As Zach stood there thinking about all the modern conveniences like showers, toilets, microwaves, cellphones, ovens and even technologic superior metals and ceramics; the women of the village began to come over to Milly for pieces of the rabbit meat. As the line formed Zach began to back away going over to the cabin to pick up his bronze spear, he notice a few of the younger ladies staring at him. One with long black hair and an hourglass figure seemed to give him an intense stare that made Zach animalistic side want to go over there and tear off her clothes so that he could…

“Zach!” James said interrupting Zach’s thought of a ravaging the black haired beauty. Zach turned to see James smiling at him. Then in a whispered voice he spoke, “Be careful there Zach. Cassandra bought the enhancement ‘Allure’ thinking that it would draw a suitable man to her. There have been several fights over her hand amongst some of the other single men. Andy finally had to put his foot down and said that if any more fights broke out about her, he would personally beat the two offenders unconscious. Since then things have been a little more on edge here in the village, younger ladies can’t compete against Cassandra’s allure and most of the men can’t focus on anyone else but Cassandra.”

It had taken several breathes for Zach to finally back off his animal hindbrain and listened to what James was saying. “I can understand, for a moment there I wasn’t even close to being in control. How are you even able to concentrate or talk to me? All I want to do right now is turn my head to look at her.”

James smiled and nodded, “Yeah, the aura is always the most powerful when you first see her. Over time, you are able to handle it better and as you increase your wisdom you can complete ignore the effects. Until then just knowledge that it’s a mystical aura seems to take the edge off. As far as my own immunity, well thankfully the aura doesn’t work on relatives.”

Zach rolled his eyes back into his head. Cassandra was James sister, it made perfect sense now. The hair color and facial features were similar and they were even close enough in age that Zach wondered if they were twins. “I am so sorry, James. I didn’t mean to stare at your sister, its just…” Zach head up his hands in frustration, how do you explain to another man that you were attracted to his sister because of magic and she had a rocking body.

James laughed, “Don’t worry about it Zach. For the first couple of months, I was upset with my sister and everyone else; but then I realized that Cassandra brought it on herself. See Andy and Milly had talked with our family and suggested some of the items we could purchase from the Divine Store. I loved the idea of being the village healer so I agreed with them. Cassandra, well she wanted something else. Milly had suggested she take a few skills like Mana Imbuement and Mana Conversion, but Cassandra wanted to be free from this place. So her thoughts turned to the idea that she could follow us to a dungeon town and be wed to a wandering noble. So she choose the Aura and skill Conversation. You won’t think that those two items would be dangerous, but as soon as she starts to talk you get drawn into the conversation and all of a sudden you realize that you agree with her about the oddest things. Thankfully, she has only gotten the skill up to level 25 and learned the power ‘Persuade’, but I am afraid of what will happen when she gets it up to master levels.”

A chill went down Zach’s spine at the thought of every earth politician having the skill Conversation. Nothing was already getting down with their endless debates and lack of commitment, but if they had the power to push people into doing things, the world would have ended a long time ago. Taking a chance and looking back at Milly, Zach saw Milly and Andy talking quietly for a moment as more of the villagers grabbed a helping of meat. It was then that Cassandra came over and Zach’s eyes locked back on her. He even knew that it was a trick of magic and tried to distract himself by biting the inside of his mouth, but nothing seemed to work as his eyes continued to roam.

It wasn’t till James wrapped his hands around Zach’s eyes that he came out of his stupor. “Zach! By the Gods Cassandra! That is one shitty thing to do! You overpowered his mental defenses, and no just because he agree to take you along to the dungeon town it doesn’t mean shit!”

“Uggggghhhhh…” Zach moaned. He could have sworn that somehow a tiny dwarf was in his head with a pick axe trying to find gold. Zach heard someone stomp off in anger, and since James was still covering his eyes that meant his sister must have been the one. “James, thanks man, I feel like someone has put a fiery blade in my skull. What the hell did your sister do?”

