Jazon Jestario and his adventuring team, shortly after parting ways with Carter during their shared quest.

"Well, you can't complete every quest. That last challenge quest from the System was simply too much," Jazon said as he looked over his downcast adventuring team. They were nursing their cups in a tavern after a string of bad luck. It shouldn't be possible for a party of B-Grades famous across the multiverse to have a string of bad luck, but here they were.

Next to him was Theodorus, a proud warrior of the group, both ambitious and full of fire. Or at least, that's how he normally was. Today, he sat with shoulders slumped and nursing his cup of ale.

Across from him was Balorie, the needle knight. Her slender sword had pierced the hearts of the strongest B-Grade beasts, but she'd met her match during the last quest. Her famous stabbing sword was bent now, and it would cost a fortune and a half to replace.

"We've finished a quest like this before..." Balorie grumbled, eyes locked on her cup.

The other woman of their team, Magara, was more vocal with her frustrations. She slammed her fist into the table with all the might of her oni strength.

"Damn it! We needed a better enchanter. Somebody who could fix the damn thing. We held out for two hours. One was enough last time!"

Theodorus shrugged. "It was a worthy challenge. And hey, at least we didn't get roped into joining up with the Vaust family on the border. That might have happened if we hadn't made sure to accept other System quests at the time."

"That quest chain took us months to build up! At this rate, we'll never hit a seventh system quest, let alone go any further." Magara squeezed the table in frustration. Given her strength as a powerful oni, the wood crumbled to dust in her hands.

For a tavern on an A-Grade world, this place had skimped out on the materials and only used wood from a C-Grade tree.

The next minute consisted of Magara clumsily trying to shove the bundle of splinters back into position. It was no use. Mentally, Jazon added a few dozen gold coins to their tab to pay for damages. Given how things were going, they'd either need to fulfill a few private requests or Jazon would need to go crawling back to his family and ask for more funding. He would very much prefer the former.

"It's not all our fault. Most adventurers say pocket realms are fraying all over. As the System breaks down, so do the pocket spaces it manages." Theodorus shrugged.

"Don't say that where others can hear. It'll cause a panic, and we'll have A-Grades on our asses," Jazon whispered.

"This time, the team of enchanters the System gave us weren't able to complete the core purification as fast as before, so we needed to hold on for longer. We'll need to practice defending an area more. Nothing else for it." Theodorus shrugged, changing the subject without missing a beat.

"Or..." Jazon began, fingers drumming against one another. "We could get our own enchanter or artificer. Train them up, get used to working with them, that sort of thing. It would make repairs a lot easier too. Balorie, I know your needle sword is expensive to maintain. The same is true for my and Theodorus' armor. We've got more than enough raw materials for the job, we just don't have anyone with the skillset."

"So we're going to protect a crafter all the time instead of just on quests?" Magara grumbled.

"We can train him to fight on the side. I think it's a smart idea." Jazon shrugged.

"Him? Balorie asked. "I take it you already have someone in mind?"

"I think by now it's clear that the first artificer we met in that original quest was pretty good. He was only C-Grade, but maybe we ought to hunt him down. I'm sure we can get him to B-Grade in a year or two of grinding levels," Theodorus suggested.

Jazon smiled and nodded at his old friend. The two women across from them grumbled a little. Both had been a bit short-tempered during their last meeting with the C-Grade Artificer they'd met, but they hadn't realized how complicated the job had been until the quest was done and he was already gone.

"I guess recruiting him would be a bit of a help. But I'm not apologizing!" Magara said.

"Hmf. He will be very lucky to be recruited to our team while merely a C-Grade. It will be the opportunity of a lifetime for a crafter," Balorie said. She'd been pretty snappy with the artificer too, but Jazon figured as long as they were both on board with his plan he could smooth things over.

"Good! Now that we're all agreed, all we have to do is hunt that guy down and make the offer." Jazon grinned.

"How are we going to do that? We didn't even get his name," Magara said.

"We have a face and a profession. How hard could hunting him down be?"

***

That task, as it turned out, was incredibly difficult. The crafter they'd met was nowhere to be seen. For someone of such skill, he was surprisingly difficult to track down. Jazon had assumed he'd be able to go to C-Grade armory shops, look for makers marks, and from there put names to faces until he found the man they were looking for.

In the past, they'd completed fetch quests in a similar manner. But things were not so easy for the nameless crafter they were talking about.

Jazon even resorted to mentioning the crafter in an interview about the pocket realm quest. The crystal tablets for the interview would hopefully be distributed far and wide. Unfortunately, their target never got in contact with them, even after all of that.

"Hey, Jazon, I think I finally found something!" Theodorus said after returning from a shopping trip with some of the last of their adventuring funds.

"Oh?" Jazon asked, not too hopeful.

"Check it out!" Theodorus picked up an information pamphlet from the world of Glacia. Jazon was pretty sure they were called news papers there.

Theodorus pointed to a certain page portraying an artistic depiction of a young man underneath the heading 'Tournament Winner Declared.'

"That's our guy!" Theodorus said.

