As he walked his way through the busy streets, paying attention only minimally as his [Status] guided him, he decided he needed to take the coins from the other three flowers as well. ‘Can’t forget looking at those…’

  As soon as he had the [Icing] coin in his inventory, he almost tripped in the middle of the street as a cold feeling went down his back.

  Looking through his [Status] brought up the answer why, the [Icing] buff apparently only needed one coin to activate.

  ‘Is it because of [Nature Magic]?’ he thought to himself, dismissing the screens as he approached the League building. He’d look at the new effect for his hoard later, as he’d want to spend all of his focus on it.

  The building was even more impressive in person, the main portion of the building looking impressive with massive walls made out of smooth stone. ‘Earth magic…?’ Roge wondered, seeing various graffiti art made of paint and stone shaping. Even the main ‘entrance’ to the building looked big, it being a grassy courtyard with various places for people to sit and work on skills. He was tempted to see what the trees had for abilities, as the bark was a soft blue, but he forced himself to move on, coming up to the lone counter next to the entrance to the inside portions.

  “Hey um…” he said, suddenly unsure of what he was going to say to the lone receptionist. “Is there any way I can get info on what types of roles teams need?”

  She looked up to him at that awkward question, Roge having never seen someone of her species before. She looked to be a human shaped blob of water, her hair more like white mist than anything. Her glasses were at least normal, which she adjusted as she looked up and down at Roge’s normal clothes. “I’m afraid that’s Adventurer information only. You’d need to sign up and qualify for…”

  As she went on with what Roge assumed was newbie information, he let out a sigh. So he’d need to be combat ready and *then* find out what kinds of party members people needed. That seemed counter intuitive.

  “Sir?” he suddenly heard, turning his eyes back to the water lady and realizing she had asked him a question.”

  “Hm?”

  “What kinds of classes do you currently have? Honestly never seen a [Dragonkin] around here looking to sign up.” She said that last part with a hint of disgust, Roge feeling his scales heat up even while her tone never showed in her polite facial expression. “I’m not sure what they usually can get.”

  “Oh um… A self buffing class and a farming class currently.” At her confused face, he took a deep breath as he thought of a way for him to explain. “I store things in my inventory to get power. Right now, my powers allow a farm and various… trinkets. I can even enhance plants to make them have different effects.”

  “Well that’s certainly interesting. Though none are combat related,” she muttered, seeming to lose whatever black mood she had when saying the name of his species. “I can see why you’d want to feel things out before picking a combat class. Any you have in mind?”

  “I’m hesitant to take alchemy…” he said as he looked around the courtyard, thankful the few people who were there were on the other side of the space.

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  “A strong choice, but one that specialized you more into a long ranged attacker.”

  “Yeah. I like the utility, but having to throw bomb around seems… too flashy for my tastes.” He smiled a bit at that, her face showing slight surprise before she pondered what he said.

  “So it sounds like you’re looking to be a utility member. The bar for that is quite high, though. I can already get the sense that your [Dexterity] is not bad, so trying out to be a ranged member might be easier.” She paused at that, looking behind Roge and prompting him to turn around.

  What looked to be a very tall goblin peered back at the dragon, towering over Roge by at least a half-foot. He assumed they were a hobgoblin of some kind, their sneer making their long nose and ears even more goblin-like. His? skin was a reddish-brown color, almost reminding Roge of bricks. To add to that look, he wore form-fitting leather armor dyed the same color as his skin, Roge twitching as he overcame the urge to redesign the strangely skimpy looking outfit.

  “Oh uh… sorry,” Roge exclaimed, moving off to the side once he noticed the pile of equipment in the adventurer’s arms. Surprise came over both his and the receptionist’s face at the dragon’s apology, the hobgoblin’s face turning into a sneer.

  “Better be, runt,” he grumbled, dumping the various weapons onto the counter. “I need to turn these in.” His pissy tone didn’t change much when he said that to the water lady, leading Roge to back off slightly to not get on his bad side. It did not work in the slightest as the adventurer’s eyes immediately went to him again.

  “Dragons don’t belong here,” he grunted, Roge feeling confusion roll through him at the statement. “You better scamper back to mommy and daddy.” At that, the conversation was apparently over, the hobgoblin sauntering over to one of the nearby picnic tables where two other goblin-looking adventurers in leather gear sat.

  “What…?” Roge mumbled, turning back to the receptionist as she shook her head.

  “Ignore him. Quinn's like that with everyone,” she said lowly as she kept an eye on the group. “But he did have an excellent point. [Dragonkin] usually don’t apply here.”

  “I’m… not sure why that is?” Roge hesitantly stated, earning him another surprised look before the receptionist’s face went back to professional.

