“What do you want to talk with me about?” I pull my arm out of his grip.

“You,” he says. “You’re getting into dangerous territory, Gavin.”

“Dangerous territory?” I ask. “What do you mean?”

“Yesterday,” he says. “You got lucky in that fight against Warren, here. He could’ve killed you. The only reason he didn’t best you was because of your last-shot Magic Bolt. Had you not done that, his strike would’ve been much, much harder.

“Then,” he continues without letting me interrupt. “You attacked the announcer. You could’ve been arrested for that, or imprisoned there as one of their warriors. Your stats are only marginally better than your average Adventurer, and they would’ve loved getting a stronger one to fight you and put you down – for good.

“After that,” he says. “You decided to go and try the Dungeon with only two people. Sure, you didn’t want to go past the first area, but that doesn’t matter when you don’t have a fucking healer. If you fight in there for twenty minutes, the kobolds not just spawn more, but also get stronger. After thirty, a much stronger kobold appears – a miniboss. It’s not recorded because only a few people know about it, because no one is fucking stupid enough to do that. The Experience simply isn’t worth it, especially in a larger party.

“You rely on your Class way too much,” he continues. “And on top of that, you forget that you’re mortal. You both are. You had an exhausting day yesterday – you traveled for several weeks, then sat on a hard bench for a few hours before foolishly attempting a battle in the Coliseum on an empty stomach, then, after you got your ass kicked, you went and challenged a Dungeon. Yes, you’re rested today, and had food in you, but that doesn’t mean today was a good idea, either. Getting stronger is one thing, but you’re putting your life at risk unnecessarily. Don’t push yourself to your limits, Gavin – rest, recover, and most importantly, be intelligent when you fucking train. You’re no use to your prince or your kingdom if you’re dead.”

I stare at him in shock. He’s like Chief when he rebukes me – he doesn’t just rebuke me, he tells me exactly why he thinks I’m being stupid or foolish. And his reasons… make sense. I didn’t feel exhausted yesterday, but I did when I finally laid down. I put that off to work on expanding my Mana and Health.

“Okay,” I say, and he looks at me in shock.

“That’s it?” He asks. “No whining or arguing?”

“You’re like Chief,” I say. “Warren and I are going to go do stuff while I wait for my Mana to refill. Any recommendations?”

“Stay out of trouble,” he says. “And rest. The best thing you can do after a battle is rest. Let your body recover. Don’t just return as soon as your Mana is full. Only do the Dungeon once a day, and you’ll be better than if you do it two or three times a day. You’ll let your body and mind recover. Doing that allows you to function better, and decreases the chance of a momentary lapse of mental faculties that can result in serious injury or death. Think about Warren as well – yes, he’s a fighter, but his Spirit is still recovering from buffing you yesterday. You have an absurd regeneration, not everyone else.”

“Understood,” I look at Warren. “Sorry, Warren.”

“Huh?” He asks. “I heard my name, but can’t understand a word of what you said.”

“I said sorry,” I say. “I didn’t mean to drag you into doing a Dungeon twice in two days when you’re still recovering your Spirit.”

“I chose to,” he shrugs. “What language are you two speaking?”

“My native tongue,” I answer.

“I thought you said you came from-”

“He knows?” Collin asks in Jozan, and I nod. “You need to be more careful what you tell people, Gavin. You might end up telling the wrong person.”

“I’m using him,” I say. “He’s a fairy, and the fairy king knows my former king. If he finds out that my former king is dead and gave me a mission to speak with him, it’ll make it easier. I trust Warren as a fairy.”

“You need to be careful of who you trust,” he warns. “Not everyone is deserving of it.”

“Got it,” I say.

“There are a few places I recommend you hang around,” he says. “Especially if you’re looking for information, though a few are for fun or entertainment, or for physical training. The first of them is here. Hunters and Adventurers from all over enter the Hunters’ Guild, and it’s a good place to pick up information. For you, that’s the best way.”

“Got it,” I say.

Warren and I hang around the Hunters’ Guild for a few hours, but we don’t gain much information, despite listening and speaking to over a hundred different Hunters. At the end of the day, we return to the inn for the night. Having spent twenty-eight silver on meals, I can only afford three nights’ rest with a single bed, or one for two.

It makes me wonder just how good loot is later on, for hunters and Adventurers to be able to afford equipment and stuff.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

In our room, I inform Warren that I’m going to be increasing my Mana Pool, and he sighs, telling me that the spirits got agitated when I did that.

“Ask them why it bothered them,” I say.

“Do it yourself,” he says. “You can speak Silvar.”

“I can’t hear them talking.”

“You can sense them, but not hear them?” He looks surprised, then his mouth forms an ‘O’. “They just said that fairies have an inherent trait for it. You’ll have to gain the Skill for it, but they said it’s incredibly difficult, far more so than any of the Skills you’ve gained before. Since when do they speak Velusan? Oh, it’s just that one. I don’t know him. He’s apparently the one who unlocked your Spirit Affinity. He says neither of us can use his power right now…”

Warren looks curious, and I can’t blame him. A Spirit whose Gift is so costly that we can’t harness it must be truly powerful.

