We emerged into the farmlands, but not the same ones we entered. The farmhouse Ilsa and I came through was not even in sight. Here were different sorts of farms, orchards and vineyards, climbing the gentle hills. The entrance was tucked under a rock which a gnarled fruit tree grew on. Its roots twisted around the hole in the earth, forming a doorway of sorts.
The adventurers made a camp a short distance away in an apple orchard. A rudimentary camp, but tents aren’t really needed when you are within walking distance of town. It didn’t take long to get a fire going and we all sat around it. They quickly found food and drink, water, bread, and jerky.
“You want some?” the leader offered.
“Yes please. Thank you,” I said before I could stop myself.
The water was warm, but it was wet, which was the most important thing.
The leader stood over me, watching, his blue eyes holding a question but being patient enough to wait.
I finished, feeling a million times better. Thirst can creep up on you.
“So, what are you two doing out here? We didn’t see you enter, and no one found it before us. You are Gs, if I don’t miss my guess. You had no place there.”
“We came across it. Fought some goblins. There was another entrance closer to town. No one found it. Everyone was heading off here. Where have they gone off to?”
“They will have headed back to town once they realised that it was vanquished. But you haven’t explained how you fought the goblins.”
“Lucky. You must have drawn most of them away. We came in the back door, and there were only a few. One was asleep. It was luck.”
“Well, if that’s all there is to it. We vanquished the lair. We get the credit. We will give you a mention, because as far as I could see there were more rooms. The lair wouldn’t have died if all the rooms hadn’t been cleared.”
“That is fine. You saved us. We couldn’t have taken out that mass of goblins.”
The leader knelt down, his armour clanking, as he lowered himself to eye level.
“You did well enough for G’s. You both new at this?”
“I am. It’s been less than a week.”
“Not me. I’m a legacy, and been doing this for months,” Ilsa chimed in, offended if I was to guess.
“Well, in that case I have some advice for you, Boy. Change your weapon. You are not made for the sword. Pick something else. It will take time, but better to work on a weapon that is suited to you than struggle with one that isn’t. Take it or leave it. I saw you down there, and you have potential, for a G.”
“It’s Graey, not boy. Thank you though, I do appreciate the advice.”
That was twice now that someone had told me the sword wasn’t for me. Both unsolicited, both from experienced older people. It brought to mind the unnatural feeling of holding my sword. I didn’t have it with my knives. It was just with the longer sword. It always felt wrong. I put it down to inexperience but if what these guys were saying was right, then it was something else.
“I’m Harold, this is my party. The mage is Timothy. The sneaky one is Cindy. The healer is Claire, and the big axe wielder is David. We are the best C grade party in town, the mighty Clearers.”
“Thanks again. We will leave you to it then,” Ilsa said, standing and preparing to go.
“You can come back with us if you want. There might be a few goblins lingering, although they should be weaker in the sun.”
“It’s been a long day, and we just want to go home. It was a deep dive, and we are feeling it.”
Harold laughed. “Yeah, I remember those days. A walk in the sun will do you good. Be careful of any stragglers though, I don’t want to come across your corpses on the road back.”
Ilsa pulled me into standing, and tugged me away. Once out of earshot of the Mighty Clearers, she started talking.
“Did you know them? Why did he comment on your sword? What are you hiding?” Her blond hair caught in the breeze as she turned to look at me, her face hard with suspicion.
“I don’t know them. Never met them before today. I seriously don’t know why they helped out like they did. Seriously, I’m not hiding anything, and my head is splitting.”
I wasn’t lying to get her to shut up. my head really did hurt. The bright sun burnt at my eyes, and the open sky pressed down on me.
“You really are new. Its dungeon sickness. We spent too long, and it was too deep, down there. Try not to worry about it, you will feel better soon. So, where do you live?”
We talked about our lives, our families, or lack of them and the pain in my head lessened slowly. By the time we got within sight of the town, I was almost completely recovered.
“What made you want to be an adventurer? My choice was easy. My family wanted it. But you don’t seem to have any reason.”
I thought about it for a while, watching the grass blow in the wind, the bright green soothing the irritation of the question somewhat.
“You don’t have to answer. I’m just being nosy. But if we are going to party more then it’s only fair that we know as much as we can about each other.”
“You have a point,” I admitted, and she did. Trust is vital for anything where you are counting on others.
“My mother used to tell me stories. Of heroes. Of monsters. All I ever wanted was to be one of those heroes. I know it’s stupid and childish. But it captured my imagination. When my mother died, I took it hard. So many adventurers have healing skills. They could have saved her. I could have if I'd just been quicker. I know I can’t change that now, but I wish I could. Instead I’m going to do what I can to make up for it. Being an adventurer is a step on that road.”
“Oh, man, I didn’t realise it was a sore subject.”
