Daniel was all grins as he left with his new sword over his shoulder. Madi was aghast at the price he had spent.

“It’ll be worth it,” Daniel repeated for the third time. “Just imagine how hard I can whack a monster with this thing.”

“You still need my buffs to actually wield that thing,” Orrin joked. Well, half-joked.

“I have a few ideas on how to fix that,” Daniel muttered. He turned back to Madi and Orrin. “Did you guys want to do any shopping?”

Madi shook her head. Orrin considered getting a few new potions, but decided it was not worth it right now. He could always grab a few tomorrow.

“Let’s just head home,” Orrin suggested. “I’m getting hungry anyways.”

They made their way back to Madi’s house. Orrin waited while Daniel took the first shower. Orrin looked around at the marble bathroom with old-timey plumbing. Thick pipes would pump water over his head. Daniel had explained the pricey contraption used his own mana to get hot.

Orrin spent half an hour just soaking.

When they finally dressed and went down to eat, Lord Catanzano welcomed them in the dining room, along with Madi all dressed up.

“I hear you had success today,” Silas began. “But that you spent nearly all your money on a sword. I hope you don’t intend to ask for loans.”

Daniel waved off his concern, “You have nothing to worry about. I have more than enough to pay for things. The blacksmith told me the sword was made for a high level Orc woman, so it should last me quite some time.”

Silas raised an eye. Orrin also looked at Daniel in askance.

He blushed, “I might have spent some time there just chatting him up.”

Madi let out a laugh, “More like every day. For hours.”

Silas looked at his daughter laughing with the [Hero] and relaxed a bit. He raised a hand and the staff brought dinner in. As they ate, Madi told him of the strategy that Orrin had come up with and their success with the fighting tactics against the cloudsabers.

“-raced right into the middle of the pack of four and they just exploded, Father,” Madi regaled as Silas sipped his wine. “Cleaning up the three that I had blinded took only a few moments after that.”

“And you received experience on all seven?” Silas queried.

“Yes, sir,” she responded. “I think everybody got fully split experience on five. Somebody missed two of them, as I got a bit more experience than I should have.”

“That was me,” Orrin admitted. “I wasn’t quick enough on the draw.”

“You’ll need to do better,” Silas said simply and held his glass up for more wine. An attendant rushed forward with a bottle to refill it.

“I think Orrin proved himself well enough,” Daniel defended his friend.

“No, he’s actually right,” Orrin said, surprising Daniel and Silas. “I let my guard down for a second and missed some easy XP.”

The table was silent except for the sounds of forks hitting plates.

“But Orrin helped Daniel when he leveled to ten, too,” Madi continued after a minute. “Daniel was having some sort of trouble and Orrin helped him fix it.”

“Trouble?” Silas asked a lot with his one word.

“I tried to bite off more than I could,” Daniel answered vaguely. “Orrin helped remind me of who I really am.”

Orrin was sure Jude and Brandt would have given Silas a full rundown by now of everything said but he still appreciated his friend talking him up.

“Would you be willing to share your upgrade?” Silas asked pointedly.

Daniel looked at Madi then Orrin. He could tell Daniel had the same thoughts. Silas already knew and was asking for politeness.

“Space Hero,” Daniel gave in.

“I will admit, not what I would have thought,” Silas continued to conversation like Daniel had told him the price of an item he was selling. “Space magic always ends up...messy.”

“How so?” Daniel asked intrigued.

“Those who look to the stars rarely understand the forces they are playing with,” Silas said. Orrin was sure Silas’ eyes had touched on him for a moment.

“I’m no astrologist,” Daniel said as he finished the last of his vegetable medley. “But I paid attention in school.”

Orrin almost corrected Daniel’s mistake out loud. He meant to say ‘Astronomer.’ Astrology is what your girlfriend used to explain why she was being a bitch. He caught himself as he opened his mouth though. No reason to tip off the Catanzanos.

“I don’t know this word,” Silas admitted. “I’ve heard that other heroes come from worlds with different levels of scientific backgrounds. One historian even says some heroes never believed in magic or it did not exist in their worlds.”

