Blades held behind me as I charged. I brought my sword up to parry Farrah’s sword that was slashing from my left to the right.

Knocking it away, I spun to my right, borrowing the momentum of the parry and slashed my own dagger while lunging forward in the spin.

The dagger slid off the warforce encased left arm gauntlet that Farrah raised and in a loud crash, we separated and then turned simultaneously, my sword coming in a wicked backsweep that swept at Farrah’s side.

Only for my sword to be caught in the same arm that the dagger had scraped past as his warforce hissed and receded.

Smiling at me momentarily, Farrah gasped as my dagger also swung in the same arc and slashing apart the warforce armor, embedded itself in his bracer; slicing a groove and drawing blood, before stopping as the momentum finished.

I smiled at him - face to face as we were - the momentum of the spin over, only to grunt as Farrah kicked out and I flew backward, the sword and dagger yanked out of Farrah’s bracer and hand by my hands which desperately held on to both as my heartbeat climbed furiously and the weakness increased.

Looking at his bracer which had a line in it and the blood dripping on the sand, Farrah narrowed his eyes, and charged straight at me furiously.

Now it was my turn to be on the defensive as sparks flew when blades crossed each other, and then a punch connected with my stomach and I doubled up, only to have a knee swing upward to my nose; which I blocked by placing my dagger which flew out of my grip and into my own leather chest armor, piercing deep.

Suddenly, my heartbeat spiked rapidly and I lost all control over my warforce in a moment.

Then, the dagger clattered to the ground, and I regained control but it was too late, as the next knee drove upward and into my face, and I fell on my back, scrambling to raise my sword above my chest in preparation for the next blow.

Which never came.

Gasping in pain as my heartbeat slowed, I nonetheless grasped the hand that was offered, and getting to my feet, I looked at the panting Farrah who was staring at me in silence.

Clapping his hands, Sir Leonidas came and checked me for injuries, pausing for a moment at the cut in my chest armor; all the while he was also discreetly infusing small amounts of warforce into me.

Gratefully looking at him as my heart slowly stabilized, I glanced at Farrah who was now near a table at the end of the practice field, furiously scribbling on a piece of paper.

Walking over to him, I was about to ask him whether I passed, when he looked up with a manic expression on his face, and said, “What role are you?”

“Role?” I asked, confused.

Nodding, Farrah quickly said, “Roles are essentially what you’re going to do if in a group of adventurers. Vanguard are the adventurers in front, responsible for protecting the party. Scouts are lightly armed adventurers who well, scout. Frontliners are those who fight from the front and up close and personal with the beasts. Rearliners are archers, slingers, etc.”

Finishing, he asked again, “What role are you?”

Bashfully, I looked at him and said, “Healer.”

Nodding, Farrah looked at me sagely and nodded, before spewing a mouthful of saliva all over me.

“He-healer?” he sputtered.

Wiping off the spray and looking at him reproachfully, I nodded, “Healer.”

Looking at the cut in his bracer and the wound which still had not stopped bleeding, Farrah looked askance at me.

Somewhat embarrassed now, I ventured, “A fighting healer?”

Accepting that bit a little better than before, Farrah then dubiously looked at me, and asked, “How good are your healing skills?”

Scratching my head, I didn’t quite know how to answer that since I wasn’t actually a trained professional. Yet. So I decided on saying, “Amateur. Enough for binding up wounds and the like, but little else right now.”

Nodding and looking a little relieved, Farrah quickly started writing again while muttering under his breath, “Indeed, otherwise he’d be a little monster.”

Catching his words despite his low voice, I looked at the teacher who was snickering to the side, and wondered silently what Farrah would feel if he knew that the man who was standing to his side was a weaponmaster.

That was the real monster. A big devil who wore a serene smile.

Thinking back at the hellish training that had not relented for even a second, even while I had been convulsing with spasms, I shuddered before quickly banishing the thoughts away.

