Seeing a stream of red blood endlessly gush out of the decapitated body of the frost buffalo, Jane turned away feeling a little queasy. One of her weaknesses was gory scenes, she absolutely hated seeing anything like it. In the event she had to look at something gory, she could do it— she did have classes that included dissecting beasts before— but if she didn't need to look, she wasn't ever going to.

The late afternoon sun shone down on the ice filled glade they were standing in, something almost fully created by the rampaging buffalo. Looking at all the spiky blocks of ice it made when its icy breath hit something, or the ice spikes that stuck out a few feet from the ground, Jane was thankful she was still intact.

Taking a breath in and fighting through the exhaustion that slowly began to work its way through her body, she walked towards the group of four other classholders. They were standing around the frost buffalo discussing what they should do with it.

Leading the conversation was the master classholder. He had short white hair that seemed to naturally spike upwards, and golden eyes that constantly scanned his surroundings for anything out of the ordinary. This man stood over a foot taller than Jane herself, probably one of the tallest men Jane had ever seen before.

“We can't leave it here since it might attract other powerful beasts. Its body itself is incredibly valuable as well.” The master classholder said with a deep voice, his sharp eyebrows furrowed in thought.

“How are we gonna move it then?” The brawler asked Klein, the master classholder. “Our porter is new and wouldn't even have enough space to store this entire thing.”

“We could cut it into chunks and take it back slowly but that would mean someone would have to stay here and keep a watch over it.” Kylie raised a suggestion.

“That would be too inefficient.” Klein shot her down. “The best option is to call for another more experienced porter to store this entire thing in one shot.”

Everyone else nodded after hearing his idea. That would be the easiest and fastest way.

“Excuse me?” Jane’s voice came behind them. “Were the wolves also dealt with?”

Klein turned to her and nodded. “Your town's guards are handling them with the help of our team's porter. With the size and condition of the pack, it should be finished already, but if you're worried we can head back right now to check.”

Jane nodded. She wanted to make sure everything was alright with her fellow Redwood residents.

“Which one of you two wants to keep watch?” Klein looked at Kylie and the brawler.

“I got it.” The brawler said and plopped down next to the frost buffalo's dead body. “Don't take too long.” He leaned back, hands behind his head, and rested his muscular body against the buffalo.

Klein rolled his eyes at the brawler before he came next to Jane and patted her shoulder, his tall frame easily overshadowed her body. “You must be Jane then.” He looked down at her and smiled.

Nodding, she asked curiously, “That's me, how did you get my name?”

“One of the town guards told me… I think his name was Jax.” Klein replied. “He told me a new enigma was out here delaying a frost buffalo all by herself. Quite a successful feat for a new classholder to handle an ‘A’ class beast all by herself.”

Jane shrugged awkwardly. “I had to do something and I was pretty confident I could at least escape… well I almost didn't, but thankfully you guys swooped down and rescued my ass.”

“You did a good job considering your experience.” Klein chuckled. “It's fine to be confident, just be a little more careful next time.”

“I'll try my best.” Jane replied seriously.

“Good good.” Klein smiled and said, “If we wanna get back fast I could either carry you, or If you can keep up with us, I can use my unique skill to boost your speed.”

Smirking a little, Jane summoned her phantom hands once again. She felt the strain of having used it so much already, but having them out for a little longer should be okay. “I got my own way back.”

Looking at her floating hand, he nodded with an interested gaze. Then with a wave of his hand, Kylie and the earth elementalist took on a faint green hue and sped off into the forest at inhuman speeds, while he followed behind them by bounding and gliding across the forest with large steps.

Not wanting to be left behind, Jane hopped onto her phantom hand and flew just over the crimson tree tops and quickly caught up to the rest of them. In record time they sailed through the forest and breached the edge of town, making it back into Redwoods farming district.

They came out a little ways away from her place in some random field nearby that was swarming with all of Redwood's hundred or so guards. On the sidelines a little away from the field were a few curious farmers wanting to see what was happening– including Jane's parents.

Jane flew over the dead bodies of just under a dozen midnight wolves that were splayed out all over the grassy field, heading towards her parents. She jumped off her phantom hand and landed in front of her parents with a shy grin.

Jeff held Abigail in his arms while Rosalie was pacing back and forth worried but the second she saw Jane land in front of her, she dove at her with an embrace;

“I'm so glad you're safe!” Rosalie wiped a tear from eyes, something Jane hadn't expected to see.

After Rosalie let her go, she looked at her mother and said, “I'm not that easy to take down.”

“I know, you're a strong woman.” Rosalie replied. “But that doesn't mean I wont worry about you, especially when I heard you were taking on a frost buffalo! Even I know they're dangerous”

“I'm sorry—”

“Don't apologize.” Rosalie cut her off. “You saved Redwood, I don't wanna imagine what would've happened if you didn't step in to stop the beast. I'm proud of you— even if I was worried beyond belief.”

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Jane smiled and hummed an affirmative response.

“That's my daughter!” Jeff came up behind them and patted Jane on the shoulder. Seeing the happy face of her dad and her older sister, Abigail also cheered by raising her fists in the air.

That got a laugh from the rest of the family.

“Jane!?” A woman's voice sounded to her left, a very familiar energetic voice she had heard countless times. Looking to her left, Isabel Longbox, her old roommate and close friend came jogging over to her.

“Isabel!” Jane raised her arms up and hugged Isabel who came running at her.

After a quick hug, Jane let go and looked at her friend she hadn't expected to run into so soon after graduating together. “What are you doing here— oh yes you're working for the reinforcement corps, I almost forgot!

Isabel wore one of the kingdom's red tunics, indicating she was also a novice classholder like the earth elementalist. The golden symbol on her chest was that of a double door, representing that her class was a porter. Below her tunic she wore tight black leggings and thick combat boots.

