Welnar is awoken by a gentle push from the old man at the front of the wagon.

  “We're here, Sorcerer.”

  “Oh, we are?”

  Welnar peeks out of the wagon, looking at the city of Ekstrall… He's seen pictures in books, but this is even better to see in person!

  The city is vibrant and quite large, dozens of other wagons and fancy carriages going through the streets with dozens more pedestrians walking alongside the streets. Small stands hosting various goods are all over, and compared to the quietness of the slums Welnar had been in before, the hustle and bustle of Ekstrall is a bit overwhelming.

  “Is there anywhere in particular you'd like to go, Sorcerer?” The old man asks, Welnar shaking his head in response.

  “Nah, I'll get off here. Thanks for the ride. Oh, also… Don't call me a mere Sorcerer. I'm Welnar.”

  “And I'm a hero.”

  With this proclamation, Welnar hops off the wagon, the old man continuing down the street to his own destination. As Welnar watches him leave…

  {“Y'know, you sounded pretty silly.”} Monarch teases, snickering as she does.

  {“I've gotta get my name out there somehow!”} Welnar protests, feeling a bit embarrassed now. It wasn't that silly, was it?

  {“Oh well. Focus, find the Heart. It's in this city, right?”}

  Welnar does as said, closing his eyes and focusing as the sound of the heartbeats fill his ears. One of them is significantly stronger than the others…

  (“Yeah, definitely here. It’s really loud.”}

  {“I expected as much. Good news is, you’ll definitely know them when you see them. So theoretically, if we laze around here long enough we’ll find them.”}

  {“One problem with that Monarch.”} As Welnar says this telepathically, he shuffles around in his pockets… 3 small coins made of copper jingle in one pocket.

  Enough for a loaf of bread. Maybe.

  {“Ooh. Right. I guess the uh… Slums life didn’t particularly help with that, huh. Sorry Welnar.”} Monarch says, before going silent for a couple seconds, Welnar starting to walk around the streets aimlessly.

  {“Monarch?”}

  {“Oh, I got it! It’s crude, but maybe we can find a bounty or something.”}

  {“A… Bounty. Really Monarch?”}

  {“It’ll certainly get us money, but it can help with much more than that. You want to get your name out as a hero, right? Fighting crime through bounties can be a great way for that! And on top of that, you’ll get to practice your magic for fighting. I highly doubt the person holding the Heart here will be willing to just lay down and die for you after all.”} Welnar can’t help but agree. Monarch makes some good points…

  {“Alright. Guess I’ll get looking then.”} And with that, Welnar continues walking through the streets of Ekstrall… But at least this time, he’s actually looking for something in particular.

  …

  Welnar would spend at least 20 minutes wandering the streets before he finally finds what he's looking for; a bounty office. Every major city has at least one bounty office, and usually more as various companies try to monopolize on the bounty hunting business in a city.

  Not like Welnar cares that much. As long as he gets his money, really. So with a small sigh, Welnar walks through the door of the bounty office. It's quite active inside, with quite a number of people chatting at tables or seemingly planning out bounties. Some are in full plate armor, others with more simple and probably less expensive leather gear while others forego protection entirely seemingly, with what looks like cloaks that quite literally glow with magic power… Perhaps they aren't actually foregoing protection with them.

  And then there's Welnar, in simple pedestrian clothes, that are a tad dirty too.

  A few people near the door of the bounty office glance his way, but pay him little mind beyond that.

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  He walks up to the front counter, where an old, tough looking lady sits behind.

  “Excuse me, could I have a bounty please?”

  She looks up from the counter to Welnar with piercing eyes that are… Kind of scary.

  “Ya got a license kid?”

  “Uh… N-no.”

  The old woman sighs, before opening a drawer and taking out a paper and pen.

  “First and last name.”

  “Welnar Bismorg.”

  She scribbles it down.

  “Are you signing on as a Sorcerer or a Normal?”

  Welnar points up at the metal halo floating above his head.

  “Sorcerer, uh… Obviously.”

  “Just procedure.” She says as she writes his answer on the paper as well… Then, she opens another drawer, taking out a large crystal of some kind on a stand and placing it on the counter.

  “Please place both hands firmly on the crystal until I say to let go.”

  {“WELNAR, DON'T!”} Monarch yells in his mind, causing Welnar to hesitate.

  {“What?”}

  {“That crystal will analyze our energy. I hold an incredibly large amount, an abnormal amount. If they detect this, it could cause problems.”}

  {“Well what am I supposed to do?!”}

  {“Just… Listen to me carefully. I know it's sudden, but you'll need to learn to suppress your mana.”}

  {“Monarch are you crazy?”}

  {“No but we don't have another choice. You'll learn it here and now, just follow my instructions.”} Monarch says as Welnar is pulled out of his thoughts.

  “Did you hear me?” The old lady says.

  “O-oh, yes! Sorry, I uh. Spaced out.” Welnar responds nervously, getting a confused look from the lady before he places his hands on the crystal.

  {“Alright. Close your eyes. Focus on your own mana. Feel it flow through your body, listen to your instincts.”} Monarch instructs, Welnar listening. He closes his eyes, slowly breathing in and out.

  {“Visualize the mana flowing through your body, like blood through your veins.”}

  Welnar focuses… Visualize it… Visualize the mana…

  This task is actually rather easy for Welnar, much to Monarch's surprise. Perhaps it has to do with how his magic works, with it being primarily based on his physical body.

  Regardless… Welnar can now feel the mana flowing through himself. He notices that it seems to also be flowing into the crystal… Or is it being pulled?

