Ryuudou Issei growled to himself in annoyance as he once again moved to the side, using his gauntlet bound hands, which glowed with a soft blue light, to deflect the monster as he flew towards him and delivering a swift strike, with his 'Spirit Fist' skill, to it as it rocketed past.

When the monster slowed itself to turn around for another charge, he didn't need to look down at his ID to tell him that his punch had had all the effect of a fluffed pillow to the face of the creature.

The fact that he found himself being beaten by a ball of fur that was rolling around like Sonic the Fucking Hedgehog was rubbing salt into the wound of an already miserable day.

"This is ridiculous."

He was the two time national high school karate champion. He had trained his entire life under the tutelage of his father and elder brother and had spent three years practicing with Kuzuki-sensei, who was a true martial arts master. And yet, even with the massive increase in his physical strength and speed he had received after getting the Hohei (Warrior Monk) job, he still couldn't beat what had to be the lamest monster in what was said to be the beginner's dungeon.

He felt as though he was bringing shame to the Ryuudou Temple name.

"Take this!" When the monster slowed, Ayako launched her arrow, the wooden shaft barely went an inch in before stopping, even with her 'Swift Shot' skill.

Mitsuzuri Ayako, the captain of the school archery club, had chosen Onna-musha (Female Samurai) as her job and had received the same kind of benefits to her strength as Issei had, and considering her family's insistence on teaching all forms of martial arts to her, it wouldn't surprise Issei if the energetic girl really was descended from the Samurai.

Whatever damage the arrow did, it wasn't enough for the monster to care, as it changed its target to the girl and started to roll again, rushing towards her. The arrow broke as it built up speed.

"Defend her!" Tohsaka Rin ordered the two Furballs she had forcibly turned to her side with the 'Tame' skill. The weaker brown fur monsters positioned themselves in the way of the attack, but were ultimately knocked aside like bowling pins, one having its face ripped off, blood splattering everywhere.

All the creatures accomplished was slowing the red monster's spinning down enough to let Rin strike out with her whip, cracking the monster across body and sending it skidding to the side.

"It seems its defenses are weaker whenever it isn't spinner." Rin said, flipping back her hair as she looked at the red fiend with a calculated annoyance.

"A fat lot of good that does us. That was my last arrow." Ayako griped as she reached into an empty quiver. "I should have gone with the spear."

"If you had, you would have just broken that the first time you attacked the thing head on." Rin pointed out as all three students moved out of the way of the monster's attack, leaving it to kill the other Tamed monster as well.

"Not if I killed the monster first." Ayako countered with a smile.

Issei sighed, wondering what he had done in his previous life to deserve being stuck in a group with these two she devils.

He was convinced that Rin had taken the Summoner job, a witch-like job based around taming monsters, as a mocking joke against him. Teasing him about when they were still in middle school and he wasn't able to shake the feeling that she was a witch.

He'd be the first to admit that despite aspiring to be a monk, he had zero ability to sense the supernatural, but that didn't stop him from feeling that there was something deeply wrong about Tohsaka Rin. The four years he spent with her as his vice-president of the student council had rendered him afraid of women.

"This isn't going to work out. We're just wearing ourselves out at this rate." Rin pointed out.

"What, are you saying we run?" Ayako asked the girl as she jumped aside to dodge yet another attack.

"It would just run us down. Even if its attacks seem predictable, it is a lot faster than us. And if we lead it back to the entrance, we might get a lot of innocent bystanders hurt or even killed." Rin said with a shake of the head.

"True." Issei reluctantly admitted, feeling guilty that he hadn't thought of that first. Glad that even if she was a manipulative witch, Tohsaka wasn't the kind to let others get killed.

"So, I suggest the three of us split up. Whoever he doesn't chase out of you two will help me distract him. If he aims for me, then Ryuudou-san should stay behind to help." Rin suggested.

"Wait, why should I be the one to leave you all behind!?" Ayako objected.

