As we approached, I could see the entirety of the city. Dawnriver was a city built alongside a river, which name I haven’t learned yet. Instead of being shaped like a circle or square, the city was more of rectangular shape, following the water with houses and ports until farms and fields continued beyond the city walls.

Made with thick stone ramparts, the defensive barricades were full of watch towers and embrasure with groups of guards patrolling. Having three main gates on each non-waterside, most of them were trifling with activity. Carriages were going in and out, and even if most people were on foot, there were a few people riding horses and other monsters I had never seen before. The variety of mounts was astonishing, from regular horses to lizard, bird and rhino-looking monsters. I could even spot something like a griffin pulling a golden carriage. The way I saw it, the bigger or rarer mounts were reserved for the rich, while other more harmless or less frightening appeared more common.

With the river on the western side of the city, we descended on the eastern side, toward one of the less busy gates. Approaching the road around a hundred-meter away from the gate, we were greeted by scared yells and a few people running away. Some of the more courageous or suicidal unsheathed their sword and bow, but seeing that they were people on the two enormous dragons and the wyvern, they calmed down. Not that they could have harmed us anyway.

Still, on our beast, we made our way toward the gate. Lendwrek and Mendry walked on their two back legs, appearing as tall as possible, while making sure that nobody would try anything stupid. Reaching the gates, they were tall enough to allow our dragons to pass if they lower their head a little. The guard was shitting his pants, but Caryly seem to know him, as just seeing her allowed us to pass without question.

Dismounting, we continued on foot. Taking most of the street, my dragons followed us. I could see that their mere presence was disturbing others, but I pay it no mind. It was the first time I ever walked in a city. There was an odd silence to what I thought would be a place. With only whispers to be heard, we continued toward the centre of the city.

Even on the road, Lendwrek and Mendry were able to walk without making any sound, only Randal footsteps were loud enough to alert our surroundings that there was a big monster nearby. The dragon’s stealth capability was yet again surprising me.

As we made small talk, we finally reach the centre of the city. With a big plaza full of merchants and food stalls, all the surrounding buildings were commercial. Having learn basic writing from Lavanda, I could see that they were tailors, armour and weapon shop, blacksmith, and a lot of other kinds of sellers.

Orcs, humans, half-elves, dwarfs, and other races could be seen everywhere. There were also the rarer, wolf, fox, cat and other more animal-like people walking around. Some of them only had ears and tails, while others were two-leg walking versions of the animal resembling them.

They were two buildings that were standing out from the others. Reading the insignia, there was the mayor's house and the adventurer guild. Each being on opposite sides of the plaza, the two constructions were more than double the size of other buildings, making them look like huts beside them.

With a beautiful fountain in the middle of the plaza, I was already liking this place. If it wasn’t for all the stares, I would already be exploring like there was no tomorrow.

Stopping in front of the adventurer guild, Caryly told us we would need to register ourselves as adventurers if we wanted to avoid any problem walking around with our familiar.

Leaving the three big outside, we made our way inside, with Hybry in my arm and Tara just beside me. Walking toward the counter, most seem to not be aware of the commotion happening outside. A few stared at me with my two odd familiars, but most seem to be more occupied by their companions.

With adventurer-looking people left and right, it was impossible to mistake this place for anywhere else. Beer was filling tables while groups were discussing between themselves. Some adventurer wore their armour, while others let their heavier protection on their side to be able to move more freely.

Reaching the counter, we were greeted by a professional-looking wolf woman. She was fully covered with black fur and had a wolf-shaped face. She was a little taller than Caryly who was the tallest of us three. Compared to those who had only wolf ears, a tail and some fur, she wasn’t a half-breed.

“Miss Caryly! Happy to see you back in town.” The wolf woman said.

“Hey Sophia, I’m back, and I brought friends with me. Can you take care of them?”

Looking at us, she introduced herself. “My pleasure to meet you, my name is Sophia, I am a guild attendant.” She said with a smile and a warm tone.

“Name Lavanda.” She said.

“I’m Emery, happy to meet you.”

“Oh! I hear quite a lot about you, Miss Lavanda! Caryly sure seems to hold you in high esteem. If you need anything, let me know.” turning toward me, she continued. “ You look lovely, Emery! If you need anything, let me know.” Her tail was wagging left and right, I’m sure I’m gotta get along with her.

