As they approached the walls of Greenhearth they realised just how different the dungeon town was to Farholt, not only were the walls surrounding it made of the same strange rock-like substance that the nearby ruins were made of, cut into blocks and made into a wall like they would with normal stone. The number of guards that they could see patrolling these walls were also twice the total number of guards that were stationed in Farholt and seemed like they were better equipped as well. Yuliah explained that this was due to the higher number of monster attacks that occurred due to the proximity of the Dungeon.

“Well, well, brought another lot of kids back with you have you Yuliah,” one of the guards called out as they approached signalling someone behind the wall that he was on top of.

“Yeah, that’s right,” Yuliah answered happily. “The boys and their companions will be coming with me to the school, and I’ll be dropping the young lady off at the Musicians Guild on our way.”

The guard leapt down from the top of the wall causing Damian and Sonia to gasp in shock, but he landed easily revealing that he had very high stats and probably a Skill that decreased the amount of falling damage he took.

Now that they could see his face Kyle and the others were surprised to see that he was a young man who only looked a few years older than they were with healthy golden skin and had a fringe of straw-coloured hair that peeked out from under his helmet.

“Nice to meet you guys!” he said flashing them a bright smile. “I’m Revius.”

Revius then reached up and removed his helmet causing their eyes to widen even further in surprise.

“You’re a sun elf!” Kyle blurted out upon seeing the pointed ears that had previously been hidden by Revius’ helmet.

“Yes, that’s right,” Revius replied looking at Kyle oddly.

Sun elves were the of the races of non-humans that closely resembled humans, nearly all members of their race had the same combination of golden skin and hair as Revius and short pointed ears which were the only visible differences between the two races. Even their distant cousins, the moon elves were nearly impossible to mistake for being humans having skin tones ranging from very pale to grey with hair of a similar colour and longer ears that pointed out from their heads horizontally. Other non-human races that resembled humans were Wood Elves, which was a race that wasn’t actually related to the Sun or Moon Elves at all and had long pointed ears that ran up the sides of their head and a greenish tint to their skin and were known for their skill with bow and arrow. The various types of Dwarves who all came from the same world as the Wood Elves and were all short with powerful broad bodies and skin with a similar texture to rock, they were also known to be some of the best smiths and masons around. And finally, the Gnomes who were a short race of humanoids which when compared to the dwarves had frail bony appearances and usually had large noses or ears depending on the specific variant, they were often extremely dextrous and had excellent magical capabilities.

“They’re from Farholt,” Yuliah sighed causing Revius’ face to fall slightly.

“Oh, I see,” he replied sadly, it seemed that he was aware of Farholt’s reputation of being a place that non-humans weren’t welcome.

Kyle however had a wide smile on his face and placed both of his hands on opposite shoulders before bowing at the waist an action that was repeated by both Hal and Sonia as Damian watched them in confusion.

This was a traditional greeting among sun elves and upon seeing it Revius’ eyes widened in shock before he quickly returned the gesture.

“I-I’m sorry,” he stuttered in embarrassment. “I just assumed-”

“Don’t worry, you assumed right,” Kyle replied. “Most of the people in Farholt aren’t very welcoming to non-humans, that should change soon though.”

“I still shouldn’t have assumed.”

“Why not?” Kyle laughed. “We assumed you were human. Sorry about that by the way.”

Understanding dawned on Revius’ face, they had both made assumptions based upon the knowledge they possessed so as far as Kyle was concerned there was no need for them to hold a grudge because of them and soon he too was laughing much to the amusement of the guards standing inside the main gate which had opened fully while they were having their conversation.

“Yes, I suppose you’re right,” Revius said still guffawing. “Now, let’s get the paperwork sorted out.”

Yuliah sighed in relief, most of the non-human guards in Greenhearth would’ve taken offense rather than agreeing with Kyle’s logic so they were lucky that the one to greet them had been Revius.

To enter Greenhearth you had to provide the guards with your Level and Class, this was because of the number of Adventurers in town and acted as a method of making sure that if an Adventurer does cause trouble in town the guards had at least some idea of how to deal with them.

After they had filled out the forms Kyle had been obliged to awkwardly explain a little bit about his Class due to its unusual nature, something that the others had been quite interested to hear about but to their disappointment Revius had taken Kyle to a private room to take the required notes on his Class. That sort of thing was private information after all and even though they were Kyles’ friends it was against policy, so Kyle had finally been pressured into telling them later, Hal knew some things due to him working on Kyle’s chain, but he didn’t know much else about his friend’s Class.

