"So, what's the question?" Lisa asked, her smile reappearing moments after the small pout she had sported at Rex previous tease, apparently aware of the humorous undertone behind the gesture.

  "I have heard that space mages are extremely sought after, due to their ability to develop and deploy their own personal space storages, since artifacts with the ability are unreasonably rare and expensive as all hell. I was wondering, what other schools of magic are of a similar status, as well as the ones that people consider foul or are forbidden. Would not want to accidentally associate with a bad guy or a criminal."

  "Humm, humm. A good question indeed." Lisa nodded her head in agreement as she thought how to best answer the question.

  "Well, I suppose metal mages should go into the category, though not in the same tier as space mages, that's for sure. Of course holy element users are also respected slightly more than most other specializations. Everybody loves being healed after an unpleasant accident. I have heard there are even some rare users who could even regrow ones lost limbs. Just imagine the traffic of work they get? Especially from top tier adventurers, he he." she lightly laughed at the small joke she added at the end, and seeing Rex still smile, continued on with her answer.

  "Of course, depending on the location, some other schools of magic become extremely demanded, like water mages in desert regions, where they can convert mana into water. Or wind mages for sailors that travel the enormous and dangerous seas. Nobody likes to be stranded in the middle of the ocean after all. Enchanters are also highly sought after in other countries, though less so in ours, since slave trade is not much of a mainstream here, thank lords for that."

  "Care to elaborate on that Lisa?" Rex asked, since he had not seen any slave collars or anything of the sort, quite happy with the fact.

  "Yes. As I said before, its a practice that's frowned upon here, even if it is not technically illegal. Most who could make use of it though chose not to, precisely because of the stigma. Though there are nations that not only encourage it, but also thrive due to it, condemning endless amount of people to a horrible fate."

  "And enchanters come into play where?"

  "Right. So, enchanters make collars that are used to control these slaves. Disobey and you are in for a terrible time, as the collar shocks you so hard you will feel sore for days, or so the rumors go."

  "Understood. Anything else?"

  "I don't think so, though you will have to excuse me if I forgot anything."

  "Don't sweat it Lisa. You are helping me a great deal as it is. I will definitely thank you later with monster bounties for your bonuses."

  "He he, dont you forget it." she giggled and added, before continuing to answer Rex question. "As for the frowned and outright forbidden schools of magic. Necromancy, poison chaos and demonic. Necromancy and demonic need no explanation, as both are acts of evil, creating countless tragedies wherever its practitioners pop up. Poison is more of a grey area, though still generally forbidden, with only extremely rare cases allowed within some towers of magic in other nations, or so guilds books state. As for chaos, its weird, as the users of it can do many weird things, from making living, talking brooms, to inviting spectral demons into our realm. Its precisely because of its unpredictability and potential for harm, that it is basically forbidden by every nation. There had yet to be an example of a reliable and beneficial chaos spell. One that can create a reliable and stable result anyhows."

  "Anything else? Wait." Rex suddenly interrupted as if he had an epiphany regarding their conversation. "What about empaths? Mind or blood mages? Those must exist somewhere right?"

  "Well, I am pretty sure that every ruler would love to employ at least a couple of empaths or mind mages to ensure that their laws are followed, or they are not lied to their faces, or so there would be no successful attempts on their lives. Still, such mages are so rare that people often joke around that for every mind or blood mage, there are at least five space mages. And while rare, there is no actual demand for their services, except of course mind mages and empaths. Like seriously, what does a blood mage do?"

  Rex waited a moment on Lisa as she rolled her eyes upward, her eyelids slightly squeezed together, as if trying very hard to remember something, and apparently failing to do so, stopped her attempt, tilting her head to the side, lightly tapping her head with one of her knuckles and speaking.

  "Sorry Rex, nothing else comes to mind."

  "Don't sweat it Lisa. You have helped me more than enough."

  "He he , happy to help, so don't you forget your friendly guilds attendant."

  "No worries. my monster bounties will be reserved exclusively for you. Already asked marta for your schedule for that exact purpose."

  "Awww, you are so sweet. If only everyone who showed their interest in me would be as assertive."

  "Now, now miss, I like your cheereness, and find you cute, that much is true and my desire to reward you is precisely because of that. All I hope to receive in return is the same bubbly and happy attitude, nothing more."

  "Okay, you have yourself a deal mister, but don't you go and regret it later."

  "Yes, we got ourselves a deal. See ya around Lisa." Rex waived at her, turning around and leaving the guild hall, with the corner of his eye noticing the Light's Oak still sitting around a table, chatting about something, with one rather displeased glare following his profile.

  'Sheesh, what did I do to earn the attention of a pipsqueak?' Rex thought with a slight smile on his face, internally laughing about the situation. Sure, he did not have the unreasonable eye powers that his dragon bloodline provided the original body, but he had used it enough to pick up a few tricks here and there. The party, or the pipsqueek herself were of no concern whatsoever, even if he did not invoke the power he held over his advanced paths.

