The realities of guild paperwork were often disappointing. That was true for today too, as a procedure that had started as some simple questions was turning into a multi hour questionnaire on Valar’s skills, personality, past, future and everything else he could imagine.

  “What do you think about spiders?” Selin listed off the next question with a flat tone.

  “What about spiders?”

  “Like them? Hate them? Do they make you feel icky?”

  “I guess I’m neutral?”

  “Alright… What about fire?”

  Valar stopped speaking for a long time. He wasn’t quite sure how he should answer, but Rodrick’s small cringe seemed to give the branch leader a hint on the topic.

  “We don’t need to-.”

  “Respect,” Valar nodded to himself. “I hold a respect for fire.”

  Selin looked at Valar for a short moment, shrugged, then wrote it down. “Believe it or not, we are almost done. Could you ever see yourself in a role other than healer?”

  Without even thinking, Valar nodded firmly. “Yes.”

  Rodrick gave him a puzzled look. He almost spoke up but reconsidered at the last moment, remaining silent instead. Selin didn’t.

  “How so? Offensive life mages are extremely rare and healers are generally more respected, you know?”

  Valar shrugged. “I still don’t want to be defenceless. Healing will be my main priority, but I will train other magic too.”

  The branch leader let out a small chuckle. “Good kid. I think that was all.”

  “So am I an adventurer now?”

  “We’ll have to get you a badge from the front desk, but after that… Yeah, you are.”

  The boy couldn’t help but smile. His unreachable childhood dream was becoming true a bit earlier than he could have ever expected. Rodrick’s friendly pat on his back didn’t feel bad either.

  Apparently Selin didn’t visit the entrance hall often. That was clear when the whole space went quiet as she descended the stairs, closely followed by both Rodrick and Valar.

  “Good e-evening b-branch leader,” the front desk clerk stuttered. “What can I do for you?”

  “We need an iron rank badge for Valar here,” Selin pointed at the boy standing behind herself.

  The whole room seemed to let out a sigh of relief. The branch leader’s visits downstairs could only happen for a few reasons, and a new adventurer getting their badge was maybe the best one of the lot. Each other option was a lot worse.

  “A-alright,” the clerk rummaged around in his desk. “We should have one right here… It of course needs to be engraved, but…”

  “I can do that, John,” Selin sighed. “Just find me a blank iron rank badge.”

  “Yes, I mean yes, I mean… Yes ma’am!”

  The room fell back into complete silence as the clerk fumbled around. He found the badge fast, which was a blessing, because Valar didn’t know if he could handle any more secondhand embarrassment. It was becoming rough.

  Selin snatched the badge from the clerk and thanked the man quietly. He took his chance and retreated further back behind his desk. Wise man. He’s suffered long enough…

  The process of engraving was surprisingly fast when done by a peak gold ranker like the branch leader. Instead of using any tools, the woman simply used her fingernail to write all the necessary information on the rectangle of enchanted iron.

  “This will function as your identification as an adventurer for all of iron rank,” Selin explained as she wrote Valar’s name on the badge. “Initially it will only display your name, team and role, but certain accomplishments may earn you stars.”

  “What are stars?” Valar asked. “Well, I know what stars are, but what do they do on my badge?”

  “Essentially, they show your trustworthiness to guild officials and other important people. They show that you’re accomplished for your rank.”

  “That implies that they reset when I rank up?”

  “In most cases, yes,” Selin pointed at Rodrick. “He has one star for saving you, actually, but that star will not be on his silver rank badge. It simply isn’t an impressive enough accomplishment for a silver rank star. If you accomplish something really amazing, the star may be transferred over to the next rank’s badge.”

  “Like what?”

  “For iron rank… if your whole team gets a star for something, your star will almost always transfer over. Other than that, accomplish something that isn’t expected from an adventurer at your rank, I guess?”

  “It’s a case-by-case thing,” Rodrick added. “As a rule, we don’t hunt those kinds of achievements because they are impressive for a reason. Most who attempt them just die.”

  “Isn’t that the truth,” Selin sighed. “Anyway, here’s your badge. Congratulations on becoming an adventurer, Valar.”

