Theo and Adam sat together, back to back. He was finishing up the last runework on Deskan’s arrow while Adam prepared a water-breathing philtre.

“Distill, Theo,” Adam murmured, shifting his body slightly for more contact with Theo.

“Distill,” he said, allowing the spell to form in his mana pool and travel through Adam with what was now well-practiced ease. The amount of mana that he pulsed was far more controlled than it had been three days earlier. Not perfect yet, but it was better.

Impatient noises sounded out from Adam. “How much longer do you need me for this morning? I’ve gotta meet up with everyone for the trial. Oh, and, can I get a Heat?”

“Sure thing, Heat. And, I just have a couple more runes to finish on this arrow and it should be all set. The trials worked just fine on the clay version, anyway,” he said, shrugging. It had taken some time to feel comfortable in this position sitting against Adam, but he’d been able to get his enchanting work done while his stocks were replenished, so he really couldn’t complain.

“Shit, Attenuate, please? Less mana if you can,” Adam grumbled, sounding displeased with himself.

“Attenuate. What’s happening with it? What color is the potion right now?” Theo asked, turning his head slightly to try and get a look.

Adam grunted. “It’s… maybe a pinkish-orange? I don’t know, there’s a lot of chunks floating in there.”

“Add a little more gallarant seed powder, you probably didn’t add enough binding agent,” he said, returning to his own work inscribing runes. Sunlight shone down on him, filling his fairly empty mana reserves just enough that he could manage both as long as they worked slowly.

The pestle scraped against the mortar for a few moments before Adam sighed with relief. “That worked. Thanks, Theo. It’s more orange than pink now, should I add the stardust?”

“You should. Then I’ll give you one strong Distill. Let me know when you’re ready,” he said, giving an affirmative nod that Adam couldn’t see.

“Ready.”

“Distill. Make sure to watch that stability, waterbreathing potions can sneak up on you,” Theo warned, nudging Adam slightly.

He leaned forward, almost making Theo fall backward. “It’s still not in the red or anything, I think we could manage one more tiny Distill. Can you do it?”

“Mhm,” he affirmed, waiting for Adam’s back to make contact once more. He grasped as much as he could mentally on his mana pool, trying to practice restricting the flow. “Distill.” It worked somewhat, he didn’t waste as much as he had been wasting.

“I think it’s done. It’s a really pale green now but it’s not red,” he said, sounding pleased with himself.

“Okay, I’ll give you a Cool to finish it off. Cool,” he said, his voice echoing with the Named Spell.

He felt Adam nodding to himself. “Perfect. It’s done. Maybe a little frosty…”

“That’s fine, it’ll warm up on its own. You can take a break now, that’s plenty of potions. I’m almost done with this arrow, just need to add the final touches,” Theo said, holding it up for Adam to see.

Studying it for a moment, he leaned in closer. “Just one last Intent rune, eh?”

“That’s it. You can go make yourself something to eat if you want while I finish up,” he said, waving a hand towards the door. “I shouldn’t be long.”

A groan from his stomach indicated Theo was right. “Sure. I can make you something too. Any specifics?”

His own stomach growled, so he nodded. “I believe I have some goose eggs in the larder, could you fry them over easy for me? My frying pan is in the cupboard on the left.”

He gave Theo a thumbs up. “Got it. You have anything green? I don’t wanna eat anything too heavy right before our test.”

“Plenty. I have a loaf of bread in the larder as well if you’d like to make yourself a sandwich.”

Adam smiled at that. “Sounds great. You keep working. Think you’ll be done by the time your food is ready?”

“Make your sandwich first and I think I should be,” Theo said, pointing his stylus at Adam.

“Sure thing.”

Once Adam left, he delved back into the enchanting. The last rune wasn’t too complex, but he wanted to make sure he hadn’t missed any spots so he was setting aside time for an inspection as well.

Mana flowed through the stylus, a soft silver light emitting from the tip as it made contact with the metal of the arrow. He hummed to himself, inscribing the last rune with the utmost precision. His stylus glided along the surface, leaving the glowing marks of a forming rune in its wake.

