Quickly identifying it, Irell saw that it was level 23, a bit stronger than the one he had met earlier. He quickly lobbed his bag to the side as the other three spread out. Dante stood directly in front of the worm, with Pim to his left and Bella to his right.

Grabbing his greataxe, Dante spun around and swung it horizontally at the Worm. The impact sounded like a building collapsing as the Worm ‘s trajectory was pushed a few meters to the left, a deep cut near its mouth. Seeing it come close, Pim pulled back on her bo string. An arrow made of mana appeared before she began to infuse ice magic into the arrow, causing it to take a light blue coloring.

The arrow shot out with a -twang and sped into the Worm’s mouth before it eventually exploded and froze it’s throat. By now Bella had jumped onto the Worm’s back and was running along it as the Worm flopped around in pain. Jumping up, she pulled out her two shortswords and infused them with WInd Magic. Halfway along the Worm’s body, she crouched down and stabbed the two swords as deep into the worm as she could.

Afterwards, all three moved away from the worm as a spray of blood came out of the places Bella had stabbed. After a minute the Worm had finally died. Realizing he wasn’t needed, Irell picked his bag back up and walked over to the three.

“Hey Irell! Irell! How was it? Did you like the way we fight? Dante uses his incredible strength to slow the Worm down and redirect it and then Pim freezes its insides so it can't move as well and then I stab it in the heart with Wind Magic so that the cut is longer and deeper. Its a really really good way to fight the worms.”

“If you and Pim have magic why don’t you use it from long range?”

Pim was the one who answered. “We never discovered we had magic affinities until we were already proficient with our main weapons so we never placed much focus on magic, only using it to infuse our weapons. Dante would do the same but he never even tried finding which affinities he had.”

Though it seemed foolish to him to not also use the magic from long range, he decided to not bring it up. As far as they knew, he was a random kid with a spear who had amnesia and got lost.

“Why were you guys hunting the Sand Worms?”

“The scales from a Sand Worm make armor that's strong against impacts. Most people around here use it as can absorb most blunt hits.” After finishing speaking, Dante pulled out a skinning knife and began to cut along the scales. “Irell, do you have the skinning skill?”

“I do but its not at a high level.”

“The quality doesn’t matter much. Cut the scales into patches 2 meters by 2 meters wide.” He threw another skinning knife at Irell, who caught it and got to work, though he did inspect the knife beforehand.

Name: High-Steel Skinning Knife

Quality: Well Done

Description: A mass production skinning knife made of a high-steel. It was made from a cast created by a master and policed by an apprentice. Sharp enough to cut through most low-mid level hides.

Enchantment: Extra Sharpness (Below Average)

Realizing it was the first piece of enchanted gear he had seen so far, Irell took a good look at it. It was smooth and easy to hold and along the blade’s cheek there was a symbol drawn in liquidized mana. The enchantment looked rushed, which is likely what led to it being below average. Enchantments also had rankings, though they followed the same ranks as item quality.

With the sharpness enchantment along the blade, the knife easily pierced through the Worm’s scales and Irell got to work. It was amazing how without putting any pressure on the blade he could cut better with this knife than he could a full strength swing with his spear. His spear wasn’t exactly made for cutting, as its edge was rounded and blunt, but it still showed how much enchantments and item quality played into how good the weapon was.

By the time the two were done skinning the Worm, they had 150 pieces of skinned scales. Dante had done 112 while Irell had managed to do 38. Of the 38, 8 were average, 23 below average, and 7 were badly done. The 7 badly done were thrown away while Dante picked up the other 31 into his dimensional jewelry.

Irell’s skinning skill had increased to 7, putting him close to getting another 500 experience. With a job well done, the group began to head back towards the town. According to Bella, if they didn’t stop they should get there some time after midnight. From there Irell could become an adventurer or a mercenary, or if he wanted he could leave to another city.

