— James —

I had just finished training and was headed toward the Iron Forges area of the city. Looking around I could see crowds of other people who were carrying luggage just like me. There were hundreds of people who looked to have a similar disposition.

I think all the guild let out their trainees today. Looking around I saw a group of warriors decked out in heavy armor, rangers with their bows, magicians in their flowing loose clothes, and healers in their long white coats, all of them carrying bags on their backs. I was reminded of how many guilds were in this city. Since each guild could only take around thirty people at a time, there were hundreds of people in the streets. There must be a lot more guilds than I thought.

I had always wanted to be a warrior. I have always wanted to go on adventures, become a respected fighter, maybe save some beautiful women or two. I wanted to become a hero. I was especially excited when my job became ‘Luminary’. It was a little odd but I knew it meant that there were big things in my future. I had joined one of the big warrior’s guilds that specialized in light armor and quick movements. I was of the quick swords guild and wore light armor that they gifted me along with my two swords. It had been a whole year although I was surprised to find that during my training I had slept for three months but I pushed past it training hard.

I had reached the highest level out of all the warriors in the guild, fourteen. I spent all my time in the yard training with the others or on missions fighting monsters, guarding caravans, or body guarding. I was determined to show my friends how strong I had become. Maybe impress them with my job.

Eventually, I was able to find the place agreed upon arriving at the small restaurant ‘Forge’. I went in seeing none of my friends. Maybe I was the first. I was about to ask the hostess for a table when he heard a shout “James!” Looking I spotted my friend Violet waving in the corner.

Violet was in the long white coat of a healer. When I got closer I noticed the heavy mace hanging from her waist and staff slung across her back. Nodding in approval the brutal weapon kind of suits her.

“Violet I see you became a healer.” Smiling at her looking around the empty table.

“And I see you became a warrior, just like you always wanted.” She said happily.

It was nice seeing her since it had been a year since any of us even spoke. Everyone had been secretive about which job they were going to choose. So I wanted to see what everyone else chose as well.

“Where is everyone else?”

“We are the first, although Rowan is in the bathroom.” I took my seat next to Violet and asked “So what guild did he join?”

Violet smiled “Which do you think?”

“So he went and actually joined the ranger guild then?” I laughed as I remembered Rowan from the village, always trying to use every opportunity to go into the woods. I thought back to the time Rowan had brought a snake into the class after one of his excursions. Made Bay flip her lid, but not as much as when Aster decided to hide it in the teacher's desk. If it wasn’t for Rowan stopping him they all would have been in a lot of trouble.

When Rowan came out of the bathroom he was decked out in leather armor, a bow, and a short sword. I was sure there were more weapons but I just couldn’t see them. “Rowan!”

“James!” We greeted each other with a hug examining each other thoroughly. After a few seconds, we both smiled and sat down, and began to catch up. After a while, I asked, “Are Bay and Aster coming?”

Violet began to look a little sad “I don’t know, I haven’t heard but we’ve been waiting a long time for you so give it some time.” She sounded without hope. I really hope they show.

We were all still catching up when I heard someone yell. “Are you guys here!?!” The whole group turned towards the shout and immediately recognized the woman in the magician's loose clothing “Bay!” Violet exclaimed as the two ran to each other and hugged. Rowan wasn’t far behind, and I just stood. We gazed at each other, in my head, it was the look of long-separated friends finally reunited. We all joined the table catching up with each other. One thing was bothering me. The empty chair for my friend Aster. He was my best friend and we all wanted to know which guild he joined as he didn’t seem to know when we all separated. After an hour we all decided to go ahead and order food.

Right after we ordered “Finally!” we looked up to see Aster fall into the empty seat at the table. “You have no idea how many places I went to look for you guys!” Everyone just stared at him. He had shown up out of nowhere like he always does. “What?” Aster asked as he could no longer keep a straight face and burst out laughing “Great, to see you guys been way too long!”

We all laughed. I looked him over noticing the short sword and knife at his waist, but he wasn’t wearing any armor, just a long coat, and scarf. I could see the knife belt across his chest. After a while, I asked “Warrior?”

Aster hesitated for a second then spoke “Rogue”. I thought it was a little odd at how light he was equipped, but I assume rogues must be like that.

We all caught up on what they had been up to for the past year until it came to missions. They all told of their exploits Aster did as well talking about how he had to make a lot of deliveries. Then he began to tell them how he didn’t know how the eggs worked and didn’t level for months until someone told him about the second page.

“How could you not know that?” Violet asked

“Well, I dropped it on one of my missions and it didn’t crack at all so I thought… not sure what I thought but didn’t think I had to crack them.”

We were all looking at Aster in disbelief then I began to laugh uncontrollably. When Aster told us he had a huge mass of eggs stored in his room, I laughed even harder, and then he told us that when he finally opened them he jumped nine levels. The laughter quieted “You mean to tell us you did so many missions even before realizing that the eggs needed to be cracked, that you jumped nine levels.”

When Aster nodded everyone began to laugh. After the laughter died down I added “Well that won’t happen again. After we all get sub jobs we will form an official group and head off on an adventure. Everyone’s eyes seemed to glitter with excitement.

“Speaking of which.” Violet cut in. “We should probably know everyone’s actual job, intended sub job, and levels.”

Rowan spoke up “Yes that would make things easier. I’ll start level nine tamer I intend to learn Cooking”

“Why am I not surprised?” Aster added, “You were always bringing those animals from the woods home.”

“Wow level nine.” Violet added “Well I’m a level eight Mender, and I intend to learn alchemy”

“Level ten Azureist, also Alchemy!” Bay added the girls looked toward each other, smiles all around “Looks like we’ll be in the same class again!”

Turning towards Aster he seemed a little embarrassed “Level thirteen Moonflower, Smithing.”

James laughed “What does Moonflower even mean?”

Aster shrugged “What about you James?”

A smug look appeared on his face as he said “Level fourteen Luminary. I have not decided yet!”

“Impressive fourteen,” Rowan added.

After a while, we all agreed to rent a room together since we knew we would pass out for two weeks and thought a group would be better. We all paid for the room for the time it would take and take a night then headed for their sub-jobs in the morning.