The walls of the Adventurer’s Guild invited them in, the warmth spreading out towards them. Their sense of accomplishment helped quicken their steps as they approached the desk. 

Emma blinked at Adam and Jurot, seeing the boar over his shoulders. “Welcome back,” she said, flashing her practised smile. “I see you’ve managed to complete your first quest.”

Adam smiled, throwing up a thumbs up. “That’s right.”

“I will complete the transaction,” Emma said, looking at the boar. “Will you please bring it around back?” She grabbed some paper and led them to the room behind, which was quite large, and made completely from thick stone. There were a few wooden columns in the centre, though they were covered in notes. Around the place were a few weapons too of various disrepair. Some were fine, whereas other weapons were completely chipped and ruined. 

There was a large stone table, and a few stools around to sit on. Emma waved her hand towards the table where Jurot lay the boar. He cracked his neck and stretched his shoulders, feeling the gentle ache. 

Emma leaned in towards the boar, reaching out with the back of her pen to follow a line she had drawn in her mind. She circled around it, writing down some notes on her paper. She leaned in close towards the tusks, and then towards where it had been wounded. Her eyes fluttered for a few moments as she calculated everything together. 

“I have confirmed that you have completed the quest. Do you wish to keep a portion of the meat?” 

“A small portion,” Adam said, looking to Jurot. “What do you think?”

Jurot nodded. “I want to eat it for dinner.”

“We’ll be eating well tonight and tomorrow morning,” Emma said. “I’ll send Margh the news.”

‘Oh, right. Margh! I knew someone was missing.’

“I’ll portion some of the meat for you. If you’d like, you can ask Margh to cook it separately on the grill. We have a few herbs that you’ll be able to use as well, since you’ve taken a quest which allows the guild to feed its members.” Emma smiled, making sure they understood that they would be rewarded properly for helping the guild out with a boring quest.

“That sounds good! I should go and get some butter too.” Adam nodded, thinking about grilled boar meat. He hadn’t tasted it before, but butter and some herbs would make most things taste good. 

“The boar you have slain will earn you twelve gold total, this includes the price for the meat, the tusks, and the bounty for slaying it.”

“Nice,” Adam said, nodding his head. He was glad to make so much gold in one go. Of course, it wasn’t like he was going to be able to swim in the gold, and in reality it wasn’t that much, but since he had very few bills, it meant he could steadily earn coin and create a pot for his savings for emergencies.

Emma brought them to the front desk once again. She prepared the coin for them, as well as their stamps.  

Quest Complete
Boar Hunting

XP Gained
+50XP
70XP -> 120XP

Stamps Gained
+1
3 -> 4

Currency Gained
+5GP +4SP
14GP, 6SP -> 19GP, 10SP

Adam beamed with a sense of achievement as the two of them passed their first quest together. He looked to Jurot with a large smile on his face. “Here,” Adam said, quickly casting Tricks on the jam buns to make them warm, before handing one to Jurot.

Jurot stared at the jam bun for a moment before accepting it. He waited for Adam to take a bite, but then ate it once Adam started to eat it. It was warm, soft, and tasted fairly fresh still. ‘How can it be so warm? Why is it not that stale?’ Jurot continued to eat it until it was done, not even thinking about whether it could be poisoned. 

Adam finished it too, tasting how warm and sweet it was. “After we finish a hard day at work, shouldn’t we reward ourselves?” Adam said innocently. “Next time, let’s head to the bakery so we can order it fresh.” Adam wiggled his brows towards Jurot, before putting his helmet back on, feeling the gaze on his ears.

“Making two trips is inconvenient,” Jurot said, licking his lips to finish tasting all the jam. 

“That’s true, though isn’t it worth it if we can order from the baker fresh?” Adam’s voice remained as innocent as it could.

‘Order from the baker…’ Jurot thought about it for a moment, spending as much time as most Iyrmen did thinking. “Okay.”

Adam chuckled, shaking his head slightly. “What quest should we take tomorrow?”

Jurot blinked at the half elf. “What?”

“You don’t want to take a boring quest, right? So what are we doing tomorrow?”

“We should rest and spend our coin,” Jurot said, still not quite understanding what Adam was talking about. 

Adam stared at Jurot for a moment too. “Ah, right. Sorry. I was getting ahead of myself, wasn’t I? I didn’t really get injured so…” Adam cleared his throat, forgetting the fact that Jurot had taken a heavy blow from the boar. 

“We can quest another day.” Jurot wondered why Adam was in a rush. The typical adventurer would go on a quest, make their gold, and spend it over the course of a week, before going on another quest. 

“Alright. We’ll slay another boar another day then, or we can do something else.” Adam shrugged his shoulders.

“You want to slay another boar?” Jurot asked, raising his brow. Typically, adventurers would change their quests depending on what they needed. Yet Adam wanted to hunt another boar?

“Yeah.”

“Tomorrow?”

“Preferably, but I’ll wait for you.” Adam nodded his head. He didn’t want Jurot to push himself, since he didn’t want Jurot to die again. That was one of the best things that came from his revival, the fact that Jurot was alive again. 

“I will rest tonight and we can hunt tomorrow,” Jurot said, nodding his head towards Adam. It was a surprise to see another adventurer wanting to go around slaying things so eagerly, so he didn’t want to lose that opportunity.

