Aphmau, Reed, Rune, and Penny, walked up a large hill in town, framed with chiseled stone with coiling man-made steps. Fart had to go back to the base to let Captain Val know about the shopkeeper's charges and fill out some paperwork.

The sun had set; many estorrans went back into their homes as the Adventurers were tossed out into the streets; homeless and cold.

Aphmau looked up at the top of the hill to see a dark purple tree, its light green leaves seemed to touch the star-littered sky as its massive roots dig in and out of the ground, throughout the land where the town was built on later.

"Looking at the Heart Tree?" Rune asked as Aphmau nodded. "Simon always used to chat about these."

"Yeah, he would," Aphmau, agreed as the rest of them walked around it. "He said that fiends keep away from Heart Trees, even from the roots far away from it."

"It's how we get our resin too," Reed chimed in. "But since corrupted resin can be used effectively, the Council has made strict laws to prevent it from being gathered."

"What kind of laws?" Aphmau asked, looking at her bored friend as he walked ahead of everyone around the large tree.

"Well for one, Adventurers are not allowed here without a permit," Reed informed, much to their shock. "I nearly got arrested for walking near one of the roots."

"Why does everyone hate us?" Penny asked, looking glum.

"Prejudice," Reed summarized in one word. "They think that only Adventurers would harvest resin from the Heart Tree."

"Harvest?" Penny asked. "I thought corrupted resin falls naturally falls from the tree."

"No, corrupted resin is basically any resin, no matter what it is, that was unnaturally extracted from the Heart Tree." Aphmau recalled from one of Simon's rants. "It can potentially damage the tree, and could cause fiends to be less wary around the roots."

"We're here," Reed shifted the three sacks on his back while he held the other two. He insisted on carrying them. "Up ahead is the meeting for the dungeon raid."

"Wait, something is wrong here," Rune looked ahead. "There are already ten people here!"

"Is that a problem?" Penny asked, anxiety building at the Rune's frustration.

"Only ten people are allowed for the raid," Aphmau revealed. "I thought we would be joining them... but maybe we can still spread the word about Simon."

"No, that's not the problem," Reed interrupted, pretending not to hear that last part. "Today there were only seven people in the dungeon raid, looks like someone took mine, Fart, and Penny's spot."

At that, the girl in question looked sad. She was about to turn away before Reed's mild stare stopped her in her tracks. Rune put a hand on her shoulder and gave her a reassuring smile.

"Let me do the talking," Reed walked towards the bonfire, where ten individuals were chatting around it. There was one person standing on a wooden stool, clearly in charge as the glow from the flame reflected off his bald head. "Hey, Thomas!"

A set of blue eyes belonging to a bald man turn to face Reed, everyone else went silent as they saw Reed approach as Thomas went still.

Reed walked up to him, easily shrugging and dropping the sacks filled with supplies as he grabbed a nervous Thomas by the collar of his armor.

Immediately, everyone else reached for their weapons, but Thomas raised his hand to calm them down. "R-Reed, I, uh, didn't think you'd come back."

"Good to see you too," Reed tossed him to the ground before looking at the nervous, yet glaring, crowd of Adventurers. "Why are there ten people here?"

"I-I didn't think you would have an issue; you usually don't care." Thomas picked himself off the ground. "You just do your own thing."

"I am doing my own thing, securing my crew's spot for your dungeon raid," Reed flexed his crystal gauntlet. "You owe me Thomas; I got you the supplies and money to fund this!"

"Reed, look, it's complicated," Thomas pointed to three other Adventurers. "Those guys have healing skills, no one else did, and I just had to get them on board!"

They were all identical in appearance, standing separate from everyone else around the fire so their white cloaks wouldn't get dirty as they held their green resin staffs with pride. These are members of the Healing Ward Covenant, a group of Adventurers that dedicated their Class Points into healing.

Covenants are groups that have a certain 'code' or philosophy that they follow with their magic. They're not technically official, since they don't have any buildings to live in. But if you can find people who will watch your back, then that is worth more than gold.

"I know healing magic," Reed reminded. "So does Penny."

"But they can do it better, and help the whole group too." Thomas stated as a fact. He let out a sigh before inviting Reed's group to the Raid Party. "Look, I'll let you and Fart join because you guys provided funding and supplies for this raid, and you guys are at high levels."

"But her?" Thomas glanced at Penny. "What can she provide, she's only level five?"

"Okay, but why is she here?" Reed pointed to a lone female, who stopped tying her blonde hair into a ponytail to narrow her brown eyes at the man. "She's only level five, just like Penny."

