They spent several hours discussing how their party would function. Honestly, Mash would’ve liked to spend more time talking but noticed that the room was mostly empty. Mash glanced over the remaining people, but didn’t see anyone by themselves. They could only have one more person, but it looked like this team was final. He checked which instructors were still in the room, and noticed Edmund was still there. He was sitting at one of the now empty tables and seemed to be eating something.

“I think we should go.”

Mash cut into the conversation, feeling a little bad about spacing out. He gestured over to Edmund, and the rest of the group nodded in acknowledgement. He walked past the other tables and approached Edmund, still using his mana sphere to gauge their abilities. Happy to find that they were more powerful than those still in the room. Also, he was glad to see someone whom he had met earlier.

“Hello again, we are ready for the exam.”

Mash spoke first but was paying more attention to the food. His mana sense was able to pick up trace amounts of mana within the food. Mash wondered where he could get some. He wanted to ask about it but wasn’t given the opportunity. Edmund spoke, preventing Mash’s question. He sounded tired but pressed on.

“It’s nice to meet you all, I guess this makes me your examiner. You may call me Edmund. Your exam is going to be fairly straightforward. There’s been a scourge rat infestation in one of the outer villages and you are going to deal with it. Meet me at the front gates by sunrise, and we can get started.”

“Why can’t we go now?”

Red’s question seemed a little desperate, and Mash made a mental note to ask about it later. She seemed on edge, and he found that he cared. For the first time in a long time, Mash had gained new friends, and felt oddly pleased with the notion. He started to feel like he was alone, since both of his siblings left, and was happy to meet likeminded individuals. He waited for Edmund’s response though.

“No, they are nocturnal creatures, and we would miss them if we left now. I’m going to go home now, and if you have any more questions, check the library. See you in the morning.”

Edmund spoke with finality. He sounded like someone who wanted to get home. They left soon after him but didn’t say anything until they left the guild. Once outside, Mash grabbed Red’s shoulder and asked his question.

“What’s wrong? Are you ok?”

Mash tried to sound as genuine as he could, these people would be his teammates and hopefully friends for the foreseeable future. He wanted to have a good relationship with them. She just shook her head as if to dismiss the question, but answered it reluctantly.

“It’s nothing, its just that I will have to find an inn for the night.”

Her words came out coldly, and Mash didn’t understand what the problem was. His confusion must have been written on his face because she continued after glancing at him.

“I don’t like staying at the inns in this town, but can’t go home either. It’s not a big deal though. I can figure something out.”

She obviously didn’t want to share anything more and stayed quiet. Mash realized that he was in the same boat. He wanted to live independently and made sure to tell his parents that he would not come home for a while. He didn’t really want to backtrack on that.

“Um, I would also prefer not to go home. It would just be very awkward. So, I guess were in the same boat. Hopefully sticking together would make it easier for you.”

He left it at that, not wanting to explain how humiliating he would feel if he went home. Instead, he just wanted to let Red know that he would be willing to stick with her. She seemed grateful and gave him a small smile. He knew of some inns that he could go to and was going to see if Red was ok with them, but Jill had provided a solution before he could ask.

“You guys can stay at my place, so long as you're ok with the floor.”

The second part of that was directed at Mash specifically. Then he understood the implications of his earlier words. He pointedly did not look at Red as he thanked Jill. She told them not to expect much, but there was enough space for all of them. Luke decided to tag along, since everyone else was going. Luke was a bit surprised that Jill had offered and seemed to look at the girl in a different light. Then Mash remembered something he should’ve done earlier.

“Jill, Luke, give me your bags, I can carry them.”

They looked at Mash skeptically at first, but as soon as he opened his storage space, realized his intentions. However, they were very surprised upon seeing the space. Luke jumped backwards as it opened, and Jill yelped. Even Red looked shocked, although Mash didn’t know why. Afterall, she had a storage bracelet of her own.

“You have a storage space! How? You’re not wearing a bracelet.”

Jill practically yelled the words, and Red needed to elbow her to get her to stop. Mash spent the next several minutes showing them his flowery tattoo and describing how it was his spatial bracelet. They didn’t understand it but couldn’t argue with reality. He grabbed their bags managing to cram it into his space. They all fit, but it took up most of the room. With that done they made their way to Jill’s place.

Jill’s place was about half a mile from the guild, thankfully, it was towards the front gate. Red made them stop at a bakery so that she could buy some simple cakes to give to Jill’s family. Mash thought that it was unnecessary but did think it was polite. He knew that it was something that nobles did, and thought that it was a kind gesture. When they arrived at the house, Jill rushed inside to let her family know before they entered.

Her house was larger than Mash expected. It seemed to be a shop of some kind, and He guessed that there were rooms on the upper floors. It was well kept but was lacking anything to identify the shop. The only blemishes on the building were the broken windows. He was curious but would refrain from asking any questions. It probably wasn’t a memory they wanted to remember.

Jill opened the door and waved her hand at them, letting them know that they should come inside. As he walked up, he saw that there were several people in the room behind her. On top of Jill’s parents, there were three young kids in the room. Jill mentioned that she had three siblings, but he was surprised to see how young they were. Jill introduced them, once they all shuffled in.

