Shortly after Master Loroven finished talking with Auris, the cafeteria became noisy again.

*Gasp* “Is that Chalia?!” A girl exclaimed from the table beside us.

I crouched down a bit in my chair.

“You don’t remember Wren?” Selaena asked me, to which I shook my head. “Remember when you first used your dragon “aura” when you came to Kelten City? She was one of the three—as well as Geos and Richard—who came and saw you right then. She’s a good person, though she can get a bit too excited at times.”

Ooh, I think I remember that. I let out my dragon realm and *whoosh* these three people appeared suddenly, and it was really scary!

“Wren here is going to lead out in organizing the A-Rank groups for the—oh wait I haven’t told you what’s going on yet, have I?”

I shake my head “no.” I am absolutely confused.

“There’s been a dungeon break!”

“Huh, a newbie?” Someone said. “Hey guys, we have a pre-initiate!” someone else shouted. Pretty soon everyone was talking louder, and people were asking Selaena if I could join their group.

Eventually Selaena sighed and stood up. “Stand with me,” she told me, so I did.

Then in her crystal-clear voice, she spoke to everyone in the hall. “Everyone, if you haven’t heard, this here is Chalia! Chalia, say hi to everyone.”

“Hi,” I said, gripping her sleeve.

“As all of you are special individuals, qualified for dealing with confidential information, I will let you know that she is our very own dragon-kin.”

“Woah” “That’s so cool!” A few voices made sounds of surprise.

“That being said, she is also special in that she is connected to a restricted-class sentient.”

The room went silent. Not just quiet, but silent. Even the kitchen was quiet.

Selaena paused for a moment. “Now from what we know, this sentient has very little interest in us, unless she is threatened. That being said, we should also keep in mind what is in store for the future. We have seen what bonded individuals can do; and to this point, there has been only one in history that good things have been recorded about. It is our hope that this may be our second. This seems like a weighty matter, and to a point it is, but all I’m asking is to please help me keep an eye on her, and help me to show her that despite the things that have happened to her in the past, there are many good and kind souls in this world, and that life is worth protecting!”

“Ok, you can sit back down now,” Selaena said to me, in a softer voice.

“Well done Selaena,” Master Loroven said before taking a sip of his drink.

The cafeteria, again, became noisy, though not quite as loud as before, and I kept feeling different people stare at me.

“So, as I was saying,” Selaena started with a smile, “There is about to be a dungeon break. Normally a dungeon break happens when a dungeon has been around for a while, but there have not been enough people working to clear it out. A mana core is at the heart of a dungeon. It keeps drawing in mana and using it to create mana beasts. Mana beasts prefer living in a dungeon to moving on land, but if the dungeon fills up, there will be a dungeon break, and anywhere from a quarter to three quarters of all the mana beasts in the dungeon will go into a frenzy and rush out of the dungeon.

This is very dangerous to everyone living close to the dungeon, so lots of places pay the Mercenary’s Guild to protect them if a dungeon break is close to happening! We are in Kelten City, which is the headquarters of the Mercenary’s Guild, so most people who live here make their living by hunting mana beasts, and most of us enjoy the excitement of it, too! So that’s why everyone is so excited: There is going to be a dungeon break, and we are all about to teleport out and protect the cities close to the dungeon!” Does that make sense?

“…”

“Ah, I’m sorry that was a bit complicated for now. Uh, let’s just say, we are going to have sort of a party where we kill mana beasts together, and we will get lots of money for doing it!”

“Oh, ok,” I say. I like parties. Well, I think I would? I’ve never actually been part of one, but the people I worked for always seemed to enjoy their parties!

“Auris,” Selaena called, looking to her maid.

“Yes, ma’am,” Auris bowed.

“Please take Chalia with you to the breakout. Show her how to get set up with a rank D party and help defend the D-rankers and nearby C-rankers as necessary.”

Auris was silent for a minute, while her eyes opened a bit wider.

“Have a little fun,” Selaena added with a smile.

“Y-yes ma’am. Thank you very much!” Auris bowed again. “Come Chalia, we need to set you up with your group before everything starts!” Auris said with a little bit of excitement in her voice.

