Switch walked hurried through the halls as she escaped pestering eyes. Switch didn’t have a name, but no Switch had a name. Switches were born for the singular purpose of operating the Village, Town or City Stone. They were nearly a slave to those who ruled their area, but at the same time held authority through the power they controlled through the Stone.

The Town Stone operated all the system functions for the city, plus it could do the same operations that the Temple provided. It was also a source of protection for the people by keeping spawned monsters from spawning inside the town. But not just anyone could operate a Town Stone, only a Switch could.

But what were Switches and where did they come from? They were at least part human, at least in the human territories, as they looked such. But Switches came from the Stone itself. They looked human as they took on the characteristics of the race that dwelt by their Stone.

Switch and the lord of Longdale didn’t get along, but the problem was much deeper than that. Lord Merek no longer wanted her and was about to enact a plan to get ‘rid’ of her. It was not easy to kill a Switch, though, as the Stone would generally protect them. But if done correctly, there were ways to disconnect a Switch from its Stone.

When this happened the Stone would spawn a new Switch after 48 hours in most cases. At the same time, the new Switch spawned, the old Switch would die.

Switch hadn’t been cut off just yet, but she knew Merek was planning it. How could she not? She controlled the Stone and there was nothing she did not know of inside the walls of Longdale. She was even doing her best to slow him down through the power of the Stone.

But even that was getting harder to do as Merek was limiting her access to the Stone. He couldn’t take it away entirely; the Stone would retaliate if he did. Besides, there were also the standard functions that she had to perform each day for the town to run smoothly.

Switch truly hated Lord Merek. His wife was tolerable but he was a total bigot. She was completely confused on how the two managed to stay married considering their characters were completely the opposite. Merek favored the elite, the nobles, and his knights. The rest were dirt. His wife, however, was the champion of the people, compassionate and kind to all no matter their status.

However, something had changed recently. The Town Stone’s warning system was giving off a lot of false positives. It was like a shadow had slowly crept into Longdale. It came in so slowly that no one noticed or perhaps only through the Stone would someone notice. The more she searched for it the more it looked like it was somehow connected to Merek.

Their relationship was never good, but once she found out about it, their relationship became even more strained. Which puzzled her even more, no one but her could use the Town Stone and she hadn’t spoken her findings with anyone. So how did Merek somehow know that she knew?

Figuring out this mystery was as pressing as her own life. But she had no more ideas on how to stop Lord Merek from cutting her off from the Stone.

***

Krinn and Wen settled in quickly and had brought in their own mounts. This was when Jude found out that one of the sheds in the courtyard was actually a stable. The horses were large, much like their owners and were heavy ladened with packs and bags. This made him wonder if they were as ‘poor’ as they had been leading on to be.

But perhaps it was just a point of view. Maybe they now considered themselves poor only because of what they were used to. Jude was familiar enough with this concept as back on Earth, if he lived like he did now, it would be considered very poor. No electricity, no plumbing, no internet, no TV or computer. He only had a single change of clothes.

So he let the ‘poor’ concept pass.

He continued his sword forms as Ellie was supposed to meet him later in the morning. Krinn and Wen began watching him practice after they had packed their things away.

“Care to have a sparring partner?” Krinn asked.

Jude was between phases and decided it would be nice to have an actual practice partner. “Yes, that would be good.”

Plus, it would be a good opportunity to see how strong Krinn was.

“Excellent,” Krinn said as he equipped his shield and axe. The shield was long and rectangle in shape, that curved slightly towards him. The Axe was made of a light wood similar to Wen’s spear while the axe head was overly large and dark. There were a few scroll work runes’ carved into the axe head and leather-wrapped the handle.

“Ready when you are,” Jude said.

“Then, ‘Mdoyd rur-nyckin baun’ ” Krinn said.

Krinn Frotgen level 22 has initiated a non-lethal duel. Do you accept?

