Walking into the adventure guild I looked around the tables of eating customers until I saw what I came for. I came to the guild an hour and a half after I woke up, deciding to do a jog in the forest before I came, seeing as I woke up at dawn. The jog netted me 1 point in dexterity and agility. I never used to wake up this early on earth, but being exhausted every day tends to leave me going to sleep before the sky even goes dark.

I approached a lone table in the corner of the room. "g'day, Anthea. Are you ready to go explore the dungeon." I said grinning at the small girl I met the other day.

"umm, yea I should be ready in 5 minutes." She said jumping a little in surprise when I called out to her. She started to quicken the pace at which she finished her eggs.

I took the seat opposite her but didn't start a conversation. Anthea, unlike the other day, was wearing a suit of tight-fitting leather armour that showcased none of her non-existing curves. Really she was straight as a pencil, at least I hoped. I thought with a sly smile. Look don't judge me. I have been nothing on the edge of death and stressed out my mind since coming here, and I really needed to relax. It had also been a while since my last relationship, so that didn't help either.

True to her word she finished a few minutes later and we headed off to the dungeon in silence. Look I like silence more than most, and in my opinion, people take way to much. But if we were going to fight with each her I needed to know what she could do. So I reluctantly started up the conversation again, to her obvious discomfort.

Anthea's specialised in air magic and was starting up sword training just in case she ran out of mana or someone cam up close and personal. I didn't find out much else about her but either way, I still felt somewhat inadequate. I mean all I could do was stab the bad guy with the pointy stick and hope I don't kill myself. I was definitely getting the better deal out of this arrangement.

We reached the line to the dungeon and explained what my experience was so far. From what I could tell this was her first time entering. At least she didn't say anything to stop me when I rambled. But could just be her personality, she didn't ask anything about me and just listened.

The line was much shorter than the day before, probably having something to do with how early it was, and how much adventures drink. They didn't seem like the type to stay sober.

We met the same guy as the day before standing behind the tall booth. This time he added that since Anthea was part of the guild she would have to pay 30% on all the loot after it was halved. Luckily that wouldn't affect my share, only hers.

Entering the dungeon the notification about loot multiplier appeared, except this time the loot was only increased by a factor of 2.5. As we entered she cast a spell that told her when any enemies were near. She also didn't do any motions I had to do to cast a spell. So either my spells were special or wade just fucked with me. I'm leaning towards the latter. However, she did chant so maybe he's no a total prick.

We walked through the dark tunnel side by side encountering nothing for a few dozen meters. Until Anthea spun around and jabbed at something in the dark. A screeching sound came right next to my left ear and I heard a muffled yelp. Dropping my sword I grabbed onto the bat which shrieked as I touched something slimy. At I same time I activated my fear aura with stunned the bat for a second, giving me and Anthea enough time to pull it off her without causing any extra damage to the air mage.

She re-applied the spell after we collected the coins and we continued. I was amazed at how long she could hold the spell for. It had been a good few minutes and she didn't look like she needed to stop anytime soon. I would be on the floor with a concussive migraine if I tried holding my spell that long.

Walking through the dim stone my mind started to wander. We had fought another two bats which were easily dispatched without taking any more damage. It's easy to kill them when you know when the bats are coming and where from. The effortlessness of killing thee mobs caused me to get distracted as we walked and lose track of my surroundings. As I a vine slithered around my foot my mind quickly got back on track.

The vine pulling my ankle caused me to fall onto my back, dropping my sword in a clatter. I could Anthea yell just as a piercing pain injected itself in my neck. Slightly stunned I reached out to the cause of my pain pulling the bat out, along with a good portion of my neck. I let out a scream to join the mages at I grabbed the bat's neck and twisted it off.

My head was starting to spin, and I could only dizzily look around at what was going on. "He-ey, whatcha do-in." I drunkenly slurred as the air mage started saying funny words. My last thought before everything went black was why there was wind on my neck.

Sitting up everything blurred in my vision as the blushed around in my head. "What the fuck happened, and why in Wades names is the world spinning?" I groaned as I tried to stabilize myself the last thing I remembered was getting tripped by a vine. After everything stopped spinning I looked around my surroundings. I was still in the dungeon and Anthea was right next to me. Actually, if I looked at where my head was, I grinned. I got a lap pillow. 10/10 would go unconscious again. I was about to say something when everything started to spin again and I fell back unconscious.

Opening my eyes I did not sit up this time, and instead just looked around. I was still in the cave, and ... not in the cute girl's lap. Godammit. She was just to the side, doing what looked like meditation. Getting slowly up I did a few stretches to loosen the old body before turning towards the girl. "Hey there, thanks for saving me." Also because I couldn't help myself, "and for the other thing you know." I said winking at her, even though I knew she couldn't see it.

I could her blush even in the dark, (it was way too easy and fun to tease her) before she followed me in standing up and walking out of the dungeon. I found out she also got tripped by the vine but managed to sense the bat in time to stop it from latching on to her. She killed the bat and cut the vine before casting her spell on. Which I found only stopped my blood from escaping my throat by encasing the area around my neck in a container of wind.

We reached the start of the dungeon paid out the taxes. We earned a total of 28 copper in the dungeon and an individual amount of 11 coppers for me. She got a little less cash due to having to pay some type of guild tax.

I thanked her again for saving me and we departed with a promise to do this again tomorrow. I gained 170 experience, and sadly nothing else. Teaming up certainly had its benefits, but the experience gained was severely decreased. For the bats were we killed together I gained less than half the experience on average per kill(probably something to do with her doing most of the work). If I did the same trip by myself I would have gained in the vicinity of 310 experience. The last bad that attacked me had a higher level and I also gained some points when Anthea killed the vine gripping my ankle. Still, if I was alone I would have gruesomely died so in all fairness I can't complain.

