WildHorizon Guild — Outside the Wall, 10:00 AM
Melissa stepped into the guild hall, tying back her hair to keep her face clear. Arriving at the reception area, she slipped into her designated spot behind the counter and released a long, heavy sigh, venting all her built-up stress.
"Complications inside the Wall?" Derek asked, stepping up beside Melissa and placing a mug of coffee on the desk.
Melissa didn't hesitate to take a deep gulp, relaxing even further as the liquid went down.
"You have no idea. I utterly despise working in the noble sector. They're so... pretentious," Melissa grumbled.
It wasn't uncommon for receptionists to avoid working inside the Wall. Even if it meant getting their boots caked in mud, working outside the Wall was a thousand times preferable in their eyes.
"I heard you had trouble with your assigned adventurer again, too," Derek teased, recalling the rumors he had caught wind of over the past few days.
"You have no idea! That idiot Lydia did it again!" Melissa complained anew, her stress flaring right back up at the mere mention of Lydia. "She was supposed to just attend a simple meeting with some Rank B adventurers from another guild, but no! Lydia thought it'd be hilarious to provoke the adventurer Valka, and they ended up in a full-blown brawl!"
Derek chuckled at Melissa's frustration. As the head receptionist with years of experience under his belt, Derek had dealt with those exact same headaches years ago. He understood Melissa's plight all too well.
"Whatever!" Melissa barked, exhaling her frustration with a huff before swiftly changing the subject. "I heard you claimed all three of the new recruits for yourself."
"You mean Connor, Dylan, and Rose? Mmh, yeah. I put them under my supervision. You know how it is—with the older adventurers retiring, my assigned roster shrank down to an eighth of what it used to be," Derek stated, seeing no issue with the arrangement.
Melissa stared at Derek for a few seconds, her finger tracing subtle circles along the rim of her coffee mug as she pondered her next words.
"And... you wouldn't be willing to hand one over to me?" Melissa asked carefully, causing Derek to raise an inquisitive eyebrow. "You know, to lighten your workload a bit."
"Melissa, I literally just said I took them because I was left with practically no adventurers... What are you up to?" Derek pressed, genuinely curious. It was rare for Melissa to request an adventurer from someone else's roster.
"I'm just saying, looking after new recruits must be exhausting... especially when they're from another world," Melissa hinted subtly, a playful smirk gracing her lips.
Derek opened his mouth to reply, but found himself momentarily speechless—this was the first time he had ever seen Melissa act like this. Crossing his arms, he leaned back against the wooden wall, studying Melissa with an amused smile.
"Who do you have in mind?" Derek asked.
"The brown-haired hottie," Melissa answered with a sly grin.
Derek let out a short laugh, unable to believe Melissa was actually asking him to hand over Dylan.
"Dylan?" Derek asked. "He's the one you want?"
"WANT is a bit of an understatement," Melissa whispered under her breath, nodding in confirmation.
Melissa was honest with herself. Having been an adventurer in her past, she had seen plenty of exceptionally attractive men and women, but Dylan... He hit every single one of Melissa's soft spots. The fact that he didn't act like a typical, obnoxious transmigrator was a massive bonus in her book.
"I see. Well, since it's you asking..." Derek made a dramatic pause before flashing a mischievous grin. "Then no."
"What?!" Melissa gasped in surprise, having fully expected Derek to hand him over without a fuss. "Why not?!"
"Because I don't want to," Derek replied, the grin remaining firmly on his face. "Like I told you, I'm short on adventurers, and Dylan along with Connor are two guaranteed long-term assets who'll last me decades without dying. Besides, you already have Lydia—she's an absolute stunner, and she never says no to you for anything."
"It's not the same!" Melissa pouted, leaning back into her chair. "You know Lydia's beauty doesn't work on me."
"Right, full-blood Mytt and half-Mytt are immune to magical beauty unlike everyone else," Derek acknowledged, though he still firmly refused to yield Dylan.
Melissa was just preparing to negotiate further when the front doors of the guild hall swung open, revealing Connor and Dylan dragging several heavy timber logs inside, with Rose passed out cold atop the pile of wood.
"Connor, Dylan! Perfect timing, boys!" Derek greeted them with a wide smile, stepping right past Melissa.
(Uff... did his muscles get bigger?) Melissa peered over the reception desk, her eyes locking onto Dylan to inspect him thoroughly.
As a guild alchemist, Melissa was intimately familiar with the physiological effects of the Initiation Potion. Accelerated physical development was one of its key traits.
Whenever adventurers engaged in rigorous physical exertion or survived life-threatening scenarios, their magic cores registered those stimuli as a dire need for adaptation and evolution. That was precisely what allowed them to surpass normal human limits merely by consuming an Initiation Potion.
Licking her lips, Melissa adjusted her neckline and touched up her hair before stepping out from behind the counter to join Derek and his party.
Derek was conversing animatedly with Connor and Dylan, expressing his gratitude for the timber, which would prove invaluable for the ongoing construction efforts.
Right then, two gentle hands rested upon Derek's shoulders, and Melissa popped her head out from beside him, wearing a warm smile.
"Hey boys! Long time no see!" Melissa greeted them.
Dylan immediately recognized her as the girl who had administered his potion while he was unconscious, offering her a warm greeting in return. After all, she had cared for him while he was injured.
"Morning, Melissa. Haven't seen you around for a few days," Dylan replied alongside Connor.
"Right? And it's a good thing I ran into you—I need to check up on you to make sure everything went smoothly with your magic core," Melissa said quickly, seizing the perfect excuse to haul Dylan away.
