Three years later
"Jacob! Get up! You're going to be late again!"
I jolted upright at my mothers voice as she shouted up the stairs, and glanced at the clock on my wall. It was an old piece, but the power crystal was still functioning even ten years later. Unfortunately, that meant it was on-time, and I was running later.
"Alright, I'm up!" I shouted, jumping out of bed and pulling on a pair of trousers.
I was still feeling a little groggy since I had a hard time sleeping the night before, but the prospect of Guild Recruitment Day was enough to shake the cobwebs out of my foggy mind. With my trousers on and tied I grabbed my best tunic, belt and boots and pulled them on. My best boots were actually my only boots, but I did give them a clean the night before. My best tunic however was a little snug across my chest and arms. I had looted this item from a bronze tier dungeon the previous year, and while it wasn't a magic item, the deep red fabric was thick and soft, and the gold trim looked regal and rich, so I put it aside for a special occasion. Unfortunately, I seemed to have grown a bunch since I tried it on last.
"Oh well. It'll have to do," I shrugged and buckled my belt over my tunic and half stumbled down the narrow, winding stairs in my hurry.
"Slow down! You're going to break something," my mother scolded me playfully as I burst into the kitchen of our small home.
Our modest cottage had been the only home I had ever known. My father had built it with the help of my grandfather, shortly after he had met and married my mother. The home was sturdy, and well made, but it was starting to feel a little cramped.
"I'll be fine, I'm durable," I grinned, snagging a freshly picked apple from a bowl.
"I'm not worried about you hurting yourself. I'm worried about you breaking the house you big oaf," my mother chided, playfully slapping me on the arm. "You just won't stop growing."
My mother was a short, slender woman with brown hair and brown eyes, which was about the only thing I had inherited from her. I towered over my mother--and most people I met--at nearly two-metres tall. A trait I could thank my father for. It often made finding gear and clothing more difficult--and i tended to stand out in a crowd--but I found it helpful as a melee based Adventurer when raiding Dungeons.
"Maybe I'll find a Guild that needs someone to reach a top shelf," I chuckled, making light of my own dilemma.
"Any Guild would be lucky to have you," my mother said proudly. "Just look how big and strong you are, and handsome. I'm sure the girls won't leave you alone."
"Yeah, they're all lining up for the low-ranked, Giftless Adventurer," I said, only half jokingly.
"Your Gift will come through any day now. It has to."
My mother was adamant that my Gift would manifest eventually, saying that sometimes it just happened later for some people. All of my research showed that even the oldest people to manifest an ability never left their teens, with the oldest in history being nineteen before their Gift awakened. A title that I was an unwilling successor to.
"Even if it does, there's nothing to say it'll even be anything useful. Plenty of people have Gifts that would be pointless in Dungeon diving," I said, repeating the line I kept telling myself.
While everyone did manifest a Gift, not all of those Gifts would be considered equal. My mother for example, had the Gift to know when someone was lying to her, because her toes would tingle. A particularly powerful ability when dealing with an unruly teenager, but not too useful for slaying goblins and orcs. My neighbour had the ability to handle extremely hot items with his bare hands, which is incredibly useful since he is a blacksmith, meanwhile his wife could cure raw hide into tanned leather in a fraction of the time by singing. Almost everyone was pigeon-holed into a profession that benefited from their Gifted ability. Since mine hadn't come in, I felt like I was given a little more freedom to decide what I wanted to do. Too many adventurers relied heavily on their Gifts and fell short in all other aspects. Unfortunately, Guilds tended to look at Gifts first.
"Well this is the year, I can feel it," my mother beamed with barely contained enthusiasm. "But, not if you don't get your butt moving young man."
"Love you, Mum," I grinned and gave my mother a big hug before slipping out through the back door, my apple clutched between my teeth.
I chomped on my apple as I bounded down the steps of our modest, two-story cottage. The building sat on a small patch of land that we shared with our neighbour, the town blacksmith. He and my father had been good friends in their youth, and after some lucky dungeon raids as Silver rank adventurers, they bought a parcel of land together and built two houses, a blacksmiths forge and a small workshop. The workshop backed up against the forge, and was about half the size, but it was perfectly suited for my needs. The enchanted lock clicked open at my touch, as it would have done for my mother, and my neighbours. They could access our home and workshop anytime they wanted, just as I had free reign of the forge if I needed something.
The doors swung open smoothly on well-oiled hinges. The doors had been replaced a couple of years ago with some sturdy hardwood after the previous doors were damaged in a particularly savage storm. Inside, the workshop was dim and cramped with crates, two worktables and an assortment of weapon and tool racks which held all my adventuring provisions. I rarely got to do any crafting these days, so the workshop had become storage since all my junk wouldn't fit in the house.
I had inventoried my gear the night before when I couldn't sleep--I often didn't sleep well the night before Guild Recruitment Day--but it was a habit of mine to triple check everything needed before setting out on a journey. I lit a glow lamp on the table, which was connected to one on the ceiling and door with magic. The shards hummed with energy as they pulsed to life, filling the cosey workshop with a soft, white glow. I emptied the contents of my pack, checking everything was in good order before returning it.
The bedroll was in sound condition and dry, the flint and steel in its case, waterskin filled and sealed, spare clothes rolled neatly to save space, oil flask sealed and secured, mess kit organised, various chalks in one piece, rope and climbing gear all accounted for.
