Vinny

Location: Hallow's Adventuring Shop, 32 Kenton Square, Kenton, Floor One

Date: July 16th, 304 PS (Post System)

Time: 1:00 PM

"One more scratch," I told myself. I've been working on etching a fire rune onto an iron gauntlet I bought off of an old Adventurer. When it is all said and done, we will have made one silver off of this. "There we go!" I yelled in excitement. I need to have my father power the rune, and it's finished. I admired my etching work. The spacing needs work, but it wasn't too bad of a job. Before I could store the gauntlet away, the door swung open, and a group of teens about my age walked in.

"And I said to him, 'give me that Flame Dragon scroll and I'll give you a guarantee to join the Scarlet Guild,' and he did!" The teen's name is Julius Cain. Cain is a rich jerk whose mom helps run the Scarlet Guild, the largest guild in the tower, with the influence to determine who becomes Adventurers by controlling the books of Monster Seals, which is required to become an Adventurer.

"You're so lucky," the blonde girl next to him said with what looked like stars in her eyes. The other two guys nodded their agreement.

"I know, right? The Flame Dragon class is super rare. Luckily the poor peasant was telling everyone about what he found. If the tower forced me to be an Abbot, my mother would riot."

"How can I help you today?" I asked and hid the gauntlet under the sales counter and gave my best warm smile, but I wouldn't be surprised if I looked more like a creep. Julius looked me up and down with squinted eyes.

"Oh, it's you. Vinny, was it?" He asked with a forced, fake smile. "I need all of your Bonded Monster Crystals." The request made me look down at the counter. My father didn't allow me to purchase Bonded Monster Crystals since it was tough to know who the crystal once belonged. Shocking since the System gives most other information someone could want.

"Sorry, we don't do anything with Bonded Monster Crystals," I said while shaking my head slightly. "Jerry York across the square will have them." I would know, I go there often to look at the crystals. I don't buy any since I'm not an Adventurer, and I can't use magical items - not that I can afford them anyway.

"Of course you don't," the snob had said. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a crystal with a green tint. He stood in front of the counter now, and I stared at the jewel in wonder.

"A monster cryst-." My comment was interrupted by Julius, throwing it to the ground. The crystal shattered into thousands of pieces and a green avian creature with a tail around the same size as its body emerged.

"Avianis, use Micro-Twister." The bird flapped its wings with force and items began flying around the room. Julius was smiling maniacally, and his three acquaintances wore horror-struck faces. I screamed at the top of my lungs, telling the lunatic to put his summon away.

I had to think on the spot. I put the gauntlet onto my hand and punched Julius in the gut. There was no response from Julius.

Is he made of mithril or something? I thought to myself.

A moment later, the Avianis stopped flapping its wings. The calm after the windstorm was refreshing.

"Are you sure you just got that monster?" A redheaded teen with Julius asked. Julius had a smirk on his face.

"Next time, you'll have what I want." The insufferable jerk said and held out his hand. The Avianis turned back into a crystal and returned to Julius's hand. "Also, never touch me again." He flicked the tip of my nose, pocketed his gem, and signaled his friends to head out.

"Another Scarlet Guild member wrecks the store part six," I said to myself. I kind of hoped that one of them would have heard me. If an Adventurer directly attacks a non-Adventurer, they could lose their Adventurer's License.

Julius and I attended the same primary school back when we were younger. We were never the greatest of friends, but he at least remembered me. Although Julius was a dolt, so were most Scarlet Guild members. This past month I've had six different Scarlet Guild members destroy the store. We haven't lost merchandise from it, so they didn't receive any repercussions, but I should wish we could ban that guild from the store since they never buy anything. They only complain that we don't have items, weapons, and armors that cost hundreds of gold.

I spent the rest of the evening cleaning up and getting everything back where they belong. I still had a little while longer before the streetlamps turned on, so I looked at the gauntlet once more. I punched Julius, and he didn't even blink. Are Adventurers just that powerful? My stomach churned as the jealousy began to get the best of me.

I grabbed the broom and began sweeping up the mess. I've started getting used to where to put everything with the multitude of times I've had to put the store back together.

I picked up a pair of polished bronze armor. It was one my father had spent weeks working on - it was probably his most favorite piece. He traveled to the other side of Floor One to mine the ore, refined the ore into bronze ingots, and then hammered away at the metal. My father even etched a few defensive runes into the breastplate and speed runes on the leggings. When this sells, the shop will make five silvers on it. I placed the Class F Skill Books back onto the shelf, but didn't worry about alphabetizing things tonight - I could do that tomorrow morning. I got most of the high ticket items off the floor. Now, if my father walked in, he'd only be slightly angry.

Scant puffs of fire appeared and danced in the streetlamps outside, which was my queue to close up and head home. I was in our backroom and about to lock up the safe when the bell on the front door chimed, signaling someone had entered the shop. I blew out my cheeks and walked back out to the salesfloor.

"What's going on today?" I asked the customer. It was a man with shaggy black hair that grew past his nose and ratty old clothes. He carried a wooden box full of miscellaneous things.

