We walked inside the adventurers guild and I looked around to see if I could spot the rest of the team, although I didn’t expect them. I hadn't asked but I was sure they headed to a bathhouse after they finished eating as well. I looked over at Aaron and he gave a slight shrug so I led us towards one of the empty tables near the noticeboards. We waited at the table for about an hour before the rest of the group showed up and joined us in their damp clothing.
“Hey guys, are you ready to head to the market? We grabbed some food on the way here,” Gabrielle asked.
“We ate grilled fish from one of the stalls, too. Let’s go.” Aaron replied.
“Barkskin,” I cast my ability on all five of us as we got up, getting eye rolls from everyone. “Hey, you're all just jealous I’m taking the lead in training!” I smirked as we left the building.
“Eli, I think I speak for all of us when I say that the stronger Barkskin gets the more I like you.” Aaron joked back.
“My rooms open if you need to train while I’m sleeping!” Zack said in his usual overly loud voice in the middle of the street, earning our group looks from everyone walking by. I felt heat rush to my cheeks from the attention to the amusement of my team.
“Ok, ok. Do we know where we’re going?” I asked to change the subject, although I decided if we were going to be sleeping in the rooms of the adventurers guild tonight I would wait until Zack fell asleep and see if casting Barkskin on him would wake him up.
“I asked one of the receptionists at the guild, he said to head to the portside market. There should be a leatherworking section there.” Gary answered. I spent the rest of the walk looking around the city and I noticed in the distance there seemed to be an inner wall that separated the rich from the less affluent. My father told me most cities are separated like that so that monster hordes have to make it through miles of peasants before they reach the more heavily guarded nobility. It’s extremely rare for any monsters to reach that far and they're most likely handled by the higher rank adventurers who guard the inner walls, regardless. I felt a spike of anger mixed with jealousy at the thought, but that’s just the way the world worked. As long as I became strong enough I would be able to get my parents into the inner wall of Brightswell.
“You ok?” Gabrielle fell back to join me behind the rest of the group after she noticed my worried expression.
“Yeah,” I sighed, “I’m just worried about how my parents will be during the next horde, I guess. We already lost my uncles family and if I can’t afford a place in the inner wall for them before the next horde I feel like it would make all of this pointless.” I explained.
“I’m sorry about your family,” she put her arm around my shoulder for a moment and I smiled in reply. “I don’t know if we’ll be able to make enough in a year, but who knows how quickly we’ll improve. It’s only been a little over a week and just think about how much stronger we are already? Every skill we improve, every level we earn, and even every piece of gear we upgrade we’ll be able to handle that much more difficult of monsters and dungeons.” she said. I nodded and realized she was right. I thought back to the F-rank noticeboard that we looked at before heading to the Bloodfields. The price for even an F-rank monster core was 50 silver and that's something that we could earn in some of the deeper dungeons of the Bloodfields once we could handle them.
We entered the market and I followed Gary through the packed throng of people heading in every direction while we tried to catch a glimpse of some of the wares on display. We passed row after row of stalls selling different types of clothing in all types of styles before entering another area with the rich, earthy smell of leather products. We walked past a few more stalls before Gary stopped by a large stall that had a few other people browsing the wares already. One of the apprentices working the shop quickly walked up to see what we were looking for.
“We’re looking for five sets of your cheapest leather armor,” Gary replied, getting an instant nod in return. Obviously, he could tell what we were looking for by how we looked, I thought with a glance down at my ripped clothes and bulging pack.
“Leather jerkins, greaves, and bracers go for two silver fifty copper. We don’t sell any low-quality pauldrons, gloves, thigh armor, or gorgets so those would all cost substantially more. Would you like me to go over the prices for anything else?” the apprentice answered quickly. Well, it’s actually cheaper than I was expecting. I debated whether or not to invest in the armor while the rest of my group paid for the jerkins, greaves, and bracers. The apprentice looked at me after dealing with the rest of my team and I shrugged before handing over the two and a half silver, hopefully, I would still be able to afford a short spear and a very cheap shield.
“Do you know where I could find a cheap spear?” I asked the apprentice after he handed over the thick leather pieces. I didn’t want to put anything on so I just attached it to the sides of my pack for now. He gave me directions and I walked outside to where everyone else was waiting for me to join them.
“I got directions to a stall where they sell cheap spears, I’d like to go check their prices before I head back,” I said.