Finished, he carefully pored over the arrow in its entirety. He frowned at one spot where the line didn’t look up to snuff. With more mana flowing, he corrected the error fairly easily, mentally complimenting himself on a job well done.

The scents of cooking reached his nose and he just about hovered out of his seat towards the kitchen, arrow in hand. Sizzling and popping in the frying pan were the first sounds he heard as he walked into the kitchen.

Adam danced around the counter to a song that wasn’t playing, sprinkling a little salt on the egg. He turned around, noticing Theo watching him. His ears turned red. “Oh, Theo. Hi. Breakfast’s ready.” Moving the egg to a plate, he set it on the table for Theo.

Theo just smiled and sat down. Both at the table, he took his first bite. “Adam, this is delicious! And did you pan-fry some bread slices for me?” He used the bread to sandwich his egg, dipping it in the yolk.

“Yup. Secret recipe, can’t tell you what,” he said, grinning.

Raising an eyebrow, Theo leaned in, stage-whispering. “It wouldn’t happen to be… butter in a pan, would it?”

He feigned a gasp. “How did you know?”

“Just had a hunch,” he teased. “Oh, and Adam, I was wondering, what’s the test like? I’ve heard stories before, but it’s been a while.”

With an impressive amount of balance, he leaned disturbingly far back in his chair. “You wanna come and watch? They allow spectators. The test is supposed to be a little different every time they do it, so even I don’t know exactly what’ll happen.”

His eyes widened. “Really? I’d have to open the shop later, but… yes, I’d love to come!”

“We should probably get going soon, so eat up,” he said, gesturing to Theo’s plate of slowly cooling eggs.

Adam’s eyes rounded as Theo shoveled food in his mouth with wild abandon. His fork clattered against the plate loudly. “Done. Now, I just need to freshen up quickly. I’ll need to put on my good vest.”

“What’s wrong with the vest you’re wearing?” he asked, quirking an eyebrow.

Glancing down at his vest, he scrunched his brows before looking back up. “Nothing, really. They’re all good vests, but… a vest for each occasion, y’know?”

“I don’t, but sure, go change,” Adam said, hands raised in defeat.

“I’ll be quick!” Theo called out, already halfway through the door to his room. Vests were thrown left and right as he tried to pick out just the right one. He settled on a mahogany brown vest and tied an emerald green bow tie under the collar of his shirt. Perfect.

Cleaning himself up in the bathroom quickly, he fussed with his hair for a bit, trying to get it just right. The humidity was higher today so it was being uncooperative. Finally ready, he jogged back out to the kitchen to find Adam sharpening his battleaxe with a whetstone.

“All done!”

Adam raised a brow, regarding Theo’s new vest. “That’s like, the same color vest, you just added a green bow tie.”

Theo placed a hand over his collarbone, scoffing in mock-offense. “I’ll have you know the last vest was a dark umber. This one is mahogany. And the green bow tie is for good luck.”

“Brown is brown. I appreciate the good luck though, I think we’ll need it,” Adam said, grimacing.

“You just don’t understand vests. But, speaking of things you need. Would you want to… borrow a wand? Or maybe some other enchanted tool? Just for the test,” Theo said, eyeing him expectantly.

“I wish. We already registered everything we’re bringing in. We can’t add extras,” he said, frowning.

“Oh. Well, shall we get going?” he asked, gesturing towards the door.

“Probably. Telsa’s gonna be antsy even if I’m this early,” he said, stretching as he stood up once more.

“Oh, just one more thing, actually. Be right back,” he said, dashing into his workshop to grab his inscribing stylus and his finished Wind Tunnel wand. With a spring in his step, he came back out, leading the way to his door. “I just need to lock up and we can go. I’m bringing my stylus in case I need to touch up the runes at all for Deskan.”

“Sounds good. You have it in that case thing, right?” Adam asked, eyes scanning Theo’s bag that hung over his shoulder.

“I do. Wh- oh goodness!” Theo called out as Adam picked him up and stuffed him under his arm.

