckos.

    ¡°I also wanted to talk to you about Honronk,¡± Olza said.

    She went on to share that the Apprentice Black Mage spent nearly every day of his leave in her shop, sitting quietly in a corner reading one of her books, occasionally asking her questions or for clarifications on material he wasn¡¯t sure he understood. He didn¡¯t get in anyone¡¯s way or cause any inconvenience, but she worried he wasn¡¯t resting. That worry compounded when Sven mentioned to her that Honronk was always the last one to bed and the first one up, both at the cabin and back in Gomi.

    Hans admitted to having similar concerns to the point he wasn¡¯t sure that Honronk slept at all. At the same time, the Black Mage always seemed alert and thoughtful and always did his part on dungeon runs. If he was exhausting himself, he didn¡¯t show it.

    When Hans added that Honronk volunteered to learn Charm and Dispel Charm¨Cthe only spell that might work on the nightmares where they also had all of the components on hand¨COlza scrunched her face.

    ¡°Did he mention enchanting to you?¡± She asked.

    The Guild Master said it had come up briefly, but they didn¡¯t cover anything substantial.

    ¡°He borrowed one of my books on it. He asked me a bunch of questions about permanent wards and what materials could or couldn''t be enchanted. I figured he¡¯d ask you the same questions.¡±

    ¡°Didn¡¯t mention it. Did he say anything else?¡±

    ¡°Nope. He seems pretty quiet.¡±

    Hans agreed. The Apprentice Black Mage always seemed most content by himself with a book or notebook in his hands. Working hard was admirable, but if his sleep was as sparse as it seemed, his health needed to become a larger priority. Hans promised to keep an eye on Honronk.

    ¡°He makes a good point about considering enchantments,¡± Olza added. ¡°I don¡¯t know who we¡¯d get to make them, but wards might be our best option if we can¡¯t eliminate the nightmare spell completely.¡±

    ¡°Build a roof instead of trying to stop it from raining?¡±

    ¡°Yes. With how little we know about the nightmares right now, it¡¯s hard to say what we need and what we don¡¯t.¡±

    Two of Hans¡¯ quests echoed how right Olza was.

    Active Quest: Address the deficiency of magery education in the Gomi chapter.

    Active Quest: Continue researching non-localized spells capable of causing nightmares in tusk children.

    They needed the snow to melt to move forward on half a dozen other problems and projects, but the pass reopening also meant that Gomi¡¯s dungeon plan would go public and that whatever developments happened in the kingdom, especially with regard to the ongoing orc conflict, could reach Gomi again.

    New Quest: Finalize spring preparations for launching the dungeon plan by talking to Charlie, Galad, Galinda and Roland.

    ***

    Open Quests (Ordered from Old to New):

    Progress from Gold-ranked to Diamond-ranked.

    Mend the rift with Devon.

    Complete the manuscript for "The Next Generation: A Teaching Methodology for Training Adventurers."

    Expand the Gomi training area to include ramps for footwork drills.

    Refine a system for training dungeon awareness.

    Research the history and legends of the Dead End Mountains, more.

    Protect Gomi.

    Train Gomi adventurers to keep the dungeon at bay.

    Talk to Roland or Galad about the campus idea. Bonus Objective: Pick a secret passage cooler than a bookshelf door.

    Find a partner to move dungeon loot efficiently.

    Find a way to share new knowledge without putting Gomi at risk.

    Address the deficiency of magery education in the Gomi chapter.

    Continue researching non-localized spells capable of causing nightmares in tusk children.

    Test structural suggestions for the next dungeon core experiment.

    Harvest oil sacs from geode geckos.

    Finalize spring preparations for launching the dungeon plan by talking to Charlie, Galad, Galinda, and Roland.

 Chapter 54: Infinite Money Glitch

    ¡°Winter may be behind us in four weeks or so,¡± Roland estimated. He sat in the guild hall with Hans, Kane, and Quentin. ¡°If the melt keeps going how it¡¯s been, I mean.¡± The hunter added that snow would still arrive from time to time before spring took hold, but the pass might be usable by then.

    The hunter couldn¡¯t say when the land around the dungeon entrance would be thawed enough for new construction. The cabin was farther up the mountain than Gomi, so winter was likely to still have a grip even when Gomi headed into spring.

    Beyond the weather, Roland wasn¡¯t sure when Gomi would have the hands to build the campus Hans envisioned. Charlie already recruited volunteers within Gomi itself to work on surrounding the town with a palisade when weather permitted, and Galad had done the same for the palisade they intended to build on the Tribe farmlands. Both were sizable projects that might not be complete in time for the following winter with their current workforce.

    Adding a campus to that workload, nearly two days away from town and partway up a mountain, was a big ask.

    ¡°Hypothetically,¡± Hans began, ¡°if all of the folks working on the Gomi palisades worked on the campus, how much could we get done before next winter?¡±

    ¡°Hypothetically?¡±

    ¡°Yes, I agree a town wall is more important than a dungeon campus. I don¡¯t want that to change. I¡¯m just trying to better understand projects like these.¡±

    Roland looked at the list again. ¡°Is the hidden tunnel one of your jokes?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s serious, but we can ignore it for now.¡±

    ¡°A dormitory and a pantry are possible with that many workers. I¡¯ve never built anything larger than a cabin, though, and I don¡¯t know how to account for building that far up the mountain. Might be that only the dormitory can get done in time.¡±

    Hans felt that was a fair estimate. When Roland pressed him on what he was considering, the Guild Master shared that Gomi would likely have the funds to hire workers from another town, which would allow them to use the Gomi volunteers for the dungeon project. That approach would bring a bunch of strangers to their doorsteps, but they could afford the manpower to have the Gomi palisade done in weeks rather than months.

    All of that assumed they could sell their growing stock of camahueto horns and vials of imp blood quickly and without raising suspicions.

    ¡°I also wanted to talk to you about Quentin,¡± Hans said, changing the subject. Kane and Quentin went rigid at the mention of one of their names.

    Roland chuckled. ¡°Nothing to talk about. He¡¯s sixteen next month and decided a long while back that he wanted to apprentice.¡± Hans stole a look at Quentin and saw the boy listening, wide-eyed.

    ¡°Kane, when¡¯s your birthday?¡±

    He said he didn¡¯t know.

    ¡°A lot of tusks never really know,¡± Roland said on behalf of the young tusk. ¡°I was planning to celebrate his birthday when we celebrated Quentin¡¯s, the correct date be damned.¡± Over Roland¡¯s shoulder, Kane smiled so hard he looked like he could poke himself in the eyes with his own tusks.

    Hans was satisfied. They were young, but two more Apprentices would be a big help. ¡°Uncle Ed already gave his blessing as well. Do you have any questions for me about any of that process?¡±

    ¡°Not any that you aren¡¯t already trying to answer. For their sake, it would be great if they were officially ranked. Would give them a trade they can live off of outside of Gomi.¡±

    ¡°All of the adventurers want that, and I get it. Trying to figure it out.¡±

    ¡°We know, and we trust you. Otherwise, I know nothing is risk free in that profession, but I¡¯m glad they¡¯ll have you looking out for them. Any other Guild Master and I think I¡¯d feel differently.¡±

    Kane and Quentin slapped hands and hugged when both Hans and Roland finally confirmed they could apprentice. The Guild Master was known to be cautious, so hearing that they could officially train in a month¡¯s time was the best news Kane and Quentin had all winter.

    Quest Update: Solve the campus construction logistics problem or devise an alternative plan. Bonus Objective: Pick a secret passage cooler than a bookshelf door.

    Quest Update: Finalize spring preparations for launching the dungeon plan by talking to Charlie, Galad, and Galinda.

    ***

    Charlie and Galinda sat by the fire, reading, when Hans knocked. When he mentioned why he was visiting, Galinda half jumped from her seat. She retrieved a piece of paper with two colors of ink, black and green. Handing it to Hans, she sat back and awaited his reaction.

    The flier had a braided pattern around its border, mostly black but with a single green thread lacing through the middle. Big blocky text filled the top third of the paper with green lettering that said, ¡°Hans¡¯ Ultimate Training Dungeon for Ultimate Adventurers.¡± Below that was the Gomi crest, a fairly banal circular design with a bear head in the middle. Galinda used it as the flier¡¯s primary visual element, like other businesses might do with a symbol representing the business or an illustration of the product.

    Below the crest, the following was printed in black: ¡°Learn from the kingdom¡¯s only Gold-ranked Guild Master, learn to fight and survive, five gold per week, lodging and food not included, no refunds for any reason, including weather or instructor availability.¡±

    Then the bottom listed Gomi as the location.

    When Hans asked about making multiple copies, Galinda handed him two woodblocks, one for the elements in black ink and the other for elements in green ink. She had already planned for printing. When the first caravan arrived, they could arrange for the blocks to be taken to Osare¨Cor any other nearby town with a printer¨Cwhere they would print dozens of copies to be mailed to every guild chapter in the kingdom.

    To Hans, that felt like a lot to ask of a merchant, but Charlie and Galinda assured him more elaborate requests were normal and expected. If someone from a place like Gomi needed a representative for business in another town, merchants were happy to charge a fee for the service. Choosing the right person to trust in that arrangement still mattered, but the practice was common enough that neither Charlie nor Galinda had any concerns of it going wrong.

    With the flier approved, they set aside several gold to account for the merchant, the printing, and the mailing. Seeing Mazo¡¯s generous gift depleted even more made Hans a little sad. Somehow, having that much money on him¨Ceven if he always fully intended to invest it in helping Gomi¨Cbrought a sense of security. A sword on his hip guarded from monsters, and a heavy pouch of gold could guard him from pretty much everything else.

    Charlie admitted he hadn¡¯t started on the letter yet, but Hans assured him that was a good thing. He had new ideas, and he wanted to incorporate them into the letter. After a fair amount of discussion and a few pencil drafts in Hans¡¯ notebook, Charlie penned the following letter on official Gomi letterhead:

    Our friends at the Guild,

    It has come to our attention that the Gomi chapter Guild Master, Hans the Gold-ranked, is under review, the results of which could mean his removal. We are troubled by what this change might mean for our town and so would like to propose an alternate solution, all of which has already been approved by the citizens of Gomi.The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

    If Hans can keep his current posting, Gomi is willing to take responsibility for his monthly salary as well as costs for supplies and equipment the chapter might need in the future.

    While he¡¯s no Diamond, we know that a replacement Guild Master is unlikely to be available to Gomi for some time, if ever, based on our previous challenges of keeping the post filled. Hans has provided useful services to our town, and his presence was a comfort this winter when gnoll activity was high. We are well aware of his reputation in the Guild but have found him to be tolerable, especially in light of his non-guild spending with locals.

    Having a wealthy retired adventurer in our town has been a boon to our economy, if we can be candid. He has hired every carpenter and nearly all of our laborers to build himself a sizable home when weather permits. If his pockets are as deep as he suggests, we could need the next five years to finish all of the projects he has planned.

    If you haven¡¯t heard, he is opening a training facility this spring. To continue my candor, we don¡¯t expect the facility to be a draw for tourists, but we do know he has signed several local employment contracts as well as a long-term lease agreement. I¡¯m sure you can understand why we¡¯d want these sorts of investments to continue flowing.

    The Gomi chapter annual report is enclosed with this letter. My understanding is that numbers around program participation and total monsters slain are important to our King. As you can see, Gomi¡¯s numbers are on the rise. If you accept our proposal, we expect these reports to continue improving, year over year.

    Thank you for your consideration. We look forward to hearing from you.

    Sincerely,

    Charlie

    Mayor of Gomi

    ¡°I¡¯m quite pleased with this,¡± Charlie said, blowing softly on the two new pages of handwritten ink. ¡°Seeing this on paper gives me more confidence. I have to admit the plan sounded too fanciful at times, but this letter makes it all seem plain.¡±

    Hans shared his idea of hiring outside workers for the Gomi palisade, funding the effort with dungeon loot so their local builders could expand the dungeon campus. The story of Hans building a cabin could be used for cover, and the reference to higher gnoll activity would explain why a small town was building a wall. The rich, dumb adventurer living in town explained where Gomi got the coin to hire outside workers.

    Charlie saw the value in having more builders in town, even if temporarily. The town needed a wall if violence found its way to Gomi, and the town also needed their adventurers to cull the dungeon. The current cabin operation wouldn¡¯t get them through their next winter.

    If they could get the funds from selling dungeon reagents, Charlie was open to hiring outside builders.

    Quest Update: Finalize spring preparations for launching the dungeon plan by talking to Galad.

    ***

    ¡°You¡¯re sure about this math?¡± Galad sat at his kitchen table, reading the calculations for how much the dungeon might generate if they could choose which monsters to grow.

    ¡°Olza did the math.¡±

    ¡°Then it¡¯s definitely right. This¡­ This is a lot of gold. Your concern makes more sense now.¡±

    Galad explained that his mom and dad used to talk about supporting more places like the Tribe. They knew a lot of tusks would never be able to make the journey, but they wanted the people on the far side of the kingdom to have what they had in Gomi. The topic filled many late nights of dinner table musings but never coalesced into a viable plan.

    His parents often dreamed that way, wishing for all manner of extra resources to make helping more people possible. The brewery never made enough for them to entertain funding the land for another Tribe, even in their best years. Funding comparable to that of a small kingdom would change that.

    ¡°I wish I could ask their advice right now,¡± Galad said.

    Hans wasn¡¯t sure he could add much to that, so he let the silence hang while Galad collected his thoughts.

    ¡°One year, there were more deer than we could shoot. We ran out of arrows. Seriously. Broke every single one. We kept seeing all these deer, and it made me so angry. My mom said, ¡®Never complain about a blessing.¡¯ She said that all the time, and that was shorthand for ¡®Save your sadness for the bad days instead of letting it take your good days too.¡¯¡±

    ¡°Wise woman.¡± And strong. Hans had not forgotten the story he heard about Galad¡¯s mom juicing a town guard on a jailroom door.

    Galad agreed. ¡°Do you think that applies here?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t think I can speak for your mother.¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s say for yourself then.¡±

    The Guild Master thought. ¡°It sounds like it applies.¡±

    ¡°I think it does as well.¡±

    The tusk stood from the table and returned a moment later with a notebook and pencil. He suggested they consider additional layers to their loot laundering plan. If their to-be-determined partner wasn¡¯t right for moving all of the loot, they could run wagons to multiple partners. The Tribe brewery might need to invent a second line of products or a really good story for how they expanded the operation so quickly. That last part felt manageable, at least.

    According to Galad, one of the newly arrived tusks told him a story about their family¡¯s peach farm. Every year, their family had larger and larger harvests, but enough people didn¡¯t want food grown and handled by tusks that harvests started to rot. Fruit they couldn¡¯t sell didn¡¯t need to be picked, so every summer the sickly sweet smell of rotting fruit grew stronger and stronger.

    Then someone knocked on his family¡¯s door. A halfling greeted them and offered to buy their entire harvest the following year and made a small down payment as a show of good faith. When harvest came, so did the halfling, with a small fleet of covered wagons. They rode in after sunset and left before sunrise.

    The next day, the tusk¡¯s father went to the market, and he saw the halfling selling a wagon full of peaches to one of the canneries that had turned the tusk family away initially. The halfling advertised the peaches as coming from the next town over, talked about the wonderfully ripe harvest he had brought to sell, and collected a hefty bag of coin, leaving with an empty wagon before noon. From what this tusk¡¯s dad could see, the halfling likely doubled his money, if not better.

    ¡°So this halfling flips the family¡¯s peaches for a big profit,¡± Galad continued. ¡°But his family was thrilled about the arrangement. They sold their entire harvest to the halfling for years after. He gave a better price than anyone in the town ever had, and his folks got a kick out of seeing the jerks overpay for the same fruit.¡±

    When conversations around dungeon loot first sparked, the same tusk suggested to Galad that the Tribe sell to a large-scale distributor, someone that would normally sell a large volume of product anyway¨Can idea they already entertained but were unsure of how to execute. If they couldn¡¯t find a partner, they could invent one, which meant establishing and staffing their own distribution point outside of Gomi. That suggestion seemed like overkill under their first estimates for dungeon loot. Now, it seemed wise.

    In his mind, Hans marveled at how much his neighbors learned out of desperate necessity, and they had to use that knowledge more than once. Making a living as a tusk always had an extra layer, a workaround or a fix for an obstacle that existed solely to spite them. They had already gone through what Gomi was facing with the dungeon at smaller scales, and they had done it dozens of times. In that way, the dungeon plan was more of the same.

    That realization was an odd comfort.

    I¡¯m the only one who hasn''t done something like this before.

    ¡°Do you need any help ahead of spring?¡±

    Galad shook his head. ¡°Wagons will be ready, barrels and all. We¡¯re on schedule.¡±

    Quest Complete: Finalize spring preparations for launching the dungeon plan by talking to Galad.

    Before Hans opened the door to venture back into the snow, he asked Galad, ¡°What would you do with the money?¡±

    ¡°See if anyone here wants to build another Tribe. Send them off with seed funds, build a sister city so to speak. And after that? If we could buy the safety of Gomi, I¡¯d spend any amount of gold in the world.¡±

    ***

    Open Quests (Ordered from Old to New):

    Progress from Gold-ranked to Diamond-ranked.

    Mend the rift with Devon.

    Complete the manuscript for "The Next Generation: A Teaching Methodology for Training Adventurers."

    Expand the Gomi training area to include ramps for footwork drills.

    Refine a system for training dungeon awareness.

    Research the history and legends of the Dead End Mountains, more.

    Protect Gomi.

    Train Gomi adventurers to keep the dungeon at bay.

    Solve the campus construction logistics problem or devise an alternative plan. Bonus Objective: Pick a secret passage cooler than a bookshelf door.

    Find a partner to move dungeon loot efficiently.

    Find a way to share new knowledge without putting Gomi at risk.

    Address the deficiency of magery education in the Gomi chapter.

    Continue researching non-localized spells capable of causing nightmares in tusk children.

    Test structural suggestions for the next dungeon core experiment.

    Harvest oil sacs from geode geckos.

 Chapter 55: Bonus XP

    Quest Complete: Train Gomi adventurers to keep the dungeon at bay.

    The Apprentices were halfway through their third rotation when Hans felt it was safe to call it. He and Tandis sat in the cabin playing cards while Terry, Sven, and Honronk did their seventh unsupervised run. The new adventurers could control the dungeon. They actually pulled it off.

    Time to ruin it.

    Hans broke the news when Buru, Chisel, and Yotuli returned to take their next shift. ¡°We may need to go back to six-person runs but for a good reason.¡±

    He explained that geode geckos had a reagent that might give the children relief. Unlike the other Sleep potions Olza brewed, the new recipe would go far enough to help all of the children sleep. They had no way of knowing how near or far a permanent solution for the nightmares might be, but she could start on these potions right away.

    None of the Apprentices complained. They nodded and listened to Hans explain how to bring down a geode gecko without rupturing its oil sac.

    Geode geckos had a gemlike growth running down their backs in varying ranges of blues, purples, and reds. They took their geode name from how they defended themselves. When they were sleeping or threatened, they would roll into a ball, arching backward to form a sphere with their rocky underbellies as the exterior. Cracking them open was like breaking open a geode, a boring rock on the outside with sparkling gems inside.

    By the time they curled up, the geckos were pretty much done for, but killing them in their geode form ruptured the oil sac almost every time. A blow to the rocky underbelly, for reasons no one quite understood, popped the sac. Therefore, the final blow needed to be dealt to the head before the monster balled up. That response, however, was as fast as a beartrap, so Hans explained that they needed to insert a rod as the gecko closed on itself, and then lever the gecko back open. If they fumbled the rod and the gecko closed up, they wouldn¡¯t be able to open it again.

    ¡°They¡¯re about the size of a crocodile, about as fast, and they spit rocks they chewed up earlier. They hurt.¡±

    Terry raised his hand. ¡°Did they swallow the rocks?¡±

    ¡°Yes¡­¡±

    ¡°They puke on us,¡± Terry corrected.

    ¡°Well, technically.¡±

    When the Apprentices calmed down, after many assurances that the projectiles were only rocks and no other fluids or materials, Buru and Hans went outside to look for rod-shaped trees to chop down. Once they had a supply of rods chopped and sized, crude quarterstaffs essentially, they ran drills for fighting one geode gecko and drills for fighting two, since they couldn¡¯t be sure if the dungeon core could be influenced to the point that they could specify the quantity.

    Fingers crossed it didn¡¯t grow three or four. If that happened, the plan was to run. Not that they could run far. The dungeon would regrow when Hans bled on the core again, which meant they would have to fight their way back to the surface from the very bottom, no matter what.

    ***

    Quest Complete: Test structural suggestions for the next dungeon core experiment.

    Quest Complete: Harvest oil sacs from geode geckos.

    The dungeon core accepted two suggestions for two drops of blood. Hans thought about a single geode gecko in a wide cave, and they found that cave at the end of a corridor that used to lead to nothing at all.

    Terry and Yotuli underestimated the power of the rock puke and got scraped up on the first blast. Between that, the monster¡¯s bite, and its swinging tail, the party had to pick and choose their attacks. Where they could press forward to incite their enemies to make mistakes against other monsters, fighting the geode gecko was more like a back and forth duel. The Apprentices triumphed eventually, and Chisel patched up the Rangers.

    The fight went smoothly enough that Hans believed they could work their way back to three-person shifts with a couple weeks of practice. With geode geckos, having only one experienced frontliner made the encounter exceptionally challenging and a good bit more dangerous. Even when they returned to smaller party sizes, Hans intended to make them bring an extra shield. Sven and Buru both played frontline duties on their shifts at times and didn¡¯t need to lose an eye.

    The next round against a geode gecko went so smoothly that when Yotuli volunteered to work an extra rotation¨Cgiving each shift four party members instead of three. Hans agreed that was sufficient. Chisel and Honronk hadn¡¯t contributed much in the last encounter anyway, and the Apprentices were exceptional adventurers for their rank¨Cwhen they were well rested. He wanted to keep them fresh, and he wouldn¡¯t be able to do that with a six-person party.

    When Buru and Chisel departed the cabin for leave, Hans went with them. He had oil sacs to deliver, and the sooner they brewed the potions, the sooner the tusk kids in Gomi could sleep through the night for the first time in months.

    Oh, and the dungeon core built a cave because he asked it to. No big deal.

    ***

    The shift was subtle, but Hans could feel the season had turned a corner. Though three feet of snow was still on the ground, the sun felt brighter, the sky was a clearer blue, and small drops of melt glistened at the ends of tree branches. The air was still sharp with cold, yet it felt like spring was behind it, working to break through.

    He appreciated the moment, but his mind raced.

    We can influence the structure. We can influence the structure.

    Resisting the urge to tell Olza right away, he gave the alchemist the oil sacs from the geode geckos, and though it was well into the winter evening by that time, she started on the new potion recipe right away. The first step needed twenty-four hours to complete, most of that time spent waiting for the mixture to fully separate into layers after it was prepared. After two hours at her lab bench, her work was complete for the moment. The Guild Master returned, freshly bathed and wearing clean clothes.

    When he told her the news about the gecko cave, her eyes inflated, and all of the exhaustion she carried just a moment before dissolved.

    ¡°Incredible,¡± she whispered with reverence. ¡°I wonder how specific a suggestion could be.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s one of my questions too, but I think we should hold off on making new suggestions for a while.¡±

    ¡°The Apprentices?¡±

    ¡°They¡¯re part of it,¡± Hans answered, ¡°but I¡¯m also worried about what happens when the sphere regrows completely. What if we can¡¯t change anything at that point?¡±

    ¡°We have been ¡®adding¡¯ to the core, I suppose. Yeah, we can¡¯t know if that¡¯s how it works, but it could be that changes become permanent.¡±

    ¡°Then we should be careful and selective from here on for as long as we can.¡±

    Seeing the Apprentices adapt to the geode gecko so quickly further convinced Hans that their rapid access to field experience for any given lesson boosted learning. From an instructional perspective, that wasn¡¯t surprising, but the extent of the improvements were far better than Hans predicted. For other Apprentices, they might learn about the geode gecko in a broader monster tactics class, but they weren¡¯t likely to encounter one in the wild for some time, and that time would go even longer if the Apprentices avoided cave jobs.The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

    By the time they did fight a geode gecko, their lesson on tactics may have aged five or six years, if they could recall it all.

    The Gomi Apprentices, meanwhile, took a lesson on fighting geode geckos, and then put the lesson to use the next day, under the supervision of a higher ranked adventurer who could offer advice and critiques during and after the fight, further advancing their development. Then they could try it again almost immediately, relative to how long a normal adventurer might have to wait to find another geode gecko.

    No adventurers got to train like this. The largest, wealthiest chapters were still training combat the old fashioned way: Rows of adventurers standing in a line rehearsing the perfect thrust or perfect slash. How many lives would be spared if an adventurer got to fight an ogre in training before taking a job to hunt down a band of the marauding monsters? Hans could rotate in any creature¨Cgoblins, orcs, trolls, whatever¨Cand the answer would be the same: Many lives could be saved. So many.

    Adventurers needed to learn to adapt to entirely new situations, and they would still have to eventually, but they could have an immense amount of experience at their disposal when they did.

    ¡°This could help everyone,¡± Hans said sadly when he gushed about using the dungeon as a training tool. ¡°And we won¡¯t be able to tell anyone.¡±

    Active Quest: Find a way to share new knowledge without putting Gomi at risk.

    That quest had bothered him for some time now. The outside world couldn¡¯t know about the dungeon, and he knew that for certain. The danger it posed to Gomi and the Tribe was too great.

    Hans had full discretion over training and dungeon management, but his voice was no more important than anyone else¡¯s when it came to the community as a whole. In many ways, that made it easier for him to contribute. He got to be the expert where he was an expert, yet he was not solely responsible for any of the colossal matters the town voted on, including the decision to keep the dungeon a secret from the outside world.

    Olza encouraged him to document as much as he could about what he learned, whether that was about a training tool or battle tactics for a particular monster.

    ¡°We may not have a solution right now,¡± she began, ¡°but we might in the future. From what I¡¯ve learned about you, not having all of that knowledge captured would upset you if we suddenly found a way to do this.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re right.¡±

    ¡°It would be useful for the Apprentices regardless, right?¡±

    Hans hadn¡¯t thought of that, and he agreed. A written version of their monster-specific lessons would enable any of the Apprentices to refresh their memories whenever they liked, and he could go as far as to require regularly scheduled reviews. No student, no matter how dedicated, could be expected to remember every detail of every lesson, but the right line in a book could put them back in the lesson as if they were experiencing it all over again.

    With Kane and Quentin becoming Apprentices soon, it would be good for them as well.

    ¡°The rate the Apprentices are improving is way beyond the norm,¡± Hans said. ¡°We could build the ¡®Hans¡¯ Ultimate Training Dungeon¡¯ for real.¡±

    ¡°We can¡¯t forget the core is growing on its own. It¡¯s slow, but the gnolls and the squonks and the initial structures were its idea.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s a good point. Squonks and gnolls were in the forest already if the stories from Becky are right. Maybe a squonk ate one of the flowers, like the gnoll we found, and that¡¯s where the core got the ¡®idea?¡¯¡±

    Olza leaned back. ¡°That fits. No good way to confirm it, but either way, we can assume the dungeon will grow on its own without us.¡±

    ¡°Gomi is better off if we make all of the choices ourselves¡­¡±

    ¡°So maybe build that training dungeon after all?¡±

    New Quest: Design a training dungeon concept to test on the dungeon core.

    ***

    The new Sleep potion recipe changed the tone for the Tribe lands. The source of the nightmares might not have been resolved, but if children could sleep, so could their families. A full night¡¯s rest¨Cno bad dreams, no worrying all night about your child running away¨Clifted everyone¡¯s mood and offered hope. That happening on the cusp of spring amplified the sense that a brighter dawn was within reach.

    The next class of Apprentices was part of that dawn. Before Kane and Quentin could enter the dungeon, they needed to study up on guild procedure and learn more about group combat tactics. Their previous training was a good base, but a dungeon was different from practice, so Hans made them start at the beginning like everyone else.

    The boys would need a few months of preparation before they could join dungeon rotations, which worked out. The cabin was too cramped for two new bodies, and Hans needed more time to decide on the next dungeon core suggestion, especially since new dungeon growth could mean new dangers for all of the Apprentices.

    For now, the Apprentices could again manage the dungeon with three-person parties, and their success rate for harvesting a geode gecko¡¯s oil sac was four out of five¨Cway higher than the typical average most adventurers experienced.

    Hans still joined rotations to coach and support the Apprentices on duty, but as the temperature in the Gomi forest crept upward, the Guild Master could spend more time in town teaching kids classes, training Kane and Quentin, and working on a design for a training dungeon. While he treasured a return to near-normalcy, seeing the kids again more regularly reminded him of how much time he spent at the dungeon instead of in the guild hall. He felt guilty about that.

    Harry and Harriot, the son and daughter of the husband and wife team who owned the blacksmith and fletcher shops, were as chipper as ever, their blond hair long from the winter but still bright and golden. Their tusk counterparts, kids like Chance and Loddie, looked haggard and depleted from the nightmares that targeted tusk children exclusively. They had relief, but their bodies needed time to recover from a whole winter of broken sleep.

    All of the tusk-touched children suffered, but Hans noticed the change in Gunther the most. When he told the Apprentices the story of Gunther fighting gnolls in the woods, Hans described the boy as a ¡°mongoose¡± because he was more dangerous than he looked and was unflappable even with cobras staring him down.

    The Gunther sitting in front of him at the guild hall was falling asleep in the midst of a lesson on animal migration and how changing seasons affected monster activity. The boy looked slightly pale and emaciated, with dark rings under his empty eyes. The Sleep potions were helping, Galad and Olza assured him, but Hans worried the kids might not actually be getting real rest even if they appeared to be sleeping.

    While they were less concerned than Hans, they all agreed with this: A rider needed to depart as soon as possible to gather research and resources on undoing spells. The Tribe couldn¡¯t wait for two cycles of caravans for something to be delivered. The long list of spellbooks Hans worked up to help Chisel and Honronk with their development got a little bit longer, and the nest egg Mazo left him got quite a bit smaller.

    Seeing the husk of Gunther renewed an instinct that Galad and Olza had talked down: Hans wanted to make the trip himself, to ensure they got the right books and the right supplies. Though the compulsion was strong, he still couldn¡¯t act on it. The Guild Master was more useful in Gomi than on the road.

    When class ended, all of the children filed out of the guild hall and into the snow as they always did. A few minutes later, Hans heard all manner of childlike whoops and cheers. He assumed the children had started another snowball fight, taking advantage of what could be the last snow.

    Just that morning he saw the dirt road going out of Gomi for the first time since the fall. Granted, he only saw a few muddy ruts, the rest still covered with white, but he shared that observation with the class that day. He was mostly goading them into having a snowball fight, but visible mud felt significant somehow, more significant than mud had any right to be.

    Quentin burst inside. ¡°Luther¡¯s back with two tusks. He¡¯s injured.¡±

    Hans grabbed his winter cloak and his sword.

    ***

    Open Quests (Ordered from Old to New):

    Progress from Gold-ranked to Diamond-ranked.

    Mend the rift with Devon.

    Complete the manuscript for "The Next Generation: A Teaching Methodology for Training Adventurers."

    Expand the Gomi training area to include ramps for footwork drills.

    Refine a system for training dungeon awareness.

    Research the history and legends of the Dead End Mountains, more.

    Protect Gomi.

    Solve the campus construction logistics problem or devise an alternative plan. Bonus Objective: Pick a secret passage cooler than a bookshelf door.

    Find a partner to move dungeon loot efficiently.

    Find a way to share new knowledge without putting Gomi at risk.

    Address the deficiency of magery education in the Gomi chapter.

    Continue researching non-localized spells capable of causing nightmares in tusk children.

    Design a training dungeon concept to test on the dungeon core.

 Chapter 56: Escort Missions

    By the time Hans got to the edge of town, several townspeople had already collected the three wounded tusks from the treeline and carried them most of the way back. Every townsperson helping was human, so they doubled up to share the weight, one person under each shoulder of each of the three tusks. The others grabbed the rucksacks the tusks dropped in the snow. The faces of the townspeople were red, and their chests huffed when they got to Hans.

    Looking around, seeing no sign of Charlie and Galinda, Hans decided the guild hall was the closest building with enough space for the tusks and anyone who might need to treat them.

    He told Kane to run to the guild hall to get the potions and the first aid supplies out of the storage room and spread them on his desk. He told Quentin to tell Olza what was happening and ask her to bring anything that might help with frostbite or hypothermia. When Hans turned back to the tusks, they were close enough now for him to fully assess the situation.

    Luther looked gaunt and sickly and had cuts and bruises all over his face. To Hans¡¯ eye, the damage looked like the blues and purples were painted by fists. The tusk was alive, but he was unconscious. His eyes fluttered open on occasion, but they stayed soft and out of focus until they fluttered shut again.

    The other two tusks were women who strongly favored their orc genes, were slightly smaller than Luther, and had the same kinds of cuts and bruises. Their clothing wasn¡¯t ostentatious, but the quality of the materials and the craftsmanship were apparent, from the gold embroidered accents on their blue cloaks to the polished brown leather of their boots. These were tusks with means and no shortage of taste.

    One of the tusks was seriously injured. The torn and shredded tunic tied around her thigh was soaked through with blood, the original green of the shirt turned black. Hans spotted the same blood-soaked black when the tusk¡¯s cloak hung open from how she was carried. She likely had a rib or stomach wound to go with the hole in her leg. The tusk was mostly alert, but she was tired and battered enough that consciousness seemed to require her deliberate effort.

    The other tusk had a bruised face and contended with extreme exhaustion. She favored her left arm, but she tried to hide it. Hans had kicked too many injured adventurers out of training over the years to not notice when someone¡¯s pride came before their health. In this situation, however, the Guild Master could respect the tusk for putting her injured comrades ahead of her own needs.

    The townspeople laid Luther and the bleeding female tusk¨Cwhose name Hans later learned was Annabel¨Con the guild hall tables while the third tusk¨Cnamed Annalee¨Csat on a bench nearby. Olza tended to Luther while Hans cut the old bandages off of Annabel to evaluate her injuries.

    ¡°He hadn¡¯t had a real meal in weeks,¡± Annalee said, her voice strained. ¡°He was like that when we found him, they beat on him¡­ and then they beat on us for taking him. Bel¡¯s leg is from a sword. We think her stomach is from window glass. Not sure though.¡±

    Bel accepted the healing potion tipped into her lips, Hans helping her lift her head up long enough to swallow without choking. The potion went to work, but with injuries this severe, they needed to be monitored and tended. He cleaned the wounds, applied a layer of one of Olza¡¯s salves to aid in the recovery process, and carefully bandaged the tusk¡¯s leg and ribs. Like stitches, the skin and tissue needed to be aligned for proper healing, and the risk of infection was always a concern. Shortcuts weren¡¯t worth the risk.

    ¡°We have an Apprentice White Mage in Gomi,¡± Hans said to Annalee, who asked that she simply be called Lee. ¡°She¡¯s out on a gnoll job, but we¡¯ll have her check in as soon as she¡¯s back. Olza¨Cthat¡¯s her with Luther¨Cis Gomi¡¯s alchemist. She knows what she¡¯s doing.¡±

    With a pause in the chaos, Hans took fresh stock of the situation to be sure he didn¡¯t miss something important. Lee had no serious wounds, but she looked like she hadn¡¯t slept. Bel was stable. Her injuries weren¡¯t insignificant, but no arteries or vital organs appeared to have been harmed. She¡¯d sleep for a day or two but should recover. Luther¡¯s status was harder to judge from a distance, but he looked like a prisoner liberated from a goblin camp. Olza still cared for him, and Hans knew better than to interrupt.

    The hearth burned larger than usual, an odd change that now caught his eye. A lean around the benches revealed three fresh logs on the fire, their woodgrain a rich, dirty orange. Kane must have added them, Hans concluded. As he thought about it, he realized buckets of fresh water awaited them when they first brought the injured tusks inside. Kane must have thought to do that as well and had all of that done before any of them arrived.

    ¡°I take it you¡¯re Hans?¡± Lee asked.

    He nodded.

    ¡°Master Theneesa said you could help us.¡±

    That answered a question that bothered Hans all winter: What happened to the tusks Theneesea referenced in her last letter? Apparently, by the time they reached Osare, the pass to Gomi was snowed in. They were waiting for the seasons to change to finish their journey, but the orc conflict caught up to them.

    ¡°I¡¯ll tell you the full story when I¡¯m less delirious,¡± Lee continued. ¡°We found him¨CLuther¨Clike this a few days back, and we made a run for Gomi.¡±

    According to Lee, the main front of the orc war hadn¡¯t changed all that much over the winter. When Gomi got snowed in, the orc army had razed two hamlets¨Cclose to Gomi¡¯s size but a little smaller¨Cand captured a town, fortified by stone walls and iron gates. While the kingdom attempted to lay siege to recover the town, orc warbands spread through much of the kingdom. Groups of ten to fifteen orcs could move through the wilderness, avoiding roads and checkpoints to attack an unsuspecting community almost anywhere. The warbands typically lacked the numbers for an outright slaughter, but that wasn¡¯t a comfort for those who died by their hands.

    The kingdom struggled to fight a war while also rooting out hidden pockets of orcs spreading like cancerous sores. Furthermore, the orcs had been ruthless in clearcutting forests and salting the earth, stretching the demand for military resources that much more. Adventurers were hired to make up the difference, but these weren¡¯t the wild remnants of an isolated orc tribe. These were real orcs with training and wits.

    Adventurers usually fought the former. Those orcs were plenty dangerous, but they were not organized and were not particularly skilled with weapons. Usually, their size and ferocity made up for their lack of technique, but trained fighters who kept their heads usually bested them.

    Lee described the invading orcs as being akin to Bronze-ranked at their weakest, but as a whole their average strength and skill was akin to a low Silver-ranked. These orcs were just as evil as any other orc, but they were good at it. They were properly equipped and conducted organized, tactically sound raids. Several adventurers fell before the guild acknowledged that these were not typical orcs, but even with better preparation, adventurers weren¡¯t soldiers. Many more fell, and they continued to fall as the conflict continued.

    ¡°Paranoia is high,¡± Lee said. ¡°Everyone is jumpy. The tusks hopping the fence to fight with the orcs haven¡¯t helped that.¡±

    Hans had so many questions, about the war, about the Adventurers¡¯ Guild, about Luther, but Lee swayed on her feet and held her blinks for too long.

    They all need to rest.

    As Hans debated where to house the tusks, the guild hall door slammed shut. Roland patted Quentin on the shoulder as he walked by, leaving the boy to continue his duties assisting Olza while he spoke to Hans. He nodded respectfully to Lee but spoke directly to the Guild Master.

    ¡°We need to cover their trail. Soon.¡±

    In his rush to catch up on geopolitical news, the Guild Master hadn¡¯t thought about the three sets of bloody footprints forming a dotted line between Osare and Gomi. The quicker Roland could start, the farther down the trail he could go before he created false tracks, leading away from Gomi. He needed to balance getting as far from Gomi as he could with the potential pace of any pursuers. A false trail was great, but no one would fall for it if they stumbled upon the hunter in the midst of making it.

    ¡°Olza,¡± Hans called. ¡°Roland needs to borrow some imp blood.¡±This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

    ***

    Charlie and Galinda took Luther back to their apartment, Galinda carrying him in her arms like he was a sleeping child. The Mayor and his wife suggested their home without hesitation and scooped up Luther as soon as Olza said he was safe to move. The tusk was going to need care and attention to get him through the next few days.

    A little while later, about two hours after she drank the Healing potion, Bel stirred. She was still weak, but she was lucid. Hans and Kane helped her up the stairs to Hans¡¯ apartment. As they gently lowered Bel into the bed, Lee asked if she could sleep on the couch. She wanted to be close by if Bel needed something. Hans had a similar concern, so he put another log on the fire upstairs, showed Lee where she could get more wood if she needed it, and went downstairs to unroll a bedroll onto the stone floor of the guild hall.

    Dragging tables and benches away from the hearth, he left his bedroll in front of the fire to warm and settled into his desk chair to read, propping his feet up. Not long after Hans added a new log to the fire, Lee came downstairs wrapped in a blanket and wearing pajamas Galinda brought for her.

    ¡°I smell beer,¡± she said, stopping in the doorway of the guild hall.

    Hans retrieved a cup for Lee, who happily accepted. ¡°Since you¡¯ve drank my beer, are we going to take care of that arm?¡±

    Lee removed her heavy cloak, revealing a forearm drenched in blood. ¡°Master Theneesa said we could trust you as much as we trust her. Have to admit, though, seeing tusks living in Gomi won me over.¡±

    ¡°Potion or stitches?¡±

    ¡°Stitches.¡±

    ¡°A lot of people will want to meet you,¡± Hans said as he set out suturing tools and fresh bandages. ¡°The Tribe is a short walk from here. Humans live there too, but most of the tusks prefer to be there instead of Gomi, away from merchants or the odd traveler that might roll into town.¡±

    ¡°The Tribe?¡±

    ¡°A tusk family founded it. They fled Kirai when the dungeon opened, settled here, and quietly built while more tusks found their way to Gomi.¡± Hans explained that the Tribe gave all tusks food and shelter and offered to gift them a cabin with a plot of farmland, recently cleared for that exact purpose. He didn¡¯t talk about the dungeon or offer too many more specifics about the Tribe, but he mentioned Galad and suggested she meet him.

    The Guild Master realized he automatically hid even the thought of mentioning a blossoming dungeon. Bel and Lee were outsiders, so his instincts told him to be vague and guarded.

    I suppose that makes me a real member of Gomi if that¡¯s how my brain works now.

    Bel and Lee were new to town, yes, but they came recommended by Theneesa, one of his former students and now Guild Master of the Mikata chapter. They were tusks seeking shelter, just like any of the other refugees that had come to Gomi before the blizzards came. And they had put themselves at risk to help Luther. By the looks of him, he was deadweight from the start, and that was a lot of tusk to carry all the way from Osare, even if he was mostly starved.

    Galad will offer them the Charlie deal: If you don¡¯t plan to stay, we still love you, but we won¡¯t put the burden of our secrets on you.

    Hans suggested Lee leave the freshly sutured wound open to air when he finished. ¡°The couch is only for tonight. You¡¯ll have a real bed of your own tomorrow. Promise.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m fine.¡±

    ¡°How did you meet Luther?¡±

    ¡°We haven¡¯t actually met.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t get it.¡± The Guild Master stared dumbly back at Lee.

    ¡°We found him in a bad state.¡±

    Bel and Lee left Raven¡¯s Hollow in the middle of the night. The tavern cook woke them and told them to pack. A mob grew outside, and he offered to lead them out the back while the tavernkeeper delayed the crowd for as long as he could.

    They watched the sun rise as they walked the road to Osare. When they arrived, they felt the sideways glances of suspicious townspeople, but no one followed them with torches and pitchforks. They found a tavern, ate a hearty lunch, and slept the rest of the afternoon.

    They found a note on the floor by the door when they woke. It read, ¡°Tusk in stables of Leaky Mug Tavern & Inn. Help, run.¡±

    ¡°He was like that when we found him. Theneesa said we should go to Gomi, so that was our next stop. We didn¡¯t get out of town fast enough, though.¡±

    A small group of men¨Cthirteen, she thought, but her memory was fuzzy¨Cblocked the gate. A brawl ensued. Bel and Lee laid five of them out, and two who fled had to crawl while the others limped. As Silvers, they had an extreme advantage over a group of angry villagers, but they knew better than to massacre a group of civilians, so they kept their swords sheathed and chose to forego their most effective tactics.

    The victory wasn¡¯t a clean one, though, hence their injuries. They seized the opportunity and took the road to Gomi, not knowing that the pass was closed for snow.

    Hans told Lee about the tusk she rescued. ¡°Well, Luther was one of the volunteers who went out to tell tusks they had a safe place to go. He stayed behind to meet any who didn¡¯t beat the snow. His idea, and he insisted on it.¡±

    ¡°Pretty impressive he still did his job when he was unconscious.¡±

    Hans had to laugh. Lee was definitely an adventurer. The demeanor matched perfectly, but he still knew nearly nothing about Gomi¡¯s newest transplants. ¡°This might be weird to ask, but is it a coincidence you run with another Anna?¡±

    ¡°We were in the same orphanage. They used a list of 100 girl names to assign to a child who didn¡¯t have or didn¡¯t know their name. They just went in order again and again. We were next to each other in line. The girl in front of Bel got plain Anna.¡±

    Bel and Lee¡¯s story was familiar. Adventurer parties often had childhood friends in them. Looking out for each other was wired into who they were, and that was a big advantage in the field.

    ¡°How¡¯d you connect with Theneesa?¡± he asked.

    ¡°She ate at a tavern where we worked when we were kids. Bussing tables, doing dishes, cleaning.¡±

    Bel and Lee were thirteen at the time. They often overheard other adventurers talking about Theneesa, the White Mage who fought on the frontline with a spear in hand. And then she¡¯d be there in person, greeting every member of the staff by name, including Bel and Lee. No one else ever talked to them or acknowledged their existence, but the White Mage did. Bel worked up the courage to ask the Guild Master about becoming an adventurer, and she offered them both a place in what she called the ¡°Pre-Apprentice Program.¡± If they got good marks in their studies, they could stay. Their own beds and three meals a day came with the deal.

    ¡°That sounds like Theneesa,¡± Hans observed.

    He had heard her talk about her idea for a Pre-Apprentice initiative but didn¡¯t know she implemented it. She used to argue that the guild classes could, and should, go farther than teaching swordsmanship and monster biology. The Pre-Apprentice Program was a condensed version of the private tutoring the noble children got. Reading, writing, history, mathematics¨Cthey built the foundation a child could use to enter any number of professions. Children couldn¡¯t be forced to be adventurers, so Theneesa used that as a loophole to help more kids.

    As long as a child ¡°intended¡± to be an adventurer, they could be in the program. As soon as they aged out and reached the point where a true apprenticeship would begin, they could change their minds and move on with their lives. No catch. No trap. She predicted plenty of kids would choose to stay, of course, but molding a new generation of adventurers wasn¡¯t really the point even if that was one of the benefits of the initiative.

    ¡°We wanted to stay with Theneesa through Diamond,¡± Lee said absentmindedly.

    Hans understood that feeling. ¡°When this burns out, she¡¯ll welcome you back.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know. I¡¯m not sure I could go back to doing regular jobs after this. Won¡¯t be able to forget the way they looked at us.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not fair. I¡¯m sorry.¡±

    Lee shrugged. ¡°How much did she share with you?¡±

    ¡°Nothing, really. She didn¡¯t want to put much in writing.¡±

    She looked out the window at a calm winter night. After a long sigh, she said, ¡°Theneesa thinks the orcs are using blood magic.¡±

    Quest Update: Devise a test to see if blood magic is causing nightmares in tusk children.

    ***

    Open Quests (Ordered from Old to New):

    Progress from Gold-ranked to Diamond-ranked.

    Mend the rift with Devon.

    Complete the manuscript for "The Next Generation: A Teaching Methodology for Training Adventurers."

    Expand the Gomi training area to include ramps for footwork drills.

    Refine a system for training dungeon awareness.

    Research the history and legends of the Dead End Mountains, more.

    Protect Gomi.

    Solve the campus construction logistics problem or devise an alternative plan. Bonus Objective: Pick a secret passage cooler than a bookshelf door.

    Find a partner to move dungeon loot efficiently.

    Find a way to share new knowledge without putting Gomi at risk.

    Address the deficiency of magery education in the Gomi chapter.

    Devise a test to see if blood magic is causing nightmares in tusk children.

    Design a training dungeon concept to test on the dungeon core.

 Chapter 57: Earth Magic

    ¡°Oh, I¡¯m sorry. It¡¯s late. This could wait until morning,¡± Lee said.

    ¡°I¡¯m not going to be able to sleep anyhow,¡± Hans assured her, and he wasn¡¯t lying. ¡°Blood magic? Why did she think that?¡±

    Lee explained Theneesa had studied the issue from the first day rumors began to spread about tusks defecting to the orcs. Then when she heard one of her former students defected, she threw all of herself and her resources into investigating why. With a team of four Gold and five Diamond mages, Theneesa spent every free hour working to find an explanation. She even had books shipped in from Hoseki as well as a few rarer grimoires sourced from other towns.

    ¡°Bel is the mage,¡± Lee said. ¡°She could tell you the technical stuff. Blood magic was Master Theneesa¡¯s top theory, linked to tusk blood somehow. That¡¯s as much as I know there.¡±

    ¡°I trust Theneesa,¡± Hans said. The Diamond-rank White Mage was far more qualified to study magic than Hans would ever be, and she handpicked the mages who helped her. If Hans had hired people himself to study the problem, he couldn¡¯t have done better. Not anywhere and definitely not in Gomi.

    Also, if he was honest with himself, he may have never thought Blood magic was to blame. That school wasn¡¯t in textbooks, and the effects and power of it were described in vague terms when mages did discuss it. The taboo around that kind of magic created a massive blindspot for the orcs to exploit.

    ¡°Did she have a solution?¡± Hans asked.

    The tusk shook her head. ¡°Not when we left. She was talking about using wards, but they weren¡¯t sustainable for some reason. Wish I could explain it. I¡¯m just a dumb Spellsword.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t hear about those very often. Spellswords I mean.¡±

    ¡°Almost everyone in the Mikata chapter can cast at least one spell with a weapon in their hands. Master Theneesa insists on it.¡±

    Hans had many more questions, but Lee had only just arrived. ¡°Thank you for all this. We don¡¯t get news here during the winter.¡±

    With the barest minimum of snow melted, the outside world leaked into Gomi right away. Soon, Hans suspected, the dam would burst.

    ***

    Bel could walk on her own by the morning, thanks to the magic of Healing potions. Her wounds were still mending, winces of pain often interrupting her sentences, but she was strong enough to hobble out of the guild hall and up onto a wagon. Lee followed the whole way, ready to catch her friend if she stumbled. Hans hadn¡¯t seen a wagon all winter, and to his eye, the weather still wasn¡¯t right for it, but Galad was willing to push his mules if it meant getting Bel to the barns with less pain.

    Olza understood the implications of Blood magic better than Hans, but her education was just as absent on specifics as his. She said there were wards against Blood magic in her book on enchantments, but she couldn¡¯t remember how much material was there, and she couldn¡¯t look because Honronk had borrowed it.

    The Apprentice Black Mage was due back that day or the next, and his books only left his hands when he was in the dungeon. They could look it up then.

    When Honronk arrived late that following afternoon, Hans relayed what Lee had shared, bringing him up to speed. As soon as Hans mentioned wards against Blood magic, Honronk said to look at page 231. Olza flipped to it as quickly as she could without tearing pages. Her face dropped almost as fast.

    ¡°If correctly constructed,¡± she began, ¡°the ward will protect the caster from any and all blood influence as long as the rune is directly connected to the caster¡¯s own blood, typically through a cut on the hand, the rune pressed into the wound.¡±

    ¡°Is that the only ward against blood magic?¡± Hans asked.

    ¡°The only one we have.¡±

    Every solution is just three more problems in a cloak.

    Honronk asked, ¡°I almost had Charm.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, Honronk,¡± Hans said. ¡°It¡¯s a good spell. It¡¯s not wasted effort.¡±

    The tusk nodded. ¡°What spell does the ward use?¡±

    Olza looked back down at the book. ¡°A variation of Repel Possession. The enchantment script is the same except for a modification that ¡®enables blood to power the runes. Refer to¨C¡¯ Yeah. That¡¯s all it says about the spell.¡±

    ¡°Good news,¡± Honronk said.

    Hans raised an eyebrow.

    ¡°Repel Possession is in our books.¡± Before Hans could comment, Honronk continued, ¡°Charm can wait.¡±

    The Guild Master knew Honronk wouldn¡¯t be persuaded otherwise, even if dropping a spell that close to learning it was inefficient. Hans got the sense that the Apprentice Black Magic would offer his own neck if that meant helping the tusk kids. The children were sleeping for now, but they would build a tolerance to Sleep potions eventually, and the nightmares would return. Standing in Honronk¡¯s way would do no good for anyone.

    When Charlie entered the guild hall, the cold gust behind him a little softer than it was a month ago, Honronk bowed slightly to Hans and Olza and then to Charlie before seeing himself out. To Hans, the Apprentice Black Mage was always thinking, and it was focused thought, like he had a puzzle right there in his hands. That was probably why the tusk barely spoke. He didn¡¯t have the energy to.

    ¡°Wanted to tell you two that Luther was awake today,¡± Charlie said to the Guild Master and the alchemist. ¡°He didn¡¯t say anything, but he nodded when Galinda asked him a question. She says he even smiled a little bit.¡±

    ¡°What happened?¡±

    The Mayor frowned. ¡°He was beat pretty good. Doesn¡¯t look like he¡¯s eaten a long while, and that¡¯s not like Luther. That boy would eat the whole bakery if I let him.¡±

    ¡°A prisoner,¡± Hans said.

    ¡°Appears so,¡± Charlie said. ¡°I was sitting in a comfy chair drinking tea while he was locked in a horse stall, dying a little bit each day he didn¡¯t get to eat.¡± He put a hand on a table to steady himself as tears welled in his eyes. ¡°I¡¯m tired. I¡¯m so so tired.¡±

    When Hans and Olza moved toward him to help, he waved them away.

    ¡°I just needed to say it out loud. It¡¯s the only thing in this world I can¡¯t tell the love of my life. She¡¯s tired too, but she can¡¯t admit it either. Won¡¯t admit it.¡± Charlie slowly inhaled, pressing the air back out through his nose on the exhale. ¡°No matter how much good we do here, it just gets worse out there.¡±

    Silence hung. Hans had seen his share of difficult emotions. If Charlie wanted more from his friends, he would ask. He said he needed them to listen, so Hans didn¡¯t speak. Nor did Olza.

    ¡°Right. Thought you¡¯d want to know about Luther. I¡¯ll be seeing you.¡± Charlie turned and left hurriedly. Tandis stepped through the door as the Mayor held it open.

    ¡°Is he okay?¡± Tandis asked when the door shut.

    ¡°He¡¯s been doing this for a while,¡± Olza said, ¡°and that¡¯s the first time I¡¯ve seen him crack, even a little. I don¡¯t think I would have held it together for very long if I were him.¡±

    Tandis understood. ¡°Galad¡¯s pretty worked up.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve never seen that either.¡±

    ¡°What can we do?¡± Hans asked.

    ¡°I wanted to let you know he¡¯s packing the blood and horns into beer barrels,¡± Tandis explained. ¡°He¡¯s putting a human team together to take it to Osare as soon as the pass is remotely usable. He asked me to work up a product volume estimate so he can move the wagons as frequently as we can.¡±

    She opened her notebook and passed it to Hans.

    ¡°I don¡¯t see how we can manage more than one delivery a month,¡± she continued. ¡°Between bringing it down from the cabin and having enough stock to turn a profit on the trip with wholesale prices¡­ I thought you should check my math.¡±

    The page in front of him was packed with numbers and figures and calculations. Hans lost his way almost immediately. Handing the notebook back, he said, ¡°This is beyond me. You know more than I do about this stuff, so if you say a month is the best cadence, then that¡¯s the best cadence.¡±

    ¡°Okay,¡± she answered, reviewing her notes with a troubled look on her face. ¡°I wasn¡¯t before, but now that the plan is actually happening, I¡¯m terrified. I could fail and a lot of people will suffer for my mistake.¡±

    ¡°Adventurers go through something similar. The first real job, where they¡¯re unsupervised and the stakes are serious, messes with a person¡¯s mind. I heard it called a ¡®medusa moment¡¯ one time and that¡¯s stuck with me. The thing that makes you scared¡­ it¡¯s not going away, but you can learn to manage it even if you freeze up at first. And you¡¯re one member of a party, so let the pressure of the job spread across everyone to make it a little easier.¡±Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.

    Tandis nodded.

    ¡°Tandis,¡± Olza began, ¡°what¡¯s Galad doing that worries you?¡±

    She thought. ¡°I haven¡¯t been here long, but he¡¯s always been optimistic and welcoming and encouraging. My daughter adores him¨Ceveryone does, really. And today, well, today was the first time I ever saw him want to hurt someone.¡±

    ***

    ¡°We need coin to buy supplies and to build Gomi¡¯s wall,¡± Galad said to the group gathered in the guild hall. ¡°I was somewhat skeptical of Hans¡¯ plan to expand the cabin, but now I¡¯m convinced we should hire an outside crew to build the wall while our people go up the mountain to work.¡±

    ¡°Rushing wagons through the pass is too risky,¡± Charlie argued. ¡°We¡¯re all angry, but we can¡¯t risk our people like that.¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t understand. Someone is going to come looking for the tusks who took their prisoner,¡± Galad replied. ¡°The snow isn¡¯t even gone, and we¡¯re already a town of interest. We need to be ready to protect our people as soon as possible.¡±

    Galad shared that Uncle Ed and three town guards volunteered to drive the wagon. One of the new tusk families would take over Ed¡¯s farm as if it were their own so that he could do his new job: Being the human face of Gomi¡¯s laundering efforts. Hearing about Luther worked up Uncle Ed pretty good too, and he wanted to do something about it.

    ¡°We need to be cautious,¡± Charlie urged. ¡°We¡¯re starting to sound like the military type. Galad, you¡¯re right that someone will come looking sooner than we¡¯d all like, but we have to be calm. Whoever they send needs to return to Osare unharmed and uninterested.¡±

    Galinda growled to express her frustration.

    ¡°That¡¯s not what any of us wants. Me included,¡± Charlie continued, squeezing his wife¡¯s hand. ¡°So we need to start cooling this off today. One person¡¯s anger could be enough to end Gomi.¡±

    The room sat in silence.

    ¡°I know the adventurer Bel and Lee apprenticed under,¡± Hans said. ¡°I have no doubts that they are skilled and well-trained. If we fold them into the cabin rotations, we¡¯d have enough people to risk pushing for more growth. That could up the profits quite a bit, depending on what we pick.¡±

    ¡°You remember what nobles are like, right?¡± Galad asked Charlie when he saw the Mayor shaking his head as Hans spoke. ¡°With enough gold, you can spit in the face of a royal guard and then go on with your day.¡±

    ¡°What kind of spitting are you fixing to do?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t think any of us has an answer for that right now, but with the kind of gold we¡¯d get from a bigger operation, we would have many more options for protecting Gomi. Gods, we could buy Osare outright.¡±

    ¡°We have friends in Osare,¡± Charlie reminded Galad. ¡°If we start to think of neighboring towns as enemies to be battled or conquered, we¡¯re definitely on the military track, and that¡¯s dangerous. Kings don¡¯t take kindly to that sort of thing.¡±

    ¡°We need resources to have options. Gold is the best resource of them all.¡±

    Charlie nodded. ¡°I see there¡¯s no changing your mind. I¡¯ll support sending a wagon as soon as we can if you promise me it¡¯s for gold only. If it¡¯s for revenge, I¡¯ll block the road myself.¡±

    ¡°Agreed,¡± Galad said.

    The meeting adjourned as stars overwhelmed the fading sunset. Soon, only Hans and Olza remained.

    ¡°I¡¯m going to go grab my last bottle of fool¡¯s root,¡± Olza said.

    Hans rubbed his neck. ¡°That¡¯s a good idea.¡±

    Quest Update: Earn enough gold to free Gomi workers to build the new campus. Bonus Objective: Pick a secret passage cooler than a bookshelf door.

    The Bonus Objective for that quest was like a splinter lost in a finger. He couldn¡¯t see a fix, so it poked him just a little bit hundreds of times a day.

    ***

    Olza reclined in her usual spot on Hans¡¯ couch in front of the fire. She set her book on her lap, and asked, ¡°Can I ask you an odd question? Do you ever feel nostalgia for a hard time in your life?¡±

    Hans said he wasn¡¯t sure he understood.

    ¡°Here¡¯s an example: When I was studying for my alchemist exams, I was broke and shared an apartment with four other students. Some days I skipped meals because I couldn¡¯t afford them. I hardly slept because I was studying all the time. And I was stressed nonstop, worried about my grades and my projects or whatever test was coming up next. Sometimes, though, I miss my tiny little room and eating rice and beans three times a day. That¡¯s crazy, right?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t think it¡¯s crazy,¡± Hans said. ¡°I catch myself doing the same thing sometimes. Best explanation I can think of is that simple problems are a strange kind of luxury. Getting good marks and paying rent seem trivial next to¡­ well, you know what I mean.¡±

    ¡°You also know the ending. You didn¡¯t then.¡±

    ¡°Interesting,¡± Hans said. ¡°Yeah, I can see how knowing you survive is different from how it felt the first time through.¡±

    ¡°Like a battle in an adventuring story,¡± Olza said.

    ¡°Wow. That¡¯s exactly it.¡±

    Olza asked Hans if he would go through being an Apprentice again if he had the chance to do it over.

    ¡°In a heartbeat,¡± he answered. ¡°Being a beginner at something is the best feeling in the world.¡±

    The alchemist wasn¡¯t sure she agreed with that. She remembered being a beginner at anything as being difficult and unpleasant.

    ¡°Yes, and then you learn new things and improve. Those first few years of studying¡­ It''s like you learn a fascinating new concept or technique every day. You progress so much, so it feels like every little bit of work you put in leads to a reward. Seeing yourself improve like that is pretty magical.¡±

    ¡°You want to learn everything over again?¡± Olza asked in disbelief.

    Hans nodded. ¡°That¡¯s probably weird, but that¡¯s how nostalgia around adventuring feels for me. Improvements for me now are so small, just minute shifts in a swing or in footwork, something only I notice that makes me, at best, 0.1 percent better.¡±

    ¡°Do you think we¡¯ll look back at this winter with that kind nostalgia?¡±

    Hans paused. ¡°I don¡¯t know, but I hope so. That means it ends up working out, right?¡±

    Olza agreed. That seemed more plausible with two new adventurers in town. They hadn¡¯t discussed it, but Hans suspected that Bel and Lee were Silvers. Teaching and training for many years had given him that sense. When adventurers visited a chapter, they rarely volunteered their rank right away, which meant that the new guy in your class that day could be Iron-ranked or could be Gold-ranked. If you didn¡¯t learn to quickly assess someone¡¯s skill level, two equally horrible outcomes were possible.

    If the adventurer ended up being Iron-ranked but you fought them like they were Gold, well, you were an asshole who beat on someone far below your skill level.

    If you fought the Gold-ranked adventurer like they were an Iron, you wouldn¡¯t be prepared for a serious match, which was like giving your opponent a free swing, or several.

    Hans had experienced both of those scenarios and enjoyed neither.

    And Lee mentioned that Bel was a mage. If Bel was indeed Silver-ranked, the arrival of the tusk adventurers could have big implications for Gomi¡¯s future.

    Quest Update: Talk to Bel about the deficiency of magery education in the Gomi chapter.

    If Bel and Lee could get to Gomi, Hans realized, another kind of problem could be on its way to Gomi: Olza¡¯s jealous ex, the Diamond-ranked adventurer.

    ¡°I know you don¡¯t want to, but we should talk about him before the snow melts all the way,¡± Hans said as gently as he could.

    ¡°What is there to say?¡±

    The topic, not surprisingly, upset Olza. She wasn¡¯t an adventurer, and treating her like one was unfair. He couldn¡¯t be direct and plainspoken about all of the ways a visit from an ex could go wrong. In many ways, that would actually be cruel. Instead, Hans approached the conversation as his wanting to respect her wishes in how the situation was handled, if it arose in the first place. That was true, and he hoped it would make it easier for her to talk about her fears and concerns.

    Olza eventually said that she didn¡¯t want to have to talk to him, but she also didn¡¯t want to give him the satisfaction of knowing she hid from him. She wanted to see him stomped into the dirt, but she also didn¡¯t want to face the fallout that would inevitably follow. If he could somehow come to town, decide he no longer wanted to pursue Olza for whatever reason, and then leave, never to return, that would be her ideal outcome, whether or not she was responsible for making that happen. Because it would be done. For good.

    ¡°What class is he?¡±

    ¡°Geomancer.¡±

    Geomancer was a Black Mage specialization focusing on earth and water magic. High-level Geomancers were highly valued in military applications because they could build walls and dig trenches far faster than a crew of diggers. The nature of their combat ability also made them desirable, as earth and water were always available in some form, and such magic was not easy to directly counter.

    A Magic Resistance potion could weaken or nullify the mana-powered flames of a fireball, but a Geomancer worked with plain old dirt and rocks. A Magic Resistance potion wasn¡¯t helpful for protecting you from a mudslide or from a shower of sharp stones. Those weren¡¯t mana-powered entities. They were simply natural parts of the environment.

    ¡°You don¡¯t owe him any of your attention,¡± Hans said. ¡°If he shows, lock the shop. The rest of us will get him out of town.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t want to be a coward.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve heard that a lot in my career. Telling an Apprentice with dreams of becoming a hero that there is no shame in avoiding battle is counter to what they want to be, or at least that¡¯s what they think. Adventuring isn¡¯t a sport, and life isn¡¯t either.¡±

    Hans continued, saying that while you might owe a competitor in a festival duel courtesy and respect, no such thing was owed to an enemy. Ever. If a person or a creature was labeled an ¡°enemy,¡± they had already disqualified themselves from deserving honorable behavior of any kind. Getting bested in a festival duel sent you to the losers¡¯ bracket. Getting bested in a real fight sent you to the grave.

    So, forget everything else, and win.

    ¡°I still feel like this is my problem, not anyone else¡¯s,¡± Olza said.

    ¡°When I was sick, I told you that you didn¡¯t need to stay around to take care of me. You told me to shut up because friends take care of each other.¡±

    ¡°That was diff¨C¡±

    ¡°Olza, respectfully, shut up. Friends take care of each other.¡±

    ***

    Open Quests (Ordered from Old to New):

    Progress from Gold-ranked to Diamond-ranked.

    Mend the rift with Devon.

    Complete the manuscript for "The Next Generation: A Teaching Methodology for Training Adventurers."

    Expand the Gomi training area to include ramps for footwork drills.

    Refine a system for training dungeon awareness.

    Research the history and legends of the Dead End Mountains, more.

    Protect Gomi.

    Earn enough gold to free Gomi workers to build the new campus. Bonus Objective: Pick a secret passage cooler than a bookshelf door.

    Find a partner to move dungeon loot efficiently.

    Find a way to share new knowledge without putting Gomi at risk.

    Talk to Bel about the deficiency of magery education in the Gomi chapter.

    Devise a test to see if blood magic is causing nightmares in tusk children.

    Design a training dungeon concept to test on the dungeon core.

 Chapter 58: Endgame Upgrades

    Bel and Lee looked at one another when Hans finished explaining the history of the Gomi dungeon thus far, minus the fact that cores could be influenced. He didn¡¯t intend to hide it. He just didn¡¯t know how to explain it with any amount of brevity. Though the tusks didn¡¯t speak, they seemed to be deciding if the conversation was real or if the last seventy-two hours were one long hypothermic hallucination.

    Hans had hiked out to the Tribe farmlands to talk to the newly arrived tusk adventurers. The dorms were packed, and a cold rain coated the world in ice. To talk privately, they had gone to the storage barn. Bel and Lee sat on kegs to listen to Hans¡¯ spiel.

    ¡°We have two Apprentice Mages and no one to teach them,¡± Hans continued. ¡°If you¡¯d be up for it, Bel, a few lessons could do them a lot of good. I know I¡¯m asking a lot of you when you¡¯ve only just arrived, on top of how weird everything else sounds. I¡¯m sorry to dump all of this in your laps.¡±

    ¡°Before anything else,¡± Bel began, her voice far deeper than Lee¡¯s, ¡°We¡¯re grateful for the welcome we¡¯ve received, and we will happily earn our keep while we¡¯re here. When the world gets back to normal, we¡¯ll be moving on, though.¡±

    ¡°No one here will have a problem with that.¡±

    ¡°Good. I¡¯m happy to teach what I can, but what¡¯s this dungeon routine look like for us?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s like being an adventurer but with less pay and longer hours,¡± Hans said with a smile.

    ¡°Master Theneesa said you were quite the salesman.¡± Bel and Lee both chuckled.

    ¡°I wish we had more to offer you, but I¡¯d be happy to give you training if you¡¯d like while you¡¯re here.¡±

    Lee shared that Theneesa encouraged them to study as much as they could with Hans while they were in Gomi. If he was good as she said, running a dungeon with low-level monsters and teaching tusks how to use magic was a fair trade for Hans¡¯ coaching.

    Quest Complete: Talk to Bel about the deficiency of magery education in the Gomi chapter.

    Going into more detail, Hans told the Silvers about Chisel, Honronk, and Kane. All three were aspiring magic users but with different focuses and backgrounds. He explained he intended to order more study material when he could, but anything she could show the Apprentices would mean a dramatic improvement for all of them. He trusted Bel to do her best choosing what she taught and when, but if she wanted a second opinion, he would be happy to talk it through.

    As for Lee, she could give all of the adventurers a different perspective on combat. Sparring with the Apprentices would be educational for them, and if she was up to it, Kane might be a good candidate for Spellsword. The Guild Master wouldn¡¯t mind sitting in on those lessons either. If Theneesa was requiring weapon-in-hand casting of her Apprentices, she had likely refined her method significantly in the years since she trained under Hans. He hoped he could learn some of it.

    ¡°Anything I know, you can have,¡± the Guild Master said. ¡°Do you have a subject in mind?¡±

    ¡°Master Theneesa said to take every class and lesson we could with you, regardless of topic or skill level,¡± Bel answered. ¡°I think we¡¯re particularly interested in critiques and feedback if you don¡¯t mind that.¡±

    He didn¡¯t mind at all. In fact, he often structured lessons that way when adventurers visited the Hoseki chapter for training. He would either spar with the student or observe them sparring to make a recommendation of what they should learn. Teaching a student from Apprentice onward was drastically different from teaching a student who already had several years of training in their quiver.

    In the former scenario, Hans could handpick every aspect of the student¡¯s training, moving them through his carefully designed curriculum one lesson at a time. Visiting students, however, had different foundations and progressions, building them up to their rank in a way that was nothing like what Hans would have done. He didn¡¯t think that he was right and that other instructors were wrong, necessarily¨Cthough they were, sometimes. Fighters had varying styles, and so did teachers.

    To help experienced students, he had the most impact tweaking techniques they already used, which usually entailed an adjustment to footwork and positioning, and selectively adding new knowledge in just the right place to jump their progress forward.

    For example, he often found that adventurers struggled when an opponent got inside of their guard. Close quarters fighting with a sword, a weapon that couldn¡¯t be used because of the proximity, was a common gap in training. If Hans spent a week with an adventurer working on grappling and clinching skills, the student could leave Hoseki with a whole new set of trips, throws, disarms, and strikes¨Cknees and elbows, mostly. More importantly, they would have a system, a decision tree of sorts, to help them choose the appropriate technique for the situation.

    ¡°Mr. Hans?¡± Lee asked.

    His mind must have wandered. ¡°Yes, sorry. We can do as much of that training as you want. While you¡¯re here, think about what monsters you¡¯d want to learn too. I can¡¯t explain it very well, but we have a way to help with that.¡±

    ***

    Five minutes into her first lesson with Honronk, Bel climbed the guild hall stairs to talk to Hans in his apartment.

    ¡°Mr. Hans,¡± she began. ¡°He said he would study Repel Possession. He refuses to learn anything else.¡±

    The Guild Master had not considered Honronk¡¯s project when he set up the lesson. The Apprentice Black Mage had less than a week before his party rotated up to the cabin, so Hans rushed to schedule their first session. Bel was a blessing, and he didn¡¯t want to waste a single day of that good fortune.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, Bel. That¡¯s my fault for not thinking to tell you. He¡¯s learning Repel Possession to help Gomi, and he¡¯s very¡­ focused. Would you mind starting your lessons there?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know it, but I¡¯ll take a look and see what I can do.¡±

    ¡°Thank you,¡± Hans said sincerely.

    By the time Honronk¡¯s party left for the cabin, Bel was confident he would be able to cast Repel Possession by the time he rotated out again. She hadn¡¯t yet mastered the spell herself, but Honronk was close enough that a few adjustments to his gestures and his incantation pronunciation jumped his proficiency forward. With a bit more practice, they could finally test the spell on the tusk children to confirm if the Blood magic hypothesis was correct.

    When Chisel returned to Gomi, she danced in place like a teen girl fawning over Master Devontes on the streets of Hoseki. Though Bel wasn¡¯t a White Mage, Chisel had never had an actual magery instructor. The Silver tusk represented a turning point in her training, and she couldn¡¯t wait to take her first lesson.

    From upstairs, Hans could hear the two laughing and talking excitedly to one another. In addition to gaining an instructor, Chisel gained a friend. Like Bel did with Honronk, the majority of her early lessons with the White Mage were filled with improvements to the words and movements that powered spells she knew or was working on.

    Having skipped traditional introductory lessons, neither Chisel nor Honronk had learned the earliest magery material. Bel compared it to repeating the same letter over and over as a kid to learn handwriting. Real communication didn¡¯t happen until those letters were joined together to form words and sentences, but that was difficult to do without knowing the mechanics of perfectly reproducing individual characters.

    From the bits and pieces Hans heard of the lesson, Bel chose to teach Chisel Turn Undead. While that spell was one of the classic advantages of having a White Mage in the party, Turn Undead was a complicated spell, making it exceptionally difficult to learn independent of an instructor. If that was the only spell Bel helped Chisel learn in her time in Gomi, the knowledge exchange would have been an incredible success.

    Bel¡¯s lessons with Kane were much more in line with a typical magery curriculum, but when Hans heard her talk about how movements with a weapon could be used in place of spell gestures, the Guild Master went downstairs and asked if he could sit in on the lesson, purely as an observer.Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators!

    Soon, he furiously scribbled notes to record as much of Bel¡¯s instruction as possible.

    ¡°When Master Theneesa teaches a spell, she approaches it differently than any other mage I¡¯ve met,¡± Bel said. ¡°Once we can cast a spell without reagents, we practice casting the spell while walking slowly. Eventually, she works us up to casting while we¡¯re running, and casting with a weapon comes after.¡±

    Kane looked at the incantations and gestures detailed in the entry for Repel. He frowned. ¡°I have to do all that while running?¡±

    ¡°Eventually. I won¡¯t lie to you and say it¡¯s easy, but if I could learn to do it, you can too. Master Theneesa¡¯s methods are effective if you do the work.¡±

    ¡°Okay, so I learn to cast and move, but how do I do a spell gesture with something in my hand? That doesn¡¯t make sense to me.¡±

    Bel began her explanation with a comparison to swordplay. In combat, well-trained, experienced warriors often found themselves in what some called ¡°a flow state.¡± Their hours and hours of practice ingrained technique and awareness into their unconscious minds. In the way a person doesn¡¯t think about walking¨Cthey just do it¨Cwarriors in flow felt their bodies automatically and seamlessly pick the right technique for every moment, stringing them together to the point that they felt effortless. For anyone watching, the warrior could seem supernatural, somehow finding the right place at the right time with such precision and elegance that the fight looked choreographed.

    Theneesa¡¯s method aimed to unlock a flow state for mages. Then, she combined the flow state of a caster with the flow state of a warrior to create a Spellsword.

    Hans had heard the idea of flow for fighters from his early days as a Junior in the Guild, and he experienced it himself on several occasions, primarily when his personal training was at its most focused and most intense. He couldn¡¯t trigger the flow state on command, but when he found it, he imagined that''s what a Diamond or a Platinum must feel like all the time. Flow made him feel more than human, like he had somehow tapped into a unique kind of magic.

    Despite his personal experiences and his immersion in adventurer training, he couldn¡¯t recall the concept ever being applied to magery.

    ¡°Between us as brother and sister,¡± Bel said to Kane, ¡°Master Theneesa is still evolving this method, but she has reached the point where she can cast two spells at the same time.¡±

    The Guild Master choked on his tea, the series of hacks that followed forcing him to leave the room. With tears in his eyes from coughing so hard, he returned to his seat and apologized to Bel and Kane for the interruption.

    ¡°Did I hear you right?¡± Hans asked Bel.

    She nodded. ¡°It¡¯s not something she advertises,¡± Bel said. ¡°She says her research is too new to share, but part of that research is experimenting with teaching students like me and Lee. How dual casting works is well beyond me at this point, so I can¡¯t explain the mechanics or theory behind it.¡±

    When Hans asked Bel for examples, she shared that Theneesa could cast two buffing spells at once with the same proficiency of an experienced mage casting one such spell. The Mikata Guild Master had made progress on several combinations, but currently, she could cast Repel and Angel Shield at once.

    Seeing Kane¡¯s quizzical look, she explained that Angel Shield was a protective spell that conjured a shield made of mana. That shield orbited its target, intercepting any object within a set radius. Arrow, spear, fireball¨CIf the object crossed that invisible threshold, the shield spun into position to block. She emphasized that Kane should think of the mana shield as having the same limitations of a physical shield. Angel Shield couldn¡¯t block two attacks from different directions, it could be broken with force, and if what it blocked was capable of going around it¨Csuch as a large fireball¨Cthen anything it couldn¡¯t block continued onward toward the adventurer.

    Usually, a person wielding a spear would have to compromise their technique to wield a shield at the same time¨Cwhich is why many adventurers preferred to use the spear by itself to maximize its potential. Angel Shield on a spear user was a huge advantage.

    I am so damn proud of Theneesa.

    Theneesa¡¯s accomplishments were her own. She did the work. She had the ideas. She put in the time. Hans had gotten to play a role in that, though, so while he didn¡¯t believe that any portion of her success belonged to him, he celebrated it nonetheless. Like a fan cheering for an athlete, the fan isn¡¯t a direct contributor to a victory, but they were welcome to share in the joy that followed.

    ¡°Apologies for disrupting the lesson,¡± Hans said to both the student and the teacher, ¡°but thank you for trusting me enough to explain that.¡±

    ¡°Master Theneesa said to trust you as much as I trust her. She speaks highly of you.¡±

    The new round of tears pooling in his eyes weren¡¯t from coughing.

    ***

    ¡°Are you sure you¡¯re okay with this?¡± Hans asked Gunther. ¡°You don¡¯t have to do this, and there¡¯s no shame in saying no.¡±

    ¡°He means it,¡± Kane said to his little brother.

    ¡°It will help the Tribe, right?¡±

    Hans and Kane said that it would.

    ¡°I want to help my brothers and sisters,¡± Gunther said resolutely.

    The Guild Master offered Gunther his hand. The young tusk shook it. Leaving Kane and Gunther in their room, Hans shut the door behind him and joined Galinda, Olza, Bel, and Uncle Ed in the farmer¡¯s modest dining room. Honronk, meanwhile, sat cross legged in front of the boys¡¯ bedroom door, eyes closed, meditating. Uncle Ed¡¯s home had never hosted so many people, but every person present was there to support Gunther.

    That night, they would test Repel Possession against the nightmares.

    Gunther skipped his most recent dose of modified Sleep potion to allow the dreams back in. When the night terrors forced Gunther to run, Honronk would cast Repel Possession. If the spell could defend against the magic affecting the children, the nightmare would end immediately.

    Unfortunately, the spell¡¯s effect was unlikely to be permanent. Bel compared it to dumping water out of a leaky boat. Pouring a bucket over the edge helped, but it didn¡¯t stop more from flooding in. If the test was successful though, they would be far closer to a solution than they ever were before. Their next step would be to hire an enchanter to build a permanent ward for Repel Possession. Such a commission would be exorbitantly expensive, but Gomi would have plenty of capital as soon as they sold the dungeon reagents.

    The adults in the dining room waited quietly, not wanting to disturb Gunther¡¯s sleep or Honronk¡¯s spellcraft. Olza, Bel, and Uncle Ed sat at the table. Galinda leaned against the doorway, and Hans paced the short distance between the front door and the home¡¯s primary fireplace in the common area.

    Other than rain pattering on the roof, the house was still and silent.

    When Hans heard a doorknob turn, he stopped pacing, listening for what came next.

    The door creaked open, and Honronk began an incantation. Wool socks on tiny feet brushed across the floor in the rhythm of steps. Hans assumed that was Gunther trying to leave while Kane held him in place.

    The incantation stopped at the same time as any sound of movement from the other side of the house.

    ¡°Did it work?¡± Gunther asked.

    The house shook from the shouting that followed. Olza and Galinda held each other''s hands and bounced in a circle. Uncle Ed¡¯s chair slammed into the wall when he launched to his feet to hug Honronk. Bel stood on the outside smiling, using her finger tips to catch the tears wanting to race down her cheeks. Hans sat on the floor, experiencing the elation of breaking the surface of a lake just before his air ran out.

    A solution. We finally found a solution.

    ¡°Guys?¡± Gunther asked again.

    ¡°Yeah, Gunny,¡± Kane said. ¡°You did good.¡±

    Quest Update: Implement a Repel Possession ward to stop the nightmares, permanently.

    When the jubilation settled, Uncle Ed fished a bottle of whiskey from a kitchen cabinet and began to pour. Kane and Gunther both asked for a glass, but he told them no. They grumbled a bit, but the importance of the moment was not lost on them.

    ¡°How soon can we get that ward up?¡± Uncle Ed asked to anyone in the room who cared to answer.

    ¡°Not soon,¡± Galinda said, her smile fading.

    Olza added, ¡°We¡¯ll find an enchanter, but it will take time.¡±

    Though that wasn¡¯t what anyone wanted, they were grateful that they now had a clear direction to pursue. The light might be far off, but they could see it where the horizon was nothing but darkness before.

    Honronk plunged the house back into tense silence when he said, ¡°I have an idea.¡±

    ***

    Open Quests (Ordered from Old to New):

    Progress from Gold-ranked to Diamond-ranked.

    Mend the rift with Devon.

    Complete the manuscript for "The Next Generation: A Teaching Methodology for Training Adventurers."

    Expand the Gomi training area to include ramps for footwork drills.

    Refine a system for training dungeon awareness.

    Research the history and legends of the Dead End Mountains, more.

    Protect Gomi.

    Earn enough gold to free enough workers to build the new campus. Bonus Objective: Pick a secret passage cooler than a bookshelf door.

    Find a partner to move dungeon loot efficiently.

    Find a way to share new knowledge without putting Gomi at risk.

    Implement a Repel Possession ward to stop the nightmares, permanently.

    Design a training dungeon concept to test on the dungeon core.

 Chapter 59: Multi-Classing

    Crammed inside Uncle Ed¡¯s farmhouse, a small crowd stared at Honronk.

    When the Apprentice Black Mage didn¡¯t continue speaking, Uncle Ed said, ¡°Well? What¡¯s the idea?¡±

    Honronk went to the door where he had left his bag. He dug through its contents and produced a wide-brimmed floppy hat, the kind worn by farmers who spent long hours working under the sun. The cloth hat was an undyed gray, and it was covered in runic script. The same runes in the same order, over and over and over. Most were scratched out and many were half-complete.

    Handing the hat to Hans, Honronk said, ¡°Nightsight. Don¡¯t look at the fire.¡±

    The Guild Master accepted the hat with an eyebrow raised and timidly put it on. When he felt the hat tighten around his skull, wearing it like any other hat, his vision shifted. The colors around him dulled, and the parts of the house that were in shadow now resembled a drawing on a chalkboard, white lines against black. He went to the nearest window. The world outside was in grayscale, but he could see all the way to the trees with perfect clarity.

    He took off the hat, looked it over again, and passed it to Olza.

    ¡°You did this? You added a Nightsight enchantment?¡±

    Honronk nodded.

    No one else spoke as they took turns passing the hat around, each experiencing the Nightsight enchantment for themselves before handing it off again.

    ¡°You think you could do a Repel Possession enchantment?¡± Any other person would have explained their thought in broader detail from the start, but talking with Honronk was always a different kind of process. Hans had learned to be patient in their long hours spent at the cabin together, and that was much easier to do once he realized the tusk wasn¡¯t being rude. That was just how Honronk interfaced with the world.

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    Olza spoke. ¡°The Repel Possession spell we have needs blood to power it.¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°Honronk,¡± Hans said as gently as he could manage, ¡°What would you enchant?¡±

    ¡°Tusks.¡±

    Confused eyes darted around the room, meeting other confused eyes to confirm that no one understood what Honronk met. When Hans pressed the Apprentice to elaborate, he didn¡¯t speak his answer. Instead, he pulled his shirt sleeve up above his left elbow to expose his bare forearm. It was the same dark-gray as the rest of his skin, but when the light caught at the right angle, Hans could see runic script, drawn in ink that was almost the same gray as the tusk¡¯s natural skin tone.

    The runes that looked like graffiti scrawled over the floppy hat were tattooed on his forearm. Over and over. The tattoo runes continued up his biceps and beneath his sleeve. Hans realized that these were practice runes, tattoos Honronk applied to himself. He pictured the tusk in front of the cabin fire, the flat of his forearm turned upward in his lap, poking ink beneath his skin with a makeshift tattoo needle. Hans would later learn that the same kind of practice tattoos covered most of Honronk¡¯s left leg, at least the parts he could comfortably reach by himself with his right hand.

    Every one of the practice tattoos was for Nightsight.

    Olza, the only other person who read the book on enchanting Honronk borrowed, said that it briefly referenced enchanting living beings, but that mention wasn¡¯t instructional. It was a warning to avoid such practices at all times. It seemed the tusk used the warning for inspiration.

    ¡°You got it to work?¡± she asked Honronk.

    He nodded. ¡°I¡¯ll practice Repel Possession next.¡±

    ***

    ¡°Will it work?¡± Hans asked Olza. The rain on the walk back from the Tribe farmlands made conversation difficult, but now that another log was on the fire and they each had a fresh cup of tea, they could talk.

    ¡°I¡¯m not an enchanter, but everything he explained matched my understanding, and he had the citations to back it up.¡±

    Hans whistled. ¡°I¡¯m trying not to be excited, but it¡¯s too tempting.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s a lot of pressure on Honronk,¡± Olza said with a hint of guilt.

    ¡°I don¡¯t think he sees it that way. He talked about doing the enchantments the same way he talks about being hungry or making a call on a crawl.¡±

    ¡°Must be nice to not feel emotion.¡±

    ¡°He feels plenty of emotion. You don¡¯t make those kinds of sacrifices if you don¡¯t have strong feelings about why.¡±

    The alchemist shook her head. ¡°I¡¯m terrible. That was a terrible thing for me to say.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve had a few students like Honronk. I think they¡¯d tell you not to feel bad. A lot of people don¡¯t bother to try enough to feel bad, if that makes sense.¡±

    She said she understood. ¡°I should ask him about his tattoo ink. I might be able to give him something easier to work with.¡± She noted the thought in her notebook.

    What could I do to help Honronk?

    ***

    The Apprentice Black Mage gratefully accepted Hans¡¯ offer to swap in one of the new Silvers so he could stay behind, completely focused on perfecting a Repel Possession ward. Hans guessed he would see the tusk¡¯s other leg covered in practice tattoos when he returned.

    In the meantime, Hans planned to take full advantage of the extra firepower the new adventurers provided. He still needed to be cautious with dungeon core experiments, but two well-trained Silvers expanded his margin for error. This test would be their most ambitious yet: a recreation of one of his early crawls as an Iron-ranked.

    ¡°The Regenerating Castle¡± wasn¡¯t full of monsters with the Regeneration ability. Instead, the keep was built on a prominent bluff, a highly desirable location that offered critical control of a once-busy trade route. Before the kingdom united, dozens of factions across the centuries vied for control of the bluff because of its access to ore deposits. The castle was destroyed and rebuilt over and over, stacking layers of construction on top of layers of ruins.

    Academics who studied the site found evidence of at least seven structures having been built on the site, the changes in construction styles and materials like the layers of stratum on a desert cliff. With so much history packed so densely, the Regenerating Castle was a popular stop for Treasure Hunters. Though the castle had been picked over hundreds of times, Treasure Hunters still found reason to believe that they would be the ones to uncover the last big score.

    Undead hordes sometimes rose in places like that. The prevailing theory was that centuries of death combined with a burst of wild magic allowed skeletons and ghouls to rise. The same was known to happen on old battlefields or near mass graves. Though it didn¡¯t occur often, single corpses could rise in remote areas, and the undead monster would wander through the wilderness until it was defeated.

    When Hans and his party took the job, they knew that minor undead were in and around the castle. They didn¡¯t know, however, that a goblin shaman was responsible and that they would find a goblin nest inside.

    The experiment was a leap ahead in complexity, an attempt to recreate his best recollection of the layout and what his party fought and where. If those memories could be used to influence the core, the Apprentices could build new knowledge with relative safety. The monsters would be no less dangerous, and he wouldn¡¯t give his students a map, but he did choose non-lethal versions of the traps he encountered for real and intended to train them on monster-specific tactics ahead of time. Ending someone¡¯s life or career with a trap was not very educational.

    Well, he thought intensely about the traps being non-lethal. He wouldn¡¯t know if the core could be influenced to that level of specificity until he tried.

    He hoped to use a version of the Regenerating Castle job to provide combat experience against undead and goblins, to prepare the Apprentices for dealing with a tight and confusing layout, to build their awareness for traps and ambushes, and to give them experience modifying tactics for mindless as well as organized monsters.

    With Bel and Lee supporting Terry and Sven, clearing a version of that job should be easy enough, but they would have to do it backward since they would be at the bottom with the core when Hans made the suggestion. They also couldn¡¯t know if the layout would be exactly what he planned.Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

    Hans briefly prepped the party on what to expect. Terry and Sven wouldn¡¯t be fully trained on goblin tactics, but with Hans and two Silvers in the party, they should be safe, especially since Hans knew where they attacked from his first time through the dungeon.

    The party now waited at the end of the hallway where the dungeon¡¯s roots plunged through the fissure and led to the core. Hans reread his dungeon plans with the soft purple glow and tipped his hand, a steady drip drip drip of blood falling onto the broken sphere. When the glow pulsed brightly once, he had the feeling he should stop, so he did, plugging the hole in his finger. He bandaged it up and scaled the wall to pass through the fissure and rejoin the party.

    The trek back to the surface began with familiar encounters: gnolls, camahuetos, and imps. As the journey continued, Hans worried that the dungeon core hadn¡¯t accepted any of his suggestions. Every step through the bland, uninteresting hallway lowered his hopes.

    The party fought the geode gecko. Bel and Lee had never seen one in person before, so Hans let them try catching a rod in the gecko¡¯s defensive shell, timing it so that they could lever the gecko back open. Lee moved a little too early and the rod bounced free. They ruptured the oil sac, but that was okay. Previous runs left them with quite the surplus.

    Resuming their journey, they turned a corner and the dungeon changed.

    The familiar cinder-gray masonry of the Gomi dungeon became mortarless white limestone bricks, each block the size of a small treasure chest. A few feet after the change, a ramshackle wooden gate blocked the way. Every board looked like it was salvaged from a different building at a different time, and the nails holding it together were haphazardly pounded, many of them angled and bent.

    ¡°We¡¯re in business,¡± Sven said.

    Quest Complete: Design a training dungeon concept to test on the dungeon core.

    Terry ran his fingers along the limestone, astonished by where he stood and what he touched. Bel and Lee had similar reactions, but their adventurer experience restrained them from touching anything.

    ¡°Gotta say,¡± Lee began, ¡°I thought you weren¡¯t all there.¡±

    ¡°I get that a lot,¡± Hans said.

    Beyond the gate was the encounter Hans predicted. Terry and Sven hesitated at first, but when Bel and Lee jumped into action, they came to their senses and did their part. With the room cleared, Hans took his time looking around.

    ¡°...It¡¯s just like I remember.¡±

    The memory came back to him in vivid color.

    Hans and Boden the dwarf went in first. Typically, Boden preferred a spear, but he used a battle axe in the tight corners of the Regenerating Castle. This room, though, was wide open with a vaulted ceiling and multiple square pillars providing support. What this room had been used for originally and from what generation of the castle¡¯s history, Hans couldn¡¯t say. At that time, however, it was lit by low burning braziers and was scattered with garbage, bones, and feces.

    A pack of goblins armed with spears and clubs swarmed the frontliners the moment they stepped through the door. Gret fired arrows over the frontline, favoring Boden¡¯s side since he was shorter. Mazo did the same, but with arrows conjured from mana, wrapped in blue flames.

    In a few moments, enough of the goblin swarm had fallen for the party to press forward, escaping the bottleneck of the doorway. A volley of tiny crooked arrows flew from the darkness. Hans caught most of them on his shield, and two caught in the leather of his greaves. Neither of those did serious harm, but he felt the tips scraping against his shin and his thigh. The arrows were likely poisoned or dipped in fecal matter, but addressing those likelihoods could wait.

    Gret and Mazo cleared the archers using the glow of her blue projectiles to spot and target the green monsters hiding beyond torchlight.

    The unmistakable clatter of hooves on stone cut through the din of battle and high-pitched goblin shrieks. The skull of a bull slammed into Hans¡¯ shield, launching him several feet backward, and turned to attack Boden next. As Hans gathered his wits, and accepted that his forearm was broken, he heard iron clash against iron¨Can odd noise, given the company.

    Wiggling his left arm loose of his shield, the fracture making that a challenge, he saw the bull that attacked him standing upright, swinging a double bladed axe as large as the dwarf it targeted. When Hans¡¯ brain caught up with the eyes, he understood. All yellowed bones covered in dirt and cobwebs, a reanimated minotaur reclaimed the ferocity it had in life and came down on Boden like its axe was a sledge and the dwarf was a nail.

    A trio of goblins charged at Gret and Mazo, but the Rogue already had his rapier unsheathed and the Blue Mage was mid-spell. Hans chose to aid Boden, scrambling to his feet to run at the minotaur. On the way, Boden managed a good parry, sending the monster¡¯s axe to the side and into the floor. The blade wedged between two of the limestone bricks, and the minotaur wasted no time abandoning its weapon to use its horns.

    One goblin jumped in Hans¡¯ path. Its face crumpled from a well-placed knee a moment later, and Hans continued onward. The minotaur knocked Boden off his feet with a flick of its horns and turned for Hans. When Hans braced for the horns to come for him, the minotaur hit him with a backhand instead. It moved to gore him to finish the job, but ice formed around its hooves, locking it in place.

    ¡°Shaman!¡± Mazo called.

    Shaman? What? Hans remembered thinking in that moment. Then he heard the incantations, sounding like the crazed babbling of a twisted child.

    Three arrows flew over him in rapid succession, two of Gret¡¯s and one of Mazo¡¯s. All of them went wide missing the minotaur. Where he expected to hear the clatter of arrows, he instead heard the mushy thwack of arrows finding flesh. The skeletal minotaur collapsed a few seconds later, as dead as a skeleton should be.

    Walking around that room again¨Cor a recreation of that room to be more accurate¨Che found himself expecting Gret or Boden to come around the corner, making some variation of a dick joke about the way Hans¡¯ broken arm hung limply. Somehow, they could turn anything into a dick joke.

    ¡°Sir?¡± Terry asked.

    ¡°Sorry,¡± Hans said. ¡°Got lost in a memory¡±

    ¡°What does this one teach us?¡±

    The Guild Master collected himself. ¡°Room awareness and the importance of extrapolation. Seeing goblins and skeletons together should have clued us in that active necromancy was involved, something more than wild magic. That minotaur would have surprised anyone, but the shaman should have been expected.¡±

    ¡°Was this job, uhh. How do you usually say it?¡± Terry thought for a moment. ¡°Was this job expensive?¡±

    Hans chuckled. ¡°Expensive enough. Boden and I both broke a few bones.¡±

    In the corner, right where it was supposed to be, he found a stone table the shaman had used as an altar. He checked the wooden box beneath it.

    ¡°Guess we can¡¯t get that lucky,¡± Hans said.

    Sven asked him what he meant.

    ¡°We found a few pages torn from a necromancy grimoire in here. No pages here, though. I suppose we can¡¯t reproduce dungeon loot.¡±

    The Rogue agreed that would have been a nice perk. ¡°If any of your jobs involved a dragon hoard, still worth a try.¡± Sven flashed a toothy grin.

    After they collected the minotaur horns, they continued up through the castle. The shaman was easy to stab in the back this time around, so every skeleton they expected to face as they ran the castle in reverse was a harmless pile of bones. The goblins were pretty surprised about a party of adventurers coming at them from behind, but they were dead before they could raise any concerns about fighting fair.

    Terry marveled each time the construction style of the castle changed. One layer was built from rubble, raw boulders and stone fit and mortared together. Another layer was roughcut gray stone. Hans wasn¡¯t a geology expert, but it matched the rock he saw in the region. The next was the same kind of stone cut and placed with obvious craftsmanship, far finer than any of the layers below it. The variations would continue until they reached the exit.

    Despite Terry¡¯s fascination with the setting, he didn¡¯t notice a tripwire ahead. Hans grabbed him, preferring to test the trap with a rock instead of an Apprentice.

    The Guild Master did his best to think of alternatives to traps when he made his suggestion to the dungeon core, replacing the deadly parts with something harmless so that Apprentices knew they made a serious error but didn¡¯t, you know, die. Thinking about not thinking about real traps made Hans think about real traps. His endless cycle of thinking and not thinking convinced him he should treat every trap as if it was deadly until testing proved otherwise. Getting killed by his own trap would be an embarrassing way to go.

    They found three in total. The first tripwire triggered a spike to fall from the ceiling. Adventures coming from the other direction wouldn¡¯t see the trap itself as it was tucked against an overhead beam. Hans¡¯ version had a pillow on the end.

    A layer of lumber covered a chasm in the hallway, a long drop to a floor below. Taking the right side¨Cas if you were coming in rather than going out¨Cwould allow an adventure to experience that drop. The boards were rigged to crumble under a person¡¯s weight. Hans¡¯ version had a three inch drop.

    The final trap they encountered appeared to be another gate, like the one they saw at the start of this dungeon section. Pushing the gate open without first disengaging a disguised latch would trigger a deadfall of small boulders heavy enough to shatter a skull or break a neck. Hans¡¯ version dropped leaves.

    If Honronk made as much progress as the dungeon core, Gomi was heading toward a beautiful summer.

    Quest Complete: Refine a system for training dungeon awareness.

    What was a staircase leading to the surface in the original castle, was the same plain corridor he had run the Apprentices down dozens of times.

    ¡°Those grimoire pages,¡± Terry asked as the party began unequipping their dungeon gear. ¡°What¡¯d you guys do with them after?¡±

    ¡°Turned them into the guild, of course,¡± Hans answered.

    Terry raised an eyebrow.

    ¡°...Mazo may have copied them first.¡±

    ¡°Knew it.¡±

    ***

    Open Quests (Ordered from Old to New):

    Progress from Gold-ranked to Diamond-ranked.

    Mend the rift with Devon.

    Complete the manuscript for "The Next Generation: A Teaching Methodology for Training Adventurers."

    Expand the Gomi training area to include ramps for footwork drills.

    Research the history and legends of the Dead End Mountains, more.

    Protect Gomi.

    Earn enough gold to free enough workers to build the new campus. Bonus Objective: Pick a secret passage cooler than a bookshelf door.

    Find a partner to move dungeon loot efficiently.

    Find a way to share new knowledge without putting Gomi at risk.

    Implement a Repel Possession ward to stop the nightmares, permanently.

 Chapter 60: Player-Driven Economies

    The Apprentices adapted to what they referred to as ¡°Bone Goblin Dungeon¡± or ¡°Bone Goblins¡± for short. Hans lobbied for everyone to refer to that section of dungeon as the ¡°Regenerating Dungeon.¡± He liked how it sounded, and he liked the gravitas that name seemed to carry as it referenced its original inspiration.

    His efforts were in vain. Bone Goblins won the contest handily.

    Aside from the final battle with the minotaur and goblin shaman, the Apprentices could clear the Bone Goblins after three guided runs supported by Hans, Bel, and Lee. From there, they did runs with three Apprentices and one Silver¨CTheneesa¡¯s pupils alternating shifts so that the Apprentices never had to take on the shaman by themselves. Where most encounters became predictable over time, the final battle had too many enemies and too much chaos for it to be exactly the same each run.

    The addition of the Bone Goblins pushed their average run to two days. Reaching the bottom now took a little over a day, so they camped near the dungeon core and returned to the surface the next morning. The regrowth rate of the dungeon also seemed to shift, but neither Hans nor anyone else could deduce what that rate was based on. Prior to the Bone Goblins, the dungeon needed to be cleared every other day or so. Now the dungeon regrew roughly twice a week.

    Hans had hoped to introduce Becky to the new Silvers and show her the Regenerating Castle, but she didn¡¯t visit the cabin while he was there. Buru hadn¡¯t heard from her in some time either, but the Apprentice Druid seemed unconcerned. He had plenty to practice in the meantime, and he respected Becky¡¯s survival skills.

    Buru might not have been worried, but Hans was. Becky hadn¡¯t visited in weeks, which Charlie assured him was perfectly normal for the Druid, but that seemed unusual for Hans with how frequently they talked just a few months ago. He decided if he hadn¡¯t heard from her in another week, he would ask Buru to send a sparrow.

    When Hans returned to Gomi, the sparkling white of deep winter had melted into dirty grays and all manner of mud and slop. The training yard wouldn¡¯t be usable for a while yet, but one good day of strong sun could change that. Olza told him not to get his hopes up for one of those just yet.

    Then she added, ¡°Luther is on his feet and sleeping in his own bed again. He was asking after you.¡±

    Two images of Luther had been in Hans¡¯ mind since Bel and Lee returned him to Gomi. He could remember the first time he met the tusk. On one of his earliest days in Gomi, he had gone out to the Tribe farmlands to introduce himself and to learn more about his new home. Galad and Luther were working in the fields and weren¡¯t sure what to make of the new Guild Master.

    Where Galad favored his orc heritage in his appearance, Luther favored human traits, but he was no less intimidating. In the summer sun, his strength was obvious, possessing both the natural gifts of his race and the hard-earned athleticism of a farmer. The Luther that came out of the forest a few weeks ago was the shell of a person, beaten and starved until the power he had in his mind and the strength he had in his muscles were gone.

    The version of Luther Hans saw now was still weak and emaciated, his skin stretched taut over the bones of his face, but vigor had returned to his eyes and his smile.

    ¡°Hey there, Guild Master,¡± Luther said, opening his door to let Hans inside.

    ¡°It¡¯s good to see you, friend,¡± Hans said, hugging the tusk.

    Luther¡¯s cabin was similar to Galad¡¯s in size, making it humble yet comfortable and functional. Several plates of baked goods sat stacked neatly on his dining room table, and most everything else resembled the chaotic faux organization of a bachelor.

    Passing Hans a cup of tea before joining him at the table, Luther said, ¡°I owe you my thanks. If Bel and Lee hadn¡¯t found me, I wouldn¡¯t be here.¡±

    ¡°They did that on their own. I can¡¯t take any credit for that.¡±

    ¡°You can dispute it, but they wouldn¡¯t have come through Osare were it not for you. While you think of more arguments against that, I assumed you¡¯d want the winter debrief from me. I can give that to you now if you¡¯d like.¡±

    Hans had spent enough time around tragedy¨Cmany jobs had their roots in someone¡¯s else¡¯s unhappy ending¨Cso he knew the toll that retelling a story could take. Though people asked questions like ¡°What happened?¡± or ¡°How are you feeling?¡± with the best of intentions, telling a story for many meant reliving a horror, sometimes as viscerally as if the events were happening all over again.

    In situations like Luther¡¯s, he preferred to get the story secondhand from someone like Galinda who had spent several days serving as his caretaker, especially if no one was in immediate danger.

    Luther assured him it was fine and felt it was his duty to keep the Guild Master informed.

    The early days of Gomi¡¯s tusk refugee efforts were peaceful, according to Luther. He and the brothers who joined him traveled through the small network of nearby villages and towns with only the usual sideways glances and the occasional human who fast-walked to cross the street to avoid passing too closely to a tusk.

    The worst of the tensions began shortly before snow blocked the pass to Gomi.

