As I stepped the afternoon sunlight hit my face, warming me up, and I started down maple lane, happy to just enjoy the experience. I was halfway down maple lane when I remembered I had to return the rentals, and I doubled back to the adventurers guild. I got there quickly and turned in the rentals to the receptionist. The wasps had left two small dents in the shield, so I had to pay a few dollars, but it was definitely worth it considering without it the holes would have been in me. Once the receptionist was done I thanked her and was on my way back home. I needed to get my own stuff sooner than later, but I didn’t feel comfortable spending the money on it yet. I would have to wait until I had a proper cushion to fall back on.

My feet were less sore than earlier, making the walk a much more pleasant experience. I got to my temporary home and shed my shoes and socks before sitting on the couch, setting my backpack beside me in a familiar motion. I hadn’t checked what types of shards I had gotten in the dungeon, so I gathered up the shards. I recognized three as an armor aspect, and besides that I had one green shard, one almost black shard, and the grayish one I had gotten from the wasp. Well, nothing to do but to start. I concentrated on the green shard and found myself myself in a grove, a large mossy beetle facing a person in armor that looked like it had grown onto them. The beetle shimmered for a moment, and thorny vines swung toward the person from all directions. The figure burst from the thorns, and their armor grew thorns of its own right before they collide with the beetle. Then I was back on the couch again.

“So that shard controls plants?” I said to myself uncertainly. I hadn’t seen anyone do anything like that so far, but admittedly I hadn’t seen very much combat, especially not with higher tier people. Setting that aside I moving on to the next one. The black shard brought me to what looked like an empty field until two figures stepped out of seemingly nowhere to attack each other, so it was obviously stealth attuned. The silvery gray shard showed me a person with a spear facing a wasp, each one posturing, trying to strike with their weapon until the spear wielder got an attack in, and I felt like that one was the spear aspect. It was a bit premature, but I found myself wondering which type of orb I should use next. I didn’t have very many options, but of the ones I had, the spear aspect was the most interesting. I could finish the changes to my shield with it, but maybe I was better off going for more armor, I had much more of it. No, neither of those would work, Jake said I should pair aspects with attunements for the best result, so I should go with one of the others, maybe stealth? I guess I’ll just shelve it for now, and hopefully I’ll have an attunement I like by then. I still have several minutes of avatar left that I should probably use before the end of the day. I don’t actually have anything to do with it do I? I didn’t really need to move anything, and I wasn’t going back to the dungeon today. I guess I could just practice summoning it faster, that had been a problem today.

Equipped with some form of a plan I stepped out into Jake's backyard. I started by just reaching out for my avatar with just my mind. I felt something and mentally reached out toward it. I felt something, but when I tried to pull it to me it slipped away. It was frustrating, like having a word at the tip of you tongue. I had it for a split second and then it vanished. I tried again, this time physically reaching behind me to grab an imagined shield on my back, and I felt the idea of the avatar get more solid. I grabbed onto it without issue, and my teardrop shield manifested in my hand. What was I missing? How did I make it work without acting it out? I let go of the avatar letting it dissipate before trying again. This time I mimed grabbing a shield in front of me, and It worked, though I noticed it wasn’t quite as easy as last time. Alright, well that’s a step in the right direction, but how do I make it motionless like Jake?

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I tried again to grab it without moving, my eyes closer to block out any distractions, but again it slipped away, not solid enough to hold. What could I change? I tried to grab it, visualizing the shield appearing, and it got a bit more solid, but it still got away from me. I tried a couple more times before giving up for now, I didn’t think I was getting it today. I decided to practice just moving around with my avatar for the rest of the time. I started with just running around the yard a few times, speeding up to a full sprint that I easily maintained. It felt great to push my body to its limits and not even feel winded. Remembering how my shield protected me from jumping down the root I decided to try diving. It took a bit of psyching myself up to get my body to follow along as I effectively just jumped onto the ground, but after a few false starts I did manage to dive on the ground, sliding on the grass without feeling any pain. When I stood up my pants weren't stained at all from the grass. Emboldened by this success I tried diving into a roll, and though I failed miserably and slammed my back into the ground I was fine, so it was still a win. My avatar ran out soon after that, and I ran around a bit without my avatar. My legs protesting quickly reminded me that without my avatar I didn’t have very much stamina, so after only a few minutes I went back inside winded.

I took a shower and changed into new clothes and laid across some beanbags in the chill room. Unsure what else to do just watched some episodes of Under Utopia. After a while I made myself toast for dinner and then wandered about the house aimlessly for a little before watching more videos. When I finally got ready to sleep I was left wondering just where the day had gone? I had gone to the dungeon, fought monsters, and practiced my avatar, and then I had just done nothing. I guess I had been pretty productive, but I felt useless as I drifted off to sleep, what was I doing?

—

When I woke up Thursday morning I felt a bit better. It was a new day and a new chance to be productive, but I quickly realized I had a new problem. I needed to go to the dungeon to get to the next tier quickly, but I didn’t want to go samara gathering again. Unfortunately without Paul I didn’t have anyone to delve with. I wasn’t awake enough to deal with this, so I walked to the kitchen and started making scrambled eggs. Only once they were done and on a plate did I start to think about what to do today, eating as I did.

I needed someone to delve with, but I didn’t know anyone who delved other than Jake and Paul, neither of which were options. I knew what Jake had said, but maybe I could delve alone, just for today. I did fine yesterday. If I didn’t go too far and went back before I ran out of avatar strength then I should be fine. Foolish plan decided on I got ready to delve the dungeon. I gathered up my backpack, the shards on the coffee table, and some socks. I decided to keep my shards in my backpack along with some more granola and protein bars, and then put on my shoes and socks. I made sure my phone was fully charged, and stepped out the door.

I stopped by the delvers guild to get my rentals, and I saw that ah… I had forgotten his name. I couldn’t quite remember, but the built guy was back again today. I would have walked past but he greeted me first.

“Good morning Ethan, here for a rental?” oh no, he remembered my name. If he hadn’t remembered I could have asked what his was, but now I had to just hope it didn’t come up.

“Yeah, uh…” I started to say something, and then realized I didn’t have anything to say. I racked my brain, but my useless brain didn’t think of anything in time.

“Alright, stay safe out there.” He blessedly released me from the interaction I was woefully unprepared for, and I darted to the armory. The hammer and shield I had used yesterday were there again, so I didn’t have to try anything new today. I checked them both out from the built receptionist, managing to evade asking for his name and admitting I had forgotten it before getting out of the building. Time to go to the dungeon to fight monsters.