Biter

“Ol’ red, ol’ red, my third favorite street rat! How have you been chum? Davis, lookie here, ol red got him a baby buddy and a bunch of new equipment.” The rawboned alley thug says whilst crouched at eye level with Sebas. “And how have you managed, lugging around such a hearty sum of coin in your pocket every day, surely your back must be breaking. My heart goes out to you and everyone like you red.”

Adam appears preoccupied, staring at the mediocre long sword I so generously bought him, maybe if I ignore the two idiots, they’ll just magically disappear. Sebas thinks to himself.

“Big bro,” the fat little brother bandit says “why does Redhair not speak?”

“I don’t know Davis, maybe he’s got coins blocking his ears: should we check?”

The large thug thinks about it for a moment. Considerable effort on his part is needed to perform the act of sparking stones together to get the flame of an idea lit in between his ears. Strangeness seems to illuminate the dull, dark moss-haired Fatman. “Okay, big bro!” The massive man says, before shoving his hands around Sebas’ ears, feeling up his temples for any metal that can be reclaimed.

Sebas’ eyebrow convulses, Adam looks over at the display and feels around Sebas’ temples and behind his ears, before pulling out a copper coin, somehow.

“Oh! Oh! Big bro! Black hair found the coins!”

“Huh?” He who is not Davis says, “Let me see?” Before shoving his hands around the back of Sebas’ head, a few bloated veins appear on the front of his forehead, his face turning red from biting his tongue.

“You know what. I will just leave.” Sebas says, as he places his drawstring bag on his back, and leaves.

“Oh, now red, there’s no need for that.” The scrawny bandit member says.

“No, I think we’re good if I stay here any more I might ruin someone’s day.”

“Where are we going?” Adam says innocently, a small skip peps his step as he hurriedly gets up off the wall.

“Where did you even get a coin from?” Sebas asks, deflecting the question.

“Goodbye red!” The large bandit named Davis yells, shoving a large hand into the air and flailing it about to send the two off. “Goodbye black!”

“Davis! Red! B- YOU!” The twiggy reprobate reproaches.”WE, WE ARE TAKING, your MONEY.”

“Then: maybe,” Sebas states” you should be forward with your sentences in the future, as everyone around here is an idiot, except for me!” The copperplate adventurer proceeds through the cobbled roadsides beside the wooden buildings as he makes his way southward.

“Then! Stop! Walking! Jogging!” The sickly-looking man yells as he drags his bulky sibling along.

“Why are they following you?” Adam asks Sebas with a smile.

“They want to rob us of our money, and I cannot be burdened with kicking their asses AGAIN.”

“We were chased off by the guards and you know it!”

“Oh yeah… you also stabbed me in the back didn’t you?” Sebas asks turning on his heel.

“Oh, are we fighting?” Adam says without looking directly at Sebas.

“Red! So nice of you to have joined-“ The burdensome man is cut short by a fist to the jaw.

“If you people don’t leave me the hell alone, I will destroy you,” Sebas says, addressing the slumped man on the ground.

Adam, surprisingly takes the sheath of his blade and knocks the knees out from behind the large brother, who goes down with an oafish yell.

“Good job Adam.”

Adam smiles and trots along happily with Sebas.

Making their way through the path towards the forest the pair of adventurers, plateless and copper walk on dirt paths to their destination, deciding that crowded areas akin to the northern entrance could be a better use of time. At least according to Sebas. Lush foliage and fauna make a trail path towards the hillside entrance to the southeast, along with a southern entrance further south, right amid the forest where it is less safe to proceed through without experience as an adventurer.

“So! What do I need to do!” Adam asks.

“My friend, my brother, my special boy. You’re going to be taught by your very own teacher. Me!” Sebas says. “I will teach you the ways of my master’s teaching, it's very simple, and: you do have a perfectly good understanding of the sword now that you have a sword right?”

Adam’s head bobs up and down excitedly, his trust seemingly unwavering, yet curiosity peaks as his friend searches through the brush.

“Aha!” Sebas says, gathering a handful of red berries from a small bush hidden in the shade behind a tree.

“What’s that?” Adam asks.

“A secret, my dear comrade, a utility item!”

Elimir, for once, is not at his post. Just the female guild-maiden from the previous exit.

“Show the lady your ID.”

Adam holds his wooden plate ID up to the worker, who jotted down his and Sebas’ information on the guild document before the pair proceed into the dungeon.

“Where’s the old codger at?”

“Who do you mean?” The guild-maiden asks.

“Sir Elimir”

Adam perks up. “HE'S A KNIGHT?”

“No adam… well… he’s a guardian or something right…” Sebas says while holding a finger on his chin thinking back.