"Really? But the potions worked completely fine—" Derek's words were cut abruptly short as he felt Melissa's fist drive firmly into his spine.
"I guess Rose needs an exam too," Dylan added, preparing to call over to Rose, who was still sprawled across the timber logs.
"NO!... She doesn't need one. Her body belongs to a native of this world, remember?" Melissa excused rapidly.
"I guess that makes sense," Dylan conceded.
Taking Dylan by the arm, Melissa dragged him off toward the alchemy wing to conduct his "checkup."
Guild Alchemy Wing
Dylan took a seat on one of the available cots, looking around the room filled with shelves holding various jars and dried herbs.
At the far end of the room stood a sealed door bearing a sign that read: Keep Door Closed to Preserve Cold Temperature Inside.
"So..." Melissa spoke up, capturing his attention. "Could you start by taking off your shirt?"
"My shirt? Sure," Dylan replied. To him, nothing felt more reassuring than a qualified medical professional right now in a world brimming with lethality—and Melissa was the closest thing to a doctor he had encountered.
Slipping off his shirt left his torso exposed, revealing several fresh scratches and bruises across his skin. Melissa, however, hardly paid the minor injuries any mind.
"I'm going to begin examining you now," Melissa advised before biting her lower lip and resting her hands on Dylan's bare chest. "They're growing..." she murmured under her breath, though Dylan caught the words clearly.
"I noticed that too! For some reason, my body is picking up muscle mass and conditioning way faster. I mean, I'm not complaining, but I know it's not normal to develop at this speed," Dylan admitted readily.
"Mmh," Melissa hummed in agreement, running her hands across Dylan's back. "Don't worry about it—that's just a perk of being an adventurer... a very nice advantage," she added in a soft whisper.
Melissa traced the contours of Dylan's back with her fingers, noting how rapidly his musculature was developing—noticeably faster than that of an average adventurer, though that certainly didn't bother her.
(A year... no, just a few more months, and these boys are going to be massive and edible... exactly how I like them,) Melissa thought, lightly digging her nails into Dylan's chest, catching him off guard.
She then slid her hands down to his stomach again, feeling his abdominal muscles taking shape, while subtly leaning in closer to inhale the scent of Dylan's hair.
Dylan, sitting through the examination and feeling every press of her fingers, couldn't help but think: (I feel kinda used here...) Still, he refrained from interrupting the expert's medical procedure.
Melissa moved her hands over to his biceps, noting the most pronounced growth concentrated there, instantly recalling the heavy timber logs Dylan had dragged all the way from the forest.
(It's only been a few days and he's adapting this fast... If he weren't a transmigrator, I'd swear he was bred through selective breeding,) Melissa thought, stroking Dylan's bicep and squeezing it slowly.
Selective breeding was a recognized practice among certain noble and adventuring lineages. Connor's family, the Karolsens, practiced it intentionally—a well-known fact across the region, which Melissa was naturally privy to.
Leaving Dylan's biceps, Melissa moved up to his shoulders, kneading and rubbing the broad muscles slowly while observing his reaction.
(He's such an obedient boy... I like him,) Melissa thought, pleased to see Dylan offering no resistance to her shoulder massage.
(This is still normal medical stuff, right? Maybe it's just how they do things in this world? I don't know much about magic or how to examine it,) Dylan pondered as he felt Melissa's long, delicate fingers working over his skin.
"I'm glad you're cooperating so well. A lot of transmigrators take these physical exams personally or misinterpret them and try to make inappropriate advances," Melissa lied smoothly to keep Dylan from suspecting a thing.
"I understand. Don't worry, I get that it's just a physical checkup," Dylan replied, blushing slightly.
"Good... that's very good, because now comes the most delicate part—the part most people misinterpret," Melissa warned, seizing the perfect opening to take things a step further.
"Delicate part?" Dylan asked, swallowing nervously.
"Take off your pants."
"Pardon?"
An hour later, Dylan and Melissa emerged from the alchemy room. Dylan felt utterly drained from the aggressive, hands-on massage Melissa had subjected him to.
(Felt like she was trying to peel my skin off...) Dylan grumbled internally, walking over toward a table where Connor and Rose were waiting for him.
"See you later, Dylan! Don't forget your follow-up exam next week!" Melissa called out with a subtle blush, watching Dylan wave back awkwardly. (By Ludmi... he's developing so well... I barely managed to stop myself from tearing his underwear off with my teeth. Next time for sure.)
Dylan made his way to the table and sat down across from Connor.
"Man, those exams... if they're always like that, I don't know how I'm going to survive them," Dylan confessed.
Connor looked at Dylan with curiosity, taking a sip from his peach juice.
"What exam?" Connor asked, intrigued.
"You know, the one they give to transmigrators to see if the potion took effect properly," Dylan replied.
"There's no such thing... She just groped you for an hour," Connor revealed, leaving Dylan visibly pale.
"Nah..." Dylan refused to believe it. Melissa was easily the kindest, gentlest person he had interacted with—not just in this world, but in his entire life.
"Potions work perfectly on everyone because they serve a single purpose: developing our primitive magic core," Connor revealed again.
"But I'm from another world, so I didn't have a core to begin with," Dylan argued in defense.
"Right, but the moment you arrived, your body crystallized one—weaker than the ones we natives have, sure, but again, that's what Initiation Potions are for. To refine it," Connor reaffirmed with a mocking grin. "She just grope-tested you."
"No..." Dylan whispered softly.