I soon found myself escorting wagons full of timber heading to Ironwood. I mean, the name says it all, doesn’t it? I heard there is a Greenstone, a Yellow Brick, and a Forest Hill—very unimaginative names. Ironwood’s predominant building material is its namesake. The forests around here are thick with wood, which starts as a normal level sapling and grows to iron-level material, but older trees can grow into bronze or even silver-level.

Ironwood was the central hub of the region. It was fortified against the monster surges, which happened every ten years or so. I was ten when we came here for the last surge. There were a lot of adventurers around, and I think that is when Dad got my essence, as there were a lot of resources available then. Not so much now. The next surge is due in four years or so, and I doubt I will have my essences by then, although I will try. Realistically, I need the coin to buy my essences after the surge when the supply is plentiful and the prices come down. There is not just the essence to buy, but the awakening stones to get skills, so saving for when they are cheap is the smart thing. I might not do the smart thing as the draw of getting an essence as soon as possible is huge.

Evelyn's family set me up with a job. It is not my ideal job, but it is enough for me to start. At least it is not hairdressing. They run a timber mill and transport company, so I worked with their maintenance team sharpening saws and blades. The team leader was a skinny elf called Eve, and she was fair but strict. I learned that not all blades had straight edges, and the saws they used on the ironwood and other timber were specially designed. That stretched my skill. I could feel it levelling in those first few weeks.

I found a cheap room to rent, and after work, I would grab a quick bite and go to the market by the Adventurers Guild and sharpen blades for some extra coin. I learned that the adventurers with the Knife, Sword or similar essences usually conjured their own blades and didn’t need my services.

I obviously asked about the different essences and combinations they made. With my Sharpen essence, the common opinion was to get the Knife or Sword essence and then either the Swift or Adept Essence. They would combine together to give the Master confluence essence and some of the most powerful people in the kingdom have that combination. They were all common essences as well, so they were relatively cheap. I would need to get training to use a sword or knife in combat properly, and that would cost.

I could browse the merchant's lists, and the cheapest essences around here were the Plant, Iron, Wood, and Earth essences. I guess that was what we got for living in a forest. Animal essences were also cheap, and we got a lot of Wolf, Cat, Monkey and Bird essences. They didn’t interest me so much. It seemed that you could often get a summons from them, and I kept that in mind for Olivia. The Wolf is the cheapest essence because no Leonid ever wants a canine.

The Adept essence was a good one, and it provided a lot of proficiency skills, but while it was common, it was in demand, like the Might and Swift Essences, so the prices were higher. There were a lot of choices, even with cheap and common essences.

Essences were my first priority, and then I would worry about Awakening Stones to fill out my skills. It was tempting, though. After a month here, I almost had enough to buy a cheap awakening stone. Getting another skill was a huge temptation, but I resolved to save for the Essences.

Ironwood had a permanent Astral Space, which was the reason for the town. It was a low bronze rank level, but the saturation of the magic was much higher, allowing for much more frequent manifestations of magic. Magic manifests in several ways, the most common of which is in the form of monsters. Other forms of manifestations were quintessences, which are used in crafting and awakening stones and essences. You can’t search for the essences without being able to kill the monsters. Killing monsters is the main way to level your skills, but the Adventure Society guarded the entrance to the Astral Space so that people like me would not go in and just die. Monsters also give monster cores, which are used in crafting and to level your skills if you don’t want to fight monsters. It is an expensive way to level, but some people have the money to do that.

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Being at a low bronze level meant most of the monsters were at the bronze level, and if iron-rank monsters appeared, they came in packs. Silver-ranked monsters were not that uncommon. I was only one-quarter of the way to Iron Rank, so I needed a team to take me in.

Magic manifested in the normal world as well, and the monsters needed to be dealt with, but in the Astral Space, manifestations were more frequent.

Killing monsters was the whole reason for the Adventure Society, and they would issue contracts for members. It also meant they had the best essences and awakening stones. Even the cheaper uncommon essences like Blood, Bone, and Mirror were outside my price range, let alone the better ones like Balance and Dance. Then there were the rare, epic, and legendary ones. Only dreams were free, and only then if they were not bought from someone with the right essences.

The other way to get good essences was to join a church. Hero and Warrior were quite popular to join. Mum worshipped Knowledge. If you got the god’s favour, you could get divine essences and awakening stones. Mum never got anything. The gods hadn’t done anything for me, and I hadn’t done anything for them, so I was happy for us to leave each other alone.

Ironwood is good for a regional city. The Duke seems fair, and there are plenty of guards. I live in a less prosperous part of town and need to be careful when walking home at night, but I have learned to be aware of my surroundings, and I don’t keep a lot of coin on me.

I got home once and found my coin purse missing. I don’t know when that even happened. I lost my earnings for the evening, but I have learned that lesson. I now have a new coin purse, but all my coins are kept hidden under one of my belts. We Leonids usually only wear belts and shorts, so it was that or the boots, and I preferred to be barefoot.

During the second month of work, there was a call for volunteers to go into the astral space with a team to harvest the timber. I was so quick to volunteer.

“Theo, thanks for volunteering for the Astral space harvest,” Eve said, and I could hear the rejection coming. “We only need one of the maintenance team members to go, and Fred has two essences for your one, which makes his survival much better.”

“But aren’t the Adventurers protecting us?” I said, trying not to sound whiny.

“Yes, there will be two teams of bronze rankers, but that is no guarantee. It is a dangerous place.”

“But I could just go as a labourer,” I said.

“That would leave us too short-staffed here. I am sorry, I know you wanted to go. There will be other chances. We go in twice a year, generally.”

My heart sank. I wanted this. I knew I had not been here long, and Fred had been into the Astral before, but… but…

I walked home rather dejected. How can I get enough money to have an essence in six months? My goal was two in four years or one in two years' time. I was slightly ahead of the schedule, but how could I get the coin four times faster?

I sat in my stall at the market with my sign with the prices for sharpening common items. I watched the crowds go past. I would need four times the customers. They won’t pay four times the price. Can I get a pay rise at work? What other jobs would pay better?

Then, I saw her slipping through the crowd. She was a small and slender Leonid, dressed the same as everybody else, but she moved quickly and smoothly. I caught the flash of a small knife, and a coin purse was in her hand, and she carried on unwitnessed by anyone but me.

Should I change my evening job?