I am excited and still tired when I wake up. I decide to take a cold shower in the hope that it will wake me up. I can hear Nora in the other shower when I get out. Krell has arrived and says everything is prepared for the trip to Deepwell. We plan on visiting the Temple to the Goddess of Water which has the portal to the Temple of the Seven Moons. Anyone can take the portal, but they should only do so if invited. Nora seems to think we are interesting enough that we will be able to visit without an invite. We sit down together to eat and catch up.

The plan is to take the Silent Wave, which is a river boat bound for Deepwell mid-afternoon. Deepwell is apparently located in the center of a large bay on the coast. With Nora and myself disguised with Flesh Shaping we shouldn’t have any trouble getting there. Also, I changed my name using Veil and I am going under the name Kel Salazar. My stats I set to 50% of their actual value, which is the lowest I can change them. I send Nora a party invite, so we can speak in party chat during the trip. Then we say our good byes to Krell after breakfast and make our way to the harbor to board the river boat.

The boat is eighty feet long and thirty feet wide and made entirely out of wood. It has a rear mounted paddle wheel like an old fashion steam boat. I am curious what they use to propel it. The sides of the boat and the cladding around the paddle wheel are covered in runes. We go up the boarding ramp with the other passengers and are shown to a large room with a pair of small beds, a desk, and two end tables with magic lamps. There is an attached shower for washing, which uses filtered river water. I asked Nora about the paddle wheel, but she is not sure how they move it, other than runes are used. Decades ago elementals were used before they switched to runes.

After checking out our room we both go on deck and people watch. There are several adventurers getting on the ship and two cranes are being used to load whole wagons into the cargo hold. Apparently since the wagons already have dimensional storage it is cheaper just to load it in the hold rather than transfer the material to a different container. About an hour after we board the ship gets underway. I go to the back and observe the large paddle wheel start to rotate. There is no drive shaft, just an axle. As the paddle wheel starts to accelerate, I begin to make out faint runes glowing on the paddles. Also, I see a faint glow being reflected onto the paddles from the rear of the boat, so I am guessing there are more runes covering the rear of the boat behind the paddle wheel. Maybe this is just one large rune-based motor. Rubbing my chin in thought, these runes look interesting. When I discussed runes with Nora earlier she looked at me like I am crazy. The study of runes takes a life time to get good at it and to get a lot out of it you need a class that specializes in runes. That is disappointing to hear, but I will keep an open mind. I will still want to learn some for myself to see what they are like, but I will have to put that off to a later date.

The boat will take two days to get to Deepwell, with two stops on the way to pick up and drop off passengers. All the cargo is headed to Deepwell. The boat passenger setup is interesting. The top deck is kept open with a trellis setup to shade everyone from the sun. Nora tells me that canvas would be stretched across the trellis in the event of bad weather. Under the trellis are tables and chairs in various small groupings to seat two to twelve people. The tables have different squares engraved into their tops for various board games. I see one group already has a card game going. Some other passengers are just sitting in the shade reading. The front of the top deck has an enclosed grill where they cook breakfast, lunch, and dinner at reasonable prices.

We take a pair of seats that give us a view of the river side as it goes past. We will grab a late dinner, but first I want to hear how Nora’s training went. Nora leans back in her chair and starts to fill me in on her training with Krell.

✽✽✽

While I was being led away to training Nora was taken by Krell to a large room that contained nearly every weapon imaginable along the walls.

Krell gestures. “Your family has always focused on magic, but I will train you in a number of specialized skills that use some of the weapons on these walls.”

Nora frowned as she thought that over. Her mother and sisters were all focused on skills related to magic and mana use. Having a weapon focus would be different and there for useful, but it would throw away a lot of the utility she could gain from the training her family had access to.

Krell must have known what I was thinking. “All of these weapon skills will complement your later development with magic and mana-based skills.”

I sigh, why couldn’t he have said that to start with, sometimes I think he is trying to irritate me on purpose. She just puts it off as being part of a different race with a different world view. “Very well, what do we start with?”