“Magic was just fiction in our- my world,” Daniel pushed himself back from the table and leaned in his chair. “No such thing as dragons, unicorns, or monsters there either.”

“Most fascinating,” Silas leaned forward over his empty plate. “Tell me more about your world.”

Daniel shrugged and told Silas about cars that people used to travel faster than horses, planes that let humans fly, and cell phones, the tiny boxes that you could talk to anybody, anywhere in the world on.

“Surely there were some distance restrictions?” Silas’ eyes were wide like a kid on Christmas morning.

“Not that I know of,” Daniel replied. “I’m pretty sure it has something to do with satellites. They could beam the data around or something. I honestly don’t know.”

The word satellite sent Silas into another round of questioning and soon even Madi had had enough.

“Father, it’s late. We should all get some sleep.”

Silas blinked and looked at the window. The sun had fully set.

“I apologize,” he brushed the front of his shirt and pushed his wheelchair from the table. “I have work to do. Thank you Daniel. And you too Orrin.”

With a nod, he left the room. Madi followed close behind.

Orrin and Daniel made their way back to their room, fully and tired from a long day. Orrin fell on his bed facedown.

“Mh mh mh mh mh mhmh mhmhmh,” he mumbled into his pillow.

“Orrin, you just made sounds but no actual words.

Orrin lifted his head, “Do you think I should level anything?”

“How many points do you have left?”

“Six.”

“Anything totally necessary?”

“I think more strength increase for you might be worth it,” Orrin flipped on his back. “Especially if you plan on taking that thing out with us.”

Daniel had leaned his sword against the wall. The table had started to creak when he’d rested it on top.

Orrin looked over what he wanted to do and what he had. With only six current points, he could get two of his increase stat spells up to level three based on what he’d read. He wanted to try upgrading [Dimension Hole] too but did not see the point in that currently. [Heal Small Wounds] costs six ability points to level a third time. He could level [Utility Ward] once for only five ability points, but that would cost nearly his entire mana pool to use. He’d thought about the [Camouflage Ward] as well for only five points, but wasn’t sure Jude or Brandt could ever be the quiet type, even with magical camo.

“I’ll be fine,” Daniel smiled. “While you were in the shower, I went through a few more of my boxes. Do you remember what else happens at level ten?”

Orrin pursed his lips then shook his head slowly, “No I do not, oh great [Hero]. Enlighten me.”

Daniel threw his pillow. [Side Steps] did not trigger and Orrin took it on the face.

“I obtained level ten,” Daniel said mysteriously.

“Yes, you did,” Orrin copied his weird voice. “And?”

Daniel smiled, “I completed the quest.”

Orrin had forgotten about the quest. More likely, since the reward was unavailable to him, he’d just not thought about it at all.

Obtain Level 10

Reward: [Hero Kit Level 2] Unavailable reward

“What did you get?”

“First, all my level one weapon skills went to level two.”

“All of them? That’s like ten skills right?” Orrin pulled up [Sword Proficiency].

[Sword Proficiency] Level One- You are adept at using swords. -10 AP.

“How much does it cost to go from level one to two in a weapon skill?” Orrin asked.

“I have nine weapon skills that went to level two,” Daniel smiled. “And level two would have cost twenty ability points per skill. Now I can see it’ll cost thirty to go to the next level, but I probably won’t spend that.”

“That’s insane,” Orrin muttered as he did quick math. “One hundred and eighty points worth of skills for a reward? That’s eighteen levels. Wait. Why not upgrade to level three for swords now? I don’t get it?

Daniel flicked his hand towards Orrin, "The second thing I got."

Daniel, Hero Level 10 is sharing a quest.

Quest: Obtain Level 20

Reward: [Hero Kit Level 3] Unavailable Reward

Would you like to accept it?

Yes or No

Orrin whistled low. “The reward is still unavailable to me.”

“Accept it anyway,” Daniel suggested. “You can share it for gold if nothing else.”

“Damn, we could do that huh?”

“I don’t know,” Daniel shrugged. “But I’ll probably share it with Madi, Jude, and Brandt. Brandt hit nineteen the other day. I’m not sure about Jude, but Madi is also under twenty.”

