“So, what was that all about?”

“I, uh, saw someone.” I felt myself withering under the girl’s gaze as her arms crossed her chest.

“And you just left me behind. You wanted me to be harassed or something?”

“Yes, because this is exactly the place where you are likely to be harassed.” I looked around the spacious restaurant, explicitly designed so that individual patrons or groups would be unable to see one another.

I’m sure there is less than ethical reasoning for that architectural choice.

I pulled my chair out, settling back into the table as Rosalina continued holding me with her gaze, an unrelenting force.

“What?” I finally asked in exasperation, unable to relax against her piercing look.

“That’s what I should ask you. What happened? You got that look on your face.”

“I don’t have a look on my face.” I answered defensively.

“Yes, you do. It’s right there. So, spill.”

I grumbled, contemplating whether I should tell her anything before finally giving up.

“I ran into the guild master.”

“Here?”

“No, he was hiding in your closet. Yes, here.” I snorted as Rosalina gave me a death glare.

“Alright, no need for the attitude. So you ran into him here.”

“Yeah.” I was silent as I considered the exact words traded. “It was…. Not what I expected. He knows a lot.”

“About?”

“Everything.” I huffed. “I don’t think I’ve ever met one person who seems to have their fingers in so many pies.”

“Oh, you think they have pie here?”

“Focus Pips.” I reminded her.

“Sorry. You were saying?”

“Anyway, I finally got the answer for why I was made part of that duel.”

“Oh? What was it?”

“He was scouting me.”

“Scouting you?” Pips cocked an eyebrow at me. “For what?”

I looked around, double-checking to make sure there was no one nearby.

“Apparently, there is some quest that they will officially be announced in three days. It’s going to be led by Iris’s team.”

“Which is why it was her you were dueling then.” She said, pointing a fork at me.

“Yeah. Have the person leading the quest directly assess me, then report to the guild master whether it seemed as if I were up to it.”

“And?”

“I… I’m confident they’ll probably involve me whatever the assessment was.”

“So what is this quest about in the first place? Aren’t they usually big deals?”

“Dunno, and depends,” I answered with a shrug. “A quest is limited in who can be given it, either by the guild or the person commissioning the… commission.” I frowned, the sentence sounding redundant. “Anyway, it might not be anything that major in the first place.”

“But you said it was Iris leading it, right? Isn’t she like, sort of a big deal?”

I frowned, staring down at my empty plate, pushing around the few crumbs of food left on it with my fork.

“I’m not sure.”

I was being honest. The fact of the matter was that while quests didn’t necessarily need to be anything that major, the fact that Iris was involved, her entire team, and they were looking for extra members outside her team, suggested it was something more significant than anything I’d ever undertaken.

To be fair, I’d never even had an ordinary quest in the first place, but I digress.

“I think.” I paused, ensuring I was sure of what I was about to say. “I think there is a chance it might be a Heroic quest.”

“Wow.” Rosalina’s eyes widened before she tilted her head in confusion. “What’s that?”

“It’s… think of it like an extra special quest, normally reserved for either the top brass of gold or nizeium adventures.”

“And you, a silver, might be a part of it?”

While her words meant nothing more profound than what she obviously meant, they got me thinking, a gently sloping frown appearing on my face.

Something still seems odd.

A Heroic would only be for top-class adventurers; if they needed extra members, why look down the ranks and not up?

“I’ll be honest, Pips, I’m not sure I understand what’s going on any more than you might. So why don’t we just change the subject for now?”

“I guess.” She looked to the side for a moment before a sly smile crossed her face. “As long as you get me some pie as well.”

I sighed but was happy to at least have shifted the subject.

If not at least, to avoid the true heart of what had been bothering me, something I was reminded of all too quickly as I looked at the girl across from me.

Someone else knows.

-----------------------------------------------

Three days later.

I nervously brushed at my clothes, dusting away sand I knew wasn’t there.

“Wait three days, then come down to the guild.”

The words reverberated through my head as I stood outside the guild’s doors. I’d been in and out of those doors more times than I could count, yet this was the most nervous since I’d come here for the first time.

Just go already, Rook.