  Before returning back to his inn, Rex walked around the town for a bit, visiting a the only smithy he was aware off, inspecting the swords that were on display here, In quality, they were better than whatever he had seen in the hunting camp, though not quite good enough if he wanted to tap into the sword path he had access to. Should he try to do so, the swords would shatter after only a few swings, unable to withstand the sheer power that unleashing said laws would draw through its blade. Rex could instinctively tell that as well. With a sigh, Rex left the smithy, resolving himself to continue as he was, barely getting a taste of the possible growth opportunities due to the limitations and relatively slow start.

  Once back in the inn, he ordered a rather massive meal, consisting of at least four serving of meat stew that was prepared for the evening. In the end, he had to order a couple more servings to feel properly full, only then retiring to his room, where he spent the remaining time until midnight expanding his space storage, reaching the size of two palms. His progress would now be quite steller for the coming few weeks, with exponential progress until the storage would reach the size of one cubic meter. Then there would be a rather notable block, at least for most normal space mages of this world, he could tell. Then again, space storage of such size was more than enough for his current needs, allowing him to start his work on the next one.

  xxxxx

  Once again waking up early in the morning, he went down to the first floor of the tavern, greeting the half asleep barkeep.

  Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  "Hey kid," yawning, the barkeep asked "do you get up so early every day?"

  "A habit. My apologies."

  "Nah, don't worry about it. Just I will know that I gotta prepare something so you cannot complain about the lack of hospitality and service at our place, once you eventually move on to bigger things."

  "Have that much faith in my ability sir?" Rex asked, a slight smile on his face.

  "You get up early kid, ready to work. That in and of itself is an indication of a good character. talent can only take one so far. Hard work on the other hand? Well, countless geniuses have fallen to the hardworking man, with only the hardworking geniuses surpassing them, and Lords know, those are as rare as a humble and honest noble."

  "Ha ha ha ha. Can't argue with those word boss.So, anything I could get to munch on?"

  "Aye aye, sit down and I will whip something up quick."

  Rex waited for a dozen or so minutes, then devoured the food that was brought before him, thanking the inkeep once he was done and paid for his meal, paying for a few more nights in the same room he had spent so far. he found the place cozy and quiet enough, exactly what he needed after a day of adventuring. With his breakfast sorted, and energy acquired for a day of hard work, he left for guild building, arriving at his destination in a respectable time, becoming better and better at navigating the town. Though he noticed a slight increase of the shady individuals in the early morning streets, boding nothing good for the city. he would deal with the problem when it arises, Rex supposed, should it do so, that is.

  Entering the guild building, he once again noticed the pale looking man at the counter, yawning more than one should at this time of the morning, even if they spent their whole night awake, manning the place. Still, with the procedure clear, he walked over to the quest board of F rank, glancing through the available quests. he saw no new quests regarding silverweed tulips, though with the quality of herbs he delivered, the alchemist no doubt realized that there would be nothing of quality to harvest for the next week or two, thus not posting a new quest right away.

  Rex had considered starting his own business in alchemy, but quickly discarded the idea, loving the thought of proper adventures and grinding more than a possible life of alchemical experiments and brewing potions. Not like he could not do it while being a full fledged adventurer on his down time. Not to mention the ease of access to all sorts of herbs and rare materials as a premiere problem solver with a powerful body and spirit.

  And since he was more interested in rewarding Lisa, he ignored the plant or herb collection quests that were placed on the board, focusing on monster extermination ones, or the ones that asked for a certain part of a monster being collected in a predetermined quantities. Both alchemy and enchanting did use several monster parts as an ingredient for certain recipes. And of course, there were also some monsters that were considered a delicacy, or certain part of certain monsters was, making those parts quite lucrative to sell. Still, unlike beasts, with monsters came more danger was well, making the better prices a reasonable thing. Any fool could become a simple hunter, though an entirely different thing could be said about master hunters, that specialized in hunting down certain monsters or beasts.

  Still, Rex had to take extra care when selecting such quests since he was alone and with a rather limited mana pool at the moment. Though, before he could decide on the quest to pick up, he heard someone approaching him, likely another F rank, since the steps indicated that the person was coming to the same quest board. As the adventurer stepped up to the board, he turned to Rex and spoke up.

  "Excuse me, are you and F rank adventurer looking for a quest to take on?" realizing that the person was talking to him, Rex turned his head to the adventurer in question, his gaze turned slightly to the ground, the person reaching his chin coming into his sight. A man, around Rex's age, with dark gray hair, and a somewhat thin build, a bow and quiver on his back and a dagger strapped on his hip. A simple and a bit mismatched leather armor set donned on his frame.

  "Yea, why?"

  "Are you perhaps a Solo?" The youngster asked, glancing around the empty tables.

  "That I am, why?"

  "As it happens, our party is one frontliner short for our quest, so, we were wondering, would you like to join us?"

  "Us being?" Rex asked, following the youngsters raising hand to notice a group of three standing closer to the door.

