I didn't take any quests during my time off before returning to the Guild and Healer Priscilla for a check-up. Rather, I was busy filling out an incident report.
As the most senior member of the party, it fell to me to fill out the bulk of the paperwork even though Lukas had been registered as party leader. However, the report of events after I had split from the party were being compiled separately, as well as an additional investigation being carried out on the area due to the discovery of the mana crystal that the Giant Centipede had formed around.
Mana crystals did not occur naturally - they were a manufactured reagent used by alchemists and wizards for spell work and potion making. They were rare and expensive - for one to have appeared in a farmer's field so close to the town's gates - was suspicious. The owner of the farm was supposed to be brought by the Guild later for an interview, and myself and the rest of the party were scheduled to be debriefed on the results of the investigation later that afternoon.
I hadn't seen to much of the rest of the group beyond a short visit before I was discharged, and a few meetings to coordinate the paperwork, but it was understandable. People dealt with fear in strange ways - I'd seen it before. We had been momentary acquaintances, not true friends or long-standing companions. To them, I was something of a stranger - one who had been hurt in helping them out of a bad situation - but also, the reason they were able to encounter said situation in the first place.
Without me stepping in, they would never have gotten the approval for the quest in the first place.
It wasn't the most logical line of thinking, but fear was rarely logical.
----
"Tor, can I talk to you?"
He looked a little rough around the edges, but that wasn't surprising. Any adventurer that comes back from a mis-ranked quest gets a little peaky, at least for a while. I did feel somewhat responsible for what happened as the one who approved the quest, and the one who threw Tor at it to get out of the hassle of dealing with insistent newbies.
"Sure, Sally. What can I do for you?"
Still so polite, wow. Even after I inflicted a rookie party on you for no pay.
"Are you a dumbass?"
"Hah?!"
Whoops, didn't mean to say that aloud.
"I meant, uh... You doing okay?"
He laughed at me.
"I'll be fine - just on my way to get checked out upstairs. It's not like you to worry."
"I issued the quest. I do have some sense of responsibility, y'know."
"It wasn't your fault. Are you getting the debriefing about it later, as well?"
I nodded.
"Yep. I think the Earth Mage responsible for filling in the tunnels and cleaning up the site will be present, too. Enough if that though... Tor, I think most Adventures are glory-seeking pieces of headstrong dragon crap."
"Yeah, you've made that pretty clear on more than one occasion."
True. I had received a couple citations about it from other Guild Staff. But too many adventures were a waste of the air they breathed, more concerned with fame and strength than serving the community. Pompous bullies that gave the whole profession a bad reputation, counteracted only by strident PR, multiple charitable works supported with Guild funds, and the few gold nuggets scattered amongst the more turd-like of their number.
"You're a decent person, Tor. You're allowed to be pissed off at Mucus and his posse for shunning you while making you deal with the incident paperwork. He was the team leader, it should have been his responsibility."
He looked away, flushing slightly in embarrassment. Don't be ashamed, you fool! Be angry!
"Those stupid scrubs are just taking advantage of your pushover nature!"
"Ouch. But, thanks. I think."
I smacked him on the shoulder. "Man up!"
"Alright, alright!" He raised his hands up in surrender. "But you do know that his name is Lukas, right?"
Of course I know! But until the little slime owns up to the fact he's being a little turd, he's 'Mucus' to me!
Out loud I said, "Yeah, yeah, whatever. Go get your head checked by a hot nurse. See you at the meeting later. Now, shoo!"
He blushed again. Ohohoho~! He thought his healer was a cutie, huh? I'll have to remember that.
----
Dealing with Sally was always a chore, but not an unwelcome one. I knew Lukas and the others weren't being fair, but they had carried me back to town and I did owe them for that. ...But I was allowed to be angry about it instead of just maudlin, and Sally had reminded me of that. Colorful personality aside, she was a good friend. I think.
After submitting my part of the paperwork, I headed upstairs for my check up.
Priscilla was waiting in the exam room, and I could see the [Rank Stone] already there, sitting on a small cushion to prevent it from rolling off the med-station's counter-top.
She was wearing her green healer's robes as normal, but a different hairstyle. Instead of her golden blonde hair tied back in a simple pony-tail, it was bound and tied with spiraling braids into a high plait that trailed over her shoulder. It made obvious the slender curve of her neck, and the fine points of her elven ears.
I hoped I wasn't blushing, Sally's quip about a 'hot nurse' unwillingly coming back to haunt me.
"Good morning, Tor. How's the head?" Priscilla gestured for me to sit on the exam table, smiling as she greeted me.
"Still a little sore, but definitely much better. I haven't noticed anything strange, either."
She nodded, before scanning me with her wand - similar to the diagnostics she ran before.
"That's a good sign," she mused. "Hold still a moment, I'm going to cast a [Scan] spell. Let me know if you feel anything unusual."
"Got it."
She waved her wand over me again, a pale green light drifting into a round lens-like shape over her eyes. She looked me up and down, and prodded at my scalp a few times with the wand, and then her fingers.
"Well... Nothing seems wrong so far. But the [Scan] isn't picking up any data about that second Class you developed. We'll need to use the [Rank Stone] again for a more accurate result."
She cancelled the spell and carefully passed the [Stone] to me, and I activated it as before.
The colors this time were different. The base color was still blue, but the purples and greens from before had become even more vivid. Perhaps they were indicative of the mystery class I had obtained.
----
----
Name: Tor
Race: Human
Class: Fighter
Level: 30 / 30
Health: 2500 / 2500
Mana: 20 / 20
---
Race: ???????
Class: ???????
Level: 5 / ??
Mana: 795 / ?????
????: ????? / ?????
----
----
My [Levels] had remained the same, and my mana readings had been restored to normal conditions.
"Your second Class is still mostly unreadable," Priscilla mused, biting her lip in thought. "But the amount of mana in it has increased. I did consult with a colleague yesterday, and there have been cases where mana-based classes don't reveal themselves fully until the mana capacity is completely saturated. We don't know what the limit is, so going too quickly would be a bad idea, and based on the dosage of potions I prescribed it also seems to be recovering on its own. Hmmm..."
"Is that why I still have a bit of a headache? My secondary class is still low on mana?"
"Most likely. I'll see about getting you a portable [Rank Stone] to take with you so you don't need to check back at the Guild too often, but I would like you to keep drinking a mana potion each day and monitoring the results. You can come back to pick it up tomorrow - don't try to replenish without it - I don't want complications from over-saturating to scramble your brains further."
"That makes sense," I agreed.
After that, the check-up concluded quickly. Excellent! I still had time to get some lunch before the debriefing later.