Oh the splendors of the depths, a world as little explored as Aez itself. The quiet history of millennia lie at the fingertips of a single [Deepsea Diver's] breath. Riches and treasures of untold value, sunken vessels, and civilizations overtaken by flood and water. A story of the passing wrath of nature. History itself - drowned. The sea at times can be more beautiful than the land, but the inverse is also true. It can be many times more horrible than anything dry.
- Quotes of Explorers, a passing [Sailor]
To describe that rising feeling his chest, that inkling that the sublime always seemed to impress upon him, the notion that he, Jayke Cipher, was indeed a small man - was a demanding task to ask of anyone, let alone Jayke himself.
The wind picked up, whipping his hair wildly above his head.
Hanging vines and upside-down trees threatened to sweep away anything that dared to reach the skies. Majestic kite-like birds found no difficulties in the strong winds, dancing through the air like a choreographed presentation. Their feathered tails mimicked the misty waterfalls coming up from above. Small orbiting pieces of earth flew overhead like miniature planets as if undecided in their intent to fall.
It was the ambient noise of something immense moving. Drifting.
A mountain floated idly above them. Whirling over their heads in that imperceptibly fast way that humongous things could. Its shadow dimmed the entire area below, and everyone including Jayke was dumbed speechless. Only the proctors had easy smiles. And even among them, some were silenced.
Jayke gaped. They were below it. Not even at any angle to appreciate its entirety. Below one of the many floating landmasses that were named the Mountains of Rune. Despite the fact he'd been following the damn things for nearly a month, he gaped.
It passed overhead as a whale might've done over a lucky diver - if that whale was a thousand times larger. And in its passing could Jayke appreciate its presence. The sunlight hit them as the mountain's passing revealed it again. It blinded them as they stared after its form, still taking up their entire field of view. Shooting overhead like the slowest meteor that never landed. And more were coming. Lifted up by some incomprehensible force. A reminder that in their passing, they graced those overlooked with life - for should they have diverted their path only slightly, life was forfeit.
"This is amazing."
He found the lips of many people around him moving. And he didn't hear a damn one of them. He had barely heard his own. Testers were in understandable awe. But now that they were here, at their intended destination, the question then became an obvious one.
He asked Sterext as much. Or communicated it as best he could given the wild winds of their passing landmasses.
To that, another of his rare grins. He pointed to one of the mountains fated to pass over their heads and mouthed something Jayke didn't hear. Jayke followed his gaze, knowing it to be much more far-reaching than he'd been able to yet fathom. The mountains were a number of landmasses, it was true. Smaller still were the chunks of earth, the islands, that floated between them. Because of those obstacles, Jayke kept his eyes above and craned his neck so.
Then there was a diving shadow. It disappeared behind a particularly large island and Jayke lost sight of it. He'd thought he imagined it, but a combination of his refusal to dismiss the suspicious, and Sterext's huge grin made him strain his eyes with interest.
He traced the trajectory of whatever it was he saw, looking at some island still quite far from him when the feathered creature flew across his vision. Much closer than he anticipated.
It looped mid-air, and at its apex, Jayke was surprised to see someone riding the thing, yelling and hooting, and just looking like they were having the time of their lives. His screams were just barely audible among the wild winds. He was upside down for a roller coaster's moment, then he swapped down.
And then more joined him. Shadows at the edges of his vision becoming colorful feathers of large beasts carrying hollering individuals who looked too happy at their perilous mounting.
Before anyone could even say anything, they landed around the testers.
The creatures were feathered in more colors than a scarlet macaw. And the word 'landed' did them little justice. More to that, 'feathered' led into an incorrect assumption. They weren't birds. The most pertinent comparison Jayke could make was that they were more akin to stingrays or manta rays. Giant feathered ones. They hovered just above the ground, whatever manner of propulsion that kept them airborne also flattened the grass around them.
Funnily, the riders were more bird-like than their mounts. One of the riders - the one who was first to land - addressed all of them at once and without preamble.
"Come on then! Mount up before Nubilum leaves us!"
----------------------------------------
Without warning, they were looping over and under chunks of floating earth, curving away at hard angles at the very last moments, all to the laughter of his rider.
Jayke, white-faced and clutching the feathered hide of their mount, stared at the spinning world above him. The flat body of the feathered stingray was almost like a magic carpet. Jayke held on dearly and in an attempt to look at anything other than the sickening perspective around him, he admired the creature. He found that its feathers grabbed onto him and around his legs as much as he did to it. It even held his staff and sword secure through its feathers.
