Three adventurers, one young attendant, and a soon to be adventurer all sit around a rectangular table on the second floor of the local Adventurer's Guild. The attendant's expression is one of mild confusion as she glances from the young man who carries a blunt wooden sword to the huge man known as the Bear Slayer.

"He passed. Train him." Ursil's gruff voice is aimed at a pair of C rank adventurers sitting across the table.

Erb is sat next to Ursil's large frame, and finds it quite nice having someone so huge and imposing speaking on your behalf. The perturbed glares of the two C rankers are largely repressed by Ursil's imposing gaze.

The first adventurer to respond is the young woman with unnaturally shining purple hair. Her black cloak covers a set of leather armor. She has a large wooden staff strapped to her back. Erb had been told she is known as the Amethyst Witch by the other adventurers in the area, and that she is a C ranker.

"I... Is there really no one else to do this?" Her rather plump magenta lips grimaced into an irritated expression at Ursil's orders.

The huge man silently turned his head to glance at the female attendant who sat at the head of the table. She shrunk under his stare before stammering a response while pulling out a paper that lists what each adventurer is recorded as doing. Their names are the only ones in the C rank not active on a quest.

"There really isn't anyone else! Please, just take him to a relatively easy mission and show him the ropes. Once he's got the field experience he will be on his own!" The attendant smiles anxiously at the displeased adventurers.

Erb quietly listens throughout the whole conversation and feels a mixture of irritation and helplessness. He knows he is required to be mentored for at least one mission by a higher rank, but the treatment he is getting from the caster and her companion is unpleasant to say the least.

"We can just take him to The Warren, can't we Amy?" The rather laid back man is the other C rank adventurer at the table. His blonde hair is spiked slightly in the front, and shiny chainmail adorns his body. This man is a lesser known adventurer everyone calls Paul.

Amy lets out a short sigh before nodding her head slightly. She looks at Erb with slight displeasure before looking up at Ursil and smiling wryly. Erb could tell she was the leader rather than Paul.

"We'll take him with us on our clear of The Warren." Her voice is firmer and without the irritation it was drenched in moments prior.

Ursil nods once before standing abruptly. He looks down at Erb with a blank expression before speaking. "Be careful, boy." His heavy voice is tinged with genuine concern.

Erb nods with a big smile before bowing his head slightly. "Of course! Thank you for your help, Ursil." His youthful voice is full of appreciation that even the stoic Ursil finds pleasantly warm. Ursil almost smiles, and only the attendant notices.

With that short farewell Ursil leaves the guild branch in hurry. The young attendant smiles with a blank dazed look in her eyes. She has never seen Ursil be so nice to a new adventurer. Usually when the green ones come in he is very harsh and unresponsive. She shakes her head before sliding over a paper to the others at the table.

"Alright, here's your quest contract. You'll get your official guild medal after your outing." The attendant sighs internally as she watches the three of them glance over the document.

"It's just a standard clear, shouldn't take more than the day." Amethyst skims through the paper before standing up with Paul following her lead. "Your name?" She stares down at Erb with an expression that was unfriendly yet professional.

"Erb. It's nice to meet you, Amethyst Witch." Erb smiles slightly as he greets his senior. She looks at him for a moment before turning and walking away with Paul in tow.

Standing up, Erb softly whistles and moments later his dog comes wagging up to him from somewhere underneath the table.

Erb and his dog trailed after them while giving the attendant a quick wave. She waves back slightly with a confused expression on her face. Erb is unusually friendly to everyone, regardless of their attitude.

~

The trio of adventurers walk along a road Erb hasn't been on before within the confines of the city walls. They pass several shops and some carts on the side of the road selling wares. Amy steps inside a shop with Paul following her inside. Erb glances up at the sign labeled with a sack full of odd items. There is a skull, a bottle, and a knife all carved into the sack on the sign.

Scents of potions and newly tanned leather fill the interior of the shop. Shelves lined with potions and various tactical items cover the wall behind the shop's counter. The store has a few other customers perusing wares in the large glass cases on the left and right walls of the shop.

Amy stops midway through the shop before turning to look at Erb slightly. "Before you go on a quest you always need to buy supplies, no matter how easy or quick you think the quest is going to be. Understood?" Amy frowns slightly at Erb's lack of proper equipment as she says this.

