The next day, Ivory went through the morning motions. Not that he was dissatisfied—far from it—he was just looking forward to his adventuring event. He’d levelled up twice by just reading a book and casting no magic. Granted, it wasn’t just “a book”, it was a veritable cheat code for his class, but still. If he put that into practice today with some, like, simulated Goblin attack or something, who knows how much he could level? What fun!

Having showered and eaten, Ivory was ready for his big day. The event was free, but he pocketed one gold piece and left his iPhone in the room—he doubted there were any Apple stores in this world; he’d need to save the remaining battery life for another time.

Ivory stood outside The Woolen Pillow, ready to depart for the Adventurer’s Guild. There was only one problem, though.

He had no idea where it was! What a bloody idiot.

At the very least, it was probably something like 9am; he had plenty of time to find his way there. Better yet, he knew where the Mage’s Guild was—unless there was a line a kilometre long, he could get a [Waypoint] spell cast on him and find his way there.

On reflection, he decided against heading to the Mage’s Guild. It kind of felt like the equivalent of going to a restaurant and saying “can I have some water, please”. It wasn’t some kind of, like, arcane question that required answering—it’d be like going to a new city and wanting to know where the shopping centre was. Maybe he’d see if Mannus was available-if not, Rex.

Making sure not to be bowled over by anyone, he crossed the main causeway and entered The Esoterica. It was a bustling scene-20 people or so were browsing, queueing or talking to a shop attendant. Mannus was nowhere to be seen. Finally inconvenienced for the first time, he exited the shop and decided to just talk to a city guard or something. Surely those were a thing?

Ivory started walking down The Grand Promenade, looking for guard-y people. Somehow, he doubted it would be people dressed in a boring brown platebody and a stupid looking grey bucket hat. Based on the colour scheme of the place, maybe they’d be in gold?

Either way, Ivory realised that he was being way too picky in whom he wanted to ask. Just ask any old shopkeeper—after all, that’s what he did on day one with great success! He picked the next shop on the right and just went on in; the sign read “Tenniel’s Refurbishers”. He approached the middle-aged man inspecting a positively grand chair, and he looked up at Ivory.

“Excuse me, I was wondering if you could give me directions to the Adventurer’s Guild?”

“Oh? That would be near the end of The Grand Promenade, where it opens up to the rest of the city. Hard to miss.” He then returned to his work.

“Thank you very much!”

That wasn’t so bad, now was it? Lord knows that if Ivory ever needed some upholstery done in the future, he knew a guy.

Ivory took his time walking down The Grand Promenade. He still had probably another hour, and he’d not come this far down the road before. No rush.

He wondered, actually, how many people would turn up at the guild for this event. That one adventuring team would be leading it, and since this wasn’t a one-off event, it probably won’t be absolutely chockablock. Either way, he figured he’d just get there, sit down and wait.

The Adventurer’s Guild was a great sight; it hadn’t the grandeur and pomp of the Mage’s Guild, opting for some more subdued themes—subdued, for Calanfer, would be royalty anywhere else—statues of, Ivory assumed, a great female [Warrior] flanked the building. There were some general ‘combat’ motifs as well-golden swords and shields, staves, bows and other combat equipment were scattered in a large semicircle around the great double doors. Ivory saw no great crowd outside, so he entered unobstructed.

“Did you see how much Frostgeese feathers are going for? Two copper each!”

“Dead gods. How they even came here from Cenidau is a complete mystery, but I’m not complaining. Reckon your team’ll go?

“I’ll ask. Want to come with us?”

“Yes! I’ll have to ask mine too, but I’m sure they’ll not want to miss this opportunity for gold.”

“Great. There’s a swarm just out of town; we’ll have to leave quick so we aren’t squabbling with the Watch or other teams.”

That’s all Ivory heard as the two men—dressed in casual attire; he couldn’t discern their classes—exited the Adventurer’s Guild.

The place was positively bustling with activity, and he felt as if the inside of the building was a lot more spacious compared to the size of the exterior. Despite the fact that he saw two adventurers in casual attire just now, the first thing he noticed was that everyone inside was wearing their adventuring gear. [Warriors], [Archers], [Mages], oh my.

“Jesus Christ, how do they walk in that shit?” Ivory thought, as he saw a towering figure of a woman in your classic steel plate armour, with what Ivory could only describe as a “fuck off ultra greatsword”. He didn’t want to get on her bad side.

Enough gawking, now. He had to figure out where to go to see this seminar.

He walked over to the reception desk; there was no line, despite how busy it was.

“What can I do for you?” the receptionist asked

“Hi, I’ve enrolled in the introduction to Adventuring seminar…?”

“Please head over to mediation room nine. It’s starting shortly.”

“Sorry, could you please point that out to me?”

Wordlessly, the receptionist exited her little suite and pointed to a corridor.

“Head down that corridor, turn right, and it’s the second door on the left.” Before Ivory could thank her, she went back to her suite. Oh well.