    ¡°I underestimated it,¡± Luther said. ¡°At first the odd person would spit in my direction or ask me to leave their business instead of sell to me, but once it was too late to go home, the war got worse and so did the people.¡±

    The orc incursion was still relatively far from Osare at that point, but it was close enough to spread fear and rumors. As the conflict worsened, so did the town¡¯s treatment of Luther. One night, while Luther enjoyed a pint of ale at a mostly empty tavern, two Osare humans picked a fight with the tusk and lost. Later that same night, someone kicked in the door to Luther¡¯s inn room and several hands pulled him from his bed.

    They beat him, a seemingly never ending circle of kicks and punches while he fetal-positioned on the floor of a horse stable, barely conscious and too battered to fight back. They kept him locked in there with no food and water. He scraped snow off the small barn window to stay hydrated, but that was too little for a person of his stature. By the time Bel and Lee found him, he wasn¡¯t sure what was real and what was a hallucination.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, Luther,¡± Hans said.

    ¡°I stayed in Osare to help the tusks who couldn¡¯t beat winter,¡± he said. ¡°If my suffering spared Bel and Lee that fate or worse, I can accept the price I paid.¡±

    I¡¯d like to think I¡¯d be that noble.

    Active Quest: Mend the rift with Devon.

    I can¡¯t even release Devon from his stupid oath. I definitely couldn¡¯t be that noble.

    ¡°I do have a favor to ask,¡± Luther continued.

    ¡°Name it.¡±

    ¡°I won¡¯t be working for a while. Mind if I borrow some books?¡±

    Hans chuckled at the simplicity of that request relative to the gravity with which it was asked. ¡°I¡¯ll bring a stack by tomorrow. That¡¯s no problem.¡±

    ¡°Thank you.¡±

    When Hans stood to leave, he added, ¡°Staying behind like you did¡­ That says a lot about who you are. I don¡¯t think most people would have that level of character.¡±

    ¡°Any of my brothers or sisters would have done the same.¡±

    Knowing that Luther believed that statement in his heart, with no inkling of doubt, gave Hans more hope for Gomi and for the kingdom as a whole.

    ***

    With the merchant caravan due to arrive any day now that the pass was mostly clear, the next chapter in Gomi¡¯s history would soon begin. When the merchants departed from Gomi, the world would hear about Hans¡¯ Ultimate Training Dungeon, and it would be too late to take back or undo any part of their outlandish plan. Powered by anxiety, Hans meticulously prepared for that day.

    He had Galinda¡¯s woodblocks for printing fliers wrapped in fabric with a note. He wanted to send one flier to each of the twenty closest Adventurers¡¯ Guild chapters as well as to Hoseki. For the town¡¯s surrounding those chapters, he hoped they could send fliers to the top three taverns and inns. Unsure of how much ambition was reasonable for mailing fliers around the kingdom, he wrote down his request and noted that if they could only reach the chapters and nothing else, that was acceptable.This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

    Charlie had his letter for the guild written and sealed. The Mayor was reliable, but Hans found it comforting to add the guild letter as a to-do and then cross it out. Charlie¡¯s letter seemed compelling, and Hans hoped the guild would accept Gomi¡¯s proposal to keep him on as the chapter Guild Master. Other than worry¨Cwhich he would definitely do¨Che could do nothing more on that particular front.

    With his letter, Charlie would include Gomi¡¯s annual report to the Adventurers¡¯ Guild. Hans wrote that up, inflating the number of gnolls the guild had defeated in the last twelve months and providing honest numbers about kids¡¯ class attendance. For a town the size of Gomi, Hans¡¯ actual community engagement metrics were above average.

    He also had a list of magery books to order. One page outlined the titles Hans knew he wanted, and the second page outlined where substitutes were acceptable. Improving the Gomi chapter magery curriculum was too important for him to be too picky. A mediocre book on a magic school like Healing was better than no book at all. Seeing his full wish list written out made him again thank the gods for sending Bel and Lee his way. Training Chisel and Honronk might have fallen apart completely without their contributions.

    Expressing his gratitude to Theneesa in writing for sending Bel and Lee to Gomi was easy enough to do discreetly, but he struggled with how to share their recent findings about Repel Possession working against blood magic and their plan to attempt establishing permanent wards via tattoos. If someone intercepted the letter, he didn¡¯t want to expose the Tribe. If he was too cryptic and too guarded, however, Theneesa would be less equipped to help tusks near her home in Mikata.

    He settled on the following:

    Master Theneesa,

    Your gifts did not arrive until spring, but they are no less appreciated. Thank you for being so kind.

    A merchant gave me an update on the orc conflict, and it reminded me of an essay I read back in Hoseki. Gods, I must have been Iron or Bronze then, but at any rate, the details are fuzzy. It talked about using Repel Possession to prevent influence magic, and the author talked about encountering a group in the frontier who tattooed the ward into their skin. If I remember the author¡¯s name, I¡¯ll write right away.

    I¡¯m sure I¡¯m remembering the Repel Possession part correctly. I¡¯m not so sure about my memory of the wards, though. I¡¯m getting old and find myself mixing up memories more and more often.

    Well, I know you have a lot on your plate, so I¡¯ll cut my rambling there.

    I¡¯m proud of you, by the way. I hope I¡¯ve told you that before. I¡¯m sorry if I haven¡¯t.

    -Hans

    Guild Master

    Gomi Chapter

    That would have to do, and he hoped he could have the letter rushed to Mikata. That might be suspicious, but people were dying. The risk was worthwhile.

    His letter to Mazo was far less cryptic. A Guild Master asking a respected mage for advice on teaching magic and recommendations of what books to buy was not unusual. With no way of knowing where Mazo and her attendants, Izz and Thuz, had gone over the winter, he couldn¡¯t predict when he¡¯d receive a response. The questions were still worth asking, though.

    Hans leaned back and reviewed his list once more. He was ready for the plan to begin. Logistically ready, that is. Emotionally, he was a mess.

    ***

    Misty rain fell as the first merchant caravan of the season pulled into Gomi, parking their wagons in the clearing just beyond the front gate. While their assistants and hired hands made camp and cared for the horses, the merchants themselves spread across Gomi to meet with various customers and trading partners.

    A potbellied merchant with several gold chains around his neck waved happily when he spotted Hans.

    ¡°Master Hans!¡± the merchant called before joining him under the awning of Charlie¡¯s bakery. ¡°It is always a joy to see a fine adventurer like yourself.¡±

    ¡°Treat yourself recently?¡±

    ¡°What? Oh these,¡± the merchant said, adjusting his chains so that they laid flat and in order by size. ¡°Yes, I had a few surprise orders at the end of last season and I thought a celebration was in order.¡± He winked, confirming that he meant the purchases Hans made on behalf of the Tribe.

    ¡°Perhaps you¡¯d like a few more gold chains to go with your collection?¡±

    ¡°I would.¡±

    Hans glanced around to make certain no one eavesdropped on their conversation. ¡°An old business partner of mine has a surplus of alchemical materials they¡¯d like to sell, but they value their privacy. The finder¡¯s fee they offered me last year was pretty sizable, and if they¡¯re still looking, that sum may be larger by now. I¡¯d split the fee with you, of course.¡±

    ¡°How private is this individual?¡± the Merchant asked, his crossed arms resting on his belly.

    ¡°They don¡¯t like putting their name on paper if they can help it.¡±

    ¡°Yes, yes. I see. I see. How much inventory are we talking?¡±

    The Guild Master made a show of thinking about the answer. ¡°I don¡¯t know exactly, but it¡¯s a lot. When we spoke they had several jars of imp blood and about fifty camahueto horns.¡±

    ¡°Seriously?¡±

    Hans nodded. ¡°Like I said, the finder¡¯s fee is sizable.¡±

    The merchant tugged on his white soul patch as he thought. ¡°I know a guy in Raven¡¯s Hollow who supplies several alchemist shops and a few universities with reagents. Buys in bulk, distributes. Makes his gold on the markup and is comfortable with silent partners.¡±

    Quest Update: Give Uncle Ed the contact information for the Raven¡¯s Hollow distributor.

    He gave Hans a name and a shop. Thanking him, Hans began to talk to the merchant about his other orders and requests, like the items he needed to mail and the books he wanted to order. His focus shifted when he spotted three well-equipped warriors standing in the middle of the road, looking around Gomi with serious faces. Their fur-lined leather armor, long beards, and assortment of knives and axes gave them the look of Barbarians.

    Excusing himself, Hans approached the warriors and offered an introduction. They gruffly informed him they were Bronze-ranked adventurers on a job to recover escaped fugitives. Three tusks, two female and one male. Hans asked when the fugitives were believed to have escaped and was given a timeline that matched Bel and Lee¡¯s arrival with Luther.

    ¡°You¡¯re sure about those dates?¡± Hans asked. When three surly heads nodded, he continued. ¡°We had a blizzard around that time. Getting through the pass in the winter is a tall order on its own, so if you¡¯re sure they came toward Gomi, you¡¯ll probably find their bodies when the snow melts, unless the gnolls got to them first.¡±

    They asked Hans if he was certain.

    ¡°Today¡¯s the first time I''ve seen a new face in months. Not many tusks around these parts either, so if three of them came out of a blizzard all of a sudden I think I¡¯d notice.¡±

    Hans launched into a pitch about his new venture, a training facility for adventurers, and invited the Bronzes to sign up for a course. Hearing the fee¨Cfive gold per student¨Cdepleted any patience they had left for the odd Gold-ranked Guild Master. As their annoyance became more visible, Hans¡¯ smile got bigger and his pitch grew more intense. Finally, one of the trio cut Hans off mid-sentence and said they didn¡¯t have time to talk anymore.

    ¡°The hall is always open to you!¡± Hans called to the back of their heads. ¡°You could train with the only Gold Guild Master in history! That¡¯s worth a few weeks, right?¡±

    The Barbarians half-jogged away from Hans after that.

    That was kind of fun.

    Later that day, Uncle Ed and two other men from Gomi brought two wagons loaded with kegs and barrels to join the merchant caravan. Traveling alone would have been faster, and he could have left much sooner, but moving product in a group was much safer. Ed and Galad both were prepared to take those risks when they first saw Luther, but their heads cooled, and they agreed to wait for the merchants. That was lucky because Hans could give Ed the information for the distributor in Raven¡¯s Hollow.

    If they needed to do more deliveries in the future without the natural security of a caravan, Gomi would need a team to stand guard. Bandits and monsters both enjoyed a helpless wagon full of goodies.

    Any of the Apprentices were capable of protecting a wagon at that point, but they didn¡¯t have enough bodies for managing the dungeon as it was, and with most of them being tusks, sending them outside of Gomi was actually more dangerous. By that point, everyone had heard¨Cif not seen for themselves¨Cwhat happened to Luther in Osare. Anyone who might have held onto the illusion that the conflict was overblown had to admit it wasn¡¯t.

    Hans pulled Uncle Ed aside to tell him about the potential trade contact in Raven¡¯s Hollow.

    ¡°What do they know already?¡± the farmer asked.

    ¡°Only that I had a friend who wanted to move a large inventory. You¡¯re sure you¡¯re okay with this?¡± Hans asked.

    Ed clapped Hans on the shoulder. ¡°If you can believe it, I was a deckhand and security for a trading company in my younger days. Plenty of strange characters doing business around boats and docks. I¡¯ll be fine. Just take care of my boys while I¡¯m gone, and we¡¯re square.¡±

    ¡°Promise.¡±

    Quest Complete: Give Uncle Ed the contact information for the Raven¡¯s Hollow distributor.

    ***

    Open Quests (Ordered from Old to New):

    Progress from Gold-ranked to Diamond-ranked.

    Mend the rift with Devon.

    Complete the manuscript for "The Next Generation: A Teaching Methodology for Training Adventurers."

    Expand the Gomi training area to include ramps for footwork drills.

    Research the history and legends of the Dead End Mountains, more.

    Protect Gomi.

    Earn enough gold to free enough workers to build the new campus. Bonus Objective: Pick a secret passage cooler than a bookshelf door.

    Find a way to share new knowledge without putting Gomi at risk.

    Implement a Repel Possession ward to stop the nightmares, permanently.

 Chapter 61: Combo Attacks

    The first kids¡¯ class of the season was filled with glorious chaos. After being snowed in for months with only a few hours of sleep between nightmares, the chance to swing swords invigorated the children of Gomi. For their parents, they were grateful that none of that excitement would be indoors. Their personal indoors, specifically.

    Seventeen children attended, with roughly half the children having trained with Hans previously and the other half completely new. Were Hans alone, that quantity of sticky hands and snotty noses would have been unmanageable, but with Kane and Quentin volunteering to help, he could keep everyone safe and engaged.

    The boys were Apprentices now, though, so they wouldn¡¯t be available to help with every class. They were due to rotate into shifts at the cabin the following week, a bittersweet moment for Hans where he was proud with how they had grown while also sad that they wouldn¡¯t be ever-present company at the guild hall anymore.

    That was the job, though. Train them up and send them into the world.

    Class began with push and pull balance drills and then a simple line drill that emphasized footwork and managing the space between oneself and an opponent. After that, he split the class in half. The students who trained with him before broke off to review the drills they learned in other lessons while Hans gave the new students the introductory treatment, starting them at the true beginning instead of dropping them into the flowing stream of in-progress curriculum.

    After Hans got the new students started on a drill and watched to see if anyone needed help, he shifted his attention to the other group to give them a more skill-appropriate lesson.

    ¡°We¡¯re going to start a unit on attack combinations, but everyone always gets confused about what that means. We will learn to string multiple movements together, but we¡¯re not learning a dance that has set steps in a set order. Who here has played chess?¡±

    Blank faces stared back at him, and no hands went up.

    ¡°Okay, bad example¡­ How about a morning routine? Who does the same thing each morning?¡±

    Most of the hands went up.

    ¡°Is it the same exact routine every morning?¡±

    Heads nodded.

    ¡°Is it though?¡± Hans rattled off a list of factors that could change a morning routine, from rain to a camping trip to oversleeping. The children agreed those things affected what they did each morning. ¡°Combination attacks are like that. We might learn a sequence that works for us most of the time, but if it¡¯s raining outside, grab a coat. If it¡¯s late in the day, take a lantern¡­ You know what I mean?¡±

    They worked through a three technique sequence where each attack flowed into the next, using the finish of one to set up the beginning of another with their partner using the most likely blocks or parries in between. From the outside, the drill didn¡¯t look complicated, but for a beginner, completing all three movements¨Cattack, parry, counter¨Cwithout making a mistake was difficult. Mixing in a child¡¯s lack of coordination and capacity to be distracted made that challenge even larger.

    With coaching and patience, they managed.

    He alternated between the two groups for the rest of the class before dismissing students for the day. A few parents stayed behind to ask questions but soon the yard was empty except for Hans, Kane, and Quentin.

    ¡°Mr. Hans,¡± Quentin began, ¡°What do you do if someone gives you the ¡®wrong¡¯ reaction and messes up your combo?¡±

    Hans pointed for Quentin to pick up a sword and a shield while Hans grabbed a sword of his own. He waved for Kane to join them as well.

    ¡°Suppose I attack with a thrust,¡± which Hans did but slowly for the sake of demonstration. ¡°What can you do in response?¡±

    With some brainstorming and coaxing from the Guild Master, Kane and Quentin came up with the following list of potential reactions to a thrust: Shield block, shield parry, inward sword parry, outward sword parry, downward sword parry, upward sword parry, dodge left, dodge right, and move backward.

    ¡°That¡¯s not a short list, but it¡¯s finite, right? I know if I thrust my sword, you have to pick one of those or get stabbed. Could someone invent something on the spot that you¡¯ve never seen before? Maybe, but not likely.

    ¡°Since I know what you can do ahead of time, I can have my next attack in mind from the start, but the trick is to keep your choices manageable. Instead of mastering the followup for every possible thrust counter, I¡¯ll pick the three most common and drill those, which in this case are shield block, outward parry, and move backward.

    ¡°Now I can have a combination prepared but match it to what my opponent is doing, and I¡¯ll keep working in clusters of three. My preferred response to a shield block, for example, opens up another possible yet finite set of reactions.¡±

    Hans used the tip of his wooden sword to draw a decision tree in the dirt, a series of branching possibilities with a clear path between the beginning and the end. That line represented the trajectory of a single sequence of choices in a battle.

    ¡°You have to be decisive in your attacks and confident in your plan for this to work. It¡¯s also difficult to do when you¡¯re the one defending, which is why you hear me talk about keeping pressure on your partners so much. If I give you room to decide what you want to do, that means we¡¯ve left my combo path and started on yours.¡±

    Before taking more of their questions, he added the disclaimer that his advice to pressure an opponent only applied to humanoids or creatures they had fought previously. If they were fighting a monster for the first time, they wouldn¡¯t have the knowledge to predict actions and reactions, so they should be extra cautious in those scenarios.

    ¡°Does this work for defense too?¡± Kane asked.

    ¡°Yes, and there are some really talented counter fighters out there. It¡¯s a legitimate strategy, but I won¡¯t teach it to beginners.¡±

    ¡°Why not?¡±

    ¡°Counter fighting takes a ton of timing and finesse to do safely, but more importantly, it lets your opponent control the fight, and they could do anything. If I¡¯m the aggressor¨Cand that doesn¡¯t mean being reckless¨Cthe number of possibilities I have to account for shrinks by a lot. That¡¯s easier to manage mentally, easier to practice, and easier to predict. Boxers do something similar with a jab, so don¡¯t think you need anything more complicated than that to get your opponent to open up.¡±

    With Kane and Quentin¡¯s questions answered, Hans retrieved a shovel and began his project for the afternoon: Digging the slopes for the footwork training aids.

    Three shovelfuls of dirt later, he wished he could ask the dungeon core to renovate the guild yard as well.

    Quest Complete: Expand the Gomi training area to include ramps for footwork drills.

    ***

    ¡°How complicated is distillation? I mean, really, the Tribe should be bottling gallons of this stuff.¡± Hans passed the bottle of fool¡¯s root vodka back to Olza, setting it on the guild hall table between them.

    ¡°It¡¯s not too bad,¡± Olza replied. ¡°I still won¡¯t use Mazo¡¯s Earth magic to grow fool¡¯s root. Sorry.¡±

    ¡°Please.¡±

    ¡°Nope. If you go pick enough for a bottle, I¡¯ll make it for you. You¡¯ll be lucky to find that much let alone what you¡¯d need for a commercial still.¡±

    ¡°I wasn¡¯t asking for me. I was asking for Gomi. Do you know how much they¡¯d make? It would be bigger than the beer business.¡±This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

    Olza rolled her eyes. ¡°Sure. For Gomi. Try growing it in the dungeon,¡± she said with half-seriousness. ¡°Seems we can get pretty specific.¡±

    Hans laughed. ¡°One day, we¡¯re talking about the reagents that would make the world a better place. Today, we¡¯re talking about using those powers for booze instead.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s okay to talk about silly dreams you¡¯d never live.¡±

    When he heard the latch on the front door, Hans braced himself for a burst of frigid air. When Chisel and Yotuli appeared in the light, loose attire of springtime, he mused to himself about how quickly his mind had adapted to the Gomi winter being his new normal.

    ¡°Kane and Quentin aren¡¯t here yet but should be soon,¡± Hans said.

    Today was a shift change for the cabin, and the two new Apprentices would be making their first visit to the dungeon. The Guild Master wanted to be there with them, but he couldn¡¯t force them to wait until he had the free time to dungeon crawl.

    He could, however, ensure that the challenges they faced were appropriate for their experience level, so the Silvers and other Apprentices were instructed not to take the boys beyond the skeletons that now grew in the earliest region of the dungeon. While skeletons were potentially dangerous, they were weak, fragile, and slow, making them ideal monsters for young adventurers. If they froze up, as inexperienced adventurers often did when they first encountered true danger, their mistake wouldn¡¯t end their careers.

    Goblins were barely stronger than skeletons, but they were faster, more aggressive, and ruthless. The weakest goblin in the kingdom would happily slit the throat of a stupefied Apprentice, which could happen quickly in the chaos of a shadowy dungeon skirmish.

    When neither Chisel or Yotuli responded, Hans went to repeat himself, stopping when he saw their enormous grins.

    ¡°Miss Olza,¡± Yotuli began, ¡°Honronk asked if you could check his work.¡± She pulled up her sleeve to reveal a tattoo on her left wrist, like several runes drawn on top of each other.

    Olza inspected it, tracing a finger around the design. With her eyes closed, she held her palm flat over the tattoo, half an inch above her wrist. ¡°This is an active ward. This is¨C¡±

    Chisel held out her arm. ¡°Mine?¡±

    The alchemist repeated the process with Chisel¡¯s tattoo. With her mouth agape, she turned to Hans. ¡°He did it. He really did it.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re sure?¡±

    ¡°Pretty sure. I¡¯m no expert on enchanting, though. Testing it will give us the definitive answer.¡±

    While her reasoning was sound, Hans was uncomfortable with having to tattoo a child to conduct the experiment. ¡°We can¡¯t keep doing this to Gunther. He¡¯s just a kid, and Ed¡¯s not here to speak on behalf of his interests.¡±

    ¡°You think Gunny would say no?¡±

    ¡°I know for a fact he wouldn¡¯t, and that¡¯s my concern.¡±

    ¡°I see your point,¡± Olza said. ¡°We¡¯ll have the same dilemma with any of the children. If Gunny is out, how do you propose we do this?¡±

    ¡°If I¡¯m out of what?¡± Gunther asked, standing between Kane and Quentin who were each packed for their first stay at the cabin as Apprentices. Kane¡¯s rucksack was as large as his little brother. And Hans hadn¡¯t heard them come in.

    Damn it.

    ¡°It¡¯s nothing,¡± Olza said. Chisel and Yotuli took a noticeable step back to signal that they didn¡¯t want to be involved.

    The young tusk scowled. ¡°I¡¯m not a baby. Anything at all. I¡¯ll do it if it helps.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± Kane asked.

    ¡°Honronk made working wards,¡± Hans began, ¡°but we aren¡¯t sure if they¡¯ll be effective.¡±

    Gunther held his head high. ¡°Mr. Hans, Miss Olza, I want to do this. I want to do it for my family.¡± The bravery on his face was both inspiring and heartbreaking.

    Hans agreed to let Gunther be the first child to take the tattoo ward but under the condition that Kane and Quentin delay going to the cabin. If the experiment had any risks, foreseen or not, he wanted Gunther¡¯s older brother there to help and support. The new Apprentices agreed to stay, without hesitation.

    ***

    Gunther looked at Honronk¡¯s drawing of the ward while Honronk set up his books and tattooing materials in the main area of the guild hall. ¡°Can we do a dragon instead?¡± Gunther asked.

    ¡°No,¡± Honronk answered.

    ¡°How about a skull with worms in the eyes?¡±

    ¡°No.¡±

    ¡°What about flames with a¨C¡±

    ¡°Gunny,¡± Kane gently interrupted, ¡°the spell only works if it¡¯s drawn a certain way.¡±

    ¡°Okay fine, but I want it here on my chest.¡± Gunther pointed to his left pectoral muscle, roughly where his heart would be.

    ¡°That¡¯s fine,¡± Honronk said.

    Gunther never stopped talking, unbothered by the pain of the needle moving in and out of his skin. Drawing the tattoo correctly was critical, but Honronk had to pause after specific lines to build up more of the enchantment before he could resume tattooing. When the Apprentice Black Mage scooted his chair back, announcing that the ward was complete, Gunther looked down proudly at the artwork on his chest. Roughly the circumference of the base of a wine glass, the ward looked oversized for the young tusk¡¯s body, but he had a great deal of growing yet to do to balance the proportions.

    That night, without the help of a Sleep potion or any other spell, Gunther slept soundly. He had his first pleasant dream in months¨Csomething about the gnolls making Gunther their king and then riding a sailboat to the stars¨Cbut no nightmares.

    Tattooing the Repel Possession ward on every tusk in Gomi took eleven days. Honronk sat in the guild hall that entire time, giving stick and poke tattoos to weave wards with a blood enchantment. Over. And over. And over. His demeanor and his movements didn¡¯t change from tattoo to tattoo, like he was unaffected by distractions or exhaustion, until he would say simply, ¡°I need to sleep.¡± Then he was back in the morning, doing it all over again.

    Olza told Hans that Honronk might be a genius. Not only did his tattoo wards work, but he made a more advanced version of the original design. Since the enchantment was powered by the person¡¯s own blood, presumably from the mana and life force within, the wards were weakest on the tusks who needed them the most: the children.

    The advanced design networked the wards together. Typically, networked wards were used for large-scale security, like a barrier or an alarm around a treasure or a hideout. Linking the wards increased their strength and kept the ward up even if one of the nodes was destroyed. Applying that system to the tattoos balanced the mana across every tusk in town, so the children could have wards as strong as the adults.

    Honronk¡¯s supernatural work ethic played a major role, of course, but the Apprentice¡¯s ability to extrapolate conclusions and insights from limited material suggested that this feat¨Cteaching himself Blood enchantments without a guide¨Cwould not be his last unprecedented success. His intuitive understanding of magic and spellcraft would take him far.

    When Hans told the Apprentice about the festival Galad and Galinda were organizing to celebrate, he asked if they could credit the chapter instead of him personally. Large crowds made him uncomfortable, and so did receiving attention. Hans agreed to honor his wishes when it was clear Honronk would not be convinced otherwise.

    After the final tattoo, knowing that every child who had received it was already sleeping soundly without potions or other aids, Hans closed the most fulfilling quest of his career. Not alone, a fact he had no issue acknowledging, but the victory was no less sweet.

    Quest Complete: Implement a Repel Possession ward to stop the nightmares, permanently.

    ¡°Honronk¡­ It¡¯s hard to describe how grateful I am¨Chow grateful everyone is¨Cfor what you¡¯ve done,¡± Hans said when he and the Apprentice were alone in the guild hall. ¡°Thank you.¡±

    ¡°You always say a party is strongest when they trust one another and work together.¡±

    The tusk was correct. The Guild Master repeated that often.

    ¡°I played my role for the good of the party. That¡¯s the job.¡±

    Hans asked Honronk if he planned to continue practicing enchanting.

    ¡°Items, perhaps. People, no.¡±

    Honronk rolled up his right pant leg. Hans already knew the other leg was covered in Nightsight enchantment attempts, and he now saw that Honronk¡¯s right leg was covered in Repel Possession runes. The Apprentice had little canvas left to practice on. If he could reach a patch of skin with his right hand, it was already tattooed.

    ¡°Well, let me know what interests you, and I¡¯ll place an order for every book I can find.¡±

    ¡°Thank you, sir.¡±

    The next day, Gomi was abuzz with joy and relief. The celebration began under the sunlight so the children could take part. Spring planting had already begun, so a late night of drinking wasn¡¯t practical for the adults either. Back-to-back days of working the fields from dawn until dusk made for tired bodies and early bedtimes.

    But the party was no less raucous.

    ***

    Open Quests (Ordered from Old to New):

    Progress from Gold-ranked to Diamond-ranked.

    Mend the rift with Devon.

    Complete the manuscript for "The Next Generation: A Teaching Methodology for Training Adventurers."

    Research the history and legends of the Dead End Mountains, more.

    Protect Gomi.

    Earn enough gold to free enough workers to build the new campus. Bonus Objective: Pick a secret passage cooler than a bookshelf door.

    Find a way to share new knowledge without putting Gomi at risk.

 Chapter 62: Respite

    The scene reminded Hans of the party the town threw for Mazo when she visited. The heat of summer hadn¡¯t arrived yet this year, but the spring sun was bright and plenty warm.

    The Apprentices¨CKane, Quentin, and Honronk among them¨Chad left that morning to relieve the party at the dungeon. The adventurers promised to celebrate when they returned, but they had already delayed their rotation and wanted to give the others time to rest.

    For Honronk¡¯s part, his next official rotation was still one cycle away. He insisted he wanted to get back to studying with Bel as soon as possible, which Hans accepted as part of the truth. Though the Apprentice didn¡¯t say so, Hans suspected the rotation was a convenient excuse to skip the party and all of the socializing that came with it.

    The Apprentices aside, every person and child in Gomi gathered in the field near the Tribe barns. Four recently slaughtered pigs rotated on spits, baked goods of all varieties covered multiple tables, and the beer flowed freely, pulled from what remained of the Tribe¡¯s winter stash.

    Luther, looking more like himself each day, strummed a standing bass. Hans didn¡¯t know the tusk was a musician, and he was a good one at that. Galinda set up not far from Luther¡¯s music, laying out dozens of paint bottles and sanded planks of wood. So many children wanted to paint that they ran out of benches and tables. That didn¡¯t seem to bother the kids who had to sit in the grass, though.

    Roland found Hans at the edge of the festivities. Tapping his stein against Hans¡¯, the hunter joined the Guild Master in observing the scene.

    ¡°Hard to believe how bleak things felt until a few days ago,¡± Roland observed, smiling at a child painting her own face blue instead of her board.

    Hans sipped his beer and nodded.

    ¡°When Quentin¡¯s mom passed, I nearly went with her. If it weren¡¯t for these people¡­¡± Roland trailed off as he looked over the crowd. ¡°My parents were born and raised here. They lived great lives, but they had been gone for many years by that point. With everyone in Gomi helping Quentin and I through, it felt like mom and dad were back when I needed them most.¡±

    The Guild Master listened but not knowing what to add, remained quiet.

    ¡°It feels like they¡¯re back again today.¡± The hunter lifted his stein for a drink and frowned. ¡°I need a refill. Can I get you something?¡±

    Thankful for the offer but still having half a stein, Hans said he was fine. As Roland made his way to the beer taps, Hans noticed Tandis joining the hunter. They weren¡¯t overtly affectionate, but he had watched many young students bumble their way through talking to a classmate they had feelings for. The body language and the awkwardness wasn¡¯t much different in adults¨Clingering eye contact with wide eyes, a few too many excuses to bump or touch one another, a shift in proximity that put their bodies somewhere between friend and lovers¨Cbut not yet because neither were sure if they should completely close the distance.

    Good for Roland.

    A faint sense of saltiness overcame Hans, followed shortly by a wicked smile. What sweet payback it would be to rib Quentin for having a hot mom. And the fact that Tandis was who he made Hans embarrass himself in front of made it that much sweeter.

    Maybe making fun of the kid whose mom died with mom jokes is not a great idea.

    Damn. Another brilliant opportunity squandered by morals and maturity.

    When Galinda began cleaning up the painting activity, Charlie asked if anyone wanted to hear a story. Though the question was aimed at the children, Hans wanted to hear a story too, so he relocated himself to be close enough to listen.

    The mayor wove a tale of a hunter from Gomi who broke his ankle when he was deep in the forest, tracking game. With no one around to help, the hunter began crawling back to town, but he was out of water and nearly out of food. The hunter knew his supplies wouldn¡¯t last long enough, but he crawled anyway.

    At one point, he stopped to rest, trying to ignore the stinging scrapes on his hands and knees. When he opened his eyes, a face sculpted from leaves looked down upon him, twigs and grass held together by an unseen force comprising its body.

    ¡°The forest waits to take you,¡± the creature said with a soft feminine voice, ¡°but they believe it is not your time.¡±

    The creature explained that monsters from the mountains ravaged the deer population during the winter. They fed like a disease, killing and consuming every creature they could find. No animal was safe, but the way deer bedded down at night made them easy prey for this variety of monster.

    If the hunters in Gomi pursued deer the way they did every year, the animals might disappear from the forest for good, so the leaf-covered creature presented a trade. The forest would deliver the hunter safely to town if he promised to deliver a message in return. He was to tell the other hunters that deer were to go untouched that season. The forest asked this of Gomi as a friend and neighbor, a one-year sacrifice to preserve hunting in the centuries to follow.

    The injured hunter agreed, and a moose carried him back to town. From the back of the giant animal, he shared the message to everyone in Gomi. The hunters all agreed to do what was asked, but other people in town, those who did not depend on the forest for their livelihoods, argued against it. Venison was a favorite meat in Gomi, so its absence would be felt by everyone.

    The hunters still refused to hunt deer that season, and they went as far as to say they would stop anyone who meant to defy the forest. The next year, the deer population rebounded, and hunting was plentiful again.

    Charlie explained that the story taught us to respect the land we depend on, and showed that future prosperity is sometimes tied to short-term sacrifice.

    Then the Mayor congratulated the children for being like the hunters in the story. They suffered that winter, but they didn¡¯t give up. They hung on despite their fears. Because of their patience, Gomi was better off. The happiness around them now was proof of that.

    Quest Update: Ask Charlie about the history and legends of the Dead End Mountains.

    Charlie suggested everyone go get a cookie, dispersing the children with contentment in his eyes. Harriot separated from the group to talk to the Guild Master.

    ¡°Mr. Hans!¡± she said. ¡°Do you like your sign?¡±

    ¡°My sign?¡±

    ¡°Uh huh.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, Harriot. I don¡¯t know what you mean.¡±

    She grabbed his hand and led him through the crowd. With the idea of a prosperous future still echoing in his mind from Charlie¡¯s story, he thought about what was ahead for Harriot. If she was like most kids in the kingdom, she would learn a trade from her parents¨Cblacksmithing or fletching in her case¨Cand continue their legacy. Most of Gomi¡¯s new arrivals wouldn¡¯t have the same opportunity, however.

    Olza did mention taking on an apprentice this year¡­

    New Quest: Talk to Gomi¡¯s tradespeople about apprenticeships for the children.

    Harriot¡¯s boisterous pointing, emphasized by jumping up and down, brought Hans back to the present moment. Harriot had brought him to where the children¡¯s art dried in the sun. In the midst of the small boards covered with stick figure scenes and goofy portraits was a batch of sanded lumber nailed together to form a canvas as large as the guild hall¡¯s quest board.

    ¡°Hans¡¯ Ultimate Training Dungeon¡± had been painted on it. Each letter looked like it was done by a different child, representing a wide range of styles as well as every color of paint Galinda owned. The children must have forgotten the word Ultimate, because it was the only word scrolled in perfect cursive, suggesting Galinda added it for them. If he read the sign as it was written, the sign said, ¡°HaNs¡¯ ultimate TraINinG DuNgeoN.¡±

    He thought of the sign he commissioned years ago when he opened his academy in Hoseki. It was an exquisite piece of craftsmanship, each letter cut from wood and expertly painted, not a splinter or a dribble of paint out of place.

    Hans liked his new multicolored monstrosity better. And it matched the shield the children painted for him last fall.

    ¡°I love it. It¡¯s going to look great hung up outside the guild.¡±

    ***

    A few days later, Uncle Ed and his companions returned with more good news. Their run had taken a little less than two weeks in total.

    Hans found the farmer-now-smuggler standing outside the guild hall, hands on his hips, laughing. He looked up at the new sign hanging outside the training yard. Before the Guild Master finished his greeting, Uncle Ed wrapped him in a hug.

    ¡°Thank you,¡± he said softly. ¡°Galinda caught us up on what we missed.¡±Stolen novel; please report.

    Uncle Ed¡¯s first question was about Kane and Gunther. Galinda told him they were fine and healthy, but he wanted to hear it from Hans too, especially since Kane was doing dungeon runs now. Hans said they were well and that Kane had taken an interest in being a Spellsword. Seeing Lee on runs showed him the class¡¯s potential, and he liked that he would get to cast spells and use a weapon.

    Everyone was healthier and in better spirits with the wards in place.

    Satisfied, Uncle Ed offered Hans a summary of his report from beyond Gomi. The entire shipment of beer sold in Osare, and one merchant offered to pay a premium for the barrels left in the wagon. Uncle Ed couldn¡¯t tell him those were actually full of horns and blood from a secret dungeon, so he said they were already claimed by a buyer in Raven¡¯s Hollow.

    The real buyer in Raven¡¯s Hollow was recommended to Hans by a visiting merchant, making Uncle Ed the first to meet and bargain with them.

    ¡°He calls himself ¡®Doorstop,¡¯¡± Uncle Ed explained. ¡°He got his start working the door at a swanky boutique or something like that. Anyway, he wanted nothing to do with me until I showed him the minotaur horns. By the time he saw the imp¡¯s blood and the camehueto horns, his only questions were how much and how often we could deliver.¡±

    The price seemed fair for a wholesale purchase done in secret, and Uncle Ed used a significant portion of the profits to hire a team of builders from Osare to build the palisade. He hadn¡¯t wanted to do that after what happened to Luther, but hiring from any town farther away than Osare was too expensive. Charlie already assured him he had made the right choice, and Hans echoed the sentiment.

    ¡°Still don¡¯t like it,¡± Uncle Ed said. ¡°They¡¯re coming in with the next caravan. Hopefully they¡¯re gone before the one after that.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ll keep an eye on them. I promise.¡±

    Quest Complete: Earn enough gold to free enough workers to build the new campus.

    While happy to complete the quest, he had not completed the bonus objective: selecting a secret passage.

    With the Gomi dungeon plan running at full speed now, Hans admitted to himself that a secret passage was no longer a fun side project. The more their activity grew, the more careful they should be. If anyone from outside Gomi visited the cabin, runs couldn¡¯t stop, and they couldn¡¯t reveal the dungeon to the interlopers.

    At times, he felt he was being unreasonably paranoid, but part of his mind always dwelled on the worst-case scenario. He only felt relief when he had a plan for dealing with it.

    New Quest: Pick a practical secret passage design to disguise the dungeon entrance.

    ¡°I mentioned this to Charlie too, but I think we should run three wagons next time,¡± Uncle Ed continued. ¡°He says we won¡¯t have enough beer for that, but I still say we¡¯ll figure that out.¡±

    Yeah, I can¡¯t put off the secret passage much longer.

    Hans promised to think on potential solutions. He agreed that larger deliveries were preferable to more frequent deliveries, and the dungeon was still expanding. Their present volume was challenging to move. When the dungeon grew, that challenge would only get worse.

    New Quest: Find new ways to safely sell a larger volume of reagents.

    Uncle Ed suddenly looked uncomfortable, his head down and shoulders slumped, his eyes looking everywhere but at Hans. ¡°There¡¯s one more thing. I thought you should know folks are saying Master Devontes is on the front lines now. They say he¡¯s winning the war for the kingdom by himself, but that¡¯s just what I heard. I know you don¡¯t like talking about him much, but I thought¡­¡±

    Hans told Uncle Ed not to feel badly. He thanked him for everything he shared and for taking on shipping responsibilities to help Gomi.

    Later that night, Hans relayed Ed¡¯s report to Olza. They sat in two rickety wooden chairs with their backs to the guild hall, the forest across the field before them and the stars twinkling overhead. Night still clung to the chill of winter, but with a thick sweater and cup of hot tea, Hans was perfectly comfortable.

    ¡°We¡¯ll get close to crashing the market for camahueto horns if we aren¡¯t there already,¡± Olza said, processing all she had just heard. ¡°The demand for imp blood is much higher, but our supply will drop the value, at a minimum. That will happen to anything we grow in the dungeon, really.¡±

    ¡°With the wards, we won¡¯t need the sacs from the geode geckos anymore, so that¡¯s another thing we¡¯ll flood the market with. I can¡¯t figure a way around it. The dungeon will keep growing the stuff even if we don¡¯t need it.¡±

    Both of her hands around her mug, Olza took a slow drink of her tea. ¡°Smaller reagents would be easier to ship. Doesn¡¯t fix the economics, but it would make Ed¡¯s life easier.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s something.¡±

    Olza agreed.

    ¡°How about uses? Could we use the supply to make something? If what we make can¡¯t be sold, being useful cuts down on what we waste.¡±

    ¡°All the recipes I know for our horns, minotaur and camaheuto, are known for having those as ingredients. It would be the same supply issue with more work.¡±

    ¡°So get new recipes.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, sure, Hans,¡± Olza said sarcastically, ¡°I¡¯ll just invent half a dozen recipes that no other alchemists thought of.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not entirely joking,¡± Hans said, unable to hide the beginnings of a self-satisfied grin. ¡°You won¡¯t run out of material to test with. That¡¯s for certain.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s the hard part. We¡¯d still have¨C¡± the alchemist stopped speaking when Hans¡¯ hand reached for her wrist. His other hand reached for his sword.

    ¡°Something big in the tree line,¡± he whispered.

    Though Olza tensed from the news, she didn¡¯t move. Hans stared into the darkness, trying to catch another ripple of shadow. He scanned back and forth, listening for movement but heard none. He felt Olza point and looked in the direction she indicated. The hulking creature approached, slowly crossing the clearing between Gomi and the forest, as if it were stalking the two humans. Calm. Focused. Deadly.

    Hans drew his sword and stood in front of Olza. He began to shout and yell, waving his arms to make himself appear larger and more threatening. If he was facing a bear or a wolf, that might be all he needed to scare the animal back into the forest.

    The creature was not a bear or a wolf.

    ¡°Why are you hollerin¡¯ at this hour?¡±

    ¡°Becky?¡± Hans asked the darkness.

    ¡°What? You never seen a dwarf before?¡±

    Hans lowered his sword. The Becks were close enough now that the faint glow from his apartment window upstairs outlined the boar and its dwarven rider. ¡°You can¡¯t sneak up on people like that.¡±

    ¡°Sneak? I wasn¡¯t sneakin¡¯. I waved hello and everything.¡±

    ¡°When?¡±

    ¡°As soon as I came out of the tree line.¡±

    The Guild Master sighed. ¡°Becky. We don¡¯t have low light vision.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not my fault. I ain''t your mom.¡±

    While Hans fetched tea and beer¨Cthe Druid specifically requested both¨COlza caught Becky up on the several weeks of developments she had missed. When Hans rejoined them outside, Becky took both beverages, drank the beer like a pelican swallowing a fish, and passed the empty cup back to Hans.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry you missed the party,¡± he said to Becky.

    ¡°Naw. One time, I heard Charlie say something like, ¡®True friends don¡¯t get sad when their friends experience happiness.¡¯¡±

    Olza and Hans agreed that was a good sentiment.

    ¡°You¡¯re up to date now,¡± Hans said. ¡°Where have you been?¡±

    ¡°Workin¡¯, and that¡¯s actually what I wanted to talk to you about.¡±

    Becky launched into a vague explanation about running errands for ¡°the forest¡± that took her to every edge of the Gomi forest, which meant quite a bit of travel. The only context Hans had for the distance was the time they tracked squonks to rescue Roland. As far from town as they were, they were still two days away from the forest¡¯s edge. These errands were important, she explained, so she had to prioritize them over everything else.

    She had kept up with Buru¡¯s lesson with sparrows, which was news to Hans. Buru had never told him, nor did Hans see a small flock of tiny birds singing to the enormous Druid. With how few words the birds could carry, he estimated that any one of his lessons would require a hundred or more sparrows.

    Though she put great detail into how far she traveled, Hans heard few specifics.

    ¡°Becky,¡± Hans interrupted, ¡°Why won¡¯t you tell us what you were doing?¡±

    For what may have been the first time, Hans saw the Druid look uncomfortable. She slumped and shifted, as if every time she breathed, another part of her clothing itched or poked, forcing her to move endlessly while her feet were rooted to the ground.

    ¡°I have permission to break an oath, but I¡¯ve held it so long that it still feels wrong. Even if it isn¡¯t.¡± Hans and Olza waited. Whatever she was struggling to say, it seemed serious. ¡°The Lady of the Forest talks to us Druids. Most of our spells and abilities come from her.¡±

    ¡°Like a god?¡± Hans asked.

    Becky scoffed. ¡°Nothing like that. She ain¡¯t a god, and we aren¡¯t worshippers. It¡¯s more like a partnership. We need each other.¡±

    While Becky spoke, Hans searched his memories for anything he had read or heard about supernatural beings working with people. Fishermen often talked about lakes and oceans as being a ¡°she,¡± entities that could be angered or placated based on how they behaved in ¡°her¡± waters. Was this something similar? If Becky¡¯s allusions to serving the ¡°forest¡± meant this being, could there be similar beings in the water, or anywhere in nature for that matter?

    That was too much of his own conjecture to be useful. The only concrete stories he could recall that matched Becky¡¯s description were deals with the fae. The fae weren¡¯t mortals, but they weren¡¯t gods either, and some scholars would disagree with saying that fae were somewhere between mortals and gods. Interplanar politics and power struggles couldn¡¯t be so easily forced into a linear hierarchy, apparently.

    ¡°The Lady of the Forest¡­¡± the Druid began after a long pause. ¡°She needs Gomi¡¯s help, and she is willing to trade. She knows what we¡¯ve been workin¡¯ on, and she¡¯s offerin¡¯ to watch the borders for us. Any outsider enters the Gomi forest, anywhere at all, she¡¯d tell us.¡±

    ¡°In return?¡±

    ¡°She wants us to use the dungeon core to bring a bird back from extinction.¡±

    Hans'' slack-jawed reaction was so pronounced that he spilled some of his tea.

    New Quest: Consider a deal with the Lady of the Forest.

    ***

    Open Quests (Ordered from Old to New):

    Progress from Gold-ranked to Diamond-ranked.

    Mend the rift with Devon.

    Complete the manuscript for "The Next Generation: A Teaching Methodology for Training Adventurers."

    Ask Charlie about the history and legends of the Dead End Mountains

    Protect Gomi.

    Find a way to share new knowledge without putting Gomi at risk.

    Talk to Gomi¡¯s tradespeople about apprenticeships for the children.

    Find new ways to safely sell a larger volume of reagents.

    Pick a practical secret passage design to disguise the dungeon entrance.

    Consider a deal with the Lady of the Forest.

 Chapter 63: Honorary Levels

    Hans needed to write this down. At his request, Becky and Olza joined him in the guild hall. When they entered, Olza quietly caught Hans¡¯ attention and widened her eyes.

    I feel the same way, Olza. The exact same.

    ¡°I have 1,000 questions,¡± Hans said, refiling his tea after pouring a fresh stein of beer for Becky, ¡°but I need to say that, as a rule, I¡¯m against deals like this.¡± In his mind, he heard Devon screaming, writhing on the floor of the Hoseki training hall after breaking his Paladin oath. ¡°I¡¯ll hear you out, though.¡±

    Becky explained that the Lady of the Forest wanted to revive a species that had been lost to time but used to be native to Gomi and the Dead End Mountains. The creature was a bird called a ¡°zout,¡± but Becky had never heard of it before now, nor had Hans or Olza. Since the Lady of the Forest could not create life, she wanted Gomi to use its dungeon core on her behalf.

    The Lady¡¯s offer was compelling, Hans had to admit. Several days¡¯ advance notice of an enemy coming for Gomi was an incredible tactical advantage, and it was an advantage no enemy would ever expect or account for. That was an attractive offer, an offer so good that not pursuing it felt wrong on a moral level, like walking by an injured traveler on the road, ignoring their pleas for help.

    Now I see why people make deals with the fae.

    ¡°Why does she want us to do this?¡± Olza asked.

    In his focus on making a deal with a magical being, Hans had neglected to pose such an obvious yet important question. ¡°Yeah,¡± he added. ¡°Why?¡±

    ¡°I swore I wouldn¡¯t say more than I already did,¡± Becky said, sincerely apologetic. ¡°I told her you were the cautious type. She said she¡¯d answer any questions you had herself. We¡¯ll meet her on the way to the cabin.¡±

    ¡°When?¡±

    ¡°First thing.¡±

    Hans sighed. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, Becky. I can¡¯t. I need to be here for the next caravan.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s urgent, boss. We can be quick.¡±

    A soft desperation gleamed in Becky¡¯s eyes. This was important to her. She had always done as he asked no matter how big the request, and she trusted in his judgment even when her life was in danger. Were it not for Becky, squonks would have killed him and much of Gomi long before any outsider could notice something had gone wrong in the remote mountain town. And she had never acted as if that entitled her to special treatment.

    ¡°Let¡¯s be quick, then,¡± Hans said.

    Quest Update: Help Becky by considering a deal with the Lady of the Forest.

    ***

    The Becks and Buru led Hans along the trail to the cabin. At roughly an hour before noon, they turned sharply and began traveling through the forest. Though the Druids moved with complete certainty, there was no path that Hans could see.

    Like the Becks, Buru didn¡¯t leave a trail, disturbing nary a leaf as his hulking figure passed quietly between trees and over trickling creaks. The Guild Master, meanwhile, became increasingly aware of how heavy his footfalls were by comparison, and how much of a trail he left behind even when he tried his hardest not to.

    New Quest: Ask Becky if non-Druids can learn silent walking and snow walking.

    On any other journey, Hans would have asked Becky right away, but he picked up on a sense of reverence in the way the Druids behaved when they left the trail. The change was subtle, but it had the feeling of moving through a noble family¡¯s home.

    Keep your voices down. Don¡¯t touch anything. Speak when spoken to.

    As the sun centered itself overhead, the party came upon a tree that was larger than any of the old growth Hans had seen around Gomi. He had already found Gomi¡¯s oldest trees to be humbling. Now, standing next to a tree as wide as the guild hall gave him the same feeling he had in museums. Like seeing a stone tablet carved by a forgotten civilization, that single tree represented centuries of history, perhaps more. And this tree made Gomi¡¯s other old growth look like saplings.

    How have I never noticed this tree?

    They were off the trail, sure, but a tree of this size was like a mother hen holding her wings open to shade her chicks. It would be hard to miss.

    Rising like a wizard tower, that feeling of awe strengthened as Hans followed the Druids to the nearest side of the colossal tree. Becky gestured for Buru to go ahead of her. The tusk put an open palm against the tree and closed his eyes.

    Less than a minute later, Buru opened his eyes and said, ¡°She is ready to see us.¡±

    Before Hans could ask him to elaborate, the Apprentice Druid walked around the tree, going out of sight for a moment with the Becks following shortly behind. The Guild Master half-jogged to catch up.

    When he had first approached the tree, the land beyond it was more forest, dense with hardy mountain trees and littered with rocks. Now, moving around to the other side of the massive tree, he saw a small clearing lit by golden sunlight. A small cabin sat at the far end, a design similar to the structure Becky built for Hans in the early days of investigating the Polza patch.

    Becki grazed on the grass while her master moved to sit on a round log. Next to Becky, a feminine figure watched a flower sprout from her palm, her body like a sculpture of found materials in nature. Vines, leaves, bark, soil, and pebbles linked with another to define her shape. When she turned, she revealed an arm formed from bones of all sizes. Some were bleached from ages in the sun while others still had tufts of fur at the end, like scavengers had only just recently stripped the meat away.

    Hans thought he saw the clover forming her lower jaw bend into a smile, but he wasn¡¯t sure.

    Buru inclined his head respectfully to the dwarf and then to the woman before sitting cross-legged in the grass. It was as if the four of them were finding a place around a campfire.

    ¡°It¡¯s rude to stare,¡± Becky said. ¡°This is the Lady of the Forest.¡±

    Still unsure of what that meant exactly, he mirrored the respect the Druids had shown the plant creature. He guessed that she was some form of dryad or nymph, but he had never met one in person. The accounts he had read of adventurers interacting with such beings were a few generations old. He couldn¡¯t recall hearing of a dryad encounter happening in his lifetime.

    When the plant creature spoke, her voice sounded as if it arrived with the wind instead of originating from her mouth, giving every syllable an ethereal quality that was both whispered directly into his ear and echoed from a distant, unseen mountainside. ¡°Well met, adventurer,¡± she said. ¡°My friends tell me you can help my forest.¡±

    By friends, he assumed she meant Becky and Buru. Not subjects. Not acolytes. Friends. Though Hans had heard several people cover the word ¡°friend¡± with manipulative slime, the Lady seemed sincere. Or was she just that good at disguising her intentions?

    ¡°My sisters and I are few, one for each forest in the world,¡± the Lady continued. ¡°I tend this forest and have done so from the very first tree. Ah, your face already bears the human qualities of confusion. You may ask your questions as you need.¡±

    ¡°What does it mean to ¡®tend¡¯ the forest? Like you keep order?¡±

    Her shaking head sounded like rustling leaves. ¡°The idea of order is newer than you realize, and order is not the way of nature. The wilderness thrives on chaos. What you see as cruel, like a wolf eating a fawn or an old bear falling to the ambition of his sons, is not good or bad. It simply is.¡±

    Hans felt like he understood, but her answer still seemed vague and indirect. ¡°How do you ¡®tend¡¯ chaos?¡±

    ¡°I am told your rulers often keep gardens, fields of flowers and trees carefully selected and cared for by scores of gardeners. Despite the apparent order of their planting, they still live in chaos. They can¡¯t control the sun or the rains. They depend on bees to visit and move among their blossoms. Birds nest in their trees, and rabbits forage the garden for food. I don¡¯t own my garden. I don¡¯t create its inhabitants from my will. I see the beauty of chaos where your people cannot.¡±

    Wanting to choose his words carefully in the presence of the Lady, he opted to simply nod to indicate his understanding.

    ¡°One of my sisters has fallen,¡± the Lady continued, ¡°and these Druids have graciously offered to see to it that the same does not happen here in our forest.¡±

    ¡°Fallen how?¡±

    ¡°I can¡¯t say why a star stops shining. I can only see that it has gone dark.¡± The Lady gestured for Becky to take over.

    ¡°I¡¯m guessing the war did it,¡± Becky said. ¡°Our Lady wants to preserve her domain to keep the same from happening here.¡±

    ¡°War isn¡¯t chaos?¡±

    Leaves rustled again. ¡°A seed riding the fur of a bear to grow wherever it falls is chaos,¡± the Lady said. ¡°A forest cut to nothing and its earth salted so that it may never be a forest again is simple cruelty. The end of life. There cannot be chaos without life.¡± Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.

    ¡°I think I understand,¡± Hans said, hesitantly. He recalled hearing that the orc army was razing whole fields and forests. ¡°What are you asking me to do?¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s this bird called the zout,¡± Becky said. ¡°Acts like a normal bird, but when it lays its eggs, it plants itself in the ground. The Lady says zouts would absorb the salt.¡±

    ¡°Right, but it''s extinct.¡±

    The Lady nodded. ¡°You can change that, Guild Master.¡±

    ¡°Uhh¡­ I¡¯m not the forest goddess here.¡±

    Her laughter sounded like hummingbird wings and chickadee chirps. ¡°I¡¯m no goddess. A gardener helps their garden thrive, but they cannot create the flowers.¡±

    ¡°But a dungeon core could.¡± Hans said simply.

    ¡°Seems like the kind of deal that you¡¯d get all excited about,¡± Becky added. ¡°We help the forest, and we help Gomi. It¡¯s a good trade.¡±

    A permanent watch around the entire forest border is a good trade.

    The biggest problem¨Cout of several¨CHans could see was that he had never seen or heard of a zout, which meant he had no idea what he was actually resurrecting. A conniving being, the kind who reveled in the suffering of others, might want to trick him into introducing an ancient horror to the present world. All they knew about the zout came from the Lady, and she could easily omit that the bird also fed exclusively on infants and sweet old grandmothers.

    Furthermore, he wasn¡¯t sure he could imagine the zout the way he imagined an imp or a camahueto. If that mattered, his suggestion to the dungeon core could fail because, until now, everything the dungeon grew came from one of Hans¡¯ vivid memories. He shared that concern with Becky, the Lady, and Buru. He had nearly forgotten that Buru was there as the Apprentice Druid hadn¡¯t moved since he first sat in the grass.

    The Lady told Hans to be still, which made him want to do anything but. Becky promised he was not in danger.

    A set of thin vines extended from the Lady¡¯s feet and climbed Hans, wrapping his face with the gentleness of a mother comforting a child. His vision flashed white, and the sensation of falling into a river of fresh snow melt washed over his body. From the white, a vision of a bird a little smaller than a chicken emerged. It had emerald feathers and a line of white dapples starting at its pointed beak, running up its head and down its back like drops of paint.

    The vision formed in his mind like a memory. His brain told him it was familiar, that he had seen this bird with his own eyes, lingering somewhere between the near-reality of a dream and the complete fiction of imagination.

    The cold came again and so did the white.

    Next, he saw what resembled an exceptionally slender earth element with thick roots woven through its body. He felt himself reach for his sword, but nothing changed in the vision. The monster continued lumbering toward him.

    When Hans opened his eyes, the Lady¡¯s vines retreated down his body, disappearing within her form a moment later.

    Before a string of curses could escape Hans¡¯ lips, as the experience had been jarring, the Lady spoke. ¡°Now you have seen a zout. I saw that you will never swear an oath on my behalf, so in exchange, I have given you something you desire. Repay that kindness by keeping my confidence as the Druids do.¡±

    When he opened his mouth to ask a question¨Cwell, a great many questions¨Cthe forest around him changed. It didn¡¯t transform or fade or even noticeably shift. It was like he had fallen asleep on a wagon and woken up somewhere completely new, two distant places separated by one immeasurably small blink.

    The cabin and field were gone, replaced by the forest he saw before Buru touched the tree. Becki stood near him, chewing a mouthful of green grass. The boar seemed to swallow it with sadness. With the Lady of the Forest gone, so was her snack. In front of Hans, where the lady once stood, he saw a scattering of leaves, vines, sticks, and bones.

    Quest Update: Grow zouts to complete the deal with the Lady of the Forest.

    ¡°Becky,¡± Hans said flatly. ¡°Explain.¡±

    Only then did it occur to him that the forest spirit may still be able to hear him, but that was less important than his curiosity. They had the whole walk to the cabin to sort through the hundreds of questions racing through his mind.

    ¡°How long have you known about the Lady of the Forest?¡±

    ¡°Since I was a kid,¡± Becky answered. ¡°I don¡¯t know how much I can tell you. The Lady swears us to secrecy.¡±

    ¡°Us?¡±

    ¡°Druids. Like me and Buru.¡±

    The Apprentice spoke softly from the back of the line. ¡°Only Druids are permitted to meet the Lady of the Forest.¡±

    ¡°Well cover me in ear wax,¡± Becky laughed. ¡°I guess that makes you an honorary Druid, Hans.¡±

    Nooooooo.

    Stammering, Hans changed the subject. ¡°What do you do for her?¡±

    ¡°With. Aint ever been for. But recently it¡¯s been the mountains and borders. She can¡¯t see there.¡±

    With more prodding, Becky explained that the Lady of the Forest asked for the Druid¡¯s perspective as much as she asked for her to visit places she couldn¡¯t see. Those places were usually at the borders of the forest, where the Lady¡¯s reach ended and another spirit¡¯s began. Becky would report on their health and pass messages between the two. Sometimes, the message had passed through eleven or more dryads before reaching Gomi. In return, the Lady taught Becky spells and informed her of peculiarities. For example, the Lady sent Becky to the Polza patch originally. She may have never found the little purple flowers otherwise.

    ¡°Does us building out here bother the Lady?¡± Hans asked. ¡°We¡¯ve chopped down a lot of trees already.¡±

    Becky shrugged. ¡°Birds build nests. Beavers build dams.¡±

    ¡°True. Sorry for all the questions, but I¡¯ve been thinking about Druid magic a lot actually,¡± Hans said, remembering one of his quests. ¡°Can someone like me learn to walk on snow or not leave a trail? A non-Druid I mean.¡±

    ¡°But Mr. Hans,¡± Buru began, speaking with no hint of humor, ¡°you are a Druid.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ll come back to that later.¡± Or never. ¡°Could I learn it or no?¡±

    Becky looked over her shoulder and said, ¡°Absolutely. The Lady can grant it to anyone I bet.¡±

    Hans knew what that meant. The Lady of the Forest would ask for a quest or a favor or an offering. If he passed that test, he could learn the ability.

    Was it worth it? That would need more thought.

    Quest Update: Decide whether or not to pursue silent walking and snow walking.

    ***

    Chisel, Yotuli, Honronk, Bel, and Lee were at the cabin with the new Apprentices, Kane and Quentin. Terry, Sven, and Tandis would rotate in for the next shift. Though the Apprentice Black Mage would have to work two rotations in a row, as he was officially in a party with Terry and Sven, he wanted to catch up on his magery studies.

    Becky and Buru agreed to wait for their arrival on the surface. Buru was joining the next shift anyway, and he hadn¡¯t trained with Becky in person for some time, though she insisted the Apprentice Druid progressed just fine.

    For now, Hans struggled to explain why dungeon runs would now include capturing a bird¨Cunharmed¨Cand delivering it to the surface.

    ¡°Are we doing bird drills then?¡± Yotuli asked.

    ¡°For what?¡± Hans asked in return.

    ¡°So we learn how to catch the zout bird or whatever?¡±

    ¡°Oh, I have no idea how to do that.¡±

    Yotuli hoped that was a joke, but it wasn¡¯t.

    Hans opted to not grow the odd earth elemental he saw in his vision. He wanted to, that could not be denied, but he knew better than to take on a new monster without research.

    New Quest: Research the root-covered earth elemental.

    In happier news, the dungeon core did as it was asked on two accounts. On the first front, it grew a zout. Just one. It appeared in the room with the imps, who oddly had no interest in or aggression toward the mini green chicken with the long beak. Because of that disinterest, the zout had plenty of cover to escape the room before the imps were defeated. Though the bird ran and didn¡¯t fly, it could jump and glide, making it surprisingly nimble.

    The adventurers, with Hans leading the way, chased the zout around the dungeon for the next three hours.

    After the first half hour, Hans announced it was more strategically sound for him to watch the hallway to the surface than to chase the zout. Bel and Lee arrived at a similar conclusion not long after and guarded the other end of the hallway, lest the zout interfere with the dungeon core.

    That left the Apprentices running back and forth, their backs hunched and their arms outstretched. They tried several methods to corner and restrain the bird, but it was quick to scurry through the smallest of openings. Eventually, Yotuli hid around a corner and dove at it headfirst. The Apprentice Ranger refused to open her arms until they were in a closed room, preferring to carry the bird up through the Bone Goblins rather than risk having to run it away again. That meant standing back away from every encounter leading up to the surface.

    Fortunately, they had plenty of adventurers to manage running the Bone Goblins backward, a slightly easier series of encounters as they were guaranteed the element of surprise in nearly every battle. Hans was proud to see Kane and Quentin held their own. Though they weren¡¯t first into the boss room, they were the lead on a few of the goblin skirmishes. They moved like adventurers, and they stuck to their training.

    As the party walked down the final hall, toward the ladder to the surface, Chisel asked, ¡°We¡¯re doing this every time?¡±

    Hans nodded.

    ¡°Adventuring is an odd gig.¡±

    ¡°Well Chisel,¡± Hans said, ¡°it will probably get weirder.¡±

    Bel and Lee agreed.

    ¡°One time, we took a job hunting titan eels,¡± Bel began, pausing to give Lee time to finish her groan. ¡°This chef wanted them alive, and those guys are as long as we are tall.¡±

    ¡°Like wrestling giant demon sausages,¡± Lee added.

    Bel described the semiraw dish the chef made from the eels, and how he warned them not to take too long to finish their plates. If the meat sat for more than an hour after death, it turned deadly poisonous. Bel and Lee passed on trying a dish.

    Yotuli was halfway through a rant about the eating habits of nobles when she remarked, ¡°Are we going uphill?¡± They were and had been for some time. Soon, the party saw a staircase and daylight ahead, confirming that Hans¡¯ second suggestion to the core had been accepted as well.

    He smiled.

    Quest Complete: Pick a practical secret passage design to disguise the dungeon entrance.

    ***

    Open Quests (Ordered from Old to New):

    Progress from Gold-ranked to Diamond-ranked.

    Mend the rift with Devon.

    Complete the manuscript for "The Next Generation: A Teaching Methodology for Training Adventurers."

    Ask Charlie about the history and legends of the Dead End Mountains

    Protect Gomi.

    Find a way to share new knowledge without putting Gomi at risk.

    Talk to Gomi¡¯s tradespeople about apprenticeships for the children.

    Find new ways to safely sell a larger volume of reagents.

    Decide whether or not to pursue silent walking and snow walking.

    Grow zouts to complete the deal with the Lady of the Forest.

    Research the root-covered earth elemental.

 Chapter 64: Base Upgrades

    Where there used to be natural caverns, the dungeon hallway now ended with stairs and a flat landing, like the dungeon was the basement of the cabin. Opposite the stairs, the dungeon opened into the forest.

    Familiar masonry replaced the bottom of the pit, but the trapdoor and ladder were intact. Looking up, Hans could see the ladder punching up through a broken hole in the dungeon ceiling before transitioning to raw pit again, the one he had dug by hand several months ago. He had worried his suggestion would seal it off completely, so seeing those cursed shovel marks was actually a relief.

    As the party walked toward the light, Hans said, ¡°I wasn¡¯t sure if this would work or not. This will be our primary entry point from now on. You all gotta be tired of carrying gear and loot up that ladder.¡±

    Every head nodded.

    ¡°We¡¯re going to disguise it as a plain old basement cellar. For now, we¡¯ll build a quick gate to cover it.¡±

    ¡°Mr. Hans,¡± Yotuli asked. ¡°What do I do with this?¡± The Ranger referred to the zout still wiggling to escape her arms.

    ¡°Oh. I totally forgot. Go release it outside.¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°Let it loose in the forest.¡±

    Yotuli didn¡¯t move. Where she couldn¡¯t wait to be rid of the zout before, she now seemed unwilling to let it go. ¡°But why? We spent all that time catching it.¡±

    Hans shrugged. ¡°It¡¯s a Becky project, Druid stuff.¡±

    The Apprentice waited, giving Hans time to confirm he was joking. When he did no such thing, Yotuli walked out of the dungeon and set the zout on the ground. The bird sped off into the forest, disappearing into the wilderness almost immediately.

    Quest Complete: Grow zouts to complete the deal with the Lady of the Forest.

    When Hans followed Yotuli out of the dungeon, he turned to look at the new entrance from the outside. He put his face in his hands and swore.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± Kane asked.

    The Guild Master pointed to the entrance and its surroundings. In his mind, Hans pictured the cabin with a basement, but he had not accounted for the grade of the mountain side. In order for a door to sit directly below the cabin, a great deal of dirt and stone had to be moved, which also explained the stairs. The pit was deeper than a basement, so the dungeon core aligned its construction with Hans¡¯ request.

    Just as the dungeon core seemed to decide on its own that a staircase was necessary, it had decided to carve a wide swath of dirt, extending three cabin-lengths to either side of the original. Looking at it now, Hans saw that doing otherwise would have left him with a tunnel leading to the door of his new basement. If he wanted a door aligned with the walls of the cabin like he asked, this was the only way.

    Dungeon wall held the mountain back, descending into a precise right angle of flat terrain. Though the core moved earth to accommodate the suggestion, it didn¡¯t remove any plants. If a tree grew a foot from where there was now a wall, it was lowered, growing uninterrupted on the now flat ground with no apparent side effects.

    Nothing about the new scenery looked natural, least of all the two lengths of exposed dungeon wall. His secret passage didn¡¯t look so secret.

    Quest Completion Revoked: Pick a practical secret passage design to disguise the dungeon entrance.

    Quest Update: Find a new design to disguise the dungeon entrance. Bonus Objective: Don¡¯t be an idiot.

    ¡°I don¡¯t see why you¡¯re so upset,¡± Lee said when Hans finished ranting about his mistake.

    ¡°We need to undo this. It¡¯s too obvious, but I don¡¯t know if the core will allow that.¡±

    Yotuli stood next to Hans and faced the wall, studying it. ¡°Just cover it up. People build retaining walls all the time. If that wall was Gomi stone it would just look like a lot of work.¡±

    Considering the scene again, Hans admitted Yotuli made a good point.

    Quest Complete: Find a new design to disguise the dungeon entrance.

    Bonus Objective Failed: Don¡¯t be an idiot.

    The more Hans pictured the dungeon wall as a plain stone laid and mortared by hand, the more he agreed that this new entrance could work. No matter what they did with the wall, the entrance needed to be secured for the long-term. He pictured the outside covered with a wooden door, but inside, they would do something more akin to a jail cell or a bank vault.

    New Quest: Talk to the blacksmith about metal doors for the dungeon.

    Ultimately, Hans decided Yotuli was right about the exterior wall. ¡°That¡¯s a lot of stone to move.¡±

    ¡°Half a mountain of it, for sure,¡± Yotuli said.

    ¡°Good thing we have Apprentices,¡± Hans said, patting her back with a smile before walking up and around the wall to enter the cabin.

    Yotuli called. ¡°I was wrong! We should ask the core to undo this!¡±

    ***

    After letting Becky know that the zout request had been fulfilled, Hans, Kane, and Quentin began the journey back to Gomi. The boys had been at the cabin long enough for their skill level, and with Tandis rotating in, the cabin would be cramped anyway. They were likely to pass her and the Apprentices on their way home.

    ¡°Why are we walking so fast?¡± Quentin asked.

    ¡°Builders from Osare are coming in with the merchants to build our wall. I want to be there before they are.¡±

    Other than the one question, neither Kane nor Quentin complained about the pace. Hans did but only in his mind. In Hoseki, if a restaurant was more than six blocks from his home, he would pick somewhere else to eat instead. In Gomi, walking for a day between destinations was normal, and he had been walking a lot these days.

    Fortunately, they made good time. A well-worn trail unobstructed by snow was far easier to traverse. They might be able to make it back to town without having to camp for the night.

    Hans used the time to talk to the boys about their training and experience in the dungeon.

    ¡°Lee is teaching me to be a Spellsword,¡± Kane said. ¡°I can¡¯t cast anything yet, but she¡¯s incredible to train with. And on runs? I¡¯ve never seen anything like it.¡±

    ¡°Ask him about the spells,¡± Quentin said to his friend.

    ¡°Lee said I should only learn spells with no visual elements, like Force-based magic, so I can keep my class a secret if I wanted. Do you agree with that?¡±

    ¡°Those kinds of questions are tough to answer. Adventurers have strong opinions about everything. When you get to Lee¡¯s level, what¡¯s right or wrong isn¡¯t as clear as it is at Apprentice or Iron.¡±Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.

    ¡°I don¡¯t get it,¡± Kane said. ¡°The technique works well, or it doesn¡¯t. Right?¡±

    The Guild Master shook his head. ¡°It depends. It depends on a lot of things, actually. Bel and Lee have trained enough that their style is as much about what they don¡¯t do as what they choose to do. They¡¯ve learned so much that they can¡¯t possibly use it all. For an adventurer like Lee, whether she realizes it or not, the advice she gives sometimes assumes that the rest of your build is the same as hers, or will be.

    ¡°If Lee specializes in Force magic and wants to keep that hidden, I¡¯d bet her swordplay is built around that idea. If you want to hide your casting¡­ Push, for instance. If she uses that spell from a distance, it¡¯s obvious she cast it because if a spell wasn¡¯t what knocked the guy across the yard, what else could it have been?¡±

    ¡°So she needs to make contact to hide it.¡±

    ¡°Yes, but more than that. If she blocks an attack and then uses Push, well, that doesn¡¯t make sense either, right? If she wants to hide the spell, she can only cast it with strikes that would reasonably match the trajectory of the spell. That¡¯s a complicated thing to do if you want to use your spells regularly in a battle.¡±

    ¡°So it¡¯s better not to try and hide that I¡¯m a Spellsword?¡± Kane asked.

    Hans put his palm on his face. ¡°What I¡¯m saying is that sometimes what¡¯s right or wrong is up to your tastes.¡±

    ¡°Really?¡±

    Hans nodded.

    ¡°I¡¯d rather my sword be coated in green fire.¡±

    Yeah, whether he knows it or not, Kane¡¯s made his choice.

    Quentin spoke up. ¡°Can I re-ask a question?¡±

    That got Hans¡¯ attention. He couldn¡¯t recall a student ever making that particular request before. He said for Quentin to go ahead.

    ¡°Why aren¡¯t you Diamond?¡± While Hans was temporarily in shock, Quentin hurried through a justification. ¡°I don¡¯t mean to be disrespectful, but Bel said if you want to be Diamond you should think about it when you¡¯re an Apprentice. But I don¡¯t know if I want to be a Diamond if that¡¯s not what you did.¡±

    The Guild Master walked in silence for a long while. He enjoyed the sound of the leaves crunching beneath him and the spring air moving through his lungs.

    Didn¡¯t you say your job as a teacher was to keep students from making the same mistakes you did?

    ¡°The Adventurers¡¯ Guild makes you swear an oath that you will never speak of the Diamond test to anyone who isn¡¯t Diamond-ranked themselves.¡±

    ¡°Oh, you don¡¯t¨C¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s fine.You both deserve to know. When you test for Diamond, the guild assigns you the quest, supposedly based on your specific strengths so that someone like a Healer wouldn¡¯t end up on a job that a world-class warrior would find challenging. That kind of matchup is over before it begins, so the quests are meant to be a fair test.

    ¡°All of that¡¯s supposed to be a secret too, but too many Gold-rankers have failed and blabbed I guess. What¡¯s not well known is that they are all solo quests, and all of them are in the frontier. They all end with a magic item that the guild keeps. Somewhere in there, in the natural completion of the quest, you¡¯ll find or acquire the ability that takes you to Diamond.

    ¡°Devontes met a deity that offered him Paladin abilities, but that¡¯s an outlier. Mazo¡¯s quest had her fight a young dragon who had abilities like a Blue Mage. When the dragon died, her mana pool quadrupled, and it was already unnaturally large. Don¡¯t ask me how because I don¡¯t know, but that¡¯s given her a huge advantage over other mages. That little show she put on you for you? Most mages would be lucky to cast a spell that powerful twice a day, but between her pool and regeneration, she can move a ton of mana and keep moving it.

    ¡°Gret, the Rogue I¡¯ve talked about before, his quest was in this kind of ancient prison. It was a maze, and monsters stalked him the entire time, trying to drive him into traps or corners. He read a scroll that gave him a Stealth ability when he cracked the vault at the bottom.¡±

    ¡°Will Gret visit like Mazo?¡± Kane asked.

    ¡°No. He¡¯s dead.¡±

    ¡°Oh.¡±

    ¡°Disintegration trap.¡± After a few minutes of crinkling leaves breaking the silence, Hans continued his answer to Quentin¡¯s original question.

    Hans¡¯ Diamond quest sent him into a terathan hive, a species of monster that combined the body of a giant spider with the torso of a humanoid. Like other monsters with humanoid characteristics, terathans came in a variety of classes, from warriors to casters, and were highly intelligent. Their spider qualities covered their bodies in a hard chitin, and even the drones¨Cthe weakest terathan variety¨Chad forearms shaped into crude but sharp, serrated machetes, making them quite dangerous despite their low place in the terathan hierarchy.

    The females could spin webs, and their bites were venomous. The more mature females could spit that venom as far as an archer could fire an arrow. They also tended to be larger and more aggressive than males.

    On top of all of that, there were a lot of terathans, up to 200 in an established hive.

    ¡°I tried three times,¡± Hans said. ¡°On the first two attempts, I retreated from poison. Once I got to the spitters, I couldn¡¯t drink potions fast enough. Every drop felt like getting bit by a rattlesnake. On the third attempt, Mazo came after me, cut me out of a web. If she hadn¡¯t, I would have been dinner.

    ¡°After that, the guild barred me from trying again, not that I could if I wanted to. I¡¯ve never really felt like myself since then. Not as fast. Not as strong. Less resilient. If the best version of me didn¡¯t succeed, this version definitely wouldn¡¯t.¡±

    ¡°Mr. Hans,¡± Kane cautiously began, ¡°What happens to a Diamond quest if it¡¯s not completed?¡±

    Hans swallowed. ¡°It gets passed on. Devon drew the same quest. He cleared it.¡±

    ¡°So¡­ The deity could have offered you the Paladin deal instead?¡±

    ¡°Maybe, but hard to say for sure.¡±

    Quentin spoke. ¡°Did you know he got the same quest before or after?¡±

    ¡°Before. I helped him prep, and he got to the queen in a day. He burned the hive down on his way out.¡±

    ¡°Sounds like I don¡¯t want to be Diamond,¡± Quentin said.

    ¡°No, don¡¯t say that,¡± Hans replied earnestly. ¡°Make that decision for yourself. If you want to go for Diamond, you have my full support.¡±

    ¡°We could do that in Gomi?¡±

    ¡°Well, no,¡± Hans had to admit.

    He didn¡¯t know how the guild sourced the Diamond quests. If Quentin wanted to reach Diamond, he would need to go through the Hoseki chapter to do so, but how could he do that if he never ranked under the guild officially? In Gomi, they had decided to not add new registrations to the guild roster to avoid attracting attention, which meant their adventurers would gain none of the benefits of being an official adventurer.

    Part of him believed the roster wouldn¡¯t matter anyway. Any recommendations from Hans for potential Diamonds were not welcome. The Adventurers¡¯ Guild told him that specifically.

    That reminded Hans of a quest he had been putting off.

    New Quest: Find a way for Gomi adventurers to benefit from their rightful ranks in the Adventurers¡¯ Guild.

    Footsteps in the distance got everyone¡¯s attention. Sven, Terry, and Tandis approached from the opposite direction. Sven waved a wiry arm when he spotted Hans and the boys. The Guild Master found the next few minutes excruciatingly awkward. He always felt that way walking toward someone he needed to talk to when they were far off yet making eye contact.

    Hans was still in a rush, so they didn¡¯t do much more than exchange pleasantries. He did ask if the caravan had arrived yet, though, and they said it hadn¡¯t. Before the parties went their separate ways, Tandis made sure to tell Quentin, ¡°Say hi to your dad for me!¡±

    Even before she was out of sight, Kane poked Quentin. ¡°Say hi to your dad for me.¡±

    ¡°Shut up,¡± Quentin said.

    ¡°If she¡¯s into your dad¡­¡±

    ¡°Shut up.¡±

    ¡°Quentin, hey,¡± Kane said, waiting for Quentin to look him in the face. ¡°Your mom is hot.¡±

    ¡°Shut up!¡± Quentin punched Kane¡¯s body as the young tusk wheezed from laughing so hard.

    Hans was grateful he was in the lead. He could hide his own laughter better that way.

    ***

    Open Quests (Ordered from Old to New):

    Progress from Gold-ranked to Diamond-ranked.

    Mend the rift with Devon.

    Complete the manuscript for "The Next Generation: A Teaching Methodology for Training Adventurers."

    Ask Charlie about the history and legends of the Dead End Mountains

    Protect Gomi.

    Find a way to share new knowledge without putting Gomi at risk.

    Talk to Gomi¡¯s tradespeople about apprenticeships for the children.

    Find new ways to safely sell a larger volume of reagents.

    Decide whether or not to pursue silent walking and snow walking.

    Research the root-covered earth elemental.

    Talk to the blacksmith about metal doors for the dungeon.

    Find a way for Gomi adventurers to benefit from their rightful ranks in the Adventurers¡¯ Guild.

 Chapter 65: Hireable NPCs

    Hans beat the caravan by a day and half. He told Kane and Quentin to take the next three days off. They argued, but he told them it was required. Overtraining had ended its share of adventurer careers, and he wouldn¡¯t let that happen to any of his students.

    In between kids¡¯ classes, Charlie walked Hans around the neighborhood, introducing or reintroducing him to carpenters and masons who would be good for the dungeon campus build. No one was against helping, but they were relieved when the Mayor assured them it was a paid job. If it wasn¡¯t, the tradesmen would lose a good chunk of their income for the year, which was a tough sacrifice to ask of someone who had a family to feed.

    Getting local workers out of town while the palisade crew was in Gomi was risky, but Charlie proposed they have the visitors start their work on the exact opposite side of town when they arrived. If all of Gomi¡¯s workers didn¡¯t leave at once, they could stroll out of town just before dawn, heading to the cabin with no one the wiser.

    Hearing they didn¡¯t need to be out of town before the caravan arrived, every member of the operation was happy to have a few extra days to pack and plan. Early in that process, Hans met with the Mayor along with Gomi¡¯s master mason and master carpenter to review the campus plans.

    ¡°This is the dungeon entrance beneath the cabin here,¡± Hans began, pointing at his best attempt at a blueprint drawing. ¡°We need it to be the most convenient yet least noticeable place in the whole area. We¡¯ll be going in and out a lot with gear and loot, and we need to not attract attention if an outsider visits.

    ¡°My thought is we put the armory here. The front door will look toward the center like any normal campus design, but the backdoor will open directly onto a back-alley path facing the dungeon. When things are normal, there¡¯s a direct path out of the armory and into the dungeon. If an outsider is around, we can keep the main doors closed and post guards at the armory backdoor. There is nothing unusual about guards watching an armory, but really they¡¯ll be watching the secret dungeon entrance.

    ¡°If someone does find their way to the back of the armory, it will be utterly uninteresting. Just the dirty back of an armory and a dusty old cellar.¡±

    The carpenter was a pudgy but strong human, showing the kind of age and wear that came from forty years of working in the sun. He pointed a stubby finger at the back door.

    ¡°What if we put windows here and put the guards inside? Lazy guards look out windows. Looks innocent to anyone else.¡±

    Next the carpenter subdivided the interior of the armory. A wide hallway ran from door to door with security cells lining one side and various workstations lining the other. The only closed room on the workstation side was a two-bed infirmary. If an adventurer¡¯s injuries were so severe that the seconds between the dungeon exit and the proper infirmary mattered, they could save those seconds with the closer option.

    The master mason was a tusk and quite a bit younger than the carpenter. He arrived in Gomi recently as a refugee. His first job of the spring was repairing a leaky barn wall, and his obvious skill quickly attracted attention.

    ¡°We should do the cells in stone,¡± the mason said. ¡°If I¡¯m right that the good stuff is stored in those.¡±

    He was, and the carpenter agreed.

    The rest of their planning continued on like that. Hans explained his reasoning for each building, and the experts would offer their perspective on what they should change or consider. For the most part, Charlie observed quietly, chiming in on matters that directly connected back to Gomi. One such topic was how they intended to care for horses or donkeys up the mountain.

    Any doubt the Mayor had about the necessity of the road before was gone, which meant wagons would certainly be traveling back and forth with some frequency. In fact, the current campus plan would be near-impossible to execute with a walking trail alone. Therefore, the plan¡¯s lack of a stable was a serious oversight.

    ¡°What all would we need?¡± Hans asked.

    ¡°Well, hmm,¡± Charlie began. ¡°Should keep the wagons close to the armory. A long hike humping supplies will get old awfully quick. Horses near the wagons, but that¡¯s obvious. Come winter, you¡¯ll be real sorry if all of that is outside instead of indoors. A small paddock for the horses to stretch their legs is better for them than bein¡¯ locked in a stall for days. Not sure how we do that with all the rock, though.¡±

    ¡°Damn it. He¡¯s right,¡± Hans admitted. ¡°That means we can¡¯t put the dorms there.¡±

    At that point, they all agreed the plans were thorough, but they would need to see the build site in person to confirm anything for sure.

    If Hans wanted to be in town to keep an eye on the builders from Osare, he couldn¡¯t leave to take part in staking out the campus at the cabin. Delaying construction on his account would be a waste of good weather, so he put his trust in the carpenter and the mason. They were the experts, and they knew what he wanted to accomplish. He would only be in the way.

    Or I¡¯ll get to the cabin two months from now and discover everything is wrong. That¡¯s fine. Totally fine.

    ***

    The merchant caravan arrived with five additional wagons. Three of those wagons were loaded with builders and laborers while the remaining two wagons were stocked with their tools and supplies. Most of the materials they needed, namely the lumber, would be sourced locally, but they needed heavy duty saws, axes, shovels, and picks to do the rest, as well as food and camping gear for the stay.

    Galad already informed the Tribe that Gomi would be crawling with outsiders for a few weeks, so other than Galinda, no tusks would be in town where the visitors could see them. While that was usual practice when the caravan was in town, erecting the palisades would take more than two days, which was how long the merchants usually stayed¨Carriving one day, sleeping, and leaving the next.

    Hans and his young students relocated the majority of the training swords and shields to one of the Tribe barns. The children shouldn¡¯t have to miss out on something they enjoy because unsavory folk were about, Hans believed, so he happily went to them to run his classes.

    As the wagons pulled to a stop, the merchant Hans had been trading with waved and approached with a salesman smile, but a layer of genuine sincerity seemed to be in there as well, even if it was thin. Apologizing, Hans said they would talk later.

    He wanted to meet with the builders right away so no one was bored long enough to meander aimlessly around town. Once work began, the visitors from Osare wouldn¡¯t do much more than break their backs during the day, drink booze at night, and go to sleep early. He hoped.

    Mayor Charlie joined the Guild Master as they walked toward the group of wagons that came in behind the merchants.

    A squat dwarf in simple but well-made workman¡¯s attire separated from the wagons when he saw Hans and Charlie, meeting them partway across the clearing.

    ¡°Suppose yous are in charge?¡± the dwarf asked with an accent that sounded like he had been born in a southern kingdom. He extended a hand.

    ¡°You supposed right,¡± Charlie answered with his typical goofishly large grin, especially on a man his size. He was taller than the dwarf, but only just barely.

    They shared introductions. The dwarf said his name was Deeker and asked if they could walk the job site now. Hans and Charlie agreed. Deeker quickly retrieved a spool of string and a notebook from his wagon, and they began their journey around the perimeter of Gomi.

    Most of Deeker¡¯s questions were phrased as assumed suggestions.This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

    ¡°Yous want a buffer between the wall and homes, right?¡±

    ¡°Yous want this wall to work with the grade like so, yes?¡±

    ¡°Assuming yous want to keep the ditches out front for extra security?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m guessing we¡¯re going to set the drainage in these directions?¡±

    Hans knew a little bit about palisade construction from his basic studies of siege warfare, but he had never built one. The construction was relatively simple, but in their brief conversation, Deeker rattled off several factors he would have overlooked, such as drainage for the ditches that surrounded the walls. Without that, they would be filled with muddy stagnant water for most of the year, which was bad for the wood and great for mosquitoes.

    Deeker also talked about the different types and sizes of stone they would use in various parts of the build. The rocks used in setting the posts would be closer to gravel, while the earthen walls they would build on the interior of the palisade¨Creinforcement using the soil they dug for the ditches and posts¨Cwould use larger stones. Gomi wasn¡¯t short on stones, but his men would need to pound them to gravel by hand for part of the job.

    When Deeker asked how high they wanted the wall, he said they shouldn¡¯t go shorter than eight feet on account of the gnolls. Those bastards could jump, so eight feet of wall with a ditch four feet deep in front of it gave them a twelve-foot barrier. They could go taller, of course, but the price went up significantly.

    When they agreed on eight feet, Deeker slipped into what Hans had been waiting for from the start: the upsell.

    ¡°This last one is completely optional and a bit pricey, but it¡¯s a good idea if yous think this thing will face a serious attack. I¡¯ve got a guy who can cast Harden. Anything wood in the ground rots eventually, but with Harden, that¡¯s fifteen to twenty years away. Without it, probably need to start replacing posts around year four.

    ¡°If yous really want to be safe, I got a guy who will put wards all the way around. Not invincible, but it¡¯s like having a layer of iron on your palisade. He¡¯s worth the¨C¡±

    ¡°Harden is sufficient,¡± Charlie said. He looked at Hans to see if he disagreed. The Guild Master nodded his approval.

    The dwarf scribbled in his notebook. ¡°That¡¯s the important stuff. Where can we camp, and are any parts of these woods off limits for logging?

    Charlie said the area they were in was fine with him for a campsite. If they saw something better, it would probably be fine too but let him know. As for logging, he didn¡¯t have a preference, but Hans cut in.

    ¡°I¡¯m planning to build a chateau for myself, somewhere private, quiet, away from the riff raff,¡± he said to Deeker. ¡°Since you¡¯re cutting them down anyway, mind doing it where I want to build a road?¡±

    The Mayor put on his best look of disgust. ¡°Mr. Hans, we are very grateful for your presence in Gomi, but we can¡¯t use town funds for your own benefit.¡±

    ¡°If it¡¯s good for me, it benefits you too.¡±

    Charlie scowled at the Guild Master. Hans waved dismissively in the Mayor¡¯s face and turned his attention to Deeker. ¡°Well?¡±

    ¡°Aye, we can do that. That¡¯s extra work which means extra on the price, and we won¡¯t pull the stumps. If yous are good with that, show me where you want the road.¡±

    ¡°Works for us,¡± Hans said.

    ¡°The Adventurers¡¯ Guild will hear about this,¡± Charlie threatened.

    ¡°Be my guest,¡± Hans replied and motioned for Deeker to follow him.

    ¡°Bastard,¡± the Mayor muttered and stomped home.

    Hans showed Deeker the trail he wanted to transform into a road¨Cthe path leading to the cabin¨Cand the dwarf staked out a few reference points for width. They¡¯d want something wide enough for a wagon, but going slightly wider was recommended, Deeker explained. People have to work around wagons, and the closer trees were to the road, the more likely that a small mistake would turn into serious damage for a wagon.

    Taking that recommendation would cost extra, because of course it would, but Hans said that wasn¡¯t a problem. He told Deeker to add it to the town¡¯s tab and ignore Mayor Charlie. The little old man was mostly a figurehead and the Adventurers¡¯ Guild actually ran Gomi.

    Deeker shrugged. As long as he got paid, he didn¡¯t care to concern himself with disputes between locals.

    ¡°We¡¯ll get started tomorrow,¡± the dwarf said. ¡°We won¡¯t be logging for a few days. We put down the ditches first and then get to chopping.¡±

    Hans said that was fine and suggested they start at the watchtower at the front of town. Deeker agreed, saying he was thinking that¡¯d be best anyway. Being the good host, Hans walked the dwarf back to his camp.

    On his way back to seek out his merchant contact, Charlie saw Hans through the bakery window and opened the door to speak to him.

    ¡°Did he buy it?¡± Charlie asked.

    ¡°Yes, but I¡¯m not sure how proud we should be that we are convincing assholes.¡± The pair laughed.

    ***

    Hans could usually find an excuse to sequester himself in the guild hall for most of the day, but with the Osare builders muddling about, he wanted to spend more time outside. Running made-up errands wasn¡¯t as effective as a formal patrol, sure, but it gave him a better chance of spotting a problem before it grew into a disaster.

    His first stop was the blacksmith. Harry and Harriot swept the attached fletching workshop when he arrived, and they ran out to greet him as soon as they heard his voice. Harry showed Hans a toy his dad made for him, a convincing miniature suit of armor, and Harriot gave him an impromptu art show, flipping through multiple drawings.

    Their father politely sent them back to work and returned to discussing designs for dungeon doors. After some debate, they decided that the door¡¯s ultimate purpose was to keep monsters from escaping the dungeon. All of their other tactics, like disguising the exterior as a generic, mostly forgotten basement, were meant to keep people out.

    With intelligent monsters growing in the dungeon now, they would also need to secure the trapdoor just as well. Climbing a ladder was an inconvenience, but goblins were perfectly capable of climbing to the top and chopping through the cabin floor.

    Hans had no disagreement with the design of the door the blacksmith recommended: a heavy wooden door wrapped with metal reinforcement. It wouldn¡¯t be as strong as solid metal, but that much material would be difficult to haul up the mountain. The trapdoor would be constructed similarly, but to finalize it, they¡¯d need to consult the carpenter and the mason on how best to secure it.

    The only problem they couldn¡¯t solve was how best to lock the new doors. Locking them from the outside seemed like the best choice, but Hans imagined himself dungeon crawling knowing that he was locked in. He shivered.

    In theory, their dungeon rotations would render all of the entrance security¨Cin terms of keeping monsters in¨Cunnecessary, but picturing an adventurer frantically pounding on the inside of the door, begging for someone to let them out, disturbed Hans deeply. If they barred the door shut from the inside, where an adventurer could make the decision to unlock the door and leave, any gnoll or goblin could do the same.

    Keys felt like a bad idea for the same reason. If an adventurer lost their key, they were stuck. If they were injured or killed, an intelligent monster could take the key to use for themselves.

    Not reaching a solution they both liked, Hans and the blacksmith agreed to think on it. He couldn¡¯t start making the door yet anyhow. The carpenter and mason would provide the measurements to ensure they were exact, and they hadn¡¯t gotten to the build site yet.

    Quest Update: Secure interior dungeon doors without trapping adventurers inside.

    Before Hans departed, he asked after jobs for the kids¡¯ job board and told him about wanting to encourage more apprenticeships in Gomi. The jobs were easy to address, but the latter topic made the smith hesitate.

    ¡°I don¡¯t have a problem teaching the trade, but I also have a family. Training my own competition seems like it¡¯d be risky.¡±

    Hans didn¡¯t have a response for that concern, nor could he fault the smith for having it. After all, how many smiths could Gomi reasonably support? The answer seemed like the one they already had and no more.

    As he walked the town asking after guild jobs for the kids, he talked to the other tradespeople. They expressed similar feelings as the smith. Some even said they thought teaching an apprentice would be fun, but no one could see it being sustainable. Not even Hans could by the time he had talked to everyone.

    Quest Update: Rethink the apprentice idea to account for supply and demand.

    ***

    Open Quests (Ordered from Old to New):

    Progress from Gold-ranked to Diamond-ranked.

    Mend the rift with Devon.

    Complete the manuscript for "The Next Generation: A Teaching Methodology for Training Adventurers."

    Ask Charlie about the history and legends of the Dead End Mountains

    Protect Gomi.

    Find a way to share new knowledge without putting Gomi at risk.

    Rethink the apprentice idea to account for supply and demand.

    Find new ways to safely sell a larger volume of reagents.

    Decide whether or not to pursue silent walking and snow walking.

    Research the root-covered earth elemental.

    Secure interior dungeon doors without trapping adventurers inside.

    Find a way for Gomi adventurers to benefit from their rightful ranks in the Adventurers¡¯ Guild.

 Chapter 66: Unplanned Aggro

    The palisade build progressed more quickly than Hans expected. When a retired Iron-ranked knocked on the guild hall door, he learned why.

    ¡°Sorry to bother you, sir,¡± the man, about Hans¡¯ age and with a similar build but his hair was blonde and his face shaved, ¡°The guys and I can¡¯t seem to find the tavern.¡±

    Ah. One of the builders then.

    ¡°Isn¡¯t one,¡± Hans answered.

    When the man realized Hans wasn¡¯t joking, his face fell. ¡°Oh man. I told them that if anyone knew where to get a drink, it would be an adventurer.¡±

    ¡°Did you learn that from experience?¡±

    ¡°Yes, sir. Got to Iron and decided the life wasn¡¯t for me. Made me realize all my drinking buddies were adventurers, though.¡±

    ¡°Technically, you weren¡¯t wrong. I have a small stash, but I only have enough to offer you a mug.¡±

    ¡°I bloody knew it,¡± the man said, stomping a foot to celebrate. ¡°I won¡¯t tell a soul. Promise.¡±

    Hans poured a mug for both of them. It was deep enough in the afternoon for that to be reasonable, he told himself. The retired Iron introduced himself as Samson. A kobold job went bad, and he couldn¡¯t do it anymore. Ended up in the military and did several missions in the frontier.

    ¡°Most of the guys with us here were military,¡± Samson said. ¡°We built these damn walls anytime we were bedded down for more than a week, and we had to be fast. This one time, we had to dig while orcs shot arrows at us. One guy shoveled, the other had a tower shield to keep an arrow from killing either of them.¡±

    ¡°Sounds like you should have stayed in the Guild.¡±

    ¡°Right? It would have been less dangerous and pay way better. Could be a bigshot by now and retire to a little mountain town.¡± Samson smiled at his own joke as he took a drink.

    ¡°Nah, it¡¯s not like that,¡± Hans replied with a smile of his own.

    ¡°Come on. I saw one of the fliers. If you can afford to do that, can¡¯t tell me you haven¡¯t done well for yourself.¡±

    ¡°You saw my fliers?¡±

    ¡°Yeah. Is there¡­ Is there more than what¡¯s outside?¡±

    Hans laughed. ¡°It needs some work, but no, that¡¯s our training dungeon. We simulate dungeon scenarios so adventurers can practice the hard stuff safely.¡±

    ¡°Makes sense. Would have done us some good. That¡¯s for sure.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve got a question for you,¡± Hans said. ¡°How¡¯s Osare doing with this orc stuff? Not a lot of news out here.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s a little ugly. It¡¯s brought out the bad apples, you might say.¡±

    Hans nodded.

    ¡°Well,¡± Samson said, looking sadly at the bottom of his mug. ¡°Anywhere I can get food around here? If I don¡¯t come back with beer, should come back with something.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s a bakery. Actually, I¡¯ll walk you. I need to talk to the owner anyhow.¡±

    Charlie came out of the back when Hans opened the door and called in, asking if they were open. After Hans did the introductions, Charlie and Samson bantered for a minute before settling on an assortment of muffins and donuts. The mayor filled four bags. When Samson asked how much, Charlie said twenty coppers.

    The deal was so good that Samson stayed to talk longer, the three falling into a conversation full of shared laughter. Samson had visited many of the same towns as Charlie, and apparently, a few of the other builders had spent time in the Guild too. The Iron was inviting Hans to join him in the builder camp to swap more adventurer stories when Galinda came down the stairs.

    Samson stood stone-still as Galinda entered the room, kissed her husband on the forehead, offered the two adventurers a small wave, and went back upstairs.

    The Iron, mildly astonished, looked back and forth from where Galinda exited to where Hans and Charlie stood. Samson pushed the bags of donuts and muffins back across the counter toward the Mayor.

    ¡°You let that thing near food and still serve it to customers?¡± Samson asked.

    Hans released a long, disappointed sigh and broke Samson¡¯s jaw.

    ***

    Charlie entered the guild hall late that night. Hans made good progress on his fifth beer.

    ¡°Talked to Deeker,¡± the Mayor said, sitting on one of the hall benches. ¡°Price went up. No surprise there. We also had to cover the costs of a healing potion and give up a few additional silvers for restitution.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry,¡± Hans said.

    ¡°None of that,¡± Charlie retorted without hesitation. ¡°I¡¯m glad you socked him. If you hadn¡¯t, my hand was already on the bread knife. Never stabbed a person with a bread knife before. Was about to see what that felt like.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t blame you.¡±

    ¡°My point is that I would have been worse, and thank the gods Galinda didn¡¯t hear him. We¡¯d of had to mop for days. Either way, consequences would have been worse, and Deeker said it wasn¡¯t the first time his men were banned from entering the town that hired them.¡±

    So it could have been worse. A fistfight was easy to explain. Not that Samson participated enough to call it a fight. He mostly lay on the ground making strange noises.

    Charlie shrugged. ¡°Fights happen in small towns all the time. I think we¡¯re fine.¡±

    Hans agreed with that but still felt anxious.

    The Mayor excused himself, saying that Hans probably wanted to get to bed.

    He did, that was true, but he couldn¡¯t. His mind had raced too hard for too long that day, worrying over every possible iteration of what could go wrong because of his actions. Even though the situation sounded resolved, Hans would need an hour or so to come down. Always did. Gret and Devon could kill a monster and take a nap next to it right there, falling asleep right away. He was still jealous of that skill.

    A bestiary or two would help pass the time. Thankfully, his book order had come in with the recent caravan. Part of it that is. Anything related to spellcraft would come in at a trickle. This delivery only had one such book, an Apprentice-level tome on White magery. He flipped through it earlier, and it looked fairly comprehensive and well-executed.

    The book was divided by the various schools within that category, with Healing being the largest, which wasn¡¯t surprising. The sections on Barrier and Attunement magic were pretty sizable as well. The latter school specialized in buffs, debuffs, and status effects. A spell that put a person to sleep or a spell that made an ally more powerful¨Csuch as the Repel spell¨Cfell under Attunement.Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

    He liked how the author included a recommended progression for what spells to learn in each school and what spells all White Mages should know regardless of their specialization.

    But Hans had nothing for Honronk. The Black Mage Apprentice would never complain, and he might not even experience disappointment, but Hans still felt badly that he didn¡¯t have a new resource to share with him.

    Olza¡¯s suggestion that they grow elementals to harvest materials made Hans request a bestiary focused exclusively on hunting elementals. He flipped to the section on earth elementals, a surprisingly broad category. Though a difference in soil composition would technically be classified as a unique species, anything vaguely formed of dirt or rock was a plain old earth elemental to an adventurer.

    Earth elementals with any sort of plant matter were actually fairly rare, according to the bestiary. He had never really thought about it, but now that he did, he couldn¡¯t recall ever encountering an earth elemental with any vegetation incorporated into its body. The depth that was common for earth elementals was typically not conducive to plant life.

    Of these rare variations, the most likely to be seen were moss, mandrake, and petrified, which meant the plant life in the elemental had essentially fossilized. Recalling the vision the Lady of the Forest gave him, mandrake seemed most likely.

    Quest Update: Ask Olza if mandrake is worth the trouble of fighting an earth elemental.

    He suspected it wasn¡¯t.

    I¡¯m glad I didn¡¯t suggest it to the core.

    ***

    ¡°You made a deal with a spirit?!¡± Olza was both shocked and concerned.

    ¡°A deal, yes, but not an oath. Becky¡¯s known her since she was a kid, however long ago that is. She trusts her. And I probably shouldn¡¯t be telling you, so keep it a secret.¡±

    ¡°If Becky trusts her¡­ Well, extra mandrake root could be helpful,¡± Olza said. ¡°More so if we want to move forward with testing new recipes. Mandrake is in a lot of potions.¡±

    ¡°Really?¡±

    ¡°Yes. Why do you look upset by that?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s nothing. Earth elementals are just a lot of work.¡±

    ¡°If it makes you feel any better, we probably only need one elemental to have plenty if the bestiary size is accurate.¡±

    That did make him feel better.

    Quest Update: Commission maces from the blacksmith before growing a mandrake elemental.

    ¡°So you¡¯ve given the testing idea more thought?¡± Hans asked.

    ¡°Yeah. I think it works with your apprenticeship idea too. I¡¯ll need more hands to run tests with any sort of efficiency. Then if we find a recipe that¡¯s worth it, we¡¯d need help making it. Plenty of work in there to keep a few apprentices busy, actually.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s interesting,¡± Hans said.

    Olza stopped reading and looked up. ¡°Why?¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ve only thought about using the dungeon for reagents. Could we grow something for a blacksmith? A carpenter? We already can¡¯t figure out how to sell a full dungeon of reagents, and we can¡¯t really have trade apprentices if there¡¯s nothing for them to do.¡±

    ¡°The idea makes sense. What the dungeon could grow is your department though.¡±

    This development might impact two of his active quests, which didn¡¯t happen often.

    Active Quest: Rethink the apprentice idea to account for supply and demand.

    Active Quest: Find new ways to safely sell a larger volume of reagents.

    He combined them into one.

    Quest Update: Determine if the dungeon can support enough crafting materials to provide new tradespeople consistent, meaningful work.

    ¡°Hans? Did you hear me?¡±

    ¡°Sorry. What?¡±

    ¡°How¡¯s the stress of all of this for you? I¡¯m going a little crazy, I think.¡±

    Hans had to think before he answered. ¡°The plan being absurd helps in a weird way. Doesn¡¯t feel like it¡¯s real sometimes.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re not stressed?¡±

    He laughed. ¡°I didn¡¯t say that. I¡¯m pretty much always screaming for my life in my mind. I try to just keep moving. If I¡¯m busy enough, I forget how much risk we¡¯re taking.¡±

    ¡°Can we talk about that? The future, I mean. The builders haven¡¯t even been here for a day and it¡¯s already gone bad. Would help me to hear something hopeful.¡±

    Hans agreed, but he wasn¡¯t sure what to talk about.

    ¡°How about the dungeon expansions you¡¯ve been planning? Don¡¯t try to pretend you haven¡¯t mapped most of it out in your mind.¡±

    He admitted she was right, but he wasn¡¯t nearly as far along as she thought he was. He wasn¡¯t sure the dungeon would accept his ideas either.

    ¡°Learning to fight in the open is a skill, just like learning to fight in close quarters,¡± he said. ¡°If you¡¯re hunting something that flies, chances are good it will be somewhere with plenty of room for aerial movements.¡±

    But that felt like a very different kind of dungeon suggestion. All of his previous requests accommodated the dungeon corridor design, the largest room being the undead minotaur lair in the Bone Goblin section. If he wanted to grow a canyon large enough for harpy nests, for example, the dungeon core would have to move a lot of subterranean mountain.

