They were getting used to this strange new life. They still missed their parents terribly and talked about them among themselves. But there was also an air of adventure in what they were doing. They still worried, but the worry lingered in the back of their minds. It was time to see what quests were available.

  “Ms. Hoysver, good morning.”

  “Oh, my, look at you! You look every bit the part of a true adventuring party. It’s so exciting to have so many of you around. You’re ready to collect on your quest. Let me process this.” She went to her record books and then brought out a lockbox. It was dusty, so she took a rag and cleaned it off. She waved her hand over a lock and spoke some words they couldn’t understand. The lock clicked open. “Here is your reward.” She presented them with a small pouch that jingled with the sound of coins.

  “Thank you, Ms. We’d like to keep a small amount and store the rest. Is there somewhere we can do that?”

  “Yes, yes, we can keep it for you. I should have mentioned that initially.” Bobby took out some coins. They weren’t sure how much they should keep, but they decided to keep some just in case. They handed the rest back to Ms. Hoysver, who logged it in her record books and gave them a receipt. “Also, you can let the merchants know that they can bill us as well. Not all accept this, but most do.” That was welcome news; they didn’t want to carry hundreds of coins around to buy what they needed.

  Bobby, being the best with numbers, became their de facto accountant. “About the other quests you have available?”

  “We have a lot; let’s take a look at them.” She began listing the available quests. Many people in town needed help with all sorts of tasks: deliveries, collecting, and escorting. There were harder quests as well, some involving pest control and dungeon exploration. While they were all eager to explore a dungeon, they didn’t feel ready for that yet.

  "Guys they have a Caca quest!"

  “If you could give us a moment, we’d like to discuss these requests.” The guild manager nodded, and they stepped aside as another group waited. She spoke to them, giving a similar speech to the one she’d given Josh’s group. They would need to carefully consider the quests; they now had competition from other groups starting their own journeys.

  “So, thoughts? No, Pepe, we are not going into the dungeon yet. And no, we’re not taking the ‘poop quest.’ I don’t get it—something pulls you into another world, and they still can’t get away from the poop quest?” They had seen Pepe’s excitement and knew this was coming. He ducked his head in disappointment.

  “Come on, Josh, you know we’ll have to go in eventually. We should at least get rid of some pests; we need the practice as a team.” Pepe gave him a wide smile. Unfortunately, he was right, and they could use the practice. Josh nodded at his friend. “That’s what I’m talking about!”

  They took a few minutes and settled on some of the simpler tasks: collecting seemed easy enough, as did deliveries. They also decided to take one escort quest, and just to appease Pepe, they accepted the rodent extermination quest. They returned to the guild manager and requested the quests they had chosen.

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  The escort quest was scheduled for the following day. They began by completing the delivery and gathering quests. One gathering quest involved finding missing items, another involved collecting cooking ingredients for an upcoming birthday dinner, and the third was for star metal that had been seen falling from the sky a week earlier.

  The delivery quests were mundane tasks. They split up for these, and even though they would only receive solo experience, it was still faster to work individually. These tasks took up only a short part of the morning. Next were the fetch quests, and they were eager to leave town and explore.

  The request for the star metal was slightly more difficult than the other fetch quests. It involved going around town and talking to people to see if they had witnessed the star metal falling and where they had seen it. They hit a dead end, as most people hadn’t seen it. Finally, after talking to countless people, they found a couple who had seen where it had landed. They left town as soon as they had the information; it was late morning now, and they had wanted to be out in the field much earlier.

  The missing items were easy to find, and they quickly completed that request. The cooking items were rare herbs and other cooking ingredients, and since they only had a picture of the items, gathering them was more challenging.

  Erin took charge. “Alright, guys, while I haven’t seen these before, I should be able to recognize them easily. Master Ildvesi went over some herbology with me, since rangers spend time outdoors and need to be able to identify edible and medicinal plants.” Erin took out his map, which had been updated with circles marking the areas where the items could potentially be found. Due to his training, the map had more detail than the others’ maps.

  He chose the closest circled area and started walking in that direction. As soon as he arrived, he began inspecting the area for the first item. He quickly found what he was looking for; this was going to be easier than he had thought. They moved on to the next area, with Erin quickly locating the items. The others were glad he could find them so quickly, as they probably would have taken much longer. They followed Erin for the rest of the items, which were quickly found with his guidance.

  “Maria, please verify that these are the needed items.” Just to be sure, Erin wanted to check with the HelpNode, even though he was fairly certain the items were correct.

