Today, I woke up a bit differently from the other days. I wasn't feeling a headache, nor was I feeling tired. Today, I felt refreshed.

I didn't really do that much yesterday so that probably explains it, I thought with a little smile on my face.

I opened my eyes and looked around. Eros was sitting on the chair, just staring into empty air.

Looks like its becoming a habit, I thought.

Yesterday, Eros had wanted to stop being an archer, and become a melee fighter. He did not say what specific weapon he was training with, and I could not guess it. At night, he had brought a wide assortment of weapons. From brass knuckles to morning stars to swords, he had one of almost everything.

Maybe he hasn't decided yet, I thought, with a curious face. Maybe I should ask him?

I called out to him.

“Eros”, I said, in an even voice. Wouldn't want to scare him again.

Scare him, I did. Like last time, he fell out of the chair, while putting his hands up in a defensive position. I did look quite comical.

“Not again”, I heard Eros mumble to himself.

“Looks like its becoming a habit”, I said, with a humored face.

“Yup, look like it”, he said, in a calm voice.

There were a few seconds of silence, where I was waiting for Eros to say something. Seems like he was doing the same thing.

“So, what do you think we should do today?”, I ask him.

He thought a little about it before silently sighing.

“We should probably try questing today, because of two reasons. Number one; we need to try out the new group formation. Number two: We are in a desperate need of money”, he answered bluntly.

I couldn't see anything wrong with the plan, so I accepted it.

“Seems like a good plan. Let's go”, I said.

And with that, we walked out on the street, in the direction of the guild building.

As Eros and I walked down the street, we made a little Smalltalk.

“So, are you sleepy or something?”, I ask Eros. He had been kinda cold today, and I could not find a reason for it.

“A little. I did not get that much sleep, because of the melee training”, answered Eros.

“Oh yeah, you did have a lot of weapons up in the room. Did you decide what weapons to use?”, I asked.

“Almost. I have decided that I'm going to use the morningstar or battle ax, but I can't figure out a way to decide which is better for me. So, I will just use both in battle, and see which is best”, Eros answered, with minimal excitement on his face.

“But why do you have the brass knuckles with you?”, I ask. The morningstar and battle ax must already weigh a lot, so why have brass knuckles?.

“It's for emergencies. If I lose both weapons, they won't expect me to have the third hidden one”, he answered.

“Good thinking”, I said, with a smile on my face.

I look up at the sky. The weather was really nice today. It was about 25 degrees Celsius, there were only a couple of white clouds, and there was a slight breeze that you could just feel on your face. As I said, it was quite nice.

“Seems like good weather for adventuring”, I said, a smile of satisfaction on my face.

“Yes, it is. Because its almost wind still, attackers will have a harder time sneaking up on us”, Eros, while looking up at the clouds.

We arrived at the guild build, a few minutes later.

We go up to the questboard, and as I don't have much experience in quest-picking, so I ask Eros what quest to take.

“What do you think we should take?”, I ask Eros, hoping he would know.

He thinks about it for a few seconds, before he speaks.

“As we don't have any official experience in questing, we are limited to the simpler quest here meaning; gathering, exterminating, and militia. As we don't want the quest to take too long, we can take out the militia, because it takes, a minimum of, 14 days of service to complete. We can also take out the gathering quest, because of it not fulfilling one of our two goals. Our goals for today is to get fighting experience in the group, and earning a sizeable amount of money. As the gathering quests we can take are non-fighting, we won't be taking any of those quests. That leaves extermination quest. There are two kinds of extermination quest we have the experience to take. Number one is simple mob extermination. Number two is simple mob extermination, that has a stronger creature at the end. As we are few in number, I would say we should just take a simple mob extermination quest”, he explained to me, in a calm voice.

“Okay then, let's look for those”, I say.

We look around for a few minutes and find three simple mob extermination quests that we wanted. There was a wolf one, a harpy one, and a forest mimic one.

I, again, didn't have much experience in quest-picking, so I ask Eros what quest to take.