    Whether the harpy canyon was a success or a failure, his next request would recreate one of his early Bronze-ranked jobs, clearing an infestation of furious fungi in a mining town. Their spores released a paralytic sleeping agent, which was their most dangerous quality. Once it paralyzed a victim, it eventually became compost for the mushrooms to continue growing. Most of the residents escaped safely, but the dwarf-sized mushrooms needed cleared out if they wanted to return to their homes.

    Learning to deal with area of effect attacks was essential to an adventurer¡¯s development, an invaluable skill according to Hans. If they could spare an adventurer to serve as an escort, a single potion of Magic Resistance would make that person immune to the spores. If a whole party was paralyzed¨Cexcept for the protected adventurer¨Cthe escort could chop down the mushrooms and wait an hour for the ailment to wear off. If the mushrooms weren¡¯t alive to release new spores, the effect was temporary.

    ¡°I have a few other things I want to test too but haven¡¯t decided how,¡± Hans said.

    ¡°Like what?¡±

    ¡°Can the dungeon grow good creatures? I don¡¯t mean neutral animals. I¡¯m talking something like a silver will-o¡¯-the-wisp or a celestial. Can we alter the behaviors of monsters we grow? Making less aggressive versions of ultra dangerous monsters would be good for training.¡±

    ¡°Interesting,¡± Olza said. ¡°Any reagents or crafting materials in those plans?¡±

    The truth was not really. Harpy feathers had some value for fletchers, and silver wisps dropped stardust, but they were known for helping lost or injured travelers. Killing one was said to bring bad luck. Otherwise, the monsters Hans felt had the most training benefit typically had few, if any, things worth looting. If they wanted to pursue the most valuable components, Gomi¡¯s adventurers needed those lower tier experiences to prepare for the more dangerous monsters, so he reasoned the tradeoff was worth making.

    ¡°I need to do more research on what materials would be best for our tradespeople. Would we be better off growing iron elementals for the bulk raw material? Or should we be more specific and summon something like fallen celestials to get the good stuff.¡±

    ¡°Aren¡¯t those dangerous?¡±

    ¡°Yeah. Challenging for Golds, but many fallens still have celestial gear, which means celestial steel. We got a celestial dagger from the one we fought. The bidding war for it was intense. Every smith and noble in Hoseki wanted it.¡±

    Olza asked if his other choices were that dangerous. Hans answered that every monster on his list was at least Silver-ranked.

    ¡°Scarlet steel is highly desired, but you need fresh cyclops blood to make it, supposedly. Carpenters lose their mind over fairy wood, but only two trees have ever been found in the wild. The majority of the kingdom¡¯s fairy wood¨Cand there isn¡¯t much¨Ccomes from acorns found on forest sprites.¡±

    ¡°Oh, I know about fairy wood,¡± Olza said. ¡°If you get a fairy wood tree to grow, it won¡¯t produce acorns unless it¡¯s planted in the fae realm.¡±

    Hans nodded. ¡°Yep. So you get one tree from an acorn, if you manage to get it to grow. And sprites are nasty. They¡¯re small and basically invisible in the forest, so you can¡¯t tell what¡¯s blasting you with spells and from where.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ve convinced me. Let¡¯s get the apprentice program going. I want to play with new reagents.¡±

    ***

    Open Quests (Ordered from Old to New):

    Progress from Gold-ranked to Diamond-ranked.

    Mend the rift with Devon.

    Complete the manuscript for "The Next Generation: A Teaching Methodology for Training Adventurers."

    Ask Charlie about the history and legends of the Dead End Mountains

    Protect Gomi.

    Find a way to share new knowledge without putting Gomi at risk.

    Determine if the dungeon can support enough crafting materials to provide new tradespeople consistent, meaningful work.

    Decide whether or not to pursue silent walking and snow walking.

    Commission maces from the blacksmith before growing a mandrake elemental.

    Secure interior dungeon doors without trapping adventurers inside.

    Find a way for Gomi adventurers to benefit from their rightful ranks in the Adventurers¡¯ Guild.

 Chapter 67: Two Unread Messages

    Deeker told Hans that they would be done in two more days, maybe three.

    The palisade had gone up far faster than Hans thought possible. Samson must not have exaggerated when he said the military sometimes built walls around their camps in less than a day. Speaking of Samson, decking a builder may have been a blessing. With all of the workers restricted to the clearing around Gomi, they didn¡¯t have much opportunity to pick fights with anyone else.

    Once they were gone for good, one of the largest threats to Gomi¡¯s plan would be behind them.

    On his way back to the guild hall after checking the progress of clearing the road¨Cthe builders had covered maybe a third of the total length between Gomi and the cabin¨Ca sparrow landed on Hans¡¯ shoulder. The bird tweeted in his ear, but he didn¡¯t speak sparrow like Becky and Buru.

    The bird looked Hans in the eye and twisted its head back and forth as though it were thinking. Next, it left his shoulder and flew a few feet into the forest before returning to its perch on Hans. It repeated the same loop until Hans took the hint to follow. Not far off the cabin road, Hans heard the breezy voice of the Lady of the Forest.

    ¡°Four adventurers have moved through the pass. Three Gold. One Diamond.¡± Spinning around, Hans found a feminine figure shaped entirely from the half-rotted leaves leftover from fall.

    ¡°Is one a halfling?¡±

    ¡°No.¡± The leaves lost their form as the word floated into Hans¡¯ ear, and the Lady was gone.

    This is what you get for entertaining optimism.

    The Guild Master jogged the short distance back to town to alert Charlie. Then he tasked Quentin with warning the Tribe. Thanks to the Lady¡¯s message, they had at least a day before the adventurers arrived, which was a tortuously long time to wonder if Gomi¡¯s dungeon plan had already failed.

    ***

    The adventurers arrived on horseback as most of the builder crew was breaking camp to pack for the trip back to Osare. Hans sat in a chair outside of Charlie¡¯s bakery, reading a book and watching the town gate when he first caught sight of the party.

    The man he presumed to be the Diamond wore the finest clothes in the group, a silk maroon shirt, gray riding pants with embroidery stitched down the legs. The embroidery was the same shimmering maroon as the shirt. The same maroon continued into his horse¡¯s saddle blanket.

    What is it with Diamonds color matching their outfits?

    The Diamond was nearly as white as the horse he rode but was otherwise fairly handsome, Hans had to admit, but the man¡¯s permanent scowl soured the natural charisma that came with good looks. Hans guessed he was some kind of mage from his noticeable lack of weapons.

    The Golds traveling with him were on brown horses, and their gear was of respectably high quality on its own, but it looked lesser next to the Diamond. The two women were Fighters, and the other man was either a Ranger or a Rogue, judging by the bow.

    When Hans remembered that Uncle Ed left with their next shipment a few days back, expanding to three wagons for this delivery, his stomach sank. He hoped Ed hadn¡¯t had any trouble with adventurers on the road.

    ¡°Hail!¡± Hans yelled, waving at the adventurers from his chair. The Diamond¡¯s scowl deepened. He nodded at one of the Fighters, and they dismounted with their leader, handing their reins to the remaining mounted party members.

    ¡°The guild sent us to speak to the Mayor and Guild Master of Gomi. Since we have you already, Hans, can you point us to the Mayor?¡±

    Hans chuckled but didn¡¯t stand. ¡°You guys are good. Found both of us and you¡¯re not even twenty paces into town.¡± He shouted over his shoulder at the bakery, ¡°Charlie!¡± He turned back to the adventurers. ¡°He¡¯ll be out in a minute. How¡¯d you know it was me?¡±

    ¡°I took a few of your classes when I visited Hoseki a while back,¡± the Diamond answered.

    ¡°Well, good to see you again. I assume you¡¯re here for the Training Dungeon. Next cohort starts in four days, the full fee is due upfront.¡±

    ¡°No, thank you.¡± The Diamond seemed mildly frustrated already. Good. ¡°I¡¯m to deliver¨C¡±

    The bakery door creaked open as Charlie shouted, ¡°Mayor Charlie, at your service. Anyone want a croissant? They¡¯re only two days old.¡±

    The Diamond closed his eyes and tilted his head as if fighting an internal battle to tolerate Hans and Charlie without a public outburst. When he opened his eyes, he said, ¡°I am Aaron, Diamond-ranked adventurer, here on behalf of the Adventurers¡¯ Guild. This is Sarahbeth, a Gold-ranked Fighter.¡±

    ¡°Pleasure to meet you,¡± Charlie said, shaking Aaron¡¯s hand with both of his.

    Sarahbeth produced three sealed letters and passed them to Aaron. He handed one to Charlie and two to Hans. Looking at the envelopes, Hans saw that one was plain guild mail, like Hans would send Theneesa, and the other looked to be an official letter from the Adventurers¡¯ Guild.

    ¡°You may read your letters now,¡± Aaron said. ¡°I am authorized to answer your questions about the contents of your letters. If I can¡¯t, I will relay the unanswered question to the Guild.¡±

    As Hans broke the seal on the official letter, he watched Aaron¡¯s eyes dart around Gomi. The Diamond seemed more focused than curious, like he searched for something specific instead of taking in the sights of a new location.

    Hans read his letter:

    Guild Master Hans,

    We write to inform you that the request to remove Gold-ranked Guild Masters from their posts has been declined. Your status and employment with the Adventurers¡¯ Guild remains intact.

    Additionally, we are terminating your monthly salary, per new terms proposed by the town of Gomi. In the event you are unfamiliar with these terms, please consult your local government to learn more.

    We look forward to your continued adherence to guild policy and procedures.

    Thank you.

    -Adventurers¡¯ Guild

    Hoseki Chapter

    Charlie spoke first, still looking down at his letter. ¡°Looks like our proposal¡¯s been accepted. Happy to hear it but seems an awfully far trip for a mail delivery.¡±

    ¡°I have other business. The guild has additional questions for Hans, and I hope to visit a friend while I¡¯m here.¡±

    The Mayor raised an eyebrow. ¡°Who you hopin¡¯ to see?¡±

    ¡°I believe she goes by Olza now. I knew her as Rita.¡±

    Hans and Charlie locked eyes for an instant. They both knew that meant this Diamond was the adventurer Olza used to be involved with, the one she moved to Gomi in secret to escape.

    Charlie didn¡¯t hesitate. ¡°Well, ask your questions so we don¡¯t keep you.¡±

    ¡°The Guild Master and I should talk in private.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t mind,¡± Hans cut in. ¡°Gomi¡¯s taken a big interest in their chapter, which I¡¯m guessing you know. He¡¯ll hear about it anyway.¡±

    The Diamond looked back and forth between the Guild Master and the Mayor with his eyes narrowed. ¡°Fine,¡± he said after a sigh. Sarahbeth passed him a notebook already opened to a specific page. ¡°How long do you plan to stay in Gomi?¡±

    ¡°Indefinitely.¡±

    ¡°Are you or will you use guild funds in the development or management of ¡®Hans¡¯ Ultimate Training Dungeon?¡¯¡± Aaron¡¯s words oozed disdain when he read the name of the dungeon.

    ¡°Nope.¡±

    ¡°Have orcs been seen or reported to be near Gomi?¡±A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

    ¡°Two, but we reached out to¨C¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ve heard from the other Guild Masters you contacted. Have more been seen since?¡±

    ¡°Nope.¡±

    ¡°The orc conflict continues, but its end is within our reach. Master Devontes is expected to route their primary force, but an unknown number of smaller warbands are still in the kingdom. If you learn of new orc activity, will you alert the Guild?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°When was the last time you spoke to Gret the Platinum-ranked Rogue?¡±

    Hans sat up straight. ¡°Excuse me?¡±

    ¡°Please answer the question.¡±

    ¡°Why are you asking about Gret?¡±

    Aaron scribbled something in his notebook. ¡°I don¡¯t have that information. I ask again, when was the last time you spoke to Gret the Platinum-ranked Rogue?¡±

    Crossing his arms but staying seated, Hans stared at Aaron for a long minute. The Diamond stared back, unimpressed. ¡°The morning he died,¡± Hans said, finally.

    ¡°Have you been in contact with his widow since his passing?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°What was the nature of those conversations?¡±

    Hans scoffed, his agitation more and more visible in the way he shifted in his chair, as if no position would ever be comfortable again. ¡°Her husband died. We were all friends. Sometimes friends talk in those kinds of situations.¡±

    ¡°Can you be more specific?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t have the transcript on me at the moment.¡±

    ¡°When was the last time you spoke to his widow?¡±

    The Guild Master deflated somewhat. He hadn¡¯t checked in on Gret¡¯s wife for a while, and he now realized he should have. ¡°Two, maybe three years.¡± Time just got away from me¡­ That¡¯s no excuse, Hans.

    ¡°Do you have any knowledge of or reason to believe that Gret the Platinum-ranked Rogue was involved or associated with a theft from the Hoseki chapter of the Adventurers¡¯ Guild?¡±

    ¡°No.¡±

    Aaron closed the notebook. ¡°In the event that you become aware of any such activity, you are obligated to report it to the Adventurers'' Guild immediately.¡±

    ¡°Sure.¡± Hans and Charlie exchanged looks again.

    Handing off his pen and notebook to Sarahbeth, he asked for directions to Olza¡¯s.

    ¡°Welllllll,¡± Charlie began, ¡°We won¡¯t be telling you.¡± When Hans went to speak, the Mayor held out a hand for him to wait.

    ¡°Excuse me?¡± The Diamond took a step toward Charlie.

    The Mayor¡¯s demeanor didn¡¯t so much as waver. He looked up at Aaron, which tilted his head as far back as it would go. ¡°Not much to it, really. Citizen let¡¯s me know someone might be coming to stir up trouble, someone they don¡¯t want to see, it¡¯s my job to take it seriously.¡±

    Sarahbeth¡¯s eyes dropped, and she quietly shifted backward, away from Aaron.

    ¡°I think you¡¯re mistaken.¡±

    Charlie shook his head. ¡°I don¡¯t believe so.¡±

    Standing to separate the two when Aaron leaned forward, Hans said, ¡°Procedure says I have to report any complaint from a government representative directly to the Hoseki chapter. There¡¯d have to be an investigation, especially if it involves the safety of a citizen. We¡¯re pretty far out here, so maybe the investigation is done in a year but more likely it¡¯ll be two.¡±

    ¡°Oh, I¡¯m pretty forgetful,¡± Charlie added. ¡°Mail only comes once a month. Easy to lose track of that and miss a few deliveries. Could take longer on account of my old brain.¡±

    ¡°They¡¯d have to interview your Golds too,¡± Hans added, loud enough to be certain Sarahbeth heard him. ¡°Pretty big career risk for them to bend the truth on their testimony.¡±

    The Diamond looked back and forth between the Mayor and the Guild Master before risking a glance back at his nearest Gold-ranked escort. ¡°Can¡¯t get Diamond so you go white knight, eh Hans?¡±

    Hans chuckled. ¡°We¡¯re protecting you, not her.¡±

    Charlie agreed. ¡°Bein¡¯ courteous.¡±

    The Guild Master whispered in Aaron¡¯s ear, ¡°You¡¯ve worked hard for your rank, and you¡¯ve got a lot of road ahead of you. Could even make Platinum. Become one of the greats.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ll hit the inn and be gone in the morning,¡± the Diamond said, weakly.

    ¡°Gomi doesn¡¯t have anything fancy like that,¡± Charlie said. ¡°Good camping spot back toward Osare. Should be able to get to it by dark.¡±

    Aaron stepped away slowly as if still debating his final decision, but once he started moving, he didn¡¯t stop. Sarahbeth and the other Gold-ranked followed him out of town. Hans and Charlie watched until the adventurers entered the treeline.

    ¡°Olza¡¯s going to be mad we did that,¡± Hans said.

    ¡°She¡¯s plenty strong to have handled that by herself. I don¡¯t doubt it,¡± Charlie said. ¡°Doesn¡¯t mean she has to.¡±

    ***

    Quest Update: Suggest growing mandrake elementals to the dungeon core.

    Commissioning maces was simple enough, and it gave Hans an excuse to continue the apprenticeship conversation with the blacksmith. He was intrigued by the idea of having a steady supply of rare materials, especially if they could find a way to sell what they made. If everyone had work, he had no other concerns about taking on apprentices.

    That was enough insight for Hans to continue pursuing growing precious metals and other rare crafting materials. Brainstorming what interesting monsters they could grow was a good way to get his mind off Aaron¡¯s questions about Gret, but the distraction was only effective in short bursts.

    Gret? His widow? And why after all this time?

    Hans didn¡¯t lie in any of his answers to Aaron¡¯s questions. His rage when Gret died was well documented, and his friendship with the Rogue was no secret either. Hundreds of people must have reached out to his wife when he passed. Gret was Platinum. He knew a lot of people, and he was good to them too.

    The Guild Master was back inside the Gomi guild house with no recollection of having walked there. Rubbing his eyes, he sat with the second letter on his desk before him, wondering if perhaps he should save it for tomorrow. A caravan wasn¡¯t due for a while yet, so he couldn¡¯t respond right away anyhow. Putting it off wouldn¡¯t hurt anything.

    Breaking the seal, he unfolded the letter.

    Hans,

    Congratulations on the training center. Saw the flier. Looks great!

    I hope my gifts arrived before winter. I¡¯ve been cleaning out my storage, and I have several other items you might find useful, especially with the new training center. You should expect many more packages from me but no junk. Promise!

    Also, the Guild has been interviewing people who knew Gret. Don¡¯t know why, and I was one of them. Makes me worried something happened to Shandi. Do you know where she lives now? My letter to her Hoseki address was returned.

    Stay well.

    -Theneesa

    Guild Master

    Mikata Chapter

    His previous letter to Theneesa must not have arrived before she wrote this one. If he wanted news on her ongoing research, as well as her reaction to suggesting tattooed wards, he¡¯d have to wait.

    Hans knew Theneesa was guarded in how she talked about tusks she knew, but he wished he knew what range of numbers fit the description ¡°many more.¡± Should they prepare for five more arrivals? Ten? He reread the letter for a hint of how many tusks to expect, but couldn¡¯t find a hidden meaning that pointed to a number.

    As for the news about Gret, he supposed Theneesa had tried to warn him that someone like Aaron might visit. That hadn¡¯t worked out, but knowing that the Guild talked to other adventurers in Gret¡¯s circle was useful. That meant Hans wasn¡¯t the focus, greatly easing his fears that Gomi¡¯s charade had already aroused suspicions.

    Shandi was Gret¡¯s wife, and like Theneesa, the last Hans heard she was living comfortably in Hoseki, taking only the seamstress projects that interested her on account of what Gret left her. Gret made enough gold to set his family up for a few generations, but he and Shandi hadn¡¯t had a child. They planned to try when his adventuring career calmed down.

    By Silver, Gret had all-but stopped his extracurricular activities, and as far as Hans knew, he stopped for good at Gold. Undoubtedly, a portion of the fortune he left Shandi had suspect origins, but there was no point for a high-ranking Rogue to steal. They made plenty of money, and they could be selective about what jobs they did or didn¡¯t take. Still, a Rogue stealing something important was the most obvious conclusion if something went missing when they were around.

    Most of the items Gret loved to boost, like artwork, he could buy outright by the time of his death, and Hans couldn¡¯t recall any other items Gret coveted. Not any that would warrant an official investigation, at least. The Rogue had a tradition of stealing a mug or a cup or a stein from any tavern he visited, giving him quite the collection by the time he reached Platinum, but that hardly seemed serious enough for a posthumous inquiry.

    Olza entered as Hans pondered. She hadn¡¯t mentioned visiting today, but Hans assumed she would hear about Aaron¡¯s visit sooner rather than later.

    ¡°I can fight my own battles, you know,¡± Olza said. Though she seemed serious, the bite of her anger was not as fierce as it could have been.

    ¡°I know. We all needed him gone as soon as possible, though. Didn¡¯t want a repeat of Galinda and the builder.¡±

    The alchemist nodded slowly. ¡°Fine. I¡¯m glad it¡¯s behind us.¡±

    ¡°A lot of things are. The guild bought our cover story. The palisade builders are leaving soon. Construction on the campus is underway. The Apprentices are doing well. Are we doing this? Is this working?¡±

    ¡°Good news scares me too, but I think, yes, Gomi is heading in a good direction. The best direction we could have hoped for.¡±

    ***

    Open Quests (Ordered from Old to New):

    Progress from Gold-ranked to Diamond-ranked.

    Mend the rift with Devon.

    Complete the manuscript for "The Next Generation: A Teaching Methodology for Training Adventurers."

    Ask Charlie about the history and legends of the Dead End Mountains

    Protect Gomi.

    Find a way to share new knowledge without putting Gomi at risk.

    Determine if the dungeon can support enough crafting materials to provide new tradespeople consistent, meaningful work.

    Decide whether or not to pursue silent walking and snow walking.

    Suggest growing mandrake elementals to the dungeon core.

    Secure interior dungeon doors without trapping adventurers inside.

    Find a way for Gomi adventurers to benefit from their rightful ranks in the Adventurers¡¯ Guild.

 Chapter 68: Unfinished Quests

    So much good news came to Gomi that Hans sharpened his sword and doublechecked his gear and supplies. Adventurer superstition made him extra cautious whenever a job was going too well. After all, the best ambush victims were the ones who believed they weren¡¯t in danger.

    The more he looked at recent events from as many angles as he could imagine, the more he let himself believe that the peace he felt was real. He found that acceptance to be surprisingly difficult.

    The Adventurers¡¯ Guild had sent someone to Gomi, and the adventurers went on their way, never catching a whiff of the Tribe¡¯s thriving community or the town¡¯s dungeon activity.

    Adding to that peace, Uncle Ed returned from his latest delivery run with a pouch full of coin. Doorstop, their Raven¡¯s Hollow contact, happily bought everything they had, including the actual barrels of beer. He proposed to Ed that he take on distribution for that as well, which sounded like a good idea to Ed.

    If the rest of the town agreed, Ed¡¯s delivery runs would be far simpler. He could head directly to Raven¡¯s Hollow and unload everything in one place, saving him the trouble of going town to town to sell their beer inventory to various taverns and shopkeepers. They made a little less money going through Doorstop, but the hit wasn¡¯t all that bad, especially given the efficiency it offered. The less time anyone from Gomi was on the road, the safer they were and the less likely they were to arouse suspicions.

    Hans hadn¡¯t had time to return to the dungeon, but the Apprentices¨CKane and Quentin among them¨Ccycled through their shifts without issue. Bel and Lee gradually helped the Apprentices less and less until they were clearing the goblin shaman and his reanimated minotaur in relative safety, freeing the Silver tusks to pursue their own training and personal life in Gomi.

    They requested Gomi add a Silver-ranked section of the dungeon so they could improve also. The progress the Apprentices made impressed them, and they wanted to experience the same benefits.

    Furthermore, the dorm building on what would become the dungeon campus neared completion. The road needed a bit of work yet¨Cmost of the trees were cleared but none of their stumps¨Cbut that project progressed as well.

    The tattoo wards Honronk made continued to keep the influence of blood magic out of Gomi, and knowing that the Lady of the Forest watched their borders made the potential of an interloper far less frightening. They would know what was coming and from where, an immense tactical advantage.

    If something did go wrong, Gomi had its palisade, and the palisade for the Tribe barns were nearly finished as well. Hans had relayed a few of the techniques and considerations he learned from Deeker, so the Tribe opted to redo portions of the build, preferring to endure the extra work to achieve additional safety. Charlie mourned the loss of his unimpeded view to the forest from his porch, but he agreed that the fortifications offered comfort in uncertain times.

    At a familiar dining room table, Hans shared his conflicting feelings of happiness and fear. The other guests at Charlie and Galinda¡¯s that night¨CBecky, Galad, Luther, Olza¨Cagreed that this was all good news to be celebrated, but they too couldn¡¯t help but feel skeptical about how real their peace was and how long it would last.

    For tonight, though, they agreed to raise their glasses and enjoy the reprieve.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t know what to make of you,¡± Charlie said to Hans. ¡°That first dinner wasn¡¯t even a year back, but it feels¡­ it feels like we¡¯ve been through a lot since then.¡±

    ¡°I tried to buy him off,¡± Galad said with a sheepish smirk. ¡°I figured if he wasn¡¯t smart enough to take the money, we probably didn¡¯t have much to worry about.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯d never thought I¡¯d be trainin¡¯ Hans to be a Druid,¡± Becky said, ¡°But here we are.¡± Hans grumbled but didn¡¯t let the conversation linger on his Druid status.

    ¡°I made fun of his hairline,¡± Olza said. ¡°Then he drank all my vodka.¡±

    Luther was outraged on Hans¡¯ behalf. ¡°That¡¯s not fair. It¡¯s only receding a little bit.¡±

    The entire table turned to inspect Hans¡¯ hair. ¡°At any rate,¡± he began, pausing to shoot Luther and Olza a dirty look, ¡°We have a lot of work to do and we still need to be careful, but we got through the storm. I¡¯m very blessed to have met you all.¡± Hans raised his glass to emphasize his gratitude.

    ¡°Here here,¡± Galad added. ¡°The world is no less dark, but our corner of it is much brighter.¡±

    Closing the quest felt like inviting bad luck, but Hans felt so deeply fulfilled by the moment that he risked it.

    Quest Complete: Protect Gomi.

    When conversation lulled, mostly because every mouth was full of food, Hans asked to hear more about Gomi¡¯s local legends.

    Galinda nudged Charlie. ¡°Tell the mountain warning story.¡±If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

    The Mayor smiled and wiped his mouth with a napkin. ¡°That is a good one,¡± he said. He seemed to organize the story in his mind before continuing. ¡°For a long time, the Dead End Mountains were a source of curiosity. A lot of curiosity. Well before any of us arrived in this town, Gomi had a long tradition of losing young men and women to the lure of the mountains. The mystery of what hid beneath its rocks and what might lie beyond claimed many lives.¡±

    The Adventurers¡¯ Guild expedition to the other side of the mountains and back, the one that produced the conclusion that nothing but wasteland was to be found, calmed most of the curiosity, but before then, the town elders used a story to discourage children from sneaking out to explore.

    ¡°¡®Dead End¡¯ has been used to mock Gomi by the wider world, but the elders used to say the mountains were a wall between our world and the afterlife. When we die, our spirits cross the mountains. So it really is an end for the dead in a way.

    ¡°But if a living person attempts the journey, the mountain conscripts them, forcing them to guard the afterlife for eternity.¡±

    The threat they guarded against was people like them, individuals who had to know what was on the other side. That meant if you attempted the journey, you would be attacked by those who had gone before you, their frozen corpses clawing out of the snow to drag you down.

    ¡°If one of your ancestors forces you into the mountain¡¯s army, the rest of your family line is cursed. No matter where you try to cross, the mountain sends your blood to enslave your soul, so you should never go into the mountains. Ever.¡±

    Why are these small town stories always so creepy?

    Quest Complete: Ask Charlie about the history and legends of the Dead End Mountains.

    ¡°That¡¯s spooky,¡± Olza said when Charlie finished.

    ¡°I think it¡¯s comforting,¡± Galinda said. When the table looked at her, waiting to hear more, she continued, ¡°We don¡¯t have to climb every mountain.¡±

    ¡°Well said, my love,¡± Charlie said, squeezing her hand.

    Later that night, as Hans enjoyed the slight disconnect between his brain and his body, he walked back to the guild hall nursing a glass of whisky. He thought of Charlie¡¯s story and Galinda¡¯s reaction as he looked out to the mountains rising in the distance under moonlight. Though most of him embraced inebriation, he was exceptionally careful with the glass. Galinda made sure to let him know it was one of her favorites, and she expected it to be returned unharmed.

    So, with the soundtrack of crickets and frogs filling the night air, he held the glass close to his chest.

    He paused in front of the training yard, looking up at the multicolor monstrosity that was his sign. Hans¡¯ Ultimate Training Dungeon¨Cthe name was silly, yet he was proud of it. Every childish brushstroke reminded him that his work here mattered. It helped people, and as far as Hans knew, he was the only person who had ever interacted with a dungeon core. His work was helping and exploring uncharted knowledge.

    The majority of the core hadn¡¯t grown yet, meaning he had dozens of experiments ahead of him. Until then, most of his recent years felt like a downhill slide to his story¡¯s inevitable conclusion, but he didn¡¯t feel that way now. He was at the beginning of a new story, and the possibilities took him back to the day he graduated from Apprentice to Iron. A young adventurer with a lifetime of excitement and intrigue ahead. Just like the stories.

    ¡°You okay?¡± Olza asked, coming up next to Hans.

    ¡°Just admiring our sign,¡± he said. ¡°Is it weird I feel happy and sad?¡±

    ¡°What do you mean?¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ve done a good thing. An impossible thing. We¡¯ve seen things no one in history has recorded before, and we still have so much to learn. But¡­ I never thought I was a glory-chaser, but thinking about how no one will hear this story¡­ I don¡¯t know. It¡¯s bittersweet.¡±

    ¡°Adapt it to fiction, perhaps?¡± Olza offered. ¡°I¡¯ve heard of a few writers doing that.¡±

    ¡°Then slap my name on the cover? Someone is bound to get suspicious.¡±

    ¡°So use a pen name?¡±

    Hans rubbed his chin.

    ¡°What are you smiling about?¡±

    You just helped me make progress on one of my oldest quests.

    Quest Complete: Find a way to share new knowledge without putting Gomi at risk.

    Quest Update: Using a pen name, complete the manuscript for "The Next Generation: A Teaching Methodology for Training Adventurers."

    ¡°Looks like I have a lot more writing to do.¡±

    ***

    See you in book two, Locked Achievements!

    About Book 2:

    This was not how Hans pictured his retirement from adventuring.

    The discovery of Gomi¡¯s fledgling dungeon upended his plans for quiet days of reading in between teaching classes. Instead, running Gomi¡¯s chapter of the Adventurers¡¯ Guild had become a clandestine operation to train adventurers to cull the dungeon while using the unique abilities of the dungeon core to inject unprecedented wealth and opportunity into the town.

    While Gomi contends with the challenges of a growing dungeon, the fallout of the orc war across the kingdom at large creates new challenges for Hans and his adventurers. Blossoming Apprentices dream of plying their trade on the road like proper adventurers but can¡¯t because of the town¡¯s secrets. Long dead comrades reenter Hans¡¯ life in unexpected ways, putting Gomi at risk as old enemies search for new answers. And Hans unearths new feelings about his failure to reach Diamond-ranked, putting him face to face with the shortcomings that ended his career.

    Gomi is counting on Hans¡¯ expert knowledge to keep their people safe, and his new crop of adventurers trust him with their lives every time they go back into the dungeon to explore a section with new, greater challenges. If Hans comes up short anywhere, someone he cares for will pay the price.

 Book 2, Chapter 1: Import Save File

    Hans leaned against the wall of the dungeon, chewing deer jerky.

    Mimicking Quentin, he angled his book just right to share in Honronk¡¯s Summon Light spell. The orb floating over the tusk¡¯s head cast a harsh light that exaggerated the onyx qualities of his gray skin. A mass of practice tattoos¨Call for the Nightsight enchantment in this case¨Cpeeked out from beneath his left sleeve as he practiced the gestures for Charm. Even in the light, the ink was nearly invisible against his skin, like catching the ghost of something that had been painted over.

    Kane slept a few feet away, his cloak balled up and set against his rucksack for a makeshift pillow. Sven slept as well, but he did so sitting up, his head down, arms wrapped around his knees.

    Terry chipped away at his latest whittling project. The Apprentice had taken to passing his time on duty by carving toys and figures for his daughter. His current project was a camahueto, the bovine creatures in the dungeon with horns like a rhinoceros and a charge to match. Most of the head and horn were finished, but the rest of its body was still raw, blocky wood.

    Other than the turning of pages, the soft clicks and scrapes of Terry¡¯s knife were the only noises, echoing down the long dungeon corridors. Most of the time, at least. A zout, an emerald green bird that now grew in the imp room, sat in a wooden cage next to Sven. The bird occasionally remembered it was in captivity and fussed for a minute before quieting again.

    ¡°I think we¡¯re going about the dorm build all wrong,¡± Terry said softly, referring to the construction at the dungeon entrance on the surface.

    ¡°Oh?¡± Hans said, looking up from his book.

    ¡°Should be building it down here instead. Wouldn¡¯t it be nice to have your ass on something that wasn¡¯t cold stone?¡±

    Hans chuckled. ¡°A bed does sound nice about now.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯d be a pain, but could we drag some furniture down here? I was joking about building the dorm underground, but the more I think about it, the better the idea sounds.¡±

    Kane grumbled, ¡°I¡¯ll help carry it.¡±

    ¡°No, we won¡¯t,¡± Quentin said before looking at Hans. ¡°...Unless we¡¯re ordered to.¡±

    ¡°You wouldn¡¯t prefer a bed right now?¡± Kane asked.

    ¡°We¡¯re at the bottom of the pecking order. Terry and Sven would get first dibs.¡±

    Terry scoffed. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t pull rank on you.¡±

    Sven, who Hans thought was asleep, spoke without opening his eyes or moving. ¡°I would.¡±

    Terry attempted to stifle a laugh.

    ¡°See?¡± Quentin said.

    Kane waved him off. ¡°Would still be worth it.¡±

    The Guild Master pictured trying to carry a couch through the Regenerating Castle¨Cor the Bone Goblins, as the Apprentices had taken to calling it. Though comical, bringing furniture into the dungeon wouldn¡¯t be impossible.

    In the early days of culling the Gomi dungeon, the adventurers left only corpses behind. When the dungeon regenerated, they¡¯d return and find all of the bodies¨Cas well as blood and other viscera¨Cwere gone. Presumably, the dungeon reabsorbed its dead and its garbage, including the weapons the gnolls in the dungeon carried. Hans knew monsters grew from the roots of the dungeon core, but the full picture of how and why that process worked as it did was a mystery, even more so when that process worked in reverse.

    The Apprentices did learn, however, that the dungeon didn¡¯t absorb items adventurers left behind. Initially, those items were a few logs for seating just inside the dungeon entrance, but then the party carried a batch of quarterstaffs down several levels, stashing the bundle near the cave of the geode gecko.

    Carrying staves through the Bone Goblins was awkward and tedious, especially in the lower levels where the halls were tight and the layout even more haphazard, an amalgamation of the strange choices and tastes of the lords who claimed the castle and added their own construction over the years. The Apprentices began to dread that section of dungeon as the repetition of an inconvenience wore on them, run after run after run.

    Instead of carrying down one staff at a time, they brought down a bundle of twenty, and the dungeon didn¡¯t bother them between cycles. The rods were right where they left them for every visit that followed, giving the Apprentices at least twenty unencumbered runs, more if a few of the staves survived the gecko battle.

    New Quest: Build a rest area in the dungeon to improve adventurer recovery.

    When spring finally reached Gomi, Hans crossed quest after quest off of his log, many of his long-term projects benefiting from access to the outside world. The Gomi dungeon plan had gone smoothly thus far, but a great deal of work remained. Learning how much the dungeon core could be influenced inspired more ideas, so his long-term vision for the dungeon changed and expanded, sometimes from day to day.

    Of his quests, Hans considered the following to be the most important:

    Active Quest: Determine if the dungeon can support enough crafting materials to provide new tradespeople consistent, meaningful work.

    Active Quest: Secure interior dungeon doors without trapping adventurers inside.

    Active Quest: Find a way for Gomi adventurers to benefit from their rightful ranks in the Adventurers¡¯ Guild.

    Improvising an adventurer¡¯s lounge at the bottom of the dungeon didn¡¯t feel nearly as important as quests like those, but the small quests had a way of adding up over time.

    ¡°I was just fooling with you, boys,¡± Terry said. ¡°Best solution is to have enough beds for everyone.¡±

    ¡°Are you volunteering to carry the furniture?¡± Hans asked Terry with a grin.

    ¡°I suppose I am. I think Buru would help me, but he¡¯s on the wrong rotation for that.¡±

    When Hans said that was the case for now, Terry probed for clarification.

    ¡°I came along today to see how Kane and Quentin were handling themselves. They¡¯re not ready for a three-person party, but with the right companions, they could do well in a party of four.¡±

    ¡°When you thinking of changing up the parties?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not sure yet. I am sure we need more Apprentices, though, so we¡¯ll need to be smart about adding new blood to the rotations.¡±

    ¡°I wouldn¡¯t worry about not having enough Apprentices,¡± Terry said, blowing a few burs from his carving. ¡°Folks have been talking about us. They¡¯re seeing us get stronger and come home safe every rotation. You wouldn¡¯t believe how often people tell me I look like I¡¯ve lost weight.¡±

    ¡°You have leaned out a good bit,¡± Hans admitted. When Terry was a town guard, he was a little soft and not in adventuring shape, but now he could jog to the bottom of the dungeon in full gear and not get winded.

    Terry straightened his back and pinched a lump of skin. ¡°See that? Beer belly is gone, and thank gods that¡¯s not because I gave up the beer.¡±

    Hans agreed that Terry, like all of the Apprentices really, had come a long way in just a few months of intense training.

    ¡°Think I¡¯ll get abs?¡± Terry asked, holding up his tunic to inspect his bare gut.

    ¡°You know, I always wanted abs too,¡± Hans said. ¡°When I was in the best shape of my life¨Cmust have been around 25 then¨CI was the leanest I had ever been. Almost no body fat. Still couldn¡¯t see my abs.¡±

    ¡°Really?¡±

    ¡°Yep. A Healer told me once that bodies are just different like that sometimes. Some people can skip breakfast and look shredded, while others will never get that kind of definition.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s disappointing.¡±The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

    ¡°I¡¯m just being bitter. You¡¯re close. Keep training and pushing yourself. Maybe there¡¯s abs under there after all.¡±

    ***

    With the dungeon cleared, the walk back to the surface the next morning was dull but relatively brief. Kane and Quentin took turns carrying that run¡¯s reagent haul¨Ccamahueto horns, geode gecko oil sacs, imp blood, and minotaur horns. Sven, Terry, and Honronk rolled dice to decide that Sven was on zout duty. Though he wasn¡¯t thrilled with the job, the Apprentices weren¡¯t carrying the bird by hand to the surface anymore. They used a wooden cage that was easy enough to manage, but the zout pecked its escort through the bars, its pointed beak drawing blood on occasion.

    Like they had done with the previous eight, Sven would release this zout into the wild. Zouts absorbed salt, apparently, and the Lady of the Forest believed they could reforest war-ravaged areas of the kingdom by removing the salt the orc army spread in their wake.

    That¡¯s what the Lady of the Forest said, at least. Hans had never heard of a zout as they had gone extinct well before he was born. On occasion, he was tempted to keep one of the birds to see what price they might fetch, but he thought better of betraying a spirit whose domain covered all of the Gomi forest.

    ¡°Everyone whole?¡± Tandis asked as the party emerged from the dungeon.

    That was always her first question. When she confirmed no one was injured, she resumed her normal quartermaster duties, logging that run¡¯s loot and topping off the party¡¯s supply of food and water, preparing them for the next run in a day or so.

    ¡°Any developments?¡± Hans asked.

    Tandis shook her head. ¡°Nothing substantial. The dorm walls are almost up, but you can see that.¡± She gestured over her shoulder at the crew of Gomi workers toiling away in the sun of a mountain spring. That same crew had built several temporary A-frame shelters nearby, inspired by Roland¡¯s design from the first cabin build.

    With the new dorms nearly complete, accompanied by two cabins and a total of eight A-frame shelters, the dungeon campus looked more like a frontier village¨Ca small, close-knit community facing down untamed wilderness. This wasn¡¯t the frontier, of course. It was the base of the Dead End Mountains at the edge of the kingdom but still within its borders.

    Though trying to settle the frontier with all of its monsters, dangerous terrain, and brutal weather was a different kind of challenge, Hans couldn¡¯t help but acknowledge how much the dungeon project felt like staking a claim to the unknown, building a home in an unlikely place in spite of the dangers. In the frontier, an adventurer was cut off from the rest of the Adventurers¡¯ Guild. Help was hundreds of miles away, monsters prowled the wilderness all around, and beneath all of that danger was the buzz of opportunity, the purest form of adventure.

    A small spindly arm waved to catch Hans¡¯ attention. Mayor Charlie stood with his wife Galinda, his brother-in-law Galad, and a small group of workers. Excusing himself, Charlie separated from the group and came over to speak with Hans as Tandis went back to her work.

    ¡°Decided to pay us a visit, Mayor?¡± Hans asked, smiling.

    ¡°Felt like with all the hullabaloo this dungeon has caused, I should at least lay eyes on it,¡± Charlie answered. ¡°The terrain is horrid. My joints are yellin¡¯ already, but I have to admit, it¡¯s pretty up here.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s got a bit of a storybook quality, doesn¡¯t it?¡± Hans looked around at the growing dungeon campus. Though they had logged a good bit to clear space for the dorm and to have the lumber to build it, the immensity of the forest around them and the grandeur of the Dead End Mountains looming overhead was humbling and calming at the same time. Sometimes feeling insignificant next to nature was deeply comforting.

    Charlie savored a long inhale. ¡°This is the real magic of Gomi. Pretty darn peaceful around these parts.¡±

    ¡°Anything specific you wanted to see?¡± Hans asked. ¡°Happy to give you a tour.¡±

    ¡°Oh, no need. Tandis took care of us already. We¡¯ll be out of your way first thing in the morning.¡±

    Galad approached to join the conversation while Galinda followed the Master Carpenter to the opposite side of the dorm. Hans figured their shared interest in woodworking gave them plenty to discuss.

    ¡°Guild Master,¡± Galad said, shaking Hans¡¯ hand. ¡°Hope you don¡¯t mind the visit.¡±

    ¡°Not at all. When the road is done, I suspect we¡¯ll have regular visitors from town.¡±

    Galad handed Hans a folded piece of paper. ¡°Speaking of progress, here¡¯s the list you wanted,¡± Galad said as Hans unfolded the note. ¡°I talked to everyone in Gomi. These are all the trades our people have knowledge of. Not all masters, of course, but reasonably proficient.¡±

    The list was longer than Hans expected. He supposed their rush of refugees before last winter brought in more talent than any of them realized.

    Gomi had at least one of the following:

    -Blacksmith

    -Carpenter

    -Fletcher

    -Mason

    -Alchemist

    -Tanner

    -Leatherworker

    -Book Binder

    -Glass Blower

    -Jeweler

    -Brewmaster

    -Farmer

    ¡°That list is pretty long,¡± Galad said. ¡°Still think the dungeon can support that many apprentice crafters?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not sure about professions like book binders and glass blowers, but I think the rest of these are manageable.¡±

    He ran through each trade and the basic materials the dungeon could produce for them. They could also use the dungeon to farm rare resources, but for now, their goal was to produce enough raw materials to keep a craftsperson and their apprentice busy. The fancy stuff could come later.

    With the Dead End Mountains as a neighbor, they had no shortage of stone for masons, so that profession needed no help from the dungeon.

    For blacksmiths, they would grow iron elementals for a steady source of raw iron. Fletchers would use local wood for arrow shafts and use harpies for feathers. They hadn¡¯t tried it yet, but Hans hoped camahueto leather was as good as cow for tanners.

    Tainted treants would provide wood for carpenters in the long term, not that they had any shortage of that. Though Becky said it was fine, Hans worried the Lady of the Forest would take issue with the scope of their logging efforts as they were now, let alone if they were larger.

    Sand elementals were a potential source of glassblowing materials, but they needed to confirm that with an actual glass blower first. Hans loathed those monsters and wouldn¡¯t be sorry to have them crossed off of his list. As it stood now, though, sand elementals were his best idea.

    Olza already pushed for diamond elementals, so a jeweler would at worst have diamonds and iron to work with. For the amount of silver and gold a jeweler could reasonably use in a year, Hans hoped one of their other monster additions to the dungeon could carry enough of either to sustain them.

    Speaking of Olza, the dungeon would have no shortage of reagent-bearing monsters for alchemists. Her list grew everyday, so for now Hans focused on her first request: a mandrake elemental. The Lady of the Forest gave him a memory of one, and he planned to put it to good use.

    As for farmers, brewmasters, and book binders, Hans was at a loss.

    Quest Update: Expand the dungeon with resource-specific monsters for each of Gomi¡¯s major trades.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry too much about those folk,¡± Galad said. ¡°We can keep them busy with work at the Tribe.¡±

    Charlie nodded. ¡°Besides, we already have too much to sell. Poor ol¡¯ Uncle Ed will be living on his wagon at this rate.¡±

    ¡°Galinda had an idea about that, actually.¡± When Galad saw Charlie raise an eyebrow, he chuckled. ¡°It was 30 seconds ago. She hasn¡¯t had time to tell you.¡±

    ¡°Then by all means, please continue.¡±

    ¡°Anything we can¡¯t sell and don¡¯t need to stockpile, we donate. From everything we¡¯ve heard about the orc attacks, lots of folks will need to rebuild from nothing.¡±

    Hans and Charlie both liked the idea but were concerned about what the logistics would mean for Uncle Ed¡¯s runs to Raven¡¯s Hollow and back. The stocky country boy said he didn¡¯t mind, but he used to spend every day looking after Kane and his little brother Gunther. Anyone who knew the farmer-turned-smuggler could tell he missed them.

    ¡°Two wagons is already not enough, so I agree delivering anything is going to be a challenge,¡± Galad said. ¡°Ed will need more men, that much is certain, but perhaps we can work through our distributor to make that easier.¡±

    All of Gomi¡¯s goods¨Cbeer, oil sacs, imp blood, camahueto horns, and minotaur horns¨Cwent to one distributor in Raven¡¯s Hollow. Being two towns away made the journey itself about as short as was possible for a place as remote as Gomi, and the distributor took care of the rest.

    Hans and Galad had never met Doorstop, but according to Uncle Ed, the merchant seemed upstanding and trustworthy, despite his comfort doing business under the table. The big turning point for Uncle Ed was hearing Doorstop rant about the ¡°stupidity¡± of blaming tusks for any part of the orc war. Doorstop didn¡¯t know Ed¡¯s wares came from Gomi, but that perspective made him more of an ally than a vendor, in Uncle Ed¡¯s mind.

    ¡°If he¡¯s amiable, going through Doorstop would be good for Gomi,¡± Charlie said. ¡°We can¡¯t take credit anyhow, so he can use us to build up goodwill in his business. Makes us even more valuable as partners.¡±

    Charlie and Galad asked Hans when he planned to return to Gomi, suggesting they talk more about it with Uncle Ed directly.

    New Quest: Secure a way to use surplus dungeon inventory for good.

    ¡°In a week or so,¡± Hans answered. ¡°As soon as Bel and Lee get here with the rest of the Apprentices, we can start farming iron elementals.¡±

    ***

    Open Quests (Ordered from Old to New):

    Progress from Gold-ranked to Diamond-ranked.

    Mend the rift with Devon.

    Using a pen name, complete the manuscript for "The Next Generation: A Teaching Methodology for Training Adventurers."

    Expand the dungeon with resource-specific monsters for each of Gomi¡¯s major trades.

    Decide whether or not to pursue silent walking and snow walking.

    Suggest growing mandrake elementals to the dungeon core.

    Secure interior dungeon doors without trapping adventurers inside.

    Find a way for Gomi adventurers to benefit from their rightful ranks in the Adventurers¡¯ Guild.

    Build a rest area in the dungeon to improve adventurer recovery.

    Secure a way to use surplus dungeon inventory for good.

 Book 2, Chapter 2: Dungeon Farming

    ¡°Iron elementals are sons of bitches to fight,¡± Hans said, speaking to the Apprentices just inside the dungeon entrance where the cacophony of hammers and tradesmen cursing outside couldn¡¯t disrupt them. Bel and Lee, Theneesa¡¯s Silver-ranked adventurers, joined the session as well.

    Hans continued, saying, ¡°They¡¯re big, they¡¯re strong, and they have natural armor, so thank the gods they¡¯re slow.¡±

    Hans explained that all iron elementals had the same kill spot: the elemental equivalent of a heart. Wild magic had been measured and observed in areas where elementals were plentiful. The prevailing theory for how elementals came to be was that wild magic enabled the ¡°spirit¡± of a material to cross over from the elemental plane. In the case of iron elementals, they had an enchanted piece of iron¨Cthe heart or spirit of the beast¨Cwhose removal would kill the elemental instantly.

    ¡°All iron elementals will be some combination of iron, rock, and dirt, but no two will be exactly alike,¡± Hans said. ¡°One might be almost all iron while another has only small chunks, so the difficulty of getting to the heart will vary.¡±

    The first objective when hunting iron elementals, according to Hans, was to not get hit. The Apprentices would only be fighting iron elementals¨Cand not greater iron elementals¨Cbut one solid strike could end an adventurer for good. At best, the shield and the arm it was attached to would be ruined.

    ¡°The best approach I¡¯ve found is two warriors with maces attacking with a pincer formation. Iron elementals are basically just earth elementals, so they aren¡¯t very nimble. With someone on either side of one, you can alternate bashing it until it¡¯s dead.¡±

    If the elemental¡¯s heart was covered only by dirt and not thick iron, Hans recommended their efforts focus exclusively on blows to that heart. If the heart was harder to access, he said they should pick a leg and break it off at the knee or hip. With one leg, the elemental would be even less mobile, making the finish that much easier.

    Chisel, the Apprentice White Mage, raised a long arm. When Hans called on her, she asked, ¡°I¡¯m guessing they¡¯re immune to Sleep, so what will Honronk and I contribute?¡±

    ¡°You left out Buru,¡± Yotuli interjected. ¡°Druids are kind of like mages.¡±

    ¡°I assumed the big man would be comfortable with a mace.¡±

    The group looked to Buru to see his reaction. The hulking tusk nodded slightly and said, ¡°I can use a mace.¡±

    ¡°See?¡± Chisel said.

    Hans quieted the group. ¡°Mages only love elementals that are on their side. Otherwise, they are pretty frustrating. A fire specialist stumbling into a fight with a water elemental¡­ Well, wizards get sad about that kind of thing.¡±

    He continued, saying that at the moment, neither Apprentice mage could contribute much in a battle against iron elementals. That was common at the lower ranks for mages. As their prey got smarter and more skilled with magic and abilities, they would encounter monsters that were bad matchups for a melee weapon but were vulnerable to magic.

    Chisel and Honronk were both working on offensive spells. Chisel neared mastery of the spell Slow, and Honronk closed in on Magic Mallet. The former would make iron elementals less mobile, and the latter would send a flying hammer made from mana to attack, swinging as if wielded by a person while keeping the caster well away from danger.

    ¡°Any other questions?¡± Hans asked.

    Quentin asked, ¡°What rank are iron elementals?¡±

    ¡°A solo iron elemental is an Iron-ranked encounter. Two or three of them in a group pushes that to Bronze. Anything more than that is Silver.¡±

    ¡°One iron elemental shouldn¡¯t be too bad,¡± Quentin mused.

    ¡°You are correct, but the job I¡¯m basing this on was Silver-ranked. There will definitely be more than one iron elemental to deal with.¡±

    ***

    The dungeon core accepted Hans¡¯ suggestions for recreating the Forgeborne Mine as well as for where in the dungeon it should appear. Not wanting a day-long hike between fighting iron elementals and delivering their ore to the surface, he thought deeply about the iron elemental section being attached to the first main hallway, not far from the dungeon entrance.

    The suggestions were accepted, and like the core did with the Bone Goblins, this new part of the dungeon was appended to the existing corridors with no transition. The cinder-colored walls of the original hallways opened abruptly into an off-shoot, a solid line between familiar gray brick and the carved tunnels of a dwarven mining operation.

    Hans remembered marveling at the mine tunnels when he first saw them for real, and running his hand over them again revived that sense of wonder. The precision of a dwarven extraction operation left walls as smooth as sanded wood with perfect right angles where the walls connected to floor and ceiling. The thick timber beams spaced every fifteen feet were constructed with the same precision and reinforced with Hardening spells.

    The torches on the walls were actually small scepters with Summon Light enchantments, making their bright glow consistent and permanent without the hassle of fire and fuel. Hans read somewhere that Summon Light had the same benefits of sunlight, a great bonus for a life spent underground.

    The first long stretch followed a minecart track straight into a cavernous staging area. Still carved by hand, this room had the dimensions of a commercial warehouse with vaulted ceilings and thick stone pillars spaced evenly throughout. The minecart track connected to two others, forming a crossroads where each offshoot disappeared into its own tunnel. Where Hans saw several carts filled with unprocessed ore in his original visit, he found nothing but empty carts. Any of the pallets and crates in the room were empty as well, proving again that the dungeon core did not accept suggestions for lootable objects.

    Hans, however, wanted to continue testing that as finding a workaround for getting the dungeon to grow something valuable would be far more convenient than killing monsters.

    Flanking the entrance tunnel on either side were two structures built from perfectly mortared bricks. One building was a foreman¡¯s office, and the other was a dormitory attached to a cafeteria for workers. No occupants stirred within either structure, but they looked as though someone had only recently stepped away and would return soon. The beds had blankets and mattresses. The cafeteria had plates and silverware. The foreman¡¯s office had a desk and bookshelves and lobby seating for appointments.

    Every surface sparkled, a product of the dwarven tradition for cleanliness. As consummate crafters, they would not allow a perfectly constructed object or building to be marred by dust and clutter, detracting from the beauty of craftsmanship.

    ¡°This place is spookier than the Bone Goblins,¡± Sven said, taking in the dormitory sights.

    Yotuli agreed. ¡°It feels like some kind of tomb, like I¡¯m aware of how many dwarves used to be here.¡±

    Terry sat on one of the mattresses. ¡°Pretty comfortable tomb, though,¡± he said, pressing his hand down to test the cushion.

    ¡°We can explore when we¡¯ve cleared the dungeon,¡± Hans said, calling for the Apprentices in the foreman¡¯s office and in the dormitory to rejoin him in the staging area. ¡°We¡¯re taking the east passage. Bel and Lee will lead and fight the first iron elemental while we watch and learn from their experience. Everyone else, keep your maces ready just in case.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s close?¡± Bel asked.

    ¡°Forty yards or so, then behind a locked gate.¡±

    Kane wrinkled his brow. ¡°How far underground did you say this mine was? The original, I mean.¡±This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

    ¡°Boden said a mile, but I don¡¯t know how exact that is.¡±

    ¡°Why would they lock a gate all the way down here?¡±

    Lee patted Kane on the back. ¡°When you dig this deep, you don¡¯t want something to follow you out of the mine and back to your family.¡±

    ¡°That happens a lot?¡±

    Lee nodded. ¡°Whole dwarven cities have disappeared because of it. A mining crew busts through a wall not realizing a colony of dire centipedes is on the other side, then the monsters eat dwarf after dwarf like they¡¯re a living breadcrumb trail.¡±

    Hans said that Lee was correct. ¡°Any modern mining operation will have various checkpoints like this one. In this case, they helped keep the incursion from being even more tragic. Elementals are territorial, so they don¡¯t seek out prey the way a predator would. Still bad if one showed up in the middle of your city, though.¡±

    Sven picked the lock to the gate. Bel and Lee went through first so the Apprentices could watch how seasoned Silver-ranked adventurers took on iron elementals.

    The mine tunnels were a precise ten feet wide and six feet tall. The first iron elemental was alone, its head dragging against the ceiling creating sparks and horrendous screeches with every movement. As soon as the adventurers came through the gate, the mass of rock, dirt, and iron lumbered toward them. The cart tracks beneath its feet bent and splintered when it stepped.

    Lee went first, armed only with a mace. She put herself in front of the iron elemental and bent her knees, crouching as if she were a coiled spring. The iron elemental kept its pace, pulling back its right arm like it was about to throw a haymaker when it came within range.

    The monster stepped forward with its swing, a looping strike that Lee ducked handily before diving into a roll. She returned to her feet with the same finesse, taking up position behind the elemental. For a moment, the iron elemental continued forward, appearing to target Bel, but a thundering crack of Lee¡¯s mace shifted its attention back to the Spellsword.

    The strike, bolstered by what Hans presumed was the Push spell, crashed into the elemental¡¯s hip, staggering the monster sideways into the tunnel wall. A cloud of dust rose from the impact, bits of stone and dirt breaking off and falling to the floor.

    The hole the mace left made its leg look like a half-felled tree, still standing but missing huge chunks of the body that kept it upright.

    The monster¡¯s lumbering movements devolved into shaky lurches. The elemental turned, its wounded leg collapsing partially as it did. The same arm that first attacked Lee swung back around, a backfist with the reach of a spear. Lee shifted smoothly backward to avoid damage.

    As soon as the elemental exposed its back to Bel, the wizard shot a projectile from her hands. Shaped like a narrow cylinder, the Force Bolt had no physical form but rather was defined by a distortion of light, like a blur with sharp edges.

    The iron elemental¡¯s back exploded in a spray of dirt and stone. The monster stiffened and fell forward, the magic that gave its body form blinking out, leaving behind a humanoid-shaped mound of rubble. The Apprentices clapped.

    ¡°That level of coordination is why it¡¯s a good idea to stick with a party,¡± Hans said. ¡°Bel and Lee understand the roles they play in battle and are so used to working together that their thoughts are synced.¡±

    Bel and Lee both inclined their heads to express gratitude for the compliment.

    ¡°Did everyone see how Lee set up the pincer formation? She drew out the first attack and gave herself plenty of space to maneuver. Then she waited for the elemental to shift its attention to Bel before going after its mobility. Once that leg was damaged, it was only a matter of time before Lee or Bel took out the heart. Did anyone see something they could improve?¡±

    All of the Apprentices shook their heads, as did the Silvers.

    ¡°Pincer formations are relatively rare for adventurers,¡± Hans said. ¡°Since we¡¯re usually fighting as a unit, we don¡¯t get a lot of practice with battles like that, which can make it easy to overlook what happens after you cast a spell like Force Bolt. Bel, you couldn¡¯t see Lee when you cast, right?¡±

    Bel nodded that Hans was correct.

    ¡°Same for you seeing Bel, right?¡±

    Lee nodded as well.

    ¡°Archers and mages kill their party members by accident all the time in scenarios like this. We get so used to aiming at a target that we don¡¯t think about what we might hit behind the target. Lee wasn¡¯t in danger of a direct hit, but she was close enough to the line of fire that if the Force Bolt missed or went through the elemental she could lose an arm or a leg.

    ¡°Every party member is responsible for avoiding mistakes like that. If you can¡¯t see an ally behind a monster, cut an angle so you can. If an angle isn¡¯t possible, adjust your attack with the assumption that if you don¡¯t, your party member will go down by your hand. Lee and Bel both could have side stepped to recover that visibility, or Bel could have angled her attack by aiming for a leg or casting in such a way that the tunnel wall was on the other side of the projectile rather than Lee.¡±

    If Hans¡¯ memory was right, they would have four more solo encounters before the iron elementals came in groups of three to five. He broke the Apprentices into their usual parties of three¨CSven, Honronk, and Terry in one group with Yotuli, Chisel, and Buru in the other. For this run, Kane and Quentin grouped with Hans.

    The first few encounters with iron elementals were awkward for the Apprentices. They hesitated at times, and initially struggled to adapt to the reach of the monsters. Though there were two close calls, both involving the frontliners Terry and Yotuli, no one took a direct hit. As they went deeper and faced more than one elemental at a time, Hans shouted assignments to each party.

    Chisel cast Repel on Yotuli¡¯s and Buru¡¯s maces to boost the effect of their strikes, but otherwise, her and Honronk stood on the edges of battle making calls for their parties. With three battles happening at once, those calls helped to keep adventurers from running into one another or getting brained by an elemental from behind.

    The final battle occurred in a void, a natural open cavern at the end of a dwarf-made tunnel. Building-sized stalagmites rose from sloping expanses of stone, Honronk¡¯s Summon Light spell casting harsh shadows throughout the relatively level room. Hans warned that chasms were nearby¨Cthough he asked the dungeon core to make them much more shallow¨Cso while they should use the open terrain to their advantage, they should also watch their steps.

    Bel and Lee went in first, drawing the group of six elementals to one side so the Apprentices could spread out and target individual monsters. Other than Buru accidentally stepping on Quentin, the battle went as smoothly as Hans could have hoped. With a few more runs, their confidence would grow, making their tactics more seamless and precise. This was a good start.

    When the battle ended, the adventurers caught their breath and drank from waterskins.

    As it was with the Regenerating Castle, stepping into one of his memories formed a chimera-like monster out of nostalgia, deja vu, and melancholy. After this job, Boden went a whole month without being sober. Hans joined him for part of that run but couldn¡¯t keep up with the dwarf.

    On one of those nights, Hans remembered Gret ranting about the Adventures¡¯ Guild''s culpability in the tragedy. That region was not covered by the Adventures¡¯ Guild because it was outside the kingdom. They had adventurers, sure, but Gret argued that they could have¨Cand should have¨Chad their own Diamonds, but the Guild controlled access to Diamond quests and refused to share.

    Terry looked around at the piles of dead iron elementals. ¡°How close was this to the real thing?¡± He asked Hans.

    ¡°Relatively.¡±

    ¡°What happened for real that we¡¯re missing out on?¡±

    Hans pointed toward the tunnel where they entered the void. ¡°The miners took their stand over there. Part of the crew held their ground to give the rest time to run. By the time we got here, they were a pile of pulverized flesh. We couldn¡¯t even count the bodies, and some of the elementals wandered away with pieces of dwarf stuck to their legs and arms, so we found little bits of miner all over.¡±

    Terry paled. ¡°I wasn¡¯t trying to make light of people suffering.¡±

    ¡°I know, and I didn¡¯t take it that way,¡± Hans assured Terry. ¡°I partied with a dwarf named Boden for a while. He invited us to join him and his family for a birthday celebration, so me, Mazo, and Gret happily accepted a vacation in a dwarven city. It was Gret¡¯s first time traveling in a dwarven kingdom, actually.¡±

    ¡°Some birthday.¡±

    ¡°Yeah¡­ We had been in town for two or three days when we got word that one of the mining operations encountered iron elementals. Boden grew up with a lot of the men and women who worked this mine, so one minute we¡¯re watching a play¨Cdwarves love romantic comedies for some reason¨Cand the next we¡¯re riding into battle on minecarts.¡±

    Terry sighed. ¡°I like your stories with funny endings better.¡±

    ¡°Me too.¡±

    ***

    Open Quests (Ordered from Old to New):

    Progress from Gold-ranked to Diamond-ranked.

    Mend the rift with Devon.

    Using a pen name, complete the manuscript for "The Next Generation: A Teaching Methodology for Training Adventurers."

    Expand the dungeon with resource-specific monsters for each of Gomi¡¯s major trades.

    Decide whether or not to pursue silent walking and snow walking.

    Suggest growing mandrake elementals to the dungeon core.

    Secure interior dungeon doors without trapping adventurers inside.

    Find a way for Gomi adventurers to benefit from their rightful ranks in the Adventurers¡¯ Guild.

    Build a rest area in the dungeon to improve adventurer recovery.

    Secure a way to use surplus dungeon inventory for good.

 Book 2, Chapter 3: Alternate Endings

    Two sessions later, three Apprentices could run the iron elementals if Bel and Lee were there to supervise and coach. Managing the quantity of enemies was critical, and the Apprentices took to using the dungeon layout to keep from getting surrounded. With Kane and Quentin also present, they split dungeon duties between the seven of them. The iron elementals were still a genuine challenge, and bashing them to death was tiring. Harvesting the iron and pushing a cart full of ore to the dungeon surface was equally exhausting but far more boring.

    To spread the punishment out evenly, Kane and Quentin observed for the iron elementals, and then Bel and Lee took turns partying with the boys on their way to the core and back. The goblin shaman room was still a danger to any Apprentice, but with Bel or Lee watching, the encounter was relatively safe. The repetition of constant field experience drove rapid progress in all of the Apprentices, and Kane and Quentin were no exception.

    When Hans left for Gomi, the Apprentices were dragging beds¨Ccomplete with mattresses and blankets¨Cout of the dungeon and into the nearly complete dormitory. The townspeople working on the structure looked relieved to see they wouldn¡¯t have to handmake a dozen beds and then hump bedding for them up the mountain.

    Dungeon rotations were going to be strange for a few months while everyone adapted to the addition of a sizable iron elemental spawn, but the Apprentices had grown accustomed to these kinds of pivots. They didn¡¯t grumble in front of Hans, at least.

    As he approached Gomi at dusk, Hans realized he still wasn¡¯t used to seeing Gomi surrounded by a palisade. Without the walls, the mountain town seemed oddly quaint. Most buildings were weathered from years of harsh seasons, but the way the sun beat down on the clearing, with giant green trees and snowy mountains forming the backdrop, felt cozy. Inviting.

    With the spiked walls of the palisade, Gomi felt more like a frontier town, one small bastion in an ocean of wilderness, besieged daily by monsters and bandits alike. Hans had experienced that feeling a lot recently, a sort of familiarity tethered to his travels beyond the borders of civilization. Thankfully, Gomi wasn¡¯t a true frontier town, but the walls were an ever-present reminder of the encroaching threat of the outside world.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t think you¡¯d make it back tonight,¡± Olza called as Hans unlocked the front door of the guild hall. ¡°Have you eaten?¡±

    The alchemist approached, a thin sweater wrapped around her shoulders to keep out the light chill that still clung to spring. The breeze blew her black hair across her face.

    ¡°I made a quiche. There¡¯s plenty left,¡± she said.

    ¡°That sounds fantastic.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll go get it.¡±

    ¡°No, don¡¯t do that,¡± Hans called as Olza spun to retrieve the dish. ¡°I can handle the walk down the street. Let me drop my bag, and I¡¯ll be over.¡±

    Olza agreed and left ahead of Hans.

    Stepping into the empty guild hall brought an odd peace to Hans, like an unburdening. He smiled at the dozens of paintings and drawings his younger students had gifted to their Guild Master, appreciating the dazzle of colors and wide brushstrokes anew every time he saw them. Dungeon diving and training were fun, sure, but a guild hall was a sanctuary.

    After he changed clothes and toweled off as much dirt from the trail as he could, he set out for Olza¡¯s potion shop. The town was cloaked in near darkness, the barest tinge of sunset orange lingering on the horizon. The crickets and frogs dominated the night, loud enough to drown out a soft spoken conversation.

    ¡°I can warm up the stove if you want,¡± Olza said. ¡°It¡¯s pretty cold.¡±

    ¡°Cold is fine. I don¡¯t mind it.¡±

    ¡°If you¡¯re sure.¡±

    Hans promised he was and asked if he missed anything interesting while he was up the mountain.

    ¡°Just another Gomi spring,¡± she said. ¡°The kids are pretty excited about your camping trip. Thank the gods I didn¡¯t volunteer to chaperone.¡±

    Chuckling, he asked what she meant.

    ¡°Thirteen children out in the woods, and you¡¯re responsible for their safety and their entertainment? I think I¡¯d rather run the dungeon.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not as bad as it sounds,¡± Hans said between mouthfuls of quiche. ¡°The trick is to burn them out during the day, get them real tired. There¡¯s a lot less late night giggles and other mischief that way.¡±

    ¡°If you say so.¡±

    ¡°Becky and a few of the parents will be with us. Not like I¡¯ll be wrangling them alone.¡±

    ¡°Still braver than me,¡± Olza said. ¡°More importantly, how are you?¡±

    Hans said he was fine and relayed the idea Galinda had about donating surplus materials to towns struggling to recover from orc attacks. He wasn¡¯t sure how much they could offer immediately, but the long-term impact could be significant.

    ¡°Hans, no. That¡¯s not what I meant. You got the news about Gret and haven¡¯t sat down since.¡±

    ¡°What else can I do? I¡¯d rather stay busy than ruminate on questions I¡¯ll never be able to answer from out here.¡±

    ¡°You could talk about it.¡±

    Hans stilled and stopped chewing. He swallowed and set his fork on the table. ¡°Greed killed Gret,¡± Hans said. ¡°They rushed the attack on the lich cabal. Leadership worried the liches would destroy their research and records if they had the chance, so the Guild wanted the Platinums in quick.¡±

    ¡°Did Gret know you were against the plan?¡±

    Nodding, the Guild Master said, ¡°Yes, but think about it from his perspective. He was a Platinum-ranked Rogue running with a party of other Platinums, and the plan was backed by the highest ranks in the Guild, the Hoseki Guild Master included. Those are legitimate adventurers with long, successful careers. Some of the best adventurers of all time even.¡±

    ¡°And you¡¯re one Gold-ranked.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m one Gold-ranked, so I get it. From Gret¡¯s perspective¡­ I mean¡­ It¡¯s hard to fault him. It¡¯s the same with Devon. I can see how I¡¯d start to sound crazy if the greatest adventurers in the world said I was wrong. It doesn¡¯t feel fair to hold that against Gret or against a kid like Devon. In Devon¡¯s case, he took the advice of his heroes and now he¡¯s the strongest adventurer in the world. What does my opinion look like next to that?¡±

    Olza sighed. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t have thought the Adventurers¡¯ Guild would be that political. It¡¯s all very dramatic.¡±

    ¡°Incredibly dramatic. Alchemy isn¡¯t like that?¡±

    ¡°No,¡± Olza said but hesitated. ¡°Okay, maybe a little. Research in the larger cities can be pretty cut throat, and someone is always bad mouthing someone¡¯s methods or analysis.¡±

    ¡°Probably less death.¡±

    ¡°More of that than you might think, but yes, I¡¯d imagine adventuring would have more life or death stakes.¡±Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.

    Olza took Hans¡¯ plate and gave him a cup of tea before pouring one for herself. ¡°I¡¯m sorry about Gret. What are you going to do?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t think I¡¯ll do anything,¡± Hans said with a hint of shame. ¡°It feels like we caught a break. We had seven adventurers visit Gomi in the first month after the pass cleared, and all of them left without incident. If I send a bunch of letters¡­ It¡¯s not worth risking Gomi just to make myself feel better.¡±

    ¡°I promise to drop it after I say this: You¡¯re not good at hiding your emotions. Everyone knows something is bothering you.¡±

    Hans looked at the floor. ¡°I didn¡¯t mean to upset anyone.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not it. People worry when they care.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re right. I shouldn¡¯t assume the worst.¡±

    ***

    ¡°Hey, booger boys,¡± Hans shouted across the training yard. ¡°Get back to drilling.¡±

    ¡°We weren¡¯t¨C¡±

    ¡°Harry. Your finger tickled your brain. I saw it.¡±

    Though he kicked the dirt in a brief pout, Harry went back to drilling throws as he was told. Hans watched as twelve children took turns hip tossing one another, a low cloud of dust wisping across the yard like brown fog. The technique was simple: Clinch with your partner, one arm over a partner¡¯s arm while the other arm snaked under the opposite armpit. With a step in and a turn, their partner flipped over their hips and landed with their back in the dirt. The more enthusiastic children threw their partners with such force that their feet pointed straight up into the sky at the apex of the technique.

    Hans discouraged that much force, especially when they weren¡¯t familiar with the technique yet. Flopping onto the ground over and over battered the body even when partners attempted to be gentle. Gravity collected its tax no matter what, so sparing your training partner some abuse was good for everyone.

    The throw was just a necessary evil, though. The real lesson was teaching the kids how to fall.

    ¡°These are the same breakfalls we practiced with solo drills,¡± Hans said to the class. ¡°Turn away from your trapped arm, and slap the dirt with your free arm. Palm down, extend the same-side leg.¡±

    A fall would never be entirely painless, but with the right technique, an adventurer could hit the ground without breaking a bone or knocking the wind from their lungs. All of the children could breakfall forward and backward as well as to either side when they were practicing on their own. Learning to choose the right breakfall in the blur of getting tossed was the next step in the lesson.

    ¡°We need to completely eliminate trying to catch yourself as a reaction,¡± Hans explained. ¡°Stretching an arm out is everyone¡¯s natural instinct. Too bad it¡¯s a great way to break your arm.¡±

    The lesson would eventually expand to include other types of throws, each designed to familiarize the student with the various sensations that came with flying through the air, so they could pick the right response in the moment. In addition to the various directions of breakfalls, the children would also learn to roll forward or backward out of a throw. If a monster sent you tumbling across a battlefield, turning your head the wrong way could break your own neck.

    As important as these skills were for survival, Hans tempered the intensity of the lesson around the realities of teaching throws. Though throws were the focus of the lesson, it was a small fraction of the overall class. An hour and a half of nonstop tosses would leave nearly every student bruised, exhausted, and surly. Furthermore, tired students were more likely to make mistakes, leading to the very same injuries the drills were designed to prevent.

    Hans ended the class with a good old fashioned knot race, which always released a hidden reserve of excitement and frenzy no matter how challenging the rest of the class had been. Each child got a length of rope, and when Hans said ¡°go,¡± they raced to be the first to tie three different knots. Hans changed the type and order of the knots every time they did a race.

    The second half of the race was undoing the knots of the person next to you. That part was harder to make fun, but Hans would lose his mind if he had to untie them all himself.

    When both races concluded, Hans said, ¡°If you¡¯re going on the camping trip, be here at sunrise tomorrow. We¡¯ll leave shortly after. Be on time and prepared. The Guild has extra equipment for you to borrow, so if you don¡¯t have an item on your list, let me know. When I was your age I had to borrow everything from the Guild, so don¡¯t worry about it if that¡¯s what you need to do.¡±

    To end class, the children formed one line facing Hans. Starting at one end, he went student by student shaking each of their hands. As he did, the line folded so that every student shook the hand of every other, following Hans like a snake doubling back on itself.

    When class ended, Hans listened to a few stories about finding cool bugs or doing something impressive on the farm. After brief conversations with parents, he watched the children and their guardians file out of the training yard, each passing beneath the multicolored, hand-painted sign that read ¡°Hans¡¯ Ultimate Training Dungeon.¡±

    Two tusks lingered, however, a husband and wife who arrived last fall.

    They introduced themselves and the wife asked, ¡°Is there work at the dungeon we could do?¡±

    Though the Tribe typically worked in advance to have farmland and shelter to offer to newcomers, they didn¡¯t have nearly enough land to give everyone their own farm this year. The influx of refugees was the largest group of newcomers Gomi had ever seen, quickly using up every free plot and cabin the Tribe had available. Building the palisade around the barns helped with that problem by clearing more land for crops, but it was not enough.

    When Hans began listing the unpleasantries of dungeon rotations, the wife interrupted him. ¡°We¡¯d be okay living up there full time,¡± she said. ¡°If we can do that and contribute, it would be pretty perfect for us.¡±

    Hans raised an eyebrow, and the husband spoke. ¡°Our son died in a pogrom. There were fires and¡­ Sorry. What I mean to say is that we like the idea of that solitude. We¡¯ve got no problem with hard work and will gladly earn our keep.¡±

    As soon as Tandis saw the first haul of iron ore, and the tired adventurers delivering it, she had suggested to Hans that they consider bringing more people into the dungeon. She argued that harvesting resources was its own skill, and Hans found that he agreed. He could field dress a deer as well as the next adventurer, but a real hunter, someone like Quentin¡¯s dad Roland, dressed a deer swiftly and without waste. Even the kill itself was designed to preserve as much of the animal¡¯s hide and meat as possible.

    Perhaps more importantly, the assistance would make runs safer for adventurers. Tired people made poor decisions, which that day¡¯s class made top of mind, and the demands of the dungeon continued to grow. Another expansion like the iron elementals would be too much to cull and harvest with the same workforce. The iron elementals themselves might already be too much, actually. The Apprentices could manage it for now, but Hans doubted they could do so indefinitely with their current manpower.

    ¡°You¡¯d have to go into the dungeon. The work would be hard and potentially dangerous. Anything in a dungeon comes with risk.¡±

    The couple nodded. ¡°We understand,¡± the wife said. Her husband agreed.

    ¡°What would you do in the winter? You just spent a winter living in a dormitory so you know what that¡¯s like. You¡¯d do that again?¡±

    ¡°We would,¡± the husband said. ¡°But we were hoping to try our hand at building a place of our own. We¡¯d work on it on our own time.¡±

    Thinking about it, Hans didn¡¯t see any downside to having full time residents at the dungeon entrance. A permanent presence, even if it was a small fraction of the dungeon operation, would simplify a great deal of the logistics and make life up the mountain more pleasant for everyone. When people considered a place home, they went to great lengths to care for and improve it. People liked to live in pleasant places, and people preferred to visit pleasant places, so everyone won.

    New Quest: Coordinate a plan for dungeon assistants living permanently at the dungeon.

    ¡°Your timing is good,¡± Hans said after thinking. ¡°I¡¯ll need a little bit of time to set it up, but I think this could work pretty well.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re very grateful, sir,¡± the husband said.

    ¡°You¡¯re helping me more than I¡¯m helping you,¡± Hans said. ¡°You both should take the adult classes until then. I don¡¯t expect you to be adventurers, but I won¡¯t send defenseless people into a dungeon, even if we think it¡¯s been cleared.¡±

    ¡°Yes, of course.¡±

    Hans wished the couple well and finished cleaning up after the kids¡¯ class. He still needed to pack for tomorrow¡¯s outing. He was far from prepared to spend three days in the wilderness with a gaggle of children.

    ***

    Open Quests (Ordered from Old to New):

    Progress from Gold-ranked to Diamond-ranked.

    Mend the rift with Devon.

    Using a pen name, complete the manuscript for "The Next Generation: A Teaching Methodology for Training Adventurers."

    Expand the dungeon with resource-specific monsters for each of Gomi¡¯s major trades.

    Decide whether or not to pursue silent walking and snow walking.

    Suggest growing mandrake elementals to the dungeon core.

    Secure interior dungeon doors without trapping adventurers inside.

    Find a way for Gomi adventurers to benefit from their rightful ranks in the Adventurers¡¯ Guild.

    Build a rest area in the dungeon to improve adventurer recovery.

    Secure a way to use surplus dungeon inventory for good.

    Coordinate a plan for dungeon assistants living permanently at the dungeon.

 Book 2, Chapter 4: Escort Mission

    Becky arrived sometime during the night and was waiting outside the guild hall when the sun rose. Hans heard her before he saw her, her bellowing dwarf laugh following a chorus of childish giggles.

    ¡°Good morning, Becky,¡± Hans said, stepping outside with a pack full of gear¨Chis supplies for three days of camping as well as items for activities and emergencies.

    ¡°Howdy, boss!¡±

    ¡°How¡¯s your spring so far?¡±

    Becky shrugged. ¡°It¡¯s a busy one. Running messages all over for the forest.¡±

    ¡°Busier than usual?¡±

    ¡°You bet. Too many far away splashes rippling our way if you know what I¡¯m saying.¡±

    Hans nodded. ¡°Busy can still be quiet. I don¡¯t mind a lot of work if the peace holds up.¡±

    ¡°Aye,¡± Becky grunted. ¡°I could drink to that.¡±

    ¡°No drinking. It¡¯s a camping trip for kids.¡±

    ¡°So? They gotta go to sleep sometime.¡±

    Before Hans could argue, Chance and Loddie came down the street, yelling for Miss Becky. The brother and sister tusks had grown quite a bit over the winter, like the tusk side of their heritage suddenly awoke and accelerated threefold. This time last year, they were typical children¨Csmall, awkward, clumsy. While they were far from being fully grown, the sharp edges of age began to replace the soft features of youth.

    ¡°Miss Becky!¡± Loddie yelled one more time, slamming into the dwarf Druid with a hug that was more akin to a tackle. ¡°Can we ride Becki?¡±

    ¡°The other kids will be here soon,¡± Becky answered. ¡°We don¡¯t want anyone to feel left out.¡±

    ¡°But they¡¯re not here yet!¡±

    ¡°Still, we¨C¡±

    ¡°Pleeeeeeease,¡± Chance and Loddie said in unison. Becki, the Druid¡¯s oversized boar familiar, slid between the children, her head down, her eyes large like a begging puppy.

    ¡°Okay. Fine.¡±

    The children jumped and clapped. Becki pranced in place, her hooves tippy tapping the ground like a little dance. She knelt on her front knees and dipped her head so Chance and Loddie could climb on to her back. The three ambled down the street. Then the boar broke into a trot, triggering gleeful laughter from the children. In that moment, their hints of maturity disappeared as they embraced childish joy.

    Over the next thirty minutes, eleven more children arrived. Harry and Harriot, the son and daughter of the town blacksmith and fletcher, were there, as was Gunther. Tandis accompanied her daughter, using chaperone duties as an excuse to spend more time together. An older brother to one of the young girls came to chaperone as well, as did another parent. Roland, Quentin¡¯s father, joined as well. Hans noted a warmer kind of smile on Tandis when Roland appeared. They briefly squeezed hands in greeting, saying nothing else.

    Looks like their romance is growing. Good for them.

    Hans put two fingers in his mouth and unleashed a sharp whistle to quiet the chaos simmering in the training yard.

    ¡°Anyone who needed to borrow a bedroll or waterskin should have one, but if I missed you, let me know. We have plenty of spares.¡±

    He looked around to see if any hands raised or if any faces looked distressed. He saw neither.

    ¡°We¡¯re going to have a lot of fun on our adventure,¡± Hans said. ¡°But that means we all need to think like adventurers. Who can tell me what that means?¡±

    ¡°Always stay together!¡± a human boy, no older than six, yelled.

    ¡°That¡¯s correct! Never split the party. What else?¡±

    The answers came in rapid succession:

    ¡°Listen to the adults.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t eat any strange plants.¡±

    ¡°Be alert for monsters!¡±

    ¡°Drink lots of water.¡±

    ¡°Help each other!¡±

    Hans grinned proudly. ¡°You got all but one. Anyone know what we missed?¡± He looked around at the children pondering intensely, but no one spoke or raised their hands. ¡°Be prepared! No one has their sword or shield, so I want everyone to go inside and get one. You¡¯re adventurers! You should always have your sword.¡±

    A few minutes later, the group departed. Every child had a wooden sword on their hip and a shield on their backs, making them look like a poorly equipped halfling warband on the march. The Becks took the lead with everyone following single file and Hans bringing up the rear. The Guild Master had a shield on his back as well, the one Harry and Harriot decorated and gifted him last year.

    Fifteen minutes down the trail, Gunther asked, ¡°How far is our camp?¡±

    ¡°Few hours,¡± Roland answered. ¡°Miss Becky said we¡¯d be there in the afternoon.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s so long.¡±

    Without looking back, Becky yelled, ¡°Gunny! Quit your belly-achin¡¯ before I come back there.¡±

    ¡°...Yes, Miss Becky.¡±

    As the hike continued, Becky and Roland pointed out interesting sights and explained their importance, like cold bear scat, scrapes on a tree from a buck rubbing its antlers, and raccoon tracks along a muddy creek bed. Knowing they shared the forests with bears should keep them alert and respectful, Roland said. Bears weren¡¯t often confrontational, but an unwitting hiker could stumble upon a mother bear and her cubs if they weren¡¯t careful.

    Seeing signs of other animals¨Clike deer and raccoons¨Cwere more positive. Those meant potential food sources were nearby, and a busy forest meant that the winter hadn¡¯t been too hard on plants and game.

    An hour or so before they reached their campsite, Roland pointed out another set of prints.

    ¡°Who knows what made these?¡±

    The children gathered around, studying the dry, cracked impressions of wide, clawed paws.

    ¡°Wolves?¡± one child asked.

    ¡°Close. Do you see how deep these two are compared to those shallow ones there? Wolves will leave more uniform impressions because their weight is evenly spread out across four paws. If you see deep prints mixed with shallow, you¡¯re probably looking at gnoll tracks. They¡¯re tricky because if they travel on all fours, their trail can look like wolves made it.¡±

    ¡°Are they still here?¡± Harriot asked.

    Roland shook his head and rapped a knuckle on the hard dirt. ¡°The ground was pretty wet when these tracks were made. Since it¡¯s bone dry now, what does that tell us?¡±Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

    The children glanced around at one another but no one answered.

    ¡°What makes the ground wet?¡± Roland asked.

    ¡°Rain!¡±

    ¡°Very good. How long ago did it rain?¡±

    ¡°Five days?¡± Gunther guessed.

    Roland nodded. ¡°Exactly. That makes these tracks relatively old. Wild beasts are often territorial, though, so if you find tracks somewhere, that¡¯s probably because the animal or monster lives in the area and comes through often.¡±

    ¡°Are we in danger, Mr. Roland?¡± One of the smaller human children asked.

    ¡°We¡¯re not under attack,¡± Roland answered, ¡°but this is the wilderness. We have to respect that we are both predator and prey, so we need to behave like the smartest of both.¡±

    At about noon, Becky led the group down a narrow deer trail. The winding path descended a rocky hillside and followed a creek between dozens of mountain boulders, many of them larger than the dungeon cabin. As they followed the narrow deer run, rockfaces rose gradually on either side of the trail until the path suddenly opened to a wooded grove. At the far end, a small waterfall splashed down, trickling from rock to rock to continue its descent from the Dead End Mountains above.

    The serenity of the place reminded Hans of his visit with the Lady of the Forest, like he was in a place no mortal could find on their own, a secret realm guarded by ancient spirits.

    ¡°Told you it was a good spot,¡± Becky said, chuckling at Hans¡¯ astonished stare.

    ¡°Yes, you did. You certainly did.¡±

    When he collected himself, Hans told the children where to drop their bags and divided them as evenly as he could between the adult chaperones, doing his best to balance differences in size and age from group to group. Next, he had each group select a location for their shelter and begin gathering the materials they needed to build it.

    For the next three hours, the children scurried about gathering sticks with an adult watching close by so no one disappeared into the forest. Each group built the frame for their lean-tos and laid big leafy branches on its slope, using the foliage as a sort of shingle to redirect water if it rained.

    As Hans expected, the quality of each shelter varied wildly. Two collapsed partway through and needed to be rebuilt. Those children were disheartened at first, but once they learned what they could do better, their motivation rekindled and they went back to building. Every activity was meant to be practice, not a test. If a shelter ended up being truly abysmal, the adults had spare canvas tarps in their bags so that none of the children would be exposed to the elements if bad weather hit.

    Once every child had their shelter up and their bedroll down, they gathered around Roland with a few hours of light left. The hunter and the Druid taught the kids to make simple deadfall traps, using a figure-four construction of notched sticks to precariously prop up a rock. While the children experimented with perfecting the balance of the trap¨Cgetting the structure to hold while also being delicate enough for small game to trip¨CHans gathered firewood, piling kindling and several sizes of sticks near each shelter.

    When the lesson on deadfall traps concluded, each group of children built their fires and struck flint to bring them to life. Two of the groups needed coaching about tinder needing air to burn long enough for the rest of the fuel to light. Next, the adults passed around jerky and sweet potatoes. The children gnawed on one while using the fire to bake the other. Once everyone was settled, and every child was accounted for, Hans asked for everyone¡¯s attention.

    ¡°Your potatoes will need a good bit of time to cook,¡± he said. ¡°And don¡¯t worry, we¡¯ll have fresh meat tomorrow.¡±

    He asked the children if they¡¯d like to hear a story while they waited. When one child asked for a story about Master Devontes, the others joined in, echoing the request with growing fervor. Hans relented and began a tale when they quieted.

    ¡°The Guild sent us on a job in the frontier. They had a lead on an artifact and wanted us to gather research first hand. Scout the area, talk to locals, standard prep stuff.¡±

    The frontier was a broad term for any region beyond the borders of one of the kingdoms, vast expanses of lawless wilds filled with monsters, outlaws, and extreme weather. This part of the frontier was rolling, tornado-prone prairie, miles and miles of tall grass that eventually faded into desert badlands. The adventurers¡¯ destination was in the badlands, but the prairie was large enough that they needed several days to cross it.

    ¡°We stopped at this little outpost, a tiny walled town smaller than Gomi. I was Gold-ranked. Master Devontes, Mazo, and Gret were all Diamonds at that point. We had maybe another day before we reached badlands, so we rented space in a barn and camped there for the night. We¡¯re asleep for maybe two or three hours, and Master Devontes wakes us, whispering, ¡®Undead are close.¡¯¡±

    Trusting in the senses of a Paladin, the party rushed to get into their gear, but the battle began before they could finish. They heard guards shouting that they were under attack, demanding every able-bodied person inside the walls take up a weapon to fight. By the time the adventurers left the barn, men and women stood on the walls, firing arrows down into the darkness surrounding them. The stench of rotting flesh thickened the air.

    Hans, Devontes, and Gret joined the townspeople with bows of their own while Mazo used her magic. Ghoul after ghoul shambled out of the darkness into torchlight, mindlessly focused on penetrating the outpost walls. An exact count was difficult to make, but the adventurers estimated the total force of the ghouls that night neared three hundred or more, a sizable force for an outpost of fifteen people hosting four visiting adventurers.

    ¡°Mazo cast a lightning spell she learned from an air elemental, so for a flash we could see the prairie all around us as if it were daytime. Ghouls came from every direction, a lot of them, but we saw something that bothered us more. In the distance, four armored riders sat on horseback, watching the ghouls charge the outpost.¡±

    When Mazo cast lightning again to confirm what they saw, Hans thought he spotted two of them moving their hands like they were casting spells, but the distance was too great to be certain. Moments later, the glow of fireflies began to surround the outpost, distant at first, but the orange-red lights moved with the sea of ghouls.

    ¡°Target the glowing ghouls!¡± Hans yelled.

    He aimed an arrow at a running ghoul, its body lit like a fire burned within, radiating light through its rotten flesh and tattered clothes. When his first arrow pierced its brain, the monster detonated with the force of a stick of dynamite. Soon, the deafening blasts filled the night, dulling Hans¡¯ hearing to an unending high-pitched ring as they brought down ghoul after ghoul.

    Then the glowing ghouls reached the wall.

    ¡°Three of them targeted the same section just a few dozen yards away from where we stood. One after the other, they slammed into the palisade. The last one took the wall down, and it got ugly. Several of the townsfolk dropped their weapons to run as dozens of ghouls charged the hole. Master Devontes yells for Mazo to keep the lightning going, and then he jumps over the wall.¡±

    The eyes of the children listening went big as their mouths dropped.

    The Paladin was blessed with an ability that launched him forward, a sort of super-speed dash that allowed Devontes to cover twenty yards in a blink. Every time Mazo¡¯s lightning lit the prairie, Devontes was in a new place with a line of ghouls behind him, the pieces of their bodies turning to ash as the Paladin¡¯s justice banished their souls for good. Each brief moment of light was like a scene captured by a painting, one instant frozen in time. Again and again, punctuated by the explosions of glowing ghouls falling alongside their comrades.

    Mazo watched the riders in the distance more than she watched Devontes. ¡°They¡¯re running!¡± she shouted when the lightning revealed the backs of the riders, galloping away.

    A purple flame slashed across the prairie like a giant sword, cutting down at least twenty ghouls in one brilliant arc. Then the blinking light revealed Devontes giving chase on foot, getting smaller and smaller with each flash, covering an inhuman amount of distance each time.

    ¡°Didn¡¯t you say they were on horseback?¡± Gunther asked.

    ¡°I did.¡±

    ¡°And he tried to catch them?¡±

    Hans nodded. ¡°By the time we finished off what was left of the ghouls, the sun started to rise. And here comes Devon¨CI mean Master Devontes¨Cdragging a body behind him.¡±

    The Paladin defeated the riders and took one prisoner. Devontes reported that the men on horseback were all human, not undead. From interrogating the prisoner and from searching the belongings of his comrades, the adventurers deduced that the riders were acolytes, carrying out a mission from their masters. They didn¡¯t know it then, but investigating the acolytes would eventually lead them to a cabal of liches gathering power in the frontier.

    ¡°Can you fight like that, Mr. Hans?¡± Chance asked.

    Hans laughed. ¡°Definitely not. Master Devontes was a pretty fresh Diamond at the time, but he was already outpacing some of the Platinums in Hoseki. We Golds aren¡¯t close to that level, not by a longshot.¡±

    The children ate their dinners, excitedly talking about what it would be like to be a Paladin like Master Devontes and all of the amazing adventures they¡¯d have. Soon, the exhaustion of the day overtook them, driving them to their bedrolls.

    ***

    Open Quests (Ordered from Old to New):

    Progress from Gold-ranked to Diamond-ranked.

    Mend the rift with Devon.

    Using a pen name, complete the manuscript for "The Next Generation: A Teaching Methodology for Training Adventurers."

    Expand the dungeon with resource-specific monsters for each of Gomi¡¯s major trades.

    Decide whether or not to pursue silent walking and snow walking.

    Suggest growing mandrake elementals to the dungeon core.

    Secure interior dungeon doors without trapping adventurers inside.

    Find a way for Gomi adventurers to benefit from their rightful ranks in the Adventurers¡¯ Guild.

    Build a rest area in the dungeon to improve adventurer recovery.

    Secure a way to use surplus dungeon inventory for good.

    Coordinate a plan for dungeon assistants living permanently at the dungeon.

 Book 2, Chapter 5: Training Simulation

    When the children woke the next morning, they stayed in their groups and ate breakfast¨Cbacon and eggs. While they ate, Hans and Tandis slipped away to set up one of the day¡¯s activities. They faked the trail for a monster by stamping footprints into soft forest earth, using carvings Galinda made for the occasion.

    ¡°What monster is this?¡± Tandis asked.

    ¡°Most people call it a ¡®ground dragon,¡¯ but it¡¯s not really a dragon. It¡¯s more closely related to lizards, just bigger and meaner.¡±

    When the earth was too rocky to make footprints, they simulated broken branches and scraped bark, like the ground dragon had lumbered through and paused to rub against a tree before continuing on.

    ¡°Are there ground dragons around here?¡± Tandis asked.

    ¡°Not at all,¡± Hans said, ¡°but we covered their prints in one of the winter classes. The kids seemed pretty fascinated by it, so I hope a few will remember.¡±

    ¡°Were your classes like this in Hoseki?¡±

    ¡°Sometimes. You have less freedom when you¡¯re just a staff member, but I still tried to be hands-on as much as I could. Things are less flexible in the Capital in general.¡±

    ¡°I visited the Capital once,¡± Tandis said, smiling at the memory behind her eyes. ¡°I didn¡¯t know cities could be that big, and all those people¡­ If you added up every person I saw in my life until then, it wouldn¡¯t come close to how many I saw in the Capital in a single day.¡±

    ¡°Yeah. It¡¯s like a different world inside those walls.¡±

    ¡°The shops, the shows, the restaurants¡­¡±

    ¡°Maybe Roland will take you on a trip when all of this calms down.¡±

    Tandis spun around immediately. ¡°Why would you say that?¡±

    ¡°You two aren¡¯t subtle. Everyone knows.¡±

    ¡°Really?¡±

    Hans shrugged. ¡°Small town stuff, I guess. People are curious and like to have excuses to talk.¡±

    ¡°Oh.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not necessarily a bad thing,¡± Hans assured her. ¡°I believe the consensus is that you¡¯re ¡®cute together,¡¯ but I don¡¯t know if that¡¯s in the meeting minutes or not.¡±

    Tandis gently shoved Hans.

    ¡°What? People are happy for you two.¡±

    ¡°I know,¡± she said, blushing. ¡°The attention is just embarrassing.¡± After a long pause, she continued, ¡°I am happy though.¡±

    ¡°Yeah?¡±

    ¡°When the war started, I thought our lives were over. We didn¡¯t have much, but we worked hard for it, and it was just¡­ gone. But here, I¡¯ve fallen in love. My daughter has dozens of new brothers and sisters, not to mention Quentin. It¡¯s a future we can look forward to.¡±

    Hans nodded. Gomi had been like that for him too, though his circumstances were less dire.

    Satisfied with their fake trail, they returned to camp. While Becky and Roland taught bushcraft, making baskets from twine and sticks as well as handweaving gillnets, Hans and Tandis took one of the groups on an adventure.

    ***

    ¡°Okay, adventurers,¡± Tandis said. ¡°The Guild has a job for you. A strange monster has been spotted dragging cows into the woods, so a group of farmers has hired you to find and kill it. According to what they told the Guild, the monster was spotted in this exact area, so your hunt begins here.¡±

    Armed with wooden swords and shields, Chance, Loddie, Harry, and Harriot spread out to search the area while Hans and Tandis watched. After several minutes of scouring, Loddie shouted that she found something. The other children raced over to see her discovery.

    ¡°That¡¯s a big footprint,¡± Harry said, frowning.

    ¡°What will you do now?¡± Hans asked the group.

    ¡°Look for more tracks!¡± Chance said, finding the next set a few seconds later.

    From there, the momentum of the adventure overtook them, taking the young adventurers on a winding journey through the forest. When the terrain was no longer suitable for finding prints, the children struggled, unsure of what to do without tracks to guide them. Hans gently coached them to think about what other signs a monster that big might leave behind. With that coaxing, they spotted the scraped trees and the broken branches.

    Where the excitement had dimmed as their frustration grew, a break in the case rejuvenated the children, sending them racing from clue to clue.

    At a small clearing, Tandis stopped the group. As she spoke, Hans ducked behind a tree.

    ¡°Good job, adventurers,¡± Tandis began, ¡°You¡¯ve tracked the monster to its lair. Does anyone know what the monster might be based on the tracks?¡±

    All four children raised their hands. Chase answered, ¡°Ground dragon!¡±

    ¡°Very good! Now it¡¯s up to you to draw it out of the lair and kill it. Good luck!¡±

    The children huddled, formulating a quick plan of attack. Harriot and Loddie stepped into the clearing while Chance and Harry moved around either side. Each had their swords and shields at the ready.

    ¡°Oy! Monster!¡± Harriot yelled. ¡°Are you hungry or are you a little chicken?¡±

    Hans jumped out from behind the tree wearing a paper mask tied to his face. The paper was cut and colored¨Cquite crudely¨Cto look like the head of a ground dragon, a long, lizard-like snout with two rounded horns above its eyes.

    ¡°Rawwrrrrrr!¡± Hans yelled, doing his best impression of a large, cattle-eating monster.

    The children didn¡¯t hesitate. They jumped into action, bashing Hans with wooden swords from every angle.

    ¡°Okay! Stop! I¡¯m dead! I¡¯m dead I¡¯m dead I¡¯m dead!¡±

    Tandis pulled the children away from the Guild Master lying on the forest floor, covering his head. ¡°Good work, adventurers!¡± Tandis praised. ¡°That¡¯s a job well done. To compensate you for your bravery and hard work, we offer you these gifts.¡±

    Reaching into her back pocket, Tandis presented a cluster of wooden medallions on string, each hand-carved by Galinda to look like Gomi¡¯s bear-head crest. She presented each medallion like it was a prestigious military honor. The kids gushed over their new treasures and reminisced about their battle the entire walk back to camp.

    ***

    Hans and Tandis repeated the quest experience for the other groups of children, leaving Hans covered in sword-shaped bruises from his many defeats as a ground dragon. A few quests in, Roland departed, leaving Becky and the remaining chaperones to teach the children how to make a simple loop snare for trapping rabbits or squirrels.The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

    Shortly after the final group completed their quest, Roland returned to camp, dragging a doe. A few dozen yards from camp, he demonstrated field dressing the animal and talked about the different cuts of meat and uses for various parts of the deer. In addition to the obvious benefits of preserving the hide and meat, he talked about making candles from the fat, glue from the hooves, needles from the bones, and even sinew from the tendons.

    He explained that he harvested all of these items when he hunted, but he rarely used all of those himself. Customers in town bought the materials to finish the processing with their preferred methods and often with the bulk of buying from several hunters. If you were alone in the wilderness though, knowing about these uses made you more versatile, especially in emergencies.

    When Roland set to work dividing the meat into cookable cuts for the children, Hans instructed them to gather wood, challenging the campers to build their fires without help from an adult or anyone outside of their group. Some of the parties had minor squabbles as their members argued about how much tinder to use or how to arrange their fuel by size and density, but none of those disagreements boiled into actual fights, verbal or otherwise.

    Once everyone ate and cleaned up, the children gathered around for another story. Before they could settle in, a series of howls calling and answering one another carried through the forest, sounding distant yet close at the same time.

    All of the children froze, except for Gunther. He looked around, alert but not concerned or alarmed.

    ¡°Are gnolls coming for us?¡± one of the children asked.

    Hans calmed the panicked chatter that immediately followed and said, ¡°Remember when Mr. Roland showed you gnoll tracks yesterday?¡±

    Heads nodded.

    ¡°What did he say?¡±

    ¡°Monsters want to eat us, so we gotta be smarter than them,¡± Gunther answered.

    ¡°More or less, yes,¡± Hans said. ¡°Predators are everywhere in the kingdom. They might be bigger or smaller in different places, but they are still there. Mr. Roland used another word that everyone should remember: Respect. What does it mean to respect something or someone?¡±

    One of the younger children shouted, ¡°Listen to your parents.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s a kind of respect, yes. How about respect for something like a knife?¡± Hans pulled his hunting knife from his belt and held it in his open palm. ¡°Who here is afraid of this knife?¡±

    No one raised their hands.

    ¡°You¡¯re not afraid of the knife? But it¡¯s sharp and dangerous and could even be deadly. Why wouldn¡¯t you be afraid of that?¡±

    One of the older children said, ¡°My brother taught me how to use one so I don¡¯t cut myself.¡±

    ¡°Exactly! Wilderness is like a knife. It can cut you, but if you handle it with respect and understanding, it¡¯s capable of amazing things. That¡¯s the kind of respect Mr. Roland was talking about yesterday.¡±

    Hans explained that building fire was part of respecting the dangers of the wilderness. All animals and many monsters feared fire, preferring to be as far from it as they could, thus discouraging them from bothering a campsite. Where Roland chose to field dress the deer was another form of respect. He knew that hunger motivated predators, so he butchered the animal away from camp and hung the food high in a tree away from camp as well. Any beast attracted to the smell of a fresh kill would follow it, but Roland¡¯s precautions kept them from coming right into the middle of where everyone slept.

    The children might not have noticed, but the adults rotated watch during the night. Most predators were opportunists, willing to kill for a meal but not so interested in fighting for one. If gnolls saw several fires, multiple people on watch, and didn¡¯t smell fresh food, they would be far less inclined to attack¨Call because the Guild campers respected the potential for danger.

    ¡°Gnolls know my smell,¡± Becky said, ¡°They¡¯re afraid of it. Got that going for us too.¡±

    Hans tried to build on her contribution but wasn¡¯t sure how. He gave up and said, ¡°Right, so we did all of those things because we know the knife is sharp. We¡¯ll still be cautious, but we don¡¯t have to be afraid.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve spent my whole life in these woods,¡± Roland added. ¡°I¡¯ve never been attacked by gnolls. I¡¯ve been stalked and followed but never attacked. I got close once, and they stopped pursuing when I left my haul of rabbits behind.¡±

    ¡°But what about the gnolls Gunny killed?¡± Loddie asked.

    ¡°Hunger can make any animal dangerous. People too. Winter is a different kind of wilderness, so we respect it in its own way for that very reason.¡±

    ¡°Thank you, Mr. Roland,¡± Hans said.

    When a soft voice asked about the night¡¯s story, the children forgot their fear and clamored to hear a tale they hadn¡¯t heard before.

    ¡°I got a good one,¡± Becky said before anyone else could volunteer or protest.

    Hans gladly gave her the floor and joined the children in the audience.

    ¡°Becki and I were out serving the forest, and we heard the strangest noise. It sounded like a tree falling over, but we never heard the tree hit the ground. We heard the creaking and the scraping and the cracking, but never the landing.¡±

    The Becks followed the sound for over two hours, and it was constant. Creek, crack, fall, but no thunder from hitting the dirt. When they saw the movement of a tree falling oddly, forward but not over, Becky dismounted and Becki crouched as low as a boar her size could. The Druid used her forest walking blessing to creep forward. At first, the movement looked like something carried a tree upright through the forest, like someone balancing a spear in the palm of their hand, pointing straight up and wobbling from side to side.

    ¡°Who here knows what a treant is?¡± Becky asked. When all of the children raised their hands, she said, ¡°Ah, so you¡¯ve been paying attention to Mr. Hans. Well, that¡¯s what I saw, an oak tree walking through the forest, arms and legs of wood, a face in the bark¨Cjust like in the stories.¡±

    Becky had heard treants were friendly, especially to Druids, but she had never met one in person until then. If the stories about treants were true, sneaking up on the creature wouldn¡¯t work. Every tree she passed could whisper a warning of her approach, so she opted for something very un-Becky-like: Diplomacy.