Once he had finished doing that they were able to truly enter Greenhearth itself and looked around at the various buildings, most of which were larger than the houses and shops in Farholt and the people walking along the streets were even more interesting, there were just as many non-humans as there were humans and it was all that the Kyle and the others could do to avoid staring at them as they passed heading towards a large building made of the same substance that the walls were made of.

“You guys wait here, and don’t do anything stupid,” Yuliah said to the three boys and their companions as she led Sonia inside the building which had a sign with a violin and the words ‘Musicians Guild’ emblazoned on it.

“Well…” Damian said as they turned to look at each other. “This is definitely different to Farholt isn’t it. “You should probably keep it down Damian,” Fi said quietly as she glanced around at the people walking past. “From the reaction Revius had earlier some at least some of these people know about the way Farholt has been known to treat non-humans.”

“Right,” Damian gulped realising that announcing that you were from a place that discriminated against non-humans was a bad idea when you were surrounded by non-humans who were far more powerful than you were.

It didn’t take too long for a smiling Yuliah come walk out of the guild, “I think, that’ll work out nicely for her boys, now we should be on our way. We’ll come back after you finish up at the Adventurers School and I’ll take you all out for dinner at one of the local restaurants, how does that sound?”

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Agreeing that this was a good idea, they followed Yuliah down the street until they came to a smaller wall that surrounded what before today, they would’ve called several very large buildings but after seeing the city that their ancestors had once lived in could only be called larger than normal.

“So, this is the Adventurers School,” Kyle said looking at the sprawling complex that lay beyond the gate.

There were three large buildings which functioned as the main places where the different classes took place in, one for normal classes and lectures on various Skills, magic and other subjects that were important for Adventurers to know, one for training purposes and one that contained all the crafting facilities, there were also several smaller buildings that functioned as the dormitories that the students stayed in, and the main building that ran the Guild’s operations in the city and where the headmaster’s office was.

It was the main building that the group headed to first and upon entering they were once again struck by how many adventurers there were in this town. But Yuliah ignored all these distractions and marched them into a small waiting room on the first floor, telling them that she’ll be back to collect them when the principal was ready to see them.

She looked a little worried when she left but, after what had happened in Farholt this was no surprise to any of them. What happened was by no means her fault but the competition that she agreed to had been the thing that set the ball rolling, so it was likely that she would still get in trouble for what had happened.

About half an hour later she returned with a slightly grim expression on her face and asked Kyle to come with her.

“Didn’t go well huh?” he asked as he followed her down the hall.

“Better than expected actually,” she sighed. “But it does seem that Ryan’s arm is able to be fixed.”

“Well that’s good,” Kyle replied.

“Yes, but he’s decided that he’s not going to be enrolling here,” Yuliah said.

“Well that’s fair I suppose,” Kyle said slightly disappointed that his friend wasn’t interested in joining them after what had happened.

“He’s in here,” Yuliah told Kyle stopping outside a large wooden door. “Make sure you be polite.”

“Of course,” replied Kyle as he opened the door and walked inside.

Closing the door gently behind him Kyle looked around the office. The walls were covered in paintings and certificates that he had never seen anything like before and in the centre of the room was a large wooden desk that instead of being carved looked like it had been grown out of the floor and sitting behind it was a short but broad-shouldered elderly man who smiled gently at him.

“So, you’re Kyle then,” he said, his eyes twinkling at Kyle over his large nose as he gestured at a chair in front of him. “Yes, I can see the resemblance to your parents.”

Sitting down Kyle nodded politely at his words.

“And I’m Fi, Kyle’s companion,” Fi said.

“Very nice to meet you as well Fi,” the old man replied with a smile at the companion. “I’ve never seen a companion quite like you before, how very interesting.”

Kyle and Fi glanced at each other as he said this wondering if he knew something about her origins.

“Your parents are very proud the two of you, you know,” the old man continued. “In fact, I just got a call from them the other day, thanking me for giving you this opportunity.”

“I’d like to thank you myself sir,” Kyle said. “My Class would be quite difficult to develop on my own and becoming an Adventurer has been my dream for years.

“Yes,” the old man said. “Your parents did mention your Class and rest assured this is the place to go if you want to make the most of the opportunities it can give you. But where are my manners, I’m Galdon Lichton Guild Master of the Greenhearth branch and Principal of the Adventurers School.”

“Galdon the Vulcan!?” Kyle exclaimed upon hearing the old man’s Adventurer title.