Ivory was surprised all this could fit in this building: either the building extended a lot further back than he thought, or there was some trickery at play. Skills, not tricky. Ivory walked at least 10 metres before he found the right turn. There was one door immediately on each side as he turned; as long as he knew his left from his right, he’d be able to find this room. He could see it, actually: probably 20 metres? Damn, these rooms were big.

The fact that he was the only one currently here meant that everyone was super early, he was just in time, or he was very late. Hopefully it wasn’t the latter.

He entered the room to see an audience of about… twenty? There was a kind of stage set up, with no one on it. Excellent—he wasn't late. He took one of the empty seats in the back so he could have a stickybeak at who else was watching.

He was surprised to see that, age-wise, it was a pretty good split. About a third of them were young, around Ivory’s age. The next third were adult-looking, and the rest were probably midlife. Gender-wise, an equal split.

Ten or so minutes had passed, and no one else had entered the room. He was the last one in, afterall.

Suddenly, the room went black. There were gasps and a few exclamations—did the bound [Light] spell or whatever malfunction, or was this part of the ‘show’?

“Adventurers must always be prepared for the unexpected, especially in enclosed areas,” a female voice spoke, from the direction of the stage. “Here’s your very first lesson in adventuring: ensure that you have access to [Light], whether it be a wand or from your team’s [Mage].”

Suddenly, the room was lit as it was before, except there were five figures sitting on chairs on the stage. Where the hell did they even come from?

“Good morning, and welcome to our final adventuring conference of the season. As you will all be aware, we, The Ruby Nobles, will be going through what it takes to become an adventurer. For those of you unfamiliar with my team, we are a versatile Gold-ranked team that participates in all facets of the adventuring life-from conquering dungeons to monster extermination.”

The crowd were oohing and aahing, clearly impressed.

“I am Agracia Chevaloux, of house Chevaloux, one of Calanfer’s many royal houses. Before we start, I’d like to tell you a bit about our team, and why we are qualified to run such an event. We attained Gold-rank by slaying the rogue Gold-rank team, The Shining Mercenaries. You may have heard of them.”

Ivory looked around to see the others cringing, shaking their heads or muttering rather unpleasant things under their breaths. It was clear that this team was known to everyone present, bar him.

“A mercenary adventuring team founded and contracted by Calanfer, they were a boon to the nation; they did not conquer dungeons or seek great treasures abroad. They worked solely to ensure the prosperity of the realm by travelling Calanfer settling disputes, ensuring our farms advanced undisturbed, and neutralised any threats. They held the ear of our great [King], Reclis du Marquin, for their deeds. Fame was not their goal, but wealth and the protection of our realm equally. However, this would not soon last.”

The crowd was positively enraptured. This Agracia must have given this speech countless times.

“Their ruination came by the hand of Ailendamus. One million gold was promised them, were [King] Reclis to be assassinated. On the day of their great betrayal, my team, then Silver-rank, were to meet The Shining Mercenaries with [King] Reclis. Trepidation and, I feel, an irreversible dedication to the realm prevented our [King’s] demise that day. My Skills as a [Lady] prevented a killing blow to our [King]. Wholly outmatched, as few [Thronebearers] were present in the meeting, we managed to, with great effort, hold them at bay until assistance arrived. For our deeds, we were promoted to Gold-rank, and we have attempted to fill the gap that The Shining Mercenaries provided: to be an inspiration to would-be adventurers, and to aid the realm.”

Agracia paused, and turned towards her team with a warm smile.

“I would be honoured to introduce my team. Once again, I am Agracia Chevaloux, [Lady of the Battlefield]. Beside me is my brother, Simon Chevaloux, a [Battle Healer]. To his right is Layth Lilyweald, [Greatbow Archer],” Ivory gasped at those ears. An Elf?! “Next is Hesia Porter, our [Aeromancer]. Last, but certainly not least, is Finn Hemp, our [Chakram Champion]. Together, we are The Ruby Nobles.”

The crowd erupted in applause, and Ivory was a bit shocked by the reaction, but joined in. It was a spectacular introduction, he must admit. And those classes, damn. Ivory was pretty sure [Aeromancy] was fancy Greek talk for “[Lightning Mage], and he recalled that as one of the classes mentioned in his reading. Agracia continued.

“Each of us will speak to a point of adventuring. Layth will speak on expectations all would-be adventurers have, Hesia will demand you have a [Mage] in your team,” Hesia gave a cackle at that, “Simon will follow on from Hesia and speak about a team’s composition, I will give some concluding remarks, and take any questions, then Finn will wrap us up. So, without further ado, Layth Lilyweald.” The audience gave a brief round of applause.

“Thank you. I will endeavour to get straight to the point: most who want to become adventurers either quit, or die. Few make it in our profession. The first expectation that I am to dash is that adventuring is a glorious, profitable and “fun” profession. I have seen and heard of countless newly minted Bronze-ranks take their first request from the Adventurer’s Guild, usually a culling and skinning request, and return bloodied, miserable, sick and disillusioned. Newly minted Bronze-ranks are below level ten, usually have very little experience in the macabre, and believe that they’ll be turning a profit for everything they do. In theory, yes, it is a profit. Pelts and skins sell well at the Adventurer’s Guild. What if the boar gores you, and you must use your team’s healing potion? Are you really ready to kill multiple living creatures and then dismember it, and carry the remnants sometimes for days? Few have the stomach for it, and quite rightly so. It’s a horrendous task.”

