Sharp

“Your aura has changed,” Val said when she saw me next.

Akemi looked up from where she was practising drawing a ritual diagram. She studied me for a bit, then said, “Yes, she is right. It is still a Leonid Aura, but there is something extra. I am not sure what.”

“I am,” Val said, stepping closer. “It is like what you sense in some priests and a scaled-down version of when the gods appear in the temple square. Did you meet a god?”

“I did, in fact, meet a goddess. I didn’t realise my aura had changed.”

“That can happen just by being near them. Come on, spill!” Val said.

“I don’t want it to spread around, though.”

“You met a goddess, Theo. A Goddess. Do you know how big that is? Do you know what will that do to your reputation?” Val said.

“That is just it. My reputation is fine. My reputation is based on me, not on someone I met briefly.”

“But this is a Goddess. You don’t get bigger than that,” Val argued.

“And what she told me was very personal, so I don’t want it to spread around.”

“So you spoke to her. It wasn’t just passing her in the square. You had a conversation,” She said.

“And it was personal, very personal.”

Val stepped back, “I don’t understand you, Theo.”

“Was it the Goddess of Death?” Akemi asked.

I nodded, “I was in her Temple.”

“That makes sense. So what is she like? You don’t have to tell us what she said, but tell us about her,” Akemi said.

So, I gave them a very abbreviated account. I didn’t mention the priest's response, only that Denice, Omari, and I went out for drinks afterwards.

Val was only partly appeased, but I think Akemi understood better.

I was not ready to reveal my status in the church, as there would be expectations, and I had no idea what I should be doing. That is not right. I know what I should be doing. I need to get stronger and keep doing what I was. I would not meet any new expectations if people knew I was a Roaming Cleric. Whatever that means. I can do the work of the Goddess better without the attention.

The next step in getting stronger is to gain an Adventure Society membership, and the two weeks went fast. It is probably 50/50 as to whether I passed Intro to Magic.

I struggled with my armour. I visited some armourers to look at their wares, and I had some ideas, but nothing actionable yet. Next semester, I plan to take an armouring course. I am also debating taking a weapon-making course, as more knowledge could help my Sharpen Skills. I learned in the mill and with Jeb that not all cutting edges are the same, and this will get more complicated as the materials get a higher tier. I will be using high-tier weapons as I can only conjure webbing.

There were ten of us candidates and two silver-rank assessors/protectors. Val was there, as was the second year from the Remore Academy, Rodtael, who asked to be called Rod. He was a Celestine with silver hair and eyes. I discovered that all but two of the candidates were from various academies. Josh was here with a girl, Gail, from the Brisku Academy. There were two from The Elite Academy of Vitesse and one from The Essential Academy. The other two were from noble houses, and Val knew them.

“I am Overseer Williams, and with me is Overseer Agere. We will assess you for the next week. From here, we will portal to Stillwater, as they have been understaffed since the undead outbreak a year and a half ago. Then, we will be on the road in the surrounding area, clearing out the monster notices. Stillwater is a mid-bronze magic zone, with the occasional iron-rank monster and the occasional silver-rank monsters. Most of the monsters will be bronze-rank, meaning every monster will require a team effort.”

Overseer Agere took over, “If we came across a silver-ranked monster, Overseer Williams and I will deal with it, and you will stay out of the way. For all other monsters, we will be assigning a leader among you to direct the fight. This will rotate, but remember, we are not assessing leadership ability. We are assessing the ability to kill monsters efficiently and preferably with minimal injury.”

Overseer Williams took over, “Sometimes there are rivalries between academies, nobles, nobles and peasants, churches, or personal rivalries. We have seen them all. Let us be clear. They have no place in the Adventure Society. If these things interfere with the ability to defeat monsters or put lives at risk, you will not be becoming a member of the Adventure Society.”

Overseer Agere continued, “We understand none of you have worked together before as a team. You will need to discuss roles and abilities once we get on the road from Stillwater. Ten is a large team. We understand not everyone is a leader. You may pass on the leadership if you wish. Judgement of your and others' abilities is part of this assessment. Working under leaders you disagree with is also part of this assessment.”

“Stillwater is a prime example of this,” Overseer Williams continued, “When the undead outbreak occurred, teams were scrambled and joined, and leaders were assigned as they were available. There was no time for choices or arguments. We just needed to get the job done. The same things happen in the monster surges. This is what we are looking for in Adventure Society members. Can you get the job done?”

“We will be clearing two to three notices a day. Think about these things as you follow me. Our scheduled portal should be ready.” We followed the Overseers as they went through to the portal specialist on duty.

It was a gold rank portalist, and there was a queue of people, and we joined the line. I recognised the Stillwater Adventure Society building when we arrived, but we didn’t stop and went out into a fifteen-seat skimmer that was waiting for us. Hopefully, there will be time to catch up with Nia, Anada and the others afterwards.

Once we were underway, Josh stood up and got everyones attention, “Hi all, I am Josh. We need to get a handle on everyone's skills. I suggest we divide it into groups of Defenders, Damage people, and others. Do we have any healers here?”

A human female raised her hand, “I am Iris. I have some after-fight heals, but I am not a specialist healer.”

I spoke up, “I imagine a lot of us can multi-role. How about we just go around and introduce ourselves and our essences, bonds, and where we see ourselves best fitting in a fight.”

Josh frowned at that but went with it, “Very well, I have Sword, Iron, Might and Master and am a specialist Defender.” He indicated to his left.

