Well, that had been a shit conversation.
The fact that I didn’t remember how I made it back to my bed was also a bit disturbing.
Let’s see, I had quietly left the table, and sat at the bar while silently sipping on my first alcoholic beverage in this life. Then late into the night I.... briefly talked to somebody? It was a bit fuzzy. There may have been blue? That didn’t matter, because something important came out of last night.
I realized that I... was a lightweight. Alcohol and my body did not agree. Never again would I drink it!
Okay, that wasn’t that important.
The real realization I had, and I hated to admit this for obvious reasons, was that Bradvin was right — we would only get in each other’s ways.
I wasn’t even going to unpack the bee’s hive that was his comment on my lack of proficiency, because there was something even more important to consider — I needed to level at dangerous speeds to survive.
For them, speed leveling would only do harm in the long run.
Our teachers always beat the classic leveling speed into our heads. That, along with taking time to rest and recover, would allow adventurers to adjust to their new skills and get used to the monsters at that level before facing mobs with more difficult attacks.
For me, the classic system wouldn’t work. If I managed to figure out how to use my boon effectively, I’d be able to progress at incredible speeds at later levels. The hard part at that point would be to actually find mobs within six levels of me.
I’d also, somehow, have to get them to hit me in the balls... and survive it.
Couldn’t forget about the whole surviving it part. That was even more important than the previous two important things.
By the time I woke up, my... were they still my friends? I’d like to think so, but I’d have to think about that later. They’d already left the rooms we’d rented at the inn, abandoning me to my hangover and my questioning of my life choices.
And speaking of life choices. It was about time I figured out how often I would need a Sack-Tap and Kill.
One year was about 365 days. After multiplying by four, there were… 1,460 days—1459 since I needed to spend today finding a new party to team up with. Divide by 300 to get... ugh. This hangover sucked.
Oh! 4.863.
I had to get 5 levels a day... wait. Shit. That was wrong. It was way too early for my brain to math. I had to get one level every 4.9 days.
To put that in perspective, Bradvin’s team would have 18 days between levels if his leveling wasn’t exponentially difficult.
4.9 days didn’t sound impossible. Except that it would definitely be harder to find monsters within six levels of me once I passed 100. I might have to deal with great lengths of travel time just to find one.
Fortunately, that was a problem for future Sam! He certainly won’t look back on today and curse me out.
Now it was time to get off my ass and find a new party. And if I couldn’t find one, then I’d have to go solo.
***
I entered the Adventurer’s Guild, stepping on its wooden floors that appeared worn from years of use. The temperature difference from the enormous crowd’s body heat practically hit me in the face. While it wasn’t as full as yesterday, it was definitely less organized. But it gave me hope of finding a new party.
Off to the side, there were people standing around holding signs saying that they were looking for a group. There were also some teams at tables holding interviews for new party members. One of those was my previous one.
Bradvin sat there talking to a dwarf cleric. My friend looked in charge and focused — like he hadn’t just given me one hell of a blow last night.
“Hey, it’s Val!” someone yelled so loudly that it interrupted literally everyone’s conversations.
A young dwarven man dressed in miner gear walked into the guild with a swagger. People around there seemed to know him well because they all greeted him with smiles..
“I see you ended up becoming a non-combat miner after all...”
Once the miner walked up to the one who called him, everyone turned to go back to what they were doing.
This place was too crazy! How was I supposed to find a team in this mess? It was worse than a packed convention in my last life!
A tap on my shoulder had me turn to face a familiar blue-haired golem.
“Finally! You’re here!”
Kron? I furrowed my brow.
“You don’t remember, do you?”
“It was you I met with last night?”
“You do remember!”
“I don’t.” More people entered the guild, causing it to feel completely overfull. “But let’s go somewhere else. I have a feeling this conversation will taste better with breakfast.”
“More like brunch. And I know a good place nearby.”
***
“Okay, when you said you knew a good place, I didn’t realize you meant a food stall. And that the line would be almost as long as the one for the Destiny Test.”
“Trust me, it will be worth it.”
Considering how popular it was, it had better be worth it. The scent of fried meat and dough filled the busy street, causing my mouth to water. “So, what did we talk about last night?”
“Well, previously I mentioned to you that Gerald wanted to hear from me.”
I nodded for him to go on.
“He wanted to see my info now that I had access to the system. Maybe I should start earlier.”
I rubbed my aching temple. How long did it normally take hangovers to go away again? “Just say what he wanted.”
The line in front of us cleared up a bit as a large group finished collecting their bags of food.
I started to walk.
“Well, he discovered my boon.”
And tripped over my feet, just barely catching myself.
I turned to him, eyes wide with my surprise. “You have one too?”
“Yes. That’s why I thought I should start earlier.”
“How did you get yours? What is it? Did you also meet the rainbow-smoking fairies?”
He gave me a look that suggested that I was the one smoking rainbows. “What fairies?”
“No, never mind. Go on.”
“Well, when I entered my Destiny Reveal, I stood in a massive hallway. There were lists of medical treatments for various ailments that magic couldn’t cure.”
His eyes glittered with greed. “I memorized as many as I could. Then I reached one that I’d just proven, by adjusting the ratios, to not work as well as the healer community had previously thought. You see if you take the Urbor flower—”
I stared at him blankly, and he winced.
“Right, you’re not a healer. Anyway, I grabbed my knife and started carving the updated answer onto the wall. When I was done, I noticed an ethereal being standing next to me. I believe you could describe her expression as slack-jawed.”