The two adventurers finished forging their partnership with Mr. Legot, then went out to take another quest to make some money before they set out.

---

Now at the guild hall, Ace and Aliza stood in front of the quest board, analyzing the different type of quests they could take.

The guild was empty today, so they didn’t bother hiding the emotion in their voices like they usually did around other people.

“Hmm... Ace, do you think you can take a quest on my level?”

Aliza said, skimming over the quest board in front of her.

“If you can do it, I can do it!”

Ace, the competitive youth he is, didn’t hesitate in responding to what sounded like a challenge.

“Are you sure...? You may level up fast, but you’re still not high level...”

“I can take it on, trust me. And plus, the mission is on your level, so if something goes wrong, you can cover for me.”

Aliza sighed, not liking the idea of covering for Ace.

“I want to pick a mission that you can level up from, not one that I’ll have to cover for you.”

“Don’t worry about it, I’ll make it through!”

He said, smiling and raising his arm into a flexed muscle pose.

*sigh*

“Sorry, I can’t help but worry, let’s choose one level lower.”

“Nope, you already showed me this one, let’s go with this one.”

And he ripped the quest off the board, then walked up to the counter.

“Wait--!”

“We’ll take this quest!”

It was too late, he was already at the counter, accepting the quest.

*sigh*

“If something goes wrong, don’t blame me...”

“Hahaha... don’t worry so much. We’ll get it done.”

He laughed it off, but then took a look at the quest that he was accepting.

“What’s this quest about anyways?”

He glanced at the sheet of paper but realized that he couldn’t read the words.

He hasn’t realized until now, but how has he been able to talk with Aliza until now?

The language on their papers and signs was definitely different than the English that Ace knows.

The only explanation for it would be Deepa most likely granting Ace some sort of skill to translate the language.

If he could do that, then he might be able to translate the letters also.

--I’ll ask him about it tomorrow...

“It’s more monster-hunting. The monsters are just a little stronger now.”

Aliza answered Ace’s question about the quest as she made her way over to the counter.

“I see... okay, let’s take it.”

“*sigh*… Not even going to ask what the monsters are like...”

“Stop worrying about all that... we’ll figure it out when we get ther--”

“--!”

Ace’s shoulder was grabbed by Aliza and he was spun around to face her.

She was a little on the annoyed side, but her expression was leaning more towards seriousness.

“Ace. I’m being serious here, so listen to what I’m going to say.”

He immediately responded with a nod, not knowing what she would do if he responded any differently.

“I don’t know if you’re going into these quests thinking they’re jokes and that you’re the strongest, but that isn’t true. I used that Toriel quest to take away your fear, not to be this confident. The monsters will get stronger from here on out, so take it seriously when you’re preparing and when you’re actually going into the quest. You hear me?”

Once again, he nodded. This time, not a nervous nod, but a serious nod.

She was looking out for him and trying to find the best way for him to level up without being put in danger, so he listened to her words carefully and attentively.

“Sorry, I was getting full of myself. I still have that rushed feeling of wanting to get stronger and wanting to get this over with as soon as possible. I know I have the next year in front of me, but it’s hard to shake the feeling.”

“It’s fine. I just don’t want you dying because of dumb mistakes like not preparing when you have the time. I decided to help you, so I will see it through.”

“Yeah, thanks.”

He looked back towards the counter where Mila, the female demihuman they’ve become acquainted with, was standing.

“We’ll take this quest.”

This time, not carefree and jumping for joy, but serious about accepting the quest.

“Okay, I’ve got it down. Retrieving two Welfio ears.”

“Thank you.”

Aliza was the one who responded... Ace occupied with being confused about what a Welfio was.

“Hey, what’s a--”

“A Welfio is a monster with two heads, four legs, and fur over its body. It also has a tail and tends to live in packs of 3 or 4. The special thing about them is their neck. They have one neck that branches off and holds the two heads. Their neck is really flexible and can move at very high speeds, which makes it hard to fight them.”

Ace tried imagining the monster in his head.

--I don’t know about the neck and the two heads, but four legs, fur, tail, and lives in packs... That’s a wolf, isn’t it?

“Ok, I got a pretty good image of what it’s like. Can you tell me some other stuff about it, like how fast it is or if it has any other abilities?”

He was acting carefree earlier, but after Aliza’s warning, he wanted to proceed carefully and gather information before going to fight.

“Hmm... It’s a little smaller than a human, it has a speed that you would expect from a monster with four legs and that height, and the edges of its ears are coated with a special gem.”

“Oh! I forgot to explain something to you! Come, sit down.”

They sat down at one of the tables; Aliza’s face looked like she didn’t know where to start.

“Okay, I’ll start there.”

She looked in Ace’s direction as if she was prepared.

“I didn’t explain magic properly to you yet. I’ll start explaining a little more.”

He nodded, thinking that this was probably going to be important.

“Okay, first, magic relating to monsters.”

“Monsters with cores are better at using magic than intelligent beings without cores.”

“Monsters’ cores are the base for their mana and are much more efficient at absorbing it than the skin of beings without cores.”