“I am Gail,” said the human female he came with, “I have Might, Swift, Wind and Onslaught. I am all about dealing fast, hard damage.”

“I am Val. Sword, Adept, Dance and Master. I am a sword dancer, so damage is my thing.”

I said, “I am Theo. I have Sharpen, Hunt, Plant, and Reaper. I have two bonds, Kai,” who appeared in my arm, “who is good at scouting and eating. I also have Ardisia, who is a bloodroot vine and is good at trapping. I am good at scouting; I can deal damage and have traps for crowd control.”

I nodded to Rod next to me.

“I am Rod, and I have Balance, Water, Adept and Mystic. Magic and damage are my things, both corporeal and incorporeal.” He nodded to the male elf next to him.

“Cal’s the name. Sword, Shield, Adept and Master. I can both defend and deal damage.”

“Pete,” said the only Smoulder with us, “Fire, Iron, Snake, Serpent. Smokey is my Fire Snake bond, but I won’t bring him out here as he causes damage. I also short-term summon Iron snakes. We deal a lot of damage.”

“Hi everyone,” said the female elf next to him, “I am Maiele. I have Bird, Wind, Song and Harpy. I have a harpy familiar, Vynora. We are good at crowd control and slowing enemies.”

“I’m Iris, as I said. I have Earth, Sand, Water and Oasis. We are good at damage and slowing monsters and after-fight healing.”

“Anji,” said the last member, and only other Leonid. “I have Dark, Earth, Venom and Doom. I can deal poison-stacking damage, but I also double as a defender. I have some stealth as well.”

“Thanks, everybody,” Josh said as he took charge again. Several looked like they might challenge for the leadership position, but Josh kept going, “We have quite the variety and it looks like we will need a few fights to figure everything out.”

“It looks like your first challenge is coming up,” Overseer Williams said, holding a tablet. “I have just received notice of a Bronze-Rank Rune Spider only ten minutes away. Josh, you are the first leader unless you want to pass.”

“No, I am good,” Josh said. Williams nodded to him and left him to it.

I pulled out the Monster Compendium, as did Maiele.

Josh nodded to Maiele, “Do you want to refresh our memories?”

“Rune Spider. Fast and agile. Shoots webs with various elemental effects depending on the runes. Shocking, Venom, Sticky, and Burning Webs are common. Can also use elements without the web. Once a rune is used, it takes time to recharge before they can use that element again,” she read.

“So it is fast and traps its prey. Has anyone fought one of these before?” Josh asked.

Silence and the shaking of heads.

I spoke up, “I fought a Bronze Rank Hunter Spider before. Taking out the legs on one side severely restricts its movements. We also blinded it, but we did have an ability that was very effective at that.”

“That is a good plan. Does anybody think we can blind it?”

“My sand may work, but I am not sure,” Iris said.

“Ok. You try that. We also need to draw it out from it’s web and hold it long enough to take some legs out. Miaele, do you have anything that might hold it?”

“I have a song that might work for a bit, but it is bronze to my iron.”

“Iris?”

“Probably not.”

“Theo?”

“Same as Maiele. Short-term holding only.”

“OK, Maiele and Theo, on holding it in place. Anji, can you protect them?” Anji nodded. “That leaves me and Cal to defend the rest, who will attempt to take out the legs. Gail, do you think you can draw it out without getting caught in the webs?”

Gail nodded.

“OK, Val. I know you are flexible. If she gets stuck, you are to cut her out.”

Val nodded. I guess Josh knew both Gail's and Val's skills best.

“Does anyone have anything to add?” he asked, waiting for a response. “Ok. Listen for my instructions when things change, and speak up if you notice something.”

Based on our limited knowledge, it sounded like a reasonable plan to me.

The Skimmer stopped, and we piled out. Josh looked at the overseers, “Where…”

Williams interrupted, “Carry on.”

Finding the monster and confirming the details are always the first steps. We have done a lot of Mirage chamber exercises with incomplete details. Josh’s Academy must be the same.

He looked at me, remembering I was the only one who mentioned scouting. “Theo, can you find it for us, please? Everybody else, prepare what you need.”

I took a sniff of the wind. I was not that familiar with this area, but something smelled off, so three Kais darted out, and we headed upwind first. The area was lightly forested mixed with farmland, as we were not far from the city. I blended into the bush and used Hunters Step to move swiftly and lightly.

I came to the edge of a farm and stopped. I would have expected the spider to be webbing the forest, not in open farmland. One of the Kai’s tugged our bond, and I moved around the edge of the bush in his direction. The normal sounds of the forest had stopped.

As I came around, I saw a large barn, and my Eyesight noticed something unusual on the edge of the roof. As I circled closer, I saw the webbing attached to the back of the barn and stretching into the trees beyond. I slowed and went very cautiously, giving my Blend Skill time to adjust.

The fact it was a spider was obvious. I needed to confirm the type of spider and the number of spiders. Just because rune spiders are generally lone monsters does not mean this one is; there are also other types of spiders that come in groups if the identification is wrong.

I moved cautiously, careful to stay away from any webbing. I couldn’t tell what type of webbing it was unless I touched it. That wouldn’t confirm it anyway. Frost Spiders can produce frosted webbing similar to one of the runes on a rune spider, and Frost spiders come in packs.

Eventually, I spotted a leg and moved so I could see the body. Yes, there were trademark runes on the body, and I was reasonably sure it was alone.

Then I heard the noise of numerous people moving through the forest, and so did the spider. Why couldn’t Josh have waited a bit longer? Now, there is no element of surprise.