“Well, this one is kinda easy. We have three quests to pick from, and two of them is not suited for us in any way. The harpy one would be unsuited for us because of their method of attacking. They usually sneak up on you and attack you before you notice them. As there is not any semblance of wind today, we would have to find their nests, which would take too much time. Even if we did find them, we would be overwhelmed by their numbers.

We can also just take the forest mimic one out. Forest mimics, as their name suggests, mimic the forest. They look almost identical to the forest, and it would be impossible for an untrained eye to spot them. Because we cant see them, we would have to stab everything to even find them, and that takes them out of the equation instantly.

This leaves us with the wolf one. While it is not ideal to fight more than one at a time, we don't have that much of a choice.

So let's take the wolf one”, Eros explained. He really did know a lot about this stuff.

“Okay, then it's settled. let's take the wolf one”, I said, as wrote the number of the quest down on a piece of paper, and then I walked up to the counter.

The guild building wasn't that full today, so I got to the counter fast. As always, the lady was there.

“Hi there. What can I do for you today?”, the lady at the counter asked, with her usual smile.

“Hello, I would like to accept this quest”, I said, as I took brought out the piece of paper with the number of the quest on it.

She looked at the number for a few seconds, while probably trying to remember the quest. It took about 10 seconds of staring before she recalled the quest.

“Correct if I'm wrong, but isn't this the simple wolf extermination quest?”, she asked.

“Yes. Is there a problem with it?”, I said, with a little-concerned face.

“Have you added new people to your group since yesterday?”, she asked.

“No. Is there a minimum to how many people are needed for the quest”, I ask.

“There isn't a minimum, but the recommended group size for this quest is three people. Are you sure you want to accept this quest?”, she asks, her face growing a little concerned.

“Yes, I'm sure that I will accept this quest”, I said bluntly.

“Okay, just a wait a few seconds”, she said, while typing something in on some weird wood tablet.

I waited a few moments while looking curiously at the wood tablet. While it, at first glance, looked like a modern world tablet, it was very different. It did not have a screen but had a series of boxes with weird signs inside. I think it was some language, but I wasn't sure.

She finished her work on the wood tablet and looked up at me.

“Your group have now accepted the quest. You can complete it when you have done what was requested”, she told me.

I walked away while looking around for Eros.

He was standing at guild building exit, while waiting for me to be done, with accepting the quest.

“Sorry about the wait”, I told him, while walking towards him.

“Wasn't long at all”, he said, while beginning to walk with me.

And with that, we walked towards our first adventure in this group.

After a couple minutes of walking, we found a problem in our plans. We wanted to practice the team formation, but we had not made a team formation.

So, we discussed it a little bit, came up with one.

As expected, Eros would be the frontliner, and I would be the supporter. Before every fight, I will enhance Eros, with Minor speed enhance and Minor strength enhance. He did not seem surprised that I could do enhancing.

Because we were not many in numbers, we had to plan for when Eros would not be able to hold them all. If one monster gets away from Eros, and he isn't able to stop it, I will use entangling roots on it and help Eros with the rest, and then kill the entangled monster.

If more than one monster gets away from Eros, and he isn't able to stop them, I will use entangling roots on them. Instead of going back to helping Eros, I will kill the monsters by casting my spells on them. Simple

While I wanted to discuss the game plan more, we were interrupted.

It seemed our first victims had come to us.

Our first victims were a pair of wolfs. It was quite odd for a group to only be two members, but we would not judge them for that.

In the last group, Eros would start the battle out by firing an arrow at the monsters, but he had gone melee, so he couldn't really fire anything at them, without permanently losing a weapon.

Guess I will be starting it off, I thought, as I brought up my hand.

I aimed it at the wolf to the left. They were just staring at Eros, so I had a pretty good chance at killing one of them off instantly.

I was wrong about that.

I had decided to use Earth strike, as it brings the bluntest damage. There was one problem though. The spell was on the loud side of things, and the wolves are known for their good hearing, so the wolf heard it before I even launched the Earth strike at it.

As the wolf looked over, it saw the Earth strike flying in its direction. As the smart wolf, it was, it narrowly dodged it.

