I awaken to the light of the sunrise after a night of dreamless rest. I open my eyes and sit up straight while stretching my arms over my head. I look around and see Ivy gathering up some fruit that I don’t recognize, and give her a wave as I stand up and walk over to where the fruit is placed in a neat pile.

  “Morning Ivy! Guess I wasn’t having a weird dream or something considering I’m still here.” I say while looking over the pile of fruit.

  “Morning! Yeah, I can’t imagine how much whiplash you’ve been through and how hard it is to come to terms with everything. Let me know if I can help with anything though!” She says while placing down a big, lumpy green fruit that’s about the size of an apple.

  Bremla Berry: This lumpy berry has pockets of nutrient rich juice that help with hydration, recovery, and are generally delicious.

  Uses: Hydration formulas and other nutrient rich drinks use this berry as a base for their recipes.

  “Mind if I try this Bremla Berry thing?” I ask after reading through the description.

  “Not at all! I gathered enough for both of us to have a nice, light breakfast before heading off to Frenula.” Ivy replies with her arms spread in a welcoming gesture.

  I reach down and grab one of the green fruit and take a big bite out of it. The flesh is mild and refreshing while the juice tastes like a mix of lemon and green apple. I could imagine lots of juice places making breakfast smoothies out of these.

  “So what’s Frenula like? Anything relevant I need to know or anything that’s similar from my world I would understand?” I ask while munching on the fruit.

  “Most people call it Fren and it fits pretty well. City officials and guards have done a bang-up job of keeping the peace. Markets are a little more pricey than I like, but there’s plenty of work around if you don’t want to join any adventurer guilds or anything like that.” She responds while nibbling on a small red piece of fruit.

  “There’s also a dungeon nearby so that gives me a good chance to explain what they are here. On Azurios, we have natural phenomena called Dungeons. When a specific affinity of mana builds up past a certain threshold and becomes the dominant force of an area it will spawn a themed Dungeon. I’ll let the guild explain more about affinities, but pretty much any type of magic you can think of has an overarching category known as an affinity. The one near Azurios is a Death Affinity Dungeon, or a D.A.D. for short.” She monologues to me.

  “Does the affinity give any inclination to how difficult a dungeon is?” I interject.

  “Other than if it’s your natural counter, not really.” She responds quickly.

  “It’ll all make more sense when the guild does a basic run through.” She says with a slight shrug.

  “Well, let’s get going then.” I say while gesturing for Ivy to take her spot on my shoulder.

  She floats up and sits on my shoulder and points off in the direction the sun set. I start off on the journey that feels like a new beginning while thinking about if any of the normal tropes from media will match anything about this world. Maybe the city will be fully modern and I’ll have nothing to adjust to.

  “Oh, actually, you should probably float along with me. I wanna try out the Roller Bear Form a bit to get used to the skill and see what it is.” I say while trying to figure out how to switch forms.

  “Good idea.” Ivy replies while floating about a foot over my head.

  I focus on thinking about the form of the Roller Bear and how my body would stretch to match the hulking behemoth. I feel a surge of energy that starts at my feet and slowly spreads upward through my body. I internally scream as the bones in my hands and wrists stretch and change into clawed appendages. I keep searching my body and find that, besides my muscles feeling more dense and slow, nothing has changed.

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  “Well that was anticlimactic.” I exasperatedly sigh.

  “I’m assuming there’s a way to make the change more encompassing as you get used to it, but we’ll have to do some testing to figure that out. Go ahead and try doing a swipe at a tree to get a feel for the power.” Ivy says while holding in a little giggle.

  “I just really wanted to wildshape like a druid or something.” I say while walking over to a thick tree nearby.

  I do a diagonal slash down the trunk with my right hand and feel the bark shred apart under my claws. The wood sheds out away from the trunk as if I were using a chainsaw.

  “Oh, that’s much better!” I exclaim with glee.

  “Alright, let’s get going. We’ve been in this forest for way too long already.” I state while inspecting my claws.

  “Aye Aye Captain!” Ivy says while landing on my shoulder again.

  I start making my way towards the West where Ivy is pointing forward like George Washington on that boat painting. During our traveling session, Ivy gives me pointers on different things and talks about the basics for the political landscape of our current area. Apparently, when it came to politics, none of the forest spirits, guilds, or religious sects got involved at all and it worked well for them. Who would’ve thought?

  After leaving the forest, we traveled across some prairies and farmland and passed a few small villages. The majority of the crops they produce in the area are grains and some fruits that grow on beautiful, leafy trees on the hills. Along the trails and roads we travel I don't see any caravans or other travelers, but I assume we just were either lucky or unlucky to not see any.

  Out in the distance, I spot a massive wall that raises about twenty meters into the air and surrounds a sprawling city. The building tops I can see aren't made of cement or metal, but instead are grown out of massive trees and connected to each other via hanging wooden bridges. The city itself spans an area of at least a few thousand kilometers, but I can't be sure.

  As we approach the gates and the stone wall, I spot two elven guards on each side of the large portcullis made of wood. Each set of guards has a line of travelers and I can't figure out which line to get into.

  “Wow, this city is massive! Hey Ivy, which line do we hop into?” I asked while staring awestruck at the sprawling treetops and wooden structures molded into them.

  “Left side is for foreign affairs with either nobles, merchants, guilds, or religious groups. Right side is for any other purpose. Kinda surprising to see the left line as long as it is. Usually the merchants and guilds have port permits that allow teleportation into the trading sector.” She explains while scanning the line as I walk into the end of the right one.

  “That would make trading convenient with other cities or villages then. Maybe it’s a foreign political issue or something? Seems to be a lot of fancy wagons and chariots over there without a lot of cargo.” I theorize while turning my attention over to the other line.

  All of the wagons are being pulled by something different than the ones next to them. A group near the front are being pulled by animals that looked like a hybrid between a horse and a scaled lizard of some sort. Just behind them is a group being pulled by a mix of a wooly mammoth and a feline of some sort with long, slender bodies. Another isn't even being pulled by anything and is floating slightly off the ground.

  “Yeah, you’re probably right about it being some sort of foreign affairs matter. All of them have noble standards or flags of some sort on their chariots.” Ivy says after spending time taking in the details.

  After probably an hour in the line, although I never even notice since I am looking at all the different animals, we got to the front. My favorite are the hedgehog fox mixes that are about the size of normal horses.

  Quilled Vixen: These canine-like animals have long, soft fur that can be turned into sharp quills that can pierce even steel. They’re intelligent, easily trainable, and a favorite for farm protection and noble steeds alike.

  Uses: Many animal tamers use them as starter beasts for companionship. The fur and fangs make great alchemical ingredients, tools, and enchanted weapon bases.

  “Next!” Hollers a gruff Elf in front of me.

  I shake my head after studying the cute animals for so long and turn toward the guard while stepping forward.

  “Name and business please.” Says a female Elf with flowing, golden hair and sparkling, sapphire eyes.

  “My name is Alaina Glace and I’m hoping to come get my assessment and exams done by the local guildhall.” I reply.

  “Do you have any identification on you?” Asks the gruff, muscular male on my right side.

  “She’s under my supervision.” Responds Ivy while making a copy of the World Guide Contract we signed.

  “She’s your responsibility then. Make sure you get her an ID tag of some sort while you’re here.” Says the gruff male as he hurries us along through the gates.

  We scurry through a smaller door to the side of the huge portcullis and continue into the city.