CHAPTER 20: ADVENTURER

"... the thing: We don't know how he got past them! Walter found him collapsing a few steps beneath the exit."

"Hm. Well, at least he managed to get out on his own, which is half a miracle all by itself. I suppose the others will turn around soon enough, once miss Fernández notices his new location."

The two voices faded to silence for a moment before the second voice continued, sounding somewhat distant.

"Nothing to it, I suppose." A short pause, covered by an odd tapping noise as if a person was drumming on a wooden surface with their fingers. "Prepare him a bath and fetch him a new set of clothes, will you? I've got some paperwork to deal with, but bring him over once he is awake and presentable."

"Yes Ma'am!" The second voice answered with energy, also female but obviously younger than the person handing out orders. He tried to figure out who they were - the commanding voice sounded familiar, but that itch in his memory refused any scratches - or what they were talking about ... but his thoughts were heavy and before he managed to get a grasp on the situation his mind wandered off, back the land of dreams.

* * *

"... what are the odds?!" A young man's voice asked in hushed tones.

"Before now, I would have said nill." A female voice replied in a bright soprano voice, the owner apparently in a cheerful mood. "But well ..." He heard cloth rustling, but was unable to muster the energy to open his eyes. "... here's the evidence that it can happen. Now hush and help me with that water!"

Some grumbling followed and the sound of water splashing, before his consciousness fled once again.

* * *

Arcanis was hungry.

A thoroughly uncomfortable state to be in, true, but for some reason he felt he was missing something, as if he were trying to distract himself from something with that insistent observation. Trying to grasp that missing piece proved difficult, his thoughts attempting to evade his mental grasp. A sense of energy, a spellform ripped apart by his own thoughts, before collapsing, then exploding. Burning pain. A huge cat pouncing at him, his blood pumping as he barely managed to dodge in a whirl of wind and blade. The crunching sound of his teeth piercing into the rich flesh of a red fruit, some fruity liquid running down his cheeks but he did not are.

I am thirsty.

A spider rushed him, but instead of ending him, it only ... a mushroom hit him, exploding into itchy spores and some weird sticky liquid. He opened his eyes into the colorful storm of magic signals, his mind confusing them with colors. The feeling of mana, as it flowed through him and out of his hand, into the crystal fragment. Two large monsters rushing at him, ready to tear him ap-

A large amount of cold water to the face interrupted Arcanis' derailed train of thoughts and focused his mind. Right, I made it out. His distracted mind focused on that one piece of information. I made it out.

"Hm, that didn't work." A young, female voice commented dispassionately, as if neutrally observing an experiment, fine with either outcome. "Get another."

"Come on, why am I the one who gets to do all the fetching and carrying?" A male voice answered ... though one probably not much older than his female companion. Still, after a second of silence, he heard steps going away, probably with a bit more energy in each step than strictly needed.

Opening his eyes, Arcanis found himself in a room. With a window, exposing a clear, blue sky. He closed his eyes again and used his right hand to pinch the bridge of his nose, before opening them again. The window was still there, as was the blue sky.

"Ah, so that worked after all, did it?" A cheerful voice commented to his left and turning his head in that direction finally unveiled the owner of the voice: A teenage girl probably close to his body's age grinned at him, utterly unrepentant over having dumped a bucket of water over him. Dressed like an adventurer - sturdy leather clothes including a leather armor vest covering ... plentiful curves - the red-head kept a bit of a distance.

"Aye, that it did." Looking around, he was in a room somewhere, lying on a bed that had been covered in a large cloth cover before somebody had set him down on it. Probably a good idea, given my state of cleanliness. Or lack thereof. There was a table with two chairs, somebody had placed a set of clothes on it, a large wooden chest and - in the center of the room - a large tub of water.

"Guest room in the guild hall." Arcanis shot her a look that glanced of her armor and started to get up. "The question seemed implied.

"Now ..." the freckled girl's eyes demonstratively wandered down his length then up again "... much as I appreciate the view, you may want to clean up and get dressed. Or just the clean up, can't say I mind the barbarian vibes, but the smell is rather ripe." Grinning at him she bowed and waved at the tub as if a stage magician unveiling a trick. "I'll be waiting outside, just leave the room once you are ready."

