“Alrighty everyone, I am glad we are all ontime.” Brawn said, giving a side glance to Nathan, who arrived literally on time. “We have two missions up for grabs, but we won’t be able to do both. So we are going to vote on it.”

Brawn pulled out papers. “The first is an escort mission. There is a group of miners who want to mine for shadow affinity crystals. A group was supposed to clear out the spiders there, but due to their failure, the miners have to go with us instead of waiting for it to be cleared out. It’s a bronze rank mission, so with our two lowest members both Iron, one of which not even Level 7 it’s one I rather us not go on.”

The description of the mission sounded familiar to Nathan. “So that’s what Okutar was doing. Clearing it out for miners. Also, who is the other Iron Ranker? I thought it was a Bronze Ranked Party?”

Brawn tapped the other paper. “The other mission is to clear out the Slime Dungeon. As we know, that place is Iron to Bronze in ranking depending upon the last time it was cleared out. I ensured to check and it was cleared out when we were fighting the slimes, so it should be a simple escapade.”

Parker sighed. “So a mission worth some coin, or one that isn’t worth my time.” He leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes. “You know my vote Brawn. Wake me up once everyone else picks.”

Brawn shook his head, seemingly holding back on what he was really thinking. “Alrighty, so that leaves 5 votes left. Thu, what’s your thoughts?”

Thu sat across the table from Nathan. He or She was hard to determine what they were. The baggy dark clothes complete with a hood and white mask made it impossible. Nathan couldn’t even figure out a race, but could eliminate Halfling, Dwarf, or any half-beast race. They were on the slim side, so maybe not an Orc. For sure not a Half-Giant like Brawn, who was more than a foot taller than Parker, the second tallest person in the group.

Thu held up a single finger, showing they wanted the first mission.

“That’s 2 for the escort mission. Ko’Nu?”

Ko’Nu was writing in his notebook. He looked up when he heard his name. “Hmmm? Oh sorry, what were the options? This one wasn’t listening.”

Brawn explained them again. “Oh, Slimes please. This one hates escort missions. This one has to mind his fire spells too much. The escortes never listen.”

Kira held up a paw...hand? “I think we should do slimes as well. As much as I hate the goop in my fur, we can for sure make a decent chunk of money if we collect a few cores. The spider one will be difficult, we don’t have anyone with Light spells other than Ko’Nu with his fire.”

Brawn nodded. “That leaves Nathan to be the tie breaker.”

Nathan raised an eyebrow. “Don’t you get a vote?”

“Typically I get two votes as party leader. However, as you are still in a trial phase, I want to see how your thinking skills work outside of a fight. As well as how you spent your money and time this week, but that can be talked about later.”

Nathan sat there for a moment thinking about it. On one hand, the Escort mission would give him the money he needs to get more equipment as well as pay off his debt. A higher ranked mission means more Experience, so he can gain levels faster and snag his new Tier 2 skill.

On the other hand, the Dungeon sounded interesting and less deadly. Nathan wants to learn how Dungeons work, and if they are like video games, they could have interesting loot inside.

Then again, Nathan was well equipped to handle the toxins of the spiders with his [Remove Poison] skill, and it would get one hell of a work out there.

Everyone could almost hear Nathan thinking the situation out. Nathan wanted to ask a few questions first. “For the escort mission, how long will we be escorting them for? And for the Dungeon, how do those work? Are they multileveled?”

“The Slime Dungeon is two floors. We can finish it in a day, but will need to camp outside of it the night before to ensure an early start, less we will be walking back here well into the night.”

Brawn tapped the table. “The Escort Mission into the Shadow Mines will take us less than an hour to get there on foot. We should be in there for only half a day, maybe longer depending on how many spiders are there. The last group was only a party of 3, and ran into an affinity creature. So keep in mind we will have to fight it as well.”

“Is it the Shadow Phonius?” Nathan asked.

Brawn seemed surprised. “Yes it is, how do you know that?”

“My bunkmate was one of the members who tried to clear it out. I actually saved their Geomancer with a new skill of mine, [Remove Poison].”

“I take it you leveled up from the slimes then. Have you already informed the Guild?” Brawn asked.

Nathan nodded. “Yup, as well as a couple other fancier things we can talk about later. Let’s do the Escort quest, but I wanted to ask about the party funds you mentioned when we first met. Does that include medical supplies by any chance?”

Brawn smiled, knowing what Nathan was going to ask. “It does, do you need to buy stuff to prepare for the mission?”

“It will be useful, give me the rest of the day to make my rounds and I should be good tonight.”

“If you buy anything, use my name and put the charges there. You best know what you are buying and not over spend.” Brawn said sternly.

“If I am anything, it’s a smart spender.” Nathan said with a smirk.

Parker sniffed and stretched. “Good, I am glad to see you make a smart choice there Healer. I was worried you’d chicken out of some good money.”

“I don’t plan to do it for the money, it’s a mission I am best prepared for. Between my skill set and the ability to get more information from a friend, it’s surprisingly the safer bet.”

Kira flashed a smile of approval. Ko’Nu was busy in his notebook, while Thu remained mostly motionless.

The meeting ended, and Nathan waited till he an Brawn were alone.

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“So the other things you wanted to talk about?” He asked.

