"Miles..." Yvette solemnly called.
"What?" Miles asked as he drank what was left of his bottle of water.
"Were you a cook before awakening your Class?"
"I'm a Red Light Orphan," Miles nonchalantly said. He ignored how Yvette grimaced as he added, "That answer should suffice, but to be clear. No, before awakening my Class, the only thing I did regularly was study what I could at the town library."
"Well, if this Healer thing doesn't work out," Yvette forced a chuckle, "you could probably make it as a chef."
She then froze, horrified as she realized her joke implied his ridiculous talent for healing 'could' not be enough to make it as a Frontier Guild member. Only after looking up to see Miles smiling, did she manage to exhale the breath she didn't know she had been holding.
"I appreciate the compliment, but we really should get going," Miles said, seeing as they only had around three hours until the sun set.
He stored away the cooking equipment summoned to make their meals, trashed the disposable barrier, and said, "You know, since I have the Invigorate Spell and we are aiming for a lowest Ranked Dungeon, how about we run there? I'll make sure to keep my Magic Reserves above 60% max capacity to be ready if by some miracle something manages to injure one of us."
Yvette nodded, and thus the two entered a sprint.
Well… Miles entered a sprint while Yvette moved well within her threshold to easily hold a conversation. Compared to the speed she displayed earlier when leaving to go hunt for meat, she might as well have been crawling now.
…
An hour later, members of the Security Guild were treated to the sight of two teens running towards them. The taller black-haired boy looked like he was about to finish an Ironman Triathlon, while the girl with greyish-blue hair was neither breathing raggedly nor sweating harder than a normal person would be from standing out in the sun for a short time.
Slowing down as they approached the closest members of the Security Guild, Miles could be heard cursing between each of his vigorous breaths as he muttered, "Fuck… If this was… only eighty percent total… stamina exhaustion… I really don't wanna… know how… distressing it'd be… going even lower..."
As he reached a walking pace, he pulled out his CrysTel and joined Yvette in handing their Guild Issued artifacts over for the Security Guild members to check them into the Dungeon. The process was practically an unwritten mandatory rule for Frontier Guild members aiming to enter C Rank or lesser Dungeons as both the inexperience and lack of resources of people who normally entered those Dungeons often left them with little choice.
Normally, only B Rank and above members would both the Magical Prowess and have upgraded the capabilities of their CrysTel to the point where they could report to the Guild at their own convenience. Thus, even if an affluent lower Ranked member possessed one of those expensive higher-end CrysTels, they were still expected to meet the Security Department halfway as their lacking Magical Reserves would not let them charge their CrysTels enough to overcome Extra Dimensional Interference.
"Here you are," the Security Guild member who had volunteered to check Miles' into the registry for Frontier Guild members currently working in a Dungeon, handed him back his CrysTel.
"Thanks," Miles said whilst casting Lesser Invigorate every other minute on himself to gradually recover back to a normal state. "By the way, do you guys have a Transfer Array?"
"You have some items you want delivered back to the Guild?"
"Yeah, I finished a couple Side Q— I mean F Rank Gathering Jobs on our way over here. I'd like to both free up space in my Storage Cube and get paid for those jobs before heading into the Dungeon for more."
"Understandable, please follow me," the Security Guild member said whilst leading Miles to the side of the Dungeon. Yvette was both curious to know how and when Miles had the time to complete several Gathering Jobs, and have nothing else to do, so she tagged along.
It didn't take long for the group of three to reach the Transfer Array. There, despite it being his first time operating one, alone nonetheless as the Security Guild member quickly left without offering any help, Miles quickly enough figured out how to connect his CrysTel to the array and manipulate it to complete his various Side Quests.
He made use of the Array's power to link his CrysTel to the Guild's network, set a teleportation sequence, and begin teleporting his gathered herbs, mushrooms, and everything else worth turning in at this point in time.
[Quest Completion Alert]
[Side Quest 1: Challenge Accepted, Boomer (Complete)]
[Side Quest 4: F Grade Herb Collection Notice 1 (Complete)]
[Side Quest 7: F Grade Herb Collection Notice 2 (Complete)]
[Side Quest 8: F Grade Herb Collection Notice 3 (Complete)]
[Side Quest 12: F Grade Herb Collection Notice 4 (Complete)]
[Side Quest 23: F Grade Mushroom Foraging Notice 1 (Complete)]
[Side Quest 26: F Grade Mushroom Foraging Notice 2 (Complete)]
[+115 System Points, +1,020 Krilp Awarded]
"It hasn't even been a full day yet, and already I've made over a thousand Krilp," Miles muttered and apparently dropped his guard enough low enough to fall victim to one of his oldest habits.
"Uh, are you good?" Yvette asked, seeing as Miles' current expression was one she never expected from him. He was smiling, but it was a cross between a smug all-knowing cheshire smile and a sick sadistic grin.
"I'm more than good," Miles said as he recomposed himself. "Just by completing a couple of these F Rank Gathering Jobs, I've made the same kind of money the old Classless me would have taken a week to earn."
"Well, good for you," Yvette sincerely said.
"Good for us," Miles corrected as he operated the Transfer Array to switch between outgoing teleportation to incoming teleportation.
"From the moment we left the town walls, we became partners through and through. Without you around, I wouldn't have dared leave the town perimeter to complete these Gathering Jobs. So even if you didn't technically do anything to help with the actual 'gathering,' you're entitled to a portion of the earnings," Miles said as he began browsing through a catalogue of camping equipment.
"Now, while on any other occasion—" Miles rolled his eyes, "—I'd just give you the money straight up. Right now, you're kind of missing some essentials for a dungeon run. So, come over here and help me pick out what kind of sleeping bag and other amenities you want."