Camille stepped into Vance’s Hunting Goods later that evening. Zack had wanted to go straight back to the tunnels, but she’d talked him out of that crazy plan. If she was going to be an adventurer, then she planned to be a proper one.

Gia must have agreed, judging by her first quest:

New Quest: Dress for Adventure.

A gnome Commando is always prepared, and that means wearing the right clothes for the job. So get to work, and find something suitable for your upcoming adventure!

Reward: +0.25 Combat.

Accept Quest?

Yes / No

Vance’s sat on the north end of Main Street, just two blocks from the library. The inside reminded her of Zack’s bedroom, with racks of camouflage clothing, and display cases filled with guns and blades.

She stood in the entryway for several long moments, taking in the sights. Where was she supposed to start? She knew her skirts and loafers weren’t the best choice, but what was?

“Hey, Camille!” A dark-haired girl waved at her from behind the front counter. It took her a moment to recognize Kendall Vance, Zack’s co-worker from the Valley View. “What brings you here?”

“Oh.” Camille brushed her hair behind her shoulders, feeling even more out of place. “I . . .”

“No, wait.” Kendall threw up a hand. “Let me guess—Zack convinced you to go hunting with him.”

“Yeah, I guess he did.” She took another look at the dark-haired girl with her black store uniform. “I thought you worked at the Valley View?”

“I have two jobs,” Kendall said. “I’m heading to Arvendale next month, and it’s impossible to find work down there. Figured I’d save up some money before then.”

“Arvendale? How come?”

“The university. I got accepted this spring.”

“Really?” Camille felt her eyebrows rise up to her hairline. “I don’t think I knew that.” She’d briefly considered applying after high school, but she’d quickly abandoned the idea. The elven universities were popular outside the Valley, but the locals all considered them a scam. You paid for an expensive tuition, struggled to find an entry-level job, then spent the next ten years working to pay back your degree.

Meanwhile, Questers Valley used the master and apprentice system. You started working in high school, learning all the relevant skills, and getting paid along the way. This system had survived since the late Silver Era, and for good reason.

Some argued that ‘proper ‘schooling exposed its students to more subjects and better teachers. That might be true, but those same teachers often wrote books, and you could find those books for free at the Temple of Knowledge.

Others said that high school students were too young to pick their profession. That was true, but you could always change your mind later. Indeed, many did just that, but without the years of debt to show for it.

Kendall gave an absent shrug as she fidgeted with her lip piercing. “I mostly keep it quiet, especially at the Inn. You know Aria—she loves to argue about this stuff.”

Camille let out a nervous laugh. “Then how come you’re telling me?”

“You hang out with Zack.”

“So?”

“He wants to join the Sentinels, right? Guess we’re both gonna be cogs in the elvish machine. Anyway . . .” Kendall stepped forward and looked Camille up and down. “I’d say we’re about the same size.”

The other girl was at least three inches shorter, and probably ten pounds heavier, but Camille kept that to herself.

Kendall leaned down a nearby aisle where a bearded man tinkered with a broken light fixture. “Hey, Dad? I’m heading upstairs for a second, okay?”

The man nodded, and Kendall led them up a wooden staircase at the back of the store. Camille had expected an upper level, like the one in the Timbervale Mall. Instead, the other girl pulled out a keychain and pushed open the door.

The apartment was a stark contrast to the store below, with soft-colored walls, and tall windows that offered a view of the town square. The scents of food wafted out from the kitchen to her right, and some commercials played on the living room’s crystal screen. Kendall led her down a short hallway into what must have been her room.

A neatly made bed dominated the space, with a patchwork quilt and a white headboard that covered half the window. The walls were pale lavender, which didn’t fit Kendall’s style at all. Then again, why bother repainting if you planned to move out next month? Zack was the same way; he was still waiting for his ‘real’ life to start, and he ignored the life right in front of him.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

Kendall opened her closet and reached her hand toward the back corner of the rack. She pulled out a camouflage jacket a second later. Or was that a shirt? Camille couldn’t tell.

“Here we go.” Kendall passed her the hanger. “Try this on.”

“Okay . . .” Camille accepted the hanger uncertainly, shooting another look at their surroundings. “One question first—how did we end up in your bedroom?”

“Oh.” Kendall smacked her forehead. “Guess I should have started with that, huh?” She pulled out a few more items, then gestured to the whole set. “I bought this stuff a few years ago when I was dating Zack, and I haven’t worn them since. Guessing I won’t need them down in Arvendale, either.”

Camille felt her smile stiffen. Things had always been awkward when Zack talked about his ex-girlfriends, and she knew far more details than she would have liked. At least he and Kendall had parted on good terms, so things could have been far worse.

Another part of her wanted to know more. How had they started dating? Who made the first move? Zack never talked about those parts with her. One day he was single, then he was dating someone. It happened like a magic trick behind the scenes, but it only happened to other people. No one had ever told Camille what she was doing wrong.

“Come on.” Kendal’s voice pulled her back to the present moment. “Try on the shirt!”

Oh, so it was a shirt. Camille slipped off her sweater and blouse, draping them both over the back of Kendall’s desk chair. She was still wearing a white tank-top, so modesty wasn’t an issue. She pulled the camouflage shirt off its hanger and threw it over her shoulders.