Erb nods vigorously in response. He wasn't expecting her to give him any sort of advice despite her being his temporary mentor.

The shop owner seems pleased to see Amy enter, as he smiles in a subtly perverse manner. He calls out to the group of adventurers with enthusiasm. "Welcome to The Hero's Pouch! What can I get for you fine adventurers today?" His booming voice is louder than Ursil's, yet much less intense and firm.

Amy gives the man a cold look as she steps forward before listing her desired purchases. "We need six lesser healing potions, one shovel, eight torches, and one backpack." Her request is professional and straight to the point. The well dressed shopkeeper frowns at her dismissive tone, however he procures the items without complaint.

"That'll be 144 bronze, heavier coin accepted." The shopkeeper sets down the equipment on the table. The potions are small and a vibrant red, contained in shiny glass bottles.

Amy passes him 14 silver coins along with 4 bronze ones, causing Erb to give her a perplexed look. His confusion stems from the transaction that just took place. Paul notices his confusion.

"Ah, damn. You must really be from out in the sticks..." Paul chuckles quietly while rubbing the back of his head a bit. "Silvers are worth 10 bronze, and gold is worth 10 silver." Paul offers Erb a quick explanation for how the money added up. 

Erb nodded and tried his best to memorize this information for the future. He has never seen anything more valuable than a bronze coin. He's thankful Amy paid for it as he had only a couple bronze coins in his pouch.

From Amy's perspective Erb is quite possibly as broke as a beggar. She feels it would be ridiculous to ask the boy to pay for some of the supplies considering he doesn't even have an actual weapon for combat.

"Come again soon!" The slightly unsettling gaze of the shopkeeper lingers on Amy's figure as she turns to leave the shop.

Paul frowns as he follows Amy while Erb's dog dumbly trots along behind Paul. Erb moves to keep up with them as he notices how much his furred friend likes Paul.

~

The group arrives at the town's northern gate after a quick walk. Erb is listening attentively as Amy turns to look at him with that same expression of professional seriousness on her face.

"When we leave town we have to show the guards our quest contract, that way the guild can find out where we've traveled after accepting the quest." Amy explains the standard procedure for questing before walking confidently up to the guard standing beside the gate.

The young guard has a very stoic look about him. He nods as Amy explains the quest to him, and he nods once more before moving over to open the gate for us.

Amy gives the man a thank you as she passes. Paul gives him a friendly salute that indicates he knew the guard somewhat personally. Erb simply gives brief thanks as he walks out while his dog trails behind with a wagging tail.

~

The walk along the dirt road out of town isn't too lengthy. Erb is walking just behind Paul as they approach the entrance to the low level dungeon. Adventurers named the dungeon The Warren as it felt similar to a normal rat's nest.

The dark tunnel winding down into the earth is lined with a dirt packed so thick it feels as if you are touching stone rather than soil. Roots of unknown origin hang from the ceiling of the jagged dug out passages. The scent of rats and their fecal matter is thick in the air. All four of the members of the party grimace at the scent.

"I forgot how nasty this shit hole smelled." Amy frowns darkly as she steps deeper into the tunnels. Shortly after they enter the dark passages Amy steps behind Paul before raising her wooden staff in the air.

"Keep in mind your torches are for emergencies, we'll be using my magic for light for now." Amy focuses as her staff glows faintly. The glow increases in thickness and brightness as a strange intricate symbol begins to form in front of the party's witch.

Erb is shocked at the sight of the raw mana condensing into the rune midair. He's never seen magic of any kind. Amy is pleased by his reaction as she finishes her spell. The glyph collapses onto itself and forms into a small sphere of light. It's essentially a miniature sun which illuminates the passage brightly.

"H-How did you do that?" Erb stutters out his question with genuine confusion and awe. Amy shrugs mysteriously as she follows behind Paul with a pleased smile on her pale features.

Erb follows after them with his dog trotting at his heels.

~

The dungeon is oddly noisy the further down into it they venture. Erb is put off by the amount of odd scrambling and squeaking noises that echo down the tunnels like a concert of filthy rodents. Paul is a lot more serious looking than usual. Amy has her staff held high. Erb's dog is obediently following his owner's heels.

"I think I hear a few of them approaching us. Stay alert, kid." Paul has a solemn expression on his usually carefree face as he gives Erb a stern look.