Mentally pushing myself forward, I gave the doors a light push, the sunlight streaming in through the front doors as I walked in with as much purpose as I could muster.

Now what?

As far as what I could see, nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Adventurers were walking about, some browsing the commissions’ board, others seated at tables chowing down on food they had ordered, others simply chatting amongst each other on any range of topics. Several looked at me for longer than I was comfortable with, but considering I’d just had a duel with the rank one high-gold the other day, it was to be expected. If anything, they paid me less attention now than before the fight itself. By losing, I’d reaffirmed their belief in the ordinary sense of the world; of course, a high-silver wasn’t beating a high-gold.

Disregarding those who continued letting their gaze linger on me, I strode forward toward the main counter where the guild receptionist was seated behind, a man today.

“Yes?”

“Err, I was told to come to the guild today by the guild master.”

The man gave me a once over, his face telling me he fully disbelieved me.

“Name?”

“Rook, er, Zero?”

His eyes winded at the mention of who I was, a sudden flush to his face as if embarrassed.

They must still be new.

“Yes, I was given a memo to expect you. One moment.”

The man stood up from his seat, quickly walking toward where the small turnstile leading from the main guild lobby toward the back rooms. Pulling out a golden-looking card, he ran it over a smooth patch of steel, which clicked a moment later.

“Lot of security for something that anyone could just hop over.” I laughed, having never seen any receptionist pull out that golden card in the past.

“That’s because usually, there isn’t.” The man informed me, gesturing for me to push past it and follow him. “Only sometimes is higher security used, in which case there is enough mana loaded in this frame to blast anyone trying to enter unauthorized with enough lightning magic to melt even stone.”

Oh.

I stopped for a moment, understandably apprehensive of the turnstile.

It’s alright, Rook. He deactivated the spell.

I hoped.

“Sir, if you would please push past already?”

I felt my cheeks warm in embarrassment, finally putting my hands on the metal and walking through.

I, thankfully, was not reduced to a melted puddle of Rook goo.

On the other side of the counter, for the first time, I got a better look at what it looked like from this side.

That’s to say, there wasn’t much of a difference. The only thing that stood out was their organizational skills were…. lacking, papers haphazardly strewn about, with shelves customarily hidden by the counter, left ajar. There was a single door slightly to the right of where the receptionists usually sat, a door which most adventurers figured led further back into the guild, to the areas meant for the backend staff necessary for running an entire country-spanning operation.

“Head through there, then continue down the hall. You’ll be looking for the conference room at the back. Once you walk in, take a seat wherever you please.”

Having said his share, the receptionist quickly sat down, looking bored once again behind his desk.

I stood there for a second until, not wanting to be told to move for the second time, I grabbed the handle of the door, pulling it open and passing through.

As expected, behind the door was a hallway, several different doors leading to who knew what. Preferring to not get myself in trouble, or lost for that matter, I focused on following the directions I’d been given, briskly walking toward the end of a long hallway, a doorway situated at the very end precisely as had been described. It was a simple, plain, looking door, made of palm wood as were most wooden things within Dunehold. I stood silently next to it for several seconds, trying to see if I could hear anything past, but either there was no one in there, or the room had been soundproofed.

Well, only one thing to do now.

I pushed open the door, trying to look like I was utterly confident while simultaneously hoping I would blend in with the walls behind me as I walked in.

Inside the conference room, I saw a large round table with extra chairs to accommodate the larger crowd.

The first person I noticed was none other than Iris, currently surrounded by eight others. Of those around her, Elsmere was the only face among the eight I’d personally interacted with.

That must be her party then, Sunju.

Their gazes turned toward me, and I saw several different reactions, some clearly trying to figure out who I was, others recognizing me as the man who had fought their party leader and making annoyed faces. At the same time, still, some gave me slight, if not outright warm, at least amicable smiles.

Iris herself had a look of unreadability; a simple curt nod in my direction was all I received.

How welcoming.

On the other end of the table was another group, something like fifteen adventures, faces I recognized only by reputation alone.

Shangsattva.

Finally, there was a smaller group between them, five faces who, aside from one, I didn’t recognize.

The one face I did recognize was a face I hadn’t expected to see here of all places.

“Tez?”

