I ended up finding a nice, quiet spot in town—a vacant section of land with a large tree in the middle. Taking a seat against its trunk, I pulled out my new books, starting with The Magical Art of Foraging.
Overall, the book was rather dry; it was essentially a compendium of herbs, plants, fruits, fungi, and vegetables. But what made it truly useful was that it included illustrations, details on the environnts where each could be found, and the rarity level the system typically assigned them. For example, a Mana Truffle could be classified as Uncommon or Rare, depending on its mana concentration, size, and overall condition.
I looked up the few herbs I already had, starting with Lemon Tea Grass. Sure enough, it was listed as Common, found in abundance near the outskirts of mana-rich areas. It was most commonly dried and used as a lemon-flavoured tea, but it could also be used in cooking to add a subtle citrus-like tang. Aweso, I thought. Most of this was what I already knew, but for new discoveries, this book was going to be invaluable.
Next was Virfolium. It ranged from Common to Uncommon, found in forests, and was noted for its strong restorative properties, often used in alchemy. Its leaves were edible, with an earthy, tangy taste. The stalk was also edible, though it had a tough, woody texture and lacked most of the restorative properties, so it was generally avoided unless necessary. Because of its value in creating healing and rejuvenation potions, it was rarely used in cooking.
That made sense. I definitely never saw the leaves for sale at the market in Dunhearth while I was there. The last one I wanted to check was the Mana Tears.
Mana Tears: Uncommon to Rare, found in mana-rich forests. Most commonly used in Mana Restoration Potions. These small white flowers with a violet teardrop in the centre absorb and store ambient mana, with the size and vibrancy of the teardrop indicating the flower’s potency. The larger and more vivid the colour, the stronger the flower. These are edible, though they have no distinct flavour of note. Warning: The stalk and leaves of the plant are mildly poisonous and will cause nausea and discomfort; they also contain no significant amount of mana.
This book was going to be amazing moving forward. The pictures and colour references alone were incredibly helpful. I put it away and pulled out the second book I’d purchased, Sweetie’s Sweet Tooth.
Opening it, I was blown away by the recipes—and even more so by how complicated so of them were compared to anything I’d made so far. A few looked downright impossible at the mont, requiring precise, consistent heat in a sealed oven. But others? Berry tarts, pancakes… those I could absolutely handle. I couldn’t wait to try them.
I was broken out of my thoughts when soone sat down next to .
“What ya reading?” Liane asked.
“You know, appearing out of nowhere like that scares the hell out of , right?” I said, taking a steadying breath.
“Yep, I do,” she replied with zero remorse, snatching the book from my hands. She flipped through it, her eyes lighting up. “Ohhh, these look so good! Are you going to cook so of these?”
“I was going to try, yeah,” I admitted. “Is it ti to head to the guild hall?”
“Nah, not yet. I just saw you here and decided to scare you a little. It’s fun, you know,” she said, flashing a huge grin.
“Fun, she says,” I grumbled, taking the book back.
“Earlier today I tried to buy an enchanted knife, but I think the guy was trying to rip off,” I said, shaking my head. “He wanted five gold for it, and he even claid a manasteel dagger was fifteen silver. Back in Dunhearth, they were three.”
“Yeah, towns like this—especially ones that act as gateways for adventurers—usually jack up their prices,” Liane explained. “I’d wait until Boltron, honestly.”
“No choice now anyway,” I said with a chuckle. “My two books cost forty silver as it is.”
“Excellent investnt,” Liane laughed, hopping to her feet. “Co on, let’s go find Milo and get the adventurer’s guild out of the way.”
It didn’t take us long to find Milo. He was back at the inn with a drink in hand, chatting with soone I didn’t recognise. When he noticed us, he finished his drink, wrapped up his conversation, and t us in the entryway.
“We heading out now?” Milo asked.
Liane just nodded and turned for the door, leading the way outside.
I followed alongside Milo until we ca across what had to be the nicest building in town. It stood at least three stories tall, but what really struck was the sheer size of it.
“So big,” I muttered in awe.
Milo looked like he was about to laugh, but Liane shot him such an uncharacteristic glare that he kept whatever comnt he was holding back to himself.
“It’s big because people train inside,” Liane explained as we approached the front doors, which were propped wide open. “The guild also provides a lot of services for its mbers. You’ll usually find alchemy shops, armour, and weapon repairs, and in bigger towns and cities, even enchanters and residential quarters. Here though, it’s fairly simple.”
