Chapter 500: An Object Lesson in Foolish Risks (1/2)

While Rimaros was considered a single city, the islands that comprised it were spread over hundreds of kilometres. With three main islands and many sky islands that were themselves often sizeable, it was a city of many flavours, with each island having its own feel.

The most populous island was the easternmost of the three main islands, Provo. As well as being the general trade hub of the city, it was home to the majority of the non-magical citizenry. Its infrastructure was all designed to support a large population with biological needs that essence users no longer shared.

Livaros was just the opposite. The island of adventurers was an adventurer city from the foundation up. It wasn't strictly unwelcoming to the non-magical, but most felt uncomfortable being a Clark Kent in a world of Supermen. The thoroughfares of the island were specifically designed to accommodate floater platforms, magical vehicles or simply riding around on familiars. Local transport wasn't expensive to rent for those earning adventurer money, but for normal people on normal wages, it was prohibitive.

Even with everything working against it, there was still a small population of normals living and working on Livaros. They were shop assistants, functionaries and other jobs that were essential, but not particularly valuable. There was one trait that every normal-ranker on Livaros shared; a collective knowledge passed between the non-magical like a secret language: The locations of the island’s very, very small number of toilets.

“The adventuring districts of any major city are set up like this,” Rufus explained as he and Jason rode void-black horses with glowing white manes and hooves, side by side through the city. “It's just that being divided by islands makes the delineation especially apparent, here.”

Rufus was more well-travelled than Farrah, who did not share his wealthy upbringing. She was the result of generations of effort to obtain not just any essences but a powerful combination. Her family had also managed to afford a retired adventurer to give her the training she needed to hold her own in a competitive field. Farrah had fulfilled that ambition as her success, even as just a bronze-ranker, uplifted her entire family.

While Jason and Rufus were heading for a local tailor, Farrah was on the sky island that held the Magic Society campus, accessing the water link chambers. Liara had used her influence to schedule a call between Farrah and her parents, who hadn’t seen her in more than three years and, until recently, believed her dead. While he knew the intent was to keep him from getting too rebellious over being used, he at least appreciated the consideration with which the gesture was made.

Rufus continued his explanation, covering how those with backgrounds like Farrah’s strove to make it in big, magical cities.

“The lure of a place like Livaros for normals is the higher wages. Many use that money to lift themselves up by saving for essences. Even if someone doesn’t become an adventurer until they’re thirty or older, once they get there new worlds open to them.”

“But getting essences is just the start, right? You need training and monsters that aren’t three ranks higher than you. Without a rich family cultivating their fights for them, won’t these self-made adventurers just get themselves killed?”

“Definitely,” Rufus said. “People come here and earn money because the wages are higher and the essences, on average, are cheaper. Once they have them, though, they tend to leave. With the high-rank monsters and well-trained elites in a place like Rimaros, they’re better off starting over somewhere with less-potent magic. Lower-magic zones are much better suited to more borderline adventurers. Few places have the low magical density of Greenstone, but there are plenty lower than the Sea of Storms.”

“You met Gary and Farrah in a place like that, right? Fighting zombies?”

“I did. It was a big operation, pulling in the locals and people from Vitesse. It wasn't a very high-ranking threat, just a widespread one, so lots of use from the academy were sent out for some valuable experience. Gary and Farrah were operating out of the same branch, knew each other in passing but never really met before. Things got a little wild, as they always do, and we ended up doing a lot of fighting together. Their talent stood out from the locals, especially Farrah, and I asked them to come with me back to Vitesse.”

“So, the adventurers that stay in places like Vitesse and Rimaros are the good ones? The ones from families with the money and power to train their people properly?”

“There’s more to it than that,” Rufus said. “Most of these hardscrabble adventurers aren’t a Gary or a Farrah. They’re not looking to make something of themselves when they leave. They want to make something of their children. They might not be the best adventurers in the world but they can make enough to get their children a better set of essences and then send them to an academy or a training hall. Maybe not in Rimaros itself, but there are places in the Sea of Storms where the competition isn’t so fierce. Not every academy is like the one my family…”

Rufus trailed off as Jason took out a glass of liquor and drank it in a gulp.

“Some days,” Rufus said, “I wish you’d let the blood cult throw me in that pit.”

Jason chuckled as he returned the empty glass to his inventory.

“I think I know what you’re talking about,” he said. “I visited a city in the western reaches during my delivery run. The adventurers there were a step up from Greenstone, but a step down from even the non-guild people here in Rimaros.”

“That’s the kind of place you’ll find the less prestigious institutions, but that in no way makes them bad. Those instruction halls are where the majority of adventurers get trained and plenty of them have the potential to rise to the top.”

“Those are the ones who've come to Rimaros, looking for that guild membership?”

“They are. The lack of training halls like we’re talking about is the reason a place like Greenstone falls short. There, if you don’t come from a prominent family, like Humphrey or Neil, then you’re pretty much hoping that someone with more experience will mentor you. Danielle Geller established a training hall there, after the expedition disaster.”

“I remember,” Jason said. “She was just getting started before we went into the astral space. I even taught aura control there for a few weeks.”

“It’s more developed now,” Rufus said. “It doesn't offer the level of training that the Gellers give their people in-house, but it's open to all essence users. They're even deferring payment until people get Adventure Society membership and earn enough to pay back the tuition fees. I even arranged for the Remore Academy graduates coming to Greenstone to do some basic instruction there. A tricked I picked up growing up surrounded by teachers is that having students teach each other is a great tool to consolidate learning. I've found it complements the training annex programs very nicely. It’s still early days, but I can see Greenstone’s adventuring culture going through a qualitative shift over the next few decades.”

“It sounds like you enjoy running a school.”

“It’s just a training annex.”

“That you conceived of, developed, established and ran. You're allowed to be proud of yourself, Rufus; it won't make your hair grow back.”

“Why would…”

Rufus stopped himself. In their time apart, he'd forgotten the dangers of asking questions about Jason's nonsense.

“If I’m being honest with myself,” he said, “I’ve enjoyed establishing the training annex more than I’ve missed adventuring. Helping others to avoid my mistakes is a lot more fulfilling than the constant dread of making the next one.”

Jason's aura senses were utterly transformed from what they had been when he knew Rufus in the past and now his friend was an open book to him. Jason always knew that his team getting captured at the time Jason first met them, and then Farrah's death weighed heavily on him. Now he could feel it inside Rufus like a wound. Even Farrah's return hadn't erased it. He had a feeling that just like Gary had turned to his smithing, Rufus would turn to teaching rather than go back to the adventuring life. As for what that meant for Farrah, it remained to be seen.

“That’s nothing to be ashamed of,” Jason said. “Honestly, at this point, I think I’d rather be a tourist. All the fun parts of adventuring, but without stuff constantly trying to kill you and your friends. Sadly, that ship has sailed for me. I’ve got the Builder, then whatever comes next.”

“Next?”

“All I’ve gotten from Dawn so far are ominous warnings. Whatever it is, I need to keep getting stronger, so it’s the adventuring life for me. Honestly, I do like it when I’m not fighting and/or being used by great astral beings or gods or forest nymphs who live in a baby oil factory.”

“What?”

“I’ve got to get lucky one of these days, right?”

Rufus shook his head.

“It’s adventuring for me as well. The training annex is a pleasant distraction, but I chose to be an adventurer. If I step away from that, every person I could have helped and didn’t is my responsibility. I’ve paid the price for my mistakes, so now I have to use the lessons I took from them.”