Vinny

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

Date: July 17th, 304 PS (Post System)

Time: 1:20 AM

I stood inside the shop, staring at the note. Garth told me not to go home, but am I really in that much danger? I resolved to head back to the house to sleep then beg my dad to open the store for me - I can probably come up with some kind of reason to need the morning off. When I get the morning off, I'll take my Dungeon Trial. What's the worst that could happen? It's not like my parents technically had to pay for me to take a trial. I lightly smacked my head as I realized I could send Connor a message and ask to take the test with him.

"Connor!" I yelled out. Connor was still at the pub. I stormed out of the shop and left the doors unlocked since it was on my way home from Old Dale's. Upon my approach, crowds gathered around the pub. Some Adventurers used their water type monsters to put the fire out. Billy's Abslimrich must have lost control when the group realized they hadn't set their target on fire. Near the front of the crowd was Greta, her face in her hands. Getting through the horde of spectators was troublesome. I stepped on foot after foot and had to shove onlookers out of my way.

I placed my hand on Greta's back. She shrugged her shoulder and shot me a look of frustration. When she noticed it was me, her fury turned into sadness, and she thrust her face into my chest. I wrapped my right arm around her.

"What happened?" I asked the crying bartender. Greta shook her head manically.

"No, no, no!" She choked out. "Connor got out of the bathroom and saw your friend in the air. He tried stopping the cocky Adventurer, but the fire monster went rogue and set everything on fire. I don't know where the Scarlet members ran off. I tried finding you, but you disappeared. Connor is still in there." Of course, Connor would try to be the hero. Of course, he would get trapped. I let go of Greta and stared down the burning building. I only took three steps toward the building before I heard someone try to stop me.

"Hey, nosy," said a girl who was using her water monster to put out the fire. She lowered the hood of her brown hoody. I recognized her as the girl who was lying on one of the benches in the square. "That building is probably going to collapse soon, so you shouldn't go in there. Plus, I have my Gollum in there doing search and rescue. Stand back." The blonde girl gave me a slight shove back. She muttered something under her breath, and water erupted from her hands and toward the burning building.

I took a few steps back and watched in horror as a massive one-eyed, stone humanoid figure broke through the left side of the building—it clutched three bodies in its hulking arms. A mop of red hair was visible in the creature's arms, which made me smirk. The multitude of people gasped in unison, and a woman in the crowd cheered on the Gollum. The Earth monster set the unconscious bodies behind its master.

"We need to make the building collapse before the fire spreads to the inn next to it!" One of the fire fighting Adventurers announced. He summoned a Rockobare - an enormous bear with a stone arm. This one had jewels shaped like spikes sticking out of its rock arm.

Both Adventurers commanded their monsters to use the skill Bulldoze. Both creature's skin turned to a pale gray, and they charged at the building. Within seconds, the building was nothing but charred wood and broken glass.

Old Dale's Pub has been a staple of Kenton, and, according to my mom, Old Dale was a friend of my grandpa. Not having this prestigious bar in our town will hurt our economy.

"Vinny, look at Connor!" Greta shrieked. She was kneeling over Connor's unconscious body, crying. The place where Connor's right arm should have been was missing. I dropped to my knees, and my mouth dropped.

"He was supposed to take his Dungeon Trial in the morning," I said, shaking my head with a horrified look on my face.

"I was finally going to get my date with him," Greta choked out, her right hand playing with his hair. "It took him so long to ask me out and now this. I must be bad luck." Greta beat Connor's chest in her mourning, but she jumped up when he woke up with a coughing fit. I grabbed his right shoulder and leaned his body onto his left side. I didn't know if it would help, but it was worth a try.

One of the Adventurers who helped with the fire rushed over to Connor. Her hands were glowing as she rubbed his chest. The redhead's coughing subsided, and he breathed normally again. When the healer backed away, I wrapped Connor in a hug. Blood began soaking my shirt where Connor's arm was missing.

"Aren't you in pain?" I asked my friend. His eyes were lifeless; I didn't know if he heard me.

