Infinite Paths: The Raging Phoenix

"If the boss brought you here, then you should be capable enough," Karla said while rubbing her chin thoughtfully. "Still, I think that it would be better if you worked with some of the other members to gain experience. You will have to share the rewards of the work with them, but you will gain knowledge faster. What do you think?"

Rain went silent for a while and began to consider things. Working with others meant that he would have to follow others and their rules. That was a pain. Besides, he didn't know what kind of work he would need to do in a group for now. He only saw jobs that required a lot of people to guard caravans or help with people moving.

"For now, I will focus on jobs that will need someone that can use magic; I should change my mind about the offer eventually, though," Rain replied.

"That is fine; you should tell me when you wish for that," Karla said. "Have a good night."

Karla left the area of the bedrooms. It was still afternoon, so it was a bit too soon to go to bed… Still, Rain decided to unpack his few things and rest since those three days had been tiresome, and he couldn't waste time relaxing the next day.

Once he finished unpacking his things, Rain looked around the room. It was fairly simple; it had a simple bed, table, chair, a candle, and a closet. There was a window that gave Rain a direct view of the western side of the capital. If the enemies were to come, they would come from there…

"I suppose I should focus on making some money and improving my skills in the first month and then look for people who want to test their skills," Rain thought while he looked out the window and looked at the city. "That should help me grow faster… mixing martial arts and magic should be fine as long as I don't go too far."

A new chapter in Rain's story was starting, and he couldn't help but feel excited about that. While the future was unknown, thanks to the war, he took a step forward that would let him influence its results. He didn't know if he could make any real difference yet, but he will work for that.

Rain woke up the next day before the sun could rise, and the building was still closed. It seemed that Karla only opened the entrance around six in the morning, so he decided to leave through the window for his usual morning training. Along the way, Rain had the idea of making some earth rings and putting them on his arms and legs. They were made of highly compressed earth, so they were quite heavy.

Still, that would help him with his training.

The skill of Running leveled up.

The Healer's Path received 580 points of experience.

"Not bad, huh?" Rain thought. "Still, I need to use my mana as well, at least some of it since it is full, but I will work using it during the day."

Rain felt like doing some shadowboxing as well, but he decided to do that at home. He didn't think that things like jabs, straights, and uppers were groundbreaking stuff in that world, but it was better to make sure not to spread around how he intended to fight.

In the end, he decided to keep training his earth magic, and he did that by making the dust fly around him in rings that were barely able to be noticed. He wasn't using much mana, but he was improving his control and skill with magic.

In the end, Rain lost the notion of time since he ran around the capital when he was used to and returned around six thirty in the morning. In ten minutes, he changed his clothes, took a shower, and then went to the entrance of the building. The place was quite large, but it seemed small, with close to three hundred people in there.

"It should have even more people since some jobs can take several days to be finished…" Rain thought while furrowing his eyebrows.

Rain began to walk toward the board, and soon, he drew the attention of a lot of people, he was still growing, but at such a moment, he felt truly troubled when he realized that most people were at least half a meter taller than him.

In any case, while it was early in the morning, the people of the organization looked ready for work and action; some were carrying stuff for long trips while others were fully armored. Yesterday, most of them didn't look that much professional. Still, they sure were trying to improve their image on a daily basis.

"I wonder if I should do the same to be taken more seriously… just working and getting famous shouldn't be enough," Rain thought.

In any case, there was a line of people already talking with Karla and with some papers from the board in hand. When he approached the board, he was surprised to see some short people there as well. Actually, they were short because they were young as well. It seems that Branden also recruited some teenagers. While they were lightly armored.

All of them had weapons, knives, spears, swords, bows… the usual stuff. Rain wondered if they could spar with him. He didn't have much experience training with those that didn't use swords.

The kids ahead noticed Rain's stare and then looked at him while frowning. Knowing kids, Rain assumed that they would do or say something stupid, but soon they ignored him and grabbed a piece of paper. It was a job to hunt a magic boar. The reward was five gold coins if they were able to transport the body and deliver the beast to someone in the capital.

"I didn't see those yesterday… I guess this type of job would be taken early in the morning," Rain thought. "Regardless, they work in a party of only kids around their age, huh. They are a bit older than Branden, but it seems that they feel that they need to prove themselves if they don't want anyone older with them."