“He is a ! Sir Elimir reached his upgraded class earlier than most do, most have to wait until they are level 35, but he did it at 30!” The guild-maiden says.

Adam, puffing his chest out asks the question, “And miss, what’s your name, mine is Adam, Rynard Adam, apologies for my rude companion… he’s unrefined.”

Huh? Where’s this coming from?

“My name? It’s Irabel, Irabel Yei.”

“Miss Yei, it’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance,” Adam says, for… some reason he flourishes his hair to appeal to her, or at least it would seem so.

Sebas grabs Adam by the back of the neck lifting him off of the ground, walking him forward as the height difference between the two makes the comical appearance of a child holding a large teddy bear.

“Do you need any other info from us, Miss Yei?” Sebas says, “I need to help my idiot reach level 2 by the end of the day, or else I’ll need to get another party member.”

The guilds-woman shakes her head no with a smile, waving at Adam. “It’s nice to meet you, Mr Rynard, have an excellent hunt!”

Adam is dropped in the middle of the dirt tunnel of sconces, where Sebas inquires: “Why are you so strange?”

Adam shrugs his shoulders in response, running forward to look at the emerald grasslands within the dungeon, fawning over the horizon of viridescence that is only stopped by the occasional pitch-dark forest tree groups.

“This place is great!”

“Eh, you kinda get over it.”

“What? No way, come on let’s go explore!” Adam exclaims, rushing down the hillside and running through the grass, only to be tackled to the ground by a horned rabbit with a mighty “Ough” as the air is punched out of his lungs.

“That’s why we don’t fuck around and explore. Believe me, I learned the hard way.” Sebas says, running after his idiot.

“OW! SEBAS ITS BITING ME! SEBAS HELP! SEBAS I THINK THAT MEANS IT LIKES ME!”

“Calm down, you big baby, here.” He says, collecting the rabbit with swift hands, holding it like a mother kitten would it's young by its scruff with his hand, the nape of the beast’s neck hangs over an inch and squeals in objection.

“Alright, get up.”

“Thanks, big bro… I owe you one.”

“Yeah whatever nerd, look, take a good look at it.”

Adam leans into the wary chunky rabbit, looking at all the tan-black fuzziness.

“So here’s the deal, rabbits have two important uses, skin, and horn, so, we kill them.”

Sebas stabs his dagger into the neck of the rabbit, and with a squeak, and a yelp from Adam, the beast dies.

“No!!!” Adam tells Sebas, “he wasn’t hurting anyone!!! Why did you have to kill him? What if I became a monster tamer!”

“Adam, listen, do you want to become an adventurer?”

“Well… yeah but I don’t like… this.”

“Get over it, besides, there’s no way you could tame a horned rabbit in a dungeon idiot, these things are made for killing, they’re evil!”

“But-“

“EVIL!”

Sighing, Adam responds, with a slightly somber expression he balls up his fist. “Yes sir.”

[Notice: Kill confirmed, Level 1 Horned Rabbit]

[Shared Experience Points have been collected]

So it’s shared?

Sighing, Sebas continues: “No, no sulking, get over all of that, I’m telling you now these aren’t toys, they aren’t cute pets, these are MONSTERS.”

“These things tried to bash in my skull, Adam.”

“Oh… scary…” the expressive boy says with newfound fear.

“Look, just check this out, it’s all you need to do.”

Sebas skins the rabbit starting at the stomach, removing its pelt, and smacks his uncommon dagger’s pommel into the horn, breaking it off with raw

“You’re… really good at this… like a rabbit serial killer…”

“Shut up Adam… just, watch this.” Sebas tosses the flesh of the dead monster on the ground, and within 20 seconds, Adam questions what’s happening right before a blue blaze begins to engulf the rabbit corpse from the bottom upward.

Adam darts for the body, shoving his hand directly into the blue fire, and Sebas pulls him back, about to call him an idiot before saying… “Wait, I don’t think that’ll hurt you… go ahead but carefully.”

Adam happily takes a small careful poke at the fire before shoving his hand through, trying to grasp the will o’ wisp of the mana(?) embers.

“Do you feel weird?” Sebas asks, sitting next to him, curiosity driving for him to try to as well.

“Nope! Feels pretty weird and cold!” Adam says, trying to squeeze it in his palm, little smacking noises are made as the intangible substance fails to light.

Picking up a shred of grass, Sebas pokes the flames, seeing that the blade of grass doesn’t even come close to warm, soon enough the corpse dies down.

“Okay, that’s pretty much the basics.”

“That’s all your master taught you?”

“Well… no”

“He taught me something else.”