  “Regardless. I can give you the handbook on utility and ranged qualifications,” she said, Roge feeling a bit annoyed at her dodging his question. She placed the two mini-books on the counter, one having an arrow on the front while the other had a fork. “Two silver please.”

  Feeling like he was running low on funds, and finding his inventory only had a few gold left, Roge handed over the money and grabbed the books to be read later. “Thanks…” he mumbled, trying to give her a smile as he turned around and walked away.

  ~~~

  Not wanting to go too far in case he had questions on the matter, Roge sat down next to a tree in a quiet portion of the courtyard and pulled out the ranged book first. As he poured over everything, cringing hard at the requirement that you be at least level ten in a ranged-style class, he found his minuscule desire to be a ranged attacker get smaller and smaller. It seemed to be more for people who wanted to be hunters and trackers, though Roge felt slightly confused as to the fact that it had no mention of ranged magic. ‘Maybe mages from the church don’t need to sign up the normal way…?’

  Not ready to be disappointed by the utility book quite yet, Roge decided to [Inspect] the tree he was leaning on, sighing at the basic information.

  Feeling like the fact that it was an oak obvious with the acorns hanging from the branches, Roge was about to turn away disappointed when his eyes snagged on the seeds of the tree. ‘Could I…’ he thought to himself, looking around on the ground for an acorn he could try to grow in his hoard. Unfortunately, whoever was in charge of cleaning the courtyard took their jobs seriously, leading Roge to stand up and try and reach for some of the hanging acorns. Unfortunately, they were a bit too far off for him to reach, the lowest branches more than double his height from the ground. He couldn’t even use his inventory to grab them, as that usually required physical contact.

  With that thought running through his head, he pulled out the bottle of ink he’d attuned to, feeling rough scales move across its surface as he touched it. Deciding to be responsible for once, he placed it on the ground and moved away a pace or two before trying his idea. The bottle immediately went back into his hoard, the test demonstrating to the dragon that anything bonded closely to him acted as an extension of him. ‘And if that’s the case…’

  Throwing the bottle at the seeds took a bit of work, Roge constantly looking around to see if anyone noticed what he was doing. He’d picked a spot where the tree blocked his view of the receptionist counter and hopefully hid him, though he wanted to be fast just in case. Getting the hang of his aim, as soon as the glass touched an acorn, he tried to stash it in his hoard, holding back a whoop of joy when it disappeared from the tree. Remembering to put the bottle back into his hoard before it smashed on the ground was a tough task, but thankfully there wasn’t any delay in the actions.

  He got a total of five acorns before he had to call it quits, spotting some adventurers walking through the front entrance. They, in turn, spotted him, though he tried to ignore them as he pulled out the utility book and sat down. Feeling his mana somewhat drain from putting the seeds in, he was about to start reading when a voice shouted out at him from the group.

  “Hey Roge!” a tall lion called out, his mane practically shining red in the sunlight. He had on the classic leather outfit that he’d seen on a lot of the adventurers, his muscular frame leading Roge to think he prioritized strength in his build. “Oh my gosh, why haven’t you come by recently?”

  That question left Roge feeling a bit cold, slowly getting up as the lion’s team members followed behind. “Oh uh… hey man…”

  “Wait. You’re not thinking of signing up are you?” the adventurer interrupted, looking at the book Roge was holding. “I thought you said you wouldn’t be caught dead doing that!” He looked offended by Roge’s ‘previous’ behavior, the dragon wincing as he tried to think of what to say.

  It was at that moment that another voice called out to them, Roge looking back at the entrance to find none other than Fred the wolf jogging up to the group. He was obviously trying to hide the worried look he sent Roge’s way, but the lion clearly didn’t miss it as he squinted at the wolf.

  “Hey Roge! You okay?” Fred asked, his body a blur as he rushed up to the dragon to look over his face. The only thing Roge could concentrate on, though, was the leather armor the wolf wore, which for some reason had been painted a bright, garish pink.

  “What would be wrong with him, Fred?” the lion growled, Roge trying to not look at the large man and feeling a tingle run down his spine.

  “Look uh… can we talk in one of the rooms? Inside?” the wolf asked, giving Roge a knowing look. “This is going to need some explaining.”

  “Yeah. Yeah, let’s do that,” Roge quickly added, only adding to the growing concern on the lion’s muzzle.

  “You’re not dying or anything are you?” one of the other adventurers asked, Roge barely focusing on them as he started walking with Fred.

  “Nothing like that. Just… not something I want to get out,” Roge explained, waving them forward as the group followed Fred into a private room inside the League building.