  “User Erin, analysis indicates that the items are the requested items. Good job identifying them; I will add this to the knowledge base.” Maria was pleased and proud of her users.

  Finally, they made their way to the area where the star metal had been seen. They searched and searched, and after taking far too long, they finally found it. It had landed in a location obscured by bushes they had passed earlier. There was a rather large hole where it had impacted; they weren’t sure how they had missed it. Erin felt a little foolish, especially since he had been feeling confident after his earlier success. He had overlooked obvious signs, like the broken branches he had completely missed.

  Manuel and Pepe dug around the impact site until they uncovered the object. The piece was large and had a faint glow. Its crystalline structure looked like a cluster of small cubes fused together. They brought it to the surface, realizing how heavy it was; it took both of them to lift it out. The weight meant that two of them would need to carry it back to town.

  Next on the list was the rodent extermination request. They headed to the location marked on their map. They hadn’t visited this area before; it was east of town. They took turns carrying the star metal, as they tired quickly. Because they had no idea of the object’s size, they hadn’t accounted for its dimensions or weight. This was another thing to consider; perhaps they should invest in mounts?

  They immediately saw the problem when they arrived at the indicated location. Some of the trees and everything around them had been eaten by the rodents. Trees had fallen because the creatures would eat through their trunks and then proceed to devour any fruit, smaller branches, and leaves, leaving behind a long, bare pole. One of the rodents emerged from behind some bushes and began gnawing at a nearby tree. Its teeth were square, like a beaver’s, and it was munching away at the tree trunk.

  Josh looked at the creature. It was about the size of a large dog; the only animal he could compare it to was a capybara, a large rat-like creature he had seen once at the zoo. Instead of a stubby tail, it had a long one with what looked like pincers at the end. It didn’t really have any fur; instead, its skin was a mottled green color. You could see the creature’s muscles, and it looked strong. Another rodent joined it, and before long, the tree was down. Once it was on the ground, they began eating everything around it. Another, smaller rodent joined in.

  No other creatures appeared, so it was likely that these were the ones they needed to eliminate. Josh had no idea if this would be easy or not, but it was time to get rid of them. It was getting late, and they needed to return to town.

  “Manuel, you ready to do your thing?” Josh took out his wand, and the others followed suit. They positioned themselves around Manuel, ready to begin the fight.

  “Yup, sure thing.” He drew his sword and shield, pointed the sword at the creatures, and yelled, “Wall!” This got the creatures’ attention. They looked up toward the group but didn’t charge. “Taunt!” The skill worked, though. The creatures snorted at the ground and pawed at it before beginning their charge.

  Manuel had positioned his shield low and braced his feet to receive the impact. The creatures hit him hard; their running start amplified the force of the blows. He felt the impact, his teeth chattering slightly, but he stood his ground. He swung his sword, landing a shallow cut on the second creature that had emerged. It yelped but didn’t back off, continuing to strike and try to bite Manuel.

  While Manuel held the creatures’ attention, Pepe, on his right, moved in, making a rightward cut with one dagger followed by a vertical slash with the other. The smaller creature was hit by the first dagger but jumped back to avoid the second. While the creature seemed to consider the large warrior with the shield its primary target, it began to dodge Pepe’s attacks as well.

  Erin moved to Pepe’s right to get a better line of sight on the creature and fired his bow. The arrow struck the smaller creature in the shoulder.

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  As the creature turned toward the new attacker, Pepe moved in again. His left hand came up and then down, dispatching the creature. When Pepe tried to withdraw his dagger, he found it was stuck and let go. Before his arm was clear, the creature’s tail lashed forward, slicing his arm. Pepe yelped and jumped back as the creature fell to the ground, twitching before finally becoming still.

  “Bobby, I’ve been poisoned!” Pepe started to panic as the wound was painful, and he could feel the poison spreading. Looking down at the wound, he saw angry, reddish-black skin and black lines slowly creeping up his arm. A few seconds passed, and he noticed his HP had decreased. Crud, crud, am I going to die?! I’m too young and handsome to die! I was going to ask Michelle out; now I never will! His inner voice screamed.

  Bobby heard his friend. He had been observing the entire fight, knowing that since he didn’t currently have any offensive spells, his role was to watch over his friends. He hadn’t seen what had happened to Pepe, but as soon as his friend yelled about the poison, he was ready. He pointed his staff and cast Cleanse. He felt a tug on his mana, and then the spell hit his friend. Knowing Pepe would be alright, he continued to watch over the others, ready to warn them of anything they missed and support them as much as possible.