“The one exception are Toriel, the weakest of the monsters. They can’t use magic at all.”

“Also, remember when I told you all the different types of magic and what they do?”

Ace nodded his head.

“Those are all the different magic types that beings without cores can use.”

“For beings with cores, the whole species specializes in one type of magic and one specific ability that falls under that type of magic. This isn’t because of their core, it’s because of the monster themselves, the core just holds the mana. The monster is incapable of using two different spells which is why they can only use one ability.”

“Another thing that’s different about monsters with cores is that they can use different elements of magic that aren’t available to being with cores. This one is because of their cores and the amount of mana it holds.”

“For example, Welfio specialize in dark magic and can make illusions of themselves.”

“Another example are Keetra. They specialize in gravity magic and can alter their weight.”

“That means every Welfio can only make illusions and can’t use other magic like fire or other dark magic spells like necromancy.”

“Same goes for the Keetra, they can’t use any other type of magic or ability.”

Ace nodded again to confirm that he understood.

“That’s pretty much everything I can think of on monsters and magic. Now, you might be a little confused on what those magic circles are that you’ve seen on the machines.”

“Oh, yeah, I totally forgot about those. I didn’t even think about how they worked.”

“Those are a little more confusing. Remember how I said that Toriel can’t use magic?”

“Yeah.”

“That was a little incorrect. Toriel cores can still hold a decent amount of mana, it’s the monsters themselves that are incapable of using the mana.”

“So, since they’re weak and their cores are good, the magic circles use them for their mana supply.”

“Every machine has a small fragment of a Toriel core inside of them to supply mana to the magic circle, which is actually performing the magic.”

“Magic circles can be used for a wide variety of things, like communication and projection. I don’t know the specifics on how they do what they do, but they’re really helpful.”

“An example of this is your status plate. I don’t know if you’ve noticed it yet, but there’s a small magic circle on the side of the plate. The Toriel core is inside the plate, supplying mana to the circle. The magic circle doesn’t use too much mana which is why your status plate can always display your stats and skills.”

“You have weird circumstances so I don’t know how your status plate was registered, but usually, you go to the guild and pour your own mana into the plate’s core so it can display your stats.”

Ace interrupted, knowing the reason why.

“It was probably Deepa. He had everything set up for me when I got here.”

“Yeah, that’s what I was thinking too.”

“Okay, that aside... another way magic circles can be used is for communication. For example, every guild location has a machine that is connected to the capital. This is one of the machines that I know a little bit about. The machine uses space magic to teleport letters to the capital. From the capital, it can be teleported all around the country.”

“That’s pretty much it for magic and magic circles.”

Ace understood most of what was being thrown at him, so he didn’t have any questions about how the magic circles worked, but there was one thing bothering him.

“Okay, I understand how magic circles work, but how come they aren’t used for combat? If magic circles can use magic that things without cores can’t, how come they aren’t used for more powerful attack spells and stuff like that?”

Aliza looked a little surprised at Ace’s question...

“Oh, I must have left it out when we talked about fighting. Magic circles are used for combat, but mostly in wars. Also, they aren’t used by regular foot soldiers, they’re usually used as artillery.”

“The magic circles that use stronger magic suitable for combat are larger and need a stronger core, so a regular foot soldier wouldn’t hold onto it. By stronger core, I mean that Toriel cores don’t hold enough mana for them to be used efficiently.”

“Oh okay, I get it now, thank you.”

It was helpful to hear all this information. Any info that could be useful to completing his goal is valuable and he’s grateful for getting it.

---

Now that they finished talking, Ace was wondering when they were going to set out for the quest.

“What time are we going for the quest?”

Aliza, with her hand on her chin, thought to herself for a second before responding.

“We’ll also go at night for this one. Welfio are also nocturnal, so we’ll strike at night so you can get some battle experience.”

Ace nodded, not disagreeing with the part about him needing experience.

He could get as strong as possible, but it wouldn’t mean anything if he didn’t know how to use his strength.

“Okay, got it.”

He closed his eyes to check the time.

361 Days

1:25 PM

Level

Map

Support

Skills

“---!”

After seeing his menu, Ace remembered something from before his first quest...

He gained a skill after only killing one Toriel.

Now that he’s killed 4 more with his knife instead of his status plate, he probably has a new skill.

He closed his eyes once again to check on his skills.

361 Days

1:25 PM

Level

Map

Support

Skills

He focused on the word “Skills” to open his list of skills.

“I was right.”

After opening the menu, he saw two new words amongst the black display.

“Aliza, I got a new skill, it’s called Sharper Tip.”

After being told new info like that out of nowhere, she jumped a little out of surprise.

“I see... I already knew you got skills fast... but it’s still crazy to see.”

“I know about Sharper Tip; I have the same skill. It’s a skill that lets your next strike cut deeper.”

“Umm... I understand skills, but I haven’t been told how they’re activated yet...”

“Oh! Sorry, I’ll tell you now.”

“It’s really simple, a skill is activated by saying its name.”

“I don’t think you need an example, but here’s one anyways. If I say Sharper Tip, my next attack after saying it will be affected by the skill.”