“Jude was around fifteen if I remember correctly,” Orrin offered as he accepted the quest.

“So we can see if Brandt gets a reward,” Daniel noted. “That way we will at least know one way or the other.”

“Sounds good to me,” Orrin felt sleep starting to creep up on him. Riding a horse was the worst. “Goodnight D. I’m about to pass out here.”

“Same,” Daniel checked the position of Gertrude one last time. “See ya in the morning.”

After an early breakfast, Daniel and Orrin tried to recreate the [Side Steps] pillow debacle.

Daniel gathered about twenty pillows and threw them at Orrin. It only took a few minutes before Orrin triggered an evasion.

[Side Steps]- 95/100

“YES,” Orrin yelled.

“Shut up,” Daniel covered his ears. “Some people might still be asleep, it’s only around 8:00am.”

“Do you not see what this means?” Orrin asked. “Teambuilding exercise.”

“Huh?”

“We are going to get [Side Steps] for everyone and then have a pillow fight.”

“You cannot be serious,” Daniel groaned. “There is no way anyone is going to take this seriously.”

Daniel was wrong. Brandt and Jude were completely open to having a massive pillow fight in the courtyard. Madi also chimed in and the four party members besides the [Hero] were talking loudly when Silas rolled in.

“What is going on?”

Madi ran to his side, “Father, Orrin found that thrown pillows can trigger growth on a skill, [Side Steps].”

Orrin had to share his skill and then stand there as everyone threw more pillows at him.

His luck was holding on and [Side Steps] triggered twice.

[Side Steps]- 97/100

“Brandt, go find the book on this skill. Jude, go talk to Kevin about available funds. I might have every knight in my household participate in this.”

Daniel moaned at the image of a house-wide pillow fight.

Brandt returned quickly with a book entitled: Dodging Death: A Fighter’s Collection of Useful Skills.

“Sire, the skill caps at the tenth level with a 10% chance to evade an attack,” Brandt read. “There are better options for evasion but there is nothing in the book that talks about using a non-lethal attack to trigger the skill growth.”

Silas read the passage himself and looked around at the four faces watching. Five faces, as Jude approached from talking to the Catanzano’s treasurer. “Let’s buy one and make sure it is not a fluke of Orrin’s class.”

Silas and Jude talked money, while Madi approached Orrin, “Do you realize what this means?”

“Yeah,” he smirked. “Do you want to be on my team?”

Madi looked confused, “What? No. Not a pillow fight for triggering the skill. Do you realize what this means for Dey? You just upset an entire industry. Anybody who can create a skill book for [Side Steps] is going be rich overnight. Of course, Father will figure out who can make the books and employ them before the information is released. But beyond that,” she put her hand on his shoulder. “More people will live because of you. Even a ten percent chance of evading an attack can mean life or death. You made everyone’s life a little better today.”

She smiled and walked away. Jude left to hit up a local bookstore that sold skill books. Daniel straddled up alongside Orrin, “I should be getting credit. I’m the one who threw the pillow.”

Orrin raised an eyebrow, “But I’m the one who pissed the [Hero] off enough to throw it in the first place.”

They bickered back and forth, laughing at each other.

Jude returned within the hour with a single book. Silas handed it to Madi.

“Me? Shouldn’t Sir Bennett or-“ she tried to push the book back in her father’s hands.

“If this works, I’ll outfit the entire party. Eventually the entire house,” Silas smiled at his daughter. Orrin saw a softness in his face for the first time.

Madi gulped and opened the book. A second later she nodded.

Brandt and Daniel were already waiting behind her and chucked pillows at her. They slapped against her head and she fell forward a step laughing.

“Nothing yet,” she chuckled.

Silas watched as the four young men continued to throw pillows. After a few minutes, he called for a stop.

“It looks like it might have just been another oddity for Orrin’s class,” he sighed. “Oh well.”

He turned his chair around and began to wheel himself back to his office.

“We can still all beat up on Orrin,” Daniel smirked.

Madi threw a pillow at Orrin, who caught it and threw it back. Madi was holding the pillow facing him, when Brandt threw another one.

Madi dodged to the side.

“Holy shit,” she looked at her status screen. “It worked.”