My newly given arrow whistles in the air as it plummets towards the boss, a buff, three metre tall goblin with a club. Everyone is tired from the hordes of monsters before, and I reckon only a few actually are good to fight. Then healers are working even more than before, and 80% of us are knocked out on the floor. I nock another arrow, seeing that the boss is distracted. Probably Lark or Leia, maybe Ollie's illusion. Who cares? Another of my arrows fly, and I knock to fire again, just as I see all the warriors-well, the ones not unconscious-are starting to use their spesh, all together charging at the goblin with different elements whirling around.

  It tried to swing around and around, but as they shot or injured the goblin with their spesh, and as it continued to spin around and around, it collapsed due to its dizziness. A claymore was stuck through its skull. A collective sigh of relief echoed throughout the cavern, all happy to see the final boss defeated.

  A chest appears in front of Oden, since he’s the strongest as the boss dissolves into rainbow mist. Immediately, everyone looks at him eagerly, all wanting good rewards. Except us. Lark sighs with relief. “Well, come on guys. Out the door, gather up your stuff.” All of us, even if some hadn’t been to a dungeon before, started to collect ourselves, walking forwards to the door that will teleport us out.

  Oden and the students look at us with pure confusion. Oden talks up. “Why are you leaving?” Lark looks at them as if it should be obvious, then opens his mouth. “We’re done.” He answers, and Oden just seems even more confused. “But what about the rewards?” Lark stares. “That’s yours. We get paid by the Adventurers Guild.” He says, his confusion echoing in his voice.

  Oden looks with disbelief. “You are feeding, providing and fighting with, what? Ten people?” “Eleven.” Butts in Leia. “Eleven people.” Repeats Oden with shock. “The Adventurers guild does not pay enough for the care and provisions of eleven people. I know for a fact that the pay is terrible.” Umm, excuse me? Maybe for you rich people, but one silver is a lot for people like us. He looks at our shocked faces, but just continues. “You will get here and be handed your rewards and share of the money before you leave.” Oden orders with the orders of an old man looking out for people.

  We obey, of course, we don’t want to offend them and walk over. Seia and Sunny are the most cautious, probably due to their past, but it quickly passes when I gently walk in front of them. Seia looks up, and gives me a soft smile.

  Both of them trust most of us now, and so having us in front of them makes them seem safe. It makes them feel that something will happen to me before them, so they have a warning, and I’m stronger than them. Sure, many people called it stupid, but then again they're not the ones getting constantly sold out by people because of your abilities.

  Yeah, thanks to hanging around Dalyva I sort of got it, although she’s a noble so less people will mess with her, but then again I’ve also seen someone get sold out by the orphanage people because they were struggling for money.

  Furiously the memories rush into my mind like desperate puppies wanting recognition. I try to banish it quickly, but one name repeats in my head. Elvira. But it disappears in seconds.

  I snap out of my thoughts as Oden starts to rummage through the bag. He brings out two bags, both jingling despite their varying size. One was smaller, as if it held maybe three coins. Probably silver. And then there was copper, I assumed, as there were maybe 10 pieces there. Yeah, when I was struggling most I did get into a bit of thieving. Knowing how many coins were in bags was important, and what kind, especially since it was the amount I would live off.

  Well, not quite. Mostly I would just steal a few coins, as bags can be tracked more easily, but occasionally,, especially with people I know for a fact to be bad people, I would steal their money, because most of the bad people were ones that worked for the black market. Also known as the Black Jesvan Market, or the BJM. It’s a group of people around the world that participate in illegal dealings among other things, like slavery and dealing of illegal substances.

  Although all those things are banned, it doesn’t stop people from doing it, which really sucks, but that's just how the world works. Unfortunately, or fortunately, depending on who you ask, Oden opened up the bag, laying the coins in front of him on an invisible platform. Yeah, it was probably mana. People who are strong enough are able to control pure mana within their spesh, but some just have a pure mana spesh, it really depends.

  Oden counted out the coins, and I was right. You know what shocked me though? He handed Lark some of the money. Lark stuttered, staring at the money with disbelief and complete shock as he tries to process what Oden was doing. “F-for us?” He seems confused, and so am I.

