With partial plans made for the next day, we stepped through the portal, both of us curious about what price this Firag would fetch. I carefully laid down the corpse on the grass, under the watchful eye of the nearby soldiers, one of whom shook his head with a smile on his face, before I made my way to the building where I knocked on the door with one of my pedipalps.

A middle-aged elven man with a large mustache as the most prominent feature opened the door, slight shock written over his face as he almost immediately took a step back at the sight of me.

“Hey,” I quickly said. “I’m looking for Felmar.”

“I’m here!” I heard the guild clerk’s voice from inside the building, followed by the clinking of coin on wood. “Just a second.”

The man before me nodded as he quickly withdrew himself, leaving the door open for Felmar who stepped out moments later. He chucked when he eyed the Firag a few yards out,

“I knew you were going to get one,” He said with a grin. “Are you that desperate for money?” He then asked in all seriousness.

“Not really,” I said, shrugging. “Cellestra and I have been most excited to explore further into the dungeon, see what else it houses, and we just so happened to run into this on the way. If you don’t mind me asking, what is it called?”

“A Firag,” Felmar replied as he walked over to the creature. “Dangerous animals, possessing incredible strength, speed, and magic abilities. It has a tendency to charge, despite not having antlers, but its magical attacks more than make up for any weakness that it may bring.”

It was a relief to hear that it was called the same as what Elysa’s blessing had shown me. Perhaps Cellestra’s assessment was right. I imagined I would have to check with several other names to be absolutely sure, though.

He then stared at my bruised body, his eyes running over my blackened hairs.

“And I see you found that out firsthand. I hope you’re doing alright?” His concern was genuine, and I more than appreciated it, and tried to show my thanks with a smile, just to let him know things were okay.

“I’m fine. It’s mostly superficial. Thank you, though. At least now we know what it can do next time.”

“Your first kill,” The clerk said, kneeling to inspect our catch. “And to deliver it in such pristine condition is nothing short of impressive. How does four gold coins sound?”

“Sounds great,” I said, happy to hear the generous amount of money that he offered. “Is this thing’s meat worth anything, if I may ask?”

“Yes… and no.”

“Huh?” I let out.

“Its meat is considered a delicacy in the larger cities, and thus, is incredibly valuable, worth several gold coins by itself, but…” He created a dramatic pause mid-sentence. “There is a huge issue here. The meat contains several poisons, some of which are lethal when consumed, and the excess magic inside makes it hard to remove that poison. Only specialized chefs and their staff, which includes an experienced mage with detoxification magic can accomplish such a feat. And even that doesn’t work for some parts. Unfortunately, Thymhil doesn’t have any such chefs, so the meat is useless here.”

“Okay,” I let out. “But what about transporting it?”

“Several issues,” He said as he stood up, reaching for his coin pouch. “First, A Firag has a specialized organ that creates chemical compounds used to fuel its magic attacks. These are the poisons and with the creature dead, there is nothing to control their flow. They run rampant through anything that can be considered edible, effectively spoiling it within no time at all. Butchers have but an hour to slaughter the animal before even the best chefs cannot separate the toxins anymore.”

“And what if you cool it down? Perhaps freeze it with frost magic?” I asked.

“Second issue,” Felmar said, raising two fingers. “It can’t be frozen. Just like the hides stay warm, so does its meat. A blessing, and yet a curse at the same time.”

I sighed audibly.

“I should have known. I imagined you already tried everything you could.”

“We have,” Felmar spoke with a nod. “And unfortunately, many paid the ultimate price.”

“I’m sorry to hear that,” Cellestra said softly.

“Thanks for the information, once again,” I said in gratitude as he handed me the money, which disappeared into Cellestra’s pouch. If I’d calculated correctly, we now had eleven gold and five silver coins. “Especially the part where these things are toxic.”

“I would have told you earlier, but I figured you were fine, even if you did decide to eat some. Those phasing lizards are highly poisonous as well, after all.”

“What?” I let it in disbelief.

Cellestra simply giggled from my back.

“Sorry,” Felmar replied with a feigned smile. “Though fear not, strong anti-venoms are among our standard loadout when we trial new adventurers. You would have been fine anyway.”

“That’s surprisingly relieving to hear,” I responded, nodding.

“Perhaps now would be a good time to ask?” Cellestra suddenly said, reminding me of our earlier conversation.

“Ah, that’s right!” I said, causing Felmar to look at me with a puzzled expression. “If you don’t mind me asking one more question, say we want to form a party, how does that work?”

“Nothing special,” The clerk said. “You simply go to the guild, ask people to join to in whatever quest you wish to do, or do as most people do and ask them to tag along for the proving grounds. Though, if you wish to narrow down your search options to more specific types of people or specialties, the guild does offer some options.”

“Let me guess,” I said with a chuckle. “We gotta pay for that, don’t we?”

Felmar nodded with a mischievous smile.

“You learn quickly, Kealyna, but don’t worry, it’s only a few silvers, depending on how long you keep the search open.”

“I see, thank you.”

“Have you thought about your wishes?” He asked.

“We have not,” I said, shaking my head.

“Then, personally, I would suggest thinking about that for a bit. If you think you figured it out, feel free to see me at the guild. I’ll be there for the next three days before I am stationed here again the next.”

“We’ll do that. Thank you very much.”

He simply nodded with a warm smile as Cellestra and I both waved at him as we walked off in the direction of my parents’ farm. On the way, I finally got to cleaning the blood off the tip of my halberd, but not before touching it and noticing that it was still warm.

“Well, seems we got some answers,” I said. “The blood, hide and the meat stays warm. What an interesting animal.”
“I’m still amused by the fact that those lizards are toxic. Do you think that’s why they taste bad?” Cellestra replied.

“By the goddess, I hope that’s not the case. I was looking forward to some Firag meat. That spell looks extremely useful to have. If it tastes horrible, it will just turn dinner into a chore.”

Cellestra giggled once more.

“Well, he did say it’s a delicacy, so I think you’ll be fine.”

“True.”

My thoughts then trailed off to what Felmar had said, I even said them out loud in a whisper.

“Specific personalities or specialties, huh?” I said, turning my head to look at the sky through the trees. “Hey, Cel, what do you think about all of it?”

“Cel?” She asked quizzingly.

I chuckled, then grinned.

“I thought it was a cute nickname. Is it too early for that?”

“No,” She replied with a giggle. “I think it’s fine, and that you’re adorable. I just didn’t expect it. Should I call you ‘Kea’ then? Or maybe ‘Kealy’?”

“Anything works for me,” I said in amusement.

“But what do I think about it,” Cellestra continued. “You mean what would I want in a party member, right?”

“Yeah. Do you have any idea what we are looking for in people? Things that our search should include?”

“I suppose they shouldn’t be afraid of spiders.”

“Damn,” I said with a smile. “That’s a good point. Probably the most important one.”

Cellestra giggled before speaking again.

“Beyond that, I don’t know? I suppose doing what Felmar suggested would be the best way to go around it. Just invite them to go to the dungeon.”

“Seems like the best way to get to know people, and just as importantly, what they can do in a fight.”

“With that, any preference for their fighting style?” Cellestra then asked.

“Hard to say. I mean, we are very strong when it comes to magic and physical attacks. At the same time, I think it’s more about the numbers, so I suppose anything would do for now. Anyway, that’s enough of that,” I said as we left the forest, the farm in the distance before us.

“Let’s hope my family doesn’t freak out over the apparent beating that I took.”