Jennifer walked into the guild, the busy front area greeting her with its cacophony of noises as adventurers walked about going about their work. A few eyes turned towards her but soon lost interest as they turned back to their tasks. Most of them were familiar with her from her daily visits to the guild.

Strange how I’ve gotten used to coming here, interacting with ranked plates on a daily basis in just a week.

Jennifer scanned the room, taking note of the increased number of adventurers in the guild. They'd already started to flood into the city, following the news of the new dungeon branch.

Unlike last time, she also noticed a larger number of guards patrolling the city.

She went past the central areas, making her way towards the area of the guild reserved for important guests. She’d come to recognise the many little chambers and rooms setup for trading and mercantile business. The guild worked both as a hub for monster parts trade, artifacts and the de facto centre of any other dungeon related items, also serving as a housing method for adventurers if they wish to stay. Most ranked adventurers also had private rooms that the guilds provided for them.

They’ll probably start to be filled as well. There are already rumours of how someone stumbled upon an artifact and sold it for a hefty sum. It’s only going to get worse...I sure hope the guild is prepared.

She let the thought slide as she entered the training hall. Jennifer looked around, confused when she did not see either Viel or Nathaniel here.

Well, I’m at least glad about not seeing the muscle bound monster. I fear I’ll start getting nightmares about his training methods, although I can’t deny their effectiveness.

Jennifer looked at her arm, the muscles more firm than they’d ever been. The potion had made it so she recovered even from his extremely intense training in hours. It did nothing for the mental agony, however.

Jennifer shrugged, seeing that no one was here, she walked to the other side of the training hall and activated the training dummies. A single mud golem rose from the ground, its single blue eye inspecting her. It’s core shone a light blue as it recognised her mana imprint.

“Combat training, Iron-1,” Jennifer said as the colour of the golem shifted from a light blue to a reddish colour. She jumped back as the golem turned towards her, swinging its arms as it threw a mud ball at her.

Jennifer swiveled sideways, dodging the mud. She put her foot forward turning as she formed two glass shards in her hand, charging them with her mana. Using the momentum from agile wind, she let a wind blast spin her faster as she threw both of them at the golem, the shards curving through the air as they hit it head on, staggering it.

A white bolt of mana formed above her palm which she grabbed in her hand, a cool glassy feeling to the magical construct. Dashing ahead, she stabbed the mud golem in its face with the mana bolt, twisting away before it could strike back. But her strike had been true. The construct stopped, twitching as it’s circuits burnt from the mana overload.

How long was that? 25 seconds? New record I think. These are far too easy to destroy now.

Jennifer stopped the training session as the golem repaired itself. She almost flinched when Nat suddenly spoke from behind her.

“Smooth progress Jenn, in just a week as well. You seem to have the hang of your glass spells now,” Nathaniel said, his hands folded behind his back as he entered the hall.

“How long have you been there? Also, thanks. I’m still not comfortable with combining Agile Wind with glass affinity to be honest. Having shards of glass circling around me uncontrollably is a bit scary.”

“Not too long. And you don’t have to use that spell. We’ll be looking into expanding your repertoire. Well, once we’ve ensured that your mana pool's grown enough to support Tier 2 spells. Alas, there isn’t any other way besides just practicing over months to do that,” Nathaniel said, to which Jenn just shrugged. She'd known it would take time.

“Is Viel not going to do training today? Or are you going to be first?” Jennifer asked, eyeing Nathaniel. He wasn't wearing his usual adventurer gear today, instead coming wearing a formal shirt and pants.

“About that, you can take today off Jennifer. I should’ve informed you, but I did need to give you a few things and decided that you coming here would make it easier for me to do both,” Nathaniel said as he walked out of the training hall.

Jennifer glanced at the still glowing training dummy, then followed behind, quirking an eyebrow at him. “What things?”

