13 Ash

In a small office, a sharply dressed man worked through papers, piling some of them up while tossing others into the fireplace. He sipped some brandy as he watches them burn. Suddenly, a knock sounded from his door.

“Enter.” His tired voice said.

A man with a sword strapped to his waist, and leather armor walked in, smelling of sweat.

“Sir, reporting. It was as the hunter said. Only fifteen minutes south from the village, I found remains of a glade deer, plus another animal corpse nearby, an ox-badger - I found it beaten to death with the glade deer’s head. I’ve never seen such violence. This wasn’t the work of a beast.”

“Hmm, I see. You’ve already had the southern forest marked as a no go area for now?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Good. I want teams of five at least, patrolling the forest, and focusing on the south side of town.”

“Sir.”

With a salute, the young soldier turned to leave. He placed his hand on the doorknob but didn’t turn it. Looking back he asked “What do you think it is, sir?”

“For now, assume it’s a ferocious animal. No need to start rumors and scare the villagers.”

He nodded as he left, “Yes sir.”

***

Margie smiled at Jay as he exited the building “Take care of yourself dear.”

Jay smiled and waved as he went out the door.

Entering the courtyard, he found all the new recruits lined up in their respective disciplines - melee, ranged, mana-craft - before them was the same man Jay had seen at the gate with the crossbow girl. Michael.

He was currently standing on a small wooden podium just in front of the administration building holding a green crystal - similar to the one Sullivan had. They were all faced towards the administration building that Jay just left, and Jay momentarily froze from the stage fright.

The muscular man turned around, frowning at Jay.

“Get into formation” he said in an icy voice.

Scurrying into the melee formation, Jay hoped not to trip over - he felt like he might even forget how to walk from all the mocking eyes glancing at him.

Waiting for the crowd’s attention to come back to him, the man at the podium began.

“Congratulations on learning some basic skills during training today recruits. I trust it was enlightening.” He said as his eyes momentarily drifted onto Jay.

Hmm, I wonder if we should teach Jay about his system before he leaves today… hmm, no. Not enough time. Besides, he’s level five, he’ll be fine, he thought. After a pause, he continued with his speech.

“Today, we will put your skills to the test.” He said in a confident tone “We will head to an unlocked level 2 instanced dungeon called Carter’s Demise. You will pair into parties of two or three - one melee, one ranger - and some of you will have a mana-crafter in the party too. You will have one hour to find a partner and add them to your party so you can share experience points. Mana-crafters, since there are less of you, you will pick which duo you would like to join.”

Jay had a confused look on his face. Experience share? Huh? How am I supposed to join a party? But before he gave it any more thought, the man continued.

“Now, usually we would head out into the forest and learn some basic bushcraft so you can all learn how to make some basic weapons, such as wooden spears - however, for undisclosed reasons, the forest is currently off-limits. Your weaponry is not our responsibility, and you may not use the wooden training swords as we specially made them to deal zero damage, so if you don’t have a weapon yet, buy a weapon from the village.” He pointed at the gate.

“Last, about the dungeon. You’ll be fighting monsters called bayring’s, which will be anywhere from level two, to level seven - but you won’t get that deep into the dungeon so don’t worry.” He hushed the crowd with his hands and continued.

“It is an instanced dungeon, meaning each group that goes in will go into a separate, private dungeon - we name this one Carter’s demise as an unfortunate man named Carter Bushley discovered it. Upon entering the dungeon, there’s a slight chance that some of you may trigger an event which sends you into a different level four dungeon. If this happens, exit straight away - then you will be able to retry entry into the normal level two dungeon. Do not attempt the level four dungeon.” He said with a stern expression.

“On an unrelated note, we are not responsible if any of you perish. After the dungeon you can either return here if you’re wounded, or head straight home. Your one hour to find a dungeon partner starts now.”

An icy shiver went over the audience on the last part of his speech, but soon the talking, chatting, then eventually laughing of various recruits returned the mood to normal.