“Because it’s later than we thought!” he shouted, sprinting down the street.

From his position, he could glance up at the sky. The position of the sun confirmed what Adam had said, it wasn’t morning anymore. They arrived at the adventurer’s guild with remarkable speed. Theo’s sides were hurting from being jostled around as much as he had been.

When he looked at Adam, he was jealous that the brute hadn’t even broken a sweat. I wonder how much easier my own exercises will be now that I’m Tier 3.

Telsa strode up to them, eyes blazing with fury. “Adam, you were nearly late! Our test is in five minutes! Oh, hi, Theo.” She smiled brightly at him, terrifying him with the sudden shift of demeanor.

“Uh, hello. Is Deskan here? I have her arrow?” he asked, searching for her.

She stepped out from behind a stone pillar, sneering as usual. “Let me see it.”

As he moved to hand it to her, Telsa snatched it out of his hand instead. “What do we say, Deskan?” Her glare could have peeled paint off a wall.

Deskan glared right back. “Please,” she spat the words out, taking the arrow aggressively from Telsa’s proffered hand. Walking up to a training dummy in a field just outside the guild, she fired the metal arrow into it. With smooth, practiced motions, she nocked and shot several more. They all disappeared from sight shortly after leaving her bow, impaling the dummy from all angles around it.

Theo clapped, noticing that Deskan’s lip quirked up slightly as she gathered her arrows. She regarded Theo. “It works perfectly. Thank you. I’m…” She clenched her teeth like it hurt her. “Sorry I doubted you.”

“It’s quite alright. I know my prices can potentially hurt my reputation, but I’d rather keep adventurers alive by better supplying them than price-gouge them,” he said, puffing his chest up and putting his hands on his hips.

“Don’t let it go to your head,” Deskan said, already turning to count her arrows, clearly done with the conversation. “Hey, you have the other arrows I left you, right?”

“Oh, yes I do! It’s right…” He opened his bag, taking the teleporting arrow out. “Here. Unharmed, despite Adam carrying me under his arm the whole way here.”

Nils walked up to the two of them. “He did that to you too? Not very comfortable, is it? He’s done it to me on several occasions when we’re retreating on requests.”

Theo rubbed his sides, frowning. “Not comfortable at all. I think I may have bruises soon…”

“Deskan! Nils! Come on! It’s go time! You too, Theo!” Telsa called out, waving them onward.

“Oh, I suppose we should go then. I’ll be cheering you all on from the stands!” Theo gave them a thumbs up, following an attendant who brought him to the stands around the adventurer’s guild arena.

There were a few others watching, mostly human but two fulvitre and a chosen whose hair was actually a mess of short quills. The chosen had a bubble of water suspended around his neck which he stored in a flask moments later, looking refreshed.

A chosen with an orange chitin exoskeleton walked out into the middle of the arena. He tapped a necklace twice with one claw hand and shouted out, his voice far louder than it should be. “The Vanguard’s Grip will be performing a test today to advance from Steel rank to Silver rank! We ask for your cooperation at this time to please keep yourself as quiet as possible. We have Fundamental barrier mages in place to keep the arena sealed, but it would not do to have unwanted attention from the monsters brought to the crowd.

“Without further ado, we will now announce what the Vanguard’s Grip will be up against today.” He pulled a slip of parchment from his pocket, reading it over once. “Oh, looks like everyone here is in for a show. They’re up against shiftrock moles! These oversized rodents channel Primordial mana to trap or pierce their prey with the power of earth! Looks like our competitors are coming out now! I introduce to you, Telsa Preant, Adamant Weaver, Deskan Torsum, and Nils Selic, the four members of the Vanguard’s Grip!”

Theo clapped as hard as he could, cheering. His excitement slowly died down as he realized no one else was cheering. He looked around, everyone was staring at him. His ears burned as he huddled down to look as small as possible.

The chosen announcer cleared his throat. “Well, uh, we have three guild representatives observing today who will judge this team on their efficiency, teamwork, effectiveness, utility, and speed of completion. Once I leave the arena, the moles will be released and the fight will begin!” He walked towards a door in the wall of the arena, shutting it behind himself.