James mumbled for a second and finally spoke, “She designated you as her target for her aura. Milly has been helping her control her aura the past few months. Refining the enhancement so that she can turn it down. However, with control comes the ability to specifically target someone… and sometimes she can be a bitch!”

Zach had to laugh as James lowered his hand off Zach’s eyes. In front of him was Milly and a small blonde hair mousy looking girl. She hid her eyes under her long blond hair, while she looked down at her shoes. The girl looked to be maybe twelve from her frame and face, but then again the baggy clothes that she wore could have hidden anything. “Zach, this here is Courtney from the Miller Family. Andy and I hope to have enough mana today to summon your house tonight. The Miller Family heard that you are an Artificer and was hoping that when you summon your first golem that they could get you to work on some of the mills improvements, in exchange Courtney will deliver an evening meal.”

Courtney seemed to curtsy briefly, as she lowered her head even more. Zach smiled and spoke, “Well Courtney, I would be very honored to help your family. I am not exactly sure when I will summon my first golem, but after helping with the city wall I will gladly repay your family with help on the Mill.”

Milly patted Courtney’s shoulder and the girl curtsy again before running off. Shaking her head Milly sighed, “It’s a damn shame that her parents won’t allow that girl some mana skills. Her wits sharper than any blade and with her majority coming in another 5 months she would make a nice addition to the group. Alas tradition… damn shame.” Looking down at Zach, she raised and eye brow and gave him a firm stare. “Now I expect three things from you, young man. One, you will not force unwanted attention on Courtney. She maybe so shy that if she killed a mouse she would gain more courage, but she is also a young woman that hopes to marry one day. So if I hear of late night kisses or her father complains about her staying out late, I will make sure that you pay dearly for any shameful behavior. Second, I expect that you keep your bargain with the Millers. It hard enough to scratch out enough food for everyone here, but if their homemade mill breaks again next harvest this village will starve throughout the winter.”

Milly paused for a moment as then gave Zach a half smile, “Lastly, should Courtney reach her majority unmolested, I expect you to help her cultivate her talent for Dark mana.” Laughing as Zach had a look of complete befuddlement on his face, Milly continued. “Courtney has spent most of her life trying to blend in and be unseen, why wouldn’t she take on attunement to Dark mana? I also sense a talent for Air and Water in her... but with her father and mother saying that she will choose practical skills I can’t do much for her. If you promise me those things, then perhaps I will help you work on your first golem today.”

Smiling Zach agreed and before the conversation could continue, Andy let out an ear splitting whistle. Seeing James take off running towards the center of the village, Zach waved goodbye to Milly and headed out as well. As Zach jogged over to the dirt center of the village, Andy stood there without his chains or leather armor. Instead he stood there with a dirty shirt, pants, and long wooden stick. Of course, Alexa was standing in front of father with leather armor, sword, and shield. James pulled up to the left of Alexa, so that he was next to her sword arm. Feeling as if he had little choice in the matter Zach fell to Alexa’s right. Smiling Andy brought up the stick to his shoulder and began to pace as he talked.

“Zach, I normally just set James and Alexa to follow their forms for the next couple of hours. However, I want to spend sometime beforehand going over a few things. First, James I have always made sure you are to the left of Alexa. The reason is that your fighting stick has enough reach to club someone over her shield, while Alexa could cover you with her shield arm. This would allow the two inexperience people of our group to cover one another. However, its time we actually discuss tactics. There are several types of dungeon levels, some of them are open arenas that are different environments and some are cave or hallway fights. For hallway fights Alexa and me will take the lead and keep Milly, James and Zach in the back. However, for arena levels we have the ability to spread out and attack from different angles. In this case Zach should try to flank Alexa’s left side and use his golem to flank her right. James, you should concentrate on healing and if at all possible an offensive spell now and again. These will leave one to three targets for you three, while Milly and myself can keep the perimeter or go after larger groups.”

