With the sounds of the village replacing that of nature and goblin encampments, the party was at ease. On arrival, Pon was being carried by Vaela, both showing visible signs of brutal combat all over their body. Marsh was not too far behind in his aesthetic, shades of black and blue overcoming his sandy-yellow skin. Standing tall and somewhat out of place was Logan, having not taken a single hit in combat.

Making ample use of his Clean mick, Logan made the party more presentable as he cleaned away both dirt and blood. Thankfully the magic did not irritate nor make use of any harmful chemicals like cleaning did back in Logan's world. “This would have made laundry day so much easier”, an experienced Spellthief thought to himself.

Thinking about the day's work, having spent 2 hours on the quest which led the day to noon, Logan pondered on how NPCs worked differently to him. Calculating the XP, the final battle only granted 380 XP to his allies, whereas he gained 2,717, easily seven times the amount. If that was a hard quest, ending off with a boss, Logan could see why it took almost a month or longer for NPCs to gain a level. His level 1 to level 2 required 10 goblin scout kills, but for an NPC it would require 100 kills using the maths involved in a 4-man party.

“With this kind of growth disparity, I can't really stick with the same people. They are bound to see me gaining power at a ludicrous rate. Hell, I gained 2 levels in 2 days, where the fastest NPC here took 27 days for 1 level. Though that might still be down to the low number of adventurers here”, Logan deduced.

Stopping outside of the adventurers' hall, Marsh turned to the party.

“Vaela, take Pon to the Devouts to get his leg sorted, I will hand over the information and sell off our loot. We can form up at the hall in about an hour to settle debts then. Logan, can you hand the ear of the hobgoblin to the client? He is in the south part of town, an alchemist by the name of Woriss”, Marsh set out the orders for his team.

“Got it, boss, c'mon Pon”, Vaela responded, readjusting her arms under the archer.

“Thanks, Vaela, sorry to be such a burden”, Pon apologised.

“Speak nothing of it, you thinned the numbers greatly”, Vaela reassured. Nodding to Marsh and Logan, Vaela and Pon headed to the west part of town to get Pon healed. Taking the ear from the communal bag, Logan spoke.

“Sure, I can bring this on down, I should be back in time”, Logan stated. Before he could leave, Marsh put an arm around his shoulder to bring him in close for a quieter conversation.

“Look, I know you're a spellcaster, but you did good work today. The trapfinding, and helping to bring down the minions. I’ll give you a bonus, 15% share instead of the normal 10% for casters”, the leader spoke, giving off a familial aura.

“15!? And that's better than normal for a caster? That means they would have got 30% each!” Logan was furious, but he had agreed to it beforehand and was expecting some sort of lower pay due to the information he had gathered.

“T-thanks, Marsh. I did try to go the extra mile.”

“And it showed. Hopefully, when we're all healed up we can set off again together, though it may be a while before we take on something that difficult or needing of a mage”, Marsh replied, a bit of a hopeful laugh in his speech.

Splitting off from one another, Marsh headed to the guild to make his report and Logan went to the south. “Bloody world rules, how is this the etiquette around here? Yeah, sure, casters have limited spells per day, but if they're so valued for bosses they should get more than an insulting 10%. If it sticks at a third less than other team members depending on party size that is appalling. But, this is what I have to deal with if I want to get more income and not just XP, though the experience from that quest was quite the haul”, Logan complained to himself.

Hearing the pay gap, Logan now realised why he was put to loot gathering duty, it was to make up for his lack of impact within combat. His group knew about micks, so they probably also knew how little damage they did. When compared to full-on weapons with class and attribute bonuses included, a Force did much less than other members did with basic attacks. Cursing his situation, Logan pressed on quickly to the client.

His legs getting tired from the day's work, Logan reached the house in question within 10 minutes. A rather large shack when compared to the dismal ones dotted around the village, it had a fresh coat of light-green paint accented with painted dark-green clovers. The door was dark-brown with light-brown frames and hinges. Knocking at the door, a voice was heard within.

