Shut it and keep eating your puddle of disappointment
My arms fell away from the loose sheets, the rough bedding falling off my sweat riddled skin. My thin and frail legs swung from across the bed hitting the planked floor with a soft thud lifting my body up into the new day. I combed my hair back with my hands pushing it over in a heap, the mess of brown hair flopping down my back. After bathing, I got dressed, my spear lying gently against the wall where I had left it the previous day, I remembered its heavy steel body falling from my soft hands as I tumbled forward into my bed. Yesterday was particularly rough, my party fought for almost twelve hours straight to the point of exhaustion. We almost died for twenty gold, enough money to last us a month. I wrapped myself in the soft and warm clothes I had bought at the start of the year, parts still bloodied from the countless battles we had fought. Then covering the vulnerable parts of my body with plated armour I set out into the town. My name is Fey, a silver ranked adventurer… Adventuring was not what people in my village made it out to be, the extravagant life of an adventurer starts at diamond rank, you know, the people who can rival countries. Up until there we are all just normal humans, scraping and fighting for even the smallest amount of gold. Everyone wants to slay a dragon but no one wants to take care of the tree goblins. As I ventured through the town, its various shops and inns thriving in the hustle and bustle of a city, I couldn't help but think if it was even possible to attain a golden ranking, after three years of training I couldn't even fortify my weapon with magic and yet there are those who are able to create entire armies from their raw mana this world isn't fair! It feels like people who don't even try are stronger than me for no other reason than that I care.
I met up with my party not soon after leaving home, I had been adventuring with them for a year or so but none of them were exceptionally powerful, we had an archer, rogue, and a mage for ranged attacks and a tanker, swordsman combo at the front with me in the middle and of course the priest behind everyone.
After a quick briefing we were out in the dungeons, our entire society revolves around the mysterious patches of other worlds, they appeared thousands of years ago and are inhabited by the creatures of the void, some people are able to enter the dungeons and as a result can harness Kul the energy of the other world, we have learned to use it throughout our bodies in various different ways, for instance the mage uses it to deepen their mind and tear apart the fabric of reality around them, and the swordsmen use it to make their sword sharp, which is the greater accomplishment, who's to say?
Adventurers get paid huge amounts of money to kill the beings that inhabit the dungeon and take their Kul Crystals so that ordinary humans can use Kul, not to the same extent but hey if they're paying I ain't complaining.
We quickly farmed through the usual spawns from the monsters, each goblin is around a bronze rank so even a hundred of them should be a breeze for a party of our calibre. We pushed through the forests, thoroughly checking every plant and fern surrounding the area watching for scouts.
"Ok why don't we all rest for today! We'll head for safewatch and grab some food and once we head back in the evening they should have re summoned, and we can re-clear on our way back to town."
No one opposed, not surprisingly our bounty for the day was barely more than a novice mage. All of our members were adventurers desperately training to break through to the next level of mastery, like every other weakling in our rank. It's pathetic really, each and every one of us wants to become the next hero of this world… all of us deluding ourselves that we can be great with effort alone but in reality we are all here because we have no talent, I just want to give up and go back to my village, live a boring life and only use a blade for cooking but for some reason my illogical and naive mind won't let go of this dream, ever since I heard tales about the heroes of old battling demons a small and then giant part of me has wanted to become one of them. I gripped my spear closer, the doubt washing over me like a cold spray of water, my knuckles turning white as I stared into the backs of my comrades, each of them bearing the same burden as me.
We entered the small town of Safewatch, the small log huts bustling with adventurers repairing their gear and huddling desperately around food carts and taverns hoping to wash away the adventures they had just had, the excitement and the rush of fighting a golem or a high wizard, the vibrant brilliance of the spells crashing against the floor as you fly across the brilliant hall your sword shining in the explosions and chaos of the battle.
A sharp clap in my face woke me from my daydream, our swordsman David was staring into my eyes, his sharp features glaring with impatience and his vibrant red hair hatching the shine of the midday sun.
"WHAT. DO. YOU. WANT. TO. EAT!!!"
"Porridge."
"You're boring." his expression did not change, the same bored face with occasional glints of frustration, like me, he only really comes alive on the dungeon floor."
"This coming from the swordsman? Could you get any more basics?"
"I'll carve you down to basics if you don't stop spacing out, you'd get killed by a scout if I wasn't there to wake you up, our mid rank ladies and gentlemen, heavens above!"
"You? Carve me up? With all the skills you learned from your one week at the sword academy?"
"At least I got accepted into an academy, I didn't see any spear colleges knocking on your door, I just learn more from active combat." he turned his back marching in irritation towards the food stand, its wide selection of cheap foods were almost enough to kill any appetite around. The only true Diamond quest is trying to eat their meat without dying. He came back a few minutes later pushing the wooden bowl into my hands, the slightly congealed food sloshing around the rims.
"Delicious."
"I swear when I learn to manipulate aura I'll eat steak every day."
"Good thing too because you won't have to buy armour, your fat will just absorb the blows for you."
"Shut it and keep eating your puddle of disappointment."