Andy stopped, “The main thing is to teach you all how to act as an independent unit. Milly and Myself will protect you for several levels and make sure that you are blending well, but in the end we have a city to manage. So Zach, I want you to form a party of James and Alexa.”

Grim whispered in Zach’s ear, “I got this.” Blue screens appeared in front of both James and Alexa. They both pressed the blue screens. Though Zach could see Alexa and James, but now he had a strange sense of where they were and their health. As Zach focused on the feeling, he thought about Alexa. Slowly a feeling of an energized field came over him and he realized that he could feel Alexa move back and forth as the field went back and forth. Feeling like a little bit of a creep Zach backed away from the feeling.

Andy nodded to Zach and continued on, “There are at least 20 grimoire upgrade for the party feature; some tell you where they are going to move, another one tells you their health by a green glow around them, one even allow you to share mana with each other. Understand that this is the basic party feeling, if you focus you can find one another through a general direction and their general health. This is important because if one of you step in a pitfall trap and fall but survive your party at least knows that they have to come after you. James, you will need to focus on this feeling as best as you can.”

“Zach, since you will be backing up Alexa on fighting you need to understand how she is going to move and where she is going to attack. When you do your form you should try to keep her field in mind so that you can began split your focus.” Andy went in front of Alexa and smiled. “Alexa, since you haven’t reach your majority you can’t feel the party field. However, any experience or mana gains will be given to you upon reaching your majority.”

Alexa, once again had a hurt look come across her face, and Zach began to understand her pain. Her whole life she had two parents that were high level divers, and so they trained her to be better than them. Now she was so close to obtaining her majority and all the skills and powers they had taught her that she could almost taste it. Yet it was that hurdle that was stopping her from everything. Suddenly, he realized why she didn’t like him. He had everything that she wanted; a grimoire, a position of respect with his class, and even a house soon. Deciding to cut her a little more slack in the future, Zach gave his attention back to Andy.

“Alright, James and Alexa start your weapon forms.” Andy stopped in front of Zach. “Zach, I need you to listen to me and do what I tell you. First, place your spear in guard position.” Andy moved his stick so that it was standing straight in front of him. Zach mimicked his move with his bronze spear, seeing the yellowish red spear point in his vision. “Slowly, began to circulate mana into the wooden shaft allowing it to move up to the spear head and back down your other hand.”

Zach could only think that Grim must have helped him, because a warm feeling of energy began to release into the wooden shaft and go upward into the cold metal. Just like the party formation, Zach began to perceive that the spear was a phantom limb. However, as the mana came back down to his other hand, he felt the connection become complete and that the phantom limb was truly just an extension of him.

Andy closed his eyes briefly and then nodded. “Good Zach, you are accepting the weapon as a part of yourself. This is how we can channel our powers through our weapon into ones foes. Now focus on that feeling of oneness, allow it to wash over your muscles and spear. Let that feeling seek out the weakness in your muscles and the metal of the spear. Understand yourself and your weapon.”

Zach and Grim did exactly as Andy said. The power seemed to have a mind of its own, as Zach could feel that his biceps needed more speed and stamina; while the metal spear head had a weak point that would shatter the tip of the spear if striking something hard. “Now Zach, feel your heartbeat began to pulse with the spear, you are one with it and allow it to take you where it needs to go.”

Zach began to feel the power raise as his heart beat circulated the mana between him and the weapon. Slowly, his right hand slipped down to the end of the shaft as his feet moved into a pivot. The spear head came out in front and from there his right leg moved back. With a single thrust his legs and hands worked in motion to push the spear head forward at incredible speed. Quickly, he stood up from his crouching position and the shaft of the spear swung down to find itself behind him. The mana quickly panted his feet backward and the spear raised as if he was expecting a charge. His right foot then swung in a circle and the spear shoot forward attacking someone at head height. Three quick thrusts from head to feet occurred, each requiring him to move his weight on his anchored feet. Then like a sweep of a scythe the spear went down slashing upward at a foe behind him, only to find himself pushing forward with a strike to the chest of his imaginary foe. After the deadly blow, Zach shift his weight backward feeling as if he needed to weight for his foes death. With a slow shift of his hands Zach once again came to guard position as he now faced away from Andy.