Nathan took a deep breath. “The other skill I picked up from my level up was [Knowledge (Vitamancy)], I assume you know what that is right?”

Brawn nodded. “Life magic, Knowledge skills are good to acquire, especially for those who specialize in a certain magic like yourself.”

“Right, anyways yesterday I finally sat down and tested some theories I had with healing magic and using my [First Aid] skill together. It show my Vitamancy skill up to rank 10 and gave me another skill entirely for free.”

“You already acquired a Title Skill?” Brawn asked, showing a bit of excitement in his voice. “That’s great! I knew you would fit well into this group. Already rising far and above those who are tied down to a proper guild.”

Nathan didn’t expect this kind of reaction, but welcomed it. “A Title Skill? What are those?”

“Those are skills that show your knowledge on a subject. Once you hit Level 10, you can equip Title Skills and anyone who examines you with a skill will instantly see it. Those skills also go at the top of your records and some Guilds have requirements revolved around them for promotions. The fact you have one at Level 5 shows you have tremendous knowledge on Vitamancy. Doubly so with no outside aid, at least, that’s what you’ve claimed.”

Nathan shook his head. “No other guild here trained me, I have tremendous medical knowledge before I gained a single Experience. It’s why my [First Aid] skill is already maxed out, while the local healer, Ragnork, has had it for years and only acquired his 4th rank after meeting me.”

“You should ditch your spear and become a full healer Nathan, but if you want to be able to protect yourself, you need to use it more often. Have you thought about what you want to do in the caves?” Brawn asked, eyeing Nathan up and down.

“I am going to hate it, but I would rather be up next to you.” Nathan was bouncing his leg nervously. An old habit that has started to return from his college days “I have no clue how narrow it will be down there, but shit, I rather take a hit instead of the miners doing so. I need more Experience and to train my spear skill. It’s pitifully low compared to my other skills.”

Brawn nodded understanding. “You will be fine, these Spiders deal less damage, their threat is their poisonious bites. With you on our team, we can save money on Anti-Toxin potions. Go ahead and buy those as well with the funds to whatever you have planned. Also, you can buy a single Mana potion. You are our MVP for this mission, can’t take any risks.”

Nathan nodded. “Will that be expensive?”

Brawn waved a hand. “We will make it up if the mission is successful. We get paid based on the yield the Miners bring back, more if they come back alive. That’s where you come in. Keeping everyone alive.”

Brawn left Nathan to start preparing for the mission tomorrow. He set off to do what needed to be done. His first stop was going to his room and grabbing his new favorite book: The Healing Properties of Gems. He also hopped to bump into Okutar along the way, instead of being forced to track him down.

Once he grabbed the book, Nathan flipped through pages until he found what he wanted.

“Emeralds are well known for their brilliant green color. These gemstones are also well known for their cheap prices and niche uses. Those who use them for it’s properties related to healing know them as their nickname: Green Blood Gems.

These beauties are excellent when applied with spells that remove, cures, cleanses, or any mixture poisons. Alchemists have their caldrons embedded with emeralds to help keep toxic fumes from wafting into their workrooms.

Be warned: Once the gem is corrupted with poison, it will turn into a Poison Affinity Gemstone, and are illegal to buy or sell. If your Emerald becomes such, turn it in to your guild supervisor, local clinic healer, or an alchemist who is appointed by the royal courts.”

Nathan closed the book and put it away. “Now, where is Okutar at?” It took him an hour, but Nathan soon found Okutar out on the training grounds.

Okutar had his Greatsword in ready pose to strike. In front of him was a straw dummy. Nathan had no clue what he was doing, but waited and watched.

He waited for what felt like ten minutes before Okutar slowly started to swing down with his sword. It cut perfectly through the dummy, not wavering from it’s path in the slightest. Nathan had no clue how he was able to do such a clean cut with such a slow swing.

Okutar stood back up, whipping away the sweat from his brow. He turned and saw Nathan and waved. Nathan waved back and walked up to him.

“Hey there, been looking for you.” Nathan said.

“Yea, I’ve been training more so since Frank has recovered. Thanks again for that by the way.”

Nathan grinned. “It’s no problem, like I said, there was no cost. Actually I wanted to talk to you about the mines. My party picked up the quest, and are escorting the miners into it tomorrow.”

Okutar nodded. “Figured that would happen. Sucks we couldn’t pull it off, I assume you want to know what we encountered?”

“That and I want to talk to Frank as well, I need a favour from him.”

“Ha! Well, he has been dying to try and pay you back in any way. So anything you ask from him, you can expect double in return.”

“So the spiders, how big are they?” Nathan asked.

“Not large at all, the largest the size of a shoe, the smallest the size of a coin. Those are the ones you have to look out for. The Shadow Affinity one was that size, good luck hitting it.”

“Oh I think we will be fine. We have a Fire Mage. Anyways, how deep does the cave go?”

Okutar thought about it for a moment. “A few hundred feet at the most. We only got halfway down, the spider webs slowed us down horribly. I suggest bringing a torch, or have your fire mage lead the way and burn everything down. Once you start seeing the Shadow Crystals that’s when the spiders start to get really defensive.

Sadly, Okutar didn’t have much more to offer to help fight the spiders. He pointed Nathan to where he can find Frank, who was fully recovered and studying in his bunk room.