“It’s not. It was a long time ago, and I’m over it. But you asked why I wanted to be one, and I told you.” I shrugged it off. It didn’t hurt to talk about, not any more. If anything it was like probing a missing tooth with your tongue, painless but the gap is still there, would always be there.
“Okay. Well, we just split the loot and then we can go our separate ways. If you want to party again, hit me up. I’m normally around the western woods. There are some sweet lairs, small, single levels. We can practice, and maybe grade up together. I heard that parties that grade up together get bigger blessings. My uncle doesn’t know if it’s true, but it might be worth finding out.”
“We will see. I have some things to do before I can think about more adventuring. It’s been difficult today.”
“Not every G grade can say they defeated goblins. It’s something to be proud of.”
“I’m not arguing that. Just that it was more than we could handle on our own. If the Clearers hadn’t been there we would have been in serious trouble.”
“Stop borrowing trouble. We made it. Got some decent loot out of it too.”
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.
Our conversation filled up the time it took to get back to town. No goblins accosted us on our way, which was good, because while the headache faded the screaming in my muscles had grown. By the time we reached the guild house I was covered in sweat and shivering, like I had a fever.
The guild was busy, people milling about trading in their drops and collecting small missions. Gisselle stood behind the counter at the back, marking a large blackboard with chalk. What she was writing was beyond me. I couldn’t read. The thing with the card is part of the nature of the magic.
She saw me making my way through the people, slowly, and raised her hand to wave.
“Graey, you look rough. Did you go after the goblins?”
“Yes. I didn’t see you though.”
“I was here. I caught the announcement. But I had to organise things here. If I’d known you would be caught up in it, I would have warned you not to. G’s are exempt from calls.”
“Wish I’d known that before. It would have saved me the trouble. But I have some drops to trade in.” I pulled out the ears and the crystal from my pouch.
“Let’s have a look. I take it you are wanting to check your card too?”
“Updating would be good. It’s been a long day.”
“Goblin ears, decent grade too,” she said, placing the ears on a silver scale behind the counter. “What is this?”
“Dunno.”
“It’s a crystal, I know that much. But it’s too big. Most of them are thumb sized.” She lifted the fist-sized stone up to the light. “Clear too. I don’t know how much I can offer for this. I’ve never seen on this big.”
“Is there anyone here that would know?”
“Hang on.” She ran off towards the back of the building, through a wooden door and emerged a moment later with an old man.
He was stooped and wrinkled; a grey robe covered his skinny form.
“What? What is this?” He said, his voice wavering.
“A crystal, sir,” Gisselle said.
“I can see that girl, I’m old not blind. How did a G get this? Did you steal it boy?” He accused me. His blue eyes, clear and sharp, focused intently on my face.
“No sir. I don’t steal. I found it in the goblin lair.”
“Humph. Come with me, pick up your loot, and follow Gisselle to my office.”
I collected my loot, squishy ears, and all, and walked around the counter, through the wooden part that Gisselle raised. Ilsa followed along behind.
The office was nice, brilliantly lit by glowing mage lights trapped behind glass, and covered in wood panelling. A large desk dominated the room, behind which a padded chair sat. The old man sat with agonising slowness, taking care of his joints by the look of it.
With Gisselle, Ilsa and I on the other side of the desk the room seemed small, confining even with the light.
“Let me see the crystal again.”
“Yes, Master Kerril,” Gisselle said, gesturing to me to put it in front of him.
In the bright mage light the blue gem glowed, refracting and scintillating shapes all over the walls.
Master Kerril drew a metal device out of his desk. It was made of bronze, and covered in markings, pieces of glass and knobs for adjusting. He examined the crystal carefully with the device, looking through the lens and twiddling the knobs. After a short while of silence he leaned back in his chair and looked at us.
“This is a Mana crystal, or a Lair heart. Tell me how you found it?”
I told him about the other entrance to the lair and the chest. The shaman goblins. I told him everything I could think of with Ilsa adding bits her and there.
“This shouldn’t have been there. And you shouldn’t have found it. This is most disturbing. Lair hearts are not common, not at this size at least. Most are small; as I’m sure Gisselle has told you. The guild will pay you seven gold coins for it, as well as your silence.”
I was feeling less and less well as the meeting went on, the confined space felt like it pressed on me. My breathing was getting harder and my mind was muddled, but seven gold was a lot of gold. More than a Grade B could earn in a month. For me it was more than I dreamed of being able to earn for a long time.
“Done. What about the rest of the loot?”
“Bring it out and I will look at it. Quickly though I don’t have all day.”
It seemed whatever good will I bought by selling the Lair heart didn’t extend to politeness. But then again, I'd never seen Master Kerril before.
“We don’t deal in wardings. Go ask the mages. The staff and the robe, again we don’t deal with. Monster parts are easy to handle; I will give you an additional five silvers for the goblin ears. If that is all you have, you can be on your way. Gisselle will pay you before you leave. But if you come across anything interesting, bring it to me first.”