Once again Jude heard this strange language that almost didn’t sound like a language. At some point, he was going to have to figure what it was all about. But right now he was in a duel so such thoughts would have to wait.

Yes. Jude selected.

Krinn tested out the waters by using his favored Skill. It was a multi-target skill so it’s damage wasn’t as high but it still multiplied his damage by an extra 50% with an average damage of 160. The axe swung from right to left and as it did a red glow blazed along its edge. The glow extended past the blade and was sharp as a knife. This is what made a true multi-target skill as it doubled the range of his attack.

Jude knew that Krinn’s strength stat was much higher than his, so he didn’t meet force with force. Instead, he twisted and turned out of the axe blade and blade light. He was already Rank III in so he knew the skill well and was able to avoid the blade light with ease. At the same time, he noticed something strange but wasn’t sure what it was.

Krinn kept pushing on the attack mostly using his favored attack, but occasionally throwing in a . This went on for a while without Jude using a single skill and he would either dodge Krinn’s attacks or parry in a way that diverted the strength rather than meet it head on. This style aggravated Krinn as he was weak against such tactics.

“Are you just going to bounce around the whole fight, or are you going to use a skill? At least use one to meet one of my attacks! That way it will be more exciting.” Krinn said.

“It’s not that I don’t want to,” Jude said, “It’s just that every time you use a skill I get the feeling that something is off.”

“Boy,” Krinn misunderstood Jude, “I’m not some tricky rogue, I’m a warrior. Everything I do is straight forward with no tricks.”

Jude was getting tired of getting called boy.

Krinn continued, “Take this! !”

Jude saw it again and this time he took action! Spinning his body, he dodged the attack by going under it, then with a strike of his sword, he hit Krinn’s axe head directly in the spot he had kept seeing.

POW!

Krinn’s skill was only half completed and when Jude struck out it collapsed the skill causing a small explosion with most of the energy backfiring onto Krinn!

“What the Hell was that?!” Krinn asked surprised. “Never mind, let’s keep going! HUUUAAAH!”

Krinn now activated his skill which further empowered his strength and HP.

The fight continued on for quite some time as neither held the upper advantage and Jude continued to not use skills, relying only on his technique. But he was getting better at disrupting any skill activated in . Krinn’s armor and shield did well at blocking and Jude found it hard to do any damage, the only real damage Krinn suffered was from when his skills got disrupted!

Jude was only able to disrupt skills because of his high rank in and his time practicing Spell Analyst skills. While a Warrior’s skills aren’t spells, they run off the same principles of using mana to activate the Modicuit to enable a real-world action. In a sense, you could say that a Warriors skills were just close range spells.

The fight was nearing its end through attrition. Both Jude and Krinn were getting worn out. Once stamina was depleted it would start eating away at HP. Krinn had not landed any solid hits on Jude only managing to get a few grazes. Jude couldn’t get through Krinn’s defense either, but the backlash of skill disruption had caused him to lose more HP than Jude.

Finally, Krinn couldn’t take it anymore, “I’ll admit, you are an amazing Warrior. But if you don’t use a skill at least once in the fight it will be dishonorable!”

“Ok then,” Jude smirked.

He jumped back and created a small distance between the two. Krinn read this as Jude wanting to use the skill. Every warrior had a favored skill in that they would get to Rank III and be their primary attack. Most choose either like Krinn or like Wen. But there were some who preferred . Krinn guessed that Jude favored by his new stance.

“Are you ready?” Jude asked.

“Yes,” Krinn said as he braced himself behind his shield.

“!”

A missile of magic and light burst forth from Jude. This caught Krinn by surprise! Luckily he was ready for a heavy blow and his shield was already in place. But what he didn’t see was the two extra missiles behind the first. As the first missile hit the shield the other two split away going around the shield and striking Krinn straight into the chest!

Fortunately, Jude was equipped with his Fine Bronze sword and not his staff so the damage was much less and Krinn’s armor mitigated some of the damage as well. But it was enough damage to call an end of the duel.