The last I had seen of her had been the aftermath of the Sun-splitter peak event when we had parted ways.

That was several years ago; she had only been tin ranked then.

So, what is she doing here?

I walked straight up to her, my hands on my hips as I waited for an answer, her smiling face the only response I received for several seconds as she enjoyed my reaction.

“Nice to see you again, Rook.”

“What are you doing here?” I questioned, the words coming out harsher than I meant.

“The same reason as you, I would suppose.” She was still smiling at me. “Oh, I should introduce you to our party.”

She gestured behind her to the four others gathered by her.

“Shery, Thoron, Ess, Don, meet Rook.”

They gave me a nod, faces guarded.

“I’m not sure I needed to introduce you in hindsight.” Tez smiled at me with a sharkish grin. “Since you’re Mr. Famous now.”

“I- that’s not important.” I clenched my teeth for a second before speaking directly to Tez. “Would you mind stepping away for a second with me?”

“Sure.” She smiled at complete ease as I grabbed her by the wrist, pulling her away and out of earshot of the rest of the adventurers gathered around the table.

Sure, I was probably making a bit of a scene, but some questions needed answering.

“No, really, be honest with me.” I released her wrist, staring her in the eyes. “What are you doing here?”

“I told you already.” She gave me a shrug. “The same as you. We’re all together because of some big quest.”

“I don’t think you get what I mean,” I whispered between clenched teeth. “Tez, these are all gold rank adventurers. Every single one is likely capable of magic to some relatively advanced degree. You don’t even have mag-”

“I don’t have magic?” Tez looked at me with her eyes wide in mock surprise. “Then care to explain this?”

Spreading her hand out in front of her, a flame of angry crimson sparked to life within the palm of her hand, a burning candle of contempt that longed for violence.

“Tez.” I hissed, sucking in a surprised breath. “Tez, that’s dragon mana.”

“I know.” She smiled at me, again reminding me of a shark. “Crazy, isn’t it?”

“How?” I questioned, unable to get over what I’d seen; her flame put out a second later.

She cast a glance back, ensuring no one was listening in, before pulling me a step further away just to be sure.

“It happened shortly after… you know.”

I nodded; no need to rehash old history.

“I was still looking after ‘Ronika at the time-”

“How is she?” I suddenly questioned, interrupting her.

“She’s fine. She teaches again; she needs a cane now, though. Anyway, my story?”

“Oh, right.”

“Well, shortly after, I began to feel… strange. Like each beat of my heart was a hammer, beating with sudden vigor that at first made me worried that I was sick or something. But then, one day, it just… happened.”

She mimed a flame poofing into existence with her hand.

“And it felt damned familiar to… that.”

“What then?”

“ ‘Ronika suggested I return to a guild branch, so I did. They then sent word to the main branch, who invited me to the main branch. One thing led to another, and next thing you know, I’m sat in front of none other than the Guild master himself, who is asking me all sorts of questions about our commission.”

Oh.

It clicked into place, how he had apparently known so much. Sure, some had come from investigating the strange occurrences of what should have been a low-ranked commission, but the rest he had received from talking with Tez directly.

Not her fault. I told her not to tell anyone about Rosalina, but I never told her to withhold information about herself or the more fantastic details of the commission.

“Anyway, after we talked for a while, he told me that his theory was that much like magic can awaken in regular people through exposure to magic, it awakened in me, except my magic wasn’t ordinary magic.”

“But awakening magic through exposure only works if you always had the affinity for it in the first place.” I reminded her, at the same time thinking of when I had once suffered at the hands of a particular void mane bombarding me with magic to ascertain my magical affinities.

Unless…

I had a sudden thought, a thought I’d never even considered.

Was this because of me?

When Tez had been dying from exposure to draconic mana within her system, I managed to save her by drawing the mana using the influence of my sage ring. Or, perhaps, it was never the sage ring, but the result of our time within the strange dimension we had landed ourselves after the attempt at traveling through a Ring Gate had gone haywire. The possibility existed that the dimension made entirely of mana so dense it was physical had somehow subtlety altered my compatriots’ internal biology, making those with no affinity for magic now capable of drawing on it.

