Keldric looked over to read the elegant, gold-leaf title. [A Field Guide to Common Household Molds].

“Strut,” Keldric said, his voice flat. “It’s a book about mould.”

“But the binding, darling. The presentation is everything,” she insisted, not missing a beat. “One could use it as a statement piece on a coffee table.”

“We don’t have a coffee table,” Keldric sighed. “Or a house. Or coffee.”

As if on cue, Linkin silently offered Elara a thin, black book of poetry titled [Sonnets for the Soulless].

Elara, with a polite but firm smile, ignored all of their terrible suggestions, her eyes already locked on her prize. She found the book she needed on a high shelf: a thick, practical, leather-bound volume titled [Beginner’s Guide to Buffs and Banes].

She carried it to the counter as if it were a sacred relic. The proprietor, a wizened old man with spectacles perched on the end of his nose, peered at it. “Ah, a fine choice for any burgeoning support-caster. That will be fifty coppers. I’ll need to see your Guild Card for verification before I can sell you a registered text, of course.”

Elara proudly presented the flimsy, amateurish card. The old man squinted at it, grunted, and gave a curt nod. Elara took a deep breath. She untied the worn pouch she’d been clutching this whole time and poured its entire contents onto the counter. A small pile of copper and a few silver coins tumbled out.

The old man counted it slowly. “Fifty coppers. Exactly.”

Elara clutched the book to her chest, her eyes shining with triumph. She had her key to a future of magical mastery. She had also just spent every last coin to her name. Keldric looked at the joy on her face, then remembered his own empty pockets.

Their new guild had accomplished its first goal. They were officially sanctioned adventurers with a brand-new, fully equipped support-caster.

They were also all completely, utterly broke. And now Elara, just like them, had nowhere to sleep.