[23 Exp]

As Jay looked around, he smiled, realizing he was being freely leveled even while just waiting around doing nothing. Suddenly, he found that many other adventurers were staring at him - the only level five there.

His smile disappeared quickly as he stared back at them coldly and no one approached because of it. No one realized he was experiencing stage fright again.

Most of the other adventurers were level two, a rare few were level three, while there were no level fours. To say that Jay stood out would understate it; he was more like a beacon. Thankfully, someone walked out of the crowd and approached Jay, breaking down Jay’s stage fright - as well as the silence of people circling him.

“Hey mate, found anyone to party up with yet?” It was Mark.

“Not yet. I’m a melee class so it looks like I’ve got to find a ranger...”

Mark put his hand under his chin, as he reasoned “Well, not exactly. There’s twice as many melee recruits as there are rangers. We make up about half of all recruits. So at some point, there will be groups of two melee classes together - maybe even groups of two melees and a ranger I’m betting.” Mark smiled “But it’s a level two dungeon so they probably only want us in pairs so we each get a decent amount of experience.”

“Oh yeah, good thinking. Maybe if we wait long enough, we could party up” Jay said “by the way, how- “

Before Jay could finish his question, a muscular man’s hand interrupted him, squeezing his shoulder.

“Jay?” said the man.

“Yes… sir?”

“Michael, but you will call me captain. The guild master wants to see you again. Report immediately.”

Jay pursed his lips “Oh ok”

“Oh, ok what?”

“Sorry. Yes captain.” Jay nodded.

Frowning, he made his way through the crowd. Everyone seemed to be excited and smiling except him.

Wonder what he wants this time. Jay thought. Entering administration, the kind old lady greeted him again, and told him to head upstairs to Sullivan’s office again. After knocking, the door opened with a sulking stare from the same blonde girl as before.

This is kind of stupid. Why bring me up here again. thought Jay as he sat down.

“Jay. Thanks for coming by again. For the dungeon today, you will party up with Anya here.” He gestured at Anya.

“I have informed her of your class and she will keep it a secret - obviously, I couldn’t let you party up with the other adventurers or they would see your class.”

Jay looked confused “So people can see your class without a mana conduit?”

“Oh, I suppose you missed today’s lesson about your system. If you’re in a party, yes, your actual health, and mana pool.”

Anya walked to the large window behind Sullivan and observe the adventurers running around outside, while Jay was giving Sullivan a confused look “Oh.. ok.. Uh, so how do I party up?”

Sullivan did a half-smile “Anya here can teach you.” he tilted his head to the left where Anya was standing.

Jay glanced at Anya - still staring out the large window behind the guild master. She turned back to give Jay an uncaring look, before gazing back out the window as she surveyed the recruits.

“Obviously, in exchange you will protect her,” said Sullivan with a sinister smile. “.. with your life of course.”

Anya looked back and smiled at Jay as Sullivan said this. “Stop scaring him.”

Eyes bulging for a moment as Jay said solemnly “I understand” - He realized his situation, he wasn’t an idiot.

They’ve got me by the balls… At least it’s only a level two dungeon. He thought, I guess I’ll have to play along for now... Jay looked conflicted for a moment before he got a notification.

[23 Exp]

Getting more experience points always made Jay smile. Sullivan raised his brows for a moment seeing this. ‘Is he an idiot?’ he wondered.

Anya turned around and cut into the silence “An hour is almost up, and it looks like most have formed duo’s or trios. We should get back before more people notice we’re gone.”

“Very well, off you go, and make sure you teach Jay about the system.”

“Yes, F… Sullivan.” she said, then looked at Jay “Let’s go.”

Jay nodded at Sullivan as he got up, following Anya out the doorway and down the stairs as he analyzed her.

[Anya - Level 3]

HP 100%

MP 100%

Hm, not bad. Looks like she got some extra training yesterday. Jay thought.

As Jay and Anya left the building and mixed into the crowd, she seemed a little embarrassed by Jay. She began teaching Jay about the system they kept mentioning.