Jayke had been instructed to lay on his belly, but the rider made had no such qualms breaking that rule.
The bird-like man had introduced himself as Bezial and taken off before Jayke could so much as situate himself. And Bezial was standing upright, leaning into the wind with a smile that broke the gusts. He had more talon than feet, and they gripped the feathers and anchored him. The man laughed into the sky as they rolled around more islands, dancing into a looping formation with more of the feathered stingrays.
He realized that not all of them had riders. Wild ones.
Bezial laughed as one of them flew above them, flying parallel with their own mount and matching their speed. The man reached up and ran his hands through its feathers.
Magnificence amid the rush moving air, a creature as beautiful and mysterious as any Jayke had ever seen before. Flying lazily, upside-down, and above them.
Shakily, Jayke stood up to his knees, reaching above to feel at the magnificent beast. One of Jayke's hands clutched the mount below him, but his other one reached desperately to feel the softest feathers he had ever felt. Even more so than the one below him.
Bezial laughed some more once the creature rolled away, diving down towards some other island. Jayke found his hand reaching towards it, grasping at the memory of soft downy feathers. In moments, it was gone, but it was a memory Jayke wouldn't ever forget.
He was left grasping the air, and it had calmed him to the wind. He stared after it.
Suddenly, they were past the smaller islands, soaring alongside the true mountains that made up the name. The ground below them sped past them while the floating landmasses kept their pace easily. It was all perspective. He could easily spot the forest below, but higher and higher they climbed. They flew straight into the clouds, slicing through their moisture in time to watch them break upon the mountains behind him.
When Jayke turned back he saw it.
The Floating City of Nubilum.
It was a terraced city. Jayke could see the open nature of it. It was a given fact seeing as how the city was built right on the side of the mountain. The city took nearly half the mountain, covering its side in buildings overlooking whatever was currently the scenery. He spotted people walking between steep paths holding onto railings that appeared to be ubiquitous across the place. Whatever architects designed the city feared nothing of expanding upward, the structures seemed to rise and hug the mountain wherever they could.
Too soon, the view was lost and Jayke realized he was clutching the feathers of his ride too hard. His stomach jumped up to his chest as their descent accelerated. People from below were pointing up at them, children cheered at their passing and Bezial waved, going so far as to turn upside down. Jayke didn't even have time to realize what happened, he was just looking up, waving at the bright-colored kids.
Then they settled back onto a plane of perspective he was comfortable with. In short minutes, they were swerving between beautiful buildings, waving at people on balconies, until suddenly they were coasting on a bare platform. The feathered stingray banked before they glided off the edge, turning in on itself until they came smoothly to a stop.
"And that's how you fly." Bezial chortled, sliding off the creature and feeding it something between caressings its feathers.
Jayke, slack-jawed at the suddenness of their stop, followed suit and slid off of its wing. To his surprise, the floating ray flicked its wing so Jayke could land more easily. He turned around and the creature's eyes were smiling.
"Not too often we have encounters with wild wisavs." Bezial looked over his mount. "They seem to like you."
Jayke glanced between both rider and mount. "Wisavs?"
Some other mounted rider soared overhead and Bezial pointed up with a grin. "That's a wisav." He smiled, only widening more at Jayke's expression. "And encounters with young and untamed wisavs are considered good fortune. They saw wisavs are wiser than any of us, they know a free spirit when they see one. Maybe they sensed that in you." He said. "They're very timid creatures no matter how carefree and intelligent. Perhaps they're just smart enough to stay away from us Thinking Races." He smiled.
"You've got some courage about you. Standing on your knees takes some of it on your first flight." He rubbed his chin then looked down at his wisav mount. "Oh, if I recall correctly... You bunch are for the Coterie right?"
"Yeah." Jayke picked up his jaw and found the eyes of both wisav and Bezial with knowing looks. "We've been traveling after the mountains for a month." He managed.
"Fickle things, the Mountains of Rune." Bezial nodded knowingly. "I've other commitments, otherwise I'd show you around. At the least, I can point you the right way. The Coterie isn't the hardest building to find."
Apparently, all the other riders had their own platforms to land on. So for now, Jayke was alone, something he couldn't have so easily accomplished in the month prior. He'd found himself fast friends with both Oz and Ercur before he could really protest. Not that he would've. He was thankful for some time alone though. There was something about a long hike, a month spent walking, that lent one to their own thoughts. He'd done a lot of humming during his walks, a telltale sign of his wandering introspection.
