I walked out of the door with a smug expression on my face as my invisibility faded. I didn’t get much time out of it, but I learned something valuable.

If I could fool Sally, even if only momentarily, then even as pathetically weak as the ability was right now. It could still be useful. I may have wasted it for the day, but it was worth it.

Less than a moment later she spotted me and led the rest of the examinees in my direction.

“When did you get a stealth skill, Gonads?” She asked as she fell in step with me and led us towards… wherever we were going.

“It’s part of my armour’s abilities,” I replied. “It’s not very useful yet though.”

“If you ever make it to the continent you’ll find armour that’s better than even my skills.” She said quietly. “It’s fierce over there though, much more dangerous than in Havar. And I don’t just mean 'cause the monsters are stronger.”

The continent. I’d heard people talk about it before. Supposedly it was a higher-tier place filled with high-level monsters and adventurers to match.

Director Lucas’ father lived there, or so he’d said. I wondered what kind of man he was. Lucas once told me that he’d been exiled from his family. A man powerful enough to do that to a gold-rank adventurer must be a sight to behold.

Sally led us towards the interior gate, past Taylor’s Tailor, the first store I’d ever entered in the city. I hadn’t been inland since I’d arrived in Havar.

Every quest I’d been on was either on a smaller island off the coast or under the city itself. Outside of the cultist compound and the area of palm tree jungle, I’d arrived in, I didn’t actually know anything about the island itself.

I didn’t even know its name.

Apparently, there were other towns and villages dotted about somewhere, but Havar was the only city. I wondered what they were like.

Havar had a high population of lycanids, catonids and humans, with small minority groups of other races dotted around. I wondered if that was the same for the rest of the island. I wondered what other races even existed in this world.

As we crossed the bridge leading out of Havar, I caught the back of a huge, armoured lycanid. He turned as we approached and moved aside as he caught Sally’s visage.

“Your transport is waiting for you up ahead Miss Sally.” He said curtly in a husky growl.

She nodded her thanks and we continued onwards. Panda was waddling close to me, idly smoking his bamboo pipe as we went.

He was going to be so pissed if we had to spend a long time in the transport. He didn’t have any books to read and worse, he’d be in close proximity to Bell who would no doubt pester him.

We rounded a corner near the bridge and Sally halted the group in front of our transport. It was an open-backed truck in olive green with a symbol on the hood.

The symbol was made up of the letters A and S where the S hung from the middle, horizontal bar of the A. It was obviously an Adventure Society symbol, but not one I’d seen before.

“Right, pile in crew,” Sally said as she stood on the step which led into the cab of the truck. “I’m driving and we have quite a bit of distance to cover. Don’t worry though, I’m sure there will be chances for you to… stretch your legs.” She finished with evil undertones as she winked at me.

Reggie and the other guy climbed aboard first, though they looked pretty disheartened. I think they were friends with that Milicent guy who’d started a fight with me.

They probably weren’t too happy about having to work with a guy they’d openly laughed at not long ago. Especially when that same guy shot their friend’s hand off.

A strong part of me wanted to do my own thing and let them fend for themselves but Sally had already said that she was grading us on teamwork so I’d have to let that childish notion go.

I needed to pass this exam.

Bell climbed up into the back of the truck and I lifted Panda into the truck bed behind her. The truck’s rear had curved metal beams which decorated the back. On the back of the cab itself was a retracted, material canopy which looked like it could be pulled over the beams if needed.

It was nice to know we had rain protection, though so far the weather in this place had always been sunny.

“It’s always sunny in Havar,” I mumbled to myself as I climbed in. It reminded me of a TV show I used to watch with my wife on an evening after work.

I took my seat on the uncomfortable wooden bench, leaving my right leg to loll off the back of the truck. It reminded me of a WW2 troop transport and also looked eerily similar to the one I’d stolen to escape the cultist compound.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

I wondered if all the land vehicles in Havar were just old versions of our own, with magic fuel sources. On the sea they had pirate ships and yachts alike, so maybe somewhere someone had a Ferrari.

That’d certainly be something, a magic Ferrari.

The truck trundled into life, as I imagined Sally slipping on the mana-sucking armband that powered these things, and we set off.

The truck bounced uncomfortably down the main road out of Havar and we passed by the barn that Panda and I had stayed the night in on our way there.

I wondered if the little girl who was living in the farmhouse was doing ok. However, that thought didn’t last long as I realised we were heading straight towards the palm tree jungle and I groaned internally.

“Stupid steroid test cat,” Panda muttered under his breath.

I looked towards him, I’d been looking ponderously out at the road and had almost forgotten I wasn’t alone.

“What’s wrong mate,” I asked, pulling my leg inside the truck, and turning towards him.

“I don’t have any new books to read.” He said exasperatedly. “I’m a sage and I need my books to increase my sagely wisdom.”