Gary looked interested, “I’ll come with you,” he offered. I recalled his spear snapping in half at the end of the dungeon. The rest of the group waved goodbye and left to head back to the guild to look into how much it would cost to stay there for the next two nights. All of us were still sore and bruised from our trip in the dungeon. Another short walk later we arrived at an area with stalls of all sorts of metal weapons and armor. Both of us stopped to stare at an impressive stall with rows of gleaming swords and daggers of all types.
“I almost want to ask how much those weapons cost, but I’m sure it would just be depressing,” Gary said longingly from my side. We left with a sigh and quickly arrived at a stall selling all sorts of spears, javelins, halberds, and other weapons that I couldn’t name. Gary took the lead and asked one of the apprentices the prices for their cheapest long spears.
“Two silver for our cheapest ashwood spears,” he replied, Gary, looked disappointed and shook his head.
“What about one-handed spears?” I asked, hoping for a slightly better price. I only had two silver 69 copper remaining after paying for the leather armor and I still needed to buy rations and lodgings for two days.
“We have some one-meter ashwood spears for a silver twenty copper,” he answered. I still had 7 days of rations from our last trip out of the city so I should only need to spend about 80 copper for this next trip if we want 15 days' worth of food again. That would leave me with 69 copper for room and board at the adventurers guild, which would be more than enough. I pulled out my money pouch and left the stall with a steel-tipped short spear held proudly in one hand.
“Looks nice, unfortunately, I’ll have to stick with one of the goblin spears for now though,” Gary said after I handed it to him so he could look it over and attach it to my pack. With nowhere else to look and no money to spend, even on a cheap shield, we headed back towards the guild.
I entered the guild next to Gary and didn’t see Zack, Gabrielle, or Aaron waiting so we got in line behind the receptionist's desk. A few minutes later we reached the front and I asked how much room and board would cost for two days.
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“Five copper a day or one silver a month for F-rank adventurers. Make sure you use the F-rank compound and training grounds only or you’ll be kicked out for the day.”
I handed over 10 copper and got a small wood plaque that read ‘F-Rank - Bunk A-44’, with Gary getting bunk A-45 right after me. We exited the guildhall towards the large walled-off section that you couldn’t see into from the street. I looked around and saw six large buildings with large training yards attached to each.
“Says F-rank over at that one,” Gary pointed towards the building furthest on the left and we headed straight inside. Inside there was a small hall with 5 doors labeled a through e, so we walked inside the A door and saw Zack, Gabrielle, and Aaron sitting on one of the bunks at the far side of the room.
“Ah, you two made it. And a new spear! Look’s good, man!” Zack congratulated me as I dropped my pack beside my bunk. Despite the relatively easy day I already felt tired and sore from walking and carrying my pack. I decided to take a quick nap before I had to figure out where they served food.
Aaron shook me awake a while later, “Eli, we’re gonna go grab some food. Want to stay here, or?” I blinked a few times and shook my head a bit to wake up. I probably only slept for a couple of hours, but if I didn’t eat I’d be even sorer tomorrow.
“Yeah, I’ll come. Should we bring our packs with us?” I asked as I sleepily pulled myself off of my bunk.
“Yeah, I wouldn’t risk leaving it here if no one’s watching it. They serve food at the guildhall so it’s not like we’re going too far,” he replied. We walked the short distance back to the guildhall and joined a line of people waiting by the bar. Once we got to the front of the line they asked for us to show our wooden chit and we got a large bowl of stew with bread. I quickly cast Barkskin on everyone as we sat down at an empty table.
“Seriously, Eli. What if we don’t want to feel like a tree while we eat?” Gabrielle complained. Aaron and Zack laughed at my constant obsession with training.
“Sorry. I just don’t want to waste any time with full essence.” I said and Gabrielle waved off my apology before we quickly focused on eating. None of us wanted to check out the training yards since it was already starting to get dark outside so I dropped back
in my bunk and pulled up my Status before heading back to sleep.
Eli - Lvl 2 Druid
Experience - 228\500
Strength-5
Dexterity-4
Perception-4
Vitality-5
Spirit-6
Willpower-6
Barkskin - Level 4\10 Upgradeable
Experience - 488\800
Thornbolt - Level 1\20 Upgradeable
Experience - 194\200
The next morning I woke up to a flurry of activity in the room, likely because breakfast was being served. I quickly followed the throng of people to the guildhall and ate the same hearty meal that they served last night. The rest of my team wanted to head to the training yard to check it out after we ate.