“Now that the presentations are over,” Caryly said. “Can you register them as adventurers?”

“Great, but first, I need you to answer a few questions.”

“No problem.” We both answered.

Taking out a series of papers, she started writing a few things down before asking the first question.

“First, how old are you?”

“16-year-old,”

“457-year-old,”

“Ok, next, what are your races?”

“Human-Vampire,” Lavanda without hesitation.

Looking at Caryly, I wasn’t sure what I should say. She told me to mostly keep quiet about being a pure elf since they were rare, and some people had dark intent toward them. She gave me an ok sign.

“Pure elf,” I whispered.

“Oh, I see,” She murmured before continuing. “ Unfortunately, I can’t write false information on your card, but be assured that your secret is safe with me.” Caryly really must trust her.

Going back to her normal tone, she asked us a few more generic questions, until the interesting one.

“Any familiar? You are obligated to register them to avoid problems with the authority. I heard that you have a wyvern, Miss Lavanda. Is that true?”

“Yes, he’s my only familiar, his name is Randal.” She said, pulling up her chest, showing that she is quite proud of her loyal knight. Hearing that, Sophia grew very interested in the wyvern and asked to learn more. She seemed genuinely interested, rather than doing it for her job.

“And you Emery? Is that spider and the hydra yours?”

“Yes, the spider's name is Tara, and this little boy's name is Hybry.” I said, avoiding stating that he was a Calamity monster.

“So cute!!!” She looked absolutely mesmerized by Hybry and couldn’t look anywhere else.

“Want to hold him?” I asked. She looked like a good person and as long as I’m nearby, Hybry wouldn’t mind.

“Can I?!”

Slowly offering Hybry, she carefully took him in her arm and began hugging him like a little puppy. She seemed to have lost track of time, as multiple minutes pass before she gave him back. Looking around, other adventures were holding back laughs as Sophia was red from embarrassment.

She was about to continue on to the next question when I stopped her.

“Before we continued, I also have three other familiars.”

“Oh, my mistake! What are they?

Putting Hybry on the counter, I tapped the green, thick tentacle at my waist.

“Come on, show yourself.” At my word, the grass tentacle started moving to stand up and extended themselves to Sophia.

“I don’t really know exactly what this is, but his name’s tentacles.”

“Hmm, interesting, I've never seen something like that before. At least for now, I register it as a grass spirit elemental, but” Stopping on her sentence, she took a moment to gather the word. “May I learn what are your affinities?”

“Fire, water, light, darkness, plague and plant.”

At my word, she looked me in the eye, trying to see if I was joking. I was not.

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“These are some extremely rare affinities that you got, I know it my job to say it, but be careful.”

“I know. Also, I have two other familiars, two dragons, the male is Lendwrek and the female is Mendry.”

Now the guild was silent. She looked as if she was trying to understand the situation.

“Are these your dragons?” She said, pointing behind me, toward the windows. Behind them, I could see my familiars looking inside the building at us. When the adventurers' eye meets the dragons, they froze solid.

“Yes,”

“... I see.” Slapping her face, she quickly got back to her previous behaviour and continue with the questioning as if nothing happen.

When she finished, she took us to the back of the guild where there was a huge open space arena. There, we instructed our familiars to join us. Within the arena, they had the space to move without a problem.

“Now I will need to evaluate your ability. An adventurer's ranking is determined not only by their achievement but also by their physical, mental, magical prowess and other capability. We can’t test everything here, but this should be enough to have an idea of what you two are capable of.” Sophia explained.

Talking to one of the staff members, she gave them some instructions about what she wanted. When she was done, they put their hand on the ground and I could feel some unfamiliar magic circulating under my feet.

As the ground tremored, hard sandy walls began emerging and forming different structures such as climbing towers, jumping gaps, and golem dummies. With a staff member bringing some medical supplies, she looked like a field medic with her medical bag.

“Doriana is here to make sure that no dramatic incident happens during the test. Trust me, we had our share of nobles who overestimated their capability and ended up blaming us for their mistake. Not that we don’t trust you, but these are the rules.”

“So what’s the first test?!” I asked, feeling a bit excited. I never got the chance to test what I was truly capable of, except in life-threatening situations. So I always wondered how strong I was compared to others, and when she told me that adventurers were classified by a ranking system going from E to SS rank, I was excited to learn my rank.