I shook my head, disregarding my theories. Trying to come up with an answer was pointless. All I had were theories; after all, no evidence to base them upon.

“Tez?”

“Yeah?”

“Can... Can I check something quick?”

“Depends. What do you need?”

“Give me your hand.”

“A little forward, don’t you think?”

I cast her a dirty look, but she was as relaxed as if it hadn’t been years since we had last seen each other.

“You know what I meant.”

“Fine, sure.” She shrugged. “Easy enough.”

Reaching her hand out, I took it between my own, closing my eyes as I pushed my sense outward, not to the world at large, but into the girl.

I had only done it once before when I had needed to draw mana out from her. Now, rather than trying to draw mana outward, I was simply looking into her; my mana sense sharpened further as I drew on the slightest hint of sage mana from my rings.

Well, I’ll be damned.

She hadn’t developed a mana core since the last time I’d met her, but what had changed was her heart. She was right about her heartbeat beating powerfully. With each beat, a mana pulse was pushed through her body, the mana feeling savage and primal.

There was no mistaking it. What Tez had beating within her was a dragon heart. Her human heart had changed, evolved, and even if it wasn’t a true dragon heart, it reminded me eerily of the heart that beat within Rosalina.

“How hasn’t anyone asked questions?” I finally said after I opened my eyes.

“It’s a secret.” She pressed a finger to her lips, smiling. “Officially, I am the owner of a rare Kin magic.”

“And your rank? What are you right now?”

“I’m a mid-gold.”

I scoffed in surprise.

“Sure, course you are. Me? I rise to high silver in three years, and I’m the bad guy. You? You rise to mid-gold, and no one bats an eye.”

“That’s because no one knows, idiot.” She rolled her eyes at me as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

“Excuse me?”

“After the guild master met with me, he had my identity scrubbed from the records so that officially I’ve been adventuring for long enough now that it wouldn’t draw suspicion.”

“Right. I guess that makes sense.” I nodded. “Still, I just can’t believe that…. well…. Yeah.”

“I told you before.” She rolled her shoulders, sniffing at the air in indignation. “I had no intention of watching you from the sidelines. Which reminds me, what about you? You were amazing even back then; surely you must be capable of some pretty wild things now, considering your rise has been faster than my own, even without guild interference.”

It has?

She had risen from what could have been considered high-tin all the way to mid-gold. Rising six grades and seventeen ranks was beyond impressive, whereas I, going from unranked to high-silver, had risen six grades and eighteen ranks in that same time frame.

Which, by technicality, was even more impressive.

Well, I guess she has a point.

“I guess you could say something along those lines.” I gave her a half-shrug, never outright telling her anything.

Should I?

She had told me about her secret, of how she had obtained, or at least sort of, manifested draconic mana.

It would only be fair if I told her about my rings.

But.

Something pushed against the idea until I finally bit my tongue, holding the truth back.

Even had I wanted to tell her more before I could, the door into the conference room was thrust open, a figure striding in wearing familiar white robes, his face now framed by a pair of glasses cut from black stone.

“Nice to see we’re all getting along in here.” The guild master smiled at me, a charming smile hinting at underlying tiredness. “I’d like to jump straight into things if you wouldn’t mind.”

He gestured back to the seats, which Tez and I quickly made our way back to. Tez sat with her party, whereas I sat off to the side between her party and Iris’s.

“Well, first off, I would like to thank you all for being here. The heads of each party have known I’ve been putting together this quest for several months now, but I believe the time is finally ripe.”

Making his way to the head of the table, he stood with his hands on the table, looking at each group for a second, making sure he gave each party equal time.

“First off, what do you all know of the Lost Era?”

I felt my heart skip a beat at the mention, my face never betraying my inner reaction for once.

“The period of history that has all but been erased from time, no doubt in thanks to our friends up high.” The man who spoke was a large bear of a man, coming from the Shangsattva group.

“Yes, but I’d recommend against speaking out against our ‘friends’ who live in high places.” The guild master smiled warmly, the threat hanging in the air.

It was well known by most adventures that the ruling class of Haerasong concentrated on washing away the vestiges of lost history, a tradition passed down since Haerasong as we knew it had been founded. Adventures, as a result, would sometimes butt heads with the ruling class over it. Often adventuring was about looking into that lost history, nearly a part of the job description.

