Chuck didn't know what to expect from the garishly colored stone and wood building, inside the wall. 'At least it looked well built,' he thought, staring at the three-story structure.

His tracking skill was giving him a fit, there were so many traces of people coming and going. After some effort he managed to will his mind to ignore the signs. He didn't realize passive abilities could be so annoying.

As the group neared the gate one of the guards stopped them. "Entry fee is two copper. Don't harass the workers, if they wish for your company they will seek it out. Do not make the guard get involved."

Chuck only understood "two copper". He figured if he needed to understand anything else the others would let him know. Chuck was willing to pay his share but Erwin just waved him off, giving the man a silver. He whispered something to the guard who gave a hearty laugh as they entered the walled-in grounds.

A few wagons were set to the side with hired help watching over the goods. They gave our group a cursory inspection before going back to whatever they were doing. Chuck figured it was due to the existence of actual guards that they were less hostile.

It didn't take long for the group to approach the entrance. Four stairs led up to a large covered porch. A few tables were set along the length of the porch, occupied by groups of travelers. The establishment felt very welcoming to Chuck, he couldn't wait to taste the food.

Erwin held the door while the rest piled inside. The entryway was illuminated by small crystals set in holders and backed by a reflective piece of metal, that glowed a soft yellow. CHuck was so fixated on the magical fixtures that he failed to pick up on some other important information upon his entrance.

The lady behind the desk talked with Erwin for a bit, occasionally glancing at the others. A soft smile never left her face or eyes. When Chuck finally pulled his gaze from the light fixtures he noticed something about her. It was the ears, they were slightly pointed. This made him excited, he thought she might be a half-elf or part elf at least. That was if the standard fantasy tropes continued as they had so far.

The woman was refined in an older woman sort of way. Chuck couldn't even guess at her age, she looked no more than twenty-five. He also examined her clothing. The dress she was wearing was refined and regal without being ostentatious. Of course, it helped that she filled it out nicely.

She caught him staring and gave him a wink, his cheeks burned as bright as could be from embarrassment. He was no catch in his old world and he had limited experience with women during that life. This body didn't help those desires any. Being sixteen and filled with raging hormones again was not a fun experience. Now that he thought about it he had no idea what he looked like. It wasn't like there had been a convenient mirror to see himself in. He looked around again at the light fixtures but the metal wasn't reflective enough to get a good impression.

There he went again, hormones overriding logic. Why did he care if he looked the same or different? He shook his head to clear his thoughts.

Erwin had finished his conversation with the woman and she led them through a door into a dining area. There were twenty or so round tables scattered around the large room. It looked like half had people sitting at them and enjoying the atmosphere. A woman was on a raised platform, singing, while a man behind her plucked the strings of some sort of instrument.

The melody was slow and rhythmic to Chuck, even if he didn't understand the words. The group was seated at a table, saying something to Erwin before she left. The man nodded and loosened his armor.

Chuck followed suit, enjoying the feeling of freedom as his straps came undone. The food and drink arrived a few minutes later, carried by some of the most stunning women Chuck had ever seen. They were all human as far as he could tell, but one had eyes the color of ruby and chestnut hair in a soft wave down to her shoulders. Chuck was struck speechless, his mouth agape.

"I think we broke him," Mellas said, the rest laughing heartily at chucks obvious enthrallment.

Chuck turned when he heard the laughter, blushing in embarrassment again. The young woman just smiled coyly at him before she walked off to serve others. Chuck decided to drown his embarrassment in food.

Oh god was the food good. Some sort of meat was mixed with vegetables over what amounted to a sort of rice. It was spicy and flavorful. Chuck washed it down with a large helping of the beverage. It wasn't ale, but it was alcoholic and sweet. It reminded him of the few times he had consumed mead in his old life. The light flowery taste, accompanied by an unknown fruit went well with the spicy dish.

The others had dug in just as voraciously when the food arrived. Another round of drinks was brought out after. While the men digested the meal they listened to the singer and musician. Chuck took this time to let his gaze wander across the restaurant. He figured it was also a hotel with the other floors.

This was his first time seeing people in casual clothing, especially women. Heck, even the women at the outpost wore leather armor all the time. It was just too dangerous out there not to.

He had to casually adjust himself a few times as the beautiful women walked around the seating area serving others. If the rest of this country's women were this stunning, he was going to have a rough go of it until his hormones settled down. It wasn't like he had been a virgin in his old life, he was just awkward around women. That wasn't helped by his homeliness and weight issue he suffered from. At least he could mark one of those off of his list from his previous life.

While he was looking around he spotted the ruby eyed girl, she was walking straight towards him. If it wasn't for the smile on her face he might have thought he angered her somehow.

"Would you care to join me?" she asked.

Erwin turned and smiled, "The boy only understands a few words of common."

Vella smiled and held out her hand for the cute boy. His eyes a mixture of gold and honey, his hair light brown. She had almost forgotten her training and skills when she first laid eyes on him. It had taken her a few favors to be able to be his companion for the night. She thought it would be worth it. Adventurers were always...energetic.

Chuck was flummoxed when the girl reached out and grabbed his hand. He felt weightless as she tugged his arm, following along behind her as she walked towards a door. He did look back to see the Fella's all smiling and raising their cups towards him. That's when it dawned on him what this place was. It made him self-conscious and a little worried.

His mind raced through scenarios and experiences from his old life. Eventually, he just shoved those thoughts aside. The alcohol helped with that. He decided not to worry about consequences tonight. A beautiful woman wanted to sleep with him and that was enough for Chuck.

