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    Kaius let out a sigh of satisfaction, patting his stomach as he walked down the street with Porkchop at his side. He’d decided that Hensch must be a mage, because it was only by actual magic that the food could be that good.

    Literally, in the case of how invigorating the morning meal had been. It had been a grand affair, of eggs, toast, seared ham, and a dozen charred vegetables he had no name for. Delicious, all in all, and would have been well worth the cost of admission even without the sudden energy that had welled within him afterwards.

    He’d asked the man about it, but all he had gotten in return was a sly grin as Hensch had tapped the side of his nose. Trade secrets or some such. High level skills, no doubt. Especially considering it had been made with only mundane ingredients. He hoped that one day Explorer’s Toolkit would let him do something similar, but he doubted he would ever be able to do anything as impactful until he was far higher level than the man.

    Renting a room at the Dusty Stables had been a good decision. Hells, Hensch had even sent someone to fetch him a pair of gloves when he’d asked, not so much as blinking at the odd request. Afterall, without his vambraces his glyphs would be on full display, something that best remained hidden for now.

    They were heading to the Guild. Their first stop of the day. Originally, they were going to head straight to the inscriptionist he had spotted the previous evening, but then Porkchop had pointed out that it was probably wise to get advice from Ro, or perhaps Vangus, on which places were best.

    That, and the Guild was closer. They’d end up there anyway, so it made sense to check the mission board first thing.

    They still got stares as they walked through the streets, though this time they were fewer in number and more curious than wary. For one, he had left behind his armour, in favour of going about his day in his trusty set of travelling clothes. The other major factor was that they were in the Delver’s quarter, and seeing an armed man going about his business with a titanic warbeast at his side was far less of an occasion for the folks who lived and worked here.

    Rounding a corner, the Guild came into view. It was still just as majestic as the first time he had seen it, looming high on a t-shaped intersection, declaring its dominance and institutional vigour. A glimmer of giddy butterflies fluttered their way around his stomach as he stared at the emblem of a crossed stave and sword, his hand fiddling with the copper emblem in his pocket.

    “What’s got you so joyous?” Porkchop asked, picking up on his mood through their bond.

    “Just still feels strange finally making it here. I might have gained and lost much, and my route was far different than I imagined, but I’m here all the same. A delver, after years of dreaming about it.” Kaius murmured wistfully, an easy going smile tugging at his lips.

    Porkchop chuffed, drawing a few eyes from passers by. “I sort of understand, I’ve wondered on the nature of the lands of your people for a long time too. The more I stay here, the more strange things come to mind about the way you live. It’s confusing, but exciting and adventurous.”

    Kaius clapped his brother on the back. “Well, here’s to fulfilling our dreams, I suppose. Let us hope the trend continues.” he said through their bond as they approached the front door of the building.

    It swung open with ease, revealing a common room far less rambunctious than it had been the previous day. Delver’s clustered around the mission board, while a decently long line snaked away from the counter, each petitioner holding a thin slip of cream coloured card in their hands.

    Business was the name of the game this early in the morning, it seemed.

    “I’m going to go wait over by those seats, we might tug on some tails if I take up a quarter of the room by the board.” Porkchop said, turning towards an out of the way booth that was set up on the edge of the common area.

    Kaius slapped his brother on the shoulder. “Good plan.”

    Walking towards the board, he made his way through the crowds, patiently waiting for the others who had arrived first to take their picks. Once a space was free he leapt into it, surveying the offerings available.

    Hundreds of strips of paper were pinned to the thing, covering it completely across its thirty stride length.

    The mission board had been separated into horizontal segments, each rimmed with a different material, creating a section of space perhaps two long-strides wide, by one and a half tall. Wood, then copper, bronze, iron, and steel.

    Kaius frowned as he looked at the distribution of the request. They were…telling of the state of things. The wooden section on the far left had a bare few handfuls of slips scattered across its cork surface, while the copper one he stood in front of had dozens. To his right, at the bronze, the section had so many missions available that not a scrap of its cork surface could be seen.

    That was the busiest section by far, a steady stream of people entering the Guild, wandering over to it to gather slips in twos and threes, before registering the mission at the front desk and leaving again.

    It made some sense, afterall Bronzes were the most numerous in the guild. While those who fully devoted themselves to delving quickly rose to Iron, or even Steel, he’d heard there were plenty of those who joined the guild for a touch of occasional excitement, supplementary income, or a myriad of other reasons. Those types were large in number, but usually only worked as a delver once a season or less.

    It seemed that the change wrought by the shift in phases had lit a fire under them, rousing people from complacency, judging by the folks he saw wandering in.

    Still, the sheer number of missions was worrying. Bronze was for folks who could deal with threats in the sixty to one-hundred level range, and it commonly represented the point where most people without combat classes couldn’t handle something on their own – even significantly over levelled.

    There was something worse though, while far fewer than even the Copper jobs, there were Iron ranked missions on the board. Those were supposed to be…rare. At least in the frontier and the Dukedoms. Niggling worry seeped through his stomach, a thrumming tension rising as he realised that as much as it might be nice, they needed to keep pushing. The rising tide of mana waited for no one, and he didn’t want to be left behind.

    He could only thank the gods that the Steel board sat empty. For now.

    Sighing at the state of things, Kaius leaned closer to the Copper requests. He leafed through the pages, reading the descriptions of missions in and around the region under the purview of this guild branch. A frown slowly grew on his face.

    Cavern lurkers picking off miners in a quarry, level forty threat, team of three or more. Eirholm under assault by a pack of unknown beasts, assumed level fifty threat, team of five or more. Boggart swarm harrying passage between Broadfield and Whetendale, level forty-five threat, team of five or more.


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    With increasing frustration, he flipped through the missions, only finding something that he and Porkchop would be able to take every ten or so. Each and everyone was categorically unsuitable.

    Help needed wrangling escaped beast cattle, level twenty-five threat, team of two plus. Hunting hound turned on owners, level twenty threat, team of two plus. Lake geese preventing access of fishermen, level twenty…

    Kaius looked on in disgust. It seemed they would have to hope that Ianmus was still in the city after all.

    To make matters worse, he’d found more than one mission that he thought would suit him and Porkchop perfectly well, if only they could take him. A singular giant spider at the edge of what was suitable for Copper, with suspected illusion abilities when stationary, team of fucking three plus.

    Grinding his teeth for a moment, Kaius forced his shoulders to relax as he took a long sigh.

    “Thought I’d find you here,” a familiar voice said from behind him. “I can explain why there’s nothing for you, if you’d like.”

    Kaius turned to find Ro standing behind him, a knowing smile on her face. The surrounding delvers gave her plenty of space, their deference clear.

    Honestly, he could probably imagine why. For most, delving was extremely dangerous without a balanced team of three to five. An institution like the Guild, especially one that was notorious for drawing in overconfident youngsters, would have to dissuade their members from elaborate suicide.

    “I’m guessing it’s to stop the vast majority who would be picking up jobs they really shouldn’t” he sighed.

    Ro grinned, and nodded. “Yep. Most missions are structured under the assumption that you will have found a team by the time you are out of early Copper. So, you have anyone in mind, or do you want me to introduce you to some folks who might fit?”

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