“Should we really be this picky?” Yeoman asked Ella when Cody rejected someone for the fourth time. There was already the two-penis guy, a guy with a squirrel tail, a girl with dog ears, and, most recently, a man with a horse penis, who was immediately regretful of his decision once he found out about the dolphin penis. The crowd was dispersing; the people who had fully formed parties were leaving. There weren’t many people left, yet Cody was still rejecting them ruthlessly.

“Quality matters,” Ella said, patting Yeoman’s arm. He noticed a lump on the side of her wrist, but it didn’t seem like it was bothering the old lady. “Look over there. Someone will join us soon enough.”

Yeoman followed Ella’s gesture. There were seven people, similarly dressed, standing around in discussion. The aliens only allowed parties of six. The group seemed to be deciding on who to vote out. Yeoman was a little glad Gordan and the rest couldn’t make it to the third stage. If they could, Yeoman’s group would have encountered a similar situation.

“How about me? Can I join your party?” A fifth person came up to Cody.

Cody glanced at the man. “What did you unlock?”

“I had liver cancer,” the man said and scratched his head. “I unlocked the naked mole rat for its ability to suppress cancers.”

“Anything else?” Cody asked.

The man bit his lower lip. “I optimized by body too, but that’s all.”

Cody shook his head, and the man sighed before walking away, approaching the four other rejects. Other than them, only the group of seven were left in the plaza. Yeoman exhaled, a bit worried about Cody’s decisions. The girl with dog ears wouldn’t have been a bad pick even if her ability overlapped with some people’s in the group. At least it was a better choice than the squirrel-tailed man. He only got it because he thought it’d make Lucia like him.

Yeoman crossed his arms, scanning his surroundings. They were in a town, a dusty one. It reminded him of towns he saw in old western movies. The ground was sandy and yellow, and the buildings were all made of wood. None of the buildings were very tall either; however, there was one that stood out. It was three stories tall, and on top of it, there were four signs in each direction displaying the same thing: Adventurers’ Guild. His missions might not have been unlocked, but Yeoman was pretty sure he knew where the aliens had taken him. He was in the world of The Blue Mage Raised by Dragons.

“Hello.”

Yeoman turned his attention onto the woman in front of Cody. She was wearing leather armor, but her pants were really baggy on her. That was when Yeoman noticed her feet. They were scaly and split in two, one toe on each half. Each toe had a curved claw that could probably rip apart someone’s stomach if it made contact with them. What bird had two toes? Yeoman wasn’t sure.

“So, you were the sacrifice, huh?” Cody asked, gesturing with his chin towards the group of six who were leaving. “They didn’t even bother to see which party you’d join.”

The woman snorted. “The relationships in that group were messy. I volunteered to leave.” She crossed her arms over her chest. “Are you letting me join or not?”

Cody pointed at her feet. “Ostrich?”

“That’s right.”

“Finally,” Cody said and pointed his hand at the woman. She tapped on her left wrist.

[A person joined Party First.]

[Members 6/6]

[Party missions unlocked.]

[Main Mission: Survive for 365 days. 0/365]

[Reward: 1,000 Points]

[Bonus Mission: Become a D-ranked Party. 0/1]

[Reward: 1,000 Points]

[Bonus Mission: Become a C-ranked Party. 0/1]

[Reward: 2,000 Points]

[Bonus Mission: Become a B-ranked Party. 0/1]

[Reward: 3,000 Points]

[Bonus Mission: Become a A-ranked Party. 0/1]

[Reward: 4,000 Points]

[Bonus Mission: Complete S-ranked Mission “Fruit of Knowledge”.]

[Reward: 5,000 Points]

[Bonus Mission: Complete SS-ranked Mission “Obtain a Dragon Egg”.]

[Reward: 7,500 Points]

[Bonus Mission: Complete SSS-ranked Mission “Fountain of Youth”.]

[Reward: 10,000 Points]

Yeoman frowned upon seeing the list of missions. They had to stay here for a year? That was way more time than he had expected. However, it didn’t seem like it’d be very hard to survive. Seeing the low number of points awarded for surviving, the main mission acted more like a timer. Yeoman calculated the total number of points and swallowed. If their party cleared everything, they’d receive over thirty thousand points. That was more than double what he had achieved in the last two stages combined. However, Yeoman didn’t think it was going to be that easy. Killing a fat bear awarded two thousand points. If he hadn’t turned into a zombie, there was no way he would’ve killed one. It was an impossible mission, and now, the second bonus mission on the list rewarded the same number of points.

“What did C-ranked adventurers do?” Yeoman asked, still staring at his fleshwatch. “Does anyone remember?”

Ella shook her head. “There weren’t many details about the ranks,” she said. “To me, it seemed like Virlyce had an idea, realized he didn’t want to do any in-depth thinking about it, and patched it over with lazy writing. All I know is when we join the guild, we start as an E-ranked party unless we take an examination.”