"Because, in case you hadn't noticed, you're faster than us and can get help faster." Rin replied.

"I don't run from a fight!" Ayako objects angrily.

"Dodge!" Issei shouted, reminding the girl to keep her head in the game.

Ayako leaped to the side in order to avoid the incoming attack, when the monster did something they hadn't seen it do before: flames burst from its body, causing it to change directions in midair.

=Red Face activates Blazing Drive - Target: Ayako=

Already in motion and with no skill to help her, Ayako was about to be slammed by the monster's attack.

In a moment of panic, Issei planted his foot and activated his second skill.

=Shadow Track=

Energy burst from his feet, letting him momentarily move at a speed out stripping the monster's as he launched himself towards Ayako, pushing her out of the way of the monster's attack.

*CRACK!*

Issei gave a cry of pain as the monster collided with his gauntlet, causing the metal piece to shatter shards and his arm to break.

He had taken a heavy hit, but because he had been able to guard himself, he had managed to escape it with his life.

=WARNING!=

=Issei's HP has dropped from 10 to 3=

"Issei-san!" Ayako shouted, running to him and grabbing a hold of his non-injured arm, attempting to pull him up.

"Run…" Issei said as he braced himself against the pain. He looked past the girl and towards the spinning monster as it started to come back around. Then, to his surprise, Tohsaka Rin stepped between them and the monster, whip in hand.

"You two. Whatever happens, stay behind me." Rin said, her voice serious and calm as she prepared to fight the flaming monster that was barreling towards them like a runaway truck.

A flicker of blue light moving into the whip in her hand.

*EEE!*

The monster let out a scream and flew off course as something struck it mid flight.

As its rotation slowed and the flames went out, Issei could see the monster's twisted face, an arrow logged in one of its eyes. The beast was as stunned as they were and didn't move, until a second arrow came flying towards it.

It bounced just enough to avoid losing its other eye, but the second arrow still struck its body.

The arrow itself bounced off, but the monster still let out a piercing scream of pain, as if the arrow had dug deep into it and blood came squirting from its mouth.

Not willing to just die, the red monster started to roll again, this time taking much more care to avoid the incoming projectiles than before, as it moved towards the party's reinforcements.

"I don't believe it." Ayako said as she saw the familiar school uniform and red hair. Issei looked up to, and didn't know whether or not he wanted to laugh.

Standing on top of the hill, firing down on the approaching monster, was Emiya Shirou.

What the hell was he doing there?

Emiya shot two more arrows as the monster closed the distance with him in order to launch its attack, targeting the boy, only for a strange girl dressed in lizard cosplay to appear between them, her buckler at the ready.

The shield bash disrupted its rotation somewhat, and sent it flying straight upward into the air.

With a clear line of attack, Shirou fired arrow after arrow, until his quiver was empty. All five arrows hit and unlike the shot to the eye, they bounced off of the monster's red fur. But even if the arrows didn't enter its body, the creature's cries and struggles grew weaker with each substiquent hit.

After hitting the ground, it was barely able to even move as the lizard girl descended upon it with her shortsword.

Three swift slashes later, and it was all over.

=Red Face: Defeated=

After checking his ID to confirm the kill, Shirou shouldered his bow and started down the hill towards Issei and his party.

Jogging up to his three classmates, Shirou stopped. "…Ha." Shirou said simply.

Rin couldn't hold back a snort of laughter.

"Hello Emiya-kun." Rin replied through her chuckles.

Oh god, she couldn't breathe. While it sometimes got on her nerves, Shirou's social awkwardness was like a national treasure.

Rin had been moments away from revealing her magecraft to deal with the Red Face problem when Shirou had come out of nowhere in the most heroic manner possible, only to completely ruin the effect with his usual slight deer in the headlights expression and his inability to find the right words.

"It isn't that funny." Issei said with a sigh, though there was an upward turn to his lips as well, as he watched his friend shift a bit awkwardly before them.

