We walked down the street, and as we passed by stores, I found my mind wandering to the next few months.
Namely, focusing on adventuring again.
Let’s see… “I should get a basic set of robes.
To boost my magic defense for when we go into dungeons.
How far away are we from F-rank do you think?” “Um… I think you need to get to third-tier.
It’s harder to judge for me… I think I have to be able to beat a wolf.” What?!
I gave him an incredulous glance.
“A whole wolf!?” He shrugged.
“The most common type of F-rank dungeons are forest dungeons.
The most common monster in them is wolves.
So… I have to be able to hold my own in an F-rank dungeon to be considered F-rank.
First, I have to manifest aura…” Oh.
“I’ve heard Anna and Bella mention aura when training you.
But what exactly is it?” “Uh… You said mana is like an inmate power you have inside you right?
Well, aura is similar.
Well, kind of similar.
Everyone has the potential to manifest aura.
Oh, except for mages.
They can’t, because mana and aura are incompatible, I think?
Anyway, everyone can do it, but it’s hard to do.
You have to be disciplined.
It’s about willpower.
And to use it, you have to strengthen your body so it can handle it.
But aura can make you a lot stronger.
And it doesn’t run out the way mana can.” “Okay… but what exactly is aura?” He still never answered that question.
“Gahhh.
It’s like… a fighter’s will made manifest.
Bella showed me hers, and it was kind of green?
And wavy.
She could use it to move extremely quickly.
Like, she blurred she was so fast.
And she could send shockwaves out from swinging her rapiers that caused a lot of damage.
It’s hard to explain exactly… think of it like mana for melee fighters.
Except using it depends on your will and body rather than an internal power source.” I still didn’t really get it, but I don’t think asking any more questions would help.
And we reached the plaza anyway.
Tents filled the plaza, only a few bare spots left.
The fountain in the center was huge, and there were six other, smaller fountains dotted around it in a wide circle.
Other water sources to draw from since this plaza was so big.
There were also a lot more guards, about eight, two for each quadrant of the plaza.
The first ones we approached said their side was filled up, so we hurried to the other side.
It was a good thing we did.
We just barely managed to secure one of the few spots left.
The plaza was almost complete full of adventurers.
We were tucked into the space between two parties, just a nook barely big enough for our tent.
But we managed to get a spot, and we paid ahead for the entire winter, the guards saying that was a wise choice.
As we set up our tent, a large wolfish woman from the tents next door took notice of us.
Big gray hair barely contained with a tie in the back, broad shoulders and a fur vest which displayed her burly arms.
“Eh?
Girls, it looks like we have some new neighbors!” Someone yelled out from the tents.
“If they aren’t cute, then I don’t care!” “Oh Mel, they’re adorable.
You have to come out and see them.” The tent flap opened, showing another annoyed woman with a bow slung over her back.
Her hair was blonde, loose and flowing, and she had sharp green eyes that narrowed at her companion in annoyance.
“Lupa, I swear if these aren’t the cutest guys ever…” The wolf woman with an axe strapped to her back snorted and stood up.
“I never said they were guys.
Just come here.
Let’s introduce ourselves.” The archer, Mel, came around and her eyebrows shot up when she saw us.
“A pair of kids?” Lupa grinned at us.
“Hello there!
I think we’re going to end up being neighbors for the winter, so we might as well introduce ourselves.
I’m Lupa, and this is Mel.
Our party is called the Iron Maidens.
Uh, because we’re all women!
There’s four of us, but two of our members are out right now, doing a bit of shopping.
What are your names?” Oh.
She seemed… nice.
Rey puffed up and introduced us.
“It’s nice to meet you!
I’m Rey, and this is Kat.
We’re the party Honeysilver.
Uh, we’re still only E-ranks though.” Lupa squealed.
“Oh, the two of you are just so cute!
I could eat you right up.” Mel rolled her eyes and pushed Lupa aside.
“Sorry about her.
She just loves children.
It’s nice to meet you too.
When our party members get back, we’ll introduce you to them too.
We’re C-ranks, so we’ll be gone a lot, but don’t be afraid to say hello!
We’ll get out of your hair now and let you finish setting up camp.” Mel pulled Lupa away.
