A Sinner’s Chance

As usual the start of the school year was a flurry of activity, as new students enrolled and old students prepared for their new classes, and in the case of us fourth years, registering at the Adventurer's Guild if one was so inclined to do so. Joining the Guild wasn't something to be done on a whim as is often depicted in many fantasy stories. 

Beyond taking and solving requests for various people each rank had additional duties assigned by the Guild and every Adventurer was required to participate in requests that the Guild deemed were necessary. With the exception of the higher ranks there was a also a minimum amount of tasks one needed to complete each month. While it was rather lax and seemingly disorganized, being an Adventurer was an actual job, one that required a certain dedication to do.

It wasn't like there were no benefits to the job, beyond the money of completing requests and the Skill Shop I was aiming for, there were discounts for equipment, standardized pricing for goods that were normally difficult to buy or sell, among others that made being an Adventurer a worth while endeavor for anyone willing to risk life and limb for it.

For students like myself and the other fourth years who were registering today we weren't actually given proper membership, it was more like an apprenticeship or trial. Should we decide to become Adventurer once school finished any rank we had earned would be official, but we'd also be tied by the other restrictions associated with becoming one. This was done so that nobles like myself could gain practical real-world experience as well as an understanding of an Adventurer's life, but not have any responsibility to the Guild later.

I was personally planning on becoming a full-fledged Adventurer. While the calm and slow life I'd been living was nice I didn't really have the leisure to do whatever I wanted until I died, the ever-present blade at my neck that was the Queen of Hell's threat was something I'd rather deal with sooner rather than later. The plan was to fulfill my filial duty by marrying Arya and tying the Yin-Yang clan and Eldur clan together, then to go and explore the world with Arya. No matter how you looked at it I was surely the bride, and Elves were encouraged to go out and enjoy whatever the world offered for a few hundred years after becoming adult so it was a perfect situation for the two of us.

The only problem in our relationship was the complete and utter lack of sexual intimacy. The two of us had grown rather close after living together for nearly three years and to others we either looked like very good friends or a couple. Recently I'd been working on getting over my stigma against the male genitalia, but it was easier said than done and while I was fine practicing the Yin-Yang Scripture with Arya, which required our nudity, the second it became sexual I was suddenly like a pure virgin who'd never even thought about sex before.

To be honest, I felt like there was only a think piece of glass that was holding me back, but it felt like once it was broken, I'd change in some fundamental way and while maybe one day it would shatter, today was not that day. I lowered myself down from the silken hammock above the bed where Arya was slovenly sprawled out just as the sun peaked through the window and landed silently on the floor. I'd never really thought myself a morning person, but Arya was far worse than me in that regard, it seemed like a miracle that she had managed when she'd been at the dorm.

As was usual for us now, I woke up first and prepared breakfast before waking Arya up. Once we'd eaten breakfast we'd head to our morning classes before meeting up for lunch. We'd both had a free study class right after lunch that we used to practice the Yin-Yang Scripture as Arya got more benefit when the sun was closer to it's zenith. I was perfectly happy with this as beyond training the Yin Revolution Skill it also helped develop the Yin from Yang Skill. Once we'd finished, Arya would head back to the main campus to attend the rest of her afternoon classes while I would stay back and work on whatever projects I had in progress. Technically of course I was supposed to be in afternoon classes as well, but since I'd made sure to fill them up with crafting classes whose instructors I knew well it was completely fine if I simply showed up once in a blue moon with a related product of my own creation.

Today I was hoping to finish up the final touches on my armor. Well I called it armor, but it really could only be considered that for someone who had my particular set of Skills. If I were to call it protective I would be lying, as in actually left the majority of my body exposed, in fact it was more similar to the exo-skeletons from my past life.

The armor itself was made from a combination of my silk and carapace. I'd recently managed to increase Carapace to the max and it was now capable of being apart from me, of course that prerequisite was that I break and rip it off rather than just deactivating the Skill. It consisted of a literal breastplate that was formed much like a tube top with two about inch wide plated strips that framed my stomach, with a thicker one that ran along my spine covering my spinneret. The spine plating contained a contraption that allowed me to spin silk and divert it to either of my under wrist web shooters. All the plated strips connected to what was essentially just crotch plating since actual pants or leg armor would interfere with my carapace, or be too baggy to easily fight in. 

Honestly, it was probably more similar to an exotic swimsuit than a suit of armor, but it hit all the important points for me, and while I'd considered adding additional protection for my arms, legs, and neck, in the end I decided that this would be enough since I could wear it under my normal clothing if I needed to. Probably the part I was most proud of was finding a way to let the armor tap into my regenerative powers by making numerous thin needles that kept the armor lodged into my body.

However it's most important one was to prevent me from being cleaved in half, something I'd experienced in the Dreamscape when sparring with instructors during assessments. While my regenerative abilities were beyond impressive and I could survive such an injury, once I was in that position my only choice was to await the destruction of my skull or forfeit. Essentially I'd only die if my head was crushed, though it was quite possible that I could revive afterwards, but that was not something I really wanted to test, and since the Dreamscape was more like a simulation, you couldn't completely train or learn a Skill there, otherwise everyone would just train in one that had a slower flow of time than normal.