"How?" Ayako demanded of Shirou. "How come your arrows were effective when it was spinning when mine weren't!? Tell me now!"

The girl had a long standing 'rivalry' with Shirou on the subject of archery, something that Shirou himself had remained obvious of for the last three years. So seeing his shots doing damage, when hers did none, left her peeved.

"I'm guessing it has something to do with his Skills." Rin said as she looked over at one of his arrows, seeing the shine it had around the tip. There was the same kind of glow on the edge of the lizard girl's weapon.

"I guess that's right." Shirou freely admitted with a nod.

Didn't whatever handler he had at the Guild tell him not to be so free with such information?

"I see. So it isn't that his archery is better, he just had a Skill working for him. That's good." Ayako said with a nod of her head.

Rin was pointedly deciding not to mention the arrow that struck the monster's eye even while it was flying at full speed and spinning. No need to step on her friend's pride. Though it had been a hell of a shot.

Was that shot part of a Skill too?

She'd never seen Shirou shooting at a nonstationary target before.

"Ugh…" Issei groaned as Ayako's shifting about agitated his injury.

"Sorry. I should take care of that." Rin said, moving up next to Issei and placing her hands over the injury.

=Rin activates Recovery - Target: Issei=

The bright white light enveloped the boy's arm and the bones and torn skin started to knit themselves back together.

Yet again, Rin could only marvel at the ease of use and effectiveness of 'Skills'. What before would have been a complicated spell that would have taken a significant amount of time and magic energy to perform was done in a single action at a fraction of the cost. It was as easy as if she was casting a spell straight from her family's crest.

Skills were incredible, letting even people like Issei and Ayako use conceptual abilities, like movements that would be sure to avoid attacks, or firing an arrow that would never miss its target, all at a cost that could be considered laughable to the Magus girl.

She still didn't exactly know how the mysteries worked, but she would have time for that later.

Twenty seconds later, Issei's arm was as good as new.

"Thank you." Issei said gratefully as he turned to Shirou. "As much as I am glad for the save, what are you doing here? You weren't on the same bus as the rest of us."

'How did you die?' The word 'dead' was an uncomfortable one to Issei and Ayako, who were both trying to emotionally distance themselves from that reality.

Shirou didn't seem to have the same kind of problem.

"I died while trying to rescue survivors from the bus. I got a few people out, but I think all the smoke got to me and I lost consciousness in the fire and burned to death." Shirou said simply, as if explaining why he was late turning in his homework instead of why he was dead.

He really didn't seem all that bothered by his own death, even as Issei and Ayako twitched. Even Rin wasn't THAT okay with it.

"You… Why would you do something so reckless!?" Issei shouted at Shirou, who didn't react at all. Issei looked at Shirou for a few hard seconds before just sighing. "Make sure you don't do it again. I don't think any of us are getting yet another chance at life after this."

"It's… not impossible." Shirou said, glancing to the girl with the lizard themed hood, who was standing over by the dead Red Face with another younger girl that they hadn't noticed before.

"You. You actually killed the Red Face. It is your first day and you killed the Red Face, Shirou!" The smaller girl half shouted as she looked down at the monster with wide eyes.

"...Is that bad?" Shirou asked.

Before the little girl answered, more people showed up.

Two girls, one a fourteen year old European girl, with blond hair in long twintail, dressed like a soldier. The other was a sixteen year old Japanese girl with long black hair with straight cut bangs who was dressed like a shrine maiden.

"We heard the racket and are here to help!" The blond said, drawing a long black sword as she said so, before noticing that the situation appeared to be handled.

"It looks like we showed up a bit late." The shrine maiden said, her voice more soft and reserved than her partner's.

"I guess so." The blond replied with a chuckle, lowering her sword a bit before spotting the corpse of Red Face. She walked over to it before lifting it up with one hand, glaring at it. "There is no doubt about it. This is the Named Furball, Red Face. It's a monster that can annihilate a level 3 party by itself."

