Waking to another day on the beach, the pair mounted their steeds to return to the capital as Gaemo had done the day prior. With three-quarters of the trip made on horseback, the last third was finished with a Dimensional Jaunt, taking the party almost to the bridge that led into the capital city.

An evening sun painted the city a beautiful orange, though it contrasted with the blood-soaked adventurers coming in through the gates after a hard day’s work. Happy faces beamed at the promise of increased pay, though accompanied by more wounds than usual.

Riding their horses to the inn, the pair settled their mounts down for the night as Logan pulled out his monocular and used another Dimensional Jaunt to bring both him and Marcus to the hall in mere moments. The nearby populace jumped at both shockwaves of air, though those on the hall end saw the glint of Logan’s armband and returned to their normal activities.

Moving through the hall at night had it hold a fewer number of adventurers, but still much more than usual. The quartet of magi and newly-resummoned elementals were able to make it to the backroom without as much hassle this time. Logan moved up to the receptionist to hand in the quest, to which the man at the counter had a bit of a shocked look hit his face.

“Already? Been hardly three days.”

“We had some help, though I will report that we faced two new variants in the cavern. A naegren stalker and a lord. Aside from that, the numbers were higher than estimated, sixty-nine monsters held the dungeon”, Logan explained as he pulled out the fins belonging to the two naegren types he saw out of the ordinary.

“It is a good thing a higher-rank adventurer went along with the group then, you’re most likely higher than your last assessment if you helped fight back the invasion.”

“I did feel my spells increase, so you’re probably right about that. Will the pay reflect the change in the dungeon?” Logan inquired.

“Sadly, since dungeons are always changing the rewards listed are set to cover that. If you hand over a fin for the stalker and lord, I can set up a finder’s fee for the developments though, can increase the pay to 150 silver, my hands are tied otherwise”, the receptionist bargained, with a clear sign that he did want to help.

Keeping the fins on the table Logan accepted the increase, he knew of the rules and regulations forced on others from his previous job. The money from the items the team were going to sell off was going to make up for the low reward anyways. With their signets updated, Logan asked about writing up some of his own intel which he would craft up later in the day.

Taking a long walk through the markets to sell off the gear they had gained or removed due to finding higher-tier versions, Logan was able to pocket another 20 silver and 3 gold after giving Marcus his share.

Supplies in the city were still low, while an influx of goblin components was filling the stalls with low-end trinkets and gear, potions and the like were barren or had surged in pricing. Spell rings almost became an alien concept, as the places where they would have normally been displayed were instead replaced with goblin-centric items.

This change in the economy also hit the food supplies, rations, dried meats and the like were in low numerations. Rumours amidst the city blamed the attacks on nearby farms for this, from both goblinoids and silversteines. Thankfully it seemed that the three days that had passed allowed the adventurers to secure the closest parts of the capital, bringing the kingdom back into some normalcy.

On the other hand, the southern war had come to a close with the humanoids winning over the goblins. No word of monster heroes made its way to the capital though, meaning the force that hit Gauntlet was indeed the main one. With the week-ride travel, it was going to be some time before a larger force was held in the city.

The Wizard Traeyo was commended for his work in the south, his fourth-level fire spells dealing with huge swathes of goblins swiftly. Many other casters were on the lips of the populace, mixed in with sour notes of disbelief or statements that painted this as one of the few good uses for casters.

Using another Dimensional Jaunt to return to the inn, Logan and Marcus entered to see Gaemo writing at one of the tables. Yetveka was at the far counter, as usual, cleaning some tankards. Moving over to Gaemo, Logan placed his own writing utensils on the table and took a seat, Marcus moved to the counter to get himself a drink and chat with the innkeeper.

“Good to see you back, Logan. No more ambushes on the trip I hope?” Gaemo spoke as he turned his head to acknowledge his friend before looking back at his own writing.

“None. The local adventurers kept the forest mostly clear and they weren’t assholes themselves”, Logan replied with a smile.

“A welcome response. You writing up some intel for the cavern I take it?”

“Yep. A map and information on the stalkers and lord. Yourself?”

“Letters to friends and family, gonna be sending out some ooran to check if they are all safe during these times.”

“I may need your help to do something similar later, now isn’t a great time though.”

“Call on me when you need to”, Gaemo replied with a smile.

The pair continued writing and drawing in silence, Marcus giving Logan space to do his work. As time passed the light outside changed from orange to a dark blue and black as night crept up on the city.

Packing up his tools, Logan stood from the table as Gaemo had left two hours prior. Retiring to his room for the night, Logan saw Marcus reading by the moonlight. Holding a short conversation on their next step, the pair decided it might be best to take a few days off from quests for training, reading, and crafting.

Logan’s quick rise in ranks might draw attention, being four above his last assessment and even with the invasion, it would be strange for a caster to gain power so quickly. With how infrequent quests for casters were, though they did increase with the influx of goblin quests, Logan could easily gain another rank with another dungeon or handful of quests.