When we stepped inside, I couldn’t help but stare. The place was packed. On the left were several counters, each with a line of people waiting. In the centre of the room stood a massive pillar covered in papers—tasks or job postings, I guessed. Behind that were three large doors: one labelled Training Rooms, another marked Services, and a smaller, unmarked one off to the side. To the right was a general seating area with dozens of tables and chairs, and to my surprise, it was nearly full.
Milo guided over to the counters while I glanced around, realising Liane had vanished the mont we entered the guild.
“We’re going to report first,” Milo said as we joined one of the lines. “After that, we’ll see about getting you registered as a support if we can—hopefully without having you assigned sowhere else. And don’t worry, Liane’s still with us. She just hates crowds.” He offered a small smile, which was oddly reassuring.
Despite the number of people, the line moved quickly, and before long, we were standing at the front before a well-dressed man seated behind what looked like a crystal screen.
“How can we help you today?” the man asked politely.
“Hello. We’ve co to report two encounters with a siege-level threat monster on the road through the Dark Forest from Greenstone,” Milo said.
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“Thank you. Before I transfer you to a guild officer, was it the sa creature both tis?” the man asked, noting sothing on the screen.
“We believe so, though there’s no way to be certain,” Milo replied.
“Did it follow you to town, or was it seen within one day’s travel from here?”
“No. We last encountered it two days ago,” Milo answered.
The attendant gave a curt nod before guiding us through the smallest of the three doors and into a well-appointed office. It was there that Liane suddenly reappeared, materialising out of nowhere and giving the attendant a bit of a start—though, to his credit, he didn’t let it show much.
Once we were seated, the attendant left. It wasn’t long before an older woman with clear battle scars entered the room. Milo and Liane both started to stand, but she waved a hand.
“Stay seated,” she said in a voice far softer than her appearance suggested.
“My na is Guild Officer Georgina. It says here you had two separate encounters with a siege-level threat. Tell about this,” she said, taking a seat across from us.
“Simply put,” Milo began, “we had two separate run-ins with a Shadow Cat. It appeared fully grown but didn’t show any hostility toward us. The first sighting was during a lunch stop when we went foraging with young Trevor here. It seed to be stalking us, so we packed up and rode hard for nearly eight hours before stopping for the night. Then, the Shadow Cat appeared inside the structure I built for our camp, where it took so food Trevor had just prepared before leaving.”
“Interesting,” Georgina muttered. “And it stole all your food?”
“No,” Milo said, shaking his head. “That’s the odd part. The al it took was small—surprisingly small, considering the size of the creature. It took a single cooked bird.”
“So, it ignored your regular trail rations? Was it starving?” She asked, clear confusion in her tone.
“Not exactly,” Milo replied. “See, Trevor here has a rare class—a cooking class. His als grant buffs and healing. Trevor ntioned the food temporarily empowered the creature, and then it went on a killing spree.”
Only now did her gaze shift to . When it did, it felt as if a weight pressed down on my chest.
“And you could tell that how?” she asked.
“I.. I get experience whenever soone fights while under my buffs,” I stamred. “The cat got into eighty-three combat encounters during the buff period.”
The pressure eased imdiately when she turned back to Milo, who didn’t seem affected in the slightest.
“What’s the likelihood of this cat still following you?” Georgina asked, her tone sharp and serious.
“There’s a nonzero chance,” Milo replied. “I suspect the cat knew the al was enchanted with mana, and I’m fairly certain it realised it was buffed. We haven’t seen it since, but with a Shadow Cat, truthfully, we have no way of knowing.”
“Thank you for your honesty,” Georgina said with a small nod. “I agree with your assessnt. A creature of that intelligence would have noticed any significant buffs. Do you, by chance, rember what the buffs were?”
I could only shrug—I honestly did not know. Milo looked equally unsure.
“Herb-Roasted Blood Owl. Two Endurance, two Perception,” Liane said flatly, as if she were reading it off a list.
I stared at her, stunned she rembered that. Sure, she loved her food, and she’d been one of the only ones to try the dish, but still.
“Four stat points from roasting a Blood Owl?” Georgina repeated, disbelief creeping into her voice. Her gaze swung back to , and the pressure returned—this ti lighter, but still unmistakable.
