Otherworld Avatar

It was early morning when Lily woke up, and she was glad that her body wasn't fully human. The day ahead of her was very busy, and she quickly got underway. After showering and eating breakfast, she put on her armor and made her way down to the training yard. Mia wasn't there, but the guard, Rick, was waiting for her.

"I am glad you could join us, Your Grace," he said once he spotted her. "I know you must be busy, so for today we will just do some basic training. I want you to start familiarizing yourself with your skills and mana usage in general. If I may ask, what kind of skills do you have?"

"I have a skill that makes my next attack deal much more damage," Lily responded, and Rick nodded thoughtfully. "A common archetype for a melee skill, but a powerful one. Why don't you try striking the training dummy without it, just so we have a baseline to work with, and then do it again with it."

That seemed reasonable to Lily, so she made her way over to the dummies, and struck one of them with her sword. The blade cut deep into the wooden construct, lodging itself a few centimeters deep. Lily pulled it out, and prepared to use Smite. It was her first time using the skill, but she remembered what Mia taught her. She focused on her soul and her sword, trying to draw mana from one to the other. Sure enough, the sword started glowing purple, and she struck the dummy hard. This time, the damage was much greater. She didn't quite manage to cut through the whole log the dummy was made out of, but she came close.

"Impressive, that is a very significant increase in power," Rick said when he inspected the results of their little test. "I noticed it took you a moment to activate the skill, which is understandable for a novice, but that's time you might not have in actual combat. Skill usage needs to become instinctive, and the only way to do that is practice." He pulled out his own sword, and struck at the dummy in one swift motion. Lily could see it starting to glow as it sliced the air, and when it struck the dummy, it split it in two.

"For now, I want you to keep using your skill until you run out of mana," Rick explained as he sheathed his blade. "That way, you will become more familiar with using it, and you will know how many uses of it you have before you have to recharge, which is vital knowledge down in the dungeons. Many adventurers were hurt or killed by trying to use skills they didn't have mana for. It is a mistake that's easy to avoid, as long as you pay attention to what you are doing, and you practice beforehand."

That made perfect sense to Lily, so she got to work. She struck the dummies one after the other, pausing only to gather mana for each successive blow. The sensation of mana flowing through her body was a strange one, like standing naked in a soft breeze, feeling the air with your whole body. Except it felt like the wind was on the inside, and it creeped her out initially. She tried to ignore it, make the sensation a part of the background noise and focused only on her sword and the target.

Lily had no idea how much time had passed, but by the time she was exhausted and could no longer cast Smite, she had used it twenty times. Four dummies laid completely broken in front of her, while three more had significant damage. She got much better at using it too, reducing the delay between uses to a level Rick was satisfied with. He told her that they would take a day off tomorrow as he prepared a training regimen for her, before leaving. Lily was admiring her handiwork when she noticed someone approaching.

"Very impressive," Lily heard Mia say. "You're lucky I am rich, for that's quite a lot of damage you did there." Lily wiped the sweat from her brow as she turned to face Mia. "I didn't see you this morning," she responded, trying to hide her embarrassment. The training successfully distracted her from her feelings, but now it was time to face the music. I wonder what she's gonna say about last night, Lily thought as the swarm of butterflies returned to her stomach.

"I was busy preparing for today's activities, but I wanted to see how your training was going and if you are ready to go to the Guild," Mia answered, making no reference to the events of last night. "The carriage is ready to take us there whenever you are."

"Just let me take a quick shower and change, and I'll join you in the courtyard," Lily responded and Mia nodded.

After a refreshing shower, and having dressed in one of the shirts Dahlia gave her, Lily found Mia waiting in front of the mansion.

"What's the plan?" she asked the smaller girl, letting her take the lead, as usual.

"We go to the Guild, get you registered as an official adventurer, and then we return here to prepare for our date, of course," Mia responded with a smile. "I have the whole day planned out, so we better get going." She wasted no time getting into the carriage, and Lily followed, sitting across from her. She was getting used to this mode of transportation, and while it wasn't as fast as a bus or a car back on Earth, it had its own charms. She was also getting familiar with the road to Lundin, no longer having to ask Mia about everything they saw along the way. The Adventurer's Guild was located inside the old walls, just like the temple complex. Mia pointed out the tall building long before they got there, and Lily was impressed. Only a few of the temple spires were taller, but the Guild was much larger, its size similar to Mia's family manor. It made sense too, as it was built before the Deluge, when the population was larger, and the Guild much richer. It was still rich, Mia told her, since the resources the dungeons provided were very valuable, and the Guild took a cut from every sale, but just like the world itself, it was past its prime.

They soon arrived in front of the building itself, and Lily saw the crossed swords which were the emblem of the Guild above the great wooden doors.

"Time to make a real adventurer out of you," Mia said, putting her arm on Lily's shoulder. Lily was excited, remembering her childhood dreams. It was different from the temple business, for she never cared much for religion, but this felt official. A lot of the stories she read back on Earth had buildings like this, and many great heroes started their journeys there. Time to join their ranks, I suppose, Lily thought as she stepped inside.