Erb unsheathes his wooden blade while steeling himself. He is inexperienced, however one cannot learn without pushing through a little adversity.

The dog bares his fangs while moving his head low in a show of aggression. Erb notices and tenses up at such a vicious pose coming from his lifelong companion. Paul suddenly squats slightly and as Erb is trying to figure out what he is doing a streak of purple shoots over Paul's head and embeds itself into something in the darkness.

"Skreek!" The aggressive squeak comes from the darkness ahead signaling the wave of rats approaching. Five ugly furry rodents scamper out of the shadows toward Paul.

Paul is quick to react and swings his somewhat lengthy longsword horizontally in a very loose grip. The blade cut through two rats effortlessly before softly bouncing off the dirt wall. Erb is watching closely before he moves up beside Paul. The glow of a glyph being cast behind Erb makes him uneasy, however Paul doesn't duck this time.

"Get back!" Amy yells suddenly as a huge glow of purple and white light comes off a strange large glyph floating in front of her. Paul and Erb both jump to the side and backwards, pulling themselves out of the line of fire as the spell begins casting.

The purple and white lines of the spell merge into one point before a huge cone shaped volley of crystal shards flies like arrows into the remaining three rat monsters. Erb is shocked at how destructive Amy's mysterious spells are, and notices the purple crystal is quite fragile as it breaks into small shards after impact.

"Wow..." Erb is in awe of the two more experienced adventurers as he stands up and brushes dirt off his trousers.

Amy glances at him with a frown before moving behind Paul in the same formation as before. Erb quickly walks behind them along with his somewhat spooked dog. Erb is starting to feel like dead weight to their small party of adventurers.

~

The tunnel finally comes to an abrupt fork. They didn't see a single rat on the walk down into the deeper passages, and yet Erb is still on edge. Paul frowns before turning to Amy. "I think we should split up, then meet back here once we check which way leads to the boss." Paul said this with the confidence that Amy and Erb would perform about as well as he would on his own.

"Don't get too cocky, and hurry back if you see the boss door." Amy nods to him before moving over to the opposite path and gesturing for Erb to move in the front of their little group.

Erb felt some pressure to perform in the next fight, so he tries his best to not show his anxiousness while marching down the tunnel ahead of the caster. They move away from Paul as he lit a torch for himself to navigate without the presence of Amy's light magic.

They are largely silent as they make their way down the root coated tunnel. The faint scurrying and sniffing sounds are getting gradually louder as they come to a sharp bend in the dirt tunnel. Amy stops Erb and then points at a very obvious large hairless rat tail stuck out from the corner.

Erb tenses upon realizing a rat is waiting just around the corner for them, and holds up his sword with false confidence. He felt he has to prove his worth in this fight.

Without much hesitation Erb steps forward and swings his sword down on the rat's exposed fleshy tail. This move manages to completely smash the tail, however after letting out an angry squeal the huge rodent turns and leaps at Erb. Two more rats scamper out from around the corner squeaking angrily.

"Skreek! Squee!" Their squealing sounds are full of rage directed at the glorified home invaders.

Erb tenses his lean muscles as he swings his sword up against the pouncing rat. His blade smashes into the leg of the rat and sends it sprawling into the wall. Without missing the chance Erb immediately swings his sword horizontally into the creature's undefended head. The loud cracking sound is followed by a soft thud as the lifeless monster falls to the dirt floor.

The feeling of a claw connecting with the back of his exposed neck causes Erb's blood to run cold. He had turned toward the wall as he finished off that first monster.

Despite Erb's expectations, an amethyst crystal the size of a telephone pole slams into the rat behind him and turns it into a fine paste against the wall of the tunnel. Erb's face is extremely pale as he touches the tiny scratch across the back of his neck.

"You dolt! Idiot! What the hell were you doing?!" Amy's face is scrunched into a grimace of disgusted rage. Erb opens his mouth to say something but is promptly shut up as Amy rants at him further.

"This isn't a fucking game! You can die!" Amy takes a few heavy breaths before calming herself slightly. She slaps Erb's shoulder with her heavy staff. He winces in response before she continues speaking.