Congratulations!You have just completed the first spear form ‘A Cranes Dance’. As you practice your first spear form you will eventually gain the Weapon Techinque: Thrust. Understand this! The Crane with its long beak seeks to quickly dart on balance feet, while its beak finds its prey and eats the weak. Air and Life give it the grace to attack and defend itself during the dance. Reflect on the power and wisdom of the Crane as you practice its form. Its truth may lead you to new heights. Reward: +1 to Skill: Spear

Zach stared at the screen as he lost connection with his mana. Though he didn’t feel exhausted, he felt strange like his body had been pushing against itself. Andy’s skill quickly flew through the blue mana window and slapped itself on Zach’s shoulder. The blue screen disappeared and the stinging pain in Zach’s shoulder made him look up at the offender. Andy held a grim face as he stared into Zach’s eyes. “The first time you do the form, all you can sense is its power and its movements. The mana pushes against muscles and fights them trying to gather more power. It begins to burn the weakness from them and replace them with the grace that is needed. However, you lost the feeling of Alexa and your surroundings. You must practice the form again and again till your muscles know what must be done and your mind can focus on your teammates.” Andy used the stick to slap Zach on the thigh. “Again!”

Zach stood in guard position and once again started the form. This time, however, Andy would strike with that small stick forcing Zach to break his control over the weapon and mana. Zach must have started twenty times and never finished once as Andy would strike unexpectedly. Zach could feel little painful bruises start to come up from Andy’s strikes and just when he thought he was going to explode in anger Andy called for a stop.

Looking around James and Alexa looked confused, as Andy went over to the side of one of the sod huts and picked up his chains. Finally being able to see them up close, Zach realized that five large rings seemed to be integrated into the links of the chains, and as Andy grasped the larger rings the chains responded immediately to his will. Quickly the links began to twirl and wrap themselves around his arms.

Andy stood tall as he looked at his three student. “I have stopped you early for one reason. Today, we are going to march past the boundary stones and fight in the fields. The Horned Rabbits are quick and decent prey. So earlier today I cleared a small patch of ground for you to fight in. You will go out there and defend that small patch of ground until I say you are done. In order to be sure that you don’t die, I will be patrolling the edge of the field to make sure only a couple of Horned Rabbits get through. Be careful and follow me.”

Part of Zach couldn’t believe this was happening as he followed Andy down through the village and pass the boundary stones. As soon as he walked pass the stones, he started looking about the grass fields for swaying grass or discolored patches. Quietly they made their way to the grass patch that Andy had cleared in his own weapon form earlier. Without a word Alexa, James, and Zach placed themselves in the middle of the circle back to back. Zach began to sweat as he looked around the uncut grass. The field all of sudden became deathly quiet as Andy spoke.

“Ahhhhh, good they are coming. Good Luck and remember to keep your focus on your weapon and your party members.” And with those last words of encouragement Andy walked back from the clearing, as his chains began to unwind. Zach’s eyes swept the grass back and forth, but it was his ears that finally picked up something coming at him to his left.

Zach spoke probably a little louder then he intended. “James, you have incoming.”

James move a little bit and then spoke, “Shit, going to need some help guys.”

Turning to the incoming threat, Zach saw a Horned Rabbit head with deep brown horns and almost pebble like skin as it came out of the grass. Taking a shallow hop, the Horned Rabbit bounced out of the grass and thumped hard onto the ground. Zach took a guess and thought that damned Rabbit must have weighed 80 pounds and was the size of a large dog. It normal furry appearance had been replaced with a gravel like skin. Seeing James, it neared its eyes and began to growl. Its legs began to scrap deep furrows into the dirt and all of a sudden it lowered its head and sprinted towards James. James frozen in fear and seeing his inaction, Alexa pushed James out of the way as she braced herself to take the hit on her shield.