Note to self: when trying to sneak attack, use silent spells.

The two wolves ran at me with their claws out, while clearly wanting to kill me. Eros didn't let that happen. Before the wolves even neared me, Eros had run in their path, and punched one of them in the face, while pushing the other in the stomach.

“The enhancements!”, Eros shouted, without looking at me.

What is he- Oh right! the enhancements!

I quickly enhanced Eros with the two enhancements and prepared to cast some other spells.

The wolf that got pushed was still on the ground, so I cast entangling vines on it. The vines would probably hold for a minute, or two before it escapes.

The other wolf had quickly gotten up. It did not even look in my direction, and instead stared at Eros. Eros was slowly getting his morning star out of his belt while staring back at the wolf.

I decided to break their little staring contest, with a Wind slash to the wolfs side. It clearly noticed it and looked in my direction for an instant. That was the opportunity Eros was looking for.

He leaped at the wolf, with his morningstar already winging. The wolf looked back at Eros, but it was too late. Not a second after, the wolfs head was torn off by that blow. The blow had landed in the lower neck area, making almost the whole neck destroyed to bits. It looked really bloody from my perspective.

If Eros was disgusted by it, he hid it well.

The previously entangled wolf had gotten free. It looked over at the still intact parts of its friend and decided to run. It ran as fast as it could, but Eros was faster.

He leaped from his standing position and was over the wolf in under 15 seconds. Before the wolf knew what hit it, it died.

“That went well”, I said, as I walked towards him.

“Yes, it did. Though, maybe use another spell to sneak attack next time”, Eros said, while inspecting the dead wolf.

He got down on the ground in a half-sitting position. He stared at the wolf as he put a finger inside the dead wolf body. He took it out of the wound after a couple of seconds. He stared at it for a few seconds, and then put the finger inside his mouth.

“What the fuck dude! That's gross”, I said, with a face of disgust,

“What's gross?”, he asked.

“What you just did!”, I said.

“Oh, that's just a basic trick most people know. It's a way to detect disease in the blood trough. Moon elves, like myself, have an extraordinary sense of taste, and are therefore professionals in this”, he explained, in a calm voice.

“Do people actually do that?”, I ask, with a curious voice.

“When it's needed”, he said.

“Oh, okay”, I said. I wasn't one to judge, but damn that was gross. Not something I will be learning.

We fought a couple more groups of wolves, but they were largely uneventful. That was until we came upon a big group.

We were just about done today when we heard a soft growl. It didn't really surprise us, as we had that a couple times already, but this one was different.

Every couple of seconds, a new growl would be heard. The number of wolves growling would increase in about 2 minutes. The growling came from all sides, so we stood back to back.

“So, how many do you think there are?”, I ask, with a slightly quivering voice. I was a little scared right now.

“At least 20 if my counting is right. Probably more thorough”, Eros said, his voice calm as ever. Seems that he, at least, is calm.

After 30 more seconds of constant growling, the wolves started walking out from their hiding places. Eros was almost correct. There were about 30 wolves surrounding us.

Strategic thinking: activate, I thought.

Now, what the plan? It is kinda obvious. If we just charge them, we will be killed in seconds. Eros will probably last a bit longer, but he would die within a minute, without my constant mana stream. So, charging is a no-go. What else is there? I can't think of any method that we can survive this. There are simply now ways to fight that many in a fair fight.

But, what if you fought unfairly?

The wolves are probably expecting that they can kill us whenever they want, so they are waiting for us to attack. After we have attacked once, they will kill us, so the first attack needs to be powerful. Eros can't kill several wolves in one attack, so I will have to do it myself. Now, what spell should I use? or maybe I should use two? Maybe Earth strike and Wind Slash. Earth strike to distract them, while Wind slash cut their eyes, making them go blind. With them blind, they can't fight that well. Let's try it.

“When I say go, begin attacking”, I command, without really thinking

“Okay”, Eros says, with a blunt voice.

I start out by enhancing Eros.

Have to get every advantage possible.