"Making mistakes during combat is forfeiting your life, Erb." She shakes her head as a bitter look fills her pale features. "You have to be careful and aware of the situation. Never lose your cool or get overconfident." She smiles wryly before scratching the side of her head while contemplating how hypocritical it sounds after her angry outburst.

Erb stands there listening to her harsh words. He wants to protest or complain about her attitude, however he cannot find fault in her tirade. She is right.

"I... I'll be more careful from now on." He frowns and gives her a very serious nod while putting his hand over his chest in a fist.

Amy shakes her head a bit more before letting out a light sigh. The caster walks around the corner before calling back to him. "Ah... The boss door is right here. Let's turn around."

~

The tunnel is a lot quieter now that they killed a large portion of the rat population living here. The skittering noises are still present, however they are very subdued. Erb is walking in front of Amy as they retrace their steps back to the fork in the tunnels.

The path soon becomes familiar as the two tunnels show themselves in the light of Amy's illumination spell. The two human party members glance around before frowning.

"He's still in the other tunnel. We should follow after him." Amy hurries Erb along as she feels a nagging worry that Paul might be in danger. This dungeon is usually perfectly safe for them together, but she knows he isn't used to fighting alone like this.

They walk for about ten minutes before the smell of blood greets their noses. Erb's dog sniffs at one of two rat corpses laying in the middle of the passage. Thankfully there are no human corpses here.

"He's close, these are really fresh kills." Amy says before walking behind Erb. The blood is still slowly draining from the corpses.

~

"Squeek!" The shrill cry of an angry rat gives way to a heavy crunch as Paul's longsword smashes it's skull like a pumpkin. Sweat is trickling down his skin as eight more rodent's stand in a rough circle around him. This is not normal, as the rat's didn't usually ambush intruders.

"Paul!" Amy cries out in relief as she runs toward him. Erb keeps up with her and holds his sword at the ready. Thankfully Paul is yet to be injured by the rodent group.

Magic shines brightly midair as Amy clenches her jaw while forming a spell rather forcefully. Erb doesn't look at the bright lights, and instead focuses on the monsters in front of him. His breathing is steady. His mind is clear.

"Hap!" Erb lunges forward and swings horizontally. The two rats standing just a little bit in front him are screeching in alarm as their faces are slapped with the end of the dull blade. The damage is negligible, and only caused them to become angrier.

While Erb is troubling these two monsters Paul raises his blade before smashing it onto another aggressive rodent's head. His power isn't lacking but his stamina has bottomed out.

The shiny glyph floating midair condenses into a tiny point before a barrage of strange amethyst orbs fly towards four of the rats in front of Amy. The crystalline projectiles smash into the rat's faces with a loud shattering crash. They die instantly.

Erb tenses his body as both rats suddenly lunged through the air toward his legs and throat respectively. The wooden blade swings in a lightning quick zig zag, smashing into the jaw of one rat before slamming into the top of the other's skull within less than a half second. The sound reverberates around the small dirt chamber while Erb's blood pumps with adrenaline.

There is only one monster remaining, and without letting the three adventurers recover the lone survivor pounces at Paul's exposed neck from behind him. Amy sees this and her face twists into a mask of fury while Erb's pupils dilate. The explosive force of his legs pushing him off the dirt floor sends Erb through the air at the rat.

Thwack!

The rat flies through the air and slams hard into a compact dirt wall before falling lifelessly to the floor. Both Amy and Paul let out a held breath at the death of the final monster. Amy gives Erb an appreciative glance.

Despite his inept conduct he has actually taken her advice and used it to improve. What truly impresses her was how Erb had saved Paul. His lunge was quick, however the swing of his wooden sword even faster. The dull blade had smashed into the side of the rat with so much force that it looked as though the rat had it's breath completely knocked out of it before it could make contact with Paul. The speed was unreasonable.

"Thanks, kid." Paul grunts before slumping down in a tired heap against the wall of the chamber. He is exhausted and covered in sweat and rat blood.

Erb smiles before gawking as a wooden treasure chest seemingly falls out of an unseen hole in the ceiling. It lands on the floor with a loud clank before sitting there as if it had been there the whole time. Amy and Paul didn't seem surprised.

"Glad there was at least a reward for this weird encounter." Paul smirks a bit as he takes deep breaths. Amy nods before moving to the chest. She opens it up to a sparkling heap of bronze and silver coins. They look newly made.

