I awoke to the sound of bells in the far distance. The bells seem to have gotten to Luin as she went ostrich-mode once again, pushing her head under the pillow I had given her. I got myself up and got dressed. The stench of my clothes hit me. I would have to ask about a cleaning service. I looked over at the staff in the corner of the room and wondered what would hatch from it. Or how long it would take to hatch. I looked back over at Luin and smiled at her.

“Ok, Luin, I’d let you sleep, but I want to find a healer for your tongue today. After that, if you want to stay inside the inn while I go about my day, you’re more than welcome too.”

Luin pulled her head from the pillow and jumped up and down on the bed for a moment, visibly excited. I patted her on the head, and we walked down to the unpopulated common room. We sat in the same seats as yesterday and waited.

The two kids came out of the back curtain a bit later and eyed us. “Ma, the man with the blue dog is ready for breakfast!” the Human child yelled back into what I assumed was the kitchen.

Moments later, the Sugar Glider Beastkin came out with a tray and over to us. She placed a large plate of eggs and some kind of sausage in front of me and a bowl of cut-up sausage in front of Luin, who dug in as soon as her fingers were free of the bowl.

We both laughed at the Kobold’s antics. “Thank you for cutting that up. She inhales her food.”

“It was nothing. So what kind of friend of my brother’s are you?”

“The student kind. Horrow is willing to forgive his debts if he trains me.”

“What? That old coon is going to let him out of his clutches? He on his deathbed or something?”

“Not that I know of. I did some saving and killing. Horrow gave me the letter of introduction, didn’t even tell me about it. Can you tell me what Horrow did to incur the debt of your brother?”

“Ha. It wasn’t my brother’s debt. It was the town of Mythtides. My brother decided to shoulder the debt himself as he was The Guild’s Guildmaster. I believe they called it a spacial tear, happened outside our walls. They say it happens when a new dungeon spawns. Well, that new dungeon spawned not far outside our gates. The thing is, it was an open dungeon, not one of them tower dungeons we have in the town now.

“See, open dungeons are bad news for everyone. The monster that spawns in those can leave the area and wander around. The town went into siege mode as the monsters began attacking our walls and killing anyone unlucky enough to be between towns.

“The dungeon began spawning Azure-level monsters by the handfuls. The adventurers began dying in droves, and the town looked like it was lost. A few days later, monsters just stopped showing up. Then the next day, Horrow and what remained of his team showed up.

“They had been traveling here to sail out when the Dungeon spawned and decided to take the core for themselves before anyone else came to claim it. They took the core, but Horrow lost his wife and a dear companion in doing so.

“Horrow sold the core to Hiroaki at a tenth of the price they could have sold it for, and The Guild established the dungeon at the town’s center. The team wanted nothing to do with running a Dungeon and to remove themselves from any ties with the core, as not to remind them who they had lost.”

“Oh. What can you tell me about the Dungeon’s core?”

“Not much. You should ask Hiroaki as he’s the one tied to the core.”

She filled me a mug with the wine and left us to our meal. More of the inn’s guests came from upstairs and took their places through the common room as we finished.

We left the inn and headed for The Guild. I was surprised when the hall was already partly full. A gaggle of adventures was grouped up near one of the receptionist’s desks, and we wandered over to see what was happening.

“Ah, you made it, just in time!” came a familiar voice from the middle of the crowd.

The entire crowd turned to stare at me, and I felt Luin hide behind my legs before pushing her snout between them. Hiroaki pushed his way through the people and slapped my shoulder.

“Looks like you’ll have an audience today. I hope you don’t disappoint.”

I shuddered as I tried to come up with something to say, but Hiroaki just laughed and pointed to the back set of double doors. I followed him out, and those who had been starring followed behind us.

Outside was a vast opened area enclosed by a large stone wall. I couldn’t see any buildings over the wall. Many workbenches were to my right and left, and the back two-thirds of the area was covered in sand. I followed Hiroaki onto the sand and over to a large circle of stone that was slightly raised above the sand. Those who had followed began to encircle the circle and kept their eyes on us.

“Have your companion leave the circle. Don’t want him to get hurt.”

I looked down at Luin, and she nodded and ran outside the circle and turned around, sat on her ass, and watched us. “‘Her’ name is Luin,” I said.

“Noted. Before we begin, I will test you for your rank within The Guild. I want you to throw everything at me and fight like your life is on the line. Don’t worry, even if we injure one another, this here will instantly heal any wounds,” he said as he stepped back and placed a hand on the top of the stone circle before a flash of a green-tinted field of some kind shot up into the air.

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A white spear materialized in Hiroaki’s hand before speaking once more. “Any questions?”

“None.”

Hiroaki’s innocent-looking face turned into something unsettling as he began closing in at me. His spear’s point aimed at my chest. I summoned my Tier 2, Ice Lance, first, deflecting his spear up. Hiroaki began to spin, his spear whipping around and coming around to my right incredibly fast.

My upper body covered itself in my Ice Armor as I tried to block the attack. My lance shattered, and my chest armor took the blow without breaking. I was flung to the side and crashed into the sand. I got back up and summoned another lance. Hiroaki looked at me than his spear before laughing.