I had one more place I wanted to visit so I headed towards the largest building in the town. It was a large radiant complex that seemed to give off a divine type of aura. It did not feel like a purely good aura per se, it just felt like it was beyond this world. Part off the building was still under construction but it was open to the public.

As I entered, the first thing I noticed was an exquisitely carved giant 5 meters tall statue of an elven woman in leather armour holding a sword pointed in front of her while riding a horse. Under her was a plack that read 'The Goddess of Adventure'.

Shaking my head when someone yelled at me to stop gawking like a dimwit I started to get back on track. There was a sight posted that that three arrows corresponding to the three corridors. The hallway behind the statue was for the goddess herself, the arrow to the left denoted deities of craftsmen and trades, that also wrote that while the miscellany area was under construction it will also encompass for those deities. The arrow to the right marked martial/fighting deities. A staircase also wound its way up a sign reading 'miscellaneous gods area under construction'.

Heading towards the craftsman I noticed that the number of people walking this way was considerably less than the martial wing. Even with two categories of gods. As I left the hallway I was greeted by yet another statue self-important much. This one was also an elf, except they 'only' 3 and a half metre tall, were in white robes and had a Bandelier of potions around there belt. They also had an old kindly face, and unlike the statute at the front that radiated a sense of movement and discovery, this one gave the energy of health and longevity.

Other than the statue the place was just as opulent as everyone else in this palace of a church. There were smaller statue around the place and people kneeling before but a found and out of the way with no statutes and sat down in a lotus position, I would be damned if I was going to kneel. "Oww might Wade please hear my call so that I may hear your magnificent voice once again." I intoned my most deadpan voice.

"Do not worry my subject I hear your prayer and I have come and lowered myself to speak to you mere mortal. You may now sing my prayers so that everyone may hear the good name of Wade the mighty." I rolled my eyes as I heard an overly theatrical voice in my head.

"I am in the town and am having some difficulties with what to do next. I am training and entering the dungeon but was wondering if there was anything better I should be doing, hopefully, something with magic." I said quietly, I wasn't sure how Wade heard but I presume the volume of my voice didn't matter.

"I don't really know what you should be doing, I haven't exactly talked to any in a long time let also been in the mortal realm. If you want to learn magic find someone to teach you magic. I have a few requests but those can wait till you're of sufficient strength to fulfil them." Wade said.

"I would love to learn some magic from someone, but the magic guild is a fucking money raper. Really what I need is money, but that may be an even harder task." No matter what where you are it all comes back to money. You either love it or you hate but either way, everyone wants money.

"Hmm, that may be a problem. I don't know much about your world but can't you make something from there?"

"I can maybe fumble my way to make a basic electricity generator with some copper wire and a magnet but I don't know how useful that would be here. I thought about some more basic items I could make from back home but I haven't come up with anything, I'll keep thinking about it. Any other suggestions?" I said sounding kind of desperate. It's not that I just needed money to buy things like magic and training. I was running out of money for basic necessities like lodgings and food. I needed cash fast.

"Can't think of anything right now, but I can give you a few tips for improving your magic. Next time you cast a spell focus on where that mana is coming from. You should see the mana come from pathways that lead to your centre."

"Thanks for that, if that's everything I'll be going then. " I said before getting up to leave.

"Come back to visit soon and if you could please convert someone to my pantheon." Wade sounded desperate. He was almost begging me. If I thought about it, he did say he was alone for a very long time, so he's probably desperate for any social interaction. I wonder if he's gone slightly insane from isolation? +1 Faith. Well that's not suspicious at all.

"I'll be back soon. Also, do I need to dance every time I want to cast a spell?"

"Ahh, great visit come back soon and bring a friend. Don't die, bye."

"WADE!"

. . .

Sitting on my bed I focused and tried to cast my movement detection spell without invocation. I could feel something stir within me but other than that nothing happened. Trying again except with the stupid chant, the mana inside me started moving. I tried focusing on where the mana was coming from and what it was doing but all I got was a vague sense of my centre and a feeling that something was moving inside. I cancelled the spell and tried again.

By the third cast off the spell, a burning sensation started to permeate my body when my mana was flowing. By the fifth attempt, the burning turned into searing pain and I barely managed to finish the spell. Even without my mana moving, I could still feel a burning in my body.

I almost had it though. The pain gave me a sense of direction of where the mana was moving and by the last attempt, I almost managed to follow the mana. Steeling my nerves, I got into a comfortable position and started chanting again. Why do I hate myself? Agonizing fire spread around my body while my mind followed the pain. Every time the pain entered a new part of my body I zoned in on it until I felt it. It was a stream water flowing through a pipe that was my body, and everywhere the stream went caused my body more pain. The stream was tiny, smaller than a hair but I could it move through my body. The entire experience would have been more impressive if I wasn't in constant pain. letting the spell go, I do a few deep breaths for most the pain to slowly dissipate before checking my notifications.

Mana scaring:

You have overtaxed your mana channels and have gained the debuff: Mild Mana Scaring

-Mana speed within channels is decreased by 25%

-Mana regen is decreased by 10%

You have gained the skill meditation.

Description: Focus your mind and calm your emotions

Level 1 novice

- 20% easier to calm emotions during meditation

-20% easier to focus during meditation

-15% easier to block/resist mind-altering effects during mediation

You have gained the skill mana channels

Description: Push more mana through your mana channels for a longer period of time

Level 1 novice

-Mana channels can accommodate 2% more mana

-Mana channels can sustain mana flowing through for 6% longer

You have increased the skill mana channels:

Level 1 novice -- Level 3 novice

-Mana channels can accommodate 6% more mana

-Mana channels can sustain mana flowing through for 6% longer