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Entering the courtyard, the adventurers were all chatting lightly as the sun began to flow over the guild’s wooden palisade walls.

Jay, Mark and Kel waited patiently as they chatted quietly – though it was mostly Jay and Mark holding the conversation, Kel still yawning intermittently. Before long, Michael was standing behind a crude wooden podium as he glared at the crowd – the crowd simultaneously becoming silent in response.

“Congratulations. You all have the basic knowledge to start your adventurer journey. Local adventurer guilds such as ours will buy the drops you get from monsters – similarly, you can buy these drops from the guilds. You will be paid for monster drops in either gold or credit, many adventurers preferring credit as it’s safer to travel without gold – though this credit can only be used to purchase monster drops from the guild, or exchanged for gold for a small fee.” Michael gestured to the guild behind him.

“We also extend and offer to you to join our guild. As a part of the guild you will have access to our knowledge such as dungeon locations, quests and like minded adventurers to form a party with. You can also join the military – a military escort will be coming in approximately 3 days to take you to a larger city and begin your service training. It’s…” Michael pulls out a paper to read from in an emotionless tone “an opportunity to serve your country, your king, and achieve greatness. You will be given the proper training to achieve your potential and become a brother among many.”

Clearly, this message was intended to be read with an inspiring tone, yet this was competition to the guild, so Michael only read it as a formality.

“Of course, you can also become a lone adventurer or return to civilian life.” he shrugged, his body language seemingly mocking either of these options.

Folding the note, he put it back into his pocket and made one final announcement.

“Some of you will be chosen by the class trainers for more advanced, tailored lessons. Those of you not chosen can still pay for these lessons. Now, sign-up to the guild can be done at any of the booths here.” he pointed to three simple booths around the compound.

With that, he left the podium as many adventurers began making their way to the booth’s while a few waited, considering their options.

“So, what are you thinking?” Mark asked Jay.

“Well, I wanted to avoid joining the guild but I need access to dungeon locations and the relevant information if I want to survive. It would be certain death if I entered a locked high-level dungeon… What about you?”

“Fair enough. Ah, I was actually thinking about joining the military. It seems like it would be good to get further training by them and have a more stable income.”

“Seems risky. You could just become another number to them. Though I have never seen the military in our small village, so who knows” Jay shrugged “How about you, Kel?”

“Military.” Kel smiled, not giving a reason.

“Oh, fair enough.” Jay looked at the adventurer guild building “Well, we still have 3 days before your escort comes so I guess we can still do a dungeon together huh?” Jay smiled, looking back at Mark and Kel.

“Yeah… but maybe tomorrow? If I’m going to leave, I’ll need to get some things at home in order, say goodbye and whatnot.” Mark half-smiled as he looked toward the gate._.

“Oh yeah. Fair enough. Well, how about we meet here tomorrow morning?”

“Sounds good” Mark smiled “And you’re coming too aren’t you?” he patted Kel’s shoulder – she simply nodded back and smiled, a true introvert.

“Well, I’m going to go sign up I guess. I’ll see you two tomorrow”

“See you mate, take care of yourself.” Mark put his hands in his pockets.

Kel simply said “See ya” as the duo began walking towards the gate.

Looking around, Jay found the smallest line and joined it, yet as he waited a voice sounded in his mind.

“Jay, report to the guild master.”

Jay sighed, leaving the line and began walking towards the adventurer building – some of the others in line behind him looked confused, while few looked at him like he was an idiot even though they didn’t understand the situation – perhaps they were the true idiots.

Entering the building, Jay only nodded at Margie the receptionist, she smiled back as he went to walk up the stairs and knock on Sullivan’s door.

It opened as he knocked, seemingly on it’s own as Anya wasn’t there this time.

‘I wonder why he got Anya to open it when he could simply use magic to open it’ Jay looked confused as he entered and sat down, the door closing itself behind him.

“Good morning Jay”

“Morning…” Jay looked confused since Sullivan said nothing for a moment “..How can I help?”

“Anya told me about the dungeon. You two went a long way. Further than anyone has been on their first attempt, and you did it as a duo. Seems like your class is quite strong.”

“Yeah. Anya’s skills really complemented mine.”

“Yes, it seems like you synergised quite well. She was telling me your.. Friends… couldn’t reach the bayrings at one point.”

Jay scratched his head a little embarrassed “Yeah. They are quite short. Good thing she was able to stun them.”

“Risky.” Sullivan glared at Jay with eyes like a predator, a pressure washed over Jay’s mind.

Immediately, Jay responded under the intense pressure “I would’ve sacrificed all three of them twice over, and then drawn the bayring’s away myself so she could escape if she needed to. She was not in any danger at that point.”

Jay had become better at lying, even enjoying it, but this was something that made his heart feel like it was being squeezed; while Anya was in danger at one point, Jay’s use of words made his sentence truthful.

“Good answer.” The pressure from his glare left as quickly as it came.

Sullivan read some papers in front of him “I’ve chosen you to be given advanced training from all three trainers. Obviously, you will join the adventurer guild and continue to party with Anya, in exchange we will protect your secret.” Sullivan didn’t turn his head upward from his notes, but his eyes looked up at Jay.

Jay only nodded in response as Sullivan looked down again and continued.