  Oden had handed us a silver. Silvers were valuable, well, at least to people like us, the poor. They are the value of ten copper coins, and he was handing us one as if it was nothing. Truly we were in shock.

  Oden dished into the treasure box, starting to pull out all sorts of little goodies, trinkets and prizes. There were potions, some weapons, others food, and two speed enhancers, though those are pretty rare for low level dungeons, so we were lucky to get one, let alone two. All of us are ready to just go, until Oden grabs one of the trinkets, looking over at us and saying one word. “Catch.” He’s looking at Ollie, and as he throws it, it goes towards him, landing in Ollie’s hands. He holds it up with a slight grin. It was nothing more than a trinket to the nobles, but a good trinket to us all the same.

  The box was a strange device, specifically for one thing. A storage device for illusion mana, making illusions with the mana you leave in there as a backup. He nodded in thanks, and Oden continued to look over the trinkets.

  Oden digs out more prizes, turning to Seia and Sunny. He hands Seia her present first. It was some healing potions, ones that Seia quickly put around her waist. Sunny next to her gaped as he saw his prize, looking between it and Oden several times. “Y-you sure?” He is hesitant, scared to accept the offer. Oden nods, and holds out the reward, dropping it into Sunny’s hands. “The other kids that have the affinity have better blessings than this one.” Despite that, Sunny holds the sun pendant with care and awe. Leia steps up behind him. “Want to put it on?” She offers, and Sunny nods hurriedly.

  As the pendant is put around his neck, a faint yellow glow surrounds him, and his smile widens. The blessing of Aroma, no matter how small, was kicking ion. Because he had the light affinity as well, it just made his body feel right, like he had finally done something correct. His hair got shinier, more golden, and his eyes bright with joy as he stared around. He also seemed-once the glow from around his skin died down-to have his skin glow slightly like glow-in-the-dark mushrooms that you find in the forest. It was actually kind of interesting, and once I stopped staring at him I realised that some other kids glowed as well, stronger than Sunny, in fact. It was as if it had passed my attention, only to pop up when I noticed it was happening to my friends.

  “You.” Oden points to Zeen, and he walks over curiously. His blue skin looked darker under the light, but his hair still had a bright silver colour, one thing I was jealous of him for. After all, my mystic purple, a little bluey-pink hair just looked dark purple when I’m in caves or in dark areas, but he always seemed to have cool hair, and it was always perfect.

  Sadly, I can't do anything about it. Not like we can waste money on things like this anyways. His blue eyes pierced through the darkness, and i realised that he was heading back with his prize. It was a bowl of Oysters.

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  Despite the seemingly insignificance, Zeen is… is he tearing up? He tries to blink them away, acting strong, but as he gets back to us, Jack goes quickly over to him, wrapping him in a hug. If Zeen could hold back, he didn’t. Sobbing into Jack's shoulder as he leads them to the wall. He does start to eat the food though.

  Oden looks shocked, a hint of worry in his gaze, but doesnt ask, the rest of us subconsciously move to hide Zeen and Jack so they calm down and have a bit of privacy. And I get it, people get emotional, and people sympathise, but they don't have to look at us like we’re a sob story. After all, we’re not broke. Oden picks up the next reward, and looks over us. “Reika.” He says. I walk over, still cautious despite everything he’s done. Habits die hard, what can I say? He looks nervous to hand this to me, but does. It’s a quiver. I look at it, then back at the old, very beaten, slightly holed quiver, and again at the new one. I face the man with a respectful look. “Thank you.” I say.

  He nods, before looking over us, he gestures for Lark to come over, as well as Leia. He hands them both food, specifically some meat. It wasn’t the greatest meat, at least not to the noble’s standards judging by their looks of disgust, or just mild distaste. But for us?? It was a rare occasion you even got meat, and for it to be Samlan? (S-ah-m-l-ah-n) It is basically a food staple of Dasani. If you didn’t know, samlan is a lizard with scales, long and about as tall as a human normally, they had strong, clawed feet for climbing rocks and trees, and their meat wasn't half bad, at least to me.

