Dawn rolls around with overzealous sisters. Louis dragged his sorry self from bed and his mana poisoning situation did not seem to improve. Only now, instead of his hands and forearm being heavily mana poisoned, the damage had worked its way up to his biceps and triceps. Before they started meditating, Louis dumped all his mana into a ‘Cal Movita’ and many ‘Zet Imaru’ to heal the meridians within his torso. His arms and legs would have to wait – mana poisoning in his torso and head was actually deadly.

The three once again formed a circle, with Amelia and Hefra once again leading the meditation. It seems the practice had paid off, because Louis did not have to adjust the elemental balances this time around too much.

At breakfast, Louis got Amelia’s student ID, so he would be able to go to the library. After, Louis went into the outhouse, changed his appearance, then teleported nearby the library. The guards gave him the same doubtful look and analyzed Amelia’s student ID for some ten odd minutes before finally accepting that it was real. Her ID did not give him all the privileges, just access to the first floor.

Contrary to his expectations, there were quite a few people in the library, beyond just the staff. Mostly adventurers and servants on the first floor, but many more people than Louis was expecting. As such, finding a quiet spot on the floor so he could cast some simpler Divination magic was harder than he expected.

It soon became apparent, even without Divination, to Louis that things might have been harder than he initially assumed. Sure, the first floor was open to him and the floor was huge beyond belief. However, many, many of the books on the first floor were either introduction to magic or considered more mundane tasks: sewing, fishing, laundry and more.

The Divination Magic did work but the books on the first floor it found…were inadequate to say the least and Louis couldn’t be bothered to read more than a few pages before trying to find its relevant sections, which did not exist. So Louis found his way to the stairs at the center of the building. Guards once again blocked this entrance.

“How can I get to the second floor?” he asked, handing Amelia’s ID to them.

“Mage apprentices can only access the first floor freely. Teacher’s permission or a platinum coin is need to go onto the second floor.” The guard said.

Louis groaned as he took back Amelia’s ID. He needed money, more money and even more money. To eat, to study, to heal, for equipment and more. Louis left the library, walking straight towards the Adventuring Guild, since he was already nearby. Dipping into the alley, Louis used ‘Zet Meng’ which gave him access to a pocket dimension. Louis considered not throwing Amelia’s ID into it, given that Divine Magics could stop working, but that seemed like a small worry. Besides, a human-sized weightless backpack seemed too good to pass up.

Hundreds of Adventurers were already within the premises. Many leaned closer to their thirties to fifties. Many noticeboards laid throughout the premises, each denoted by a ‘gathering’, ‘hunting’, or ‘exploration’ signs. There also seemed to be a few unnamed noticeboards, but Louis could not get quite close enough to see. Besides the amorphous blob of humans getting missions, groups seemed to line the gates, holding recruitment signs and job type.

Louis wanted to join one of the gathering missions, but he didn’t have an Adventuring Card and Amelia’s ID wouldn’t help him either. That was fine. One of the groups was bound to accept unaffiliated help, if at a steep cost. It was better than trying to go into the Borderlands alone in his condition.

It took some haggling, but the third group Louis asked finally accepted him. A party of four – an elderly couple, at least a hundred years old, a middle-aged man and a boy not much older than Louis himself. Not that Louis would admit that out loud, instead saying he was a young looking fifty-three year old, with the third circle equivalent wind and water magic to back him. Not technically false, as Louis could replicate the power without any circles, but he would rather not in his injured state.

The boy, Rael, who had red hair and green eyes, flocked to him. Rael was small but sturdy, ripped with muscles – an actual fighter with fire and wind elements. No luck with actual magic, as it seemed that he could not externalize his mana. Didn’t stop the boy from launching a series of questions at Louis, especially about wind magic.

You’re not my sister, Louis thought, don’t hang so close to me. Of course, he did not mention his annoyance – the adventurer parties were strangely adverse to accepting non-affiliated members, magician or not. So he humored the boy with a few basic ‘En Imaru’ and ‘En Aether’ spells, to at least bolster his credibility that he was a mage. Plus he got a cloth bag in exchange, so not the worst deal.

