The hall of the Adventurer’s Guild was fairly empty at this time of day. People had come in the morning to check the requests, going back home if they didn’t find anything or taking one up and preparing if they did find one. People in here were either coming back after completing a request or waiting for a good contract to pop up, relaxing in the meantime. Each one went about his business with a weapon at the ready: swords, maces, staffs or wands; these individuals had a habit of being ready to fight on a moment’s notice, and they didn’t hide the fact.

Five of them were sitting at a table: a fairly standard group size. Two of them were men: one muscular and bald, the other young with ruffled hairs. Three were women: a young one with long, straight brown hair and a bow on her back, a middle-aged one with a hint of wrinkles and with short brown hair kept in a ponytail, and a child, with black wavy hair and green eyes.

All of them were watching the child, who felt uncomfortable but was keeping a straight face.

Ivor started talking, beating his forefinger on the table impatiently.

“I’ll start. I can’t stay silent after what she did! I’m surprised she’s not bleeding from every orifice of her head. You were lucky.”

“Should we check for something? Any way to tell if she has damage?”

Eiram spoke, trying to suppress his anxious tone. His eyes were fixed on Ivor, who felt expressed his thoughts out loud.

“Well, usually rebounds of mana either kill you outright or hits you hard; I know of a few cases where the victim lost his aptitude for magic as a result, but they are just a handful and… in particular conditions. She is going to be fine. Probably. But why did you perform such a risky action? Who taught you how to use your mana that way?”

Ivor was calmer than before, but still clearly upset. Magic was not to be taken lightly, and her teacher had done just that.

Silvy answered with the truth, trying to calm down the group that was still watching her with apprehension.

“I feel better now, don’t worry Eiram. And Ivor, I didn’t learn magic from anyone: I’m self-taught. I killed the wolves with the same technique, and I was hoping to catch Eiram off guard and hit him. And I failed to do it.”

She was feeling down: she had failed to hit Eiram even once, failing the test. They still hadn’t said anything, but she knew. She suppressed the sadness, looking at the group that had started talking again.

“That explains why you are so horrible at it. You can’t just-”

“Alright, you’ll be able to talk to her about magic after we have done the voting: I have a job to do, you know. So, I ask you, witnesses and tester: do you believe her to be fit to be an adventurer?”

After saying that Genne waved at the tablet on the table, watching Ivor to her right.

Feeling conflicted, Ivor rested his hand on the tablet, speaking after a moment of contemplation.

“I believe she is not fit to be an adventurer if we count her magical skills. I do not have an opinion on her sword skills, as I do not have the necessary knowledge to make a sound statement.”

Vilza rolled her eyes, while Eiram just sighed. After a moment the tablet lit with white light, while Genne wrote on a paper. Vilza followed, with a short declaration.

“I believe she is fit to be a Silver rank adventurer.”

Genne looked up from the paper, scowling lightly.

“The matter of the rank is already decided, as it is with every underage adventurer: all of them start at Bronze, no exception.”

Vilza retracted her hand, folding her arms. Eiram put his hand on the tablet, watching Silvy while talking.

“I believe she is fit to be an adventurer.”

White light shone, and Genne talked after that.

“I believe that she is capable enough as well. Sign down here all of you, and we are done. The paper will be processed and tomorrow morning you may come and retrieve your badge. Your rank will be Bronze. If you lose the badge, you have to report it to the closest Adventurer’s guild, and there will be a fee to pay for a new one. Tomorrow morning we’ll go over the rules: now I have to get back to my post. Have a good day Missy.”

Genne spoke with a stern but gentle tone, with a friendly face which however didn’t accept complaints. Silvy didn’t expect to pass the test, and it must have shown on her face because Eiram spoke soon after Genne moved away.

“You thought you had to win to pass the test, right? Ah! You just have to impress the one testing you, and maybe a few witnesses, but even that is not necessary. The guild has the last word on any dispute, but the examiner’s word has more weight than the witnesses' word. Only Ivor said you weren’t fit, and that was only counting your magic talent. By the way, can you deactivate the skill that doesn’t make you blink, please? I understand if it’s something you need, but you staring at me like that is creeping me out.”

Silvy didn’t understand at first and blinked without thinking. Then she realized that she probably hadn’t blinked for the last few days: she didn’t feel the need to. She started to fear for her cover; did they discover her? Then she suppressed the feeling, taking a deep breath and remembering herself to keep breathing. And now she started to blink every few seconds, hoping that it was good enough. Living in a dead body was hard: so many clues that could give you away…

“That’s better, thank you. I don’t want to know what it does, and you shouldn’t say that either, even if I have an idea in mind. But I've never heard of a Skill like that. Did you?”