    ¡°Master Oak!¡± Becky called from a distance. ¡°I am a friend of the forest. May I approach?¡±

    The treant slowly turned toward the direction of Becky¡¯s voice. ¡°You may,¡± a voice bellowed.

    She didn¡¯t know if treants aged like regular trees, but when she neared, she saw that the treant had the presence of an old oak, a trunk as wide as she was tall and a looming canopy of thick branches. A normal oak that size would have been about 240 years old, but the way the treant conducted itself suggested to Becky that it was far older than that.

    Standing in its shade, Becky said, ¡°Welcome to the Gomi forest, Master Oak. What brings you to our woods?¡±

    ¡°Perhaps I am no guest. Perhaps these trees are my brethren and this forest is my home.¡±

    ¡°I doubt that, Master Oak.¡±

    The treant leaned forward slightly, the tree-creature¡¯s size making it feel like a tower slowly toppled in her direction. ¡°Why?¡±

    ¡°The forest would have told me.¡±

    The treant laughed with the bass of a large canvas drum. ¡°You are a friend of the forest indeed. I am grateful for your welcome. My quest brings me through your lands. Your eyes reveal that my quest continues.¡±

    Becky asked what his quest was.

    ¡°In your tongue, I am a Bard. I am collecting the songs of every forest I visit while I search for another of my kind.¡±

    ¡°You mean like a mate?¡± Becky asked.

    The treant laughed again. ¡°Perhaps, but I seek to answer a question: Am I the last treant?¡±

    In its slow, halting speech, the treant said he had been walking for over a hundred years. Loggers¨Cwith the support of mercenaries¨Ckilled his family, leaving him alone in his forest. Having heard stories of treant families living all over the world, he left to join one. When he couldn¡¯t find a treant family in the neighboring forest, he continued to the next. As the years passed, a different kind of loneliness filled the treant, the isolating feeling of being the last of his kind, utterly alone in every way possible.

    ¡°Before he left, he played me a few of his songs, but a treant¡¯s music isn¡¯t like ours. One song felt like the forest in the midst of a wet summer. Another felt like how this night feels, not warm, not cold, just pleasant and calm. Another song was a forest in the midst of a great storm.¡±

    Soon, the treant continued on, and she never saw him again.

    When the children went to sleep, Hans asked Becky where the treant went.

    ¡°He talked to the Lady of the Forest and then went into the mountains.¡±

    ***

    Open Quests (Ordered from Old to New):

    Progress from Gold-ranked to Diamond-ranked.

    Mend the rift with Devon.

    Using a pen name, complete the manuscript for "The Next Generation: A Teaching Methodology for Training Adventurers."

    Expand the dungeon with resource-specific monsters for each of Gomi¡¯s major trades.

    Decide whether or not to pursue silent walking and snow walking.

    Suggest growing mandrake elementals to the dungeon core.

    Secure interior dungeon doors without trapping adventurers inside.

    Find a way for Gomi adventurers to benefit from their rightful ranks in the Adventurers¡¯ Guild.

    Build a rest area in the dungeon to improve adventurer recovery.

    Secure a way to use surplus dungeon inventory for good.

    Coordinate a plan for dungeon assistants living permanently at the dungeon.

 Book 2, Chapter 6: Tutoring

    Once the campers had gone to sleep, Hans joined Becky for her shift on watch.

    ¡°This trip going how you hoped?¡± the dwarf asked.

    ¡°Thanks to you and Roland? Better.¡±

    ¡°Kiddos seem to be having fun. If we do this next year, can I be the ground dragon? Give those twerps a real challenge.¡±

    Hans laughed. ¡°Sure. You can make the mask and everything.¡±

    ¡°Appreciate it, boss.¡±

    ¡°Can I ask you a question? How long have you been at Bronze?¡±

    Becky bit her cheek as she thought. ¡°Forty, maybe fifty years?¡±

    ¡°Does that bother you?¡±

    ¡°If I was competing for jobs like you city kids do, maybe it might,¡± she answered. ¡°Out here though? Nobody is checking my resume if you get my meaning.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯d say you¡¯re at least Silver, if not Gold,¡± Hans said.

    ¡°You think so?¡±

    ¡°I do.¡±

    ¡°Well damn it, Hans. That¡¯s a sweet thing for you to say.¡±

    The Guild Master said he wasn¡¯t trying to flatter her. Usually, the springtime was a big promotion season for the Guild, so rank had been on his mind more than usual in recent weeks. In truth, though, he knew Becky wasn¡¯t a lowly Bronze on their first visit to the dungeon. Iron-ranked adventurers mostly knew what they were supposed to do, but usually revealed small cracks in their confidence, signs that they had more training to do.

    Bronze-ranked adventurers knew for sure what to do and only hesitated in the most challenging of circumstances. Becky, meanwhile, carried herself and fought like she knew what choices to make, and she executed those choices with complete confidence in her abilities. That was how Silvers behaved.

    ¡°Promotions can mess with your head,¡± Hans said. ¡°When people think they deserve a bump but don¡¯t get it, they can get bitter or doubt themselves or lose motivation. Then it gets worse the longer they¡¯re held back. I¡¯ve seen that ruin the job for a few folks over the years.¡±

    ¡°That bad?¡±

    ¡°Can be.¡±

    ¡°The forest has replaced rank for me, now that we¡¯re talking about it. As long as I made progress there, it felt like moving forward.¡±

    Hans agreed that rank was largely a ceremonial representation of progress, so her explanation made sense to him. Becky thought highly of the Lady of the Forest. Having her trust and being her confidant likely did for Becky what a Guild Master giving a promotion did for Hans.

    ¡°How are you feeling about Buru¡¯s progress?¡±

    Becky said it was going well. She was proud of the tusk for his effort.

    ¡°You said he¡¯s due for his familiar soon, right? When or how does that happen?¡±

    Druids earned familiars in one of two ways, Becky explained. The first was to ask the forest to connect you to an ally. If you were deemed worthy, the forest would send a familiar to you, selecting the animal based on her assessment of you, your character, and your abilities. That was how Becki entered the dwarf¡¯s life. She was a starving piglet at the time, and the pair bonded immediately.

    Some druids disliked this approach because it meant their familiar could only be a local species, limiting their potential¨Cin their minds at least.

    The alternative approach those druids took was to earn a bond with a creature of their choosing, usually something rare or exotic with unique abilities. The process was said to be difficult and dangerous as the familiars these adventurers desired were typically native to somewhere harsh and remote. Supposedly, a Platinum from last century earned a bond with an earth dragon. She stole the egg from a nest and raised it herself, so by the time she reached the uppermost ranks of the Guild the dragon was a fearsome companion.

    One of the stories went that a small town attempted a rebellion against the kingdom and locked themselves behind the safety of their walls. The Druid arrived on the battlefield when the rebels refused parlay. Together with her familiar, she walked around the town. Not attacking, not speaking. Just walking slowly and calmly, giving every man on the walls a view of their next foe. The rebels surrendered before she completed the first lap.

    Hans asked Becky which path Buru would take.

    ¡°He hasn¡¯t picked one yet,¡± Becky said. ¡°I told the boy his options and said it was his right to choose. I think he knows I want him to go through the Lady, but I swear I wasn¡¯t trying to bias him or nothing.¡±

    ¡°Why do you like that way better?¡±

    ¡°I made my pick because I trusted the Lady. I¡¯ve met a few Druids who chose their familiars, and it was weird.¡±

    He asked her how so.

    ¡°I¡¯m connected to Becki. Yeah, I love her to pieces but what I¡¯m talking about is deeper. It¡¯s like we¡¯re always aware of each other. She knows how I feel and I know how she feels. It¡¯s not mind reading, but it¡¯s that reliable.¡±

    ¡°Aren¡¯t all familiar connections like that?¡±

    ¡°They are, but that¡¯s not my point,¡± the Druid said. ¡°My point is who you connect with is a big deal. Becki and I are sisters, family. It¡¯s the purest kind of love. The Druid¡¯s who choose a familiar end up with a partner. You can feel those familiars assessing their masters constantly, like they¡¯re seeing if the Druid is still worthy or something.¡±

    Hans had heard of none of this. He had noticed differences in familiar to master relationships previously, whether that was with Druids or mages, but he thought that was more about the personalities involved rather than the process of bonding a familiar itself.

    ¡°Buru¡¯s a good kid,¡± Becky said, ¡°but he¡¯s lonely as all hells. Has been for a while. I know what that¡¯s like. He deserves a Becki of his own.¡±

    So she can be sentimental.

    ¡°Anyway. I told him to decide before the end of summer. Could be he chooses tomorrow. Who knows?¡±This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.

    ¡°He¡¯ll make a good decision,¡± Hans assured her. ¡°He trusts you completely and values your advice.¡±

    ¡°Like I said, good kid.¡±

    Thanking her for the updates and the insights, Hans excused himself, but Becky stopped him.

    ¡°Don¡¯t mean to keep you. I just wanted to ask for a favor,¡± Becky said.

    The last time she wanted a favor, Hans ended up making a deal with a spirit.

    ¡°My granddaddy used to say ogres live in the mountains, and he said they had attacked Gomi back before any of us were born. Now I know he was spinning yarns because I¡¯ve never seen any sign of them anywhere around these parts, but it¡¯s always worried me that I don¡¯t have any practice fighting something like that. Because who the hells knows what happens tomorrow, right?¡±

    ¡°Did you learn ogre tactics for your promotion to Iron?¡± Those tactics were standard parts of the knowledge required for a rank, but Becky¡¯s path had been anything but standard.

    ¡°Yeah, I read the books and all that,¡± Becky answered. ¡°Thinking about the treant reminded me how scared I was. Hans, that bugger was big. Like I¡¯ve seen big trees, and that¡¯s what a treant is I guess but when it can move and talk it¡¯s a different kind of big. I¡¯ve got the same feeling about ogres even though I¡¯ve never seen one.¡±

    ¡°I know what you mean.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ve met a treant?! Why didn¡¯t you say so?¡±

    Hans said that wasn¡¯t exactly what happened. He encountered tainted treants, which were corrupted versions of the treefolk. He had once heard it compared to the corrupting power of a lich¡¯s magic, but so few had been seen that little was confirmed about the monsters. As far as Hans knew, his party¡¯s battle with the tainted treants was the first that had been observed in fifty years, and they hadn¡¯t been seen since.

    Based on Becky¡¯s story, they might never be seen again. Without treants, there would never be more tainted treants.

    ¡°Did they talk?¡± Becky asked.

    ¡°Kind of. They were always muttering some kind of gibberish, mostly in their tongue but we caught a few words we knew. Real intelligence didn¡¯t seem to be there anymore, if that makes sense.¡±

    ¡°Do you suppose the one I met was really the last?¡±

    Mentally reviewing everything he had learned or heard about treants, he admitted he wasn¡¯t aware of any recent sightings. The last record the Guild had of treants was thirty or forty years before Becky had her encounter. They were always known to be elusive so no scholar made an official declaration of extinction or had even suggested it as far as Hans knew.

    Mostly, the Adventurers¡¯ Guild assumed their members walked by treants all the time without realizing. Though they weren¡¯t evil, treants weren¡¯t known for being outgoing or overly friendly. There was no reason to hunt them, and there was little reason to talk to them, so no one sought them out.

    Hans couldn¡¯t answer Becky¡¯s question with any certainty, but it was possible.

    ¡°What did he and the Lady talk about?¡± he asked.

    ¡°I¡¯m not the nosey type, Hans. I didn¡¯t ask.¡±

    ¡°That must have been a very sad conversation for a forest spirit to have,¡± Hans said, mostly to himself.

    For several minutes, the pair stared into the darkness without speaking.

    ¡°The forest says that nature doesn¡¯t separate death from life,¡± Becky said after a while. ¡°If you get to live, you¡¯re going to die eventually. That¡¯s just how all this works. I believe that too, but I can¡¯t get over thinking that how you die matters. That treant¡¯s family was killed by loggers, just wiped out all at once. He will die too eventually, but he¡¯ll die doing something important.¡±

    Hans asked her what she meant.

    ¡°If a bear kills a deer, I got no issue with that kind of dying because it feels like it has a purpose to it. You¡¯re part of something bigger than you. What I do have a problem with¡­ One time I found deer bones stuck between two rocks. Whole skeleton. Poor guy fell and couldn¡¯t get out. I¡¯m not afraid to die or nothing, Hans, but I am afraid of dying like that.¡±

    ¡°Afraid of suffering?¡±

    ¡°Of my death being pointless.¡±

    ***

    On the way back to Gomi the next day, Roland drifted to the rear of the group to talk with Hans.

    ¡°Got a Guild Master question for you,¡± Roland said. ¡°How early on do you know that a student will go far? Like with Master Devontes, when did you know he had potential?¡±

    ¡°This sounds like quibbling, but those are two different questions.¡±

    Roland raised an eyebrow.

    ¡°I¡¯ve met hundreds of students with potential, but it¡¯s a different thing entirely for them to act on it, so it¡¯s two qualities you¡¯re looking for: the potential to grow and the commitment to follow through. I¡¯ve seen a lot of students in one camp or the other. The ones with potential can fake it longer, though. Eventually, the job gets too hard and they quit.¡±

    ¡°Ah. So a lot of students start strong and wash out?¡±

    ¡°Yep. They look like they¡¯ll go far for the first five years or so and then poof, you never see them again.¡±

    ¡°Must be frustrating,¡± Roland said.

    ¡°A little bit. It¡¯s more so disappointing.¡± Hans paused. ¡°I can tell you a secret, but I don¡¯t know if a Gomi native is capable of keeping a secret.¡±

    Roland laughed. ¡°We are a talkative bunch, but I promise.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not just winding you up when I say this: Quentin and Kane could go pretty far. I¡¯m actually worried they¡¯ll burn themselves out with how hard they work.¡±

    ¡°I can see why you¡¯d say that. I¡¯m not worried though. The boys have good heads on their shoulders.¡±

    Hans hoped Roland was right. Kane and Quentin could help a lot of people if they took their training as far he thought they could. If the hunter asked, he might have told him who in Gomi had the most potential. He was thankful the question was never raised. If his answer got out, the pressure it put on his pupils might derail their progress.

    His secret hunch: Honronk could make Platinum. His success with enchanted tattoos was more impressive than anyone but Olza knew. Enchanting in its simplest forms was beyond most seasoned mages. The demands were too precise. The Apprentice Black Mage taught himself enchanting from a less than comprehensive reference book, and then figured out the Blood magic variation with no instructor and no written insights whatsoever.

    The boys might not be geniuses like Honronk, but they were smart and capable students. They both could make Diamond at the very least. The combination of their work ethic, ability to learn, and natural athleticism gave them the right foundation for a successful career.

    Then there was Gunther. The young tusk wasn¡¯t old enough to Apprentice, but the image of him staring down gnolls with a broken wooden sword hadn¡¯t left his mind since that night. Everyone knew the feat was impressive, but Hans had fought more gnolls than anyone in Gomi. The way he saw it, an average untrained adult would be seriously wounded or killed in a regular dog attack. Wolves were stronger than dogs by a substantial margin, and gnolls were stronger than wolves.

    Seven of them attacked Gunther. One of them got its teeth into his arm but couldn¡¯t hang on. Two of them died to Gunther¡¯s wooden sword, and the remaining monsters were in the midst of reconsidering their choices when Hans arrived. A stick freshly broken from a tree was more dangerous than those ultra-blunted training weapons, but Gunther made his deadly. Twice.

    His victory could have been a fluke, but Hans suspected natural talent was more likely. If that was the case and Gunther had the maturity and the desire to pursue it, he could be a great adventurer.

    ***

    Open Quests (Ordered from Old to New):

    Progress from Gold-ranked to Diamond-ranked.

    Mend the rift with Devon.

    Using a pen name, complete the manuscript for "The Next Generation: A Teaching Methodology for Training Adventurers."

    Expand the dungeon with resource-specific monsters for each of Gomi¡¯s major trades.

    Decide whether or not to pursue silent walking and snow walking.

    Suggest growing mandrake elementals to the dungeon core.

    Secure interior dungeon doors without trapping adventurers inside.

    Find a way for Gomi adventurers to benefit from their rightful ranks in the Adventurers¡¯ Guild.

    Build a rest area in the dungeon to improve adventurer recovery.

    Secure a way to use surplus dungeon inventory for good.

    Coordinate a plan for dungeon assistants living permanently at the dungeon.

 Book 2, Chapter 7: Player Housing

    ¡°Can¡¯t say I see any real downsides,¡± Charlie said. He sat at his dining room table with Galinda, Hans, and Olza on the night the campers returned to town. ¡°If someone wants to live at the dungeon, who am I to tell them they shouldn¡¯t?¡±

    ¡°There are more than the two you met,¡± Galinda said to Hans. ¡°Many people have talked about moving up the mountain.¡±

    ¡°Really?¡± Charlie asked.

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°This is the first I¡¯m hearing about it.¡±

    Galinda patted Charlie on the back. ¡°It wasn¡¯t a secret, love. People say many things when they dream out loud. It didn¡¯t seem important enough to share.¡±

    ¡°Oh it¡¯s fine. I can see the appeal, I suppose.¡±

    Olza scooped more mashed potatoes onto her plate. ¡°Which parts are those?¡± Olza asked with conversational curiosity.

    ¡°It¡¯s about as far from civilization as you could get,¡± Charlie said, looking up in thought. ¡°Lots of folks here want that. Going up the mountain is just wanting it more.¡±

    ¡°Luther would like to move,¡± Galinda said.

    ¡°Really? Poor lad. He hasn¡¯t seemed like himself.¡±

    ¡­Since he was beaten and nearly starved to death in Osare.

    ¡°It is pretty up there,¡± Olza added, ¡°so it doesn¡¯t have to be all about something sad, necessarily.¡±

    ¡°I like it,¡± Galinda said.

    Charlie nodded. ¡°It is nice. I¡¯m glad we¡¯re debating something like this. I pictured a very different spring for us.¡±

    Hans agreed. ¡°We¡¯ve been very fortunate.¡±

    ¡°Hear, hear,¡± Charlie said. ¡°We¡¯ll certainly have new problems to solve, but that¡¯s not today.¡± After they raised their glasses and took a drink, Charlie continued. ¡°I don¡¯t mean to put salt in your wounds or anything, Guild Master. I gotta ask: Can Devontes really win the orc war like that Diamond was saying?¡±

    ¡°Yes, I believe he could.¡±

    ¡°How does something like that work? One man does more than an army?¡±

    ¡°You know what else can do more than an army?¡± Hans asked. ¡°Dragons, liches, demons. Power takes many different forms. It¡¯s just rarer for that form to be human.¡±

    Charlie scratched his neck. ¡°And he¡¯s stronger than Miss Mazo? I wouldn¡¯t have believed what she could do if she hadn¡¯t shown the whole town.¡±

    Hans wobbled his head side to side. ¡°Probably, but they¡¯re at a level where measuring power isn¡¯t straightforward. Devon is strong, but Mazo can be tactical if she needs to be. Power versus power though, Devon takes it.¡±

    ¡°Why not send Mazo or Devon right away?¡± Galinda asked.

    ¡°I don¡¯t get invited to those meetings.¡± Everyone laughed with Hans. ¡°Seriously, though. Platinums serve the King like any other subject, in theory. Nobody says this out loud, but Platinums are kind of nation-states in their own right. Power, money, cache¨CIt¡¯s an open secret that someone like Devon could carve out a chunk of the kingdom for themselves and there wouldn¡¯t be a lot anyone could do to stop him.¡±

    ¡°Why don¡¯t they?¡±

    ¡°Good question. Convenience, I guess. Running a kingdom is the kind of work adventurers avoid, so playing the hero and living in luxury is the simpler way to go. The Guild also controls Diamond promotions. They say they filter out the bad eggs, keep the nutjobs from going past Gold.¡±

    ¡°Sorry for botherin¡¯ you so much about that boy,¡± Charlie said.

    Hans waved him away. ¡°It¡¯s fine. The war affects Gomi, Devon affects the war¡­ Makes sense to ask about it.¡±

    Charlie refreshed his whisky. ¡°Still. Watchin¡¯ kids grow up is a strange thing, isn¡¯t it? We ain¡¯t raised no Platinums, but we¡¯ve seen plenty of kids become adults.¡±

    Galinda nodded.

    ¡°You want the best for them, so you think they should make certain choices,¡± Charlie continued. ¡°They always end up going their own way though, and eventually that path is so far from yours¡­ Well, it¡¯s like a boat out to sea I guess. At a certain point, all you can do is wish them well.¡±

    ***

    Hans sat at his desk in the guild hall after a kids¡¯ class, scribbling frantically in his journal. When the children practiced diving rolls, he had an idea. He wasn¡¯t sure why it came just then because it had nothing to do with children or diving or rolling.

    He ran the Lemura¡¯s Labyrinth once in his career. He now wished he paid more attention to how the economy around the dungeon operated. They could likely learn a lot from what that dungeon did organically, but he couldn¡¯t think of a way to get that information to Gomi. Then it occurred to him that while he didn¡¯t know how Kirai managed its dungeon, he did know how the Guild operated.

    To the Guild, the whole world was one big dungeon in a way.

    Gomi¡¯s chapter of the Adventurers¡¯ Guild had one employee: Hans. Nevermind that he wasn¡¯t getting paid by the Guild at this point. More importantly, the Hoseki chapter had upward of forty full-time staff members between instructors, crafters, Healers, librarians, administrators, and merchants. The Guild kept adventurers healthy and equipped, but they also managed much of the loot for upper-ranked members. For a small fee, the Guild would sell a find on an adventurers¡¯ behalf, and Hoseki needed a whole team of salespeople to keep up with the treasure their Diamonds and Platinums brought home on a regular basis.

    On big hunts, the Guild often sent lower-ranked adventurers along as squires and harvesters. That was the only way to manage the volume of resources and items they collected while also keeping their best people fresh and battle-ready. Hans played one such role when the Guild went after the lich cabal. The upper ranked adventurers did the fighting. He followed behind to clean up and collect anything useful or saleable.

    Gomi¡¯s dungeon was that same scenario, except permanent. With the dungeon¡¯s ability to make the town money, they certainly had the capital to hire more help. If enough people wanted to live at the dungeon indefinitely, the work would be consistent but punctuated with more downtime than a typical job. Thinking more about it, Hans found that he wanted that schedule for himself as well. It sounded pleasant.

    Tandis had arrived at that conclusion far before he did, but the facts now had a logic to them that he could accept. He couldn''t see the logic before.

    Quentin came into the guild hall, worn from the trail down from the mountain. ¡°We¡¯re back from rotation. I can help with class tomorrow if you want.¡±

    ¡°Appreciate you checking in,¡± Hans said. ¡°You can take a day off, you know.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll rest. Also, umm¡­¡±

    Hans¡¯ stomach twisted like laundry on a storm-beaten clothesline. He braced for another crisis.

    ¡°Honronk moved into the foreman¡¯s office. Terry thought you should know.¡±

    The words made sense to Hans as individual units of language but not as an idea. He blinked dumbly as his brain fought to catch up. ¡°Foreman¡¯s office?¡± Hans asked.The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

    ¡°Yes, the one in the mines,¡± Quentin answered. ¡°He likes how quiet it is.¡±

    ¡°Honronk is living in the dungeon?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    Hans sat back, thinking. He slept in the Gomi dungeon without incident several times, and resting mid-run was a common occurrence on long jobs in general. The iron elementals never reached that area of the mine in the dungeon or during his original visit all those years ago. Monsters from elsewhere in the dungeon could find their way to the foreman¡¯s office, in theory, but with regular cullings, that was unlikely as well.

    The potential danger to Honronk was relatively low, all things considered.

    ¡°Is he happy?¡± Hans asked.

    ¡°Umm¡­¡±

    ¡°I mean happy in Honronk¡¯s way.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯d say so,¡± Quentin said.

    Oh. That¡¯s not so bad. Phew.

    ¡°Huh. The dungeon doesn¡¯t reabsorb his changes?¡±

    ¡°Oh! That¡¯s the interesting part. We furnished the surface dorm with beds from the mine. The beds grew back with the rest of the monsters.¡±

    That was interesting, indeed. ¡°That¡¯s odd,¡± Hans said, ¡°but works in our favor it sounds like. Maybe Honronk will learn more living there. More importantly, how are you? How are the runs?¡±

    ¡°They¡¯re going well. We¡¯re definitely improving.¡±

    ¡°You and Kane are almost ready for your own party,¡± Hans said. ¡°I don¡¯t think you really need Bel and Lee for anything but the minotaur room at this point. And the iron elementals, but you know what I mean.¡±

    ¡°We would like that. Who would be the third member of our party, though?¡±

    ¡°Gunther.¡± Hans held a straight face for as long as he could but broke quickly. ¡°We need another wave of Apprentices. More hands would let Bel and Lee do more of their own training too.¡±

    ¡°They¡¯ve been really good to us. I¡¯m glad they came to Gomi.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, me too,¡± Hans replied. ¡°Actually, would you be open to teaching classes here on a regular schedule? When you¡¯re not at the dungeon I mean.¡±

    ¡°What do you need me to do?¡± Quentin asked.

    ¡°I want to teach as many of the classes myself as I can, but I need to spend more time with the Apprentices at the dungeon too. Any thoughts on who else might be a good fit for covering class?¡±

    Quentin thought. ¡°Yotuli and Terry would both enjoy it, I think. Kids ask them questions all the time, and they don¡¯t seem to mind.¡±

    ¡°Appreciate the insight,¡± Hans said. ¡°Thank you.¡±

    Bidding farewell, Quentin left the guild hall. Hans followed shortly after, setting out for the Tribe lands.

    ***

    ¡°Afternoon, Guild Master,¡± Luther said. ¡°Come on in.¡±

    The tusk¡¯s health had improved substantially from when Hans saw him last. His color had returned completely, and his gaunt features had softened. He was still more slender than he was before his trip to Osare, but he improved.

    ¡°How can I help?¡± Luther asked.

    ¡°We have a few people who want to move up the mountain and make their homes there,¡± Hans answered. ¡°I heard you were interested too.¡±

    ¡°Are you saying it¡¯s a real option?¡±

    ¡°Appears that way. Wasn¡¯t something we planned for, though, so I¡¯m still figuring out how all of it would work.¡±

    Luther nodded. ¡°Is a bit strange when you think about it, living by a dungeon and such, but the isolation is appealing. I¡¯m not sure I could make the move, though.¡±

    ¡°Why¡¯s that?¡±

    ¡°Galad needs my help here. I don¡¯t want to abandon my brothers and sisters.¡±

    Hans agreed that talking to Galad should be part of the process. If they assumed Galad would support Luther¡¯s move¨Cand Hans fully expected that to be the case¨Cwould Luther want to do it?

    ¡°Can I be helpful up the mountain?¡±

    ¡°Absolutely. The dungeon is growing, and we need more help harvesting each run. People look up to you and respect your leadership. I know I do, so having you there would be good for morale also.¡±

    Luther cocked his head. ¡°Really?¡±

    ¡°We haven¡¯t known each other for long, but from the day I met you, I¡¯ve only ever seen you put Gomi¡¯s needs ahead of your own. No hesitation. No reluctance. If someone needs help, you¡¯re one of the first people to put on their boots.¡±

    The tusk looked out the window, thinking and likely a little embarrassed by the praise.

    ¡°I take that back,¡± Hans said. ¡°I heard about a fist fight between you and Galad, so maybe you¡¯re not always putting others first.¡±

    Luther laughed. ¡°You heard about that? Only happened the one time, and we were both being childish¡­ I won though.¡±

    ¡°Of course. That was my assumption from the start.¡±

    The tusk chuckled again. ¡°Okay, so if Galad okays it, what would this look like?¡±

    When Hans shared that one husband and wife pair was already training for the job, Luther said talking with them was what gave him the idea to move. He also knew that they planned to build their own cabin, and he liked that idea for himself as well. Luther already assumed he would build his own if he made the move, and he looked forward to the project.

    Living arrangements aside, Hans explained what dungeon harvests would entail. Harvesters would follow the adventurers into the dungeon and collect usable materials from everything they killed. With its current regrowth rate, that would mean roughly two runs per week. Those runs would include gathering iron, collecting minotaur and camahueto horns, harvesting imp blood, harvesting geode gecko oil sacs, and catching zouts to be released into the wild.

    ¡°The zouts are a real thing?¡± Luther asked. ¡°I thought that was just a weird joke.¡±

    ¡°Yes, they¡¯re real. They¡¯re a favor for Becky. Druid stuff.¡±

    ¡°I see.¡±

    ¡°The work will grow with the dungeon,¡± Hans continued. ¡°With harvesters supporting the adventurers, we can expand the dungeon more often. Each expansion will have at least one harvestable resource.¡±

    Luther said all of that sounded reasonable to him. ¡°When do I start?¡±

    ¡°The dorms should be finished by now, so the work crew will be working on the road next. If I were you, I¡¯d bring the essentials and come back for the rest of your belongings when a wagon can make the trip.¡±

    Quest Complete: Coordinate a plan for dungeon assistants living permanently at the dungeon.

    As Hans readied himself to depart, Luther changed the subject. ¡°Hans, you¡¯ve seen some awful things, been through them too I imagine.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m more fortunate than most, but yeah, I¡¯d say that¡¯s accurate. Why?¡±

    ¡°How do you move on? I¡­ I feel stuck, like Osare was yesterday.¡±

    Hundreds of faces flipped through Hans¡¯ memory when he heard Luther¡¯s question. Adventurers, witnesses, victims¨CAll people affected first hand by a tragedy of some sort. Their own memories haunted them, like a time loop that forced them to relive one horrific moment for the rest of their waking lives. The weight of that repetition hollowed out their humanity little by little.

    ¡°I can give you eight different strategies for clearing a troll nest,¡± Hans said, ¡°but I wish the Guild taught us how to answer a question like that. Everyone handles it differently, I¡¯ve found. Mazo separates the work from her personal life, a sort of professional distance where she thinks of herself as a tool with a job. The situation might be awful, but she isn¡¯t there as a person. She¡¯s there as a tool, and her objectives are listed in the job description.

    ¡°Gret, a Rogue I ran with for a while, tried to do as much good as he could. He still carried the pain with him, but he found comfort in knowing he did everything within his power to help. Then there was this dwarf I partied with who stayed busy during the day, putting on a good face, and then drowned himself in drink each night to get to sleep. Those late hours where there¡¯s nothing else to distract you were hardest for him.¡±

    ¡°And you?¡± Luther asked.

    ¡°A little of each, I¡¯d say. I need to be honest with you, though. I¡¯m not good at it, so I don¡¯t think I¡¯m the right blueprint to follow. For me¡­ I just carry it. Each day gets a little easier, and there are good times and bad times, but it¡¯s never not there.¡±

    ***

    The walk home from the Tribe farmlands felt longer than usual. He thought about all the times he delivered bad news to a family, explaining to a husband or a mother how their loved one died. He thought about collecting Gret¡¯s ashes with a dustpan, the Disintegration spell reducing him to a few pinches of dust. He thought about attending Boden¡¯s funeral after not hearing from the dwarf for years, listening to his partner explain that the dwarf warrior drank himself to death.

    I get it, Boden.

    ***

    Open Quests (Ordered from Old to New):

    Progress from Gold-ranked to Diamond-ranked.

    Mend the rift with Devon.

    Using a pen name, complete the manuscript for "The Next Generation: A Teaching Methodology for Training Adventurers."

    Expand the dungeon with resource-specific monsters for each of Gomi¡¯s major trades.

    Decide whether or not to pursue silent walking and snow walking.

    Suggest growing mandrake elementals to the dungeon core.

    Secure interior dungeon doors without trapping adventurers inside.

    Find a way for Gomi adventurers to benefit from their rightful ranks in the Adventurers¡¯ Guild.

    Build a rest area in the dungeon to improve adventurer recovery.

    Secure a way to use surplus dungeon inventory for good.

 Book 2, Chapter 8: Shrimping

    ¡°Good afternoon, Mr. Hans,¡± Bel said, stepping into the guild hall. She found the Guild Master at his desk, reading one of the guild¡¯s spell tomes.

    ¡°Welcome back.¡±

    She inclined her head slightly, smiling. ¡°Adventurers are healthy. The dorm is usable. Construction is mostly complete, but the master carpenter told me to let you know that they still need to winterize the structure. The road will be a month or two yet, but they¡¯re using the trees they clear to start on a stable.¡±

    ¡°Thank you for the report,¡± Hans said. ¡°Do you have a minute? It¡¯s not an emergency, and I understand if you¡¯d rather talk tomorrow.¡±

    Bel sat on one of the hall benches. ¡°I have time.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s your experience with large humanoids? Ogres, ettins, cyclops¨Cthose sort of monsters.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ve hunted a few trolls about the size of the earth elementals in the dungeon, but that¡¯s it. Mikata is far enough from the frontier that we don¡¯t really see monsters like that. Most of the jobs are for hunting beasts or search and rescues.¡±

    ¡°Any qualms about training for large humanoids for the next few months?¡±

    ¡°Not at all!¡± Bel said. ¡°We¡¯d love that.¡±

    New Quest: Expand the dungeon using the ogre valley job as a blueprint.

    ¡°I hoped so.¡± Hans scribbled a note in his journal. ¡°Last question: What do you know about the Magic Lock spell?¡±

    Bel frowned. ¡°A little bit. I¡¯m not an expert though.¡±

    Hans flipped the tome around so Bel could read where he pointed. ¡°I¡¯m curious about the sigil-locked variation. I¡¯d like to add more security to the dungeon, but any idea I¡¯ve had that keeps monsters in also makes it harder for adventurers to leave. This reads like a sigil lock is the magic equivalent of a guard checking for identification.¡±

    Bel read the entry on Magic Lock and its variants. ¡°Your read looks correct,¡± she said after a time. ¡°I¡¯m guessing you read the warning about how easy Magic Lock is to dispel?¡±

    Hans nodded.

    ¡°I assumed as much. I¡¯m also assuming you¡¯ll ask Honronk to install the enchantments that can prevent that?¡± she asked.

    Shaking his head, Hans answered, ¡°I don¡¯t want to take more training time away from him. Right now, the only casters in the dungeon are imps. I¡¯ve never heard of one knowing Dispel, and they¡¯re pretty deep in the dungeon. Long-term, yes, we get the enchantments done. I think for now, Magic Lock by itself is fine.¡±

    The Silver-ranked Black Mage reread the entry of Magic Lock. ¡°Doesn¡¯t look too complicated. I¡¯d probably only need a week or two. At worst, a month.¡±

    ¡°Look. I appreciate that more than you know. You and Lee have done a lot for Gomi, though, and I don¡¯t want to abuse your kindness. This project can wait if it needs to.¡±

    ¡°Ogre training is a fair trade,¡± Bel replied. ¡°Besides, this is for the good of the Tribe. We don¡¯t plan to live in Gomi forever, but we want places like this to exist whether we benefit or not.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m grateful. I¡¯m also serious, though. Promise to let me know when we are coming close to asking too much of you two?¡±

    ¡°Promise. What do you plan to use for the sigil? You have time to decide if you¡¯re not sure yet.¡±

    Hans pointed to the Repel Possession tattoo on the back of Bel¡¯s left hand.

    ¡°Ah. I should have been able to guess that. That¡¯s a good idea.¡±

    ¡°Thank you,¡± Hans said. ¡°Terry is going to hate it, though.¡±

    ¡°Why?¡±

    ¡°When Honronk did the first round of enchanted tattoos, all he could talk about was how much he hated needles.¡±

    Quest Update: Apply a sigil-lock Magic Lock to dungeon doors.

    ***

    Hans stood in the training yard, addressing that day¡¯s kids¡¯ class. ¡°Gomi¡¯s adventurers are going to be training to fight large humanoids. Humanoids are monsters that are built like a human, two arms, two legs, head on a set of shoulders. Ogres, orcs, cyclops¨CThose are all humanoid.¡±

    He scanned his students for early signs of confusion. Seeing none, he continued.

    ¡°For the next few weeks, we are going to focus on grappling. That means we¡¯ll be on the ground a lot. ¡­And I see the adults already looking nervous.¡±

    A few, but not many, of the guardians who came to watch their children train chuckled.

    ¡°Today is going to be a small introduction, but to spare your clothes we will spend most of the class doing our normal drills. From now on, though, wear work clothes or something you don¡¯t mind getting ruined. If you don¡¯t have clothes like that, no worries. When I took this class at your age, I trained in loaner clothes from the guild, so if you need those too, tell me. This is no different than borrowing one of my swords or shields, okay?¡±

    With the preamble out of the way, he launched into his curriculum.

    ¡°Eventually, we¡¯ll talk about offense, but we¡¯re starting with defense because large humanoids have a tendency to grab their prey. Getting squished is still a real danger, but a monster like an ogre would rather eat what it kills. They can¡¯t do that if they ruin the meat.

    ¡°We will never be stronger than an ogre, so grappling one isn¡¯t like wrestling with your brother or sister, but everything you learn today will be good for that too.¡± Hans smiled, and the children giggled.

    To begin the unit, Hans taught the children about a position he called ¡°side control,¡± which looked like a classic wrestling pin. One child was flat on their back. The child on top was chest to chest with their partner. From above, the bottom student was at six o¡¯clock and the top student was at nine o¡¯clock. When everyone understood what the position was, Hans had the children do a version of sparring¨Cno strikes, only grappling¨Cwhere the match reset when the person on the bottom wiggled free.Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.

    After a few minutes, he taught the children how to use their bodyweight and positioning to make their pins harder to escape. He showed how to hook the far arm to create an attachment and how to hold their partner¡¯s head at the same time, using a shoulder to control where the head could turn. Lastly, he had the children extend their legs so the majority of their weight was on their partner rather than their own knees, hands, and feet.

    Far fewer children were able to escape during the next round.

    ¡°Getting pinned is frustrating right? For me, it¡¯s also a little scary, so if you were afraid during the drill that¡¯s okay. It¡¯s normal. An ogre or a cyclops won¡¯t use side control like a person does, but the techniques we¡¯re about to learn will still be useful. You just might be escaping from beneath a foot instead.¡±

    The first step was framing, positioning their bodies in such a way to maximize the force they could exert while also preserving any space the monster might have left open. For this scenario, he taught them to keep their arms bent and their elbows close to their ribs. To help them remember the position, he imitated a frumpy old woman acting shocked, her mouth open, her palms on her cheeks.

    ¡°In sword training, you¡¯ve heard me say things like ¡®be a spring¡¯ or ¡®no windups.¡¯ Who remembers why I say that?¡±

    Hands shot up. One of the newer students answered, ¡°Our attacks are stronger that way.¡±

    ¡°How so?¡±

    ¡°Our stance should be like a drawn bow, so when we attack we can just attack. We don¡¯t have to draw back first.¡±

    Hans nodded proudly. That was his original explanation, almost word for word. ¡°Very good,¡± he said. ¡°The idea is the same in grappling. Starting as close to the right position as you can will make your escape easier. So, as your partner comes down into side control, bring your elbows close, and use your forearms to build a frame. Gunther, can I borrow you?¡±

    The Guild Master instructed Gunther to lie on his back without his elbows in. Hans settled in on top and pointed out that he wasn¡¯t following any of his tips for pressure right then. He asked Gunther to count to ten, loudly.

    ¡°ONE, TWO, THREE¨C¡± Hans lowered his weight, enough to squish the tusk slightly but nowhere near his full pressure. The motion forced the air out of Gunther¡¯s lungs, and he gasped, struggling to keep counting. ¡°¨Cfour, five, six.¡±

    The children laughed.

    ¡°Don¡¯t laugh too much. I¡¯ll squish you next,¡± Hans threatened, jokingly.

    Next, he instructed Gunther to bring his elbows in, wedging his bent arms between his chest and Hans¡¯, propping up the weight like each of his arms were a sawhorse.

    ¡°When we grapple,¡± Hans said, ¡°it¡¯s best to grapple with our bones and not our muscles, so when I try to pin Gunther again, he isn¡¯t going to try to press me off of him. I¡¯m too big and fat¨C¡± the children laughed. ¡°¨Cso instead of pressing he is going to be rigid, just holding his position.¡±

    He checked to make sure Gunther understood. He had Gunther repeat the counting exercise. The boy¡¯s voice shifted slightly when the Guild Master lowered his weight, but not nearly as much as it did the first time. Hans then made a show of demonstrating all the ways he could put more of his weight on the young tusk, but Gunther just kept counting.

    Once the children practiced framing with their partners and understood what he was asking of them, he taught a basic escape. To execute the movement, the student on the bottom brought their feet close to their butt, then they elevated their hips, like their bodies were shaped like a bridge. From there, they pushed their butts away from their opponents without moving their shoulders or feet. The motion was akin to reaching for your toes when you stretched, and the important part was that the student¡¯s hips got farther away from their partner.

    Hans compared the motion to how cooked shrimp looked. He switched to the toe touch comparison when he learned that most of the children didn¡¯t know what a shrimp was let alone what a cooked one looked like.

    ¡°The important idea here,¡± Hans said, ¡°is that we move ourselves, not our opponent. Gunther is pretty strong, but I¡¯m so much bigger that it doesn¡¯t matter. If he tries to move me off of him, he¡¯s going to get tired really fast, so we use this technique to move ourselves instead. If a boulder is in your way, go around it. It¡¯s a waste of effort to try moving it.¡±

    The children practiced the escape for a few repetitions. Hans saw that their focus and interest waned, so they switched back to sword drills for the remainder of the class. When class ended, they lined up and shook each other¡¯s hands, like always.

    As Hans went down the line thanking the children for training and telling them they did well today, he saw Bel standing with the other adults against the fence. He hadn¡¯t noticed her slip in.

    ¡°I¡¯ve seen all of those movements taught in combat classes,¡± Bel said, ¡°but I¡¯ve not heard anyone talk about using them against ogres.¡±

    ¡°¡®Against¡¯ isn¡¯t the exact word I would use. All of this is last ditch survival stuff. If a monster that big grabs you¡­ It¡¯s going to be ugly.¡±

    ¡°Have you had to use any of this?¡±

    ¡°Me? No,¡± Hans answered. ¡°I did have a student use that escape to get out from under an ettin foot. The monster was holding him down, probably to eat later, and he got out with that exact movement.¡±

    ¡°Aren¡¯t most grappling techniques designed to be used against other humans, though?¡±

    ¡°Definitely. The principles of grappling still apply, to a degree. If a monster is large enough to wrap a hand around me and squeeze, knowing to frame could buy me an extra second or two of air, and I don¡¯t need to tell you how valuable a second can be.¡±

    Bel nodded, knowingly.

    ¡°The biggest thing is drilling into adventurers that they can¡¯t muscle a monster like that.¡±

    ¡°Move yourself, not your opponent,¡± Bel said, repeating Hans¡¯ line from the class.

    ¡°Yes, exactly. When you and I talk about it like this, that seems obvious, but a person¡¯s first instinct is the opposite. Held down? They try to press the problem off of them. Stuck in a grab? They try to pry it open. The monster has clamped down on your weapon? They death-grip it and get flung all over when they should have just let go.¡±

    ¡°Interesting.¡±

    ¡°All of this ¡®philosophy,¡¯ I guess you could call it, is woven through large monster battle tactics, humanoid or otherwise. It¡¯s as important for offense as it is for defense. I¡¯ll say the same things again and again until you¡¯re sick of hearing them, but that¡¯s what we have to do when your natural instincts can get you killed. We have to rip them out and grow new ones in their place.¡±

    Bel paused to process the Guild Master¡¯s mini lecture. She grunted a brief laugh and said, ¡°And everything you taught us about fighting earth elementals matches this philosophy too, I take it?¡±

    ¡°Yep.¡±

    ¡°So we¡¯ve already started your curriculum?¡±

    Hans smiled. ¡°Some concepts are easiest to teach when the student isn¡¯t aware they¡¯re learning them.¡±

    ***

    Open Quests (Ordered from Old to New):

    Progress from Gold-ranked to Diamond-ranked.

    Mend the rift with Devon.

    Using a pen name, complete the manuscript for "The Next Generation: A Teaching Methodology for Training Adventurers."

    Expand the dungeon with resource-specific monsters for each of Gomi¡¯s major trades.

    Decide whether or not to pursue silent walking and snow walking.

    Suggest growing mandrake elementals to the dungeon core.

    Apply a sigil-lock Magic Lock to dungeon doors.

    Find a way for Gomi adventurers to benefit from their rightful ranks in the Adventurers¡¯ Guild.

    Build a rest area in the dungeon to improve adventurer recovery.

    Secure a way to use surplus dungeon inventory for good.

    Expand the dungeon using the ogre valley job as a blueprint.

 Book 2, Chapter 9: Player Economy

    One side of the sky had the reds and yellows of sunset while distant thunder rumbled in the other. Hans sat next to Galad on the tusk¡¯s front porch. Uncle Ed said he couldn¡¯t sit after another day driving a wagon. He stood in the yard with his arms crossed and with a slight backward lean.

    ¡°Getting Doorstop on board with something like that might be easier than you think,¡± Ed said. ¡°He put us up in a nice tavern this trip, saying we shouldn¡¯t have to camp all the time. We got to sharing some ale, and I think our friend is actually a tusk.¡±

    ¡°Huh,¡± Galad said. ¡°Haven¡¯t heard of that for a long time.¡±

    ¡°Heard of what?¡± Hans asked.

    ¡°In my parents¡¯ generation, many of our brothers and sisters pulled their tusks or filed them down, believing it made them more human.¡±

    ¡°A lot?¡±

    ¡°Enough. Some tusks can pass for human that way. I saw it a lot when I was a kid. Haven¡¯t heard of it for a while. ¡±

    Hans was speechless. He did meet an adventurer who filed his tusks down, but he never considered wanting to be less orc and more human as the motivator.

    ¡°Not sure how much he¡¯d want to talk about it,¡± Ed continued, ¡°so I don¡¯t plan to ask. Not like we¡¯re telling him the whole truth either, but it makes me think he¡¯d feel for the cause.¡±

    Doorstop¡¯s potential interest in charity goods was uplifting news, but they were a ways from acting on it. The apprentice program needed to ramp up, and the delivery wagons needed an escort. At some point, a poorly guarded wagon was too juicy of an opportunity for bandits to ignore.

    Assigning a few Gomi adventurers would be the ideal solution, but they lacked Apprentices, and most of the Apprentices they had were tusks. At present, travel in the kingdom for tusks was not pleasant, so they weren¡¯t an option for wagon duty.

    ¡°Any word about the war?¡±

    ¡°Not much,¡± Ed said, shrugging. ¡°Will take a while for the news to get to this side of the kingdom when there is any. With Master Devontes going to the front, or at the front by now is probably more accurate, most people are talking like it¡¯s already won.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s it like for tusks?¡± Galad asked.

    Uncle Ed struggled to answer. ¡°That¡¯s hard for me to say, brother. People don¡¯t cross the street when they see me coming, and hating tusks isn¡¯t the kind of conversation you hear casually. What I can say is I haven¡¯t seen any tusks this season. Not in towns. Not on the roads.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s answer enough for me.¡±

    ¡°Anything else I can do for you, gentlemen?¡± Ed asked. ¡°Would like to see the boys as much as I can before the next run.¡±

    ¡°Of course, of course. Don¡¯t let us keep you.¡± When Uncle Ed was on his way, Galad looked at the nearly dark sky, listening to the thunder. ¡°Don¡¯t work too hard, Guild Master.¡±

    ¡°What made you say that?¡± Hans asked. ¡°And you¡¯re one to talk.¡±

    Galad laughed. ¡°The advice is just as much for me, but I know you need it more. Look at this night.¡± He spread his arms wide. ¡°We should remember to appreciate what we work for.¡±

    Hans looked out over the Tribe farmlands. The sunset left just enough light that he could see the top edge of the treeline. The various cabins scattered across the wide field had lanterns lit on the inside, spilling yellow light out every window. The night was cool, but it was warm enough that some people had their windows open, and their voices carried in the still evening air. Down the way, back toward Gomi, a pair of silhouettes ambled home with a lantern between them.

    ¡°You just made me realize that adventurers leave this part out of their stories,¡± Hans said.

    ¡°How do you mean?¡±

    ¡°This kind of moment is one of the things I miss about taking jobs. We spent so many nights around a campfire, surrounded by views like this. But nobody mentions it.¡±

    After thinking about it, Galad agreed that was true. He hadn¡¯t heard an adventuring story that took the time to talk about a memorable vista or a beautiful flower.

    ¡°I know you¡¯ve got a lot on your mind,¡± Galad said. ¡°So maybe think more about the happy parts of the job instead for a bit?¡±

    Shaking his head, Hans said, ¡°The smarmy Diamond they sent to question me about Gret drudged up all of these memories, and damn it, after all that time, I¡¯m just as angry about it right now as I was when he died. We ran together for something like twenty years, but my anger keeps me stuck at the end.¡±

    Galad looked up at the stars. ¡°When I was a kid, I wanted to be an adventurer. The excitement, the thrills¨CI wanted to be the hero in a story. At this point in my life, give me a story about a night like these. No villains. No monsters. Just contentment. Yeah, there should be more stories like that. If you have any of those kinds of stories with Gret, I would be honored to listen.¡±

    ***

    The new dormitory smelled like fresh sawdust. The beds, transplanted from the iron mines, looked out of place. Dwarven craftsmanship had a distinct intricacy to it, and this rare use of wood was no exception. Every edge was perfectly sanded with small touches like rounded posts or beveled headboards with perfectly repeating patterns of squares and triangles. Each bed was colored with a dark wood stain, a contrast to the pale raw wood on every other surface of the cabin.

    With the dorm mostly complete, each adventurer could now have their own assigned bed. All of the Apprentices celebrated that development except for Buru and Chisel. Their height made them poor fits for beds built for dwarven proportions. They said they didn¡¯t mind, but as soon as Hans saw the size discrepancy he asked the master carpenter to build them proper bed frames as soon as he was able.

    Hans stood in the dormitory and addressed Tandis, her little girl, the Apprentices, and Luther¡¯s new harvesting team. The husband and wife who first proposed the idea to Hans were with Luther, as was a father with a son who looked to be near Quentin¡¯s age but one or two years younger, perhaps. He recognized their faces but didn¡¯t know them personally. Several children didn¡¯t take classes at the Guild after all.

    ¡°The harvesters will come in behind the adventurers. To start, they won¡¯t go farther than the iron elementals. They¡¯re already training, but the Regenerating Castle has too many places for a goblin to hide, so we can¡¯t send anyone through unprepared.¡±

    He went on to explain that two new sections of the dungeon would open soon. The first was a bayou where green slimes and poison goliath toads could be found. Then, once their training reached the appropriate point, they would add an ogre camp. The Apprentices could observe battles in the latter, but that part of the dungeon was meant to challenge Bel, Lee, and Becky, putting it far beyond what Hans would expect from the Apprentices.

    With an influx of intelligent enemies, Hans shared that they would add security checkpoints at various intervals in the dungeon and secure them with Magic Lock, which would also be applied to the door at the entrance. Showing the Repel Possession tattoo Honronk designed would be the key for those locks, so only someone with the tattoo could go in or out.

    ¡°Hans,¡± Terry said, raising a hand. ¡°What if we don¡¯t have the tattoo?¡±

    Until then, only tusks had the enchanted tattoo ward as the Blood magic it repelled targeted tusk heritage specifically. Uncle Ed got an unenchanted version of the tattoo to show solidarity with Kane and Gunther, but otherwise, no human or dwarf who called Gomi home had received the ink. For Magic Lock, only the design needed to match, so Hans hoped that would make the process easier on Honronk or allow someone else in town with tattoo experience to apply the designs to non-tusk canvases.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

    ¡°You and I are getting tattoos, buddy,¡± Hans said. ¡°If you really don¡¯t want to, though, I won¡¯t make you or anyone get one. You¡¯ll be with other adventurers who can open the doors for you. If you¡¯re cut off and need to get to the surface though, not having the tattoo will lock you in until someone comes to help.¡±

    ¡°That sounds awful.¡±

    ¡°I agree.¡±

    Terry sighed. ¡°Sounds like I¡¯m getting a tattoo.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m fine with it,¡± Quentin added.

    Yotuli laughed. ¡°Quentin is tougher than Terry, naturally.¡±

    Terry threw one of the dorm pillows across the room at Yotuli before Hans calmed everyone again.

    Last on Hans¡¯ list of dungeon updates, mandrake elementals would begin to grow in the iron mines. Their presence, however, should not change the difficulty of that section. The Apprentices had more monsters to kill, sure, but mandrake elementals didn¡¯t have natural armor protecting their bodies like the iron elementals did, and with harvesters helping with resource gathering, the Apprentices would be fresher than ever.

    ¡°The work aside, living options are changing too. Honronk was ahead of the curve on this, but you¡¯re welcome to live at the dungeon¨Cor in, I guess¨Cpermanently if you want. I didn¡¯t offer that option sooner because it didn¡¯t occur to me that anyone would want to. That¡¯s my fault, so I¡¯m correcting that now.¡±

    He shared that each of the harvesters picked a location for their cabins already. Any of the adventurers were welcome to do the same if they desired, but continuing the usual routine of returning to town between shifts was perfectly fine too. That offer extended to Tandis as well, but as Hans guessed, she wanted to keep her home in Gomi to be closer to Roland and closer to other children for her daughter.

    Other than curiosity about the new areas, no one had any questions, for Hans at least. Luther had several questions for Honronk, as did the Guild Master. All of those questions were about life as a dungeon resident.

    Honronk¡¯s answers were dull, but the fault wasn¡¯t his unique way of communicating. Other than the unusual location, converting the foreman¡¯s office to an apartment was as uneventful as any other move.

    At Hans¡¯ request, Honronk brought Luther and the Guild Master into the mines to show them the converted office. The last run ended recently, so no monsters were around to pose a threat.

    The Guild Master stood in Honronk¡¯s new home and found that he was jealous of the apartment. With most of the original furniture stacked outside the door, the foreman¡¯s office was like a giant studio layout. Honronk put all of his necessities in one corner: a bed, bookshelves, and a desk. He relocated a few of the torches enchanted with Summon Light, building shades from pieces of scrap of wood to hide their glow if he wanted darkness for sleep. Otherwise, nothing else looked intentionally organized or decorated, just moved out of the way.

    The space wasn¡¯t Hans¡¯ definition of cozy, not with Honronk¡¯s tastes at least, but it was nicer than many of the swanky flats he had seen in Hoseki.

    ¡°What¡¯s it like living down here?¡± Luther asked, looking at every corner and detail of the structure around him.

    ¡°Quiet,¡± Honronk answered.

    ¡°Does it get boring or lonely?¡±

    ¡°No.¡±

    As Luther drifted into his own thoughts, Hans asked if Honronk had heard movement or monster activity around the times the dungeon was expected to regrow. He hadn¡¯t. Every hour was as still and as quiet as the last. The more Hans learned about it, Honronk¡¯s apartment in the dungeon was likely safer than any of the buildings on the surface. Gnolls lived in the forests, and trolls had come down from the mountains on occasion, making the dangers posed by either monster ever-present. They couldn¡¯t predict or anticipate potential attacks on the surface to the degree they could down here.

    Their curiosity satisfied, Honronk walked Luther and the Guild Master to the end of the iron mine entrance tunnel, leaving them to finish the brief journey to the dungeon exit on their own.

    Halfway there, Luther asked, ¡°There are resources to harvest with the Bone Goblins and then other stuff even deeper, right?¡±

    Hans said that was true.

    ¡°If Honronk is okay with it, I¡¯d like to spend a few nights in the mine dorms next to the foreman¡¯s office. I¡¯m pretty sure it will, but I¡¯d like to see if living in a dungeon agrees with me.¡±

    ¡°If it does?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯d propose locating me deeper in the dungeon. You need harvesters down there too, and if the dungeon is going to keep growing, so will the journey to the bottom and back. Having a harvester living down there is more efficient than hoofing it there and back every shift.¡±

    Cutting in front of Luther, Hans stopped the tusk in the dungeon corridor, looking up slightly to meet Luther¡¯s eyes. ¡°Are you okay?¡± Before Luther could reply, Hans cut him off. ¡°No, sorry. That¡¯s not the right question.¡±

    Because of course he¡¯s not okay. He told me as much.

    After struggling to find the right words, Hans said, ¡°I knew this adventurer. We got to be good friends but we never shared a party. He came up at the same time as me, so we crossed paths a lot when neither of us were out on a job. Somewhere around Bronze, his party wiped.

    ¡°He was the only survivor. You¡¯d expect that to change someone, right? He didn¡¯t. We bullshitted about the same stuff in the same bars without missing a beat. A lot of adventurers end up killing themselves in situations like that. A party wipe is always horrific, but he wasn¡¯t depressed or spiraling. He told the same kinds of dirty jokes he always did and never needed to talk about what he had been through.

    ¡°He joined another party, a group of people I knew as well, and after a few months on the job with him, they started to tell me strange stories. What they originally thought was simple boldness¨Clike wanting to be the first in the door or over the wall¨Cstarted to look like intentional recklessness. He wasn¡¯t being heroic. He was giving the gods free shots at him if they were brave enough to take one.¡±

    Luther nodded slowly but didn¡¯t speak.

    ¡°The point is he started adventuring because he loved the challenges and the excitement. After the wipe, he kept adventuring because he wanted to die.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t want to die, Hans,¡± Luther said, bluntly.

    ¡°I¡¯m not saying you do,¡± Hans said. ¡°It¡¯s a Guild Master¡¯s job to look out for their people, so I have to ask, why do you want to live that deep in a dungeon?¡±

    The way Luther held eye contact without speaking reminded Hans of Galad. He did that too, leaving long pauses between big questions and their answers. Galad and Luther were being thoughtful, Hans believed, but the extended silence in the midst of a conversation could also be unnerving.

    ¡°I don¡¯t want to die,¡± Luther repeated, ¡°and I know that dungeons are dangerous. I¡¯ve had my share of scraps and close calls like anyone else in Gomi, but the closest I ever came to death was in the middle of a peaceful town, where I was ¡®safe.¡¯¡±

    Hans hadn¡¯t thought about Luther¡¯s experience that way. He stopped at bad people doing bad things and didn¡¯t consider how much the setting contributed to the situation. The realization reminded him of townspeople who survived monster attacks. Sure, they lived, but evil had ransacked their homes, the one place they felt safe and in control. Fixing the windows and re-hanging the front door didn¡¯t restore those feelings. In fact, many people left town entirely because they knew they could never see home in the same way, no matter how much they rebuilt and repainted.

    ¡°I want to live in the dungeon because I want to be as far from that world as I can get. Only Galad knows this, but I¡¯ve been sleeping in the keg barn. Made myself a little camp deep in the stacks. I don¡¯t know why, but it makes me feel better. Safer. Protected. Something like that.¡±

    One of Hans¡¯ quests sprang to mind.

    Active Quest Build a rest area in the dungeon to improve adventurer recovery.

    He originally pictured that rest area functioning like a hunting cabin. Most of the time, it would be empty and unused, but if a hunter needed shelter, the cabin was there. Many such cabins around the kingdom didn¡¯t have locks, making them freely available to any traveler who needed a roof over their heads.

    ¡°How about this,¡± Hans began. ¡°I¡¯ll get this in motion. We need a deep dungeon shelter no matter what. I¡¯ll get you a space of your own while I¡¯m at it if you promise to keep thinking about if this is something you really want. Agreed?¡±

    ¡°Agreed.¡±

    Quest Update: Build a rest area in the dungeon with space for Luther to live there full-time.

    ***

    Open Quests (Ordered from Old to New):

    Progress from Gold-ranked to Diamond-ranked.

    Mend the rift with Devon.

    Using a pen name, complete the manuscript for "The Next Generation: A Teaching Methodology for Training Adventurers."

    Expand the dungeon with resource-specific monsters for each of Gomi¡¯s major trades.

    Decide whether or not to pursue silent walking and snow walking.

    Suggest growing mandrake elementals to the dungeon core.

    Apply a sigil-lock Magic Lock to dungeon doors.

    Find a way for Gomi adventurers to benefit from their rightful ranks in the Adventurers¡¯ Guild.

    Build a rest area in the dungeon with space for Luther to live there full-time.

    Secure a way to use surplus dungeon inventory for good.

    Expand the dungeon using the ogre valley job as a blueprint.

 Book 2, Chapter 10: Password Protected

    Quest Complete: Apply a sigil-lock Magic Lock to dungeon doors.

    Quest Complete: Suggest growing mandrake elementals to the dungeon core.

    The sigil-locked doors worked as Hans hoped they would. As soon as he raised his forearm, presenting his unenchanted Repel Possession tattoo to the door, the handle could turn. Simple, yes, but simple was a nice change of pace. Only one of the doors was secured with a different kind of Magic Lock. The new barrier locking off access to the dungeon core required a spoken keyword known only to Hans and Bel.

    He knew that the Magic Lock spell had no impact on durability and resilience, so the doors themselves still needed to be well-constructed¨Cwhich they were. Otherwise, any monster thwarted by the Magic Lock could just break through instead.

    Thanks to the dungeon core, four mandrake elementals now grew in the iron mines, appearing in roughly the places Hans hoped they would. The Apprentices made quick work of them. After so much practice against iron elementals and their natural armor, mandrake elementals were a simple puzzle to solve. Every hit they landed did damage, and without iron in their bodies, the mandrake elementals had less force in their blows, making them less of a threat as well.

    The bayou addition, however, did not go as Hans hoped.

    When he made his suggestion to the dungeon core and provided his blood offering, he thought about locating this new area down a side tunnel like he had done with the iron mines. Instead, the dungeon core put the bayou before the Bone Goblins, meaning that all future runs had to go through this new area in order to continue progressing deeper into the dungeon.

    Luckily, Hans'' memory of the bayou was from the dry season. When the rains came, the only way to traverse the area was by boat, covering the lone passable road and any exposed land dry enough to walk on with four feet of water. This version of the bayou had plenty of standing pools of algae-covered water and no shortage of mud and muck, but with enough patience, an adventurer could make their way around the area on foot. Their boots and pants would be covered in mud, but that was better than trying to hunt poison goliath toads hiding like hippos in deep waters.

    A dungeon ceiling replaced blue sky, holding a sort of permanent dusk with no clear origin point. Otherwise, the area was just as he remembered. At the time, he was Bronze-ranked and traveling through the region. Wanting to learn more about the area and the monsters that inhabited it, Hans convinced a local adventuring party to bring him along. The job was to gather poison from the toads and to spear any sizable alligators they found along the way. They sold the poison to alchemists, and they sold alligator skins to local tanneries. Selling the meat from the alligator was an option as well, but the adventurers ended up keeping it to feed themselves and their families.

    The local adventurers hated slimes as much as Hans, so they avoided them.

    Hans had been surprised to learn that several adventuring parties made a living from the bayou, many of them never progressing beyond Iron or Bronze because they had no need to. The party that let Hans shadow them was all Bronze-ranked, and every member was at least twice Hans¡¯ age. After countless hours hunting in the bayou, they collected their kills with the fanfare of someone picking apples from a tree.

    They showed Hans how to look for air bubbles, a telltale sign that an alligator or a goliath toad hid beneath the surface. They tried to teach him to navigate the area without a compass, but when light was low and the foliage overhead was dense, the swamp looked the same to him no matter where he looked. Meanwhile, the old-timers could tell him how far from town they were at any point, almost to the exact pace-count.

    In preparing the Apprentices to cull this new area, Hans relayed as much of that wisdom as he could remember. They discussed techniques for escaping deep muck, the kind that felt like quicksand. He encouraged Kane and Quentin to put their spear skills to use in this part of the dungeon and invited the other Apprentices to do the same.

    The only lesson he didn¡¯t teach was how to wrestle and pin an alligator. His guides insisted it was a necessary skill if someone lost an arm to a gator roll and wanted it retrieved. Stabbing the beast to death could further damage the arm, making the odds of reattaching it successfully with healing spells even lower.

    ¡°Even if you can¡¯t get it sewn back on, that¡¯s your arm. Ain''t right to let anyone steal something that¡¯s yours,¡± one of the adventurers said as they straddled the back of an alligator the size of a geode gecko.

    When the Apprentices finished their first bayou adventure, killing all of the slimes and goliath toads they could find, Terry said that Hans should include a bathhouse in his design for a deep-dungeon rest area. The Apprentices never smelled great after a run, but stagnant muck was unrelenting. As long as you had a splash of the stuff on you, the stench of dirty latrine water filled your nostrils everywhere you went.

    Hans said he agreed with Terry¡¯s suggestion, wholeheartedly.

    ***

    ¡°Fighting ogres is like fighting faster, smarter earth elementals,¡± Hans said, surrounded by the Apprentices with Becky, Bel, and Lee present as well. He stood in the middle of the staging area in the iron mines, the largest flat open space they had access to this far up the mountain.

    He said that the most important part of fighting any large humanoid was understanding the range of their attacks. Most adventurers were smart enough to keep as much distance between them and an ogre as they could, carefully selecting their moment to shoot in and strike, but several of those adventurers went down from attacks they believed they were safe from.

    ¡°You¡¯re better off overestimating instead of underestimating. I picture a big circle around an enemy like that, where the edge is a few inches beyond their weapon reach. If I¡¯m inside that circle, I¡¯m in the most danger. That¡¯s easy enough to do with one ogre, but ogres live and hunt in groups. You need to put a circle around every enemy, and use your peripheral vision to keep track of them. The surprise attack from their big dumb friend is the one that takes you down for good.¡±

    A difference in monster height or weapon choice could change that range significantly, so there was no set ¡°safe area¡± in fights like that, so Hans suggested his students practice judging reach on the fly. They would be estimating range in the heat of battle for the rest of their careers. The adventurers who had long careers were the ones who got good at it.

    If picturing a circle didn¡¯t help, he suggested trying methods he learned from other adventurers.

    For Gret the Rogue, managing distance was all about feel. In addition to being trained to use a bow, a rapier, and a knife, Gret had been a successful boxer for many years, so he had practice making that judgment with a variety of weapons and body types.

    For Boden the Spearman, his experience with the spear gave him the ultimate measuring stick. The length of his weapon was like a probe, allowing him to test a monster¡¯s reach with the tip of a spear as a reference, keeping the dwarf well away from danger while he did. If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.

    For Mazo the Blue Mage, who was often the person farthest from a melee attack, she didn¡¯t think about distance to the exacting degree of a warrior. In her mind, she assigned every monster she saw a color. Red could do her harm at any second. Yellow was an enemy that didn¡¯t pose an immediate danger but would soon. Orange threats were enemies with ranged attacks, and any enemy that could be ignored, for that moment at least, she assigned the color blue.

    ¡°The only approach that makes sense to me is the one I use,¡± Hans said. ¡°I¡¯ve tried doing it Mazo¡¯s way, for example, and it¡¯s just a mess. I confuse myself more than anything, but that¡¯s because our brains are different. I suggest you experiment with different approaches. What¡¯s best for me might be the worst for you, so when you¡¯re sparring and hunting, put more thought into what approach is easiest for you personally and stick with it.¡±

    In addition to teaching the same grappling curriculum that he started with the children back in Gomi, the Apprentices used the gecko rods to simulate the swinging axe or club of an ogre. Hans explained that the timing of an attack was different for an ogre than a human. An ogre¡¯s weapons had more distance to travel, and their reach gave them access to a larger area.

    The smartest ogres used wide slashes, clearing adventurers from their path as if they were threshing wheat. Angry or dumb ogres tried to squish their prey with an overhead strike, like they had a giant hammer and the adventurer was a bothersome spider. Overhead strikes in sparring matches with humans were relatively uncommon¨Cstabbing or slashing was faster and exposed fewer vulnerabilities¨Cso a club coming down from a twelve-foot tall opponent was awkward to handle.

    Dodge too soon and the ogre corrects their aim, crushing you anyway. Dodge too late, and, well, you¡¯d never get the chance to dodge again.

    They wouldn¡¯t cover party tactics for another few days, but when they did, it would be similar to how they fought an earth elemental. Where they smashed an elemental with a mace, they would slash with their swords to cut tendons and ligaments. Hans went on a brief tangent about how he preferred attacking the knees over the ankles because striking downward at an ankle was a great way to ruin your sword if you missed.

    Any party member with a ranged attack, magic or otherwise, would avoid melee combat completely. Arrows and spells were far more useful against an ogre than they were against an iron elemental.

    As they drilled, Hans walked around to offer feedback and corrections. The upper-ranked adventurers¨CBel, Lee, and Becky¨Cstuck together. Buru joined them to be Becky¡¯s partner. Compared to the Apprentices, their drills were faster and more aggressive. When Hans saw the Apprentices try to mimic that speed, he stopped the class.

    ¡°Never faster than perfect,¡± Hans said. ¡°As soon as you¡¯re biffing your timing or are tripping over your own feet, slow the drill down. Don¡¯t try to match anyone else¡¯s speed. Stick to doing what¡¯s best for your training.¡±

    When the drills resumed, Becky asked Hans when ogres would be added to the dungeon.

    ¡°Hard to say,¡± he replied. ¡°We need to cover the rest of this unit, then we need to train for flying monsters.¡±

    Bel and Lee stopped their drill when they heard flying monsters. ¡°I thought we were hunting ogres,¡± Lee said. Becky nodded to agree with what Lee said.

    ¡°You are. The best ogre job I can give you for training starts with passing through a valley patrolled by harpies. You have to get through them to hunt the ogres.¡±

    ¡°Harpies?¡± Becky asked.

    ¡°Yep.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯d hoped to never see one of those angry bird women in person,¡± Becky said. ¡°They give me the creeps.¡±

    Bel agreed. ¡°They¡¯re even worse than you think.¡±

    ¡°Gee, Bel,¡± Becky grunted, ¡°Your speeches are as motivating as Hans¡¯.¡±

    ***

    With the dungeon dormitory complete, Hans moved into the original cabin built over the pit, the one Roland helped him build last winter, making it a temporary home and office. The inside smelled like week¡¯s old sweat soaked into leather armor. Though he hoped that would subside, he also knew that kind of odor had a habit of being near-permanent. Once it got into the walls and the floors, it might never leave.

    But the space was private. He could get a true break from the Apprentices while they got a break from him.

    Out his open window, Hans could hear the chatter and movements of adventurers, harvesters, carpenters, and laborers enjoying a cool spring evening. He even heard the distinct giggle of a child, Tandis¡¯ daughter he assumed. When he first visited the dungeon, back when it was just an odd flower patch, the area felt remote and isolated, like it could be one of the loneliest places in the world. Now laughter and conversation were just as much a part of the setting as the crickets and frogs chirping away in the forest.

    When the harvesters first talked about living at the dungeon, part of him worried that a permanent presence would detract from the beauty he saw in remote corners of nature. Instead, he found it comforting.

    It was the perfect soundtrack for working on his manuscript.

    ***

    Becky stopped Hans outside the dungeon before their next training session. ¡°Hey, boss. Is it okay if Buru misses a few days of duty?¡±

    ¡°Is something wrong?¡±

    ¡°Nothing like that,¡± Becky assured him. ¡°The forest thinks he¡¯s ready for his familiar, and so does he.¡±

    ¡°Wow. I thought you said that would be late in the summer if not the fall.¡±

    ¡°I sure did. Turns out Buru is a smart kid, and I¡¯m a damn good teacher.¡±

    Hans didn¡¯t disagree with either assessment. Though he saw very little of her Druid lessons in person, Buru¡¯s progress was evident in his runs. He could now trap an enemy in place with vines and summon a swarm of spirit bees to attack them. In the bayou section, which the Apprentices had dubbed ¡°the Poop Puddle¡± despite Hans¡¯ protests, Buru¡¯s connection to nature was invaluable for navigation and combat.

    If an alligator hid nearby, Buru knew. If a goliath toad attempted to use deeper water to mask an escape, he knew. He never got disoriented, he never struggled with his footing, and the density of vegetation made his ability to manipulate plants much more versatile and dangerous than it could be in a cold, stone dungeon.

    ¡°How long will he be away?¡± Hans asked.

    ¡°No way to tell. It takes what it takes.¡±

    Even with his limited magery knowledge and even more limited Druid knowledge, Hans knew the familiar bonding process was a delicate one, and disrupting it was a great offense. One of his former classmates went to jail for murder over a familiar. He had been befriending a hell hound for weeks, earning its trust, when a rival mage killed the monster. So Hans¡¯ classmate killed the mage.

    The most interesting part of that story was how many mages protested the sentencing, saying that the duration or strength of the familiar bond was irrelevant. Killing another mage¡¯s familiar was akin to killing their child, and what parent wouldn¡¯t repeatedly cast a Paralysis spell on a murderer to hold them in place while lava slowly flowed toward them?

    ¡°Anything I can do to help or support?¡±

    Becky shook her head. ¡°Nope. It¡¯s up to Buru from here.¡±

    ***

    Open Quests (Ordered from Old to New):

    Progress from Gold-ranked to Diamond-ranked.

    Mend the rift with Devon.

    Using a pen name, complete the manuscript for "The Next Generation: A Teaching Methodology for Training Adventurers."

    Expand the dungeon with resource-specific monsters for each of Gomi¡¯s major trades.

    Decide whether or not to pursue silent walking and snow walking.

    Find a way for Gomi adventurers to benefit from their rightful ranks in the Adventurers¡¯ Guild.

    Build a rest area in the dungeon with space for Luther to live there full-time.

    Secure a way to use surplus dungeon inventory for good.

    Expand the dungeon using the ogre valley job as a blueprint.

 Book 2, Chapter 11: Counterfeits

    Someone knocked on the cabin door.

    ¡°Olza? You¡¯re early.¡±

    ¡°No¡­ I¡¯m on time.¡±

    ¡°I thought you¡¯d be here tomorrow,¡± Hans said. ¡°I¡¯ve been mixing up days more often lately. Training has been busy.¡±

    Olza wrinkled her nose when she stepped inside. ¡°I thought maybe I¡¯d bully you out of this cabin too, but you can keep it.¡±

    ¡°What? You don¡¯t like the smell of hard-earned experience?¡± Hans grinned.

    ¡°Nope.¡±

    ¡°Want the campus tour? A lot has changed.¡±

    She said that she did. Hans showed her the new dorms as well as the in-progress stable. The build team was still preparing the site but had staked out dimensions and location. Next, Hans and Olza walked up the hill to say hello to Luther. The tusk helped the husband and wife harvesters build their cabin. He had planned to be working on his own cabin, but with his mind set on living in the dungeon, he didn¡¯t need to. Once this cabin was far enough long, he would devote the rest of his free time to the father and son harvesters. They needed a home as well.

    ¡°Olza! What a surprise!¡± Luther set down his hammer and gave her a hug. ¡°What brings you up the mountain?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m due for another core assessment. I¡¯ve been tracking how it grows when the dungeon grows.¡±

    ¡°Interesting. What have you learned?¡±

    Olza laughed. ¡°Not much. We¡¯re still just observing its behavior and how it changes for now. Your cabin is coming along nicely.¡±

    ¡°Oh, this isn¡¯t mine.¡± Luther pointed to the couple working at the other end. ¡°It¡¯s theirs.¡±

    ¡°Typical Luther,¡± Olza said. ¡°Will yours be in this area too?¡±

    Luther looked at Hans. ¡°You didn¡¯t tell her?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not a washing well lady,¡± Hans said. ¡°It¡¯s not my place to share that.¡±

    ¡°I also just got here,¡± Olza said.

    ¡°She also just got here,¡± Hans agreed.

    The tusk struggled to find the words but eventually said, ¡°I¡¯m moving into the dungeon. We¡¯re not sure when, but I¡¯ll be fairly deep.¡±

    Olza glanced between both of the men, a round of laughter waiting to leave her lips, but she saw they were serious. ¡°That¡¯s pretty weird, Luther, but I get it.¡±

    ¡°You do?¡±

    ¡°I moved to Gomi because it was the most remote town in the kingdom. I wanted that space between me and everyone else. The more the better. If you¡¯re doing that too, I understand.¡±

    Hans raised his arms, insisting he hadn¡¯t told her.

    Luther smiled. ¡°Thank you. If your work with the core continues, I imagine we¡¯ll see each other regularly.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s very true,¡± Olza said. ¡°A friendly face down there doesn¡¯t sound bad. Are you worried you¡¯ll get bored?¡±

    ¡°Perhaps somewhat,¡± Luther admitted, ¡°but not very. I¡¯m looking forward to reading and playing music. Might try some farming too.¡±

    ¡°You didn¡¯t tell me that,¡± Hans said.

    ¡°The idea is a new one. I like being a farmer. When I started thinking about missing it, figured I could have a few pots going to scratch the itch. Might have to be mushrooms or something like that, but that¡¯s okay.¡±

    Luther said he needed to get back to work but suggested they talk that night if they found themselves bored or lonely.

    Hans took Olza by the A-frame shelters the carpenters and laborers had used for most of the spring. She saw several of the workers on the road on her way in, but she wanted to say hi to the ones she hadn¡¯t. When they arrived, they found Gomi¡¯s blacksmith¨CHarry and Harriot¡¯s father¨Ctalking to some of the men who had the day off.

    ¡°Guild Master!¡± the blacksmith said. ¡°It¡¯s nice to finally lay eyes on the Gomi dungeon. It¡¯s more quaint than I¡¯d expect a dungeon to be.¡±

    Hans chuckled. ¡°If there is a ¡®normal¡¯ for dungeons, ours isn¡¯t it. No rush, but come find me when you¡¯re done here and I¡¯ll show you where I think the smelter could fit.¡±

    ¡°No need. Tandis already showed me. She got me an apprentice too.¡±

    ¡°Really? Who?¡±

    ¡°Boy¡¯s name is Eduardo,¡± the blacksmith answered. When he saw that Hans didn¡¯t recognize the name, he added, ¡°his father is one of the harvesters.¡±

    Ah! The father and son Luther just mentioned helping.

    ¡°Yes, of course,¡± Hans said, a touch embarrassed. ¡°That¡¯s great news for both of you. What do you need next?¡±

    ¡°Just gotta build the bloom furnace. He¡¯s a ways from working a furnace on his own, though. Once we get the road open, I¡¯d suggest carting the iron to town, so I can teach him properly. Getting your materials right is everything for a smith, you know?¡±

    Hans didn¡¯t, actually, but he trusted the blacksmith¡¯s judgment. ¡°If you say that¡¯s best, we¡¯ll figure it out.¡±

    ¡°Until then, I¡¯ll spend a few days with him up here. Show him how to build and stoke a furnace. Get him crushing the iron. Once the road is open and we can bring the haul to town, Eddy will live with us for his apprenticeship.¡±

    ¡°Really? You¡¯d do that?¡±

    ¡°Certainly. That¡¯s how I learned. I think it¡¯ll be good for Harry and Harriot to see an older kid learning a trade too.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re a good man. Thank you,¡± Hans said.

    The blacksmith smiled. ¡°Still plan to get me some of that celestial steel?¡±

    ¡°Yes, sir.¡±

    ¡°Just holding it in my hands would be the experience of a lifetime,¡± the blacksmith said. ¡°I¡¯d never have thought I¡¯d get the chance to work with it.¡±

    Hans said it would still be some time before the dungeon could produce it, but the blacksmith was fine with that. He¡¯d teach a hundred apprentices if he got to make one sword out of celestial steel. After a bit more chit chat with the blacksmith and other workers, Hans and Olza departed.

    They sat on the steps of the dungeon cabin, drinking tea.

    ¡°Oh!¡± Hans said, spilling half his cup when he lurched to life. ¡°I¡¯ll be right back.¡±

    The Guild Master endured the awkward trot of a downhill jog to expedite his journey to the dorms and back. Until the armory was complete, the dorm building doubled as a storage space. He returned to Olza with a bundle of thick, dark roots in his hand. He presented them proudly.

    ¡°How much have you harvested?¡± Olza asked.

    ¡°Half a barrel or so.¡±

    Olza accepted the roots and said, ¡°That¡¯s a lot of mandrake.¡± As she inspected the root, she frowned. She looked more closely at the plant. She sniffed it. She touched the root to her tongue.

    ¡°Are you okay?¡± Hans asked.

    ¡°Where did you find this?¡±

    ¡°The mandrake elemental.¡±

    ¡°Har har,¡± Olza said. ¡°Good joke. Where did you find this? There might be seedlings nearby that will fully grow over the next few weeks.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know what we¡¯re talking about.¡±Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

    She held up the root. ¡°You gave me fool¡¯s root, trying to trick the alchemist. That¡¯s a good one.¡±

    ¡°That was on an elemental a day ago.¡±

    ¡°Show me the rest.¡±

    ***

    ¡°This is all fool¡¯s root, Hans,¡± Olza said, hints of her exasperation leaking through. ¡°All of it.¡±

    Hans stroked his beard. ¡°I genuinely believed the Lady meant mandrake.¡±

    ¡°What exactly did she say? You know better than most that the words a spirit chooses matter.¡±

    ¡°She said she saw something I desired, so she gave it to me. I thought she meant our talks about an alchemist apprentice, but yeah, I may have wanted fool¡¯s root vodka more. Okay, I definitely still do.¡±

    Olza half collapsed against the barrel, dropping her head on her arms. ¡°Gods, Hans.¡±

    ¡°This isn¡¯t my fault.¡±

    ¡°You just said it was,¡± she replied without lifting her head.

    ¡°Well, yes, but it wasn¡¯t intentional. I know this messes up your apprentice plans. On the other hand¡­¡±

    Olza sighed. ¡°I know. On the other hand, we get vodka.¡±

    ¡°Sorry to interrupt,¡± Tandis said, poking her head into the dormitory. ¡°Are you busy, Miss Olza? I can come back later.¡±

    ¡°It wouldn¡¯t be possible for you to waste my time more than Hans,¡± Olza answered.

    Tandis laughed. She turned to the side and addressed someone Hans couldn¡¯t see. ¡°Go on in. Ask Miss Olza,¡± he thought he heard her say.

    Tandis¡¯ daughter entered the room, timidly stepping forward with Tandis following shortly behind.

    ¡°Oh, hi there, Willow,¡± Olza said, bending over. ¡°What¡¯s on your mind?¡±

    Willow looked back at her mother for a moment and returned her attention to Olza. ¡°Miss Olza,¡± the girl began, ¡°if you are still looking for an apprentice, I want to apply.¡±

    ¡°How old are you now?¡±

    ¡°Six.¡±

    Olza nodded, thinking. ¡°Why do you want to become an alchemist?¡±

    ¡°I like baking cookies,¡± Willow answered.

    Doing her best to hide her confusion, Olza looked up at Tandis who smiled and shook her head.

    ¡°Tell her the rest,¡± Tandis encouraged.

    Willow took a deep breath. ¡°I like baking cookies and trying my own recipes. My mom says alchemy is kind of like that, except what you make helps people.¡±

    ¡°Cookies taste much better though.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s okay!¡±

    Tandis put both hands on Willow¡¯s shoulders and said, ¡°She barely eats the cookies, to be honest. She¡¯ll taste them, but she doesn¡¯t have much of a sweet tooth.¡±

    ¡°Alchemy apprenticeships usually start at sixteen,¡± Olza said to Tandis. ¡°I know other trades start earlier, but small mistakes in alchemy are pretty dangerous.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s okay!¡± Willow said, jumping to insert herself into the adult conversation. ¡°I¡¯ll wash bottles or sweep the floor until I¡¯m old enough.¡±

    Olza crouched to put her eyes level with Willow¡¯s. ¡°Alchemists need to be able to read, write, and do math. Complicated math. So how about this: You can help me in the shop once a week if you study on the other days.¡±

    Willow looked up at her mother.

    ¡°Don¡¯t look at me! Miss Olza is talking to you, not me.¡±

    Willow straightened her back and said, ¡°I promise to study, Miss Olza.¡±

    Olza smiled. ¡°I¡¯ll hold you to that. I¡¯ll talk to your mom about getting your lessons started.¡±

    ¡°Okay!¡± Willow said, bouncing. ¡°Thank you, Miss Olza.¡±

    Tandis mouthed ¡°thank you¡± to the alchemist as well. ¡°Hey. How about you go see if Uncle Luther needs help? Stand back from the work when you ask so we don¡¯t mess it up by mistake.¡±

    Willow zipped out of the dorms, leaving Tandis, Hans, and Olza.

    ¡°Thank you for hearing her out,¡± Tandis said. ¡°She adores you.¡±

    ¡°Really?¡±

    ¡°She does. She¡¯s pretty shy, though. You might not remember, but you made her and the other kids some kind of candy over the winter to go with the Sleep potions. She¡¯s been fascinated ever since. Talks about you all the time.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s very sweet.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll do my best to teach her right,¡± Tandis said. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t mind your guidance. If I¡¯m honest, I can read and write, and Willow¡¯s already been practicing, but we¡¯re mostly just reading books together when I¡¯m not at the dungeon.¡±

    Olza said she would put a plan together that Tandis and Willow could follow. Hans mentioned their talk about Eduardo to Tandis, joking that she was unofficially running the Gomi apprentice program.

    ¡°They¡¯re all good kids,¡± Tandis said. ¡°I think they¡¯ve spent too much time trying to be invisible. Asking about being an apprentice doesn¡¯t occur to them, even if they know they want to do it.¡±

    Tandis thanked Olza again for talking with Willow and excused herself.

    ¡°So¡­¡± Hans started. ¡°How long until all that root is vodka?¡±

    ***

    Olza scribbled furiously in her notes.

    ¡°The core is smaller than I expected,¡± she said, looking at the partial crystal sphere. ¡°We¡¯ve added a lot, and this is a fourth, or maybe less, of its full size. Assuming the core¡¯s dimensions will be consistent with what we¡¯ve observed already.¡±

    She asked Hans to hold the torch at a better angle for her to write. When he didn¡¯t get it right, she grabbed his arm with both hands and put it in the position she wanted.

    ¡°Have you noticed there are fewer roots in the hallways now?¡±

    Hans nodded. ¡°It¡¯s been a slow shift, but yeah. Making a suggestion to the core seems to reduce the roots.¡±

    ¡°Interesting. That lends more weight to our hypothesis that dungeon cores are more like plants than beasts.¡±

    ¡°Why do you say that?¡±

    ¡°This is all still conjecture, but think about tree roots. You can see some of them from the surface, but there is a huge network of those roots underground. The older a tree gets, the deeper its roots. There are all sorts of reasons why that¡¯s good for a tree: keeps it from falling, collects water and nutrients, but it¡¯s also a kind of self-defense. Any organism that relies on being underground, even partially, uses that as a shield. It¡¯s hard for something to damage your roots if a thousand pounds of dirt are on top of them.¡±

    ¡°Ah, so the more mature the core gets, the less we¡¯ll see the roots because they do more to hide themselves?¡± Hans asked.

    ¡°Maybe. We know very little, though, like why are only one of the root systems in this room alive? Why did the core look ¡®broken¡¯ when we found it? Will that fissure close at some point? And then there¡¯s the way the dungeon grows, which is a whole other mystery. How does it replicate one of your memories? How does it happen so quickly? The real Regenerating Castle was built over centuries, and the core recreated it in seconds.¡±

    Olza had ranted about those kinds of questions before, so she already knew Hans didn¡¯t have answers. The Guild Master listened so Olza¡¯s thoughts could continue unimpeded.

    ¡°The Reavers¡¯ Rest explosion was apocalyptic. If a blast like that happened in the middle of Gomi, the entire town would be gone. Not a trace. That¡¯s an incredible amount of energy, and if I¡¯m honest, I doubted that hypothesis before we found this.¡±

    ¡°Why did you doubt it?¡±

    ¡°Think about Mazo¡¯s spells. The bigger the outcome, the more mana the spell needs. You know her abilities better than me, so how many Mazo¡¯s would it take to replicate the Reavers¡¯ Rest event?¡±

    Hans scratched his beard. ¡°Geez, I don¡¯t know¡­ Ten? Maybe more?¡±

    ¡°And you¡¯ve never met another mage who was anywhere close to Mazo¡¯s level, right? If dungeon cores follow the same kinds of rules, that¡¯s an unimaginable amount of energy. God levels of energy.¡±

    Olza sighed deeply, a hint of frustration growling beneath it. Hans asked her what was wrong.

    ¡°I¡¯m impatient,¡± Olza admitted. ¡°A scientist shouldn¡¯t be impatient, but I¡¯m starting to worry that we won¡¯t find answers to these questions in my lifetime.¡±

    Patting her on the shoulder, Hans said Olza was underestimating herself.

    For the next twenty minutes, Hans followed Olza around the dungeon core room while she logged dozens of details. Nothing else in the room had changed, but she insisted that was useful data as well. When she finished, she told Hans she was ready for the next experiment.

    Hans called up to the fissure. Terry poked his head through.

    ¡°Ready for a dungeon reset?¡± Hans asked.

    ¡°Yes, sir. Couldn¡¯t come at a better time. Kane is farting up a storm up here.¡±

    Kane yelled from somewhere behind Terry about that not being fair.

    Terry looked at Olza, and his face dropped when he remembered she was there. ¡°Sorry. Adventurer humor, I guess.¡±

    ¡°Sounds more like little boy humor to me.¡±

    ¡°That may be true,¡± Terry replied. ¡°At any rate, we¡¯re ready when you are.¡±

    Stepping up to the core, Hans thought deeply about a mountain retreat he visited once, a small collection of structures built from stone. A noble owned the retreat, and it wasn¡¯t used during winter. The scenery reminded Hans of Gomi in the spring, and his party was the first to arrive, so he got to explore the grounds while they were empty.

    If Luther was going to live in the dungeon, Hans wanted it to be as nice as he could make it. However, this would be the first dungeon suggestion that didn¡¯t include monsters of some kind. Hans insisted that difference didn¡¯t matter. To him, a suggestion was a suggestion. Olza disagreed, saying any deviation in method could be meaningful as far as science was concerned.

    The Guild Master ran a knife across his upper forearm, near his Gomi tattoo. As the suggestions got larger and more complex, the core needed more blood before it flickered purple. They believed that flicker meant that the suggestion was ¡°finished¡± and the core accepted it. Where early suggestions needed only a few drops from a finger prick, he now needed close to half an ounce, or roughly a third of a shot glass according to Olza.

    The blood dripped on the core. And dripped and dripped and dripped.

    Hans¡¯ world went black.

    ***

    Open Quests (Ordered from Old to New):

    Progress from Gold-ranked to Diamond-ranked.

    Mend the rift with Devon.

    Using a pen name, complete the manuscript for "The Next Generation: A Teaching Methodology for Training Adventurers."

    Expand the dungeon with resource-specific monsters for each of Gomi¡¯s major trades.

    Decide whether or not to pursue silent walking and snow walking.

    Find a way for Gomi adventurers to benefit from their rightful ranks in the Adventurers¡¯ Guild.

    Build a rest area in the dungeon with space for Luther to live there full-time.

    Secure a way to use surplus dungeon inventory for good.

    Expand the dungeon using the ogre valley job as a blueprint.

 Book 2, Chapter 12: Spawner Glitch

    ¡°I think he¡¯s waking up,¡± Hans heard Olza¡¯s voice say. It waivered, like it was weak

    Where¡­

    A blinding orange orb floated over him, surrounded by darkness. He saw a blurred shape that could have been Olza¡¯s face.

    What¡­ Oh gods, my head.

    ¡°Easy, Hans. Take it slow.¡±

    His vision sharpened, adjusting to the torchlight. Terry, Quentin, and Kane sat nearby, looking at the Guild Master. They appeared¡­ disheveled.

    ¡°You passed out,¡± Olza explained. She looked to be on the verge of tears. ¡°I¡¯m worried you hit your head on the way down.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve lost way more blood than that and been fine.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not sure if that¡¯s the culprit,¡± Olza said. ¡°The core turned black at the same time you collapsed¡­ and that¡¯s not all, but we¡¯re safe here, so don¡¯t rush it.¡±

    Hans climbed on to his elbows and scooted backward to sit against the dungeon wall. Taking a better look at his Apprentices, he saw their hair was wet with sweat, and gore dried on their armor.

    ¡°What happened?¡±

    The Apprentices looked to one another as if deciding who should speak. Terry took on the responsibility. ¡°The dungeon reset like it usually does with a suggestion, but this one was different. There¡¯s usually three gnolls down the hall from the core, right? This time there were nine.¡±

    ¡°Nine?¡±

    ¡°Yes, sir. It got hairy there for a minute, but the boys did good. Their hard work is paying off.¡±

    ¡°Yours too, sounds like,¡± Hans said. ¡°Is the rest of the dungeon like that?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t know,¡± Terry answered. ¡°We haven¡¯t checked, and Olza was pretty worried about you. I wasn¡¯t. I know there¡¯s not much in that head to damage.¡±

    Hans laughed, making his head swim. He closed his eyes to steady himself. After a minute, he said, ¡°How long ago was this?¡±

    ¡°Twenty minutes or so.¡±

    ¡°Nothing else has come down the corridor? Camahuetos? Imps?¡±

    ¡°No, sir.¡±

    That was a good sign. If the rest of the reset went like the gnolls, they would have three times as many monsters to fight to reach the surface. The party had recently slept from the run to the bottom, but the looks on the Apprentice¡¯s faces told Hans their adrenaline had already dumped, a sort of post-battle hangover where the body struggles to rebalance itself after a surge of near-death danger.

    Hans kicked himself for being overconfident with the core. He should have brought Bel or Lee with them, but at the time, it sounded like a waste to pull them from training for that long. Now his party was vastly outnumbered and had a civilian with them no less.

    No amount of regret would get them to the surface, so for now they would rest a while longer, talk tactics, and then fight their way up.

    New Quest: Safely deliver your party to the surface.

    ***

    Fighting six camahuetos with a party of warriors was frightful, but manageable.

    A small herd of the horned beasts charging down a narrow corridor was a new challenge for the Apprentices. It would be a challenge for most adventurers, actually. That was a lot of mass moving with great speed.

    Olza waited in the dungeon core room, and Hans told the Apprentices to take up their formation where the camahuetos were still out of sight. The Guild Master ran ahead. Seconds later, they heard the sound of battle¨Chooves clopping on stone, grunts of angry animals, a sword hitting meat. Two camahuetos ran toward the adventurers, but their heads weren¡¯t lowered for a battle charge.

    They fled.

    When the monsters saw three sets of swords and shields ahead, they slowed, hesitating. As if they considered turning back but thought better of it, they continued their charge. The Apprentices did as they had practiced on dozens of runs before: They held their ground, waiting until the last moment to dodge to the side. As the beasts stampeded by, their own forward momentum dragged sword tips across the length of their bodies.

    ¡°Another to you!¡± they heard Hans yell, a third camahueto coming down the hall shortly after. The Apprentices dispatched it handily and jogged to catch up to Hans. The Guild Master wiped his sword on one of three dead monsters surrounding him.

    ¡°How?¡± Quentin asked.

    Hans smiled. ¡°Practice. Monsters are often surprised if their own tactics are used against them.¡±

    ¡°So you charged them?¡±

    ¡°Yes, but that¡¯s not important right now. Get Olza, and from here on, dungeon silence protocol is in effect. If we can pass the imps and the geckos without a fight, we¡¯ll be fresher for the Bone Goblins.¡±

    As the boys backtracked to get the alchemist, Terry looked at the camahueto bodies and frowned. ¡°Think the whole dungeon reset like this?¡±

    Hans nodded.

    ¡°So three minotaurs and three shamans are waiting for us?¡±

    ¡°And a whole mess of goblin grunts.¡±

    Terry took a slow deep breath, holding the exhale for several long seconds. ¡°If you asked me an hour if I had ever been in a real battle, I would have said yes.¡±

    ¡°And?¡±

    ¡°I would have been wrong. A real battle is ahead.¡±

    ***

    A few dozen yards from the gate into the Bone Goblin section, Hans whispered. ¡°We¡¯re lucky to be doing this backward,¡± he said. ¡°We have the element of surprise, and the shamans will be easier to reach, but that doesn¡¯t change the fact that three minotaurs will defend them. Terry and I will go after the shamans. Quentin and Kane, your job is to hold the door and take down the goblins that come your way, but more importantly, we need you to watch for the minotaurs. If they are coming for me or Terry, call it as quickly as you can.¡±

    The boys nodded.

    ¡°Once the shamans are down, we¡¯ll all regroup on Kane and Quentin. Until then, avoid the minotaurs at all costs. Does everyone understand their orders?¡±

    All three Apprentices nodded. Olza stood near them, clutching a rusty hatchet she salvaged from a dead gnoll. Her face had been pale since Hans woke up, and she stared ahead at nothing in particular.

    ¡°Okay, good. I¡¯m going to channel Gret as best I can. If we¡¯re lucky, we take down at least one shaman before they realize they are under attack. When you hear combat or my call, breach.¡±

    As Hans steeled himself for the battle ahead, he asked the rest of the party to go around the corner with their torches so his eyes could adjust to the darkness. He didn¡¯t have low light vision like the goblins, so he¡¯d be moving through the room by memory for the most part. When he could see the faint outlines of the goblin gate in the darkness, he opened it slowly and crept into the shaman room.

    The shamans spotted Hans first.

    A small meteor flashed to life and rocketed toward Hans, fire blazing. He deflected it with his shield, cursing his terrible stealth skills but thankful for the brief light. He spotted two of the shamans in the flash and charged, calling for the rest of the party to enter as he did.The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

    He dodged a glowing arrow made from mana and ran the first shaman through, withdrawing his sword swiftly to turn on the next. His sword bounced off a magic barrier, and though it was invisible, he heard the distinct sound of glass cracking, a sign that he could smash it completely with one or two more strikes.

    He heard another sound as well, but that sound didn¡¯t make sense.

    Mixed in with the shuffling of goblin feet and the clopping of minotaur hooves, he heard the sound of something large, traveling on bare feet. They didn¡¯t make the clatter of beast claws bouncing off of stone. They were heavy and muted, like bags of flour dropping to the floor.

    As he delivered another strike to the shaman¡¯s barrier, he saw the glint of a battle axe. A skeletal minotaur was on the charge.

    And it barreled toward Kane and Quentin.

    ¡°Break!¡± Hans yelled, but the boys couldn¡¯t. Goblins swarmed them, cutting off their mobility.

    Shit.

    The minotaur plowed through the goblins in its way like they were rats.

    Shit shit.

    The barrier broke. The shaman it protected, with nowhere to go, shot another meteor at the Guild Master. The spell hit Hans in the chest as he beheaded the goblin caster. The impact hurt, but the meteor didn¡¯t have enough space to gather truly dangerous momentum, and Hans¡¯ adrenaline was high.

    Hans turned to charge toward the Apprentices when he saw the glinting battle axe¨Cmere feet from the boys¨Cfall to the floor, the minotaur wielding it collapsing into a scatter of bones.

    Thank the gods.

    ¡°Two shamans down!¡± Hans yelled.

    The flicker of a shadow crossed Hans¡¯ vision, coming from somewhere behind him. Sensing danger, he threw himself sideways into a roll. A crude club, more broken log than crafted weapon, splintered against the stone where he stood a moment before.

    As Hans came up to his feet from the roll, he punched one goblin grunt in the face with his sword hand and bashed another with his shield.

    Please don¡¯t be a champion. Please don¡¯t be a champion.

    ¡°Champion on the move!¡± he yelled, warning the rest of his party that something big was in the room. He still hoped it wasn¡¯t a champion, but he didn¡¯t have time to communicate the complexity of his doubts. Making his allies aware was more important than species-specific accuracy.

    Not being accurate still bothered him, though.

    Hans slid backward, moving away from the beast and into the faintest edge of Quentin¡¯s torchlight.

    The club came again, swinging low to sweep horizontally. A glimpse of the goblin¡¯s hands put Hans at ease. They were too small to be a champion. The monster he fought was bigger than Buru, but not by much. It had the typical look of a goblin but sized up¨Ctwisted pointy ears, teeth filed to points, oily green-brown skin, and a belly from gorging itself.

    Not a champion. Just a berserker.

    Hans hopped the club swing like it was a jump rope. As soon as his feet returned to the ground he shot forward, severing the goblin¡¯s arm at the elbow before it could reverse its attack and swing back the opposite direction.

    ¡°Shaman down!¡± Terry yelled from somewhere far into the room.

    Too close to attack with his sword, Hans shoved the surprised berserker with his shield. The monster shrieked in pain and anger, the shock of the wound breaking its focus, costing the creature its balance.

    Hans retracted his arms from the shove and shot forward again, this time thrusting upward into the berserker¡¯s chest, entering just beneath the sternum, smoothly sliding through flesh and organs. He shoved the monster again to withdraw his sword and spun to aid Kane and Quentin.

    He relaxed. The boys had the presence of mind to follow orders and hold the gate where they entered. They used it as a chokepoint to keep from being surrounded by the fifteen or so goblins still standing. Hans and Terry reached them at the same time, chopping down goblins like machetes cleaving through jungle.

    When the last goblin of the group fell, Hans shouted, ¡°On me!¡±

    They swept the rest of the room as a unit, finding a few stray goblins, all of them desperate to retreat. The last three clawed at the exit leading toward the surface, struggling to open the heavy stone door. They died too.

    ¡°Hans,¡± Terry said. ¡°Was that us?¡± He pointed to a pile of goblins, their bodies slashed to ribbons.

    ¡°Not us.¡± Hans approached the pile. Before crouching down to inspect the nearest body, he put a foot on the goblin¡¯s head, turning it away and holding it there.

    ¡°I think they¡¯re dead,¡± Terry added, helpfully.

    ¡°I think so too, but if one almost dead goblin nearly chomps your fingers off, you don¡¯t forget.¡± The Guild Master touched the back of the goblin¡¯s neck. ¡°Cold. These were definitely sacrifices to make the berserker.¡±

    Hans took one more look around the room. ¡°Injuries?¡±

    Kane had a gash on his head, from a rock, he thought, and both him and Quentin had superficial scrapes and cuts up their sword arms. Terry had similar injuries, as well as a goblin arrow sticking out of his arm, which he noticed for the first time right then.

    ¡°Huh,¡± Terry said, looking at the small arrow embedded in his shield shoulder. ¡°When did that happen?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t pull it out yet.¡±

    ¡°I was there for that class. I know not to pull it out.¡±

    ¡°Knowing the right path and choosing the right path are two different things.¡± Hans said. ¡°Kane, Quentin, pack and wrap the worst of your wounds, then do Terry¡¯s. Terry: Keep that arm still.¡±

    Borrowing the berserker¡¯s club, Hans wedged it against the doors to the surface. If other goblins heard the battle, they would be on their way, so best to buy time if he could. Next, he jogged out of the shaman room and down the dungeon corridor to collect Olza. She stood against the wall, clutching the hatchet, shaking slightly. Her face was empty and ashen.

    ¡°Olza, it¡¯s okay,¡± Hans said, trying to get her attention without spooking her. ¡°The worst is over. I know you¡¯re scared, and that¡¯s okay too. We¡¯ll be out of here soon, but first I need your help.¡±

    Hans brought Olza to Terry. He knew the alchemist knew first aid¨Cshe taught half the classes on the topic at the guild hall¨Cbut she was shaken, so Hans told her what to do.

    ¡°Get bandages ready,¡± he said. ¡°Terry, drink a Healing potion.¡±

    When Terry finished chugging the vial and grimacing at the taste, Olza and Hans crouched next to him. Terry winced when Hans put a hand on his shoulder to hold him still. Hans yanked the arrow out, a hunk of flesh going with it.

    Terry cursed as blood spilled out of the wound and down his arm. Olza pressed her bandages into it to slow the bleeding. While she held the bandages in place, Hans wrapped the wound, having to go around Terry¡¯s body to effectively secure the bandage to the shoulder. With dungeon left to run, he wedged packing under Terry¡¯s armor and wrapped over it. They could change the dressing on the surface.

    Hans told the Apprentices to drink a round of Healing potions, including Terry, who would be drinking his second. The potions wouldn¡¯t close the wounds before the run finished, but they would help with pain and stave off bleeding and infection in the meantime. In this case, Terry drank two because his risk of infection was much higher. Goblins were known to dip their arrows in feces, delighting in suffering they¡¯d only enjoy beyond the grave.