Bezial had pointed him down a path. The mountain wasn't as steep or dangerous as the railings along the path suggested. The incline was an easy one to follow.
A handful of people poked their heads from cozy structures nestled against the mountain, trying to catch a glimpse at whoever had just arrived. Here, the buildings weren't as tall, but the apparent lifestyle was something to envy. Their homes overlooked an everchanging view. Clouds were the norm and a couple of small pillows of them swept across him as he walked.
He didn't have the best idea of where he was, but if he looked over the railing he could see the city in all its glory. He spotted the various paths that connected everything flowing about the entire mountain. Between them, the people made themselves busy. That was the view staring downward, higher still and the buildings rose towards the top of the mountain.
Throughout it all he spotted birds of various nature and color that seemed content to catch the wind alongside the city, looking as if they were statues in the air until the clouds behind them parted and the moving world beyond came into focus. The wind whipped heavily, but the city was louder with whooping and excitement, cheers randomly rose up at the wind, as if the very citizenry relished its speed.
Jayke took it all in and smiled wide. This was living. He knew it. In his heart, this was what he'd been missing for that year - no, decade spent in solitude. He'd spent an ungodly amount of time training with the machinery of the facility. He'd missed living. It was the reason he didn't let fear grip his heart when riding the wisav, he was determined to find this happiness. Wherever and however he'd find it. A reason for living, whether it came from riding feathered manta rays, or challenging the very nature of the wind! In their cheering, Jayke knew these people were leading fulfilling lives and he wished deeply in his heart he'd find the power to do the same.
He admired them as they cheered into the wind.
It wasn't too often in Nubilum that one could hear nearly a decade of pent up emotions emitted in a single sound. Nor could anyone reasonably claim they'd ever been able to hear tears in such a happy sound - sadness. Triumph, a story unsaid and instead felt. One conveyed purely by the emotion of an invisible shouter.
It was a testament to everything he'd been through that in the whooping excitable nature of The Floating City of Nubilum, the city that rode the winds, Jayke Cipher's cheering turned up heads from below and down heads from above.
Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.
It wasn't a loud sound relative to anyone else's. But in its emotion, it had silenced curious listeners. Heads swiveled up or down, trying to trace the noise. The wind had picked up right after the shout had concluded, concealing the position of whoever had shouted from anyone with ears enough to locate him.
Jayke Cipher was already walking away and wiping at his face when the noise of those sudden gusts died down.
And then he realized people were cheering once more, but some part of him liked to think a little of that was directed towards him. Then he was walking once more.
----------------------------------------
He took a break and went down some stone steps out of the way of normal foot traffic. It was a rather secluded area, as excluded from everything as anything could get when exposed to the sky. It was something like the smallest park he'd ever been to, a tree and a bench. Some grass. Nothing more.
He sat down and hummed to himself.
Currently, he was a Level 6 [Code Mage] and Level 9 [Protection Mage]. The latter Class was one hard to level up in the absence of dangers but he hadn't slacked in his practice of it. Even now, he was manipulating an invisible sphere of magic. The former was easier to make strides in as his technical know-how slowly began to merge with his magical intuition. He'd conceived a number of programs but their functionality was lost as soon as his memory forgot them. He could reproduce most of them but a save feature for magic, apparently, was non-existent.
After the slipwater ponds, they hadn't run into any other noteworthy dangers. Complications sure, but nothing that took any more lives or drew significant blood. For that reason, he hadn't made any headway in leveling his [Protection Mage] Class. Sure, that initial tragedy with the ponds had brought his Class close to leveling, but it was still a ways off. It was a shame too, considering how close he was to Level 10 in it.
It was a total of fifteen levels. A fact that he'd been meditating upon.
After having only been in this world a month and change, he was rivaling the others here in levels. Or so he'd gathered. His Classes were variants of the basic [Mage] Class that he suspected many of his peers to have. He assumed their levels to have been gained over a course of their lifetime and he'd closed that gap within a month.
He wondered if it had something to do with his odd arrival into this world. It wouldn't have been plausible for an adult man to be a low level. The unprecedented growth might have also been due to a combination of things that he had read about which seemed to fit his current situation. And past situation, for that matter. The Origin of Classes and Specializations was an informative read by what was quickly becoming Jayke's favorite group of authors and it enlightened him to some things. Chiefmost among them, a number of factors that affected level gain.