As soon as we walked behind the F-rank compound we entered a large fenced area with a few different teams training and sparring against each other. I spotted a rack of wooden shields laying against one of the fences and grabbed Gary’s attention.
“I want to get some practice with my spear and a shield, want to spar?” I asked as I pointed out the wooden shields and spears.
“Sure. Let’s put on our leather gear, first. We all need to get used to fighting in it.” Gary said with a pointed look at the rest of the team before we dropped our packs and started pulling on our new leather jerkins, greaves, and bracers. I spent a couple of minutes stretching and flexing my body to get used to the feeling of wearing the thick leather. Thankfully it was all very light so I didn’t think it would affect me very much once I got used to fighting in it.
“Ready?” Gary asked with a grin. I stood on the opposite side of one of the 5-meter wide sand pits for sparring scattered around the training yard. I saw Zack asking another adventurer if they’d like to spar out of the corner of my eye. I focused back on Gary in front of me, rolled my shoulders, and settled into a low combat stance I’d learned from the drills he taught me throughout last week.
“Ready,” I stated, before rushing forward and trying to sweep his legs with a wide slash. Gary took advantage of his much longer spear and danced back out of range, stabbing towards my chest. I jerked the wooden shield in front of his strike and grunted as it smashed into my shoulder.
We sparred against each other and some other adventurers for a few hours, until someone came by and announced that food was being served in the guildhall. I ate quickly while chatting with Gary about some of the techniques the other adventurers had shown us.
Aaron interrupted our conversation as we finished eating, “We were going to buy rations today, right? I’d like to head straight out of the city in the morning if we can.” I had completely forgotten before he said that.
“Yeah, let’s go get that out of the way,” Zack said with a grimace, probably already thinking about spending days eating the same bland meal again. I couldn’t blame his reluctance, considering I was already getting used to eating the filling meals they served at the guild. A short walk later we arrived back at the same merchant from who we bought our rations before our first expedition. He didn’t have any problem with us only purchasing eight days of rations each, for the same price of 10 copper per day. After paying I had 59 copper left, but I didn’t want to completely run myself out of money so I decided not to spend on anything else until we got back from our next expedition.
I headed out to the training yard once we got back and walked over to the range where Aaron and Gabrielle had been training during the morning. Every time that I looked at my Skills over the past few days I saw how close I was to reaching level 2 with Thornbolt.
“Thornbolt,” I cast the skill repeatedly until a message appeared.
Thornbolt level 2
Finally! I emptied the rest of my essence and headed back inside to spend the rest of the day resting. I was going to be hiking and then fighting after today so I figured I’d use whatever time I had left to rest. My injuries were mostly healed at this point, but my body was still covered in partially healed bruises. Besides a quick meal at night when Zack shook me awake I spent the rest of the night sleeping and enjoyed my last few moments of peace for a while.
I woke up early and saw two or three other people getting up, but none of my teammates. I cast Barkskin on my sleeping team and got confused looks, followed by groans and laughs as they pulled themselves up and got their packs on. We ate a quick breakfast and turned in our wooden chits at the receptionist before heading out and getting back on the road to the Bloodfields.
“Leap!”
“Charge!”
“Vigor”
“Wall of Flames”
The road was mostly empty a few hundred meters away from the city so we all got back into the routine of constantly draining our essence and training our skills. Any little bit of experience we could get before attempting our next dungeon could mean all the difference. Now that I had reached level 2 in Thornbolt I decided to return to focusing my training on Barkskin even though it took substantially more time to level. Thornbolt is useful but it’s nothing compared to Aaron's Drill Shot or even Gabrielles Firebolt when it comes to offensive power. The most powerful thing I bring to the team is definitely Barkskin, and every level I can raise it will increase our survivability. The two days of hiking passed quickly, only interrupted by the occasional shout of a skill leveling up, Wall of Flames for Gabrielle and Vigor for Zack. We reached the end of the road and the familiar sight of dozens of different adventurers' camps welcomed us back. We set up camp for the night, ate a quick meal of rations and I laid down in my tent before I checked my Status.
Eli - Lvl 2 Druid
Experience - 228\500
Strength-5
Dexterity-4
Perception-4
Vitality-5
Spirit-6
Willpower-6
Barkskin - Level 4\10 Upgradeable
Experience - 708\800
Thornbolt - Level 2\20 Upgradeable
Experience - 0\400