A strange, moist feeling scraped along my cheek and I finally woke up to the wolf licking my face. I was laid out on a plush sofa in a room I never saw before. No one else was around me at the moment. The room was quite colourful, laced in bright colours of green and yellow.

With a bit of sway, I used the staff of Scien and a bit of Levitation to help me stand up. I was having a bit of a headache whilst perambulating to the door. Behind the door was yet another room with a few people on some chairs and sofas discussing something. They ceased and stared daggers at me when I opened that door. Amongst them was August and Scarlet. Six others, including someone in a uniform similar to the ones that the employees wore, were gathered.

“You knocked me out, huh? Anyway,” I brushed it off quickly, because I knew I’d lost my temper there, “where’s August?”

He’s being interviewed by someone. I healed those people you nearly killed. Try not to do stuff like that if you don’t need to. She warned, and I was grateful for her assistance yet again. Renew removed my pounding headache.

“Sorcerer…” Scarlet muttered. The rest of their eyes almost wanted to melt me. Especially that man whom I pushed away the Divergence. His eyes were soaked in hatred. But mine were empty and expressionless. My mind felt bit vacant after waking up from whatever Donna did to me.

“Firstly, I extend my apologies for attacking like that. It was never my intention. However, the fact remains true to all who witnessed the incident that my group and I were not the ones responsible for starting any of the arguments. I apologise once more, in advance, but if a decision that punishes my friend has been made, I will not stand idly by. With that,” I exhaled, “you may revisit your decision as you wish.”

The group somewhat kept silent, until the laughter of Scarlet set the atmosphere at ease. A dark, bald man stood up and addressed me. “I am Bruno Ulyen. I oversee the regulations on dungeons to ensure a fair chance for everyone. Therefore, I work closely with the individuals you see before you. These people are the guild masters of Yunaris.”

He didn’t bother saying the guilds’ names neither the names of their masters, but he did state their intentions. “They all have a vested interested in working with you, however, the Regulations Committee will not allow you to work as dungeoneers unless someone from said committee monitors you. This also applies to your friend, August King.”

That rustled me the wrong way. Monitoring? Not exactly something I was fine with. “Why?”

“Why?” his eyebrow wiggled a little. “Because, you have displayed power that does not comply with the rank you were given, and therefore you must both be properly evaluated before we can let you into dungeons with other people. It’s also to ensure you are capable of maintaining your decorum in difficult situations. We wouldn’t want a repeat of what happened today happening inside a dungeon.”

As if not even acknowledging his explanation, I questioned where August was. Fortunately, just as I did, he entered the room from another door. “Oh, you’re awake.”

Looked like he was just fine, so I breathed a sigh of relief. A few minutes later, I was interviewed just like August was. It was to update the status forms, but that was just a farce. Most of the prying woman’s questions were about the origins of my strength, my true identity –as if I lied – and where I was from. They absolutely refused to believe that anyone as powerful as us could slip under their radar. Apart from repeating my name, I gave them no additional information. My interview was short and I went back into the room.

Only August, the wolf, and Scarlet remained. My status paper, like Aug’s, was updated to reflect a B-rank. However, B-rank dungeons weren’t found in the building we were in, the Regulations Committee. Scarlet ushered us over to her guild building, a look of hunger in her eyes. A hunger that craved not our strength, but my ability to make food. She was a glutton through and through.

Finally getting a chance to sit us down in private, she rubbed her forehead, “I have so many questions. But I’ll just get straight to the main points. First thing’s first, I want you both in my guild. After that, we can discuss your role of cook,” Scarlet looked at me with expecting eyes.

“We won’t join anyone’s guild,” August rejected that notion, “but we don’t mind grouping with people from your guild.”

She rubbed her chin, her red armour clanking at the touch every now and then. “W-what can I do to change your minds?”

“You can’t,” I concluded, much to her dismay. Her sharp features weren’t very intimidating once you got to know her a bit. “Tell you what though, take care of the wolf for us, and we’ll carry you guys through those dungeons.”

“Carry us?” she laughed. “How strong do you guys think you are?”

I shrugged. It was true, we really couldn’t compare ourselves to the dungeoneers here since we lacked the actual information on them. “Good enough to get B-rank, I guess? Anyway, can we just do it by ourselves like we did before? It’s no problem if we don’t have a monitor once we don’t enter with other people, right?”