Well, at least they seemed okay… “What’s all the ruckus about?” A man with long red hair pulled back in a ponytail stuck his head out of the tent.
He yawned, his hair all frizzy, and looked around.
He spotted us.
“Oh?
Hey Jax, Louis!
We got some new neighbors, let’s introduce ourselves.” Unlike the four smaller, neat tents to our left, the camp to our right was just one big tent.
Three guys piled out, stretching.
It was obvious they just got up.
The red-hair man who spotted us was lean, and wiry.
The second guy had very short hair and was built like a house.
A sturdy and thick house.
The final guy was a lot smaller, his hair long and loose, curly and black, with black robes.
He was the youngest, he looked around thirteen or fourteen.
A mage?
Once they were awake, red-haired stepped towards us.
“Nice to meet you.
I’m Peter, the big guy is Jax, and this twerp is Louis.
Together, we’re the Jolly Fools, a D-Rank adventuring party.” This time, I took the initiative, bowing my head.
“It’s nice to meet you.
I’m Kat, and this is Rey.
We’re Honeysilver, but we’re only E-ranks.” Peter’s eyebrows shot up.
“You’re adventurers?…
I see.
Well, if you kids need anything, feel free to ask.
I can’t guarantee we’ll be able to help you, but I can promise we can try.” Louis snorted, crossing his arms.
“Why would we help them?” Without even looking at him, Peter smacked the upside of Louis’s head, making him sputter.
“Shut it, Louis.
I’ll explain it to you later.
I’m getting hungry, so let’s go grab a meal somewhere quiet.
See you around kids.” He waved to us, grabbed Louis, dragging him off.
Jax lingered behind and nodded to us.
“Don’t worry, we’ll keep an eye out for you.
I know it’s not easy being independent so young.” He trotted after them.
Huh… “Our neighbors seem really nice.” Rey nodded, standing the tent up.
“Yeah, I think we got really lucky with our spot.
Let’s finish setting up, and we can go check out the guild.” We did just that, unloading our text and setting some things we didn’t want to carry inside, like our heater, lamp, bedrolls, and extra clothes.
Once our bags weren’t so full, we headed out, towards the adventurer’s guild just to the south of the plaza.
It was huge.
Easily twice the size of the one in Duval.
There were several quest boards, and a quick scan through them revealed there were permanent jobs for collecting valuable herbs.
And an absolute bevy of other requests.
But given how it was going into winter, the herb requests wouldn’t really be feasible… Instead, Rey took another down.
“Here.
This one is for hunting a deer outside the city.
For three silvers.
This should be easy for us.” Oh.
I took the sheet and looked through it.
Yeah, the job was just to hunt a deer, and gut it before bringing it back to the guild.
It should be easy to hunt a deer.
We took it up to the front desk.
The receptionists smiled at us.
“Uh… do you two have your guild cards?” We nodded and handed them over.
She registered the quest for our party, and the time limit to hunt the deer was two days, tomorrow and the day after.
“Can you tell us about the F-rank dungeons nearby?” I asked as I took my guild card back.
She launched into a premade spiel.
“Of course!
Here at the southern entrance, there’s five dungeons.
Two are farming dungeons, two are F-rank dungeons, and one is a D-rank dungeon.
One F-rank is a forest dungeon, and the other is a meadow dungeon.
The D-rank is actually a mining dungeon!
Silver from that mine is often used to mint currency right here in the capital.
Oh, would you like a map of the southern dungeons?
I have one here for twenty coppers.” I dug out my money.
“Yes please!” She gave us a map of the southern quarter of the city, with focus on the dungeons just outside the walls.
She even gave us a little informational pamphlet about them with it, for an extra ten coppers.
We went to a table and spread them out.
Rey traced the path from the plaza to the southern gate.
“Not too far of a walk.
And look here.
Right before the gate, there’s a training field for adventurers.
Inside the city.” He tapped the empty field and I nodded.
“We can train there every day.
What should our schedule be?” “We’ll wake up at dawn, and head out, to the dungeons.
We’ll pick one and walk around looking for slimes.
And we can hunt and forage during that time too.
Once we make our money for the day, we go to the training field and practice.
That’ll be our afternoons.
Once we finish our training, we’ll come back, eat dinner, and study.
