He pulled on his freshly enchanted clothes that provided warmth and comfort, freshly washed and dried by May.
Then, he stepped out into the hall and followed the smell of breakfast toward the voices of his family. There would be food, a few questions, and then the walk toward town.
Somewhere between the well, the tavern, and the gate, there would be someone like Carlos or someone who knew him.
Jacob rolled his shoulders once, feeling the way the runes in his clothes flexed with him, and allowed himself a small, tight smile.
If he wanted that dungeon, he would have to start by finding the people already walking toward it.
Jacob reached town with his breath steaming in the cold and his clothes barely noticing it. The warmth runes kept the chill a polite distance from his skin. The main street was busy enough for a village morning, carts rattling past, people moving between the well, the tavern, and the smithy.
He scanned faces without trying to look like he was scanning faces.
He spotted Carlos first by the laugh.
The burly adventurer stood near the well, one boot up on the stone lip, talking with three others who did not look like villagers at all. A squat dwarf in plated armor leaned against a massive shield that was almost as tall as Jacob. Beside him, an elf woman with a chest that made her leather jerkin work hard and a wide-brimmed hat tilted over one eye rested a hand near the slim wand at her hip. The third was a short, wiry gnome with knives strapped everywhere and an expression of practiced boredom.
Jacob did not hesitate. He walked straight toward them.
Carlos noticed him halfway there, brows lifting.
"Well, now. If it is not my favorite little merchant with the ridiculous sword," Carlos said, pushing off the well. "What brings you out, Jacob?"
The other three gave Jacob a single glance, decided he was a child, and moved a few steps aside to give Carlos room. The dwarf sighed. The elf rolled her eyes slightly. The gnome studied the sky as if it had personally offended him.
Jacob ignored them right back.
"I was wondering about that dungeon," Jacob said. "Figured if anyone knew something about it, it would be you."
Carlos grinned, teeth bright in his beard.
"Word moves fast. Yeah, we cracked it yesterday. Little F-rank grassland crawl. Good starter hole." He jerked his chin toward his party. "These three are all new. E rank at best, one of them still stuck at F. So I get to drag them around and make sure they do not trip over their own boots."
The dwarf snorted softly. The elf's jaw tightened. The gnome pretended not to hear.
Jacob's mind jumped straight past them.
"How many floors?" he asked. "What was it like?"
Carlos scratched his cheek.
"Four floors. The first three were standard. Grass up to your knees, scattered stones, burrowers and pack beasts, nothing special. Good team practice." His eyes sharpened as he remembered. "Boss floor was different, though. Grassland that sinks on you. Patches of swamp under the surface. You step wrong, it takes your leg, and the boss comes when you are stuck."
Jacob swallowed, eyes bright.
"What was the boss?"
"Big thing that should not have fit in that room," Carlos said, clearly enjoying the memory. "Something like a cross between a bull and a swamp lizard. Horns, scales, muck everywhere. Tried to throw us around. Your sword performed very nicely, by the way. Cut through the plates better than it had any right to."
Warm satisfaction flickered in Jacob's chest.
"Good," he said quietly. Then, louder, "So. About that favor."
Carlos' grin cooled.
"Here we go."
"You said I could call it in," Jacob pressed. "I want a run through the dungeon. With you."
The dwarf's head turned. The elf actually laughed once, sharp and disbelief filled. The gnome finally looked at Jacob, properly this time.
Carlos folded his arms.
"No."
Jacob did not flinch.
"Why not?"
"Because it is a dungeon," Carlos said flatly. "Because you are a child without power, without training, without any official backing. Because if you die in there, the law will take me down for dragging you in. Because your parents would probably find a way to stab me through a wall."
"I am not asking to solo the boss," Jacob said. "I am asking to go with a C rank and his party. People you just called noobs."
The dwarf muttered something under his breath. Carlos shot him a look, and the muttering stopped.
"You are still made of meat," Carlos said. "Talented meat, sure, but meat. The answer is still no."
Jacob took a breath, held it for a heartbeat, then let it go.
"If they are allowed in," he said, nodding at the three behind Carlos, "then they are strong enough to clear it, right?"
"They are barely strong enough not to die in it," Carlos corrected, but there was a hint of pride under the words.
"Fine," Jacob said. "Then let me fight one of them."
That drew a small silence.
Carlos' brows climbed.
"What?"
"Pick one," Jacob said. "Anyone you took into that dungeon. If I can fight them properly, and I mean actually fight, not just take one hit and fall over, then I am clearly strong enough to be there. If I cannot, then you can tell me no, and I will not bother you about it again."
The elf spoke up first.
"This is ridiculous," she said, eyes flicking between Carlos and Jacob. "He is, what, eleven?"
"Yes," Jacob said, because it mattered to him. "And this is my trial year, so laws be damned."
The gnome's lips twitched, as if he were trying not to smile. The dwarf just watched Carlos.
Carlos exhaled slowly.
"You are serious."
"I am."
The adventurer scratched his beard again, thinking. The street flowed around them, villagers giving the group space without really knowing why. A kid and a C rank talking like they were equals was not a common sight.
"Who did you have in mind?" Carlos asked at last.
Jacob glanced at the group. The dwarf was a wall. The elf's magic was an unknown that he did not like the shape of. The gnome, short and wiry, had knives and speed written all over him.
"The scout," Jacob said.
The gnome blinked, then pointed at himself.
"Me?"
"You went into the dungeon," Jacob said. "You are allowed on the floor. You are the closest thing I will see to what it feels like before I am inside."
Carlos chuckled, low and surprised.
"You have nerve, kid. I will give you that."
He turned to the gnome.
"What do you think, Tamsin? Feel like bullying a farmer boy for educational purposes?"
Tamsin tilted his head, studying Jacob.
"As long as we are clear, I will not be pulling every strike," the gnome said. "I can aim for the armor and stop short of anything vital. If he is fast enough to handle that, he is fast enough not to die on the first floor."
Carlos nodded once.
"Training field behind the tavern. Tomorrow morning, first light," he said to Jacob. "You show up in whatever armor you think makes you invincible. Tamsin shows up as he is. If you fold in one hit, you go home and stay there. If you manage to prove a point, we will talk about that favor again."
Jacob's heart hammered, but his voice stayed steady.
"Deal."
A faint shimmer rippled in the air around the party, subtle enough that only Jacob's sharpened awareness really caught it. The three adventurers all twitched, almost in unison, as if listening to something only they could hear.
Carlos grimaced, then smiled slowly.
'Looks like the system has opinions too,' he thought to himself, much like his party members probably just did themselves. "Fine. Tomorrow it is."