  On the outside, the crystal has begun to take on a red hue, the old woman's eyes widening in surprise. The colour also seems to catch the attention of other people nearby. Back within Welnar’s mind, he’s confirmed that the crystal is actively pulling his mana into it. He needs to close the connection? No, not close it… He just needs to slow it.

  Welnar brings his focus to his hands, to the mana flowing through them, and subsequently being pulled into the crystal. Listen to his instincts… Exerting his will over the flow of his mana, Welnar begins slowing the mana being pulled into the crystal. He feels like he’s starting to get it-

  “Remove your hands from the crystal.” The old woman says, her voice ever so slightly shaking? Welnar’s focus is broken as he opens his eyes. The crystal is glowing a deep crimson, and numerous people are staring now. There even seems to be a crack on the side of the crystal...

  {“Shit. Too slow.”} Monarch says.

  Welnar removes his hands from the crystal, and the crimson glow fades. The woman puts the crystal back in its drawer, then writes something down on the paper… And after that, She places it in a box with what looks like a symbol carved into it. Upon doing so, the paper disappears in a flash of light. Rune magic! Welnar read about this stuff too… Much like the general use spells one can learn, a Sorcerer is also capable of imbuing symbols they write with magic power making them do things based on the symbol drawn. The rune on the box is probably a form of transportation.

  “You will be marked as an S-Grade bounty hunter, sir. This means you will be able to take bounties from B to S grade without any outside assistance.” The old woman says.

  “Uhh. Right. Y’know, maybe your crystal… Thing… Was wrong! A fluke, or something. I’m really not all that strong…”

  “That crystal does not simply crack like that, sir.”

  Welnar chuckles nervously. “R-right, of course.”

  {“Damn it… I’m sorry Monarch. I really tried.”} Welnar says, feeling a bit guilty.

  {“It’s fine. Not everything can go your way I suppose. We probably should’ve learned a bit of mana suppression beforehand anyways, that’s partially my fault. All this means is you might have to watch your back a bit more. While our mana makes us seem strong, that’s primarily due to the potential granted by my power. Until you’ve collected a decent number of Hearts, you won’t actually be that strong.”}

  {“So I should probably just do the lowest grade bounty I can get, a B grade one then.”}

  {“Definitely for the best.”}

  Another flash of light comes from the box the woman had put the paper into, and she takes out a small card from the box, sliding it across the counter to Welnar.

  “Here is your Bounty Hunter license. It costs 200 gold coins to replace, so don’t go losing it.” Welnar was about to grab the card when he freezes at the sound of that price tag. 200 gold coins to replace it? He’s never even seen a gold coin in his life! He’ll definitely have to be careful with it then…

  Welnar picks up the card, examining it quickly… It’s actually pretty simple. It just says his name, his grade, and a string of numbers in the bottom left corner. Why the hell does it cost so much to replace them then?! He sighs, putting it in his pocket.

  “You may take a bounty from the board on your left if you wish, sir.” The old woman says. Why does she keep calling him sir?! Welnar is confused, and a little embarrassed… He can still feel the eyes of most other people on him in the place, and it makes him pretty nervous too. So, for the sake of just getting out of there as quick as possible, Welnar ends up blindly grabbing a bounty off the board and leaving swiftly.

  Once he's outside… {“You probably should've at least taken a quick peek at them before just grabbing whatever.”}

  {“It felt weird having so many people looking at me!”}

  {“It’s gonna happen basically wherever you go y’know. I may be old, but even I can tell that an S-grade bounty hunter is pretty one of a kind, so news will probably spread.”} Monarch states, Welnar sighing. He knows she’s right.

  Welnar finally decides to look down at the bounty paper he had grabbed. An A grade bounty… Crap. He just wanted to grab a B grade and get out!

  {“Surprise surprise, your actions have consequences… Just go back inside and grab a new one.”}

  {“Won’t everybody think that’s a bit weird for a supposed S-grade bounty hunter? Rejecting an A grade bounty to grab a lower one?”} Welnar argues, Monarch going silent for a moment.

  {“Good point… Then I guess you'll just have to do it!”} And then it's Welnar's turn to fall silent. His actions have consequences indeed… He looks back down at the paper. It's apparently about a group of 3 thugs hiding out in Ekstrall, with one Sorcerer with them around C-grade, all experienced. The Sorcerer with them is a basic fire Elementalist, but not to be underestimated.

  {“Elementalist?”} Monarch butts in, sounding confused.

  {“Yeah, Elementalist. Did Sorcerer's never get individual classifications in your time Monarch?”}

  {“Uhh. No. I don't think we knew enough about sorcery back then.”}

  {“Well there's a few different “common” types of Sorcerers. The most common, and usually the weakest are Elementalists, with abilities related to the control of an element in some form. Then there's Illusionists, who's abilities are primarily based on affecting someone's mind or decieving them in some way. Then there's Summoners, who can summon various things, usually only a specific kind. And finally, everything else, which falls under the Specialized. I am one such Sorcerer!”}

  {“Welnar, you really know a lot about Sorcerers. Why? You weren't one yourself until just a day or two ago.”}

  Welnar falls silent within his mind again for a few moments, frowning on the outside.

  {“I've read a lot about Sorcerers while I was in the slums, in hopes that I could use the knowledge to beat one someday. And you know how that turned out.”}

  {“I see… Well, now you really can use that knowledge to beat Sorcerers! And it's a fair fight too.”} Welnar can't help but chuckle at Monarch's enthusiasm.

  {“I guess you're right. Anyway, I should probably get to handling this bounty.”} Welnar looks back down at the paper… Last seen on the east side of Ekstrall, and for completing the bounty he'll get… FIFTY GOLD COINS?!

  Maybe this wasn't such a bad idea afterall, Welnar thinks as he sets off to make some money…