Sandra held a paper in her shaking hands, walking along with Smolder to the left and Garble to the right with her. "Can it be this easy?"

"No," snapped Smolder with a smirk. "It only looks easy because we're prepared. We have the money."

Garble snorted softly. "Just so I have that right, your awesome new class is cooking things?"

"It's way cooler than just cooking things, but, yeah, I cook things." She tossed up her dagger to catch it casually. "Right in the middle of the fight if I want to. You know how Spike was throwing out those green healing spells?"

"Yeah?"

"Great, take out the wobbly staff stuff and instead get a tasty snack that does the same thing." She snapped two fingers sharply. "Tell me that isn't more satisfying."

"But yer still gonna stab stuff, right?" He glared at Smolder across Sandra. "I ain't gonna have my sis get all wimpy on me."

"Bro, chill. I'll be stabbing stuff all over." She twirled her dagger in place, dancing between her fingers. "It has to be dead before you get to proper cooking. On the other hand, I do know at least one skill to help start on that before they stop moving."

Garble opened his mouth a moment before a laugh escaped instead of words. "Alright, cooking some jerk alive, yeah, yer fine."

While the siblings joked, increasingly paying no attention to Sandra, she stared down at the paper. The inflamer class. A class dedicated to all the fire skills known to adventurers. She’d be able to cast all the highest level fire spells, but only fire spells. She had been using fire a lot, because she could abuse big area spells without her party members being risked, but…

She’d be able to do any fire thing, but only fire things. It was like the most basic of any advanced class, and once they ran into a monster that couldn’t be hurt by fire, she could do basically nothing.

And a part of her burned with shame that she had to do this to just get them in the tower. Everyone else was chosen, trained, learned something. She would literally do what she was doing now, except with less element options, and she would just buy it.

But what choice did she have? The dragons were eager to get to the tower, and so many of these classes were dependent on knowing someone, finding something, or having very specific skills and basic classes mastered. She had to keep up, and if they are going to have to pay for it… that’s just how it is.

Movement caught the corner of her eye. Excited voices and gesticulating people were gathered in a square. That was hardly a strange thing, but there were several glowing creatures dancing in front of humans that seemed focused on them.

"Master the arts of the elements," intoned what seemed to be their leader. "Not through gross manipulation of the aether itself, but with an accord with those that live in it. The summoner class gives you all the power of a spellcaster, without reaching for what man was not meant to touch."

She paused, considering with a tapping of her chin. Was that what was wrong? Had she been going in the wrong direction?

"Hey, keep up," came Garble's annoyed shout from ahead.

"What's up?" Smolder actually turned, then followed Sandra's eyes to the display. "Huh… What is it?"

Sandra took a step towards it, hesitating in place. Her new friends were ready to buy her a class, any they could afford. Was she chickening out, again? No! No… this way she could be far more useful. "Excuse me! What elements can you work with?"

The teacher cocked his head, seeming to hear her. "Fire, water, air, earth. With practice, even creation and entropy itself can be confronted and befriended, made to work at your behest." He brought his hands together in a smart slap as he turned towards her. "Are you curious?"

Smolder slipped between Sandra and the instructor. "How much are you trying to get?"

"I am more interested in spreading my teachings than earning coins." He snapped his fingers and two creatures stepped from nothing, one a beaver with crackling electricity for fur, the other more of a duck made of stone. "If you find success and wish to give back, word of your victory would suffice."

Smolder looked dubious, and opened her mouth, only to have Sandra cut her off, “Is this the same as when you find a summon and use a ritual?”

“It isn’t!” The teacher beamed, expecting this kind of question. “A summon like that is fed by the magic of the item you find on the field, and supported by the magic of the enemies it defeats.” He pet the beaver, the electricity crackling around his hands. “But this technique involves brokering a deal with a spirit and creating the summon from your own magic.”

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Sandra licked her lips. “So… what can the summons do?”

The teacher’s smile turned craftier. “Ah, well what do all adventurers want to do? It can attack, of course, and defend. As you gain in power with it, it could do all sorts of things, the sky really is the limit.”

It sounded fantastic. Sandra nodded her head eagerly. “Where do I sign up?!”

He raised a finger. “There are but two requirements. First, we must test your magic to determine if it is capable of wielding such a power. Second, you must be able to broker the actual deal with said spirit.”

Smolder slipped between Sandra and the would-be teacher. "You're setting off all the wrong kinds of bells. Tell me why someone would not want this class? And so help me if you start with demi-human..."

Garble lifted his shoulders. "Sounds lame to me. Why would I want someone else to be awesome instead of me?"

"You are their link to the world, and their leader. Their fame is yours, as are their winnings." His eyes rested on Smolder as if sizing her up. "There are several reasons, your friend mentioned just one. It is an indirect class, so if you prefer personal involvement, it can be lacking."