"A Named? Is that like some kind of Elite Mob or an optional miniboss from an MMO?" Ayako mumbled.

Shirou, Rin and Issei all looked at Ayako with complete bewilderment. Not having a clue what she was on about.

What was an MMO?

The blond turned towards them, looking them up and down. Just by looking at their school clothes, it was obvious that they were a group of complete novices. They didn't even know what a Named was. So how did they survive?

"Did someone from a high level party come by?" The swordsman girl asked.

"Yes. That's right." Rin immediately lied before anyone else could respond. "Someone strong came by and helped us before you got here. He said that we could have the body, since he didn't want it before leaving."

The others looked at her with puzzlement, but she wasn't about to draw more attention to them for no reason.

"Is that so? Who was it?" The girl asked curiously as she handed the monster over to the young girl in the red bandanna who had been with Shirou.

"I don't know. Just like you, they didn't give their name." Rin said, trying to change the subject by pointing out the girl's rude behavior.

"Ah, my apologies. I'm Elysha." The swordsman girl said, looking away from them, her expression complicated. As if a simple introduction was digging up bad memories for her.

"And I'm Shiromiya Suzuna, it's nice to meet you." The shrine maiden girl said with a bow of her head.

"I'm Tohsaka Rin, and the pleasure is mine." Rin said with a pleasant smile, believing she had successfully deflected attention away from them.

That is, until it became Shirou's turn to introduce himself. "I'm Emiya Shirou, and this is Theresa." He said, introducing the lizard girl, who didn't even seem interested in anyone else's presence, save for Shirou's.

It was a standard greeting, maybe even bland. But upon hearing his name, Suzuna gasped. "It really is you." The Shrine Maiden said with wide eyes.

"You know him?" Elysha asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yes. Well, sort of. He placed first in the national Archery competition last year. I remember how he never missed the center of the target even by an inch. Everyone said that he completely outclassed even the Olympic Athletes when it comes to accuracy." Suzuna said, gushing a little.

"Sounds like you have a fan." Ayako mumbled, not liking people bringing up Shirou's performance. "You know, I was the team captain. Not him."

Ayako was still bitter about how he left the club afterwards, saying he could no longer improve. Rin knew for a fact that it was Shirou quitting that motivated the girl to improve. Ayako wanted to become even better than Shirou was. To prove him wrong, so that he would see that he hadn't reached the top of the mountain and that there were still greater heights that could be reached.

"He's that good, is he?" Elysha said, once again eyeing the Red Face, or rather, the half burned arrow in Red Face's eye. After a moment, she then spoke. "Just a word of advice. Stick to that story you were telling me earlier."

"Ah… Why is that?" Issei asked, surprised that the girl both figured things out and didn't seem made.

"Because, talented novices tend to attract the wrong kind of attention and you might find people working to manipulate you. People like to rely on the karma system, but it can be used to entrap you if you aren't careful." Elysha said, her eyes narrowed, her face becoming slightly frightening in her anger, even if it wasn't directed at them. "And also, the White Night Brigade, make sure to never get involved in them, even in the slightest."

"...We will keep that in mind." Rin said with a nod of the head.

"Come on Suzuna. We still have more work to do." Elysha said, turning to leave.

"Right." Suzuna said, giving them a bow before running off after her partner.

"We should probably get back to work too." Issei said as the pair left them.

"Huh? You want to hunt more? Even after fighting a Named?" Madoka asked, surprised.

"The day is still young. It would be irresponsible of us to call it quits so early." Issei said, straightening his glasses with his now gauntletless left hand.

"He's got a point, and I've still got plenty of fight left in me." Ayako said.

"You two do realize that one of you is missing a gauntlet and the other is an archer with no arrows." Rin said with a shake of the head.

The two stiffened a little before sighing together. "I suppose we will have to return to the city to replace our equipment."

*growl*

The party jumped at the sound, but quickly realized that the growl wasn't the growl of a dangerous beast, but rather, the sound of Theresa's stomach.

