Alice and Sam were the first ones to arrive at the classroom before their excursion into the city. When they entered the classroom they found Professor Voss waiting at the desk in the back corner of the room her feet up on the table. As they walked in they noticed there were notes covering the board and from a quick glance it looked like a detailed plan. “Sam, Alice you’re the first ones here today. We’ll be going over the plan for our excursion today. We also have some extra security for our first trip into the city as the last thing I want is a member of the royal family being killed on my watch. The dungeon is one thing, but the streets can be worse in some regard” she explained. “Once everyone else has arrived we will begin the run down so find somewhere to sit while you wait” the professor said.
It was around 15 minutes after Sam and Alice had sat down that the rest of the class had finally all arrived. Sam and the rest of his party were all sitting down together towards the front of the classroom so that they could easily see what was written on the board.
“Alright everyone listen up, here is the itinerary for today. After this meeting we will be boarding carriages and travelling into the city. It’s about 30 minutes to the adventurer’s guild from here so long as it’s not too busy out on the streets. Once we have arrived we will individually register with the guild and then once everyone has registered we will register our parties. Once our parties are registered in the adventurer’s guild you will all go into a short guild hosted rules session that explains some of the guild specific rules that you must adhere to. Once we have finished at the adventurer’s guild we will be travelling to the diver’s sub guild which is down the other end of the street where you will register individually and as a party. Once everyone is registered at the diver’s guild we will go past the security gates and I will take you to see the dungeon’s entrance portal” the professor explained.
“After we have done that we should have some time left to go down the main shopping street for divers and adventurers where you can pick up some extra equipment. Remember you will be provided with the necessary equipment before your first dive however if you want to buy something extra feel free to do so. Just remember that if you don’t have a storage ability before you go into the dungeon you will have to carry everything you take with you while you’re in there so make sure you don’t buy anything that is too cumbersome. After that we will head back to the academy and do a debrief before you will be dismissed for the day. Now does anyone have any questions?” Professor Voss asked.
A single hand went up from one of the other parties. “Do we have a meeting location if anyone gets separated during the excursion?” a girl from class B that Sam didn’t know asked. “If you get separated wait in the guild buildings and speak to the receptionist and they will contact us” the Professor answered. “Any more questions?” she asked. No one else raised their hand at the prompt and the professor instructed them to head out to the front of the academic building where the carriages were waiting.
There were seven carriages waiting out in the courtyard in front of the building with one looking slightly nicer than the other six. “Alright everyone listen up. There will be one party per carriage. The slightly nicer looking carriage is for Princess Alice’s party of which I will also be riding in. If anyone needs to go relieve themselves before we begin the journey into the city do so now” the Professor said waiting to see if anyone made a move to go. Sam knew it was unlikely anyone would. It was embarrassing being the only one and Sam was sure that if there was at least one person to step forward there would likely be a few others to join them but alas no one did.
“Alright then, if everyone is ready please go towards the coach with your party leaders name written on it. Also make sure to think of a good name for your party during the journey if you haven’t already as it will be required when you register the party at the guild” the professor said leaving a last-minute shock to all the students as she went over to climb into the middle carriage. It really shouldn’t have been too much of a shock Sam thought. You can’t really register a party without a name for it. It’s one of the first things you think of when you think back on stories about legendary adventuring parties. The first thing that always came to mind was the name of the party. “Alright everyone, let’s board the carriage” Albert said as he followed after the professor snapping Sam back from his thoughts.
“What about Golden Wind?” Darren suggested as they made their way down the city streets. “Absolutely not” Chloe said immediately rejecting the idea. “None of us even have any wind magic at the moment and we don’t have anything other than coins that are golden” she pointed out to the. “Not to mention it’s likely been taken already” Alice added. “Good point” Albert agreed. “Before we discuss party names shouldn’t we talk about our Blood skills first. I know we were going to talk about them over the weekend but if we have to come up with a party name then maybe we can pull some inspiration from there” Alice suggested. Sam stiffened at the thought. He still wasn’t sure about telling them the whole truth about his blood skill, especially with the professor in the carriage with them.
“What about just telling each other the names of the skills for now so we can draw inspiration from that rather than the abilities. I also doubt we have the time to properly explain all of our skills to each other” Sam suggested trying to divert the direction of the conversation slightly. “That works for me” Chloe agreed. “Yeah, same here” Darren said adding his agreement. “Alright we’ll go with that then. As the party leader I will go first” Albert decided.