Congratulations!

Duel between Jude and Krinn has concluded. Jude won!

***

After the confusing and surprise about Jude actually being a Wizard was settled down. Ellie arrived for her first day off from the blacksmith shop. She could have had a day off sooner, but she was a little obsessed with blacksmithing even if she couldn’t do yet. Even with all her work, she was still only level 1 in blacksmithing.

However, she had access to Jude, who with his title could level her even faster! So today was the day that they would power level her blacksmith job.

Jude and the Frotgen’s were chatting enthusiastically when she arrived, passed offenses now forgotten. But when Krinn saw Ellie come in, he felt as if the sun and moon had entered. Her light brown hair cut in a bob shown out in glorious spender and wrapped her face like silk and gold. Her stature was small, but her arms were well developed, not big and bulky, but well-toned. Her sleeveless shirt showed off the definition but was mostly concealed by the short cloak she wore over it.

Before Jude could even make introductions, Krinn was already standing before Ellie.

“My fair maiden, my name is Krinn Frotgen, mighty warrior of the 22nd level. I humbly ask if I might know your name?” Krinn said eloquently with a bow.

Before Ellie could respond Wen said, “Get your cosh back here! What the cosh are you thinking? She is way too young for you to be flirting with.”

Ellie turned a deep red.

Jude intervened, “This is Ellie Coper, Haggler, Flesh Smith and Heroic Crafter.”

Jude had found out that when introducing someone, it was considered polite to either state their class and level or the list of titles they had.

“Heroic Crafter? There is such a thing?!” Wen asked.

“There is and today I’m going to help her level her Blacksmith class,” Jude replied.

“I will help as well,” Krinn offered, clearly not giving up. “Do you need any supplies? Perhaps I can start the forge here. I’ve done it once before. Or perhaps you need a new forging hammer? I will spare no expense!”

“Actually Jude is going to go out and kill things with me,” Ellie said something for the first time.

Krinn ignored the words, “The voice of an angel! Ellie, would you go out with me? I will take you to the finest restaurant in town!”

Wen interjected, “How are you going to level by killing things?”

Krinn continued, “I also know this place that sells these delicious little cakes.”

“I gained a title that allows me to level craftsman through shared EXP in combat,” Jude said.

Krinn continued in the background, “There is also this other place that serves fine wine and delicate cheese.”

“Oh Jude, I got that equipment back that I requested made. Here you go,” said Ellie.

Krinn continued, “Then we can walk around holding hands…”

“Oh, thanks!” Jude said. “I’ll go try these on right away.”

Krinn continued, “Then we can look up at the stars as the sun sets.”

“Would you stop it!” Wen told her brother as she bashed him on the head.

***

Jude received a new open tunic that was dark green in color which fit over his other new clothes of a regular tunic that was light green and pants that were a brownish tan. Brass scroll work was stitched directly into the cloth and other brass clips and buttons gave the set a refined feel. The three items formed a set whole and for stat bonuses were considered one item. They were called:

Divine Forest Dreadsilk Clothing Set

Rank: Rare

Item level: 30

Mana: 200

Mana regen: 15

Spi: 75

Agi: 25

Char: 5

Jude wasn’t sure how Ellie had gotten such a nice set made out of the materials they had gotten, but he was definitely grateful. But then he noticed the Divine in the name and guessed that Ellie had further enhanced these clothes. The dreadsilk was incredibly soft and smooth and his movements were easy and free.

After Jude changed, he and Ellie went off the goblin village. Krinn tried to join them, but Wen stopped him from going. Jude would have preferred to go to the Undead Caves, but it was quite crowded there nowadays. Instead, they cleared out the entire goblin village including the with ease.

By the end of the day, Ellie was level 8 in Blacksmithing. One or two more clears of the goblin village and Jude was sure he would have her at level 10.

What Jude and Ellie didn’t realize was the reaction her Blacksmith master would have.