My alarm suddenly jarred me from my sleep. Even though my status shows well rested I felt anything but. I couldn’t wait for the mindlessness of leveling my skills today to take my thought away from joining the Silver Thorns. I quickly make my way down to the bar not seeing the Silver Thorns.

My apprehension must have been apparent to John who said. “They haven’t been down yet this morning. Don’t let their offer bother you. They have a real reason to worry if someone went to such lengths to kill them. It is very likely someone is waiting outside for the Night Blades or the Silver Thorns as a backup.”

“That doesn’t make me feel any better.” I say as I take a seat.

“Don’t get me wrong it sucks, but do you really think you can add enough to handle whatever is waiting out there? They won’t be low level and they will capture you and take you somewhere they can control your bind point and then kill you time after time until your final death.”

I shiver at John’s cold assessment and say. “Isn’t there anything we can do?”

“Unfortunately, no, there is no way to send a message out and while we can contact the System nothing has been done in this area to be addressed, just guesses on our part. Well let me get your breakfast and potion.”

I sit there racking my brain, but John has a lot more experience with this world and its political structure than I do and he can’t think of anything.

John brings out my favorite biscuits with gravy, eggs, and bacon. We shift our conversation to lighter topics. Apparently the six domains that make up the empire compete in a sport that resembles football, with multiple passes allowed and of course magic. The magic can buff the players or affect the terrain, but not directly affect the other team. John’s favorite team the Hydras from the Domain of Water were last year’s winners and he has been dying since he can only catch up on the games when new adventures come in. I laugh to hear his passion as he describes the final match were the Hydras turned a section of the field into mud and then boosted their main player with agility and hit them with repeated wind blasts sliding him across the muddy field out running the defense to the goal. Wow I wonder what football would be like back on Earth with magic, images of the front line literally turning to stone temporarily and the quarterback vaulting ten feet up with boosted strength and agility throwing the ball 100 yards.

I gulp down my potion holding my noise and run out as my stomach flips over. I meet up with the Captain and we head to the practice field. Today I ask if we can work on Shield as well and he says that is fine, it would just slow Endurance training, but that is already at a crawl. I draw a sword and cast Shield. Then the Captain’s turns his back, I Stealth, and then alternate parrying with the sword or with magic. When a dart hits my shield, I renew it. And so, the day passes through an all to brief break for lunch and then finally dinner time where we stopped. The Captain says, “You have a few days until we need to start training again, so just let me know when you want to start again and what you would like to focus on.”, as he turned and left.

First a stop at the bathhouse where I quickly wash up and then a trip to the blacksmith where I fine him working on a sword. He was just quenching the blade in water when I enter so he notices me right away. “Well if it isn’t my best customer. Do you need some more swords?” He says with a smile.

“Not this time, but I would like to buy a long bow, 60 arrows, an axe, a mace, and a spear.”

“Ok, you want them high durability like the swords or regular weapons?”

“Regular weapons for these.”

“I have all of those. It will be a silver per weapon and two coppers per arrow, which will come to five silvers and twenty coppers.”

I open a trading window and put the money in the windows as he fills his side with the weapons and we both hit accept. “Thanks, have a good night.”

“Sure, and you too.” He says as he picks up the quenched blade and starts pumping the grind stone.

I have everything I can think of for my trip tomorrow to find out what is at the blue dot on the map. With that done I enter the Tavern where the Silver Thorns are already eating. I see they saved a space so I make my way over and ask if I can join them. They greet me warmly as John brings over food and an ale. I inspect them quickly and see they are all at level four. I congratulate them on how quickly they have advanced.

Justin replies. “Well that was made possible by the gear you gave us. It has made it much quicker to level. We just started on the wolf area this afternoon, but not going to deep yet.”

I wave away his remark saying. “I think it has just as much to do with teamwork and how you use that equipment.”

Justin asks. “Have you considered our offer?”

I sigh and say. “I have, but I will need another two or three days before I decide, which is when my next round of training starts.”

My comment raises several eyebrows. “Is there any chance we may avail ourselves of training as well?” Nora asks.

I give her a serious look and say. “I am sorry, but the situation is unique to my circumstances. If I knew of a way for you to obtain the training as well I would not begrudge sharing knowing what may wait outside.”

Everyone says some quiet thanks and, in an effort, to switch topics I ask about the Hydras. I see John straighten and pause as he polished the bar. Hah, I knew he was listening. Nora asks. “How do I know of the team?”, which is a great way to pull John into the conversation. It appears the Silver Thorns are all Drake fans, which is the Air Domain’s team. They are currently leading in the initial matches this season much to John’s disappointment. The conversation becomes heated, but friendly as the night winds on. It is very relaxing. I also catch Nora looking at me a few times, maybe my perception score coming into play. I do find it interesting she is the only one that addresses me other than Justin like the others defer to her. We stay up late talking before we break up and head to bed. It really felt nice to interact with people other than the shop keepers.

It is late when I finally make my way up to bed. I sit there thinking about the pleasant evening, I really wish I could help the Silver Thorn’s out. I have been saving my unallocated points for when I hit level ten and pick a class to either meet the class stat requirements if necessary or to increase the classes primary stat. I would really like to either get a unique Mage class or a hybrid mage/melee fighter, but I don’t expect to be able to get that until leaving the Starter Area and joining a guild. It is expensive to get the training I have been going through with Captain Varus, so many guilds and houses should be interested in getting me to join assuming I can get out of the Starter Area without being killed. For now, I will check out the blue dot on the map and try to get my skills and level up as high as I can, whether I end up going with the Silver Thorns or not. I have trouble getting to sleep tonight, tossing and turning for a while before finally falling asleep.