The spear head moved forward as Zach felt his weight shifted. He had been practicing for the last few days in front of the Healers Longhouse, going over his form again and again. Zach's feet shifted by memory as his spear came from the side and hit his imaginary target. He drew the spearhead up and felt a subtle pressure start to increase in his body. His muscles felt energized, while his mind fell blank.

There was an eternal moment of quiet. Zach felt the world around him as his limbs moved. The spear came down like a crane seeking a fish from the bay. Zach feet moved around with speed and purpose as the spear came up, the image of a crane carrying the fish into the air and forcing it down its throat came to his mind. His foot came down and a surge of strength started coming up from the earth through his feet into his hips. Zach felt his torso started to twist as the hands surged forward, and all of a sudden the energy paused at the tip of his spear. Zach mind focused at the tip and he felt as if all the power in his being had lite a flare at the tip of spear. With a completion of the thrust the power exploded at its end and the power in him released like a sonic boom.

Feeling as if all of Zach's body was drained of all its power he went back to the starting position with the gleaming bronze point even with his eyes. A blue screen popped up in front of him.

You have gained +1 to your Skill: Spear! You have reached Level 25 in Skill: Spear and advance from Initiate to Acolyte. As a secondary skill you gain 100 experience.

As you have practiced "A Cranes Dance" until your body recognizes each step without thought. Mana channels have been woven into your muscles and you have gained the Weapon Technique: Thrust.

Thrust allows you to pull mana through you into your weapon and add additional damage in your strike. Weapon Technique:ThrustMana Cost:VariableTechnique Description:"A Cranes Dance" has shown you the power of a speedy strike. Prior to any thrust of your spear push mana through your body into the tip of your spear before you strike. The amount of mana you push your through your spear tip will disregard the armor rating of your opponent. Any additional mana spent to overcome your opponents armor rating will be added to your damage one mana point per damage. Your companion will better be able to control the amount of mana use and focus it more precisely during combat.

Zach sat down and placed his spear on the ground. Smiling he had accomplished what he had set out to do two days ago, when Milly had given them the quest to kill Longtooth. After accepting the quest, Zach had asked Milly and Andy what Alexa and himself could do. Apparently when a mana beast gained midlevel foundation stage they could summon elemental's, so Alexa and Zach would keep to the sides and pick up any elementals that the beast summoned. It would give Andy enough space to use his chains and allow Milly to utilize her magic to the fullest.

Zach sighed thinking about the role they would take. There was no guarantee that Longtooth would summon elementals, but then again Andy was their tank and the long chains that he used would do the most damage when compared to a sword and shield. So based on the Weapon Master's recommendation during the days Zach focused on getting his skill in the Spear up to 25. The night after the meeting, Courtney had come by with his stew and had asked Zach what he thought of the whole manner. Like a fool, Zach had told Courtney the truth that her father had been an idiot for buying the livestock and that he didn't like the way her father had touched her, and then Courtney stood up asking to be excused. That was the last time Zach saw Courtney for Markus had his youngest daughter come, Branwen, by with his evening meal. It wasn't till after Branwen left Zach had asked Grim what had gone wrong. Grim in his usual sarcastic way explain that perhaps insulting her father was not the best way to explain his opinion on the subject. In fact Grim started to list his previous relationships and several of the examples of him putting his foot in his mouth.

So now Zach sat in the grass meadow and watched the two golems put the finishing touches on the Healers Longhouse. Khulboc, was made of black granite that seemed to sparkle in the light as green flakes inside the stone caught it. The earth constructor golem didn't have a body like an animal, instead it was shaped like a wagon with sphere for wheels and six arms that came out of the bed of the wagon. It would summon a large rose marble block on its bed and then lift it up with its arms and set it into place, and when it dig with its hands they would change into large buckets while the back arms would brace themselves against the ground. Right now, the golem had shifted it mass and had elongated its arms to help lift up wood beams and place into the roof.

Kheda, the grain golem, was a mixture of green and gold stalks that have been woven into different sheets that was assembled to look like a person. Yet when one looked closer at the Golden the woven sheets contained large grain stalks beneath them moving and growing on a wood frame. The grain heads seem to stick out from the joints, while the leaves and roots were interwoven into the stalk sheets. Looking directly into Kheda's face was hard as the golem maker had created bundles tied together with bean vines and the eyes seemed to be made of large wheat seeds. You never knew if Kheda was actually looking at you or through you, but it was amazing to watch the Golem push a wood limb through the woven mats. Then the wooden limb would began to grow into a giant beam dried and ready to be installed as Khubloc picked it up and installed it.

