Inconceivable
“You mean Hashilli?” asked Janus.
“Yes. I spoke with him yesterday. He was meant to join our team,” Devon replied.
“Was?” asked Hashilli.
“This is the guy then, Devon?” Pella said, eyeing Hashilli. “Good find. But, this is kind of awkward.”
Janus shuffled about on his feet, trying to distract himself.
“We would have asked you first, Janus, but…” Pella sighed. “Well, I thought you were dead.”
What am I going to do, get mad about something I didn’t even know was happening? I found a new team, too…
“So, what do you say Janus. I guess you have priority here. No offense, Hashilli,” Pella said, looking to the other [Enhancer].
Hashilli grunted in reply, a frown was forming on his face.
“Don’t worry about it. I, uh, I sort of have a team now, too,” said Janus. He glanced at both Rowan and Tara.
“So I take it you don’t mind if Hashilli joins us then?” Devon asked.
“I guess not.” said Janus, uncertain.
“Wait, are these old teammates of yours? That is awkward,” said Rowan.
“Uh, sort of?” said Pella, taking out a silver eagle and rolling it over her knuckles. Janus wondered if it was a sign of anxiety, or if she was simply levelling a new skill. He scoffed inwardly. He wasn’t sure if he’d ever seen Pella anxious, of course she was just maximizing her efficiency.
Rowan swiftly rifled through his pocket in response, a grin spreading across his face as he triumphantly retrieved his own silver eagle. With practiced ease, he rolled it over his knuckles, the coin catching the light in a subtle shimmer. In mere moments, he deftly maneuvered five coins at once. Janus couldn't help but find the petty attempt to outdo Pella amusing.
Pella continued speaking while Janus was lost in thought. “We went to the same… school, I guess. What about you guys? [Trickster] and [Paladin], huh? Not exactly your run-of-the-mill.”
“Right back at you, er, [Phenom]? What is that even supposed to mean?” asked Rowan.
“You know, like the root word for phenomenal.” Pella raised an eyebrow, and glanced down at Rowan’s hand. “Can you even do a coin trick without relying on illusions?”
Tara pushed a sputtering Rowan out of her way. “Hey! I’m Tara. Nice to meet you, uh…”
“Pella.”
“Pella! I love your name.” Tara grinned.
“Likewise, Tara. We should all get together sometime. Devon can pay for the drinks.” Pella elbowed the scarred swordsman.
“Yes. Well, we must get going. We have a small job clearing out [Dust Elementals] in the Stacks,” said Devon.
“Oh, right. Well, don’t let me keep you.” Janus waved at the others.
He watched as they left the guild. Pella gave a small wave before stepping outside.
“Ah, let’s get somethin’ to drink!” Rowan exclaimed.
Tara folded her arms across her chest. “It’s noon, you dimwit.”
“I meant, like, juice! Or, or Tea! Coffee?”
The two continued to bicker as they moved. Janus followed behind. They chose a table to sit at and he joined them.
“You should buy a hat,” said Rowan, pointing at Janus’ head.
“Why?”
Rowan grinned. “Do I really need to explain myself?”
“He just misses Hashilli,” said Tara.
“Bah, Hashilli and that grumpy looking guy with the scar look like they’ll get along just fine. But nobody thinks of me. Nobody thinks of little ol’ Rowan.”
“I think you’d be surprised, they might not get along at all,” said Janus.
“Somethin’ I don’t know about Hashilli? Always thought the man was the picture of good behavior,” cooed Rowan.
“Not really, I guess.” Janus thought about Hashilli confronting him the night before. “But that brings me to another point. I have to tell you guys about something.”
Tara gasped. “You have a dark and mysterious past?”
“Uh, what? No… sort of. I don’t know. The point is that I wasn’t being entirely truthful when you guys met me. I’ve never been on a delving team.”
“Wait what? What about the dungeon?” asked Tara.
“This sounds ridiculous, I know. I cleared the dungeon on my own.”
Rowan spit out his “tea,” and slammed his mug on the table. “You what?”
“Let me start with that skill I told you about, the one that can copy other spells.”
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He wasn’t sure if keeping his skills secret from his would be team would benefit him. Besides, if they really were going to be a team, it would benefit all of them to keep his skills secret. It wasn’t like they were going to run around the station spreading rumors.
Janus glanced at Rowan. At least he hoped they wouldn’t run around the station spreading rumors.
As he recounted his time in the tunnels and in the dungeon, Tara began looking more and more excited, while Rowan grew more and more disbelieving.
“You blew it up? You blew up a [Crystal Golem], at what, level 29?” asked Rowan.
“Actually, I think I was level 26.”
“That doesn’t make it more believable!”
“Hold on! I want to see it,” said Tara. “The explosion.”
“Sure, I guess. Is there a place to spar, or something?” asked Janus.
“Yeah, below the guild. You may have seen it yesterday.”
Janus wasn't entirely sure what Tara was referring to, but the space beneath the guild was indeed expansive. It made sense; the guild wouldn't want delvers sparring in the middle of the station.
Exiting the commons, the group descended into the tunnel network. Janus was surprised to find a series of neatly arranged sparring platforms, reminiscent of those in Crow Station. They were situated off to the side, away from the orderly arrangement of tunnel entrances.
Tara beckoned him towards the platforms and plopped down on the ground, crossing her legs.
No benches here? Well, at least the Crow Station guild had at least one advantage over Bear Station’s.
Janus carefully gauged the size of the mana pearl, wary of creating one too large that could endanger others nearby. With precision, he formed the pearl and plucked it from the air, turning to display it to the rest of the group.
“You’re sure causing an explosion down here won’t attract attention?” asked Janus.