I then begin multicasting Earth strike. I did as many as I could handle, just to be sure. The Earth strikes flies everywhere, and I even hear a couple of the wolves, that I hit, whimpering.

That wasn't enough though.

I followed the attack up with a second one. With the wind slash, I made about five times as many as the Earth strikes before. I gave me a big headache, but the results were worth it. The Wind slash, from a top view, would look like the air from a shockwave, with it traveling fast in all directions.

From the sounds, I think I hit almost every wolf in the nearby vicinity.

Keyword: Almost

A wolf leaped at me, from my right side. It came within 2 meters before Eros stopped it with a swing from his morning star.

“Is it go time”, Eros asked. For the first time today, he had a smile on his face.

“Yes, it is. Go!”, I answered while preparing the third multicast.

Because of a headache, I had trouble concentrating, so I would take me some time to do the casting part.

Eros noticed this and prepared to defend me.

Jack seemed to have trouble casting. Guess I need to defend him.

The wolves came from all directions. Even though almost all of them were blind, they still attacked, while using their other senses to guide them.

They still had trouble seeing attacks before they came through.

I was ready to defend. With my enhanced body and a weapon in each hand, I was ready for some pesky wolves.

The first two wolves came at me, from the front, and I knew that I needed to kill them fast. If I didn't, I would get overwhelmed, and Jack would die.

If Jack dies, so do I.

The two wolves leap at me, and I counter them by swinging the morning star upwards in the jaw of one of them and swinging the battle ax to the side, through the neck of the wolf.

They both died instantly.

On to the next one, I thought.

I easily handled the next ones, but the ones after that, I had a problem with. I did not have enough time to kill them, so I had to resort to dropping the two weapons and just hitting them with brass knuckles.

It worked for some time, but I was overwhelmed in a few seconds.

That didn't matter though.

Jack completed his spell.

Eros had been doing a good job in defending me and keeping me safe.

After about 15 seconds, I finished multicasting.

I cast entangling vines.

Every single wolf, that wasn't dead, was entangled deep in vines.

I was a little concerned about Eros, as he was almost neck-deep in wolves, but he got out pretty fast.

“Let's get to killing them”, I said.

“Yea, let's get to it”, Eros agreed.

Even though we already had killed half of them, we needed to be fast, or they would just untangle themselves from the vines. We wouldn't want that now, would we?

Fortunately, for us, no wolves managed to get free, before we killed them.

“Want to continue, or are we done for the day?”, Eros asked while staring at our work.

“Well, we did kill the required amount an hour ago, so we should probably head home”, I answered, while preparing myself for the walk.

“Okay then, let's go”, Eros said, while walking towards the city. How he knew the direction, I did not understand, but I did not question him about it.

It took about 20 minutes before we could see the town, and 30 minutes before we reached the town entrance.

While we thought that we could just walk through, a pair of guards signaled for us to stop.

“Oh, I know them”, Eros said.

“From where?”, I ask, with a confused face. I thought he didn't know that many people.

“Remember when I told you about those two guards, while you were unconscious?”, he asked.

“Oh, those guys. I hope they aren't douchebags”, I said, with an understanding face.

“Me too”, Eros said, just as the two guards came into hearing distance.

We walked over to the guards.

“What seems to be the problem?”, I ask.

The guard ignored me and looked over to Eros.

“Weren't you that guy with a limp body over his shoulder?”, he asked.

“Yes, I was. The guy to my right was actually that very same limb body”, Eros said, in an almost sarcastic voice.

The guard looked over at me.

“Do you have an explanation as to why he was carrying you?”, he asked.

“Yes, I do actually. Eros, here, was carrying my unconscious body because of mana exhaustion. I'm a mage, you see, and I do tend to get carried away sometimes”, I answered, in an almost sarcastic voice.

“Oh, I see. A newly awakened mage, I´m guessing?”, the guard asked.

I nodded.

“Well, that nice. We don't get many of you around here. Most go the academy, but I'm guessing you don't have the money for it?”, the guard asked. I did not realize that there was an academy, but I was guessing that they didn't have a professor with primal magic.

I just nod again.