"Uh huh, keep going... " Smolder rolled her hands over one another, prompting him.

Sandra grabbed her by the shoulder, giving a little shake. "This sounds perfect," she harshly whispered.

"Too perfect," grunted the dragoness. "Keep going."

"As I was just saying, before you can call upon any of the wondrous creatures that will aid you, you must approach them and broker an accord with them. This requires force of will and personality both, or the spirit will reject you, possibly painfully." He lifted his shoulders in a soft shrug. "On the positive side of things, if you lack this, it is quickly determined."

Smolder raised an eyebrow. “And?”

“And what?” The teacher pursed his lips. “You’re asking me to talk down the class that I am trying to convince you to pursue? It is a class like any other, it has strong points, like command of a powerful magical beast, and weak points, like using your own magic can limit the magic available for the summon.” He shrugged theatrically. “And I suppose as long as you are being a summoner you aren’t being any other amazing thing. Do you want to try or not?”

She folded her arms. “It still--”

This time Sandra interrupted, pushing her way ahead of Smolder. “Sign me up!”

Smolder grunted as she was pushed, but Garble was swifter than her in action, grabbing Sandra by the shoulder and wrenching her back. "Look, I don't care which thing you do, but you are asking us to waste more time. So look me right here." He thrust two fingers at her eyes and turned them back to his own. "Are you completely serious? No more excuses. Right?"

“I--” Sandra was stunned. “Yes? I said I was?”

He glared at her and she shirked back further. “That doesn’t sound very serious at all.”

“Y-y-y” Sandra steeled herself. “Yes. Yes this sounds perfect.”

Garble stood up, no longer glaring. “Alright then.”

Smolder lifted her shoulders. "Show her what she needs then, but we're staying. That's what friends do."

"Yeah, friends." Garble rolled his eyes, but didn't further complain. "Speaking of 'friends', where is Spike?"

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"I can hear you better." Spike was rising faster and faster. "Can you hear me?"

"Yes, it's quite--behind you!"

"Behi--" Pain bolted through his shoulder and he roared in pain, a shield flaring into being around him reflexively. "I'm under attack." He ducked under the next golden needle of energy that darted towards him. "It's… the tower?"

Several nodes in the tower seemed to be turning towards him in smooth rotations, the beams coming faster and faster and from more directions. "I don't think they like me here!"

"Spike, get away from there! We can talk, that's the important part. Don't get hurt for this. We'll find a way." He couldn't see her, but he could hear her waving frantically.

He swept in low and towards the tower as the beams painted a wild arc where he had been. "Can… you… talk whenever… you want?" he asked between huffs for breath. Several beams collided with his shield, causing it to flare brightly, but his power remained strong.

"You're sounding out of breath. Spike, please, get away from there. I--we, we'll talk l--r. O--ay?" Her voice became increasingly distorted as he ducked and bobbed away from the defenses, starting to make his way back down towards the base of the tower.

He twisted around in time to thrust his staff forward, a glimmering shield appearing before it just in time to deflect one of the beams away, but it seemed like the last one. He was far enough away for the tower to lose interest in him, it seemed. "Maybe having more defensive power isn't so bad… Twilight, not sure if you're still listening, but we'll keep working. We'll get home, promise."

His oath spoken, to Twilight or not, he let himself half-fall into the city. "Now where did the others go off to…" They had been going to the guild, right?

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As impossible as it would have been for Spike to spot them, the same count not be said in the other direction. There were far fewer flying things than there were ground-bound ones.

"What element do you feel some kinship towards? It is often easier if we begin there." The instructor was working with Sandra. "If you don't have one, that isn't--"

"--No! No. I mean, I've been using fire the most, for sure." She bobbed her head in two little motions. "Does that mean I'll summon something fiery?"

"To start. You've seen what I call. With experience and power, you will forge ties with more than one, and can even make them do more than the obvious element they wield."

Garble elbowed Smolder suddenly. "Hey, look." He pointed up to where Spike plummeted from the tower. "What was he doing?"

Smolder snapped her wings open. "No idea, but there's one way to find out." She zipped off the ground, aiming to intercept Spike.

"For now, your real challenge is to make that first pact. The first is always the trickiest, but if you have what it takes, you will manage it." He turned in place but didn't point. His summons did that for him. "You must go that way, past the beginner fields, into Misty Forest. You will find where an old forest fire raged so horrifically the forest has not recovered, and there you will do two things."

He held up his fist, raising one finger with each thing. "One, you will make your first accord. Two, you will help mend the forest by drawing some of that fiery energy away."

"Alright, so… how do I make this fire spirit show up, then do I just talk to it?" She looked uncertain but excited.