    Terry knew that already. They covered it in their lessons.

    After minimal discussion and a little bit of rest, they continued their journey to the surface. The quantity of goblins in their path made that trip a slog. The Apprentices had to stop from time to time to catch their breath and rest their sword arms. Hans didn¡¯t need to rest, but he welcomed the reprieve all the same.

    The journey through the bayou¨CHans refused to use the nickname the Apprentices used¨Cwas mostly hiking. None of the monsters, or the alligators for that matter, were aggressive toward humans by nature. Slimes were mindless unless disturbed. Goliath toads were happy to relax in the mud, unbothered. Alligators would eat a person if they had to, but they preferred less challenging prey.

    The party didn¡¯t speak a word on their way through the swamp. They no longer needed to be particularly stealthy, but stress and fatigue made conversation less inviting.

    When they exited the bayou section, entering the final long stretch of dungeon corridor, they found a dead alligator, killed with a sword thrust by the shape and precision of the wound in its head.

    Must have wandered out of the bayou.

    As they approached the turnoff for the iron mines, they found Honronk seated on the ground, cross legged, reading a spellbook. When he saw the state of the party, he hopped to his feet.

    ¡°What do you need?¡±

    ¡°Can you come with us and help get these wounds cleaned and wrapped?¡±

    Honronk nodded. Seeing Terry¡¯s shoulder, he took the Apprentice¡¯s bag, sword, and shield to carry them for his wounded comrade. Terry was grateful.

    ¡°I¡¯m glad you didn¡¯t try to come down for us,¡± Hans said as they neared the door.

    ¡°Come down?¡±

    ¡°To rescue us from the reset¡­ Isn¡¯t that why you¡¯re here?¡±

    ¡°No. An alligator wandered to my front door. I wanted to request a dungeon gate so that didn¡¯t happen again.¡±

    ¡°You didn¡¯t know something was wrong?¡±

    Honronk shook his head. ¡°Should I have?¡±

    Hans chuckled and told the tusk not to worry about it.

    ***

    Open Quests (Ordered from Old to New):

    Progress from Gold-ranked to Diamond-ranked.

    Mend the rift with Devon.

    Using a pen name, complete the manuscript for "The Next Generation: A Teaching Methodology for Training Adventurers."

    Expand the dungeon with resource-specific monsters for each of Gomi¡¯s major trades.

    Decide whether or not to pursue silent walking and snow walking.

    Find a way for Gomi adventurers to benefit from their rightful ranks in the Adventurers¡¯ Guild.

    Build a rest area in the dungeon with space for Luther to live there full-time.

    Secure a way to use surplus dungeon inventory for good.

    Expand the dungeon using the ogre valley job as a blueprint.

    Safely deliver your party to the surface.

 Book 2, Chapter 13: Post-Match Stats

    Quest Complete: Safely deliver your party to the surface.

    Chisel was off for this particular rotation, so they didn¡¯t have a Healer on hand. That wasn¡¯t a serious problem, but it was less convenient. Bel, Lee, Sven, and Honronk abandoned their days off without hesitation, helping each of the Apprentices out of their gear and offering to do the post-adventure cleaning it sorely needed. Olza helped the Apprentices flush and dress their wounds. Some of the color returned to her face, but she was still quiet.

    Hans didn¡¯t press her to speak. In his years of adventuring, he saw that look on civilian faces dozens of times. Sudden, unexpected violence put any normal person into shock. All he could do was be supportive and give her time. Rushing these things did more harm than good.

    The Apprentices experienced some of the same shock, having just fought for their lives, but they had more fatigue in their faces than fear. That was a good sign, but it didn¡¯t guarantee that their wellbeing was undamaged. Like Olza, Hans would give the Apprentices space to process and recover before probing the topic.

    ¡°Anything else I can do?¡± Olza asked softly after her final bandage.

    Hans shook his head. ¡°You can have my cabin for the rest of your stay. I¡¯ll use the old one Becky built.¡±

    Olza nodded and exited the dormitory.

    ¡°Will she be okay?¡± Terry asked.

    ¡°In her own time,¡± Hans said. ¡°A run like that is hardest on civilians.¡±

    ¡°How so?¡±

    Lee interjected. ¡°Think about it from her perspective,¡± she said. ¡°She¡¯s not an adventurer. She doesn¡¯t hunt monsters or swing a sword, and she was trapped at the very bottom of a dungeon with no real control over her fate. That¡¯s a special kind of helplessness that cuts people to their core.¡±

    ¡°I hadn¡¯t thought about it that way,¡± Terry said. ¡°I know I was peeing my pants, but yeah, at least I had some say in whether I lived or died.¡±

    ¡°Should we be gearing up for a run?¡± Sven asked.

    ¡°No,¡± Hans answered. ¡°You¡¯re all capable of taking down anything we left behind, but the quantity of monsters changes things a bit. Best we take a day to rest and properly prepare. We¡¯ll rotate watch in the mines to make sure an iron elemental doesn¡¯t find its way out. The imps aren¡¯t likely to go very far, and the goblins are dead.¡±

    He suggested everyone but Kane, Terry, and Quentin step out to give the wounded Apprentices a touch of privacy, as much as they could offer in a dormitory at least.

    When Hans and the Apprentices were alone, he said, ¡°Exceptional performance today, gentlemen. You adapted and kept your wits. You followed orders and made smart decisions when you didn¡¯t have orders. I¡¯m proud of you. All of you.¡±

    The Apprentices nodded to express their thanks.

    ¡°A full debrief can wait, but it¡¯s just us right now. Anything I can do for you this moment?¡±

    Quentin raised his hand. ¡°I get the overgrowth,¡± he said, ¡°but how was there a goblin berserker if there wasn¡¯t one before?¡±

    Hans chuckled. ¡°I was thinking more along the lines of are there injuries I should know about or do you need to talk, but I admire your curiosity, Quentin. The berserker: the shamans sacrificed several of their grunts for a Blood magic ritual. That¡¯s where ¡®evolved¡¯ goblins come from. The larger the nest, the more likely you¡¯ll find goblins like that.¡±

    ¡°You called ¡®champion¡¯ at one point, but it was a berserker. Why was that?¡±

    ¡°Incomplete information,¡± Hans answered. ¡°I knew a big goblin was in the room, and the party needed to know that too. A champion was less likely than a berserker, but if I suspect one of two monsters, I¡¯ll call the worse option. Expecting a champion and finding something smaller is a nice surprise. The other way around gets messy.¡±

    ¡°Anyone have anything else?¡±

    Terry said he did. ¡°It¡¯s not a question. I just wanted to say that the boys got us through the gnolls. Nine of the fleabags was a nasty surprise. They would have swarmed us, but Quentin was smart enough to call for Kane to cast Push.¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t know you were battle ready with that spell,¡± Hans said.

    ¡°I¡¯ve been practicing with Lee. That was the first time I used it on a run. Quentin deserves the credit though. I froze up and wasn¡¯t thinking about Push at all.¡±

    ¡°Like I said. I¡¯m proud of all of you. Before I go, I have to give this speech: Don¡¯t hide anything from me. If you want to tough-guy your way through talking with everyone else, I don¡¯t recommend it, but fine. If you¡¯re hurt or distracted or anything, you tell me. Period. Understood?¡±

    The Apprentices nodded.

    ¡°Good. Get some rest.¡±

    The uphill walk from the dorm to the dungeon cabin was not long or particularly steep, but Hans felt his muscles and joints stiffen from the abuse of his adventure. The pain wasn¡¯t any worse than he expected, but it slowed him considerably, his every movement like a rusty hinge in desperate need of oil.

    He knocked on the cabin door. ¡°Olza? Do you need anything?¡±

    She opened the door and invited him in.

    ¡°I don¡¯t mean to be a bother,¡± he said.

    ¡°You¡¯re not a bother,¡± Olza said. ¡°How are the guys?¡±

    ¡°Superficial wounds mostly. They¡¯ll heal up just fine. More importantly, do you need anything? We don¡¯t have to talk about it, but I could make you some tea or anything else that might ease your mind a bit.¡±

    Olza sat on the edge of the bed. ¡°I¡¯m¡­ I guess I don¡¯t know how I am.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s normal.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve gone on so many runs to the core, and I¡¯ve never been that afraid.¡±

    ¡°That was uncertainty,¡± Hans said. ¡°Every other run you joined, we were equipped and prepared for the exact dangers we faced. No surprises, no unknowns in the shadows. Combine uncertainty with having to sit back with no real way to contribute to battle, even though your life is on the line too¡­ That¡¯s hard for anyone.¡±

    Olza nodded meekly. ¡°Are you okay?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll be sore in the morning, but I¡¯m fine. I didn¡¯t mean to crowd you, though. Can I get you anything before I¡¯m on my way?¡±

    ¡°Wait. The core turned black when you passed out. Was it because of the suggestion you gave or has the core grown enough that resets will get more difficult?¡±

    ¡°My gut says it was the suggestion,¡± Hans answered. ¡°That was the first time we tried a suggestion that wasn¡¯t from a job. It was just a nice place I visited once.¡±

    ¡°Interesting.¡±

    ¡°Yeah. Every other suggestion came with monsters and danger, right? Even the small ones. We can think about that later, though.¡±

    New Quest: Test the ¡°rules¡± for giving the dungeon core suggestions.

    ¡°Okay.¡±

    Hans said he would be in the smaller cabin if she needed him.

    ¡°Hans, wait,¡± Olza said.

    ¡°Yes?¡±Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

    ¡°I get why the Apprentices call the swamp the Poop Puddle.¡±

    ¡°God damn it, Olza.¡±

    ***

    Getting old is bullshit.

    Hans grunted and groaned as he slowly undid his armor. What would usually take him a minute or less took the better part of ten. His body demanded rest and resisted his every effort to move.

    A pounding came from the door. ¡°Hans! Sorry to bother you,¡± Luther said through the door. ¡°Heard about the excitement. Thought you might want to get cleaned up.¡±

    Hans found Luther standing outside with a bucket of water hanging from each hand. Luther wrinkled his nose.

    ¡°Not your blood I take it?¡± Luther asked.

    ¡°Don¡¯t think so.¡±

    ¡°Hmm. Perhaps I should have brought three buckets.¡±

    Laughing hurt, but Hans enjoyed it no less in that moment. ¡°Two buckets is two more than I expected. Thank you.¡±

    ¡°You got it,¡± Luther said. ¡°If you need fresh water, just leave the buckets outside the door. I¡¯ll come by before nightfall and fill them up.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s very kind of you, but this will do.¡±

    Luther bowed his head and excused himself.

    By the time Hans finished toweling himself off, one bucket was black and the other was a disconcerting shade of brown. Three buckets might have been better after all, but the worst of the gore and grime was gone. He could live with the sticky feeling of sweat and dirt clinging to his skin for now.

    As he lowered himself to his bedroll, his body warned him that it would fight its hardest to keep him from getting up again. He accepted the threat as truth and lied down anyway. On his back, looking up at the familiar thatched roof of the tiny cabin, he replayed the events from the run, studying his every decision and movement, looking for weaknesses and places to improve.

    His biggest mistake was not anticipating an evolved goblin. He thought about the dungeon spawn as being static and rigid, but the monsters the core grew were no different from monsters birthed and grown organically. Goblins were still goblins. The core might have grown them, but they fought like goblins and thought like goblins. With three shamans in the room, he should have expected evolved goblins.

    Otherwise¡­

    ¡°That was a blast.¡±

    ***

    Three days later, he stood in front of the dungeon core again. Bel, Lee, Becky, Yotuli, Sven, Honronk, and Chisel waited outside the fissure, bracing for a reset. Hans suggested Olza skip this experiment, and she didn¡¯t protest. Not so for Kane, Terry, and Quentin, though. When Hans told them they had to stay on the surface and rest, they argued for their inclusion.

    Hans heard them out and told them the answer was still ¡°no.¡±

    If the reset went poorly again, they had the numbers and the collective experience to manage it safely.

    Yet he found himself hesitating to give the next suggestion. Blacking out was unpleasant, and people he cared about were put in danger when the last suggestion went bad.

    He took a centering deep breath and pictured a quaint hamlet, a small cluster of eleven well-built wooden structures. Each home was comparable in size to the Tribe cabins, if not slightly larger in some cases. Instead of logs, every board was expertly milled. Flowers, both wild and domesticated, added splashes of color all around.

    The hamlet was empty. Hans¡¯ party had been assigned to support an evacuation, so they went door to door to ensure each villager had indeed gone. His party had remarked to one another how every detail of the scene looked like a resident would come around the corner at any moment. Laundry hung on clotheslines. Buckets sat by the well. Windows were clean, and porches were swept. One home they checked even had a table set for a meal.

    A group of fire elementals had come through a planar leak, setting the surrounding forest ablaze, and these homes were in danger. The fire was a ways off, but it had been observed moving in that direction, chewing through dry-season trees and grass with speed that seemed supernatural. The residents here were evacuated as a precaution.

    Once Hans¡¯ party confirmed the hamlet was empty, they had orders to check one more across the valley before hiking directly toward the forest fire. Mages with water-based spells fought the spread but needed guarding. The blaze was the perfect camouflage for fire elementals, so they would watch the line and put down any elemental that might leave the flames and go after one of the mages.

    Suggesting the dungeon core recreate that hamlet¨Cbut not the fire elementals, as they were far off¨Cwould test how much danger a suggestion needed to be accepted. Visiting the town was part of a job, and though they fought fire elementals and a few trolls who had gotten flushed out by the flames, none of those battles occurred close to the hamlet.

    His previous suggestion was a retreat in perfect tranquility. He wasn¡¯t hopeful the core would agree with his logic this time, but he had to try to find out.

    Hans trickled blood onto the dungeon core. The intensity of its purple glow grew, and after a similar volume of blood as the last suggestion, the core blinked, a signal Hans had come to associate with the core getting ¡°enough¡± blood.

    ¡°Incoming!¡± he heard Becky shout from the hallway.

    When he climbed the rope and slipped through the fissure, he found his adventurers and the bodies of three gnolls.

    ¡°Others?¡± he asked.

    ¡°No,¡± Honronk said. The Apprentice Black Mage had an enchanted Nightsight tattoo, enabling him to see farther in the dungeon darkness than anyone else.

    With Hans in the lead, the group ventured down the corridor that at one point had half a double door and an incomplete set of stairs leading to nowhere. On this pass, they found both double doors blocking their path, complete and functioning.

    And locked.

    Becky stepped forward with her axe, raising it to chop through.

    ¡°Wait, wait,¡± Sven said. ¡°We don¡¯t need to resort to violence.¡±

    The Rogue Apprentice gently lowered Becky¡¯s axe and crouched in front of the door with his lockpicks. He pulled the doors open less than a minute later.

    ¡°The axe would have been faster,¡± Becky said.

    ¡°Miss Becky. This is meant to be Luther¡¯s new home, is it not? We shouldn¡¯t destroy a new home.¡±

    Becky scoffed. ¡°Luther understands me. He¡¯d get it.¡±

    Hans went first, finding the same staircase as before, but more of it. The bottom opened into a familiar hamlet. Though the proportions matched his memory, surrounding the town with dungeon walls and capping it with a stone ceiling made it feel smaller than the original¡¯s scenic view of a wooded valley.

    And there was no sun or stars. Just darkness.

    ¡°This is eerie,¡± Chisel said, looking through a window. ¡°These were all lives, real people getting by. I know not literally in this case, but it feels that way.¡±

    ¡°Guards up,¡± Hans reminded the party. ¡°We¡¯ll sweep the town first. We could find anything, but fire elementals and trolls are the most likely.¡±

    The adventurers split up and went door to door before canvassing the rest of the area for hiding places. Finding nothing of note, they sheathed their swords.

    Hans saw Becky standing in the middle of town, staring up at the ceiling. ¡°This was Luther¡¯s idea?¡± she asked as Hans approached.

    ¡°Technically, Honronk had the idea first, but Luther liked it.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t get it, boss. Why would you give up that beautiful sky for this?¡±

    ¡°I don''t mind it,¡± Yotuli added, coming down the dirt road from the opposite direction. ¡°Here I was thinking I was starting to understand why dwarves built underground but the dwarf hates it.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m my own person,¡± Becky said. ¡°Just because I got cousins somewhere swinging pickaxes doesn¡¯t mean it¡¯s for me.¡±

    Yotuli said that was fair. ¡°All I mean to say is that it feels safe down here. Private, quiet.¡±

    ¡°If Buru was here, he¡¯d agree with me,¡± Becky grumbled.

    Bel called the adventurers to the town well. The Silver-ranked tusk leaned over its edge, looking down. When she raised the bucket back to the surface, clean water splashed out as the bucket rocked side to side. Hans furrowed his brow. A water source was a blessing, but he hadn¡¯t expected the dungeon core to include a working well because it tended to resist making any resource freely available.

    For example, the interiors of the homes and other buildings had basic furniture, but the core didn¡¯t recreate food or any small treasures a fleeing population would inevitably leave. Why was a working well an exception?

    Then again, the Poop Puddle¨C

    Gods damn it.

    Then again, the bayou was a lot of water, far more than a single well.

    He heard Olza¡¯s voice in his head say that good science would always produce more questions, but that was no comfort here, not when the core had recently rejected a suggestion and tripled the number of its minions as a result.

    Despite Hans¡¯ frustration with the neverending mysteries, he had learned that monster-less suggestions were possible if the suggestion was rooted in a moment where they posed a threat. That was still a working theory, however. In this case, the threat was far off, but it was serious enough that several families abandoned everything they owned to escape it.

    When everyone¡¯s curiosity was satisfied, Hans said, ¡°Time to head to the surface.¡±

    Quest Complete: Test the ¡°rules¡± for giving the dungeon core suggestions.

    Quest Complete: Build a rest area in the dungeon with space for Luther to live there full-time.

    ***

    Open Quests (Ordered from Old to New):

    Progress from Gold-ranked to Diamond-ranked.

    Mend the rift with Devon.

    Using a pen name, complete the manuscript for "The Next Generation: A Teaching Methodology for Training Adventurers."

    Expand the dungeon with resource-specific monsters for each of Gomi¡¯s major trades.

    Decide whether or not to pursue silent walking and snow walking.

    Find a way for Gomi adventurers to benefit from their rightful ranks in the Adventurers¡¯ Guild.

    Secure a way to use surplus dungeon inventory for good.

    Expand the dungeon using the ogre valley job as a blueprint.

 Book 2, Chapter 14: Trade Window Open

    The overgrowth incident derailed Hans¡¯ plans. The time they spent culling the extra monsters was meant to be spent with the upper-ranked adventurers, fighting harpies and ogres. To their credit, Becky and the Silvers didn¡¯t complain. One cavern with fifteen iron elementals put their large humanoid training to work, giving them a great deal of practice minding the range of nearby enemies and avoiding strikes in the process. By the time the culling was complete, everyone welcomed a break.

    Carrying a sack of fool¡¯s root over his shoulder, Hans walked back to Gomi with Kane, Quentin, Terry, Olza, Tandis, and Willow. When the workers yanked stumps out of the ground to clear the way, they also leveled as much of the path as they could in anticipation of regular wagon traffic. Now more road than trail, the journey was less of a forest hike and more of a long walk.

    Aside from Willow peppering Olza with questions about alchemy, many of which were her pointing to a plant on the side of the path and asking what it was and what it could be used for, the walk home was quiet. The adventurers looked forward to sleeping in their own beds, and Tandis was content to watch her daughter revel in curiosity.

    A sparrow landed on Hans¡¯ shoulder and chirped in his ear. Hans stopped.

    ¡°You all go on ahead. I¡¯ll catch up.¡±

    ¡°Everything okay?¡± Terry asked.

    ¡°Yes. I¡¯ll be along soon.¡±

    When the party was out of sight some ten minutes later, the sparrow departed.

    The Lady of the Forest took shape before Hans¡¯ eyes. Gravel from the dugout sections of road connected with sticks, leaves, and ferns to form the shape of a woman. When Hans looked more closely, he saw that most of the leaves were poison ivy, green and lush.

    ¡°Guild Master,¡± the forest spirit said in greeting. Her voice was a blend of branches cracking and wind howling over a rocky mountainside. ¡°I see you have accepted my gift.¡±

    ¡°Wasn¡¯t what I expected it to be, but I won¡¯t complain about a steady supply of fool¡¯s root.¡±

    ¡°I know this.¡±

    ¡°Are there people crossing the forest border?¡±

    The dryad twisted her head as if confused by the question. ¡°No, there are no invaders. When most people wake in the morning, they look to the sky to see if the day will be sunny. You, however, always expect rain.¡±

    Hans had heard similar criticism from old friends and past girlfriends. He was even less excited to hear it come from a forest spirit. ¡°What is the reason for your visit then?¡±

    ¡°I am here to ask you to take an oath.¡±

    ¡°No.¡±

    ¡°You may¨C¡±

    ¡°I said no. I won¡¯t make an oath.¡±

    The wind blew, rustling the greenery giving the Lady shape. ¡°I saw your love for Buru. Surely you¡¯d hear me out for his sake?¡±

    ¡°Are you threatening him?¡±

    ¡°Again, you expect rain. No, I care for the boy as well, but I saw that your desire to protect and nurture him was stronger than even my love for the young Druid. Will you show me a courtesy and hear me out before giving me your answer?¡±

    The Guild Master agreed to listen.

    ¡°Buru and his familiar are nearly bonded. They will soon depart for Gomi, and I worry for the familiar¡¯s safety. Buru is strong, but he is but one Druid. I would ask you to provide the familiar sanctuary and your protection. I would ask that you swear to take no part in bringing harm to the creature, and that you will defend it if you can should it be in peril.¡±

    Hans raised an eyebrow.

    And spring had been so peaceful¡­ goblin berserkers aside.

    ¡°What kind of creature is it?¡±

    ¡°It is one both known and unknown to you.¡±

    ¡°No riddles, please,¡± Hans said flatly.

    He thought he heard the Lady sigh, but it may have been a soft breeze. ¡°If I revealed the creature now, your judgment would begin here, far from any interaction with the familiar. I withhold the answer not in trickery but in fairness.¡±

    ¡°I can¡¯t swear an oath that vague, sorry.¡±

    ¡°I can ease your worries with promises of my own. I promise this familiar will not attack the people you care for unless it was under attack itself. I promise that this familiar will be loyal to Buru for life and that the depth of their bond will rival any friendship this world has yet known. Do these promises ease your mind, Guild Master?¡±

    Hans repeated her words in his mind, looking for potential traps. ¡°Is the familiar a danger to me?¡±

    ¡°No.¡±

    ¡°A danger to innocent people?¡±

    ¡°A cornered animal will bite. This familiar is no more aggressive than any other animal.¡±

    The Guild Master narrowed his eyes. He knew spirits and the like were known to talk in these kinds of vague whimsical sentences, and he worried what hid in the shadows that such vagaries cast. After years of holding Devon¡¯s oath against him, he couldn¡¯t allow himself to make the same mistake.

    ¡°Do you corner me now?¡±

    The spirit considered him for a moment. ¡°I have come for conversation and brought you no harm. I ask you to do this for Buru out of love.¡±

    ¡°Look, I respect that this forest is your home. I recognize the wisdom of your age and the power you wield. I am grateful for the kindness you have shown me and for the benefits of our partnership. However, I also know that my kind has been known to enter in oaths where the true consequences are deliberately hidden.¡±

    ¡°Yet more rain.¡±

    Hans coughed, restraining his nerves as best he could. ¡°I disagree. Am I wrong in my assessment?¡±

    ¡°You are not.¡± After a pause, the Lady said, ¡°I offer to share in the oath with you.¡±

    A tingle of curiosity buzzed in Hans¡¯ brain. He knew it was dangerous to satisfy that curiosity, as that was the kind of hunger that beings like gods and fae used to trick mortals, yet he couldn¡¯t resist.

    ¡°Explain.¡±

    ¡°What would you ask of me? My oath is for life as is yours, but I have more years to serve than you ever will.¡±

    ¡°Anything?¡±

    ¡°I cannot make a promise without knowing your desire.¡±

    Now who ¡®expects rain.¡¯

    Thinking carefully, Hans felt the allure of the oath-exchange growing. A corner of his mind shouted for him to pull back, to stop the slide here and now.Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

    ¡°Suppose I asked you to swear an oath of protection for the citizens of Gomi. Would you grant that?¡±

    ¡°I ask what would constitute protection?¡±

    Hans smiled. Look who is concerned about the wording of an oath.

    Stop! This is a bad idea.

    ¡°You would swear to do everything in your power to protect them from outsiders who would do them harm.¡±

    For a moment, the dryad¡¯s facsimile of a face seemed pensive and oddly human. ¡°I cannot intervene directly, but I can call for my friends to act on my behalf.¡±

    ¡°Every friend in the forest, and your request will be a sincere desire to protect the people of Gomi.¡±

    ¡°How am I to know who is truly ¡®of Gomi¡¯ as you say?¡±

    Thinking, Hans pulled up his sleeve and showed the Lady of the Forest his Repel Possession tattoo. ¡°Anyone who has this tattoo, and the protection you give them extends to their children as well, whether or not the child is tattooed.¡±

    ¡°If you swear an oath to protect Buru¡¯s familiar, I will swear to treat anyone bearing that design as an ally, worthy of assistance and protection should they be under attack from an outside enemy. I cannot, however, intervene in conflicts originating within this forest.¡±

    ¡°What would you have me swear?¡± Hans asked.

    ¡°I¡¯d have you craft your own oath. You already distrust my words.¡±

    That was true. Hans thought carefully, composing and revising an oath in his mind. He stopped suddenly.

    Are you really considering this? You¡¯re really considering this!

    All of the classic pitfalls were there. The Lady¡¯s request seemed benign. Why would Hans ever kill a familiar anyhow? Typically he wouldn¡¯t, but he could think of several scenarios where he might, like if the familiar was used for evil or had broken its bond and ravaged innocent villages, which was rare but happened. She had no reason that he could see for using Buru for ill, but she had centuries to perfect her strategies and tactics. How¡¯d that saying go? It¡¯s the attack you don¡¯t see that kills you?

    The potential upside was significant, yet academically he knew that was the true danger of oaths with supernatural beings. They would make the mortal feel like the reward was worth the risk and lull them into believing that the mortal was dictating the terms and getting the best of the bargain.

    This is exactly what happened to Devon. His intentions would have been better than mine even.

    ¡°I have a proposal,¡± Hans said finally. ¡°When you gave me the memories of the zout, you could read my intentions, right? You knew when I was being genuine?¡±

    ¡°That is true.¡±

    ¡°I have no such ability, and that puts me at a disadvantage here.¡±

    ¡°Another truth.¡±

    ¡°My oath is voided if I truly believe your intentions are evil. If the desire for the oath to be broken is driven by a desire to trick or manipulate the oath for my own hidden gain, you may brand me your enemy. If my intentions are pure, then we release each other from our oaths.¡±

    ¡°That is¨C¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s one more piece.¡± Hans believed he saw the Lady scowl. ¡°As you said, you will long outlive me. To balance the oath, I will be permitted to pass it on to another caretaker who you may assess by the same standards you assessed me. You will know their intentions are pure before the oath is transferred.¡±

    ¡°I will swear to uphold the terms as you have spoken them if I find your oath to be acceptable. Do you agree to deliver no harm to Buru¡¯s familiar and to protect it as you would a familiar of any other ally?¡±

    ¡°If you uphold our terms, I swear to deliver no harm to Buru¡¯s familiar and to protect it as I would a familiar of any other ally.¡±

    The various sticks and leaves comprising the Lady of the Forest¡¯s body fell to the ground.

    New Quest: Greet Buru when he returns to learn more about his familiar.

    ***

    Hans knocked on Olza¡¯s door.

    ¡°Are you just getting in?¡± Olza asked, glancing up at the moon.

    ¡°I got sidetracked being a huge hypocrite.¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°Happy to tell you everything tomorrow if that¡¯s okay. I need to get some sleep.¡±

    A hint of confusion on her face, she said, ¡°Yeah, of course.¡±

    ¡°Thank you. Where do you want the root?¡±

    ¡°Right. You can drop it in the lab.¡± She pointed to the back of the shop.

    He did as she requested. As he ventured back toward the door, Olza called after him. ¡°Oh! I almost forgot. Galinda said Buru is back with his familiar.¡±

    Hans stopped. ¡°In Gomi?¡±

    ¡°Well, yeah. The Tribe dormitories, so not like right next door. I¡¯d love to go see it in the morning if you want to come.¡±

    ¡°What is it?¡± Hans asked.

    ¡°The familiar?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°...Galinda wouldn¡¯t say. She said it would be better as a surprise.¡±

    Rubbing his face, Hans said with a sigh, ¡°I¡¯m going now. Do you want to come?¡±

    Quest Update: Visit Buru immediately to learn more about his familiar.

    ***

    A tusk Hans recognized as a parent of one of his students sat outside the Tribe dorms, reading a book by lamplight. He was older for a tusk, though Hans had heard conflicting conclusions for their average lifespan. Most people would say shorter than a human¡¯s lifespan, but a sizable minority argued that was more disinformation against tusks. That minority said that a tusk living to 200 was like a human living to 70.

    At any rate, the man had wrinkles, gray in his hair, and one of his tusks was missing. He guarded the door for the children. Though no one had the dreams once the tattoo wards were applied, several adult tusks continued to rotate shifts on watch, just in case.

    Hans and Olza stopped to speak with him, asking if he would mind asking Buru to step outside. They didn¡¯t want to wake half the dormitory trying to find where the Apprentice Druid slept.

    The man obliged, and soon he returned with Buru¡¯s oversized silhouette following behind. Hans scanned for a creature, but didn¡¯t see one.

    ¡°Yes, Guild Master?¡± Buru asked.

    ¡°Heard you bonded with your familiar.¡±

    Buru nodded proudly. ¡°Would you like to meet her? She will be awake for a while yet.¡±

    ¡°Umm¡­ Where?¡±

    ¡°Come. We can use the light in the barn.¡±

    With every step, Hans scanned and scanned for signs of a creature, looking for any shifts in shadows all around him. If the familiar wasn¡¯t out here or with Buru, was it sleeping in the barn? How big would a familiar have to be to need that much space?

    Standing in the yellow light of flickering lanterns and surrounded by kegs, Buru stood before Hans and Olza.

    ¡°Buru?¡± Hans asked after they stood in silence for some time.

    ¡°My apologies. We are still learning to communicate through our bond. Petal, would you like to come out and meet our Guild Master?¡±

    This was it. Hans was about to see the beast. If the Lady believed Hans would desire to slay the familiar, what could it be? Was there some secret hellspawn in the Gomi forest he wasn¡¯t aware of?

    ¡°There you are.¡±

    Olza squealed. ¡°She¡¯s adorable!¡±

    Hans looked where Olza looked. She seemed to be talking over the tusk¡¯s shoulder. At what, he did not know. Could she see it but he couldn¡¯t? What monster had an ability like that? Selective invisibility would make it pretty powerful.

    ¡°Petal, this is Miss Olza. She is our friend.¡±

    ¡°I love her,¡± Olza said.

    Buru turned. ¡°And this is Mr. Hans, Gomi¡¯s Guild Master. He is our friend and teacher.¡±

    A flicker of movement drew Hans¡¯ gaze from looking over Buru¡¯s shoulder to looking at the tusk¡¯s thick neck. A small creature, no larger than a mouse, stared at Hans. It had a pointed white furry face with round dark gray ears tipped in white. Its pink nose looked a touch too big for its proportions, like a ball at the tip of a cone. Its whiskers wiggled with its nose as it sniffed in Hans¡¯ direction.

    ¡°Mr. Hans,¡± Buru said like a doting father. ¡°Meet Petal.¡±

    ¡°Buru¡­ is your familiar a baby opossum?¡±

    The giant tusk grinned and nodded his head giddily. ¡°I was hoping for a squirrel, but Petal is so much better.¡±

    Quest Update: You¡¯re too tired to formulate a coherent quest update about the baby opossum familiar.

    ***

    Open Quests (Ordered from Old to New):

    Progress from Gold-ranked to Diamond-ranked.

    Mend the rift with Devon.

    Using a pen name, complete the manuscript for "The Next Generation: A Teaching Methodology for Training Adventurers."

    Expand the dungeon with resource-specific monsters for each of Gomi¡¯s major trades.

    Decide whether or not to pursue silent walking and snow walking.

    Find a way for Gomi adventurers to benefit from their rightful ranks in the Adventurers¡¯ Guild.

    Secure a way to use surplus dungeon inventory for good.

    Expand the dungeon using the ogre valley job as a blueprint.

    You¡¯re too tired to formulate a coherent quest update about the baby opossum familiar.

 Book 2, Chapter 15: Class Change

    ¡°I thought you wanted to go to sleep?¡± Olza asked as she and Hans walked through the forest to return to Gomi.

    ¡°I still do, but now I can¡¯t.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve never met someone who dislikes opossums, until now I suppose.¡±

    ¡°Look, she¡¯s probably listening to us right now.¡±

    ¡°...Petal the opossum?¡±

    Hans took a deep breath and summarized his earlier conversation with the Lady of the Forest, ending the story saying, ¡°It would be like Becky to get a forest spirit to tease me.¡±

    ¡°When she ¡®read¡¯ you with her vines, maybe she saw a memory of you killing opossums?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve never killed an opossum!¡± Hans shouted in the middle of the road. ¡°Why would I ever do that?¡±

    ¡°Assuming you¡¯re being truthful¡­¡±

    ¡°Olza,¡± Hans said, stopping the alchemist to look her in the eye¨Cor the best he could with the starlight leaking through a spring forest canopy. ¡°Are you in on this? You can tell me. You had your fun.¡±

    ¡°Hans,¡± Olza said in return, mimicking the Guild Master¡¯s seriousness, ¡°You¡¯re sleep deprived. It¡¯s an opossum. You saw it. I saw it. Buru confirmed it. You¡¯re right, the oath is strange, but I¡¯ve met people who treat opossums like they¡¯re rats. I¡¯m sure you have too, so maybe the Lady was just trying to protect Petal from that?¡±

    ¡°Are you suggesting the Lady wants me to be some kind of opossum advocate?¡±

    Olza laughed.

    ¡°This isn¡¯t funny, Olza.¡±

    The alchemist rubbed Hans¡¯ back and gently guided him to continue walking like he was a confused, senile old man. ¡°I know. I know,¡± she said softly. ¡°Oaths are scary. You¡¯re right. Do you trust Becky?¡±

    ¡°...Yes.¡±

    ¡°Do you trust Buru?¡±

    ¡°...Yes.¡±

    ¡°And you thought carefully about the oath and didn¡¯t find anything nefarious.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s why this bothers me. Why would the Lady of the Forest put so much importance on an opossum? She talked as though I would immediately take issue with the familiar, like it was dangerous or something. Gods, this is too strange.¡±

    ¡°Do you trust yourself?¡± The alchemist asked.

    ¡°Absolutely not.¡±

    Olza sighed. ¡°The Lady has been good to Gomi. From where I stand, she has only ever helped. Becky trusts her, which is no small feat, and the safety she¡¯s offering is more than fair for not harming an opossum.¡±

    ¡°I gave Devon so much shit about his oath, Olza,¡± Hans said after a time. ¡°But now¡­ Now I see how he could have been swayed.¡±

    ¡°Your oath is different. Nothing you told me translates to personal gain for you. I think not being selfish matters here.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s exactly what¡¯s bothering me,¡± Hans said, his twitchy anxiousness giving way to the dullness of fatigue. ¡°I know you¡¯ve heard the stories about the great ¡®Master Devontes,¡¯ and they sound like fairy tales, a dashing young hero routing entire forces with his divine blessings and all that. But they¡¯re true. That kid has so much ability, and he¡¯s helped a lot of people with it¡­ If I was willing to take an oath about an opossum to help people, would I really have turned down an oath if it meant greater power to help?¡±

    ¡°I think your last shift up the mountain was a tough one,¡± Olza said, softly. ¡°On top of that, you¡¯ve been upset about Gret and the Adventurers¡¯ Guild. You¡¯re tired. You¡¯re stressed. The Lady of the Forest has been nothing but helpful, so maybe this is about perspective. If she was just as protective of Becki when she was a piglet, would you still be suspicious?¡±

    ¡°...I suppose not.¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s sleep on it. Give this topic some time to breathe and come back to it with a fresh head.¡±

    Hans agreed, reluctantly, and walked Olza home.

    Quest Complete: Decide whether or not to pursue silent walking and snow walking.

    As much Hans wanted those abilities, he wasn¡¯t willing to go through the oath process with the Lady of the Forest again. Walking the hard way would have to do.

    ***

    The Guild Master woke with the sunrise and went downstairs to the guild hall storage in search of coffee beans. He knew he had none, but if he checked again, he thought, perhaps the gods would see fit to change that.

    They didn¡¯t.

    Kane and Quentin, already studying in the guild hall common area, asked if Hans would like a cup of tea. He accepted the offer and sat at his desk while Quentin poured a cup and refilled the kettle.

    ¡°Everything okay, Mr. Hans?¡± Kane asked, assessing the bedraggled Guild Master, his hair and beard still skewed to one side from his pillow.

    ¡°Didn¡¯t sleep very well. I thought I told you two to rest.¡±

    ¡°We are,¡± Quentin said, setting a cup on Hans¡¯ desk.

    ¡°Waking up before me to study doesn¡¯t sound like resting.¡±

    ¡°Do you find reading to be strenuous, Mr. Hans?¡± Kane asked.

    ¡°You know,¡± Hans said, after a sip of his tea, ¡°in some places, they respect their Guild Master.¡±

    The boys laughed. Hans joined them.

    He asked what they were studying. Kane practiced the gestures for the spell Pull. Though Lee insisted that a Spellsword should disguise their casting at all times, Kane didn¡¯t agree, preferring to increase his dungeon effectiveness above all else. Push had been pivotal to his success against the gnoll overgrowth, but he liked the idea of using Pull to bring a monster into his sword. Any reasonably intelligent being would see that a spell was at work, but Hans approved where Lee did not.

    Quentin studied varieties of goblins, taking notes and recreating their battle in the shaman room from the top down to analyze the encounter. The margins contained a growing list of questions about positioning, goblin capabilities, and alternative battle choices. Hans noticed Quentin also had the chapter on ogres bookmarked, likely an extension of the large humanoid sessions he had observed with Becky and the Silvers.

    For a moment, the boys whispered an argument to each other. The only words Hans could make out from either of them were ¡°no, you ask him.¡±

    ¡°Mr. Hans,¡± Kane said finally, ¡°We want to be adventurers.¡±

    Hans stared dumbly at the Apprentice. ¡°Okay¡­¡±

    ¡°We love Gomi and all, but we want to have adventures like you and Miss Mazo. Travel the kingdom, meet interesting people, all of that.¡±

    Gods, it¡¯s too early for this.

    ¡°I see. What brought this on?¡±

    ¡°The shaman room was scary, but¡­ We liked the challenge. I don¡¯t want to say it was ¡®fun¡¯ because that sounds bad, but that¡¯s kind of how it felt.¡±

    Hans nodded. ¡°I¡¯ve probably been too honest with the two of you, but I had fun too. You¡¯re allowed to like doing what an adventurer does, you know.¡±

    ¡°Okay, so how about the adventure part?¡±

    ¡°Kane¡­¡±

    ¡°I know it can¡¯t happen now, but this war won¡¯t last forever. Tusks could travel just fine before, so it has to go back to that.¡±

    One of Hans¡¯ active quests came to mind.

    Active Quest: Find a way for Gomi adventurers to benefit from their rightful ranks in the Adventurers¡¯ Guild.Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.

    And that made him remember another.

    Active Quest: You¡¯re too tired to formulate a coherent quest update about the baby opossum familiar.

    Gomi was supposed to be a slow, quiet life.

    ¡°It¡¯s like we¡¯ve talked about before,¡± Hans said, ¡°I¡¯m all for it. If it were up to me, we¡¯d be working on that right now. I have to put your safety first and traveling the kingdom as a tusk isn¡¯t safe. It¡¯s wrong. It¡¯s unfair. This isn¡¯t what the kingdom should be. The truth is, I don¡¯t know if it will be safe for any Gomi adventurers to work abroad, tusk or not.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s bullshit,¡± Kane said.

    ¡°Yes, it is.¡±

    ¡°Give me another year of training with Lee, and they can try stopping me. They got Luther by surprise but they won¡¯t get me.¡±

    ¡°Kane.¡±

    ¡°They got no right.¡±

    ¡°Kane!¡±

    The tusk stopped suddenly, as if realizing just then that he had begun to rant. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, Mr. Hans.¡± Kane shut his notebook and left the guild hall.

    ¡°Should I give him space or go after him?¡±

    ¡°Space,¡± Quentin answered. ¡°This is my fault. I complained about wanting to adventure outside Gomi. I should have realized he felt more trapped than I do.¡±

    ¡°This is not your fault,¡± Hans assured him. ¡°One of the hard parts of being a good friend is recognizing where anger is really coming from, not just how it comes out. Kane sounds angry at us because we¡¯re the only people willing to hear him. It¡¯s easy to confuse being the audience for anger with being blamed for that anger.¡±

    Quentin said he understood. ¡°Still sucks.¡±

    Hans agreed.

    When he returned to sipping his tea, he felt the subtle throb of a brewing headache. Perhaps Olza was right about fatigue and stress warping his perspective.

    Well, of course, she¡¯s right. What choice do I have, though?

    Get it together, Hans. Be productive.

    Opening his notebook, he brainstormed how a baby opossum could actually be a vicious threat. His thoughts included:

    -Evil Druid shapeshifter

    -Vessel for a greater demon

    -Unknown species that resembles an opossum

    -Dire opossum (Note: do dire opossums exist?)

    -Extraplanar opossum

    -Fae-blessed opossum

    -Warg vessel for a wizard to spy on Gomi

    Reading his list back to himself made him more embarrassed for how he behaved with Olza the night before. Were some of these possible? Yes, in the sense that the techniques and variables existed for such things to actually happen. Were they at all likely? Absolutely not.

    I need to apologize to Buru.

    Quest Update: Apologize to Buru for your negative reaction to Petal.

    Hans stood, telling Quentin he was heading to the Tribe farmlands and would be back in an hour or so, definitely in time for class.

    He stepped into an overcast sky. Yotuli stopped him as he shut the guild hall door.

    ¡°Mr. Hans,¡± she said, ¡°Do you have a minute?¡±

    He said he did.

    ¡°You told us when we picked our class we would learn our roles and those roles only.¡± She hesitated, unsure of herself for a moment. ¡°Hypothetically, what if we wanted to change our class?¡±

    ¡°Walk with me?¡± he asked. ¡°What¡¯s on your mind?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t mean to be disrespectful, and I¡¯m really grateful for all that Gomi has done for me. But¨C¡±

    ¡°Yotuli. This is a normal question, and this is just a conversation. You¡¯re not going to upset me or anyone else.¡±

    Ten quiet steps later, Yotuli said, ¡°I picked Ranger when we started, and I¡¯m not opposed to sticking to it if that¡¯s better for Gomi. I¡¯ve been thinking about what you said about specializing. Helping cover the kids¡¯ class has helped me see Ranger skills are not for me. I¡¯d like to focus my specialty in a different direction.¡±

    ¡°What direction appeals to you?¡±

    ¡°Promise not to laugh?¡±

    ¡°Promise.¡±

    Yotuli seemed to reconsider continuing the conversation and then held her chin a little bit higher. ¡°Cleric.¡±

    ¡°I take it you¡¯ve read up on it?¡±

    She said she had. ¡°I know it¡¯s a difficult class, but I¡¯ve thought a lot about it. I would be able to keep using my weapon skills but add Cleric abilities, and we don¡¯t have a Cleric, so that would be good for the party too.¡±

    ¡°Yotuli¡­¡±

    ¡°I can do it.¡±

    ¡°The Guild doesn¡¯t do a good job of explaining the true challenges of the Cleric path,¡± Hans said. ¡°I¡¯ve had maybe thirty aspiring Clerics come through my classes. That¡¯s in total for my career where I couldn¡¯t begin to count the number of Rangers and Fighters. I know of three who had the conviction to actually use Cleric abilities. The rest switched classes.¡±

    ¡°I know it won¡¯t be easy.¡±

    This was how every Cleric conversation went for Hans, but he had had too few of them to practice his answers. Aspiring Clerics always believed that their faith could endure, only for their training to later reveal they did indeed doubt themselves and their beliefs. It might be the smallest sliver, buried so deep even they didn¡¯t know it was there, but that was all it took to cut a Cleric off from their unique flavor of magic.

    Teaching an adventurer to believe so deeply in their ideals was far different from Hans¡¯ other teaching challenges.

    To swing a sword, the body had to coordinate hundreds of muscles in a perfect sequence. At the same time, the brain calculated the timing, speed, trajectory, and force of the attack to aim the blow at the correct place and time. Casting a spell was like that, except will moved mana instead of muscle fibers. Despite the mystique casters indulged in, most spells were purely mechanical. What you believed was irrelevant if your technique was correct.

    Broken into its component parts, combat was a synergy of thousands of calculations running and updating nonstop to keep up with the chaos of a battle. Unlike magic¨Cfor all but the rarest of prodigies¨Ca person learned to maneuver and coordinate their bodies for the whole of their lives. By the time someone trained seriously with a sword, they had been alive for ten or twelve years practicing to move. The natural progression of that development hid the true difficulties of developing other skills.

    Hans never had to teach the idea of a punch. He only ever had to teach students how to punch better. Whether through instinct or socialization, every person understood the rough mechanics of clobbering someone with their fist. Close your hand. Throw it at the target. Lather. Rinse. Repeat. The same was true of swinging a sword.

    Magery students at the beginning of their studies were like Fighters who had never moved their arms before. Before they could execute a punch, they had to learn to use their muscles, as if they didn¡¯t have a childhood where they learned those skills organically. Most people never thought about how hard that would be to learn as an adult, but Hans had seen a few adventurers survive horrific injuries. The damage was so extensive that they had to relearn how to walk and feed themselves.

    The process looked incredibly difficult.

    Unlike magery, Cleric abilities were rooted in conviction, making the use of any Cleric blessing far easier than spells of similar strength, mechanically. Modern day Clerics built their conviction on ideals or philosophies rather than on gods and goddesses.

    However, if they doubted their belief in the slightest, they could not call upon a Cleric power. Confidence in traditional casting mattered, of course, but even the least confident mage could cast a spell as long as they followed the steps correctly. Not so for a Cleric. The purity of the Cleric¡¯s belief replaced any need for incantations or reagents or sophisticated mana manipulation.

    ¡°It¡¯s an all or nothing class,¡± Hans warned. ¡°Having pure conviction is hard enough, but Clerics have to keep it too. Fifteen years from now, if you discover a reason to doubt, all of that effort to become an effective Cleric was for nothing.¡±

    ¡°I understand the risks.¡±

    ¡°They might be bigger than you realize.¡±

    She said she wouldn¡¯t change her mind.

    ¡°Supposedly, being a Cleric was easier when the gods were more active in our plane,¡± Hans said. ¡°Easier to believe in something when you see it at work. With pure conviction¡­ I don¡¯t know, Yotuli. My beliefs now are very different from when I was your age. Things I thought couldn¡¯t possibly change.¡±

    The tusk was twenty two years old to Hans¡¯ thirty nine. Wait, he was forty now. He hadn¡¯t noticed his birthday come and go.

    ¡°This belief won¡¯t change.¡±

    ¡°May I ask what you¡¯d root your faith in?¡±

    ¡°My gram prayed to Daojmot. Do you know it?¡±

    Hans shook his head. He wasn¡¯t much for spirituality.

    ¡°So my gram grew up on the frontier. Her mom¡¯s family was one of those groups trying to stake their own claim beyond the kingdoms. I guess you don¡¯t hear about them much anymore.¡±

    ¡°I remember when the frontier was where you could ¡®build your own kingdom.¡¯ I saw a lot of families chase that dream. Fill a wagon and hope for the best.¡±

    ¡°Yeah,¡± Yotuli said. ¡°My gram¡¯s family was one of those, so she was too, and so was my mom. They fell in with a group that had contacts at a settlement. Safety in numbers and all that. When they got there, a few of the families prayed to Daojmot. I don¡¯t know what language that is, but on the frontier people used the word to mean ¡®the spirit of bastards and wanderers.¡¯¡±

    ¡°Spirit as in a being or spirit as in an idea?¡±

    ¡°My gram described it as the connection between a certain kind of people, so an idea I guess. When orcs attacked the settlement, there weren¡¯t many survivors, and my mother¡­ she died later having me, so she was killed in the attack too in a way. My gram said Daojmot spared my life and spared hers, and Daojmot gave us the power to survive, to keep wandering.¡±

    As Yotuli explained it, her description of Daojmot sounded like a different form of hope. They both gave form to the idea that though life was difficult, something better was on the horizon if you were willing to look for it. Daojmot was that too but was specifically for the outcasts and the unwanted. It was a resilient, gritty kind of hope that only they could share.

    Hans wished he could believe in something like that. Were he Yotuli, he would not consider a few survivors as a sign of some sort of blessing or grace, but he kept such thoughts to himself.

    ¡°Thank you for hearing me out,¡± Hans said. ¡°I can tell your heart is set on this path, and you¡¯ve given it the thought it deserves. So let''s make you a Cleric.¡±

    ***

    Open Quests (Ordered from Old to New):

    Progress from Gold-ranked to Diamond-ranked.

    Mend the rift with Devon.

    Using a pen name, complete the manuscript for "The Next Generation: A Teaching Methodology for Training Adventurers."

    Expand the dungeon with resource-specific monsters for each of Gomi¡¯s major trades.

    Find a way for Gomi adventurers to benefit from their rightful ranks in the Adventurers¡¯ Guild.

    Secure a way to use surplus dungeon inventory for good.

    Expand the dungeon using the ogre valley job as a blueprint.

    Apologize to Buru for your negative reaction to Petal.

 Book 2, Chapter 16: Tamers

    Hans found Buru and Petal surrounded by children who were supposed to be helping in the fields. A clear sky gave an unimpeded view of the Dead End Mountains, looming so large that they felt like part of the group, crowding around to see the baby opossum with the children. The game seemed to be for Petal to duck out of sight and stealthily reappear somewhere else on Buru. Every time Petal poked her head out, the kids went wild, and she disappeared again.

    That was definitely the behavior of a demon in disguise.

    I owe Buru an apology.

    ¡°Mr. Hans,¡± Buru said when he saw the Guild Master. The tusk dipped his head in greeting. Many of the children squealed and ran to Hans asking about playing a round of dodgeball like they did in class sometimes.

    After greeting each child individually, and answering their questions as best he could, he asked Buru if they could talk. During the day, the barns were abuzz with the brewery workers, so they walked around a wheat field.

    ¡°I didn''t give Petal the welcome she deserved last night,¡± Hans began, ¡°I''m sorry. That was rude.¡±

    ¡°She didn''t feel that way,¡± Buru said.

    ¡°All the same, congratulations, Buru. Earning a familiar is a big milestone and not easy to do.¡±

    ¡°Thank you.¡±

    ¡°You know you did it about six months faster than the average, right?¡±

    ¡°Miss Becky is a good teacher.¡± Buru extended his arm. Petal ran down and sat in Buru¡¯s hand.

    Hans held his hand out. Petal sniffed it and wrapped her stringy fingers around one of his, pulling herself up to perch in the Guild Master¡¯s palm.

    ¡°The forest asked me to protect you,¡± he said to Petal. ¡°I promised I would, but she seemed very worried.¡±

    ¡°Thank you, Mr. Hans,¡± Buru answered, as if on Petal¡¯s behalf. ¡°Her kind aren¡¯t fighters. Petal is lucky to have an ally with your experience.¡±

    The Guild Master leaned his face close to Petal. She touched his nose with one of her weird little paws.

    She¡¯s just an opossum, he thought.

    Well, that wasn''t completely accurate. Bonded animals had a higher ceiling for development than their unbonded relatives, but this wasn''t a Shapeshifter in disguise. If it was, it was a damn cute Shapeshifter.

    Petal hopped back to Buru, landing against his chest before scurrying to the tusk¡¯s shoulder.

    ¡°What did you want to discuss?¡± Buru asked.

    ¡°Just Petal and my apology. That was it.¡±

    ¡°Petal says she did not mean to scare you.¡±

    Though Buru delivered the line in his usual subdued manner, Hans couldn''t help but hear a hint of wit in the statement. The good natured ribbing he could take. What concerned him was that Buru didn''t engage that way, ever, which meant the friendly jab came from Petal directly. If the opossum kept it up, she would fit in just fine.

    Quest Complete: Apologize to Buru for your negative reaction to Petal.

    ***

    When Gomi came into view, Hans spotted merchant wagons pulling to a stop. He hoped he had a batch of new books waiting for him. He missed the collection he left behind in Hoseki and found himself wanting to assemble a library to get him through next winter¨Ca winter he hoped would be much quieter than the last.

    He found Olza transferring a stack of crates from a wagon to her shop, one at a time. Hans picked one up and walked alongside her.

    ¡°Did you ever read the Misadventure books by Haynu B. Dumas?¡± Hans asked.

    ¡°Can''t say I''ve heard of them.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s thirty of these books. The stories are told from Haynu¡¯s perspective, and every book is him making an awful mess of every single job he takes. Gret and I read all thirty, but our rule was we could only read them out on a job. Mazo hated them and hated hearing us laughing at every dumb joke. At one point she threatened to quit the party if we ever repeated this one line again.¡±

    ¡°What made you think of them?¡±

    Hans sighed. ¡°I may have overreacted about the opossum, to the point that I think it could be as absurd as a Haynu story.¡±

    Olza laughed. ¡°Yes, maybe a bit. It wasn''t too bad, and you got over it on your own. Mostly.¡±

    ¡°Mostly.¡±

    ¡°Why the change of heart?¡±

    ¡°It became more and more obvious that I handled the forest bargain poorly. Well, my reaction to it anyway. I suppose I''m content with the bargain itself.¡±

    ¡°I''ll give you that it does seem like a lot of fanfare for an opossum,¡± Olza said.

    ¡°Thank you.¡±

    When they finished transferring Olza''s delivery, Hans went looking for his merchant contact, still hoping to find a stack of new books taller than Chisel.

    ***

    ¡°Mr. Hans!¡± a familiar merchant called. ¡°When you were not here to meet me I assumed you had other business. I delivered your order to the guild hall. I hope that''s alright.¡±

    ¡°Were there a lot of books?¡±

    ¡°Your collection is much larger today.¡±

    Hans smiled. ¡°Then thank you for saving me the effort of carrying them back myself.¡±

    The merchant said it was no problem for one of his best customers.

    ¡°Any interesting news from the kingdom?¡±

    ¡°The orc war is coming to a close. Thank the gods. Word is the orcs are retreating and the kingdom expects total victory before the end of summer.¡±

    ¡°That is quite the good news,¡± Hans said.

    ¡°Will be good for trade I imagine. You¡¯re my only customer who is ordering more instead of less on account of the uncertainty that comes with war.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve heard the war has been particularly hard on tusks,¡± Hans added.

    The merchant nodded. ¡°Aye, it has.¡±

    ¡°Is that getting better too?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s difficult to say,¡± the merchant answered. ¡°The King issued a decree that tusks were innocent of any wrongdoing in the war. Those dirty orcs were using some kind of Blood magic, so all of those tusks you heard about defecting were victims, if you believe the decree.¡±Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

    ¡°If you believe?¡±

    Shrugging, the merchant said, ¡°Spreading fear is quick. Rooting it out is so very slow. Lots of folks are skeptical of this Blood magic story.¡±

    Hans nodded and thanked the merchant for sparing a moment for gossip. Pivoting the conversation back to business, the Guild Master asked to add more books to his wishlist.

    ¡°I¡¯m sure books pertaining to Clerics should be no problem,¡± the merchant said, writing down the requests in a small journal. ¡°But I haven¡¯t heard about the Haynu books in some time. I am certain I can find you several, but I cannot make promises about their condition.¡±

    The Guild Master said as long as the books were readable, condition wasn¡¯t an issue.

    ¡°This is quite the departure from the rest of your reading list.¡±

    Hans laughed. ¡°It certainly is. I¡¯ve been informed that I need to be less serious sometimes.¡±

    ***

    Hans strolled into the guild hall with such enthusiasm that he thought he might break into a skip, like a child frolicking through a field of flowers. His joy tripled when he saw three stacks of books wrapped in brown paper and secured with twine. The invoice and a few other pieces of mail sat on his desk. He could reference that invoice to see what books the merchant was able to find, but Hans preferred the discovery of tearing off the paper and looking at each book one at a time.

    When he turned to share that glee with Kane and Quentin, he found the boys huddled around a flier, talking quietly. Hans wasn¡¯t sure when Kane returned to the guild hall, but seeing him back after his earlier frustration was a good sign. The adventurers who stopped showing up were the deepest in a despair spiral. Kane was obviously¨Cand justifiably¨Cangry and frustrated, but he came back. He hadn¡¯t given up hope completely.

    ¡°What are you reading?¡± Hans asked.

    Kane handed the piece of paper to the Guild Master without speaking.

    The flier promoted a summer victory festival in Osare to celebrate the close of the orc war. As part of the festivities, the Osare chapter of the Adventurers¡¯ Guild was hosting a one-on-one combat tournament with open registrations for all adventurers. The divisions were to be divided by rank and weight class, and the tournament would kickoff with an exhibition match between the Guild Master of the Osare chapter and the Guild Master of the Raven¡¯s Hollow chapter. Diamond-ranked matches like that were relatively rare, even more so this far from Hoseki, so tournaments like this often included at least one ¡°main event¡± to get townspeople excited to spectate.

    At the bottom of the flier, in small print, a disclaimer explained that all unranked and Apprentice competitors needed a letter from their chapter¡¯s Guild Master, vouching for their readiness to take part. The tournament was purely for sport, and the weapons were blunted, but combat was combat. Most of the injuries in events like this one occurred at the lowest ranks where mismatches in skill and ability were most common.

    Two Gold-ranked adventurers were likely to duel to a hotly contested judge¡¯s decision, their near-equal ability making the bout more of a chess match than a fight. At Apprentice and Iron, a competitor could be a fresh recruit like Kane and Quentin, or they could be someone like Terry, new to adventuring but with prior training as a guard and soldier. That meant a potentially large disparity in competency, and that increased the danger for the less experienced fighter.

    Hans held his eyes on the flier longer than he needed to, buying himself time for the conversation he knew would start as soon as he lifted his head.

    ¡°You two want to compete?¡±

    The boys nodded.

    ¡°Before you decide,¡± Quentin said, ¡°You should read the decree in your mail. King says tusks are not to be harmed, so it¡¯s safe for us to travel again.¡±

    Issuing a decree was much different from enforcing it, but Hans suspected his pessimism would not sway the eager Apprentices.

    ¡°You know my concerns,¡± Hans said carefully, ¡°and we know that Osare hasn¡¯t been kind to tusks. I¡¯m not saying no or yes yet, but tell me, are you okay with that risk, knowing how they treated Luther?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± Kane said. ¡°Luther was alone. I wouldn¡¯t be.¡±

    Sighing, and having no desire to argue with the tusk for a second time that day, Hans promised to speak to Roland and Uncle Ed about the trip. If they both agreed to it and were willing to chaperone, Hans would write the letters the boys needed to enter the tournament.

    ¡°You wouldn¡¯t come?¡± Quentin asked.

    ¡°Trust me, I¡¯d prefer to,¡± Hans answered, ¡°but Gomi needs me here. I can¡¯t disappear for a week or more with everything we have in motion.¡±

    Though they were disappointed, the boys said they understood.

    ¡°What does it mean when it says the tournament follows standard Guild rules?¡± Quentin asked when Hans handed the flier back.

    Hans went to the bookshelf and came back with the Adventurers¡¯ Guild manual, setting it on the table between the boys. ¡°Tournaments like this used to get pretty ugly. Major injuries, deaths, giant brawls. So the Guild issued a set of rules they believed was the right balance between testing the skills of adventurers and eliminating unnecessary danger. They amend the rules from time to time, but the last one I remember was when I was an Apprentice. They banned shields with that one.¡±

    ¡°Shields would make people safer, right?¡±

    ¡°That was the thinking, but that¡¯s not how it played out. I was at a tournament just before the rule change, and a Bronze died. His opponent took him to the ground and used the edge of his shield like a fist. Turned the guy¡¯s face into hamburger before the fight could be stopped.¡±

    ¡°Wow.¡±

    ¡°Referees can call killing blows with relative accuracy where swords are concerned. There¡¯s still procedure and disputes and all that, but it¡¯s pretty clear if someone holds a sword to your throat, you lost. Matches that got stopped due to shield strikes devolved into arguments again and again, so referees started to avoid calling matches in those cases, which just made things more dangerous.¡±

    ¡°Are there a lot of restrictions like that?¡± Kane asked.

    ¡°A fair amount,¡± Hans answered. ¡°The rules get pretty specific. We¡¯ll go over them in detail together to make sure you understand. The ones most likely to affect you are rules around weight classes and casting. Short version is you¡¯ll fight people your size, and you can¡¯t use spells that could injure spectators or have the potential to cause immediate death. Some divisions ban casting completely, and it¡¯s usually a toss-up if spells are banned for Apprentices or not.¡±

    ¡°So Mazo must not compete much,¡± Quentin said.

    Hans chuckled. ¡°You¡¯re right. The banned list is extensive, but it¡¯s mostly ranged offensive spells, so no fireballs and stuff like that. Kane, Push and Pull are both legal, so you shouldn¡¯t have any problems using those if they¡¯re not too strict.¡±

    As soon as Hans stepped away from the conversation, the boys flipped to the tournament rules in the guild manual and began reading.

    New Quest: Investigate entering Kane and Quentin in the Osare combat tournament.

    Hans had a little more than six weeks to complete that quest, but he found himself worrying for the boys¡¯ safety as soon as he sat at his desk and looked across the hall at the excited Apprentices. They had worked hard. They were prepared for a tournament like this, and holding them back wasn¡¯t fair to them. In truth, he wasn¡¯t the one being unfair. Forces beyond his control were doing that, but Hans was left to bear the bad news.

    Deciding that unwrapping his books should be his reward, he forced himself to go through his small stack of mail.

    The King¡¯s decree had come in unsecured guild mail, and it said what the merchant said it would. Nothing new there.

    Another piece of guild mail was a form letter announcement for promotions to Diamond and Platinum over the previous twelve months. Hans recognized several of the names from teaching in Hoseki, but he didn¡¯t know any of them well enough to send them a personal congratulations.

    The last piece of guild mail was secured with the official seal, which meant for Guild Master eyes only. Hans opened it and read:

    Guild Master Hans,

    Thank you for your compliance with our investigation into Gret the Platinum Rogue. At this time, we have no further questions, but if a new piece of information comes to mind or an associate of Gret¡¯s contacts you unexpectedly or under suspicious pretenses, you are obligated to report those developments to the Adventurers¡¯ Guild immediately.

    -Adventurers¡¯ Guild

    Hoseki Chapter

    The nature of the investigation still gnawed at Hans, but none of the fallout seemed to be a threat to Gomi. That was a comfort.

    Though he had no real need to, he flipped back through the mail to confirm that a letter from Mazo had not arrived. He wrote the Blue Mage as soon as the pass cleared and hoped to have her training guidance by now. Winter had been long, however, and an in-demand adventurer could end up quite far from Gomi given that many months to travel.

    Guild mail would find her eventually, but letters went to adventurers¡¯ last known destinations. Couriers had no way of knowing where an adventurer was at present, so one letter might bounce between ten different chapters before reaching the actual recipient at the right time and place.

    He saw no reason why Mazo would ignore him¨Cand Hans was pretty good at finding or inventing such reasons in cases like this¨Cbut he really wished he had her help.

    ***

    Open Quests (Ordered from Old to New):

    Progress from Gold-ranked to Diamond-ranked.

    Mend the rift with Devon.

    Using a pen name, complete the manuscript for "The Next Generation: A Teaching Methodology for Training Adventurers."

    Expand the dungeon with resource-specific monsters for each of Gomi¡¯s major trades.

    Find a way for Gomi adventurers to benefit from their rightful ranks in the Adventurers¡¯ Guild.

    Secure a way to use surplus dungeon inventory for good.

    Expand the dungeon using the ogre valley job as a blueprint.

    Investigate entering Kane and Quentin in the Osare combat tournament.

 Book 2, Chapter 17: Dungeon Sports

    When Hans approached Uncle Ed to talk about Kane¡¯s tournament aspirations, he found him readying his wagons for another run to Raven¡¯s Hollow. Hearing the topic, Uncle Ed suggested they include Galad, so they agreed to meet at Ed¡¯s house later that night.

    ¡°I¡¯d be honored to be a father to those boys,¡± Uncle Ed said, ¡°but I have no right or place to make them do what I say, so whatever answer I give has to make enough sense that Kane agrees.¡±

    ¡°My deal with Kane and Quentin gives you that right in this case. Roland too.¡±

    ¡°What did Roland say?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t know yet,¡± Hans admitted. ¡°He¡¯s on a hunt right now.¡±

    Galad, sitting across the kitchen table from Hans, said, ¡°I¡¯d expect him to defer to your opinion, Ed. Maybe not completely, but you¡¯re the only one of us who has been outside of Gomi in the last year to know what it¡¯s like.¡±

    Uncle Ed tilted his head and scratched his beard as he thought. ¡°Okay. I have some questions. First: should I be worried about Kane¡¯s safety in a tournament like this? I¡¯ve never seen one and don¡¯t want to send him to get killed.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s always a risk in combat, sport or otherwise,¡± Hans answered, ¡°but these days, tournaments following Guild rules are fairly safe. No one has died in one for maybe ten years now.¡±

    The smuggler nodded. ¡°Who all would go?¡±

    Hans said that Kane and Quentin were the only students he¡¯d be remotely comfortable sending to Osare. Kane was a local at this point, so it was possible that any previous visitors from Osare would remember him. If he sent the other tusk Apprentices, they would raise questions Gomi wasn¡¯t ready to answer.

    For Hans to tolerate the risk, he wanted Ed, Roland, and Terry to accompany the boys. All three of them could fight, and any one of them might be familiar to someone in Osare, though Ed was most likely given his wagon trips. Hans believed familiarity would reduce the chance of violence.

    ¡°I¡¯d prefer you join us as well,¡± Ed said, ¡°but I suppose your duties here won¡¯t allow that.¡±

    The Guild Master said that was indeed the case.

    ¡°I hate even asking this, but what if we get to Osare and they come after Kane like they did Bel and Lee?¡± Ed asked. ¡°We¡¯d do our best to run, of course, but we¡¯d be running right back here.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve thought about this topic since word of the war reached Gomi,¡± Galad said. ¡°You¡¯re right about the risk, but no matter what we do, we will reach this same crossroads. The only way to really know if it¡¯s safe is to send a tusk to see if it¡¯s safe. Like you said a few weeks back, a human gets treated differently.¡±

    A memory sprang to Hans¡¯ mind. He recalled getting along with Samson, a visiting worker from Osare and retired adventurer. All of his interactions with Hans and later with Charlie seemed warm and genuine, and they may have been. When Galinda appeared for a few moments, however, Samson made it clear that he felt no such warmth for tusks.

    Hans looked at Galad and said, ¡°When I first arrived here, you and Charlie were pretty adamant about not mentioning tusks in guild reports, but you¡¯d be okay with this?¡±

    ¡°Ideals rarely survive against practicality. I don¡¯t want any of our people to start traveling yet, but this isn¡¯t a prison. Like Ed said, Kane is his own man. He¡¯s headstrong enough that he might go on his own, and that¡¯s the least safe for all of us.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t like the idea of Kane being the first,¡± Ed said, bluntly. ¡°He¡¯s still a boy.¡±

    ¡°Is that your conclusion?¡± Galad asked.

    Ed hesitated. ¡°I know how much he wants this. When I get back from this delivery run, I¡¯ll give you a firm answer. I¡¯ll see if I can ruffle any feathers with tusk talk while I¡¯m out. We¡¯re far from the Capital, but a decree from the King might scare enough of them straight that they keep their thoughts to themselves.¡±

    Hans and Galad agreed with that plan.

    ¡°For what it¡¯s worth,¡± Ed said, ¡°I hope he can go. Kid like that doesn¡¯t deserve to be held back.¡±

    ***

    Olza set a rack of test tubes on her shop counter and pointed to the one on her far left. It was half-full with a milky yellow liquid. ¡°This is how much toad venom a Cure potion uses according to established recipes. You can make Cure potions with other ingredients of course, but if you¡¯re using the goliath toad recipe, this is what all the textbooks say.¡±

    The next vial over was a third full with green mucus, which Hans knew immediately to be slime. That too was the recommended amount of slime for the recipe.

    ¡°Then the last ingredient would be 2.3 ounces of ground garlic, which is about two bulbs. The garlic is important for the recipe, but I figured you knew what that looked like.¡±

    Hans said he did.

    ¡°Okay, so technically there are other ingredients, but no more than a pinch during the brewing process. Little bit of charcoal, a few drops of water, but nothing substantial or expensive.¡±

    When Olza pointed to the other side of the rack, Hans saw two vials, one for slime and one for goliath toad venom. The quantity of slime was slightly less in this vial, but the difference was minor enough that he had to look back and forth between the two to confirm. As for the toad venom, the difference was stark. That vial was only a fourth of the way full.

    ¡°When you said the toads would grow soon, I planned and prepped a few experiments. Most of them were around ingredient ratios or brewing steps, like boiling the mix for less or more time or using a higher or lower temperature. So far, I have found that the potion tested at the same potency with an increase in garlic, and a reduction of toad venom. It wasn¡¯t as big a difference in volume as you see with these, but enough to slightly reduce the cost of producing the potion.¡±

    Hans frowned, and Olza stopped her explanation to ask him why.

    ¡°This is probably the wrong thing to say to an alchemist,¡± Hans began, carefully. ¡°But those experiments sound kind of obvious.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve never been put in charge of research practices kingdom-wide. If it were up to me, these tests would have been done decades ago, but alchemists running businesses aren¡¯t interested. If they have access to the toad venom, they already have a recipe that works and is pretty profitable. Fiddling with a pricey ingredient like that when you can just apply a predictable markup and be done with it isn¡¯t appealing to most.¡±Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

    ¡°Understood. I apologize if it sounded like I doubted you.¡±

    ¡°Did you doubt me?¡±

    ¡°Not directly¡­¡±

    Olza squinted. ¡°What does that even¨C No, we¡¯ll have that conversation later. As I was saying, I think I found a better way to optimize the existing recipe, but what¡¯s more interesting is my new recipe.¡± She pointed to the less full vials. ¡°For this side, I used what I¡¯m calling Mazo garlic.¡±

    ¡°Grown with your Blood magic technique.¡±

    ¡°Grown with my Earth magic technique. Stop calling it Blood magic or I¡¯ll poison the next potion I give you.¡±

    Hans held up his arms to surrender.

    ¡°One bulb of Mazo garlic, optimized for potency, reduces the volume of expensive ingredients needed while also being stronger than the current recipe.¡±

    ¡°How much Mazo garlic do you have?¡±

    The Alchemist looked slightly defeated by the question. ¡°I only had a few bulbs, and I used almost every clove in these experiments.¡±

    Currently, Olza admitted, the need for Mazo garlic made the potion cost-prohibitive. Regular garlic needed the better part of a year to grow. Mazo garlic was ready in about half that time, but the nature of the Earth magic technique limited how often she could influence the growth of her plants. The process required substantial amounts of mana, and alchemists didn¡¯t work to grow their mana pools. Typically, they never needed more mana than they had naturally, so training to improve it didn¡¯t make sense.

    Which also meant she couldn¡¯t grow a field of Mazo garlic.

    If she couldn¡¯t scale how much Mazo garlic she grew, her discovery was much less valuable. The old recipe was more economical in that case and substantially so.

    ¡°Is garlic used in a lot of potions?¡±

    ¡°Nearly any potion with restorative qualities of some kind requires garlic. Cure Disease and Healing potions are the other big ones.¡±

    ¡°Does this same method work for Healing potions?¡± Hans asked.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know, Hans,¡± Olza said, a tinge of frustration in her voice, ¡°I didn¡¯t order more mandrake because someone promised me an ¡®endless¡¯ supply. Now I barely have enough for orders let alone experiments.¡±

    Hans argued that it was not his fault. The Lady of the Forest planted the deceptive memory, and he had no reason to suspect it was anything but a mandrake elemental. The bestiary didn¡¯t even have an entry for fool¡¯s root elementals!

    ¡°I can test Cure Disease next and by then I¡¯ll have mandrake, so I¡¯ll just do that test last. But I need your perspective. Do we continue down the path of the Mazo garlic? At which point our challenge will be finding a way to grow more and do so more efficiently. Or, knowing we could spend months on the garlic with no results, do we mark this down as a novel observation and move on to other experiments?¡±

    ¡°Now you want my opinion?¡± Hans grinned.

    Olza scowled.

    ¡°What are your thoughts?¡± he asked.

    Olza shook her head. ¡°I want to hear yours first. My answer might bias yours.¡±

    Staring at the vials on the counter, Hans thought. Olza knew that might take the Guild Master a few minutes, so she excused herself to check on her active projects in the lab.

    When she returned, she asked if he had an answer. He did.

    Hans said they should pursue the Mazo garlic, arguing that the potential of the impact warranted the risk of not finding a viable solution. In his mind, garlic was a known crop grown throughout the kingdom. Any solution they considered would be measured against that. If Mazo garlic was more difficult to grow than regular garlic, they would be back to the original recipe because it would be cheaper and easier.

    But if they figured it out, the cost of potions critical to life would drop substantially. If the common ingredient¨Cgarlic¨Cwas now more effective, alchemists would need far less of the costly ingredients to achieve the same effect.

    ¡°When I say ¡®we¡¯ should go that way,¡± Hans began to say, ¡°I know I¡¯m really saying that you do the work while I give you verbal encouragement but contribute nothing else of value.¡±

    Chuckling, Olza said, ¡°My thoughts were the same as yours. I asked Galad about growing garlic already, and he said I should talk to Luther. I didn¡¯t know this, but apparently the way the Tribe rotates crops is all Luther¡¯s doing.¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t know that either.¡±

    ¡°So I¡¯m going to talk to Luther next time I¡¯m up the mountain. In my mind, every solution ends with Mazo garlic being a farmable resource.¡±

    ¡°Because no matter what, you ultimately need garlic seeds for this to work,¡± Hans added, building on Olza¡¯s thought.

    ¡°Cloves¨Cgarlic is normally grown from cloves¨Cbut yes. The fastest way would be planting Mazo garlic cloves, which we can start tomorrow if we want. I saved three cloves from my batch for that reason. If those cloves won¡¯t grow or the influence of my Earth magic doesn¡¯t pass on, then we¡¯d have to try selective breeding. Look for the garlic with the most potion potency, replant those, pull the most potent from that batch, plant again, and so on.¡±

    Hans said that sounded slow.

    She agreed. ¡°It might be too slow to bother trying, honestly. We¡¯d be working with regular garlic, so we¡¯d get one new generation a year of very incremental changes. Most plants you can cross-pollinate two strong specimens each generation to speed this up, but that¡¯s not possible with garlic. Our only option is to replant and replant and replant.

    ¡°But if we pull this off,¡± Olza said, wistfully, ¡°we can help a lot of people.¡±

    When Hans asked whether or not this project would cut into her fool¡¯s root distillation time, she pushed him out of her shop and locked the door.

    ***

    Hans read his table of contents by lamplight. The manuscript for The Next Generation: A Teaching Methodology for Training Adventurers was not complete, but the more he wrote, the more he realized he couldn¡¯t reasonably fit everything he wanted to cover in a single manuscript. Instead, he would divide his idea into multiple books based on rank.

    The first volume would start with a person¡¯s initial interest in adventuring and cover everything up to Iron. Iron to Bronze would then be its own book, then Bronze to Silver, and so on. He didn¡¯t need to cover up to Diamond from the start to make a difference, and forcing himself to do so would delay the adoption of his methods by years.

    If they¡¯re adopted at all.

    Galinda said one of Gomi¡¯s newcomers had scribe experience. When Hans heard that, he was happy to pay for her services so he could finally send a copy to Theneesa. She had requested more material for years, and he could finally make good on obliging her. Yet, he hesitated. Having the manuscript copied felt like sealing the words in resin. Once Theneesa had her copy, she would start implementing changes right away, making the future of her students at least partially reliant on Hans¡¯ teaching for their survival.

    What if he was wrong?

    As he considered his answer, a new question formed.

    What if he was right, and he held back knowledge that might have saved lives?

    He gathered the pages and slid them into a leather pouch. If he gave the manuscript to the scribe tomorrow, she might have it completed in time for the next merchant caravan.

    He still couldn¡¯t think of a penname though.

    ***

    Open Quests (Ordered from Old to New):

    Progress from Gold-ranked to Diamond-ranked.

    Mend the rift with Devon.

    Using a pen name, complete the manuscript for "The Next Generation: A Teaching Methodology for Training Adventurers."

    Expand the dungeon with resource-specific monsters for each of Gomi¡¯s major trades.

    Find a way for Gomi adventurers to benefit from their rightful ranks in the Adventurers¡¯ Guild.

    Secure a way to use surplus dungeon inventory for good.

    Expand the dungeon using the ogre valley job as a blueprint.

    Investigate entering Kane and Quentin in the Osare combat tournament.

 Book 2, Chapter 18: Ogre DLC

    ¡°I wish your name was longer,¡± Olza said, sitting on Hans¡¯ couch one late-spring evening.

    ¡°...Why?¡±

    ¡°For your penname. I thought perhaps we could rearrange the letters to make a new name, but the best I have is ¡®Shan.¡¯ You need more letters. Did your family have a surname at any point?¡±

    ¡°I never met him, but supposedly my grandfather did and chose to shed it. He didn¡¯t want to continue that kind of legacy.¡±

    ¡°What was the name?¡±

    Hans thought for a moment. ¡°I¡¯m not telling you.¡±

    Olza gasped and shot up from the couch to look Hans in the eyes. ¡°Why not?¡±

    ¡°No good can come from it.¡±

    ¡°What do you mean?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ll make fun of it.¡±

    ¡°What if I promise not to?¡± Olza asked.

    After a long skeptical stare, he said, ¡°Prig.¡±

    ¡°Prick?¡±

    ¡°No, Prig, with a G.¡±

    Olza thought. ¡°I¡¯m not familiar. What does Prig mean?¡±

    ¡°Apparently people used to call irritating people prigs. Some generation of my family was obnoxious enough to be branded with that surname. As soon as it was legal to drop surnames, well, you can see why my grandfather didn¡¯t hesitate.¡±

    ¡°Hans Prig. I kind of like it.¡±

    ¡°Of all the things you can bully me about, let¡¯s keep that one off limits.¡±

    ¡°Alright, fine.¡±

    The pair went back to quietly reading.

    ¡°Gran Pish,¡± Olza said suddenly.

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s Hans Prig but rearranged.¡±

    ¡°No.¡±

    ***

    ¡°If a harpy flies away with me, I will never forgive any of you,¡± Mazo said, looking up at the canyon walls around the party.

    ¡°I suppose I have too much gravity to be an appealing meal,¡± Boden mused.

    ¡°Too much gravity?¡± Gret asked, laughing. ¡°That¡¯s a pretty creative word for fat.¡±

    ¡°Dwarves are made of denser stuff. It¡¯s not fat,¡± Boden retorted. ¡°Zalora, you¡¯ve been in the dwarven kingdoms more than any of these surface-walkers. Back me up.¡±

    The lizardwoman shook her head. ¡°I shall not participate in this conversation,¡± the White Mage said.

    Mazo smiled. ¡°Very wise, Zalora.¡±

    ¡°Meal or not,¡± Hans interrupted, ¡°Any one of us could get snatched, so keep your eyes up.¡±

    Two proper mountains bordered either side of the canyon, but the land between was not the open rolling valley Hans had come to expect in unsettled wilderness. Instead, dozens of tall natural stone pillars, akin to desert buttes but narrow and covered with lush plantlife, filled the space between mountains like a cluster of pins in a map. Harpies built their nests on the tops of these pillars and used the foliage for camouflage, both for their nests and for themselves when they hunted.

    The narrow passages and tall trees mostly deterred aerial hunting, but that was a false comfort. Harpies were intelligent enough to use the terrain to create natural chokepoints. They didn¡¯t need an open field to hunt the way a hawk might if they set an ambush on a predictable game path.

    Right then, Hans¡¯ party was the game. The bird-women weren¡¯t the only threat in this region, so they had to watch the sky as well as the rest of their surroundings for danger.

    ¡°Do ogres and harpies get along?¡± Boden asked.

    Hans said they didn¡¯t, but neither had the right tools to treat the other as a true enemy. Harpies couldn¡¯t carry an ogre away or even pick one up briefly enough to drop them on sharp rocks like they did with other prey. Ogres weren¡¯t known for being marksmen, and harpy nests weren¡¯t accessible for the giant humanoids, so ogres didn¡¯t pursue them.

    They would, however, fight over food if given the opportunity. Neither species was above stealing a meal if one was available.

    Holding up his hand to signal a stop, Hans looked down the trail and scanned the sky.

    ¡°There¡¯s an ambush point ahead,¡± he said to his companions. ¡°If we wound the first one that swoops, the rest should leave us alone.¡±

    Zalora asked Hans how he was certain this break in the forest canopy was an ambush point when others they passed previously were not.

    ¡°Three have been following us for the last five minutes,¡± Hans said. ¡°Harpies can fly, but they don¡¯t have the efficiency of an eagle or a falcon. It¡¯s a lot of work for them to fly, so they don¡¯t bother unless they see a potential meal.¡±

    Without leaving the cover of the branches overhead, Hans pointed at the upper limbs of the trees surrounding the small gap in the forest.

    ¡°See how the ends of those branches are broken? That¡¯s too high up for an ogre to have done that, and if you follow them, they form a rough arc down and then back up the other side.¡±

    ¡°Like a bird coming in for an attack,¡± Zalora said.

    ¡°Exactly.¡±

    The lizardwoman nodded like a student processing information.

    ¡°Told you Hans was a nerd,¡± Mazo joked.

    ¡°Perhaps,¡± Zalora replied. ¡°I must admit that I prefer this method of dealing with harpies over my party¡¯s usual approach. We watch for shadows and stay ready to attack. We count on being faster than the harpies, but that¡¯s the extent of our tactics.¡±

    Mazo flatly refused to be bait, and a harpy would be more tempted by a human meal than a dwarf or lizardman, leaving two options.

    ¡°Next round of food and drink is on me if I don¡¯t have to be bait,¡± Gret offered.

    Hans thought for a moment. ¡°If I get to pick the restaurant, and you don¡¯t limit me to the cheapest, crappiest drink on tap.¡±

    ¡°Deal.¡±

    Setting his bag on the ground, Hans rummaged around until he removed a bag of dried beans. Those were never his first choice for a meal, but they were easy enough to carry, so he always packed a bag for emergencies. He untied the string and spread the opening of the bag wide.

    ¡°I think you¡¯re about to witness a Hans special,¡± Mazo said to Zalora.

    ¡°What¡¯s that?¡± she asked.

    ¡°It¡¯s when you make something simple incredibly complex for no real reason.¡±Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

    ¡°There are always real reasons,¡± Hans retorted.

    ¡°You need a bag of beans to play possum for harpies?¡±

    Hans nodded. ¡°I¡¯m selling it.¡±

    Ignoring the rest of the party, Hans drew his sword, holding it in one hand and his bag of beans in the other. He intentionally tripped into the opening where they expected the ambush to take place. The beans spread across the ground as he fell face first into the dirt. As he gathered them, putting them back in the bag one at a time, he watched for movement in his peripheral vision.

    These harpies were intelligent enough to avoid revealing their position with shadows, keeping themselves positioned in such a way that a shadow was cast onto treetops rather than the ground immediately around their victims.

    He knew the attack would be fast, so he left one hand on his sword.

    All at once, Hans heard the flapping of wings followed immediately by two thumps, like fists punching a pillow.

    Hans rolled on to his back at the same time, pointing his sword upward in anticipation. He saw talons attached to thick feathered legs. The feathers stopped at the monster¡¯s waist, fading to a brownish purple skin with the texture of chicken flesh, forming the torso of a human woman. Instead of arms, the beast had two great wings, and its mostly human-looking head had long pointed teeth and eyes like an eagle.

    The placement of the eyes was more akin to a bird of prey, set slightly on the outside of the skull to increase the monster¡¯s field of vision. In the harpy, the upper half of its human-like head was pressed inward, giving its head more bird-like proportions from the mouth up. Feathers and hair protruded from its head and ran down its spine.

    The monster didn¡¯t cover enough ground to be in danger of Hans¡¯ sword. It crashed into the dirt a few feet from him, unleashing a grating howl as it attempted to take flight again. The harpy failed, one of its wings mangled and bleeding. An arrow was embedded in its chest, but too low to be a direct hit to the heart. That wound seeped black blood.

    Before Hans could stand, a second arrow went through the harpy¡¯s head, cutting off its wale.

    ¡°Nice hit on the wing,¡± Gret said to Boden. ¡°That was fast spear work.¡±

    The dwarf thanked him for the compliment.

    Hans hurried everyone across the small gap in forest to take cover on the other side. ¡°If we¡¯re lucky, killing this harpy deters the rest.¡±

    ¡°...Is there an unlucky option?¡± Zalora asked.

    ¡°Yes. If we¡¯re unlucky, we just killed one of the matrons and all of her children will pursue us relentlessly to get their revenge.¡±

    ¡°Oh, that is unlucky.¡±

    Standing in that place now¨Cor a copy of it rather¨CHans found tears welling in his eyes. For a moment, he wasn¡¯t Hans the Guild Master. He had gone back in time to be Hans the Silver-ranked, and all of his friends felt like they should be right there next to him.

    But they weren¡¯t. Bel, Lee, and Becky grouped-up at the edge of the same clearing, facing the same dilemma Hans¡¯ party did over a decade ago. He was curious to see how they addressed the potential ambush.

    Becky used her Druid magic to summon a spirit hawk, the same spell she used in their search for Roland last year. After explaining the peculiarity of the setting¨Cdungeon ceiling instead of open sky, an unseen ¡°sun¡± lighting the area in eternal dusk¨CBecky asked the hawk to scout the skies for harpies and to harass any that might be a threat to the party. For the rest of the canyon journey, the adventurers only heard the occasional screech of a harpy somewhere overhead, but they spotted none of them nor did any of them attack. The spirit hawk was a good distraction, it seemed.

    That was a clever solution to the problem, Hans had to admit, but he was also a little salty the adventurers reached the ogre camp without a single harpy encounter.

    Your students are supposed to do better than you. That¡¯s the mark of a good teacher.

    But still. Not a single harpy attack in the whole of the canyon? A canyon home to maybe seventy harpies spread across a wide hunting area, and not one of those seventy bothered his students.

    Bah.

    The ogre camp was partway up a rocky slope with a trail about as wide as a wagon weaving up to a plateau. From the ground, the party could see a few primitive structures built from fallen trees, but anything deeper than the edge of the plateau was out of sight.

    The foot of the mountain was all bones. Piles of them. Many of them were from farm animals like cows, pigs, and horses, but there was no shortage of bones that Hans recognized to be human, dwarf, or halfling. In the real version of this moment, those piles were accumulated over years of bountiful hunts.

    Hans always believed details like that were bad signs because they suggested the ogres had been here for quite some time, making them smart enough to stay alive and clearly proving that they were experienced hunters.

    Two ogres stood amongst the bones, each roughly twice as tall as Hans. Their hard skin drooped from their gluttony, spilling over the belts of their loin clothes. Not interested in modesty, the cloth was cinched up between their legs to contain their more sensitive treasures. They were covered in coarse hair but not to the point of it being fur. One had a wheelbarrow full of new additions for the collection. The other stood nearby. Neither were armed. At first Hans thought the second ogre might be a guard, but a few seconds of observation from the cover of the treeline suggested the second ogre came along to socialize.

    ¡°You have the same choice we did,¡± Hans said to his students. ¡°Do you attack now while they are separated from the group, or do you wait to gather more intel before making your move?¡±

    ¡°I say Bel casts Silence while Becky and I go in. If we come from that direction, we can use those rocks to make it tough for both of them to fight us at once.¡±

    Becky smiled. ¡°Got to say, I like how you ladies think. Let¡¯s go get ¡®em.¡±

    Becky and Lee jogged toward the ogres while crouching low, keeping as much cover between them and the ogres as they could. If Bel cast Silence too soon, the ogres would have more time to prepare or retreat up the path to get reinforcements.

    The ogre with the wheelbarrow spotted the dwarf and the tusk closing in, but when he yelled, no noise escaped his mouth. He yelled again, louder based on the strain on his face, and still there was only quiet. The two ogres attempted to explain the problem to one another, their frustration and confusion quickly escalating to a silent argument. One pushed the other, and they both realized their enemies were now close.

    The ogre without the wheelbarrow began a slow thumping run, meeting the dwarf at the very rocks Lee said would provide a terrain advantage. Two steps away from striking distance to Becky, the dwarf Druid summoned vines to rise up from the ground and ensnare a single ogre foot.

    The ogre ripped free of the vines with little effort, but the sudden grab forced the monster to stumble to keep from falling. Becky shot forward at that moment hitting the ogres lead knee just below the knee cap with her axe. The monster roared noiselessly.

    Becky shuffled backward out of the ogres reach, and Lee the Spellsword became a blur. She moved with supernatural speed, not as fast as Devon¡¯s dash but far faster than would be physically possible without an Agility spell. She used the dwarf¡¯s shoulder as a launching point, stepping up and leaping upward at the ogre.

    Becky is going to hate that.

    The ogre followed Lee¡¯s trajectory, grinning at the easy target now falling down into its reach. The grin turned to shock when a Force Bolt hit the ogre in the chest. Its natural toughness prevented it from being a killshot, but it did its job. The moment the ogre took his attention off of Lee was the moment she plunged her sword downward into his neck and shoulder. The ogre thrashed, not realizing he was already dead.

    The ogre with the wheelbarrow unleashed another gutteral¨Cbut silent¨Cyell and began to retreat, making for the path to the ogre camp. Before it could start up the mountainside, the empty air immediately in front of the ogre blurred, like smudges on eyeglasses that spanned the height and width of the monster.

    When the ogre smashed against Bel¡¯s Force Wall, it spun on the adventurer¡¯s, unbridled rage in its eyes and blood pouring from its broken nose. The monster raged anew when one of Becky¡¯s Flying Vines wrapped around its head like a living blindfold.

    Lee¡¯s magically-enhanced speed allowed her to reach the ogre before the dwarf. Her powerful horizontal slash nearly severed the monster¡¯s leg at the knee, but its thick bones kept Lee¡¯s sword from traveling all the way through. Though it was still mostly blind, the ogre reflexively smashed a fist to strike whatever had attacked its knee.

    Before the desperate fist fell, Lee extended an arm and cast Push, using Bel¡¯s Force Wall to propel herself away, like a backward long jump without the running start.

    As the ogre flailed at an enemy that had already escaped, Becky chopped the other knee, her axe cleaving straight through. The monster fell to that side. Right then, the Silence spell timed out, but the ogre¡¯s yell had only one unmuted moment to call for help. Lee¡¯s sword severed its spine to silence the creature for good.

    The three adventurers delayed their desires to talk or celebrate, choosing to preserve any element of surprise they might yet have by approaching the camp in stealth.

    Hans followed at a distance as best he could, wanting to be close by to lend assistance if the adventurers were in trouble but also not wanting to be underfoot when another battle began.

    Near the top of the climb, Bel, Lee, and Becky crouched behind a rock. The dwarf closed her eyes and listened, using her Druid hearing to scout the camp ahead for enemies. After a minute, she held up three stubby fingers. The lady tusks nodded.

    As Becky resummoned her spirit hawk, Bel poked her head around the rock, picked a target, and launched a Force Bolt. The mana-made projectile struck the rocky mountainside rising above the back of the camp. The result was no avalanche, but several keg-sized rocks suddenly coming loose and rolling toward their homes set the ogres into a frenzy.

    Becky¡¯s hawk went up next, and then the dwarf and Lee moved into the camp swiftly but methodically. To Hans, the ogres sounded like frenzied guard dogs, deep barks with sharp edges, angry spit flying with every syllable.

    One by one, the ogres went quiet.

    Quest Complete: Expand the dungeon using the ogre valley job as a blueprint.

    ***

    Open Quests (Ordered from Old to New):

    Progress from Gold-ranked to Diamond-ranked.

    Mend the rift with Devon.

    Using a pen name, complete the manuscript for "The Next Generation: A Teaching Methodology for Training Adventurers."

    Expand the dungeon with resource-specific monsters for each of Gomi¡¯s major trades.

    Decide whether or not to pursue silent walking and snow walking.

    Find a way for Gomi adventurers to benefit from their rightful ranks in the Adventurers¡¯ Guild.

    Secure a way to use surplus dungeon inventory for good.

    Investigate entering Kane and Quentin in the Osare combat tournament.

 Book 2, Chapter 19: Alternate Endings

    ¡°Well done,¡± Hans said as the three adventurers caught their breath. ¡°The way you coordinated your attacks was beautiful.¡±

    ¡°Is there a footprint on my back?¡± Becky asked, trying to look over her own shoulder to see.

    Lee brushed the dust away.

    ¡°Dwarves don¡¯t appreciate that kind of thing,¡± Becky grumbled, ¡°but I¡¯ll let it slide. Teamwork or whatever.¡±

    Lee apologized and said she hadn¡¯t planned it originally, but the opportunity was too good for her to pass up.

    ¡°Well?¡± Bel asked Hans. ¡°Give us the critique.¡±

    ¡°You worked together like you had run as a group for years rather than weeks, so overall, I don¡¯t have many complaints. My biggest piece of feedback¨Cdon¡¯t get too riled up Becky¨Cwas Lee¡¯s jump at the first ogre.¡±

    ¡°Really?¡± Lee asked, confused but not offended. ¡°That went pretty smooth I thought.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t disagree that it worked out well, but I usually say ¡®jumping attacks are bullshit.¡¯ That¡¯s not to say they can¡¯t be useful sometimes, because they can, but most of the time, they are a bad choice.¡±

    Hans continued his explanation, saying that any sort of jumping attack, especially one with the airtime of Lee¡¯s early leap at the ogre, was unnecessarily risky because an airborne adventurer couldn¡¯t change course. Once they left the ground, they were locked into a trajectory, unable to stop or dodge or adjust.

    ¡°You are all experienced enough to know how much can change in a blink,¡± Hans said. ¡°Attacks like that make you feel more mobile, but that¡¯s your brain tricking you. Mobility is about choice, and you¡¯ll always have more of that with both feet on the ground. In this case, the rapid attacks from Bel and Becky kept the ogre distracted, but any monster with that size and intelligence is capable of swatting an adventurer out of the air.¡±

    Lee nodded, processing the feedback as she replayed the events in her mind. ¡°At least it looked cool.¡±

    Hans agreed. It looked very cool.

    ¡°That Force Wall trick is a good one,¡± Bel added. ¡°I¡¯m glad we practiced that. It opens up so many more options for us.¡±

    The tusks had a great deal of practice using Force Wall in a manner similar to their fight with the ogres just then, using it to box in or surprise enemies to create an opening for Lee to strike. Casting Push to throw herself backward away from the wall was new to Lee. Adventurers had experimented with such tactics before but usually did so against solid surfaces. Lee was one of those adventurers.

    The results of those experiments were unimpressive.

    The strength of Lee¡¯s Push spell would punch through or dent most surfaces at close range. If she aimed Push at something more rigid, like a mountain side, the spell would fling her backward but not as intended. Any uneven points in a surface strong enough to survive the impact could send the adventure in an unpredictable direction.

    Force Wall, however, was immovable and magically flat, perfectly so. Thanks to Theneesa¡¯s guidance, Bel¡¯s magery training prioritized practicality over showmanship from the start, giving her a great deal of practice within the school of Force spells. Her ability to aim and shape her Force Wall was more advanced than most mages ever bothered with, so very few parties had the option to use Push the way that Bel and Lee could. If they did, they weren¡¯t likely to have a frontline Spellsword proficient in Push.

    ¡°Time to practice Pull next,¡± Hans said with a smile. ¡°Assuming I¡¯ve convinced you by now.¡±

    ¡°You have,¡± Lee admitted.

    Becky asked how their tactics against the ogres compared to the tactics his party had used on the job originally.

    ¡°Mazo has never once tried to be quiet, so we didn¡¯t have the Silence spell as an option.¡±

    ¡°Master Theneesa has some odd stories about Miss Mazo,¡± Bel said. ¡°That description matches what we¡¯ve heard.¡±

    Hans chuckled. ¡°I¡¯m sure you¡¯ve heard some good ones. At any rate, myself and Boden went in first with Gret providing cover with arrows. Your party got here faster than ours, so when we arrived the two ogres were having a contest throwing skulls. Their position was a little better because of that, but not by much.¡±

    Zalora buffed Hans and Boden with protection spells as they fought, but Mazo waited to cast. As they expected, the sounds of battle attracted the rest of the ogres, who came charging predictably out of their camp and down the mountain path. Mazo hurled spell after spell at the charging ogres. The front ogre died in the first flurry. The second ogre fell off the path, cartwheeling down to the rocks below. The third ogre chose to jump, preferring to risk the fall over absorbing spells head on. Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.

    Those second two ogres survived the drop but broke too many bones to do anything more than wallow in angry pain until the adventurers finished them off.

    For this present journey, the trip back out of the canyon was as uneventful as the trip in thanks to Becky¡¯s spirit hawk.

    On the way, Bel spoke. ¡°Mr. Hans,¡± she began, ¡°Master Theneesa said your relationship to the Guild was¡­unconventional.¡±

    ¡°You mean bad.¡±

    ¡°Yes, bad.¡±

    Hans said it was fine. He made some enemies¨Chis fault as much as anyone else''s. Some other things didn''t work out. These things happen. You know.

    ¡°Right. We¡¯ve heard Master Theneesa say many of the same things in lessons as you do, word for word. Her respect for you is even more clear now.¡±

    ¡°She was always a good kid.¡±

    ***

    Shutting the door to his dungeon cabin felt like lowering the gates of a walled city, blocking out the dull roar of an approaching army. The chaos of the growing dungeon campus would still be there when the gate was raised again, but for now, all of his problems were on the other side of that door.

    The ogre valley run went better than he could have hoped, so by any reasonable standard, now was a time to celebrate a job well done. His old drills continued to produce results, and his new drills filled the gaps as he intended. The trio of lady adventurers he had just observed had spent the majority of their training not under Hans, but he was pleased to contribute to their growth.

    Becky got more practice hunting in a group and seemed to realize that she had more potential than she once believed.

    The tweaks to Lee¡¯s footwork and timing shaved away a few lingering inefficiencies and bad habits, making her every movement and attack crisper and more effective.

    Bel used her spells more thoughtfully in battle. She and Lee had always worked as a team, supporting one another in the fray of a fight, but now she was reading the attacks of her comrades far better, as if seeing the battle from their eyes. With that improved perspective, her party¡¯s attacks looked like they came from one brain. Synchronized, organized, and strategic.

    The conversation on the way out, however, soured all of that for him.

    Adventurers like Bel and Lee never meant any harm with their questions. He had learned as much from years of fielding the same kinds of queries, but that didn¡¯t change how it felt for him to have to explain why he wasn¡¯t taken seriously in the Guild or why he was a failure in several areas of adventuring.

    Why aren¡¯t you at least a Diamond?

    With all of your combat knowledge, why aren¡¯t you a tournament champion?

    Why aren¡¯t you still adventuring with Mazo?

    Why are your classes not as popular as the ones taught by Platinums?

    Can you really take any credit for Master Devontes¡¯ success when his skill level is so far beyond yours?

    The conversations were almost always about what he hadn¡¯t done, as if he needed to be reminded of his long list of unachieved goals.

    Active Quest: Progress from Gold-ranked to Diamond-ranked.

    Hans thought of Gret, Boden, and his own hypocrisy. He taught his students that running with the same party was ideal for the sake of communication and cohesion. Gret and Boden had done that with Hans, but they threw their lots in with an adventurer who couldn¡¯t keep up, forcing them to join new parties when they advanced beyond Gold.

    If they had cut the deadweight earlier, perhaps they would have spent more time with better party members. Gret could have had the support of a skilled and trusted comrade on his final job, perhaps preventing his unnecessary death. With a different party, Boden might have been spared the jobs that drove him to drink. A better adventurer than Hans would have prevented more death and pain at nearly every moment of Gret and Boden¡¯s adventuring careers.

    Still in his full gear, Hans sat at the edge of his bed with his head in his hands for several quiet minutes. Realizing he was wallowing in his own self-pity made him feel even more pathetic. He stood and slapped himself in the face a few times, attempting to snap himself out of his doldrums.

    It didn¡¯t work.

    Sighing, Hans scrubbed his face with a wet rag. A tapping came at his door, like someone knocked with the tip of a single finger and nothing else.

    A sparrow landed on Hans¡¯ shoulder when he opened the door. He closed his eyes, and exhaled slowly.

    ¡°What now?¡± he asked aloud.

    Across the way, green leaves on a low tree branch shifted, forming the approximation of a face. When the Lady of the Forest spoke, her voice seemed ethereal, as though it existed with no true source.

    ¡°Two Golds have come through the pass,¡± she said.

    ¡°What¡¯d they look like?¡±

    The Lady¡¯s face disappeared, the leaves returning to normal before Hans could finish his question.

    ¡°Gods damn it.¡±

    ***

    Open Quests (Ordered from Old to New):

    Progress from Gold-ranked to Diamond-ranked.

    Mend the rift with Devon.

    Using a pen name, complete the manuscript for "The Next Generation: A Teaching Methodology for Training Adventurers."

    Expand the dungeon with resource-specific monsters for each of Gomi¡¯s major trades.

    Find a way for Gomi adventurers to benefit from their rightful ranks in the Adventurers¡¯ Guild.

    Secure a way to use surplus dungeon inventory for good.

    Investigate entering Kane and Quentin in the Osare combat tournament.

 Book 2, Chapter 20: Waypoints

    Hans sat with Olza outside of Charlie¡¯s bakery, drinking tea and watching Gomi¡¯s front gate. From their seats, they could see into the clearing around the town, nearly all the way out to where the road entered the forest. An army of dark clouds slowly advanced, driving sunlight and blue sky away like a pushbroom.

    ¡°Weren¡¯t you just saying how the plan was working well?¡± Olza asked.

    ¡°I know. I jinxed it.¡±

    ¡°Or you¡¯re overreacting.¡±

    Hans looked at Olza as he sipped. ¡°Maybe. Maybe not.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m just saying that you can¡¯t do this to yourself. Gomi will get visitors. There¡¯s no changing that. If you brace for an invasion every time, you¡¯ll drive yourself to an early grave.¡±

    ¡°Can we change the subject?¡±

    Olza frowned. ¡°For now, but I¡¯m not dropping this. It¡¯s for your own good.¡±

    ¡°Once we deal with these Golds, I¡¯m heading back up the mountain. With harvesters moving to the dungeon full time, I need to do more for the Apprentices. They¡¯ve helped us so much but aren¡¯t getting challenged enough in their training. And we need more Apprentices to keep up with the dungeon growing so we can pull out more resources for our tradespeople.¡±

    ¡°Okay¡­¡±

    ¡°I know the mandrake root didn¡¯t work out, and I¡¯m sorry about that. What can we add next that would be most helpful for you?¡±

    Tapping her chin, Olza thought. ¡°The talons of cave crawlers are pretty useful ground into powder. Cure Curse, Cure Paralysis, Cure Petrification¨Call of those potions have cave crawler variations.¡±

    Hans shivered. ¡°Best job I have for those is Gold-ranked and ends with a lamia coven.¡±

    ¡°Lamias? Really?¡±

    ¡°Six of them. Their scales are pretty desirable, right?¡±

    Olza said that was true. ¡°On the alchemy side of that, lamia scales are used in a variety of resistance potions, mostly for types of spells that place an emphasis on attacking the mind.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not excited about it, but you¡¯re right. We should do it.¡±

    ¡°I won¡¯t argue.¡±

    ¡°Didn¡¯t think you would.¡±

    A shout came from the watchtower overlooking the front gate. ¡°Two lizardmen approach.¡±

    Hans shouted up to the guard. ¡°Is there a halfling with them? How about a wagon?¡±

    ¡°Just the two, sir.¡±

    Would have been too much good luck for Mazo to visit again.