She squirmed a little, “It’s generally not a good idea to disobey the RC, but eh, the very reason for your needing a monitor is to ensure others’ safety. Freya is going to a B-dungeon soon, so she can show you where it is.” She looked over to the knight-looking lady and called her to us.

“GM, a pleasant day to you. How may I help you?” she greeted politely, quite a knightly manner.

“You’re set to do a B-rank dungeon today, right? Can you show these gentlemen to one?” Scarlet requested

“Of course, GM. Good afternoon, I am called Freya. I’m a tank,” she introduced herself. Her big shield made it obvious what she was though.

After we introduced ourselves, we walked with her pack horse out of the city and into a forest. It seemed to be quite the popular spot, as there were around fifty people gathered around two gates facing each other. As a reward for showing the place to us, I made a strength potion for her. She thanked me, but it felt like she didn’t exactly trust the potion’s effect.

“Let’s go on a date, honey,” August told me.

I cackled, “Yeah, let’s have some fun!”

This B-rank dungeon was a lot simpler. We walked into a circular room, the bottom of it made entirely of metal. Pressing a giant button on the side made it go down a floor. Two doors appeared and a troll from each door appeared. Their skin was a light azure, their features lanky and towering and the veins very apparent.

August slayed his foe with one swift strike. A Wind Cutter split my enemy in half. We pressed the button once more to go down one more floor. This time, two trolls from each passageway emerged and were quickly dispatched. Truly, it didn’t even feel like the difficulty from E-rank to B-rank had any difference. We continued downward, following this same incremental pattern until we beat the tenth floor. On the eleventh floor, there was one passageway.

The boss of the dungeon appeared, its primitive mace dragging on the floor. I transmuted a coin from ice with my initials on one side, and Aug’s initials on the other. He won the toss, and so, he had the pleasure of slaying the boss troll. It swung its mace as it got close and Voidwalk let me avoid that attack.

August kicked the giant weapon away, giving the troll trouble to properly hold and control its momentum. He ran up to its leg and struck down, splitting through the leg and forcing the boss to fall to the side. Once that happened, he climbed onto it and placed his sword into the chest of the beast.

Vena and Qora suddenly came out. Vena applauded both of us and the more reserved Qora simply smiled. “Think of the staff like Convergence and try to suck this big guy in,” Vena patted the troll’s good leg.

I shrugged, summoned the staff to my hand and envisioned it. The staff extracted something from the boss and I knew all too well what it was – mana. So, that’s what it does? It looked as normal as ever. The mana was absorbed by the five gems floating about the staff. I didn’t feel any different so I still wasn’t sure why it would have an ability like that.

The gate appeared and we stepped through it, returning to where we once were. Freya, the tank, was still, preparing some stuff with her group. I stood around them awkwardly, not really finding an appropriate moment to interrupt their argument about whether melee or ranged damagers would be better.

At the side of me, Qora was talking to August about something, giving the burly guy a beaming smile. For a second, I wondered why the spirit lords came along with us, but that thought would quickly flee my mind. One of the dungeoneers kept looking at us, making her group members take notice of us as well. “Hello, again?” she asked nervously.

“Uh, yeah, hey. I was curious about something,” our distance closed a bit when we got close to her group. “Can you repeat the same dungeon?”

“Of course. Why,” she faced her entire body to us, “do you ask?”

“Why? Well,” I shrugged, “to go back in? Is that a bad idea?”

“Wizard, warrior,” her voice shifted to a more serious tone, “is it that you’ve just completed the dungeon?” Her group became suspicious after that question.

I shook my head and August walked next to me, Qora hiding behind him like a child. Well technically, the body she was in right now was that of an actual child, but I knew not how old she actually was. “Yeah, we beat the dungeon. What time does it usually take?”

“An hour, at least!” one of their warriors looked at us with suspicion, “It’s barely been ten minutes, yet you’re back here already. You guys recalled out.”

August shrugged, “I don’t even know what recalling is. We’re not from around here in case you didn’t notice. Anyway,” he stretched his arms upward, “we’re headin’ back in.”

I turned around to follow him but Freya stopped us.

“Wait. Join us. You will both be compensated.”

August looked at me, and I at him. “The Regulations Committee doesn’t want us doing dungeons with others,” the blacksmith warned, but the group’s leader was willing to take the risk.

The leader confronted us, “The RC is mainly focused on safety and a fair share of resources. We’ll do an impromptu contract that states we were willing to group with you whilst knowing the risks, if you help us clear the dungeon as quickly as you guys did.”