“You might be confused a little now because I just said it. It still works, but it has a time limit on how long its activated for. Sharper Tip’s time limit is five seconds.”

“So, if I say Sharper Tip, the skill is activated for 5 seconds and if I don’t attack within that 5 seconds, nothing happens.”

“Another thing you need to know about skills is that they have cooldowns. If you don’t know what I mean, it means that after you use a skill, you have to wait a certain amount of time before using it again. Sharper Tip’s cooldown is 25 seconds.”

“Also, one more thing. Skills aren’t magic, so they don’t use mana.”

“That’s pretty much everything on skills.”

Ace digested everything that was being thrown at him then threw a question back at Aliza.

“Okay, I understood most of that. Now, what are skill levels?”

“Oh, I guess I should have explained that too.”

“Skill levels are the level of your skill. As it goes up, so does the effect of your skill. For example, Sharper Tip will cut deeper every time it goes up a level. That’s just a basic explanation though.”

“I see... pretty self-explanatory.”

“Yeah, not too hard to understand. One thing you should know though, is that skills are harder to level up than your actual level. Even with your boost, you should still only be level one on Sharper Tip after defeating the Toriel.”

That got Ace wondering about Aliza’s level.

“What level are you on Sharper Tip?”

“Hmm... last time I checked was a while ago, so probably level 3.”

“Woah, that’s pretty good if it’s hard to level up.”

Aliza immediately smirked after being praised.

“Hehehe... I guess it might take you a while to get this high. Try your best.”

She threw a competition right into Ace’s face.

“Hahaha, keep the crown while you still can, I’ll be up there soon.”

So, he accepted with the same energy.

Not wanting this to get out of hand, Aliza continued with the conversation...

“Okay, we’ll put this competition to the side for now, any more questions?”

“Fine, fine, it’s postponed. I do have one more... What other skills do you have?”

She was a little surprised to hear the topic switched over to her.

“Umm... I have a few more, why?”

“I wanted to know what they were so I knew if I should also try going for them.”

“Oh, okay, I’ll tell you my skills. You gain a few after being an adventurer, so don’t be surprised at how many I have.”

“Got it.”

“Okay, my skills are Shadowy Presence, Quick First Step, Strike Averter, and Falling Back.”

Ace was surprised. If it really was hard to get skills, then Aliza must have been working hard.

“Woah, that does seem like a lot. What do each of them do?”

“I’ll give a really brief description on each.”

“Shadowy Presence lets me conceal my presence for a few seconds. I don’t go invisible, but it’s harder to notice me.”

“Quick First Step is self-explanatory. Once activated, the first step you take is faster than normal.”

“Strike Averter lets me maneuver my body more so it’s easier to dodge attacks.”

“Finally, Falling Back is similar to Quick First Step. Once activated, a backstep will be faster. This lets you retreat easier.”

Ace thought each of them seemed helpful, but he wondered where she got Shadowy Presence from.

The other 3 skills seemed like they came along naturally with being an adventurer and a fighter, but why would someone have Shadowy Presence?

He wanted to ask her, but he didn’t want to pry into her life so much...

“Hey, Aliza, those all seem pretty helpful, can you tell me how you got them so I know what to do to get them.”

So he tried to play it off by blending it in with the other skills.

“Oh, sure. You get Quick First Step by closing in on your opponent a lot, Strike Averter by dodging attacks, Falling Back by back-stepping a lot, and Shadowy Presence by... hmm...”

“I’m not too sure... I think I got it by staying hidden when I set traps for animals...”

Ace thought that sounded realistic, so he accepted it and brushed it off.

The skill he really wanted was Quick First Step, but Strike Averter and Falling Back also seemed helpful.

Quick First Step reminded him of quickly rushing towards the net in basketball, so he thought it would be the most helpful.

“Okay, most of those look like they come naturally in fights, so there’s not much I can do for now.”

“I think so too. You will probably get them pretty fast once you do more quests.”

“Yeah, I need to take as many quests as I can for now... for skills, for levels, and for experience...”

“You have a lot ahead of you... not just quests, but learning magic, making connections, and getting strong enough to complete your goal...”

Aliza responded, reminding him of just some of the things he had to do in the next year...

“But, for now, we’ll just focus on the present, one goal at a time.”

She wanted to remind him of his duties, but she didn’t want to worry him.

“Yeah, I still have time. For now, let’s just focus on the quest and the skills.”

He said, refocusing his vision on the mission to retrieve to Welfio ears.

“Mmhm.”

Aliza agreed, smiling across the table to Ace, who sounded confident as he stated what his current goal was.

“We’ll get this quest done then move towards the capital.”

“Yeah!”

He stood up and stuck his hand out in front of her, expecting a high five.

She looked at his hand, confused on what to do.

“Oh, you don’t know what this is? When I stick my hand in front of you like this, you slap it with your hand.”

“Oh, I see...”

“One more time...”

He stuck it out once again in front of her.

“Yeah!”

“Yeah!”

And his hand was slapped by Aliza’s, nervously, thinking she did it wrong.

And the day continued on, until the moon came out and it was time for their quest...