Over the next few weeks, Asher and Leah did everything they could to repair the rift they had caused with the guild. They took down entire clans of bandits and any pests around the city they could. They continued to improve their gear and skills over time until they were practically the top members at their rank.
They still had a long way to go before they would be promoted to rank C however. There was an enormous gap in power and skill between ranks C and D. In the end, Asher and Leah would just have to continue doing their job as well as they could. They couldn't rush it.
Leah had almost felt hopeless when they had first started their quest to rebuild a name for themselves as most people wouldn't even speak to them. Colin had been keeping them updated on common opinion on the two of them over time. It was shifting slightly, but they still had a lot of work before they could honestly say that they were once again respected by the guild.
Asher was working on finding out what his innate skills stemmed from in the meantime. There seemed to be next to no traces of anything even resembling his ability to absorb power from the creatures he defeated. Even in the guild library, which had an entire compendium of abilities and skills.
It was puzzling. It seemed like such a strong ability. But Asher had questions he couldn't answer. Was there an end to how strong he could become? Why was it only monsters? Why were there no records of this power in recorded history? It made no sense.
He would keep searching for now, but he had work to do in the meantime. He called Leah down to the guild hall main room. From there, they took a job from the board to kill a group of hobgoblins. The bigger cousins of the goblin, with a temper to match their size.
They were highly aggressive creatures with a penchant for raiding villages and slaughtering everyone there. As opposed to a regular goblin who stood about three feet tall and had a scrawny build, a hobgoblin was about five feet tall with a fairly muscular look to them. They were a lot more imposing than their cousins.
Asher knew that between him and Leah, they could beat a group of them down. Even with the increased physical prowess of the hobgoblins, it was definitely plausible. Asher felt confident, especially with the power he had gained from the Minotaur. The Minotaur on its own had given him more power than over a hundred goblins had. He felt as though he could probably hold his own against a Minotaur now.
That was a rare situation though. Minotaurs weren't very common in the first place and they usually gravitated towards mazes to set their traps. Goblins and the like were much more common.
That was why the majority of jobs Asher took were related to goblins at his level of work. There was much more potential once he hit rank C, but rank D is where most people were basically vacuum locked into place, never going forward. With Asher's special ability, he knew he could eventually break that barrier. He almost felt bad for Leah who he would end up leaving behind, but she couldn't keep up with someone like him who had a huge potential for growth.
A wandering thought crossed his mind to form his own faction from people he allied himself with, but that would require money and power he didn't currently possess. It was frustrating for Asher as he was very forward thinking. He sighed as he thought about it.
Leah asked, "Is everything alright?"
"Yeah, I'm just thinking. Before long, we may be separated. I don't know if I'm ready for that after working with you for so long."
Asher never once had thought those words would leave his mouth. He had grown attached to Leah during the months he had worked with her and he felt a tightness in his stomach thinking about it.
Leah put her hand on his shoulder and said, "It's alright. Whether one or the other passes ahead, we've had a good run. And who knows? Maybe we'll end up reuniting in the end."
Asher nodded. He had a few solo missions he was planning on carrying out in order to try and reach the next stage. He even had the potential to be sent to other provinces and even request work there if he was promoted. He was in the central province of Imperia.
In Imperia he had only low level crimes on his record, so he had paid off the bounties a while ago. In the Southern region, that was a different story. He had a bounty of over a thousand gold on his head in the province of Arcadia.
That was most likely a long time coming, however. Arcadia was home to most of the dragons, so by Asher's guess it was going to be at least an S tier job before he even began to deal with Arcadia.
Winterhaven to the north was more likely to be where he would go next in the event of going on jobs to other provinces. He had next to no bounties there and was glad for it. He could easily pay them off and have free reign there.
It was a cold region with some interesting creatures. Each region had varying monsters that inhabited them, with their own challenges. Asher expected he would gather power quickly as he worked his way through that area.
The hobgoblins that Asher and Leah were going to exterminate were nothing compared to even the northern province's more tame creatures. They had cousins to the dragons that inhabited the place, frost drakes. Though they were smaller than dragons, they were still formidable foes with a horrible temper.
Asher didn't look forward to fighting those particular opponents, as he had heard tales of people being frozen solid by the creatures. The beasts were a rank C quest at the minimum as that was the lowest rank most adventurers were found to be able to handle them. Asher felt he would have to study more before he even attempted a job where those things were involved.
Asher was pulled from his thoughts as they approached the hobgoblin camp and they proceeded to kill every one of them with ease between him and Leah. Since the fight with the Minotaur, Asher had felt a newfound strength that had arisen in him. He barely had to rest, especially if he was killing monsters. The lower level monsters didn't have nearly the same benefit anymore though. They more so just replenished whatever energy he had expended.
Asher knew he had just about reached his peak in the tame lands around the heart of the empire. There wasn't much more progression he could hope to accomplish in Imperia. He could only hope that he would reach rank C before long.
Once he had the opportunity to work in other provinces, he was confident he could expand his influence in newer areas and continue to build on his reputation. It would still take quite some time, but he had more than enough of that. What Asher didn't have at the moment was money with which to expand farther than Imperia. As soon as he ranked up however, money would become less of an issue once again.
Asher felt as though it would still take quite some time to pay off all his bounties, however. They had stacked up high over the course of his life. Asher and Leah continued on and on, working jobs. Their name became more positive over time and it became clear at least one of them was going to be promoted in the near future.
Asher was turning in one last job as Colin told him, "You've done it again Asher. You're being promoted to rank C with everything that entails. Let me explain what I mean by that."