“Well, first of all, Viel and I have come to the conclusion it’s time you got some hands-on experience. Nothing dangerous of course. But you should be able to handle Iron-rank threats easily, perhaps even bronze-rank with a good team. We have an iron-team who'll be taking you into the sewers. They're a three member team and the captain is the only bronze-plate but the team is reliable. Besides, it’s a simple slime infestation. I'm certain you'd be able to take care of it yourself.”

“You want me to go into the sewers? To kill slimes? With...a random team? I mean, sure. I don’t really have any problems, it’s just a bit sudden,” Jennifer eyed Nat, as he walked on ahead of her.

“Things have started to move Jennifer. You’ll see it for yourself soon. It'd be best if you had experience handling combat situations. Especially with a team,” Nathaniel said, stopping as he turned towards her.

“Well, I don’t have any issues. When will I have to go?”

“Most probably tomorrow, you can come here tomorrow morning and ask at the front counter for more information. The team is ‘Fiery Arrows’,” Nathaniel said, before he waved his hand, throwing something at Jennifer.

She caught the item, her eyes widening in surprise as she saw the gold coin sitting in her palm. She turned to stare at Nat who returned a smirk. “Pocket money for you. Don’t waste it though, it’s for your adventuring gear. Look around and get something sturdy. You can visit ‘Serfield Wings’ and mention I sent you. They’ll get you properly set up.”

Jennifer carefully put the gold coin in her pouch, her hand visibly shaking as she closed the pouch. He'd just handed her more money than she'd earned throughout her entire apprenticeship.

“Well, we’ll see you tomorrow then,” Nat said, saluting her casually as he walked further into the guild’s central chambers.

Guess I’m free today. What do I do now?

Jennifer walked through the corridor, her thoughts churning. The back-breaking training had been more than just improving her skills. She'd been using it as a coping method, she realised. The brutal intensity kept her mind focused on making it through each day and doing her best to grow faster. Collapsing into her bed exhausted each day had kept the lurking dark thoughts away from her mind.

Maybe I should shop a bit? Take a stroll and get some gear for the quest. I do have the money now.

She considered the thought for a moment. Won’t hurt to just have a look.

Her nose tingled as she passed the guild entrance, hearing talk of the increased monster spawns in the dungeon. The mana saturation level of the city had begun rising since the dungeon shift, an event she didn't remember happening the last time the dungeon had shifted.

She made her way out of the guild halls, the busy streets greeting her as merchants hawked their goods to the various adventurers passing by. She walked through the busy streets, heading towards the merchant streets.

Her eyes drifted through the alleys, keeping one hand on her pouch just in case anyone tried to steal from her. She paused upon noticing Rumina standing nearby, an annoyed look on her face as she talked to a dark haired boy leaning against the wall.

Curious, Jennifer walked towards her friend.

“Why are you so difficult? Can’t you just do this one simple thing without being so damn irritating about it?” Rumina’s voice traveled as the boy snorted.

“Why’d I go running around behind you two like an idiot. I’ve got a real job now. There’s much business to be had with the Runners ever since the adventurers all swamped into here for the dungeon business,” The boy replied, folding his arms.

“Rumina! And...Gavril?” Jennifer called out as she spotted the two of them. Jennifer thought she saw Rumina flinch for a second as the girl returned her smile.

“Oh, Jenn. You’re done with the guild stuff already?” she asked, elbowing Gavril.

“Yeah, I got out early. They told me I could have a day off since I have to go to clean up some slime infestation with an iron-plate team tomorrow,” Jennifer replied as Rumina eyed Gavril from the corner of her eyes.

“What are you doing here Gavril? Shouldn’t you be out running jobs or something? Master was shouting for you yesterday, you don’t wanna piss him off too much,” Jennifer asked.

The boy muttered to himself, before turning to her with a frown. “Fire Head here's been bugging me over a job, that’s all. 'Sides, city’s been all sorts of busy recently. The dungeon business doesn’t sound good to me but hey, if it brings me money then I ain’t gonna complain. Adventurers are willing to pay quite a bit, especially those unfamiliar with the area,” he said, grinning at her.

