The next day, Jason met up with the others outside the Craven Arms. They had all congratulated him when he revealed his second Class, and swept him away to get registered. They had to push past people in the market square, ignoring the hawking of travelling merchants, and eventually stopped by the outside of an incredibly patched-worked building. The amount of the times it must have been damaged… He stopped when he saw the sign hanging outside of it; a simple sword and shield, surrounded by a golden circle.

“Come on then!” Brand put his hand on his back and pushed him toward the place. As they walked, he whispered into Jason’s ear, “You may want to change you Identification to your new Class. You’ve just got to will it.” He blinked at the words, glancing at the man. Brand gave him a nod. Alright then… He closed his eyes and imagined his Classes Swapping before he pushed – He felt something click. After waiting a moment for anything to happen, he opened his eyes. Brand focused on him, and then smiled, guiding him inside.

The interior was much like the outside. Some parts were stone, others were different types of wood. As he glanced around, he noticed all kinds of people; different colours, clothes, and… Fur? His jaw hit the floor as he stared at wolf people dressed in armour, a cat person in rich fabrics and… a bunny woman serving as a receptionist. He burst out into laughter, and slapped a hand over his mouth, successfully stifling himself. His shoulders still shook as they carried on, drawing curious looks from people, and confused ones from his friends. No way… His eyes went back to the rabbit ears, which were twitching as the woman listened to her customer. His gaze went down to her face, which like the rest of her body, was completely covered in fluffy grey fur. This is so wild!

They joined the queue, waiting for their turn to talk to the incredibly cuddly looking secretary. Jason couldn’t take his eyes off of her, to the point where Brand started elbowing him and waggling his eyebrows. He tried his best to ignore him, but it only got worse when the man saw his blush.

After a lot of ribbing, they finally stepped to the front. The secretary looked up from some paper and smiled, her black eyes shining in the lamplight. “Hello, and welcome to the Adventurers guild. How can I help you?”

Jason gestured for Brand to explain, so he stepped closer. “Hey, we’re the Bronze team The Archivists Response. We’d like to register and add another member, so we can tackle the new dungeon.”

The secretary bobbed her head. “Alright then, I’m guessing that’s you Mr…?”

“Jason Darting.”

“Excellent. You are just the right level to enroll! Although, you might be a little low for the new dungeon…” She frowned worriedly, and her eyes travelled to his clothes.

A hand clapped on his shoulder. “Don’t you worry about it Miss. We’ll take care of him! Not that he needs it. He’s a surprisingly slippy lad.” The shorter bear-like man grinned.

Jason coughed, while the woman looked faintly amused. “Right, I’ve heard of your team actually. You were there when that drake swarm attacked Isalt. You should be fine then, Mr Darting. These are trustworthy people.”

He blinked in surprise and looked over to see his companions' reactions. Everyone except Ilis and Brand looked stricken with embarrassment. Brand had his hands on his hips, and was puffing out his chest again. Ilis had her arms crossed, with a small smirk on her face. Falisty and Falan were staring at the floor.

The woman continued as if she didn’t notice. “I would recommend that you get some armour… your current attire might not protect much...” She shook her head. “Anyhow, please read and sign these documents…

He read through them all, not noting anything troubling. When he was done, the bunny secretary reached under the desk and produced a Bronze amulet. “There you go! All ready. Be careful out there!”

He nodded his thanks, and he, along with the others, left the building. Falan had recovered, and turned to address them. “That secretary was correct Jason. You certainly need some kind of armour, and we need to get some supplies.” He addressed the others, “I propose that one of us guides him, while the rest of us do our business.”

Jason raised a hand. “Yeah I had an idea about that. Could I make bone armour? It might take me a while, but I would be able to use my State with it.”

Falisty was already shaking her head. “You need a much higher level of manipulation than what you have now. 2nd Tier at the least.”

He nodded. Damn.

Falan glanced at both of them. “Well, if that’s all, I vote we let Ilis be Jason’s guide as she is also a magical frontline fighter.

Everyone but Ilis nodded. The woman’s eye twitched and she turned to him. “I don’t suppose you have any money, do you?”

He shuffled his feet and said, “No…”

She sighed and waved to the others. “We’ll catch you later.” She walked off, not waiting for him. He hurried after her, and fell into step.

Neither of them said a word. Jason assumed that she liked the quiet, similar to him. Still, he had questions, so when some time had passed, he asked, “So The Archivists Response? That’s an interesting name. Why did you guys choose it?”

