It’s hard to say what Edward Linden expected when He had thrown himself into the kind of current you would normally need a good kayak to swim in, but He was pretty sure He had substantially improved his knowledge of anatomy, as He could feel his every bone rattling.

What didn’t improve however, was the state of his equipment, as all that effort put into making a raft turned out to be mostly wasted. Ed would most likely be glad He waterproofed his tinderbox if He wasn’t busy doing everything he could to get the hang of swimming inside such a rapid current, instead of succumbing to it due to exhaustion.

From time to time, Ed managed to stop himself on rocks to catch a breath and look back. He wanted to remember how to get to the pond He just came from, just in case.

Finally, his journey came to abrupt stop, as the creek was visibly starting to flow into a cave. An underground river is a bit of a tricky thing, as it’s incredibly easy to get pulled under rock, and into a place without any air.

( Ask any spelunking enthusiast whether they would dive into something like that without any proper equipment. The sane ones will tell you they would never try it, and the insane ones are dead.)

That being said, there were also things that made Ed think that maybe diving like a madman wouldn’t be the worst idea.

First, that otter most likely came through here, and it was swimming upstream.

Second, It seems like there was still a little space between water and the ceiling.

Third reason was that Ed already came to a conclusion that He was a bit of an insane person, so doing stuff like that didn’t seem like such a big deal.

Linden kicked the last remains of the raft off of his soaked backpack, and dived into the unknown.

He was quickly rewarded with light at the end of the tunnel. The rock tunnel, fortunately, not the afterlife one. He swam through the passage, and arrived in a river.

Backpack still in hand, Linden could see the river He just fell into, and the place He just left behind. It seemed that rock labyrinth came to an abrupt end, forming a huge wall, and along that wall, a river was flowing.

The flow of the river was downright anemic compared to the crazy creek, so there was time for Ed to consider his situation, and take action again.

First thing He did, was of course getting out of the water. The riverbank was a bit steep but nothing Ed couldn’t climb on with his backpack.

He unpacked his stuff, and spread it out on the ground and nearby trees to dry. Especially the bedroll and otter pelt. It was getting kinda dark, and He still didn’t have fire.

Then again, Ed didn’t know how wise making a fire in his situation would be, as it would make it easier for hostile eyes to spot him.

To see whether the location was safe and to gather some sticks and such, Ed took a stroll through the woods on the riverbank. After not spotting anything dangerous or suspicious, He made a decision.

Finally, Ed settled for a small fire. After gathering whatever he needed and a brief celebration of pine sapps’ magnificence, He could boil some water, and make food. The meal for today would be generous amount of otter meat.

It had to be eaten quickly, as it got wet and Ed was no longer confident in it not rotting. It was objectively not very tasty, but after the full day of strenuous physical activity, Ed was just happy He had something to eat. Hunger being the best spice, and all.

After a meal, Linden went to sleep. It was his first night without a bedroll, as it was still wet, fire or not. Sleeping on the ground was something that would give him back pain before rejuvenation, (unless He was lying on his side just right), but It was no longer that way. He was a boy now, and He would wake up feeling either great, or not at all.

……….......At approximately the same time……..

Lukas was just ending his shift at “Inn’teresting”. He was working part time ever since he was seven and quite enjoyed it. It was a job full of opportunities. Mainly it allowed him to make friends with guests, and listen to crazy stories Explorers told him. He could gather expensive knowledge and get paid for it, instead of paying. On the less bright side, his floor sweeping expertise started getting out of hand, to the point of it getting a bit embarrassing.

Why would Lukas not like that? Because he didn’t want to be a housewife, but an Explorer. It was nice to see his seniors raising their brows when they saw him cleaning, but he would rather impress them with something else. Like how good he was at navigation. He spent a lot of time sneaking out of the town and into the Wandering Rocks, and he was fairly confident he could sometimes find his way where a ‘yellow key’ couldn’t.

Then again, maybe smelling his way back was cheating a little. From the other hand, your senses are a part of your ability. And no one could fault him for finding that recipe for beast warding scent balls, even if it was normally only available to yellow key holders and up.

That was a good thing about being good with cleaning, by the way. He could lend a hand to one of the librarians in Explorers’ archives, and get into a vault without a key of his own. That was something normally quite impossible.

And maybe a little illegal, but traditionally one can give clearance to a vault one key below their own, and everyone will turn a blind eye. The only rule being the one where stealing is forbidden.

Lukas got a lot of knowledge out of it, including various means of navigating confusing terrain, knowledge of tools and their uses during a journey, information about plants and animals and whether they were edible or not. Mainly that.

Speaking of food, helping in a dining establishment meant that Luke got quite a few opportunities to ask the cooks about, well, cooking. And they were ex Explorers, so they told him lots of useful stuff.

What trees will give him food poisoning if he were to roast meat over fire made of their wood, How to distract sicklebeaks in order to swipe their eggs (though Luke would need to get a lot better at climbing to actually pull that off) Which mould is safe to just wipe off the food, and which will give you diarrhea of a lifetime, or worse.

