Glenn walked around Jenny and gazed toward the east. He focused on the still distant cliffs. “If we set a brisk walk, we can reach the first large patch of Milkweed before noon.” He set off at once without looking back. Projecting confidence would reassure Jenny she was in good hands.

Quite footfalls told him Jenny had fallen in behind him. Glenn gradually increased their pace to a brisk walk, and her soft footfalls assured him she was having no trouble keeping up. He kept his eyes open for threats.

He soon spotted a rocky Grass Boar lair not far to the north, but he had no reason to divert there now. Picking unnecessary fights with Monsters that didn’t already threaten them would only put Jenny at risk. They should simply proceed to the cliffs as fast as they could.

They chatted easily as they walked, with Jenny asking an occasional question about Grassea’s Monsters. Glenn answering without thinking. He liked that she’d judged him an expert on the local Monsters, and he enjoyed sharing everything he knew. Further conversation would be difficult at a brisk pace without one of them growing winded, so he’d wait to quiz her until they reached the cliffs.

As expected, they reached the first big patch of Milkweed before noon. The tall brown grass grew in abundance in the shallow shadows offered by the impassible cliffs along Grassea’s eastern border. Jenny gasped with delight, and Glenn smiled as she hurried past him toward the patch.

He did a quick visual sweep for Monsters, but none remained. It seemed like the aftermath of extended even all the way out here. Perhaps he’d been wrong to worry about Jenny.

Still, this was just the first of many Milkweed patches along the cliffs. He couldn’t have allowed Jenny to come out here alone without worrying about her. There could also be more Monsters anywhere along these cliffs.

Jenny started at the edge of the patch and worked inward to avoid crushing any stalks. She nodded and hummed quietly to herself as she worked, plucking Milkweed with an expert hand. While the act of harvesting Milkweed looked trivial, every thin brown stalk was rough, scratchy, and fragile.

In reading books on resource gathering (reading, after all, wasn’t doing) Glenn had learned one needed to perfect what Alchemists called a “twist and pull” to extract Milkweed without damaging its fragile roots. Those roots were a component central in the creation of [Light Healing Potions]. Watching Jenny gather them so effortlessly assured him she’d told him the truth about her Class.

Glenn remained a respectable distance from the patch, regularly swapping his gaze from the cliffs to the hills to ensure nothing snuck up on them. In what felt like no time at all, Jenny made the patch of Milkweed extinct. It would grow back in a week or so—all plants that supported crafting Classes grew back extraordinarily fast so long as they weren’t planted in towns—but no more Milkweed would be harvested from this patch today.

Jenny walked back smiling, with a skip in her step. Glenn was pleased to see her enjoying herself. The potions she’d make tonight would help keep many young Adventurers like him alive.

“Is it possible we could find more further up the cliffs?” Jenny asked.

Glenn shook his head. “Those cliffs only go into Cliff Spider land, and there’s no Milkweed up there. The cliffs also quickly grow impassible.”

“So what’s on the other side?”

He’d thought, being from Evolan, Jenny would have extensive knowledge of the zones bordering Grassea, but then again, why would she? At Level 12, she couldn’t venture beyond the borders of Evolan anyway, other than to Grassea, the single lower Level zone to Evolan’s north.

“That’s Straglereach,” Glenn said. “It’s a 17-20 zone, and anyone would be foolish to venture into without strong poison protection or Items granting immunity. Every Monster there inflicts poison. The frogs and lizards are as big as a large dog, and the Gigaflies are huge.”

Glenn expected Jenny to make a disgusted face at that description, but her eyes and smile both widened. “You say all the Monsters there inflict poison?”

“Yes, but as I said, they’re big as dogs.”

“With that much passive Alchemy at work, it sounds like Straglereach must be rich in plants and roots. What kind of alchemy materials grow there?”

Now Glenn understood her excitement. “I honestly don’t know. I’ve only read the brief zone descriptions available in Card’s Book of Zones, and those are written for Adventurers. But I have heard some of the best Alchemy ingredients come from Straglereach, so I imagine you’re right.”

Jenny glanced in the direction of the rising cliffs. “And do those poison Monsters ever stumble into Grassea?”

Glenn smiled to reassure her. “They can’t. The cliffs are utterly impassible both ways. Even Gigaflies can’t get over them. We can’t get there, and they can’t get here, thank the Gods, unless you go all the way around the mountains by traveling through Evolan and beyond.”

Jenny relaxed and looked back to him. “That’s good to hear. You look like a capable lad, especially at Level 5, but I don’t think even the two of us could handle a Monster of that Level.”

Glenn grimly shook his head. “We could not. Our only option would be to run away as fast as possible, then pray the Monster gets bored and decides to hunt easier prey.”

“So Adventurers do run away from trouble.” Jenny smirked, though not unkindly. “The last I spoke too assured me that was not the case.”

“Then, respectfully, that Adventurer was an idiot.”

Jenny laughed. “Not far from the truth.”

“The only way to survive a life as an Adventurer is to recognize both your own limits and the limits of those you challenge,” Glenn assured her. “Running every day is better than dying even once, so long as you can flee without leaving someone weaker to bear the brunt of the Monster’s wrath.”

“A choice like that sounds dreadful. What would you do then?”

“Keep the Monster busy until everyone it might hurt has escaped.” Glenn reminded himself that sometimes, Adventurers didn’t have the option to run. “And then, of course, when everyone the Monster might hurt is safely away, that’s when you run like the wind.”

Jenny nodded solemnly. “That’s good advice. It’s also brave of you to say.”

Glenn felt a bit self-conscious, but he was only telling her what everyone knew. “Any Adventurer worth their salt would tell you the same. At least, any worthy of the title.”