Ilis’ gaze remained firmly on scanning the stores. “We choose it in honour of our teacher.”

He waited for more, but when nothing came he asked, “Who were they?”

She exhaled. “He was the only person that kept an eye on me and the team. Everyone else ignored, or kicked us. For some reason, the old man wanted for us to live… better. He could have chosen any brat he wanted, but he chose us.”

Jason was attentive. “Do you know why?”

She cracked a rueful grin. “yeah… he said that he helped us cause we were the dumbest… and luckiest of the bunch.” She snorted, and Jason smiled.

“Wow... He sounds cool.”

Her eyes flickered to him. “Cool? He was an old man. High level, sure, but not powerful. He was only good for holding knowledge.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Not teaching?”

“Not at all. He sucked.”

Jason chuckled. “Well… either way, I feel that people like that are rare. Hearing about them always feels like some sort of wonderful story to me. Like, someone performing great acts of strength, or endurance, you know? Except it’s an act of kindness.”

She hummed. “You are not what I expected.”

“What do you mean?”

“You’re more gentle than I thought you’d be.”

He spluttered. “Gentle?!”

She nodded. “Yep, when I first saw you in your rags on the road, you had a hardy look about you. I didn’t realise you were actually such softie.”

He fished for words, until he suddenly pointed a finger. “You’re trying to change the subject.”

She exhaled. “Yes, you’re right, I am. The man was just as you said. However, It makes me uncomfortable. We haven't followed in his footsteps…”

Jason cocked his head. He thought back to how they had at first dismissed him, but then how they fed, advised and chatted to him. He remembered being surprised by it. So he wondered, that just maybe, they were more like their Archivist than they thought.

“Ah, here’s a place, finally.”

He looked up to see that they were in front of a building that smelt almost as bad as Goblins. “What is this place?” He scrunched his nose up.

“It’s a tannery. It always smells like this. It’s also where you can often get armour.”

Oh great, shopping… He entered with a sigh and a hand covering his nose. They spent some time there, getting his measurements, and discussing what type of protection would be for the best. When he finally exited, he was no longer dressed in torn wraps or ripped shirts. Instead, he was wearing a leather outfit, padded around his chest and shoulders, leaving his arms and legs lightly armoured. He hadn’t been convinced that having his limbs unpadded would be a good idea. However, Ilis kept pushing that mobility was more important for his Class than protection. He had reluctantly agreed, especially when he noticed that it lowered the price. Something to be happy about, if he was going to pay her back.

They had then wandered back to the pub, spotting the others already waiting there. He noticed they were fidgeting, glancing up and looking around every few seconds. It didn’t take them long to spot him and Ilis.

“Finally! Get over here, we’re leaving!” Falisty snapped and jumped to her feet; the two men behind her rose to follow.

“Now?” Jason blinked.

“Yes now! We said we would go today, remember?” He opened his mouth to reply, but she brushed past him, and Brand clapped a hand up on his shoulder.

“She’s right lad. No time to waste!”

And so, he and his new team hurried out of the town. They gave him some supplies before discussing formations with each other. He marvelled at the two flasks he had received. Falisty spoke up behind him. “Mana and Health potions. We couldn’t find Stamina, sorry, and even if we did, Brand would need it more than you.” He nodded, easily accepting the logic; Brand was a much higher level than him.

They walked over a stone bridge, still talking to each other. There were a few others on the road; Some merchants who were trying to sell their wares, and a few groups of people who looked similar to them. Adventurers. There were a lot of them. The ruins must be massive…

They eventually spotted their destination. A dirty bronze door seated into the only hill for miles.

“It’s gonna be crowded there…” Jason muttered.

Falan cleared his throat. “Actually, that is not true. This dungeon has peculiar qualities to it. Rooms shift, and lead to different locations every time they are entered. So, we shall all have a rather unique experience.”

He raised his eyebrows in surprise. “Really?” He spied the amount of people entering, it was a steady flow, any room they all went into would quickly become full. His heart began to beat quicker. A smile started to spread on his face. This is it… adventure. He grinned at the others. “Well, what are we waiting for? Let’s get going.”

Their expressions were all surprised. Brand was the first to recover. “Ha! I knew I had a good feeling about you. You're gonna be a fine adventurer, I promise you!” With an air of excitement, they all upped their pace to the ruins… and waited in line for the next half an hour. Luckily, not even that could dampen their spirits, and they were soon in front of the entrance. With a nod from the guard, the doors opened again, allowing them to step inside.