“My Blood Skill is called Sword Master of the Stars and is… well sword focused and is a legendary ranked skill. Currently I have only unlocked my first fragment” Albert disclosed. “Sword Master of the Stars is a pretty cool skill name” Darren said hyping him up. “I’ll go next then” Alice stated sitting up straighter in her seat as she prepared to tell everyone. “My blood skill is Legendary ranked as well and is titled Sage of the Oceans Dawn which as far as I can tell is magic based and revolves primarily around water and light magic” Alice explained. “Wow that ones also got a cool name” Darren remarked.
Sam could see that Chloe was planning to go first but not wanting to be the last to go Sam decided to speak up before she had the chance. “I’ll go next. My Blood Skill is… Legendary” Sam said unintentionally pausing when making up the rank of his skill. “And it is called God of the Reapers and I’m not completely sure what the skill really does so far with only one fragment unlocked but so far it’s a stat boosting skill” Sam explained slightly hesitantly. Glancing at Alice Sam could tell she thought he wasn’t quite telling them the truth but thankfully he was saved by Darren who hadn’t noticed and pulled her attention away from him. “Wow that’s another cool name, I wish mine was like that. With that being the case, I will go next. Mine is a rare rank Blood Skill named Defenders Light. Like Sam I’m not quite sure what it really does. The first skill fragment is a physical shield-based ability, but the light part makes me think it will have something to do with light magic as well, especially because my mother’s True Skill is light magic based” Darren Explained.
“Looks like I’m last then” Chloe said with a slight sigh. “My Blood Skill is also Rare ranked and is called Healer’s Grace and as the name suggests is healing focused” Chloe said. “Well, I don’t know about the rest of you, but this has only made it harder to come up with a party name” Darren complained “Yeah, I feel you there” Sam agreed. “Well, let’s take some time to think of one each and then we can put it forward for a vote” Albert suggested. “Sounds good to me” Alice said, with everyone else nodding along in agreement. “Sam do you have any paper and something to write with in your storage space?” Albert asked him. “I do; I transferred all my class materials to my storage space as it’s easier than carrying the bag around” Sam confirmed. “Alright then, we will each write down one suggestion on a piece of paper and then read them out one by one and before finally placing our votes for whichever we like the most. Professor Voss would be you able to assist us with collecting the suggestions and reading them out to us?” Albert asked her. The professor who had just been sitting silently listening in to their conversation raised an eyebrow “Sure, I suppose I can assist” she said. Upon confirmation Sam pulled some paper and a few pencils out of his storage space and handed them around to everyone before he turned his thoughts towards the party name.
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Sam thought about all the names, something to do with swords or the star gods of reaping, the ocean and the dawn light and healing grace. This was going to be tricky Sam thought as he began stringing together some suggestions. Naming things wasn’t really his strong suit. He nearly named the bow he received for his birthday Bowey after all. He found it unlikely he would come up with anything he liked, let alone anyone else.
After a few minutes of thinking and coming up with a whole lot of nothing Sam wrote down “The Covenant of Eternal Path’s” and folded the paper over before passing it to the Professor. A few more minutes later Albert passed his paper over to the professor as the last member of the party to do so. “Alight, I have shuffled them up and will now read them out” The Professor announced. Everyone braced themselves to hear the suggestions. Sam really hoped that someone had a better suggestion than his.
“The first suggestion is The Fivefold Arc of Grace and Shadow, the second is The Covenant of Eternal Paths, the third one is The Quintet of Eternal Ascendance, the fourth The Quintet of Celestial Virtues and the final one in The Star Scythe Dawnbearers. Those are the five suggestions you all put forward. Now we will take a vote on them. I want everyone to close their eyes and raise their hand when I call out the number of which I listed them in to vote for them. Does everyone understand?” The professor asked. Everyone nodded their heads in acknowledgement. “Alright let’s begin”.
“Okay, number 1” The professor said waiting a few moments for those who wished to vote to raise their hands. “Alright hands down, now number two” the professor said pausing again to allow those who wished to vote to raise their hands. “Okay, hands down. Number three……. Hands down, number four…… hands down and finally number five…… okay hands down and open your eyes” the professor instructed.
