The next morning saw Rayne rise bright and early for his training with Leon. Thankfully, the division of the loot was not too difficult.

  Either way, negotiations were swift, and they concluded them swiftly, handing in their items to the guild in exchange for a hefty purse of silver. While the ordinary goblins weren’t worth too much on their own, the shaman and hobgoblin remains both fetched a much higher price. Between the three of them, they had managed to earn nearly sixty silver, giving each of them a twenty silver cut, which Rayne immediately earmarked for unlocking his mana. The sight of the shaman’s magic still shone within his mind, and Leon’s Flame Blade had impressed him too. Not that he would ever admit it to the man.

  With the previous day’s bookkeeping dealt with, it was time to train, and Leon immediately put Rayne through his paces. Afterwards, they parted ways, with Rayne returning home to escort Issa to the Academy, and Leon going wherever it was he disappeared to when he wasn’t adventuring.

  Back at the guildhall, Rayne sat at a table, nursing a mug of water as he thumbed through a guide on skills that he had borrowed from the receptionist. From what he could tell, having his mana unlocked at the guild was by far the most economic way to do it. Although other places could do it, none offered it so cheap, and only a small handful offered a skill alongside the service as a bonus.

  Of course, the other places did not enforce a penalty if he later failed to achieve anything with his newly unlocked mana, but that was the entire reason behind the guild’s price. By making such an enticing offer, they tied the adventurers to the guild until they reached silver-rank, effectively earning much more from their cut of the commissions than they would have otherwise. And should the adventurers fail to reach silver, either due to death or dropping out, the money would mostly be recouped from their estate. It was good business, and Rayne found himself poring over the available skills that he could choose from once his mana was unlocked.

  He was just about to start studying them in depth when a shadow fell over his table. Looking up, he saw Syra, her face creased with tired lines, but looking much better than she had been when they’d parted ways the day before.

  Rather than greet her immediately, Rayne reached into his bag, pulling out a pouch and hefting it before holding it out.

  “Your cut,” Rayne informed her, handing her the purse. “There’s twenty silver and three coppers inside. Apparently, hobgoblin fangs are big money.”

  Rather than check it, Syra simply accepted the purse, tucking it away inside her clothes as she collapsed into a chair.

  “How’re you feeling?” Rayne asked, setting the skill guide aside as he scooted his chair closer.

  She grimaced. “Better than yesterday, but still not great. The healer told me that I had a concussion, and that I was lucky that was all I had.”

  Wincing in sympathy, Rayne shook his head. “Ouch. Concussions suck. Issa had one when she was younger, and she spent the entire night throwing up.”

  “Tell me about it.” Making a face, Syra sighed. “Luckily, the healer spared me that fate. Unfortunately, because of that, I’m on orders to take it easy today. I can train, but it has to be light, and absolutely no sparring. I just wanna adventure…” With a groan, she let her head fall and hit the table in defeat, then immediately grabbed her temples in pain. “Owwww.”

  “What’d you do that for, silly?” Rayne shook his head. “Hold on.”

  Getting up, he headed for the bar, where he grabbed a second mug, this one full of herbal tea rather than water. Paying the man behind the bar a few coppers for the drink, he returned, sliding it in front of the depressed catgirl. “Here, drink up.”

  Taking the drink, Syra took a tentative sip, then scrunched up her eyes and stuck out her tongue. “Hot!”

  “It is tea,” Rayne told her, an amused look on his face. “Anyways, if you’re feeling that bad, what are you doing here? You could have just dropped by tomorrow unless you’re saying you wanted your cut of the profits that badly.”

  Syra shook her head wearily. “I slept thirteen hours. I am officially all slept out. So I decided to come here and see if there was anything I could do.” Glancing at the pamphlets on the table, she cocked her head. “What are you up to?”

  “Looking into mana unlocking and skills,” Rayne answered, lifting one of the pamphlets so that she could see.

  This interested Syra, and she looked at him intently. “Last we spoke, you were planning on saving your coin rather than spend half a gold to get your mana unlocked. What changed?”

  Quickly, Rayne summarized his thoughts from the night before, explaining just how much their brush with death had rattled him. “—in the end, I spoke with my sister, and I’ve decided to get my mana unlocked. That’s why I’m here. I asked Mavis, and she gave me these guides, so I was just sitting down to read them when you arrived,” he concluded, motioning again to the papers spread out before him.