The room they walked into was disappointingly bland. There was nothing in there, except pebbles and dirt. “Alright Jason, you take point.” Brand gave him one final pat on the back. He nodded back to the man, and activated [Phantom State]. He strode forward, through the archway to the next room, and beyond.

They made their way through each room. Nothing happened. No traps or monsters, just them strolling by ancient pottery, carvings or statues; those were relatively interesting, depicting snarling monstrosities or sharp muscular people. Falan seemed to enjoy observing them. Brand did too, except he only focused on the statues of people.

It was when they had moved about six rooms that something changed. Jason was walking by a particularly ugly looking statue, when a bit of dust sprayed into his face. It thankfully passed right through him, and he turned to a detailed depiction of what a man, a goat, a cow and an octopus would look like if mashed together. He looked at its face, its curled tentacled beard, along with its goat eyes and horns. He couldn’t help but glance down at the fat udder on its belly. “Ew.” He didn’t notice anything else, so he turned to leave. A hoofed tentacle came whooshing down onto his head, passing straight through.

‘Ding’ [Golem of the Impassioned Lv ??]

He took a few moments to summon his bone sword, while the rest of his team had already sprung into action. Falan shot an Ice spike from his wand, Falisty grew an evil-looking whip from her staff, Brand had his sword and shield out at the ready and was circling the monster. Ilis’ feet exploded, launching her at high speed toward the enemy, where she then swung a flame-covered punch into its nose, which caused an ear-splitting CRACK. Jason raised his completed bone sword, when his vision went black. He blinked a moment later as he heard a booming crash of a tentacle-goat leg underneath him. He turned around to see a second statue swinging one of its many limbs at him again. He didn’t bother to dodge as it passed through his head, blocking his vision again. He raised his sword when he could see, and used [Spacial Strike]. Instantly, a deep cut appeared along its thick stone chest, but that didn’t stop its attack for a second; It didn’t matter. He continued to cut at it, digging through its body with his strikes. The stone creation didn’t stand a chance, and he ended the fight with one final slash that went though its head, cutting through and revealing a glittering jewel embedded inside. He turned and saw the others finishing the first one. Brand smacked it back with his shield, while Falisty kept its limbs tied with her vine. Falan also restricted its movement by creating ice blocks to freeze it in place; all of this to allow Ilis to blur to the creature's head and smash her entire arm through, clutching the pink jewel. The stone lost its life, and they all relaxed. Ilis grinned, tossing her prize from hand to the other.

“Nice one everybody! Jason, what a show! You are now incredibly scary mate!” Brand chuckled and puffed up his chest, as if proud.

Jason, returned his grin. “Yeah, that was incredible! The Bone Manipulator Class is so awesome. That thing couldn’t touch me!”

Falisty scowled. “Don’t get cocky. That’s how every adventurer dies. You still have weaknesses.”

The sudden tone startled him, and as he turned off his State, he felt a twinge from the old injury he’d gained by Streni. He sighed. “No need to tell me that. Although it’s hard to think of what could hurt me now.”

Her stick extended before he could react, and bonked him on the head. “Everything has a weakness. One of mine is fire, one for Ilis is water, Falan is heat or even salt – we’ve run into that…”

The elf mentioned grumbled quietly. She continued as if he hadn’t said anything. “…Even Brand has a weakness, as his Class is all about protecting his party from anything, including disagreements. So illusion, Mind magic or something that can literally drain his joy would be horribly effective. There are as many Classes as there are stars. I can think of a dozen different types of attacks that could hurt you. Don’t. Get. Cocky.”

Everyone’s triumphant mood had been subdued. Brand's ever present smile wavered for a moment, before coming back in full force. “Ah, that is an important lesson, but that’s what a team is for! So stop being so grim, we won! Without any trouble too. Let’s move on, and get that loot!” A refreshing breeze suddenly blew into Jason, and he blinked before closing his eyes to enjoy it. It swirled around him, causing his shoulders to relax. When he opened them, everyone was looking less moody. Ilis smacked the bearded man’s back, giving him a smile. Falisty huffed, but her ever present frown was struggling to stay. Falan just pushed his spectacles up, looking pleased.

“Quite refreshing Brand, thank you. Shall we move on?”