<>(Zack)<>

"Excuse me," I approach the first person I see, a man in flowing robes, with a staff strapped across his back. "I got lost on my way to the Trading Post. Could you help me?"

"A child?" He asks in disbelief.

"An idiot?" I retort, and he blinks. "What else would I be? I'm twelve. I look it. Now. Trading Post. Directions. You gonna help or what?"

"They sent a child to Maelnor?"

"Big C probably got confused by my awesomeness," I say. "Are you going to keep being shocked by me being a kid, or are you going to give me directions to the Trading Post?"

"You're a child…"

And you're hopeless.

I walk past him, continuing down the streets until I come across a guy in a suit of armor. Shiny.

"You!" I say, and he looks over at me, frowning. "Yeah, yeah, I'm a child and all that. I got lost on my way to the Trading Post, Nik didn't actually give me anyway. Can you?"

"Nik?" He asks. "You've spoken with Nikolai?"

"Was that his name?" I ask, then shrug. "Anyway, I'm looking for the Trading Post so I can get my sword and knife."

"Follow this road," he gestures down the direction I was already heading. "Take the second right, then the first left, follow that down, take the fourth right, and you'll be heading straight for the gates."

"Thanks."

"I'd recommend heading deeper into our territory, kid," he tells me. "If you go through the East Gate, you can travel through the pass and to the next city over. They can get you a few more in, to where it's safer and you can train with a team who you can keep up with. You'll only have to worry about Slimes on the way, though I would recommend being careful, with your Health being as low as it is."

"What, this?" I ask. "Nah. I'd like to see 'em kill me. I'm a tough kid to kill, you know."

"You've already died once."

"It was an accident."

"No one remembers what it was like, before waking in the Crystal's Temple."

"So?" I ask. "It was probably some massive, freak cosmic event that ended my life. I'll be fine out there."

"I'd still recommend going further in," he says. "Get a couple of Skills before leaving, too."

"I'd recommend not recommending stupid shit to me," I smile at him. "Thanks for the directions!"

I begin walking again, reaching the Trading Post after about eight minutes. When I enter, I can't help but stare at the creeper behind the counter.

He has somewhat long, black hair, is dressed in a pink outfit, has green eyes, and is wearing makeup.

Pervert.

"Oh, my!" He exclaims in a high-pitched squeal. "They sent a child to this city! And you're adorable, too! Come, come! Let Jesse take care of all of your adventuring needs! Are you going to be a warrior or a worker?"

"What's the difference, Pervert?" I approach the old, worn, wooden counter.

"Warriors fight monsters," he explains. "Collect ingredients, and so on, working on Adventurer Classes. Workers, like me, focus on Subclass and supporting through crafting and supplying items. I'm a Certified Assessor, the only Subclass that allows one to run this counter!"

"I'm going to be a Dark Knight," I tell him. "So I need a knife and a sword. I was told to come see you."

"You get one starter weapon!" He exclaims. "If it breaks, you can always come back and replace it, but one's what you get! Any others, you'll have to buy!"

"Okay," I say. "So one starter sword, and one starter knife, please."

"Just one!"

"Sword and knife, please."

"You should start off for Squire," he says. "It's a lot simpler and gives you a stronger foundation!"

"I'm already a Dark Knight," I say. "I just don't have the Classes to prove it. Give me the knife and sword."

"Knife or sword!"

"Knife and sword!"

"One or the other."

"I choose both!"

"Knife or sword, Zack."

"Knife and sword, Pervert!"

"One."

"Both!"

"You get one."

"And you're just an ugly pervert no one wants."

"You're mean!" He exclaims, pulling out a simple sword and a simple knife out from under the counter, thrusting them forward. "Here! Take them!"

"Thanks, Jesse," I accept the weapons, then strap the knife onto my right hip. I struggle to properly strap the sword across my back, and have to reject Jesse's help twice. "Alright, Pervert. Anything else I should know? I already know what I need to do to acquire Dark Squire."

"Utilize the 'Inventory' function," he tells me. "All automatic loot will appear in there."

"Thanks," I say. "Anything else?"

"Your Health and Mana," he nods. "Will regenerate at twice the normal speed while you're on your property. The one you appeared on is yours in the System, unless you purchase a new one. As you're the first to show up for it, you're the Party Leader of that particular property. You can invite new people into your party, and they will gain the bonus as well, whether or not they live there. Anyone who shows up there will automatically be in your party."

That sounds annoying. What if Big C throws someone there that I won't get along with? They'd have to wait until they could buy a different property to lose that bonus. If I kicked them off the party, would that happen?

"And if you kick someone off the party," he continues. "But they were there because of the Crystal of Light of Air putting them there as their arrival location, then they'll still receive the bonus until they purchase a property."

Yeah, annoying.

"What are your natural regeneration times?" I ask.

"Zero-point-zero-one Health and Mana," he answers. "Per point of Vitality and Wisdom, respectively."

So it will take sixteen minutes, forty seconds to recover to full from empty.

"Got it," I say. "Anything else I should know, before beginning my training?"

