Amelia clapped her hands. Rowan stumbled, the weight of his small targe suddenly forgotten.

“Now, Hicks, hold on that bandage, close your fist, and put it over Rowan’s shoulder here.”

“Uh? It bit me on my hand…”

“That’s not important. Hicks. Do it now.”

Rowan felt thru the ringmail a fist tapping him on his shoulder. He checked out and saw that Dick was, indeed, holding some fuzzy gauze in his fist. Then he blinked.

You have been healed by Richard Carolus Hicks for 7 health.

The slight tingling in Rowan’s hand disappeared as the text vanished from his mindscape, just as quickly as it had come. Rowan gingerly snapped his palm closed and open again, checking it. Despite the bite, he no longer felt anything.

Amelia stepped back and pushed her empty palm up. Dick hesitated a bit, then realized she was asking for her bandage back. He dropped the cloth hastily in her hand.

“Now, some critique. But first, a question. Some of you have received a message about experience, or XP. Raise your hands.”

Rowan raised his hand. So did Luther and Silas. Both Dick and Ada exchanged baffled looks.

“What happened here is that, from the Labyrinth’s rule, neither Hicks nor Walsh participated in the fight, since they never used their weapons nor did anything to the wolf. So, you two never got experience from the combat, while the other three got rewarded from defeating that wolf.”

Luther raised his hand.

“Uh, the message said something about 4 people? And why does 100 divided by 4 makes 11?”

“That’d be me. After all, I did threaten that wolf to get him to follow me. And why you get only 11 XP, that’s because I’m much higher than you in term of professions. So my share is higher.”

Amelia started to frown.

“When I tell you to hit, do it. It’s important, at least while you’re doing an ad-hoc team. I’m disappointed by you two. You hesitated far too much.”

“…”

“That was the easiest fight you’ll ever get in Grailburg. It’s literally the lowest level of the weakest creature category of the entire Labyrinth. You saw it die with a handful of small love taps from your weapons. Normally, that kind of enemy is something you attack on your own solo. Even the weakest of you would be able to defeat one pup before it could do any threatening damage to you.”

Rowan checked his Interface. It had changed a bit since the fight.

Rowan Smith Rivers

Health: 153/153

Mind: 172/172

Endurance: 151/186

Aether: 161/161

Effective level: 1

Level 1 Shieldbearer

Experience: 11/1000

Strength: 16

Dexterity: 15

Agility: 14

Constitution: 15

Stamina: 18

Wisdom: 14

Focus: 15

Presence: 14

Fortitude: 17

Intelligence: 16

Milestones: None

Skills: Deflect (rank 0); Block (rank 0)

His Endurance had dropped some, his experience had increased some, and the list of skills indicated some… the ones he saw mentioned unlocking during the fight.

As he watched, the Endurance changed to 152.

Amelia was continuing to talk.

“Those of you who gained some experience, you can see it now on the Interface. You should have gotten 11. As you can see, you need a total of 1000. Once you reach that, you’ll become level 2 in your Profession. And if you focus again on the Profession, you’ll see what you gain when you get a level. Rivers?”

“Uh?”

“What do you get when you grow a level? I know the answer, but do you?”

“Uhhh… 6 endurance, 3 health, 2 mind, and 1 aether?”

“Very good. Yes. Each level will increase your maximum health, and so on. That makes you more resistant to wounds and other problems. You also gain endurance, which is very helpful in your profession, since you tend to use lots of skills. The mind and aether, you don’t really need to worry about, at least now.”

She turned back to the rest of the group and pointed toward Rowan.

“Each time you gain a new level in a Profession, those vitals climb. And that’s good until you get to level 15. Walsh, what do you think happens when you get to level 15?”

The girl froze and her eyes briefly took a far-away look for a moment. Then she spoke hesitantly.

“You… get a Milestone?”

“Good. Exactly. You get a Milestone. And your Milestones do?...”

“Uh… they give me some dexterity and some focus… and some strength and stamina and… fortitude?”

“Good. When you reach your first milestone in Pointer, you’ll get those added to your potential. And yes, that will bring your Dexterity to 21, which is higher than anyone outside the Labyrinth ever had.”

Ada looked stunned.

“Well, if you had participated in that combat, you’d be 10 experience closer to getting there.”

“But… what does that mean, if my Dexterity becomes higher?”

“Were you good at needlework? I’m guessing so, right.”

“Yes. Yes, I was. Mother always said I was better than anyone else.”

“The perks of 18 in Dexterity. Well, at one point you will be able to pick a needle and put a thread through it without looking at what you do. Then, you’ll be able to put the thread through the needle on the table, without picking it. Then maybe one day, you’ll be able to throw the needle and the thread in the air, and have the thread go thru the eye.”

“What? But that’s not possible. Nobody can do that…”

“Well, there were people in the old Company that can do the impossible. I knew back then a Silent Pincer – that’s a tier 5 Profession – that does exactly that kind of trick to amuse people back in London. It’s always impressive for the mundanes.”

Rowan raised his hand.

“How do we get a tier 5 Profession?”

She laughed.

“In a hurry, are we? I’ll tell you when we’re back at the company’s HQ. For now, I need to get you up to shape. Fullmore, you’re the smart one. Try to focus on one of your fellows, and… imagine you’re in a work gang, like in London.”

From Luther’s face, something had very obviously happened. Rowan didn’t make head or tail of it until something appeared in his mindscape.

Luther Francis Fullmore wants your help. Yes/No?

Well, help. Sure, why not.

To Rowan’s surprise, another page of the Interface appeared. It listed four people, including him, Luther, and Ada. Then, Dick appeared as a fourth, and then finally after a few seconds, Silas as well. Apparently, Silas’ name was O’Donnell.

“All done? Good.”

Amelia stretched her arms, moving her shoulders in circles.

“You are now in a Team, all five of you. And I want you to stay in that team for now. Don’t try to leave.”

As if prompted, Silas’ name vanished from the Interface.

“We’ll keep you in a team until you finish basic training. Then we’ll see if we need to reassign you.”

Luther’s threw a few glances at Silas.

“The reason you’re in a team is that you won’t really need to do something during the combat to earn experience. It’s automatic, just being in the same team is enough for the Labyrinth to consider you having participated in the fight.”

Silas’ name appeared again in the Interface.

Amelia gestured toward the grove.

“Now, we’re going into that clump of trees. It’s got wolves of lesser strength. I’m going to stay behind you now that you’re a Team, in order not to siphon too much of your experience. The idea is that you should unlock as much of your skills you can, get used to the flow of combat, and possibly get your first level.”

Luther raised his hand. Amelia shot an interrogative glance at him.

“If we get 10 experience for each wolf, this will take a long time…”

“Who says you’re going to get level 1 minions again?”

Seeing the team’s incredulous looks, she expanded.

“I deliberately picked the weakest wolf I could find. There are bigger ones in there. Now let’s go. Rivers, you go first.”