Another reason for their downtime was also that normal adventurers would go through several more quests than the pair had in their time working together. With quests came money, leading to better gear as well as more gear. Marcus specifically needed more skills, while he had mastered a portion of Healer’s Caress many other adventurers had a handful of skills to their name.

The fuss with the goblins seemed like it would continue for a few more days, making it difficult to investigate the oracles more in-depth. With Spell Absorption reaching tier 3 Logan was a lot more comfortable having to face off against rogue magi, being able to take first-level spells without any worry and close to no worry for second-level spells.

Logan was also going to need to sort out his slowly out-paced gear, reaching level 12 with plenty of weapons that were level 6 or 8. To finance this, he could spend the days using Trinket Craft to turn the incoming goblin components into useable items at the market. Helping to alleviate the boredom that crafting produced, Logan would spend the nights reading the last of his tomes.

Solidifying their plans, with Marcus going to go on an investigation spree again, the pair headed to sleep.

Waking to a morning full of energy, the duo walked downstairs to the ground floor of the inn to be greeted by the sight of a new face. A middle-aged mage donned in a fashionable robe-coat hybrid of flowing waterfalls and lightning strikes towards the bottom. With the hood down at their back, the man’s black hair that was swept back was on full display, his muddy eyes glinting against the morning light. A quaint satchel was strewn over his left shoulder and dangled on his right hip.

Speaking with a low-pitched voice the man turned to look at the partners, “Morning. You two must be Logan and Marcus?” he ended as he pointed out the two men.

“Yes, did you need us?” Logan asked.

Celsius was about to blare something out but the electrifying hand of Spark was placed over the orange part of the flame’s face that represented his mouth.

“My name is Xican, I am a magical investigator for the Magi’s Tower association. I heard you were involved in the invasion defences, do you two mind a few minutes to discuss the events with me?” the mage asked as he motioned to a table.

“We had plans, but nothing time constrictive. What did you have in mind to talk about?” Logan spoke as he and Marcus followed Xican to the table.

“Well to start, I got your reports from Eighther, so not much surrounding your fight with the leader of the army. I would like to inquire into some other reports made around your team”. Xican spoke as he brought out a notebook and quill.

“About our actions before reaching the leader?” Marcus asked.

“Yes. To start, many guards spoke of your work with Cassius. He teleported himself and Logan beyond the walls and atop them, what were your actions during these times?”

“Cassius had asked me to use Wall spells to cut off the advancing goblins, then atop the walls, he helped to deal with some hobs that had teleported atop them. After that I asked to return to the gate as it was breached”, Logan listed off.

“You are a rank 8 Wizard, correct?”

“I was, though I will note I felt my spell slots increase, so I believe I am of a higher rank since my assessment”, Logan announced with a partial lie.

“So, ‘were’, in this case. Might you tell me how you learnt the Wall alteration?”

“From this tome”, Logan informed the mage as he pulled out magi's magick vol 2 from his bag-inventory under the table.

“That is how most do, alright. Would you mind if I ask about your previous hall of work? Many people said you were a new face.”

“I was a vagabond who learnt from travelling magi until setting up with an adventurers’ hall. However, my documents were destroyed in a goblin attack, I had to reassign myself when I got to Gauntlet almost two weeks ago”, Logan spoke. “I can’t lie that much, most of this is in my documents at the G-Hall”, he thought to himself.

“That lines up with what your previous group mentioned, Kreya informed me of your skill in combat and aid in group movements”, Xican replied as he flipped through his book, making small notes as Logan spoke.

“I lived within the church of Tinte before meeting Logan, after that we formed a permanent partnership and left together”, Marcus added.

“That lines up with what I have read and heard. Moving on from that, another report made was that you two were spotted entering the forest near the gates before the army approached, what were you doing at that time?”

Logan was about to speak, trying not to leave any silence in the conversation, but was stopped as he saw Marcus respond.

“I wanted to demonstrate to Logan how I had also learnt the Wall alteration, but due to its destructive nature I did not want to use it in the city limits.”

“Very well”, Xican spoke as if the answer was acceptable. “The last question would be if either of you spotted anything of note during the attack that I should know about? Suspicious individuals or possible aberrant enemies.”

“Aside from the fomins and the hero, nothing that out of the ordinary. I believe the goblin shamans were using ritual casting, however.”

“That has been the same case for a few of the stronger teams being sent out to clear larger camps of the goblins”, Xican responded as he closed his notebook. Placing the book into his satchel, Xican started to fumble around his items.

“So, is that everything? Are we good?” Logan asked.

“Yes. I don’t believe anything you’ve stated to be a lie. Your aid in the fight was more than most, so I find it hard to accept you being a traitor”, Xican spoke as he brought out a business card looking piece of paper, “following on from that, I would like to invite the two of you to the Magi’s Tower association.”