The fabric felt sturdy in her hands, maybe even waterproof. The arms were a bit short on her, but she could hide that by rolling up the sleeves. A row of buttons ran down the front, with two chest pockets secured by button-down flaps.

“Looks cute,” Kendall said. “Zack will love it.” She shut her bedroom door to reveal a full-length mirror. “What do you think?”

Heat rose to her cheeks at the mention of Zack. Was this really what he found attractive? Camille wouldn’t have described this as cute. If anything, this shirt made her look more fierce, with its broad shoulders and high collar. It also looked a little ridiculous with her knee-length skirt and loafers, and she used her hands to cover the bottom half of the mirror.

“I guess it works,” she said as she fidgeted with the collar. It wouldn’t have been her first choice, but money had been tight since she’d moved out of her dad’s house.

Kendall nodded. ‘What’s your shoe size?”

“Seven and a half, but it depends on the shoe.”

“Perfect.” The other girl held up a pair of military boots. “Try these next.”

Camille sat on the edge of Kendall’s bed, slipping off her loafers and lacing up the boots. The fit was snug, but not in a bad way. She took a few steps around the room, and her whole body felt more solid. Was this how Zack felt all the time? No wonder he strode through the caves like he owned the place.

Kendall pulled out a second shirt. This one was darker than the first, with a hood instead of a high collar. She also produced a utility belt with even more pockets. “So what do you say? Thirty lorins for everything?”

Camille blinked. “You sure?” She hadn’t seen the prices downstairs, but her last pair of boots had cost well over fifty lorins, never mind the shirts and belt.

Kendall waved that away. “Like I said, I won’t need this stuff down in Arvendale. They’d just sit in my closet gathering dust if you didn’t give them a good home.”

“Well, in that case, how could I refuse?” Camille unzipped her purse and retrieved thirty lorins in cash. No sooner had they made the exchange than she got her next message from Gia:

Quest Complete: Dress for Adventure.

Your Combat attribute has increased by 0.25.

Your new Combat is 8.25.

~~~

Camille spent the next few days in the library, talking to Gia, and gaining her first skills. By the end of Carday, she’d tied Zack for level three, and amassed a solid collection:

Camille Reeves’s Skills

Research Level 4

Cataloging Level 4

Working Memory Level 3

Focus Level 3

Problem Solving Level 3

Guitar Level 2

Cleaning Level 2

Research and cataloging were both craft-based skills, tied to her job as a librarian’s apprentice. Meanwhile, working memory, problem solving, and focus were all cognition-based.

“What?” Zack’s eyes widened one night at the Valley View. He hadn’t earned a single cognition skill yet, despite his best efforts. “How’d you earn those?”

“Which ones?” she asked.

“I dunno. How about focus?”

“I was focusing.” Camille grinned and took a satisfied sip of her wine.

Zack gave her a frank look. “I’m being serious here.” This always happened when they drank together; she’d start acting silly after half a glass, and it took him two two full drinks before he caught up.

She swallowed and cleared her throat. “I think I earned it while I was reading a book.”

“Yeah?” He leaned forward, resting his elbows on the polished wooden bar. “How long were you reading?”

“I don’t know. An hour? An hour and a half?”

“An hour and a half with no breaks?”

She nodded.

“I’ve never been much of a reader,” he admitted. “But I focus hard while I’m training. Especially with martial arts. I’m surprised that . . .” Zack trailed off, furrowing his brow in annoyance.

“What’s up?” she asked.

“Gia says I get distracted easily, but that doesn’t seem fair to me.” He shook his head. “Anyway, what were we talking about?”

He was obviously joking right now, but that didn’t mean Gia was wrong. Zack had plenty of room for improvement, but she still believed in him. He’d already changed a lot since they’d discovered the mana cores, and Camille felt the same change in herself. Life was already so much richer now, with the system encouraging her to improve herself.

At the same time, a wave of uncertainty lingered in the back of her mind. Was this it? Did these skills represent everything she’d learned in the first eighteen years of her life?

A part of her knew that wasn’t true. Earning a skill implied an above-average performance in a field. That meant she wouldn’t get points for reading, writing, arithmetic, or any other basic skills she’d learned in school.

Still . . . Zack had gotten seven points in martial arts. Seven! And she hadn’t earned more than four levels in any category. What did that say about her? Did it mean she was a mediocre librarian? Or maybe she’d spread herself too thin?

Zack knew exactly what he wanted out of life, and she’d always admired that about him. His goal might be futile, but he took steps toward it every day, like a fish swimming against a river’s current. Meanwhile, she sat in a still pond, letting life go by around her.

Gia had told her not to worry. This system was designed to help people improve themselves and look toward the future, not to measure themselves as they were today. But the doubts lingered all the same.

Aelorday came and went, and she and Zack spent some time in the forest practicing their shooting. Camille missed every shot at first, but she kept practicing until Gia awarded her a skill point in marksmanship. By then, she could consistently hit a target from seven yards away. It wasn’t much, but it would do for close-quarters combat.

Then Terenday arrived, and they all returned to the mines.