Jazon peered at the description, rapidly fixating on a name. "Carter of the Dragon Lodge, huh? Finally! Now all we have to do is meet with him and get him to join the crew."

***

"What do you mean we can't go in to look for somebody?" Jazon asked the Dragon Lodge official.

"The Mucaria Mystic Realm is open only to Dragon Lodge members and their guests. You have no invitation and are not guests," the official said. Jazon was pretty sure he'd mentioned his name being Official Rykard at some point.

Jazon sighed. "Alright, we'll get an invitation then. Damn bureaucrats..."

A few hours later, Jazon and his party wandered around the world of Glacia until they found the item shop of a down-on-his-luck local wizard with some ties to the Dragon Lodge.

"Sure, I can give you an invitation. I think I know the Carter you're thinking of. Good lad. Not sure he'll accept your invitation, though."

"Thank you, Wizard Galbatorix. You've been a big help. If you ever need anything from the Jestario family, just drop my name," Jazon said to the old wizard.

With an actual invitation, Jazon was able to get himself and his party into the pocket realm. Once through the gates, they went to the nearest administrative office and found the same official waiting for them.

"We'd like to get in contact with a certain student of yours. His name is Carter," Jazon said.

"Sorry, but that student you mentioned is a Jade Medalion holder. Access to their public information is restricted to ranking lodge members. We don't want anyone bothering our most talented students when they are supposed to be focused on their studies, after all," Official Rykard said.

"You've got to be kidding me..." Jazon pinched his temples between thumb and forefinger.

"Back to sleuth work?" Theodorus asked.

Jazon nodded in annoyance. Still, it was pretty impressive that their target had the Dragon Lodge taking a personal interest in them. Jade Medalion holders must be a pretty big deal.

It ended up taking all day to track down Carter's whereabouts. Or at least, where he had been.

"Doomblade's Armory. I'm told he worked there for a bit. Apparently you can even see some of his handiwork on display," Theodorus said.

"Grab Balorie and Magara. They like shopping, don't they? Besides, now's our chance to look at more of our upcoming recruit's projects and confirm that he really is worth having on the team," Jazon said.

Rounding up Balorie and Magara took a bit of work, but the two ladies rematerialized when Jazon mentioned they were visiting the shopping district.

"The place we're looking at is called Doomblade's Armory. Be on the lookout for a store with that name," Jazon said.

"Found it," Magara pointed in the distance, where there was a huge mob of people lined up on the sidewalk.

Jazon and the team made their way over and found that they were indeed standing in front of a densely packed shop full to the brim with customers. Few looked like students from the Dragon Lodge. In fact, most looked like merchants from worlds connected to Mucaria. Jazon guessed they were resellers hunting down quality gear for more local shops back where they came from.

That wasn't too uncommon for a place like Mucaria, which was famous for being filled with Dragon Lodge enchanters and craftsmen of incredible skill, but why were there so many at this store in particular? There were a dozen places selling weapons and armor within sight.

Jazon and his team soon found out a few minutes later when Magara and Balorie finally got their hands on some of the weapons.

"This club has a good heft to it. Somebody knows how to make a proper oni weapon!" Magara said as she admired what looked to be a stick to Jazon. She probably would have taken a few practice swings if the place weren't so crowded. As it was, she barely had enough free space to move her arms.

"What's so special about it?" Jazon asked.

"Dunno. But I can feel this is a good bonker. Can't explain how, but I'd trust this club against just about any B-Grade." Magara stroked the wooden stick enviously, and Jazon felt like he could just barely see faint lines light up.

Those couldn't be enchantments, they were far too small. No enchanter could carve them no matter how steady their hand.

And yet, when Balorie appeared holding a thin stabbing sword, Jazon realized he'd underestimated this place.

"I want it! I want it!" Balorie said, giddily bouncing like a kid with her favorite toy.

"What is it?" Jazon asked as he flipped around the price tag and immediately went pale.

"The most magical needle sword I've ever seen!" Balorie said giddily.

"This thing costs a fortune!" Jazon coughed.

"It's made by the guy we're looking for, see?" Balorie flipped the sword around to reveal a maker's mark, which matched what the team had found the crafter they were looking for used.

Jazon narrowed his eyes, focusing on the narrow pattern barely visible along the length of the blade. It was hard to look at, not just because it was so tiny, but because he had the distinct impression he wasn't looking at all of it. It reminded him of how sometimes powerful void beasts would only exist partially in normal space and party elsewhere.

One thing was certain though. This Carter guy knew his stuff. For the first time, Jazon was starting to wonder whether or not their team could afford his services.

"Alright, between this handiwork and the crowd around us, I think we can confirm this Carter fellow is a damn good enchanter. Now we just have to find him and give him the invitation..." Jazon said, looking around for a manager while Balorie pouted at him. Magara was doing the same, but the expression looked far less cute and far more threatening on the large oni woman.

With a sigh, Jazon blew most of their team's remaining funds on new weapons for the ladies.

"Boss isn't here," said a green hobgoblin running the shop. Her nametag designated her as 'Gobgob.'

