After filling out the necessary paperwork, I left the academy grounds, then the library. The next party meeting is about five days away, and classes begin soon. I need to decide what my next move should be. I was going to work on the farm I’ve been setting up, but after some consideration, I’ve decided that I’m better off prioritizing something else. Most of the time I’ll spend on building it is just collecting enough dirt, and the primary limiter on that is time spent regaining mana, rather than actually phasing matter in. Therefore, so long as I can accrue mana crystals or naturally regain mana while doing other tasks, there is no need to concentrate on it.

Additionally, I’ve been doing a lot of studying and terrarium preparation recently, and have hit a wall. Most topics I want to study would be better understood after taking the relevant courses or asking IKE for relevant resources, and all my terrariums are at least sustainable, even if not particularly comfortable. What I really need is combat practice.

Every fight I’ve won has been from either an ambush and suicide tactics, from someone else carrying me through the fight, or from the overwhelming force of a higher rank. Of course, all is fair in love and war, so there's nothing wrong with such tactics. But I can't always rely on having an easy way out. The combat courses would have helped, but it wasn’t meant to be.

I could go looking for another sparring group instead, but I don’t know where exactly I could find one that would accept me, and be worth the time and entry cost. Perhaps I could take advantage of my immortality and skip straight to live hunting practice?

No. Best case scenario, I end up with more mouths to feed that I can’t afford. I can’t exactly drag a bunch of monster corpses back to Aurelia, and putting them in my subspace would make them irretrievable. Worst case scenario, I run into something I can’t handle and lose one of my few combat-capable forms. A quest, then? The right quest could provide both combat experience and payment.

But IGAG has rules. I can’t take any quest outside of the well without my whole party’s approval. The only other place I could reasonably get a quest is the mercenary guild. Is it worth the entry fee right now?

I could just play it safe right now. Spend the next few weeks or months building up my terrariums, finish my almost nonexistent ecosystems, establish that farmland I was working on, take a few classes, and get a better foundation to build myself upon before taking risks. That’s the smart play.

But it would be slow. I would continue to be a burden to Geistig and the party, and continue to fall behind my peers. I don’t want to wait.

---

The mercenary guild hall was a lot nicer than the IGAG guild hall. The space was still rather bare-bones, with only a help desk connected to a storage room and a quest board. But there was no beer-stench, and the furniture was leather-bound and comfortable, rather than dingy old bar stools. Even the help desk was lacquered, rather than the chipped-all-over white paint IGAG had.

A human male stood at the counter. A boy about my age.

“Excuse me. I’d like to register as a mercenary. Would this be the place to do so?” I asked.

“Yes it is. The registration fee is 2,000 gold pieces. Will you pay in mana crystals, or gold?”

“Mana crystals.” I said, phasing out a whole pile of them onto the counter.

The clerk counted them out one by one and nodded his head, then took out what looked to be a larger, more complicated version of the mana detection locks around most apartment buildings. “Insert some mana and state your name.”

“Sylas Terrarium.”

The machine drew out some of my mana, and after a few seconds, produced a two dimensional light spell, spelling my name out in the air, followed by a “1”. No other information was listed.

“Is there a reason for the one after my name?”

“It’s an identifier. We have to differentiate people with the same name, so we put a number after each name to denote which one they are. You wouldn’t believe how many orcs are named ‘yoddha’. Anyways, your registration is now complete. Feel free to pick up a quest now, if that’s what you’re looking for.”

“That’s it? No guild card, no paperwork?”

“We’re technically not a guild, even if people call us one.” The clerk shrugged. “People are free to leave requests on the board, or take them as they see fit. All we do is act as a middleman and make sure nothing illegal is posted, verify requests are properly completed, and verify payment is properly delivered.”

“That sounds like a guild to me.”

“In spirit, maybe. But the letter of the law states otherwise.”

Huh, the process is a lot more of a pain over at IGAG. Geistig would like it here. I wonder why he works for IGAG. I should ask him at some point.

I went over to the quest board and started scrolling through. The board was a lot less organized than IGAG’s. At IGAG, the quest board was sorted by ranks from left to right, and by task from top to bottom. Kill quests were at the bottom, then monster part retrieval, then capture, escort, etc, with an additional section for quests with an unidentified rank. This mercenary board had no such organization, with posts in random order, sometimes even on top of one another.

There don’t seem to be a lot of good options to choose from. I’m working alone, so I can’t take anything important or difficult, like an escort quest. I don't have a working inventory, so I can’t take anything that requires leaving a body, like capture or part retrieval quests. Since I’m specifically looking for combat quests, that only leaves kill quests. Unfortunately, kill quests are rather rare for the mercenary guild, as most kill quests are handled by IGAG, and are rare outside of specific monster’s mating seasons or particularly dangerous monsters. Additionally, since I only have 5 days to work with, I can’t take anything too far away.

Of all the requests on this board, only one met my criteria.

`

Dear mercenary,

The swamps of East Aurelia have been plagued with Oleum Rubeta. These monsters have polluted this land, burned down any semblance of woods it ever had, and continue to threaten our research facility. Our requests for government aid have gone unanswered, so we ask of you to assist us in culling these creatures.

For each E rank Oleum Rubeta you kill, we are willing to pay two hundred gold coins. Eight hundred for D ranks. Up to fourty-thousand gold coins are available for this task, and can be collected at this establishment.

‘

I removed the quest from the board, and brought it back to the clerk. “I’d like to take this quest, but due to certain circumstances, won’t have the ability to bring back the corpses for confirmation. Is there perhaps a mana signature device I can borrow?”

The clerk shook his head. “No, we don’t sell those devices here. But you can find them easily enough in the enchanting district. The mass produced models aren’t too expensive, at least as far as some of the more complex enchantments go, and all you’ll really need is the collector. If someone tries to sell you any kind of analyzer attachment too, don’t buy it.”

“Good to know. Thank you for your help.”

“Sure thing.”

---

I was thankfully able to afford a mana sampler from the enchantment district, purchasing it for 10 mana crystals. According to the merchant, these things worked by taking empty labyrinth stones and encasing them in a thin layer of mana crystal. When the mana crystal seal is broken, the labyrinth is free to absorb the mana of whatever’s around it. This particular device was touch activated, made with an ivory casing, and would require a resupply of labyrinth stone every 100 uses.

After purchasing it, I left Aurelia from the north gate, and transformed into a Caprae Nimbos. After Assoziieren’s training, it didn’t take long to get used to working the new monster’s body. Its mana detection is surprisingly weak, only being able to feel its own mana, and barely at that. One would think a prey animal, even a monster version of it, would have good senses.

On the bright side, this form is at least semi-usable as a combat form, best I can tell. I need mana to expand or strengthen the cloud-fur, but keeping it expanded was barely an inconvenience on my mana reserves, and would even build up a static charge naturally over time. Convenient, as I’m completely out of mana crystals now. I had 40 after my last mission, but after purchasing food for last night and the next 5 days, as well as spending 30 mana crystals just to start questing, it’s all gone.

Let’s just hope I can make it all back and then some, before I miss my taxes and the Interplanetary Revenue Service comes after me.