  The young life mage could have never expected the eruption of sound that followed Selin’s sentence. The painted glass windows of the building rattled with applause, shouts of encouragement and whistling. Valar noticed his own team clapping with the others, and they waved to him when their eyes met.

  “Damn you, Rodrick,” A shout came from the crowd. “We wanted a healer too!”

  Raucous laughter joined the applause as similar comments bounced around the space. Valar noticed himself smiling with the others and actually enjoying the attention for once. It didn’t feel like there was some malicious intent behind it. The adventurers were simply happy that he had joined their ranks against the enemies of humanity. This was different from the academy where he had only had a few people he could call friends. When looking at his badge, he felt like he actually fit in for once.

  The applause continued for a few minutes, but it did eventually calm down. The branch leader waited patiently, standing at the front desk, arms crossed and a slight smile on her lips. When the room finally returned to relative quiet, she spoke. “Now that that is out of the way, I have one more question…”

  A deafening silence fell over the room once more. Each adventurer waited for the next words coming out of Selin’s mouth with a mix of trepidation and glee.

  “Are there any of you who wish to challenge me?”

  Initially, the room remained silent. It seemed like there would be no challenges issued today until…

  “I could let some steam out,” a gruff voice came from the silver rank mission board. “We’ve got a new adventurer and all…”

  “Troy?” Selin asked, surprise evident in her tone. “I could’ve expected your teammate issuing a challenge, but you?”

  A burly man in full plate armor carrying a broadsword on his shoulder walked out of the mass of adventurers. “All the others of my team are on a well deserved vacation, and I’ve only been able to take on solo missions for a while. You know how those are…”

  “Boring as shit.” Selin’s curse almost provoked an admonition from Rodrick, but the man’s survival instinct saved him. “So you issue a challenge to what? Have fun?”

  “I know I can’t beat you, but it's a good way to stay in shape,” Troy shrugged. “Do you accept my challenge?”

  “Of course I do,” Selin chuckled. “You’re damn sure not becoming branch leader today.”

  Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  “What are they talking about?” Valar whispered to Rodrick confusedly.

  “If someone challenges the branch leader and wins, they can become the new branch leader. Usually, a city’s branch leader is the strongest adventurer that actually wants the spot, and stronger people don’t challenge them because they don’t want the responsibility. Troy is a candidate to become the new Lyndale branch leader, but he can’t truly ever beat Selin before he ascends to gold rank. Even then, it would be a damn hard fight.”

  “Isn’t Selin at the peak of gold rank? How would it be a hard fight?”

  “Troy is an interesting opponent for Selin once he ranks up,” Rodrick explained. “He’s a dedicated antimage, so his whole style of fighting revolves around pressuring his opponent so that they can’t cast any big spells. Anything small he just takes head on due to his heavy armour.”

  “So will this be an interesting fight?”

  “Gods, no!” the big man laughed. “They aren’t at the same rank, so this match will end the second Selin wants it to. I’m betting she’s going to let him struggle for half a minute or so before she snaps.”

  “Are you confident enough to bet some money on it?” a female rogue to their side asked. “I’ll wager 10 silver that the fight will be under half a minute.”

  Rodrick glanced at the woman, then turned his gaze towards Arthur. Strangely, he waited for the golden haired man’s nod before answering. “I’ll go for it.”

  “We’ll take this outside!” Selin yelled to the adventurers around herself. “The arena will be the square in front of the guild, as always!”

  Everyone inside moved out like a roaring tide, taking Rodrick and Valar with them to the square. The adventurers were clearly excited, chatting between themselves, making predictions and betting on the fight just like Rodrick and the rogue had. Not on its conclusion, but how fast it would come.

  “You know the drill!” Selin yelled. “No outbursts that would harm any bystanders, regular duel rules and you can attack whenever you want to start.”

  To Valar’s eyes, Troy’s movement was instantaneous. One moment he stood in place, the next his sword was swinging down towards the branch leader’s head in a ferocious swing. The wind swooshed, the giant blade came down and…

  Nothing. The flight of the blade came to a sudden and disappointing end. Selin held its razor-sharp edge between two of her fingers, inspecting it closely. “New sword?”

