Tess’s hope had been that the Jaria still couldn’t make it up the steep hillside. She was proven wrong immediately. The singular Jaria before had been too large, its center of mass unable to stay steady as it attempted to scale the hill. These smaller Jaria had none of that disadvantage.

They still needed to be careful, a few Jaria that moved too fast found their bodies flipping backside first down the hill. It kept the monsters at a crawl, which let Tess and Mirari reach the hilltop.

The other side of the hill ended abruptly, replaced by a sheer cliff face that traveled further down than Tess expected. Trees grew out of the cliffside, bravely latched onto rocks like free-climbing moutaineers.

“You should have left,” Mirari said.

Tess turned, her face steely. “And you should have listened. I had ways to kill this thing. I still have ways to kill this thing. Why didn’t you think I could help?”

“I won’t let others face danger and death when I can deal with it,” Mirari answered.

The woman frowned. It was a valid argument. In fact, it was her valid argument. She had expected Mirari to answer like one of the punk teenagers she’d sometimes taught on Earth. Brazen self-assurance was so often the response that Tess had forgotten Mirari had experience in these woods.

“We’re not done talking,” Tess said. “But right now there are more important matters.”

She turned to look at the Jaria climbing the hill. “I have some abilities that would let me take these out, but the main one involves fire. Do you have a way to contain the flames if it spreads?”

Mirari nodded. “I can funnel the air around the area.”

Tess opened her skill sheet. “Good. Then give me a moment.”

The skill list appeared in her vision.

She replaced Ancestral Guard with Fireball and Stoneskin with Metamancy. Then she replaced her tier one skills with Onomonopia and two Puzzle Masters.

Name	Tess a.k.a The Most Badass Human
HP 100/100	MP 100/100	SP 100/100
Experience	1150	Level		3
Attributes
Force	Reflex	Constitution	Memory	Charisma
10	10	10	12	10
Number of Skill Slots Available
1 Star	2 Star	3 Star	4 Star	5 Star
3	1	1	1	0

 

“Alright, I’m starting.”

Tess activated Metamancy in tandem with Fireball. Fifty mana drained from her pool, making her head pound as the energy swirled down her arms. More mana drained per second as Metamancy went to work.

Two options appeared in Tess’s mind, the choice between enhancing her fireball or refunding some of the fireball cost. Not wanting to risk two shots, Tess chose to enhance the fireball.

Mana swirled, emerging from Tess in a fiery pentagon that coalesced into a pulsing ball of red and orange.

Ooooh this is going to be great! Remember to shout those words!

 

Tess ignored the god’s message and spoke in a steady tone. “Kaboom.”

You have no sense for drama at all! I guess that’s why I’m here to help!

 

The fireball sprang from Tess’s hand like an eager hunting dog. It sped in a straight line down the steep hill, uncontained mana spurting out of it. A shimmer manifested in the space above Tess, like heat haze off a hot road. As the fireball landed, the haze burst into a firework of red and orange until they formed the word kaboom in fiery letters.

The spell landed in the midst of the climbing Jaria. A dome of fire emerged where it landed, swelling to encompass the monsters in a twenty-five foot radius. Wet membrane met evaporating temperatures and shriveled in seconds, popping the Jaria caught in the blast like microwaved grapes. Any acid that didn’t evaporate instantly landed on Jaria just outside the blast, eating through the outside of their bodies and breaking them apart.

A wave of heat rushed past Tess and Mirari, drying the sweat off their faces. Mirari whipped his head between the word over Tess’s head and the destruction wrought below him. The Jaria were gone. The only thing left to show they existed were a few bad scorch marks.

“How did you—” he started before Tess stopped him.

“Watch the tree branches,” she snapped.

The adventurer looked up to see a few branches had gotten caught in the blast and were currently in the process of becoming charcoal.