"Treasure? How does it come out of the ceiling like that?" Erb is at the end of his wits with this weird dungeon phenomenon. The other two wave it off as some kind of dungeon magic before counting the counts.

Amy has the chest sat beside Paul as they count up a total of 30 bronze coins, and 6 silver coins. The three of them are a little relieved when they realize the number of coins is easily divided among a party of three.

"Let's hide these in a corner and come back for it after we kill the boss and grab the loot from there." Amy began casting a spell while she spoke. Paul restores his stamina and the party is ready to move to the boss room.

Erb watches with interest as a blast of soil and mud slams into the chest and covers it from view. Paul walks back the way they came with Amy in tow. Erb and his dog follow behind them anxiously.

~

They take about twenty minutes to reach the boss door while meeting no further resistance from the residents of the burrow. Amy makes sure everyone is prepared for the final fight of the dungeon.

"Don't forget to use your potions when you need to, but remember that healing potions don't help with your fatigue." She gives Paul a meaningful glance before turning toward Erb.

"This boss is fairly simple. It's a huge rat with a bunch of smaller rats around it. Once the fight starts just focus on the small fry while avoiding the big one. Got it?" She made sure Erb agreed with vigorous nodding before leaving to stand beside Paul in front of the huge wooden boss door. Paul's arms tense as he presses the wooden doors open with all his might.

"Grrk..?" The somewhat loud grunt of the huge rodent sitting in the center of the boss room causes a slight shiver to go down Erb's spine. The creature is covered in dark brown fur with two large yet beady black eyes. It's gnarled snout is peppered with fraying whiskers. The yellowed jagged teeth in the huge monsters mouth look strong enough to crush metal armor.

Amy wordlessly steps into the room while ushering Erb and the dog inside. The door magically slams shut with a rather unnerving amount of force. Before the rat can make a move Amy is already moving the mana in front of her into three separate glyphs.

Erb's eyes nearly pop out of his head at the sight of the triple spell casting. He shakes off the shock and steps forward while keeping his guard up. About four rats are moving toward them while the big rat stretches its large furred legs as it stands up from a pile of straw and roots.

"Keep those little guys back!" Amy says clearly as the spells near halfway through their casting. Paul moves forward and takes down one rat with a downward slash before moving back to avoid a rat's lunge.

Erb steps forward to block the path of the other two minions. His wooden sword is smaller and weaker, yet he felt he could deal with these two as he fought the previous rat monsters. The first one ran at him before jumping forward.

Erb expects a frontal attack and fails to anticipate the rat jumping low for his shins instead of high into the air. The momentary lapse in judgement is not enough to stop Erb's blade from swinging back down in a diagonal slicing motion. The rat's neck snaps at it went tumbling into the corner of the dirt chamber.

"Almost done!" Amy shouts as the spells near their completion. These glyphs look intensely complex to Erb's eyes. He only glances at them for a moment before turning his attention to the final rat. It eyed him with a primal rage. Paul had dispatched his assailants and was now moving in front of Amy with his gaze locked onto the boss monster.

"Hap!" Erb stabs at the ground where the rat is shuffling and the rat's beady eyes go wide in surprise at his opponent's speed. The blade smashes the rat's skull in with a sickening squelch. Erb pulls his blade back and looks over at the boss.

Paul has his sword up and sparks fly off the blade as the huge rat boss' claw presses heavily into the steel longsword with the force of a truck. Paul is sweating and his arms are bulging with the effort it takes to keep it from crushing his body.

Erb immediately takes action and leaps across the short distance to slam his wooden sword into the side of the beast's huge paw. The resounding thwack is a dull sound, yet the huge beast reacts by pulling its arm back with a loud squeal that resembled a roar.

Erb and Paul both turn white as sheets as the huge beast lunges without any hesitation. The maw of the beast is stretched open wide at a nearly 180 degree angle. The rows of jagged slimy teeth and the fleshy throat of the beast are moving at a startling speed. Erb moves to swing his sword-

Purple light erupts from behind the pair of swordsman as Amy's glyphs release their mana all at once. The magic condenses into a point before three streams of purple crystal shards fly like bullets at the maw of the beast. The huge thing can't react in time to prevent the sharp glass like crystals from filling his face and throat.