“Can you ask him why me increasing my pools upset them?”

“He’s telling me,” Warren says, then frowns as he listens. After a minute and a half, he finally speaks again. “He says it was less that you were increasing your pools, and more the method of doing it. Condensing the resource like that is an unusual method, and can lead to interesting results.”

“What kind of results?”

“He won’t say,” Warren shrugs. “Said to let you discover them for yourself, and that you should focus solely on condensing your Mana, and pretty much ignore your other pools.”

I stare at him.

“He did!” Warren protests. “That wasn’t me! He said to tell you to focus solely on your Mana!”

+0 INT!

“The System seems to back that,” I say, then lie on my back and get to work on expanding my Mana Pool.

By the time I can’t bear the pain anymore, I’ve gained three more MNA, and quickly fall asleep. In the morning, Warren and I make our way to a stall to buy four sweet rolls, Warren paying because I spent my silver on our accommodations, then we eat them on our way to the Dungeon.

Over the next week, we fall into a routine. We wake up, buy four sweet rolls from the same stall, battle in the Dungeon, then hang out in the Guild Hall the rest of the day, save when we leave for lunch and dinner. At the end of the day, we return to the inn and get some rest, with me pushing the limits to my MNA.

It frustrates me that I can only increase it by three each day. I want to be able to do at least five each day, but three gets too painful for me to do.

The last couple of days, my Mana feels weird. It hurts, and I’m wondering if it’s from making it denser this much over such a short period of time. Twenty-seven extra Mana in a space designed to hold that much less. 145 Mana in a space designed to hold 124 Mana. It’s affected my battle ability, though I’ve gained around the same amount of Experience each day. These last few days, we’ve had to stop early because of pain using my Mana when I start to get low.

That doesn’t change that I gained three Wizard Levels and three Scout Levels, though. I gain between seventy and eighty Experience for Wizard each day, and half that for Scout.

Warren gained eight Martial Artist Experience, gaining a single point each day, save for today, when he gained two.

I’ve been paying for everything from my earnings, so my personal wealth is low, but Warren isn’t paying for anything, so he’s got a fair amount in his supply. We’ve got a couple of more days before our room needs to be paid for again, but by the time it expires, we can probably pay for another week.

Collin heard that someone fitting Michael’s description has been spotted all over the continent with no explanation for how he got that far that fast, and no one necessarily sees him go into the Dungeon he came out of, even if they sometimes do.

In other words – Collin told me, without saying it in case someone who speaks Jozan overheard – that Michael is utilizing Dungeons’ second form’s transport ability, and is likely trying to find a way back home.

That, or he’s mapping out the connections.

Collin said that the last time he was spotted was a month’s travel down the coast, going into a Dungeon, two weeks ago. No one he’s gotten word from yet has seen him since, which means either he’s still wherever that Dungeon led, or he’s dead.

I hope he’s alright, and that he’ll still fight for Jozan, even though he’s not actually Jozan.

Collin said that as soon as Michael reappears, all Guilds are under instructions to tell him his presence is requested here.

I’ve been listening to accounts from hunters and Adventurers, and that lines up with what they say, too. I’m not sure how much of what Collin gets from other cities and towns isn’t actually just from people passing through here.

For Kade, Collin is drawing a blank. He can’t find a single individual who fits Kade’s description, seeing as Kade could really be any boy on the continent who’s fourteen and a Novice. This continent, much like the one I’m from, only has brown-haired, brown-eyed humans.

Which means, of course, that I draw the eye.

Hopefully, though, that means Kade will hear about me and know where I’m at, since I’m someone people talk about, and not just because of my looks.

Hear about and come look for me, if he’s still alive, that is.

The lack of any sign of him at all concerns me. Kade isn’t someone who’d not be noticeable. He’d be noticed, and well.

Warren and I leave the Guild Hall after Collin gives me the update on Michael, which only just got today, and make our way back to the inn.

“I still can’t manage it,” Warren says as we pass through the lobby of the inn, referring to condensing his Spirit. “You make it seem to easy, but I know it probably isn’t. I’m going to try it again tonight, though. Imagine what I could do if my Spirit got really high.”

Yes. Let’s imagine that.

A very powerful, low-Level fairy. He’d be kickass in a fight, even more so than he is now. People would severely underestimate him, just like they do me.

“Hello, Gavin,” someone around a year older than me approaches me.

Wesley, Human 3, Novice 8

“Do I know you?” I ask.

“You haven’t aged a day,” he says. “Since the last time you saw me. What the hell happened to you?”

“Who are you?” I ask, then summon a Magic Bolt. “Either tell me, or fuck off.”

“You don’t recognize me?” He frowns, then laughs. “Of course! It’s been a year, and while you have the luxury of just not aging, some of us still age. Plus, I changed my name, so your freaky ability to see our stats wouldn’t have reminded you. Though the fact that I’m speaking Jozan seems to have eluded you.”

Speaking Jozan?

We are speaking Jozan, aren’t we?

That’s two people in a row I’ve not caught that with…

Looking him up and down, I realize that he looks different from those here. Brown hair, brown eyes, but unlike those here, he has the curly hair prominent on my continent.

“Kade.”