“What did you say your class was?” she asked.
“Arcane Chef, ma’am,” I answered quickly.
“Very intriguing,” Georgina murmured, falling silent for a long mont.
Milo broke the silence. “We’ll be leaving town tomorrow on our way to Boltron. We’re currently on an escort job, but while we’re here—and now that you’re familiar with what young Trevor can do with his class—I was hoping we could get him registered with the guild as a support class. I don’t want to speak for him, but I believe he wishes to stay with our group for now, and we’re happy to guide him,” he said, smoothly shifting the conversation.
“Yes, we can absolutely register him as a support class,” Georgina replied. “Even if he chose to work from a guild hall, his services would be invaluable. However,” she continued, pulling a crystal screen from her desk, “there is a significant level gap. Your team mbers are all over level forty. That poses a very real safety concern.”
“We understand that it’s unusual,” Milo said. “However, due to the back-line nature of his support abilities, we believe we can keep him safe while he travels with us.”
Liane simply watched, glancing between and Milo before returning her gaze to the guild officer.
“Very well,” Georgina said at last. “Trevor, I need you to understand the risks before I approve this. The tasks their group will be assigned involve monsters—and sotis environnts—that could kill you purely by accident. It is extrely dangerous. If you prefer, we could instead assign you to an up-and-coming group.” Her expression was stern; her words deliberate.
“No thanks. I’m happy staying with these guys. They’ve looked after through plenty of intense encounters already, and I’d be more than happy to keep teaming alongside them,” I said with as much confidence as I could muster.
“Very well. We’ll get you signed up,” Georgina replied. “You probably won’t try to break them, but I still need to clarify a few rules. First: no fighting other guild mbers—this will result in disciplinary action. Second: as a support mber, you may not take combat tasks unless you are with your assigned group. Third: all paynts made to a party are to be split evenly among the mbers.”
She reached into her desk and pulled out a slate-like object with a small, sharp tal spike on one side.
“Place your thumb on the spike. It will record your class details for the system and serve as your formal approval to join the Adventurer’s Guild,” she said, sliding the slate across the desk.
This was it. I was actually joining the Adventurer’s Guild. It wasn’t how I ever imagined it would happen, but it had always been a dream of mine. I pressed my thumb onto the spike. It stung—just a little—before the screen lit up, displaying all of my details.
Na: Trevor
Class: Arcane Chef
Rarity: Rare
Level: 14
Experience: 983/8880
Hit points: 190/190
Mana: 390/430
Stamina: 132/190
Strength: 13
Dexterity: 24
Endurance: 19
Intelligence: 43
Wisdom: 20
Charisma: 10
Willpower: 12
Perception: 8
Luck: 6
Unspent: 2
Abilities:
Basic al Prep: 4
Butchery: 3
Knifework: 5
Infused Flavour: 3
Chef's Pantry: 3
Culinary Transformation: 2
Arcane Foraging: 2
Evolution Quest:
Perform 50 perfect cuts - 48/50
On Level Up:
2 Intelligence
1 Wisdom
1 Dexterity
2 Unassigned
“Interesting. Very well, you’re all signed up,” Georgina said, putting the slate away.
“Now, back to our original conversation. It’s best for you to leave tomorrow. Unfortunately, we’re not equipped to defend against a Shadow Cat if it’s still following you.” She sighed heavily. “I hope, for your sake, it stayed in the forest. We have no recorded instances of a Shadow Cat ever tolerating any race—except for a single Elven text from millennia ago. And even then, it was only a matter of shared territory, nothing more.”
She exhaled again before continuing. “Any other encounters of note?”
“The only other ones were a small group of bandits before Greenstone—they were all killed—and a Galvonson fighting what appeared to be Ancient Treants on the road,” Milo reported.
“Yes, we’ve had several reports about the Galvonson. So far, it hasn’t attacked adventurers, but it’s apparently setting up a nest near Mt. Divinus. They’ll likely beco very aggressive once their young are born. We’ll probably need to deal with it before then.”
She nodded once, then straightened. “If that’s all, I wish you all the best. I’ll take my leave.” Georgina extended her hand toward .
I grasped it, and she smiled faintly. “Welco to the guild, Trevor. I hope you flourish.”
And with that, she left the room. A mont later, the attendant from before returned to escort us back to the front.
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