“Likely not all of them. But the good ones, certainly.”

Glenn tilted his head. “How many Adventurers have you known?”

“Quite a few, actually,” Jenny said, but then her eyes widened as she stared past him in alarm. “What in the Six Hells is that doing out here?”

Fresh worry snatched Glenn’s spine. He spun to look in the direction Jenny looked and gripped the hilt of his [Bronze Training Sword]. Goosebumps rose across his skin.

A huge black Gloamwolf sauntered along the cliff line, standing almost as tall as a horse. He had wild yellow eyes and glistening gray fangs. He was Vulpor, the Level 8 Elite Wolf of Grassea, the voracious beast who’d murdered Jack Whitetalon and devoured his daughter, Azalea.

He hadn’t spotted them—yet—but if they didn’t leave immediately, he just might.

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Description: Enchanters use their Skills, along with rare and Key Ingredients, to imbue weapons and armor with magical properties that vastly improve the effectiveness of the item. They can also craft unique Items with magical properties that alter or enhance mortal perceptions.

Common Activities: Using their Skills and rare or Key Ingredients, enchanters create orbs that can be applied by any Enchanter to imbue an Uncommon Item or above with magical properties. They also gain experience from applying these Enchantments to Items and bonus experience if the Enchantment they apply is one they created. Finally, they get large experience bonuses for creating their rare and unique Items, though the Key Ingredients for these are expensive and rare.

Primary Role: Increasing Adventurer Effectiveness

Secondary Role: Crafting Rare Magical Trinkets

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Description: Men and women beloved and respected by Townsfolk and Adventurers alike, Entertainers thrill crowds with singing, dancing, and showmanship during the day and offer intimate companionship to those who desire them (and whom they desire) during Balarel’s cold nights.

Common Activities: Entertainers gain experience both based on the size of crowds they entertain during the day and by thrilling those they take to their beds at night. Their Skills and Blessings enhance their attractiveness and make them unparalleled companions and lovers. Entertainers also gain bonus experience based on how much those who spend time with them offer in thanks.

Primary Role: Entertaining Large Crowds

Secondary Role: Providing Intimate Companionship

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Description: Merchants are the center of all commerce in Balarel. Only they have the Skills to transmute Monster Life Crystals into Key Ingredients or Key Materials, both necessary for all other crafting Townsfolk Classes.

Common Activities: Merchants buy Life Crystals from Adventurers from crescents, transmute them into Key Ingredients or Key Materials, and sell those to other Townsfolk. In addition, they broker deals for everything from food shipments to houses. Finally, they get bonus experience whenever they make a deal in their favor.

Primary Role: Converting Life Crystals into crescents

Secondary Role: Supplying other Townsfolk with Key Ingredients and Key Materials.

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Description: Scribes are the final arbiters of all contracts in Balarel, both those between mortals and those involving Gods. Only a Scribe can create official documents used by everyone from Politicians to Merchants. Finally, Scribes are the only people who can create Quests ... the lifeblood of experience in Balarel. Completing a single Quest can net an Adventurer as much as killing hundreds of Monsters, so every town has at least one Scribe. Larger towns have dozens.

Common Activities: Scribes gain experience by creating contracts for Politicians, Townsfolk who seek to commission Adventurers for Quests, and by completing contracts between mortals to finalize the sale of goods, land, and services. Finally, high-Level Scribes gain the invaluable skill [Phantom Pen], which allows what they write to appear simultaneously on parchment in a town multiple zones away.

This invaluable instance communication service is known as phantom correspondence.

Primary Role: Creating Contracts and Official Quests

Secondary Role: Instant Communication Between Towns

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Description: Politician is simultaneously the most demanding and hardest to Level Townsfolk Class, but choosing it offers a benefit all other Townsfolk Classes lack: the ability to hold political office. However, Politicians must start Leveling in starter towns. No Politician can run for an office in a town where they do not meet the minimum Level requirement for that town’s zone, and can only run for the role of mayor once the reach or exceed the zone’s Level cap.

Common Activities: Politicians gain experience by both creating and attending popular political events. They also gain experience by securing valuable contracts and resources for the Towns they serve, by securing alliances with other towns, and by ensuring their town runs smoothly. Finally, their high-Level Skills allow them to authorize exceptions to the rules of the Pantheon, such as giving Town Guards Quests that allow them to leave the town and venture across their zone.

Primary Role: Leadership

Secondary Role: Assisting Leadership

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Description: While anyone can create clothing, Tailors can create clothing that is uniquely warm, durable, and consisting of complex patterns that are difficult to replicate, as well as tough and durable bags that can carry great weight while remaining light and waterproof.

Common Activities: Tailors create clothing for all Classes, Townsfolk and Adventurers alike, and gain experience by completing unique pieces by hand. They also create official uniforms for Politicians and Town Guards. Finally, using Key Ingredients, they create rare items such as the [Unfilled Bag], a necessity for any Adventurer serious about their craft.

Primary Role: Creating fine clothing for all.

Secondary Role: Creating rare and valuable bags.

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Description: Tinkers use their Skills, along with Key Materials, to create marvelous contraptions that are both magic and mundane. They can create everything from lamps that burn without oil to magical staffs that can store Skill charges. Preceptor Tinkers also create the complex machinery that powers the airships that sail the skies of Caelfall.

Common Activities: Tinkers create many popular and otherwise impossible to acquire luxury Items for those who can afford them. They also create additional Key Ingredients unique to their Class, like those high-Level Tailors use to create the coveted [Unfilled Bag].

Primary Role: Crafting Unique Useful Items

Secondary Role: Crafting Unique Key Ingredients