“That boar was pretty easy, all things considered. You were also really good at tracking. Do you think we could hunt several boars at once?” Adam tilted his head, thinking about how they could hunt multiple boars to make more coin. ‘How can we bring them back?’ Carrying too many boars would slow them down, and their hands wouldn’t be free to defend themselves.

“That would be dangerous.” As Adam was thinking about the benefits and costs, Jurot’s mind had already flashed with them due to his experience.

“I’m thinking just two. Double up our income in a single quest, as well as the meat we can eat in a single night.” Adam chuckled. 

“…” Jurot narrowed his eyes slightly. “We can do that. We are strong enough.”

Emma was listening in on this conversation with everyone else. Her brow pulsed slightly in anger. The other adventurers were also whispering between one another.

“Didn’t they just go on a quest?”

“Are half elves always in a rush?”

“Aren’t they long lived? Why does he need to go right to work?”

“Do you think he doesn’t know how to relax?”

“He’s just trying to show us up, the leaf ear bastard.”

Emma let out a soft exhale. “What are you two discussing right in front of me?” Her jaw was tense, and she looked at them with the intention to beat them. “Do you think that just because you slew one boar successfully you can go up against more? Whose to say you weren’t just lucky today? If you go up against several boars, won’t you just be throwing your lives away?”

Adam looked at her in surprise, hearing her try to hide her obvious rage within her voice. “…”

“You bunch of punks,” she snapped at them. “Do you know how many newbies we have to bury a year? Do you think you’re special just because you know a little magic, or that you’re an Iyrman?” 

“Yes,” Adam and Jurot replied in sync.

Emma’s brow twitched. “That’s besides the point! If you two want to throw away your lives, you can do it another time!” 

“As long as we’re safe on the way back, I have a way to deal with the boars so we can hunt multiple.” Adam thought about his spells. One of them would assist in dealing greater damage to the boars, and he also had Summon Familiar, though he needed the items for it. He should probably work on creating a familiar, but he didn’t have much gold to work with. ‘Why did I even take Comprehend Languages at this level?’ He wanted to slap himself. There was a much better spell he could have taken which would have assisted him at low levels. 

“That’s why you need to be careful!” Emma snapped again, reaching up to massage her aching forehead. “What happens if the boars injure you too much? What happens if you’re attacked on the way back? Even if boar slaying is relatively safe for the pair of you together, if one of you is injured or goes down, then it’s easy for the situation to escalate. There aren’t just boars in the forest either, what about all the other creatures? Wolves, bears, even other greater beasts, each of which could easily kill an entire party of four, never mind just to pair of you!” 

“I’m happy to work with someone else to help with the boar slaying. I think we’ll be fine with someone who can help us carry a boar, or maybe use weapons from a distance. If we can increase our party by fifty percent, but increase our load by double, then we’ll still benefit from it.”

The moment Adam started to mention math, Jurot blinked. “Fifty percent, double,” Jurot said, nodding his head slowly. He was sure in the back of his head he understood what Adam was saying, but he didn’t think too hard about it. “Math,” Jurot muttered under his breath. There were a few Iyrmen who were well versed in the dark art, but Jurot knew the most simplest amount of math, and it usually took him a while. 

“I will find someone through the guild,” Emma said as she sighed. She reached up to rub her brow. ‘These two are too reckless. Just how much trouble are you intending to bring to the guild?’

“Then we’ll leave it to the dependable guild,” Adam said, smiling at Emma. He could understand why Emma was currently annoyed by what he had said, and he had to make sure he took her concerns on board. ‘If a guild worker, who knows how strong we are, tells us to be careful with something…’ He didn’t want this life to end so quickly.

With that, Adam went up to bathe. As he did, the other adventurers watched him. One almost stood up, but their partner pulled them down.

“Calm down, idiot,” she whispered. “Sit.”

“I wasn’t going to do anything.”

“I’m sure.” She pulled him back down. 

Adam bathed quickly and ate even quicker. Since they had slain the boar, they had a few extra slabs of meat. He didn’t spend much time savouring it since he could feel the intense glares of other adventurers with his helmet off. ‘Damn, they really don’t like half elves…’

Adam quickly returned to his room, saying a quick good night to Jurot. He didn’t want to aggravate the others too much. ‘I should eat earlier, or maybe later?’ He sighed. 

He dropped onto his bed and stretched. “Bell, show me how much XP I need to buy another trick.” 

[You can buy another trick for 400XP.]

“Whoa, so much?” Adam whispered. “How much do I have?”

[120XP.]

“Wasn’t it only 200XP last time?”

[Yes.]

“…”

[It has increased because you already have plenty of tricks at this level.]

“So does that mean my next trick will be cheaper once I level?”

[The price will return to 200XP once you level.]

“I see. So the higher levelled I become, then the cheaper things become? Or is it just that it resets the price?”

[Yes.]

“Yes to both?”

[Yes.]

“Huh. Makes sense…” Adam wondered if he should try for another trick. “How much to level up?”

[1000XP.]

He whistled. “Damn, that’s a lot. Alright, well…” He took a moment to think. “A trick might be nice, but the level would give me more health, won’t it?”

[Your health will increase by 13.]

“Double…” He clicked through his teeth. “I think I should wait for that then. The extra health will be too useful, and I will be able to learn new spells. Or should I pick the greater martial abilities?” Adam yawned. “Whatever, I’ll think about it when I have enough XP. Good night, Bell.”

[Good night, Adam.]