“Well, I bring up the Lost Era because this quest, to cut to the chase, will entirely revolve around a recently discovered ruin located on the border between the southern and central regions.

“If it’s just ruin diving, why gather so many high-ranking golds for it?”

“Because-” The guild master sighed, letting some of his exhaustion show for the first time since he walked in. “-it’s not as simple as simple ruin diving. These ruins have proven incredibly perilous.”

“If you’re sending a group of golds this big, then why not just send a few nizeiums instead?”

“Once more, it is not that simple. To be precise, we have tried to send some nizeium adventurers. In doing so, three died.”

A heavy silence hung over the room, lasting for several seconds as the guild master let his words sink in.

“Now, to explain. You may wonder, if these ruins are so dangerous it could kill nizeium adventurers, why are we sending golds?”

He looked at us, making sure we were following.

“To answer that, the magic within these ruins reacts to the magical ability of those who enter, with a ‘bare minimum’ level of sorts. The sweet spot we, through rather… difficult investigation, determined would be gold-ranked adventures. The exponential growth of the retaliatory systems of these ruins makes it so that even if we sent every nizeium adventurer we could, it would still be impossible. In contrast, with the magical capacity of gold adventurers, if we send a large group of our most experienced golds, we believe it may be within feasibility for you to successfully traverse the depths of these ruins.”

I nodded along with the explanation, the theory behind his reasoning making sense to me. If these ruins scaled not to the number of people entering but the highest magical potential of those who entered, there would never be enough nizeium level adventurers to feasibly match the exponential growth of the magic within the ruins.

“Wait, none of this makes sense.” This time it was a woman who spoke up, another from Shangsattva. “There is no magic that exists that reacts like you describe.”

“No magic of this era, no.” The guild master nodded. “But this is the Lost Era we are speaking about.”

In other words, Sages.

As fantastical as these ruins sounded, I had to consider that if it were a Sage, it wasn’t without reason that such things were possible, my mind conjuring forth the image of the Sage Above All who had transcended time and space to be reborn into the modern era.

“Now, as I mentioned, the heads of the parties here have known some of these details, so you may be wondering why none of you have heard anything about it? To be frank, they were explicitly sworn to secrecy under threat of imprisonment without the chance for clemency.”

A little harsh of a punishment.

“Such measures were required. There is more to these ruins than I have said so far. We have learned that they were once referred to as the ‘Citadel of the Moon.’ Furthermore, we believe there is an artifact of such immense power deep within these ruins that it has the potential to shake the very balance of the world. It must be found and stored safely, lest another group somehow obtain it first, be it by chance or otherwise.”

If he didn’t have everyone’s attention before, he had it now.

“As for the details surrounding this artifact, other than that it relates to the power of these ruins to react to magical ability, we know nothing. But, considering the magical output capable by these ruins, we can only imagine that this artifact could potentially do likewise.”

Iris raised a hand. For the first time, I saw something resembling curiosity on her face.

“Yes, Iris?”

“What is the official designation of this quest if the potential ramifications are what you say they are?”

“A good question, as I imagine some of you have been looking for the opportunity to rise into the ranks of nizeium for some time now.” He gave a knowing smile, aware that many adventurers here wouldn’t be motivated through purely selfless reasons. “To answer that, it has been designated at the bare minimum as Heroic in rank.”

I heard a quiet murmur amongst the groups, but the guild master wasn’t done.

“But depending on how certain events or variables pan out, the status of the quest will remain pending.”

“What, to downgrade it?” One of the women from Tez’s party spoke up, Ess if I remembered correctly.

“No.” The guild master shook his head, taking his time as if savoring the chance for dramatism. “Depending on certain variables, you would be the first group of golds to ever undertake a Legendary Quest.”

A hiss of surprise passed through those gathered, the breath stolen in unison from the veteran adventures at the proclamation.

That was, except for me, my head drooping for a moment as I pressed two fingers to the bridge of my nose.

Of course.

My first quest. It was to be my very first quest.

So, of course, it would pan out to be nothing less than a Legendary quest.

Nothing can ever be easy, can it?