Runeblade

Getting Ianmus a membership to the guild had been even easier than Kaius had thought it would be.

When they’d entered the guild hall, he’d spotted Ro flitting around in the workers section behind the counter, directing people to and fro. Leaning on the powers of his height, he’d managed to wave her down and introduce her to his prospective team member.

Thankfully, they didn’t have to deal with Ianmus getting hazed. It seemed being chaperoned by a known member was enough to stave off that uncomfortable fate.

At first, upon hearing that he wanted to get Ianmus in with just an interview, she’d looked ready to seize him by the neck and throttle him, even if it meant jumping for it. That is, until Ianmus mentioned he was this year's valedictorian of Sunspire. As soon as she’d heard that she’d grabbed the half-elf by the wrist and yanked him to the silence room without another word.

Kaius had expected more interest from the other delvers in the hall, but one and all they averted their eyes. Their reasons became a lot more clear when Porkchop let slip that he’d overheard Ro had something of a reputation for short temper when they ‘meddled in business that wasn’t their own’, and apparently they weren’t the first newcomers on the up-and-up that the manager had greased a few wheels for.

It was possible that some of the established delvers were..put off by the special treatment, but Kaius assumed that most would be waiting for the results he put forth. After all, power justified much, and a meagre bending of the rules was more than understandable to secure talent. Especially when the flood of extermination requests was considered.

While Ianmus was gone Kaius visited the mission board, smiling excitedly as the request he had spotted in the morning was still there. Snatching it up, he met Porkchop at a secluded table in the corner of the room to wait for their third.

It didn’t take all that long, Ianmus returning only a bare quarter hour later. With his lanky frame that stretched even taller than his own, it only took a moment of craning before the half-elf spotted Porkchop’s bulk and hurried over. Behind him, Ro poked her head out, before giving him an exaggerated thumbs up.

Kaius chuckled, shaking his head at the sight.

Ianmus slid into the remaining seat with a grin, slapping a wooden medallion on the table. “Wood was the best she could do, considering the circumstances, but she said once we’ve done a copper over a threat level of thirty she’ll be able to bump me straight up.”

“Well done, the questions weren’t too difficult, other than the standard oath? My own was reasonably quick.” Kaius asked.

Ianmus nodded. “I assume she caught you guys out the second you stepped foot in here? The woman is as shrewd as a devil plying contracts.”

Kaius chuckled, leaning back into his chair as he dropped his hand to pat Porkchop on the shoulder. “She did. Gave us a talking to. A very energised one.”

Ianmus smiled, hand momentarily retreating to his pocket, before he returned it to the surface and passed over two simple steel bands. “The first minute or two was spent grilling me about if I was a spire graduate, what my rank was, and things of the like. The remainder was a straight up interrogation about how we met, if I had designs on you, if I was a spy, how genuine I planned for our cooperation to be, and what my ultimate goals were.”

“I just about thought she’d transmogrified into a manticore with how viscous she was.” the mage finished with a shake of his head. “She said those were for you two, that she got them finished overnight. She wanted you to know it would be a hundred depths-gold all up, and she’ll dock half your cut until it's paid off. I told her yours would be two thirds, for obvious reasons.”

Kaius nodded gratefully, inspecting the rings. They were simple looking things, and a quick use of True Sight told him they were identical.

Ring of Minor Deception:

Uncommon - Tier I

Some things are best not shared.

A ring of unadorned alchemically infused steel. Assists the wearer in shrouding up to two singular aspects of their status, and passively holds their Mask in place. Active testing of the Mask still burdens Will. When worn, this artefact becomes more difficult to analyze.

Artisan-wrought Artefact

Accessory - Ring

Limited Mask Reinforcement II, Resizing I, Inspect Resistance I

He nodded at the description, surreptitiously sliding one over his finger while he pocketed the other. Assisting Porkchop with his copy would draw far too much attention, even if they were sitting in a secluded corner.

He felt it activate, a strange power settling over his Mask - bolstering it. He quickly pulled his will back, sighing in relief as it stayed in place. Intuitively, he directed the ring to focus more fully on his class identifier, and his class rarity. He doubted anyone would have the kind of skill needed to see that, but it was still better safe than sorry.

“A reasonable price, for the security they will bring.” Kaius said, thanking Ianmus with a nod.

Now that Ianmus had his membership, they could get to the real meat of the reason that he had brought them here. Securing their first contract. Kaius rubbed his hands together with glee. No doubt his companions would hate it—hells, he hated it himself—but the match up was too good to ignore.

Pulling out his slip of card, Kaius read its contents once more.

…

Threat level: Assumed Fifty

Location: Wooded road between Intshire and Holburrough, forty leagues south-east-east of Deadacre.

Description: Horse-sized spider beast, ambushing travellers on the road through hidden webs. Illusion and affliction abilities. Last confirmed sighting, two weeks post phase shift. No confirmed level—descriptions in line with a threat of fifty.

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

Reward: Fifty depths-gold.

Known abilities: Trapped webs, motionless cloaking—more unknown.

…

It was a good match up for their team. As it was an affliction specialist, he would hold a distinctive advantage against the beast in direct combat, and similarly it would find it far more difficult to trap him in its illusions than others.

That, and solar magic was anathema to illusion, and ambush predators tended to be far worse off when they did not have the element of surprise.

There was still the fact that it was a horse sized spider, no doubt a significant reason that the job had languished unchosen for so long. Disgusting, but it would be good to work off some of his final grievances for the swarm that had given him his welcome to the Depths.

The only thing that irked him was the pay. So soon after his payout from his artefacts, it felt like a small sum. That said, he knew it was a false perspective. Fifty gold was almost certainly enough to survive off for a year or more, it was only the outrageous cost of artefacts and delver economies that made it seem like a small sum.