"I dulled his pain with a skill," The girl who healed Connor told me. "I'm a Radiance, but there aren't any skills to regrow a limb. Here, I can at least stop the bleeding." Her hands glowed again, and she sent the light to the wound. I watched in amazement as the skin regrew itself over Connor's shoulder. "He's going to have to get some rest. Don't worry; I'll get him home." She tapped his chest twice, and a window popped up, showing his emergency information. The Adventurer broke a crystal, and a Litigon emerged in a glow of blue light. The Litigon is a light brown dragon with feathered wings, and horns that grew around its neck. The healer called another Adventurer to help her lift Connor onto the monster's back.

"What's your name?" I asked before the girl left.

"Sarah," She said, looking at me over her shoulder.

I didn't have to be here any longer, so I resolved to get back to the shop to lock it up. Before leaving, I turned to Greta and waved goodbye. She had a thoughtful expression on her face as she nodded toward me.

The way back to the shop was tranquil. A flock of Lunafly flew over the town, probably the work of one of the Adventurers in town. Lunafly is similar to butterflies but has a black body and blue wings that glow in the night. The flap of a Lunafly's wing imitates a different string instrument - each with a different sound, but in the same key. The serene sounds steadied my mind.

When I got to the shop, my heart dropped. The door was wide open.

I bolted through the doorway and grabbed the bronze dagger that was near the door. I shouldn't have left the door unlocked.

I crept through the gloomy room, trying my best to pay attention to my surroundings. Nobody was on the main sales floor. They must be in the backroom! I thought to myself, holding the dagger even tighter. A light was on in the stockroom.

I slowly opened the creaking door. With how loud the door was, the perp has to know I'm here. The door was opened enough for me to peak into the room. My father sat at the desk; a cold scowl was shown on his face as he placed a book on the counter. I wanted to run; I knew this wasn't going to go over well. He found the book of Monster Seals.

"I got a notification that the store wasn't locked up," He said, leaning back in his heavily cushioned chair. "I thought I'd stop by - there's a lot of craziness going on tonight. I didn't see anyone, so I looked around to see if anything was missing. What did I find, but a box full of daggers under my desk and a few books." Dad nodded and chewed his lip. "What kind of book do you think I found?" His eyes looked at me intensely. I gazed down at my feet in surrender.

"A book about Paulpy and the regenerative effects of their feathers?" I asked, trying to sound convincing, except the sentence ended as a question. I knew what it was, but I wanted to play dumb. My father stood up and hit the desk.

"You know damn well what could happen to us if I got caught with this!" His face was turning purple, and a vein in his forehead was threatening to pop out of his face. "What were you thinking?" He crossed his arms, waiting for my response.

"I didn't know what it was," I started. "The guy wouldn't let me look through the box." Dad looked flabbergasted.

"And you still bought this?" Dad flipped the box off of the desk.

"He took two silvers and eight coppers for the box," I said, shrugging a shoulder and rolling my eyes. "Even without the books, I knew we could make a few silvers off of it all. The rest of it would just be a little extra."

"But you didn't tell me about this," My father plopped back down into his chair. "We were supposed to have an inventory tomorrow morning. I only just got the notification tonight. If the Inventory Guild had found this book, the fine we would have bankrupted us. That isn't worth it for a book."

"It isn't just a book!" I argued. "It is the end of a monopoly. When I become a Rune Scratcher, I'll use the book to make a new type of Monster Seal - one that we can mass produce for those who can't afford to dish out 50 gold to a group of jerks who rule the tower." My father snorted.

"When you become a Rune Scratcher?" He asked. Dad shook his head and looked up at the ceiling and chuckled. "How many times do your mother and I have to tell you? We aren't paying for you to be an Adventurer. Our family doesn't have that kind of money. If you wanted to save up for it, you could fund yourself." I used my whole hand to point at the book that sat between my father and me.

"You don't need to," I said.

"That's my property," Dad told me. I can't believe he went there. I didn't tell him I already tore out a page. I looked away and pushed my eyelids shut, holding back tears. I ran out of the room, out of the shop, and back home.

I slammed the front door when I got into the house and stomped toward the stairs that led to the basement, which was where my room was. I was interrupted by my mother.

"Is everything alright, dear?" She asked. She was lying down on the couch, a bright orange blanket over her. "I heard a few explosions; then your dad said the shop wasn't locked."