Chuck awoke the next day, tired but more relaxed than he had felt in either life. The ribald sessions of lovemaking had gone on late into the night. Vella, as he eventually learned her name, was a master at making every bit of the experience memorable. 'It had to be a skill related thing,' Chuck thought. Chuck smiled, stats had played a large role in his ability to go at it, time and again. Eventually, both had tired out and Chuck had passed out.

He even picked up a point in constitution, although that could have been from the extended hike, he preferred to think that it came from last night's activities. Vella had left some time before he had awoken. A pity he thought, his hormones were stirring at the memories from last night, his teenage brain was fixated on the woman. Her smell still lingering in the sheets. Flowery and sweet.

His old adult brain was rational enough to realize that this was her job, and he shouldn't fall in love with the woman. It was a hard sell to his teenage brain, but eventually, he got through. Standing up he stretched and twisted, getting the kinks out. God, he loved this young body. He wandered around the room picking up his clothes and armor. As he was passing a table he noticed a small face mirror. He glanced in it and was stunned by what he saw.

He was boy-band gorgeous. What the hell! He touched his face, it wasn't at the point of looking rugged but he was definitely handsome. It was his eyes though that really left him confused. They were pools of gold and he could swear they glowed in the right light. His hair had been the only thing that remained the same, although, at almost shoulder-length, it was longer than he ever wore it back on Earth. It gave him a roguish look. All he needed to complete it was a pencil mustache. Nope, he thought. Even here he wouldn't sport something so vile, he had some grooming standards and a pencil mustache was not among them.

Chuck finished dressing before he grabbed his pack and headed back downstairs for some breakfast. He heard a few whispered giggles as he passed a few clustered women in the hall. His ears burned red in embarrassment as he picked up his pace. He knew he had nothing to be embarrassed for but old habits were hard to break.

He found Bargo lounging in a sofa off to the side, a petite blonde woman stroking his chest. He decided to leave the two and headed towards the bar to order some food. At least he knew the word for food now. The elegantly dressed man behind the bar nodded at his request and walked through a door behind the counter.

While the man was away Chuck meditated to enter his skills. He had been a bit preoccupied the previous night and both stealth and mana manipulation had finished. He felt a little bad about wasting the time he could have been training but he figured he was already far ahead of the curve with the ability to train three skills at a time. He didn't even think that was the biggest benefit, he figured it was the ability not to have to continuously pause a skill to slot something else in. Every time that had to happen you lost training time.

He added level four of mana manipulation and level three of stealth back to the training spots. Then he took a look at the improvements he got.

Mana Manipulation: Allows the user to manipulate the mana of rare spells, allowing for additional spell effects. Mana cost of additional effect is based on the effect added. Reduced cost of lower-tiered spells. Also allows for the combining of spells. Three spells of up to rare level.

The skill was showing itself to be extremely powerful. He wasn't surprised. If he understood the classifications correctly it went: Common, Uncommon, Rare, Epic...etc.

Just like so many video games, he played in his younger days back on Earth. Chuck suspected there were at least a few more classifications of spells. The fact that he had an epic level spell already, was astounding. It was like getting a rare loot drop on the first run through an instance. And he couldn't even classify where his unique spell fit in on this tier system. He suspected it was near the top.

The man returned with a plate of eggs and what looked like bacon. Oh, sweet lord, he loved bacon. While he ate the food he thought about the mana manipulation still, mostly the combining aspect of it. He only had a few skills that he would consider spells. He assumed they needed to be active to be considered a spell. That was one thing he wanted to test. It wasn't clear what trying to combine those three spells would accomplish though. When Chuck concentrated on them they didn't feel like they had any synergy. He would have to play around see if anything came of it.

He didn't want to do that in the building though, for all he knew the spell could backfire and set the place ablaze, safer to try it outside.

Setting the coppers on the table for the meal he headed outside. There looked to be a small training yard behind the building for guards to practice. Nobody was around this early in the morning so he had the grounds to himself.

The first thing he tried was combining any of his passive abilities together, only two at a time. Nothing seemed to happen. He tried it with every combination of three then. Still nothing. He mixed it up, adding ice arrow and one passive ability. No luck. He thought about this, deciding to skip any more testing with passive abilities. Instead, he moved on to the active spells he had. The most likely ones he thought would work were ice arrow and stealth. That was a big fat no. He tried the rest of the combinations and got nowhere.

"Well, that was a waste of time," he grumbled.

Since he was out here he decided to work on his short sword forms. He lost himself in the repetitive movements. His muscles coiling and lashing out as he wove through the simple routine. He could recognize mistakes he was making, or his body would complain as he overextended with an attack.

He kept this up until he heard a shrill whistle off to the side. It startled him enough that he almost dropped his sword, only managing to hold onto it at the last second. He looked around to see who it was.

Two guards were glaring at him, hands on swords. Chuck had the decency to look abashed, sheathing his blade and apologizing profusely in broken common, "Sorry, I practice, should ask, sorry."

The two guards just stared at him as he walked away. At least he hadn't gotten into any major trouble. He checked his gains from the practice though, stopping at one of the outdoor tables.

Short Sword: 24/150TP to level 2

God, no wonder his arms felt like jello, he had done a hundred and twenty reps. He decided to relax at the table while his muscles cooled off.

He was surprised when he saw Vella walk by, he waved at her and he swore he saw her face blush. She smiled back but otherwise headed into the building. So much for love, he thought, smiling as he waited for his companions.