  Nodding gingerly, Syra glanced at the pamphlets. “Anything good? Now that I’ve earned a decent amount of coin, I’ve been thinking of getting my own mana unlocked. But I’m not sure if the guild here offers any skills that would suit me.”

  “Do different guilds offer different skills?” Rayne asked curiously. “And shouldn’t you have had the coin for a while now? I’ve been saving everything I get in order to pay for Issa’s tuition, but where’s all your money going?”

  “None of your business,” Syra said succinctly. “But to your first question, yeah. Different adventurer guilds have different basic skills in their possession that they teach newcomers. I know that the one in Thrade has Pebble Shot for example.” With a sigh, she massaged her temples with one hand, using the other to shoo him towards the pamphlets. “Just read ‘em and tell me if there are any skills that you think would suit me. There shouldn’t be more than a handful on offer anyways. Now if you’ll excuse me.”

  Lowering her head, she drew up her hood and used her arms as a pillow, disappearing into a mass of fabric as she disengaged from the world.

  With a wry smile, Rayne turned back to the skill guides. If what Syra said was true, then it made sense to attempt to save coin by having one’s mana unlocked at a guild with the skill you wanted. But since he didn’t have much knowledge on anything skill related, that was a little beyond him right now. Either way, there was only one way to solve a lack of knowledge, and he immediately picked up the first pamphlet, looking at the skills for fighters that the guild had on offer.

  There were only four skills available for free, and each was detailed in the tiny booklet that Mavis had given him: Strong Arm, Barkskin, Keen Edge, and Arcane Shot.

  Strong Arm was out. He was not a power-oriented fighter to begin with, and while a little extra strength behind his strikes would be nice, Rayne could not see it being as useful as the other skills.

  Barkskin was disqualified for similar reasons. Although the increased survivability was undeniably attractive, and he knew Issa would approve, it did not synergize with how he had fought so far. Far from fighting on the front line, he preferred to strike from afar, utilizing either the range of the bow or the power of a sneak attack to take his enemies by surprise.

  Neither of those strategies were helped by a minor increase in the hardness of his skin, and that went doubly so when he was partied with actual frontliners such as Leon and Liliana. So for the purpose of team synergy, Barkskin was also out.

  That left Keen Edge and Arcane Shot. The skill guide stated that Keen Edge could be applied to ranged weaponry, which meant he could use it in conjunction with his bow. As a result, both skills offered him additional power at a range. Arcane Shot was the flashier of the two, and the most magical of all the skills offered, while Keen Edge was more subtle, the knife in the dark rather than the mage’s spell.

  “Hmmm…” Rayne frowned, crossing his arms as he considered his options.

  He would be lying if he said that he was not sorely tempted by both skills. Becoming a mage was a childhood dream for children across the kingdom, and the idea of actually making that dream come true, even if only at the most absolute basest of levels, appealed greatly to him.

  On the other hand, the applications of Keen Edge were obvious, and it would synergize well with his current skillset. Both the bow and the blade could deal more damage with the skill, and there was a certain element of adaptiveness to it all that he liked.

  Unable to make a decision, he looked to his partner. “What do you think?” he asked Syra.

  “Bweh?” Syra replied, raising her head sleepily from the table. With unfocused eyes, she looked from Rayne to the skill guide, then with a slight shake, her head returned to her arms.

  “Thank you. That was very helpful,” Rayne informed her dryly.

  Choosing to let his freshly healed ally sleep, he considered the matter. Each skill was worth almost two gold if purchased from the guild normally, which meant he really had to make the right decision here and now. There was no way to return knowledge once obtained, and so his choice would be permanent.

  This weighed on Rayne, a man who often came down with crippling cases of buyer’s regret, and he pored over the skill booklet again and again, searching for clues as to which would suit him best.

  As he deliberated, a new group of four came in that Rayne recognized as one of the guild’s silver-tier parties. He’d seen them around a few times, most notably when they’d brought back the corpse of a twenty-foot-long snake covered in bone plates. Looking it up later, he’d found it was aptly called a Bone Serpent, and was classified as a mid-silver tier monster that required a strong party to take down.