  “Yeah,” Troy grunted, ripping the blade away. “Made from silver rank gladiator beetle chitin. It’s of the highest quality I could get.”

  “It’s half-decent.”

  “That’s high praise coming from someone like you. I’ll be sure to tell the smith who made it.”

  That blade was put to the test quickly as Selin conjured lances of rock and boulders that she sent barreling towards the silver rank man. She was casting the simple spells so fast that Valar couldn’t even see the runes appear on her exposed skin, but the spells still kept coming. However, the antimage wasn’t fazed.

  Troy kept coming. He parried lances, sliced boulders in half, vaulted over slabs of rock and got closer with every excruciating second of the fight. Sometimes he needed to step back in order to survive the next attack, but he never stopped moving for a single fraction of a second. The way the man moved was a sight to behold. To Valar, Troy felt like an avatar of some mighty war god, relentless in his fury.

  As the seconds passed, the rogue beside Rodrick and him glanced at her timepiece with a nervous expression. “8 seconds left… When does she-”

  “Now,” Rodrick grunted.

  Valar hadn’t initially fully understood the difference in strength between the branch leader and veteran adventurer. He of course knew that gold rankers were more powerful than silver rankers, but he hadn’t considered how massive the difference between them truly was. As it turned out, comparing a silver ranker to a gold one was akin to seeing the moon and declaring it a rival of the sun. Troy had never even had a chance… Valar had just refused to believe the others’ words.

  As Selin finally cast a spell that more than flickered on her skin, the paradigm of the fight shifted drastically. When giant earthen hands extended from the very ground, seeking to trap the silver rank antimage within their grasp, he lost control of the ground he was fighting on. After that, the fight was already practically decided.

  “2… 1,” the rogue muttered.

  Just as the fight had gone on for half a minute, Troy got finally caught. He had gone on the offensive in a last desperate attempt, swinging his sword down on Selin just like at the start of the ‘fight’, but the woman had expected his move. Her fist, covered in dark, smooth stone, impacted his torso with immense force. The mere sound of the impact was like the city gate slamming down with all its weight.

  Troy’s body disappeared. Valar looked around worriedly, trying to find the man in the crowd as his confusion rose. “Where did he-?”

  “There,” Rodrick pointed up and to the side, towards the western side of the city. “It seems that he will need to spend his night out in the forest.”

  There, in the sky above the city, flew Troy. Admittedly, in Valar’s eyes the man was just a metallic dot gleaming with the light of the sun, but there he was. The silver rank elite looking to become the new branch leader had been sent flying out of the city by a single gold ranked punch.

  Valar turned his gaze back to the branch leader. The coating of smooth stone was falling away from her hand as she laughed. “The members of that party are so fun to spar! Each one is so durable!”

  “Fuck!” the rogue screamed. “Thirty-one seconds, really?

  “A deal is a deal,” Rodrick gave the woman a genuine smile. “Ten silver, was it?”

  The rogue gave him the money and stormed off, getting a laugh out of the big man. “That’s lodging and food for our time here. Nice.”

  After the fight, the mass of adventurers retreated back to the guild with the branch leader. She received some half-hearted congratulations for the fight, but everybody knew that beating Troy hadn’t been some grand accomplishment for her. She was all smiles though, as she had managed to let some steam out too.

  Soon, the raucous adventurers moved away from the guild in search of entertainment for the evening. Valar recognized some of them going to bars, inns, gambling houses and something called brothels. Valar tried asking his team members what those were, but the answers he got were less than satisfactory.

  “Don’t go there,” Rodrick grunted. “Those places are for sad men who lack joy, discipline or both.”

  “Some of them are for sad women too,” Carla added. “But those particular ones are for pathetic men.”

  “How do you know?” Valar asked curiously.

  “Because the people welcoming them in are scantily clothed women,” Rodrick muttered. “The point is, none of us go there, right?”

  The big man’s gaze was drilling a hole through the back of Arthur’s head. “What? I’ve never gone!”

  “That one time…”

  “I didn’t go in! Also, I was drunk!”

