Ophelia Lerdat woke slowly, stretching out arms and legs under the satin sheets she lay under. The familiar tightness in her right thigh barely made her wince these days. What did make her wince, more because she couldn’t understand how one could remain sleeping while making the sound, was the snore coming from beside her.

  Giving her own snort of amusement, Ophelia stood from the bed and put on a robe that was nearby. There was much that needed to be done to prepare the guild for the day. There always was. She paused, looking back at the still sleeping woman, thinking that she had been right in getting a larger sized bed.

  Liscerna Pinniard lay sprawled under the sheets and blanket they shared. Arms and legs akimbo, she took up most of the bed space available. Ophelia herself tended not to move while sleeping.

  The sleeping guildmaster’s grey streaked red hair was covering half her face, which brought a smile to Ophelia’s lips. If only I had the time for painting again, she thought to herself. Liscerna would scream bloody murder if I painted her sleeping like this.

  Grinning at her thoughts, the librarian turned sorceress crept out of their bedroom towards the little kitchen of their shared suite. She paused only long enough to step into a pair of slippers. “When did I become so domestic?” she whispered to herself with a chuckle.

  Once in the kitchen she began putting together breakfast. A flick of her fingers towards a metal stove activated a rune to start heating up the pan. Eggs, scrambled. Bacon, cooked long enough to have a bit of chew to it without being burnt. A few pieces of toast, grab the jar of preserves from the cold box. Two plates on the table and just waiting for…

  Liscerna shuffled from the hall to the bedroom, bleary eyed and hair a bit wild around her head. “Kaff?”

  Ophelia snorted, setting two cups down by their plates on the table. “Morning to you too.”

  The Guildmaster, strongest adventurer in the village, paused to lean down and kiss her partner’s cheek. “Thank you,” she said before sitting down and reaching for the mug of the bitter brew of life. “Ah, that’s the stuff.”

  Several groups of men and women clustered around the entrance of a cave. Each of them sorted through bags and packs, checking and rechecking gear and supplies. Generally, a normal scene as the day started in front of a dungeon. At least, it was a normal scene that Kendra imagined happened in front of other dungeons, this was the only one she knew.

  Officially, if someone needed her skills, this would be her first entrance into the dungeon. Officially. It was one of those things, everyone knew it happened and as long as things were done ‘properly’, the people in charge would ‘not see’ it happening.

  Everyone knew that sometime between sixteen and eighteen, you would be offered a choice of three classes. It was common knowledge that you could decline to choose any of those three classes, and after a few months you would again be offered three classes.

  Sometimes, it was the same three. Sometimes one or two would be different. It all depended on what you did during that time. If you did the same things that you’d done all your life, then nothing would change. If you went off and delved into a dungeon with a group of adventurer’s, you’d be more likely to get a class suited to that kind of life.

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

  Which is where the loophole existed. Officially, only adventurer’s and those with specialized classes could go into dungeons. Officially.

  Most of those who were able to get a class that could delve into a dungeon, had ways to get those classes. Academies of all kinds existed to train men and women in the arts of combat to get those classes. Academies don’t just train anyone off the streets, however. They have bills to pay, after all. There were options, and then there were options.

  For Kendra, it had been the fact that her parents were adventurer’s. Are adventurer’s. The Guild still listed them as on a delve, just as many thousands of adventurer’s through the guilds entire history were listed as on a delve… that they would never return from.

  Adventurer’s tended to take care of their own. So, when Kendra had gotten her first set of choices and none of them would have allowed her to join the Guild, certain activities she and a few groups of licensed adventurer’s engaged in… never happened. Officially.

  But that was now in the past, a little more than two days in the past but still in the past. Now, she was a licensed Adventurer in good standing with the Guild. Her last foray had gotten her the class of Trapsmith.

  She’d hoped to get Scout, like her father had been. Is. But Trapsmith was close enough in the skillset. She still knew how to scout a dungeon, just with more of an eye towards finding traps and other hidden things. Like doors or treasures. Overall, it was a good class to get her in with a few groups that needed an extra eye for details.

  Which is what she was here for this morning. She would likely have to wait a bit, Most of the groups in the village near the dungeon were full, but enough had an available position available that she had a decent chance of getting a chance.

  Blowing a raspberry she closed her pack and sat on it to wait, watching the groups as they finished their checks and waited for one of the groups that had already entered to finish their delve. She was about to recheck her pack out of boredom when the ground started shaking. She looked around as the others did the same, a few stumbling a bit as the ground rumbled. She’d heard this could happen during a dungeon expansion, but that shouldn’t be possible while adventurer’s were inside the dungeon.

  The gate at the cave entrance opened, and a few bodies were forcefully ejected. From the cavernous opening, a deep yet eloquent sounding voice bellowed. “Out, shoo. The dungeon has business to attend. Shoo.”

  A few moments later, the members of the group known as Mimic Bait ran out screaming.

  The Guildmaster, Liscerna Pinniard, arrived with her partner Ophelia Lerdat, the branch's unofficial historian, as a giant beast stepped into the dungeon’s entrance. Nine feet tall at its hunched shoulders, a giant gorilla looked out at the men and women surrounding the dungeon. Its black fur shined in the light of the sun, patches gleaming almost silver.

  The Guildmaster looked around at the men and women that had taken up positions around the cave entrance. Spotting Kendra, she shouted at the younger woman, giving her orders and watched as she started running to the south. Then, with a look to her partner and a glance around at the other adventurers, Liscerna walked towards the beast, stopping at a relatively safe distance.

  She was proud of the men and women here, her adventurer’s. One of the most important jobs an adventurer had was to fight against the creatures of a Break, and they’d all lined up ready for whatever was to come. If the beast at the entrance to the dungeon wasn’t as powerful as she felt it was, she’d be offering free drinks at the Guild’s tavern after this.

  The historian walked to stand next to her and both women turned to the gorilla. “Core Guardian,” her partner, Ophelia, whispered.

  “Of course it is,” Liscerna sighed, closing her eyes for a moment. “Well, it shouldn’t be a Break then, that’s a plus. Let’s see what it wants.”

  And the day had been going so well.