The long wait, and is it time… (180 days ter.)

  Sheltered beneath the eaves of the buildings that created the alley, Nox watched as the rain pelted down from the dismal gray sky. Sighing, she slipped out and headed for the entrance where she nodded at Ri who nodded back before handing her a piece of bread. After dashing back to the shelter of the eaves, the girl sat down to nibble on the now slightly damp meal.

  The girl chewed on a chunk of rat meat and sighed. Not even she’d been crazy enough to rush off to a dungeon without knowing the slightest thing about fighting, and so here she’d stayed for what would’ve been half-a-year back on Earth. In this world though, a day was 25 hours, and technically a year was 1400 days. Still, when she thought of people and their ages, she always seemed to convert it to Earth terms. Anything else was too weird.

  Still, Nox mused, after spending four hours a day for 180 days practicing with a spear, I’ve gotten pretty decent with one. Not great… but decent. Now in the sewers I’m able to kill anywhere from 20 to 30 rats a day, depending on how many I see. Nor do I have the time, or patience, to wait any longer. After all, even if I have coinage now, it won’t st forever.

  She looked down at her outfit. Her old clothes had long since fallen apart, and she’d been forced to buy secondhand leather clothing to repce them. She now wore footwear that looked like boots, along with trousers and a jerkin. On her hands there were leather gloves, while she also wore a bck, hooded cloak. Of the items, only the cloak had been dyed, and it’d all come to 20 silvers, or 2000 coppers.

  Nox gulped.

  The two gold she’d gained from selling her hair only amounted to 20,000 coppers, and yet in the space of half-a-year, she’d spent 2000 coppers on clothes, 1080 coppers on food, and 10 coppers on some soap. It came down to an expenditure of 3090 coppers.

  On the other hand, she’d averaged around 24 rats over those 180 days, so that’d netted her 432 coppers; while using her ‘worldly’ skill as she searched the sewers beneath the marketpce had netted her another 532 coppers; for a total income of 964 coppers.

  I have 17,874 coppers of the 20,000 left, the girl mused. So while I could stay here longer, my coinage is dropping… nor is this a great life. It’s bread three times a day, four hours of practice with a spear a day, and the entirety of the rest of my waking time spent in the sewers.

  Finishing the bread the girl stood and ran a hand through hair which was now around three inches in length. It looked horrible. Sighing, she cringed, then stripped to go and stand beneath the eaves to take a cold shower like many of the other women were doing. In fact, she’d waited for a day like this so she could get cleaned up a bit before leaving. Without that shower, no one would’ve allowed her on the wagons. She’d even bought soap for the occasion.

  Dressed again, with the st of her soap having gone to scrub her clothing, Nox again headed for the alley entrance and stepped outside of it for the final time. As she walked she looked up at the sky, wishing as she’d done so many times before that her Blessing had been something like a mage. It would’ve made things so much simpler. A mage made experience by using mana… and they could do that anywhere.

  Stop it, the girl fumed at herself. Thinking on what might’ve been just makes you miserable. Accept it and move on, or you’ll drive yourself crazy.

  Taking a deep breath, she stepped into the adventuring guild and headed towards a counter.

  “Yes,” a friendly sounding oldish man asked.

  “I would like to withdraw 5 silvers, please,” Nox stated.

  “I see. Pce your hand on the crystal, please,” the man instructed, looking down.

  Wondering what the man could see of her Blessing, Nox blushed and did so. Soon she had the 5 silvers and was headed out of the guild.

  Terrified, the girl aimed herself towards the gate, and fifteen minutes ter she stepped out through the immense stone arch to leave the city for the first time since she’d arrived in this world. Around her were swarms of people who were also seeking passage somewhere, as well as many just heading off on foot to hunt and forage in the woods she could see some distance off through the veil of rain.

  She’d already talked with Ri and Ci about this, so she knew what to look for. Plus there were signs indicating where each wagon pnned to go, along with people crying out the destination and departure times. For all that she’d worked herself into a panic each time she’d thought about leaving the city she’d arrived in, the finding the right wagon part turned out to be easy.

  Handing over 3 silvers, the girl took one st look back at the City of Gunk, then climbed into the covered wagon—the one with the hard, board seats, not the one with the cushy seats the more wealthy people would use.