I tried to travel as lightly as possible when starting out the year, but I had come to rely on some of the heavier items like the climbing gear and ropes. Many dungeons weren't so straight forward and when adventuring alone you couldn't take any risks. Often the best rewards required a little bit of treasure hunting to uncover. The last thing I needed for the trip to the capital was food. Satisfied with my pack, I began donning my adventurers gear. My leather jerkin was a little tight across the shoulders and chest, but after a test swing of my arms I was satisfied it wouldn't hinder my combat, although I would need to find a replacement this year. I strapped a few knives onto my person--ensuring I was able to reach each of them in a bind--before picking up my sword. The leather wrapped hilt felt comfortable in my hand, like i was shaking hands with my best friend. This has been the first piece of gear I had bought after my starter sword had broken in my first year. It had cost me my entire haul for that raid, and then some, forcing me to take out a loan. I could have gotten something cheaper, but after my sword had broken on a goblins skull, I wanted to ensure I had something reliable. I had wrapped the handle with fresh leather strips the day before, and sharpened the blade to a razors edge.
I gave the weapon a few practice swings, ensuring the fit of the leather wrapping was tight.
"Looking good, Jacob."
Rylan was the son of my neighbours, and a childhood friend of mine. He poked his head through the open door with a wide grin on his face. He was younger than me by a few years, only turning eighteen a couple weeks earlier and was as excited as i was at his age to get his adventurers license.
"Thanks, Rylan," I smiled, sheathing my sword and buckling the sword belt around my waist. "You ready to go?"
"Yeah. Mum was a bit of a mess, but I think my dad is happy for some peace and quiet," Rylan grinned.
"Now you're my problem," I joked.
Rylan's mother and father has pulled me aside a few weeks ago after their son's eighteenth birthday and asked me to look out for him. Rylan was set on becoming an adventurer like me, but also like me, he hadn't manifested a Gift. After my first year I had tried to dissuade him from following my path, but he become even more adamant about becoming an adventurer since I was proof that you didn't need a fancy Gift. Just your wits, and some skill with a sword. Dahvin, the grizzled swordsman I had met on my first year, had come to our village and to help train me, and Rylan had sat in on the majority of our lessons, picking up crucial skills far earlier than I had. I had no doubt he would hold his own against the monsters found in a Copper Rank dungeon. But it was the rejection he'd receive from the Guilds that I wanted to protect him from.
At least I wouldn't be alone this year.
Rylan stood in the doorway with his pack, travel cloak and his tussled, messy blonde hair creating the look of a farm boy on his way to the big city for the first time. The stupid grin on his face didn't help.
"What are you grinning like a fool for?" I asked suspiciously.
"My Gift manifested last night," Rylan grinned wider.
Of course his Gift would manifest the day before we set out for the Guild Recruitment Festival. Not everyone was as unlucky as me. I felt a pang of jealousy, but I shoved it down as quickly as it had risen its ugly head. I should be happy for Rylan. He dealt with just as much bullying and ridicule from kids his age growing up without a Gift. At least he would be spared the same weird and confused looks by other adventurers as they tried to figure out if you were lying to them, or if you were just a freak.
"I'm guess by that shit-eating grin, it's something good," I replied, crossing my arms and waiting patiently.
"Oh man, is it ever!" Rylan exclaimed.
The younger, blonde boy raised his hand before him with an outstretch arm. His brow furrowed in concentration for a moment, then a flicker of a spark appeared in his hand. The spark quickly multiplied, igniting into a flame about the size of an apple. The orb was dull, and I didn't feel any heat coming from it, but it still sputtered angrily as it danced in his palm. Suddenly, the flame was gone, and Rylan let out a breath i hadn't realised he had been holding.
"Impressive," I said with a smirk.
"It's hard to summon and harder to control, but I think I might be able to become a fire mage," Rylan said excitedly.
I crossed the distance between us and wrapped Rylan up in a big bear hug, crushing the smaller boy to my chest. With a laugh, I picked him up easily. "I'm happy for you man, I really am. You're going to be fighting Guilds off with a Gift like that."
Fire Gifts were not very common, and could often develop into powerful magical abilities with the right combination of enchanted gear and natural growth. It wouldn't even matter to most Guilds that he had only just manifested the ability, instead of having a decade to wield and master it like the average citizen. They'd snatch him up quickly with signing bonuses and probably his own room in their Guild house instead of stuffing him in a dorm with the other Coppers.
Rylan cough as I set him down, but the smile never left his face. "I know, and I can take you with me. With your size and strength, and my magic, we'll make a great team."
"Yeah, of course we will," I smiled and nodded, but deep down i knew that would cause problems.
Most Guilds had a limit to how many recruits they could take on yearly, and while Rylan would be a hot topic, there aren't many Guild recruiters that would sign on someone without a Gift. They'd probably remember me from the past three years, trying to sign on with absolutely anyone. If I was being honest with myself, I wasn't sure I'd even accept if the offer was made. I didn't want to get picked just for my friendship with Rylan, or out of pity. I hadn't needed anyone but myself so far.
"We should just start our own Guild," Rylan said, as if reading my mind. "You're a Silver rank now, so you can create your own Guild."
"We'd need another three people at least to sign the Guild roster, and a thousand gold marks for the license," I reminded Rylan. "You don't happen to have a stash laying around anywhere, do you?"
"No, but we could get a loan," Rylan replied.
"Not at their interest rates. We'd be crushed by interest, not to mention insurance and licensing fees for our members. Most small Guilds are created with a group of friends who want to stick together, but they operate like individuals mostly, with a shared bank used to cover running costs."
"I get it," Rylan sighed. "It sucks. It would be so fun to start our own Guild."
"Don't worry about it man," I clapped him on the shoulder, much the same way Dahvin had done for me when we first met. "Everything will work out. You'll be a powerful mage someday, and I'll be there to watch your back."
I hated lying to my friend, but I didn't want to ruin his day with the pessimistic truth about how events would likely unfold. I just couldn't get my hopes up again.
"Come on. My Mum has some food prepared for our trip. Let's go pick it up and say our farewells. Then it's time to hit the road."