  As soon as the spell took effect, Pepe felt relief from the poison. His health had dropped, but he no longer received the poison warning.

  He wasn’t sure why he had panicked with his friends there, but he was alright now. He had lost his dagger and wouldn’t be able to retrieve it until this was over.

  Pepe saw another arrow fly from Erin, followed by a fireball from Josh. The central capybara-like creature went down, leaving only the other large one. He needed to rejoin the fight. His arm felt better; he could still feel the lingering effects of the poison and the cut, even though the poison’s effects had been neutralized by Bobby’s spell.

  Josh saw Pepe yelp and call for Bobby, and he witnessed their healer’s immediate response. He needed to do his part; he wasn’t going to simply stand by and watch these creatures hurt his friends. Having maneuvered into a better position, he saw an opening and cast Fireball! He watched the spell rush toward the creature and hit its mark, just as Erin’s arrow struck. The creature fell, and now it was time to take out the final one.

  Manuel was relieved that the others had played their parts. He had kept the creatures focused on him, as was his job, striking his shield with his sword and generally harassing them to keep them under control. Alright, you ugly dog-rat thing, you’re going down. His sword hand moved forward, and he felt the sword pierce flesh. He applied pressure with both hands, feeling it stop momentarily before something gave way, and the sword came to rest at the hilt. He saw his cousin coming in to support him. Good, primo, he thought. He could always count on him—and his friends. They were the best. My friends, my family, he thought. Their family—and one always protects family.

  Manuel saw the creature’s eyes lose focus, and then it was still. His sword was embedded in the creature’s left side, between its shoulder and neck. He saw Pepe’s knife in the creature’s gut. The creature collapsed, and it was over. The fight was over!

  They congratulated each other on leveling up. During the fight, everyone had kept their cool; they were a good team—always had been a good team. They giggled at the silly titles they had received, unsure if the titles would actually benefit them. With all their quests complete, they began walking back to town.

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  The trip back was much slower than they had anticipated, thanks to the star metal they were carrying. They arrived just in time before the gates closed; they could see the sun setting and knew only a short time remained before sunset. The guards watched them as they moved slowly toward the gate.

  “Cutting it close, boys.”

  Guard Rotgert looked at the object they were carrying. “Can I see that?” he asked in his usual jovial voice. They handed the item over. He picked it up as if it weighed nothing. “Good-sized star metal; this should fetch a good price. My hammer is made from star metal—very resilient stuff.” He handed the item back to the boys and waved them through.

  They made their way to the Guild Hall. The delivery quests earned them some potions, some sweets, and a heartfelt note from one of the quest givers. The fetch quest earned them an invitation to the party. The reward for the star metal would be given to them after the metal was weighed. Ms. Hoysver handed them receipts for the money they had earned from some of the quests.

  Bobby looked at the total and was surprised at how much they had made. It looked like they would have no trouble paying for their room and board. While they weren’t rich, being an adventurer paid well.

  Afterward, tired from the long day, they cleaned up, and it was time to rest. The next day would be an early start. They reviewed their stats to decide how to spend their earned points; it was important to do this during downtime, before falling asleep.

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  They met a large adult; one would think someone of his size could handle himself. He was bundled in many layers of clothing and pulled a large cart laden with goods. His skin had a grayish tinge and looked very rough.

  “Thank you for taking my request. My name is Tebesa Krolir.” They all stepped back slightly. “Is everything alright?” The voice was clearly female. They had mistaken her for a man because they didn’t know how to distinguish the genders of this species.

  “No, ma’am, Ms. Tebesa. We’re ready when you are.” What else could they say—Oops, we thought you were a guy?

  “Good, good. Then let us begin. We have a long walk, and the sooner we start, the better.”

  The group consisted of a merchant with gray skin, a healer in his robes and carrying a staff, a wizard wearing similar clothing with a wand at his belt, a thief in leather armor with twin daggers, and a ranger also in leathers with his bow and arrows and a small knife at his waist. The warrior wore heavier armor, with a short sword at his hip and his shield on his back. Manuel led the way, with two of the boys on either side of the merchant and two behind. The adventure had truly begun; everything that had come before was merely an appetizer before the main course.