The Borderlands began not more than a quarter mile away from Riveta’s walls, walls more than fifty feet high, with the smallest of openings for people to walk through, at most three people side by side. There were multiple openings for movement, but unless Louis wanted to teleport directly past the walls, he was unlikely on getting through. The walls seemed to be warded against teleportation anyway – not a typical earthen wall but black as coal, unbreakable like adamantine, and ancient as the Gods themselves. Must have been built with Divine Magic Chiffon, since the walls were so different from the rest of the city, even the nobility did not have anything of the like.

“Have you been in the Borderlands?” The elderly woman asked.

“Up north, near Colenstine.” Louis said as the passed through the walls.

“You come a mighty long way.” The elderly man said.

“For the good old dream of wealth and prosperity found in Luxita province.” Louis sighed. “The old song and dance.”

“Looking mighty slim on equipment. A piece of cloth won’t do you much here.” The middle-aged man said, clinking his chainmail vest and brushing his medium, heavy leather pants.

“Had to sell mine to make the trip with my family and use the remaining for rent and food.” Louis said, shaking his head. “Riveta’s housing prices were higher than expected and I’m just getting settled. Should be fine – I hear Riveta’s Borderlands is safer outside the Blood Tides, so I should be alright.” This information should be right – he had chosen Colenstine originally because its notoriety, aiming to test the waters first before setting off into the Desolation alone. Riveta should be a few grades easier than that and as long as they stay near the edges to gather, things should be fine.

“Sounds rough. The rent in the Adventurer District is not too bad and there are a lot of perks for joining.” The middle-aged adventure said. “The blacksmiths are much more amiable there too, compared to the ones in the noble districts and a lot more specialized than the ones in the central district. After all, you need an adventurer to honestly help another adventurer.”

“I’ll be sure to check them out.” Louis said.

The group began to quiet down as they drew nearer to the Borderlands. Even Rael stopped pestering Louis and started looking around, wearing chainmail gloves, which shined with an additional orange luster. Louis began with a simple ‘Cal Aether’ to check the surroundings, finding no significant animal threats within range – one drastically shortened by the number of trees and plants. Louis lifted his arms to activate his bracelets out of habit, but his wrists felt light, with no bracelets to properly alarm him.

The various noises became louder – the songs of birds and insects, the shrieks of monkeys, the human shouts, even the rustle of leaves by the window. Louis could not quite relax, only growing more aware of how naked he felt here. He couldn’t even properly guard himself against the poisonous critters and plants could still pose a problem. Other magic could resolve a bit of his worries, but few third circle mages knew other elements and the danger had yet to warrant it. So Louis cladded himself in his mana, ready to use ‘Cal Imaru’ at a moment’s notice.

“Scared?” the middle-aged man asked.

“Just feeling a bit more naked than I originally thought. It has been such a long time since I went into the Borderlands this ill-equipped.” Louis agreed.

“This will just be a gathering trip.” The elderly man said. “We might end up fighting things, but just small animals and plants. The other adventurers will go into the deep areas.”

True the elderly man’s words, they did not go very far into the Borderlands. There were simply too many things to pick up and it seemed that this group in particular was focused on plants, insects, snakes and the like that could be used in healing alchemy. They left a lot of food, alchemical ingredients and more, which Louis gladly picked up. It wasn’t a perfectly peaceful trip – animals did attack, but most of them were killed for food, which Louis took, and the rest turned to ashes under ‘Zet Movita’ whenever Louis thought he had a chance to do so. His life core refused to open, but Louis could feel it fill closer to brim, it was just a matter of time.

Once lunch time rolled around, the four party members took out cold lunches. Louis took out some rabbit, vegetables and mushrooms and started making some kebabs.

Rael quickly appeared next to Louis after he started. At first he stared at the food, then Louis, before finally asking. “Would you mind sharing?”

“Do you have salt?” Louis asked.

“Yeah.” Rael said grabbing a small metal cylindrical container out. Within it there were multiple spices, including salt. More than Louis expected, given this was merely a day trip, so he ended up sampling a few more.