  Oden handed Lark the bag of meat and I could’ve sworn he resisted a cheer as he walked back to us, triumphant happiness in his gaze, Leia right behind, Jack had helped Zeen calm down by this point, and next up was him and Tyron. Oden handed both little trinkets. Well, they were little but significant. Jacks was a piece of metal. Pantur. (Pan-tour) It is common, and very wanted by newbie blacksmiths. Something Jack wants to be.

  But how does Oden know that? Did Jack ask for the metal? I shrug mentally, turning to Tyron. That’s when I noticed that in his nervous grasp was a small book. It isn't that significant, but it shows what he wants. It’s a tiny thing, not even as big as his palm, but it's a start.

  It’s a Maroi, (m-ah-r-oy) a book that merchants use to keep track of wares. It’s nothing special, the name is just there because then it's easier to buy, both for the buyer and supplier than constantly explaining why you need a tiny notebook and how small you need it. And yeah, I get that his parents were merchants, but I’m still confused on whether he wants to be one too or not.

  Is it a thing he’ll use in remembrance, or actually use? For now I was confident he wants to be a warrior, but I think as the days wear on he may continue his parents legacy. I shake my head, not wanting to think about us breaking up.

  Next, well, who else than Harvey and Dennis, the two who probably did the most to keep everyone safe. Both walk up, their steps heavy and slow, clearly very carefully analy- Harvey almost falls, trying seemingly to drag Dennis down with him in his infinite wisdom. Dennis scowls, playfully, and says. “Trying to drag me down Harvs?” He uses a nickname that in the few weeks I’ve been with them I learnt that only Dennis uses and Harvey hates, a scowl emerges on Harvey, one that isn't friendly as he falls again.

  “Yeah, Den.” He teases, more light headed now that he’s back on his feet. “Just trying to pull you down to my level so you don't get caught up in your big head.”

  Dennis rolls his eyes. “You’re on a high horse, stumbling and refusing help.” He teases back, but an undercurrent of concern makes me think he wants Harvey to lean on him as he is, quite obviously, pretty out of it.

  Once they get to Oden, he looks at them sympathetically, before handing Dennis something. Seeing it sparked a lot of controversy in the class of adventurers from the academy. Look at me, using big words, Dalyva would be proud. It was an Amagori. I was impressed they trusted us enough to give it to us. After all, sure, it was orcish by design, but that doesn't mean they give out to the orc.

  Let me explain. An Amagori is an orcish sword, one like a claymore that Dennis uses, just more fitted for an orc, with a big handle and a thicker width in the blade, making it stronger than normal claymores. I’m not complaining though.

  Harvey then receives a simple thing. It’s a mana potion. I know its simple, but that's all we can expect after all he’s given away. Harvey looks disappointed, but quickly covers it up as he heads back to us with Dennis.

  Once we were all back, Lark is clearly just keeping frayed edges together, and he looks between us and Oden with urgency.

  Despite how much he’s given, we know that we shouldn’t stay long, and after an approving nod, we leave so they can sort out the rest of the rewards. Once we’re out, everyone openly gapes, looking between each other with shock.

  “They-” “We-” “Why did-” We all cut off each other, just standing around in a shocked circle, our jaws on the floor. Dennis decides to speak up first. “Guys, as much as i would love to stay out here and gape, we need to return to the adventurers guild for our reward and because we need to report for the monster surge.” Everyone groaned upon hearing his response, and, ever the wonderer, Tyron asked. “Will we be paying our way out of the surge?” He innocently asks, while Dennis, Leia, Harvey and even Lark stare at him sympathetically.

  We start to walk as Dennis sighs, but reluctantly explains while his teammates stay silent. “Because we’re adventurers, the best we can do in the surges is simple delivery missions, which is what we will probably do, since we aren’t high enough rank to be considered useful combatants.” Upon hearing that, everyone relaxed. Seia though looked confused.

  “Then why did we have to fight when we got caught for not paying?” Everyone looked down, knowing how it was. “Well, the city guards don’t care. In other towns, they probably do, but here its too ingrained in the guards, despite what the Baron does.” He looks over to me with a smirk, as I was the one defending the Baron after they talked about it a couple days ago.