"Come back anytime you have loot to sell," he smiles. "And I'll be happy to buy it off of you! And replace your basic weapons, should they break!"

"Thanks, Pervert," I say. "See you."

I turn and leave, making my way back to my house. I can somewhat sense its general location, so even though I get lost a few times there, I still have some sort of navigational point I can use.

I guess I could've used the West Gate as one to get to the Trading Post, since it's right next to it.

Back at my property, I look around, then strip off my shirt, sneakers, and socks, setting them under the shade of the tree in one corner of the yard. I perform a few stretches, then begin doing some exercises in the yard. Pushups, situps, planks, squats, and shuttle runs. I exercise until I'm sore, then collapse on the ground under the tree, my body hot and soaked in sweat, despite the cool air.

Cool air…

Is it springtime, here? Or autumn? Or is the weather this 'nice' all year 'round?

+1 STR!

So it doesn't necessarily have to be during the activity itself that a stat boost will raise.

Once I have cooled off a bit, I walk over to the pump and work the lever, using the crystal-clear water that pours fourth to rinse myself off. Then, I shake myself, spraying water everywhere, and stretch. Once I'm dry, I pull my shirt, socks, and sneakers back on, do another stretch, then make my way down to the Trading Post.

A warrior in armor stands within, and he looks down at me when I enter.

"They sent a child here?" He scoffs.

"You're just jealous I'll be stronger than you within a year," I stride up to the counter. "Pervert, I need food, or I'm going to starve."

"Go kill monsters and come back with loot!" Jesse tells me.

"Fine," I say. "I guess I'll starve to death, because the creepy pervert wants to be a jerk to me."

I turn and begin walking.

"Wait!" Jesse calls out. "Don't go! I've got food! Bread! I've got bread!"

"Apples?" I look over my shoulder.

"Those will cost!"

"You think I can live off of bread?" I ask. "I'll need bread, apples, and meat, if I'm to survive."

"I'll go broke!" Jesse protests in that high-pitched voice of his.

"Fine," I shrug. "Looks like I'll die against the pathetic Slimes, because I have no strength from hunger, all because some pervert didn't want to keep me alive."

"Fine," Jesse sighs, reaching under the counter, then setting three loaves of bread, two apples, and five strips of jerky on the counter. "This should last you until tomorrow night. No more free food! You'll pay for the rest you get!"

"Thanks, pervert!" I scoop them up and put them into my inventory. "See you tomorrow!"

I turn and leave, heading back to my property. I sit at the picnic table on the lawn, and pull out a loaf of bread, an apple, and two strips of jerky, then look at the western sky.

The sun's starting to set over the horizon, and I feel pretty tired, even though it's only been about five or six hours since I arrived. Maybe seven.

Turning my gaze back to the items, I focus on each of them intently, determined to gain Appraisal.

New Skill! Appraisal Active/Passive Reveals information about items when used, and on Adventurers and Monsters actively, showing information on them up to five Levels above your own per Level of this Skill. Bread It's a loaf of bread. Apple Enough said. Jerky A strip of dried meat.

I want to slap whoever made those descriptions. The descriptions will probably be better once Appraisal goes up in Level.

Maybe.

Hopefully.

I eat the loaf of bread, apple, and strip of jerky, plus two more strips of jerky. Jesse will give me more food tomorrow, whether or not I can afford it. He probably already expects me to eat all of this by breakfast.

Covering a yawn, I make my way into the house and upstairs, into one of the bedroom. It has two sets of bunk beds with straw mattresses. I strip off my clothes and lie down on a bottom bunk, pulling the thin blanket over me, quickly drifting off into sleep.

A warrior who appears to be around sixteen or seventeen flies through the skies. He's bare-chested, his lean body showing dense muscles from a lifetime of training. Sprouting from his back are a pair of majestic, black feathery wings with crimson and golden sparkles. His hair is a thick, curly brown streaked with gold, and his grey-blue eyes are filled with determination.

A determination to reach the hordes of monsters that have gathered around a City, the only one showing signs of life. The other Cities he passes by all have crumbled walls and no signs of life, outside the Monsters.

Millions and millions of Monsters. Goblins and Orcs and Kobolds and Giants and Ogres and more on the ground, Wyverns and Dragons and other things flying through the air.

Though the flying warrior is still miles away, he seems ready to devastate their forces.

"Cataclysmic Shift," he speaks, his eyes turning violet the moment he begins to speak. "Heaven's Descent."

The moment he finishes speaking, thousands upon thousands of meteors form in the sky, ranging from as small as a pea to as large as a football field in width. They fall at an angle, and though he's miles away from the hordes, it crashes into them.

The tail-end obliterated, he continues to fly. His attack might have been powerful, but it didn't take out even a tenth of the total horde.

"Cataclysmic Shift," he intones without pause. "Final End."

The ground begins to shake, breaking apart, lava bursting out in powerful geysers, the ground shaking and cracking.

"Cataclysmic Shift," he intones, ignoring the damage and destruction, the screams of the horde. "Bloody Darkness."