Aside from her attire, Isabel herself had long curly orange hair that she let flow freely down to her chest. She had light freckles covering the mid section of her face, encompassing her smaller cute nose.

Her golden eyes stared at Jane for a few moments before she let her mouth loose. “I also didn't expect to run into someone so soon. Ah it's so good to see you!” She went in for another quick hug then looked to see the three others next to her.

“Oh you must be Jane’s parents!” Isabel walked over to Rosalie and hugged her— much to Rosalie's surprise, but she didn't mind it. “I'm Isabel Longbox, one of Jane’s friends!”

“It's nice to meet you Isabel, you can call me Ma, or Rosalie, whatever works for you.” Rosalie introduced herself. “You must be… the porter right? Jane has told us some things about her friends but I think she’s saving the good stories until you all visit later.”

“I'll call you Ma then, that sounds fun!” Isabel chuckled and then came over to Jeff to hug him but stopped when she saw the cute gremlin resting in his arms. Her eyes expanded and she snapped around back to Jane. “Who’s this adorable creature?!”

“That's my sister.

“You never told me you had a sister, and one so adorable at that!”

“I didn't know I had a sister until I got home either.” Jane shrugged, getting a surprised gasp from Isabel.

“Ah that must've been a real surprise! But you have a sister now and she looks just like you!” Isabel leaned down towards Abigail and gave her a friendly smile. “What's your name? I'm Isabel!”

“Abigail!”

“Abigail huh, what an awesome name!” Abigail giggled after hearing Isabel praise her and raised her arms toward her wanting to be carried.

“Looks like she wants you to carry her.” Rosalie said smiling, while she came up next to Isabel.

“Can I carry her?!”

Rosalie nodded and Isabel excitedly, but carefully, picked up Abigail and held her in her arms feeling the sweet warmth of an adorable child. She rubbed her cheeks against Abigail's getting a collection of more giggles from her.

Before Isabel could enjoy holding Abigail for longer, Klein walked over to them. “Isabel, I need you to head back to the capital and call for an expert porter to come here.”

“Hm? What's up? I'm a little busy.”

Klein sighed and rubbed his brows in frustration. “Why are there a bunch of weirdos on my team— ah whatever, I just need you to head back to the capital.”

“Aww I was just reuniting with my friend and meeting her family! Look at this adorable creature, isn't she cute?” Isabel slightly raised up Abigail in her arms to show off to Klein who could only sigh even deeper.

“You have five minutes, then head back and get an expert porter, please.” Klein made sure to keep his calm. “Don't forget okay?”

“Sure sure, don't worry I got it.” Isabel waved him off.

Klein could only walk away and go back to helping the guards clean up the mess of wolves, feeling all the more so regretful he picked up another strange member on his team.

“So where were we, ah yes you must be Jane’s dad.” Isabel shook hands with Jeff who similarly introduced himself.

“How's work going by the way?” Jane asked Isabel. “It must be a little stressful being part of the reinforcement corps.”

“It's actually a pretty simple job, all I gotta do is teleport to where the leader tells me to.” Isabel handed Abigail back over to Jeff. “This is only my second time actually doing anything, most of the time we just hangout while waiting for a call for help.”

“How long do you have to work there again, three years?”

“Yep! After that though, I'm not sure what I want to do. Maybe do my own thing using my unique skill, maybe continue working for the kingdom— not sure yet.” Isabel shrugged.

The conversation continued between the two, occasionally Jane’s parents would chime in but for the most part it was just Jane and Isabel talking. Five minutes was a decent amount of time but also extremely short at the same time.

Before she knew it, Jane felt a gust of wind blow by her and looking to her side she saw Klein staring at Isabel and gesturing for her to leave already.

“Ugh, okay ya, I should probably get back to work.” Isabel gave in. “I'll get to see you in a few weeks from now so that's fine. It's still happening right?”

Jane nodded. “Now that I'm thinking about it, how are you getting out of work when you visit?”

“Oh, we get two weeks vacation per year so I'm taking my two already.” Isabel explained while she started to walk away. “And if anyone else wants to stay longer than I can take them back on my off days.”

“I'll see in a few weeks, bye!” Waving goodbye, Isabel found a nice empty spot of grass before she closed her eyes and concentrated. After a few seconds, motes of light swirled around her and she vanished from the grassy field, having teleported back to the capital.

Just as quickly as they had reunited, they had dispersed once again.

As for Jane, once Isabel was gone she had no reason to stay here any longer, she was exhausted and wanted to sleep. It was still the same blazing hot day that she spent the morning working on the house during, and feeling the sweat finally fade from her skin, the heat was beginning to annoy her once again.

“I'm going home to sleep, I'm too tired to do anything else today.” Jane said to her parents.

“Alright let's all go home together, I can even make you something to eat before you go to bed.” Rosalie rubbed her back gently. “How does that sound?”

“I can't say no to food.” Jane chuckled and slowly trudged back home with her family next to her.

They made it home quite quickly since they weren't too far away, only a few minutes of leisurely walking and they arrived. The second they walked through the front door, Jane made her way to the couch and lazily fell onto it while waiting for her parents to make an early dinner. She knew it was a little lazy of her to not help, but once her buttocks felt the softness of the couch, only food could get her up now.

Jane had no energy left to think. The rest of the day seemed to go by quicker as her sense of time was warped due to her exhaustion. Before she knew it, she had already finished dinner and was laying in her bedroom upstairs.

She didn't even hop into the shower to clean herself from all the grime she picked up after her long day, that required effort and she had none to spare. The comfort of her bed paired with her exhaustion made her fall asleep almost immediately even though the sun was still up.

Today was a long, long day for Jane.