I nodded. It seemed in my best interest to bring interesting things to him.
“If that is all, then I look forward to doing more business in with you in the future.”
That was a dismissal if ever I heard one. And I was glad to be dismissed the room was hot and growing increasingly stuffy with the bodies in.
I followed Gisselle out to the front and found a booth. We all sat.
“That was different,” Ilsa laughed. “I didn’t expect to get called through the back. Good job that I still think my weapon is worth more, or you would have to pay me.”
“If you are ready Graey, I will take your card and update it for you.”
“Sure, that’s part of why we came.”
I handed over my card to Gisselle who brought the book out from the booth again.
“You haven’t been updated before. This time doesn’t hurt. Just place your hand over the book and we will see what happens.”
The book, the same one from before as far as I could tell, had blank pages. There wasn’t even the angular script of the card in it. Whatever it did, it was more than a book. I placed my hand on the open page, feeling the thick vellum, warm, soft, and expectant on my skin. I don’t know where expectant came from but once my hand settled on the page it heated up. Not just warm but hot, and my blood quickened in my veins in response. The sickness vanished in an instant, drained out of me, and I could feel my muscles tightening. But there was no pain. Then it stopped and the page went back to being a page, although not quite as blank.
Gisselle lay my card on the page, and the words scrawled there ran into the metal of the card until the gem in the corner flashed.
“Here, you can read it while I do Ilsa, wasn’t it?”
I took the card back, and focused on the words.
Adventurer Graey Thorn: Grade G
Health: 34/12
MP: 90/90
Strength: E--
Agility: E+
Constitution: E+
Intelligence: G++
Wisdom: G+
Dexterity: F
Skills:
Tailoring: Novice
The making of clothes and armours using thread and needle. Various processes are involved in this group of skills.
Alchemy: Novice
The refining of medicinal/magical products through alchemical processes, from herbs and other ingredients. Many processes are involved in this group of skills
Combat skills:
Frozen Moment: Novice.
In the heat of the moment allows the owner to increase their perception and movement speed. Short bursts. Over use will damage the user. Situational activation.
Magic:
Magic manipulation precursor: Novice.
User has developed a sense of magic/mana. Manipulation is beyond the limits of this skill, but can be evolved with practice and dedication
This was beyond expectations. I had progress in all of my stats, huge progress in some, less in others, and I had skills. Not just Frozen moment which was amazing, and would be better if I could control it, but crafting skills. According to Jessie and Lily I shouldn’t have them yet. I also seemed to have the start of magic manipulation.
None of this was quite enough to grade up yet, but it was close. Just a little bit more progress in a couple of other stats and I would be eligible for E grade. Which was a huge jump.
A smiled threatened to split my face with its force as Gisselle finished up with Ilsa.
“Good news, I take it. Well done Graey, and you too Ilsa. A little more work and we will be able to grade you up. Here is your coin, Graey. Ilsa if you want to stay we can look at your loot. I’m sorry we didn’t cover it while dealing with everything else. I find it best to keep these matters separate. You wouldn’t believe the number of adventurers that get confused about who’s is what when it comes time to cash in.”
“No problem,” Ilsa said before turning to me. “How much did you improve?”
“A lot, way more than I should have. How about you?”
“Same. I have to cash in, but I will be about. You still look pretty wiped out, go get some rest.”
“Thanks. Later then,” I said and stood, grabbing the remaining loot and leaving.
Outside, I made my way through the market, surprisingly feeling better about the day. A few hours in a lair and the sunlight seemed remarkable, as if it was cleansing the taint from me. I still had to check in with Jessie, no matter how much I wanted to go home and rest. It wouldn’t do to have her worried about me. So I took a turn that led me to her shop.
She was in the back working on the wolf pelt. But she stopped as soon as she heard the bell. Her head poked round the corner to see who it was.
“You made it then. I can smell it on you. How did it go?”
“It was a bit rougher than I’ve faced before. Goblins are nasty and it was close near the end. But I’m unharmed, and I’ve made progress with my stats. I even have skills now.”
“Really? You shouldn’t have. Its too soon.”
“That’s what I thought. You and Lilly have both been telling me that it takes a lot of work to gain skills. But I have alchemy and tailoring.”
“Did you come across any skill books? I warned you they would stunt your growth.”
“No, there was nothing like that. I just got my card updated and there they are. I even have magic manipulation precursor.”
“Strange. We have only just started work on that. I need to think on this. Come back tomorrow or the day after. You look beat, take the time to rest and get used to the changes.”
“Just didn’t want you worrying about me.”
“That’s sweet, and says a lot about you. Thank you. Now go home. I will be fine without you for a couple of days.”
She all but pushed me out of the store.