Saying that, she turned and left Arcanis to his own devices, who finally stood up fully and inspected his state. His torso was bare, no piece of cloth or leather remaining above the beltline, but he had bulked up quite a bit since last he checked. Not quite on the level of his muscles having muscles, but definitely enough to make a credible warrior. The belt and the remains of his pants had survived, but the pants were ... tight. Also utterly filthy.

Getting up he walked over to the tub and started cleaning himself. He had some trouble walking straight, as if his body was out of practice, but he managed to not fall down somewhere unintended. On the other side of the tub he found a large piece of soap and got down to business.

Finally having reached a semblance of cleanliness again, Arcanis stepped out of the room he had woken up in, dressed in the spare set of clothes someone - the girl? - had laid out for him. They were a close enough fit to be comfortable, which ironically was somewhat irritating, now that he was used to ... rags, really. To think I would need to get used again to proper clothes. He chuckled to himself and looked around, finding himself in a small inner courtyard with an open roof bringing him that sweet sunlight. Also the city smells, which by now had lost some of their sweetness and were rapidly returning to smelly instead.

"Yo." The short greeting came from his left where the girl from before was leaning against the wall. At her side was a disgruntled looking youngster, not much older than Arcanis, a bucket of water at his feet. "Took yer sweet time, pal. Almost wondered whether we needed the second bucket after all." The boy at her side shot her a dirty look as the somewhat smaller girl smiled at the aspiring wizard. "Astrid, Guild Assistant. A pleasure."

"Arcanis, Adventurer to be. Likewise." He shot a suggestive glance at the other boy but before that worthy could respond, Astrid intervened.

"Oh, don't mind Sidekick #1, he's part of the landscape"

"Hey!"

"Ok, ok, Minion #2. Two as in after myself of course."

"Arrgh!"

She smirked at her coworker losing his composure, dancing around Arcanis to get out of immediate range before taking up a fake thinking pose. "Hmmm ... how about Water Bearer #1!" She then switched into a stage murmur, pretending to talk to herself but clearly meaning for all to hear. "Definitely better at it then I ever will."

Seeing it coming, Arcanis proved a faithless cover and stepped out of the way before the boy launched himself at his teasing companion and used his superior strength to put her into a headlock. "Yoouuu!" What followed involved some squealing, struggling, tickling and an exhausted surrender by the villainess, completely outmatched by the boy's physical prowess.

"So ... pant ... that's Peter, fellow Guild Assistant." She waved at the boy, who had finally let her go after dealing his retribution. "Who turned sixteen two weeks ago and can finally def-" cough "unfairly lord his superior stats over us innocent mortals." Astrid cheerfully poked him in his side with a finger. "He's also a good sport who manages to put up with my questionable sense of humor, so there's that to his credit."

Arcanis did not miss the fond smile Peter sent her way while she was unable to see it.

"Aaaanyway. Now that you are cleaned up and as ready as you likely will be: Boss wants to meet you, so come on, let's go." She headed out towards one of the doors, obviously expecting the adventurer to follow, but clapped Peter appreciatively on his shoulder in passing, who sighed but nodded.

It turned out they had been on the top floor of the building - compound, really - and Arcanis was unsure whether he would be able to trace back the path without a guide as they took several minutes through the labyrinthine complex until they finally reached the Guild Master office. Astrid knocked on the door, waited for the reply before pushing it open and leading the way in. "One awake and cleaned up adventurer, as ordered!" She stepped aside and waved Arcanis in with a flourish and a bow. "All yours." Then silently retreated, as she left him in the office with Guild Master Ramona.

The person in question chuckled as she rose from her chair behind her massive desk, picked up some documents that laid ready and came around it. "Quite a character, ain't she?" Using her hand with the paper, she waved him towards the less imposing table to his right, before continuing with a slightly louder voice. "Now if only she could break that habit of trying to listen in on privileged discussions!" He chuckled at the steps swiftly growing more distant, before following the guidance and settled down in one of the chairs.

Something tickled Arcanis' senses and he focused on his magic perception, to open his physical eyes in surprise: While the ambient mana was extremely low, that made it easier to spot quite a few things in the room containing magic energy - the door itself lightly, the magic light under the ceiling, pretending to be a lamp and several spots on Ramona herself. But most significantly her main desk and the chair behind it were strongly empowered, though he had no idea with what.

His distraction was interrupted by his host settling in the chair across from him. "Welcome back, Arcanis. We had been worried when you went missing, so we are all the more happy to see you back in one piece. Even more so that it appears you returned quite a bit more than when you vanished." A friendly smile conveyed truth of the sentiment expressed before she leant forward to reach for the tea set.

