The Gods gave power unto man,

to grow,

to weaken,

to succeed,

to fail,

to love,

to hate.

The God, Justice,

gave unto man the ability,

to find truth in fiction,

to right wrongs,

and Judge their fellow man

for their sins,

and their virtues.

-Lore for the Skill: [Discernment]

Crimson stood up, confused. Why were these two together? They weren’t exactly enemies, but Verity often went out of her way to avoid Sherry like a guilty child avoiding her parents.

“Crimson, what are you doing out here?”

“*sigh* Okay, before I tell you, why don’t we go sit down, and you need to promise not to overreact.”

“Ah ‘ave no probem wi’ dat, boy.”

“Sure.”

Crimson stepped aside and let Sherry open the door with a key she’d procured from…where? Her status? He didn’t see her operating it though? He shook his head, thinking about that would be nothing but a waste of time.

Crimson held the door for both of the women and let them lead the way over to the restaurant area. Once they’d picked a table he sat down with them. The guild was still technically closed for a few more minutes, so no-one was around to eavesdrop on their conversation.

“Alrighty, why are you here so early in the morning Crimson?”

“I was attacked in my room last night.”

“WHAT?!?!?!”

“WHACH?!?!?!”

Their voices overlapped, but he wasn’t sure which word Sherry had shouted, ‘WHAT’ he assumed, not ‘watch’ like it sounded.

“Yeah, don’t worry though, I’m fine. Not sleeping in that inn ever again, but fine.”

“Details man, details!”

“There’s not much to tell there. I was attacked in my room sometime in the middle of the night. A guy tried to stab me with a poison knife, but I woke up before he could. I rolled off the bed and threw my basin at him. It hit and nocked the knife out of his hand. I then put him out for the count with a kick and questioned him.”

“‘Out for the count’…Crimson…did you kick him in ‘that’ spot.”

“Yeah.”

“You’re quite cruel, aren’t you?”

“It was self defense.”

“It feels overboard for self defense.”

“It was necessary.”

“Yo-“

“Jus’ move ’n yuh two! Wha’ ‘appened next?”

“Well, I questioned him. Apparently, one of the secret passages I used in the city ran right through the territory of some gang. They followed me for a little while and found out that I was really weak, so they sent one of their new members to ‘take care of me’ as initiation. After that I had the innkeeper’s son hand the guy over to the guards and came here.”

“You were in front of the guild most of the night?”

“No, I came her AFTER getting some more sleep. Not much though.”

Verity distractedly commented, “Hmm. That about matches up with what I know…”

Crimson stared her down, “‘What you know?’”

“Yeah, I left early yesterday to chase down a guy who was watching you, he was pretty slippery so it took a while. I wasn’t able to catch up with you and warn you. I wasn’t sure if they’d be making their move last night though, I’d hope that losing the weasel would have made them back off, but since they didn’t I can’t say that they’re very intelligent. What if we had prepared a trap for them?”

Weasel? Whatever, moving on!

Crimson cupped his face with his palm, thinking, “Well, moving that quickly might’ve been the smarter option. It all depends on how much information they were working with. If they knew for certain that there was no way for you to reach me in time it was definitely better to move quickly, before I knew to be on guard, or had a guard. If they didn’t know that then yes, it was stupid.

“What really concerns me here is what they think I’ve seen to warrant such an aggressive action. While it was just a newbie they sent after me, they did try to kill me, and technically, they aren’t wrong for using me as initiation, I am only Lv.1 and have only one Class, there’s no reason to believe I should have been able to win; especially if they think that levels are everything.”

“What level do you think your attacker was?”

“No clue, he didn’t attack me or fight back-he just froze, but his CON was low enough for a kick from me to do some serious damage. Based off that I’d say that he’s either less than Lv.5, or has taken a Class that doesn’t give any bonuses to CON. Well, considering the fact that he froze, I don’t think he has much combat experience, so I think the first one is correct.”