Pretty soon, the other three members made their way over and Louis began preparing more kebabs for all of them. Things were just fine – Louis devoured his food before dismissing himself for a bathroom break, promising not to stray too far.

When he got about ten feet away, Louis whispered, “Vyt: En Meng x Cal Aether.” Louis breathed a sigh of relief when the spell worked. Not because he expected any dangers, but to actively look for some good things that may otherwise be hidden - by bushes, fallen leaves, soil brushed aside by adventurers and more. Mainly, Louis was looking for truffles, ginseng, and other things that hid in the soil. It took him about ten minutes circling their campsite, but he did find a few black truffles, which made the entire experience worth it. Louis ripped a part of his shirt, wrapped the truffles with them, then hid them in his pocket dimension with ‘Zet Meng’. They probably weren’t worth very much, but Louis was pretty sure they were worth more than the things they were gathering.

“If you’re ready to go, let’s continue. We only got a few hours left.” The elderly man said. “Thanks for the food. It was amazing.”

The rest of the gathering was pretty uneventful – the middle-aged man found a plant worth a few platinum coins and everyone celebrated; Rael captured a Red Diamond Snake, which was worth a similar amount. The elderly couple didn’t find anything particularly rare but did find a lot more goods. Louis found a lot more than anyone else combined, but most of that was food – something that while opened the party’s eyes to its usefulness and taste, also annoyed the party given how much time Louis diverted into collecting it. Even telling them that his goal was food and money didn’t assuage their feelings, which was somewhat understandable, given the food was Louis’ pet project.

He only wished that they would collect faster, since Louis only did collect food towards the end while waiting for his party members to hurry up. Still, nobody in their party died and they did gather a lot of things, so he wasn’t about to complain. After they reached the adventurer hall, he gave them twenty alchemy items, as promised.

Getting an adventurer card was a fairly easy process, if not frustratingly expensive at ten platinum coins – something that he was unable to pay for with the remaining fifteen items, being four platinum coins short. So Louis then walked around high restaurants, looking like a burglar with a giant filled bag over his shoulder, as he went to sell the truffles. Getting people to listen to him was fairly difficult with no adventurer card and dressed in old clothes, which would have not been acceptable in those establishments even brand new.

Louis was only able to convince a younger assistant to hear him out due to stunning the child with a magical lightshow. Praise Movita that actually worked. Louis was going to burn the truffles out of spite if he couldn’t get anyone to buy them. The few pieces only got him about five platinum coins, which was a bit fewer than expected.

On his way home, Louis crossed paths with a wave of children coming from the academy. They looked underfed, just like his family; and one way or another, Louis was not quite sure just how things escalated to that point, Louis ended up handing out piles of food to each child that passed him, enough that each child carried with the aid of their shirt. Soon enough, Louis’ bag of food was all good. All he could do was shake his head, laugh, then teleport home, now that he did not need to walk through the entrance with a giant bag of things.

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Dinner went as well as expected, filled with mostly with gossip, which Louis spent most of his time gathering mana. Food was a bit scarce this time around, with no festival to supplement or any celebrations, so Louis regretted not keeping any share of the food himself. He would need to keep that in mind for tomorrow. At the same time, dinner discussion went much shorter than normal, so there was some silver lining.

Once the three of them retreated to their room, Louis handed each of his sisters six platinum coins.

“You got twelve platinum coins from going to the library?” Amelia asked, looking at him funny.

“Not the library,” Louis said, returning her ID. “I wasn’t able to find the information I wanted, so I ended up as an adventurer. Pretty good gig, if I do say so myself.”

“Should we leave school as well to do it too?” Hefra asked, staring at the coins. “How do we even spend this much money?”

“Food, clothes, jewelry, books and more.” Louis said. “But you should just study – learning how to use magic as well as how to use it and where would be fundamental for the future. Since there’s a bit of time before bed, why don’t we meditate then practice a few spells?”

“Urk.” Amelia said, but eventually agreed.

Once practice finished and his sisters going to sleep, Louis spent all of his mana healing the meridians within the core of his body before going to sleep as well. He was not particularly tired, but going into the Borderlands sleep deprived was begging for trouble.