Galdon the Vulcan was one of the most famous Adventurers that had ever lived. He was a half breed, with one dwarven parent and one gnomish parent, which was frowned upon back when he was born, which was over 150 years ago. Both dwarves and Gnomes lived longer than humans on average living as long as 200 years. His descent also gave him a decreased version of both the Dwarven Racial Trait which gave increased HP per point of constitution and the Gnomish Trait which gave him increased Mana regen and had used this to gain access to his own Unusual Class. Soon he was known for his powerful fire and earth magics as well as his mastery of his favourite weapon, a large halberd that rivalled him in size.

“That’s right lad,” Galdon chuckled as Kyle reached out and shook his hand firmly.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you sir!” He said excitedly as Fi watched his excited reaction with amusement. “But I had no idea that you were one of the people who trained my parents.”

“Well I like my privacy now,” Galdon sighed. “When I was young, I enjoyed being in the spotlight but I’m too old for that now, so I decided to open my own school to train as many talented Adventurers as possible. So, the only people who really know I’m here are the students and some of the higher ranked Adventurers.”

“…I see,” Kyle said, now that he thought about it his father had given him a similar reason for not going back to being an Adventurer when he had asked him a couple of years after the barghests had attacked Farholt when it had become obvious to the younger Kyle that his father truly missed the thrill of being an Adventurer.

“Anyway, that’s enough about me,” Galdon said his face growing serious. “What are your plans?”

“For when I come an Adventurer?” Kyle asked guessing that they had moved on from pleasantries and were no starting on the main reason for these interviews.

“Yes.”

“Well, part of the reason is because my parents were Adventurers themselves,” Kyle said with a slightly embarrassed look. “But the other reason is a story my mother told me when I was a kid.”

“Kyle if you don’t mind returning to me for a bit do you know why I chose to become an Adventurer?” Galdon asked.

“No.”

“Because people told me that I couldn’t,” Galdon said. “They said that a half breed like me couldn’t make it as an Adventurer. All I wanted to do was prove them wrong.”

“So,” said Fi rubbing her chin in thought, it seemed that Galdon had things much worse than Kyle when he was a kid. “What you’re saying is that your actual reason for becoming an Adventurer doesn’t have to be something that someone else would consider important, it just has to be something that motivates you.”

“That’s a good way of looking at it,” Galdon nodded. “It doesn’t matter if it’s embarrassing, it just has to be a reason that’s strong enough to motivate you even when you find yourself in a bad situation.

Kyle sighed before replying, “When I was a kid mum used t tell me a story about when this world was born from the parts of the old ones. She told me that it was in preparation for a war. But what she could never tell me was whether or not this war had happened yet.

“Ah, yes I know the story,” Galdon replied with a nod, in fact his own mother had told him a similar story when he was a child. “And this motivates you?”

“In a way,” Kyle replied, this was something that was confusing even to him, but he had always felt something when his mother told him this story, something that he couldn’t explain. “Lots people die in wars, so I want to become strong enough to make sure people I care about survive and I believe that there are Adventurers who can win against even the strongest soldiers.”

Galdon nodded giving Kyle a steady look, the boy had come here looking for the strength that they could give him, this was a common reason and one that many would consider to be selfish but in a world like this one personal strength could sometimes be the only thing you could truly trust. Kyle’s eyes were clear without even a hint of deceit reminding Galdon of the eyes of another young man despite the fact that Kyle’s eyes glowed with a faint light and the other boys did not.

“You remind me so much of your father when you look like that,” Galdon sighed shaking his head. “Very well, you may go to classroom C to be interviewed by one of the teachers on what classes you wish to take. Yuliah will show you the way.”

“Thanks,” Kyle said standing up and shaking Galdon’s hand once more before leaving the room.

After he left Galdon shook his head and sighed tiredly.

“When I think about what might be coming your way lad, I feel for you I really do.”

Outside the room Kyle found Yuliah waiting patiently for him.

“So how did it go,” she asked with a wry smile.

“You didn’t tell me that the headmaster was Galdon the Vulcan!” Kyle accused causing Yuliah to giggle.

“I thought it would make for a nice surprise,” she replied causing Kyle and Fi to simultaneously roll their eyes at her which only served to increase her amusement.

“Alright,” she said once she had calmed down a bit. “Which classroom are we going to?”

She already knew from the way Kyle was acting that he had passed the second hurdle to becoming a student, if he had failed to please Galdon there was no way he would have reacted in the way he had.

“Classroom C,” Kyle replied somewhat irritably.

“Alright, follow me.”