“Yah, probree raht. I canna find any probems whi’ yer tinkin’ process.”

“Yup, and it is hard to believe that anyone higher than Lv.5 would be performing initiation as a new recruit. They’d probably just be accepted based on virtue of their level, and be expected to prove their loyalty later.”

He nodded; it was moments like this that reminded Crimson that Verity wasn’t as stupid as she acted. Well, she didn’t really act that stupid to begin with, more inconsiderate than anything else.

“Crimson, what were your plans for today?”

“Equipment shopping, training, and checking into the Guild’s Inn. I also want to do some more research on other classes that might interest me, but it’s probably better just to worry about my current class before another one.”

“True, especially since you need to be Lv.3 before you can take a Sub-Class.”

“Lv.5 with your primary class, and Lv.3 with your Sub-Class to use your third slot, I do know this Verity.”

“Ah dare say dat dis boy know more dan you girlie.”

“He does not!”

“Wid how much you ‘ave to ask ‘im for help Ah’m an iddy biddy sure he knows more.”

“I just don’t know much about Magic! I know more than you with everything else!”

She’d turned to Crimson with that last denial, but he held his hands up in surrender.

“Don’t ask me. I don’t have enough information to objectively determine who knows more, but you are right about magic.”

“Girlie, da boy is too nice to say, but yuh don’t even ‘ave common sense about Magic in dat brain of yurs.”

“I do too!”

“Only afta da boy shoved it into dat brain of yurs. Yuh dinna know nutin’ ‘bout two weeks ago!”

“If this is going to go on for a while, can I go?”

“NO!!!”

“NO!!!”

It was a pincer attack of sound. He thought that he could feel his eardrums handing their resignation letters, in the past he was used to it because of his mother, but he’d gotten used to things being fairly quiet by this point.

“Ouch.”

“*sigh* We gonna save dis for lata girlie.”

Verity avoided Sherry’s eyes, she did get confrontational, but after words she got embarrassed, Crimson wished she was the same about her teasing. It would be nice to be left alone.

“Sure. Crimson, I’ll go shopping with you today. Fortunately, it’s fairly close, and we don’t need to be too worried about safety, it’s a good thing I don’t want to change his diapers after we get attacked.”

Crimson slammed his head onto the table; he really couldn’t handle teasing, at all. Verity laughed at him, and Sherry patted his back. He hoped it was a sympathy pat, and not a pity pat.

He slowly sat up, and tried to pretend that nothing had happened.

“It’s highly doubtful that we’ll be attacked rather, it’s more important to secure good weapons and armor for me. I want to head into the dungeon tomorrow.”

“Ah nah. Yuh not gonna be enterin’ no dungeon until dat gang’s off ya back. Gottit?”

“Sure, the chances that they’ll have to run before tomorrow are pretty high, if I’m reading things right.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, the kid I caught ‘happily’ told me everything. He-“

“Did you kick him in the b-“

Sherry smacked Verity on the back of the head, “A lady shunna say such words.”

Verity looked at Sherry before slowly turning back to Crimson and spoke carefully.

“…Did you kick him in the spot again?”

“First of all: No, and I wouldn’t have done that again anyway.”

“Was it because he was covering it too well?”

Ignored.

“Second of all: Stuff like torture doesn’t sit well with me. I scared him a little with some remarkably lame threats, and I feel bad about doing THAT much!”

“Das a good ting. Stay dat way.”

He nodded.

“And Third of all: so long as he wasn’t lying I believe the gang will be caught or chased out of their territory very quickly.”

“Why do you say that?”

“Because he told me everything so easily. It felt almost like threatening a five year old.” Or Verity. She was tough, but she crumbled under pressure from people who she got along with pretty easily.

“Well, I can accept that, but I agree with Sherry, we’re not going into the dungeon until we’re certain that they’ve been caught.”

“You, agree with Sherry? Impossible, there’s something wrong here.”

