He’d escaped the tyranny of Master Revenant only to end up in the clutches of Wallace the butler and Melanie Chapman. Out of the frying pan, into the fire. Once Master Alaria had shown him the passageways to leave Sanctuary and brought him back to the Chapman compound, that’s when everything had gone to hell. His training had continued even when he was back home.

“No, No, No.” Melanie said as she scribbled some characters on a piece of chalkboard. “This is how you write those letters, not whatever that is.” She giggled as she pointed at Asher’s chalkboard with his failed attempts of learning to write Common on it.

“Why is everything so dang rigid with this alphabet?” Asher said as he looked at the boxy images on his handheld chalkboard. Common was an interesting written language, compared to his homeworld’s English, which he was used to. Not a single curve could be seen in the Common alphabet, it was mostly straight lines and boxes arranged in different ways.

“The Elven language is a lot less rigid, almost like water had been put on the paper with the way their alphabet flows.” Melanie said as she began writing a series of loops and lines on her chalkboard. The end result reminded Asher of cursive from Earth. “It’s a very beautiful language and script.” She said, as she set her piece of chalk down.

“It really is, what’d you write and how do you even know how to write in Elvish?” Asher said with genuine curiosity, his eyes gleaming with the prospect of learning something new.

“I only know how to write my name, and it was because some friends taught me a long time ago.”

Asher continued to practice his reading and writing. The more he practiced, the quicker he felt his skill developing in the days he’d been back home. His god-given feat once again showing just how useful it is.

FEAT: Jack of Everything

-Lifelong Student

You have spent your life trying to learn from people of all skills and all walks of life.Your thirst for knowledge has turned you into a lifelong student. Bypass restrictions on learning new skills and abilities. Learn skills and abilities at an increased rate.

He now found himself sitting at a table with a bowl of salad in front of him. He reached for a fork only to hear Wallace very obviously clear his throat. He then reached for the other fork and Wallace shook his head in disagreement. This made the choice clear as there was only one fork left for him to choose from, with Wallace nodding ‘yes’ as he grabbed the final fork. With this recent failure, Wallace used it to segue into his lecture on table etiquette.

“Young Master, from left to right we have the salad fork, dinner fork, dessert fork,” he said as he picked up each fork. “We have the service plate, and OR, dinner plate with the soup bowl neatly sitting on top of it. Then there is the dinner knife, teaspoon, and soup spoon.” Wallace said as Asher let out another groan, resigned to his fate of learning to be a proper Young Master of the household. Asher had tried to escape his lessons but Wallace had somehow managed to track him down no matter where he was and dragged him back to the dining room where the bulk of their etiquette training took place.

“Finally, off to the sides but still just as important, to the left we have the butter plate AND spreader. To the right from largest to smallest we have the water glass, red wine glass, and white wine glass. This concludes fine plating.”

“Why is the red wine glass bigger than the white wine glass?” Asher asked.

“Who cares, it’s etiquette.” Wallace simply waved the question off.

“That’s fair.”

“Now let’s review the proper signs and indications used during fine dining to convey various opinions about the meal without being vocally rude.”

Asher let out another pained groan as Wallace placed the proper utensils in his hands.

“Yeah that sounds like Wallace.” Master Alaria said as she let out a small chuckle as she walked next to Asher. It was going to be his first day of classes and he figured he shouldn’t miss them. They both entered the classroom where Asher saw Seventeen along with a few other kids his age, and some a few years older all settled into their seats waiting for class to start. They all eyed him as he walked into the room with the housemaster, Asher quickly took a seat next to Seventeen while Master Alaria took her place at the head of the class.

“Hey, been a few days huh?” Seventeen said with a grin.

“A long few days.” Asher groaned, thinking back on the hours of etiquette training and literacy classes. On the bright side, he’d applied himself enough that he’d finally learned how to read and write at a decent enough level. This tied in with learning proper manners, one might say that Asher was shaping up to be a literate, well-groomed young man.

