As it turns out, tippy taps are something canines. Even mystical lunar canines do instinctually. Alyx was so excited to be free of the elves and the problems that came with them. That even as he ran through the forest, he could not stop himself from doing the occasional tippy tap.

For Those poor unfortunate souls who are unaware of what a tippy tap is, when a puppy dog dances from forepaw to forepaw because they are just so excited. They are often accompanied by generous tail wagging and a big goofy grin.

Alyx ran eastward throughout the night, yet as the sun broke through the premorning darkness, there was no end to the forest in sight. 'In hindsight, I should have asked how far away Lyria is.' He mused as the evening of running finally began catching up with him in the form of sore paws and muscles. At first, stretching in a classic downward dog pose, Alyx laughed at his pun, and an idea occurred to him, and he shifted back to his Changeling form.

As he had guessed as his body transformed, muscles changing, regrowing, and dissolving, the aches and pains he had acquired from an evening of stable running were virtually gone. He also wondered why none of that had been handled by regeneration. Maybe the damage had to reach a certain threshold before his body repaired itself?

He briefly considered making a camp, but Alyx didn't want to risk a run-in with any more elves or whatever other monsters the forest of mist might provide. So his soreness gone, Alyx shifted back into his lunar wolf form.

Shaking out his fur Alyx concluded it was time to experiment a little more with body modification. During the evening, he had tried to go for an all-out running speed. But found that he had a hard time doing so without running into trees and various forms of underbrush in the darkness.

Confident, however, that he could eke out more from his lunar wolf body, he began trying various body modification combinations. He finally settled on increasing reaction time by thirty percent and his coordination by twenty percent, which had him successfully dodging around trees and over underbrush with only a little practice.

It was quite a bit of fun, having an effectively tireless body. One that could run at over thirty miles an hour without tiring, all while dodging through a forest like a fluffy ninja. So much so that as the trees finally began to thin out and the travel forward became easier, Alyx was almost disappointed.

"Well, if I had to guess, this is probably going to be considered border territory, probably best if my next first encounter doesn't start with me as the big bad wolf.' As Alyx transitioned from four legs to two, he made a couple of other changes to fit in better as a human. After all, what's the point of choosing to be able to look like anyone if you aren't going to captain America yourself at least a little bit?

Alyx kept his underlying features and his height at its new five-foot-eight base, but he sculpted his body as if it had been a marble statue straight out of Greece. It made his clothes a little tighter than he would have liked, but otherwise, it worked. Quite frankly, Alyx had tried for abs before, and the path to a perfect six-pack is suffering. Given the opportunity to cheat, he took it.

"Heh, Ok, so this part of the superpower probably isn't precisely combat-oriented, but damn, that's a hell of a confidence booster." Chuckling to himself, Alyx continued onward. With the lance swung over one shoulder and the dagger in his other hand, in his mind, he looked like an odd sight. Mostly because he couldn't imagine anyone would dedicate themselves to a lance and dagger fighting style.

Another thirty minutes of running, and the trees eventually all but fell away. The trees were replaced with great plains interspersed with gently rolling hills. A warm summer breeze blew over the golden grasslands, reminding Alyx of California's farmland that lay on the other side of death valley. And in the distance, he could swear he saw a lone farmhouse.

"Civilisation! Maybe! Woo!" Alyx grinned and raised his [Lance of the Moon] to the sky in victory! " It's can't possibly be worse than the elves. I mean, what could go wrong." Having appropriately tempted fate to fuck him as is right and proper. And confident in the fact that having done it on purpose, he had purged himself of any bad luck, Alyx began jogging toward the farmhouse.

It didn't take too long for him to reach the farmhouse, or rather the fields surrounding it, the farm itself was massive, with fields in all directions surrounding a small cluster of buildings. What Alyx had taken for a farmhouse had simply been the largest of the barns and the only building he could see from such a distance.

As he approached the furthest fields, he came across a farmer with a team of Oxen plowing the fields. A man probably in his mid-forties by Alyx's reconning, he looked like an average human with black hair starting to grey and tanned skin from working in the outdoors. Taking a deep breath and putting on his best customer service voice, Alyx gave the man a broad smile and set the [Lance of the Moon] into the ground to wave at him.

This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

"Hello, Goodman! My name is Alyx! How are you today?"

While momentarily caught off guard to be addressed by a stranger, the man pulled on the yoke of his oxen to bring them to a stop. Stepping off of his plow, he nodded to Alyx with a somewhat wary look.

"I'm doin alright, young man. The names Jim. What brings an adventurer all the way out to the edge of Donnyville?"

Alyx gave the man his best-winning smile, finally having an interaction he could at least pretend was normal. And hey! It looks like that translation spell was, in fact universal, thank goodness for that.

" Oh, the same thing that gets everybody up in the morning! Work! Nice to meet you, Jim. I've never heard of Donnyville. I'm afraid I've gotten myself a bit lost. I'm looking for the kingdom of Lyria. I was under the impression that as long as I kept going east, I'd find it."