“Enter!” it called. A low-tone voice belonging to a middle-aged man. Opening the door, Logan entered into what he now saw to be an apothecary. Vials lined the walls, components cooking in vials or stewing in pots. Streams of green mist lifted from burning candles and sticks. The whole room smelt of freshly cut grass combined with a honey overtone.

“Ah, an adventurer. Are you my employee?”, the man at the far end asked. Draped in a long brown cloak, the hunched over alchemist showed he had a worse posture than the librarian Bobcu.

“Might I ask your name, sir?”

“It's Woriss, come in further, you're letting the warmth out”, the alchemist pleaded. Closing the door behind him, Logan moved up to the counter that Woriss sat at.

“Yes, sir. Our party just returned, I was to give you the ear of the hobgoblin?” Logan said as he picked the component from one of his pouches. Snatching the ear away, Woriss began to look it over intently.

“Ah, yes. Yes. Wonderful. Your handiwork is marvellous, this is easily a high-quality ear”, Woriss commended.

“What? Damn, I should have checked it beforehand”, Logan cursed his lack of foresight. Picking up a small bowl, Woriss placed the ear inside and poured a red liquid onto it. His head jerked up quickly, noticing Logan was still there.

“That's all, adventurer. I will make sure to inform the hall you handed it off to me.”

“Oh, ok. Well, good day then, Woriss”, Logan replied, slightly disheartened as he expected a bit more from the alchemist.

Leaving the alchemists shop, Logan started his journey back to the hall. “That was the first high-quality component I had ever collected. It's a shame he didn't give me a tip for it. High-quality components are meant to be worth 25% more than their base value, and help in creating higher tier items”, Logan was irritated, but he couldn't do much about it.

Arriving back in the hall, Logan was met by Marsh who had his breastplate placed on a table, resting his body from the quest. With a hearty wave, Marsh invited Logan to the table, on approach Logan could see a large sack of coins beside the resting Knight.

“Found that alchemist fine then?” Marsh inquired.

“Yeah, wasn't too difficult, not one for words though.”

“Probably lost in thought over that reagent. He'd be working on a strong potion, I bet a silver on it”, Marsh responded. Starting to poke at the pouch he continued.

“That quest paid 50 silver pieces, the ears and weapons added in another 18 silver. So, your share is 10 silver and 2 copper. Us 3 will get around 19 silver each, depending on the cost of healing and arrows. We would have gotten more if we cleared out the cave, but we did not have the best of luck outside of it”, Marsh informed Logan.

“Instead of getting triple my pay, they are getting just under double”, Logan calculated.

“It is a shame, but our lives come first eh”, Logan replied, a playful smile on his face.

“Too true. A possible 6 or so goblins wasn't a big motivator for me to press on. We'll probably take it easy for a while, pick up smaller quests without any leaders or such.”

“Why not do some villager quests?”

“Hah! That's a good one. Ow, ow, hurts to laugh a bit right now.”

“Well, they are risk-free, just gotta do a lot of labour.”

“Oh. You're serious? Us classed don't tend to work on those much, the pay is horrendous and does little to train us for higher tasks”, Marsh realised and explained, confirming what Rubené had stated the day before.

“More for me I guess. Tapped outta spells there isn't much more I can do today.”

“Do what you have to, I won't stop you. Shame you're on the low end for slots though, would have made the day easier. Though I suppose you still have an extra spell or 2 above a spelly.”

“Have you worked with many Sorcerers or Wizards before? Got any preference?” Logan asked, hoping to gauge party makeup better.

“Fought alongside 2 sorcs and 1 wiz. You make ‘2’ wizs. For low ranking members, Wizards are far better than Sorcerers. You pack more spells in a day than Sorcerers, and at that point, you don't know a whole lot different in the way of spells. A rank 1 Sorcerer normally gets 1 or 2 spells in a day, Wizard is closer to 3 to 6. But that is only what I have seen and heard.”

“So, no matter what, I was a sight better than a Sorcerer of my rank. Good thing it all worked out fine in the end, well, fine in that we all survived”, Logan replied. “So, some more insight into the classes. Even as a hybrid, I have more spells than a Sorcerer. Though the System mentioned the base classes gained more MP and slots per day with their level and Intelligence attributes, so I am lagging behind in the number of spells per day”, Logan surmised.