Placing the slip on the table, he pushed it over to Ianmus and Porkchop. Surprisingly, his brother could read common just as well as he could, though he supposed that greater beasts had to understand the system just as much as anyone else.

A moment later Ianmus pulled away sharply, while Porkchop whipped his head towards him with a puff of surprise.

Kaius smiled, a wicked thing full of malicious glee.

“You can’t be serious.” Ianmus pleaded.

“Kaius, it’s a spider the size of a horse, think of the legs!” Porkchop said, backing the mage up.

Their pleas fell upon his ears like the sweetest of songs, stoking his schadenfreude.

“Not even just that, no confirmed level? From two weeks ago, plus the week it will take us to get there? For all we know it could be over level sixty-five by the time we engage!”

Kaius nodded, feigning a focused look on his face. While he didn’t want them to flounder for too long, it was very funny watching them protest. Letting their complaints hang for a few more moments, he eventually dropped the act, waving their protests off.

“Listen, I understand. Yes, spiders are gross, and yes, it's potentially a high level, but we are a great match up.” he explained, leaning forwards.

“It’s an ambush predator, a species weak to direct attacks, it's weak to your affinity Ianmus, and I have the skills to see through its illusions long before we get caught in its web. Porkchop too, will be able to lean on my senses, even if only slightly. Inflictions are also far less risky for me and Porkchop than most.” Kaius finished, fixing both Ianmus and his brother with a serious stare.

“But it's gross!” Porkchop whined.

“Think of the levels!”

Porkchop let out a low groan of defeat, and slumped lower to the floor. “Fine, but you’re cleaning the ichor out of my fur.” he mumbled.

Ianmus cleared his throat, drawing both of their attention. “I am most concerned about the levels. This is… a significant threat, are you sure you can do this? I have seen you in action myself, but seriously, this is a lot.”

Kaius nodded. He was confident. No doubt it would be tough, and he and Porkchop would probably get a nasty bite or three, but when hadn’t that happened?

“I am, both Porkchop and myself have gained significant strength with our second class skills. It will be tough, but this is also our best bet to grow fast. I know how foolhardy punching upwards is for most, but trust me, we will be wasting our capabilities if we do not.” he said seriously.

Ianmus sighed, resting his forehead on his hands.

“I can’t believe I’m actually agreeing to this.” he muttered to himself. The half-elf pushed his hair back and sat up. “Fine, but try not to lose a limb? There's only two healers in this city who can regenerate—at least from what I can remember—and I doubt any of us have the coin to skip the wait list.”

Fizzing exhilaration flooded his chest, his blood warming at the thought of their upcoming battle. A day or two more and they could be off. Deadacre was nice and all, and he loved the Dusty Stables, but he longed for the freedom of the wilds once more.

“Great! I’ll get us registered, and then we can head over to where me and Porkchop are staying to do some planning in a more private space.” Kaius said, standing up from his chair. “If you don't have an inn already, I’d heavily recommend it. A little expensive, but I'm not sure how much of the silver a night is because of this lug.”

Slapping his hand heavily on Porkchop’s head, Kaius deftly wove around his brother's playful nip to scratch him behind the ears.

Ianmus agreed quickly. The inn was apparently still within what he could afford, and he was of the opinion that staying across town would do little but hamper their preparations for their upcoming excursion.

Excusing himself from the table, Kaius approached the front counter, which thankfully was blessedly free of a line by the time he arrived. It seemed early afternoon was something of a slow period. Too late for the driven and organised, and too early for the lackadaisical.

Spotting him approaching, Ro waved off a young attendant that Kaius had yet to see before. The man was moderately strapped, and seemed to have unfortunately chosen clothes a size too small. He gave Kaius a polite, if awkward, smile as he left, making room for Ro.

“You’re lucky you found that one.” Ro opened with, nodding towards Ianmus. “Solar mage, half-elf, and a spire elite. Down right fortuitous.”

Kaius readily agreed with her. “It’s certainly convenient, that’s for sure. Either way, I want to take this job.”

He slid the mission slip across the counter. Ro read it in a glance, frowning at it.

“You're sure?” she asked sternly, though she didn’t push him to pick another. “You’re not overextending yourself?”

“No. As a team composition we counter it pretty handedly, and I have a solid handle on mine and Porkchop’s limits.” he said with a shake of his head.

Ro sighed, rubbing her forehead for a few seconds. “Fine. But if you die, I'll resurrect you myself just to kill you again.” she answered finally, eyes boring into his own with fierce intensity.

She thrust out her hand imperiously, gesturing for him to pass something over.

“Your medallion, greenhorn.” she said with a roll of her eyes when he stared quizzically at the offered limb.

Heat flushed his cheeks at the faux pas, the burn deepening further when Ro gave him a wide grin at his expression. Passing over his medallion, Ro used it to record his selected mission on some sort of stone block that sat just to the left of her desk. Covered in script, it was so far beyond his depths of runic knowledge he couldn’t even identify the individual arrays that made it work.

A second later she returned, passing both slip and medallion back to him.

“All done, your medallion will record the kill. go get ‘em, greenhorn.” she said, before turning to whistle at the poorly dressed attendant at the rear of the building, jutting her thumb back at the desk as she walked off.

Kaius shrugged to himself and returned to his team. At this point he had given up on trying to explain Ro’s antics, the woman was eccentric in the extreme.

Stopping at their table, Kaius collected Porkchop and Ianmus and they filed their way out of the Guild. Now all they had to do was plan their route, collect the supplies they needed, and strategise.

Idly, as they walked the short distance to the Dusty Stables, Kaius wondered what grilled spider legs would taste like.

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!