“That damned author,” Yeoman said and sighed. What kind of author did that? How lazy did an author have to be to gloss over important details? Well, the book was still enjoyable despite the lack of details, so maybe they weren’t that important to the reader, but at the moment, those details were very important to Yeoman, and he couldn’t help but hate Virlyce a little more in his heart. It wasn’t like he was in a Virlyce novel, so why would Yeoman care if he let everyone know his distaste for the author? What could Virlyce possibly do to him?

“Obtaining a dragon egg,” Kat said. “Isn’t that how The Blue Mage Raised by Dragons started? I think it’s safe to assume Vur won’t be playing a very important role during this stage.”

Cody cleared his throat. “Let’s let our new member introduce herself first, yeah?”

“Hello,” the woman with the ostrich legs said. “My name is Joanne.”

“This is Kat,” Cody said, pointing at the cat-headed girl. “That’s Aakash. I don’t know much about them because they just joined our group.” Cody gestured towards Ella. “This is Ella; don’t underestimate her just because she’s old. That’s Yeoman; he looks really fierce, but he’s actually a very timid person. And I’m Cody”—he spread his wings open—“the leader of the group.”

“Alright, leader,” Joanne said, emphasizing Cody’s title. “What do we do now?”

Cody blinked. The plaza had been emptied out except for the five rejects who couldn’t find a sixth member to fill their party. “Now, we find a store, somewhere we can sell the things we don’t need and get our group some essentials for adventuring.”

“We’re not going to the adventurers’ guild?” Kat asked.

“Everyone’s going there,” Cody said. “I reckon it’ll take most of the day for the guild to settle everyone in. For now, we’ll map out the town, gather basic information about the world. It won’t be too late to sign up at the adventurers’ guild tomorrow.”

Yeoman nodded. It was a good decision. Rather than trying to put together some clothes or make weapons with the thick-skinned crocodile’s materials, he could sell them to a shop and buy things instead. The world of The Blue Mage Raised by Dragons was a lot like a roleplaying game where armors and weapons were up for sale along with things like potions and antidotes. His party was broke, but the missions in the adventurers’ guild should give them a steady income.

“Once we get some money, the first thing we should do is book a room in an inn,” Cody said. “I don’t think inns here were made to accommodate so many people, so it’ll likely be first come, first served. I’ll see if I can spot a store from the sky. Yeoman, you can fly, err, loot the corpses and put on some clothes.”

Yeoman was still using his wings to hide his body. It would’ve been nice if his party members happened to have extra clothes. However, how could he berate them for not having an extra set when he didn’t even have a single one? Yeoman scratched his head and looked down while Cody flew into the sky. The five corpses of the zombies were still on the ground, and Zamuro, Ella’s vulture, was eating one of them. Yeoman squatted beside a corpse and rummaged through the body.

“I would help, but I don’t want to be infected,” Kat said from a distance.

Yeoman nodded. It made sense. No one knew if these zombies increased their infectiousness or not. No one wanted to go through their things. They might not have had any qualms about being infected during the first stage, but this stage was going to last for a whole year. Yeoman obtained a bearded axe, a kite shield, a sword, three spears, some knives, and some hatchets. There was also another flask with a water-array on it. Other than that, the zombies had a few sets of leather armor, of which, Yeoman took a pair of pants for himself. The other pieces could probably be sold. Unfortunately, none of the armors fit his torso because of his wings. Luckily, the cold didn’t bother him; in fact, it was better for him to wear less clothes to photosynthesize better. None of the zombies had any magic tools; Yeoman guessed they didn’t throw themselves into the stomachs of bears and crocodiles like he did.

“I found a place,” Cody said, landing next to the group. “It’s not too far.”

The group went with Cody as he led them through the town. The store looked like a blacksmith’s shop—at least, what Yeoman envisioned a blacksmith’s shop to be like. There was a large wooden awning with pillars supporting it. Underneath the awning, there was a furnace and a metal table along with a few buckets. The building had a crude sign on top of the door, and Yeoman couldn’t understand the words, not because they weren’t in English but because the handwriting was even worse than his doctor’s.

“Welcome, feel free to—eh.”

Yeoman made eye contact with the shopkeeper. He was a stout man with a receding hairline. He was sitting behind a counter with his legs propped up on the wood, and there was a paper fan in his hand that he wasn’t moving. He was staring at Yeoman’s group with his mouth hanging open. “Monsters?” the shopkeeper mumbled. “No, that’s not right. What are they?” He slapped the fan onto the counter and stood up. “Hey! Who are you?”

“We’re customers,” Cody said and dropped the crocodile skin onto the counter. “Here to sell some materials and gear.”

Yeoman went forward, placing the armor and weapons he had looted off the zombies onto the counter as well. He took back the flask and [Dread Callers (Rare)] that he had placed in the crocodile skin earlier. Ella came forward and dropped off a few knives before taking some of the crocodile meat. Cody took off his backpack, opened the top, gagged, and closed it before putting it on again. He glanced at the remaining party members. “Anything you guys have to sell?”

