Outside of the tall city walls of Astalan, in the mouth of a dense forest, Loganel, Azura, and Juliana stood in a triangle. This was their first official journey outside of the city walls, making it their first time to finally experience actual combat. Therefore, there was a hint of nervousness within them, despite their relatively calm demeanor.

The three of them were all dressed in clothing suitable for their school of study. Juliana, having joining the Religious School at the Academy, was dressed in a simple white robe with a medium length wooden staff that was dense and similar to a baton. Loganel and Azura, having joined the Spellsword School, were both dressed similarly. Due to the unique characteristic of Spellsword combat, it called for light armor, which Loganel and Azura had equipped, which offered light protection if any.

"We're going to need someone to be the forward, drawing the attention of the monsters," Azura looked over at Loganel, which led to Juliana looking over as well.

"Why're you looking at me?" Loganel said in a hushed voice, careful to not reveal their location to any monsters.

"Juliana is a Cleric, meaning that she'll be our only healer," Azura calmly analyzed, "and both you and I are Spellswords. But, you are the only guy so you'll have to be the one tanking the hits."

"Why?" Loganel complained. "You see how thin this thing is?" he lifted up his simple shirt and showed them the delicate material.

"I know," Azura said as she sighed, "that's why it is only temporary."

"Temporary?" Juliana asked.

"Yes. Even though the minimum members needed to form a party is three people, the average party has five or more people for coverage. A balanced team would usually have two forwards, a support, and a mage and healer at the back in order to provide fire power and healing. We only have three people so we would have to make due for now."

"You said temporary," Loganel said, "does that mean you'll be switching in for me?"

"No," Azura said as she unfolded a map she took out of the small pouch that was attached to her waist belt. "I've already posted a request seeking for a new member on the school bulletin."

"Already?" Loganel said, shocked at Azura's efficiency and thoughtfulness.

Maybe she's actually serious about things as well, he thought.

"So for now, you'll have to endure it. I'm sorry," Azura's sudden apology surprised Loganel to the point that he couldn't even answer.

Why is she apologizing to me? She's not even in charge of the party and she's shouldering the responsibility already...She might not be as bad of a person as I thought before...

Juliana took a quick glance at Loganel's entranced face, and then returned her gaze onto the map that Azura had laid out. She studied it for a second, before redirecting the topic at hand to their main task. "So what's our target today?"

"Goblins," Azura said with the same cold voice that she has used throughout their conversation.

"Goblins?" Loganel asked. "Their point worth aren't very high and their drops aren't worth much though..."

"I know," Azura answered, "but it is still better to start off with weaker monsters. This is our first time engaging in actual combat you know."

"Alright then," Loganel sighed. He then looked at the map, and quickly scanned the layout of the forest into his memory. "Let's go then."

Whenever a student at the Academy reaches the Fifth Grade, they are required to register at the Adventurer's Guild, the worldly renown guild for adventurer's that acts as the middlemen, relaying quests from clients to adventurers.

"On your right!" Azura shouted to Loganel, who was busy fending off a goblin already.

He was in a bind with a goblin, a tiny humanoid creature with a dark green or midnight green skin depending on the individual that was on average around three feet in height, using the sword that his mother had given him when he had left for Astalan to meet the goblin's rusty iron dagger. The green creature proved to be a worthy foe for Loganel, matching his every move. Loganel knew that he could do better than what he was doing, but this being his first actual battle, he was nervous. The loud pumping of his heart and the fear of getting injured distracted him, leading to him unable to recall any of the knowledge that he had learned at the Academy.

God, when did goblins become so tough? Loganel thought as he gasped for air.

He backed up a bit, allowing himself room to operate and time to think. He tgrrabbed the handle of his sword with both hands, and brought it into a medium stance with the tip of the blade pointing at the monster before him right next to his side so that he could perform a sword skill he had learn. Pierce, the name of the skill that Loganel was about to use, was designed to break an opponent's guard, which was exactly what he needed at the moment.

With a rapid forward motion that utilizes his entire body to lunge forward, he was able to bring the tip of the blade past the goblin's guard. However, the sudden flailing of the goblin made it so that Loganel missed his target, which was the soft tissue right beneath the rib cage, leading him to stab the tip of the blade into the creature's shoulder bone.

Loganel grunted as he tried to remove the blade from the goblin's body, feeling disgusted as the sword perfectly conveyed the feeling of the goblin's shoulder muscles giving way and being sliced as the blade moved out of the creature's body. He was shook, causing him to hesitate before the goblin.