"Tea? It's not too old and my favorite blend." He nodded in assent and she poured both a cup from the kettle - a light fire-flavored magic energy picked up each time she poured and the mugs steamed from the heat. Placing his mug in front of him the guild leader leant back, took sip and sighed in appreciation.

Arcanis reached for his own cup but it shattered in his hand as if he tried to grab a stone only to realize it had been sand instead. Ramona merely raised an eyebrow before asking with a smirk on her face. "Did that cup do anything to mortally offend you?"

"Noooo" he looked at his hands - and the mess on the table - in mystification. Picking up one of the still hot shards between thumb and index finger, he pressed them together and the shard shattered into even smaller fragments. "What the hell." He shook his head in disbelief.

Ramona merely chuckled, stood up and opened a nearby cupboard, retrieving a cleaning cloth and a sturdy mug. Using the cloth she swiped up the mess, then put it aside and poured him another tea, this time in the mug provided. "Alright, try again."

He did as commanded, this time managing to sample the tea without incident, which turned out to be hot, delicious and relaxing. "Alright, let's get that out of the way first: We know you got thrown into the dungeon without your consent. What was your strength score when that happened and what is it now?"

Having an idea where this was going, Arcanis leant back and scratched his head as he dug through his memory. "Hm ... I think back then it was about fifty to sixty. Let me check the current stats ..." He mentally called up his current attributes, only to whistle in surprise.

Attributes

Strength: 116

Agility: 122

Dexterity: 131

Constitution: 150

Mana: 45

Power: 66

Luck: 43

"Turns out I'm now at a hundred and sixteen. Along with all my other physical stats having exploded." He said before continuing mumbling to himself "This is bound to be trouble."

"Glad you already see the problem." Ramona nodded in approval with a smile on her face. "You are currently 'suffering' from a consequence of rapid power growth. Congratulations on unlocking your first class by the way, mind telling me what it is?"

Arcanis nodded in confirmation. "Unlocked it as I made my way out of the dungeon. I got the Adventurer class even before joining the Guild."

A broad smile blossomed over her face as she heard the class. "That ... is awesome. Thank you for telling me about it. You probably do not know just how rare it is to unlock the class in any way other than joining the guild ... let us just say you are the first person I have personally met to do so." She shot him a stern glare "And while it would be best for you to keep that piece of information to yourself, I am a lot, lot older than I look."

Arcanis gulped down and nodded silently to signal his agreement of silence. "Good. Anyway, coming back to your problem, we call it the 'Growth Sickness' and it happens when you grow too much in too little time. Thanks to the system's diminishing return on skill training within a given day, that happens rarely through that - in fact I am confident that is the very reason why that limit is part of the system. We usually see that when unlocking a new tier. Most of the times it comes with a need to move, a need to use the new power. Also with a feeling of invincibility as the new limits of your power need to be established.

"To deal with this, you need to learn to control your strength when dealing with mundane objects or less trained people. Avoid touching people for now - a handshake could leave crushed hands - and prepare for some shattered pottery. Also get some training from stronger people to show you your limits. We'll have a quick bout after this discussion to give you a taste of what comes above you." She pinned him with a death glare "Far. Above you."

Ramona paused for a bit to let that sink in, before continuing. "You still staying at the 'Traveler's Rest' along with the rest of your party?"

"Yes"

"Good. Speak with Martha, she can help you with practicing to control your strength." She smirked in fond memory and shared experience. "Not that her tongue doesn't wag a different tale, but she is a good sort."

"Alright, we could probably talk for a long, long time, but I've got a lot more on my agenda today and you probably should get something to eat and some rest, so let's deal with the high points in order: Your way into the dungeon. Your way out of the dungeon. The Expedition. Guild Membership.

"What do you remember about ending up in the dungeon?"

Arcanis shrugged at the question, having dug at that part of his memory often enough to be confident in his answer. "Not much, really. We had trained the spear basics the day before, which apparently leads to a weird dream, that was rather ... intense." The guild leader smiled knowingly at that, but did not interrupt. "So when I woke up in the night, I stepped out for some fresh air and time to sort my thoughts." He stared into memory lane with thoughts of that night, his eyes losing focus. "The next thing I remember is waking up in the dungeon with a headache."