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  The route they would take led southeast, following mostly small roads and game trails. It was a two-day trip to their destination: the Village of Avadur, a small village known for its agriculture. The seasonal fruit was just being harvested in the village, and Tebesa was eager to arrive before her competitors claimed the best produce or before it spoiled.

  About four hours into their journey, having walked for a long time with only one brief rest stop, she said, “It would be best to rest for a bit and eat. We’ll need energy for the afternoon’s walk.”

  They nodded in agreement. It was a warm day, and their weapons, armor, and small packs of provisions weighed them down. Each person set down their pack, sat, and took out some travel rations they had purchased for the trip. The food was leathery, with a taste akin to beef jerky but less flavorful, more like cardboard. They chewed it, drank some water, and ate because they were hungry and thirsty. They had little choice but to consume what they had brought.

  There was a commotion of rustling bushes, and everyone stood, ready to face whatever was approaching. An animal resembling a small deer emerged from the bushes. It had a flat face, antlers, a long tail, and red fur. It stopped when it saw the group, unsure what to do. They stood there, waiting. The creature proceeded cautiously for a few steps and then darted back into the forest, disappearing from sight.

  The group exchanged glances and shrugged. Were they expecting to be attacked by monsters? How absurd was that?

  “Well, that was interesting. I have some biscuits and jam if you want some.” They all nodded eagerly; anything would be better than what they had just eaten. She handed each of them a biscuit filled with jam. The biscuit was soft, and the jam was sweet, tasting of strawberries—or whatever this world’s equivalent was.

  Soon they were up and walking again. The rest hadn’t felt long enough, but they still had a considerable distance to cover before stopping for the night. They heard small animals in the trees, birds, and other wildlife sounds during their walk. A wind picked up during their march, which, to everyone’s relief, helped with the hot weather. After many hours of walking, they finally reached a small valley. There was a stream nearby, according to the merchant, so they settled there for the evening.

  After setting up camp, they gathered around a small fire with a pot for boiling water. The merchant added some items from her cart to the pot. Erin could smell herbs, vegetables, and meat, making his mouth water at the thought of a decent meal. It was strange to feel as if they hadn’t eaten anything substantial, even though they had enjoyed a good meal the previous night.

  After waiting for the meal to finish cooking, it was finally ready, and they were all eager to try it. To their relief, Ms. Tebesa also had bowls and spoons. They had failed to bring basic camping equipment. If they were going to be out here for more than a day, they needed to know what to bring. But they hadn’t done this before; the last time they had camped, they had ended up in this other world.

  “This is a secret recipe passed down from my father’s side of the family. It isn’t easy to get all the ingredients, since the spices come from my people’s lands. I hope you enjoy it.” She served each of them a bowl and ate directly from the pot.

  The food was rich and aromatic, with a hint of mint—quite different from what Mr. Rowan’s wife cooked at the inn. The stew tasted wonderful; the vegetables melted in their mouths, and the meat, though slightly gamey, was tender. The blend of spices was exquisite. The boys eagerly devoured their food, eating it with small pieces of bread, also provided by the trader. They were so glad they had taken this request; if she had any future requests, they would certainly accept them.

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  DungeonNode1337 and DungeonNode1 were ready to present their masterpiece. They had worked for days on it, and it would be the best of them all! The Big Boss was due to arrive any minute, and they could barely contain themselves. They had been chosen over the other Nodes to oversee the dungeon, which had made the others extremely jealous. But they were up against the dynamic duo—1337 and 1—they didn’t stand a chance.

  “Sir, this way. As I was saying, they’ve worked hard on this; they are the most…” He noticed his fellow Nodes and what they were wearing on their heads. Well, one would assume they had heads, but like Regi, they were spherical Nodes. 1337 wore what looked like a red hat with his numbers on it, and 1 had a green hat with his number on it. “One second, sir; let me go talk to them and see if they’re ready.” The Big Boss stopped and waited.

  “DungeonNodes, please explain what you have on your heads?!” He wasn’t sure what to think. Hats? They were wearing hats? A Node did not wear hats.

  “Well, sir, they are hats.” One light flashed on 1, acknowledging his fellow Node.

  “I know what a hat is, but why are you wearing them?” He looked back—not that you could tell he looked back, as he didn’t have any actual eyes. His boss was ready for the tour. “Never mind; I’ll deal with you two idiots later.”

  1337 and 1 exchanged glances, not really understanding what the problem was with the hats. But they were ready—oh, were they ready! This was the ultimate culmination of their genius, and the Big Boss was going to be incredibly impressed.