“Please don’t tell me you're scamming adventurers,” she asked, sighing as the smirk on the boy’s face widened.

“Rumina, want to go shopping with me? I have to get gear for tomorrow's thing. We could look together,” Jennifer turned towards Gavril. “You could come too. If you have nothing better to do.”

Gavril's smirk transitioned into a more genuine smile as he nodded. “I’ve got time. And congrats on getting into the guild. Dunno how you pulled that one off. Always thought you liked your books. Never expected you to run around killing monsters. Didn’t you get accepted into the academy?”

“Ah, well. It just happened. Long story, I’ll share some other time,” Jennifer replied, and Gavril shrugged, the two of them following her as they made their way towards the merchant district.

Jennifer searched the shops, trying to find the one Nathaniel had mentioned. The mercantile districts were filled to the brim with people wandering about. The main streets were lined with carts and stalls hawking food or enchanted knives. Sometimes both together.

Jennifer spotted a group of harpies running on the roof. A second later they all jumped aside as a pissed off guard chased after the harpies.

“Things really are bustling aren’t they? Have you heard about the auction house selling an artifact for five thousand gold pieces? It’s insane, how much some of these people are willing to spend,” Rumina said, whistling as they watched one of the harpies trip, falling off the edge of the roof and getting tangled in the ropes supporting merchant banners overhead. Forming a nicely wrapped harpy package for the guard, dangling above the street.

Jennifer shook her head in part amusement and part exasperation, quite sure that these were some teenagers causing a ruckus. They continued making their way through the crowd. A part of her wanted to use Agile Wind and dash her way through the noisy mass of people.

“Do you know where Serfield Wings is, Rumina? I was told to go there and look for stuff but I’m not sure if it’s here or not,” she asked Rumina and the red haired girl froze mid step.

“Are you sure it’s Serfield Wings? The Serfield Wings?” Rumina asked, her voice rising towards the end.

Jennnifer looked around, slightly confused at her friend's reaction. “I think so, yeah. Why is that such a big deal?”

“This girl- you really have no interest in the market and anything like that do you? I knew you weren't interested in clothes or dressing up but... Sera’s grace Jenn, this might just be a good thing. Follow me, I know the place.”

Jennifer looked towards Gavril, his expression one of confusion as well, reassuring her slightly. Both of them shrugged and followed behind an increasingly excited Rumina.

The roads widened as the alley slums gave way to paved pathways with decorated plants. Jennifer inspected her surroundings, glancing at Gavril occasionally as they entered the richer parts of the city.

“That is the Serfield Wings shop. One of the largest names in the clothing industry. I've never gone inside. They cater primarily to adventurers,” Rumina said, looking behind as her eyes shone with excitement.

“Are you sure we can head in there? None of us have the kind of money needed to visit a place like that...unless,” Gavril said, eyeing Jennifer suspiciously.

“I was just told that if I tell them I was sent by someone, they’ll...take care of it,” Jennifer replied feeling a bit uncertain about her decision to come here, as they stopped in front of the shop. It was a large building, built more like a manor than a store. Expensive decor lined the front of the shop, the design followed the central alliance’s look very closely, adding embellishments to the theme wherever it could.

“Maybe we should come back some other time,” Jennifer said, looking at Gavril who had a similar expression of doubt on his face. She saw Rumina pout at her words, but there were no objections. Jennifer turned around, wishing she could run back to the more common areas of the city when a voice interrupted her.

“Can I help you?” An old man in a crisp shirt called, a gentle expression on his face as he stepped forward. Jennifer noted the emblem on the shirt, similar to the one Nathaniel had.

“We wanted to look for some gear for our friend, she plans to go on her first quest tomorrow,” Rumina spoke excitedly before Jennifer could stop her.

“Ah in that case, please, come inside,” The old man said, holding the door open for them.

Jennifer glared at her friend who happily walked in. Jenn sighed as she followed her inside the luxurious shop.

How bad could it be?