"Was a fairly long day for me. Getting here was tough." The man told me with a high pitched, nasally voice I wasn't expecting from him. I was confused about how it would take so long since Kenton was one of the most accessible towns. "I have some things I...acquired in my recent travels, and I needed to unload them somewhere if you'd so graciously purchase them off of me." He crooked his neck to peek out the window.

"Give me a moment to go through this," I said, but the mystery man briskly tugged the box away.

"I'll take whatever you believe is fair," The man retorted. "I need this out of my possession, and this quaint shop will be what's best." He looked out the window again and was shaking manically.

"Yeah, sure! Just calm down." I replied. I gazed into the box and saw three daggers. Two had the blade visible and were iron, and the third only had the hilt showing, but the hilt had ornate markings on it. I could probably get about one silver from those daggers and a copper for each of those books. I thought to myself. "Do two silvers and eight coppers sound fair for everything in the box?" He nodded ferociously.

"Yes," He set the box down and held out his hands. I held up a finger to signal for him to wait a moment, then I got into the backroom safe and picked out the coins. When I got back, he was standing next to the window and was watching the square. He picked at his fingernails, and his right foot was tapping on the worn-out wooden floor.

"Here are your silvers. What was your name again?" He snapped his attention back to me and snatched the silvers from my hand and nodded his thanks.

"Just call me Thomas," He said. "I really must be going. Thank you for staying open for me. Who knows, I may see you again." He gave me a slight wave and walked out. I locked the door and lifted the box onto the sales counter so I could go through it.

I set those two iron daggers aside and picked up the one I couldn't fully see. Mythril! I thought to myself. Score! Dad is going to be proud of me; this is going to be more than just a few silvers of profit. I double tapped the mithril blade to bring up its stats.

Mithril Dagger (Sharpened)

Creator: Brode Gargo

Durability: 300/300 (New)

Skills:

Bleeding Love (Passive): This blade has a chance to cause your target to suffer and lose three damage per second.

The Bleeding Love passive skill is a rare one; I won big on this one.

I continued to go through the box. There were a few books written by some of the original Adventurers, a monster bestiary, and one with a title I didn't quite understand. When I opened the book, I nearly fell in shock.

"Monster seals!" I exclaimed. I looked around to make sure nobody was directly outside - it was clear. The Scarlet Guild centers its monopoly around Monster Seals. They are what is needed to become an Adventurer. An Adventuring Initiate just needs to use a Monster Seal to bond with their first monster. The elements of the creature will turn the Monster Seal into a Class Scroll, and that class is the Initiate's first class. The Scarlet Guild patented the Monster Seals, so only they are allowed to make them. Nothing said I couldn't buy them from someone for personal use. I flipped to a random page and tore a page out. Each sheet was perforated, so it was tough to tell which page I exuded from the book.

Dad will never notice. I thought to myself. I know my dad wouldn't approve even if I got my hands on a Monster Seal, but I'm a legal adult now, so he can't technically stop me.

I folded the paper in fourths and pocketed it and hid the box in the backroom. I'm opening the store in the morning anyway - I'll put things away in the morning. I left the store and double-checked the front door's lock before heading out.

I wasn't heading directly home. I'm heading to Old Dale's Pub first. It's a Friday night, which means Connor will be there. We may not be able to drink ale, but Old Dale's makes an excellent stew.

Kenton Square was desolate. The street lamps had been on for half an hour already, and most people don't leave their homes at night unless they need to. I stretched and gazed toward the fountain that stood tall at the center of the town square. Someone was lying on the bench. At this hour? I thought to myself. I walked over to see if that person was okay. I'm already late anyway.

As I approached the person laying down, I tried to see if I could recognize the person, but to no avail. Their hood was up, and they had their legs bent and knees in the air.

"Hey, are you okay?" I asked in a raised voice. The question startled the prostrate person, and they fell off the bench.

"Yeah, I'm fine!" The person said. Their voice was soft and sounded like a girl's voice, but not one I knew. "I was just getting some quiet. Am I not supposed to be here?" The stranger lowered their hood, and I was right. Her long blonde hair was braided and hung over her left shoulder. She had on a brown hoody and jeans and wore entirely white shoes.

"Wow, old school wardrobe," I commented. The blonde girl rolled grandiose blue eyes and pursed her lips.

"My guild requires it as our uniform. It has runes engraved under the cloth." She didn't seem to like the uniform.

"Is your guild staying in Kenton?" I asked.

"Maybe. I'm a little busy, can you leave me alone?" She flipped her hood back up and laid back down. I shrugged my shoulders and kept on my way.

Inns line the road to Old Dale's - all of them were bustling with people now that the town's nightlife had started. There must be something going on because the inns aren't usually this packed with travelers, especially Adventurers, from the look of what they were wearing. Outside of the pub were plenty of people dressed in old fashioned attire. I never asked what guild that girl was. I thought to myself.

Old Dale's door was propped open, so I walked into the hectic pub. Connor was sitting at a table with Thomas, the mysterious man from whom I bought the Monster Seals.