“The first thing is the most important. Get something from your ugly bag and say ‘inventory’.”

Jay frowned at her rude comment mixed in with the lesson as he did as she said, holding a soap rat tooth.

“Inventory,”

[Inventory - 0.01% Full]

The rat tooth disappeared as Jay widened his eyes, he felt shocked at first, then quite annoyed.

Dammit, if I knew about this yesterday I would’ve been able to take more loot… dammit… he thought, pursing his lips.

Jack continued to take things out of his bag, his frown slowly disappearing until finally he smiled as he took off his bag and said “Inventory”.

Anya pinched the bridge between her eyes “Finally, you were the only one in the crowd with a bag.”

“Mmm, oh well.” Jay didn’t care for anyone’s opinion, but he hated awkwardness, so he had to say something.

Sighing, Anya continued. “You probably already know the ‘status’ one since you’re level five. There are a few others but for now they only teach you map, inventory, status and party.”

“Well, let’s party up?” Jay quizzed her.

“Just look at me and say ‘party’”

Jay tried but nothing happened. “Uh, I’m having some trouble with this one.”

Anya rolled her eyes and stuck out her hand “It might be easier to visualize with a handshake,”

Jay reluctantly grabbed her hand and said “party” as he shook it, before receiving a notification.

[Anya had joined the party]

“Sweet” Jay smiled.

“When you get better, you can do it without the handshake, and eventually without having to say the words.” Anya added as she stared at Jay.

Huh, so it’s true…. She glanced at his class.

Jay realized she must’ve been analyzing him. Returning the favor, Jay still needed to say “Status” out loud.

< [Anya] >

[Ash-wind’s Accuser - Level 3]

[HP - 54/54]

[MP - 24/24]

[Strength - 20]

[Dexterity - 30]

[Vitality - 20]

[Energy - 20]

“What the hell is an Ash-” Suddenly, Anya’s hand over his mouth, cutting Jay’s sentence off as she whispered in a serious, low voice.

“Tell anyone, and I’ll kill you. Slowly. My class is as secret as yours is.”

Jay nodded as she slowly removed her hand and a dagger which Jay only just realized was there and aimed at his ribs.

“Well, can you tell me about your skills at least?”

“You’ll find out soon enough.” said Anya as she half-smiled while looking around, making sure no one saw her with the dagger.

While waiting for the groups to finish forming, Jay noticed the woman who was making wooden birds from yesterday. Today, she was still looking as bored as ever while she was erecting a tall stone pillar with four sides. After it slowly raised itself from the ground, she then stuck a map on each side, showing where the Carter’s Demise dungeon was located.

Hmm, I wonder what her class is... Jay could only wonder. It seemed magic-based but he had seen her regularly using a crossbow.

Jay’s map updated with the co-ordinates as Anya shared them in the party.

Seems like she already knew where we were going. Jay squinted at her.

Once more, the captain grabbed everyone’s attention.

“Ok, now that you’re all partied up, take these map coordinates,” he pointed to the stone pillar “and meet us at the bridge on the north side of the village in one hour. You should have enough time to get a weapon and grab some supplies in that time. Usually, we wouldn’t escort you to the dungeon, however the woods may be dangerous right now, so we are taking precautions.”

And with that, he left the podium and went back into the administration building. One by one, the groups of adventurers left through the floating-stone gate.

As Jay left, he felt a sharp pair of eyes on him again as he walked towards the gate with Anya. ‘Thanks Sullivan’ he sarcastically thought as he shook his head. It was pretty obvious to him now who’s eyes those were.

Jay turned to Anya, “Well, I need a new dagger, so I’m going to have a look in the market area - a weapons merchant came to town yesterday.”

“Ok. I don’t need anything. I’ll be waiting at the bridge. Don’t be late.” She walked off without looking at Jay.

With a tense feeling in his chest from the recent events, Jay sighed and made his way to the fat weapons merchant and the skinny top-knot guy.