"Some people from the Scarlet Guild destroyed Old Dale's," I told her. Tears welled up in my eyes. This night couldn't get any worse, could it? "Connor tried stopping them, but they trapped him in the pub."

"Oh, I hope he's okay," She said with a concerned look on her face. My mother stood up, made her way to me, and embraced me. When she touched me to comfort me, everything I've been holding in was released. A torrent of tears streamed down my face, and my nose stuffed up with snot.

"He lost his arm, mom," I croaked. At that moment, my father calmly stepped through the door. He rolled his eyes when he saw me crying.

"Babe," My father started. "I told him since he used the shop's money, the book belongs to me." My mom gave him a confused look.

"I don't know what you're going on about, but he's crying because Connor almost died tonight at Old Dale's." My mother said bitterly to my father. He was dumbstruck.

"What happened at the pub?" Father asked.

I recalled the events of the night to my parents. We were now sitting in the living room. My mom had a hand on my knee, and my dad sat back with his arms crossed.

"I think it might be a good idea for him to take the test," Mom told my father, who held out his hand.

"Let me see that ring," He requested. I pulled the mysterious bejeweled band out of my pocket and dropped it into his outstretched hand. The deep brown color of the translucent jewel glimmered in the firelight. My father used the Inspect skill and quickly raised his eyebrows. "It's a Bonded Monster Crystal." He read further and whistled.

"What is it?" I asked anxiously.

"It's a Rexaroach!" He said with a surprised tone. I was perplexed - I had never heard of that monster. "Come on." Dad stood up and signaled for me to follow him, and I followed him to the back yard. The fence surrounding the yard was high, so hopefully, that plus the dark of the night will hide what we're doing.

I waited behind dad as he held out his hand, then commanded, "Summon!" The brown jewel shattered and left a simple gold ring. A colossal dinosaur-like monster appeared in front of my father. It looked like a tyrannosaurus rex, but with a roach's back, where wings were probably stored, and cockroach arms. The creature also stood two stories high. Its glowing red eyes stared at me. I keep forgetting dad is technically an Adventurer.

"Why do you think it's in the ring?" I asked.

"I don't know, but the Scarlet Guild wants it, which means we need to keep it from them," Dad said. My father tapped twice in the air to bring up the Rexaroach's stats, nodded, and flipped the screen to me.

Name: Rexaroach

Element: Earth/Venom

Breed: Dyno-Hybrid

Level: 1

Unallocated Stat Points: 0

HP: 260/260

SP: 40/40

Strength: 15

Intelligence: 6

Wisdom: 5

Constitution: 12

Agility: 11

Charisma: 8

Happiness: Irritable (Your monster doesn't like you)

Happiness Level: 0

Happiness XP: 0/20

Skills:

Intimidate (Passive)[Plain]: You can frighten people into either getting out of your way or doing what you want.

Sludge (12 SP)[Venom]: You can spew blobs of poison at your targets and possibly cause poison. This skill can create an area of effect (AOE) damage.

My father commanded the monster to Return. The Rexaroach was enveloped in dark light and turned back into the brown crystal attached to the ring. "I sure do miss doing that." Dad handed the ring back to me. "That's a pretty powerful monster, but I think you can tame it." He tossed the ring back at me. I didn't have to worry about having a Bonded Monster Crystal during a Dungeon Trial since I can't summon it anyway.

"Yeah, that's fine," I told my father. "You just reminded me, by the way. What was your original monster summon?" Dad chuckled slightly and turned around to head back into the house without answering me. Then it hit me. "You said when I become an Adventurer!" I followed him to bug the daylights out of him.

My father walked into his bedroom and to his dresser. From the top drawer, he pulled out a dark purple gem and broke it on the ground. A purple shadow emerged from the ring and crawled up my father's arm.

"This is a Shadoll," My father told me. "It is a Spirit and Spectral elemental. This monster causes nightmares to everything around it, so your mother never allows me to let it out. On top of that, I don't usually have to use it since I don't fight anymore." Dad turned the Shadoll back into its crystal form and dropped the dark jewel back into the drawer. "To answer your earlier question, yes. Take tomorrow off and take your test; become an Adventurer." I bid my father goodnight, and I walked through the living room to do the same with my mother and slowly took the I knew I was in for a restless night as I prepared for my Dungeon Trial.