“You’re a sage?” Bell asked, looking towards him in wonder.

Panda ignored her and looked away, folding his stubby little arms. He usually loved female attention, maybe it was the squeezing that had soured him towards her.

“He’s a daemon,” I answered in his stead.

“Isn’t that just old-timey speak for demon?” She asked.

“That’s what I said when I summoned him!”

“Mistakes like that are exactly why you should be grateful that you did summon me, kid.” Panda huffed, still refusing to look at Bell, or even acknowledge her existence by the looks of it.

I ignored him and continued talking to the girl.

“Bell, that’s your name right?” I asked, I knew it was because I’d been sitting next to her when she introduced herself to Sally, but it seemed like an easy way to keep the conversation going.

“Yup, but my enemies call me The Destroyer.” She replied with a slight smile. “And if I heard Sally right, your name’s Gonads right? I’ve got to say, that’s a pretty weird name. I don’t know what it means here but it’s definitely not a person’s name where I come from.”

Panda chuckled and began to turn towards Bell before catching himself and quickly turning back around. He quite literally had his back to her as he stared out of the rear of the truck.

“No…” I replied with a sigh. “That’s just what Sally calls me. My name is Kaleb.”

“You shouldn’t lie about your name Gonads,” Panda said loudly.

I shot him a look but he was still facing away from Bell so I doubt he saw me.

“You’re not from around here then?” I asked Bell, brushing past Panda’s comment.

“No, I’m from… somewhere pretty far away.” She said wistfully. “I really like it here though, it’s a lot more exciting than where I come from.”

“I’m not from Havar either,” I replied.

The truck hit something and I bounced painfully on the bench. I looked around, annoyed, and realised we were fully submersed in the palm tree jungle now. The shade was a welcome touch but the bumpy ride got even worse.

I made a quick mental apology to my ass, then looked back towards Bell.

Her teal-coloured hair was wafting in the breeze. I couldn’t believe that people who looked like anime characters actually existed in this world. Funny coloured hair, a round face and large eyes. They were the hallmark of anime girls.

Just as I had that thought the truck rolled to a halt.

That was fast. I thought. We’d barely been driving for twenty minutes.

“Everybody out,” Sally announced, pulling herself out of the window and banging on the roof of the truck cab.

We all complied, piling out of the truck, and moving around the front to join her.

“I told you we’d be stretching our legs frequently.” She said menacingly as she gestured towards a large… thing that was blocking the road. “Let’s do some solo battles to start with. Bell, you’re up.”

I looked at the thing that was blocking the road and I couldn’t make heads or tails of it. It was a large, grey ball. It looked like a boulder, apart from that its body moved up and down ever so slightly.

That was it, there were no eyes, teeth, legs, arms, nothing. I focused on it and the notification popped up.

You have discovered a new monster:

Dhur

The Dhur is a type of earth elemental, common to dry, arid climates. It’s just a big magic rock, there’s not much more to say really.

They’re quite tough to kill but they don’t usually attack unprovoked.

In fact, I’d say you’d have to be quite bold to attack this boulder. Though I guess after your run-in with the Slime Queen you’re already bald enough.

Ah, wordplay. How I have missed you.

“You can do better than that,” I said, raising my head to the sky with a smirk on my face.

“Who are you talking to?” Sally asked with a furrowed brow.

I looked down to see the other examinees staring at me like I was tapped in the head. I felt my cheeks redden as I hastily muttered: “No one.”

It definitely came across as a little sheepish as Bell smiled at me and then walked towards the dhur.

“Wait Bell, you’re a healer, aren’t you? Isn’t it dangerous to take that thing on alone?” I called after her worriedly.

She looked back at me with a confused expression and opened her mouth but Sally muted her with a raised palm.

“Shut it Gonads, just sit back and watch.” She said with a knowing smile.

She nodded to Bell who shrugged and continued walking towards the large, grey boulder monster. It was at least three times her height.

Sally obviously knew something that I didn’t, but I had no idea what that something was.

Bell strolled up to the thing calmly without drawing a weapon.

Is she a DnD monk? I wondered. There’s no way she’s gonna pull some karate shit and chop the thing in two with her hands is there? However as I thought about it, I realised how awesome that would be.

I just couldn’t see it though. She was a cute, anime-looking girl in a white robe. If that didn’t scream healer, I didn’t know what else did.

She walked a little closer until she was about twenty feet or so away from it, then looked back towards the group.

“You might wanna move back.” She said in her sweet, innocent tone.

Then something changed.

Her face contorted into an evil grin and her eyes deadened. Suddenly that sweet little girl was nowhere to be seen. In her place was a woman with the face of a psychopath.

I knew that look. Sally had it too. There was no mistaking it.

Bell… was a battle junkie.

“It’s fireball time, motherfucker!” She yelled.