August shrugged, then left the decision to me. “Well,” I shrugged as well, “if he’s cool with it, then I’m cool.”

We shook on it, and we all entered the same dungeon. It was a bit more packed, but that wasn’t a big issue. Freya was a bit worried, seeing as she was the tank, the vanguard of the group, but there were two places directly opposite each other where enemies simultaneously appeared from. “So, this is pretty much our first time as the roles we picked,” I advised them.

“It’s okay,” the leader, Trevor, assured us, “just look at what the sorcerer does and copy him. The same goes to you, warrior.”

And so, for the first battle, we did. The two trolls came out, one from each side. Freya, who hadn’t the great leisure of movement, stayed her course and planted her feet into the ground, making sure all the attacks at the forefront were blocked by her shield.

The fleet-footed melee attackers lured the other slender troll towards the tank, then dipped away as fast as possible. They basically put all the enemies’ attention on the tank, Freya. A barrage of fire spells, some like Fireballs and others resembling the vine-like appearance of Hydrotendrils, struck the monsters.

After the two sorcerers did their spells, the melee damagers rushed in, stabbing and slashing one troll at a time. Once the trolls began taking notice of them, they scattered once more. They repeated that manoeuvre a couple times after. Of the two trolls, one died, and the other was badly injured.

Thankfully, none was injured. August and I, after seeing their tactics, sighed at each other. At their rate, the dungeon really would take an hour to clear. “Well, we understand how you all fight now. Does it change as the enemies become more?”

“I’m afraid not,” Trevor, a mage, shook his head. “We’ve beaten this dungeon with this exact strategy, so we know it works. So,” he stared at me, “you’ll need to have good timing and aim with your magic. Just follow after me and aim as best you can, so that you don’t hit the tank. Warrior,” he began advising August, “it might be a bit more difficult for you to adapt to the movements of the other melee combatants, but if you see an opportunity, take it.”

We both nodded, but stopped him before he could push the button to go down to the next floor. “Question. If you guys don’t do anything, the resources will still distribute evenly, right?”

“No. Each person has to do their due diligence to make a good living,” the leader corrected. He was surprisingly patient with us.

“We’ll be sure to protect you both,” Freya reassured. It seemed like they forgot how fast we cleared the dungeon, or perhaps they simply refused to believe it and instead leaned more towards whatever ‘recalling out’ was.

“Well, about that…” I rubbed the back of my neck.

“Wow, you’re changing, man. The old Eric would say whatever he wanted however he wanted,” August teased me. “Anyway, what he’s trying to say is, we’re strong enough to do it on our own so you guys can just kick back and relax. We don’t need whatever resources this place offers so we’ll let you all share it up. Is that alright with everyone?”

One of the warriors began laughing, unable to resist the urge. Despite their clear disbelief, they let us do as we wished, but they were right behind us in case we didn’t back up our words with actions. Trevor pressed the button, and a couple trolls came out from each side. Ice Javelins pierced my targets’ chests and August dealt with his enemies before I had a chance to look around.

“Convinced now?” he asked them, and most of them believed us, but a couple were still in doubt. At least they let us fight as we wished and removed themselves from harm’s way as much as possible.

In no time, we were at the boss. Since August threw down with it the last time, it would be my turn now. The enraged troll rushed out. Frost Nova froze his feet to the ground, making him topple over. An earthen spike erected from the ground and I took a couple steps backward, allowing the troll to fall on the spike and not me. The spike drilled right through its head, killing the monster instantly.

“Unreal…” one of them commented.

“We didn’t even need to do anything… Two people…” Freya looked dumbfounded, but somewhat comically, at both of us.

“Up for a few more runs?” August suggested, and they were all too happy to take him up on his offer. After the umpteenth run, we decided to call it a day.

Freya removed her helmet and her thick braided ponytail fell down onto her back. She kneeled before August, causing him to flinch a little, “Please, meet my brother,” she requested of him. Her mannerisms and etiquette were exemplar. She moved her midnight-black braid out of the way before it had a chance to dangle in the front of her.

“Don’t kneel,” August placed a hand out for her and helped her up. They began speaking about her brother, but I didn’t listen to them. Trevor was trying to buy me over to the guild and his personal party. But the most important thing they wanted was some sort of exchange in magical knowledge. I politely refused for the moment and instead chose to secure an inn for the night. The skies were darkening.