  “You didn’t go because Ciel threatened to cut your-”

  “There’s no need to dive into the details of that evening!” Arthur spoke over Rodrick. “None of us go to brothels nor should Valar!”

  “Finally something intelligent from your mouth,” Ciel muttered. “I’ve been waiting the whole day.”

  “Rude!”

  Carla shrugged. “You making any sense is a rare event. Ciel is right to be impressed.”

  “Ain’t that the truth,” Rodrick chuckled.

  “What’s wrong with what Arthur says,” Valar asked curiously.

  Carla laid a hand on Valar’s shoulder. “Never listen to what that idiot says and you’ll live a long and happy life. I promise!”

  “Traitors, all of you!”

  Finding an inn to sleep in turned out to be a hard task on a busy weekday night. Adventurers filled most of the inns in the central district to capacity, so the party needed to head to the northern district instead.

  “It’s not as good as the central one, but it’s honestly pretty close,” Rodrick explained. “My parents actually live in the northern district. We’ll visit them tomorrow morning.”

  “Do we really?” Arthur complained. “Meeting another, older, you will finally break my sanity!”

  “There’s nothing left to break. You’ll be fine.”

  “What? I’m perfectly sane. You’re just unlucky enough to misunderstand my greatness!”

  “Unlucky? What do you-?” Rodrick looked at Arthur, reconsidered, then sighed. “Nevermind. My mother makes an excellent breakfast.”

  “Why didn’t you say that earlier? Of course we’ll go!”

  “The second smart thing of the day,” Ciel looked at Arthur in feigned shock. “Who are you?”

  The party got finally lucky in the northern district, finding an inn called the Falcon’s Feather that had two available rooms for them. Ciel and Carla got a two person room and the men of the party took a four person room due to Valar’s addition to the team. Sure, his presence would up their costs somewhat, but they saved much more in healing potions and time.

  “You saved us almost a gold in healing potions during your very first mission,” Rodrick explained. “I quite frankly don’t care if we have to pay a few silver more per week when you save us that much. Besides, even your iron rank healing spell is more time efficient than a potion.”

  “Why are they so bad?” Valar asked. “There must be some better potions than that around.”

  “There are, but they are usually reserved for true emergencies and cost at least a couple gold per potion. I’ve heard that the higher ranked ones are hundreds of gold per potion.”

  “I’m starting to understand why everyone wants a healer…”

  “Good,” the dark haired man nodded. “I want you to know your value to the team and as an adventurer in general. Just because you’re not bashing beasts’ heads in doesn’t mean that you are any less of an adventurer. If you inspect your own aura, the world seems to agree with my assessment too.”

  True to Rodrick’s words, Valar’s aura had made significant progress towards bronze rank during just that one mission. In this case, significant progress was maybe a tenth more towards bronze rank. It did make a difference though.

  The first chunk of the mana from kills he would get during iron rank had been invested into durability after he killed Thomas Dremen. In truth, it was more like general body enhancement focusing on durability, but it was nevertheless an unorthodox place to allocate the mana. Luckily, the academy had had a lesson on guiding that freefloating mana after his incident with the serial killer, so the energy he had gotten during the caravan escort had been added fully to his mind instead.

  That was good, as an enhanced mind allowed him to cast stronger spells and channel more mana through them. It didn’t matter for progressing through the ranks, as all the mana used to permanently enhance him was still contained within his aura and could be used to rank up, but it did matter for his combat capabilities.

  Truthfully, the whole concept of absorbing the freefloating mana from his kills had been hard to understand for the boy. Mana poured through his own gate constantly; Why couldn’t it be used instead? The explanation was quite simple. The mana coming from his gate was already his and permeated his whole body, so cramming more of it into there couldn’t achieve anything permanent. The whole point of absorbing the mana from his kills was that it was something external that could be used to improve himself. If he could have used the mana in his own soul, it would’ve been an endless loop leading him straight to godhood. No, the mana flowing from his gate already had a purpose, while the mana gained from a kill had just lost its own. Valar was just giving it a new purpose within himself.

  That night, Valar slept with thoughts of grand adventures spinning in his head. His soul still hurt, but it could be almost, just almost, be forgotten in favor of something way greater. I’m an adventurer!