Constant exposure to life-threatening dangers. Constant reliance on the specialties of their Class. Application of one's Class. Practice and discovery in the fields that comprised one's Class description. They were all things that applied to him, especially considering his [Protective Magic] and [Code Magic] Skills. He'd been doing nothing but exercising his magic and pushing the limits as his imagination stretched them since he'd gotten here.
Even when given all of that, to him, it simply didn't justify a lifetime of leveling. It was impossible that in two months he could accomplish what a regular person would take years for.
He stopped himself from jumping to any early conclusions. He was sure there was some reasonable explanation. It was another mystery to add to his evergrowing list of questions though. And it made him all the more eager to find these traveler's waystones and search for the God of Lost Travelers, Keylos.
He'd need to do some research, maybe find some more books or consult someone who might know. That was the thing about the Coterie that attracted him after all, their font of knowledge. If there was anything that might hint at his circumstances, that might explain his leveling or his arrival into this world, he'd think that the Practitioner's Coterie would be a good start.
He realized he was wasting time on planning for the future when there was a more pressing task at hand.
He stared over the city. Bezial had given Jayke rudimentary directions. The Practitioner's Coterie building was supposedly very obvious. Bezial said he couldn't miss it so long as he followed the general direction he indicated. That had been enough for Jayke at the time but now that he'd been walking he couldn't help but feel a little lost.
That was of course when a wisav soared overhead.
"Jaaaaayke!" Someone yelled, nearly lost in the howl of the wind.
Jayke ducked and looked around before finally directing his attention to the banking wisav.
Just so, he spotted a flash of green hair whipping around. "Ercur?!" He called, blinking. He followed the wisav's form and spotted her, wide smile and wild hair. Waving. Upside-down.
"This is fun! We did some laps!" She called down. She was pointing at something. "Keep going! You're almost there, I can see the building from here!" And then her pilot turned and the wisav was off. She squealed in delight before Jayke could even respond.
Jayke's eye twitched. Then he laughed. An uncontrollable bubbling of comical relief that was a sudden as it was obnoxious. He felt worries wash away. Ercur's in-the-moment way of living had drawn him out of his dark thoughts on a number of occasions. He smiled wide and waved at her receding form. In the distance, he thought he made out her form doing the same.
She, like Oz, Sterext, and Yurn, had been a constant reminder of the vastness of the world. This wasn't some vacation from the hell he'd been in. This was an entirely new world populated with people as diverse and unique as he was. He'd been snapping himself out of the line of thinking that he was someone special for the circumstances of his arrival. It just wasn't true. This was his new reality. And he needed to embrace it.
He watched her speed off and kept waving, laughing at her antics. Sure to her word, when he crested the hill his destination - to Bezial's credit - could not have been more obvious. He smiled, feeling a long journey, at least one part of it, come to an end.
Jayke paused as he ran into someone. The other man paused in tandem and raised an eyebrow, jerking midstep.
"You're... Jayke, was it?" The man said quietly.
Jayke recovered quickly, blinking in surprise. "Hush, right?" Jayke remembered. "The one that's part of the Adventurer's Guild."
He chuckled. "I see you've picked the most pertinent detail to recall."
"It has been a while," Jayke said in good spirits. "You must've been traveling towards the front."
Hush nodded with an easy smile. "I didn't doubt you'd make it here. Those feathered creatures know how to fly. I just landed." He looked at the building. "On your way there too, right?"
It was odd seeing a familiar face. He'd met Hush nearly a month ago, along with a few others, but even though he'd been present throughout the whole trip, the nature of their traveling formation meant it was unlikely they ever saw each other. A few times he spotted some of those familiar faces when the groups were camping, but generally, people stuck to their proctors and immediate traveling companions. Hush had been no exception.
They talked for a little while about the trip. That conversation could've stretched the entire day if either party was willing to let it, but eventually, Jayke let his curiosity take the helm.
"What exactly is the Adventurer's Guild anyway? I've read about it, but nothing more than mentions." His genuine interest must've shone through because Hush seemed more than happy to elaborate.
He quirked an eyebrow. "They're more famous than the Coterie. You're not one of the mageheads are you? Nothing but magic through and through?" Hush humphed. "Less you're really good, you can't last anywhere dangerous on magic alone."