"That is another good point to returning to town. We could all use some lunch." Rin chuckled before looking to Shirou. "I suppose I forgot to ask. Would you like to join our party?"

Rin said it as if it was the most natural thing there is, but it wasn't something to be assumed.

"I suppose so." Shirou said with a nod.

"Oh, I'm glad to see you so enthusiastic about it." Rin said with a sigh.

Honestly, a beautiful woman asks him to join her party. The least he could do was smile for her.

"We are?" Madoka said with a moment of surprise, before nodding her head. "I suppose you do want to party with your friends."

"Alright then. We'll return to the city, eat, recollect ourselves and see how much time we have left." Issei said.

"I suppose we don't have much of a choice." Ayako agrees with a reluctant nod.

"If… If it is just getting supplies, then I can help!" Madoka said loudly. Having not strictly been invited herself, she wanted to show herself to be useful. She took out her ID and started to work at the screen, going into the management of her Merchant Union's account. "As a member of the Merchant Union, I can request most items that are on the market transferred into my storage, and then I can use my Delivery skill to bring it out wherever I need to. Is everyone okay with kabobs for lunch?"

Anyone who registered with the Merchant Union could get a key to a warehouse that could be used to transfer things into that warehouse, but you needed a skill in order to move things out of it. That was where Madoka's Delivery came in, allowing access to her massive storage wherever she went.

It was a very useful skill to have for people going on long expeditions, but in District 8, where almost no one went further than the first floor, it was basically worthless.

But for the group of newcomers it was amazing, and there were no objections, so Madoka ordered some kabobs. A minute later, the delivery was complete, and Madoka took out her key, using a small bit of magic energy to withdraw the box of kabobs from her storage space, so fresh that they were still steaming a little.

"Alright, now that is convenient." Ayako said as they all sat down to eat. "It's like online shopping, with instantaneous delivery."

"Yeah, though since it uses a little bit of my MP to bring things in and out of my storage, I can't exactly use it unlimi…" Madoka was explaining when she looked down at her ID and noticed something had changed. "I… I've leveled up!"

The 'level 1' reading had been there for so long, that Madoka had mentally ignored that little part of her stat screen whenever she checked on her MP, after noticing her max MP had gone up from 10 to 20, it suddenly clicked.

Madoka's heart was filled with joy. After an entire year, she had finally leveled up. Perhaps now she would be able to get some more useful skills.

"Hey look. I have too." Ayako said, surprising Madoka.

Each of the others started to look at their ID, and sure enough, the fight against Red Face had caused all of them to level up to level 2, with Theresa remaining at level 3.

Madoka didn't know what to say.

After just a single hour, Shirou and his friends had already reached the second level.


Shirou looked over the new skills he could learn, wondering which he was supposed to choose. As well as the old skills that he hadn't picked the first time, three more had shown up.

Equipment Synthesis I: Gain the ability to create and upgrade equipment.

Mystic Forge: Create a magic forge that can take the place of any conventional tool in the making of equipment, at the cost of magical energy.

Ironwill I: Decrease the effects of mental damage and fatigue.

Both seemed useful, but not immediately useful. In fact, none of the skills that he could learn at the moment looked to be useful in the field, so he held back on putting points in anything.

The others were also looking over their own options for skills, seeing what they could get.

"Madoka… do you mind if I call you that?" Rin said after a moment.

"Not at all. People usually just use given names in this world." Madoka said, seeming glad to be addressed by Rin.

"You said before that you need magic energy to move things in and out of your storage, right? I'm guessing that means you've already used up a lot of MP." Rin said.

"Um… I've been using a potion to restore it a little bit. But I'm still not topped off. Leveling up increased my max MP, but didn't affect my current amount." Madoka reported.

"In that case, I'd like to test out my new skill with you, if you don't mind. It is a skill to restore another's MP." Rin said.

"But… won't you be needing to conserve your own MP? It's more important for a fighter like you to have it than a non-combative like me." Madoka said nervously.