When the rabbit collided with Alexa’s wooden shield a large crack echoed out. Zach felt a flare of warmth on his left arm from the energy field that was supposed to be Alexa. Zach realizing this was his opportunity brought down his spear head in a chopping motion onto the back of the rabbits body. The dull song of metal ringing echoed from the strike as it bounced off the hard pebble skin. Zach stared in horror at the rabbit realizing he had done absolutely no damage to it. The rabbit began to scream in fury as it ran its antlers over Alexa’s shield. Splinters began to fall off of it as James stood there chatting something.

Zach began to feel his mana being released from his center into his weapon and body. He felt to urge to kick the rabbit in its side as it tried to gorge Alexa’s shield. Once again, the rabbit pushed upward with its body and the antlers seemed to finally catch one of the seams in the shield. Zach threw out a kick planting the bottom of his foot on its midsection. Though the force of the blow did absolutely no damage to the mana monster, its body twisted and Zach saw a flash of pink underbelly.

“Alexa,” Zach shouted as he tried to use the blunt end of his spear to bash at the rabbits eye, “Flip your shield!”

Zach saw a flash of pain in Alexa’s eyes as she was now holding onto her shield with both hands. Grunting with all her pain and will, Alexa began turning the shield as the rabbit struggled with its antler stuck. Zach turned his spear around again and waited until he saw the flash of pink flesh. Like a snake striking Zach pushed his weight behind the strike trying to get at the soft underbelly. However, the rabbit twisted as the strike came in and the spear point went into the ground.

James shouted the last syllable of whatever he was doing and a green light flashed in front of Zach’s eyes. He could the warmth sensation in Alexa’s energy field began to cool as the struggle continued. Twice more Zach tried to strike at the exposed flesh of the rabbit, failing each time. Zach could see that Alexa was struggling to fight the rabbit more and more. “Fucking hit it on the hip when she pulls!” Grim’s voice screamed in Zach’s ear.

With absolutely nothing to lose, Zach flipped the spear again and slammed the blunt end into the top of rabbits hip as Alexa pushed the shield. The rabbit’s eyes began to show white as it toppled over to its side bringing Alexa with it. Zach, not wanted to lose his opportunity flipped the spear and struck deep right below its ribcage. The rabbit began to scream in a high pitch wail, as Zach plunged the spear point over and over again in his belly. At times the spear would be deflected as the rabbits hind legs kicked back and forth, but more times than not the spear found its mark.

As the wails slowly died off, Zach pulled back the spear to see that James had put his club on the rabbits neck to kept it from flipping back over. Sweat stained his clothes as blood ran down his forearms from the gorges that the antlers had left. Looking over at Alexa, Zach could see holes had been punched through her shield and that several boards would need to be repair if she ever wanted to use it again. Tears ran down her face, and she cradled an ever shrinking hole in her forearm. It was then that Zach realized the rabbits antler had gored Alexa’s arm, but then had been caught between her flesh and the wood shield.

Finally, the rabbit laid dead on the ground and in a bright light Grim activated the Auto-loot function. James picked up his fighting stick and looked at the long gashes on his arms. Speaking a soft chant a blue window once again appeared. Congratulations, you thinned the herd of Horned Rabbits outside of Schoner’s Creek! Know this that your battle with the Horned Rabbit Level 5 has brought you rewards! As you have fought in a party, experience and mana from the Rabbit will be split amongst you. You have gained +1 to your mana pool!

You have gained +10 to your experience!

You have gained +1 to your Dexterity!

You have gained +1 to your Strength!

You have gained +1 to your Skill: Spear!

You have looted a Mana Core containing Earth and Death Mana!

You have looted 45 lbs of Rabbit Meat!

You have looted 2 Earthhorns!

You have looted 1 Large Rabbit Skin with the spell Stone Skin imbued in it! Kill another 98 Horned Rabbits to receive a bonus!