Jayke scratched his head. "Somehow I've been managing." He said apologetically. "I do know a thing or two about fighting, just not much about monsters."
"That's the bread and butter of the Adventurer's Guild. Hunting monsters. They take any number of requests, and usually, there's an adventurer to fit the bill." He looked at Jayke. "If I recall correctly, you're no stranger to danger. At least, that's what that wolfar said. You might be a fit for the Guild."
"They just hunt monsters? Seems kind of dangerous."
Hush chuckled. "If that's all they did it'd be pretty boring. Dangerous though? It is, admittedly, but lucrative enough to make up for it." He shrugged. "The Guild accepts a myriad of jobs, from hunting particular monsters to escorting important goods. What most of these requests have in common is that they'll require someone of a prerequisite level in a particular field or Class. A lot of those jobs are specialized, which is why they go to the Guild in the first place."
"If I remember correctly there's a test for them too," Jayke recalled someone mentioning it.
"There is indeed. I had to show competency in my other Class in order to be registered for requests." He explained. "And they really test you. It's only fair considering that any less and you'd likely die on a real job."
"The Guild sounds interesting. Maybe if I'm not dead by the end of these Coterie tests I'll look into it." Jayke joked. "It seems like an opportunity to become worldly."
"Haha, if you're interested after everything's over and we can call ourselves practitioners then find me. I'll buy you a drink." Someone called his name in the distance and he turned to them before smiling apologetically at Jayke. "That's my group. Remember my offer!" He waved.
"I won't forget it," Jayke said, returning the gesture.
Jayke hummed to himself as Hush left to catch up with a handful of other testers. They were approaching a rather large building, wider than it was tall. What made it stand out among other buildings was the mosaic of moving magic across its walls. It was a wisav, rendered in such perfection that it looked to be alive behind the building's walls. Where it wasn't present, the building was a pristine white. There were a handful of entrances but Jayke headed for the obvious one and hoped people were gathering there.
Hush had mentioned having another Class, a fact that Jayke had forgotten could apply to other people. "Am I... actually under-leveled?" He hummed. "But even if my total levels are lower than the average person, that doesn't necessarily mean my growth should spike, should it?"
People were multifaceted, he reminded himself. He'd read that Classes often painted the picture of one's life. A Level 10 [Warrior] and Level 20 [Hermit] might hint at a deserter, for example. He'd only been taking into account the singular Classes of his peers, he wondered what their total levels were relative to his. It was entirely possible there were other Classes other than the basic [Mage] that the other testers had possessed. If that was the case, then Jayke had a lot more to think about.
The thoughts didn't linger too long. There was too much to see. The visual stimulus alone was enough to knock away any distracted, wandering thoughts about his existence,
Jayke walked through a grand entrance and into the open room that was one of the Practitioner's Coterie's main branches. He had to squish his way through robed shoulders of other passersby. The echoing footsteps of hundreds of pairs of feet marked a room grand enough to match the entrance.
People of many races and attire congregated here. Enough that Jayke found himself staring on more than one occasion. For the first time, he spotted - what he presumed to be people - moving about with different body structure that Jayke was strictly used to. That was to say, some people had multiple limbs, or walked on all fours. Wings. Talons, horns, hoofs. A lot of feathers. He stared in awe, remembered not to stare, and began to pick people out from the crowd. Some were familiar faces he'd traveled with.
More than just testers, here there were actual members moving around. Not as many as Jayke would've expected, but more than enough that the large building wasn't seemingly void of them. There was something tangible about their presence, and Jayke wondered if he was sensing a disparity in level, or perhaps even mana. A few looked condescending and self-important, a worrying feature, but most of those marked members looked slightly amused.
The floor was a sleek semi-reflective surface that didn't seem conducive to shining as it did unless otherwise spotless. Already, Jayke spotted staircases down the lobby that led into branching hallways. The ceiling was higher than the building outside until he realized he was actually inside the mountain.
It was a busy place, but judging from what Jayke could see, the Practitioner's Coterie was indeed selective. He rarely saw an actual member moving about. They were indicated by the stylized brooches they wore upon their clothes. All his proctors had had them.
He must've looked new because someone directed him to where he could find the other testers.
Upon his arrival, he immediately spotted Oz. The proctors were arguing.
"What's going on?" Jayke leaned over, all the other testers seemed to be keeping an ear to the proctor's conversation.
"Apparently we took too long," Oz replied worriedly.