"When will he be back?" Jazon asked.

Gobgob shrugged. "Not for a long time."

"Can we find him somewhere?" Jazon pressed.

"Probably not. Boss got an army and went off to fight."

"Wait... what?" Jazon frowned at this new news. "You mean to say he isn't in Mucaria at all?"

"Nope."

"Sleuth time?" Theodorus asked.

Jazon sighed again.

***

It took considerably more work to figure out where Carter had gone. Luckily there were a few people who recognized the name from the recent tournament.

"Damn it, he went off to join the legion on a crusade across a border world. We might have been on Glacia at the same time," Jazon cursed.

"Our search turned up that he has close ties with the Samhain Clan. They were the reason he participated in the tournament at all. Something about a girl," Balorie said.

"Can you ladies look into that?" Jazon asked. "Theodorus and I will check in with the Glacian military records. Maybe they're looser with information than the Dragon Lodge. Perhaps there's still time to catch up with him somewhere."

"Leave it to us! Us Oni have a great relationship with the Samhain Clan. They love hiring mercenaries, and we love getting paid for thwonking stuff," Magara said.

***

A few hours later, the group reunited. Magara and Balorie appeared, both sporting huge bruises.

"What happened?" Jazon asked.

"We showed up and asked about Carter. They said he left for the capital for some sort of training thing in the God-King of Glacia's personal library. Then we got dragged into some sort of drinking game..." Magara rubbed her swollen cheek.

"You too?" Jazon looked at Balorie's swollen cheek. He could see Magara getting into a head-butting competition with an Amazonian warrior, but not the slender silver-haired swordswoman.

"The alcohol was very potent," Balorie explained sheepishly.

"Damn. For a crafter, Carter must be one tough bastard to survive with such a rowdy crowd."

Given his profound accomplishments in crafting, Jazon had pictured Carter as a delicate crafter of immense skill that focused all his time and energy into his craft, then used experience pearls to level his class and keep reaching higher grades.

But between the tournament and his connections to the Samhain Clan, Jazon suspected the young craftsman they were trying to recruit was capable of a lot more than they'd initially assumed. For the first time, Jazon was a little worried they didn't have a good enough offer to convince him to join.

Maybe he could add in a non-monetary sign-on bonus. They had a lot of exotic materials from their many adventures, after all. And they could guarantee him anything like that they might pick up in the future. Those would surely convince him to team up with them, at least for a few quests.

***

A short time later, they made it to the palace and approached the gates. Such things were off-limits for the average visitor, but usually not for B-Grades. Most worlds were ruled by B-Grades, which meant as a team of B-Grades, Jazon's crew were often treated differently. The higher ranks were essentially a big club designed to look impressive and untouchable to the low-leveled masses, but were considerably more informal for the powerful. Jazon and his team found they could solve most major conflicts by dragging the B-Grade leaders of two separate factions off for a private beer and discussion.

A-Grade worlds like Glacia were a bit different though. They had their own club that was similar, but even more exclusive than B-Grade networks. And while Jazon and his team would get some leeway, they still had to treat the planet's ruler like the ruler he was, rather than the dropping in to chat with a neighbor like he would for a B-Grade.

"Hey, a... uh... friend of ours is staying in the palace as a guest. I was wondering if we could come in to see him," Jazon asked the two gate guards.

They were silent as they stared dead ahead. Both were only C-Grades, but that was still a pretty high level to merely be outer gate guards. On all but the core worlds, the bulk of a civilization was administrated by a powerful B-Grade's elite D-Grade subordinates.

"Ah, young Carter, hmm?" said a homeless man sitting off to the side. Jazon wasn't sure why the guards hadn't kicked him out of the way as he sat half in the bushes flipping through a book.

"You've seen him?" Jazon asked.

"Yep. He just left," the homeless man said, not bothering to look up from his book.

"Damn it!" Jazon sighed. "Any guess as to when he'll be back?"

"Not for a long time. He's a legate on crusade. Could be months or years. That young man's rising fast in the world. I'm not sure he'll be keen on joining your little adventuring crew."

"He's in command of an entire legion?" Jazon asked. That didn't sound like any type of crafter he'd ever heard of.

"Yep."

"Thanks."

"If you do hunt him down, ask him if he's enjoying my book."

"Sure thing," Jazon said, leaving the homeless man to his reading and addressing his companions.

"Well, gang, recruiting Carter to our adventuring band is going to be a big harder than we thought."

<Note>
I like the idea of Jazon and his crew running around trying to recruit Carter, only to miss them every time.

Anyway, unless there are objections, rather than doing a poll every time I think I'll just do the runner-up from last poll. Then maybe we can repoll. Leave suggestions below if you have them.

I'm also getting closer to being able to start the next book. I've already written the "The Story So Far..." section and have what I think is a good outline for the whole book. Currently, I'm adding details and worldbuilding to the various factions and people Carter will be meeting.

I might post one or two of those as a worldbuilding post. I remember people used to enjoy those a few years back when I was writing Spellheart, but I stopped at some point to maximize chapter output. Might be fun to do a few of those again.