Although… we’re kind of out of books for me to study.” “We can go shopping for more useful books after we’re done here.
We have a whole gold, or just about… what kind of book do you want?” “Um…” He leaned back in the chair, thinking.
“I’m not sure.
Something useful…” “We can browse the books and see if anything catches your eye.” He nodded.
“Okay, that sounds good.
What about you?
Are you going to need the next spellcasting book soon?” I shook my head.
“I can barely lift a pebble.
I still had a way to go to master the second tier.
And after that, there’s still the third.
I won’t need a new book until I’m ready for fourth tier.” “So, the first tier is the basic mana bolt.
The second tier is mana arrow and moving things around with mana.
What’s in the third tier?
Three spells?” I nodded.
“Yeah, it’s when you start imbuing elements into your attacks.
There’s Fireball, Water Shot, and Wind Gust.
There’s also an earth spell, Earth Wall, but you just have to know three to be considered a full-fledged mage.” “That seems dumb.
Why only three?
Why not four?” I shrugged.
“I don’t know.
Since each spell has different uses, it seems like it would be best to learn all of them.
For example, once I can control Fireball, I can use it to spark a fire.
Or Water Shot to summon water.
And Earth Wall can be used to level land and break up rocks.” “That would all be amazing when we’re camping.
What about Wind Gust?
What can you use it for?” He leaned forward, interested.
“Um… making a cool breeze?
It’s mostly for taking down flying enemies.” I couldn’t figure out a better use for that spell when we’re camping.
“Oh.
Uh, well the others are still really good.
And once you master them, you’ll be a real mage?” “Yeah, I’ll be a full-fledged mage.
But it’ll take a while for me to build up enough mana to use those spells, and even longer to practice them.
Like… it could take me a year.
Or even longer.” Rey sighed and nodded.
“That’s okay.
It’ll take me a long time to get aura.
Anna said that it could take a few years to manifest it.
For now… thirteen.
Let’s aim to become F-rank adventurers by the time we turn thirteen.” Thirteen.
That was two years away from him, and about two and three months for me.
It… was a goal.
Something concrete to work towards besides just ‘being adventurers.’ “That sounds good.
Let’s go and browse the bookstores.” We headed out, and we soon came upon a bookstore, with an elderly man snoozing behind the counter.
He was startled awake as the bell rang when we walked in.
He yawned and adjusted his glasses to look at us.
“Can I help you with anything?” “We’re just browsing right now, but thanks.” Rey answered.
The old man adjusted his glasses again and leaned back, dozing now.
We began scanning the shelves.
There were novels galore, but near the back we found the practical skills section.
Magic had an entire bookcase dedicated to it.
But there were plenty of others… Near the end of a middle row, Rey paused.
He slipped a thick volume out of the bookcase, looking intrigued.
I popped over to see the title.
Ooooh.
All about Sailing: Rowboats to Warships and Everything Between.
“You want to learn how to sail?” Rey jumped a little and looked over at me.
“Yeesh, give me a little space here Kat.
And I mean… it’s not exactly useful.
We’re nowhere near the ocean.” “But we’re gonna go to the ocean one day.
It’ll be useful then.
If you want to learn, then you should learn it.” His cheeks colored a little, and he mumbled a fine.
He held it close, and we continued browsing for a bit.
That was when something caught my eye.
The History of Altarioan: A Brief Overview of a Tumultuous Country.
Altarioan was our country.
The country we were in now.
I slid out the equally hefty volume, wondering… “Do you want to get that?” Eek!
I glanced over at Rey, jumping a little.
“Uh… it’s okay.
History won’t really be that useful to us.
My magic will keep me busy anyway.” I went to put it back, but he reached out and stayed my hand.
“Hold on.
I mean… we can’t be all work no play.
You can read something just for the fun of it.
And I’m getting a new book, so it’s only fair that you get one too.” Oh… I fidgeted with the book.
“If… you’re sure.” “Of course, I’m sure.
I don’t really see anything that catches my eye, so if you’re satisfied, we can go and check out.” He turned to head up to the counter.
I trailed after him, still feeling a little guilty.
But… Well, I was interested.
And like he said, we shouldn’t be all work no play… Maybe we should pick up a deck of cards on the way back too.