Master Alaria tapped the chalk she had in her hand on the chalkboard behind her to grab everyone’s attention. Then she began to write on the board.

“SYNDICATE HOUSES AND THEIR ROLES”

“What are the houses of the Syndicate and why are they important?” Master Alaria asked the class.

One of the children promptly raised their hand and Master Alaria acknowledged them. “Yes, Apprentice?”

“Ma’am the Syndicate houses are Snake, who specialize in poisons and various forms of alchemy and potion making. House Raccoon, which specializes in stealing. House Lion, they’re enforcers for the Syndicate and have special authority granted by the Guild Master to use violence during their jobs. Finally, there is House Ant, they’re made up of people who weren’t good enough to get in other houses, but still better at being a rogue than the average person.”

Master Alaria simply nodded along as the kid gave their answer. She looked at the child when they finished their answer then at the rest of the class.

“You have an idea.” She said as the kid began smiling, “But not the right one.” The smile disappeared.

“All the houses have a job, and all those jobs are equally important.” She said as she began to pace up and down the rows between the desks and paused at the chalkboard. She began to write out a list on the board as she talked.

“Snake - Poisons, potions, concoctions…drugs. If you brew it, we make it, or at least attempt to. Our house, along with House Raccoon on special occasions, bring in the bulk of the Syndicate’s revenue. Whether it be a drug addict, an adventurer that wants to stay alive in a dire moment, or a general that needs his soldiers to keep marching, our brews end up in the market and that is how we make money and contribute to the Syndicate.”

The boy who’d originally given his answer seemed to have flushed cheeks caused by the embarrassment of his simplistic answer. Asher’s eyes were beaming with joy as he began to eat up the new information that was being given to him.

“Raccoon - They specialize in all forms of thievery, so you were right about that one young man. There is technically more to it, but you all aren’t at liberty to learn that information just yet. Just know that they’re really good at stealing.”

“Lion - When a deal goes bad, you want the Lions to show up, and it’s their job to. We aren’t authorized to kill, and we have to use violence as a last resort, but House Lion’s job is centered around violence and killing if necessary. So it isn’t a special privilege, it is their one and only job to protect Syndicate interests and the houses as they work out in the public. Turf wars are also usually settled by the Lions.”

“Finally, we have House Ant. This House gets a lot of hate lobbed at it, but it has one of the most important roles in the Syndicate…they legitimize us. House Ant specializes in building the infrastructure of the Syndicate and its interests. While it may be true that they aren’t the more purely skilled rogues, the work they do is some of, if not the most important. They maintain these tunnels, the Sanctuary, when you walk up to a Syndicate friendly hideout in town…it is because it is a member of House Ant who runs it or controls it. They are the face of our organization for the most part, if our house provides the merchandise then House Ant provides the shop and body needed to sell it.”

Some of the children seemed tired listening to all this information, a few of them even dozed off, but not Asher. He loved every second of what he was hearing as he learned more and more about the Syndicate and its deep roots. “Looks like this organization isn’t just some motley crew of bandits, but actually something that has been well thought-out.” He didn’t know whether he should be impressed or disgusted. In his old world, an organization like this would have disgusted him as it went against his morals. He’d always considered stealing and robbing to be one of the worst crimes, but this world hadn’t given him much of a chance to opt into the life of the straight and narrow. He did still want to experience what adventuring life was like, but he figured he’d learn the necessary survival skills here in the meantime.

“That concludes our lecture for today. Next class we start on the basic of basics when it comes to brewing, herbology, different chemicals and elements as well as how they all interact with each other. Also, I usually only give the introductory class, so expect an experienced Journeyman of our house to be your instructor until you all get into the more difficult subjects.”

“Yes Ma’am” the class of kids said almost in unison.

“Quick!” Master Alaria pointed at one of the children, “What’s the difference between poison and venom?”

The kid scratched his head before responding back with an unsure “There’s a difference?”

“Yeah, definitely going to tell them to start you all with the basics.”