    Standing to get a better look, Hans went to the front gate and looked at the two distant figures. Their tan coloration and rounded gecko noses were familiar, as was their style of walking barefoot and wearing leather greaves without shirts.

    And their gates were known to him as well.

    ¡°Izz? Thuz?¡± Hans called to the lizardmen. They waved back.

    His anxiety fell away.

    When they were close enough to exchange hugs, Hans asked, ¡°Is Mazo okay?¡±

    ¡°Yes, Mr. Hans,¡± Izz said. ¡°She is well.¡±

    Hans looked up at the lizardmen, scanning their faces. ¡°Then what is it?¡±

    The lizardmen looked at one another. Thuz asked, ¡°Might I trouble you for some water, Mr. Hans?¡±

    ¡°Yes, of course.¡±

    As the trio passed through the gates, Olza stood, surprised to see familiar faces.

    ¡°Good afternoon, Miss Olza,¡± Izz said, bowing his head gently in greeting.

    ¡°Izz? Thuz? This is a surprise.¡±

    Hans said they were heading for the guild hall and invited Olza to join.

    ¡°Mr. Hans, we should warn you that the matter is delicate,¡± Izz said. ¡°Our conversation might put Miss Olza at risk.¡±

    Hans raised an eyebrow. ¡°Risk as in mortal danger or risk as in illegal?¡±

    ¡°The latter, but perhaps a touch of the former.¡±

    Olza laughed. The lizardmen looked at each other, the slight bulge to their lizard eyes exaggerating how quickly their eyes darted from the humans to one another.

    ¡°We¡¯re probably going to give you the same speech, actually,¡± Hans said, explaining Olza¡¯s laughter. ¡°We¡¯ve crossed some lines ourselves.¡±

    ¡°Interesting,¡± Thuz said, ¡°It is unlike you to break rules.¡±

    Hans held the guild door open for Olza and the lizardmen to pass through. Hans brought Izz and Thuz two tankards of fresh water, joining them at the guild hall table.

    ¡°No beer?¡± Izz asked.

    ¡°I don¡¯t have near enough beer for you two.¡±

    The lizardmen chuckled. ¡°Very wise. Very wise.¡±

    The four sat in silence for a beat.

    ¡°Guys,¡± Hans said, finally, ¡°out with it.¡±

    Izz dug through his bag and removed a book wrapped in white cloth, passing it across the table to Hans. Next, Izz handed him a sealed letter. ¡°Miss Mazo would like you to read this first.¡±

    Cautiously, Hans accepted the envelope as well and slid his finger under the lip to break the seal. He read the letter.

    Hans,

    The Guild is going to question you about Gret, and this package is why.

    Shandi had it couriered to me. That must have taken a big chunk out of her nest egg to do that. I¡¯ve written her since and haven¡¯t heard back.

    Her letter said she found it packing for a move, and she found it with instructions from Gret. I don¡¯t know what Gret¡¯s letter said exactly. She didn¡¯t send it or say, but Gret¡¯s instructions were to give it to me, you, or Boden, whoever was nearest to her at the time.

    Hans. I don¡¯t know what to do here. Do we return it? Do we sell it? Hells, if you think we should just burn it, I¡¯m with you. Chuck it right into that little guild hall fireplace of yours. I wish Gret was alive so he could explain what the fuck this is about and then I¡¯d kill him again.Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

    Gods. It¡¯s just like him to be a pain in the arse from the afterlife.

    I miss him. I wish I knew what he wanted us to do.

    -Mazo

    Hans passed the letter to Olza without speaking and then centered the package on the table in front of him. He stared at it for a long moment, took a deep breath, and unwrapped the fabric. The hardback back within was battered and tattered, its corners crumpled and shredded. The body of the book slid away from the cover, its spine no longer attached.

    The cover read The Misadventures of the World¡¯s Greatest Misadventurer, Book 3: The Hairy Hydra by Haynu B. Dumas. Hans chuckled.

    ¡°I think this one ends with a demon battle in a brothel,¡± Hans said, smiling at the cover.

    Hans opened the cover. His brow furrowed.

    ¡°What the hell is this, Gret?¡± Hans mumbled.

    Every page had the yellow stiffness of age. The title page bore the Adventurers¡¯ Guild insignia and nothing else. Hans turned to the next page and started to read the cursive of scholars of yesteryear. This style in particular was common during a specific King¡¯s reign, some peculiarity that he rigorously enforced.

    The slant, size, and pen width had to be exactly uniform. Once that King died, scholars never returned to that style out of spite. That meant what he read was at least a thousand years old. The cover itself was just that, a cover, a way to hide the contents. Dumas wrote his books only a few decades ago.

    The book was a manual for a device called ¡°The Takarabune.¡± Hans had never heard of it. From the schematics and other illustrations, it looked like an astrolabe to him, a complicated celestial navigation device sailors sometimes used. In person, the device would be roughly six inches in diameter, but in the book the schematics made it look like an arcane pocket watch. Several layers of circles and dials stacked on top of one another, each capable of being set according to longitude, latitude, or the stars.

    Flipping pages quickly, he saw notes and detailed measurements for shaping materials specific to each part. After that were what looked like instructions for calibrating and using the astrolabe, but the application the book described was not a form of traditional navigation Hans knew.

    The Guild Master stiffened. He looked up at the lizardmen and then back down to the book.

    ¡°Did Mazo talk to you about this?¡± Hans asked.

    Izz and Thuz nodded.

    Olza leaned forward. ¡°What¡¯s in the book that has you guys freaked out?¡±

    ¡°The Guild assigns all of the Diamond quests. When a Gold completes one of the quests, they uncover whatever ability or boon or enchanted item takes them to Diamond, so finding those quests is incredibly valuable to the Guild.¡±

    ¡°Okay¡­¡±

    ¡°Only the Hoseki Guild Master knows how those quests are found, and the Guild guards that secret with deadly seriousness. This¡­ This is that secret.¡±

    Olza whistled. ¡°Why would Gret steal this?¡±

    ¡°What Rogue wouldn¡¯t want to steal the most valuable item in the world?¡±

    New Quest: Analyze the manual for the Takarabune.

    ***

    Galad was happy to sell a keg of beer to the lizardmen. Thuz put it on his shoulder and carried it back from the Tribe lands, promising not to empty Hans¡¯ stash when that keg inevitably went dry. Halfway back to Gomi, a steady drizzle began to fall.

    Hans and Olza now sat in the guild hall with Izz and Thuz, everyone dripping from the rain. Hans started a fire and passed around towels while the lizardmen got started with enjoying Gomi¡¯s most popular export.

    As the group talked around a guild table, Hans couldn¡¯t help but glance across the room at the book sitting on his desk. He still felt like he was imagining the entire scenario, and he worried about Gret¡¯s treasure mysteriously going missing. That wasn¡¯t a genuine possibility, but the feeling reminded him of being a kid with his first handful of copper coins. He stuffed them in his pocket, and the whole way to the market he couldn¡¯t help but pat his leg to confirm his money was still there.

    ¡°The Guild sent two letters,¡± Thuz said. ¡°One was to inform Miss Mazo that her recommendations were declined. The other was a summons to Hoseki for undisclosed matters of ¡®great importance.¡¯ Miss Shandi¡¯s package arrived the following day.¡±

    ¡°Recommendation?¡± Hans asked.

    ¡°She suggested the Guild assign us our Diamond quests.¡±

    ¡°They rejected you?¡± Hans said, raising his voice. ¡°On what grounds?¡±

    ¡°The Guild provided no explanation," Thus said. ¡°Miss Mazo was quite angry about it.¡±

    Olza asked, ¡°I take it the two of you are ready to advance to Diamond?¡±

    The lizardmen shrugged. ¡°Is not our place to say,¡± Izz answered.

    ¡°They¡¯ve been ready for two or three years now, at least,¡± Hans said. ¡°Mazo¡¯s standards are higher than the Guild¡¯s. She raised hers when she saw how badly my Diamond quest went. Said she¡¯d never put one of her students through that.¡±

    Olza nodded. ¡°Will they change their minds?¡±

    Izz and Thuz said they weren¡¯t sure, but Mazo reacted as if the decision was final. If they hadn¡¯t summoned her to Hoseki, she would have gone herself regardless.

    The lizardmen had pristine reputations inside and outside of the guild. They completed any job they took and did so according to Guild procedures and policies with nothing but positive reviews from their clients. From childhood, they trained under the same instructor who produced Master Devontes¨CHans¨Cand from Apprentice onward had the mentorship of history¡¯s greatest Blue Mage, which was Mazo, of course.

    Mazo suspected the Guild would use Izz and Thuz¡¯s promotions as bargaining chips, a way to convince her to be forthcoming about everything she could remember about Gret. Hans didn¡¯t say it out loud, but he worried her association with him had long put her Guild activities under increased scrutiny. Izz and Thuz didn¡¯t deserve to be caught in the politics any more than she did.

    ¡°If the Guild decides they don¡¯t want you to make Diamond,¡± Olza began, ¡°is that it? You just don¡¯t get to advance?¡±

    Hans crossed his arms. ¡°Technically, that was it. Nobody else had access to Diamond quests before.¡±

    ¡°Have you decided to keep the book, Mr. Hans?¡± Izz asked.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know. The Guild won¡¯t stop looking for it, and if they go long enough without making progress, they¡¯ll loop back around to investigate Gret¡¯s associates again eventually.¡±

    Olza agreed. ¡°They didn¡¯t look very hard the first time. That¡¯s true.¡±

    ¡°What would you guys do?¡±

    ¡°Mr. Gret wanted you to protect this. I did not know Mr. Gret as well as you,¡± Thuz said, ¡°but in my time with him, I found his judgment to be infallible when matters were serious.¡±

    ¡°I also have no doubts of Mr. Gret¡¯s judgment,¡± Izz added.

    Olza was confused when Hans looked to her. ¡°Oh, you want my answer too?¡±

    Hans said he did.

    ¡°I never had the pleasure of meeting Gret, so I can¡¯t speak to his intentions. No matter what we do with it, the Guild will look for it. I agree. Returning the book is the only way they¡¯d stop, but that¡¯s not an option.¡±

    ¡°Would be a bit awkward to hand it over,¡± Hans said.

    ¡°So that leaves keep it, destroy it, or sell it. Whatever the choice, we should take our time and give it a lot of thought. Maybe if you all spend some of that time remembering Gret, you¡¯ll have a better idea of what he wanted you to do with this.¡±

    The Guild Master nodded and asked Olza if she had any blank notebooks, preferably several. She said that she might and asked why.

    ¡°I¡¯m going to copy this and then give the original to Luther for safekeeping.¡±

    Izz and Thuz raised what would be eyebrows on a human.

    ¡°Luther is trustworthy,¡± Olza assured them.

    ¡°I recall meeting him on our first visit,¡± Izz said. ¡°I did not know he was a skilled warrior.¡±

    ¡°He isn¡¯t. Heard he¡¯s got a mean uppercut, though.¡±

    That made the lizardmen more confused.

    ¡°This sounds unbelievable, but if I explain, the two of you will be even deeper in the muck,¡± Hans warned.

    ¡°Deeper than the book?¡±

    Hans nodded. ¡°I would entrust the book to Luther because he lives at the bottom of a dungeon.¡±

    Izz and Thuz were both in the process of lifting steins to their lips. Hearing Hans¡¯ words, they stopped, and slowly lowered them back to the table.

    ¡°Mr. Hans,¡± Thuz began. ¡°You have been good to us, and your teachings have saved our lives several times over. We are loyal to the Adventurers¡¯ Guild, yes, but our loyalty to you and Miss Mazo is greater. If this is a split in our path where we either follow the Guild or follow our teachers, we choose our teachers, without hesitation.¡±

    Izz nodded as Thuz spoke, confirming every sentence.

    ¡°I¡¯m humbled,¡± Hans said, bowing his head. ¡°Luther lives in a dungeon we found near here, and that¡¯s not the weirdest part. Not even close.¡±

    ***

    Open Quests (Ordered from Old to New):

    Progress from Gold-ranked to Diamond-ranked.

    Mend the rift with Devon.

    Using a pen name, complete the manuscript for "The Next Generation: A Teaching Methodology for Training Adventurers."

    Expand the dungeon with resource-specific monsters for each of Gomi¡¯s major trades.

    Find a way for Gomi adventurers to benefit from their rightful ranks in the Adventurers¡¯ Guild.

    Secure a way to use surplus dungeon inventory for good.

    Investigate entering Kane and Quentin in the Osare combat tournament.

    Analyze the manual for the Takarabune.

 Book 2, Chapter 21: Rare Materials

    Hans used his time transcribing the book to study it more closely.

    Izz and Thuz retired to empty beds in the Tribe dorms relatively early that evening. They had many more questions to ask about the Gomi dungeon, how it worked, and how Gomi was using it, but they were weary from the road. Long before they arrived, the lizardmen assumed they would spend a good deal of time in Gomi with Hans¨Cgiven the nature of the package they delivered¨Cbut they now believed they would be in Gomi far longer than that.

    Olza slept on the couch, an open book on her chest, snoring softly. Hans snuffed her lamp to make her more comfortable, leaving his desk lamp as the lone light source in the apartment.

    He lacked the reference materials to confirm, but he was certain his assessment of the Takarabune was correct. Its mechanics matched that of an astrolabe as he understood them, but this device built upon, or was an arcane variation of, what sailors used for celestial navigation.

    The device had five layers. The round base of the Takarabune was called a mater, and the layer on top of that was a tympan. The two flat pieces nested together like fine dinnerplates. The outer rim of the mater was marked with measurements, like a round ruler representing degrees and hours. The tympan could rotate within the mater to align a sophisticated web of swooping lines and numbers to the numbers around the edge.

    If he remembered correctly, those lines represented longitude and latitude, but he was neither sure of his memory or that this device functioned in the same manner.

    On top of the tympan was the rete, a series of overlapping rings with open interiors so that the rete could be aligned with the tympan and the mater beneath it. Finally, the Takarabune had a rule on the front and an alidade on the back, both long thin pieces that helped the user sight and calibrate the device¨Cakin to the hands of a clock.

    Celestial navigation always looked challenging to Hans, giving him a great respect for career sailors. The Takarabune appeared to require similar knowledge, but he also saw spell runes and alchemical symbols with the same prominence as longitude and latitude.

    From what he could tell, the Takarabune provided coordinates and a color. Some Guild Masters recorded the colors as simple primary colors¨Cred, blue, and yellow¨Cwhile others attempted to better define shades, leaving notes like ¡°dark orange¡± or ¡°blue-green.¡±

    Hans would need a reference to translate all of the symbols on the device itself, but he recognized a few runes from schools of spells¨CHealing, Illusion, Fire, and Ice. He initially suspected these labels were how the guild assigned a Diamond quest to the appropriate class, but in reviewing old quest records, color seemed to have the most importance. He wasn¡¯t sure why and didn¡¯t immediately find an explanation.

    He expected to find the answer eventually.

    The math for using the device spanned more than a dozen pages, and he understood very little of it. Locating Diamond quests required much more than traditional pathfinding it seemed. He hoped Olza would be able to help.

    The latter half of the book contained pages and pages of notes left by previous Guild Masters, detailing their observations from using the device and logging the results of each quest¨Cthe ability the adventurer earned as well as the treasure they brought back for the Guild. Those treasures included a number of books, enchanted jewelry, and magic weapons.

    When he skimmed through the older entries, he found notes about party sizes. Reading more closely, he learned that Diamond quests used to be assigned to groups of four to six as opposed to the present practice of sending one. One Guild Master expressed worry that ¡°too many Diamonds will dilute the prestige of the Guild.¡±

    Hans recognized a handful of the Guild Master names but none of the artifacts listed. If the Guild kept them, they never talked about where or why, and Hans certainly hadn¡¯t heard of any of these items being used in the field.

    Is all of this loot in a vault somewhere?

    Gret had expressed frustrations similar to Hans¡¯ about adventurers being sent into jobs unprepared or the Guild seeming to withhold resources and knowledge that could help the masses. Yet, he never suspected the Platinum of Rogue of going as far as to betray the Guild completely.

    New questions formed when he learned why Gret had not acted on the knowledge in the manual. An astrolabe was an intricate device requiring precise inputs to use correctly. The Takarabune was the same, making its basic construction a significant challenge to even seasoned crafters.

    But the kingdom had skilled crafters all over. If Gret managed to solve that manageable challenge, he had to then provide an assortment of rare materials, one of which was a six-inch wide diamond shaped flat into the mater. The diamond had to be a singular piece of material, not a composite of several diamonds linked together. Diamonds were reasonably common, but a diamond with those dimensions¡­ was that even possible?

    That must be where the ¡®Diamond¡¯ rank got its name.

    The manual called for the plate to be made from hihi''irokane, a material more commonly known as ¡°scarlet steel.¡± To Hans¡¯ knowledge, no one had yet cracked the riddle of how to produce it without cyclops blood. Since cyclops blood was incredibly difficult to acquire, if someone wanted to work with scarlet steel, an existing item made from the material had to be smelted down and reforged. In Hans¡¯ case, his party fought a cyclopean warlord wielding a flail made from scarlet steel.

    The rete was fashioned from valorite, a form of iron that had soaked in wild magic, turning the ore a distinct cerulean. He had seen that material only once as well, used to operate the inner mechanisms of an unusual golem.

    The rule and the alidade were to be made from celestial steel. Of all the materials listed in the manual, celestial steel was the easiest find, though it was still incredibly rare. Celestials refused to trade away their resources and considered it a grave offense to even be asked. Fallen celestials, however, often carried weapons made from the material when they invaded this plane. Those monsters were akin to highly ranked demons, and killing them was the only way for this world to get access to the steel.

    Common wasn''t the right word to describe fallen celestials, but they were encountered often enough in the deep frontier that news of another sighting wasn''t shocking. Killing them was far more challenging than locating them.

    Once the device was assembled, the manual said to immerse it in mimic blood. Just reading the word mimic made Hans shiver. Finding mimics was a challenge for obvious reasons, but engaging one¨Cor worse, several¨Cplunged parties into paranoia. Soon, they would be stabbing every object and surface, expecting everything and anything to be a mimic.

    The value of the materials alone would empty the King¡¯s coffers. As for the value of a functioning Takarabune, how would he begin to measure the value of locating Diamond quests?

    They''ll never stop looking.

    Hans looked up from his notes to see the first hints of a Gomi sunrise. He smiled.

    ¡°Yeah. No matter what, they¡¯ll never stop.¡±

    Quest Update: Finish transcribing the manual and decide on the next course of action.

    ***

    ¡°Hans,¡± Charlie began before stopping again. He refilled his glass of whiskey and threw it back. ¡°My old heart isn¡¯t built for a life this interesting.¡±

    Hans sat at a dining room table with Charlie and Galinda. The shoulders of Hans¡¯ tunic were wet from rain, and he listened to the drops outside falling harder against the roof as Charlie searched for words.

    ¡°If only we could return the thing, but you¡¯re right that no good would come of that. I grew up next to a boy who stole a knife from the local smith. His Pa made him give it back and apologize. Got arrested right there and rotted for ten years.¡±

    ¡°Ah.¡±

    ¡°The best life lessons are the ones someone else pays for, as they say.¡±

    ¡°...I''m not sure they say that.¡±

    Charlie poured another whiskey. ¡°How concerned are you?¡±

    ¡°Slow down, love,¡± Galinda said softly.

    ¡°You''re jealous my tolerance is higher than yours.¡±

    Hans coughed. ¡°This may be because I haven¡¯t slept since yesterday morning, but I''m not worried, which is odd for me.¡±

    If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.

    The Mayor and his wife agreed that was odd.

    ¡°The Guild would have sent someone out here again whether we had the book or not. It will go the exact same way it did the first time.¡±

    Charlie narrowed his eyes. ¡°You''re not planning to use it?¡±

    ¡°We should definitely consider it,¡± Hans said. ¡°We will have several years before any of our people are ready for Diamond. Not to mention we have to make the thing and figure out how it operates.¡±

    The Mayor was still suspicious of Hans¡¯ optimism. Hans assured him they didn''t need to be concerned. Not more concerned than they already had been, anyway.

    ¡°Well¡­¡± Hans thought for a moment. ¡°I suppose they could have a spell to track and locate it.¡±

    ¡°Really?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, maybe.¡±

    Galinda patted Charlie on the head. ¡°He is teasing you.¡±

    The Mayor scowled.

    ¡°Seriously, though, I''ve been thinking about this a fair bit,¡± Hans said. ¡°Nonstop, actually. The Guild will poke around no matter what, so our plan doesn''t change. It can''t change. If we can disguise a dungeon, we can disguise a few Diamonds. Who would want to bother Gomi then?¡±

    ¡°Careful, Hans.¡±

    Hans shook his head. ¡°I don''t mean violence. I mean influence¡­ with an undertone of potential violence I suppose, but that''s not the point. Take Izz and Thuz for example. Those guys are loved by pretty much everyone. Anyone who dislikes them doesn¡¯t want the trouble that would kick up from bothering them, so they leave them be.¡±

    Charlie rapped his fingers on the table, thinking. ¡°Years you said?¡±

    Hans nodded. ¡°In the short term, we keep doing what we are doing now. Our deal with the forest eliminates the danger of a surprise visit. When someone does show up, they''ll see the same old Gomi. Long term¡­ I have a few interesting ideas.¡±

    ¡°How interesting?¡±

    The Guild Master admitted his ideas ranged from incognito Diamond-ranked adventurers traveling the kingdom to using the Takarabune to negotiate alliances between Gomi and neighboring kingdoms.

    Charlie groaned. ¡°Fine. We sit on it until we figure what we want to hatch.¡±

    ¡°Are you two done?¡± Galinda asked.

    Charlie said he supposed they were.

    ¡°I have a silly question,¡± she said. ¡°Can we paint the palisade?¡±

    Hans didn''t understand.

    ¡°I ordered more paint. If it won''t attract more monsters, we should ask the kids to paint. Let them make part of Gomi theirs.¡±

    Though it took a moment, Hans¡¯ brain caught up with Galinda¡¯s sharp conversational pivot.

    Oh that kind of painting.

    ¡°That sounds like a Mayor question to me,¡± Hans joked. ¡°I don''t see any harm in it, though.¡±

    The Mayor said he saw no harm either.

    Hans raised a finger for Galinda to wait. ¡°I heard there''s a special portrait of Charlie. Maybe that would make a good addition.¡±

    Charlie slammed his glass on the table.

    ¡°I remember where I put it,¡± Galinda said, standing from the table and disappearing around the corner.

    ¡°Gods help me, Hans¡­¡±

    The grin on Hans¡¯ face grew. He yelled out of the room, ¡°Can you scale it up to mural size?¡±

    ¡°Larger might intimidate the men in Gomi even more,¡± Galinda yelled back.

    ¡°Huh? What do you mean?¡± Hans looked across the table.

    Charlie had stolen Hans¡¯ mischievous grin and tripled its size.

    Hans paled. ¡°Galinda! I changed my mind! I don''t need to see it!¡±

    ***

    ¡°This is a drill we learned in our country,¡± Izz said. ¡°We call it the Mountain King.¡±

    The lizardman used his foot to draw a circle in the dirt while the children watched and listened. Thuz stood off to the side.

    ¡°Everyone, raise your sword hand.¡±

    The children did as they were told.

    ¡°Look around. In this game, you are not allowed to use your sword hand, so now you can see if your classmates attempt to deceive you.¡±

    The children giggled when Izz smiled.

    ¡°The goal is to tag your partner with your sword or push them outside of the ring,¡± Izz explained. ¡°Force is not required. The smallest tap wins the round. Whoever wins, remains in the circle and faces a new partner. The other student steps out to wait for their next turn.¡±

    Izz instructed the children to form a line. Thuz helped guide them, and then two children began the game.

    The first several rounds went to the child who attacked the quickest, landing a tag moments after the round began. Soon, though, the ideal strategy evolved. Recognizing that a speedy attack was inevitable, some of the kids began to set traps, anticipating an aggressive attack to trick their partner into leaving an opening.

    The ¡°parry then tag¡± strategy soon gave way to methodical pokes and prods, neither student willing to commit to a full on attack.

    Quentin slid next to the Golds.

    ¡°Good timing,¡± Hans said. ¡°What do you think this drill teaches, Quentin?¡±

    The Apprentice thought before he answered. ¡°Mobility, but that''s an easy one. Tactics is the real focus, right?¡±

    ¡°How so?¡±

    ¡°They''re all trying to trick each other to land a tag. Lots of faints and traps.¡±

    ¡°You were right, Mr. Hans,¡± Thuz said. ¡°He is quite bright.¡±

    Quentin tried but failed to hide his smile.

    ¡°There are two drills happening together,¡± Thuz added. ¡°The children in line are practicing observation. They watch the king and look for weaknesses because they know they will face them again soon. They watch each match to learn from the choices of their classmates, to see what works and what doesn''t.¡±

    The Apprentice listened intently, nodding all the while.

    ¡°There''s also a nice balancing mechanism here too,¡± Hans said. ¡°The longer someone wins, the more tired they get while every new partner is fresh and has been thinking about what to do when they are up again. Gives the less advanced students an actual chance against a tough challenge.¡±

    Quentin nodded. ¡°That¡¯s a lot of lessons in disguise.¡±

    ¡°Mr. Hans said that you solved the squonk puzzle,¡± Thuz said. ¡°Your solution was impressively clever.¡±

    Izz agreed. ¡°Is your sword as sharp as your mind?¡± Izz asked. ¡°We saw a flier in the guild hall. Do you intend to compete?¡±

    When Quentin glanced between the lizardmen and Hans, Izz asked if he had committed an offense with a question.

    ¡°No, nothing like that,¡± Hans said. ¡°We''re not sure how safe it is for Gomi children to travel.¡±

    ¡°On account of the war,¡± Quentin added.

    The lizardmen nodded. Looking at one another, they exchanged words in their native tongue, a language based on hisses and variations of what humans would call an S sound. No other race had the anatomy to replicate the unique elements of their language, however.

    Hans attempted to learn as much of it as he could, but he soon discovered that his ears couldn''t distinguish between pitches and annunciation that Izz and Thuz insisted were obvious.

    ¡°Is your concern solely the safety of your tusk students?¡± Izz asked Hans.

    ¡°As opposed to?¡±

    ¡°Their preparation for such a contest or, perhaps, there is a conflict of which we are not aware.¡±

    ¡°Kane and Quentin are the only students who would go. One of our own got attacked for being tusk over the winter¨Cin the same town. I don¡¯t want to put Apprentices in a bad situation.¡±

    Izz nodded. ¡°With your permission, we would gladly accompany the Apprentices.¡±

    Quentin''s surge of excitement made him an inch taller. ¡°Would that be okay?¡±

    Lizardmen experienced similar prejudices as tusks, though not to the extremes the orc war enabled. If Izz and Thuz were with Kane, they might not be immune to poor treatment, but Hans trusted them completely.

    If he asked them to keep Kane and Quentin safe, they would stop at nothing to keep their promise. Where Bel and Lee held back in their fight with Osare¡¯s underbelly, Izz and Thuz would end them right then and successfully argue self-defense afterward. They had the power and the charisma.

    ¡°Our deal with your dad and Uncle Ed approving still applies,¡± Hans said, ¡°but I would have very few worries if Izz and Thuz were with you.¡±

    Quest Update: Confirm Roland and Uncle Ed¡¯s decision on the Osare tournament.

    Quentin didn''t bother trying to hide his elation. ¡°Thank you, Mr. Thuz and Mr. Izz. Thank you so much.¡±

    Thuz frowned at the drill. ¡°We shall discuss this in more depth later. The mountain needs a new king.¡±

    Thuz strolled to the back of the line, triggering a series of concerned glances and confused murmurs among the children. Gunther asked why Thuz was in line. When the lizardman answered that he awaited his turn to challenge the king, the murmurs escalated to shouts about how that wasn''t fair.

    The lizardman smiled the whole way to the front of the line.

    Hans smiled too when the lizardman politely demolished every challenger he faced.

    ***

    Open Quests (Ordered from Old to New):

    Progress from Gold-ranked to Diamond-ranked.

    Mend the rift with Devon.

    Using a pen name, complete the manuscript for "The Next Generation: A Teaching Methodology for Training Adventurers."

    Expand the dungeon with resource-specific monsters for each of Gomi¡¯s major trades.

    Find a way for Gomi adventurers to benefit from their rightful ranks in the Adventurers¡¯ Guild.

    Secure a way to use surplus dungeon inventory for good.

    Confirm Roland and Uncle Ed¡¯s decision on the Osare tournament.

    Finish transcribing the manual and decide on the next course of action.

 Book 2, Chapter 22: Sequels

    ¡°Harriot,¡± the blacksmith said, ¡°please stop climbing on Mr. Thuz.¡±

    The young girl begrudgingly slid down from her perch on the lizardman¡¯s back. Thuz insisted he was not bothered or offended.

    On the other side of the outdoor work area, Eduardo and Harry smashed iron into small fragments, preparing it for the furnace. Harry was much younger than Eduardo, but seeing his father take on an apprentice sparked his own interest in learning the trade. The blacksmith had predicted such an outcome. Hans admired that masterful intersection of teaching and parenting.

    ¡°My master had a hammer mill and still made me learn to process the iron by hand,¡± the smith said. ¡°It¡¯s good for them too, but I¡¯ve been talking to Galad about where would be good for our own water wheel. We¡¯ll need a hammer mill soon, I suspect.¡±

    ¡°This initiative reminds me of Master Theneesa¡¯s education program,¡± Thuz said.

    Hans said that was one of his major inspirations, earning a knowing nod from Thuz while Izz inspected the tools the smith had for sale.

    ¡°Our village had a hammer mill,¡± Thuz said to the smith. ¡°Your knowledge far surpasses mine, but I remember the design well. If it would be useful, I would gladly share the design with you.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s very kind of you, but we are a ways from construction, I wager. I¡¯d expect you to have moved on by then.¡±

    Thuz explained that he and Izz intended to stay in Gomi indefinitely. Any deadline the smith had for the project was entirely up to him.

    The smith beamed. ¡°I won¡¯t turn down a helping hand.¡±

    When Hans asked if he and the smith could speak in private, Thuz and Izz offered to mind the children for a few minutes. Hans and the smith stepped into the fletching shop where the fletcher¨Cthe smith¡¯s wife¨Csat at a table. In front of her was a pile of harpy feathers, a sharp knife, and a magnifying glass mounted between her and the table. She greeted the Guild Master when he entered and thanked him for the fine feathers.

    Hans invited her to listen as he described the Takarabune to the pair of tradespeople. He didn¡¯t explain what the device was for other than to compare it to an astrolabe, which the fletcher had heard of where the smith hadn¡¯t.

    ¡°I wouldn¡¯t know where to start working with diamond,¡± the smith said. ¡°Haven¡¯t worked with exotic steels like that neither, but I¡¯d take on the challenge. To be honest with you Mr. Hans, a mage with smithing experience might be better suited for the work. Those are small, very precise pieces you¡¯re describing.¡±

    ¡°Put aside the humble act for a moment,¡± Hans said, ¡°I promise not to tell anyone.¡±

    The smith chuckled. ¡°I wasn¡¯t being humble about working with gems, but aye, I can do the rest. I know a fletcher who makes the most precise arrowheads this side of the kingdom.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯d think about helping,¡± his wife added, jokingly.

    ¡°Thank you for humoring my questions,¡± Hans said.

    ¡°I hope getting the materials works out.¡±

    The Guild Master nodded. ¡°Me too, won¡¯t be soon, though.¡±

    When Hans returned to Izz and Thuz outside, he found Harriot demonstrating dance steps her mother had taught her. The lizardmen were quite impressed and encouraged her to share more. They clapped and marveled with every twirl and flourish. Before they departed, they promised to teach her a dance from their homeland. Harriot loved that idea.

    ¡°Much has changed in a short time,¡± Izz said as they began the walk to the Tribe farmlands. ¡°At present, joy is difficult to find in the kingdom, yet it seems to blossom in Gomi.¡±

    ¡°Yes. The people seem hopeful,¡± Thuz added.

    Hans agreed. ¡°They¡¯ve been through a lot, the kids especially. They don¡¯t give up, though, and they are unbelievably loyal to each other.¡±

    He told them the story of how Honronk taught himself to enchant tattoos in order to help the children, practicing on his own body over and over to get it right. Who could forget Gunther¡¯s willingness to volunteer to be the first to receive the tattoo? Then there was Luther who wintered in Osare to help tusks who might arrive after the pass closed. He nearly died, but he said he believed his choice was still the right one. He had no regrets.

    The list of Gomi residents Hans admired continued on, from Uncle Ed volunteering for delivery runs to Tandis managing the whole of the operations for a rapidly growing dungeon delving program.

    ¡°Your attempt to retire seems to have failed, Mr. Hans,¡± Thuz said when Hans finished.

    Hans laughed. ¡°It certainly has.¡±

    ¡°Will we meet your magery Apprentices on the Tribe lands?¡± Izz asked.

    The Guild Master said they would not. Chisel¡¯s party was on rotation to cull the dungeon, and Honronk lived in the dungeon full time, so neither were in town. Bel and Lee, who Hans also wanted the lizardmen to meet, were at the dungeon as well.

    ¡°We have not trained with Master Theneesa in some time. I¡¯m looking forward to learning from one of her Spellswords,¡± Izz said.

    ¡°Thinking of picking up Spellsword techniques?¡±

    Izz shook his head. ¡°Sadly, no. I have much yet to study for my current path, but I am curious to learn how her methods have evolved.¡±

    ¡°I have the same curiosity about the two of you,¡± Hans said. ¡°It¡¯s been a few years since I¡¯ve seen you in the field.¡±

    ¡°We would like for that to change, if we are permitted to go up the mountain with you,¡± Thuz said.

    ¡°Of course you are. If you¡¯re open to it, I¡¯d love for our adventurers to train with you. Chisel and Honronk need you for magery, especially. Think on what you¡¯d want paid for each lesson, if you¡¯re interested.¡±

    ¡°Mr. Hans,¡± Thuz said, sighing. ¡°We do not desire your money.¡± Izz nodded that he agreed with Thuz.

    ¡°Adventurers shouldn¡¯t work for free. I insist.¡±

    Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

    ¡°Ask him,¡± Izz said to Thuz.

    ¡°Mr. Hans,¡± Thuz began, ¡°wealth has never been our motivation. We became adventurers¨C¡±

    Hans held up a hand. ¡°Come on, guys. I remember. You want to return to your village.¡±

    Thuz smiled. ¡°Correct. Gomi has shown us that we were shortsighted in our goals. We could do far more than hunt monsters and train adventurers. Our children have few opportunities to learn and grow. We don¡¯t need more fishermen, but that¡¯s the only trade our elders can teach.¡±

    ¡°Master Theneesa¡¯s Pre-Apprentice program led us to believe that education would foster more change than adventuring,¡± Izz said. ¡°Gomi confirmed for us that learning nurtures hope.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve missed our conversations, very much,¡± Hans said, finally. ¡°What can I do?¡±

    ¡°Will you help us do for our home what you have done for Gomi?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m a small piece of this place, and I¡¯ve not given as much as some. You would need their help as well,¡± Hans said. ¡°I don¡¯t think anyone would decline, but I¡¯m not sure Gomi could be replicated.¡±

    If they could somehow recreate the community Galad and Galinda¡¯s parents built as well as the sense of needing to help one another to survive, they wouldn¡¯t be able to reproduce one of the key galvanizing forces: the dungeon. Influencing the dungeon core gave Gomi access to nearly unlimited resources, which meant significant wealth. The town would be no less special if the dungeon never appeared, but it would look much different. Hans wanted to be candid about how much of what they saw was driven by the dungeon.

    Without the dungeon, they wouldn¡¯t have needed to train Apprentice adventurers, and they would never have the resources to support their new trade education program.

    Without the dungeon, we never would have stopped the nightmares.

    That thought sparked visions of an alternate future where the dreams spread to the rest of the tusks, forcing Galad and Galinda and every other tusk-touched to join the orcs in war. What a tragic ending that would have been. A tusk family moved to Gomi to escape humans only to have everything they built undone by orcs.

    ¡°Your point is fair,¡± Thuz said. ¡°We do not have the same raw resources, but we do have funds.¡±

    Hans knew the lizardmen to be frugal adventurers, rarely indulging in extravagant purchases or displays of their wealth. In fact, they still rented the same apartment from when they were Apprentices, a studio in one of the poorer corners of Hoseki whose only windows looked out upon a wall, close enough that Hans could touch the neighboring structure with barely a reach.

    Thuz continued, ¡°We have spent little of our earnings as adventurers. Miss Mazo has included room and board in our pay as well.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s pretty generous.¡±

    Izz laughed. ¡°She felt guilty booking expensive inns when we chose humbler accommodations. She insisted on the new arrangement so she could enjoy her money without shame.¡±

    ¡°I suspect she enjoyed your company more,¡± Hans said.

    ¡°That may be true, but Miss Mazo would never admit as such.¡±

    The lizardmen were quite wealthy, stopping Hans mid-stride when they estimated their current bank balance for him. Frugal, it seemed, had been an understatement. Izz and Thuz had more so lived an unofficial vow of poverty, spending hardly any of their reward money for more than a decade. They said their parents, grandparents, and great grandparents had done the same, dedicating generations of savings to send Izz and Thuz to Hoseki for an education. In their minds, the gold they earned was never theirs to spend.

    ¡°I¡¯ll do anything I can to help,¡± Hans said. ¡°I hope you knew that before asking, but now you don¡¯t have to guess.¡±

    ¡°Thank you, Mr. Hans,¡± they both replied.

    ¡°My knowledge ends at adventuring. If you really want to learn from Gomi, you need to talk to Galad, Galinda, and Charlie. And Olza too, actually. She sticks to the background, but she¡¯s done a lot for the people here.¡±

    The trio agreed to draft a complete plan while Izz and Thuz were in town. Barring a request from Miss Mazo or some other form of emergency, they would be in town for some time, perhaps for the winter as well.

    ¡°Are you sure?¡± Hans asked. When Izz and Thuz began to argue that their commitment was unshakable, Hans said, ¡°No, no, no. I believe you can do it. I meant the winter. It gets a good bit colder than you¡¯d like, if I¡¯m remembering your preferences correctly.¡±

    He had no doubt in the accuracy of his memories. He had listened to Izz and Thuz complain about the chill they felt in a warm summer night on many occasions. For any environment cooler than that, they complained frequently. Politely, yes, but still frequently.

    ¡°We are willing to endure a few inches of snow,¡± Thuz said.

    ¡°Feet.¡±

    ¡°Hmm?¡±

    ¡°A few feet of snow.¡±

    The lizardmen looked to one another. ¡°Do you jest?¡±

    Hans chuckled and shook his head. ¡°It was waist-high for most of the winter. My waist, I mean. I¡¯ve heard a few stories about blizzards burying the town. If they wanted to go next door to visit, they had to dig a tunnel.¡±

    ¡°My resolve is unshaken,¡± Thuz said.

    ¡°Mine, however, is,¡± Izz said with a small smile, ¡°yet I would do this for our home. I can endure one winter, but I wonder, who in this region would have the knowledge to make our boots?¡± The lizardman pointed to his wide, three-toed foot, similar in dimension to Hans¡¯ chest. ¡°I suspect we should start looking immediately if we wish to be prepared in time.¡±

    The Guild Master said they could certainly find a leatherworker in Gomi.

    New Quest: Help Izz and Thuz bring new opportunities to their home village.

    ***

    ¡°Petal, I¡¯d like you to meet Mr. Izz and Mr. Thuz,¡± Buru said, speaking softly into his shirt pocket. ¡°We will be training with them soon.¡±

    Petal¡¯s pink nose shot out of the pocket and sniffed. Her whiskers bent and curled every which way, like she had wrinkled them in their sleep. Carefully, she crawled up Buru¡¯s chest and perched on his shoulder.

    ¡°She is afraid of meeting new people,¡± Buru said, ¡°but she would like to meet you both properly. May she approach?¡±

    The lizardmen said that was fine. Buru stepped up to Izz and extended his arm. Petal crawled down Buru, her hairless tail curled tight to her body and her tree-frog-like fingers spread wide to keep from falling. Izz held out an open palm.

    Petal timidly stepped into Izz¡¯s scaled hand. She looked up at him and shook.

    ¡°No need to fear, little one,¡± Izz said, leaning his head closer to Petal. ¡°I won¡¯t¨C Oh, my. Is this my doing?¡±

    The opossum flopped to her side in Izz¡¯s palm, curling into a loose ball. Her lips pulled back into a sort of snarl. Her tongue flopped out, and her eyes were wide. She didn¡¯t move.

    ¡°My apologizes, Mr. Izz,¡± Buru said, gently retrieving the opossum. ¡°She is brave in her own way but still very shy.¡±

    Izz assured Buru he took no offense. He heard that opossums defended themselves that way but had not witnessed it in person.

    On their way back to the guild hall, Thuz asked Hans, ¡°You once believed Petal could be a source of great danger?¡±

    ¡°Shut up, Thuz.¡±

    The lizardmen laughed.

    ***

    Open Quests (Ordered from Old to New):

    Progress from Gold-ranked to Diamond-ranked.

    Mend the rift with Devon.

    Using a pen name, complete the manuscript for "The Next Generation: A Teaching Methodology for Training Adventurers."

    Expand the dungeon with resource-specific monsters for each of Gomi¡¯s major trades.

    Find a way for Gomi adventurers to benefit from their rightful ranks in the Adventurers¡¯ Guild.

    Secure a way to use surplus dungeon inventory for good.

    Confirm Roland and Uncle Ed¡¯s decision on the Osare tournament.

    Finish transcribing the manual and decide on the next course of action.

    Help Izz and Thuz bring new opportunities to their home village.

 Book 2, Chapter 23: Flagged for Combat

    ¡°It¡¯s an honor to meet you, Mr. Izz, Mr. Thuz,¡± Tandis said, shaking the lizardmen¡¯s hands. ¡°I had not heard we were expecting guests.¡±

    ¡°We arrived without warning,¡± Izz said. ¡°Our visit was a surprise even to Mr. Hans.¡±

    ¡°That makes me feel a bit better about being unprepared.¡± Tandis looked at Hans. ¡°If you plan to take them up the mountain, let me know, and I¡¯ll prepare quarters for Mr. Izz and Mr. Thuz.¡±

    Hans said Izz and Thuz were friends. They knew of the dungeon and would be staying in Gomi for the foreseeable future. ¡°They¡¯ve agreed to assist me in teaching the Apprentices as well.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s wonderful!¡± Tandis said. ¡°Speaking of, here are six new candidates.¡± She put a list of names on Hans¡¯ desk. ¡°The second group of names are people interested in becoming harvesters.¡±

    In addition to the names on the list, she had notes on each person¡¯s age and previous experience. For the adventurers, that was any sort of combat training or military service. For the harvesters, that was any familiarity with crafting or processing meat and leather.

    Three of the adventurer candidates were in their late teens. Two were in their twenties. One was in their forties.

    Hans nodded, impressed by Tandis¡¯ recruitment efforts. ¡°When Terry rotates off, he¡¯s going to cover classes for me while I¡¯m up the mountain. If he¡¯s okay with teaching an adult class too, everyone can start training as early as tomorrow.¡±

    She said she¡¯d let them know.

    ¡°Is Roland back yet?¡± Hans asked.

    Tandis shook her head. ¡°Should be any day now, though.¡±

    As briefly as he could, Hans relayed the debate over how to handle Kane and Quentin¡¯s interest in the Osare competition. Tandis was familiar with that much¨Cthe boys hadn¡¯t stopped talking about it since the flier first arrived¨Cbut Izz and Thuz offering to chaperone was news.

    If Hans left for the dungeon before Roland returned, he asked if she could pose the question and relay Roland¡¯s answer. He worried aligning his schedule with Roland¡¯s hunting trips would delay the process for weeks. Otherwise, he wouldn¡¯t have bothered her with the request.

    Tandis said she didn¡¯t mind. She would ask.

    ¡°Has the Guild reacted to your growing roster of adventurers?¡± Thuz asked. ¡°You have several times the average for a town this size.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s part of the secret. No one outside Gomi knows we¡¯re training adventurers.¡±

    When Thuz raised the issue of not having an official rank to accept Guild jobs, Hans admitted that was an unsolved problem. He thought about it daily. It was hard not to with how much he interacted with the Apprentices, but he still hadn¡¯t thought of a solution. Until he did, none of the Apprentices could practice their trade outside of Gomi.

    ¡°An interesting problem to solve,¡± Thuz said. ¡°The answer will come with time.¡±

    ¡°I hope so.¡±

    ¡°There is yet time.¡±

    Olza came into the guild hall, a rucksack over her shoulder and a square leather case in her arms. ¡°I''m so sorry I''m late. I got caught up with Willow and lost track of time.¡± She looked around. ¡°No Kane and Quentin?¡±

    ¡°They''re hiking up tomorrow with Tandis.¡±

    ¡°And I should be getting ready,¡± Tandis said. ¡°It was good to see everyone. Miss Olza.¡± She bowed her head slightly to the alchemist.

    A few minutes later, Hans was on his way to the dungeon with Izz, Thuz, and Olza. The lizardmen insisted on carrying her things. When Hans had offered to do so many many hikes ago, she had refused and threatened him if he asked again.

    When he pointed that out, she said that Izz and Thuz were more charming. They agreed.

    ¡°I think I agree as well,¡± Hans said.

    To break the monotony of the hike, Olza asked when Hans planned to begin the Takarabune project.

    ¡°Don¡¯t misunderstand, I want to build it, but the materials we need make that complicated.¡±

    ¡°Is it any different from what we¡¯re doing for reagents already?¡±

    Hans said that the process would be the same, but the monsters they would have to grow were Gold and Diamond-ranked encounters. ¡°The weakest monster on our list is a Diamond Elemental. The next weakest is a cyclops warlord, but those rankings are debatable. If either of those got to Gomi¡­ Or worse, we lose its trail and it finds its way to a town like Osare¡­¡±

    Izz added, ¡°The need to grow a mimic and a fallen celestial give me the greatest trepidation. A fallen celestial would likely begin its escape as soon as it gained consciousness. They don¡¯t take kindly to cages. If we are discussing the celestial we have heard about from Hans¡¯ stories, Gomi would need a party of Diamonds to keep it from escaping.¡±

    ¡°Fair point on the fallen celestial, but aren¡¯t mimics stationary?¡± Olza asked.

    ¡°A common misconception,¡± Izz answered. ¡°They are capable of movement but they avoid it to preserve their camouflage. A mimic will, however, relocate if it finds its food source is lacking.¡±

    ¡°They have been known to hitchhike to towns,¡± Hans said. ¡°Usually happens when they are younger and smaller, but once a mimic is loose, they are very hard to track down.¡±

    ¡°The textbooks tell a story of a mimic that found its way to a city on the water. The beast hid itself in the middle of a market square, using a grand memorial to disguise itself as one of its statues. The monster went undiscovered for two whole years, feeding on stray animals, the homeless, and unlucky drunks.¡±

    ¡°Is that true?¡± she asked Hans.

    He shrugged. ¡°It¡¯s an old story, from long before our time, but I¡¯ve never heard anyone doubt it.¡±

    ¡°If this is against the adventurer code or something, I''m sorry, but are these monsters why none of you aren¡¯t talking about using the manual to get your next rank?¡± Olza asked.

    The three Golds stiffened. Hans threw his arms up to say ¡°I''m not touching that¡± and walked ahead of the group to distance himself from answering.

    ¡°What?¡±

    Izz accepted the responsibility. ¡°Inquiring about a promotion is bad form.¡±

    ¡°So you can''t ask when you will be promoted?¡±

    ¡°It is best not to.¡±

    Olza was taken aback by the answer. ¡°This isn''t requesting a promotion though. You would find the quests yourselves.¡±

    ¡°Promoting yourself is both bad form and an inescapable humiliation. Many adventurers have tried it. They are never respected again.¡±

    ¡°The first Diamond promoted themselves¡­¡±

    Hans sighed. ¡°Olza, you can''t say things like that.¡±

    ¡°Why not? None of this makes sense.¡±

    ¡°It is straightforward, Miss Olza.¡±

    The Golds argued, almost in unison, that promotions were a delicate topic. An adventurer¡¯s lineage was an important part of their reputation. Who awarded them their ranks formed a breadcrumb trail back to the ultimate source of their training. Promotions from a Guild Master known to rigidly uphold their standards was more prestigious than a promotion from a lesser known or less respected Guild Master.

    Asking about a promotion was an insult to your Guild Master. It suggested that you knew better than they did. Promoting yourself was like saying you knew better than every Guild Master in the organization.

    ¡°You''re choosing to break a bunch of other rules already.¡±

    Thuz said, ¡°These are the unspoken variety. I would argue that these values apply to adventuring as a way of life.¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± Izz agreed, ¡°Adhering to them shows respect for our fellow adventurers.¡±

    Their premise made sense up to Gold, Olza said. For the Diamond rank, the logic broke down. Diamond was the only rank contingent on completing a quest, which to her made it the most honest rank of all.

    ¡°Your argument is well reasoned,¡± Thuz said. ¡°However, one¡¯s values are not always driven by pragmatism.¡±

    This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

    ¡°I can appreciate the tradition, but it''s still crazy to me none of you would do the quest yourselves, especially after how you''ve been treated.¡±

    ¡°Adventurers dream of reaching Diamond from when they are children. The rank is an acknowledgment of your ability, handed down by adventurers who were themselves respected. Each of my promotions were meaningful because of the instructor giving it and the people present to celebrate it.¡±

    ¡°Hans and Miss Mazo?¡±

    ¡°Golds cannot traditionally promote students. Mr. Hans has only recently earned that honor by exception. We consider Hans and Miss Mazo to be our instructors, and their approval has great importance in our minds.¡±

    ¡°Mazo did promote them to Gold,¡± Hans added. ¡°When she earned Diamond she gained the right to advance students up to that rank.¡±

    ¡°I still think it''s crazy any of you would pass up a Diamond quest,¡± Olza said. ¡°I mean really, Hans. You told me Diamond was a dream of yours.¡±

    ¡°That''s behind me at this point. I went for it. I came up short, and I''ve accepted that.¡±

    ¡°You wouldn''t try again?¡±

    Hans said he would if he could, but he was well past his prime. ¡°There''s a saying that goes ¡®be as bold as an old Gold.¡¯ In other words, know your limits so you don''t get yourself and your party killed.¡±

    In his mind, he waged a new war against himself. He said attempting Diamond was behind him, and it was, for the most part. That was hard for him back when the Guild said they wouldn¡¯t approve another run, but the choice had been made for him. Having no real agency over whether he could attempt Diamond again was a blessing in that regard.

    Somebody else judging him was far easier than judging himself. Acquiring the Takarabune manual undid that. Pursuing Diamond again was now his choice. Facing that choice filled him with dread.

    I don¡¯t think I¡¯d survive a fourth run at Diamond.

    ***

    The Apprentices and the Silvers flocked to Izz and Thuz like they were celebrities. Terry was the only person who had met the lizardmen before, but he wasn¡¯t an adventurer then. Like the other Apprentices, he now saw upper-ranked adventurers as walking tomes of knowledge, someone to study and learn from. Terry asked if he should stay longer instead of rotating out in the morning. Hans said he should still take the rest and promised that everyone would learn anything Izz and Thuz were willing to share.

    Becky was excited to greet the visitors as well, though she looked back down the trail as she shook their hands. ¡°Where is Miss Mazo?¡±

    ¡°She had business in Hoseki and sent us in her stead,¡± Thuz said.

    The dwarf frowned. ¡°Happy to have you all the same. Won¡¯t be quite the same without the halfling.¡±

    The lizardmen agreed it would not be the same.

    After exchanging pleasantries, Hans pointed out that Bel, Lee, and Chisel all used spells. Honronk was not present, likely because he was in his dungeon home. Kane was a caster too, but he would arrive the following day with Tandis, Buru, Quentin, and Yotuli.

    ¡°Do we get to see Bel and Lee spar with Golds?¡± Sven asked, curiously.

    Becky elbowed the Rogue in the ribs.

    ¡°Ow! What?¡±

    ¡°Lower ranks ain¡¯t supposed to ask an upper rank to spar. It¡¯s rude.¡±

    Sven looked at Hans. He nodded that Becky was correct. ¡°If that happened in Hoseki, the upper-rank could refuse, but they¡¯re more likely to beat your ass to teach you a lesson.¡±

    Olza clucked. ¡°That sounds incredibly mature.¡±

    ¡°We didn¡¯t make the rules!¡± Becky said.

    Sven sheepishly apologized to Izz and Thuz.

    Hans caught Olza looking at him. He could tell she wanted to argue about that custom as well. Her face made her position clear: It was stupid. On this matter, Hans did not disagree.

    ¡°I never forced my students to follow that rule, but they had to know about it for their own sake if they trained with anyone else,¡± Hans said. ¡°I don¡¯t understand the point of discouraging questions and curiosity from students.¡±

    ¡°Do not worry, friend,¡± Thuz said to Sven. ¡°We will not break the custom out of respect for our superiors, but we are not offended when a student asks to spar.¡±

    ¡°I would accept such an invitation,¡± Izz offered. ¡°I understand one of the Silvers is a Black Mage?¡±

    Bel stepped forward. ¡°That¡¯s me.¡±

    ¡°I am a Black Mage as well. My brother is a White Mage. Have you trained today already? We can wait until you''re rested if so.¡±

    ¡°No, I''d love to spar.¡±

    Looking around at the uneven terrain and imagining a stray spell ripping through the dorm, Hans suggested they take the match into the dungeon.

    ***

    Thuz marked a sparring area with a few well-placed stones in the staging area of the Forgeborne Mines. Hans stood off to the side with the Apprentices. He made sure Lee, Honronk, and Chisel were closest to him. He wanted to actively discuss the match with them to wring as much learning from the moment as they could. The Apprentices had very little exposure to advanced magery, and no one but Hans had ever seen a Black Mage like Izz in action.

    Olza asked why Thuz appeared to be casting a spell each time he set a rock on the ground.

    ¡°That¡¯s a training spell,¡± Hans said. ¡°It¡¯s like a warrior using a blunted weapon. Any magic within the boundary will have its deadliness reduced. A fireball that might have killed you in a real fight feels more like a punch to the stomach. When they shake hands within the boundary, the spell remains active until a concession is accepted.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t take it easy on me,¡± Bel said. ¡°Master Theneesa has talked about you. I know you¡¯re good.¡±

    ¡°I would not insult an adventurers¡¯ ability in such a manner,¡± Izz said.

    The pair shook hands and stood at opposite ends of the ring Thuz constructed. The audience positioned themselves behind mine carts and crates to have at least some level of cover should a spell come their way.

    Thuz confirmed both adventurers were ready, and then called the start of the match.

    A Force Bolt immediately rocketed at Izz. When he expertly sidestepped out of its path, his form split into two and then four copies of himself. They moved in unison, all appearing to cast the same spell. An Angel Shield appeared in front of the right-most copy, and that copy only. The disk of energy would automatically swivel into position to block an incoming attack.

    ¡°Is that a misdirect?¡± Chisel asked while Honronk watched intently.

    ¡°Is it?¡± Hans asked back.

    Bel stomped the ground, sending a wave of rock across the ring, wide enough to strike each version of Izz. The lizardman stomped back, sending his own wave of rock forward. When the two met, their collision nullified any danger they posed to either adventurer.

    Izz returned fire with a Force Bolt of his own, each of his doubles launching their own projectile.

    A Force Wall materialized in front of Bel, blocking the bolts. The illusory projectiles fizzled into smoke on impact while a lone bolt broke into a shower of sparks. Tracing its trajectory, Bel determined that the real Force Bolt came from the far left duplicate.

    The tusk unleashed a volley of Force Bolts in response, firing one after another in a steady rhythm. Izz blocked with a Force Wall of his own, but the barrier quickly began to crack beneath the barrage. The lizardman seemed unconcerned.

    A Spectral Gauntlet shot from the finger tips of every duplicate. Then another, and another, and another.

    Bel smiled and cast a new Force Wall to block, prioritizing the attacks from the left-most copy, the one who had sent the actual Force Bolt at her a moment before. When the first gauntlet wisped into smoke on contact, her eyes widened. In a panic, she scanned for the other gauntlets, but she was too late. One locked onto her ankle, then one snatched each of her wrists. Once the gauntlets closed their grips, they were immovable, locking the target into place the moment they touched.

    A fourth gauntlet went to Bel¡¯s throat. She conceded.

    Izz¡¯s duplicates faded from existence, leaving only the version of Izz who had cast the Angel Shield.

    Becky started to clap. The Apprentices joined her soon after.

    ¡°Oh now that was dirty,¡± Bel said laughing as she caught her breath. ¡°I hate Illusionists.¡±

    The lizardman smiled politely. ¡°As do I, which is why I am not an Illusionist. Duplicate is the only spell from that school I use in combat.¡±

    Hans asked Izz to talk more about the tactics he employed in the match.

    ¡°A duel for sport is different from a battle in the field. I suspect Miss Annabel would agree.¡±

    She nodded that she did.

    ¡°She is clearly a skilled and experienced mage. Knowing her rank and that she studied under Master Theneesa suggested that was so, but the speed of her opening attack was a confirmation.¡±

    The lizardman went on to say that he avoided fighting to an opponent¡¯s strengths. When he saw that Bel could cast Force Bolt so quickly, and was equally as speedy with Force Wall, he adjusted his strategy. He preferred swift attacks as well, but didn''t want to challenge Bel where she was strong, so he slowed the pace and set up his attack.

    Izz explained that any kind of misdirection, whether the feint was with a sword or with a spell, should make one¡¯s opponent believe they were making the right choice with their attacks. If that choice aligned with their preferred strength, then an opponent was more likely to take the bait and lose sight of the battle¡¯s bigger picture.

    The more right your opponent believed themselves to be, the more effective your feint.

    Izz cast Angel Shield as a failsafe for if Bel saw through his charade, while also using the spell as its own misdirect. Would a mage be so obvious as to cast Duplicate and then mark the real version of themselves with a visible spell? That question seeded a great deal of doubt that took an opponent¡¯s brain in circles, and he completed the deception by summoning a real Force Bolt in front of a double. When Bel saw that Force Bolt make impact, she believed she had the right answer and leaned into her offense, attacking a mirage.

    By the time she realized which Spectral Hands were real, she was already ensnared.

    ¡°You could have blasted me out of my boots,¡± Bel said.

    ¡°You are an excellent mage,¡± Izz said sincerely. ¡°Master Theneesa has trained you well. With time, you will surpass me, but at present our difference in experience gives me a great advantage. For us to both learn from our match, it is my duty as the upper-ranked to fight in a way that levels the challenge.¡±

    ¡°So you held back?¡±

    Izz shook his head. ¡°Not so. Spectral Gauntlet is a recent focus of my practice. For our match, I used a Silver-ranked spell for my attack.¡±

    ¡°What do you mean by Silver-ranked spell? A lot of Irons learn Spectral Gauntlet.¡±

    ¡°Mr. Hans, you can explain this idea better than I, but before I cede the stage, I want to congratulate Miss Annabel again. It is clear to me that you are Master Theneesa¡¯s pupil.¡±

    ***

    Open Quests (Ordered from Old to New):

    Progress from Gold-ranked to Diamond-ranked.

    Mend the rift with Devon.

    Using a pen name, complete the manuscript for "The Next Generation: A Teaching Methodology for Training Adventurers."

    Expand the dungeon with resource-specific monsters for each of Gomi¡¯s major trades.

    Find a way for Gomi adventurers to benefit from their rightful ranks in the Adventurers¡¯ Guild.

    Secure a way to use surplus dungeon inventory for good.

    Confirm Roland and Uncle Ed¡¯s decision on the Osare tournament.

    Finish transcribing the manual and decide on the next course of action.

    Help Izz and Thuz bring new opportunities to their home village.

 Book 2, Chapter 24: Get Good

    ¡°When Izz says his Spectral Gauntlet is Silver-ranked, he¡¯s talking about his own proficiency,¡± Hans said. ¡°His overall rank is Gold, but he hasn¡¯t practiced Spectral Gauntlet in combat nearly as much as other spells.¡±

    The Guild Master continued his explanation, saying that adventurers often misunderstood the true meaning of a rank. A Gold-ranked adventurer was not automatically a Gold in every aspect of their training. The rank merely confirmed that the adventurer¡¯s best techniques were capable of conquering a Gold-ranked encounter.

    When Izz decided to learn a new spell, he started at the beginning like any other student. If Izz and an Iron-ranked both learned the spell at the same time, they would face many of the same challenges and work through many of the same lessons. The lizardman¡¯s rank didn¡¯t automatically replace the need for practice.

    In the long-term, Izz¡¯s experience enabled him to learn more quickly than an Iron, but having that headstart didn¡¯t change the fact that he and the Iron ran the same race.

    ¡°Izz has several spells at Gold, and at this point, I suspect his favorites are Diamond-ranked because he has used them so much. Duplicate, for example, is a cornerstone of his fighting style, and he uses it far more creatively than most mages. An Illusion specialist at Diamond might be more advanced on a technical level, but Izz has been using that spell in every match since he was a high Iron. In combat, Izz might be the best in the kingdom when it comes to Duplicate, and what you saw him do here was barely a fraction of it.¡±

    ¡°That is not so,¡± Izz insisted, ¡°but thank you for the compliment.¡±

    Hans sighed and shook his head at the lizardman. ¡°Even if he won¡¯t admit it.¡±

    The Apprentices laughed.

    ¡°At any rate, these spell ranks are nothing official, of course. They are a way of thinking about your training.

    ¡°Every active adventurer has a project they¡¯re working on, a skill or an attack or a spell they want to add to their repertoire. The experienced adventurers know they will suck at anything new. Sparring matches with lower ranks let you pit your Iron-ranked spell against Iron-ranked defense. If Izz tried to use Spectral Gauntlet on Master Theneesa, she would lay him out immediately. That¡¯s what a Diamond-ranked defense will do to a Silver-ranked attack.¡±

    Hans said that was enough formality for the day. Everyone could return to their duties and train with Izz and Thuz more at a later date. He did, however, ask Chisel and Honronk to stay behind.

    He informed Honronk that Izz had offered to tutor him in Black magic. Thuz offered to do the same for Chisel in White magic. The Apprentices were overjoyed. Even Honronk broke into a wide, toothy grin, a rare display of emotion for the tusk. Honronk was willing to start immediately, but Hans suggested they start in the morning to give their guests time to rest from their journey.

    The lizardmen happily accepted an offer to visit Honronk¡¯s home and see what life was like inside of a dungeon. Their reactions aligned with that of every previous visitor: wonder, disbelief, and curiosity at a dungeon core creating something so detailed.

    When they finished poking at the dungeon-generated apartment¨Cwell, foreman¡¯s office converted to an apartment¨CIzz and Thuz asked if Honronk might tell them more about his experiments with enchantments. The Apprentice asked Hans if that would be okay. The Guild Master replied that Honronk could trust the lizardmen as much as he did, which was completely.

    Hans left the mages to talk and made for the surface.

    ***

    ¡°Kane and Quentin are going to be pissed they missed that,¡± Terry said. ¡°That was something.¡±

    ¡°And he was so damn polite about it,¡± Becky added with a chuckle. ¡°He¡¯ll beat your ass and then help you to the Healer. Would probably feel bad about hurtin¡¯ you too.¡±

    Hans intended to leave the adventurers to their conversation at the dungeon entrance. He wanted Olza''s input on the next expansion, and he also hoped to assess her emotional state. Her last visit to the dungeon was unpleasant, and Hans didn¡¯t want to force her underground before she was ready.

    ¡°Mr. Hans!¡± Bel called as he passed. ¡°If you have a moment, I¡¯d like to hear your critique of my performance.¡±

    He stopped next to the group. ¡°Anything specific?¡±

    ¡°Up to you, Mr. Hans.¡±

    After thinking he said, ¡°Duplicate is a pain to deal with. In the field, he¡¯ll summon a minor air elemental and cast Duplicate on it. Contact breaks the illusion, so they float around like bees to make them hard to hit. Meanwhile, Thuz is buffing the crap out of the one real air elemental so when it does attack for real it¡¯s going to hurt, and then Izz follows up with more ranged attacks. It gets overwhelming pretty quick.¡±

    ¡°How do I beat that?¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t,¡± Hans said. ¡°When you spar Izz again, don¡¯t go in thinking about winning the whole thing. Pick a piece of the puzzle and try to last a little bit longer by solving it. That¡¯s the best way to approach any match with a higher rank. Here¡¯s a freebie: Use a spell with a wide field of small projectiles to snuff out the fakes. Izz will be pissed I told you that, but he needs to be surprised once in a while too.¡±

    ¡°Then what?¡± Bel asked.

    ¡°Then you solve the next piece.¡±

    ¡°Which is?¡±

    Hans laughed. ¡°Who can say?¡±

    Becky patted Bel on the back. ¡°He¡¯s always like this, if you haven¡¯t figured that out by now.¡±

    ¡°Oh, I know. I still hate it.¡±

    The Guild Master smiled.

    ***

    ¡°If I had known to expect company, I would have prepared a better welcome,¡± Luther said, greeting Hans, Thuz, Izz, and Olza at the entry to his new hometown.

    He called the underground town ¡°New Gomi,¡± but the Apprentices called it Luther Land instead. Pretty much immediately. Hans watched as Luther only made it more permanent by arguing hard against it. Hans learned that lesson with the Poop Puddle and the Bone Goblins, and he looked forward to watching someone else flail against the inevitability of a nickname.

    Olza gave the tusk a big hug, which Luther gratefully accepted.

    ¡°Mr. Izz, Mr. Thuz, it¡¯s good to see your faces again.¡±

    ¡°Likewise, Mr. Luther.¡±

    Luther looked past the group. ¡°Odd to not see the Apprentices with you.¡±

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    ¡°Becky and the Silvers are running the ogre valley again,¡± Hans said. ¡°Izz and Thuz wanted to try the dungeon for themselves, so Olza and I followed them down.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve got a few of the other houses set up for visitors,¡± Luther said, leading the group through Luther Land. ¡°We need to bring down a few more beds eventually, but should be plenty of space for you lot.¡±

    The houses ready to receive visitors had enchanted torches on their doors, liberated from the Forgeborne Mines. Showing the group to his home last, Luther invited them to use one of the chairs sitting outside his front door. He had relocated a few pieces of dining room furniture from other homes to the space in front of his house, creating a banquet table of sorts right in the street. None of the chairs matched and the row of tables were uneven, but the set up gave the adventurers a comfortable place to sit and talk.

    ¡°Is anyone hungry? I can grill some steaks.¡±

    ¡°Steaks?¡± Hans asked.

    ¡°Camahueto steaks. It''s like getting a whole cow every few days. Leaner and a little gamier than a farm cow, but still plenty to eat.¡±

    ¡°How does one tend a fire this far below ground?¡± Izz asked.

    ¡°The ceiling absorbs the smoke,¡± Luther answered. ¡°Don''t ask me how. And there''s a woodpile out back. Anything I use comes back when the dungeon resets.¡±

    Izz commented about how convenient that sounded.

    ¡°I¡¯m liking it. Still adjusting, though.¡±

    ¡°What''s been the strangest part?¡± Olza asked.

    Luther thought. ¡°The gnolls,¡± he said. ¡°When the dungeon resets they try to get into New Gomi. I made dinner one night after a reset, and they scratched at the door for a whole day before the Apprentices got them. I could hear it in my house with my door closed. Drove me mad.¡±

    The tusk excused himself to start the steaks. When Olza offered to help, he insisted she stay at the table and relax.

    Hans had seen Luther Land before, but the novelty was almost still as strong for him as it was for Izz, Thuz, and Olza who experienced it for the first time. He wasn''t sure he''d ever get used to seeing a stonework ceiling hanging over a mountain town. It gave the scene an otherworldly, dreamlike quality, like he existed in a space that couldn''t possibly exist.

    ¡°I will never forget this experience,¡± Thuz said, looking around. ¡°I also believe I''ll never see another place like this.¡±

    Luther rejoined the group, saying the steaks would need a few minutes. ¡°It''s pretty peaceful, right?¡±

    Olza commented on the true quiet. A quiet night in Gomi assumed the presence of crickets, frogs, and the whisper of leaves rubbing against each other in the wind. Luther Land was just quiet.

    ¡°Maurice is asleep.¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡± Hans asked.

    ¡°One of the zouts wandered down here. He seems to like me. His name is Maurice.¡±

    ¡°Probably from the overgrowth,¡± Hans guessed. ¡°Before you ask, it''s fine. That was an extra zout anyway.¡±

    ¡°Why Maurice?¡± Olza asked.

    Luther shrugged. ¡°He seemed like a Maurice.¡±

    She laughed. ¡°Of course.¡±

    From there, the conversation meandered from this to that as slow meals with friends often do. Luther answered several more questions about life in the dungeon, but soon everyone shared stories, with Luther and Olza asking the lizardmen about their lives and their adventures.

    Their laughter woke Maurice. When Luther opened the door to his house, Maurice ran out and circled the table at a distance, squawking. With some encouragement for Luther, the bird quieted. Zouts planted themselves in the ground like trees when they laid their eggs, so Hans found it odd that Maurice enjoyed steak so much. He would have guessed the bird would be vegetarian.

    As the night wore on¨Can odd idea in a town with no sun¨C the energy of the gathering waned.

    ¡°If this is rude, forget I asked,¡± Olza began, ¡°but what was Gret like? I''ve heard so much about him as an adventurer but not a lot about him as a person.¡±

    ¡°Are you sure you have no drink?¡± Izz asked Luther.

    He did not, sadly.

    Izz suspected as much. ¡°I knew Mr. Gret as a teacher. When Mr. Gret was preparing for Diamond, I asked him what kind of boon he hoped to acquire. To answer, he told me a story of a farmer discovering a strange egg in the forest. The farmer did not know what creature had laid the egg, but he cared for it all the same. He kept it warm and protected until it could hatch. When it hatched, a beautiful creature unknown to all who saw it emerged. He said that Diamond abilities were like that egg. You had no way of knowing what you would find, but the egg needed to be nurtured regardless.¡±

    Olza said that story was cute.

    ¡°I too admired the parable,¡± Izz said. ¡°Later, I learned that he took the story from a Haynu B. Dumas story. The creature that hatched was goat-like with leathery wings. The goat was of the fainting variety, collapsing at any sudden noise or hint of danger. The farmer worked with the creature to overcome its fear, day after day of encouragement. The first time the goat stood its ground against a pack of wolves invading the farm, the goat transformed into a demon, destroying everything.¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡± Olza asked while Hans chuckled.

    ¡°Haynu had some funny ideas about monsters,¡± Hans added. ¡°A lot of them had abilities that triggered when they resisted their true nature.¡±

    He wanted to continue sharing his knowledge of Haynu lore, but he overcame the temptation to launch into a discussion of birds who caused earthquakes if they touched the ground or cats who burned down doors if they were locked out of a room.

    ¡°What lesson was Gret teaching with that?¡± Olza asked.

    Izz smiled. ¡°I believe he was sincere about nurturing the egg, but Mr. Gret often hid jokes that would come to light months later. A year passed before I read that particular Haynu book. Mr. Gret was quite pleased with himself when I asked him about it.¡±

    ¡°We rooted out a cult on a job once,¡± Hans began. ¡°When we cleared their sanctum, we found piles of these little cards promoting their cause, like they were meant to be handed out as recruitment tools. ¡®Is Worshipping Darkness Right for You?¡¯ they said.

    ¡°Gret snatched a whole stack of them without us knowing and hid them all over for us to stumble into later. I found one right before I moved to Gomi, actually. He stuck it between some books in my apartment.¡±

    Thuz laughed. ¡°Miss Mazo moved a painting in her home some months ago. Ten of the cult pamphlets fell to the ground as soon as she lifted it from the wall.¡±

    ¡°I think I have a Gret story you guys haven¡¯t heard,¡± Hans said when the laughter quieted. ¡°Gret was scrappy. He grew up as a street kid in Hoseki, so he was fighting all the time. He got into the Guild when a retired boxer in town started training him and vouched for his potential. Get him on the right track kind of thing.

    ¡°Unfortunately for Gret, he wasn¡¯t very tall, wasn¡¯t muscular, and he had one of those faces that people just want to mess with, like it was a bullseye for bullies. At first, watching Gret school some townie for picking a fight was a fun way to wind down from a job, but once we started pushing through Bronze, Mazo and I were genuinely concerned he would kill someone. Not intentionally or anything, but the mismatch was getting bigger and bigger.

    ¡°Mazo volunteers to talk to him about it. She does, says it went well, and a week or so later, we¡¯re in a tavern after a wyvern job and some poor kid spills ale on a sailor. Gret steps in for the kid, and boom, they¡¯re fighting. I look at Mazo like ¡®what the hell?¡¯ and she held up a finger for me to wait.

    ¡°Gret had refused to stop fighting outright when Mazo asked, so they arrived at a very Mazo compromise: If he was in a scrap with a non-adventurer, he wasn¡¯t allowed to hit them. He had to end the fight another way. She sold it as a new kind of challenge to keep fights interesting.

    ¡°So for every fight after that, Gret robbed his opponent¡¯s blind. They¡¯d throw a punch, he¡¯d slip inside, and suddenly their belt was missing and Gret¡¯s tossing their wallet out the closest window. The other guy would shuffle out of the tavern holding their pants up. Gret had a wall of trophy belts by the time he hit Platinum.¡±

    When Izz finished laughing, he raised his glass of water, ¡°To Mr. Gret.¡±

    ¡°To Gret!¡±

    ***

    Open Quests (Ordered from Old to New):

    Progress from Gold-ranked to Diamond-ranked.

    Mend the rift with Devon.

    Using a pen name, complete the manuscript for "The Next Generation: A Teaching Methodology for Training Adventurers."

    Expand the dungeon with resource-specific monsters for each of Gomi¡¯s major trades.

    Find a way for Gomi adventurers to benefit from their rightful ranks in the Adventurers¡¯ Guild.

    Secure a way to use surplus dungeon inventory for good.

    Confirm Roland and Uncle Ed¡¯s decision on the Osare tournament.

    Finish transcribing the manual and decide on the next course of action.

    Help Izz and Thuz bring new opportunities to their home village.

 Book 2, Chapter 25: Retro

    Having just cleared most of the dungeon on their own, Izz and Thuz opted to head to bed, leaving Hans, Olza, and Luther talking at the mismatched tables. Maurice slept in Luther¡¯s lap.

    Olza explained her Blood magic¨Capologies, Earth magic¨Cto Luther, telling him about her modified garlic. The same concerns around grow-time that worried Olza were why Luther had never tried growing garlic on the surface. He was next door to a farmer who planted garlic one year, and he hadn¡¯t been encouraged by the results. Other than offering general farming advice, he wasn¡¯t sure how helpful he could be.

    ¡°If I still had my farm, I¡¯d plant a few rows of it for you, but it¡¯s tough to grow crops in darkness.¡±

    ¡°Yeah,¡± Olza said. ¡°Not much sunlight down here.¡±

    ¡°Dumb question,¡± Hans began, ¡°I know that plants need sunlight to grow, but why is that the case and why doesn¡¯t other light do the same?¡±

    ¡°The simplest explanation I can give you is that sunrays are a special kind of light that the plant uses as a sort of fuel to grow. It¡¯s more complicated than that, but that¡¯s the idea.¡±

    Hans rested his chin in his hand. ¡°So it¡¯s the sunrays the plants need, not the sun itself.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not sure that distinction matters, but sure.¡±

    ¡°A while back, I was helping Honronk work through a tough spot in his training, he was stuck on¨C no, that¡¯s not important. What is important: I recall the Summon Light spell describing its illumination as having the same benefits of sunlight. Keeps adventurers from losing their minds in the total darkness of a dungeon, and I think that''s why dwarves used them too. I don¡¯t remember the whole entry, but I am certain it said ¡®sunlight¡¯ instead of ¡®light.¡¯¡±

    ¡°Is that spell difficult to learn?¡± Luther asked.

    ¡°I mean probably,¡± Hans answered, ¡°but the iron mines are loaded with torches enchanted with Summon Light. You have a few down here already.¡± He gestured at the enchanted torches mounted outside Luther¡¯s home.

    ¡°Why didn¡¯t you say anything about this before?¡± Olza asked.

    ¡°New idea. I swear.¡±

    Olza and Luther spoke over top of each other, each suggesting they try an experiment right away.

    Luther laughed. ¡°Seems we are agreed, but we shouldn¡¯t be too hopeful. The soil down here seems acceptable, but I¡¯ve never used dungeon soil to really know.¡±

    ¡°I doubt anyone has,¡± Hans said.

    ¡°Right. It may be that nothing can grow here no matter what we do. I still want to try.¡±

    When Luther finished a list of seeds for them to test¨Cpotato seeds or plain potatoes, carrot seeds, radish seeds, and tomato seeds to start¨CHans offered his last piece of business for the night.

    ¡°In a few weeks, I¡¯ll be back here with a book we need to hide. Think you could find a place where it would be safe?¡±

    ¡°Of course. How could I say no to a proper use of a dungeon?¡±

    ***

    Back on the surface the next day, Hans showed Izz and Thuz two dorm beds they could claim as their own.

    ¡°You can stay in Gomi as long as you want,¡± Hans said. ¡°You knew that already, but I wanted to say it outright. I am happy to pay you for the time.¡±

    ¡°Again Mr. Hans?¡± Thuz said with a sigh. ¡°We have already shared our terms. Help us construct a plan to help our village prosper. Do that, and consider it the completion of a fair trade. If anything, it is we who are indebted to you.¡±

    ¡°I do have one more request,¡± Izz said. ¡°We will likely be doing a great deal of teaching when we return to our home, and I feel unprepared for that responsibility. We have both taught the occasional class or lesson, but our training is in adventuring, not instruction. Might you teach us to be instructors?¡±

    Hans said he¡¯d be happy to do that whether they made a trade or not. He promised to get them a copy of his manuscript as soon as possible. In the meantime, they knew the Apprentice curriculum well enough to work with the current batch of students¨CKane, Bel, Lee, Chisel, and Honronk. With Tandis¡¯ new recruits, they might have a few completely new magery students as well.

    If they wanted, Hans could observe and offer suggestions. The brothers said they would like that very much.

    ***

    Terry came in from the training yard after a session with the new recruits and flopped onto one of the guild hall benches.

    ¡°Gods, Hans,¡± he began, ¡°where do you get the patience for this work?¡±

    Hans asked what he meant.

    ¡°A few of the recruits have never handled a weapon before. Ever. Of any kind. It feels like teaching my daughter how to walk, but it¡¯s worse because they can talk to me.¡±

    The Guild Master chuckled and thought on the question. ¡°I¡¯m not a patient person, and I mean that sincerely. It¡¯s very much the truth and not some humble platitude. When I¡¯m teaching, I think it¡¯s less about patience and more about being practical and empathetic.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve never been accused of being empathetic.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re better at it than you let on,¡± Hans said. ¡°Beginners will always suck at doing what you¡¯re teaching. That will never change because that¡¯s what being a beginner is. Your real goal with the early lessons is to get them comfortable with sucking.¡±

    ¡°Come again?¡±

    ¡°A new student knows they¡¯re awful, and they know that you know they¡¯re awful. Most of the time they¡¯re already embarrassed, and that just puts more pressure on them. Try to acknowledge that from the start. We were all beginners, and what they¡¯re going through is not just challenging but also normal.¡±

    Terry nodded, thinking.

    ¡°Is it maddening sometimes when you say ¡®lift your right arm¡¯ and they lift their left? Absolutely. If you let the student see you¡¯re frustrated, bam, they¡¯ll think more about how stupid they look and less about what they¡¯re supposed to be learning.¡±

    Hans suggested Terry adjust how he defined ¡°success¡± in teaching. Pushing a student to have perfect execution in the early days wasn¡¯t practical. The nuances were plentiful, and understanding them required a much greater context than they had yet. The only immediate objective was improvement. If someone could do ten percent of a technique correctly and they got to thirty percent after a lesson with you, that was time well spent.

    The teacher needed to know that just as much as the student did.

    Learning was like that at the higher ranks no matter what, further increasing the importance of a new student accepting incremental improvements.

    ¡°How incremental?¡±

    ¡°When I was Bronze, I started thinking I was hot shit with a sword,¡± Hans said. ¡°For a while, I was one of the best swordsmen at Bronze. I won tournaments, I¡¯d occasionally win matches against Silvers, all of that. This Diamond started making annual visits to Hoseki around that time and the guy outright murdered me. I¡¯ve been training a long time now, and I still can¡¯t tell you what he did to put me on my ass, but it happened instantly.

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    ¡°Before he left, he tweaked the angle of my hips in my stance. When I say tweak, I mean so slight that you wouldn¡¯t be able to see the difference looking at me. Then he said, ¡®Footwork this and footwork that, that¡¯s all you hear. When your feet do what you say, the hips are next. Nobody trains the hips.¡¯¡±

    Continuing the story, Hans said that when the Diamond returned the following year, he gave Hans another tweak. This time, it was an adjustment to how Hans¡¯ head moved when he executed an attack. The year after, he critiqued Hans¡¯ grip. The year after that, he tweaked Hans¡¯ shoulder positioning.

    ¡°I¡¯d spend the entire year drilling the new habit, and right when I thought I had mastered it, he would add another miniscule change. But Terry, those tiny fixes were magic. Getting them down made me feel like a Platinum. They helped that much.¡±

    Eventually, the majority of high-rank adventurer training was exclusively minute adjustments to techniques or spells the adventurer already knew. A Gold rarely learned a truly new technique because by that point they had seen the majority of what hand-to-hand combat had to offer. The elite adventurers weren¡¯t using secret techniques. They used the same attacks as everyone else but at a far higher level.

    ¡°Izz and Thuz half-interrogated Honronk about his enchanting work because they knew he did something different. At their rank, the tiniest insights are like, well, diamonds. They might go over a year without discovering a single insight like that. And it might come from anywhere. Even an Apprentice.¡±

    ¡°...You make being advanced sound not so fun.¡±

    ¡°The layers are deep. Anyone can get good at anything they want, and I believe that. It¡¯s everything beyond ¡®good¡¯ that¡¯s really hard. So help your students enjoy being beginners. If they don¡¯t love the training process, they will never stop struggling.¡±

    ***

    Olza passed Hans a fresh cup of tea and returned to her usual spot on the couch.

    ¡°How¡¯s it feel having Izz and Thuz around again?¡±

    ¡°Really great,¡± he said. ¡°They¡¯re good kids. Too hard on themselves, but they¡¯re never not trying to help someone. Part of why Mazo keeps them around is to have two working moral compasses in their party. She¡¯d get in a lot more trouble without them.¡±

    ¡°You seem kind of sad sometimes when you''re with them, though,¡± Olza said.

    Hans took a sip and thought. ¡°I miss what it used to be. I miss it a lot. They remind me of that. There was maybe a year where life was perfect. I hit Gold, I had money, I had friends around every corner in Hoseki and in almost all the towns in the kingdom. We were demolishing high level jobs every other month, and kids like Izz, Thuz, Theneesa, and Devon were improving so fast.¡±

    He compared that time in his life to a rare celestial event like a comet or an eclipse. Huge forces had to align in the exact right way, and the perfect moment that might have needed a hundred years to happen passed in an instant.

    ¡°This is all just old adventurer belly achin¡¯,¡± Hans said. ¡°A lot of people never get a moment like that, so I should be thankful that I did.¡±

    ¡°No, it¡¯s okay. Getting older is strange.¡±

    Hans agreed.

    Olza held her tea close to her chin as she thought, as if she was about to take a sip but was interrupted by her own mind. ¡°We¡¯re not Charlie-level old, but how much time I¡¯ve used and how much time I might have left is very clear to me.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s an interesting way of describing it.¡±

    ¡°Is it like that for you too?¡± Olza asked. ¡°Gomi gives me too much time to think. I take myself in circles trying to decide how I want to spend the rest of my life. Some days, Gomi is paradise. Other days, I feel trapped, like my potential is wasted way out here.¡±

    ¡°Yeah. That tracks. The dungeon has helped a lot with that for me, but I get restless.¡±

    The pair sat quietly for a while, basking in the pleasant warmth of a young summer night.

    ¡°Most adventurers don¡¯t see old age,¡± Hans said after a time. ¡°The Guild makes sure you know that, so you¡¯ll hear a lot of adventurers talk about living life to the fullest, no regrets, and on and on. Mostly they¡¯re looking for excuses to go on a bender or to blow their savings, but I think about it a lot.¡±

    ¡°In what way?¡±

    ¡°If I died this moment, would I feel I lived to the fullest? That I did the best I could when it mattered?¡±

    Olza nodded. ¡°My answer for myself would be ¡®no.¡¯¡±

    ¡°Why?¡±

    ¡°I gave Aaron too many years of my life, even after he was gone. I was out here worrying about seeing him in Gomi one morning. I don¡¯t know. It¡¯s embarrassing to admit that.¡±

    ¡°It sounds normal to me,¡± Hans said. ¡°Once someone has experienced real danger like you did, they look for it around every corner for the rest of their lives, whether it makes sense to or not.¡±

    ¡°Thanks.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m serious. And screw that guy. It¡¯s not your fault he¡¯s an asshole.¡±

    ¡°You think so?¡±

    Hans laughed. ¡°Olza, I wanted to punch him in the face thirty seconds after meeting him.¡±

    ¡°Fair.¡±

    After he refreshed their tea, Hans sat back down at his desk, continuing his study of the Takarabune manual. He had been working through the notes left by old Guild Masters, starting with the oldest entries and working toward the present. A few hours of writing turned his battered hands into gnarled stumps, so for now he read instead of transcribed.

    So far, most of the notes were simple lists and records for basic stuff like what boon a Diamond earned on a certain quest and what rare item was brought back for the Guild. Other than the fact that parties¨Cand not individuals¨Ctook quests at the start, the most noteworthy information he found was that early Diamond quests were within the kingdom¡¯s borders, and the Guild shifted to solo quests a few decades in to increase the prestige of the rank, but Hans suspected supply was an unspoken factor.

    Were those meaningful facts or novel pieces of trivia? He wasn¡¯t sure.

    Two Diamond quests had taken place in the Gomi forest. That was interesting.

    For the first quest, he found the following entries:

    Cassian the Ranger ¨C 4106.372, Forest Spirit, Fear Aura

    William the Archer ¨C 4106.372, Forest Spirit, Fear Aura

    Alexander the Black Mage ¨C 4106.372, Forest Spirit, Fear Aura

    Higluf the Rogue ¨C 4106.372, Forest Spirit, Fear Aura

    Quest Color: Orange/Yellow.

    No wonder the Lady of the Forest is so reclusive.

    For the second he found the following entries:

    Tacitus the Fighter ¨C 1235.2568, Tainted Treant, Vampire Roots

    Julian the Barbarian ¨C 1235.2568, Tainted Treant, Vampire Roots

    Florus the Berserker ¨C 1235.2568, Tainted Treant, Vampire Roots

    Laelius the Druid ¨C 1235.2568, Tainted Treant, Vampire Roots

    Quest Color: Violet.

    For a heartbeat, he thought he had come across information related to the dungeon, but the coordinates didn¡¯t match. He noted the locations, intending to ask Becky if she was familiar with those two points.

    New Quest: Investigate the locations of old Diamond Quests.

    Later, Hans decided to look up his generation in the manual, but an entry from a Guild Master Otis caught his attention as he flipped through the pages. Otis was seven Guild Masters ago:

    After reviewing my predecessors¡¯ notes, I am certain that year over year, the number of Diamond quests is slowly decreasing. Furthermore, they are trending toward being farther and farther from Hoseki. Where our early Guild Masters had quests within the kingdom, all of my Diamonds have had to venture deeper into the frontier than anyone before them.

    My tentative conclusions:

    -Diamond quests are finite.

    -The farther a quest is from the device, the more time and mana it requires to discern a location. Since our quests are farther away, we have fewer to offer.

    -It may take centuries, but there will come a point when we need to take the device into the frontier if we want to continue locating Diamond quests.

    I pity the successor who must weigh the decision of having no Diamonds against risking relocation of the device, potentially losing it to the worst of our enemies.

    Two pages later, the same Guild Master wrote:

    We¡¯ve lost eleven Golds so far this year. I send them into the frontier for their quests, and they do not return. My job has become sending children to their deaths.

    That was the last entry Guild Master Otis provided. The next entry was from his successor:

    My friend and teacher took his life last night. He could not recover from the guilt he felt.

    As of today, I am raising the standards for every rank. I hope that will spare my successor the pain that defeated Guild Master Otis.

    ***

    Open Quests (Ordered from Old to New):

    Progress from Gold-ranked to Diamond-ranked.

    Mend the rift with Devon.

    Using a pen name, complete the manuscript for "The Next Generation: A Teaching Methodology for Training Adventurers."

    Expand the dungeon with resource-specific monsters for each of Gomi¡¯s major trades.

    Find a way for Gomi adventurers to benefit from their rightful ranks in the Adventurers¡¯ Guild.

    Secure a way to use surplus dungeon inventory for good.

    Confirm Roland and Uncle Ed¡¯s decision on the Osare tournament.

    Finish transcribing the manual and decide on the next course of action.

    Help Izz and Thuz bring new opportunities to their home village.

    Investigate the locations of old Diamond Quests.

 Book 2, Chapter 26: Divinity

    Roland found Hans in the training yard, pulling weeds around the perimeter and repacking dirt where a stray sword or shield cut a divot in the earth.

    ¡°How¡¯s the season treating you so far?¡± Hans asked.

    Quentin¡¯s father smiled. ¡°I haven¡¯t spotted the Merchant on the Mountain but the hunting has been good. Seeing a lot more moose activity this year too.¡±

    ¡°Glad to hear it.¡±

    ¡°Looks like you¡¯ve been busy. I hear Eduardo hammering all the way out at my place, and Willow won¡¯t stop talking about lessons with Miss. Olza.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re getting there,¡± Hans said proudly. ¡°We don¡¯t have a full blown apprentice program yet, but it¡¯s progress at least.¡±

    ¡°Is now an okay time? Our schedules haven¡¯t aligned very well these past few months. I¡¯m worried I won¡¯t get the chance to talk to you for another month if I don''t bother you now.¡±

    ¡°Yes, of course. Tandis caught you up, I take it?¡±

    He nodded. ¡°If Izz and Thuz will be with us, I¡¯d be much less worried about taking the boys to Osare. Still not excited to put Kane in a situation like that, but his mind is pretty well set.¡±

    ¡°Safety won¡¯t be an issue with them around, but yeah, that doesn¡¯t stop people from being people.¡±

    ¡°Are we decided then?¡± Roland asked.

    ¡°Uncle Ed is due back here soon. Once we talk to him, we¡¯ll know for sure. Boys will have a little under four more weeks to prepare.¡±

    Roland said he didn¡¯t see Quentin as often as he would like now that hunting season was in and Quentin was up the mountain as an Apprentice. He did know, however, that the boys had followed Hans¡¯ recommendations on fitness and drills to prepare for the tournament.

    ¡°Glad to hear it,¡± Hans said.

    ¡°How do you think they¡¯ll do?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s always hard to say, especially for an Apprentice''s first tournament. There¡¯s a good chance they get matched against an Apprentice who has been at it for two years rather than a few months, and first tournament jitters are pretty common. That said, the boys have fought more gnolls and goblins than half the professionals on this side of the kingdom. Other than a bunch of people watching, a tournament should feel less stressful.¡±

    The hunter nodded as Hans spoke. ¡°I appreciate you talking me through it. I¡¯ll let you get back to your work.¡±

    Quest Update: Confirm Uncle Ed¡¯s decision on the Osare tournament.

    After another twenty minutes, Hans was satisfied with the state of the training yard. He found Yotuli in the guild hall with several books in front of her. She had a look of helplessness, which was always an odd expression on the powerful face of a tusk.

    ¡°Mr. Hans,¡± she said, ¡°How do I know if I¡¯m getting this Cleric stuff right?¡±

    You¡¯re tired, but she needs your help. Suck it up.

    He sat down across from Yotuli. ¡°Where are you stuck?¡±

    ¡°The very beginning? Maybe? I have no idea.¡± She looked to be on the verge of tears.

    Two weeks or so had passed since she shared her desire to pursue the Cleric class, which wasn¡¯t all that much time as far as training was concerned, but she was likely falling into the same hole that slowed Honronk¡¯s early progress in studying Black magic. With no hints of progress, Yotuli had no way to assess and adjust. All she knew was that her every attempt to use a Cleric ability was a failure.

    Hans asked her to share more about what she had tried.

    ¡°I¡¯ve been trying to learn Inspiration,¡± she answered. ¡°We don¡¯t have any Cleric books, so I¡¯ve had to cobble a few things together from where our spell tomes talk about how Cleric abilities work, but it¡¯s all just crumbs.¡±

    He encouraged her to continue explaining her process.

    ¡°I call upon my faith in Daojmot and visualize it as a sort of current moving through me. I kind of ¡®ask it¡¯ to give me the ability to use.¡± Daojmot, the spirit of bastards and wanderers, was Yotuli¡¯s chosen belief for her Cleric path.

    ¡°And then what happens?¡±

    ¡°Nothing. Always nothing.¡±

    ¡°I know that successful Clerics tend to be of the zealot personality,¡± Hans said. ¡°Their faith is total and unshakable. That usually makes for a miserable friendship but it¡¯s what they need to call upon their abilities.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t think I have doubts¡­¡±

    After thinking, Hans had two ideas for Yotuli to try.

    The first was to learn as much as they could from a zealot and mirror their practices. Zealots often wore symbols or insignias to represent their beliefs. They had scripted prayers and mantras. They meditated, sometimes for hours.

    Perhaps something as simple as a charm on a necklace helped to make their beliefs more tangible, and tangible things were harder to doubt.

    He went to his desk, and after sifting through a few drawers, returned with one of the wooden medallions Galinda carved for the chapter¡¯s camping trip earlier that spring. She assumed Hans would lose some of them, so she carved extras. Hans felt that was a wise choice.

    ¡°You don¡¯t have to use this, but it¡¯s here if you want it,¡± he said, handing Yotuli the carved bear head of Gomi¡¯s town insignia. ¡°If you have a symbol for Daojmot in mind already, you should use that instead.¡±

    Yotuli said that she had no such images in mind and thanked him for the medallion.

    ¡°My second idea is to talk to Becky,¡± Hans said. ¡°Me? I doubt everything, especially myself. Becky, though, her belief in nature is pure. Completely pure. Druid magic is a bit different from what I understand Cleric abilities to be, but it¡¯s worth a try.¡±

    ¡°You think she can help?¡±

    Hans shrugged. ¡°I honestly have no idea, but no one anywhere near Gomi believes as strongly in something as she does.¡±

    ¡°Except for me.¡±

    Smiling, Hans said, ¡°That mindset is a good sign. Check back with me in a week or two and update me.¡±

    Yotuli promised she would.

    ***

    Hans held two fresh copies for the first volume of The Next Generation: A Teaching Methodology for Training Adventurers, admiring the cleanliness and consistency of the handwriting. The scribe had done an exquisite job and worked far faster than she had estimated. He was so impressed that he commissioned a third copy, which he intended to store somewhere separate from his original manuscript. The thought of a fire or flood ruining his only copy terrified him.

    Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.

    As for these two copies, one would be mailed to Theneesa when the next caravan arrived, and the other would be for the chapter. Anyone would be welcome to read it, but he suspected Izz, Thuz, Terry, and Quentin would use it the most as they were actively teaching classes.

    He still needed a pen name, however.

    He heard Olza at the door before he saw her. ¡°Are you in here, Hans?¡± she called. When she turned the corner, he saw a clear glass bottle in her hand.

    ¡°Is that?¡±

    ¡°Uh huh.¡± She set it on his desk.

    ¡°Is this the only bottle?¡± He uncorked it and gave the fool¡¯s root vodka a sniff. Yep, it was strong.

    She pursed her lips. ¡°I really need to give you alchemy and chemistry lessons,¡± she said. ¡°I¡¯m distilling these in my lab. My equipment is meant for small batches of potions, not bottle after bottle of vodka.¡±

    ¡°How many did you make?¡±

    ¡°Five. There¡¯s yours, and there¡¯s one for Charlie, Galad, Luther, and Uncle Ed.¡±

    Hans stared at the alchemist suspiciously.

    ¡°Okay I made six, but the last one is mine. You can¡¯t have any.¡± She noticed the manuscript copies on Hans¡¯ desk. ¡°Are they done already?¡± she asked as she inspected the craftsmanship. ¡°These look great, Hans.¡±

    ¡°I need your opinion on a pen name,¡± he began. ¡°Would it be in poor taste to adopt another author¡¯s pen name? A long dead author.¡±

    Olza said that question was odd. ¡°What¡¯s the pen name?¡±

    ¡°Haynu B. Dumas, but hear me out. The books are out of print, and the current generation of adventurers has probably never heard of them. Also, it¡¯s pretty well accepted that there was no singular author for the books. Haynu was more of a character than an author.¡±

    ¡°Wasn¡¯t the point of using a pen name to get people to take the book seriously?¡±

    After a few head wobbles, Hans admitted that was true. ¡°It feels right to me, though, and I think Gret would have gotten a kick out of it. If no one reads it, at least I¡¯ll have that.¡±

    ¡°Sounds like you made up your mind already.¡±

    She was right. He had. He flipped to the title page of each copy and wrote Haynu B. Dumas in the blank space beneath the word ¡°by.¡±

    Quest Update: Complete the next volume (Iron to Bronze) for "The Next Generation: A Teaching Methodology for Training Adventurers."

    Damn it feels good to make progress on that quest.

    Hans tossed a cold cup of tea out the window and poured a finger of vodka to replace it. He looked to Olza, signaling an offer to pour her one as well.

    ¡°It¡¯s pretty early.¡±

    ¡°Kids¡¯ class is over. It was a tough one too. The grappling units are always the hardest.¡±

    Olza relented and accepted the offer.

    When Hans slid a cup across the desk to Olza, he said, ¡°Okay, so you owe me a pour from your bottle.¡±

    The alchemist rolled her eyes, took a sip, and recoiled from its strength. When the burn had passed, she shared that her weekly lessons with Willow went well so far, but Olza recently learned that Willow was reteaching each of those lessons to her friends. While Olza found that to be a sweet thing for the child to do, it also felt kind of sad.

    ¡°The bigger towns have academies and universities. We should do something like that in Gomi without all the fees and politics.¡±

    The Guild Master chuckled.

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°The other day you were saying you weren¡¯t sure you wanted to stay. Now we¡¯re talking about building a school.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry that my emotions are complicated sometimes. Like yours are any better.¡±

    Hans couldn¡¯t argue with her there. He liked the idea, especially for the Gomi winter. Most of the town had nothing to do when the snows came. The chapter¡¯s collection of books was already functioning like a library, with all manner of townspeople borrowing this or that or reading a spell tome in the guild hall for the sake of their own curiosity and nothing else. Perhaps the plan should account for their needs too?

    ¡°Hmm,¡± Olza said, thinking. ¡°Make it part school, part library.¡±

    ¡°Oh, I really like that.¡±

    New Quest: Help Olza establish a school and library in Gomi.

    ¡°What can I do?¡±

    The alchemist scowled. ¡°I can manage, and you don¡¯t need another project. If you want, you can make a list of books you¡¯d like the library to have, but that¡¯s it. Nothing else.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡±

    ¡°Promise me.¡±

    Quest Update: Step away from the school and library project to let Olza execute her idea.

    Quest Complete: Step away from the school and library project to let Olza execute her idea.

    A completed quest is a completed quest. Thank you very much.

    Standing in the doorway, ready to depart, Olza said, ¡°Don¡¯t get too excited yet, but Galad thinks we can have a distillery running by fall, depending on a few items we have to order.¡±

    Thank the gods.

    ***

    Later that afternoon, when Hans sat down to continue his research of the manual, he had the sudden awareness that Gret held the same book in his hands at one point. Academically, he knew that from the start, but for a reason Hans couldn¡¯t explain, he felt like Gret was there now.

    Like an inscription scrawled at the front of a book, he felt as though two moments in time had connected. Gret was right there, holding the same book, a moment away. If only Hans could talk to him.

    Hans returned to his apartment desk with his fool¡¯s root vodka and his dirty tea cup.

    Fuck you, Gret, he thought, shooting his first pour¡­ His first if he started counting at the top of his apartment stairs and no earlier.

    Abandoning his methodical study, he flipped ahead, looking for entries about the Diamonds from his generation. He soon found his Guild Master¡¯s notes and started to scan each page. So far, every Guild Master had handled their records of Diamond quests a little differently from every one else. Most were just the color of the quest, the adventurer¡¯s name, their ability, and the item they found for the Guild. Some Guild Masters noted that information as it came, so one Diamond quest entry might have nine or ten entries of other stuff between it and the next quest record. A few Guild Masters had a dedicated page to keep the records in one place, but only a few.

    His Guild Master took the latter approach, thankfully. That made this easier.

    He found a page divided into a table with a list of adventurer names down the side. The columns across the top read, ¡°Quest Coordinates, Type, Anticipated Enemy, Ability Earned, Item Retrieved.¡±

    For example, Mazo¡¯s read:

    Mazo the Blue Mage ¨C 4275.3668, Path of Mana, Blue Dragon, Legendary Mana Pool, Dragon Egg

    Hans bit his cheek.

    Path of Mana? What the hells does that mean?

    He didn¡¯t know what that column represented as he had not seen it used in previous entries. This was the danger of skipping ahead, he realized. He made a note to explore that curiosity further.

    He read Gret¡¯s entry next:

    Gret the Rogue ¨C 1707.3436, Path of Shadows, Labyrinth, Shadow Form, Enchanted Globe

    And he found his own:

    Hans the Adventurer ¨C 3379.236, Path of Strength, Terathan Hive ¨C FAILED x3

    Active Quest: Progress from Gold-ranked to Diamond-ranked.

    Seeing the entry reminded him of how the poison felt, surging through his bloodstream like a torrent of broken glass. He could smell the mustiness of the underground hive mixed with the sickly sweet smell of the silk binding him. He had told his arms and legs to fight, to escape, but they ignored him. His eyes were the only part of him that moved as he hung in the web, waiting to die.

    He closed the manual and sat back in his chair.

    I thought I was ready for this.

    He refreshed his cup and abandoned his desk for the rest of the day.

    ***

    Open Quests (Ordered from Old to New):

    Progress from Gold-ranked to Diamond-ranked.

    Mend the rift with Devon.

    Using a pen name, complete the manuscript for "The Next Generation: A Teaching Methodology for Training Adventurers."

    Expand the dungeon with resource-specific monsters for each of Gomi¡¯s major trades.

    Find a way for Gomi adventurers to benefit from their rightful ranks in the Adventurers¡¯ Guild.

    Secure a way to use surplus dungeon inventory for good.

    Confirm Uncle Ed¡¯s decision on the Osare tournament.

    Finish transcribing the manual and decide on the next course of action.

    Help Izz and Thuz bring new opportunities to their home village.

    Investigate the locations of old Diamond Quests.

 Book 2, Chapter 27: Speedrun

    Gunther ran into the guild hall, finding Hans sitting on the floor, leaning against the wall next to the hearth.

