“Follow me, kid.” Master Keven started to walk toward the training grounds. Everyone was doing different training exercises like training with weapons or trying to master new skills. At the middle of the training ground were three people who were giving advice and sometimes a demonstration.

Master Keven was slow and even George two months ago could keep up with him. But everyone was showing him the utmost respect by greeting him. Master Keven, happy with the students kept nodding his head and sometimes would give one or two students advice. When the three teachers at the center saw master Keven coming, they ran towards him and made a deep bow. The middle-aged man in the middle was standing in front of the other two and gave his greetings first, and then the two at the back did the same.

“Kid, prepare the training ground. I’m going to teach this kid the basics.”

George was getting annoyed, he didn’t know if master Keven was calling everyone kid because he was so old and couldn’t remember the names, or that it was one of those annoying habits some old people just have. At the same time, the two people behind the middle-aged man started to prepare everything while the middle-aged man started to approach George.

“My name is master Hughes, but everyone calls me Joseph. Master Keven is very old and doesn’t have the time to teach students every day, so I’m the one running the training grounds. If you have any questions you can come to me and I will answer them, for a price of course.”

George wasn’t surprised by Joseph’s comment. It was school regulation that lessons and advice can only be given when the students pay credits for them. How much he has to pay depends on the class or the information he was looking for. Joseph had a smile on his face, and unlike George had imagined was not muscular at all. Master Keven is also skinny, but George thought that was because of his age. George was observing the students, and Master Keven was having a casual conversation with Joseph.

After a while, the two teachers came back and informed master Keven that the training ground was prepared. In reality, it was just a small part of the training ground made especially for new students. There was a small round field made completely out of the sand with one big rock in the middle. Master Keven moved next to the rock and pointed to George where he should stand.

“You don’t know anything yet and I don’t think it was such a good idea to send you here first. That kid just wanted to give you some motivation and didn’t think about all the basic knowledge you are missing. So I will give you a crash course on everything you need to know for now. But of course, it won’t be free, hand over ten credits.”

Master Kevin had a big smile on his face when he said the amount, but George almost passed out. He had worked hard for his money and didn’t think it would cost this much to learn the basics.

“Don’t worry kid, the information I’m giving you today is worth at least twenty.”

George hesitated for a while but still decided to give master Keven the ten credits. Everyone was showing him the utmost respect and he didn’t think that someone who everyone respect would swindle him, especially for an amount of ten credits. Master Keven accepted the credits and started to walk back and forth thinking about where to start. Joseph was standing on the sideline watching George while the other two teachers went back to assisting the other students.

“I’m just going to start by explaining the classes. There are four things that make a class, characteristics, weapons, skills and insight. I’m going to explain a little about all four so you can understand what makes a class special, and help you make a start as a protector.”

Old man Keven wasn’t looking at George and was pacing back and forth. This was not the first time someone had mentioned the word protector instead of a tank. Some older teacher and students would call it protector instead of a tank because it sounded more respectful.

“The first thing that I’m going to talk about is the characteristics system, and how every class has its own characteristics paths. Every class can put a hundred points into every characteristic but after that, it changes completely. For example, because we are the protector class we can keep putting points into vitality and it will never increase in cost. But if let’s say a warrior keeps putting points in vitality they will need to spend three points for every one point of vitality gained after they exceed the one hundred.”

George was trying to listen to everything master Keven was telling him without missing a word. He didn’t want to forget anything and have to spend more credits on martial arts classes. And something told him that master Keven isn’t the type to repeat himself.

“I’m not going to talk about how characteristics work for other classes because we would still be here tomorrow. We as the protectors have it pretty easy actually, everything except vitality will cost three points after you exceed a hundred. And with only five points gained every level you can’t afford to casually spend characteristics points. I would recommend you to put every point on vitality, but there are protectors who chose another way and some of them succeed in becoming strong protectors in their own way. The reality is that characteristics are not as important as they were a long time ago, but they can still be the deciding factor between victory and defeat. I recommend you to read more about it in the second chapter of the skills and its basics manual.”

Master Keven turned around for the first time and moved his right hand up, and from nowhere appeared a long staff made of wood. George got surprised but it didn’t have time to think about it because master Keven continued with his teaching.

“This is a bō, also known as a long staff, this is the weapon we protectors use when we start training. In time you can move up to a halberd and shield, but that’s not going to be anytime soon. To master a weapon you need to training in weapon skills. Weapon skills are restricted to classes, but that doesn’t mean that other classes can’t use the bō, it just means that they can’t learn the weapon skills that are available, and therefore won’t be able to master it. Every weapon had its specialty that fits the class the best, I’m sure you can guess that sword skills are the most powerful offensively and that the halberd and shield are the strongest defensively. But it also depends on how good the weapon skill is and how much insight you have. For example, a protector who has mastered a high-grade bō skill can do more damage than a warrior who has a low-grade sword skill and has not mastered it. The quality of the weapon itself and its harmony with elements is also very important, you can read about that in the fourth chapter of skills and its uses manual. Also, don’t assume that someone is a warrior jus because they are carrying a sword, bandits use this trick to steal money from newcomers. But it also works the other way around, a lot of experts carry support or protector weapons to blend in, and offending them would be courting death. ”

Master Keven moved his hand again and a scroll appeared in the same hand the staff was in. He threw the staff and scroll to George, just like his walking it was really slow and it didn’t take George too much strength to catch it.

“This is a basic bō skill, this including the staff are yours. You should thank me, the information and the two items I gave you are a lot more worth that the ten credits you gave me. Use the skill in your hand and try to learn it.”

George put the staff down and tried to open the scroll, but whatever he did he couldn’t open it. Master Keven seeing this had a big smile on his face.

“Skills don’t work like books kid, use the command inspect.”

George was a little bit annoyed but didn’t say anything.

“inspect”

class: tank.

Element restriction: none.

Do you want to learn this skill?>

George read the text but didn’t seem to give a lot of information about the skill, and what the seven levels do. He decided to trust master Keven and learn the skill. “yes.”

The scroll in his hand started to heat up and started to disappear like it was burning away. At the same time, a lot of new information started to enter George’s brain. He felt like a whole book worth of information was being transformed to him in an instant. George couldn’t explain the feeling, but it was something he definitely wanted to feel again. He just had to close his eyes, and he could see pictures moving, performing martial arts stances. George opened his eyes and was thinking about what just happened when master Keven decided to continue his story.

“I’m sure you have noticed that skill aren’t magic pills you take and you can use them. The information transfer to you is what you need to master the skill, but it’s you who needs to put in the work and practice. A skill like this is straightforward and easy to learn as long you put in the work, but in the future, you will find advanced skills that are so hard to master that only one in a thousand maybe even then thousand will be able to master it. Of course, there is also the possibility of you not having the required stats like mana to use a skill, luckily for us, the mana use for protector skills are not high, and with some good equipment, you can use most of them. Passive skills like these don’t use mana and can be used as long as you have the stamina to continue, but active skills or skills that require a specific element do always require mana to use.”

Master Keven stopped moving again and faced the sky. “The last thing I want to discuss and maybe the most important is insight. This is something that old people like me are still in search for, and finding it can change you from an everyday protector into a legendary character.”