Tendrils of darkness and blood burst out from him, reaching the nearby fliers, and once it hits them, they explode into spikes of more tendrils, which reach out to consume more monsters, reaching even the ground from hundreds of yards above.

Undeterred by the sudden barrier, he continues to fly, weaving between the web of bloody shadows, silent until he's over the horde that survived his onslaught, not nearly to the City.

"Cataclysmic Shift," his eyes turn violet once more. "Divine Cleansing."

A radiant violet light bursts forth out of him, stretching more than a mile in radius. When it fades, not a single monster remains within the bounds of where it touched, the horde now only stretching a mile from the walls of the City.

The four smaller Dragons attacking the barrier around the City turn and fly towards the warrior.

"Stone Spike," he raises a hand, and a spike of stone ten feet at its thickest forms, then blasts into one of the Dragons, ending its life in a moment. He snaps. "Lightning Storm."

Clouds form above the Dragons, barriers surrounding them before bolts of lightning rain down on them. Two of them are shredded, their barriers ignored by the powerful bolts, the third one finding its wings shredded, though it lives on.

"Fireball," the mage says, his fireball twice the size of the Dragon, consuming it immediately and leaving behind nothing but ash in less than two seconds.

The final two Dragons, much larger than the other two, fly towards him. Both open their maws and roar.

"Magic Barrier," the mage says, and a shimmering violet barrier surrounds him, the roar slamming into it, the air rippling from the force. And yet it doesn't budge the barrier, and he continues to fly towards them, the barrier remaining the same distance in front of him. "Dragon's Roar."

The barriers fade, and he inhales, then exhales, emitting a powerful roar that pushes the Dragons back with its force, their own barriers shattering the moment it strikes, and moments later, several of their scales crack, then break. The Dragons roar from the pain, and the mage is uncaring.

Instead of hitting them with magic, he flies forward, his speed increasing. In the time it takes for the wings of the Dragons to flap once, the magician has covered the two hundred yards to them. In fact, their wings were already halfway down, and he reached before the wings hit their lowest point.

The magician punches the Dragon he reached, his fist pushing through its forehead, blood spraying everywhere, soaking the mage.

In the next instant, the Dragon is hurled towards the ground. The other Dragon exhales flames, ignoring its slain comrade.

"Cataclysmic Shift," the mage looks at the other Dragon, ignoring the chaos around him and the attack aimed at him. "Shattered Reality."

The flames and the Dragon freeze for a moment, then shatter, as if not more than an image of glass.

The mage looks at the falling shards of the Dragon, then down to the horde below, which has paused in its battle against the hundred or so Adventurers left. Even they have stopped their battle to stare at the mage, now.

"Barrage," the mage says, his eyes turning violet again. "Magic Bolt. Barrage: Magic Arrow. Barrage: Magic Missile."

Slim, violet bolts, violet arrows, and thick, pointed violet missiles form around him, descending to the ground and slaying the monsters from a seemingly endless supply of this magic. Only once the last monster has been slain, not a single strike missing any, no matter how far they were from the City, does the mage's eyes return to their grey-blue.

He scans around, then flies toward the ground, landing beside an armored warrior with a hole punched through his chest, the thick spear still embedded within.

The mage pulls the spear out, then throws it to the side, placing a hand on the slain warrior's head.

The dream ends there, the next thing entering my awareness to be the sun shining through the window. I sit up and look around.

What the hell?

Did Jesse lace the food or something? I will ask Nik, just in case. No telling what sort of funky drugs that pervert stuck in my food while it was under the counter.

Shaking my head, I stretch, then get dressed and head downstairs, finishing off the rest of my breakfast. I perform a few more stretches, then strip to my pants and start doing some exercises, before running through the streets of town, reaching the Trading Post.

+1 AGI!

I'm a little winded from that, but not too much, despite that being roughly two miles, sloping slightly uphill.

"Zack!" Jesse exclaim when I walk into the Trading Post. "What happened to your clothes?"

"I'm still wearing pants," I tell him. "Do you have some water I can drink? And something to carry water in? And more food? I ate it all already. Got really hungry, and I'm doing exercises."

+1 STR!

Go away.

You

The hell?

Shaking my head, I approach the counter.

"Come on, Pervert," I say. "I'm going to be hungry again by the time I return to my property, and will then be heading out to hunt. I might not make it back in time for lunch, and maybe even dinner. I'll need food. Do you want me to get all weak and pass out while I'm training?"

He gives me more bread, apples, and jerky. I send them to my inventory, then take the waterskin he gave me and drain it, before sending that into my inventory as well.

"Thanks, Pervert!" I wave to him, then leave, taking off running, making my way through the streets and across a couple of bridges, returning to my home.

I cool off and rinse off, then refill the waterskin and pull my other clothes back on. After strapping my weapons back on and checking to see how they clear the sheaths, I draw the knife and begin slicing through the air with it.

It might be a good idea to get Knife Mastery and Sword Mastery before heading out.

I look out across the City, to the Dark Temple. Might Nik be there right now? Or is he out, getting stronger?