Mirari opened his mind, pulling the mana from the air to fuel his own spell. The adventurer conjured a small tornado below the trees, sucking the burning branches inside. They landed on the dried ground below, sputtering out once Mirari dispelled the tornado.

“How did you do that? And what’s kaboom?” Mirari asked.

Tess looked away, embarrassed. “Don’t ask.”

“But I’ve never seen words like that,” Mirari continued.

Tess blushed. “It’s the result of someone with a lot of power and too much free time.”

Mirari cocked his head as Tess glared at the sky.

Hey! I’m just trying to make things fun and interesting for you, you sourpuss!

 

Tess huffed.

“Anyway,” she said, turning back to Mirari. “Are you done being an idiot?”

The adventurer laughed, the tension of the moment fleeing. “Takes one to know one. What possessed you to risk your life for someone you barely know?”

Tess shrugged. “It was part of my job back on Earth. I guess old habits die hard.”

“Well, I am grateful for your idiocy today,” Mirari smiled. “If only because it counters my own.”

Tess smirked. “You’re lucky you’ve got a great personality, Mirari. Otherwise I’d take offense to these insults.”

Dun dundundun dun dun dun!!! Quest complete! 500xp earned! Aaaaaand, since you killed those monsters with Mirari that’s another 250xp! Now, go spend it all in one place so I can see what you get! Give me more of these combinations!

 

Tess dismissed the box. There was plenty of time for that later. Right now, all she wanted was another good bath.

***

“You know, you should think about joining the Adventurers,” Mirari said as he and Tess returned to the village. “You have the skills for it.”

“What’s the pay like?” Tess asked. “Or do you even use money?”

Mirari shrugged. “Most of what we pay is in food. The only ones who truly use money are Jauns and the like. I do get a few Rikons here and there but they’re only good with the merchants in larger cities. No use for it out on the frontier.”

“Doesn’t sound all that stable,” Tess said. “What if you need food but they pay you in leather?”

“Food’s only an issue in the heart of winter, and only for the unprepared,” Mirari answered. “The Lur caste works hard to make strong plants that flower year-round and never wither.”

“I see,” Tess said. “Then, why do something so dangerous? It doesn’t seem like a good job.”

“After ten years of service the Agint grants you a plot of land to call your own and a greater citizenship,” Mirari answered. “Yours to do with as you please. Grow crops, raise animals, anything.”

“I see,” Tess said. Old lectures from Tess’s days in school sparked. The whole system sounded like something from the ancient Romans. Only with border patrol and not military.

“I’m in my third year now,” Mirari continued. “Signed up when the village decided to move to the frontier.”

“You’ve only been out here three years?” Tess asked.

The Jejende nodded. “Not enough room in the larger cities for everyone. Gimu Ortzi was gracious enough to grant use of the fort at the center of town as long as we paid taxes in foods and herbs. We could use some more adventurers though.”

“Ah, that’s why you’re asking,” Tess said.

“That, and it wouldn’t be a bad idea to keep someone who can travel the forests as well as I can. I’ve been teaching a few of the others but none have your skill.”

“I’ll think about it,” Tess said.

The two walked back in silence as Tess thought. It was a tempting offer. Similar to her previous occupation on Earth, only with more dangerous animals. Of course, Tess was more dangerous now as well. The amount of equipment she would have needed to create a fire the size of a fireball on earth would be immense.

But did she really want such a dangerous job again?

Tess glanced back at the Kalbas woods. The lush, green trees waved to her in the wind. Birdcalls and buzzing insects tickled her ears as she lost herself in nature for a moment.

Yes, Tess decided. The job might be dangerous, but no more than before, and she knew she couldn’t resist the call of nature. Especially not nature from another world.

Old dreams of adventuring to strange lands in impossible vehicles surfaced. Childhood daydreams that eventually lost their fantastical edge in favor of more practical things like financial security. Now, the dreams were coming back.

“You know,” Tess said as the two walked into the village. “Adventuring might not be a bad idea.”