“It all worked out, yeah. By the way, us 3 all live in Tinte. So keep an eye out for us if you're wanting a group for any quest. I did say we're gonna take it easy so give it a few days, but I doubt we'd say no. Normal rate though.”

“I'll make sure to, I aim to complete quite a few quests.”

The conversation between the Knight and Spellthief continued on for a while. Exchanging pleasantries, Logan learnt a bit more about how the hall operated, what teams normally set up as, and how hunting typically goes through.

It passed the hour mark, hitting an hour and a half, before Vaela and a now-hobbling Pon returned to the hall. The two members at the table waved to the returning two, who made their way to the table.

“Settled in fine then I see”, Vaela spoke.

“Yeah, just chatting the time away with Logan here. How's the leg, Pon?” Marsh examined.

“Bit stiff, but the Devouts did amazing work, came to 2 silver though”, Pon displayed his leg to his leader. It had a few wooden splints placed on the sides but looked much better than it had earlier.

“Glad healing magic is so powerful here, I'll have to see if there are any Devout adventurers”, Logan pondered.

“Sorted out the after-quest details then, boss?” Vaela inquired.

“Yeah, quest handed in, client seen to, and all loot sold off. Comes to 68 silver in all. Though that brings me to a point of note”, Marsh answered, standing at the table. “Due to his valued input during the mission and frequent use of micks, I have decided that Logan will be getting a 15% share for this mission. I hope you're all fine with that?”

Pon and Vaela looked to one another, nodding in agreement.

“We're cool with that”, Vaela confirmed.

“Yeah, he deserves it”, Pon added.

Smiles met a still slightly annoyed Logan, though since this was better than the norm, he accepted it with a forced smile. Money was handed out, Logan being given his 10 silver and 2 copper, putting him at 11 silver and 18 copper in total. “With this, I have a choice of ‘Magi’s Magick Vol. 1’ or ‘Tinkering Beginning’, I will probably go get that spell tome after we're finished here”, Logan planned.

“If you lot don't mind, I'm gonna take Pon back to his house, and then settle in early myself. My body hurts all over and I could do with a soak”, Vaela put forward, standing up from the table.

“My hero!” Pon jokingly said to Vaela, his hands up and ready to be carried again.

“You can walk now, just take a hold of my shoulder”, Vaela snapped at the too friendly archer.

Helping him to a stand, Vaela escorted Pon out of the adventurers' hall. Both Marsh and Logan waved them off with another goodbye. Marsh was the next to stand, placing a hand on Logan's shoulder.

“Good work again, I am going to head to an early rest too. I feel like a pancake after that hobgoblin treated me like a nail. See you around, Logan”, he reported.

“Yeah, till next time, Marsh”, Logan returned.

As was routine at this point, Logan stood from his table and went over to the counter to converse with Rubené. Looking at her, Logan noticed that she was intently watching his conversation with his party. Although, as he approached she tried to look nonchalant but came off more startled than anything.

“Afternoon, Ru, how is the day treating you?” he queried.

“Oh, Logan. It's good to see you returned safely. I saw you had been assigned to the hobgoblin band quest, you had me worried, but it looks like I didn't need to be”, Ru responded, eyeing up Logan for injuries.

“I was able to dodge and weave around attacks easily enough, I can't say the same for my allies though. A few of them will be out of commission for a while.”

“Good!.. I mean about you dodging, not the ally part. Anyway, want me to update your signet?”

“If you don't mind, thanks”, Logan replied, handing over his signet. Just like before, Ru placed a resin in the area where the 6 was in front of Logan's completed quests and replaced it with a 7. “3 to go”, Logan thought, his additional objectives nearing completion.

“Since you're able-bodied, are you going to pick up another quest today? Or are you tapped out mentally?”

“I was actually going to go purchase a spell tome, I feel like I need a wider range of spells to keep up with some of these quests”

“Well, that will be rest of a sort. I'll see you tomorrow then?”