In fact, Kheda was on the roof as Khubloc lowered the beam in place. As the beam stopped moving Kheda waved its hands and a circular hole appeared at the ready in the beam and its cross member. Slowly a small rod of wood grew out of Kheda and began to expand in the hole until Zach couldn't even see the seam. As Kheda worked on another joint, Khubloc used its other arms to smooth the stone around the walls blending it until it looked like one giant piece.

Over the last two days, Grim and Zach had gone over what the Village Artificer had access to. Zach could see the status of buildings, if they needed repairs and what would be needed to upgrade them. Additionally, if the building was designated for public use like a bathhouse or theatre then Zach could also access their magical imbuements. 'Building Status' Zach said as he was looking at the Healers Longhouse.

Building Name:Healer's LonghouseBuilding Level:0, 87%Time to Completion:14 hours and 23 minutesDurability:4872+/5600Building Bonuses:Over 90% of this buildings mana has been donated by the City Core: Bonus as the City Core has access to a Life Mana Node, healing in the Longhouse will be increased by 12%. Increase Life Nodes or the Building Level to increase this bonus.

Golems are being used to craft the components of the building instead of Summoning the building: -100 mana is needed to place wards and spells in the house.

Zach saw James coming down the path to look at the Healers Longhouse. James nodded a greeting as he sat down next to Zach. "The longhouse is certainly coming together. It will be nice to finally have a home of my own, when did you say it would be ready again?"

Zach smiled, ever since the golems had started building James seemed to want to when it would be completed almost every couple of hours. "Tomorrow morning. So I heard you decided to spend your DP on some new skills. Didn't go with a new spell?"

James snorted at the mention of a new spell. "First off, the cheapest spell I could get is Remove Lesser Curse for 125 DP and even then the description says that Mana Theory would make it more potent. No, I went ahead and bought Alchemy, Animal Husbandry, and Forging. Those skills should help me create potions and herbal remedies, and with Animal Husbandry I should be able to heal all the new livestock."

Zach nodded, "James, I have a bunch of herbs to give you before we go. Hopefully that will help you gain a few levels." James looked up at him and Zach smiled, when James had decided to put down his weapon and focus on healing the village Zach had felt disappointed in James. However, after thinking about it, he had to admit that James had done the right thing in putting down his weapon. He had decided to focus on the village instead of his own.

"So are you ready for tomorrow?" James asked.

Zach nodded, "I just received my first weapon technique. I have to admit that I feel pretty good."

"So have you discovered your next two forms?" James asked.

"Next two?" Zach turned his head to look at James for his answer.

James looked at him and nodded, "Yeah, Andy told me that when I became a Weapon Acolyte the next step was to receive two new weapon forms and to master them. You have to master both forms before you can become a Weapon Adept."

Zach grit his teeth at the bit of information, "I don't suppose he told you how to receive your new forms?"

James bit his lower lip and spoke, "Well he did mention something. If I remember correctly, you start your first form and then at some point you will feel different steps."

Zach sighed, getting back up with his spear he cleared his mind. Zach took several breaths as mana began to flow through his body. Taking a step forward, the spear head moved and Zach could feel the moment where all he had to do was push mana into the thrust and it would activate his Weapon technique. As the spear moved forward and ended its momentum at the spot Zach had aimed their seemed to be a pause in the air. Zach waited for the mana to tell him where to go, when he felt the shadows around him.

The feeling of cold, fear, and aloneness came to Zach. Slowly he exhaled a breathe and white icy gas rose up in front of his vision. Zach could feel his mana pulling the spear head in a swift spin to his left. Zach shifted his feet in half circles back and forth as the spear head circled. As Zach retreated backward and used the butt of his spear to come upward and attack the midsection of his fake opponent. Zach's breathe was ragged and all of a sudden his back leg took a large step back, while he thrust the spears butt into the ground, angling the spear tip forward as if accepting a charge.

Slowly the dark mana left him and he felt the mana pulling him back into the starting position. Standing up, Zach felt warmth coming back to his limbs as his ragged breathing came back under control. A blue screen showed directly in his vision.

Congratulations!You have just completed your second spear form "A Strike from the Darkness". As you practice your second spear form you will eventually gain the Weapon Technique: Feint.

Understand this! The darkness hides many things waiting for its chance to strike. Steel and Death await those without vision in the darkness. Reflect on the danger and surprise cause by Darkness as you practice its form. Its truth may lead you to new heights.

Reward: +1 to Spear