Kat opened her bag and rummaged around before shaking her head. Aakash shook his head as well. Joanne hesitated for a second, but she walked forward and placed three knives on the counter. The blacksmith swept his gaze over the group and cleared his throat. “I, uh, don’t purchase skin and bones, but I’ll take these weapons off your hands. I’m not particularly interested in the clothes either. You can sell them at the tailor. I bet the apothecary will be willing to buy the bones, and the leatherworker will buy the skin. There’s a general store by the adventurers’ guild where you can sell anything you’d like if you’re too lazy to go around town; though, you’ll get less for your items compared to selling them to the appropriate stores yourself.”

“Alright,” Cody said. “We’re new in town. Can you also direct us to a place to stay?”

“Of course,” the blacksmith said and grabbed the weapons. His nose wrinkled at the smell, but he got over it. “Pretty average weapons, nothing too special about them. I’ll give you three silver for all of them.”

“Three silver?” Cody rubbed his chin. “How much would you sell them for?”

“Six silver,” the blacksmith said. “If you don’t like my offer, you can take these things to the general store where they’ll buy them off of you for two silver, and in a week, I’ll buy them from the store for three.”

“Three silver it is,” Cody said, nudging the weapons forward while pulling the skin and bones back. “About the place to stay?”

“Margaret runs an inn not too far away. Go outside, take a right, and two streets down from here, you’ll see it. It’ll cost you a silver to rent a room for a month.”

Cody nodded and received the coins from the blacksmith. He passed two of the coins to Joanne. “You’re the fastest,” he said. “Get us two rooms at the inn, rent for a month.”

Joanne accepted the coins, putting them into her pocket. “Got it,” she said. “Where do I meet you once I’m done?”

Cody looked at the blacksmith. “Is there a library in this town?”

“A library? Here?” The blacksmith laughed. “There’s no way our little town would have a library; there isn’t even a bookstore.”

Cody grunted before turning towards Joanne. “We’ll be going to the tailor, the apothecary, and then the leatherworker. After that, we’ll head to the adventurers’ guild. I’m sure you’ll find us, and if you don’t, we’ll meet you at the inn.”

Joanne stared at Cody, unsure whether or not he was reliable. “If you say so.”

While Joanne went to book the party two rooms, Cody and the rest headed off to the tailor. The clothes Yeoman had looted from the zombies were smelly, but the tailor still took them albeit for a very cheap price. The party didn’t mind; the clothes were just a bonus. The apothecary bought a majority of the crocodile bones, but the party kept a few teeth. The skin of the crocodile was surprisingly worth a lot, and the leatherworker purchased it for five silver; however, Yeoman requested for the man to save enough material for a set of customized armor. Yeoman had skipped defensive genes because he knew he had the crocodile skin, and he wasn’t going to turn it all into money.

Once the group was done selling everything, they found Joanne waiting for them at the adventurers’ guild. She was standing outside of it. In fact, a lot of people were standing outside of it. There was a group of six people standing in a circular clearing out front, facing an elderly man with a pegleg.

“That’s the guild master,” Joanne said when her party arrived beside her. “There’s some people taking the placement test.”

Yeoman stood on his tiptoes to see over the crowd. The group of six didn’t look that impressive, just wearing the mercenary gear. They looked a bit familiar. “Aren’t those the people you were with?” he asked Joanne.

Joanne nodded. “Working together, we could easily take down a shadow panther.”

“You lot think you’re qualified to be rank D, eh?” the elderly man asked. He raised a wooden sword and leaned heavily on his pegleg. “Come then, let me see what you’re capable of.”

The six people fanned out. All their weapons were wooden, evidently provided by the guild. They surrounded the guild master, but he wasn’t paying any attention to them. He was picking his nose with his pinky, examining the flecks of boogers on the tip of his finger after every dig.

One of the men charged straight towards the guild master with a raised shield. The other five moved in as well, a little slower than their leader. The guild master smirked, and suddenly, Yeoman felt sorry for Joanne’s previous party members. The guild master’s body blurred as he whirled around. Clacking sounds rang out as weapons flew into the air. The guild master whirled again, and there were thwacking sounds, the wooden sword making contact with the party’s flesh. It took all of four seconds for the guild master to thrash the party, causing everyone around to reconsider taking the placement exam.

Yeoman furrowed his brow. In the original novel, Alice, one of Vur’s companions, was a guild master, and she could easily punch down a fortress wall barehanded. If this elderly guild master was comparable to her, there was no way anyone here was passing the placement exam.

“Yeoman, you can take the placement exam,” Cody said, slapping Yeoman’s shoulder.

“Huh?”

“You’re a zombie.” Cody grinned. “Your injuries heal fast. Even if he breaks all your bones, you’ll only be out of commission for a day or so, but if he does that to us, we’ll be gone for months. Besides, don’t you want to see how you measure up against someone like him?”

“Not really….”

“It’s settled then. You’ll represent us and fight him.”

Yeoman sighed. Cody did have a point. Even if Yeoman was thrashed, he wouldn’t feel any pain. There was nothing to lose except for a little bit of pride, and he didn’t have much of that in the first place.