  Their leader, a woman wearing a mage’s robe, surveyed the room briefly, before directing her party to the table next to his where they sat down, placing hats on their chairs and leaning weapons against the table as they began to discuss their plans for the day.

  Suddenly struck with inspiration, Rayne stood up and headed over, getting their attention with a friendly wave.

  “Hey!” he greeted, putting on his best customer service smile. Admittedly, his customer service had always been reviewed poorly back at the office of the registrar, but he had some training, and the party regarded him with interest.

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  “Hey yourself,” one of them greeted, a man with ruddy cheeks and an impressively thick neck. It was corded with muscle, and had to be as thick around as Rayne’s thigh, but the look on the face above was friendly enough, and Rayne pressed onward.

  “You guys are silver-tiers, right?” As four people nodded in acknowledgement, he pressed on, lifting the skill guide so they could see it. “I was just looking over this, and was wondering if you guys could help me with some questions? I figured a group of strong adventurers would know best about what I should choose.”

  The man with the neck like a tree-trunk beamed, and the others all looked similarly pleased to be complimented. Then the sound of wood scraping against wood rang out, and Rayne turned to see that the party leader had pulled out a chair next to her. Patting it, she motioned for him to sit down, an offer he seized without delay.

  “So,” she asked as he took his seat, “what skills were you looking at?” Her voice was like warm honey, flowing gently betwixt his ears as she looked at him with eyes of spun gold.

  “Uh, these ones,” Rayne replied, forgetting himself for a second beneath her gaze. Her skin was a shade darker than pale, and with high cheekbones and a mouth that never seemed to be devoid of a smile, he had to admit that he found her quite striking.

  Remembering all too late that such a statement was usually followed with an answer, he held the skill guide aloft and pointed to Keen Edge and Arcane Shot, receiving a nod from the woman as she understood his situation.

  “Two excellent beginner skills to be sure,” she demurred. “I’m Femari Whitebanner by the way. And these are Timmin, Yonz, and Kenzie,” she said, indicating the other three.

  The muscle-bound man, Kenzie, offered his hand, which Rayne took tentatively, only to have it be immediately crushed in a vice grip as Kenzie gave him an enthusiastic handshake. Next to him, the other two gave him nods, which he returned as Kenzie did his best to rip his arm from its socket.

  “If you’re a man, it has to be Strong Arm!” he decreed, releasing Rayne’s hand and lifting one arm to flex his bicep. A rather impressive sight, made more so by how it caused his neck to expand even further, growing larger than his head for a moment before he relaxed the muscle.

  “Now, Kenzie,” Femari chided. “Not everyone’s a warrior. Some of us prefer less direct methods of solving our problems.”

  With a chuckle, Kenzie shook his head. “Less direct? I saw you put an icicle the size of a person through a hobgoblin’s ribcage yesterday. If that’s your idea of indirect, then I’d hate to see what you consider direct.”

  “Hush, you,” Femari said, a streak of amusement audible in her voice. Turning to Rayne, she gave him a smile. “Given that you’re looking at Keen Edge and Arcane Shot, I assume you favor ranged combat?”

  As Rayne murmured his agreement, she placed a finger over Arcane Shot on the guide, a pensive look transforming her features as she gazed at him. “Do you remember what you scored on the magic aptitude test as a child?”

  Rayne nodded. Every child in the kingdom was subjected to a test of their magical abilities upon reaching the age of seven. Similar to the manner in which the guild examined new recruits, it involved placing one’s hand on a crystal ball and waiting for it to spit out a number grade. In his case, it had been an eighty-four, only a few points below the required ninety which designated a child as gifted.

  Those who earned this designation were whisked away from their parents to the capital, where they entered the Vanothian Royal Academy of Magic and studied for years to become proper mages in the service of the crown. All their courses, equipment, and materials were paid for, and in return, they simply had to serve the Kingdom of Vanoth as mages. A good deal, as far as Rayne was concerned, even if it was slightly lacking in personal freedom.

  “I got an eighty-four,” he responded, which caused Femari to brighten.

  “Really? That’s the same score I got!” Seemingly realizing that she was getting overexcited, she coughed lightly. “Ahem. That’s good. While the number you got does not actually correspond to your skill with magic, it does represent your body’s ability to channel magic. This is something that can be improved, but it’s far easier to start with a high score than something like a thirty. And the ability to channel magic is a skill unto itself.”