She nodded in confirmation. "What happened to you was the adventurer named Raul. Well, former adventurer, most likely, but we'll get to that. Anyway, that adventurer that previously broke your shoulder was smash drunk over the misfortune that's been hitting him recently, spotted you, knocked you out and dumped your body in the dungeon through a one-way hole connecting the first shelf with the third shelf. The dungeon guard of the time covered it all up for reasons unknown, we have both sitting in a cell, awaiting judgement.

Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

"One thing about Raul: He turned himself in after sobering up and realizing what he had done. He is a local, not the brightest among the kids, but always tried to do right by the Guild." Ramona looked sad at the turn of fate. "There will be judgement once the expedition returns and we have a full accounting of the consequences of his actions."

She leant back, took another sip of the tea and relaxed before switching mental gears. "When I took up my office here - or rather immediately before that - I took a gander down into the dungeon, see what it was all about. Cleared it right down to the fifth shelf and the dungeon boss. I know what the third shelf is all like and when I heard that's where he dumped you, I knew you were dead. Healing or no healing, there is no way a freshling like you should have any chance of surviving down there all alone.

"How?"

Arcanis concentrated on his own mug to buy himself a little time before answering something he had been wondering himself. "It was ... weird. While Luck was definitely involved, I do not know for sure, but ... there were signs of the dungeon moving monsters out of my way." That caused eyebrows to rise, but he continued on un-interrupted. "Met a fairy, that appeared somewhat torn between pranking me and helping me, which ultimately led me to a weird forest zone that was quite comfortable if not for the food concern - only some few fruits were edible. Some kind of barrier gave a safe zone to rest and prepare. Then there was a boss arena - in an amphitheater style building - with something I was barely able to handle. Behind that stairs led up until I managed to get out of the dungeon, where I got the class notification and collapsed, to wake up in bed."

"That ..." The guild leader shook her head and emptied her cup. "That was the most weird dungeon tale I've heard so far. And I've heard and seen some weird shit happening." She inspected him with a piercing stare, taking his measure again. "Still, I believe you. This was way too crazy for a made up story. On the other hand, you skipped over quite a bit there and we're not that strapped for time, so ... let's go more into the details."

"Very well ..." And with but a short break to gather his thoughts, Arcanis started telling the long version of his trials.

* * *

Acrimonious.

That was the best way to describe most of the conversations in their current delve. Maria glanced to the side where Thomas was silently catching up with his friend, something she had decided to stay out of - getting inbetween the reunion of old friends would have been impolite. Besides that huge wolf had obviously taken her in dislike, even if it was one of the most beautiful beasts she had ever seen.

Looking ahead, Markus' team was up and wrapping up the ambush they had walked into, the stealthy Stalker Cats always annoying to deal with. Their group was too large to all engage at the same time in the narrow dungeon tunnels, so they rotated the leading team after each encounter. To share the experience and loot fairly ... but also to spread out the injuries and wear on equipment.

"Took you long enough, yokel." Rodrigo and his team rotated forward to take up the lead position, but he once again proved utterly unable to restrain another barb. The larger warrior obviously tried to rein in a hot response as the muscle in the arm holding his axe bulged, but a teammate touching him on his shoulder allowed him to mentally step back from the precipice and focus back on taking apart the monster bodies - while the meat was quite useless, the claws, teeth and pelts had some value if one was successful in taking them.

Too bad Quentin is along, it would be so simple to drop the bodies and state the Dungeon got them. Would not even need to lie about that, ultimately. But it was not meant to be, the guild member utterly unfailingly upright and fair, even to impolite members. The irony of her thoughts, given the reason they were on this expedition, was not lost on Maria, but some people really tried to get you to murder them.

The tunnel ahead curved and the lead team vanished behind the bend, only for a loud crash followed by a scream to reach them. They charged forwards only for Maria's hopes to be dashed - while the annoyance himself had managed to step, and fall, into a pitfall trap, he proved fast enough to grab the edge of the floor and drag himself back out. On her side she spotted Markus with a wide smirk undisguised on his face, but the impolite party leader explicitly ignored the other adventurer as he lead his team forward once again.

"Well, that's it, everybody! Up ahead through that gate is the shelf boss and the stairway to the second shelf." Thomas had gathered everybody in front of a large door set in a stone arch more than four meters high. "Unless the dungeon reacted to our group's size, this should be a reasonably sized goblin horde under a warchief and a shaman, suitable for a single party. Anybody in particular who wants to take this on or do we do this together anyway?"