Having just finished skinning for a long period of time, he attempted to create a Will for skinning. Hours passed as he continued to think over it but nothing came to mind. At least nothing accurate came to mind as he got no prompt.

Along the walk, Bella continued pestering him about all the things she could show him once they got back to town. She asked him what he wanted to do once he got to town and he wasn’t quite sure. He didn’t have enough money to attempt enchantment yet, and most adventuring groups and mercenary bands wouldn’t take someone as low leveled as him so he was stuck with having to train one of his crafting jobs for a while.

Even if it took a few weeks to level them all up to a passable level, by then he would have made enough money to attempt enchanting. Once Bella heard this, she went off on another one of his speeches about how she was close friends with one of the tailors in the city, and how she could ask her to take Irell as an apprentice. He tried telling her that he could do it on his own but she didn’t take no as an answer, and by the time they could see the city in the distance, Bella had already planned out his next few days.

As they got closer to the walls, Irell asked the group a question. “Is there anything I should know about the city?”

Pim looked off in thought before she spoke up. “The city is ruled by a Selen merchant named Renny Fint. The city was originally a small town that he slowly built up into the city it is today. Normally he doesn’t get too involved in affairs unless the mercenary groups get into an argument and he’s not a bad ruler. The city doesn’t have many laws other than the regular don’t steal, kill, rape, things like that, but they’re not well enforced so many groups get away with those actions.”

“The most important thing to keep in mind is to stay away from people wearing dark red cloaks that cover their heads. They’re some kind of cult that practices sacrifices and no matter how many time Renny kicks them out they somehow appear back in the town. Other than them as long as you keep to yourself most people won’t bother you. It's dangerous to be out late at night but considering you’ll be apprenticing near the center of the city it should be safe.”

“What do you mean the center of the city? Is it split into parts?”

“The city isn’t split by walls or moats or anything but there are unofficial sectors. The center district is near the city hall is where most of the shops and crafters make their locations. The main mercenary hall and adventurer’s hall is located there. The rest of the city is split into higher-wealth and lower-weight areas, with the northern quarter of the city dedicated to housing for mercenaries.”

“The central district is the safest as it has active guard patrols with the higher-wealth area coming close in terms of safety.”

By the time Pim had finished explaining everything to Irell, they had reached the walls of the city. They were made of a light-gray rock and were 25 meters tall. They were fully smooth and had no handholds or cracks in them. The gate was roughly 25 meters wide and packed with people moving in and out. People of every race and wealth came through.

There were guards stationed near the sides of the gate, and after identifying them Irell realized most were between level 20 and 30. As they passed through the gates, they continued down the main street. It progressively got less crowded as they continued, people turning off to go their own directions.

Soon, the party split up. Pim went with Dante to hand in the scales while Bella and Irell went to one of the inns around. Calling it an inn didn’t do it justice though. Standing at a comfortable 7 stories tall, it looked closer to a square palace than an inn. Making their way in, Bella paid for 4 rooms on the fourth floor. As the floors went up, did so the luxury and cost of the rooms.

After saying goodbye, Irell walked into his room. It was spacious, with a large bed to one corner and a bathroom in the other. Leaving his bag on the floor and stripping off his blood soaked armor, Irell took a bath. The warm water washed away the fatigue he had been building up and left a lingering feeling of weightlessness. Drying himself off with one of the towels, he collapsed onto the bed.

He thought about what had happened the past few days. He had awoken in the middle of the desert, by an oasis. After killing a few animals and making some armor, he began walking towards the horizon, hoping to find civilization. One the way, he found and fought through a dungeon before encountering a group of adventurers. They instantly took him in and took care of him until they had reached the town, and now one of them was even going out of her way to help him apprentice under a tailor. It felt almost surreal to him. He couldn’t even think about why he was so distrusting of them when they first met. Maybe people weren’t as bad as he had been born believing. As he fell into the first comfortable sleep he had taken in this world, he smiled.

Prologue Arc: Beginnings - Completed

Arc 1: Growth - Starting