  She looked pointedly at Kenzie as she said this, and he looked innocently away, studying the rafters of the guildhall for a few seconds before turning back to face them with a grin.

  “Ah, it’s true. A low score does make magic difficult. Not impossible, mind you. But difficult,” he admitted.

  “Low?” The mustached man—Yonz, Rayne remembered—popped in. “Didn’t you score a thirty-one and cry the whole way home? Because that’s what I remember.”

  “Bah, what do you remember? It was twenty years ago,” Kenzie admonished him. “And you didn’t do much better. What’d you get? A forty?”

  “Forty-four, actually,” Yonz replied primly, drawing himself up as if superior. Then he grinned, an expression mirrored by his old friend. Turning to Rayne, he gestured to Femari. “What our dear leader says is true. Your score marks you with the ability to be a mage. But there’s more to it than that.” As Rayne blinked in confusion, Yonz leaned in, his moustache bristling slightly as he examined him. “Are you rich?”

  “I’m, uh…” Rayne shook his head. “No. Definitely not.”

  Yonz gave him a knowing look as he slowly shook his head. “I didn’t think so. If you were, it would be a simple choice to take one and buy the other. That’s the rich man’s method, and as a result, wealth is the number one barrier to becoming a mage, but our lovely leader can tell you more.”

  Giving her companion a grateful nod, Femari turned back to Rayne. “He’s right. I am a mage, but I can only call myself as such because of the backing of my family. Without the Whitebanner library at my disposal, and the funds provided by my family, I would find myself hard-pressed to carry out magic research. And my magical repertoire would be significantly limited compared to what it is now. A good source of income is the number one most important thing for anyone who wants to be a mage.”

  Tilting his head slightly, Rayne looked at her nonplussed. “I thought Arcane Shot cost the same as Keen Edge and Strong Arm. So shouldn’t the need for funds be the same for warriors too?”

  With a wry smile, Femari sighed. “You’d think. But unfortunately, no. It’s a complex issue, but what it boils down to is that mages need a much greater number of skills than fighters do. Before I go any further, do you know how skill progression works?” As Rayne shook his head, she smirked. “I thought not. Well, to put it in layman’s terms, there are three main categories of skills: Imbuing, Enhancement, and Magic. Imbuing involves the transfer of mana into another object to change its properties. Keen Edge is an example of this. Enhancement uses mana to temporarily boost the ability of one’s own body, as the Strong Arm skill does. And Magic is anything that does not fall into either of the other two categories, such as a fireball. With me so far?”

  He was, but something stood out to him and Rayne blinked. “I think so. But I’ve never heard of those terms before. The skill guide referred to Keen Edge as a Weapon skill and Strong Arm as a Body one.”

  Femari rolled her eyes. “Those are what adventurers call them. Proper mages use their true terms, which are Imbuing and Enhancement. But I digress. The reason fighters can learn skills much more cheaply than mages is because the skill trees are far more simple. Keen Edge is a foundation from which several more powerful Imbuing skills can be learned, and the same goes for Strong Arm in the Enhancement category.

  “As an example, by altering the way in which the mana flows, one can apply the principles of Strong Arm to their legs, which is the basis for the skill Dash. And altering the composition of the mana to make it more explosive can allow one to use Leap. It’s all very straightforward and to the point, and high-level fighter skills are both easier to learn and require less knowledge of previous skills in order to use. Mage skills are different.”

  “Yeesh,” Kenzie interrupted. “I get what you’re saying, but you’re not giving a lecture here, Fem. Just show the boy and I’m sure he’ll get it.”

  This earned him a glare from the mage, but she acquiesced. “Alright,” she said frostily. Turning her hand so that her palm faced the ceiling, she conjured a violet light overtop it, the magic hovering over her palm as it revealed each line upon it in stark relief.

  Rayne watched closely, intrigued by this close-up display of magical power.

  “This is Arcane Bolt, the skill you’re thinking of learning,” Femari informed him. “It’s the most basic magic skill, and the building block for all spells in the evocation school.”

  Clenching her fingers, she closed her fist over the Arcane Shot, when she opened them again, it had transformed into a dagger of sharpened ice, a crystal nearly four inches long that glittered dangerously in the light.

