“Ok, today, we’re going to go to a lair.”

By now, Rowan knew questions were expected.

“Like a beast lair?”

“It’s like a beast lair the way a castle is to a hovel in the slums. It’s a lot more expansive than a hole in the ground, usually. And it has more than one beast.”

They had been fighting beasts for a while now. Wolves and boars. Rowan hated boars. The piggies charged, and he had to be careful of intercepting them. The skill cost a ton of his stamina, which meant he had less to react in combat. When he’d complained to Amelia, she merely shrugged and told him to learn to pace himself.

He figured out that she was probably picking those specific beasts just for that lesson.

Despite that, they’d climbed fast in terms of experience. On the sixth day, they’d reached their first Milestone. It had been anti-climactic in its way. Just a notification of level up, and new Milestone. The difference was on his vitals, who’d jumped up, and the increased potentials.

Rowan had dutifully selected his Block skill based on the list he’d been given. He even agreed somewhat about its overall usefulness.

Rowan Smith Rivers

Health: 234/234

Mind: 212/212

Endurance: 336/336

Aether: 181/181

Effective level: 21

Level 21 Shieldbearer

Experience: 7661/21000

Strength: 18

Dexterity: 15

Agility: 14

Constitution: 16

Stamina: 21

Wisdom: 14

Focus: 16

Presence: 15

Fortitude: 17

Intelligence: 16

Milestones: Shieldbearer I

Skills: Deflect (rank 0); Block (rank 1); Slam (rank 0); Protect (rank 0)

“Congratulations, you’ve got bigger Stamina than any non-Professional ever had,” was Amelia’s comment.

He had also changed a piece of his armour. One of the elites they fought had left under his corpse a small ringmail coif.

Simple Ringmail Coif

Head

Common equipment

Requires: level 7

Provide: Defence rating +7, Health +11

Amelia congratulated him on being lucky. Elite critters sometimes collected equipment. Technically, veterans too, but it was horribly rare to get something from a veteran, and it would usually be basic. When asked about it, she told them she could keep their equipment from training. The experienced Professionals all had much better, and the common equipment couldn’t be sold except for scraps since no one besides a Professional could use it, so it went straight to the company store.

“Why didn’t we get any from the Quartermaster?” asked Ada.

“Requires level?” countered Amelia.

“Oh.”

“Plus, giving you equipment that boosts your vitals and potentials gives you bad habits. You end up thinking it’s easier than it is. Don’t worry. You’ll get a set at one point.”

They jumped into the chariot, which turned toward a different direction than the usual.

“Grailburg has a bit over three dozen lairs. They refill, but after 3 days only, which is awful. The thing is, we can’t use more than one team to run a lair, it’s typically useless. So we have a strict schedule. We’re going to run you through two different lairs. I’ll tell you why later.”

“The important part is that I’ll accompany you for your first lair, then we’ll get you a second milestone and a few more levels, and then you’ll be in your second lair… alone.”

“Wait, what?”

“I’m not going to handhold you for 2 years. I’ve got my own job to do, and believe me, I’m not getting any experience running with you. But that’s company life for you. There are advantages there, but sometimes I get stuck doing nanny work.”

She smiled. Rowan had learned that he didn’t like when she did.

“Now for once, that’s good news. Once you’ve run your own lair as a team, you’ll be almost done with Professional school. We’ll teach you a few things, get you into tier 2, then we’ll start running you through levels until you’re all tier 3, which is when you’ll start to be useful.”

The chariot stopped in the middle of the plains, next to a set of small mounds. Rowan had no idea what they could be until Amelia explained.

“For you city dwellers, these are barrows.”

She waited until the entire team had gasped in surprise.

“They’re small and empty. Mostly. No ghosts, animated dead or anything like that. Yes, Rivers?”

“You are… not joking about ghosts?”

“No. There’s no undead or spirits in Grailburg… but you will see those in higher-tier zones.”