“Your first lesson will be with the manacraft trainer who I’ve instructed to teach you some ranged-based magic. These will be private so others don’t find out about your class – and don’t worry about the trainers, they have all been my companions since I was your age. Be sure to take some essence of your type… though I’m not sure what yours may look like.”

“Essence?” Jay questioned with a raise brow.

“Essence is something that’s moulded by your abilities into doing different things. For example, an ice-type manacrafter will carry extra water to perform ice-based magic attacks. Their abilities mould the water into becoming parts of spells. Think of it as an ingredient to make stronger spells.”

Jay realised that bones must’ve been his essence since he could freely mould them with his green gas – a physical manifestation of his manacrafting. He simply nodded “Sure. I think I can find something like that.” Jay held back a sly smile which almost appeared on his face.

“Good. Lessons start today. Your sign-up has been taken care of. You’ll progress to the advanced melee lessons when you’re finished with the manacraft lessons. Don’t waste their time.”

“Sure.” Jay said as the door opened behind him.

Sullivan gestured at the door. “See you next time.” the guild master said as he went back to sorting through some papers.

“Bye.” getting up from the chair, Jay left through the door.

Walking down the hallway stairs and into reception, Margie greeted Jay “Honey, your trainer will be here momentarily. Please have a seat and wait a moment.”

“Ok, thanks Margie.”

“She’s a nice lady” Jay thought “Probably one of the only nice ones who work here”.

She smiled at Jay and went back to her work while Jay went to the chairs. The only place for Jay to sit was next to an adventurer who seemed to still be in pain, Jay analysed him.

[Trenly – Level 4]

[HP 73%]

[MP 28%]

Trenly had his arm bandaged with a lot of padding around his shoulder. Jay quietly made conversation with him as he waited.

“Looks like you had it pretty rough” Jay commented.

“Mm. Never trust an entitled brat to watch your back.”

Jay smiled back “…I think I know who you’re talking about… how come you went with him?”

“He saw I was level 4, and you know how he is. I had no choice.” Trenly shook his head as the looked at his bandages.

“Ah, that sucks man. Bad experience for your first time.”

“Well, It wasn’t my first time. My father is a hunter and took me to a level 8 dungeon to level me up. But I was of no use in a level 8 dungeon, so I guess you could say it was my first time doing anything.”

“Oh nice. What’s your father do?”

“He’s a wild monster hunter. He travels to different villages hunting the monsters outside of dungeons. Usually makes the most money from quests rather than the actual monster drops.”

“Oh cool. So are you going to join the guild too?”

“After last night, fuck no. I think I will settle for a quiet civilian life.”

“Oh, so maybe a game hunter?”

“Nah, I don’t really even want to touch a bow again to be honest.” Trenly lightly gritted his teeth, still annoyed at yesterdays events.

At this, Jay realised he may have some skills with gutting animals since his father was a hunter.

“…ever skin a carcass and chop it up into the different parts? Like steaks, breasts, loins, stuff like that?”

Trenly curiously looks at Jay “Yeah… But I don’t know what the parts are called. I can just prepare a carcass for cooking – basic survival skills for a hunter. I’m most familiar with skinning the willowpad rabbits. Why’s that?”

Jay smiled “Well, I was running a butchery. I’m a butcher’s son.” Jay hinted “But now I want to do adventuring, though I need someone to run the business…” Trenly looked up at Jay who was staring at him with a mischievous grin.

Trenly was smiling at this point while Jay continued “Would you like to come by… tomorrow… no, actually, the day after tomorrow? Does it sound like something you’d be willing to learn?”

“Yeah, thanks so much. That would be great. I’ll give it my best, after my injuries heal that is.” he looked at his arm.

“Well, it’s a deal… Oh right, you probably don’t know where my butchery is. Do you know the snakeraven inn?”

“Yeah”

“How about we meet there at lunchtime in 2 days – the day after tomorrow – and we can walk from there to my butchery.”

“Awesome, thanks. Yeah, I’ll meet you there. Two days, lunchtime, snakeraven inn.” Trenly repeated as he smiled through the pain.

“It’s a deal.” Jay smiled back as the adventurer guild door opened.

“Seems like my situation isn’t so hopeless after all” Trenly thought to himself as he smiled lightly.

A man entered the room, dressed in dark-blue robes trimmed with a green pattern. He has red hair and was very tall, Jay reckoned that he was over 2 meters tall – about 7 foot. He glanced at Jay as he closed the door behind him.

“Jay.” he nodded.

“Hi. Sir.” Jay became more formal as he was realising this was his trainer.

“I’m Viladore,” he shook jay’s hand “the voice in your head.” he smiled, a positive attitude could be heard just from his voice.

“Oh, I see” Jay almost chuckled as he tried to remain formal.

“Looks like I’ll be training you.” he said as he was handed some paper from Margie. He signed it and turned back to Jay. “Come on Jay. Let’s head to the training area.” he said with encouragement as he walked to a door next to reception.

“He sounds way more friendly when he uses his normal voice.” Jay thought.

“Yes sir.” Jay followed him into a door next to reception, which opened into another hallway that took them deeper into the building before exiting out the other side – it was a small private garden, the manacrafter’s private training area.

“Any questions before we get started?”

“Not yet, but I’ll probably have some once we begin.”

“Sure. Well first, sit in a cross-legged position. I’ll be analysing the ambient mana around you while I instruct you.”

Jay assumed a cross-legged position on a nearby rock in the garden as he began his private lessons.