Cages on the other side of the arena slid open, allowing five moles, each larger than Theo, to walk out onto the field. Sunlight shone down brightly onto the battleground. He couldn’t hear them, but Telsa said something to Adam who nodded to her.

He charged ahead, the moles moving to meet him. Adam dodged side to side as pillars of earth sprung up from the ground. Roaring, runes lit up on his skin. In a blur of movement, his axe cleaved through the next earthen spire that shot up from the ground at him.

A group of spires appeared around him in a circle, enclosing him in a cage of rock. His movement was heavily restricted, but he gripped one of the pillars, tearing it out of the earth with his brute strength alone. He blocked off several of the moles, catching their claws and teeth with the pillar.

By this time, Deskan was in position. She caught one of the moles unaware, her beacon arrow stabbing into its side with a spray of blood.

It hissed in response, a volley of floating earthen spikes firing at her. She returned with a volley of her own arrows. Unfortunately, the mole summoned a rocky armor plating around its skin, making each arrow glance off. The other moles followed suit, mimicking the first upon noticing its injury.

“Telsa! Alacrity!” Nils held up his staff, a large gem set in the crooked head of it glowing brightly. A blue glow of mana settled around Telsa’s head and body. She crouched low, throwing one of her daggers towards the moles.

Theo gasped as it missed, but Telsa was smiling. The air between her and the moles seemed to bend in a way his mind had trouble comprehending. She sped forward faster than Theo could register, her other arm coming up with a swing of her dagger. “Rending Slash!” Light bent around her dagger, reaching a focal point as she cut.

Another mole almost reached her before the pillar of earth Adam had ripped up slammed into its face. The momentary distraction was enough, however, and the beast that Telsa had nearly cleaved through backed off just enough that her cut only left a gash across its front. It leaked blood, but the mole wasn’t down for the count.

They all burrowed into the ground moments later. Telsa barked an order and the group stood back to back in a diamond formation. Deskan’s mouth was moving and she pointed towards the ground.

“Got it! Titanic Strength!” Adam leaped into the air, the runes on his arms and legs glowing brighter than before. His battleaxe gleamed in the light, slamming into the ground. Rock cracked and burst into debris around him as he shattered it with his hit.

Several of the moles were sent airborne by the force. One had Deskan’s beacon arrow in its side. She fired several arrows which teleported into it moments later. It landed on the ground in an unmoving heap. Adam was heaving for breath on the ground as several moles approached him.

Telsa appeared at his side moments later, her dagger clipped to his side. Theo’s wand was pointed at the rodents who had claws up ready to strike. “Bolt Orb!” Three orbs of yellow lightning shot out of the wand, striking the moles. They reared back, chittering loudly. Telsa spun on her toes, grabbing her dagger from Adam’s side and swinging widely.

Nils called out. “Reaction Reduction!” A red aura settled around the moles, their bodies becoming slow to move.

“Warped Size!” Telsa’s dagger blades extended far longer than they should have. “Rending Slash!” It was space itself, Theo realized, that bent in on her daggers, her next strike cleaving through two of the moles despite their earthen armor.

Only two moles remained. Deskan’s beacon arrow plunged itself deep into the head of one, dropping it instantly. Telsa raised the wand once more, firing another Bolt Orb at the final mole. Stunned once more, Adam had recovered enough and slammed his axe through its chest, the runes on his arms glowing a final time. He landed on his back, breathing heavily from his explosive exertions.

There was a moment of quiet before applause broke out from the small crowd. Theo joined in, subtly glaring at those who hadn’t clapped with him before.

Back in the main lobby of the adventurer’s guild, Theo stood with the Vanguard’s Grip, awaiting the judgment of the guild officials.

An older human with bright violet hair stepped out of their meeting room, facing the group. Everyone stared at him expectantly before he smiled and held up four silver tags. “You all passed.” He let everyone take that in and cheer with each other before continuing.