Hucobb stood foremost among the proctors who had finished their trip, speaking heatedly with another member of the Coterie who looked falsely apologetic. His sneer was poorly hidden. He was a bird-like man whose very feathers seemed to form a robe around him. They might've been wings on second glance.
"I'm dearly sorry, Hucobb." He said sweetly. "Unfortunately, your delayed arrival was unprecedented. Many smaller branches have already arrived and been processed. You'll have to postpone the testing of your flock until the next round of trials." He seemed to revel in Hucobb's expression.
"Don't do this, Gizead. You know the delay was unavoidable. We've been through much more in this last month than you might fathom. The Uncharted is unforgiving terrain in which to give chase to the mountains. Especially unmapped." He growled. "They deserve their chance."
"It's out of my hands." Gizead cooed. "There isn't anything I can do. Rules are rules. The smaller branches came to be tested, we can't have them eternally wait for your arrival."
"Gizead," Hucobb warned.
The bird man sighed. "You may think I have it out for you, old friend, and while I do hold some manner of satisfaction from your failure to arrive on time, this is the truth. You were late. Pitting your testers among the others who'd already failed would be giving them all second chances. Pitting them against those who succeeded would be spitting on their success. You've missed the trial." He said. "You know I'd give testers their fair shot. There isn't one to give them."
Hucobb pinched his brow but then groaned. "Where is the Branch Master?"
"At her usual." Gizead relented.
Then Hucobb was stomping off. Gizead along with a few other members of the Coterie lead people around. No one was sure what was happening, only that Hucobb had gone to rectify it. They were offered a tour of the branch and shown places to wait or practice.
Jayke was feeling like he was in some kind of high-class hotel. He sat comfortably on a bench carved right into the wall. It was a nice reprieve. Even after having walked with both sword on his hip, and staff in his hand, they still weighed his gait down. He'd found a new respect for a particular type of rock. The type that, upon sitting on, his legs would still be comfortable.
That was how he found himself situated currently. He'd missed benches and chairs.
Oz seemed restless. Jayke glanced over at him. "You okay there, Oz?"
"As good as I can be." He replied. "An entire month of travel and we might not even be able to progress more than this. We'd have to start from the beginning."
"It means that much to you?" Jayke asked.
"A significant amount." He replied flatly, observing the place with the same quiet wonder that Jayke afforded the view. It was almost as if they were standing next to each other on that first day. "I've come to learn about my magic. It's an odd one as I'm sure you've already gathered. But it's all I have from him. He was a member of the Coterie - my father. Here, I might be able to learn something about him. What drove him."
"But not if you don't get the chance."
He nodded. "Just so." Then he looked back at Jayke. "And you? What drives you to join their ranks?"
"To become more worldly. Make something of myself. Explore the world." Jayke rattled off.
"You sound like every child in a book." Oz chuckled.
Jayke paused and sighed. The memories were easier to speak about. There had been some amount of emotional catharsis on his journey. They weren't as painful, and he allowed himself to... hope. Just a little. Baby steps.
"I've only heard great things about the Practitioner's Coterie. A wealth of knowledge and the leading authority on magic. If there's any greater organization to help me investigate the whereabouts of my... family." He breathed. "It's either this or the Adventurer's Guild." He said. "Either way, I wouldn't have accomplished anything sitting on my ass. The only way is forward."
Oz regarded Jayke with interest. "Then we're more alike than it may seem. " He said. "Let's hope we're given our chance."
Just then, a pair of loud footsteps approached. They echoed above the other footfalls with enough tired defeated anger to turn any head. Hucobb's face was not happy, but it was an emotion that was directed more to himself than anyone else.
"We were late." He said, stating a fact. He didn't mince the words and from the conversation earlier most could gather what those might mean as the opening statement. He didn't stop there though. "I've spoken to the Branch Master, and after a rather animated negotiation, I've managed to bargain you all the allowance to test further."
Someone spoke before he could continue. "What's the test?"
Hucobb sighed deeply. "Within the mountains there a number of dangers that might be deemed worthy for the Coterie's purposes to test against. Unfortunately, it seems the entire crop of testers this time around is exceptionally talented. As a consequence, the Branch Master won't let any from my crop pass unless they prove themselves of the caliber of those already tested. You must overcome a trial much harder."
"What is it? Spit it out! I haven't traveled a month for a monologue." An irritated rock man grumbled.
Hucobb looked at him and frowned. "You're to delve a [Dungeon]."