  "Rex." he spoke, pointing to himself "What's the quest and how do we split the rewards, should I agree?" The youngster smiled at Rex's words, responding.

  "My names Derek, pleasure to make your acquaintance.The quest is to take out a kobold nest a few hours away from here. As for the rewards, equal split among the five of us regarding the reward, as well as five way split of the monster bounties we acquire."

  "Monster loot?" Rex asked since kobolds were known to hoard whatever they could get their paws on, resulting more often than not in some pieces of armor, or weapons that find their way to their treasury, amidst all the other junk that was placed there.

  "Five way split, just like with everything else, giving party members the right to buyout any piece of equipment for the vendors appraised value first, reimbursing the rest their share."

  "Sounds fair. I am in, would like to stop by the smithy on our way out. Spear aint the best choice in caves, one the true melee starts." And while Rex knew just how good stabbing with the spears reach could be, his ability to use the entirety of his skill set would be severely limited. sword and board would be much better choice in that regard.

  "Not a problem Rex. So, welcome aboard." Rex followed Derek back to his party, where he introduced the rest of his team.

  "Guys, this is Rex, he has agreed to team up with us for the kobold quest." he pointed to Rex as he introduced him to the party, the rest of the members being of similar height as Derek, reaching Rex chin at best, making him stand out among the party.

  "H-hello. I'm Alex. T-the healer." stammered out a black haired and spectacled guy with scrawny build. His hair was styled in a rather awkward bob cut, making the youngster look rather odd.

  "He is a bit shy, but a great fellow once you get to know him." added Derek, smiling brightly.

  "Rudy. Pleasure to meet ya." spoke the next youngster. Dressed in a light chainmail, a simple sword by his side and a shield on his back. clearly the groups front liner.

  "As you probably noticed, he is our front liner." Explained Derek, earning a nod of agreement from Rex.

  "Wow, you are big." said the last member of the party, the girly voice quite obvious. "Names Nila. I am an archer, much like Derek here." Rex observed the blonde lithe girl for a second, responding with a quick nod.

  "Nice to meet you all. As Derek mentioned Rex the name. Can do whatever is needed, but as per Derek's words, I will be your second frontliner. Lets get this job done."

  "That's the spirit!" Derek beamed and he beckoned Rex to follow him to the counter, where Derek promptly handed over the quest flier to the pale guild attendant. Their party was named Lightning Sparrow, but since Rex was a solo, he had to registered separately from the party, noting that he was a temporary help for the quest. This ensured that no abuse could take place where a party hired additional people for the quest but hoarded its guild reward, making excuses that they had no additional help. And yes, there had been quite a few such scummy parties before the establishment of such precautions.

  With their quest registered, The group, along with Rex left the building, on their way out running in some of Rex acquaintances.

  "Hey there." Rex raised his hand towards the archer/ rogue leader of the Light's Oak. "Good luck on your quest, whatever you choose." he added with a light smile.

  "Samanta." she spoke. "Might as well know my name, if we are going to keep running into each other."

  "Rex."

  "Hey Derek." Samanta waved her hand at Derek. "What quest are you on to enlist Rex here?"

  "Sup Samanta. Kobold nest extermination. Needed an extra front liner." Derek replied. "Your friend?"

  "Acquaintance, though I think he is pretty skilled, if the quest he took yesterday is anything to go by." she replied.

  "Well see ya around." Said Rex and Derek at the same time, their party, as well as Samantas, eager to get on with their quests, whatever it may still be in Samantas groups case.

  As Rex and Lightning Sparrow left, Rex did hear a friendly chiding of Samanta, coming from the buxom blonde. "Why did you not introduce us too? I feel neglected. Buu huu." she made fake crying signs, winking at Rex, whos head was turned and looked at the performance as he left.

  "Fine fine, next time all right." Samanta relented. That was the last Rex heard as he turned his head back forward, a slight smile on his face. He did like the blonde from that group.

  "Wow. You don't often see Light's Oaks girls so friendly with a manly man." Whistled Nila.

  "HEY!" the other three boys of the group exclaimed at the same time, clearly annoyed at the girls blunt strike on their masculinity.

  "Come on guys. None of you are big alpha beast types. You are more like the loyal puppy that will defend their master till death. Just that said master has yet to be found."

  "Rex on the other hand, she glanced at the near two meter tall man. Just look at him." A grumble escaped the trio, though there was no vehement denial of the observation.

  "We are as we are." Rex added his two cents "But I fail to see how that is a bad thing. Whatever girl manages to catch your attention and heart will be lucky."

  "Yes, yes. That's right." The trio agreed with Rex's words, their mood significantly improved.

  It took a few minutes for Rex to choose a rather simple and cheap sword and a buckler, spending a couple silvers for each, barely having any coins remaining in his space storage. He withdrew them by reaching his hand in his shirt where the coins then fell in his hand. Once he paid, he shoved his hand in the shirt once again, as if placing the remaining coins in his 'secret pocket', depositing the coins back in his space storage. With that done, the group departed the city, on their way towards their goal.