“Your teamwork was incredible and you handled the situation faster than expected. It seems that Bolt Orb wand gave you the capability to handle larger crowds than before.”

Adam nudged Theo, smiling.

“But. You all still have areas to improve on. Adam, your spells have high mana requirements and clearly exhaust you quickly. We recommend working on your stamina to improve that, not just your strength.

“Telsa, the latency between spell activation and your strikes could use improvement, make sure to not let yourself be distracted as well. Trust in your tank to defend you.

“Deskan, you may want to invest in a way to retrieve your beacon arrow more readily. It cost your team time for you to retrieve it out of the body each time.

“Lastly, Nils, you need to improve the efficiency of your buff channeling. One of our representatives detected a much higher mana expenditure than your spell should have cost. We recommend seeing a Phrenist to have those Named Spells removed once you have appropriate replacements Spell Books. There are a few the guild could recommend but if you have a personal preference that is quite fine as well.”

Telsa walked up to the representative and took the offered tags, handing over a set of steel tags in return. “Thank you, Guildmaster Tynvern. We’re honored you oversaw our match. And thank you for all of the feedback, we’ll be sure to apply it.”

“I’m just glad to see your team finally advance in the ranks, Telsa. You’ve shored up the aspects you were lacking in before. I look forward to your future progress,” the older man nodded to the group. “I have more tests to attend to. You’re welcome to stay but I assume you all want to go out and celebrate.”

“That we do, Tyn,” Adam said, grinning.

Deskan glared at him. “Guildmaster Tynvern, you mean.”

“It’s quite alright, Deskan. I’ve known young Adamant here for far longer than the rest of you. I must take my leave now, however. Good job once again. You all did wonderfully.” He stepped through the door under loud thanks from everyone, Theo included even though he didn’t know why, it just felt right.

“Well, Theo, we’re gonna go celebrate. You wanna come?” Telsa asked, looking between him and Adam with a knowing quirk to her lips.

He frowned. “I would love to, but I really need to go open my shop now. I may be available tomorrow after I teach Pina some more manual casting. You all take it easy today, you’ve earned it. Congratulations on reaching Silver rank! That’s quite the achievement.”

“Thanks, Theo. We’ll stop by tomorrow, then. See you later. If I don’t have too bad of a hangover, at least,” Adam said, waving him off.

“If you do, you know who to come to,” Theo said, chuckling. He waved to everyone as they went their separate ways. With the lesser leaks and being in the sunlight as long as he had been, his mana pool was filled up quite a bit again, fortunately. He returned home, feeling excited about the Vanguard’s Grip’s success today.

Unlocking his shop he went to close the door behind him before something stopped it. He turned around to see a large hand holding the door. “Maraz.”

Bright, perfectly white teeth smiled back at him widely. “Hello again, Theo. Did you have fun at the adventurer’s guild today? I saw you down in the guild district and figured I’d come to check in on the shop. Your prices wouldn’t happen to be the same as before, would they?”

Theo backed up, hand moving to the pocket with his wand in it. The very same hand trembled. “T-They’re the same as b-before, Maraz. Can’t you just leave me alone to run my shop?”

“I’m afraid I can’t do that, Theo. Your time is up and the guild wants me to make sure you change,” he said, cracking his knuckles.

Theo eyed Maraz defiantly, his legs quivering under him. His voice was shaky but his conviction was firm. He clenched a fist around his wand. “I-I don’t believe I will.”

Maraz raised a fist. “You don’t really have a choice, do you?”

Once Maraz took another step forward, Theo whipped out his wand. “I do. Wind Tunnel!” In his fear, he didn’t have even the slightest hold on his mana pool. A large portion of his mana dumped into the wand immediately.

The runes lit up, blindingly bright. The wood of the wand snapped and splintered as a concussive wind blast shot Maraz through the shop window. Theo himself shot backward, slamming into his counter.

Several potion bottles and other enchanted tools fell to the floor in the wake of the destruction. Theo’s heart clenched as he stood up, groaning in pain. He looked out the opening that was his window to see Maraz laying on the ground, blood leaking from his head.

“Oh dear.”