Vilza shook her head, while Ivor stared at Silvy, seemingly trying to pierce her skull with sheer glaring power. Vilza elbowed Ivor, hard, who in turn yelped in pain.

“What?! I was thinking of how to approach the issue! Listen, ehm, Silvy; you can’t use your mana how you did back there. The only thing you’ll accomplish is dying or feel a lot of pain for quite some time. It’s obvious the mana you lost from the rebound was not a lot, or we wouldn’t be talking right now. You need to use your mana to guide the ambient mana and cast a spell through your focus. You do know that, right? What about a spell, even a simple one?”

Silvy recalled how she lost almost all of her energy from the rebound that Ivor was talking about and thought better than to mention it. She looked at him abashed.

“I do not know any spell. I told you, I’m self-taught. And I learned to do it a few days ago. I’m sorry, okay? I won’t do it again. But how do I learn about magic and spells?”

Ivor threw up his hand in despair.

“You need a [Mage] to teach you. Before you ask: I won’t do it. I don’t have time to play with children. Your best bet is the Mages' Guild. You can go there and watch the lessons for a fee. Do you want my advice? Drop it. You seem more than capable with a sword, and you can’t use magic and weapons. Well, you can, but you’ll be bad at both. Find someone to teach you swordplay and forget about magic.”

Eiram glared at Ivor, who just dismissed him.

“Well, I wouldn’t have been so rude like Ivor, but he has a point. Focusing on a single specialty is your best bet, especially if you have a balanced team that can cover your shortcomings while you cover theirs. You are fast, with incredible stamina. I can put a good word on a few retired adventurers who were good with a sword, maybe they can teach you something. They’ll want some coin, but I can make them give you a fair price.”

Eiram winked at her, already thinking about who would be her best teacher. But Silvy did want to learn magic, so she spoke with Ivor again.

“Can you tell me more about the Mages' Guild? How much does it cost? When are the lessons? How does it work?”

Ivor was annoyed and rolled his eyes, but answered after receiving a kick from Vilza.

“Ouch. Alright. Well, there are public classes and private lessons. Public classes are what you’d expect hearing the name: a [Mage] starts talking in public, usually about the essence of magic or some basic concept like that. Everyone can attend, and there are usually a lot of people. But they are not exactly the deepest of lessons: they are a sort of initiation, done by mages who are going to start teaching in private lessons in the future or want to test themselves. They use them as a way to get some fame, or just to get used to the pressure of speaking in front of a crowd. Sometimes there are already established professors who make these lessons, usually to get more students. Very rarely there are powerful mages who decide to make a public one, and those are packed. I went to one once, and I literally couldn’t move from my spot. Anyway, if you want the basics of basics that’s a good point to start with; just ask the Mages' Guild for the next public lesson, and they’ll answer you. Now, private lessons are accessible only through payment: you can pay to be a listening-in student, a normal student, or a personal student. The listening-in student pays little, but can only listen without interrupting or asking questions, and usually, only poor people choose that. It’s only a couple of gold per course, but if you’ve got no one to pay for you that’s your best bet. Normal students listen to the lessons and can ask questions, both during and at the end of the classes, and sometimes they receive some personal guidance. The price is usually a few dozen gold coins. Personal students, on the other hand, are either handpicked by a professor for their capability or they pay a lot of coins, usually in the thousands, even more, if the [Mage] is extremely capable. That’s the gist of it: for more details just go ask the Mages' Guild. But I want to repeat myself: drop this idea and pick up a sword. You seem apt at it, so keep at it and maybe you’ll go somewhere.”

Silvy felt her head spinning. Thousands of gold coins? She had twelve of them! Shaking her head, she watched Vilza, now speaking to her.

“Don’t mind Ivor; he’s always an ass. You know, you moved pretty fast there. You could even become a [Rogue], especially with your small physique.”

Eiram was displeased.

“Wasted talent! No, she will be a powerful [Warrior], I feel it in my bones. Do you want to meet a friend of mine? I think he’ll accept to teach you, for a small price. How much do you have?”

Silvy was wary of the question but replied anyway: they probably had more money than her and a reputation to maintain; they wouldn’t mug her. Right?

“Twelve gold pieces and a few silvers.”

“Alright, that’s more than enough to teach you a few tricks. I’ll bring you to him right now. What do you say?”

Ivor replied before Silvy could.

“I am not coming. I still need to take a bath. And you should too. Actually, I’m going now if we don’t have any other business. No? Goodbye then.”

Saying that he just strode to the door, disappearing into the town, now illuminated by the late afternoon sun.

“I’m coming with you.”

Saying that Vilza and Eiram stood up, bringing Silvy to a butcher shop just a few minutes from the guild. A big man was in the shop, almost as big as Eiram. A smile came to his face seeing the group.