But now that he was turning ten, it would all change. He could now enter Explorers’ guild as a trainee, and try running for a full membership. The ‘proof jobs’ consisted of staying in the field for a set amount of time and working small jobs, like foraging. A supervisor would pass (or not) a trainee based on their general performance with navigation, survival skills, common sense, and of course the results of their searches.

Luke had no doubts he would perform exceptionally. He was way stronger than not only kids his age, but even older boys. He was sneaking out into the wild, once or twice even risking his life on his short trips. He was gathering knowledge and equipment for a third of her lifetime, and could even boast of having a real steel knife.

Sure, some kids took up to two, or even three years to finally prove themselves worthy of their first key, but those kids weren’t him. He was going to be a ‘green key’ in the very same year he joined, or he wasn’t Lukas.

He wondered How many ranks could be skipped in the event of Great Discovery. Could he skip to Custom Key right from the get go? Or did it have to be same old ‘green, yellow, red, blue, purple and then finally unique’’? Not to imply Luke had something against the rank system, he just wanted to skip some of it.

Lukas exited his workplace, and headed for the registration office, right next to the library. He greeted some neighbors along the way to her destination, patted a cat, and entered the building.

It was mostly empty, as usual at such an hour, with some occasional trainee going about their business. Luke climbed the stairs to first floor, where his friend, Mr. Bald worked.

He was a ‘red key’, a seasoned explorer. He didn’t know what was his actual name, and Luke would never call him bald out loud, but that’s what He was, so Mr. Bald it was.

“hello, mister, I wanted to register.”

“register as a what? Annoying brat?”

Luke knew the office worker didn’t mean anything by it. The tone was playful, and similar to the way he sometimes called him ‘grumpy old man’ in his own workplace.

“No, as an explorer trainee” “I turned ten somewhere around now”

“Happy birthday then, I guess”- See? Luke knew he was a friend.

“Here is your registration form.” Mr. Bald told him. “Write your name with block letters, and leave your signature at the bottom right corner.” “But not before you read the entire thing. I know you can read” He added.

It wasn’t a problem, and besides, Luke read a registration form several times already. It was about trainees rights and duties, requirements for rank increase, and about access to vaults.

After skimming through it once more, He signed the paper, gave it to Mr. and extended his hand with 10 bri registration fee.

“Your fee is already deposited. You don’t have to pay.” Said Mr. Bald. “Same with payment for the basic equipment”

“Since when?”

“Since you were a baby, I guess.”

“Huh. Unexpected.”

“Would be unexpected If I didn’t work here for twelve years.”

Luke knew it was something about his father, but frankly, he wasn’t interested. If the old man was dead, then that was it. If he wasn’t, then why couldn’t he visit?

He could at least appreciate that he was left in the Town of Promise, instead of some stupid, boring city in the east. Promise was a town of Explorers and the last frontier town with reliable connection to both Uncharted Lands, and Old Countries. Whether he wanted to go on an adventure or be a regular citizen, Lukas’ way was unobstructed.

‘Oh, I guess paying for a decade of lodging in “Inn’teresting” was nice to.’ He thought.

“Now then, here is your trainee badge.” Mr. interrupted Lukas’ train of thought.

“you know where the lecture hall is, your gear will be on a second floor.” Just show them your badge, and they will give it to you after you sign their papers.”

“Thank you, Mr. B..” Lukas caught himself right before calling a nice man with a not-so-nice name.

“Good Luck, Luke” He replied, and watched him run to the second floor.

….

Getting the gear was indeed, a formality. Couple of quiet words, a signature, and Luke became an owner of a backpack, a pair of leather boots, a set of working clothes, blanket, a brass fire piston (Because it wouldn’t get ruined by water like matches do) and a bronze knife.

The knife was made of bronze instead of iron, because steel, especially good quality one, is expensive, and soft iron is barely better than a well hammered bronze. And bronze doesn’t rust.

Lukas didn’t particularly care for the knife at first, as he already had a steel one. He set aside a months’ worth of money in order to buy it, but he knew it was worth it.

Good knife can be a difference between life and death, so one of his most expensive possessions was always hidden on his body in a way where it would be hard to steal it, and it was always cared for.

Razor sharp and spotless.

Come to think of it, cutting stuff with the bronze one will save the edge of his precious chunk of steel.

………….

With more stuff than he had when he set out to register, Lukas returned to his place in “Inn’teresting”. He uncovered his treasures, such as a compass, maps, herbs, surprisingly large amount of rope, an adult sized bandolier, a waterskin and a waxed cloth tarp. The owner of the inn would never know what happened to those candle stumps and used cooking oil. And a permanently stained bedsheet.

There was also a brass cooking tool similar to a wok, but way smaller. It was originally a moderately expensive bowl-and-a-plate set, but with a bit of copper wire and a piece of wood it was transformed into a flat pot with a lid.

Luke was lucky to stumble upon several such things being thrown away as a result of someone’s marital dispute.

Viva la domestic violence.

Sporting good working clothes and gear, Luke could only wait for headquarters to assign him a partner, and then, them both to a supervisor. It was a good day. And there would be more good days