    ¡°Mr. Hans! ¡­Mr. Hans?¡±

    ¡°Aaaaaayyyyy Gunny. What time is it?¡±

    ¡°Almost lunch,¡± Galad said, coming in behind the young tusk. ¡°Gunny, how about you go see what Mayor Charlie is baking today?¡±

    ¡°I know you¡¯re trying to get rid of me.¡±

    ¡°Only because Mr. Hans is unwell.¡±

    Looking at Hans, Gunther seemed to agree. He ran out the door as fast as he had run in.

    ¡°Sorry,¡± Hans said.

    ¡°What can I do?¡±

    Hans waved Galad off. ¡°I¡¯m fine. What¡¯s up?¡±

    Galad watched the Guild Master pull himself up onto a bench like his legs didn¡¯t work. Hans¡¯ slow movement gave Galad plenty of time to work through one of his thoughtful pauses.

    ¡°Well? Out with it.¡±

    ¡°Uncle Ed has returned. I thought you¡¯d want to know and hear the report from him.¡±

    ¡°Give me the high points?¡±

    Galad stared at Hans and said, almost reluctantly, ¡°The war is still considered ¡®won¡¯ but the roving bands of orcs are a bigger problem than previously believed. The towns who can afford it have adventurers or mercenaries running regular patrols, looking for signs of orcs. Business with Doorstop is good. Ed met two tusks in Raven¡¯s Hollow. They weren¡¯t necessarily receiving a warm welcome, but nobody was locking them in a stall either.¡±

    ¡°Got it.¡± Hans'' eyes felt heavy. Too heavy to hold open.

    The tusk opened his mouth as if to speak, but he thought better of it. He turned for the door, but turned back. ¡°You shouldn''t let the kids see you like this, Hans.¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    ¡°We all enjoy a drink, but the kids look up to you. If you¡¯re going to celebrate, we need to keep it away from their eyes.¡±

    ¡°Celebrate? Celebrate?!¡±

    ¡°I only meant the expression. Nothing more.¡±

    ¡°Whatever.¡±

    With a sigh, Galad said, ¡°I suppose this is the wrong time for this conversation.¡±

    ¡°What conversation?¡±

    ¡°About you being a good example for the kids.¡±

    Hans stood from his chair and still had to look up to make eye contact with Galad. ¡°I can¡¯t be a Guild Master every hour of every day. I¡¯m tired of being the example, the teacher, the leader. I get to have a break.¡±

    ¡°I understand.¡±

    ¡°The hells you do.¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t think I know what it¡¯s like?¡± Galad moved toward Hans like a fighter at a weigh-in. ¡°You think I am not hounded with questions and concerns and whatever else is on the minds of our neighbors each and every day? You think I haven¡¯t lived that for decades?¡±

    Swaying slightly, Hans said, ¡°Fine.¡±

    ¡°Sober up, Guild Master. We don¡¯t get to crack. When we do crack, it¡¯s in private so our brothers and sisters don¡¯t have to carry that too. That¡¯s how it is.¡±

    With a flick of his hand, Hans spun and walked away from Galad.

    ¡°Very well,¡± Galad said.

    The door slammed so hard papers blew off of Hans¡¯ desk.

    What does he know? Holed up in Gomi his whole life. Bah.

    ***

    Hans set the Takarabune manual and a notebook on Olza¡¯s counter. The alchemist was in the back, but she yelled a greeting to Hans all the same.

    ¡°I¡¯m leaving the manual with you. I need a break.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s no problem. What did¨C¡± Olza stopped dead when she saw Hans bedraggled face and hair. ¡°Are you okay?¡±

    ¡°Yep. Just going up the mountain.¡±

    Olza looked at Hans suspiciously and asked if he could deliver seeds to Luther. He agreed.

    She reappeared with a pouch. ¡°There are four batches of starcup seeds in here. I also have a few vegetable seeds that¨C¡± She reconsidered Hans. ¡°I should probably write this down for you.¡±

    She folded her note and put it in the seed pouch.

    ¡°You alright?¡±

    ¡°Yep. Just tired.¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t smell like tired.¡±

    Hans insisted he was fine and made for the door.

    Olza called after him. ¡°Wait, you¡¯re going up the mountain right now? It¡¯s so late. You¡¯ll never get there before dark.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯ll be fine.¡±

    He shut the door behind him.

    ***

    ¡°Gods, Mr. Hans,¡± Sven said. ¡°Coming out of the woods like that at this hour, I thought we were under attack.¡±

    Hans kept walking. ¡°When¡¯s the next reset?¡±

    ¡°Should be tomorrow.¡±

    ¡°Good. Tell whoever was supposed to do a run that they only need to do the iron elementals and ogre valley. They can leave the rest.¡±

    ¡°Mr. Hans?¡± Sven said to Hans¡¯ back as he continued toward his cabin.

    ¡°Enjoy your shift on watch,¡± Hans said without turning or stopping.

    ¡°Yeah, sure¡­¡±

    ***

    Hans slept for a few hours and was up before sunrise. He packed his gear but decided against bringing it. A sword and a shield would be enough for today, so that was all he carried past the sleeping adventurers and harvesters to enter the dungeon.

    He needed a fight. When he was in a fight, he could think of nothing else but the present. He couldn¡¯t brood. He couldn¡¯t despair. He couldn¡¯t wallow.

    He needed the peace of combat. Desperately.

    With a brisk jog, he passed through the bayou and into the Regenerating Castle. For the first few floors, he didn¡¯t draw his sword. He bashed through skeletons with his shield. As they fell one by one in rapid succession, his pace never slowed. His breath never quickened beyond disciplined and controlled. His inhales and exhales had the consistency of a metronome. Training so much with his growing crop of students restored much of his adventuring endurance.

    When he encountered the goblins, he added his empty fist to his arsenal.

    At first, the goblins looked on in surprise at the sudden appearance of an adventurer with only a shield for a weapon and a lamp hanging from his hip for light. Their surprise soon turned to fear.

    Hans barreled through their numbers. Having walked this path so many times before, he knew where every goblin would be, so he could keep killing, barely ever having to pause.

    Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

    He struck goblins with the edge and flat of his shield. He threw fists, elbows, kicks and knees. One goblin he killed by grabbing it by the leg and bashing another goblin with its confused ally. Then he clubbed another goblin with the dead goblin.

    His hands hurt. Something was probably broken.

    He knew better than to do this barehanded. He should have at least wrapped his sword hand like boxers do. Like Gret taught him to do.

    Like Gret? Gods damn it.

    Drenched in sweat, he unsheathed his sword for the first time when he reached the shaman room. He charged in, holding his shield low to plow through the small sea of goblin grunts swarming the door, making a straight run to the shaman. A mana-made block of ice shattered on his shield. He was on the shaman a moment later, his shield hitting the shaman with the force of a runaway wagon. Hans¡¯ legs kept pumping, driving the shaman backward into the wall. Its skull made a hollow thunk when it bounced off of stone.

    An instant later, Hans had an idea and his sword clattered to the floor.

    He dropped it on purpose.

    Hans grabbed the dazed goblin and wrapped his sword arm around its neck, holding it in a partial choke from behind. The shaman thrashed to free itself as it recovered from its daze. Feeling the arm tighten around its throat, it desperately shot off spells, trying in vain to hit Hans with something, anything.

    Then Hans heard it: the clop of minotaur hooves, approaching fast. The skeletal horror raised its great axe into the air.

    The goblin shrieked louder in a language Hans couldn¡¯t speak or understand. The tone told him the shaman begged and pleaded for help and for his reanimated minion to halt. Monsters sounded surprisingly human in moments like that.

    Hans knew that weak necromancers had relatively little control over their undead. They could make simple commands, but they couldn¡¯t truly puppet them, not with their skill level.

    The shaman was a weak necromancer. He told the minotaur to kill Hans, so that¡¯s what it would try to do.

    Hans released the shaman at the last moment. The skeletal minotaur fell to pieces as its axe split the shaman in half.

    Hans snatched his sword from the ground and ran down the remaining goblins. Some stood to fight. Some fled. Some cowered. It didn¡¯t matter. Every movement of his sword found a new victim, separating arms, heads, and legs from sickly green bodies.

    He jogged through the exit of the Regenerating Castle with the same pace he entered.

    Geode gecko. Imps. Camahuetos. Gnolls.

    Thrust. Slice. Bash.

    Gods what was that? Oh it''s a bloody zout. Not Maurice though.

    Thrust. Slice. Bash.

    He stomped the last gnoll¡¯s head to jelly. He looked around. Seeing no more enemies, he threw his sword and shield aside as he bellowed his rage. When his vocal cords began to fray, he collapsed on the floor, heaving deep breaths. Only then did he notice the wet feeling he had wasn¡¯t sweat. He was covered in blood and viscera, as if he swam in it. It clotted and matted in his hair. It dripped down his face. It squished softly in his boots.

    He couldn¡¯t say how long he sat there before he heard a voice say, ¡°Hello? Is someone out there?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s just me, Luther.¡±

    The tusk came around the corner with an enchanted torch in one hand and a sword in the other. He surveyed the bodies of gnolls¨Cthe pieces of them at least¨Cbefore approaching the Guild Master.

    ¡°I heard screams. Thought someone might be hurt.¡±

    ¡°Nope. Sorry for the noise.¡±

    Luther studied the Guild Master. ¡°Is any of that blood yours?¡±

    ¡°No.¡±

    ¡°Okay,¡± Luther said, backing away slowly. ¡°I¡¯ll be in New Gomi if you need me.¡±

    ¡°Luther.¡± Hans dug in his pants pocket and pulled out the pouch of seeds Olza asked him to deliver. In addition to blood, something that looked like dark maroon cottage cheese slid slowly down the leather.

    ¡°Uhh.¡±

    ¡°Seeds from Olza.¡±

    Luther pinched a corner of the pouch, trying to touch as little of it as he could. ¡°...Thanks?¡±

    After a brief hesitation, the tusk left the Guild Master alone, sitting in the hallway, dripping.

    ***

    Luther was inside his house when Hans entered Luther Land. Maurice was likely with him. Neither came outside to talk with the Guild Master.

    While Hans had been away, Luther set enchanted torches around an open plot. The others he hung at the front doors of the structures in the town or near points of interest, like the well and the woodpile. Compared to Luther¡¯s farm in Gomi, the patch was a large garden at best. An underground town only had so much space, after all.

    Hans drew water from the well and wiped himself down. All told, he needed four whole buckets of frigid water to feel clean enough for sleep.

    For a moment, he debated just burning his leather greeves and tunic and buying new ones. He thought better of it and scrubbed his armor too. Finding a set that fit him that well again would be a pain.

    As he approached his bed, which still felt like someone else''s, as if he were a squatter, he ran through a mental checklist. Once he stopped moving, every muscle would go stiff and need days to recover.

    Satisfied, he fell asleep almost immediately.

    ***

    Hans heard the scratchy ting of a shovel hitting dirt.

    Waking in Luther Land was disorienting. Darkness underground was different from darkness on the surface. Night darkness felt like it had color and vitality while the dungeon darkness felt oppressively empty and lifeless.

    That doesn''t make any sense.

    Sitting up felt like pushing against the hand of a giant pressing him back down. His muscles burned, and his joints ached. Standing and then standing up straight became two separate and very slow movements. His right hip and right knee popped into place when he extended his leg.

    His boots and socks were still wet, so he accepted that he would be barefoot for the next few hours.

    When he hobbled outside, he found Luther working by enchanted torchlight to prepare the soil in his new garden. The tusk said the kettle was still hot if Hans wanted tea. He did indeed.

    Maurice followed Hans into Luther¡¯s house, watched him suspiciously as he prepared his tea, and followed him back out. Hans carried a dining room chair over to the garden and sat with his tea. The process of lowering himself was a slow, painful descent.

    ¡°Did Olza tell you about the experiment?¡± Luther asked.

    ¡°She started to but decided I wouldn''t understand and stopped.¡±

    ¡°She gave me four batches of seeds. One is plain old starcups, the kind you can walk outside and pick. One is enhanced to grow more quickly. One is enhanced to be more potent. And the last one was enhanced to be both potent and fast-growing.¡±

    ¡°Sounds pretty smart.¡±

    Luther agreed. ¡°She is planting the same four in Gomi so we can compare dungeon growth to surface growth.¡±

    Hans said that also sounded pretty smart.

    ¡°Her directions for what and how often to measure are pretty strict though¡­¡±

    Laughing, Hans said, ¡°How often you say? Can you tell time down here?¡±

    ¡°The dungeon resets are my only definitive way to know how much time has passed. If you guys change that timing and don''t tell me, well, that''ll screw my brain up real good.¡±

    Hans laughed.

    Luther smiled. ¡°You laugh, but imagine thinking dungeon resets were every two and a half days, but the cycles changed to four days without your knowing. You''d go crazy.¡±

    The tusk shared how living in the dungeon changed the way he thought about time, saying he slept when he needed to sleep. He woke up when he woke up. If he got lost in a book, he had no way of knowing if it was for minutes or for hours. With no real way to measure the passing of time, his ¡°now¡± felt like a new version of the concept, the purest form of living in the present, perhaps.

    ¡°Maybe you can tell how much time I''ve had to think,¡± Luther said with a chuckle. ¡°I''m trying my hand at tanning camahueto hides. Thinking on whether or not I should harvest gnoll pelts too. Feels odd to do that. Can''t explain why.¡±

    Hans could. Harvesting from anything humanoid made many people uneasy. Once your knife peeled away the surface, everything beneath looked too much like you. ¡°You know how to process leather?¡±

    ¡°Somewhat. I helped a neighbor for a few summers. Can''t say I''m good at it, but I''ll never run out of hides to practice on.¡±

    That was true.

    ¡°I must ask,¡± Luther said carefully, as though he might retreat from the thought before the next syllable. ¡°Should I be worried for you?¡±

    ¡°Needed to clear my head.¡±

    ¡°Did it work?¡±

    Hans shrugged. ¡°Enough that I could sleep without drinking. But other than that, not really.¡±

    ¡°It''s odd, right?¡±

    ¡°What do you mean?¡±

    ¡°It''s odd that moving on is the expectation. Hells, I expect it of myself, but how do you move on when it follows you?¡±

    Luther read him precisely. Sighing, the Guild Master said, ¡°I can''t think of anyone who has. I''ve met people who were immune to it, but those are a different breed. Everyone else, though, they''re changed. There''s a single second with two different people on either side. The before and the after.¡±

    Luther nodded.

    ¡°Galad made it clear I wasn''t doing a good job of it. He was right, of course.¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s no good at it either.¡±

    Hans raised an eyebrow.

    ¡°Oh yes,¡± Luther said. ¡°Charlie and Galinda too. They''ve carved themselves nearly hollow trying to find more to give. If it weren''t for quiet winters, they would''ve worked themselves to death years ago.¡±

    ¡°Makes me feel a little better to hear that.¡±

    ¡°I''m glad it''s that way for you. For me, if my heroes can''t do it, how could I ever hope to?¡±

    The Guild Master said, ¡°That''s the thing about heroes. They always end up being people.¡±

    Luther nodded slowly and moved to return to his work. ¡°If you need to clear your head again, could we skip the yelling? It scared Maurice.¡±

    Hans looked at the zout. ¡°Sorry, Maurice.¡±

    ***

    Open Quests (Ordered from Old to New):

    Progress from Gold-ranked to Diamond-ranked.

    Mend the rift with Devon.

    Complete the next volume (Iron to Bronze) for "The Next Generation: A Teaching Methodology for Training Adventurers."

    Expand the dungeon with resource-specific monsters for each of Gomi¡¯s major trades.

    Find a way for Gomi adventurers to benefit from their rightful ranks in the Adventurers¡¯ Guild.

    Secure a way to use surplus dungeon inventory for good.

    Confirm Uncle Ed¡¯s decision on the Osare tournament.

    Finish transcribing the manual and decide on the next course of action.

    Help Izz and Thuz bring new opportunities to their home village.

    Investigate the locations of old Diamond Quests.

 Book 2, Chapter 28: Looting Rights

    Three voices pushed through the doors of Luther Land.

    ¡°I told you!¡± Sven yelled.

    ¡°Yeah, okay, okay,¡± Chisel replied, defeated.

    Yotuli led the two bickering adventurers into view. Luther had heard the party as well, and he stepped outside his home to visit his latest guests. Hans considered hiding in his cabin until his boots and socks were dry but accepted that he needed to go be a Guild Master for the Apprentices who had just arrived.

    In his mind, Galad¡¯s voice echoed, ¡°We don¡¯t get to crack. When we do crack, it¡¯s in private.¡±

    Hans started across town. When he reached the group, Sven was partway through arguing his side.

    ¡°I told you he said to skip the shift! You didn¡¯t believe me.¡±

    ¡°Wish we would have,¡± Yotuli said. Hans noticed her wearing her wooden Gomi medallion around her neck. ¡°Would have spared us the hike down and back.¡±

    ¡°In our defense,¡± Chisel began, ¡°running the dungeon alone didn¡¯t sound like the Mr. Hans that I know.¡±

    The Guild Master apologized for disrupting their training.

    ¡°Don¡¯t be sorry, Mr. Hans. They should have listened to me.¡±

    Luther asked if he should prepare food. The party debated among themselves whether they should walk back now or after a night in Luther Land. With only floors slick with blood to delay them, they reached the bottom far faster than usual. It might be late by the time they got back to the surface if they left shortly, but they would gain a whole day back for the effort.

    They decided they would drink some water, rest their legs for a few minutes, and then begin the return trip, but first, Yotuli had a question.

    ¡°How¡¯d you get the minotaur to kill the shaman?¡± she asked. To give Luther context for the question, she described finding the shaman opened up like the husk on corn, the minotaur axe wedged somewhere around the goblin¡¯s pelvis.

    Hans shrugged.

    ¡°I told you he wouldn¡¯t tell us,¡± Sven gloated. ¡°Again, no one listens to the Rogue.¡±

    ¡°How is training with Thuz going?¡± Hans asked Chisel.

    In her excitement, she nearly dropped all of her gear. ¡°He¡¯s been incredible. After teaching myself for so long, having an instructor like Mr. Thuz feels like cheating. It¡¯s so much easier. Not easy, but easier.¡±

    ¡°Glad to hear it. I know it sucked having to train magery alone, but I promise you will be better for it in the long run.¡±

    ¡°I can see how that would be true. Without help, it might take me a month to get down a new spell. With Thuz, I¡¯m learning Agility, Heal, and Strength. I¡¯m not very consistent yet, but I managed to cast Agility on Sven when we were hunting in the Poop Puddle.¡±

    ¡°It was amazing,¡± Sven added. ¡°I felt like a Platinum. I was going through arrows so fast.¡±

    If Chisel is making this much progress, I wonder how Honronk is doing.

    Yotuli asked if Hans would join them on their hike back. He declined. After so many jobs in rain, mud, swamps, or flooded dungeons, Hans came to loathe soggy socks. He accepted they were a reality of adventuring, but if he had the option to not walk around with his foot wrapped in damp cloth, he¡¯d take that option every time.

    ¡°Daojmot guide you then,¡± she said when the party departed a short while later.

    When they had gone, Luther asked what that meant. Hans told him it was the spirit of wanderers and bastards, and it was the basis for Yotuli¡¯s attempt at becoming a Cleric. He went on to explain how Clerics used their abilities.

    ¡°That class sounds¡­ quite strange.¡±

    Hans agreed.

    Hours passed, and Hans decided he could delay his responsibilities no longer. Luther and Maurice saw him off.

    After a few minutes of hiking through the dungeon, Hans wished he had started sooner. The smell from his mess was more powerful than any single monster he killed, and seeing the various corpses of gnolls and goblins made him embarrassed for the whole of his behavior.

    ***

    The staging area in the iron mines¨CHonronk¡¯s front yard, essentially¨Chad become the de facto training area for the adventurers. It was open, it was flat, and the weather never changed. Hans found Kane and Quentin sparring in preparation for the tournament in Osare. Kane¡¯s size continued to grow at an astounding rate, his orc heritage helping him to pack on muscle as he grew taller.

    He was always bigger than Quentin, but the difference had become more stark in recent months. At sixteen, Quentin was still growing, and the intensity of his training made him lean and athletic. Yet, he still looked a little gangly and awkward, like his bones outpaced the rest of the growth, leaving him with odd proportions and a shockingly thin body.

    When Hans told the boys that Uncle Ed had given his blessing for the tournament, they whooped and hugged.

    Quest Complete: Confirm Uncle Ed¡¯s decision on the Osare tournament.

    He should have closed that quest yesterday when Galad gave him the news, but he wasn¡¯t thinking clearly enough then.

    ¡°Any advice for our first tournament, Mr. Hans?¡± Quentin asked.

    ¡°Technical, physical, or mental?¡±

    The boy picked mental, admitting he was a bit nervous to fight someone he had never met.

    ¡°For a lot of people, that nervousness never goes away,¡± Hans began. ¡°That¡¯s just your body and mind respecting that a potentially dangerous challenge is ahead. What screwed me up for a while was being afraid of losing¨Cand not because I didn¡¯t get the win. More so because I thought losing would be humiliating. Are we heading down the same road so far?¡±

    Quentin nodded.

    ¡°First of all, nobody cares if you win or lose. I want you to win because I support you, but if you both lost your first and only match and got booted, I wouldn¡¯t think any differently of you. No one will, and by the time the next match is underway, everyone there will have forgotten you fought at all. How much better does that make you feel?¡±

    ¡°Uhh¡­¡±

    You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

    ¡°Not at all, right? That¡¯s always how it goes. You¡¯ll believe me after. So here¡¯s the second part: You can eliminate tournament regret by how you prepare. If you do your training right, the best version of you that¡¯s possible at that point in time is stepping into the arena. You will still get better after the tournament, but what I¡¯m emphasizing is that there¡¯s a point where there is nothing else you could have done to prepare. Nothing. A loss in that context isn¡¯t something to be ashamed about because you gave your literal best.¡±

    Hans continued, explaining that their training schedule was likely more demanding than the vast majority of Apprentices in the kingdom. Not only did they do regular dungeon runs, they took lessons from upper ranks, they drilled and sparred on their own time, and they managed to cram in a fitness routine as well. Hans had given them a few bodyweight movements to use and suggested they practice sprinting up and down a long dungeon hallway with varying lengths of rests in between.

    A lot of adventurers ran for miles and miles to prepare for a tournament, but Hans believed that was the wrong way to go about building combat endurance. A fight was a series of extremely fast flurries and intense bursts of activity. Sprints were far closer to mirroring those physical demands than long jogs.

    ¡°You will be as prepared as you can possibly be. From there, matches are pure learning experiences. A strange opponent with a style you don¡¯t know is very different from sparring with the same people all the time. You can pick up a lot of useful insights from a tournament if you take a little bit of pressure off of yourself.¡±

    Soon, the boys returned to drilling for the tournament, with Hans offering tips and critiques as they worked.

    He suggested they think of the arena like the dungeon. The Apprentices should assume they are in danger at all times. Some competitors used the tradition of shaking hands at the start of a bout to set up a cheap shot. Referees might be slow to stop the fight in either direction when they really should. An opponent might hit you after the bell, so don¡¯t drop your guard or turn your back.

    If an opponent rushed in right away, think of them as a gnoll. Outside parry, circle away from their sword hand, counter, and press the attack.

    If an opponent was timid, hanging back to set up a trap, think of them as a geode gecko. Poke at them a bit to feel out what the trap might be¨Cor better yet, watch their previous matches¨Cand then press with an attack that takes their trap out of the equation or turns it back against them.

    The boys were drilling their parries when Becky and the Silvers entered the mines. Returning from ogre valley, they each sat down near Hans. Bel and Lee shared a waterskin.

    ¡°How are our boys lookin¡¯?¡± Becky asked quietly.

    Hans didn¡¯t want Kane or Quentin to know, but the boys might not find a worthwhile challenge in the Apprentice divisions. Not only did they have the advantage of dungeon access, but both of them began training seriously before Apprentice. Conversely, many Apprentices were at the very beginning of their development, starting their training the day they accepted their apprenticeship. They could still match up with someone more experienced, but the more rural chapters typically weren''t as competitive as the denser cities.

    ¡°Kane will make many people angry,¡± Lee said. ¡°His style is very frustrating even when you¡¯re familiar with it.¡±

    ¡°How do you mean?¡± Becky asked.

    ¡°Adventurers with his bulk are typically slower as a result, but not so for Kane,¡± Lee answered. ¡°He moves like a lightweight, and I¡¯m guessing he¡¯ll end up as a middleweight. As the weight classes go up, usually speed goes down. And that¡¯s just him moving.

    ¡°The first time we sparred, I made the mistake of underestimating him. Nearly launched my sword across the room with his first parry. Every one of his strikes is hard, but they don¡¯t look it, and he doesn¡¯t overextend himself. The first time swords meet, the person across from him is in for a shock.¡±

    Hearing Lee compliment Kane¡¯s ability filled Hans with pride. He knew the Apprentice improved quickly, but having other adventurers confirm that was validating and fulfilling for him as an instructor.

    Becky asked Hans for his take on Quentin¡¯s style.

    ¡°He¡¯s very calculated, always,¡± he answered. ¡°Students like that often struggle against strength or extreme aggression, but he¡¯s been training with Kane every day. He still might be vulnerable to the aggression side of that, but if he loses a match, I¡¯d expect it to come down to skill, someone calculated like him but with more experience.¡±

    ¡°I wish I could go,¡± Lee said.

    ¡°Why?¡± Becky asked. ¡°Ain¡¯t you undefeated in Osare already?¡±

    ***

    Emerging from the dungeon, Hans marveled at how much he missed because of his late night arrival. In daylight, the campus looked much different from when he saw it last.

    The road was finished, making it possible for wagons to come and go. A delivery run could drive up the mountain and return to Gomi in the same day. Speaking of horses, the stables had a roof and the walls were halfway finished. The builders would start on the armory next.

    The two cabins he saw Luther helping with many days back were complete, and a third was in progress. Eduardo¡¯s father and the husband-wife pair of harvesters knew more people would join them soon, so they used their free time to get a headstart on making homes for whoever decided to live up the mountain full time. A few young teenagers had joined the builders, trading labor for an apprenticeship in carpentry or masonry.

    That covers the major trades for apprenticeships for now, I think.

    Quest Complete: Expand the dungeon with resource-specific monsters for each of Gomi¡¯s major trades.

    Hans noticed new footpaths extending from the campus like spider legs. The people living here were likely taking walks in the forest or making trips to hunt or gather. When the idea of people living at the dungeon permanently was first proposed, he couldn¡¯t picture it being pleasant. Seeing the campus now, however, the dungeon entrance felt downright cozy.

    The Guild Master stole a glance up at the ever-present Dead End Mountains. No merchant, today.

    Izz and Thuz stepped out of the dorms. When they saw Hans, they smiled and walked across campus to greet him.

    ¡°Mr. Hans,¡± Thuz said, ¡°It¡¯s good to see you. We had heard you were in the dungeon.¡±

    ¡°Just a quick run. Chisel spoke very highly of your lessons, by the way.¡±

    The lizardman dipped his head to humbly accept the compliment. ¡°She is a motivated student, and her mind is exceptional. She will be a great White Mage if she continues her training.¡±

    ¡°How¡¯s Honronk doing?¡± Hans asked Izz.

    ¡°He sees the world far differently than I do,¡± Izz answered. ¡°I struggled to connect with him at first, but I feeI I grasped the proper approach by the time we had our second lesson.¡±

    Hans asked how Honronk¡¯s learning style impacted the way Izz taught.

    ¡°Honronk is far more technical in his thinking than most of the Apprentices I have encountered. Students at his level are typically unprepared to discuss the minutia of casting, but not him. We were working on the gestures for Lesser Fire, and he asked what specific muscles I was flexing for one of the steps. Then we compared lizardman hand muscles to tusk hand muscles to confirm the accuracy. I have never heard such a question before, and I admit, it took me some time to form an answer.¡±

    ¡°How¡¯s his progress?¡±

    ¡°He is proficient in Lesser Fire and Lesser Ice. He is practicing Duplicate, currently.¡±

    ¡°Great. Another mage obsessed with Duplicate,¡± Hans joked. The lizardmen chuckled too.

    ¡°He is still uncertain of the path he wants to take as a Black Mage, but that¡¯s to be expected. I suspect he¡¯ll find his way before summer has passed.¡±

    Hans thanked them for helping the Apprentices. The lizardmen said the experience was insightful for them too. As a sort of bonus, Honronk offered to put a Nightsight enchantment on one of their items. Izz could cast it himself, of course, but he wasn¡¯t an enchanter, and not having to cast and refresh Nightsight during a crawl would be very convenient.

    The idea of Honronk producing Nightsight enchantments for the other adventurers had crossed Hans¡¯ mind before, but that was shortly after the tusk completed a marathon tattoo streak. At the time, Hans didn¡¯t want to burden or distract the Apprentice Black Mage anymore than he already had.

    But permanent Nightsight sounds fantastic.

    ¡°We have appointments to keep, unfortunately,¡± Izz said to politely exit the conversation. ¡°When you are not occupied, Mr. Hans, we would like to request a new monster for the dungeon.¡±

    ¡°Oh?¡±

    ***

    Open Quests (Ordered from Old to New):

    Progress from Gold-ranked to Diamond-ranked.

    Mend the rift with Devon.

    Complete the next volume (Iron to Bronze) for "The Next Generation: A Teaching Methodology for Training Adventurers."

    Find a way for Gomi adventurers to benefit from their rightful ranks in the Adventurers¡¯ Guild.

    Secure a way to use surplus dungeon inventory for good.

    Finish transcribing the manual and decide on the next course of action.

    Help Izz and Thuz bring new opportunities to their home village.

    Investigate the locations of old Diamond Quests.

 Book 2, Chapter 29: Tower Climb

    That night, a few of the workers set up spits for two pigs and invited everyone on campus to share a meal. Hans happily accepted, and he was thankful he did. The smell of the cooking pigs was tortuous enough, but to miss out on the meal completely? Horror beyond imagination.

    Yotuli, Sven, and Chisel had planned on leaving with a late-night wagon run, but the fragrance of fresh pork charmed them into staying. As the sun set, everyone on campus gathered around the two fires, which meant all of the Apprentices, the Silvers, the Golds, the workers, and the quartermaster. Becky had departed to fulfill a request for the forest, so she would not be present for the festivities.

    One of the workers raised a toast to his brothers and sisters in Gomi and began carving off cuts of meat to much fanfare.

    ¡°Mr. Hans,¡± Thuz said, coming up beside the Guild Master. ¡°Is this a regular occurrence in Gomi?¡±

    ¡°From time to time.¡±

    ¡°Your people are very generous.¡±

    ¡°My people?¡±

    ¡°Yes, the people in Gomi.¡±

    Hans was taken aback by that description at first, but it felt right.

    Yeah, these are my people.

    As food was distributed, the crowd present began to break into groups to enjoy smaller conversations with one another. The Golds and the Silvers formed around Hans. Quentin and Kane joined as well, but they positioned themselves in the background, a comfortable place where they could listen to the upper ranks talking without being in their way.

    Hiding his smile, Hans didn¡¯t disturb them. He did the same when he was an Apprentice, hoping to absorb every piece of wisdom experienced adventurers might share as they reminisced.

    ¡°I hear the dungeon is getting a golem soon,¡± Bel said between mouthfuls of sweet potato.

    Izz and Thuz looked at the ground, nervously.

    ¡°That¡¯s interesting,¡± Hans said, a mock seriousness in his tone. He looked at the lizardmen. ¡°The last time I talked about it I said I had to give it serious thought first.¡±

    Izz shrugged. ¡°My enthusiasm may have gotten the better of me.¡±

    ¡°Mine as well,¡± Thuz added.

    Chuckling, Hans said, ¡°I said it was a possibility. For a Gold-ranked encounter, the golem is the safest option.¡±

    ¡°Why is that?¡± Bel asked.

    ¡°Anything we grow in the dungeon, we have to be able to keep in the dungeon. If we grow a bunch of encounters that only Izz and Thuz can handle, what do we do when they leave? I couldn¡¯t live with myself if you all got wiped and then Gomi did too.¡±

    ¡°Did you have that worry with ogre valley?¡±

    ¡°Of course, but that encounter isn¡¯t totally out of reach for the Apprentices. When you and Lee leave, Becky and I can run it if the Apprentices aren¡¯t ready. If worse came to worse, I could run it solo.¡±

    Unlike a fallen celestial or a greater demon, the golem job Hans had in mind should be safer because that golem was inactive until a security protocol was tripped. He couldn¡¯t be sure, however, that it would stay inactive. What if a mildly intelligent monster found a way to turn it on, intentionally or by accident? Maurice was proof that creatures could wander quite far in the dungeon. Could a zout trigger the golem to come to life if it bumbled around enough?

    ¡°What made you request a golem in the first place?¡± Lee asked the lizardmen.

    Izz turned an open palm to his brother, suggesting he answer the question.

    ¡°In this case, being pedantic is of great importance,¡± Thuz began. ¡°We do not wish to fight ¡®a¡¯ golem, but rather ¡®the¡¯ golem that Mr. Hans, Mr. Gret, and Miss Mazo encountered on their travels. The golems commonly known to us are machinations with rudimentary abilities. They can perform basic labor, and they respond to basic commands. The golems commonly included in stories¨Cthe ones who can speak and reason and perform complicated feats of movement and strength¨Care complete fantasy. We have no proof that golems were ever used for warfare nor do we have evidence that any of them ever gained consciousness.¡±

    ¡°This golem was different,¡± Izz added.

    Bel and Lee¡¯s eyes widened. When Hans looked to see Kane and Quentin¡¯s reaction, he saw the same look but discovered that Terry and Sven had joined them in listening to the upper-ranks talk.

    ¡°Do not misunderstand my brother. This golem did not gain consciousness, but it had incredible combat proficiency.¡±

    Bel asked, ¡°Why would only one golem in history be capable of combat?¡±

    ¡°We don¡¯t know,¡± Hans said. ¡°We kind of destroyed it before anyone could study it. Had to, really.¡±

    ¡°What about whoever built it?¡±

    Hans realized they were starting the story at the end. He said as much and started the tale at its true beginning.

    ¡°A wizard died,¡± he said. ¡°Old age, so nothing nefarious or exciting. He passed while under the care of a White Mage in the town closest to his home. Before he died, he told them he had no family or friends, but he did not tell them about his tower.¡±

    Mages who chose research over adventuring often had homes that were designed to be defensible without losing the gravitas due to an expert in magic. In other words, they didn¡¯t want anyone to see what they were working on, but they wanted their power and prestige to be as visible as possible.

    For small town wizards, that often meant a tower, a structure that could be built on a hilltop to further exaggerate the superiority of the mage who lorded over local peasants. If someone was ambitious enough to attempt to attack or break in, they might have dozens of heavily boobytrapped floors to pass through before reaching anything of value. Mostly, though, people avoided anything that was known to be owned by a mage.

    ¡°When Bunri¨Cthat was the wizard¡¯s name¨Cpassed away, he left no will for his estate, nor did he leave any instructions for how to disable the security in his tower,¡± Hans explained. ¡°After an attempt to find a next of kin failed, the tower went to auction.¡±

    ¡°And no one had any idea what was inside?¡± Bel asked.

    Hans smiled. ¡°And no one had any idea what was inside.¡±

    Unbeknownst to Hans at the time, many wizards passed the way Bunri had, with no heirs and no instructions, spawning a little-known industry of investors who exclusively bought the abandoned estates of mages. In most cases, they were like Bunri¡¯s tower: locked tight. Contents unknown. Buyer beware. Research into the previous owner¡¯s career was critical.

    Bunri, however, was not a known or respected wizard.

    ¡°Before the job, I tried to learn more about him, figuring that would give us some hints as to what to expect for traps and security. No one in town knew anything about him, so I tried to track down colleagues or friends. I found one mage who met Bunri when they were students, but they didn¡¯t talk then and they hadn¡¯t talked since.¡±

    Despite his intense digging, the only facts Hans could confirm were that Bunri existed at one time, and he could cast spells. He found no clues about his proficiency, his specialization, or his research interests. Bunri shut his tower door shortly after leaving school and seemed to have not opened it again until he desperately needed the services of a Healer almost a century later.

    He had waited too long, apparently.

    Hans¡¯ party was tasked with clearing the tower of monsters, traps, and security measures that might make the property less valuable. That could mean disarming a trap that cast Petrification on the victim, or it could mean simply unlocking a door whose key was lost.

    Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.

    For Bunri¡¯s tower, they had to do all of that with no intel on what they might find inside.

    Hans said this was important: jobs like this one usually paid a flat fee for success, but sometimes they offered the contents of the structure as payment. For the Bunri tower job, the new owner proposed the latter, presumably because they didn¡¯t expect Bunri to own anything of value.

    Mazo insisted they take that deal despite the expenses the job would incur. To her, the chance of a great find was worth the gamble. The party agreed to Mazo¡¯s preference and set out for the job.

    ¡°Wizards are showoffs, so most towers don¡¯t have first floor entrances¨Cvisible ones, anyway. Instead, the primary entrance is typically on the roof. That sounds silly, but it¡¯s the best place for a wizard to entertain guests. Good view and all that.¡±

    There were no stairs from the ground to the roof. Bunri likely had a magic platform somewhere that would ferry guests up and down, but Hans¡¯ party didn¡¯t need to locate it. The tower¡¯s new owner had already erected scaffolding in preparation for emptying the tower¡¯s contents when the structure was safe to enter.

    For that job, Hans¡¯ party consisted of himself, Gret, Mazo and an enchanter they hired for the job. The enchanter¡¯s name was Dunfoo. He was a chubby halfling with an exquisitely bald head, and he was the most costly part of their operation. He demanded to be paid by the hour.

    Dunfoo wasn¡¯t an adventurer, but he had the skillset required to safely disarm magic traps. Gret was responsible for any mechanical locks and traps, and he would assist Hans and Mazo in combat if they encountered guards or monsters.

    The footprint of the tower was roughly the size of a Tribe barn, making the rooftop a large, open-air deck. The view from that deck was all rolling farmland, with a dusty dirt road winding to a small village where every home was attached to at least one pigpen. In the distance, forest covered a few larger hills, but no mountains were within view.

    Despite the picturesque surroundings, the top of the tower had one chair looking over the edge. The rest of it was covered in garbage. Empty jars and bottles, mostly, but one corner seemed like a compost heap. Or it was just a pile of rotting garbage. Hans never could tell the difference.

    A set of stairs led from the roof down to a wooden door. As expected, it was trapped. According to Dunfoo, the trap transformed the door to solid stone if it was tripped, but otherwise it didn¡¯t seem rigged to cause harm.

    Dunfoo worked out the trap and disarmed it.

    The first floor down was not what any of them expected.

    ¡°We found stacks and stacks of books, most of them going from the floor to the ceiling,¡± Hans said. ¡°There were so many books that the floor had a noticeable bow in it from the weight, and the only floor we could actually see was a small strip that snaked between the piles. When I say small, I mean small. I had to shimmy sideways at times to get through.¡±

    Gret went first, followed by Dunfoo, both searching for traps with every step. With careful and slow forward progress, Mazo had plenty of time to scan the titles of the books around them. None she saw pertained to magic, and none appeared to have any value. It was as though Bunri sought out libraries and bought only the books that hadn¡¯t been checked out in thirty years¨Cgardening, regional histories, memoirs, dictionaries, romance novels.

    The next floor down was more of the same, except stacks of papers, piles of scrolls, and empty ink bottles joined the collection.

    ¡°The tower ended up having five floors,¡± Hans said by campfire light. ¡°The top three floors were packed with worthless items, the only one of the three with any meaningful difference was the third floor down¨CBunri¡¯s bedroom.¡±

    The wizard¡¯s mattress sat directly on the floor and had turned the twisted brown of old, weathered cotton. A bucket sat next to the bed. Among the stacks and stacks of books, the party found a pile of old clothes, every item worn until it was washed out and filled with holes. They found a collection of the wizard¡¯s hair below a mirror. He seemed to cut and shave regularly, leaving the clippings where they fell, and never swept up.

    Mazo dutifully skimmed the book titles for anything of value. She found none.

    Gret searched for potential traps. He found none.

    Dunfoo also searched, and he too found no other traps beyond the one on the tower¡¯s ¡°front¡± door.

    ¡°We¡¯re going to lose money on this one,¡± Gret said with disappointment. ¡°We should have taken the flat rate.¡±

    ¡°We have more floors to explore,¡± Mazo argued.

    ¡°I¡¯m sure they¡¯ll be just as exciting as the first three.¡±

    Dunfoo raised a finger to interrupt the conversation and ask a question. Before he could speak, Hans said, ¡°You¡¯ll still get paid. Don¡¯t worry.¡±

    ¡°Okay, good.¡± Satisfied, the enchanter resumed his work of searching for magic traps that didn¡¯t exist.

    The floor beneath the bedroom was the wizard¡¯s workshop, where one would expect to find all sorts of valuable ingredients and equipment, given a wizard''s natural inclination for research and experimentation.

    Not so in Bunri¡¯s tower.

    The party saw benches along each wall and a big round table in the middle. Everything was covered in scrap and junk. Old pieces of metal of all sizes sat in piles and spilled across the floor. Some scraps were rusted, some were mangled like they had been in explosions. All of it looked like it had been salvaged from someone¡¯s garbage. Gret confirmed the theory by pointing to a raccoon skeleton buried beneath one of the piles.

    Every empty surface was covered in drawings of unbroken wiggly lines, starting on the left side of the page and wobbling to the edge of the right. No two were exactly alike, and there were dozens.

    Mazo found a few loose pieces of paper. One had a single sentence repeated over and over in two columns until the page was full: ¡°Bunri is a failure.¡±

    Another sheet was a recipe for a green bean casserole. Nothing magical about it unless you considered beans a magical fruit.

    The last sheet had a schematic for a device the party couldn¡¯t identify, but it had the hallmarks of a draft design. Much of it had been scribbled out in big angry zig zags. The back of the paper repeated the schematic but was scribbled over completely. Mazo tried studying it after the job ended but found no useful conclusions.

    And a lute. The strings were all broken.

    ¡°Needless to say,¡± Hans said to his listeners, ¡°Mazo was pretty frustrated. She was disappointed that even a mediocre shut-in wizard didn¡¯t keep records. She kept saying, ¡®What kind of mage doesn¡¯t keep notes?¡¯ The tools in the workshop were junk too. The hammers and wrenches we found¡­ we¡¯d have trouble giving them away they were so beat up.

    ¡°But there was one more floor left, and the stairs down to it were covered by a metal hatch, locked shut with multiple padlocks. Big ones. The size of my fist.¡±

    Once Dunfoo confirmed the door had no magic locks or traps, Gret confirmed the same for mechanical traps and popped the padlocks as easily as if he had the actual key.

    When they lifted the metal door, they found another set of stairs like they expected, but the stairs ended with a landing and a heavily reinforced iron door.

    Hans said he would spare his listeners the two hours of troubleshooting that followed and cut to the good part: the reinforced door would only open if the hatch to the stairs was shut and latched from the inside, like a vestibule in a prison. The party¨Cmostly Gret, really¨Ctried several times to ¡°trick¡± the doors, but every attempt to simulate closing and latching the hatch failed.

    If they wanted to see what was behind the iron door, they had to close the hatch behind them. Dunfoo was the least excited about being locked in a strange wizard¡¯s basement, but Mazo convinced him that based on what they saw in the rest of the tower, they would only find more junk. Not monsters. Not traps. Just trash.

    As soon as Gret cracked the door, Dunfoo and Mazo spun to look at the hatch.

    ¡°They both felt a surge of mana,¡± Hans explained. ¡°Sure enough, the hatch was sealed by some sort of magic lock. Dunfoo freaks out and starts frantically trying to dispel the seal. He¡¯s yelling for us to shut the door again so he can leave, but Gret swings it open. When he does, lamps around the perimeter of this big open room flickered to life, one by one. It was the only part of the tower that felt properly wizard-like¡­ which was obviously a bad sign.¡±

    Hans noticed indents and cracks peppered across the wall like craters. A few of the lamps didn¡¯t light because they had been smashed. The ones that did light revealed gouges in the floor.

    Then, Mazo commented that she felt mana moving through the room, all in the same direction. As she described the movement to Hans and Gret, Dunfoo begged for them to let him leave.

    Mazo pointed across the room and said, ¡°All of the mana is going into that.¡±

    Right then, the final two lamps in the room lit, revealing a contraption parked between them. The base had four wooden wheels half as small as wagon wheels. Each wheel connected to its own metal rod, with all four rods meeting in the middle like the peak of a volcano.

    Everything from the top of the volcano shape up was fashioned after a human torso roughly the size of Buru¡¯s. Metal plates of varying sizes, textures, and colors formed the shape of its body and connected to two metal arms.

    None of the construction was particularly impressive. If a piece of metal didn¡¯t quite fit, Bunri seemed fine with letting an edge stick out or attaching another scrap to cover any gaps, big or small. The arms were like that as well, looking slightly uneven with sharp, boxy lines forming the approximation of shoulders, biceps, triceps, and forearms.

    The head was not much more than a box attached to shoulders. It had no facial features, but it did have a bunch of twine forming a wig of sorts.

    And the golem had two boobs each the size of Hans¡¯ head. Well, the vaguely spherical attachments represented boobs. They were the only part of the golem whose edges were carefully hidden and filed smooth.

    A voice coming from the direction of the golem said, ¡°Hey beautiful. I missed you. How was your day?¡±

    ***

    Open Quests (Ordered from Old to New):

    Progress from Gold-ranked to Diamond-ranked.

    Mend the rift with Devon.

    Complete the next volume (Iron to Bronze) for "The Next Generation: A Teaching Methodology for Training Adventurers."

    Find a way for Gomi adventurers to benefit from their rightful ranks in the Adventurers¡¯ Guild.

    Secure a way to use surplus dungeon inventory for good.

    Finish transcribing the manual and decide on the next course of action.

    Help Izz and Thuz bring new opportunities to their home village.

    Investigate the locations of old Diamond Quests.

 Book 2, Chapter 30: Companion Cube

    Hans took a sip of water and debated eating a bite of pork but decided to wait.

    For the sake of the story, he continued. ¡°Everything the golem said to us that day sounded like an old man pretending to be a young woman. High-pitched, overly soft and exaggerated¡­ it was so uncomfortable hearing it, and it never stopped talking, even when it attacked us.¡±

    The golem shot forward, smashing into the opposite wall when the party dove out of the way. Soon, the party learned that though the golem¡¯s upper half was shaped like a torso, it had none of the limitations found in humanoid torsos. Its arms could spin in any direction. Its body could rotate in a full circle. It could punch and smash, and it could launch its arms like ballistas and then retract them.

    All the while, the golem spoke in Bunri¡¯s faux female voice.

    ¡°Hey baby. You look so handsome today.¡±

    ¡°Is it hard being so smart?¡±

    ¡°Your best is good enough.¡±

    ¡°You''re so strong.¡±

    ¡°You make me feel safe.¡±

    ¡°Oh you make me laugh, sweetheart.¡±

    ¡°I am so proud of you.¡±

    ¡°I love the way you make me feel.¡±

    ¡°You''re doing a really good job, babe.¡±

    ¡°I love you the way you are.¡±

    ¡°You deserve to be happy.¡±

    Everyone listening stopped chewing. Hans insisted he wasn¡¯t joking before skipping to the end: the golem exploded. and valorite was the only salvageable material. A piece of its internal hardware was fashioned from the rare metal, and it mostly survived. It was a small amount, but it was enough to make the job incredibly profitable for all of them.

    Dunfoo argued he was owed a bonus. The party disagreed.

    When Kane and Quentin complained about the jump forward in the story, Hans said that he didn¡¯t want to reveal too much about the actual fight itself. Izz and Thuz had asked to run it blind before it became the centerpiece of a lesson. In their minds, doing it both ways doubled their learning.

    Hans could, however, divulge that the golem was an interesting foe because it was highly resistant to both weapons and magic, surprisingly agile, and seemed to learn its opponent¡¯s attacks. That last one was challenging in itself, but the nature of the golem¡¯s durability made its ability to adapt abundantly frustrating.

    ¡°Miss Mazo said she learned more about magery in that battle than she had in the entire year that preceded it,¡± Izz said. ¡°She believes if she attempted to teach the lessons to us, we would not understand. She believes we must have the same epiphany in battle.¡±

    ¡°So we have pursued such a foe ever since,¡± Thuz said. ¡°We now have the chance to live Miss Mazo¡¯s epiphany. We hope for that outcome at least.¡±

    ¡°Miss Mazo has told you nothing of the battle?¡± Lee asked.

    ¡°Only that it was with a golem who had a strange personality.¡±

    Lee laughed quietly to herself. ¡°I always thought Master Theneesa oversold Miss Mazo¡¯s behavior in her stories.¡±

    Izz, Thuz, and Hans all confirmed she had not.

    ¡°At any rate,¡± Hans continued, ¡°The golem was a tough enemy. It took us a bit, and we had a few close calls, but we took it down. When we did, part of the wall opened up, so we could walk right outside onto grass. Mazo said that made sense because wizards were lazy. Bunri wouldn¡¯t want to go through the trouble of lugging materials to the top of the tower only to carry them back down to his workshop.

    ¡°Dunfoo never talked to us again, though, and he lodged a complaint with the Adventurers¡¯ Guild. The client was happy, so the Guild didn¡¯t care.¡±

    Bel raised her hand. ¡°That golem sounds much more advanced than any golem I¡¯ve read about.¡±

    Hans nodded. ¡°You¡¯re correct. A few members of the Guild doubted our report for that very reason. Bunri didn¡¯t leave any notes or blueprints, and the golem was nothing but scrap when we finished. Finding valorite was the only real insight left.¡±

    Sven asked what valorite was. Kane and Quentin nodded that they had the same question.

    ¡°May I?¡± Thuz asked Hans. The Guild Master gestured for him to go ahead. ¡°Valorite is a rare form of iron that is believed to result from a combination of iron ore and wild magic. It is known for having a distinctive blue coloring. Little is known, however, about the process that produces the material. Valorite is only ever found in small quantities, and no researcher has been able to recreate valorite in the lab. The material is highly sought after because of its mana conductivity, so its presence in a golem is unsurprising in that regard, but a wizard like Bunri having valorite is quite unusual.¡±

    When Thuz finished, Lee added, ¡°There are a few stories about a Spellsword who had a valorite weapon. Sometimes the story says it¡¯s a sword. Other times it¡¯s an axe, but supposedly it amplified the power of the Spellsword¡¯s magic, to the scale of Platinum or greater.¡±

    Sven whistled.

    A large silhouette passed by one of the spits, and Hans saw his chance to escape being the center of attention.

    ¡°Buru!¡±

    Hans excused himself from the group. The Druid Apprentice inclined his head as Hans approached. ¡°Guild Master,¡± he said.

    ¡°How is Petal adapting to adventurer life?¡±

    ¡°Her senses are sharp. I hear and see better with her support.¡±

    The opossum appeared on Buru¡¯s shoulder, climbing up from somewhere Hans hadn¡¯t seen. When Petal saw Hans, she barked, which for an opossum sounded like a cat hiss but as brief as a single drum beat. She allowed Hans to reach up and gently scratch her head with one of his fingers.

    ¡°Petal trusts you more than anyone else,¡± Buru said. ¡°She wishes you were always around to keep us safe.¡±

    Recalling his paranoia over the familiar was like a knife plunging into his heart. Hans smiled to hide it. ¡°She is very kind.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s on your mind, Mr. Hans?¡±

    ¡°With Becky leading your training, you and I don¡¯t get to talk much, but I¡¯m still here to support your development any way I can. Thought I¡¯d check in with you is all.¡±

    ¡°Miss Becky is an excellent teacher. She has much to teach, and I have much to learn. Becki¡¯s example is also good for Petal. She sees what a familiar might become.¡±

    Hans asked Buru to explain what he expected from Petal¡¯s growth. The Guild Master had more experience with familiars bound to mages than to Druids, and he wasn¡¯t clear on how much those two paths varied.

    ¡°As she grows, she will be able to use any spells I use. Since we are two different people, my best spells may not be her best, but she will have the same proficiency.¡±

    Buru¡¯s use of the word ¡°people¡± was jarring for Hans at first, but he ignored it. ¡°Do all Druid familiars share spells with their masters?¡±

    This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

    The tusk said that they did.

    That meant Becki had all the same abilities as her master as well, but the oversized warthog had never used magic in Hans¡¯ presence. Becky also avoided bringing her familiar into battle, at least that was the case when they chased down the squonks to rescue Roland. Becky insisted on keeping her mount away from danger when they prepared to attack the squonks.

    Her relationship with her familiar seemed to oscillate between mother and daughter or sister and sister. In either case, being protective of Becki made sense, but what was the warthog actually capable of?

    Magery familiars typically relied on their innate abilities and a small selection of spells their masters taught them. They had to practice and perfect their technique like any other mage, so most familiars were trained to specifically support the unique needs of their masters, creating the best complement possible between the pair.

    If magery familiars shared the casting ability of their masters the way Druid familiars did, a mage like Mazo would be twice as powerful. That was quite the multiplier at any scale, really.

    ¡°How does she do in the dungeon?¡±

    ¡°She is still learning,¡± Buru answered. ¡°She used to play dead for the entire run, but she is slowly gaining the bravery to watch more of a battle.¡±

    A loud pop echoed across the mountain. Hans looked over to see the Apprentices and Silvers crowded around Izz and Thuz. One of them must have cast a spell.

    When he turned back, Petal hung from Buru¡¯s chest, her tail wrapped around one of his buttons. Her mouth was open, and her tongue lolled out.

    ¡°Apologies. This is too much excitement for the little one,¡± Buru said politely. ¡°I must find some quiet for her sake.¡±

    Hans watched as the pair disappeared into the dark woods. In his mind, he replayed his conversation with the Lady of the Forest and the nature of the pact they forged. He no longer believed Petal presented a threat to Gomi, but the dryad¡¯s interest in the opossum was still puzzling. Like Olza had said, the pact was a lot of noise for a singular creature whose kind was found all across the kingdom. In Hoseki, many people considered opossums pests because of their penchant for getting into garbage.

    What am I missing?

    With much of the food happily eaten, the gathering dwindled, the clusters of fellowship breaking into smaller and smaller groups. The adventurers stayed together. At the moment, they listened to Izz telling a story, but Hans was too far away to hear which story it was, but seeing the adventurers connecting that way was a good sign. A Guild chapter was a team in a sense, and teams worked far better when everyone felt welcome and connected.

    Believing that camaraderie was strongest when it grew without intervention, Hans gave the gathering the Hoseki Goodbye and quietly departed.

    ***

    Hans opened the door to his cabin. Before he could step through, a voice came from behind him.

    ¡°Mr. Hans?¡±

    ¡°Gods, Sven,¡± the Guild Master said. ¡°You don¡¯t have to stealth everywhere you go.¡±

    ¡°Sure I do. It¡¯s good practice.¡±

    ¡°Well, yes, that¡¯s true. I really just want you to stop sneaking up on me specifically.¡± Hans chuckled and invited the Rogue Apprentice inside. He lit two lamps while Sven took in the cabin¡¯s transformation. He had spent several weeks sharing this cabin with five other adventurers. Seeing it with only two beds and a few makeshift bookshelves was new for him.

    ¡°What¡¯s on your mind?¡± Hans asked.

    ¡°The smell hasn¡¯t gone away, huh?¡±

    ¡°Probably never will.¡±

    Sven nodded but seemed lost in his thoughts, staring at his own feet. Hans gave the tusk time to formulate his question.

    ¡°I mean no disrespect¡­¡±

    ¡°Sven,¡± Hans said. The tusk looked up. ¡°You have never offended or disrespected me. You make some interesting observations at times, but I know your intent has always been goodhearted. We¡¯re fine. You can speak freely.¡±

    Sven nodded and took a deep breath. ¡°Chisel and Honronk have magery instructors. Two each if you count Bel and Lee. Kane has Lee. Buru has Miss Becky. Terry and Quentin have you. Yotu is going it alone with her Cleric stuff, but she has a direction for her training.¡±

    ¡°And you have no such support or direction.¡±

    ¡°Yes. That¡¯s it.¡±

    The Rogue¡¯s concerns sounded like simple jealousy at first. Others had things that he did not. He wanted to have those things too.

    But Sven wasn¡¯t talking about special privileges or wealth or status. He signed up to be an Apprentice, and Hans agreed to honor that commitment when he accepted Sven¡¯s application. The tusk had every right to be concerned about his trajectory when everyone around him had more support and access to more knowledge than he did.

    Hans¡¯ lack of expertise in magery was a glaring deficiency in what his students needed, so he fixated on solving that problem, not realizing he was just as deficient when it came to teaching Rogues to be Rogues. Weapons training for a Rogue? Sure. That was no problem. Swords, knives, bows, saps¨CHans had that covered handily. As for the skills that really defined the class? Hans wasn¡¯t sneaky, nor did he have extensive knowledge of picking locks or disarming traps.

    ¡°Making your own traps not taking you any further, I take it?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t regret the practice, but it¡¯s not hard to disarm a trap when you¡¯re the one who made it. I can¡¯t really hide tricks or surprises for myself, can I?¡±

    ¡°Suppose you can¡¯t.¡±

    ¡°I want to improve and learn, but I don¡¯t know what to do.¡±

    I wish Gret were here.

    The Guild Master invited Sven to sit while he pondered the question. Sven was right to be frustrated, but what could Hans do to help all the way out in Gomi?

    In Hoseki, his immediate solutions would have included the following:

    -Private lessons with an upper-ranked Rogue

    -Listening to upper-ranked Rogues describing their experiences in the field

    -Shadowing local locksmiths

    -Selecting jobs that were more likely to need a Rogue

    -A stint with military scouts, both in training and in the field

    -Reading accounts by or about successful Rogues in the Guild

    Of that list, the only viable option was reading books. That was also the least impactful path, and Hans would have to order the books before Sven could benefit from them.

    ¡°The Rogue I ran with saw the world much differently from me,¡± Hans began. ¡°He could chart a path through an enemy camp that took into account light levels, sightlines, enemy movements or patrols, the surfaces he had to cross, and the timing of syncing all of those variables together. But if you asked him to explain his process? He¡¯d just shrug and make some quip about the nature of true art or some such shit.¡±

    Sven listened, quietly, but smiled at Hans¡¯ description of Gret.

    ¡°I¡¯ve been thinking about how to solve the trap and lock problem since you and I first met, but I also have to admit I have been distracted. I¡¯m sorry to say I don¡¯t have any new ideas on that front. I let you down.¡±

    ¡°I understand, and I don¡¯t fault you or Gomi for that,¡± Sven said. ¡°From what I¡¯ve put together, you expected to be teaching kids classes every day. The orcs, the dungeon¡­ No one could have prepared for it.¡±

    ¡°I appreciate you giving me grace, but I still have a duty to you as my student. I¡¯ll look into what we could order for training. The Hoseki chapter had a few training boxes for Rogue Apprentices to practice on, but I don¡¯t know if those were custom-made or if someone sold them. I can try to find out, though.¡±

    ¡°Thank you, Mr. Hans.¡±

    New Quest: Talk to the merchant about training aids for lockpicking.

    Adding that quest to his list reminded him of all of the quests he avoided with his tantrum. Those quests were important to his friends, his students, and his community. Yet, he had a bad night and threw all of that aside to obliterate some goblins like a child going to their room to smash their toys.

    A new wave of shame bubbled within him.

    ¡°I have an idea,¡± Hans said. In truth, he had two, but he wasn¡¯t decided on the second. ¡°The Regenerating Castle is pretty boring for you all at this point. What if you went ahead of the party and stealthed through that section? We¡¯d start small so there aren¡¯t three floors of goblins between you and help if you get caught, but there is real danger with this no matter what. Goblins will swarm you immediately if you¡¯re spotted.¡±

    ¡°I like that idea,¡± Sven said, his blossoming enthusiasm showing in his energetic nod.

    ¡°Let me figure out a few checkpoints so we can gradually scale up the challenge, but I think we can start on your next run if you want.¡± In his mind, Hans pictured two checkpoints for every floor of the goblin section¨Cone halfway through a floor, the other at the end of the floor.

    ¡°Thank you, Mr. Hans. This plan eases my mind very much.¡±

    When Sven left, Hans thought more about his second thought. The silent walking ability that Becky and Buru used would be just as useful for a Rogue, if not more, but that would mean negotiating with the Lady of the Forest.

    No, don¡¯t go down that trail again, Hans.

    ***

    Open Quests (Ordered from Old to New):

    Progress from Gold-ranked to Diamond-ranked.

    Mend the rift with Devon.

    Complete the next volume (Iron to Bronze) for "The Next Generation: A Teaching Methodology for Training Adventurers."

    Find a way for Gomi adventurers to benefit from their rightful ranks in the Adventurers¡¯ Guild.

    Secure a way to use surplus dungeon inventory for good.

    Finish transcribing the manual and decide on the next course of action.

    Help Izz and Thuz bring new opportunities to their home village.

    Talk to the merchant about training aids for lockpicking.

    Investigate the locations of old Diamond Quests.

 Book 2, Chapter 31: Quest Paths

    Hans found Galad in a far corner of the Tribe farmland, helping a crew build a home for one of the refugee families who arrived last fall. The Tribe made good progress on getting all of them houses, but having to first erect the palisade around the barns put them behind.

    The true heat of summer had nearly arrived, so most of the men wore only pants as they worked, Galad included. The tusk was as muscular as Hans expected, but he was surprised to see that his collection of scars resembled that of an adventurer.

    From a glance, it appeared that Galad had been cut across the chest and back by a sharp blade on at least three occasions. A gnarled flower of scar tissue was visible low on the side of his ribs. In Hans¡¯ experience, an arrow was responsible for those types of scars. If the arrow didn¡¯t pass all the way through the body, the barbs would tear out more flesh when it was pulled free, no matter how careful you were. Lastly, Galad had three scars that appeared to be from stab wounds, thick lines no more than an inch wide. Hans had always found it odd that wounds so severe could leave no more than a small scar.

    ¡°Galad?¡± Hans called.

    Galad looked up to see who spoke. When he saw Hans, he returned his focus to shaping two boards to interlock. ¡°Guild Master.¡±

    ¡°Can I talk to you for a minute?¡±

    The tusk nodded and told the rest of the men that he¡¯d return shortly. The pair walked around one of the fields, using distance in place of privacy.

    ¡°You were right. My behavior wasn¡¯t appropriate.¡±

    Galad didn¡¯t reply. He simply watched the ground and listened.

    ¡°Talking to you as if you hadn¡¯t made sacrifices was wrong too,¡± Hans continued. ¡°I know you and your family have done a lot for Gomi, and that¡¯s just the bits I know about. I insulted you and disrespected you. I¡¯m sorry.¡±

    The pair walked several quiet steps before Galad finally spoke. ¡°Galinda made me aware that I was unfair to you. My sister and I¡­ Our parents didn¡¯t force us into this. For its peculiarities, the Tribe has always emphasized freedom for its citizens. We had a secret to keep, yes, but the Tribe had no say in anyone¡¯s coming or going. That extended to us too, and our parents were supportive of it being our decision.¡±

    ¡°Galad¨C¡±

    ¡°I have more to say to complete my thought, Mr. Hans,¡± Galad said gently. ¡°We chose to stay, and in staying, we had mentors and teachers. My parents, of course, but really we learned from all of our elders. Some more than others, sure, but we had no shortage of instruction or guidance. You had no such choice, and no such support.¡±

    ¡°I chose to go to Gomi.¡±

    ¡°Yes, but are you living the life you envisioned with that choice?¡±

    Hans couldn¡¯t help but laugh and shake his head.

    ¡°That¡¯s what I mean when I say you didn¡¯t have the same choice as myself and my sister. Our choice was a seed to be nurtured for years and years before we were responsible for any of our brothers and sisters, and we had a full understanding of what that would entail. Your choices were adaptations. I knew what seed I planted. You, however, had to pick a seed and then hope that what you wanted rose from the dirt.¡±

    The Guild Master didn¡¯t reply.

    ¡°Both choices are meaningful, but they are very different. If I am reading you correctly, you do not disagree with my being upset, however.¡±

    Hans nodded.

    ¡°My reaction was not helpful, and I judged you unfairly. I apologize.¡±

    ¡°I talked to Luther when I was up the mountain. He helped me a lot.¡±

    Galad said that sounded like the Luther he knew. He shared he was still sad his best friend relocated to the dungeon. He missed both Luther¡¯s friendship and his wisdom. Galad relied on both to overcome difficult times.

    ¡°I¡¯m no Luther,¡± Hans said, ¡°But you can come to me any time you want.¡±

    ¡°We should have made that arrangement many months ago,¡± Galad said, an embarrassed half-smile on his face. ¡°And likewise, of course. I suspect we have many more adaptations ahead.¡±

    ***

    Approaching Gomi from the direction of the Tribe farmlands, Hans saw a cluster of children near the front gate. She was only a smudge at this distance, but he guessed that the one three times as large as any of the children was Galinda. As Hans looped around the outside of Gomi, more of the scene came into view.

    The children stood on wooden platforms set in the palisade trenches, keeping them at ground level for their project: Painting Gomi¡¯s walls. Each child had a two-palisade canvas to call their own, but there were still disputes over borders from time to time, a stray brushstroke¨Cintentional or not¨Ctriggering a crisis between neighboring canvases.

    Like the art they left for Hans over the winter, every primary color was present on the palisade walls¨Cas high as the children could reach to paint, that is. Hans saw several pictures of families standing with their homes. A few drew crops and vegetables. Several drew Galinda, Galad, or Charlie. One painted a potion bottle frothering over with a green foam. When Hans got close enough, he found Willow behind the brush.

    Galinda waved to Hans but stayed with one of the youngest children, helping them manage their paints.

    Hans walked partway down the road out of Gomi to view the scene from a distance.

    What a thing for an enemy to see when they first arrive.

    Slipping by the children with only a few hellos was a minor miracle. He had never seen them so committed to a task or project. He wondered what Galinda said before the painting started that connected the children so deeply to decorating the palisades.

    ¡°He returns,¡± Olza said with mock enthusiasm. She stood outside her shop, brooming dirt out the door and off her stoop. ¡°Feeling better?¡±

    Sheepishly, he said he was. ¡°I¡¯m sorry for the other day.¡±

    ¡°You didn¡¯t do anything to me other than give me homework.¡±

    ¡°Homework?¡±

    Olza sighed. ¡°The manual?¡±

    ¡°Right. Sorry for that too.¡±

    A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

    ¡°Please stop apologizing to me. Do you have a minute? I can walk you through my notes if you want.¡±

    Hans followed Olza to her back counter and sat on a stool while she fetched her things. She returned with the manual and a journal. She set them on the counter but kept her hands on them, as if ensuring Hans didn¡¯t take them.

    ¡°I¡¯ll tell you what I learned, but you have to pay a toll.¡±

    ¡°What? A toll?¡±

    ¡°Let me say something, as someone who cares about you. That¡¯s the toll. When I say ¡®let¡¯ I mean that you have to listen and think long and hard before you react.¡±

    ¡°Okay¡­¡±

    After a deep sigh, Olza said, ¡°We need to figure out your depression or anger or whatever it is, and we need to slow your pace. Burnout makes the first thing ten times as bad.¡±

    ¡°We?¡±

    ¡°Yes, we. You and me. People help each other, you know.¡±

    ¡°Thank you.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re welcome. We can talk about the manual now. It¡¯s killing me that we aren¡¯t.¡±

    Hans chuckled. ¡°Please.¡±

    Her first insight was a general observation that might affect how much they can learn from the manual. She found several entries that referred to ¡°records,¡± ¡°logs,¡± and ¡°archives¡± that were not in the manual, meaning that some of their questions may not be possible to answer with the manual alone. They knew the blind spot was there now, though. That was helpful.

    Her reading began with Hans¡¯ generation of adventurers because that''s where his notes ended.

    The entry about his quest flashed in his mind:

    Hans the Adventurer ¨C 3379.236, Path of Strength, Terathan Hive ¨C FAILED x3

    She found that the labels like ¡°Path of Strength¡± and ¡°Path of Mending¡± came into use ten Guild Masters back. That particular Guild Master was one of the most prolific contributors to the manual in fact. Olza imagined him as a wise old mage with a long beard, but anyway.

    This Guild Master wrote that ¡°Paths¡± represented broad categories of quests, and he believed these Paths could be used to predict the nature of a quest provided by the Takarabune.

    ¡°Wait. What?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s my question for you, actually,¡± Olza said. ¡°You spoke as if the Guild always assigned quests based on an adventurer¡¯s class or skillset.¡±

    ¡°They did. I mean, I thought they did.¡±

    ¡°There is so much left for us to read¨Cgods do you adventurers love to hear yourselves talk¨Cbut it¡¯s looking like the device emits a color when it¡¯s used. The Guild Master who implemented the Path system went back through the quest entries from before his time and analyzed them several different ways, looking for trends. Before that, Guild Masters recorded the color, and a few early Guild Masters had theories about what different colors meant, but the Path Guild Master was the first to reach a definitive conclusion.¡±

    Olza opened the manual to a page she had bookmarked. She spun it around to show Hans.

    The left side of the page spread had a color wheel, the kind artists used to visualize the relationships between colors. This wheel was split into four quadrants, one for each of the four primary paths.

    The quadrant that went from bright yellow to a deep green was labeled the ¡°Path of Healing.¡±

    The quadrant that went from blue-green to dark purple was the ¡°Path of Mana.¡±

    The quadrant that went from violet to dark red was the ¡°Path of Shadows.¡±

    The final quadrant went from red to a yellow-orange. That quadrant represented the ¡°Path of Strength.¡±

    The right side of the spread summarized how the Guild Master arrived at this chart.

    By tabulating every quest entry that preceded him, the Path Guild Master found that the colors recorded by previous Guild Masters led to four broad quest categories. He suggested using those categories as a tool for assigning the right quests to the right adventurers. He also urged future Guild Masters to further divide the paths, believing Diamond quests could be assigned with more accuracy, matching the appropriate class to the appropriate challenge.

    Under the Path System, a quest that was blue-green and a quest that was dark purple were both assigned to the Path of Mana. Yet, they were on opposite ends of their quadrant. The Path Guild Master theorized that those differences in colors mattered, but the Guild didn¡¯t have enough data to know why they mattered.

    ¡°Every Guild Master after him ignored that part,¡± Olza said. ¡°They all just logged what Path the quest belonged to and stopped at that.¡±

    ¡°Naturally.¡±

    ¡°I saw your note about the Guild Master¨COtis was his name, right?¨Cwho had a bunch of Golds die on their quests, and I have a theory there.¡±

    Hans raised an eyebrow.

    ¡°I think he was colorblind.¡±

    ¡°He couldn¡¯t see color?¡±

    Olza shook her head. ¡°Someone who is colorblind can see colors, but they don¡¯t see them the same way we do.¡±

    She explained that one form of colorblindness made reds and greens indistinguishable from each other. Those colors were on opposite sides of the color wheel, so if the Guild Master was red-green colorblind, a quest for the Path of Shadows and a quest for the Path of Healing would look the same. Colorblindness came in a few different forms¨Cnot just red-green¨Cso a number of other mixups were possible.

    ¡°Is colorblindness rare?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know how much that topic has been studied, but it¡¯s common enough that any reputable alchemy program tests their students for it.¡±

    ¡°Oh, wow,¡± Hans said. ¡°I can see how mistaking one color for another could be problematic when you¡¯re mixing ingredients.¡±

    Olza nodded. ¡°Yep. It doesn¡¯t matter all that much for pretty much everyone else, but an alchemist grabs the wrong bottle? Boom. Anyway, before and after Guild Master Otis, failure rates are relatively even. The Path system might not be perfect, but the data suggests it¡¯s relatively reliable.¡±

    ¡°So that sharp of a change is probably more than bad luck. Interesting.¡±

    With the secrecy surrounding the device, Otis likely used the Takarabune in private. If no one else saw it in use, then no one could notice the real problem. Hans imagined Guild Master Otis despairing over his failures as a leader, searching desperately for the source but never knowing the problem was his own eyes.

    I¡¯d lose my mind too.

    ¡°Do you mind hanging on to that for a bit longer?¡± Hans asked.

    ¡°Sure. This kind of puzzle is fun for me. Makes me miss spending all day in the library when I was a student.¡± She saw Hans staring at the manual the way a husband stared at his wife¡¯s headstone. ¡°...But that¡¯s not why you want me to keep it.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s part of it. The other part¡­ I devoted my life to adventuring and to the Guild. I¡¯m not the greatest of my generation or anything like that, but I¡¯ve had some success. I¡¯ve helped a lot of people. I¡¯ve trained a lot of students. Seeing all of that summed up by one crossed-out line¡­ It makes me so angry, Olza. At myself, at my Guild Master, at every Guild Master before him. I dreamed of leaving a more meaningful mark on history.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not how it is at all.¡±

    ¡°I know that. But I also don¡¯t.¡±

    Active Quest: Progress from Gold-ranked to Diamond-ranked.

    Quest Update: Come to terms with being Gold-ranked, not Diamond-ranked.

    Hans rubbed his face. ¡°I¡¯ll be fine. All of these childish feelings¡­ I¡¯ll get them under wraps.¡±

    Quest Update: Progress from Gold-ranked to Diamond-ranked.

    Damn it.

    Olza opened her mouth as if to argue but closed it again. She nodded, agreeing to hold onto the book and continue her research.

    ¡°Thank you.¡±

    ***

    Open Quests (Ordered from Old to New):

    Progress from Gold-ranked to Diamond-ranked.

    Mend the rift with Devon.

    Complete the next volume (Iron to Bronze) for "The Next Generation: A Teaching Methodology for Training Adventurers."

    Find a way for Gomi adventurers to benefit from their rightful ranks in the Adventurers¡¯ Guild.

    Secure a way to use surplus dungeon inventory for good.

    Finish transcribing the manual and decide on the next course of action.

    Help Izz and Thuz bring new opportunities to their home village.

    Investigate the locations of old Diamond Quests.

    Talk to the merchant about training aids for lockpicking.

 Book 2, Chapter 32: One Unread Message

    ¡°May I confess something to you, Mr. Hans?¡± The merchant said, shuffling half a step to be fully under the shade of a Gomi tree. In this heat, any relief was worth pursuing. ¡°I looked into you when we first began doing business together.¡±

    ¡°Find anything interesting?¡±

    ¡°Perhaps. I do not wish you to think less of me, however.¡±

    Hans laughed. ¡°You won¡¯t have found anything I don¡¯t already know.¡±

    After a pause to fully consider his next words, the merchant continued, saying, ¡°I was led to believe you were not wealthy, yet you outspend a few of the noble families I serve. It is said that you were neither a successful adventurer nor a successful teacher, yet you are also known as Master Devontes¡¯ primary instructor. We all live our own contradictions, Mr. Hans, but if Mayor Charlie wasn¡¯t here to confirm it, I might have thought I was doing business with an entirely different person.¡±

    ¡°Adventurers gossip more than anyone I¡¯ve met,¡± Hans said. ¡°Why are you sharing this now? Did something happen?¡±

    ¡°Indeed. I collected my first finder¡¯s fee from Doorstop. It was much larger than I anticipated. Far larger, actually. As your business partner, I felt it was important to share both my gratitude and my perspective, and before I could even do that, you handed me an order for more books than my wagons can carry. I wish for our partnership to continue for many years.¡±

    Hans wasn¡¯t sure that partnership was the right word, but he didn¡¯t dispute the merchant¡¯s characterization. He shared that he was pleased with their business thus far and that he too wished to keep that trend going.

    ¡°Thank you, Mr. Hans. I have your book order as well as your inquiry for a ¡®lockpick training box.¡¯ My men delivered your packages to the guild hall the moment we arrived, and I saw to it you got your mail. How else might I serve you before my journey back begins?¡±

    As far as business went, Hans could think of no more to discuss. He did, however, want to hear the latest news from the kingdom, with particular regard to the orc war.

    ¡°You¡¯ve been around about as long as I have. You know how these things go. A war is ¡®won,¡¯ yet battles continue. Lots of folks are still getting attacked by bands of orcs pretty far from the main fighting. Trade is picking back up though, so it¡¯s not all bad.¡±

    Thanking the merchant for his help, Hans excused himself before spinning back around again a footstep later. ¡°I nearly forgot,¡± he said. ¡°Do you know anyone with a printing press?¡±

    Quest Update: Await the delivery of lockpick training tools.

    ***

    A footlocker sat on the floor next to Hans¡¯ desk in the guild hall. As soon as he saw it, he pictured it full of Haynu books. And he hoped a few books on the Cleric class were in there too, but really he was most excited to pass the summer heat with his favorite stories. If he paced himself, he might even have a few left to read over the winter. Olza did say he should slow down.

    Before he treated himself to his new treasures, he sat at his desk. He had one piece of guild mail to read, but oddly enough, he didn¡¯t fear its contents. As far as anyone could tell, the fake dungeon ruse worked, and nothing had happened that could have jeopardized that.

    He broke the seal and read:

    Hans,

    Theneesa said that your insight was instrumental in protecting tusk citizens from the war. With your help, Guild mages are distributing a stationary ward to every village in the kingdom. It¡¯s a monumental effort, and Gomi was lowest on the priority list. I argued on your behalf, however, and Gomi¡¯s should be delivered by the fall at the latest.

    I confess that I was the one who lobbied against Golds as Guild Masters. If Theneesa hadn¡¯t shown me the scale of my error, the accusations against Gret would have.

    I had no part in the investigation, and I continue to urge the Guild to look elsewhere for their thief. Gret was loyal to the Guild, and his loyalty was pure. You and I both know Gret would have never acted against the Guild. It¡¯s an insult to his sacrifice to accuse him of such a crime.

    I am grateful for Gret¡¯s role in my success, and I am grateful for yours as well. In another life, we would have parted on better terms.

    -Grandmaster Devontes

    Hoseki Chapter

    Hans realized he had held his breath for three readthroughs of the letter. His heart pounded, and his stomach twisted. He set the letter on the desk, leaned back, and looked around the guild hall. The guild hall wasn¡¯t empty very often these days, but Hans was glad it was empty now. He couldn¡¯t imagine the look on his own face, and he preferred it that way.

    He read the letter again another dozen times, searching for hidden meanings or implications but found none.

    When he heard children outside in the training yard, he realized he had sat at his desk, staring at the letter for far too long. He put it in a drawer and went outside to keep the little ones from beating on each other too much.

    ***

    Olza and Hans sat by a small fire a ways away from Gomi¡¯s back gate. They watched the sunset and the stars rise, sipping at Gomi beer.

    She had read Devon¡¯s letter several times over as well. She held it now, reading it yet again.

    ¡°¡®Grandmaster¡¯ Devontes?¡± she asked.

    Hans shrugged. ¡°Must be a new title. I¡¯ve never heard of the Guild using it before now.¡±

    ¡°Good for him, I guess,¡± Olza said. ¡°The rest of this feels kind of like an apology. Maybe as close to one as you¡¯ll ever get.¡±

    Hans nodded.

    ¡°The part about Gret is weird though. He¡¯s lying, right? Or is that naive?¡±

    ¡°Devon¡¯s a lot of things, but he¡¯s not a liar. He¡¯s always been an optimist, so I think he means what he wrote. Gret was good to him, so a betrayal doesn¡¯t make sense in his mind. Maybe optimism and naivety go hand in hand? The world was always black and white for Devon.¡±

    Olza nodded, her eyes still locked on the letter, reading it yet again by firelight. ¡°I¡¯m curious what they devised for the orc wards though. Why does he call it ¡®stationary,¡¯ though? Aren¡¯t most wards stationary?¡±

    This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work.

    Hans explained that she wasn¡¯t the only one who found the vocabulary unusual. For some reason, the mages who established Hoseki¡¯s wards described them as ¡°stationary wards,¡± and that label had persisted since. Yes, it didn¡¯t make sense because nearly all wards were stationary by default, but that¡¯s what Hoseki¡¯s wards had been called since their inception. As far as he knew, those were the only wards ever described that way.

    The way Hans read the letter, he presumed the wards delivered to villages would follow the Hoseki design: Large, self-replenishing, and meant to blanket a wide area.

    He saw the Hoseki wards in person by luck when he was Iron. A Diamond Bard asked him to fetch a package from the central guard station, and one of those guards was feeling generous. He took Hans to the back to see the legendary stationary wards of Hoseki. Those wards prevented Curse spells from being cast but did not nullify existing curses. If necromancy or summoning magic was done within the city, the wards would detect it.

    Some parents told their children that the stationary wards surrounded Hoseki with a protective shield to keep out monsters. That wasn''t actually possible, but that lie comforted more than a few scared children.

    And the wards were simple carved rocks. Big rocks, yes, but otherwise wholly unremarkable to look at. The big rocks had runes. The runes looked like scribbles on cave walls. Nothing glowed or sparked or hummed.

    Distributing a mess of those around the kingdom was not a small undertaking, but tattooing every citizen using Blood magic enchantments wasn''t exactly simple either.

    ¡°So they didn¡¯t use enchanted tattoos to counteract the possession,¡± Olza said. ¡°Interesting.¡±

    ¡°How do you think they did it?¡±

    The alchemist passed the letter back to Hans. ¡°Beats me. Ask Honronk maybe? At this point, he knows far more about enchanting than I ever will.¡± After a time, she asked, ¡°Am I wrong to take that letter as good news?¡±

    ¡°When I saw his name at the bottom, I braced for the worst. You know that sick feeling? Overwhelmed me immediately. But yeah, unless Devon became a master of subterfuge in the last two years, it looks like Gomi is of no interest to anyone right now.¡±

    ¡°Will you write back?¡± Olza asked.

    Active Quest: Mend the rift with Devon.

    If I really wanted to mend the rift, I would write back.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know what¡¯d I say,¡± Hans answered.

    ¡°Sounds like he didn''t either.¡±

    ¡°That may be true, yes.¡±

    ¡°You have plenty of time to think about it,¡± Olza added. ¡°Guild mail has been pretty busy this year, but you still have a whole month. Or however long you need, really.¡±

    Guild mail was slow, but messages seemed to arrive in tighter intervals this year than the last. Hans wagered that Hoseki leadership was doing much of their business from the road in light of the orc conflict. They were likely part of the effort to hunt down the remaining bands of orcs that still moved in secret within the kingdom¡¯s borders.

    Those leaders were unlikely to be ¡°close¡± to Gomi in any meaningful way, but they could be closer than the Capital. That was the only way to explain the swiftness of the mail. He supposed they could be using carrier pigeons, but that was more unlikely. Intelligent enemies like orcs or bandits were known to target pigeons to gather intel, so carrier pigeons fell out of use. The Guild preferred important messages to pass from hand to hand.

    ¡°Can I ask a favor?¡± Hans leaned forward to look Olza in the eyes.

    ¡°Yes¡­¡±

    ¡°I appreciate you being supportive, but I¡¯d prefer not to talk about my taking another Diamond quest.¡±

    ¡°Okay¡­ Can I ask why?¡±

    ¡°I can¡¯t do it.¡±

    ¡°Because of that ¡®oh you can¡¯t promote yourself¡¯ nonsense Izz and Thuz were talking about?¡±

    Hans smiled at her impression of the brothers, even though it was more grumpy old guy than lizardman. ¡°No, that¡¯s not it. You were right that I need to slow down, and I think part of that is accepting my reality. I tried to get Diamond. I failed. Olza, I wish you had known me back then. I was young. I was in peak condition. Hells, I was unstoppable. I felt that good with a sword in my hand. I was better looking too.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s hard to believe.¡±

    ¡°What do you¨C¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s hard to imagine you ever being good looking.¡±

    The Guild Master gave the alchemist a deep sigh.

    ¡°Sorry. I didn¡¯t mean to make light of this. You really believe it¡¯s out of reach forever?¡±

    He nodded. ¡°When I had long term students, people like Devon and Theneesa, a big part of the deal was that I had veto power over their job selections. If they were considering a job that I felt was a bad fit, and I said they shouldn¡¯t take it, they had to listen to me. No arguments.¡±

    Olza asked why.

    ¡°A bunch of adventurer deaths come from parties taking the wrong jobs. That could mean they weren''t ready for the challenge, or that could mean they weren''t a good matchup for whatever problems they would encounter. Anyone was welcome to take my classes, but if you wanted my one-on-one attention, those were the terms.¡±

    ¡°Ah.¡±

    ¡°Yeah. If we weren''t talking about me, I''d say it''s a bad idea for me to try again. The adventurer''s ability doesn''t meet the demands of the job. Did we ever talk about rank attrition rates?¡±

    Olza shook her head.

    ¡°This wasn''t an ultra in-depth study, but I ran the numbers on a decade of Hoseki promotions one time. Almost half of students make it from Apprentice to Iron. Twenty percent of those students make it to Bronze. Then ten percent of those get to Silver. And then the next ten percent make it to Gold. The attrition is mostly people washing out, but injury and death affect those numbers too.¡±

    ¡°Wow.¡±

    ¡°I''ve seen it happen first hand, and those students who washout? Most of them were good students and good people. They trained hard. They did what they were told. Some people go farther than others. Some don¡¯t. Just because I want something doesn''t mean I get to be the exception.¡±

    ¡°But¨C¡±

    ¡°Olza¡­¡±

    ¡°Okay, okay. The situation made me sad for you, and I thought maybe we had a chance to change that.¡±

    Hans looked up at the stars. ¡°To be honest, I did too. The manual for finding Diamond quests falls in our laps? Gods. That''s like out of a story.¡±

    Olza listened quietly.

    ¡°I''m fine. Really. I got pretty far, and I''m still alive. Sometimes you fail. That''s just how it is.¡±

    When Hans looked back down, he saw Olza reaching for his hand. She squeezed and offered him a sad smile. He squeezed back. They sat in silence until the fire burned down to a few weak coals.

    ***

    Active Quest: Progress from Gold-ranked to Diamond-ranked.

    Be mature about this. Close it for good.

    Do it.

    Come on, rip the arrow out. Get it over with, and move on.

    Close it.

    Gods damn it, Hans. Close the quest.

    ¡­

    ¡°Fuck.¡±

    ***

    Open Quests (Ordered from Old to New):

    Progress from Gold-ranked to Diamond-ranked.

    Mend the rift with Devon.

    Complete the next volume (Iron to Bronze) for "The Next Generation: A Teaching Methodology for Training Adventurers."

    Find a way for Gomi adventurers to benefit from their rightful ranks in the Adventurers¡¯ Guild.

    Secure a way to use surplus dungeon inventory for good.

    Finish transcribing the manual and decide on the next course of action.

    Help Izz and Thuz bring new opportunities to their home village.

    Investigate the locations of old Diamond Quests.

    Await the delivery of lockpick training tools.

 Book 2, Chapter 33: Real Time Strategy

    Hans set three books in front of Yotuli and joined her at one of the guild tables.

    ¡°I¡¯ve not read these, so I¡¯m not sure how helpful they¡¯ll be,¡± he said as she reached for the top of the stack. ¡°That one is the official Adventurers¡¯ Guild manual on the Cleric class. Those tend to be fairly broad, and they also tend to be a little dated. That edition is fifty years old, for instance. You¡¯ll get a good view of the class and what it¡¯s capable of, but you won¡¯t get the latest insights into training or anything like that.¡±

    Yotuli nodded as she thumbed through the pages.

    ¡°Then there¡¯s a book written by a contemporary Cleric. From the little bit of skimming I did, it focuses on the philosophical side of being a Cleric. The other one is a biography of a Platinum Cleric from a few generations back. In my experience, these kinds of books can have some great nuggets buried in them, but you have to be willing to dig a bit.¡±

    ¡°Thank you, Mr. Hans.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll give these a read when you¡¯re done. No rush or anything like that, just saying I¡¯ll do my part to make sure these are helpful as they can be. I hope we get a few more before the winter.¡±

    The Apprentice Cleric picked up the other two books, one after the other, and flipped through those as well. ¡°I think I¡¯m getting closer. I talked to Becky like you suggested, and I bet something in these will help too.¡±

    Hans asked how the conversation with Becky went.

    ¡°Well, you know what Becky¡¯s like,¡± Yotuli began. Her and Hans both smiled knowingly at that. ¡°I caught her up on what you and I discussed and asked her about her faith in nature. She didn¡¯t like describing her beliefs as ¡®faith¡¯ because, to her, faith suggested a veil between her and her beliefs, like she had to hope the right thing was on the other side.¡±

    ¡°She described it as a veil?¡±

    ¡°Well, no. That¡¯s my word, not hers. She said she didn¡¯t need to wonder what was under the outhouse lid because she could look for herself.¡±

    Hans laughed. ¡°It is an interesting point to make, though.¡±

    Yotuli agreed. ¡°She doesn¡¯t doubt nature because she¡¯s surrounded by it everyday. It¡¯s a hard fact for her rather than a belief. Daojmot is like that too, I realized. We¡¯re surrounded by the work of bastards and wanderers in Gomi like we are surrounded by nature. It¡¯s a fact of our lives.¡±

    ¡°Wow. That sounds like a breakthrough.¡±

    ¡°It is. How could I ever doubt something I see every day with my own eyes?¡±

    ¡°May I offer a suggestion?¡± Hans asked. ¡°Hold on trying Inspiration again for a bit. If you¡¯ve convinced me you have something here, then you probably do, but I¡¯ve seen students undercut their own progress by testing themselves too early. If you want to lift heavier weights, you don¡¯t try to set that new best after every workout. You spend a few weeks training and then return to the challenge. Does that make sense?¡±

    Yotuli said it did. Hans said he¡¯d let her get to it and excused himself. Before he could return to his desk, however, Honronk asked for his attention. The Apprentice Black Mage had made a rare trip down the mountain to shop and to ask Olza questions about reagents for spells.

    Luckily, he had received new books in the delivery as well, and he started studying them immediately, seeming to forget everything else the tusk had planned for his time in Gomi. Honronk hadn¡¯t lifted his head to look away from the books for several hours. Presently, he had a book on enchanting open.

    ¡°Mr. Izz encouraged me to continue studying the enchantment process,¡± the tusk said. ¡°He also warned me not to let my primary studies suffer.¡±

    That advice was sound, Hans believed.

    ¡°What balance do you recommend?¡±

    ¡°Between studying enchanting and studying to be an Iron-ranked Black Mage?¡±

    ¡°Correct.¡±

    The Guild Master sat down across from his student, giving him his full attention. He and Honronk had already had the discussion about how enchanting and adventuring were separate paths. Mages chose one or the other because the material they needed to learn for either was too great to double up on. Hans still had that concern, not wanting practice with enchantments to take away from dungeon preparation.

    At the same time, Honronk had proven he could do both, but Hans wanted to restate that worry because Honronk¡¯s development would only get more challenging as he progressed. As expected, Honronk said he had no such worries. He believed that with the right plan, he could continue growing in both directions indefinitely.

    But what should that plan look like?

    Hans suggested they use one of his adventuring rules as a guiding light: ¡°Heal yourself first.¡± If you and a party member were both in danger, you should ensure your own safety before giving aid to someone else. Apprentices often thought that sounded selfish and callous, but the real intent was to prevent as many deaths as possible.

    If two adventurers were in danger of bleeding out and one of them was still capable of assisting a teammate, that adventurer should address their own bleeding first. The heroically minded adventurers defaulted to helping a comrade before they helped themselves. Though that sounded like the nobler option, it actually lowered the chance for survival for everyone involved.

    What seemed more noble was actually more likely to lead to both adventurers dying. Helping someone else is hard to do when you¡¯re dead.

    ¡°If we apply that thinking here,¡± Hans said, ¡°I¡¯d say that would mean learning dungeon-ready spells only. The kind that keep you alive. Lots of spells are great for enchantments, but in this case, you don¡¯t have the spare time to learn something you can¡¯t use on a run. Keep practicing enchanting on the side, but let your adventurer training dictate what spells you master and not the other way around.¡±

    ¡°I understand the logic. What logic should I apply in my enchanting studies?¡±

    That¡¯s a good question.

    ¡°What are our options?¡± Hans asked.

    Honronk explained that enchantments fell into these broad categories, each having its own idiosyncrasies:

    -Environmental (walls, pillars, doors)

    -Wearables (clothing, jewelry, armor)

    -Weapons (melee and ranged)

    -Shields

    -Traps (triggered by proximity, command, or a specific condition being met)

    Tattoos were another category, but Honronk was out of practice canvas.

    If he prioritized dungeon-ready magic, enchanting shields, wearables, or environmental objects would have the least utility. Nightsight and Summon Light had some merit there, but otherwise, Honronk would not be learning the Barrier and Attunement spells most commonly used in those kinds of enchantments. No buff spells, no debuff spells, no wards, no area-based magic shields.

    Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

    That left weapons and traps.

    ¡°Both of those could be very useful,¡± Hans said. ¡°I doubt any of your party members would complain about having an enchanted weapon. Ultimately, helping your party members helps you, but the benefit to you directly is greater with traps. At Diamond and Platinum, Gret¨Cmy Rogue friend¨Cincluded enchanted traps in his loadout. They were expensive as all hell for something he could only use once, but dropping a Greater Fire trap when a bunch of stuff is chasing you¡­ pretty handy.¡±

    Hans asked for the Apprentice¡¯s current spell list. Honronk opened his notebook and passed it across the table.

    The list read:

    -Prism

    -Nightsight

    -Repel Possession

    -Charm

    -Summon Light

    -Magic Mallet

    -Lesser Fire

    -Lesser Ice

    -Duplicate

    -Angel Shield

    -Wall of Stone (in progress)

    -Wall of Fire (in queue)

    -Wall of Ice (in queue)

    -Lesser Air Elemental (in queue)

    If Honronk learned to enchant weapons and traps, the spells that wouldn¡¯t be applicable were Nightsight, Repel Possession, Summon Light, Magic Mallet, Duplicate, and Angel Shield. So six out of the fourteen listed. That sounded like a lot to sacrifice, but that ratio would shift drastically as Honronk¡¯s spell library expanded.

    ¡°Thank you, Guild Master.¡±

    ¡°Of course,¡± Hans said. ¡°Having this same conversation with Bel and Izz would be a good idea. They¡¯re likely to see something I don¡¯t.¡±

    One new book on White Magic arrived, this one focusing on tactics for using buffs and debuffs in battle. Chisel was working a shift at the dungeon, so Hans set the book aside with a note saying it was reserved for the Apprentice. If she hadn¡¯t returned before his next trip up the mountain, he¡¯d deliver it personally.

    Though a summer sun blazed outside, Hans¡¯ thoughts were on preparing for winter. Tandis wanted an idea of what dungeon rotations would look like so she could stock up on the correct supplies ahead of the pass closing.

    The new crop of Apprentices were on track in terms of their development. With the first cohort, relatively little of the dungeon had grown yet. With this cohort, the dungeon itself could become a greater piece of their training.

    Typically, Hans kept Apprentices out of the field for several months, but those conditions were different. In Gomi, the growth of the dungeon was consistent and predictable. He used that to put Kane and Quentin in front of skeletons to safely and slowly build their field experience. It worked well enough that Hans decided to try bringing Apprentices into the dungeon even earlier in their training.

    Like he did with Kane and Quinton, the new cohort would fight skeletons only. They could potentially observe the more difficult encounters, but Hans wasn''t decided on how to do that safely. Escorting a non-combatant was its own kind of run, and putting that pressure on the other Apprentices didn''t seem fair.

    Should I bring the new cohort to the dungeon before or after Izz and Thuz leave for the Osare tournament?

    Quentin, Kane, and their eclectic entourage departed in a week, and would be away for about that long as well.

    Hans decided that for all future cohorts, they would plan for new Apprentices to spend two months training in Gomi before training at or in the dungeon.

    Assuming bringing Apprentices in the dungeon earlier did not become a complete disaster.

    When Hans leaned back in his desk to rest his eyes, he took in the guild hall. Yotuli and Honronk both still read. The job board had seven Junior jobs pinned to it, and those postings were surrounded by water colors and drawings gifted to Hans by his younger students. His shield with the same kind of artwork painted on its front was in storage behind him.

    His first complete manuscript sat on the shelf for the rest of the guild to reference. A map Roland gave him hung opposite the job board, covered in the hunters notes about game movements and shifts in terrain.

    The guild library looked pretty respectable now too.

    And the dungeon campus had become a small hamlet, with build progress still going.

    You might not get Diamond, but no adventurer has done what you''re doing in Gomi. Isn''t that better than a Diamond rank?

    It is, but I can''t get myself to believe it.

    <hr>

    ¡°I''ll be doing lessons and managing runs while the boys are in Osare. You''ve probably guessed from the new faces that a few things are going to change.¡±

    The newest recruits for adventuring and harvesting sat amongst the more veteran dungeon teams¨Cminus Terry, who was on his way to Osare with Izz, Thuz, Kane, and Quentin. Bel and Lee stood behind them. They all listened to Hans.

    ¡°Everyone new, you''re going to be challenged. Those of you with more experience, remember what it''s like to be a newbie. It''s surprisingly easy to forget.¡±

    Hans ran through dorm assignments for the new trainees and harvesters. Then he talked through training schedules and dungeon run rotations. The new arrivals wouldn¡¯t go farther than the training area in Honronk¡¯s front yard, so dungeon shifts would remain the same, for now.

    In a few weeks, they would gradually add more field experience for both the new Apprentices and the new harvesters.

    ¡°The rest of you are getting new challenges as well,¡± Hans continued. ¡°Apprentices, the ogre valley is up next. Harvesters, you''ll be going as deep as geode geckos. Don''t freak out. You''ll all be prepared.¡±

    With orientation concluded, the group dispersed.

    ¡°Hard to believe we were sleeping on top of each other a few months ago,¡± Sven said, approaching Hans. ¡°Any Rogues among the new blood?¡±

    ¡°Remains to be seen. Your crew didn''t follow the normal path. I''m not sure if you know that or not.¡±

    Sven laughed.

    ¡°They''ll make their choices in another month or so. Shadowing you guys first will be good for them too.¡±

    ¡°Do you mean to say I''m a role model?¡± Sven asked, failing to suppress his grin.

    ¡°Gods, that is what it means,¡± Hans said, feigning shock. ¡°You''ll do fine. More importantly, how has your training been?¡±

    ¡°I''ve learned it''s easier to sneak by goblins if they''re dead.¡±

    Hans smiled. ¡°You''ve discovered the secret technique.¡±

    ¡°In all seriousness, stealthing the Bone Goblins has been good for me, and I try to kill fewer each run to keep the challenge going. I appreciate the assistance, Mr. Hans. Four and a half floors to go.¡±

    The Guild Master congratulated his student and said he also talked to his merchant contact about a lockpick training box. Couldn''t be sure if it would work out though. Sven appreciated the effort regardless.

    ¡°I''ll leave you to it, Guild Master. Just wanted to give you the update.¡±

    Hans thanked him and escaped to his cabin. He opened all of his windows and propped open the door. Mountain breezes were rare in this heat, but if one came through, he intended to make the most of it.

    As Hans settled in with a Haynu novel¨CVolume 15, The Legend of The Celibate Succubus¨Che had a realization.

    When all of the Apprentices, harvesters, and upper-ranked instructors were at the dungeon, the operation totalled twenty seven people. That count didn''t include Becky, Olza, or Uncle Ed¡¯s wagon team. Or Petal. Buru would want him to count Petal.

    The Gomi Chapter was a proper guild. Plenty of chapters were in bigger cities and saw more activity, but for a small town chapter, Gomi¡¯s numbers were on the higher side. Having their own dungeon was an unfair advantage, but still.

    Active Quest: Find a way for Gomi adventurers to benefit from their rightful ranks in the Adventurers¡¯ Guild.

    Can''t be a proper guild if your adventurers can''t practice their trade.

    ¡°Yeah, how are you going to do that?¡±

    Maybe Haynu has the answers.

    <hr>

    Open Quests (Ordered from Old to New):

    Progress from Gold-ranked to Diamond-ranked.

    Mend the rift with Devon.

    Complete the next volume (Iron to Bronze) for "The Next Generation: A Teaching Methodology for Training Adventurers."

    Find a way for Gomi adventurers to benefit from their rightful ranks in the Adventurers¡¯ Guild.

    Secure a way to use surplus dungeon inventory for good.

    Finish transcribing the manual and decide on the next course of action.

    Help Izz and Thuz bring new opportunities to their home village.

    Investigate the locations of old Diamond Quests.

    Await the delivery of lockpick training tools.

 Book 2, Chapter 34: Season Reset

    The Apprentice curriculum hadn¡¯t changed, but its delivery did.

    For starters, two sets of Apprentices now trained together, and referring to them as ¡°the experienced Apprentices¡± and ¡°the new Apprentices¡± quickly wore on Hans. He considered allowing the Apprentices to choose their own group names, but then he thought of the Poop Puddle. If he gave these people that power, he¡¯d end up coaching Team Dick and Team Balls for the next four years.

    Absolutely not.

    He knew, however, that if he assigned the team names the Apprentices would ignore them and use their own.

    Hans shared his new approach at the end of the first combined class. ¡°I¡¯m starting a new tradition right here. Each cohort is going to pick a team name using a monster that appears in our dungeon.¡±

    He never mentioned that he had forgotten the names of four of the six new Apprentices already.

    When the Apprentices didn¡¯t argue, instead turning to each other to discuss their options, Hans fist pumped aggressively within his own mind. He thought for sure the first cohort of Apprentices would push back, but they didn¡¯t. After a few minutes of vigorous debate, both groups were ready to share their selection.

    The inaugural generation chose to be called ¡°The Dungeon Cores,¡± or ¡°the DCs¡± for short. That felt appropriate for the first group of Apprentices to ever delve the dungeon¨Ca small beginning that grows into something great. Did the Apprentices share that interpretation? Hans chose not to ask so he could preserve the fuzzy feeling he had.

    The second cohort chose, ¡°The Minotaurs,¡± which Hans also thought was clever. He assumed no one would want to choose goblins or gnolls because many were likely to have had some level of firsthand experience with the violence they can reap on innocent people, but he forgot about the minotaur in the shaman room.

    ¡°Shit,¡± Sven said, ¡°theirs is better than ours.¡±

    ¡°I still like the DCs better,¡± Chisel said. Yotuli, Buru, and Honronk agreed with Chisel.

    The first three of the combined classes had the DCs and the Minotaurs learning the same material. The review would be helpful for the more experienced adventurers, and the new students would benefit from being paired with someone who could help them along. The fourth class fell on the day of a dungeon regrowth, so Hans took training into the field.

    Chisel, Buru, and Yotuli were on rotation that day. With Hans and the six Minotaurs following behind, the three DCs ran the dungeon. A few of the encounters were not convenient for spectators, but the majority were. Hans withheld commentary and instead asked the students to pay close attention to the party¡¯s movements. They were also welcome to ask any questions they¡¯d like when the run concluded.

    The Forgeborne Mines and the Poop Puddle went smoothly. At one point, Buru asked one of the Minotaurs if they could carry Petal. She got spooked and was currently curled up, pretending to be dead. Otherwise, the run up until that point was uneventful, and the harvesters came in behind the adventurers with Tandis in the lead.

    At the Bone Goblins, Hans had each Minotaur fight a skeleton by themselves. Predictably, that surprised every Minotaur and terrified a few as well. Hans intentionally withheld this part of the lesson plan so there was as little time as possible between the Apprentices knowing they had to fight something for real and actually doing it. This early in a student¡¯s development, they didn¡¯t need the distraction of looming dread.

    Each of the battles went how beginner encounters typically go. Hesitation. Stiff movements. Weak attacks. Panic-driven defense.

    When the sixth skeleton fell, the DCs continued onward into the dungeon while Hans escorted the Minotaurs back to the training yard.