The goblin on the other hand, showed no sign of giving up. It screamed loudly, letting out a coarse sound as it flailed its little dagger around in front of him as it tried to pump itself up and engender the will to fight until the end.

Loganel looked around at his party members. Azura was protecting Juliana from the other goblin that was lunging at them, frantically swinging its dagger around. On the ground next to them was a goblin that appeared to have stopped breathing. The cause of death appears to be trauma to the skull, possibly due to the dense wooden staff that Juliana held in her hand that was now covered with some blood.

"Get a hold of yourself!" Azura shouted at Loganel with an unusual fiery voice after she pushed the goblin that was attacking her back.

Loganel glanced over at her from the corner of his eye, and immediately darting it back to the goblin before him. He was listening to what Azura has to say while also remaining on high alert.

"This isn't child play anymore," Azure started, "this is the real thing. The goblin doesn't want to die, and we don't either. They're serious about killing us, we have to be serious about killing them too."

"I know," Loganel whispered under his breath and lunged forward once again at the goblin before him, striking at it relentlessly.

He used more strength in everyone of his attacks this time, allowing him to quickly recover from an attack and continue into his next one. This rapid advance startled the goblin before him, forcing it to back up rapidly while Loganel chased after it with every attack.

"Igni!" Loganel enchanted, summoning a thin arrow of fire from his left hand and shooting it at close range towards the goblin's head while also using his right to bring the sword to the goblin in a horizontal slash, making it almost impossible for the goblin to avoid the attack.

Out of pure instinct, the goblin ducked out of fear in order to dodge the burning arrow of fire. However, this led it to be unable to react in time against the horizontal strike. It tried to bring its crude dagger over to its left side, but it wasn't able to do so, allowing the attack to hit its arm. The blade though, stopped as it cut into the goblin's left arm and reached the bone. Loganel had not delivered the strike at the ideal angle, leading to an unclean attack.

Now, with the sword still lodged in the goblin's bones in his left arm, Loganel brought his leg up to the goblin's chest and pinned it to the ground before him. He aimed his left hand at the goblin's head, and then enchanted: "Igni!"

"That was rough," Loganel sat down on the ground, limp from the fatigue of the recent battle that had just concluded. He had already retrieved any drops from the goblin that was worth any money, consisting of the rusty daggers that the goblins had used, wolf tooth necklace that one goblin had on his neck, and the few copper coins that they found in the goblin's pouches.

"It will only get harder from now on." Azura rested by leaning on a tree.

"Everyone alright?" Juliana asked, looking between the two of them and seeing if there was any more wounds to tend to. She had healed the more visible wounds earlier, and now, she's just checking up on everyone.

"Just tired," Loganel responded, leaning back and using both hands to support himself as he sat and stared at the sky.

"Let's rest for a bit," Azura suggested.

"I agree," Loganel said.

Even though he sat there in the umbrage of the trees, next to Juliana and Azura, Loganel was still alert. He was careful as to listen for any sounds that might hint at an attack or a nearby monster. However, seeing that everything was quite calm so far, he relaxed a bit.

"How much money do you think selling off the drops will get us?" Loganel asked.

"Not much," Azura responded with her ice, cold voice that Loganel had somehow gotten used to already.

"The only thing that might worth much is probably the necklaces," Juliana said.

"Yeah..." Loganel felt somewhat depressed after learning the ugly truth. "So all that effort for a few coins..."

"Don't worry," Juliana encouraged, "once we get used to this, we can take on quests and hunt more challenging monsters. Then, we'll make more money."

Loganel stood back up and batted the dirt off of him. "I hope so."

"How much money do you have left?" Azura asked him.

"Only about ten Silver left," Loganel revealed.

"I would recommend you upgrade your gear with that money," Azura said, "with better gear, there will be less worries about safety, and will allow us to combat more difficult foes."

"You're right," Loganel agreed. He then left the shade casted by the trees and entered the clearing where they had combated the goblins earlier. On the ground, the corpse of the goblins were still there laying in the pool of their own blood.

"Do we just leave them here?" Juliana asked, pointing at the carcasses.

"There's nothing we could do," Azura shook her head.

Loganel stood there in the clearing and looked up at the sky. With one hand shielding his eyes from the sun's bright rays, he studied the general location of the sun in the sky.

"Sun's still pretty high in the sky," he said. "Should probably be a couple more hours until we should start heading back."

"Let's continue with our hunt then," Azura brought her left hand to the sheath of her rapier that was strung on her waist and felt the handle.

"Right," Loganel agreed.

"Yeah," Juliana added.

Then, with the unanimous agreement, the party of three continued roaming the forest in search of more suitable targets.