It was Friday, the third day after awakening.

Streets of Ferston were covered in snow, as a blizzard passed by in the night. A lot of social workers were seen, clearing the snow off the road. The town brimmed with life and happiness. People were in a festive atmosphere as the first week of the year always was filled with parties, weddings and other ceremonies. The only people that didn't fit in the picture were, the youngest of adults, already of age, but not too much different from children.

Their moods seemed to be terrible, on their faces were seen emotions such as fear and stress. They were worried about the upcoming hours.

On the third day of the year, 'little ducklings', as that's how others called them, had their most stressful day of life. Today, they would experience their first battle, they would fight for the first time. At least most of them, some incompetent parents didn't manage to safeguard their children or said children were too fearless and ventured too deep into the forest. Unfortunately, in both cases, things ended tragically, with the luckiest child coming back without an arm.

People before the age of 15 just weren't supposed to fight, yes they could be strong and agile, but they had no chance against magical beasts. The first time a human can operate mana inside their bodies is during their 15 birthday and mana is just too important for fighters in this world, even those who can't display it outwards depend on its augmentation and reinforcements.

Every fighter, or fighter-to-be and even some high-end jobs require people to advance themselves, absorb mana and ascend beyond manaless body standards. While warriors's absorption techniques were very easy to acquire and could be bought for money, techniques used by mages were not, another thing making mages a reclusive, rare profession. Soon, Adam will also have to face the challenge of getting a technique, or maybe developing one himself, but that's a thing for the future, not a far one, but still.

Walking amidst the crowd, Adam left the central street and entered the central square where stood loads of 'little ducklings' already. Near them stood a wooden platform, which was before on a training field. Soon-to-be fighters waited impatiently for guards to take them to the forest.

Amongst the others, the most eye-catching was Max Steelarm, son of the head guard, and the only person the general public believed to become a mage among all little ducklings. He stood at the centre of a well-armoured group of youths, clearly comfortable in their attire. They had parts of steel armour on themselves and seemed to be accustomed to holding their weapons. But what caught the eye the most, was what Max was wearing. His leather armour, made from grey fur, was covered in sharp metal plates, tucked in specially designed pockets.

It seemed that Max inherited his father's affinity for metal, Adam figured that creating metal was way more mana-expensive than ice, so having a pre-created shard tucked away and ready for battle was a great strategy.

Other people were generally equipped with a shield and a weapon of their choosing, only the ones who aspired to become a fighter wore armour, mainly created with leather, but some people appeared wearing plates.

When Adam arrived at the square, he was greeted by whispers from the crowd. Apart from Max, he was the only one without any weapons.

Walking near a group of close-range fighters, Adam was greeted by Ethan's smiling face.

"So how was it? Learning magic I mean." Asked Ethan loudly.

"Inspiring and fascinating."

"But, did you succeed?" Said Ethan, worry seen on his face.

"Yes."

"WOOHOO!!" Shouted exited Ethan. Keeping his friend's abilities a secret wasn't his concern.

This short conversation ended abruptly when ten guards stepped on stage. All of them were in somewhat casual clothes, long coats with the town's emblem being the only thing betraying their identity. Most of them carried a short sword at their hips and a long, rectangular shield at their backs. The only exception was a man in the centre, carrying a warhammer with one end spiked and one flat, instead of the sword. Women amongst them were no exception to this trend.

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"Today, as you already know, we will begin your actual fighting experience. We will venture to the outskirts of the forest and fight beasts that we find. Please gather in groups of ten or so, and then we will begin."

Adam and Ethan grouped up with Ethan's training buddies, who were more than eager to see if Adam's claim about being a mage was true. As they got assigned to their guard, the guard captain, who wielded the hammer, started going towards the forest.

The guard they were assigned to, was a woman in her twenties, nearly twice their age, she was quite pretty but not that breathtaking.

Adam was curious about why all guards except the captain had the same weapons. It was weird, rarely do you find ten people with the same specialisation, especially in the same team. So, he asked their guide.

"No, it's not like that." She answered politely.

"You are right to say that everyone has their specialisation, but as long as we don't become powerful enough to lead our teams, cooperation is more important. Some teams have more diverse settings but most of it is like us, using a large shield to create powerful defensive formations. There always is another weapon apart from the shield, ours is a short sword."

"What about the team leader? Why does he have a different equipment?" Wondered Adam.

"It's just what he likes, when you are capable enough to lead a team, you can use whatever you like. "

With Adam's curiosity out of the way, the group neared the forest, not some outskirts filled with small animals and occasional deer, but more of an inner forest where magical beasts live.

The forest near Ferston wasn't always filled with danger, before the dungeon appeared, areas around the town were relatively safe and calm. Only afterwards did the number of monsters in the surroundings rise.

Although prosperity somewhat comes in pair with dungeons, the first years of the dungeon's existence bring forth tragic disasters. The same was true with Ferston. In the first few months of the dungeon's existence, more than a quarter of the town's population had died. Including Adam's blood relatives. Only after a few years, things calmed down.

"When travelling through the forest, always stay vigilant and have an eye on me. Follow me and repeat what I do. It's a matter of your life or death." Warned them the guardswoman.

As they wandered through the forest, nearby beasts were assessed by the guard. Then they argued about who would kill each of them. It was their first true fight, so each team had to have at least two members.

The first ones to go were a trio, two women and a man, Adam somewhat knew them as they were only triplets in town, and guard captain's children. The girls, both had a sword and a round shield, while the boy had a bow.

Their prey was a huge snail, its enormous shell reached almost a metre in height. The distinctive feature of its species was horns on their heads, while the horn was in the way when the snail covered in its home, it was a massive advantage in fight.

The guardswoman held a little, it had great explosive speed. The snail could explode the mucus underneath them, accelerating them and giving them temporary explosive power.

Triplets attack strategy was simple, girls would approach it from the sides, while the boy startled it and led it in the wrong direction by shooting arrows at it.

As the fighters approached the snail, swordswomen exchanged glances and separated from one another. They moved circularly, making enough space between them and the monster. They stepped carefully, trying not to make any sound aside from the crunch of the snow below.

A sudden arrow, shot from far away, startled the snail.

It began to head in the direction of the noise while girls sneakily followed it on the sides.

Another arrow landed a bit farther than the last, alerting the snail.

The monster shrank into its shell, spread fluids behind itself and turned in the direction of the noise.

Snail shot forward at breakneck speed, brushwood bent and cracked in its wake, making distinctive snapping and cracking sounds.

Girls run after it, regardless of the noise generated. Having arrived next to it they hit it from both sides, breaking the shell a bit.

Snail, surprised, turned left towards one of the girls and swung its horn.

The girl got hit in the leg, barely managing to get out without a major wound, while an arrow penetrated the snail through one of the cracks in its shell. Next came the sword, it sank into the snail's flesh from behind, through the crack.

Agonizing shrieks spread to the surrounding area, and the snail's head flew, as the girl's sword made a silver arc in the air.

"woohoo(!!)" Triplets let out a silent cry of victory and made a silly dance in celebration. Their first foe was slain.

immediately after celebrating the victory, they came to the guardswoman for information, about what to do with the body.

"If anyone has some container, you could gather its fluids. It's good for a kindling." She said absentmindedly while looking at the blood dripping down the girl's leg.