The road wound gently into the hills, where a small town sat tucked between forest and field. With its low stone walls, moss-covered roofs, and smoke curling lazily from chimneys, it looked like a place time had forgotten.
"Quiet," Kael said, lowering the hood of his cloak. "Just what we need."
They entered the town at dusk. The guards barely glanced their way, and the townsfolk didn't seem to care who came and went—as long as coin changed hands and trouble stayed out. It was perfect.
They found an old but clean inn run by a soft-spoken elderly woman who offered them two upstairs rooms and warm bread for supper. Arriel dropped his pack with a relieved sigh, stretching out on the straw mattress. The weight of the last few days still clung to his shoulders, but the silence here was different. Calmer. He could breathe.
The next morning, they headed to the adventurer's guild—a humble building with faded signage and creaking doors. Inside, the clerk lazily flipped through a ledger without raising her head.
"Names?" she asked, bored.
"Group of three," Kael said. "We're looking for D-rank work."
They picked up quests that wouldn't draw attention: clearing out pests in farmland, delivering parcels to a nearby village, gathering medicinal herbs. Routine tasks that required effort, but not suspicion.
But their real work began outside the guild's reach.
In the woods beyond town, Arriel and Lira hunted monsters in secret. With Kael keeping watch, they tracked and ambushed C-rank beasts—Forest Trolls, Mana Leeches, and a particularly large Rock Serpent that took both of them working in tandem to bring down.
Arriel felt himself getting stronger. Not just the raw numbers on his bracelet—now glowing a steady "13" beneath the cloth Kael tied over it—but in how his blade moved with less hesitation. How his spells ignited with cleaner form. Lira, ever composed, danced across the battlefield with sharp gestures and fast casting, her small frame hiding an impressive well of magic.
It was late afternoon when Lira nudged him and said, "Come. It's time."
They walked deeper into the woods, reaching a quiet clearing shielded by tall trees. There, she turned, holding her staff lightly.
"I think you're ready for Tier 2."
Arriel blinked. "Already?"
She nodded. "You have the mana. Now learn to shape it."
She demonstrated three spells in succession. Blazing Wave painted the air in fire, sweeping outward in a wide arc. Mana Reinforce made her staff glow with raw blue energy, humming with focused power. And Flame Spiral wrapped her in a whirlwind of flame—defensive and elegant.
"Your turn."
It wasn't easy. Arriel's first Blazing Wave sputtered out halfway, his spiral flared unevenly, and Mana Reinforce nearly fried his fingertips. But Lira didn't criticize. She adjusted his stance, gave him short tips, and simply said, "Try again."
By sunset, he was drenched in sweat, his mana flickering low. She handed him a small vial. "One sip."
He drank, just enough to keep going. Sitting on a nearby stump, he sighed. "Where did you learn all this?"
Lira looked up at the sky, her expression unreadable. "From someone who used to believe in good Heroes."
He didn't ask more. Somehow, he knew not to.
Kael arrived with food and a smirk. "You smell like you fought a fire elemental and lost."
"Close," Arriel muttered, reaching for a roll.
The three of them sat under the fading light, eating together in comfortable silence. For the first time in a long while, Arriel felt something unfamiliar yet welcome blooming in his chest—peace.