Stretching out his legs in bed, Keaton remained in bed a while longer. The morning light had yet to peak through the window, but the sky was already starting to brighten. Belle’s chest rose and fell rhythmically while she slept nestled against his chest, the only warmth in the room coming from the heat of their bodies under the blankets.

Judging from the time of sunrise, I probably had about an hour before I needed to be at the guild. I killed some time rubbing her soft tail before I decided to get her up so she could dress me. As a beastkin she couldn’t be out on her own in the town, so she would have to watch the room today.

We ate quickly downstairs, the meals thankfully provided as part of our stay. Kissing Belle once for good luck, I set out into the town.

______

The adventurers guild was pretty quiet at this time of day. Most guilders didn’t take commissions every day, and they would accept quests far in advance of the day they actually worked on, not to mention the actual work was usually not quick and could leave them in the field for weeks. Killing monsters was rarely an easy affair, nor a safe one. It paid well, but what’s money to a dead man? But for those from a common background, seeking riches and fame, there was no better method.

The lack of people made it easy to see who was here for the event. Four other boys of similar age to myself, and a handsome blonde man who couldn’t be older than thirty, who judging from the quality of his gear must be our guide. He wore some very high quality leather armor, almost shining golden in color, despite being a non-metallic surface and had a spear with bone instead of metal for a tip, the air somehow distorting around the edge. Top tier monster materials could have some very eye-catching effects like this, but the properties were often even more impressive. They could be harder than steel while still being as light as cloth, and some could even contain remnants of their source’s soul, enhancing the wearer with a part of the monster’s power. This is the main reason why adventurers commanded such hefty salaries, monsters were not just a threat that needed to be culled, they were walking treasure troves.

Tammy who was with the group, waved me over.

“I’m glad you could make it Keaton! We were just doing introductions.” She greeted me and as she brought me into the conversation they all seemed to be having.

“This is Nate, our silver plate who will be leading your field expedition, you can learn a lot from him so be sure to listen to what he says. Okay?—

And Nate this is Keaton, he joined the guild yesterday.”

Shaking his outstretched hand, I exchanged greetings and was ushered into the group to meet the others.

They were all new like me, the two with plain spears and inexpensive cloth armor were Art and Sebast, brothers apparently. The other two who had brought bows were Orion, and Kalm. Apparently Nate thought this was a rather good composition for our group, one of the best methods for beginners was to use longer reaching weapons like spears and bows, killing any threats before they could deal any serious damage to us.

Seeing as we had everyone, Nate decided for us to head out a little early and Tammy saw us off.

We passed through the streets at a good pace, making it out of the city limits after only ten or so minutes as we passed through the city’s gates. The scenery changed quickly to farmland, and eventually we came upon the outer gates, which prompted Nate to warn us again of the dangers that existed beyond those walls.

Tromwell was situated at the edge of the wilderness, which wasn't a location exactly, but rather an expanse of unmanaged and unmitigated forests at the edge of civilization spanning a huge territory that was the Eastern edge of the human kingdoms.  Supposedly, we've been steadily pushing back the border for over a millennium but it was something of a Sisyphean task. Any ordinary forest can become wilderness if left alone long enough, supposedly it had something to do with the presence of monsters. While magic aptitude might be an extraordinarily rare talent for humans, all monsters seem to just naturally produce, emit, and utilize mana to continuously strengthen themselves. In unmanaged lands, the monsters keep growing stronger and stronger, and the mana they emit becomes increasingly fierce. The theory that I've read is that this mana never dissipates, and the concentrations grow to such levels that it can even affect the very land itself. Even the ordinary plant life becomes supernatural under these effects and creatures of unimaginable and ancient power begin to emerge. No one knows whats beyond the wilderness, or if there is anything beyond it. Looking at a map you'd essentially see a bubble, containing the known world, and at perpetual war with the unknown surrounding us. 

Passing by several guards, we exited through the unusually small gate entrance, only large enough for us to walk single-file. Coming out the other side, the first thing noticeable was how the road had completely disappeared. In its place grew a thick grass running up to our knees, and seemed to be growing increasingly taller the farther off into distance I looked. Beyond that a sea of trees could be seen, barely a line from this distance, but I knew well enough that those trees represented the border of the so called true wilderness. 

We continued walking while following Nate. He seemed to know where he was going, even though everything looked the same to me. Soon enough we came to a short break in the grass, where a deep and sizable pond took its place. Nate stopped us while pointing towards the water, where I saw nothing. 

"Slimes-" he said, still pointing at the water. 

Still not seeing what he meant, Nate walked closer to the water himself while motioning for us the remain where we stood. When he got close enough to touch the water, something stirred out from the pool. The water itself seemed extend up from the surface, reaching out to grab him. He paced back before instantly spearing it in the center, piercing an area where a spongey transparent ball seemed to be floating while suspended in the water-like substance of its body. 

"Slimes all have a core, and that core is the weakness. It's also the easiest way to spot them. Always make sure to look well for slimes before approaching a body of water like this. It's much easier to spot them in the daylight, their cores catch the sunlight. Be much more vigilant at night, better to just not approach any water at all during that time or assume there are always slimes in there."

Once he pointed this out, I looked closely again at the 'water', and began to see the hundreds of transparent globes catching the light under the surface.