The warrior looked around, especially at the other two party leaders. Markus, the local axe wielder, did not look particularly eager, while Rodrigo grunted in disdain. "Hmpf, we'll take that. High time somebody showed you how to fight." Not waiting for a reply, he moved towards the door and pushed open both wings, his team following behind him.

One dagger through his weak back protection and into his heart is all it would take. Maria willed Rodrigo to distract Quentin, but the ranger proved impervious to her thoughts.

The lead team charged after their leader and entered the goblin equivalent of a throne room, only to swiftly be swarmed from each side. The difference in individual power showed and the adventurers stood their ground, but still got a fair portion of nicks and scratches in return for two dozen dead goblins. And most of those will be poisoned as well. Maria smiled in grim satisfaction at one of his teammates giving Rodrigo a disgruntled stare from where he could not see it. As usual, the warchief, his guard, his two pet wolves and the shaman turned up through doors on the side after their minions were vanquished.

Both sides charged and the melee took a lot longer, the elite guards not dispatched in a single swipe. They failed to break through the line and the Shaman managed to finish an ominous spell, covering the two beasts in a red aura, causing them to go berserk and ignore any injuries they gathered in response. One of the adventurers was dragged to the ground and Steven took a step forward to intervene, but before he made it into the room, Rodrigo charged over with the speed boost of a maneuver and beheaded both beasts in a major swipe. Rather than helping his teammate up he turned back to the other teams in the back with a smug grin on his face.

Which is how he missed the Shaman throwing a brown projectile at him and a large wad of wolf feces hit him in the back, splattered around his head and caused him to lose balance and crash to the ground.

With deep satisfaction, Maria mourned that his team's superior stats meant that even with all this, the outcome was never truly in question. Only the member dragged to the ground had been in real danger of horrible critical hits, the only way for the monster side to actually dispatch one of the adventurers. Probably should not hold their leader against them, but they did chose whom to follow after all.

Reining in some of the vitriol she felt towards Rodrigo and his crew, she watched them wrap up the fight without further issues.

After it was all over, they entered the room as the northern team collected what loot was to be found. Their leader himself silently wiped away the remnants of the projectile, turned to the new arrivals and grunted out. "Not. One. Comment." Before stalking away to a few chuckles.

* * *

"Alright, that covers it I think. I suppose there are still a lot of unexplained events that make me question what I thought I knew about dungeons, but definitely more coherent than your admittedly efficient summary." Ramona chuckled at the young adventurer before her. "Again, glad to see you made it out." She poured both of them another tea, story telling and listening both being thirsty activities.

"Alright, moving on. Expedition. Looking for you, the Erfurt estate has funded a rescue mission for you. Ludwig Acron, the majordomo and head butler was looking for you, hired a Seer to find you and realizing you were in the dungeon hired the guild to send an expedition."

Arcanis froze, feeling as if someone had dumped a bucket of ice cold water down his back. A Seer!? Depending on how that played out, this could be a worst case scenario.

"Obviously, Thomas and the rest of the team joined, as did others. Quentin also volunteered, it seems he took a shine to you. For whatever reason." She smirked at him before continuing. "It is curious that you managed to miss them, as they departed just this day, your paths should have crossed. Anyway, they will surely turn around once miss Fernández realizes you managed to escape on your own.

"You're on your own in the meantime, so try not to get into trouble. You probably need some downtime, do anything not survival related for a bit, so I recommend getting used to your newfound strength and ... relax. Maybe visit the library for a few days, a lot of good knowledge to be found there and often underestimated by adventurers. Or ... I don't know, learn meditation? Cooking? Whatever, something not combat related would do you good."

Taking mental notes, Arcanis nodded at the advice. Library sounded like a good place to start - he needed knowledge and had plans to make.

"Alright, final point before I evict you from my office and wipe the training floor with your sorry ass." She got upright and a lot more formal as she continued. "Young Adventurer Arcanis, you have been sponsored for membership in the Adventurer Guild of Heranis. Having confirmed that you meet minimum guild standards, are you willing to pick up the call? To stand between the people and the monsters that would eat them? To push the boundaries of the unknown? To help those in need, in return for money, fame and power?"