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[Alexis] Species: Human Level: 5 Job: Bounty Hunter Class: Mage (3) Rouge (2)

HP: 1600 MP: 1700 SP: 1700 Experience: (500/5,000,000)

{Power: 17/Vitality: 16/Intelligence: 17/Magic Potency: 15}

----------

"She's a bounty hunter," Thomas explained. "She's been outside of town where the fiend infestation is high. She invested a million gold into joining, and provided detailed weakness of a huge variety of fiends; she earned her place here."

"But her?" Thomas pointed to Penny again, who seemed on the verge of tears. "She just piggybacked on you and Fart's progress. I'm sorry Reed, but I need strong Adventurers who won't be a liability; we need to make a profit off of this."

"...What if I could provide you something that will make up for it?"

"I'm listening." Thomas accepted quickly, anything to get Reed off his back.

Reed placed his gauntlet-covered hand on Thomas' shoulder, and pointed to Aphmau, Rune, and Penny with his other hand. "If you add them to the Raid Party, they will help boost Fart's Battlemage skill to enhance everyone. You'll increase your odds of surviving."

"But that would mean the Experience would be divided even more." Thomas countered. "Even the resin and crafting items will have to be split too."

"Wait, we get to join?" Aphmau whispered excitedly to the other girls. "I've always wanted to go-"

"Shh, I'm trying to hear them!" Rune shushed as Penny looked relieved at not being abandoned.

"Money is the most important thing, you know that gaining Experience is what this dungeon raid is not about." Reed reminded. "With them around, you'll have more people to work with, kill monsters faster, and have others to carry other drops.

"Reed, I don't know..."

Reed dropped huge bags of gold, too small to contain the wealth inside. "Those bags contains a total of three-million gold," He stated, much to everyone's shock. "That's enough for them to join."

The way he said it didn't leave any room for argument or questions. Where did he get all of that money? "A-Alright, just, uh, let me address something first." Thomas begged as he placed his stool back up before standing on it. "Hello, everyone, it's time we had this meeting started."

At that everyone went silent, occasionally glancing at Aphmau, Rune, and Penny. But Alexis was mildly glaring at Reed for silently calling her weak.

"Now, I know you're wondering why I had Owen find recruits for this expedition," Thomas started. "But let me explain everything before you ask your questions."

Thomas seemed to gain a bit of confidence. "I'll be blunt, everything sucks!" He shouted. "No one will help us, shops won't sell us anything, let us live anywhere, and if they do, they charge us five times as much for it."

That caused the crowd to nod in agreement as they whispered among themselves. Thomas clapped his hands to get their attention. "Now we know that dungeons spawn, and they attract fiends too while they're up, and they disappear after we defeat the boss monster."

"But, I've gathered information that there are dungeons that constantly exist, even when the boss monster is defeated." He revealed, not that it was a surprise; those types of dungeons are common knowledge. "We're going to complete these dungeons, and earn a lot of loot."

"But that's what you normally do!" A male with the Mage Class pointed out, blowing away a strand of his blonde hair out of the way as he crossed his arms over his cloak. "Why make this meeting?"

"I've talked with Owen, and we came up with something," Thomas smiled. "If we get enough money, Owen can do some renovations at the Adventurers Guild to expand."

"If we gain enough money from this, Owen can make it so the Adventurers Guild can have enough room for every Adventurer here in town."

Thomas didn't continue, and that alone caused skepticism. "W-Wait," A female assassin asked. "That's it? That's the whole explanation?"

"Yeah," Thomas nodded, smiling. "Any more questions?"

Several raised their hands. "Uh, okay, you in the back." Thomas pointed to an Adventurer in leather armor.

"That's fucking stupid!" After that, everyone else put his or her hand down since someone said what they were about to say. "Why don't we just do our Jobs, go on regular quests, and earn money to fund this instead? Why should we do something so dangerous, why even keep it a secret?!"

"Owen didn't want the Council interfering, they've already done enough of that," Thomas calmly explained, trying to regain control. "If we defeat the boss monsters, it will be proof that we Adventurers are strong enough to be recognized; respect."

"So why don't we just go after some of those really big fiends?" Another pointed out. "Not even the Sentinels can take them on, that would be enough to show that we're strong."

"This is the fastest way to earn a lot of gold," Thomas explained, pounding a fist into his palm. "People, you're missing the big picture here-"

"Hold up, let me summarize for everyone what you just said." One of healers from the Healing Ward Covenant interrupted, clearly not amused. "...So we're doing all of this dangerous stuff, potentially die, lose all of our levels and skills, so some guy with a weird accent can improve his bar?"

"Uh... when you put it that way..." Thomas shrugged and gave an awkward smile. "...Yeah?"

