Eggs, bacon, and pancakes form an array of delicious tastes and textures. Breakfast is said to balance blood sugar levels and even kickstart your metabolism. Many might even consider it the king of meals especially since at Pteili the food is free. Do you want coffee? Well, Bam the bartender has your back. How about freshly squeezed orange juice? Bam has got you covered. It was a shame.

It was a shame when Tim shook me awake shouting, “Hurry up. We’re going to be late.” He’d shouted using his outside voice. Not fair considering I was inside, and it was the break of dawn. I got up. “Late for what?” There had better be a good reason.

“You agreed to go on a beginner’s quest last night. We don’t really have any money right now and need to get situated as adventurers. Carlos is already waiting in the hallway.” I had.

I put on my pants, my boots, and my jacket before leaving my room. I made sure to grab my hatchet. Soap waddled after me. Carlos stood outside munching on sour skittles. “Yo, what’s up,” he said. I just nodded. Tim pointed at the stairs and hurried us along.

“So why can’t we wait a little longer for breakfast again.” I voiced for the third time. Tim would only respond with, “Should have woken up sooner.” or ignore me saying, “Faster. We can’t be late.”. In a few minutes, we had descended the building and arrived at our destination.

The minotaur, Tiaza, stood waiting for us to arrive. “I am so excited. We’re going to be hunting some slimes today. They typically don’t give items. If they do, they’re relatively useless although I heard someone got a [goo of grappling] not too long ago. Apparently, the adventurer was scaling roofs with it all day.”

“Neat,” I said. I imagined myself being the goo version of Spiderman. Maybe I could make myself a superhero suit. ‘Goopman saves the day’ had a pleasant ring to it.

“Follow me. Once we get to the slime basin, I’ll explain things in more detail.” We took off. The slime basin happened to be a few miles from the guild. It took us about twenty minutes to get there with a brisk jog.

The slime basin was a hundred-yard indent into the desolate ground. The slimes rolled around sucking up the geothermal magic through their teeny monster pores. They would occasionally bump one another but didn’t seem hostile at a distance.

“Let me show you how it’s done.” Tiaza took off punching the slimes splattering their outer film. She didn’t seem to care about the acidic ooze splashing on her hide. I imagined humans would be in trouble if they didn’t take care to dodge the goo. The guild information had given these basic slimes a zero on the pH scale. That is sulfuric acid levels of acid. “See. Easy, right.” I don’t think she even considered the fact that we might be horribly burned.

Since the slimes were slow-moving and weak to piercing, we wouldn’t have any trouble killing them. Tim could stab them from afar and step back once he nailed the sucker. Carlos had grabbed a bow knowing he’d need something ranged. That left me with my hatchet. A slime would kill me even if I hit it with my weapon. The resulting splash from being popped would disfigure me. I was going to just watch the monster-hunting until Soap gave me inspiration.

It was fairer to say Soap was the inspiration. The little guy was made from marble and wouldn’t be damaged by the acid. On top of that, he had a layer of soap which was slightly basic. I grabbed the little fellow and threw him at a slime. Soap landed on the slime popping it like a pimple. Unsure of what had happened, he raced back towards his owner.

By the time Soap arrived back to me, his soapy water had washed away the slime’s acid. He was ready to be fired once more. I picked him up and threw him at the next slime. Splat went the slime. I repeated this a few times until I had killed a dozen or so. Soap never picked up on the fact he was killing slimes. “This is abuse” Carlos mumbled shaking his head. I felt a little guilty after that. Soap didn’t have nerves though. I didn’t think so anyway. He didn’t seem to be hurt from landing on their squishy bodies or on the ground when I missed.

Tim was busy stabbing with his spear. “Stab stab stabbity stab” filled the slime basin. Tiaza, an experienced adventurer, would give him tips on how to stab quickly and accurately. You didn’t want to miss since doing so would mean getting melted.

Carlos peppered the slimes using the bow. Unlike the spear, the bow has a steeper learning curve. Shots whizzed past the monsters hitting the ground. He’d hit one slime with a lucky shot. Tiaza couldn’t help him with a bow as she’d never used one before. “I consider myself a melee specialist.” she’d said.

Noon had arrived before long. We had carefully collected the pools of acid formed from dead slimes. According to Tiaza, the acid was useful for etching metal. The membranes could be used to make gloopy bags. The one item we’d obtained was a [slime amber of clicking]. If you squeezed it between your palms, it would make a clicking noise. We played rock, paper, scissors to see who would get the item. I won.

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It took a hundred clicks to get back to the guild, and I wasn’t talking about a military term for distance. I squeezed my new prize. “click”. This piece of amber was satisfying. It was still semi-solid after forming. Think stress ball that made noise. Both Carlos and Tim were bummed they had lost. I had gotten the first item since coming to this world, and it was an absolute banger.