Arcanis froze for a moment, before relaxing back into his chair and - carefully - drinking from his mug. "A few questions, if I may." She gave consent with a friendly smile. "Who sponsored me and do any obligations follow from that sponsorship?"

The smile transformed into a satisfied grin as she answered. "You are probably the first teenager I have made this offer to, that did not just jump at it blindly. Good, you might actually make it in the field. Your sponsors are thus far: Thomas Endosi, recommending a man of bravery in the face of overwhelming odds. Maria, recommending a fun guy with too much poise for his age. Ricardo Shar, recommending that we recruit any friendly healers willing to sign up. Towlar Rish, recommending a man that stops him from being the y-youngest on the team. Shinji Kurasawa, without comment. Quentin Delgado, recommending that anybody willing to practice the literary arts within the guild tavern is liable to double the intellectual weight of our Guild branch.

She gave Arcanis a stern glare. "You owe no obligation to them, but your conduct will affect their reputation within the guild. Major misdemeanors on your side might even lead to fines or similar consequences for them."

He nodded in acceptance, before continuing with his next question. "Good. Next question: What benefits and obligations come with membership?"

"Oh, we could spend hours on the details here ..." Her good mood appeared undiminished by his questions. "... but from an obligations perspective, you cannot compete with the Adventurer Guild and you must meet our code of conduct. There is some guidance on that, but basically, since your actions reflect the Guild, make sure not to tarnish our reputation unnecessarily. I do not foresee you having any trouble with that, but our profession attracts a lot of rough folks that have more issues with it. Finally you become subject to adventurer law - more on that in a moment.

"On the benefits side, you can take contracts and use our services, many of which are exclusive to members. For example access to trainers or the training rooms you were already using. You also get the benefit of being subject to adventurer law." She grinned at the young adventurer's apparent confusion.

"The Guild is chartered under the crown and has limited jurisdiction on adventuring-related cases. In practice, this means for any legal case related to adventuring activity, you can demand it be held under the local Guild Leader in front of a jury of your peers. There are a lot of procedural details, but historically, before we had that protection in place, adventuring was extremely risky, because most local jurisdiction was deeply stacked in favor of locals compared to visiting adventurers.

"Think about the escort mission you came into town with. With the merchant dead, his relatives could have tried accusing your team of murder ... and in many local courts, the locals would win that." Arcanis frowned as he thought through the consequences. Probably necessary for a travelling profession like adventuring.

"At the same time, this of course also gives us a lot of power over Guild Members. Not a problem usually, so long as you take your contracts seriously and do your best to deliver honest work." She pushed the papers she had prepared over to him, avoiding the still-damp spot where he had crushed the first cup, and handed him a pen with a faint mana signature. "If that works for, this is the contract to join." The guild leader pointed at a few spots she had marked. "Just sign where marked once you are ready."

Arcanis picked up the papers and started reading. When it became obvious he was going to go through all of the pages first, she moved over to her desk and grabbed some more paperwork of her own to cover the time.

Signing the last paper - a legal waiver, releasing the guild from responsibility for injuries and death sustained in the line of work - Arcanis was about to rise when he was interrupted by a system message.

Congratulations! You have made the Adventurer class your own.

Curious. Fortunately, he had a potential source of answers right there. Completing the motion, he stood up and moved over to the office table Ramona sat behind, placing all but one paper on the desk.

"Done." She looked up at him, inquisitively, taking note of that last sheet and raised one eyebrow. Arcanis chuckled before answering the implied question. "I hope you don't mind me not signing up to buy a round for everybody in the common room."

A wide grin spread over her face before she stood up and laughed out loud, before taking the last, unsigned sheet from her latest member. "You would not believe how many just sign everything without so much as reading it." She pointed at the trap paper. "This has become a routine test by now and first lesson for new members, to the point where most of our local members consider somebody buying a round for everybody being automatic part of joining the guild." The grin transformed into a smirk. "Even without signing it, you may be socially obligated to do so anyway, to avoid any trouble with them."

His face fell as he considered his remaining money and the implication of that. As if reading his mind, Ramona continued straight away. "Don't you worry though, given how you passed the test, I'm going to cover that particular bill. Just give me a bit time after our meeting and I will inform the bartender that the first round you call will be on me instead."

She started to rise, but Arcanis interrupted her with a hand gesture. "I just received a weird message as I signed the contract. It said I 'have made the Adventurer class my own'.