“Ok!” This is starting to sound fun!

Auris led me out to the courtyard in front of the main guild building, and there were a lot of people!

“Alright, Chalia,” she said. “Look into the sky. See the beacons shooting up from different places?”

“Mhmm. They have different colors”

“Yes, they do. That is very important, because in order to go through the war portal for a dungeon break, you need to have a party, and those colors tell you where to find people of a similar class. Copper color is for rank D, silver for rank C, and gold for rank A—or rank S if anyone doesn’t already have a role. There are other parties, but they are preformed by the Guild and usually have at least one S-ranker. As for you, we need to find a copper party, so pick a copper-colored beacon, and let’s go to it.”

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“Like that one?” I ask, pointing in front of us, and a bit to the side, but off in the distance.

“Yes! That will work just fine!” Auris replies.

After walking for a long distance, we finally made it to where the beacon was. There were magic lines that made a really big box to mark off this area for rank D people. Next to a machine that made the beacon was a person I know—Mr. Beldizon from the school.

“Miss Auris!” Mr. Beldizon gave a slight bow. “And Chalia, too. Glad you could make it. This will be a great opportunity to gain practical experience, as well as to help some people while you are at it. Making it here was the first step—now we need to put you in a party. Let’s see, I think Lisney’s party would be a good fit for you. Lisney, like all D-rank party leaders is a C-ranker. She has experience with dungeon breaks, so listen to her if she says to do anything differently, ok?”

“Ok!” I say. I’m good at following directions!

“Lisney!” Mr. Beldizon calls out.

“Yes, sir!” A girl walks forward with short, pink hair, leather armor, and a saber.

“Chalia, this is Lisney. Lisney, meet Chalia. Chalia is a long-swordsman with a draconic aura. She is unused to teamwork, but fairly strong solo. Please take care of her and teach her how to work with a party.”

“Yes sir!” Lisney bowed before turning to me. “Come, you should be our last party member, so let me introduce you to the rest and explain how we will be working together.” She motioned to me before walking toward a group of people close by. I looked at Auris, who made a waving motion, so I followed Lisney over to her group.

After introducing me to the rest of her party—the pugilist Kriv, the mage Mell, and the archer Ellis—she got down to business.

“Alright, so here is how our strategy is going to work. Ellis will mostly be on her own, as she will be focused on bringing down creatures from the sky. Mell is our only mage, so she will be doing what she can to heal, as well as helping with air control. Healing takes a lot out of her, though, so try not to get hurt if you can help it! We are not the last line, so it’s ok if a few creatures slip past us. If we get a big creature, I’ll try to keep it distracted while Kriv and Chalia work to take it down. Otherwise, you and I, Chalia, need to focus on protecting Ellis and Mell while taking out as many small creatures as we can. Got it?”

“Protect Mell and Ellis, and kill everything else. Got it.” I answered. I think I understand?

“Close enough for now. We’ll learn the rest on the fly,” Lisney said.

We spent a few more minutes talking about supplies, ourselves, and other random things until we heard Mr. Schraeder’s voice sound out over the courtyard.

“Mercenaries of Kelten City! As most of you know, you must have a party to use the war portal unless you are S rank or have special clearance. If you have not done so already, find a beacon with your corresponding rank color, or one rank below. Stick with your party, be careful, and prepare to FEAST!!”

“RAAA!” Everywhere around, people raised their arms and let out a shout.

“If you do not know where to go on the other side, talk with the nearest beacon holder. Meet with a guild staff at the gate to verify your party and get marked to be recognized by the portal. Good luck on the other side!”

Then everyone got up and started walking toward the portal. Each group would approach a guild representative and hand them their guild badges. The representative would then hold the badges up next to some kind of machine before handing them back. Then the group would walk through the portal.

We were one of the last groups to go through. Just before walking through, Lisney told us, “Be prepared; when we get to the other side, we need to hit the ground running to create space for everyone else coming behind us.” We nodded and walked through. Auris joined us, but she didn’t have to give the representative her badge. The representative even gave her a deep bow!

We enter the portal. Warm. That’s how I would describe it. It felt so warm and nice! It is just like being wrapped up in blankets on a winter night.