“I may do some villager quests, depends on what the book entails. But if not, have a good night, Ru.”

“You too, Logan.”

Leaving through the doors of the adventurers' hall, Logan exited into a bright afternoon, probably around 1pm or so. “Still so much to the day left, I could pick up a quest or two and then read at night”, Logan formulated. Before any more plans were made, however, Logan made his way to the library.

Returning to the dilapidated library, Logan found it to be untouched since his last visit. Entering inside, Logan made his way to the circular counter, though this time a feather duster adorned its top, the counter had been cleaned at some point. The cleared away dust let the counter breathe a bit of life and colour into the reading establishment, showing off a lovely reddish-brown hue.

Sat within the middle of the counter was Bobcu, napping as usual though rudely awoken as the cold draft that Logan brought with him hit against the older man.

“Brr, who's there? Ah, Logan, welcome back. I was expecting you”, Bobcu responded, pulling his cloak over himself, even more, to warm up.

“Afternoon, Bobcu, I got back from today's quest just over an hour ago. Got some money in hand to purchase ‘Magi's Magick Vol. 1’ from you.”

“Must have been quite the mission to bring in 10 silver. I have it here still for you, sir”, Bobcu countered, pulling the tome up from under his counter. Logan started to count out the 10 silver pieces, placing them on the counter for Bobcu to take, which he did when he saw the right amount.

“Wonderful, first purchase in a good while”, Bobcu applauded. Sliding the book across the counter, Logan took his purchase from the librarian.

“Thank you, Bobcu. If I get a good stream of income you may see me again at some point.”

“Well, I better get to doing a good cleaning of this place then”, Bobcu acknowledged, a half-toothed smile appearing on his face. Snapping his fingers, Bobcu let off a small yellow spark, the book in Logan's hand vibrating slightly as he felt some magic waning in it.

“All unlocked for you, have a good read, young man”, Bobcu uttered.

“I will do so, have a good rest of the day, Bobcu.”

Book in hand, Logan left the library and made sure to shut the door behind him to not make the older gentleman any colder than he already had. Flipping a leather strap from the cover of the book, leaving it dangling from the reverse side, Logan unlocked the book and opened it to its first page. A quick glance revealed the book to indeed be a beginner's manual into spellcasting for Wizards and Sorcerers; a few instructions for Devouts were also held within its pages.

Reading over the contents page, Logan found that the book would teach him several spells. From the first level spells listings he would learn: Aqua, Flame, Frost, Gaia, Lightning, Necromantic, Wind, and a combination spell Infuse. For alterations, the book only instructs Shot which Logan already knew. The book also had some introductory lessons on summoning magics, though they were both listed as second-level spells: Summon _ Elemental and Zombify.

A window appeared, slightly surprising the reading Spellthief as it had been some time since the last input from the System.

“All spells within this tome are available to the Spellthief class. As you already know Flame and Lightning, on completion of this tome you will increase 1 tier in each spell”, it explained.

“It seems to cover the whole elemental spectrum, at least at a glance, no mention of light, holy, or good type spells. The summoning spells are interesting, if I could have allies to help me aside from NPCs I could hunt more efficiently with backstab. It's gonna be a while before then though, I don't have access to level 2 spells and this book is quite big”, Logan rationalised, looking over the pages he could see the book had around 250 to 300 pages in total.

Placing the book within his bag, which was thoroughly cleaned with the use of his Clean mick, Logan stored his knowledge away for later. “I should probably invest in a backpack, these goblins sacks aren't too good”, Logan concluded.

Heading to the shopping district, Logan perused the selection of backpacks before settling on an adventurer's backpack that had several compartments, hooks for rope and weapons, as well as net holders for waterskins. A lovely combination of reds, browns, and blacks, the backpack was a shade better than his hand-me-down corpse bags. Bargaining it down to 4 copper, he traded in some of his other pouches and bags for 3 copper back. Placing his book in a much more secure and comfy position within his new backpack, Logan headed back to the adventurers' hall to finish the day off with some busy work. “Let's complete this objective”.

--- *** ---