“Alright well there was a clear winner as this one receive all five votes and that is The Star Scythe Dawnbearers” the professor proclaimed. Everyone gave a clap at the announcement of their party’s new name. “I am curious why you all voted for that one” the professor asked them. “Well, for me I didn’t think having a name with five or quintet was a good idea as that basically meant we could only have five members in the party and couldn’t add anyone in otherwise the name wouldn’t work and the other one was mine and I’m bad at naming things. It was also a good suggestion in general which is why I chose that one” Sam explained. “Yeah, I voted for my own for similar reasons, although I just preferred my suggestion to Sam’s” Chloe said. “Yeah, names aren’t my strong suit either, so I just went with the one that sounded coolest” Darren admitted.
Now that they had their name selected they were ready for when they arrived at the adventurer’s guild. Sam was feeling a bit nervous as he wasn’t sure how they would be received. He knew from the time he spent in town in Rimour that the rougher folks didn’t take so kindly to the more well-off individuals so he hoped that unlike in Rimour this would be different.
It was another thirty minutes before they arrived at the adventurer’s guild building the traffic on the streets slowing them down a bit as they closed in. As they arrived Sam looked out the carriage window. It was a huge building on the left side of the street. The first building on the street you may say. It looked to be about 3 stories high although Sam couldn’t be sure if that was the case or not from his viewpoint. The building was built out of a pale granite with dark timber beams holding up a canopy above the front doorway. He noticed that there are two large silver lanterns hanging above the entrance way with each being maybe as large as his head. He continued to look around noticing there were stained glass windows depicting figures in grand poses or fighting monsters in the windows on what he assumed was the second floor. It also looked like there were some training grounds or something as well as there were wooden dummies and some archery targets he could see behind a fence to the right side of the guild building.
Once the carriages stopped in the cobbled stone courtyard the students all dismounted from their carriages and gathered in front of the guild building awaiting further instructions from the professor. “Alright everyone once we enter the building we will head over to the main reception desk where you’ll register. Does anyone have any questions before we go in?” she asked them. No one spoke up and the professor led the way into the guild building the guards staying behind with the carriages.
Sam’s party was at the front of the line as they entered through the two heavy dark oak timber doors and into the main reception area of the hall. Sam looked around at the large open room as he entered. There were a few tables and chairs on the left-hand side of the room where there looked to be some sort of announcement board. He didn’t think it was a quest board as it was too small and wouldn’t have the space for all the quests a guild in the capital would get. He continued to look around noticing that there were a few adventurers sitting at the end of one of the tables and a couple more standing by the announcement board, but it seemed like it was fairly quiet. Sam thought that it made sense, however, as he expected most adventurers to be in the middle of a quest at this time of the day rather than hanging around at the guild.
As they progressed into the room they came up to what Sam assumed was the reception desk. There were three people standing behind the desk. One was an older looking man with thin white hair and a white beard and the other two were younger looking women wearing white shirts with red dresses over the top. As Sam looked at them he also noticed they had name badges on their chests. He couldn’t make the names out from where he was standing, however.
As they approached the reception desk the professor stopped and turned to speak to them. “Alright everyone, I want you all to split up between the three receptionists and forms lines in front of them. They will register you with the guild and give you a guild card. Once you have finished registering move away from the reception desk and wait in your party groups off to the side. Once everyone is registered we will go back to the reception desk and register our parties. Does everyone understand what I want them to do?” the professor asked. “Yes” some of the students said as others nodded their confirmation.
The students split up forming three lines in front of the receptionists. Sam was just behind Albert in the middle line as they lined up in front of one of the receptionists. Albert was first and stepped up to talk to the receptionist. Sam took this opportunity to take another look around the room. There were five doors leading out of the room excluding the main entrance. One was next to the reception desk which Sam assumed went out into the staff areas since “staff only” was written on it while the others had signs above the doors. The signs had pictures drawn on them. One was the picture of a shield with two swords crossing over it, the second was two tankards being clanked together the third was a picture of three people in a row facing towards one person who was facing back to them and the final just looked like a sheet of paper with some writing on it. Sam could take a guess at what the first two were but was unable to come up with a good guess as to what the third or fourth one was. Before he had a chance to think about it any further he heard the receptionist call “Next Please” from in front of him. Sam returned his thoughts to the task at hand and stepped forward to the reception desk.