    As they ventured through the bayou, Hans said, ¡°Proud of everyone for stepping up today. I know you weren¡¯t expecting a fight, but you all did great.¡±

    A lean tusk Hans judged to be in his early twenties spoke first. He had hunter green skin, and Hans couldn¡¯t recall his name. ¡°Not me. I froze immediately.¡±

    ¡°I froze in my first real fight,¡± Hans said. ¡°Today, the point was doing it. How well you think you did or didn¡¯t do doesn¡¯t matter. Everyone has a lot to improve and a lot of training ahead, but you¡¯ve got your first real fight out of the way.¡±

    The Apprentice to speak next was a forty seven year-old human man. He had graying brown hair and the wiry build of a career laborer. His name was Charlie, but Hans didn¡¯t want anyone to get confused between Mayor Charlie and Adventurer Charlie, so he dubbed his Apprentice ¡°Young Charlie.¡± A memorable nickname was an added benefit for Hans.

    ¡°Do we fight goblins after the skeletons?¡± Young Charlie asked.

    Hans said that was correct, but not anytime soon, and he wouldn¡¯t make that fight a surprise. Skeletons were capable of being deadly in groups, but one-on-one they were slow, weak, fragile opponents. If an Apprentice made a serious error with a goblin, they could get stabbed in the stomach with a wooden stake. Making the same error against a skeleton would, at most, leave a few scratches, especially with Hans present to intervene.

    ¡°Wherever possible, I try to give you room to make mistakes,¡± Hans said. ¡°I¡¯m not sure how comforting this is, but if I put you into a situation, it¡¯s because I¡¯m pretty sure you won¡¯t die.¡±

    The Apprentices laughed.

    For the rest of the journey, they briefly discussed what classes the Minotaurs were considering. No one was committing to anything yet, but Hans probed the topic early to help the Apprentices choose later.

    Young Charlie, for example, was considering going Archer, which was essentially a Fighter who specialized in ranged attacks. Knowing that, Hans could share the pros and cons while the Apprentice still had plenty of time to mull his options.

    In this case, Hans liked the idea of an older Apprentice avoiding the abuse of being a frontliner, but he cautioned him about dungeon utility. Several encounters, especially in the Bone Goblin section, were too tight for a drawstring bow, and crossbows were a sonofabitch to reload. Clearing a room as an Archer was difficult as well. Any monster within twenty yards would likely get to your throat before you could draw and fire.

    Every class had weaknesses, and adapting to those weaknesses was one of the more challenging parts of training. So while Hans¡¯ explanation might sound discouraging, the intent was to help the student understand what would inevitably piss them off in the future. Figuring it out would always be frustrating, but knowing what you¡¯re getting into numbed a good bit of the sting later.

    Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

    At the dungeon exit, Hans dismissed the students for the day, but he would be in the training yard for the next hour or so to answer questions.

    <hr>

    ¡°I get demolished. Every time.¡±

    Hans sat on an overturned minecart while Pogochio pulled up a box to sit. Pogochio¨Ca greenish brown tusk who preferred to go by Pogo¨Cwas the smallest tusk Hans had ever seen. At seventeen, Pogo was smaller than Quentin. He wasn¡¯t as gangly, but he was far from being built. For him to not be the smallest adventurer in the room, Mazo would need to visit.

    Even then, it¡¯d be close.

    ¡°I¡¯m going to speak frankly about your size,¡± Hans answered, ¡°but before I do, I need you to know I have worked with dozens of adventurers like you or smaller. They were accomplished professionals, and I see no reason why you couldn¡¯t do what they did. Can I continue?¡±

    Pogo nodded.

    ¡°Being smaller sucks, and it will always suck.¡±

    The tusk¡¯s eyes widened.

    ¡°Here¡¯s the thing: adventurers are smaller than their opponents almost every time. Buru is a beast, but he¡¯s smaller than goliath toads and definitely smaller than ogres. That sucks for Buru. For someone my size, I¡¯m smaller than most gnolls, and they¡¯re one of the most common pests in the kingdom. That sucks for me and eighty percent of adventurers. Even then, Buru doesn¡¯t beat them by that much.¡±

    Pogo listened.

    ¡°The early days are harder for adventurers like you, and there¡¯s no way around it. When neither student knows shit, the one with bigger muscles is probably going to win. Size will always matter, really. But when you get smarter about how you fight, you¡¯ll have the tools to make your size an advantage.¡±

    ¡°Advantage?¡±

    ¡°Yes, advantage.¡± Hans said. ¡°Six months from now, everyone is going to complain about how hard it is to hit you. You¡¯re a smaller target, and you¡¯re faster than anyone in the room. Only you can fight like that. Yotuli is quick, but you¡¯re quicker. Terry is too old to move like that. And someone like Buru? Buru could never fight like that. His tools are different.¡±

    ¡°I see.¡±

    ¡°Knowing that won¡¯t make your training any easier, but I promise you, it¡¯s well within your potential for you to get through it.¡±

    Other than Pogo, none of the Minotaurs asked Hans for advice or input, but they did spend an extra hour drilling. Students practicing on their own time was always a good sign.

    <hr>

    That night, Tandis and Hans sat in his cabin. She had her notebook open.

    Though the sun was down, the night was wet and hot, and cooling breezes had not passed through in days. Hans placed lit candles by the door and by his windows in an effort to deter mosquitos. It wasn¡¯t working very well.

    ¡°Sorry to bother you so late,¡± Tandis said.

    ¡°Not a bother at all. How can I help?¡±

    Tandis explained that she wanted to get a headstart on preparing to ship dungeon-grown resources from future expansions. Rough numbers around volume would help her to work out the value and do some digging on what merchants typically paid. Since she couldn¡¯t speak to the visiting merchants herself, she had been posing questions via Olza. Tusks still needed to keep a low profile, and an alchemist asking about strange ingredients every visit wouldn¡¯t be unusual to anyone within earshot.

    Hans listed what resources were in the works for the near future, saying, ¡°Valorite, armillaria meat and spores, cave crawler hearts and claws, and lamia scales.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re not selling valorite, correct?¡±

    Hans said that was correct. It would attract too much attention, and Gomi had its own uses for valorite. Tandis didn¡¯t know about the Takarabune, however, but Hans having another odd side project was no surprise.

    ¡°I¡¯ve done the diligence on cave crawlers already, so no questions there¡­ Lamias shouldn¡¯t be too hard. The bestiary suggests they aren¡¯t incredibly rare¡­ What¡¯s an armillaria? I don¡¯t think I¡¯ve heard of those.¡±

    Armillarias were giant mushroom monsters that put prey to sleep with a burst of toxic spores. They consumed their prey while it slept. Admittedly, armillarias were not lucrative to hunt. Hans¡¯ primary goal with their addition was for training, but armillaria meat was edible, and their spores were worth harvesting. Alchemists sometimes sold them for medicinal and recreational use.

    Tandis raised an eyebrow at the mention of recreational use.

    ¡°Supposedly some people lucid dream with the right dose of armillaria spores. All I got was a headache.¡±

    When Tandis finished writing, she looked up and asked, ¡°Anything else worth harvesting in these expansions? Non-monster, I mean.¡±

    After some thought, Hans gave Tandis a quick summary of each expansion. Bunri¡¯s Tower had bottles, books no one would read, and a golem. The armillaria job took place in a village similar to Luther Land, and Hans couldn¡¯t think of anything of use beyond the furniture. The coven job was a proper dungeon crawl with an underground temple and everything. The lamiae controlled the patrolling cave crawlers, and he recalled a small garden of spell components near an alchemist bench. He¡¯d keep thinking, though.

    ¡°There were a couple of books in Luther Land, right?¡± Tandis asked.

    Hans said that was true.

    ¡°And they were all blank. If the Bunri books are all blank, is there any value in an endless supply of empty books? Some of the bottles might be usable too, even if just locally.¡±

    The first thought to enter Hans¡¯ mind was printing copies of books, like his guide to training adventurers. Then he remembered two important things: books were typically printed before they were bound, and he didn¡¯t have a printing press. Like with the bottles, if the books weren¡¯t worth selling, everyone in Gomi could have as much paper as they wanted. The kids he taught would absolutely love to have their own sketchbooks. Or five.

    Tandis asked if he remembered what spell components the lamia coven grew. Hans could remember nightshade and mandrake root but not the others. He promised to think more about it. That knowledge was hidden in his memory somewhere.

    ¡­Hopefully.

    The quartermaster thanked Hans and stood to leave. She stopped in the doorway and asked, ¡°How do you think Kane and Quentin are doing?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve been trying not to think about it.¡±

    ¡°Me too. I¡¯m sure they¡¯re fine, but I worry anyhow.¡±

    Hans admitted he was the same. ¡°The boys are ready for a tournament, and I suspect at least a few of the attendees will recognize Izz and Thuz. They¡¯re kind of hard to miss, and you don¡¯t see a lot of lizardmen this far north. I¡¯ve never met anyone that didn¡¯t adore them.¡±

    ¡°Really?¡± Tandis asked.

    ¡°Really. In all the time I¡¯ve known them, I have never heard someone say something bad about them. It¡¯s ridiculous, but it¡¯s true.¡±

    ¡°Must be nice.¡±

    ¡°Right?¡±

    With that, Tandis departed for the evening. While Hans debated the merits of closing the door and windows of his cabin to escape mosquitos despite the heat, he thought about his two Apprentices in Osare.

    As long as they¡¯re safe.

    <hr>

    Open Quests (Ordered from Old to New):

    Progress from Gold-ranked to Diamond-ranked.

    Mend the rift with Devon.

    Complete the next volume (Iron to Bronze) for "The Next Generation: A Teaching Methodology for Training Adventurers."

    Find a way for Gomi adventurers to benefit from their rightful ranks in the Adventurers¡¯ Guild.

    Secure a way to use surplus dungeon inventory for good.

    Finish transcribing the manual and decide on the next course of action.

    Help Izz and Thuz bring new opportunities to their home village.

    Investigate the locations of old Diamond Quests.

    Await the delivery of lockpick training tools.

 Book 2, Chapter 35: Preparation Phase

    When Chisel, Yotuli, and Buru returned from their run late the next morning, they delivered a letter to Hans. Luther wrote down early data and observations for his part of the starcup experiments. They couldn¡¯t test potency properly without Olza, but Luther observed that the growth of any plant in his garden was roughly twice as fast as what he¡¯d expect on the surface. For the starcups enhanced for accelerated growth¨Cof which there were two batches¨Cthey grew nearly four times as fast.

    Suspecting that dungeon soil was the cause, he sent up a bottle of dungeon dirt with his letter. He didn¡¯t know how much Olza could glean from soil samples, but he suspected she would ask about such samples eventually. Hans agreed.

    Other than reporting his observations, Luther said nothing else about himself or his life. Hans hoped the tusk was doing okay by himself down there.

    Hans was on his way to the dorms. He wanted to talk to the Minotaurs and the new harvesters about their long-term options, namely if they wanted to live at the dungeon fulltime or rotate in and out from a home in Gomi. Either was fine. Three of the Minotaur tusks were refugees. The other tusk and the two humans¨C

    Young Charlie, Jonathan, and¡­ Wait, is Jonathan right?

    ¨Cwere Gomi locals. Staying in their current homes was an option as well.

    With his spiel sounding good in his mental rehearsal, he felt the sparrow land before he saw it. He sighed as he strolled off campus and into the woods.

    What now?

    The Lady of the Forest formed before Hans, her body and face built almost entirely from dead leaves and pine needles.

    ¡°An orc band has entered the forest. Fifteen.¡±

    Hans cursed in his mind and asked, ¡°How far from Gomi and where?¡±

    ¡°Three and a half days. Buru and Petal already know where.¡±

    The Lady¡¯s form broke apart.

    ¡°Hey!¡± Hans yelled.

    The wind carried her voice to his ear. ¡°I have not forgotten.¡±

    New Quest: Secure the dungeon and prepare to meet the orc band.

    <hr>

    Hans stood outside the dorm and addressed every person at the dungeon¨Cbuilders, harvesters, Apprentices, Tandis, and the two Silvers.

    ¡°We have three and a half days,¡± Hans said. ¡°The orcs won¡¯t expect us to have a headstart, but our lead will fade fast, so listen closely.

    ¡°Builders and harvesters, pack your essentials. You¡¯ll leave at first light tomorrow, and you¡¯ll be inside the Gomi walls well ahead of any danger. If you have any kind of weapon, keep it within reach. Everyone will leave together in the morning, but I need at least four carpenters to stay behind.¡±

    Four carpenters stepped forward.

    Hans dismissed the rest of the builders and harvesters so they could begin preparing for the journey down the mountain, leaving only the adventurers and Tandis completely unaddressed. Every Minotaur but Young Charlie had gone pale, their eyes darting from one to another, panic building. The DCs present¨CChisel, Buru, and Yotuli¨Cwere more even keeled, but they were still nervous, shifting awkwardly and taking slow breaths. Bel and Lee stood side by side with their arms crossed and their legs wide, their faces hard and focused.

    ¡°We have a numbers problem,¡± Hans began. ¡°Sven and Honronk will join us, but our people in Osare are too far away to help. Buru already sent a sparrow for Becky. That makes fifteen of us in total, but almost half of us are green, and don¡¯t forget we still have to contain the dungeon.

    ¡°Nothing about this is ideal, and none of this will be easy, but all of our problems are solvable if everyone does their part.¡±

    Hans instructed Yotuli to run to Gomi as soon as the meeting ended. She needed to tell Charlie and Galad to get everyone inside the walls. While she was there, she would alert Sven and gather a list of supplies Hans prepared for her. For the return trip, they¡¯d borrow a pair of horses and ride them hard.

    Buru would show Hans the location of the orcs on a map and then depart with Petal. His orders were to scout as far ahead as he could and return with intel. He would send sparrows with updates when he found the enemy.

    Bel, Lee, Chisel, and Tandis would get the gear in order. Tandis had instructions to leave an emergency stash of potions behind while giving the team meeting the orcs the bulk of their supply, as much as was reasonable to carry at least. The rest of the gear was limited to essentials. Rations for two days, a bedroll, first aid supplies, a waterskin¨Cempty if they could cast Create Water¨Ctheir weapons, and their armor.

    ¡°Minotaurs,¡± Hans said, addressing the newest Apprentices, ¡°You are not responsible for culling the dungeon, but we do need to keep anything inside from escaping to the surface. The six of you will rotate watch the entire time I¡¯m gone, so one person will always be monitoring the inside of the dungeon, and we¡¯ll have another lookout topside to watch the woods.

    ¡°I¡¯m tasking our carpenter friends here with plugging up the hallway a few dozen yards into the dungeon. I don¡¯t need anything fancy from you.¡± Hans addressed the carpenters. ¡°Just jam it up and do what you can to make it durable. Any of the Minotaurs not on watch will move beds out of the mine dorms and pile them in the hallway. None of this has to look pretty. We just need to slow down any monster that might find their way toward the surface.

    ¡°With how long we¡¯ll be gone, you shouldn¡¯t have any problems. The iron elementals don¡¯t roam very much, and the goblins have to get through the bayou before they can think about leaving the dungeon. Everything I¡¯m asking you to do is just in-case.¡±

    Hans took a deep breath.

    ¡°Once the DCs are ready to depart, we¡¯ll do a quick tactics meeting and then doubletime it out. If we surprise them, their numbers will matter a little bit less.¡±

    The plan was as good as it could be. The only problem he couldn¡¯t solve was alerting Luther. At the bottom of the dungeon, he had no way of knowing what was happening on the surface, The left him in a fully spawned dungeon for several long days, wondering why a party of adventurers hadn¡¯t culled the dungeon yet.

    ¡°I¡¯ll go,¡± Lee volunteered. ¡°I can get down and back in time.¡±

    ¡°I know you could, but we need you fresh for the orcs.¡±

    Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.

    ¡°I¡¯ll be fine. I promise.¡±

    Hans considered her for a long minute. When he nodded, Lee took off into the dorms to grab her gear.

    In the meantime, Hans would draft the battleplan. He had to figure out a way for five Apprentices, one Bronze, Two Silvers, and a washed up Gold to take on fifteen orcs, rumored to be at least Bronze-ranked but might be as high as Silver. Among those orcs was likely at least one Blood Mage, but if rumors were true, the band might have two or three.

    If the Lady kept her promise, they could get through this with no one dying, but if she pulled any of that fae doublespeak bullshit and wormed out of contributing¡­ This would be hard.

    Quest Update: Meet the orcs in battle to protect Gomi.

    <hr>

    Luther¨Cwho came to the surface with Lee¨Cand a nervous team of Apprentices saw them off, Hans¡¯ party setting out with Becky and Becki in the lead.

    They had two days left to intercept the orcs. They marched with urgency, trying to cover as much ground as possible while still having energy to fight after. A few hours in, two sparrows landed on Becky¡¯s shoulder. She listened intently, every adventurer behind her unconsciously holding their breath.

    ¡°Thank you so much. You¡¯re both sweethearts,¡± Becky said to the sparrows. ¡°Tell Buru to meet us at the bend in the trickling creek.¡±

    Becky turned to address Hans and saw his confused face. ¡°Buru will know where that is. It¡¯s a good spot for us to camp for the night. We¡¯ll be close enough to hit them in the morning.¡±

    ¡°Good.¡±

    ¡°Uh, boss,¡± Becky said, her mustache bent by her frown. ¡°Buru counted three mages. The rest looked like warriors. There¡¯s a mix of swords, axes, and spears, but they all have bows. And¡­¡±

    ¡°Becky. Out with it.¡±

    ¡°Buru says three of the band are tusks.¡±

    <hr>

    They made camp without fire. Buru arrived after sunset.

    ¡°You sure they¡¯re tusks?¡± Bel asked. Everyone hoped Buru would change his mind about what he reported.

    But he didn¡¯t. He and Petal both saw them. With the faint light of a mostly covered lamp, he pointed out the orc¡¯s location on the map. He observed them moving toward Gomi, and their camp looked ready to pack up quickly, not surprising for a war band, orc or otherwise.

    ¡°There¡¯s a gully here,¡± Becky said, pointing to a point on the map between the orcs and Gomi. ¡°It looks like they¡¯re following a game trail for now. Makes sense. Easier walkin¡¯ that way. If they stay on it, they¡¯ll go right through there. We¡¯re lucky there ain¡¯t been much of a breeze, but if wind does blow, it always goes the same direction through the gully. We can stay downwind if we need to.¡±

    ¡°Downwind?¡± Chisel asked.

    ¡°Orcs have good noses,¡± Lee said. ¡°Not as good as a gnoll, but good enough that it¡¯s a problem.¡±

    Becky nodded. ¡°The blessing about them being big is they¡¯ll have to move single file to fit down that trail. If the gods love us, they won¡¯t be in any kind of battle formation when we attack.¡±

    ¡°What do we do about the tusks?¡± Sven asked.

    ¡°We¡¯ll try to save them,¡± Hans said. ¡°The Druids can tie them up with vines. Chisel has Sleep. And if Honronk is close enough, he can hit one of them with Repel Possession.¡±

    ¡°Only one?¡±

    ¡°Can only be cast once an hour,¡± Honronk stated.

    Sven nodded, grimly.

    ¡°Everyone, look at me,¡± Hans said. ¡°We¡¯re going to try and save them, but there is a real possibility we can¡¯t. We have a town full of people we love counting on us, so until the tusks are incapacitated, they are enemies.¡±

    Chisel and Yotuli both narrowed their eyes at Hans.

    ¡°I know it¡¯s not what any of us wants to hear, but if an enemy has you or a party member in danger, you put them down. Tusk or orc. Eliminating the orcs is goal number one. Everyone here going home whole is goal number two. Rescuing the tusks is goal number three.¡±

    What Hans didn¡¯t say was that if goal number one could not be accomplished without scrapping the other two, protecting Gomi came before protecting themselves.

    He didn¡¯t need to say it because the Apprentices already understood.

    ¡°Every one of you has trained hard enough for us to win this,¡± Hans said. ¡°Adventurers are almost always smaller and weaker than what they hunt, but we win with preparation, tactics, and team work. Tomorrow is no different. Stick to the plan, listen to your party members, and trust your training. We all do that, we all go home with a new set of trophies.¡±

    Hans and Becky walked the group through the rest of the plan, which included a fallback position that kept adventurers between the orcs and Gomi. When everyone was clear on their role, Hans suggested they try and get some sleep while he took first watch.

    <hr>

    Becky sat down next to Hans a few yards outside of camp. Everyone else was in their bedrolls. Hans suspected none of them would actually sleep.

    ¡°Listen, boss,¡± Becky whispered, ¡°be straight with me. What are our odds?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t believe in suicide missions. The plan is tactically sound. If it wasn¡¯t, we wouldn¡¯t move forward with it.¡±

    ¡°But it¡¯s bad, right?¡±

    Hans nodded.

    ¡°Thought so.¡±

    After a long stretch of silence, Hans asked, ¡°Can we count on the Lady?¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s on our side. If you don¡¯t believe that now, you¡¯ll believe it tomorrow.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t trust her, but I trust you.¡±

    ¡°Hells, I don¡¯t know that I trust me right now. I ain¡¯t ever been in a fight like this.¡±

    ¡°Sure you have,¡± Hans said. ¡°Think of them as smaller, faster ogres. If you can put down an ogre, you can put down an orc. I promise you that.¡±

    ¡°If you say so.¡±

    When Becky moved as if to stand, Hans put a hand on her arm. ¡°There¡¯s part of this that we aren¡¯t telling the Apprentices. Me, you, Bel, and Lee¨Cthat¡¯s it.¡±

    ¡°Okay¡­¡±

    ¡°If the opportunity presents itself, we keep one of the orcs alive.¡±

    Quest Update: Meet the orcs in battle to protect Gomi. Bonus Objective: Take a prisoner.

    <hr>

    Hans stared into the darkness blanketing the Gomi forest, watching and listening for signs of movement.

    He wouldn¡¯t sleep tonight. He¡¯d never been able to doze off with a fight on the horizon. He used the time to mentally rehearse his attacks, his counters, and his blocks, visualizing the movements with such viscerality that his body felt like it was moving even though it was still. He saw himself recovering from bad positions. He saw how he would counter any attack an orc might use against him.

    He replayed every one of his previous encounters with orcs. He felt their axes smashing into his shield. He smelled their stink. He heard their war cries and their haunting laughter. He relived the damage they wrought on dozens of innocent people, seeing their wounds, their wails, and their corpses.

    He saw his sword ending orcs a dozen different ways.

    Yet, in his mind, he couldn¡¯t stop thinking about the entries left by Guild Master Otis in the manual. It was as though he could hear Otis saying, ¡°My job has become sending children to their deaths.¡±

    <hr>

    Open Quests (Ordered from Old to New):

    Progress from Gold-ranked to Diamond-ranked.

    Mend the rift with Devon.

    Complete the next volume (Iron to Bronze) for "The Next Generation: A Teaching Methodology for Training Adventurers."

    Find a way for Gomi adventurers to benefit from their rightful ranks in the Adventurers¡¯ Guild.

    Secure a way to use surplus dungeon inventory for good.

    Finish transcribing the manual and decide on the next course of action.

    Help Izz and Thuz bring new opportunities to their home village.

    Investigate the locations of old Diamond Quests.

    Await the delivery of lockpick training tools.

    Meet the orcs in battle to protect Gomi. Bonus Objective: Take a prisoner.

 Book 2, Chapter 36: Quick Time Event

    Quest Update: Eliminate the remaining fourteen threats.

    Not surprisingly, Becky¡¯s Spirit Hawk spotted an orc scout ranging ahead of the rest of the band. Her and Sven ambushed the lone orc, dispatching him quietly.

    Sven hesitated to take the mission at first, doubting his ability to take down a full-blooded orc, even with the element of surprise.

    Becky stepped in before Hans could speak. ¡°You ain¡¯t arm wrestling the thing. Orcs might be big and strong but put a knife in their throat, and I bet they die like any other walking meat. Right, Hans?¡±

    ¡°Right. Downward stab between the neck and the shoulder, like you¡¯re putting the knife between their throat and their spine. Just like we¡¯ve trained. And if you can stab once you can probably get two or three in pretty fast.¡±

    Becky and Hans were indeed right. The scout resisted death, managing only a harsh rasp when he attempted to alert his allies. While the orc struggled to keep blood inside of his body, Becky moved in to swiftly finish the job.

    With the scout eliminated, the Spirit Hawk reported the movements of the remaining warband. Two orc warriors brought up the rear, preceded by three orc mages. The rest of the orc warriors were immediately in front of the casters, and the three tusks were in the lead, presumably to serve as expendable, walking shields.

    The warband route was as Becky predicted, so the adventurers quietly assumed their positions around the gully.

    Hans had hiked through countless gullies just like this one in his time as an adventurer. Heavily forested areas, especially near mountains, often had dozens of creeks eroding forest floor over the span of centuries. Those creeks carved two steep hillsides with a trickle of water running down the middle. Gullies and ravines always gave Hans a similar feeling, but with a gully, walking down one side and back up the other was perfectly manageable.

    The trail would be steep as all hells, but nobody needed climbing gear to traverse the gap.

    The game trail the orcs followed cut a crude diagonal across this particular Gomi gully. The orcs would come down one hill, walk along the creek for several paces, and then hike up the other side.

    Though the air had the heavy stillness of summer heat, Becky advised on wind direction, hiding the smell of their party from their enemy.

    Chisel, Becky, Buru, and Honronk waited on the far side of the gully where they could both block the path and secure a highground advantage.

    Hans, Lee, Bel, Sven, and Yotuli were on the opposite side of the gully, positioned to flank the warband moving down the trail.

    The plan itself was relatively simple: eliminate the orc mages first and then clear the warriors. If their timing was right, they could strike when the majority of the orc warriors were in the gully. Once the orc mages were down, they could attack the rest from both sides.

    They hoped to safely incapacitate the possessed tusks in the process. Hoped.

    The battle itself played out in under two minutes, the first minute having the most action.

    And the action began with Petal.

    <hr>

    Hans watched from cover with the Silvers, the Apprentice Rogue, and the Apprentice Cleric. His party would make the first strike on Petal¡¯s mark.

    The warband stomped through the forest. Where most orcs grumbled and bickered, these orcs moved with disciplined quiet. If they had Becky¡¯s light feet, Hans wouldn¡¯t have known they were coming.

    The single-file march snaked down the game trail. The tusks up front were adventurers, as they suspected. Two were outfitted like Fighters, and the other was likely a caster of some kind. Based on their gear, Hans estimated they were high Iron-ranked if not Bronze-ranked.

    The orc warriors were a range of green-yellow-brown skin tones. All were between seven and eight feet tall, outfitted in scale mail accented with trophies from previous battles¨Chuman remains, mostly, stitched into their armor. Skulls. Jawbones. Femurs. Ears.

    Despite their grizzly appearances, Hans was relieved to see their choice of armor. The orcs the kingdom usually encountered were functionally naked in battle. When Hans heard these orcs were properly outfitted, he worried the armor would present too great an obstacle for his adventurers.

    Scale mail was not ideal, but the orcish version of the armor covered their shoulders, chests, and midway down their thighs, leaving their bulging arm and leg muscles open to the air.

    The orc mages, meanwhile, were adorned in all manner of trinkets¨Cnecklaces with wooden beads and human teeth, belts of human hands, and wide piercings in their ears, noses, and lips, with pieces of bright white bone fitted into the gaps.

    The tusks marched right by the hiding adventurers, followed by the majority of the orc warriors. When the orc mages began their descent into the gully, the branches over their heads shook. A small, fuzzy white creature dropped to the trail in between two of the savage spellcasters.

    Petal gave her strongest opossum bark, like a single beat of a forceful cough, with as much power as her tiny lungs could manage. She beared her teeth, and her fur stood on end.

    The orc mages and the two warriors behind them stopped. Two of the mages leaned down to get a better look at the odd rodent, not sure what to make of the opossum¡¯s sudden appearance.

    Petal fell to her side dramatically and curled into a ball. The frontmost mage poked her with a finger.

    ¡°Wub lat?¡± the orc muttered in a deep, mucus-wet voice.

    Hans nodded to his party.

    Yotuli closed her eyes and said, ¡°Bless these bastards so that they may wander another day.¡±

    A warm surge of energy flooded Hans¡¯ body. If a level beyond ¡°well-rested¡± existed, this is what it would feel like. Strong. Focused. Ready.

    Yotuli¡¯s Inspiration spell buffed Sven, Bel, and Lee as well. On Hans¡¯ signal, they leapt from their hiding places. Hans and Lee led with Yotuli coming in behind. Bel remained in place to cast from a safe distance. Sven stayed with her, drawing his bow.

    Lee shot forward, her legs blurring as they pumped¨Cthe result of her casting Agility and Strength on herself.

    One of the two warriors bringing up the rear of the warband stepped between the Silver-ranked Spellsword and the orc mages. The orc wielded a great sword with both hands, its blade black and uneven, like the extended body of a slithering snake. The gnarled edge blocked Lee¡¯s overhead strike. She leaned into the blow, using her weight to keep her sword pressed against the orc¡¯s. The orc licked his lips.

    Lee cast Push.

    Quest Update: Eliminate the remaining thirteen threats.

    The great sword embedded itself in the orc¡¯s face, the cracking of its skull sounding like crinkling leaves mixed with the squish of a foot in mud.

    An arrow soared over Hans¡¯ shoulder. Its intended target, an orc mage, deftly dodged. Then Hans was on the same enemy.

    His sword struck a Barrier. He thought he saw the mage smile as it cast Push, flinging Hans away. The Guild Master rolled backward to absorb the impact and returned to his feet to launch another attack, running back to meet his foe again.

    A Wall of Force cut across the trail in the middle of the enemy force, separating Hans¡¯ party, one orc mage, and one orc warrior from the rest of the warband. Fireballs, arrows, and meteors crashed into the Wall of Force. It rippled like the surface of a lake but held.

    As Hans sprinted to resume his attack, he saw the mage fix his gaze on Lee and begin an incantation. Angry confusion spread across his face when his spell failed.

    Hans hacked at the Barrier while the orc mage spoke another incantation in a tongue he didn¡¯t recognize. The orc¡¯s head jerked backward, and a long black arm reached out of his mouth. The texture of the arm¡¯s skin was stringy and coarse, like exposed muscle. The size of the demon leaving the orc didn''t make sense according to Hans¡¯ understanding of physical reality.

    How could something that big crawl out from inside a much smaller body?

    At first, the proportions reminded Hans of the long-limbed strangle goblins. But this wasn¡¯t a strangle goblin.

    Demon.

    A Force Bolt struck the orc mage¡¯s Barrier, shattering it like glass. Hans attacked immediately, running the orc mage through just as the top of a head and shoulder emerged from between its pierced lips. He cut off the orc¡¯s head next to be certain that the summoning would not continue. The demon turned to ash.

    Quest Update: Eliminate the remaining twelve threats.

    In that moment, Hans became aware of three large creatures galloping through the forest, coming from the opposite side of the trail, upwind of the orcs.

    He couldn¡¯t see them yet.

    Next to him, Lee traded blows with an orc wielding a battle axe. The sound of metal crashing against metal echoed through the trees as each tried to break the other¡¯s guard. An arrow glanced off of the orc¡¯s pauldron, and then a Force Bolt pierced its face and continued its trajectory, splintering against a tree.

    Quest Update: Eliminate the remaining eleven threats.

    Two orc warriors crashed through brush and low branches, going around the Wall of Force to target Sven and Yotuli.

    ¡°Cover!¡± Hans heard a voice yell from across the gully. He believed it was Chisel¡¯s.

    Then he saw the reason for the call: a circle of red fire expanded outward from one of the two remaining orc mages, shooting in every direction. Hans spun on his heel to take cover behind a tree.

    The old oak mostly spared him, but the greeves and flesh on his right leg melted together from the knee down. Whether it was the Inspiration or his adrenaline, the pain came to him like a postscript, something important but not important enough for his attention right now.

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    Though the flames passed through nearly every orc, the fire did not harm the orcs or their tusks.

    Somewhere over his shoulder, Hans heard the earth rumble and fracture. Bel¡¯s Earthquake spell. In that moment, Hans decided to ignore the two warriors pursuing his Rogue and Mage.

    Bel and Sven can handle themselves.

    Where¡¯s Yotuli?

    When Hans looked around the tree, another wall of flames radiated outward from one of the remaining orc mages. The demon emerging from the orc¡¯s mouth was free down to its waist, clawing upward at the sky to get completely free. Its black head didn¡¯t have eyes but had two mouths of long, dagger-like teeth. One on the ¡°front¡± and one on the ¡°back¡± of its head, were the creature something vaguely humanoid that is. Hans ducked back behind the tree. The fire roared by. The next wave nearly got his face.

    Three or four paces down the gully, he spotted Yotuli sheltering behind a tree. Several orcs must have attempted to rush Bel and Sven, and Yotuli intervened. Only two of four got through. The other two closed on the Cleric, using the fire to keep her cornered.

    Hans was pinned too. Behind him, any fire that hadn¡¯t yet hit an obstacle continued racing across the forest floor, scorching everything in its path.

    Then it winked out, that same second accompanied by a thunderclap. Hunks of red sprayed the back of his tree. When he looked again, still cautious of getting caught in the fire, the orc and its demon were gone. Only a red smudge remained.

    Huh. The orc exploded.

    Hans didn¡¯t know how that explosion came to manifest itself, but now wasn¡¯t the time to find that answer. Whatever happened, one more orc was dead.

    Quest Update: Eliminate the remaining ten threats.

    Quest Update: Eliminate the remaining eleven threats.

    A demon the size of a wagon ran at Hans. Every part of the monster was long and thin. It moved on four arms¨Cyes, arms, not legs¨Ccrossing several yards with every unnatural gallop.

    When the beast was close enough to pounce on Hans, it staggered sideways. Lee¡¯s Push disrupted its charge. The demon screamed from both mouths. It sounded like a human woman yelling underwater.

    He couldn¡¯t see Yotuli. He hadn¡¯t been able to help her. He hoped she was okay.

    Then at last, the three large creatures he heard approaching arrived, except there were four. Though Becki¡¯s pace was furious, her Druid blessing hid her footfalls completely. A grizzly bear and two dire wolves¨Croughly equal in size to the bear¨Cfollowed the warthog. Becki turned sharply, diving into the gully to aid her master fighting on the opposite side of the battle. The grizzly bear joined her.

    One of the wolves leapt at the last orc mage while the other intercepted another orc warrior drawing an arrow, aiming for Bel. One of the previous two warriors¨Cthe ones Hans chose to ignore¨Croared as it struggled to stand on a broken leg. Two arrows were in its chest. The headless corpse of the other warrior draped over a fallen log a few paces closer to Bel and Sven.

    Quest Update: Eliminate the remaining ten threats.

    A dire wolf soared through the air, thrown by an orc warrior. It was alive, but it had a long gash in its side. Its orcish opponent had lost most of his right shoulder. That arm dangled from sinew.

    An arrow went through its eye.

    Quest Update: Eliminate the remaining nine threats.

    ¡°Mage!¡± Hans yelled, calling for Lee to abandon the demon and target the remaining orc mage.

    The demon leapt at Hans again. He braced to take it on his shield, hoping to redirect as much of the violence as he could. The monster smashed into a Wall of Force and shrieked again. The wall suddenly dropped, just in time for an arrow to glance off of the demon¡¯s torso.

    Then it jumped straight up, grabbing a branch with one of its hands, swinging itself from branch to branch, putting each of its four hands to use as its path zigged and zagged, darting hauntingly fast through the forest and toward Bel and Sven. Four more arrows struck the demon. None penetrated, and the monster seemed wholly unbothered.

    Making a decision he hoped was the right one, Hans pursued the demon and not the mage.

    Leaving Lee by herself was not ideal, but the demon had to be a priority. Bel and Sven weren¡¯t equipped for a melee encounter with something like that, and if the demon escaped into the forest, Gomi would have an entirely new problem.

    As he sprinted after the demon, Hans felt the skin on his right leg sliding beneath his greeves, up and down in one melted sheet, every step bending and stretching his burn.

    He reached the orc with the broken leg first. Though it knelt, it still managed a powerful spear thrust. Hans parried and painted a slash across its throat. He barely slowed.

    Quest Update: Eliminate the remaining eight threats.

    Bel hurled meteor after meteor at the demon. The impacts slowed the monster and brought it to the ground, but they did no visible damage. A Wall of Force blocked its path, the monster only feet away from the Silver Black Mage.

    ¡°Sven!¡± Bel shouted. ¡°Run!¡±

    Instead, Sven drew his rapier and ran forward.

    The Force obstacle slowed the demon long enough for Hans to close the distance and deliver a powerful blow to one of its rear elbows. His sword bounced off the limb, leaving only a shallow, superficial gash, as if his blade was no more than a briar thorn.

    Iron skin¡­ Its neck will be the same¡­

    ¡°Aim for its mouth!¡±

    Though that was a common weakness for many monsters, stabbing a demon through the mouth was not an easy feat, to the point that he had only ever read about it as a tactic. He¡¯d never see someone pull it off in person. Any attempts he did witness¨Cmaybe three total¨Cthe monster was far too savvy for the blow to get through.

    A ray of golden light blazed across the forest, coming from somewhere vaguely behind him, and shone onto the demon¡¯s side. Where it touched, the black flesh fizzled and bubbled.

    Yotuli learned a Holy spell?

    Hans attacked the wounded flesh, targeting the light. He thanked the gods when he felt the beautiful sensation of his sword wounding the monster. Pushing hard with his legs, he thrust the blade as deep as he could. The demon wailed, spun, and backhanded Hans. The blow was strong enough that he was too disoriented to roll out of it. He ragdolled through the air and came to a sliding stop on his right shoulder.

    He heard something crack in his chest.

    Looking around for a weapon, his only two options¨Can orcish battleaxe and an orcish greatsword¨Cwere too large for him to wield. He drew a hunting knife instead.

    Following Hans¡¯ example, Bel launched a Force Bolt where the light touched the demon. The demon melted to ash two bolts later.

    Quest Update: Eliminate the remaining seven threats.

    Whirling around to return to the orc mage, he saw its corpse slumped forward on the ground.

    Quest Update: Eliminate the remaining six threats.

    He scanned, searching for the next enemy. He counted orc corpses as he went, and hoped he wouldn¡¯t have to count the corpses of friends. He found none, but he saw plenty of injuries. Two of the possessed tusks sat in the dirt, their faces in their hands. The body of the third lay a few feet away¨Cone of the warriors.

    One living orc warrior struggled against Druid Vines but couldn¡¯t so much as sit up.

    It''s over.

    Quest Update: Confirm the orcs are defeated and tend to the wounded.

    ¡°If you have a serious wound, go to Chisel and Bel. Remember, bleeding out after a battle is not heroic. It¡¯s a waste of an adventurer. Everyone else, fan out and look for survivors. The fight isn¡¯t over until we confirm it.¡±

    As the adventurers followed their orders, Hans searched his people for injuries. Despite his instructions, there was often one person who hid the seriousness of the damage. He saw Becky tending to the wounded dire wolf. The wound was ugly, but it should survive. The other dire wolf watched her work, and the grizzly bear waited her turn, several long slices across its arms and down its back. Becki stood away from the group, facing the forest. The boar had three deep gashes on her chest, but she didn''t seem to be in pain.

    Watching for new dangers had her complete focus.

    Buru picked Petal¡¯s coiled body up from the ground where she had fallen. He wiped off as much dirt and blood as he could¨Cnone of which appeared to belong to the opossum. She was unharmed. Still cradling his familiar, Buru set off into the forest to look for enemy survivors.

    Yotuli limped. No part of her leg was bent at a horrific angle, and she wasn¡¯t screaming in pain. She either sprained or fractured her ankle, which was a pretty good outcome, all things considered.

    Honronk hurried up the creek to help Yotuli. He had a few scrapes and cuts but was unharmed otherwise. Chisel followed behind Honronk, her gear marred by dirt and mud. Hans couldn¡¯t see a single scratch on the White Mage Apprentice.

    Hans spotted Sven and Bel walking into the woods as well. They seemed to be fine.

    Is that everyone?

    ¡°Where¡¯s Lee?¡± Hans yelled.

    Chisel caught Hans¡¯ attention and used her head to indicate a tree near the fallen tusk. He walked sideways to look around the trunk blocking his view. He found Lee sitting on the ground, her face in her hands, her bloody sword in the leaves next to her.

    The battlefield math was easy enough in this scenario. Lee must have been the one to kill the possessed tusk. That weight would be with her for the rest of her life.

    Hans sighed, sad for her.

    Everyone accounted for, the Guild Master approached the two rescued tusks. One was outfitted like a mage, and the other was outfitted like an Archer.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry that I have to do this, but I need your hands.¡±

    The adventurers looked up at Hans and nodded slowly, putting their wrists together to be tied without resistance.

    ¡°You¡¯re not prisoners, but we have people to treat before we can confirm you¡¯re you again. As soon as we¡¯ve done that, ropes come off.¡±

    When Hans finished the knots, the two tusks slowly lowered their arms and put their heads between their knees, slumping as far forward as they could with their hands bound in front of them.

    He tasked Honronk with watching them as he made his way over to Becky and the animals.

    ¡°Mr. Hans!¡± Chisel yelled, and pointed at the captured orc warrior. His leg restraints were beginning to fray, on the verge of breaking completely.

    The orc spat at Hans as he approached. ¡°Aughagh fooktin kult hummie shit.¡±

    ¡°No,¡± Hans said. He kicked the orc in the chin. With one foot, he rolled the warrior face down.

    ¡°Fooktin glob! Lat magru! Lat magru! You die!¡±

    The orcs words turned to unintelligible frothing when Hans cut the tendons in both of the orc¡¯s knees.

    He left the orc in the dirt and went to Becky.

    Bonus Objective Complete: Take a prisoner.

    ¡°Gods, Becky. Your arm is broke.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s a clean one,¡± she answered, now focused on tending to a few slashes on Becki¡¯s chest. She held her left arm to her body and worked exclusively with her right. ¡°It can wait.¡±

    The grizzly bear bumped Hans with her head.

    ¡°Mama bear says hello,¡± Becky said, not looking up from her work.

    Mama bear?

    ¡°Is this the bear from the squonks?¡± Hans asked.

    ¡°Nothing gets past you, boss.¡±

    Laughing to himself, Hans asked Becky to summon a Spirit Hawk when she reached a stopping point. He wanted one more set of eyes scouting for stray orcs.

    Quest Update: Confirm orc defeat and return to the dungeon to contain the regrowth.

    New Quest: Deliver injured adventurers to Gomi.

    New Quest: Confirm the new tusks are free of any Blood magic influence.

    New Quest: Give the fallen tusk an adventurer¡¯s funeral.

    <hr>

    Open Quests (Ordered from Old to New):

    Progress from Gold-ranked to Diamond-ranked.

    Mend the rift with Devon.

    Complete the next volume (Iron to Bronze) for "The Next Generation: A Teaching Methodology for Training Adventurers."

    Find a way for Gomi adventurers to benefit from their rightful ranks in the Adventurers¡¯ Guild.

    Secure a way to use surplus dungeon inventory for good.

    Finish transcribing the manual and decide on the next course of action.

    Help Izz and Thuz bring new opportunities to their home village.

    Investigate the locations of old Diamond Quests.

    Await the delivery of lockpick training tools.

    Confirm orc defeat and return to the dungeon to contain the regrowth.

    Deliver injured adventurers to Gomi.

    Confirm the new tusks are free of any Blood magic influence.

    Give the fallen tusk an adventurer¡¯s farewell.

 Book 2, Chapter 37: Localization

    When the healthy¨Chealthier, rather¨Cadventurers returned to the group, they reported no signs of other orcs.

    Sven¡¯s eyes locked on the orc prisoner. Blood puddled around its knees, it carried on cursing at Hans.

    ¡°Why¨C¡± Sven began.

    Chisel shook her head to stop him, as if she worried the question would anger Hans.

    ¡°The job isn¡¯t done yet,¡± Hans said, raising his voice so the party members scattered all around the gully could hear. ¡°Honronk and Chisel, can you confirm these tusks are free?¡±

    While the Apprentice Black and White Mages moved to investigate the bound tusks, Hans explained that Bel, Sven, and Buru were going with him back up the mountain. As tired as they were, the Minotaurs needed their help as soon as possible. They nodded their agreement, though their empty faces said that they badly needed a respite to process the battle. Respites had to wait another few days.

    Honronk and Chisel confirmed the tusks were free of the orc magic. Hans instructed the two Apprentices to undo the bindings on the liberated tusks.

    Quest Complete: Confirm the new tusks are free of any Blood magic influence.

    ¡°Becky, Yotuli, Lee, Honronk, Chisel¨CYou¡¯re going to Gomi to get those injuries properly treated. You¡¯ll take our new friends with you. Chisel, when you get to Gomi, give Charlie or Galad the update, then ask them to send a group out to the battle site. We need to burn or bury these bodies. Honronk, get our tusks warded up. We don¡¯t know if we are beyond the range of influence, so do it as soon as you can.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m staying,¡± Lee said.

    ¡°No, your orders¨C¡± Hans saw the Silver Spellsword staring at the dead tusk.

    Oh.

    ¡°Okay. He deserves an adventurer¡¯s sendoff. People will be along to help, and we¡¯ll do it right. Okay?¡±

    Lee nodded slowly.

    Becky¡¯s group departed less than ten minutes later. When he could no longer hear their footsteps, Hans returned his attention to the captured orc.

    ¡°Are there more of you?¡±

    ¡°Fooktu,¡± the orc hissed.

    Hans kicked the orc in the knee, sending the monster back into a stream of orcish slurs.

    ¡°Mr. Hans?¡± Sven asked, gently.

    ¡°Not now, Sven,¡± he replied gruffly, not taking his eyes off the prisoner. He knelt down. ¡°Are there more of you?¡±

    ¡°Fooktu. You nubgruk hummie buub. Fooktu.¡±

    ¡°I understand just fine. Answer the question.¡± Hans punched the knee this time. ¡°You got caught by hummies, my guy. You¡¯ve already failed Wargod. Umm¡­ Wargod lat gug¡¯ye. Wargod gug¡¯ye!¡±

    The orc glared at Hans, gasping short, quick breaths to endure the pain.

    ¡°This is your chance to die quick. The other option is really, really slow.¡±

    Sven walked away, averting his eyes.

    ¡°What will it be?¡±

    ¡°Nub lusk¡¯re-u,¡± the orc said, dropping his head, defeated.

    Hans waited for the orc to continue speaking. When he didn¡¯t, Hans asked, ¡°Mojoka?¡±

    ¡°Nub.¡±

    ¡°Nub? You¡¯re sure.¡±

    The orc said, ¡°Yub.¡±

    ¡°Why are you here?¡±

    ¡°No gruk.¡±

    Hans punched the orc in the knee again. The monster inhaled sharply but didn¡¯t scream. ¡°Why¡­¡± he trailed off, trying to remember the word. ¡°Fauth. Why fauth?¡±

    The orc shrugged. "Me no durub. Me glob grunt."

    Hans stared the orc in the eye for a long minute, judging whether he was being truthful or not. He decided the orc was not lying. No more orcs were coming¨Cwarrior or mage¨Cand the orc wasn¡¯t privy to the grand plans of his commanders. He was just a soldier, a grunt.

    ¡°Duhkta magru?¡± the orc asked, warrior to warrior, speaking in a normal tone rather than in anger or with a yell.

    ¡°Fine.¡± As Hans pulled the orc up to his knees, the monster gasped and winced. The orc knelt on his ruined knees with his neck exposed.

    The orc looked up and held a hard gaze with Hans. ¡°Fooktu, pushdag¨C¡±

    Hans swung his sword.

    <hr>

    Buru led the party¨CHans, Sven, and Bel¨Cback to the dungeon, cutting through forest whenever a trail bent in the wrong direction.

    No one spoke as the blood on their skin and gear dried. For Hans, his burned leg delivered piercing pain with every step. He was certain his flesh beneath his greeves was essentially gone, whatever was left wasn¡¯t attached. It was loose, sliding up and down on exposed muscle.

    They marched through the night instead of stopping to camp, arriving at the dungeon in the dark hours of early morning.

    Pogo was outside on watch. He fetched Luther and Tandis, and the three met the adventurers in front of the dungeon dorm.

    ¡°Hans?¡± Tandis asked, carefully.

    ¡°Our people are whole,¡± Hans said, lacking the energy to explain how they found three tusk adventurers but could only save two. ¡°The dungeon?¡±

    ¡°Nothing got to the blockade,¡± she replied. ¡°We think we heard some goblins in the bayou, but it was faint.¡±

    Hans nodded. He turned to address Bel, Sven, and Buru. ¡°We¡¯re going to rest for two hours, and then we¡¯re clearing the dungeon.¡±

    As Hans walked by, Luther stopped him with a hand on his shoulder. ¡°What can I do?¡±

    ¡°Tell the carpenters we need the blockade down. Tandis, I need a new pair of greeves if you could grab one for me.¡± With that, Hans continued on to his cabin.

    He needed to dress his wound before the dungeon run. In his mind, he heard Olza telling him not to go. Burns were hotbeds for infection, and the larger they were, the more that risk increased. He cut his greeves off, used a Cure Disease potion to flush the exposed tissue, and wrapped it as best he could.

    <hr>

    The mission had passed quickly enough that the dungeon regrew only once in their absence, but its residents had plenty of time to wander. The goblins, especially, were all far from their usual positions. The party found the remains of three of the monsters in the bayou, eaten by alligators most likely.

    Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

    Though the enemies were no more plentiful and no stronger than previous runs, the party struggled. Two hours wasn¡¯t much sleep, and Hans suspected that most of his party managed only an hour or so at best. They were tired, battered, and brushing dangerously close delirium.

    They cleared every section except for the geode gecko and ogre valley. Dungeon hallways weren¡¯t convenient for monsters as large as ogres, and throwing Sven and Buru into that fight¨Cespecially in their present condition¨Cwas too great a risk. Leaving them unculled another day was also a risk, but it was better than having the Apprentices¡¯ first ogre battle happen now.

    The party slept in Luther Land, for how long, Hans couldn¡¯t be sure. Everyone was stiff and sore when they woke, partly from the battle, and partly from pushing their bodies hard for so long without proper rest. The party spoke very little, and when they did speak, no one complained any harder than the usual communal bellyaching.

    After slaying the geode gecko, Hans sent Sven and Buru back to the surface while he and Bel started the hike through ogre valley.

    Quest Complete: Confirm orc defeat and return to the dungeon to contain the regrowth.

    <hr>

    Hans¡¯ party did one more unaided culling of the dungeon a day later. A day and a half after that, Hans answered a knock at his door. He found Thuz on the other side.

    ¡°The boys?¡± Hans asked.

    ¡°Our party is safe. They are with Izz in the dorms at present.¡±

    Thank the gods.

    ¡°They did well, Mr. Hans, but such stories can wait. Galad is outside with a wagon to take you and your group to Gomi.¡± Before Hans could speak, Thuz added, ¡°We will watch the dungeon in your stead.¡±

    Hans didn¡¯t protest. After everyone had been checked out by Thuz and were given a few rounds of Healing spells, Hans grabbed a half-packed rucksack and joined Bel, Sven, and Buru on the wagon back to town. The four sat in the back. The hard wood of a bouncing wagon had never felt so comfortable.

    It was over. The crisis had passed.

    Other than to offer the adventurers assistance with their things, Galad didn¡¯t speak or ask questions. Partway down the road, Buru and Bel were fast asleep. Hans, as usual, couldn¡¯t.

    Sven couldn¡¯t either.

    ¡°Mr. Hans¡­¡±

    ¡°Hmm?¡±

    The Apprentice Rogue seemed to hesitate and then said, ¡°About the prisoner¡­¡±

    ¡°What about him?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not one to talk about honor, but my understanding of war is that prisoners are not to be harmed.¡±

    Galad looked over his shoulder at the comment, but didn¡¯t say anything. Though his eyes returned to the road, he listened.

    ¡°Your understanding is correct,¡± Hans said.

    ¡°So¡­¡±

    ¡°Rules of engagement are a mutual contract for wars between people. Orcs aren¡¯t people, and if there ever was a mutual contract between them and us, they broke it a long time ago.¡±

    Sven thought for a moment. ¡°The rest of us in this wagon have orc blood.¡±

    Galad¡¯s back stiffened.

    ¡°You¡¯re not orcs,¡± Hans said.

    ¡°My grandfather was an orc.¡±

    Hans tried to adjust his seated position for the sake of his knees, but with Buru in the wagon, space was limited. ¡°Who you are is your choice. If your parents were from two different kingdoms and you wanted to honor both, fine. Lots of people do that. But that''s not the only way. Have you heard me talk about my father?¡±

    Sven shook his head.

    ¡°That¡¯s because he was a piece of shit. Half my blood came from him, sure, but I left his legacy in his grave. The legacy I carry now is my own. My life is mine. My choices are mine. I am Hans the Gold-Ranked Adventurer because that¡¯s what I chose.¡±

    Sven pursed his lips, unconvinced.

    ¡°Listen,¡± Hans continued. ¡°If you disagree with how I handled the orc, that¡¯s fine. That¡¯s why I did it myself. No one else is responsible for what happened but me. Not you, not anyone. I feel no guilt whatsoever, but if there is guilt to be had, I¡¯ll claim it.¡±

    The wagon jostled side to side as it climbed in and out of a particularly rutty patch of road.

    ¡°I know fuck all what it¡¯s like to be a tusk. I never will, but I¡¯ve heard it put that all tusks have the same father. He isn¡¯t around, so fuck him and wherever he came from. You¡¯re not a half- or a quarter- or whatever-orc. You¡¯re Sven. If you feel like you have no choice but to have some connection to orc blood, fuck that too. As far as I¡¯m concerned, tusks are their own peoples and not some sub-race or some other bullshit.¡±

    Looking at the wagon beneath him, Sven nodded, acknowledging he heard Hans¡¯ words but not that he agreed or disagreed.

    ¡°If you disagree with any or all of that, it¡¯s not my place to say you¡¯re wrong. Like I said, I don¡¯t know what it¡¯s like to be a tusk, and from where I sit, being a tusk is fucking hard. Wherever you land on legacy or what have you, I tortured the prisoner. Not you. If that was an affront to honor or morals or some divine precedent, fine, that¡¯s on me. You have enough to carry.¡±

    Somewhere in their conversation, Hans had raised his voice, not in anger but in passion. Bel and Buru were awake, and Hans couldn¡¯t be sure how much they heard.

    When Sven drifted into reflection instead of continuing their dialog, Hans looked from adventurer to adventurer.

    ¡°I¡¯m proud of all of you,¡± Hans said. ¡°The last few days have been fucking miserable, but in a few hours we¡¯ll see a town full of people who are alive because of what you endured.¡±

    <hr>

    Quest Complete: Deliver injured adventurers to Gomi.

    ¡°Gods, Hans,¡± Olza said, looking at the burn on his leg. ¡°You¡¯re lucky this isn¡¯t infected. Why didn¡¯t you use any potions?¡±

    Hans looked up at the ceiling of the guild hall, his back on one of the downstairs tables. ¡°I did. I¡¯ve got a tolerance.¡±

    Olza sighed. ¡°You didn¡¯t ask Thuz to heal you?¡±

    ¡°I did that too. It looked worse before that.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯d tell you to stick to bed rest for the next two days or so to let your body recover, but I know you would ignore that. Can you at least promise me no training and no runs until this is healed?¡±

    ¡°Promise.¡±

    ¡°Any other wounds?¡±

    ¡°Few broken ribs. Nothing you can do about those.¡±

    ¡°You did two dungeon runs with broken ribs? Gods, are you trying to kill yourself?¡±

    Hans shrugged.

    After she flushed the wound, Olza gently slathered a medicinal salve over the burn. Every touch felt like he was getting licked by the magic flames all over again.

    Hans did his best to ignore the pain.

    ¡°You must be proud of the boys,¡± Olza said after a while. When she saw that Hans didn¡¯t know what she meant, she continued, ¡°Kane and Quentin. The tournament. You didn¡¯t talk to them?¡±

    The Guild Master shook his head.

    ¡°Well, act surprised when you see them, but Kane took first in two divisions. Quentin took second in his division. I assume you know what all that means because I don¡¯t.¡±

    ¡°They both fought in their weight class at the Apprentice level,¡± Hans said. ¡°If Kane took first in two divisions, the second was probably the Absolute.¡±

    ¡°Absolute?¡±

    ¡°Open weight class. Still Apprentice level, but what you weigh doesn¡¯t matter. Not uncommon for a lightweight to face a heavyweight in the Absolute.¡±

    ¡°Wow.¡±

    ¡°Did they have any trouble?¡± Hans asked.

    Olza knew what he meant: Did anyone bother Kane because he was a tusk? ¡°From what Izz told me, only a little bit. A few people shouting, but no fights.¡±

    Good.

    ¡°Have you seen Annalee?¡± Hans asked.

    She nodded. ¡°She will need some time. The tusk she fought¡­ Apparently he was an Iron-ranked out of her chapter. She trained with him quite a bit from what I understand.¡±

    Gods.

    Olza was right. Lee would need time before she was ready to adventure again, if she returned to adventuring at all. Were he in her place, Hans knew he¡¯d never forgive himself if he had to run a sword through someone like Kane or Quentin. Even if it was justified and unavoidable. He couldn¡¯t imagine a reality where he came back from that.

    ¡°Izz gave Charlie and Galinda instructions for an adventurer¡¯s funeral. They took care of preparations. They were waiting for you to return to run the service.¡±

    If the fallen adventurer was an Iron under Theneesa, he was likely no older than seventeen or eighteen.

    My job has become sending children to die.

    ¡°Sunset tomorrow,¡± Hans said. ¡°We¡¯ll do what we can for the boy¡¯s memory.¡±

    <hr>

    Open Quests (Ordered from Old to New):

    Progress from Gold-ranked to Diamond-ranked.

    Mend the rift with Devon.

    Complete the next volume (Iron to Bronze) for "The Next Generation: A Teaching Methodology for Training Adventurers."

    Find a way for Gomi adventurers to benefit from their rightful ranks in the Adventurers¡¯ Guild.

    Secure a way to use surplus dungeon inventory for good.

    Finish transcribing the manual and decide on the next course of action.

    Help Izz and Thuz bring new opportunities to their home village.

    Investigate the locations of old Diamond Quests.

    Await the delivery of lockpick training tools.

    Give the fallen tusk an adventurer¡¯s farewell.

 Book 2, Chapter 38: Over-Leveled

    Hans learned the fallen adventurer was an Iron-ranked Ranger. His name was Philip.

    As the sun set, the sky turning from its usual crystal blue to a dark, heavy red, the snow at the tips of the Dead End Mountain looked red as well, like a colossal creature had recently been impaled on its peaks. Most of Gomi gathered in the clearing between the walls and the forest for the service. Philip wore a pristine white robe with his hands holding his sword to his chest. Flowers of all varieties covered much of his body, small tokens of respect from the townspeople who had walked solemnly by the pyre to see the adventurer off.

    ¡°Thank you, everyone, for being here to honor an adventurer for their sacrifice,¡± Hans began, standing between the crowd and the carefully stacked pile of logs. ¡°Before we see Philip off to the next plane, it is customary for those who knew him to speak the words of his final story.¡±

    Bel, Lee, and the two surviving tusks stood at the front of the crowd. Of the four, only Bel had the strength to step forward, so she did.

    ¡°I met Philip when he was thirteen and he started studying at the Mikata chapter. The little shit had more energy than any kid I¡¯ve ever seen.¡±

    Several present laughed softly.

    ¡°All the things a proud parent would say about their son or daughter could be said of Philip. Compassionate. Loyal. Strong. Motivated. My Guild Master has high standards for the character of her adventurers, standards that¨CI must admit¨CI often fell short of. But never Philip. His heart was always kind, and he always put others before himself.

    ¡°He came up with one of his best friends. When they were Apprentices, just a few weeks away from their promotion to Iron, his friend broke an arm, which meant he wasn¡¯t fit to take the exam. Philip declined his opportunity to test, preferring to wait until his friend could be there with him. He spent an extra three months at Apprentice because of that, and he never regretted it. Not even for a moment.

    ¡°I wish you all could have known him too. The world is darker without him in it.¡± Bel reclaimed her place standing by Lee. Lee¡¯s face was empty, staring forward at nothing in particular, as if she were still in shock.

    Probably is.

    Hans spoke again. ¡°When I finish the rites, I ask that only those who knew Philip stay behind. Everyone else, you are welcome to share a drink in his honor. We¡¯ll gather again on the Tribe lands for a repast in Philip¡¯s memory, but you don¡¯t need to wait for anyone who stays behind. No honor need be delayed. Drink, and celebrate his life.¡±

    Hans paused to swallow the despair in his throat before he continued. He turned to face Philip and delivered funeral rites from memory.

    ¡°Adventurers choose to delve the shadows of our world. Adventurers choose to stand by their comrades in battle. Adventurers choose to face the dangers that drive others to flee. Adventurers choose to spill their own blood in the name of their cause. Knowing all this, Philip chose to be an adventurer, so we choose to honor his life and his sacrifice. And we choose to carry his memory with us. Thank you, Philip. May our other fallen brothers and sisters greet you with open arms.¡±

    Hans cast Create Fire and joined the rest of the townspeople in leaving the service. Bel, Lee, and the two new tusks watched the fire until only ash remained.

    <hr>

    Hans stayed at the wake until the four adventurers watching the pyre had joined. He gave each one a hug. He still didn¡¯t know the names of the other two tusk adventurers. He learned Philip¡¯s name only yesterday.

    Bel introduced them. The Archer was Gootlab, and the Black Mage was Robert. They shook Hans¡¯ hand and said they knew him from Theneesa¡¯s stories. None of the adventurers, Hans included, felt much like talking. Thankfully, none of the townspeople pushed beyond expressing their condolences, so only those who wanted to fellowship did so.

    After another hour of showing his support with his presence, Hans reached his limit. When no one was looking, he slipped into the darkness to return to his apartment.

    Quest Complete: Give the fallen tusk an adventurer¡¯s farewell.

    <hr>

    Hans found Galad waiting at the guild hall, sitting at one of the tables with an open bottle of whiskey, his back to the door. Without turning to acknowledge Hans walking in, Galad poured a new glass and held it out for Hans to take.

    The old adventurer accepted. He shot it and put the glass back down. Galad refilled it without a word.

    ¡°I can stay, or I can go. We can speak, or we can drink in silence.¡±

    ¡°Stay,¡± Hans answered.

    Galad nodded and refreshed his own glass.

    ¡°I¡¯m sure you¡¯ve seen your share of funerals,¡± Hans said after a time.

    ¡°Yes, many, but that was my first funeral for an adventurer. It was touching.¡±

    ¡°Given funeral rites?¡±

    The tusk said he had, several times.

    He and Charlie shared those duties. Whoever felt the strongest at that time administered the rites. Sometimes, the same person would deliver several in a row because the other couldn¡¯t step outside their grief long enough to be a leader.

    ¡°The young ones are the most difficult,¡± Galad said. ¡°Charlie takes those ones really hard, so it¡¯s usually me giving the rites. Each one is more painful than the last, it seems.¡±

    Hans nodded. He felt the same. ¡°Annalee is going to have a rough go of it. A lot of people don¡¯t come back from losing a friend, but what she faces¡­ Fuck, nobody deserves that.¡±

    ¡°They were close?¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t know?¡± Hans asked.

    Galad said he didn¡¯t know what Hans meant.

    ¡°Lee killed him.¡±

    The tusk nearly dropped his glass. ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°The Blood magic had him. I didn¡¯t see it happen, but from what Buru says, Philip knocked Chisel to the ground. Lee put him down before he could do the same to Chisel.¡±

    ¡°Gods.¡±

    ¡°I wish that was all,¡± Hans said, shooting his remaining half of a glass, handing it to Galad to get another. ¡°The other two, Robert and uhh¡­ Gootlab, they told Bel that they remember some of the possession. Not all of it, just bits and pieces, but they had to watch themselves do some horrible things.¡±

    Galad exhaled slowly, processing Hans¡¯ words as he passed the glass back.

    ¡°The pieces are small enough that it¡¯s unlikely the ¡®real¡¯ Philip was awake for the battle, but it¡¯s possible.¡±

    ¡°That poor woman.¡±

    Hans nodded and drank.

    ¡°What about you? Are you doing okay?¡± Galad lowered his head to put himself in Hans¡¯ eyeline.

    ¡°I¡¯m sick of burying young adventurers. It never makes any sense. Death comes for them, but passes by the old, used-up adventurer? Sometimes I think that it¡¯s not time that ages me. It¡¯s the guilt.¡±

    ¡°My mother used to sing a song at services,¡± Galad said. ¡°The saddest song I¡¯ve heard. I remember a good bit of it¨CGalinda knows it all¨Cbut one line will never leave me: ¡®The young die. The wise ask why.¡¯ The gods have always been cruel, Hans. They always take the best of us and leave the rest to kill themselves with work, drink, or rope.¡±

    The faces of over a dozen elderly adventurers flashed through Hans¡¯ mind. He knew some of their stories. All of them made surviving sound like a curse, a kind of divine punishment. When he was sixteen and an Apprentice, he remembered not understanding why some of the old-timers spoke so softly and moved so slowly. He thought death was a sad thing, sure, but how could someone as strong as a Diamond or a Platinum be affected so deeply by it?

    He understood it now.

    Every death hardened his heart just a little bit more. Enemy, monster, animal¨CIt didn¡¯t matter. Each death counted, and the gods never lost count.

    The deaths Hans wished he could undo¨Cwhether it was a close friend like Boden or Gret or a young adventurer like Philip¨Cdid more than harden his heart. The moment he thought, ¡°I¡¯d trade places with them if I could,¡± a piece of his heart broke off. It didn¡¯t matter how well he knew them. The thought was enough.

    The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

    Every person ripped to ribbons by a monster in their homes. Every small corpse he carried back to town in his arms. Every face younger than his on a funeral pyre.

    Chip.

    Chip.

    Chip.

    He¡¯d think, ¡°The gods took the wrong person,¡± but Galad was right. The gods always took who they intended to take, and they left people like him. On purpose. Another streak of cruelty as old as mortality itself.

    Hans said it was late and that he should be going to bed. He thanked Galad for visiting, and the tusk departed soon after.

    Hans was alone.

    Chip.

    Chip.

    Chip.

    <hr>

    Olza was asleep on his couch when he woke. He hadn¡¯t heard her come in and didn¡¯t know how long she had been there.

    Oof, his head hurt. Between the drink, the battle, and the funeral, there wasn¡¯t a part of Hans that didn¡¯t ache.

    He did his best to sneak by, but Olza sat up, her eyes squinted and her dark hair poofed into a tangle. ¡°Hey,¡± she said through her grogginess.

    ¡°Hey,¡± Hans said.

    ¡°Can I have some?¡±

    Hans nodded and went downstairs. He returned with two cups of tea. Olza sat up completely now and made some attempt to contain her hair. It was better, but only slightly. Not that Hans'' looked better. He found drool caked in his beard when he began sipping his tea.

    ¡°How are you?¡± Olza asked, gently.

    ¡°We can talk about anything you want but not that.¡±

    She agreed.

    ¡°How¡¯d you get in?¡±

    ¡°Charlie lent me his key.¡±

    ¡°Should probably just get you one of your own at this point.¡±

    ¡°Probably.¡± Olza smiled.

    After several sips passed with neither of them speaking, Hans asked how the injured were doing.

    ¡°That doesn¡¯t count as talking about it?¡±

    ¡°No.¡±

    ¡°If you say so.¡± She said that Yotuli was on crutches for a broken ankle, but since she didn¡¯t have a potion tolerance like Hans, she would likely walk again in a few days. Becky¡¯s broken arm was a similar story. The dwarf said she was leaving that morning and would return that night or the day after. She insisted she was fine riding Becki with her arm in a sling.

    Chisel had some minor scrapes. Honronk was a little more banged up, but not much worse than a hard sparring match.

    Robert and Gootlab both had a few old wounds that were getting infected, and they seemed to be malnourished. In time, they would recover just fine, physically.

    ¡°Roland was looking for you the other day,¡± Olza said. ¡°He¡¯s usually pretty reserved, but he was smiling bigger than I¡¯ve ever seen. This was before we knew about the attack.¡±

    ¡°He was pleased with the tournament?¡±

    ¡°Positively gushing. He wanted to tell you all about it.¡± Olza smile fell away. ¡°Is it rude to talk about something happy like this?¡±

    Hans shook his head. ¡°Not at all. I¡¯m sure Galad has some saying about good and bad things happening at the same time and how that¡¯s okay.¡±

    Olza laughed.

    ¡°I¡¯m happy for them. They¡¯ve worked really hard, and they have a right to celebrate that,¡± Hans said. ¡°We will, but we¡¯ll wait enough time for the boys not to feel guilty about being happy.¡±

    Olza asked if Thuz had mentioned anything about the trip.

    ¡°Thuz said there was a little bit of trouble but didn¡¯t say what happened.¡±

    She recounted the story as she had heard it from Roland. When the group reached Osare, it was fairly late, so they got an inn room right away. In that time, they experienced a few dirty looks and heard a few whispers, but nothing direct.

    That changed the morning of the tournament. As was customary, every competitor and their accompanying coaches and instructors gathered in the arena for a final review of the event¡¯s regulations and procedures.

    During the rules meeting, with every competitor and their coaches present, a Silver-ranked used some sort of slur to describe Kane. He wasn¡¯t brave enough to say it to Kane directly, but he spoke loudly enough to be certain the boy would hear.

    ¡°The way Roland described it, Izz pulled the guy across the arena. Not with his hands. With the spell. So in the middle of all these adventurers, Izz is holding this Silver up in the air with one hand.¡±

    ¡°You might have noticed, Izz and Thuz take respect very seriously. Their whole culture does.¡±

    ¡°Oh, I¡¯ve noticed. So the Silver went ballistic. He¡¯s kicking and yelling at Izz, calling him all kinds of names that Roland wouldn¡¯t repeat. A few were specific to lizardmen, apparently.¡±

    Hans laughed.

    ¡°So you know how this ends?¡±

    ¡°Not exactly, but I have a few ideas.¡±

    Continuing her retelling of Roland¡¯s story, Olza said that the Raven¡¯s Hollow Guild Master intervened and told his Silver to shut up. Izz set him down, and the Guild Master stepped between them.

    ¡°The Silver is still worked up, though, and he starts arguing with the Guild Master,¡± Olza said. ¡°Then he stops suddenly and looks around his Guild Master at Izz. Can you imagine what his face looked like right then? Cause he left right after. Almost running.¡±

    Roland couldn¡¯t hear what had been said, but he was certain the Diamond offered some summary of Izz¡¯s abilities and accomplishments. Next, the Guild Master formally ejected his own student from the tournament and apologized to Izz and to Kane.

    Nobody bothered Kane the rest of his time in Osare.

    ¡°How did Kane take that?¡± Hans asked.

    Olza said Kane was upset at first, likely feeling emasculated by someone stepping in to fight his battles for him. Izz assured him that parties hunted together. Who killed the monster didn''t matter as long as it was dead. In Izz¡¯s mind, him dealing with the Silver was no different from Kane doing it himself.

    ¡°So Izz and Thuz have a reputation?¡± Olza asked.

    Hans said they did.

    ¡°A bad one? They seem so nice.¡±

    ¡°No, it¡¯s nothing like that,¡± Hans assured her. ¡°The Adventurers¡¯ Guild is big, but the upper-ranks are much smaller than you¡¯d think. If a Gold or higher does something impressive, word gets around fast.¡±

    ¡°Well? You know I¡¯m going to ask what they did.¡±

    ¡°They put down a Diamond.¡±

    Adventurers killing adventurers was so rare at higher ranks that she knew of only two stories that could have involved the lizardmen. ¡°Wait¡­ The Diamond Summoner from the Ikari Massacre? I heard about that. That was Izz and Thuz?¡±

    ¡°Correct,¡± Hans said. ¡°Guy went crazy and killed his whole chapter. Killed three other Diamonds in the process. Then kept on killing.¡±

    The motivation for the attack was still unknown. Some believed it was a fit of jealous rage, while others say that the Summoner had talked about seeing demons months before the attack, demons that were only visible to him. Hallucinations.

    ¡°The nickname for Summoners in the Guild is ¡®Army-Makers.¡¯¡±

    Given enough time, a talented Summoner could stroll into battle with several summoned allies protecting them. Elemental summons were the most common, as they could be powerful and were relatively easy to control. This Summoner had greater fire elementals and greater air elementals patrolling the city, ten of each, if the rumors were accurate.

    The more worrying summons were his four fiends, which were akin to demons but hailed from the abyssal and shadow planes instead of the hells. The fiends had done most of the slaughtering on the Summoner''s orders.

    Like demons, fiends came in a variety of forms that widely varied in strength. The fiends spotted during the massacre were estimated to be greater fiends, putting them at a high-Gold encounter rating, when they were alone.

    These fiends were very much not alone.

    ¡°The King sent a full battalion of soldiers to reclaim the town,¡± Hans said. ¡°By the time they arrived, Izz and Thuz were done with the fight and were searching homes one by one for survivors.¡±

    ¡°How¡¯d they do it?¡±

    Hans wobbled his head.

    ¡°You don¡¯t know?¡±

    ¡°Not in detail,¡± Hans answered. ¡°The Guild report on the event is sealed, and Izz and Thuz have trouble talking about it, so we don''t bother them. Anyway, I said they were searching for survivors, but it was bad. Out of a whole town, they found two dozen or so still alive.¡±

    ¡°That much I knew. Who is ¡®we?¡¯¡±

    Hans said he meant himself and Mazo. ¡°All that to say, most veteran adventurers have at least heard of Izz and Thuz. They respect the hells out of them for what they went through, and¨Clet¡¯s be honest¨Cthey¡¯re probably a little afraid too.¡±

    ¡°Do Kane and Quentin know about this?¡±

    Hans shook his head. ¡°I don''t share that story. They hate the attention they get, and they hate how people look at them when they''re recognized. I¡¯d rather not do that to them if I can help it.¡±

    ¡°I don''t blame them,¡± Olza said. ¡°So our people, the only ones traveling with Izz and Thuz, had no idea while the rest of the town is probably still talking about them?¡±

    ¡°Now that you mention it, yeah. That''s probably right.¡±

    ¡°I wonder how Kane will feel when he finds out.¡±

    In his mind, Hans imagined a middle-aged Kane dropping a plate of food, his jaw following the dish when he finally learned who he had traveled with so many years ago.

    Hans laughed.

    It felt good to laugh.

    <hr>

    Open Quests (Ordered from Old to New):

    Progress from Gold-ranked to Diamond-ranked.

    Mend the rift with Devon.

    Complete the next volume (Iron to Bronze) for "The Next Generation: A Teaching Methodology for Training Adventurers."

    Find a way for Gomi adventurers to benefit from their rightful ranks in the Adventurers¡¯ Guild.

    Secure a way to use surplus dungeon inventory for good.

    Finish transcribing the manual and decide on the next course of action.

    Help Izz and Thuz bring new opportunities to their home village.

    Investigate the locations of old Diamond Quests.

    Await the delivery of lockpick training tools.

 Book 2, Chapter 39: Permanent Penalty

    New Quest: Check in on the adventurers not at the dungeon.

    Most fights were over in under a minute. The epic duels from the stories, the ones where two warriors exchanged blows again and again and again, didn''t happen in real life.

    The only way to keep a battle going for longer was to keep throwing new bodies into the fray.

    Living things were fragile. A lifetime of training could be undone by a table corner and an unfortunate fall. A real fist fight wouldn¡¯t have dozens of back and forth exchanges, where each fighter took unprotected overhand rights to the face and kept going. One mostly flush hit was all it took.

    A person''s spirit was just as fragile as their bodies, but when a spirit breaks, the body could keep on going. Sometimes for decades.

    Packing and wrapping a person''s spirit was as important as packing and wrapping wounds. The Adventurers¡¯ Guild didn''t have classes for how to do that, though. Hans wished they did.

    Hans sat in the grass in front of the palisade with his right leg stretched straight. Olza¡¯s thorough approach to wrapping his burn made bending that leg any more than forty five degrees from straight impossible.

    Lee ran sprints from the treeline up a gentle grade to the edge of the trench around Gomi''s wall. When she jogged back to the bottom she did a set of burpees, a set of pushups, and a set of squats before repeating the set.

    At the height of her next sprint, Hans waved to get her attention. She held up a finger, asking him to wait. Three sprints later, she emptied her water skin in one long gulp and cast Create Water to fill it.

    ¡°Well?¡± She said, her breathing beginning to return to normal. ¡°Go ahead. Give your speech.¡¯

    ¡°I wish I had one.¡±

    ¡°Why?¡±

    ¡°Difficult conversations are easier with a script.¡±

    Lee nodded, took another drink, and said, ¡°I''m good.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡±

    ¡°I''m glad you''re here. I needed to talk to you.¡±

    Hans asked about what.

    ¡°I''m going to ask Galad about work in the brewery.¡±

    "In place of dungeon runs?¡±

    Lee nodded.

    ¡°Okay.¡±

    ¡°I expected you to argue. Tell me how I shouldn''t be hasty and that I should take some time.¡±

    ¡°Hmm.¡± A grasshopper landed on Hans¡¯ knee. He flicked it. ¡°I don''t have a clue what you should do. I know if I were you, I''d probably hang up the sword.¡±

    ¡°Really?¡±

    ¡°Yes. No one would fault you for it either. Not a soul. The only thing I want you to do is whatever makes tomorrow easier.¡±

    ¡°Whatever?¡±

    ¡°Ballet, knitting, panflute¨Cfollow your heart.¡±

    Lee laughed and sat down on the grass next to Hans. ¡°I had to do it,¡± she said, her brief moment of joy disappearing. ¡°He downed Chisel, and two warriors were closing on me. I couldn''t restrain Philip and fight them. If I didn''t do something, Chisel dies.¡±

    ¡°Battlefield math.¡±

    ¡°Yeah. I had to do it. I know that.¡±

    She didn''t have to say the rest for Hans to understand what she was getting at. ¡°I can''t give you answers. I can only offer two things: I''m always here if you need something, and no one will think any less of you no matter what you decide. This is hard enough without your mind flooded with bullshit like honor or shame or embarrassment. All of the people whose opinions you respect? They''ll back whatever gets you closest to okay, so you can take them out of the equation completely.¡±

    ¡°Master Theneesa?¡±

    ¡°You''re not sure what she would think?¡±

    Lee chuckled softly. ¡°No, I am. She has never been guarded about her thoughts or opinions.¡±

    That got Hans laughing, which turned to a cough when the movement shifted his broken ribs. ¡°Sorry. You''re exactly right.¡±

    Lee bit her cheek and gave a small nod of the head.

    ¡°Alright,¡± Hans said as he stood, dusting off the back of his pants. ¡°Seeing all this exercise is too much peer pressure for me. Find me if you need me.¡±

    Lee didn''t say anything, but she offered Hans a weak smile.

    New Quest: Ask Izz and Thuz if they would be open to talking with Lee.

    Should have had that idea before.

    <hr>

    When Hans had walked around the wall far enough that Lee was out of sight, he put his hands on his knees and exhaled. He intended to speak with each of the adventurers today, but after finishing the first, he wasn''t sure he had the fortitude.

    Forcing himself to stand, Hans walked across the field and into the forest. He could get one more conversation out of the way, and with some luck, she wouldn''t even answer.

    Once he was deep enough in the forest that the view of Gomi was mostly obscured, he looked around and spoke to¡­ the trees? It occurred to him he didn''t know anything about how the dryad¡¯s magic worked.

    ¡°Hey. I think you can hear me. If you can''t, maybe you''ve got a squirrel friend listening or something who will deliver the message. Right. I hope you hear this: Thank you for your help with the orcs. I''m very grateful for all that you did.¡±

    Hans stood still, listening for a response. He glanced around and found no pine needles shaped into faces.

    ¡°Well. That was all. ¡­Have a good day?¡±

    Gods, Hans. Stop being so awkward and leave.

    So he did.

    <hr>

    Hans sat at his desk in the guild hall for exactly four minutes and forty six seconds before the guilt of not talking to everyone today forced him back to his feet.

    Yes, he was avoiding discomfort, but he also had half a dozen guild responsibilities to complete. He needed to send notice to the head chapter about Philip¡¯s death, providing a report of what led to his demise. He''d include notes about the orc band as well.

    Those notes would also be included with letters sent to every ¡°adjacent¡± Guild chapter, per Guild procedure. Adjacent meant any chapter that shared a border with Gomi. There were four Guild Masters who needed to know that orcs were in the region.

    His compromise: Hans promised to himself that he would find a rider willing to rush his letters to Osare while he did his rounds.

    He found Buru helping a family get their plow free of a particularly deep rut. Petal watched nervously from his shoulder. When Buru was able to talk, he said that Becky talked to him already and that he was feeling better each day as a result.

    A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

    Even Becky is better at this than me.

    Yotuli was meditating when Hans knocked on her door. She said her faith and meditation were helping her work through the memory. She also confirmed she was able to cast Holy Light in battle. She had been practicing Inspiration for some time, but her attempt at Holy Light was out of pure desperation. She had never cast it before that.

    Chisel sat with Bel at one of the picnic tables outside the Tribe barns, reading a White Magic textbook. Chisel admitted she felt guilty for what happened to Philip, but no matter how much she replayed it, she couldn''t find a point where a different choice would have saved his life. Bel had helped her arrive at that conclusion, it turned out.

    Bel was still upset about Philip¡¯s passing, but she believed nothing else could have been done. From her vantage point during the battle, she witnessed multiple moments where any member of the party could have fallen. The death toll for the adventurers could have easily been four or five.

    Her grief was plain to see, but like Chisel, she sounded aware of her thoughts and already in the process of untying that knot in her heart. Hans would check in on her again in a few days to see if that was still the case.

    One of the Tribe families offered Robert and Gootlab beds for as long as they wanted them. He found them sitting on a porch, peeling potatoes. Their rolled up sleeves revealed they both had fresh Gomi tattoos on their forearms.

    When they saw Hans approaching, they both stood and wiped their hands, greeting him with a handshake and a few words about Theneesa sending them to Gomi.

    ¡°Have you met Galad yet?¡±

    They said they had.

    ¡°Good. So you know you''re welcome here for as long as you want to be here.¡±

    ¡°We''ll earn our keep, sir,¡± Gootlab said. He looked like a completely different person without his bow over his back. ¡°We promise.¡±

    ¡°I know you will, but that conversation can wait.¡±

    ¡°Okay,¡± Gootlab said. ¡°We can do the debrief now if you want. Let''s move away from the house, though. They got kids inside. They don''t need to hear.¡±

    Hans insisted he was just checking on them. Unless they knew about other orcs in the area, anything else official could be done another day. They insisted right back, saying they wanted to pull the arrow out and be done with it.

    Their story was pretty much what Hans expected it to be. Theneesa told them to shelter in Gomi. On the way there, orcs ambushed them on the road. They believed that''s when the possession started because both of their memories cut out in that moment. They all had a hand on their swords, about to draw, and then total blackout.

    ¡°All?¡± Hans asked.

    Robert¡¯s eyes drifted to the dirt. ¡°There were five of us traveling together. We don''t know what happened to Grizzelle and Duruk.¡±

    Two more names for Hans to include in his letter to Theneesa. This was going to crush her.

    In the time between their capture and being freed by the Gomi adventurers, their memories returned in what felt like slow blinks.

    They torched a family farm. Killed everyone inside.

    They marched through dense, muddy forest.

    They felt hunger pains as they sat around a campfire.

    They attacked a produce merchant traveling between towns for a delivery. Killed him and his guard and then took his food.

    Then they woke up in the Gomi forest with weapons in their hands. Except for Robert. The orcs took full advantage of his small arsenal of elemental attack spells.

    Hans began to see another layer of the orc attack strategy. Sending tusk adventurers to murder and maim helped the orc band remain undetected. And if a tusk adventurer knocked on your door, you just might feel safe enough to open it without a fight. Or stop your wagon to offer a few adventurers a ride.

    Hans took as many notes as he could and thanked them. Before he could raise his next topic, Robert spoke.

    ¡°Uh, Mr. Hans. We mean no disrespect, sir, but we''d rather not do any guild jobs right now.¡±

    ¡°We are thinkin¡¯ of resignin¡¯ for good, actually. I mean, actually, sir,¡± Gootlab added reluctantly.

    Hans held his hands up. ¡°I''ve never shamed anyone for giving up the life. When it''s time to step away, it''s time. Ignoring that fork in the road gets people killed.¡±

    Hans winced.

    That was a dumb as shit thing to say, Hans.

    ¡°Sorry. I worded that poorly. I had the same conversation with Lee this morning. Maybe you could help her understand because I''m starting to think all of Theneesa¡¯s students are hard asses.¡±

    The pair of tusks chuckled. They weren''t overcome with joy, not at all, but a smile did break through. Briefly.

    Stay or leave, adventure or help out around town, no answer was the wrong answer if it was right for them¨CHe gave Robert and Gootlab all the same options he offered to Lee.

    He had hoped to speak with Honronk today, but the Apprentice already went home, up the mountain.

    Two names remained on his list: Becky and Sven. Becky was due back soon. Sven was off rotation, and no one knew where he was.

    <hr>

    Fellow Guild Master,

    I have an Encounter Report to bring to your attention.

    We encountered an orc band in the Gomi forest. They appeared to be preparing an attack on the town when we intercepted them.

    We observed:

    Three orc mages

    Nine orc warriors

    Three possessed adventurers (two Irons, one Bronze; all Mikata Chapter)

    Two attempted demon summonings

    One successful demon summoning

    The Blood magic the orcs are reported to use was in play. Philip the Iron-ranked fell in the battle. Robert the Iron-ranked and Gootlab the Bronze-ranked are alive and free of any outside influence.

    Grizzelle the Iron-ranked and Duruk the Iron-ranked were traveling with the other adventures at the time of their capture. Their status and whereabouts are unknown.

    I am sending their information to the Mikata Chapter as well.

    The orc mages defended with Push, Barrier, an area of effect fire spell, and demon summons.

    The fire rippled outward. Trees stopped expansion, flames were magically enhanced. Recommend using the terrain for cover and to avoid touching the flames at all costs.

    The species of demon was unknown to me. I believe it to be a Gold-ranked monster when fought alone. I have included a sketch of the monster as well.

    Notes on the demon¡¯s combat tactics:

    -Roughly the size of a wagon

    -Was fast and agile, on the ground and in the trees

    -Appeared to have Iron Skin or a similar ability. Resistant to blades, arrows, Force Bolts, and Meteors

    -When Holy Light touched the skin, it became vulnerable in that area to the above attacks

    -Conjecture: The summon emerged from the orc mages¡¯ mouths. I don''t know of any of the Summoning schools connecting planes that way. Perhaps the spell is Blood Magic also?

    We confirmed elimination of all observed orcs, including a scout. I interrogated an orc prisoner and asked a Druid to send a Spirit Hawk to scout a wide area in addition to our search on the ground. The results of both lead me to believe this band is no longer a threat.

    I have no knowledge of other orcs in the area.

    I have no evidence for or against the potential existence of other orcs nearby. We remain cautious and alert.

    If we may be of further assistance, the Gomi Chapter will help in any way we can.

    -Hans

    Guild Master

    Gomi Chapter

    <hr>

    Guild Master Theneesa,

    Philip the Iron-ranked died in battle while under the possession of orc Blood magic.

    Robert and Gootlab are safe. We don''t know the status of Grizzelle or Duruk. All were captured together, but the survivors have no memory of what became of them.

    -Hans

    Guild Master

    Gomi Chapter

    <hr>

    I''m so sorry, Eesa.

    I gave Philip his rights. Two Silvers joined Robert and Gootlab in witnessing the pyre. For whatever comfort it''s worth, it was quick.

    Robert and Gootlab are resting in Gomi. I suspect they will linger for some time.

    I don''t have any leads on Grizzelle or Duruk. Robert and Gootlab both have flashes of memory, recalling moments from their possession. Perhaps another memory will surface that provides a clue.

    I''ll update you as fast as I can if I learn anything new.

    None of this is your fault. I hope you believe that.

    -Hans

    <hr>

    Open Quests (Ordered from Old to New):

    Progress from Gold-ranked to Diamond-ranked.

    Mend the rift with Devon.

    Complete the next volume (Iron to Bronze) for "The Next Generation: A Teaching Methodology for Training Adventurers."

    Find a way for Gomi adventurers to benefit from their rightful ranks in the Adventurers¡¯ Guild.

    Secure a way to use surplus dungeon inventory for good.

    Finish transcribing the manual and decide on the next course of action.

    Help Izz and Thuz bring new opportunities to their home village.

    Investigate the locations of old Diamond Quests.

    Await the delivery of lockpick training tools.

    Check in on the adventurers not at the dungeon.

    Ask Izz and Thuz if they would be open to talking with Lee.

 Book 2, Chapter 40: Quest Module

    ¡°She didn¡¯t come see you?¡± Olza asked. Hans leaned over her shop counter.

    ¡°Nope.¡±

    ¡°I haven¡¯t seen her either. Maybe she¡¯s on another forest errand?¡±

    ¡°Maybe. Or she¡¯s avoiding me.¡±

    ¡°You think so?¡±

    Hans shrugged. ¡°She mentioned never having been in a battle like that before. It doesn¡¯t matter how old you are when you have your first taste of war. Everyone works through it differently. Also can¡¯t find Sven.¡±

    ¡°Maybe he went up the mountain without telling anyone?¡±

    ¡°Probably. I¡¯m getting a ride up tomorrow.¡±

    Olza assured him Sven was fine.

    Quest Update: Check in on the adventurers at the dungeon, including Becky and Sven.

    To change the subject, Hans asked her to explain her thoughts on Luther¡¯s notes. He had reported his first month of observations in a letter to Olza, but Hans hadn¡¯t read it and assumed he wouldn¡¯t understand if he tried. The headline was that all of the starcups were growing more quickly than Olza¡¯s Gomi control starcups, which Hans already knew.

    He didn¡¯t know that the clove of Mazo garlic she provided to Luther grew more quickly as well. Not enough of the garlic plant was above ground yet for him to provide an accurate guess of its growth speed, but it was promising.

    If Olza would accept an observation without clear data¨CHans had to laugh at how well Luther knew Olza¨CLuther believed the garlic might be maturing three to four times faster than surface garlic. Whether any of those results were scalable was another topic entirely.

    ¡°He sent down enough dungeon soil for two pots,¡± Olza said. ¡°I just planted those the other day, though. I¡¯m so excited to see what happens.¡± Olza did a small tippy-tappy dance with her feet, like she was physically restricting her own dance movements. ¡°Sorry.¡±

    Hans said he wasn¡¯t bothered.

    ¡°Oh! Do you want me to get my notes on the manual? I¡¯ve been researching that too. Look at me. Research on research.¡±

    ¡°About that,¡± Hans began. ¡°Can we hold off on that for now?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re really starting to¨C¡±

    The door to Olza¡¯s shop opened. Uncle Ed half-shouted, ¡°Hans, you in here?¡± He dipped his head to the alchemist. ¡°Miss Olza.¡±

    ¡°Good to see you, Ed.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s good to be seen. Oh, gods. Did I just say that? My pa said that all the time, and I hated it.¡±

    Hans and Olza laughed.

    ¡°Sorry to interrupt. I was talking to Charlie and he said you were looking for a ride up the mountain. I¡¯m leaving shortly if you want to hitch a ride with me.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯d be great.¡± Hans turned to Olza. ¡°Looks like I¡¯ve got to run. I¡¯ll see you soon.¡±

    He followed Uncle Ed out the door before Olza could finish a sentence about how Hans should be resting his leg, not traveling.

    <hr>

    Uncle Ed did his best to give Hans a blow-by-blow of Kane and Quentin¡¯s tournament matches, but he lacked the vocabulary and the experience with combat to paint too clear of a picture. That was okay with Hans.

    Quentin ran through his first three opponents. His fourth opponent offered a bit of a challenge, but couldn¡¯t get any meaningful offense going, so he lost to Quentin too. In the fight for first, Quentin faced an older Apprentice, perhaps nineteen. The match started pretty even, but Quentin fell for a feint and that was the end of his tournament run.

    ¡°Thuz was telling me that some chapters withhold promotions so their people do better in tournaments. Is that for real?¡±

    ¡°Happens all the time,¡± Hans replied. ¡°There¡¯s also the opposite where they promote faster to pad their rosters. That¡¯s less common.¡±

    ¡°So he wasn¡¯t just trying to make Quentin feel better?¡±

    Hans shook his head. ¡°Sometimes a chapter will look really good in a tournament because they do ultra-slow promotions. They sweep every division because half the team is fighting a division under what they should be fighting. To be fair, it¡¯s unintentional sometimes, but what can you do? It¡¯s one of those accepted problems. Another possible explanation is that the guy was just better. No shame in that.¡±

    ¡°Right. Right.¡±

    ¡°Why didn¡¯t Quentin do the Absolute?¡±

    Uncle Ed unleashed a deep belly laugh. ¡°Not for lack of trying. Izz talked him out of it eventually. Apparently most of the heavyweight and light heavyweight divisions at the Apprentice level signed up for the Absolute. Bunch of giants. Bigger than me. Izz had been watching the other matches too and felt dropping Quentin in a bracket of almost all big guys wasn¡¯t¡­ How¡¯d he say it¡­ Productive. It wouldn¡¯t be productive.¡±

    Hans was glad Quentin listened to Izz.

    ¡°I thought you¡¯d be all about him taking on challenges, not giving up, persevering. You know, adventurer stuff.¡±

    ¡°One or two big matchups, fine. If the division is stacked with big boys, though, the abuse it puts a lightweight through isn¡¯t worth it. I¡¯d have handled it the same way as Izz.¡±

    ¡°Mmhmm, mmhmm.¡±

    ¡°Not going to tell me about Kane?¡±

    ¡°I thought you¡¯d never ask!¡± Uncle Ed nearly jumped off the wagon with excitement. ¡°He seemed like a different kid entirely, but then it occurred to me. I¡¯ve never seen him fight fight. It¡¯s always him in the training yard. In that tournament though?¡± Ed whistled.

    ¡°That good?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know shit about what I¡¯m watching, Hans, but even I know he ran through his matches at middleweight. Ref would tap this bell to start the fight, and then it was over. The other guy was either on his ass or yielding over and over.¡±

    Hans laughed.

    ¡°He got challenged in the Absolute. He drew the guy who took first in Quentin¡¯s divisions for one of the matches, and he had a tough time. Edged out a win on points, but it was real close. For the finals, it was him and this heavyweight, oh gods. I¡¯m sorry, Hans. I forgot a part.¡±

    What Ed had forgotten to mention was that no spells were allowed at the Apprentice level, the Absolute being the exception.

    ¡°A few of the people tried to cast, but nobody actually got a spell off.¡±

    That was typical for the Apprentice level, Hans said.

    ¡°And nobody knows Kane can cast because he hadn¡¯t tried to. He said he wanted to cast against Quentin¡¯s lightweight, but the guy was too fast. The heavyweight was not too fast, and I swear I didn¡¯t even notice him do it.¡±

    ¡°His Spellsword training is paying off. What¡¯d he do?¡±

    ¡°Kane can probably explain it better, but the guy was moving forward to attack, and Kane cast Pull as he moved for a parry. Tugged on his ankle mid-step. He doesn¡¯t go down right off the bat, but he for sure stumbled real bad. Kane knocked him off his feet the old fashioned way after that.¡±

    The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

    Hans thanked Ed for all of the stories. He wished he could have been there too.

    After several quiet minutes of trees rolling lazily by, Ed said, ¡°From what I gather, that orc band was bad news. Quentin came over for dinner before they rotated up and talked my ear off about encounter levels and multipliers based on how many monsters were present. I didn¡¯t quite understand it, but Quentin was adamant that on paper, the fight with the orc band was a losing one.¡±

    Hans explained that the unspoken assumption behind encounter levels is that either side is entering the battle aware that they have enemies to defeat. Ogres were rated as Silver encounters, but even a child could slit the throat of a sleeping ogre. Fights weren''t a card game where one hand was definitively better than the other at all times.

    The Gomi adventurers had advanced notice of the threat, the element of surprise, and two Druids who knew the landscape well enough to pick the perfect place to attack.

    ¡°Casters attacking from the rear gets ugly, fast. We had two groups: one attacking the mages from behind, one keeping the warriors from advancing at the front. All of our upper-ranked adventurers were in the mage attack party except for Becky.¡±

    The plan was to attack the mages from behind to draw the attention of the entire warband to a threat behind them. If an enemy group had a mage, they almost always prioritized protecting their mage. When the warriors turned back to help, the other group attacked. There were a lot of other details in there too, but that was the overall framework.

    ¡°Sounds like you had a hell of a plan.¡±

    ¡°Almost,¡± Hans said, dejected. ¡°I played it out in my head enough to find our best bet for avoiding casualties. I had Becky and Buru drawing where they remembered individual trees being, no matter how big. I mean really, I tried to account for everything. When I thought I had, it was going to be a close one, but winnable. I didn¡¯t account for the mages knowing Summoning spells, though. Plan went to shit when those came out.¡±

    ¡°What happened to that boy was terrible,¡± Ed said. ¡°I can¡¯t imagine that was the first you lost. That must be hard.¡±

    Hans shook his head.

    ¡°You shouldn¡¯t blame yourself.¡±

    ¡°I don''t.¡±

    ¡°Oh?¡±

    ¡°I blame the orcs.¡±

    <hr>

    As far as Tandis knew, Sven was still in Gomi. He had not checked in at the dungeon.

    New Quest: Locate Sven.

    Quest Update: Check in on the adventurers at the dungeon, including Becky.

    Thuz found Hans in his cabin, fresh off the wagon and dropping his bags. When Hans asked how the adventurers at the dungeon were doing, Thuz shared that he and his brother had already spoken to the others, the Minotaurs and Becky included. The lizardmen didn¡¯t need to witness the battle to know what it was like to lose an adventurer. At the time, no one seemed any farther off course than any other person navigating a moment like that.

    Quest Complete: Check in on the adventurers at the dungeon, including Becky.

    A weight Hans hadn¡¯t realized was there lifted from his chest. His lungs felt fuller. He took a big inhale to enjoy the feeling and grabbed his side. He forgot about his broken ribs.

    ¡°I¡¯m most worried about Lee,¡± Hans said. ¡°She¡¯s struggling.¡±

    ¡°To be expected.¡±

    ¡°I know this is the last thing you want to talk about, but if you guys were comfortable with it, maybe you could talk to her? If not, that¡¯s fine. I understand.¡±

    ¡°Knowledge should be shared,¡± Thuz began, ¡°even if it was painful to acquire. Perhaps, especially because it was painful to acquire.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re a good man, Thuz,¡± Hans said.

    Quest Complete: Ask Izz and Thuz if they would be open to talking with Lee.

    ¡°We emulate our teachers.¡± Thuz said with a gentle bow. He looked down at Hans¡¯ wrapped leg. ¡°But not their combat abilities.¡±

    Hans laughed again and then clutched his side. It hurt so much to laugh. Thuz laughed with him.

    When Hans caught his breath, he presented an offensive gesture to Thuz. ¡°I was going to tell you we could grow the golem now that you two are back, but you might be stuck up here for a while if we do that. I won¡¯t be in any condition to assist in the near future, and our Silvers are taking some time. As they should.¡±

    ¡°I would find that acceptable. I believe my brother would agree. We have not challenged ourselves enough in recent months.¡±

    ¡°I have to be honest,¡± Hans said. ¡°I¡¯m not sure the golem will live up to your expectations after waiting all this time.¡±

    ¡°That is another part of the blessing, Mr. Hans. Before we came to Gomi, we never expected to fight a golem that was long defeated. This is a unique opportunity that we do not wish to squander.¡±

    <hr>

    Hans made everyone up the mountain swear not to tell Olza he went into the dungeon. He could hear her scolding him already.

    The dungeon core accepted the suggestion to recreate Bunri¡¯s tower but took some liberties that Hans didn¡¯t expect or understand. He suggested the core place the tower at the beginning of ogre valley. Most of that section was banal forest, about as instructive as a long walk. Plenty of space for a wizard tower.

    They found the tower in what used to be the imp and zout room. Instead of a plain square room, the room had been transformed into the top of Bunri¡¯s tower. If Hans hadn¡¯t seen the original himself, he wouldn¡¯t have thought the new area had anything to do with a tower. What would have been open air looking out over a country landscape was simple dungeon wall.

    When they arrived, the imps entertained themselves by breaking the bottles piled at the top of the tower. Smashing. Throwing. Dropping. Kicking. The zout was not present, scared away by the bottle festivities, Hans suspected.

    The door down to the fifth floor of the tower was magically trapped, just like the original. Lacking an enchanter, Izz used a sharp Push to blast through.

    That level had the same familiar bow of the original, the weight of the countless books straining the limits of the tower¡¯s lumber. As Tandis predicted, the books were all blank. The next floor was also the same as the original, including the collection of hair beneath Bunri¡¯s mirror.

    In the workshop, the only notable changes were more blank pieces of paper¨Ceven the paper where Bunri had written ¡°Bunri is a failure¡± over and over. It was now blank as well.

    The drawings on the walls were as he remembered them, however.

    Why only that?

    Hans increasingly found himself thinking of the core as if it had a personality, but really that was him rationalizing the yet-unexplained oddities of growing a dungeon.

    With a few Force Bolts, Izz blew away the bulky padlocks securing the metal hatch, the one that led to the golem. He said something about how no self-respecting wizard would settle for security that archaic. Reflecting on what he knew about Bunri, Hans decided Izz was right. Bunri definitely was not a self-respecting wizard.

    ¡°Before you go down,¡± Hans said to the brothers, ¡°Remember that Mazo spent two hours in this room while Gret and Dunfoo looked for traps.¡±

    Izz and Thuz looked at each other. They left the hatch closed and studied the room.

    At that moment, Hans realized that he would have to sit there for two hours as well. He went upstairs to look for interesting bottles. There was nothing else to do.

    He found the following:

    -dozens of potion bottles, from travel vials to jugs with caps that doubled as measuring cups

    -hundreds of unlabeled beer bottles, likely bought locally (local to Bunri)

    -dozens of the same tall, narrow liquor bottles with dark green glass

    -an expensive whiskey bottle shaped like a goblin head

    -a phallic bottle that said ¡°for external use only¡± in lowercase and then again in uppercase

    -a pink ceramic bottle with the face of a unicorn and ¡°premium bathwater¡± etched into the container

    -a square black bottle that had a single label with the words ¡°hells yeah¡± and nothing else written on it

    When Hans returned to the workshop, Izz asked, ¡°Are these sound waves?¡±

    ¡°You''re familiar?¡±

    ¡°It was in our reading from Miss Mazo. She insisted we be well-rounded in our studies. A philosopher proposed the idea some time ago, and a wizard verified it relatively recently.¡±

    Thuz pointed to a paper that had two lines instead of one. ¡°This we do not know. Is that significant? They vary in heights and widths, which aligns with our reading. Different noises, different lines. Two lines is the only variation we cannot explain.¡±

    Hans sat quietly. He had known the brothers long enough to know Thuz didn''t really want an answer. Izz and Thuz always thought out loud as a unit that way.

    ¡°Two hours have passed,¡± Izz said. Thuz took another look at the drawings and turned back, nodding. They opened the hatch, and Hans followed them down the stairs.

    ¡°What would you like from me?¡± Hans asked before they opened the door to the golem.

    ¡°Anything you might have said in that battle, if you feel it is appropriate, we would hear,¡± Thuz said. ¡°Otherwise, our commitment to walking in her steps has not changed.¡±

    Hans understood. They opened the door to the golem room.

    The battle began for the brothers as it did for Hans and his party.

    <hr>

    Open Quests (Ordered from Old to New):

    Progress from Gold-ranked to Diamond-ranked.

    Mend the rift with Devon.

    Complete the next volume (Iron to Bronze) for "The Next Generation: A Teaching Methodology for Training Adventurers."

    Find a way for Gomi adventurers to benefit from their rightful ranks in the Adventurers¡¯ Guild.

    Secure a way to use surplus dungeon inventory for good.

    Finish transcribing the manual and decide on the next course of action.

    Help Izz and Thuz bring new opportunities to their home village.

    Investigate the locations of old Diamond Quests.

    Await the delivery of lockpick training tools.

    Locate Sven.