*Earp!* Gross! When I walked out on the other side, a bunch of people were puking all around me! What the heck is wrong with them?

“Hold it in!” Lisney said. “You’ll get used to it in time,” she added while looking at our other party members. She made a weird face when she looked at me though. I wonder why? “Let’s go!” Lisney shouted.

The portal put us almost exactly in the middle between the city and the dungeon. How did I know where the dungeon was? Because of all the noise and pretty, pretty lights!

“Chalia, don’t get distracted,” Auris whispers next to me.

*Huu* I take in a short breath. Right! I gotta follow Lisney! I start running, also using telekinesis to help me catch up to her.

“Chalia,” Auris says next to me. She looks like she is walking, but she is going as fast as I am! “Don’t lean so far forward. Good, better. Now take slightly shorter steps. Feel your feet moving in circles. Don’t just force your feet back, also pull them forward hard. There. That’s it. Now keep your feet a little closer to the ground. You will want to pick them up higher on rougher ground, but not on ground like this. Now drop your telekinesis. Alright, now let’s catch up without telekinesis!”

Woah, I feel like I’m moving as fast now as when I was running with telekinesis before!

“Lean a little further forward. There. Now take shorter steps as we go up this hill. Not that short. There about like that. This will preserve more of your stamina. Keep going, and remember how this feels. Remember, the small things are what make the difference when matched evenly with an opponent!”

With that, Auris moved back a ways from me as I kept going and eventually caught back up!

“Alright guys, do you see that hill over by the far side of the city’s front wall?” Lisney asked. “That’s where we are going.”

“But how are we going to get across that canyon?” Ellis asked.

The city is in a nice green grassland, but there is a canyon that runs down the side of it, and the side happens to be the one that the war portal let us out on. The canyon is too big to jump over, and while there are bridges a ways away, there aren’t any in the direction Lisney is leading us to.

Lisney replied, “Well, normally we would just jump or fly over it, as any mercenary in the upper c-rank or higher will have a skill like that. That being said, the guild has a system to help us newbies out, and it’s pretty cool! Hang on, and just watch,” she said with a smile.

A little while later, we finally got close to the canyon. Lisney then pulled out a magical device, activated it, then threw it up high into the air. It flew even higher, before exploding into a big puff of blue smoke.

“Get ready guys!” Lisney yelled as the ground seemed to shake a bit and there was a rush of wind from behind us.

“Hang on,” a deep voice suddenly whispered beside my ear. “Aaah!” I screamed. Yes, I really actually screamed. I was not expecting it! Right after this person whispered to me, two strong arms suddenly picked me up in a princess carry, and we sped up really really really fast, and we were flying!

“Woah!” I said when I was finally able to stop shaking from the surprise. Selaena had brought me down that very deep hole in the cave, but this is completely different! I can see so far, and the wind is nice and warm, and the world is so beautiful!

“Do you like it?” the man asked me.

“Mhmm,” I answered, “I like it a lot.” I kept looking out, but tucked myself in closer to his chest. It was still a bit scary.

“This is my favorite part of the job,” he spoke again. “Giving new guys a glimpse of the world. Anyhow, the name’s Ralph. I’m part of the Gale Force mercenary group. We are a high B-rank transport group. People, supplies, whatever—we take all kinds of transport and escort security jobs, so hit us up if you need anything once you’ve grown some wings. Now normally I’d just drop you from here and see if you could break your fall, but I can feel someone staring holes into me, so I’ll let you off gently. See you later!”

After saying that, I suddenly felt the cool of the ground on my back, and Ralph was gone.

Then I looked up and saw the rest of my party falling from the sky! Mell activated a spell and floated to a stop and Lisney and Kriv just fell into rolls, but poor Ellis just kind of flopped on the ground though. She slowed down a lot though, just before hitting the ground. I thought I heard some laughter from the sky, but I don’t know. I do know that Lisney was laughing really hard. That’s not very nice!

“Alright guys, let’s get over to that hill,” Lisney finally said, recovering from laughter.

And so we continued, getting closer and closer to our place to fight.

It is almost time.