“Should have guessed it. Move on now”, the guard said, while motioning for us the move on.

And with that, we moved on.

Because of us completing the quest, we headed straight to the guild building.

It took about five minutes before we arrived. The building was a lot more crowded than this morning. Luckily, most of the people here were in the relaxation area at the bar.

That gave me an idea.

“Hey, Eros”, I said, with a hidden smile.

“What is it?”, Eros asked, in a blunt voice.

“Want to go to the bar after we check in the quest?”, I asked.

“No thank you. I'm not welcome at the guild bar anymore”, Eros said.

“How about the bar at the Inn?”, I asked.

“That could work, but you're paying for the drinks”, Eros said, with a blunt voice.

“Fine by me”, I said, with the hidden smile coming forth.

Step one: Check.

We went over to the line, to the counter, and waited a couple of minutes, before it was our turn.

This time, it wasn't the normal lady at the counter. It was a slightly younger, and bigger, lady this time.

“Hello. How can I help you today?”, the lady asked, with a business smile.

“Hello, I would like to complete a quest”, I said.

The lady stared at us for a few seconds, before answering.

“Are you the group that took on the wolf quest?”, she asked, with a hint of curiosity.

“Yes, we are. Heard about us?”, I ask, in confusion. Who knows what we are doing?

“Oh, Lisa told me. She's the lady you usually talk to here, but, unfortunately, she got the fever, and had to go early today”, she explained.

“Oh, okay. Hope she gets better”, I said.

“Me too. So, about the wolf extermination quest?”, she asked.

“We would like to complete it”, I said.

“Are you sure, you don't want to prolong the quest? You could get more money out of it?”, she asked.

“No thank you. We just want the money”, I said, with a smile.

“Well, suit yourself”, she said and got to work. She pulled out the wooden tablet and began pushing buttons on it. How she knew what to press, I did not know.

It took her about 10 seconds before she looked up.

“The quest is now officially complete. Congratulations on completing your first quest as a group!”, she said, with a smile.

She handed over the money and began talking to her next client.

We each got 4 gold from the quest. I was happy with the amount, but If Eros was, he didn't show it.

And with that, we walked towards our next destination.

The Inn.

We get to the Inn and sat down at the bar.

It was here that my plan was beginning to hatch.

Objective: Get Eros drunk.

It would be so damn funny, but how would I get him drunk?

Introducing the plan.

Step one: Get Eros to the bar.

Step two: Make him say yes to a contest of drinking as much beer as possible.

Step three: Continuously cast a Minor general enchantment on yourself(found out that it makes it next to impossible to get drunk).

Step four: Repeat step two and three until Eros gets drunk.

Now, this all sounds very simple, but there was one thing that I didn't think about.

We were sitting at the bar.

Step one: complete.

“Hey, Eros. Want to do a drinking competition?”

“Sorry, not really feeling it. Maybe another day”, he said.

Mission failed. Well, get them next time.

So much for that plan.

While I wanted to continue persuading Eros to drink, a person I had not seen in some time showed up.

“Hello”, I say to the old mage, with a grin on my face.

“Hello. How are you doing…”. He notices Eros and just stares at him for a couple seconds.

He looks at me and says “Your room. Now”.

And with that, we went up to my room.

While Eros was just sitting on the bed while being in his trance state, I and the mage were talking.

He pointed at Eros, and said: “I want an explanation”.

I explain to him what had happened, and he ponders about it for a few seconds.

He looks at Eros and just stared at him. It was as if he was studying him.

After some time he looked over at me.

“How long has he been like that?”, he asks, with a serious face.

“Been like what?”, I ask, with a confused face.

“Emotionless”, he answered.

I think about it for a few seconds. While he had been kinda cold the whole day, he had not shown emotion at all the last few hours.

“A few hours at most”, I answer, with a worrying face. Did I cast the spell wrong or something?

He goes over to Eros and shakes him. That woke him up instantly.

He looked over at me and said “Pack your bags. Only the essentials. We are leaving this town”.

“Where are we going?”, I ask him.

He looks at me, with his face full of seriousness.

“To an old friend”