Ivory felt sick just thinking about it. Thank god he didn’t actually want to become an adventurer! He’d have been very disappointed.

“There is danger in every adventure. But my concluding remark is this: conquering and surviving danger is what adventurers live for. It makes us level, it brings us riches, but it also kills us. Remember that.”

“Pleasant as always, our Layth! An unpleasant but one of the most important lessons for an adventurer. Death is always around the corner. Well! Next up is the lovely Hesia, [Aeromancer], who will be babbling on about [Mages].

“Oi! Thanks love.”

Still quite subdued by Layth’s presentation, she received a brief clap from the crowd.

“If anyone’s a bit cross about my little stunt at the beginning: I don’t apologise. Fighting in the dark, and knowing how to counter darkness, is something that all adventuring teams must be able to do. [Light] is a Tier 0 spell. Many non-[Mages] can even cast the spell, provided they have the training to do so. If you’re in a cave or a dungeon, there’ll be no candles to light your way. If you can’t see, you can’t do. Yeah? This doesn’t always apply, but you get the point.”

The audience nodded.

“So. Why bring a [Mage]? To light up some caves? Wands of [Light] are cheap. Any [Warrior] can stick it to their axe and forget about it. I see some raised eyebrows—I’ve seen it. Worked like a charm, actually. Anyway! [Mages] provide endless levels of utility. Take me, for example. I can blast stuff from far away with [Long Range Lightning Bolt], defend myself with [Thunderous Force] and escape danger with [Shocking Disengage]. I can provide short-term enchantments for my team’s weapons and Skills with [Team: Share Lightning], and contact allies, guilds and clients with [Message] and [Speak]. I’m gonna say it: having a [Mage] is mandatory for an adventuring team. Simon’ll back me up. The perks that I provide to my team are invaluable. Don’t start a team without a [Mage], y’hear?! Thanks, all.

“That never gets any better to hear. Don’t encourage her by whooping and clapping so much, thank you. Please give a deserving round of applause to Simon.”

“Thank you, thank you. I will start by giving a run down of our team. We are a team of five, and our base classes are as follows: [Lady], [Mage], [Warrior], [Ranger] and I, [Healer]. Our team began as four, as we recruited Finn some years back,” Simon and Finn nodded at each other, “so our team began as a rather eclectic bunch. [Mages], [Warriors] and [Rangers] should feature in every adventuring team, full stop: having ranged and melee classes are what you need to have as a team. Many teams employ [Scouts], [Rogues], [Treasure Hunters] and the like. As a rule of thumb, you should avoid forming a team with unconventional classes, such as [Healers] and [Ladies]: our team started with 50% conventional and 50% unconventional. We all knew each other, and all wanted to join this profession, so it worked out for us. You should not follow our lead and form a team with such classes. You may have a grand long term plan and combination strategy in mind for when you become Gold-ranks, but that does not guarantee success. Am I telling you to ignore non-combat classes? No. Just don’t seek them out.

Simon glanced at his sister.

“[Healers] and [Ladies] do not belong on the battlefield, nor should they seek danger: by definition, these classes tend to deal with those who are fresh off the battlefield. Yet, we have made it work. I have known [Chefs] who are non-combatant members of Silver and Gold-ranked teams, who are the respective backbones of their teams. So, I finish with this: when you create your team, be prejudiced. Seek out adventuring classes. However, do not scorn fate by refusing the non-conventional, should the [Bard] or [Writer] express their interest. Thank you.”

Amidst the applause, Ivory pondered on the usefulness of a [Writer] in an adventuring team Surely very few cared about the antics of a Bronze-ranked team, but if for whatever reason the team became Gold-ranked? There’d be a few bestsellers there as an alternate source of income.

“Thank you, Simon. Indeed, you may be wondering why we have ended our seminar quite early, and indeed why Finn has yet to give his address. That is because we’ve decided to do something a bit special. Usually, we would give a brief display in one of the larger conference rooms, but we’ve decided to go a step further. In conjunction with the Watch, we are going to run a special beginners Bronze-rank dungeon crawl, using a cleared out hovel outside the city. Finn will be running this, and I would invite everyone to join us. It is completely safe, and no one will be required to engage in anything dangerous.”

Finn arose and addressed his audience.

“That’s right, and we’re starting now. There’s a carriage waiting for us on the main road, so those of you who we haven’t scared off from becoming adventurers, follow us out.”

“Christ”, Ivory thought. “That was sudden.” He was totally game though; he wanted to see some of that [Aeromancer]’s spells in action, as well as whatever the [Lady] could offer in a (scripted?) fight.

Everyone followed The Ruby Nobles out of the guild. He was very curious about what would be coming next.