“First we kill you.” Krell says as the last thing I saw before I could dodge was his fist smashing into my chest.

“Wow he is so brutal.” A soft female voice seems to say in my ear. I try to open my eyes but I see nothing and realize I don’t feel anything either. I must be dead, but before respawn I shouldn’t experience anything. “Please just relax, I won’t keep you long.”

“Who are you?” I realize I am not speaking out loud and I am not actually hearing anything either. It is all mental.

“I am Atia, Goddess of Water.”

“Why would you be speaking to me?”

“I am speaking on behalf of my mother who can’t involve herself anymore with you or George. I want to let you know that the head priest and priestess in my temples will offer you add if you ask them for help.”

“Why would you help us?”

“Poth and Garth were wonderful nephews until my brother the God of Fire took them. Now that I know Poth is alive and you are both trying to help him, I am offering what aid I am allowed by the System.”

“Thank you, that will definitely be helpful when we travel to the Domain of Water.”

“No, thank you both, this is a very dangerous quest you are on in addition to the problems centered on you princess.”

“Is there any chance you can do something about that?”

“No, I have already done as much as I can, but you have done well to get Krell to help you even if his methods can be harsh. I will leave you know and before you know it you will be respawned.”

I suddenly am back in my body on the floor with three of Krell’s bodies standing around me dispersing a complex weave of magic. I see several flashing icons in the corner of my vision. Before saying anything to Krell I may regret I check out my notifications.

Krell struck you with the skill Siphon Soul draining you to level 2. You have lost eight levels. You have lost all attribute points, skills, and skill levels gained from the levels lost.

Krell struck you for 923 points of damage killing you. You have lost one level. You have lost all attribute points, skills, and skill levels gained from the level lost.

Krell captured your soul with Soul Prison.

Krell casts Inject Soul increasing your level by eight levels.

Krell casts Distill Soul on you. You have lost seven levels.

Krell teaches you the advanced skill Flowing Blade.

Krell teaches you the advanced skill Timeless Step.

Krell teaches you the advanced skill Jump Step.

Level Up! You have gained seven attribute points in intelligence, three in wisdom, two in strength, and two in agility.

“So Krell?”

“Yes?”

“I see I am at level two now. Mind explaining what happened and why?”

“Very good, you are much more controlled than George is. I killed you to strip most of your levels and distilled them to increase your attribute gains. This is not an efficient way to train, but it allows me to reset your progress and wipe out the levels you were obviously forced to gain too quickly. We should now be able to level you quickly with skill growth to recover your levels.”

I think that this is an incredible gift. I thought I would be forever stunted in growth from losing the chance to level efficiently in the Starter Glade, but now I will be able to recover lost ground and have three Advanced skills. I look at the skills quickly before Krell finishes dispersing the magic pattern around me.

Skill: Flowing Blade, Basic 1 (0%)

This skill allows the user to spend stamina to take an instant step when attacking with a bladed weapon allowing the weapon to do double damage. This can be chained, but each step must be associated with an attack by a bladed weapon.

Cost: 100 stamina minus ten stamina per skill tier beyond Basic.

Range: Self

Duration: Instantaneous

Skill: Timeless Step, Basic 1 (0%)

This skill allows the user to spend mana to pause time for one second before taking a step. While time is paused the user can move as usual, but can only affect things on their person. Steps can be chained.

Cost: 100 mana minus five mana per skill tier beyond Basic.

Range: Self

Duration: Instantaneous with a one second pause plus one additional second per skill tier beyond Basic.

Skill: Jump Step, Basic 1 (0%)

This skill allows the user to spend either mana or stamina to take one step using a jump movement. Jump movement is based on strength divided by four in feet plus agility divided by six in feet.

Cost: 50 mana or 50 stamina minus five per skill tier beyond Basic.

Range: Self

Duration: Instantaneous

Interesting and complementary skills, these will help a lot with melee-based attacks, but will also be very useful in any form of combat. Krell must be getting more out of training George than I imagined to offer so many advanced skills.