“Let's start with something simple! Choose a weapon and strike the golem as hard as you can. You are restricted to only using the weapon we are giving you, so make your choice.” She explained, pointing at a rack of weapons nearby.

“Why can’t I use my own sword?” I asked.

“Some people use weapons that are of better quality than their skill to pass the test and get a better ranking. To avoid such cases, we insist that want-to-be adventurers use the guild equipment for the sake of the tests.” I could see some bitterness in her eyes, but it was not directed toward me. If it was easy to get a good ranking with good equipment, noble families would get an overwhelming advantage while undermining the true goal of the test, seeing what you are capable of. Not what YOUR weapon or status is capable of.

Taking a short iron sword, I position myself in front of the dummy and use the stance Lavanda taught me. Grasping the handle with one hand, I hold up the blade toward my target and slash at it with as little telegraphed movement as possible. My goal was not to slice my enemy in half but to give him as much injury as possible with light slashes and stabs.

Taking the hits, the golem stood still as the blade cut multiple wounds into him. It was strange how the consistency of the sand it was made of was similar to living flesh. I had cut monsters in the past, and the feeling this hardened sand was giving me was oddly similar to fleshy meat. I guessed it due to its magic property. Since earth magic was not an affinity of mine, Lavanda never taught me a lot about it.

After taking some notes, Sophia instructed the staff member controlling the golem to make him avoid my attacks. Being slow, he wasn’t able to avoid being hit, but as more and more attacks landed, he was getting faster. At some point, I had trouble making any new cut, as he avoided the edge of my blade by a centimetre each time. After another minute and a few lucky hits, I wasn’t able to land anything. At some point, they also started retaliating, but I didn’t have any difficulty avoiding them, even when they drastically sped up.

“Can I switch weapons?” I asked. There was no way I could continue with a sword, but it wasn’t my most proficient weapon.

“No problem, but the speed won’t decrease.” The golem stopped, giving me time to take a new weapon.

“Great.” With her approval, I put back the sword where I took it, and grab the offered bow and quiver. Taking aim at the golem, he started some evasive movements without any pattern to them, making it difficult to predict where he was moving.

Knocking an arrow, I concentrated my aim and followed my elven instinct. With that help, I could sense precisely where I was aiming, as if I had a crosshair moving with my bow. To hit the golem, I needed to predict where he was going to move next, but thanks to Caryly's training, I already got a minimum of experience. When my skill got decent, she took me on some hunts when we were travelling.

Having to avoid their attack, it took me a moment before I was able to take a few shots. The first arrow landed, but with the increase in speed, I wasn’t able to land more than a second and third hit. At first, I thought that my last arrow was a miss, but I knew it did in fact hit since whenever I hit something, I would get a confirmation with my elven instinct, the sound it made in my head was extremely satisfying.

With the test finished, I was covered in sand. Truly, I must praise this ingenious method of training, but I don’t think I would see sand the same way after a couple of sessions. It coerces, rough, irritating and most of all it gets everywhere!

After, it was Lavanda's turn. She obviously picked a sword and as soon as she started slashing the golem, it was covered with blade marks everywhere. Even when it started moving at high speed, she kept hitting it. At some point, the golem's speed seem to have reached its limits, and no matter what he did, he couldn’t escape Lavanda's sword, she had too much experience. Just like me, she also didn’t get hit at all.

The second test was a climbing test, which I didn’t have too much difficulty with. After that was multiple endurance tests like running at high speed for as long as I could, catching a few wild monsters set free in the arena, etc. I didn’t really understand the meaning of all these tests, but Sophia kept insisting on their importance.

“An adventurer need to be as versatile as possible, who knows what you might encounter out there.” She said. “ We need as much information as possible to properly judge what you are capable of, otherwise we may give you something out of your reach and end up having to bury you. Trust me, we don’t want that.”

When I first entered the guild, I thought the test would be quickly finished, but it was still going after an hour.

“Now, it’s time to judge your familiars abilities! Since most adventurers don’t have any familiar, it is quite rare to be able to witness them in action, so I expect great things from yours! Unfortunately, I don’t think I need to evaluate your dragons, but I need to see the others in action. As a wyvern, Randal is also excluded from the test, I’m afraid.”

“So, who’s going first?” I said, looking at Tara and Hybry.

Lacking action for a while now, Hybry seem to want to go first, and as much as Tara wanted some action too, she couldn’t resist Hybry's plead.