  This is because Dalyva had always complained about it, saying how when her father gets his promotion to viscount, which he was working on when Dalyva left, it would be better. I believe he is close, and despite how he hates me being with his daughter, because I am an orphan, Dalyva has explained it's because he wants what’s best for his daughter, even if it's not what she wants.

  Seia looks slightly confused. “What do you mean? Isn't the Baron the one who controls the guards?” I sigh, politics is complicated, even when Dalyva tried to explain it to me, but I got a bit.

  “Basically, Baron Heart, although ruling the land, has to obey the orders of the Viscount, who isn't the nicest man. Because of his dealings in trying to take down Boss Pika, (our king who goes by boss instead) the king had been investigating, and they’re messing with politics to make Baron Heart the new Viscount.” Seia nodded. She was still confused, but she got the important parts, and that's all that mattered. I blinked as I looked up. We were at the adventurers guild already, that had seemed awfully short, but I didn’t mind. It being a short walk was a good thing, it meant less having to just boringly walk, aimlessly going somewhere. Trust me, I’ve had enough of that for a lifetime.

  We opened the doors to the adventurers guild, greeted by the noises of other adventurers who were loudly chatting without a care in the world. Silently, I walk up to the desk. “Hello.” I say. I had been given the paper, since I was one of the only ones who could read it if they wanted to go over the fine details of the contract. I pass up the quest paper to a person behind the desk, and they nod in acknowledgement as they take it. “A silver.” They say the reward, plopping the silver coin in my palm.

  “Have you assigned yourself posts for the surge?” They ask, and I shake my head. “No, we came to do that.” They nodded, then ducked behind their desk to gather some papers, before presenting two. One was a map of the area and surrounding towns, ours labelled clearly as ‘Dakuri’.

  I looked over to the second, which was a list with options of the different jobs. I looked over them with curiousity. A nudge on my shoulder reminded me that not everyone could read, and I smirked as I started to read out loud from the top, where it was labeled jobs for common rank adventurers. “The jobs for common rank adventurers are Couriers, Help, Dungeon Checks, Escorts, Supply Delivery and Emergency Supply Delivery.”

  I look back at everyone, who are all deep in thought. Ollie and his group discuss over in a corner as I look at my group. “So?” I ask, Lark looks at me from where he was talking with Leia. “I was thinking of Supply Delivery, but we might also go Courier. The other options require a bronze rank team at least to help. We don't even have wood ranks as we don’t want to rank up yet.”

  I look at Lark, surprise clear on my face. I had known he didn’t want to rank up, he had mentioned it several times, but I didn’t know why. I guessed it was because the tasks got harder as you advanced, more life threatening. Anyways, they don’t rank up, and just stay common.

  “But why?” I ask, curiosity getting the better of me. Lark looks over at me. “Well, it's simply because we don't want to. Becoming stronger before hasn’t been our main priority, it's been to survive. The higher our rank, the more expensive materials become. But, maybe we will rank up if we need to protect all you guys, especially since the younger ones can’t rank up until they’re an adult….” He trails off.

  “So, Courier.” Asks Dennis, trying to get the conversation back on topic, as all four grimace. “No, not the messenger.” Replies Lark, all of them probably having done it before. “Supply Delivery, that's the best.” Leia answers, as Lark and Dennis look at each other. “Sounds good Leia. Reika?” They turn to me, and I look back with a smile. “Yeah, that's fine.” Then we glance over to the other group.The one reading out the information is Zeen, not a surprise there. They seem to have come to a decision, and walk over.

  “Ollie?” I ask, looking at him, curious. “We are thinking of going either Courier or Supply Delivery.” He says too my unspoken question, and I grin. “We want Supply Delivery.” Ollie turns to his group, who all nod their heads, and he nods. “We’ll go that too.”

  Lark turns to the front desk person who is looking at us expectantly. “My team is Orphans and Wa, and we sign up for Supply Delivery.” They nod and turn to Ollie. “Are you a part of that?” Ollie shakes his head. “No, our team though, Survivors, signs up for Supply Delivery as well.”