Finally, Farrah rose, and then beckoning us to follow him; walked over to the reception, where he fiddled around inside for a while, and then pulled out a badge that he reverently handed to me.

Holding it, I saw it was the sigil of the adventurers' guild, with the sword and spear crossed together with an arrow vertically in the middle. Flipping it over, I saw that it had a big D on the back with 3 black stars underneath.

Holding it up, I looked questioningly at Farrah, who spoke, “Adventurers ranks are from E to A with A being the highest, excluding the S ranks. You’re currently at D rank because of your combat abilities, and healer skills. Those plus my personal recommendation.” Here, Farrah paused as he looked ruefully at his wound.

Hastily pulling out some thread and needles, I gestured for him to hold his hand out, and within a minute, had the wound all stitched up and bandaged.

Looking at the quick and efficient work, Farrah said, “Certainly, my personal recommendation was right.”

Then, he looked at me and spoke, “You’re a little lucky. Normally, you’d have to do 3 missions successfully to advance from E rank to D. As for those 3 black stars, those signify what warforce rank you are to others.”

Then, turning business like, Farrah said, “Now I need to tell you some essential rules of being an adventurer. First, if the settlement you are in is ever attacked by beasts, you are obligated to fight. Second, any disputes between adventurers will only be settled by the adventurers' guild itself. Thirdly, you are obligated to follow the code of the adventurers, which can be found alongside the rest of the rules inside this.” Saying so, he pushed a heavy tome across the desk toward me.

Hefting it up, I looked at it briefly before I placed it in my bag.

Then looking up, I waited for anything else that he had to say, only for Farrah to break into a smile, and raise his fist to his chest and bow.

“Welcome to the Adventurer's Guild!”

 

Copying the gesture, I bowed back and thanked him.

Then, hesitantly, I asked him. “What about the contracts? The quests?”

Slapping his head, Farrah pointed toward the notice board and said, “Those boards hold all the quests and contracts. They’re divided by ranks, though some have overlaps. You can look through them, and the ones that you want; You just have to come to the reception and hand it over. We’ll make a copy of it and give it to you as proof of acceptance of the contract/quest, while marking the same down in our accounts.”

Then with a wry smile, Farrah added, “You can only take the party quests and contracts right now, since you didn’t quite defeat me.”

Nodding, I smiled at the man before I headed to the notice board and scanned the four sides for any quests related to the forest of death.

Soon, I found one and when I reached out to take it; I found myself arm to arm with a medium-sized bear-like man who looked at me in surprise.

Looking at him, I remembered seeing him the last time I had visited the adventurers' guild with everyone. He was the one who had smiled friendlily at me and was accompanied by that boy.

Giving way to him, I stepped back, only for the man to speak softly, “This is a party mission for C ranks, lad. Are you sure you didn’t get confused?”

Taking my newly issued badge out, I showed it to the man who was obviously unimpressed, until I said that I was also a healer, at which point he looked slightly interested.

Holding out my hand, I introduced myself; “I’m Faustus. Faustus Drayke”

Reaching out his own large hand, the man gripped it tightly, baring his teeth as he said, “Duncan. Duncan Fleetwood.” Then, jerking his head to the side where the boy I had seen before stood, he continued, “That’s my son. Dunkirk Fleetwood.”

Bowing to the two of them, I said, “It’s a pleasure to meet you both.” Straightening up, I looked Duncan in the eye and said, “If you are forming a party, please do consider me. I can take care of myself.”

Stroking his chin, Duncan regarded me for a moment before he left behind the words, “I’ll let you know,” and went to the reception with the quest contract.

Looking at the retreating back, I returned to scanning the notice board, not noticing that the other boy was examining me closely.

Searching, I promised myself that one way or the other, I will go to the forest of death because the flowers of thorns awaited me, and they had been effective.

Tilting my head to look at the teacher, I asked softly, “How long?”

“4 hours with you using warforce all the while.”

Nodding, I went back to browsing the quests while my fists clenched.

I had to get more flowers of thorns.

I will get more flowers of thorns.