“These are my parents, Hamond and Juniper, and those things are my siblings, Jack, Cindy, and Chobin.”

She used her hands to point as she said their names. Everyone in her family had blond hair and were all dressing nicely. Her parents were on the older side, and Mash guessed they weren’t a very a high level. Cindy looked just like Jill, but smaller. And Jack and Chobin were twins, the only thing differentiating them were Jack’s glasses. The kids were looking at them with excitement and started yelling over one another to push out questions.

However, Red handing Juniper the bag of cakes got them all to quiet down. They were staring at the cakes like a dog would for treats. Juniper spoke gently, but she sounded as though she was the queen.

“How about coming up to the dining room, and I will cut everyone a piece.”

The children immediately listened, hypnotized by the sweets. As they climbed upstairs, Mash took the chance to look over the shop. Most of the shelves were empty, and it seemed like the shop hadn’t been open for a while. However, it was clean. They seemed to make sure to make the shop presentable, even if they couldn’t operate properly. He now understood why Jill seemed so desperate, they must be placing all their hopes on her.

He climbed up the stairs, not wanting to look at the sad sight any longer. The dining room was large and Mash, took an open seat at the table. While Juniper prepared the sweets, Hamond made a small meal for them. Mash thought that he was a better cook than his mother but kept it to himself. It was a simple stew of meat and potatoes but was flavored extremely well. Mash chose to eat his fill of stew and skipped out on the cake.

The rest of the night was peaceful. Mash and Luke drew the attention of the children as they both looked inhuman. It was funny, because Red got away while Mash was stuck explaining how he really was human. Luke seemed happy to talk about beastmen and spoke excitedly with the children. Jill slept in her room with Red, while Mash and Luke used their bedrolls to sleep in the living room. He slept easily but was excited for the exam in the morning.

Stuck to his usual routine, Mash woke up early in the morning. The sun wasn’t out yet and he spent the time meditating. He had used a lot of energy demonstrating his magic for the children and wanted to make sure to recover. Meditation would erase the morning drowsiness as well.

Mash heard someone and noticed Juniper entering the kitchen. Deciding that he meditated for long enough, he checked his stats while waking up Luke.

Name: Mash Class: Wood-Forged Pseudo-Monk

Level: 10

Health: 350/350

Energy: 1000/1000

Fortitude: 35

Endurance: 55

Strength: 31

Agility: 34

Intelligence: 45

Wisdom: 38

Charisma: 21 → 22

Free Stats: 0

Skills: Endure → Persist, Mana-wood Creation, Artificial Meditation, Mana Sphere, Monks False Core

Persist: Go beyond your limits. Continue current action even after depleting energy. Stats improve while at 0 stamina.

Current Bonus: +100% stats

Artificial Meditation: You have stolen the techniques of mages and monks to form an artificial technique. Meditating will increase the rate at which your body recovers, even healing minor wounds.

Current Rate: +100% recovery

Mana-wood Creation: You know how deadly sticks can be. Forge your mana into wooden creations.

Mana Sphere (Passive): Your eyes just weren’t enough. Sense the changes in the mana around you.

Current Range: 5 feet

Monks False Core (Passive): An unnatural mana core has fundamentally altered your body. Stamina and Mana combine to become energy.

His stats hadn’t really changed, only his charisma managed to go up, and that too, only by a single point. It was probably because of his newfound fashion sense. He knew that it was supposed to be harder to raise stats after getting your second class, but he believed that he would at least manage to improve his stamina. It looked like combat would be the only way to improve his stats now.

After Luke got ready, Mash asked Juniper if she could wake Red and Jill. He was surprised when he heard Juniper yell loudly, but moments later Jill was rushing down the stairs while wearing her pajamas. When she realized what happened, she did not look happy and was glaring at Mash and Luke. Red got up soon after, but they took almost a full hour to get ready. To be fair, Red only took a few minutes, but Jill needed a lot more time. As soon as she was done though, they left, her mom giving her a sandwich for breakfast. It seemed like they would be late.

They were indeed late but didn’t see Edmund either. Jill asked one of the guards if he arrived earlier and found that they haven’t seen him. It looked like Edmund just wanted to make sure that he wasn’t waiting. Mash thought that he would do the same in his situation. They waited at the gate and took the opportunity to do some light stretches. There were not many people out this early, so the space was available for it.

Edmund arrived soon after they finished, and he ushered them all into a carriage without saying anything. He looked tired and went to sleep after giving directions to the driver. Red thought that he was hungover, but Jill and Luke said that they didn’t smell anything. Deciding it was better to let him sleep, they discussed how they would deal with the scourge rats.

The plan boiled down to letting Mash do as much damage as he could, trying to get them to bleed. Then Red would use the blood to cut up as many as possible. It was a simple plan but would be great at dealing with small creatures like rats. The group wasn’t great with hordes and relied heavily on Mash and Red.

They spent the rest of the trip considering what their team’s name would be. Jill’s parents brought up the topic last night, but they couldn’t come up with anything good. However, Mash thought they came up with a few good ones.

Dungeon Delvers, since that was hopefully what they would do most often. Paragon, as they were suited to fighting alone and would become powerful individuals. Jumble, because they formed a team with a random composition and were all different races. Red thought up this one, and Mash had to agree that it was a good name despite actually being human.