The receptionist, Caff, was sitting at his desk when we’d got back. I told him we had loot to sell. I’d originally thought the guild would buy the various monster parts, but Caff pointed me towards a section of tables where merchants sat waiting to make a deal. Tiaza had said I could get five copper per pint of slime and ten copper for every membrane we had. Items had a more variable value, but I didn’t intend to sell my slime amber. It’s worth was around a couple silver. In dollar terms, a copper was a single dollar while a silver might be worth twenty dollars. It would be weird raining down gold coins rather than hundred-dollar bills.

“Looking to sell?” The wizened old merchant asked.

“I am. I have these membranes worth twelve copper apiece.”

“I can only go as low as six copper. Doing anything otherwise would bankrupt me.”

“Shall we meet in the middle then? I think that’d be ten copper”

“What kind of middle is that? We both know eight copper is in the middle of six and twelve.”

“Fine works for me”

The old man handed me three gold coins and a silver for the forty membranes my group salvaged. I haggled him with him for the acid. I ended up making two silver for the gallon of acid we’d brought back.

Turns out slime hunting made more than minimum wage. Each of us was a gold and a silver richer than when we started today. That was six hours of work and a fun time. If I didn’t die, I would be living life with a set of perfect pitch dentures. It was the adventuring dream.

I ordered a farm-raised griffon steak. Would it be white meat or red meat since griffons were part bird and part lion? It turns out red meat as I dug into the medium-rare steak. Carlos and Timothy were also eating. Timothy had gone for a famous lizardman dish. It consisted of beetles tossed in a savory sauce. Carlos was eating pasta Bam had recommended would go well with his persimmon old fashioned. It was a virgin of course.

Even if the drinking age was younger in Praedum, we hadn’t hit it. To drink, one had to be eighteen. This was the general rule for most races based on a percentage of an adult’s lifespan. A flyman’s life would last about a month, therefore he’d be able to drink in eight days.

“With a few days fighting these slimes, we’ll be able to afford some armor.” said Carlos, “I’ve been told a cheap set of leather armor costs around two gold.”

“How well would it protect us from the acid?” I needed to know if we could somehow protect ourselves from the slimes.

“No. Leather is permeable so the acid would get through. Also, the leather would be damaged from the acid. We should buy a couple backpacks and fill them with water. We’ll want to pour running water if someone gets into an accident.”

We decided to spend the rest of our day, training. Carlos would practice with his bow, while Timothy would practice with his spear. I figured I’d use some of my time practicing with my hatchet and teaching Soap commands. He couldn’t speak, but he could signal information if I tied the slime amber to one of his arms. I would have to ask around for a book on Morse code. That would give him a way to speak.

The ax instructor happened to be a demon. Flox assured me he had no beef with angels and wasn’t an evil creature. He was humanoid in the shape of a man. His head was that of a raven with gnarly horns growing out the sides. His eyes had a red glow to them. Apparently, fiends had made all of the other demon species look bad. “They have no self-control,” Flox added. Flox found that flaw detestable as a demon of knowledge.

“When you wield the ax, you start with the grip. You can grip the hand with one hand or both hands. Gripping different parts of the handle can also be important. If you grip the end, you’ll give your swing more torque. You can also grip closer to the middle or top of the handle to adjust how quickly the strike lands and your weapons reach. I’d recommend a shield if you’re going to sport the one-handed variety.”

He gave me a practice ax to familiarize myself with. I moved my hands trying each of the different grips. Flox would point out mistakes when I gripped the ax too hard. Eventually, he would have me swing at his practice shield. My ax dropped from my hands because I wasn’t gripping the ax well. The second time my hand vibrated from holding it too hard. It was only a couple more tries until I successfully impacted his shield.

He then started changing the angle of the shield. That’s when things got hard. My ax would sometimes deflect off of it leaving me wide open. In a fight, I would be a goner.

An hour later, I completed my first lesson. My muscles ached from the continuous exertion. He’d also had me perform kinesthetics which would help me become nimbler on the battlefield. I took a shower relishing the warm water. They must have used some sort of heating item or form of magic. Supposedly, a spellbook could be found. It usually granted a discipline of magic in which people could improve.

As dusk began to fall, I went off to look at the sky. I walked past the guild’s entrance and made my way to a large boulder. Praedum’s two moons glowed white, and the stars densely populated the night sky. During this time, I let my thoughts wander.

What had happened to Craig? I never ended up asking. A wereasite? Did it affect others in my hometown? Would those freshmen get help? I hoped so. I wondered about what my parents thought. For five kids to go missing, my town would make national news. That’s if Aivocindo and Sammie didn’t have a way to cover up the story.

I didn’t have the answers. Did I want answers though? What if they’d erased my parent’s memory of me? It bothered me. It scared me. What if I somehow came back to them as a stranger?

I just sat there. An hour became two hours. Two hours became four hours. Finally, I got up and headed inside. I had decided I had a responsibility to find out. Tomorrow. I walked past the guild common area, marched up the stairs, and slid into my bed. My first day adventuring had been successful. Tiring. Definitely fascinating. But most importantly, it was an opportunity. An opportunity to take control of my life. Something I haven't had for a long time.