Rowan felt a chill settle on him. Ghosts. Nobody ever told him that Professionals could be fighting dead spirits… and did she mention animated corpses? Like… vampires?

“Now, all the small barrows are tiny. The central one, however, is larger. Beasts that like getting underground have moved in, and that’s where we’re going.”

They all dutifully disembarked. Amelia led them toward the centre of the mound field.

“First thing you’ll need to know is that fighting in places like barrows and the like is a bit different than outdoor. Less room to place yourself during combat. That’s why I liked you’re getting the Barrows for your first lair.”

She gestured toward the barrow entrance that they just reached.

“Second thing is that the beasts in a lair are usually a bit stronger than you usually fight outdoor. You won’t find minions in there, you’ll find lots of Veterans, Elites, and, well, you’ll find your first Elder in here, probably.”

She added, “That’s all you’ll find around in Graiburg. There are stronger categories of creatures… you’ll find Ancients in tier 3, and one day, Bosses higher on.”

“How do you fight stronger creatures?”

“Ancients are pretty much doable if they’re around your level, and you aren’t wearing crap gear like right now. But Bosses? You need more levels than they have, or you fight them with multiple teams.”

She added, “But that’s what Companies like us go for. That’s where the real money is.”

They moved into the entrance in what had become their standard formation. Rowan opening the way, and the rest of them in reverse order of their health totals “just in case” something came from behind.

In this case, given the tightness of the corridor, the something would need to pass the Lightswinger that closed the march, but she insisted to use the formation to keep their habits forming.

As she’d warned them to expect the first creature that came from the depths of the barrow was a veteran, and obviously not happy to find its exit encumbered by a pack of two-legged intruders.

Night Wolf Male

Level 17 veteran

Health: 388

Mind: 164

Stamina: 272

Aether: 52

It was the first time Rowan had seen a creature with Aether present. He called out.

“Night Wolf. It seems to have some Aether…”

His trailing words didn’t elicit an answer from their teacher. Presumably, he was going to figure exactly what the meaning of this Aether was.

Rowan didn’t had to wait long. The creature howled, and he felt a chill passing thru him, as the amount of available Aether of their enemy dropped. So, that howl… was presumably magic.

You have been affected by Howl. -34 Mind, one random skill rank reduced.

A quick check told him that… apparently, his ranked skill had not… no wait.

Rowan Smith Rivers

Health: 234/234

Mind: 178/212

Endurance: 336/336

Aether: 181/181

Effective level: 21

Level 21 Shieldbearer

Experience: 7661/21000

Strength: 18

Dexterity: 15

Agility: 14

Constitution: 16

Stamina: 21

Wisdom: 14

Focus: 16

Presence: 15

Fortitude: 17

Intelligence: 16

Milestones: Shieldbearer I

Skills: Deflect (rank 0); Block (rank 1); Slam (locked); Protect (rank 0)

“Got one of my skills locked. Slam’s missing,” he announced.

“Got my Ice Dart locked as well,” confirmed Luther.

“Minor Heal dropped to rank 0, but seem to be there,” said Dick.

“Ok… he’s not that strong anyway, so we can do that,” decided Rowan.

After that, the group went in its usual fashion, although with the relatively tight corridor, Ada had to slip behind the Night Wolf, which didn’t bother her, as she slipped a side attack while passing.

Night Wolf Male: 551XP/5 contributors = 110XP.

As they checked the wolf’s corpse to see if there was anything worthwhile, Amelia joined them.

“Unpleasant, isn’t it?”

“You could say that,” said Ada. “Thankfully, my rear attack wasn’t locked.”

“That’s because you raised it a rank already. That’s part why not raising your ranks of the most useful attacks as high as possible is a bad idea.”

“That Howl thing, it happens often?” asked Silas.

“It’s not a common type of attack, but there’s enough of those kind of skill messing attacks that it’s crucial to raise them at least once per tier. Here? You’ll have a lot of the wolves using it.”

She smiled, positively relishing the perspective.

“Will be interesting to see if you can adapt.”