"What's stopping Owen from keeping the money, and screwing us over?" Another from the crowd asked. "He wouldn't be the first EVI, or the last, that did."

"Hey, there is no need to call him that," Thomas tried to calm everyone down, but failing. "We just need to trust him, this is our chance to finally make a place for us to be safe."

"Think about it!" Thomas gestured out. "A roof over your head, food that hasn't been stale or rotted, and a place you can return to without being scorned!"

"Isn't that worth it?" Thomas asked, hands out in an act of peace and safety.

"..." The crackling fire was all they could hear as the cold breeze of the night dimmed the flame. The rest of the Adventurers were in deep thought.

One of them stood up; clapped his hands together before spreading them out. "Nope!" And with that, a second later in the silence, he walked away.

Everyone looked at the male walking away. "Where are you going?" Thomas asked walking up to him. "Don't you want a future-?"

Thomas face crashed into the Heart Tree when the Adventurer shoved him. "People don't give a damn about us, and will try to make us miserable." He sighed before walking off. "You will never change that, they'll just find some way to screw us over like they always do."

"Yeah, me too," Another Adventurer grasped his knee and stood up, adjusting his quiver of arrows as he did. "I'm done."

"This was stupid..." Another shook his head before walking down the stairs.

"What a waste of time..." A woman sneered, joining her friends.

"Hold on, wait!" Thomas begged. "This... this can still work!"

One by one they left, quitting the Thomas' Raid Party as they did. There were only three people left, Alexis stood by two other Adventurers. One was a blonde who is a level 28 who put the majority of his Class Points into Resin Knight, and is wearing blue cloths, under his leather armor, that also cover he bottom of his face.

----------

[Berry] Species: Human Level: 28 Job: N/A Class: Warrior (1) L[Resin Knight] (27)

HP: 5000 SP: 11000 Experience: (10,500/28,000,000)

{Power: 110/Vitality: 50/Intelligence: 10/Magic Potency: 10}

Stat Points: 0 Class Points: 0

----------

The other was a magic user, with light pink metal armor over red clothing under it as she has short brown hair. For some reason, she was glaring at Reed with her aqua eyes.

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[Talia] Species: Human Level: 28 Job: N/A Class: Mage (7) L[Defense] (7) L[Healing] (7) L[Miracles] (7)

HP: 2000 MP: 4000 Experience: (10/28,000,000)

{Power: 20/Vitality: 20/Intelligence: 40/Magic Potency: 90}

Stat Points: 0 Class Points: 0

----------

Reed couldn't figure it out, but something seemed familiar about those two... Eh, who cares, needs to find something to make for this waste of time.

"Wait, Reed," Thomas scrambled up to him. "You can still make this work! You'll help me, right?"

"I did help you." Reed aggressively kicked him away, dropping Thomas' HP down. "I did my end of the deal, got you the supplies and money, but you decided to give me and my crew's spots to a Covenant." Reed picked up the bags of money he dropped and placed it back into the pocket dimension where Adventurers keep their money.

"I needed those healers," Thomas coughed from the ground, trying to reason. "Besides, I gave you and Fart your spots back!"

"But you didn't give back Penny's," Reed pointed out as he picked up the bags of stole goods. "And I had to bargain with you again for something that was already ours."

"Reed, please," Thomas stood up, injured. "I was trying to help everyone get a future."

"So you decided to betray me, Fart, and Penny," Reed scoffed as he picked up the bags of stolen goods. "Get your new buddies from the Healing Ward to help you. I'm out of here."

"Wait, so, there's no dungeon raid?" Rune panicked. "What about the loot?!"

"What about Simon?" Aphmau snapped, shocked that her friend would put money as a higher priority. Then again, that is Rune's personality. "Trying to spread the word about him missing was the point of all of this!"

The arguing continued, everyone yelling at each other until a loud belch silenced them. "Woo~!" A cheery voice yelled. "Man, that felt good!"

"Fart?" Reed called down the spiraling stairs. "Was that you?"

"Uh, of course!" Fart replied as he ran up the stairs. "You can't hold in your burps, you'll grown hair in your bellybutton if you do!"

"Does... he actually believe that?" Thomas asked.

"Shut it, Thomas." Reed glared. "Don't think I won't forget this-"

"Hey, bros!" Fart called, smiling as he walked up to them. "Sorry for being late- man, there are a lot of stairs!" He then noticed the empty space with little amount of people in it. "Where is everyone?"

A/N: Don't worry, the dungeon raid will still happen, I just wanted to get the story going~! Also, Alexis is the OC submitted by the The_Winged_Warrior! I really liked her other one that she submitted for my other story, so I knew she wouldn't disappoint me. If you have an OC, don't be shy to submit it to my message board, just follow the rules.