"Squah! Squrk!" The huge thing starts making loud guttural noises indicating its dying state as the beast flails and stumbles around with a steady gush of blood coming up from its face. The purple shards have completely cut up the beast from the inside.

With a sudden shiver the beast begins to convulse wildly. Blood spouts up and nearly splatters onto the group of adventurers while its eyes roll back somewhat.

Thunk!

The huge monster is finally dead. The three of them hold their breath for a moment before looking at each other with a smirk rising onto their sweaty faces. Erb felt a mixture of relief and residual fear as the blood of the beast trickled onto the dirt floor.

"Wow... We did it!" He smiles widely as the feeling of satisfaction overrides the stress of the fight. Erb has never fought a monster in his many years living in the village, and he hasn't had an actual sparring match before.

The adrenaline and danger changed him somewhat. He is more aware of just how dangerous this profession will be, and how seriously he needed to take combat encounters in the future.

"Damn right we did it, kid." Paul smiles back at Erb and gives him a light slap on the back before walking past him toward the huge beast. Erb's dog follows along before barking at the massive corpse of the boss in a triumphant manner.

Erb looks over at Amy who gives him a slight grin of approval. "My mentoring must have been pretty amazing to bring you this far, right Erb?" Her smug attitude is sort of justified after all the useful things she's taught him thus far. 

Erb gave her an enthusiastic nod. "Oh yes, extremely amazing, Amethyst Witch." He sees her expression sour slightly before she sighs softly.

"Just call me Amy, that title is something non-adventurers call me." She pouts a little at him before he nods in understanding.

Their conversation is interrupted by a loud squeak from ahead of them. Their eyes widen before they sprint up to where Paul just walked over to.

There is a slightly smaller door behind the boss monster that vaguely resembles the boss door. This one is wide open, and within they see Paul with his sword out glaring at something with a mixture of confusion and alarm written on his features.

"There was a rat in the treasure room! He tried to take the chest!" Paul's words further bewilder the pair as they walk inside to see a small hole in the wall where Paul is aiming his blade. The rodent doesn't appear, and in it's stead they find only silence.

"That's not normal. Monsters don't usually appear in the treasure room." Amy frowns as she mentions this for Erb's benefit. He seems a bit confused by this news and glances at the treasure chest sitting beside Paul.

They eventually settle on sliding the chest in front of the small hole before opening it up. The contents are shining just like before, however this time there is an item mixed in with the coins. Their eyes all shine brightly as they begin pulling the coins out of the box.

Amy counts up 30 bronze coins and 6 silver coins. The amount is the same as the other treasure chest they found in the side passage before.

"That's a charm, isn't it?" Paul raises his eyebrows as he watches Amy casting an identification spell on the small trinket.

The thing has a small black cord which loops through it on one end. It is carved out of a dark rich brown wood. Amy informs them its a magic item carved out of some sort of root that rarely grows in the deepest parts of rat monster dungeons.

"Apparently if you wear this around your neck you'll be able to deal double the normal damage to rat related monsters... However, it requires you to have killed 100 rats for the charm to take effect when worn." Amy's smiled widely as she finished inspecting the charm. Erb is curious who would receive the item.

"Who should take it?" Paul asks with a slightly perturbed expression on his face. Amy thought for a moment before handing it to Paul.

"Paul would best benefit from this, his attacks don't always one shot the larger rodents, and Erb can't really use this without a lot of rat slaying." The caster shrugs and Erb doesn't disagree with her verdict.

The party begins splitting the coins in the treasure room, and shortly thereafter return to divide up the coins in the chest they discovered earlier. When this was all said and done each party member had received 20 bronze coins and 4 silver coins. Erb felt like a rich noble with this amount of coin, however his party members didn't bat an eye at the paltry sum.

"Let's head back now, we'll need to report the oddities in the dungeon and have Erb get himself the proper adventurer badge." Amy nods with a serious expression on her face before getting up off the dirt floor.

Erb's lips curl upwards in satisfaction as he reflects on completing his first dungeon raid and first quest as a real adventurer. This is a dangerous job, yet a rewarding one.

The four of them move upwards through the dirt tunnels, three humans and one loyal dog.

~

Authors Note:
Had to make a lot of revisions...
Probably shouldn't write that late at night... haha.