  No windows, so we can’t even see where we are, Nox mused, sitting down between two women to stare across at an old man who was also dressed in leather. Albeit his leather clothes did look a bit fancier than hers.

  The wagon started moving and Nox quickly reached down to grab the seat to keep from bouncing around. Soon she started to wish she’d tried to walk the distance. After so long practicing four hours a day with a spear, and walking countless hours in the sewers, she was certainly more fit than she’d ever been in her life. Then she heard the howling, and was fervently gd she was inside a covered wagon with proper guards outside.

  The hours passed and Nox knew that her butt was now bck and blue. She also considered it likely she’d chipped a few teeth along the way, and that her tongue had nearly been bitten off when it’d felt like the wagon had dropped a good three feet—at least—and she’d cmped her teeth down on that poor tongue. Swallowing the blood, she held on for dear life.

  With the girl on the verge of death, the wagon came to a stop and Nox pitifully stumbled from it to stand before the gates of the city of Lunk. Still daze, and suffering, she aimed herself towards them and managed to make it inside.

  With the sky darkening, she sought out the adventuring guild and stepping inside. While the city of Lunk contained only 12000 inhabitants, the guild was twice as rge, and twice as full as the one in the city of Gunk had been. But then again, this was a city with a dungeon.

  Taking an unsteady step towards a counter, Nox waited.

  “Yes,” a man asked, looking the girl over and frowning. “Are you okay,” he added.

  “I will be,” Nox assured him. She wanted to smile, but figured with the way she’d bitten down on her tongue, her mouth was probably still coated in blood, teeth included. “I want to sign up for the Dungeon of the Cyclops,” she told the man when he nodded.

  “Okay, do you have a teammate to go in with you?”

  “No,” Nox admitted, knowing it was going to be a problem.

  “Hrm. The recommended number of people for the dungeon is two,” the man expined. “If we take an imprint of your Blessing, we can post it and maybe someone will take you on?”

  “Sorry, I, um, don’t want my Blessing posted,” Nox stated, cringing again.

  “I, um, see…” the man said in a tone that cimed he didn’t. “Are you good with any weapons, or can you afford to pay them, or provide supplies while dungeon delving?”

  “No. I have very little combat ability,” Nox admitted. “As for coinage, I’m losing more than I’m making. In fact, I’ll be sleeping in the alley tonight.”

  The man frowned, and he looked the girl up and down again. He sighed. “We can post an ad mentioning you need a dungeon delving partner,” he informed the girl, “but no one will take you.”

  Nox nodded. It was as she’d expected. Nor was she quite crazy enough to try to get into the dungeon as a solo dungeon delver. Nope. No way. She might now be able to kill rats… but those weren’t actual monsters.

  “You’re basically asking someone to drag you through the dungeon, doing all the work, while you reap the rewards,” the man pointed out.

  Nox cringed. That was exactly what she was doing. Sure, if she mentioned her Worldly title, that might get some takers, but she would have to prove the title which would mean letting it be known she was a prostitute. Well, that she had the Blessing of a prostitute. And that she refused to do. It would also show her subrace as pneswalker, which… well, she didn’t know what would happen if that became known.

  “Are you able to pay the 1 silver fee for entering the dungeon,” the man asked.

  “Yes,” Nox replied. “I have enough stashed away in my guild account for that.”

  “Hmm.” The man sighed and shrugged. “Not my pce to question,” he stated in a disapproving tone. “But if you expect someone to drag you through the dungeon… well, please at least do whatever you can to help them. Should someone actually agree to it, that is.”

  Nox vigorously nodded.

  “Any restriction on who you prefer as a partner,” the man asked.

  “We’ll, I would prefer another woman,” Nox stated, “but I know beggars can’t be choosers. So no. None at all.” The girl shuddered. It was new a fear of hers—that a guy would find out about her Blessing, and make assumptions while inside the dungeon.

  “Hrm, none at all,” the man mused, tapping a fingertip on the counter. “How desperate are you,” he asked.

  “Why,” Nox asked, knowing he was about to mention something horrible, like paying her way with sex.

  “There’s someone like you who no one wants to touch with a ten-foot pole,” the man expined. “For one they’re a beastkin, and they have the Blessing of Backstabbing Thief.”

  Nox blinked.

  The man waited.

  Cringing, Nox nodded. “Okay,” she told the man. “If they’re willing to take me.”