"You don't need to worry about that. Part of my job is that my magic energy gradually restores itself on its own, without the need for a long rest. I just want to test to see how the skill works." Rin said with a reassuring smile.

That was partially a lie. Rin's job had nothing to do with it. It was her years of training as a Magus that let her actively restore her magical energy while moving about.

There was also the matter of her own max MP being so ridiculously high compared to the others.

While she received the same 10 * level MP as everyone else, she also still possessed all of the magic energy in her magic circuits and her magic crest. Leading to her having a total of 633 MP. More than five times as much as the rest of them combined.

So she could afford to give them a little.

"Wow! That must be a really rare job that you have!" Madoka said with shiny eyes.

"Well, the adviser at the guild did say that it was the first time they saw someone accepted as a Summoner." Rin admitted with a show of pride.

"You should have just been honest and picked a witch." Issei grumbled.

"I considered it. Just for you." Rin replied with a teasing smile.

Really, Rin wanted a job that would assist with her magecraft, but she didn't want to be so obvious as putting down something like 'Magus', as if any other magus was around, that would be a dead give away as to what she was.

Summoner was just mainstream enough that it might be written off as someone who read too many light novels. And since she had studied to be able to use the 'Summon Servant' spell, she was pretty sure she had the qualifications.

"So, do you mind if I test the skill out with you?" Rin asked.

"If you can help us restore magic energy, I could use some." Shirou admitted, drawing the girl's attention. "My skills are 'Enhance Weapon I' and 'Enhance Armor I'. While 'Enhance Weapon I' adds 10 conceptual damage to a weapon and can be used ten times for 1 MP, 'Enhance Armor I' decreases damage taken by 10 and costs 4 MP pure use. Each of them lasts for 4 hours."

Rin's eyebrow raised.

Conceptual damage? That would certainly explain how his arrows would bounce off the target, but the monster would be injured by them all the same. Did that mean that every hit, regardless of if it was a graze or a direct hit, would do 10 damage?

That and the decreased damage taken seemed like they would be insane at the low levels.

"Wait, 4 MP!? But you used that skill on me and Theresa!" Madoka said in shock. "Don't tell me you enhanced our armor but not your own!"

"Well… yeah." Shirou openly admitted.

"Why didn't you tell me!? I could have shared some of my mana potion with you! What if you had gotten hurt!?" Madoka shouted at him.

"I just figured you needed it more, since you were constantly using your magic energy to put the bodies in storage." Shirou said nervously as the girl yelled at him.

Rin could only shake her head at the boy's stupid good will. "Anyways. I'll try out the skill, so hold still." Rin walked behind Shirou and placed a hand on his back, right over his heart.

=Rin activated Channel Heart - Target: Shirou=

Shirou felt it as Rin's warm energy entered into his body and spread through him, its heat causing his heart to speed up and him to feel an unfamiliar feeling.

"Alright, done." The girl said. Shirou looked down at his ID and confirmed that his MP was now topped off.

Though… he found himself a little disappointed that Rin stopped as the warmth gradually faded.

Well, at least with this, he'd be able to protect everyone.


Shirou

Level 2 Sword

HP: 20

MP: 20

Skills: Enhance Weapon I, Enhance Armor I

2 unspent Skill Points


Rin

Level 2 Summoner

HP: 20

MP: 633

Skills: Taming Contract I, Recovery I, Channel Heart, Heart of the Wilds

Heart of the Wilds: Increase stats of monster and Demi-human party members and increase the rate of bonding with them.


Madoka

Level 2 Merchant

HP: 20

MP: 20

Skills: Deliver, Negotiation I, Appraisal I, Hide


Issei

Level 2 Hohei

HP: 20

MP: 20

Skills: Spirit Fist, Shadow Track, Aura Guard, Sixth Sense


Ayako

Level 2 Onna-musha

HP: 20

MP: 20

Skills: Swift Shot, War Cry, Switch Weapons, Piercing Shot