The farmer gave a small laugh at the joke about work and nodded to Alyx as he walked closer, putting his hands on his hips with a shake of his head.

"Lost? Well, I'd say your a damn lucky fellow for making it here, yea must of come straight through them elf woods if yur commin from the west. Congratulations on making it through cause yea are, in fact, in Lyria."

Alyx let out an exaggerated sigh of relief, doing his best to look like a harrowed and put upon adventurer. " Well, that's a relief! Is there an adventurers guild in Donnyville? As you might be able to guess, I'm a bit hard put for money at the moment."

"Aye lad that there is, we could use a few more Adventurers around town if I'm honest. Them damn monsters are bold out here at the edge of the kingdom, and all the talented folk moves inward to bigger cities and towns."

"Well, Jim, it seems we are both in luck. If you can point me in the direction of the adventures guild, I'll be getting to work as early as tomorrow."

"Hah! An adventurer with a work ethic? Don't get me hopes up, Alyx." With a friendly smile, Jim pointed to the north side of his farm." There is the road. You can follow that straight into town."

"Thanks, Jim, you're a lifesaver!" Grabbing his [Lance of the Moon], Alyx gave the man a wave and began jogging toward the road, keeping to a more human pace, as he cursed his ill-gotten luck. Why the hell couldn't he have just landed in this town?

"Aren't there supposed to be beginner villages and crap? he was so friendly, didn't shoot me or anything." Having said that, Alyx, in a brief moment of paranoia, looked over his shoulder. But all he found was that Jim the farmer had gone back to plowing his fields.

As Alyx came across the town itself, he slowed himself to a walk. The buildings were made of wood and stone, with most of the rooves tiled with clay. It wasn't a huge town by any means, but it was a heck of a lot bigger than he had been expecting. Probably somewhere between one thousand to two thousand residents. It took him a good twenty minutes to walk to the center of town.

Which is where he found it, in all of its resplendent glory, the adventurers guild. Looking like a run-down saloon right out of the wild west, a nearly all wooden building, swinging double doors that looked like they had been busted open a few too many times. Three windows, two to the left of the door and one on the right, all cracked and looking like the only thing holding them together was a prayer and hope.

The place looked weird compared to the rest of the town, which had an almost Spanish or greek architectural feel to it. If anything, it looked cheap. Which was somewhat disappointing to Alyx, but he could live with disappointment if he could pick up the locations of some dangerous monsters from here. Stepping carefully through the swinging doors, trying to keep his lance tip pointed down and unsheathed dagger held in such a way that he didn't look overly threatening, Alyx made his way inside.

The interior was a little better, at least than the outside. While made with shoddy construction in mind, and a few tables and chairs were looking worse for wear, the interior was clean at least. The front doors opened into a small lobby, in front of a reception area with a single clerk. A young woman, probably not more than fourteen, sat behind the counter looking expectingly at Alyx.

To the right was a closed office door with the label of BGM carved onto it. To the left was a dining area filled with tables, chairs, nearly two dozen adventurers eating, drinking, or looking at a quest board covering most of the far wall.

Walking up to the clerk, Alyx gave her a nod and a smile.

"Hello Ma'am, my name is Alyx, I've just made it into town, and I'd like to join the adventurers guild."

Giving Alyx a bright smile, the clerk pulled out a single form and handed it to Alyx while pulling out a ledger for herself. "Hello Alyx, I'm Coileta, the branch guild master for Donnyville. If you have any questions or need anything, you can normally find me in my office." Coileta said and motioned to the door Alyx had seen on the right, the one labeled BGM.

Alyx blinked at her for a moment and then, after taking a better look at Coileta, realized that what he had mistaken for a young woman was more likely this world's version of a halfling or maybe a gnome? Up close, it was easier to spot the fact that she had slightly pointed ears, maybe a half-elf? Alyx didn't know, and at this point, asking might be rude. "Ah, Right, thank you, Coileta. So what do I need to do to join?"

Coileta gave him a knowing smile and politely pretended she didn't notice his surprise at her being in charge.

" The signup fee is ten copper. I'm going to need you to write down the name of your class, race, and what role you feel you would best manage in a group setting. You are, of course, allowed to quest solo. However, since your a first-timer, I'm going to recommend taking on a few requests with a group. "

Alyx grimaced and held up his [Lance of the Moon] "well, I don't exactly have any coins on me, but if you could tell me where I can sell this? I'm a shapeshifter, so having a melee weapon isn't required for me to do my thing."

Coileta shook her head and gave Alyx a small smile. " How about we take your fee out of your first quest reward? That is an excellent weapon. Even a passing identify can tell me that much. Now then, race, class, tier, etc. Get that form filled out."

"Thank you, Coileta, that is a huge help. Let's see",

race: Human

Class: Essence shapeshifter. Level twenty.

Tier: five.

"How's that?" Alyx asked, fervently hoping that identify wouldn't see right through his blatant lies.

"That should be just fine, Alyx. Welcome to the Adventurers Guild."