  “Since no one will go with them, they’ve been trying to convince the guild to let them go in solo,” the man expined. “If it gets them inside, I’m pretty sure they’ll agree.” He sighed. “Then maybe they’ll stop pestering me,” he fumed. “And then you won’t be another one waiting, pestering me, with no hope of getting in.”

  He paused.

  “Just be careful in there, okay. It’s dangerous and leveling one’s Blessing inside a dungeon is not something I would recommend to anyone, even someone with a Blessing suitable for combat.”

  Nox nodded. She agreed with the man, but she didn’t have any choice. As someone with a Blessing of a prostitute, it was either this, or doing stuff with guys… which she was far from ready to do.

  “Ginger,” the man suddenly bellowed in a voice that echoed through the guild hall. As one, hundreds of people turned to stare at the man.

  A green blur fshed through the crowd and made its way towards the counter. When it came to a stop, Nox saw it was girl around her age with rge, vibrant green eyes, short green hair, and pointy ears. Behind the girl was a tail. The girl was simply attired in leather trousers and jerkin with a dagger at her side.

  Nox blinked. She’d seen beastkin while in the City of Gunk, but only from a distance. The girl seemed okay, but with a Blessing like Backstabbing Thief… Well, the Blessing didn’t refer to the backstabbing one did with a dagger, but with backstabbing friends. It expined why no one wanted to partner with the girl. That, and maybe some prejudice against beastkin.

  Ginger stared at the man. “What,” she asked in a sharp tone. “I’ve been waiting here for a whole 37 days, and you’re telling me not one person is willing to go in the dungeon with me yet?”

  Nox gulped. The girl sounded pissed.

  “You really think you can solo the monsters in there,” the man asked.

  “Of course,” the girl replied, sounding full of confidence.

  “A thieving Blessing isn’t exactly a Blessing with high combat potential,” the man pointed out.

  The beastkin girl shrugged. “I can handle it,” she again stated with confidence.

  “Humph.” The man didn’t sound so sure.

  “So, am I allowed in,” the girl demanded. “I don’t need any of these losers.”

  “Not solo,” the man stated. “But if you take this girl with you…” He nodded at Nox. “…then you can enter with her as your partner.”

  Ginger looked at Nox, blinked, snorted, then turned back to the man. “I would rather go in solo,” she stated.

  “That’s against the rules, which I refuse to break,” the man replied, his voice calm, if a bit exasperated. “It’s either the two of you together, or you’ll end up waiting another 37 days, or maybe 370 days. Or 3700 days. I think by now you understand the situation.”

  The beastkin girl winced. “Her Blessing,” she asked.

  The man looked at Nox who frowned.

  “She doesn’t seem to care to say,” he told Ginger. “It’s not combat reted though, and you would be basically dragging her through the dungeon.”

  Scowling, the beastkin girl gred at Nox with eyes that tore her down and condemned her.

  “Cut that out,” the man snapped.

  “Why,” Ginger fumed. “I don’t mind doing the dungeon solo, but if I got to take someone—I want that person to be someone who can do her share of the work.”

  The man cringed, clearly agreeing with the girl. He sighed. “Are you turning her down,” he asked, voice now holding a hint of a threat.

  Ginger gulped. “No,” she meekly replied, knowing if she turned someone down now, then regardless of the reason, she would never get in the dungeon.

  “Good,” the man stated. “You can meet up and start tomorrow morning.”

  “I can go now,” Ginger stated. “If that loser is willing,” she added, gring at Nox. “After all, I’ll be doing all the work. Is she even able to pay the entrance fee, or do I have to do that as well?”

  “She’ll be paying her own entrance fee,” the man stated.

  Nox shrugged, wondering at the girl’s attitude. Sure, having to drag someone along was a pain, and she could understand the girl not wanting to do it, but wasn’t she in basically the same situation—unable to enter the dungeon unless they teamed up?

  The man started writing, and soon the two of them were allowed to enter the dungeon—just so long as they did it together.

  “So, what loser Blessing did you get,” Ginger snarled as they stepped away from the counter. Given she was a beastkin the snarl was truly terrifying.

  Nox shrugged and pondered her luck. Assuming the beastkin girl kept entering the dungeon with her that was. Beastkin were fairly strong, and at a low level where neither of them had actual skills from their Blessing to back them up, having a beastkin partner made success far more likely.

  “Grrr,” Ginger snarled, and took the lead.