The days continued to roll on like that with my sights set on the RAA, it started to become typical and almost uneventful.
Leaving my home early to join the cleanup group, spending the entire waking hours of the day killing creatures and leveling up. It got so typical to the point that all the members quit the squad and moved on with their lives, leaving only Dasheen and I to run the operation.
Now, although I was much more stronger than I first started and Dasheen is a decent adventurer both in power levels and experience, we just couldn’t keep pulling off this feat on our own.
The day the final two members of the group announced their departure, Dasheen promised to bring more individuals to join the party.
The Border Cleanup Group had slowly grown into a means of income for me and my household as we sold some of the Anti-arcane stone we didn’t absorb, and I wanted to keep milking that well till its time to move on to the RAA [Reapers Association Academy].
The next morning, I took a deep breath as I approached our normal rendezvous spot. ɴᴇᴡ ɴᴏᴠᴇʟ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀʀᴇ ᴘᴜʙʟɪsʜᴇᴅ ᴏɴ 𝘯𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭·𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘦·𝘯𝘦𝘵
I felt a mixture of anxiety and excitement knowing that this was my chance to prove myself in the eyes of more seasoned fighters.
I was at level 14 now, and I had seasoned my skills; Erebis and Divine Thread to the best of my ability, I could summon Naga and fight with it in sync with its skills and I now had a bigger Arcane reserve.
Judging by my abilities now, it safe to say that I was on par with a lower level D-Rank.
As I arrived, I saw Dasheen surrounded with new faces, three others. That meant the Border Cleanup Group was back in full swing.
Dasheen waved eagerly, his broad grin never failing to lift my fighting spirit.
"Late again Levi, glad you could make it!"
"Hey, Dasheen," I replied, managing a small smile.
My gaze drifted to the others that were staring at me, probably wandering ’What the fuck is this skinny kid doing here...’
Dasheen introduced them with pride. "Everyone, this is Levi, he’s my friend I told you about and he has been at the squad since day one, never missing a day."
Standing to Dasheen’s right was Ketara, a tall, muscular lady with a stern expression. Her armour was scratched from countless battles and the massive club strapped to her back showed just how much she enjoyed brute force.
"Ketara, she’s from the south side of town, around the upside Turtle-fountain area. She’s a C-Rank Awakened..."
Ketara eyed me up and down for a moment, crossing her arms against her sturdy breast. "Hold on... this is the guy? Looks like he’d snap in half like a twig!"
My face flushed and turned red, but I remained silent not letting her downplay get to me.
Dasheen nudged Ketara slightly and placed a gentle hand on my shoulder, "Don’t mind her. She’s all bark... mostly," he added, earning a deadly glare from her.
Next to ketara was Jet, a lanky archer with a quirky smirk. He looked at me with barely concealed amusement in his facial expression, I didn’t find it odd cause lots of people used to laugh at me because of my appearance.
"Dasheen, I hope your right about him. This job isn’t for the faint of heart." he shrugged nonchalantly, checking his bowstring.
Dasheen walked over to him and smacked a palm across his head, causing him to yelp with surprise. "Shut your pie hole arrow boy, he’s already proved himself more than you will in this squad..."
Jet’s expression quickly changed from amused to that of a grumpy pooped up baby, "Whatever, so long as he doesn’t slow us down... I wanna be back in time to eat my moms duck breast."
Dasheen looked back at me, "He’s a pussy... but despite that he’s one heck of a archer... Jet, D-Rank awakened..."
Finally, Valeria, a quiet, soft spoken healer with an aura of kindness, offered me a polite nod. "Its nice to meet you, Levi... Dasheen spoke good things about you on our way here."
"Don’t pay heed to Ketara and Jet, they’re just cautious. I’m sure you’ll do great."
"Thank you, Valeria," I replied, giving her a grateful smile. Her warm approach was relief.
"Valeria here is a B-Rank healer, she just recently awakened and is looking to gain some experience before moving to the RAA..." Dasheen continued with her introduction.
I nodded in acknowledgement, so I wasn’t the only one looking for experience to gain my way into the academy, not to mention that she is adequately ranked and has a decent chance of making it into the academy.
With the introduction over, Dasheen explained the mission.
"We’ll be entering a dimensional gate that appeared last night at the border closer to the sea port. Obviously the people around there are worried because if there is an eventual gate break, the Shadow creatures would spill out and rampage through the sea port... causing major damages to the town import and export sea systems..."
Jet cut Dasheen off mid speech with an important question, "Shouldn’t we leave that to the Reapers, I mean it is there job... frankly do we even have permission to enter a gate if we aren’t reapers?"
Dasheen eyed jet angrily, "Raise your hand next time if you wish to speak..."
Jet replied with a nod and a nervous smile, "Hehe...yes".
"I took permission from the town Constable... the Reapers wouldn’t get here in time to seal it and we cannot afford a gate break while waiting for them..."
"So, for a generous fee and that we get to keep the magical stones from the mission, the Constable gave us permission to clear the gate under one condition..."
I tilted my head inquisitively, "What’s that?"
"Fine question Levi! Impressive boy!" Dasheen yelled with admiration while stroking his beard.
"Under one condition that we have a healer accompany us..."
I nodded, clenching my fist in anticipation. "Got it."
"Oh, so that’s where Valeria comes in..." Ketara said, gesturing towards Valeria.
"Exactly, plus she knows a thing or two about combat so she will be useful to us from now hence forth..." Dasheen said looking over to Valeria.
She replied with a single nod, "I do need the experience..."
"Alright, glad we got that out of the way... judging by the Anti-arcane energy emanating from the gate its likely to be a low-level gate, so Jet you have nothing to fear..." Dasheen said, turning away in the direction of the seaport.
"Eeekkk... I never said I was afraid!" Jet defended as he strapped his bow around this shoulder while dragging his kilt.
It didn’t take long to arrive at the venue. When we did, we made a beeline for the gate, the dimensional gate loomed before us like a swirling vortex of dark energy, humming with a strange and powerful aura.
Even though it was a low-level gate, I knew better not to underestimate it.
The team moved as a unit through the shimmering arc, and a sudden chill washed over me as our bodies spagetiified and the world around me shifted.
All forms of colours flushed into my eyes, even some that I had never seen before, until we arrived at a dark forest that was eerily silent and had twisted trees and mist covered ground stretching in every direction.
"Erm, guys... wasn’t it morning when we stepped through the gate..." Jet said softly with a timid tang to his voice.
"Fool, don’t you know this gates take us to another dimension that doesn’t care what time it was in ours?" Ketara said irritatedly.
Shadows moved among the trees and I could feel my heart pounding with every step I took.
Dasheen looked back at me, giving me an encouraging nod. "Remember what we practised, Levi. Stay alert and let your instincts lead..."