“Impossible! Crimson, confused? Did the moon rise instead of the sun? Did dragons start flying backwards? O’ Sherry! There is truly something wrong with the world here today! For Crimson to be confused? It is truly inconceivable!”

Crimson felt his face turn the same color as his name.

“Yeah well, I-“

“Ah’m a jus gonna stop yah ‘ere. Ifin Ah let yuhs get inta it we cou’ be ‘ere for ‘ours.”

Verity sat back, smug in her victory, while Crimson tried to ignore her, it wasn’t working.

“Anyway, the shops’ll open in a few hours. I need to kill time until then. Sherry, could you open up the training room for me, and the library for Verity?”

“Hey! Wait a sec-“

“Shur, we jus’ hit openin’ time too.”

“Great! Verity, meet back here, on the first floor, in an hour and a half. You should look up more about the spell [Boundary]. I think you’ll find it useful. Based on how fast you’ve learned some other spells I don’t think you should have any difficulty studying up to at least Lv.3 before we meet up!”

“Hey! I-“

“Well, I gotta go!”

Crimson waved to Sherry as he walked off to the training room that had just opened up, leaving Verity and Sherry alone together.

“He’s such a Slave Driver!”

“Izzit rea’y so ‘ard?”

“Yes! There’s no way I can do it!”

“Well, good luck. I’m rooting for you!”

“Your accent disappeared!”

Sherry left Verity alone at the table wallowing in her misery. She had asked him for help learning magic, and she really did want to get better at it, but she think her sorta-teacher failed to comprehend what a high bar he set every time! She stood up and sprinted to the library -ignored Sherry shouting at her- and got to work. She’d show that Silver-Eyed Slave Driver that she could do it!

Crimson walked over to the weapon rack and pulled up his [Blessing]. He wouldn’t be looking at any dangerous information that day, so it was fine even if a [Truthseeker] spotted it. He just had to avoid inspecting his Class, and his titles.

Hold on, in the letter Raften left him there was some info on Classes, right? He’d only glanced at the papers and had focused more closely on the ‘Skills’ section anyway. He decided to take a closer look to make sure he didn’t screw anything up too badly.

*flip*

*flip*

*flip*

Crimson felt a smile cross his face, it was one of anticipation, and excitement. There were a few different Classes listed on the last page, and the requirements to unlock them. One of them answered the question he’d had about what Sub-Class he should get first. Meeting all of the requirements would be a bit annoying, but it would be worth it. He’d have access to everything he needed once he got into the dungeon, but it would take a bit of luck.

A few of the other Classes caught his eye, but some of the more interesting ones actually clashed with his current fighting style, and he discarded the Magic type classes out of hand. He didn’t mind helping Verity, but actually studying magic himself, except in times of necessity, was a no go.

Well, he’d worry about his second Sub-Class later. It was time to pick the first skill for his [Swordsman] Class. He’d put it off the night before in favor of working on [Calligraphy], but he would wait no more!

[Swordsman], Available Skills, Pick One:

|Slash| |Hack| |Flash Slice| |Guard Break| |Mordhau|

|Lesser Block| |Lesser Parry| |Sheath| |Draw| | Lesser Evasion|

Installing [Lesser Evasion]…

Learned Skill: [Lesser Evasion]

He felt like it was an obvious choice for a speed-type fighter like him. The only other Skills he’d considered for a second were: [Simple Parry], and [Draw]. None of the directly offensive skills interested him, for now. He needed stuff that would keep him alive for longer to begin with, and he knew from Raften’s letter that Skills that indicated that they were a lesser version of the original had the greatest potential for growth, which meant that [Lesser Block], [Lesser Parry], and [Lesser Evasion] were instantly the best choices there.

Crimson genuinely thought that [Lesser Parry] could be as useful as [Lesser Evasion] for his fighting style, he’d have to get that one next time he got to pick, and he considered [Draw] for the chance at getting a skill for Iai, but he’d have to save that for later. Definitely on his ‘must get’ list, but he’d train for it instead. With a katana, knowing Iaido is a must to be ‘cool’.