For his test, she prepared multiple golems for him to hunt and told him to destroy as many golems as he could.

Seeing his first prey in a while, he jumped on the closest one and tore him to shred with his teeth. When finished with one, he immediately looked for his next target and tore it apart soon after. I notice that there were different types of golems, some were what I would consider glass canon, being fast, but fragile while others were hard to kill, but also very slow.

When they started being too hard for him to destroy, Hybry used his plague blast on them. Since they were made to have a structure resembling flesh, it had a great effect on their hardened sand, melting them away. I didn’t see the sand literally melting, but rather the summoner destroying the golem themselves when they judge the attack effective enough.

The bigger golem wasn’t affected by Hybry's attack at all, but I was already proud of him for having shredded them without a scratch on his scale.

“Hybry comes back, it's enough!” I yelled at him.

He didn’t look happy to let the golem unscathed, but I made sure to comfort him as much as I could. “You did a great job. I’m sure that when you grow very big, they won’t stand a chance.” My words seem to have done the work, as he jumped in my arms, cuddling them and resting his heads against my meagre chest. He sure seems to like them recently.

“Tara, it’s your turn. Show them what you are capable of.” At my word, she got straight into action as the golem have already been replaced.

Shooting her web at them, she pulled them around and swing them into one another. When they crash into one another, they exploded into sand dust. For the golems that weren’t damaged as much or were simply too big to swing around, she spit acid on their face and it did the job.

In the end, she was able to kill way bigger golem than Hybry, but still couldn’t manage to kill them all. Knowing her limit, she came back on her own when she thought she saw that her attacks were useless.

“Now it leaves that Tentacle of yours, but what test would be fitting?” Sophia seemed lost since Tenta was something she had never seen before.

“No problem on that part, the usual test is perfect!” She looked at me curiously but still ordered the staff to ready new golems.

Hearing me talking about it, Tentacle extended itself from my waist until reaching multiple meters in length. Spurting torn along its length, it signalled me to move closer to the golem, and I did as it asked.

As soon as the golem was in range, he got absolutely shredded to piece in an instant. Having made a sharp edge to the end of its tentacle, it got to work as I move from golem to golem. Any dummy that tries to take hold of it was met with holes in them instead.

The bigger golem wasn’t as much affected by his sharp tentacle, so he started to strangle them in his vine and saw them open with his torn. It lacked the sound, but if I replace the sand with red blood, it would be a chainsaw massacre.

Still attached to me, I followed his lead into any enemy it wanted to decimate. In the middle of the city, let alone in a sandy man-made arena, there was little vegetation for him to connect itself and used to move, so it needed me to be able to move around and give it energy. Not that I mind, I feel like it took a liking to the bodyguard job.

When the last golem was left into a sandy pulp, Sophia called an end to the test.

“There is no golem left, this is enough data. I must ask again that you be very careful with these familiars, they are capable of great harm.” She said, looking worriedly at what was left of the golems. The other staff members who were watching our test looked afraid, but truly as long as I was safe, Tentacle wouldn’t harm them one bit, I think.

“I know, Caryly already told me all about how I am responsible for them. You don’t have to worry.”

“Trust me, you haven’t seen everything her familiars are capable of. As long as nobody harms Emery, I can almost guarantee that the city is safe.” Caryly, you aren’t reassuring her!

“True enough,” Lavanda added. “I don’t think it would be wise to anger two dragons who eat an absurd quantity of meat every day. Thinking about meat, I wonder what species taste the best?” Why does she look genuinely curious?

“Mmmm, I say the cat folk are the tastiest, they have so much muscle packed into their little frame. The meat concentration must be off the chart!” No Tara, do not listen to what Caryly is saying, it better not be drool that I see escaping your lips!

“If it’s muscle quantity we are talking about, then orks or lizard man are the best! Their sheer size makes them win in that case!” No Mendry, Lavanda is wrong here! We are not going to eat any innocent people! Maybe if there are bandits to behead, but not anybody! This entire city is not just a snack for you to snack on!

Sophia let out a small sigh. “Then I have nothing else to say. I have both of your cards ready before you leave.” Ignoring their morally questionable argument, she called out to another staff member, gave him some paper, and he ran off into the guild.

Staying with me, in the end, we were stuck listening to their conversation about the meat quality of each species, but I couldn’t stop thinking that the true meaning of their banter was escaping my innocent mind.