What does that mean?"

The guild leader shrugged before replying. "Not surprised you got that message, given how you earned the class. There are different ways you can earn classes, but one of them is by joining an organization that has associated classes. Adventurer Guild and Adventurer, City Guard and Guardsman, Order of the Wayfarer and Knight. However, until you have made the class your own - which usually means spending enough time with it that the role it represents feels a part of you - you can still lose the class of you get kicked out of the organization that gave it to you.

"You can down-tier through that, which is really, really painful, if it was your sole highest tier class." She waved at him and then in the direction of the dungeon. "Given the way you earned the class before joining the guild, it was pretty much guaranteed to happen - I just forgot about it and did not warn you ahead of time.

"Alright, with that, we are done with the paperwork and debriefing." A wicked grin formed as she stood up and moved around the table. "Are you ready for a short, humbling bout in the training hall?"

* * *

Ludwig Acron looked up from his work as somebody knocked on his door. "Enter." A single word, not an improper shout, but it still carried to the person on the other side without fail. The door opened and one of the house servants handed him a letter before leaving without a comment, closing the door without a single noise.

Nodding in satisfaction at her performance, the majordomo of the Erfurt estate broke the simple seal on the letter, extracted the paper within, unfolded and read the short message. Satisfied, he put it on the pile of non-sensitive paper to dispose and leaned back to ponder the implications.

He would need time to recover, given the state he had returned in. While it would not do to make the master wait unduly, it would also be most improper to bring the young man before he had at least some time to recover. Besides, the master should not be forced to meet a wretch, when a few days of rest could remediate that quite handily.

And truly, he had not expected the expedition to return sooner anyway, so waiting would not be a loss, really.

Satisfied with the conclusion, he turned back to his never-ceasing work.

* * *

Arcanis was lying on the training rooms floor, sweat and light bruises covering him from head to toe. His breathing was labored, but all things considered, it could be worse. With all the growth, he had had problems with coordination and balance, with his combat maneuvers, his attacks and his evasions. Still ... it was clear he was fitter than he had ever been in this body and so by a wide margin.

As she had promised, Ramona had delivered a humbling experience, showing what must have been - at the very least - peak tier three. And I would not be surprised if that had been way beyond that. He had not gained any Skill upgrades from this ... demonstration. Calling it sparring would have been too generous, as utterly one-sided as the encounter had been. But it certainly had shown a new horizon of what might be possible in the future.

Fortunately, the training hall came with the tools to clean up, and he made his way out of the guild hall and through the streets of Erfurt, where he stuck to the main roads and did his best to avoid people. With that, he managed to make it back to the inn without any incidents and talk Martha out of a dinner on a sturdy plate with sturdy utensils, promising any answers to come the next day.

Tired in body and mind, he got back up and headed upstairs to their rooms, where the common room looked just as he remembered it. His memories painted in the people he was missing - his current team, yes, but also some of his old friends, fragments of the past pasted over an empty 'now'. The warm smile of Fara, priestess, lover of life and ... well, lover of his. The mischievous grin of their wizard, Suna, planning out whatever misdeed she had in mind next. Or how to drag him into it. Again. A nameless face, leaning against the far wall in his full armor, eyes closed, withdrawn but there if needed. The most loyal friend he had ever had, the ever reliable shield at his back, but now even the memory of him had been almost swallowed by the past. Prince Inoue, sitting at the table, a go board in front of him, waving at the seat on the other side. Damn did that kid ever murder the heck out of me on that board. I wonder what became of him.

Dizzy with the many fragments tearing at him, Arcanis leant against the wall right beside the room's door, letting the memories work out their energy. Finally, when it finally was all over he moved over to the room he and Shinji shared, which too turned out empty of anything but the ghosts of his past. All was as it should be and he moved towards his bed, to drop into a tired sleep.

All ... other than the envelope on his bed.

Tired but still game, wanting to be done with it all before he dropped into unconsciousness, ripped it open, breaking the seal without even looking at it, and read the letter.

Lad

Welcome back.

Training Time. Tomorrow evening after sundown.

"The Black Rose" Speak with barkeeper, tell him you have a meeting with mister Johnson. Follow his directions.

Master

"Really? Really?!" News, it appeared, spread fast. Still, it was convenient, he had so many questions and so much information he needed for his planning, and that old Dwarf held the answers.

Tomorrow.