“Eiram, nice to see you again! Came to get a few cuts of good meat? I’ve got a fresh pike pig.”

“I was here for another business. Can we talk in private?”

Saying that they moved to the back of the shop, away from sight. Silvy looked around, noting a few bits of meat and blood on the counter. The shop was sparse, with no chair or table; it wasn’t supposed to hold more than a few people.

Soon Eiram and the other guy came back, saving Silvy from the embarrassing silence that had fallen on her and Vilza.

“Eiram told me you wanted to learn how to fight. I can do it, but I’ll decide if you’ve got the attitude for it. I’m Jekhum, an ex-Gold Rank adventurer. If I decide to train you, you’ll come here every day around this hour, when I close my shop. I’ve taught a few people in the past, and the first thing I want you to learn is that you will do what I tell you to do when I tell you to do it. One idiot once lost a finger because he couldn’t keep his hand off the blade when he wasn’t ready for it. Come, we’ll go to my house; it’s time to close my shop anyway.”

They got out of the empty shop, and Eiram and Vilza excused themselves; the hour was late, and they still had to handle a few things. Silvy followed Jekhum, feeling small next to the big guy.

A short walk away they reached a two-story house, with nothing worth nothing about it. He opened the door, showing a modest living room with a wooden table and a few chairs.

“We’ll go into the basement. There is enough room there, and no one will disturb us.”

The basement was indeed quite large, surprisingly. And it was mostly empty: it was purposed for training, with a few weapons and weights laid around.

The next couple of hours passed with Jekhum screaming at Silvy, teaching her how to hold a weapon, the stance to use, how to keep her balance while moving, and how to strike with it. It felt hard at the beginning, but just after a few tries it was easy; every instruction of Jekhum was impressed in her mind, facilitating the process of correcting herself and accomplish everything in the right way. Two hours later they stopped, moving back to the first floor.

Jekhum talked while preparing dinner for both, refusing help from Silvy.

“You learn extremely fast. You were a mess when you came in, but you made huge progress in little time. But the secret is to keep training: you need to do it every day, or you will forget it. Here, some bacon because I feel like you have potential.”

Greased bacon and potato bits: Silvy was almost drooling. She cut a piece of meat, savoring the taste even before eating it. She bit into it… And she felt no taste. Right, she forgot about that…

Jekhum wasn’t watching her, but Silvy lost her smile but forcing it on her face right after. She was feeling depressed, but bite after bite she finished the meal, with no satisfaction at all. Even the energy that came from it felt minuscule.

“Thank you for the meal. Will you teach me then? How much is it? I’ve got some gold, but not a lot…”

Jekhum looked at her with a scowl, waving a hand.

“We’ll think about the gold another day, don’t worry about that. Right now you have to sleep. I was told you had a bout with Eiram: you are tough if you are still standing after that. Remember, come by tomorrow evening, and we’ll keep training.”

Silvy shook his hand, feeling a powerful but gentle grip. Now she had to find a place to sleep. Mentioning that, Jekhum told her of a nearby inn with cheap prices but decent beds.

The Dry Ducks was called, a modest inn that functioned as a tavern as well, nearby as well.

Only a couple of tables were empty, but Silvy ignored them and moved up to the bar. A chubby middle-aged woman greeted her, watching her cheap and dirty clothes with a hint of suspicion.

“Good evening. I’m looking for a place to stay; do you have a single room available?”

“Yes, we have a few single-bed rooms available. Fifteen copper a night, non-negotiable. Food is not included.”

She extended a hand at Silvy, waiting for the coins. Silvy fished the money out, paying for a single night.

“Up the stairs, third room on the left. If you want something, come down and let me know. Now, do you want some food as well? Ducks are our specialty, and they are very tasty if I can say so myself. I’m Mastra by the way, and you are?”

The tone of the innkeeper had changed completely after receiving the money: she wasn’t aggressive anymore, but friendly, almost caring. The change took Silvy by surprise, who answered automatically.

“I’m Silvy. No need for food, I’ll just go to my room now… Have a good night?”

The innkeeper nodded, waving her away and going to serve a calling customer. Silvy moved to her room, which wasn’t anything special either. A small bed was on the right, with a bedside table and a candle nearby. A window was opposite to the entrance, with open shutters. She could see the city in front of her, with buildings all around, and the wall dividing nobles and commoners in the distance. The sun was below the horizon, with only the stars and the two moons visible. She stared at the sky for some time, feeling finally some peace and quiet; excluding a barking dog and a person shouting in the distance. But that was beside the point.

Removing her clothes, she laid on the bed, not feeling tired, but hoping for the sleep to take her.

Closing her eyes…

[Warrior level 12→14]

[Passive: Basic Cutting Style]

[Sorcerer level 2→3]

She waited and waited. But sleep didn’t come.