Logan and Marcus sat still for a few moments as they looked at the card, wondering if it would be wise to decline or to accept. Taking the initiative, Logan took the card from Xican.

“Thank you for the invitation, but may I ask why?”

“A recommendation. Eighther spoke highly of you two and knew neither of you had any permanent allegiances. Speaking with you I condone the recommendation and believe you to be valued members of our community. Would you like me to explain the MT to you?”

“Please.”

“The Magi’s Tower association, known commonly as MT, is a collection of magi from all three classes. It is our aim to solidify the presence of mages across the continent, with the hope of closing the gaps between martials and casters. We work towards the betterment of magi, and thus we offer academic teachings and research at any of our tower locations as well as sometimes fund the progression of magic in general.”

“So no free use of tomes and the like?” Logan queried.

“We have been known to sponsor individuals and their learning, often putting them in debt where funds are taken from completed quests to pay off the fees. Aside from learning, we help magi form small groups to create full-caster adventurer teams to deal with quests.”

“It functions akin to a larger guild?”

“In a sense. Though, where guilds rarely go over a hundred members, the MT houses close to a hundred thousand across several magical towers in the different regions of the continent.”

Looking over to Marcus, Logan gave his ally a look of questioning. The last time Logan asked, Marcus said the MT easily had hundreds of mages, not thousands. Thinking it was due to his more closed off life, Logan let Xican continue.

“Similarly to guilds we offer protection against contracts, forced quests, duels, and so forth. We regularly hold our own form of quests too, magical formings. Where we find locales of high magical power that need investigating or controlling”, Xican took a break to take a sip from a tankard sat at the table, “Do you have any questions?”

Thinking for a second Logan asked, “Does the MT enforce any rules onto their members?”

“The MT must relent to the laws of wherever they operate, we find any action against the MT or its reputation higher than any others though. If it is found that a member has broken the laws they are excommunicated from the association.”

“So you do not hunt down rogue members?”

“A strange question, planning on some questionable antics? Though I do recall word about you being a hunter so I can see why you may ask. Regardless, we work with the hunters to deal with magi that continue to break the laws.”

“Are there any fees or sign-up costs?”

“It normally costs 1 gold to join per member, unless invited, in which case it’s only 5 silver for paper costs. We do have rooms you can rent at a silver a day, alongside tomes to purchase, components too.”

“Well, it all sounds great. But we will want to discuss this further. Where is the closest tower if we decide to accept?” Logan asked as he scanned for Marcus’s opinion across his face.

“The central tower is the closest to Gauntlet, around three days ride to the northeast. You’ll find it home to just over three hundred magi.”

“Were there no warning signals for Gauntlet being attacked?” Marcus asked.

“Normally a force such as that is seen before it attacks, the appearance and end of the conflict were nary a few hours apart. Though for the type of forces that attacked I doubt the capital would have called for aid. It was down to the surprise that the goblins were able to deal as much damage as they did, which is what we have been contacted to find out how they could appear as they did.”

Xican then jumped as a small ding noise occurred within his satchel. Digging into it he brought out a golden pocket watch similar to what Logan saw Darius hold, which almost made him visibly jump. Xican pressed a button on the side as the cover opened to reveal a black gem.

“Play”, Xican chanted. The watch let off another dinging noise as a recording began to play.

“Calling casters of third to fourth, come to sector G4 for an immediate magical forming”, a male voice spoke in a somewhat tinny tone that was more likely due to the device.

Looking up to the pair, Xican placed the watch back into his satchel. “Sorry, we’ll have to end here. I am needed elsewhere, work never stops. Thankfully I only had two more people to interview, I can get to that later”, standing up he held out his hand to shake the pair’s, “it was nice meeting you, I hope to see you soon.”

Slinging the satchel over his shoulder he began to chant again, “Teleport”, to which his body was covered in constricting purple lines, cutting him into shreds of matter, until he completely vanished from the spot.

Logan let out a long sigh as he slouched his shoulders. “Thank the above”, he praised under his breath.

“He seemed genuine, thoughts, Logan?” Marcus asked as he walked around to the side of the table.

“I wish we didn’t have to deal with this at all. But maybe, that other guy was just an outlier? I didn’t notice Xican scanning us at all. We can only hope he was indeed a good guy.”

“Seemed it. With an invitation into the MT in hand, do you think it wise we accept it? If they are hiding something we can follow the adage of ‘keep thy enemies on the bed next to yours’ with them.”

“Bit risky. It doesn’t look like we have any time limit”, Logan spoke as he glanced at the invite, “let’s hold off for now.”

“Alright. I guess we continue as normal for the day then?”

“Yeah. Though with thoughts circling around this new development”, Logan replied.

Marcus made his own way out of the inn, Celsius and Spark keeping close to their master as they headed in the direction of the G-Hall, another full day of work ahead of them.

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