That settled, Crimson grabbed a wooden katana, complete with wooden sheath, and started practicing against the air. It wasn’t very effective for grinding skills; If he really wanted to level his skills up it would be better to have an actual opponent. Based off what happened the day before, he couldn’t be sure that Mars would help him, in fact it was unlikely, and the rest of the training room was still empty. That left him with no choice, but fight the air like his life depended on it!

He may not have actual opponents, but he could burn his moves into his mind and body! Plus, he did have something to train against. Wooden Post-kun, Crimson and his katana are coming for you! Well, all jokes aside, it was kinda disappointing to not be able to work on grinding his new skill. Just jumping from side to side wouldn’t do much, he needed something to dodge.

He considered throwing something over his head and dodging it as it fell, but the one time he tried it, it didn’t seem too effective, and he'd hit himself on the head.

Well, regardless he worked on his forms, carefully and precisely attack while moving as fast as he could while still getting it ‘right’. After an hour of that -and a break to restore his lost SP- he decided to work on [Calligraphy] instead. The lack of a training partner meant that he’d just be wasting his time if he kept working on [Sword Mastery] on his own. He didn’t even level up once for his troubles, but he did feel like he was close.

Unfortunately, he was out of paper. Where could he get some more…Sherry? Maybe he could buy some off her, it wouldn’t hurt to ask.

Well, the negotiations went well, but the paper was expensive! Sherry wouldn’t give it to him for free, and it was even priced higher than market value! He was rather stuck, and the shops were still closed, and he couldn’t stand the thought of not making use of the rest of the time till he and Verity left for shopping, so he gave in. 1 Silver a sheet! That was three times market value! The highest quality paper he found in the shop he visited the day before was, at max, 80 Bronze coins per sheet, the highest quality in the shop! This stuff was cheap quality!

With his wallet and soul crying out in agony he bought ten sheets. It would probably take most, if not all, of these sheets being filled for him to level up again! He would definitely load up on paper later. If he bought in bulk he even bet that he could get a discount! The thought of a discount was like putting a band-aid the stump of a severed limb, it wasn’t actually doing anything, but at least it was a bit comforting.

He got to work, and spent the rest of the next hour at a table in the library -far away from Verity- working on his [Calligraphy]. With his skill as high leveled as it is, it was easy for him to -near- perfectly recreate fonts and writing styles that he remembered at a fast speed. He was no longer human, he was a god of writing! Kidding. It wasn’t good to become arrogant, he could feel the shadow of Mars’ boot on his back, even though it was only a bad joke he hadn’t even spoken aloud.

Well, it served as good practice regardless, he was able to fill up eight pages and was pleasantly surprised when -on the seventh page- he received another level up for [Calligraphy]. He’d figured that he’d have to fill up all ten to reach the next level. Maybe he got more experience for writing well quickly?

Skill Level Up!

[Calligraphy VI] > [Calligraphy VII]

Amity with writing implements increased to 75%

75%? That was huge! Well, this one didn’t have as big of an effect as he’d originally thought. ‘Amity’ was a synonym of ‘Harmony’ or ‘Cooperation’. Based off that he had two theories for what it did:

One: it reduced the strain of writing implements. He didn’t really take note of how his body felt while writing, so he couldn’t confirm if it was this one. He would never succumb to Writer's Cramp!

Two: it made it easier for him to use various writing implements. He couldn’t really tell if there was a difference with this one because he was already used to his two main writing implements: the dip pen, and the calligraphy brush. He’d been swapping between them constantly during the whole process after all.

Well, it didn’t matter if he didn’t get any bonuses even up to Lv.X, he’d still grind it. Skill evolution could make it useful later on, even if he didn’t have a current use for it, and he did have a use for it, Raften's note guaranteed that.

Well, he was out of time. Time for the most wonderful kind of shopping trip: the one for sharp objects.