  “And this is Frost Bolt. It’s a 2nd-tier spell that requires four different skills to be learned in order to cast it. Using Arcane Shot as a basis, one must then alter the composition of the mana using Ray of Frost, increase the power output by applying an enhancement formula, and finally imbue it with sharpness via Keen Edge. Four skills, and it’s only a 2nd-tier spell.”

  Extinguishing the mana, she caught the ice dagger as it fell, careful not to touch its sharpened edges as she did. Tossing it into Kenzie’s drink, she ignored his cry of protest as she turned to grin at Rayne. “As you can see, it’s an expensive path. And even if you have the money, you still need the means to purchase new skills. Many are guarded jealously by the kingdom or various noble families, and organizations like the adventurer’s guild require you to pledge yourself to their service in order to learn their secrets. It’s not an easy path, but that’s what makes it rewarding.”

  “Easy for the noble to say,” Kenzie said snidely, wisely ducking as a hand swatted his way. Safely out of range, he smirked triumphantly at Femari, who groaned in frustration as she was forced to abandon her quest and turn back to Rayne.

  “It’s as he says. But there is a path.”

  Rayne perked up at this. He had been feeling down after learning just how privileged one had to be in order to learn magic, but Femari’s words breathed newfound life into his body, and he found himself sitting at full attention once more.

  “Yes?” he asked, encouraging her to continue.

  She shrugged. “It’s not that grand. But take Keen Edge. There’s a lot of overlap between Magic and Imbuement. Then focus on learning new skills that straddle that gap, and developing your own. If you’re talented enough, you can save big on skill purchasing costs by simply doing the research yourself and figuring out how Keen Edge becomes Sharpen for example. Over time, pick up a few skills from the schools of magic that interest you, Evocation for example, and focus purely on that. That’s how someone with no familial wealth or power can become a mage without the backing of the kingdom.”

  With a nod, Rayne committed the steps to memory. “I’ll do that, thank you.” He paused. “But you’re sure I shouldn’t choose Arcane Shot over Keen Edge?”

  She shook her head. “Keen Edge is the basis for nearly every Imbuement skill there is. If you’re talented with mana, you can extrapolate that in ways that cannot possibly be replicated with Arcane Shot. And in the meantime, you’re still a fighter. If being a mage doesn’t pan out for you, then you still have normal fighter skills to fall back on.”

  “Plus, us warriors can do some pretty fancy stuff with mana too,” Kenzie interjected.

  As Rayne turned to look at him, he flexed his bicep once more, only this time, a blue aura surrounded it, emanating from his skin as he flexed his martial and magical prowess.

  “And it works on places other than your arm too, if you catch my drift.” He waggled his eyebrows as he said this, and Rayne felt a blush spread across his face as he realized what the man was insinuating.

  This of course caused Kenzie to roar with laughter, and he clapped Rayne on the back, hard enough to nearly send him spilling out of his chair. “Exactly! Way better than any of that frilly magic nonsense.” The grin he sent Femari’s way clearly showed he was joking, which was likely the only reason he didn’t have an angry mage bringing hail down upon him, and he took the opportunity to flex once more. “My advice? Don’t overthink it. As you adventure, you’ll gain strength and realize where your true strengths lie. For me, that’s body skills, for Femari it’s magic, and for Yonz here, it’s sneaky stuff. You’ll find your way. Just keep at it.”

  “And timekeeping,” Yonz said dryly. “Speaking of which, it’s about time we head out.”

  “My goodness, that time already?” Femari shook her head. “Sorry, we’ve got to go. But keep what we said in mind, okay?”

  With a grateful nod to her, Rayne thanked the party for their inputs as the four of them stood up and headed out. As they shuffled by, the fourth member, Timmin, who had been silent so far, gave him a single awkward nod, before following his friends out.

  His direction now clear, Rayne rejoined Syra at their table, his partner still passed out on the hardwood as he mulled over his decision. He would unlock his mana today, and choose Keen Edge. If magic was in the cards for him, he would have to take the long way, developing his own spells and skills, but that was fine. Life was nothing without a challenge, and the prospect of learning new skills excited him. Or at least that was how he rationalized the perks of being poor to himself.

  Yes, Rayne decided. Keen Edge today—in fact, why not right now? A slight shudder from across the table shook him from his reverie, and he made a quick adjustment to his plans. Get Syra home first, then get his mana unlocked and learn Keen Edge.