“Now we can begin to train in earnest. First drink this.” Krell said as he held out a glowing purple potion. I hesitated for a moment, but he literally had my life in his hands a moment ago. I think I can trust him with the potion too. I drink it while look at my log and see it is a potion of energy. These are rare potions and will give me the energy to stay awake for 24 hours. If he has more, I can do that for up to one week before I will have to rest. I will be able to get in more training that I anticipated.

Krell gestures and spears appear floating in the air above his head. He gestures again and I feel refreshed as both high level stamina and mana regeneration spells boost me. “Let’s being, try to stay alive.”

A spear shoots at me and I barely have time to take a Timeless Step to dodge it. In the second that time is paused I see another spear is already moving toward the direction I am stepping. I take a Jump Step to the side and then another Timeless Step when something crashes into my side taking my health down by 50%. I skid across the floor and take another Timeless Step to get a second to catch my bearing. That almost costs me my life when I look up and see a huge hound only ten feet from me moving at a full run with its mouth open wide.

I take a Jump Step to the side drawing a dagger and then enter Flowing Blade to strike two times along the hounds flank before it runs past and starts to turn. Even with my regeneration rate increased my stamina and mana are starting to run low. I run toward the hound and Jump Step on top drawing another dagger. A Flowing Blade lets me plant both blades firmly in it neck by its shoulders. I hold on for dear life as the hound thrashes trying to dislodge me. One blade comes free and I use another Flowing Blade to plant it deep again.

✽✽✽

I interrupt asking. “How did you manage to get out of that situation?”

“I didn’t, Krell dismissed the hound while I was on it, spilling me on the floor. After that he let me rest and the started another round of spear dodging and attacks by different creatures. He dismissed them before I could kill them. Krell didn’t want me to get XP from killing creatures, so that my attribute gains would be as high as possible.”

I looked at her level and saw she was at level twelve now. “I didn’t really look before, but you gained back all of your levels and then some.”

“Yes, I am back on track to having a great build and I have you to thank for that. I won’t forget it.”

I blushed and didn’t know what to say to that. I was never good at receiving praise. It always made me uncomfortable. I trying to ignore my embarrassment by asking Nora. “What skill level did you get up to in your advanced skills?”

Instead of answering Nora shared her three skills.

Skill: Flowing Blade, Advanced 1 (11%)

Skill: Timeless Step, Advanced 3 (45%)

Skill: Jump Step, Advanced 5 (17%)

“That is great, Advanced in all three. I bet your stats increased a lot as well using all three skills.”

“They did. Krell also taught me Fireball, Lightning, Fire Dart, Ice Dart, Stone Skin, and Enchanted Weapon. We drilled on those while using my skills. Enchanted Weapon was especially good with Flowing Blade. The skill doubled the enchanted damage to.”

“What does Enchanted Weapon do?”

“Here look.”

Enchanted Weapon, Level 3, Advanced Level 2 (23% progress to next level)

This spell enchants a weapon held by the user. The weapon is now considered magical and can be used to strike creatures that can only be hit by enchanted weapons. The weapon will do an additional ten points of damage per skill tier. This additional damage is treated as base damage and can be modified by anything that affects the base damage of the weapon. Example: Sneak attack doubles the base damage of the weapon and would also double the damage from this spell.

Range: Held Weapon

Duration: 1 minute

Cost: 50 mana

“That looks like a great spell combination with your skill. Krell really came through. I feel a lot better about our chances now.”

Nora talked a little more about her training and then we both got up to try the food at the grill. We both got roast Grog, which was a water monster found in this very river near Deepwell. It was slathered in a spicy sweet sauce that went great with the dark ale they served. The side salad and dinner rolls were a nice touch as well. After dinner we sat along the rail and Nora point our different creatures and plants. The boat made good time and pulled into the town of Greenwater about an hour before dark. We would take on more passengers here and depart after it got dark. With spells that let you see easily in the dark there was no reason not to continue at night. After watching the passengers board Nora and I retired to our room to get a good night’s sleep.