“It’ll be fine! People might gawk, but it sounds similar to a fireball spell.” Tara explained.
Janus wasn’t entirely certain whether he should believe the [Paladin] or not. He wondered if Tara just wanted to see an explosion.
Rowan began backpedaling. “Didn’t you say those things were volatile? Toss it! I don’t wanna get, ya’ know, exploded!”
As Rowan finished speaking, Janus tossed the marble onto the center of the sparring platform nearby. He had gotten used to the kickback from the explosion, but it was still difficult to keep his balance as the marble detonated.
As the flaring mana dissipated, Janus realized that other delvers nearby had ceased their sparring to gaze at him. He coughed awkwardly and turned back to his companions.
At this rate, I won’t need to worry about Tara and Rowan spreading rumors….
“See? That isn’t even the biggest explosion I can make,” Janus explained.
“Oh my stars. I think I’m in love,” said Tara.
Moments later, she noted the strange look that Janus was giving her.
“With the explosion! The explosion!” she exclaimed.
That makes a lot more sense….
Rowan simply stood there, agape. The short redhead was speechless for the first time since Janus had met him.
“Well, that one hundred percent settles it! You are absolutely on the team,” said Tara.
“Wait, there was a chance that I wasn’t on the team?”
“Well,” Tara shifted on her feet. “We had to make sure you could actually handle yourself. I mean, no offense! It’s just, we have to rely on each other to get out of some of these places alive.”
Rowan finally broke himself from his stupor. “Are you serious? Of course, he’s in! Think of the writs we could tackle with this guy! Stars, he’s a walking treasure house!”
Janus wasn’t used to the praise. Back in Crow Station, he had always felt overshadowed by Pella and Devon. Even towards the latter part of their training, he still struggled to beat them in sparring matches.
Well, I haven’t sparred with them since the attack. Now… now it might be a different story.
“Get your mind off the money, Rowan. Think of the high level dungeons we could hit. I want to kill a level 100 boss!” said Tara.
That was enough to bring Janus back to the conversation.
“What? Level 100? I, uh, I’m not sure about that,” said Janus.
“What he said, lass. I can’t spend money if I’m dead,” Rowan stated.
“Bah, if you guys are too scared, we’ll just level up a bit first.” To Janus’ surprise, Tara actually scowled as she spoke. It was one of the few times he’d seen her without a smile plastered on her face.
There’s no way she was being serious about killing a level 100 boss, right? We’re, like, level 30 on average.
Tara’s mood seemed to recover quickly. “Anyway! Today is my day off. I wanted to show you around the station, Janus! Rowan will come, too.”
“I will?” asked Rowan.
-
Janus tried to explain to Tara that he had been in the station before, many times, for classes. She insisted he did not get the real Bear Station experience. Surprisingly, Janus found her assertion to be correct.
There were a series of shops further into the station that Janus had never even seen before. Tara even introduced him to a few of her friends along the way. She seemed to know every other person they passed. Meanwhile, Rowan trudged behind them, appearing thoroughly bored.
Before long, Janus found his arms loaded down with bags of clothes and other essentials. He hadn't even had the chance to pick out items himself—Tara simply grabbed whatever she thought he might need and added it to the growing pile. She insisted that if he couldn't afford everything, she would cover the difference.
Even Rowan started to get into the tour, sharing his favorite places to go. He pulled the others along to a shop that sold enchanted items. Unfortunately, most of them were simple and not particularly useful for delving. Instead, the shop sold them as curiosities. It was no surprise that Rowan's favorite items were the ones that could project small illusions. He even bought Janus a cube that projected an image of a [Crystal Golem].
“I thought it’d be fitting!” Rowan explained.
Janus simply nodded along. He’d tried to refuse the gift, but Rowan had insisted.
Finally, the group started heading back towards the guild. Tara made sure to route through “The Stacks” on their return trip. Janus remembered Devon mentioning the region earlier that day, but had no idea what he was referring to.
The Stacks were a section of Bear Station, featuring towering structures that nearly touched the cavern's ceiling. Janus had glimpsed the buildings from various vantage points within the city but had never discerned their purpose. Up close, it became evident that each structure housed a massive mushroom farm.
According to Tara and Rowan, Bear Station handled a lot of the food production for all the stations. Basically, any type of edible fungus could be found in the Stacks.
Being in Bear Station still felt overwhelming to Janus. Crowds and noise tended to unsettle him, and he had been out and about much longer than he would usually stomach. However, it was much more manageable when he was with Rowan and Tara. Their presence distracted him from the surrounding chaos, and he could rely on them to handle most unexpected social interactions.
It was strange to think that he almost felt less comfortable in a crowd than he did in the tunnels.
He wasn’t certain how long they had been gone, but it must have been most of the day. By the time they finally returned to the guild, the lighting runes outside were dimming. The group found themselves where they had started the day, seated at a table in the commons.
“So, what do you think of Bear Station?” asked Tara.
“Uh, there’s a lot more here than I thought. I guess that makes sense, though. I always went straight from the rail line to my college.” Janus shrugged.
“Wait! I just remembered. You weren’t an official member of the guild, right? Don’t we need to get you signed up?” asked Rowan.
“Oh, right. I took care of that yesterday.” Janus fished around in his pockets, presenting his new delver ID. “See?”
“Awesome! We’ll have to show you the ropes tomorrow. I forgot that you’re basically brand new to the guild,” said Tara.
The group exchanged their final pleasantries and split up for the night. Neither Tara nor Rowan lived in the guild like Hashilli, so Janus saw them off at the guild entrance.
He struggled to lug all of is newly acquired clothing and belongings up the stairs to Hashilli’s apartment. He was panting and sweating by the time he finally reached door 314.