“What kind of armor is that? That isn’t just ice, is it?”

“It is,” I said, confused.

I caught our audience murmuring between themselves. What had he expected to happen? End the fight with that blow? I looked over at my arm where I had taken the blow. My arm was slightly numb, but the ice had no cracks I could see.

“Not many can take a blow from a Mythril weapon, Zeal. Mythril has the nice side effect of disrupting Mana, yet your armor ignored my spear like it was made of steel. Interesting, very interesting. Now I want you to attack, hit me with your best spell.”

“Are you sure?”

He barked another laugh. “Yes, I’m an Amber Class Adventurer. I can take it.”

Being that high of a class meant he had some pretty good resistance. I summoned my Tier 1 blue Fireball spell and let it rest in my hand, and looked at the confused Beastkin. I didn’t think he could resist it. I wouldn’t throw it directly at him. I pushed my hand forward and shot the blue ball of fire to the ground in front of him.

I caught the glint of a shield of some kind form in the air in front of him before the Fireball hit the ground two meters away from him. The explosion was deafening inside the cylinder of green. My mind guessed the field didn’t let anything in or out. When I opened my eyes, they went wide. My fireball had shattered his shield and thrown him back into the green wall.

I watched as his arms and parts of his face finished healing. Those parts that had hair had not grown it back. The noise of our audience came rushing in when the green field vanished, and two of our watchers ran over to the smiling sugar glider.

Hiroaki pushed the two away and stood up. He looked down at his now smooth-skinned right arm. It was the first time I believed I saw a sad expression on his face. Then he touched the right side of his face and ear before screaming. “Vylria!”

A blonde-haired, beautiful blue-eyed woman walked out of the crowd slowly. She didn't seem to rush and began laughing when she saw Hiroaki’s face. “It’s about time someone gave you a shave, furball.”

“Damnit, Vylria. Please grow my hair back. I have meetings later today.”

The laughing blonde touched his arm before the hair burnt away on his body began to grow back slowly. When he was restored, he pushed past the blonde before grinning at me. “Well…,” he tried to say, but I just raised my palm to stop him and moved to his side to see the blonde.

“How much for your services?” I asked the now confused healer.

“You look perfectly well for fighting The Guildmaster.”

“Luin! Come over here, please.”

I turned to see the skittish Kobold looking around at everyone who was now looking at her. She looked around before darting over the circle behind my legs and looking up at me with those golden eyes.

“Show her, Luin.”

The very now confused-looking healer gave me a look before looking down at Luin. Luin looked at the blonde before opening her mouth. The healer let out a gasp before bending down and looking closer at Luin’s served tongue.

“Who did this?”

“Her now dead alpha.”

“Alpha?

“She’s a Kobold and long story. Can you heal her?”

“I can. Can she understand us?”

I nodded.

Vylria placed a hand on Luins head and caught her as she slumped over. “I knocked her out. I would have to remove the scarred tissue before regrowing the tongue. I didn’t want her to hear that. I will fix your companion, free of charge.”

She stood up, Luin in her arms, and walked back into the hall with a bit more urgency than she showed Hiroaki. When she vanished behind the doors, a smaller kid ran up and hugged my legs.

“Thank you, sir! I was the only one who bet on you. I bet my whole copper and got almost a gold! Thank you for beating the grumpy Guild Master!” The kid yelled before running into the hall.

“What the hell! He didn’t win!” shouted Hiroaki.

Our audience began laughing before one spoke up. “I’ve never seen you on your ass before, Hiki. That kid just took all our beer money. We all had bets on the time it would take you to knock him out. Yet he still stands, and you were the one on your ass.”

Hiroaki grumbled before pinching the sides of his nose. “What in the hell kind of spell was that? That was at least a Tier 3 Fireball spell.”

I tried to explain it to him and the others interested, but no one could grasp the idea of a hotter flame. One of the adventures was able to augment his idea of hotter orange fire, but that was it.

“Ok, you can defend yourself. I can see two runes on your Physical Stigmata. Could you show us your Magical one?”

I let my Ice Armor spell vanish and pulled my shirt over my head. Those who had stuck around let out gasps and shouts of surprise when my nine petal flower with the void rune at the center could be seen.

“You got your ass kicked by a prodigy, Hiki,” said the same tall brown-skinned man from before.

“I’ll give you B Rank, Zeal. I’ll let them know when we go inside. Now everyone, clear the circle. I need to train this beast for a bit.”

Over the next couple of hours, he didn’t train me. He more of beat the knowledge into me. If I made a mistake, it hurt, and he let me know why it was a mistake. The greenfield around us was healing the wound before it could ache. The instant healing and the fast bites of pain were a fantastic motivator, and we stopped when my arm flashed white. I mentally willed my Physical Stigmata window to display.

[ Physical Stigmata ]

Rage: Rank 4

Hammer: Rank 1

Sword: Rank 1

“Very good. Tomorrow, I’ll train you with the bow,” said Hiroaki